THINGS have heated up since our last report of the ongoing 2021 DSB-Kader-Challenge in Magdeburg, Germany. After Round 7, three grandmasters share the lead in the aftermath of a round where all games ended decisively.
The three are top seed Matthias Blübaum, 2nd seed Alexander Donchenko, and 7th seed Dmitrij Kollars, who respectively defeated GMs Andreas Heimann, Rasmus Svane, and Dennis Wagner in Round 7. All three now have identical 4½-point outputs, and with two rounds to go in the Category 14 (average Elo: 2590) event. It’s still anybody’s game although the leaders have better chances.
The other winners of the round are GMs Daniel Fridman and Luis Engel who subdued GM Niclas Huschenbeth and FM Frederick Svane, respectively.
The standings after Round 7: 1-3. Donchenko, Blübaum, Kollars, 4½; 4-5. Fridman, R. Svane, 4; 6. Heimann, 3½; 7. Wagner, 3; 8-9. Engel, F. Svane, 2½; 10. Huschenbeth, 2.
Huschenbeth, N (2604)-Fridman, D (2601) [B12]
Magdeburg (7.1) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 e6 5.g4 Bg6 6.Nge2 f6 7.h4 fxe5 8.dxe5 Nd7 9.Nd4 Bf7 10.f4 c5 11.Nf3 Ne7 12.h5 Nc6 13.Bd2 a6 14.Qe2 Nb6 15.0-0-0 Nc4 16.Be1 b5 17.b3 Nb6 18.Bh4 Qc7 19.Qh2 d4 20.Ne4 Nd5 21.Kb2 c4 22.Nxd4 Ba3+ 23.Kxa3 Qa5+ 24.Kb2 c3+ 25.Nxc3 Qxc3+ 26.Kb1 Nxd4 27.Be1 Qe3 28.Bd2 Nf3 29.Bxe3 Nxh2 30.Rxd5 Nxf1 31.Rxf1 exd5 32.Bc5 Rc8 33.Bb4 g6 34.h6 Rg8 35.f5 gxf5 36.gxf5 Rg2 37.c3 d4 38.e6 dxc3 39.exf7+ Kxf7 40.Rc1 Rb2+ 41.Ka1 Rh2 42.Bxc3 Rxh6 0-1
Engel, L (2553)-Svane, F (2421) [B06]
Magdeburg (7.2) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.d4 Bg7 6.Be2 cxd4 7.cxd4 Nf6 8.Nc3 Qd6 9.0-0 0-0 10.Bg5 Be6 11.Rc1 Nbd7 12.Nb5 Qb6 13.Nc7 Rac8 14.Nxe6 Qxe6 15.b3 Rxc1 16.Bxc1 Nd5 17.Bc4 N7b6 18.Bd3 Rd8 19.Qd2 Qd6 20.Qa5 Qb8 21.Re1 e6 22.g3 Ne7 23.Bf4 Qa8 24.Be4 Nbd5 25.Bg5 Nc6 26.Qd2 Rd7 27.Rd1 Qf8 28.h4 Qb4 29.Qc2 h6 30.Bc1 Nce7 31.Bb2 Qa5 32.a3 Rc7 33.Qe2 Nc3 34.Qe1 f5 35.Bd3 Qd5 36.Bc4 Qxf3 37.Bxc3 Kh7 38.Rd3 Qc6 39.Re3 b5 40.Rxe6 Qb7 41.Bf1 h5 42.Ba5 Rd7 43.Bg2 Nd5 44.Qc1 Bh6 45.Qc5 f4 46.Rd6 fxg3 47.Bxd5 gxf2+ 48.Kf1 1-0
Wagner, D (2581)-Kollars, D (2598) [C78]
Magdeburg (7.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.c3 d6 8.a4 Bb7 9.d4 Bb6 10.Re1 0-0 11.Bg5 h6 12.Bh4 b4 13.Qd3 Na5 14.Bc2 c5 15.cxb4 cxb4 16.Nbd2 Nc6 17.Nb3 a5 18.Rac1 Ba6 19.Qd2 Rc8 20.Bd3 Bb7 21.d5 Nb8 22.Bb5 Qe7 23.Qd3 g5 24.Bg3 Nh5 25.Nfd2 f5 26.exf5 Rxc1 27.Rxc1 Bc8 28.Rxc8 Rxc8 29.Nc4 Bc7 30.Nbd2 Nd7 31.Ne4 Rf8 32.h3 Ndf6 33.Kh2 Nxe4 34.Qxe4 Ng7 35.Ne3 h5 36.f3 Bb6 37.Bf2 Bxe3 38.Bxe3 Nxf5 39.Bb6 Qg7 40.Bxa5 Nd4 41.Bd3 g4 42.fxg4 Rf4 43.Qe3 hxg4 44.Bxb4 Nf3+ 45.gxf3 gxf3 46.Bf1 f2 47.Qg3 Qxg3+ 48.Kxg3 Rxb4 49.Kxf2 Rxa4 50.b3 Rf4+ 51.Kg2 Kg7 52.Bd3 Kf6 53.Kg3 Kg5 54.Be2 Re4 55.Kf3 Rd4 56.Bc4 Kh4 0-1
Donchenko, A (2659)-Svane, R (2613) [E06]
Magdeburg (7.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Nc3 dxc4 7.Ne5 c5 8.dxc5 Qxd1+ 9.Nxd1 Bxc5 10.Ne3 c3 11.bxc3 Nbd7 12.Nd3 Rb8 13.Nc4 b6 14.Bf4 Bb7 15.Bxb8 Bxg2 16.Bd6 Bxh1 17.Bxf8 Kxf8 18.f3 Nd5 19.Nxc5 Nxc5 20.Kf2 Bxf3 21.Kxf3 Nxc3 22.Rc1 Nxa2 23.Ra1 Nc3 24.Rxa7 Nb5 25.Ra8+ Ke7 26.Nxb6 Nd4+ 27.Kf2 Nf5 28.Ra7+ Kf6 29.Kg2 Nd6 30.Kf3 g6 31.Rc7 Nce4 32.Nd7+ Kg7 33.Rc6 Nd2+ 34.Kf4 Nf5 35.Rc2 Nb3 36.e3 h6 37.g4 Ne7 38.Ne5 Na5 39.Kf3 g5 40.Rc7 Kf6 41.Ke4 Nb3 42.Rc2 Kg7 43.Kd3 Nd5 44.Nc6 h5 45.gxh5 Na5 46.Nxa5 Nb4+ 47.Kd2 Nxc2 48.Kxc2 Kh6 49.Nc6 f6 50.Nd4 Kxh5 51.Nxe6 Kg4 52.Kd3 Kh3 53.e4 Kxh2 54.Ke3 Kh3 55.Kf3 Kh4 56.Ng7 Kh3 57.Nf5 Kh2 58.Kg4 Kg2 59.Ng3 Kf2 60.Nh5 Ke3 61.Nxf6 1-0
Bluebaum, M (2670)-Heimann, A (2606) [D02]
Magdeburg (7.5) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c3 c6 4.Bf4 Bf5 5.Nh4 Be4 6.Nd2 e6 7.Qb3 Qb6 8.f3 Bg6 9.e3 Be7 10.g4 c5 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.h4 Nc6 13.Be2 Nd7 14.g5 Rc8 15.Qxb6 axb6 16.Kf2 Bd8 17.Rh3 Bc7 18.Bxc7 Rxc7 19.Rah1 Rc8 20.Nf1 Ra8 21.a3 Ke7 22.Ng3 Kd6 23.Bd3 Raf8 24.Rd1 Ne7 25.Ne2 Nb8 26.Nf4 Nbc6 27.Rdh1 Rc8 28.h5 gxh5 29.Nxh5 Rcg8 30.Rh4 g6 31.Nf6 Rxh4 32.Rxh4 Rf8 33.Rh7 e5 34.dxe5+ Nxe5 35.Bb5 N7c6 36.f4 Nd7 37.Nxd7 Kxd7 38.e4 dxe4 39.Ke3 Kd6 40.Kxe4 Re8+ 41.Kf3 Re7 42.Bc4 Nd8 43.Rh8 Ne6 44.Kg4 Kd7 45.f5 gxf5+ 46.Kxf5 Ng7+ 47.Kf4 Ne6+ 48.Kg4 Nc7 49.Bd3 Nd5 50.c4 Ne3+ 51.Kf3 b5 52.cxb5 Nd1 53.Bf5+ Kc7 54.Rh2 Kb6 55.Be4 Rd7 56.Rh7 Rd2 57.Kg3 Rd4 58.Bf3 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rf4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qd6, Kxf4 2.Qf5#; 1… Qxf4 2.Qe6#; 1…Ne4 2.Rf5#./PN
