TOP SEED GM Ivan Saric of Croatia is on a roll and now leads the 11th Mediterranean Men’s Chess Championship after notching his sixth straight win in the nine-round, 128-player Swiss event being held in the tourist town of Petrovac in Budva, Montenegro.
The 31-year-old Saric seems unstoppable, beating second seed GM Zdenko Kozul and fourth seed GM Vahap Sanal enroute to a perfect six points and a full point lead over his closest pursuers. Behind Saric are Sanal, Kozul, and IMs Evgenios Ioannidis and Nderim Saraci who each has five points. Seven players, led by Saric’s elder brother and fifth seed GM Ante Saric are in the next score group with 4½ points and sharing sixth to 12th places. With three rounds to go and barring any misfortunes, the younger Saric appears a cinch to win the title.
The tournament features the best players of Mediterranean countries like Croatia, Turkey, Kosovo, Greece, Montenegro, Macedonia, France, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Monaco, Serbia, Albania, Andorra, and others.
Kozul, Z (2597)-Ioannidis, E (2411) [D97]
Petrovac (4.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 0-0 7.e4 Nc6 8.Be2 e5 9.dxe5 Ng4 10.Nd5 Be6 11.0-0 Ngxe5 12.Nxe5 Nxe5 13.Qxc7 Bxd5 14.Qxd8 Rfxd8 15.exd5 Rxd5 16.Be3 Nd3 17.Rad1 Rad8 18.b3 b6 19.g3 h5 20.Bxd3 Rxd3 21.Rxd3 Rxd3 22.Rc1 Rd7 23.Rc8+ Kh7 24.Kf1 Bh6 25.f4 Bg7 26.Ke2 Bf6 27.Rc4 Kg7 28.a4 Kf8 29.b4 Ke8 30.a5 bxa5 31.bxa5 Rd5 32.a6 Ra5 33.Rc6 Bd8 34.f5 Rxf5 35.Bxa7 Kd7 36.Rc3 Re5+ 37.Re3 Rxe3+ 38.Bxe3 Kc6 39.Kf3 f5 40.h4 Bf6 41.Kf4 Kc7 42.Kf3 Kc6 43.Ke2 Be5 44.Bf4 Bd4 45.Kd3 Bc5 46.Kc4 Ba7 47.Be5 Be3 48.Kd3 Bf2 49.Bb8 Kb6 50.a7 Kb7 51.Kc4 Bxa7 52.Bxa7 Kxa7 53.Kd4 Kb6 54.Ke5 Kc5 55.Kf6 Kd4 56.Kxg6 Ke4 57.Kg5 Ke3 58.Kxf5 1-0
Sanal, V (2546)-Celik, HH (2353) [C01]
Petrovac (4.3) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.exd5 exd5 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Nge7 7.0-0 Bg4 8.a3 Bd6 9.Nb5 a6 10.Nxd6+ Qxd6 11.c3 h6 12.Re1 0-0 13.h3 Bf5 14.Bf1 Rfe8 15.Ne5 f6 16.Nd3 b6 17.Bf4 Qd7 18.Nb4 b5 19.Nd3 Na5 20.Nc5 Qc8 21.g4 Bh7 22.a4 c6 23.axb5 axb5 24.Bd6 Ng6 25.Rxe8+ Qxe8 26.b3 Qd8 27.Bg3 Qc8 28.Qe2 Kf7 29.b4 1-0
Saric, I (2645)-Kozul, Z (2597) [B96]
Petrovac (5.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Nbd7 8.Qe2 h6 9.Bh4 Be7 10.0-0-0 0-0 11.g3 Qc7 12.Bg2 Re8 13.Rhf1 Nf8 14.f5 e5 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Nd5 Qd8 17.Nf3 Nh7 18.h4 b5 19.Rh1 Bb7 20.g4 Rc8 21.Kb1 Rc5 22.Nxf6+ Nxf6 23.Nd2 Nh7 24.g5 hxg5 25.hxg5 Nxg5 26.Qh5 f6 27.Nf3 Nf7 28.Qg6 Rc7 29.Rh7 Nh8 30.Qh5 Nf7 31.Rh1 Qe7 32.Qg6 Qf8 33.Ng5 1-0
Sanal, V (2546)-Saric, I (2645) [B33]
Petrovac (6.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bf4 e5 8.Bg5 a6 9.Na3 b5 10.Nd5 Be7 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.c3 Bg5 13.Nc2 Ne7 14.h4 Bh6 15.Ncb4 0-0 16.a4 Nxd5 17.Nxd5 Be6 18.Be2 bxa4 19.Rxa4 a5 20.g3 Rc8 21.0-0 Kh8 22.Qd3 f5 23.exf5 Bxf5 24.Qd1 Rc5 25.Bg4 Bg6 26.b4 axb4 27.cxb4 Rc1 28.Qxc1 Bxc1 29.Rxc1 Be4 30.Ra5 Qb8 31.Rc4 Bxd5 32.Rxd5 Qb6 33.Bf3 g5 34.Kg2 g4 35.Rxg4 Rxf3 0-1
Saraci, N (2430)-Kadric, D (2586) [A53]
Petrovac (6.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d6 3.g3 Nbd7 4.c4 e5 5.Bg2 c6 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.0-0 Bc5 8.Nc3 0-0 9.a3 a5 10.Rb1 Qe7 11.Nd2 Nb6 12.Qc2 a4 13.b4 axb3 14.Rxb3 Nbd7 15.a4 Qe6 16.Rb1 Be7 17.Rd1 Nc5 18.Ba3 Ra7 19.Nd5 cxd5 20.cxd5 Qf5 21.e4 Ncxe4 22.Bxe7 Qxf2+ 23.Kh1 Bf5 24.Qb2 Qe3 25.Nxe4 Nxe4 26.Rf1 Nf2+ 27.Rxf2 Bxb1 28.Bxf8 Bd3 29.Qd2 Qd2 30.Rd2 e4 31.Bc5 Ra5 32.d6 Rc5 33.Rd3 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qe3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nc7 2.Qxb6#; 1…Bxg7/e7+ 2.Q(x)e7# 1…b5 2.Qc5#; 1…Re6/f7/xf5 2.Q(x)e6#; 1…Rg6 2.Rxg6#; 1…Rh6 2.Qxh6#; 1…b2 2.Qa3#; 1…Qxf2/e5 2.Q(x)e5#; 1…Qg3 2.Qxg3#; 1…Qf4 2.Qxf4#; 1…Rd2 2.Qxd2#; 1…Rd3 2.Qxd3#; 1…Rd4 2.Qxd4#; 1…Rd5 2.Rxf6#./PN
