The Basel Chess Festival took place from January 1st to 5th as a seven-round Swiss tournament, with top seeds Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Boris Grachev, Edouard Romain and a host of strong GMs in a field totalling 89 players (197 in all groups).
Four players tied for first in the main group, with 5.5/7 points, with Boris Grachev (above) winning on tiebreak points. The Russian GM won his first four games and was then able to take tournament victory with draws in the last three. Top seed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave conceded too many draws and landed on place five with 5.0/7 points.
Final standing (after seven rounds)
#
|
Player |
Titel
|
Rtng
|
Nat.
|
+
|
=
|
–
|
Pts
|
PtsSu
|
Buchh
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1.
|
Grachev,Boris |
GM
|
2688
|
RUS
|
4
|
3
|
0
|
5.5
|
25.0
|
34.0
|
2.
|
Vajda,Levente |
GM
|
2603
|
ROU
|
5
|
1
|
1
|
5.5
|
23.5
|
31.0
|
3.
|
Van Kampen,Robin |
GM
|
2581
|
NED
|
4
|
3
|
0
|
5.5
|
23.0
|
30.0
|
4.
|
Istratescu,Andrej |
GM
|
2654
|
FRA
|
4
|
3
|
0
|
5.5
|
22.5
|
31.0
|
5.
|
Vachier-Lagrave,M |
GM
|
2711
|
FRA
|
3
|
4
|
0
|
5.0
|
22.5
|
31.0
|
6.
|
Fier,Alexandr |
GM
|
2573
|
BRA
|
3
|
4
|
0
|
5.0
|
22.0
|
32.0
|
7.
|
Melkumyan,Hrant |
GM
|
2656
|
ARM
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
5.0
|
21.0
|
31.0
|
8.
|
Edouard,Romain |
GM
|
2686
|
FRA
|
3
|
4
|
0
|
5.0
|
21.0
|
30.0
|
9.
|
Ghaem Maghami,Ehs |
GM
|
2572
|
IRI
|
3
|
4
|
0
|
5.0
|
20.5
|
28.0
|
10.
|
Pelletier,Yannick |
GM
|
2604
|
SUI
|
3
|
4
|
0
|
5.0
|
20.0
|
28.5
|
11.
|
Vorotnikov,Vladis |
GM
|
2464
|
RUS
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
5.0
|
20.0
|
27.5
|
12.
|
Bartel,Mateusz |
GM
|
2629
|
POL
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
5.0
|
19.5
|
29.5
|
13.
|
Turov,Maxim |
GM
|
2630
|
RUS
|
3
|
3
|
1
|
4.5
|
21.0
|
31.0
|
14.
|
Mladenov,Svetlin |
2407
|
BUL
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
4.5
|
20.5
|
27.5
|
|
15.
|
Hansen,Eric |
IM
|
2568
|
CAN
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
4.5
|
20.0
|
29.0
|
16.
|
Heimann,Andreas |
IM
|
2489
|
GER
|
3
|
3
|
1
|
4.5
|
19.5
|
30.0
|
17.
|
Milosevic,Goran |
IM
|
2328
|
SUI
|
3
|
3
|
1
|
4.5
|
19.5
|
29.0
|
18.
|
Lekic,Dusan |
IM
|
2411
|
MNE
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
4.5
|
19.5
|
27.0
|
19.
|
Georgiadis,Nico |
FM
|
2369
|
SUI
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
4.5
|
18.5
|
26.0
|
20.
|
Toth,Bela |
IM
|
2352
|
ITA
|
3
|
3
|
1
|
4.5
|
18.5
|
25.5
|
21.
|
Maier,Christian |
IM
|
2354
|
GER
|
3
|
3
|
1
|
4.5
|
18.0
|
26.0
|
22.
|
Dann,Matthias |
FM
|
2432
|
GER
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
4.5
|
18.0
|
25.0
|
23.
|
Maisuradze,Nino |
WGM
|
2306
|
FRA
|
3
|
3
|
1
|
4.5
|
17.5
|
27.5
|
24.
|
Faibisovich,Vadim |
IM
|
2349
|
RUS
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
4.5
|
17.0
|
23.0
|
The winners: Levente Vajda, Boris Grachev, Robin van Kampen
In sixth place: GM Alexandr Fier from Brazil, 2573, 5.0/7
Eighth: GM Romain Edouard, France, 2686, with 5.0/7
The winners of the Amateur section: Thomas Goldie (second with 6.0 points),
Hans Grob, (6.5 points, first place) and Ouah Benoughidene (6.0 points, third)
(Source: chessbase)