ČEZ CHESS TROPHY 2023

Blacks firing on all cylinders

[16.06.2023 00:00:00] - The winner of the ČEZ CHESS TROPHY 2023 is Alexey Shirov, who won the 8-game rapid chess match against Thai Dai Van Nguyen 5:3. This is the third victory out of three Prague matches for the Wizard of Riga. The ČEZ CHESS TROPHY 2023 festival was also distinguished by a rich accompanying program - an exhibition, a lecture, a new book launch, and a simul.
The duel between the Czech number two and the former long-term member of the world top ten was very even, but in the end, the greater experience of Grandmaster Shirov prevailed. After five games the score was still tied. Then Alexey won the sixth game and drew the seventh, so in the last game the Czech player was forced to play to win. Van chose a sharp variation in the Ruy Lopez defense, but his opponent was up to the task, coped with all the pitfalls of the position perfectly, and in the end, Alexey won the last game.
What was extraordinary and surprising was that in all four winning games, the leader of the black stones was always the one who came out on top. So in this duel, to paraphrase Adorjan's famous book, black was always more than OK.

All games of the match between Grandmasters Alexey Shirov and Thai Dai Van Nguyen can be viewed below:


The festival took place in the beautiful halls of the Municipal House in Prague. The grandmasters played in the Grégr Hall, where the history of Czechoslovakia was written. An exhibition of Chess motifs on the canvases of the old masters was installed in the Palacký hall, and all the games were commentated by the best Czech chess player David Navara in the confectionery.



During the ČEZ Chess Trophy 2023, there was also a book launch of Kaválek's Avalanche, a collection of the best games of the Czech chess legend Lubomír Kaválek, who was a frequent guest at previous editions of these chess festivals organized by Pavel Matocha and the Prague Chess Society. The book of Kaválek's games with his comments can be ordered by e-mail at prazska.sachova@gmail.com (price 460 CZK).




Will we someday manage to organize an exhibition of the originals of these paintings?

The exhibition of reproductions of old paintings with Chess Motifs on Canvases by Old Masters was based on the monograph Chess in Art, containing several hundred color reproductions of chess-themed paintings from the 12th to 19th centuries. This remarkable book was compiled by the artist Peter Herel Raabenstein and can be ordered by email at prazska.sachova@gmail.com (price €111).
The lecture by the experienced trainer Michal Konopka on pawn endings was enlightening. If you missed it and want to improve your chess skills in this respect, buy Michal Konopka's new book, Pawn Endings. It came out a few weeks ago and you can order it by email at prazska.sachova@gmail.com (price 390 CZK).


"I've never played a simul in such a beautiful setting," said Grandmaster Shirov at the beginning of the game.

The ČEZ CHESS TROPHY 2023 chess festival ended with a simul played by Alexey Shirov against twenty opponents. Grandmaster Shirov won 18 games, drew against Denisa Kaplanova, and Libor Kičmer, the representative of the ČEZ Group, was the only one who managed to beat him.


Libor Kičmer studied Alexey Shirov's book Chessboard on Fire and then defeated the famous grandmaster. Denisa Kaplanova finished her game last and admirably held the draw even in a rook endgame.

Photo gallery of the festival you can watch here:
https://eu.zonerama.com/praguechess/Album/9926672

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