Seniors triumph in a natural paradise

by Mihail Marin
7/12/2018 – Grandmaster MIHAIL MARIN reflects on the attractive environs, inside and outside the playing hall, at the 10th Capo d'Orso International ACP Open. GM Karen Movsziszian took top honours with 7½ / 9. | Pictured: From left to right: International arbiter Laurent Freyd, Mihail Marin (2nd), Karen Movsziszian (1st), Vladislav Nevednichy (3rd) and organizer/the tournament's factotum Yuri Garrett | Photo: Caissa Italia

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Porto Mannu 2018

There are different possible approaches when organizing one's chess agenda. Some players wish to extend their chess map with each new tournament, while others prefer returning again and again to the places they like most. Even though not completely indifferent to the former issue, there are tournaments where I return with never diminished delight even after 10, 20 or more years. The Capo d'Orso international open, hosted by the Porto Mannu Residence Resort, is one of my absolute favourites.

The excellent playing conditions, idyllic environment and organizer's kindness are a few elements allowing one to combine serious chess with a dream vacation.

Mare nostrum

Our day-by-day preparation mainly consisted of Italian coffee, Mare Nostrum and, of course, Bronstein's games
(Click or tap to enlarge all images)

The popular touristic area Capo d'Orso (the Bear's Cape in Sardinian) owes its name to a massive rock in the shape of a bear. No matter how many pictures you take, they are mere appetizers for the true feeling you get in Porto Mannu.

Bear rock

The bear from far | Photo: Laura Santini

Inside bear rock and local flowers

The bear up close and local foliage in Mariya Yugina's artistic and pictorial vision

bay scene

The beach and the bay on a summer's day | Photo: Mariya Yugina

Painting a landscape

Spying on my wife Mariya Yugina while she made a few sketches

playing hall

In the playing hall, conducting a true chess symphony  | Photo: Yuri Garrett

Despite the participation of a big bunch of young talented players, the 10th edition ended in a success for the more experienced grandmasters. Both the winner Karen Movsziszian and the runner-up, myself, are well passed of the Senior age limit, while the bronze medalist Vladislav Nevednichy is quite close to it, too.

Two crucial games for the top classification were Movsziszian-Sonis and Marin-Ivanisevic.

Movsiszian 1-0 Sonis (annotated by GM Mihail Marin)
 
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1.g3 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c5 4.0-0 Nc6 5.d3 It is almost impossible to take Karen out of his favourite schemes, irrespective of the colour. He would almost always develop in the spirit of the King's Indian or Modern Defences. e5 6.Na3 Bd6 7.c4
But this time he tries something new. After the game he confessed he was no Benoni expert and asked me whether he reacted well to Black's central attack in the middlegame. 7...d4 8.e3 0-0 9.exd4 cxd4 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bxf6 Qxf6 White's extra tempo with respect to a genuine (not reversed) Benoni is not one-sided. With his knight on b1 (b8 actually) still, he would play Nbd2, followed by a2-a3, Qc2, c4-c5, Nc4 and so on. The way it is, White's control in the centre is not too reliable. 12.Nd2 Qe7 13.Nc2 f5 14.Re1 Qf6 15.a3
15...e4!? Typical for the Penrose attack. But in view of White's 19th move, it would have been wiser to prepare the attack with 15...a5 16.dxe4 f4 17.e5! This was one of the moves Karen was not sure about, but I confirmed that it is a good idea to avoid a blockade on e5 and clear the e4-square for the own minor pieces. Bxe5 18.Ne4 Qf5 19.Nb4 Somehow, White's knights became very active. f3 20.Bf1 Qh5 21.c5 Bh3 22.Qd3 Bxf1 23.Qxf1 Rad8 24.Rad1 Ne7 25.Nd3
White has parried all threats and his blockade on light squares offer him the better prospects. Black's bishop will soon turn into his worst piece while the daring f-pawn is vulnerable. 25...Ng6 26.Nd2 Bb8 27.Re4 Rd7 28.Rde1 Kh7 29.b4± Rdf7?! The d4-pawn was in danger due to Nb3, but giving it away so easily does not improve Black's position. 30.Rxd4 Rf5 31.Re3 Qg5 32.Qd1 Qf6 33.Ree4 White's piece flow over the last 10 moves is impressive. Rf7 34.Ne1 The f3-pawn is doomed and the game is basically over. Be5 35.Rd3 Bc3 36.Rd6 Qg5 37.Ndxf3 Rxf3 38.Nxf3 Qf5 39.Re3 Ne5 40.Kg2 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Movsziszian,K2527Sonis,F24481–02018A08Porto Mannu op 10th8

Movsziszian

Taking the success naturally: Veni, Vidi, Vici | Photo: Laura Santini

Marin 1-0 Ivanisevic (annotated by GM Mihail Marin)
 
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I have annotated this game for CBM 185. For this article I have kept just some brief comments. 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.0-0 0-0 6.c4 c5 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.d5 Na5 9.Nd2 e5 10.e4 Bd7 11.b3 a6 12.Qc2 b5 13.Bb2 Rb8 14.Rae1 h5 After some mutual inaccuracies in the opening, explained in my extended comments, we reached a position both players had been aiming for. Ivan put his bid on playing on both wings while I mainly relied on my better central coordination. 15.Nd1 h4 16.Bc3 Bh6 17.Ne3 Nh5 Later that evening, a mutual friend told me that, while praising my play, Ivan mainly put the blame for his defeat on this move. Indeed, it allows White a surprisingly effective regrouping. 18.Bf3 Ng7 Against 18...Bh3 I had prepared 19.Bxh5 Bxe3 19...Bxf1 20.Ndxf1 gxh5 21.Nf5+- 20.Rxe3 Bxf1 21.Bd1 Bh3 22.g4+- trapping the bishop. 19.Bd1! Ivan kindly praised this move, after which White is better prepared for the kingside battle. Bh3 Black tries including as many pieces as possible into the attack. 20.Ng2 f5 21.f4 Ivan told me that he was worried about 21.Nxh4 Bxf1 22.Rxf1 and this had been my first candidate, too. But the last move is strong enough. 21...b4 Black needs freeing the queen from the task of defending the knight, in order to include her into the attack. But strategically this is a concession, as White is absolved of any queenside worries now. 22.Bb2 Bxg2 23.Kxg2 exf4 24.e5!? Not the only way already, but possibly the most spectacular. fxg3 25.e6± The advance of the e-pawn has forever cut off the a5-knight from real life. Even though I had lost two pawns in the process, I assumed I would repell the attack rather soon, and then start my own, decisive, one. Ivan confessed he had hopes that attacking with a reduced number of pieces would be succesful due to the exposure of my king. He obviously underestimated WHite's perfect coordination. Qg5 26.Nf3 h3+!? 27.Kxh3 Qg4+ 28.Kg2 Nh5 29.Ne5 Qg5 30.Nf7 Qd2+ During the game I calculated the following lines: 30...Rxf7 31.exf7+ Kxf7 32.Bxh5 gxh2+ 33.Kh1 Qxh5 34.Qe4+- and 30...Nf4+ 31.Rxf4 Qxf4 32.Nxh6+ Qxh6 33.hxg3 Qg5 34.Rh1 Rf6 35.Qc1 f4 35...Qxc1 36.Bxc1 Re8 37.Bb2 Kg7 38.g4+- 36.Qxf4! 31.Re2! Qxc2 31...Nf4+ 32.Rxf4 Qxf4 33.hxg3+- 32.Rxc2 For some reasons I thought this to be simpler than 32.Nxh6+ Kh7 33.Bxc2 Kxh6 34.hxg3+- But 32.Rxc2 was "convincing" enough: Bg7 33.Bxh5 Bxb2 34.Rxb2 gxh5 35.Rxf5+- with a decisive attack. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Marin,M2544Ivanisevic,I25701–02018E6610th Porto Mannu Open7.1

Marin Ivanisevic

Marin vs Ivanisevic | Photo: Yuri Garrett

Mariagrazia de Rosa and Mariya Yugina, first and second in the woman classification, respectively.

Mariagrazia de Rosa and Mariya Yugina prize

Men may play better chess, but ladies are the true champions when displaying happiness for the conquered medals | Photo: by Laura Santini

Mihail Marin gets prize

"What is so funny, Yuri? I really played well!" | Photo: Laura Santini

Mihail Marin

"If I start attacking him now would I be in time to go to the beach?" | Photo: Yuri Garrett

Final standings (top 20)

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Movsziszian Karen 7,5 51,0
2 Marin Mihail 7,0 55,0
3 Nevednichy Vladislav 6,5 52,0
4 Colovic Aleksandar 6,5 51,5
5 Bulmaga Irina 6,5 51,0
6 Christiansen Johan-Sebastian 6,5 50,5
7 Risting Eivind Olav 6,5 46,5
8 Sonis Francesco 6,0 55,5
9 Rambaldi Francesco 6,0 53,5
10 Ivanisevic Ivan 6,0 52,0
11 Haug Johannes 6,0 51,0
12 Lehner Oliver 6,0 50,0
13 Zgadzaj Rafal 6,0 48,5
14 Dvirnyy Danyyil 5,5 54,0
15 de Francesco Klaus 5,5 50,5
16 Visser Henk-Jan 5,5 49,0
17 Viviani Alessio 5,5 47,5
18 Esposito Luca 5,5 47,5
19 Ranaldi Lucas 5,5 47,0
20 Bentivegna Francesco 5,5 46,5

Looking at the games and classification it is easy to overlook a true hero of this tournament and Italian chess in general. Despite his ALS [a neurodegenerative disease], Alessio Viviani, who a few years ago won the Porto San Giorgio tournament, obtaining a Grandmaster norm, gave a hard time to a few Porto Mannu favourites.

Viviani

Allessio Viviani playing with a custom chess board setup | Photo: Yuri Garrett

Links

GM Mihail Marin, born in 1965, has several times been Romanian champion, played in 12 Olympiads (earning an individual bronze medal in 1988) and first made the leap over the Elo barrier of 2600 in 2001. Marin possesses a rare gift for a grandmaster — he is able to explain in readily comprehensible terms the ideas behind moves, variations and positions. This ability is there for all to admire in his contributions to ChessBase Magazine.

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