Vincent Keymer crosses 2700

Successful in Bydgoszcz

The Polish Team Championship, with the Ekstraliga as the top category, is taking place on September 2-11 in Bydgoszcz. Vincent Keymer and Dmitrij Kollars play for the host team, while Matthias Bluebaum plays for Gorzow.

Chess Classics - games you must know

As the author explains in the introductory video, knowing the classic games from the past enriches your chess understanding in general, and helps to improve the level of your own games.

There is plenty of interest regarding the results in Germany, since the country’s highest-ranked player entered the event on the verge of crossing the magic 2700-rating mark after obtaining a strong result at the Chess Olympiad and the German Masters. In round 4, Vincent Keymer, aged 17, defeated Michal Luch to cross the 2700-barrier for the first time in his career. The youngster also won in round 5, when he defeated Swedish star Nils Grandelius.

In the all-important victory from the fourth round, Keymer played on top board and gained 1.2 rating points by beating Luch.

Vincent Keymer exerted permanent pressure with the white pieces until his Polish opponent finally collapsed.

 

Keymer, Vincent2693

1–0

Luch, Michal2364

Enea Polish Ekstraliga 2022 Bydgoszcz06.09.2022[Schulz,A]

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Be6 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.h3 Usually 8.Nge2 is played right away: h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Bg3 Nh5 11.h4 Nxg3 12.Nxg3 gxh4 13.Nf5 Qg5 14.Nxh4 0-0-0 15.Qc2 Kb8 16.0-0-0= 1-0 (110) Donchenko,A (2636)-Andreikin,D (2724) Chess.com INT 2022 8...Bd6 9.Nge2 h6 10.Bf4 Qe7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Re1 12.Rc1 Rfe8 13.a3 a5 14.Na4 Ne4 15.Bxe4 dxe4 16.Bxd6 Qxd6 17.Nf4 b6 18.Nc3 Nf6 19.Nxe6 Qxe6 20.Qe2 Kh8 21.Rc2 Rac8 22.Rfc1 Rg8 23.Na4 Nd5 24.Qa6 g5 25.Nxb6 g4 26.Nxd5 gxh3 27.Nf4 Rxg2+ 28.Kh1 Qg4 29.Qe2 Qh4 30.Qh5 1-0 (30) Zubarev,A (2445) -Musyuk,L (2327) Petah Tikva 2020 12...Nh5 13.Bxd6 Qxd6 14.Rc1 f5 15.Nf4 Nxf4 16.exf4 Rae8 17.g3 Qb4 18.Bc2!? A pawn sacrifice with which White wins a few tempi to get play on the e-file. Qxb2 19.Re3 Qb6 20.Rb1 Qc7 21.Qe2 Bf7 Black must give back the pawn, after which the diagonal c2-h7 opens up for the attack. 21...Rf6 22.g4 fxg4 23.f5 22.Bxf5 Nb6 23.Bc2 Rxe3 Also playable was 23...Nc4 24.Qd3 g6= 24.Qxe3 Nc4 25.Qd3 Re8 After 25...g6 26.f5 and White has the initiative. 26.Qh7+ Kf8 27.Qh8+ The invasion of the white queen looks threatening, but Black has sufficient defensive resources. Bg8 28.Bh7 Kf7 29.f5 Threatens Bg6, winning. Bxh7 30.Qxh7 Re7 Threatened was 30...-- 31.Qg6+ Kf8 32.f6+- 31.Na4

According to the engines, the chances are equal, but White still has ideas. 31...Qd6? Black was not allowed to ignore the threat of Nc5 under any circumstances. 31...b6= 31...Nd2 32.Rd1 Ne4= 32.Nc5 Qf6 After 32...b6 33.Ne6 Black must sacrifice the exchange with Rxe6 33...Ke8 34.Qh8+ Kd7 35.Qd8# 34.fxe6+ Qxe6 and Black is lost with his weakened king. 33.Nxb7 A second white piece invades, deciding the game. Nb6 34.Nd8+ Ke8 35.Ne6 Kd7 36.Re1 Kd6 37.Qg8 1–0

When Robert Hübner belonged to the absolute elite in the 1970s and early 1980s, at times third behind Karpov and Korchnoi in the world ranking, the level of the Elo ratings was still considerably lower, by about 100 points. Later on, two German representatives crossed the 2700 mark. Arkadij Naiditsch managed to do it, but then switched to the Azerbaijani Chess Federation. Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, who still plays for Germany, once had a rating above 2700, although at that time he was still playing for his country of birth, Romania.

With his current 2705 rating, Vincent Keymer is now number 39 in the world. One may assume that the 17-year-old has not yet reached the end of the line. The Polish Ekstraliga is not over yet, either.

Matthias Bluebaum also had reason to celebrate. He defeated Pentala Harikrishna, also a ‘2700er’, with the white pieces. The German’s gained an early advantage and went on to score a fine win. After showing good opening preparation, Bluebaum reached a major-piece endgame that was clearly favourable. With clean technique, he converted it into a win.

 

Bluebaum, Matthias2647

1–0

Harikrishna, Pentala2716

Enea Polish Ekstraliga 2022 Bydgoszcz06.09.2022[Schulz,A]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Bg5!? An interesting new idea against the Slav Defence. Nf6 5.Bxf6 gxf6 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.e3 Bg7 7...e6 8.Bd3 f5 was played by Harikrishna with white in the past. ½-½ (62) Harikrishna,P (2724)-Karjakin,S (2754) Jerusalem 2019 8.Bd3 e5 9.Nge2 exd4 9...Be6 10.0-0 0-0 11.f4 exd4 12.exd4 f5= 1-0 (37) Sichinava,Z (2092)-Fedoseev,S (2277) St Petersburg 2006 10.Nxd4 Nxd4 11.exd4 f5 After the development phase, Black is left with isolated double pawns on the f-file. The last move gives the g7-bishop the long diagonal, but hinders its colleague on c8. 12.0-0 0-0 13.Qh5 Forcing the following sequence. Bxd4 14.Bxf5 Bxf5 15.Qxf5 Bxc3 16.bxc3 Qd6 Material is equal, but king safety on both sides makes a big difference. White has a clear advantage here. 17.Rad1 Rad8 18.Rd3 Qe6 19.Qf4 f6 19...Rd6 20.Rg3+ Kh8 21.Qd4+ f6 22.Qxa7+- 20.Re3 Qf7 21.Qg4+ Kh8 22.Qd4 b6 23.Rfe1 Rd7

24.Re6 Black is under heavy pressure. From this point on, he was skilfully outmanoeuvred. Qg6 25.h3 Qg7 26.R1e3 f5 27.R3e5 Kg8 28.Qh4 Rdf7 29.Qf4 Rf6 30.Rxf6 Qxf6 31.Qd4 31.Rxd5+- 31...f4 32.Qxd5+ Kh8 33.Qe4 Qg6 34.Qd4 Qg7 35.Kf1 Kg8 36.Qd5+ Kh8 37.Qe4 Qg6 38.Qd4 Kg8 39.Re4 Qg5 40.g3 Qf5 41.Kg2 f3+ 42.Kh2 Qf6 43.Rg4+ Kh8 44.Rf4 Qxd4 45.Rxf8+ 1–0

Master Class Vol.5: Emanuel Lasker

The name Emanuel Lasker will always be linked with his incredible 27 years reign on the throne of world chess. In 1894, at the age of 25, he had already won the world title from Wilhelm Steinitz and his record number of years on the throne did not end till 1921 when Lasker had to accept the superiority of Jose Raul Capablanca. But not only had the only German world champion so far seen off all challengers for many years, he had also won the greatest tournaments of his age, sometimes with an enormous lead. The fascinating question is, how did he manage that?

All games

Links

• Official site
• Full results at ChessArbiter