The classical 31st Czech Open Chess Tournament ended Sept. 28, with a convincing victory for GM Lucas Van Foreest who crushed last round foe IM Liam Vrolijk even as erstwhile co-leader and compatriot IM Robby Kevlishvili was held by top seed GM Jiri Stocek.
Van Foreest, who wound up with an undefeated 7½ points in the nine-round Swiss event, pocketed the top prize money of 30,000 CZK (Czech Koruna) (around P62,000).
Kevlishvili and IM Lukasz Jarmula, who defeated IM Petro Golubka in the final round, finished in a tie for second-third places with seven points apiece and took home CZK 17,500 apiece.
It was also reported the Czech Republic Government also awarded special financial prizes in Euros to the top 10 best players of the tournament.
Meanwhile, top seed Stocek, IM Christopher Noe, GM Vojtech Plat, GM Martin Petr and IM Leon Luke Mendonca ended up with identical 6½ points, shared fourth to eighth places and divvied CZK 31,000 among themselves or about CZK 3,875 per player. A group of 13 players, with six points each and led by sixth seed Golubka and eighth seed Vrolijk, round up the top 21 in the final standings.
Vrolijk, L (2481)-Van Foreest, L (2531) [A92]
Pardubice (9.1) 2020
1.c4 f5 2.d4 Nf6 3.g3 d6 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bg2 Be7 6.Nc3 0-0 7.b3 Ne4 8.Bb2 b6 9.Nd2 d5 10.cxd5 exd5 11.0-0 Bb7 12.Nf3 Nd7 13.e3 a5 14.Rc1 Nxc3 15.Bxc3 c6 16.Qc2 Bd6 17.Ne1 Qe7 18.Nd3 Rae8 19.Rb1 Rf6 20.b4 axb4 21.Bxb4 Ra8 22.Rfc1 Bxb4 23.Nxb4 Qd6 24.a4 Ra5 25.Qb3 Rf8 26.Rc3 Kh8 27.Rbc1 c5 28.dxc5 Nxc5 29.Qc2 Nxa4 30.Rc7 Nc5 0-1
Stocek, J (2595)-Kevlishvili, R (2478) [D30]
Pardubice (9.2) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Nc6 6.e3 Na5 7.Ne5 Nf6 8.Bxc4 Nxc4 9.Nxc4 b6 10.e4 Bb7 11.f3 Be7 12.Be3 0-0 13.0-0 Qd7 14.Qb3 Rfd8 15.Rfd1 Qe8 16.Rac1 Rac8 17.Ne2 Bc6 18.Ra1 Nd7 19.Nf4 Bb7 20.Nd3 Nb8 21.a5 b5 22.Nce5 Nc6 23.Nxc6 Bxc6 24.Rac1 b4 25.Qc2 Bb5 26.Nc5 Rb8 27.b3 Bd6 28.Nd3 c6 29.Nb2 Bc7 30.Nc4 h6 31.Bf2 Qe7 32.Ne5 Bxe5 33.dxe5 Rxd1+ 34.Rxd1 Rd8 35.f4 Rd7 36.h3 Qd8 37.Rxd7 Qxd7 38.Bc5 Qd3 ½-½
Noe, C (2519)-Mendonca, LL (2490) [D46]
Pardubice (9.3) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Be2 a6 11.Ng5 Be7 12.Nge4 Bb7 13.a3 c5 14.Nxc5 Nxc5 15.dxc5 Bxc5 16.Nxb5 Rc8 17.Nc3 Bd6 18.h3 Bb8 19.Qa4 Qc7 20.f4 Qb6 21.Qb4 Qa7 22.Bf3 Bxf3 23.Rxf3 Rfd8 24.Qa4 Qb7 25.Qc2 Ba7 26.Bd2 Rd7 27.Re1 h6 28.Kh2 Rcd8 29.Bc1 e5 30.e4 Bd4 31.f5 Rc8 32.Qe2 Rdc7 33.Qc2 Bxc3 34.bxc3 Rc4 35.Rfe3 Qc6 36.Qf2 Nxe4 37.Qf3 Nf6 38.Qxc6 R8xc6 39.Rxe5 Rxc3 40.Bb2 Rb3 41.R1e2 h5 42.Rd2 Rcb6 43.Rd8+ Kh7 44.Bd4 R6b5 45.Rxb5 Rxb5 46.Ra8 Ra5 47.Bb2 Ne4 48.Ra7 f6 49.Re7 Ra4 50.Rc7 h4 51.Kg1 Kh6 52.Bc1+ Kh7 53.Bb2 Nd6 54.Rd7 Nxf5 55.Bxf6 Rxa3 56.Kf2 Kg6 57.Be5 Ra5 58.Bc3 Ra3 59.Rc7 Ra2+ 60.Kf3 Ra4 61.Rc6+ Kf7 62.Rc7+ Kg6 63.Rc6+ Kf7 64.Rc7+ Kg6 ½-½
Jarmula, L (2444)-Golubka, P (2488) [E20]
Pardubice (9.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 dxe4 7.fxe4 c5 8.d5 exd5 9.exd5 0-0 10.Be2 Re8 11.Nf3 Bg4 12.0-0 Nbd7 13.d6 Bf8 14.h3 Bh5 15.Nb5 Qb6 16.Nc7 Bxd6 17.Nxa8 Rxa8 18.Nh4 Bg6 19.Nxg6 hxg6 20.Bf3 Be5 21.Be3 Re8 22.Rb1 Bb8 23.Re1 a5 24.Bf2 Rd8 25.Qe2 Qc7 26.Kf1 Qh2 27.Bg1 Qh1 28.Qf2 Ne5 29.Rbd1 Rf8 30.Bxb7 Nh5 31.Re3 Nxc4 32.Rc3 Nd6 33.Bd5 Nf5 1-0
Plat, V (2566)-Sorensen, H (2361) [D13]
Pardubice (9.5) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bf4 Nc6 6.e3 a6 7.Rc1 Bf5 8.Nf3 e6 9.Qb3 Ra7 10.Ne5 Be7 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Be2 Nd7 13.Na4 Qa5+ 14.Kf1 0-0 15.Rxc6 g5 16.Bg3 Bg6 17.f3 Qd8 18.Qc3 a5 19.Kf2 Bb4 20.Qc1 Re8 21.a3 Bf8 22.Rc7 Qa8 23.Bb5 Rxc7 24.Qxc7 Rc8 25.Qxd7 Rc2+ 26.Be2 Bd3 27.Re1 Qa6 28.Nc3 Rxb2 29.Qd8 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bf1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sb7/f7/c6/e6 2.Sa(x)c6#; 1…f5 2.Qxd8#; 1…Rb3/c2 2.S(x)b3#; 1…Rxb4/b1 2.Rxd2#./PN
