Van Wely Wins 4th Berkeley International
Dutch GM Loek Van Wely (pictured) took first prize in the 4th Berkeley International, organised by Arun Sharma and David Pruess of Chess.com which ran from 2-8 January.
Over 50 players competed in a 10-round Swiss format, with many being familiar names to Chess.com members!
The tournament also provided an opportunity for many players to attempt to gain title norms, and several were successful, including Sam Shankland who finally achieved his third GM norm.
The final standings:
| Name | Rtg | Pts | Prize | |
| 1 | GM Loek van Wely | 2676 | 8.0 | $3000 |
| 2 | GM Sergey Erenburg | 2600 | 7.5 | $1500 |
| 3 | GM Magesh Panchanathan | 2537 | 7.0 | $1000 |
| 4 | GM Timur Gareev | 2605 | 6.5 | |
| 5 | GM Josh Friedel | 2508 | 6.5 | |
| 6 | IM Sam Shankland | 2498 | 6.5 | GM Norm |
| 7 | FM Daniel Naroditsky | 2419 | 6.5 | IM Norm |
| 8 | FM Conrad Holt | 2388 | 6.5 | IM Norm |
| 9 | SM Denys Shmelov | 2357 | 6.5 | GM Norm |
| 10 | WFM Tatev Abrahamyan | 2327 | 6.5 | WGM Norm |
| 11 | GM Axel Bachmann | 2548 | 6.0 | |
| 12 | IM Lev Milman | 2467 | 6.0 | |
| 13 | IM Daniel Rensch | 2393 | 6.0 | |
| 14 | IM Dmitry Zilberstein | 2386 | 6.0 | |
| 15 | SM Roman Yankovsky | 2359 | 6.0 | |
| 16 | FM Keaton Kiewra | 2337 | 6.0 | |
| 17 | GM Robert Hess | 2572 | 5.5 | |
| 18 | GM Jesse Kraai | 2516 | 5.5 | |
| 19 | GM Anatoly Bykhovsky | 2510 | 5.5 | |
| 20 | IM Robert Ris | 2418 | 5.5 | |
| 21 | IM Max Cornejo | 2413 | 5.5 | |
| 22 | IM Davorin Kuljasevic | 2545 | 5.0 | |
| 23 | GM Dejan Bojkov | 2544 | 5.0 | |
| 24 | IM Sam Collins | 2436 | 5.0 | |
| 25 | IM Zhanibek Amanov | 2421 | 5.0 | |
| 26 | IM Istvan Sipos | 2409 | 5.0 | |
| 27 | IM Mark Ginsburg | 2393 | 5.0 | |
| 28 | NM Yian Liou | 2285 | 5.0 | |
| 29 | FM Bela Evans | 2262 | 5.0 | |
| 30 | Michael Kleinman | 2127 | 5.0 | |
| 31 | NM Jarod Pamatmat | 2100 | 5.0 | |
| 32 | IM Siddharth Ravichandran | 2458 | 4.5 | |
| 33 | FM Darwin Yang | 2421 | 4.5 | |
| 34 | IM David Pruess | 2377 | 4.5 | |
| 35 | IM Alfonso Almeida | 2356 | 4.5 | |
| 36 | FM Shivkumar Shivaji | 2303 | 4.5 | |
| 37 | NM Ankit Gupta | 2258 | 4.5 | |
| 38 | NM Kayden Troff | 2247 | 4.5 | |
| 39 | FM Dale Haessel | 2198 | 4.5 | |
| 40 | NM Konstantin Kavutskiy | 2170 | 4.5 | |
| plus 18 others |
Once the players have recovered from their exertions we should hear more about their experiences in their articles and blogs right here at Chess.com! Planned live coverage of the event ran foul of technical problems - apologies to all those who were disappointed.
The playing hall at the 4th Berkeley International Chess Tournament
