12th Bergamo Open 2013 Rd4-GM Farago I(HUN)

TWIC 976
12th Bergamo Open  2013(ITA)
Georgiev,Ki and Brunello,S won with 5.6. GMs Hera(HUN) and Farago,I(HUN) scored 4.5/6

Rank	Player	FIDE	Total
1	Georgiev,Ki	2636	5.0/6
2	Brunello,S	2593	5.0/6
3	Ivanisevic,I	2649	4.5/6
4	Solodovnichenko,Y	2555	4.5/6
5	Hera,I	2558	4.5/6
6	Farago,I	2447	4.5/6

More About Bergamo, Italy

Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants.

Here is the feature game of veteran GM Farago.

Farago,I (2447) - Zimina,O (2330)

Semi-Slav Anti-Meran 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3[D45]

12th Bergamo Open 2013

Bergamo ITA (4.4), 20.07.2013

Position 1
White is ahead an extra doubled pawn but the opposite color bishops give black an illusion of hope. The real problem for black is the weak d-pawn. What do you recommend for white now?

White to Play

31...Rd4

43rd Open A Bosna 2013 Rd3-GM Banusz(HUN)

TWIC 969
Jakovljevic tried the Anti-Meran Gambit(or Botvinnik Variation) against the Semi-Slav but was repelled by some tough defence. Banusz chose the less common but playable 12...Qc7 and repelled the attempted attack with ruthless efficiency.

More About Sarajevo-Host of the Bosna Open

Jakovljevic,Vlado (2440) - Banusz,T (2592)

Semi-Slav Anti-Meran Gambit 12..Qb6 [D44]

43rd Open A Bosna 2013 
Sarajevo BIH (3.8), 02.06.2013

Position 1
White went for the attack on the queenside with 19.Qa4. What do you recommend for black now?

Black to Play

19.Qa4

Liechtenstein Open 2013 Rd7-GM Farago(HUN)

More on Liechtenstein-The Tax Haven



TWIC 967
Veteran GM Farago ground out a tough victory in rd5. Farago went with the popular 6.Qc2 Anti-Meran but achieved nothing special from the opening.

Farago,I (2445) - Bezler,R (2206)
Semi-Slav 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3[D45]
31st Liechtenstein Open 2013 Triesen LIE (5.5), 07.05.2013

Position 1
White came back from a bad position and is now up a clear P. What do you recommend for white now?

White to Play

41..Qd6

Hungarian TCH 2012-13 Rd7(TWIC 955)-Nagy G

The new Hungarian junior champion played some dynamic attacking chess to beat veteran GM Pinter. The bishop pair and then opposite color bishops played a key role.

Nagy,Ga (2401) - Pinter,J (2547) 
Semi-Slav Marshall Gambit 8.Ne2 Nd7[D31]
TCh-HUN 2012–13 Nagykanizsa HUN (7), 17.02.2013

Position 1

White has the bishop pair but Ng1/Be1 are not particularly active. What do you suggest for white?

• 27.Bc3(Immediately activating a passive piece and taking control of the weak dark squares, especially e5)
• 27.Ne2(The knight should go to c3 while Be1-f2 is good for the dark bishop as Rc8 will be tied down)
• 27.Qg5(The kingside dark squares are vulnerable and begging to be infiltrated)
• 27.b3(A patient waiting move that secures the queenside. The optimal arrangement will be more apparent when black commits his king)
• Something else.

White to Play

26...Rc8

Playing 1.d4 The Queen's Gambit 2012-Verifying Schandorff

Repertoire Against the Semi-Slav
Schandorff proposes the Bg5 complex against the rock solid Semi-Slav in Playing 1.d4 vol2-Schandorff(Quality Chess 2012). In the analysis of

Hracek,Z (2628) - Elsness,F (2506)

18th European Teams Porto Carras GRE (1.12), 03.11.2011

Schandorff's proposes 15...Kb8 as a key defensive novelty which remains untested to TWIC 852.  I found a key improvement for black in the notes to black's 18th move.

Black to Play

18.Nc3

Now black played 18...Bb7 but 18..Nb8 manages to hold.

Hracek,Z (2628) - Elsness,F (2506)

Semi-Slav Anti-Moscow Gambit[D43]

18th European Teams Porto Carras GRE (1.12), 03.11.2011

Position 1
After 21...ed,white has a wide choice of captures. What do you suggest for white?

White to Play

21...ed

Tata Steel 2013 Rd8-GM Rapport(HUN)

Here is GM Rapport's Rd8 game against Smeets.

Smeets(l) playing Rapport(r) in rd8

Photo Tatasteelchess Gallery Day8

Rapport,R (2621) - Smeets,J (2615) 
Semi-Slav 9.a3[D47]
75th Tata Steel GpB Wijk aan Zee NED (8.3), 20.01.2013

Position 1
White is well centralized and has two strong bishops. What do you suggest for black?


Black to Play

26.Qd4

Perenyi Memorial 2013-01 Rd3

Here's my loss for the day. I misplayed the position, misjudged it and then was outclassed in every way during the final endgame phase.

My only consolation was meeting a nice group of players from Kuwait. We went for dinner after the game at ....Hooters.




There to my surprise on the numerous TVs was the end of the NFL Falcons-Seahawks playoff game and the beginnning of the Patriots vs. Texans.

We discussed various aspects of chess life in Hungary and they steadfastly insisted that I was their guest and dinner was on them.

Yip,M (2065) - Czegledi,B (1880) 
Semi-Slav Meran Reynolds Variation[D48]
Perenyi Memorial (3), 13.01.2013

Position 1
Black's king is a bit far from the action but otherwise everything is going well for black. What should the black continuation be?

Black to Play

40.Kd2

Kobanya Open 2012-12 Rd6

Kiss,Peter won with 5.5/6 after grinding down the top seed in a long endinging(Exchange Spanish I think). Polyik, Peter  and Pasztor, Flora also did very well. Peter was up 3 clear pawns in a completely winning position before conceding a draw in a rook ending.

Here are the final Rd6 standings.

Place	Name	Score	Rating	TPR	W-We
1	Kiss, Peter	5.5	2020	2205	1.04
2	Polyik, Peter	5	1835	2048	1.38
3	Piroska, Istvan	4.5	2090	2030	-0.29
	Sulcz, Istvan	4.5	1895	1934	0.39
	Szurkos, Andras	4.5	1805	2034	1.18
	Valis, Janos	4.5	2060	1989	-0.38
	Yip, Michael	4.5	2074	1895	-0.82
	Pasztor, Flora Katinka	4.5	1710	1898	0.83
9	Bartuszek, Andras	4	1887	1790	-0.53
	Szlenka, Attila	4	1785	1776	0.03
	Krizsany, Laszlo Sr.	4	1863	1685	-1.07
	Palczert, Miklos Dr.	4	1839	1750	-0.46
	Karacsonyi, Gellert	4	1514	1826	1.88
14	Szoukup, Istvan	3.5	1696	1831	0.88
	Fodor, Peter	3.5	1851	1783	-0.28
	Granicz, Janos	3.5	1884	1850	-0.11
	Fabian, Csaba	3.5	1867	1781	-0.51
	Tubak, Daniel	3.5	1635	1854	1.38
	Lakat, Gyula	3.5	1885	1692	-1.23
	Csermely, Zoltan	3.5	1642	1765	0.77
	Szendeff, Miklos	3.5	1770	1657	-0.61
	Pasztor, Peter	3.5	0	1673	0.5
	Nebenfuhrer, Gyorgy	3.5	1659	1543	-0.36
24	Juhasz, Kristof	3	1584	1861	1.92
	Czimer, Jozsef	3	1745	1055	-1.34
	Muranyi, Geza	3	1717	1655	-0.08
	Kovacs, Gabor Etele	3	1444	1690	1.27
	Kapuszta, Csaba	3	1741	1522	-1.09
	Kalocsai, Laszlo	3	1601	963	-1.17
	Palczert, Botond	3	1254	1448	0.65
	Jakabo, Judit Dr.	3	0	1449	1449
	Jancso, Geza	3	1551	1060	-0.68
	Revesz, Hunor	3	1386	1656	0.65
34	Horvath, Zoltan	2.5	1519	1065	-0.52
	Kocsis, Zsolt Gyula	2.5	1771	1645	-0.86
	Albu, Ferenc	2.5	1773	1649	-0.84
	Czumbel, Peter	2.5	1517	1661	0.49
	Fodor, Kornel	2.5	0	1446	1446
	Pasztor, Daniel	2.5	1498	1074	-0.47
40	Racz, Gabor	2	0	1409	1409
	Fabian, Laszlo	2	1595	1457	-0.97
	Koltai, Daniel	2	1503	1549	0.17
	Albu, Mihaly	2	0	1528	1528
	Karacsonyi, Kata	2	1263	1378	0.45
	Bangha, Otto Peter	2	0	1459	1459
	Bolgar, Katica	2	0	834	834
	Revesz, Mariusz	2	1623	1998	0.1
	Terjek, Agota	2	1299	964	-0.08
49	Hegedus, Dominik	1.5	0	1451	1451
	Bolgar, Janka	1.5	1393	920	-0.41
51	Kalvach, Gabor	1	0	1387	1387
	Viola, Gellert	1	0	1525	1525
	Xiao Hu, Chen	1	0	1215	1215
	Toth, Peter	1	0	703	703
	Kolozsvary, Miklos	1	1378	952	-0.3
56	Hegedus, Luca	0.5	0	1074	1074

I won my last two games to finish with 4.5/6 but I could not recover from my rd1 loss and my rd2 pairing was with an unrated players that was the end of my tournament effectively.

The playing hall

Photo-Mr. Bolgar(Thanks!)

Here is my Rd6 game.
Warning!!-Horrible blunders(I gave away a rook then my opponent drops his queen back to me).

Yip,M (2075) - Fabian,C (1867)
Semi-Slav[D46]
Kobanya Open (6), 16.12.2012

Position 1
Black's position looks suspicious. Qh6 is out of play, the dark squares are soft and overall black is passive. What should white do?

• Build slowly?
• Exploit Qh6
• Press the queenside?
• Something else?

White to Play

22...Ng7

Position 2

Black has just attacked the knight. What should white do?

White to Play

24...f6

Position 3

The position has turned sharp as black has just made the central break 29...e5. What should white do?

White to Play

29...e5