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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.
I am very happy to have reached 2700 ELO. It is really motivating to see that working hard pays off and I hope that there is still a lot more to come! pic.twitter.com/IPoBfd3qI3
— Vincent Keymer (@VincentKeymer04) September 6, 2022
Vincent Keymer exerted permanent pressure with the white pieces until his Polish opponent finally collapsed.
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.
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?
