GM Igor Kovalenko won the 2021 Tournament of Peace which concluded recently in Zagreb, the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia.
The strong, 10-player, all-GM, single round robin competition is a Category 14 (average Elo: 2600) and featured, besides Kovalenko, Ernesto Inarkiev (2668), Etienne Bacrot (2658), Igor Kovalenko (2647), Sergei Movsesian (2627), Ante Brkic (2621), Zdenko Kozul (2601), Marin Bosiocic (2573), Hrvoje Stevic (2570), Robert Zelcic (2522), and Mladen Palac (2517).
The Tournament of Peace has a long and colorful history. Started in 1965, it is here where world champions Bobby Fisher, Vassily Smyslov and Tigran Petrosian played over the years against the world’s strongest chess grandmasters like Viktor Korchnoi, Jan Timman, Ljubomir Ljubojevic, etc. It ceased in 1985 and was revived in 2018.
The 2021 edition saw the top two seeds – Ernesto Inarkiev and Etienne Bacrot – getting clobbered by the underdogs. The 3rd seed Kovalenko managed to stood his ground, while 6th seed Kozul and 4th seed Movsesian drew their way into 2nd and 3rd places, respectively. Both were undefeated in the event.
The final standings: 1. Kovalenko, 6; 2. Kozul, 5½; 3-4. Movsesian, Stevic, 5; 5-6. Palac, Inarkiev, 4½; 7-8. Bacrot, Brkic, 4; 9. Zelcic, 3½; 10. Bosiocic, 3.
Brkic,A (2621)-Bacrot,E (2658) [B69]
Tournament of Peace 2021 Zagreb (3.5) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 Bd7 9.f4 Be7 10.Nf3 b5 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.Kb1 Qb6 13.f5 0-0-0 14.Bd3 Rdg8 15.g3 Ne5 16.Rhf1 h5 17.Ne2 Kb8 18.Nf4 Qc5 19.Be2 Nxf3 20.Rxf3 h4 21.g4 Qe5 22.Rb3 Qxe4 23.Bf3 1-0
Stevic,H (2570)-Inarkiev,E (2668) [C47]
Zagreb (4.4) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.exd5 0-0 9.0-0 cxd5 10.h3 c6 11.Qf3 Bd6 12.Bf4 Rb8 13.b3 Rb4 14.Ne2 c5 15.Rad1 Bb7 16.Bg5 Re8 17.Rfe1 c4 18.Bxf6 Qxf6 19.Qxf6 gxf6 20.Bxc4 dxc4 21.Rxd6 Rb5 22.f3 Ra5 23.a4 Rae5 24.Kf2 cxb3 25.cxb3 Re3 26.b4 Bc8 27.Rd2 Kf8 28.Rc1 Ra3 29.a5 Rb3 30.Nf4 Be6 31.Rc7 f5 32.Rd4 Kg7 33.Rxa7 Kf6 34.Ra6 Rb2+ 35.Kg3 Rg8+ 36.Kh2 Ke5 37.Rad6 Bc4 38.Nd3+ Bxd3 39.f4# 1-0
Kovalenko,I (2647)-Inarkiev,E (2668) [B84]
Zagreb (6.5) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.Be3 Nbd7 8.0-0 b5 9.f3 Bb7 10.a3 Be7 11.Qe1 Rc8 12.Qg3 0-0 13.Rad1 Ne5 14.Kh1 Re8 15.Nb3 Qc7 16.Rd2 Ba8 17.Nd4 Rb8 18.Bh6 Bf8 19.Bg5 Nfd7 20.Nd1 f6 21.Be3 Nb6 22.b3 Ng6 23.Bd3 Nd7 24.h4 Nc5 25.b4 Nxd3 26.cxd3 Rbc8 27.Nf2 d5 28.Qh3 Qd6 29.h5 Ne5 30.h6 g6 31.f4 Nd7 32.Nf3 e5 33.fxe5 fxe5 34.Ng4 Be7 35.d4 dxe4 36.dxe5 Qe6 37.Nd4 Qc4 38.Rdf2 Bd5 39.Nf6+ Bxf6 40.exf6 Ne5 41.Qg3 Qd3 42.f7+ Nxf7 43.Qf4 Rf8 44.Ne6 Bxe6 45.Qf6 Nxh6 46.Qxe6+ Kg7 47.Qe7+ 1-0
Bacrot,E (2658)-Stevic,H (2570) [D20]
Zagreb (7.4) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bxc4 Bf5 6.Nc3 e6 7.Bxd5 exd5 8.Nge2 Qd7 9.0-0 Nc6 10.a3 Ne7 11.b4 h5 12.Bg5 h4 13.Nf4 c6 14.b5 Ng6 15.bxc6 bxc6 16.Nxg6 Bxg6 17.h3 Rh5 18.f4 Rb8 19.Kh2 Rb2 20.Na4 Rc2 21.Rc1 Qf5 22.Rxc2 Qxc2 23.Qg4 Qf5 24.Rf3 Kd7 25.Rb3 Kc7 26.Qf3 f6 27.exf6 gxf6 28.Qc3 fxg5 29.Qa5+ Kd7 30.Qxa7+ Ke6 31.Re3+ Kf6 32.fxg5+ Kxg5 33.Qb8 Qf6 0-1
Kovalenko,I (2647)-Brkic,A (2621) [E51]
Zagreb (8.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 0-0 5.e3 d5 6.Bd2 b6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Rc1 Bb7 9.Bd3 a6 10.Ne5 Bd6 11.0-0 c5 12.f4 Nc6 13.Ne2 Rc8 14.Bc3 c4 15.Bb1 Ne7 16.Ng3 Ne4 17.Qg4 f5 18.Qh3 b5 19.Be1 Qe8 20.Nh5 Kh8 21.Kh1 b4 22.Rg1 g6 23.Ng3 a5 24.Nxe4 fxe4 25.Bc2 Rc7 26.Bd1 Bc8 27.g4 Bxe5 28.fxe5 g5 29.Qh6 Rg8 30.Qb6 Rb7 31.Qxa5 Be6 32.Rc2 Rf8 33.Rf2 Rxf2 34.Bxf2 Nc6 35.Qc5 Ra7 36.Be1 Rxa2 37.Rf1 Kg7 38.Bxb4 Rxb2 39.Rf8 Qe7 40.Qxe7+ Nxe7 41.Bxe7 c3 42.Rf1 h5 43.Bf8+ Kh7 44.Ba3 Ra2 45.Bc1 Ra1 46.Be2 hxg4 47.Kg2 Ra2 48.Re1 Kg6 49.Kg3 Bd7 50.Bd1 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bd3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bd4/xe3 2.Ng6#; 1…Bc4 2.Nc6#; 1…Kd6 2.Qd4#; 1…Ne4 2.Rxe6#.
