From the Chess archiv of Chess-Results.com: Article: 257 from 01.06.1997, Category Austria

Chess Festival Linz 1997

(in German)

GM-Tournament FIDE-Kat. XII (Games of all rounds)

Among the participants of the first "Chess Grandmaster Tournament" of Linz many famous names are to be found. Beside the both Austrian participants all others seem good for the first place.

The best known topstars are the "grandseigneur of chess" Viktor Kortschnoi, who misses the title of the world champion on several occasions and the new French hope of claiming the "Chess World Champion" title in future, Etienne Bacrot, who broke the records of the legendary Bobby Fischer and Judit Polgar of becoming the youngest grandmaster ever. But it seems likly, that the young Hungarian topgrandmaster Almasi will be good for a surpricse.

Final Score

Rg. Ti. Name Land Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pkt BS
1. GM V. Beim ISR 2555 * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 7 27,00
2. GM Z. Almasi HUN 2595 ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 7 26,50
3. GM E. Bacrot FRA 2500 ½ ½ * ½ 1 1 0 ½ 1 1 6 23,50
4. GM I. Glek RUS 2620 ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 6 22,50
5. GM I. Rogers AUS 2600 0 0 0 1 * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 4½ 15,00
6. GM O.Romanischin UKR 2555 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 4 14,25
7. GM V. Korchnoi SUI 2635 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 4 13,75
8. IM M. Wach AUT 2415 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ * 0 1 3 11,00
9. GM Z. Lanka LAT 2575 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 * ½ 3 9,50
10. IM H. Casagrande AUT 2365 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ * ½ 1,50

Average elo: 2541 => Category: 12 , gm = 5.40 m = 3.60


Let's have a short look at the results of the following rounds:

1st Round

After his loss in Enghien Viktor Kortschnoi wins the battle of generations against Bacrot in typical manner. In the battle of the Austrians, IM Casagrande lost a promising position in zeitnot.

A very interesting game was Glek-Romanishin, in which Black sacrifed a knight in the opening and in the ending after a horrible mistake and the loss of a piece Romanishin had to accept remis by perpetual check..

GM Z. Almasi - GM Z. Lanka 1-0
GM V. Korchnoi - GM E. Bacrot 1-0
GM I. Rogers - GM V. Beim 0-1
GM I. Glek - GM O. Romanischin ½-½
IM H. Casagrande - IM M. Wach 0-1

2nd Round

White is back again. After a grandmaster remis between Beim and Glek all white players won their games. Zoltan Almasi leads with 2 points. And the tournament is not very good for Rogers due to his second loss.

GM Z. Almasi - GM V. Korchnoi 1-0
GM E. Bacrot - GM I. Rogers 1-0
GM V. Beim - GM I. Glek ½-½
GM O. Romanischin - IM H. Casagrande 1-0
GM Z. Lanka - IM M. Wach 1-0

3rd Round

Black is back again! This day no white game was won. Zoltan Almasi won with the black pieces against Rogers with 3 powns against one knight. The local player Casagrande wasted a good position against Beim.

GM I. Rogers - GM Z. Almasi 0-1
GM V. Korchnoi - GM Z. Lanka ½-½
GM I. Glek - GM E. Bacrot ½-½
IM H. Casagrande - GM V. Beim 0-1
IM M. Wach - GM O. Romanischin ½-½

4th Round

Four draws after hard fight! Only Beim-Wach, which produced a quick draw.

Lanka-Romanishin fought 115 moves and the gentle Lanka agreed in the draw even Romanishin had only 11 seconds until the time control.

The only decided game was was Bacrot-Casagrande when the Upper-Austrian blundered in an early stage of the game.

GM Z. Almasi - GM I. Glek ½-½
GM V. Korchnoi - GM I. Rogers ½-½
GM E. Bacrot - IM H. Casagrande 1-0
GM V. Beim - IM M. Wach ½-½
GM Z. Lanka - GM O. Romanischin ½-½

5th Round

Former Youth Wordchampion Zoltan Almasi winning again

In round 5 the gentle Humgarian merciless claimed his 4th victory, this time with the local champion Harald Casagrande who is toght a hard lessen in this competition. From the local point of view there is still a partial success, since the Israeli GM Valeri Beim who settled down in Wels, successfully tried to follow the leader, just a half point lacking.

Probably still good for a surprise is the top rated player Viktor Kortschnoi, who lost to the Russian Igor Glek in the first round. On Saturday Zolan Almasi will be guest at the ORF "Apple-Studio" at "Linz Suedhofmarkt". He will be free there for playing simultaneous to everyone, who likes to try his skill.

IM H. Casagrande - GM Z. Almasi 0-1
GM I. Glek - GM V. Korchnoi 1-0
GM I. Rogers - GM Z. Lanka ½-½
IM M. Wach - GM E. Bacrot ½-½
GM O. Romanischin - GM V. Beim 0-1

6th Round

Not a Single Draw in Round 6!

Only victories by the players using the favor of the first move, beside

one markable exception, were faced.

Still "Youngest Ever" Etienne Bacrot is following the both leaders in score more than the would like. Probably the decisive confrontation will occur in the very last round which will be held at Sunday morning at 10. a.m., when Bacrot, but whit the inferior colour, will confron Almasi. There might also happen that Valeri Beim is going for the best end in his favour.

The organizers are overwhelmed by the medial interest experienced. For instance daily report is given by the local radio broadcasting station "Radio Upper Austria" (95.2 Hz) every day shortly after 4.p.m.

GM Z. Almasi - IM M. Wach 1-0
GM V. Korchnoi - IM H. Casagrande 1-0
GM I. Rogers - GM I. Glek 1-0
GM E. Bacrot - GM O. Romanischin 1-0
GM Z. Lanka - GM V. Beim 0-1

Round 7: Peaceful Leading Trio

Round 7 was marked by the effort of the leading trio not to risk their lead. Only Igor Glek who fought hard against his grandmaster collegue Lanka in order to clinch them. Remarkable the draw of the local player Markus Wach against the former "Lion of Leningrade".

GM O. Romanischin - GM Z. Almasi ½-½
IM M. Wach - GM V. Korchnoi ½-½
IM H. Casagrande - GM I. Rogers 0-1
GM I. Glek - GM Z. Lanka 1-0
GM V. Beim - GM E. Bacrot ½-½

8. Round: No Decision yet

Because Almasi and Beim produced a rather quick draw, Bacrot and Glek used this chance to reduce the gap.

GM Z. Almasi - GM V. Beim ½-½
GM V. Korchnoi - GM O. Romanischin ½-½
GM I. Rogers - IM M. Wach 1-0
GM I. Glek - IM H. Casagrande 1-0
GM Z. Lanka - GM E. Bacrot 0-1

9th Round: Beim surprisingly wins ahead of Almasi

The Israeli GM Valeri Beim, who has settled in Wels, Upper-Austria, profited not only from the quick draw between Bacrot and Almasi (19), but also contributed his part by beating Viktor Korchnoi convincingly.

In a final upset, the Latvian GM Zigurd Lanka contributed the first and only half-point of the local player Harald Casagrande.

GM E. Bacrot - GM Z. Almasi ½-½
GM V. Beim - GM V. Korchnoi 1-0
GM O. Romanischin - GM I. Rogers ½-½
IM M. Wach - GM I. Glek 0-1
IM H. Casagrande - GM Z. Lanka ½-½

 

Three Winners at the Whitsun-Open

The Israeli GM Ram Soffer won the tournament due to his better BH-Rating ahead of the German VOEST-Linz-Legionaire GM Wolfgang Uhlmann. The third winner was surprisingly the still titleless Pole Jerzy Ciruk.

Best Austrian was IM Niki Stanec, who shared 4th-8th place behind the top-seeded Ukrainian GM Vladimir Malianuk (4), the Upper-Austrian Hermann Knoll and FM Peter Kranzl (8./9).

Other places: (9-14): IM Khaled Mahdy (9), FM Heinrich Rolletschek (10) and Guenter Moser (14), all on 6 points.

94 players participated in the "Open" from many different countries. Among them were 3 GMs, 4 IMs and 6 FMs.

Final Score


                                Elo- Elo- 
Rg.#  Ti. Name                  Int. Nat.Land Verein           Pkt.
===================================================================
1  2  GM  R.Soffer              2525      ISR                   7  50   
2  3  GM  W.Uhlmann             2480      GER VOEST LINZ        7  49.5
3  15     J.Ciruk               2235      POL                   7  47   
4  1  GM  V.Malaniuk            2610      UKR                   6½ 55.5 
5  4  IM  N.Stanec              2460      AUT Merkur Graz       6½ 54.5 
6  5  IM  E.Szalanczy           2410      HUN SCM Winterthur    6½ 49.5 
7  17     H.Knoll               2225      AUT SV Gmunden        6½ 49.5 
8  26 FM  P.Kranzl              2205      AUT SC Traun 67       6½ 46   
9  6  IM  K.Mahdy               2395      AUT SCM Winterthur    6  50   
10 7  FM  H.Rolletschek         2345      AUT VOEST Linz        6  50   
11 9  IM  J.Rigo                2325      HUN Fuerstenfeld      6  45.5 
12 24     M.Vettel                   2207 GER SC Freiburg       6  44   
13 26     A.Schelle                  2205 GER SC Sendling       6  43   
14 8  FM  G.Moser               2340      AUT Traun 67          6  42.5 
15 14 FM  A.Hellmayr            2240      AUT SV Urfahr         5½ 48   
16 29     E.Rumpl               2190      AUT BMB Amstetten     5½ 48   
17 13     N.Kranewitter         2265      AUT Kufstein          5½ 47.5 
18 21 FM  H.Holzmann            2215      AUT SV Urfahr         5½ 47   
19 30 OEM F.Winiwarter          2165      AUT VOEST Linz        5½ 47   
20 20 OEM H.Winiwarter          2220      AUT VOEST Linz        5½ 46   
21 12     H.Ganaus              2265      AUT SK Loosdorf       5½ 45   
22 51     H.Doppelhammer             1948 AUT SV Urfahr         5½ 44.5 
23 50     M.Schneider                1954 AUT SV Gmunden        5½ 43.5 
24 27     E.Vosha               2205      ISR                   5½ 43.5 
25 34     H.Baerner             2115      AUT Spk. Absam        5½ 41.5 
26 40     G.Porubszki                2045 GER SG Waldshut-Thien 5½ 41.5 
27 46     A.Eberhart                 1999 AUT Trofaiach         5½ 41   
28 11     H.Grabher             2275      AUT Hohenems          5  50.5 
29 23 MK  W.Posch               2210      AUT Wr. Neustadt      5  48   
30 16     J.Dornauer            2230      AUT ASK St. Valentin  5  47   
31 31     M.Boeven              2150      GER SV Geilenkirchen  5  46.5 
32 47     M.Simic                    1994 YUG VOEST Linz        5  46.5 
33 41     A.Berthold                 2043 GER SV Senftenberg    5  45.5 
34 67     A.Schoepf                  1863 AUT Wartberg/Aist     5  44.5 
35 22     G.Kreischer           2215      AUT SC Traun 67       5  44.5 
36 35     F.Wiedermann          2105      AUT Austria Wien      5  44   
37 43     P.Schulz                   2020 AUT ASV Linz          5  41.5 
38 10 FM  G.Marti               2295      HUN                   5  40.5
39 63     J.Somasundram              1878 SRI SC Traun 67       5  38   
40 18     M.Morchat             2225      POL                   5  37.5 
41 28     H.Hager               2190      AUT SV Gmunden        5  37.5