GM Akobian and his new bodyguard Jerry!

I started this specific blog on May 23, 2005, thanks to my friend Amy B!

Here was the first one: http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2005/05/my-first-blog.html

Since then, I have posted exactly 13,000 items on my blogs! I am delighted to have dedicated bloggers from more than 100 countries. Chess is our common love and it brings people together.

My goal to bring you updated chess news, information, photos, puzzles, and much more daily. I want to promote everything chess, as long as it is wholesome, appropriate, and beneficial to our community.

And yes, I do have many other interests besides chess as you can see from some of the posts on my blogs. I will continue to try to improve and make things better.

Big thanks to everyone for your warm support and valuable contribution!

World Mind Sports games Chess event hit by the global financial crisis
Chess at the WMSG is still on, but less players are expected in Beijing

News was in the air since last Friday, but the official confirmation came to the Chessdom email on Monday afternoon. The Chess teams for the World Mind Sports Games were supposed to have two sponsors for air travel – Air China and a Russian company. The Chinese have fulfilled their part and some federations have received their tickets. The other sponsor has delayed the payment of the money, so FIDE cannot guarantee at this point that the other federations, which pay their tickets, will actually be refunded.

Earlier this summer FIDE officials have explained to IMSA (International Mind Sports Association, the official governing body of the World Mind Sports Games in Beijing 2008) that the proximity of the event with the Chess Olympiad in Dresden creates financial difficulties for the federations. Both organizations agreed that sponsorship for the participants is necessary and actions were taken, but situation changed rapidly last week. The Russian sponsor has stated that they cannot provide the requested financing in the timeline that was initially agreed. The official explanation from the sponsor is “problems in the banking system” and “the global financial crisis”. They have promised to release the money in November, when situation gets better.

FIDE, however, has taken quick action and has informed all the participants about the current situation. Now it is up to the federations if they send the players and cover their costs. If the sponsor gives the money, they will be reimbursed, but that cannot be guaranteed.
The present situation

Even though the present situation is difficult, the Chess event will still take place. The host from China have arranged free accommodation to all participants. Air China has already provided 250 free tickets (about 1/3 of the participants) from specific locations.

The only question standing now is how many players will show up at the event. The initially published official list has changed only a few days ago. Veselin Topalov, the top seeded in the men event, had to withdraw due to force major reasons not connected to the current situation. The lists will be headed by Wang Yue and Yifan Hou, but it is unclear how many of the players will show up.

Source: http://www.chessdom.com/

I would like to thank Dr. Alexey Root and members of the UTD chess team (BAYARAA ZORIGT, KARINA VAZIROVA, ALEXEY W ROOT, HELENE ROMAKIN, ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ, JACEK STOPA, etc.) for supporting and competing the SPICE Cup Open and the Texas Women’s Championship.

Dr. Root drove some of the players around 6 hours to come to Lubbock from Dallas to play in these events. UTD has a fantastic chess program and we hope to be able to follow their tradition of chess excellence.

2008 SPICE Cup International Invitational Tournament
Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, September 19-28, 2008

http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/4-tournaments/3329-2008-spice-cup-winners

Organisers: Susan Polgar, SPICE, and the Susan Polgar Foundation
Category: XV
FIDE Average: 2605.5
USCF Average: 2666.5
Highest rated 10-player round robin chess tournament in U.S. history!
www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com
www.SPICE.ttu.edu

There were 4 events as part of the annual SPICE Cup Festival:

1. SPICE Cup International Invitational
2. SPICE Cup Open
3. Texas Women’s Open Championship
4. SPICE Scholastic Cup

Final Standings of SPICE Cup Invitational:

1-4 Pentala, Harikrishna g IND 2668, Onischuk, Alexander g USA 2670, Kritz, Leonid g GER 2610, Akobian, Varuzhan g USA 2610 5½; 5. Becerra, Julio g USA 2598 5; 6. Mikhalevski, Victor g ISR 2592 4½; 7. Perelshteyn, Eugene g USA 2555 4; 8-9. Kaidanov, Gregory S g USA 2605, Miton, Kamil g POL 2580 3½;10. Stefansson, Hannes g ISL 2566 2½

SPICE Cup Open: Co-Champions IM Antal of Hungary and GM Ramirez of Costa Rica.

Texas Women’s Open Championship: Winner WGM Sabina Foisor of Romania.

The 3rd annual SPICE Cup is planned to be a category 16 or 17 event along with a B group and an open tournament.

SPICE stands for Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence at Texas Tech University (www.SPICE.ttu.edu)

The Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) is the model for the highest standard in chesseducation. Directed by Susan Polgar, the institute is poised to become the world’s premier center for chess research, education, development and outreach.

Through SPICE, Texas Tech has focused the resources of a major university and Big 12 Conference member on providing scholarships for players, conducting research into various aspects of the game, championing scholastic, college and women’s chess and housing an outreach program bringing chess to enthusiasts of all ages.

The SPICE Mission

· To promote chess as a vehicle for enriching education
· To support and promote competitive chess at college level
· To recruit outstanding undergraduate and graduate students
· To bring national and international recognition to TTU and TTUHSC
· To be the leader in promoting women’s chess
· To serve as the global center for chess research, education and outreach

White to move. How would evaluate this position? How should White proceed?

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Grandmaster makes a move on the Kremlin
September 30, 2008

Garry Kasparov’s greatest opponent is Russian political apathy, says viv groskop

When 5,000 Russians gathered in St Petersburg at the weekend to protest against Putin’s presidency, one of the leaders of the ‘March of the Discontented’ was a man we are more used to seeing glaring across a chessboard – grandmaster Garry Kasparov.

Famous for his chess battles with Anatoly Karpov in the 1980s, Kasparov retired from the game in 2005 and is now pitting himself against Putin as an increasingly visible dissident.

Saturday’s protest – during which 100 were arrested – marked the fact that Russia’s next general election is only a year away. According to the constitution, Putin should be stepping down then. But Kasparov and his supporters are concerned the President will attempt – illegally – to stand for a third term.

Usually Russia’s opposition parties are unable to find common ground, but on this issue they rallied: representatives from left and right marched on Saturday, including from the National Bolshevik Party and Yabloko, the social-liberal party.

If this movement could find a figurehead in Kasparov, it might make some gains. But though the chess master is a household name, admired for his steely determination, few young Russians recall his heyday. “Kasparov’s problem,” a St Petersburg journalist tells me, “is that no-one under the age of 30 really knows who he is.”

Kasparov’s first match in the big league in 1985 was the longest in history, eventually broken off by adjudicators after 48 games when Anatoly Karpov began to show signs of physical and emotional strain. Kasparov is not a man who suffers fools gladly. As one critic puts it, he is the genius whom “no one would dare call a demented control freak to his face.”

Here is the full story.

2nd Aquaprofit-Polgár Chess Day – within the frameworks of the renaissance year
The Polgár sisters are playing on 100 boards again

Press Release

http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/7-commissions/3330-press-release-2nd-aquaprofit-polgar-chess-day

Budapest, 29th September. 2008

By favour of the Aquaprofit Co. there will be a chess festival with the Polgár sisters this year as well. This event will take place in an extraordinary beautiful place: in the Blue and the Glass Hall of the Palace of Arts on the 11th of October. Zsuzsa and Zsófi, who live abroad will travel home only for the sake of the chess day, so that they together with Judit, who lives in Hungary can play against their opponents. In the event, being held within the frameworks of the “Renaissance year”, actors, journalists, media people, professional and amateur chess players and young talents will sit at the tables. In addition the organizers are planning to make a great announcement as well.

The Aquaprofit Co. is a major sponsor of the Hungarian chess life for years; it is the name giving sponsor of the chess team of Nagykanizsa, which is one of the strongest chess teams in Hungary. Last year the management hired Judit Polgár to bring her back to the circulation of the domestic chess life. Besides it organized the successful Aquaprofit-Polgár chess day, this way, after ten years the world famous sisters played together again in Hungary The Aquaprofit Co. would like to continue this tradition this year as well: the 2nd Aquaprofit-Polgár Chess day will be held in the Palace of Arts at 3 pm on the 11th of October 2008.

Judit, who lives in Hungary, Zsuzsa, who will come from Texas and Zsófi, who lives in Canada will play simultaneously against opponents on 45 boards (15 boards each) and new players will start after each game is finished. This way, according to the plans more than a hundred players will have the chance to play in the simultaneous games.

There is an enormous interest for the event. There are already more than two hundred entrants. One thing is sure: young talents, professional chess players, actors and journalists will sit at the tables.

The organizers are planning to make a great announcement as well at the opening of the event.

Aquaprofit Co.

Background information:

What have the Polgár sisters in common?

All three of them were Olympic champions twice representing Hungary. Playing in the same team with Ildikó Mádl they managed to break the hegemony of the soviet female chess players in Thessaloniki in 1988 and in Novi Sad in 1990 as well. All of the Polgár sisters are mothers of two. An interesting remark: out of their 6 children the first 5 are boys and only Judit’s second child is a girl. They hold shows and give interviews all around the world, where they proudly speak about their Hungarian origin and their childhood, which they spent in Budapest. The saying seems to be true: “The Polgár-sisters are equal with three foreign ministers”.

Zsuzsa Polgár

She is the only adult Hungarian chess world champion. She has played four times in chess Olympics, where (besides her individual medals) she won two gold medals and one silver medal for Hungary. She then helped the American team win the silver medal for the first time in the history of chess in 2004 in Calvia. She has an honorary doctorate degree from the Texas Tech University and she is the head of SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence) of Texas Tech University. She lived in New York for more than ten years and moved to Texas last year to head SPICE. She may be the most famous and the most acknowledged person of the American chess by now, in addition to being a loyal representative of the Hungarian chess and Hungary as well.

Zsófia Polgár

She is a real artist. Her wonderful attack games and tactic solutions make her most beautiful winnings undying. In 1989 in Rome presenting the most valuable achievement ever, she had a performance of 2928. In this competition she won 8.5 points out of 9, in one section of the game she beat three Russian masters in a row. She and her family lived in Israel until the recent past, where she had been the leader of the Kasparov Chess Academy. They moved to Canada about a year ago because of her husband’s work. She plays more rarely these days, her “civilian” qualification is interior decorator.

Judit Polgár

She is the strongest female chess player ever. It is a total world record that she has been on the top of the female world rank for 28 times. (Kasparov has achieved this for only 23 times in his category). She is the most beloved participant of the world’s most relevant male competitions, which she earned not only because she achieved the 10thplace on the male world rank but she has also made lots of friends with her brave, non-opportunistic chess style. In spite of her young age she is a living chess legend. Last year she could celebrate the birthdays of Korchnoi and the Swiss Bank together with Karpov and Kasparov, chess legends similar to her. Judit by herself is a special category in the sports of the world, she is the most well-known Hungarian lady. She is an example of the fact that women can cope with men in all fields of life. However for most men it is better not to compete with Judit on the chess-board. She lives in Budapest, she was the “heroine” of the silver medal winning male chess team of the Chess Olympics of 2002, and she is the first player of the Aquaprofit chess team.

Aquaprofit Co.:

The Aquaprofit Technical, Consulting and Investment Company is one of the most competent firms in its field of business in Hungary. They do their best to realize their development concepts proposed by their partners or by themselves while taking the interests of the environment, economy and rationality into fullest consideration. They are indeed proud that most of their projects attain to the implementation phase. They have offices in five regions of Hungary (Budapest, Pécs, Nagykanizsa, Balatonfüred, Debrecen) and representatives in the remaining two regions. They have sister companies in Rumania and Croatia and Representative Offices in Brussels/Belgium for the Euroepan Union and Lima/Peru for Latin America. Environmental protection and emphasise on the principle of sustainable development are key issues in the Company’s mission statement. They have three fields of activity: regional development and tourism, environment protection and water management as well as project financing. Being Maecenas is an important part of the business philosophy of the Aquaprofit Co., the management sponsors several events, funds and non-governmental organizations. The company is the name giving sponsor of the Aquaprofit Tungsram Chess Club of Nagykanizsa. They took the lead of the club in 2006 and with their leadership an old dream came true: it became the champion team of the Hungarian Chess Championship. Tamás Nádasi, the president of the company has been the leader of the chess association of the town for 25 years.

House Fails to Pass Huge Bailout Deal
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS ,
AP
posted: 19 MINUTES AGO

WASHINGTON (Sept. 29) – The House on Monday defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue package, ignoring urgent pleas from President Bush and bipartisan congressional leaders to quickly bail out the staggering financial industry.

Stocks plummeted on Wall Street even before the 228-205 vote to reject the bill was announced on the House floor.

When the critical vote was tallied, too few members of the House were willing to support the unpopular measure with elections just five weeks away. Ample no votes came from both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle.

Here is the full story.

Do you think this bailout plan is a good idea? Click here to vote.

Who is responsible for the current crisis?

Chief Arbiter of SPICE Cup Bill Snead and Chief TD of the SPICE Cup Open Tim Winders – One of the local chess coaches Peter Harris.

Harikrishna wins last round, wins Spice Cup title
Sep 29th, 2008 By Sindh Today Category: India

Lubbock (Texas), Sep 29 (IANS) India’s Pentala Harikrishna won the Spice Cup chess with an exciting last-round win that not only got him into a four-way tie, but also earned him the title with the best tie-break score.

The 22-year-old Harikrishna, the former world junior champion and second highest rated Indian after Viswanathan Anand, was lying third before the final round. He fought till the very last and snatched a win against the Russian-born American Gregory Kaidanov, who is currently the most active chess coach in the United States.

It was a major win for Hari, who in 2004 won the world juniors and then in 2006, won the Chess960 title in Germany.

Interestingly, back in 1987 Kaidanov had scored his first major tournament win in Moscow by crushing the then upcoming Viswanathan Anand. Four years later Kaidanov left Russia for United States with his family.

Harikrishna took his tally to 5.5 points from nine rounds and was tied with Alexander Onischuk, Leonid Kritz and Varuzhan Akobian.

Akobian and Kritz were leading with five out of eight going into the last round, where they had to play each other. Their game ended in a draw but it was not a quick one.

Onischuk and Harikrishna, who were sharing third place, won their respective games with White pieces to join for a four-way tie.

Harikrishna had the best tiebreak score of 23.2 and was adjudged the winner. He received the Spice Cup put up by Susan Polgar (and a Swiss watch).

Round 9 results:

Onischuk beat Stefansson; Harikrishna beat Kaidanov; Eugene Perelshteyn beat Mikhalevski; Miton drew with Becerra; Akobian drew with Kritz.

Final Standings:

1-4. Harikrishna Pentala 2668 IND, Alexander Onischuk 2670 USA, Leonid Kritz 2610 GER and Varuzhan Akobian 2610 USA – 5.5
5. Julio Becerra 2598 USA – 5.0
6. Victor Mikhalevski 2592 ISR – 4.5
7. Eugene Perelshteyn 2555 USA – 4.0
8-9. Gregory Kaidanov 2605 USA and Kamil Miton 2580 POL – 3.5
10. Hannes Stefansson 2566 ISL – 2.5

Sources:

http://www.sindhtoday.net/
http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3541631.cms

Onischuk, Alexander (2670) – Stefansson, Hannes (2566)
2008 Spice Cup, Lubbock, Texas (9), 20.09.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Be2 0–0 8.0–0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 c5 10.Rd1 a6 11.a4 cxd4 12.exd4 Qc7 13.Qe2 Re8 14.Bg5 Bf4 15.d5 Bxg5 16.dxe6 Ne5 17.exf7+ Nxf7 18.Nd5 Qc6 19.Ne7+ Kf8 20.Nxc6 Rxe2 21.Nd8 Nxd8 22.Rxd8+ Ke7 23.Bxe2 Kxd8 24.Nxg5 Bd7 25.Nf7+ Ke7 26.Ne5 Be8 27.Bf3 Rb8 28.b4 Nd7 29.Nc4 Nf6 30.Re1+ Kf8 31.a5 Bc6 32.Bxc6 bxc6 33.Nb6 Rd8 34.f3 Rd4 35.Rb1 Ke7 36.Rb2 Nd5 37.Nxd5+ Rxd5 38.Kf2 Rb5 39.Rc2 Kd6 40.Rc4 c5 41.bxc5+ Rxc5 42.Rg4 g5 43.Rb4 Rxa5 44.Rb6+ Ke5 45.Rh6 Ra2+ 46.Kg3 a5 47.Rxh7 a4 48.Ra7 a3 49.Ra5+ Kf6 50.Kh3 Kg6 51.g3 Kf6 52.Kg4 Rxh2 53.Rxa3 1–0

Pentala, Harikrishna (2668) – Kaidanov, Gregory (2605)
2008 Spice Cup, Lubbock, Texas (9), 20.09.2008

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 Nf6 6.e3 Bf5 7.Qb3 Nc6 8.a3 Na5 9.Qd1 0–0 10.Nf3 Ne4 11.Rc1 c6 12.Nxe4 dxe4 13.Nd2 b6 14.b4 Nb7 15.Ba6 Qd7 16.0–0 Nd8 17.Nc4 f6 18.Nd2 Ne6 19.Bg3 c5 20.dxc5 bxc5 21.b5 c4 22.Nxc4 Nc5 23.Nd6 Nxa6 24.Nxf5 Qxf5 25.Qb3+ Kh8 26.bxa6 Qa5 27.Qb7 Bxa3 28.Rc7 Rab8 29.Qxa7 Ra8 30.Qb7 Qxa6 31.Rxg7 Qxb7 32.Rxb7 Kg8 33.h3 Rf7 34.Rb6 Rc8 35.Bf4 f5 36.Rd1 Bf8 37.Rd5 Kg7 38.Rbb5 Rc1+ 39.Kh2 Kg6 40.g4 fxg4 41.Rg5+ Kf6 42.Rb6+ Ke7 43.Rb7+ Ke8 44.Re5+ Be7 45.Bg5 Rxf2+ 46.Kg3 Rf3+ 47.Kxg4 Rg1+ 48.Kh4 1–0

Perelshteyn, Eugene (2555) – Mikhalevski, Victor (2592)
2008 Spice Cup Lubbock, Texas (9), 20.09.2008

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.g3 Nc6 6.Bg2 Nc7 7.d3 e5 8.0–0 Be7 9.Nd2 Bd7 10.Nc4 f6 11.f4 b5 12.Ne3 Rc8 13.a4 b4 14.Nb5 exf4 15.Nxc7+ Rxc7 16.gxf4 Be6 17.b3 Nd4 18.Nc4 Bg4 19.Ra2 Qd7 20.Rb2 0–0 21.Qe1 Re8 22.e3 Bf8 23.Qf2 Nc6 24.Rd2 g6 25.Bb2 Bg7 26.d4 cxd4 27.exd4 Nd8 28.d5 Nf7 29.d6 Rcc8 30.Ne3 Be6 31.f5 Bxb3 32.fxg6 hxg6 33.Bxf6 Bxf6 34.Qxf6 Re6 35.Ng4 Bc4 36.Qxf7+ Qxf7 37.Nh6+ Kg7 38.Nxf7 Bxf1 39.d7 Ba6 40.dxc8Q Bxc8 41.Nd6 Ba6 42.Ne4 Rc6 43.Rd7+ Kh6 44.h4 Bc8 45.Rxa7 g5 46.hxg5+ Kg6 47.Ra5 Rc1+ 48.Kf2 Bf5 49.Rb5 Rc4 50.Rb6+ Kg7 51.Nd6 Rc2+ 52.Kg3 Bd3 1–0

Akobian, Varuzhan (2610) – Kritz, Leonid (2610)
2008 Spice Cup Lubbock, Texas (9), 20.09.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 0–0 7.Bd2 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Bd6 9.Nb5 Ne4 10.Nxd6 cxd6 11.Qc2 Nxd2 12.Qxd2 d5 13.Bd3 Bd7 14.0–0 Qa5 15.Qxa5 Nxa5 16.Ne5 Rfd8 17.Rfc1 Nc6 18.Nxd7 Rxd7 19.Bb5 Rc7 20.Rc5 Rac8 21.Rac1 Kf8 22.Bxc6 Rxc6 23.Rxc6 bxc6 24.Rc5 Rb8 25.b3 Rb6 26.Ra5 a6 27.f3 Ke7 28.Kf2 Kd6 29.e4 f6 30.Ke3 e5 31.dxe5+ fxe5 32.Kd3 g5 33.h3 ½–½

Special thanks to http://www.monroi.com/ for providing us all the games.

The co-champions: GM Pentala, GM Kritz, and GM Akobian. I will add GM Onischuk’s picture tomorrow.

I would like to thank MonRoi, ICC, Chess Today, TWIC, Chess Life Online, Chessdom, Chessvibes, Chess Ninja, Chessville, and so many other media sources (both chess and general media) for covering this event.

I would also like to thank our many sponsors and supporters for making this event happen.

As I mentioned before, we are definitely shooting for at least category 16 or 17 next year, along with a B group, and a bigger and better SPICE Cup Open, Texas Women’s Championship, and SPICE Scholastic Cup.

Everyone having fun after a long ten days to make SPICE a major success.

Others were playing ping pong