Donchenko scores six wins in a row, gets clear first place at RTU Open

by Klaus Besenthal
8/16/2021 – A win with black over Igor Kovalenko in round 9 gave Alexander Donchenko tournament victory at the RTU Open in Riga. In the end, Donchenko was the only player to score 7½ points, so he did not even need to bother with tiebreak-criteria calculations. After losing in round 3 against a lower-rated opponent, Donchenko sensationally won six games in a row to win the event! | Photo: Anna Shtourman
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A comeback by the top seed

It was a brilliant tournament win for Alexander Donchenko. The German grandmaster went into the final round of the event tied in first place with Igor Kovalenko and Narayanan — Donchenko played black against Kovalenko on top board, and saw Narayanan signing a quick draw against Ilia Smirin on the second board. This meant he had his destiny in his own hands.

If Narayanan had defeated Smirin, the Indian would have been ahead of Donchenko no matter what, thanks to his better tiebreak score. That is one of the pitfalls of the Swiss system: if you lose a game early on, you are pretty much hopelessly behind according to the Buchholz system. In the fight for tournament victory (and a first prize of €2,500), Donchenko thus needed to outscore his opponents in order to win the competition.

Another negative aspect of such open tournaments (at least from the point of view of the top seed) is that hardly any Elo points can be gained. The games against rivals with a significantly lower rating, with which the tournament begins, push the average rating of the opponents down quite a bit. According to the organizers’ calculation immediately after the end of the tournament, Donchenko was credited with 4.6 rating points for his performance — which perhaps ‘felt’ to be far too few for such an achievement!

But, as is well known, where there is a will there is a way. The catchy phrase serves well as a headline for Donchenko’s victory over Igor Kovalenko.  

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 Bf5 8.e3 Nbd7 9.Qb3 Ba5
10.Be2 After 10.Qxb7? Rb8 11.Qxa7 c5 Black gets a clear advantage, resulting from the fact that White cannot prevent Txb2. 10...c6 11.0-0 Qb6 12.Nd2 0-0 Both sides have finished the development. Now the fight in the Carlsbad structure begins. 13.Rfc1 Rfe8 14.a3 Qxb3 15.Nxb3 Bd8 16.Bxf6 Kovalenko comes to the conclusion that he can do nothing better with this bishop than to take one of the black knights off the board. Nxf6 17.Nc5 As a side effect of the exchange, White can now occupy this beautiful outpost. Rb8 18.b4 Be7 19.N3a4 g6 This inconspicuous move also had the purpose of spoiling White's idea to play Bd3. 20.h3 20.Bd3?! results after b6! 21.Bxf5 bxc5 22.Bc2 c4 in a small advantage for Black. 20...h5 21.Ra2 Kf8 22.Kf1 Red8 23.Ke1 Bd6 24.Nb2 b6 25.Na6 Rbc8 26.Nd3 Re8 27.Rac2 Bd7 28.h4 Ne4
Black occupies the central square, which in these structures is firmly in his possession anyway. 29.Kf1 Rcd8 30.Kg1 Kg7 31.g3? A serious mistake, but Donchenko misses his chance. Re7? Instead 31...Nxg3! 32.fxg3 Rxe3 gives Black a clear advantage. The pawn on g3 will soon fall, and then Black will get a strong initiative, which should soon bring him further material gains. Actually, we could already say that Black is up material, given how out of play the a6-knight is on the queenside. 32.Kg2 Now the tactical shot no longer works. Rh8 Or at least it would not have given Black an advantage: 32...Nxg3 33.fxg3 Rxe3 34.Ne5 Bxe5 35.dxe5 Re8 36.Ra2= The fact that the g3-pawn remains on the board is the crucial factor. 33.a4 Rhe8 34.Nf4 Bxf4 35.gxf4 Nd6 The bishop pair is gone, but surely Donchenko had already targeted the h4-pawn as the new weakness to attack. 36.Bd3 Rd8 37.Kh2 Kf8 38.Rb2 Rc8 39.Rbc2 Ree8 40.a5 Red8 41.Rc3 Ke7 42.f3
42...Bf5 Donchenko releases the tension. 43.Bxf5 Nxf5 44.axb6 axb6 45.b5! This active option for White had been there for a while. Nxh4 He's taken it! 46.Nb4! Kovalenko activates his knight, which has been passive for so long. Kf8 47.Kg3 Nf5+ 48.Kf2 c5 49.dxc5 d4! This move works thanks to the fact that the white rook is still on c3. 50.exd4 Rxd4 51.Nc6?! This may look good, but it is not the best move in the position. After 51.cxb6! Rxc3 52.Rxc3 Rxb4 53.b7 Rxb5 54.Rc8+ Kg7 55.b8Q Rxb8 56.Rxb8 the most Black could have expected was a draw. 51...Rd2+ 52.Ke1 Rb2 53.cxb6 Rxb5 54.Ne5 Rxc3 55.Rxc3 h4! Of course not 55...Rxb6?? 56.Nd7+ 56.Rc2 56.Rc8+ Kg7 57.Rc7 Nd6 defending f7. 56...Kg7 Now Rxb6 is a threat. 57.Nd7? And this was the mistake that Donchenko must have been eagerly waiting for! 57.Rc7 Nd6 58.Kf2 Rxb6 59.Kg2 would have been enough for a draw. 57...Rb1+ The check forces the white king to go to the second rank, where it cuts off his pw rook from stopping the black passed pawn. At the same time, Black controls the important h1-square with his rook. 58.Kd2 58.Kf2 h3 59.b7 h2 60.b8Q Rxb8 apparently does not work either. 58...Nd4 59.Ra2 h3 60.Ke3 Nf5+ 61.Ke4 Rd1 62.b7 Nd6+ 63.Ke3 Nxb7 64.Ne5 Rh1 65.Kf2?? A last slip-up, after which it is immediately over. It must be added that the players were in deep time trouble by now. 65.Ng4 Nd6 would have made the conversion more difficult for Black. 65...Rh2+ 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Kovalenko,I2644Donchenko,A26570–12021D38RTU Open 20219.1

Riga Technical University Chess Open 2021

FIDE Managing Director Dana Reizniece-Ozola next to Narayanan (2nd), Alexander Donchenko (1st) and Tomas Laurusas (3rd) during the closing ceremony

Final standings (top 25)

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Donchenko Alexander 7,5 43,0
2 Narayanan.S.L 7,0 47,5
3 Laurusas Tomas 7,0 47,5
4 Kantor Gergely 7,0 46,0
5 Karthikeyan Murali 7,0 44,0
6 Kovalenko Igor 6,5 51,5
7 Hakobyan Aram 6,5 49,5
8 Arjun Kalyan 6,5 46,5
9 Ivic Velimir 6,5 46,5
10 Smirin Ilia 6,5 46,5
11 Pranav Anand 6,5 45,0
12 Yuffa Daniil 6,5 44,0
13 Praggnanandhaa R 6,5 44,0
14 Miezis Normunds 6,5 40,0
15 Dudin Gleb 6,5 39,0
16 Sethuraman S.P. 6,5 38,0
17 Erigaisi Arjun 6,0 50,0
18 Nihal Sarin 6,0 48,5
19 Ioannidis Evgenios 6,0 47,5
20 Budisavljevic Luka 6,0 46,5
21 Pultinevicius Paulius 6,0 46,5
22 Sanal Vahap 6,0 46,5
23 Roshka Yevgeniy 6,0 46,0
24 Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 6,0 45,5
25 Meshkovs Nikita 6,0 45,5

...176 players

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Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.

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