Alexandr Fier wins second Brazilian title

Photos by Albert Silver

It was the third straight year the Brazilian Championship was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and this time it was also organized precisely during the Carnaval. Last year the president of the Brazilian Federation, GM Darcy Lima, had said he planned to organize this year as a series of matches much like the World Cup, and the defunct Knockout World Championship, with more players participating, more prize money, and more excitement for fans following it.

Although it brought in no fewer than five grandmasters, the star of the event no matter the result was without question GM Henrique Mecking. This was his fourth participation overall, his first two taking place in 1965 and 1967, both of which he won at ages 13 and 15 respectively, and then in 2011, when he came in third. In Brazil, and even South America in general, just the name will ensure a draw even though he is past his prime and no longer the walking tour-de-force he once was.

Henrique Mecking is always a draw in a tournament in Brazil

To understand the eternal fascination he causes, it goes beyond just being the greatest South American player ever. Obviously he was a prodigy of incredible talent, who came from a country with none of the deep chess culture nations in East Europe had such as the Soviet Union, or even the United States. Not only did he overcome this lack of access to training and literature that would normally hamstring any lesser player, but also played in extremely few tournaments. In spite of these handicaps, he rose to world no.11 in 1974 at age 22, and remained in the top ten players until 1979, peaking at world no.3 behind Korchnoi and Karpov. He won two Interzonals, and made it to the quarter finals of the Candidates matches twice. In 1979 however, he was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis and told he had weeks to live. He dropped out of chess altogether and did not play during the 80s, missing out on what would have most likely been his golden years.

What brought him back to the championship? As Darcy Lima explained, the minute it was decided that the format would be a series of small matches, Mecking came to mind as he had already commented on his interest in matchplay.

Completing the lineup of grandmasters were Alexandr Fier, Krikor Mekhitarian, defending champion Everaldo Matsuura, and Luis Paulo Supi, as well as a number of international masters and FIDE masters.

Alexandr Fier was the second seed

The first round saw no real surprises as far as those who advanced to the next round were, though a rather notable issue was with Mecking himself as he drew his much weaker opponent in the classical games, before dispatching him in the rapid tiebreaks.

In the second round, now down to eight players, the favorites still passed through cleanly with 2-0 scores with the exception of Mecking once more. Mequinho (pronounced meh-keen-yo), as he is called in Brazil, faced IM Christian Toth, and though he was once more the outright favorite on papers, had even needed to save a lost endgame in game one.

IM Christian Toth had a moral victory as he drew both his standard games against GM Mecking

Game two was less dramatic over the board, but the danger of another draw was clearly rattling him, he complained about his opponent’s behavior at the board, claiming he was ‘doing gymnastics’ at the board. While Toth does stretch discretely in his chair more often than most, as a result of his years of studying yoga in India (really), calling it gymnastics was a gross exaggeration.

'Gymnastics'

Toth’s grimace of frustration was visible from across the room as the arbiter calmed Mequinho down. They drew game two and it was in the rapid tiebreaks that once more Mecking showed his true strength.

FM Armen Proudian

His lack of form was finally punished as he met GM Krikor Mekhitarian in the semifinals and lost, while Alexandr Fier beat Luis Paulo Supi. Supi is a player on the rise, and is only waiting for the next congress to receive his title. In the past two years the 21-year old player has gained over 100 Elo, going from good IM rated 2449 to 2553 this year and all the GM norms he needs. Nevertheless, he faced the no less strong, and more experienced GM Alexandr Fier (pronounced ‘fear’), and after drawing their first game, lost the second.

Though officially an IM until his GM title is confirmed at the next FIDE congress, Luis Paulo Supi was the third seed with 2553 FIDE

This meant a final showdown between Mekhitarian and Fier over four possible games for the title. The timing of the tournament and final collided with Carnaval, and took a toll on live spectators.

Fans enjoyed coming to the venue all the same to follow the games. FM Hilton Rios was there every day.

While Carnaval is celebrated in many places around the world with parties, parades and more, in Brazil it is an official holiday, and as such, businesses close, schools are off, and the country does go quite nuts as they carouse. That said, this is where the internet becomes the great savior of chess, since, as the Federation pointed out, the number of visitors of the official Facebook page and the live games on a variety of servers, including Playchess, made it clear that although there might not be long lines to enter the fine venue in the Novotel downtown, interest was very high.

The start of game three and last game of the 84th Brazilian Championship between GM Krikor Mekhitarian and GM Alexandr Fier

Alexandr Fier had a dream start, winning his first two games, meaning only a draw in the next two games was needed to crown. Game three was by far the most fascinating of the match, as Krikor Mekhitarian fought tooth and nail to win it and stage a memorable comeback, and he so nearly did. As he later explained, it was a strange thing, since when Fier arrived in Brazil, they had gotten together to train for tha myriad events they would be playing in. Fier’s presence in Brazil was the product of a three-way collaboration between organizers and the federation, which was how he came to play in the Floripa Open, and now in the Brazilian Championship. Now the training partners and friends found themselves seated at opposite sides of the board for the coveted Brazilian title. For Fier it would be his second title, while Krikor was hoping for a third.

Krikor Mekhitarian put in all his energy to try to win game three, and his efforts were noticeable on the board and in his demeanour

Ultimately, it was Alexandr Fier who came out on top and this won his second title after a 13-year hiatus

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Mekhitarian finally throws in the towel after 106 moves and a draw is concluded, thus ending the match in Fier's favor

Links

• Floripa Open: Tales of War
• 2017: Matsuura wins second Brazilian Championship after 26 years
• Stories about Henrique Mecking