Ivan Ivanisevic triumphs in Zalakaros

by Srinath Narayanan
6/14/2016 – The open in Zalakaros has a long tradition and there are a number of good reasons why people like to visit the small Hungarian spa town to play chess. The surroundings are beautiful, the tournament is well organised and the field is strong. The 35th edition of the Zalakaros Open was won by the Serbian GM Ivan Ivanisevic with 7.0/9.

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The 35th Zalakaros Open was played from 27th May to 4th June in the Hotel Karos Spa in Zalakaros, a beautiful little spa town in the Balaton lake region of Hungary. Zalakaros is the smallest town in the country: 1791 people live on an area of just 17.17 square kilometers.

The decision about the victory in the Zalakaros Open fell in the penultimate round. After seven rounds GM Levente Vajda, GM Ivan Ivanisevic and GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov were leading the field with 5.5/7 each. In the eight round Ivanisevic and Rakhmanov were paired and Ivanisevic won this crucial game:

The decisive game: Ivan Ivanisevic (right, with White) against Aleksandr Rahkmanov

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 e4 5.Nd2 Bf5 6.e3 c6 7.Be2 d5 A rare line with not that many games played. Black has built up a center. However, it isn't that stable and logically, White goes after it. 8.g4 Be6 9.g5 Nfd7 10.Qb3 Qb6? 10...Na6! 11.Qxb7 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.f3 Nb4 11...Nb4 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.f3 Qxb3 13.Nxb3 exf3 14.Bxf3 Now Black has huge problems defending his center. As a consequence, he has to give up one of his bishops. Bb4 14...Nb6 15.e4 Bb4 16.0-0 dxe4 16...Bxc3 17.bxc3 transposes to the game. 17.Bxe4 Bxb3 18.axb3 Nc6 19.d5 Ne5 20.Bf4± 15.0-0 Bxc3 16.bxc3 Nc6 17.e4 dxe4 18.Bxe4 Bc4 19.Bxc6!? One of the biggest advantages of having pair of bishops - transformation of advantage. By force, the White knight from b3 reaches d6, and that position is just better and dominating for White. bxc6 20.Re1+ Be6 21.Na5 Rc8?! 21...0-0 22.Nxc6 Kh8 may've been an alternative, trying to rein down the central pasers with blockade on the light squares. 22.Nb7 Rb8 23.Nd6+ Kd8 24.Bf4± White has a huge strategic advantage now. The rest is a matter of technique. Rf8 25.c4 Rb4 26.a4 h6 27.g6 Rb2 28.a5 fxg6 29.Bc1 Rbf2 30.Ba3 Bh3 31.Nb7+ Kc7 32.Bxf8 Rxf8 33.Ra3 Bg4 34.a6 Rf4 35.d5 Nf6 36.d6+ Kc8 37.Re7 Bd7 38.Nc5 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ivanisevic,I2646Rakhmanov,A26541–02016A5435th Zalakaros Open 20168.1

This game helped Ivanisevic to win the tournament with 7.0/9 - he drew in the last round. Levente Vajda won silver, Viktor Berkes third. Rakhmanov fell back to ninth place.

Place four went to the Ukrainian GM Vladimir Onischuk.

Here's his last round win against Indian IM Abhimanyu Puranik:

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.Nc3 d6?! 7...0-0 this move order would just avoid this problem 8.d3 8.Nd5 Nxe4 8...h6?! 9.c3 would save White a tempo 9.d3 Nf6 10.Bg5 Be7 8...h6 9.Nd5 d6 10.c3 is a typical position in such lines. 8.Nd5 A tricky situation for Black. Even very strong players like Caruana were unable to equalise. 0-0? Walking right into it.... 8...Na5 A rare move. Black would like to remove the b3 B, but he allows White's next move. 9.d4! An important principle. When your opponent's piece goes to the edge of the board, you should attack in the centre! Nxb3 9...exd4!? was the alternative 10.Bg5 c6 11.Nxf6+ gxf6 12.Bh4 Rg8 13.Nxd4 Bxd4 14.Qxd4 c5 followed by c4. This is the point, why Black doesn't take on b3. 10.axb3 Nxd5N The new move in the game. 10...exd4?! was dubious, as 11.Bg5 c6 12.Nxf6+ gxf6 13.Bh4 Rg8 (Satyapragyan-Deshmukh, Tirupati 2012) 14.Nxd4 Rg4 15.Bg3 Rxe4 16.Nxb5! and Black's position is hopeless, for example: cxb5 17.Qd5+- 11.exd5 exd4 12.Re1+ Kf8 13.Nxd4 White has gained some space. His position looks comfortable, because the black K didn't castle, that's why it is not so easy to finish the development for Black. Bd7 Otherwise Nc6. 14.Be3 Qf6 15.Qd2 0-1 (15) Topalov,V (2793)-Caruana,F (2774) Thessaloniki 2013 CBM 155 [Szabo,Kr] In the event of 8...Rb8 9.c3 Nxd5 10.Bxd5 Ne7 11.Bb3 0-0 12.d4 exd4 13.cxd4 Bb6 14.h3 h6 15.Re1 c5 16.Be3 Bb7 17.Rc1 Rc8 18.dxc5 Bxc5 19.Nh4 Qb6 20.Rc3 White was slightly better, Grischuk-Lenic, Porto Carras 2011. 8...Nxe4 9.d3 Nf6 10.Bg5 9.d4 exd4 10.Bg5 Na5 11.Nxd4 Re8 12.Nf5 Bxf5 13.exf5 Nxb3 14.axb3 Black's position is just bad. So bad that even IM Puranik, who has shown a tendency to extricate himself from all kinds of terrible positions couldn't escape. c6 15.Nxf6+ gxf6 16.Bh6 Kh8 17.b4 Bb6 18.Qg4 Rg8 19.Qh4 Rg5 20.Bxg5 fxg5 21.Qe4 d5 22.Qe5+ Kg8 23.f6 h6 24.Rfe1 Qd7 25.h4 g4 26.Qf4 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Onischuk,V2628Puranik,A24521–02016C7835th Zalakaros Open 20169.6

GM Martyn Kravtsiv from Ukraine finished fifth.

GM Zahar Efimenko recovered well after a bad start and
completed the Ukrainian trio that took places four to six.

The women's prize went to GM Harika Dronavalli from India and there was never a doubt that she would win this prize though WGM Kulon Klaudia also played impressively and made her third IM Norm. If she reaches the Elo 2400 mark she will get the title.

Best woman: GM Harika Dronavalli (right, with White)

Among the junior players the Indians Abhimanyu Puranik and Aryan Chopra made GM norms with a round to spare.

IM Aryan Chopra

IM Aryan Chopra was so kind to annotate his wins against GMs Viktor Erdos...

 
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24...Qb6? during the game, I was mainly thinking about 24...Rc5 25.Be4 Nf6 26.Bf3 the engine suggests 26.Qe1 Nxe4 27.Qxe4 and White is better 26...Nxd5 27.Rd1 but White still has the initiative 25.Bf5! 25.Re1 is also better for White but 25.Bf5 is even better 25...Rd8 26.Bxd7 Rxd7 27.Re1+- Qd8 if 27...Rd8 I would have played 28.Nf5 Bxb2 29.Ne7+ Kg7 30.Qxb2+ f6 31.Nf5+ White is winning 28.Bc3?! I also thought the engine's suggestion 28.Re4 h6 29.Qe3 Kh7 30.Re8 Qb6 I did not see much for White, but 31.Qd2 with the idea of Nf5 is just winning 28...Nb7 29.Nc6 Qf8 30.Bxg7 Kxg7 31.Qc3+ f6 32.Nd4 Nd8 33.Qc8 Re7 a little trick 34.Rc1 if 34.Rxe7+? Qxe7 35.Qxd8? 35.Kf1 White is still better 35...Qe1+ 36.Kh2 Qe5+= 34...Qe8 35.Kf1 Kh6 36.Nc6? a very wrong decision in time pressure 36.Qxa6+- Black's pawns are falling 36...Nxc6 37.Qxe8 Rxe8 38.Rxc6 now I am not even sure that the endgame is winning Kg5 39.Rxa6 Kf5 40.Rxd6 Ra8 41.Rb6 Rxa2 42.Kg1 I thought it was good to take the king to a non-checkable distance but it was not important 42.Rxb5 was much better 42...Ra5 43.b4 Ra1+ 44.Kh2 Rd1 45.Rxb5 Ke5 46.Kg3 Rd3+ 47.f3 Rd4 48.h4 after 48.Rb7 Komodo 10 suggest the variation g5! 49.Re7+ Kf5 50.Kf2! Rxd5 51.Ke3 30 White has surely made improvement by giving a pawn. +1.10 at Depth 48...h6 49.Kh3 g5 50.hxg5?! this lessens a weakness to exploit for White 50.g3! h6 is still a weakness 50...hxg5 51.Kg3 Rd2 52.Rc5 Rd4 52...Rb2 53.Rb5 Rd2 is the same as the game 53.Rb5 Rd2 54.Kh3 Rd4 55.g3 Rd3? 55...f5 was better 56.d6+ Kf6 57.Rb6 Ke6 and Black can probably hold 55...Kf5 56.d6+ Ke6 57.Rb6 f5 is the same as the variation in 55...f5 56.Kg4? 56.d6+! was winning according to the engine Kxd6 56...Ke6 57.Kg4 Rxd6 58.f4 57.Kg4 56...f5+! 57.Kxg5 Rxf3 58.Kh4 Rd3 59.d6+ Ke6 60.Rb6 Rd4+ 61.Kh3 Rd2 62.b5 Rd3? 62...Rb2! White has to give a pawn 63.Rb8 63.Kh4 Rb4+ 64.Kh5 Rb3 63...Kxd6 is a tablebase draw. For eg. 64.b6 Rb1 65.b7 Kc6 66.Kh4 Rh1+ 67.Kg5 Rg1= 63.Kg2? 63.d7+! is winning for White Kxd7 63...Ke7 64.Kg2 is even easier win for White 64.Rf6 Rd5 65.b6 is a tablebase win (White mates in 51). Though it is not easy when humans are playing 63...Rb3 64.Rb8 Kxd6 its a tablebase draw now! 65.b6 Kc6 66.Rf8 after this move, Black had around 40 seconds on clock Kxb6?? 66...Kd6‼ draws with surprise 67.Rxf5 67.Rb8 Kc6= 67...Ke7! 68.Kh3 Rxb6 69.Kh4 Rb8 70.g4 Rh8+ 71.Rh5 Rg8= 67.Rb8+ 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Aryan,C2459Erdos,V25771–02016C96Zalakaros Chess Festival Group A3

... and his win against Evgeny Romanov.

 
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28.Nc7? during the game, I was a little worried about 28.Bxc6 bxc6 29.Nd4 Rc8 is a position with play for both sides engine's suggestion 29...e3 is also interesting 30.Nxc6 Qe8 31.fxe3 Ra6 32.Rxf6 Bxf6 33.Nd4 Qxe3+ 34.Qf2 Bxd4 35.Rxd4 Qc1+ 36.Qf1 Qe3+ 37.Qf2= though it is too far from the game 28...Rc8 29.Ne6 29.Bxc6 bxc6 30.Na6 f4 Black has the initiative 29...f4? I had some time to think about 29...Bxd5! 30.R1xd5 Rxe6 31.Rxe5 the move I actually missed was Rxd6 I only saw 31...Rxe5? which is just bad for Black 32.f4! is difficult to find 32.Qb1? Rd2 33.Re6 33.Re7? Rcd8-+ 33...Rxc5-+ is winning for Black 33...Rcd8?? 34.Rd6= 32...Rd7 Black is better. On the 29th move I thought that saving time for the upcoming moves was better and I did not consider Bxd5 much 30.Qb3? 30.Bxc6 bxc6 31.Nxg7 Kxg7 32.Rd7+ Kh8 +/-/+/= 30...e3! I was thinking less and just pushing pawns 31.Bxc6 Rxc6 32.Rxc6 bxc6 33.Nxg7 e2 34.Re1 Kxg7 White can only be worse here and should have avoided Black's f3 and gone for equality with 35.Qc2 35.Qb7+? 35.Qc2 Re6 36.Qd2 Qxc5 37.Qxf4= 35...Rf7! 35...Kg8? 36.Qa8+ Kg7 37.Qxa5 Qxb2 engine's evaluation is 0.00 but I would rather call this unclear 36.Qxc6?? 36.Qb3 recognising the mistake and coming back was the best Re7 Black is better 36...f3 37.gxf3 Qg5+ 38.Kh1 Qd2 39.Qc3+ Qxc3 40.bxc3 Rxf3 41.Rxe2 Rxc3 Black is also better here 36...f3!-+ now its just losing for White 37.Qd6 if 37.gxf3 Qg5+ 38.Kh1 Qd2 39.Rg1 e1Q 40.Qxg6+ Kf8 41.Qg8+ Ke7 I saw until here while playing 35...Rf7! 37...Qg5 38.Qd4+ Kh7 39.g3 Qf5 40.Qc4 Rd7 41.Qb3 Qd3 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Romanov,E2641Aryan,C24590–12016D43Zalakaros Chess Festival Group A6

German IM Rasmus Svane and the Romanian IM Bogdan-Daniel Deac made grandmaster norms.

Rasmus Svane (right, with White) scored 6.0/9 and remained undefeated

Bogdan Daniel Deac lost the first round but finished with 6.0/9 to make a GM norm

Final standings

Rk. SNo   Name FED Rtg Pts.  TB1 
1 3 GM Ivanisevic Ivan SRB 2646 7,0 52,0
2 12 GM Vajda Levente ROU 2581 6,5 52,0
3 7 GM Berkes Ferenc HUN 2636 6,5 49,0
4 8 GM Onischuk Vladimir UKR 2628 6,5 48,0
5 4 GM Kravtsiv Martyn UKR 2641 6,5 45,0
6 1 GM Efimenko Zahar UKR 2656 6,5 44,0
7 9 GM Banusz Tamas HUN 2621 6,0 50,5
8 32 IM Aryan Chopra IND 2459 6,0 49,5
9 2 GM Rakhmanov Aleksandr RUS 2654 6,0 48,5
10 22 GM Harika Dronavalli IND 2514 6,0 47,5
11 11 GM Prohaszka Peter HUN 2593 6,0 47,0
12 19 IM Svane Rasmus GER 2526 6,0 46,5
13 25 IM Deac Bogdan-Daniel ROU 2501 6,0 45,0
14 59 IM Hnydiuk Aleksander POL 2381 6,0 42,0
15 6 GM Perunovic Milos SRB 2639 6,0 41,5
16 54 IM Ben Artzi Ido ISR 2399 6,0 40,5
17 35 IM Puranik Abhimanyu IND 2452 5,5 50,5
18 10 GM Papp Gabor HUN 2596 5,5 47,0
19 5 GM Romanov Evgeny RUS 2641 5,5 46,5
20 23 GM Andersen Mads DEN 2505 5,5 45,5
21 13 GM Erdos Viktor HUN 2577 5,5 45,0
22 60 IM Nitin S. IND 2377 5,5 45,0
23 14 GM Medvegy Zoltan HUN 2553 5,5 44,5
24 26 GM Mihok Oliver HUN 2498 5,5 44,5
25 17 GM Shyam Sundar M. IND 2530 5,5 43,5
26 21 GM Horvath Adam HUN 2515 5,5 43,0
27 15 GM Szabo Gergely-Andras-Gyula ROU 2548 5,5 43,0
28 41 GM Lalic Bogdan CRO 2431 5,5 39,5
29 45 IM Vertetics Attila HUN 2425 5,5 36,5
30 46 IM Kantor Gergely HUN 2424 5,5 35,5

...113 players

Complete standings at chess-results.com…

Personally, I had a great time at Zalakaros though I did not play successfully. But I enjoyed the beautiful surroundings and the nature of Zalakaros. And the organisers did everything to make the players feel comfortable. For instance, the players were picked up and brought to the airports in Budapest and Vienna by ‘Trans Air Zala’, one of the sponsors of the event. Host of the tournament was the Hotel Karos Spa, which took care to provide a superior Zalakaros experience.

Nature...

...in...

...Zalakaros

This year, the tournament was already very strong and offered good opportunities to make norms or to increase one's rating. Next year, the tournament is expected to be even bigger and stronger!

Srinath is a 23-year-old Indian Grandmaster. A former World Under 12 champion, at the age of fourteen he became an IM and had shown surprising and unswerving loyalty to the title ever since, until March 2017, when he crossed the 2500 mark and completed the requirements to become a grandmaster. He loves chess and likes to play in tournaments all around the globe.

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