05/07/2014

Ding Liren managed to retain his title at the 5th Hainan Danzhou tournament


Arkadij Naiditsch took over the lead from Bu as he defeated him in a direct confrontation in round 4. It looks like things went wrong for Black right after the opening
Ding Liren managed to retain his title at the 5th Hainan Danzhou tournament. In the last round, on Friday, the 21-year-old grandmaster from Wenzhou defeated Xiu Deshun with the black pieces to reach a 6.5/9 score. In doing so, he caught tournament leader Bu Xiangzhi in first place.
As it turned out, Ding had the better tiebreak, and so he won the tournament ahead of Bu. The two Western participants, Arkadij Naiditsch and Ruslan Ponomariov, tied for third place with 5.5/9.
The 5th edition of the annual tournament in Hainan took place 25 June -- 4 July in Danzhou, in the Hainan province of China. The tournament was a 10-player round robin and the prize fund was 320,000 yuan (€37,944 or U.S. $51,573).
These were the participants (and their June 2014 ratings): Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2723), Ding Liren (China, 2714), Arkadij Naiditsch (Germany, 2714), Bu Xiangzhi (China, 2693), Yu Yangyi (China, 2675), Wei Yi (China, 2634), Ma Qun (China, 2609), Zhao Jun (China, 2603), Zhou Weiqi (China, 2601) and Xiu Deshun (China, 2550). Normally Hou Yifan also plays, but she was active in Georgia at the Lopota Women's Grand Prix. Other notable players missing were Wang Hao, Wang Yue and Ni Hua.