There are two highlights for the German national players in October and November. The first will take place at the end of October on the Isle of Man. The strongest Swiss system tournament in the world, in which the best two players qualify for the Candidates Tournament. In addition to Vincent Keymer, Alexander Donchenko, Matthias Blübaum, Frederik and Rasmus Svane, Niclas Huschenbeth and Dmitrij Kollars have now also secured their tickets. In the women's competition, Elisabeth Pähtz and Dinara Wagner are considered co-favorites for a top placing.
Just a week after the Grand Swiss tournament, where the winner takes home 80,000 US dollars, the European Championship is scheduled. All tournaments played until the end of October are an indication of the form the national players are in ahead of these two important tasks.
This can be seen clearly these days in the Polish Ekstra League, which, unlike the German Chess Bundesliga, is held in one week. Although there are hardly any players with a rating significantly above 2700, there are a number of strong 2600 players, as well as a very strong female grandmaster on the women's board.
Ksz Silesia Raciborz, for example, is full of German players. The first three boards are adorned with Blübaum, Donchenko and Huschenbeth, Dinara Wagner guards the women's board. A total of 6 boards are played. Yesterday Ksz played against KS Gwiazda Bydgoszcz, where Dmitrij Kollars plays on board three, the only German in his team. Kollars has now been an integral part of the team for years, having joined because Vincent Keymer had to cancel at short notice and suggested the young Hamburg player to team captain Radoslaw Wojtaszek as his replacement. Yesterday Kollars was caught off guard by Niclas Huschenbeth. Kollars was clearly in a better position at times, but in the end a big mistake resulted in a clear defeat. Overall, Bydgoszcz had little to say and lost 2-4 due to defeats against Wagner, Huschenbeth and Donchenko.
Rasmus Svane will be competing for Ksz Hetman Plock, and his team also suffered a heavy defeat yesterday. Despite this, Svane's team is the best placed among the German teams. Svane's team is currently in third place, followed by Raciborz and Bydgoszcz.
Let’s look at the individual results of the German players:
For Huschenbeth, the victory against Kollars came at exactly the right time. After only half a point from the first four games played by Huschenbeth, he reduced his Elo loss to 11 Elo points with the victory. Kollars had played all of his games up until the defeat and ended all 5 peacefully. Yesterday's defeat cost him a total of -9 Elo points.
Donchenko is at -5 despite his victory in round 6 against Nijat Abasov, who has already qualified for the candidate tournament. Blübaum is almost in a luxury situation with only one Elo point left behind. Things are going better for Dinara Wagner, who is at a slight Elo plus after her victory against the young Polish player Kiolbasa. With plus 3 Elo points, Rasmus Svane is the most successful German, which is also reflected in his team's good placing.
The Polish league is a strong competition and certainly a good opportunity for the players to prove themselves and hopefully get in good shape for the upcoming tasks.
Photo: PZSzach
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