The Premier Chess Club of Northeast Ohio!
On Wednesday the third NH Chess Tournament starts in Amsterdam. It pits five rising stars against five veteran grandmasters. For the highest scoring youngster there is a special pirze: he will be invited to the 2009 Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament in Nice, in the luxury of the Cote d’Azur. Both Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin started that way. Tournament details.
Round six of the Staunton Memorial saw a major outbreak of peace, with five draws out of six games. But then came the free day, which in the case of our reporter was filled with mushrooms sauteed in pink champagne, some exquisite 1975 port in solid silver, monogrammed goblets, and Wagner’s “Ring Cycle”. Life does not get a great deal better, says Steve Giddins, in his round 6-7 reports.
Four games decided in round eleven, with the others well fought; then three
unmemorable draws, two hard-fought ones and one beautifully instructive strategic
win by Peter Svidler in round twelve. The Second FIDE Grand Prix
in Sochi nears its end. Aronian is in the lead, but can still be caught or overtaken.
Games on Playchess.com. Note: the final
round
starts an hour earlier.
In reply to a recent appeal by a number of participants to move the forthcoming World Chess Championship from Nalchik to a safer location, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov writes: “In the current situation I appeal to all not to mix politics and sport, and not to involve FIDE and the world chess community into political, territorial and other disputes.” Statement by Ilyumzhinov.
This event in Gaziantep, Turkey, has become very exciting, with two clear leaders two rounds before the end. German IM Arik Braun is being chased by GMs Howell, Safarli, Rodshtein, Negi and others. In the girls’ section India’s Harika Dronavalli is half a point ahead of Ukrainian Mariya Muzychuk. Anything can happen in the final rounds. Giant pictorial report by Özgür Akman.
Breaking news: Armenian GM Levon Aronian defeated Alexander Grischuk to take clear first in the Grand Prix tournament, finishing with 8.5/13 points and a performance of 2816. Second is Teimour Radjabov, who beat his main rival Sergey Karjakin with the black pieces. Kamsky beat Navara, two games are still under way. Express report.
Before the rating system players were generally classified by the handicap a stronger player could give them. The chess program Rybka has a higher rating than any human, and recently it beat GM Roman Dzindzichashvili in a pawn and move handicap game. Would it be able to acquit itself similarly against an IM who got a pawn and two moves handicap? It would and it did.
1971. Anatoly Karpov, 20, is on his way to the world championship
– which he wins four years later. But on his way
he encounters a future predecessor. Vassily Smyslov, 50, was the seventh world
champion. The key encounter results in an overwhelming victory for the older
man. In his Wednesday night Playchess
lecture Dennis Monokroussos shows us what is to be learnt form this game. Enjoy.
It obviously did them good: the players at the Second FIDE Grand Prix Tournament in Sochi came back in a fighting mood. Two fighting draws and five decided games provided great entertainment for the spectators. After the dust had settled four GMs were in the lead, with three lurking half a point behind. We bring you results, videos and highlights from the games.
“We express our worry about the current dangerous situation near Cabardino-Balkaria,” writes a group of participants in the Women’s World Championship scheduled to take placed from August 28th to September 18th 2008 in Nalchik, a city in the Caucasus region of southern Russia. The proximity to the Russian-Georgian armed conflict region is the reason. Open letter.
This is Michael Adams’ third appearance in the Staunton Memorial, and his cumulative score with the white pieces are 11.5/13! In this year’s edition Adams is leading with 4.5/5 points and has displayed a stunning performance of 2886. Second is Dutch GM Loek van Wely with 3.5/5, followed by Smeets, Timman and Short with 3.0/5 each. 87-year-old Bob Wade still has to score. Rounds 3-5 reports.
“In Mexico City, when I stood on the podium (after winning the World Chess Championship last year) and they played the national anthem, I did feel a lump in my throat,” says Vishy Anand. “As the Olympics begin, I am keenly waiting to see my fellow colleagues stand on that podium with the Indian tri-colour.” His wish was granted. Interview, with statistics and video impressions from Mainz.
After drawing all his games in the first seven rounds Chinese GM Wang Yue suddenly galvanised into action, beating Boris Gelfand (with the black pieces) in round eight and then the tournament leader Teimour Radjabov, who fell into 3-7th place. Wang joins Ivan Cheparinov in the plus two lead, with four rounds to go in this event. Sunday is a free day. Report after round nine.
The drawing of lots was conducted in the usual manner – by racing mechanical cars through an image of Garry Kasparov. In round one Adams demolished Smeets with the black pieces, in round two Nigel Short missed a win in one against Jan Timman, for which he would have won the Best Game prize, a chess set crafted from US Air Force weapons-grade aluminium. Round 1-2 reports.
Mr Jones, a bookshop owner, wants to stock only the very best chess volumes which are in print, and he has a headache. Not surprisingly, he feels overwhelmed by the flood of books on the market, so which are the very best in the various categories? The Editor of Chess
Notes makes a few suggestions and invites further proposals from readers.
Chess with material handicaps was played by Philidor, Staunton, Morphy and Steinitz. Particularly popular was “pawn and move”, with Black missing his f7 pawn. Naturally you find the grandmaster playing the handicapped side. But can a strong GM beat a computer when playing with the handicap pawn and move? Roman Dzindzichashvili tried it against Rybka 3.0. IM Larry Kaufman reports.
Last month we launched the Great ChessBase Simul Hunt, and many games have already been received from readers. A guest contributor, the German grandmaster and author Karsten Müller, has selected and annotated three of the most interesting games submitted so far, including a victory by Bobby Fischer in a 1962 simultaneous display in Denmark. Replay and enjoy the games.
Until the last round Spanish IM Luis Javier Bernal Moro led by a full point, with a GM norm in his pocket. Then came disaster in the final game and the first place was taken on tiebreak by GM Larry Christiansen. But not all the action was above the water. In Curacao people are preparing for underwater chess. During the test the players found the kibitzing stingrays quite disconcerting.
For a while Ivan Cheparinov, the Bulgarian GM who assists Veselin Topalov, was in the clear lead. In round five he lost a wild and chaotic game to Teimour Radjabov, who also got a slightly lucky win against Boris Gelfand in round six. But Cheparinov bounced back with his own victory against Alexander Grischuk. Now Radjabov and Cheparinov lead in the FIDE Grand Prix. Round six report.
After slightly more than half the event 34 of a total of 49 games have ended in draws. That is a high 70 percent. White won 12 games (=24%) and Black three games (=6%). With his win Sergey Karjakin advanced into the group of seven players with 50% scores. Cheparinov and Radjabov lead. On Thursday a bomb blast rocked the city of Sochi, killing two and injuring 13. Round seven report.
After slightly more than half the event 34 of a total of 49 games have ended in draws. That is a high 70 percent. White won 12 games (=24%) and Black three games (=6%). With his win Sergey Karjakin advanced into the group of seven players with 50% scores. Cheparinov and Radjabov lead. On Thursday a bomb blast rocked the city of Sochi, killing two and injuring 13. Round seven report.
“In the summer, an Englishman’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of chess”, as Alfred Lord Tennyson almost said. For the past few years, August in London has meant international chess of a calibre rarely seen in England, and this year is no different. Next to Adams, Sokolov, Short and van Wely we see 87-year-old IM Bob Wade participating. Everyone’s rooting for the octogenarian.
Two of the strongest young players in the world today are Ian Nepomniachtchi
and Francisco Vallejo Pons. Ian is 18, born in the same year as Carlsen and
Karjakin; Paco Vallejo is a veteran at 25, and has scored wins over Anand, Kramnik
and Topalov. In his Wednesday night Playchess
lecture Dennis Monokroussos looks at a dramatic encounter between the two. Do not miss.
The World Junior Championship is being held in Gaziantep, the Economic Centre of Turkey, from 2 to 16 August. The event has 22 GMs, five WGMs, 23 IMs, 14 WIMs, 15 FMs and 27 WFMs among the 195 players from 60 countries playing in the championship. Guess who is equal second, after four rounds, in the boy’s section. A 14-year-old Chinese girl! Illustrated report.
In an age when two billion photographers are loose on the planet it is nice to see a few professionals who take their work seriously. One is Fred Lucas of The Netherlands, who was providing us with stunning portraits before digital cameras became essentially a grocery store items. Fred was in Mainz, busy and creative. Here a sample of his work.
It was a dramatic last round: when other title contenders were playing short draws Ian Nepomniachtchi showed his fighting spirit and beat world-class GM Evgeny Bareev. “Nepo” shared the top place with Pavel Eljanov (but beat him on tiebreak points). A splendid performance was given by Kateryna Lahno, 18, who scored half a point less and ended up in fifth place. Big illustrated report.
“Chess is a competition of intellect and endurance, of risk and estimation,” says the new sponsor. “This very philosophy, completely shared by «EUROCEMENT group, induced the company to pay a huge attention to the chess tournaments throughout its sponsorship activities.” Press release.
The Jerusalem Chess Festival was held from 29th to 31st July 2008, the first time such an event has occurred in Israel’s capital and a city holy to three religions. The venue was the spectacular open-air setting of Alrov Mamilla Avenue, a new shopping centre just outside the walls of the Old City by Jaffa Gate. Chess at midnight – Jerusalem style. We bring you a spectacular pictorial report.
The young bulgarian second of Veselin Topalov, Ivan Cheparinov, is in the lead, with 3.0/4 points, in the Second FIDE Grand Prix Tournament which is taking place in Sochi. Cheparinov profited from a blunder by Gata Kamsky in round three. Kamsky defeated Vassily Ivanchuk in round two. Behind the leader is Alexander Grischuk with 2.5 points, followed by ten players with 2.0 points each. Illustrated report.
The final of the 13th Grenkeleasing Rapid Chess World Championship in Mainz – four 20′+2″ rapid chess games – was a one-sided affair. World Champion Vishy Anand took the first two games fairly effortlessly, after which the young challenger Magnus Carlsen got two draws. In the match for third place Alexander Morozevich struggled to beat Judit Polgar in the final game. Big illustrated report.
A few days ago the 41st Biel Chess Festival ended – with a colossal bang. First there were human fireworks, then the celestial variety, with a violent thunderstorm raging over the city. The next morning saw the prize-giving ceremony, then came a mad dash to deliver Magnus Carlsen to the Chess Classic in Mainz. Now that peace has returned to our lives here’s a pictorial retrospect of Biel.
The qualifier stage of the 13th Grenkeleasing Rapid Chess World Championship in Mainz ended with a victory by World Champion Vishy Anand, who beat Alexander Morozevich twice. Magnus Carlsen beat Judit Polgar to qualify for the final on Sunday against Anand. In the Livingston Chess960 Computer World Championship Rybka beat Shredder to take the title. Big illustrated report.
The October World Chess Championship in Bonn, Germany, will be broadcast on the Internet using a new system developed by Dutch technology company DGT, using multiple cameras to show the action during the game. As a dry run the company is now covering the University of Twente Young Masters in Holland, with GM Yasser Seirawan commenting. 300 free tickets are available.
It was the strongest women’s tournament in history – category 11, Elo average 2522. The round robin North Urals Cup in Krasnoturinsk, Russia, was won by former women’s world champion Antoaneta Stefanova, half a point ahead of Anna Ushenina and Marie Sebag. The event was a big disappointment for top seed Koneru Humpy, who played 114 points below her 2622 FIDE rating. Final report.
The Grenkeleasing Rapid Chess World Championship begins on Friday. The record winner, Vishy Anand, is the favourite to win it again. Or is he? Magnus Carlsen, who is developing faster than anyone else; Alexander Morozevich, the most dangerously unorthodox player; and Judit Polgar, the most uncompromising – Anand weighs his chances against these opponents. Indepth interview.