Abhijeet Gupta wins Graz Open

by ChessBase
3/3/2023 – In the second half of February, the traditional Graz Open, by now the biggest Open in Austria, was held at the local Chamber of Commerce. Abhijeet Gupta won the A-Open ahead of 170 players. | Photo: Winners of the A-tournament. From left to right: Chief Arbiter Manfred Mussnig, Tournament Organizer Andrea Schmidbauer, GM Felix Blohberger, GM Abhijeet Gupta and GM Hagen Pötsch.
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Austria’s largest tournament

Press release

In the week from February 18 to February 24, the Europasaal of the Graz Chamber of Commerce became the venue of the 29th International Graz Open.

A total of 370 participants from 37 nations all over the world took part. The winners were determined after 9 rounds. Since the tournament was open to all players, everyone could participate. Professionals (9 grandmasters) and newcomers were present — the youngest 5 years old, the oldest 85 years old.

When you entered the Chamber of Commerce or the WIFI this week, it was impossible to get past the topic of chess. In the foyer there was a garden chess set next to a number of boards, and in the restaurant analyses’ sessions were running constantly.

The tournament was held in four groups. In the A group, the strongest participated; in the B group, the club players; and in the C group, the newcomers to the sport. Weekend tournaments were held on the first three days and were open to all.

In the C group, the Austrians dominated. The winner of group B, Bochnickova Simona, coame from Slovakia. Second place went to Balaz Frantisek (Czechia), and third place went to Kudlak Julia (Poland).

The Styrian National Championship was also held in the A group. David Schernthaner can call himself Styrian National Champion, ahead of Daniel Kristoferitsch, who was the runner-up.

The victory of the A-tournament and thus the overall victory went to India. Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta dominated with a convincing performance of 8 points in 9 games.

Runner-up was GM Hagen Pötsch, who scored 7 points and tied for third and fourth place. The tiebreak criteria gave third place to Austrian Grandmaster Felix Blohberger.

The venue turned out to be perfect for this tournament. The size and tranquillity are ideal, the public transport connections are good and there are plenty of parking spaces available. The social programme included a free guided tour of the city, and the mayor of Graz welcomed the participants in the town hall.

Mario Schachinger annotated two games played by the winner of the event:

 
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In round 8 of the Graz Open the decisive phase for the tournament victory slowly begins. We see the game of the players who were sharing the lead at that point. Both had 6 points from 7 games. A victory would be a big step towards the overall win. The Elo favourite plays with Black. We will feel this right away in the opening. Black tries to keep the position as complicated as possible early on. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Somewhat less ambitious than the Open Sicilian, but a line that favours positional players. Jonas Hacker clearly follows his repertoire here. Nd7 Black keeps all the pieces on the board. Gupta, a tactically strong player, as we will see, certainly feels more comfortable here. Much easier play usually occurs after 3...Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.0-0 Nc6 6.c3 Nf6 7.Re1 e6 4.a4 A typical move to limit black space on the queenside with ...a6-b5. Ngf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.a5 Bg7 7.0-0 a6 8.Be2 b5 More usual is the move order 8...0-0 9.d3 b5 10.axb6 a5 whereby the difference to the game is only slight. 9.axb6 Bb7 10.d3 a5 Why ...b7 and ...0-0 do not work perfectly together before ...a5 is shown by the following variation: 10...0-0 11.Nd2 Nxb6 11...a5 12.Nc4± 12.Nb3 and White gains control of the square a5, which ensures a small advantage in the long run. 11.Nd2 Nxb6 12.f4 Now clearly wrong would be 12.Nb3 since Black can already play a4 12...0-0 13.Qe1 a4 The resulting position now clearly shows which plans the two players should pursue. Black has a space advantage on the queenside and clear advantages there. White has the better game on the kingside. A mating attack is the logical consequence. For such a deciding game, this is an optimal double-edged situation. 14.Nf3 Somewhat more determined was 14.f5 e6 15.fxe6 fxe6 16.Nf3 which transposes to the game. 14...Nfd7 Positionally sound. However, stronger was certainly 14...e6, as our variation shows. 14...e6 White would now find it even more difficult to enforce f5 in a meaningful way, since Black can always reply ...exf5. Thus Black manages to open the e-file and the long diagonal a8-h1. His plans on the queenside would hardly be influenced by the change in the move order. 15.f5?! 15.Nd1 Nfd7 16.f5?! exf5 15...exf5 16.exf5 Nbd5 15.f5! e6 16.fxe6 fxe6 Now White has been able to create a stronger pawn structure for himself. On e6 Black simply has a weakness. 17.Bg5 Qb8 18.Nd1?! A logical move, since ...a3 could become very troublesome, but there was a concrete solution to this problem. 18.Qh4! a3 19.Bh6 axb2 20.Rxa8 Bxa8 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.Rb1 and White has it a little easier. 18...d5 19.Qh4 Ne5 Now the game really picks up momentum. 20.Be7 Nxf3+ 21.Bxf3 dxe4? Now White is gaining an advantage, but it is not easy to find all the tactical lines. 21...Rf4! 22.Qh3 Qe5 23.Nf2 23.Bxc5? dxe4 24.d4 Qf5-+ 23...Re8 24.Bh4 dxe4 25.dxe4 Rf7 and the position remains extremely dynamic and complicated. 22.Bxf8! Bd4+ 23.Nf2 exf3 24.Bh6 After a short series of forced moves White has an extra exchange. Material, however, still plays a subordinate role. Both kings are quite insecure, so it is to be expected that this factor will prevail. fxg2 The black pawn on g2 is both a blessing and a curse. Strong materially, from Black's point of view, but a factor that makes attacks against the white king rather difficult. 25.Rfe1 Nd7 26.Qe7 Bd5 27.c3 Furthermore, both players have the situation well under control. Ra7? This move loses the game. For White, however, it was extremely difficult to recognise the correct continuation. Necessary was 27...Bxf2+ 28.Kxf2 Qxb2+ 29.Kg1 Qxc3 30.Qxd7 a3 and the outcome of the game would be highly unclear. From Black's point of view, however, it is logical that this variation is not easy to find. After all, he had a rook less and in return "only" two far-advanced pawns. In addition, he was playing without the fianchetto bishop, which doesn't inspire much confidence. 28.Qh4? Tipping the game in Black's favour. The correct continuation was 28.Rxe6‼ Nf8 28...Bxf2+ 29.Kxf2 Qxb2+ 30.Ke3 and Black is checkmated. 28...Nf6 29.Qd6 Qxd6 29...Bxf2+ 30.Kxf2 Ng4+ 31.Kg1 Rb7 32.Bf4+- 30.Rxd6 Bxf2+ 31.Kxf2 Ng4+ 32.Kg1 Nxh6 33.Rxd5+- 28...Ne5 29.Qe8+ Qxe8 30.Rxe8+ Kf7 31.Rf8+ Ke7 32.cxd4 Nf3+ 33.Rxf3 Bxf3 34.dxc5+- 29.Rb6‼ Only this move retains the white advantage. Qa8 29...Qxb6 30.Qxf8# 30.Qxf8+ Qxf8 31.Bxf8 Bxf2+ 32.Kxf2 and White is left with more material. 28...Ne5! 29.Rxe5 Bxe5 The rest is simple. Suddenly Black has the material advantage, the bishop pair and also the clearly safer king. 30.Ng4 a3 31.bxa3 Bxc3 32.Rc1 Rf7 33.Ne3 Bf6 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Hacker,J-Gupta,A-0–12023Int. Open Graz8
Gupta,A-Socko,B-1–02023Int. Open Graz9
 

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Final standings - Group A

Rg. Name Pkt.  Wtg1 
1 Gupta Abhijeet 8 2696
2 Pötsch Hagen 7 2578
3 Blohberger Felix 7 2533
4 Dobrowolski Piotr 7 2471
5 Moroni Luca Jr 6,5 2571
6 Janzelj Tim 6,5 2482
7 Pastar Slaven 6,5 2477
8 Hacker Jonas 6,5 2455
9 Carnicelli Valerio 6,5 2392
10 Roshka Yevgeniy 6,5 2385
11 Socko Bartosz 6 2480
12 Kowalski Igor 6 2445
13 Wilhelm Till 6 2443
14 Barp Alberto 6 2438
15 Battey Alexander 6 2403
16 Delgerdalai Bayarjavkhlan 6 2402
17 Socko Monika 6 2387
18 Rosner Jonas 6 2377
19 Diermair Andreas 6 2373
20 Bochnicka Vladimir 6 2339
21 Tisaj Domen 6 2331
22 Schimnatkowski Lukas 6 2323
23 Gschnitzer Adrian 6 2306
24 Gschiel Alexander 6 2293
25 Petursson Margeir 6 2291

...171 players

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