No explanation needed!

The leaders after 3 rounds:

1-5 Kudrin, Sergey GM 2610 USA 2.5
1-5 Becerra, Julio GM 2637 USA 2.5
1-5 Shulman, Yury GM 2664 USA 2.5
1-5 Kaidanov, Gregory GM 2697 USA 2.5
1-5 Onischuk, Alexander GM 2728 USA 2.5

6 Akobian, Varuzhan GM 2666 USA 2.0

Women's leaders:

1-2 Zatonskih, Anna IM 2490 USA 3.0
1-2 Krush, Irina IM 2515 USA 3.0

3 Rohonyan, Katerine WGM 2318 USA 2.5

Frank Berry US Chess Championship Round 4 Pairings

1 GM Yuri Shulman (2676 : 2.5) - GM Alex Onischuk (2728 : 2.5)
2 GM Julio Becerra (2648 : 2.5) - GM Gregory Kaidanov (2697 : 2.5)
3 GM Sergey Kudrin (2588 : 2.5) - GM Varuzhan Akobian (2666 : 2.0)
4 GM Alex Shabalov (2709 : 1.5) - GM Jesse Kraai (2569 : 1.5)
5 GM Alex Yermolinsky (2568 : 1.5) - GM Alex Ivanov (2628 :1.5)
6 GM Eugene Perelshteyn (2626 : 1.5) - GM John Fedorowicz (2514 : 1.5)
7 IM Josh Friedel (2539 : 1.5) - GM Boris Gulko (2623 : 1.5)
8 IM Ben Finegold (2613 : 1.5) - IM David Pruess (2497 : 1.5)
9 IM David Vigorito (2439 : 1.0) - FM Daniel Ludwig (2429 : 1.5)
10 IM Larry Kaufman (2384 : 1.0) - GM Dmitry Gurevich (2594 : 1.0)
11 NM Sam Shankland (2299 : 1.0) - IM Dean Ippolito (2512 : 0.5)
12 FM Michael Langer (2307 : 0.5) - Sergey Galant (2176 : 0.0)

Former World Champion Kramnik is showing who's the boss in the match against top Czech GM Navara. He won the first 3 games and yielded a draw in game 4.

Here is the official website.

Bid/Offer No. KT1/11-2008
Name of Event : WCC Challengers Match
Kamsky - Topalov 2008

Organiser's name : VAT ZTO Prodexport and Rondo Holdings S.A.
Organiser’s address : 03150 Ukraine, Kiev, Kovpaka str. 17, app. 131
Organiser's telephones : mobile (in Ukraine): +380504628674
mobile (international): +37253687587
landline: +380445694462
landline (fax): +380445694463
Email address : multiinvest.holding@gmail.com
Start date & time : 26 November 2008
Closing date & time : 11 December 2008
Proposed tournament venue : sity Lviv, Ukraine
Precise tournament location with address : Potockis’ Palace
Lviv, 15 Copernicus str.
Proposed prize fund : USD 750,000.00
The FIDE Contribution : USD 150,000.00
Expenses of FIDE : USD 35,000.00
Bank Transfer: amount covering the prize fund, the FIDE contribution (20% over and above the prize fund)to FIDE’s account
Confirmation : bank sleep will follow within 2 bank days
Commitment for Organization Costs : all organization costs will be covered in accordance with the match regulations.
A special statement : the Applicant accepts the regulations of the Match without any reservations.
Special rates for hotel rooms (in a 4 stars Locations) : USD 100 (in single) : USD 120 (in double)
Special rates : for the meals will be Special rates
An invitation for members of the World Chess Championship Committee to inspect the proposed venue and examine the other conditions with all expenses paid by the bidder : any persons, any time
Availability of public transport near venue : yes
Precise place where lodging is provided, if lodging is provided & distance between the lodging and the venue : 200 meters
Are the tournament hall and lodging places well ventilated and illuminated : yes
Is space available for accompanying persons to relax when the game are going on or for players to relax between rounds : yes
Name of the proposed Chief Arbiter : mutual decision of parties

Declaration

No bidder is in the conflict with the regulations of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
We will show a good management style in organization of this match.
We will give the best service to players and their teams and participants on the ground circular letters from FIDE.
The bid, including all original documents and particulars, shall arrive by registered post to the FIDE Secretariat in Athens, Greece by the deadline of 15 May 2008.
Place: Ukraine, Kiev.
Date: 15.05 2008
Organizer’s Signature:
Director of Rondo Holdings S.A.
Oleksandr Chernenko)
Director of VAT ZTO Prodexport
(Vladimir Timchenko)
(we will make and authenticate our signatures in original document).

Tatev Abrahamyan vs Iryna Zenyuk

Chimi vs Irina

Can you name all 4 players?

I finally made it back home after an 8 hour drive from Tulsa. I attended the first hour of round and the action was quite intense. There were a few complaints about the size of the room and the organizer is working to fix the problem.

Round 3 results:

1 Kaidanov, Gregory - Kudrin, Sergey 1/2 1/2
2 Onischuk, Alexander - Perelshteyn, Eugene 1-0
3 Gulko, Boris - Shulman, Yury 0-1
4 Becerra, Julio - Yermolinsky, Alex 1-0
5 Ludwig, Daniel - Shabalov, Alexander 1/2 1/2
6 Akobian, Varuzhan - Gurevich, Dmitry 1-0
7 Ivanov, Alexander - Friedel, Josh 1/2 1/2
8 Kraai, Jesse - Finegold, Benjamin 1/2 1/2
9 Fedorowicz, John - Vigorito, David 1-0
10 Pruess, David - Ippolito, Dean 1-0
11 Kaufman, Larry - Langer, Michael 1-0
12 Shankland, Sam - Galant, Sergey 1-0

Women's results:

1 Zatonskih, Anna - Jamison, Courtney 1-0
2 Rohonyan, Katerine - Airapetian, Chouchanik 1-0
3 Abrahamyan, Tatev - Zenyuk, Iryna 1-0
4 Epstein, Esther - Battsetseg, Tsagaan 1/2 1/2
5 Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg - Krush, Irina 0-1

Official website: http://monroi.com/the-2008-fkb-us-chess-championship-results.html

The summit match between top seed Veselin Topalov and tournament uberplayer Vassily Ivanchuk ended in a hard-fought 49-move draw. Ivanchuk continues to lead Topalov by a full point, while the Bulgarian is a point and a half ahead of the next-best players. Teimour Radjabov beat the luckless Bu Xiangzhi, who has 1.0/7 and a performance of 2427. Full report.

After three rounds of the Frank Berry U.S. Championships, GMs Kudrin, Becerra, Onischuk, Kaidanov and Shulman lead with 2.5/3. In the women's, Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush lead with perfect 3s.

Can you create a clever caption?

Today is the 15th of May. There is no news from FIDE about the transfer of $935,000. The previous deadline was May 12 but it was extended to May 15 because of this request:

Date: 12 May, 2008.

To: FIDE President, Mr. Kirsan ILYUMZHINOV
Re: BID to hold match Kamsky-Topalov

Dear Mr. ILYUMZHINOV,

I would like to inform you because of bank technical reasons BID amount USD 935,000.00 will be designated on FIDE bank account May 15, 2008.Kindly ask you for understanding.

With Kindest Regards,
Oleksandr Chernenko,
Manager of GM Gata Kamsky

Does anyone have any update about this issue? Please feel free to post any breaking news. Thanks!

Troitsky 1896, presented by Andreas

White to move. Can White save this game?

8/1n3P2/pp3r1p/k5p1/1N6/1P6/1R4P1/2K5 w - - 0 1

GM Ivanchuk (2740) - GM Topalov (2767) [D43]
15.05.2008 / Mtel Round 7

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 Nd7 8.Rc1 Bd6 9.Bd3 0–0 10.0–0 Qe7 11.Qc2 a6 12.c5 Bc7 13.e4 dxe4 14.Nxe4 Rd8 15.Rfe1 Nf8 16.Qc3 f6 17.Bb1 Kh8 18.a3 Bd7 19.Nfd2 f5 20.Ng3 Qf6 21.Nf3 Be8 22.Ba2 b6 23.Rc2 bxc5 24.Qxc5 Rab8 25.Rd2 a5 26.Qc3 Rd6 27.Rde2 Bb6 28.Re5 Bf7 29.Bb1 Qd8 30.Ba2 Rb7 31.Ne2 Ng6 32.Re3 a4 33.Qc2 Rc7 34.Qxa4 c5 35.dxc5 Rxc5 36.Rc3 Ne5 37.Ned4 Ng4 38.h3 Nxf2 39.Kxf2 Ra5 40.Qc2 Rxd4 41.Kf1 Qd7 42.Rc8+ Kh7 43.Qc6 Qd6 44.Qxd6 Rxd6 45.Rf8 Ra7 46.Ne5 Rd2 47.Re2 Rd1+ 48.Re1 Rd2 49.Re2 Game drawn ½–½

Click here to replay the game.

This is a very exciting game if you like closed positional chess. It seemed that the position was equal at one point but Radjabov found a way to break through.

GM Radjabov (2751) - GM Bu Xiangzhi (2708) [D10]
Mtel - Round 7, 15.05.2008

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 a6 5.Nf3 b5 6.c5 g6 7.Ne5 Bg7 8.Be2 0–0 9.0–0 Nfd7 10.f4 a5 11.a3 f6 12.Nf3 f5 13.Bd2 Nf6 14.Be1 Kh8 15.Bh4 Be6 16.Ne5 Qc7 17.Qe1 Nbd7 18.Bg5 Nxe5 19.fxe5 Ne4 20.Nxe4 fxe4 21.Qh4 Rxf1+ 22.Rxf1 Re8 23.Bg4 Qd7 24.Rf7 Bxg4 25.Bf6 exf6 26.Rxd7 Bxd7 27.exf6 a4 28.fxg7+ Kxg7 29.Kf2 h6 30.Ke1 Re6 31.Qg3 Be8 32.Kd2 g5 33.Kc3 Kf8 34.Kb4 Bf7 35.Ka5 Kg7 36.Kb6 Kf8 37.Kc7 Kg7 38.Kd7 Kf8 39.Qf2 Rg6 40.Qf5 h5 41.g3 White wins 1–0

Click here to replay the game.

GM Cheparinov (2695) - GM Aronian (2763) [C88]
15.05.2008 - Mtel, Round 7

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 8.a4 b4 9.d3 d6 10.Nbd2 Na5 11.Ba2 c5 12.c3 Rb8 13.d4 Qc7 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.Nc4 Rd8 16.Qe2 b3 17.Nxa5 Qxa5 18.Bb1 c4 19.Qxc4 Bc5 20.h3 Qb6 21.Be3 Bxe3 22.Rxe3 Rd1+ 23.Re1 Rxe1+ 24.Nxe1 Be6 25.Qe2 Nd7 26.a5 Qd6 27.Bd3 Nc5 28.Bc4 Bxc4 29.Qxc4 g6 30.Nf3 Rd8 31.Re1 Qc7 32.g3 Kg7 33.Re2 Rd3 34.Kg2 Qd6 35.Ng5 Qe7 36.Re3 Rxe3 37.fxe3 Qd7 38.Nf3 Qd1 39.Qxc5 Qe2+ 40.Kg1 Qxf3 41.Qxe5+ Kg8 42.Qb8+ Kg7 43.Qe5+ Kg8 44.Qb8+ Kg7 45.Qe5+ Game drawn ½–½

Click here to replay the game.

I attended the second round of the US and US Women's Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma yesterday. Unfortunately, my wallet was stolen from my purse somewhere between late afternoon and early evening at the hotel either in or near the playing hall.

I did make a police report and contacted my credit card companies the moment I found out. Unfortunately, some fraudulent charges were already made.

I do not care about the cash inside the wallet. I am more concerned about my IDs and some other personal items which have no value to others. If by chance someone finds my wallet, please send it back to the address on my driver's license, no questions asked.

Thank you!
Susan Polgar

(Sofia, 15 May 2008) The legendary player of FC Barcelona and the Bulgarian National Football Team Hristo Stoichkov and the 10th chess World Champion met at M-Tel Masters. The two legends of world sport talked about football and chess. On the photo they are with the director of M-Tel masters Silvio Danailov and the Deputy Chief arbiter of the tournament Faik Gasanov.

Justine Henin ready to live life away from tennis
The Associated Press
Published: May 15, 2008

WASHINGTON: The happiest I've ever seen Justine Henin was away from a tennis court.

There wasn't a racket in her hand. Not a silver Grand Slam trophy. Not a million-dollar-plus winner's check. Instead, here's why Henin was giddy: She was rocking her 6-week-old niece in her arms.

It was about an hour after the lithe Belgian with the bigger-than-you'd-think strokes won the 2007 French Open. Henin was standing in a players' lounge, surrounded by her formerly estranged father and siblings, reveling more in her recently reconstructed family life than in the sixth of her seven major championships.

"This year, she is laughing, smiling, and taking pleasure in what she does," her oldest brother, David, said at the time. "I used to see her on TV, and she did not always look too happy."

Not quite a full year later, Henin again was surrounded by her relatives, again content as could be, only on Wednesday, she said she is no longer driven to be the best in her sport. She won't be defending her title at Roland Garros when the clay-court Grand Slam begins May 25, and she won't be defending her U.S. Open title in the fall, either.

All of 25, she suddenly, stunningly, walked away from tennis, the first woman to retire while ranked No. 1 by the WTA.

"I realized that I was at the end of the road," Henin said during a news conference at her tennis academy outside Brussels. "I lived through it all, I had given it all."

Henin always got by on her grit as much as her groundstrokes, and she made it quite clear Wednesday that her heart isn't in it the way it was for so long.

That's what is so surprising about the news — and its timing.

She won the French Open each of the past three years, and four times overall. And that tournament was, after all, the first she attended in person as a fan, sitting in the stands as a 10-year-old with her mother.

Source: AP

Elizabeth Vicary interviews Courtney Jamison, wildcard in the U.S. Women's Championship, about how she prepares, friends, role models and the ups and downs of being a woman in chess.

Local girl makes right moves
By Janice Fae Mitchell
Guard Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Her heart tells her she wants to be a cardiac surgeon, but for now she’d be happy to make the right moves and say, “Checkmate.”

Twelve-year-old Crystal Qian, a Batesville seventh-grader, is the top performer among female scholastic players in Arkansas. She has qualified for the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls chess tournament to be held this summer, July 27-Aug. 1, at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

“My dad wants me to place, and personally I’d love it if I place, but I’m practicing because I think it’s fun, and I’m practicing because I think when I go to Texas it’s going to be rewarding,” Crystal said.

She said she’s looking forward to some sightseeing as well.

The invitational is named after Dr. Susan Polgar, a women’s world champion and holder of a number of world championship and Olympiad titles. The tournament will include the top female scholastic players whose ages are under 19 years old from all 50 states. This will be Crystal’s first time as Arkansas’ representative to the Polgar tournament.

“I’m practicing. Every day I do about 100 chess problems. They’re like puzzles, and you determine the best position for the next move,” and then when she’s done she plays against other people on the server, Crystal said.

The Arkansas Chess Federation and the Susan Polgar Foundation are supplying some funds, but she has to earn the rest herself.

“I have enough saved up for that just in case. When I grow up I want to go to Oxford in England and become a cardiac surgeon so most of the money is saved up for that, but I might take some out and maybe do something at the fair like play the piano.”

Crystal started to play chess three years ago when her family moved to Batesville in the summer of 2005.

Here is the full article.

Former US Women's Champion Dr. Alexey Root has just started a new blog. Click here to visit her blog.

Author information: http://lu.com/authors/AlexeyRoot.pdf
Science, Math, Checkmate: http://lu.com/showbook.cfm?isbn=9781591585718
Children and Chess: http://lu.com/showbook.cfm?isbn=9781591583585

Icon “St. Trinity” for the winner of M-Tel Masters 2008

(Sofia, 15 May 2008) Author’s copy of the ancient Bulgarian icon “St. Trinity” will be the special prize of the winner in the super chess tournament M-Tel Masters 2008. The author of the icon is the famous Bulgarian painter Katya Bajlekova the size if the icon is 62 x 46 cm and the image is aged by a special technology.

The special prize will be handed to the winner in M-Tel Masters 2008 at the official closing ceremony of the tournament on May 18.

Traditionally, for a fourth year in a row the winner of the Sofia super chess tournament receives as a special prize a copy of an ancient Bulgarian icon. As a three-time winner of M-Tel Masters Veselin Topalov already has in his collection a copy of the icons “Entering Jerusalem”, “St. George the Winner” and “Four Saints – Warriors” by the same painter.


For further information: Dimitar Naydenov, press@mtelmasters.com

Betsy Dynako reports on the Elementary Nationals last weekend in Pittsburgh. Besides a big photo gallery, enjoy stories on a special Mother's Day present and some parenting and coaching don'ts.

Arun Sharma updates the Fantasy standings. John Stokes won the daily prize, Chimi is one of four top keys to success, and Nick Folino leads the overall contest.

Topalov is having an incredible tournament. In most tournament, his performance (over 2900) would be more than enough to be in the lead. Unfortunately for him, Ivanchuk is performing over 3150! One point separates Ivanchuk and Topalov and they are facing each other in this round. What is your prediction?

Round 7 pairings:

Vassily Ivanchuk - Veselin Topalov
Teimour Radjabov - Bu Xiangzhi
Ivan Cheparinov - Levon Aronian

Standings after 6 rounds:

1. Ivanchuk - 5½
2. Topalov - 4½
3. Cheparinov - 3
4. Radjabov - 2½
5. Aronian - 1½
6. Bu Xiangzhi - 1

Official website: http://www.mtelmasters.com/

Frank Berry US Chess Championship Round 3 Pairings

1 GM Gregory Kaidanov (2697 : 2.0) - GM Sergey Kudrin (2588 : 2.0)
2 GM Alex Onischuk (2728 : 1.5) - GM Eugene Perelshteyn (2626 : 1.5)
3 GM Boris Gulko (2623 : 1.5) - GM Yuri Shulman (2676 : 1.5)
4 GM Julio Becerra (2648 : 1.5) - GM Alex Yermolinsky (2568 : 1.5)
5 FM Daniel Ludwig (2429 : 1.0) - GM Alex Shabalov (2709 : 1.0)
6 GM Varuzhan Akobian (2666 : 1.0) - GM Dmitry Gurevich (2594 : 1.0)
7 GM Alex Ivanov (2628 : 1.0) - IM Josh Friedel (2539 : 1.0)
8 GM Jesse Kraai (2569 : 1.0) - IM Ben Finegold (2613 : 1.0)
9 GM John Fedorowicz (2514 : 0.5) - IM David Vigorito (2439 : 1.0)
10 IM David Pruess (2497 : 0.5) - IM Dean Ippolito (2512 : 0.5)
11 IM Larry Kaufman (2384 : 0.0) - FM Michael Langer (2307 : 0.5)
12 NM Sam Shankland (2299 : 0.0) - Sergey Galant (2176 : 0.0)

Women's Round 3 Pairings:

Chimi Tuvshintugs vs. Irina Krush
Anna Zatonskih vs. Courtney Jamison
Tatev Abrahamyan vs. Iryna Zenyuk
Katerine Rohonyan vs. Chouchanik Airapetian
Esther Epstein vs. Tsagaan Battsetseg

Leaders after 2 rounds:

1-2 Kudrin, Sergey GM 2610 2.0
1-2 Kaidanov, Gregory GM 2697 2.0
3-8 Yermolinsky, Alex GM 2587 1.5
3-8 Perelshteyn, Eugene GM 2615 1.5
3-8 Becerra, Julio GM 2637 1.5
3-8 Gulko, Boris GM 2623 1.5
3-8 Shulman, Yury GM 2664 1.5
3-8 Onischuk, Alexander GM 2728 1.5

Women's leaders after 2 rounds:

1-3 Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg WIM 2289 2.0
1-3 Zatonskih, Anna IM 2490 2.0
1-3 Krush, Irina IM 2515 2.0
4 Rohonyan, Katerine WGM 2318 1.5

Official website: http://monroi.com/the-2008-fkb-us-chess-championship-home.html

Men's Results:

1 Gurevich, Dmitry - Kaidanov, Gregory 0-1
2 Kudrin, Sergey - Ivanov, Alexander 1-0
3 Yermolinsky, Alex - Gulko, Boris 1/2 1/2
4 Ippolito, Dean - Onischuk, Alexander 0-1
5 Shulman, Yury - Pruess, David 1-0
6 Kraai, Jesse - Akobian, Varuzhan 1/2 1/2
7 Becerra, Julio - Fedorowicz, John 1-0
8 Perelshteyn, Eugene - Langer, Michael 1-0
9 Finegold, Benjamin - Ludwig, Daniel 1/2 1/2
10 Shabalov, Alexander - Kaufman, Larry 1-0
11 Friedel, Josh - Shankland, Sam 1-0
12 Vigorito, David - Galant, Sergey 1-0

Women's Results:

1 Jamison, Courtney - Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg 0-1
2 Krush, Irina - Epstein, Esther 1-0
3 Battsetseg, Tsagaan - Abrahamyan, Tatev 0-1
4 Zenyuk, Iryna - Rohonyan, Katerine 0-1
5 Airapetian, Chouchanik - Zatonskih, Anna 0-1

That's former US Women's Champion Anna Zatonskih in red. Can you name her opponent and the two players behind them?

Can you name the 2 players on board 12?

Former US Champions in action.