Stany and the French connection!
His Elo is 2485, he has one GM norm and he loves France! Guess the Indian player? He is none other than Stany. This 23-year-old from Karnataka has been in great form recently. In 15 months he has jumped from a rating of 2359 to 2485! And a part of his achievement are thanks to the tournaments he has played in France. The last one being the Sautron Open 2016 where he finished first ahead of four strong grandmasters. Stany sends us his favourite game from the event and also tells us why every food lover must visit Sautron!
Sautron is an urban commune in the city of Nantes...
...located in Western France
57 Elo points, 1 GM norm and nearly 5,000 euros! That's what Stany has gained in three tournaments that he has played in France in the last year and a half. The last one was the Sautron Open 2016 which was held from the 22nd to the 29th of October 2016.
Stany started the tournament as the sixth seed. There were some strong grandmasters like Andrei Istratescu, Nikita Maiorov, Alexander Zubarev, Vadim Malakhatko ahead of him. Stany played with great calm and composure and won the event with a score of 7.0/9.
There was a four way tie at the top with 7.0/9 but Stany emerged victorious thanks to his tiebreak score. Standing next to Stany are Andrei Istratescu (2nd), Alexandre Zubarev (3rd) and Alban Delorme (4th)
The top 15 players of the event. Complete standings can be found here.
With five wins and four draws, Stany remained unbeaten and performed at an Elo of 2577, gaining 13 Elo points and clinching the top spot
When we asked Stany to send his favourite game from the tournament he sent us the one against Vitali Koziak from the eighth round. This is what he had to say about the game, "This was my game from penaltimate round in Sautron Open. I was 5.5/7 and it was a must win game for me to play for the title. My opponent is a solid player who has been maintaining 2480 rating for quite sometime So I was prepared for a long game."
Can you be as sharp as Stany and find the winning move? White to play and win!
[Event "16th Sautron Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.10.28"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Stany.g.a"]
[Black "Koziak, Vitali1"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2471"]
[BlackElo "2479"]
[Annotator "Stany,G A"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.13"]
{This was my game from penaltimate round in Sautron Open.I was 5.5/7 and it
was a must win game for me to play for the title. My opponent is a solid
player who has been maintaining 2480 rating for quite sometime So I was
prepared for a long game.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 {
This line is extremely popular these days.} dxc6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. O-O (7. Nc4 Ng4
8. O-O f5 {0-1 (46) Bajarani,U (2509)-Vidit,S (2669) Baku 2016}) 7... Re8 8.
Nc4 Nd7 9. Be3 Bd6 10. a4 c5 11. Nfd2 Nb8 $146 (11... Nf8 {was played last
year in the game Lu,S (2570)-Malakhov,V (2706) China 2015}) 12. f4 (12. Qh5 g6
13. Qh6 Bf8 14. Qg5 Qxg5 15. Bxg5 Nc6 $11) (12. Nxd6 {Stockfish preferes this}
cxd6 13. f4 exf4 14. Bxf4 Be6 15. Nc4 $14) 12... exf4 13. Bxf4 Bxf4 14. Rxf4
Nc6 (14... Qg5 $1 {Was better as it stops Qh5} 15. Qf3 Be6 16. Rf1 Nc6 $11) 15.
Qh5 g6 $6 {Creates weakness on king side} (15... Be6 16. Raf1 (16. Qxc5 Qd4+
17. Qxd4 Nxd4 $15) 16... Qe7 17. Ne3 {With slight edge for White}) 16. Qh6 (16.
Qxc5 Qd4+ 17. Qxd4 Nxd4 18. Rff1 Nxc2 19. Rac1 Nd4 $11) 16... Qd4+ 17. Rf2 (17.
Kh1 Qg7 18. Qg5 Nd4 $11) 17... Be6 18. Raf1 Qg7 (18... f5 19. Ne3) 19. Qg5 b6
20. Rf6 {Stopping f5 and increasing pressure} Rad8 21. Ne3 Rd7 22. b3 {
Stopping c4 counterplay forever and Black has run out of plans} h6 (22... Nd4
23. Ndc4 Nc6 24. Ne5 Nxe5 25. Qxe5 $16) 23. Qh4 Kh7 24. Ng4 Bxg4 (24... Nd4 25.
Nc4 (25. Rxg6 Qxg6 26. Nf6+ Kh8 27. Nxe8 Qg5 $1 $11) 25... Bxc4 26. bxc4 $16)
25. Qxg4 Ne5 26. Qxd7 $1 {Probably my opponent missed this shot} Nxd7 27. Rxf7
Ne5 28. Rxg7+ Kxg7 {First task of getting material advantge is done and now
it's time to improve my pieces again} 29. Nc4 Nc6 30. Kf2 Nd4 31. Ne3 {On e3
the knight supports c2 pawn and threatens to go to d5} Rd8 32. Ke1 Rd7 33. Kd2
h5 34. Nc4 {Vacating e3 square for the king} Re7 35. Rf2 Rd7 36. Ke3 Re7 37. c3
$1 Nf5+ (37... Nxb3 38. Rb2 Na5 (38... Na1 39. Rb1 Nc2+ 40. Kd2 {knight trap})
39. Nxa5 bxa5 40. Rb5 $18) 38. Kd2 Nd6 39. Ne3 (39. Nxd6 {going to rook ending
should also win but I prefered to keep the knight} cxd6 40. Ke3 Re8 41. d4 Re7
42. h4 Re8 43. dxc5 dxc5 44. Rd2 Re7 45. Rd6 Kf7 46. Kf4) 39... Rd7 40. Kc2 Nf7
41. Nc4 Re7 42. b4 $1 {Opening the c-file to create weakness on Black's queen
side.} cxb4 43. cxb4 Ng5 44. Kd2 {Bringing king towards the centre} (44. Kc3 $2
Rxe4 $11) 44... Rd7 45. Ke3 Re7 46. Rc2 Re6 47. Nd2 Re7 48. Nf3 Nf7 49. Nd4 Ne5
50. h3 (50. Rxc7 {is also winning} Rxc7 51. Ne6+ Kf6 52. Nxc7 Ng4+ 53. Ke2 Nxh2
54. Nb5 $18) 50... Kh6 51. Nc6 Nxc6 52. Rxc6 {And the march of e-pawn cannot
be stopped} Kg5 53. d4 Rg7 54. e5 Kh4 55. Ke4 Kg3 56. Rc2 {Black resigned.} 1-0
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.10.28"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Stany.g.a"]
[Black "Koziak, Vitali1"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2471"]
[BlackElo "2479"]
[Annotator "Stany,G A"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.13"]
{This was my game from penaltimate round in Sautron Open.I was 5.5/7 and it
was a must win game for me to play for the title. My opponent is a solid
player who has been maintaining 2480 rating for quite sometime So I was
prepared for a long game.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 {
This line is extremely popular these days.} dxc6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. O-O (7. Nc4 Ng4
8. O-O f5 {0-1 (46) Bajarani,U (2509)-Vidit,S (2669) Baku 2016}) 7... Re8 8.
Nc4 Nd7 9. Be3 Bd6 10. a4 c5 11. Nfd2 Nb8 $146 (11... Nf8 {was played last
year in the game Lu,S (2570)-Malakhov,V (2706) China 2015}) 12. f4 (12. Qh5 g6
13. Qh6 Bf8 14. Qg5 Qxg5 15. Bxg5 Nc6 $11) (12. Nxd6 {Stockfish preferes this}
cxd6 13. f4 exf4 14. Bxf4 Be6 15. Nc4 $14) 12... exf4 13. Bxf4 Bxf4 14. Rxf4
Nc6 (14... Qg5 $1 {Was better as it stops Qh5} 15. Qf3 Be6 16. Rf1 Nc6 $11) 15.
Qh5 g6 $6 {Creates weakness on king side} (15... Be6 16. Raf1 (16. Qxc5 Qd4+
17. Qxd4 Nxd4 $15) 16... Qe7 17. Ne3 {With slight edge for White}) 16. Qh6 (16.
Qxc5 Qd4+ 17. Qxd4 Nxd4 18. Rff1 Nxc2 19. Rac1 Nd4 $11) 16... Qd4+ 17. Rf2 (17.
Kh1 Qg7 18. Qg5 Nd4 $11) 17... Be6 18. Raf1 Qg7 (18... f5 19. Ne3) 19. Qg5 b6
20. Rf6 {Stopping f5 and increasing pressure} Rad8 21. Ne3 Rd7 22. b3 {
Stopping c4 counterplay forever and Black has run out of plans} h6 (22... Nd4
23. Ndc4 Nc6 24. Ne5 Nxe5 25. Qxe5 $16) 23. Qh4 Kh7 24. Ng4 Bxg4 (24... Nd4 25.
Nc4 (25. Rxg6 Qxg6 26. Nf6+ Kh8 27. Nxe8 Qg5 $1 $11) 25... Bxc4 26. bxc4 $16)
25. Qxg4 Ne5 26. Qxd7 $1 {Probably my opponent missed this shot} Nxd7 27. Rxf7
Ne5 28. Rxg7+ Kxg7 {First task of getting material advantge is done and now
it's time to improve my pieces again} 29. Nc4 Nc6 30. Kf2 Nd4 31. Ne3 {On e3
the knight supports c2 pawn and threatens to go to d5} Rd8 32. Ke1 Rd7 33. Kd2
h5 34. Nc4 {Vacating e3 square for the king} Re7 35. Rf2 Rd7 36. Ke3 Re7 37. c3
$1 Nf5+ (37... Nxb3 38. Rb2 Na5 (38... Na1 39. Rb1 Nc2+ 40. Kd2 {knight trap})
39. Nxa5 bxa5 40. Rb5 $18) 38. Kd2 Nd6 39. Ne3 (39. Nxd6 {going to rook ending
should also win but I prefered to keep the knight} cxd6 40. Ke3 Re8 41. d4 Re7
42. h4 Re8 43. dxc5 dxc5 44. Rd2 Re7 45. Rd6 Kf7 46. Kf4) 39... Rd7 40. Kc2 Nf7
41. Nc4 Re7 42. b4 $1 {Opening the c-file to create weakness on Black's queen
side.} cxb4 43. cxb4 Ng5 44. Kd2 {Bringing king towards the centre} (44. Kc3 $2
Rxe4 $11) 44... Rd7 45. Ke3 Re7 46. Rc2 Re6 47. Nd2 Re7 48. Nf3 Nf7 49. Nd4 Ne5
50. h3 (50. Rxc7 {is also winning} Rxc7 51. Ne6+ Kf6 52. Nxc7 Ng4+ 53. Ke2 Nxh2
54. Nb5 $18) 50... Kh6 51. Nc6 Nxc6 52. Rxc6 {And the march of e-pawn cannot
be stopped} Kg5 53. d4 Rg7 54. e5 Kh4 55. Ke4 Kg3 56. Rc2 {Black resigned.} 1-0
Sautron Open and the food
Unique thing in Sautron Open is that organisers themselves cook food and serve
Chicken curry with cabbage
Couscous is a North African dish of small steamed balls of semolina (powdered wheat), usually served with a stew spooned on top. Couscous is a staple food throughout the North African cuisines of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania and Libya.
You don't just collect them, you can even eat them! Sea Shells!
Spaghetti is the plural form of the Italian word spaghetto, which is a diminutive of spago, meaning "thin string" or "twine"
Places to visit
Château des ducs de Bretagne is a famous castle in Nantes
Machines of the Isle of Nantes is a big tourist attraction in the city
The main organizer of the event Mr. Koen ensured that the 16th Sautron Open would be a huge success
Related: