Explosive start to chess championship in Turkey

by ChessBase
5/16/2004 – European Individual Chess Championship in Antalya started with a bang – literally. At midnight before the first round an energy building, 100 metres from the hotel, exploded! The fire was extinguished and technicians rushed in to get everything ready for the chess games, scheduled to start 13 hours later. We have pictures...

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Fifth European Individual Chess Championship

The European Individual Chess Championship is being staged by the Turkish Chess Federation, under the auspices of the European Chess Union and with the support of the General Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Turkish Republic. It runs from May 15 until May 30 2004 in Antalya, Kemer-Beldibi, Turkey. It is a 13-round Swiss, and the rate of play is 1.30 hours for the game + 30 seconds per move. The total prize fund is €45,000.

Starting with a bang

Ali Nihat Yazici, the President of Turkish Chess Federation, tells the harrowing story. The players arrived on Friday, May 14, and checked into the Nautilus Hotel Beldibi Kemer.

Above is the spectacular venue of the EICC 2004 – see our pictorial preview for more.

The first night, at midnight, everybody was dancing, drinking and relaxing before the 1st round. Nobody had problems and everything was going well. Then suddenly there was a big explosion. The energy unit of the hotel, which is located 100 metres from the main building, exploded!

The Fire Brigade was there in two minutes, but it took 45 minutes to extinguish the fire. Afterwards the energy building was covered in ashes and water.

What to do, with all the high voltage units completely destroyed by the fire?

Technicians and engineers of the Antalya City Electricity Administration worked all night to get things up and running before the start of the first round.

With a ten-minute delay the games could start!

A shock in round one: 37th seed Julian Radulski, an IM from Bulgaria sporting a 2497 rating, beat top seed Vassily Ivanchuk, Elo 2716. One must mention that the Ukraine world class player is suffering from flu.

This was not the only big surprise in round one. One of the bulletin boys, Serkan Kose, an affable 23-year-old student who is working on two PhDs, applied to play in this tournament. The Turkish Chess Federation agreed, especially since he promised to prepare the bulletin after the rounds.

In the first round Serkan, who has a 2244 rating (and, according to the official reports, weighs 130 Kg or 286 pounds), was pitted against German talent GM Arkadij Naiditsch. The chess amateur won a very nice game

Kose,S (2244) – Naitisch,A (2571) [B22]
5th European Chess Championship (1.22), 15.05.2004 [annotations by Serkan Kose]
1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Be2 e6 7.0-0 Nc6 8.h3 Bh5 9.Be3 cxd4 10.cxd4 Be7 11.Nc3 Qd6 12.Nb5 Qb8 13.Rc1 a6 14.Nc3 0-0 15.Na4 Nd5. The knight feels good on d5 16.Nc5 Rd8 17.Qb3 b5 18.Qd1 Qb6 19.Bd3 e5 20.Bxh7+ [20.g4 exd4 21.Bg5 Bg6 22.Bxg6 hxg6 23.Bxe7 Ndxe7–/+] 20...Kh8?= weakening the position. After 20...Kxh7 21.Ng5+ Kg6 the position is unclear] 21.Be4 f5± [21...Rac8!? is interesting 22.Bxd5 Rxd5+/=] 22.Bxf5 exd4 23.Nd7 Qb7+– [23...Qc7!? 24.Nde5 Nxe3 25.fxe3 dxe3±]

24.Rxc6! Better than holding on to the material. 24...Nxe3?? terrible, but the game is lost in any case: 24...Qxc6 25.Nxd4 Bxd1 26.Nxc6 Be2+–. 25.Rh6+!! a sacrifice that merits applause! 25...gxh6 26.Qxd4+ Kg8 27.fxe3 [or 27.Qxe3 and White can already relax: 27...Rxd7 28.Qxh6 Bf6 29.Bxd7 Bg7 30.Qxh5 Qxd7+–] 27...Rxd7 [27...Qc7 does not save the day: 28.Be6+! a disturbing check 28...Kh7 29.Qe4+ Kh8 30.Nfe5 Rxd7 31.Nxd7+–] 28.Bxd7 Rf8 29.Be6+! an unpleasant check 29...Kh7 [29...Bf7 there is nothing else anyway 30.Qg4+ Kh8+–] 30.Ne5 [30.Bd5 secures the point 30...Qc7 31.Be4+ Kg8 32.Qd5+ Bf7 33.Qf5+- #10/5] 30...Rxf1+ 31.Kxf1 Bf6 [31...Qc7 32.g4 Be8 33.Bf7 Bxf7 34.Nxf7+-] 32.Qf4! a beautiful, forced end to the game. 32...Qg7 [32...Bxe5 there is nothing better in the position: 33.Qxe5 Bf7+–] 33.Qe4+! a tough check to counter: 33...Kh8 34.Qa8+ Kh7 35.Bf5++–. 1-0,

Links

All Participants

SNo.   Name Rtg FED
1 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2716  UKR  
2 GM Milov Vadim 2680 SUI
3 GM Gurevich Mikhail 2672 BEL
4 GM Radjabov Teimour 2670 AZE
5 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2657 AZE
6 GM Nikolic Predrag 2648 BIH
7 GM Aronian Levon 2645 GER
8 GM Macieja Bartlomiej 2633 POL
9 GM Jobava Baadur 2616 GEO
10 GM Sargissian Gabriel 2614 ARM
11 GM Krasenkow Michal 2609 POL
12 GM Asrian Karen 2605 ARM
13 GM Markowski Tomasz 2605 POL
14 GM Navara David 2602 CZE
15 GM Agrest Evgenij 2601 SWE
16 GM Miroshnichenko Evgenij 2599 UKR
17 GM Anastasian Ashot 2587 ARM
18 GM Istratescu Andrei 2587 ROM
19 GM Kempinski Robert 2586 POL
20 GM Minasian Artashes 2585 ARM
21 GM Izoria Zviad 2573 GEO
22 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2571 GER
23 GM Andersson Ulf 2570 SWE
24 GM Kulaots Kaido 2567 EST
25 GM Stefansson Hannes 2567 ISL
26 IM Cheparinov Ivan 2555 BUL
27 GM Hulak Krunoslav 2550 CRO
28 GM Parligras Mircea 2549 ROM
29 GM Guseinov Gadir 2548 AZE
30 GM Nyback Tomi 2545 FIN
31 GM Chatalbashev Boris 2543 BUL
32 GM Stocek Jiri 2543 CZE
33 GM Halkias Stelios 2541 GRE
34 IM Petrosian Tigran L 2539 ARM
35 IM Smeets Jan 2531 NED
36 GM Iljushin Alexei 2529 RUS
37 IM Radulski Julian 2497 BUL
38 IM Mamedov Rauf 2494 AZE
39 GM Nedev Trajce 2489 MKD
40 IM Mastrovasilis Athanasios 2488 GRE
41 GM Akesson Ralf 2476 SWE
42   Pashikian Arman 2466 ARM
43 IM Drabke Lorenz 2453 GER
44 IM Van Der Stricht Geert 2450 BEL
45 IM Klinova Masha 2436 ISR
46 GM Jonkman Harmen 2421 NED
47 IM Neubauer Martin 2418 AUT
48 IM Mazi Leon 2417 SLO
49 IM Kristjansson Stefan 2404 ISL
50 IM Grunberg Mihai-Lucian 2401 ROM
51 IM Soylu Suat 2397 TUR
52 IM Haznedaroglu Kivanc 2395 TUR
53 IM Erdogdu Mert 2369 TUR
54 FM Thorfinnsson Bjorn 2345 ISL
55   Murtez Hondozi 2345 FID
56 IM Atakisi Umut 2344 TUR
57 WGM Mamedjarova Zeinab 2343 AZE
58   Iotov Valentin 2342 BUL
59 FM Bakalarz Mieczyslaw 2333 LUX
60 IM Yilmaz Turhan 2311 TUR
61 FM Karadeniz Emre 2310 TUR
62 IM Kilicaslan Hasan 2306 TUR
63 FM Bayram Yakup 2292 TUR
64   Erturan Yakup 2273 TUR
65   Esen Baris 2262 TUR
66 FM Erdogan Hakan 2252 TUR
67   Idrizaj Abedin 2249 FID
68   Kose Serkan 2244 TUR
69   Yeke Serkan 2238 TUR
70   Makoli Perparim 2228 FID
71   Ajvazi Ramadan 2225 FID
72   Bente Bjoern 2219 GER
73 WIM Mamedjarova Turkan 2191 AZE
74   Demirel Tolga 2183 TUR
75   Aleskerov Faik 2167 AZE
76 WFM Yildiz Betul Cemre 2108 TUR
77   Ersahin Bulent 2070 TUR
78   Avidu Arben 0 FID
79   Kollari Sabahudin 0 FID

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