Baadur Jobava (2706), leader of Georgian team, defeated Tigran Petrosian of Armenia (2643) with white pieces in the 10th round. Jobava seems to be the only Georgian chess player who will compete in World Cup with the results of the tournament which is underway in the city of Bulgaria, Plovdiv.
Jobava has 7.0 points and is in the 18th place. 23 chess players have the same points. Shota Azaladze (2419) is behind them. He beat Pavel Ponkratov of Russia (2607) and is in the 35th place with 6.5 points.
Mikheil Mchedlishvili defeated Richard Rapport of Hungary (2559) with white pieces and is in the 46th place with 6.5 points. Here are the results of other Georgians: 104. Davit Lomsadze (2338) – 5.5; 111. Levan Pantsulaia (2595) – 5.5; 151. Luka Paichadze (2491) – 5.0; 164. Davit Benidze (2530) – 5.0; 165. Gaioz Nigalidze (2472) – 5.0; 335. Giorgi Khelaia (2080) – 2.5;
Laurent Fressinet of France (2693) has the best result before the last 11th round which will be held on March 31. Fressinet has 8.0 points. In the last round, he will play against Dmitry Jakovenko of Russia (2729).
Georgians who have the best results will play with black pieces: Jobava will play against Denis Khismatullin of Russia (2656), Mchedlishvili – against David Navara of Czech Republic (2700) and Azaladze – against Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania (2643).
Prize money of the tournament is 100 000 EUR. Champion will get 14 000 EUR. Top 25 chess players will be awarded. Best 23 chess players will win a right to participate in World Cup.
