Classical chess is slowly but surely returning to the European continent with a slight flurry of classical tournaments either happening now or organized to be played this month.
One of these tournaments is the 2020 GM Clarion Congress Hotel Tournament being held at the city of České Budějovice in the Czech Republic. The Category 10 (average Elo: 2497) event, considered the strongest tournament in the entire history of the South Bohemian Region, is a single round robin competition with 10 players and part of the ongoing České Budějovice Chess Festival. The classical time controls are 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move for the first 40 moves, and then 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move to finish the game. The players are GMs Alexander Donchenko (2646 ), Peter Michalík (2583), Oliver Mihok (2552), Hannes Stefansson (2542), and IMs Lev Yankelevich (2461), Lukáš Černoušek (2460), Karel Malinovský (2456), Tomáš Kraus (2453) and Dominik Horváth (2446), and untitled Jan Mikeš (2383). After seven rounds of play, top seed Donchenk is leading the fray, half-a-point ahead of second seed Michalik. Third seed Mihok is sharing 3rd-4th places with 6th seed Malinowsky.
The standings after Round 7: 1. Donchenko, 5½; 2. Michalik, 5; 3-4. Mihok, Malinowsky, 4; 5-6. Kraus, Černoušek, 3½; 7. Stefansson, 3; 8. Horváth, 2½; 9-10. Mikeš, Yankelevich, 2.
Donchenko, A (2646)-Stefansson, HH (2542) [A05]
České Budějovice (1.1) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.Nc3 c6 6.e4 d5 7.e5 Ne4 8.Qe2 Nxc3 9.dxc3 Bg4 10.h3 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 e6 12.Bg2 Nd7 13.f4 Qa5 14.0-0 Qc5+ 15.Be3 Qxc4 16.Qxc4 dxc4 17.Rfd1 Nb6 18.Bf1 Nd5 19.Bc5 Rfd8 20.Bxc4 b6 21.Bf2 h5 22.h4 Bf8 23.Be2 Bc5 24.Bxc5 bxc5 25.Kf2 Kf8 26.Rd3 Rab8 27.b3 c4 28.bxc4 Nb6 29.a4 Ke7 30.Rxd8 Rxd8 31.a5 Nd7 32.Bf3 Nc5 33.Bxc6 Rd2+ 34.Kf1 Rb2 35.a6 f6 36.Ra5 Nd3 37.Rb5 fxe5 38.fxe5 Rf2+ 39.Kg1 Ra2 40.Rb7+ 1-0
Michalik, P (2585)-Yankelevich, L (2461) [D02]
České Budějovice (1.4) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.g3 Bf5 4.Bg2 e6 5.c4 c6 6.Nc3 Be7 7.Qb3 Qb6 8.c5 Qxb3 9.axb3 Na6 10.Bf4 Ne4 11.g4 Bxg4 12.Ne5 Bh5 13.Nxc6 Naxc5 14.dxc5 Nxc3 15.Nxe7 Nxe2 16.Bd6 Nd4 17.Ra4 Nb5 18.Kd2 Kd7 19.Re1 Nxd6 20.cxd6 Kxd6 21.Nxd5 exd5 22.Rd4 Rad8 23.Rxd5+ Kc7 24.Re7+ Kb6 25.Rxb7+ Ka6 26.Rbb5 Rhe8 27.Bf1 Bf3 28.Rxd8 1-0
Mihok, O (2552)-Cernousek, L (2458) [A45]
České Budějovice (4.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bf4 c6 4.e3 e6 5.Bd3 Nbd7 6.g4 h6 7.Qf3 Qe7 8.Qg3 g5 9.Bc7 h5 10.h3 hxg4 11.0-0-0 b5 12.Nge2 Nb6 13.hxg4 Rg8 14.f3 Nc4 15.e4 Qb4 16.Bxc4 bxc4 17.Rde1 a5 18.a3 Qb7 19.Bd6 Bxd6 20.Qxd6 Ra7 21.Rh6 Nd7 22.Ng3 Kd8 23.Rh7 Qb8 24.Qxb8 Nxb8 25.Nh5 Re7 26.Nf6 Rf8 27.e5 Nd7 28.Rh5 Nxf6 29.exf6 Ree8 30.Rxg5 Rh8 31.Rg7 Ref8 32.Ne2 Rh6 33.g5 Rh3 34.f4 Ke8 35.Ng1 Rh4 36.Nf3 Rxf4 37.Ne5 Rf5 38.Rh1 c5 39.Nxf7 1-0
Malinovsky, K (2459)-Kraus, T (2449) [B33]
České Budějovice (4.5) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 0-0 12.Nc2 Rb8 13.Be2 Bg5 14.0-0 Kh8 15.Qd3 f5 16.Bf3 f4 17.b4 Ne7 18.a4 Be6 19.Nxe7 Bc4 20.Qd2 Bxe7 21.Rfd1 g5 22.h3 Rg8 23.axb5 axb5 24.Ra7 Rg7 25.Rda1 Be6 26.Qd1 g4 27.Bxg4 Bxg4 28.hxg4 Qc8 29.R1a3 Qc4 30.Ra8 Rbg8 31.Rxg8+ Rxg8 32.Qf3 Bg5 33.Ra7 Qb3 34.Na3 Qb2 35.Qh3 Rg7 36.Ra8+ Rg8 37.Rxg8+ Kxg8 38.Nxb5 Qe2 39.Qh5 Be7 40.Qe8+ Bf8 41.g5 Qe1+ 42.Kh2 Qxf2 43.Qe6+ Kh8 44.Qh3 Be7 45.Nc7 Bxg5 46.Qg4 f3 47.Qxg5 fxg2 48.Qd8+ Kg7 49.Ne6+ Kg6 50.Qg8+ 1-0
Horvath, D (2446)-Donchenko, A (2646) [D37]
České Budějovice (5.3) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 b5 6.e5 Nd5 7.Nxb5 Nb6 8.Be2 Nc6 9.0-0 Be7 10.Qd2 0-0 11.Qf4 Rb8 12.Qg3 Kh8 13.Rd1 Nb4 14.Nc3 Bb7 15.Rb1 Nd3 16.Bxd3 cxd3 17.Rxd3 Nd5 18.Bf4 Nxc3 19.Rxc3 Be4 20.Re1 Bg6 21.Re2 c5 22.Be3 Qa5 23.h4 c4 24.Bg5 Bxg5 25.Nxg5 Qxa2 26.d5 exd5 27.e6 f6 28.e7 Rfe8 29.Ne6 Rxb2 30.Rxb2 Qxb2 31.h5 Qb1+ 32.Kh2 Qf5 33.hxg6 Qxe6 34.Re3 Qd7 35.Qh4 h6 36.Qh3 f5 37.Re5 Rxe7 38.Qa3 Re8 39.f4 Qd8 40.Qa5 Qh4+ 41.Kg1 Rb8 42.Qb4 Qd8 43.Rxd5 Qb6+ 44.Qxb6 axb6 45.Kf2 b5 46.Rc5 b4 47.Rxc4 b3 48.Rc1 b2 49.Rb1 Kg8 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Be3! Black’s futile options are 1…cxd5 2.Sxb5#; 1…Sxd5/xe4 2.Sxc6#; 1…Kd6 2.Sf5#./PN
