Four winners in Bad Wiessee

The Bad Wiessee Open was probably the strongest Swiss Open of this fall season. Among the 460 participants were 32 GMs, with an interesting mix of young rising stars and experienced players. In the end, first place was shared between two "old" players Alexander Graf and Robert Kempinski, and two young ones, Parimarjan Negi and Sergei Zhigalko. Graf had the best Buchholz tiebreak.

Photo © OIBM Bad Wiessee

The first round already saw a big surprise when the 56-year old German amateur Georg Kwossek beat experienced GM Eduardas Rozentalis. Black had an advantage from an unconventional opening, but then Rozentalis probably underestimated the white kingside attack. Within two moves (18...d5?, 19...dc4?) his position was lost.

[Event "15. OIBM Bad Wiessee"]
[Site "Bad Wiessee"]
[Date "2011.10.29"]
[Round "1.10"]
[White "Kwossek, Georg"]
[Black "Rozentalis, Eduardas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2003"]
[BlackElo "2575"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "SC Kitzingen von 1905"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 Bb4+ 6. Nc3 Ne7 7. e4 Nxe4 8.
Qd4 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 Nf6 10. Bd3 Nexd5 11. O-O O-O 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bd2 d6 14. Rae1
Bg4 15. c4 c5 16. Qb2 Bxf3 17. gxf3 Nb6 18. Kh1 d5 19. Rg1 dxc4 20. Bxh6 g6 21.
Bxg6 fxg6 22. Rxg6+ Kh7 23. Reg1 Qd3 24. Rg7+ Kh8 25. Rg8+ Kh7 26. R1g7+ 1-0

Everyone surely enjoys a move like 25.Rg8+, particularly against an opponent who is more than 500 points higher-rated. After the game, Kwossek commented: "He made my day!" Like Dutch GM Sipke Ernst in Hoogeveen, Rozentalis subsequently scored 7/8, but this wasn't enough to join the fight for first place.

Later GM Hertneck lost in similar style against 17-year-old local talent Maximilian Berchtenbreiter. Berchtenbreiter also beat GM Kunin and obtained his third IM norm, but still needs to reach Elo 2400.

This time, Sipke Ernst had a better start. After 5 rounds, he, Alexander Graf and young Indian Baskaran Adhiban were the only remaining players with a clean 5/5 score. Draws in the next two rounds allowed 10 other players to catch up with them, and then the tournament entered its decisive phase.

In round 8, Graf regained the lead beating Polish talent Dariusz Swiercz with the black pieces in a Ruy Lopez. All other games aon the top boards were drawn, even though Adhiban tried to win a queen ending until move 110.

[Event "15. OIBM Bad Wiessee"]
[Site "Bad Wiessee"]
[Date "2011.11.04"]
[Round "8.6"]
[White "Swiercz, Dariusz"]
[Black "Graf, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2585"]
[BlackElo "2628"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Schachklub Turm Emsdetten e.V."]
[BlackTeam "SK Kˆnig Plauen"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Qe2 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d5 9. d3 dxe4 10. dxe4 Bd6 11. Bg5 Qe7 12. Bd5 Bd7 13. Nh4 g6 14. Nd2 Kg7 15.
Qe3 Rfe8 16. Rfe1 Rab8 17. Bxc6 Bxc6 18. Qh3 h5 19. Re3 Qd7 20. Qxd7 Nxd7 21.
Ree1 Nc5 22. Re2 f6 23. Be3 Nxe4 24. Nxe4 Bxe4 25. Ba7 Ra8 26. Rxe4 Rxa7 27.
Nf3 f5 28. Re2 Raa8 29. Rd1 Rad8 30. g3 Kf6 31. h4 e4 32. Ng5 Bc5 33. Rde1 Rd3
34. Kg2 a5 35. Nh7+ Kg7 36. Ng5 a4 37. a3 Re7 38. Kh2 Kf6 39. Kg2 Red7 40. Rxe4
fxe4 41. Nxe4+ Kf7 42. Nxc5 Rd1 43. Re4 Re7 44. Rb4 Re5 45. Na6 Rd2 46. Kf1 c6
47. Nb8 c5 48. Rxb5 Ree2 49. Rb7+ Ke6 50. Rb6+ Kf5 51. Nd7 Rxf2+ 52. Kg1 Rg2+
53. Kf1 Rdf2+ 54. Ke1 Rxb2 55. Rf6+ Kg4 0-1

Swiercz's kingside attack never got going; Graf eventually gained a pawn due to the awkward placement of the white pieces and converted his advantage.

In the final round, Graf secured at least shared first place with a quick draw against Nisipeanu. Three other players could join him:

Top seed Sergei Zhigalko beat young Ukrainian Illya Nyzhnyk in a poisoned pawn Sicilian. White obtained two pawns for the exchange; in the endgame the kingside passed pawns turned out to be decisive.

[Event "15. OIBM Bad Wiessee"]
[Site "Bad Wiessee"]
[Date "2011.11.05"]
[Round "9.2"]
[White "Zhigalko, Sergei"]
[Black "Nyzhnyk, Illja"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2696"]
[BlackElo "2561"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. f4 e5 8. Nf5
Qb6 9. Qd2 Qxb2 10. Rb1 Qa3 11. Be2 h6 12. Bh4 exf4 13. Rb3 Qa5 14. O-O Nc5 15.
Nxd6+ Bxd6 16. Qxd6 Nxb3 17. Bxf6 Qc5+ 18. Qxc5 Nxc5 19. Bxg7 Rg8 20. Bxh6 Be6
21. Bxf4 O-O-O 22. Be3 Nd7 23. Rd1 Bg4 24. Bxg4 Rxg4 25. Rf1 f6 26. h3 Rh4 27.
Rf5 Re8 28. Kf2 b5 29. a3 Re6 30. Bd4 Rh8 31. Ke3 Rc6 32. Kd3 Rg8 33. Nd5 Kd8
34. g4 Rh8 35. Nf4 Rh7 36. c3 Ke7 37. Nd5+ Kf7 38. Nf4 Ke8 39. Nh5 Ke7 40. Nf4
Rc4 41. h4 Ra4 42. g5 fxg5 43. hxg5 Rf7 44. Nd5+ Ke6 45. Nf4+ Ke7 46. Rxf7+
Kxf7 47. g6+ Ke8 48. e5 1-0

The Indian players Negi and Adhiban didn't spare each other at all; the younger and nominally stronger one was chasing the black king all the way to b4. This meant that Adhiban, who was leading for most of the tournament, fell back to 21^st place.

[Event "15. OIBM Bad Wiessee"]
[Site "Bad Wiessee"]
[Date "2011.11.05"]
[Round "9.3"]
[White "Negi, Parimarjan"]
[Black "Adhiban, B."]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2631"]
[BlackElo "2551"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "SF Katernberg 1913 e.V"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nb3 Bb6 6. Nc3 d6 7. Qe2 Nf6 8.
Be3 Be6 9. g3 d5 10. O-O-O d4 11. Bg5 O-O 12. e5 Re8 13. exf6 h6 14. Qh5 hxg5
15. Ne4 Bf5 16. h4 Bxe4 17. hxg5 Bxh1 18. Bd3 gxf6 19. Rxh1 Kf8 20. Qh6+ Ke7
21. Qxf6+ Kd7 22. Bf5+ Re6 23. Qxf7+ Qe7 24. Bxe6+ Kd6 25. Qf4+ Ne5 26. Rh6 Rf8
27. Bf5+ Kd5 28. Qe4+ Kc4 29. Be6+ Kb4 30. Qxe5 1-0

Polish GM Robert Kempinski had the supposedly easiest task as he was paired against 14-year old German talent Dennis Wagner. From the opening, he reached a favorable endgame (or maybe rather queenless middlegame) which he converted convincingly.

[Event "15. OIBM Bad Wiessee"]
[Site "Bad Wiessee"]
[Date "2011.11.05"]
[Round "9.7"]
[White "Kempinski, Robert"]
[Black "Wagner, Dennis"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2604"]
[BlackElo "2290"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Hamburger SK von 1830 eV"]
[BlackTeam "Kasseler SK 1876"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 e5 4. Bxc4 exd4 5. exd4 Nf6 6. Qb3 Qe7+ 7. Ne2 Qb4+
8. Nbc3 Qxb3 9. Bxb3 Bb4 10. O-O O-O 11. Bg5 Be6 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. Nd5 Bxd5 14.
Bxd5 c6 15. Bb3 Rd8 16. Rad1 Nd7 17. Ng3 Nb6 18. Nh5 Be7 19. Rfe1 Kf8 20. Re3
Rd7 21. Rg3 h6 22. Rg7 Nd5 23. Bc2 Re8 24. Rh7 Kg8 25. Re1 Rdd8 26. Rg7+ Kh8
27. g3 Bb4 28. Rxe8+ Rxe8 29. Rxf7 Re1+ 30. Kg2 Re2 31. Bb3 1-0

Maybe the funniest game – but not for the GM who lost it – was played in round 8 between Michael Stockmann and Gerald Hertneck. Black had a slight advantage throughout the game and then the following position was reached on move 38.

[Event "15. OIBM Bad Wiessee"]
[Site "Bad Wiessee"]
[Date "2011.11.04"]
[Round "8.19"]
[White "Stockmann, Michael"]
[Black "Hertneck, Gerald"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2284"]
[BlackElo "2547"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/5p2/pp2p2p/k3Pn1P/2P2P2/P1N5/2K5 w - - 0 39"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Sfr. Schˆneck"]
[BlackTeam "MSA Zugzwang 82 e.V."]

{Here Black wanted to 'harvest' with} 39... Ng2 $4 (39... b4 40. cxb4 (40. c4
b3 $19) 40... Nd3+ 41. Kb1 axb4 42. Ne3 $11) {...to find himself in a mating
net after} 40. Kb2 $1 b4 (40... Nxh4 41. Ne1 Ng6 42. Nd3 b4 43. c4 b3 44. axb3#
) 41. c4 Nf4 42. Ne1 $1 $18 {This seems to be a position of mutual Zugzwang!}
b3 43. a3 $1 f5 $1 44. exf5 e4 45. fxe4 Nd3+ $1 46. Kb1 $1 Ne5 (46... Nxe1 47.
f6 $18) 47. f6 Kxa3 48. Nd3 Nxd3 49. f7 Kb4 50. f8=Q+ Kxc4 51. Qf7+ Kb4 52. Qa7
Nc5 53. Qb6+ Kc4 54. e5 a4 55. e6 a3 56. e7 a2+ 57. Ka1 Na4 58. Qc6+ Kb4 59.
e8=Q b2+ 60. Kxa2 b1=Q+ 61. Kxb1 1-0

Bavaria Open | Final standings (top 30)