It is a rest day for the semifinalists of the Clutch Chess Showdown II, so this gives us the opportunity to report about another strong event which ended recently – the European Online Chess Championship.
The tournament took place May 16 to May 31 on the chess.com server where organizers first held qualifying tournaments to produce a field of 16 players who slugged it out for the title in a knockout format.
When the smoke of battle cleared, 20-year old GM Alexey Sarana of Russia emerged as the overall champion by defeating top Czech player GM David Navara, 2-0, in the final.
In the battle for the bronze, on the other hand, Armenian GM Gabriel Sargissian crushed compatriot GM Sergei Movsesian by a similar 2-0 count.
Enroute to the finals, Sarana eliminated GM Anish Giri in the quarterfinals and Movsesian in the semifinals.
Giri and Navara were the only Elo 2700+ rated players in the competition that has a 10 minutes plus two seconds per move format.
Sarana, A (2654) – Giri, A (2764) [E11]
chess.com (2.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 b6 5.a3 Bxd2+ 6.Qxd2 Bb7 7.e3 0-0 8.Be2 d5 9.b3 Nbd7 10.0-0 c5 11.Bb2 Rc8 12.Rac1 Ne4 13.Qc2 dxc4 14.bxc4 Nd6 15.Rfd1 Qe7 16.Ne5 Nxe5 17.dxe5 Nf5 18.Bd3 Qg5 19.f4 Qg4 20.Bxf5 Qxf5 21.Qxf5 exf5 22.Rd7 Rb8 23.Rcd1 Bc8 24.Rxa7 Be6 25.Kf2 Bxc4 26.g4 Be6 27.e4 fxg4 28.f5 Bc8 29.e6 f6 30.Ke3 Re8 31.e5 Bxe6 32.fxe6 Rxe6 33.Rdd7 fxe5 34.Rxg7+ Kf8 35.Rxh7 Kg8 36.Ke4 Rd8 37.Bxe5 1-0
Sarana, A (2654)-Navara, D (2719) [D38]
chess.com (4.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.Qa4+ Nc6 8.e3 0-0 9.Rc1 Bd7 10.cxd5 exd5 11.Qb3 Be6 12.a3 Bxc3+ 13.Qxc3 Ne7 14.Bd3 Bf5 15.Bxf5 Qxf5 16.Qb4 Ng6 17.Qxb7 Qd3 18.Rd1 Qc4 19.Nd2 Qd3 20.Qxd5 Rab8 21.Qc4 Nf4 22.Qxd3 Nxd3+ 23.Ke2 Nxb2 24.Rb1 Na4 25.Rxb8 Rxb8 26.Rc1 Rb7 27.Rc4 Nb6 28.Rb4 Kf8 29.Nc4 Ke8 30.Kd3 Rb8 31.Rb5 Rc8 32.Rc5 Ke7 33.h4 Nd7 34.Ra5 Ra8 35.Ne5 Nxe5+ 36.Rxe5+ Kd6 37.Ra5 Rb8 38.g4 Rb2 39.f3 Rf2 40.Ke4 g6 41.h5 Kd7 42.hxg6 fxg6 43.Rxa7 h5 44.gxh5 gxh5 45.Ra5 h4 46.Rh5 Ra2 47.Rxh4 Rxa3 48.Rh7+ Kd6 49.Rh6+ Kd7 50.f4 1-0
Navara, D (2719)-Sarana, A (2654) [A22]
chess.com (4.2) 2020
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 Bb4 4.e4 d6 5.Nge2 Bg4 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.h3 Bxe2 8.Nxe2 Bc5 9.d3 Nd4 10.Nc3 a5 11.0-0 c6 12.Kh1 0-0 13.f4 exf4 14.gxf4 Qe7 15.f5 Nd7 16.Bf4 Ne5 17.Qd2 Kh8 18.Rae1 a4 19.Re3 a3 20.b3 g5 21.fxg6 fxg6 22.Na4 Ba7 23.Ree1 Ne6 24.Bh6 Rxf1+ 25.Rxf1 g5 26.Qa5 g4 27.Nb6 Rg8 28.Qxa7 gxh3 29.Bf3 Qf6 30.Nd7 Qxh6 31.Nxe5 dxe5 32.Qxa3 Qg5 33.Qc1 Nf4 34.Rg1 Qd8 35.Rxg8+ Qxg8 36.Qc3 Qg5 37.d4 Ne2 38.Qe1 Nxd4 39.Qb4 Qc1+ 40.Kh2 Qf4+ 0-1
Sargissian, G (2682)-Movsesian, S (2649) [E20]
chess.com (4.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 0-0 5.e3 d5 6.Nf3 b6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Rc1 a6 9.Bd3 Nbd7 10.0-0 Bb7 11.Ne5 Be7 12.f4 c5 13.Qf3 Rc8 14.g4 cxd4 15.exd4 Bb4 16.Nxd7 Nxd7 17.g5 Re8 18.Rce1 Nf8 19.Rxe8 Qxe8 20.Re1 Qd7 21.f5 Re8 22.Rxe8 Qxe8 23.a3 Bxc3 24.Bxc3 a5 25.Kf2 Bc6 26.Qe2 Qd7 27.Bd2 Qd6 28.Qe5 Qd7 29.Qe2 Qd6 30.Kg2 Ba4 31.Qe5 Qc6 32.Bf4 Bc2 33.Qb8 Bxd3 34.Bd6 h6 35.Qxf8+ Kh7 36.Be5 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nc8!. Black’s futile options are: 1…Bc6 2.Sxd6#; 1…Rc6 2.Bxd5#; 1…Qxd4 2.Sc3#; 1…Bxd4 2.Sf2#./PN
