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Jan Timman was in Tallinn last time in 1973 when he played tournament together with Paul Keres. Then he was young and good looking with long hair and was often invited to the dance in restaurant. He got his experience and won easily 27 years later the Keres memorial tournament in active chess. Paul Keres memorial tournament in active chess was
already 11th in a row. Past years winners include one of the best players in active chess Vassily Ivanchuk. On the seventh of January this year Paul Keres was going to celebrate his 85th birth anniversary. Despite really small prize fund the tournament became quite strong including already legendary Judith Polgar. In the preliminaries six grandmasters among 32 players participated. There was also tournament for women and B-tournament for lower rated players 62 participants. The reason for relatively big interest is of course connected with the name of Paul Keres which has strong influence still after his death in 1975. Estonia and city of Tallinn had the chance to demonstrate their willingness to join the European community and tried to do their best. I hope the participants were satisfied with the organization and enjoyed the views of the old city as well. There was although one mishandling by the organizers. The organizer sport club Kalev were mainly focused on the main tournament and the women competition got less care. One participant already invited got red flag on the eve of the tournament. Main reason the budget was short. I take the chance and apologize to a certain player. I like to give some comments to this respective issue concerning the organizers misbehavior in general. In the chess world we have people playing chess for living. The organizations above chess players are not normally fully responsible of their wrongdoings. In most cases the financial responsibility together with open democratic control are missing. For example there are rumors that in Delhi during the World Championships the official so called ``chess rate`` in the hotel was actually higher than the normal charge. Who received the difference? Someone who loves chess and likes spend his time and money for chess, people like FIDE officials, many private sponsors, tournament organizers etc. are not usually professional accountants or managers. On the other hand their influence to GM-s everyday life is enormous. Problem is that organizations on non profit bases try to have control over profit searching individuals, the chess players. There should be someone in between. I believe that Mr. Kasparov felt unconsciously that something is wrong and created his own organizations GMA and PCA. The mistake however was that he threw out together with the water also the child (FIDE). The chess world needs all chess loving people-we assume that all of them are not guilty until declared so. To connect all interested parts is not easy task. Today there is infrastructure built in FIDE with FIDE Commerce International ltd. It is another try to coordinate chess world. The organizer, sponsor, chess player etc. who wants to make things going in his own way and is aware of any control is like a child of change. The chess world is not just battleground of East and West or any other confrontation imaginable, it is just 64 squares where the battle is going on. Todays chess world is much different when the great gentelman Paul Keres played. The best way to remember someone who was chess player is to play chess. Let start to look the games of the tournament. First
round. Timman won easily against Miezis. The latter was probably too exhausted from the preliminary tournament which ended in few hours before the main event. Game
1 Miezis,N
(2518) - Timman,J (2639) [A21] The future winner did not give to Miezis any chance. Timman played in solid positional manner. 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.g3 Bxc3 4.dxc3 Nc6 5.Bg2 Nge7 6.e4 d6 7.Nf3 Be6 8.b3 h6 9.Be3 Qd7 10.h3 f5 11.exf5 Nxf5 12.Qd2 0–0 13.0–0–0 Miezis managed to make long castle three times when he was white, only exception was the game with Rustemov. He should play Sicilian instead. 13...a6 14.Nh4 This move was made out of option to create any chance to attack. 14...Nxh4 15.gxh4 Rad8 16.Rhg1 Kh7 17.h5 Rf6 18.Bh1 Qf7 19.Qe2 Bxh3 20.Rg3 Bf5 21.Rdg1 Rd7 22.Bd5 Qf8 23.f3 Nd8 24.Bd2 c6 25.Be4 Ne6 26.Bxf5+ Rxf5 27.Qe4 d5 28.Qd3 Nc5 29.Qe3 dxc4 30.Kc2 Rxh5 31.R1g2 Qf5+ 32.Kb2 Nd3+ 33.Ka3 Nf4 34.Rg1 Rh2 35.Qe1 Rhxd2 Cool work by Timman 0–1 All other games ended in draw. In Polgar-Svidler a popular line in Naijdorf was played. Svidler did not have any opening problems with black. My game with other home representative suddenly ended in a draw. Game
2 Ehlvest,J
(2627) - Sepp,O (2439) [E61] 39.¦dd8
I had 38 seconds left and offered a draw. After 39...Bd6 40.g4! white is winning. ½–½ Second
round. Gavrikov - Polgar was relatively short draw. All other games were decisive. Timman solidly outplayed the only non GM Olav Sepp. I lost to one of the main pre tournament favorite. Game
3 Svidler,P
(2689) - Ehlvest,J (2627) [B54] 1.e4 c5!? To choose the opening is not an easy task because Svidler is very good in Ruy Lopez as well. He is typically dangerous player when playing white. 2.Nf3 e6 The real test is of course Najdorf, but I did not try it in Delhi against Grischuk and I was not sure that it is good enough against Svidler also. 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Rc3 d6 6.g4! After all other moves black has good Najdorf set up. 6...Re7 Now it is Paulsen, more common and interesting is 6...b5 7.g5 Nec6 8.Be3 b5 9.f4 h6!? 10.Nf3™ hxg5 11.Nxg5 Rd7 12.Qd2 Nb6 13.Bd3 Na4 Play in the center was preferred, 13...b414.Ne2 d5 with unclear game. 14.Nxa4 bxa4 15.0–0–0 More exact was 15.a3. 15...Rb8 [15...a3! 16.b3 Rb8„] 16.a3 Qe7?? After this blunder the interesting game is suddenly over. I saw 17.Qc3 and planned 17...Bd7 18.Qg7 Bf6 and than I realized 19.Qf7 mate. After correct 16...Qc7 17.Qc3 Qb7! white stands slightly better. 17.Qc3 Bxg5 18.Qxc6+ Bd7 19.Qxd6 Be7 20.Qd4 Rh3 21.Bf1 Rh7 22.Bxa6 Qc7 23.Rd3 Rb3 24.Kb1 Rxd3 25.Bxd3 Bc6 26.Rg1 g6 27.f5 exf5 28.exf5 Rh4 29.Qc3 1–0 Miezes-Rustemov was a complicated game. Game
4 Miezis,N
(2518) - Rustemov,A (2534) [A26] Miezis
did not make a single draw and was so disappointed with his result that he
promised not to come back next
year. I hope he is going to change his mind. The following game with mutual
mistakes is typical for Miezis play. 1.c4
g6 2.¤c3 g7 3.g3 f5 4.g2 ¤f6 5.d3 d6 6.e4 ¤c6 7.¤ge2 0–0
8.0–0 Usual set up by Miezis. 8...e5
9.¤d5 e6 10.g5 £d7= 11.£d2 ¦f7 12.¦ae1 ¦af8 13.f4 fxe4
14.dxe4 ¤e8 15.b3 g4 16.¤ec3 exf4 17.gxf4 ¤d4³ 18.¢h1?! [18.f5!?
gxf5 19.h3 h5 20.¤f4©] 18...¤e6 19.f5 ¤xg5 20.£xg5 h5 21.h3 c6 22.¢g2? [22.¤f4!]
22...cxd5 23.¤xd5 h6 24.£h4 £c6? [24...f6!
25.£g3 g5 26.¤f4 e5–+] 25.fxg6
xg6 26.¦xf7 ¦xf7 27.e6 ¢h7 28.xf7 xf7 29.£e7
g6 30.¤f4 ¤f6? 31.¤e6 xe4+ 32.¢g1 ¤h5 33.¦xe4 £b6+ 34.c5
dxc5 35.¦g4 c4+ 36.¢f1 1–0 Third
round. Timman comfortably equalized against Rustemov and the draw was agreed upon. The same happened in game Ehlvest-Gavrikov. Sepp lost to Svidler only in 17 moves playing white. He blundered a piece. Polgar played her best game in the tournament. Game 5 Polgar,J
(2656) - Miezis,N (2518) [B42] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.d3 Nc6
6.Nxc6 dxc6 7.0–0 e5 8.Nd2 Nf6 9.Nc4 Qc7 Miezis has wide practise
with this position. 10.a4 c5
11.Bg5 e6 12.Bxf6 gxf6 13.Qf3 Ke7N 14.c3 h5 15.Ne3 ¦ag8 16.h3 ¦g5 [16...Qd7!?
17.Nf5+ Bxf5 18.exf5 Rg5„] 17.Rfd1 Rhg8
18.Bf1 White has now long
lasting initiative because black has no counter play on g-line. 18...h4
19.b4 a7 20.Kh1 Qc8 21.Rd2 Rd8 22.Rxd8 Qxd8 23.Rd1± Qg8 24.Nd5+!
How many times we saw this before, Judith did not missed the chance. 24...cxd5 25.exd5 Qc8 [25...c8 26.d6+ ¢d7 27.Qxf6+-] 26.dxe6 fxe6 27.Qe4! f5 28.Qxh4 Qg8 29.b5 axb5 30.axb5 Kf6 31.Rd7 e4 32.Rxb7 c5 33.Rc7 Bf8 34.f4! exf3 35.Qd4+ ¢g6 36.Be8+ 1–0
Fourth
round. The tournament was a two day event and fourth round started in the morning of the second day. Maybe due to the early hours lots of mistakes were made. The best game was played between two leaders where Timman showed his cool again. Game 6 Timman,J (2639) - Svidler,P (2689) [A16]
Svidler was the pre-tournament favorite, at
least for me. Timman however managed to control the game. 1.Nf3
Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 I do not believe that this opening is good for active
chess. It does not serve Svidler very well. First of all I remember his game
with Piket with famous 5.h4. The problem is that with black you need to remember
nearly everything, without computer difficult task. This is why in my opinion
Karpov is still very good in rapid and blitz, he never can rely to his memory
but he plays systems where the understanding is more important then to memorise
certain lines. This probably goes with Timman as well.
4.Qa4+ Bd7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 Nc6 I
do not know what is wrong with 6...Bg7 7.e4 Bc6 and in one of my games I tried
8.Qe2 but without success. 7.d4 a6 8.Bg5 It looks like novelty. In D.Gurevich-Yermolinsky in
1999 was played 8.d5 Na7 with complicated game. 8...h6 Now white gets small advantage without any risk. Very
pleasant situation in active chess. More dynamic was 8...Bg7 9.Bxf6
exf6 10.Rd1 Bg7 11.g3! 0–0 12.Bg2 Ne7 13.Qb3 Rb8 14.0–0 c6 15.Qa3 f5 16.Ne5
Be6 17.Nd3 Nd5 18.Bxd5!? Bxd5 After 18...c:d5 19.Nf4 white has nice position
as well. 19.Nf4 Be4? Bishop is not good in the center! Better was 19...Be6
but in this case it was better to take with the pawn in move 18 anyway. 20.f3!
Bd5 21.Ncxd5 cxd5 22.Qb3 Re8 23.e3 b5 24.Nxd5 White has just extra pawn. 24...Rc8
25.Nf4 Rc4 26.Kg2 Qe7 27.Rfe1 Rec8 28.Re2 g5 29.Nh5 Bxd4 30.Qd3! White
forces now the game to the endgame where Timman shows excellent technique. 30...Be5
31.Qxf5 Qe6 32.Qxe6 fxe6 33.f4 Bh8 34.b3 Rc2 35.Rdd2 Rxd2 36.Rxd2 Kf7 37.g4 Ke7
38.Kf3 Rc1 39.h4 gxh4 40.Rh2 b4 41.Ke4 a5 42.f5 Ra1 43.Nf4 exf5+ 44.gxf5 Kf7
45.Rxh4 Rxa2 46.Rxh6 Ba1 47.Rh7+ 1–0
In the game Gavrikov-Sepp Lithuanian GM now living in Tallinn made crucial mistake. Gavrikov,V
(2549) - Sepp,O (2439) 20...Qa5
Difficult to see how white can loose in few moves. 21.Bg5 Bxd5 22.Bxd8?? Gavrikov likes to play active chess in speed of blitz. This time he played to fast. Approximately equal position arises after. [22.Qxd5 Bf6 23.Bxf6 Nxf6 24.Qxb7 Qxa2 25.e5 Nd5 26.Qc6 Nb4 27.Qxc5 Nxc2 28.Red1 Nd4] 22...Qxe1! 23.Rxe1 Bxc4 24.Bc7 0–1 Game
8
In the game Miezis-Ehlvest
another simple mistake was made. Miezis,N (2518) - Ehlvest,J (2627)
32.Kc2 Black has only exchange up, few moves back I could win a piece or a queen. On my clock I had two and half minutes left and decided to centralize my rook. 32...Re5?? 33.Bf2! Rg5? Nothing wrong was with 33...Qe2 and black is still OK. 34.Bxe3 Rxg4 35.fxg4 fxe3 36.Re2 Re8 37.d4 Re4 38.Kd3 Rxg4 39.g3 cxd4 40.cxd4 White has advantage in rook endgame, black`s king is cut from e-line which makes the d pawn very strong. 40...Kg8 41.Rxe3 Kf7 42.d5 b5? With hanging flag black looses his head. After 42...Rg5! 43.d6 does not work because of 43...Re5. 43.d6 1–0 Rustemov as white outplayed Polgar but failed to win throughout the game. Fifth
round. Sepp won easily against Miezis. Svidler did not manage to create serious opposition against Gavrikov although the game ended in draw. My game with Rustemov ended in draw after long endgame. Timman continued his winning streak. Game 9 Polgar,J
(2656) - Timman,J (2639)
Timman
equalized in opening (Ruy Lopez) very easily but later in the middle game played
too optimistically and missed some tricky moves by Polgar and found himself in
this lost endgame. Still he has two bishops. 41.Re7?
The move himself is not so bad but Judith is playing only with her rook on
remaining game. Stronger was 41.Ne8 Rd7 42.Bf8 collecting nearly all pawns. 41...Kd3 Activity for all cost. 42.Nb5 Be3 43.Nc3 Bd4 44.Rxg7 Be5+ 45.Kg1 Kc2 46.Rg6?! Bf7 47.Rg7 Bg8
48.Rb7 Rd2 49.Ba5 Bd5 The position is unclear and 50.N:d5 was needed, but
Judith continues to play for a win... 50.Rg7?!
Bd4+ 51.Kf1 Rf2+ 52.Ke1 Rxf5 53.Rd7 Bf2+ 54.Ke2 Bxg2 Black is winning now. 55.Nd1
Bf3+ 56.Kxf2 Bxd1+ 57.Ke1 Re5+ 58.Kf2 Rxa5 59.Rd4 Rc5 60.a4 Bh5 61.a5 Kxb2 62.a6
Kc3 63.Rd6 Ra5 64.Rxf6 Be8 65.Rxh6 Bb5 66.Rh5 Kb4 0–1 Sixth
round. Timman played white against Gavrikov. As a leader Timman probably stood before a problem –to play for a win or make a draw. Playing undecisively he faced lost position and was saved only by Gavrikov`s mistake. Svidler won easily against Miezis who castled long again as white in English opening. Rustemov won neatly against Sepp. Polgar was still under influence of previous game. Game
10 Polgar,J
(2656) - Ehlvest,J (2627) [B81] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.g4 Polgar
said after in the interview, that this attack is not her favorite but because of
Keres this was the right move. 6...h6
7.g5 hxg5 8.Bxg5 Nc6 9.Qd2 Qb6 10.Nb3 Ne5 11.Be2 Rh3
Very old line played in few games in seventies,
before 7.h4 become more popular. 12.Be3 Rxe3 13.fxe3 Bd7 14.a4?! It is difficult to attack on this
kind of position. Black has quiet reasonable compensation. Better was 14.Qd4 14...a6
15.Qd4 Qc7 16.a5 Bc6 17.Rf1 Rc8 18.Nd2 Nfd7 19.b4?! Be7 20.Ra3 Bf6 21.Kd1 Ng4³
22.e5 Ngxe5 23.b5 axb5 24.Bxb5 d5 25.Qa4 Be7 26.Ra2 Ra8! 27.Nb3 Nc4µ 28.Re1 Kf8
29.Bxc6 bxc6 30.Nd4 Ra6 31.Qb3 Nc5 32.Qb1 Qxh2–+ 33.Nce2 Nxe3+ 34.Kc1 Nc4
35.Nf3 Qh6+ 36.Kd1 Bd6 37.Ned4 Ne4 38.Qb3 Ra8 39.a6 Rb8 40.a7 Rxb3 41.cxb3 Nb6
42.Ra6 Na8 43.Rxc6 Bc7 44.Nb5 Qf4 45.Rxe4 Qxf3+ 46.Kc1 Qf1+ 47.Kb2 Qxb5 0–1
Final
round. Timman comfortably equalized in the opening against
me as black and having slightly better endgame offered a draw. I agreed and
first congratulated him for his outstanding result. When Svidler noticed this he
offered a draw to Rustemov because the winner of the tournament was clear. In
other games Polgar beat Sepp with black and Gavrikov won Against Miezis as
white.
The women competition was won by Victorija
Cmilyte. Not a big surprise. She also played on the men's preliminary
tournament. Finally I want to thank all participants finding time to come
Tallinn. Jaan Ehlvest Paul Keres Memorial - Official Website: http://online.ee/~maleliit/11th.htm
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