Strong closed tournaments in a tiny Crete town

A Mediterranean chess destination

The village of Anogia in Crete has — probably to the surprise of most of its 3,000 residents — become known as a chess destination. Following on from the success of his Heraklion series, organiser Konstantinos (Kostas) Klokas and a team of his associates have decided to make a fixture out of the Anogia closed tournaments as well.

Kostas Klokas | Photo: Tzoulia Ntagianta

In this edition, there were three closed tournaments — the IM section, the "Fischer" GM-section, and the "Capablanca" GM-section. I played in the Capablanca tournament. While I don't quite understand what the connection of the two World Champions was to Crete, what must be said is that the allure of the names (and the island) keeps bringing a large and varied crowd of people to this corner of the Mediterranean.

The prize giving | Photo: Tzoulia Ntagianta

Greek players were of course also well represented | Photo: Tzoulia Ntagianta

In the IM-section, one of the main surprises was that two significantly lower-rated players were able to dispatch their IM opponents, including one with the black pieces.

My Black Secrets in the Modern Italian

The Italian Game is considered a sound but quiet opening without early trades, giving rise to rich positions where plans are more important than forced variations. So shows black's plans on this DVD.

Montenegrin IM Dusan Lekic | Photo: Tzoulia Ntagianta

Nevertheless, the laid-back atmosphere meant that it was difficult to let a defeat bother one for long: here is Dusan enjoying some downtime with local organiser George Ntagiantas and the future of Greek chess!

Another very exciting game from this section was played by the Bulgarian woman master, Tsveta Galunova:

Chess Endgames 3 - major piece endgames

The third part of the endgame series tackles queen endings, rook against minor pieces, queen against rook and queen against two rooks. Queen endings are not nearly as mysterious as they appear at first sight. Knowing a few rules of thumb and principles will make things very much easier for you.
Over 7 hours video training.

Moving on to my section, there was a sustained narrative throughout of utter domination by the top seed, GM Alberto David, who before this tournament was best known to me for the large number of countries with which he has connections (even FIDE affiliations)!

The three prize-winners (L-R): GM David; local norm-hunters K. Anagnostopoulos and G. Mitsis | Photo: Tzoulia Ntagianta

I was duly demolished by the in-form winner:

The Sicilian with 3.Bb5

The Rossolimo Variation of the Sicilian Defence (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5) is always an excellent choice with White if you want to avoid the deeply analysed main lines of the Open Sicilian. Alexei Shirov provides you with the requisite understanding of the opening's subtleties, by annotating extensively his most important games in this variation. During his career, he has played the 3.Bb5 system with both colours and he shares with you on this DVD his valuable experience.

Elsewhere, one notable story revolved around the young super-talent from India, D. Gukesh, born in 2006. After losing two games on the trot, including one to me which he really shouldn't have, this young prodigy held on to a crumbling position against his compatriot in round seven, before coming back triumphantly in a sharp, but well-controlled encounter.

Indian D. Gukesh | Photo: Tzoulia Ntagianta

His opponent in that game was another in-form player, the German FM Theo Gungl, who had started with a win and six draws, and required 1½/2 for an IM norm. So, naturally, the opening chosen was ambitious from both sides.

To round off our coverage of the Capablanca memorial, let's see an attacking effort from Russian GM Aleksandr Karpatchev:

Sicilian Najdorf 6.Bg5

There are few opening systems which have been undergoing such a fast and furious renaissance as the 6.Bg5 Variation of the Najdorf System. Inspired by Radjabov’s victories over Anand and Karjakin in 2006, a great number of games have been played since then, meaning that the theory has developed enormously. But even before then it stretched to such distant horizons that makes it all the more important to have someone who can explain the ideas which underlie the variations. That is exactly what Alexei Shirov does on his DVD.

Aleksandr Karpatchev | Photo: Tzoulia Ntagianta

Finally, we come to the Fischer memorial. The three prize-winners posed for a picture afterwards, and I am featuring a game from each of them.

The Catalan: A complete repertoire for White!

The Catalan is one of the most solid openings for White. It forms part of the large and strong fianchetto family in which White builds his strategy mainly around the bishop on g2. Grandmaster Victor Bologan covers all of Black’s replies to the Catalan, some of which can even transpose to other openings such as the Tarrasch System and the Queen’s Indian. Suffice it to say that the Catalan rules!

(L-R):GM Velten, GM Ernst, WGM Kulkarni

Dutch GM Sipke Ernst did an especially good job to recover from his bad start, ending up on the podium despite beginning with 2/5!

As you can see, some incredible fighting chess occurred in Crete this time around, and despite the fact that it didn't go my way at all, I will be back someday to do battle in this land of steep hills and strong coffee!

Final standings (5th Capablanca Memorial)

Final standings (5th Fischer Memorial)

Final standings (3rd Capablanca Memorial)

Links

• Full results (Chess-Results)
• Praggnanandhaa and Poetsch winners in Crete