Good morning all,
the top match from group 6 occurs now, during round 2: Novag Emerald Classic vs Mephisto Berlin. According to the respective rankings, the most probable outcome is 0.5 to 1.5 in favor of the Lang program, and that is exactly what happened. As a matter of fact, the Berlin is the first seeded player in this competition that doesn't achieve the full 6 points from its selection tournament.
Both devices rather play on the safe side of style, therefore the first game is balanced without much tactics involved, and ends in a draw. In the second game, the Berlin playing as White slowly builds its lead without obvious mistakes from the Emerald Classic, the only one I could spot being a positional inaccuracy that revealed significant many moves later. Nothing to complain about, from the heir to Kittinger series.
[Event "The 64-cup"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2023.11.02"]
[Round "6-2"]
[White "Novag Emerald Classic (lv AT4)"]
[Black "Mephisto Berlin (lv N3)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "1982"]
[BlackElo "2181"]
[EventDate "2023.09.26"]
[ECO "A03"]
[PlyCount "94"]
1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bg4 4.h3 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 Nc6 6.Bb5 {Out of book} 6...e6 {Out of book} 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.d3 Bb4+ 9.Nd2 O-O 10.a3 Bd6 11.g3 Rb8 12.O-O Ne8 13.b3 Qf6 14.Ra2 Qc3 15.Nb1 Qc5 16.b4 Qb6 17.Nc3 c5 18.bxc5 Qxc5 19.Bd2 Nf6 20.Qf2 Rfd8 21.Rb1 Rxb1+ 22.Nxb1 Qb6 23.Nc3 c6 24.Ra1 Qc5 25.Be1 a6 26.e4 dxe4 27.dxe4 e5 28.Qxc5 Bxc5+ 29.Kg2 exf4 30.gxf4 Rb8 31.e5 Nh5 32.Kf3 Rb2 33.Rc1 Be7 34.a4 g6 35.Nd1 Ra2 36.Nc3 Rb2 37.Nd1 Rb8 {Berlin wants to avoid the repetition with Ra2} 38.Ne3 Rb2 39.Rd1 Bc5 $6 40.Rd8+ $1 Kg7 41.Bc3 Ra2 42.e6+ f6 43.a5 $6 ( 43.Bd4 $1 {was stronger: the Black Bishop needs to keep control on e7 square} 43...Bf8 44.Rd7+ Kg8 45.e7 ) 43...Ra4 {threatens f4 square} 44.Rd7+ Kg8 45.Rd8+ Kg7 46.Rd7+ Kg8 47.Rd8+ Kg7 1/2-1/2
[Event "The 64-cup"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2023.11.03"]
[Round "6-2"]
[White "Mephisto Berlin (lv N3)"]
[Black "Novag Emerald Classic (lv AT4)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2181"]
[BlackElo "1982"]
[EventDate "2023.09.26"]
[ECO "B92"]
[PlyCount "103"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.O-O Be6 9.Qd3 {Out of book} 9...O-O {Out of book} 10.Nd5 Nxd5 11.exd5 Bd7 12.f4 f6 13.c4 Qb6+ 14.Be3 Qc7 15.fxe5 fxe5 16.Rxf8+ Bxf8 17.Rf1 Be7 18.Qe4 b6 $6 {weakens c6 square and the whole 6th row Queen side.} 19.Bd3 g6 20.Qf3 Be8 21.Bg5 Qd8 22.Bxe7 Qxe7 23.Qf6 Ra7 24.Nd2 Qxf6 25.Rxf6 Rd7 26.Ne4 Rf7 27.Re6 Bd7 28.Rxd6 Kg7 29.Rxb6 Rf8 30.Nc5 Bg4 31.Nxa6 Nd7 32.Rb7 Rf7 33.h3 Bf5 34.Bxf5 gxf5 35.a4 e4 36.Kf2 Ne5 37.Rxf7+ Kxf7 38.b3 f4 39.Nc5 e3+ 40.Ke2 Ke7 41.a5 Kd6 42.a6 Kxc5 43.a7 Kb4 44.a8=Q Ng6 45.d6 Kxb3 46.d7 f3+ 47.Qxf3 Ne5 48.Qxe3+ Kc2 49.d8=Q {Berlin announces mate in 4} 49...Nd7 50.Qxd7 h5 51.Qdd2+ Kb1 52.Qg1# 1-0
MfG,
Tibono