DUBAI CHESS EXPO – 3rd ROUND

“The 3rd round of the Dubai Expo Chess Tournament took place on March 25th and I think we can say that it was the biggest win of the tournament for our team. Our opponent was the team of the Czech Gymnasium Petra Bezruce Frydek-Mistek, who are one of the most likely teams of the whole tournament (293 teams!) with professional chess players all the way. In the previous round, 4:3 against The Haberdashers ’Aske’s Boys School was an amazingly tight, but after an even more painful defeat, so we couldn’t expect much now, as the Czech secondary school beat this team 7:0. In the vast majority of the boards, the opposing players had far more rating points than we did, but we took it extremely seriously, too, well prepared for the openings where we could. The result was an incredible surprising of 5:2 for us! With this match, we would have guaranteed to blow up the sports betting offices! We lost on the last two boards, but we fought well, and it was expected that the opponent’s players, who had been competing for years, would win. I was able to outdo the first board with a nice game against the young titan Mica Marek Fide-master. I played with black, making it harder to win at this level, but with thorough preparation and a smart timing, I was able to break the 4th strongest Czech youth player. On the second board was Kata’s big battle, with Frank Adam, who was much stronger than her, having 2238 FIDE-rating. In the twisted battle, Kata offered draw twice, which the opponent rejected – to his loss. Oliver also had a hard time playing with black against the more likely Nytra Ondrej. Oliver surprised his opponent with an Alekhine’s defense, and at the end of the amazingly complicated game, the opponent ran out of thinking time, which meant Oliver’s victory. The biggest surprise of the match was caused by Karácsonyi Bánk, who – with 1558 rating – forced Paseka Matyas with 2058 (!) rating to give up. Bánk made a huge one, he knew the opening for more than 10 moves in the Sicilian defense, so his opponent was at a great time disadvantage. Taking advantage of this, Bánk pulled in the greatest bravura of the match with his energetic play. On the fifth board, Luca also had a twisted party, she had a better position at first, but later the opponent, Fizerova Lucie had an exchange up and a winning position. Luckily, she was in a time trouble and she made a fatal mistake, so Luca could win too! On the sixth board, Kohári Bánk was defended heroically, he played thoughtfully, but unfortunately, that was not enough now. On the last board, Dani’s defeat can be said to be the smoothest, his professional opponent who has been playing chess for years has left him no chance, but don’t despair! Huge congratulations to the team, it was an amazing 5:2 win!” Gellért Karácsony, Jászság Group 2.