Sasikiran, Svane and Vogel reach the podium after exciting final round

Indian GM Krishnan Sasikiran won the 29^th Open International Bavarian Chess Championship, which concluded on Sunday in Gmund am Tegernsee. The nine-round Swiss tournament, held at Gut Kaltenbrunn from 31 October to 8 November, attracted 548 participants.

Sasikiran finished with 7½/9 points, the same score as German GMs Frederik Svane and Roven Vogel and Indian FM Arun Daakshin. The title was decided by the first tiebreak criterion, the average rating of opponents, which favoured Sasikiran. Svane finished second, Vogel third and Daakshin fourth.

The situation atop the standings changed considerably in Saturday's penultimate round, when top seed Svane defeated G.N. Gopal with the white pieces. Alexander Donchenko, Leonardo Costa, Roven Vogel and several other contenders also collected full points, leaving nine players tied for first place on 6½/8 going into the final round. Sasikiran remained among the leaders after drawing with second seed Jaime Santos.

Sunday's decisive encounters produced an unusual result: Black won on each of the top four boards. Sasikiran, playing black against German IM Adrian Gschnitzer on board four, obtained attacking chances on the kingside. His opponent's decision to close the centre on move 20 allowed the Indian GM to build up pressure without facing sufficient counterplay. A blunder on move 25 was met by the refutation: a rook sacrifice on f3. Gschnitzer resigned soon after.

With the best tiebreak score among the leaders, Sasikiran knew that a victory would guarantee him first place regardless of the other results. The 45-year-old from Chennai finished the tournament with a performance rating of 2675.

Mastering the London System

In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
The London System is one of the most popular openings at every level of chess but not all Londons are the same. In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: 5...cxd4 6.exd4 Qb6 sidelines

Adrian Gschnitzer facing Krishnan Sasikiran | Photo: Sandra Schmidt

On the top board, Svane had a rather different experience against Turkish IM Eray Kilic. Playing black in the Exchange Variation of the French Defence, the top seed initially had little to work with in a symmetrical position. Kilic, who needed only a draw to secure his final GM norm, defended accurately for much of the encounter. The game eventually reached a rook endgame in which both players had passed pawns, but Kilic made a mistake in the ensuing pawn race. Svane converted his advantage after 92 moves, securing second place while denying his opponent the norm.

Third place went to 26-year-old German GM Roven Vogel, who defeated compatriot Alexander Donchenko with the black pieces. The players reached a typical King's Indian structure, with white advancing on the queenside and Black seeking counterplay against the king. Donchenko declined a repetition of moves shortly before the time control, despite being short of time. The complications that followed eventually favoured Vogel, a former world under-16 champion, who finished with 7½ points.

The fourth player to reach that score was 17-year-old Indian FM Arun Daakshin. Rated 2341 at the start of the event, Daakshin defeated reigning German champion Leonardo Costa on board three. Costa's ambitious play on the kingside allowed his opponent to establish a strong knight in the centre, while Daakshin subsequently opened lines against the white king on the queenside. The victory gave the Indian youngster fourth place in the final standings.

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How grandmasters win without fireworks: GM Jan Markos shows you 11 very practical tips from "How to play in a lost position" to "Be patient like Carlsen" that will improve your tournament chess.
Most chess books teach you what to think about. This series teaches you what to actually do when the clock is running and the result is on the line. Compiled from GM Jan Markos's acclaimed "Practical Tips for the Tournament Player" column in ChessBase Magazine, Volume 1 covers the decisions every tournament player faces before the position ever gets complicated: how you use your time, how you handle pressure, and how you think when the stakes are real.
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Arun Daakshin upset Leonardo Costa to climb to shared first place in the final standings! | Photo: Sandra Schmidt

Frederik Svane defeated Eray Kilic | Photo: Sandra Schmidt

Roven Vogel scored a win over third seed Alexander Donchenko after the latter rejected the chance to get a draw by repetition | Photo: Sandra Schmidt

Gopal, who had led outright after round six, recovered from his loss to Svane by defeating American IM Evan Park in the final round. He finished fifth with 7/9 points, ahead of Rithvik Raja, Elham Amar and English IM Sohum Lohia, who also scored 7 points. Donchenko and Costa, meanwhile, ended the tournament with 6½ points following their final-round defeats.

Among the other notable results, Polish IM Klaudia Kulon finished as the highest-placed woman with 6½ points, ahead of German WGM Kateryna Dolzhykova on tiebreaks. Svenja Butenandt took third place in the women's standings with six points and secured a WIM norm after drawing with GM Mathias Womacka in the final round.

Indian youngster S Midilesh M also achieved an IM norm, defeating Georg Seul in the last round to finish on 6½ points. In the senior category, 62-year-old IM Dieter Morawietz took first place on tiebreaks with 6 points, ahead of Mathias Womacka and Martin Forchert.

The top women performers (from left to right): Kateryna Dolzhykova (second place), Klaudia Kulon (first place) and Svenja Butenandt (third place) | Photo: Sandra Schmidt

10 Chess Principles That Actually Matter

Keep it simple. Stay objective. Watch the clock. Sometimes take the risk. GM Loek van Wely explains the ten principles that decide real games. They aren’t about theory. They’re about what you do at the board when it counts.
Opening theory gets all the attention. But according to GM Loek van Wely, a player who has played in 14 Olympiads, is eight-time Dutch champion, and has decades of experience against Karpov, Kasparov, Anand, and Carlsen, most of what separates strong players from the rest has nothing to do with memorised lines.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: Don't Bluff the Donkey

Time to relax | Photo: Sandra Schmidt

But casual chess games go on, of course! | Photo: Sandra Schmidt

Final standings

...548 players

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Links

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