A lovely clubhouse, a pleasant terrace
The last weekend of August finally saw it happen: after its premiere last year, the second edition of the chess tennis tournament took place in Hamburg!
The organisers from SC Diogenes, Kai Schönwolf and Christian Kalla, are both successful chess and tennis players and have played in several other tournaments, e.g. in Baden-Baden and Vienna. Inspired by these, they began planning their own tournament in Hamburg and found a partner in SV St. Georg, a club willing to make its facilities available for a weekend: a lovely clubhouse with a good playing hall, a pleasant terrace, good catering and five tennis courts – perfect conditions! The fact that the sun shone all weekend, and that Anastasiia Agapitova and Isabel Kühn joined the organising team as two very kind helpers, made the event complete! Many thanks therefore to the organisers, SV St. Georg, the catering team, and the sponsors CSA and Kirschbaum!
Unfortunately, there were a few withdrawals due to injuries, so in the end there were only 14 participants competing for the title. The venue can accommodate a maximum of 24 players, so next year publicity needs to be stepped up just a little bit 😉
It really is worth it: it is an interesting psychological experience to face the same opponent in two disciplines. It becomes even more fascinating in the playoffs when one switches from a chess game to the tennis court and back again!
But first things first: seven rounds of the Swiss system were played, five on Saturday and two on Sunday morning. In each of the seven rounds there was a rapid chess game with a time control of 10 minutes + 5-second increments and a tennis match (short set to 4 points, maximum 5-3, with a possible 4-4 draw). If a player won both the chess and the tennis, the match ended 1-0. If they won in tennis but lost in chess (or vice versa), it was counted as a chess draw and each player received half a point.
After the seven rounds, there were playoffs for places 1 to 4 (and 5 to 8), consisting of a mix of chess (15-minute games) and tennis (match tiebreak to 18) against the same opponent. The rapid chess game is interrupted after 5 minutes, then the players switch to the tennis court for 6 points before returning immediately to the board. This created an exciting situation for the players and great fun for the spectators!
Another interesting feature introduced by the Hamburg organisers was that a combined rating, calculated from chess and tennis ratings, was used for the Swiss pairings! According to this special tournament rating, the favourites were:
Kai Schönwolf (94), Christian Kalla (93) from Hamburg and Georgi Davidov (92) from Rotenburg, who has already won several chess tennis tournaments. Also in the circle of favourites were Felix Bender (92), Norman Daum (91) from Berlin and Jan Schmidt (90) from Hamburg, the chairman of Königsspringer Hamburg! Volker Melde (85) from SC Eidelstedt could also be counted among the extended circle of favourites. Among the other participants, either the chess or tennis level was well below average, resulting in a much lower combined rating. It must be noted that the tennis rating (the so-called LK) also depends on other factors not relevant in chess: age and fitness play a key role, as does activity, since maintaining a good tennis rating requires regular participation in league matches and preferably tournaments as well.
Rapid chess preliminary round – in front, Yu-Sheng Chiang and 12-year-old Savelii Osipov, who travelled with his mother from Eppstein in the Taunus, drew their match! Savelii won the chess game, and Yu-Sheng got his revenge on the tennis court
John Anthon and Evi Zickelbein
In chess, Eva Maria Zickelbein won confidently against John Anthon, but there was nothing to be gained on the tennis court against the tennis coach, who plays chess for Barmbeker SK. He has just switched his tennis club to Pöseldorfer Club, where the author also plays, along with tennis and chess trainer Thomas Richter from Union Eimsbüttel, as well as Christian Laqua and Tsung Chen from Diogenes – hopefully they will also take part in the tournament next year! In the background you can see the beautiful clubhouse of St. Georg with its terrace.
Clemens Lotz and Philipp Cramer
Clemens Lotz and Philipp Cramer faced each other in round two. The Berliner Clemens Lotz founded the Chess & Jazz event series in Berlin, which is very popular. At Café Holzmarktperle, a Chess & Jazz Night takes place on the first and third Thursday of each month. A visit is worthwhile – Clemens sometimes joins in on the drums, as he is a professional musician! More information here: https://chessandjazz.de/index.php
Good serving technique: Philipp Cramer defeated Clemens Lotz in tennis 4-2.
Philipp has been playing for HSK for several years and took part in the chess tennis tournament for the second time. However, he was unable to overtake the two other HSK players in the internal HSK ranking.
After the match
Time to celebrate! Philipp Cramer (right) puts on a brave face, as Ferdinand Seum and especially Eva Maria Zickelbein are delighted to have taken 2nd and 1st places respectively in the internal HSK ranking. It should be noted, however, that Philipp faced much stronger opponents than the other two. The author was able to partly compensate for her disadvantage in tennis by performing well at chess (5/7), resulting in several draws and even a win.
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Sunday morning concentration: Eva Maria Zickelbein against Ferdinand Seum – as usual, she won the chess game…
…but in the internal HSK tennis duel, Ferdinand won 4-2!
Volker Melde and Georgi Davidov
Volker Melde and Georgi Davidov played an exciting tennis match in the sixth round on Sunday morning! Volker plays chess in Eidelstedt and tennis in the over-50 men’s category at TS Ellerbek and has very solid technique. Georgi Davidov from Rotenburg has been a regular at chess tennis tournaments for many years and was last year’s winner in Hamburg.
After the tennis match, the action moved to the chessboard, where it became very tense! From Volker’s perspective, after losing the tennis, he needed a win at chess: in the endgame he had a chance to create some trouble with a distant passed pawn, but Jan Schmidt – the strongest chess player in the field and chairman of Königsspringer Hamburg – agreed that the endgame was only drawn. Volker overplayed the position in the end and lost, though this no longer affected the overall result. For Georgi, it was another point on the way to the semifinals: he conceded only two draws in the preliminary rounds (against the two players from Berlin, Norman Daum and Felix Bender).
Already in round two, there was a battle for a top place: Norman Daum from Berlin against Christian Kalla – the player from Hamburg prevailed. In the semifinal they met again, and this time the Berliner came through dramatically.
After the preliminary stage, the table looked as follows:
In the semifinals and final, the format was changed: after five minutes of chess the clock was stopped, six points were played on the tennis court, then play returned to the chessboard – an absolutely fascinating switch!
In the first semifinal, Georgi Davidov defeated Kai Schönwolf:
Although Kai obtained a winning position in chess, Georgi clearly prevailed on the tennis court.
The tournament website reported:
The second semi-final between Christian Kalla and Norman Daum was extremely tense. At 17-12, Christian needed just one more point to qualify for the final, but a mistake allowed Norman to fight back to 17-13 and return to the garden chessboard. There, thanks to a better position and more time on the clock, he won easily.
Norman Daum and Christian Kalla at the garden chessboard: players could only make their move after the opponent had pressed the clock. This gave the game a touch of physical blitz chess, as the pieces had to remain standing despite the quick dashes to hit the clock. Their tennis match featured long, beautiful rallies and captivating baseline duels. Christian is an experienced and strong tennis player, whereas Norman does not play in a tennis club, but still shows an impressive level and excellent ball control. His one-handed backhand, in particular, is truly elegant – chapeau!
Final
In the final between Norman Daum and Georgi Davidov, the Berliner dominated the chess game but took too long to convert his advantage. In tennis, Georgi Davidov played with great power and finally won 18-11 before returning once more to the chessboard. Congratulations to Georgi!
Georgi Davidov with excellent serving technique…
…and a solid two-handed backhand
Prize-giving: a fully deserved second title for Georgi Davidov in Hamburg – congratulations!
The Classical Sicilian has stood the test of time as one of the most principled and fighting defences against 1.e4. With its rich history spanning world championship matches and modern elite tournaments, this opening remains a favourite among players who seek a dynamic, counterattacking approach without venturing into extreme theoretical battles like the Najdorf or Sveshnikov.
Free video sample: Introduction
Free video sample: 6.h3
But Norman Daum was also pleased with his second place!
Fifth place went for Felix Bender from Berlin, who faced the entire top half of the table and still scored 50%!
And in seventh and eighth place, two players from Hamburg: John Anthon scored mainly in tennis, while Jan Schmidt distributed his points evenly between the two disciplines!
A wonderful chess-tennis weekend – many thanks to the organisers and to the Chess Sport Association and Kirschbaum company for their support.
Photos: Eva Maria Zickelbein and Anastasiia Agapitova
