Event: Africa Elite Grand Prix Arena II 2018
Time Control: 3+0
Duration: 90 Minutes
Venue: Lichess.org
Winner: IM Odion Aikhoje (odirovski)
Points: 39
Date: 8th July, 2018.
Tournament Link: https://lichess.org/tournament/gg9q12tn
Numbers of Participants: 36 Players, Over 20 Titled Players.
The second edition of the rebranded Africa Elite Grand Prix Arena, 2018 indeed lived up to expectations, as it was a true battleground worthy of its hype.
Pre Move:
Though we could not get in the Grandmasters as promised due to their busy schedule, a guest International Master was invited from South Africa, and most participants did not know his handle or identity, to even create a tense atmosphere going into the games.
The Opening
The first win of the night came in a 16 moves miniature in a game between @bunker11 (Nigeria) and @guntriga (South Africa).
@Guntriga could not find the right handle to fire his gun and had to surrender to the superior firepower of @bunker11 who takes pride in holding his victims in his ‘bunker’ until they suffocate and give up.
Game Here:
@Bunker slept on this victory and raked up series of disappointing performance for the night, ending up a distant 27th position.
FM Douglas Munenga (@endgamegenious) of Zambia, a top three (3) finisher at the previous edition, made a quick claim on victory in his first game of the night also.
In a French defence , the FM went into a flurry of attack on his opponents queen-side castled king, but it was easily thwarted by his opponent the Mozambican Lichess top rated Vasco Vageiro, who emerged with a 2.7 advantage, but lost on time.
Game Here:
The Middle Game
A lot of Claimants to the top 10 last week made a strong come back to retain their top Position.
The Mozambique duo of Vasco Vageiro (Vvageiro) and CM Donaldo Paiva (@Moztiger), improved on their last week performance of 8th and 9th positions respectively, to end at 5th and 6th positions this week.
@Vvageiro was the fiercest of the duo. Making decent wins against some of the tournaments favorites.
His best win of the night was against the 2347 rated @endgamegenious, where he handled a dangerously played Nadjorf Variation of the Sicillian defence quite well, and had a Knight d2 mate on the 34th move, as a reward for his daring play.
Game Here:
For Moztiger, his approach was to have a high turnover of games, in other to increase his points tally.
This paid off, as he had some success against higher rated elite players.
He was able to best the highly rated FM Wanyama (@wanyaland) twice in the course of the tournament.
Game Here:
The Chess ‘Mercenary” from South Africa, International Master (IM) Van Rensburg @firebullet wasted no time in unfolding himself in the Arena, as he inflicted pain on those paired against him.
With Superior Firepower, the IM from South Africa ‘gunned’ down players paired against him in ruthless manner.
His few loses were to @Tactinhos2900, @Odirovski, @Thabov and @Grandmasterbomo.
His win against @Skydeborov on the black side of the Trompowsky attack was his highest scalp for the night.
Game Here:
The fast finger IM took no time in settling for the second position behind the eventual winner, who led for most of the tournament and eventually won.
Finishing on same points, in third and fourth place respectively are @Tactinhos2900 and @Skydeborov, who was the winner of last week’s edition.
Both Players chalked up thirty (30) points, but with @tactinhos2900 who played more games and slightly higher performance picked up the third position.
@Tactinhos2900 had a relieving solitary win over @Odirovski in the night, to top the high flying IM from continuing hi unbeaten run.
In a Kingside Fianchetto Variation of the Zukertort Opening, @odirovski missed a Knight b5 check on move forty six (46), to hand the Zambian a victory that was sure at that point, but was held till the 68th move by the resourceful IM.
@Skydeborov starting off on a losing streak to @odirovski and @firebullet in his first two games of the night, rallied round from the rear, picking up three (3) wins off Nigerians best Chess Players in IM @Odirovski, FM @Grandmasterbomo and IM @Micfel at the home run to finish up with thirty (30) points.
Completing the top 10 are @Gupta_Approach, the Nigerian duo of IM @Stuffings, FM@beastoflagos and FM @Endgamegeniuous from Zambia.
The rampaging IM Odion Aikhoje (@odirovski), tired out towards the end of the tournament allowing a rather cheeky win by @skydeborov, in a revenge match.
With @skydeborov on the white side of the Trompowsky attack, the black king was made to dance naked.
@skydeborov acceded to an early attack on his queen side to make a quick attack on the black king.
Game Here:
Another intriguing play towards the end of the tournament was a plan by @Gupta_approach on @odirovski.
The very fast rising South African Chess Prodigy, ‘lured’ the IM to a chess bullet realm, which is a forte he so much relishes, by berserking the IM and the IM responded by a counter push of the berserk button.
Picture Courtesy: Lennart Oates
In a Zukertort opening of the Sicillian Invitation, the already tired IM could not keep up with the speed of the youngster and missed a Knight fork on the King and Queen on 34th move, to gift away the game.
Game Here:
@Odirovski had to resort to his early huge gap to clinch the tournament, as his last 3 loses gave his closest contestant @firebullet a chance to close the over eleven (11) points gap.
In style and class, reminiscent of IM Odion Aikhoje’s 1998 Olympiad gold winning stride, the IM conquered Africa’s chess elite once again.
It was a Night where there was no Prisoners kept. It is either you ‘kill’ or get ‘killed’.
Congrats to ‘King’ Odirovski for adding yet another event win.
Tournament Summary showed:
Average Rating: 2221
Games Played: 239
Moves Played: 19,473
White Wins: 40%
Black Wins: 52%
Draw: 8%
Berserk rate 10%
Once Again, the players on the Black side of the board won more games than the players with the white pieces.
The Berserk rate also increased slightly from 8% -10% as the elites became more desperate for points.
At Africa Chess we are working hard to see every other edition becoming more competitive and with more participation from Africa’s best, thanks to the partnership with Avantiline.
Do stay close to our channels for the report of the next edition.
Below is the list of the top ten (10) finishers of the tournament and the countries they represent and the Leaderboard o far:
Africa Elite Grand Prix Arena Top Ten (10)
- Odirovski Nigeria 39 Points
- Firebullet South Africa 33 Points
- Tactinhos2900 Zambia 30 Points
- Skydeborov Nigeria 30 Points
- Vviageiro Mozambique 29 Points
- Moztiger Mozambique 28 Points
- Gupta_Approach South Africa 27 Points
- Beast of Lagos Nigeria 25 Points
- Stuffings Nigeria 24 Points
- Endgamegenious Zambia 24 Points
Africa Elite Grand Prix Arena Leaderboard
Name Grand Prix I Grand Prix II Total
- Odirovski 31 39 70
- Skyedeborov 39 30 69
- Gupta_Approach
- Endgamegenius 32 24 56
- CM Candychessmaster 31 23 54
- Vviageiro 25 29 54
- Moztiger 23 28 51
- Stuffings 26 24 50
- FM Wanyaland 18 24 42
- Adminbrucefan 37 0 37
Brilliant article, well written
Olarov must be a perfectionist, this is so thorough. Good article bro.