Over the course of the winter vacation as it is known in the northern hemisphere, and summer vacation in the southern, the first edition of the Casino Graz Open was held in the plush Casino Graz in Graz, Austria. There were two opens held, with one as a pure open for all, whereas the B tournament was restricted to players rated under 2000 Elo. Both were nine-round swiss tournaments played at 40 moves in 90 minutes and the rest in 30 minutes with 30 seconds increment per move as of move one.
Li Chao (right) was the top seed with nearly 2700 Elo, but was unable to shine
For many it was a chance to spend a week playing chess
For those who prefer less strenous activities, there were adventure excursions to Kilimanjaro
14-year-old FM Veerappan Aravindh Chithambaram was the top junior, and came
tenth with a respectable 2498 performance and an IM norm to boot
Parimarjan Negi scored a nice win here in the fifth round.
[Event "Internationales Casino Open Graz 2014 A-"]
[Site "Graz, Casino"]
[Date "2014.02.17"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Negi, Parimarjan"]
[Black "Ragger, Markus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B19"]
[WhiteElo "2633"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2014.02.14"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nf6 8. Ne5
Bh7 9. Bd3 Nbd7 10. Bxh7 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Qa5+ 12. Kf1 Nxh7 13. e6 Qd5 14. Qxd5
cxd5 15. Ne2 g6 16. Nf4 d4 17. Bd2 Bg7 18. Rh3 Nf8 19. exf7+ Kxf7 20. Rf3 $1 {
Black's exposed king and serious development issues give white enough to apply
the screws.} Bf6 21. Re1 Nd7 22. Nd5 {The threat is Rxe7! as the bishop is
pinned.} Rae8 23. c3 {Not only eliminating Black's only asset: the d4 pawn,
but if taken will bring the white bishop to also bear down against the king.}
Kg7 (23... dxc3 24. Bxc3 {[%cal Yc3f6,Yd5f6,Yf3f6]}) 24. cxd4 Bxh4 25. Bc3 Bf6
26. Nc7 Rc8 27. d5 $1 {Exploiting the black weaknesses to perfection.} Kg8 {
Black is out of good choices.} (27... Rxc7 {loses to} 28. Rxe7+ $1 {[%cal
Rc3g7]} Kf8 (28... Kg8 29. Rxf6 Nxf6 30. Rxc7 {[%cal Rc3h8]}) 29. Bxf6 Nxf6 30.
Rxc7) (27... Bxc3 28. Rxe7+ Kg8 29. Rxd7 Ba5 30. d6 {and the pawn marches
ahead.} Rh7 31. Rxh7 Kxh7 32. d7 $1) 28. Bxf6 exf6 29. d6 Rd8 30. Rfe3 Ne5 31.
f4 Nc6 32. Re8+ Kf7 33. R1e7+ Nxe7 34. Rxe7+ Kg8 35. Ne6 1-0
After a strongly fought event, with five sharing 5.0/6 after six rounds, Armenian Hrant Melkumyan detached himself from the rest as he finished with 7.5/9, a full point ahead of his rivals. Top Austrian GM Markus Ragger squeezed into second, edging out five others on tiebreak, while Indian IM Ankit Rajpara took third with the same score, and a grandmaster norm.
Photos by Agentur Alias
Final standings after nine rounds
