Winning a game against the world’s top players is the dream and goal of the average grandmaster; and in an event like the recently-concluded 2020 German Schachbundesliga Championship, opportunities for pulling off a first-class upset present themselves in a field teeming with an array of chess stars.
While there were many upsets registered on the lower boards of the tournament, we only chose to look at those that involved lesser-lights against the titans of the game. We managed to find five such shocking and unexpected upsets. If you study these games closely, you’ll notice that some of the defeats were avoidable if only the star player opted for the half-point instead of chasing the imaginary point.
As we reported yesterday, the 2020 Schachbundesliga Championship was won by OSG Baden-Baden.
Dragnev, V (2553)-Anton Guijarro, D (2688) [B62]
Karlsruhe (1.2) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Bb5 Bd7 8.Qd3 h6 9.Bh4 Ne5 10.Qh3 Be7 11.0-0-0 0-0 12.f4 Ng6 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.f5 Nf4 15.Qf3 Rc8 16.Bxd7 Qxd7 17.Kb1 Be5 18.Rd2 Rc4 19.Rhd1 Rfc8 20.h4 g6 21.g3 Nh5 22.Nce2 Ng7 23.fxg6 fxg6 24.Qg4 Qf7 25.Nf3 R4c7 26.Nxe5 dxe5 27.Nc1 Nh5 28.Nd3 Nf6 29.Qe2 Nd7 30.Qe3 Qg7 31.Qxa7 g5 32.Qe3 Rf8 33.a4 Kh7 34.b3 gxh4 35.gxh4 Qg4 36.Nf2 Qg7 37.Nd3 Qg4 38.Rg1 Qxh4 39.Rdg2 Rf7 40.Qd2 Qf6 41.Rf2 Rg7 42.Rxf6 Rxg1+ 43.Kb2 Nxf6 44.Qf2 Rg6 45.Nxe5 Rcg7 46.Nxg6 Kxg6 47.Qg3+ Kf7 48.Qf4 Kg6 49.e5 1-0
Van Foreest, L (2531)-Donchenko, A (2654) [B94]
Karlsruhe (2.5), 17.09.2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.Bc4 Qb6 8.Bb3 e6 9.Bxf6 Nxf6 10.Qd2 Nd7 11.0-0-0 Nc5 12.f4 Bd7 13.Kb1 Be7 14.Rhf1 0-0-0 15.Nf5 Bf8 16.Ne3 Bc6 17.f5 Kb8 18.Qe1 Nxb3 19.axb3 Be7 20.fxe6 fxe6 21.Ned5 exd5 22.exd5 Bf6 23.dxc6 Rhe8 24.Qd2 bxc6 25.Na4 Qb5 26.Rfe1 Re5 27.Ka2 Kc7 28.c4 Qa5 29.Qf2 Kb7 30.Rxe5 Bxe5 31.Qh4 h6 32.Qe7+ Kb8 33.c5 Qc7 34.cxd6 Bxd6 35.Qe4 Rd7 36.Qd3 Ka7 37.Qd4+ Kb8 38.Nc5 Qa5+ 39.Kb1 Rd8 40.b4 Qb5 41.Qxg7 Bc7 42.Rxd8+ Bxd8 43.Qf8 Kc8 44.Qxh6 Qf1+ 45.Ka2 Qxg2 46.Qe6+ Kb8 47.Qd6+ Bc7 48.Qf8+ Ka7 49.Qc8 Qd5+ 50.Ka3 Qf3+ 51.b3 1-0
L’Ami, E (2620)-Caruana, F (2835) [D37]
Karlsruhe (4.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 h6 5.Bf4 Bb4 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Bd2 0-0 8.g3 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Ba5 10.g4 c5 11.Rg1 Nc6 12.dxc5 e5 13.Qc2 Re8 14.g5 g6 15.gxh6 e4 16.Ng5 Bf5 17.0-0-0 Qf6 18.Bh3 e3 19.Bxf5 exd2+ 20.Rxd2 Re5 21.Nxf7 Qxf7 22.Bxg6 Qxf2 23.Bf7+ Kh8 24.Qg6 Rg5 25.Rxg5 Bxc3 26.Kc2 Ne7 27.Qe4 Bf6 28.Re5 Rf8 29.e3 Qf1 30.Bc4 Qa1 31.Rxe7 Qc3+ 32.Kd1 Qa1+ 33.Kc2 Qc3+ 34.Kd1 Qa1+ 35.Ke2 Bxe7 36.Qd4+ Qxd4 37.exd4 Rf4 38.Bd5 Bf6 39.Ke3 Rh4 40.Rd3 Rh3+ 41.Kd2 Rxh2+ 42.Kc3 Kh7 43.Bxb7 Rxa2 44.Kb3 Ra1 45.c6 Bd8 46.d5 Ba5 47.d6 Rc1 48.Rd5 Bd8 49.Rd4 1-0
Blohberger, F (2467)-Donchenko, A (2654) [B13]
Karlsruhe (5.4) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Nf3 a6 7.c5 Bg4 8.Be2 g6 9.0-0 Bg7 10.h3 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 0-0 12.Rb1 e6 13.Bf4 Nd7 14.Ne2 a5 15.b3 b6 16.cxb6 Qxb6 17.Be3 Rfc8 18.Qd2 Nf6 19.Rfc1 Bf8 20.Qb2 Ne8 21.Nc3 Bg7 22.Na4 Qa7 23.Rc5 Bf8 24.Rc3 Ne7 25.Nc5 Nf5 26.Rbc1 Bg7 27.Qd2 Ned6 28.g4 Nxe3 29.fxe3 Qe7 30.Kh1 Rc7 31.Bg2 Rac8 32.Nd3 Bh6 33.Rxc7 Rxc7 34.Rxc7 Qxc7 35.Nc5 Qd8 36.Qe1 Qg5 37.e4 dxe4 38.Nxe4 Nxe4 39.Bxe4 Bg7 40.Qc3 Qf4 41.Qd3 Qf2 42.d5 Be5 43.Bg2 exd5 44.a3 d4 45.b4 axb4 46.axb4 Qe1+ 47.Bf1 Qxb4 48.Qe4 Qe7 49.Kg2 Qg5 50.Be2 Qf6 51.Qf3 Qd8 52.Bc4 Qc7 53.Qd5 Kg7 54.Bd3 Qe7 55.Bc4 Qf6 56.Qf3 Bf4 57.Qd5 Be3 58.Qf3 Qe7 59.Qd5 Qc7 60.Bb3 Qa7 61.Qe5+ Kh6 62.h4 Qa1 63.Bd5 Qg1+ 64.Kh3 Qf2 65.Qh8 g5 66.Qf8+ Kg6 67.h5+ 1-0
Schmidek, E (2395)-Lagarde, M (2657) [B33]
Karlsruhe (5.6) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Ndb5 Bc5 7.Bf4 0-0 8.Bc7 Qe7 9.Bd6 Bxd6 10.Qxd6 Qd8 11.0-0-0 a6 12.Nd4 Ne7 13.Bd3 b5 14.g4 Bb7 15.f3 Ne8 16.Qg3 Qb6 17.Nce2 Nc6 18.Nxc6 dxc6 19.e5 c5 20.Qh4 h6 21.Be4 Bxe4 22.fxe4 c4 23.Qg3 b4 24.g5 h5 25.g6 fxg6 26.Nd4 Rd8 27.Rd2 h4 28.Qxg6 Nc7 29.Rg1 Rf7 30.Nf5 Rdd7 31.Nh6+ Kf8 32.Nxf7 Rxf7 33.Rd8+ Ne8 34.Rdd1 b3 35.axb3 cxb3 36.Rgf1 Qe3+ 37.Kb1 bxc2+ 38.Ka2 Rf3 39.Rxf3+ Qxf3 40.Rd8 c1N+ 41.Kb1 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Be3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rc6, Sb6 2.Ra5#; 1…Rc7/c8/c4 2.Rb6#; 1…Sc7/xe3 2.Bc6#; 1…Se7 2.Sc7#; 1…S5b4 2.Sxc3#./PN
