10. ORDIX Open
Sunday, 8/17
Round 11
Crunch time in Mainz for the top boards, but not for Eric Lobron and
Ivan Sokolov. Their party was over after only 14 moves. The tall Dutchman
missed a unique chance to win the Ordix Open alone. However, he did not want to
take any risk in the final round and was happy with 9/11. Eric Lobron did not
want to win with the black pieces and was happy with his excellent score. This
short draw opened good chances for one of the other leaders Grishuk and Agrest
to win the Ordix this year. Grishuk started an attack and it did not last long
before the Swedish grandmaster had to resign. The top-seed scored 8 wins and 3
draws, and with 9,5/11 he won the 10th edition of the Ordix Open. Dramatic
scenes on board 3: Vallejo Pons blundered a rook in his last game against
Volokitin, spoiling his good tournament. Pinter and Epishin won important games
in the final round to secure a place in the top 10.
Standings after
11 rounds
1. Grishuk 9,5; 2-6. Sokolov, Lobron, Pinter, Epishin,
Volokitin. 7-16. Agrest, Miladinovic, Dreev, Chuchelov, Rustemov, Vaganjan,
Sadvakasov, Yusupov, Aronian, Meins 8,5
Women: 1-4
Gaponenko, Houska, Kiseleva, Berend 7,5
Senior price: 1.
Donchenko 7; 2-3. Khanukov, Rotstein 6,5.
Combination
Chess960/Ordix Open
1. Aronian. 2. Volokitin 3. Yusupov 4. Dreev
5. Pinter 6. Rustemov 7. Epishin 8. Grishuk 9. Zvjaginsev 10. Sokolov.
After their quick draw in the last round, your
roving reporter met Eric Lobron and Ivan Sokolov. They watched the decisive
game Grishuk-Agrest, enjoying a well-deserved glass of German Beer: This is
what they had to say:
Sokolov: Well, 22 games in 4 days
is a very tough schedule. With 500 players in an Open tournament, you normally
get 3 or 4 Patzers and than it starts getting interesting. But here, I had to
play against weak players in the first 2 rounds and after that I had to play
against strong grandmasters like Vaganjan, Agrest and Vallejo Pons. My strategy
was easy: I tried to win as many games as possible and than try to reduce the
pace and watch what the others players do. I did not want to take any more
risks in the last round against Lobron, because you can spoil the whole
tournament in one last round by a single mistake. Maybe I should have taken
more risk in my game against Vaganjan. I have played my best game of the
tourney against Vallejo Pons. It was funny that I mated my opponents Vallejo
and Agrest this morning, normally you do not get the chance to mate yor
opponent on this level. But as I said, 22 games in 4 days is tough and I
don´t want to see a chessboard for a few days. It would be a good idea to
have a rest day between the Chess960 tournament and the Ordix Open. My next
tournament is the European Club Championship that will be played in Greece next
month.”
Lobron: Off course I am happy with the
result. I played a couple of very good games, e.g. against Chuchelov. The fact
that I could beat Milov was very important for me. In most of our games, I have
a very good position, but I have never won a game against him, That is why I
was so happy after that particular game and after that I kept playing good
chess. I agree with Ivan: Chess960 is very tiring because you have to think
from move one on. A rest day would be a good idea.
Tournament winner Alexander
Grishuk stepped by to talk to Chess Classic press officer Hartmut Metz
and Chess Tigers press officer Eric van Reem:
Is this the first
tournament you play in Germany?
No, I can rember that I played in
Duisburg 1992, in the youth world championship. Luke McShane won that tourney
and Vallejo Pons, who has been playing in Mainz as well. I scored 8,5/11, but I
lost to McShane.
How did you like the Chess960 tournament?
My
favourite player used to be Bobby Fischer but after this Chess960 tournament I
am not sure anymore. I was very dissapointed with my play in the tournament. I
lost interest in the tourney after I lost a game and I have to say that I was
not really concentrated. It was like playing cards or checkers.
Aronian
won the tournament. Did that surprise you?
I think that winner Aronian
and players like Zvjagintsev are much better in Chess960 than I am. During the
games I watched the screens on stage to see how they handled the initial
position. They are very talented Chess960 players and I have to admit that I
envy them. Positively, off course!
You won the Ordix Open with a
fantastic score of 9,5/11! Tell us something about your games, please.
You have to score heavy to the tournament in this field with more than 50
grandmasters. I told to my friends that I wanted to stay two rounds on stage in
the Ordix Open, but I did was not too optimistic after the Chess960 Open. I had
a very tough game again Pähtz, but the other games were normal. The games
against Lobron was good.Actually, it is the first time in about three years
that I won a tournament! I have scored 5 2nd places in the last few years.
In the game against Sokolov you sacrificed a piece. Was it sound?
Ivan played a brilliant game. He played very good moves and I thought that only
a computer would find such defending moves. I really thought that I would win
that game.
And in the next game you had to defend against
Dreev.
Yes, but I think his piece sacrifice was not sound. Maybe it
was a blunder. I had to find some precise moves.
Thank you very much,
Alexander and we hope to see you back again next year in Mainz!
Round
10
Another draw for Ivan the Terrible. It seems that the Dutchman has
lost his “flow”. Against Vladimir Epishin he was content with a draw
after a few moves. Maybe he will show his ELO-strenght (2693) in the last round
again? Alexander Grishuk also seems to save the best for last. He made a quick
draw against Vallejo Pons. These draws opened up possibilities for the other
players like Agrest, who won his game against Chuchelov. In a drawish position,
the rapid chess specialist kept fighting for his chance and in the end he was
succesfull. And another player has 8,5 points: Eric Lobron, who won a subtle
bishop ending with the black pieces against Vaganjan.
In the last and
final round the four leaders can not afford to make a quick draw, because there
are no less than 10 players with 8 points: Volokitin, Vallejo Pons, Glek,
Epishin, Tregubov, Pinter, Yusupov, Rustemov, Sadvakasov, and Meins.
Round
9
Which is the best strategy in such an exhausting and immensly tough
tournament like the Ordix Open? Is Sokolov following the right strategy? He won
seven games in a row, escaped against Grishuk in round 8 and extended his lunch
break by making a quick draw against Vaganjan to save his strength for the last
two rounds. They are teammates in Porz and they obviously did not want to hurt
each other. Is it a good idea to stop a winning streak by taking a break?
Playing chess is a continuous flow - it can be very hard to stop, because
you're always in the middle of dozens of different variantions. The Dutchman
now has to share the lead with Alexander Grishuk who kept his cool after a
spectacular piece sac from his Russian fellow countryman Dreev. In the endgame,
Dreev blundered a rook and had to resign immediately. Nevertheless, the Russian
showed his fighting spirit and that is what the audience wants to see. Eric
Lobron and Vallejo battled it out until the end. The electronic boards could
not keep up the pace of the two fighters on stage. Suddenly the game was over,
and the result was a draw. Because of the draws on the top boards, some other
players who had 6,5/8 came closer to the top: Belgian number 1 Vladimir
Chuchelov won his game against Zvjaginsev, Agrest won a dead endgame against
Aronian, Epishin is back with his win over Iordachescu and Pinter won against
Miladinovic.
Round
8
Three draws on the top-3 boards! Grishuk sacrificed a piece
against Sokolov but the Dutchman found the only way to survive the attack. So
he is still in the lead with 7,5/8. Vallejo Pons won a rookending against
Alexander Huzman. The Spanish star, who is going to play Bundesliga next season
in Baden-Oos, joined a group of pursuers with Rafael Vaganjan, Alexander
Grishuk and Eric Lobron. They all have seven points. Lobron is one of the 9
players who played in all Ordix Open tournaments and he is also the leader of
the all-time Ordix tournament list. Chess960 Open winner Levon Aronian missed
the opportunity to join that elite group. In a winning position he missed a
perpetual. With three more round to go it is impossible to predict who is going
to win the Ordix Open, since there are 12 players with 6,5/8. Best female
player is Natalia Kiseleva with 5,5 points.
Round
7
Ivan Sokolov seems to have the “flow” in the game he
won in round seven against Evgenij Agrest. Every computer games knows the
“flow”- feeling that you get when you are really lost into
cyberworld. Every response you make provokes a reaction from the computer,
which leads to a new response, and so on, as the loop from the screen to your
eyes to your fingers on the keyboard to the computer to the screen becomes a
single cybernetic circuit. We could translate this for chess as follows: every
move you make provokes a reaction from your opponent, which leads to a new
move, and so on, as the loop from the board to your fingers to your eyes to the
pieces becomes a chessgame. More down to earth was Eric Lobron´s reaction
after he won his game against Vadim Milov: “Yes, finally I got you! The
German player said after the game that he had never won a game agaisnt Milov
before despite good or even winning positions. Grishuk won his second game of
the day and has the task try to stop Sokolovs “flow”in the next
round.
Round 6
The amount of
players with a 100% score has shrunk: Sokolov and Agrest won their games and
are the two players with 6/6. They are going to battle in out against each
other in round 7. The time control of 25 minutes per games guarantees exciting
time scrables for the staggered audience. A combination of nerves of steel and
fast fingers is needed to survive the Ordix Open. Ex youth world champion
Darmen Sadvakasov showed some amazing fast moves with only 7 seconds on the
clock against Romuald Manka. He saved a completey lost position. Dirk Poldauf,
editor of the renowned German chess magazine “Schach” did not have a
time problem in his game against Volokitin. He played 25 minutes in 2 minutes
in a special variation of the French game and easily won the game on time in a
better position. Artur Yusupov (black) played an interesting endgame against
Rolf Schlindwein, but they agreed to a draw in this position: W: Kg5 Rh7 Na7 B:
Kc8 Re3 pawn on c5 and b4 and start your endgame database. Would you have
played on?
Prize-Giving Ceremony 5:30h p.m.
Saturday,
8/16
Round 5
Sokolov continued his winning streak in the last
round of the day. won his game against Alexander Rustemov, but he was very
lucky that the Russian player made a terrible blunder. “I should have lost
this game”, the exhausted Dutchman said after the game. “I need to
relax tonight and I plan to have some fine red whine toghether with my friend,
American Grandmaster Nick de Firmian. Webmasters advice: ” Don´t
drink too much Ivan! There are still six more rounds to play." The winner of
the Chess960 Open, Levon Aronian celebrated a bit too much last night, but
still managed to score 4 points today. “Well, maybe Ches960 is not that
bad, because I could not remember all the opening variations anymore. But maybe
it has something to do with the fact that I have been celebrating until 3
o´clock last night. Tonight I will go to bed early!” On the top
board, Evegeni Agrest won a beautiful game against Dreev and takes the lead
with 5/5 together with Sokolov, Kasimdhanov, Vallejo Pons and Iordachescu. 14
players have 4,5/5 and we see names like Tkachiev (who can play brilliant chess
when he is sober) , and young Grandmaster Fabian Döttling, who is playing
for Baden-Oos.Best female player is Jovanka Houska, with 4/5.
Round 4
Elisabeth Pähtz
got a free endgame lesson from Alexander Grishuk: how to win a rookending with
one pawn up? The young Russian won his game with the black pieces against the
winner of the Chess960 women´s price. A bad round for the German
favourites: on board one Artur Yusupov had a promising position against Dreev,
but he spent too much time. The players do not get a bonus in the Ordix Open:
25 minutes per game. One of the fastest players in the chess circus is Roland
Schmaltz, well know in the Internet with his nickname “Hawkeye”. Time
was on his side in his game against…m (8 minutes for Hawkeye, 30 seconds
for…., he had just one problem: the position was lost. Thomas Luther lost
his game against Rustam Kazimdhanov with white: His time was up in a lost
position. Ivan Sokolov saw a familiar face on stage: Igor Glek.The Dutchman won
the Chess960 game and in this round the Dutchman showed his strength again.
Round 3
The grandmasters still
have no real problems with lower rated players, only Grishuk could not avoid a
dead bishop endgame against IM Leonid Milov. The proud winner of the Chess960
Open, Levon Aronian, played a draw against “Grace” Elisabeth
Pähtz. And the women are strong in this round: roving ChessBase reporter
Anna Dergachova-Daus made a comfortable draw against Bogdan Lalic. An even
better result for WGM Jovanka Houska: she won her game against Bulgarian GM
Vladimir Georgiev.
Round 2
We see a lot of
familiar faces in the Ordix Open. Most grandmasters played in the Chess960 Open
as well and now they have to play 11 rounds with position 518, better known as
the classical starting position. Grishuk seems to feel fine on stage, since he
won on board one again. You can watch the five top board live! And when you are
lucky you can see surprises like the draw Wolfgang Schlüter (ELO 2256)
scored against German number one Alexander Graf (ELO 2659)
Round 1
When will Jens
Beutel,the Mayor of Mainz, start his career as a professional chessplayer?
After his fight against Alexei Dreev (Russia) Chess Classic organiser
Hans-Walter Schnitt said that Beutel should quit his job. By the way, Schmitt
offered to take over Beutel´s job as Mayor! After 107 moves Beutel had to
resign. Unfortunaltely he missed several opportunities to score a draw. IM Otto
Borik, editor of the chess magazin Schach Magazin 64 was impressed:
“Beutel should play in the Bundesliga”. On the first board Alexander
Grishuk had a good start against chessclub Frankfurt-West champion Dr. Michael
Tischendorf.
It is the 10th Ordix Open this year. Almost 500 professional
players and amateurs play in one open group. 53 players have a GM title, 25% of
the players have an international titel, making the Ordix.Open the strongest
rapid chess tournament in the world. |
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