Dennis and Dinara Wagner claim victories at exciting German Masters

Husband and wife victorious

The German Masters (open and women’s) took place on December 11-19 at the Hotel Gasthof Höhensteiger in Rosenheim, Bavaria. Each tournament was a 10-player single round-robin with a classical time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the remaining moves and 30 seconds per move from the start.

The battle for victory in the German Masters and the Women’s Masters was exciting right up to the final round. In the open tournament, Alexander Donchenko, Dennis Wagner and Rasmus Svane were tied for first place before the final round. Svane played white against Christopher Noe, Donchenko was up against Frederik Svane and played with the black pieces, while Wagner faced Mikhail Prusikin with white.

Alexander Donchenko certainly had the most difficult task, firstly because of the colour and secondly because Frederik Svane also wanted to give his brother a little help.

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Alexander Donchenko

Christoper Noe and Michael Prusikin were opponents from the bottom third of the table. In addition, Rasmus Svane and Dennis Wagner had the white pieces.

Frederik Svane expectedly proved to be a difficult opponent and held Alexander Donchenko to a draw. However, F. Svane will not be satisfied with his performance in the tournament. He drew all his games, with one exception. Against Dennis Wagner, he gave up a bishop in a slightly better endgame. This cost Frederik Svane a few rating points, but the 19-year-old will certainly make them up soon.

Rasmus Svane was slightly better in his game against Christopher Noe in a major-piece endgame, but had to accept a draw by perpetual check.

Rasmus Svane and Christopher Noe

So Dennis Wagner had every chance. In a Benoni structure, Dennis Wagner gained a clear space advantage and then had the better chances in a major-piece ending. As the time control approached, however, the advantage became thinner, but Wagner won in the end still.

This makes Dennis Wagner the winner of the German Masters 2023.

Women’s tournament

In the women’s Masters, the two co-leaders went head-to-head in the final round. Hanna Marie Klek faced Dinara Wagner.

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Hanna Marie Klek and Dinara Wagner

With the black pieces, Dinara Wagner chose the Najdorf Sicilian. In a well-known variation from the English Attack, Hanna Marie Klek kept her king in the centre and became active on the queenside. This turned out to be a questionable decision.

After a very poor start to the tournament, Melanie Lubbe came to a reasonably conciliatory end, as she beat Sara Papp in the last round.

Jana Schneider concluded the tournament with a victory over Josefine Heinemann

Zoya Schleining (pictured) and Lara Schulze drew their final-round encounter

Final standings - Open

All games - Open

Final standings - Women’s

All games - Women’s

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Links

• Official website
• Dinara Wagner stuns the field, wins Nicosia Grand Prix
• “I would like to become a Grandmaster” - An interview with Dinara Wagner