Magnus Carlsen defeated Leinier Dominguez in round 11 of the Corus Chess Tournament to join Vladimir Kramnik in the lead. The Russian drew with Black against Alexei Shirov. In the only other decisive game of the day, Loek van Wely beat Sergei Tiviakov after 88 moves.

The Corus Chess Tournament takes place January 16-31 in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. Next to hundreds of amateurs, three Grandmaster Groups (A, B and C) with 14 players each play a closed round-robin. The rate of play is 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 minutes for 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, and 30 seconds increment starting from move 1.

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Games round 11

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Round 11

15:13 CET
The top game of this 11th round is Shirov-Kramnik, and before anything else I’d like to mention that Ian Rogers is doing live commentary at the tournament website. In fact he’ll be doing the same tomorrow and Sunday, as a prelude to plans of the organizers for 2011 to bring live commentary throughout the event.

Shirov is trying an exchange sacrifice similar to what often happens in the Marshall Gambit (or rather Attack) of the Ruy Lopez. The concept had been mentioned before by Anand, who didn’t think much of it, but apparently Shirov has his own ideas. Meanwhile the two have reached an ending that looks about equal.

Smeets and Anand have already draw – they started repeating at move 13 already. Unfortunate, especially since the two had the nowadays rare Keres Attack of the Scheveningen on the board. Carlsen and Dominguez have entered a very complicated Grünfeld (Russian System), and the Dutch encounter between Van Wely and Tiviakov is a relatively quiet Queen’s Indian.

In B, So-Giri is already extremely sharp and interesting. All in all, this year’s Corus tournament has been great and continues to be. Later more!

16:18
Jan (Smeets) was totally unprepared for Vishy’s Scheveningen, and didn’t have the critical lines ready. For instance he could have tried 11.Bg2, but “the truth is I didn’t mind to split the point against him”, he told me.

According to Nakamura, who already drew with Leko, the accurate 12…Qd7! basically “kills everything”, after which it was dead equal.

With three pawn islands versue two, Shirov seems to be slightly worse in the ending now. Kramnik also looks more confident in fact. Short has managed to get another IQP position on the board but Caruana looks alright. Carlsen is better according to some experts in the press room, but it’s certainly not easy. Ivanchuk won a pawn but his king isn’t as safe as Karjakin’s.

Giri sacrificed a piece against So and is now moving all his pieces to his opponent’s king. Anything can happen there. In C, Li Chao totally crushed Muzychuk and is pretty sure of qualifing for B now.

23:44 CET
Indeed White’s advantage wasn’t much and so Short and Caruana drew an equal endgame. Carlsen defeated Dominguez and just did the press conference, which we’ll put up as soon as possible.

After a tumultuous time trouble phase, former compatriots Ivanchuk and Karjakin also drew. It seems that 36.Nxa5 allows too much counterplay, but it’s not easy to think of something else. In the game 40.Qe2 b6 followed by 41…Qxb3 also looks drawish. Kramnik has just sacrificed his knight for Shirov’s passed pawns and will probably draw the endgame, according to the experts, including Magnus Carlsen. Van Wely has a nice advantage against Sergei Tiviakov and will certainly keep on pressing for a long time.

Anish Giri had an angel on his shoulder today; his attack didn’t work out and he was basically lost against So from move 30 onwards. 35.Qe2! Nf2 36.Rf1! Nxh3+ 37.Kh2 would still have won for White, but instead the pinoy GM fell for a mating trick. Giri was the first to admit that he had been very lucky. He increased his lead to a point as all other games in B ended in a draw.

Shirov and Kramnik drew a very interesting game where the Russian found a series of only moves to hold the balance.

Loek van Wely eventually won against Sergei Tiviakov. His ending with bishop and two passed pawns against rook (and two fixed pawns on the queenside) looked like a draw, but KingLoek managed to find a winning set-up in the end.

Tomorrow Kramnik plays Anand with Black, and in the last round the Russian has the white pieces against Karjakin. Carlsen has Black against Leko tomorrow and then White against Caruana on Sunday.

Corus 2010 | Schedule & results Grandmaster Group A

Corus 2010 | Schedule & results Grandmaster Group B

Corus 2010 | Schedule & results Grandmaster Group C

Corus 2010 | Round 11 Standings Grandmaster Group A

Corus 2010 | Round 11 Standings Grandmaster Group B

Corus 2010 | Round 11 Standings Grandmaster Group C

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC: Group A | Group B | Group C

World Champion Viswanathan Anand began his 2010 campaign with a solid draw against GM Sergei Karjakin in the first round of the Group A Corus Super GM tournament at Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands. Karjakin-Anand Ruy Lopez game lasted 40 moves.

In other key games, Dutchman Sergei Tiviakov held World No.1 Magnus Carlsen to a draw in a 27 move Ruy Lopez game. Tal Memorial winner and former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik split the points with Cuban Grandmaster and former World Blitz Champion Leinier Perez Dominguez. The quiet Petroff game lasted just 23 moves.

In a Group B match reigning Dutch Champion Grandmaster Anish Giri defeated higher rated Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna. The Slav game saw Hari rattling the first 13 moves in under a minute, showing the strength of his preparation. But Giri was upto the task, as he built up a steady position that rose from Hari’s piece sacrifice for three pawns. Sweeping Hari’s extra pawns on the queenside with meticulous precision, Giri wrapped up the game on the 55th turn.

The other Indian in the fray at Group B, 16-year-old  Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi drew with David Howell after a stiff defence. The Slav game saw the Indian playing for the initiative on most occasions, with Howell consuming more time to find better options. Around the first time control, the Englishman had exchanged the pieces and appeared to have an edge in the bishop versus knight ending with two extra pawns. But accurate play by Negi brought cheers to the Indian camp, as the Delhi boy drew without much ado.

In two Group C games, former World Junior Champion Abhijeet Gupta drew his opener with GM Robin Swinkels of The Netherlands, while World Junior Girls Champion Sowmya Swaminathan went down to the talented American boy Ray Robson.

Official Site :

http://www.coruschess.com/

LIVE GAMES :

http://livechess.chessdom.com/site/

Anish Giri – Pentala Harikrishna

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 e6 7. f3 Bb4 8. Nxc4 Nd5 9. Bd2 Qh4+ 10. g3 Qxd4 11. e4 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Bxc3 13. Ra2 Bxe4 14. Qc1 Bd3 15. Qxc3 Qxc3 16. Bxc3 Bxf1 17. Rxf1 O-O 18. Ke2 b6 19. Rd1 Na6 20. Rd6 Rfc8 21. Ne5 c5 22. a5 Nc7 23. axb6 Nb5 24. Rd3 axb6 25. Rb2 Nc7 26. Nc4 Re8 27. Nxb6 Ra6 28. Kd2 e5 29. Nd5 Ne6 30. Bxe5 c4 31. Nb4 Ra1 32. Re3 Rd8+ 33. Kc2 Rh1 34. Re2 Rdd1 35. Kc3 Rdf1 36. f4 h5 37. Kxc4 h4 38. Nd5 Rc1+ 39. Rbc2 hxg3 40. hxg3 Rxc2+ 41. Rxc2 f6 42. f5 Nf8 43. Bf4 g6 44. fxg6 Kg7 45. Ra2 Kxg6 46. Ra6 Nh7 47. Kd3 Re1 48. Ne3 Nf8 49. Ke4 Nd7 50. Rd6 Nf8 51. Kf3 Rb1 52. Kg4 Re1 53. Nd5 Nh7 54. Bg5 Re5 55. Nf4+ 1-0

David Howell – Parimarjan Negi

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Qc7 8. Qd2 Be6 9. e3 Bxc4 10. Bxc4 e5 11. O-O Bb4 12. Qc2 O-O 13. Ne2 Rad8 14. Rd1 a5 15. b3 Bd6 16. h3 e4 17. Bd2 b5 18. axb5 cxb5 19. Bxa5 Nb6 20. Nc3 bxc4 21. bxc4 Qxc4 22. Bxb6 Ra8 23. Rxa8 Rxa8 24. Rc1 Nd5 25. Bc5 Qxc3 26. Bxd6 Qxc2 27. Rxc2 f6 28. Rb2 Rd8 29. Bc5 f5 30. Rb3 g5 31. f3 Re8 32. Kf2 h5 33. Bd6 f4 34. exf4 e3+ 35. Ke2 gxf4 36. g3 fxg3 37. Bxg3 Ra8 38. Rb8+ Rxb8 39. Bxb8 Kf7 40. Bg3 Ke6 41. h4 Kf6 42. Kd3 Kg6 43. Ke4 Ne7 44. Be1 Nf5 45. Ke5 e2 46. Ke4 Kf6 47. Kd3 Ke6 48. Bf2 Kd5 49. Kxe2 Ng7 50. Kd3 Nf5 51. Kd2 Ng7 52. Ke2 Nf5 53. Kd3 Ng7 54. Bg3 Nf5 55. Be5 Nxh4 56. Ke3 Nf5+ 57. Kf4 Nxd4 58. Bxd4 Kxd4 59. Kg5 Ke3 60. f4 h4 61. Kxh4 Kxf4 1/2-1/2

Sergei Karjakin – Viswanathan Anand

After Yu Yangyi’s surprising success of yesterday, two more famous grandmasters were eliminated by Chinese rising stars in the tiebreaks today. Gabriel Sargissian lost to Li Chao and Emil Sutovsky went down against Zhou Weiqi. Tomorrow is already the second round and we’re left with 64 players.

The FIDE World Chess Cup takes place November 20th-December 15th inn Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. It’s a seven-round knockout with six rounds of matches comprising two games per round. The final seventh round consists of four games.

The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move from move one. Games start at 15:00h local time (11:00 CET).

Round 1.3

For a while it was unclear whether the tiebreaks would consist of two or four rapid games, since the results page was showing only ‘R1′ and ‘R2′ after the ‘G1′ and ‘G2′, followed by ‘B1′, ‘B2′ et cetera. But the regulations stipulate four and in the course of the day it became clear that the players indeed had to play four rapid games.

David Smerdon from Australia again showed good chess against 2700-GM Dominguez from Cuba; only after three more draws Dominguez managed to decide the match. When Smerdon had shown world-class Dragon preparation in his first game with black, the Cuban was more successful in a sideline in game 4.

Smerdon proved a tough opponent for Dominguez

GMs Navara (Czech Republic) and Laylo (Philippines) also started with two draws, but then the Czech won two games in a row. Bacrot defeated Nijboer in the first two rapid games and then decided matters by drawing a rook ending with a pawn down in the third.

Bacrot in round 2, Nijboer out

Naiditsch opened the score in his minimatch against Hou Yifan, but the Chinese countered immediately. In the third game it was the German’s turn again, the third win for Black, when Hou Yifan blundered an exchange right after the opening. With a draw in the fourth game Naiditsch reached the 2nd round,

After Movsesian yesterday, Sargissian was the second player to be eliminated by one of the many strong young Chinese grandmasters. After both winning two and then drawing two, Li Chao turned out to be the strongest blitz player. It was slightly surprising that Sargissian went for the same Scotch ending (you know, the one Radjabov likes to play with White) with Black in a must-win situation. Sutovsky suffered the same fate against Zhou Weiqi: a draw in the first game was followed by two wins for the Chinese.

Emil Sutovsky is also out

Cheparinov went through thanks to just one rapid victory against Kryvoruchko, but his friend and colleague in Topalov’s team of seconds, l’Ami, was eliminated by Sasikiran. Tiviakov lost 2.5-1.5 in the rapids against Iturrizaga (check the move 25…Nf3! in their last game) and so all Dutch speaking grandmasters had to say goodbye to the World Cup already after one round.

Sergei Tiviakov was eliminated by Eduardo Iturrizaga from Venezuela

Shabalov lost the first rapid game against Baklan, “falling for” a standard trick in the Sicilian and resigning on move 12 being two pawns down for nothing. But the Latvian-born American GM came back, allowed the same trick in the next White game because he has thought up an improvement and won eventually in the second blitz game.

Alex Shabalov (USA), another qualifier for round 2.

Negi lost to Milov and Timofeev sent Leitao home (another match where all wins were scored by the Black player). One rapid victory was enough for Khalifman to defeat Fier and after six draws; Bartel beat Grachev 2-0 in the blitz.

The match Fier-Khalifman

For Gustafsson the adventure is also over after the first round; he blew two promising positions against Inarkiev and then had to win with Black, but the Russian forced a perpetual at some point. Savchenko-Shulman was another match that was decided in the blitz; interestingly, here too Black won all rapid games. But then Savchenko won with White in the first blitz game (which was not preserved correctly, unfortunately) and drew the second. Tkachiev first drew with Black against Le Quang Liem and then beat the Vietnamese GM in two endings.

Vladislav Tkachiev knocks out Vietnamese grandmaster Le Quang Liem

So was too strong for Guseinov in quickplay; the Philippine rising star won three rapid games in a row. Nyback did the same as Shabalov: losing the first rapid game but eventually winning the match in the blitz. The by far longest match of the first round was Akobian-Tregubov, an absolute thriller. Eventually the American grandmaster won the marathon in the 10th (!) blitz game. Just look at it!

Akobian, Varuzhan USA 1 0 ½ ½ 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 9
Tregubov, Pavel V. RUS 0 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 7

Tiebreak games round 1

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Cheparinov and L'Ami before the start of the tiebreak...

...Cheparinov having reason to smile afterwards as well...

...but L'Ami went down against Sasikiran

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN

Sergei Movsesian is the strongest player who already has to leave the World Cup after two days of play. After losing the first game to Yu Yangyi, the Slovak GM was held to a draw in the second game today. Zahar Efimenko was eliminated 1.5-0.5 by Gilberto Milos; Yannick Pelletier beat Bu Xiangzhi with the same score while Ivan Sokolov lost both his games to Sergey Fedorchuk.

The FIDE World Chess Cup takes place November 20th-December 15th inn Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. It’s a seven-round knockout with six rounds of matches comprising two games per round. The final seventh round consists of four games.

The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move from move one. Games start at 15:00h local time (11:00 CET).

Round 1.2

During the second day of the World Cup the live transmission went well, although we’re not too enthusiastic about the choice of game viewer which is the free Montreux Java applet. During replay the games often jump to the final position, and another downside of it is that it doesn’t respond to the keyboard arrow keys, which we find much more convenient quickly replaying lots of games. Anyway, enough complaining.

Boris Gelfand, top seed at this event, was indeed the first to reach the second round because he didn’t care too much about losing a few rating points and agreed to a draw at move 12. Gashimov, Svidler, Morozevich, Radjabov, Ivanchuk, Wang Yue, Mamedyarov, Ganguly, Fressinet and Fedorchuk reached the next round by 2-0 victories; the latter by upsetting the higher-rated Ivan Sokolov.

15-year-old Chinese super-talent (already a GM with 2527 and an expected rating change of 29.7) Yu Yangyi knocked out Sergei Movsesian, who avoided theory today with a Closed Sicilian with c3, but didn’t come close to kingside attack. He had to repeat moves to avoid a disaster on the queenside.

Yu Yangyi surprisingly knocks out Sergei Movsesian

The third surprise in this first round so far is the elimination of Zahar Efimenko, who yesterday lost with the white pieces against 46-year-old Gilberto Milos. Today the young Ukrainian reached an ending with three pawns against a knight, but the experienced Brazilian grandmaster didn’t falter. Bu Xiangzhi was defeated 0.5-1.5 by Yannick Pelletier, who heroically defended a very difficult position with Black yesterday and then crushed his opponent today in a Grünfeld.

A nice thing about the World Cup is that you get to see top 10 players playing against IMs or “weak” GMs, the kind of opponents almost all of us would lose against. The way these top GMs beat them is often very instructive. In most cases the lower-rated players can go along quite well for a while, but after a few hours of play they inevitably start to make small mistakes, which are immediately punished.

Tomorrow are the tiebreaks of the first round:
Dominguez-Smerdon, Navara-Laylo, Bacrot-Nijboer, Hou Yifan-Naiditsch, Li Chao-Sargissian, Kryvoruchko-Cheparinov, Zhou Weiqi-Sutovsky, Iturrizaga-Tiviakov, L’Ami-Sasikiran, Shabalov-Baklan, Khalifman-Fier, Grachev-Bartel, Negi-Milov, Timofeev-Leitao, Gustafsson-Inarkiev, Savchenko-Shulman, Tkachiev-Le Quang Liem, Akobian-Tregubov, So-Guseinov and Nyback-Andreikin.

The rules for the tiebreaks are:

3. 8. 1. a. If the scores are level after the regular games, after a new drawing of colors, four (4) tie-break games shall be played. The games shall be played using the electronic clock starting with 25 minutes for each player with an addition of 10 seconds after each move.

3. 8. 1. b. The tie-break games shall be played according to the following:

1. Play is governed by the Technical Regulations (annex 1), which apply with the exceptions mentioned below in (2), (3) and (4).
2. The player do not need to record the moves. An arbiter shall record the moves.
3. The player who has the move may stop the clock and consult the Arbiter’s score sheet and if his next move will produce a threefold repetition of position (according to Article 9.2a of the Technical Regulations), or the 50 moves rule (according to Article 9.3a of the Technical Regulations), he himself must write the intended move on the score sheet and claim the draw if he wants. A player can also claim a draw according to articles 9.2b and 9.3b of the Technical Regulations. If the claim is found to be correct, the game is immediately ended as a draw. If the claim is found to be incorrect, the Arbiter shall add three (3) minutes to the opponent’s remaining time and the game continues with the intended move in accordance with Article 4 of the Technical Regulations. A maximum of two (2) incorrect claims for a draw can be made by each player. If a player makes a 3rd incorrect claim, the arbiter shall declare the game lost for this player.
4. If a game has ended by resignation, checkmate, time loss, stalemate, triple repetition or any other of the ways described in article 5 of the Technical Regulations, no claim for irregularities shall be accepted (irregularities include clock settings and all other described in article 7 of the Technical Regulations).

3. 8. 2. a. If the scores are level after the games in paragraph 3.8.1a, then, after a new drawing of colors, a match of 2 games shall be played with a time control of 5 minutes plus 3 seconds increment after each move. In case of a level score, the same match will be repeated to determine a winner. If still there is no winner after 5 such matches (total 10 games), one sudden-death game will be played as described below in 3.8.3a.

3. 8. 2. b. The games shall be played according to the Rules mentioned in 3.8.1.b.

3. 8. 3. a. If the score is still level after five matches as described in 3.8.2a, the players shall play a single decisive sudden death game. The player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the color. The player with the white pieces shall receive 5 minutes, the opponent with the black pieces shall receive 4 minutes whereupon, after the 60th move, both players shall receive an
increment of 3 seconds from move 61. In case of a draw the player with the black pieces is declared the winner.

3. 8. 3. b. The games shall be played according to the Rules mentioned in 3.8.1.b.

3. 8. 4. Between the tie-break games as well as before the start of the sudden death game there shall be a pause of at least 10 minutes, unless the Chief Arbiter decides otherwise.

Games round 1.2

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Players are queuing for a security scan...

...here Radjabov just passes, followed by Onischuk and Bologan

Adly-Bologan, a 0.5-1.5 victory for the Moldavian GM

Parimarjan Negi faces Vadim Milov tomorrow again in the tiebreaks

Mamedyarov-Kosteniuk: 2-0 for the Azeri GM

Sergei Tiviakov will play tiebreaks tomorrow against his young opponent Eduardo Iturrizaga

Jan Gustafsson won the first, but lost the second game to Ernesto Inarkiev

Ivan Cheparinov and Yuryi Kryvoruchko are going to play rapid and possible blitz games as well

In the clash between the Romanians, Nisipeanu qualified 1.5-0.5

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN

After two more draws in the last round, Sergei Tiviakov became the winner of the 17th Univé Chess Tournament. Today Tivi’s opponent Anish Giri defended a slightly worse ending and stayed unbeaten; Ivanchuk and Polgar drew in less than an hour. In the open group Stewart Haslinger took clear first.

The 17th Univé Chess Tournament, formerly known as Essent Tournament but sponsored by insurance company Univé this year, took place October 16-24 in Hoogeveen, The Netherlands. As always the Crown Group was a 4-player, double round-robin with this year Vassily Ivanchuk (2756), Judit Polgar (2687), Sergei Tiviakov (2670) and Anish Giri (2552) playing for a € 10,000 prize fund. The time control was 40 moves in 1.5 hours + 30 minutes to finish the game, with 30 seconds increment from the start.

Round 6

To everyone’s surprise Vassily Ivanchuk entered the press room within an hour after the round had started, and with a modest smile he said: “draw”. He had played the Petroff Defence and as so often, White, in this case Judit Polgar, got absolutely nothing out of the opening. This was an explanation, but not a justification for the quick draw; it didn’t feel right that in a tournament of only six rounds, two top players shook hands that quickly. However, it was understandable that Ivanchuk, who missed several chances earlier in the tournament, didn’t feel like going all the way with Black in the last round.

Ivanchuk playing the Petroff against Polgar

The early peace treaty made Sergei Tiviakov decide to offer a draw as well, despite the fact that he was slightly better against Anish Giri. To his surprise, Giri declined! Indeed Black was fine after the opening, but after the inaccurate 23…bxc3 White’s bishop pair and more active pieces started to tell, and it became clear that only Tiviakov could play for a win.

“I started to play badly,” Giri said afterwards, “and I missed 47.g5+, there I thought about resigning for a moment.” But there was the escape 48…g6, which miraculously holds Black’s position together. And so the 15-year-old drew all of his games, which is a wonderful result for a first test at top level.

Plus one was enough for Tiviakov to win outright, earning € 4000 and a glass chess set. Both Ivanchuk and Polgar will feel disappointed; against the former Tiviakov had a lost position in both games while the latter blundered in a reasonable position. But that’s how it is; in the end only the tournament table is what matters.

Tiviakov and Giri: the 11th and last draw of the tournament

In the open group Stewart Haslinger was under pressure for the whole game against Petar Genov, but the Bulgarian couldn’t win a rook ending with 5 against 4 and so Haslinger won the tournament finishing a full point ahead of the rest, as Nijboer had quickly drawn with Friedel. The Dutchman lacked the energy to try and go for the theoretical chance to finish shared first.

Board 1, round 9, Univé Open: Genov-Haslinger, with Nijboer at the board next to them

Stewart Haslinger, clear first place in the open

Remarkably, no norms were scored this year. IM Israel Caspi did well with a 2521 performance and he’s on for a tough schedule: together with GM Yehuda Gruenfeld he’ll take a train to Amsterdam, a bus to Paris and then tomorrow morning a flight to Corsica, where he’ll play the big open that starts… tomorrow afternoon!

Dutch IM Li Riemersma played his first tournament in twelve years, and showed that he can still do it, finishing on a 2410 performance rating. Hopefully he’ll decide to play more tournaments. GM Jesse Kraai’s tourmament ended disappointingly, with a 2372 performance. The rating prize went to Amsterdam player Ron Hoffmann (2107) who performed at 2388.

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Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN: Crown | Open

A deeply disappointed Vassily Ivanchuk walked into the press room this evening after drawing with Sergei Tiviakov. Ukraine’s number one was sure he was winning today. Anish Giri drew also his fifth game, against Judit Polgar. In the open group Haslinger won against Nijboer and now only needs a draw tomorrow to win outright.

The 17th Univé Chess Tournament, formerly known as Essent Tournament but sponsored by insurance company Univé this year, takes place October 16-24 in Hoogeveen, The Netherlands. As always the Crown Group is a 4-player, double round-robin with this year Vassily Ivanchuk (2756), Judit Polgar (2687), Sergei Tiviakov (2670) and Anish Giri (2552) playing for a € 10,000 prize fund. The time control is 40 moves in 1.5 hours + 30 minutes to finish the game, with 30 seconds increment from the start.

Round 5

Sergei Tiviakov has excellent chances to win this year’s Crown Group in Hoogeveen, after he escaped with a draw today against Vassily Ivanchuk. “Yes, my position was very bad,” the Dutch grandmaster admitted, “but after I gave the exchange I didn’t see a clear win for White.” Indeed it wasn’t so easy, but the very difficult computer line given below in the viewer seems convincing enough for objectively assessing the position as winning for White.

Anish Giri is still holding his own; today he added another draw to his collection and again it was quite an interesting game. After the opening the position seemed difficult for White, but eventually Polgar couldn’t find a way to reach an advantage. The two analysed the game for about two hours in the press room, but things remained unclear even there.

After his post-mortem Giri told me that he was very impressed about Polgar’s play. “The way she calculates variations is very good,” he said. During the many blitz sessions in the press room (at the moment of writing he’s 4-0 up against one of our editors), Giri is showing that tactical vision is currently the area in chess where he excels, and so it is understandable that he’s impressed when someone still beats him there!

In the open group Haslinger and Nijboer were both on 6/7, a full point ahead of the rest of the field. Naturally they were paired against each other and this game was decided by, well, perhaps already dubious opening preparation by Nijboer. “I don’t like 6…d6, I really think Black should go for the 6…Qb6 line there,” Haslinger said afterwards. “It’s important for White to put the queen on e2, because then later on pawn a6 will be hanging. That way Black has to play a6-a5.” It was a model game for White against the Kan.

Haslinger needs a draw with Black against Genov tomorrow to secure clear first. If he loses, Nijboer can still finish shared first, but for that he needs to beat Friedel with White.

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Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN

• Judith Polgar (2687) - Vassily Ivanchuk (2756)
• Sergei Tiviakov (2670) - Anish Giri (2552)

• Le site officiel
• Les participants du fermé

2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés

Univé Crown Group, round 4, Hoogeveen, The Netherlands. Finally, after seven games had ended in a draw, Sergei Tiviakov broke the peaceful streak with a victory against Judit Polgar. The Russian-born Dutch grandmaster explained the game before our camera.

Sergei Tiviakov (2670) marque le premier point © Fred Lucas

• Anish Giri (2552) - Judith Polgar (2687)
• Vassily Ivanchuk (2756) - Sergei Tiviakov (2670)

• Sergei Tiviakov (2670) 1-0 Judith Polgar (2687)
• Vassily Ivanchuk (2756) 1/2 Anish Giri (2552)

• Le site officiel
• Les participants du fermé

2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés

Anish Giri - performance à 2717 points Elo © Fred Lucas

• Sergei Tiviakov (2670) 1-0 Judith Polgar (2687)
• Vassily Ivanchuk (2756) 1/2 Anish Giri (2552)

• Le site officiel
• Les participants du fermé

2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés

After Anish Giri and Vassily Ivanchuk also drew their second encounter quickly, it was Sergei Tiviakov who finally won a game in Hoogeveen. In the fourth round he beat Judit Polgar and grabbed the lead with 2.5/4.

The 17th Univé Chess Tournament, formerly known as Essent Tournament but sponsored by insurance company Univé this year, takes place October 16-24 in Hoogeveen, The Netherlands. As always the Crown Group is a 4-player, double round-robin with this year Vassily Ivanchuk (2756), Judit Polgar (2687), Sergei Tiviakov (2670) and Anish Giri (2552) playing for a € 10,000 prize fund. The time control is 40 moves in 1.5 hours + 30 minutes to finish the game, with 30 seconds increment from the start.

Round 4

Although yours truly had originally planned to stay just two days in Hoogeveen, the local gezelligheid has kept me here so far. Many participants of the open group are staying in a bungalow park in Echten, about 9 km from Hoogeveen, where they play soccer and blitz every night before the inevitable laptops come out. Especally GM Jesse Kraai, who by the way has a PhD in philosophy, is a dangerous opponent on the soccer pitch, thanks to his American interpretation of football…

I’m joining a group in one of the bungalows and it’s still hard to get used to all these teenagers sitting next to each other on a couch with a laptop, analyzing their game with Rybka or preparing for tomorrow’s opponent. But that’s chess anno 2009!

To start with the open group: despite decades of experience with the Closed Ruy Lopez, Oleg Romanishin couldn’t reach equality against Friso Nijboer in today’s round 7, and although the former world’s number 11 got away with a bad ending, eventually the point went to the Dutch grandmaster. He was joined in the lead by English grandmaster Stewart Haslinger, who also played strongly in Hoogeveen last year, finishing shared first with Alexandr Fier and… Friso Nijboer.

After the traditional rest day on Wednesday, including the equally traditional dinner with the sponsors, the participants of the Crown Group today returned to the Hoogeveen town hall for the 4th round. In their return match Ivanchuk and Giri drew about as quickly as their first encounter on Sunday. The Ukrainian tried the Slav Exchange and you might think the story ends there, but no, a few moves after they left theory, the board was on fire.

Giri’s 16…c5!? was a bold move that seemed to be asking for trouble, but at the board Ivanchuk couldn’t find the refutation. Afterwards he mentioned 18.b3 Rc8 and now 19.Rb1!, a move he missed, as interesting. At the moment of writing Anish started a new blitz session with Michail Brodsky in the press room, and at the same time he’s discussing openings with IM Merijn van Delft and making jokes with others. He’s quickly becoming part of the Dutch chess scene, and at the same time part of a group that’s called “very strong grandmasters”.

Giri and Ivanchuk going through their game in the press room

Sergei Tiviakov was the one to break the series of draws in the Crown Group by beating Judit Polgar. As always he started quietly, and objectively speaking there was nothing wrong with Black’s position but Polgar simply missed the tactic 29.Nd3 followed by e4-e5 today. In itself this wasn’t so bad, but then she missed that after 29…Ree8 30.e5 Black has 30…Ng4! which is not clear at all. Instead Polgar gave an exchange, but according to Tiviakov the ending must always be winning for White due to the protected passed pawn. In a video interview that will be published later, the Dutch GM will tell some more about the game.

1.e4: Tiviakov beats Polgar and grabs the lead

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We finally have a leader and his name is Tiviakov

A moment of lack of concentration was fatal for Judit Polgar

Tiviakov's score sheet

Four draws for Vassily Ivanchuk...

...and Anish Giri

Two chess lovers of different generations: Giri and Ivanchuk trying to solve a mate-in-three problem

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN

Excellente entrée en matière pour Anish Giri (perf 2704) © Fred Lucas

• Le site officiel
• Les participants du fermé

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• Sergei Tiviakov (2670) 1/2 Vassily Ivanchuk (2756)
• Judith Polgar (2687) 1/2 Anish Giri (2552)

• Le site officiel
• Le classement du Crown Group

2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés

Anish Giri a annulé hier face à Vassily Ivanchuk © Fred Lucas

• Vassily Ivanchuk (2756) 1/2 Judith Polgar (2687)
• Anish Giri (2552) 1/2 Sergei Tiviakov (2670)

• Le site officiel
• Les participants du fermé

2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés

Also in the third round of the Univé Chess Tournaments both games in the Crown Group ended in a draw. Giri drew easily with Polgar using the Petroff while Ivanchuk couldn’t convert a big advantage against Tiviakov – the Dutchman GM liquidated to a RB-R ending and knew his endgame theory.

The 17th Univé Chess Tournament, formerly known as Essent Tournament but sponsored by insurance company Univé this year, takes place October 16-24 in Hoogeveen, The Netherlands. As always the Crown Group is a 4-player, double round-robin with this year Vassily Ivanchuk (2756), Judit Polgar (2687), Sergei Tiviakov (2670) and Anish Giri (2552) playing for a € 10,000 prize fund. The time control is 40 moves in 1.5 hours + 30 minutes to finish the game, with 30 seconds increment from the start.

Round 3

Yet again we were looking at an empty tournament hall today as far as the open group was concerned, when one game in the Crown Group was still going on. Ivanchuk was trying to beat Tiviakov in the infamous RB-R ending which is theoretically drawn, but tricky in practical play. However, with the time control used in Hoogeveen, Tiviakov didn’t come close to timetrouble, and in such a situation defending the ending is a piece of cake for a strong grandmaster.

It was understandable that Ivanchuk tried it for quite a while, because earlier the Ukrainian top seed had probably thrown away a winning position. He refuted strange opening play by Tiviakov and reached a very promosing ending. “29…Be7 was a bad move,” Ivanchuk said. “29…h4 or taking on h3 must be winning.”

Anish Giri is still holding his own comfortably among the big names; today the 15-year-old easily drew with Black against Judit Polgar. In fact, if anyone could have played for a win it was him. “Maybe against a weaker played I would have gone for 11…Ne6 but against Polgar I thought I should play it safe.” So far keeping it safe is enough to share the lead at half-time.

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Missing a win today: Vassily Ivanchuk

Bad opening, good defence: Sergei Tiviakov

Not easy finding something against the Petroff: Judit Polgar

Nothing to lose, and doing fine so far: Anish Giri

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN

“Amazingly, I’m still on first place after two rounds. No, even better, I have the highest tpr,” Anish Giri said after his draw with Sergei Tiviakov today. The youngest participant was happy to share his thoughts about the game with us. Judit Polgar missed a win with Black against Vassily Ivanchuk and so after two rounds all players have one point. In the open group Brodsky is the only player with 4/4.

The 17th Univé Chess Tournament, formerly known as Essent Tournament but sponsored by insurance company Univé this year, takes place October 16-24 in Hoogeveen, The Netherlands. As always the Crown Group is a 4-player, double round-robin with this year Vassily Ivanchuk (2756), Judit Polgar (2687), Sergei Tiviakov (2670) and Anish Giri (2552) playing for a € 10,000 prize fund. The time control is 40 moves in 1.5 hours + 30 minutes to finish the game, with 30 seconds increment from the start.

Round 2

Despite two more draws, it’s not difficult to describe the fighting spirit in the Crown Group today. Except for one board, the whole open group had already finished when Ivanchuk, Polgar, Tiviakov and Giri were still playing!

The game between the two top seeds was quite difficult – even to name the opening is not an easy task. We’ll just call it a Nimzo/Queen’s Indian hybrid. Anyway, Black’s play was very thematical and when she had managed to push d6-d5, Polgar was doing fine. Ivanchuk subsequently played quite risky and indeed was losing at one point. 46…Qd4 wins on the spot and Polgar did see it, but not the exact pointe – see the game viewer.

Giri and Tiviakov had a very different opinion about the opening variation that came on the board – a Catalan which Tiviakov had played before. “I said I looked at two lines, one of them which was equal and one good for me. He thought the one line good for Black, and the other one winning for him!” Giri said. Future opponents of Tiviakov should look at the lines we give in the game viewer, because they were all whispered to us by the reigning Dutch champion, who doesn’t believe in the variation for Black.

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Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN

In the first round of the Univé Chess Tournament both Giri-Ivanchuk and Polgar-Tiviakov ended in a draw. In the open group, which started already on Friday, only three players are sharing the lead after three rounds: GM Brodsky and IMs Slingerland and Willemze.

The 17th Univé Chess Tournament, formerly known as Essent Tournament but sponsored by insurance company Univé this year, takes place October 16-24 in Hoogeveen, The Netherlands. As always the Crown Group is a 4-player, double round-robin with this year Vassily Ivanchuk (2756), Judit Polgar (2687), Sergei Tiviakov (2670) and Anish Giri (2552) playing for a € 10,000 prize fund. The time control is 40 moves in 1.5 hours + 30 minutes to finish the game, with 30 seconds increment from the start.

Round 1

After the opening on Friday, two of the four participants of the Crown Group could already be found in the Hoogeveen town hall on Saturday. Vassily Ivanchuk, who was wearing his famous Real Madrid training outfit, was interested in the games from the second round of the open group, but also spent some time in the press room following the live transmission of the Bundesliga.

Rising star Anish Giri loves the game of chess as much as his Ukrainian colleague, but he showed it differently: by playing blitz with everyone who wanted to try his luck. Some questioned this type of preparation, but isn’t chess all about enjoying the game?

As it turned out, Giri already picked up a similar attitude as many of today’s top grandmasters seem to have when they have to play Ivanchuk: it’s impossible to prepare for him, so perhaps it’s better not to prepare at all. “I did look at the Ragozin some time ago, but I didn’t expect it today,” Giri said after the game, which had ended in a quick draw after White gave a perpetual check on the black queen.

Although the 15-year-old was satisfied with a draw against Ivanchuk, he did try to find ways to play on in the end. “I looked at 20.Qb2 with the idea 20…Nc4 21.d5 Nxb2 22.dxc6 and try to trap the knight, but it can go to d3. And 20.Qb3 Be6 21.Rxg7+ Kxg7 22.Qg3+ is a trick that doesn’t work because of 22…Bg4.”

Anish Giri and Vassily Ivanchuk start with a quick draw

Judit Polgar, who came to Hoogeveen for the ninth time, hadn’t played a classical game since November last year. “With our two children we’ve had other priorities lately, but now I’ll play some more.” After Hoogeveen Polgar will join the World Blitz in Moscow, and she’ll also be playing the World Cup in Khanty-Mansyisk.

Sergei Tiviakov was probably doing fine after the opening but Polgar preferred 17…cxd5 over 17…Bxd5. “I kept a small advantage because of the pawn structure; in some endings White can attack the b6 pawn with Bc7.” Tiviakov’s pawn sacrifice on f6 in the rook ending was a good choice. “Otherwise I would have had serious winning chances,” Polgar said.

Judit Polgar is back and starts with a solid draw against Tiviakov

For the first time in the history of the tournament the players don’t play with glass pieces (and wooden Garde clocks) anymore, but on normal electronical boards. The glass museum nearby Hoogeveen ceased to exist a few years ago and for this edition it was decided to end the tradition. The winner does receive a glass chess set, though.

In the open group, GM Brodsky and IMs Slingerland and Willemze are the only players left with a 100% score after three rounds. Top seed Joshua Friedel (USA) dropped half a point in the first round against Andreas Vinke (2232) from Germany while GM Friso Nijboer, the strongest Dutch participant this year (partly because of the upcoming European Team Championship), drew yesterday with his compatriot IM Herman Grooten in a wonderful game, full of mistakes but lovely to replay – included in the viewer below. As soon as possible a video report of the first day in Hoogeveen will be published.

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As always the venue is the town hall in Hoogeveen

A new sponsor, a new name

The glass chess set placed between the two boards, created by English glass artists Mark Locock and Emma Kirkham, who live in Hoogeveen

The set will be awarded to the winner of the Crown Group

Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)

Judit Polgar (Hungary)

Sergei Tiviakov (The Netherlands)

Reigning Dutch Champion Anish Giri

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN

Anish Giri, génial joueur d'échecs de 15 ans © Fred Lucas

• Judith Polgar (2687) - Sergei Tiviakov (2670)
• Anish Giri (2552) - Vassily Ivanchuk (2756)

• Le site officiel
• Les participants du fermé

2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés

• Le site officiel
• Les participants du fermé

2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés

• Le site officiel
• Les participants du fermé

2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés

Already in the second round of the European Club Cup two top teams met: Mika Yerevan (Aronian, Akopian, Sargissian, Pashikian, Andriasian and Petrosian) and ShSM-64 Moscow (Gelfand, Karjakin, Caruana, Najer, Nepomniachtchi and Grachev). Sargissian’s win against Caruana decided the match in Yerevan’s favour.

The 25th European Club Cup (57 teams) and the 14th European Club Cup for Women (14 teams) take place October 3-11 in Ohrid, Macedonia, about 190 km south of the capital Skopje. The time control is 90 min. for 40 moves + 30 min. & 30 sec. increment. The winning open team receives € 11,000; the best women team € 3,750. The best individual player gets € 700; the best female player € 250.

Round 2

In the second round, the Olympic medal winners playing under the name of Mika Yerevan took a first hurdle in their quest to win the European Club Cup as well: Aronian & co beat ShSM-64 Moscow 3½:2½ with five draws and Sargissian beating Caruana in a short game. The Italian tried the Benkö/Volga Gambit but missed an early tactical shot and soon got mated.

In general all other strong teams won their matches easily. Some upsets of this round: FM Twan Burg (2449) beat GM Ni Hua (2692), FM Felix Klein defeated GM Alexey Dreev (2659), FM Henrik Rudolf (2353) beat GM Boris Avrukh (2668) and IM Salvia Brenjo (2495) defeated GM Sergei Tiviakov (2670).

The Women section has been exciting from the start. After defending champs Monte Carlo tied their first match, in round 2 the Russian teams Economist-SGSEU Saratov and Spartak Vidnoe did the same on the top boards.

All results round 2

Selection of games round 2

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The beautiful view over Lake Ohrid, which straddles the mountainous border between the southwestern Republic of Macedonia and eastern Albania

The view over the playing hall

Tomsk-400: Motylev, Tiviakov, Bologan, Timofeev, Inarkiev and Amonatov

ShSM-64 Moscow with Gelfand, Karjakin, Caruana, Najer, Nepomniachtchi and Grachev

Alkaloid (Mamedyarov, Kamsky, Volokitin, Guseinov, Mamedov and Nedev) vs Werder Bremen (Fressinet, Nyback, Hracek, Babula, Fish and Meins)

Ural Svedrdlovskaya: Grischuk, Shirov, Malakhov, Rublevsky, Dreev and Bareev

Peter Svidler, board 1 for SPbChFed Sankt-Peterburg...

...and his former Experience Team member Alexander Beliavsky, board 4 for PVK - Kievchess

Photos courtesy of the official website

Links

• Official website
• Open section at Chess-Results
• Women section at Chess-Results
• Games in PGN: Open section | Women section

After the opening ceremony, which was held last Friday, Sergei Tiviakov walked over to his townsman Sipke Ernst, his opponent in the last round, and offered him a draw. Ernst accepted, but then Tiviakov added that he could’t play on Sunday, because he had to play in the Croatian league on Monday. Ernst suggested him to contact the arbiter, which Tiviakov did. At that point the arbiter and tournament director didn’t object (yet).

After the third round (Tiviakov had drawn with Bitalzadeh, lost to Swinkels and beaten Miedema) the organizers told him that they couldn’t allow it. As stated in the players’ contract, which was signed by Tiviakov, all participants have to attend the opening, closing and all rounds. If he wouldn’t appear in the playing hall, his game would be declared lost by default. Tiviakov immediately decided to withdraw from the tournament, which thus lost its top seeded player.

On Monday, August 24th Arkadij Naiditsch decided to drive from Dortmund to Amsterdam and back, to visit the NH Chess Tournament for a day. Only three days later he played his first round in Montreal, Canada and yesterday he won the strong, 12-player round-robin with 7.5/11.

The 10th Montreal International took place August 27th – September 7th in Montreal, Canada. This year it was a 12-player round-robin with Etienne Bacrot (FRA, 2721), Alexander Onischuk (USA, 2699), Arkady Naiditsch (2697), Alexander Moiseenko (UKR, 2682), Sergei Tiviakov (NED, 2674), Yuri Shulman (USA, 2648), Varuzhan Akobian (USA, 2626), Anton Kovalyov (ARG, 2572), Mark Bluvshtein (CAN, 2558), Sebastien Maze (FRA, 2546), Thomas Roussel-Roozmon (CAN, 2487) and Vinay Bhat (USA, 2473).

Our first report was about the first four rounds, after which GMs Etienne Bacrot, Arkadij Naiditsch and Anton Kovalyov were sharing the lead with 3/4. Three rounds later Bacrot and Naiditsch were topping the standings with 5/7, a point ahead of Bluvshtein, Mazé and Kovalyov.

It was clear that fight for first place would be fought out between the two grandmasters, also taking into account that Onischuk and Tiviakov didn’t seem to be in top shape. Naiditsch and Bacrot were sharing the lead until the last round, but yesterday Naiditsch defeated Bhat in the only decisive game of the round, to take clear first – Bacrot drew with Kovalyov and had to be satisfied with clear second.

Ironically, in the 6th round the tournament winner lost against Akobian in what was easily the shortest, decisive game of the tournament. With Black, Naiditsch played the Exchange Variation of the Queen’s Gambit in Lasker style but this didn’t really work out well, as you can see in the selection of games below. French GM Sebastien Mazé did well with a 2685 performance; Canadian IM Roossel-Roozmon however didn’t come close to a GM norm, for which he needed 5.5 points.

Selection of games rounds 4-11

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Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN

• Mark Bluvshtein (2558) 1/2 Sébastien Mazé (2546)
• Alexander Moiseenko (2682) 1/2 Yuri Shulman (2648)
• Arkadij Naiditsch (2697) 1-0 Vinay Bhat (2473)
• Alexander Onischuk (2699) 1/2 T. Roussel-Roozmon (2487)
• Varuzhan Akobian (2626) 1/2 Sergei Tiviakov (2674)
• Anton Kovalyov (2571) 1/2 Étienne Bacrot (2721)

• Le site officiel
• Les photos du tournoi
• Le classement général

2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés

• Mark Bluvshtein (2558) - Sébastien Mazé (2546)
• Alexander Moiseenko (2682) - Yuri Shulman (2648)
• Arkadij Naiditsch (2697) - Vinay Bhat (2473)
• Alexander Onischuk (2699) - T. Roussel-Roozmon (2487)
• Varuzhan Akobian (2626) - Sergei Tiviakov (2674)
• Anton Kovalyov (2571) - Étienne Bacrot (2721)

• Sébastien Mazé (2546) 1/2 Anton Kovalyov (2571)
• Étienne Bacrot (2721) 1/2 Varuzhan Akobian (2626)
• Sergei Tiviakov (2674) 1-0 Alexander Onischuk (2699)
• T. Roussel-Roozmon (2487) 1/2 Arkadij Naiditsch (2697)
• Vinay Bhat (2473) 0-1 Alexander Moiseenko (2682)
• Yuri Shulman (2648) 1/2 Mark Bluvshtein (2558)

• Le site officiel
• Les photos du tournoi
• Le classement général

2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés

• Sébastien Mazé (2546) - Anton Kovalyov (2571)
• Étienne Bacrot (2721) - Varuzhan Akobian (2626)
• Sergei Tiviakov (2674) - Alexander Onischuk (2699)
• T. Roussel-Roozmon (2487) - Arkadij Naiditsch (2697)
• Vinay Bhat (2473) - Alexander Moiseenko (2682)
• Yuri Shulman (2648) - Mark Bluvshtein (2558)

• Yuri Shulman (2648) 1/2 Sébastien Mazé (2546)
• Mark Bluvshtein (2558) 1/2 Vinay Bhat (2473)
• Alexander Moiseenko (2682) 1-0 T. Roussel-Roozmon (2487)
• Arkadij Naiditsch (2697) 1/2 Sergei Tiviakov (2674)
• Alexander Onischuk (2699) 1/2 Étienne Bacrot (2721)
• Varuzhan Akobian (2626) 1/2 Anton Kovalyov (2571)

• Le site officiel
• Les photos du tournoi
• Le classement général

2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés

• Yuri Shulman (2648) 1/2 Sébastien Mazé (2546)
• Mark Bluvshtein (2558) 1/2 Vinay Bhat (2473)
• Alexander Moiseenko (2682) 1-0 T. Roussel-Roozmon (2487)
• Arkadij Naiditsch (2697) 1/2 Sergei Tiviakov (2674)
• Alexander Onischuk (2699) 1/2 Étienne Bacrot (2721)
• Varuzhan Akobian (2626) 1/2 Anton Kovalyov (2571)

• Sébastien Mazé (2546) 1-0 Varuzhan Akobian (2626)
• Anton Kovalyov (2571) 1/2 Alexander Onischuk (2699)
• Étienne Bacrot (2721) 1/2 Arkadij Naiditsch (2697)
• Sergei Tiviakov (2674) 1-0 Alexander Moiseenko (2682)
• T. Roussel-Roozmon (2487) 1-0 Mark Bluvshtein (2558)
• Vinay Bhat (2473) 1-0 Yuri Shulman (2648)

• Le site officiel
• Les photos du tournoi
• Le classement général

2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés

• Sébastien Mazé (2546) - Varuzhan Akobian (2626)
• Anton Kovalyov (2571) - Alexander Onischuk (2699)
• Étienne Bacrot (2721) - Arkadij Naiditsch (2697)
• Sergei Tiviakov (2674) - Alexander Moiseenko (2682)
• T. Roussel-Roozmon (2487) - Mark Bluvshtein (2558)
• Vinay Bhat (2473) - Yuri Shulman (2648)

• Vinay Bhat (2473) 1/2 Sébastien Mazé (2546)
• Yuri Shulman (2648) 1/2 T. Roussel-Roozmon (2487)
• Mark Bluvshtein (2558) 1/2 Sergei Tiviakov (2674)
• Alexander Moiseenko (2682) 1/2 Étienne Bacrot (2721)
• Arkadij Naiditsch (2697) 1-0 Anton Kovalyov (2571)
• Alexander Onischuk (2699) 1/2 Varuzhan Akobian (2626)

• Le site officiel
• Les photos du tournoi
• Le classement général

2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés

• Vinay Bhat (2473) - Sébastien Mazé (2546)
• Yuri Shulman (2648) - T. Roussel-Roozmon (2487)
• Mark Bluvshtein (2558) - Sergei Tiviakov (2674)
• Alexander Moiseenko (2682) - Étienne Bacrot (2721)
• Arkadij Naiditsch (2697) - Anton Kovalyov (2571)
• Alexander Onischuk (2699) - Varuzhan Akobian (2626)

• Le site officiel
• Les photos du tournoi
• Le classement général

2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés

After four rounds GMs Etienne Bacrot and Anton Kovalyov are leading the Montreal International with 3 points. The two are half a point ahead of GMs Mark Bluvshtein and Alexander Onischuk in a strong, 12-player round-robin.

The 10th Montreal International takes place August 27th till September 7th in Montreal, Canada. This year it’s a 12-player round-robin with Etienne Bacrot (FRA, 2721), Alexander Onischuk (USA, 2699), Arkady Naiditsch (2697), Alexander Moiseenko (UKR, 2682), Sergei Tiviakov (NED, 2674), Yuri Shulman (USA, 2648), Varuzhan Akobian (USA, 2626), Anton Kovalyov (ARG, 2572), Mark Bluvshtein (CAN, 2558), Sebastien Maze (FRA, 2546), Thomas Roussel-Roozmon (CAN, 2487) and Vinay Bhat (USA, 2473).

Etienne Bacrot and the relatively unknown Argentine grandmaster Anton Kovalyov lead after four rounds; the Frenchman beat GM Tiviakov and IM Roussel-Roozmon while Kovalyov also beat the Canadian IM, and GM Vinay Bhat. Below are the games of the first three rounds – all that is available at the moment on the so far disappointing tournament website, which is offering only the most basic information.

Games rounds 1-3

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Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN