FM Illner wins 4th Batavia with round to spare, scores GM norm

Achim Illner surprised everyone by winning the 4th Batavia tournament with a round to spare. In the 8th round the German FM beat English grandmaster Mark Hebden to reach 6.5/8, one and a half points more than the rest of the field. This was also enough to turn his already secured IM norm into a GM norm.

FM Achim Illner wins the 4th Batavia GM tournament

After four rounds GMs and top seeds Sipke Ernst and Mark Hebden were leading the pack, as you might remember from our first report. But in the final five rounds someone else was stealing the show: Achim Illner of Germany.

He won against Dutch IM Manuel Bosboom in round 5, and then played a quick draw against GM Robin van Kampen on Wednesday, when the other players enjoyed a rest day. (Illner and Van Kampen had played in the German league during the third round on Sunday). The German then also beat Hugo ten Hertog and David Klein, mainly because of computer-accurate calculation:

[Event "Batavia Grolsch 2012"]
[Site "Amsterdam"]
[Date "2012.03.02"]
[Round "7.2"]
[White "Illner, Achim"]
[Black "Klein, David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2375"]
[BlackElo "2391"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r3k1/1prbbppp/p2ppn2/7q/P3P3/BPNRQ1PP/2P2PB1/R5K1 w - - 0 18"]
[PlyCount "31"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

18. e5 Qxe5 19. Qxe5 dxe5 20. Bxe7 Rxc3 21. Bxb7 Rxd3 22. Bxc8 Rc3 23. Bxa6 Nd5
24. Ba3 Rxc2 25. a5 e4 26. Bb7 Nc3 27. a6 e3 28. a7 exf2+ 29. Kh1 f6 30. a8=Q+
Kf7 31. Rf1 Bb5 32. Bg2 g6 33. Qf8# 1-0

With this win Illner secured his third IM norm. So far so good - someone is having a good tournament! But Illner went even further:

[Event "Batavia Grolsch 2012"]
[Site "Amsterdam"]
[Date "2012.03.03"]
[Round "8.2"]
[White "Hebden, Mark"]
[Black "Illner, Achim"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2516"]
[BlackElo "2375"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 Be7 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bf4 O-O 7. e3 Nbd7 8. Rc1
c5 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Bg3 cxd4 11. exd4 Qa5 12. Bd3 Nxc3 13. bxc3 b6 14. O-O Bb7
15. Re1 Rfd8 16. c4 Rac8 17. Bb1 Ba3 18. Qd3 Nf8 19. Rcd1 Bb2 20. d5 exd5 {
In a position where the computer already likes Black a lot, Illner offered a
draw.} 21. Re7 $6 {This doesn't work.} dxc4 22. Qxd8 Rxd8 23. Rxd8 Bf6 24. Bd6
Bxe7 25. Bxe7 g6 26. Bxf8 Kh7 {Black should win this, but it's not easy.} 27.
Rd1 Bxf3 28. gxf3 c3 29. Bd6 Qb5 30. Bf4 $4 Qa4 {Now it IS easy.} 31. Rc1 Qxf4
32. Rxc3 Qg5+ 33. Kf1 Qe5 34. Rd3 Qxh2 35. Bc2 Qh3+ 36. Kg1 Qf5 37. Rc3 Qf6 38.
Rc7 Qxf3 39. Bb3 Kg7 40. Rxa7 h5 41. Ra4 f5 42. Rd4 Qc6 43. Rc4 Qd6 44. Ba4 Kh6
45. Bc6 Qe6 46. Bb5 Kg5 47. a4 h4 48. Rc1 Qe4 49. Bc6 Qg4+ 50. Kh1 Qf4 0-1

With this win Illner reached 6.5/8. Sipke Ernst, Robin van Kampen and Keith Arkell were on 5/8 so Illner had already won the tournament! And, 6.5 points was also the score he needed for a GM norm...

Achim Illner

No more norms were scored in the event - the other FMs needed 5/9 but didn't manage.

IM Manuel Bosboom wasn't exactly having his best tournament ever, but he always plays a few spectacular games. Here's his last-round win:

[Event "Batavia Grolsch 2012"]
[Site "Amsterdam"]
[Date "2012.03.04"]
[Round "9.2"]
[White "Bosboom, Manuel"]
[Black "ten Hertog, Hugo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2394"]
[BlackElo "2356"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Rg1
Bb7 9. g4 Bb4 10. Bd2 Rc8 11. g5 Bxc3 12. Bxc3 Ne4 13. Bd3 c5 14. Bxe4 dxe4 15.
d5 Bxd5 16. O-O-O Bc6 17. Nh4 Rg8 18. Nf5 Kf8 19. Rg4 Qc7 20. Nd6 f5 21. Rf4 g6
22. Qb3 1-0

4th Batavia GM tournament 2012 | Final standings