2017 European Championship

2017 European Individual Chess Championship Minsk, Belarus May 30-June 10

Final Top Standings

1-3. GM Maxim Matlakov RUS 2714, GM Baadur Jobava GEO 2713, GM Vladimir Fedoseev RUS 2690, 8.5/11

4-14. GM Daniel Fridman GER 2605, GM Ivan Cheparinov ECX 2688, GM Alexander Motylev RUS 2665, GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda POL 2693, GM David Navara CZE 2739, GM Kavid Howell ENG 2684, GM Alexander Areschenko UKR 2677, GM Matthias Bluebaum GER 2632, GM Boris Grachev RUS 2650, GM Vitaly Kunin GER 2551, 8.0/11

15- 38. GM Benjamin Bok NED 2598, GM Gawain Jones ENG 2654, GM Daniil Dubov RUS 2660, GM Etienne Bacrot FRA 2696, GM Hrant Melkumyan ARM 2613, GM Dimitrios Mastrovasilis GRE 2580, GM Sergei Zhigalko BLR 2643, GM Vladislav Artemiev RUS 2682, GM Maxim Rodshtein ISR 2698, GM Aleksej Aleksandrov BLR 2559, GM Evgeny Tomashevsky RUS 2696, GM Viktor Erdos HUN 2614, GM Yuriy Kuzubov UKR 2637, GM Luka Lenic SLO 2641, GM Alexander Giazantsev RUS 2659, IM Haik Martirosyan ARM 2516, GM Emil Sutovsky ISR 2646, GM Mustafa Yilmaz TUR 2630, GM Ruslan Ponomariov UKR 2712, GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan ARM 2598, GM Gabriel Sargissian ARM 2650, GM Sergei Movsesian ARM 2680, GM Ferenc Berkes HUN 2654, IM Aram Hakobyan ARM 2449, 7.5/11 Total of 207 participants Time Control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes play-to-finish with 30 seconds added after every move starting move 1.

GM Maxim Matlakov of St. Petersburg is the new European champion. He scored an undefeated six wins and five draws to tie for first with GMs Baadur Jobava of Georgia and Russia’s Vladimir Fedoseev in the 18th edition of the European Individual Chess Championship held in Minsk, Belarus. There was no doubt though that Matlakov faced the stronger opposition and the tie-breaking system duly awarded the title to him. The previous winner, GM Ernesto Inarkiev (Russia), was not present in Minsk to defend his title.

GM Matlakov ( born March 5, 1991 in St. Petersburg) was the World Under-18 Champion in 2009 and the 2011 Russian Junior (Under-20) Champion and a mainstay of the powerhouse St. Petersburg team which regularly competes in the Russian and European team championships.

His main claim to fame is being one of Peter Svidler’s seconds in the 2013 and 2014 Candidates tournaments, and it is easy to see that Matlakov’s chess strengths are tailormade for that role — cutting edge opening preparation, tactical alertness at all times, uncovering hidden resources in a position, and an over-all aggressive posture.

We see that opening preparation from the very first round. You may recall that earlier this year I wrote about Svidler’s opening catastrophe where he was wiped out by Inarkiev in the Keres Variation of the Ruy Lopez. Well, if you are playing against Svidler’s second then you should expect that he is very much up-to-date in the nuances of the line and has something in mind in case it came up again.

Mazur, Stefan (2459) – Matlakov, Maxim (2714) [C96] European Championship Minsk

(1), 30.05.2017 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0–0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Nd7 12.Nbd2 exd4 13.cxd4 Nc6

The embattled Graf line of the Ruy Lopez Keres Variation. 14.d5 Nce5 15.a4 Rb8

I would be remiss if I did not point out that the Spanish GM David Anton won an excellent game against former world champion Veselin Topalov with 15...Bb7 16.Qe2 Rb8 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.axb5 axb5 19.Nf1 Re8 20.Ne3 Bf6 21.Bd2 Bc8 22.Ba5 Qe7 23.Bc3 Ng6 24.Qf3 Bxc3 25.bxc3 Qg5 Black has a comfortable position as he controls e5, f4 and h4. Topalov, V (2739)-Anton Guijarro, D (2650) 15th Gibraltar Masters 2017 0–1 42. 16.axb5 axb5 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.f4 Ng6 19.Nf3 Bh4

As I pointed out in my notes to the Inarkiev- Svidler game, the point of this maneuver is to play ...Bg3, forcing White to advance his pawn f4–f5 after which the e5–square becomes available for the Black pieces. 20.Rf1 Bg3 21.f5 Ne5 22.Ng5 <D>

POSITION AFTER 22.NG5 The critical position. 22...h6! This is a “box” (remember the Chess Informant symbol for “only move”?). In the Inarkiev vs Svidler game the latter played 22...Bh4? and was massacred with 23.f6! h6 (23...gxf6 24.Nxh7! Kxh7 25.Qh5+ Kg7 26.Bh6+ Kg8 27.Qxh4 Ng6 28.Qg3 Kh7 29.Bxf8 Qxf8 30.e5!; 23... Bxg5 24.Bxg5 g6 25.Qe1) 24.Qh5! gxf6 (24...hxg5 25.Bxg5 Bxg5 26.Qxg5 Ng6 27.e5! with a winning attack) 25.Nh7 Kxh7 26.Qxh4 1–0 Inarkiev, E-Svidler, P Bundesliga 2016. 23. f6 gxf6 Not 23...hxg5?! 24.Bxg5 g6 25.Ra3! 24.Nh7?

This move turns out to be unsound although it does get pretty hair-raising during the game. It appears that White has to settle for 24.Nf3 here. 24...Kxh7 25.Qh5 f5! 26.Qxh6+

[26.exf5 Qf6] 26...Kg8 27.Bg5

It looks like Black is being mated, but his position has just enough resources to hold.

27...f6 28.Ra7 Rf7! 29.Rxf7 Kxf7 30.Qh7+ Ke8 31.Bd1 Qe7

Greed will get you nowhere: 31...fxg5 32.Bh5+ Kf8 33.Qh8+ Ke7 34.Qg7+ Nf7 35.Qxf7# 32.Qg8+ Kd7 33.Bd2 Nc4

Surprisingly Black is already winning.

34.Bh6 Be5 35.b3 Bd4+ 36.Kh1 Ne3 0–1

Opening preparedness can get you a free point every now and then but is of course not enough to succeed in a world where everyone has a computer and also check their databases. Having said that, pure playing strength and sitting power is not enough either — you need creativity and the ability to string all these together. As can be seen from the following games Matlakov has a lot going for him.

Matlakov, Maxim (2714) – Ponkratov, Pavel (2590) [E70] European Championship Minsk

(4), 02.06.2017 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.e4 0–0 6.Nf3 e6 7.e5 Ng4 8.Ng5 Nxe5 9.f4 h6 10.fxe5 hxg5 11.h4 gxh4 12.Qg4!

Trying to get in Bg5 followed by Qh4. 12...Bxe5 13.Ne4! exd5 14.Bg5! f6 15.Qxh4 Kf7 16.cxd5 Ke8

[16...fxg5? 17.Qh7+ Ke8 18.Qxg6+ Rf7 19.Rh7 Qe7 20.0–0–0! Black is not going to survive this] 17.Qh7 Qe7!

[17...fxg5 18.Qxg6+ Rf7 19.Rh7 is the same position as int he previous variation] 18.Qxg6+ Qf7 19.Qf5

Threatening 20.Qxe5+ fxe5 21.Nd6 mate!

19...Bg3+ 20.Nxg3 fxg5 21.Qxf7+! Kxf7 22.0–0–0 d6

Black’s pieces are uncoordinated and he has to shed some material.

23.Ne4 Nd7 24.Nxd6+ Ke7 25.Ne4 b6 26.d6+ Kd8 27.Nxg5 Nf6 28.d7! Bxd7 29. Ne6+ Ke7 30. Nxf8 Rxf8 31.Bc4 1–0

White will exchange off the pieces and win with his passed pawn on the kingside: 31.Bc4 Re8 32.Rxd7+! Nxd7 (32...Kxd7 33.Bb5+) 33.Rh7+ Kd6 34.Rxd7+ Kxd7 35.Bb5+ Kd8 36.Bxe8 Kxe8 etc.

Matlakov, Maxim (2714) – Howell, David W L (2684) [D56] European Championship Minsk (10), 09.06.2017 1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Be7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 0–0 7.e3 Ne4

The Lasker Defense, one of the classical lines of the Queen’s Gambit Declined. It soon gets a new twist though. 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Rc1 c6 10.g4!?

A specialty of the fiery Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. 10...Nd7

Probably the best reply. Black follows the tried and true formula of meeting a flank attack with a central push. 11.h4 e5

GM Mihail Marin points out that the usual plan from the normal Lasker lines does not work out well here: 11...Nxc3 12.Rxc3 dxc4 13.Bxc4 e5 14.g5 the White attack is too strong.

12.cxd5 Nxc3 13.Rxc3 cxd5 14.g5 e4 15.Nd2 hxg5 16.Qh5! g6 17.Qxg5 Qxg5 18.hxg5 Rd8N 19.f3 exf3 20.Nxf3 Nf8 21.Bd3 Queens are off but Black is still under pressure.

21...Be6 22.Kd2 Rac8 23.Rhc1 Nh7 24.a4 Rxc3 25.bxc3 Bg4 26.Ne5 Be6 27. Rg1 Kf8 28. e4 b6 29. Ke3 dxe4 30.Bxe4 Bb3 31.Bc6 Bd5 32.c4! Bxc6?

He should have kept bishops on the board. Now, with his knight out of play, Matlakov’s central pawns advance down the board.

33.Nxc6 Re8+ 34.Kd3! a5 35.d5 Kg7 36.Kd4 Re2 37.Ne5! Rd2+ 38.Kc3 Re2 39.Nd7 Re3+ 40.Kd4 Rb3 41.d6 Rb2 42.Kd5 Rd2+ 43.Kc6 Rd4 44.Nxb6 Nf8 45.c5 Ne6 46.Re1 Kf8 47.Rxe6! fxe6 48.Kd7 1–0

The top 22 finishers get qualifying slots to the 2017 World Cup which will be from September 1-25 in Batumi/Tbilisi, Georgia. These slots are much sought after because they bring with them guaranteed prize money – this is a 128 player Knock- Out (KO) tournament with ever-increasing prizes until you reach the finals in round 7 where the winner receives USD $120,000 and the loser USD $80,000. Even if you get KO’ed in the 1st round there is a consolation prize of USD $6,000.

Five (5) of the top finishers (Jobava, Cheparinov, Navara, Dubov and Sergei Zhigalko) had already previously qualified for the 2016 European Championships, so everybody from 1st to 27th place (i.e., Matlakov to Kuzubov) goes to Georgia this September.

Congratulations to all the winners!