Mainz 2007 – Navara wins the Ordix Open

Chess Classic Mainz 2007 The event toos place from August 13 to 19 in the Rheingoldhalle of the Congress Centre in Mainz, Germany. It included matches and Opens in traditional and Random Chess.

David Navara wins Ordix Open

Report by Eric van Reem

Sunday morning, 10.00 a.m. Beautiful weather in Mainz. Time to enjoy a quiet breakfast? No way, 762 (corrected number) chess players came to the Rheingoldhalle to play six more rounds in the “battle of endurance”, the world-famous Ordix Open. The first day closed with six players having a perfect score of 5.0/5, but on Sunday only David Navara from the Czech Republic could keep the murderous pace by scoring 2.5 points in the first three rounds before the lunchbreak.

In round eight Victor Bologan, the winner of the FiNet Open was abel to score a draw against the Navara Express, which was now in the sole lead with 7.5/8 points. Born in Prague, in 1985, Grandmaster David Navara has been playing chess since he was six. Numerous coaches helped shape his talent, including Josef Pribyl, Ludek Pachman, and Vlastimil Jansa. He won the championships of the Czech Republic in his age category in 1993-95, but his first great achievement was at the 2001 European Team Championship in Leon, where he scored 7 out of 9 points (performance rating: 2775).

In the 9th round we saw the top pairing between Pentala Harikrishna and David Navara. “Hari”, as the young Indian is called by his friends, has had an unbelievable week. He won a tournament in Hungary, the György Marx Memorial this week, just made it on time to play the FiNet Chess960 open and then went on to play some fantastic games in the Ordix Open as well. Pentala Harikrishna (born May 10, 1986) is a chess player from Andhra Pradesh, India. He is rated third amongst the top Indian players, after Viswanathan Anand and Krishnan Sasikiran. Harikrishna became the youngest grandmaster from India in 2001. In November 2004, he won the World Junior Chess Championship. In August 2006, he won the Chess960 Junior Chess Championship in Mainz, beating Arkadij Naiditsch 4.5-3.5 in a breathtaking match.

What a game! The fateful ninth round with Navara facing Harikrishna

Harikrishna and Navara played a long game, in which the young Indian showed his magnificent endgame technique. In a winning position he lost on time against Navara, who still leads the field with 8.5 points. “I played a fine game, but made a mistake and was actually lost. I wanted to resign, but tried one more move. Suddenly my opponent lost on time”, Navara said after the game. “I was just lucky”.

Pentala,H. (7 points) - Navara,D. (7.5 points)
ORDIX Open Chess Classic Mainz (9.1), 2007
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 a6 6.b3 Bb4 7.Bd2 0-0 8.Bd3 Nbd7 9.0-0 Qe7 10.Qe1 dxc4 11.bxc4 e5 12.Bc2 b5 13.Rb1 Bd6 14.h3 Re8 15.Ng5 Bc7 16.cxb5 cxb5 17.Bb3 Rf8 18.Rc1 exd4 19.Nxb5 axb5 20.Rxc7 Qe5

21.Nxf7 Qxc7 22.Ng5+ Kh8 23.Bb4 Bb7 24.Bxf8 Rxf8 25.Nf7+ Kg8 26.Nh6+ Kh8 27.Nf7+ Rxf7. Navara is better and refuses to repeat. 28.Bxf7 Ne5 29.Bb3 d3 30.Qb4 h6 31.Qxb5 Be4 32.Qb4 Kh7 33.Qd4 Nc6 34.Qc5 Qd8 35.f3 Bd5 36.Bxd5 Qxd5 37.Qxd5 Nxd5 38.Rd1 Ncb4 39.Kf2 Nc3 40.Rd2 Ncxa2

White has rook and pawn for two knights. Harikrishna. We are treated to a titanic endgame struggle: 41.Rb2 Nc3 42.Ke1 Nc2+ 43.Kd2 Nxe3 44.Kxd3 Ncd5 45.Kd4 Kg6 46.Rb3 Kg5 47.g3 Nf5+ 48.Kxd5 Nxg3 49.Rb4 Kf5 50.Rg4 Nh5 51.Kd4 g5 52.Ke3 Nf4 53.h4 Nd5+ 54.Kf2 Nf4 55.hxg5 hxg5 56.Rg3 Kf6 57.Ke3 Kf5 58.Rg1 Nd5+ 59.Kf2 Nf4 60.Ra1 Nh5 61.Ra5+ Kf4 62.Ra4+ Kf5 63.Ke3 Nf4 64.Ra5+ Kg6 65.Ke4 Kh5 66.Ra1 Kh4 67.Rg1 Ne2 68.Rg4+ Kh5 69.Kf5 Kh6

Black is completely lost and decided to play one last move before resigning. Is there a trick, is it wrong to take the pawn. Harikrishna pondered carefully and went for 70.Kf6. Unfortunately his clock had zeroed and the point went to Navara. 0-1. [Click to replay this incredible game]

Fortunately young Hari bounced back with a win in the next round. In the same penultimate round David Navara also took a full point off Tigran L. Petrosian and looked quite unstoppable with a full point lead. In the final round he had to face India's Krishnan Sasikiran, to whom he lost. But still David Navara remained at the top of the table, winning the 14th Ordix Open on progressive score tiebreak.

Krishnan Sasikiran (left) vs David Navara in the final round

A word to the names of our Indian friends: Harikrishna and Sasikiran are both one-namers, like Anand used to be, before his colleagues invented the first name "Vishy" for him. Harikrishna is called Harikrishna or Hari by his friends, that is what his future wife will call him, while the Prime Minister of India will address him as Mr Harikrishna. Nobody says Pentala, which is his father's name. Similarly say Mr Sasikiran, or call him Sasikiran or Shashi if you know him well enough.

Final standings (8.0 point or higher)

• Click to download a selection of games from the Ordix Open in PGN

A full table with all results (of 762 players) can be found here. You will find a GM at place 188 (and one who broke off the tournament at 436). There were many prizes and many winners: Vlastimil Hort scored 8.0 points to win the senior category, Marie Rachel Sebag clinched the women’s section with the same score. Best Junior U20 was GM Igor Lysyj, with 8.0 points, GM Parimarjan Negi from India won the U14 competition with 7.5 points.

Winners of the combined FiNet Chess960 and Ordix Opens: Victor Bologan and David Navara with 18.5 points, with third place going to Krishnan Sasikiran.

Prize winners in the ladies' section: Marie Sebag, Zhu Chen, Nora Medvegy, Viktorija Cmilyte, Elisabeth Pähtz

U14 prize winners, led by Parimarjan Negi (left)

Gigantic: the Ordix Open had 762 players participating

Links Official web site: in German and in English Chess Classic 2002, 2003 Chess Classic 2004 +   the Carmen Kass story Chess Classic 2005 Chess Classic 2006