Tamir Nabaty wins Israeli Open Championship
The Israel Open Championship took place from December 8-16, 2021, in the old northern city of Tzfat (Safed) by the Israel chess federation, under the auspices of the local municipality and Mifal Hapais (the national lottery). 102 players, including 9 GMs and 9 IMs, competed in a 9-round Swiss tournament for the top honours as well as for the 8,000 NIS prize fund. Four members of the national team topped the starting rankings and entered the competition as the natural favourites: GMs Tamir Nabaty, Ilya Smirin (both former Israeli champions), Victor Mikhalevski (the current champion) and Evgeny Postny (former winner of the open championship). Ilya Smirin and Victor Mikhalevski had a good time at the opening ceremony Quite a few of the country’s best junior players were among the participants, too, led by IMs Or Bronstein, Yair Parkhov and Ido Gorshtein. Mayor Shuki (Joshua) Oçhana made the first ceremonial move on board one to signal the start of the first round. GM Tamir Nabaty, the highest-rated participant, emerged as the winner despite an early defeat at the hands of youngster Yeshaaiahu Tzidkiya in Round 3. After this slip-up, the rating-favourite kicked into top gear and finished on 7½ points, a half-point ahead of GM Evgeny Postny, Israel’s best female player IM Marsel Efroimsky (both undefeated) and 19-year-old IM Yair Parkhov. The champion won his most instructive game in Round 6, outsmarting Ido Gorshtein in a rook ending. Tamir Nabaty – Ido Gorshtein Ido made a natural but wrong choice 39…Ke8? defending his f7-pawn (in case of correct 39…Kc8! White is just slightly better). However, after 40. Rd6! Black can’t prevent the rook exchange and goes down in a pawn endgame despite an extra pawn: 40…Ra8 41. c7 Rc8 42. Rd8+ Rxd8 43. cxd8=B f5+ 44. Kh5 Kxd8 45. Kxh6 g4 46. Kg5 Ke7 47. e4 fxe4 48. Kxg4 e5 49. h4 Ke6 50. h5 Kf6 51. Kh3 1-0 GMs Ori Kobo, Victor Mikhalevski and Israel Caspi, IMs Ido Gorshtein and Or Bronstein and FM Yotam Shohat scored 6½ points each. FM Yeshaaiahu Tzidkiya became the best junior, finishing on 6 points. GM Avigdor Bykhovsky (pictured below) was declared best senior, while the best female prize was awarded to WCM Ronit Levitan – both netted 5½ points. A total of 28 players received money prizes in all categories. The event was smoothly run by director Olga Volkov (pictured below) and the team of experienced arbiters led by IA Alon Shulman. Shaul Weinstein, deputy chief arbiter, was in charge of the official website and the live broadcasting of the games. School championships and simultaneous exhibitions took place in the city during the tournament. Hopefully, another peripheral city has been captivated by our game to start a new chess community. Final standings: 1 GM Nabaty, Tamir 2639 7½ 2 GM Postny, Evgeny 2557 7 3 IM Efroimski, Marsel 2429 7 4 IM Parkhov, Yair 2434 7 5 GM Kobo, Ori 2513 6½ 6 GM Mikhalevski, Victor 2562 6½ 7 IM Gorshtein, Ido 2417 6½ 8 GM Caspi Israel 2499 6½ 9 IM Bronstein, Or 2484 6½ 10 FM Shohat, Yotam 2325 6½ The full results may be seen here. Text: Yochanan Afek Official website: chess.org.il/ Photo: Ritvo photography
Hungarian Championship: Peter Acs and Zsuzsanna Terbe clinch titles
Peter Acs and Zsuzsanna Terbe won the Hungarian Championship 2021, Géza Hetényi Memorial in the open in women’s sections. Both tournaments, round-robins with classical time control, took place in Budapest from December 7-17. The fourth-rated Peter Asc grabbed the lead in Round 2 but suffered a defeat in Round 4 at the hands of the rating favourite Ferenc Berkes and slid down to a 50% mark. To his credit, Peter braced up and scored an impressive 4½ in 5 games to finish clear first, a full point ahead of the runner-up Gergely Kantor. By clinching the first national title in his long career (Peter won silver with Hungary back in 2002), the native of Eger proved once again that there is life in chess after forty. Gergely Kántor lost two games but managed to overcompensate with four victories scoring a solid +2. In an interview before the event, the talented young GM pursuing his university studies humbly said that he would be satisfied with the bronze medal. As we can see, Gergely beat the target. Bence Copra became the only unbeaten player in this all-GM tournament, but eight draws and one win did not allow him to mount higher than third place. Final standings open: 1 GM Acs, Peter 2569 6,5 2 GM Kantor, Gergely 2575 5,5 3 GM Korpa, Bence 2520 5,0 4 GM Antal, Gergely 2561 4,5 5 GM Banusz, Tamas 2591 5,0 6 GM Prohaszka, Peter 2568 5,0 7 GM Berkes, Ferenc 2680 4,5 8 GM Aczel, Gergely 2553 4,0 9 GM Kozak, Adam 2526 3,5 10 GM Medvegy, Zoltan 2527 1,5 Zsuzsanna Terbe sprang a major surprise in the women’s event, winning her maiden national title. The lowest-rated player in the tournament, Zsuzsanna scored an amazing 5½/7 and picked 65(!) rating points. A multiple-champion Anita Gara chalked up a very solid +3 (5/7) but had to settle for silver this time. Zsoka Gaal and Bianka Havanecz tied for third place, with the former taking bronze thanks to better tiebreaks. Final standings women: 1 WFM Terbe, Zsuzsanna 2159 5½ 2 IM Gara, Anita 2359 5 3 WIM Gaal, Zsoka 2362 3½ 4 WIM Havanecz, Bianka 2229 3½ 5 WIM Terbe, Julianna 2294 3 6 WIM Mihok-Juhasz, Barbara 2275 3 7 WGM Lakos, Nikoletta 2211 1½ 8 IM Lazarne Vajda, Szidonia 2333 1 Official website: chess.hu/ Photo: Magyar Sakkszövetség