Mendonca clear winner at the Hamburg GM tournament

Svane becomes a GM

In the second half of May, the Hamburg Chess Club organized two international chess tournaments, a GM tournament and an IM tournament. Both tournaments were played in parallel in the clubhouse premises and in the auditorium of the city district school Alter Teichweg, which functions as an ‘elite school’ of sport and has an award-winning and committed headmaster in Björn Lengwenus. The school is also the venue for the Bundesliga matches of the Hamburger SK.

Master Class Vol.5: Emanuel Lasker

The name Emanuel Lasker will always be linked with his incredible 27 years reign on the throne of world chess. In 1894, at the age of 25, he had already won the world title from Wilhelm Steinitz and his record number of years on the throne did not end till 1921 when Lasker had to accept the superiority of Jose Raul Capablanca. But not only had the only German world champion so far seen off all challengers for many years, he had also won the greatest tournaments of his age, sometimes with an enormous lead. The fascinating question is, how did he manage that?

The tournament was organized by Frank Bracker, who was supported by the referees Hugo Schulz and Werner Szudra.

Hugo Schulz, Frank Bracker and Werner Szudra

Both tournaments were played with ten players, some of whom came from the large reservoir of the Hamburger SK while others were invited out-of-town and international players.

In the GM tournament three players took part who already held the grandmaster title, the Hungarian Peter Prohaszka, who plays for Nickelhüte Aue in the German league; the 18-year-old Indian Leon Mendonca, appointed grandmaster by FIDE in January 2021; and the Greek Vasilios Kotronias, who has recently attracted attention as an author.

The remaining seven players are fighting to get their GM title. Frederik Svane, Jonathan Carlstedt, Ruben Koellner, Georgios Souleidis, Lawrence Trent, Malte Colpe are all IMs, while Tom-Frederic Woelk has yet to get his IM title.

At the halfway point, the three grandmasters were ahead, all with two wins and two draws. In the fifth round, however, Prohaszka suffered a defeat against Malte Colpe and fell behind.

In round six Leon Mendonca gave Ruben Koellner a taste of his own medicine with the black pieces. The Philidor Defence is actually Koellner’s favourite system with Black.

Ruben Köllner

After five rounds, Mendonca had thus taken the sole lead, ahead of Vasilios Kotronias, who was half a point behind.

Thanks to a strong final spurt with wins over Jonathan Carlstedt, Tom-Frederic Woelk and in the final round against Georgios Souleidis — with a draw in between against Peter Prohaszka — the young Indian secured tournament victory.

Frederik Svane also stepped on the gas once more. He won in the last three rounds against the two grandmasters, Peter Prohaszka and Vasilios Kotronias, and then against Ruben Koellner, which earned him a GM norm. Frederik Svane followed that up in the Bundesliga and 24 hours later picked up another norm, his third and final norm.

Final standings - GM tournament

All games

Clarke wins IM tournament

The IM tournament also had a grandmaster player in Normundis Miezis. The Latvian, IM Brandon Clarke from England and the Swiss FM Daniel Fischer provided international flair. National player Lara Schulze was the only woman in the two tournaments. The remaining players either represented Hamburg — Arne Bracker, Michael Kotyk, Isaac Garner and Jeremy Hommer — or nearby clubs, like Miichael Kopylov from SK Norderstedt, or his son Daniel Kopylov, who plays for Harksheide Norderstedt.

Greatest Hits Vol. 1

Nigel Short takes us on an electrifying journey through a very rich chess career, which saw him beat no less than twelve world champions. His experience in tournaments and matches all over the world – Short has visited a total of 89 countries – can be seen in the narratives that precede the games which he annotates with humour and instructive insights.

Brandon Clarke proved to be the superior player. The Brit won six of his nine games and drew three times. With 7½ points, he won the tournament with a 1½-point lead. Lara Schulze finished in the upper half of the table with 5½ points.

Daniel Kopylov, Brandon Clarke, organizer Frank Bracker and Normunds Miezeis

Final standings - IM tournament

All games - IM tournament

Links

• Official site
• Chess-Results: GM tournament | IM tournament