The Second Samba Cup was held in Skanderborg from 13-23 October 2005.
Skanderborg is located 20 kilometers southwest of Aarhus, which is Denmarks second largest city, after the capital Copenhagen. It is a small city with about 20,000 inhabitants.
The winner was Baadur Jobava from Georgia. The Second Samba Cup was his tournament, that is for sure. At the end of this report Jobava commentates his final round win against Miton.
Concrete remains of a medieval past: Skanderup Kirke
...and Skanderborg Slotskirke
The players were very happy with the tournament. They praised the peaceful residence and playing circumstances. That has to do with the character of the quiet city Skanderborg, especially with the playing venue (Kulturhus) and the hotel (Hotel Skanderborghus). And above all with the organizing members of the Skanderborg Skakklub (Skanderborg Chess Club), who stayed calm and confident during stressful moments. They really did a good job.
Hotel Skanderborghus with the statue Dronning Dagmars Dreng in front
The name of the previous version, the First Samba Cup, already showed the ambition of Skanderborg Skakklub to organize more than just a one-time tournament. In 2003 the event was born when the chess club reached the age of 80. The First Samba Cup consisted of only a GM group, a ten player round robin. This year, after an attempt to form a group with GM norm possibilities, but running short of time, an IM group was added.
Michael Andersson explains the entry of the GM group: “We wanted a good mixture: different (three) continents and a combination of talented and established players. In 2007 we would like to have three groups, a GM B group should be in between. We would like to organize a Samba Cup every year, but we do not have enough volunteers to take care of the job.”
Let’s hope Skanderborg Skakklub’s manpower will grow in the next future! Originally the GM group consisted of more Danish players, but Peter Heine Nielsen was asked by Anand to be his second in San Luis and later also Davor Palo withdrew.
The photo shows Anders Haarup (chairman Skanderborg Chess Club), Esben Karstensen (director of Elvirasminde) and Michael Andersson (tournament director) showing boxes with cream puffs.
Elvirasminde, the main sponsor of the tournament, is a daughter of the German company Storck, and with 120 employees is one of the biggest companies in Skanderborg. Its only product is Samba, which is a cream puff. It is distributed in 24 countries.
Esben Karstensen: “We have chosen chess to sponsor because as a main company in Skanderborg we felt it an obligation to sponsor cultural life. I used to play chess and so chess was a logical choice to sponsor. In Denmark the nummer of people who play chess is going down. We think that we can move people back to the chess board by focusing on young people. We want to be one of the strongest tournaments in Denmark, to be in the same category as the Politiken Cup, North Sea Cup and Grundfos. The Second Samba Cup is a category 16. Samba symbolizes fun, Brasilian dance, beautiful ladies, wonderful kisses”.
There were other (sub)sponsors, including the Skanderborg municipality and BP who sponsored the IM tournament.
The photo shows Kulturhus, in English Culture House, which was the playing venue. The rainbow really was there!
The games were played in a theatre in the Kulturhus. The theatre chairs recall
the atmosphere in another tournament: Dortmund. To watch the players during
the games one had to pay an entrance fee, 40 Danish Kroner (about 5.30 euro)
for a day.
Everybody was free to visit open the analysis zone and watch the players analyse their games. The idea was to shorten the distance, in both senses of the word, literally and figuratively, between GMs and audience.
When you walk out the Kulturhus you can go straight on to the City center or go for a stroll to the Skanderborg Sø (Skanderborg Lake).
1. Baadur Jobava: 5½ /9, performance 2722
The tournament winner, Baadur Jobava (1983) from Georgia, is back again! In Skanderborg he lost to Carlsen, and beat Nisipeanu, Timofeev (R7) and Miton (R9). On the free day after round five he won the Blitz tournament, after which he had the best final sprint with 3/4. Jobava had his breakthrough in 2003, winning the Dubai Open. In the Chess Olympiad 2004 in Calvia he scored excellently. But he also had some weak moments in other tournaments in the same period. Jobava is a feared for his opening preparation and is extremely dangerous with the white pieces. In Skanderborg he won about 15 Elo points which brings him back to a higher position in Georgia’s ranking.
Jobava,Ba (2601) - Miton,K (2636) [D80]
2nd Samba Cup Skanderborg DEN (9), 23.10.2005
Baadur Jobava kindly provided me this commentary from memory during lunch the day after the Second Samba Cup. I tried to write down the notes, any mistakes are my fault. Per Andreasen provided his comments by e-mail. This was the last round. Miton was leading the tournament with 51/2 point ahead of four players with five points, among them his last round opponent, Jobava. Who has the best nerves? Jobava: "I prepared this opening, Grunfeld with Bg5, in 2003 and found a novelty." 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Bg7 5.Bxf6 Bxf6 6.cxd5 c6 7.Rc1!? Andreasen: Jobava played this move a tempo. I could not find it anywhere, but perhaps it is played before. I think so, both players played the first 13 moves in a few minutes! 7.e3, e4 and Nf3 are seen before. 7...0-0 8.dxc6 Bxd4 9.c7 Andreasen: 9.c7 was played at once. Another try was 9.cxb7. Black will get the pair of bishops, and free and quick development, but White has a pawn extra. 9...Bxc3+ 10.Rxc3 Qxd1+ 11.Kxd1 Nc6 12.e4 Bd7 Jobava: In Saint-Vincent 2005, Azmaiparashvili-Sutovsky, Black played Bg4+, which is interesting. Miton's move Bd7 is a new move but not to me, I had already analyzed it. Bd7 looks more securely. 13.Nf3 Rfc8 14.Bb5 Rxc7 15.Kd2
Jobava: The idea of Kd2 is to double the rooks on the c-file. One moment trade the bishop on c6. White wants to collapse blacks pawn structure for the endgame: weak pawns on a7 and c6. Square c5 is weak, it can be used by white pieces. After 15.Kd2 Miton started to think a lot, he invested more than 1 hour. Then he played 15...a6. Andreasen: 15.Kd2. The opening is over and an endgame has appeared. White is a little better because of the pin in the c-file and the white King is nice placed in the center. In this position the young Polak thought for more than an hour (!) and he came up with 15...a6. During the game I was commentating the games for the spectators, and I must admit that I criticised this move. I did not like the weakening of the black squares. Instead we analysed 15...f6 16.Rhc1 e5 17.Bc4+ Kf8 18.Bd5 Rd8 19.Ke3 Ke7 20.b4 Rcc8! and I think that Black is ok. 15...a6 Jobava: Black idea is Ba4 B7c8 Rac1 b5 so that White's bishop can not go to c6. 16.Ba4 Rcc8 17.Rhc1 b5 18.Bb3 Jobava: Interesting idea would have been Bd1 to take diagonal a6-f1 18...e6 Jobava: Played against Bb3-d5. There are some minors: weakness on the black squares. 19.e5 Jobava: I played this move to block his position 19...Kf8 Jobava: Kf8 is a logical move for the endgame, centralizing the king. Now I calculated for 15-20 minutes. 20.Bc2 Jobava: With the idea to play Be4 to pin the knight on c6. This is now the most critical position. Miton made a mistake by playing Na5 in stead of Nb4 Andreasen: 20.Bc2?! Better was 20.Ke3 and white is still better. Jobava continued to play very fast and Miton was already now in time trouble with around 10 minutes left to play this uncomfortable position. 20...Na5? Jobava: After 20...Nb4 it would be equal Andreasen: 20...Na5? Returning the favour with this move which is a serious error. Much better was 20...Nb4! and suddenly black is ok again. The play could continue 21.Bb1 Rxc3 22.Rxc3 Bc6! with a rather equal position. 21.Bd3 Rxc3 22.Rxc3 Nc6 Jobava: Black problem is that Rd8 or Rc8 are wrong because of Ra3 23.Be4 Jobava: After Be4 White has a winning position. 23...Rc8!? Andreasen: 23...Rc8?! A natural move, but I think that 24...Rd8! was a more clever try. 24.Bxc6! Andreasen: Now the endgame for Black is highly unpleasant, maybe lost. Black was now in severe time trouble, and White plays the rest of the game excellent. 24...Bxc6 25.Ke3 Ke7 26.Ng5 h6 27.Ne4
27...Rc7 28.g4! Andreasen: Very nice. Preparing h2-h4-h5 and the black pawn on h6 is doomed. This plan is seen before, of course, but still very nice. Black is lost. 28...Kd8 29.Nf6 a5 30.h4 Kc8 31.Ng8 h5 32.gxh5 gxh5 33.Nf6 Kb7 34.Nxh5 b4 35.Rc1 Rd7 36.Nf6 Rd8 37.h5 Bb5 38.Kf4 Rd3 39.Rh1 Andreasen: Both players played a very good tournament and this game decided that Jobava would be the deserved winner! A nice come-back for Jobava who did not show much since his brilliant performance at the Olympiad last year in Calvia, Mallorca. And of course very bad luck for young Kamil Miton that he did not manage to draw this game! Jobava: Based on the first 8 rounds Miton should have won the tournament. In played well. But in round 9 he didn't find the right strategy. What to do with half a point up? It is a kind of situation chess player will face more and more with the knock out tournaments coming up. Just go for a draw? I think you should play as you always do, like Topalov did in San Luis. In Warsaw - Zegrze Poludniowe I lost the final round and missed qualification for the World Chess Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk 2005. I learned a lot from that, how to play a final round. 1-0. [Click to replay]
2-5. Artyom Timofeev: 5/9, 2679
Timofeev reached plus 2 at the end of round five, but lost in round six against Jobava, with whom he went around a lot together in Skanderborg. He ended the tournament with two draws. The commentators awarded his game against Nisipeanu with the performance prize for the best game. Artyom Timofeev (1985) is the world's number seven on the junior list. He had some good results this year (including Bosna, Warsaw-Zegrze Poludniowe, Amsterdam).
2-5. Kamil Miton: 5/9, 2681
Based on how well he played in the first eight rounds, Miton (1984) should have won the tournament. But he didn’t dance as well as Jobava in their decisive game in round nine. Maybe Miton should have avoided the situation the evening before the game. He was lodging privately with Skanderborg Skakklub chairman Anders Haarup, instead of staying in the hotel like most of the players. The organisers gave a dinner en petit comité for family and friends, and of course Anders invited his guest Miton. He was the only GM present. Anders put pressure on him by telling that he had taken a bet of 100 Euros on his tournament victory, with a 500 Euro payout. With Miton a half point up, Anders felt rich and generously payed the bill. (Thanks again Anders Haarup)
Miton has had good results in USA. He recently played at the Grundfos Masters (14-21 August) in Aarhus sharing second place with Areshchenko. The FIDE rating list of October shows an Elo rating 2635, winning 46 points from 2589 in July, jumping to the second position in Poland just after Krasenkow. Miton was not part of the Polish team in Gothenborg. He should be back in the team soon.
2-5. Zhang Pengxiang: 5/9, 2684
Zhang Pengxiang (1980) lives in Beijing, China. He is number three of his country, after Ye Jiangchuan and Bu Xiangzhi, or even number two, if you consider Ye Jiangchuan to be a non-active player. Zhang (his family name) showed himself to be a real sportsman by not withdrawing from the Second Samba Cup when it became clear that he would miss two qualification possibilities (Asian and Chinese qualifiers) for the next world championship. In Skanderborg he drew eight games and won against Lars Bo Hansen.
2-5. Lazaro Bruzon: 5/9, 2676
Lazaro Bruzon (1982), number 26 in the world with a rating of 2677, is stronger than ever before. He has a solid playing style. In Skanderborg he was accompanied by compatriot FM Joel Ibarra Padron, who participated in the IM group. Bruzon won the Pan American Championships 2005 and is this year’s Champion of Cuba. In the Capablanca Memorial 5-19 May 2005 he finished second to Ivanchuk. It was a double round robin and both Bruzon’s games against the Ukrainan ended in a draw. In Skanderborg, round 5, they played again:
Ivanchuk,V (2748) - Bruzon,L (2677) [C99]
2nd Samba Cup Skanderborg DEN (5), 18.10.2005
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 13.cxd4 Nc6 14.Nb3 a5 15.Be3 a4 16.Nbd2 Bd7 17.Rc1 Qb7 18.Nf1 Rfc8 19.Ng3 Bd8 20.Bb1 h6 21.Qe2 Bb6 22.dxe5 Bxe3 23.Rxc6 Qxc6 24.exf6 Bf4 25.Nh5 Be5 26.fxg7 Ra6 27.Nh4 Qc1 28.Nf5 Bxf5 29.exf5
29...Qxe1+ 30.Qxe1 Rac6 31.Qf1 Rc1 32.Bd3 b4 33.Bb5 b3 34.axb3 axb3 35.Ba4 Rxf1+ 36.Kxf1 Rb8 0-1. [Click to replay]
6-7. Curt Hansen: 4½/9, 2641
Nine draws for Curt Hansen! His compatriot Lars Bo Hansen in his speech at the closing ceremony urged the audience not to pay to much attention to the number of draws in the Second Samba Cup. We don’t. We know Curt Hansen better than always being after a draw. For good reason he is Denmarks second ranked player. In 1984 he became junior world champion. Once he was world number 14! But let’s do some statistics for fun. In the First Samba Cup 23 games were non-draws (from 45 games), Curt Hansen participated in four of those games and shared first prize. In the Second Samba Cup there were 13 non-draws (45). Well this doesn’t tell us anything.
6-7. Vassily Ivanchuk: 4½/9, 2626
World number five Ivanchuk is having a busy schedule. That’s an understatement. People wondered if he might be playing too much. After the tournament he joked: “I don’t play too much, I feel well by doing so. I had a problem in this tournament, that is that I started winning too late, namely in the last round.” It was Monday 24 October at 01.00 in the morning in Hotel Skanderborghus. He was waiting for the taxi to leave at 02.00. “This afternoon at 04.00 or maybe 05.00 I will play against Felgaer in Barcelona”, he astonished his companionship.
Have a look at his agenda:
8. Magnus Carlsen: 4/9, 2602
The 14 year old Magnus recently won the Bygger’n Masters Gausdal 1-9 October, with an Elo performance of 2782. In Skanderborg he slowed down a bit, but who cares? We do not have to recall his magnificent chess talent. Again winning some Elo points, he is steadily climbing into the Top 100.
Jobava,Ba (2601) - Carlsen,M (2570) [E12]
2nd Samba Cup Skanderborg DEN (5), 18.10.2005 [Commentary by Per Andreasen]
1.c4 Nf6 2.d4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bh4 Be7!? Not the most common move. 5...Bb7 or 5...Bb4+ to take control over the e4 square looked more natural. 6.Nc3 c5 Going for trouble and complications. The normal move here should be 6...d5 7.e4! and white should be better. After this Carlsen is going for a Hedgehog set up but he misses one tempo to get it. 7...cxd4 8.Nxd4 d6 9.Ndb5 a6 10.e5! dxe5!? Simply giving up the exchange! [Another possibility was 10...axb5 11.exf6 gxf6 12.Nxb5 Bb7 13.Bg3 e5 but White is better. The black pawns do not look good.] 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.Qf3 axb5 13.Qxa8 b4 Black is simply playing on with an exchange down as nothing has happened. 14.Ne4 Bd7 15.Nxf6+ gxf6 16.c5? Maybe is it not fair to criticise this natural looking move, but 16.Qe4! was probably better. I must admit that during the game I thought that the played text move was very strong. 16...bxc5 17.Qa7 Nc6 18.Qxc5 Nd4 19.0-0-0 Qe7 20.Qxe7+ Kxe7
I think it is very difficult to say who is better here. White is an exchange up, but Black has one pawn more and the knight on d4 is a monster! 21.Kb1? In the rest of the game Jobava plays poorly and he finds no plan. In this position it was essential to find a plan beginning with 21.f3! followed by Bd3 and Rd2 to protect the pawn on g2 that way. 21...Bc6 22.f3 Rg8 23.Rc1? because now 23.Rd2 was not possible because of 23,-Nxf3! The last chance was 23.Rd3! 23...f5! From now on Carlsen plays very strong. White can do nothing to stop the black central pawns, and I think that Black is already winning here. 24.Rc4 Rb8 25.b3 f4 26.Kb2 f5 27.h4 Kd6 28.h5 Bd5 29.Rc1 e4 30.fxe4 fxe4 31.Rh4 Ke5 32.Rg4 e3 33.Rg6 Be4 34.Rxh6 Rg8 35.Rc5+ Kd6 36.Rc4 Kd5 37.Kc1 e2 38.Rxd4+ Kxd4 39.Bxe2 Rxg2 40.Bd1 Rxa2 and White resigned. A very strange game, but a very impressive performance by the young Norwegian player. It is difficult to say exactly where Jobava went wrong. It was Jobava´s only loss in the tournament. 0-1.
9. Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu: 3½/9, 2550
The Second Samba Cup was definitetly not Nisipeanu’s tournament. His planned two weeks home preparation did not work out due to illness. He had a bad start with a draw and two lost games. A sportsman as always, he kept on trying to play real chess. “The sponsor, the organizers, the audience have the right to see a chess player always trying his best. They pay a lot of money, work hard, so chess players have the duty not to be lazy, even when they don’t feel well.” Nisipeanu was happy having his wife Nicoleta with him. “It is better for my nervs when she is around”. His best achievements so far were Las Vegas 1999 and Warsaw-Zegrze Poludniowe 2005, where he became European Champion. In Skanderborg he lost a lot of Elo points, dropping below 2700 again. “But I will come back”, Nisipeanu promised.
10. Lars Bo Hansen: 3/9, 2521
Although his performance was not quite encouraging, the Second Samba Cup was a kind of comeback for Denmarks number three, Lars Bo Hansen. He has been a professional player for eight years (with a top in 1995). Now he is assistant professor for Leisure Management at CEUS, a business school. Lars Bo Hansen hopes he can spend more time on playing chess.
Emil Hermansson from Sweden, top seeded in the IM group, won it with 7/9. He was very fond of the Samba cream puffs.
Klaus Berg, Danish IM with two GM norms, took a ten year chess break due to a problem with his back, but seems to be recovered and returned to the chess world acquiring a taste for playing again.
Jakob Vang Glud (his family name is Vang Glud) is a Danish FM. He needed a win in the final round for the IM title (he already got two IM norms), but lost to Kzrysztof Pytel, the French/Polish IM, with whom he shared third prize. The photo with smile was taken before the game. Vang Glud (1988) will play in Istanbul 8-23 November in the World Juniors U20. There is a Danish Viking in chess!
A performance prize for the best game was awarded to Artyom Timofeev (left), who beat Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu in R3.
Timofeev,Arty (2658) - Nisipeanu,LD (2707) [C41]
2nd Samba Cup Skanderborg DEN (3), 16.10.2005
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Be7 6.g3 d5 7.e5 Ng4 8.Bg2
Nxe5 9.Qe2 Nec6 10.Be3 0-0 11.Nxd5 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 Bb4+ 13.Nxb4 Qxd4 14.c3 Qc5
15.Nd5 Be6 16.b4 Qd6 17.Rd1 Bxd5 18.Bxd5 Qb6 19.0-0 a5 20.Rfe1 c6 21.Bb3 axb4
22.Qe7 Na6 23.Re5 bxc3 24.Rd7 Qb4 25.Bxf7+ Kh8 26.Qg5 h6 27.Qg6 Qb2 28.Rh5
Qc1+ 29.Kg2 Nb4
30.Rd1 Qc2 31.Rxh6+ gxh6 32.Qf6+ Kh7 33.Rd7 1-0.
Lars Bo Hansen and Baadur Jobava pose in front of the Skanderborg Sø after their game (½-½) in round eight.
Hansen,LB (2565) - Jobava,Ba (2601) [B14]
2nd Samba Cup Skanderborg DEN (8), 22.10.2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.e3 cxd4 5.exd4 d5 6.a3 Be7 7.Nc3 0-0 8.cxd5
exd5 9.Bd3 Bg4 10.h3 Bh5 11.Be3 Nbd7 12.0-0 Nb6 13.Rc1 Nc4 14.Nxd5 Nxb2 15.Nxf6+
Commentator Per Andreasen in the tournament bulletin: “Jobava apparently got a slight advantage after the opening, but both players played with creativity. The move 15...gxf6 was a surprise and apparently very strong but also necessary. Lars Bo demonstrated afterwards the wonderful combination 15…Bxf6? 16.Bxh7 Kxh7 17.Nxg5+ Bxg5 18.Qxh5+ Bh6 and we thought in the commentary area that Black was winning, but Lars Bo showed the spectators 19.Qe2 Na4 20. Qc2+ and White has a huge advantage. In the game
16.Bxh7+ Kxh7 17.Qc2+ Kh8 18.Nh4. This is a fantastic resource, as 18.Qxb2 Bxf3 19.gxf3 Qd5 is just good for Black. After 19…Qe7 it is a draw. Another chance is 19…Qd5 20. Rxa3 Nc4 21.Rc3 b5 with equal chances. The last variation was given by Lars Bo during his analysis. A very well played and exciting game filled with surprises.”
18... Bxa3 19.Ra1 Qe7 20.Rxa3 Qxa3 21.Qf5 Bg6 22.Qxf6+ Kh7 23.Nf5 Bxf5 24.Qxf5+ Kg7 25.Qg5+ Kh7 26.Qh6+ Kg8 27.Qg5+ Kh7 28.Qh6+ Kg8 29.Bg5 Qd3 30.Bf6 Qh7 31.Qg5+ Qg6 32.Qh4 Qh7 33.Qg5+ ½-½
On Wednesday 19 October, free day, the sponsor organized a small blitz tournament in which some GMs, IMs and several club players participated. During the blitz event the sponsor came up with a pleasant surprise, the Samba producer multiplied the originally 50 Euro prize money by twenty. Baadur Jobava, again, took first prize. Second was Zhang Pengxiang, third Lazaro Bruzon.
The photo shows Jobava being congratulated by “Stunde” as everybody calls Flemming Madsen, the barman and owner of Restaurant Frederik II, where the event took place.
The photo shows Skanderborg Chess Club honorary member Robert Rode Pedersen flanked by Andersson, Miton on the left, and Ivanchuk, Haarup on the right.
The Dutch / German duo IA Leon Muijs (right) the chief arbiter and his assistant Anita Molitor.
The Second Samba Cup was a fine tournament, the organizers and sponsors can be proud. As Lars Bo Hansen said at the closing ceremony, the three most important ingredients for a succesful tournament worked well together: commercial (sponsor), voluntary (chess club) and political (municipality) aspects.
To make it a perfect tournament, a category 16 worthy, there are few things to do better or at least to consider when working out the tournament formula:
Timofeev playing against a wall of empty theatre chairs.
It is likely that there will be a Third Samba Cup, in two years time. Chess fans should make a note in their agendas: week 42 in 2007, Friday till Sunday (with a free day on Wednesday, so the schedule will be again 5 rounds, 1 day off, 4 rounds). In this period school kids have their autumn holiday, which makes it possible to get a discount in the hotel.
The tournament is over. The night follows. Dronning Dagmars Dreng is on his way to a next event.
Frits
Agterdenbos, 45, lives in Heemstede, not far from Amsterdam, and was
one of the leading chess photographers in the eighties. From 1979–1991 his
pictures appeared in several magazins, including New in Chess, Schakend
Nederland, Inside Chess, BCM, Chess, Europe Echecs and Schach. In
1984 his Dutch book “64 Schaakportretten” (in English “64 Chess Portraits”)
was published. In 1991 he “retired” as a chess photographer to finish his studies
and in 1997 he received a diploma as an insurance mathematician (actuary).
Since 1998 he has been a self-employed, working under the company name “Acturix”,
which is his actuarial consultancy firm.
Now Frits is back as a chess photographer! In January 2005 he picked up his old passion, and publications show he still knows how to handle his camera. He combines his insurance job and chess photography with being a husband and a father of the beautiful Elena (three years old). You will find his photos on Chessbase.com, Schaakbond.nl, Schaaklog.nl and Schakers.info, and many more websites and magazines. You can contact him under f.agterdenbos (at) acturix.com.
