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Ponomariov and Vallejo Pons Cuernavaca Co-Champions; Nakamura 3rd

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Ponomariov and Vallejo Pons Cuernavaca Co-Champions; Nakamura 3rd

In a tournament featuring most of the world's top young grandmasters it was experience that ruled the day, as Ruslan Ponomariov and Francisco Vallejo Pons shared first place with scores of 6.5/9. Ponomariov and Vallejo Pons, both veterans of the super-tournament circuit, draw their final round game quietly to clinch a share of the lead.

American champion Hikaru Nakamura put together another strong performance, scoring 6/9 to take clear 3rd place. Nakamura won four games while losing just one, including impressive victories over Andrei Volokitin and Ivan Cheparinov.

The most disappointing result of the tournament likely belonged to Sergey Karjakin, the Ukranian youngster who was coming off a strong performance in Wijk aan Zee. Fatigue from the Corus tournament may have played a role in his scoring just 3.5 points, good enough for 8th place in the 10 player field.

Here are the complete final standings:

Ponomariov, Ruslan 6.5/9
Vallejo Pons, Francisco 6.5
Nakamura, Hikaru 6.0
Dominguez, Lenier 5.5
Bruzon, Lazaro 5.0
Volokitin, Andrei 4.5
Cheparinov, Ivan 4.0
Karjakin, Sergey 3.5
Leon Hoyos, Manuel 2.0
Felgaer, Ruben 1.5

One other notable performance was that of local up-and-coming star Manuel Leon Hoyos. While a 9th place finish in a field of 10 may not seem like an accomplishment, the young Mexican IM was by far the lowest rated competitor (2428) in the event, and managed a win against Cheparinov.

Here is Nakamura's final round win over Cheparinov, which earned him 3rd place:

White: Nakamura, H (2644)
Black: Cheparinov, I (2625)
Cuernavaca Young Masters, Round 9
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5 7. e5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Nxg5 hxg5 10. Bxg5 Nbd7 11. g3 Qa5 12. exf6 Ba6 13. a3 O-O-O 14. Bg2 Nc5 15. O-O Nb3 16. Qf3 Bb7 17. Rad1 b4 18. Ne4 bxa3 19. bxa3 Rd5 20. Be3 Bxa3 21. h4 c3 22. Qe2 Bb2 23. Qc2 Na1 24. Rxa1 Bxa1 25. Nc5 Rxc5 26. dxc5 Bb2 27. Rd1 Rd8 28. Be4 Rxd1+ 29. Qxd1 c2 30. Bxc2 Bxf6 31. Qh5 Qc7 32. Qh7 Ba6 33. Qg8+ Kb7 34. h5 Bc4 35. h6 Bd5 36. h7 Qe5 37. Qxf7+ Kc8 38. Qe8+ Kb7 39. Qd7+ Qc7 40. Qxc7+ Kxc7 41. g4 Kd7 42. g5 Bh8 43. g6 Ke7 44. Bg5+ 1-0