Things are truly heating up at the 31st Czech Open Chess Tournament as the classical event inches to a thrilling finish at Pardubice in the Czech Republic.
Round 8 saw crucial battles won and lost, with erstwhile solo leader GM Lucas Van Foreest being held to a draw by IM Lukasz Jarmula which enabled IM Robby Kevlishvili to join him on top of the standings. Kevlishvili defeated fellow IM Roven Vogel in just 34 moves of a Classical Queen’s Indian.
Van Foreest and Kevlishvili, both 19 years old and both from Netherlands, now have 6½ points apiece. The duo are half-a-point ahead of six other players breathing hard on their necks – top seed GM Jiri Stocek, fourth seed IM Christopher Noe, fifth seed IM Leon Luke Mendonca, sixth seed GM Petro Golubka, eighth seed IM Liam Vrolijk and 15th seed IM Lukasz Jarmula who each has six points.
Top seed Stocek slowly clawed his way back to the second core group after his unfortunate Round 6 loss to Jarmula.
As we stated Saturday, it’s still a tossup with one round left, although Van Foreest and Kevlishvili enjoy the advantage of a half-point lead.
Van Foreest, L (2531)-Jarmula, L (2444) [C28]
Pardubice (8.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bb4 5.Nf3 d5 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.0-0 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Be7 9.Qe2 0-0 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Qxe5 Bf6 12.Qe1 b6 13.Qe4 Rb8 14.d4 Re8 15.Qd5 Qxd5 16.Bxd5 Ba6 17.Rd1 Rbd8 18.Bc6 Re6 19.Bf3 Be2 20.Bxe2 Rxe2 21.Bd2 c5 22.Kf1 Re6 23.dxc5 bxc5 24.Be3 Rc8 25.Rab1 Ra6 26.Rd7 h5 27.Rbb7 Rxa2 28.Rxa7 Rxc2 29.Rxf7 Rxc3 30.h3 c4 31.g4 hxg4 32.hxg4 Rd3 33.g5 Be5 34.Bf4 Bb2 35.g6 Rdd8 36.Rab7 Bd4 37.Be3 Be5 38.Bf4 ½-½
Golubka, P (2488)-Noe, C (2519) [E18]
Pardubice (8.2) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.d4 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Bd2 Nxd2 9.Qxd2 d6 10.d5 e5 11.e4 Nd7 12.b4 Nf6 13.a3 c6 14.dxc6 Bxc6 15.Qd3 Bd7 16.Rfd1 Qb8 17.Nh4 g6 18.Bf3 Be6 19.Ng2 Qb7 20.Ne3 Rac8 21.Rac1 Qa6 22.Nb5 Rfd8 23.Be2 Qb7 24.Nc3 Rc7 25.h4 Rdc8 26.Qb1 a6 27.Ncd5 Nxd5 28.Nxd5 Rc6 29.c5 b5 30.cxd6 Bxd6 31.Rxc6 Qxc6 32.Qd3 Bxd5 33.Qxd5 Qxd5 34.Rxd5 Rc6 35.h5 Kf8 36.Rd3 ½-½
Vogel, R (2456)-Kevlishvili, R (2478) [E14]
Pardubice (8.3) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.d4 b6 5.Nc3 Bb7 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Bb5+ c6 8.Bd3 Be7 9.Ne5 0-0 10.0-0 c5 11.Qf3 Nc6 12.Qh3 Nxe5 13.dxe5 Ne4 14.Rd1 Qc8 15.Qxc8 Rfxc8 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.Bc4 Rd8 18.Bd2 Bc6 19.Ba6 Kf8 20.Bc3 Rxd1+ 21.Rxd1 Rd8 22.Rxd8+ Bxd8 23.Bc8 a5 24.Bg4 b5 25.f4 b4 26.Bd2 Bd5 27.a3 f6 28.Be1 fxe5 29.fxe5 Bc7 30.Bg3 c4 31.axb4 axb4 32.Be1 c3 33.bxc3 b3 34.Bd1 Bc4 0-1
Jurcik, M (2426)-Stocek, J (2595) [B80]
Pardubice (8.4) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nge2 Nf6 4.g3 Nc6 5.Bg2 Be7 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 0-0 8.0-0 d6 9.b3 Bd7 10.Bb2 Rc8 11.a4 a6 12.Re1 Nxd4 13.Qxd4 Qa5 14.Re2 Rfd8 15.Qd2 Kf8 16.Qd3 Bc6 17.Rd1 h5 18.Red2 b5 19.axb5 axb5 20.Qe2 b4 21.Na4 h4 22.Bd4 Nd7 23.Nb2 Qg5 24.Nd3 Qb5 25.Qg4 g6 26.gxh4 e5 27.Be3 Nf6 28.Qe2 Qb7 29.Re1 Kg7 30.Bg5 Rh8 31.Bf3 Bb5 32.Qe3 Bxd3 33.Qxd3 Rc3 34.Qe2 Ne8 35.Rd3 Rxd3 36.Qxd3 Bxg5 37.hxg5 Qe7 38.Qd2 Rh4 39.Bg2 Nc7 40.Qxb4 Qxg5 41.Re3 Ne6 42.Qe1 Nf4 43.Qf1 Rh8 44.Kh1 Ra8 45.Rg3 Qe7 46.h3 Ra2 47.Qc4 Qa7 48.Rf3 Qa3 49.Bf1 Qc1 50.c3 Qd1 51.Rxf4 exf4 52.Kg2 Rd2 53.b4 Qe1 0-1
Mendonca, LL (2490)-Kueppers, T (2277) [A30]
Pardubice (8.6) 2020
1.Nf3 c5 2.b3 Nc6 3.Bb2 Nf6 4.c4 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Nc3 e5 7.e3 Nc7 8.Nb5 a6 9.Nxc7+ Qxc7 10.Qc2 Be7 11.a3 Be6 12.h4 h6 13.Bc4 Bxc4 14.bxc4 0-0 15.Qe4 Rfe8 16.g4 g6 17.g5 h5 18.0-0 Bf8 19.Rab1 Rab8 20.Rfc1 b5 21.cxb5 axb5 22.Rc2 Qd6 23.Rbc1 c4 24.d3 Na5 25.Bxe5 Qxd3 26.Qf4 Rb6 27.Rd2 Qf5 28.Qxf5 gxf5 29.Bc7 Ra6 30.Rd5 Rc8 31.Bxa5 Rxa5 32.a4 Ba3 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qb7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rf4+ 2.Sf6#; 1…Sd3 2.Sac3#; 1…Be5 2.Bf5#; 1…Rd1/c1/b1, Se2 2.Re3#; 1…Sf3 2.gxf3#./PN
