Croatian Chess Events Archives - Chessentials https://chessentials.com/tag/croatian-chess-events/ Chess blog about chess tactics, chess games and chess books Thu, 18 Apr 2019 19:08:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://chessentials.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/cropped-vjeks2-2-1-32x32.png Croatian Chess Events Archives - Chessentials https://chessentials.com/tag/croatian-chess-events/ 32 32 Croatian Chess Championship 2019 – Highlights https://chessentials.com/croatian-chess-championship-2019-highlights/ https://chessentials.com/croatian-chess-championship-2019-highlights/#respond Thu, 18 Apr 2019 19:08:04 +0000 https://chessentials.com/?p=9483 Venue and regulations The annual 50th Croatian Chess Championship was held this year from 31st March to 11th April 2019, in hotel „Central“ located in the city of Bjelovar. The tournament consisted of 11-rounds and...

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]]> Venue and regulations

The annual 50th Croatian Chess Championship was held this year from 31st March to 11th April 2019, in hotel „Central“ located in the city of Bjelovar.

The tournament consisted of 11-rounds and was held in the customary Berger (all-play-all format). The time control was 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, additional 30 minutes on move 41, with the addition of 30 seconds on every move starting from move one.

The players battled for the prize fund of 10 000 EUR, out of which almost one third (2800 EUR) went to the winner, 2200 EUR to the second place winner, 1700 EUR to the bronze medalist, 1300 EUR to the fourth place winner, 1100 EUR for the 5th place winner and 900 EUR to the 6th place winner.

(Source: Official propositions for the Croatian Chess Championship 2019 1)

Participants

According to the Competition Rule Book issued by Croatian Chess Federation 2, the participants qualify for the Croatian Chess Championship on the basis of the following criteria:

    • Zoran Jovanović
    • Hrvoje Stević

    • Blažimir Kovačević

  • Four players who qualified via qualifying tournaments

    • Ante Šarić – Highest placed Croatian player in the Pula Open 2018 chess tournament

    • Ante Brkić – Highest placed Croatian player in the Zadar Open 2018 chess tournament

    • Saša Martinović – Highest placed Croatian player in the Zagreb Open 2018 chess tournament

    • Robert Zelčić – Highest placed Croatian player in the Split Open 2018 chess tournament

  • Four players with the highest average rating in the period between October and December 2018

    • Zdenko Kožul (2608,33 average rating) – Croatian legend, multiple Croatian Champion and 2006 European Champion

    • Bojan Kurajica (2529 average rating)

    • Ognjen Jovanić (2515 average rating)

(Photos are taken from the official website of the Croatian Chess Federation and other sources. Photos are not necessarily from this year’s edition of the Championship )

Compared to previous years, strong Croatian Grandmaster Mladen Palac was a notable absentee, even though according to the rating criteria (2550 average rating) he would have had a spot. We don’t know whether he didn’t want to or couldn’t participate, so we prefer not to speculate.

Grandmaster Davorin Kuljašević (2556 average rating) was also not there, but that is not that surprising since he plays less these days and has devoted himself to teaching and content creation.

Another notable name on the list is Bojan Kurajica, a legendary Yugoslav and (later) Bosnian grandmaster, winner of several strong international tournaments, who has a victory against none other but Anatoly Karpov in his resume. Without wishing to belittle his past achievements, the appearance of his name on the list of participants was surprising and not very logical.

First of all, during his entire life, he was a member of the Bosnian Chess Federation. He played for the Bosnian team in the Olympiads and participated in Bosnian National Championship. Even though he had connections to Croatia (he is from Split, after all), he never lived here and preferred to move to Spain instead.

How his transfer to Croatian rating list happened is not known, since the decision was not announced publicly. But we think allowing „any foreign grandmaster“ to register and play in the national championship should be regulated – say, by introducing a rule that every participant must have spent at least 5-years as a member of the Croatian Chess Federation.

But even if we disregard that, we are not certain whether allowing 72-year-old grandmaster well past his prime to compete in such a closed event is in the best interest of Croatian Chess. Wouldn’t it be more natural to give a chance to one of the promising juniors like Leon Livaić, Jadranko Plenča or Sven Tica (whose rating in the upper 2400s heights is not that far away), say by devising one „wild card entry“ to supplement one „average rating“ spot?

These youngsters would probably „kill“ for an opportunity to play in such an event. And I think they could hardly do worse than Kurajica, who finished second-to-last and scored only 3 points out of 11 games.

All the „off-the-board“ matters aside, from the chess viewpoint the tournament was incredibly interesting to follow. There was a number of beautiful games, big blunders and instructive endgame moments.

Apart from the strongest player in the field – Ivan Šarić and Marin Bosiočić – who performed according to the expectations, legendary Zdenko Kožul was also in form, which culminated in a three-way battle. In the end, as has become customary, the fate of the tournament winner was decided only in the last round. And required the use of the tiebreak system.

Full highlights report of the Croatian Chess Championship 2019 follows!

Quick draws

Alas, before we get to all the excitement and action, we have some bad news first. Croatian Chess Championship 3 is traditionally known for a very high number of quick draws.

I have written about this issue in the past. And many people were not pleased with me pointing it out. I am certain I made some enemies. I even heard some of the grandmasters read it.

But I think it is an important topic. Therefore, before I actually show these „games“, I would like to clarify several things.

First of all, by stating I don’t like quick draws, I don’t state I am a stronger player than these guys. Some people have responded along the „Well-why-don’t-you-go-there-and-show-them-how-it-is-done“ lines. Criticizing quick draws is not the same as criticizing players’ abilities. Or their character, for that matter.

Only their willingness to fight.

Secondly, some people have said that 11 rounds are long and that players need to preserve their energy. I agree to an extent. Making one draw in eleven games is not the end of the world. Especially if the tournament situation dictates it. If there is a prize involved.

But making several of them is not commendable. As we will see – some players are prone to doing it more than the others.

Besides, it is worth mentioning world-class grandmasters don’t do it on such a scale in closed tournaments (where they face much tougher opposition).

Finally, the expenses of all participants are covered (not sure about the appearance fee). I think this alone should be an incentive for the players to play normal chess and reduce prearranged draws to a minimum.

Think what would happen in the NBA if the players didn’t play the entire game, but decided they are content with the 20:20 result at the end of the first quarter and went to the nearby bar instead. They would get chastised and the funding would drop ASAP.

With that being said, this year’s edition of the Croatian Championship was not an exception to the rule. Although almost 50% of the games (32/66) ended in a decisive result, there was a number of clashes where the battle ended way before it has even begun.

It started as early as round 1. A 17-move draw between Jovanović and Stević:

A 20-move draw between Stević and Kožul in round 2.

Another beauty from round 2, this time between Brkić and Šarić Ante.

Even the eventual tournament winner was not immune, as he drew in 15 moves against Šarić Ante in round 3.

Kurajica and Jovanović tried going for the record with a 12-move draw in round 4.

But they got thwarted by Stević and Šarić in round 11.

Another one in which Stević was involved. We think it is a real pity he didn’t try to play his best – in the 2017 edition he showed his capabilities when he almost became the Champion.

That’s not all, folks…

Beautiful games

Fortunately, it was not all grim.

As I have mentioned above, this year’s edition of the Championship was particularly bloodthirsty. Among 32 decisive games there were several beauties.

I was particularly impressed with the Ante Brkić’s victory over the eventual winner in round 1:

The next game I liked was Bosiočić’s victory over GM Blažimir Kovačević. Even though Blaž was completely out of form in this tournament, the final combination was rather appealing to me:

As mentioned above, Zdenko Kožul was very much in form. The following game displays all the best characteristics of his style – thirst for the initiative in the opening, strong combinational play and good endgame technique. He did leave his opponent of the hook at some point, but in a practical game it was very hard to defend:

Last but not least, local chess teacher and the biggest chess enthusiast in Croatia Vlado Karagić organized the choice for the most beautiful game of the tournament. According to the jury consisting of strong Croatian players and audience votes, the award went to Saša Martinović for his victory against Zoran Jovanović:

Blunders, Endgames and Missed Opportunities

On the other side of the spectrum, in contrast to the flashy attacks and brilliant games, there was also a number of big blunders and crude oversight in this tournament.

As the previous edition has shown, this is something unavoidable in the tournaments of this caliber. When the stakes are high and the players tired and nervous, mistakes can happen. It is part of being human.

Curiously enough, a lot of the blunders happened in the endgame. Especially in the rook endgame. There were several games in which the stronger side didn’t manage to convert, or the weaker side threw away the draw.

If you are an atrocious endgame player like myself, the fact that even Grandmasters err in the final phase of the game might give you hope and motivation to improve.

  • Blunder nr. 1 – Kurajica loses a drawn endgame

  • Blunder nr. 2 – Jovanić makes a losing continuation and Zelčič fails to exploit it

  • Blunder nr. 3 – Šarić Ante self-destructs in a winning position

  • Blunder nr.4 – Kurajica loses another drawn endgame

  • Blunder nr. 5 – Brkić fails to spot a study-like defence

  • Blunder nr. 6 – Zelčić loses the unthinkable

The Course of the Tournament

The tournament itself was very tense and close from the very start. After three rounds, a group of five players was in the lead:

  •  Ante Brkić 2.5/3
  • Ivan Šarić 2/3
  • Robert Zelčić 2/3
  •  Zdenko Kožul 2/3
  • Ante Šarić had 2/3.

At this important moment, Kožul suffered a dire setback in the form of his defeat against Zelčić:

Ante Šarić started making some draws due to which he also fell out of contention for the first place. On the other hand, after his loss against Brkić in the first round mentioned above and a subsequent two draws, Marin Bosiočić picked up the pace and joined the group of leaders.

After five rounds (and his victory against Kovačević also mentioned above), the situation was as follows:

  • Brkić 3.5/5
  • Ivan Šarić 3.5/5
  • Zelčić 3.5/5
  • Bosiočić 3/5
  • Kožul (who recovered from the defeat with his “lucky” win against Kurajica mentioned in the blunders part of the post) 3/5.

 In round 6, the crucial encounter between two Croatian strongest players took place:

As it would later transpire, this game had a decisive impact on the final outcome of the tournament. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

In the very next round, Ivan recovered from his loss by beating one of the co-leaders, Robert Zelčić (who up to that point had a fantastic tournament):

Alas, due to the unlucky pairing system, in the very next round Zelčić had to play against Bosiočić. This game put an end to his hopes of winning the title once again:

In rounds 6-8 Brkić made three draws and then blundered against Ivan Šarić in a game we mentioned earlier. On the other hand, Kožul got another gift, this time from Ante Šarić (also mentioned earlier). After 9 rounds the situation was as follows:

  • Ivan Šarić 6.5/7
  • Bosiočić 6/7
  • Kožul 6/7

In round 10, Ivan Šarić drew with the Black pieces against Ante Šarić. Kožul was busy beating Jovanović in a beautiful game analyzed earlier, while Bosiočić scored a miracle win against the “old man” Kurajica in a game whose importance can’t be overemphasized:

Thus, before the last round, all three players had 7/10. The situation looked favorable for Ivan Šarić – he had White against Blažimir Kovačević who was in the last place, while Kožul and Bosiočić had to play against each other.

And indeed, Ivan disposed of his opponent with relative ease. But it was not enough. Despite having the black pieces, Marin Bosiočić displayed a true champion character and played probably his best game of the tournament.

A game which Kožul will be happy to forget:

Since he beat Ivan in their mutual encounter, Bos had the better tiebreak. Thus, just like in the 2017 edition, he managed to win his title in the very last round. However, in contrast to that championship, where luck played a crucial role, his victory in the 2019 edition was well-deserved.

We congratulate to him, but also to the second-placed Ivan Šarić (8/11 is no joke) and Zdenko Kožul, who’s eternal fighting spirit is commendable. Even if it sometimes leads to disasters as in the final game of the tournament.

But you can’t win if you don’t play the game.

If you liked this post, feel free to check our reports from the previous editions of the Croatian Chess Championship:

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]]> https://chessentials.com/croatian-chess-championship-2019-highlights/feed/ 0 Croatian Chess Cup 2018 – Highlights https://chessentials.com/croatian-chess-cup-2018/ https://chessentials.com/croatian-chess-cup-2018/#respond Sat, 26 May 2018 14:51:14 +0000 https://chessentials.com/?p=7864 THE VENUE, PARTICIPANTS AND REGULATIONS Less than a month after the finish of the Croatian Chess Championship 2018, from 15th-20th May 2018, another chess tournament involving creme de la creme of the Croatian Chess was...

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]]> THE VENUE, PARTICIPANTS AND REGULATIONS

Less than a month after the finish of the Croatian Chess Championship 2018, from 15th-20th May 2018, another chess tournament involving creme de la creme of the Croatian Chess was held – Croatian Chess Cup 2018.

For the third consecutive year, Croatian Cup Final was held on the island Mali Lošinj, much to the joy of the participants. In the previous edition’s report, I have already written about the natural beauties surrounding the venue and about the great number of entertaining possibilities available to the guests off-the-board.

This year, the tournament itself was held in the very same hotel Aurora it was held the year before. The participants were accommodated in the neighboring Vespera hotel, which is also quite glamorous and luxurious four-star hotel. The food, the rooms, the service and the amicability of the staff were on the highest level and I can hardly imagine anyone having any serious complaints regarding the accommodation and the conditions.

Hotels Vespera and Aurora next to each other (Photo Source: https://www.hrvaska.net/large/panorama_5047.jpg)
Hotel Vespera from the outside (Photo Source: http://www.smokvina.hr/common/a6/s/7355/Hotel-VESPERA-Mali-Lo%C5%A1inj.jpg)

The 27th edition of this prestige competition assembled a total of 28 teams. Apart from the „amateur“ teams who gained the right to participate via a number of qualification tournament, the participation of the clubs from the 1A and 1B Croatian Chess League was mandatory – in case of refusal, they would be severely fined.

This obligation toward best Croatian chess teams, combined with the fact first three teams got decent monetary prizes (18 000 kn, 12 000 kn and 6 000 kn, 1 € ~ 7.5 kn) guaranteed that the line-up is going to be incredibly strong. And indeed, the starting list consisted of over 60 titled players, out of which there were 18 Grandmasters.

Out of these mighty 18, one name stood out in particular. The legendary Ukrainian grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk himself appeared as the first seed of the tournament. Naturally, yours truly didn’t miss the opportunity to take a photo with his personal idol:

One of the most brilliant, most talented, lovable, funny, humorous, good looking and slightly socially inept lone chess geniuses ever. And Vassily Ivanchuk!

The tournament itself was held as a 6-round team Swiss. The time control was 90 minutes for 39 moves with additional 30 minutes on move 40 + 30 seconds increment starting from move 1.

In any case, Croatian Chess Cup 2018 turned out to be a true chess holiday. In this highlights report, we will focus on the key games and the most important moments of the tournament, with the customary flavor of subjectivity and our own personal experience.

(Most of the photos are taken from the official website of the Croatian Chess Federation)

BLUNDERS AND UPSETS

Whenever a huge number of games between players with huge disproportions in rating is played in a single event, upsets are inevitable.

Also, whenever a huge number of games between any sort of players is played in a single event, blunders are bound to happen.

Amazingly, quite often, blunders and upsets go hand in hand. In this tournament, there was a number of instances of stronger player blundering a game in one or two moves.

Alas, sometimes the upsets were “more genuine” and the “weaker” player simply went on to outplay his rating superior. We give the overview of the most shocking games/moments below.

(It is curious that the majority of upsets happened in the first few rounds of the tournament).

A first-round upset on the third board – 2100 player beats a strong International Master in fantastic style.

A blunder by strong Bosnian Grandmaster in uncomfortable, but defensible position.

Stylish win against one of the participants of the recently concluded Croatian Chess Championship 2018. 

In the second round, Vassily Ivanchuk joined the action, but even he fell victim to the “first games are difficult” syndrome. Although I am usually quite sad when Chucky blunders, this time I was happy because it meant my good friend Leon Livaić scored the biggest win of his entire life:

A 2400 player fails to spot an incredibly difficult tactic and loses on the spot instead.

A crude oversight by a Serbian Grandmaster Pikula.

Finally, one in reverse. A weaker player “falters” in a completely winning position against a strong opponent and allows him to escape.

THE COURSE OF THE TOURNAMENT

Even before the tournament, two teams distinguished themselves as clear favourites.

The defending champion ŠK Zagreb once again brought heavy artillery. Their line-up consisted of 6 (!) GMs:

  • GM Vassily Ivanchuk
  • GM Zdenko Kožul
  • GM Hrvoje Stević
  • GM Mladen Palac
  • GM Alojzije Janković
  • GM Robert Zelčić

Their main competitors, Šk Liburnija, Rijeka, were no less „scary“ and „impressive“ on paper:

  • GM Ivan Šarić
  • GM Robert Markuš
  • GM Davorin Kuljašević
  • IM Jadranko Plenča
  • GM Ognjen Jovanić

There were other teams who hoped of surprising the leading duo, such as Mornar, Split (two Grandmasters on first two boards),  Sljeme, Agroproteinka (two Grandmasters on first two boards) and Petar Sedlar Pepe (with four 2400 players. Remember this name, it will come up many times later in the course of this article).

Despite all the individual upsets, the favorites managed to get out of the first two rounds unscratched. In the third round, first heavyweight clashes happened on the board. Zagreb managed to prevail over Agroproteinka Sljeme with a minimal score 2.5-1.5 thanks to Ivanchuk’s win against Jovanović (analyzed in the next part of the article). Liburnija also scored a narrow win, thanks to GM Davorin Kuljašević’s win over IM Julijan Plenča on board three:

After convincing victories in round four, the culmination of the entire tournament happened in round five – the clash of the leaders.

On board one, the game between two top players of the event happened. Vassily Ivanchuk had to face the current European and Croatian Champion with the White pieces:

This game predetermined the outcome of the entire match. In the end, Alojzije Janković also beat Jadranko Plenča on board four, and the fate of the tournament was decided. With a draw “to-order” in the last round, Zagreb won yet another title.

OTHER BEAUTIFUL GAMES

Apart from the games important for the outcome of the tournament mentioned above, there was a number of beautiful games played throughout the tournament whose impact was not that significant in terms of results. Although it is impossible to cover them all, a  couple of beauties deserved to be included in this report.

The runner-up of the recently concluded Croatian Championship 2018, Zoran Jovanović, played the following miniature in the 2nd round:

Alas, in the very next round, Jovanović ran into angry Vassily Ivanchuk, who was searching for a “victim” after his blunder against Leon mentioned above.

And a victim did he find. This game is simply staggering – such a simple and convincing victory against one of Croatia’s strongest grandmasters:

In the last round, German grandmaster Michael Jan Sprenger beat the reigning European Champion Ivan Šarić with the Black pieces in a beautiful game:

ŠK POLET BUŠEVEC?

Just like a year before, my team Polet Buševec qualified via a very dramatic qualification tournament, in which the winner was only decided in the very last game of the event. After surviving such a scare, we were naturally all thrilled and excited and couldn’t wait to go to Lošinj and battle against the vast choice of food, the sun, overflow of enjoyment and all other difficulties typical for an average vacation.

I hate it when I go to the seaside in May and I can’t swim in the Adriatic because it’s too cold and raining and I am a girly wuss, so I have to use the inner jacuzzi instead.

The composition of the team was slightly different than in the previous year. Our former top board and the strong FM Marko Makaj isn’t part of the team anymore. Also, my former roommate Bruno Kos was unavailable to participate and bother… I mean… entertain me with his Foxy Video early in the morning.

This meant I went from being the youngest one in the team to being the second oldest player. It added some responsibility to my play, responsibility which I gloriously managed to justify (the details will be given below).

The age difference didn’t affect the team spirit in any way, though. I don’t remember when was the last time I felt so good, so relaxed and when I had so much fun as during my stay on Lošinj. In between chess games we joked, we played a lot of high-quality Bela (card game) and we played some tennis. If it weren’t for the catastrophic start to the tournament (0.5/3) which kinda ruined my mood during the first two days, the overall evaluation would have been a straight A.

As for the over-the-board matters, we were the 14th seed (out of 28 teams) which meant this time we got an easy 1st round pairings – New Gradiskain team Strmac, the last seed of the tournament.

After that „easy“ win (not without its ups and downs), our second round encounter against the very strong team Petar Sedlar Pepe, consisting of four 2400 players, virtually turned out to be the critical encounter of the entire tournament.

Before the round, we cherished some hope of surprising our more experienced opponents. Our first board Filip Pavić was first to finish – he drew against GM Bogdan Lalić with ease. Then his brother Jakov on the fourth board, who had a marvelous tournament (5.5/6) crushed famous IM Srdjan Šale with the Black pieces in a beautiful game:

We took the lead in the match and on the remaining two boards we had very good positions. I even missed a clear win in the early stages of my game against Robert Lončar, but I still retained a slightly better position.

Unfortunately, at the critical moment, I started playing too hastily and missed an elementary tactic after which my position collapsed like a house of cards. Still, I wasn’t yet desperate, since my colleague Filip Radenić had a winning position in his game against IM Zdenko Plenković:

Naturally, after this dramatic encounter, the paths of the teams involved diverged greatly. Petar Sedlar Pepe team proceeded to have a tournament of their lives and ultimately ended in the third place.

We, on the other hand, lost our third round match as well, with once again both me and Filip losing on the second and the third board.

Alas, that was not the end of the bad run. The fourth round followed a familiar scenario – Jakov crushing the weaker opposition on the fourth board, Filip Pavić holding his ground against a stronger opponent on board one and me and Filip Radenić playing in 1.5-0.5 situation.

Filip played probably the best game of the entire tournament and managed to outwit his opponent in an extremely complicated tactical encounter. Unfortunately, just as he was preparing to transition into a superior endgame, he blundered a piece out of the blue:

In the meantime, I had a winning position in my game against a 2050 player Mladen Kurečić. But, for the umpteenth time in my career, I managed to display my „brilliant“ conversion technique and to only draw this game. With a great feeling of shame and regret, I’ve decided to include the whole game in his article:

After this setback, our hopes of an outstanding result were completely dashed. Nevertheless, we continued to fight and give our best and amazingly, managed to salvage a tournament in the last two rounds.

First, we scored a minimal victory against Šk Dubrovnik in the fifth round. Surprisingly, Radenić and I amended ourselves with important victories on boards two and three.

Then, in the last round, another dramatic match against Pula followed. Once again we face dan objectively stronger opponent. Nevertheless, Radenić was the first to draw his game against IM Miroslav Žufić with ease. Then Jakov got down to business and won his game. Since I had a winning position against FM Ivan Vihor Cohar Krsnik, it seemed our victory is inevitable.

Alas, once again I managed to spoil the game and even to fight for a draw in the end. Unfortunately, Filip couldn’t survive against GM Ferčec on board one and the match ended in a draw, 2-2.

Thus, with the +2-2=2 result, we ended right where we started – in the 14th place. Judging by the positions we obtained during the tournament, there is no doubt we could have placed much higher.

Alas, as dr. Tarrasch once insightfully observed:

It is not enough to be a good player. You must also play well.

In any case, I would like to thank my teammates, but also other people like Sten Boban, Lovro Čupić, Sven Tica, Leon Livaić, among others, for making this Cup so entertaining and memorable.

Hopefully, we’ll see each other in the next edition as well.

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]]> https://chessentials.com/croatian-chess-cup-2018/feed/ 0 Croatian Chess Championship 2018 – Highlights https://chessentials.com/croatian-chess-championship-2018/ https://chessentials.com/croatian-chess-championship-2018/#respond Sat, 12 May 2018 19:05:52 +0000 https://chessentials.com/?p=7813 PARTICIPANTS AND REGULATIONS The 49th edition of the Croatian Individual Chess Championship was held between April the 17th and April the 27th, 2018, in Grgin Dol hotel in Požega in Croatia. Croatian Individual Championship is...

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]]> PARTICIPANTS AND REGULATIONS

The 49th edition of the Croatian Individual Chess Championship was held between April the 17th and April the 27th, 2018, in Grgin Dol hotel in Požega in Croatia.

Croatian Individual Championship is a traditional single round-robin tournament. The time control is 90 minutes + 30 seconds for 40 moves with additional 30 moves gained on move 41.

Every year, 12 best Croatian chess player participate. The players are selected on the basis of the following criteria:

Four best players from the Croatian Chess Championship 2017 :

  1. GM Bosiočić, Marin

  1. GM Stević, Hrvoje

  1. GM Šarić, Ivan

  1. GM Martinović, Saša

Four players who qualified via four qualifying tournaments:

  1. GM Ferčec, Nenad (The highest placed Croatian player of Pula Open 2017)

  1. GM Brkić, Ante (The highest placed Croatian player of Zadar Open 2017; finished behind Martinović who already qualified)

  1. GM Kovačević, Blažimir (The highest placed Croatian player of Zagreb Open 2017, finished behind Martinović who already qualified)

  1. GM Šarić, Ante (The highest placed Croatian player of Split Open 2017, finished behind Martinović who already qualified)

(Strong guy, that Martinović is)

Four players with the highest average rating in the period between October and December, 2017:

  1. GM Jovanović, Zoran

  1. GM Kožul, Zdenko

  1. GM Palac, Mladen

  1. GM Kuljašević, Davorin

(Photos are taken from the official website of the Croatian Chess Federation and other sources. Photos are not necessarily from this year’s edition of the Championship )

Due to Ivan Šarić’s recent victory at the European Chess Championship 2018 and the fact he is almost 100 points higher rated than the average participant of the Croatian Championship, everything but his convincing victory at this year’s edition would have been a huge surprise.

However, to an extent, that was true for many Croatian Chess Championships in the past years. Yet, these guys know each other so well, the difference in the playing strengths is much more relative than in other tournaments.

Thus, unexpected results often happen and it is often very hard to predict the final table. For instance, Marin Bosiočić, the defending champion, arrived slightly out of form and only finished in the 8th place. Saša Martinović, the 4th place winner of the previous edition, who enjoyed a marvelous 2017 year, also played far from his best and finished one place behind Bosiočić.

(It is understandable, though. The guy married recently and graduated shortly after the tournament.)

Thus, it was very interesting to follow the tournament. In the end, Ivan Šarić did manage to defend his title, but it was everything but an easy ride.

We will examine his tournament path, together with other interesting moments, big blunders and wonderful games, in this highlight overview.

QUICK DRAWS

Perhaps some of you might remember how I was positively surprised with the relative lack of quickdraws in the 2017 edition of the Croatian Chess Championship.

Unfortunately, this year’s edition was much more abundant with the games that finished even before they started.

Quickdraws have always been one of the main characteristics of the closed Croatian Chess Championships. The facts these players know each other very well, that most of them are close friends off-the-board and that there aren’t any rules forcing them to play, all contribute to the lack of fighting spirit.

I personally think it is a shame. These guys are the very best of the best Croatia has to offer and only once a year we, chess fans, get the opportunity to watch them play. It is a great opportunity to enjoy sam high-quality chess and learn from our top grandmasters.

A very high number of non-games makes this event less exciting.  As an example, let us take a look at the most notable examples.

A 17-move draw in the Ruy Lopez position where the play is only beginning.

A 18-move draw in a position where there is a number pieces of the board still left.

A 10-move draw speaks for itself.

A 17-move draw in the Caro-Kan tabiya every schoolboy knows how to reach.

The new record. A 9-move draw.

Even the future champion Ivan Šarić is not immune (although his draw at least has some sense from the competetive point of view).

Yet another one.

And another one.

BRILLIANCIES

If we disregard the quick draws, when the player DO choose to fight, it usually leads to very interesting and entertaining games.

This year was not an exception. Apart from the games extremely important for the tournament standings, which will be covered later in the article, there was a number of quite a brilliant games in the championships.

They weren’t always played between players who did excellently in the tournament. But they were extremely fighting, interesting and beautiful to watch.

Brilliancy nr. 1: Bosiočić – Stević, round 4

Those of you who read the previous Championship’s report might remember that the last round clash between these two players determined the fate of the champion. In that game, Stević missed a huge chance and allowed Bosiočić to escape with a draw and to become the 2017 Croatian Chess Champion.

You also might recall Stević got very convincing revenge in the Croatian Chess Cup Final 2017 and that he is a very difficult opponent for Bos. Especially since, this year, Bos was far from his best form.

This game merely confirmed this assumption. It turned out to be another memorable win in the rich chess biography of Hrvoje Stević.

Brilliancy nr. 2: Kuljašević – Bosiočić, round 8

As already mentioned, Bosiočić was far from his best form. However, in at least one game he managed to display his best qualities – in the round 8 encounter against GM Davorin Kuljašević.

Brilliancy nr. 3: Kožul – Martinović, round 10

Similarly like Bosiočić, Martinović didn’t quite have the best tournament ever. However, his game against GM Zdenko Kožul will surely appear in the collection of his best games, if one ever appears.

What a crush with the Black pieces.

Brilliancry nr. 4: Palac – Šarić, round 10

To my mind, the most interesting and exciting game from the tournament. It was also one of those games that helped Šarić win the title. In this one, he was thoroughly outplayed, but with the help of some tenacious defence and his opponent, he managed to salvage a very important draw with the Black pieces.

Nevertheless, despite the peaceful outcome, this game was anything but peaceful.

Take a look at the analysis and judge for yourselves.

BLUNDERS

On the other side of the spectrum, apart from the flashing attacks and brilliant games mentioned above, there was a number of crude mistakes in this year’s Championships.

Naturally, when the stakes are high, when the heavyweights are exchanging blows on a daily basis, mistakes are bound to happen.

True, they weren’t as tragic as some of the previous’ edition mistakes (to mentioned nothing about  greatest chess blunders every played). Still, the consequences were just as grave – in a perfectly fine (or even superior) position, one side often made a move that virtually lost the game.

Blunder nr.1 – Brkić Ante

Blunder nr.2 – Martinović Saša 

Blunder nr.3 – Nenad Ferčec

Blunder nr.4 – Ante Brkić

Blunder nr. 5 – Blažimir Kovačević and Mladen Palac

Blunder nr. 6 – Blažimir Kovačević

TOURNAMENT COURSE

Initially, the tournament itself took an expected course. Ivan Šarić continued his excellent form from the European Chess Championship 2018 and started with 3.5/4. The 2nd round win against the guy with the same surname, Ante, is quite typical.

However, in the 5th round something incredible happened. Šarić was stopped by the 2nd lowest rated opponent in the competition (although incredibly strong International Master) Blažimir Kovačević, in what was probably the worst game of his life:

This game presented the remainder of the field with a golden opportunity to compete with the leader and to try to catch him. Two players in particular showed good form and consistency –  Zoran Jovanović and Hrvoje Stević.

The play of the former was particularly impressive. Take a look at his “effortless” victory against Mladen Palac. It all looks so simple and logical. Amazing stuff.

After 6 rounds, Šarić was leading with 4/6, with Jovanović and Stević trailing half a point behind. Then, in the 7th round, Jovanović beat GM Saša Martinović with the Black pieces in a wild game (in which Saša blundered a piece early but than almost extricated himself), while Ivan faced the reigning champion and showed him who da real Bos is.

(I will show myself out).

Starting from the 7th round, the tournament developed into a fierce race between Šarić and Jovanović that would be only resolved in the last round.

(Stević slowed down, drawing a number of games, some of them rather quickly – they are given above)

In the eight round, Šarić drew, while Jovanović won once again. Thus, before the clash of the leaders in the ninth round, they were level with 5.5/8. Their clash turned out to be one of the crucial games of the entire tournament.

After managing to survive this, Ivan Šarić then barely survived against Palac in the 10th round (we analyzed that game earlier in this post in the brilliancies part, if you have forgotten). Jovanović, on the other hand, drew rather quickly. Thus, with both players standing at 6.5/10, it was clear the last round was to decide everything.

The pairings of the last round clearly favoured Ivan, as he was to play as White against the lowest rated player in the event, Nenad Ferčec. Jovanović, on the other hand, had to play for a win with the Black pieces against an almost 2600 player, Ante Brkić.

Unfortunately for Zoran, the combination of his risky play and inspired movement of the pieces by Ante resulted in a devastating loss:

Ivan, on the other hand, “got down to business” and, not without some luck, managed to win “to order”.

Which was definitely not an easy task:

Therefore, the European Champion and the highest rated player managed to deserved victory and win his third title of the Croatian Chess Champion (first two titles came in 2009 and 2013, respectively).

Congratulations to Ivan Šarić, but also to Zoran Jovanović and Hrvoje Stević, on a great performance!

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]]> https://chessentials.com/croatian-chess-championship-2018/feed/ 0 Croatian Junior Chess League 2018 https://chessentials.com/croatian-junior-chess-league-2018/ https://chessentials.com/croatian-junior-chess-league-2018/#respond Tue, 01 May 2018 21:20:15 +0000 https://chessentials.com/?p=4365 Participants and regulations Croatian junior chess league 2018 took place between 2nd and 8th of April 2018. The Tournament was held in tourist settlement “Margarita Maris” in the small city of Sv. Filip and Jakov which has 4606 inhabitants (according...

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]]> Participants and regulations

Croatian junior chess league 2018 took place between 2nd and 8th of April 2018.

The Tournament was held in tourist settlement “Margarita Maris” in the small city of Sv. Filip and Jakov which has 4606 inhabitants (according to the last population census from 2011).

juniorska

The tournament was a single round-robin, with the tempo of play being 90 minutes + 30 seconds per move. It has to be mentioned that 11 rounds were played across only 6 days. 2 rounds per day negatively affect level of play.

12 teams got right to participate in this event.

  1. ŠK „Sloboda“, Mihovljan
  2. ŠK „Liburnija“, Rijeka
  3. ŠK „Junior“, Rijeka
  4. HAŠK „Mladost“, Zagreb
  5. ŠK „Mornar“, Split
  6. ŠK „Zagreb“, Zagreb
  7. ŠK „Vladimir Gortan“, Poreč
  8. ŠK „Zaprešić“, Zaprešić
  9. ŠK „Đuro Đaković“, Slavonski Brod
  10. ŠK „Stridon“, Štrigova
  11. ŠK „Kastav“, Kastav
  12. ŠK „Casper“, Zadar

This was one of the most intense junior chess leagues I can remember. All strong juniors from Croatia (except Leon Livaic) participated in this event.

After 11 rounds of furious battle ŠK „Liburnija“, Rijeka is the new champion.

juniorska2

It’s import to set aside that both “Liburnija” and “Sloboda” on their first boards have Strong IM’s- Jadranko Plenca (2497) and Sven Tica (2442).

Let’s go through best and most important games of the tournament.

1st round shocker

Croatian Junior League is a tricky competition, where relative strengths of the players are lower than in regular tournaments.

Every year, there are surprising results, but this year, the biggest upset in the history of this competition happened in round one.

After the game, everyone in playing hall was stunned, 1700 player beat 2500 player. Underestimation was a big factor here, also Jurakic’s strength is closer to 2000. He has shown his talent in this tournament (+111) and we hope he’ll continue his chess progress.

Deciding match

As it turned out, the two pre-tournament favorites clashed in round three in what proved to be the decisive encounter of the tournament.

A quick draw between 2 strongest players in the tournament.

In the end, everything was decided by the fourth board encounter.

My personal favorite

AFTERMATH

Some results have to be mentioned:
Sven Tica 10,5/11
Duda Daniel 10/11
Muha Miljenko 9/11
Šafar Sandro 9/11
Dabić Stjepan 8/11 (without a single game lost)

Croatian chess already has young players who are likely to become GM’s in next few years (Plenca, Livaic, Tica). The problem is that Croatian chess is not structured, it’s all on individuals and there is no system that develops young talented players into GM’s. This is starting to show more and more. After generation oo’ ( Livaic ) there is a huge gap to Stjepan Dabic 04′ and after him, there is no one. Cadet league today, honestly looks like a joke compared to a few years ago. I hope that in years to come this will change.

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]]> https://chessentials.com/croatian-junior-chess-league-2018/feed/ 0 Croatian Chess Cup 2017 – Highlights https://chessentials.com/croatian-chess-cup-2017-highlights/ https://chessentials.com/croatian-chess-cup-2017-highlights/#comments Sat, 20 May 2017 23:10:07 +0000 https://chessentials.com/?p=2050  Croatian Chess Cup 2017 A couple of days after the Croatian Chess Championship 2017 has finished, another prestigious Croatian chess event took place. The final of the Croatian Chess Cup 2017 was a team event...

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]]>  Croatian Chess Cup 2017

A couple of days after the Croatian Chess Championship 2017 has finished, another prestigious Croatian chess event took place. The final of the Croatian Chess Cup 2017 was a team event in which 25 teams competed for the title of the Croatian Cup Champion… and 18 000 kn first prize (around 2500 euros).

Naturally, the existence of monetary prizes usually leads to participation of the strong players who own an official FIDE title. Croatian Chess Cup 2017 was no exception, as it gathered a total number of 22 Grandmasters, 20 International Masters and 20 Fide Masters.

Of course, apart from a number of titled players, there was also a number of weaker players who don’t get the opportunity to participate in such events that often.

The author of these lines had the privilege to belong to this group. In this article, I will take a look at the key chess moments of the tournament, but also try to express my own thoughts and feelings about a chess event of such a calibre.

(All photos are taken from the official website of the Croatian Chess Federation, from the official website of the Lošinj Hotels and from the private collection of Stella Seissel, who very graciously let me use them in this report. Thank you very much, Stella!)

Venue

Croatian Chess Cup was held from 9th to 15th May 2017 on the relatively lesser known, but very beautiful Croatian Island, Mali Lošinj.

The venue of play was the four-star Aurora Hotel, located in island’s capital city that bears the same name as the whole island (Mali Lošinj city).

Hotel Aurora from air

It is impossible not to include a little advertising of the Croatian touristic gems at this point.

Hotel Aurora was definitely one of the best hotels I have ever stayed at. This hotel has it all. Comfortable rooms with TVs and minibars, the vicinity of the sea, inner and outer swimming pools, saunas, perfectly polite personnel and last, but not the least, fantastic choice and quality of food.

The surrounding nature is also beautiful. Hotel Aurora is located in the so-called “Sunny” cove and there is a beautiful 25 min walk down the coast to the nearby “Čikat” cove.

Even without the chess tournament, Mali Lošinj is well worth visiting. Although the official tourist season hasn’t started yet, there was a significant number of German visitors.

The sea was probably too cold for regular swimming, but their number proved that peace and serenity are sufficient for an enjoyable vacation.

Okay, after this commercial break, it is time to take a look at the chess part of the whole story.

Regulations and participants

Croatian Chess Cup is the elite team event played on four boards. The tournament was held under Swiss regulations and lasted 6 rounds. The tempo of play was 1 hour and 30 minutes + 30 seconds for first 40 moves, with additional 30 minutes added after move 40.

Teams competing in the highest divisions of the Croatian leagues (1A and 1B leagues) gain the right to participate automatically. Most titled players play for these teams and Croatian Chess Cup is the unique opportunity for chess amateurs/enthusiasts to play against Grandmasters and International Masters.

Or to kibitz their games from the close vicinity.

GM Nikola Sedlak – GM Marin Bosiočić clash on the board one of the Stridon Štrigova – Rijeka Rijeka match from the last round

The remainder of the teams not competing in the 1A or 1B league have the opportunity to qualify via several qualification tournaments held over different Croatian geographical regions.

Course of the tournament – key games and moments

The main pre-tournaments favourites were certainly the strongest teams in the 1A league – Zagreb, Zagreb and Liburnija, Rijeka. Both teams have four 2500+ players, a luxury in Croatian Chess these days.

Apart from them, Solin-Cemex, Solin and Mornar, Split also brought very strong lineups, with strong players on all four boards. Not having a “lamb for slaughter” on one of the boards when the match is played on only four is a very important factor.

However, after the expected course of events and wins by favourites in the 1st round of the tournament, already in the 2nd round Solin-Cemex suffered a major setback, drawing against the Stridon, Štrigova.

The outcome of the match was largely determined by the surprising win of the president of the Croatian Chess Federation, Roland Tomašić, against the legendary Croatian Grandmaster Vlatko Kovačević (who even beat Fischer in the past).

GM Vlatko Kovačević, apparently not fully satisfied with his position in his game against Roland Tomašić

Nevertheless, for the remainder of the favourites, the first two rounds represented an easy cruise.

Only in the round three did the heavyweights meet on the high boards and started exchanging blows.

The first seed,  Zagreb, Zagreb barely beat Rijeka, Rijeka, 2.5 – 1.5.

True, the final result suggests it was a much closer match than it actually was.

It only got slightly more complicated when Grandmaster Zdenko Kozul overstepped the mark and lost an equal endgame against  International Master Boris Golubović.

However, this loss turned out to be irrelevant for the final result, especially because this game was played when the result was already 2.5-0.5 in Zagreb’s favour.

Hrvoje Stević gained a fantastic victory on the first board against the newly crowned Croatian Champion Marin Bosiočić.

Not a bad revenge for the missed opportunity that cost him the title of the Croatian Champion (cf. Croatian Chess Championship 2017 report).

After three rounds, only Zagreb, Zagreb and Liburnija, Rijeka scored the perfect 100%. Thus, their encounter in the 4th round was excitedly awaited and very important for the final tournament standings.

A scene from the battle of the favourites, Zagreb, Zagreb – Liburnija, Rijeka

And what an encounter it was. After relatively quiet draws on boards one and four, Serbian Grandmaster Robert Markus managed to gain a decisive attack after a time trouble blunder by the Grandmaster Mladen Palac.

With the score standing at 2-1 in Liburnija’s favour and Zdenko Kozul once again overstepping the mark and remaining a piece down in his game against Grandmaster Ognjen Jovanić, everything seemed gloomy for Zagreb.

However, in chess everything is possible, and Kozul managed to swindle Jovanić, get his piece back, and win on time in equal position.

The peaceful end to this encounter meant that everything will be decided in the last two rounds.

In the 5th round, both teams were pretty convincing. Liburnija won 3-1 against Vinkovci, Vinkovci, and Zagreb 3.5-1.5 against Solin-Cemex, Solin.

Therefore, round six turned out to be crucial for the outcome of the tournament. Zagreb, Zagreb was playing another strong team, Mornar, Split. Mornar (2 GMs, 1 IM and 1 FM) were 4th at that moment and very much wanted to take Zagreb by surprise.

And, boy, they did that in style.

First, IM Julijan Plenča killed GM Alojzije Janković’s Rauzer in a very convincing game.

The games on the first and the fourth board were drawn, and everything once again depended on Zdenko Kozul, who was playing Bosnian Grandmaster Šarić Ibro.

However, this time, there was no swindle.

This meant that Liburnija wins the first place if they manage to win their match against Sljeme-Agroproteinka, Sesvete.

An encounter that ultimately determined the fate of the first place

It turned out to be a very close match whose outcome was decided by the sole win of the International Master Blažimir Kovačević over International Master Goran Djurovic on the 3rd board.

With this win, Liburnija, Rijeka ensured the first place. The heroes of the last round, Mornar, Split, were awarded the second place, whereas Zagreb, Zagreb had to be satisfied with only the third place.

Other interesting games and moments

Apart from the games crucial for the outcome of the tournament, there was also a number of fantastic games that weren’t as relevant for the final standings.

Let’s start with a Grandmaster encounter between Ante Brkić and Ivan Šarić.

Ante Brkić also produced a fighting draw together with the aforementioned Croatian Champion, Marin Bosiočić.

His teammate, Fide Master Josip Stočko, played probably the best game of the tournament. In his game against Grandmaster Dejan Pikula he finished the game in style by sacrificing his most valuable piece.

This event also saw the youngest Croatian International Master and my good friend Leon Livaić compete against strong Croatian Grandmasters for the first time since he captured the IM title.

Unfortunately, this time he didn’t fare that well, as he lost two games.

Although he is colloquially known as the best-prepared player in Croatia, this time he became a victim of yet another brilliant piece of preparation by the young Grandmaster Saša Martinović (readers might remember his 25 move win with Black against Ivan Šarić from the Croatian Championship).

Still, even when not in his best form, Leon finished on 50 percent and lost only 5 rating points.

A couple of blunders

Naturally, every chess event features some big mistakes. We have already written that even world’s best players commit big blunders in the moments of tension.

We have singled two major mistakes, made by 2400+ players.

GM Jovanić wasn’t the only one who gave aways his pieces for free. In the game between Boris Golubović and Krešimir Podravec, the International master blundered a rook in a move.

International Master Miroslav Rade also overlooked a simple tactic in his game against International Master Uroš Krstić.

Polet Buševec?

Finally, considering I don’t have the pleasure of playing in similar events very often, I would like to talk a bit about my own experience on Mali Lošinj.

My club Polet Buševec earned the right to participate by winning the qualification tournament of the Zagreb – area region.We arrived on Mali Lošinj without any major ambitions and with the intention to fully enjoy ourselves.

The 1st round was a perfect possibility for enjoyment. Since we were 13th seed, we were paired with the main favourites of the tournament, Zagreb, Zagreb, a team consisting of four 2500+ grandmasters.

I got the opportunity to play against former European Champion and World Cup finalist,  a 2600 grandmaster Zdenko Kozul.

Since this is only my 2nd serious encounter against a player of such a calibre, I will, of course, include this game in this post as well.

Like pigs to slaughter.

Unfortunately, this turned to be our first and only encounter against such a strong team.

After a convincing win in the 2nd round, we suffered a very disappointing loss in the 3rd round, after an unfortunate loss of our 4th board in time trouble, with the result standing at 1.5-1.5.

All in all, we played within the limits of our capabilities and took 14th place in the end.

The final result could have been even better, but I managed to display some of my amazing technique in my last round game against International Master Branko Vujaković.

The finish to that game was described in the daily chess tactics # 50 post.

As a consequence of that miss, our last round match was drawn. Had we won, we would have probably ended somewhere around 6th or 7th place. But as our president often says, “that would be too much for you guys anyway.” 😀

Apart from that small disappointment, everything else was perfect. My teammates, although older by age, were immature enough to keep me laughing during our whole stay in Mali Lošinj.

We also took advantages of the swimming pool, went for occasional walks, and of course, were forced to watch Foxy Videos by our fastest improving player, Bruno Kos.

Naturally, we didn’t watch them as much as he’d like because we were quite busy with some primitive time wasting activities like sleeping longer than 6 a.m.

Anyway, I had a great time in Mali Lošinj and I would like to thank everyone who contributed to that fact; especially my teammates who endured my reign as the team captain.

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]]> https://chessentials.com/croatian-chess-cup-2017-highlights/feed/ 2 Croatian Chess Championship 2017 https://chessentials.com/croatian-chess-championship-2017/ https://chessentials.com/croatian-chess-championship-2017/#respond Wed, 10 May 2017 18:45:38 +0000 https://chessentials.com/?p=9457 PARTICIPANTS AND REGULATIONS The 48th Croatian Chess Championship took place between April the 24th and May the 5th in 2017. The tournament was held in the hotel Villa Valpovo, in the small Slavonian city of...

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]]> PARTICIPANTS AND REGULATIONS

The 48th Croatian Chess Championship took place between April the 24th and May the 5th in 2017.

The tournament was held in the hotel Villa Valpovo, in the small Slavonian city of Valpovo which has 11563 inhabitants (according to the last population census from 2011).

The tournament was a single round-robin, with the tempo of play being 90 minutes + 30 seconds per move + additional 30 minutes and 30 seconds per move after the 40th move.

A total of 12 players gained the right to participate in this elite event of the Croatian chess. The players are as follows: (all photos were shot at the event and are taken from the official website of the Croatian Chess Federation)

1. GM Zdenko Kožul

2. GM Ante Brkić

3. GM Ivan Šarić

4. GM Zoran Jovanović

5. GM Mladen Palac

6. GM Ognjen Jovanić

7. GM Saša Martinović

8. GM Hrvoje Stević

9. GM Marin Bosiočić

10. GM Ante Šarić

11. GM Robert Zelčić

12. IM Blažimir Kovačević

This has been definitely the most interesting and entertaining Croatian Chess Championship ever since I started playing chess and following chess events (some 5 years ago).

After 11 gruelling rounds, GM Marin Bosiočić was crowned the new Croatian Champion.

We will examine his tournament path, the key games and moments and other tournament intricacies in this highlight overview.

QUICK DRAWS

The main and most obvious difference between this year’s Championship and the previous editions is the fact that this year participants displayed extraordinary fighting chess.

Quick draws have always been the greatest problem of the closed Croatian Championships. For some players, the reason for their participation was not to play and win, but rather to play and not to lose.

Additionally, some players have known each other for quite a long time and developed friendly relations. Therefore the result of their games could have been predicted with adequate accuracy even before the game.

For instance, consider the following statistical evidence, showing the median draw move of certain participants (taken from chess-db.com):

Median draw move of GM Mladen Palac

Median draw move of GM Hrvoje Stević

Median draw move of GM Zoran Jovanović

The Croatian Championship isn’t regulated by the famous Sofia Rules (which can forbid the players of agreeing to a draw altogether or before a certain move).

Therefore, certain editions of the Croatian Championship witnessed dismal win-to-draw ratio. For instance, the 2014 Croatian Championship resulted in less than 30 % of decisive games (for comparison, 2015 year edition of Tata Steel tournament had more than 50 % of decisive games).

Naturally, this year there were some quick draws as well. The leader was definitely the aforementioned Mladen Palac, who agreed to a draw before move 15 in five games (although he was Black in four of those).

An example game is his 5th round encounter with GM Zdenko Kozul:

This year, however, such games proved to be an exception rather than a rule.

In Croatian Chess Championship 2017, 30/66 games, or 45.45 % ended with a decisive result.

I am not 100 % certain what caused this statistical anomaly, but to be completely honest, I don’t really mind.

BLUNDERS

Since many games in this Championship were hardly fought, this year’s Championship saw many shocking blunders and mistakes.

This isn’t surprising since extreme tension combined with fatigue and tiredness has produced big blunders throughout the whole chess history.

Mistakes such as those presented below are one of the main reasons why I enjoy chess kibitzing and why I think this Championship was fantastic.

Blunder nr. 1 – Ante Šarić

Blunder nr. 2  – Zdenko Kožul

Blunder nr. 3 – Palac Mladen

Blunder nr. 4 – Palac Mladen

Blunder nr. 5 – Blažimir Kovačević

Pawn endgames can be really hard sometimes.

Blunder nr. 6 – Jovanić Ognjen

OPENING PREPARATION

To be fair it wasn’t only blunders and luck in the Croatian Chess Championship 2017.

There was a number of fascinating encounters, but also a few instances of a brilliant opening preparation.

I have singled out two particular games in which GM Ivan Saric encountered problems after the opening.

In the first of his games, GM Robert Zelčić managed to dig deeper in his preparation and reach a very favourable position.

Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t able to keep his momentum, and in the complicated middle game struggle, Saric managed to turn the game into his favour:

Although Saric survived this one, in his game against GM Sasa Martinovic he wasn’t that lucky. The latter found a brilliant sacrifice in the Steinitz French and won with Black (!) in 25 moves (!!).

I actually contacted Sasa to hear his thoughts about the game, and he was very elaborate in his answer and his comments. I would like to express big gratitude to him for investing time and sharing his thoughts and variations for the purpose of this article.

Apart from being tremendously strong at chess, he is also a very nice guy!

The game with analysis and Sasa’s comments is given below:

KEY GAMES/DRAMA

This year’s edition of Croatian Chess Championship turned out to be a very close race.

The new champion was decided only in the last round and throughout the tournament, there were many dramatic games which had a decisive effect on the final outcome.

The first critical game was the 7th round encounter between GM Marin Bosiočić and GM Ivan Šarić.

After the first six rounds, Bosiočić, after a couple of wins and a lucky escape against Palac mentioned above, was leading with 5.5/6 (!!).

Šarić, always a contender for the throne, won 4 games and only suffered a painful defeat against GM Martinović that was described above. Thus, he was trailing with 4.5/6 and very much needed a victory in order to keep his chances for the title alive.

After this game, I thought that the Saric will be able to build on his success and win the title.

Apparently, the oldest participant and the defending champion GM Zdenko Kožul thought otherwise and went on to defeat Saric with the Black pieces in the very next round:

This was the only decisive game of round 8 and the situation became slightly more complicated.

In the very next round, another +2600 grandmaster, Hrvoje Stević, joined the fun. Stević, a very solid grandmaster and an excellent technician, has been steadily making draws and winning here and there, and just before the 9th round, he was on 5/8. Bosiočić had 6, and Šarić 5.5 points.

Thus, Stevic eliminated Saric out of contention for the title moved to nr.2 position, just behind Bosiocic.

After both players drew in round 10, it became clear that everything will depend on their last round game.

And what a grandiose battle it was:

Thus, the ancient chess quote, stating that ” The hardest thing in chess is winning a won game” once again proved valid.

Congratulations to Marin Bosiočić on his first title of Croatian National Champion.

To check our report from the 2018 edition of the Croatian Championship, go here

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