Matthias Blübaum wins European Championship 2022!

by Johannes Fischer
4/7/2022 – The German Grandmaster Matthias Blübaum is the new European Champion. In the final round of the European Championships he played against GM Ivan Saric from Croatia, who needed to win this crucial game to become European Champion, but a draw secured Blübaum the title. After eleven rounds he and GM Gabriel Sargissian from Armenia both had 8.5/11 but Blübaum had the better tiebreak and won the tournament. | Photos: ŠZS/Luka Rifelj
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Matthias Blübaum started the tournament with a draw but then scored six wins in a row to become sole leader. After three draws in rounds 8 to 10 Blübaum was caught by Sargissian, and before the last round both had 8.0/10 and shared first place. However, Blübaum was first on tiebreak.

The tournament hall

In the final round Blübaum played with White against Saric and Sargissian played with White against Jaime Santos. Sargissian decided to play it safe and drew after only six moves. After this quick draw of his closest rival Blübaum knew that he needed only a draw against Saric to win the title because he had the best tiebreak of all players who could theoretically reach a score of 8.5/11.

The decisive game: Blübaum against Saric

But Saric needed to win against Blübaum to become European Champion 2022. The Croatian Grandmaster tried to reach a double-edged position by going for the King's Indian but Blübaum quickly simplified by opting for the King's Indian Exchange Variation. This soon led to a drawish endgame and though Saric tried to get chances the game was drawn after 44 moves, which gave Blübaum the title.

 
Bluebaum,M2642½–½Saric,I2687
22nd ch-EUR Indiv 20222022
1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.e4 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Bg5 Qxd1 10.Rfxd1 h5 11.h3 Nd4 12.Nxd4 exd4 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.Nd5 Bd8 15.Rxd4 c6 16.Nc3 Be6 17.Rdd1 Kg7 18.e5 Bc7 19.Ne4 Bxe5 20.Nc5 Bf5 21.g4 hxg4 22.hxg4 Bc8 23.Nd7 Re8 24.Nxe5 Rxe5 25.Rd2 Be6 26.Kg2 Re8 27.Kg3 a5 28.Rc1 g5 29.Bf3 Kf6 30.b3 Ke7 31.a3 Ra8 32.Rd3 Rd8 33.Rxd8 Kxd8 34.b4 Kc7 35.c5 a4 36.Rd1 Bb3 37.Rh1 Kb8 38.Rh8+ Kc7 39.Rh6 Bc4 40.Rd6 Re1 41.Rd1 Re8 42.Rd4 Bb3 43.Re4 Be6 44.Rd4 Bb3 ½–½

In this game Blübaum showed a very professional approach against the King's Indian, but in round three he went for a sharper approach against the King's Indian.

 
Bluebaum,M26421–0Sebenik,M2510
22nd ch-EUR Indiv 20222022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 0-0 5.Bg5 c5 6.d5 h6 7.Bh4 d6 8.Nd2 Qb6 9.Qc2 g5 This seems to be a novelty - it weakens the kingside and leads to double-edged play. 10.Bg3 Nh5 11.e4 f5 12.Be2 Nxg3?! Black opens the h-file and continues to play double-edged and provocative. A safer and perhaps better alternative was 12...Nf4 13.hxg3 e6 14.Bd3 Qd8 15.dxe6 f4 16.gxf4 gxf4 17.e5!? White sacrifices the e-pawn to gives his pieces easier access to the kingside. dxe5 18.Nf3 Nc6 19.Nh4 Rf6 20.Qe2 e4 Black has the same idea: he wants to free his King's Indian bishop on g7. 21.Nxe4 Rxe6 22.0-0-0 Qf8 23.Qh5 But the white pieces have more space and are more active and therefore his attack is much more dangerous. Ne5 24.Nf5! A precisely calculated attacking move. Nxd3+ 25.Rxd3 Bxb2+ Black cannot take the knight: 25...Rxe4 26.Nxh6+ Bxh6 27.Qg6+ Bg7 28.Qh7+ Kf7 29.Qxe4 and though Black has two bishops for the rook his king is too exposed to survive for long. 26.Kc2 But not 26.Kxb2? Rb6+ 27.Rb3 Bxf5 and Black has solved all of his problems. 26...Bg7 27.f3 Ra6 28.Nxg7 Kxg7 29.Qe5+ Kg8 30.Rh4 With the simple threat to take on f4. White's attack is too strong. Be6 31.Nf6+ 1–0

Final standings after 11 rounds

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Bluebaum Matthias 8,5 2594
2 Sargissian Gabriel 8,5 2578
3 Saric Ivan 8,0 2589
4 Cheparinov Ivan 8,0 2585
5 Santos Latasa Jaime 8,0 2546
6 Yilmaz Mustafa 8,0 2530
7 Ponomariov Ruslan 8,0 2523
8 Durarbayli Vasif 8,0 2509
9 Gadimbayli Abdulla 7,5 2637
10 Iskandarov Misratdin 7,5 2631
11 Guseinov Gadir 7,5 2589
12 Ter-Sahakyan Samvel 7,5 2567
13 Sargsyan Shant 7,5 2567
14 Kobo Ori 7,5 2564
15 Moussard Jules 7,5 2558
16 Tari Aryan 7,5 2553
17 Anton Guijarro David 7,5 2551
18 Kuzubov Yuriy 7,5 2547
19 Kozul Zdenko 7,5 2545
20 Nesterov Arseniy 7,5 2540
21 Indjic Aleksandar 7,5 2536
22 Martirosyan Haik M. 7,5 2531
23 Bernadskiy Vitaliy 7,5 2530
24 Ragger Markus 7,5 2521
25 Lagarde Maxime 7,5 2518
26 Abasov Nijat 7,5 2518
27 Petrosyan Manuel 7,5 2518
28 Bartel Mateusz 7,5 2502
29 Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo 7,5 2496
30 Brkic Ante 7,5 2483

...317 players

The first 20 players qualify for the World Cup.

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Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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