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On January 15-22, a chess festival was held in Marianske Lazne, Czech Republic, as part of the Czech Chess Tour. This included two GM tournaments, three IM tournaments, two Open events, as well as rapid and blitz tournaments.
Master Class Vol.14 - Vasily Smyslov
Smyslov cultivated a clear positional style and even in sharp tactical positions often relied more on his intuition than on concrete calculation of variations. Let our authors introduce you into the world of Vasily Smyslov.
Mariánské Lázne is a charming old spa town in the West Bohemian Spa Triangle, not far from the border with Germany. The sulphurous springs near Mariánské Lázne have been known as healing springs since the 16th century. The first bathhouse was built at the beginning of the 19th century. In the following years, the town developed into a widely known spa with many representative buildings. In 1820 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited Mariánské Lázne for the first time and stayed in the pension Zur Traube. Until the end of the First World War, the town and the spas in the vicinity belonged to Austria-Hungary, then to the newly formed Czechoslovakia, and now to the Czech Republic. Many of the old buildings have survived the test of time and still give a sophisticated and elegant impression. Since 2001, Mariánské Lázne has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of the “Great Spa Towns of Europe”.
Mariánské Lázne is surrounded by mountain forest, mineral springs and green parks. In January, the chess players were offered a beautiful winter landscape, which, in addition to all chess activities, invited them to take walks in the parks adjacent to the city centre or, if they preferred, to go skiing.
The main Baroque colonnade is distinguished by its bronze reliefs and ceiling frescoes.
Find more photos in the gallery!
The Mariánské Lázne Chess Festival is part of the Czech Tour tournament series organized by AVE-Kontakt. The Czech Tour has been holding chess festivals in Prague and other Czech cities for 20 years. Tournament director in Mariánské Lázne was Michal Horacek.
View of the tournament hall
The winners of the Grandmaster A1 tournament had left immediately after the end of the round due to other tournament commitments, and were thus not available to participate in the award ceremony.
The winners were GM Azer Mirzoev and GM Vojtech Plat on equal points, with first place going to Mirzoev on tiebreaks.
Final standings
| Rg. | Name | Elo | Pkt. | Wtg1 | ||
| 1 |
|
GM | Mirzoev Azer | 2432 | 6,5 | 25,25 |
| 2 |
|
GM | Plat Vojtech | 2548 | 6,5 | 24,50 |
| 3 |
|
GM | Simacek Pavel | 2440 | 6,0 | 24,50 |
| 4 |
|
IM | Baenziger Fabian | 2408 | 5,5 | 24,25 |
| 5 |
|
IM | Noe Christopher | 2530 | 4,5 | 18,75 |
| 6 |
|
FM | Gungl Theo | 2368 | 4,5 | 16,25 |
| 7 |
|
FM | Czerw Dawid | 2396 | 4,0 | 16,00 |
| 8 |
|
FM | Lim Zhuo Ren | 2311 | 3,0 | 11,25 |
| 9 |
|
FM | Stalmach Richard | 2308 | 2,5 | 9,50 |
| 10 |
|
FM | Nemec Jachym | 2402 | 2,0 | 8,25 |
All games
GM Babu Lalith took a commanding first place in the Grandmaster A2 tournament with 6½ points from 9 games, followed by GM Hannes Stefansson, who also played very strongly. Third place went to Bremen’s Nikolas Wachinger, who reached the podium thanks to an impressive final-round black win in the King’s Indian —he also earned an IM norm!
To get a GM norm, 7 points were required, which no player reached this time.
The winners
Final standings
| Rg. | Name | Elo | Pkt. | Wtg1 | ||
| 1 |
|
GM | Lalith Babu M R | 2548 | 6,5 | 26,75 |
| 2 |
|
GM | Stefansson Hannes | 2518 | 6,0 | 25,00 |
| 3 |
|
Wachinger Nikolas | 2360 | 5,0 | 21,25 | |
| 4 |
|
IM | Malinovsky Karel | 2473 | 4,5 | 20,00 |
| 5 |
|
FM | Ghazarian Kirk | 2379 | 4,5 | 19,25 |
| 6 |
|
IM | Braeuer Franz | 2435 | 4,0 | 17,75 |
| 7 |
|
GM | Rasik Vitezslav | 2424 | 4,0 | 17,50 |
| 8 |
|
FM | Finek Vaclav | 2425 | 4,0 | 17,25 |
| 9 |
|
FM | Kusa Jakub | 2297 | 3,5 | 15,00 |
| 10 |
|
FM | Sorm Daniel | 2345 | 3,0 | 12,25 |
All games
Arne Bracker won the IM Tournament B1 by half a point and thus achieved an IM norm (with the required 7 points from 9 games). It is the second IM norm achieved by our colleague!
FM Claus Dieter Meyer has put under the microscope a comprehensive fund of topical and timeless games / fragments. On video Hamburg GM Dr. Karsten Müller has outlined corner points of Meyer's work and created 14 tests plus 10 interactive test sets.
Arne Bracker — tournament victory and an IM norm
Final standings
| Rg. | Name | Elo | Pkt. | Wtg1 | ||
| 1 |
|
Bracker Arne | 2228 | 7,0 | 27,50 | |
| 2 |
|
IM | Plischki Sebastian | 2375 | 6,5 | 25,75 |
| 3 |
|
FM | Gnojek Petr | 2254 | 6,0 | 24,50 |
| 4 |
|
FM | Redzisz Michal | 2213 | 4,5 | 18,75 |
| 5 |
|
Smolik Jachym | 2291 | 4,5 | 17,25 | |
| 6 |
|
FM | Frank Adam | 2324 | 4,0 | 18,00 |
| 7 |
|
FM | Matras Ondrej | 2230 | 4,0 | 15,00 |
| 8 |
|
IM | Jurek Josef | 2211 | 3,5 | 15,00 |
| 9 |
|
IM | Mantovani Renzo | 2272 | 2,5 | 10,25 |
| 10 |
|
WCM | Ricken Katharina | 2006 | 2,5 | 8,50 |
All games
Nils Richter won the IM tournament B2 by half a point.
The winners
Final standings
| Rg. | Name | Elo | Pkt. | Wtg1 | ||
| 1 |
|
FM | Richter Nils | 2270 | 6,5 | 27,50 |
| 2 |
|
Vojta Jakub | 2216 | 6,0 | 24,25 | |
| 3 |
|
FM | Acor Corey | 2303 | 6,0 | 22,50 |
| 4 |
|
FM | Bomans Arno | 2246 | 5,0 | 21,00 |
| 5 |
|
IM | Pisk Petr | 2329 | 5,0 | 19,00 |
| 6 |
|
WGM | Klek Hanna Marie | 2341 | 4,5 | 19,50 |
| 7 |
|
FM | Ochedzan Tymon | 2350 | 3,5 | 17,25 |
| 8 |
|
IM | Michalek Jan | 2249 | 3,0 | 13,25 |
| 9 |
|
IM | Meszaros Andras | 2217 | 3,0 | 11,00 |
| 10 |
|
Hari Charan Sai Kalluri | 2160 | 2,5 | 8,75 |
All games
Niklas Schmider won the IM tournament B3 with a half-point advantage.
Another winner from Germany
Final standings
| Rg. | Name | Elo | Pkt. | Wtg1 | ||
| 1 |
|
FM | Schmider Niklas | 2330 | 6,5 | 27,75 |
| 2 |
|
FM | Hollan Martin | 2362 | 6,0 | 23,25 |
| 3 |
|
CM | Dev Shah | 2248 | 5,0 | 21,50 |
| 4 |
|
IM | Mannion Stephen R | 2271 | 4,5 | 21,25 |
| 5 |
|
Krawczyk Flawian | 2161 | 4,5 | 21,00 | |
| 6 |
|
IM | Kantorik Marian | 2209 | 4,5 | 17,00 |
| 7 |
|
IM | Jasny Stanislav | 2299 | 4,0 | 17,50 |
| 8 |
|
FM | Mica Marek | 2305 | 3,5 | 15,50 |
| 9 |
|
Pourquet Matthieu | 2201 | 3,5 | 14,50 | |
| 10 |
|
FM | Bubalovic Davorin | 2220 | 3,0 | 12,25 |
All games
IM Dietmar Kolbus convincingly won the Open with 7½ points out of 9 games, which left him a full point ahead of the runner-up. Kolbus played under the flag of his adopted country, the Isle of Man. German chess fans know Dietmar Kolbus as the sponsor of the former Bundesliga team Trier. A few years ago, he moved with his team to the British 4NCL.
Dietmar Kolbus with his cup and his certificate
Final standings
| g. | Snr | Name | Land | Elo | Verein/Ort | Pkt. | Wtg1 | Wtg2 | Wtg3 | K | rtg+/- | ||
| 1 | 1 |
|
IM | Kolbus Dietmar | IOM | 2301 | MANX LIBERTY | 7,5 | 47,5 | 52,0 | 43,00 | 10 | 4,1 |
| 2 | 4 |
|
Nytra Ondrej | CZE | 2146 | Beskydska sachova skola z.s. | 6,5 | 46,0 | 50,0 | 34,25 | 40 | 46,8 | |
| 3 | 2 |
|
FM | Froeyman Helmut | BEL | 2301 | 6,5 | 46,0 | 50,0 | 32,75 | 20 | -8,6 | |
| 4 | 6 |
|
WIM | Azhar Puteri Munajjah Az-Zahraa | MAS | 2052 | AMS MALAYSIA | 6,5 | 45,0 | 48,5 | 31,75 | 20 | 32,4 |
| 5 | 5 |
|
WIM | Goossens Hanne | BEL | 2133 | OPWIJK | 6,0 | 49,5 | 54,0 | 34,00 | 20 | 9,6 |
| 6 | 3 |
|
Balje Jan | NED | 2198 | GRONINGER COMBINATIE | 6,0 | 45,0 | 49,0 | 31,25 | 20 | -9,0 | |
| 7 | 9 |
|
FM | Laith Kasib | IRQ | 2020 | SK KAMRATERNA | 6,0 | 44,0 | 48,0 | 28,50 | 20 | 18,8 |
| 8 | 8 |
|
Gorkiewicz Mateusz | POL | 2028 | ZKSZ ZARY | 5,5 | 43,5 | 45,5 | 24,50 | 40 | 15,2 | |
| 9 | 11 |
|
Vantuch Lucian | CZE | 1997 | Beskydska sachova skola z.s. | 5,5 | 42,5 | 45,5 | 24,50 | 40 | 17,6 | |
| 10 | 23 |
|
Peglau Charis | GER | 1818 | 5,5 | 41,5 | 43,5 | 22,00 | 40 | 55,2 | ||
| 11 | 13 |
|
WFM | Azhar Puteri Rifqah Fahada | MAS | 1939 | AMS MALAYSIA | 5,5 | 40,5 | 43,5 | 25,50 | 20 | -13,2 |
| 12 | 19 |
|
Borisek Anze | SLO | 1895 | 5,5 | 40,0 | 42,5 | 22,00 | 20 | 11,6 | ||
| 13 | 25 |
|
Ochedzan Filip | POL | 1766 | POLONIA WROCLAW | 5,5 | 39,5 | 42,0 | 23,00 | 40 | 66,4 | |
| 14 | 7 |
|
Paseka Matyas | CZE | 2052 | Beskydska sachova skola z.s. | 5,0 | 46,0 | 50,5 | 26,75 | 40 | -2,4 | |
| 15 | 18 |
|
Buchta Bartolomej | CZE | 1901 | Beskydska sachova skola z.s. | 5,0 | 41,5 | 45,0 | 22,50 | 40 | -30,4 |
All available games
In the Open 50+ IM Adrian Claude won the senior tournament with 7.5 points from 9 games and also a whole point lead, followed by the runner-up Miroslav Palek (6.5/9) and Alexander Yakimenko (6.5/9). Find all the results here.
