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It all dates back to 1952 when the first Tatransky Pohar was played in Novy Smokovec, in the heart of Slovakia's High Tatras. Over the next 40 years the tournament continued as a round-robin with ten to sixteen players contending in the High Tatras villages of Stary Smokovec (26 times), Novy Smokovec (nine times), Tatranska Lomnica (four times), Strbske Pleso (once) and Poprad (once). The formula changed as of 1994, when the first open tournament involving 64 players was organized in Tatranska Lomnica. The next years saw a growing number of participants, with a tournament record of 257 competing in 2002 in Tatranske Zruby.
In this period, the tournament visited Tatranska Lomnica (four times) and Tatranske Matliare (once) before eventually settling in Tatranske Zruby, where it has been played fifteen times in a row since 2000. Besides the main events, the villages have also hosted side events such as solving contests in 1994 and 1996-2004, blitz tournaments, and even GM and IM round-robin tournaments. In its entire history since 1952, it has only failed to be organized three times: in 1961, 1993 and 1995.
High Tatras mountains in early autumn
The detailed statistics shows the overall number of participants in the tournament history (1952-2014) to equal 4198, including 49 GMs, 328 IMs, 204 FMs, 9 WGMs, 17 WIMs and 10 WFMs. On the starting lists containing the names of players from 40 countries, the strong majority comes from Slovakia (2306 participants in all) and the Czech Republic (1209), while other most represented countries include Poland (107), Russia (52), Ukraine (37), Hungary (34), France (30), Germany (26), Austria (23) and former Yugoslavia (23).
The LX OPEN Tatry tournament was held in Hotel Granit in Tatranske Zruby from September 28 to October 5, 2014. Bearing in mind Lukasz's slightly disappointing performance in the LIX Tatry Open tournament played in the previous year (he took 32nd place with 5.5/9; his older brother, Pawel was 29th), we headed to this year's tournament with a strong desire to improve on this.
The starting list included 243 players from fifteen countries, with a top-seeded quartet of players rated above 2400: IM Richard Biolek, IM Pavel Cech and IM Stanislav Jasny from Czech Republic and an unexpected winner of the International Championship of Slovakia 2013, IM Tomas Krnan from Canada.
Held in the Horsky Hotel Granit in Tatranske Zruby, the next round is about to begin...
With his 2314 FIDE rating, 16-year old FM Lukasz Jarmula from Poland was ranked fourteenth on the starting list, two places above another talented junior, fifteen-year-old Martin Najhebaver from Slovakia. The time control was 90 minutes for 40 moves and fifteen minutes until the end of the game plus an increment of 30 seconds per move. Since most of the rounds started at 6 PM, there was quite a lot of free time before the evening rounds, which we spent mostly by indulging ourselves in the beautiful sceneries of the High Tatras mountains, observed both on the mountain trails and from the quiet villages at the feet of the High Tatras.
Arbiter FA Jan Murin was responsible for live broadcast of seventeen games in every round.
It worked very well, and he is to be congratulated.
The first round brought some first surprises with losses of IM Tomas Krnan and IM Alois Lanc to players rated 200 Elo less. Lukasz had the black pieces against Slovakian FM Emil Klemanic and there ensued a Closed Sicilian game led to an unclear position. The resulting complications forced the opponent to sacrifice a piece in an attempt to build an attack. However, no successful follow-up was apparent and Lukasz easily converted his material advantage.
The second round brought a big surprise when top seed IM Richard Biolek (2432 FIDE) lost to Slovakian FM Norbert Zambor (2279 FIDE), despite being better while his opponent also fell into serious time-trouble as early as move twenty.
Another upset on the top boards was the loss of IM Ladislav Langner (2363 FIDE) to his compatriot FM Vladimir Belunek (2226 FIDE). In his game with white against untitled Austrian Bruno Steiner (ELO 2212) Lukasz outplayed his opponent positionally in the Ruy Lopez. Black's position was strategically lost by move 25 but his stubborn defense prolonged the game for another 30 moves without changing the outcome.
Panoramic view of Strbske Pleso. The structure slightly to the left is a ski jump.
We met this attractive animal on a path from Tatranske Zruby to Novy Smokovec
The third tournament day was the toughest one as two rounds were in the schedule, meaning twice more battle at the chess board and much less free time. Being accommodated in Novy Smokovec, we usually went to Tatranske Zruby by Tatra Electric Railway (TER). It was a kind of disadvantage in days with morning rounds, when Lukasz had to get up early enough to catch up the 8:02 train in Novy Smokovec to arrive on time for the round beginning at 9 AM. Strange, as the train travel lasted only a few minutes... However, the next train was to depart from Novy Smokovec one hour later, at 9:02 AM, which would mean arriving late.
The Tatra Electric Railway is the basic transportation system in High Tatras. Soon Lukasz
(in the foreground) and I will get in the train seen in the background to return to our place
in Novy Smokovec from the trip to Tatranska Lomnica.
Further representatives of the Tatranska fauna
The third round saw the next victory of FM Norbert Zambor, who managed to win with black against the number two seed Czech IM Pavel Cech while untitled 19-year old Slovakian Martin Pagerka (2297 FIDE), only ranked 18th on the starting lis, continued to surprise with his third consecutive win beating IM Sergej Berezjuk (2371 FIDE) with black. On board two Lukasz had the black pieces against FM Zoltan Zambo (ELO 2382) whom he beat after some dubious opening play by his opponent.
The late start of the rounds meant there was plenty of time to relax and enjoy Strbske Pleso
Round four saw few surprises, and in the fifth round, while FM Norbert Zambor continued his excellent run by winning convincingly with white against FM Tomas Vojta, on board two still. Lukasz had the black pieces against IM Leonid Kernazhitsky. White's harmless opening choice in the Exchange Ruy Lopez allowed Black to take over the initiative and fully use the potential of the bishop pair.
After round five, FM Zambor and FM Jarmula led with 4.5/5 trailed by three players with 4.0/5 in their account: Pagerka, IM Berezjuk and Najhebaver.
The rocks, the lake and landscape were always a source of pleasure
To be continued...
