The 2020 national chess championship of Croatia became the first over-the-board chess tournament to be conducted following the worldwide Covid-19 lockdown, with all players competing in the same place and on real boards.
The 12-player Category 12 (average Elo: 2535) event, with the standard FIDE time control of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment per move, was held at the Slavonija Hotel in the Croatian city of Vinkovci and ended June 29th. The championship, which also featured Croatia’s top chess players, was won by GM Saša Martinović (2532). Aside from Martinovic, the other players are GMs Marin Bosiočić (2625), Zdenko Kožul (2597), Ante Brkić (2593), Hrvoje Stević (2575), Ante Šarić (2541), Mladen Palac (2529), Robert Zelčić (2527), Ognjen Jovanić (2524), Davor Rogić (2492), Blažimir Kovačević (2410) and IM Jadranko Plenča (2483).
There was no available information about the safety protocols the organizers adopted for the event, but the tournament could encourage the resumption of real over the board chess with real chessboards and not PC or laptop monitors. We’ll just have to wait and see.
The final standings: 1. Martinovic, 7; 2-5. Kozul, Zelcic, Brkic, Stevic, 6½; 6. Saric, 6; 7. Jovanic, 5½; 8-10. Palac, Bosiocic, Rogic, 5; 11. Plenka, 3½; 12. Kovacevic, 3.
Kozul, Z (2597)-Zelcic, R (2527) [D24]
Vinkovci (7.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 b5 6.Nxb5 Nxe4 7.Qa4 c6 8.Nc3 Nd6 9.g3 Be7 10.Bg2 0-0 11.0-0 Nd7 12.Ne5 Nb6 13.Nxc6 Qc7 14.Nxe7+ Qxe7 15.Qa3 Qd7 16.Bxa8 Nxa8 17.d5 Nb6 18.Be3 Nf5 19.Rad1 Nxd5 20.Nxd5 exd5 21.Qxa7 Bb7 22.Bd4 h5 23.f3 Ra8 24.Qc5 Ra6 25.Rfe1 Rg6 26.Qa7 Qc8 27.a3 Nh4 28.Re3 Qf5 29.Qb8+ Kh7 30.Re8 Nxf3+ 31.Kh1 Rf6 32.Rh8+ Kg6 33.Qg8 Ng5 0-1
Martinovic, S (2532)-Zelcic, R (2527) [D27]
Vinkovci (9.5) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e3 a6 6.Bxc4 b5 7.Bb3 Bb7 8.0-0 c5 9.e4 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nc6 11.Nxc6 Qxd1 12.Rxd1 Bxc6 13.f3 Bc5+ 14.Kf1 0-0 15.Ne2 Rfd8 16.Bg5 Bb6 17.Bh4 h6 18.Bf2 Bxf2 19.Kxf2 Kf8 20.Rxd8+ Rxd8 21.Ke3 Bb7 22.a4 bxa4 23.Bxa4 g5 24.h3 Rc8 25.Rc1 Rxc1 26.Nxc1 Ke7 27.Nd3 Nh5 28.g4 Ng7 29.Kd4 Kd6 30.Ne5 f6 31.Nf7+ Ke7 32.Nxh6 Kd6 33.Nf7+ Ke7 34.Nh6 Kd6 35.Ng8 e5+ 36.Ke3 Ne6 37.Nxf6 Nf4 38.Bb3 Bc6 39.Bc4 Bb5 40.Bxb5 axb5 41.Nd5 Nxh3 42.Ke2 Kc5 43.Kf1 Kc4 44.Kg2 Nf4+ 45.Nxf4 exf4 46.Kf2 b4 47.Ke2 b3 48.e5 Kd5 49.Kd3 Kxe5 50.Kc4 Kd6 51.Kxb3 1-0
Kozul, Z (2597)-Brkic, A (2593) [D38]
Vinkovci (11.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 0-0 8.Rc1 dxc4 9.Bxc4 c5 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Qc2 Qe7 12.Ne4 Bb4+ 13.Ke2 Bd7 14.a3 Ba5 15.b4 Bb6 16.g4 Bc6 17.Rhg1 Nd7 18.g5 h5 19.g6 Rac8 20.Neg5 f6 21.Bxe6+ Kh8 22.Nf7+ Rxf7 23.Qf5 Kg8 24.gxf7+ Kf8 25.Nh4 1-0
Martinovic, S (2532)-Jovanic, O (2524) [D15]
Vinkovci (11.4) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 a6 5.Nf3 b5 6.b3 Bg4 7.a4 b4 8.Ne2 Bxf3 9.gxf3 Nbd7 10.Bg2 a5 11.e4 e6 12.Be3 g6 13.Rc1 Bg7 14.h4 h5 15.Qd2 Qb8 16.0-0 0-0 17.Bf4 Qd8 18.Bg5 Qb8 19.Bf4 Qd8 20.Bg5 Qb8 21.cxd5 cxd5 22.Rc6 Rc8 23.Qc2 Nb6 24.Rc1 Qa7 25.Qd3 Rxc6 26.Rxc6 Rc8 27.Qb5 Rxc6 28.Qxc6 Nbd7 29.e5 Nh7 30.Bd8 Nb8 31.Qb5 Bf8 32.Bxa5 Na6 33.f4 Be7 34.Bf1 Nf8 35.Qb6 Qxb6 36.Bxb6 Nd7 37.Ba5 Nab8 38.Bc7 Na6 39.Bd6 Bd8 40.Nc1 Ndb8 41.Bb5 Bb6 42.Nd3 Ba5 43.Kf1 Kg7 44.Ke2 Kg8 45.Ke3 Kg7 46.Bxa6 Nxa6 47.Nc5 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qd8! Black’s futile options are 1…fxe4 2.Qxg5#; 1…Bxd8 2.exf4#; 1…Ra8 2.Sxc4#./PN
