On Saturday the SG Leipzig team started from
the railway station in Leipzig with the drivers
FM Thomas Schunk and FM Stephan Rausch
in the driving seat. At 11.30 a.m. we started
in direction Magdeburg and a new double
round in the 2.Bundesliga Ost. About
13.00 we arrived in the capital of
Sachsen-Anhalt ready to play. First
there was time to grab some food
in a chinese Imbiss. That was a
disturbing experience. It lasted and
lasted before the food arrived. Some
45 minutes for some rice, chicken
and vegetables. Just crazy! The
food has to be eaten in a blitz speed
to be ready for the start of the games
at 14.00.
The match against Bad Mergentheim
would tourn out to be quite a difficult
one. We had some interesting positions
underway. Our 1st board played IM
Hannes Langrock – replaced FM Roland
Voigt who was not there – played
solid against GM Vyacheslav Ikonnikov
and made a strong black draw.
On board 2 I had a pawn advantage in
a Ponziani as white. My opponent GM
Aleksandr Karpatchev spent much time
delivering a doubtful piece sacrifice for
some obscure compensation. My respect
was too big, otherwise I can not explain
why I did not accept it. The game then
turned in favour of the GM which exploited
that I blundered the exchange.Still I should
have made the draw with bishop and rook versus
queen. The festung was there to be set up, but I
played terrible and lost. On board 3 Leonard
Richter launched out his usual aggresive King`s Indian
position, but he should have replaced e5 with c5.
His opponent GM Mikhail Ivanov got the advantage
and clinched the win. On board 4 FM Stephan Rausch
met the strong IM Srdjan Panzalovic. Stephan could
have taken the draw, but wanted to win and let out
a threefold repetition. Brave fighting, but sadly
not rewarded. On board 5 FM Matthias Liedtke
long had a fine position as black in a french game
against IM Alexander Gasthofer, but Matthias
made a mistake in the ending been squeezed to
death in a minor pieces ending where the russian-
german IM pushed home a past pawn. On board 6
FM Manfred Böhnisch fought hard against IM
Viktor Gasthofer. The player from Bad Mergentheim
got an endgame advantage and won.
On board 7 FM Thomas Schunk made a draw. I am
not really sure if there was much drama in this game.
I did not watch to much of it. On the last board Andreas
Schultz had a big advantage as white in a king`s indian
game. I thought he would win but as I was told his
opponent got a strong attack and might have won.
In the end the game ended in a draw. So we lost
1,5-6,5 and our destiny was sealed. Relegation to
the Oberliga Ost. The evening was spent with good
food and some chess talk.
On Sunday we met SF Neuberg with the former
Leipziger player WGM Melanie Lubbe.
We got a difficult task. Soon Stephan played
draw on board 4 in a pretty sterile position.
On board 8 Andreas made a draw against a player
with 2265 making it 1-1. After another hour
Matthias played a draw. I then made a draw
against WGM Melanie Lubbe. In the endgame
I blundered a pawn, but kept on fighting and got
a perpetual check.On the rest boards we had problems.
FM Thomas Schunk and Leonard Richter were pushed
hard but managed to draw. Manfred B. had big
problems with his pieces coordination. His
opponent had a strong bishop on c4 which terrorized
our player. Soon Manfred lost. And IM Hannes Langrock
got his first season loss after going down in flames against
IM Nikolas Lubbe as white. A hard 3-5- loss.
A picture from the match SG Leipzig-Bad Mergentheim. Nearest
we see GM Ikonnikov playing draw as white against IM Langrock.
Then Karpatchev and Ivanov are seen in the opponents team.
Leonard and Stephan are still fighting at this stage.
FM Matthias Liedtke (left) had a fine position for a long time against
IM Alexander Gasthofer but after some mistakes he lost. FM Thomas
Schunk and Andreas Schultz made draws.
A picture from the match SF Neuberg-SG Leipzig. Stephan made
a solid draw as black against a 2200-player. Leo fought hard as
white in a French, but in the end drew.
The organizers had good cakes.Also nice live games made it a
fine weekend although we did not win a single game. But the
opposition is hard and without 2 of the regular players it is tough.
A analysis between Langrock and Lubbe. With Liedtke and Schultz
kiebitzing. IM Nikolas Lubbe and his wife WGM Melanie Lubbe write
about the weekend at the homepage of SF Neuberg.
I had a long travel home to Norway getting back in Torpo about 1.30
in the night.
