THE WEEK IN CHESS 202 - 21st September 1998 by Mark Crowther

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1) Introduction
2) Cancan Tournament, Roquebrune, France
3) Spanish Team Championships
4) European Club Cup
5) Politiken Nordic Zonal
6) Zone 2.4 in Sao Paulo
7) First Saturday September
8) Green Island Cup Asian Chess Open, ShengYang 1998
9) In Brief
10) Yerevan. European Boys/Girls.
11) Olympiad News
12) Laszlo Szabo 19 March 1917 - 8 August 1998
13) Upcoming events
14) London Chess Center TWIC offers

Games section

Cancan Tournament, Roquebrune, France    30 games
Spanish Team Championships               20 games
European Club Cup Zone 5                 54 games
European Club Cup Breda                  72 games
Politiken Nordic Zonal                   39 games
Zone 2.4 in Sao Paulo                    21 games
First Saturday September IMA             18 games
First Saturday September IMB             16 games
120th New York State Championships       1 game
2nd Itau Mercosul Cup                  180 games
Porec Croatian Teams                   504 games
Laszlo Szabo                            17 games

1) Introduction

My thanks to Lost Boys, Jon Speelman, Robert Klomp, Jan Vavrak, Vinicius van Riemsdijk, Laszlo Nagy, Chia Chee Seng, John Henderson, Matthew Herman, Ervin Sindik, Gerhard Hund, Alex Siklos and all those who helped with this issue.

If the conclusion of the Cancan tournament and the European Club Cup qualifiers took the news on the board, its the Olympiad and the troubles in Kalmykia that take it off it. The Olympiad starts in a few days but Kalmykia is in the news with Russian Human rights organisations calling for a boycott and the Russian central government closing the region's bank. At the very least the players attending the Olympiad will be able to see what is going on over there. Kirsan Iljumzhinov is getting a lot of very negative publicity on the run up to the Olympiad and it will be interesting to see what happens over the course of the Olympiad.

Hope you enjoy this issue

Mark

2) Cancan Tournament, Roquebrune, France

The Cancan tournament in Roquebrune, France ran 7-20 September 1998. This was the latest in a series of Veterans vs Ladies events organised by Mr. J.J. van Oosterom's "Association Max Euwe" based in Monaco. The event was closely contested throughout with the teams tied at the halfway point and also tied at the end, finishing 36-36. For the Veterans Korchnoi scored 9/12, Spassky 7.5/12 and Hort 7/12 whereas the ladies team had a more balanced score across the team with Chiburdinadze and Zhu Chen top scoring for them. The result was a good one for the ladies as the pre-event ratings suggested that the veterans would win 41-31. Taimanov's 2.5/12 was largely responsible for this shortfall. The final round was a hard fought one which the ladies won 4.5-1.5. There have been six previous events which have been shared 3-3 with this being the first tie. The organisers seem to be able to balance the teams in such a way that they get well contested events.

http://chess.lostcity.nl/cancan/default.cfm

Cancan Roquebrune FRA  1998

                          -----------------------  Korchnoi,V       2625     9.0/12
                          |   -------------------  Spassky,B        2545     7.5/12
                          |   |   ---------------  Hort,V           2525     7.0/12
                          |   |   |   -----------  Portisch,L       2595     5.0/12
                          |   |   |   |   -------  Smyslov,V        2500     5.0/12
                          |   |   |   |   |   ---  Taimanov,M       2455     2.5/12
                          |   |   |   |   |   |   
 1 Chiburdanidze,M  2525  0½  ½½  10  1½  1½  11     7.5/12
 2 Zhu Chen         2480  ½½  0½  ½½  1½  ½½  11     7.0/12
 3 Cramling,P       2505  0½  ½½  0½  ½½  ½1  11     6.5/12
 4 Xie Jun          2510  0½  ½½  ½½  ½0  ½½  1½     5.5/12
 5 Ioseliani,N      2495  ½0  ½½  01  ½½  ½1  ½0     5.5/12
 6 Arakhamia,K      2420  00  00  ½0  ½1  ½0  ½1     4.0/12

3) Spanish Team Championships

The Spanish Team Championships were being played in Salamanca, Spain. Many strong players including Alexei Shirov, Joel Lautier, Jon Speelman, Ian Rogers, Miguel Illescas. The final round games for the men's event are now available.

Internet coverage was at: http://www.chessnet64.com/torneos_online/equipos98/index.htm

Final Standings. 1st Division Group
1  EPIC- BARCINO        24,0
2  UNIO GRACIENCA       22,5
3  FOMENT MARTINENC     21,0
4  C.A. MARCOTE         21,0
5  CAJA INSULAR         18,5
6  C.E. TERRASSA        17,5
7  C.A. ENDESA          17,0
8  VULCA - SPEED SOUND  14,0
9  E.M. EL OLIVAR       13,0
10 GOYA-VILLA TEROR     10,5

4) European Club Cup

There were two further European Club Cup qualifiers this weekend. There is news that the final which is to be held at the end of November may have to be postponed due to problems with the venue and a potential clash with the FIDE World Championships in Las Vegas. It may be that the most sensible solution would be to hold it after the World Championships. Especially as some of the qualifiers have very strong teams, it would be nice to see them be able to field these squads in the finals.

The first saw a powerhouse Panfox Breda team, playing at home, easily qualify dropping just two half points in three matches scoring 17/18. They beat Boavista 5.5-0.5, Nidem 6-0 and Invecta 5.5-0.5. My thanks to Robert Klomp. Coverage at http://www.svpanfox.demon.nl

Day 1

Boavista-Panfox ½-5½ 
1 IM Galego, L GM Van Wely, L ½-½ 
2 IM Damaso, R GM Timman, J 0-1 
3 FM Ribeiro, F GM Lautier, J 0-1 
4 IM Santos, C.P GM Gurevich, M 0-1 
5 IM Silva, F GM Vaganian, R 0-1 
6 Parceiras, P GM Hodgson, J 0-1 

Nidum-RMC 4-2 
1 Phillips, R Skripchenko, A 0-1 
2 Williams, L Delemarre, J 1-0 
3 Walsh, C Timmerman, G.J ½-½ 
4 Musson, A Willemze, J 1-0 
5 Fish, A Borst, J ½-½ 
6 Saunders, R Westenberg, H 1-0 

Invecta-Hohenems 3½-2½ 
1 GM Speelman, J GM Hickl, J 1-0 
2 GM Ward, C IM Atlas, V ½-½ 
3 GM McDonald, N FM Gartner, G 0-1 
4 IM Ledger, A FM Thoma, R ½-½ 
5 IM Gormally, D FM Topakian, R 1-0 
6 Watson, I Grabher, H. ½-½ 

Alkaloid-Gistrup 5-1 
1 GM Tiviakov, S IM Aagaard, J 1-0 
2 GM Bogdanovski, V IM Rodgaard, J ½-½ 
3 IM Jacimovic, D Jakobsen, L 1-0 
4 IM Nedev, T Andersen J 1-0 
5 FM Colovic, A Christensen, S 1-0 
6 Georgievski, S Jensen, B ½-½ 

Day 2 

Semi-finals

Alkaloid-Invecta 1½-4½ 
1 S.Tiviakov J.Speelman ½-½ 
2 V.Bogdanovski C.Ward 0-1 
3 D.Jacimovic N.McDonald 0-1 
4 T.Nedev A.Ledger ½-½ 
5 A.Colovic D.Gormally ½-½ 
6 S.Georgievski N.Dickenson 0-1 

Nidem-Panfox 0-6 
1 Phillips Timman 0-1 
2 Williams Lautier 0-1 
3 Walsh Gurevich 0-1 
4 Musson Vaganian 0-1 
5 Fish Hodgson 0-1 
6 Saunders vd Wiel 0-1 

-----

RMC-Gistrup 3-3 
1 Skripchenko J.Aagaard ½-½ 
2 Timmerman J.Rodeaard ½-½ 
3 Willemze L.Jakobsen 1-0 
4 vd Burght S.Christensen 0-1 
5 Borst T.Nielsen 1-0 
6 Brouwers L.Meyer 0-1 

Boavista-Hohenems 3½-2½ 
1 L.Galego Hickl ½-½ 
2 R.Damaso Atlas ½-½ 
3 F. Ribeiro Gartner ½-½ 
4 C.P.Santos Thoma ½-½ 
5 F.Siera Topakian ½-½ 
6 P.Parcerias Feistenauer 1-0 

Day 3

Final
-----

Panfox-Invicta 5½-½ 
1 L.van Wely J.Speelman 1-0 
2 J.Timman C.Ward 1-0 
3 J.Lautier N.McDonald 1-0 
4 M.Gurevich A.Ledger 1-0 
5 R.Vaganian D.Gormally 1-0 
6 J. vd Wiel J.Vigus ½-½ 

--------------------------

Alkaloid-Nidem 5½-½ 
1 S.Tiviakov Phillips 1-0 
2 V.Bogdanovski Williams 1-0 
3 D.Jacimovic Walsh 1-0 
4 T.Nedev Musson 1-0 
5 A.Golovic Fish 1-0 
6 S.Georgievski Saunders ½-½ 

RMC-Boavista 1½-3½ 
1 Skripchenko L.Galego ½-½ 
2 Sziva R.Damaso 0-1 
3 Timmerman F.Ribeiro 1-0 
4 Borst C.P.Santos 0-1 
5 Klomp F.Silva  
6 Verkooijen P.Parcerias 0-1 

Hohenems-Gistrup 2-2 
1 Hickl J.Aagaard 1-0 
2 Atlas J.Rodgaard  
3 Gartner J.Andersen  
4 Thoma T.Nielsen 1-0 
5 Feistenauer B.Jensen 0-1 
6 Grabner L.Meijer 0-1 

Jan Vavrak reports that the Polonia Chess Club Warszawa won the zone 5 event in Senek Slovakia, again their powerhouse squad made them strong favourites. 6-0, 4-2 and 5-1 wins saw them through, with Shirov playing board one on days two and three.

http://www.chess.sk/bazy/Ecc98G5.html

Round 1 results

Radonja Bojovic Niksic 6:0 Chess Club Manhem (default)
	
Polonia Chess Club Warszawa 6:0 Randaberg Sjakklub
Oll L. 1:0 Gundersen H.
Rozentalis E.  1:0  Harestad H.K.
Gdanski J.  1:0  Harestad T.G.
Macieja B.  1:0  Steedman J.
Socko B.  1:0  Storhaug K.
Kuczynski R.  1:0  Boger R.
	
SC Sparkasse Fuerstenfeld 1:5 Chess Club Mravince
Ribli Z.  1/2  Tkachiev V.
Poldauf D.  0:1  Giorgadze G.
Fogarasi T.  1/2  Lalic B.
Baumegger S.  0:1  Cvitan O.
Casagrande H.  0:1  Palac M.
Postl A.  0:1  Kovacevic V.
	
SK Slovan Bratislava 3,5:2,5 Barbican Chess Club London
Ftacnik L.  1:0  Turner M.
Stohl I.  1:0  Lehtivaara P.
Salai L.  0:1  Rogers J.
Banas J.  1/2  Lewis A.
Petran P.  1/2  Sands D.
Tibensky R.  1/2  Kopec D.

Round 2
-------

1 - 4
Chess Club Mravince Dalmaciacement - Radonja Bojovic Niksic
Polonia PKO BP Chess Club Warszawa - SK Slovan Bratislava

5 - 8
Barbican Chess Club London - Chess Club Manhem
Randaberg Sjakklub - SC Sparkasse Fuerstenfeld


Polonia Chess Club Warszawa	4:2	SK Slovan Bratislava
Shirov A.  1:0  Ftacnik L.
Oll L.	1/2	Stohl I.
Rozentalis E.  1/2  Salai L.
Gdanski J.  1/2  Banas J.
Macieja B.  1:0  Petran P.
Socko B.  1/2  Tibensky R.

Chess Club Mravince 2,5:3,5 Radonja Bojovic Niksic
Tkachiev V.  1/2  Almasi Z.
Giorgadze G.  1:0  Nikcevic N.
Lalic B.  1/2  Cabrilo G.
Cvitan O.  1/2  Blagojevic D.
Palac M.  0:1  Miljanic B.
Kovacevic V.  0:1  Vukovic Z.
	
Randaberg Sjakklub 1,5:4,5 SK  Raika Fuerstenfeld
Gundersen  H.  1:0  Ribli  Z.
Harestad  H.K.  0:1  Poldauf   D.
Harestad  T.G.  1/2  Fogarasi  T.
Steedman  J.  0:1  Baumegger  S.
Storhaug  K.  0:1  Postl  A.
Boger  R.  0:1  Demuth  M.

Barbican Chess Club London 6:0 Chess Club Manhem (default)

Round 3

1 - 2
Radonja Bojovic Niksic -Polonia Chess Club Warszawa
3 - 4
SK Slovan Bratislava - Chess Club Mravince
5 - 6 
SC Raika Fuerstenfeld - Barbican Chess Club London
7 - 8
Randaberg Sjakklub - Chess Club Manhem


Radonja Bojovic Niksic  1:5  Polonia Chess Club Warszawa
Almasi  Z.	0:1	Shirov  A.
Nikcevic N.	0:1	Oll  L.
Cabrilo  G.	1/2	Rozentalis  E.
Blagojevic  D.	1/2	Gdanski  J.
Miljanic  B.	0:1	Macieja  B.
Vukovic  Z.	0:1	Socko  B.

SK Slovan Bratislava  3,5:2,5  Chess Club Mravince
Ftacnik  L.  1:0  Tkachiev  V.
Stohl  I.  1/2  Giorgadze  G.
Salai  L.  1/2  Lalic  B.
Banas  J.  1/2  Cvitan  O.
Petran  P.  1/2  Palac  M.
Tibensky  R.  1/2  Kovacevic  V.
	
SC Sparkasse Fuerstenfeld  4.0:2.0  Barbican Chess Club London
Ribli  Z.  1:0  Turner M.
Poldauf  D.  1:0  Lehtivaara P.
Fogarasi  T.  1:0  Rogers  J.W.
Baumegger S.  1/2  Lewis  A.P.
Casagrande H.  1/2  Sands  D.
Demuth  M.  0:1  Kopec  D.

Randaberg Sjakklub      6:0    Chess Club Manhem (default)

Final Standings

1. Polonia PKO BP Chess Club Warszawa (POL)
2. Radonja Bojovic Niksic (YUG)
3. SK Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
4. Chess Club Mravince Dalmaciacement (ENG)
5. SC Sparkasse Fuerstenfeld (AUT)
6. Barbican Chess Club London (ENG)
7. Randaberg Sjakklub (NOR)

5) Politiken Nordic Zonal

The Politiken Nordic Zonal was played in the city of Munkebo, Denmark running September 10th-19th. The event was run as a knockout event. The three winners of the third round Stefansson, Peter Heine Nielsen and Åkesson qualified for the Las Vegas World Championships. They had a playoff to settle the placings won by Stefansson. In addition the losers of the third round competed for a reserve place. This saw Tom Wedberg emerge as first reserve.

http://www.dsu.dk/zone/n146.htm

Olafsson, Helgi        * -    Rodgaard, John          1-0 0-1 1.5-0.5

* = a qualifier.

Round 2 (1998.09.13)

Akesson, Ralf          * -    Petursson, Margeir      1-0 1/2
Gausel, Einar          * -    Hector, Jonny           1-0 1/2   
Olafsson, Helgi          - *  Stefansson, Hannes      1/2 1/2 0.0-2.0   
Hansen, Sune Berg        - *  Djurhuus, Rune          1/2 0-1
Brynell, Stellan         - *  Nielsen, Peter Heine    1/2 1/2 1.0-3.0   
Danielsen, Henrik        - *  Wedberg, Tom            0-1 1-0 2.0-3.0

Round 3 (1998.09.16)

Gausel, Einar            - *  Akesson, Ralf           1/2 0-1
Djurhuus, Rune           - *  Stefansson, Hannes      1/2 0-1
Nielsen, Peter Heine  *  -    Wedberg, Tom            1/2 1/2 1.5-0.5

Round 4. All play all amongst qualifiers.

1. Stefansson, Hannes     3
2. Nielsen, Peter Heine   1.5
3. Akesson, Ralf          1.5

Round 4. All play all for reserves.

Wedberg, Tom              2
Gausel, Einar             2
Djurhuus, Rune            2

Wedberg beat Gausel for the first
reserve place.

6) Zone 2.4 in Sao Paulo

Zone 2.4 took place in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Peru, Bolivia and Brazil all have players involved. The event ran 8-16 September and was a Swiss Open event of nine rounds. The event ended in a three way tie between Gilberto Milos, Rafael Leitao and Jaime Sunye Neto and I presume they all qualified for Las Vegas. My thanks to Vinicius van Riemsdijk for the news.

Internet coverage at: http://www.hipernet.com.br/HiperChess/ which also covered the 2nd Itau Mercosul Cup won by Carlos Alejandro Martinez.

Zonal Tournament
Sao Paulo BRA (BRA), IX 1998
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Milos, Gilberto           g BRA 2575  + 7 = 3 = 2 + 8 + 4 +12 = 5 = 6 =10  6.5  2611
 2 Leitao, Rafael            m BRA 2550  +10 = 8 = 1 - 4 + 5 + 3 + 9 +12 = 6  6.5  2603
 3 Sunye Neto, Jaime         g BRA 2520  +13 = 1 = 4 + 6 + 9 - 2 = 7 + 5 +12  6.5  2596
 4 Urday, Henry              g PER 2475  = 5 +12 = 3 + 2 - 1 = 6 +10 = 7 +11  6.0  2566
 5 Tsuboi, Edson Kenji       f BRA 2300  = 4 = 6 =10 + 7 - 2 + 8 = 1 - 3 +14  5.0  2494
 6 Vescovi, Giovanni         m BRA 2525  = 9 = 5 =11 - 3 +13 = 4 +14 = 1 = 2  5.0  2434
 7 Van Riemsdijk, Herman C   m BRA 2405  - 1 =13 +14 - 5 +11 =10 = 3 = 4 = 9  4.5  2374
 8 Limp, Eduardo               BRA 2410  +14 = 2 = 9 - 1 =10 - 5 -12 +11 +13  4.5  2371
 9 Rocha, Wellington Carlos    BRA 2315  = 6 =11 = 8 +12 - 3 +13 - 2 -14 = 7  4.0  2358
10 Matsuura, Everaldo        m BRA 2400  - 2 +14 = 5 =11 = 8 = 7 - 4 =13 = 1  4.0  2345
11 Berrocal, Jorge           f BOL 2275  =12 = 9 = 6 =10 - 7 +14 =13 - 8 - 4  3.5  2304
12 Oblitas, Carlomagno       m PER 2420  =11 - 4 +13 - 9 +14 - 1 + 8 - 2 - 3  3.5  2323
13 Martins, Carlos             BRA 2305  - 3 = 7 -12 +14 - 6 - 9 =11 =10 - 8  2.5  2220
14 Saavedra, Carlos            BOL 2205  - 8 -10 - 7 -13 -12 -11 - 6 + 9 - 5  1.0  2021
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Itau Mercosul Cup

  1.    1  Martinez, Carlos Alejandro    7.5
       17  Ratcu, Tatiana K.             7.5
  3.   18  Caldeira, Adriano             7.0
       12  Pereira, Silvio Cunha         7.0
       11  Aranha, Alvaro                7.0
        5  Lebredo, Gerardo              7.0
  7.   10  Marques, Vinicius             6.5
        8  D'Israel, Davy                6.5
       23  Cajal, Andre                  6.5
	   
	   98 players

7) First Saturday September

Laszlo Nagy reports on the First Saturday events which started September 7th. The two main events were IM events, although there is also an ELO rated event. The 20 year-old Hungarian Miklós Galyas and the American Joseph Fang reached their 3rd IM-norms. The Hungarian 15 year-old Anita Gara reached her first WGM-norm.

FIRST SATURDAY chess tournaments, Budapest, starting from 3rd of October 1998, GM, IM and ELO-closed and Scheveningen ELO events. First comes, first served. Organizer: Nagy, Laszlo, e-mail: chess_first_saturday_hu@compuserve.com Tel-fax: Intl.-/361/-2632859.

IMA event


Round 9 (1998.09.13)

Dumpor, Atif          -  Gara, Ticia           0-1   38  A15  English; 1.c4
Paschall, William M   -  Vadasz, Laszlo        1/2   23  D27  QGA;
Husari, Sate          -  Lengyel, Bela         0-1   44  A28  English; 1.c4 e5
Szeberenyi, Adam      -  Czebe, Attila         0-1   47  B00  1.e4
Nguyen Thi Thanh An   -  Jamrich, Gyorgy       1-0   49  D07  Chigorin
Balogh, Csaba         -  Jagodzinski, Andreas  1/2   47  B33  Sicilian; Sveshnikov

Round 10 (1998.09.14)

Vadasz, Laszlo        -  Lengyel, Bela         1/2   14  C98  Ruy Lopez
Czebe, Attila         -  Husari, Sate          1-0   43  E62  Kings indian
Paschall, William M   -  Dumpor, Atif          1/2    8  D63  QGD;
Gara, Ticia           -  Balogh, Csaba         1/2   42  B82  Sicilian
Jamrich, Gyorgy       -  Szeberenyi, Adam      0-1   41  B23  Sicilian; Closed
Jagodzinski, Andreas  -  Nguyen Thi Thanh An   0-1   38  E90  Kings indian; Classical

Round 11 (1998.09.15)

Lengyel, Bela         -  Czebe, Attila         1/2    8  A00  Irregular
Dumpor, Atif          -  Vadasz, Laszlo        1/2   11  D13  Slav defence
Husari, Sate          -  Jamrich, Gyorgy       1-0   41  D07  Chigorin
Szeberenyi, Adam      -  Jagodzinski, Andreas  1/2   46  E21  Nimzo indian
Nguyen Thi Thanh An   -  Gara, Ticia           1/2   45  D93  Gruenfeld indian
Balogh, Csaba         -  Paschall, William M   0-1   84  B01  Scandinavian


Budapest HUN (HUN), IX 1998                              cat. II (2284)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Vadasz, Laszlo        g HUN 2350  * = = = = = 1 1 = 1 1 =  7.5  2411
 2 Czebe, Attila         m HUN 2455  = * = 0 1 1 = 1 = 1 = 1  7.5  2401
 3 Lengyel, Bela         m HUN 2385  = = * = = 1 = = = 1 1 1  7.5  2408
 4 Dumpor, Atif          f BIH 2295  = 1 = * = = 0 = 1 = 1 1  7.0  2385
 5 Paschall, William M   f USA 2365  = 0 = = * 1 = = 1 = 1 1  7.0  2378
 6 Husari, Sate            SYR 2290  = 0 0 = 0 * = 1 1 1 = 1  6.0  2319
 7 Gara, Ticia             HUN 2245  0 = = 1 = = * = = = = =  5.5  2287
 8 Szeberenyi, Adam        HUN 2230  0 0 = = = 0 = * 1 = = =  4.5  2224
 9 Jamrich, Gyorgy         HUN 2310  = = = 0 0 0 = 0 * 0 1 1  4.0  2179
10 Nguyen Thi Thanh An     VIE 2115  0 0 0 = = 0 = = 1 * 0 1  4.0  2197
11 Balogh, Csaba           HUN 2155  0 = 0 0 0 = = = 0 1 * =  3.5  2162
12 Jagodzinski, Andreas    GER 2215  = 0 0 0 0 0 = = 0 0 = *  2.0  2028
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

IMB Event


Round 9 (1998.09.13)

Gara, Anita       -  Dudas, Janos      1/2   21  E92  Kings indian; Classical
Eperjesi, Laszlo  -  Fang, Joseph      1/2   34  A43  Queen's pawn
Bergstrom, Rolf   -  Bordas, Gyula     1-0   17  B22  Sicilian; Alapin (2.c3)
Deak, Ferenc      -  Senff, Martin     0-1   37  D93  Gruenfeld indian
Farago, Sandor    -  Galyas, Miklos    1/2   11  B45  Sicilian

Round 10 (1998.09.14)

Fang, Joseph      -  Farago, Sandor    1-0   59  E98  Kings indian; Main line
Galyas, Miklos    -  Bergstrom, Rolf   1/2   19  B07  Pirc
Pham Minh Hoang   -  Eperjesi, Laszlo  1-0   34  A30  English; 1.c4 c5
Senff, Martin     -  Gara, Anita       1/2   12  E92  Kings indian; Classical
Bordas, Gyula     -  Deak, Ferenc      0-1   27  A35  English; 1.c4 c5

Round 11 (1998.09.15)

Gara, Anita       -  Bordas, Gyula     1-0   35  B85  Sicilian
Dudas, Janos      -  Senff, Martin     1/2   10  D13  Slav defence
Bergstrom, Rolf   -  Fang, Joseph      0-1   35  B27  Sicilian; Closed
Deak, Ferenc      -  Galyas, Miklos    0-1   25  A81  Dutch defence
Farago, Sandor    -  Pham Minh Hoang   0-1   45  B78  Sicilian; Dragon


Budapest HUN (HUN), IX 1998                       cat. III (2304)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
                                 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Fang, Joseph      f USA 2315  * 1 0 1 0 = 1 1 = 1 1  7.0  2452
 2 Galyas, Miklos    f HUN 2440  0 * 1 = 1 1 = = 1 = 1  7.0  2439
 3 Gara, Anita      wm HUN 2290  1 0 * 1 = 0 = = 1 1 1  6.5  2415
 4 Pham Minh Hoang     VIE 2245  0 = 0 * 1 1 = 1 = 1 1  6.5  2420
 5 Dudas, Janos      m HUN 2340  1 0 = 0 * = 1 = = = 1  5.5  2336
 6 Eperjesi, Laszlo  m HUN 2305  = 0 1 0 = * = = = = 1  5.0  2304
 7 Bergstrom, Rolf   f SWE 2295  0 = = = 0 = * = 1 = 1  5.0  2305
 8 Senff, Martin       GER 2395  0 = = 0 = = = * 1 = 1  5.0  2295
 9 Deak, Ferenc        HUN 2220  = 0 0 = = = 0 0 * = 1  3.5  2202
10 Farago, Sandor    m HUN 2335  0 = 0 0 = = = = = * 0  3.0  2152
11 Bordas, Gyula       HUN 2165  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 *  1.0  1952
-----------------------------------------------------------------

8) Green Island Cup Asian Chess Open, ShengYang 1998

The Green Island Cup Asian Chess Open took place in ShengYang, China 1998 reports Chia Chee Seng. Only the final results are available.

Green Island Cup Asian Chess Open, ShengYang 1998

(11 Rounds Swiss)

1st   Xu Jun              8.5
2nd   Ye Jiangchuan       8.0
3rd   Peng Xiaomin        7.5

4-7   Miles, Anthony      7.0
      Tu Hoang Thong
      Bischoff, Klaus
      Hatanbaater, Bazar

8-12  Yin Hao             6.5
      Zhang Pengxiang
      Lobron, Eric
      Sharvdorj, Dashzeveg
      Ni Hua

13-23 Zhang Zhong         6.0
      Qin Kanying
      Wu Wenjin
      Yu Shaoteng
      Wang Yaoyao
      Wu Shaobin
      Wang Lei
      Li Wenliang
      Wang Rui
      Bu Xiangzhi
      Lin Weiguo

24-27 Xu Yuanyuan         5.5
      Xu Yuhua
      Zhu Chunhui
      Xie Jianjun

28-34 Li Wenjun           5.0
      Wang Pin
      Sun Hui
      Du Shan
      Liu Chengwan
      Wong Zi-Jing
      Foo Hsiang-Ming

35-38 Li Qun              4.5
      Li Ruofan
      Dwyer, Daniel
      Zhang Zhuoya

39-40 Liu Ou              4.0
      Ning Yunlong

41    Li Yuanlu           3.5

42    Maung Maung Lwin    2.5

43    Tang Mizi           2.0

44    Zhang Jing          0.5

9) In Brief

Bill Townsend reported last week on the 120th New York State Championships. 11 year old Matthew Herman and he provides a correction to his draw against FM Isay Golyak (his first half point scored against a titled player).

Ervin Sindik sends the games from Porec (Croatia) and the 1st team league (m,w and juniors) 5-15 September 1998.

10) Yerevan. European Boys/Girls.

The Youth European U20 Championships are in Armena 4-18th September. Coverage at Gerhard Hund's Teleschach. Hopefully there will be some games but Levon Aronian of Armenia scored 10/13 to take the boys title and Sopio Tkeshelashvili and Rusudan Goletiani shared first with 9.5/13 in the women's event.

Coverage at: http://Deutsche-Schachjugend.de/dsj/dsj-tb30.html

11) Olympiad News

Sinisa Joksic's comments last week finally got some assurances from FIDE on Thursday 17th from Mr. Omuku. The Olympiad is set to go ahead and the "basic requirements necessary for the hosting of the Olympiad are in place" according to FIDE. Of course there will be no hiding problems if this proves to be untrue when the players get there. The conditions for the top teams are likely to be acceptable. Questions as to whether the airport, telephone system and the main playing hall are ready will also be answered. Certainly until very recently the telephone system was completely inadequate for any kind of internet coverage. This will be a test of Kirsan Iljumzhinov's political situation as it will involve co-operating with the rest of Russia. There has been increasing pressure on him as respected human rights organisations have called for a boycott of the Olympiad and Moscow closed the region's central bank and suspended its government subsidies. Although FIDE sources say this measure was overturned in the courts it may be the start of a central Government to bring to heal an embarassing regional leader. Attempts to pull the region out of the Russian Republic as was suggested by one Kalmykian official are likely to be greeted extremely harshly.

Iljumzhinov, since the murder of journalist Larisa Yudina has attracted extremely negative publicity. In fact I haven't seen anything favvourable to him in the press anywhere. Sergei Kovalev, a Soviet dissident, who is a member of the Duma and Russia's most respected critic of human rights abuses, said: "There are the same reasons for a boycott now: the complete flouting of fundamental human rights. Action by the international community is completely justified." Valery Borshchev, a deputy in the Duma from the liberal Yabloko Party, has called on all international players to boycott, an appeal backed up by other deputies and veteran dissidents. He said: "At a time when people are being forced to flee and those who stay behind are in danger of persecution, to go to Kalmykia is completely immoral. Kalmykia is in the grip of a completely feudal regime. Basic human rights are being infringed and some people are suffering from hunger." Ilyumzhinov's critics allege that Chess City was built with funds from the central government in Moscow earmarked for local development and easing poverty in the republic. Mr Kovalev said: "I don't understand how someone like Ilyumzhinov can end up in charge of an international sporting body. It shows how undemanding the rest of the world is in such matters."

The British Government also is less than impressed about rights in the region. In response to the Scottish Federation's request for advice as to whether it should send a team to the Olympiad it gave some interesting advice.

"We believe the Glasnost Defence Foundation to be a reputable organisation. It is one of Russia's leading human rights bodies, specialising in freedom of information and journalists' rights. We and the US Government have nominated the Foundation for an EU/US Democracy and Civil Society Award. Many of the co-signatories of the report on Kalmykhia are respected and regular contacts of our Embassy in Moscow. Although we have no firsthand evidence of human rights problems in Kalmykhia, the Glasnost Defence Foundation's comments correspond with reports from other sources, including from normally-reliable journalists and EU colleagues who have visited the region. We assess therefore that there are indeed grounds for concern over the human rights situation in Kalmykhia, and we are monitoring developments there."

"Government policy is not to give formal guidance on whether British citizens should participate in sporting events in countries where there are human rights concerns, unless there is a blanket ban on sporting links with that particular country or region. No such ban exists for Kalmykhia. But we can and do make sporting organisations aware of the local situation, and suggest they take this information into account when deciding whether they should participate. In the case of Kalmykhia, I suggest that you consider carefully whether to participate in the World Chess Olympiad, in view of the reliable reports of human rights problems there. Your members should also be aware that if they were to attend the Olympiad they might well be asked to take part in publicity events which the authorities would use for their own purposes. "

It would seem that FIDE are the only organisation prepared to defend and support the regime there. Usually one day or two after I publish anything on Kalmykia or Kirsan Iljumzhinov there is a FIDE response to the effect that one should not listen to "irresponsible" or "mis-leading" reports. I actually write very little on this subject as I do not like to be accused of either of those things without being on extremely firm ground. The question is, who truly is being "irresponsible" or "mis-leading"? The British Government, Russian journalists, human rights activists, myself .... or is it FIDE? That really is the question. Maybe the Olympiad itself will give us some answers.

12) Laszlo Szabo 19 March 1917 - 8 August 1998

Laszlo Szabo, the former Candidate and Hungarian number one died on the 8th August at the age of 81. Szabo was a supremely gifted player, it only took him around five years to become a top master in Hungary from first learning the game, but his results were continually held back by his mercurial temperament which caused him to blunder and play badly at key moments in his career. In addition the second world war took away some of his most important years. He was in fact, extremely lucky to survive the war. He was a Jew and was called up in September 1939 for forced labour service where he served on the front lines as unarmed labour personnel and in 1943 was captured by the Russians. The "work" was more akin to being in a mobile concentration camp and at the end of the war he weighed around 7 stone. Only his youthful sporting prowess and a rather rich diet at tournaments just prior to the war saved him.

Laszlo Szabo's international chess career started in 1935 when he was a last minute selection for the 8th Chess Olympiad in Poland. He was selected after winning the National Masters Tournament in Tatatovaros 1935. Playing board four he scored 64.3% and had an eye catching crazy draw against Arthur Dake. In the second half of 1936 after completing his business studies he got a job through the honorary president of the Hungarian Chess Federation as a bank clerk. He played for Hungary in the unofficial Olympiad of 1936 in Munich scoring 86.8% on boards 3-5, the best percentage of the Olympiad. He scored 69.44% on board three in the Stockholm Olympiad of the following year. In 1938 he played his first strong international tournament, coming second in Ljubjana 1938 with 10 points, just behind Kosic on 10.5 but ahead of Lajos Steiner, Tartakower, Asztalos, Trufunovic, Vidmar, Pirc etc. His career really started to take off then, under the recommendation of Maroczy he was invited to the Hastings tournament of 1938-9 winning with 7.5/9 ahead of ex-World Champion Max Euwe, Landau, Pirc etc. This was the start of a six month leave of absence from his bank job to try his luck as a professional player.

He came second equal at the Kemeri-Riga tournament of 1939 with Stahlberg on 11 points, behind Salo Flohr but ahead of Mikenas, Book, Feigins, Bogoljubov, Petrovs etc. He stayed in Amsterdam giving lectures but the heightened international tension meant that invitations were starting to be hard to come by. He returned to Budapest and won the Makovetz Memorial Tournament, a couple of other minor events were played before his career stopped until after the war.

After his return to Hungary in October 1945, he became a full time professional chess player and started a period where he was definitely the number one Hungarian player. This continued until around 1963 when Lajos Portisch took over that position. Szabo at least now could concentrate fully on chess rather than also earning a safe living. However the war had taken six years out of his career, and the Russians had managed to hold top competitive chess tournaments throughout the war and were developing new methods of preparation and openings. His talent was really not enough to compete with that, although he probably rose to around number 12 in the World at his best.

He came second in his first international outing after the war, the Zaandam 1946 tournament. He beat the eventual winner Max Euwe in their individual game but tied with Ekstrom on 8.5 points a point behind Euwe. He was invited to the first major post-war tournament, the Staunton Chess Society tournament in Groningen. He finished 4th= (Botvinnik 14.5; Euwe 14; Smyslov 12.5; Najdorf, Szabo 11.5; Boleslavsky, Flohr 11 etc 20 players) and showed he really belonged in this top company. In 1947 in a year marred by ill-health he won weak tournaments in Vienna and Hastings.

His invitation to the Interzonal tournament in Saltsjobaden Sweden (July 15- August 15 1948) had been secured by his excellent result in Groningen the previous year and was a microcosm of his strengths and weaknesses as a player. He finished in second place, but perhaps should have taken first place. After 17 of the 19 rounds he lead alone. He wrecked a winning position against Stolz in the 18th round, only drawing, and lost a nervy final round game against Lundin where the game was disturbed by someone sweeping the pieces off Bronstein's board. Typically it was Szabo, not Bronstein who was disturbed and he immediately blundered into a losing position. His nerves would be a continual problem to him throughout his career at these key moments. (Saltsjobaden 1948, Bronstein 13.5; Szabo 12.5; Boleslavsky 12; Kotov 11.5; Lilienthal 11 etc 20 players)

He scored 2nd place in the Trencianske Teplice 1949 tournament (behind Stahlberg with Pachman) and first at Venice 1949 concluding the year by winning Hastings again.

In the first Candidates tournament (Budapest 1950) he came in joint last place with 7 points behind the winners Boleslavsky and Bronstein. He simply was outprepared and found it difficult to cope with bad results during the event. A typical story for most of his appearances in the Candidates.

He finished 2nd= at Szczawno Zdroj in Poland 1950 (behind Keres, with Barcza and Taimanov) 2nd in the Zonal at Marianske Lazne behind Pachman, 6th in the Maroczy Memorial tournament in Budapest 1952 (Keres 12.5; Geller 12; Botvinnik, Stahlberg, Smyslov 11; Szabo 10.5) which could have been better if he had scored more than 1.5 points against the last five in the field. A 75% score on top board at the 10th Olympiad in Helsinki was followed by a rocky road to qualification for the 2nd Candidates tournament. The Interzonal in Stockholm/Saltsjobaden 1952 had five place available. He tied for fifth place but all those tied were allowed through to the Candidates. He played a warm up for the Candidates in Bucharest (Tolush 14, Petrosian 13; Smyslov 12.5; Boleslavsky 12; Szabo,Spassky 11.5 etc)

The Second Candidates Tournament took place in Neuhausen and Zurich and saw Szabo finish 12th of the 15 players. Once more a dispute and nerves cost him a better result. In round four he got into a dispute over scheduling with Reshevsky when the game took place far later than it should have, he lost quickly. In trying to extract his revenge later in the event he failed to play a mating continuation that he had seen such was his excited state. He played some good games but had spoiled his result.

He played little for seven months but was appointed assistant to the chief arbiter for the Botvinnik-Smyslov match of 1954 and was given the title of international referee by the 25th FIDE congress. He qualified for the next internzonal by finishing second (behind Pachman) at Prague-Marianske Lasne 1954. He followed this by a 53% result on first board at the Olympiad in Amsterdam, a poor result for him.

Hastings 1954-5 was much stronger than the Hastings events he had won, he finished 3rd= behind Keres and Smyslov, 4th= at Mar del Plata 1955 and 4th at Buenos Aires 1955 followed.

Goteborg was the site of the Interzonal event starting on August 15th 1955. Szabo finished 5th= and easily qualified for the Candidates in Amsterdam. Szabo played more calmly and realistically in this Candidates event finishing in a tie for 3rd-7th and scoring +2 -0 =10 against the Russians. Losses against Filip and Pilnik cost him the chance of doing even better. If this was to be his best Candidates performance, it was also to be his last.

Szabo scored 64.7% in the 1956 Moscow Olympiad and followed this with an appearance in the Alekhine Memorial event starting October 7th 1956. He started well with an early win against Keres but then news of the Russian troops moving into Hungary came through and he fell away to 11th.

In 1957 he won the Wageningen Zonal tournament ahead of Olfasson, Donner, Larsen, Uhlmann, Stahlberg etc. He followed this with 3rd= at Dallas behind Gligoric and Reshevsky. In 1958 Szabo married.

The 1958 Portoroz Interzonal was the most competitive zonals so far. There were only six qualifying places and a number of former Candidates were eliminated as the younger generation came through. Szabo missed out by half a point along with Bronstein and Averbakh, fellow ex-Candidates. (Tal 13.5; Gligoric 13; Petrosian, Benko 12.5; Olafsson, Fischer 12; Bronstein, Averbakh, Matanovic, Szabo, Pachman 11.5; Panno, Filip 11 .... Larsen 8.5 ... 21 players)

He finished 2nd half a point behind Reshevsky in November in the Tel Aviv/Haifa tournament. At the end of the year Lajos Portisch won a three way playoff for the Hungarian title from Szabo and Barcza.

1959 saw a 2nd place behind Polugaevsky in Marianske Lazne, 2nd behind Uhlmann in Vienna, and a treble tie for the Hungarian Championships (which Szabo won this time). He took 3rd place alone in the very strong Buenos Aires 1960 tournament (behind Korchnoi and Reshevsky), the event which is famous for Fischer's terrible result there. He stayed in South America for Santa Fe and Asuncion tournaments in which he finished 1st= both times. He tied for first place with Portisch in the Hungarian Championships of 1961 and became upset at the Hungarian Chess Federation's wish to have the playoff close to the Zonal Tournament. He lost the match against Portisch and also failed to qualify for the Interzonal frin tge Zonal in Marianske Lazne. He only played in one subsequent zonal event (in 1964) from which he also failed to qualify. Around this time he was overtaken by Lajos Portisch as Hungarian number one. Although he managed some excellent results after this, these occurred far more sparcely than before.

He won tournaments in Zagreb 1964, Budapest 1965 (level with Polugaevsky), Sarajevo 1972 and Hilversum 1973. Also Hastings 1973-4 where he tied for first place with Tal, Kuzmin and Timman. He won the Hungarian Championships a total of nine times. He played in 11 Olympiads for Hungary, on top board in five of them. (In 1970 when still very much strong enough to play for Hungary he was dropped by the selection team after he chose to stay in Argentina just prior to the Olympiad for a tournament that did not in fact take place)

Szabo attended the 50th anniversary of the Groningen tournament in 1996 which was to be his last real public appearance. His successes seemed to be almost in spite of himself, with confidence playing a major part in whether he did well or not and a little more stability aligned to his undoubted talent could have turned him into a true great.

You can read about his career in the book "My Best Games of Chess" by L. Szabo published by Pergamon Press 1986 which was an shortened version of his hungarian autobiography 50 ev-100 000 lepes from 1981.

13) Upcoming events

13th open international du Touquet

13th open international du Touquet (Pas de Calais, North FRANCE) 24 october until 30 october 1998. Swiss system. FIDE event. 9 rondes. Prices : 50000 FF. Please phone to Mr Jean GILLET 33.3.21.05.00.41 or e-mail Mr Francis DELBOE fdelboe@nordnet.fr

14) London Chess Center TWIC offers

The London Chess Center visit their On-Line Chess Shop. They also publish "Chess Monthly"

Contact numbers.
+44 (0) 171 388 2404 (2407 fax)
Call toll free in the US on 1-888-chess-06
E-Mail for a free Catalogue

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