The 2020 edition of the Schachbundesliga, a.k.a. German Chess Bundesliga, ended Sept. 20 in Karlsruhe, Germany, with a victory for the powerful OSG Baden-Baden team, also last year’s champion.
OSG Baden-Baden is bannered by GMs Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Richard Rapport, Michael Adams and Francisco Vallejo Pons. Except for Caruana who is rated 2835, the rest of the Baden-Baden lineup are rated over 2700. SC Viernheim, led by GMs Shakhariyar Mamedyarov (2764) and Anton Korobov (2710), took second place after giving Baden-Baden a valiant but losing fight in the last round.
The tournament is a classical over-the-board competition with COVID-19 safety protocols observed and in place (physical distancing, face masks and face shields). The time control is 90 minutes + 30 minutes to finish the game +30 seconds increment per move beginning on move 1.
The regular Bundesliga season this year was halted because of the pandemic, and the 2020 championship took its place with eight teams taking part. Some teams expressed interest in joining, but were not able to muster funds to form fighting units.
The final standings (in board points): 1. OSG Baden-Baden, 43; 2. SC Viernheim, 38; 3. Schachfreunde Deizisau, 33; 4. Werder Bremen, 29; 5. SG Solingen, 27½; 6. Bayern Munich, 23½; 7. SF Berlin, 16½; 8. Aachener SV, 13½.
Caruana, F (2835)-Gumularz, S (2518) [B06]
Karlsruhe (3.1) 2020
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Be3 a6 5.g4 b5 6.Bg2 Bb7 7.h4 h5 8.gxh5 Rxh5 9.Bf3 Rh8 10.h5 e5 11.dxe5 Bxe5 12.hxg6 fxg6 13.Rxh8 Bxh8 14.e5 Nc6 15.Be4 Nge7 16.Qg4 Bxe5 17.Bxg6+ Nxg6 18.Qxg6+ Kd7 19.Qg4+ Ke8 20.0-0-0 Qf6 21.Nd5 Qf7 22.Nf3 Bc8 23.Qe4 Rb8 24.Ng5 Bf5 25.Nxc7+ Kd7 26.Nxf7 Bxe4 27.Nxa6 1-0
Vachier-Lagrave, M (2778)-Tari, A (2630) [D41]
Karlsruhe (4.2) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Nf3 c5 6.e3 Nc6 7.Bc4 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Qe2 b6 11.Rd1 Qc7 12.e4 Bb7 13.Be3 Rad8 14.Rac1 Qb8 15.h4 h6 16.h5 Kh8 17.Bd3 cxd4 18.cxd4 Qd6 19.Bb1 f5 20.exf5 exf5 21.d5 Ne5 22.Bf4 Nxf3+ 23.Qxf3 Qf6 24.Rc7 Ba8 25.Qg3 Bxd5 26.Be5 Qf7 27.Bxf5 Be4 28.Rxd8 Rxd8 29.Qg6 Qxg6 30.Bxg6 Bxg6 31.Rxe7 Bxh5 32.Rxg7 Rd1+ 33.Kh2 Be2 34.f4 h5 35.Kg3 Rf1 36.Kh4 Rxf4+ 37.Rg4+ 1-0
Van Wely, L (2615)-Rapport, R (2760) [D02]
Karlsruhe (4.5) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Bf5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qb3 Nc6 6.Bg5 Nge7 7.e3 a5 8.a3 a4 9.Qd1 Bxc3+ 10.bxc3 f6 11.Bf4 Qd7 12.Nh4 Be4 13.f3 Bg6 14.Nxg6 hxg6 15.Rb1 b6 16.Qc2 Kf7 17.Bd3 dxc4 18.Bxc4 Nd5 19.Bxd5 exd5 20.c4 g5 21.Bg3 Rhe8 22.Kf2 f5 23.cxd5 Qxd5 24.Rhc1 Re6 25.Qc4 Ne7 26.Rb5 c5 27.dxc5 Qd2+ 28.Kf1 Nd5 29.Bf2 Rh8 30.Kg1 Nxe3 31.Qc3 Rxh2 0-1
Mamedyarov, S (2764)-Kamsky, G (2674) [E73]
Karlsruhe (6.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 Nc6 6.d5 Nb8 7.Nf3 c6 8.0-0 0-0 9.h3 e5 10.dxe6 Bxe6 11.Re1 d5 12.exd5 cxd5 13.Bg5 dxc4 14.Nd4 Qc8 15.Nxe6 Qxe6 16.Bf3 Qa6 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.Nd5 Bd8 19.h4 Nc6 20.h5 Qa5 21.Qc1 Nb4 22.Qxc4 Nxd5 23.Bxd5 Bf6 24.b4 Qb6 25.Rad1 Rad8 26.a4 Kg7 27.Qf4 Rfe8 28.h6+ Kf8 29.Rxe8+ Rxe8 30.a5 Qd8 31.Qf3 Qe7 32.Bxb7 Be5 33.Bc6 Rd8 34.b5 Rxd1+ 35.Qxd1 Bc7 36.Qa1 Be5 37.Qd1 Bc7 38.Qa1 Be5 39.Qe1 Bd4 40.Qd2 Qc5 41.g3 Ke7 42.Kg2 f5 43.Qg5+ Bf6 44.Qf4 Be5 45.Qd2 Bd4 46.f4 Kf6 47.Kh3 Qc4 48.Bg2 Qc5 49.Bf3 Ke7 50.Qe2+ Be3 51.Qb2 Bd4 52.Qb3 Kd6 53.Bc6 g5 54.fxg5 a6 55.Qf7 axb5 56.Qd7+ Ke5 57.g6 Kf6 58.g7 1-0
Amin, B (2686)-Vallejo Pons, F (2710) [A07]
Karlsruhe (7.6) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c6 3.Bg2 Bf5 4.0-0 e6 5.d3 Nf6 6.Nbd2 h6 7.b3 Be7 8.Bb2 0-0 9.c4 Bh7 10.a3 a5 11.Ra2 Nbd7 12.Qa1 Re8 13.Ne5 Nxe5 14.Bxe5 Bd6 15.Rb1 Bxe5 16.Qxe5 Ng4 17.Qf4 Nf6 18.Qe5 Ng4 19.Qd4 Nf6 20.cxd5 e5 21.Qc5 cxd5 22.Qb5 Re6 23.Rc2 Rb6 24.Qa4 Bf5 25.Rc5 Bd7 26.Qh4 g5 27.Qxh6 Ne4 28.Qxb6 Qxb6 29.Nxe4 dxe4 30.Rxe5 exd3 31.Rxg5+ Kf8 32.exd3 Rc8 33.h4 Rc2 34.Rf1 Rc5 35.Rxc5 Qxc5 36.Bxb7 Qxa3 37.Bd5 Be6 38.Bc4 Bxc4 39.dxc4 Qxb3 40.Ra1 a4 41.c5 a3 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bg2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sa8/e8 2.b5#; 1…Sxe6, Rxe6 2.Sxe6#; 1…Sb5 2.Qc1#; 1…Sd5 2.Qd4#; 1…Sh8/d6/h6/g5 2.Qxe5#; 1…Bh5/h7 2.S(x)h5#; 1…Rd5/e4/e2/e1 2.S(x)d5#; 1…Rxc5+ 2.bxc5#./PN
