Belgium in Budapest – Chess Olympiads – Round 11

The last report from Budapest, chess city par excellence, where all eyes were also on in the 1990s because one Bobby Fischer, who most probably descended from a Hungarian father (the physicist Dr Pal Nemeyi), lived there from 1993 to 2000. By the way, his rematch against Boris Spasski in 1992 was mainly due to a Hungarian player, Zita Rajcsanyi. And since he could not return home from Sveti Stefan in Montenegro with his prize money, he thus settled in Budapest for a while, presumably on the advice of the Hungarian-born organisers of the rematch (Janos Kubat and Zoltan Simonyi). A logical choice too, as Fischer was friends with Laszlo Szabo, Lajos Portisch and the Polgar family. His best friend was also Hungarian: Pal Benko (1928-2019), who fled Hungary to the United States in 1957 and ceded his place in the inter-zone tournament to Fischer in 1970. The Hungarian by birth will no doubt also have had his share of Fischer’s stay in Hungary.

Fischer avoided the public eye, but could often be seen around Astoria (near the hotel where the Belgians stayed), or also on tram line 47. He also often went to the hotel Gellért, where he enjoyed the spa or a good meal, but his favourite restaurant was the Japanese restaurant in Republic Square, now renamed Pope John Paul II Square. Benko will no doubt have told him that Gena Maroczy spent his last years of life in a house just down the road from the restaurant.

Lo and behold, the chess Olympiad has come full circle. The country of 9.5 million people has produced proportionately many Nobel laureates and Olympic gold medallists. If you look at the medal tally in the chess Olympiads, you see the same picture: 5 gold, 12 silver and 4 bronze medals (and then 2 gold and 1 silver in the unofficial Olympiads).

Not this time however, as those were the podiums:

Open: 1. India 2. United States of America 3. Uzbekistan

Women: 1. India 2. Kazakhstan 3. United States of America

All results and details: https://chess-results.com/tnr967173.aspx?lan=17

Organisationally, however, I felt there were still work points. For instance, the transfers appeared to be a chaos at times (hours not respected resulting in e.g.), the bookings and cancellations seemed more improvised than organised (only the invoices for the fines for registrations and changes after the deadline were sent to the national federations in a meticulous manner), the electronic voting during the congress (which was entrusted to a large company) did not at all match what Ruben single-handedly achieved as a volunteer for the RBCF.

I mentioned the overly showy and exaggerated presence of the Fairplay commission this week. In that respect, perhaps another anecdote: ladies sometimes wear a bra with a metal clasp.This, of course, beeps when you go through a scanner. Now this was still without consequences (though you had to explain to some people at security why their device beeped). What if in the next Olympiads (Uzbekistan in 2026 and then Abu Dhabi in 2028) they decide to do even ‘better’ (read: stricter) on that front?

But let’s be clear: such a chess Olympiad remains a chess feast at all levels and the inconveniences are gladly accepted with a smile (or at worst with irony). In the end, the playing conditions were excellent, in the end the hotels were very nice, in the end there was enough variety in the food (OK, as Belgians we are used to better chocolate bars), in the end the transfers to the playing hall were not that far, in the end this was another opportunity to see top chess players at work, in the end this was a chance for more than 2000 people to share their passion, in the end this is an excellent opportunity to see or meet people for the whole world again (even visitors), in the end such an Olympiad is a fantastic souvenir…

The results, however, the men’s team will want to forget as soon as possible. Starting position was 49 and with a final jump there might have been significant improvement. But Croatia has a long chess tradition and a solid team and, like Hungary a few rounds earlier, the aim was to force Daniel to a draw on board 1 and make up the difference on the other boards. For the Croatians, the plan worked perfectly. Too bad, because going home with a defeat is never fun, especially when you suffer your heaviest defeat in the last round. With that, the team perform below expectations in the open. The reasons are hard to find: there was no fooling around here and everyone had obviously hoped for a great tournament, but chess takes place in the mind and when cracks in self-confidence appear after a few lesser performances, well, then things get very difficult…

For the ladies, Bangladesh was an opponent not to be underestimated. Just a few rounds ago, Sarah’s opponent was put on a pedestal: 6 out of 6 and a TRP of 2600. Not bad for a lady of… 80 years. I can’t see my mother doing what this lady did. Meanwhile, she had lost a half, but that did not diminish her performance. Sarah had a clear battle plan: make the position as sharp as possible and look for battle. For initiative, she thematically gave up a quality in a dragon variation of the Sicilian. Throughout the game she had (a slight) advantage, but the opponent did not crack. Sarah kept trying. On the one hand, she had a passed pawn on the a-line, and on the other, she could win another pawn on e5. Unfortunately, she did so a bit too quickly, because the f-line remained open and, in case of great danger, already guaranteed a perpetual. When Sarah did not put the most dangerous attack on the board, the tide turned and eventually Sarah had to play the endgame with a quality less. Her opponent already had experience enough to end this winningly. This was the last Belgian game of the tournament.

Hanne’s last game also took a long time. In fact, it was always tied, but neither was allowed to force anything. Both players hoped from each other that this would happen, but eventually a draw was agreed.

With her draw, our country was sure of the match victory, as our youngsters had already done what they have done all tournament: played well and won beautifully. Daria in her well-known way, by making it clear to the opponent from the first move that things are serious and increasing the difficulty for the opponent with every move. It takes a lot of energy, but Daria can muster that energy.

Tyani builds up her games more quietly and had soon lost the first-move advantage (out of 11 games, this was only her fourth game with white), but then she just did what I have seen her do so many times this week with black. Improving her position with logical moves. Symptomatically, at one point the opponent should have already sacrificed a quality to stay in the game. That didn’t happen and then Tyani would have quickly seen how to take the win to herself. The pawn on a2 posed no danger as long as her rook was on the a-file and her knight on e2. All covered and so her own king could guide the c-pawn to promotion. 9.5 out of 11 and a TPR of 2253.

Virtually this puts her in the top 3 of Belgian women’s chess, after Annmarie Muetsch and Anna Zozulia.

So, the women’s team can look back on a successful tournament. If you have starting place 48 and you finish four places higher, you have undoubtedly done well. Of course, the focus and playing strength of both Tyani and Daria are the main components that led to this result. Diana also did her bit with her 3 out of 4, and it is a real pity that she dropped out, but the two ladies for whom the tournament went a bit less elo-wise are at least as important to the group: the points lost may have been won by Daria, Diana and Tyani thanks to them. Indeed, Hanne and Sarah took the group by the hand and created a good, casual atmosphere and a group feeling, so that no one, especially the youngsters, felt pressure from outside at the start of each round.

Hanne may have already missed her start, but after the rest day, she played as befits a leading lady: except against Pia Cramling, she held off her opponents, not forcing anything, but taking advantage of the mistakes made by her opponents.

Sarah plays riskier and then you know your mistakes can be ruthlessly punished. And as Daria could also experience, those mistakes were punished. In the end, Sarah played against four opponents who were either simply stronger, or who were having a fantastic tournament: those four all achieved a TPR of over 2100 (three of them achieved a TPR of over 2200 themselves).

In any case, besides all the commission work, it was great to be able to follow the women’s team closely. Köszönjük és remélhetőleg a következő alkalomig!