Snow Drops vs. Old Hands: Final Score 17.5-14.5
The chess veterans did slightly better in the second half, but in the end the "Snow Drops vs. Old Hands" match was still won by the talented ladies: 17.5-14.5. Dorfman, Gulko and Uhlmann scored points for the Old Hands team, while Kashlinskaya won two more games for the Snow Drops.
The annual Snow Drops vs. Old Hands double Scheveningen match took place 30 November-8 December, 2013 in the Zamecek hotel in Podebrady, a historical spa town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. The "Snow Drops" were 30-year-old GM Viktorij Cmilyte (2506) of Lithuania, 21-year-old IM Maria Muzychuk (2491) of Ukraine, 20-year-old WGM Alina Kashlinskaya (2422) of Russia and 18-year-old WGM Nastassia Ziaziulkina (2350) of Belarus. The Old Hands were 61-year-old GM Iossif Dorfman (2580) of France, 66-year-old GM Boris Gulko (2543) of USA, 80-year-old GM Borislav Ivkov (2408) of Serbia and 78-year-old GM Wolfgang Uhlmann (2334) of Germany.
From our first report we know that the "Snow Drops" were leading 10-6 at half-time. So what happened after that? Well, before getting to the games of the second half, let's have a look at this report of Pal Benko's lecture, given on the rest day, about his encounters with Bobby Fischer. There's great, first-hand stories like this:
After his emigration Pal Benko settled in New York. He commented on his start in America with those words: “After the arrival into America there was no time for chess preparation, I had to make a living. Coming from a socialistic Hungary, I got into the heart of capitalism – at the financial palace on the Wall Street, where I worked as a broker.” He used to play with Bobby Fischer very often those days, they often visited him in his apartment and they both also belonged to the Manhattan Chess Club. Pal said: “I owe Bobby a lot. Due to his growing fame it was far easier to make one's living playing chess. I could leave Wall Street and start to play chess professionally.”
After the rest day, the Old Hands got to play the white pieces again and so they had their chances to do something about the score! However, Wolfgang Uhlmann was still not in great shape; he lost quickly to Alina Kashlinskaya despite getting a better position out of the opening.
Also in the other games the Old Hands had their chances, but Dorfman-Zaziulkina, Ivkov-Cmylite and Gulko-Muzychuk were all drawn.
In round 6 the Old Hands finally won a game. It was Iossif Dorfman who beat Mariya Muzychuk, who blundered right after the opening. It took a while, but with two pieces for a rook it was impossible spoil a win for Black.
However, it was enough to score an overall win in this round because Kashlinskaya levelled the score in her game with Borislav Ivkov.
By then the score had gone up to 14.5-9.5 and it was clear that the ladies were going to leave Podebrady victoriously. But the Old Hands refused to go down without a fight, and in the penultimate round they finally got the better of their opponents. Muzychuk could't play because of health problems and so Uhlmann won his game by default. Gulko won a good game and made the situation in the leaderboard more bearable: 14.5-11.5.
In the last round all games ended in draws. Uhlmann got to play his beloved French Winawer one more time:
And so the Snow Drops won the match 17.5-14.5. The best individual result went to Alina Kashlinskaya (5 points out of 8 games, a 2561 performance), who had some world-class guidance: she was assisted by her boyfriend, GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek, who also helped Vishy Anand at several world title matches.
Snow Drops vs. Old Hands 2013 | Results & score
| I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | |
| Snow Drops | 3 | 2 | 2.5 | 2,5 | 2,5 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Old Hands | 1 | 2 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Total Snow Drops | 3 | 5 | 7.5 | 10 | 12.5 | 14.5 | 15.5 | 17.5 |
| Total Old Hands | 1 | 3 | 4.5 | 6 | 7.5 | 9.5 | 12.5 | 14.5 |
Snow Drops vs. Old Hands 2013 | Individual score
| O1 | O2 | O3 | O4 | O1 | O2 | O3 | O4 | Total | ||
| S1 | Kashlinskaya Alina | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 5 |
| S2 | Cmilyte Viktorija | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.5 |
| S3 | Muzychuk Mariya | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 3.5 |
| S4 | Ziaziulkina Nastassia | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.5 |
| S1 | S2 | S3 | S4 | S1 | S2 | S3 | S4 | Total | ||
| O1 | Uhlmann Wolfgang | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 2.5 |
| O2 | Ivkov Borislav | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 3 |
| O3 | Gulko Boris | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.5 |
| O4 | Dorfman Iossif | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 4.5 |
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms.
Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools.
Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013.
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