HemmersChess

This year’s Grand Slam Masters Final will be split into two parts. One will be held in Shanghai, China (just before the Olympiad) and one in Bilbao, Spain (just after). This was announced last week in Wijk aan Zee, were the board of the Grand Slam had a meeting to discuss matters. All dates for the coming year were announced.

Linares: Feb 12-25
In five days from now, the second Grand Slam tournament in 2010 will already start. Linares runs from the 12th till the 25th of February . Like last year it will be a six-player, double round-robin with rest days on February 17th and 22nd. The players are Veselin Topalov, Levon Aronian, Boris Gelfand, Vugar Gashimov, Alexander Grischuk and Francisco Vallejo.

MTel Masters: May 25-June 5
Two weeks after the Anand-Topalov match (April 23rd – May 12th), Sofia will again host the MTel Masters. This year the tournament runs May 25th – June 5th.

Bazna: June 10-22
Last year it was already terribly strong, with Radjabov, Ivanchuk, Shirov, Gelfand, Kamsky and Nisipeanu. This month the Kings Tournament in Bazna will decide whether they’ll be part of the Grand Slam; the Romanian tournament runs June 10th – 22nd this year.

Masters Final: Sep 3-12 & Oct 6-14
The biggest news from the Grand Slam board is about the Masters Final, which was organized twice in Bilbao, Spain. The first year it was a 6-player double round-robin won by Topalov, and the second year Aronian won a group of 4 with Karjakin, Grischuk and Shirov. This year the event will be split into two parts: one part in Shanghai, China (September 3rd – 12th) and one part in Bilbao, Spain (October 6th-14th). In between, the Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk takes place September 19th – October 4th.

Nanjing: Oct 17-29
The third edition of the Pearl Spring tournament in Nanjing, China will start already three days after the Final Masters ends. It runs October 17th till 29th.

Corus: January 14-30
The 73rd Corus Chess Tournament will take place January 14th till 30th in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands.

As always, the winners of the Grand Slam tournaments will qualify for the Masters Final. Since Magnus Carlsen won two consecutive Grand Slam tournaments (and might win more), the organizers we will wait until all tournaments have finished, and then look at best performances of the runner-ups.

The above information was announced last week by Corus tournament director Jeroen van den Berg, after the Grand Slam board meeting held in Wijk aan Zee. (We have entered all super-GM tournaments in capitals in our tournament calendar. Organizers of open tournaments are invited to enter their events there.)

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Every week we present you an endgame study selected by IM Yochanan Afek: player, trainer, endgame study composer and writer. A week later the solution is published. Good luck solving!

V. Kalandadze
1962

White to play and win

Next week the solution.

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Solution last week

N.Kralin & A. Kuznetsov
1966

Game viewer by ChessTempo

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The 8th and 9th round of the Schachbundesliga and three matches from round 7 will take place from the 5th to the 7th of February 2010. We provide you with the pairings at the playing venues Munich, Mülheim, Berlin and Remagen. Some famous Wijk aan Zee and Gibraltar participants are joining for their Baden-Baden team…

OSG Baden-Baden is the only team of the Schachbundesliga left without any loss of points. The upcoming weekend the German champion will face the two teams of Berlin and is odds-on favourite. Under the same precondition starts the only serious competitor for the title Werder Bremen. Bremen is facing the teams of München and Erfurt. Both of them are relegation candidates. Some interesting derbies are taking place in Mülheim, where the host is facing Katernberg and Wattenscheid for the “hegemony in the West”.

All line-ups of the teams in Berlin, e.g. OSG Baden-Baden, are published two days in advance. This is carried out due to the new rule, which was implemented from the beginning of this season.

Live coverage
All games of the Schachbundesliga are covered live on the Internet. At the particular date of the matches you can get access to the games via the website of the Schachbundesliga.

8th round: Saturday, 6th of February 2010, 2 pm

Playing venue Munich
Bayern München – Hamburger SK
Erfurter SK – Werder Bremen

Playing venue Mülheim
SV Mülheim Nord – SV Wattenscheid
SF Katernberg – SK Turm Emsdetten

Playing venue Berlin
SK König Tegel – SK Heidelberg-Handschuhsheim

 	SF Berlin	 	- OSG Baden-Baden
1	Jan Markos	(2565)	- Etienne Bacrot		(2709)
2	Arnd Lauber	(2517)	- Sergei Movsesian		(2711)
3	Rainer Polzin	(2491)	- Michael Adams			(2682)
4	Martin Krämer	(2482)	- Arkadij Naiditsch		(2685)
5	Ilja Schneider	(2500)	- Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu	(2664)
6	Stephan Berndt	(2442)	- Fabiano Caruana		(2662)
7	Mikail Agopov	(2452)	- Jan Gustafsson		(2622)
8	Lars Thiede	(2450)	- Philipp Schlosser		(2555)

Playing venue Remagen
SC Remagen – SC Eppingen
SG Solingen – SG Trier

9th round: Sunday, 7th of February 2010, 10 am

Playing venue Munich
Hamburger SK – Erfurter SK
Werder Bremen – Bayern München

Playing venue Mülheim
SV Wattenscheid – SF Katernberg
SK Turm Emsdetten – SV Mülheim Nord

Playing venue Berlin
OSG Baden-Baden – SK König Tegel
SK Heidelberg-Handschuhsheim – SF Berlin

Playing venue Remagen
SC Eppingen – SG Solingen
SG Trier – SC Remagen

Matches of the 7th round: Friday, 5th of February 2010

Playing venue Mülheim
SV Mülheim Nord – SF Katernberg (4pm)

Playing venue Berlin
SF Berlin – SK König Tegel (4pm)

Playing venue Remagen
SC Remagen – SG Solingen (5pm)

Bundesliga 0910 | Current Standings

Teams

1. OSC Baden-Baden 1 Anand, Viswanathan GM IND 2788 2 Carlsen, Magnus GM NOR 2772 3 Svidler, Peter GM RUS 2739 4 Shirov, Alexei GM ESP 2732 5 Bacrot, Etienne GM FRA 2721 6 Movsesian, Sergej GM SVK 2716 7 Adams, Michael GM ENG 2699 8 Naiditsch, Arkadij GM GER 2697 9 Vallejo Pons, Francisco GM ESP 2693 10 Nielsen, Peter-Heine GM DEN 2680 11 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter GM ROU 2675 12 Caruana, Fabiano GM ITA 2670 13 Gustafsson, Jan GM GER 2622 14 Dautov, Rustem GM GER 2596 15 Doettling, Fabian GER 2571 16 Schlosser, Philipp GER 2560 17 Dinger, Florian GER 2391 18 Hager, Joshua Aarasch GER 2217		9. SF Katernberg 1 Volokitin, Andrei GM UKR 2678 2 Chuchelov, Vladimir GM BEL 2598 3 Firman, Nazar IM UKR 2571 4 Seel, Christian IM GER 2493 5 Bischoff, Klaus GM GER 2551 6 Halkias, Stelios GM GRE 2564 7 Glek, Igor V GM GER 2528 8 Zaragatski, Ilja IM GER 2472 9 Senff, Martin IM GER 2469 10 Ris, Robert IM NED 2421 11 Thesing, Matthias IM GER 2436 12 Siebrecht, Sebastian GM GER 2458 13 Scholz, Christian IM GER 2373 14 Hoolt, Sarah WIM GER 2240 15 Rosen, Bernd FM GER 2355 16 Geilmann, Ulrich GER 1837 17 Kotainy, Jens GER 2270
2. Werder Bremen 1 Gashimov, Vugar GM AZE 2740 2 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar GM AZE 2717 3 McShane, Luke James GM ENG 2620 4 Eljanov, Pavel GM UKR 2716 5 Efimenko, Zahar GM UKR 2654 6 Fressinet, Laurent GM FRA 2667 7 Meier, Georg GM GER 2658 8 Areshchenko, Alexander GM UKR 2651 9 Roiz, Michael GM ISR 2658 10 Nyback, Tomi GM FIN 2627 11 Hracek, Zbynek GM CZE 2608 12 Babula, Vlastimil GM CZE 2566 13 Llaneza Vega, Marcos IM ESP 2521 14 Fish, Gennadij GM GER 2508 15 Skripchenko, Almira IM FRA 2450 16 Knaak, Rainer GM GER 2484 17 Lichman, Peter GER 2317		10. SK Turm Emsdetten 1 Mchedlishvili, Mikheil GM GEO 2592 2 Giri, Anish GM NED 2518 3 Spoelman, Wouter IM NED 2546 4 Hector, Jonny GM SWE 2556 5 Feygin, Michael IM GER 2546 6 Janssen, Ruud IM NED 2527 7 Cramling, Pia GM SWE 2525 8 Bellon Lopez, Juan Manuel GM ESP 2445 9 Brandenburg, Daan IM NED 2463 10 Breder, Dennis IM GER 2435 11 Fiebig, Thomas GER 2426 12 Pruijssers, Roeland IM NED 2401 13 Kabatianski, Alexandr IM GER 2425 14 Richter, Christian FM GER 2417 15 Zumsande, Martin IM GER 2403 16 Bosman, Michiel FM NED 2356
3. SC Eppingen 1 Tiviakov, Sergei GM NED 2674 2 Postny, Evgeny GM ISR 2647 3 Berkes, Ferenc GM HUN 2647 4 Balogh, Csaba GM HUN 2595 5 Gyimesi, Zoltan GM HUN 2591 6 Ruck, Robert GM HUN 2561 7 Acs, Peter GM HUN 2550 8 Braun, Arik GM GER 2529 9 Bindrich, Falko GM GER 2516 10 Medvegy, Zoltan GM HUN 2547 11 Guliyev, Namig GM AZE 2555 12 Muzychuk, Anna IM SLO 2542 13 Paehtz, Elisabeth IM GER 2474 14 Mann, Christian IM GER 2454 15 Vogt, Lothar GM GER 2422 16 Dekan, Hans GER 2179 17 Noe, Christopher GER 1798		11. SF Berlin 1 Nataf, Igor-Alexandre GM FRA 2529 2 Markos, Jan GM SVK 2555 3 Miezis, Normunds GM LAT 2572 4 Lauber, Arnd IM GER 2517 5 Polzin, Rainer GM GER 2491 6 Kraemer, Martin IM GER 2481 7 Schneider, Ilja IM GER 2508 8 Berndt, Stephan IM GER 2442 9 Agopov, Mikail IM FIN 2442 10 Brynell, Stellan GM SWE 2471 11 Thiede, Lars IM GER 2452 12 Thinius, Marco IM GER 2375 13 Degtiarev, Evgeny FM GER 2373 14 Rudolf, Henrik FM GER 2353 15 Wintzer, Joachim Dr. FM GER 2384 16 Lundin, Jan FM SWE 2382 17 Abel, Dennes GER 2328 18 Glantz, Robert GER 2239
4. SV Mülheim-Nord 1 Kasimdzhanov, Rustam GM UZB 2672 2 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime GM FRA 2703 3 Motylev, Alexander GM RUS 2710 4 Tregubov, Pavel V. GM RUS 2652 5 Landa, Konstantin GM RUS 2655 6 Fridman, Daniel GM GER 2665 7 Potkin, Vladimir GM RUS 2619 8 Golod, Vitali GM ISR 2599 9 Malakhatko, Vadim GM BEL 2570 10 Berelovich, Alexander GM GER 2550 11 Levin, Felix GM GER 2491 12 Hausrath, Daniel GM GER 2519 13 Saltaev, Mihail GM UZB 2505 14 Schebler, Gerhard GM GER 2486 15 Litwak, Aleksej FM GER 2268 16 Kaufeld, Juergen FM GER 2274 17 Wittenberg, Andreas GER 2129 18 Kahleys, Kevin GER 1986		12. SG Trier 1 Lupulescu, Constantin GM ROU 2620 2 Bobras, Piotr GM POL 2568 3 Cyborowski, Lukasz GM POL 2498 4 Haslinger, Stewart GM ENG 2538 5 Gordon, Stephen IM ENG 2537 6 Jaracz, Pawel GM POL 2539 7 Erdoes, Viktor GM HUN 2565 8 Flumbort, Andras IM HUN 2507 9 Gonda, Laszlo IM HUN 2499 10 Galyas, Miklos IM HUN 2457 11 Seger, Ruediger IM GER 2405 12 Kolbus, Dietmar IM GER 2383 13 Cioara, Andrei Nestor IM ROU 2437 14 Goriachnik, Dmitry MDA 2324 15 Rat, Dan Ovidiu FM ROU 2315 16 Jeitz, Christian LUX 2221 17 Korman, Maxim GER 2172
5. SG Solingen 1 Stellwagen, Daniel GM NED 2630 2 Smeets, Jan GM NED 2632 3 Nikolic, Predrag GM BIH 2602 4 Buhmann, Rainer GM GER 2603 5 Werle, Jan GM NED 2575 6 Edouard, Romain GM FRA 2597 7 Jussupow, Artur GM GER 2570 8 L’Ami, Erwin GM NED 2593 9 Ragger, Markus GM AUT 2563 10 Ernst, Sipke GM NED 2598 11 Naumann, Alexander GM GER 2522 12 Hoffmann, Michael GM GER 2502 13 Gabriel, Christian GM GER 2507 14 Drabke, Lorenz Maximilian IM GER 2455 15 Wegerle, Joerg IM GER 2430 16 Schaefer, Markus IM GER 2378 17 Hobusch, Alexander GER 2103 18 Hannewald, Anton GER 1931		13. FC Bayern München 1 Bezold, Michael GM GER 2517 2 Bromberger, Stefan IM GER 2510 3 Schenk, Andreas IM GER 2509 4 Marcelin, Cyril GM FRA 2498 5 Boensch, Uwe GM GER 2511 6 Stangl, Markus GM GER 2455 7 Reiss, Tibor IM HUN 2414 8 Renner, Christoph IM GER 2431 9 Belezky, Alexander IM UKR 2446 10 Meissner, Bernd IM GER 2410 11 Meister, Peter IM GER 2396 12 Reich, Thomas IM GER 2368 13 Rodewis, Thomas Dr. GER 2367 14 Unzicker, Ferdinand Dr. GER 2332 15 Deglmann, Ludwig FM GER 2329 16 Lentrodt, Thomas FM GER 2304 17 Jorczik, Julian FM GER 2352 18 Graf, Felix GER 2291
6. Hamburger SK 1 Wojtaszek, Radoslav GM POL 2637 2 Kempinski, Robert GM POL 2601 3 Ghaem, Maghami Ehsan GM IRI 2589 4 Baramidze, David GM GER 2527 5 Adly, Ahmed GM EGY 2548 6 Rogozenco, Dorian GM ROU 2541 7 Hansen, Sune Berg HDEN 2554 8 Rasmussen, Allan Stig GM DEN 2536 9 Ftacnik, Lubomir Dr. GM SVK 2525 10 Mueller, Karsten Dr. GM GER 2523 11 Heinemann, Thies IM GER 2484 12 Chevelevitch, Evgueni Dr. IM GER 2461 13 Reeh, Oliver IM GER 2442 14 Huschenbeth, Niclas IM GER 2416 15 Sebastian, Dirk GER 2443 16 Van Delft, Merijn IM NED 2360 17 Carlstedt, Jonathan GER 2309 18 Bracker, Frank GER 2280		14. Erfurter SK 1 Romanov, Evgeny GM RUS 2589 2 Haba, Petr GM CZE 2533 3 Michiels, Bart IM BEL 2451 4 Kuczynski, Robert GM POL 2505 5 Casper, Thomas IM GER 2395 6 Votava, Jan GM CZE 2561 7 Enders, Peter GM GER 2467 8 Mueller, Matthias IM GER 2410 9 Voekler, Bernd FM GER 2393 10 Schoene, Maria WIM GER 2274 11 Troyke, Christian IM GER 2350 12 Schuetze, Norman GER 2278 13 Brueggemann, Joachim IM GER 2356 14 Krueger, Rainer Dr. GER 2211 15 Troyke, Doreen WFM GER 2105 16 Duzy, Stefan GER 1545 17 Friedt, Marius GER 1885
7. SV Wattenscheid 1 Vitiugov, Nikita GM RUS 2681 2 Najer, Evgeniy GM RUS 2663 3 Macieja, Bartlomiej GM POL 2612 4 Bartel, Mateusz GM POL 2619 5 Czarnota, Pawel GM POL 2530 6 Rustemov, Alexander GM RUS 2532 7 Johannessen, Leif Erlend GM NOR 2553 8 Appel, Ralf GM GER 2552 9 Holzke, Frank Dr. GM GER 2526 10 Handke, Florian GM GER 2513 11 Souleidis, Georgios IM GRE 2435 12 Dinstuhl, Volkmar Dr. IM GER 2417 13 Tereick, Benjamin FM GER 2378 14 Straeter, Timo FM GER 2347 15 Thiel, Thomas FM GER 2280 16 Gohla, Ulf GER 2181 17 Koerber, Matthias GER 1898		15. SK Heidelberg-Handschuhsheim 1 Ikonnikov, Viacheslav GM RUS 2556 2 Svetushkin, Dmitry GM MDA 2607 3 Ginsburg, Gennadi GM GER 2537 4 Gurevic, Vladimir GM UKR 2470 5 Chernov, Vadim IM ROU 2433 6 Solomunovic, Igor IM GER 2421 7 Gerigk, Erasmus FM GER 2335 8 Schwalfenberg, Joerg FM GER 2317 9 Maier, Christian IM GER 2347 10 Vatter, Hans-Joachim FM GER 2302 11 Syska, Albert FM GER 2268 12 Nippgen, Georg GER 2272 13 Roos, Jean-Luc IM FRA 2250 14 Neunhoeffer, Helmut Dr FM GER 2281 15 Pielmeier, Thomas GER 2231 16 Schott, Reimund FRA 2019
8. SC Remagen 1 Ivanchuk, Vassily GM UKR 2703 2 Fedorchuk, Sergey GM UKR 2655 3 Gharamian, Tigran GM FRA 2615 4 Goloshchapov, Alexander GM UKR 2580 5 Parligras, Mircea GM ROU 2557 6 Huebner, Robert Dr. GM GER 2605 7 Degraeve, Jean-Marc GM FRA 2559 8 Dgebuadze, Alexandre GM BEL 2516 9 Mainka, Romuald GM GER 2521 10 Swinkels, Robin IM NED 2516 11 Teske, Henrik GM GER 2536 12 Popovic, Petar GM SRB 2496 13 Polaczek, Richard IM BEL 2381 14 Kipper, Jens GER 2393 15 Schulz, Klaus-Juergen IM GER 2385 16 Bok, Benjamin FM NED 2360		16. SK König Tegel 1 Rabiega, Robert GM GER 2551 2 Stern, Rene IM GER 2498 3 Muse, Mladen GM CRO 2448 4 Von Herman, Ulf IM GER 2400 5 Muse, Drazen IM CRO 2374 6 Fruebing, Stefan FM GER 2305 7 Tomczak, Rainer FM GER 2287 8 Mielitz, Heinz GER 9 Sarbok, Torsten FM GER 2319 10 Breier, Andreas FM GER 2405 11 Giemsa, Stephan FM GER 2301 12 Jahnz, Fabian GER 2191 13 Jaehnisch, Frank GER 2230 14 Roth, Josef GER 2152 15 Schulz, Stefanie GER 2109 16 Rausch, Manfred GER 1689 17 Kachibadze, Georg GER 2224

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By winning the London Chess Classic Magnus Carlsen has become the youngest world’s number one ever! You can read the exclusive on-the-spot report in By winning the London Chess Classic Magnus Carlsen has become the youngest world’s number one ever! You can read the exclusive on-the-spot report in New In Chess 2010/1 (just out).

Other interesting stuff from this issue’s more than 100 pages:
— Carlsen on his win against Kramnik
— Chess at 40 degrees below zero
— “Rien ne va plus”: Roulette Chess, by Jennifer Sahade
— David Howell’s nightmare: playing the King’s Gambit against Carlsen
— Alexander Grischuk has done it again
— Alexander Alekhine’s Paris years
— Jan Timman on 13 year old Ilya Nyshnyk: the new Magnus?
— Robert J. Fischer talks to Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam!
— Judit Polgar annotates her win against Gelfand
— and much more.

Please have a look at the latest issue of our flagship publication.

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Michael Adams defeated Francisco Vallejo 1.5-0.5 in the play-off final that decided the 2010 Gibtelecom Masters in Gibraltar. Adams was almost knocked out by Gustafsson in the semis when he lost the first game, but the Englishman came back to level the score and win the Armaggeddon game as well. In the final he was clearly too strong for Vallejo. Update with games.

Photo © Zeljka Malobabic

The 2010 Gibtelecom International Chess Festival takes place January 26-February 4 at the Caleta Hotel in Gibraltar. The rate of play in this 10-round Swiss is 40 moves in 100 minutes plus 20 moves in 50 minutes plus 15 minutes for all remaining moves with 30 seconds per move added from the start. Draws by mutual agreement in under 30 moves are not allowed, but genuine draws by repetition or stalemate are acceptable.

Rounds 9-10 & Play-off

In round 9, tournament leader Jan Gustafsson drew quickly with White against Etienne Bacrot, allowing Adams, Movsesian and Vallejo to reach 7/9 as well. At this point the ‘Gibraltar rules’ kicked in: boards where one or both of the players could finish in a tie for first were required to start their games at 10:00 (GMT+1) on 4 February in order to allow time for a rapidplay play-off at 15:00 should it be necessary.

This meant that boards 1-5 and 7 started at 10:00, namely Gustafsson vs Movsesian, Vallejo Pons vs Adams, Bacrot vs Cramling, Bindrich vs Kamsky, Zhukova vs Fressinet and Javakhishvili vs Sandipan. All other Masters games started at 15:00 (GMT+1) as normal. Stuart Conquest’s commentary also started at 10:00 (GMT+1, 09:00 UK time), which you can still watch here.

The games between the leaders were all drawn this morning which meant play-offs would be played. The four players with the best TPRs went forward to play off for the first prize. They were (as drawn by lottery): Jan Gustafsson (GER) vs Michael Adams (ENG) and (in the other semi-final) Paco Vallejo Pons (ESP) vs Chanda Sandipan (IND). The two-game semi-finals were being played at a time control of 10 minutes with 10 second increments and an Armageddon game if necessary.

Paco Vallejo won the first semi-final game and miraculously drew a rook ending against Sandipan to reach the final. Gustafsson defeated Adams with White convincingly in game one and was close to a draw in game 2 but then blundered a piece and lost anyway. Adams also had White in the Armaggeddon and so Gustafsson was in the same situation: a draw with Black would enough. He didn’t manage and so the final in Gibraltar saw a Spaniard against an Englishman.

In this final, Adams dominated. He Vallejo smoothly in game 1 and was winning in game 2, but accepted a draw. With his victory the Englishman earned 15,000 pounds while the Spaniard went home with 10,000.

Update Feb 5:
The tournament website doesn’t report about it yet, but it looks like Natalia Zhukova won the women’s prize of 8,000 pounds. She ended on 7/10, just like Humpy Konery, but Zhukova’s performance rating of 2686 beats Humpy’s 2663. The full final standings table is available below now too, as well as the games.

Gibraltar 2010 | Round 10 Standings (top 30)

Selection of games

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC

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There?s a picture of Mikhail Tal that has always seemed to me the ultimate chess player?s pose: Tal’s looking at the board, chin on his thumb, his other arm folded under his fist, utter determination in his eyes. But what was Tal actually thinking at the time the picture was taken?

When I was just starting out as a chess player, I noticed my opponents often shifted in their chairs as they sat thinking behind the board. I sometimes imagined I could read their thoughts as they bended over the board or leaned backwards with their hands behind their head. Now he?s thinking about e4-e5, no doubt about it. Ah, now he sees the trick I?ve planned after that ? oh wait he played it anyway! I never figured out a system to make it work. But new research suggests there may yet be a thing or two to be discovered.

I suppose many chess players find the notion that the way you sit behind the board can reveal clues as to what you?re thinking of, decidedly silly. Behaviour behind the board looks completely random and decided by circumstantial factors. But when you think about it, it?s not so stupid at all. After all, we?re primates communicating not only through words, but with gestures as well. It may be an urban legend that 93% of human communication is body language and only 7% is speech-related, but the fact is that body language is vastly important in communication, and gesticulating predated language by millions of years in human evolution, as can still be seen clearly with monkeys and apes.

According to many popular science books, body language is even the best way to learn about human psychology: there are several well-known body-signals such as crossing one?s arms across the chest (putting a barrier between the speaker and listener), making eye contact (seeking positive confirmation or showing interest) or averting one?s eyes (a sign of, among other things, disbelieve, shame or fear).

This week, The New York Times featured an article about how the body takes abstract thoughts literally in surprising ways:

Researchers at the University of Aberdeen found that when people were asked to engage in a bit of mental time travel, and to recall past events or imagine future ones, participants? bodies subliminally acted out the metaphors embedded in how we commonly conceptualized the flow of time. As they thought about years gone by, participants leaned slightly backward, while in fantasizing about the future, they listed to the fore.

In the studies described in the article, people found heavy books more important than lighter ones, and they could improve their mathematical skills by making specific gestures and rotating their hands:

Among students who have difficulty with equations like 4 + 5 + 3 = __ + 3, for example, performance improves markedly if they are taught the right gestures: grouping together the unique left-side numbers with a two-fingered V, and then pointing the index finger at the blank space on the right. To learn how to rotate an object mentally, first try a pantomime. ?If you encourage kinds to do the rotation movement with their hands, that helps them subsequently do it in their heads?, says Susan Goldin-Meadow of the University of Chicago.

What about chess? After all, mathematics, music and chess are linked in special ways – Glenn Gould showed us how music can move the body in unconscious ways – so, while not exactly arithmetics, I suppose calculating variations in chess is still somewhat similar to calculating sums. This opens up all sorts of fascinating possibilities.

Do you see your opponent moving his fingers in a specific way? Perhaps he?s calculating a long forced line! See him moving his head or moving his hands underneath the table? He may be thinking about some long term positional stuff like gaining space or how to improve his piece coordination! On an even more abstract level, an opponent leaning forward means he?s thinking about his next move while an opponent leaning backwards indicates he?s evaluating your last move.

Tal?s body language in the picture is less easy to read. At first, the pointed thumb would suggest calculating stuff, but then the thumb is not moving whereas we know Tal was constantly calculating sacrifices in his head! In other words, his pose was a way of confusing his opponents – and I suddenly understand how he could become world champion! Perhaps the secret all strong chess players share is not that they know chess better than the rest of us, but that they can, in a manner of speaking, read our thoughts and anticipate on it?

Wouldn?t that be a huge consolation to us patzers? It?s not our fault ? our bodies give us away! In the same fashion, some people use popular psychology to excuse their behaviour ? hey, I?m from Mars and you?re from Venus, so we really shouldn?t even try to understand each other. Well, we chess players know better, of course. Still, next time you?re playing a game, think about how you and your opponent are sitting behind the board for a minute.

Do you see any relation with the position on the board or the stuff you?re thinking about? Then perhaps it?s time to become a little more self-conscious. Stop thinking about the position, put your thumb under your chin, look straight in your opponent’s eyes and brilliant sacrifices will enter your head before you know it.

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Contrary to what we reported earlier, the Masters section of the Gibtelecom Festival runs 10 rounds, not 9. With two rounds to go, GM Jan ‘Gusty’ Gustafsson from Germany is in sole lead with 6.5/8. John Saunders reports.

Photo © John Saunders

The 2010 Gibtelecom International Chess Festival takes place January 26-February 4 at the Caleta Hotel in Gibraltar. The rate of play in this 10-round Swiss is 40 moves in 100 minutes plus 20 moves in 50 minutes plus 15 minutes for all remaining moves with 30 seconds per move added from the start. Draws by mutual agreement in under 30 moves are not allowed, but genuine draws by repetition or stalemate are acceptable.

Round 8 report by John Saunders

The presence of a chess legend has added an extra frisson to life at the Gibtelecom Chess Festival. One day I was waiting for the lift when I noticed a white-haired gentleman in his seventies move swiftly past me and put me to shame by using the stairs. Another day I was about to step into what I thought was an unoccupied lift only to notice at the last minute that it was occupied by the same man, who blinked at me in surprise as my rotundity briefly threatened to collide with his rather more svelte figure.

Yesterday I had my closest encounter yet with said gentleman, whom I?m sure you will already have guessed is the tenth World Chess Champion, Boris Spassky. I noticed him sitting in the bar with Stewart Reuben and Ruben Felgaer. At the time I was having difficulty finding somewhere to sit down and enjoy my chicken baguette and I was quite pleased to see them get up and depart, giving me an ideal place to sit down and have lunch.

About 20 minutes later a slightly perplexed Spassky returned to the same place. To my surprise, he bore down on me and asked ?have you seen my glasses? I was sitting here before?. I was galvanised into action. Lifting the cushion on the chair, I caught sight of the great man?s spectacles on the floor under the chair. I fished them out and handed them to him. A trivial enough thing to do, of course, but Boris?s reaction was as if I had just given him a fully-worked, cast-iron refutation of the Benoni. Lifting his arms to the skies for added effect, he exclaimed: ?This is a miracle! How did you do it??

Trifling though the favour was, it was extremely pleasurable to have been of service to one of the greatest players who has ever lived. My life is now complete and my epitaph will surely read ?here lies the man who once helped Boris Spassky find his specs?.

Now to business: 30-year-old German grandmaster Jan ?Gusty? Gustafsson moved into the sole lead in round eight of the Gibtelecom Masters, blowing away Natalia Zhukova with some ease though he has thirteen players still breathing down his neck as the tournament reaches its penultimate round. (I?ve been racking my brains for some more meteorological metaphors but I think I?ll call it a day at three. I don?t want a reputation as a windbag.)

Natalia Zhukova had so far been the surprise package of this year?s festival but her streak came to an end when she faced the Hamburg-born grandmaster. Despite having the white pieces, she soon found herself in a passive position and Gustafsson found a powerful tactical coup to end the game on move 33.

Other games between the eleven overnight leaders started brightly but gradually subsided into draws. Kamsky-Adams was a heavyweight encounter and promised a good struggle but after a number of exchanges the game reduced to a level endgame.

Five players in the next score group took the opportunity to move close to the leading score. Top seed Etienne Bacrot moved back into contention by defeating Alex Lenderman of the USA in a long, fluctuating struggle. Georgian International Master Lela Javakhishvili became one of two women players to reach the group in second equal place when she won impressively against Spanish grandmaster Josep Manuel Lopez Martinez.

The game of the day was almost certainly the one between Argentinian grandmaster Damian Lemos and French International Master Clovis Vernay. The Frenchman, playing Black, attempted to extract himself from difficulties with a remarkable tactical combination involving an eye-catching queen sacrifice. Many a player would have succumbed to such a dangerous attack but the Argentinian found an equally astonishing defence to neutralise the Black counterattack and convert the material advantage into victory. Great credit must go to both players for providing this feast of chess.

Leaders after Round 8: 1st Jan Gustafsson (Germany) 6½ points out of 8; 2nd= Etienne Bacrot (France), Sergei Movsesian (Slovakia), Paco Vallejo Pons (Spain), Michael Adams (England), Gata Kamsky (USA), Laurent Fressinet (France), Chand Sandipan (India), Humpy Koneru (India), Stelios Halkias (Greece), Damian Lemos (Argentina), Alexander Naumann (Germany), Lela Javakhishvili (Georgia), Drasko Boskovic (Serbia) 6 points.

Gibraltar 2010 | Round 8 Standings (top 30)

Selection of games, let’s start with Lemos-Vernay

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Photos © John Saunders, more here

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Daniel Stellwagen has been voted the winner of the 2009 Yearbook Novelty of the Year by readers of the New In Chess website. The Dutch grandmaster earned 350 Euros for his novelty 24…Qf3 in the King’s Indian against Loek van Wely at the NH Chess Tournament in Amsterdam in August 2009.

Van Wely and Stellwagen getting ready for what will be a spectacular and theoretically highly important King’s Indian at the Rising Stars vs Experience tournament | Photo © tournament website

In a poll at www.newinchess.com Stellwagen’s novelty got 52.8% of the votes – an absolute majority. Second, according to NIC’s readers, was Jonny Hector for his new idea of sacrificing a pawn for good play with black in the Slav, by playing 12…0-0-0 and 13…Nc5. 24.5% of the readers voted for Hector’s novelty. Vladimir Kramnik earned 17% of the votes for his novelty 17.Qh6 in the Vienna Gambit against Naiditsch in Dortmund, 2009, and Abhijeet Gupta came fourth with 5.7% of the votes for his 18…f5!? in the Marshall Gambit.

A raffle among the voters for the winning novelty earned Larry Rydel from Lander, Wyoming (USA) a one-year subscription to the Yearbook. The New In Chess staff congratulates Messrs Stellwagen and Rydel. Below you can find the relevant games.

Game with annotations from NIC Yearbook

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We have just received from Quality Chess: Attacking Manual 2.

Two years after his first Attacking Manual, Jacob Aagaard is back on the attack with this second volume. It covers the rules of attack, explained through understandable examples, and deep but clear analysis.

Volume One dealt with the laws of dynamics. Its successor deals with weak kings, sacrifices, various minor attacking themes, intuitive sacrifices, opposite castling, modern king hunts, and enduring initiative.

Aagaard discusses items such as destroying the defensive structure, the pin, overloading, intuitive sacrifices and included diagram previews to get more involved to the subject before reading the subsequent chapters.

“This double-volume work has been seven years in the making; with the publication of the revised and expanded Volume One and this volume, I have fulfilled a major personal ambition.” — Jacob Aagaard

If you want to improve your attacking skills, just click here.

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The Masters section of the Gibtelecom festival enters an exciting final phase, as no less than 11 players are on shared 1st place with 5.5 points out of 7 games. Meanwhile, some famous names decided to climb the Rock and meet its famous residents.

Photo © Zeljka Malobabic

The 2010 Gibtelecom International Chess Festival takes place January 26-February 4 at the Caleta Hotel in Gibraltar. The rate of play in this 9-round Swiss is 40 moves in 100 minutes plus 20 moves in 50 minutes plus 15 minutes for all remaining moves with 30 seconds per move added from the start. Draws by mutual agreement in under 30 moves are not allowed, but genuine draws by repetition or stalemate are acceptable.

Rounds 5-7

In round 5, Michael Adams and Jan Gustafsson took the lead in the Masters group. Both profited from early slips by their Indian opponents (Humpy Koneru and GN Gopal respectively) to win in some comfort. After the next round there was a a four-way tie for the lead as the top six pairings all ended in draws. Two players who had been on 4/5 took the opportunity to catch up with Adams and Gustafsson by winning their games: Indian grandmaster Chanda Sandipan defeated Nana Dzagnidze, and Ukrainian woman grandmaster Natalia Zhukova beat French GM Romain Edouard.

After several more draws, the round 7 standings table has a ‘dream team’ of eleven players topping the standings: Sergei Movsesian (SVK), Paco Vallejo Pons (ESP), Michael Adams (ENG), Gata Kamsky (USA), Laurent Fressinet (FRA), Jan Gustafsson (GER), Chanda Sandipan (IND), Humpy Koneru (IND), Stelios Halkias (GRE), Alex Lenderman (USA), Natalia Zhukova (UKR) all have 5½/7.

The player who was closest to breaking clear of the pack was Michael Adams, who played some very enterprising chess against Natalia Zhukova and seemed likely to win. However, some active defence by the Ukrainian woman grandmaster saved the day for her and kept her amongst the leaders.

Thanks to John Saunders who writes for the official site

Gibraltar 2010 | Round 7 Standings (top 30)

Selection of games

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Again, we’d like to mention the live commentary by Stuart Conquest during the rounds, starting at 15.30 CET every day. The older sessions can still be watched at livestream. Here’s yesterday’s show:

As I know from personal experience, one hasn’t really visited Gibraltar until one has been up to the top of the Rock to meet the monkeys. Together with resident photographer Zeljka Malobabic, some parties of players climbed the Rock to meet its most famous residents and here are some photos.

Photos © Zeljka Malobabic, more here

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Alexei Shirov and Andrei Volokitin scored final round victories, while Vassily Ivanchuk won another game, this time against Pavel Eljanov in a queen ending. Magnus Carlsen held Ukrainian co-prodigy Sergey Karjakin to a draw to take the category 19 tournament by a full point, with a 2877 performance. He will be number two in the next world rankings ? if FIDE rates this event.
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What long-term strategical implications do the moves 1.e4 c5 carry with them? Well, any at all? Yes, says none less than former world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov. His DVD "Strategy ? Step by Step" is a real eye-opener for most of us. Starting with the very first moves of the games he analyses six of his strategic masterpieces in great depth. Buy it now or read more.
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The US Championship, "between a woman with a Russian-sounding name and another woman with a Russian-sounding name," was decided by "the most ridiculous tie breaker in sports history," writes an AOL blogger. On this side of the Atlantic we were taken to task for carelessly naming regions from an archipelago that lies to the northwest of Europe. Excerpts from your letters with addenda.
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Vassily Ivanchuk defeated Loek van Wely with the black pieces to join Pavel Eljanov (who drew against Karjakin) in second place. Alexei Shirov defeated Peter Svidler in a Slav, and Magnus Carlsen drew a marathon 79-move game against birthday boy Andrei Volokitin. With a round to go Carlsen is a point and a half ahead and therefore already the winner of Aerosvit 2008. Round ten report.
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Romania's Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu defeated Alexei Shirov after a fatal king move by the latter. Magnus Carlsen played a 16-move draw today, while one of his nearest rivals, Ukrainian GM Pavel Eljanov, defeated compatriot Andrei Volokitin to come within theoretical striking distance. With two rounds to go Carlsen leads by a point and a half. And before we forget: Happy Birthday, Pyotr!
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He began as the ultimate chess prodigy, an assistant to a world championship candidate at eleven, the youngest grandmaster in history at twelve and a half. On Wednesday night our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos shows us how today, at 18, Sergey Karjakin is able to combine positional and tactical motifs to match the best players in the world. The show is free.
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Ten teams are part of this league, which is played on weekends (Fridays in Iran) in different cities all over Iran. The first rounds started this year, 1387 according to the Iranian calendar. Sixty players, including five GMs, four IMs and nine FMs were present ? one was very sadly missed: GM Karen Asrian, who passed away tragically last week. Pictorial report by Arash Akbarinia.
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Vassily Ivanchuk defeated Alexei Shirov on the black side of an Exchange Gruenfeld, in 36 moves. With this he advanced into the group of three "chasing" Magnus Carlsen, who is two full points ahead. Evgeny Alekseev beat Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and Loek van Wely beat Andrei Volokitin. Carlsen drew against tail-ender Alexander Onischuk. Round eight report.
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The city of Druten in The Netherlands is paying host to an exposition of chess paintings and artifacts ? "Schaakkunst" in Dutch. They include new works and new artists, fifteen in all, who have produced a wide variety of realistic and surrealistic objects, most of which you can buy in the online chess shop. We bring you some sample paintings that make for a visual treat.
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"Where were we? Ah, yes, the winning streak..." Magnus Carlsen came out of the free day refreshed and ready to rumble. His opponent, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, playing white, went down to the typical relentless pressure exerted by the 17-year-old Norwegian. Magnus once again has a performance of over 3000. Report with pictures of a new weapon against the Petroff.
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The Karen Asrian Memorial rapid chess tournament in Yerevan ended today with a clear victory for Armenia's top GM Levon Aronian, who defeated Michael Adams 1½:½ in the last two games; while Peter Leko, who had been leading most of the time, lost ½:1½ to Alexander Morozevich. The draw average in this event was 65%. Final report.
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The final tiebreak game that decided the 2008 US Women's Chess Championship in favour of Anna Zatonskih led to a protest by Irina Krush, who lost in a controversial manner. The critical phase was caught on video, which our readers could view in slow motion. "This film has been dissected as much as the Zapruder JFK assassination film," writes Julian Wan of Ann Arbor, USA. Selected letters.
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