LEADING by a full point after Round 6, GM Ivan Saric apparently thought he could draw his last three remaining games to sure victory. Unfortunately for him, Saric instead ran the proverbial gauntlet in the last three rounds and even lost to lead in Round 8 before finally winning by hard labor his last round game and luckily captured the 11th Mediterranean Men’s Chess Championship on better tiebreaks against IM Nderim Saraci of Kosovo.
The nine-round, 128-player Swiss event ended over the weekend in Petrovac, Montenegro.
Saric and Saraci wound up with identical 7½ points, but a better quotient gave the Croatian GM the title. Turkish GM Vahap Sanal, who was leading the event at the start of the final round, fought a protracted but losing final round battle with Saraci that lasted all of 123 moves of a London System. Reviewing the score of the game, it would appear Sanal missed a mate-in-one on move 54 and strangely shunned numerous invitations to draw by repetition – desperately striving to win. The loss sent Sanal to a three-way tie for third to fifth places with GM Robert Zelcic and IM Leon Livaic with seven points apiece. Meanwhile, GM Zdenko Kozul, IMs Luka Draskovic, Stavroula Tsolakidou, and Milos Stankovic, and GM Aleksandar Kovacevic round up the top ten in the standings by sharing sixth to tenth slots with 6½ markers apiece.
Saraci, N (2430)-Sanal, V (2546) [D02]
Petrovac (9.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 Bf5 4.e3 e6 5.c4 Bxb1 6.Qxb1 Bb4+ 7.Kd1 Bd6 8.c5 Bxf4 9.exf4 b6 10.Qc2 0-0 11.Bd3 bxc5 12.Qxc5 Ne4 13.Qc2 c5 14.Bxe4 dxe4 15.Qxe4 Nd7 16.Ke2 Qb8 17.b3 Nf6 18.Qd3 Qxf4 19.dxc5 e5 20.Qe3 Qb4 21.Rhc1 Nd5 22.Qd2 Qb5+ 23.Rc4 Rfd8 24.Qc2 e4 25.Ng5 Nb4 26.Qc3 Nc6 27.Nxe4 Re8 28.Kd1 Qa6 29.Kc2 Rad8 30.Kb2 f5 31.Nd6 Re2+ 32.Kb1 Ne5 33.Qd4 h6 34.Rc2 Kh7 35.Qd1 Rxc2 36.Kxc2 Qc6 37.Qd4 Nf7 38.Kb2 Nxd6 39.cxd6 Rxd6 40.Qf4 Qd5 41.Rc1 Re6 42.g3 Re4 43.Qf3 a5 44.a4 Qd4+ 45.Kb1 Qe5 46.Qc3 Qd5 47.Qf3 Qe5 48.Qc3 Qd5 49.Kb2 Rd4 50.Qc5 Rd2+ 51.Ka3 Qd3 52.Qxa5 Rxf2 53.Rc7 Rf3 54.Qc5 Qd1 55.Qc2 Qa1+ 56.Kb4 Qd4+ 57.Ka5 Qd5+ 58.Rc5 Qd8+ 59.Kb4 Qd4+ 60.Kb5 Qd7+ 61.Kb4 Qd4+ 62.Kb5 Rd3 63.a5 Qd7+ 64.Kb4 Qd6 65.Ka4 Qd4+ 66.Qc4 Qe3 67.b4 Qe8+ 68.Qb5 Qe2 69.Qc6 Rd2 70.Rc4 Qd1+ 71.Kb5 Rd5+ 72.Rc5 Rd8 73.Qe6 Rf8 74.a6 Qd3+ 75.Kb6 Qd4 76.b5 Rb8+ 77.Kc6 Qd8 78.Qxf5+ Kh8 79.Rd5 Qb6+ 80.Kd7 Ra8 81.Qe5 Ra7+ 82.Kc8 Ra8+ 83.Kd7 Rf8 84.Qe7 Rb8 85.Qe5 Qd8+ 86.Ke6 Qc8+ 87.Kf7 Qg8+ 88.Kg6 Re8 89.Kf5 Qf7+ 90.Ke4 Qg6+ 91.Kd4 Rxe5 92.Rxe5 Qd6+ 93.Rd5 Qb4+ 94.Ke5 Qe7+ 95.Kd4 Qb4+ 96.Ke5 Kh7 97.Ke6 Qa5 98.Rc5 Kg6 99.Kd7 Kf6 100.Rd5 Qa2 101.Kd6 Qf2 102.Rc5 Qd4+ 103.Kc6 Ke7 104.Rc1 Qe4+ 105.Kc7 Qe5+ 106.Kc6 Qd6+ 107.Kb7 Qd5+ 108.Kb6 Qd4+ 109.Kb7 Qd5+ 110.Kb6 Qe6+ 111.Rc6 Qe3+ 112.Kb7 Qd3 113.Kb6 Qd8+ 114.Kb7 Qd5 115.Kb6 Qd4+ 116.Kb7 Qe5 117.b6 Qd5 118.a7 Kd7 119.a8Q Qxc6+ 120.Ka7 Qc5 121.Qb7+ Kd8 122.Qxg7 Qa5+ 123.Kb7 h5 124.Qc7+ Ke8 125.Kb8 1-0
Saric, I (2645)-Nikolovski, N (2431) [C18]
Petrovac (9.2) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 Qc7 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7 cxd4 10.Qd3 dxc3 11.Nf3 Nd7 12.Qd4 Nc6 13.Qxc3 Ndxe5 14.Nxe5 d4 15.Qc5 Qxe5+ 16.Qxe5 Nxe5 17.Bb2 Nc6 18.f4 f6 19.0-0-0 e5 20.fxe5 fxe5 21.c3 Bf5 22.g3 Rc8 23.Bc4 Rg4 24.Bb5 a6 25.Bxc6+ Rxc6 26.Rhf1 Bg6 27.Kd2 dxc3+ 28.Bxc3 Rgc4 29.Bb4 Rd4+ 30.Ke3 Re4+ 31.Kf2 Rf6+ 32.Kg1 Rxf1+ 33.Rxf1 Re2 34.Rf6 Bd3 35.h4 a5 36.Bxa5 Ke7 37.Rb6 Be4 38.Kf1 Ra2 39.Bc3 Bg2+ 40.Kg1 Bc6 41.Bxe5 Rxa3 42.Rb2 Ke6 43.Bf4 Kf5 44.Kf2 Bd5 45.Rb5 Ke4 46.Rb4+ Kf5 47.g4+ Ke6 48.h5 b5 49.h6 Kf7 50.Be5 Rf3+ 51.Kg1 Kg6 52.Rxb5 Be4 53.Rb4 Bc2 54.Bf4 Rb3 55.Rc4 Rb2 56.Rc6+ Kh7 57.Rc7+ Kg8 58.Ra7 Kf8 59.Be5 Rb5 60.Bf6 Rb6 61.g5 1-0
Veiga, JF (2376)-Zelcic, R (2529) [B11]
Petrovac (9.3) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.h3 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 e6 6.g3 Bc5 7.Bg2 Nd7 8.0-0 Ne7 9.Qd1 0-0 10.d4 Bb6 11.Qd3 c5 12.exd5 cxd4 13.Ne2 e5 14.c4 a5 15.b3 f5 16.Kh2 Ng6 17.f4 e4 18.Qd2 d3 19.Nc3 Re8 20.Bb2 Bd4 21.Rae1 Qf6 22.Nd1 Bxb2 23.Nxb2 b5 24.cxb5 Qd4 25.Nc4 Qxd5 26.g4 Nh4 27.Bh1 fxg4 28.hxg4 Nf6 29.Kg3 Ng6 30.g5 Nh5+ 31.Kg4 Qd7+ 32.f5 e3 33.Qc3 Qc7 34.Bd5+ Kh8 35.Rf3 Ne5+ 36.Kxh5 Nxf3 37.Bxf3 Qg3 0-1
Kozul, Z (2597)-Efimov, I (2416) [A41]
Petrovac (9.5) 2021
1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.d5 Nb8 6.e4 Bg4 7.Qb3 Qc8 8.Be2 Nd7 9.0-0 Nc5 10.Qc2 Nf6 11.Be3 a5 12.Bxc5 dxc5 13.e5 Nh5 14.g3 Bxf3 15.Bxf3 Bxe5 16.Rfe1 Bd6 17.Bxh5 gxh5 18.Ne4 h4 19.Nxd6+ cxd6 20.Qe4 Qd8 21.Re3 hxg3 22.hxg3 Qd7 23.Qf4 Rc8 24.Rae1 Kd8 25.Qxf7 Re8 26.Qxh7 Qa4 27.Qe4 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ba8!, and Black’s numerous nut futile options are: 1…g5 2.Qxh5#; 1…fxg4 2.Bxe4#; 1…Rh6 2.Qxh6#; 1…Rh7 2.Qxh7#; 1…Rxh8 2.gxh8=Q#; 1…Rh4 2.Qxh4#; 1…Rh3 2.Qxh3#; 1…Rh2 2.Qxh2#; 1…Bf3 2.Bxf3#; 1…Bg2 2.Bxg2#; 1…Bd5 2.Bxd5#; 1…Bc6 2.Bxc6#; 1…Bb7 2.Bxb7#; 1…Bxa8 2.Qxa8#; 1…e2+ 2.Nf2#; 1…Qf1 2.Rxf1#; 1…Qe1 2.Rxe1#; 1…Qd1 2.Rxd1#; 1…Qc1 2.Rxc1#; 1..Qb1+ 2.Rxb1#; 1…Qxa1 2.Rxa1#./PN
