2013 Snowdrops v. Veterans

Yes, it's that time again.  The lovely ladies versus the old wrinkled dudes :)

I'd forgot, actually, it was even going on -- sorry.  Leonard Barden's column reminded me:

Women's team close to upsetting veterans with strong showing in Prague

• Leonard Barden
• The Guardian, Friday 4 January 2013 17.55 EST

 

Snowdrops v Old Hands is a biennial match in Prague where a quartet of septuagenarian grandmasters takes on four young female talents. The GMs try to use their strategic skills to compensate for diminished stamina and tactical alertness while their opponents must cope psychologically with their instinctive awe of famous names.

The first such events, Women v Veterans, were named after dances of the host countries, and included top female GMs right up to world champions and the Polgars. The men were mostly legends from the golden Soviet generation and honours were about even.

On paper the GMs in Prague, who included three former world title candidates, were clear favourites against the inexperienced women's team. But at halfway the women led 10-6, driven by impressive play from India's Tania Sachdev. In the second half one of the local Czechs froze and lost all four games, enabling the GMs to edge 17-15 ahead at the end. Sachdev, India's No3 woman, continued her fine run and was the highest individual scorer with an unbeaten 6/8.

Given that the men's team was equal in stature to those of the 1990s, the likely conclusion is that women at the top 50-100 level are continuing to gain ground on their male contemporaries. There used to be an invisible rating barrier for the best female GMs around 2500 but now this has risen to 2600, with Judit Polgar alone reaching 2700.

Sachdev's most convincing game demonstrated her tactical awareness. Her opponent in his heyday was a rival of Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky but Wolfgang Uhlmann's sense of danger deserted him as his rooks were stranded on the queen's flank while the white army cornered his king.


See article for diagrams and PGN. 

Koneru Humpy Gets Kudos for Her Play in Czech Coal Chess Match

From The Times of India:
Humpy hand in Snowdrops victory
Hari Hara Nandanan, TNN, Nov 30, 2010, 01.56am IST

GM Koneru Humpy, 2009
file photo

CHENNAI: The Czech Coal Chess Match held last week was appropriately named Snowdrops (ladies) vs Oldhands. The chess legends of the 20th century vs the rising generation of female players.

You may call it a rematch because the same event was held last year too in Czech Republic around the same time when the snow was falling. India's Koneru Humpy, the strongest lady in the chess world after Judit Polgar, led the Snowdrops to a creditable 18-14 victory over the veterans.

Humpy was the top scorer with six points from the eight games she played (two each with reversed colours against the four opponents) but effectively it was a match of eight rounds in all- play-all system, each round consisting of four games.

Snowhands had a terrific start winning the first round by 3-1, but the veterans drew level with a same score in the next round. The ladies virtually had the match sealed in the next two rounds with resounding wins (3.5-0.5 and 2.5-1.5) taking a four-point lead.

Oldhands consisted of Lajos Portisch, one of the world's best chess players during the 1960s and 1970s, Vlastimil Hort, one of the best Czech players of all time, Dragoljub Velimirovic, champion of Yugoslavia in 1970, 1975 and 1997, known for his combinations and Wolfgang Uhlmann, the best player of former East Germany. Humpy, Lithuanian Grandmaster Viktoria Cmilyte, Philippines-born Australian chess player Arianne Caoli and the Czech Tereza Olsarova formed the Snowdrops quartet.

Humpy's only loss was to Vlastmil Hort in the penultimate round when she played attacking chess and went for a win. The Indian, who will be playing in the Women's World Championship at Hatay ( Turkey) in the first week of December, had satisfying wins over Portisch and Uhlmann in the first half of the tournament.

"Old masters play more practical chess rather than following move-to-move analysis. They try to create problems to the opponent over the board sometimes even by giving away material. I observed that if they get inferior positions they show a lot of determination to find counter-play," noted Humpy about her rivals after the match.

Humpy had good support from Viktoria Cmilyte, who scored 5.5 points. Hort was the top scorer for Oldhands with five points.

2008 Czech Coal Chess Match

The Czech Coal Chess Match took place in Marianske Lazne and features a Snowdrops vs Old-hands Scheveningen tournament with Anatoly Karpov. The experienced team won 17.5 - 14.5 against the Snowdrops women's team. Official site: http://www.praguechess.cz/index.php Snowdrops vs Old-hands Marianske Lazne (CZE), 29 xi-6 xii 2008 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 Hort, Vlastimil g GER 2478 +7 +5 -3 +4 +7 +5 +3 =4 6.5 2685 2 Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2651 -4 +3 =5 +7 +4 =3 +5 =7 5.5 2575 3 Cmilyte, Viktorija m LTU 2512 +8 -2 +1 =6 +8 =2 -1 =6 4.5 2539 4 Jackova, Jana m CZE 2360 +2 -8 +6 -1 -2 +8 =6 =1 4.0 2496 5 Ushenina, Anna m UKR 2496 +6 -1 =2 +8 =6 -1 -2 +8 4.0 2496 6 Olafsson, Fridrik g ISL 2440 -5 =7 -4 =3 =5 +7 =4 =3 3.5 2391 7 Nemcova, Katerina wg CZE 2369 -1 =6 +8 -2 -1 -6 -8 =2 2.0 2303 8 Uhlmann, Wolfgang g GER 2417 -3 +4 -7 -5 -3 -4 +7 -5 2.0 2241