Krishnan Sasikiran wins 47th Zurich Christmas Masters 2023, Iniyan second

by Shahid Ahmed - 25/01/2024

Krishnan Sasikiran, Eltaj Safarli (AZE) and Iniyan Pa scored 5.5/7 at 47th Zurich Christmas Masters 2023. Sasikiran won the tournament on tie-breaks. Safarli and Iniyan shared second place as all of their tie-breaks were exactly the same. All three of them remained undefeated. Sasikiran drew against both runners-up. The total prize fund of the tournament was CHF 18500. The top three prizes were CHF 3000, 2000 and 1400. This was Sasikiran's sole tournament triumph in 2023. His last individual rating tournament triumph was in October 2022. It is certainly great to see the Indian chess legend in back to winning a tournament. Photo: ©Silvestar Žiger

Sasikiran finishes 2023 on a high note

GM Eltaj Safarli (AZE), GM Krishnan Sasikiran and GM Iniyan Pa were in the lead 5/6 heading into the final round. Iniyan and Safarli drew against Sasikiran and GM Vitaly Kunin (GER). All three leaders ended with the same score 5.5/7 each. Sasikiran won the tournament, Safarli and Iniyan shared second place as all of their tie-breaks were same.

Champion - GM K Sasikiran 5.5/7 with Thomas Brand, Tournament Director | Photo: ©Silvestar Žiger

Runner-up - GM Iniyan Pa 5.5/7 | Photo: ©Silvestar Žiger

Top three in Master (L to R): 2nd GM Eltaj Safarli (AZE) 5.5/7, 1st GM K Sasikiran 5.5/7 and 2nd GM Iniyan Pa 5.5/7 | Photo: ©Silvestar Žiger

Sasikiran and Iniyan battling side-by-side | Photo: ©Silvestar Žiger

Top boards of the Master section | Photo: ©Silvestar Žiger

GM K Sasikiran scored an unbeaten 5.5/7 and drew against both runners-up

Best Woman in Master - WGM Josefine Heinemann (GER) 4.5/7

11-year-old Apaar Saxena scored 3.5/7, finished 26th overall and gained 62.4 Elo rating points

Top 3 Main (L to R): 1st Sebastian Kraus (GER) 6.5/7, 2nd Philippe Breyer (SUI) 6/7 and 3rd Reto Bürge (SUI) 6/7 | Photo: ©Silvestar Žiger

Best Woman in Main - Nina Brüssow (SUI) 4/7

The tournament hall in Zürich, Switzerland | Photo: ©Silvestar Žiger

The 48th edition will take place from 26th to 30th December 2024.

A total of 56 players including 4 GMs, 7 IMs and a WGM took part from 13 countries across the world in Master category. The five-day seven round Rating tournament was organized by Thomas Brand in Zurich, Switzerland from 26th to 30th December 2023. The time control of the event was 90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 minutes, 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	RtgI	RtgN	Club/City	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	2	GM	Sasikiran, Krishnan	IND	2596	0		5,5	33	27,5
2	1	GM	Safarli, Eltaj	AZE	2609	0		5,5	32,5	27
	4	GM	Iniyan, P	IND	2500	0		5,5	32,5	27
4	3	GM	Kunin, Vitaly	GER	2534	2581	Kirchberg	5	32	26,5
5	12	IM	Löffler, Markus	GER	2270	2294	Bern Schwarz-Weiss	5	29,5	24
6	7	IM	Langheinrich, Ferenc	GER	2352	0		5	27,5	22
7	11	IM	Moor, Olivier	SUI	2306	2314	Zug	5	26,5	21
8	9	IM	Stijve, Theo	SUI	2334	2342	Payerne	4,5	29,5	24
9	6	WGM	Heinemann, Josefine	GER	2360	0		4,5	28,5	23,5
10	15	FM	Redzisz, Michal	POL	2219	0		4,5	28,5	23

Details

Links

Official site

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