With the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, classical chess tournaments have once again slid back into the shadows. However, our report will be about a classical event in Germany, likely to be the last to be held in that country, is currently taking place at Tegernsee in the Miesbach district of Bavaria.
It is called the 2020 Tegernsee Masters, and this strong, Category 13 (average Elo: 2567) single round robin event originally started with 10 players. It has since been reduced to nine after one of the players was exposed to a COVID-positive classmate and was compelled to self-quarantine.
The participants are GMs Matthias Blübaum (2672), Alexander Donchenko (2658), Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (2657), Thai Dai Van Nguyen (2571), Pier Luigi Basso (2570), Alexandr Fier (2562), and IMs Leon Luke Mendonca (2499), Daniel Dardha (2468), and Ashot Parvanyan (2451). IM Vincent Keymer (2588) was in the player cast and even started with a win in Round 1, but was forced to self-isolate and was stricken off the playing roster.
The standings after Round 4: 1-2. Doncjenko, Bluebaum, 3; 3. Basso, 2½; 4-7. Dharda, Nguyen, Nisipeanu, Mendonca, 1½; 8. Parvanyan, 1; 9. Fier, ½.
Dardha, D (2468)-Nguyen, TDV (2571) [A36]
Tegernsee Masters 2020 Tegernsee (1.3) 2020
1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.a3 b6 6.d3 Bb7 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bd2 e6 9.b4 Nge7 10.Rb1 d6 11.Qc1 Qd7 12.Nf3 Nd4 13.e4 f5 14.Qd1 0-0 15.0-0 fxe4 16.dxe4 Rac8 17.b5 Kh7 18.Re1 Rf7 19.Re3 Rcf8 20.Be1 g5 21.Rd3 Nxf3+ 22.Bxf3 Bd4 23.Bh5 Rf6 24.Rxd4 cxd4 25.Qxd4 e5 26.Qd1 Qc7 27.Nd5 Nxd5 28.cxd5 Qg7 29.Rc1 Rc8 30.Rc6 Bxc6 31.bxc6 Rcf8 32.Bg4 Qc7 33.Bf5+ Kg7 34.Qd3 Kf7 35.a4 Ke7 36.Bb4 h5 37.Bd2 Rg8 38.Qe2 g4 39.h4 Rxf5 40.exf5 Qc8 41.Bg5+ Kf7 42.Qe4 Rh8 43.Qb4 Qb8 44.Qb5 Qc8 45.a5 Qc7 46.axb6 axb6 47.Kg2 Ra8 48.Qb1 Rh8 49.f6 Qb8 50.Bd2 Kxf6 51.Bg5+ Kg7 52.Qf5 Qf8 53.Qd7+ Kg6 54.Qe6+ Kg7 55.c7 Qf3+ 56.Kg1 1-0
Bluebaum, M (2672)-Mendonca, LL (2499) [A45]
Tegernsee (2.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 Bg7 5.Nb5 Na6 6.h3 0-0 7.Nf3 b6 8.Be2 Bb7 9.0-0 c6 10.Nc3 Nc7 11.a4 Ne6 12.Bh2 c5 13.Nb1 Ne4 14.c3 Nd6 15.Nbd2 a6 16.Ne5 c4 17.Bg4 f5 18.Be2 b5 19.h4 Bf6 20.h5 Kg7 21.f4 Ne4 22.g4 Bxe5 23.fxe5 Qd7 24.hxg6 hxg6 25.gxf5 gxf5 26.Nxe4 dxe4 27.Kh1 Kh8 28.Bh5 Ng5 29.Rg1 Nf3 30.Rg6 Rg8 31.Rh6+ Kg7 32.Bf4 Rac8 33.Qf1 Rc6 34.Qh3 Rxh6 1-0
Basso, PL (2570)-Parvanyan, A (2451) [E81]
Tegernsee (2.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Nge2 a6 7.Be3 b5 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.Bh6 e5 10.Bxg7 Kxg7 11.cxb5 axb5 12.Nxb5 Ba6 13.Nec3 exd4 14.Qxd4 Nc5 15.b4 Ne6 16.Qd2 c5 17.bxc5 dxc5 18.Qxd8 Rfxd8 19.a4 Nd4 20.Rc1 Nd7 21.Kf2 Ne5 22.Be2 Nxe2 23.Kxe2 Nd3 24.Rcd1 Bxb5 25.axb5 c4 26.g3 Ra3 27.Nd5 Rda8 28.b6 Rb3 29.Ra1 Rxa1 30.Rxa1 Nb4 31.Nxb4 Rxb4 32.Ra6 Rb3 33.f4 h5 34.Kd2 Kh6 35.e5 Kg7 36.Kc2 Kg8 37.Ra8+ Kg7 38.Rb8 Kh7 39.b7 Kg7 40.h3 Kh7 41.g4 Kg7 42.f5 gxf5 43.gxf5 h4 44.e6 Kf6 45.exf7 Kxf7 46.Rh8 1-0
Donchenko, A (2658)-Nisipeanu, LD (2657) [A13]
Tegernsee (3.3) 2020
1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Bd7 6.Qxc4 c5 7.Ne5 Qc8 8.Qd3 Bc6 9.Nxc6 Nxc6 10.Qb5 h5 11.h4 Be7 12.d3 0-0 13.Bxc6 bxc6 14.Qc4 Ng4 15.Nd2 Rb8 16.Qc2 Bf6 17.Nc4 Ne5 18.Nd6 Qd8 19.Ne4 c4 20.dxc4 Qd4 21.0-0 Rfd8 22.Nxf6+ gxf6 23.b3 Qxa1 24.Be3 Qxf1+ 25.Kxf1 Rb7 26.Qc3 Rd1+ 27.Kg2 Kg7 28.Bd4 Ng4 29.Bxf6+ Nxf6 30.Qe5 Re1 31.Kf3 1-0
Parvanyan, A (2451)-Fier, A (2562) [A33]
Tegernsee (3.4) 2020
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 e6 6.g3 Qb6 7.Ndb5 Ne5 8.Bg2 a6 9.Na4 Qa5+ 10.Nbc3 Nxc4 11.0-0 d5 12.b3 Na3 13.e4 Bb4 14.exd5 0-0 15.Bb2 b5 16.Ne4 Nxe4 17.Bxe4 f5 18.dxe6 Ra7 19.Qd4 Re7 20.Nb6 Bxe6 21.Nd5 Bxd5 22.Bxd5+ Kh8 23.Rac1 Bd6 24.Rc6 Rd8 25.Bf7 Rxf7 26.Rxd6 Rc8 27.b4 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rf3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…dxe5 2.Sb6#; 1…Sf6 2.Rfxf6#; 1…Sa7/c7/a3/xc3, Sc5/xc3/d2 2.Rd3#; 1…Sd4 2.c4#; 1…Bh4/f4/e3/d2/c1/f6/e7/d8/xh6 2.Qg8#; 1…a3 2.Bxb3#; 1…Sf2+ 2.Rxf2#./PN
