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Schwarzacher Open 2026

39. Salzburger Sonnenterrasse Schach-Open 2026 — B-Turnier

Schwarzach im Pongau · 2–9 Aug 2026 · 9 rounds · about 4–5 hours per game Schwarzach im Pongau · 2–9. Aug. 2026 · 9 Runden · rund 4–5 Stunden pro Partie
New to chess tournaments? Neu bei Schachturnieren?

Nine rounds over eight days: one long game per day, and two on one of them. A win is 1 point, a draw is ½, a loss is 0. Swiss system means you're always paired against someone on the same score as you, so the leaders meet the leaders. “Board 14” is just which table he's sitting at: the lower the number, the higher he's placed that round. Each player gets about two hours of thinking time, so a game can run five hours.

Neun Runden an acht Tagen: meist eine lange Partie pro Tag, an einem Tag zwei. Ein Sieg zählt 1 Punkt, ein Remis ½, eine Niederlage 0. Schweizer System heißt: Man spielt immer gegen jemanden mit gleich vielen Punkten, die Führenden treffen also aufeinander. „Brett 14“ ist nur der Tisch, an dem er sitzt — je kleiner die Zahl, desto weiter vorne. Jeder hat rund zwei Stunden Bedenkzeit, eine Partie kann also fünf Stunden dauern.

Exact time control: 90min/40 moves + 30min + 30s/move. Format: 9 rounds Swiss · Classical. Genaue Bedenkzeit: 90min/40 Züge + 30min + 30s/Zug. Modus: 9 Runden Schweizer System · Klassisch.

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Score Punkte
What does “Score” mean?

Score Punkte

A win is 1 point, a draw is ½, a loss is 0. Ein Sieg zählt 1 Punkt, ein Remis ½, eine Niederlage 0.

points from 9 of 9 games Punkte aus 9 von 9 Partien
#10
Rank Platz
seeded #32 Startrang 32
1985
Performance Turnierleistung
What does “Performance” mean?

Performance Turnierleistung

Performance rating: how strong you'd have to be, on average, to score this result. Elias is rated 1798, so this number above 1798 means he is playing above his own level. Turnierleistung: wie stark man im Schnitt sein müsste, um dieses Ergebnis zu holen. Elias hat 1798 Elo — eine Zahl darüber heißt, er spielt über seinem Niveau.

rated 1798 eigene Elo 1798
+38.6
Rating Elo
What does “Rating” mean?

Rating Elo

How many rating points this tournament has added to his official FIDE rating so far. Wie viele Elo-Punkte ihm dieses Turnier bisher gebracht hat.

FIDE change Veränderung bei der FIDE

Updated 9 Aug, 14:30 Aktualisiert 9. Aug., 14:30

Tournament diary

One card per playing day. Open one and you get the long version.

Measured strength Gemessene Spielstärke

Not what the results were worth — what the moves were worth. Every move of every analysed game, priced against the engine and turned into a rating with an honest error bar. Nicht, was die Ergebnisse wert waren — was die Züge wert waren. Jeder Zug jeder analysierten Partie, von der Engine bewertet und in eine Elo mit ehrlicher Fehlerspanne übersetzt.

1869 ±84
Playing strength Spielstärke

somewhere between 1785 and 1953, from 276 measured moves across 8 games — the middle number is the best guess, not the answer irgendwo zwischen 1785 und 1953, aus 276 gemessenen Zügen über 8 Partien — die mittlere Zahl ist die beste Schätzung, nicht die Antwort

1869 ±100
Form at this event Form bei diesem Turnier

this tournament's games on their own, weighted so the games that measured more confidently count for more nur die Partien dieses Turniers, so gewichtet, dass die sicherer gemessenen mehr zählen

2030 ±87Ceiling — worst move out Obergrenze — ohne den schlechtesten Zug +161cost of one move a game Preis für einen Zug pro Partie

The same games with the single worst move of each one taken out — one per game, always the worst, blunder or not. That is what he plays when the catastrophic move does not happen: available to him, and not his rating. The 1869 above counts the blunders, because they happened; the 161 points between the two are what one move a game costs. Dieselben Partien, nur ohne den jeweils schlechtesten Zug — einer pro Partie, immer der schlechteste, ob Patzer oder nicht. So spielt er, wenn der eine katastrophale Zug ausbleibt: erreichbar, aber nicht seine Elo. Die 1869 oben zählen die Patzer mit, weil sie passiert sind; die 161 Punkte dazwischen sind der Preis für einen Zug pro Partie.

The detailed numbers — strength by phase, every game on its own, and how the estimate is made — are private. The headline above is the public part.

Standings Tabelle

Rk Pl. Player Spieler Pts Pkt
1 Narr, Kevin 7.5
2 Donets, Alina 7.5
3 Hamzic, Vahidin 6.5
4 Putz, Lukas 6.5
5 Blum, Gernot 6
6 Schindele, Andreas 6
7 Zesewitz, Maik 6
8 Zaynard, Andreas 6
9 Fellmayr, Simon 6
10 Teubner, Elias 6
All 62 players, after any round → Alle 62 Spieler, nach jeder Runde →

The table above is the top ten plus his row. Die Tabelle oben zeigt die besten zehn und seine Zeile.

Games

Partien

Round 1 Runde 1 · #1

vs gegen Blum, Gernot (2064)

1–0 · Loss Niederlage

Chess scores are always written White first. Elias had Black here. Schachergebnisse stehen immer aus Sicht von Weiß. Elias hatte hier Schwarz.

Board one, Black, against the highest rating in the field. Gernot Blum, 2064. Eighteen moves in, it was still a real game and I was fine. Then I thought for about a minute, played 19...Qf7 and hung my queen the second I let go of her. The engine had it level before that move and three pawns down after it. That is where you resign. I didn't. I tried to bail out by taking as many pieces as I could for her and making the squares around his king weak, so at least I had something dynamic to play for: a rook, then a bishop, then another rook. The equaliser was genuinely there. I had calculated 24...Bxd1, which the engine calls a playable +0.6, and I played 24...Rxd3 instead because I wanted the light-squared bishop for tricks and his king boxed in on the light squares. A move later I just missed the fork. 26.Qg8+ hits my king and the rook on a2 at the same time and there goes the second rook. 25...Bd5 was probably the move. After that the only idea I had left was walking my own king across to the queenside to help mate him, because he could barely move a piece and my king was incredibly safe over there. I analysed it at the board and I don't remember the moves any more. 31.h4 shut that down and that was the beginning of the end. I'm not even mad that I lost. I liked the game and I had a lot of fun dynamically balancing out the queen blunder and the missed equalisation I calculated but didn't play. Blum needed 41 moves to catch my king. Brett eins, Schwarz, gegen die höchste Elo im Feld. Gernot Blum, 2064. Achtzehn Züge lang war das eine echte Partie und ich bin gut gestanden. Dann hab ich rund eine Minute nachgedacht, 19...Df7 gespielt und die Dame eingestellt, kaum dass ich sie losgelassen hab. Laut Engine war es davor ausgeglichen und danach drei Bauern hinten. Da gibt man auf. Hab ich nicht. Ich hab versucht, mich rauszuwinden, indem ich für sie so viele Figuren wie möglich hole und die Felder rund um seinen König schwäche, damit ich wenigstens irgendwas Dynamisches habe: einen Turm, dann einen Läufer, dann noch einen Turm. Der Ausgleich war wirklich da. 24...Lxd1 hatte ich gerechnet, die Engine gibt dafür spielbare +0,6, und gespielt hab ich trotzdem 24...Txd3, weil ich den weißfeldrigen Läufer für Tricks wollte und seinen König auf den weißen Feldern eingesperrt. Einen Zug später hab ich die Gabel einfach übersehen. 26.Dg8+ trifft meinen König und den Turm auf a2 gleichzeitig, und der zweite Turm ist weg. 25...Ld5 wäre wahrscheinlich besser gewesen. Danach war die einzige Idee, die mir geblieben ist, mit dem eigenen König an den Damenflügel zu marschieren und ihn dort matt zu setzen, weil er eh keine Figur bewegen konnte und mein König drüben unglaublich sicher gestanden ist. Am Brett hab ich das durchgerechnet, an die Züge erinnere ich mich nicht mehr. 31.h4 hat das abgestellt, und das war der Anfang vom Ende. Sauer bin ich deswegen überhaupt nicht. Die Partie hat mir gefallen: das dynamische Ausbalancieren vom Damenpatzer und der Ausgleich, den ich gerechnet und dann nicht gespielt hab, das hat alles richtig Spaß gemacht. Blum hat 41 Züge gebraucht, um meinen König zu fangen.

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Use the arrows to step through the game, or drag the evaluation graph to jump.

Line above the middle = his opponent is better. Below = Elias is better. · Dots mark mistakes.

#WhiteBlack
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15.
Engine · Best15.16.17.18.
+0.2
Engine · Best15…16.17.18.19.
-2.5
16.
17.
18.
19.
Here I blundered. I made the move in about a minute and realised the mistake the moment I made it. 20.Ng5 attacks the queen while his queen on b5 is hitting my bishop on d5 at the same time, so there is no version of this where I keep the material.
Engine · Best19…20.21.22.23.
-0.6
20.
Here I thought Nxe5 would be better for him. My own plan was to bail out by taking as many pieces as possible for the queen and making the squares around his king weak, so I had something to compensate with dynamically. The engine agrees with me about 20.Nxe5: about three quarters of a pawn better, because he pockets the pawn and still wins the queen.
21.
22.
23.
24.
Engine · Best24.25.26.27.
+2.1
I calculated this and 24...Bxd1. Objectively Bxd1 is the better one, bishop and rook for the queen with a healthy pawn structure, but I wanted the light-squared bishop for tricks and I wanted his king boxed in on the light squares, so I took the pawn instead.
My line24…
+0.6

My alternative: bishop and rook for the queen with a healthy structure. Objectively this was the better version.

Engine · Best24…25.26.27.28.
+0.8
25.
Here I just overlooked the simple fork. 26.Qg8+ hits my king and the rook on a2 at the same time. Otherwise 25...Bd5 would probably be better.
My line25…
+2.8

What I play instead of 25...h5 once I see the fork.

Engine · Best25…26.27.28.29.
+2.7
26.
27.
28.
29.
I don't know why he let me play e4 and didn't play it himself. If he had, I would probably be dead right there. The engine's first choice one move earlier is exactly 29.e4+.
30.
Instead of c5 I was thinking about a plan of bringing my king over to the other side of the board and mating him there, because he really can't move anything and I have all the time in the world with my king that safe over there. I analysed it and I don't quite remember the moves. The engine is unsentimental about the idea: it doesn't march the king at all, it just throws the h-pawn forward, and 30...Kg5 comes out no better and no worse than what I played. Everything here is around five pawns for White.
Engine · Interesting30…31.32.33.34.
+6.1
31.
With h4 he shut down the king walk idea, and this is the beginning of the end.
32.
My idea now was to just push the pawns and overrun him with them.
33.
34.
34.Qa5 neutralises the pawns completely and from here I have nothing left.
35.
He offered the trade with 35.Bc3 and I declined it, which doesn't matter at all, because the mate arrives a few moves later anyway.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
Round 2 Runde 2 · #21

vs gegen Viehhauser, Simon (1722)

1–0 · Win Sieg

Chess scores are always written White first. Elias had White here. Schachergebnisse stehen immer aus Sicht von Weiß. Elias hatte hier Weiß.

White, round two, straight after the round-one disaster. In general I felt like I was better at all times in this game. The engine says no. A Maroczy bind, my bishop parked on b6, his queenside frozen. That part was true, and it stayed true for about ten moves. Then on move 16 I won the exchange in the wrong order and gave two and a half pawns straight back without noticing anything at the board, and on move 20 I gave the b6 bishop away because I was certain nobody could stop my connected passed pawns. They could. From there the engine has me losing for fifteen straight moves. I spent those fifteen moves pushing the c-pawn up to c7, and then I got up and grabbed a second queen off the next board for psychological warfare, so it stood next to the pawn where he had to look at it. He cracked on move 34, and that pawn was stoppable the whole time. Then I was winning for exactly three moves. 37.Qxa6 threw it away one final time, and he shook hands one move before 37...Bd3 beats me. My judgement was wrong for most of this game and I still walked away with the full point. Positions like this are very hard to defend. Weiß, Runde zwei, direkt nach dem Desaster in Runde eins. Im Großen und Ganzen hatte ich das Gefühl, in dieser Partie durchgehend besser zu stehen. Die Engine sagt nein. Maróczy-Aufbau, mein Läufer auf b6, sein Damenflügel eingefroren. So weit hat es gestimmt, und es hat ungefähr zehn Züge lang gestimmt. Dann hab ich im 16. Zug die Qualität in der falschen Reihenfolge gewonnen und zweieinhalb Bauern sofort wieder hergegeben, ohne am Brett irgendwas zu merken, und im 20. Zug hab ich den Läufer auf b6 hergegeben, weil ich sicher war, meine verbundenen Freibauern stoppt keiner. Konnte er aber. Ab da stehe ich laut Engine fünfzehn Züge lang auf Verlust. Diese fünfzehn Züge hab ich damit verbracht, den c-Bauern bis c7 zu schieben, und dann bin ich aufgestanden und hab mir vom Nachbarbrett eine zweite Dame geholt, für die psychologische Kriegsführung, damit sie neben dem Bauern steht und er sie anschauen muss. Im 34. Zug ist er eingebrochen, dabei hätte er den Bauern die ganze Zeit stoppen können. Dann bin ich genau drei Züge lang auf Gewinn gestanden. 37.Dxa6 hat alles noch einmal weggeworfen, und er hat mir einen Zug vor 37...Ld3 die Hand gegeben. Meine Einschätzung war fast die ganze Partie falsch und ich bin trotzdem mit dem ganzen Punkt rausgegangen. Solche Stellungen sind sehr schwer zu verteidigen.

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Use the arrows to step through the game, or drag the evaluation graph to jump.

Line above the middle = Elias is better. Below = his opponent is better. · Dots mark mistakes.

#WhiteBlack
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My line11…12.
+0.1

The check we looked at first in the post-mortem. It costs him nothing and White has to undo the knight on d5 straight away.

12.
My line12…13.
+0.5

The clean-up version: trade the outpost off and put the knight on e5. Black gives me the d5-pawn as a target but takes all the tricks out of the position.

My line12…13.
+0.6

Our main line at the board: the same check one move later, and again the knights have to retreat instead of jumping into c7.

13.
This is the part where my feeling and the engine still agree. The bishop on b6 freezes his queenside, the knight sits on d5, and around here White is a clear pawn and a half better. Everything I believed about this game was formed in these ten moves and all of it was true, the problem is that I kept believing it for another twenty.
My line13…
+1.6

The other way to meet 13.Bb6. Take on d5 immediately instead of tucking the queen away on c8.

14.
15.
16.
The first place it actually went wrong, and I never noticed it at the board. I win the exchange here and I am at +0.0 afterwards. The move is 16.Qxd4! first: recapture, then take the rook next move, because the rook on e8 isn't going anywhere. The way I played it he gets ...Nxf3+ in between, rips the bishop off my kingside and recaptures on e8 with a free tempo. Two and a half pawns, gone into a move I thought was winning material.
Engine · Best16.17.18.19.
+2.2
17.
My line17…
+0.5

The knight recapture was our first candidate in the post-mortem. Practically it is the same story. He keeps the bishop pair, I keep the exchange.

18.
My line18.
+1.7

Instead of castling I looked at pushing straight away. 18.c5 is fine. But we had the wrong answer for him: 18...d5? just drops a pawn to 19.exd5 and White is better by two. He has to hit the c5-pawn or play ...Qe6 first.

19.
20.
I sacrificed the bishop because I thought my pawns would be unstoppable. The engine says no, and not politely: dead level at 0.00 before this, about -2.6 after it. What it wants instead is 20.e5!, pushing past rather than capturing. I still lose the bishop on b6, but the pawn takes the knight on f6 with tempo and the whole thing holds together. The difference between the two moves is two and a half pawns. That is exactly the kind of decision I take on feel.
My line20.21.22.
+0.4

The move we found afterwards, and the engine's number one: push past instead of capturing. I still give up the bishop on b6, but the e-pawn takes the knight on f6 with tempo and everything holds together.

Engine · Best20.21.22.23.
-0.0
21.
My line21…22.23.24.
-4.0

His queen belongs on c7, not d8. From behind the pawns nothing ever promotes. 22.d6!? is the try, and after ...exd6 cxd6 the pawns are split and the check on b6 comes with tempo.

22.
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24.
Here is the concrete reason the pawns were never unstoppable, and it is worth learning: pieces cannot blockade them. 24...Bd7? or 24...Nd7? both lose on the spot to cxd7, because the pawn simply eats the blockader. What does work is exactly what he played. The rook goes behind the pawn on c8, the queen joins from c7, and then the pawn is just a weakness two ranks from home. A passed pawn on the sixth is only unstoppable if the defender has to stop it with a piece that can be taken.
Engine · Interesting24…25.26.27.
+4.6

The trap that made the pawns feel unstoppable. Blockading with a piece on d7 simply loses to cxd7, because the pawn eats the blockader. That is why the rook has to go behind it on c8 instead.

25.
26.
His one real slip of the whole storm. 26...Qa5 leaves the c-file, and the engine's number one is the move we both wanted for him afterwards: 26...Qc7, queen behind the pawn, door shut, come back in an hour. After ...Qa5 the evaluation jumps from about -2.5 to -1.8. At the board I felt nothing at all, because to me the position looked the same as it had for ten moves.
My line26…
-2.5

The move we both wanted for him afterwards: queen behind the pawn, and the c-file is shut forever.

My line26…
-2.0

The other one we looked at: centralise and offer the trade. Every queen swap is terrible news for my pawns.

27.
The move the whole game was built around, and the engine calls it an inaccuracy. What I missed is 27.Rc5!, hitting his queen and the e5-pawn at the same time: after 27...Qc7 28.Rcxe5 I win the pawn back, my pieces are suddenly the active ones, and the line ends around -1.5 instead of -3.1. That is the lesson of this game in one move. The pawn on c7 looks like the dream and is really just a piece I have to babysit. The rook doing work on c5 was worth one and a half pawns more.
Engine · Best27.28.29.30.
-1.2
28.
29.
30.
Engine · Interesting30…31.32.33.
-4.8

The human way to kill the pawn: put the queen on e7, where it watches c7 along the seventh rank, then bring the bishop to f4 on the same errand. Two pieces covering one square from a distance, and c8 never happens.

31.
Both sides keep proving the same point here without knowing it. The engine's move is 31...Bf4. From f4 the bishop looks straight down the diagonal at c7, and one move earlier 30...Qe7 does the same job along the seventh rank. Cover the promotion square from a distance and my pawn is dead wood. He put the bishop back on g7 instead, where it stares at a pawn on b2 that isn't there any more, and handed back the better part of a pawn.
Engine · Interesting31…32.33.34.35.
-4.1

Same idea, one move later, and easier to find than anything the engine plays elsewhere. The bishop is a spectator on g7 and a sniper on f4, where it stares straight down the diagonal at c7. Trade queens and the pawn is just lost.

32.
33.
My line33…34.
-3.3

Taking the pawn immediately was our main line in the post-mortem, and 34.Bc4 is indeed the wrong way for me: ...Qb4! and I'm losing. But see the other line. 34.Rxc7! saves the game, so 33...Ba4 (what he actually played) was the accurate move order.

My line33…34.35.
-0.1

The engine's correction to our post-mortem: 34.Rxc7! and after ...Qxc7 35.Rxd5 the position is dead level. So the immediate 33...Rxc7 throws the whole win away. His 33...Ba4 first was right, and we had it backwards at the board.

34.
And there it is, the move that actually decided the game. He grabs my rook on c2 and forgets that the c-pawn is one square from a queen with his rook still sitting on c8. 34...Rxc7 first and I can resign: he gives the exchange back, the pawn dies, and he is a clean piece up. Instead the evaluation swings from -3.1 to +2.5 in one move. Twelve moves of me shoving a pawn he could have stopped finally produced the mistake he would never have made in a calm position.
My line34…35.36.
-6.9

This is what he had to play, and we both saw it two seconds after he had let go of the bishop. He gives the exchange back, kills the c-pawn, and stays a clean piece up.

Engine · Best34…35.36.37.38.
-3.2
35.
Here I got up to grab a second queen off the neighbouring board for psychological warfare, and put it down next to the c-pawn where he had to look at it. In fairness it was also the only honest part of my play in this phase, because the pawn really was about to promote. It just took his blunder to get there.
Engine · Interesting35…36.37.
M1

Why 35...Bf8 was forced: blocking with the queen runs into the promotion with check and mate next move. This is the one moment in the game where the second queen would really have appeared on the board.

36.
37.
I completely blundered the game away, and he resigned. I was at +4.0 and grabbed a pawn. 37...Bd3!! wins on the spot, because my bishop on e2 is overloaded and after 38.Bxd3 exd3 the new queen on c8 can't get back to stop the d-pawn. The move that wins is 37.Qd8!, stepping in front of my own pawn so c8 is unstoppable, comfortably over +4. And the version I would rather find under time pressure is 37.Qxf8+ Kxf8 38.c8=Q+ Ke7 39.Qxc2: everything forced, a piece up, nothing left to calculate. He shook hands one move before the refutation. I'll take the point. My play over the last ten moves did not deserve it.
My line37.38.
+3.9

The move that wins: the queen steps in front of the pawn and c8 is unstoppable. Let him have a2. 38.h4 makes luft and there is no perpetual.

My line37.38.39.
+2.1

The version I would want to find at the board: force everything off, promote with check and pick up the bishop on c2. Less spectacular than 37.Qd8, and it wins without me having to calculate anything.

My line37.38.39.
-5.5

What he resigned into. 37...Bd3!! is the whole point: my bishop is overloaded, and after 38.Bxd3 exd3 my new queen on c8 cannot stop the d-pawn. Black wins.

Engine · Best37.38.39.40.
+4.4
Round 3 Runde 3 · #14

vs gegen Zesewitz, Maik (1930)

1–0 · Loss Niederlage

Chess scores are always written White first. Elias had Black here. Schachergebnisse stehen immer aus Sicht von Weiß. Elias hatte hier Schwarz.

Board fourteen, Black, against Maik Zesewitz, 1930. I got mated on move 36. The prep went almost exactly as expected: he opened 1.f4, I got the d5 and g6 setup I had studied, and for eight moves the game sat in a position I had already looked at. On move 10 I messed up the move order. I wanted to take on d4 first and I took the knight on e5 instead, so he got to recapture with the d-pawn, and I honestly also just underestimated his attack on my king. Three moves later I sacrificed a knight for activity. I thought I would get an insane bishop that also picks up some pawns, because his structure is weak and exploitable. I took two of them pretty forcefully with the queen and I thought I was better, but engine says no. Then the queen went shopping on b2 and c2 and she never came home. He put a bishop on e2, she ran to f5, and a rook and a bishop hunted her down there. I keep missing these tactics again and again, which is frustrating, and I feel rusty. He mated me. I always play until mate, that is just how I play. He was the nicest opponent of the tournament. I bought him a beer, we analysed the whole game together, and he told me he had prepared me off my 1.a4 game from last year, the joke one. He said my prep was impressive. The whole family was lovely. Brett vierzehn, Schwarz, gegen Maik Zesewitz, 1930. Im 36. Zug bin ich matt gesetzt worden. Das Prep ist fast genau so aufgegangen, wie ich es erwartet hab: er hat 1.f4 gespielt, ich hab meinen Aufbau mit d5 und g6 bekommen, und acht Züge lang ist die Partie in einer Stellung gestanden, die ich mir eh schon angeschaut hab. Im 10. Zug hab ich die Zugreihenfolge verhaut. Ich wollte zuerst auf d4 schlagen und hab stattdessen den Springer auf e5 genommen, also hat er mit dem d-Bauern zurückschlagen dürfen, und ich hab seinen Angriff auf meinen König ehrlich gesagt auch einfach unterschätzt. Drei Züge später hab ich einen Springer für Aktivität geopfert. Ich hab gedacht, ich krieg einen wahnsinnigen Läufer, der mir wahrscheinlich auch noch Bauern holt, weil seine Struktur schwach und ausnutzbar ist. Zwei davon hab ich mit der Dame ziemlich forciert mitgenommen und ich hab geglaubt, ich steh besser, aber die Engine sagt nein. Dann ist die Dame auf b2 und c2 einkaufen gegangen und nicht mehr heimgekommen. Er hat den Läufer nach e2 gestellt, sie ist nach f5 gelaufen, und dort haben ein Turm und ein Läufer sie erlegt. Ich übersehe diese Taktiken immer und immer wieder, das ist frustrierend, und ich fühl mich rostig. Er hat mich matt gesetzt. Ich spiel immer bis zum Matt, so spiel ich halt. Er war der netteste Gegner vom ganzen Turnier. Ich hab ihm ein Bier spendiert, wir haben die ganze Partie zusammen analysiert, und er hat mir erzählt, dass er sich mit meiner 1.a4-Spaßpartie von letztem Jahr auf mich vorbereitet hat. Mein Prep hat er beeindruckend gefunden. Die ganze Familie war einfach lieb.

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Use the arrows to step through the game, or drag the evaluation graph to jump.

Line above the middle = his opponent is better. Below = Elias is better. · Dots mark mistakes.

#WhiteBlack
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7.
Maybe I should have waited here and played Ne4 instead.
Engine · Interesting7…8.9.10.11.
+0.5
8.
He shut Ne4 down immediately.
Engine · Interesting8…9.10.11.12.
-0.0
9.
Qb6 is a quite annoying move. I think he said that too.
Engine · Interesting9…10.11.12.13.
+0.6
10.
I should have played cxd4 instead, but I messed up the move order. Now he gets dxe5 and the knight on f6 has to move again.
My line10…11.
+2.0

The move order I actually wanted. Take on d4 first, make him recapture there, and only then trade on e5.

Engine · Interesting10…11.12.13.14.
+1.2
11.
Engine · Interesting11…12.13.14.15.
+1.8
12.
I honestly also just underestimated his attack on my king.
13.
I sacrificed for activity here, to get an insane bishop that will probably also pick up some pawns, because his structure is insanely weak and exploitable. That is what I thought.
Engine · Interesting13…14.15.16.17.
+1.8
14.
Engine · Best14…15.16.17.18.
+3.2
Engine · Interesting14…15.16.17.18.
+2.9
15.
I thought I was better here. Maybe the computer says no, but I at least pick up two more pawns pretty forcefully.
16.
17.
I picked up two pawns, I thought he has no attack, and now I just defend.
18.
Now I just get my queen trapped. Maybe I should have played Qf5 instead, but when we analysed it afterwards we also found several lines that lead to a queen loss.
Engine · Best18…19.20.21.22.
+2.5
Engine · Interesting18…19.20.21.22.
+3.0
19.
I made some luft for the king because I thought he had nothing, but apparently he did, because my queen gets trapped soon after. I missed it again. It is so frustrating that I keep missing these tactics again and again, I am getting rusty I feel.
20.
21.
Engine · Interesting21…22.23.24.25.
+5.5
22.
23.
Engine · Interesting23…24.25.26.27.
+6.9
24.
Engine · Best24…25.26.27.28.
+5.4
Engine · Interesting24…25.26.27.28.
+5.8
25.
26.
27.
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36.
Round 4 Runde 4 · #25

vs gegen Juranovic, Igor (1693)

1–0 · Win Sieg

Chess scores are always written White first. Elias had White here. Schachergebnisse stehen immer aus Sicht von Weiß. Elias hatte hier Weiß.

Board twenty-five, White, against Igor Juranovic (1693). He resigned after my 27th move. He came in on the same score as me, with two draws against higher rated players this week. The prep was a system I had never played before, 1.d4 and 2.Nc3 and 3.Bf4, with one rule sitting at the top of it: if his pawn goes to d5, you build first and you leave e4 alone. His pawn went to d5 on move one. So on move four I left e4 alone even though it was probably the more precise move, and I got the slow game the report said I would get. Then I played f3 far too early. The engine says that one move cost a full pawn, his knight came to h5, my bishop got traded off and my h-pawn ended up on g3. That trade handed me an open h-file I had not planned on, and by move 15 the engine had me a pawn and a half up with the queen on h6. Then I pushed the g-pawn one move too soon and gave all of it back. On move 17 I took his knight on h5 with the rook, which is an exchange for nothing, and the engine puts me a pawn and a half worse after it. I did that on purpose. His defence had to be exact and mine did not, I had threats on both sides of his king, and I thought that was the way to play this particular game. One move later he proved me right. The engine gives him exactly one move out of 35 that holds his advantage there, he played a different one, and the pawn he let me push to f6 is the pawn every mating line at the end is built on. He had the same one-move choice three more times and found it once. On move 24 his queen went shopping on c2 and left the seventh rank, which was the only thing guarding g7. Two knight checks later he resigned into mate in two. Two out of four, and 32nd, which is exactly where I was seeded. Brett fünfundzwanzig, Weiß, gegen Igor Juranovic (1693). Nach meinem 27. Zug hat er aufgegeben. Er ist mit demselben Punktestand wie ich angetreten, mit zwei Remis gegen höher gewertete Gegner diese Woche. Das Prep war ein System, das ich noch nie gespielt hab, 1.d4 und 2.Sc3 und 3.Lf4, und ganz oben ist eine Regel gestanden: wenn sein Bauer auf d5 geht, baust du zuerst auf und lässt e4 in Ruhe. Sein Bauer ist im ersten Zug auf d5 gegangen. Also hab ich im vierten Zug e4 stehen lassen, obwohl es wahrscheinlich genauer gewesen wäre, und hab die langsame Partie gekriegt, die im Bericht gestanden ist. Dann hab ich f3 viel zu früh gespielt. Laut Engine hat der eine Zug einen ganzen Bauern gekostet, sein Springer ist nach h5 gekommen, mein Läufer ist weggetauscht worden und mein h-Bauer ist auf g3 gelandet. Dieser Tausch hat mir eine offene h-Linie gebracht, mit der ich nicht gerechnet hab, und im 15. Zug hat mich die Engine mit der Dame auf h6 anderthalb Bauern vorn gesehen. Dann hab ich den g-Bauern einen Zug zu früh geschoben und alles wieder hergegeben. Im 17. Zug hab ich seinen Springer auf h5 mit dem Turm genommen, das ist eine Qualität für nichts, und die Engine sieht mich danach anderthalb Bauern schlechter. Das war Absicht. Seine Verteidigung hat genau sein müssen und meine nicht, ich hab auf beiden Seiten von seinem König Drohungen gehabt, und ich hab geglaubt, genau so gehört diese Partie gespielt. Einen Zug später hat er mir recht gegeben. Laut Engine hält dort genau einer von 35 Zügen seinen Vorteil, gespielt hat er einen anderen, und der Bauer, den er mich nach f6 hat schieben lassen, ist der Bauer, auf dem am Ende jedes Matt aufgebaut ist. Dieselbe Ein-Zug-Entscheidung hat er noch dreimal gehabt und einmal gefunden. Im 24. Zug ist seine Dame auf c2 einkaufen gegangen und hat die siebte Reihe verlassen, und die war das Einzige, was g7 gedeckt hat. Zwei Springerschachs später hat er in ein Matt in zwei aufgegeben. Zwei aus vier, und Rang 32, genau da, wo ich gesetzt war.

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Line above the middle = Elias is better. Below = his opponent is better. · Dots mark mistakes.

#WhiteBlack
1.
2.
3.
4.
Maybe e4 was more precise in this situation, but the report said not to play it right away, so I did not.
5.
I should not have played f3 this early on.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
I calculated a4 as well, but I thought it would weaken my position too much. I do not know though.
Engine · Best11…12.13.14.15.
-0.4
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Engine · Best16.17.18.19.
+1.5
17.
I kept it interesting. Yes it is worse, but his defence has to be very precise, and I have multiple threats and a lot of moves that punish a wrong one. Against this opponent I thought that was the right way to play.
Engine · Best17.18.19.20.
-0.4
18.
Engine · Best18…19.20.21.22.
-2.7
19.
20.
21.
Engine · Best21.22.23.24.
-0.3
22.
The bishop came to g6 to shut the g-file, and it stopped defending d5 doing it.
Engine · Best22…23.24.25.26.
-2.2
23.
24.
Engine · Best24…25.26.27.28.
+2.6
25.
26.
Kf7 and trying to run was probably his best try, but I win his queen in this attack at least. The game is essentially over here. My strategy worked perfectly: make it as complicated as possible, because he is not going to be precise enough to defend it. My attack was alright and my position was not as bad as in the previous games, based on the eval.
27.
Round 5 Runde 5 · #15

vs gegen Calvi, Stefan (2015)

1–0 · Loss Niederlage

Chess scores are always written White first. Elias had Black here. Schachergebnisse stehen immer aus Sicht von Weiß. Elias hatte hier Schwarz.

Board fifteen, Black, against Stefan Calvi (2015). He mated me on move 45 after three and a half hours. I beat him at this event last year and this was the first time he had White against me. The report had him right. He opened 1.e4 like he has in twenty-one games out of twenty-one, put the bishop on e3 and the queen on d2, and pushed the h-pawn at me on move 11, and all of that was in the document, so I played the first ten moves almost without thinking and after move ten his clock read 1:16 and mine read 1:32. Sixteen minutes up on a man rated 217 above me. Over my first twenty-three moves the engine has me giving away about a fifth of a pawn a move, and it does not judge a single one of them as a mistake. Then I made it sharp, because that is the game I wanted out of this pairing. On move 22 I pushed the d-pawn and blew the board up with about fifteen minutes each, and from there we both played four moves in under a minute apiece with the time control still fifteen moves away. The engine says the position was level after every one of them. On move 29 he took a rook on e5 and I answered with a queen move that does not take it back. I miscalculated and I was a rook down. Qxe5 was the move, it is the engine's first, and I found it myself in the post-mortem. Four moves later I traded queens because I thought I still had both rooks, and I only worked out where the second one had gone after the trade was on the board. He mated me on the h-file eleven moves after that. We went through the whole thing together afterwards and he loved the game. He said the preparation was accurate, he could not work out why I was still in prep in a structure he has never faced in his life, and he did not know you could prepare somebody's habits with openings they have never played. Still two points, and 40th. Brett fünfzehn, Schwarz, gegen Stefan Calvi (2015). Nach dreieinhalb Stunden hat er mich im 45. Zug matt gesetzt. Ich hab ihn bei diesem Turnier voriges Jahr geschlagen, und das war das erste Mal, dass er Weiß gegen mich gehabt hat. Der Bericht hat ihn richtig gehabt. Er hat 1.e4 gespielt wie in einundzwanzig von einundzwanzig Partien, den Läufer auf e3 und die Dame auf d2 gestellt und im 11. Zug den h-Bauern auf mich losgelassen, und das ist alles im Dokument gestanden, also hab ich die ersten zehn Züge fast ohne Nachdenken gespielt, und nach dem zehnten Zug sind auf seiner Uhr 1:16 gestanden und auf meiner 1:32. Sechzehn Minuten vorn gegen einen, der 217 Punkte über mir steht. Über meine ersten dreiundzwanzig Züge sieht mich die Engine bei ungefähr einem Fünftel Bauern pro Zug, und sie wertet keinen einzigen davon als Fehler. Dann hab ich es scharf gemacht, weil ich aus dieser Paarung genau diese Partie wollte. Im 22. Zug hab ich den d-Bauern geschoben und das Brett mit Absicht gesprengt, bei ungefähr fünfzehn Minuten auf beiden Uhren, und ab da haben wir beide vier Züge in unter einer Minute gespielt, mit der Zeitkontrolle noch fünfzehn Züge weit weg. Laut Engine ist die Stellung nach jedem einzelnen davon ausgeglichen gewesen. Im 29. Zug hat er auf e5 einen Turm genommen und ich hab mit einem Damenzug geantwortet, der ihn nicht zurücknimmt. Ich hab mich verrechnet und war einen Turm hinten. Dxe5 wäre der Zug gewesen, das ist der erste der Engine, und gefunden hab ich ihn selber in der Analyse nachher. Vier Züge später hab ich die Damen getauscht, weil ich geglaubt hab, ich hätt noch beide Türme, und wo der zweite hin ist, hab ich erst gemerkt, als der Tausch schon am Brett war. Elf Züge danach hat er mich auf der h-Linie matt gesetzt. Wir sind die Partie nachher zusammen durchgegangen und sie hat ihm getaugt. Er hat gesagt, das Prep war genau, er hat sich nicht erklären können, warum ich in einer Struktur, die er noch nie am Brett gehabt hat, immer noch in der Vorbereitung war, und er hat nicht gewusst, dass man die Gewohnheiten von jemandem mit Eröffnungen vorbereiten kann, die der nie gespielt hat. Weiter zwei Punkte, und Rang 40.

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Use the arrows to step through the game, or drag the evaluation graph to jump.

Line above the middle = his opponent is better. Below = Elias is better. · Dots mark mistakes.

#WhiteBlack
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
His clock read 1:16 and mine read 1:32, because I blitzed out the moves we had talked about.
11.
He thought h6 was more accurate for me here. I disagreed with him at the board and I still do.
My line11…12.13.14.15.
+1.3

Calvi's suggestion after the game: 11...h6 instead of 11...h5. The pawn still has to go to h5 a move later, and by then White has castled and the a-file is open. The engine has 11...h5 first of everything and 11...h6 sixth.

12.
He said he did not even see Nf6. He calculated for a while and then he saw why it works.
Engine · Interesting12…13.14.15.16.
-0.6
13.
14.
15.
1:00 for him and 1:05 for me. I spent time on the last couple of moves because I calculated a lot of alternatives instead of Nf6 two moves earlier. I do not know why he never took my rook, because on d8 I think it is insane.
Engine · Interesting15…16.17.18.19.
-0.1
16.
17.
I thought trading the dark-squared bishops was fine for me. He cannot really attack my king with a bishop that is out of the game anyway, and his knights were not doing a lot. He still tried.
18.
19.
I was thinking about either e5 or d5, and then I thought he has to shut it down, because leaving the tension or taking is just worse for him.
20.
Engine · Interesting20.21.22.23.
+0.5
Twenty minutes for him and twenty-nine for me. I do not know why he played Rfe1, because as I said I thought he had to shut the pawns down, so now I kick the queen out to one of the files my rooks are standing on and open him up. I do not know what the engine says, but I am pretty confident it agrees with me this time.
21.
22.
Now I blow up the board and make it as complicated as possible. We both had about fifteen minutes in this position.
23.
I took your advice and thought about not recapturing straight away. The knight on g4 is so strong it restricts everything, and now that the diagonal to his king is open he cannot kick it out with f3 because of Qc5+ and he dies.
Engine · Interesting23…24.25.26.27.
0.0
24.
Engine · Best24…25.26.27.28.
+0.2
25.
Engine · Best25.26.27.28.
+1.3
Here I thought about Nxe5 for a moment and discarded it. I do not know why.
My line25…26.27.28.29.
+4.1

The move I thought about and discarded. 26.Bxe4 hits the bishop on b7 and the knight on h7 is still mine to take, so I cannot save both. Taking the knight first is the engine's move and keeps the game level.

26.
I thought about a lot of other moves and ended up taking the bishop, because we both had under a minute and it was too complicated to calculate with the time control still miles away.
27.
Engine · Best27…28.29.30.31.
+0.2
28.
Engine · Best28.29.30.31.
+2.5
I thought Ng5 was more precise, but he did not find it.
29.
This is where I blundered the game away, because I was stupid. I should have played Qxe5 and after Qxe5 Nxe5 Ne4 I get a slightly more comfortable and less complex endgame, but I miscalculated and I lose a rook.
My line29…30.31.
-0.1

What I worked out in the post-mortem. Queens and rooks come off, I keep the knight, and the ending is rook and knight each. It is the engine's first line move for move.

Engine · Best29…30.31.32.33.
-0.2
30.
31.
32.
33.
Engine · Interesting33.34.35.36.
+7.4
I was so tired that I thought I still had both rooks. That is why I traded, and only afterwards did I ask myself where the other one had gone.
34.
I still played on, because maybe I can get him to stalemate me.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
Round 6 Runde 6 · #19

vs gegen Brandstetter, Markus (2027)

1–0 · Win Sieg

Chess scores are always written White first. Elias had White here. Schachergebnisse stehen immer aus Sicht von Weiß. Elias hatte hier Weiß.

Board nineteen, White, against Markus Brandstetter (2027), the third seed of sixty-two. He resigned after my thirtieth move. I left early to buy yfood and read the report for an hour at the venue, and the traffic took the whole hour, so I walked into the hall about ten minutes late with twenty minutes left before the clock would have taken the game off me. He waited for me. What a nice guy. So the preparation was a skim on the morning of the game. What stuck was a bit of the Scotch and some plans against the Sicilian, and a4 before the bishop comes out. He answered 1.e4 with 1...c5, I put the f-pawn on f4 on move two and the a-pawn on a4 on move six, and the shape on the board was the one out of the document even though almost none of the moves were. On move 6 I looked down and saw that my queenside knight and my queenside bishop had been standing on each other's squares since before the first move. I put them back and we played on. The Laws of Chess have a different answer to that and I only read it afterwards. The engine has me worse from move nine to move eighteen, and not because of one move. I never took his pawn on d4 while it was hanging, I recaptured with the rook instead of the bishop on move 12, and on move 13 I gave a pawn to push his queen out to a5 and get my rook to h3. He defended the gambit properly and he kept the pawn for six moves. Then he played 18...Nb4 and 21...Rab8, the game turned twice in four moves, and after that I took the pawn back on b7, pushed f4-f5 into his king and gave a bishop on h6. My worst moment is move 20 and nothing on the board shows it. There was 20.Bd2, which I found at the board and threw away because of 20...Qb6. After 20...Qb6 there is 21.Rb1, it is the only move, and the engine puts White more than a pawn above the move I played. I calculated the whole tactic and stopped one move short of the answer. Three points from six rounds, 33rd, and a tournament performance of 1909 against my own 1798. Brett neunzehn, Weiß, gegen Markus Brandstetter (2027), die Nummer drei der Setzliste von zweiundsechzig. Nach meinem dreißigsten Zug hat er aufgegeben. Ich bin früh losgefahren, um yfood zu kaufen und im Spiellokal eine Stunde den Bericht zu lesen, und der Verkehr hat mir die ganze Stunde gefressen, also bin ich ungefähr zehn Minuten zu spät in den Saal gekommen, mit zwanzig Minuten Luft, bevor mir die Uhr die Partie genommen hätte. Er hat auf mich gewartet. Wirklich netter Kerl. Das Prep war also ein Überfliegen am Vormittag. Hängen geblieben sind ein bisserl vom Schottisch und ein paar Pläne gegen Sizilianisch, und a4, bevor der Läufer rauskommt. Er hat auf 1.e4 mit 1...c5 geantwortet, ich hab im zweiten Zug den f-Bauern auf f4 und im sechsten den a-Bauern auf a4 gestellt, und die Struktur am Brett ist die aus dem Dokument gewesen, obwohl fast keiner der Züge daraus war. Im 6. Zug hab ich runtergeschaut und gesehen, dass mein Damenspringer und mein Damenläufer seit vor dem ersten Zug auf den Feldern des jeweils anderen gestanden sind. Ich hab sie zurückgestellt und wir haben weitergespielt. Die Schachregeln haben darauf eine andere Antwort, und die hab ich erst nachher gelesen. Die Engine sieht mich von Zug neun bis Zug achtzehn schlechter, und das liegt nicht an einem Zug. Ich hab seinen Bauern auf d4 nie genommen, solange er hängt, ich hab im 12. Zug mit dem Turm statt mit dem Läufer zurückgenommen, und im 13. Zug hab ich einen Bauern hergegeben, um seine Dame nach a5 zu treiben und meinen Turm nach h3 zu bringen. Er hat das Gambit sauber verteidigt und den Bauern sechs Züge lang behalten. Dann hat er 18...Sb4 und 21...Tab8 gespielt, die Partie ist in vier Zügen zweimal gekippt, und danach hab ich mir den Bauern auf b7 zurückgeholt, f4-f5 in seinen König geschoben und auf h6 einen Läufer hergegeben. Mein ärgster Moment ist Zug 20 und am Brett sieht man ihn nicht. Da wäre 20.Ld2 gewesen, den hab ich am Brett gefunden und wegen 20...Db6 verworfen. Nach 20...Db6 gibt es 21.Tb1, das ist der einzige Zug, und die Engine sieht Weiß damit mehr als einen Bauern besser als mit dem Zug, den ich gespielt hab. Ich hab die ganze Kombination gerechnet und einen Zug vor der Antwort aufgehört. Drei Punkte aus sechs Runden, Rang 33, und eine Turnierleistung von 1909 gegen meine eigenen 1798.

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Use the arrows to step through the game, or drag the evaluation graph to jump.

Line above the middle = Elias is better. Below = his opponent is better. · Dots mark mistakes.

#WhiteBlack
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
a4, with the Bb5 idea out of the report. I do not know if it is right in this position and I played it anyway.
My clock read 1:30 and his read 1:25. This is where I looked down and found my queenside knight and my queenside bishop on each other's squares.
Engine · Best6…7.8.9.10.
-0.9
7.
An interesting position. Both knights get really beautiful outposts, and if he just does nothing I simply have less space, but I still like White here, because it is a nice position against a newer player who will eventually self destruct.
8.
Engine · Interesting8.9.10.11.
+1.0
9.
10.
1:28 against 1:17. I do not know if c3 was accurate. I thought it would introduce some interesting tension.
11.
Engine · Interesting11.12.13.14.
0.0
I think Bxf3 is inaccurate. He should probably have gone for the b5 plan or for ...f6, but he took because he thought he could win a pawn this way.
12.
He wanted the pawn. I thought I could gambit it to exile his queen and point my pieces at his king, and that is what happened.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
Maybe he should have butchered down the queenside and pushed the pawn instead of trying to defend his king. There surely has to be a way to keep the pawn and convert it.
18.
Nb4 is just bad, because now I win the pawn back and start a devastating attack on the king. He should probably not have moved the knight at all, because b7 always hangs.
Engine · Best18…19.20.21.22.
-0.7
19.
20.
My line20.21.22.23.
+1.6

The move I found at the board and did not play. 20...Qb6 is exactly the reply I was afraid of and it is the engine's first, but 21.Rb1 answers it: the rook steps off the knight's fork with tempo on the queen, and Bxa8 wins the exchange anyway. 21.Rb1 is the only move here. Every other 21st move drops White from about +1.5 to worse than −2.3.

My line20.21.22.23.
+4.6

The tactic I actually calculated, and it works. If he takes the rook, Qh5 threatens mate on h7 while the bishop on d2 is still attacking the queen on a5, so he cannot answer both. He gets a rook, I get the queen.

31 minutes against 37. Here I thought about a crazy move, Bd2: if he takes the rook I go Qh5 and win his queen. I discarded it because of 20...Qb6, where he just moves the queen and I have nothing. Maybe it works anyway.
21.
The rook was saving itself into an attacking square. I think Rab8 is inaccurate and he should just give me the exchange, because the attack after this is pretty forced.
Engine · Best21…22.23.24.25.
+0.4
22.
I sacrifice a bishop for a crazy attack and he cannot take it. I calculated the refutation at the board and the refutation is forced. Bf8 does not hold either.
Engine · Best22…23.24.25.26.
+4.3
23.
Another move where the bishop is hanging, and this time I still think his best try is not to take it. I calculated something else and I do not remember it.
24.
25.
The second bishop, to open his king up and murder it. Maybe g6 was his better try. He is hopelessly dead either way.
26.
Kg7 was maybe his better try.
27.
Engine · Interesting27.28.29.30.
M1
Probably his best try, giving the rook back to prolong the mate.
28.
Here I thought about Qxf7 and about Rxf7. Rxf7 is better in my opinion, because it pretty much forces ...Qe1+ if he wants to play on, and that lets me trade down into a completely winning endgame.
29.
30.
Whatever he does I can always simplify down to something like 30...Nxe5 31.Rxh6+ Bxh6 32.Qxh6+ Kg8 33.Qg5+ Kf7 34.Qxd8, and I am just winning if I grab his remaining centre pawn. I could even give the queen for the knight and it is still winning.
Round 7 Runde 7 · #16

vs gegen Schmied, Hagen Matthias (1717)

0–1 · Win Sieg

Chess scores are always written White first. Elias had Black here. Schachergebnisse stehen immer aus Sicht von Weiß. Elias hatte hier Schwarz.

Board sixteen, Black, against Hagen Matthias Schmied (1717) from Trofaiach. He resigned after my twenty-seventh move. Second win in a row, and the first game this week where I was the higher-rated player at the board. His opening moves came fast, so on move six I played d5. The move is probably not correct and I played it on purpose: it takes the game out of known lines into a structure I have played a lot, and from there we both had to think. On move ten I gave a knight on b4. It is a pattern I know from the Benoni, only with the bishop landing on f6 instead of the queen: the long diagonal opens and the rook in the corner cannot be held. Two moves later the bishop took it. The engine is honest about the sacrifice: 12.Bg5 refutes it, because the f6 bishop can be met with tempo on my queen before it cashes in. That move never came, and after that I had the exchange and targets. From move fifteen I did what round five taught me: no complications, trade everything, keep the pressure. I calculated 15...Nd4 at the board, found the refutation myself and threw the idea away, which is exactly the discipline that was missing against Calvi. He offered a draw on move 24. By then I had calculated every line to the end and blitzed the rest out: Ra3, Rd3, and on move 27 both rooks landed on his bishop. Every recapture loses more material to the back rank, so he resigned. We analysed together afterwards for a while, which is the best part of these open tournaments. 4 from 7, rank 24, performance 1931 against my own 1798. Brett sechzehn, Schwarz, gegen Hagen Matthias Schmied (1717) aus Trofaiach. Nach meinem siebenundzwanzigsten Zug hat er aufgegeben. Der zweite Sieg in Folge, und die erste Partie diese Woche, in der ich am Brett der nominell Stärkere war. Seine Eröffnungszüge sind schnell gekommen, also hab ich im sechsten Zug d5 gespielt. Der Zug ist wahrscheinlich nicht korrekt und ich hab ihn mit Absicht gespielt: er holt die Partie aus den bekannten Varianten in eine Struktur, die ich oft gespielt hab, und ab dort haben wir beide denken müssen. Im zehnten Zug hab ich einen Springer auf b4 hergegeben. Das ist ein Muster, das ich aus dem Benoni kenne, nur landet statt der Dame der Läufer auf f6: die lange Diagonale geht auf und der Turm im Eck ist nicht zu halten. Zwei Züge später hat der Läufer ihn genommen. Die Engine ist ehrlich zu dem Opfer: 12.Lg5 widerlegt es, weil der Läufer auf f6 mit Tempo gegen meine Dame angegangen werden kann, bevor er auf a1 kassiert. Der Zug ist nie gekommen, und danach hab ich die Qualität gehabt und Ziele dazu. Ab Zug fünfzehn hab ich gemacht, was mir Runde fünf beigebracht hat: keine Komplikationen, alles abtauschen, den Druck halten. 15...Sd4 hab ich am Brett gerechnet, die Widerlegung selber gefunden und die Idee weggelegt, genau die Disziplin, die gegen Calvi gefehlt hat. Im 24. Zug hat er remis geboten. Da hatte ich schon jede Variante zu Ende gerechnet und hab den Rest runtergespielt: Ta3, Td3, und im 27. Zug sind beide Türme auf seinem Läufer gelandet. Jedes Zurückschlagen verliert an der Grundreihe noch mehr Material, also hat er aufgegeben. Wir haben danach noch eine Weile gemeinsam analysiert, das ist das Beste an diesen Open. 4 aus 7, Rang 24, Turnierleistung 1931 gegen meine eigenen 1798.

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Use the arrows to step through the game, or drag the evaluation graph to jump.

Line above the middle = his opponent is better. Below = Elias is better. · Dots mark mistakes.

#WhiteBlack
1.
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3.
The Moscow check. His first moves came quickly, and in the post-game analysis I showed him what I had prepped against 3.d4. He said he would not want that position as White, which is fair, and exactly why he does not play into it.
4.
5.
6.
My move is most probably not correct and I wanted it anyway. It steers toward a structure I know, and from here neither of us was in a book line. He was about fifteen minutes ahead on the clock at this point. The engine's refutation is not the game's 7.exd5: it is 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.e5, sending my knight back to g8 and clamping the wrecked pawns at +1.45.
7.
Engine · Interesting7.8.9.10.
+1.5
8.
e6 is likely wrong too, the engine wanted 8...cxd4. I thought the pawn on c5 was not going to run anywhere, like in most Benoni structures, so I let it go. My plan was simple: Be7, castle, then push on the queenside.
Engine · Best8…9.10.11.12.
+1.0
9.
10.
The engine's move is 10.a3, keeping the b4 square covered, and 10.c4 was the move I was afraid of at the board: the knight gets pushed around and White keeps close to +1.5 either way. After 10.b4 the quiet 10...a5 already brings it down to +0.5. The numbers call b4 the first real concession of the game.
My line10.11.
+1.0

The move I was afraid of. The knight gets sent back, c5 stays covered, and White keeps the space and the pawn. We looked at it together afterwards: c4 and then Be3 if White wants to hold everything, and Black has a long, unpleasant evening ahead.

The sacrifice. A pattern I know from the Benoni, with the bishop on f6 doing the queen's job: the long diagonal opens and a1 cannot be defended. The engine's honest number is +1.8 for White, and the reason is the difference between the two versions of the pattern: a bishop on f6 can be asked 12.Bg5, a queen on f6 cannot. Objectively 10...a5 was stronger. Practically this is the position I had played the whole opening for.
Engine · Best10…11.12.13.14.
+0.6
11.
12.
The engine's refutation of my whole idea is 12.Bg5 at +2.1: it meets the f6 bishop with tempo on my queen, and after 12...Bxg5 13.Nxg5 Qxg5 14.Nc3 the rook on a1 is still standing and White is simply up material. After the game move the position is level again: 12...Bxa1 runs at -0.15.
My line12.13.14.15.16.
-M1

The line from the joint post-game analysis: trade everything and fork with Ne5. The board has the answer ready. Bxe5 gives the piece straight back, and after Rxe5 Rd1+ it is mate on the back rank next move. The rook on a1 never gets to help. This back-rank motif runs through the whole rest of the game.

Engine · Best12.13.14.15.
+1.9
13.
I calculated a lot here and chose a5 because it forces a response on the queenside, and castling just felt too early. The engine disagrees with the feeling: 13...O-O at once is -0.11 and a5 is fourth at +1.10, because the tempo hands White the Bg5 plan with the rook pickup back on. Castling was not too early. It was the move.
Engine · Best13…14.15.16.17.
+0.3
14.
Engine · Best14.15.16.17.
+1.1
15.
Here I calculated the crazy 15...Nd4: it attacks queen and knight, and if he takes my queen I take his. Then I found the refutation myself, 16.Nxd4 just leaves me down material, so I interposed with f6. The engine prices the discipline: f6 is -1.60, Nd4 is +2.83. Throwing the idea away was worth more than four pawns.
My line15…16.
+2.4

The crazy idea I calculated and discarded: Nd4 hits queen and knight, and if the queen takes mine, I take his. The refutation is the third capture, simply Nxd4, and I am down material with nothing to show. Finding this at the board and not playing the move is the whole lesson of round five.

16.
17.
Against Calvi I kept the game complex and it cost me a rook. Here I did the opposite. Bxc3 forces the queen off my diagonal, e5 comes next to fix the dark squares, and the a-file is mine. Simplify while up material: that was the whole plan, and I had it written in my head before move 17.
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20.
It felt good and it is not what the position wanted most. The engine has 20...Ne7 first, rerouting to f5 against the bishop on e3; Bg4 is outside its top five and cost 0.39. But the move asks a question, and only 21.Nd2 answers it cleanly. The game's 21.Be2 is fifth on the engine's list, and from there I stand at -2.75 with 21...e4 on the board.
21.
Engine · Best21.22.23.24.
-1.3
Engine · Interesting21.22.23.24.
-1.5
This blows everything up, and my only regret is the order: the engine plays 21...e4 first at -2.75, and Nd4 straight away is -1.87 after best defence. But the claim I made at the board holds: after Nd4 every white reply is losing. Best is 22.Nxd4 at -2.17, there is no second capture, Bxg4 is not even legal, and every queen move runs into Nxe2+ first.
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23.
The move-order think of the game. I wanted Bxe2 first and feared that after the trades White consolidates to a draw, so I kept the tension with Re8, also because 24.Rxe8 is not even possible with the bishop on e2 in the way. The engine says my fear was wrong: Bxe2 first is -2.56, and the ending after Rxe8+ Qxe8 is -2.6, because b4 and c5 fall and the back rank never goes away. Re8 gave back 1.4 of it. Right instinct about keeping pieces on, wrong price tag on the ending.
My line23…24.25.26.
-7.2

The order I calculated and rejected out of draw fear. If White avoids the rook trade with Re1, this is the punishment: Rxe1+ Qxe1 Qxd4 wins the bishop, and the queen falls next to the mate threat plus the skewer from a1. The engine has this at -8.8. What I misjudged: even the sober Rxe8+ Qxe8 is -2.6 for White, not a draw.

24.
The draw offer came here. The engine's last real defence was 24.f3 at -1.13, luft and a tempo against the g4 bishop in one move, and it is the try I had worried about myself. After 24.Be3 it is -2.35, and my next moves were already written in my head.
Engine · Best24.25.26.27.
-1.0
25.
I called Ra3 my only try and everything else roughly equality. The engine agrees about everything else, and then goes one better: 25...Qd3 forces the queens off into a rook ending at -2.56 that wins itself, with the same back-rank trick doing the work: Qxd3 Ra1+ and the rook arrives on f1 with mate threats. Ra3 is second at -1.96. Right idea, second-best door.
Engine · Interesting25…26.27.28.29.
-2.6
26.
Best move on the board at -2.56. After 26.Qe1 exactly one defence was left, 27.Qf1, holding the material at the cost of the position. Everything else loses on the spot, and 27.h3 is five pawns down after Rd1: the luft that would have solved this game was needed many moves earlier.
27.
My line27.28.29.
M1

The swindle we checked afterwards. Instead of 27.Rd2 the bishop drops back to d2 and hangs itself on purpose. Take it greedily and the dream line - Rxd2, Qxd2, Qxd2, expecting Rxd2 Re1 mate - gets cut off one move earlier: the rook does not recapture, it plays Rxe8 and mates ME on the back rank. I had this one calculated, because you check the last tricks before your opponent runs out of them.

Engine · Best27.28.29.30.
-2.8
Both rooks onto the bishop, and every recapture fails to the back rank: 28.Qxe3 Rxd2 wins the queen next, 28.fxe3 Rxd2 the same, and 28.Rxd3 Rxe1+ 29.Rd1 Rxd1 is mate. He resigned. The one trick left, 27.Bd2 instead of Rd2, is in the sidelines: if I grab the bishop, it is my king on h8 that gets mated, by Rxe8. I had it calculated, because you check the last tries before the game ends.
Round 9 Runde 9 · #6

vs gegen Rukwid, Marc (1954)

1–0 · Win Sieg

Chess scores are always written White first. Elias had White here. Schachergebnisse stehen immer aus Sicht von Weiß. Elias hatte hier Weiß.

Board six, White, against Marc Rukwid (1954), the last round on Sunday morning. We both came in with 5 out of 8. I played the Wing Gambit, 1.e4 c5 2.b4, and that opening is the reason the preparation existed at all. He told me afterwards that the night before he had said to Kevin Narr that he bet I was going to play it, and that he did not prepare it anyway, because Narr told him it is a bad opening and he would work it out at the board. On move six I could not remember which pawn move was the prepared one, so I played c4 off the ideas I still had, and he took en passant. That capture is the moment the engine turns the game around: 0.41 for him before it, 0.90 for me after it, and he told me afterwards that c4 was the move that threw him off. He offered a draw on move ten and I declined after calculating the follow-ups to Nxd6. The engine has me 2.17 up there, so that part was easy, and two moves later I calculated my way into being a piece down. He took my knight on e5 with the queen, put a knight on e4 and left my rook hanging in the corner on a1, and for the next three moves he had a piece for nothing while I had two bishops and both open files. Qa4+ is the worst move I played by the engine count, 0.46 against the 2.4 of 14.d4, and it is also one of the two moves he told me he had missed. The other one was Bc3. Neither of them is a move the engine wanted and both of them are what actually beat him. The rest is the two bishops eating the queenside, a passed pawn on b7 that traded itself for his last piece, and a rook endgame a pawn up that I converted in fifteen moves. He resigned after 44.Rc5, and he said he had not seen the rook going to c6 with check and then sitting down on c5. 6 out of 9, rank 10, and a performance of 1985 against my own 1798. The estimator reads this game at 2130, no mistake and no blunder, my second best of the tournament. Brett sechs, Weiß, gegen Marc Rukwid (1954), letzte Runde am Sonntag in der Früh. Wir sind beide mit 5 aus 8 hineingegangen. Ich hab das Flügelgambit gespielt, 1.e4 c5 2.b4, und wegen dieser Eröffnung hat es die ganze Vorbereitung überhaupt gegeben. Er hat mir nachher erzählt, dass er am Abend davor zu Kevin Narr gesagt hat, er wettet, dass ich das Flügelgambit spiele, und dass er es trotzdem nicht vorbereitet hat, weil Narr ihm gesagt hat, das ist eine schlechte Eröffnung und er kommt am Brett schon drauf. Im sechsten Zug hab ich nicht mehr gewusst, welcher Bauernzug der vorbereitete war, also hab ich c4 aus den Ideen gespielt, die mir geblieben sind, und er hat en passant geschlagen. Genau bei diesem Schlagzug dreht die Engine die Partie um: 0,41 für ihn davor, 0,90 für mich danach, und er hat mir nachher gesagt, dass ihn c4 aus dem Konzept gebracht hat. Im zehnten Zug hat er Remis angeboten, und ich hab abgelehnt, nachdem ich die Fortsetzungen nach Sxd6 durchgerechnet hab. Die Engine hat mich dort 2,17 vorne, das war also leicht, und zwei Züge später hab ich mich in eine Figur weniger hineingerechnet. Er hat meinen Springer auf e5 mit der Dame genommen, einen Springer nach e4 gestellt und meinen Turm in der Ecke auf a1 hängen lassen, und drei Züge lang hat er eine Figur geschenkt bekommen, während ich zwei Läufer und beide offenen Linien gehabt hab. Da4+ ist laut Engine mein schlechtester Zug, 0,46 gegen die 2,4 von 14.d4, und gleichzeitig einer von den zwei Zügen, die er nach eigener Aussage übersehen hat. Der andere war Lc3. Keiner von beiden ist ein Zug, den die Engine wollte, und beide zusammen haben ihn geschlagen. Der Rest sind die zwei Läufer, die den Damenflügel abräumen, ein Freibauer auf b7, der sich gegen seine letzte Figur getauscht hat, und ein Turmendspiel einen Bauern mehr, das ich in fünfzehn Zügen verwertet hab. Aufgegeben hat er nach 44.Tc5, und er hat gesagt, er hat nicht gesehen, dass der Turm mit Schach nach c6 geht und sich dann auf c5 hinsetzt. 6 aus 9, Rang 10, und eine Turnierleistung von 1985 gegen meine eigenen 1798. Die Messung liest diese Partie mit 2130, ohne Fehler und ohne groben Fehler, meine zweitbeste im Turnier.

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Use the arrows to step through the game, or drag the evaluation graph to jump.

Line above the middle = Elias is better. Below = his opponent is better. · Dots mark mistakes.

#WhiteBlack
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3.
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5.
6.
Here I was thinking about what was correct, either axb4 or c4, and I had forgotten the prep. Some of the ideas were still there and that is why I thought c4 was the move. It worked. He took en passant and let me have my game, and the engine calls that capture his first inaccuracy: 0.41 for him before it, 0.90 for me after it.
Engine · Best6…7.8.9.10.
-0.4
7.
8.
Now I just develop everything with tempo.
9.
10.
Here I thought about whether I should press further, and then I said I will just castle. Nf6 is not the biggest threat and he cannot really do much else, so I brought my king to safety and got the rook into the game. After Nf6 he offered a draw and I declined, after calculating the follow-ups to Nxd6 and deciding I was just better and there was still some life in the position. The engine has me 2.17 up at that point.
11.
12.
Engine · Best12.13.14.15.
+1.7
Here I calculated castles or something, and I thought I was still fine: I would just go Re1 and Qf3 in no particular order, and I was happy with the position. He just took my knight, which I thought is bad. The engine agrees about his capture and wants 12...O-O instead. It also flags my Nxe5 one move earlier and wants 12.a4, so this whole trade is two inaccuracies in a row and only one of them is his.
Engine · Best12…13.14.15.16.
+0.9
13.
Here he was looking confused, because my rook is hanging in the corner and he now just has a piece more and I have to prove my advantage. The engine has me 2.15 up while I am the piece down.
14.
Maybe Qf3 was more precise. After castles I have Rxe4, and if he goes Qxa1 I have Qxf7+ Rxf7 and Re8 mate, so it maybe just puts a lot more pressure on him than what I played. The engine agrees about the ranking and not about the move: a deeper search has Qf3 roughly a pawn above the check I played, and it wants 14.d4 above both of them. Qa4+ is the one move of mine it flags after move twelve.
My line14.15.16.17.
M1

The line I wanted afterwards. Qf3 first, and if he castles, Rxe4 and the queen on a1 costs him the game: Qxf7+ Rxf7 and Re8 is mate. He does not have to castle, and the engine defends with Bf5, but it still likes Qf3 about a pawn more than the check I played.

Engine · Best14.15.16.17.
+2.4
Engine · Interesting14.15.16.17.
+2.3
15.
16.
I mean it probably still is better for me, because now he essentially just plays without a rook, as he needs so many moves to get him out, and I threaten so much, and my bishop pair is just so strong.
17.
18.
I just thought, should I go for the f pawn, should I just keep the e file, and I decided keeping the e file was probably best, even if I could probably have picked up his f pawn somehow.
19.
20.
Now he tried to activate his rook via the h file, and I thought it was just super slow.
21.
Here maybe Nc6 was best, but I then somehow probably win some of his pawns. That is at least what I calculated.
22.
Now I thought this is just over.
23.
Maybe Bxc5 and then Re5 just wins both his queenside pawns, but it is probably still fine? I don't know, maybe the endgame is also just a draw, I heard different opinions on it, some 2000s said draw and some said win for White. The engine reads my idea and the d4 I played as the same move, both a shade over 2 at a deeper search, and it wants a waiting move first: 23.Rf3, then d4 and the same capture on c5 one tempo later, at 4.0.
My line23.24.
+2.0

Bxc5 and then Re5, the idea I asked about afterwards. It wins both queenside pawns, and the engine reads it as the same value as the d4 I played. Both of them sit almost two pawns under 23.Rf3.

Engine · Best23.24.25.26.
+3.9
Engine · Interesting23.24.25.26.
+3.8
24.
25.
26.
Instead of Bb3 I calculated either Re6 or Be6. Re6 I discarded pretty quickly, but Be6 I entertained a bit further, and after Bc6 and his rook coming down to the first rank with check and the pawn race that follows I discarded it too and played the simple Bb3, to trade down into an endgame only White can win. The engine plays Bb3 here itself. It puts Be6 about two pawns lower, so the line I spent the time on was worth discarding.
27.
I shoved b7 to maybe have some options open if he tries something funny, and to just be one move closer to the time control, because I was at about 35 minutes here and he had an hour.
28.
29.
During the analysis some people said maybe Rxb4, but I wasn't sure, and I thought I will just win it by having my rook behind the pawn. I don't know much endgame, that just felt right. The engine plays axb4 here itself, and it has taking with the rook eighth, about two pawns lower, so the feeling was right.
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44.
He resigned here. He told me afterwards that he had missed the rook going to c6 with check and then sitting down on c5, and that he had underestimated the two bishops earlier. The engine has the final position at 5.05, and after move 23 it does not flag another move on either side.
Round 8 Runde 8 · #11

vs gegen Hasanovic, Nurija (1924)

+-- · Win by forfeit Kampflos gewonnen

A forfeit score is written White first too: the + side got the point without a move being played. Elias had White here, and there is no game to replay. Auch ein kampfloses Ergebnis steht aus Sicht von Weiß: die Seite mit dem + bekommt den Punkt, ohne dass ein Zug gespielt wurde. Elias hatte hier Weiß, und es gibt keine Partie zum Nachspielen.

He did not show. The weekend rounds start at 16:00, two hours earlier than the weekday ones, and the arbiter told me he thought this one started at 17:00. So the point is mine without a single move: my first walkover of the tournament. The rating part, before anyone asks: an unplayed game does not count for rating, so the performance and the +24.4 still come from the seven rounds I actually played. There is nothing to analyse either, because there is no game. I will never know if it was really the mixed-up start time or my Morra prep waiting for him, and I know which story I am telling at the club. 5 out of 8, and the last round is Sunday morning. Er ist nicht gekommen. Am Wochenende fangen die Runden um 16.00 an, zwei Stunden früher als unter der Woche, und der Schiedsrichter hat mir gesagt, er hat geglaubt, es geht erst um 17.00 los. Der Punkt gehört damit mir, ohne einen einzigen Zug: mein erster kampfloser Sieg in diesem Turnier. Zur Elo, bevor wer fragt: eine nicht gespielte Partie zählt für die Elo nicht, die Turnierleistung und die +24,4 kommen also weiterhin aus den sieben Runden, die ich wirklich gespielt hab. Zu analysieren gibt es auch nichts, weil es keine Partie gibt. Ich werde nie erfahren, ob es wirklich die verwechselte Anfangszeit war oder meine Morra-Prep, die da auf ihn gewartet hat, und ich weiß eh, welche Version ich im Verein erzähle. 5 aus 8, und die letzte Runde ist am Sonntag in der Früh.

Chess pieces by cburnett, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0. Standings and pairings via chess-results.com. Schachfiguren von cburnett, lizenziert unter CC BY-SA 3.0. Tabelle und Paarungen via chess-results.com.