Chess celebrities in Luxembourg

Fabiano Caruana's manager Lawrence Trent and interviewer and Canadian chess star Eric Hansen were in Luxembourg last weekend for a rapid and blitz tournament. Local chess talent Fiona Steil-Antoni was also there, and her report for chess24 includes both an interview with Eric and Lawrence's analysis of a nice final round win.

Last weekend was a very special one for chess in Luxembourg. The second edition of the Terres Rouges Rapid (now named the Raiffeisen Open after its main sponsor) took place in Belvaux, co-organised by the chess clubs of The Smashing Pawns Bieles and Turm a Sprénger Matt Scheffleng.

The reason this is such a special occasion for the local chess scene is that sadly such large and strong tournaments have become rather sparse in the so-called Grand Duchy. However, I like to think there is potential for that to change and new tournaments like this one are a first step in the right direction. Last year’s first edition was already a success, with 104 players making their way to Schifflange. This year the tournament was held in Belvaux, and the only change in format was that the Saturday bughouse tournament was replaced by blitz. The prize fund had also been increased rather significantly, from €3,275 to €5,000 (with an additional €500 for the blitz). This drew an impressive field of 168 participants, 16 of whom were GMs and 12 IMs. The tournament was FIDE-rated and consisted of 9 rounds of 15 minutes plus 5 seconds per move rapid chess.

But the festivities started on the Saturday with a fun yet serious blitz tournament, as that too was going to be FIDE-rated. You'll find all the final standings on the official website, but there are unfortunately no crosstables. It's therefore worth mentioning that the newly-crowned Dutch Champion Jorden van Foreest was threatening to run away with the event when he started with a perfect 10/10, but by losing his last three games he gave Eric Hansen the chance to edge him out and take first place.

Lawrence Trent also had an excellent showing, as he came third and gained an impressive 44 points in the process, which will take him to a beautifully round blitz rating of 2500.

I very much enjoyed playing in the blitz myself, and even managed to rack up 28 points (my lucky number!) along the way, with a decent score of 7.5/13. Unfortunately my Baku cold caught up with me and I decided to take things easier on the Sunday – sleeping in and snapping some photos instead of playing.

These are just three of my favourite shots from the tournament, but if you want to see more pictures you can head to my Facebook photo album.

As for the actual chess action, Alberto David was the early tournament leader with 5.5/6, but two consecutive losses left him with no hope of competing for the main prizes. His Round 6 conqueror Vladimir Epishin (a former member of the world top 10 and second of Anatoly Karpov) took over the lead and despite a Round 8 loss to Sergey Fedorchuk the Russian had the best tiebreak of the four players who finished on 7.5/9 and thus became the winner of the Raiffeisen Rapid Open. Dutch GM Benjamin Bok was one of the only two players of the tournament to finish unbeaten (the other one being Sebastien Feller) and took second, followed by Fedorchuk and Eric Hansen.

Lawrence Trent had another very good showing on the Sunday, as a last round win over GM Shekachev meant a seventh place finish and a successful weekend of being back at the board for the manager of Fabiano Caruana (who was incidentally flying out to New York the very next day). Here’s what Lawrence had to say about the tournament: 

I had the immense pleasure of playing in the Terres Rouges blitz and rapid tournament last weekend. Not only was it full of top players, with a great prize fund, but the organisation was of the highest class, meaning everyone was able to enjoy the event and to explore the hidden gems of Luxembourg if they so desired. I would recommend this tournament to anyone who enjoys rapid and blitz as I’m sure next year the event will be even more impressive.

Lawrence was also kind enough to annotate this crucial last round win:

1. e4 c5 2. ♘f3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. ♘xd4 a6 5. ♘c3 ♕c7 6. ♕f3⁉ A Nepo idea.

6... ♘f6 7. ♗g5 ♗e7 8. O-O-O d6 9. ♗e2 ♘bd7 10. ♕g3 b5 11. ♗xb5⁉ White has to counter b5-b4 somehow, and although a3 might be an option, I never like creating such blatant targets in my position. Plus this was rapid!

11... axb5 12. ♘dxb5 ♕b8 13. ♘xd6+ ♗xd6 14. ♖xd6

14. ♕xd6 was also possible, and I think the queenless ending should be level. 14... ♕xd6 15. ♖xd6 h6

14... O-O 15. ♖hd1 ♖a7

Black spent a long time over this move, but it's entirely understandable. One of the big reasons I went for this line is because White's moves come really naturally, whereas Black has to find precise moves to avoid immediate disaster.

16. f3 ♘h5 17. ♕h4 f6? Black should have retreated to f6, holding the balance.

18. ♗e3 ♖a5 19. f4

19. ♖xd7 ♗xd7 20. ♖xd7 may also be good for White.

19... ♘c5 20. ♔b1?

20. ♖d8! ♕b6 21. ♖xf8+ ♔xf8 22. ♕xh5 now wins as the discovered knight check also results in the loss of the black queen: 22... ♘b3+ 23. ♔b1‼ ♖xh5 24. ♗xb6+−

20... g6 21. ♕f2 ♘b7 22. ♖6d2 ♘g7 23. g4 ♖a6 24. h3 ♘a5 25. ♖d8 ♘c4 26. ♖xf8+ ♔xf8 27. ♗c5+ ♔f7 28. b3! ♘e8 29. g5 We were both down to our last seconds here.

29... ♖c6 30. ♕d4 ♘b6 31. gxf6 ♘d7 And with 5 seconds left I played...

32. ♕xd7+‼ ♗xd7 33. ♖xd7+ ♔xf6

33... ♔g8 34. f7+ ♔g7 35. f8Q#

34. e5+

34. ♗d4+! was even more precise (and prettier!). 34... e5 35. ♘d5+ ♔e6 36. ♖e7+ ♔d6 37. fxe5#

34... ♕xe5

34... ♔f5 35. ♖f7+ ♘f6 36. ♖xf6#

35. fxe5+ ♔xe5 36. ♗d4+ ♔f4 37. ♖xh7 and Black resigned a few moves later.

1-0

Another player who had an excellent weekend, finishing clear first in the blitz and shared first in the rapid, was Canada’s Eric Hansen. Things hadn't started very smoothly for Eric when in one of the early rounds he attempted to play king from g7 to e2(!), but luckily for him things picked up from there. However, this slip of the hand prompted the following tweet halfway through the tournament:

In the interview below Eric talks about how he carried forward his form from Baku to Belvaux, about Canada’s incredible performance at the Olympiad and about his impressions of Luxembourg.

All in all, it seems all the participants had an enjoyable weekend in Luxembourg, while at the same time it was a great opportunity for many local players to get to face strong titled opposition. I am looking forward to the tournament hopefully growing even bigger next year, and I hope to see both many new and familiar faces in my home country for the occasion!