Jobava dominates in Milan to re-enter live rating list
The Memorial E. Crespi in Milan is the strongest and biggest Italian open, with 290 players in various categories including 58 in the Master Group. Before the event, the organizers proudly announced top seed Baadur Jobava with the words "Dalla Georgia con furore" but probably didn't expect how true this would become.
Jobava scored 8.5/9 (TPR 2910) to finish two points clear of the field – part of his motivation to keep pressing may have been that he needed this result to regain and then keep a spot on the live rating list. GM Drazic said that the presence of Jobava 'killed' the tournament and predicted that he will soon become a top 20 player.
Most of Jobava's win were with rather simple, seemingly effortless but efficient chess. In the early rounds, two Italian youngsters played more spectacular games: In round 1, 14-year old Paolo Formento beat second seed GM Solodovnichenko in "coffeehouse style", one day later 19-year old FM Alessio Valsecchi upset GM David with a typical, here probably speculative Sicilian piece sacrifice. For Alberto David, who was born in Milan but currently plays for Luxemburg, this may have been 'déjà vu': last year he had lost in similar fashion to the eventual surprise winner, untitled American Matthew Herman. Formento eventually finished "about where he belongs in the field".
Valsecchi – from nearby Bergamo and a regular guest at the Milan chess scene – continued to play well, including in total 3/6 against GMs, to obtain his final IM norm. As he now also crossed Elo 2400 he will soon be an official IM. The very youngest player in the Master Group was 11-year old Luca Moroni who scored a respectable 3.5/9.
Selection of games
Final standings (top 30)
| # | Title | Name | Rtg | Perf | Pts | Buc1 | BucT |
| 1 | GM | Jobava Baadur | 2678 | 2910 | 8.5 | 46.50 | 50.50 |
| 2 | GM | Malaniuk Vladimir P | 2504 | 2582 | 6.5 | 47.00 | 50.00 |
| 3 | GM | Shishkin Vadim | 2449 | 2542 | 6.0 | 47.00 | 51.50 |
| 4 | GM | Drazic Sinisa | 2537 | 2570 | 6.0 | 47.00 | 50.50 |
| 5 | GM | Kosic Dragan | 2502 | 2538 | 6.0 | 44.50 | 48.50 |
| 6 | GM | David Alberto | 2597 | 2546 | 6.0 | 44.00 | 46.00 |
| 7 | GM | Solodovnichenko Yuri | 2629 | 2475 | 6.0 | 42.00 | 46.50 |
| 8 | IM | Colovic Aleksandar | 2451 | 2428 | 6.0 | 42.00 | 45.50 |
| 9 | IM | Bellia Fabrizio | 2418 | 2435 | 6.0 | 41.50 | 44.50 |
| 10 | GM | Sedlak Nikola | 2592 | 2494 | 5.5 | 48.50 | 53.00 |
| 11 | IM | Martinez Rolly | 2420 | 2469 | 5.5 | 47.00 | 51.00 |
| 12 | GM | Salvador Roland | 2500 | 2423 | 5.5 | 47.00 | 50.00 |
| 13 | GM | Lazic Miroljub | 2459 | 2394 | 5.5 | 46.00 | 50.00 |
| 14 | FM | Valsecchi Alessio | 2376 | 2528 | 5.5 | 45.50 | 49.50 |
| 15 | IM | Doric Darko | 2504 | 2471 | 5.5 | 45.00 | 49.00 |
| 16 | FM | Sbarra Marco | 2245 | 2378 | 5.5 | 39.00 | 43.00 |
| 17 | -- | Anurag Mhamal | 2222 | 2330 | 5.5 | 38.50 | 40.00 |
| 18 | -- | Massironi Marco | 2171 | 2264 | 5.5 | 37.50 | 41.00 |
| 19 | -- | Miracola Massimilian | 2007 | 2338 | 5.5 | 37.50 | 40.50 |
| 20 | FM | Bove Alessandro | 2369 | 2329 | 5.0 | 41.50 | 45.00 |
| 21 | IM | Stella Andrea | 2448 | 2283 | 5.0 | 40.50 | 44.50 |
| 22 | -- | Giretti Kanev Jasen | 2199 | 2404 | 5.0 | 39.50 | 42.50 |
| 23 | IM | Vezzosi Paolo | 2321 | 2230 | 5.0 | 37.00 | 40.00 |
| 24 | -- | Cacciola Alfredo | 2080 | 2183 | 5.0 | 34.50 | 36.00 |
| 25 | WIM | Brunello Marina | 2221 | 2281 | 4.5 | 40.50 | 43.00 |
| 26 | -- | Salmoiraghi Angelo | 2174 | 2205 | 4.5 | 40.00 | 44.00 |
| 27 | -- | Thakur Akash | 2324 | 2164 | 4.5 | 40.00 | 43.00 |
| 28 | -- | Formento Paolo | 2133 | 2218 | 4.5 | 38.50 | 42.00 |
| 29 | -- | Cani Gazmir | 2174 | 2209 | 4.5 | 38.50 | 42.00 |
| 30 | -- | Gongalov Bojan | 2084 | 2223 | 4.5 | 35.50 | 37.00 |
