| Czech Open 2001 |
 |
 |
| From 12th to 29th July 2001 the Czech Open chess tournament is played again in Pardubice, about 80km east of Prague. The Czech Open is the first tournament in the Czech Tour series, consisting of the following tournaments: 12/7 - 29/7 Czech Open, Pardubice 2/8 - 9/8 Open Olomouc, Olomouc 7/10 - 14/10 Open Znojmo, Znojmo 1/11 - 8/11 Open Krkonose, Pec pod Snezkou 25/1 - 1/2 2002 Open Mariánske Lázne, Mariánske Lázne 2/2 - 9/2 2002 Open Praha, Praag |
 |
| One of the playing halls in the IDEON (picture at Czech Open 2000) |
 |
| Friday 20-7 At last, there we are in Pardubice, having trained all the day and all the way from Amsterdam yesterday. At exactly the right moment we fled from Dutch lousy weather to tropical Berlin sun. After having consumed some excellent local cuisine at "Hollandische snacks" in Berlin Ostbahnhof and a re-visit to the East Side Gallery, we moved on to Pardubice where we decided a cab would take us to the hotel. Alas, there were our jolly beds! Great was our astonishment when all the lights went out (much to our surprise) and we were moved to another room. Good night anyway! Today, we bought sunglasses after being struck by a truely tropical rain. Now we are just about to leave for the IDEON and subscribe, with the tournament starting tomorrow. |
| Saturday 21 July round 1 Martijn - Fahad Al-Sulaiti (QAT, 1950) 1 - 0 Michael Popienko (GER, 1648) - Roel 1 - 0 Erik - Ralf Poschman (GER, 1862) 1/2-1/2 Sundag 22 July round 2 Sundag we arrived quite early at the IDEON, since Dutch champion Loek van Wely and Czech champion Sergej Movsesian would be playing an 8-game bltz-match (5 min pppp). More people turned out to be informed on this, resulting in a crowdy atmosphere around their board in the main hall. Eventually, Movsesian beated van Wely with 4.5-3.5 after a number of exciting matches. Thus, we were all inspired to play the second round. Checking the board however, Erik started laughing at me, since I was about to play a 14-year old girl from Latvia, rated at 1893, but quit laughing at me when we noticed he had to play against a 12-year old girl from Russia. Alise Zurmutai (LAT, 1893) - Martijn 1/2-1/2 Veronica Slepyan (RUS, 1860) - Erik 1 - 0 Roel - Rudolf Hampel (CZE, 1702) 1 - 0 Monday 23 July round 3 This morning the third round was played. Well, at 8AM ,the clocks were activated, resulting in practically all players (that is, half of them) being ten minutes down, since 8AM is quite early somehow. Previous year the result of ' the longest day' was 1 out of 6 for the three of us together. In the afternoon, the fourth round is played from 4PM until 11PM. This time, we already reached the same day result, scoring 1 out of three in the morning session. Erik directed his pawns quite enthusiastically towards the black king, but insufficient piece-support resulted in another result than the one he hoped for Roel played his specially prepared NimzoIndian defence, but in one way or another, this was quickly changed into a Stonewall. A hardly dynamic Stonewall, leaving Roel at 1,5 out of 2 for this day. I instructively showed how easy it is to get a draw from an abolutely won position. Pretty astonishing, moreover because my opponent became the later group-winner. Martijn - Eugene Kashirsky (RUS, 1950) 1/2-1/2 Pavel Nadrchal (CZE, 1677) - Roel 1/2-1/2 Erik - Jindrich Pyskaty (CZE, 1847) 0 - 1 round 4 For me a hardly exciting 3,5 hours of Ruy Lopez.. My opponent did not hide to show one of his main hobbie (piece-trading), enabling us to put the pieces back in the box at an enjoyable time. Eventually, he managed to score 6 out of 9, so he wasn't that bad :) Added to the draws Roel and Erik managed to reach, still a day score exceeding last year's score by 150%. Rashid Al-Obaidli (QAT, 1950) - Martijn 1/2-1/2 Roel - VladislavTolar (CZE, 1700) 1/2-1/2 Paulius Juodisius (LTU, 1950) - Erik 1/2-1/2 Tuesday 24 July round 5 Oh-oh. That's what happens when you play the NimzoIndian automatically instead of reminding its essentials. Entrez-vous!. Although I played a quite enjoyable offer in the midgame to save my game, I probably should have chosen to exchange queens and anter the endgame with a bishop and a pawn against the rook. Now I took another pawn levelling in points but the smash onto my king's position following it was not very subtile. First loss in the tournament..Meanwhile, Erik beated our own Fahad He probably doesn't like Dutch players too much anymore. Martijn - Marek Rafaja (CZE, 1897) 0 - 1 Birte Zehner (GER, 1683) - Roel 1/2-1/2 Erik - Fahad Al-Sulaiti (QAT, 1950) 1 - 0 Wednesday 25 July round 6 After a short yet great night Erik wasn't happy with his opening game leaving him under some pressure (that's his words, I could hardly see any of the pressure, but hey). Luckily, his opponent wasn't too sharp either and after a mere 17 moves, hands were shaken after a repitition of moves before 5PM. Gee.... Roel wasn't unlucky either. Although he played very well and got an active and dynamic position, his opponent decided to resign when Roel was obviously bluffing. Better next time! Ik played another Czech, who played a sharp King's Gambit like opening, leaving my f7 pawn under a lot of pressure. I expected the worst but by secure defending I was able to exchange some material and castle queenside, avoiding the worst The game turned out to a draw, getting me another half in the kitty. Michal Picka (CZE, 1924) - Martijn 1/2-1/2 Roel - L. Bukacek (CZE, 1687) 1 - 0 Claude Wirtz (LUX, 1798) - Erik 1/2-1/2 Thursday 26 July round 7 Birthday today, ole ole. I received a draw-offer after no more than 9 moves, but decided I didn't feel too bad about my opening. After 20 moves I sort of changed my mind after which we signed peace and drank a drink at the bar. . In the meantime, Erik was shown all edges of the board in his tete-a-tete with Anders Johansson. These Swedish players aren't that bad after all. Rudolf Kolesnikov (UKR, 2150) - Roel 1 - 0 Martijn - Miran Lazar (SLO, 1880) 1/2-1/2 Erik - Anders Johansson (SWE, 1863) 0 - 1 Friday 27 July round 8 Today, Roel was the first of us to finish. :-s His opponent had had an accident on his way to the IDEON, unabling him to reach the playing hall in time, although luckily, he wasn't hurt. Roel was allowed to claim 1 point but decided to make it a draw. Iwas allowed to play Anders Johansson, who kicked off Erik in yesterday's match. He didn't seem to be very familiar with the Meran defence but did play it correctly. Still, I had a good game but I saw I could win a pawn, just a moment too late. In the late midgame I was a little lucky, but a draw resulted. Anders Johansson (SWE, 1863) - Martijn 1/2-1/2 Roel - Martin Pacovsky (CZE, 1709) 1/2-1/2 R Martin Hromadko (CZE, 1869) - Erik 1/2-1/2 Saturday 28 July round 9 Although around us, draws weren't very rare, we all had to play ball today. None of our opponents seemed to suffer from a lack of fighting spirit, thus the day began. Roel finally had a chance to display his knowledge of the French opening, but unfortunately, his opponent wasn't a layman either (not even a laywoman). Roel's pawn formation seemed a little fragile, but a draw never got into danger. Erik's story was somewhat different. He got kicked pretty heavily by a Czech with a not too high Elo. And I, like in the previous round,was allowed to play against one of Erik's opponents, this time our charming 12-year old Russian girl. I got the King's Indian I hadn't hoped for, threw it into a complex Samisch and saw the board change dinto a sea of fire in no time.. Luckily, everything was kept more or less under control, and at about 6:30PM hands were shaken peacefully. A truely more than interesting analysis was begun, showing there was much more in the position than we both had supposed, and we both missed some things.A very nice game, especially because of the possibly side-braches that posed threats during the game. Martijn - V. Slepyan (RUS, 1860) 1/2-1/2 Judith Hoenecke (GER, 1621) - Roel 1/2-1/2 Erik - Petr Benda (CZE, 1596) 0 - 1 r. Elo pt. Buch av. Elo opp. 001. Rafal Siwik 2100 7,5-9 50 1846 Tomas Cagasik 2075 48 1886 Eugene Kashirsky 1950 44,5 1804 Mateusz Piescikowski 1800 46 1859 119. Martijn 1768 4,5 - 9 44,5 1907 132. Roel 1826 4,5 - 9 36 1731 228. Erik 1697 3 - 9 38 1844 253. Rostislav Palla 1684 0,5 - 9 19 1787 |
 |
 |
 |
Sunday's Movsesian-van Wely Match, resulting in a victory for the Czech champion over his Dutch team member at Ordina Breda. |
'Doorgeefschaak' after the tournament was finished. Roel and I playing against Slovakian Mariana Vojenciakova (playing in our group as well) and Czech number 3 Vlastimil Babula (not really playing in our group; IGM 2580). |
After the psychical exercises in Pardubice, we went for some physical exercise in Krkonse/Giants Mountains in the North of the Czech Republic. Here, we are climbing from Spindleruv Mlyn to the source of the Labe (Elbe) river, the 'Labe pramen'. |