GM ALEXANDER Donchenko, Germany’s number three player, pulled off a stunning last round victory over Latvia’s top player Igor Kovalenko to narrowly win the 2021 Riga Technical University Open, which ended on Sunday in Riga, Latvia.
The 23-year-old Donchenko – the tournament top seed and playing the black pieces – used the Ragozin Variation of the Queen’s Gambit to overpower Kovalenko in 65 moves. The tournament is the main feature of the week-long RTU International Chess Festival organized by the Riga Technical University in cooperation with the Latvian Chess Federation and Riga Chess Federation. All told, the Festival has nine tournaments in blitz, youth, and amateur categories.
The top 16 finishers in the Open Section, a classic nine-round competition with a time format of 90 minutes base reflection time plus 30 seconds increment per move, are: 1. GM Donchenko Alexander, 7½; 2-5. GM S.LNarayanan. IM Tomas Laurusas, GM Gergely Kantor, GM Murali Karthikeyan, 7; 6-16. GM Igor Kovalenko, GM Aram Hakobyan, IM Arjun Kalyan, GM Velimir Ivic, GM Ilia Smirin, IM Anand Pranav, GM Daniil Yuffa, GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, GM Normunds Miezis, FM Gleb Dudin, and GM S.P. Sethuraman, 6½.
Incidentally, 27 players from India participated that included 10 GMs, seven IMs, one WGM, and two WIMs.
Kovalenko, I (2644)-
Donchenko,Alexander (2657) [D38]
Riga (9.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 Bf5 8.e3 Nbd7 9.Qb3 Ba5 10.Be2 c6 11.0-0 Qb6 12.Nd2 0-0 13.Rfc1 Rfe8 14.a3 Qxb3 15.Nxb3 Bd8 16.Bxf6 Nxf6 17.Nc5 Rb8 18.b4 Be7 19.N3a4 g6 20.h3 h5 21.Ra2 Kf8 22.Kf1 Red8 23.Ke1 Bd6 24.Nb2 b6 25.Na6 Rbc8 26.Nd3 Re8 27.Rac2 Bd7 28.h4 Ne4 29.Kf1 Rcd8 30.Kg1 Kg7 31.g3 Re7 32.Kg2 Rh8 33.a4 Rhe8 34.Nf4 Bxf4 35.gxf4 Nd6 36.Bd3 Rd8 37.Kh2 Kf8 38.Rb2 Rc8 39.Rbc2 Ree8 40.a5 Red8 41.Rc3 Ke7 42.f3 Bf5 43.Bxf5 Nxf5 44.axb6 axb6 45.b5 Nxh4 46.Nb4 Kf8 47.Kg3 Nf5+ 48.Kf2 c5 49.dxc5 d4 50.exd4 Rxd4 51.Nc6 Rd2+ 52.Ke1 Rb2 53.cxb6 Rxb5 54.Ne5 Rxc3 55.Rxc3 h4 56.Rc2 Kg7 57.Nd7 Rb1+ 58.Kd2 Nd4 59.Ra2 h3 60.Ke3 Nf5+ 61.Ke4 Rd1 62.b7 Nd6+ 63.Ke3 Nxb7 64.Ne5 Rh1 65.Kf2 Rh2+ 0-1
Narayanan.S.L (2624)-
Kulaots,K (2548) [A34]
Riga (5.3) 2021
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.d4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 g6 7.e3 Bg7 8.Bb5+ Bd7 9.Bd3 Qa5 10.Bd2 Nc6 11.0-0 0-0 12.h3 Rfd8 13.a4 Qc7 14.d5 Na5 15.e4 e6 16.Bg5 exd5 17.exd5 Re8 18.c4 h6 19.Bh4 Qd6 20.Bg3 Qf6 21.Ra2 b6 22.Nd2 Qd4 23.Nb3 Nxb3 24.Qxb3 f5 25.Rd1 Qf6 26.Bc7 Rac8 27.d6 Qc3 28.Qxc3 Bxc3 29.Be2 Ba5 30.Bf3 Re4 31.Bxe4 fxe4 32.Re2 Re8 33.Re3 Kf7 34.f3 Bxa4 35.Rf1 exf3 36.Rfxf3+ Kg8 37.Re7 1-0
Laurusas, T (2549)-
Erigaisi, A (2597) [E01]
Riga (9.5) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c6 4.Nbd2 f5 5.g3 Bd6 6.Bg2 Nd7 7.0-0 Ngf6 8.b3 0-0 9.Bb2 Ne4 10.Ne5 Nxe5 11.dxe5 Be7 12.Nxe4 fxe4 13.Qc2 Qe8 14.f3 exf3 15.exf3 Qg6 16.Qe2 a5 17.Bd4 c5 18.Bf2 Bd7 19.f4 Bc6 20.Rad1 Rad8 21.a4 d4 22.Bxc6 bxc6 23.Be1 Ra8 24.Qf3 Ra6 25.g4 Bd8 26.Bg3 Qe8 27.Qe4 Ra7 28.f5 Bg5 29.Rf3 Raf7 30.Rdf1 Qd7 31.Kg2 Bd8 32.h3 h6 33.f6 gxf6 34.exf6 Kh8 35.Qg6 Rg8 36.Qxh6+ Rh7 37.Qf4 Qf7 38.Qd6 Bc7 39.Qxc5 Bxg3 40.Rxg3 Rd8 41.Qxa5 Re8 42.Qe5 c5 43.g5 1-0
Kantor, G (2533)-
Gukesh, D (2578) [A80]
Riga (9.6) 2021
1.d4 f5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Nf3 b6 5.Nbd2 Bb7 6.Bd3 Be7 7.Qe2 0-0 8.c3 Ne4 9.Rg1 Nxd2 10.Nxd2 g5 11.Bg3 d5 12.h3 c5 13.f4 Bd6 14.Nf3 cxd4 15.Nxg5 dxc3 16.Nxe6 Qf6 17.Nxf8 Bxf8 18.0-0-0 Nc6 19.Qh5 Bg7 20.Bh4 Qf8 21.Qxf5 Qb4 22.Qxd5+ Kh8 23.Qb3 Qc5 24.Qc4 Qxe3+ 25.Kb1 Nd4 26.Rge1 Qxf4 27.g3 Qf3 28.Qxc3 Rc8 29.Qd2 Bd5 30.Rf1 Qh5 31.Qg5 Qxg5 32.Bxg5 Bg2 33.Rf7 Bd5 34.Rxa7 Nc6 35.Rxg7 Nb4 36.Bf6 1-0
Karthikeyan, M (2606)-
Meshkovs, N (2568) [B47]
Riga (9.4) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 a6 6.g3 Qc7 7.Bg2 Nf6 8.0-0 h5 9.h3 d6 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Re1 e5 12.Na4 Be6 13.b3 h4 14.g4 Be7 15.c4 Nd7 16.Be3 Nc5 17.Nc3 a5 18.Rb1 0-0 19.a3 Rfb8 20.Bf1 Na6 21.Re2 Rb7 22.Reb2 Rab8 23.Nd5 Bxd5 24.cxd5 Nc5 25.dxc6 Qxc6 26.Bc4 Qxe4 27.Bd5 Qg6 28.Bxb7 Rxb7 29.b4 axb4 30.Rxb4 Rc7 31.a4 Kh7 32.a5 Ne4 33.Rb7 Rc8 34.Qf3 Bg5 35.Qxf7 Bxe3 36.Qxg6+ Kxg6 37.fxe3 Nd2 38.R1b6 Rc1+ 39.Kf2 Nc4 40.Rc7 Rc2+ 41.Ke1 Rc1+ 42.Ke2 e4 43.Rxd6+ Kh7 44.a6 Rc3 45.Rxc4 Rxc4 46.Rd4 Rc2+ 47.Rd2 Rc7 48.Ra2 Ra7 49.Kd2 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nc5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…f6, Qc2 2.Na6#; 1…f5, Qe6/b6 2.Ncd3#; 1…c2 2.Qd2#./PN
