1st Laim Whitsun Open was a success! IM Andreas Schenk wins the A tournament
Three and a half days of tournament chess are over, and in retrospect — apart from the mishap with the pairing in round 2 of the B tournament — the Whitsun Open is to be rated a success. The longest journey was taken on by the Hvan family; they came from Hesse, and David was not to disappoint the family members who travelled with him. As the second-youngest participant, he already pulled off the first coup on Friday. He outwitted JianQi, two years his senior, in his own opening. In the second round he beat an adult, namely Sebastian, who for his part had drawn against the eventual third-place finisher Vladislav Barsov in the first round and beaten Andreas. In the third round, the eventual youth prize winner Samuel awaited him. Here he paid his dues; despite being up the exchange, he couldn’t withstand the pressure, spent half an hour of thinking time before the mating combination, but it was no use, the attack broke through. After that came Bhav, three years his senior, who played a good tournament; here he lost repeatedly. Against the eventual third-place finisher Vladislav he played well despite his defeat, as the latter afterwards praised him for his play. After that came surprising wins against Maxim, three years older, and also against Gerd. The youngest participant, Varvara, also held her own and scored two points against girls each three years older. Against David Winkler she was a pawn down; had she not exchanged queens, a draw might have been possible. Against Charlotte in the last game she overlooked a discovered attack and thereby lost her queen. There was an interesting mix in the B tournament: adults, seniors and youngsters met one another and gave nothing away. Aleksej Barsov won the B tournament ahead of the strong Jakob Ederer and his own son Vladislav, against whom he drew in the final round. The youth prize went to Samuel Radgen, the seniors’ prize to Eugen Stein and the women’s prize to Svea Jannicke.
In the A tournament, the favourite IM Andreas Schenk prevailed. The closest game was probably the one against his club colleague Andriy. The first three boards were broadcast live and shown in the foyer. An exciting fight for the places behind him broke out. In the end, Denis Werner came out on top; unfortunately the head-to-head clash between him and the master did not come about. Julio deservedly made it to third place. Edwin pulled off a photo finish, surprisingly beating Julian. I had mistakenly entered this result as a draw, so Leo Sprengard had seemingly become the best youth player. Since the women’s prize could not be awarded, Leo’s prize is to be counted as the 2nd youth prize, as he was the only one besides the master who managed to stay undefeated, finishing on 4.5 points. The first youth prize, however, thus belongs to Edwin with 5 points.
The participants of the tournaments came from Germering, Gräfelfing and from the Munich clubs Bayern München, Garching, Tarrasch, Zugzwang, Schwabing Nord, and with Julio also SG Porz was represented.