Double gold for Germany at the Mitropa Cup

Going for gold

The German Chess Federation celebrated a double victory at the Mitropa Cup 2024. As the host country, the federation organised the team event in Apolda, Central Thuringia. Ten teams from the extended Central European region took part in the open competition and the women’s tournament.

With its line-ups, the sports management of the German Chess Federation aimed to win both tournaments. Many associations, including the German Chess Federation in the past, have used and continue to use the Mitropa Cup as a training ground for young players. However, some countries throughout the years have opted to use their top players, especially when they have hosted the event.

Middlegame Secrets Vol.1 + Vol.2

Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!

The German Chess Federation took the tournament very seriously and entered the open competition almost with its entire national team. The only exception was the absence of number one Vincent Keymer, who was playing at the Freestyle G.O.A.T. Challenge in Weissenhaus. In the women’s competition, the two highest-rated players were missing, Elisabeth Paehtz and Dinara Wagner.

With the Chess Olympiad coming up in Budapest in September, it made sense to use the Mitropa Cup as a dress rehearsal for the big team tournament. Two years ago, the German teams fell somewhat short of expectations.

Both German teams lived up to their role as favourites and secured a start-to-finish victory. The German men, who were ranked first to fifth in the starting rank, won all of their matches in style and finished in first place with a 4-point team lead.

The last day of action, which began in the morning, saw plenty of hard-fought encounters. The German grandmasters defeated the Czech Republic 2½-1½ in the open competition. Alexander Donchenko lost his game against Richard Stallmach — in fact, a German player lost a game in almost every round — but Dmitij Kollars and Frederik Svane put their team in the lead. Rasmus Svane contributed a draw on the top board.

With 6 wins in 7 games, Dmitrij Kollars was the best German player with an Tournament Performance Rating of over 2700.

Switzerland was hot on the heels of the German team throughout the tournament and only let up towards the end. The Swiss finished second, ahead of the Czech Republic with 14 points.

The German women also finished the tournament with a victory. Jana Schneider and Kateryna Dolzhykova won their games. Josefine Heinemann and Hanna Marie Klek drew to get the final 3-1 victory. The German women’s team needed a little more patience and time to pull away at the top. For a long time, France and Switzerland were on an equal footing as the locals. Like the men, the women also remained undefeated and only conceded two draws in between. The team’s best player was Lara Schulze with 6 out of 7 and a TPR of over 2400.

Making the right decisions in chess - Fundamentals

In a total of 6 chapters, we look at the following aspects: the right decision based on tactical factors, decisions in exchanges and moves, complex and psychological decisions in longer games and in defence.

France won silver ahead of Switzerland.

Kollars (Germany) 1 - 0 Lavrencic (Slovenia)

Analysis by André Schulz

Final standings - Open

All games - Open

Final standings - Women’s

All games - Women’s

Links

• Official website
• European Chess Union website
• Full pairings on Chess-Results: Open | Women’s