1st round
The Mitorpa Cup has started with a symbolic first move made by Sandor Dorogi, mayor of the host city, Balatonszarszo. It happened on Board 2 of the open section, on the Italy-Hungary match. That particular board was unique as former European Women’s Champion, Hoang Thanh Trang, the only female player in the open section was playing on the Hungarian side.
Open Section
Looking at the results, the biggest surprise might had been Slovenia’s win over Slovakia, despite being slight underdogs by rating in every board. Hungary’s 2:2 is also somewhat unexpected, though they didn’t have Erdos, one of the 2600GMs, on the team which made the fight versus Italy more balanced.
Results
| Open | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  |
France (2501) | 2 | – | 2 | Germany (2493) |  |
| 2. |  |
Czech Republic (2502) | 3½ | – | ½ | Austria (2477) |  |
| 3. |  |
Italy (2474) | 2 | – | 2 | Hungary (2545) |  |
| 4. |  |
Croatia (2486) | 3 | – | 1 | Switzerland (2446) |  |
| 5. |  |
Slovenia (2409) | 2½ | – | 1½ | Slovakia (2472) |  |
Standings
| Rk. | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Czech Republic | * | 3½ | 2 | 3,5 | 0 | ||||||||
| 2 | Croatia | * | 3 | 2 | 3,0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 3 | Slovenia | * | 2½ | 2 | 2,5 | 0 | ||||||||
| 4 | Hungary | * | 2 | 1 | 2,0 | 1 | ||||||||
| Germany | * | 2 | 1 | 2,0 | 1 | |||||||||
| 6 | France | 2 | * | 1 | 2,0 | 1 | ||||||||
| Italy | 2 | * | 1 | 2,0 | 1 | |||||||||
| 8 | Slovakia | 1½ | * | 0 | 1,5 | 0 | ||||||||
| 9 | Switzerland | 1 | * | 0 | 1,0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 10 | Austria | ½ | * | 0 | 0,5 | 0 |
Women Section
France’s victory over Germany is a real surprise. It seems Germany had her chances over the boards but blunders in both white games (board 2 and 4) sealed their faith. Czech Republic’s victory over Austria is also somewhat unexpected. Hungary’s 3:1 win over Italy might seem convincing, though it involved the longest game of the day which ended in the Hungarian player’s favor. More on that game later.
Results
| Open | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | |
France (2144) | 3 | – | 1 | Germany (2228) | |
| 2. | |
Czech Republic (2079) | 2½ | – | 1½ | Austria (2155) | |
| 3. | |
Italy (2221) | 1 | – | 3 | Hungary (2280) | |
| 4. | |
Croatia (2180) | 2½ | – | 1½ | Poland (2215) |  |
| 5. | |
Slovenia (2167) | 3½ | – | ½ | Slovakia (2098) | |
Standings
| Rk. | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Slovenia | * | 3½ | 2 | 3,5 | 0 | ||||||||
| 2 | France | * | 3 | 2 | 3,0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Hungary | * | 3 | 2 | 3,0 | 0 | |||||||||
| 4 | Croatia | * | 2½ | 2 | 2,5 | 0 | ||||||||
| 5 | Czech Republic | * | 2½ | 2 | 2,5 | 0 | ||||||||
| 6 | Austria | 1½ | * | 0 | 1,5 | 0 | ||||||||
| 7 | Poland | 1½ | * | 0 | 1,5 | 0 | ||||||||
| 8 | Italy | 1 | * | 0 | 1,0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Germany | 1 | * | 0 | 1,0 | 0 | |||||||||
| 10 | Slovakia | ½ | * | 0 | 0,5 | 0 |
Highlights
The already mentioned longest game of the day actually turned out to be the most exciting as well. The following game in the women section helped Hungary to beat Italy. After some positional edge for white out of the opening, black fought back and the following interesting situation arose:
Gara,Ticia (2332) – Brunello,Marina (2377) [A07]
Mitropa Cup – Women (1.2), 17.09.2017
Position after 40.Rd1
After repeating moves white being up a pawn decides to play on with 40.Rd1.
40…Rf2 [40…Be1! black is better due to the unsafe white king – one idea being Rg1+ followed by the cute Nf4#]
41.Nd4 [And now white decision is justified, though it is still not easy with the exposed king]
41…Kh7 42.f5 exf5+ 43.Kxf5 Bg3 44.e6 Be5 45.e7! Bxd4 46.e8Q Rxf3+ 47.Kg4 Re3 48.Qa8 Be5
White managed to promote the e-pawn, and she is up a queen only for 2 minor pieces. But surprisingly hard to play this position – white king is still in lot of danger.
49.Rf1 Ne7 50.Qg2 f5+ 51.Rxf5 Rg3+ 52.Qxg3 Bxg3 53.Rb5 Bc7 54.a4 Nc6 55.h4 g6 56.Rd5 Kh6 57.b5 Ne5+ 58.Kf4 Nd3+ 59.Kf3 Nb2 60.Rd7 Be5 61.Ra7 Bf6 62.Kg4 Nc4 63.Rc7 Ne3+ 64.Kh3 Bd4 65.Rc6 Nf5 66.a5 bxa5 67.b6 Ne7 68.Re6 Nd5 69.b7 Ba7 70.Ra6 Bb8 71.Rxa5 Ne7 72.Rc5 Bd6 73.Rc8 Nd5 74.Rd8 Nf4+ 75.Kg4 Be5 76.Re8 Bd6 77.Rh8+ Kg7 78.b8Q [more than 30 moves apart white promotes yet again and the game still goes on. On top of that, according to Nalimov tablebase it is a draw!]
78…Bxb8 79.Rxb8 Ne6 80.Rb6
80…Kf7 [is losing move according to the before mentioned source. [80…Nd8! is the only move and the key is to get the knight to f7 and with that the position is holdable.]
81.Rb7+ Kf6 82.Ra7 [is also a mistake as black could regroup with Nd8–f7]
[82.Rd7; 82.Rb6 are the winning moves – both stopping Nd8]
82…Ke5 [82…Nd8!]
83.Rf7! [and finally it is all over]
83…Nd8 84.Rf8 Ne6 85.Rf1 Kd6 86.Rf6 Ke7 87.Rxg6 Kf7 88.h5 Nf8 89.Ra6 Kg7 90.Kg5 Nh7+ 91.Kf5 Nf8 92.Ra7+ Kg8 93.h6 Nh7 94.Ra8+ Kf7 95.Ra7+ Kg8 96.Ra8+ Nf8 97.h7+
1–0
One of the games which helped Slovenia to beat Slovakia in the open section:
Tomazini,Zan (2395) – Pechac,Jergus (2442) [C50]
Mitropa Cup – Open (1.3), 17.09.2017
Position after 31.Qh3
31…Qg5? [31…Nxe3 32.Qxh4+ Kg7 33.fxe3 Qf6 would have led to an interesting endgame with a probable draw as a result]
32.Rg3! [the threat is the simple Re7 followed by Rg4 and surprisingly there is no defense. But there is one more detail to be seen…]
32…Rxf1+ 33.Kxf1 Ra8 [white has to find an only move to win the game but since there is no real choice, so it is possible to spot the nice winning move]
34.Nf4! [and now it is all over, black’s position is falling apart]
34…Qxf4 35.Qxh4+ Nh6 36.Qxf4 exf4 37.Rh3 Re8 38.Rd7 Kg7 39.Rxd6 Ng4 40.Rh4 f5 41.Re6
1–0
An interesting affair from Italy-Hungary match from the open section:
Kozak,Adam (2428) – Sonis,Francesco (2453) [E15]
Mitropa Cup – Open (1.4), 17.09.2017
Position after 34.Bc8
34…Qd5?? [34…Qc6 35.Qxc6 Nxc6 with a winning position for black]
35.Qxd5 Nxd5 36.Rd1 [white is simply winning a piece, but luckily for black after]
36…Ra3 37.Rxd5 g6 38.Rxc5 Rxb3 39.Ra5 Rc3 40.Bb7 Rc7 [black was able to hold the position in an additional 28 moves without too much difficulties thanks to well-known problems stemming from the combination of an h pawn and a light squared bishop]
½–½