European Club Cup: Vidit on fire!

Novy Bor two points ahead

Things could hardly have gone better for Novy Bor at the European Club Cup. The Czech team has scored six wins in a row and lost only one (out of 36) individual games so far in Mayrhofen — Pentala Harikrishna was defeated by Offerspill’s Magnus Carlsen in round 4, but immediately bounced back with a win over none other than Superbet’s Vishy Anand!

The Fashionable Caro-Kann Vol.1 and 2

The Caro Kann is a very tricky opening. Black’s play is based on controlling and fighting for key light squares. It is a line which was very fashionable in late 90s and early 2000s due to the successes of greats like Karpov, Anand, Dreev etc. Recently due to strong engines lot of key developments have been made and some new lines have been introduced, while others have been refuted altogether. I have analyzed the new trends carefully and found some new ideas for Black.

While Harikrishna held his own on the top board and David Anton scored 3½/4 points on boards 5 and 6, the real hero for Novy Bor has been Vidit Gujrathi. The 27-year-old from Nashik, India has won all six of his games, gaining no fewer than 19.3 rating points and climbing to the 20th spot in the live ratings list.

In Sunday’s seventh round, Vidit will face a final tough challenge, as he will play black against the ever-dangerous Andrey Esipenko. (The seventh round kicks off three hours earlier than usual, at 11:00 CEST).

A draw in round 7 will be enough for Novy Bor to get outright first place, but if they lose against Asnieres (Vachier-Lagrave, Esipenko, Moussard), up to two more teams could catch them atop the standings — besides Asnieres, of course, which would catch the leaders with the win. Clichy, Vugar Gashimov and Offerspill also stand two points behind the Czech squad, but Clichy and Offerspill face each other on board 2.

Clichy’s top scorers are Bassem Amin and Pavel Tregubov; Vugar Gashimov’s Kirill Shevchenko has excelled on board 2; while Offerspill’s star, Magnus Carlsen, has actually managed to gain rating points after scoring 4½/5 points despite having faced three players with ratings about 300 points lower than his (strong GMs nonetheless).

Round 7’s top pairings:

• Novy Bor (Harikrishna, Vidit) - Asnieres (Vachier-Lagrave, Esipenko)
• Clichy (Maghsoodloo, Van Foreest) - Offerspill (Carlsen, Tari)
• Viernheim (Kryvoruchko, Kuzubov) - Vugar Gashimov (Mamedov, Shevchenko)
• Superbet (Anand, Rapport) - Ljubljana (Arjun, Saric)

Clichy defeated Bayern München with wins on boards 2 to 6 — Dutch GM Loek van Wely, who turned 50 years old on Friday, won his fourth game of the event on board 5!

Klaus Besenthal annotated Harikrishna’s win over Anand, the first-ever in Hari’s career!

 

Harikrishna, Pentala2717

1–0

Anand, Viswanathan2756

37th ECCC 2022 Mayrhofen07.10.2022[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 c5 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Qa4 Bd7 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc3 b4 10.Qd3 Rc8 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.Nbd2 0-0 13.Nb3 Bb6 14.Be3 Ne7 15.Ne5 Ba4 16.Qxd8 Rfxd8 17.Bxb6 axb6 18.Rfc1 Nd7 19.Rxc8 Rxc8 20.Nxd7 Bxd7 21.Rc1 e5 22.Rxc8+ Nxc8 23.Nc1 Nd6 24.Nd3 b3 25.axb3 f6 26.Bd5+ Kf8 27.e4 Ke7 28.f4 exf4 29.Nxf4 g5 30.Ne2 f5 31.e5

The (pre-) decisive turning point: in a difficult endgame, Anand opts for passive defence, which would ultimately prove to be the wrong choice. 31...Ne8? With 31...Nf7! salvation was possible:: 32.Bxf7 Kxf7 33.Nd4 f4 34.gxf4 gxf4 35.Kf2 Bg4 Both sides keep the respective opponent's king under control with the help of a minor piece and a passed pawn. Attempts to activate the kings would lead to the advance of the passed pawn. 32.Nd4 Ng7 33.Kf2 h6 34.Ke3 Be8 35.Bc4 Bd7 36.b4 Bc8 37.Bd5 Bd7 38.Bb3 Kd8 39.Bc2 Ke7 40.Bd3 Kf7 41.b5 Ke7 42.Nc6+ Ke8 43.Nb4 Be6 44.Nc6 Kd7 45.Nd4 Ke7 46.Bc2 Bd7 47.Bb3 Kd8 48.Nc6+ Kc7 49.Bd5

49...Ne6? Black fought hard for a long time, and the game was only decided after this mistake. After the stronger 49...Nh5 White had 50.Bf7 Ng7 51.Ne7 Bxb5 52.Ng8! and here, as in the game, he transfers his king to f4. 50.Bxe6 Bxe6 51.Nd4 Kd7 52.h4 White will get his king to f4 - possibly after Nf3. 1–0

Standings after round 6

...70 teams

All available games

Pamhagen wins two crucial matches

Much like Novy Bor in the open, Pamhagen only needs a draw on Sunday to secure first place in the Women’s European Club Cup. After drawing Superbet in round 4, the Austrian squad grabbed back-to-back wins by the smallest of margins to get a 2-point lead over the top two seeds, Monte-Carlo and Superbet.

Both against Erste Bank Baden and Odlar Yurdu, Pamhagen’s opponents in rounds 5 and 6, the leaders scored two wins and lost one game to grab 2 match points in each confrontation.

Improve your Tactics

The aim of this course is to help you understand how to make tactical opportunities arise as well as to sharpen your tactical vision - these selected lectures will help to foster your overall tactical understanding.

The Austrian team entered the sixth round tied for first place with Superbet, but the Romanian squad led by Irina Bulmaga suffered its first defeat against the favourites from Monte Carlo, as the legendary Pia Cramling obtained the all-important win for the Monégasque team.

All three teams fighting for first place will face tough opponents in round 7:

• Gwiazda Bydgoszcz (Kashlinskaya, Kiolbasa) - Pamhagen (Danielian, Ushenina)
• Monte-Carlo (Anna Muzychuk, Stefanova) - Blue & Yellow (Buksa, Gaponenko)
• Wood Green (Sukandar, Arakhamia-Grant) - Superbet (Bulmaga, Saduakassova)

Philidor Mulhouse (Altan-Ulzii Enkhtuul, Hanna Marie Klek) facing Schachzentrum Seeblick (Haris, Dora, Mirjam and Sarah Peglau)

GM Karsten Müller analysed the endgame in Irina Bumaga’s win over Elina Danielian from the fourth round, a key victory for the Romanian star, which allowed her team to draw the match against the leaders.

 

Bulmaga, Irina2417

1–0

Danielian, Elina2431

26th Womens ECCC 2022 Mayrhofen06.10.2022[Mueller,Karsten]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Ba5 6.b4 cxd4 7.Nb5 Bc7 8.f4 Bd7 9.Nxc7+ Qxc7 10.Bb2 Ne7 11.Bd3 Ba4 12.Bxd4 Nf5 13.Bxf5 exf5 14.Qd2 0-0 15.c3 Nc6 16.Nf3 Rfc8 17.Rc1 Bb5 18.Kf2 a5 19.Ra1 Bc4 20.Qe3 Qd7 21.h3 Ra6 22.Rhe1 Rca8 23.Bc5 axb4 24.cxb4 Nd8 25.g4 fxg4 26.hxg4 Qxg4 27.Rg1 Qf5 28.Nd4 Qd3 29.Qxd3 Bxd3 30.Ke3 Be4 31.b5 Rh6 32.f5 Rh3+ 33.Kf4 h6 34.e6 fxe6 35.fxe6 b6 36.Bxb6 Nb7 37.Kg4 Rd3 38.Rgd1

Opposite colored bishops favor the attacker. This guideline from the middlegame is also valid in the endgame, if more pieces are on the board: 38...Rdxa3? Now White wins. One way to get counterplay is 38...Ra4 39.Rxd3 Bxd3 40.Kf4 Nd6= 39.Rxa3 Rxa3 40.Rc1 An open file is like an open wound. Kh7 41.Rc7 Nd6 42.Bc5 h5+ 42...Ne8 43.Re7 Nf6+ 44.Kf4 Ra1 45.b6 Rb1 46.b7 Kg8 47.Rc7 Ne8 48.Rc8+- 43.Kf4 Nxb5 44.Nxb5 Rf3+ 45.Ke5 h4 46.Rf7 46.Nd4 Rf6 47.e7 Bg6 48.Ne6 wins as well. 46...h3 47.Rxf3 Bxf3 48.Bg1! Black's pawns are stopped, while White's e-pawn will win Black's bishop. Kg8 49.Nc7 Kf8 50.Kd6 Bh5 51.e7+ Kg8 52.Kxd5 g5 53.Ke5 g4 54.Bh2 Kg7 55.Kf5 Bg6+ 56.Kg5 56.Kxg4 wins as well of course. 56...Be8 57.Nxe8+ Kf7 58.Nf6 Kxe7 59.Nxg4 Ke6 60.Kf4 Kd5 61.Nf2 Kd4 62.Kf3 Kd5 63.Ke3 Kc5 64.Kd3 Kd5 65.Nxh3

The rest is just a matter of technique: 65...Kc5 66.Nf4 Kd6 67.Kd4 Kc6 68.Nd3 Kb5 69.Bd6 Kc6 70.Bc5 Kc7 71.Kd5 Kb7 72.Kd6 Kc8 73.Kc6 Kb8 74.Nf4 Ka8 75.Nd5 Kb8 76.Nc7 Kc8 The starting position of the W-maneuver is reached and Irina Bulmaga executes it flawlessly: 77.Ba7 Kd8 78.Nd5 Ke8 79.Kd6 Kf7 80.Ne7 Kf6 81.Be3 Kf7 82.Bg5 Ke8 83.Ke6 Kd8 84.Bf4 Ke8 85.Bc7 Kf8 86.Nf5 Ke8 87.Ng7+ Kf8 88.Kf6 Kg8 89.Kg6 Kf8 90.Bd6+ Kg8 91.Bc5 Kh8 92.Nf5 Kg8 93.Nh6+ 1–0

Standings after round 6

...17 teams

All available games

Links

• Official site
• Technical info at Chess-Results: Open | Women’s