CZECH OPEN 2014

25th year of international chess, bridge and games festival

10.7. – 27.7. 2014, Pardubice, CEZ Arena

http://www.czechopen.net

Festival news



Last Thursday, all attention on the International Chess and Games Festival Czech Open 2014 was focused on the attempt of a Czech record in simultaneous multigame challenge. “It was definitely one of the biggest crowd-pullers of this year’s festival and I think everything went the way we had planned,” stated the director of the festival Jan Mazuch.
Even in the morning, television crews were arriving in the Pardubice ice arena, as the preparations for the afternoon event were reaching a climax. In the remaining hours, the protagonist, David Kotin, had been preparing the tactics for various board games.
There were forty-five different games in total, each forcing Kotin to clash with a different opponent. His task was to go from table to table and finish all games. “It was a challenge, to complete a single circle took me about half an hour, but we finally made it and I am glad it means an entry in the Book of Records,” stated Kotin after the successful attempt.
In order to proceed in accordance with the rules, representatives of Dobrý den agency from Pelhřimov were present – this agency takes patronage over the domain of records and curiosities in the Czech Republic. “The main goal was to provide sufficient number of players, so that Kotin could play against a different individual at each table. Carefully observed indicators of the event included the total time, the youngest participant (aged seven), the number of wins, losses, ties and many others,” explained the record commissioner Lenka Vratišovská. “The record is valid and therefore constitutes a founding entry in the Czech Book of Records, as no similar record has ever been entered,” Vratišovská added.
Kotin, an American based game collector, managed to score 31 wins and 9 ties. The very last game finished 5 hours and 14 minutes after the commencement of the attempt. “It was a demanding challenge, but Mr Kotin and me finally agreed on a tie. I am very glad I could participate in this event, it was definitely an interesting experience,” remarked one of the last remaining opponents after a tie in the game of checkers.

Last week, several popular rapid chess tournaments also took place, of which the most sought after is traditionally the PARDUBICKY KRAJ OPEN, i.e. Czech Open Championship in rapid chess, part of the ACP TOUR. Among the total number of 143 chess players in the start list, a number of resounding names could be found. See the first twenty-five top seeds in the following table; full start list is available on our website:

The total of 24 grandmasters, 27 international masters and 34 chess players holding a title took part in this tournament. The participants came from 18 different countries.
After nine rounds, a leading group of nine players was established, each of them reaching the amount of seven points, which meant an auxiliary evaluation had to decide. The lucky winner was GM Levente Vajda of Romania, second place went to his compatriot GM Nisipeanu, who represents Germany this year. The third place was claimed by GM Bryzgalin.
In the first four games, GM Vajda did not lose a single point and confirmed his dominance by beating GM Navara with black pieces.

PARDUBICKY KRAJ OPEN has also the status of Czech Championship in rapid chess. The best home player, GM David Navara, ended up on the sixth place and reached for Czech Championship gold. Silver medal went to GM Martin Petr who gave a solid performance and confirmed his form before the upcoming Chess Olympiad. Bronze was claimed by GM Babula.

INTERVIEW WITH GM VAJDA, WINNER OF PARDUBICKY KRAJ OPEN

How would you describe your performance in this tournament.
Until the very last moment, I was not sure about the results. There were nine people sharing the same number of points, which meant an auxiliary evaluation had to decide. Eventually, I turned out to be the lucky one (laughs). In general, I think I performed very well, although I was a bit afraid of playing in the morning.

You have had a very convincing start to the tournament…
Yes, that’s right. It is very important to start well, because it means a less harsh draw and you score some initial points that can make you less nervous for the next rounds.

From all the games you played, was any of them especially demanding?
I would call all of them extremely demanding, but I think the most important one was against GM Navara in the sixth round. I had black pieces, but managed to win after a solid performance. In my opinion, this was a key game in relation to the final results.

Have you attended this tournament in Pardubice before?
Yes, but it was five or six years ago. This year I also participate in grandmaster tournament and I’m looking forward to it.

What are your aims for the main tournament?
Well, I would like to win it, but with all the excellent opponents, the odds are against me (laughs). I will try to do my best and will be glad in case of a good result.

The afternoon of Friday 18th was dedicated to the first round of the main PARDUBICE OPEN grandmaster tournament. The last year’s winner and tournament’s first seed, GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (2686) from Romania, arrived in Pardubice as a member of German national team this year. „Last year, Nisipeanu showed top form and lost only 1,5 points, however, I expect even better performance from him this year, because of the upcoming Chess Olympiad,” predicts the director of the festival Jan Mazuch.
The number 2 seed is GM Vorobiov (2591) from Russia, number 3 seed GM Kravtsiv (2569) from Ukraine and number 4 seed GM Levente Vajda (2569), who succeeded in the main rapid chess tournament PARDUBICKY KRAJ OPEN.
The top seeding among the Czech players belongs to number 6 seed GM Štoček (2545), who decided not to participate in this year’s Chess Olympiad, which means he is not restricted from starting in this event.
The start list of this competition comprises 255 names from 28 countries, including Iceland, Indonesia, India or RSA. One hundred sixty players with a title will sit by the chess board tables – 34 grandmasters, 3 grandmistresses, 53 international masters, 5 international mistresses, 52 FIDE masters, 8 FIDE mistresses and 5 FIDE candidate masters.

First fifteen seeds in the main grandmaster tournament

The results of all tournaments and games are available on http://www.czechopen.net/en/.