Strong field at the Open in Prague

by Johannes Fischer
3/1/2024 – The Masters and Challengers are the focus of the Prague Chess Festival, but the Open also has a strong line-up and an attractive field. GM Eltaj Safarli from Azerbaijan (Elo 2614) tops the seeding list, followed by Indian GM S.P. Sethuraman in second place, 11 Elo points behind. A total of 263 players are competing in Prague, including well-known streamers Andrea and Alexandra Botez and Dina Belenkaya, who are broadcasting their games live with commentary. | Photo: Petr Vrabec
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The top favourites got off to a good start in Prague and after two rounds Safarli, Sethuraman and 47 other players are leading the field with 2.0/2 .

In round 2 Safarli scored a nice win in the Grünfeld.

Lever, Erwan21990–1Safarli, Eltaj2604
Karel Janecek Open 2024
Prague29.02.2024[Johannes Fischer]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 0-0 8.h3 c5 9.Be2 Nd7!? A specialty of Safarli. Usually, Black puts the knight to c6 to exert pressure against White's center. 10.0-0 Nf6 11.Qd3 b6 12.d5 e6 13.d6 Bb7 14.e5 Nd7 15.Bf4 f6 The opening led to a double-edged position in the spirit of the Grunfeld: Black lured White's pawns ahead to be attack them better. The engines think that White is better her, but Black nevertheless has quite a lot of practical chances. 16.Qe3 fxe5 17.Bg5 Nf6 18.Rad1 h6! This strong pawn sacrifice helps Black to activate his pieces and stops White from taking on e5. 19.Bxh6 Nd5 20.Qd2 Qd7?! An inaccurary in a complicated position. 20...Qxd6 fails to 21.c4 and White is winning, but it was better to play 20...Rf5 with a complicated position. 21.Bxg7 Qxg7 22.Ng5 Nf4 23.Bg4? Better was the rather dangerous-looking move 23.g3 White opens the long diagonal for the bishop on b7, but Black cannot exploit this weakening, and after Nxe2+ 24.Qxe2 Black's position fails to impress. However, after the move played in the game Black seizes the initiative and wins quickly. 23...Qf6 24.h4?! It is difficult to find a good move for White. After e.g. 24.Nf3 Bxf3 25.Bxf3 Nxh3+ Black still has a strong attack, for example 26.Kh2 Qh4 27.g3 Ng5+ 28.gxh4 Nxf3+ 29.Kg3 Nxd2 30.Rxd2 Rad8 and Black has good chances in the endgame. However, after the move played in the game White quickly loses. 24...Bxg2 25.Bxe6+ Kg7 26.Rfe1 Rh8 27.Bc4
27...Qxg5 White resigned. After 28.hxg5 Black has ...Rh1# mate. 0–1

The Gruenfeld Defence is a popular opening for fighting players. Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov liked to play it, Peter Svidler, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Anish Giri like to play. On this DVD Lubomir Ftacnik shows why the Gruenfeld is such an attractive and strong opening.

However, it is the Botez sisters and Dina Belenkaya who receive the most attention during the tournament. Regardless of where they stand in the tournament, the three streamers always play on the same three boards, with their games recorded by a camera placed next to the board. The games are then streamed live on Twitch and shown to the online community. Norwegian grandmaster Jon-Ludvig Hammer comments the games of Alexandra and Andrea, while American grandmaster Ben Finegold follows the games by Belenkaya.

Alexandra Botez, whose Elo rating of 1977 is just above the tournament average of 1975, started the tournament with a loss and a draw, as did her sister Andrea, who has an Elo rating of 1708.

Alexandra Botez at the start of her game in round two. She has White against Romi Milner from the US.

Dina Belenkaya, a WGM with an Elo rating of 2164, won against German Vito Gierhardt in round one and lost to Brazilian GM Evandro Amorim Barbosa in round two.

After round 1, Belenkaya commented on her win against Gerhardt in the tournament hall on a "real" - and not a digital - board.

The third round of the Open begins on Friday, 1 March at 3 pm.

Standings after two rounds

Rk. SNo Name FED Rtg Club/City Pts.
1 1
GM Safarli, Eltaj AZE 2614 2
2
GM Sethuraman, S.P. IND 2603 2
4
IM Amar, Elham NOR 2567 OSS 2
5
GM Li, Di CHN 2563 2
6
GM Kourkoulos-Arditis, Stamatis GRE 2556 2
10
GM Popovic, Dusan SRB 2504 Spartak Subotica 2
13
IM Maksimovic, Bojan BIH 2497 2
15
GM Barbosa, Evandro Amorim BRA 2491 2
18
GM Simacek, Pavel CZE 2463 SK ZIKUDA Turnov, z.s. 2
19
IM Muthaiah, AL IND 2454 2
21
IM Zhao, Yuanhe CHN 2449 2
22
IM Harikrishnan.A.Ra, IND 2443 Chennai 2
24
GM Neverov, Valeriy UKR 2438 2
26
FM Kalogeris, Ioannis GRE 2429 Panathinaikos Chess Club 2
27
IM Ilamparthi, A R IND 2414 2
29
IM Xiang, Zeyu CHN 2407 2
32
IM Sofronie, Iulian ROU 2395 ASOCIATIA CLUB SPORTIV LOGIC 64 BRA 2
33
IM Harshavardhan, G B IND 2392 2
34
GM Neuman, Petr CZE 2390 Cesky lev Kolesovice-sachovy klub, 2
35
FM Shagbazyan, Taron UKR 2388 Чехия 2
36
FM Ivanov, Mike CAN 2382 Canada Chess Youth Club 2
38
FM Svanda, Ondrej CZE 2369 Slavia Kromeriz 2
40
FM Abdilkhair, Abilmansur KAZ 2357 2
42
FM Kusa, Jakub CZE 2348 Sachovy klub Moravska Slavia 2
44
FM Jares, Michal CZE 2346 2222 SK Polabiny, z.s. 2
46
FM Mis, Mieszko POL 2325 Poland 2
47
FM Chinguun, Sumiya MGL 2319 Aldar Mongolia 2
57
FM Senthil, Maran K IND 2275 India 2
58
FM Daakshin, Arun IND 2274 India 2
60
Walek, Petr CZE 2266 TJ Neratovice 2
61
FM Novotny, Michal CZE 2265 Chess club Pisek, z.s. 2
32 7
GM Heberla, Bartlomiej POL 2552 Šachový klub Moravská Slavia 2
8
GM Bharath, Subramaniyam H IND 2515 2
9
GM Polak, Tomas CZE 2506 Sachovy klub Moravska Slavia 2
14
GM Quintiliano, Renato R. BRA 2493 2
17
IM Stoyanov, Tsvetan BUL 2465 2
20
IM Isik, Alparslan TUR 2452 2
23
IM Kilic, Eray TUR 2439 2
45
Roubalik, Jakub CZE 2343 Sachovy klub Moravska Slavia 2
54
WIM Balabayeva, Xeniya KAZ 2282 KazChess 2
63
FM Vojta, Jakub CZE 2251 1. Novoborsky SK 2
82
CM Assylov, Miras KAZ 2176 2
43 31
IM Nguyen, Piotr POL 2404 Dwie Wieże Kraków 2
65
IM Saravana, Krishnan P. IND 2246 KVB 2
102
Mametev, Artem CZE 2091 SK 64 Plzen 2
114
Panjer, Sidney GER 2059 Krefelder SK Turm 1851 2
124
FM Valenta, Vit Vaclav CZE 2021 Individualni clen SSOK 2
126
Dushatov, Timur KAZ 2016 Kazakhstan 2
49 64
CM Deveci, Huseyin Said TUR 2250 2
50 3
GM Bernadskiy, Vitaliy UKR 2572 1,5

... 263 participants (Source: chess-results)

Games

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1.e4 3 c5 5:37 2.Nf3 10 Nc6 5 3.Bb5 11 g6 6 4.0-0 1:15 Bg7 9 5.Nc3 5 d6 16 6.e5 1:51 dxe5 2:19 7.Bxc6+ 23 bxc6 5 8.Re1 55 Qc7 1:19 The position is equal. 9.d3 11 c4 18 10.h3 17 Dodges Bg4 Much worse is 10.dxc4 f5 10...cxd3 18 11.cxd3 4 Be6 1:28 12.Qe2 1:35 Nf6 2:02 13.Nxe5 1:18 Nd5 5:14 Repels Bf4 14.Nxd5 5:12 Qxe5 1:38 15.Qxe5 2:25 Bxe5 8 This pair of bishops is nice. 16.Nxe7 14 Kxe7 3:34 17.Rxe5 15 Rhd8 1:28 18.Re3 3:07 Rd5 4:04 19.Kf1 3:09 Rad8 14:04 20.Ke2 41 Kf8 43 21.g4 1:30 Ra5 7:07 22.a4 3:06 Bb3 16:55 23.Ra3 2:04 Rb8 17 24.Re4 2:04 Bd5 49 25.Rd4 2:48 Bg2 1:50 26.Bh6+ 2:35 Ke7 3:05 27.b4 3:19 c5 6:31 28.bxc5 2:29 Bf4 is the strong threat. Rxc5 0 29.Ra2 8:22 Against Rb2+ g5 3:56
...Rb6! would now be deadly. 30.f4 1:18 f6 3:58 Black should play 30...Rd5 31.Rxd5 31.Bxg5+ f6= 31...Bxd5 31.Kf2 4:25 Bxh3? 4:56       31...Rd5± 32.Re2+ Kd6 33.Rxd5+ Bxd5 34.fxg5 fxg5 35.Bxg5 Rb3 32.Kg3 0 Bf1 2:36 Prevents Re2+. 33.Rf2 0 Weighted Error Value: White=0.08 (flawless) /Black=0.36. Loses game: --- Black=1 Mistake: --- Black=1 Inaccurate: White=2 Black=3 OK: White=14 Black=9 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Safarli,E2604Nesse,D20021–02024Karel Janecek Open 20241.1
Phatak Aanjaneya1974Bernadskiy,V25660–12024Karel Janecek Open 20241.2
Amar,E2555Kudrytskyi,S19921–02024Karel Janecek Open 20241.3
Ilandzis,S1925Li,D25630–12024Karel Janecek Open 20241.4
Kourkoulos-Arditis,S2547Tesar,J17581–02024Karel Janecek Open 20241.5
Tolhuizen,L1993Heberla,B25460–12024Karel Janecek Open 20241.6
Bharath Subramaniyam H2515Taus,M19941–02024Karel Janecek Open 20241.7
Pousada Garcia,V1965Polak,T25250–12024Karel Janecek Open 20241.8
Popovic,D2504Topencik,B18741–02024Karel Janecek Open 20241.9
Bezeyko,O1851Sadzikowski,D24970–12024Karel Janecek Open 20241.10
Kraus,T2484Hanak,T19691–02024Karel Janecek Open 20241.11
Sofronie,V1927Maksimovic,B24970–12024Karel Janecek Open 20241.12
Quintiliano,R2493Kurek,P19911–02024Karel Janecek Open 20241.13
Belenkaya,D2202Gierhardt,V16891–02024Karel Janecek Open 20241.14
Csonka,B2480Botez,A19771–02024Karel Janecek Open 20241.15
Kanakova,N2169Botez,A17091–02024Karel Janecek Open 20241.16
Toniolo,S2030Barbosa,E24910–12024Karel Janecek Open 20241.17
Hurtak,O1958Stoyanov,T24650–12024Karel Janecek Open 20241.18
Simacek,P2456Bigabylov,Z19721–02024Karel Janecek Open 20241.19
Lever,E2199Safarli,E26040–12024Karel Janecek Open 20242.1
Sethuraman,S2594Welling,G22241–02024Karel Janecek Open 20242.2
Bernadskiy,V2566Chkhaidze,N2209½–½2024Karel Janecek Open 20242.3
Bravetti,A2227Amar,E25550–12024Karel Janecek Open 20242.4
Li,D2563Garcia Martinez,M21871–02024Karel Janecek Open 20242.5
Rohit S2174Kourkoulos-Arditis,S25470–12024Karel Janecek Open 20242.6
Heberla,B2546Budrewicz,K21841–02024Karel Janecek Open 20242.7
Nemitz,A2223Bharath Subramaniyam H25150–12024Karel Janecek Open 20242.8
Polak,T2525Leskiewicz,I21671–02024Karel Janecek Open 20242.9
Koffeman,T2186Popovic,D25040–12024Karel Janecek Open 20242.10
Sadzikowski,D2497Assylov,M22880–12024Karel Janecek Open 20242.11
Sevcik,M2201Kraus,T2484½–½2024Karel Janecek Open 20242.12
Maksimovic,B2497Kanakova,N21691–02024Karel Janecek Open 20242.13
Kratochvil,V2177Quintiliano,R24930–12024Karel Janecek Open 20242.14
Sahithi Varshini M2173Csonka,B2480½–½2024Karel Janecek Open 20242.15
Stoyanov,T2465Mohylnyi,S21801–02024Karel Janecek Open 20242.16
Barbosa,E2491Belenkaya,D22021–02024Karel Janecek Open 20242.17
Botez,A1977Milner,R1710½–½2024Karel Janecek Open 20242.18
Botez,A1709Bezeyko,O1851½–½2024Karel Janecek Open 20242.19

Tournament page

Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".
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