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Pardubice is the epitome of old Europe and was founded in 1340 roughly. Less than an hour's drive away is the famous and spectacular looking St. Barbara's Church.
The church was first started in 1388, but due to countless interruptions and issues, it was only completed in 1905!
A fascinating tour awaits the visitor with beautiful stained glass, breathtaking architecture and more
A thrilled group of children enjoyed the tour
The opening ceremony takes place with players ready at their boards
There were many times many opens, covering all formats, each with their own sponsor
For example, the Team Open was sponsored by Konica Minolta
ChessBase is always a partner to this lovely festival and sponsors the Youth Team tournament
The winning teams and many more will leave with a variety of ChessBase goodies
That is hardly the end of it, and there is a tournament of bughouse chess for the aficionados
No, this is not Exam Week, it is the competition for Problem Solving
Top Czech player David Navara (left) is a fan of Chess 960 and won the competition dedicated to it
The starting position is posted on a large board for all to see
This chess variant is Polgar Superstar Chess
Judit Polgar was there herself to sign autographs and give out the prizes
Some visitors from Kaliningrad showed their appreciation by bringing the organizers a special bread
The grandmaster open was the main draw and Indian GM Ganguly (2676) was the top seed
Second seed GM Movsesian eventually met him, and in a surprisingly quick game, defeated the Indian in just 22 moves. This turned out to be a key moment as he subsequently took sole first with 7/5/9 and a 2760 performance.
Movsesian - Ganguly
Viktor Laznicka was the third seed and took second on tiebreak in a group of nine players with 7.0/9
Israeli GM Tamir Nabaty also scored 7.0/9 but was sixth on tiebreak
Of note also were a pair of brilliant 10-year-olds, such as Jakovhir Sindarov from Uzbekistan, rated 2374, who scored 5.5/9 and a 2501 performance. This earned him an IM norm with a half point to spare.
Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa, the world's youngest IM ever at age 10, looked like he might score a GM norm, but eventually came a bit short and scored 'only' 5.5/9 with 'only' a 2507 performance.
Praggnanandhaa - Krejci
After his game Movsesian shares his win over Ganguly with an audience in the Party tent, an area where people went for a drink or food, or just some rest
It wasn't all chess though. There was also a Shogi event, the Japanese chess variant much liked by top chess players such as Garry Kasparov, notable aficionado GM Peter Heine Nielsen who is Magnus Carlsen's second, and GM Larry Kaufman, who is a bonafide master.
The purpose was less a hardcore competition than a way to introduce it to newcomers who had never seen it. Note for example the beginner boards with the fewer squares and pieces. One of the curiosities of Shogi is that just like bughouse, pieces that are captured can be placed back on the board as a weapon.
The other classics such as backgammon were also present
However there were also less common games such as Abaku, and...
... Smoking Cat! This is very much a Czech card game that this author had to look up online.
It is a card game played with four players, each on his or her own. The rules can obviously be found at the official website of the Smoking Cat World Union. Everyone knows that of course, right?
One of the most popular events in the Czech Open is the multi-faceted Rubiks Cube event
... and even Rubiks...pyramid.
The giant playing hall where it all took place
There were also those who preferred healthier competitions with suitable prizes
A victorious team celebrating their choice of fitness
More Czech health food
| Rk. | SNo | Ti. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts | TB |
| 1 | 2 | GM | MOVSESIAN Sergei | ARM | 2666 | 7.5 | 2487 |
| 2 | 3 | GM | LAZNICKA Viktor | CZE | 2654 | 7.0 | 2458 |
| 3 | 62 | IM | VISAKH N R | IND | 2431 | 7.0 | 2442 |
| 4 | 65 | IM | VETOSHKO Volodymyr | UKR | 2430 | 7.0 | 2438 |
| 5 | 7 | GM | GOPAL G.N. | IND | 2565 | 7.0 | 2433 |
| 6 | 5 | GM | NABATY Tamir | ISR | 2622 | 7.0 | 2420 |
| 7 | 9 | GM | STOCEK Jiri | CZE | 2550 | 7.0 | 2417 |
| 8 | 13 | GM | ZAKHARTSOV Viacheslav V. | RUS | 2532 | 7.0 | 2415 |
| 9 | 21 | GM | SCHLOSSER Philipp | GER | 2509 | 7.0 | 2415 |
| 10 | 19 | GM | KOVALEV Andrei | BLR | 2513 | 7.0 | 2380 |
| 11 | 1 | GM | GANGULY Surya Shekhar | IND | 2676 | 6.5 | 2454 |
| 12 | 25 | IM | YUFFA Daniil | RUS | 2502 | 6.5 | 2437 |
| 13 | 4 | GM | KRAVTSIV Martyn | UKR | 2631 | 6.5 | 2415 |
| 14 | 16 | GM | CVEK Robert | CZE | 2522 | 6.5 | 2404 |
| 15 | 6 | GM | KONONENKO Dmitry | UKR | 2621 | 6.5 | 2400 |
| 16 | 32 | IM | SMIRNOV Anton | AUS | 2478 | 6.5 | 2365 |
LinksYou can use ChessBase 13 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. |
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