Vahap Sanal is the 2020 Turkish chess champion

A clean victory

Defending champion Vahap Sanal obtained tournament victory at the 2020 Turkish Chess Championship by winning five games — four of them with the white pieces — and drawing his remaining four encounters. It was a textbook performance by the 22-year-old, who showed good preparation with both colours and kept things mostly under control throughout.

The other big story of the event was Melih Yurtseven’s final run. The International Master, who arrived in Kemer as the seventh seed, won four out of his last five games, getting consecutive victories in rounds 7-9 to secure sole second place a half point behind Sanal. Yurtseven is also an architect and enjoys boxing, as stated on his Instagram account.

Third place went to Cem Kaan Gokerkan, who scored 6 out of 9 and lost only once, against second seed Firat Burak. 

Social distancing

In round 8, Sanal, who had a full point lead over Yurtseven and Gokerkan, all but secured tournament victory by beating Firat with the white pieces. By move 27, Black had managed to stop White’s threats and stood slightly better positionally. Sanal’s pieces were still placed near the opposite king though, and a single slip turned the tables:

The modern Grand Prix Attack

The Grand Prix Attack is one of White’s most enterprising weapons against the Sicilian Defence, and a favourite among club players and Grandmasters alike. This is an opening that must be treated with both caution and respect. Over the past few years Grandmaster Gawain Jones, arguably the world’s leading expert on the variation, has used the Grand Prix Attack to defeat a number of world class opponents, which demonstrates that underestimating its potential can cause casualties even at the highest level. This DVD will provide you with a comprehensive repertoire that explores all of Black’s ideas against the Grand Prix set up.

27...Qf4 defending h6 was called for here, while Firat’s 27...Re6 gave way to the killer 28.Nf5, creating the deadly threat of Qh6-Qg7 mate. Black had nothing better than 28...Rxf6 allowing 29.Nxh6+ Kg7 30.g5 and White is now clearly better.

Firat gave up his queen for a rook and a minor piece later on, but his position was hopeless with his knight out of play:

37.Qe5+ Kh7 38.Qe8 and Black resigned.

Back-to-back Turkish chess champion Vahap Sanal

Sanal only needed a draw in the last round to secure first place, and he quickly signed the peace treaty with Deniz Ozen. Meanwhile, Firat continued playing enterprising chess, but his efforts backfired for a second day in a row. Yurtseven scored the only win of the round after outplaying his opponent in a position with the kings castled on opposite flanks:

Sicilian Dragon: The Real Deal! Part 1: Understanding The Dragon

In this first part, the emphasis is on themes and ideas as the viewer is armed with tactical and positional motifs and concepts after 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6.

Black’s initiative on the queenside was much stronger than White’s attempts at counterplay — 25.Qxc7 Rdb8 26.Na4 Qe3 27.Rhe1 (forced) Qxe4+ 28.Kc1:

Black broke through with 28...c3 29.Bb5 cxb2+ 30.Nxb2 Qb4 31.Rxe6 Qc3+ and game over.

Melih Yurtseven

Final standings

All games

Links

• Official site
• Vahap Sanal leads Turkish Championship after five rounds