ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024
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Horntye Park Sports Complex
Into its 90th edition, the Hastings Chess Congress is more than just a traditional tournament. It is a piece of chess history that will be a timeless part of chess folklore. Over the years, the tournament has stood witness to the changing nature of chess. The young replaced the old and the younger have begun to displace the young.
This traditional tournament has acted as a graduation function where a generation has passed the baton to the next. Chinese Grandmaster Zhao Jun put up the show of his career until date. What do they say about China being the new chess powerhouse?
Getting ready for the games to begin
Winner of the 90th Hastings Chess Congress: GM Zhao Jun
GM Zhao Jun massacred his opposition in the 9-round swiss to win with a dream score of 8.0/9, clocking a total rating performance of 2852. The Chinese grandmaster began his campaign as the sixth seed, but raced away to a Fabianosque 6.0/6.
He eventually finished his jaw dropping performance with two draws towards the end, taking clear first place by miles
GM Aleksander Mista
The tournament followed an accelerated swiss pairing system and the third seeded Polish GM Aleksander Mista was a notable casualty in the early rounds.
Despite this early setback, GM Aleksander Mista recovered quickly to set up a crucial encounter with the second seed GM Roman Edouard in the final round.
With this victory over the Frenchman, GM Mista finished with 7.0/9 to finish tied second.
Mista was awarded with the Best Game of the tournament prize for his win over GM Edouard
Brazilian GM Alexander Fier scored 7.0/9 as well, tying for second place
IM Gudmundur Kjartansson of Iceland also scored an impressive 7.0/9 and was the only
non-grandmaster in the top ten. However, he missed his GM norm by a whisker.
WIM Tereza Olsarova played sparkling chess throughout the event to score 5.5/9 to register her WGM norm
15-year-old Hungarian IM Benjamin Gledura needed a win in the last round for his GM-norm but could only draw
Top seeded Israeli GM Maxim Rodshtein had to be content with 6.5/9
This traditional tournament at the turn of the year has always been played in festive spirits. How do you think the players wished each other ‘Happy New Year’? With imaginative combinations of course, as GM Rodshtein found at his expense on the 1st of January 2015.
Mr. 17.Ndxe4
Bernard Cafferty moved to Hastings in 1981 has since then been a regular feature of this legendary tournament. To readers who know his name but cannot really recall where they heard it, Cafferty was the translator of many important Soviet chess books, the most notable being Alexander Kotov’s ‘Think like a Grandmaster’, which to this date has proved to be a blessing for many chess players. IM Malcolm Pein paid a glowing tribute to his contribution to chess in the Telegraph.
In the following game unfortunately, Cafferty found himself with the short end of the stick.
Jonathan Hawkins finished seventh with 6.5/9. He is Britain’s newly minted grandmaster
and the current British Chess Champion.
French GM Romain Edouard finished tenth after a last round loss to GM Aleksander Mista
Veteran GM Mark Hebden played a fine tournament until the final two
rounds where he lost steam
One of his games ended in a curious position.
Sengupta-Sowray
The Indian grandmaster found the simplest path to victory here, can you?
White to play and win.
Rayner-Othman
Find the weakness; attack it mercilessly. White to play and win.
Kheit-Hunt
Black's position screams "Hit me!" Indulge him. White to play and win.
Slade-Wallis
Plenty of attractive options, but which to choose? White to play and win.
Young Theo Slade thinks Magnus style. Note the junior picked up 113 Elo.
A view of the city near the shoreline
Hastings castle near the town (source: Wikipedia)
The beach at Hastings
Tournament photos by Brendan O’ Gorman
Hastings city and prize giving photos by Akshay Halgannavar
|
Rk
|
Name
|
Pts
|
Fed
|
Rtg
|
Perf
|
TB
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM Zhao, Jun |
8.0
|
CHN
|
2585
|
2852
|
54.0
|
| 2 | GM Mista, Aleksander |
7.0
|
POL
|
2614
|
2619
|
51.0
|
| 3 | GM Fier, Alexandr |
7.0
|
BRA
|
2592
|
2660
|
52.5
|
| 4 | IM Kjartansson, Gudmundur |
7.0
|
ISL
|
2451
|
2583
|
50.0
|
| 5 | GM Rodshtein, Maxim |
6.5
|
ISR
|
2676
|
2546
|
48.5
|
| 6 | GM Lagarde, Maxime |
6.5
|
FRA
|
2576
|
2606
|
52.0
|
| 7 | GM Hawkins, Jonathan |
6.5
|
ENG
|
2552
|
2549
|
50.0
|
| 8 | GM Vakhidov, Jahongir |
6.5
|
UZB
|
2502
|
2564
|
51.0
|
| 9 | GM Arkell, Keith C |
6.5
|
ENG
|
2489
|
2608
|
55.5
|
| 10 | GM Edouard, Romain |
6.0
|
FRA
|
2659
|
2622
|
58.0
|
| 11 | GM Bogner, Sebastian |
6.0
|
SUI
|
2586
|
2500
|
47.5
|
| 12 | GM Sengupta, Deep |
6.0
|
IND
|
2566
|
2517
|
52.0
|
| 13 | GM Flear, Glenn C |
6.0
|
ENG
|
2460
|
2494
|
48.0
|
| 14 | IM Gledura, Benjamin |
6.0
|
HUN
|
2450
|
2580
|
53.0
|
| 15 | FM Longson, Alexander |
6.0
|
ENG
|
2339
|
2251
|
41.0
|
Links
The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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