Croatian grandmaster Bojan Kurajica, who is playing in the Guernsey festival for the first time this week, has faced arguably the three best players of all time in Bobby Fischer, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0659466)
GUERNSEY players made an exceptionally strong showing in round three of the Fortis International Chess Festival at the Peninsula Hotel.
Leading the way was FIDE master Fred Hamperl, who maintained his perfect record in this year’s event by beating the highly graded Dutchman, Tomas Broek.
Hamperl now holds the joint lead of the open tournament alongside Ivo Timmermans and grandmasters Bojan Kurajica and Tiger Hillarp-Persson.
He is thought to be the first Guernseyman in the festival’s history to retain a share of the lead after three or more rounds of the competition.
‘I felt exhausted [at the end],’ said Hamperl. ‘I knew it was in my scope, but it was a case of doing it and it was my lucky day.’
As a result of his fine run of form, Hamperl earned himself a fourth-round tie yesterday against Kurajica, whose name is lent to a chess opening – The Kurajica Variation.
‘This game could go into an opening variation that has been named after him so what chance have I got then?’ joked Hamperl.
They do not come much better than the 60-year-old Kurajica.
He was crowned the world junior champion in 1965 and was awarded the grandmaster title in 1974.
In his time he has come up against arguably the top three chess players of all time – Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Bobby Fischer.
The Croatian was diplomatic in his answer as to who he felt was the best.
‘I don’t know – it’s very difficult to compare these players,’ he said.
‘These three definitely have the claim of being the best of all time. They are in a class of their own.’
It is Kurajica’s first time at the festival.
He accepted an invitation to come when he met the Guernsey chess team at the Turin Chess Olympiad in 2006.
‘It’s a charming little tournament with four professional players,’ he said.
‘The rest are amateurs, but this doesn’t detract from their ability to play. Today I’m playing one of the best local players [Hamperl] and it will be a tough game.’
Also in the third round, candidate master Mark Ozanne from Guernsey scored an impressive victory over the highly regarded English candidate master, Ken Norman.
There were draws for fellow Sarnian candidate masters Toby Brookfield and John Cummins.
Brookfield’s half point was particularly pleasing since he had been forced to default his second-round game due to illness.
Meanwhile, Canadian grandmaster Kevin Spraggett recovered from dropping half a point on day two to record another convincing win.
However, international master Robert Bellin could manage only another draw and now faces an enormous challenge if he is to finish in the prize money.
In the holiday tournament, only two players retain their perfect records after the third round of matches – David Newell of England and Dutchman Haisma Henk.
But the local players had their best day so far in the lower-graded competition with wins recorded by Russell Finch, Colin Goman, Kerry Bateman, Terry Harnden and the island’s strongest junior player, Jonathan Spicer.
Jonathan O’Connor rounded off the scoring for Guernsey with a half point, taking the Bailiwick’s competitors’ combined tally on the day to eight-and-a-half points out of a possible 15.
Article posted on 23rd October, 2008 - 2.29pm
Most Commented: