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12/10/2013 – Round six of this battle in the Czech city of Podebrady brought the first win of a veteran GM against a young female talent. But the fight back came too late: in the end the Snowdrops – average age 22 – clinched the team match by three points. WGM Alina Kashlinskaya, 20, scored five points in eight games, with a performance of 2561. Final illustrated report. Final illustrated report.

Snowdrops vs Old Hands 2013

The Snowdrops are represented by Lithuanian GM Viktorij Cmilyte (30, from Lithuania, rated 2506), IM Maria Muzychuk (21, Ukraine, 2491) WGM Alina Kashlinskaya (20, Russia, 2422) and WGM Nastassia Ziaziulkina (18, Belarus, 2350). The "Old Hands" are GM Iossif Dorfman (61, France, 2580) GM Boris Gulko (66, USA, 2543), GM Borislav Ivkov (80, Serbia, 2408) GM Wolfgang Uhlmann (78, Germany, 2334). The event is taking place at Hotel Zámecek in Podebrady, the rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves, 30 minutes for the rest, with an increament of 30 seconds per move.

Round six (reports by GM David Navara)

In our previous report the Snowdrops' team was leading the Oldhands by five points (12.5-7.5), with all four female players scoring better than their male counterparts:

On Friday, in round six, Jossif Dorfman beat Marija Muzychuk and brought about the first team win by a Veteran over a Snowdrop in this year's event. Muzychuk made mistake in the middle game and for the experienced player Dorfman it was not hard to turn that into victory.

[Event "Vrsanska Uhelna chess match 2013"] [Site "Podebrady"] [Date "2013.12.06"] [Round "6.3"] [White "Muzychuk, Mariya"] [Black "Dorfman, Iossif"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B90"] [PlyCount "86"] [EventDate "2013.??.??"] [WhiteClock "0:31:19"] [BlackClock "0:37:13"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e5 7. Nde2 h5 8. Bg5 Be6 9. f4 Nbd7 10. f5 Bc4 11. Ng3 Rc8 12. Qf3 Qa5 13. Bxc4 Rxc4 14. O-O-O b5 15. Kb1 Rxc3 16. bxc3 Nb6 17. Bxf6 gxf6 18. Nxh5 $2 {Oops, walks into a trap.} Rxh5 19. Rd3 (19. Qxh5 $4 Qa3 {with the threat} 20. -- Nc4 {and} 21. -- Qb2#) 19... Nc4 20. Ka1 Rh4 ({or} 20... Qa3 21. Rb1 $17) 21. Qf2 Rh8 22. Qa7 {But all to no avail - with two minor pieces for rook and pawn Dorfman wins this game.} Be7 23. Rb1 Rg8 24. g4 Bd8 25. Rb4 Kf8 26. Qb7 Bb6 27. Rb3 Bc5 28. Rd5 Qb6 29. Qxb6 Nxb6 30. Rd3 Kg7 31. Rb1 Rh8 32. Rh1 Rh4 33. Kb2 Kh6 34. Kc1 Nc4 35. Rf3 Kg5 36. Kd1 d5 37. Re1 dxe4 38. Rxe4 Nd6 39. Re2 e4 40. Rg3 Kf4 41. Reg2 Bf2 42. Rd3 exd3 43. Rxf2+ Ke5 0-1

Unfortunately, this victory did not mean any change in the overall score of the Old Hands, because Alina Kashlinskaya won against Borislav Ivkov. It was not easy for her: in spite of her material advantage the Serbian legend resisted and created new interesting counterplay with mate threats. In the end it didn't work out and Alina achieved her third victory in this event.

Jossif Dorfman (standing) chats with Borislav Ivkov before his game against Alina Kashlinskaya

Wolfgang Uhlmann did not find the winning move in a better position and

his game between against Victoria Cmilyte ended in a draw

Anastassiya Ziaziulkina vs Boris Gulko was also drawn

So after three quarters of the event the Snowdrops were still five points in the lead.

Round seven

The smooth progress of Snowdrops was broken in the seventh round. Maria Muzychuk did not appear for the game against Wolfgang Uhlmann because of health problems. Boris Gulko beat Alina Kashlinskaya in a rook ending, and the other two games – Dorfman-Cmilyte and Ivkov-Ziaziulkina – were drawn. So after this round the advantage of the young ladies had shrunk to three points.

Above we see Boris Gulko analysing his win against Alina Kashlinskaya, with Anand second GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (notation in hand), Schachmagazin 64 editor IM Otto Borik (glasses and beard) and GM Genna Sosonko (right) watching.

This meant that in the final round the Old Hands could theoretically clinch overall victory by winning all four games, or tie the Snowdrops by winning three.

GM Genna Sosonko, 70, gave an eleven-board simultaneous display on the free day

Jana Maríková, a young Czech junior representative, who recently became champion of the Czech Republic under eighteen years, was also among the opponents of GM Sosonko. She fought excellently and during the ending she had a draw within reach – but was outfoxed by the veteran GM (see analysis here).

Round eight

It was not to be: the Snowdrops held the Veterans to draws in all four games, three in 22 moves or less, one (Ziaziulkina vs Uhlmann) in 83 moves. So the final score of the 6th year of Snowdrops and Old Hands was 17.5:14.5. Among the four Snowdrops, Viktorija Cmilyte, Mariya Muzychuk, Alina Kashlinskaya and Anastasiya Ziaziulkina wasn't a single weak link. Here are all the results and scores:

Team results

I II III IV V VI VII VIII Snowdrops 3 2 2.5 2.5 2.5 2 1 2 Old Hands 1 2 1.5 1.5 1.5 2 3 2 Overall Snowdrops 3 5 7.5 10 12.5 14.5 15.5 17.5 Overall Old Hands 1 3 4.5 6 7.5 9.5 12.5 14.5

Individual results

O1 O2 O3 O4 O1 O2 O3 O4 Total S1 Kashlinskaya Alina 1 1 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 0 1/2 5 S2 Cmilyte Viktorija 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 4.5 S3 Muzychuk Mariya 1 1/2 1/2 0 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 3.5 S4 Ziaziulkina Nastassia 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 4.5 S1 S2 S3 S4 S1 S2 S3 OS4 Total O1 Uhlmann Wolfgang 0 1/2 1 0 0 1/2 0 1/2 2.5 O2 Ivkov Borislav 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 0 1.5 1/2 3 O3 Gulko Boris 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 4.5 O4 Dorfman Iossif 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 4.5

This year was not really good one for GM Wolfgang Uhlmann (above right with organiser Pavel Matocha). He had a few really good positions, some of them winning in a single move, but that one move eluded him every time. When we note that some of the Old Hands, with higher ratings, did not fight at all in several games and took fast draws with the white pieces, there is no doubt who should be the winner.

The best individual result goes to Alina Kashlinskaya, receiving her prize from Pavel Matocha.

Alina scored five points in eight games, with a performance of 2561

She had been preparing for the match with her boyfriend GM Radoslaw

Wojtaszek (above), who is the second of former world champion Vishy Anand

With 4.5/8 points Boris Gulko was one of the two best Old Hands

The legendary grandmaster and problemist Pal Benko, 85, speaks to the guests