Xue Haowen wins 98th Hastings Congress

A tournament with a rich history

The Hastings International Chess Congress is one of the most traditional chess tournaments in the world. It began in 1895 with one of the most significant tournaments of the 19^th century, held from 5 August to 2 September 1895 at the Brassey Institute in Hastings, England. This round-robin event with 22 participants gathered the chess elite of the time, including World Champions Wilhelm Steinitz and Emanuel Lasker, as well as other notable players such as Siegbert Tarrasch and Mikhail Chigorin. The surprising winner was the relatively unknown American Harry Nelson Pillsbury, who triumphed with 16½ out of a possible 21 points.

Master Class Vol.9: Paul Morphy

Learn about one of the greatest geniuses in the history of chess! Paul Morphy's career (1837-1884) lasted only a few years and yet he managed to defeat the best chess players of his time.

Participants of the Hastings 1895 Chess Tournament (standing, from left): Albin, Schlechter, Janowski, Marco, Blackburne, Maróczy, Schiffers, Gunsberg, Burn, Tinsley; (seated, from left): Vergani, Steinitz, Chigorin, Em. Lasker, Pillsbury, Tarrasch, Mieses, Teichmann (Photo: Wikipedia, public domain).

In the first volume of My Great Predecessors, Garry Kasparov writes about this epochal tournament and highlights the following game, which he analyses in much greater detail, as one of the best of the tournament.

This successful debut laid the foundation for the establishment of the Hastings International Chess Congress as an annual event. Since then, the tournament has regularly attracted the world's best chess players and produced many memorable games and historical moments over the years.

Hastings 2024/25

This year's edition of the Hastings International Chess Congress, which concluded on Friday, continued this proud tradition – albeit with participant fields in recent years no longer as illustrious as in past decades and centuries. In an exciting competition held from 28 December 2024 to 3 January 2025, both established grandmasters and rising talents competed against each other. After nine rounds of the Swiss open, Chinese untitled player Haowen Xue emerged undefeated with 7 points to claim first place. Tied for second place were grandmasters Pengxiang Zhang (China) and Pierre Laurent-Paoli (France), each scoring 6½ points.

Master Class Vol.11: Vladimir Kramnik

This DVD allows you to learn from the example of one of the best players in the history of chess and from the explanations of the authors (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) how to successfully organise your games strategically, consequently how to keep y

In round six, Xue Haowen (left) faced Zhang Pengxiang, and they signed a draw

The decisive game in round 8

Xue, Haowen2502

1–0

Laurent-Paoli, Pierre2559

98th Caplin Hastings Masters 2024-25 02.01.2025

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 Qa5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Rc1 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Ba3 10.Rc2 b6 The Cambridge Springs variation of the Queen's Gambit is also played at the top level: 10...c5 11.Bd3 cxd4 12.exd4 b6 13.Be4 Rb8 14.Bf4 Bb7 15.Qe2 Ba6 16.Bd3 Bxd3 17.Qxd3 Rc8 18.0-0 0-0 19.c4 Be7 20.h4 Rfd8 21.Rb1 Qh5 22.Rb5 Qg6 23.Qe2 h6 24.a4 Qg4 25.g3 a6 26.Rbb2 Bxh4 27.a5 bxa5 28.c5 Bg5 29.c6 Bxf4 30.cxd7 Rxc2 31.Rxc2 Bxg3 32.fxg3 Qxg3+ 33.Kf1 Rxd7 34.Rc8+ Kh7 35.Qe4+ Qg6 36.Qxg6+ fxg6 37.Ke2 g5 38.Ke3 Rd6 39.Ne5 a4 40.Ke4 a5 41.Rc4 Ra6 42.Rxa4 Kg8 43.Nd3 Kf7 44.Nc5 Ra8 45.Ke5 g4 46.Nxe6 h5 47.d5 g3 48.Ra1 h4 49.d6 g2 50.Ng5+ Kf8 51.Rg1 h3 52.Nxh3 a4 53.Rxg2 a3 54.Rf2+ Ke8 55.Ke6 Ra6 56.Ng5 1-0 Carlsen,M (2831)-Keymer,V (2733) Tata Steel India Rapid Kolkata 2024 (7) 11.Be2 Ba6 12.0-0 Bxe2 13.Rxe2 0-0 14.Qc2 Rfe8 15.c4 Bf8 16.Rd1 Rac8 17.h3 h6 18.Bh4 Be7 19.Bg3 Bf6 20.Red2 Qb4 Slowly but surely, White's advantage grows. 21.Rb1 Qa5 22.Rdd1 Qa3 22...e5 the central advance provides a little counterplay. 23.dxe5 Nxe5 24.Bxe5 Bxe5 25.c5 23.Nd2 c5 24.Ne4 cxd4 25.Nd6 e5 26.Nxe8 Rxe8 27.Qf5 Re6 28.exd4 exd4 29.Qd5 Black has a passed pawn, White has the better piece play. Qa4 29...Nf8 30.Re1 Nc5 31.Bd6‼ The only move that promises an advantage. Rxe1+ 32.Rxe1 Ne6 33.f4+- Qxa2? 33...d3!? 34.Qxd3 Qxa2 34.f5 Qd2 35.Bg3 Nf4? This costs a piece. 35...Nd8 36.Qf3 Bg5 37.h4

37...Nxg2       38.Re8+ Kh7 39.hxg5 Ne3 40.g6+! fxg6 41.fxg6+ Kxg6 42.Re6+ Kh7 43.Qe4+ Kg8 44.Re8+ Kf7 45.Qe6# 1–0

Other players who scored 6½ points included 15-year-old Shreyas Royal (England), Kirk Ghazarian (USA), Eldar Gasanov (Ukraine) and Daniel W. Gormally (England). A total of 112 players participated in the tournament, including four from Germany. Among them, untitled player Lasse Struck (born 2003) fought his way to 29^th place entering the event as the 64^th seed. He gained 55 rating points by defeating several significantly stronger players and titled opponents.

Here, Struck demonstrated the power of the bishop pair against a significantly higher-rated player.

Final standings

Understanding Middlegame Strategies Vol.1 - 9

In this Video-Course we deal with different dynamic decisions involving pawns. The aim of this Course is to arm club/tournament players with fresh ideas which they can use in their own practice.

...112 participants

All available games

Links

• Abhijeet Gupta wins the Caplin Masters in Hastings
• Sarunas Sulskis wins 96th edition of the Hastings Masters
• Milunka Lazarević: "Tal is my Zeus"