Zhao Jun bulldozes Hastings Chess Congress

Horntye Park Sports Complex

Into its 90th edition, the Hastings Chess Congress is more than just a traditional tournament. It is a piece of chess history that will be a timeless part of chess folklore. Over the years, the tournament has stood witness to the changing nature of chess. The young replaced the old and the younger have begun to displace the young.

This traditional tournament has acted as a graduation function where a generation has passed the baton to the next. Chinese Grandmaster Zhao Jun put up the show of his career until date. What do they say about China being the new chess powerhouse?

Getting ready for the games to begin

Winner of the 90th Hastings Chess Congress: GM Zhao Jun

GM Zhao Jun massacred his opposition in the 9-round swiss to win with a dream score of 8.0/9, clocking a total rating performance of 2852. The Chinese grandmaster began his campaign as the sixth seed, but raced away to a Fabianosque 6.0/6.

He eventually finished his jaw dropping performance with two draws towards the end, taking clear first place by miles

GM Aleksander Mista

The tournament followed an accelerated swiss pairing system and the third seeded Polish GM Aleksander Mista was a notable casualty in the early rounds.

Despite this early setback, GM Aleksander Mista recovered quickly to set up a crucial encounter with the second seed GM Roman Edouard in the final round.

With this victory over the Frenchman, GM Mista finished with 7.0/9 to finish tied second.

Mista was awarded with the Best Game of the tournament prize for his win over GM Edouard

Brazilian GM Alexander Fier scored 7.0/9 as well, tying for second place

IM Gudmundur Kjartansson of Iceland also scored an impressive 7.0/9 and was the only
non-grandmaster in the top ten. However, he missed his GM norm by a whisker.

WIM Tereza Olsarova played sparkling chess throughout the event to score 5.5/9 to register her WGM norm

15-year-old Hungarian IM Benjamin Gledura needed a win in the last round for his GM-norm but could only draw

Top seeded Israeli GM Maxim Rodshtein had to be content with 6.5/9

This traditional tournament at the turn of the year has always been played in festive spirits. How do you think the players wished each other ‘Happy New Year’? With imaginative combinations of course, as GM Rodshtein found at his expense on the 1st of January 2015.

Mr. 17.Ndxe4

Bernard Cafferty moved to Hastings in 1981 has since then been a regular feature of this legendary tournament. To readers who know his name but cannot really recall where they heard it, Cafferty was the translator of many important Soviet chess books, the most notable being Alexander Kotov’s ‘Think like a Grandmaster’, which to this date has proved to be a blessing for many chess players. IM Malcolm Pein paid a glowing tribute to his contribution to chess in the Telegraph.

In the following game unfortunately, Cafferty found himself with the short end of the stick.

Jonathan Hawkins finished seventh with 6.5/9. He is Britain’s newly minted grandmaster
and the current British Chess Champion.

French GM Romain Edouard finished tenth after a last round loss to GM Aleksander Mista

Veteran GM Mark Hebden played a fine tournament until the final two
rounds where he lost steam

One of his games ended in a curious position.

Some choice tactics:

Sengupta-Sowray

The Indian grandmaster found the simplest path to victory here, can you?
White to play and win.

Rayner-Othman

Find the weakness; attack it mercilessly. White to play and win.

Kheit-Hunt

Black's position screams "Hit me!" Indulge him. White to play and win.

Slade-Wallis

Plenty of attractive options, but which to choose? White to play and win.

Young Theo Slade thinks Magnus style. Note the junior picked up 113 Elo.

A view of the city near the shoreline

Hastings castle near the town (source: Wikipedia)

The beach at Hastings

Solutions to tactics:

1. Sengupta-Sowray: 40.Rc6+! Rxc6 41. a8=Q d1:Q 42.Qxc6+ Kxb3 43.Qb5+ Kc3 44.Qxf5 1-0
2. Rayner-Othman: 31.Rf5! threatening 32.Rxh5+ and mate to follow. 31...Ndf4 32. Bxf4 1-0
3. Kheit-Hunt: 34.Rxf6! Rxf6 35.Bxe5 1-0
4. Slade-Wallis: 24.Bxf7+! Kxf7 25. Qxh7+ Rg7 26. Rxe7+ Simplicity itself. 1-0

Tournament photos by Brendan O’ Gorman
Hastings city and prize giving photos by Akshay Halgannavar

Final standings

Click for complete standings

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN (courtesy of TWIC) The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.