Jiri Stocek wins Open Bavarian Championship

The Open International Bavarian Championships, or OIBM for short, are one of the most popular events in the German tournament calendar, partly because of the enchanting setting on Lake Tegernsee and partly because of the perfect organisation that Sebastian Siebrecht has ensured over the years and continues to do so.

As a result, the number of participants is always high. The OIBM also has a great international appeal. This year just over 500 chess fans, including a number of grandmasters and many young talents, found their way to Gut Kaltenbrunn in Gmund for the 26th edition of the traditional tournament.

Top seed was French grandmaster Maxime Lagarde and his compatriot GM Christian Bauer, was also among the favourites. Another favourite was G N Gopal from India. The now 34-year-old was once the first grandmaster from the Indian province of Kerala in 2007 at the age of 18 and the 16th grandmaster in India before the big chess boom there.

The best German player in the large field, according to Elo, was Roven Vogel. The 2015 U16 World Champion was hoping to achieve his third and final GM norm. Lucas van Foreest, the younger brother of Jorden van Foreest, was one of the younger strong players in the field. Also in the field was Husain Besou, a very young talent. He finished third at U12 World Championships 2022 and is tipped to be a future grandmaster. The eleven-year-old made headlines when he was called up to the German national team for the Mitropa Cup in April.

After five rounds, Roven Vogel was clear first with 5.0/5, but then lost momentum. He remained unbeaten for the rest of the tournament, but failed to win any more games. However, seven points were enough for third place and his third GM norm.

The players who made norms

The winner of the tournament was Jiri Stocek, who went head-to-head with Ukraine's Petro Golubka. After eight rounds, Golubka led the field with seven points, but then was beaten by Maxime Lagarde in the final round. Stocek, meanwhile, came out of the chasing pack to beat Arseny Kargin and finish the tournament with 7.5/9. He shared first with Maxime Lagarde, but won the tournament on tiebreak.

Jiri Stocek

Behind the two winners, no fewer than 15 players finished the tournament tied on 7 points. The best female player was Poland's Jolanta Zawadzka. Laura Unuk finished with the same number of points (6.5), but with a worse tiebreak.

The 13-year old Ukrainian Tykhon Cherniaiev, who as a refugee had played for the German Chess Federation for a time, came 22nd with 6.5 points.

Tykhon Cherniaiev

Christian Bauer received a Fritz program for playing the best game in round 9.

He defeated Husain Besou in a tactical game.

Besou, Hussain2351

0–1

Bauer, Christian2552

26th OIBM 2023 Gmund am Tegernsee05.11.2023[Johannes Fischer]

1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+ 3.Bd2 a5 4.e4 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.e5 Nh6 7.a3 Bxd2+ 8.Qxd2 f6 9.Nc3 0-0 10.f4?! An ambitious move in an unusual opening. However, 10.f4 seriously weakens White's position and neglects the development. More careful and better was 10.exf6 with a roughly equal position. 10...fxe5 11.fxe5 Ng4 12.Nh3 12.Nf3? does not work because of Rxf3 13.gxf3 Qh4+ 14.Ke2 Qf2+ 15.Kd1 Qxf3+ and Black wins. 12...c5! Black wants to open lines and to destroy White's pawn center. 13.Nf4 Nc6 14.dxc5 d4 15.Bc4+ Kh8 16.Ncd5 Ngxe5 17.Ba2

17...g5! A strong move that emphasises the lack of harmony in White's position. 18.Ne2 Be6 19.Nb6 Bxa2 20.Rxa2 Rb8 21.h4 d3 22.Nc3 gxh4 23.Ncd5 Qe8 24.Kd1 Rd8 25.b4 Qe6 This simple move wins material. 26.Ne3 Qb3+ 27.Kc1 Nd4 28.Rb2 Ne2+ 29.Kb1 Nc3+ 30.Kc1 Qxa3 0–1

Strike first with the Scandinavian

The Scandinavian is a rarely employed opening on the hightest level und guides your opponent on much less familiar terrain than for example the Sicilian, French or any 1.e4 e5 system. After 1.e4 d5 Black fights for the initiative from move one.

Final standings after 9 rounds

...518 players

Games

Links

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