TWO grandmasters (GM) are leading the Masters Division of the strong 2021 Serbia Chess Open, a.k.a. 1st International Open Chess Championship of Serbia at the Metropol Palace Hotel in Belgrade with two rounds to go.
Latvia’s Igor Kovalenko and India’s Nihal Sarin have both scored six points and are leading the 150-player, nine-round Swiss classical event. The lead is by all means precarious as fifteen others are breathing hard on the duo’s necks just half-a-point behind with 5½ points. The fifteen are GMs Vladimir Fedoseev (the top seed), Kirill Shevchenko, Aleksandar Indjic, Aleksej Aleksandrov, Pier Luigi Basso, Eltaj Safarli, Vitaliy Bernadskiy, Robert Hovhannisyan, Max Warmerdam and IMs Mihail Nikitenko, Denis Makhnev, Marko Nenezic, Mittal Aditya and untitled V. Pranav. Each has 5½ points.
The Open also has an Amateur Division where only FMs, candidate masters and untitled players rated Elo 2200-below can participate.
Erigaisi, A (2567)-Kovalenko, I (2643) [B17]
Belgrade (7.2) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Bd3 Ngf6 6.c3 Nxe4 7.Bxe4 Nf6 8.Bd3 Bg4 9.Qb3 Qd7 10.Bf4 e6 11.Ne2 Bh5 12.Be5 Bg6 13.0-0-0 Ng4 14.Bg3 Bd6 15.Bxg6 hxg6 16.h3 Nf6 17.Bxd6 Qxd6 18.Qxb7 0-0 19.Qa6 Rfb8 20.Qc4 Rb5 21.a4 Ra5 22.Kc2 Nd5 23.b4 Nb6 24.Qd3 Rxa4 25.Ra1 a5 26.Rxa4 Nxa4 27.Ra1 axb4 28.Qc4 c5 29.dxc5 Qe5 30.Ng3 b3+ 31.Qxb3 Qf4 32.f3 Qxg3 33.Rxa4 Qxg2+ 34.Kb1 Rc8 35.Rc4 Qxf3 36.c6 Qd3+ 37.Kb2 Qd2+ 38.Kb1 Qd8 39.Kc2 e5 40.Qb7 Qc7 41.h4 f5 42.Rc5 Kh7 43.Qb3 Qd6 44.Qc4 Rc7 45.Kb3 e4 46.Ka4 e3 47.Kb5 Ra7 48.Qd5 Qb8+ 49.Kc4 e2 50.Qe6 Ra4+ 0-1
Makhnev, D (2480)-Kuzubov, Y (2653) [D38]
Belgrade (5.13) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 0-0 7.Qc2 Re8 8.a3 Bf8 9.Bd2 e5 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.cxd5 Nxf3+ 12.gxf3 Nxd5 13.0-0-0 Nxc3 14.Bxc3 Qh4 15.Bd3 Be6 16.Rdg1 Rad8 17.Rg3 f6 18.Rhg1 Rd5 19.f4 Kh8 20.f5 Bf7 21.Rg4 Qxh2 22.Bc4 Rd7 23.Bxf7 Rxf7 24.Qb3 Rd7 25.R4g2 Qh5 26.Qxb7 Red8 27.e4 Rd1+ 28.Kc2 Qe2+ 29.Kb3 R8d6 30.Qxc7 Qxe4 31.Rxd1 Rxd1 32.Rg3 Qxf5 33.Qxa7 h5 34.Qf7 Qd5+ 35.Qxd5 Rxd5 36.a4 Bc5 37.Kc4 Rf5 38.f3 Kh7 39.b4 Bf2 40.Rh3 h4 41.a5 g5 42.b5 Rc5+ 43.Kb4 Rxc3 44.Kxc3 Be1+ 45.Kd3 Bxa5 46.Ke2 Kg6 47.Rh1 Kf5 48.Ra1 Bc3 49.Ra4 h3 50.Kf1 Be5 51.b6 Bd6 52.b7 Ke6 53.Ra6 1-0
Sanal, V (2546)-Nihal, S (2620) [C02]
Belgrade (7.5) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Bd3 Bd7 7.0-0 cxd4 8.Re1 Nge7 9.h4 h6 10.h5 a6 11.Na3 dxc3 12.bxc3 Nc8 13.Nc2 Qc7 14.Bf4 Nb6 15.Rb1 Na4 16.Qd2 Nc5 17.Ne3 Qa5 18.Bc2 0-0-0 19.Nd4 Nxd4 20.Qxd4 Bc6 21.Rec1 Nd7 22.c4 Bc5 23.Qa1 d4 24.Nd5 Kb8 25.Rd1 exd5 26.e6+ Ka8 27.cxd5 Bxd5 28.exd7 Rxd7 29.Bf5 Re7 30.a4 Rhe8 31.Rbc1 Bc6 32.Bg4 d3 33.Rxd3 Qb4 34.g3 Qe4 35.Rf3 Bxf2+ 36.Kh2 Bd4 37.Qa3 f5 38.Rxc6 fxg4 0-1
Bernadskiy, V (2599)-Arnaudov, G (2471) [E36]
Belgrade (4.9) 2021
1.c4 e6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 dxc4 7.Qxc4 b6 8.Bg5 Ba6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.Qa4+ c6 11.Nf3 0-0 12.Rc1 c5 13.e3 Bb7 14.Be2 Bc6 15.Qc2 Nd7 16.b4 Rab8 17.0-0 Bxf3 18.Bxf3 cxd4 19.exd4 Qd8 20.b5 Nf6 21.Qc7 Qxd4 22.Qxa7 Nd5 23.Rfd1 Qb2 24.Bxd5 exd5 25.a4 d4 26.Qc7 Ra8 27.Rb1 Qc3 28.Qxb6 Rxa4 29.Qd6 Re8 30.b6 Raa8 31.b7 Rab8 32.Rbc1 Qb3 33.Qxb8 Qxd1+ 34.Rxd1 Rxb8 35.Rc1 1-0
Puranik, A (2589)-Diermair, A (2455) [C11]
Belgrade (5.17) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Nce2 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Nf3 f6 9.a3 Be7 10.exf6 Nxf6 11.g3 0-0 12.Bg2 Ne4 13.0-0 Bd7 14.Kh1 a5 15.c4 Rad8 16.b4 axb4 17.axb4 cxb4 18.Qd3 Kh8 19.Be3 Be8 20.Ne5 Nxe5 21.dxe5 Bc5 22.Bxe4 Bxe3 23.cxd5 exd5 24.Bf3 Bg6 25.Qb3 d4 26.Rfd1 d3 27.Nc1 Qd4 28.Nxd3 Bxd3 29.e6 Be4 30.Bg2 Bxg2+ 31.Kxg2 Qe4+ 32.Kh3 Rde8 33.Rd6 Rxf4 0-1
Kourkoulos-Arditis, S (2485)-Fedoseev, V (2696) [D12]
Belgrade (6.3) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Be2 Nbd7 8.0-0 Be7 9.g3 a6 10.Bd2 dxc4 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.Bxc4 c5 13.Be2 0-0 14.Bf3 Rb8 15.Rc1 e5 16.Ne2 b5 17.dxc5 Bxc5 18.Nc3 Qe7 19.Qb3 Rfd8 20.Rfd1 e4 21.Bg2 Bb6 22.Ne2 Nc5 23.Qa3 Rd3 24.b3 a5 25.Nd4 b4 26.Qb2 Rxd4 27.Qxd4 Nxb3 28.Qc4 Nxc1 29.Bxc1 Bc7 30.Bb2 Be5 31.Bxe5 Qxe5 32.Rd4 Re8 33.Qc6 Qf5 34.h3 Rc8 35.Qd6 a4 36.g4 Rc1+ 37.Rd1 Qc8 38.g5 b3 39.axb3 a3 40.Qd2 Rd1 41.Qd1 a2 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qh1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Ke5 2.Nd7, Nc6#; 1…Kg7 2.Nde6#; 1…Rxh1 2.Nb3#./PN
