Top seed GM Alexander Donchenko didn’t let up until the final round to win the 2020 GM Clarion Congress Hotel Tournament which concluded at České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
Donchenko subdued last round foe Jan Mikes to wind up with an Elo 2760 performance rating and a full point spread over his closest pursuer and second seed GM Peter Michalík who had a grandmasters draw with last round opponent IM Lukas Černoušek.
The rest of the Round 9 matches ended in draws. IM Dominik Horváth versus GM Hannes Stefansson, IM Lev Yankelevich against IM Tomáš Kraus and GM Oliver Mihok versus IM Karel Malinovský were all point-splitters.
The success of this over-the-board classical chess tournament during the pandemic is seen to encourage organizers to conduct similar competitions in Europe and elsewhere.
The final standings: 1. Donchenko, 7½; 2. Michalik, 6½; 3. Malinovsky, 5½; 4-7. Černoušek, Kraus, Mihok, Stefansson, 4½; 8. Horváth, 3; 9. Yankelevich, 2½; 10. Mikeš, 2.
Horvath, D (2446)-Stefansson, H (2542) [C24]
Ceske Budejovice (9.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 c6 4.Nf3 d5 5.Bb3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Bxd2+ 7.Nbxd2 Qc7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Re1 Nbd7 10.d4 exd4 11.exd5 Nxd5 12.Bxd5 cxd5 13.Nxd4 Nf6 14.c3 Bd7 15.Nf1 Rfe8 16.Qb3 a6 17.Ne3 Bc6 18.a4 a5 19.Qa3 g6 20.Qb3 Re4 21.f3 Re7 22.Qc2 Rae8 23.Qf2 Nh5 24.g3 Nf6 25.Nec2 Nd7 26.b3 Nf6 27.Rxe7 Rxe7 28.Re1 Rxe1+ 29.Qxe1 Kg7 30.Qe3 Bd7 31.Kf2 Qd6 32.Ne1 Qb8 33.Nd3 Qc7 34.Qe5 Qxe5 35.Nxe5 Kf8 36.Ke3 Ke7 37.Nc2 Be8 38.Kd4 Ke6 39.Nd3 Kd6 40.Ne5 Ng8 41.c4 f6 42.c5+ Kc7 43.Nd3 Ne7 44.Kc3 g5 45.Nd4 Bg6 46.Ne6+ ½-½
Cernousek, L (2458)-Michalik, P (2585) [C54]
Ceske Budejovice (9.2) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 Bxd2+ 8.Nbxd2 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Qb3 Na5 11.Qa4+ Nc6 12.Qb3 Na5 13.Qa4+ Nc6 ½-½
Yankelevich, L (2461)-Kraus, T (2449) [D30]
Ceske Budejovice (9.3) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 c6 6.Qb3 Nf6 7.Bg5 Be7 8.e3 Nbd7 9.Bd3 0-0 10.0-0 Re8 11.h3 Nh5 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Rfe1 Nf8 14.e4 dxe4 15.Bxe4 Be6 16.d5 cxd5 17.Nxd5 Qc5 18.Rac1 Qa5 19.Qb6 Qxb6 20.Nxb6 Rab8 21.a4 Nd7 22.Nxd7 Bxd7 23.Rc7 Nf6 24.Bxb7 Rxe1+ 25.Nxe1 Bxa4 26.Bxa6 ½-½
Mihok, O (2552)-Malinovsky, K (2459) [C47]
Ceske Budejovice (9.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.exd5 0-0 9.0-0 Bg4 10.f3 Bh5 11.Bg5 Qd6 12.Bxf6 Qxf6 13.dxc6 Bxc3 14.bxc3 Qxc3 15.Be4 Qc5+ 16.Kh1 Rad8 17.Qe2 Bg6 18.Rad1 Rde8 19.Rd7 Bxe4 20.fxe4 Qxc6 21.Qd3 g6 22.Qd5 Re6 23.h3 Rf6 24.Rf3 Qxd5 25.exd5 Rd6 26.Rxc7 Rxd5 27.Rxa7 Rc5 28.c3 f5 29.Re3 Rf7 30.Rxf7 Kxf7 31.Kg1 f4 32.Rf3 g5 33.g3 Kg6 34.gxf4 gxf4 35.Rxf4 Rxc3 36.Kg2 Ra3 37.Rf2 Kg5 38.Rb2 h5 39.Rb5+ ½-½
Mikes, J (2373)-Donchenko, A (2646) [B10]
Ceske Budejovice (9.5) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Qe2 Bf5 6.Nxf6+ gxf6 7.d3 c5 8.h3 Nc6 9.g4 Be6 10.Bg2 Qd7 11.c3 Rd8 12.Be3 h5 13.g5 Qxd3 14.Qxd3 Rxd3 15.Bf1 Rxe3+ 16.fxe3 Bd5 17.Kf2 fxg5 18.Bg2 e6 19.Nd2 Bxg2 20.Kxg2 Ne5 21.Nf3 Nc4 22.Kf2 Rg8 23.b3 Nd6 24.Nd2 Bg7 25.Rac1 Ke7 26.c4 f5 27.Kg2 Be5 28.Nf3 Bf6 29.Nd2 Be5 30.b4 Rc8 31.bxc5 Rxc5 32.Kf3 Kf6 33.Ke2 b6 34.Rhg1 Rc8 35.Rgd1 Bb2 36.Rc2 Ba3 37.Nf3 g4 38.hxg4 hxg4 39.Nd2 Rh8 40.Nf1 Bc5 41.Ke1 Ne4 42.Rd7 Rh1 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nc4! Black’s futile options are 1…Sc8 2.Se3#; 1…Sf5 2.Sb6#; 1…Sxc4 2.e4#; 1…Kxc4 2.Qe6#; 1…Kxc6 2.Qxd6#./PN
