Third seed GM Lucas Van Foreest seized solo leadership of the 31st Czech Open Chess Tournament after seven rounds of play at Pardubice City in the Czech Republic.
Van Foreest, who has an undefeated 6 points, has a half-point lead over five other players, four of which surprisingly are unheralded International Masters. The five are 6th GM Petro Golubka and IMs Lukasz Jarmula, Christopher Noe, Bobby Kevlishvili, and Roven Vogel. Each has 5½ points and share 2nd to 6th slots. Ten players, led by top seed GM Jiri Stocek, are in a logjam for 7th to 16th places a full point behind Van Foreest. With Stocek in the logjam are 2nd seed GM Vojtech Plat, 5th seed IM Leon Luke Mendonca, 7th seed GM Martin Petr, and 8th seed IM Liam Vrolijk.
Stocek, who was upset by Jarmula in Round 6, stayed in contention by beating FM Endre Csiki in Round 7. With two rounds to go, it’s still too close to call who will emerge the 31st Czech Open Chess champion.
Van Foreest, L (2531)-Noe, C (2519) [B47]
Pardubice (6.1) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Nxc6 dxc6 7.f4 e5 8.f5 Nf6 9.g4 h6 10.Qf3 Bc5 11.Bd2 Bd7 12.Be2 0-0-0 13.0-0-0 Bd4 14.Bc4 Be8 15.Ne2 Bc5 16.Ng3 b5 17.Be2 Nd7 18.Nh5 Bf8 19.f6 g6 20.Ng7 Nc5 21.b4 Na4 22.Qb3 a6 23.c4 c5 24.Nxe8 Rxe8 25.cxb5 cxb4+ 26.Kb1 Nc5 27.Qxb4 Kb8 28.bxa6+ Ka8 29.Qc4 Rb8+ 30.Ka1 Bd6 31.Be3 Rhc8 32.Qd5+ Qc6 33.Qxc6+ Rxc6 34.Bc4 1-0
Jarmula, L (2444)-Stocek, J (2595) [E32]
Pardubice (6.3) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.e5 Nfd7 7.Nf3 c5 8.exd6 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Nc6 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Be3 Bxd6 12.Rd1 Qc7 13.g3 Ne5 14.Be2 f5 15.0-0 Nf7 16.f4 Rb8 17.b3 Re8 18.Bf3 e5 19.Bg2 exf4 20.Bxf4 Bxf4 21.gxf4 Be6 22.Qf2 Rbd8 23.Qc5 Rxd1 24.Nxd1 Nd8 25.Nb2 Re7 26.Nd3 Rd7 27.Qe3 Qd6 28.Ne5 Rc7 29.c5 Qe7 30.Rd1 a5 31.Rd6 Bf7 32.Qd2 Rc8 33.Bxc6 Nxc6 34.Nxc6 Qf8 35.Rd8 Rxd8 36.Qxd8 Be8 37.Nd4 Kf7 38.Qd5+ Kg6 39.c6 Qf6 40.c7 1-0
Noe, C (2519)-Sorensen, H (2361) [D45]
Pardubice (7.4) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 a6 6.Qc2 c5 7.cxd5 exd5 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.Be2 0-0 10.0-0 Nc6 11.Rd1 Bd6 12.b3 Be6 13.Bb2 Qc7 14.h3 Rad8 15.Rac1 Qb8 16.Qb1 Ne5 17.Nd4 Rfe8 18.Qc2 Rc8 19.Qb1 Rcd8 20.Nxe6 fxe6 21.e4 Ng6 22.exd5 exd5 23.Bf3 Bf4 24.Nxd5 Bxc1 25.Nxf6+ gxf6 26.Rxc1 Ne5 27.Qf5 Qd6 28.Be4 Rd7 29.Rc3 Qe6 30.Qh5 Ng6 31.Re3 Qxe4 32.Rxe4 Rxe4 33.Bxf6 Re6 34.Bc3 Rc6 35.Qf3 Rf7 36.Qg3 Rfc7 37.Bd4 Rd7 38.Be3 Kf7 39.h4 Rd1+ 40.Kh2 Rd5 41.Qf3+ Ke6 42.h5 Ne5 43.Qe4 1-0
Golubka, P (2488)-Zwardon, V (2455) [A36]
Pardubice (7.6) 2020
1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.d3 d6 6.Bd2 Qd7 7.Nf3 b6 8.0-0 Bb7 9.a3 e6 10.Rb1 Nge7 11.Qc1 h6 12.b4 Rd8 13.Ne4 f5 14.Nc3 Nd4 15.Ne1 g5 16.e3 Bxg2 17.Kxg2 Qb7+ 18.Kg1 Nf3+ 19.Nxf3 Qxf3 20.Qd1 Qxd1 21.Rfxd1 Nc6 22.Be1 h5 23.Ne2 Ne5 24.Bc3 h4 25.Bxe5 Bxe5 26.bxc5 dxc5 27.d4 Bd6 28.d5 e5 29.e4 f4 30.g4 f3 31.Nc3 h3 32.Rd3 Rf8 33.Kh1 Rf4 34.Rg1 a6 35.Rg3 b5 36.cxb5 axb5 37.Rxh3 b4 38.axb4 cxb4 39.Nb5 Bf8 40.Rh7 Rc8 41.Nc7+ Rxc7 42.Rxc7 Bd6 43.Rc4 Rf7 44.h3 Rb7 45.Rb3 1-0
Stocek, J (2595)-Csiki, E (2276) [D85]
Pardubice (7.8) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Be3 Qa5 9.Nd2 Bd7 10.Rc1 cxd4 11.Nc4 Qa4 12.Qxa4 Bxa4 13.cxd4 0-0 14.Be2 Bb5 15.d5 Rc8 16.Kd2 Nd7 17.Na5 Bxe2 18.Kxe2 Bb2 19.Rxc8+ Rxc8 20.Rb1 Bf6 21.Rxb7 Ne5 22.f4 Ng4 23.Nc6 e5 24.h3 Nxe3 25.Kxe3 exf4+ 26.Kxf4 Bd8 27.Rd7 Bc7+ 28.Kf3 Kf8 29.Nxa7 Ke8 30.Rxf7 Kxf7 31.Nxc8 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rd5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…f4, Qf3+/xh5 2.S(x)f3#; 1…c3, Ke1 2.Sc2#; 1…Qe2 2.Qxe2#; 1…h1=Q+/R/B+/S 2.Qxh1#./PN
