gambit.lu

Who is the best player in Luxembourg when it comes to short time controls? The blitz and rapid national championships, played on 2 and 3 July in Diekirch, gave an unanimous verdict: Stefan Maltezeanu, of course.

The Blitz championship saw Stefan prevail ahead of Patrick Meurin and Tom Weidig, while in the Rapid championship Stefan scored 6.5/7 to finish clear first ahead of GM Sébastien Feller. Bonnevoie’s presence on the podium was completed by Zoran Stanic, bronze medal ex-æquo, highlighting that the best blitz in town in 2022 is to be found at Gambit’s.

After a 2-year long Covid-19 break the Blitz team national championship, as usual excellently organized by TSM Schëffleng, is back. Gambit1 (S. Dishman, Maltezeanu, Bjarnason, Bednarich) is national champion, ahead of Differdange1 and Schifflange1. Gambit2 (Basinas, M. Dishman, Vijups, Reiff) narrowly missed the podium, while our youth team (Sterlin, E. Östling, Fohr, C. Östling) gained valuable experience.

Best player prizes on their respective boards were awarded to Steve Dishman (11.5/12), Óskar Bjarnason (11/12) and Pit Reiff (11/12).

The weekend 14th and 15th of Mai town and chess club of Differdange organized tournaments in the premises of the International School. Eight youngsters from Bonnevoie joined the youth team competition: Konstantinos Basinas, Jakub Michalak-Palarz, Sebastien Fohr, Eric Östling, Carl Östling, Daniel Sterlin, Mark Alex Maiquez Seitam and Noah Chané. The two teams were fairly even in strength and with a little bit of luck in the last round they would have been equal on team points. The first came in 3rd behind Schifflange and Differdange, only half a point behind the latter which had suffered a painful draw against our second team. The following day Konstantinos won the individual youth contest, this time with a perfect score. In the adult event another Bonnevoie player landed on the podium as the winner of the last edition, Geoffrey Stern, took 3rd price.
For an old coach the kids were playing at a terrifying speed at times. Which can be useful, but in certain situations, e.g. when a pawn endgame is reached, it is good to take a few minutes to calculate, count pawn and king moves and visualize. In the last round Mark Alex had been defending desperately with black against Andre Power James of Differdange 2 when he suddenly got the opportunity to equalize an then even win. Both players had close to 10 minutes left on the clock but continued to « blitz » out plausible moves :

1. – Rd3! A rookfork. Either black gets two pawns, pulls the rook back and draws. Or a dangerous passed pawn securing the same result – at least.
2. Rxd3 exd3
3. Kd2?? seemed necessary but 3.c6! Ke7(!?) 4.gxf5 d2 5.f6+! draws – both sides work with equally distant passed pawns. 3. – Ke5 ?? throws away the win as after 3.-fxg4 white has no way to stop both pawns nor time to queen himself – black is « in the square » of defense.
4. gxf5 Kxf5? –g4 would still have drawn – with the help of « some higher power » as in the end black uses queen checks and stalemate motivs being two pawns down (e. g. 5.c6 g3+ 6.Kxg3 d2 7.c7 d1=Q 8.c8=Q Qxb3!! 9.Kg4 Qd1+ 10.Kg5 Qg1+ 11.Kh5 Dh1+ 12.Kg6 Qc6+!!).
5. e4+! Is the only move now, diverting the black king out of the square or gaining time for Ke3. Most likely the move played in the game as white went on to win.

Our first team ended the 2021/2022 top-fight season unbeaten scoring 6/7, but the tie-breaker favoured new champions Echternach, with Differdange finishing third.

The last round of the national championship brought bitter news, as Bonnevoie II could not avoid relegation. In the lower leagues, Bonnevoie III and Bonnevoie IV performed in line with expectations amid a number of covid related defaults. On a positive note, our young players managed to experience the competition for the first time.

Konstantinos Basinas won the Luxembourg national championship, held from 11 to 14 April 2022 in Schifflange, with a 100% score in the U16 section. Konstantinos, the only representative from Gambit Bonnevoie, convincingly dominated a field of 16 young players.

Warmest congratulations to Konstantinos and to Mark Alex Maiquez, who got the bronze medal in the U14 group at his first participation in an official competition.

Chess courses in Ukrainian language

Chess Club Gambit Bonnevoie Luxembourg is offering free chess courses for children in Ukrainian language (beginner level) on Mondays and Thursdays from 17:30 to 19:00 in the premises of Hall Omnisports, rue Gangler Luxembourg. The activities are starting on 2 May. For information please contact (in English or French) info@gambit.lu , enrolment: https://forms.gle/oGRrfLPwkpKaHNTK8

Шаховий клуб Gambit Bonnevoie Luxembourg пропонує безоплатні курси для дітей на українській мові (початковий рівень) по понеділкам і четвергам з 17:30 до 19:00 у приміщенні Hall Omnisports, rue Gangler Luxembourg. Захід розпочинається 2 травня . Для отримання інформації звертайтесь (на англійській або французькій мові) за адресою info@gambit.lu .Заява: https://forms.gle/oGRrfLPwkpKaHNTK8

Gambit Bonnevoie is ranked 23 out of 38 participating teams at the European Chess Club Cup 2021, which is taking place in Struga on Lake Ohrid (North Macedonia) from 18 to 24 September 2021.

Our representatives GM Vitaly Kunin, IM François Godart, Steven Dishman, Slobodan Filipović, Michael Schwerteck, Roberto Visintin, Matthew Dishman, Geoffrey Stern and Robert McAndrew (captain) are to face élite opposition from the very start. In round 1 they will play against KPRF Russia with superstar Alexander Grischuk, Elo 2775, World rank 8, on board one.

Watch live on Chess24.com or Chessbase