Vladimir Potkin, first amongst four

Vladimir Potkin was placed first on performance ahead of Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Judit Polgar and Alexander Moiseenko. The champion is one of seven Russians amongst the World Championship qualifiers.

Here are the results on the top twenty boards in the last round.

Board	Seed	Title/Name	Country	Rating	Points	-	Seed	Title/Name	Country	Rating	Points
1	43	GM Potkin Vladimir	RUS	2653	8	½-½	14	GM Polgar Judit	HUN	2686	8
2	7	GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw	POL	2711	8	½-½	1	GM Svidler Peter	RUS	2730	7½
3	4	GM Vitiugov Nikita	RUS	2720	7½	½-½	40	GM Feller Sebastien	FRA	2657	7½
4	9	GM Vallejo Pons Francisco	ESP	2707	7½	½-½	31	GM Mamedov Rauf	AZE	2667	7½
5	26	GM Moiseenko Alexander	UKR	2673	7½	1-0	16	GM Mcshane Luke J	ENG	2683	7½
6	17	GM Zhigalko Sergei	BLR	2680	7½	½-½	73	GM Ragger Markus	AUT	2614	7½
7	5	GM Jakovenko Dmitry	RUS	2718	7	1-0	87	GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian	ROU	2598	7½
8	2	GM Nepomniachtchi Ian	RUS	2729	7	0-1	46	GM Korobov Anton	UKR	2647	7
9	55	GM Khairullin Ildar	RUS	2634	7	½-½	8	GM Jobava Baadur	GEO	2707	7
10	59	GM Iordachescu Viorel	MDA	2626	7	½-½	18	GM Riazantsev Alexander	RUS	2679	7
11	60	GM Lupulescu Constantin	ROU	2626	7	½-½	20	GM Motylev Alexander	RUS	2677	7
12	25	GM Inarkiev Ernesto	RUS	2674	7	1-0	54	GM Khalifman Alexander	RUS	2637	7
13	61	GM Saric Ivan	CRO	2626	7	½-½	30	GM Nielsen Peter Heine	DEN	2670	7
14	33	GM Cheparinov Ivan	BUL	2664	7	½-½	68	GM Beliavsky Alexander G	SLO	2619	7
15	70	GM Ivanisevic Ivan	SRB	2617	7	½-½	39	GM Smirin Ilia	ISR	2658	7
16	45	GM Gustafsson Jan	GER	2647	7	½-½	72	GM Azarov Sergei	BLR	2615	7
17	96	GM Postny Evgeny	ISR	2585	7	1-0	10	GM Dreev Aleksey	RUS	2697	6½
18	63	GM Matlakov Maxim	RUS	2625	6½	½-½	11	GM Fressinet Laurent	FRA	2693	6½
19	67	GM Volkov Sergey	RUS	2621	6½	1-0	12	GM Sutovsky Emil	ISR	2692	6½
20	19	GM Rublevsky Sergei	RUS	2678	6½	1-0	62	GM Vuckovic Bojan	SRB	2626	6½

Here are today's photos:

Nikita Vitiugov (chessanytime)

Alexander Motylev (chessanytime)

Predrag Nikolic (chessanytime)

Peter-Heine Nielsen (chessanytime)

This year there is no play-off for the title, nor for qualification places.

The tournament performance is the key first tie-break.

The qualifiers:

1	GM Potkin Vladimir	RUS	2653	8.5	2849
2	GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw	POL	2711	8.5	2826
3	GM Polgar Judit	HUN	2686	8.5	2799
4	GM Moiseenko Alexander	UKR	2673	8.5	2755
5	GM Vallejo Pons Francisco	ESP	2707	8.0	2819
6	GM Ragger Markus	AUT	2614	8.0	2783
7	GM Feller Sebastien	FRA	2657	8.0	2766
8	GM Svidler Peter	RUS	2730	8.0	2751
9	GM Mamedov Rauf	AZE	2667	8.0	2751
10	GM Vitiugov Nikita	RUS	2720	8.0	2741
11	GM Zhigalko Sergei	BLR	2680	8.0	2732
12	GM Jakovenko Dmitry	RUS	2718	8.0	2719
13	GM Korobov Anton	UKR	2647	8.0	2697
14	GM Inarkiev Ernesto	RUS	2674	8.0	2695
15	GM Postny Evgeny	ISR	2585	8.0	2633
16	GM Azarov Sergei	BLR	2615	7.5	2776
17	GM Khairullin Ildar	RUS	2634	7.5	2771
18	GM Kobalia Mikhail	RUS	2672	7.5	2754
19	GM Guliyev Namig	AZE	2522	7.5	2739
20	GM Zherebukh Yaroslav	UKR	2560	7.5	2739
21	GM Riazantsev Alexander	RUS	2679	7.5	2728
22	GM Iordachescu Viorel	MDA	2626	7.5	2725
23	GM Lupulescu Constantin	ROU	2626	7.5	2722

Those who just missed out:

24	GM Mcshane Luke	ENG	2683	7.5	2718
25	GM Fridman Daniel	GER	2661	7.5	2717
26	GM Motylev Alexander	RUS	2677	7.5	2716
27	GM Ivanisevic Ivan	SRB	2617	7.5	2712
28	GM Jobava Baadur	GEO	2707	7.5	2711
29	GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian	ROU	2598	7.5	2709
30	GM Romanov Evgeny	RUS	2624	7.5	2709
31	GM Esen Baris	TUR	2528	7.5	2707
32	GM Nielsen Peter Heine	DEN	2670	7.5	2703
33	GM Cheparinov Ivan	BUL	2664	7.5	2698
34	GM Gustafsson Jan	GER	2647	7.5	2687
35	GM Kulaots Kaido	EST	2601	7.5	2669
36	GM Smirin Ilia	ISR	2658	7.5	2668
37	GM Saric Ivan	CRO	2626	7.5	2651
38	GM Pashikian Arman	ARM	2642	7.5	2649
39	GM Edouard Romain	FRA	2600	7.5	2634
40	GM Bologan Viktor	MDA	2671	7.5	2629
41	GM Beliavsky Alexander	SLO	2619	7.5	2627
42	GM Rublevsky Sergei	RUS	2678	7.5	2627
43	GM Volkov Sergey	RUS	2621	7.5	2625
44	GM Sjugirov Sanan	RUS	2643	7.5	2594

The Prizes:

The first 25 share 113,700 € and there will be 15 special prizes totaling 6 300 € for the best 'performance minus rating' achievements.

1	20 000 €
2	15 000 €
3	11 000 €
4	8 000 €
5	7 000 €
6	6 000 €
7	5 500 €
8	5 000 €
9	4 500 €
10	4 000 €

down to 25th (1000 Euros).

The top 'special' prize was 1 000 €.

The previous champions:

Year	Player	Country
2000	Pavel Tregubov	RUS (FRA)
2001	Emil Sutovsky	ISR
2002	Bartolomej Macieja	POL
2003	Zurab Azmaiparashvili	GEO
2004	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR
2005	Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu	ROM
2006	Zdenko Kozul	HRV
2007	Vladislav Tkachiev	KAZ (FRA)
2008	Sergei Tiviakov	RUS (NED)
2009	Evgeny Tomashevsky	RUS
2010	Ian Nepomniachtchi	RUS

Here are some rules, one of the most controversial being 'Zero Tolerance' for later-comers. One just has to be at the board at the beginning of the round!

The championship was an 11-round Swiss and the rate of play: 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one.

For more information go to:Official site