With a round to go, the two top seeded players are a cinch to clinch top honors at the 1st Vezerkepzo GM Tournament held in the Hungarian capital of Budapest.
The two – GMs Oliver Mihok (2540) and Gabor Nagy (2495) –dominated the ten-player, single round robin, Category 6 (average Elo: 2396) event with a classical time format of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves plus 30 minutes to finish and a 30-second increment per move, with Mihok leading countryman Nagy by half-a-point. Both Hungarians will clash in the final round. A distant third is GM Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy (2412) who is 1½ points behind Mihok.
The rest of the tournament cast are: IMs Tamas Petenyi (2474) and Julien Song (2306); FMs Momchil Petkov (2424), Marcell Borhy (2392), Mate Egresi (2391), and Bence Leszko (2321); and untitled Matyas Palczert (2214).
A last round draw between the compatriots is likely to ensure the duo a 1-2 finish although a win by Nagy will give him the title.
Standings after Round 8: 1. Mihok, 6½; 2. Nagy, 6; 3. Nguyen, 5; 4. Petkov, 4½; 5-6. Petenyi, Borhy, 4; 7. Song, 3½; 8. Egresi, 3; 9. Leszko, 2; 10. Palczert, 1½.
Mihok, O (2540)-Petenyi, T (2474) [B06]
Budapest (5.2) 2021
1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 g6 5.Be3 Bg7 6.Qd2 Bg4 7.0-0-0 Bxf3 8.gxf3 e5 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.Qe2 0-0 11.f4 Nc6 12.Bg2 Nd7 13.h4 Nb6 14.e5 Qe7 15.h5 dxe5 16.hxg6 exf4 17.Qh5 fxg6 18.Qxh7+ Kf7 19.Bxb6 Rh8 20.Bd5+ Kf6 21.Ne4+ Ke5 22.Qxg6 Rxh1 23.Bxc7+ 1-0
Petkov, M (2424)-Mihok, O (2540) [B48]
Budapest (6.5) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Qf3 Nf6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Qg3 Qb8 10.0-0-0 Qxg3 11.hxg3 Ng4 12.Bb6 Rb8 13.Na4 Rxb6 14.Nxb6 Nxf2 15.Nxc8 Nxh1 16.Bxa6 Nxg3 17.Nb6 Bc5 18.Nxd7 Be3+ 19.Kb1 Nxe4 20.Ne5 Nd2+ 21.Ka1 h5 22.a4 h4 23.Nxc6 Rh5 24.Rh1 Bf2 25.Rd1 Be3 26.Re1 Bf4 27.b4 Kd7 28.Bb5 Kc7 29.c4 Rg5 30.Re2 Nb3+ 31.Kb1 Nd2+ 32.Ka2 Nxc4 33.Rf2 Nd6 34.Rxf4 Rxg2+ 35.Kb3 g5 36.Rf1 h3 37.Ne5 Rg3+ 38.Kc2 h2 39.Rh1 Rg2+ 40.Kd3 Nxb5 41.axb5 g4 42.b6+ Kb7 43.Nxf7 g3 44.Nd6+ Kxb6 45.Ne4 Kb5 46.Ke3 Rg1 47.Nxg3 Rxg3+ 48.Kf4 Rh3 0-1
Nagy, G (2495)-Song, J (2306) [D38]
Budapest (5.4) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 0-0 7.Qc2 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Bd6 9.0-0 e5 10.h3 a6 11.a3 Qe7 12.Bd2 Bd7 13.Ba2 Rad8 14.Rae1 Bc8 15.Ng5 g6 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.f4 Nc6 18.b4 Bxb4 19.axb4 Nxb4 20.Qc1 Nd3 21.Qa1 Nxe1 22.Qxe1 h6 23.Nf3 Be6 24.Bb1 Bc4 25.Rf2 Bd3 26.Ba2 c5 27.Ne5 Kg7 28.e4 c4 29.Nxd3 cxd3 30.e5 Nd7 31.Nd5 Qh4 32.Qe3 Rfe8 33.Kh2 Rc8 34.g3 Qh5 35.Qxd3 Nc5 36.Qe3 Qf5 37.Bb4 Ne6 38.g4 1-0
Nguyen, H (2412)-Song, J (2306) [E00]
Budapest (7.5) 2021
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+ 3.Nd2 c5 4.a3 Bxd2+ 5.Qxd2 cxd4 6.Nf3 Nf6 7.g3 d5 8.cxd5 Qxd5 9.Qxd4 Nc6 10.Qxd5 Nxd5 11.Bg2 b6 12.b4 b5 13.Bb2 0-0 14.0-0 a5 15.Nd4 Nxd4 16.Bxd4 Bb7 17.e4 Ne7 18.Bc5 Rfe8 19.Rfd1 Nc6 20.Bf1 Ba6 21.Rd6 Rec8 22.f4 h6 23.e5 Bb7 24.Rad1 axb4 25.axb4 Ra2 26.R6d2 Rxd2 27.Rxd2 Ba6 28.Ra2 Ra8 29.Bxb5 Bb7 30.Rxa8+ Bxa8 31.Kf2 g5 32.Bd3 gxf4 33.gxf4 Nb8 34.Ke3 Bd5 35.Kd4 Nc6+ 36.Kc3 Nd8 37.b5 Nb7 38.Be7 Kg7 39.Kd4 h5 40.f5 Bg2 41.f6+ Kh6 42.h4 1-0
Egresi, M (2391)-Petenyi, T (2474) [A42]
Budapest (2.5) 2021
1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.e4 a6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Be2 Nc6 7.Be3 Bxf3 8.Bxf3 e5 9.d5 Nd4 10.0-0 Nf6 11.Bxd4 exd4 12.Qxd4 0-0 13.Qe3 Nd7 14.Bg4 Ne5 15.Be2 Qe7 16.Kh1 Rfe8 17.c5 Nd7 18.cxd6 cxd6 19.Bf3 Rac8 20.Rac1 Ne5 21.Be2 Nc4 22.Bxc4 Rxc4 23.f3 Rec8 24.Ne2 Qe5 25.b3 Rc2 26.a4 Qb2 27.Rxc2 Rxc2 28.Re1 Rd2 29.f4 Qc2 30.h3 Rd3 31.Rc1 Rxe3 32.Rxc2 Rxe4 33.Kg1 Bf6 34.Kf2 Rb4 35.Rc7 Rxb3 36.Rd7 Kf8 37.a5 Ke8 38.Rc7 Bd8 39.Rc4 Bxa5 40.f5 Bb6+ 41.Ke1 Ke7 42.fxg6 hxg6 43.Nf4 Bc5 44.Re4+ Kf6 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qa8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…d4 2.Qh1#; 1…c3 2.Kxb3#; 1…b2 2.Kb4#. /PN
