LUC Open 2015
by Brian McLarenOne of the best tournaments I have ever played in - good organization, good players and good food (no matter which restaurant we chose). The 6th Annual LUC Open was played in Lille, northern France in May. Lille (pronounced leel like the French word for island: l’isle) is the fifth largest city in France and shares cultural attributes with Belgium – which is a short distance away. The local players were very friendly and several insisted on buying me a drink after our game. After the tournament I found out that Canadian soldiers helped liberate Lille from the Germans in World War II. I’m not sure whether this is still remembered or they are just friendly people.
A typical street in Vieux Lille (old Lille) The tournament was played in the Palais Rameau, a horticultural society building from the late 1800s. It has been partially restored and is an excellent location for a chess tournament. There were about 150 entrants and the tournament hall could have easily handled four times that number.
A portion of the main playing area. The top boards got their own tables, the middle boards got two games per table and the lower boards had long rows of tables. In addition to the playing area, there was an analysis room, a book store and a snack bar with a separate eating area. The snack bar included espresso coffee, sandwiches, French desserts and beer. As it was an old building the only washrooms were located at the front door, a football field away from the snack bar (that perhaps explained the occasional body sprinting through the tournament room). Of the 150 players entered, there were about 10 GMs (including Tigran Gharamian and Andrey Zhigalko) plus numerous 2400 players. I was astounded by the level of organization of the Federation Francaise des Echecs. The country is divided into about 60 zones, each one having its own organizers and holding tournaments. This tournament had four arbiters always on duty. FFE tournaments are a hotbed of development for young players. Every IM I talked to had at least one GM norm. France has about 50 GMs, many of whom have emigrated from other countries – due to the thriving chess community.
GM Andrey Zhigalko vs. GM Vladimir Lazarev
In round 7, I played a very talented young 2500 IM from the Netherlands. Sixteen year old Jorden Van Foreest is the oldest of six chess playing siblings (I think they were all playing in the tournament). His teacher is the strong GM, Sergei Tiviakov. After the game, I mentioned that some of his moves surprised me (I was thinking of his 49th move). He responded that some of my moves surprised him (I hope he meant it in the same way I did).
Van Foreest, Jorden (2519) - McLaren, Brian (2141) [B05] LUC op 6th Lille (7.12), 08.05.2015
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Be2 e6 I usually play 5...c6, but there are a few very sharp lines and I wanted to avoid a tactical slugfest with a young IM. 6.0–0 Be7 7.h3 Bh5 8.Nbd2 0–0 9.Re1 Nc6 10.exd6 cxd6 11.c4 Nb6 12.b3 d5 13.c5 Nd7 14.b4 Bf6 15.Ba3 With the obvious threat of 16. b5. However, after 16...a6 what is the bishop's future? It reminds me of Anand-Adams, 1998 when Anand played his bishop to a3 and justified it by saying "I was looking for a good place for my dark-squared bishop, but couldn't find it. Eventually I decided to place it on a3, so that it would not interfere with my other pieces." 15...a6 16.Nb3 Re8 17.Qd2 b6 18.Rac1? Overlooking Black's next move. 18...Bxf3 19.Bxf3 19.gxf3 saves the exchange but destroys his kingside pawn structure. 19...Bg5 20.Qc3 Bxc1 21.Rxc1 b5?! With the exchange ahead, I had to decide which files to open. The text moves closes the position leaving the breaks...a6–a5 or e6–e5. However, the immediate 21...bxc5 was stronger. 22.Bb2 Qc7 23.a3 Reb8 With the idea of attacking the White b-pawn with a rook on a4 and knights on a6/c6. However, the b-pawn is easily defended and a better plan (as suggested by the computer) is to play 23...f5, followed by Nf6 and Ne4. 24.Na1 a5 25.Nc2 axb4 26.axb4 Nf6 27.g3 Ra4 28.Rd1 Qe7 Originally, I was going to play 28...Rba8 (which was a better move), but began hallucinating about the weakness of my b-pawn and was starting to worry about my time. The text move clears the way for the knight to get to a6. 29.Kg2 Ne8 Still inferior to 29...Rba8 30.Bc1 Rb7 31.Bf4 Nc7 32.h4 h6 33.h5 Now the b1–h7 diagonal is a weakness for Black. 33...Na6 Still sticking to a sub-par plan. The a-file invasion was still available. 34.Rb1 Qf6 35.Rb2 Nc7 36.Be2 Ne8 37.Bd3 Qe7 38.Na3 Rxa3? With my flag hanging, I thought that 38...Na7 would allow 39.c6 (and missing 39...Nxc6). I saw that returning the exchange gave me something concrete. However, better was 38...Nxd4. 39.Qxa3 Nxd4 40.Be3 Nc6 41.Qa8 Qd7 42.Qa6 Nb8 Better was 42...d4. 43.Qa2 e5 44.f3 Nf6 Much better is 44...Nc6. I was still worried about White's Queen and bishops invading. 45.Qa8 e4 46.Be2 Kh7 47.fxe4 Nxe4? 47...dxe4. 48.Bf4 Nc6 49.Bg4 I completely overlooked this move. However, now my Queen and two knights provide compensation... and the tactical slugfest begins. 49...Qxg4 Easier was: 49...f5 50.Bxf5+ Qxf5 51.Qxb7 Nd4 52.c6 Qxh5 53.c7 Qf3+ 54.Kg1 Qd1+ 55.Kg2 Qf3+. 50.Qxb7 Nd4 51.Qxf7 Qf3+ 52.Kh2 Ne2 53.Qf5+ Kh8 54.Qh3 Nf2 55.Qc8+ Kh7 56.Qf5+ Kh8 57.Rb1 Ng4+ 58.Kh3?? Nf2+?? Months after this game was played I entered it into the computer which surprised me by pointing out a mate in 6 here: the shortest variation is 58...Ne3! 59.Qc8+ Kh7 60.Qf5+ Nxf5 61.Kh2 Qf2+ 62.Kh1 Nexg3+ 63.Bxg3 Nxg3# 59.Kh2 Ng4+ 60.Kh3 Nf2+ ½–½
The surprise winner of the tournament was the young French IM, Quentin Loiseau (scoring a GM norm). Second was GM Gharamian and third was GM Demuth.
L to R: Chief Arbiter, GM Gharamian, IM Loiseau, GM Demuth, FFE official IM Sagar Shah also scored a GM norm and wrote several ChessBase articles of the tournament: May 20, 2015, May 25, 2015
[Finding a crosstable for the tournament was not easy. However, the FIDE rating report indicates Brian scored 5.5/9, including minus one against the four IMs he faced.]
