Bastia: Final round and the last sixteen

Anand against Massoni

Today the action came thick and fast as the ninth round was followed by the beginning of the knock-out stage. The biggest surprise was the elimination of third seed Laurent Fressinet by IM Gabriel Battaglini in the knock-out stage as the Frenchman was outplayed as White in a Modern Benoni.

The ninth round results:

Table	Points	White	Rating	Result	Black	Rating	Points
1	6½	SASIKIRAN Krishnan	2689	1 - 0	MELKUMYAN Hrant	2619	6½
2	6	JONES Gawain C B	2624	1 - 0	CHEPARINOV Ivan	2650	6½
3	6	GRIGORYAN Avetik	2614	X - X	ARNOLD Marc T	2505	6½
4	6	MASSONI Michael	2304	X - X	DURARBEYLI Vasif	2526	6
5	6	BARON Tal	2505	X - X	BATTAGLINI Gabriel	2452	6
6	5½	GIROYAN Gary	2318	0 - 1	MAMEDOV Rauf	2660	6
7	5½	JUDKOVSKY Yair	2329	0 - 1	FRESSINET Laurent	2696	5½
8	5½	TREGUBOV Pavel V.	2602	1 - 0	PESOTSKYI Vitalii	2268	5½
9	5½	DIMITROV Radoslav	2424	X - X	INANTS Aghasi	2288	5½
10	5½	MULLON Jean-Baptiste	2379	1 - 0	KIRK Ezra	2122	5½
11	5½	BERTHELOT Yannick	2286	1 - 0	SHACHAR Ehud	2355	5½
12	5	SULAVA Nenad	2540	1 - 0	GIUA Frederic	2193	5
13	5	FLEAR Glenn C	2471	1 - 0	GIDEL Jean-Louis	2150	5
14	5	BEDOUIN Xavier	2406	1 - 0	COSTA Pierre-Mathieu	1975	5
15	5	PICARD Remi	2054	0 - 1	DEBRAY Christopher	2402	5
16	5	BAGHDASARYAN Vahe	2362	1 - 0	PESOTSKYI Olexandr	2003	5
17	5	EGOZI Nadav	2173	1 - 0	DIMITROV Pavel	2353	5
18	5	COLEMAN Teddy	2312	1 - 0	LUCIANI Thibault	1990	5
19	5	CRISTOFARI Antoine	2161	X - X	RABINEAU Clement	2285	5
20	5	DUBOIS Martine	2017	0 - 1	MAMEDJAROVA Turkan	2277	5
21	5	HUMEAU Cyril	2261	1 - 0	KIRK Jason	1944	5
22	5	ANCION Merowig	1947	0 - 1	IVANOV Stojan Emilov	2221	5
23	5	UTRERA Ludovic	1937	0 - 1	SAADA Julien	2313	4½

The leading players after the nine round swiss tournament:

Rank	Title	Player	Rating	Country	Points	Tie-break	Perf.
1	g	SASIKIRAN Krishnan	2689	IND	7,5	44,5	2792
2	g	JONES Gawain C B	2624	ENG	7	45	2692
3	g	MELKUMYAN Hrant	2619	ARM	6,5	46,5	2647
4	g	FRESSINET Laurent	2696	FRA	6,5	45,5	2664
5	g	DURARBEYLI Vasif	2526	AZE	6,5	45	2542
6	g	BARON Tal	2505	ISR	6,5	44,5	2559
7	g	CHEPARINOV Ivan	2650	BUL	6,5	44	2597
8	m	ARNOLD Marc T	2505	USA	6,5	44	2629
9	m	BATTAGLINI Gabriel	2452	FRA	6,5	43	2455
10	g	GRIGORYAN Avetik	2614	ARM	6,5	43	2588
11	g	MAMEDOV Rauf	2660	AZE	6,5	42,5	2599
12	m	MULLON Jean-Baptiste	2379	FRA	6,5	42,5	2464
13	g	TREGUBOV Pavel V.	2602	RUS	6,5	41,5	2554
14	f	MASSONI Michael	2304	FRA	6,5	40,5	2387
15	f	BERTHELOT Yannick	2286	FRA	6,5	39,5	2421
16		BAGHDASARYAN Vahe	2362	ARM	6	42,5	2427
17		INANTS Aghasi	2288	ARM	6	42,5	2360
18	m	BEDOUIN Xavier	2406	FRA	6	41,5	2344
19	g	FLEAR Glenn C	2471	ENG	6	41	2435
20	g	SULAVA Nenad	2540	CRO	6	41	2394
21	f	COLEMAN Teddy	2312	USA	6	41	2366
22	m	DEBRAY Christopher	2402	FRA	6	40,5	2354
23		IVANOV Stojan Emilov	2221	BUL	6	40,5	2339
24	m	DIMITROV Radoslav	2424	BUL	6	39,5	2343
25	gf	MAMEDJAROVA Turkan	2277	AZE	6	39	2310
26		EGOZI Nadav	2173	ISR	6	38	2225
27		HUMEAU Cyril	2261	FRA	6	36,5	2165

Marc T Arnold may be able to claim a GM norm.

Marc Arnold: A norm subject to confirmation?

Of these the top 14 joined Viswanathan Anand and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the knock-out stage of the Corsica Masters.

The first round of which already took place this evening:

Viswanathan Anand - Michael Massoni (the top Corsican player finsihed 14th in the swiss) 2-0

Avetik Grigoryan - Hrant Melkumyan 1.5-0.5 (the all-Armenian encounter)

Rauf Mamedov - Tal Baron 2.5-1.5 (after losing the fairst game, Ruaf Mamedov made it through anyway)

Marc Arnold - Krishnan Sasikiran 1-3 (the American lost out in the Blitz but took one game off the Indian no.2)

Laurent Fressinet - Gabriel Battaglini 0.5-1.5 (the big surprise, as Battaglini easily won the first game and held out comfortably in the second)

Vasif Durarbeyli - Ivan Cheparinov 0.5-1.5 (Ivan did enough, but Durarbeyli proved to be a tough cookie)

Gawain Jones - Pavel Tregubov 3-2 (in the Armageddon blitz game, in the most evenly-matched encounter of all!)

Jean-Baptiste Mullon - Shakhriyar Mamyedarov 0.5-1.5 (Mamedyarov dominated the first game, and that was enough)

Gabriel Battagliani

The Quarter-finals and Semi-finals will be tomorrow.

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