SUPERIOR tiebreaks enabled Russian grandmaster Anton Demchenko to grab the championship of the strong 2021 European Individual Chess Championship, which ended on September 5 in Reykjavik, Iceland.
The 34-year old Anton Demchenko had the superior quotient to edge out 16-year old GM Vincent Keymer of Germany after both scored 8½ points in the 11-round, 180-player Swiss event. While no Elo 2700+ players took part, the tournament still boasted of 32 players with 2600+ Elo ratings; and 34 with 2500+ Elo. All told, 73 grandmasters from all over the continent participated.
The underdogs like Demchenko, who is just the 32nd seed, were also busy at work at Reykjavik, preventing the top seeds from dominating the event. Only third seed David Navara (2675) and fourth seed Matthias Bluebaum (2674) made it to the top 24 in the final standings after tiebreaks. Navara wound up in ninth place while Bluebaum finished at 11th. Top seed Gawain Jones (2684) landed in 70th place, second seed Gabriel Sargissian ended in 26th place, fifth seed Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (2671) finished at 25th place, and sixth seed Nils Grandelius (2666) at 27th.
We’ll give you the best upsets in the tournament tomorrow. Meantime here are some nice efforts from the top four finishers.
Keymer, V (2602)-
Sarana, A (2643) [A06]
Reykjavik (3.2) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.Bxc4 a6 6.e4 c5 7.d4 b5 8.Bb3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Nbd7 10.Be3 Bb4 11.0-0 Bb7 12.a4 0-0 13.axb5 axb5 14.Ndxb5 Rxa1 15.Qxa1 Nxe4 16.Rd1 Qe7 17.Bc2 Nxc3 18.bxc3 Bc5 19.Qc1 Nf6 20.Qd2 Bxg2 21.Kxg2 Bxe3 22.Qxe3 Qb7+ 23.Kg1 Qxb5 24.Bd3 Qa4 25.Be2 Nd5 26.Qd2 Qe4 27.c4 Nf4 28.Bf1 h6 29.c5 Rc8 30.Rc1 e5 31.h3 Rc6 32.Rc3 Qb1 33.Rc1 Rg6+ 34.Kh2 Qe4 35.Rc4 Qc6 36.f3 Qxf3 37.Rc1 Qg3+ 38.Kh1 Qg1# 0-1
Bluebaum, M (2674)-
Demchenko, A (2597) [D26]
Reykjavik (4.5) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bxc4 e6 5.Nf3 c5 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Nc3 a6 8.d5 exd5 9.Nxd5 Be7 10.e4 0-0 11.Bf4 Bg4 12.Nxe7+ Qxe7 13.Bd6 Qxe4 14.Bd3 Qb4 15.Bxf8 Rxf8 16.h3 Bh5 17.a3 Qxb2 18.g4 Bg6 19.Bxg6 hxg6 20.Rb1 Qxa3 21.Rxb7 c4 22.Rc7 Nd8 23.Rxc4 Ne6 24.Ra4 Qc3 25.Qe2 Nd5 26.Nh2 Ndf4 27.Qf3 Nxh3+ 28.Kh1 Qc8 29.Rfa1 Neg5 30.Qg2 Qc5 31.Rf1 Qb5 32.Rfa1 Qc5 33.Rf1 Qb5 34.Rfa1 Re8 35.Ra5 Qb6 36.R5a2 Qb4 37.Rxa6 Re2 38.Qa8+ Kh7 39.R6a2 Re1+ 40.Nf1 Rxa1 41.Rxa1 Nxf2+ 42.Kg2 Nd3 43.Kh1 Qf4 44.Nh2 Ne4 45.Qa2 Ndf2+ 46.Kg2 Qg3+ 47.Kf1 Qxh2 0-1
Demchenko, A (2597)-
Donchenko, A (2657) [B90]
Reykjavik (7.3) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.a4 e6 7.a5 Be7 8.Bd3 0-0 9.0-0 Bd7 10.Be3 Nc6 11.Nxc6 Bxc6 12.Re1 Rc8 13.Na4 Qc7 14.Nb6 Rcd8 15.Bd4 e5 16.Nd5 Nxd5 17.exd5 exd4 18.dxc6 bxc6 19.Bxa6 c5 20.b4 Bf6 21.Qd3 cxb4 22.Bb5 Ra8 23.a6 Rfc8 24.Qf5 Be5 25.Bd3 g6 26.Qf3 Ra7 27.Reb1 Rb8 28.g3 Qc5 29.Rb3 d5 30.Kg2 Kg7 31.Re1 Bd6 32.h4 h5 33.g4 hxg4 34.Qxg4 Rh8 35.Bxg6 fxg6 36.Re6 Rh6 37.Rxd6 Rf7 38.Rd7 Qc6 39.Qxd4+ Kg8 40.Rd8+ Rf8 41.Rxf8+ Kxf8 42.Qxb4+ 1-0
Navara, D (2675)-
Keymer, V (2602) [A29]
Reykjavik (8.2) 2021
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Bb4 5.Nd5 e4 6.Nh4 0-0 7.Bg2 d6 8.Nxb4 Nxb4 9.a3 Na6 10.d3 exd3 11.Qxd3 Nc5 12.Qc2 a5 13.b3 a4 14.b4 Nb3 15.Rb1 c5 16.bxc5 dxc5 17.0-0 Bg4 18.Be3 Qc8 19.Rfd1 Ra6 20.f3 Be6 21.g4 Re8 22.Qc3 h6 23.Bf2 Nd4 24.Bxd4 cxd4 25.Rxd4 Rc6 26.Qb4 g5 27.Nf5 Bxf5 28.gxf5 Rxe2 29.Bf1 Re3 30.Kf2 Re5 31.Qxb7 Qxf5 32.Bd3 Qe6 33.Rd8+ Kg7 34.Qb4 Rcc5 35.Re1 Qh3 36.Kg1 g4 37.Rxe5 gxf3 38.Kf2 Qxh2+ 39.Kxf3 Qxe5 40.Qb8 Qa1 41.Qd6 Qd1+ 42.Ke3 Ng4+ 43.Kd4 Re5 44.c5 Qc1 45.Qf8+ Kf6 46.Rd6+ Kg5 47.Rb6 Qe3+ 48.Kc4 Qc1+ 49.Kb5 Qxa3 50.Qd6 Qc3 51.Bc4 f6 52.Rb8 a3 53.Rg8+ Kh4 54.Qd1 Qxc4+ 55.Kxc4 Ne3+ 56.Kd4 Nxd1 57.Ra8 Ne3 58.c6 Nf5+ 59.Kd3 Rc5 60.Ra4+ Kg5 0-1
Mamedov, R (2654)-
Deac,Bogdan- Daniel (2639) [A07]
Reykjavik (10.2) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0 e5 5.d3 Nc6 6.e4 Nge7 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.Re1 0-0 9.a3 h6 10.Bd2 a5 11.Nc3 Be6 12.Rb1 a4 13.Nxd5 Bxd5 14.c4 Be6 15.Bc3 Qd6 16.Qe2 Bf5 17.Rbd1 Rfe8 18.Nh4 Bd7 19.Nf3 Bf5 20.Nh4 Bd7 21.Nf3 Rad8 22.Qc2 b6 23.h3 Nd4 24.Bxd4 exd4 25.Nd2 Qc5 26.Bd5 Qa5 27.Kg2 h5 28.c5 Qxc5 29.Qxc5 bxc5 30.Rxe8+ Bxe8 31.Be4 f5 32.Bf3 Bb5 33.Rc1 Bxd3 34.Rxc5 Bh6 35.Bd5+ Kh8 36.f4 Bf8 37.Ra5 Rb8 38.b4 axb3 39.Bxb3 c5 40.Ra7 c4 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nxf4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bxf4+ 2.Qxf4#; 1…Ne5 2.Ng2#; 1…Bh5 2.Qe4#; 1…Ng3 2.Nd5#./PN
