With just a round to go, GM Alexander Donchenko is a cinch to win the 2020 Tegernsee Masters classical chess event at Bad Wiessee, Germany. The German grandmaster is leading the Category 13 (average Elo: 2567) event by only half-a-point, but will be facing tournament tail-ender IM Ashot Parvanyan in the final round.
Donchenko’s closest competitor is his compatriot and top seed GM Matthias Bluebaum who got a shock defeat in Round 7 against Brazilian GM Alexandr Fier and will be playing a tough final assignment in third seed GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. Italian GM Pier Luigi Basso, who occupies third in the standings, is out of the race, having the bye in Round 9. So the championship boils down to the results of the Donchenko-Parvanyan and Bleubaum-Nisipeanu final matches.
The standings after Round 8: 1. Donchenko, 5½; 2. Bluebaum, 5; 3. Basso, 4½; 4. Nisipeanu, 4; 5-7. Nguyen, Mendonca, Dharda, 3; 8. Fier, 2½; 9. Parvanyan, 1.
Donchenko, A (2658)-Basso, PL (2570) [D11]
Bad Wiessee (7.1) 2020
1.c4 c6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nf3 d5 4.e3 Bg4 5.h3 Bh5 6.cxd5 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 cxd5 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.Bd2 Rc8 10.Bd3 e6 11.0-0 Be7 12.Rac1 0-0 13.a3 a6 14.Rc2 e5 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Qf5 Nxd3 17.Qxd3 Qd7 18.Rfc1 Rc6 19.Ne2 Rfc8 20.Rxc6 Rxc6 21.Rd1 Qe8 22.Nf4 g5 23.Ne2 Ne4 24.Nc3 Nf6 25.Be1 Qc8 26.Ne2 Ne4 27.Qxd5 Rd6 28.Qb3 Rxd1 29.Qxd1 Bf6 30.f3 Nc5 31.Bc3 Bxc3 32.Nxc3 Ne6 33.Kf2 h6 34.Qd6 b5 35.Kg3 Ng7 36.Qe5 Nf5+ 37.Kf2 Nh4 38.Kg1 Ng6 39.Qd4 Nh4 40.Qd2 Qc7 41.Ne4 Qc4 42.Kf2 Qa2 43.Nf6+ Kg7 44.Qd4 Nf5 45.Qe5 Kg6 46.Ne8 Qe6 47.Qxe6+ fxe6 48.Nc7 Nd6 49.Nxa6 Nc4 50.Nc7 Nxb2 51.Nxb5 Kf5 52.Nd6+ Kf6 53.Ke2 h5 54.g4 h4 55.Ne4+ Kg6 56.Nc5 Kf6 57.a4 Nc4 58.Ne4+ Kg6 59.Nd2 Na5 60.Kd3 1-0
Fier, A (2562)-Bluebaum, M (2672) [C11]
Bad Wiessee (7.3) 2020
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Nce2 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Nf3 Be7 8.a3 0-0 9.Nf4 Qa5 10.Ra2 Nxd4 11.Nxd4 cxd4 12.b4 Qb6 13.cxd4 f6 14.exf6 Nxf6 15.Bd3 Bd6 16.0-0 Bd7 17.Re1 Rae8 18.g3 Re7 19.Rae2 Rfe8 20.Re5 a6 21.Rg5 Bb5 22.Bb1 Qc6 23.Nh5 Rf8 24.Bf4 Bxf4 25.Nxf4 Ba4 26.Qd2 Rc8 27.Rge5 Qc3 28.Qxc3 Rxc3 29.Nxe6 Rxa3 30.Nc5 Rc7 31.Bf5 b6 32.Nxa4 Rxa4 33.g4 g6 34.Be6+ Kg7 35.g5 Nd7 36.R5e3 Nf8 37.Bxd5 Rxb4 38.Re7+ Rxe7 39.Rxe7+ Kh8 40.Rf7 Kg8 41.Rf4+ Kg7 42.Kg2 a5 43.Kf3 a4 44.Ke4 Rb2 45.Rf7+ Kg8 46.Ke5 a3 47.f4 Rf2 48.Ra7+ Kh8 49.Rxa3 Re2+ 50.Kf6 Rf2 51.Bf3 Kg8 52.Ke7 b5 53.d5 Rf1 54.Re3 b4 55.d6 b3 56.d7 Nxd7 57.Kxd7 b2 58.Bd5+ 1-0
Bluebaum, M (2672)-Nguyen, TDV (2571) [D02]
Bad Wiessee (8.2) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 Nh5 6.dxc5 Nxf4 7.exf4 g6 8.c3 Bh6 9.g3 0-0 10.Nb3 a5 11.Nbd4 a4 12.b4 axb3 13.axb3 Bg4 14.Bg2 Nxd4 15.cxd4 Qd7 16.0-0 Qb5 17.Qc2 Bxf3 18.Bxf3 Qb4 19.Bxd5 Bg7 20.Rxa8 Rxa8 21.Qe4 Bxd4 22.f5 Kg7 23.Qxe7 Rf8 24.Rd1 b6 25.fxg6 hxg6 26.Qe4 bxc5 27.Kg2 Qb8 28.Re1 Qd6 29.h4 Rh8 30.Bc4 Qf6 31.Re2 Rd8 32.Ra2 Rd7 33.Re2 Ra7 34.Qe8 Rc7 35.Bd5 Qd6 36.Bc4 Bf6 37.Ra2 Re7 38.Qc8 Rc7 39.Qg4 Qc6+ 40.Kh2 Re7 41.Ra6 Qe4 42.Qxe4 Rxe4 43.Rc6 Re7 44.Kg2 Bd4 45.g4 Ra7 46.f4 Re7 47.g5 Re4 48.Kf3 Re3+ 49.Kg4 f5+ 50.gxf6+ Bxf6 51.Rxc5 Re1 52.h5 Rg1+ 53.Kf3 gxh5 54.Rxh5 Rd1 55.Rd5 Rxd5 56.Bxd5 Bc3 57.Ke4 Kf6 58.f5 Ke7 59.Kd3 Bf6 60.b4 Kd6 61.Ke4 Bc3 62.b5 Kc5 63.Bc6 Kd6 64.Be8 Ke7 65.Bc6 Ba5 66.Kd5 Bb6 67.Bb7 Bf2 68.Bc8 Kd8 69.f6 Bh4 70.f7 Ke7 71.Be6 Bf2 72.Kc6 Be3 73.Bc4 Bf2 74.b6 Be1 75.Kb7 Bf2 76.Kc7 1-0
Dardha, D (2468)-Parvanyan, A (2451) [E92]
Bad Wiessee (8.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.d5 a5 8.Bg5 h6 9.Be3 Ng4 10.Bd2 f5 11.h3 Nf6 12.exf5 gxf5 13.Qc1 f4 14.g3 e4 15.Nh4 e3 16.fxe3 fxg3 17.Ng6 Re8 18.Nf4 Na6 19.Qb1 Re5 20.Rg1 Nc5 21.Bd3 Nxd3+ 22.Qxd3 Bf5 23.Qf1 Ne4 24.Nxe4 Rxe4 25.Nh5 Qg5 26.Qf3 Be5 27.Nxg3 Kh8 28.Ke2 Rg4 29.Ne4 Bxe4 30.Qxg4 Qxg4+ 31.Rxg4 Bh7 32.Bc3 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.f6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bh7/f7 2.Q(x)f7#; 1…Be6, e4 2.Q(x)e4#; 1…gxf6 2.Qxg8#; 1…c5, Ke6 2.Sc7#; 1…Be3/f2/g1/c3/b2/a1/b6/a7 2.Bxc4#./PN
