Groningen chess festival won by Alexander Kovchan and Robert Hess

by ChessBase
1/3/2012 – The Groningen chess festival took place from December 21st to 30th, and had a number of activities, including three Swiss opens and two matches. The main open was the 'A' event, which was won by Ukrainian GM Alexander Kovchan, who edged out American GM Robert Hess on tiebreak after both scored 7.0/9. Sergei Tiviakov came in third. Illustrated report.

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Groningen Chess Festival


The playing hall, or should we say 'playing gymnasium'?

The Groningen chess festival took place from December 21st to 30th, and had a number of activities, including three Swiss opens and two matches. The main open was the 'A' event, which was won by Ukrainian GM Alexander Kovchan, who edged out American GM Robert Hess on tiebreak after both scored 7.0/9. In third and fourth were frequent contributor Sergei Tiviakov followed by Yaroslav Zerebukh, both with 6.5/9.


GM Robert Hess (middle) with Alexander Kovchan (on his right) and organizers


Yaroslav Zerebukh and Sergei Tiviakov


Future winners Hess and Kovchan face off. Their game ended in a draw.

Here is a cute little game from the main event, peppered with fireworks large and small.

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Qe7 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Nc3 0-0 7.Bg2 Bxc3 8.Bxc3 Ne4 9.Rc1 d6 10.d5 Nxc3 11.Rxc3 Nd8 12.0-0 e5 13.Qc2 c5 14.a3 f5 15.b4 b6 16.bxc5 bxc5 17.Nd2 e4 18.Re3 Qf6 19.g4 g6? Black didn't play 19...f4! because he was scared of 20.Nxe4 but after Qg6 21.Rb3 Bxg4 he would be better 20.gxf5 gxf5 21.Rg3+ Kh8 22.f3 e3 White only has one move that isn't outright losing, and in fact gives him the advantage. 23.Ne4‼ 23.Nb1 f4-+ would have been game over. 23...Qd4 Taking with 23...fxe4 is no help. 24.fxe4 Bf5 24...Qe7 25.Rxf8+ Qxf8 26.Qc3+ 25.Bh3 Nf7 26.Bxf5± 24.Rd1 Qe5 25.Ng5 h6 26.f4‼ Qxf4 27.Ne6! Bxe6 Forced or Black will just lose a rook. 28.Qc3+ Qe5 29.Qxe5+ dxe5 30.dxe6 A beautiful point. Black cannot prevent the fork with e7 and protect his rook on a8 at the same time. Nxe6 31.Bxa8 Rxa8 32.Rxe3 e4 33.Rd5 Rf8 34.Re5 One could quibble that 34.Rd7 a6 35.Rb3 a5 36.Rbb7 is more efficient, but the text is winning all the same. 34...Rf6 35.Rb3 Kg7 36.Rb7+ Kg6 37.e3 Ng5 38.Rxc5 Ra6 39.Rb3 Nf3+ 40.Kg2 Kg5 41.Rd5 Rg6 42.Kg3 h5 43.h3 a6 44.c5 Kf6+ 45.Kf4 Ng5 46.Rxf5+ 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Michalik,P2509Duijker,R22041–02011E1148th Groningen Open A1.11


A young player wetting his feet in competition


Sometimes the contrasts can be extreme


The Dragon? He can't be serious...


A stand with products of incomparable beauty and quality. Said without a trace of bias.
No siree...

Final standings after nine rounds

Rk Name Tit Fed Rtg Pts TPR
1 Kovchan, Alexander GM UKR 2573 7.0 2760
2 Hess, Robert L GM USA 2625 7.0 2702
3 Tiviakov, Sergei GM NED 2650 6.5 2675
4 Zherebukh, Yaroslav GM UKR 2594 6.5 2653
5 Rapport, Richard GM HUN 2534 6.0 2603
6 Ruck, Robert GM HUN 2579 6.0 2574
7 Romanov, Evgeny GM RUS 2627 6.0 2553
8 Durarbeyli, Vasif GM AZE 2539 6.0 2471
9 Ernst, Sipke GM NED 2593 5.5 2530
10 Poetsch, Hagen IM GER 2408 5.5 2505
11 Michalik, Peter GM SVK 2509 5.5 2453
12 Michiels, Bart IM BEL 2492 5.5 2503
13 Klein, David FM NED 2378 5.5 2443
14 Naroditsky, Daniel IM USA 2472 5.5 2468
15 Plat, Vojtech IM CZE 2425 5.5 2464
16 Bok, Benjamin IM NED 2513 5.5 2437
17 Hoffmann, Michael GM GER 2499 5.5 2428
18 Brandenburg, Daan GM NED 2519 5.5 2363

The two mini-matches involved 12-year-old Jorden Van Foreest against GM Hans Ree, and 11-year-old Anna Maja Kazarian against Martine Middelveld. The matches were both won by the stronger and more experienced players, and as Van Foreest put it: "I played a few good moves, but he played a few more."


The first move is played to set off the match between 12-year-old Van Foreest and
GM Hans Ree.


Hans had a significant Elo advantage on top of his experience


Martine Middelveld was the 'experience' in her match


11-year-old Anna Maja Kazarian


The matches were visible to all via classic demonstration boards

Pictures by Galina Tiviakova

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client and get immediate access. Or you can get our latest Fritz 13 program, which includes six months free premium membership to Playchess.

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