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4/19/12, Nigel Short triumphs at the 12th Bangkok Chess Club Open »»
Nigel Short triumphs at the 12th Bangkok Chess Club Open

Nigel Short won the 7th Bangkok Chess Club Open on Friday. In the last round the English grandmaster drew with IM Nguyen Duc Hoa of Vietnam, who earned a GM norm. Short won 3.3 rating points to get to a virtual 2700 Elo exactly.

Nigel Short victorious in Bangkok, and back in the "2700 club"  

Event Bangkok Chess Club Open | Details at Chess-Results | PGN via TWIC
Dates April 13-19, 2012
Location Bangkok, Thailand
System 9-round Swiss
Players

The strongest participants are Nigel Short, Jan Gustafsson, Hou Yifan, Farrukh Amonatov, Antonio Rogelio Jr, M.R. Venkatesh and Deshun Xiu

Rate of play 90 minutes for the whole game + 30 seconds increment from move 1

In our first report we saw that in round 6 Nigel Short had just taken over the lead from Indian IM M.R. Venkatesh, who had started so strongly with 5/5. One day later there was the interesting confrontation between Short and Women's World Champion Hou Yifan from China. This game was also won by Short:

PGN string

Venkatesh lost for the second time in a row; the Indian blundered in his game against Vietnamese IM Nguyen Duc Hoa.

PGN string

2011 winner Jan Gustafsson, who was already a point behind Short after six rounds, dropped another half point against another Indian IM, Roy Saptarshi.

In the penultimate round Short secured tournament victory (well, at least shared) thanks to another win with the white pieces in an instructive rook ending.

PGN string

In the last round Short drew with Nguyen Duc Hoa. This way Englishman finished sole first while the Vietnamese clinched a GM norm.

Winner Nigel Short between Indians Sriram Jha and M.R. Venkatesh

The following game from the last round had a nice finish:

PGN string

The 12th Bangkok Chess Club Open took place 13-19 April at the luxurious Dusit Thani Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. There was also a 7-round Challenger and together with the open there were over 230 players from 34 countries.

Bangkok Chess Club Open 2012 | Round 9 (final) standings (top 30)

Rk. Title Name Fed Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 rtg+/-
1 GM Short Nigel D ENG 2697 8.0 54.5 48.00 44.0 8.4
2 GM Amonatov Farrukh TJK 2604 7.0 55.0 40.25 42.5 2.5
3 IM Nguyen Duc Hoa VIE 2453 7.0 53.0 39.25 41.0 19.0
4 GM Sriram Jha IND 2406 7.0 50.5 38.00 39.5 12.8
5 IM Liu Qingnan CHN 2461 6.5 54.0 36.00 41.0 10.7
6 IM Venkatesh M R IND 2509 6.5 53.5 35.25 41.0 7.9
7 IM Saptarshi Roy IND 2384 6.5 49.5 35.50 39.0 7.4
8   Wan Yunguo CHN 2441 6.5 49.5 34.75 39.0 5.7
9 GM Gustafsson Jan GER 2642 6.5 49.5 34.00 39.0 -11.0
10   Liu Chang CHN 2262 6.5 49.5 31.50 39.0 34.3
11 IM Nguyen Van Huy VIE 2485 6.5 48.5 32.25 39.0 2.5
12 GM Schebler Gerhard GER 2449 6.5 47.0 34.00 36.5 -3.3
13 GM Neelotpal Das IND 2462 6.5 45.0 31.25 35.0 -5.9
14 GM Hou Yifan CHN 2639 6.0 53.0 32.50 41.5 -10.9
15   Severino Sander PHI 2344 6.0 51.0 31.00 38.5 23.4
16 GM Ghane Shojaat IRI 2339 6.0 50.0 30.50 39.5 10.3
17 GM Xiu Deshun CHN 2492 6.0 49.5 31.00 38.0 -7.8
18 IM Contin Daniel ITA 2331 6.0 48.5 29.75 37.5 9.7
19   Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh IND 2119 6.0 48.0 30.50 38.5 44.3
20 IM Myo Naing MYA 2321 6.0 45.5 29.25 36.0 -9.1
21 IM Lammers Markus GER 2384 6.0 45.0 29.25 35.0 -6.6
22 WGM Pham Le Thao Nguyen VIE 2351 6.0 43.0 28.00 33.5 -9.1
23 FM Teerapabpaisit Wisuwat THA 2278 5.5 49.5 27.00 39.0 -0.3
24   Stany G A IND 2376 5.5 48.5 26.25 38.0 2.6
25 IM Mohota Nisha IND 2312 5.5 48.5 26.25 38.0 8.1
26 FM Voigt Martin GER 2364 5.5 48.5 24.75 37.0 4.2
27 GM Rantanen Yrjo A FIN 2383 5.5 47.0 27.50 36.5 -2.8
28   Sie Thu MYA 2243 5.5 47.0 25.50 37.0 14.5
29   Xiao Yiyi CHN 2103 5.5 46.0 24.00 36.0 32.5
30 FM Pitirotjirathon Jirapak THA 2252 5.5 45.5 26.50 35.5 8.1

Thai dancers during the closing ceremony

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4/19/12, Tal Memorial participants announced; poll winner McShane confirmed »»
Tal Memorial participants announced; poll winner McShane confirmed

The Russian Chess Federation has announced the line-up for the next Tal Memorial. Luke McShane, who won an online poll, has confirmed his participation.

The 7th edition of the Tal Memorial will take place 7-19 June, 2012 in Moscow, Russia. As always it will be a 10-player round roubin. The full list of participants of this year's Tal Memorial is as follows:

# Name Fed Rating
1 Magnus Carlsen NOR 2835
2 Levon Aronian ARM 2820
3 Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2801
4 Teimour Radjabov AZE 2784
5 Hikaru Nakamura USA 2771
6 Fabiano Caruana ITA 2767
7 Alexander Morozevich RUS 2765
8 Alexander Grischuk RUS 2761
9 Evgeny Tomashevsky RUS 2736
10 Luke McShane ENG 2691

Early March six players had confirmed their participation: Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana. Three participants would be determined later, and for number ten the Russian Chess Federation used an original method: an online poll.

In the lower right corner on all pages of the RCF website a poll was put up with the names of thirteen pre-selected players. With the text "Whom do you want to see among Tal Memorial ? 2012 participants?" the follow names were given:

  • Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
  • Wang Hao
  • Gata Kamsky
  • Ruslan Ponomariov
  • Mickey Adams
  • Anish Giri
  • Le Quang Liem
  • Judit Polgar
  • Alexei Shirov
  • Baadur Jobava
  • Emil Sutovsky
  • Luke McShane
  • Hou Yifan

As we more or less predicted, the poll encountered problems. After a few days, the Russian Chess Federation decided to remove Le Quang Liem from the poll,

as his supporters have violated the rules of fair play and used computer generated votes.

As mishanp commented on our site, 

(...) Le Quang Liem voters got a little over "enthusiastic" and he seems to have been dropped from the race. I don't know... on the one hand, people definitely were voting multiple times (techniques for how to do it were being discussed on at least one Vietnamese forum), but on the other hand, it's just the nature of such votes.

And so against his will Le Quang Liem was punished for his popularity in his home country, and the many votes had the opposite effect.

The poll ended on Thursday, March 15th when the RCF brought the news that English grandmaster Luke McShane won the poll.

The fight was very hard, and until the end the three leaders went head to head. In the end, Luke McShane (England) won, receiving 3860 votes. Second place went to the Latvian grandmaster Alexei Shirov - 3732 votes, while third came Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) - 3682 votes. They left behind the Women's World Champion, Chinese Hou Yifan, who was supported by 1646 people, and the leader of the Georgian team Baadur Jobava, who got 720 votes.

Now, about a month later, the Russian Chess Federation could finally report that McShane has confirmed his participation. We double-checked with McShane, who replied to us that indeed he will play.

I think the poll was an imaginative idea, and was pleased to be included amongst a group of excellent candidates for the last spot. I hope I'll contribute to some exciting games in Moscow!

Besides McShane, the last three unknown names were revealed: the Russian players Alexander Morozevich, Alexander Grischuk and Evgeny Tomashevsky. For unknown reasons Sergey Karjakin and Peter Svidler will not play this year. RCF President Ilya Levitov supported the decision to include Tomashevsky to rsport:

He is a young and talented player with almost 2750,  but never played in such a strong tournament. Why shouldn't he be given a chance?

Normally the Tal Memorial takes place in November, but it was moved to June when FIDE announced that they would organize the Candidates Tournament in October-November. Later this tournament was moved to March 2013.

Update: in an interview after the Russian Team Championship, Sergey Karjakin reacted to the question whether he was invited for the Tal Memorial:

No, they didn't invite me. I don't know. Perhaps it's connected to the fact that I played there twice in a row before that, though in general I didn't play badly: on the first occasion I shared first place and on the second I shared third. Therefore results-wise I've got nothing to be embarrassed about. Well, and their not picking me is of course disappointing, but I don't think it's my fault.

(Translation by Colin McGourty)

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4/18/12, Chess plays major role in TV series Endgame »»
Chess plays major role in Endgame

While chess is usually not more than part of a decor in cinema, or ? even worse ? a way to emphasize a character's twisted mind, it plays a major role in the TV series Endgame which premiered last year on the Canadian network Showcase. Last week's profile in the New York Times drew our attention to the show that stars Shawn Doyle, playing crime-solver Arkady Balagan.

In the synopsis Balagan is described as a former World Champion, born in the Soviet Union but "escaped when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down".

He came to Vancouver, the hometown of his fiancée, Rosemary, to take part in a tournament. Rosemary was going to lunch with an old friend. As they waved goodbye, a vehicle drove up. He watched as Rosemary died in a hail of bullets.

The local police said it was a case of mistaken identity. Balagan became traumatized; convinced he was the real target. It was Vladimir Putin's revenge for Balagan having given millions to the pro-democracy forces in Russia.

Balagan won't leave his luxury hotel suite for months, until he helps finding a missing boy and proving the innocence of the boy's father. Thus he earns a reputation for solving mysteries and figuring out the impossible. In the series, each week people come with problems that have stymied the police, or problems that they cannot even bring to the authorities. Balagin is assisted by Sam, a grad student and chess fanatic, and Alcina, a hotel maid from Guatemala. Danni, the hotel bartender, is his source for information and contacts, as well as an ear for his theories.

Promo video

Although Balagan cannot leave the hotel, he solves the puzzles in his head. Literally, as the synopsis writes.

He can imagine events, interview the living and the dead, go over every permutation and combination of events. He imagines it one way, then another; and we have the privilege of entering his mind and seeing it all with him, until finally he figures it out.

During all of this Balagan is also trying to figure out who killed Rosemary and why. With the assistance of her sister, Pippa, he explores many theories, but to no avail.

So the question remains: Why can he solve every case - except his own?

And so  Endgame is special in a way that chess is more than just decor: the main character is in fact a former player, and his great intellect helps him to solve crimes. (Well, maybe times are changin', as our blogger GM David Smerdon recently noted!) On top of that, Balagan is often seen playing chess, and some of the plots are built around the games.

The series was created by Avrum Jacobson, a writer for TV series since 1987. He said to the New York Times:

To me it is a metaphor. Someone who plays chess is able to think in a certain way. I thought it had a lot of great visuals.

The show still doesn't seem to be available in Europe and apparently the Showcase network did not renew the series. However, it has been picked up by Hulu, which is considering the production of a second season. This was reported by the New York Times - their article is recommended for reading more about Endgame.

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4/18/12, Giri: "Too complex to understand" »»
Giri: "Too complex to understand"

In issues 50, 51 and 52 of our PDF & PGN magazine ChessVibes Training Anish Giri treats the readers with a deep analysis of a very exciting game played at the European Championship in Plovdiv: Niclas Huschenbeth (2509) vs. Erwin l'Ami (2611). To give you an idea about what this game offers, we'll give the position after move 50 with the knowledge that White didn't take the rook on f7 here!


PGN string

In CVT #50 Giri starts his column about this game:

Another extremely exciting struggle took place in the same last round of the European Individual Championship. This time my fellow countryman Erwin L'Ami was involved, and as he'd lost any chance of qualifying the round before he did all he could to make the game as much fun as possible. I have to say he succeeded!

After the moves 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Ne7

PGN string

Giri gives a revealing comment:

As far as I can tell this is a variation where if Black plays an early c5 he runs some tactical risks, while if he delays it too much the risks are strategic. However, the position's too complex for me to understand.

How comforting is that? A strong grandmaster is just a human like all of us, and can't understand everything there is in chess. The fact that Anish admits this deserves credit, doesn't it? Smile

 ChessVibes Training - Let's improve your chess Want to improve your chess? See more combinations, understand middle game plans, hear about useful endgame motifs? Receive the best chess tips available with ChessVibes Training, a weekly PDF magazine (+ PGN!) co-authored by International Masters Merijn van Delft, Robert Ris and Thomas Willemze, and including a weekly column by top GM Anish Giri.

ChessVibes Training - Let's improve your chess

What is ChessVibes Training?

Every issue consists of a PDF Magazine and the accompanying PGN file. The PDF consists of eight pages (A4 size) with the following contents:

  • Giri's Grab Bag - A weekly column by GM Anish Giri in which he tells about his tournament practice and his excitement and worries during a top level chess game.
  • Guess the move - A weekly game quiz by IM Merijn van Delft that gives you the opportunity to solve problems that GMs couldn't. What move did they play? Can you calculate as deeply? Give it a try and see how many points you score this week!
  • Improve your play - An interactive section by IM Thomas Willemze that discusses games from our readers. Yes, that's you! You can send in your game(s) and Thomas will pinpoint mistakes and possible improvements from a number of amateur games every week.
  • Tactics, tactics - 12 tactical exercises carefully selected by IM Robert Ris, arranged in increasing level. Regular tactical training is highly important to maintain your top form, and now it will be easier than ever with new diagrams delivered in your mailbox every week!
  • Practical endings - IM Robert Ris gives a clear explanation of a recent endgame played by strong players, focusing on text rather than variations. Every week a typical endgame theme is discussed, sometimes with the emphasis on the theory, but always providing you with useful guidelines.

 

DOWNLOAD A FREE SAMPLE ISSUE HERE!

 

ChessVibes Training - Let's improve your chess

 

DOWNLOAD A FREE SAMPLE ISSUE HERE!

 

The magazine is published every week on Saturday morning, so that you can devote your weekend to studying chess! ChessVibes Training - Let's improve your chess

Recent material, digitally

For their sections in the magazine the authors will mostly use recent games and fragments. However, if needed they will return to a classic example if it explains the basic theme the best. In any case, ChessVibes Training will provide excellent, additional training material to existing books and manuals with the advantage of being published digitally - you can enjoy all material in your Chessbase or Fritz or other software, or on your iPhone or iPad!

Read CVO on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch

With the app SmartChess! you can also read ChessVibes Training on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch*. We've put CVT at $1.99 or ?1.59. More info can be found here.

*At the moment we offer single issues only, so this means they're not included in the subscription. At the moment we cannot offer discounts to our subscribers, partly due to Apple's policy against subscriptions.

Interactive

For several reasons, this magazine will be different from other magazines in the market. An important aspect of ChessVibes Training is that it will be interactive. For our section Improve your play we need your input! If you have a question about a game you played, just send it to us and maybe it will be discussed in the next issue of ChessVibes Training so that you and all other subscribers can learn from it!

Meet the ChessVibes Training team

ChessVibes Training: GM Anish Giri   ChessVibes Training: IM Merijn van Delft
GM Anish Giri - top grandmaster   IM Thomas Willemze - highly experienced trainer, talent coach for the Dutch Chess Federation and tournament player
ChessVibes Training: IM Robert Ris   ChessVibes Training: IM Thomas Willemze
IM Robert Ris - highly experienced trainer and tournament player   IM Merijn van Delft - highly experienced, full-time trainer, author and tournament player


Pricing and paying

As a subscriber you'll receive the PDF Magazine (8 pages) and accompanying PGN files in your mailbox every week. The basic price is ? 40* for a full year but you can also choose other options. Payments can be done via Paypal, by credit card after creating a Paypal account (which takes about a minute), bank transfer or iDEAL. Just click on the option that suits you most!

 
 


Please note that you'll be creating a recurring payment, which means that after the chosen period another payment will be made via Paypal and your subscription will be renewed automatically. Naturally you can always decide to cancel your subscription instead and cancel the recurring Paypal payment.

Bank transfer

Please drop us an email if you prefer to pay by bank transfer!

Mail us

iDEAL

For Dutch clients it's possible to pay for a 1-year subscription via iDEAL, the Dutch online bank system with which you can pay safely, secure and comfortably. Just click on the logo on the right.

iDEAL

ChessVibes Openings and ChessVibes Training

Our other magazine ChessVibes Openings, which is 4 pages, costs ? 28 a year. If you're already a subscriber to CVO, you should have received a newsletter this week that announced a serious discount. Not a CVO subscriber yet, and interested in getting both magazines? The two separate magazine subscriptions are 28 + 40 = 68 Euro but if you go for both you only pay 60 Euro! (click for price in US$) ChessVibes Openings & ChessVibesTraining Duo Subscription



Can I buy back issues?

Yes you can! At the moment we offer back issues 1-40 for 29,95 EUR. You can also buy sets of ten issues separately. In all cases, you will receive a ZIP file with all PDFs and PGNs with dozens of pages full of instructive chess content.


CVT back issues

 

ChessVibes Training - Let's improve your chess

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4/17/12, Bundesliga 2011/ 2012 Round-Up »»

 

Apologies again for a long break between posting but again I?ve been very busy. I promise to update as much as possible now while I have a bit of time at home.

This year I made my debut for SC Remagen in the German Bundesliga. The top division is composed of 18 teams with 8 players with no restrictions on either the number of foreigners or gender, and is generally regarded as the strongest league in the world.

I was ranked fifth in the squad and generally played on board three, playing 11 out of the long 15 game season. On paper our team were of about average strength but unfortunately it didn?t go well for either the team or myself. I scored 5/11 with ten draws and one loss against opposition averaging 2573. Rather disappointing but I can take solace my only loss was straight after returning from New Zealand (arriving into London on Friday morning and leaving Friday afternoon) and in that game the team was going to lose 4.5-3.5 had I drawn so I had to go all-in. I also managed to salvage draws from some pretty unpleasant positions.

As for the team, we were pretty much up against it from the first weekend. There we played three games and didn?t manage to come away with any points, losing each match very narrowly. That set the tone for the entire season ? our heaviest losses being 2.5-5.5 against Berlin and Werder Bremen and even there we had good chances until the very end. The problem was we failed to put away the weaker teams with three draws and four 3.5-4.5 defeats.

With four teams getting relegated we knew we were going down by the final weekend but still we fought to restore some of our pride and not finish bottom of the table. We defeated Katernberg 5.5-2.5 on the Saturday followed by a 4-4 draw with Mulheim on the Sunday.

On the Saturday, against Ilja Zaragatski, a 2476 IM, I sacrificed a pawn for the initiative but erred and my compensation dried up. By the time control I was probably lost but my opponent didn?t play accurately and let me off with a draw. On the Sunday I had Black against Alexander Berelowitsch, a Ukranian Grandmaster who now plays for Germany. After being slightly worse out of the opening I started to press and even went a pawn up in a rook and pawn endgame but couldn?t convert and we agreed a draw after six hours play.

These games followed a similar pattern for the season; against the lower rated guys I had gone wrong quite early and had to defend to hold the draw (in fact this happened against all 3IMs I played). In the game I lost against the young German GM Sebastian Bogner he equalised out of the opening and then I went for too much. However against the higher rated GMs I got very reasonable positions and never really had any problems ? definitely something for me to think about and work on.

In the end our team finished 17th, although had the table been decided on game points rather than match points (i.e. if you win 8-0 you would get 8 points and if you win 4.5-3.5 you?d get 4.5 points ? with match points you simply get 2 points for a win) then we would have been safe in 14th!

Meanwhile at the other end of the table Baden-Baden won yet another Bundesliga with +13 =1 ?1, finishing two points ahead of their perennial rivals Werder Bremen and Solingen doing well to finish in third. You can see the final table here.

Apparently Werder Bremen?s team is not going to be as strong next year so it will be difficult to see who might challenge Werder Bremen?s dominance. I hope that they remain as strong as they have in recent times without so much competition. The final weekend saw World Champion Vishy Anand lead out the team but he suffered a surprising defeat to Dutch GM Sergey Tiviakov. White won this game very easily and, with Tiviakov using the repertoire I recommend in my How to Beat the Sicilian book, I couldn?t very well not show you guys the game!

PGN string

Although the team is based in Remagen, and we played our home matches there, we normally meet up in Andernach. This is a very pretty old town on the Rhine and when I was there this Friday I took a few photos.

As loyal readers will know, I love walled towns after living in Lucca!

And if you don't know what you're looking at...

then all you have to do is read the signs!

"Ruins of the former archbishoprical castle of the electorate of Cologne...erected in the 12th century"

The Majestic Rhine

The Bastion built in 1659-60 as a Toll house on the river and now also a war memorial for the First World War

I?d like to thank Peter Noras the captain for all the time, effort and money he?s put into the team and apologise that we couldn?t quite deliver this year. I hope the team will bounce back and return to the top flight for the 2013-2014 season.


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4/17/12, Russian Team Ch: Karjakin stars as Tomsk claim gold »»
Karjakin interviewed after leading Tomsk-400 to victory

Tomsk-400 have won the Russian Team Championship for a fifth time, with Sergey Karjakin posting the tournament?s best performance. Their rivals could only draw against each other in the final round, giving St. Petersburg silver and ShSM-64 bronze. Karjakin comments on his team?s victory, and don?t miss a longer interview with Peter Svidler at the end of this report!

Karjakin interviewed after leading Tomsk-400 to victory | Photos by Eteri Kublashvili (more here)

Event Russian Team Championship | PGN via TWIC
Dates April 9-15, 2012
Location Loo, Sochi, Russia
System 7-round Swiss, teams
Players

The strongest participants are Caruana (2767), Karjakin (2766), Morozevich (2765), Svidler (2744), Tomashevsky (2736), Wang Hao (2733), Dominguez (2730), Jakovenko (2729), Ponomariov (2727),Leko (2720), Nepomniachtchi (2718), Giri (2717), Riazantsev (2710), Vitiugov (2709), Moiseenko (2706), Grachev (2705), Malakhov (2705), Eljanov (2704), Movsesian (2702 and Shirov (2701)

Rate of play 90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 minutes to finish the game + 30 seconds increment from move 1

Gold medals for Tomsk-400

There were fears before the Russian Championship began that the new 7-round Swiss format might result in an accidental winner, but in the end nothing could have been further from the truth. On their path to victory Tomsk-400 played the top six teams apart from themselves, and the top five places were taken by the top five seeds. What is true, however, is that the short format left the ultimate medal allocation balanced on a knife edge. It all came down to a nail-biting final round.

Day Seven

The St. Petersburg Chess Federation were leading by a single match point going into the last day, but knew that only a win was likely to give them the title. It was the same story for their opponents, ShSM-64, though the team from Moscow knew that even a narrow win might not be enough. In the end, however, they cancelled each other out:

3   St. Petersburg Chess Fed. 3.0 - 3.0 ShSM-64, Moscow   1
1 2744 Svidler, Peter 0.5 - 0.5 Caruana, Fabiano 2767 1
3 2730 Dominguez Perez, Leinier 0.5 - 0.5 Wang, Hao 2733 2
4 2702 Movsesian, Sergei 1 - 0 Leko, Peter 2720 3
5 2695 Efimenko, Zahar 0.5 - 0.5 Riazantsev, Alexander 2710 5
6 2683 Zvjaginsev, Vadim 0.5 - 0.5 Grachev, Boris 2705 6
7 2632 Matlakov, Maxim 0 - 1 Najer, Evgeniy 2640 8

Peter Leko had been having a wonderful tournament (3 wins, 2 draws) but he met his match against an inspired Sergei Movsesian, who won his fourth game in a row after demolishing Leko?s Berlin Wall. Don?t believe anyone who tells you the Berlin is a quiet opening!

PGN string

That blow struck for St. Petersburg (who?d previously beaten key rivals Tomsk-400 and Economist), was matched by Evgeny Najer?s convincing win against Maxim Matlakov. Najer?s ultra-aggressive opening eventually gave him a huge strategic advantage, and Matlakov?s desperate attempts to generate counterplay were easily refuted:

PGN string

ShSM-64 team captain and "64" editor-in-chief Mark Glukhovsky looks on as the tension mounts

With the other games drawn it all came down to Zvjaginsev ? Grachev, which would be a game to skip apart from its huge sporting significance. Vadim Zvjaginsev got the better of an innocuous rook ending, and reached move 88 trying to promote his passed pawn:

PGN string

That draw meant the goal was wide open for Tomsk-400, who had what should nominally have been an easy match against Polytechnik:

4   Tomsk - 400 4.0 - 2.0 Polytechnik, Nizhniy Tagil   6
1 2766 Karjakin, Sergey 1 - 0 Kokarev, Dmitry 2637 1
2 2727 Ponomariov, Ruslan 0.5 - 0.5 Bocharov, Dmitry 2609 2
4 2683 Motylev, Alexander 0.5 - 0.5 Smirnov, Pavel 2599 3
6 2656 Khismatullin, Denis 0.5 - 0.5 Maletin, Pavel 2586 4
7 2688 Areshchenko, Alexander 0.5 - 0.5 Kryakvin, Dmitry 2566 5
8 2657 Kurnosov, Igor 1 - 0 Ovetchkin, Roman 2499 6

Tomsk were missing Viorel Bologan (3 wins, 3 draws) who left a day early, but ultimately the wins came from the other likely sources, Sergey Karjakin (4 wins, 3 draws) and Igor Kurnosov (3 wins, 2 draws). The middle of the Tomsk-400 line-up was perhaps less impressive, though Ruslan Ponomariov?s solid display on board 2 (1 win, 4 draws) was just as useful as it has been previously for Ukraine, when Vassily Ivanchuk would dominate on board 1. Karjakin performed the Ivanchuk role perfectly, though his final round win had looked unlikely at one stage (he began by sacrificing no less than three pawns in a Najdorf), and ultimately came down to a dramatic blunder in a theoretically drawn ending:

PGN string

Dmitry Kokarev shouldn?t be too downhearted, however, as knight and rook v. two rooks is far from a trivial draw. As Sergey Shipov pointed out, Evgeny Bareev once lost the same ending to Garry Kasparov:

PGN string

Sergey Karjakin, back up to no. 6 in the world, at the centre of attention

Karjakin summed up the event for Eteri Kublashvili of the Russian Chess Federation website:

The tournament went perfectly: we managed to finish first in the overall standings, and I was first on my board. Of course luck was involved, but on the other hand when you?ve got a short tournament of only seven rounds it?s pretty difficult to win without luck. I think my best game in Loo was the win with the black pieces against Dmitry Jakovenko, which meant our team won a crucial match. Of course it would be better if there were more rounds as that would be a more objective format. With nine to eleven rounds the best team will always win, while here it was a lottery until the very last moment.

Economist entered the final round with their fate no longer in their hands, but knowing a win by a large margin would boost their medal chances. They seemed to go for it, but it nearly ended in a fiasco, with Ian Nepomniachtchi in particular playing a disastrous opening. The team eventually won by the narrowest of margins:

7   University, Belorechensk 2.5 - 3.5 Economist-SGSEU, Saratov   2
1 2599 Tregubov, Pavel V. 0 - 1 Morozevich, Alexander 2765 1
2 2645 Landa, Konstantin 0 - 1 Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2736 2
3 2558 Brodsky, Michail 1 - 0 Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2718 3
4 2592 Burmakin, Vladimir 0 - 1 Moiseenko, Alexander 2706 5
5 2523 Panarin, Mikhail 0.5 - 0.5 Alekseev, Evgeny 2673 7
6 2505 Poluljahov, Aleksandr 1 - 0 Roiz, Michael 2652 8

As it happened, though, even a 6:0 win wouldn?t have helped. Fourth place was a disappointment for Economist, but Alexander Morozevich proved he was a worthy team leader, brushing off a first round loss to finish with a 2810 rating performance. In the final round he beat Pavel Tregubov, despite living very dangerously:

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That completed an unfortunate treble for Tregubov, who stood equal or better at around move 30 against all three top-10 players at the event ? Karjakin, Caruana and Morozevich ? but contrived to lose each game.

Pavel Tregubov

So the top half of the men?s standings ultimately looked as follows (the ?Total? column gives the crucial game points ? the first tiebreaker):

Place SNo. Team Fed. Local Match Points Total vs+ Wins B.1
1 4 Tomsk - 400 RUS 2708 11.0 27.0 13;7;5;2;6; 5 5.5
2 3 St. Petersburg Chess Fed. RUS 2711 11.0 25.5 12;8;4;2;9; 5 4.0
3 1 ShSM-64, Moscow RUS 2725 10.0 28.0 10;6;7;8; 4 5.0
4 2 Economist-SGSEU, Saratov RUS 2720 10.0 24.5 11;5;9;1;7; 5 4.5
5 5 Ugra, Khanty-Mansiysk RUS 2700 9.0 24.5 15;3;12;9; 4 3.5
6 8 Chigorin Chess Club, St. Petersburg RUS 2553 9.0 20.0 17;14;15;10; 4 2.5
7 6 Polytechnik, Nizhniy Tagil RUS 2583 8.0 22.5 14;13;11;10; 4 2.5
8 9 Navigator, Moscow RUS 2551 7.0 23.0 18;10;6; 3 3.5
9 7 University, Belorechensk RUS 2570 7.0 22.5 16;17;11; 3 3.5
10 16 Orienta, Moscow RUS 2401 7.0 20.5 18;17;12; 3 2.0

Gold medals for Ladya: Natalia Zhukova, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Daria Charochkina, Valentina Gunina and Alisa Galliamova

Favourites Ladya had already sealed victory in the penultimate round of the women?s event, and they celebrated in style by beating Udmurtia 4:0 in their last match. As second-placed Ugra had a bye in the final round the only remaining intrigue was whether ShSM-RGSU could claim silver. They needed a 3.5:0.5 victory against the bottom team, Polytechnik, but couldn?t quite make it:

5   Polytechnik, Nizhniy Tagil 1.0 - 3.0 ShSM-RGSU, Moscow   3
1 2268 Timofeeva, Ekaterina 0 - 1 Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2448 1
2 2050 Rassokhina, Ekaterina 0.5 - 0.5 Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 2419 2
3 1920 Zasypkina, Evgenia 0 - 1 Kashlinskaya, Alina 2377 3
4 2060 Trubitsyna, Yulia 0.5 - 0.5 Savina, Anastasia 2325 4

In fact, it could easily have been worse, as Alexandra Kosteniuk beat Ekaterina Timofeeva in an extraordinary game. First Kosteniuk, then Timofeeva, overlooked spectacular tactics, only for the former World Champion to eventually win a drawn ending:

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Alexandra Kosteniuk finds some space to think

The final table of the women?s event looked as follows:

Place SNo. Team Fed. Local Match Points Total vs+ Wins B.1
1 1 Ladya, Kazan RUS 2493 11.0 18.5 2;3;5;6;7; 5 5.0
2 4 Ugra, Khanty-Mansiysk RUS 2393 8.0 15.0 5;7;2; 3 2.0
3 3 ShSM-RGSU, Moscow RUS 2392 8.0 14.5 7;4;5; 3 4.5
4 6 Chigorin Chess Club, St. Petersburg RUS 2321 5.0 11.0 5; 1 1.0
5 2 Yamal, YNAO RUS 2328 5.0 10.5 5;6; 2 2.0
6 7 Udmurtia, Izhevsk RUS 2206 3.0 8.0 2; 1 4.0
7 5 Polytechnik, Nizhniy Tagil RUS 2139 2.0 6.5 7; 1 2.5

Finally for this year?s Russian Team Championship, a treat: Peter Svidler interviewed by Eteri Kublashvili for the RCF website. Talking after drawing with Fabiano Caruana but before the match was over, he discusses the event, how it compares to the Bundesliga, and reveals that he?ll be commentating on the upcoming World Championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand:

Peter, could you tell us how the tournament went?

For me personally, or for the team?

Both personally and for your team.

Well, it?ll all become clear for the team in the next hour and a half. While for me personally? I can?t say I?m satisfied with everything, and I?d happily have done without that game against Jakovenko, but given I?d taken quite a long break I think my play was decent overall. ?Plus one? on first board is never a catastrophe, though I?d have liked more. Of course I'm not going to treasure losing in 20 moves with the white pieces in a crucial match. All things considered, I?d give myself four out of five.

And would you single out any of your wins?

I won two games, but in both of them my opponents played extremely poorly, so I don?t have anything in particular to boast about. Artyom Timofeev got a very tough position against me right out of the opening and, quite frankly, Emil didn?t play the game of his life against me. Therefore there?s nothing in particular to single out: it was a normal tournament, all my opponents were strong and none of the games was a formality.

What was the atmosphere like in your team?

We always have a wonderful atmosphere! That?s one of the reasons why we all keep playing year after year. The line-up barely changes and rotation is kept to a minimum. It?s a pleasure to play for the team! We?ve already established ties in the local area and we?ve got ?our people? in the markets of this wonderful region, so our evening meetings are informal. In my first year playing for the St. Petersburg team under the current management I was slightly shocked by what went on at the first meeting. Now, however, the anticipation of those meeting is perhaps one of the main reasons why we play for the team. Seriously though, we played four crucial matches, losing one and winning two. Today?s match has been very tough going. I hope things will work out ? we?ll see.

In the end it was silver for the team from St. Petersburg

You also play for Baden-Baden in the Bundesliga. How would you compare those two teams and two leagues?

Baden-Baden has more strength in depth, I?d say. Baden-Baden?s full line-up is stronger than any team in the Russian league, but at the same time the Russian League is of course stronger than the Bundesliga. After all, in the Bundesliga apart from Baden-Baden you?ve basically only got Bremen, whereas a record number of super clubs show up for the Russian League.

In which league is the weight of responsibility greater?

It?s hard to say, as the formats are completely different. The Bundesliga lasts seven months and I played five games in it this year ? three in November and two in March ? and I was also lucky with the team: it?s hard to compete with us. While in the Russian Team Championship it?s always ?Scandals. Intrigues. Investigations? [the catchphrase of a Russian TV program - CV], as nothing?s ever clear until the final round.

Do you like the current format of the Russian League?

It used to be round-robins, but now they?ve simply decided to try something new. I don?t think the small clubs are very happy with the innovation as previously they?d fight for first place in the Higher League. If they were sponsored by a town or region then when they returned home they could boast about victory in the Higher League; and who?s going to get to the bottom of what kind of league that is exactly? And therefore they got support as it was clear they were competing for something. With the current format it?s clear they?re not going to be involved in the fight for prizes, although they get the chance to play against the big players. So that?s the only problem, but otherwise it?s all very dynamic.

Do you prefer playing in team or personal events?

I really like playing for the team, but as the years go by I?ve started to play worse for them. Therefore I can?t say with my hand on my heart that I?m a team player, although around three years ago I was scoring very good results for the team.  

What are your plans for the immediate future?

It seems I?m going to commentate on the Anand ? Gelfand match in Moscow, while my schedule starts to get busy from August onwards.

How do you think the World Championship match will go?

I think the match will be more interesting than people think. I don?t consider the current form of the World Champion and the challenger to be a good reflection of reality. Let?s see what happens, as after all we've got two great players competing!

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4/16/12, Last night?s dream »»

August:  The 2012 Chess Olympiad, Istanbul, main playing hall.  A large crowd has gathered around the last game to finish.  Australia is playing against an unspecified Eastern European team, the match locked at one and a half each, and so teammates hover nervously behind the two players for the final stages of the deciding game.

I sit opposite my opponent, a freaky amalgamation of highly-rated grandmasters Vladimir Akopian (Armenia), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan) and Kiril Georgiev (Bulgaria).  I have the white pieces, and material is balanced: I have an extra knight, but him three connected passed pawns.  Both kings are exposed, and we have two minutes each left on our clocks for the final moves.  I look up, and Vladimir?s staring back at me ? piercing, cold eyes, the eyes of a killer.  He leans back in his chair, and suddenly it?s Kiril: sullen, serious, confident.  I look back at the board; it?s my turn.

I see the position for the first time, and I draw a breath ? he?s threatening checkmate next move, by capturing my knight with his queen.  I look up, and it?s Vugar, his hands a triangle against his temples, his eyes fixated on the board.  I become aware of the crowd, the remarkable silence of the mass, save for the odd tense cough, and the ticking of the old-school analogue chess clock.  I pick up my queen, and my hand hovers over the board, grasping the white piece by her crown, waiting, looking.  The crowd leans forward as one.

I place it on e5, giving check.  Suddenly it?s Kiril, and he whips off my queen with his own with a flourish, slamming his clock with a large BANG.  I recapture tentatively, and he pauses, checks, and thrusts forward his g-pawn.

I recoil; my clock?s flag is hanging, seconds remaining, but I can?t bring myself to move, to focus.  Australia?s team captain, Manuel Weeks, flashes me a worried look; teammates Darryl Johansen and Zhong-Yuan Zhao simultaneously slump their shoulders with a dejected, knowing glance at each other.  The diminutive Armenian grandmaster Gabriel Sargissian starts rubbing his hands together as he tries to peer over his teammates? shoulders; for some reason, his nose is long and crooked.  With much hesitation, I capture the loose e6 pawn, and suddenly Vladimir is back, the cold, calculating professional, marching his pawns towards my back rank.  The g-pawn advances, his neighbour on the f-file quickly following, and my clock counts down the last few seconds to the flag falling?three?two?one?

Suddenly, the board begins to spin, and the table, the players and the room begin to swirl, a shimmery haze filling my eyes, before ? SNAP! ? I?m transported back back to the original scene, queen in hand, two minutes remaining on my clock.  I blink twice, but my opponent and the spectators are busy staring at the board, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.  I try to regain my composure.  I lower the queen, not to e5 this time, but to d4, again with check.  Surely it can?t be any worse than the history I?ve just avoided.

Kiril takes off my foolhardy white pawn with his king, and I eagerly reply by swinging my rook to h1 with check.  Suddenly I sit up off my chair ? a retreat by his king allows my pieces to penetrate into his position on h8, and checkmate follows in just a few more moves!

But Vugar?s back, and he confidently marches his king forward to g6, and I realise my checks have quickly run dry.  Despondently, I retreat my queen to d3 to defend my knight and prevent his own checkmate, but his reply is swift and precise: his queen plants herself deep into my territory, offering a poisonous trade that I dare not refuse, but assures destruction if accepted.

I look up, and Vladimir is staring back at me, expressionless; behind him, Gabriel is smiling at me, and the broad grin seems somehow maniacal when sheltered under such a wicked proboscis.  The crowd starts to murmur.  Faced with an impossible choice, I sigh, and, with a heavy heart, reach to move my queen, a move I know will seal my fate.  The clock ticks down my final seconds?

The queen is in my hand, but the board looks different: I?m back again at the opening position, the crowd is silent, and Vugar sits opposite.  But this time I?m ready, composed, and I have the advantage of knowing how two of the potential variations play out for me.  I smile a secretive, half-smile to myself.  Suddenly I notice that my score-sheet has my last played queen move to d3, and not e3.  I frown, and gingerly lower the piece back to her original square, looking up somewhat guiltily at my opponent to see whether he corrects the alteration.  He doesn?t budge, and neither does the crowd.

My clock ticks down, but I don?t notice.  I take my hand off the queen and rest my arms on the table as I continue to stare at my opponent.  I know I?ve touched my queen and I?m obliged to move her, but if I wait long enough, maybe, just maybe?

Sure enough, after a few moments the haze returns, and the people and objects mesh into a shimmery blur.  My hands are still resting on the table when they re-emerge, and the board shows my queen sitting on d3, stoically defending my knight, and offering the e-file to my rook.  I lift it, and the wood makes a satisfying CLUNK as I take the pawn on e6.

Vugar shifts uncomfortably in his chair, and the crowd again begins to murmur ? but this time, they?re on my side.  If he pushes his g-pawn, I?ll take his pawn on f5 with my queen, and suddenly his proud defensive wall of pawns will have crumbled, fatally exposing his king.  With some trepidation, Kiril plonks his queen down on c3, offering a relieving trade.  But this time, instead of accepting, I?ve a startling riposte up my sleeve?

I move my rook to e8, giving check.  Taking with his own rook would leave his queen unguarded and en prise.  With no other option, Kiril moves his king forward one square, capturing my pawn.

I reach forward again, and snap off his f5 pawn with my queen, again with check.  With both kings now desperately exposed, I?ve got no choice but to keep the attack going at all costs, lest my own defences be breached.  Vladimir also has no choice, and continues to shuffle his king forward into the abyss, sending the monarch on a perilous path down the h-file, hoping my attack will run out of steam before I can deliver the coup de grace.

I give check again, this time with my rook, prodding the black king one step further along the plank.  Withdrawal would fall to a quick checkmate, and so Vugar pushes his king forward one last time to h5.

But now the king?s retreat has been cut off, and his own pawn blocks a sideways parry.  The only breathing squares left to the black royal lie in front of him? but wait!  I look up, and Vugar?s eyes meet mine ? he?s seen it, too.  I look back at the board as the crowd lurches forward as one expectant beast, sensing the imminent end.  I can play check with my queen and cut off his king?s final escape squares at the same time, leaving no way out.  It?s checkmate on h3, and I lean forward to deliver the killer blow?

 

(?And this is when I woke up.  Sadly, I was not in Istanbul at the Olympiad, and I was not just about to defeat one of the world?s top grandmasters.  But, perhaps even more disappointingly, even if the game had existed, I was not even about to deliver checkmate.  As I got out of bed and set up my ?brilliant? subconscious combination on a chess board?

?I instantly realised that my final winning move was in fact a horrific blunder, as my queen could simply be captured by her opposing number on c3:

Ahem.  It seems my fight of fantasy lacked the precision of that other dreamy David, the extraordinarily talented grandmaster David Bronstein, whose subconscious composed his famous Dream Game in 1961.

Not to worry.  Perhaps I?ll get another chance in reality when the Olympiad kicks off in August.  Though if I arrive on the first day and notice Gabriel?s had a nose job, I might start to wonder?)


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4/16/12, Nigel Short storms into sole lead in Bangkok »»
Nigel Short storms into sole lead in Bangkok

Nigel Short defeated M.R. Venkatesh on Monday to take over the lead at the Bangkok Chess Club Open after six rounds. The Indian IM was the surprise leader after five rounds.

The Dusit Thani Hotel in Bangkok, venue of the tournament  

Event Bangkok Chess Club Open | Details at Chess-Results | PGN via TWIC
Dates April 13-19, 2012
Location Bangkok, Thailand
System 9-round Swiss
Players

The strongest participants are Nigel Short, Jan Gustafsson, Hou Yifan, Farrukh Amonatov, Antonio Rogelio Jr, M.R. Venkatesh and Deshun Xiu

Rate of play 90 minutes for the whole game + 30 seconds increment from move 1

The 12th Bangkok Chess Club Open, which takes place at the luxurious Dusit Thani Hotel, is a 9-round Swiss with 135 participants of which 41 are titled players. There is also a 7-round Challenger with over 100 players. With over 230 players from 34 countries the tournament has broken its attendance record from 2011 to confirm its ever-increasing popularity.

This year Hou Yifan plays for the first time and she obviously adds prestige to what has become one of Asia's best open events. The 18-year-old Chinese arrived in Bangkok a few days before the start of the tournament. Last Wednesday she met with a number of VIPs (including Thailand's Prime Minister) and aspiring chess talents at Shinawatra University?s city campus and in the Blue Room of Thailand?s Government House. After a photo session the champion played a chess simul against thirty children, students, and sponsors, and won all games in a mere two hours.

The Women's World Champion playing against Thailand's PM Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra

In the Bangkok Open the Women?s World Champion will battle for the top spot against strong rivals, including the tournament?s highest-ranked player, GM Nigel Short of England. Both GMs demonstrated great form at last January?s Gibraltar Chess Festival when they finished first and second in a field that included 55 GMs.

Other strong players who will have a shot at the first prize are the 2011-champion GM Jan Gustafsson of Germany, first-time participant GM Farrukh Amonatov of Tajikistan, as well as returning champions GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr. of the Philippines (winner 2003, 2004, 2006) and GM Deshun Xiu of China (winner in 2008 and 2009). The strongest local players are FM Wisuwat Teerapabpaisit (2278), FM Nakorn Trisa-ard (2265), FM Jirapak Pitirotjirathon (2252) and FM Boonsueb Saeheng (2207).

The spacious playing hall, part of the Dusit Thani Hotel

The start of the tournament coincided with the joyous and rowdy Songkran Festival, when Thais and tourists throng in the streets and splash each other with water to cool off from the fierce summer heat. A popular location to ?play Songkran? is Bangkok?s Silom District where the venue is located!

Hou Yifan joins the Songkran celebrations

The games are played between April 13th and 19th, with double rounds on Saturday and Sunday. On Friday and Saturday morning no real upsets were seen, but in the third round untitled Sander Severino (2344) held Nigel Short to a draw on board 1 and next to them, Jan Gustafsson also split the point with IM Daniel Contin (2331) of Italy. In round 4 two other GMs drew their games: Hou Yifan against IM Nguyen Duc Hoa (2453) of Vietnam and Farrukh Amonatov against IM Liu Qingnan (2461) of China.

After five rounds the surprise leader was Indian IM M.R. Venkatesh, who is the only player with a clean sheet. On Sunday afternoon he defeated last year's winner Jan Gustafsson on top board. Nigel Short was half a point behind Venkatesh and these two players would meet each other in round 6. Hou Yifan and Farrukh Amonatov again drew their games and found themselves in a group of 16 players who are on 4/5.

In round 6 the British GM showed his class and came up on top against Venkatesh. On board 2, Hou Yifan came back from a technically lost position to defeat FM Martin Voigt, and last year?s champion GM Jan Gustafsson recovered with a win against WGM Kruttika Nadig.

Selection of games rounds 1-6

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Bangkok Chess Club Open 2012 | Round 6 standings (top 30)

Rk. Title Name Rtg FED 1.Rd 2.Rd 3.Rd 4.Rd 5.Rd 6.Rd 7.Rd Pts. TB1
1 GM Short Nigel D 2697 ENG 57b1 13w1 37b½ 17w1 10b1 4b1 2w 5.5 24.5
2 GM Hou Yifan 2639 CHN 87b1 30w1 8b1 5w½ 6b½ 17w1 1b 5.0 25.5
3 GM Amonatov Farrukh 2604 TJK 32w1 65b1 7w1 10b½ 12w½ 21b1 8w 5.0 24.5
4 IM Venkatesh M R 2509 IND 67b1 31w1 45b1 38w1 11b1 1w0 5b 5.0 24.0
5 IM Nguyen Duc Hoa 2453 VIE 86w1 62b1 47w1 2b½ 9w½ 23b1 4w 5.0 23.0
6   Wan Yunguo 2441 CHN 83w½ 46b1 42w1 27b1 2w½ 24b1 9w 5.0 22.5
7 IM Mohota Nisha 2312 IND 101b1 29w1 3b0 40w1 57b1 18w1 10b 5.0 21.5
8 GM Ghane Shojaat 2339 IRI 90w1 84b1 2w0 50b1 64w1 19w1 3b 5.0 20.5
9 IM Nguyen Van Huy 2485 VIE 56b½ 100w1 59b1 85w1 5b½ 20w1 6b 5.0 19.0
10 IM Liu Qingnan 2461 CHN 33b1 24w1 20b1 3w½ 1w0 41b1 7w 4.5 26.0
11 GM Gustafsson Jan 2642 GER 93w1 22b1 41w½ 37b1 4w0 42b1 15w 4.5 22.0
12 GM Sriram Jha 2406 IND 77b1 85w½ 63b1 60w1 3b½ 13w½ 16b 4.5 21.0
13   Liu Chang 2262 CHN 113w1 1b0 89w1 61b1 49w1 12b½ 14w 4.5 20.5
14 GM Schebler Gerhard 2449 GER 61b1 59w½ 48b½ 88w1 16b½ 37w1 13b 4.5 19.5
15 IM Saptarshi Roy 2384 IND 78b1 63w½ 56b0 70w1 59b1 43w1 11b 4.5 18.5
16 FM Pitirotjirathon Jirapak 2252 THA 106w½ 83b½ 82w1 99b1 14w½ 44b1 12w 4.5 18.5
17 FM Voigt Martin 2364 GER 72w1 88b1 28w1 1b0 26w1 2b0 35w 4.0 24.0
18 GM Neelotpal Das 2462 IND 97w1 42b½ 23w½ 34b1 30w1 7b0 26w 4.0 23.0
19 GM Xiu Deshun 2492 CHN 75w1 23b½ 58w1 41b1 21w½ 8b0 24w 4.0 22.5
20 FM Teerapabpaisit Wisuwat 2278 THA 115w1 49b1 10w0 75b1 32w1 9b0 27w 4.0 22.0
21   Stany G A 2376 IND 79b1 40w1 60b½ 56w1 19b½ 3w0 29b 4.0 21.5
22 FM Reilly Tim 2256 AUS 104b1 11w0 77b1 36w1 29b½ 25w½ 33b 4.0 21.5
23   Sie Thu 2243 MYA 116b1 19w½ 18b½ 67w1 38b1 5w0 28b 4.0 21.0
24 WIM Wang Xiaohui 2209 CHN 133w1 10b0 79w1 68b1 39b1 6w0 19b 4.0 21.0
25 GM Rantanen Yrjo A 2383 FIN 99w1 26b½ 50w½ 84b½ 55w1 22b½ 34w 4.0 20.5
26   Kivimaki Jaakko 2186 FIN 111b1 25w½ 43b1 39w½ 17b0 72w1 18b 4.0 20.0
27   Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh 2119 IND 118b1 52w1 39b½ 6w0 58w½ 66b1 20b 4.0 20.0
28   Abanco Ernie 2066 PHI 74b1 54w1 17b0 43w0 67b1 64b1 23w 4.0 20.0
29   Faika Michael 2119 GER 134w1 7b0 91w1 66b1 22w½ 47b½ 21w 4.0 19.5
30 FM Aschenbrenner Robert 2254 AUT 124w1 2b0 76w1 83b1 18b0 57w1 36b 4.0 19.0

 

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4/16/12, Baden-Baden retains German title with a struggling world champ on board 1 »»
Baden-Baden retains German title with a struggling world champ on board 1

For the seventh year in a row, the Bundesliga team OSG Baden-Baden won the German Team Championship. However, the last Bundesliga weekend was a bit bumpy for the star team from Baden-Baden: after an unexpected 4-4 against the team from Eppingen in the penultimative round with a shock loss of world champion Vishy Anand against Sergey Tiviakov, the planned party was delayed one day. In the last round on Sunday however, OSG Baden-Baden crushed Hockenheim 7-1, securing the title.

By Eric van Reem 

Saturday ? SC Eppingen shocks OSG Baden-Baden

The playing hall in Baden-Baden

The home team of Baden-Baden had everything prepared for a victory party on Saturday, but the opponents from SC Eppingen, number three on the table, proved to be a really tough opponent. In the end the match ended 4-4, but the favorites were on the brink of losing the match.

Once again world champion Vishy Anand showed up to play two Bundesliga games. He arrived in a typical Baden horse-drawn carriage with his manager Hans-Walter Schmitt to play against Sergey Tiviakov. Certainly not everybody expected Anand to play just a few weeks before the world championship in Moscow, which will start on 10 May.

Anand played with the black pieces against Tiviakov, who played a smooth game. The Dutchman obtained a nice advantage, which he gradually expanded. Anand did not find any counterplay and after 44 moves the world champion resigned. It was a textbook game, which shows how to take advantage of the weak square ?d5?.

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In an interview for the official website, Tiviakov said that Anand obviously did not know the variation 3?Nd7 at all and that black made a lot of mistakes:

11?b6 is a serious mistake, black has too many weaknesses in his position. It was an easy game for me today.

Tiviakov said that he did not know that he would face Anand on Saturday:

I just came from Russia the day before the match against Baden-Baden, had to arrange some things at home in Groningen and travelled for more than 10 hours to Baden-Baden. I had no time to prepare anything.

Things went wrong for the home team also on the second board: Paco Vallejo of Spain lost against Hungarian GM Peter Acs.

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Therefore the lower boards had to secure at least a draw. Schlosser won against Vogt and top scorer Arkadij Naiditsch managed to equalize the score by winning against Robert Ruck.

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The other games ended in a draw, although all games were hard-fought. In the other match in Baden-Baden on Saturday, SG Trier easily won against SV Hockenheim.

History lesson

Baden-Baden 1870: the first Super Tournament
The German city of Baden-Baden is famous for its spas, its therapeutic waters and its casino, but the picturesque city has also played host to some of the greatest chess tournaments in history. Back in 1870 a tournament was organized, that can be regarded as the first ?super tournament?. It was the first tournament in which only top international players were invited: Adolf Anderssen, Wilhelm Steinitz, Joseph Blackburne and Gustav Neumann, to name just a few. Quite interesting to know is the following: it was the first tournament in which chess clocks were used (20 moves had to be made per hour), and it was the first time that draws counted as half points. Anderssen won the tournament with 11/16, before Steinitz with 10,5/16. More information about the players and the tournament can be found here.

A group photo of the participants in 1925

Another memorable tournament in the history of chess is Baden-Baden 1925, with players like Alekhine, Reti, Nimzowitsch, Torre, Tarrasch and Grünfeld. Alekhine won with the phenomenal score 16/20. In recent history, in 1992 Anatoly Karpov won a round robin tournament in Baden-Baden with 9,5/11.

Sunday: Easy 7-1 win for the champs against Hockenheim

After the draw on Saturday, the players of OSG Baden-Baden were sent to bed early by team captain Sven Noppes to prepare for the final round against Hockenheim, starting at a chess-player unfriendly time: 10.00 AM. Arkadij Naiditsch was the first player to win. He won both games this weekend and had a great +7 score this season: 11/15.

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Anand played his last game before the world championship match in May against Rainer Buhmann and he quickly gained a small plus. However, the world champion had difficulties to convert his advantage and he even had some problems after 46. Ne1. However, Buhmann did not find the right plan and Anand won the game in the end.

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Baden-Baden players Peter Heine Nielsen of Denmark (l.) and Etienne Bacrot of France

The final score was 7-1, securing the title and with a convincing win OSG Baden-Baden ended the season with a bang.

SV Hockenheim had enough reason to celebrate as well, as their Elisabeth Pähtz scored her first GM norm after drawing with GM Laszlo Gonda. SC Hansa Dortmund, USV TU Dresden, SC 1950 Remagen and SK König Tegel relegated to the second league.

Final standings

# Club R + = - MP BP
1 OSG Baden-Baden 15 13 1 1 27 80.5
2 Werder Bremen 15 12 1 2 25 77
3 SG Solingen 15 11 1 3 23 71
4 SC Eppingen 15 9 3 3 21 67.5
5 SV Wattenscheid 1930 15 8 2 5 18 64
6 SG Trier 15 8 1 6 17 67
7 SF Katernberg 15 7 1 7 15 56
8 SV 1930 Hockenheim 15 5 4 6 14 56.5
9 SV Mülheim Nord 15 5 3 7 13 60.5
10 SF Berlin 1903 15 5 3 7 13 56.5
11 SK Turm Emsdetten 15 5 2 8 12 54.5
12 Hamburger SK 15 4 2 9 10 52.5
13 SC Hansa Dortmund 15 3 4 8 10 48
14 USV TU Dresden 15 4 0 11 8 52
15 SC 1950 Remagen 15 2 3 10 7 53
16 SK König Tegel 15 3 1 11 7 43.5

 

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4/15/12, Russian Team Ch: All set for a thrilling finish »»
Svidler vs Morozevich in round 5

What a difference two days make! Economist?s 100% record now lies in tatters after they lost to their closest rivals in rounds 5 and 6, leaving them out of the hunt for gold medals. Instead Peter Svidler?s St. Petersburg lead by a point, with only ShSM-64 and Tomsk-400 still capable of denying them the title. In the women?s event favourites Ladya have been crowned winners with a round to spare.

Svidler - Morozevich in Round 5 | Photos courtesy of Dmitry Kryakvin (more here)

Event Russian Team Championship | PGN via TWIC
Dates April 9-15, 2012
Location Loo, Sochi, Russia
System 7-round Swiss, teams
Players

The strongest participants are Caruana (2767), Karjakin (2766), Morozevich (2765), Svidler (2744), Tomashevsky (2736), Wang Hao (2733), Dominguez (2730), Jakovenko (2729), Ponomariov (2727),Leko (2720), Nepomniachtchi (2718), Giri (2717), Riazantsev (2710), Vitiugov (2709), Moiseenko (2706), Grachev (2705), Malakhov (2705), Eljanov (2704), Movsesian (2702 and Shirov (2701)

Rate of play 90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 minutes to finish the game + 30 seconds increment from move 1

Day Five

If Economist-SGSEU had beaten the St. Petersburg Chess Federation in Round 5 it?s unlikely they could have been stopped, but instead they fell to a narrow defeat:

3   St. Petersburg Chess Fed. 3.5 - 2.5 Economist-SGSEU, Saratov   2
1 2744 Svidler, Peter 0.5 - 0.5 Morozevich, Alexander 2765 1
2 2709 Vitiugov, Nikita 0.5 - 0.5 Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2736 2
3 2730 Dominguez Perez, Leinier 0.5 - 0.5 Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2718 3
4 2702 Movsesian, Sergei 1 - 0 Eljanov, Pavel 2704 4
6 2683 Zvjaginsev, Vadim 0.5 - 0.5 Moiseenko, Alexander 2706 5
7 2632 Matlakov, Maxim 0.5 - 0.5 Andreikin, Dmitry 2689 6

Sergei Movsesian, so often the hero for the Armenian team, scored the critical win, following up a sharp trick in the early middlegame with excellent technique to convert his slight edge:

PGN string

Dmitry Kryakvin captioned his photo: "Alexander, this is a lucky pen!" The hand belongs to Economist team captain Alexey Vetrov

It?s impossible, however, to avoid mentioning Peter Svidler?s draw with Alexander Morozevich on the top board, which featured a staggering exchange of blows. The 17?Kd7! countercheck and Svidler?s quiet 19.0-0-0!! are worth the price of admission alone:

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However, GM Sergey Zagrebelny, who commented on the game live for ChessPro, expressed some lingering doubts about whether the players had really been playing at the board:

I've got mixed emotions, and I don?t even know how to ?sum up? what we?ve witnessed. Questions, questions? Above all, naturally, to the players. How far did Svidler?s knowledge stretch? And Morozevich?s? Alas, we?re a long way away and we can?t ask. If we ignore the home preparation then we saw extremely spectacular chess today: forks, pins, discovered checks, tactical shots ? simply a feast for those who like their dishes served spicy! And the unexpected 19.0-0-0!! But still, what was really going on? I?ll leave that question hanging in the air?

Another curiosity, as pointed out by Dmitry Kryakvin in his blog at the Russian Chess Federation website, was that the game ended in a position where the tournament rules (no draw offers before move 40) would have required the players to play on. Instead it seems to have been agreed that it was senseless to ruin a masterpiece with some additional shuffling of pieces.

The day?s other real battle came between Ugra and Tomsk-400, and again it was settled by a single game:

5   Ugra, Khanty-Mansiysk 2.5 - 3.5 Tomsk - 400   4
1 2729 Jakovenko, Dmitry 0 - 1 Karjakin, Sergey 2766 1
2 2701 Shirov, Alexei 0.5 - 0.5 Ponomariov, Ruslan 2727 2
3 2698 Dreev, Aleksey 0.5 - 0.5 Inarkiev, Ernesto 2695 3
4 2705 Malakhov, Vladimir 0.5 - 0.5 Motylev, Alexander 2683 4
5 2686 Rublevsky, Sergei 0.5 - 0.5 Bologan, Viktor 2687 5
6 2679 Korobov, Anton 0.5 - 0.5 Kurnosov, Igor 2657 8

Dmitry Jakovenko had already had a rollercoaster tournament, losing to Alexander Morozevich but beating Peter Svidler. In Round 5 he lost a long and tough game to another member of the Russian team, Sergey Karjakin, who has the best results on Board 1:

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Elsewhere ShSM-64 were compensated  for their loss to Economist the day before with a match against the much weaker University, who they duly dispatched 5:1, including wins for Fabiano Caruana and Peter Leko on the top boards.

ACP President Emil Sutovsky

The dark horses Navigator and the Chigorin Chess Club (entering the round in joint second place) had a chance to stake a real claim for tournament victory, but could only draw against each other. Emil Sutovsky?s win against Evgeny Romanov was highly entertaining, if not exactly flawless!

PGN string

Evgeny Potemkin continues to film the event. In the following video you can see him on his way to the playing hall and greeting various players before the round begins:

He also seems to have spent much of the day following a cat that strayed into the playing hall. It was clearly a chess fan, as it eventually took up a position underneath the table of one of the day's most eventful matches, the 3:3 draw between Navigator and Chigorin Chess Club (screenshot from ):

Reinforcements for the Chigorin Chess Club on, or rather under, Board 4

Day Six

While it's been a tough schedule for the men each women's team had a day off - here ShSM-RGSU enjoy the sunshine (Alina Kashlinskaya, Anastasia Savina and Alexandra Kosteniuk) | photo: Eldar Mukhametov

Economist?s woes continued, as their hopes of tournament victory were destroyed by another narrow loss, this time to fierce rivals Tomsk-400:

2   Economist-SGSEU, Saratov 2.5 - 3.5 Tomsk - 400   4
1 2765 Morozevich, Alexander 0.5 - 0.5 Karjakin, Sergey 2766 1
2 2736 Tomashevsky, Evgeny 0.5 - 0.5 Ponomariov, Ruslan 2727 2
3 2718 Nepomniachtchi, Ian 1 - 0 Inarkiev, Ernesto 2695 3
4 2704 Eljanov, Pavel 0 - 1 Bologan, Viktor 2687 5
5 2706 Moiseenko, Alexander 0.5 - 0.5 Areshchenko, Alexander 2688 7
6 2689 Andreikin, Dmitry 0 - 1 Kurnosov, Igor 2657 8

It?s perhaps worth starting with Economist?s one success story. Ian Nepomniachtchi had started the tournament with a bang (see our Rounds 1&2 report), but then had a sequence of four solid draws. He woke up in Round 6 to put in a powerful performance against Ernesto Inarkiev, whose counterplay was never quite enough:

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Dmitry Andreikin had been a key player behind Economist?s earlier wins, but he eventually lost a tough ending against Igor Kurnosov, while Pavel Eljanov had another day to forget, failing to get out of the opening against Viorel Bologan:

PGN string

ShSM-64's luck of the draw continued, as they were paired against 8th seeds the Chigorin Chess Club and pulled off a perfect 6:0 victory. There were also six decisive games in the match between Navigator and St. Petersburg, but it was all much more exciting!

9   Navigator, Moscow 2.0 - 4.0 St. Petersburg Chess Fed.   3
1 2700 Sutovsky, Emil 0 - 1 Svidler, Peter 2744 1
2 2703 Sasikiran, Krishnan 1 - 0 Vitiugov, Nikita 2709 2
3 2536 Dubov, Daniil 1 - 0 Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2730 3
5 2451 Moskalenko, Alexander 0 - 1 Movsesian, Sergei 2702 4
6 2441 Demidov, Mikhail 0 - 1 Efimenko, Zahar 2695 5
7 2424 Mesropov, Konstantin 0 - 1 Zvjaginsev, Vadim 2683 6

As we saw in the game from the previous round, Emil Sutovsky isn?t a man for playing solid, predictable chess. Peter Svidler has also been in bellicose form, so we could expect fireworks, and the players didn?t disappoint:

PGN string

In terms of the match St. Petersburg exploited their superiority on the lower boards perfectly, but it wasn?t one-way traffic. Krishnan Sasikiran impressively diffused his opponent?s over-ambitious attack, while Daniil Dubov scored a win which must be one of the highlights of his short career. The 15-year-old talent got the better of the opening and then converted in style just when it seemed Dominguez had weathered the storm:

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Going into Sunday?s final round the standings at the top are:

Place SNo. Team Fed. Local Match Points Total vs+ Wins B.1
1 3 St. Petersburg Chess Fed. RUS 2711 10.0 22.5 12;8;4;2;9; 5 3.5
2 1 ShSM-64, Moscow RUS 2725 9.0 25.0 10;6;7;8; 4 4.5
3 4 Tomsk - 400 RUS 2708 9.0 23.0 13;7;5;2; 4 4.5
4 2 Economist-SGSEU, Saratov RUS 2720 8.0 21.0 11;5;9;1; 4 3.5
5 6 Polytechnik, Nizhniy Tagil RUS 2583 8.0 20.5 14;13;11;10; 4 2.5
6 5 Ugra, Khanty-Mansiysk RUS 2700 7.0 21.0 15;3;12; 3 3.0
7 9 Navigator, Moscow RUS 2551 7.0 20.5 18;10;6; 3 3.0
8 7 University, Belorechensk RUS 2570 7.0 20.0 16;17;11; 3 3.5
9 8 Chigorin Chess Club, St. Petersburg RUS 2553 7.0 16.5 17;14;15; 3 2.0

It couldn?t be set up better, as St. Petersburg will take on ShSM-64 (Svidler ? Caruana, Dominguez ? Wang Hao, Movsesian ? Leko?). It looks as though both teams need to win, as Tomsk-400 play the much weaker Polytechnik and are likely to win by a heavy margin. Economist also finally have an easier match, and therefore good chances of taking a medal.

It was a very convincing victory for Ladya, featuring Nadezhda Kosintseva, Valentina Gunina, Natalia Zhukova, Daria Charochkina and, not in the photo, Alisa Galliamova

With so much top men?s chess to cover it?s been hard to devote much time to the women?s event, which has also been something of a disappointment. Many of last year?s top teams are absent, and victory for favourites Ladya has never looked in doubt. The only team to hold them to a draw, second seeds Ugra, have a bye in the final round (it might have been worth following the example of last year?s London Chess Classic, where the pairings were altered so the bottom seed would be the one to miss the final round). The standings with a round to go are:

Place SNo. Team Fed. Local Match Points Total vs+ Wins B.1
1 1 Ladya, Kazan RUS 2493 9.0 14.5 2;3;5;6; 4 4.0
2 4 Ugra, Khanty-Mansiysk RUS 2393 8.0 15.0 5;7;2; 3 2.0
3 3 ShSM-RGSU, Moscow RUS 2392 6.0 11.5 7;4; 2 3.5
4 6 Chigorin Chess Club, St. Petersburg RUS 2321 5.0 9.5 5; 1 0.5
5 7 Udmurtia, Izhevsk RUS 2206 3.0 8.0 2; 1 4.0
6 2 Yamal, YNAO RUS 2328 3.0 8.0 5; 1 1.5
7 5 Polytechnik, Nizhniy Tagil RUS 2139 2.0 5.5 7; 1 2.5

The remaining intrigue is whether last year?s winners ShSM-RGSU can beat the much weaker Polytechnik (rated 2268 - 1920) by a sufficient margin to take silver. At least 3.5:0.5 (or possibly 4:0?) seems to be required.

You can follow all the action from the final day of the Russia Team Championship live at the RCF website

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4/20/12, Russia and Greece lead the World Amateur Chess Championship »»

After the 5th round of the 2012 FIDE World Amateur Championship, that is currently under way in Porto Carras, two players are still maintaining the perfect score ? Alexander Liberman from Russia and Haralambos Tsakiris from Greece.

Bartu Ersoz from Turkey and Claus Riemann from Germany are close behind with 4.5 points each.

Results round 5 / Standings round 5

 

Top round 6 pairings are Liberman Alexander ? Tsakiris Haralambos, Ersoz Bartu ? Tqavadze Giorgi, Kafetzis Georgios ? Riemann Claus and Iosifidis Evangelos ? Musiienko Danylo.

 

Tsolakidou Stavroula

Tsolakidou Stavroula

Perez Laura

Perez Laura

Wilson F Leon - Vazouras HristosVazouras Hristos and Wilson F Leon

In the Alexander the Great Open GM Kivanc Haznedaroglu from Turkey continued his winning row and took a full point from the talented Greek junior Nikolaos Galopoulos. Haznedaroglu now moved into the sole lead with 4.5/5 points.

IM Rasmus Skytte scored another valuable victory and is now clear second with 4 points.

Top round 6 pairings are GM Mastrovasilis Athanasios ? GM Haznedaroglu Kivanc, IM Skytte Rasmus ? GM Antic Dejan, Galopoulos Nikolaos ? Spirliadis Achileas, FM Gogolis Alexandros ? GM Drenchev Petar and WIM Djukic Sandra ? IM Pein Malcolm.

Results round 5 / Standings round 5

Arbiters I.Mitrou and A.Kitharidis

Arbiters I.Mitrou and A.Kitharidis

IA Effie Andrikopoulou

IA Effie Andrikopoulou

FM Marios Tassopoulos

FM Marios Tassopoulos


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4/19/12, GM Zhao Xue clear first in Wuxi Chess Women Masters »»

The 2nd Chess Women Masters Tournament took place from 10th April to 19th April 2012 in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China.

Ten players competed in the round robin tournament for the prize fund of 215,000 Yuan.

GM Zhao Xue took a clear first place by collecting 6.5/9 points. Her only loss came from the hands of the lowest rated WGM Gu Xiaobing. In return, Zhao defeated the nearest follower IM Bela Khotenashvili.

Zhao Xue

Zhao Xue

Final standings:

1. GM Zhao Xue CHN 2543 – 6.5
2. IM Khotenashvili Bela GEO 2490 – 6.0
3-4. WGM Tan Zhongyi CHN 2438 and WGM Ju Wenjun CHN 2557 – 5.0
5-6. WGM Zhang Xiaowen CHN 2354 and WGM Huang Qian CHN 2399 – 4.5
7-8. IM Muzychuk Mariya UKR 2490 and WGM Ding Yixin CHN 2350 – 4.0
9. WGM Gu Xiaobing CHN 2257 – 3.0
10 WGM Shen Yang CHN 2440 – 2.5

Bela Khotenashvili

Bela Khotenashvili

Women’s Chess World Champion GM Hou Yifan won the 1st edition of the tournament but this year she was busy playing in the Bangkok Open.

More information on http://blog.sina.com.cn/chessnews


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4/19/12, Nigel Short Triumphs at the 12th Bangkok Chess Club Open »»

Article by Alexander J. Klemm

British GM Nigel Short has won the 12th Bangkok Chess Club Open 2012 with a last-round draw against IM Nguyen Duc Hoa, whose outstanding performance has earned the Vietnamese player a GM norm.

From the beginning of the tournament, Short demonstrated his great fighting spirit. Having won the Gibraltar Chess Festival in January, it was apparent that he had come to Bangkok with a high confidence level and the mission to become the sole champion. Mission accomplished!

GM Nigel Short has played with passion and expertise in his fourth consecutive BCC Open tournament and has finally won it. While defending champion GM Jan Gustafsson and Women’s World Champion GM Hou Yifan underperformed, other predominantly Asian participants played very well and often surpassed expectations.

Nigel Short

Nigel Short

Here are the top results of the final round:
IM Nguyen Duc Hoa ½ – ½ GM Short Nigel
GM Amonatov Farrukh 1 – 0 IM Nguyen Van Huy
Liu Chang ½ – ½ IM Venkatesh M.R.
GM Xiu Deshun 0 – 1 GM Sriram Jha
GM Neelotpal Das ½ – ½ IM Saptarshi Roy
GM Gustafsson Jan 1 – 0 GM Rantanen Yrjo A.
Sander Severino ½ – ½ GM Hou Yifan

The final standings after 9 rounds are as follows:
GM Short Nigel (ENG) 7.5
GM Amonatov Farrukh (TJK) 7
IM Nguyen Duc Hoa (VIE) 7
GM Sriram Jha (IND) 7
IM Liu Qingnan (CHN) 6.5
IM Venkatesh M.R. (IND) 6.5
IM Saptarshi Roy (IND) 6.5
Wan Yunguo (CHN) 6.5
GM Gustafsson Jan (GER) 6.5
Liu Chang (CHN) 6.5
Nguyen Van Huy (VIE) 6.5
GM Schebler Gerhard (GER) 6.5
GM Neelotpal Das (IND) 6.5
GM Hou Yifan 6

(135 players)

In the Challenger category, Tint Swe Win (MYA) is the sole winner with 6.5 points after having defeated Filipino front-runner Arnulfo Gavilan Jr. in the final round. Tint Swe Win is followed by a pack of six players from the Philippines!

Challenger Round 7 top results:
Gavilan Jr. Arnulfo 0 – 1 Tint Swe Win
Vitithum Issara ½ – ½ Ting Marvin
Gutierrez Jaymarc 1 – 0 De Leon Haince Patrick

Challenger final standings:
Tint Swe Win 6½
Gavilan Jr. Arnulfo 6
Gutierrez Jaymarc 6
Viernes Tucker Howear Elstein 6

(95 players)

The very competitive and well-attended blitz tournament was won by GM Farrukh Amonatov. IM Nguyen Van Huy was the runner-up, and Wan Yunguo finished third.

Here’s an exciting attacking game from the last round:

GM Xiu Deshun – GM Sriram Jha

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nxc4 Qc7 8.g3 e5 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.Bf4 Nfd7 11.Bg2 g5 12.Ne3 gxf4 13.Nxf5 0-0-0 14.Qc2 Kb8 15.0-0 fxg3 16.hxg3 h5 17.Rfc1 Nf6 18.a5 h4 19.Nxh4 Rxh4 20.gxh4 Neg4 21.Qf5 Qh2+ 22.Kf1 Bh6 23.Ne4? Rg8 24.Ng5 Qxh4 25.Nh3?? This misses black’s crushing move:

Deshun-Sriram

25?Qxh3! 0-1 The black queen cannot be taken because of the knight check on h2 and a quick checkmate. After 26.Qc8+ Rxc8 27.Bxh3 Bxc1 28.Rxc1 Rh8 black would be a piece up.

While GM Jan Gustafsson was not always happy with his play, the following game from Round 6 is instructive in how to exploit an opponent’s weak pawn structure.

WGM Nadig Kruttika – GM Gustafsson Jan

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 b5 6.Bd3 Qb6 7.Nf3 Qc7 8.0-0 Bb7 9.Re1 Bc5 10.e5 f5 11.exf6 Nxf6 12.Ne4 Nxe4 13.Bxe4 Bxe4 14.Rxe4 0-0 15.Qd3 Nc6 16.Rh4 Rf5 17.Be3 Be7 18.Rh3 g6 19.Qe4 Bf6 20.g4 Rd5 21.c3 White’s last two moves have created several weak pawns. 21?Rf8 22.Rg3 Ne5 23.Nxe5 Bxe5 24.Rh3 Bf4 25.Kg2 Bxe3 26.Qxe3 Black’s pieces are more active. This alone is not enough for a win, but Gustafsson increases his positional advantage. 26?Re5 27.Qd2 Rf7 (27?Qc4 would have been even stronger.) 28.Re3 Qc6+ 29.Kg1 Re4 30.h3 Rxe3 31.Qxe3 Black’s pieces are active and ready to attack white’s weak pawns. White cannot defend them all.

Nadig-Gustafsson

31?Rf3 32.Qh6 Qd5 33.Qh4 Qd2 34.Rf1 Rf7 35.Qd8+ Kg7

Nothing can stop the black queen now. 36.Qb6 Qxb2 37.Qxa6 Qxc3 38.Kg2 Qf3+ 39.Kh2 Qd3 40.Kg2 Qd5+ 41.Kh2 Rf3 42.Qa7 Qd6+ 43.Kg2 Ra3 44.Qb7 Qd3 45.Rh1 Rxa2 46.Qc7 Qd5+ 0-1 White will lose more material.

Final standings (Open):

1. GM Short Nigel D ENG 2697 – 8
2. GM Amonatov Farrukh TJK 2604 – 7
3. IM Nguyen Duc Hoa VIE 2453 – 7
4. GM Sriram Jha IND 2406 – 7
5. IM Liu Qingnan CHN 2461 – 6.5
6. IM Venkatesh M R IND 2509 – 6.5
7. IM Saptarshi Roy IND 2384 – 6.5
8. Wan Yunguo CHN 2441 – 6.5
9. GM Gustafsson Jan GER 2642 – 6.5
10. Liu Chang CHN 2262 – 6.5
11. IM Nguyen Van Huy VIE 2485 – 6.5
12. GM Schebler Gerhard GER 2449 – 6.5
13. GM Neelotpal Das IND 2462 – 6.5
14. GM Hou Yifan CHN 2639 – 6
15. Severino Sander PHI 2344 – 6
16. GM Ghane Shojaat IRI 2339 – 6
17. GM Xiu Deshun CHN 2492 – 6
18. IM Contin Daniel ITA 2331 – 6
19. Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh IND 2119 – 6
20. IM Myo Naing MYA 2321 – 6
21. IM Lammers Markus GER 2384 – 6
22. WGM Pham Le Thao Nguyen VIE 2351 – 6
23. FM Teerapabpaisit Wisuwat THA 2278 – 5.5
24. Stany G A IND 2376 – 5.5
25. IM Mohota Nisha IND 2312 – 5.5
26. FM Voigt Martin GER 2364 – 5.5
27. GM Rantanen Yrjo A FIN 2383 – 5.5
28. Sie Thu MYA 2243 – 5.5
29. Xiao Yiyi CHN 2103 – 5.5
30. FM Pitirotjirathon Jirapak THA 2252 – 5.5
31. Nishant Malhotra IND 1977 – 5.5
32. CM Neubronner Jarred SIN 2312 – 5.5
33. Akshat Chandra IND 2130 – 5.5
34. Pranav Vijay IND 2116 – 5.5
35. FM Daly Colm IRL 2285 – 5.5
36. GM Pogorelov Ruslan UKR 2426 – 5.5
37. Kananub Warot THA 2120 – 5.5
38. Kulpruthanon Thanadon THA 1989 – 5.5
39. WFM Zhai Mo CHN 2262 – 5.5
40. GM Wong Meng Kong SIN 2343 – 5.5
41. Cai Jiaying CHN 2064 – 5.5
42. IM Wynn Zaw Htun MYA 2414 – 5
43. WIM Wang Xiaohui CHN 2209 – 5
44. Cox Tristan A ENG 2096 – 5
45. Ni Shiqun CHN 2157 – 5
46. FM Reilly Tim AUS 2256 – 5
47. Zhao Zhouqiao Chn CHN 2141 – 5
48. Chen Yang CHN 2084 – 5
49. Anasrullah INA 2127 – 5
50. Lee Kai Jie Edward SIN 2093 – 5
51. Portugalera Ric PHI 2176 – 5
52. FM Lamorelle Julien FRA 2301 – 5
53. Zhou Guijue CHN 2205 – 5
54. FM Aschenbrenner Robert AUT 2254 – 5
55. FM Kyaw Lin Naing MYA 2252 – 5
56. Steinbrecht Ralf GER 2194 – 5
57. Rom Jasper B USA 2208 – 5
58. Soyeur Alain FRA 2133 – 5
59. Aung Kyaw Moe MYA 2161 – 5
60. Ilmoni Tommy FIN 2113 – 5
61. FM Van Rijn Wouter NED 2201 – 4.5
62. Abanco Ernie PHI 0 – 4.5
63. WGM Nadig Kruttika IND 2238 – 4.5
64. Tan Weiliang SIN 2267 – 4.5
65. FM Frosch Erich AUT 2284 – 4.5
66. Shao Shuai CHN 2188 – 4.5
67. Frosch Ronald AUT 2241 – 4.5
68. FM Trisa-Ard Nakorn THA 2265 – 4.5
69. Eriksson Jon FIN 2152 – 4.5
70. Thanatipanonda Thotsaporn THA 2101 – 4.5
71. Li Xueyi CHN 2076 – 4.5
72. Tuorila Kai FIN 2119 – 4.5
73. Wiwatanadate Poompong THA 2080 – 4.5
74. Xu Fei CHN 1990 – 4.5
75. Hoffman Ron NED 2097 – 4.5
76. Laurain Dominique FRA 1972 – 4.5
77. Liu Hongyan CHN 1978 – 4.5
78. Kivimaki Jaakko FIN 2186 – 4
79. FM Saeheng Boonsueb THA 2207 – 4
80. Lam Daniel King-Wai HKG 2084 – 4
81. Faika Michael GER 2119 – 4
82. Atthaworadej Woradej THA 1670 – 4
83. Chong Chor Yuen HKG 2075 – 4
84. Zhu Ying CHN 1999 – 4
85. Akharaboollasez Akharin THA 1906 – 4
86. Attwood James AUS 2090 – 4
87. Frederiksen Erik DEN 1996 – 4
88. Ramirez Leyva Freddy MEX 1955 – 4
89. Darby Peter ENG 1912 – 4
90. Limono Handjojo INA 1950 – 4
91. CM Norris Damian C FIJ 2071 – 4
92. Lim Kian Hwa MAS 1891 – 4
93. Franzen Johan SWE 2111 – 4
94. Klubwong Prakarn THA 0 – 4
95. Rinquest Ted USA 2113 – 3.5
96. Sollid Stein NOR 2018 – 3.5
97. Bianchetti Raoul ITA 1948 – 3.5
98. Blasl Dietmar AUT 2103 – 3.5
99. Calacday Henry PHI 1964 – 3.5
100. Tachaplalert Suvich THA 1799 – 3.5
101. Hutzheimer Alfred AUT 2093 – 3.5
102. Yutithamnon Surapole THA 1981 – 3.5
103. Arjun Vairavan SIN 1760 – 3.5
104. Campi William USA 1789 – 3.5
105. Debbeler Adrian GER 1759 – 3.5
106. Larsen Hans Haagen DEN 1715 – 3.5
107. Kwak Junyong KOR 0 – 3
108. Holming Patrick SWE 0 – 3
109. Thanarotrung Ratchaphon THA 1858 – 3
110. Arpijuntarangkoon Jaradpong THA 1968 – 3
111. Maneeratanasak Chanavuth THA 1846 – 3
112. Jennewein Norbert GER 1851 – 3
113. Trinkl Andreas GER 1827 – 3
114. Low Zhen Yu Cyrus SIN 1722 – 3
115. Siddiqui Nida Mishraz PAK 0 – 3
116. Srivatanakul Pricha THA 1741 – 3
117. Watharow Sean AUS 1921 – 3
118. Shah Taksh IND 1571 – 2.5
119. Balasubramanian Akshaj IND 0 – 2.5
120. Nakvanich Sahapol THA 1884 – 2.5
121. Karasmaki Seppo FIN 1858 – 2.5
122. Frost Peter AUS 1897 – 2.5
123. Wuest Andreas SUI 1873 – 2.5
124. Lie Terje NOR 1653 – 2.5
125. Vinod G IND 2044 – 2
126. Greenwood Martin C ENG 1625 – 2
127. Shah Etash IND 0 – 2
128. Wongsawan Thoetsak THA 0 – 2
129. Tuamsang Sawapop THA 1968 – 1.5
130. Eldridge James AUS 0 – 1.5
131. Chua Xavier SIN 1681 – 1
132. Petchrongrusamee Pornpong THA 1786 – 1
133. FM Shrestha Bilam Lal NEP 2136 – 0
134. Mccready Mark ENG 1817 – 0
135. Khongboonkirt Hirun THA 0 – 0


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4/19/12, Dubai Chess Open R4 video (with interviews) »»

Here is the video R4 from Dubai by the renowned video producer Vijay Kumar. GM Ni Hua won his fourth gamne and is now the sole leader at 14th Dubai Open. A surprise casuality was Romanian Grandmaster Liviu Nisipeanu who blundered in the end game and lost to Indian International Master Swapnil Dhopade.Ni Hua is followed by as many as 12 Players including GM Jobava Baadur, GM Petrosian Tigran L, GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil, GM Akopian Vladimir, GM Miroshnichenko Evgenij, GM Andriasian Zaven, GM Pantsulaia Levan, GM Baklan Vladimir, GM Sandipan Chanda, GM Iordachescu Viorel, GM Kuzubov Yuriy, IM Shyam Sundar M at 3.5 points.


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4/18/12, Games Festival 2012 ? Day 3 »»

After the 4th round of the 2012 FIDE World Amateur Championship, that is currently under way in Porto Carras, three players are leading with the perfect score ? Haralambos Tsakiris and Georgios Kafetzis from Greece and Alexander Liberman from Russia.

Results round 3 / Results round 4 / Standings round 4

Top round 5 pairings are Kafetzis Georgios ? Liberman Alexander, Tsakiris Haralambos ? Bes Michal, Musiienko Danylo ? Moscotes Fernando, Hernandez Fierro Luis Eduardo ? Ersoz Bartu and Aristizabal Jorge ? Paetz Carsten.

Goldie Eva and Kokona Eleni
Goldie Eva and Kokona Eleni

World Amateur top boards
World Amateur Championship – Top Boards

Pavlos Pavlidis
Pavlos Pavlidis

Alexander the Great Open also had a double round on Wednesday. IM Malcom Pein defeated GM Athanasios Mastrovasilis in the morning round and emerged a sole leader with perfect score.

In the afternoon the talented Greek junior Nikolaos Galopoulos won against Pein and moved into the lead with GM Kivanc Haznedaroglu.

WIM Sandra Djukic repeated the success form yesterday and held GM Petar Drenchev to a draw.

Alexander the Great Standings

Dejan Antic
GM Dejan Antic

Malcolm Pein
IM Malcolm Pein

Sandra Djukic and Ljilja Drljevic
Sandra Djukic and Ljilja Drljevic

Both events are part of the 8th Games Festival, which is taking part on 16-22nd April in ?Porto Carras Grand Resort?.


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4/18/12, 750 Years Melaka International Chess Festival »»

The “750 Years Melaka International Chess Festival” is scheduled to take place from 20th April to 1st May 2012 and it offers three major events – the Florencio Campomanes Memorial International Rapid Chess Championship, the Historical Melaka International Chess Championship and the Historical Melaka Challenger Chess Championship with a total prize fund of more than USD 35,000.

The official venue for the event shall be the Hang Tuah World Heritage Hotel Melaka located right in the heart of the City of Melaka, a stone’s throw away from many historical landmarks and museums, shopping malls, interesting attractions, eateries and popular night spots.

This international chess event is jointly organized by the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF), the Melaka State Government and the Melaka State Foundation.

Hang Tuah World Heritage Hotel Melaka

Hang Tuah World Heritage Hotel Melaka

The Florencio Campomanes Memorial shall be the first event for the festival and it offers a prize fund of USD 20,000. Player’s registration and meeting are on 20th April at 9:00pm and Round 1 on 21st April at 9:00am.

The Campo Memorial, a FIDE event, shall be played over 11 rounds using rapid time control of 25 minutes per player per game played to the finish. The first 6 rounds will be played on Day 1 of the event (21st April) and the balance 5 rounds to be played on Day 2 (22nd April 2012) followed by Prize Giving ceremony at 6:00pm.

The next two events, the Historical Melaka International Chess Championship and the Historical Melaka Challenger Chess Championship, will run concurrently from 23rd April until 30th April 2012. This event shall be FIDE rated played over 9 rounds using classical time control of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment per move per player per game from move one.

The International section is open to all players of any playing strength whilst the Challenger section is open only to player with a FIDE rating of 1999 and below. The International section offers a prize fund of RM 40,000 (about USD 13,000) whilst the Challenger section offers a prize fund of RM 10,000 (USD 3,300)

Melaka is located approximately 100km to the south of KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) and the LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) and traveling time via the highway to Melaka will take between 1½ and 2 hours.

Official website


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4/18/12, Leading Chess Players Speak about the World Championship Match »»

On the threshold of the World Chess Championship Match, 64 Chess Review carried out a survey of the world?s leading chess players. The experts were asked two questions:

1. What do you expect of the forthcoming Anand?Gelfand match?

2. The match will take place in the Tretyakov Gallery. Andrei Filatov, the sponsor of the match, believes that bringing chess and art together can open a new page in chess history. What do you think of this idea?

Anand Gelfand official logo of WCC 2012

Peter Svidler, Grandmaster, holder of the World Cup, chess champion of Russia

1. I?m expecting that both Grandmasters will produce the play they are capable of. Then we?ll get an excellent match, interesting for both the spectators and the specialists.

2. As for a new page, I don?t know ? for this Filatov will need to find like-minded people: one match in the Tretyakov Gallery isn?t enough. But it would be great if these like-minded people emerged! I like this initiative very much: this approach to chess should be welcomed and supported.

Vladimir Kramnik, former World Champion

1. Since world championship matches were reduced to 12 games, they have become more tactical than strategic. The match strategy doesn?t play the role it once did; I can tell this because I played matches of 16, 14 and 12 games. In a 16-game match not a lot depends on one specific contest. And when we started to have just 12 games the result of each specific contest was much more important. Imagine if football were cut to 60 or even 45 minutes ? clearly a lot would change. I would therefore advocate in future for an increase in the number of games to at least 14.

It?s very difficult to predict the result of a short match. Someone catches someone out with a gimmick and wins ? and that?s it, the shape of the game changes dramatically. So we?ll be looking at what actually happens, at each goal that?s scored. In 12 games the score dominates: the adjustment for the first successful game is too great.

Despite all this it is logical to assume that Anand will play well. He played well against me, in any case, and Boris Gelfand and I are conceptually close in our understanding of chess. I won?t say everything I?m thinking about the forthcoming match ? I don?t want to influence either contestant?s preparations ? but in any event it would be reasonable to expect sharp tactics from Anand. However, I would not rule out the possibility of him choosing another approach. As a professional, I?m very interested in how the players approach the match.

2. Andrei Filatov?s concept looks very logical: the majority of our supporters are in the world of culture. In one sense art, music, chess and science are all related spheres. Whichever fan you look at, they?re either a Doctor of Science or a musician. The fact that none of these areas has much money is another matter: it?s not golf or show business. Perhaps we shouldn?t limit ourselves to any one sphere: we need to popularise our game through all available channels, for various social strata. In any case it?s obvious that holding the match in a major global-level museum is a big plus for chess. It?s harder for me to judge what the museum will get from it: that?s more a question for the art experts.

My match against Anand took place in Bonn, in a big exhibition centre. There are always lots of exhibitions there, with lots of interested and cultured people. That?s a great audience for chess! And it?s not a matter of cheap popularisation, like playing in a casino or a club. When the game is played in the Tretyakov or, for example, the Louvre, chess acquires a completely different status. So I?m totally in favour!

Anatoly Karpov, former World Champion

1. I?ve known both these Grandmasters for many years. They are close in age, and it seems to me that the difference in their strength in chess was more marked in the past. We have to bear in mind that Gelfand still has ambitions and the desire to scale new heights and become the world champion, while Anand possibly no longer has the sharpness with which he approached his first match and his title. Of course, he wants to maintain the status quo, but does he have the nerves? It seems to me that he is nervously more worn-out than Gelfand. World championship matches are a matter of nerves, and the question of motivation can prove to be more important than the purely chess element. Also, as far as I can tell, Gelfand is still less attached to the computer than Anand. This could be a source of both minuses and pluses.

2. The idea of playing in a museum is very interesting. I remember playing in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam myself in 1976. It was a strong international tournament, and I got a lot of pleasure from going to look at a picture between moves, something I did over two weeks. I played fast in those days!

Of course, it?s not a tournament ahead of us, but a world championship match ? quite a different matter for the contestants, and they?re not likely to have the opportunity for distractions. But for the spectators there are more opportunities. I think the idea is very good, and chess lovers should like it.

Garry Kasparov, former World Champion

1. The uniqueness of the forthcoming match, as I see it, is in the fact that for the first time in the modern World Chess Championships history the match between the legitimate world champion and a legitimate candidate won?t be a fight for the title of the strongest chess player of the world.

2. One can only welcome bringing chess and art together.

Yuri Averbakh, the oldest Grandmaster in the world

1. It?s a long time since Moscow saw world championship matches, and it has missed them. I think the most important point is that Moscow chess lovers will be pleased to watch a contest at such a high level. The capital does host some strong tournaments ? the Aeroflot Open, the Mikhail Tal Memorial ? but they come a long way behind the world chess championships in terms of importance. It will be interesting to see how Anand performs as champion and Gelfand as a player who has defeated some very strong opponents in the candidates matches. I?m expecting some fascinating games and a close contest. These matches always move chess forward, create a vogue and attract new fans.

2. Holding the match in the Tretyakov Gallery is an excellent idea which I like very much. As we know, back in 1935 the fine arts museum hosted the Second Moscow International Tournament. This decision benefited chess. My personal experience confirms this. I recall one day playing in Italy, in a fifteenth-century castle. This made an indelible impression not only on the spectators but also on the tournament contestants!

Viktor Korchnoi, Grandmaster and repeated challenger for the world championship

1. I?m expecting that both players will make excellent use of computer opportunities and will be able to write new pages in chess theory. I recall that quite recently Anand used Lasker?s Defence to beat Topalov ? it was simply colossal! However, I?m expecting surprises not just from Anand but also from Gelfand.

2. I?ve never taken part in tournaments or matches held in a museum, but I would note an undoubted plus of such a location ? the quiet, which is so necessary for chess players? creativity. But will chess move into museum galleries? I doubt it. Rather, one might regard it as a ?feature? that the sponsor used to attract more attention to the match. Chess is currently having difficulties in terms of live spectators. In the past, thousands of people would come to watch chess matches in person, but now most of them prefer to watch games on the Internet.


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4/18/12, Kramnik ? Aronian 2012 LIVE! »»

The match Kramnik Aronian 2012 will be commented live on Chessdom.com by GM Arkadij Naiditsch and the Chess Evolution team.

Games start April 21st at 15:00 CET, If a game ends within 3 hours in a draw, an additional Rapid Game will be played (which does not count for the overall result).

Preview of Aronian – Kramnik here


Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom



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4/18/12, Dubai Open ? video from round 3 with interviews »»

Round 3 video from Dubai by Vijay Kumar, interviews with GM Chanda Sandeepan (currently among the leaders with 3,0/3), IM Anup, GM Lalith Babu, etc.


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4/18/12, Games Festival 2012 day 2 »»

After the 2nd round of the 2012 FIDE World Amateur Championship, that is currently under way in Porto Carras, there are 19 players in the joint lead with 2 points each.

It is still difficult to predict who will single out on the top among 130 participants. Results / Standings

Jessica Pope

Jessica Pope

Jorge Silva

Jorge Silva

In the 2nd round of the Alexander the Great Open FM Ali Marandi Cemil Can made a quick draw with his compatriot GM Haznedaroglu Kivanc. On the other hand, in the duel of the two Serbian players, WIM Sandra Djukic fight hard to save the inferior position against GM Dejan Antic.

IM Rasmus Skytte won a nice attacking game against GM Petar Drenchev.

Top round 3 matches are IM Pein Malcolm – GM Mastrovasilis Athanasios, Miskulin Dennis – Galopoulos Nikolaos and GM Haznedaroglu Kivanc – IM Skytte Rasmus.

Results / Standings

WIM Sandra Djukic - GM Dejan Antic

WIM Sandra Djukic - GM Dejan Antic

WIM Ljilja Drljevic - Nikolaos Galopoulos

WIM Ljilja Drljevic - Nikolaos Galopoulos

Both events are part of the 8th Games Festival, which is taking part on 16-22nd April in “Porto Carras Grand Resort”.


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  • Asian Nations Chess Cup r-3
    Round 3 - Men

    China 1 - India: 2 - 2
    Vietnam - China: 2 1½ - 2½
    Mongolia - Iran: 1½ - 2½
    Yemen - Kazakhstan: ½ - 3½
    Singapore - Indonesia: 3 - 1
    Iraq - ChineseTaipei: 4 - 0
    Hong Kong - Korea: 0- 4


  • U.S. chess champ. round 10
    Men - Round 9

    Seirawan, Yasser - Kaidanov, Gregory S : ½-½
    Akobian, Varuzhan - Onischuk, Alexander : ½-½
    Shulman, Yuri - Robson, Ray : ½-½
    Stripunsky, Alexander - Ramirez, Alejandro : 0-1
    Lenderman, Aleksandr - Hess, Robert L : ½-½
    Kamsky, Gata - Nakamura, Hikaru : 0-1


  • Asian Nations Chess Cup
    May 17 - 26 , 2012
    ZaoZhuang, China
    Men: 14 teams, women: 10 teams
    Average rating, men: 2231 , women: 2250

    Round 2 - Men

    Kazakhstan - China : ½ :3½
    India - Singapore: 3 : 1
    Iran - Vietnam: 2 : 2
    China - Iraq : 4 : 0
    Korea - Mongolia : ½ :3½
    ChineseTaipei - Yemen : 0 : 4
    Indonesia - Hong Kong :3 : 1


  • World Chess Championship game 6
    Game 6: Gelfand - Anand : ½-½ ( QGD Meran Def. )


  • U.S. chess champ. round 9
    Men - Round 9

    Kamsky, Gata - Seirawan, Yasser : 1-0
    Nakamura, Hikaru - Lenderman, Aleksandr : ½-½
    Hess, Robert L - Stripunsky, Alexander : 1-0
    Ramirez, Alejandro - Shulman, Yuri : ½-½
    Robson, Ray - Akobian, Varuzhan : 1-0
    Onischuk, Alexander - Kaidanov, Gregory S : 1-0


  • U.S. Women's chess ch. round 8
    Women - Round 8

    Abrahamyan, Tatev - Melekhina, Alisa :1-0
    Ni, Viktorija - Foisor, Sabina-Francesca : ½-½
    Zenyuk, Iryna - Baginskaite, Camilla: 0-1
    Krush, Irina - Kats, Alena :1-0
    Goletiani, Rusudan - Zatonskih, Anna : 0-1


  • World Chess Championship game 5
    Game 5: Anand - Gelfand : ½-½ ( Sicilian Def. Pelican )


  • U.S. chess champ. round 8
    Men - Round 8

    Seirawan, Yasser - Onischuk, Alexander: ½-½
    Kaidanov, Gregory S - Robson, Ray: ½-½
    Akobian, Varuzhan - Ramirez, Alejandro : 1-0
    Shulman, Yuri - Hess, Robert L: ½-½
    Stripunsky, Alexander - Nakamura, Hikaru: 0-1
    Lenderman, Aleksandr - Kamsky, Gata : 0-1


  • U.S. Women's chess ch. round 7
    Women - Round 7

    Goletiani, Rusudan - Abrahamyan, Tatev :1-0
    Zatonskih, Anna- Krush, Irina : ½-½
    Kats, Alena - Zenyuk, Iryna : ½-½
    Baginskaite, Camilla - Ni, Viktorija : ½-½
    Foisor, Sabina-Francesca - Melekhina, Alisa :1-0


  • Sigeman & Co Chess final round
    Final round :

    Jonny Hector - Fabiano Caruana : 0-1
    Nils Grandelius - Hans Tikkanen : ½-½
    Chao Li - Peter Leko : 0-1
    Emanuel Berg - Anish Giri : 0-1


  • U.S. chess champ. round 7
    Men - Round 7

    Lenderman, Aleksandr - Seirawan, Yasser : ½-½
    Kamsky, Gata - Stripunsky, Alexander : 1-0
    Nakamura, Hikaru - Shulman, Yuri : ½-½
    Hess, Robert L - Akobian, Varuzhan: 0-1
    Ramirez, Alejandro - Kaidanov, Gregory S: 1-0
    Robson, Ray - Onischuk, Alexander : ½-½


  • U.S. Women's chess ch. round 6
    Women - Round 6

    Abrahamyan, Tatev - Foisor, Sabina-Francesca :1-0
    Melekhina, Alisa - Baginskaite, Camilla :1-0
    Ni, Viktorija - Kats, Alena :1-0
    Zenyuk, Iryna - Zatonskih, Anna : 0-1
    Krush, Irina - Goletiani, Rusudan : ½-½


  • Sigeman & Co Chess round 6
    Round 6 :

    Fabiano Caruana - Nils Grandelius : 1-0
    Hans Tikkanen - Chao Li : 1-0
    Peter Leko - Emanuel Berg : 1-0
    Anish Giri - Jonny Hector : ½-½


  • World Chess Championship game 4
    Game 4: Gelfand - Anand : ½-½ ( QGD - Meran )


  • Capablanca Memorial final round
    Ivanchuk won with 6.5 pts.

    Final Round ( 10 )

    Vladimir Potkin - Yuniesky Quesada : ½-½
    Leinier Dominguez - Ian Nepomniachtchi : 1-0
    Vassily Ivanchuk - Viktor Laznicka : ½-½


  • Sigeman & Co Chess round 5
    Round 5 :

    Chao Li - Fabiano Caruana : ½-½
    Emanuel Berg - Hans Tikkanen : 0-1
    Peter Leko - Anish Giri : ½-½
    Nils Grandelius - Jonny Hector : 1-0


  • World Chess Championship game 3
    Game 3: Anand - Gelfand : ½-½ ( Neo Gruenfeld Defence )


  • Capablanca Memorial round 9
    Round 9

    Viktor Laznicka - Vladimir Potkin : ½-½
    Ian Nepomniachtchi - Vassily Ivanchuk : ½-½
    Yuniesky Quesada - Leinier Dominguez


  • U.S. chess champ. round 6
    Men - Round 6

    Seirawan, Yasser - Robson, Ray : 1-0
    Onischuk, Alexander - Ramirez, Alejandro : 1-0
    Kaidanov, Gregory S - Hess, Robert L : 0-1
    Akobian, Varuzhan - Nakamura, Hikaru : ½-½
    Shulman, Yuri - Kamsky, Gata : ½-½
    Stripunsky, Alexander - Lenderman, Aleksandr : ½-½


  • U.S. Women's chess ch. round 5
    Women - Round 5

    Krush, Irina - Abrahamyan, Tatev :1-0
    Goletiani, Rusudan - Zenyuk, Iryna :1-0
    Zatonskih, Anna - Ni, Viktorija : ½-½
    Kats, Alena - Melekhina, Alisa : 0-1
    Baginskaite, Camilla - Foisor, Sabina-Francesca : ½-½


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