Igor Kovalenko wins Zalakaros Open

Igor Kovalenko wins Zalakaros Open

By Sagar Shah in Hungary

Our adventures in the European continent continue. After having a successful tournament in Lille, Amruta (my wife) and I went to the land of Paprika, Goulash, and medicinal and thermal waters – Hungary. Our flight landed in Budapest, but the Zalakaros Open, which is the biggest open event to be held in the country, was to take place in a small town, 200 kilometres away from the capital city.

Zalakaros is a spa resort, located in western Hungary.
It is the smallest town in the country with an area of only 17.17 sq.kms.

There is a highway which connects Budapest to Zalakaros. The easiest way to reach the town
is by bus from Budapest-Nepliget station, and it takes around two and half hours.

Zalakaros is so quiet and peaceful that you can hardly spot any people,
and on almost any given occasion you can hear chirping of birds in the background

As you can understand from the above picture, the place where the tournament was held was tranquil and harmonious, but the fight for the top spot in the event was the complete opposite. It would be violent, bloody and brutal. Going into the last round, the sixth seeded Igor Kovalenko (2650), who was on 6.5/8, had a half-point lead over three other players – Ragger, Adhiban and Boruchovsky. His game with Ragger was quite evenly balanced until move 36, and then funny and unusual things started to happen.

Igor Kovalenko (left) against Markus Ragger. You know that it was a fighting last round
when the top board battle goes on for 122 moves!

The champion of Zalakaros Open 2015: Igor Kovalenko from Latvia went back home with
the winner’s trophy and a cash prize of 1,400,000 Hungarian Forints (approximate US $4,960)

The 34th Zalakaros Chess Festival was held from the 14th to the 22nd of May 2015 at the Hotel Karos Spa. It was a nine-round Swiss event with one round being played every day. The time control was 40 moves in 90 minutes, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game and a 30-second increment from move one. There were two tournaments: the A group for those above 2300 Elo and a B group for those below 2400. The A group was an extremely strong event with 29 GMs and 24 IMs in a field of 80 players. The Elo average of the tournament was an impressive 2420. Vladimir Onischuk (2669) was the top seed, with many strong players like Ragger, Berkes, Efimenko, Melkumyan, Kovalenko, Adhiban and others fighting for the title.

The playing venue, Hotel Karos Spa, is a four star luxury property

The tournament hall was bright and spacious. The chess boards and pieces were
of excellent quality, with each and every game being transmitted live online

The early tournament leader was GM Avital Boruchovsky,
the young 18-year-old talent from Israel

He led the tournament until round seven with a score of 6.0/7, a half point ahead of the rest. His scalps included GM Tamas Banusz, GM Gabor Papp and GM Dennis Wagner. Avital’s biggest strength is his attacking chess. He is also well prepared in the openings. And when then the two combine you get a nearly flawless game.

It seemed as if Avital would run away with the tournament, but the man from Latvia had some other plans! Igor Kovalenko started the tournament with a loss. But he fought back, scoring 6.5 points in the next seven rounds to take the sole lead. The things which are truly amazing about Kovalenko are his fighting spirit and recklessly bold approach. He doesn’t really care much about openings, the objective evaluation of the line or the latest theoretical status. These are important points for theoretical experts, not a practical player like Igor. His main strength is connected with his dynamic play and taking rational decisions in complex positions.

Even some health issues didn’t stop Igor from scoring an impressive win against Efimenko

You must take a look at Kovalenko’s games from this tournament. He was dead lost in some of them, but fought back, most importantly in the last round against Ragger. His game against GM Antal Gergely was the perfect example of how Igor plays weird material imbalances like a rook + knight + bishop against queen + three pawns in a superb practical manner. When he was asked for his best game in the tournament, he mentioned the crucial eighth round encounter against Avital Boruchovksy, where he was able to wrest the lead from his opponent.

The secret to winning a strong open: always have a positive attitude

Avital Boruchovsky drew his last round game against B. Adhiban to finish second. In the third spot was the strong Austrian GM Markus Ragger.

Four hours into the last round, Markus Ragger had the best chance to win the tournament. But in the end he had to settle for the third place. Ragger was maybe the most consistent player in the tournament. He remained unbeaten and performed at an excellent Elo of 2734.

India’s B. Adhiban finished fourth with 6.5/9

Top final rankings (after nine rounds)

• Full results and standings for all 80 players

GM Adam Horvath finished fifth, but he got the higher prize for
the best Hungarian player: 600,000 Forints (approximately US $2125 )

The second best Hungarian player, GM Gabor Papp, who started strongly with 4.0/5, lost two games
to Boruchovsky and Adhiban, but made it up with a last round win against GM Zoltan Medvegy

IM Szidonia Vajda (2333) was the best woman player at the event

A few words must be said about this 35-year-old lady. Szidonia was surely the most deserving woman player in the event. She beat GM Danny Raznikov (2494), IM Peter Schreiner (2449) and GM Tamas Banusz (2589). She resumed playing active chess only a year ago – prior to that, she had taken a break from chess in order to focus on her family. Since last year or so she has been training regularly with GM Joszef Horvath and her results in this event show that their work is not in vain. Vajda came to the tournament with her two little kids (as can be seen in the above picture) and one can only imagine how difficult it must have been for her to perform the double role of mother and chess player. Hats off to this strong-willed and determined chess player.

FM Balazs Csonka (2433) scored 5.0/9 and won the prize for the best Hungarian junior

IM Bogdan-Daniel Deac scored a GM norm

Bogdan-Daniel, just 14 years of age, is currently the most talented player in Romania. He scored 5.5/9 in Zalakaros, gaining 23 Elo points, with a performance of 2621. Particularly impressive was the opposition against whom he “held fort” (as cricketers would say). To remain unbeaten against the likes of Ruck, Wagner, Prohaszka, Adhiban and Donchenko is not an easy task. We will hear much more in future about this young lad.

IM Robert Kreisl played a great tournament, beating Onischuk, Donchenko and Ruck, but was unlucky
to miss out on his GM norm when he couldn’t draw his last round game against GM Peter Prohaszka

GM Zahar Efimenko had a forgettable event as he scored just 5.0/9 and finished 22nd

Playing against your better half is not an easy task as the author
of these lines discovered in the sixth round of the tournament

It was the first time after marriage that I faced Amruta. Imagine travelling together for the last 40 days, sharing preparation, notes, advising each other – and now all of a sudden you have to play against that same person! We both decided to play a full-fledged game of chess, not agreeing to a draw, as many couples would have done. Our idea was to show that it is possible for players to have the best of relations off the board and be mortal enemies on it. Of course this was easier said than done. I think, finishing off a won game against your spouse, best friend or sparring partner is the most difficult thing and requires you to have great nerves. Maybe that’s something both of us must learn in the future. Even though I didn’t gain much by winning against my wife, we both came out as psychologically stronger individuals from this game.

Super-strong siblings: Csaba and Jozsef Horvath

According to my research, the strongest siblings (rating-wise) in the world are Andrey and Sergei Zhigalko. I met Andrey in the Lucopen in Lille but Sergei wasn’t playing. The second strongest siblings are the Vovk brothers. Once again I met Andrey in Metz but Yuri wasn’t playing. In Zalakaros, I met the third strongest siblings in the world – and both of them were playing! In the picture above, you can see Csaba Horvath who is the younger one on the left and Jozsef Horvath on the right.

Interacting with a true legend of the game: Oleg Romanishin

Ukrainian grandmaster Oleg Romanishin needs no introduction. He is 63 years old and one of the living legends of the game. Back in the 70s and 80s he crossed swords with the likes of Tal, Petrosian, Spassky and Smyslov, and scored victories against each of them. He continues to play at a high level and in the 2000s has beaten super-elite players like Adams and Ivanchuk. In my autograph book of famous players I always ask them to quote one of their own games that they are especially proud of, Romanishin mentioned three exceptional battles. Watch out for an article on that soon.

IM Imre Fancsy won the B category tournament with 7.5/9.

To final rankings or the Chess Festival B U 2400 (after nine rounds)

One of Hungary’s strongest players, Ferenc Berkes (left, with the famous writer
and author Tibor Karolyi) finished eighth in the tournament

Zoltan Medvegy and Csaba Balogh (who was not playing at the event),
a member of the Hungarian National team.

Beautiful cafes and restaurants adorn the streets of Zalakaros

The weekend market has some very nice and original stuff on sale …

Naturally Amruta was hooked

Tamas Horvath, the main organizer, who makes this beautiful tournament happen

I had a wonderful time in Zalakaros. If you are looking to combine a place where you can enjoy clean, pollution-free air with beautiful landscapes, greenery and thermal body massage along with a super-strong chess tournament, Zalakaros is the place to be.

Pictures by Amruta Mokal

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN You can use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.