Gaioz Nigalidze wins Georgia Chess Championship 2014

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2014

Hello everyone,

The latest chess tournament news via FIDE is about the Georgia Chess Championship 2014. The Georgian Chess Federation held the 73rd national chess championship from 26th January to 6th February in Tbilisi. Twelve players competed in the round robin tournament with average elo 2509.

IM Gaioz Nigalidze, seeded 9th before the event, took a clear first place with 8,5 points to claim the title of national champion. A series of five straight wins in the middle of the competition proved to be decisive. Nigalidze also earned a GM norm and 32 elo points (performing above 2700 elo).

Nigalidze, from Batumi, has won the event for the second time. In second and third place were Merab Gagunashvili and Tornike Sanikidze. Incidentally, Sanikidze just a few weeks back won the strong Gurgaon International Chess Tournament in India.

Final standings:
1. IM Nigalidze Gaioz 2494 - 8.5
2. GM Gagunashvili Merab 2547 - 8
3. GM Sanikidze Tornike 2541 - 7.5
4. GM Jojua Davit 2565- 7
5. GM Pantsulaia Levan 2614 - 6.5
6-7. GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil 2655 and GM Shanava Konstantine 2559 - 5.5
8. GM Paichadze Luka 2544 - 4.5
9-10. IM Gvetadze Sofio 2334 and IM Qashashvili Alexandre 2370 - 4
11. GM Benidze Davit 2505 - 3
12. IM Chighladze Iveri 2380 - 2

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