Wojtaszek makes it two at Basel

by ChessBase
1/5/2014 – It seemed like a close affair in the final rounds of the Basel Chess festival, with three tied for first, and a slew of other grandmasters behind, but top-seed Radoslaw Wojtaszek would not be denied. After his strong win at Zurich a week before, he finished with two wins over his close rivals Robin van Kampen and Maxim Rodshtein to take clear first. Illustrated report.
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With three players tied for first, the last rounds promised to be brutal as the leaders not only had to hold each other at bay, but make sure they did not open a window of opportunity for the massive pack trailing right behind. In round six, top-seed Radoslaw Wojtaszek made his first step by beating young Dutch player Robin van Kampen, and with Popov drawing, he took the sole lead. Would he repeat his success from Zurich the week before?

Indian GM S.P. Sethuraman was one of the six players at 5.5/7

Igor Kovalenko finished with 5.0/7

Of note in the amateur tournament, reserved for players rated under 2000, the surprise leader was ten-year-old Daniel Kopylov, rated a modest 1706, and nowhere near one of the pre-tournament favorites.

The final round saw the key encounter between Wojtaszek and rival Rodshtein, who not only came as the second seed, but also had a chance to leapfrog his opponent should he pull off a heroic victory.

Maxim Rodshtein needed a win over the in-form Wojtaszek

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 c5 5.Nc3 0-0 6.Bg2 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Qc7 8.b3 d5 9.Ndb5 Qa5 10.Bd2 dxc4 11.bxc4 Qd8 12.0-0 a6 13.Na3 Bf5 14.Nc2 Nc6 15.Ne3 Qd4 16.Nxf5 gxf5 17.Rc1 Rad8 18.Nd5 Ne4 19.Be3 Qxd1 20.Rfxd1 e6? This move was probably caused by an oversight, missing White's next move
21.f3! exd5 22.fxe4 dxe4 Black is up a pawn but it is more like a paycheck held in hand before giving it all up to bills. 23.Bh3 And the Bishop comes to collect. Bd4 24.Kf2 Rfe8 25.Bxf5 Re5 26.g4 The endgame is very favorable for White, with clear targets, a bishop over the knight, and better king position. The Polish GM demonstrates excellent technique in converting. Ra5 27.Bxd4 Rxd4 28.Rxd4 Nxd4 29.Bxe4 Rxa2 30.Ke3 Ne6 31.Bxb7 Ra3+ 32.Kd2 Nc5 33.Rb1 Kg7 34.Bd5 Rh3 35.Rb8 Kf6 36.Rc8 Nb3+ 37.Ke1 a5 38.c5 a4 39.c6 Rc3 40.Ra8 Ke5 41.Bxf7 Rc1+ 42.Kf2 Rxc6 43.Be8 Rf6+ 44.Ke3 Rh6 45.Bxa4 Rxh2 46.Re8+ Kf6 47.Bxb3 Rh3+ 48.Kf4 Rxb3 49.e4 Rb1 50.e5+ Kg7 51.Re7+ Kg6 52.Re6+ Kg7 53.Kg5 Rb7 54.Rd6 Ra7 55.Kf5 Rf7+ 56.Ke4 Rf1 57.Rd7+ Kg6 58.e6 Ra1 59.Ke5 Ra6 60.Rd8 Ra5+ 61.Kd6 Ra6+ 62.Ke7 Ra7+ 63.Kf8 Kf6 64.Re8 Rg7 65.Ra8 Rb7 66.e7 Rxe7 67.g5+ Kxg5 68.Kxe7 h5 69.Ke6 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Wojtaszek,R2711Rodshtein,M26821–02014E60Schachfestival Basel 20147

A fantastic win by Radoslaw Wojtaszek, notching his second impressive tournament win with great style, and adding over 20 Elo, taking him to 21st place on the Live Ratings.

Ivan Popov (second), Radoslaw Wojtaszek (first), and Robin van Kampen (third)

Of note also is the timeless Vlastimil Hort, who finished on a very good 5.0/7, ourscoring many younger and higher rated colleagues. As to ten-year-old Daniel Kopylov, he ended in glory, drawing his last game, and taking first on tiebreak with 6.0/7.

Pictures by U. Zinke

Final standings

Rk
Ti.
Name
Rtg
Fed
Pts
 TB
1
 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2711 POL 6.5 33.0
2
 GM Popov Ivan 2644 RUS 5.5 31.0
3
 GM Van Kampen Robin 2601 NED 5.5 33.5
4
 GM Fier Alexandr 2572 BRA 5.5 33.5
5
 GM Popilski Gil 2490 ISR 5.5 31.0
6
 GM Grachev Boris 2669 RUS 5.5 30.5
7
 GM Sethuraman S P. 2553 IND 5.5 30.5
8
 GM Kovalenko Igor 2643 LAT 5.0 32.0
9
 GM Rodshtein Maxim 2683 ISR 5.0 30.0
10
 GM Bartel Mateusz 2649 POL 5.0 33.5
11
 GM Istratescu Andre 2670 FR 5.0 31.5
12
 IM Heimann Andreas 2511 GER 5.0 30.5
13
 GM Mareco Sandro 2581 ARG 5.0 29.5
14
 GM El Debs Felipe de 2520 BRA 5.0 28.0
15
 IM Mozharov Mikhail 2535 RUS 5.0 27.0

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