Donchenko dominates Tegernsee Masters

by Klaus Besenthal
11/9/2020 – The Tegernsee Masters in Bad Wiessee ended with the expected victory of Alexander Donchenko. Despite his dominant performance in the first eight rounds, the German grandmaster did not miss his chances and defeated Ashot Parvanyan on Sunday — Donchenko finished with an impressive 6½/8 score and was the only undefeated participant in the field. Matthias Bluebaum and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu came in second and third respectively. | Photo: Amruta Mokal (Archive)

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One more win

In his game with black against Ashot Parvanyan, Alexander Donchenko had an inferior position for a few moves, but he continued to show a remarkable, unconditional desire to win once again — perhaps the main reason that allowed him to get a string of good results recently.

 
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 dxc4 5.0-0 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Nb6 7.a4 a5 8.Na3 Bxa3 9.Rxa3 Nfd5 10.Ne5 Nb4 11.Qc3 Qf6 12.f4 0-0 13.b3
13...N4d5 13...cxb3 14.Qxc7 was playable, but not very comfortable for Black. 14.Qd4 cxb3 15.Rxb3 Qe7 16.Ba3 Nb4 17.Bxb4 axb4 18.Qxb4 Qxb4 19.Rxb4 Rxa4 20.Rxa4 Nxa4 21.Rc1 c6 22.Nc4
An interesting position: Black is a pawn up and White has compensation with his active pieces. 22...f6 23.Ra1 Nc5 24.Ra7 Nb3 25.Nb6 e5 26.Nxc8 Rxc8 27.Bh3 Re8 28.Bd7 Re7 29.Bxc6
As it usually happens, White recovered the pawn thanks to his active pieces. 29...Nc5 29...Nxd2?? was not possible for Black due to 30.Ra8+! Kf7 31.Bd5+ Kg6 32.Ra2 and the knight trapped. 30.Bd5+ Starting with 30.fxe5! fxe5 31.Ra8+ Kf7 32.Bd5+ Kf6 33.Rf8+ Kg6 34.Rc8 was more precise: the white rook is extremely active and Black could even lose a pawn soon. 30...Kf8 31.fxe5 fxe5 32.Ra5 Rc7 33.Rb5 Ke7 34.Kf2 Kd6 35.e4 Rc8 36.Ra5 b6
White's advantage has now completely disappeared. The black player, who is a good 200 Elo points stronger, now starts to play for a win. His main asset: the distant passer on the b-file. 37.Ra7 Rc7 38.Ra8 Nd7 39.Ke3 b5 40.Ra6+ Kc5 41.Ra1 Nf6 42.Be6 Rc6 43.Bh3 b4 Black has already pushed his pawn into opposite camp. Defence is becoming increasingly difficult for White. 44.Ra5+ Kb6 45.Ra8 Kb7 46.Ra2 Kb6 47.Ra8 Rc4 48.d3 Rc6 49.Kd2 Kb5 50.Bf1 b3 51.d4+ Kb4
Objectively, this position is still balanced. 52.Bd3? The bishop now defends the b1-square, but that alone is not enough. After 52.Rb8+! Ka3 53.dxe5= the rook would be placed behind the passed pawn. While after 52.dxe5? Nd7! that would not have been the case. 52...exd4 53.Rb8+ Ka3 54.Rd8 Ng4 55.Rxd4 Ne5 It's amazing what such a knight can achieve. 56.Rd8 Nxd3 57.Kxd3 b2 58.Ra8+ Kb3 59.Rb8+ Ka2 60.Ra8+ Kb1 61.Rf8 Ra6 62.e5 Ka1 63.Rf1+ b1Q+ 64.Rxb1+ Kxb1 65.Ke4 Rh6 66.h4 Rg6 67.Kd4 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Parvanyan,A2451Donchenko,A26580–12020Tegernsee Masters 20209.1

Ashot Parvanyan, Alexander Donchenko and main arbiter Ralph Alt | Photo: Sebastian Siebrecht

If Donchenko had not won in the last round, Matthias Bluebaum could still have made it to the top of the standings table with a win over Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. However, these are idle hypotheses, as after all Donchenko decided everything in his favour with his victory. Nevertheless, even a loss would have been enough for Donchenko — everything went wrong for Bluebaum in his last game of the event:

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.e3 0-0 8.Bd3 Nc6 9.Ne2 Na5 10.0-0 c5
11.dxc5 A new move and also a new concept: White wants to open up some diagonals for his dark-squared bishop. Qc7 12.a4 Bg4 13.f3 Bd7 14.Nd4 Rfe8 15.Ba3 Rxe3 16.Bc1 Ree8 17.Bg5 Qe5 18.Qd2 Nc4 19.Bxc4 dxc4 20.Rfb1 Bc6 21.a5 Qxc5
After all, Black takes on c5. The price he has to pay is the destruction of the structure around his king. 22.Bxf6 gxf6 23.Qh6 Qd6 24.Rb4 24.Nf5 Qc5+ 25.Nd4 was a possibility that would have most likely led to a draw. 24...Re5 25.Rxc4 Bd7 26.Rb4 Rc8 27.Qd2 Rh5 28.g3 Rc7 29.Rab1 Rxa5 30.Rxb7 Rxb7 31.Rxb7 Ra1+ 32.Kg2 Qd5 33.Rb2
This also looks very much like a draw. 33...a5 34.Ne2 Qxd2 35.Rxd2 Be6 36.Rd8+ Kg7 37.Nf4 Ra2+ 38.Kg1 f5 Bluebaum invested a lot of time before playing this move. 39.Nxe6+ fxe6 40.c4 And in this completely balanced position he lost on time. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nisipeanu,L2657Bluebaum,M26721–02020Tegernsee Masters 20209.4

But then Matthias Blübaum came second after all! | Photo: Sebastian Siebrecht

Some mistakes were made by Thai Dai Van Nguyen and Leon Luke Mendonca in their last-round encounter. However, it was the Czech grandmaster who scored a full point to end the tournament.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 0-0 9.0-0 b5 10.Be2 Bb7 11.e4 e5 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Nd4 Neg4
This position arising from the Meran Variation has already been seen in many grandmaster encounters. 14.Nf5 Unusual, but not bad! Here 14.g3 is almost exclusively the chosen continuation. 14...Bxh2+ 15.Kh1 g6 After 15...Bb8 16.Bg5 things get complicated: Bc8! 16...Qc7? 17.f4 17.Rad1 Qb6 18.Bxg4 Nxg4 19.Qe2 Qc7 20.g3 White has some compensation for the pawn, e.g. the possibility of playing Kg2 and Th1. 16.f3 gxf5 17.fxg4
17...Bc7?! Here 17...Nxg4 18.Rxf5 Bf4 19.Bxf4 Qh4+ 20.Kg1 Qf2+ is a possible path to a draw. 18.Bg5 And at this point 18.Rxf5! was good. 18...h6 19.Rad1 Qe7 20.Qc1
20...Rfd8 20...hxg5 is a bad idea: 21.Qxg5+ Kh8 22.Rd7! 21.Nd5 cxd5
22.Rxf5? This looks good, but is actually quite bad. Correct was 22.Bxf6 Qxf6 23.Qxc7 22...Nxe4?? With this move, Black throws away everything he had achieved previously. 22...Be5! defending everything. 23.Bxe7 Ng3+ 24.Kh2 Rd7 25.Rg5+ Kh7 26.Bd3+ f5 27.Kh3 Rxe7 28.Bxf5+ Nxf5 29.Rxf5 Rae8 30.Rdf1 Be5 31.Rxe5 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nguyen,T2571Mendonca,L24991–02020Tegernsee Masters 20209.3

Thai Dai Van Nguyen and Leon Luke Mendonca | Photo: Sebastian Siebrecht

Earlier in the day, Alexandr Fier and Daniel Dardha had signed a 31-move draw.

The hope for 2021: that the magnificent landscape in Upper Bavaria will again be the backdrop for another strong over-the-board event

Final standings

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Donchenko Alexander 6,5 23,50
2 Blübaum Matthias 5,0 17,50
3 Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter 5,0 17,25
4 Basso Pier Luigi 4,5 15,25
5 Nguyen Thai Dai Van 4,0 13,25
6 Dardha Daniel 3,5 10,75
7 Fier Alexandr 3,0 13,00
8 Mendonca Leon Luke 3,0 12,00
9 Parvanyan Ashot 1,5 4,50
10 Keymer Vincent 1,0 1,50

All games

 
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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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