Sarunas Sulskis wins 96th edition of the Hastings Masters

by Klaus Besenthal
1/7/2023 – Lithuanian grandmaster Sarunas Sulskis was the only player, out of the 95 participants, to achieve an 8/10 score at the 96th edition of the traditional Hastings Masters. In second to fourth place finished Bence Korpa (Hungary), Oleg Korneev (Spain) and Mark Hebden (England), each with 7½/10. Rating favourite Romain Edouard (France) finished fifth on 7/10. | Photo: Official site
Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

Patience pays off

Before the final round, Bence Korpa, Sarunas Sulskis and Oleg Korneev each had 7/9 points, but in round 10 Sulskis was the only one to score a full point.

In the game against the Russian grandmaster Alexander Cherniaev, who now plays for England, Sulskis patiently made the most of his space advantage as he only struck when the time was right.

 
Sulskis, Sarunas24921–0Cherniaev, Alexander2374
96th Caplin Hastings Congress 2022
06.01.2023[TA]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.0-0 Also popular is 4.Bxc6 but after bxc6 Black would have the possibility to put pressure on the white e-pawn with f7-f6, should it ever move to e5. 4...Nge7 Now he has averted doubling his c-pawn. 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Ng6 7.Be2 On b5 there was nothing more for this bishop to do. a6?! And Black doesn't want to see a knight on this square either, but with this superfluous move he only loses time and weakens his position. In fact, the weakness of b6 causes Black a lot of trouble for the rest of the game. After 7...Be7 in case of 8.Nb5?! Good is 8.c4= 8...0-0 9.Nd6 Qc7 10.Nxc8 Raxc8 is not particularly useful from White's perspective. 8.Be3 Qc7 But perhaps this was also the actual intention of 7...a6. 9.c4 Bd6?!
White easily fends off this dark-squared initiative with his next move. Better was 9...Be7 On the other hand 9...Nf4 10.Nc3 Nxe2+ 11.Qxe2± would have been good for White. 10.g3 Nxd4 White would probably not have been able to do anything with his d4-knight other than to capture on c6 himself. In this respect, this certainly suits him. 11.Bxd4 Better was 11.Qxd4! If Black now plays ...e5, White would be ready for f2-f4 after Qd2. 11...0-0 12.Qb3 Bc5 13.Qc3 Bxd4 14.Qxd4
White's advantage has largely evaporated - the last moves have cost time but achieved nothing tangible. 14...b6 After 14...e5! 15.Qd2 d6 Black remains passive at first, but White can't place anything on either d6 or d5. 15.Nc3 d6 16.Rfd1 Rd8 17.b4 Rd7?!
This move looks strange. Better was 17...Bb7 but after 18.Na4 Rab8 19.Qxb6 Qc6 20.Qxc6 Bxc6 21.Nc3 Rxb4 Black remains on the defensive. 18.Rac1 More energetic was 18.h4! 18...Rb8 19.a3 White takes it easy. He is relying on the fact that his opponent, under pressure, will make a mistake at some point. Nf8 20.Na4 Qc6 21.b5 Qb7 22.Rb1! The immediate 22.e5?! is not good: axb5 23.cxb5 dxe5 24.Qxe5 Ra8 with newly awakened freedom of movement for Black. 22...a5? And there is the mistake which White was expecting. Necessary was 22...e5! 23.Qe3 a5± Black is in a bad position, but perhaps not yet completely lost. 23.e5 Now this breakthrough wins quickly. dxe5 24.Qxe5 Qc7 25.Qxc7 Rxc7 26.Rd6 Nd7 27.c5 bxc5 28.b6 Kf8 29.Rbd1 Rcb7 30.Ba6 Ke7 31.Bxb7 Rxb7 32.Rc6 1–0

On this DVD, Grandmaster Daniel King offers you a repertoire for Black with the QGD and against the Catalan. The repertoire is demonstrated in 20 stem games, covering all White's major systems.

Final standings

Rk. Name  TB1 
1 Sulskis Sarunas 8
2 Korpa Bence 7,5
  Korneev Oleg 7,5
  Hebden Mark L 7,5
5 Edouard Romain 7
  Petrov Martin 7
  Clarke Brandon Gi 7
  Gormally Daniel W 7
  Murphy Conor E 7
  Kueppers Timo 7
11 Nagy Gabor 6,5
  Grieve Harry 6,5
  Davies Nigel R 6,5
  Lalic Bogdan 6,5
  Cherniaev Alexander 6,5
  Bazakutsa Svyatoslav 6,5
  Pollack Oscar 6,5
  Golding James 6,5
19 Golding Alex 6
  Chan Kim Yew 6
  Anand Batsukh 6
  Latzke Boris 6
  Hryshchenko Kamila 6
  Walker Martin G 6
  Ismail Mohammed Aayan 6

...95 players

All available games

 
Loading...
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
 

Links

Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.