Explosive start to chess championship in Turkey

Fifth European Individual Chess Championship

The European Individual Chess Championship is being staged by the Turkish Chess Federation, under the auspices of the European Chess Union and with the support of the General Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Turkish Republic. It runs from May 15 until May 30 2004 in Antalya, Kemer-Beldibi, Turkey. It is a 13-round Swiss, and the rate of play is 1.30 hours for the game + 30 seconds per move. The total prize fund is €45,000.

Starting with a bang

Ali Nihat Yazici, the President of Turkish Chess Federation, tells the harrowing story. The players arrived on Friday, May 14, and checked into the Nautilus Hotel Beldibi Kemer.

Above is the spectacular venue of the EICC 2004 – see our pictorial preview for more.

The first night, at midnight, everybody was dancing, drinking and relaxing before the 1st round. Nobody had problems and everything was going well. Then suddenly there was a big explosion. The energy unit of the hotel, which is located 100 metres from the main building, exploded!

The Fire Brigade was there in two minutes, but it took 45 minutes to extinguish the fire. Afterwards the energy building was covered in ashes and water.

What to do, with all the high voltage units completely destroyed by the fire?

Technicians and engineers of the Antalya City Electricity Administration worked all night to get things up and running before the start of the first round.

With a ten-minute delay the games could start!

A shock in round one: 37th seed Julian Radulski, an IM from Bulgaria sporting a 2497 rating, beat top seed Vassily Ivanchuk, Elo 2716. One must mention that the Ukraine world class player is suffering from flu.

This was not the only big surprise in round one. One of the bulletin boys, Serkan Kose, an affable 23-year-old student who is working on two PhDs, applied to play in this tournament. The Turkish Chess Federation agreed, especially since he promised to prepare the bulletin after the rounds.

In the first round Serkan, who has a 2244 rating (and, according to the official reports, weighs 130 Kg or 286 pounds), was pitted against German talent GM Arkadij Naiditsch. The chess amateur won a very nice game

Kose,S (2244) – Naitisch,A (2571) [B22]
5th European Chess Championship (1.22), 15.05.2004 [annotations by Serkan Kose]
1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Be2 e6 7.0-0 Nc6 8.h3 Bh5 9.Be3 cxd4 10.cxd4 Be7 11.Nc3 Qd6 12.Nb5 Qb8 13.Rc1 a6 14.Nc3 0-0 15.Na4 Nd5. The knight feels good on d5 16.Nc5 Rd8 17.Qb3 b5 18.Qd1 Qb6 19.Bd3 e5 20.Bxh7+ [20.g4 exd4 21.Bg5 Bg6 22.Bxg6 hxg6 23.Bxe7 Ndxe7–/+] 20...Kh8?= weakening the position. After 20...Kxh7 21.Ng5+ Kg6 the position is unclear] 21.Be4 f5± [21...Rac8!? is interesting 22.Bxd5 Rxd5+/=] 22.Bxf5 exd4 23.Nd7 Qb7+– [23...Qc7!? 24.Nde5 Nxe3 25.fxe3 dxe3±]

24.Rxc6! Better than holding on to the material. 24...Nxe3?? terrible, but the game is lost in any case: 24...Qxc6 25.Nxd4 Bxd1 26.Nxc6 Be2+–. 25.Rh6+!! a sacrifice that merits applause! 25...gxh6 26.Qxd4+ Kg8 27.fxe3 [or 27.Qxe3 and White can already relax: 27...Rxd7 28.Qxh6 Bf6 29.Bxd7 Bg7 30.Qxh5 Qxd7+–] 27...Rxd7 [27...Qc7 does not save the day: 28.Be6+! a disturbing check 28...Kh7 29.Qe4+ Kh8 30.Nfe5 Rxd7 31.Nxd7+–] 28.Bxd7 Rf8 29.Be6+! an unpleasant check 29...Kh7 [29...Bf7 there is nothing else anyway 30.Qg4+ Kh8+–] 30.Ne5 [30.Bd5 secures the point 30...Qc7 31.Be4+ Kg8 32.Qd5+ Bf7 33.Qf5+- #10/5] 30...Rxf1+ 31.Kxf1 Bf6 [31...Qc7 32.g4 Be8 33.Bf7 Bxf7 34.Nxf7+-] 32.Qf4! a beautiful, forced end to the game. 32...Qg7 [32...Bxe5 there is nothing better in the position: 33.Qxe5 Bf7+–] 33.Qe4+! a tough check to counter: 33...Kh8 34.Qa8+ Kh7 35.Bf5++–. 1-0,

• Click here to replay the game

Links

• Full details on the tournament
• Official web site (with games, results, pictures and reports)
• All games from round one

All Participants