What could probably be the last tournament to be played with classical time formats in Europe or anywhere else in the world this year because of the pandemic, ended Sunday, Nov. 8, at Bad Wiessee in Germany with a runaway victory for GM Alexander Donchenko.
Donchenko capped his impressive performance at the 2020 Tegernsee Masters by winning his last round match versus IM Ashot Parvanyan and takingthe Category 13 (average Elo: 2567) event by a point and a half. The only player capable of catching up with Donchenko was top seed GM Matthias Bluebaum who was just half a point behind at the start of the final round. Bluebaum, however, saw his title chances go up in smoke after getting waylaid by third seed GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. The win enabled Nisipeanu to share second to third places with Bluebaum.
The other Round matches saw GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen crushing IM Leon Luke Mendonca in 31 moves of a Semi-Slav and IM Daniel Dharda holding GM Aleksandr Fier to a draw in 31 moves of a Sicilian.
The final standings: 1. Donchenko, 6½; 2-3. Bluebaum, Nisipeanu, 5; 4. Basso, 4½; 5. Nguyen, 4; 6. Dharda, 3½; 7-8. Fier, Mendonca, 3; 9. Parvanyan, 1½.
Parvanyan, A (2451)-Donchenko, A (2658) [A13]
Bad Wiessee (9.1) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 dxc4 5.0-0 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Nb6 7.a4 a5 8.Na3 Bxa3 9.Rxa3 Nfd5 10.Ne5 Nb4 11.Qc3 Qf6 12.f4 0-0 13.b3 N4d5 14.Qd4 cxb3 15.Rxb3 Qe7 16.Ba3 Nb4 17.Bxb4 axb4 18.Qxb4 Qxb4 19.Rxb4 Rxa4 20.Rxa4 Nxa4 21.Rc1 c6 22.Nc4 f6 23.Ra1 Nc5 24.Ra7 Nb3 25.Nb6 e5 26.Nxc8 Rxc8 27.Bh3 Re8 28.Bd7 Re7 29.Bxc6 Nc5 30.Bd5+ Kf8 31.fxe5 fxe5 32.Ra5 Rc7 33.Rb5 Ke7 34.Kf2 Kd6 35.e4 Rc8 36.Ra5 b6 37.Ra7 Rc7 38.Ra8 Nd7 39.Ke3 b5 40.Ra6+ Kc5 41.Ra1 Nf6 42.Be6 Rc6 43.Bh3 b4 44.Ra5+ Kb6 45.Ra8 Kb7 46.Ra2 Kb6 47.Ra8 Rc4 48.d3 Rc6 49.Kd2 Kb5 50.Bf1 b3 51.d4+ Kb4 52.Bd3 exd4 53.Rb8+ Ka3 54.Rd8 Ng4 55.Rxd4 Ne5 56.Rd8 Nxd3 57.Kxd3 b2 58.Ra8+ Kb3 59.Rb8+ Ka2 60.Ra8+ Kb1 61.Rf8 Ra6 62.e5 Ka1 63.Rf1+ b1Q+ 64.Rxb1+ Kxb1 65.Ke4 Rh6 66.h4 Rg6 67.Kd4 0-1
Fier, A (2562)-Dardha, D (2468) [B30]
Bad Wiessee (9.2) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.h3 d6 6.0-0 Bd7 7.Re1 Nf6 8.Bxc6 Bxc6 9.e5 dxe5 10.Nxe5 Rc8 11.Qe2 e6 12.d3 0-0 13.Bg5 h6 14.Bh4 Qd4 15.Bg3 Nh5 16.Bh2 Nf4 17.Bxf4 Qxf4 18.Rab1 Be8 19.Qe4 Qxe4 20.Rxe4 Rd8 21.Rbe1 f6 22.Nc4 e5 23.a4 Bc6 24.R4e2 b6 25.b3 Rf7 26.Ne4 Bf8 27.h4 h5 28.g3 Kg7 29.Kh2 Kg8 30.Kg1 Kg7 31.Kh2 Kg8 ½-½
Nguyen, TDV (2571)-Mendonca, LL (2499) [D46]
Bad Wiessee (9.3) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 0-0 9.0-0 b5 10.Be2 Bb7 11.e4 e5 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Nd4 Neg4 14.Nf5 Bxh2+ 15.Kh1 g6 16.f3 gxf5 17.fxg4 Bc7 18.Bg5 h6 19.Rad1 Qe7 20.Qc1 Rfd8 21.Nd5 cxd5 22.Rxf5 Nxe4 23.Bxe7 Ng3+ 24.Kh2 Rd7 25.Rg5+ Kh7 26.Bd3+ f5 27.Kh3 Rxe7 28.Bxf5+ Nxf5 29.Rxf5 Rae8 30.Rdf1 Be5 31.Rxe5 1-0
Nisipeanu, L-D (2657)-Bluebaum, M (2672) [E24]
Bad Wiessee (9.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.e3 0-0 8.Bd3 Nc6 9.Ne2 Na5 10.0-0 c5 11.dxc5 Qc7 12.a4 Bg4 13.f3 Bd7 14.Nd4 Rfe8 15.Ba3 Rxe3 16.Bc1 Ree8 17.Bg5 Qe5 18.Qd2 Nc4 19.Bxc4 dxc4 20.Rfb1 Bc6 21.a5 Qxc5 22.Bxf6 gxf6 23.Qh6 Qd6 24.Rb4 Re5 25.Rxc4 Bd7 26.Rb4 Rc8 27.Qd2 Rh5 28.g3 Rc7 29.Rab1 Rxa5 30.Rxb7 Rxb7 31.Rxb7 Ra1+ 32.Kg2 Qd5 33.Rb2 a5 34.Ne2 Qxd2 35.Rxd2 Be6 36.Rd8+ Kg7 37.Nf4 Ra2+ 38.Kg1 f5 39.Nxe6 fxe6 40.c4 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1Kc1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…cxb4 2.Qxb4#; 1…c4, Ke4 2.Qxe5#; 1…e4, Kc4/c3 2.Qxc5#./PN
