Chess on New Year’s Eve at the 97th Congress in Hastings

by Klaus Besenthal
12/31/2023 – The traditional chess tournament in the English seaside resort of Hastings has been held immediately after Christmas for over 100 years. The event has reached its 97th edition, with rounds taking place on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The most important tournament, the Masters, which includes a number of titleholders, ends on January 5. French grandmaster Maxime Lagarde is the tournament’s top seed.

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Caplin Hastings International Chess Congress

The defending champion at the Hastings Masters is the Lithuanian GM Sarunas Sulskis, who scored an attacking win in the first round, in which the combination of a queen sacrifice and h-pawn reaching g7 was somewhat reminiscent of a famous game by Mikhail Tal:

Replay below Tal’s game, which many readers will have seen before.

Another guest in Hastings is Pengxiang Zhang, a name that may not ring a bell with many readers. However, 15 or 20 years ago, the Chinese player was part of the extended world elite — only to stop playing completely for a number of years.

Pengziang proved that he is still strong in the second round.

Standings after round 3

1 3
GM Zhang, Pengxiang CHN 2558 3 3 2,45 0,55 10 5,5
6
GM Laurent-Paoli, Pierre FRA 2524 3 3 2,39 0,61 10 6,1
15
IM Royal, Shreyas ENG 2438 3 3 2,17 0,83 10 8,3
19
GM Cherniaev, Alexander ENG 2381 3 3 2,15 0,85 10 8,5
32
FM Nielsen, Andre NOR 2239 3 3 1,27 1,73 20 34,6
6 1
GM Lagarde, Maxime FRA 2640 2,5 2,5 2,54 -0,04 10 -0,4
2
GM Gupta, Abhijeet IND 2596 2,5 2,5 2,44 0,06 10 0,6
8
IM Ghasi, Ameet K ENG 2509 2,5 2,5 2,61 -0,11 10 -1,1
9
GM Petrov, Martin BUL 2501 2,5 2,5 2,45 0,05 10 0,5
12
GM Gasanov, Eldar UKR 2487 2,5 2,5 2,46 0,04 10 0,4
13
IM Wadsworth, Matthew J ENG 2448 2,5 2,5 2,11 0,39 10 3,9
14
GM Gormally, Daniel W ENG 2442 2,5 2,5 2,73 -0,23 10 -2,3
16
IM Willow, Jonah B ENG 2427 2,5 2,5 2,02 0,48 10 4,8
18
IM Boyer, Mahel FRA 2427 2,5 2,5 2,72 -0,22 10 -2,2
21
GM Arkell, Keith C ENG 2371 2,5 2,5 2,22 0,28 10 2,8
22
IM Unuk, Laura w SLO 2345 2,5 2,5 2,17 0,33 10 3,3
17 4
GM Jacobson, Brandon USA 2538 2 2 2,35 -0,35 10 -3,5
5
GM Edouard, Romain FRA 2527 2 2 2,47 -0,47 10 -4,7
7
GM Mikhalevski, Victor ISR 2524 2 2 2,57 -0,57 10 -5,7
10
GM Sengupta, Deep IND 2501 2 2 2,41 -0,41 10 -4,1
11
GM Sulskis, Sarunas LTU 2490 2 2 2,64 -0,64 10 -6,4
17
GM Gallagher, Joseph G SUI 2427 2 2 2,20 -0,20 10 -2
20
FM Derakhshani, Borna ENG 2380 2 2 2,06 -0,06 10 -0,6
23
FM Grutter, Tim NED 2342 2 2 2,16 -0,16 20 -3,2
24
IM Fischer, Daniel SUI 2341 2 2 2,12 -0,12 10 -1,2
25
FM Waldhausen Gordon, Frederick SCO 2338 2 2 1,94 0,06 20 1,2
27
IM Vestby-Ellingsen, Mads NOR 2329 2 2 1,95 0,05 10 0,5
29
FM Lux, Hugo De Melo BRA 2311 2 2 1,98 0,02 10 0,2
31
IM Sarkar, Justin USA 2272 2 2 2,78 -0,78 10 -7,8
34
Boswell, Jacob Connor ENG 2235 2 2 1,92 0,08 20 1,6

...103 players

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Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.