3rd HMC Calder Cup gets creative

by Albert Silver
7/4/2014 – The HMC Calder Cup celebrated its third edition, with a series of entertaining activities and events. Among them was a grandmaster tournament as befits it, but there was also a small very strong rapid round-robin with Anish Giri and Rustam Kasimdzhanov, a girl-guy team match, and even a sort of chessboxing competition in which the boxing was replaced by table tennis!

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The HMC Calder Cup is so named as a result of its sponsor, the Alexander Calder company in Holland. The company is named after the prestigious American sculptor Alexander Calder (1898-1976), who was behind the concept of mobiles, and whose work can be seen all over the world.

Nubes flotantes (Floating clouds) (1953), Aula Magna, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela

If you now expect the company to have been founded by the artist, or that it deals with art, think again. The corporate website explains the name: "Alexander Calder's mobile is a metaphor for our way of working as a company. Looking at the various options for job seekers provides new approaches, points of view and perspectives for our customers."

Naming a company after an artist based on a metaphor of their work: chapeau. (NdT: hat's off)

The grandmaster tournament was designed to allow Dutch talents an opportunity to close the deal for norms or titles, and the pre-tournament favorite for this was IM Twan Burg (2506). While the Dutch player did indeed score the best among his compatriots, his third place 5.0/9 was short of the mark.

Alon Greenfeld analyzes with Daniel Fridman after their game

Alon Greenfeld scored a win over Willy Hendriks in an entertaining game

[Event "HMC Calder Cup 2014"] [Site "Rosmalen NED"] [Date "2014.06.23"] [Round "4.2"] [White "Greenfeld, Alon"] [Black "Hendriks, Willy"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A46"] [WhiteElo "2545"] [BlackElo "2390"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2014.06.20"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 c6 7. Nc3 a6 {A setup that is designed to gain active counter play before White can stifle it.} 8. e4 Nfd7 ({Why not} 8... Nbd7 $2) 9. Bg5 b5 10. c5 dxc5 11. dxc5 a5 ({The tactical justification of the move is after} 11... Nxc5 $4 12. Qxd8 Rxd8 13. Bxe7 $18) 12. e5 b4 $2 {The biggest problems with this move is that it weakens the queenside, and more importantly does not help solve Black's development issues. Notice how the queenside pieces have yet to leave their nest.} 13. Na4 h6 14. Be3 Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Qxd1 16. Rfxd1 Bxe5 17. Bxh6 Re8 18. Re1 Bf6 19. Rad1 Ba6 { Diagram [#]} 20. Rd6 {An unpleasant move to face, threatening to take on f6, and that aims to exploit Black's underdeveloped situation.} e6 21. Rxc6 Ra7 $6 ({Both players seem to have overlooked an elemental tactic that holds Black's position.} 21... Nxc6 22. Bxc6 g5 $1 {and the trapped bishop on h6 means Black will survive.}) 22. Rb6 Rc8 ({Again, Black could play} 22... g5 $1 {and White has no choice but to play} 23. h4 {to be able to get out.} gxh4 {though White would still have a large advantage.}) 23. Bf4 Nd7 {Diagram [#]} 24. Rxa6 $1 Rxa6 25. Bb7 Rac6 26. Bxc8 Rxc8 27. Nb6 Rd8 ({Not} 27... Nxb6 $2 28. cxb6 {and it's over.} e5 29. Rxe5 $1 Bxe5 30. Bxe5 {and Black cannot stop b7-b8, except by giving up the rook.}) 28. Bc7 Nxc5 29. Bxd8 Bxd8 30. Nc4 a4 31. Kf1 Bf6 32. Ke2 Bd4 33. Rd1 e5 34. f4 f6 35. fxe5 fxe5 36. Nxe5 $1 Bxb2 37. Nd3 Nxd3 38. Kxd3 Bf6 39. Kc4 b3 40. axb3 a3 41. Rd2 Bb2 42. Rd8+ $1 {followed by Ra8.} 1-0

The trophy

Sopiko Guramishvili posted a solid result with 4.0/9, performing over her rating

Tournament winner Konstantin Landa greets IM Jeroen Bosch with a hearty smile

Both Daniel Fridman and Konstantin Landa had a superb tournament with 7.5/9 each and
played a two-game blitz tiebreak to decide gold. Landa won 2-0.

Landa receives his first prize from the tournament director René Olthof: a bottle of wine and a shoe

Final standings of GM tournament

There was also a small rapid tournament organized with Anish Giri, Rustam Kasimdzhanov,
Daniel Fridman, and Benjamin Bok. Games were played at 10m + 3s with each player facing
the other four times, alternating colors.

Giri was the obvious favorite and he lived up to it as he won with 8.5/12

In second was Benjamin Bok who turned in an excellent result with
6.5/12 and a 2722 performance

Standings of Rapid tournament

While chessboxing challenges the athletes to play a game of chess and then a couple of rounds in the ring, with both scores counting equally, here they swapped the boxing for table tennis. The players played two five-minute blitz games and then a set of table tennis to 20.

A final group shot with everyone

Pictures from official site


Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.


Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.

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