He needed a little help from his opponent in the last round, but after winning the ACP World Rapid Cup Sergey Karjakin also managed to finish first in Poikovsky. Finishing with three out of three, Viktor Bologan also scored 7/11, but the Moldav GM had a slightly worse tiebreak.

The 11th edition of the tournament named after 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov took place June 2-13 in Poikovsky, Russia. For the first time the tournament had not 10, but 12 players. See our first report for more info.

Rounds 9-11

In round 9 Vitiugov managed to surprise Rublevsky in the opening – in a well-known QGA position.

Vitiugov-Rublevsky

White went 6.d5!? and after 6…b5 7.Bb3 exd5 (7…c4 8.dxe6! Qxd1+ 9.Bxd1) 8.Bxd5 Ra7 9.e4 Nf6 10.Nc3 Nxd5 11.Nxd5 Nc6 12.O-O Be6 13.a4 Black fell into a trap with the careless 13…Be7?

Can you see how? See the game viewer below.

Karjakin couldn’t beat Onischuk, who defended a rook ending superbly. After reaching the following position, the American easily found a few only moves.

Karjakin-Onischuk

72…Kf4! 73.Ra4+ Kf3 74.Ra3+ Kf4 75.Kc6 g5 76.Kd5 g4 77.Ra4+ Kf3 78.Ke5 g3 79.Ra3+ Kg4 80.Kf6 and Karjakin offered a draw. Without Black’s f-pawn the ending is lost, but with it it’s a draw, the reason being that it protects the black king from a check on f8!

Fireworks in the following game.

Sutovsky-Vitiugov

White couldn’t resist the temptation and went 22.Rxf7!? Qxf7 23.Bxg6 and here Black should have given back a piece with 23…Qf6!! 24.Be4+ Qg5 25.Bxc7 Qxg3 26.Bxg3. Instead, after 23…Qf2+ 24.Qxf2 Rxf2 25.Kxf2 Rf8+ with 26.Kg1 White could have kept an advantage.

But Sutovsky missed another trick by playing 26.Kg3? – can you see what was wrong with that move?

Karjakin had been under pressure in a Winawer French, but again luck was not on Sutovsky’s side.

Karjakin-Sutovsky

By now the ending should end in a draw, but with 47…Rh3? Black didn’t give his rook enough checking distance. 47…Kd6 48.Kf5 Rf1+ is equal. 48.g5! Kd6 49.Kf5 and White won.

After two strong wins Bologan got yet another full point in a bishop ending against last year’s winner Motylev, who this time finished at the bottom of the standings.

Bologan-Motylev

Black erred with 61…f4? (61…g5! is a draw) 62.Bc3+ Kg5 63.Bxg7 Kxh5 64.Bd4 Kh4 65.Bc5 Bb8 66.Kd4 Kg5 67.d6 a5 68.Kd5 a4 69. Bb6 1-0

Karpov Tournament (Poikovsky) 2010 | Round 11 (Final) Standings

Games rounds 9-11

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Links

• Official website
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Coups d'oeil sur le 11ème Tournoi d'échecs Karpov Poikovsky qui se déroule du 31 mai au 14 juin dans la région de Khanty-Mansijsk, sur la plaine de Sibérie occidentale.

Dmitry Jakovenko leads the Karpov tournament in Poikovsky with 5.5/8. In round 8 he beat Alexander Motylev with Black, while co-leader Alexander Riazantsev lost to Sergey Karjakin with the white pieces in a spectacular game. The top seed is now half a point behind the leader.

The 11th edition of the tournament named after 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov takes place June 2-13 in Poikovsky, Russia. For the first time the tournament has not 10, but 12 players. See our first report for more info.

Rounds 7-8

In our previous report we complained a little bit about the many (short) draws in Poikovsky, but there’s no reason to be unhappy about what happened on Wednesday and Thursday. Many great fights, and three black victories in the last round, brought Jakovenko in sole lead.

The following game was an interesting draw.

Vitiugov-Riazantsev

White should be winning. However, after 32.Bxf8 Black managed to complicate matters with 32…Rb3!? 33.Qa5 (33.Qc5!) 33…Bd3+! 34.Rxd3 Rxd3 and now instead of 35.Bh6! White went 35.Qa6? gxf5! and Black saved himself.

Yesterday Riazantsev wasn’t so lucky anymore against Karjakin, who managed to defend against a strong, prepared piece sacrifice.

Riazantsev-Karjakin

White came up with 12.Nf5!?. Karjakin took the knight, defended by playing his king to the queenside and all the way to d2 and eventually won!

Karpov Tournament (Poikovsky) 2010 | Round 8 Standings

Games rounds 7-8

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Links

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Dopo 4 turni conducono con 3 punti i favoriti Karjakin e Jakovenko con 3 punti.
Ecco il campo partenti di questa fortissima competizione, che rende omaggio ad Anatoly Karpov e che prevede un round robin con 12 giocatori:

Quarto turno

Terzo turno

Secondo turno:

Ecco il primo turno:

Rublevsky - Riazantsev

Il bianco ha appena giocato 49.h4 creando la possibile minaccia Dh8 matto, illudendosi di tenere legato il nero, che però vince con 49…Da1+ 50.Rg2, Ce1+ 51.Rg3, Dxa3+ 52.Rf4, Dc3! mettendo sotto controllo e5 e minacciando la semplice Cg2 matto 53.Df8+, Rh5 54.f3, Cg2+ 55.Rg3, Dxf3+ 56.Rh2, Cf4 con matto imparabile

Le partite in diretta con aiuto del motore qui: http://livechess.chessdom.com/site/

De Anand-Topalov. Kasparov, Carlsen, Kramnik, como asistentes de Anand. Karpov y la FIDE. GP Fide y el Próximo Campeonato Mundial. Selecciones
Autonómicas en España. GP FIDE: ya están los Candidatos. Karjakin gana la Copa Mundial Ajedrez Rápido. Anish Giri en el Sigeman & Co. Se viene León XXIII.

En Zona de Ajedrez, comentamos extensamente las partidas y alternativas del Match por el Campeonato Mundial, finalizado el 11 de mayo de 2010 tras el cual Anand confirmó su calidad de Campeón y lo será al menos por dos años más.

Alto nivel de combatividad, excelencia técnica fueron las características del Match. Destacamos la preparación previa y el que muchas jugadas venían desde el laboratorio casero. Y casi todas las novedades las aportó Anand. Hoy se sabe que Topalov contó, antes de su salida al mercado del Rybka 4 y que la gente de Hiarcs le facilitó a Anand un equipo muy potente durante todo el Match. Pero el Match no se trató de un duelo entre ordenadores, el factor humano o el “cluster” humano fue más importante. El ordenador sirve, pero también tiene lugares oscuros que pueden llevar al fracaso. No es muy fiable. Así, el jugador no puede no ser creativo “per se” y debe correr riesgos. Tras el error en la primera partida 23…. Rf7? (según Anand una omisión u olvido en el orden de las jugadas), el Vishy tomó el control, rápidamente igualó y pasó a la delantera. Aparentemente el cansancio y la derrota en la 8va partida (54… Ac6?? cuando las tablas estaban ahí nomás) pusieron en aprietos al Campeón. Llegaron a la última partida y la conclusión parece ser que los nervios de Topalov le jugaron una mala pasada. Anand hubiera estado conforme con unas Tablas e ir a los Desempates con una confianza razonable (su calidad en partidas rápidas era un plus). Por eso eligió la sólida Defensa Lasker del Gambito Dama. Lejos de variantes secretas o armas preparadas por Véselin y así controló la partida. No pude dejar de recordar aquella famosa partida de la Final de San Petersburgo 1914, en la que Lasker eligió la Variante del Cambio de la Ruy López frente a Capablanca y fue la llave para ganar aquel Torneo. Pero hablamos de factor humano y más allá de la psicología, la tensión, el cansancio y demás ingredientes, es increíble el equipo que colaboró con Anand. Desde septiembre de 2009 había empezado a trabajar con sus colaboradores habituales: Rustam Kasimdzhanov (UZB-30-2699), Peter Heine Nielsen (NOR-36-2698), Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Pol-23-2663) y Surya Shekhar Ganguly (IND-27-2672).

Pero poco a poco se fue sumando gente a echar mano en la preparación de Anand. Magnus Carlsen se puso en contacto y se ofreció, como ya había hecho en otras oportunidades, una vez finalizado el Amber en Niza, para participar unos días en el entrenamiento. Luego se brindó para ayudar un poco, nada menos que Garry Kasparov e intercambió información, antes y durante el Match y entre otras cosas apoyó la idea de jugar la Catalana. Pero claro, faltaba Vladimir Kramnik, que se comunicó con Anand y fue otro asesor invalorable en el transcurso del Match. También la joven promesa Anish Giri que aportó lo suyo en partidas de entrenamiento. Increíble. Los Campeones Mundiales Kasparov y Kramnik; el candidato de todos, Magnus Carlsen y el sorprendente Anish Giri. Entendemos que Anand tuviera alta la moral. Más allá que ante el tablero se sienten dos seres humanos, con sus virtudes y carencias, Anand tuvo un plus importante en quienes lo apoyaron y colaboraron con él. Tal vez esto valorice aún más la tarea de Topalov, de quien dijo Anand: "Véselin es un luchador excepcional. (…) Lo que ha pasado es que mi rival no ha aguantado la tensión nerviosa en la última partida de un duelo agotador".

V Campeonato de España de Selecciones Autonómicas 2010.

Unos días antes, el 2 de mayo de 2010, había finalizado este importante torneo por Equipos. Se disputó en Tossa de Mar entre el 29 de abril y el 2 de mayo de 2010.

Fue una nueva victoria del fortísimo equipo de Catalunya, cuyos 6 titulares masculinos se ubicaban entre los mejores 10 por ránking inicial y entre los mejores jugadores de toda España y en el Tablero Femenino la segunda mejor española en el ELO.

El Equipo, integrado por GM Miguel Illescas Cordoba (2604); GM Daniel Alsina Leal (2548); GM Marc Narciso Dublan (2530); GM Alfonso Romero Holmes (2515); GM Josep Oms Pallisse (2494); IM Alvar Alonso Rosell (2509-U18) y WIM Patricia Llaneza Vega (2277).

Barcelona ganó todos sus matches, a seis tableros y seis rondas. A continuación la tabla de posición y más abajo todas las partidas para ver y descargar.

Anatoly Karpov  “Un Campeón del Cambio”: Después de una vida dedicada a la práctica y  promoción del ajedrez, el ex Campeón Mundial, Anatoly Karpov anunció su candidatura a la Presidencia de la FIDE, bajo el título “Un Campeón del Cambio” e inició su campaña a la presidencia de la Federación Internacional de Ajedrez. Presentó  los objetivos y temas principales de su campaña. Podéis acceder a su plataforma y demás en www.karpov2010.org.

En una conferencia de prensa 21 de abril en Moscú, el Presidente del Consejo de Supervisión de la Federación Rusa de Ajedrez (RCF) y asesor del presidente de Rusia, Arkadi Dvorkovich, anunció que se ha decidido apoyar la candidatura presidencial del actual presidente de la FIDE, Ilyumzhinov en 2010.

Garry Kasparov, criticó esta actitud de Dvorkovich y declaró su apoyo a Karpov: "La Federación de Ajedrez de Rusia y Arkadi Dvorkovich -esto no es lo mismo, creo-; y hasta donde yo sé, la cuestión de apoyar (la reelección de) Ilyumzhinov no se discutió (…). Se trata de algo personal de Dvorkovich y creo que su declaración es indignante. Ilyumzhinov Los resultados son conocidos. El ajedrez está ahora en una situación muy difícil, diplomáticamente hablando. Hoy viajo mucho en el mundo y sé que los jugadores de ajedrez, y muchas federaciones desean cambiar. Creo que Karpov es el candidato ideal para hacer los cambios necesarios.”

El 14 de mayo, el Consejo de Supervisión de la Federación Rusa de Ajedrez (RCF) se reunió en Moscú y Anatoly Karpov fue nominado como candidato a presidente de la FIDE en la elección que tendrá lugar en Khanty-Mansiysk, Rusia, en septiembre. La nominación de Karpov recibió 17 votos de los 32 miembros del Consejo.

El 17 de mayo, en Nueva York, Kaspárov y Carlsen participan en una cena para recaudar fondos en apoyo de la candidatura de Karpov y la del norteamericano Richard A. Conn Jr. como vicepresidente de la FIDE.

El 21 de mayo, Karpov y Kasparov, visitaron Berlín para apoyar la candidatura de Robert von Weizsäcker para ser presidente de la ECU (Unión Europea de Ajedrez). La Federación Alemana había organizado una rueda de prensa el viernes al mediodía en la cual se hizo púbico oficialmente la candidatura de Von Weizsäcker para dicho cargo. El candidato para ser presidente de la FIDE Anatoly Karpov y Garry Kasparov también estuvieron presentes y muy activamente además. "Vamos a destrozar el mito del Ilyumzhinov invencible", comentó Kasparov. Weizsäcker cuenta con un equipo de importantes ajedrecistas en actividad, entre ellos Short, Hjartarsson, Sokolov.

Anatoly está recibiendo mucho apoyo mundial (las federaciones de Rusia, EE:UUU., Inglaterra, España, Francia, Suiza, República Checa, Bosnia, Mónaco, Islandia, Escocia, Alemania, Ucrania, Egipto, Congo, Marruecos, Angola, El Salvador, Nicaragua, entre otras han hecho su apoyo oficial y lo pusieron por escrito) y muchas personalidades del Ajedrez también han dado su apoyo y se han sumado a los equipos de Karpov.

Gata Kamsky gana el Campeonato de EE. UU. 14 de mayo al 24 de mayo de 2010. El campeonato de EE.UU. se llevo a cabo en St. Louis, por segundo año consecutivo. El torneo que se desarrolló por sistema suiza a 7 rondas. Los 4 primeros (Shulman, Kamsky, Nakamura y Onischuk) compitieron en un torneo cerrado, empatando en el primer puesto Shulman y Kamsky. El desempate por el 1er lugar es especial: Sobre la base de 60 minutos + 5 segundos, los jugadores pujan secretamente “ofreciendo” una cantidad de tiempo (minutos y segundos igual o inferior a 60 minutos). El jugador que oferta la cifra más baja elige su color, mientras que el oponente tiene 60 minutos. Gata Kamsky ofreció 25’ + 5’’ y eligió las piezas negras. Shulman los blancas y 60’ + 5’’. Estos fueron el tiempo y los colores con los que dispuso cada jugador. El empate consagró a Kamsky como Campeón.

Más abajo todas las partidas para ver y descargar.

Fide Grand Prix – 6ta Etapa: Eljanov gana el Torneo. Levon Aronian y Teimour Radjabov se clasifican para el Candidatura para el Campeonato Mundial a jugarse en 2012.

El gran maestro ucranio Pavel Eljanov ganó con autoridad y un punto de ventaja  la última etapa del Grand Prix de la FIDE en Astracán. Compartieron el 2do puesto Ponomariov, Jakovenko, Mamedyarov, Alexeev y Radjabov. Bajo rendimiento de Ivanchuk que pronto quedó sin chances.

Con esto están los 8 candidatos: Veselin Topalov (el perdedor en el Match por el Campeonato del Mundo); Gata Kamsky (por Semifinalista en el ciclo anterior); Boris Gelfand (como ganador de la Copa del Mundo 2009); Vladimir Kramnik y Magnus Carlsen (clasificados por ranking) y por su actuación en el ciclo de FIDE Grand Prix: Levon Aronian y Teimour Radjabov.

Más abajo todas las partidas para ver y descargar.

4th ACP Copa Mundial de Ajedrez Rápido - Sergey Karjakin Campeón.

El ucraniano, naturalizado ruso, venció en la última partida a “muerte súbita”  a Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS-2725); tras seis tablas y un grueso error en la jugada 62.

Los 16 participantes se fueron eliminando tras matches a dos partidas, para llegar a la Final, que se definía en cuatro partidas.

El ritmo de juego fue de 20’+5’’. Los desempates en partidas blitz a 3’+2’’ y finalmente a “muerte súbita”.

Casi todos los favoritos ganaron en la 1ra ronda: Grischuk, Eljanov, Shirov, Karjakin, Gashimov, Jakovenko y Movsesian; excepto Vasili Ivanchuk (que parecía estar mal antes del inicio) perdió a Mikhail Gurevich.

En los cuartos de final Grischuk ganó por Movsesian; Sergey Karjakin alguna manera pasó contra Shirov después de una partida relámpago a “muerte súbita”, tras estar dos veces en desventaja, perdiendo en el primera rápida y en el primer relámpago. Fantástico Jakovenko sobre Eljanov. Mikhail Gurevich volvió a  sorprender al eliminar a Gashimov.

En las semifinales Sergey Karjakin volvió a pasar con dificultades. Tuvo que ganar con negro la segunda rápida para sobrevivir. Después ganó un primer blitz caótico y entabló en el segundo. Dmitry Jakovenko derrotó a la sorpresa Mikhail Gurevich.

Como dijimos, tras cuatro tablas en las partidas rápidas y dos empates en blitz, se definió a “muerte súbita”.

En la posición del Diagrama, el ruso Jakovenko jugó 62. … Tb8??, lo que permitió el detalle técnico definitorio de Karjakin: 63.Txe5+ Rxe5 64.Ac7+, cae la Tb8 y ambos peones más el Alfil no tienen inconvenientes en marchar fácilmente hacia el triunfo.

Interesante actividad se desarrolló el 29 de mayo, en el marco de la IV Copa del Mundo ACP de Ajedrez Rápido, por la  Fundación Caritativa "Mercy Victor". Todo destinado para los niños -juegos a la ciega y simultáneas- con el GM participantes en el torneo.

A continuación la tabla de posición y más abajo todas las partidas para ver y descargar.

Anish Giri ganó el tradicional Torneo Sigeman & Co en Malmö, Suecia (26 al 30 de mayo); con una actuación ELO 2920.

En la última ronda venció al hasta entonces co-líder Jon Ludvig Hammer. En un torneo Cat.13 (2569) empató sólo una partida.

Hacemos un resumen de sus partidas.

1ra Ronda: Anish Giri triunfó con Negras ante Pia Cramling. Tal vez no fue tan fácil, ya que 15… Ce5 parece un descuido que fue castigado inmediatamente por Cramling ganando un peón con 16.Axh7+. El problema era que tras 16.Axh7+ Rxh7 17.Txd8 Cxf3 es fuerte 18.Dxf3. Obtuvo compensación con su par de alfiles y después 24... b5! ya no había peligro. El blanco estaba presionado por el tiempo, Cramling no encontró la mejor defensa y rápidamente se encontró perdida. 32.Cc5 para forzar un cambio de Alfil de casillas negras hubiera ofrecido mayor resistencia, ya que aunque cayese el peón b, el final con alfiles de distinto color, da muchas posibilidades de empate.

2da Ronda: Una interesante partida frente a otro joven, Nils Grandelius. El haber practicado Catalana con el Campeón Mundial Anand le ha servido mucho. Anish sacrifica un par de peones. 13.Dg4 es una novedad (13.Dh5 es lo conocido). Grandelius parecía haberlo previsto y respondido rápidamente. Después de la jugada 20. parecía neutralizada la iniciativa blanca y las Negras mantenían sus dos peones extra. Pero 21... h4 (mejor 21… 0-0 o 21… c3) no ayudó a su posición. El error decisivo 24... Cd8 (24… 0-0), permitió a Giri definir con estilo y finalmente dar mate.

3ra Ronda: El plan de Tiger Hillarp Persson, con Blancas, no se puede decir que haya sido bueno. Obtuvo par de alfiles pero con un costo alto, reflejado en el desarrollo. Además de deficiente estructura de peones. Axial Anish pudo decidir el sacrificio 17... Chf4. Obtuvo compensación por la calidad y fue comprimiendo al Blanco, cuya posición no tardo en desmoronarse. En la jugada 29. el punto fue para las Negras.

4ta Ronda: Una jornada más tranquila que concluyó en un breve empate. Jonny Hector optó por una variante de bien conocido en la apertura de los cuatro caballos, que suele llevar a Tablas. Pronto se hizo evidente que el juego terminaría en empate.

5ta Ronda: Anish Giri condujo las Blancas contra Jon Ludvig Hammer, los dos líderes del torneo. En una Catalana, Giri siguió el juego Grandelius-Hammer, pero eligió 11.Te1 (en lugar de 11.Cg5) y puso un poco de presión. Hammer jugo pasivamente y trató de liberar a su posición con 21... Axb3 22.cxb3 c5. El Negro eligió cambiar las Damas con 24… Dxc5. Giri fue por el peón a6, obteniendo peón de ventaja aunque doblado. La posición no parecía mala para el Negro. Anish reveló una técnica excelente para jugar el final y un lindo sacrificio de calidad (54.Txe7+) lo condujo a la victoria.

A continuación la tabla de posición y más abajo todas las partidas para ver y descargar.

Aronián, Gélfand, Leinier y Vallejo darán espectáculo en el XXIII Magistral de León, del 3 al 7 de junio de 2010.

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Magnus Carlsen (2813) tops the world rankings by one point. On the May 1 FIDE rating list Veselin Topalov has won seven rating points to reach 2812. Vassily Ivanchuk is not the highest rated Ukrainian anymore; Pavel Eljanov confirmed his steady progress and surpassed him to enter the world’s top 10. And Alexei Shirov is back there too.

FIDE published its May 1st rating list and this time there’s not a big difference between the official top 10 and the “live” top 10 of Hans Arild Runde (which you can also find in the far right column on this website). Only Anand’s and Topalov’s ratings are different because of the current World Championship match: virtually speaking Topalov has dropped back to 2806 and Anand is just 3.6 points away from the 2800 barrier.

The biggest news this time is that Vassily Ivanchuk isn’t Ukraine’s number one player anymore, for the first time in years. Winning another 15 points in 20 games, on the May 2010 list Pavel Eljanov has reached a 9th spot, while Ivanchuk lost seven points and dropped slightly from 11 to 12.

With solid results in not so many games Wang Yue climbed from 10 to 8, and the 10th place is now occupied by Alexei Shirov. Boris Gelfand is out of the top 10 again but only lost 9 rating points. Sergey Karjakin might see the first results of his switch of federations and trainers: he climbed from 21 to 14. Alexander Morozevich didn’t play this period but still dropped three places, to 27 now. Anand’s seconds Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Peter Heine Nielsen can be found next to each other on the list: numbers 39 and 40.

One of the biggest climbers was Ian Nepomniachtchi, who won no less than 39 points and went up from 78 to 42. Reaching 97, Anish Giri is a top 100 player for the first time.

The women’s list has been stable for a long time now, with very few changes in the top 10. Both Judit Polgar and Humpy Koneru didn’t play, so the gap is still 60 points. Below you’ll find the new top 100, the top 100 women, the top 20 juniors and the top 20 girls. We give the first two lists including the changes with the previous lists. All data courtesy of FIDE.

FIDE MAY 2010 RATING LIST: TOP 100 PLAYERS
Legend:
black color – player remained on the same position
green color – player moved up in the list
red color – player moved down in the list
blue color – player is new to the current Top list
Old represents player’s position in the previous period list

Rank		Old	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games
	1	1	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2813 (0)	0 (-13)
	2	2	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2812 (+7)	10 (+10)
	3	3	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2790 (0)	0 (-13)
	4	4	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2789 (+2)	2 (-11)
	5	5	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2783 (+1)	10 (+1)
	6	6	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2763 (+3)	4 (-5)
	7	7	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2760 (+4)	18 (+2)
	8	10	Wang, Yue	g	CHN	2752 (+3)	7 (+7)
	9	16	Eljanov, Pavel	g	UKR	2751 (+15)	20 (+20)
	10	14	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2742 (+5)	10 (-3)
	11	9	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2741 (-9)	16 (+9)
	12	11	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2741 (-7)	10 (-3)
	13	13	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2740 (0)	0 (-7)
	14	21	Karjakin, Sergey	g	RUS	2739 (+14)	7 (-6)
	15	8	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2735 (-15)	15 (+6)
	16	18	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2735 (0)	0 (-13)
	17	12	Gashimov, Vugar	g	AZE	2734 (-6)	14 (+7)
	18	15	Ponomariov, Ruslan	g	UKR	2733 (-4)	7 (+7)
	19	17	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2733 (-2)	4 (-17)
	20	23	Almasi, Zoltan	g	HUN	2725 (+5)	11 (+2)
	21	20	Jakovenko, Dmitry	g	RUS	2725 (0)	10 (-4)
	22	22	Malakhov, Vladimir	g	RUS	2722 (+1)	12 (+5)
	23	25	Wang, Hao	g	CHN	2722 (+7)	10 (+10)
	24	31	Navara, David	g	CZE	2718 (+10)	24 (+24)
	25	29	Movsesian, Sergei	g	SVK	2717 (+8)	35 (+25)
	26	40	Jobava, Baadur	g	GEO	2715 (+20)	11 (+2)
	27	24	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2715 (0)	0 (-6)
	28	27	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	g	CUB	2713 (0)	0 (-13)
	29	26	Bacrot, Etienne	g	FRA	2710 (-4)	25 (+6)
	30	19	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2710 (-17)	15 (+6)
	31	36	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	g	RUS	2708 (+7)	18 (+4)
	32	28	Vitiugov, Nikita	g	RUS	2707 (-3)	18 (+3)
	33	32	Motylev, Alexander	g	RUS	2704 (-1)	21 (+3)
	34	38	Rublevsky, Sergei	g	RUS	2704 (+7)	9 (+1)
	35	30	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	g	ESP	2703 (-5)	30 (+20)
	36	34	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	2702 (0)	9 (-19)
	37	37	Alekseev, Evgeny	g	RUS	2700 (0)	20 (+11)
	38	44	Onischuk, Alexander	g	USA	2699 (+12)	9 (0)
	39	35	Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	g	UZB	2699 (-3)	3 (+3)
	40	39	Nielsen, Peter Heine	g	DEN	2698 (+1)	9 (+9)
	41	33	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2697 (-7)	19 (+9)
	42	78	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	g	RUS	2695 (+39)	20 (+2)
	43	43	Akopian, Vladimir	g	ARM	2694 (+6)	11 (+2)
	44	46	Sasikiran, Krishnan	g	IND	2690 (+4)	6 (-27)
	45	56	Fressinet, Laurent	g	FRA	2689 (+19)	28 (+18)
	46	42	Le, Quang Liem	g	VIE	2687 (-2)	13 (-22)
	47	41	Naiditsch, Arkadij	g	GER	2686 (-5)	34 (+12)
	48	47	Short, Nigel D	g	ENG	2685 (-1)	9 (-4)
	49	48	Miroshnichenko, Evgenij	g	UKR	2684 (-2)	4 (+4)
	50	51	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2682 (0)	0 (0)
	51	50	Bu, Xiangzhi	g	CHN	2681 (-1)	3 (-15)
	52	54	Kurnosov, Igor	g	RUS	2680 (+6)	28 (+19)
	53	-	Efimenko, Zahar	g	UKR	2677 (+)	29 (+)
	54	80	Timofeev, Artyom	g	RUS	2677 (+22)	18 (0)
	55	53	Sargissian, Gabriel	g	ARM	2677 (+2)	11 (-4)
	56	73	Berkes, Ferenc	g	HUN	2676 (+17)	19 (+19)
	57	52	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2675 (-5)	21 (-1)
	58	71	Riazantsev, Alexander	g	RUS	2674 (+14)	20 (+11)
	59	68	Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	g	ROU	2672 (+11)	19 (+6)
	60	55	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar	g	IND	2672 (0)	0 (-13)
	61	63	Inarkiev, Ernesto	g	RUS	2669 (+2)	18 (+9)
	62	59	Moiseenko, Alexander	g	UKR	2669 (+1)	17 (+8)
	63	-	Bruzon Batista, Lazaro	g	CUB	2668 (+)	27 (+)
	64	49	Bologan, Viktor	g	MDA	2668 (-16)	21 (+3)
	65	60	Grachev, Boris	g	RUS	2667 (0)	17 (-10)
	66	62	Ni, Hua	g	CHN	2667 (0)	7 (-6)
	67	64	So, Wesley	g	PHI	2665 (0)	0 (-22)
	68	86	Roiz, Michael	g	ISR	2664 (+12)	27 (+21)
	69	45	Volokitin, Andrei	g	UKR	2664 (-23)	25 (+16)
	70	65	Najer, Evgeniy	g	RUS	2663 (-2)	28 (+10)
	71	57	Areshchenko, Alexander	g	UKR	2663 (-7)	22 (+22)
	72	61	Bareev, Evgeny	g	RUS	2663 (-4)	11 (-7)
	73	70	Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	g	POL	2663 (+3)	5 (-13)
	74	58	Georgiev, Kiril	g	BUL	2662 (-7)	24 (+6)
	75	89	Sutovsky, Emil	g	ISR	2661 (+11)	11 (-9)
	76	69	Harikrishna, P.	g	IND	2660 (0)	0 (-27)
	77	87	Smeets, Jan	g	NED	2659 (+8)	6 (-8)
	78	76	Khismatullin, Denis	g	RUS	2657 (0)	18 (0)
	79	101	Zvjaginsev, Vadim	g	RUS	2656 (+13)	18 (+9)
	80	79	Avrukh, Boris	g	ISR	2656 (0)	0 (0)
	81	82	Dreev, Alexey	g	RUS	2655 (+2)	21 (+12)
	82	90	Fridman, Daniel	g	GER	2654 (+4)	36 (+26)
	83	-	Sokolov, Ivan	g	BIH	2654 (+)	25 (+)
	84	-	Van Wely, Loek	g	NED	2653 (+)	13 (+)
	85	-	Mamedov, Rauf	g	AZE	2653 (+)	11 (+)
	86	91	Zhou, Jianchao	g	CHN	2652 (+2)	4 (-5)
	87	66	Korobov, Anton	g	UKR	2649 (-14)	13 (+4)
	88	-	Kobalia, Mikhail	g	RUS	2648 (+)	20 (+)
	89	93	Zhigalko, Sergei	g	BLR	2647 (-1)	20 (-9)
	90	92	Fedorchuk, Sergey A.	g	UKR	2646 (-3)	13 (-5)
	91	77	Beliavsky, Alexander G	g	SLO	2645 (-12)	25 (+25)
	92	-	Socko, Bartosz	g	POL	2644 (+)	18 (+)
	93	88	Seirawan, Yasser	g	USA	2644 (-7)	3 (+2)
	94	98	Milov, Vadim	g	SUI	2644 (0)	0 (0)
	95	96	Andreikin, Dmitry	g	RUS	2643 (-2)	5 (-4)
	96	100	Lastin, Alexander	g	RUS	2643 (0)	0 (-9)
	97	-	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2642 (+)	24 (+)
	98	83	Savchenko, Boris	g	RUS	2642 (-10)	17 (-1)
	99	-	Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son	g	VIE	2642 (+)	0 (+)
	100	95	Gustafsson, Jan	g	GER	2640 (-6)	24 (+14)
	101	75	Cheparinov, Ivan	g	BUL	2640 (-17)	11 (-8)
	102	-	Vuckovic, Bojan	g	SRB	2640 (+)	11 (+)
	103	-	Sandipan, Chanda	g	IND	2640 (+)	2 (+)

FIDE MAY 2010 RATING LIST: TOP 100 WOMEN

Rank		Old	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games
	1	1	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2682 (0)	0 (0)
	2	2	Koneru, Humpy	g	IND	2622 (0)	0 (-10)
	3	3	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2589 (+19)	12 (-6)
	4	4	Stefanova, Antoaneta	g	BUL	2560 (+5)	16 (+6)
	5	5	Kosintseva, Nadezhda	m	RUS	2553 (-1)	11 (-7)
	6	9	Cramling, Pia	g	SWE	2536 (+13)	21 (0)
	7	7	Kosintseva, Tatiana	g	RUS	2534 (+10)	11 (-7)
	8	6	Muzychuk, Anna	m	SLO	2529 (-4)	22 (+9)
	9	10	Lahno, Kateryna	g	UKR	2527 (+9)	3 (+3)
	10	12	Sebag, Marie	g	FRA	2524 (+18)	14 (+5)
	11	8	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	g	RUS	2519 (-5)	6 (-4)
	12	23	Cmilyte, Viktorija	m	LTU	2514 (+29)	24 (+14)
	13	11	Chiburdanidze, Maia	g	GEO	2514 (0)	0 (0)
	14	16	Pogonina, Natalija	wg	RUS	2501 (+5)	6 (-1)
	15	15	Ju, Wenjun	wg	CHN	2500 (0)	0 (-9)
	16	17	Zhukova, Natalia	wg	UKR	2499 (+7)	17 (+7)
	17	19	Zhao, Xue	g	CHN	2493 (+3)	8 (-10)
	18	28	Harika, Dronavalli	m	IND	2491 (+18)	9 (-15)
	19	20	Galliamova, Alisa	m	RUS	2487 (0)	0 (-9)
	20	22	Paehtz, Elisabeth	m	GER	2485 (-1)	30 (+21)
	21	33	Socko, Monika	g	POL	2485 (+20)	21 (+13)
	22	26	Xu, Yuhua	g	CHN	2484 (+6)	2 (+2)
	23	21	Hoang Thanh Trang	g	HUN	2482 (-5)	11 (+11)
	24	14	Javakhishvili, Lela	m	GEO	2482 (-18)	11 (-8)
	25	24	Dzagnidze, Nana	g	GEO	2478 (-1)	11 (-9)
	26	13	Mkrtchian, Lilit	m	ARM	2477 (-26)	11 (+11)
	27	27	Zhu, Chen	g	QAT	2476 (0)	0 (-7)
	28	25	Ruan, Lufei	wg	CHN	2474 (-5)	1 (+1)
	29	18	Danielian, Elina	m	ARM	2473 (-18)	12 (+10)
	30	36	Zatonskih, Anna	m	USA	2470 (+9)	27 (+17)
	31	39	Dembo, Yelena	m	GRE	2470 (+13)	11 (+11)
	32	44	Ushenina, Anna	m	UKR	2468 (+16)	15 (+15)
	33	30	Melia, Salome	m	GEO	2466 (-1)	20 (-11)
	34	31	Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman	m	IND	2466 (0)	0 (-11)
	35	29	Gaponenko, Inna	m	UKR	2465 (-7)	20 (+15)
	36	41	Skripchenko, Almira	m	FRA	2464 (+8)	17 (+17)
	37	34	Tan, Zhongyi	wg	CHN	2464 (0)	2 (+2)
	38	37	Rajlich, Iweta	m	POL	2460 (+1)	22 (+14)
	39	38	Gunina, Valentina	wf	RUS	2457 (0)	15 (-3)
	40	40	Polgar, Sofia	m	HUN	2457 (0)	0 (0)
	41	35	Krush, Irina	m	USA	2455 (-6)	23 (-1)
	42	42	Tairova, Elena	m	RUS	2455 (0)	0 (0)
	43	49	Muzychuk, Mariya	m	UKR	2452 (+8)	32 (+19)
	44	50	Shen, Yang	wg	CHN	2452 (+8)	3 (+3)
	45	43	Hunt, Harriet V	m	ENG	2452 (0)	0 (0)
	46	47	Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan	g	SCO	2449 (+2)	16 (+6)
	47	56	Khurtsidze, Nino	m	GEO	2448 (+14)	11 (-2)
	48	52	Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	m	RUS	2447 (+9)	16 (+7)
	49	48	Atalik, Ekaterina	m	TUR	2444 (-1)	5 (+5)
	50	53	Moser, Eva	m	AUT	2440 (+3)	32 (+25)
	51	51	Huang, Qian	wg	CHN	2437 (-2)	3 (+3)
	52	57	Repkova, Eva	m	SVK	2434 (0)	29 (+29)
	53	54	Zhang, Xiaowen	wg	&nb
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/eljanov-is-ukraines-number-one/
Sat, 01 May 2010 08:28:59 +0000
Who will win? The opinion of top GMs (1)
According to our poll on the homepage, the readers of ChessVibes think World Champion Anand is the clear favourite to win the match, by 69%, where Topalov gets 31% of the votes. But what do their colleagues think? Today the opinion of Dominguez, Gashimov, Grischuk, Karjakin and Ponomariov; tomorrow Aronian, Carlsen, Gelfand and Ivanchuk. ChessVibes asked nine of the world’s best players what they think of the upcoming World Champion match. Who is the favourite? Who is the better player? And what about Topalov’s plan to follow the Sofia rule? Will this be to his advantage? In part 1, today, we get answers from Leinier Dominguez, Vugar Gashimov, Alexander Grischuk, Sergei Karjakin and Ruslan Ponomariov. Please note that the interviews were conducted a few weeks ago. World number 12 Vugar Gashimov (2740, Azerbaijan) Who is the favourite to win the match? Vugar Gashimov First, of course, I hope, as every chess player, it will be an interesting match. Because, OK, everybody wants to see something. We know both of them like to attack, to sacrifice something, and to play good chess. In this match, if I will bet, I will bet for Topalov, because he will play in Sofia. He has better chances, because last time he played bad against Kamsky but now I think he wll play well. It’s not possible he will play bad twice! [Laughs.] Leinier Dominguez For me it’s very difficult to say; I wouldn’t even give anyone a slight favourite or anything. For me it’s a very even match. They’re both very strong, practical players with a very deep preparation and with a good team. I think it will be a very difficult match for both; it will be tough. To me it’s not clear whether playing in Sofia is an advantage for Topalov. To play in your own country could easily become a handicap, I’m not so sure about this. I can understand that for some people it’s very good to play at home. For example Topalov seems to be very good to play in his country because he’s always having very nice results there, but OK, that’s anywhere he’s playing because he’s very strong. I don’t think it will matter so much. Sergey Karjakin It’s a very hard question. I think the player who will be better prepared, who will have a better team, and who will play better chess [laughs] he will win, but it’s hard to say who. I think slight favourite is Topalov, because he’s playing in Sofia and I think he will have big support. I think it’s a clear advantage to him, and I think it’s a mistake from Anand. If my own country wouldn’t offer anything then I would have to play there, but in other cases I wouldn’t. Alexander Grischuk First of all I expect this to be the most interesting match since Kasparov-Kramnik. I think in Sofia Topalov is the slight favourite but I think otherwise the chances would be completely equal. He usually plays good there, and also I think Vishy doesn’t like to be under pressure so it will be a little bit difficult. World number 15 Ruslan Ponomariov (2737, Ukraine) Ruslan Ponomariov This match will be quite interesting; I think they have more or less an even score. For me it’s always interesting to follow World Championship matches, to follow the development of chess, maybe something new, and when two strong personalities play, it’s also very interesting. Who will crush another personality first? What can of psychological tricks will appear? When you play a match against another strong player you must always make strong pressure on him in all aspects. Both have advantages. Kramnik beat Topalov, but Anand beat Kramnik, so Anand also must beat Topalov, but maybe in this case it’s not so clear. It’s also interesting that for example when Anand played against Kramnik, he used a very tricky tactic. Kramnik is a very good technical player, which he proved in his match againt Topalov, but Anand played much more complicated chess than Topalov and it gave him success. But which new tactic Vishy will use against Topalov is not so clear, because Topalov likes this very complicated chess very much. Maybe playing in Sofia gives him some advantage but even when he played against Kamsky, who is I think much weaker than Anand, even then it was very difficult, so it has some advantages and some disadvantages. It has some psychological advantage because when more people are coming to watch your games and support you maybe also receive this kind of positive energy. When football teams play, maybe you can see it’s just a field with 11 players, but at home, when people support you, it’s better. Of course, maybe in some aspects you want to show your best, and it’s also some extra weight for you. During the last few months Anand’s games were perhaps not so impressive, maybe Veselin played a bit better, but remember that when Anand played against Kramnik, before that he came last in Bilbao. World number 27, Leinier Dominguez (2713, Cuba) And it you just look at the players, is it 50-50 then? Vugar Gashimov Maybe in chess skills Anand is more talented. We remember before, he was always playing fast, very strong, and finally he’s the World Champion now. In chess skills he’s better a bit, but Topalov has one better skill: he’s a fighter. He can always fight. That’s why I think the match can be decided because it’s in Sofia. This can be the only thing that’s decisive. Leinier Dominguez To me they’re pretty even. Maybe one of them is stronger in some areas and the other may be slightly better in some other areas, but it’s pretty even I think. Sergey Karjakin I think they’re playing more or less equal chess. What do you think of Topalov following the Sofia rule? Vugar Gashimov OK, I don’t think anyone of them is going to offer a draw with White or something! [Laughs.] But if he wants to do this, this is his problem, this is his business. Ruslan Ponomariov Yes, I read this discussion on ChessVibes. I don’t think Vishy will have any trouble with it because he’s a very quiet player with Indian mentality, and he’s quite experienced. He must be ready to play till the end, no short draws. When he played against Kramnik, the second game was quite interesting. It was a very complicated position and suddenly they agreed to a draw. For the spectators it would have been much better if they had continued. Chess is first of all a game of gentlemen and they must show respect to each other, to give a good example to the younger players: how not only to fight, but also to show good manners. Sergey Karjakin I don’t really understand this. If the position is drawn, then it’s time to accept a draw. If this is not in the contract, then why to do it? World number 7 Alexander Grischuk (2756, Russia) Alexander Grischuk It’s their right. I still don’t understand why you have to speak to your opponent via the arbiter, I don’t see any sense in that. I mean you can just allow that I will never offer or refuse a draw and Vishy is not stupid or totally unethical, I mean if he would just announce this, he would not bother him by offering draws in playable positions. OK, they’re just trying to bring some attention to the match; I don’t take it very seriously. Leinier Dominguez In general I like this Sofia rule, because it’s a good thing not to allow players to make short draws. But I don’t know what is happening now in the match. There are different circumstances and, I don’t know, it’s kind of strange. Do you think longer games, as a result of the Sofia rule, would help Topalov, who is five years younger? Leinier Dominguez [Laughs.] Well, I’m not so sure. OK, of course Topalov is very strong in this point, he has a lot of energy, he’s always playing till the end. But Vishy is also very strong, and it’s not like he’s physically weak or something. I don’t think it’s a really important aspect. World number 21 Sergey Karjakin (2725) Ruslan Ponomariov I don’t think it’s just following this rule, maybe he just wants to play till the end, like when I played Ivanchuk in 2002 somehow I also had such tactic, play till the end, to fight every position, when I was in trouble, and somehow it gave me some advantages because I was younger, I had more energy. Of course now the match is not so long, it’s not like Kasparov against Karpov, and they have lots of free days. Sergey Karjakin Maybe it’s a little bit to the advantage of Veselin because he’s a little bit younger and I think basically he has more energy than Vishy but I don’t know, we will see. Alexander Grischuk I don’t think it would favour anyone but the observers, especially after Kramnik-Leko which was really disgusting for a lot of people! Tomorrow we’ll publish part 2, with Boris Gelfand, Vassily Ivanchuk, Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen.
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/who-will-win-the-opinion-of-top-gms-part-1/
Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:32:14 +0000
Moscow Win Russian Team Champs
The ShSM-64 team (from Moscow) won the 2010 Russian Club Cup in Dagomys, ahead of SPb Chess Fed (St. Petersburg). The winning team consisted of Boris Gelfand, Sergey Karjakin, Wang Hao, Fabiano Caruana (pictured), Boris Grachev, Alexander Riazant...
http://www.chess.com/news/moscow-win-russian-team-champs-8329
Sun, 11 Apr 2010 01:07:08 -0700
ShSM-64 wins Russian Team Championship in Dagomys
Not the catchiest of headlines, that – but the Russian teams aren't know for their pretty names. The Championships were played in three groups, the Premier, Higher and Women's Leagues. Sergey Karjakin and Alexander Riazantsev were the top performers amongst the men (2889 and 2885), whild Viktorija Cmilyte shone with a 2700 performance amongst the women. Illustrated report.
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6247
Sun, 11 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Wijk aan Zee Recap Part II
Greetings to everyone around the world. Fortunately, it is sunny outside and most of us in the United States have recovered from SUPER SUNDAY! I know most people here probably would prefer chess to football (including Dave the webmaster, who is a Colts fan!) but I found the game to be extremely exciting. Having grown up in New York, I always was impressed by Sean Payton's ability as the defensive coordinator for the Giants. Overall, I felt that New Orleans won due to the many interesting and simply brilliant decisions including the onside kick to start the second half. Although I was pulling for Peyton Manning and the Colts due to the people I know in Indy, New Orleans was simply the better team last night. Alas, another football season has come and gone, but there's always next year for my Titans! Now back to chess... Round 6: Ivanchuk-Nakamura In the sixth round, I kept facing strong players as I was Black against GM Vasily Ivanchuk from Ukraine. Of the modern day players, I think my style most resembles his in that we are the two players who play just about any opening depending on which side of the bed we wake up on! At the same time, he is also one of the few players who can beat anyone which makes him dangerous. Having beaten Vasily in the rapid finals of Cap D'Agde in 2008, I knew that he'd be angling for revenge this time around. Therefore, I decided to play the Slav against his 1.d4 (a minor surprise!). This was really the first surprise of the game as I have played the fairly obscure 12...0-0-0. In other top encounters, 12...Be6 was preferred. During the game, I was feeling fairly confident as I had reached this position in my analysis prior to the game. At the board, though, I began thinking to myself what if he plays 13.a5? My suspicions were confirmed shortly afterwards when he played it! Fortunately, it was not hard for me to come up with the right plan as there aren't a whole lot of logical moves. As such, I was able to force a repitition after 13...Nc5 14.Qe1 Nb3 15.Ra4 Nc5 16.Ra1 Nb3 leading to a draw. During the tournament, there were many people who asked how could I take a quick draw as it runs contrary to my style. The answer is quite simple in that if either Vasily or I chose to play on, we'd be worse. Sometimes, being practical and taking quick draws makes sense. Obviously, I had the foresight to do that here, but not against Karjakin when it mattered, D'oh!  Round 7: Nakamura-Shirov After the draw with Ivanchuk, I was on a very respectable 4/6 while Shirov was blazing on 5.5/6 and in the clear lead by a half point. Although neither Kris nor I came into the tournament with expectations of me winning, we decided that I should definitely go all out for glory in this game. Since I went into the game with this mindset I decided to play 1.e4 as I felt Shirov would create complications no matter which opening I chose. Despite the fact I felt Alexei made a mistake in choosing the sicilian against me, I still must respect his decision to stay true to his style despite the tournament situation. The opening was very much a seesaw battle as I felt after 15 moves I was simply better. To his credit, it was around this time that Alexei used a lot of time and came up with the right idea of exchanging his dark square bishop. Over the course of the next few moves I got careless giving away any advantage I had. The key point occurred in the following position after 19.Bf3. In this position, I was not quite sure about the evaluation. However, I correctly judged that Alexei would go for a tactical solution in the position. In chess, there are certain positions where intuitively you feel like there has to be a way to win material. As it turns out, Black is probably better after the simple 19...Rd8, but Alexei like myself spent most of his time trying to come up with something tactical which was incorrect. After 19...Nh3 20.Kh1 Nxf2 21.Rxf2 Qxe3 22.Bxb7 I think Alexei overlooked 22...Qxf2 23.Qxd6 with a crushing threat of Bc6 mate. Once this key opportunity was missed, the position became difficult to play for Black. Although any computer program would probably draw (beat us weak humans) it without too much trouble, it was still incredibly unpleasant to play. This coupled with Alexei's impending time pressure proved to be too much as in the time pressure, he cracked and I won! Although it was not fate to win the tournament, I knew that after this win that this event was a success regardless of how I ended. Round 8: Kramnik-Nakamura In the eighth round, I got Black against the 14th World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik. Coming off such a high following the previous round, I knew this would be an extremely difficult task. However, as a good friend said once before, you play the games since the underdog can come out ahead.  Thanks to a certain girl, I took the French Canadien phrase, "C'est de la biere" (It's a beer which basically means it's a piece of cake) and simply tried to relax and enjoy the game. There are some days when we all just play badly. This day proved to be one of these as it got off to a bad start when I switched my opening choice at the last minute and decided to play the Dutch. In the game, we went into the Leningrad and Vladimir played the interesting 8.Rb1 line. Pretty much immediately I went off the beaten path as I started pushing pawns like a total patzer. Eventually we reached the first of two key positions after 19.Bxe3. In this position, I calculated 19...Qe7 and thought it made the most sense only to have a finger fehler and play 19...Nxd4. In reality, the move I played was correct but it screwed with my mind. Normally this is not a problem, but almost immediately after I played Nxd4, I started thinking, "hmm, wait, why did I not go Qe7??" After 20.Qc1 White would had a big advantage, but when you have lingering doubts during a game, it can affect you adversely. After a series of more or less forced moves we reached the second and final chance I had to save the game. In this position, Vladimir had just played 23.Rxd5. During the game, I only considered playing either 23....Bf5 or 23...Be6. As it turns out, our silicon friend thinks I am probably fine if I trade on g3 and then follow it up with Be6. However, during the game I fully intended to play Bf5 only to then start considering Be6. For some bizarre reason, I calculated 23...Be6 24.Rxd4 Qxd4 25.Nxf4 as a variation. Then, once I played 23...Be6 I immediately spotted the obvious 24.Nxf4. After this secondary blunder, the game was beyond hope and I duly lost. This certainly was not a positive development as far as the tournament was concerned. On the positive side, it was only after the second blunder that I was losing. Nevertheless, I played badly and got punished. Alas, I only join the likes of people such as Kasparov who have gotten crushed by Kramnik. Being in such good company cannot be something to complain about! Round 9: Nakamura-Karjakin In the ninth round, I had White against former child prodigy, Sergey Karjakin formerly of Ukraine and now playing for Russia.Sergey and I are certainly no strangers as we have played several times in the past. Before I discuss the game, I would just like to point out that despite my sometimes controversial style and comments in the past, I have not intentionally insulted someone in public. In many ways, I found Sergey's comments on chesspro to be incredibly disgusting and insulting. One can only hope that people grow up much like I have since my younger days. In this game, I chose to play 1.d4 as I was coming off a brutal loss and wanted to play a bit safer. Sergey surprised me almost from the start by choosing the Nimzo Indian over his preferred Slav. The opening was a bit unusual in that I had two doubled pawns on the c file. However, the diagonals certainly made up for it. In this important position, we had repeated with 17.Ba7 Ra8 18.Be3 Rb8. Much like in my game against Ivanchuk, I had a serious decision to make here. Should I take a relatively quick draw and get ready for the following round or try to press on. Here, I thought for some time and decided to play despite the messy position and not having a lot of time. Although this was objectively fine since the position was not any worse for me, from a general standpoint it was simply wrong. The rest of the game, I did not play particularly inspiringly, and I eventually overpressed in time pressure making a horrible blunder. There really was not much positive news from this game as I once again just did not play very accurately. However, with four rounds still left, I felt that it would be possible to put up a solid plus score if i returned to form. The one big drawback at this point was that during this game, I started feeling a bit tired and hallucinating during this and the subsequent games. Alas, when you play two major tournaments back to back eventually all the energy being spent will catch up.   Stay tuned for the third and final installment from north of the border! Cheers, Hikaru 2.8.10
http://www.hikarunakamura.com/naka/main/Blog/tabid/57/EntryId/100/Wijk-aan-Zee-Recap-Part-II.aspx
Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:08:00 GMT
Leonard Barden on Chess
Russia stages the world's strongest national team championship, yet it receives little publicity. This is partly due to a slow website, and also because most of the team names are non?geographical. For several years, however, Tomsk were the team to beat. The Siberians, though, were out of contention at halfway in this week's 2010 contest in Sochi, where Moscow and St Petersburg squads vied for the lead. Both front-runners fielded six-player 2700-rated teams, a level which would outclass the best sextet from the UK. The Russian nucleus was boosted by grandmasters from the old USSR, China, and even the odd Westerner. Thus Scotland's Keti Arakhamia-Grant, a former Georgian, played on one of the women's teams. Two young GMs have advanced in Sochi. Sergey Karjakin, 20, began with 4/5 and strengthened his claim as a potential rival to his world No1 contemporary, Magnus Carlsen. Italy's Fabiano Caruana, the top under-18 in the world, here wins by a polished counter-attack. White's g4-g5 with long castling is a sharp way to meet the 3...c6 Slav Defence, but Caruana was ready. His Bb4xc3 and Ne8-d6 regroup launched his Q-side forward while White's attack was stalled. White shed a pawn and his final blunder 30 Re1? allowed a queen sacrifice for mate. V Potkin v F Caruana 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 d5 3 c4 c6 4 e3 Bg4 5 h3 Bxf3 6 Qxf3 e6 7 Nc3 Nbd7 8 Bd2 Bd6 9 cxd5 exd5 10 g4 O-O 11 g5 Ne8 12 h4 Bb4! 13 O-O-O Nd6! 14 Bd3 a5 15 Kb1 Qe7 16 Rdg1 b5 17 Qd1 Bxc3 18 Bxc3 b4 19 Be1 c5 20 dxc5 Nxc5 21 Rg4 Nxd3 22 Qxd3 Rac8 23 Rd4 Ne4 24 f3 Nc5 25 Qd2 Qe6 26 Ka1 b3 27 Qd1 bxa2 28 Bxa5 Qxe3 29 Bc3 Ra8 30 Re1? Qc1+! 0-1 Sergey Karjakin, Russia's contemporary rival to world No1 Magnus Carlsen, has been in fine form in Sochi. Here his flowing open play exploits Black's excessive queen moves. S Karjakin v A Ivanov 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 c6 4 f4 Qa5 5 Bd3 e5 6 Nf3 Bg4 7 Be3 Qb6 8 fxe5 dxe5 9 Qd2 exd4 10 Bxd4 Qd8 11 0-0-0 Bxf3 12 Bxf6 Qxf6 13 gxf3 Bb4 14 e5! Qh4 15 Rhg1 g6 16 f4 Bxc3 17 Qxc3! Qxf4+ 18 Kb1 Rf8 19 e6! fxe6 20 Qb3 Ke7 21 Qxb7+ Nd7 22 Bb5 Rfd8 23 Bxc6 Rab8 24 Rxd7+ Kf8 25 Rxd8+ Rxd8 26 a4 Kg8 27 Qxa7 1-0 3134 1 e3 h5 2 Qxh5 Rh6 3 Be2 Rh7 4 Qh6 Rh8. Chess Leonard Barden guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/apr/10/sochi-2010-leonard-barden-chess
Fri, 09 Apr 2010 23:15:00 GMT
Amber: final video
We return once more to the 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, which finished a few days ago. The final round was a thrilling affair, and the closing ceremony a pleasant one, when both Vassily Ivanchuk and Magnus gave a brief speech. Final video. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament took place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event was organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters took part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Final Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Final Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Final Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/amber-final-video/
Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:40:42 +0000
Carlsen & Ivanchuk joint winners Amber
Magnus Carlsen and Vassily Ivanchuk shared first place at the Amber tournament in Nice. Carlsen blundered a full queen in his blindold game against Alexander Grischuk, but then won the rapid game convincingly. Vassily Ivanchuk defeated Boris Gelfand 1.5-0.5 to join the Norwegian in first place in the combined standings. There’s no sole winner; the two share first prize. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 11 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 11 report Carlsen and Ivanchuk win 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament has ended in an overall victory for Norway’s Magnus Carlsen and Ukraine’s Vasily Ivanchuk. In the 11th and final round Ivanchuk caught up with Carlsen thanks to a 1½-½ victory over Boris Gelfand. In the rapid session Carlsen had to defeat Alexander Grischuk to assemble the same number of points as Ivanchuk after he had dropped his queen in the blindfold game. Alexander Grischuk won the blindfold section one and a half point ahead of Carlsen, Ivanchuk and Kramnik. In the rapid section Carlsen and Ivanchuk finished on top together. The blindfold game between Vugar Gashimov and Peter Svidler ended in a draw by threefold repetition, but also saw both players drop a pawn at quite different moments in the game. Gashimov sacrificed a pawn in the opening because he believed that he could win Black’s queen, but once that ‘moment’ arrived he realized that after 21.b4 Qxb4 22.Bd2 Black has the simple 22…Qa4 and no queen is lost. After that oversight Svidler was a healthy pawn up and winning until it was his turn to throw a pawn for nothing. Slightly low on time he erred with 40…Nb6 (correct was 40…Bd8 41.Bb2 Bc7) and was immediately punished for his oversight (if you can call it that way in a blindfold game) by 41.Bxf7+. In the ensuing situation White had the better chances, but when Gashimov didn’t exploit them optimally the game ended in a draw. With a further draw in the rapid game Svidler was happy that he finished on plus-1, which means that now his overall Amber score is positive as well (he started the event with 22 points from 44 games played in two previous Ambers). In the opening Gashimov simplified into a position that Svidler was quite pleased with. When on move 17 he put his knight on d6, he believed he was much better, but actually this knight didn’t bring him much at all. Still, he got the clearly better position when Black committed some inaccuracies and after 28…Rc8, a remarkable position arose in which White had an extra pawn, but Black a threatening front of central passed pawns. The position remained complicated, but as Svidler summed up the final moves ‘it seems to be a draw tempo by tempo’. In their blindfold game Leinier Dominguez played an opening line against Levon Aronian that the Armenian had been studying recently with the intention to play it as White! Perhaps that was the reason why afterwards the Armenian grandmaster could easily point out the mistakes his Cuban colleague made. To begin with the only move with which White can play for an advantage is 10.e4, as all other tries are fine for Black. It would also have been safer for Dominguez to exchange queens himself and on move 13, it would have been better to look for play with 13.g4. And next 16.a3 had to be played as White was simply lost after 16.Bg2. However, Aronian also made a slip, when he missed that he could have won immediately with 18…Rfd8+ 19.Kb1 Ba3! Fortunately for him the idea was still winning one move later, after which the rest was easy. The rapid game seemed to be giving Dominguez good chances for his first win, but it wasn’t to be. In the opening Aronian believed he was repeating a Kramnik game from the 1993 Amber tournament, but his memory wasn’t entirely clear. In hindsight he believed his move 19.Bxd4 was too optimistic (a move like 19.Na4 was called for) and from that moment onwards he was slightly worse. He got optimistic again when he managed to stir up counterplay, but it was not enough. As he remarked with a resigned expression: ‘You can’t win if you’re opponent has a passed a-pawn.’ Ruslan Ponomariov and Jan Smeets played an Exchange Slav in their blindfold game in which Black got a backward pawn that he compensated by active play. This play might have been even more active if he had interpolated 26…Qb8 to challenge White’s weakness on g3 (White therefore continues 27.f4), but as it went chances remained balanced. White might have stirred up complications with 30.Qxa1 Qxe3+ 31.Kd1 Bd3, but when he didn’t go for this possibility the game was soon drawn. The rapid game was a lively exchange of exchange sacrifices, that ended to Ponomariov’s advantage when the third exchange sacrifice lacked punch. Smeets got a pleasant position from the opening and his first exchange sacrifice had its merits in view of Black’s fractured pawn-structure. Nevertheless he preferred to call it ‘completely nonsensical’ after the game. Still, his game improved when Ponomariov felt forced to give back the exchange and this improved position even inspired Smeets to sacrifice another exchange. However, as said, it was hard to explain its strength and without too much effort Black hauled in the point. Boris Gelfand was confronted by an interesting novelty in his blindfold game against Vasily Ivanchuk. In a well-known position the Ukrainian grandmaster introduced an inspired exchange sacrifice. Commenting on the game Gelfand said that it was hard to say if Black’s compensation was fully sufficient or not, but in any case it was easier to play the black position, particularly in a blindfold game. In the game Gelfand looked hard to find ways to exploit his material advantage, but when he failed to see a concrete way to make progress he accepted a draw by a repetition of moves on move 33. The rapid game saw a Petroff with 5.c3 that soon got very complicated. Gelfand seemed to be in control, but Ivanchuk was relentless and whipped up a devastating attack that crashed through in only 32 moves. ‘It’s getting hot all of a sudden’, commented Vladimir Kramnik after he had won the blindfold game against Sergey Karjakin, obviously referring to the overall standings that suddenly also offered chances for him again. The game was a repeat of their last-round encounter in this year’s Corus tournament, with Kramnik deviating with 14.Nb5. On his next turn he introduced a novelty, 19.Bg5, which proved a pretty strong improvement. After the bishops had been exchanged ‘things were no longer funny for Black’ as Kramnik put it. In fact he believed that from this moment onwards White was winning and although Karjakin managed to create some counterchances he thought that that assessment held true for the rest of the game. ‘A rather clean game’, he concluded with a satisfied smile. In the rapid game Kramnik fought for his last chance with a Pirc. Not hiding his intentions he sacrificed a knight for two pawns, but he failed to shock Karjakin, who called the sacrifice ‘dubious’. White got a slightly better position, but he needed to make some precise moves to really shake off the black pressure, such as 21.Nc3 and 22.Ra4. Gradually Karjakin took over the initiative and decided the game in a fierce kingside attack. The blindfold game between Alexander Grischuk and Magnus Carlsen, the leader and runner-up in the blindfold standings, took a dramatic turn when the Norwegian believed that his opponent’s queen was on a different square. Till that point he had conducted an excellent game and had gradually outplayed Grischuk on the black side of a King’s Indian. If instead of 23…Qh4 Carlsen had played 23…Qf6, White would have faced a tough task after 24.Qd2 Qd4 and White can barely move. But Carlsen believed White’s queen was on d2 and thought he was capturing an unprotected pawn on e4. Once he realized this was not so there was no choice but to resign. In the rapid game Carlsen was happy with the position he got from the opening. He didn’t obtain a real advantage, but it was ‘complicated enough’. And he felt that his position was easier to play, which he proved in the middlegame when he managed to create a serious advantage. By the time Ivanchuk won his rapid game against Gelfand and walked over to have a brief look at Carlsen’s game, the Ukrainian grandmaster understood that he and Carlsen were going to be the joint winners of the 19th Amber tournament. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Final Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Final Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Final Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/amber-r11-grischuk-wins-blindfold-as-carlsen-blunders-queen/
Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:14:34 +0000
Amber R10: Carlsen back on top
Magnus Carlsen today reclaimed first place in the overall standings of the Amber tournament with a 2-0 win over Ruslan Ponomariov. With one round to go the Norwegian grandmaster is half a point ahead of Vasily Ivanchuk, who drew twice with Vladimir Kramnik. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 10 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 10 report Carlsen back on top with one round to go In round 10 of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Magnus Carlsen reclaimed first place in the overall standings with a 2-0 win over Ruslan Ponomariov. With one round and two games to go, the Norwegian grandmaster is half a point ahead of Vasily Ivanchuk and one and a half points ahead of Vladimir Kramnik. Ivanchuk and Kramnik drew their mini-match today after two hard-fought games. Tomorrow in the last round Carlsen (13½) plays Grischuk (11½). Ivanchuk (13) is paired against Gelfand (11), while Kramnik (12) faces Karjakin (11). Round 11 starts two hours earlier than normal: at 12.30 hrs. The blindfold game between Levon Aronian and Alexander Grischuk saw a sad end when the Russian champion lost on time in a level position, because he had briefly forgotten about the position of his queen. In the final position, believing his queen was on d5, he tried to play 38…Rc5, a move that obviously was not possible with the queen on c6. Grischuk still had 14 seconds on his clock when he made his first attempt. Realizing there was something wrong he tried to exchange queens, but the move 38…Qd5xb5 was not possible either. He didn’t get a third chance to find out the position of his pieces as his time expired. An unfortunate turn of events for the leader in the blindfold rankings, as up that point he had played well. Very well, even, in the eyes of Aronian, who was duly impressed by Grischuk’s clever 29…Ba7 giving the pawn on d5, a material deficit that he quickly corrected after 31…Nf6. Grischuk admitted that it had indeed been a clever ploy, but he was also honest enough to reveal that in actual fact he had really blundered the pawn and that he was just lucky to recover it so easily. But that luck soon ran out. The rapid game was an interesting Catalan that seemed to give White good play. A critical moment appeared on move 27, when Grischuk could have pushed 27.d5 obtaining a potentially dangerous passed pawn. When he let that opportunity go by, Aronian equalized quite comfortably. In the fight for the last place Jan Smeets seemed to be doing very well in the blindfold game when Leinier Dominguez ‘didn’t know what he was doing in the opening’. Dominguez got a clearly worse position in which he was two pawns down. The only chance he saw was to play fast and hope that Smeets would once again end up in time-trouble. Indeed the Dutch grandmaster took his time for his moves and Dominguez saw his hopes to stay in the game come true. After 63 moves of mainly defending he saved the draw. A heroic role was played by Black’s knight on d6 that set up an impressive blockade. In the rapid game Smeets did win and one might say that he was rewarded for brave play. In an Open Ruy he chose an aggressive approach with 12…g5 and even more audacious was his castling queenside. As might be expected White tried to break open the queenside and aim for the black king, but the black queenside front was firm and strong and actually more menacing than its white counterparts. As Dominguez discovered when his position collapsed after Black’s 40th move. Magnus Carlsen scored a relatively uncomplicated win against Ruslan Ponomariov in their blindfold game. The Ukrainian more or less dug his own grave when he opened his kingside position with 21…g4. With White’s bishop pair and most of his pieces ready to jump at the Black’s king this was indeed a poorly judged advance. Or, as Carlsen out it: ‘Once the position opens you can immediately see who is mating who.’ White’s attack grew almost by itself and on move 41 Ponomariov had seen enough. The rapid game was quite a different affair. ‘It pays off to play on’, said with a grin, when he walked into the hospitality lounge after he had ground down Ponomariov in 102 moves. In a Grünfeld Defence he had been slightly worse for a long time, but he kept looking for chances. These finally came in the endgame, a rook ending with both players having four pawns on the kingside. Carlsen explained that he had some practice with exactly this ending as he had played it four years ago in Norway. At that time he had to work out the principles himself, now he already had some essential knowledge. His first step forward he made when he managed to isolate White’s e-pawn. But it was still a far way from a win and much more manoeuvring was required. Carlsen kept plodding on, and bit by bit he achieved what he was looking for. Of course he should be praised for his perseverance, but it also must be said that Ponomariov put up feeble resistance. The longest game of the day was the blindfold encounter between Vasily Ivanchuk and Vladimir Kramnik, a key game between the tournament leader and one of his main rivals. The game lasted 112 moves and more than two hours (and thus seriously delayed the start of the first rapid session). At first Kramnik had no problems at all in his favourite Petroff Defence, but a couple of inaccuracies on the Russian’s part combined with Ivanchuk’s fighting spirit led to a big advantage for the Ukrainian phenomenon. White’s passed pawns forced Kramnik to give up a piece for two pawns and now the question was whether this ending was won for Ivanchuk. After the game Kramnik exchanged views with a host of grandmasters in the hospitality lounge and opined that to his mind it was an ‘absolute draw, but unpleasant to defend’. Not everyone was convinced, but definite conclusions were not reached. Ivanchuk stated that he had thrown away his winning chances with 49.h4, ‘a terrible move’. Of course he was right, but frustrated by this missed chance he kept playing on and only accepted a draw in a rook and knight versus rook endgame more than sixty moves later. The rapid game was also a gritty fight and this time it was Kramnik who got the winning chances. At least that was his opponent’s conviction after he had managed to escape with a draw. Ivanchuk indicated 18…bxc5 as a critical moment where he had to calculate a lot. He gave up an exchange for a pawn and from that moment onwards he had to work hard to earn a precious half point. Which he managed after 46 moves, leaving him the only player in the tournament who has not yet lost a single game. Peter Svidler was ‘reasonably satisfied’ after his blindfold encounter with Boris Gelfand, as he felt he had played an interesting game (even if the ultimate result was only a draw). And he held a promising position for most of the game. Gelfand was critical of his move 13…Nf8 as with 14.c5 White scored an important triumph in the fight for the f4-square. But there were various dangers looming (such as 13…dxc4 14.0-0-0 b5, trying to hold on to the pawn and Black will not survive long after 15.Bh5). Svidler was optimistic and believed that the sacrifice 24.Rxg6+ would lead to a winning attack, but in fact Black could stay afoot with careful play. The ending also looked very promising for him, but he had missed 40…f3 and now White’s pawns are too fragmented to offer real winning chances. In the rapid game Svidler got the opportunity to play his umpteenth Grünfeld Defence and as it is his specialty he obviously had no objections. Certainly after Gelfand missed 20…Bh6 which effectively cost him a pawn. And in case you wonder if White could have prevented losing this pawn with 24.axb5 then the following line will show you that this was not the case: 24…axb5 25.Rxa8+ Bxa8 26.Kf2 Nd5 and the pawn goes anyway (27.Nf1 Rxe2+). A pawn down Gelfand kept trying to save the game, but Svidler didn’t falter and gained the full point after 75 moves. Sergey Karjakin and Vugar Gashimov showed a good sense of Amber history in their blindfold when they repeated the queen sacrifice with which Vasily Ivanchuk baffled the spectators two years ago. Of course, at the time ‘Mr Amber’ also baffled his opponent, who happened to be … Karjakin. Well, actually Karjakin hadn’t specifically prepared it for his occasion (and neither had Gashimov), but stumbled into it as he hadn’t expected his opponent to play the Najdorf. In the past two years the knowledge about this variation has grown rapidly and the general consensus is that Black should be fine. That assessment was confirmed by this further example, as the game ended in a draw by repetition on move 25. The rapid game also saw a theoretical discussion, with Karjakin taking on the role of Grischuk who recently has played three games in this line of the Najdorf Poisoned Pawn with 8.Qd3 against Gashimov. The new move was played by Gashimov, who tried 18.0-0, where he played 18.Rf1 against Grischuk. Karjakin reacted correctly with 18…d5 and after a series of exchanges the game ended in a draw by perpetual check. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/amber-r10-carlsen-back-on-top/
Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:46:40 +0000
Amber R9: Carlsen closes in
In round 9 of the Amber tournament, Vasily Ivanchuk defended first place in the overall standings with two draws against Vugar Gashimov. With two rounds to go the Ukrainian grandmaster has a half-point lead over Magnus Carlsen, who defeated Leinier Dominguez of Cuba 1½-½. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 9 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 9 report Carlsen closes in on tournament leader Ivanchuk In round 9 of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Vasily Ivanchuk defended first place in the overall standings with two draws against Vugar Gashimov. With two rounds and four games to go the Ukrainian grandmaster has a half-point lead over Magnus Carlsen, who defeated Leinier Dominguez of Cuba 1½-½. Vladimir Kramnik also improved his position, moving into third place, half a point behind Carlsen and one full point behind Ivanchuk. Kramnik shares third place with Alexander Grischuk, who defeated Jan Smeets 2-0. In round 10 Ivanchuk plays Kramnik, while Carlsen faces Ponomariov. Grischuk meets Aronian. Following a day of relaxation the players returned to work today for round 9. Unfortunately the second free day was not a perfect day to enjoy the attractions of the Palais de la Méditerranée (the outdoor swimming pool, for example) or of Nice in general (the beach, for example) as the sun was barely seen and the sky was mainly cloudy with occasional showers pouring down. The ‘official program’ offered two ‘excursions’, the traditional laser game and a guided tour through Baroque Nice. Only few players joined the guided walk, but as always the enthusiasm for the laser game was heart-warming. All participants showed great fighting spirit, but in all honesty the true stars of the event were Peter Svidler’s wife Olga and John Nunn’s son Michael. But all that was well forgotten when this afternoon at 14.30 hrs the clocks were started again (while outside the sun had returned with a vengeance attracting a considerable crowd to the beach!). The blindfold game between Vugar Gashimov and Vasily Ivanchuk was a brief fierce cash that ended in perpetual check after 30 moves. White grew optimistic when he obtained a beautiful space advantage and could freely push his pawns to g5 and f5. And after the inspired 22.Nc5 Gasimov felt he was winning. He still felt this way after the game, even if in the final position he had not seen a way to proceed. But he believed a remark from a colleague in the hospitality lounge who opined that he could have played for a win with 28.Kg2 Rc6 29.Qd5+ Kc8 30.Rxc4 and Black is indeed in trouble. However, when Gashimov had a brief look at the position with a computer, he immediately found the considerably stronger 28…Qd4 and concluded with some relief that he had not missed a golden chance to inflict Ivanchuk’s first defeat and that it was a draw after all. The rapid game was a balanced positional act in which pieces were exchanged in rapid succession. On move 38, when both players had only one knight and five pawns left, the game ended in a draw by repetition of moves. Vladimir Kramnik steered clear of all Grünfeld main line theory against Peter Svidler (‘Apparently he is impressed by my Grünfeld skills’) and opted for a sound but harmless approach. Black had many ways to equalize, but as Svidler put it, he still managed to create some problems for himself. Problems which he next managed to solve. One of the improvements he indicated was 21…f6 to put his bishop on f7. And a possible improvement for White that he suggested was 24. Qd4 Kg8 25.e5. Kramnik had been under the impression that on move 29 he could play 29.Rd6 as on 29…Bxb3 30.Qxb3 Qxe5 he briefly believed that he could go 31.Qe3, but when the moment arrived he spotted that this would hit on the embarrassing 31…Qa1+ and he loses his queen. A few moves later there was little to fight for anymore and the players agreed on a draw. The rapid game was a painful loss for Svidler. In a fashionable variation that Kramnik called ‘slightly difficult for Black but playable’, he committed a big strategic mistake when he pushed his pawn to f6 on move 20 and robbed himself of all play. The rest of the game Kramnik described as easy, he only needed to remain concentrated and choose the right moment to break through on the queenside. Once he broke through White lost material and soon had to resign. The blindfold game between Boris Gelfand and Sergey Karjakin only took half an hour and 18 moves, but it did contain a small story. They repeated a game played by their seconds, Maxim Rodshtein and Alexander Motylev at the recent Aeroflot Open in Moscow. In that game White was a bit better after 12…0-0 13.Nb5. Karjakin improved with 12…a6, which allowed White pushing e4 and e5, but after 15…Nc5 Gelfand failed to find a way to keep his initiative alive. As he had various weak pawns in his position he was not too eager to make an all-out winning attempt and went for the repetition of moves that was on offer. The rapid game saw a long discussion in the Petroff with Karjakin introducing a novelty, 18.Bd3 in combination with g4. The true merits of the new move may only become clear in future games. White seemed to get good chances, but didn’t find the right follow-up. In the hospitality lounge Ljubomir Ljubojevic and Fabiano Caruana believed that White could have improved his play with 25.Qf5 Rd8 followed by gain of space with h4 and a4, and afterwards Gelfand agreed with this assessment. As it went, he played the right countermoves and drew comfortably. Ruslan Ponomariov was a bit surprised that Levon Aronian chose the Grünfeld Defence for their blindfold game, as it is an opening he doesn’t normally play. His surprise only increased when it became clear that the Armenian grandmaster hadn’t prepared anything particular and committed a couple of inaccuracies, such as 11…e6, where 11…Nc6 is a better option. The rest of the game Ponomariov summed up with the words ‘I just took his pawns and pieces and didn’t know why he didn’t resign’. Ponomariov could even blunder a pawn and still be winning (he should have played 30.Bxf4 Qxf4 31.d8Q Qxc1+ 32.Kg2 and the queen on d8 is untouchable because of mate). Aronian finally resigned when he was three moves away from mate. Aronian hit back in the rapid game. ‘The variation isn’t that good’, he commented after he had won, ‘Of course we both made inaccuracies, but it was difficult for him.’ White could have finished the game quicker with the nice 46.g7 Qf7 47.g8N!, but as it went, Ponomariov had to resign soon enough. With his win over Jan Smeets, the leader in the blindfold standings, Alexander Grischuk, raised his total score in the blindfold to a most impressive 7 out of 9. Nevertheless the Russian champion was mainly modest after this further win. ‘I played the opening so badly, that I both needed to get lucky and needed the help of my opponent’. One of the moves he criticized was 11.d4, which he called ‘an amazingly bad move’. The chances in the game fluctuated with White getting the better game, spoiling his advantage and being clearly worse and then being on top again. After 44.Qg4 it was clear the black position was going to collapse soon and so it did. The rapid game was a much smoother performance of the Russian champion. In a Sicilian Hedgehog he carefully manoeuvred behind the lines, preparing the central break that almost inevitably came. And once he pushed 30…d5, Smeets immediately erred. He should have tried 31.f4, as after 31.exd5, Grischuk could strike hard with 31…Nxf3+ 32.gxf3 Bxg3 and White was fighting a lost battle. The blindfold game between Leinier Dominguez and Magnus Carlsen started with a peculiar ‘intermezzo’, when after the third move of his opponent the Norwegian had to heed nature’s call and left the playing room in the company of the assistant arbiter. Carlsen returned quickly, but the excursion nevertheless cost him some three minutes. The game developed along the lines of an everyday Catalan with Dominguez getting slightly optimistic after 19.Qf3 and 20.Rac1. Carlsen was in time with his counterplay (21.b4 and 22…Qa4) and from that moment onwards Black exerted some pressure, but couldn’t really achieve something with the strong white knight on c4. ‘A pretty normal game’, Dominguez concluded after it had been drawn after 50 moves. At the start of the rapid game it seemed as if Dominguez wanted to offer some compensation for the time Carlsen wasted in the blindfold game when the Cuban thought for one minute before he replied to White’s 1.e4 with his pet 1…e4. Most probably he had expected Carlsen to play something else. Once Dominguez played his favourite Najdorf, Carlsen opted for 6.Be2 and got a good game. Still, he wasn’t completely happy with his play and felt that he could have won quicker once he had gotten his knight to f5. What he did like were the three connected passers he got on the queenside and his move 27.Qh3 that threw Black on the ropes, particularly so as Black immediately blundered with 27…f4, where he would have put up more resistance with 27…g6. The rest wasn’t too difficult anymore and Carlsen won without much difficulty. As said, he still had his doubts about his play, but he also concluded that with four games to go he had already won more games (ten) than in the previous years. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/amber-r9-carlsen-closes-in/
Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:33:25 +0000
Wijk aan Zee Recap Part II
Greetings to everyone around the world. Fortunately, it is sunny outside and most of us in the United States have recovered from SUPER SUNDAY! I know most people here probably would prefer chess to football (including Dave the webmaster, who is a Colts fan!) but I found the game to be extremely exciting. Having grown up in New York, I always was impressed by Sean Payton's ability as the defensive coordinator for the Giants. Overall, I felt that New Orleans won due to the many interesting and simply brilliant decisions including the onside kick to start the second half. Although I was pulling for Peyton Manning and the Colts due to the people I know in Indy, New Orleans was simply the better team last night. Alas, another football season has come and gone, but there's always next year for my Titans! Now back to chess... Round 6: Ivanchuk-Nakamura In the sixth round, I kept facing strong players as I was Black against GM Vasily Ivanchuk from Ukraine. Of the modern day players, I think my style most resembles his in that we are the two players who play just about any opening depending on which side of the bed we wake up on! At the same time, he is also one of the few players who can beat anyone which makes him dangerous. Having beaten Vasily in the rapid finals of Cap D'Agde in 2008, I knew that he'd be angling for revenge this time around. Therefore, I decided to play the Slav against his 1.d4 (a minor surprise!). This was really the first surprise of the game as I have played the fairly obscure 12...0-0-0. In other top encounters, 12...Be6 was preferred. During the game, I was feeling fairly confident as I had reached this position in my analysis prior to the game. At the board, though, I began thinking to myself what if he plays 13.a5? My suspicions were confirmed shortly afterwards when he played it! Fortunately, it was not hard for me to come up with the right plan as there aren't a whole lot of logical moves. As such, I was able to force a repitition after 13...Nc5 14.Qe1 Nb3 15.Ra4 Nc5 16.Ra1 Nb3 leading to a draw. During the tournament, there were many people who asked how could I take a quick draw as it runs contrary to my style. The answer is quite simple in that if either Vasily or I chose to play on, we'd be worse. Sometimes, being practical and taking quick draws makes sense. Obviously, I had the foresight to do that here, but not against Karjakin when it mattered, D'oh!  Round 7: Nakamura-Shirov After the draw with Ivanchuk, I was on a very respectable 4/6 while Shirov was blazing on 5.5/6 and in the clear lead by a half point. Although neither Kris nor I came into the tournament with expectations of me winning, we decided that I should definitely go all out for glory in this game. Since I went into the game with this mindset I decided to play 1.e4 as I felt Shirov would create complications no matter which opening I chose. Despite the fact I felt Alexei made a mistake in choosing the sicilian against me, I still must respect his decision to stay true to his style despite the tournament situation. The opening was very much a seesaw battle as I felt after 15 moves I was simply better. To his credit, it was around this time that Alexei used a lot of time and came up with the right idea of exchanging his dark square bishop. Over the course of the next few moves I got careless giving away any advantage I had. The key point occurred in the following position after 19.Bf3. In this position, I was not quite sure about the evaluation. However, I correctly judged that Alexei would go for a tactical solution in the position. In chess, there are certain positions where intuitively you feel like there has to be a way to win material. As it turns out, Black is probably better after the simple 19...Rd8, but Alexei like myself spent most of his time trying to come up with something tactical which was incorrect. After 19...Nh3 20.Kh1 Nxf2 21.Rxf2 Qxe3 22.Bxb7 I think Alexei overlooked 22...Qxf2 23.Qxd6 with a crushing threat of Bc6 mate. Once this key opportunity was missed, the position became difficult to play for Black. Although any computer program would probably draw (beat us weak humans) it without too much trouble, it was still incredibly unpleasant to play. This coupled with Alexei's impending time pressure proved to be too much as in the time pressure, he cracked and I won! Although it was not fate to win the tournament, I knew that after this win that this event was a success regardless of how I ended. Round 8: Kramnik-Nakamura In the eighth round, I got Black against the 14th World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik. Coming off such a high following the previous round, I knew this would be an extremely difficult task. However, as a good friend said once before, you play the games since the underdog can come out ahead.  Thanks to a certain girl, I took the French Canadien phrase, "C'est de la biere" (It's a beer which basically means it's a piece of cake) and simply tried to relax and enjoy the game. There are some days when we all just play badly. This day proved to be one of these as it got off to a bad start when I switched my opening choice at the last minute and decided to play the Dutch. In the game, we went into the Leningrad and Vladimir played the interesting 8.Rb1 line. Pretty much immediately I went off the beaten path as I started pushing pawns like a total patzer. Eventually we reached the first of two key positions after 19.Bxe3. In this position, I calculated 19...Qe7 and thought it made the most sense only to have a finger fehler and play 19...Nxd4. In reality, the move I played was correct but it screwed with my mind. Normally this is not a problem, but almost immediately after I played Nxd4, I started thinking, "hmm, wait, why did I not go Qe7??" After 20.Qc1 White would had a big advantage, but when you have lingering doubts during a game, it can affect you adversely. After a series of more or less forced moves we reached the second and final chance I had to save the game. In this position, Vladimir had just played 23.Rxd5. During the game, I only considered playing either 23....Bf5 or 23...Be6. As it turns out, our silicon friend thinks I am probably fine if I trade on g3 and then follow it up with Be6. However, during the game I fully intended to play Bf5 only to then start considering Be6. For some bizarre reason, I calculated 23...Be6 24.Rxd4 Qxd4 25.Nxf4 as a variation. Then, once I played 23...Be6 I immediately spotted the obvious 24.Nxf4. After this secondary blunder, the game was beyond hope and I duly lost. This certainly was not a positive development as far as the tournament was concerned. On the positive side, it was only after the second blunder that I was losing. Nevertheless, I played badly and got punished. Alas, I only join the likes of people such as Kasparov who have gotten crushed by Kramnik. Being in such good company cannot be something to complain about! Round 9: Nakamura-Karjakin In the ninth round, I had White against former child prodigy, Sergey Karjakin formerly of Ukraine and now playing for Russia.Sergey and I are certainly no strangers as we have played several times in the past. Before I discuss the game, I would just like to point out that despite my sometimes controversial style and comments in the past, I have not intentionally insulted someone in public. In many ways, I found Sergey's comments on chesspro to be incredibly disgusting and insulting. One can only hope that people grow up much like I have since my younger days. In this game, I chose to play 1.d4 as I was coming off a brutal loss and wanted to play a bit safer. Sergey surprised me almost from the start by choosing the Nimzo Indian over his preferred Slav. The opening was a bit unusual in that I had two doubled pawns on the c file. However, the diagonals certainly made up for it. In this important position, we had repeated with 17.Ba7 Ra8 18.Be3 Rb8. Much like in my game against Ivanchuk, I had a serious decision to make here. Should I take a relatively quick draw and get ready for the following round or try to press on. Here, I thought for some time and decided to play despite the messy position and not having a lot of time. Although this was objectively fine since the position was not any worse for me, from a general standpoint it was simply wrong. The rest of the game, I did not play particularly inspiringly, and I eventually overpressed in time pressure making a horrible blunder. There really was not much positive news from this game as I once again just did not play very accurately. However, with four rounds still left, I felt that it would be possible to put up a solid plus score if i returned to form. The one big drawback at this point was that during this game, I started feeling a bit tired and hallucinating during this and the subsequent games. Alas, when you play two major tournaments back to back eventually all the energy being spent will catch up.   Stay tuned for the third and final installment from north of the border! Cheers, Hikaru 2.8.10
http://www.hikarunakamura.com/main/Blog/tabid/57/EntryId/100/Wijk-aan-Zee-Recap-Part-II.aspx
Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:08:00 GMT
Caruana nel Campionato a squadre Russo 2010 !
Caruana nel Campionato Russo a Squadre! Sarà possibile ammirare dal 1 aprile a Dagomys, nei pressi di Sochi sul Mar Nero, la "Premier League" del Campionato Russo a squadre (10 team), competizione di livello assoluto che per il secondo anno consecutivo annovera tra i propri protagonisti il nostro Fabiano Caruana, una delle punte del team di ShSM-64. In squadra con lui ci saranno campioni del calibro di Gelfand e Karjakin, l'italiano in terza e poi Wang Hao e Grachev. Jakovenko,campione 2009 come prima scacchiera del Tomsk-400, è passato invece nella squadra di Ugra dove milita anche Malakhov. Quest'ultimo  russo sta attraversando un buon periodo di forma, infatti si è messo in mostra nelle ultime uscite ed in particolare nella recente World Cup arrivando fino alle fasi finali. Tra le favorite vanno sicuramente citate l'Ural (con Grischuk e Shirov) e San Pietroburgo (con Ivanchuk e Svidler). Tra i giovani russi si segnala Vitiugov (San Pietroburgo) e Tomashevsky (Ekonomist) che hanno contribuito fortemente alla vittoria della Russia al recente Mondiale a Squadre. Il loro apporto è stato fondamentale per riportare la loro nazionale ad una medaglia d'oro dopo alcuni anni di cocenti delusioni. In quell'occasione inoltre hanno sfoderato anche alcune partite di bellezza assoluta. Tra i possibili protagonisti da tenere d'occhio anche il teenager Sjugirov, ormai qualcosa in più di una promessa. Tornando a Fabiano va ricordato che l'anno scorso fu il miglior giocatore in termini di perfomance, infatti giocando in terza e quarta scacchiera realizzò un ottimo 5 su 6  ottenendo una perfomance pari a 2856 punti elo. Purtroppo la sua squadra vide svanire i sogni di vittoria facendolo riposare all'ultimo turno e la ShSM-64 perse contro SPbChFed a causa della sconfitta in ultima scacchiera dove Efimenko(SPbChFed) ebbe la meglio su Savchenko(ShSm-64). Classifica finale 2009: 1 Tomsk-400 11.0 23.5 2 ShSM-64 9.0 24.5 3 Ural 9.0 24.0 4 Economist-SGSEU - 1 9.0 23.5 5 SPbChFed 8.0 23.0 6 TPS 6.0 20.5 7 Eurasia-Logistic 4.0 19.5 8 M.Chigorin CC 0.0 9.5 Ad impreziosire la manifestazione ci saranno come al solito altri due tornei in contemporanea:la "Higher League" e il Campionato a squadre femminile, entrambi a 7 squadre. Probabilmente sarà possibile seguire alcune fasi del Campionato Femminile sul blog della Kosteniuk e sul suo canale youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/chessqueen). Caruana premiato nel 2009 Riportiamo ora la composizione dei team, anche se da oggi all' 1 Aprile potrebbero ancora avere luogo dei piccoli cambiamenti. Premier League Ekonomist SGSEU-1 (Saratov): Alexander Morozevich Wang Yue Ni Hua Pavel Eljanov Evgeny Tomashevsky Evgeny Alekseev Michael Roiz Dmitry Andreikin Alexander Morozevich Ural (Sverdlovsk): Alexander Grischuk Alexei Shirov Emil Sutovsky Evgeny Bareev Alexei Dreev Vadim Milov Igor Khenkin Vladimir Epishin Alexander Grischuk ShSM-64 (Moscow): Boris Gelfand, Sergey Karjakin Fabiano Caruana Wang Hao, Boris Grachev Boris Savchenko Evgeniy Najer Alexander Riazantsev Vladimir Potkin Boris Gelfand Sankt-Petersburg Chess Federation: Vassily Ivanchuk, Peter Svidler Nikita Vitiugov Sergei Movsesian Zahar Efimenko Konstantin Sakaev Vadim Zvjagintsev V.Emelin Vitiugov (3° scacchiera dietro Ivanchuk e Svidler) Ugra (Khanty-Mansiysk): Dmitry Jakovenko Vladimir Malakhov Alexander Khalifman Sergei Rublevsky Sanan Sjugirov Konstantin Landa Malakhov  (2° scacchiera) Tomsk-400: Ruslan Ponomariov Alexander Motylev Ernesto Inarkiev Viktor Bologan Denis Khismatullin Farrukh Ammonatov Artyom Timofeev Sergei Tiviakov Igor Kurnosov Motylev (2° scacchiera) In gara ci saranno anche altre 4 squadre, ovvero: BelGU (Belgorod), Ekonomist SGSEU-2 (Saratov), Chigorin Club (Sankt-Petersburg) e Etud-Kontakt (Moscow) Tomsk-400: vincitori del campionato 2009  La squadra di Fabiano, ShSM-64, 2° classificata nel 2009 Women's Premier League AVS: Antoaneta Stefanova, Anna Muzychuk, Natalia Pogonina Maria Muzychuk Antoaneta Stefanova Anna Muzychuk Natalija Pogonina Moscow Chess Federation: Alexandra Kosteniuk, Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, Valentina Gunina Svetlana Matveeva Kosteniuk, Campionessa del Mondo Ekonomist SGSEU (Saratov): Zhao Xue, Elisabeth Paehtz, Anna Ushenina Baira Kovanova Ushenina Sankt-Petersburg Chess Federation: Viktorija Cmilyte, Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, Monika Socko Ekaterina Atalik Monika Socko ( POL) , fresca Campionessa Europea LINKS UTILI: Diretta online Sito Federazione Scacchistica Russa
http://www.scacchierando.net/dblog/articolo.asp?articolo=1771
2010-03-23T00:15:00+01:00
Amber R8: Kramnik beats Carlsen 1.5-0.5, Ivanchuk increases lead
In the 8th round of the Amber tournament in Nice, Vladimir Kramnik defeated Magnus Carlsen 1.5-0.5, which should have been 2-0. Vasily Ivanchuk was held to two draws by Dominguez; the Ukrainian did increase his lead in the combined standings to a full point. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 8 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 8 report Ivanchuk retains lead, Kramnik defeats Carlsen 1½-½ In round 8 of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Vasily Ivanchuk retained first place in the overall standings. The tournament leader drew both his games with Leinier Dominguez and increased his lead over runner-up Magnus Carlsen to one point. Carlsen had a rough day. He lost the key encounter with Vladimir Kramnik ½-1½, and actually couldn’t complain that he didn’t lose both games. Kramnik moved up to joint third place with Boris Gelfand, only half a point behind Carlsen. Monday is a free day. Play is resumed coming Tuesday, March 23, at 14.30 hrs. ‘A decent game that I can be happy with’, Peter Svidler called the blindfold game he won against Ruslan Ponomariov. Once again the Russian grandmaster played 1.d4 (‘I keep playing this, hoping for openings that never happen’), but didn’t achieve anything tangible from the opening. He only became optimistic after 21.h3, one reason being his bishop on h6, which really was a ‘pest’. Black’s plan with Bb5 and building up pressure on c4 would have been good, had it not been for the little tactic 25.g4, which prevented Black from taking on c4. Svidler criticized 25…Rd8 and offered the following alternative (that he had seen staring at the blank screen in front of him): 25…e6 26.Nd6 Rxc1 27.Bxc1 Rc3 28.Bxd5 Be2 29.Re1 Nxd5 30.Bd2 Rc6 31.Nxb7 Bf3 32.Nc5 Nc7, with drawing chances (after 32…h5 33.Kh2 hxg4 White has 34.Kg3). After the move in the game White has various trumps; the bishop pair, the c-file and a big space advantage. Black blundered with 31…e6, as after White’s reply the black knight cannot withdraw to d7 because of 33.Nc4 and an entire rook drops off. The game was essentially over after 34.Rc7 which led to a quick collapse of the black position. The rapid game was a wondrous affair. In a Grünfeld Defence, with Svidler once again behind the black pieces, Ponomariov got ‘everything I wanted’, as he put it himself. The Ukrainian grandmaster was very pleased with his 12.e5!, but the situation he was talking about was the position after his 18th move. Apparently Svidler agreed, as not seeing a normal way out anymore he decided to sacrifice a piece for two pawns. And after 28.f3 he sacrificed a further piece, again for another two pawns. Of course, White was totally winning, but the game was far from over. Ponomariov didn’t use all his chances and Svidler fought back creatively, the dead certain outcome wasn’t that dead certain anymore. In the end Ponomariov won anyway, but only after Svidler had missed a draw on move 54 with 54…f1Q 55.Bxf1 c4 and there is no win. Easily the longest game of the first blindfold session was the encounter between Sergey Karjakin and Alexander Grischuk, lasting one hour and forty minutes (for 82 moves) and even delaying the start of the second session. Karjakin played 6.f3 against Grischuk’s Najdorf, but derived little pleasure from his choice when the Russian champion energetically took over the initiative. Karjakin worked hard to neutralize the black initiative and once he managed to make progress on the kingside the advantage switched to White again and Black was as good as lost. But then it was Grischuk’s turn again to show his ambitions and get the better play. White made the decisive mistake on move 65 when he could have made a draw (see this week’s endgame study). Now Karjakin had to defend a King and Queen ending against a King and Rook ending, and as we all know this is an ungrateful challenge. The course of the rapid game was determined when Grischuk sacrificed his bishop on h6 as early as move 17. After the game the players analyzed a long time to understand the secrets of the position. Grischuk summed up their findings with his typical irony: ‘We discovered that we both played badly.’ According to him the sacrifice would have been unsound if Black had gone 23…Rad8 instead of 23…Tfd8. And Black would have been better if he had gone 26…Kh8 instead of 26…Kf8. And instead of the repetition of moves at the end his conclusion was that White should have played on with 30.Rxh7 Qxh7 31.Nxg5 Qf5 32.Qe3. To balance all this self-criticism we may add that the computer does not entirely share these findings. So, perhaps they didn’t play that badly after all. The opening of the blindfold game between Vasily Ivanchuk and Leinier Dominguez was a Sicilian Najdorf, which could hardly be called a surprise after White had played 1.e4. The Cuban grandmaster obviously chose his pet Najdorf and once again went for the ultra-sharp line starting with 7…Nc6, an approach that he himself also called ‘dangerous’, especially after the approach with 14.Bg3 chosen by Ivanchuk. Still, once he managed to exchange queens and push f5, Dominguez got a good game. He even felt that he was better, but in the ensuing phase he failed to prove anything concrete and after 57 moves a draw was agreed on. In the rapid game Ivanchuk came well-prepared for the Sicilian line that Dominguez had already played on various occasions. The Cuban grandmaster sat thinking hard to remember his work on this line and possible ways to get an advantage. After the game he was satisfied with the plan with 18.h4 and 20.Rh3 that he came up with. Still, he couldn’t solve all his problems and already in quite serious time-trouble he fled into a rook endgame in which he had to fight for survival. That task he acquitted himself of well and after 54 moves he saved the draw. The blindfold game between Jan Smeets and Vugar Gashimov saw a rare line of the Sicilian Rauzer in which the struggle quickly came to a head when Black sacrificed an exchange with 10…Rxc3. With the strong 12…d5, Black more or less forced his opponent to give back the exchange as otherwise the black initiative would take on dangerous proportions. Smeets wasn’t unhappy with the way the game developed, especially after he was allowed to march his a-pawn to a5 (which Black might have stopped by 18…Ba3). He was also happy with the next pawn he offered with 27.c5, as he got a promising pair of passed pawns. White looked to be in clover, but in the next phase he didn’t proceed accurately enough, he felt. For instance, he believed the immediate 35.c6 would have been stronger. When Black’s counterplay got on his nerves, he decided to bury his aspirations and went for the draw. In the rapid game Gashimov surprised Smeets with a dangerous idea in a popular line of the Petroff. With 13.d6 and 14.Nb5 he sacrificed a pawn, but got excellent compensation thanks to the compromised position of the black king. After the game the Dutchman wasn’t sure if the white pawn sacrifice had been entirely correct, but he readily admitted that finding black answers to all the white questions at the board was perhaps more than you could expect from a human in a rapid game. As it went, he was steamrollered by White’s attack on the kingside and the game was over on move 33. In the blindfold game between Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik a fashionable gambit line of the Vienna Game appeared on the board. The Norwegian had aggressive intentions, but according to his opponent his aggression was half-hearted. At a point where he should have gone all out for the attack Carlsen seemed to have second thoughts and tried to regain the pawn with 14.Ba3, a move that Kramnik criticized. When White started working on his kingside attack, Black was prepared (and two full pawns up) and Kramnik had no doubt that he was winning if he didn’t blunder anything. In fact he did make things more difficult for himself than necessary, when he omitted the simple 35…Kf8, which would soon have decided the issue and two moves later Carlsen even got a golden chance to save his skin with 37.hxg7. The engines immediately indicate this possibility as a draw, but Kramnik begged to differ. According to him there may be drawing chances for White, but he believed that Black is winning after the amazing line: 37.hxg7 Qf3+ 38.Kh2 Qxg2+ (38…Qf4+ 39.Kh3) 39.Qxg2 e2 40.Qh3 Kxg7 41.Qg3+ Kf8 42.Qe1 b5 43.Kg3 Re5 and White will have to sweat to make a draw. After Carlsen missed this chance the game was soon over. The rapid game was even more spectacular. Carlsen showed that he was ready for an open fight by playing the King’s Indian, but again his play was too risky and with the ‘piece sacrifice’ 27.Bxe5 Kramnik obtained a winning position. No one doubted that the Russian was cruising to his second victory, except for Carlsen perhaps. With great determination he kept trying to pose problems and much to the amazement of the watching grandmasters he indeed managed to confuse his opponent. Or maybe Kramnik was confusing himself. In any case, watched by fascinated spectators and various colleagues Carlsen saved a draw (after 90 moves!) that might turn out to be important if four days from now when the prizes are distributed. Levon Aronian got a good game in the blindfold encounter with Boris Gelfand, when a skirmish on the c-file looked to end to his advantage. His initiative evaporated after 20.Nfd4, where it seems he could have cemented it with 20.Nfe5, when after 20…Na4 21.Rd7, Black surprisingly cannot play 21…Bxe5 because of 22.Ne7+. After this missed chance there soon followed a mass liquidation that led to a draw on move 34. In the rapid game Gelfand obtained a fine game, when Aronian freely surrendered the d-file. Black’s position looked cramped, but Aronian gradually solved his problems and was rewarded for his efforts when on move 37 his opponent offered a draw. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/amber-r8-kramnik-beats-carlsen-1-5-0-5-ivanchuk-increases-lead/
Mon, 22 Mar 2010 09:01:45 +0000
Amber: Ivanchuk erobert Spitze zurück
Ein 1,5:0,5-Sieg über Alexander Grischuk reichte Vassily Ivanchuk, um sich nach der heutigen 7. Runde des Amber-Turniers wieder an die Spitze der Tabelle zu setzen. Magnus Carlsen, der den Ukrainer gestern überholt hatte, unterlag nämlich mit 0,5:1,5 Vugar Gashimov. In der Blindpartie war dem Norweger die Berliner Variante ziemlich missglückt. Ebenfalls mit 1,:0,5 siegten Boris Gelfand gegen Jan Smeets und Peter Svidler gegen Lenier Dominguez. Mit 2:0 gewann Sergey Karjakin gegen Ruslan Ponomariov. Aronian und Kramnik spielten 1:1. Offizielle Seite... Mehr...
http://chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=10191
Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Amber R7: Ivanchuk once again back in sole lead
Vasily Ivanchuk is back in the lead at the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament in Nice. The Ukrainian defeated Alexander Grischuk 1.5-0.5 today, while Magnus Carlsen lost with the same score to Vugar Gashimov. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 7 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 7 report Vasily ‘Mr Amber’ Ivanchuk once again back in the sole lead In round 7 of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Vasily Ivanchuk once again moved into the sole lead. The Ukrainian grandmaster had luck on his side in his mini-match against Russian champion Alexander Grischuk. Thanks to this 1½-½ win Ivanchuk replaced Magnus Carlsen as leader in the overall standings. The Norwegian top-seed had an off-day. He was obviously disappointed by his ½-1½ loss against Vugar Gashimov, but he was even more worried by the play he had shown. Sergey Karjakin moved up to shared third place thanks to a 2-0 win over his former compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov. Vladimir Kramnik won a nice game against Levon Aronian in their blindfold encounter. In a Tarrasch Defence Black got into problems when he pushed 20…d4. Better would have been 20…Qc5+ 21.Kh2 and only now 21…d4. After 21.f5 White’s attack became very dangerous. If for instance Black had played 21…Bd5 instead of 21…Bc4, White pushes 22.f6 and he is in time to mate the black king. The game got a sudden end when Black blundered with 22…Qxa2, allowing White the crushing 23.Rb2 (”I had forgotten about that one,” Aronian said) and 24.f6. Aronian levelled the score in the rapid game, but this was a far from flawless performance from both players. As Aronian summed it up when he entered the hospitality lounge after the game: ‘First I was winning, then I was losing and then I was winning again.’ No one argued with that, not even the various engines present. The first time the tables were turned when Aronian blundered with 26.Rxe3 (after the wrong 25…Nxb2? where 25…Ree8 was necessary) and found himself in a lost position after Black’s answer, while he could have gotten a great position with 26.Qg2 Re7 27.Rxe7 Kxe7 28.Qg7+. Kramnik returned the favour with 32…Kf8, which gave away most of his advantage, whereas 32…Kf6 33.Re4 Rg8 would still have had him winning comfortably. After this missed opportunity the game seemed to be steering for a draw, but another mistake by Kramnik cost him the game. With 49…Kh7 he would have kept the draw. After 49…c3 he must have been shocked by White’s unnerving reply and one move later he had to resign. After he had drawn the blindfold game against Boris Gelfand, Jan Smeets admitted that this was the first time in his Amber debut that he had felt comfortable ‘watching’ his position. Which didn’t mean that he hadn’t realized that the opening hadn’t entirely gone his way. What he meant to say was that he was just feeling comfortable. Without hesitation he sacrificed a pawn to get some play and, as if this was the most natural cause the game could take, he regained it relatively effortlessly some ten moves later. The ensuing endgame was level and no longer contained problems for Black that could rob him of a well-deserved draw. The rapid game was less pleasant for the Dutchman. Between moves 15 and 20 he misplayed the position that had arisen from a popular line of the Petroff and ended up in trouble. He decided to give a pawn, but this concession did little to alleviate the pain. By a forced sequence the players ended up in a rook endgame in which Black had an extra pawn and good winning chances. That was the way Gelfand described it and he proved his point on the board. Vugar Gashimov was confronted by a Berlin Wall in his blindfold game against Magnus Carlsen. In the endgame that duly appeared on the board within a few moves, White is supposed to be only slightly better, but Gashimov’s life was made easy by Carlsen’s 14…b6 (the white player suggested 14…Ne7 as an improvement). After 13.Ng5 and 14.c4 White had two imposing knights in the centre and Black’s position was not to be envied. Gashimov was proud of his move 18.Rac1 and felt that in general he had played a good game. He also kept a cool head when Carlsen came up with his last trick, 29…c6, and converted his advantage with a steady hand. In the rapid game Carlsen seemed to get good chances to level the score in this mini-match, when Gashimov played too riskily in the opening. With 20.Rd1 Qa5 21.Ne4 the Norwegian could have gotten a considerable advantage, but thinking 20.Nf5 was also promising he spurned this opportunity. Carlsen had missed 24…Rfe8 and now suddenly he was in trouble. The ending should have been winning for Gashimov (one improvement Carlsen indicated was 34…Rb3 instead of 34…Rxf3), but as always it’s not over till it’s over and with tenacious play White managed to save the draw; on 58 there were only two kings left on the board. Carlsen was obviously disappointed about the chance he had missed and when he was asked whether he minded that he had drawn his first game he replied negatively but added that he did worry about his play today. After the blindfold encounter between Alexander Grischuk and Vasily Ivanchuk had ended in a draw, the Ukrainian runner-up described the course of the game as ‘complicated’, his favourite word when for whatever reason he doesn’t want to go into too much detail. What he did want to say was that he had the feeling that he had had winning chances after 25…Rc3. He certainly got good chances after that move, but how close he came he will probably explore in his private analysis later today. The rapid game featured another Najdorf Poisoned Pawn. Grischuk got a good game as Black, but at the point that Ivanchuk could bail out with a draw with 29.Qxd4, he spurned this opportunity and played the risky 29.Qe1. ‘I was feeling that I was in danger, but I wanted to try this’, he explained after the game. ‘Probably I was losing, but I was lucky’, he spoke frankly. If he was really lost was not that clear, but he certainly was lucky when Grischuk blundered 39…Qb7, where he could have made a draw with 39…Qf4. After White’s answer 40.Qb3+ Black was indeed lost. Leinier Dominguez came very close to his first Amber win in his blindfold game against Peter Svidler. Unfortunately for the luckless Cuban it wasn’t to be. Having played strong and pointed chess in a classical Ruy Lopez, Dominguez reached a wonderful position. In fact, the win was there to be harvested, but at this point his play lost punch and he missed various wins, perhaps the most obvious being 39.Nxg7 Kxg7 40.Qg4+, when the defences around Black’s king are in ruins. His last inaccuracy was 42.Nd6 and two moves later he offered a draw. The Cuban tried not to be too upset about the missed chances and admitted that playing blindfold has proven more difficult than he had expected. In the rapid game Dominguez surprised Svidler with his opening choice, but didn’t manage to fully equalize. After the game Svidler suggested various improvements for his opponent, such as 11…Qe4+ or 13…Nd5 14.Bxd5 0-0-0! Or 16…Rxf3 17.Re4 Nd4 18.Rxg4 Nxe2 19.Bxe2. But the real mistake of Dominguez was that he had missed 31.g6+ which was followed by a sequence that Svidler had foreseen and left to a winning position after 40.Rxb7. Dominguez kept fighting on, but twenty moves further on he had to resign. The longest game of the blindfold sessions between Ruslan Ponomariov and Sergey Karjakin lasted 71 moves and 90 minutes and ended in a victory for the latter. Karjakin was reluctant to give an assessment of the opening (‘that has to be analyzed’), but pointed out that the game turned around when White played 28.Nd6, a move ‘that looks nice, but after my simple answer White’s position is unpleasant’. After 34…Bf8 Black felt very comfortable and once the white f-pawn had inevitably dropped off, Karjakin was simply a pawn up and his main concern was not to forget the position of his pawns and pieces. This he managed well (although there was a moment when he played some rook moves to find out the position of the white king that he had briefly forgotten about!) and after a long session the point was his. The rapid game was a walkover for Karjakin, as Ponomariov put up feeble resistance. In the opening Karjakin deviated from the game Ivanchuk played against the same opponent here with 7.Nxg4 (Ivanchuk went 7.a4). Black’s first inaccuracy was 9…Bb7, as at this point he had been better advised to complete his development. White got a great game and when Black took another risky decision with 14…d5 Black was soon with his back against the wall. Karjakin was proud about his move 16.Nc3 (and in general he thought that this was his best game in this year’s Amber so far) which greatly boosted his initiative. Things very quickly went totally wrong for Black and when Ponomariov resigned on move 23 he was only three moves away from mate. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/amber-r7-ivanchuk-once-again-back-in-sole-lead/
Sat, 20 Mar 2010 20:54:37 +0000
Carlsen takes over the lead in Nice
After six rounds Magnus Carlsen is in sole lead at the Amber tournament. The Norwegian scored yet another 2-0 victory, today against Boris Gelfand, while Vasily Ivanchuk drew twice with compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov. Jan Smeets scored his first victory and played 1-1 against Vladimir Kramnik. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 6 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 6 report Fourth 2-0 knock-out brings Magnus Carlsen back on top again In Round 6 of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Magnus Carlsen regained the lead in the overall standings. In a gripping clash, the Norwegian defeated Boris Gelfand 2-0 and overtook former leader Vasily Ivanchuk from Ukraine, who had to settle for two draws against his compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov. The gap between the front-runners is widening. Third place is shared by Boris Gelfand, Alexander Grischuk en Vladimir Kramnik, two full points behind Carlsen and one and a half points behind Ivanchuk. After 12 games Carlsen has not yet drawn a single game, winning 9 and losing 3. Ruslan Ponomariov explained that his blindfold game against Vasily Ivanchuk reminded him of their final match in the 2002 FIDE World Championship in Moscow, where stubborn defence in suspect positions contributed to his ultimate success. Once again a Ruy Lopez with an early g6 appeared on the board, one of the most popular openings in this Amber, and this time it was Ivanchuk who improved on Dominguez’s play against Ponomariov with 5.d4. Ivanchuk’s idea (combined with 7.a4) worked out fine and if you’re wondering why Black didn’t take the exchange on offer on move 10, the following line may give you an idea: 10…Bxd4 11.Qxd4 Qf6 12.e5 Qb6 13.Qf4. The critical moment came on move 15, where Ponomariov felt he should have played 15…Bxb3 16.Qxb3 Kh7 followed by Kh7. After 15…Qb8 his position was just unpleasant and Ivanchuk could start to realize all his plans at his leisure. But Ponomariov didn’t just wait to be finished off, and tried to create some counterplay by playing his bishop to f4 and bringing his queen to the kingside via d8. And it worked. Afterwards various improvements were suggested for White, such as 47.h4, which would have allowed him to put his king on h2, but as it went the game ended in a repetition of moves on move 68. In the rapid game Ponomariov wanted to discuss a line in the Catalan, but was bit clumsy when that opportunity really appeared. Instead of playing the critical move, 13.Ne4, he mixed up moves and went 13.Bf4. And soon found himself two pawns down and wondering what his compensation consisted of. Luckily for him he found 16.Ng5, an aggressive assault that allowed him to bail out with a draw by repetition. Ponomariov wasn’t too happy with his missed chance to play the opening he had aimed for (‘I would have liked to see what Ivanchuk had prepared’) and only found some consolation in the thought that ‘maybe Carlsen will not complain about my result’. The blindfold game between Peter Svidler and Alexander Grischuk was a wonderful achievement by the Russian champion (the current champion Grischuk we mean, not five-times former champion Svidler). At least, that’s what we thought when we saw Black’s queen sacrifice and the way he next obtained more than enough compensation. But Grischuk, although he had a contented smile on his face, wasn’t too impressed: ‘It looks impressive, but in fact it is quite easy. If you look at the way my pieces coordinate and the threats I have it is not that difficult.’ Of course not, particularly not in blindfold. According to Grischuk, White’s 14.Qh5 was a ‘stupid move’ based on a miscalculation and after this Black would also have been better without the queen sacrifice. The key move of the combination was 20…Bd3, a quiet move that highlights White’s problems with his queen. In fact, Grischuk had hoped that Svidler would resign at that point, not because it would have made the picture prettier, but for the simple reason that it would have prevented him from making any possible moves. Obviously, Grischuk was referring to his recurring time-trouble problems, but this time such worries were unwarranted as he converted his advantage without any glitches. ‘Not a very exciting game, but a correct one’, Svidler commented after the rapid game had ended in a draw. In a Grünfeld Defence Grischuk tried a new move (in this position), 9.Qa4. Black’s 14…Qa5 was a precise move, as he has to stop his opponent from steamrolling him on the kingside and White cannot really avoid the exchange. Perhaps in the following phase 15.g4 would have been more critical, as now Black was doing fine after 16…f5. And once some pieces were exchanged the draw was not far off. Sergey Karjakin and Leineir Dominguez discussed the merits of a Be3-Najdorf with Black playing an early h5 in their blindfold game. This discussion will no doubt continue in future games, but once the principled fight between Black’s queenside ambitions and White’s kingside ambitions came to a head, the pawn on h5 was more of a liability than an asset. The game turned sour for Black when he played 29…Nxc6? Which soon had him in insurmountable problems. Instead, he might have fought on with 29…Nxg4 30.Qxg4 f5 31.Re2 fxg4 32.Rxg2. The rapid game saw an Exchange Slav in which Karjakin tried to stir up complications. His attempts bore fruit when Dominguez erred with19.h3, allowing the strong 19…Bb5. The Cuban took the wisest decision and sacrificed the exchange, leaving Black with a slightly better position, but no tangible advantage. But the game was far from over and in mutual time-trouble Karjakin kept looking for his chances. In the end he was successful when Dominguez let himself be tricked and dropped a piece. Levon Aronian arrived for his blindfold game against Vugar Gashimov in an impeccable white suit, white shoes, and black shirt to match the white jacket and black shirt of his opponent. After the game he admitted jokingly that this had been part of his strategy: ‘That’s why I only put it on briefly before the game. I didn’t want him to see my novelty.’ As expected Gashimov defended himself with his pet Benoni, but apparently he wasn’t very familiar with the old sideline that Aronian played. ‘And it’s a big disadvantage in rapid and blindfold if you’re not familiar with a line and your opponent is’, the Armenian explained. According to him his opponent’s 12…fxg4 was imprecise and that 12…Nf6 was theory. But his real error was 14…Bg7, where he should have played 14…Be7. ‘Later in the game I was mainly trying not to do what I was doing in previous rounds’, Aronian continued. He did so convincingly and after 38 moves Gashimov threw the towel. In the rapid game Aronian defended with the Berlin Defence, which these days is more often called the Berlin Wall. The opening served him well, as Aronian, who lives in Berlin, was better throughout the game. In the end it was not enough when Gashimov forced a draw by a repetition of moves. A beaming Jan Smeets walked into the hospitality lounge after had won the blindfold game against Vladimir Kramnik. Not only had he beaten the former world champion in an excellent game, he had also won his first game in his Amber debut. As in their game in Wijk aan Zee, Kramnik relied on the Pirc Defence. That game he won, but this time things went different. Smeets had chosen a sharp line, and although he admitted that he didn’t remember all the ins and outs he felt at ease. Kramnik tried to invade the white position with an avalanche of pieces, but he couldn’t avoid that his knights became unstuck. As a result White won a piece against a couple of pawns, but this compensation was not enough for Black. Smeets’ main concern was that he would end up in this traditional time-trouble and blunder something. The time-trouble he couldn’t avoid entirely, but for the rest he kept a clear head, picked up a pawn here and there and forced Kramnik’s surrender on move 41. Kramnik hit back in the rapid game, but only after a gritty fight from both sides. The opening put Black under pressure, although Smeets didn’t worry too much. Looking for a speedy kill Kramnik sacrificed a piece with 32.Bxh6, but it was questionable if he objectively made much progress with this investment. He did when Smeets steered for an endgame with 34…Qe8, wrongly assessing the following developments. The Dutch grandmaster had assumed that his a-pawn would be a strong trump, but whereas his a-pawn didn’t move that fast, his opponent’s pawns became truly menacing. Magnus Carlsen was pleased with the way he had played the blindfold game against Boris Gelfand. He obtained nothing from the opening, but that had not worried him. Instead he had enjoyed he had worked to create something from nothing. The ‘something’ was in the air when he finally could play 37.Ne5 and when that same knight struck on g6 one move later it was clear that White was on to something. The game was essentially decided when Carlsen played 41.g4, after which he assessed the position as ‘very bad to lost for Black’. Ten moves later he concluded the game with mate and notched up his first point after his winning streak was interrupted in yesterday’s rapid game. ‘Six more to go’, he grinned. The rapid game also ended in a win for Carlsen, but what a fight it was. In a King’s Indian he ended up with a worse position and could only breathe again when Gelfand made a mistake with 24.Nxc5, giving Black a nice outpost for his knight on d6. The remainder of the game was a demonstration of Carlsen’s magnificent fighting spirit. Many a player would have been tempted to go for a draw when it was there for the taking, but he rather played for a win skirting the precipice. Gelfand certainly missed various ways to draw, but Carlsen’s courage prevailed when under great pressure he managed to deal the decisive blow. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/carlsen-takes-over-the-lead-in-nice/
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:34:47 +0000
Amber: Carlsen's winning streak ends after seven games
It must surely be a record: seven wins in a row for the Norwegian super-talent Magnus Carlsen. But he was stopped by a defeat at the hands of Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine. Boris Gelfand, Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler all scored 2-0 wins, while Vassily Ivanchuk celebrated his 41st birthday by regaining the overall lead at the Amber tournament. Round five report.
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6196
Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Amber R5: Ivanchuk (41) back in sole lead
On his 41st birthday Vasily Ivanchuk defeated Jan Smeets 1.5-0.5 at the Amber tournament in Nice. Because Magnus Carlsen won one and lost one against Sergey Karjakin, Ivanchuk is now half a point ahead of Carlsen and Gelfand, who beat Aronian 2-0. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 5 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 5 report Vasily Ivanchuk grabs lead on 41st birthday In round 5 of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Vasily Ivanchuk, who celebrated his 41st birthday today, grabbed the sole lead in the overall standings with a 1½-½ win over Jan Smeets. Magnus Carlsen saw a winning streak of seven consecutive wins interrupted by Sergey Karjakin. The Norwegian top-seed is now in second place together with Boris Gelfand, who defeated Leinier Dominguez 2-0 (scoring his fourth consecutive win in the process). Yesterday the participants of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament enjoyed a free day. Some of them stayed at the hotel to recharge their batteries, others joined an excursion to Gourdon, an age-old mountain village perched on a rock 780 meters above sea-level with a splendid view of the surrounding natural scenery and of Nice at a distance of some 10 kilometres (the ride there was obviously longer and lasted about an hour). The excursion included a visit to the local museum and a relaxed lunch on the outside terrace of Le Nid d’Aigle. At the end of the afternoon the players who took part in the excursion returned to the Palais de la Méditerranée, where in the evening they were joined by their colleagues at a Quiz evening. The theme of the evening was Movies (with questions about chess interspersed) and we can reveal that Ruslan Ponomariov, who was on the winning team, astounded all and sundry with his passionate rendition of We Are the Champions. And then today, at 14.30 it was back to chess again with the games of the fifth round. After he had won the blindfold game against Leinier Dominguez, Boris Gelfand was full of praise for his opponent’s opening play. Without going into any detail (he preferred the telling stock phrase ‘future games will have to shed more light on this variation’) Gelfand explained that the complications had been big and that he was suffering a pawn down at the ‘end’ of the opening. But Dominguez’ problem was to find a way to convert his material and this proved not so easy. And searching for a plan he got confused by the sudden advance of Black’s e-pawn that started marching down the board. Things were still fine for White, but the Cuban panicked and before he knew it he was lost. The opening in the rapid game again was highly complicated and although in various instances the computer prefers Black, Gelfand had full confidence in the white side. To his mind his opponent went astray with 24…Rd8, where he could have stayed in the game with the ‘beautiful idea’ (Gelfand’s words) 24…Rd3 25.Nf2 Rxf3 26.gxf3 f5. Now things went rapidly downhill for Black and after 30.Qa4 Gelfand believed that he was close to winning. The game lasted another 36 moves, but indeed the result was never in any doubt and Gelfand scored his fourth consecutive win. Vugar Gashimov and Alexander Grischuk conducted a tense battle in the Poisoned Pawn Variation of the Najdorf, with White going for the less usual 8.Qd3. White seemed to have a promising initiative and Gashimov’s hopes were rising, when Grischuk found the beautiful defending move 28…Kh7, that essentially saved the draw. In the rapid game they also repeated the opening they had played in Linares last month and with Gashimov behind the black pieces it’s no big surprise that we saw another Benoni. The novelty came on move 12, when instead of 12…Nh5, the Azeri grandmaster now played 12…b5, an improvement he was most pleased with. Black got a fine game, but White remained ambitious and in the end it was the Russian’s wish to keep on playing on that did him in. After he had repeated moves several times (in different positions) Grischuk finally fell for the trap that Gashimov had spied many moves ago and when White proceeded 43.Bb5, Black’s answer 43…Rxc7 came very quickly. Vladimir Kramnik scored a convincing win against Ruslan Ponomariov in their blindfold game, although he wasn’t too impressed by his achievement. To his mind Ponomariov had simply forgotten to play 6…d6 (as Ponomariov was happy to explain he had already played this exact variation without …d6, way back in 1997 against Volkov amongst others; ‘it used to be one of my specialties at the time’), which gave White a considerable space advantage. He also was critical of Black’s 10…dxe5 and believed that Black’s best chance on move 15 was 15…Bxc3+ 16.Qxc3 Qxb5, as after 15…Kg7? 16.0-0 he felt that White was almost winning. What Black probably missed was that 16…Nf6 would have been answered by 17.Bh6+ Kxh6 18.Qe3+. The remainder of the game Kramnik played with a steady hand and Ponomariov never got a chance to turn the tide again. After the blindfold game Ponomariov mused that he should not have played so adventurously and that it was wiser to strive for a healthy position, solidly developing your pieces and all that. But once he sat down for the rapid game he had already forgotten about most of this wisdom and went for wild adventures again with 12.Be5 and 13.Bd3. Further on 20.Qa1 was not fortunate choice and 21.Rb1 was a blunder that practically immediately cost him the game. Perhaps the question most people were asking themselves at the start of the blindfold game between Sergey Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen was whether the Norwegian would continue his winning streak or that the Ukrainian would slow him down. And indeed, despite the fact that he had the black pieces Carlsen managed to win his seventh consecutive game. In a first reaction he called it ‘a good game’ and it was certainly impressive how he first solved his opening problems and next started to look for more. By the time he had played 23…Nxe3 followed by 24…Bf2, he felt he got a grip on the position. He was even more pleased when Karjakin let himself be tempted to play 34.Bxg6, as he had sharply calculated the consequences of his move. Still, it wasn’t clear if Black’s advantage was winning, but with Karjakin in severe time-trouble and the pressure building up on him he faced an arduous task. Carlsen wasn’t entirely sure if he had played the queen endgame perfectly, but the way he played it was enough to score another point. Carlsen’s winning streak ended in the rapid game. Dithering opening play didn’t bring him anything and when Karjakin stepped up his counterplay, dark clouds gathered over the white position. Carlsen tried his best to muddy the waters but in fact his fate was sealed well before the end of the game. Levon Aronian and Peter Svidler played a blindfold game that the latter called ‘wildly exciting’ and who would argue with that? In a sharp anti-Grünfeld system Black was reluctant to go for the endgame that would have arisen after 11…Qxd1+ even if a brief look afterwards convinced him that there was nothing wrong with it for him. When he played 11…Qe7+ he had missed White’s 12.Bb5+ and wild (indeed) complications began. Initially Black’s position looked under threat but with 21…Qe4 Black took over the initiative. But White crawled back into the game and a manoeuvring phase ended in a drawish position. At this point, however, Aronian had little time left and lost control. First he spurned a repetition of moves and next he put his queen en prise. After he’d also won the rapid game, Svidler suppressed his happiness with the words ‘Today Levon had one of those days that I normally have’. Aronian’s opening turned out badly when he played 12…Re8, where moves like 12…Be6 or 12…Bd7 were called for, and was punished by 13.Nb5. Still, Svidler didn’t continue in the most powerful manner. To his mind, if he had gone 15.Qd2 Bf5 16.Rfe1, the game ‘wouldn’t have lasted twenty moves’. Now Aronian could fight back and with 18…Be4 19.Rf2 Rxf2 20.Kxf2 Qh4+ 21.Kg1 Qg4 22.Qg3 Qxg3 he would have had the worst behind him. Now White was soon in the driver’s seat again and hauled in the point without too many problems. Jan Smeets and Vasily Ivanchuk went down a long line of Caro-Kann theory in their blindfold game. Today was Ivanchuk’s birthday (he turned 41), but Smeets had obviously no wish to present any gifts and although Black was slightly better in the endgame that appeared on the board, the Dutchman confidently secured the draw. At the very end of the game he even came close to a win on time when Ivanchuk had lost track of his bishop, but after a series of tentative mouse clicks the Ukrainian managed to trace it (if the players made an ‘impossible’ move the note ‘illegal move’ appears on their screen; there are no sanctions, however, so they can keep searching for a piece or pawn as long as you want, provided you have enough time). In the rapid game, a Four Knights’ Opening, Smeets at first didn’t have any real problems either. But an ill-advised queen excursion on the queenside, while White was advancing menacingly on the kingside cost him dearly. His kingside proved much more vulnerable than it had appeared at first sight and within a few moves he had to resign. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
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Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:44:06 +0000
Carlsen wins 2-0 again, joins Ivanchuk in the lead
After winning 2-0 one more time, today against Smeets, Carlsen joined Vasily Ivanchuk in the lead in Nice. The Ukrainian on his turn defeated Aronian 1.5-0.5, while Kramnik went down 2-0 against Gelfand. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 4 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 4 report Magnus Carlsen catches up with Vasily Ivanchuk after third 2-0 wipe-out After four rounds of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Magnus Carlsen and Vasily Ivanchuk are tied for first in the overall standings with 6 points from 8 games. The Ukrainian grandmaster defeated last year’s winner Levon Aronian 1½-½. Magnus Carlsen continued his remarkable comeback after he lost 2-0 to Ivanchuk in Round 1. The world’s number one defeated Jan Smeets 2-0, raising his number of consecutive wins to six. Manifold Amber winner Vladimir Kramnik suffered a highly atypical 2-0 defeat at the hands of Boris Gelfand. Perhaps typical for the fighting spirit of the round was the fact that 5 out the 6 rapid games were won by black. Tomorrow, March 17, is a rest day. Play is resumed Thursday March 18 with Round 5. Magnus Carlsen was understandably ambitious to continue his winning streak in his blindfold game against bottom-seed Jan Smeets. Despite a modest opening set-up (that started with 1.g3) he indeed got an edge, but there was no reason for Black to despair yet. Afterwards Carlsen commented that had Smeets just stayed put, instead of becoming active with 31…Rc3, he didn’t see how he could have made progress. Smeets’ action was based on a miscalculation. After 32…Rxc4 the only reply he had counted on was 33.Rd6+, but instead Carlsen dealt a killer blow with 33.Bg5. Three moves later Black resigned, raising Carlsen’s winning streak to five. In the rapid game the Norwegian also scored his sixth consecutive win, but this time he really had to squeeze water from a stone. After the opening he was slightly worse, but he kept looking for his chances, collecting one minimal asset after the other. On move 33 there was a minuscule victory when he exchanged his knight for a bishop and with 38…g5 he made a brave winning attempt, as he let the white c-pawn on the board. Objectively speaking all his tries would have been in vain had Smeets kept his cool, but low and time and feeling the pressure the Dutchman finally succumbed. As late as move 54 he still could have made a draw with 54.Nh2 as this saves an essential tempo compared to the move he played, 54.Nf2. The blindfold game between tournament leader Vasily Ivanchuk and defending champion Levon Aronian suddenly ended when the board was still full of pawns and pieces when on move 25 White offered a draw. In a slightly unorthodox Ruy Lopez it seemed that Black had obtained a good game, but Aronian wasn’t so sure. When he was asked why he had accepted the draw, he simply replied: ‘Because I am worse.’ And he elaborated that his pieces might look nice and active, but that White can slowly continue h3, Rd1 and c4, and on top of that he didn’t like the g5-h4 pawn-structure on the kingside either. In the rapid game Ivanchuk maintained the (shared) lead with a fine win with the black pieces. A speculative piece sacrifice by Aronian (19.Nxe6) for three pawns and the initiative failed to impress and although the game remained complicated Ivanchuk hauled in the point with determined and precise play. In the blindfold game between Peter Svidler and Sergey Karjakin a tense Sicilian with chances for both sides saw an untimely and unfortunate end when on move 42, White put a knight en prise. Following his resignation yesterday against Carlsen when there was still everything to play for, this was a new blow for the Russian grandmaster. Svidler found some consolation in a well-played rapid game that finally brought him a win again. In his beloved Grünfeld Defence he believed that his 12…Rd8 was a safe road to equality, but it required accurate play. Instead of 17…g5 he could also have played 17…c4, but he felt more attracted to the push of the g-pawn. Karjakin felt optimistic about his chances when he won a pawn, but in fact this materialistic decision spelled disaster, as very soon the black pieces assembled for a strong attack. One nice line that didn’t appear on the board was 24.Bf2 (in the game 24.Bd7 was played) 24…Nxf3 25.Bg3 Qxg3! 26.hxg3 Rh6+ 27.Kg2 Rh2 mate. The end of the game was less drastic, but nevertheless there was no escaping for White. Boris Gelfand didn’t hide his contentment after he had won his blindfold game against Vladimir Kramnik. ‘It’s always nice to win against such a great player’, he almost humbly commented. The Israeli grandmaster more or less blamed Black’s defeat on the opening system he had chosen, the Bg4-system that is mainly popular among some Azeri players. One of the ideas of the black approach is the exchange sacrifice on e3 that also happened in this game. Gelfand wasn’t convinced of its correctness and suggested Black should have looked for something else at that point. He pointed out the sad offside position of the black knight on c7 in particular and quoted Tarrasch who said that if one piece doesn’t take part in the play there’s something wrong with the entire position. Gelfand was satisfied with his plan Bd1 and Ne2 which allowed him to cement his advantage and slowly but surely win the game. In the rapid game Kramnik was perhaps too cautious in his approach, certainly if he had clear plans to level the score, and this seriously backfired. Playing actively Gelfand freely advanced his pawns and directed his pieces to active positions. Objectively speaking, White was not yet in trouble, but Black’s position was much more pleasant and easy to play. Gradually the black pressure built up and following a blunder, 31.Rc2, Kramnik soon had to throw in the towel. An impressive achievement by Gelfand. Ruslan Ponomariov seemed determined to blow up Vugar Gashimov’s Benoni Defence in their blindfold game and judging by the comments of the kibitzing grandmasters in the hospitality lounge he was soon on his way to realize that objective. But then the Benoni is a resilient customer and although his position looked highly suspect, Gashimov seemed to have no wish to surrender without a fight. He stayed afoot in the complications and he could have even taken over the initiative if instead of 31…Rh8+ he had gone 31…Rxf4 32.Rxf4 Qh6+. But soon he was in the driver’s seat anyway when White first missed the winning continuations 32.Kg2 and next 32.Kg1. Instead the players ended up in a rook ending with one pawn (white) against two. This they played on for many more moves until on move 68 the computer indicated a threefold repetition and the game was drawn. The rapid game was a protracted battle in which the balance was not really disturbed for a long time. Nevertheless, Gashimov managed to upset the equilibrium in the endgame and score his second win in the tournament. Alexander Grischuk was clearly satisfied after his blindfold win against Leinier Dominguez and he had every reason to. In a Sicilian Najdorf that his opponent had clearly prepared (Dominguez blitzed out his first 18 moves), the Russian champion was in a creative mood and managed to create attacking chances with pointed play. Probably the key moment of the game was the point where White played 23.Qh5, a move that Black had missed and that netted White the important f7 pawn. Grischuk kept playing strong and incisive chess and after 63 moves he had earned a well-deserved point. The rapid game also saw a Najdorf, but (not surprisingly) a different line. Dominguez’ troubles started when early on in the opening he played his knight to d5 and shortly afterwards had to withdraw it to c3 again, losing two precious tempi. Grischuk obtained a comfortable game and it was impressive to see how he gradually exploited his advantage to score his second win of the day. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
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Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:25:11 +0000
Ivanchuk Leads At Amber
Vassily Ivanchuk (pictured) beat his former compatriot Sergey Karjakin 1.5-0.5 to take the sole lead in the overall standings at Amber. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen continued his recovery by recording another 2-0 victory, this time against Peter Svi...
http://www.chess.com/news/ivanchuk-leads-at-amber-2388
Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:18:05 -0700
Ivanchuk in sole lead after three rounds in Nice
After beating Sergey Karjakin 1.5-0.5, Vasily Ivanchuk leads the combined standings of the Amber tournament with a score of 4.5/6. Magnus Carlsen again won 2-0, this time against Peter Svidler, who resigned in a probably drawn position in the blindfold game. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 3 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 3 report Vasily Ivanchuk in sole lead Magnus Carlsen back in business with two more wins After three rounds of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Vasily Ivanchuk is in the sole lead in the overall standings with 4½ points from 6 games. The Ukrainian grandmaster, the only GM to play in all 19 Amber tournaments, defeated Sergey Karjakin 1½-½. Defending champion Levon Aronian scored his first full points at the cost of Jan Smeets. Magnus Carlsen also won 2-0, the victim being Peter Svidler. Despite his dramatic start, the Norwegian is now only half a point behind the leading Ivanchuk. And he optimistically faces the future: ‘I am hoping for two more tomorrow.’ Vasily Ivanchuk immersed in thought at the start of his blindfold game against Sergey Karjakin. Following a 1½-½ win over his former compatriot the Ukrainian grandmaster is in the sole lead. Alexander Grischuk and Boris Gelfand played a blindfold game that at first sight may have looked lively and entertaining for the spectators. However, they were following a theoretical line and after the game Grischuk summed up his assessment of what had happened as ‘very boring’. White had a small advantage in the ending that appeared on the board, but it never took on serious proportions and the games petered out to a draw. For Gelfand the line evoked old memories: ‘The last time I played this line was in 1988 in Vilnius. Against Goldin at the Soviet Young Masters.’ Certainly an interesting footnote to this game. The rapid game was anything but boring. Playing adventurously Gelfand sacrificed two pawns to develop an attack against the black king and was awarded for his courage with a winning position. But just when everyone expected Grischuk to resign soon, Gelfand faltered and failed to deal the final blow. With 32.Bh7+ he let Black back into the game, where he could have decided the issue with 32.axb5 cxb5 33.Nd5 exd6 34.Bxd5+. In raging time-trouble for both, Gelfand again got a winning position, and might just as well have lost if Black had found 42…Kh6 instead of 42…Kg6, but in the end it was a draw and that was a result that definitely felt deeply unsatisfactory for Gelfand. When Leinier Dominguez arrived at the board for his blindfold game against Ruslan Ponomariov, the Ukrainian grandmaster already sat waiting impatiently. As he laughingly told the arbiter: ‘I am nervous, let’s start!’ Once he was allowed to start the game, Ponomariov went for 4…g6 against the Ruy Lopez, a set-up that is sometimes considered slightly suspect, but mostly leads to satisfactory play for Black. Dominguez certainly obtained an edge, but with precise and active play Ponomariov comfortably equalized and once they reached a rook endgame with three pawns on each side, there were few reasons left not to draw the game. The blindfold game presented Ponomariov with a problem that every grandmaster faces from time to time: he had to play against an opening variation that he also has played himself. A tense struggle developed in which both sides were fighting for their chances, and although those of White looked slightly more promising in the middlegame, the game ended in a draw when most pieces and pawns had left the board on move 47. The blindfold game between Vugar Gashimov and Vladimir Kramnik saw the Russian grandmaster play another Pirc. However, this time it didn’t bring him much pleasure, as his mix of set-ups landed him in a risky position. Things looked threatening for Kramnik, especially when on move 26 Gashimov got a golden opportunity. With 26.Rxd6 he could have been a healthy pawn up, as 26…Ne8 is answered by 27.Rxh6, but instead of all this the Azeri grandmaster played 26.Nxd6 and a few moves later he agreed on a draw. In the rapid game Kramnik emphatically wanted to be at the wheel from the word go. With gritty play he put his opponent under pressure and obtained a sizable advantage. But Gashimov had no wish to knuckle under and fought back with determination and his 37…Bg5 came as a rude awaking for Kramnik. Now suddenly the win was far off, objectively speaking no longer there, and a messy phase followed in which White kept looking for a win. And found it, because Gashimov didn’t grab his chances. The final mistake came on move 51, when the Azeri grandmaster played the right idea in the wrong order. Had he gone 51…Qf1+ 52.Kh2 Ne1, White would have had to resign himself to a draw. When he played 51…Ne1 immediately, Kramnik had 52.Qb5 and now 52…Nf3 doesn’t work because of 53.Qf8 mate. The blindfold game between Peter Svidler and Magnus Carlsen started with a comic prologue when, once they were seated behind their laptops, the Norwegian discovered much to his dismay that he wasn’t White is this game, as he had believed, but Black. The comedy of errors was continued in the game and even after the Russian had resigned, when the spectators in the hospitality lounge switched on some engines. In the game Carlsen invited Svidler to play a full-fledged Dragon, but instead White opted for a more quiet approach. For some time there was nothing new under the sun until White played a new move, 19.Qf4 (19.Qe2 had been seen). The comedy of errors came back to life on move 20, when Svidler suddenly had second thoughts about the intended 20.Rxd7 because of 20…Qc6 21.Rxb7 Rxf4 22.Bd5 and now 22…Qf6 wins for Black. However, both players had missed 22.Rb6 with an edge for White. On move, 22 Svidler refrained from 22.Qh3 because he didn’t like 22…Nf4, but after the move he played, 22.Qe1, he was unpleasantly surprised by 22…Bxg2. Now Black developed a raging attack, but was it was deadly as Svidler acknowledged when, after 25…Nd4, he resigned? Indeed it would have been if Black had played 24…Nh4+ (instead of 24…Nf4+). But now things were different, as in the final position the engines immediately showed the amazing 26.Nd7!, attacking the rook on f8, and there is no immediate win and the position looks drawish. At that point the players had already left for their rooms, Carlsen happily laughing off the fact that he had prepared for the wrong colour: ‘In any case it seems to be clear that in the blindfold I do better when I play the black pieces.’ Yes, but this time he needed a helping hand from his opponent. In his room he obviously also found 26.Nd7, but to his mind Black could nevertheless have kept on playing for a win with 26…Nh3+ 27.Kg2 Qc6+ 28.Bd5 Qxd7 29.Rxd4 e6. The rapid game saw a rare sideline of the Qb3 Grünfeld, which, according to Carlsen, both players were not too familiar with. He himself seemed to suffer the least from this relative ignorance as he obtained a pleasant position. ‘And then it just got better and better’, he summed up the game. One moment he pointed out to illustrate the strength of his position was the moment when he played 22.Nd3, planning g5, pushing away the knight on d5 with e4, and then playing Nf4 threatening Nxg6 mate. To prevent such plans Svidler played 22…g5 himself, but his troubles remained and after 34 moves he had had enough and resigned. When Sergey Karjakin, who is now playing for Russia, sat down to play his former compatriot Vasily Ivanchuk there was little doubt that a fierce clash would follow. In the blindfold game Ivanchuk gradually managed to took over the initiative and when he pushed 19…c4! it was clear that Karjakin faced a difficult defence. The final mistake White made on move 32, when playing his bishop to a3, he allowed Black to invade his position and force his surrender. In the blindfold game Ivanchuk got promising play and tried various ways to improve the position of his pieces. But Karjakin defended tenaciously and when his opponent failed to make any headway a draw was the result after 44 moves. Jan Smeets was happy with the outcome of the opening of his blindfold game against Levon Aronian. After all he was allowed to play the improvement he had suggested after his game against Karjakin in Round 2, 17.Be4 instead of 17.Ne4. White got an edge, but failed to exploit it. His first inaccuracy was 24.Rac1 where 24.a4 was called for, but the real mistake was 26.Bxd8?, an exchange that was prompted by his fear that Black’s knight would come to e6 and White’s bishop on f6 would end up out of play. Now Smeets suddenly found himself in an unpleasant rook endgame, which Aronian first converted in a winning pawn endgame and then into a winning queen endgame. The rapid game was a tumultuous affair that started out with an opening that was popular at the start of the 20th century (the rather unusual 4…Nc6 followed by 5.e4). Aronian was pleased with his position but commented afterwards that he should have played 13.Qa4+ instead of 13.Bxf4, as he had underestimated 15…Qd7. Further on he had planned the imaginative 19.Kf1 until he saw 19…0-0 20.Rd6 Bc4!. Black’s troubles started with 24…Qh1, where he could have secured a level position with 24…Qxf2+ 25.Kf2 Ne4+ 26.Kg2 Nxd6 27.Bxa7. His final mistake was 25…Qh5, when he should have gone 25…Qxh6 26.Nd5 Qh4. Now his king was too vulnerable and as Smeets was also in time-trouble it didn’t come as a surprise that Aronian quickly hauled in the point. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
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Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:30:14 +0000
Amber R2: Carlsen bounces back, beats Aronian 2-0
Magnus Carlsen today recovered completely from his bad start in Nice. The Norwegian defeated Levon Aronian, the winner in 2008 and 2009, in both the blindfold and the rapid game. Ukrainians Ivanchuk and Ponomariov lead the combined standings after two rounds. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 2 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 2 report Carlsen bounces back with 2-0 win over defending champion Aronian After two rounds of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Vasily Ivanchuk and Ruslan Ponomariov are in the lead in the overall standings with 3 points from 4 games, followed at half a point’s distance by Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler. Top-seed Magnus Carlsen recovered from his poor start with a 2-0 win over defending Amber champion Levon Aronian. The Norwegian admitted that he had been upset about his 2-0 loss on the first day (particularly the rapid game, where he believed he was in no danger of losing), but said that he certainly had not despaired: ‘With twenty rounds to go there is always time to recover.’ The first two of those twenty rounds were certainly encouraging for him. Magnus Carlsen fared excellently in Round 2 with two wins over Levon Aronian. After the round the Norwegian was happy to comment on his blindfold game for the tournament website. Just like last year the second round of the Amber tournament clashed with the final stage of Paris-Nice, the 8-stage cycling race that started in Paris (you had guessed that much) a week ago. For many hours the Promenade des Anglais was crowded with people waiting for the denouement of the 68th edition of this legendary race and we can tell you that quite a number of chess fans mingled among these spectators. But after, early in the afternoon, Alberto Contador had won his second Paris-Nice, three years after his first victory, they could concentrate on chess again. Right they were. After the drama in Round 1 there was every reason to look forward to the developments in Round 2. The final stage of the cycling course Paris-Nice finished today, about two hundred metres from the venue and about two minutes after the second round started | Photo Nadja Wittmann Alberto Contador after winning the final stage of Paris-Nice | Photo Nadja Wittmann Magnus Carlsen was obviously eager to fight back after yesterday’s dramatic 2-0 loss, but with Levon Aronian as opponent this was easier said than done. Moreover the Norwegian had the black pieces in the blindfold game and one would think that his first concern should be not to lose again. Already before the tournament Carlsen had prepared the King’s Indian and his ambition to steer for a highly complicated struggle worked out beyond expectation. To begin with he got the chance to implement an idea he had seen in a game Eljanov-Radjabov; a quick counter-push on the queenside to undermine White’s centre followed by a piece sacrifice (20…Nxd5) to break up that same centre. The tactical complications that ensued demanded a lot from both players and it was soon clear that Carlsen felt more at ease. Aronian missed the push 22…e4, a seemingly contradictory move that seems to contribute little to Black’s wish to open up lines and files, but which in fact is the right move to keep his initiative going. White could still have put up some resistance with 25.Bg5 (instead of 25.Nxf2), but Aronian had also missed 25…Qh4, which in case of 26.Be1 is followed by the deadly 26…Be5. Three moves later Aronian threw the towel. Carlsen found it easy to smile again when a couple of minutes later he spoke to the press. Aronian’s worries were compounded when he also lost the rapid game. And perhaps this loss hurt even more as it was completely unnecessary. From a Four Knights’ Defence the players ended up in a totally drawish rook endgame. Probably the main factor that kept the game going was that neither of the players were willing to offer a draw. And as they plodded on Aronian got himself into trouble. A first moment where he was inaccurate was when he played 42…Ra2, when he could have thwarted all White’s further tries with 42…g5. He further pleased Carlsen with 50…h5 when he should have played 50…Kh7. Now his position became very unpleasant, and when he missed a last chance to stir up complications with 59…d5 he was inexorably counted out. Blindfold: Carlsen beats Aronian with Black in a spectacular King's Indian Jan Smeets had no trouble acknowledging that he had been completely lost in his blindfold game against Sergey Karjakin, as he was happy enough with the half point that he had saved miraculously. In a Ruy Lopez with 3…Nge7 and 4…g6, White drifted into trouble when he played his knight to e4 on move 17 (better 17.Be4) and followed this up with 20.Nf6+. Things quickly went from bad to worse and with 35…Kf8 Black could have forced his resignation. But even the pawn ending that Karjakin allowed his opponent, was lost for Black if only he had found 46…h5. Now the Dutch grandmaster could save the draw, even if, as usually, he was very short of time for the greater part of the game. The blindfold game was another eventful affair and again the surprising outcome was a draw. In a Ruy Lopez Smeets lost his c-pawn after a heavy manoeuvring phase. Things looked bleak, but it wasn’t too easy for White to make further progress and when Karjakin made the move Smeets had been waiting and hoping for (58.h4), the vulnerability of his king suddenly became a source of sorrow. In fact, White would have been totally lost had Smeets played 59…Qg1. But being short of time (just like Karjakin) he failed to see this opportunity and the game ended in a repetition of moves. Ironically, Smeets could still play Qg1 in the final position, but he didn’t complain that the threefold repetition had ‘only’ brought him a draw. Dutchman Jan Smeets managed to draw twice with Sergey Karjakin The blindfold game between Vasily Ivanchuk and Peter Svidler not surprisingly saw a Grünfeld Defence, an opening in which the Russian is one of today’s greatest specialists. Afterwards he called the opening phase of ‘mild theoretical importance’, as Ivanchuk deviated on move 11 from an earlier game Gelfand-Svidler. In that game White played 11.Be2, Ivanchuk preferred to first play 11.Nf3. Almost forced the players ended up in an ending that Svidler had (of course) looked at before and although Black’s play is not entirely carefree he felt that it should be a draw objectively speaking. As a possible improvement for White he indicated 21.Bc6, the way it went now the point was quickly shared. In the blindfold game Svidler felt he had missed a good chance when he played 13.Qd2 instead of 13.Qc1. ‘The idea is essentially the same, but it would have saved me a tempo in almost any variation’, as he explained afterwards. He even got into slight problems when Black played 22…Qe7, effectively stopping Ng5, the move White had hoped to make. In the final phase of the game the Russian had to be careful not to lose any material, but when he managed this task the game was drawn. Boris Gelfand recovered from his poor performance in the first round with a win in the blindfold game against Vugar Gashimov. Nevertheless he called it ‘a stupid game’, as he had spoiled an excellent opening position to end up in a problematic situation. The last trick he wanted to try in order to extricate himself from this situation was 20.Nxd5. Now he was lucky as Gashimov could have played 22…Qb4 and White might as well resign. After 22…Qc7, White’s problems were not over yet, but when Black blundered with 23…Qxc4?, he suddenly was presented with a winning position. For the rest of the game Gelfand kept his eyes on the ball and converted his advantage without further problems. The blindfold game started slowly. White got a slight edge but nothing for Black to get worried about. The game turned around when Gelfand opened the position and Gashimov snatched a pawn, that his opponent called ‘poisoned’. Soon White was totally lost, but the game was far from over yet. Gelfand spoiled his advantage and in the end he had to win an opposite-coloured bishop ending in a study-like manner (although the Israeli grandmaster was the first to say that he was not sure if this win was waterproof). Gelfand was certainly pleased with his two wins, but he didn’t forget how he obtained them: ‘Two points with bad play’. The blindfold game between Vladimir Kramnik and Leinier Dominguez was a fascinating fight. Obviously Kramnik emphatically played for a win, but Dominguez fought back in his customary razor-sharp style. The game was decided when in a highly complicated position the Cuban grandmaster continued 36…Kh7 where his only chance was 36…Bf8. With the text-move he invited a forced mate and a couple of moves before this mate would become reality, Dominguez resigned. In the blindfold game Kramnik played the Pirc Defence, the opening with which he surprised (and beat) Smeets in the recent Corus tournament. Again it looked as if this rather offbeat opening would give him easy and pleasant play, particularly after he bagged a point. But White had compensation for his material deficit and although Kramnik remained better for the rest of the game, Dominguez hung in tenaciously and was rewarded with a draw after 88 moves. Deep concentration: Leinier Dominguez and Vladimir Kramnik The blindfold game between Ruslan Ponomariov and Alexander Grischuk saw a Catalan Opening, similar to a game Ponomariov had played with colours reversed against Gelfand in the final of the recent World Cup. Instead of 10…Bb7, as Ponomariov had played, Grischuk went 10…Ba6. White obtained the bishop pair, but with a symmetrical pawn-structure it was difficult to exploit that slight advantage. Both players invested a lot of time as there were always tactics to be considered with opposing rooks on the c-file, but when Grischuk offered the opportunity to repeat moves and agree to a draw, Ponomariov saw no good reason to play on. At the end of the rapid game Ponomariov walked into the hospitality lounge and wondered what people had thought of his rapid game. He himself wasn’t too happy as he had hoped to play something active, but somehow his Grünfeld ended up in a static position in which he had to suffer for a draw. When on move 32 the queens left the board, Grischuk offered that draw and Ponomariov didn’t have to think long before he accepted. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/amber-r2-carlsen-bounces-back-beats-aronian-2-0/
Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:32:01 +0000
Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament
Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament will start tomorrow in Nice, France with 12 strong players: Magnus Carlsen – Norway Vladimir Kramnik - Russia Levon Aronian – Armenia Alexander Grischuk – Russia Peter Svidler – Russia Boris Gelfand – Israel Vasily Ivanchuk - Ukraine Vugar Gashimov – Azerbaijan Ruslan Ponomariov – Ukraine Sergey Karjakin - Russia Leinier Dominguez – Cuba Jan Smeets – The Netherlands
http://www.usefulchess.com/others/amber.html
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:46:45 +0200
Mañana se inaugurará el XIX Torneo Amber
Suele haber dos grupos de opiniones acerca de los torneos de ajedrez rápido y a la ciega: unos opinan que no son partidas de "verdad", al no usar el control de tiempo clásico ni influir en el Elo y también es cierto que es inevitable que de vez en cuando haya meteduras de pata provocadas por el formato especial de los duelos. Por otra parte, y en el caso del torneo Amber en especial, a lo largo del tiempo ambas modalidades nos han brindado algunas verdaderas joyas, que si se hubiese tratado de partidas clásicas sin duda habrían entrado en la historia con mayor eco. Desde luego, el plantel de participantes no da lugar a quejas: Levon Aronian (Armenia), Magnus Carlsen (Noruega), Leinier Domínguez (Cuba), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaiyán), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Alexander Grischuk (Rusia), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ucrania), Sergey Karjakin (Rusia), Vladimir Kramnik (Rusia), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ucrania), Jan Smeets (Holanda) y Peter Svidler (Rusia).  Nombres, datos y programa...
http://www.chessbase.com/espanola/newsdetail2.asp?id=8109
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Amber Chess Tournament
The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament takes place from March 13 (first round) to March 25 (last round) at the Palais de la Mediterranée, splendidly located on the famous Promenade des Anglais, number 13-15, in Nice. The tournament is organized by the Association Max Euwe in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The twelve participants are: 1. Magnus Carlsen – Norway 2. Vladimir Kramnik - Russia 3. Levon Aronian – Armenia 4. Alexander Grischuk – Russia 5. Peter Svidler – Russia 6. Boris Gelfand – Israel 7. Vasily Ivanchuk - Ukraine 8. Vugar Gashimov – Azerbaijan 9. Ruslan Ponomariov – Ukraine 10. Sergey Karjakin - Russia 11. Leinier Dominguez – Cuba 12. Jan Smeets – The Netherlands The rate of play is 25 minutes per game per player. With every move made in the blindfold games 20 seconds is added to the clock, with every move made in the rapid games 10 seconds is added. Every day four sessions will be played, two blindfold sessions and two rapid sessions. The first session starts at 14.30 hrs. The fourth session finishes around 20.00 hrs. (Note: the final round on March 25 starts at 12.30 hrs. March 17 and 22 are rest days.) Official website
http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/4409-amber-chess-tournament.html
Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:09:09 +0000
Ivanchuk beats Carlsen 2-0 in first round Amber
“The 40-year old Ukrainian has a reputation of being an unpredictable genius, capable of producing absolutely brlliant games, as well as amateur-like losses from time to time,” Magnus Carlsen wrote on his blog yesterday. Today, at the Amber tournament in Nice, he met with a Chuky in excellent shape, and lost 2-0. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 1 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 1 report First day sensation: top-seed Carlsen loses 2-0 to ‘Mr Amber’ Last night the opening ceremony of the 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament took place at the Chateau de Cremat, a stylish wine chateau perched on a hill overlooking Nice at a half and hour’s drive from the Palais de la Mediterranée, the five-star luxury hotel on the Promenade des Anglais where the grandmasters are staying and playing. The evening started with a degustation of various wines of the house and then the guests of the Van Oosterom family and the players sat down for a delicious dinner. In the opening speech there was special attention for the totally unique place that the Amber tournament occupies in chess history. There have been chess benefactors who sponsored one tournament, two or even three. But no one ever came even close to the astounding 19th edition that the Amber tournament reaches this year. There were also references to Steely Dan’s Hey Nineteen, Joe Jackson’s Nineteen Forever and Chanel 19 (by some strange coincidence Coco Chanel was presented the famous Chanel logo – two C’s elegantly locked together – by the owner of the Chateau de Cremat about a century ago!) and of course the twelve grandmasters were welcomed, with a special mention for Vasily Ivanchuk, ‘Mr Amber’, who participated in all 19 tournaments. Once the drawing of lots had taken place, we could start to think about the pairings for the first round and the overall chances of the participants. Who is the top-favourite for first place? Vladimir Kramnik, who won a record of six Amber tournaments? Levon Aronian, who won the last two editions? Or Magnus Carlsen, the world’s number one, who very appropriately celebrated his 19th birthday a couple of months ago? In any case the opening round didn’t go as they may have hoped. Not at all. Today at 14.30 the first round started of a blindfold and rapid spectacle that will keep us entertained for the coming fortnight (the 11th and last round is on March 25). As always the players started with two blindfold sessions (in each of which six GMs played) followed by two rapid sessions and immediately there were some intriguing pairings. When Ruslan Ponomariov saw at the drawing of lots that he had to play Boris Gelfand in the first round, he wondered aloud if he had to play Gelfand for the rest of his life. What he meant to say was that this was his first official competition since the dramatic final Gelfand and he played in the World Cup last December, a lengthy final that was only decided in the blitz games. Ponomariov’s second remark was that he wanted to have his revenge for that lost final. The only problem was that the first game was a blindfold game and his experience in that discipline was almost zero. In fact he had asked to play a training game on the day of his arrival in Nice. To avoid any complications he decided to play fast and to remain fully concentrated, not even considering the option of going to the toilet if needed. The approach worked well, as with the help of Gelfand his opening was a great success and after 15.Ng5 he felt that he was spoiled for choice when looking for a way to exploit his advantage. The game was practically decided when Ponomariov captured Black’s h-pawn. The rest was simple and he converted without any problems. After the game he was greatly relieved that this game for which he had been so nervous had gone so well. ‘Perhaps it turns out that I am not so bad at blindfold chess.’ He also shared his impression of playing chess on a screen that only shows an empty chess board: ‘It’s just like a computer game!’ Ponomariov completed his ‘revenge’ (to avoid any misunderstanding, he was the first to point out that, of course, these two games cannot be compared to the World Cup final) in the rapid game. Spoiling for a fight he came up with an interesting plan in the Grünfeld, sacrificing an exchange for promising play. He indeed got wonderful compensation when Gelfand played 14.f3? where he should have tried 14.Qe3. Suddenly it was a delight to sit behind the black pieces and Ponomariov fully enjoyed the next phase. White still managed to get into an ending with opposite-coloured bishops, but the two extra black pawns quickly carried the day. Russian champion Alexander Grischuk had his work cut out for him when he immediately had to play Vladimir Kramnik. There could be no misunderstanding about Kramnik’s intentions as he played almost all his moves instantly. ‘He wanted to trick me’, smiled Grischuk after the game. Playing with white he had to leave the initiative to Black, but to his mind Kramnik went too far in his winning attempt. But even if Black ended up in a difficult position, the situation was still far from lost and things only got hopeless when he reverted to the desperate 38…Nxg4, where it seemed that Black could have stayed in the game with 38…Nf3. Now things were easy for Grischuk and the handful of seconds he still had on the clock proved enough to win an important scalp. Kramnik struck back in the rapid game. After a strongly played opening he obtained a clear advantage and looking back he concluded that Black’s position was difficult after 34.Rd4. But Kramnik praised his opponent for his inventive defence in the next phase and expressed his doubts whether the position was really winning for White (‘That has to be checked with the computer’). However, Grischuk was once again low on time and after 40…Nc3 (he should have played 40…Nb6) Black certainly was lost. The rest wasn’t difficult anymore and Kramnik wrapped up fairly effortlessly. The encounter between debutants Dominguez and Gashimov took a relatively quiet course, although the grandmaster from Azerbaijan offered to play a sharp Benoni, an invitation that was quietly turned down with Rodriguez. They ended up in a rook endgame that was slightly better for Black, but it was his lavish use of time that did Dominguez in. With more than ten minutes less on the clock he committed a few inaccuracies and when Gashimov stormed down the board with two passed pawns it was clear that the fight was over. After the game Gashimov was congratulated on his blindfold debut and confessed that he had not especially prepared for this unusual type of chess. ‘I played one training game two days ago against Ruslan (Ponomariov), this was my second game.’ The rapid game was a variation of the Italian Game ‘in which many games have been played’, as the database experts call it these days. The key question was if the knight that Gashimov managed to post on e7, was an asset or a weakness. Frantically he calculated variations, considering sacrifices here and there, but there was nothing that worked. In the meantime, Dominguez just stayed put and maintained his position. After some further manoeuvring it was clear that this balance was not going to be upset and a draw was agreed. Magnus Carlsen openend his blindfold game against Vasily Ivanchuk with 1.a3, aiming for an open battle, unburdened by theory and steering clear of any possible preparation of his opponent. The plan wasn’t a success, even if he managed to win a pawn, but Black got such good compensation that the Norwegian top-seed must have regretted his unorthodox approach. He kept looking for his chances, but Ivanchuk remained fully concentrated and his advantage was such that at some point the white position should collapse. An oversight on move 31 sped up the end of the game and floored another top-favourite. In the rapid game Carlsen tried to fight back with the Poisoned Pawn of the Najdorf Defence. Afterwards Ivanchuk felt that he again had had sufficient compensation for the sacrificed pawn, but was reluctant to give a concrete assessment of the game as it had been so ‘very complicated’. One move he criticized was 25…Kf7, which allowed him to increase the pressure. They ended up in a rook endgame of three pawns versus two, which Black failed to defend, leading to a sensational 2-0 defeat of the top-seed. ‘It’s been a while, clearly’, Peter Svidler commented after he had beaten Jan Smeets in his first Amber blindfold game in three years. Svidler had an edge from the opening, but Smeets should have been able to hold a draw. Things got funny when Svidler, played his 39th move thinking Black’s bishop was on e6 (it was on d7). That it was not, he found out when Black played 39…Ne6+ and picked up the pawn on g5. This was not a problem in itself as now White can go 40.Nd5+ and pick up the b6 pawn, but not knowing where the black bishop was, Svidler now reasoned that it was on c6, which ‘prevented’ this knight jump. Smeets on his part got confused by White’s 44.Bxg6 and panicked with 45…Be6 when 45…Kg5 was still a draw. Well, in fact he would have even won, as (still thinking the black bishop was on c6) Svidler had planned to answer 45…Kg5 with 46.Be4 Kxh6 47.Bc6, thinking he would capture a bishop but in fact giving one away. After this comedy of errors had ended, Smeets was left with a lost position and had to resign soon. The rapid game ended in a draw. In a classical Ruy Lopez Black got good play and when he started piling up on White’s a pawn, Smeets decided that instead of defending a pawn that will drop off anyway at some point, he better hand it over immediately for some activity. This turned out to be an excellent exchange and at a certain point his compensation even seemed to turn into more. But his advantage got never concrete and both players could live with the draw that materialized. Sergey Karjakin obtained a winning position in the blindfold game when in a sharp opening tussle Levon Aronian committed a serious error. Instead of 19…Bg5?, the Armenian grandmaster should have played 19…Bh4 or 19…Rb4. Things looked bleak for Aronian, but then he didn’t win himself a reputation for ‘slow-motion’ swindling for nothing last year. And this time, too, he almost escaped when Karjakin allowed a repetition of moves. But Aronian was going for the whole hog and thinking he was winning he didn’t repeat moves, but played 36…Nxc3, which turned out to be a losing move. In the rapid game Levon Aronian showed a different face and put his opponent under pressure right from the opening. Perhaps this permanent pressure also explained the mistake Karjakin made at the end of the game. Instead of hanging on in a dubious ending he blundered and even got mated. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/ivanchuk-beats-carlsen-2-0-in-first-round-amber/
Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:34:21 +0000
Who will win Amber? – second preview video
Tomorrow the first round of the 2010 Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament will be played, and we have a second preview video to get you warmed up. The world’s number one, Magnus Carlsen, is there. Vladimir Kramnik, who won many times, is there. Levon Aronian, who won the last two editions, is there. Who do you think will win? The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. Preview video by Macauley Peterson The world’s number one player, Magnus Carlsen, is the top-seed in Nice. Also present are Levon Aronian, the winner of the past two Amber tournaments, and Vladimir Kramnik, who won the Amber tournament a record six times. These three players are clearly the big favourites, but what about Alexander Grischuk, who replaced Alexander Morozevich less than a week ago? Or the ever unpredictable Vasily Ivanchuk? Or Ruslan Ponomariov, who is back among the world’s elite? The following twelve grandmasters will take part (between brackets their country and their rating in the March 1, 2010 world rankings): Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Every day four sessions will be played, two blindfold sessions and two rapid sessions. The first session starts at 14.30 CET. The fourth session finishes around 20.00 CET. The final round on March 25 starts at 12.30 CET. March 17 and 22 are rest days. The rate of play is 25 minutes per game per player. With every move made in the blindfold games 20 seconds is added to the clock, with every move made in the rapid games 10 seconds is added. Like in previous years, many more will be posted on the official website during the tournament. Besides, you can expect something new this year: live chess with audio commentary, streaming footage from the playing hall and live commentary sessions with the top GMs! Link Official website
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/who-will-win-amber-second-preview-video/
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:57:20 +0000
Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament 2010
The 19th traditional TopGM’s blindfold and rapid tournament in Nice, France will be held from March 13th to 25th. Players: Levon Aronian (Armenia), Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Alexander Grischuk (Russia), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Sergey Karjakin (Russia), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Ruslan Ponomariov, Jan Smeets (The Netherlands) and Peter Svidler. Magnus Carlsen (2813) (NOR) brVladimir Kramnik (2790) (RUS) brLevon Aronian (2782) (ARM) brAlexander Grischuk (2756) (RUS) brPeter Svidler (2750) (RUS) brBoris Gelfand (2750) (ISR) brVasily Ivanchuk (2748) (UKR) brVugar Gashimov (2740) (AZE) brRuslan Ponomariov (2737) (UKR) brSergey Karjakin (2725) (RUS) brLeinier Dominguez (2713) (CUB) brJan Smeets (2651) (NED)
http://chessok.com/?p=23520
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:04:47 +0000
Das 19. Amberturnier
Am Samstag beginnt in Nizza das 19. Amberturnier, ein kombiniertes Blind- und Schnellschachturnier der Weltelite. Am Start sind: Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Boris Gelfand, Vassily Ivanchuk, Vugar Gashimov, Ruslan Ponomariov, Sergey Karjakin, Leinier Dominguez und Jan Smeets. Ursprünglich war Alexander Morozevich eingeladen, doch er musste kurzfristig aus privaten Gründen absagen und wird nun von Alexander Grischuk ersetzt. Das Turnier wird von der Association Max Euwe organisiert und von Joop van Oosterom gesponsert. Austragungsort ist das Hotel Palais de la Mediterranée an der Promenade des Anglais in Nizza. Der Preisfonds beträgt 216.000 Euro. Offizielle Seite...
http://chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=10148
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Grischuk replaces Morozevich at Amber
Alexander Morozevich has withdrawn from the Amber tournament, which starts in six days from now in Nice, France. The Russian is replaced by his compatriot Alexander Grischuk. To get you a bit in the mood already, today we present a video with footage from 2008 and 2009. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The world’s number one player, Magnus Carlsen, is the top-seed in Nice. Also present are Levon Aronian, the winner of the past two Amber tournaments, and Vladimir Kramnik, who won the Amber tournament a record six times. The following twelve grandmasters will take part (between brackets their country and their rating in the March 1, 2010 world rankings): Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Every day four sessions will be played, two blindfold sessions and two rapid sessions. The first session starts at 14.30 CET. The fourth session finishes around 20.00 CET. The final round on March 25 starts at 12.30 CET. March 17 and 22 are rest days. The rate of play is 25 minutes per game per player. With every move made in the blindfold games 20 seconds is added to the clock, with every move made in the rapid games 10 seconds is added. Below you’ll find an appetizer video. Like in previous years, many more will be posted on the official website during the tournament. Besides, you can expect something new this year: live chess with audio commentary, streaming footage from the playing hall and live commentary sessions with the top GMs! Video Link Official website
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/grischuk-replaces-morozevich-at-amber/
Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:18:55 +0000
March 2010 FIDE Rating list released!
Veselin Topalov briefly took the #1 spot during the Linares Super GM tournament, but then fell back off Magnus Carlsen (2813, +3) to remain in the #2 spot. The World Champion challenger is behind Carlsen by mere percentage points on the unofficial live list. Unfortunately, Linares did not make the calculations and the official list shows him eight points back (2805, +0). Topalov is gearing up for his big match with World Champion Viswanathan Anand (2787, -3). GM Le Quang Liem (Vietnam) Photo by WGM Yana Melnikova. Vladimir Kramnik (2790, +2) has supplanted Anand at the #3 position. He had a strong showing at Corus, but that was only worth an increase of .19 points. Levon Aronian (2782, +1) holds steady at #5 while Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2760, +20) vaulted into the #6 position from #11. Alexander Grischuk (2756, +20) jumped eight places on the strength of his Russian Championship. Peter Svidler (2750, +6) and Boris Gelfand (2750, -11) are tied for 8th-9th. Gelfand plummeted in the World Team Championship after his World Cup win. Chinese #1 Wang Yue (2749, +0) has been relatively inactive since bowing out of the World Cup. The biggest winner of the top 100 is Vietnam’s Le Quang Liem (2689, +42), the winner of 2010 Aeroflot tournament. Hikaru Nakamura also saw a big gain (2735, +27). In women’s chess, Judit Polgar remained as “Queen of the Hill” (2682, +0) with Humpy Koneru closing in (2622, +8). At one time there was almost 200 ELO points separating the top two positions. Hou Yifan (2570, -20) dropped a ton of points after the Moscow Open. One lady rising on the horizon appears to be Nadezhda Kosintseva (2554, +21) who won the Russia Women’s Championship. Zhao Xue (2490, -16) dropped under 2500 for the first time in three years and Ju Wenjun (2500, -12) is now the nation’s #2. Zhao and Xu Yuhua (2478, +0) may be preparing to make way for the wealth of Chinese talent coming through. GM Anish Giri (Netherlands) Photo by FIDE.com. As far as juniors are concerned, Carlsen will remain at the top for as long as he is eligible. At 2813, he is almost 100 ELO points from Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2727, -3). Sergey Karjakin (2725, +5) is on position #3 and Le Quang Liem (2689, +42) has been touted as the new young star on the scene. Wesley So (2665, +9) keeps gaining and is now the strongest Filipino player in history. So is in the #6 spot. Anish Giri (2624, +36) won Corus B and vaulted over 2600. He is the youngest on the top 20 junior list and has gained some notoriety for annotating games from the Linares tournament. Watch this young man! FIDE: http://ratings.fide.com/toplist.phtml
http://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2010/03/04/march-2010-fide-rating-list-released/
Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:10:36 +0000
Chess Notes - Boston Globe
Chess Notes Boston Globe The game Sergey Karjakin, White, v. Magnus Carlsen, Black, played in one of the late rounds of the great Corus tournament ...
http://news.google.com/news/url?fd=R&sa=T&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.boston.com%2Fae%2Fgames%2Farticles%2F2010%2F02%2F27%2Fchess_notes%2F&usg=AFQjCNF9vuKbFkzNYdveKPCFc-p5jgKyCA
Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:36:08 GMT+00:00
Neu: ChessBase Magazin Februar/2010 (Nr.134)
Das neue ChessBase Magazin, mit vielen informativen Beiträgen gezielt auf umfassendes Schachtraining ausgerichtet, findet immer mehr Leser. Das kommt nicht von ungefähr. Wer bisher das ChessBase Magazin noch nicht genutzt hat, hat mit CBM-online Gelegenheit, sich von Umfang und Qualität des einzigen DVD-Schachmagazins zu überzeugen, Auch die aktuelle Ausgabe bietet wieder einen hochwertigen Überblick über alle Schachthemen, mit denen sich der ambitionierte Schachfreund beschäftigen sollte. Zahlreiche Topspieler haben sich an der Ausgabe beteiligt. Im Mittelpunkt der Turnierberichterstattung stehen der FIDE-World Cup, die Mannschafts-Weltmeisterschaft und die London Chess Classic. Sie finden kommentierte Partien und aus London auch Livemitschnitte der Pressekonferenzen von Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Michael Adams oder Nigel Short. Auch die Nachbetrachtung des World Cups ist erstklassig. Der Sieger Boris Gelfand oder Youngsters wie Sergey Karjakin, Fabiano Caruana oder erstmals Wesley So sind einige der Kommentatoren. Die Mannschafts-WM wurde gleichermaßen analytisch nachbereitetet. Oder mögen Sie eher Eröffnungsbeiträge? CBM 134 liefert 13 Eröffnungsartikel mit Erläuterungen und zahlreichen Musterpartien und leider auch schlechte Nachrichten für die Freunde von Albins Gegengambit: ist so gut wie widerlegt. Außerdem: Taktiktraining und Endspielanalysen. Lassen Sie nicht zu, dass die anderen mehr wissen als Sie! Zum Inhalt von CBM 134... Abo oder Testabo (mit Gratis DVD) bestellen... Einzelausgaben...
http://chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=10057
Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT
La 3? Finale del Grande Slam a Bilbao e Shangai !
GRANDE SLAM: LA FINALE DEI DUE MONDI ! A Shanghai (Cina) e Bilbao (Spagna) Sorpresa per il Master 2010, manifestazione giunta alla terza edizione e che vedrà in campo i vincitori dei principali tornei al Mondo ( Nanchino, Wijk Aan Zee, Linares, Sofia e forse il Kings Tournament di Bazna in Romania ) facenti parte del Grande Slam. Per il 2010 infatti è previsto un rilancio dell'evento dopo una seconda edizione nel 2009 in tono minore che fu caratterizzata dal taglio dei premi  e che portò  lo sfidante mondiale bulgaro Topalov a declinare l'invito. La novità sarà che la Finale del Grande Slam sarà divisa in due parti e si disputerà in due città diverse : Shanghai (Cina, dal 3 al 12 Settembre) e la tradizionale Bilbao (Spagna, dal 6 al 14 Ottobre).  Infatti ad interrompere momentaneamente la manifestazione ci saranno le Olimpiadi 2010 in Russia ! Anche San Luis (Argentina) e Londra (Inghilterra) stanno valutando se entrare a far parte del circuito. In ogni caso il Comitato organizzatore del Grande Slam ha posto una regola per i nuovi tornei, ovvero che questi diano garanzia di svolgere almeno 3 edizioni. CALENDARIO 2010 GRANDE SLAM: NANCHINO (CINA 2009) = Carlsen WIJK AAN ZEE (OLANDA 2010) = Carlsen LINARES (SPAGNA) = 12-25 Febbraio SOFIA (BULGARIA)= 25 Maggio - 5 Giugno BAZNA (?) (ROMANIA) = 10-22Giugno FINALE MASTER = SHANGHAI ( Cina, 3-12 Settembre) & BILBAO ( Spagna, 6-14 Ottobre) FINALISTI 2008 Aronian, Anand , Ivanchuk, Carlsen, Topalov, Radjabov Player games wins draws  losses points Veselin Topalov 10 4 5 1 17 Magnus Carlsen 10 3 4 3 13 Levon Aronian 10 3 4 3 13 Vassily Ivanchuk 10 2 6 2 12 Teimur Radjabov 10 1 7 2 10 Vishy Anand 10 0 8 2 8 FINALISTI 2009 Player wins draws losses points Levon Aronian 4 1 1 13 Alexander Grischuk  2 2 2 8 Sergey Karjakin 1 4 1 7 Alexei Shirov 0 3 3 3
http://www.scacchierando.net/dblog/articolo.asp?articolo=1712
2010-02-08T16:10:00+01:00
Is Nakamura the ‘Real Deal’?
Nakamura at the 2004 World Open. Photo by Daaim Shabazz. Hikaru Nakamura has quite a story to tell. Born in Osaka, Japan and arriving in the U.S. at the age of two, Nakamura has been gracing the pages of chess magazines since he began breaking many of Bobby Fischer’s records. One of the first indicators of chess talent is the age record for National Master. There have been many talented players to come through the scholastic ranks, but many either quit playing after high school, or shortly after reaching National Master. When Nakamura entered Dickinson College, there were fears that America would lose yet another promising talent along the likes of Grandmasters Michael Wilder and Patrick Wolff. Under the early tutelage of his stepfather FM Sunil Weeramantry and the mentorship of older brother Asuka Nakamura, young Hikaru shattered the record reaching the mark in 10 years, 79 days. In 2008, his record was later lowered to 9 years, 11 months by Nicholas Nip, a player who is no longer active. Five years later, he broke Bobby Fischer’s long-standing record by earning Grandmaster status in 15 years, 79 days. Media comparisons to Fischer immediately heightened when he won the U.S. Championship at age 16. However, Nakamura reminded everyone, “I’m not Bobby Fischer.” He was intimating the point that Fischer was an unbalanced individual who only thought of chess. Of course, this was only half the story with Fischer, but certainly he was one who could not operate comfortably outside of the chess realm. When you talk to Nakamura, he is comfortable talking about a wide range of topics including his beloved Vancouver Canucks hockey team. He also has a variety of interests including music, finance, sports and politics. Many of the existing stereotypes of Nakamura are based on history from his teen years and commentary from online chess servers. Chief Organizer Erik Anderson (left) stands next to GM Hikaru Nakamura and WGM Rusudan Goletiani after both were crowned the 2004 U.S. Champions. Nakamura’s talent was hardly questioned on the U.S. scene as he had put together an impressive résumé of wins. At the closing ceremonies of the 2003 U.S. Championship, winner Alexander Shabalov singled out a young Nakamura and stated that he had a bright future in chess. In American tournaments, Nakamura’s brash style has become a breath of fresh air in a sport that had become stagnant with the same players competing every year in the U.S. Championships and the open tournaments. His victory the next year was definitely good for chess. Once Nakamura joined the elite class in the U.S., he carried a reputation as being an isolationist and distrustful of his colleagues. He rankled many when he made comments about collusion among the U.S. elite. “That’s actually why I still work alone. It’s very hard to trust anybody.” However, as Nakamura begin to ascend to a world-class level, he enlisted some help. After the 2009 U.S. Championship, he mentioned that he had been working with National Master Kris Littlejohn. This choice of a second puzzled many, but has paid dividends. Viktor Mikalevski ponders Gata Kamsky’s next move while Nakamura-Najer reaches the climatic stage of the 2009 World Open. Photo by Daaim Shabazz. In U.S. chess, there had been too many “friendships” between top players which resulted in many quick draws and dispirited play. Nakamura was dismissive of these tactics and forced the issue with his ‘play-to-win’ attitude. His determination affords him psychological capital when an opponent understands that they have to fight when they are already content on drawing. This fighting spirit came into great effect when he won his first U.S. Championship at age 16. However, in an important interview in Salon magazine, there were still had doubters. “The finish is very good but few purists will rank his play in the same league as Fischer’s — it lacks elegance,” wrote chess scribe Alan Goldsmith. Another chess writer, Bobby Ang, wondered, “When Nakamura reaches the higher echelons of the chess elite, will his style work?” Citing a benchmark of great contemporary players, Ang asked of Nakamura, “Can his brilliance overcome the tactical mastery of Alexei Shirov? Will his will-to-win be sufficient to breach the solid fortifications of Vladimir Kramnik, or Peter Leko? Is his much-touted resourcefulness of a high enough standard to battle with Rustam Kasimdzhanov? I doubt it very much.” (see link) Nakamura’s sales pitch to Europe was more difficult, but he was beginning to pick up momentum. Tournament organizers were attracted to his brash, no-nonsense style. He has since broken through in a number of strong tournaments and is now comfortably ensconced in the top 20. Many detractors rail at the notion that Nakamura has not gotten the opportunities to face the elite level. They cite his skipping Corus “B” in 2008 for the Gibraltar Masters as a snub. Nakamura cited inadequate conditions, but made good on his trip by winning Gibraltar. Nakamura winning the 2009 U.S. Championship. Photo by Daaim Shabazz. He added a few more accolades including the 2009 U.S. Championship, 960 World Championship and the Cap d’Agde Rapid Tournament (over Anatoly Karpov and Vassily Ivanchuk). There were still doubters who stated that he couldn’t win in a strong classical tournament. After playing poorly in the London Classic, Nakamura finally got his coveted invite to Corus “A” and made a strong showing with 7.5/13 (4th place). Magnus Carlsen, the winner of the tournament, identified Nakamura as a new rival. On various chess blogs, the conversation of Nakamura ascendancy is a popular topic. Naysayers continue to claim Nakamura is not worthy of “elite” status for very specific reasons. After he refutes these reasons, another set will be created and standards increased. At this point, pundits state that Nakamura has to make top 10 to be considered seriously as a World Championship. Last year, it was top 20. Of course, the candidacy of players such as Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin or Teimour Radjabov was recognized almost immediately. What is the difference? The theory was that the European stars were “battle-tested” and Nakamura had not faced tough competition. Many top chess journals, websites and blogs take liberties to print negative portrayals of the young American star. Even his head-to-head blitz victory over Carlsen in Norway was trivialized. So the question…”Is Nakamura the ‘Real Deal’?” Does he have World Championship potential? When Vladimir Kramnik was asked this question, he seems to believe that Nakamura is a legitimate talent, but stopped short of giving a full endorsement. Most of the fans and journalists believe that Carlsen is the heir apparent to Viswanathan Anand or Veselin Topalov, but it is not certain if Carlsen will maintain his level. The performance of Anish Giri turned some heads and the Chinese and Indians deserve attention. If one looks at Nakamura, he has many things going for him. Killer Instinct – Nakamura is unparalleled in the intensity he brings to the board. While it should not be taken literally, Nakamura seems to have an assassin’s mentality when approaching his chess encounters. His play is relentless, hyper-energetic, provocative and aggressive. One of his greatest assets seems to be making opponents uncomfortable, both over the board and in his confident posture. Independence – Kris Littlejohn selection as Nakamura’s assistant was a bold step that bucks another trend… having a peer as a second. Nakamura theory seems to be based more on work chemistry than the talent of his second. In the 2008 U.S. Championship, he stated that Littlejohn helps him in many intangible ways and understands his style very well. What we now know is that Kris is a computer specialist and can use his understanding of Nakamura’s style with his chess knowledge to create powerful intelligence. “Team Nakamura” has been a rousing success thus far. This doesn’t preclude Nakamura from adding additional members to his camp. Flexibility - Chess pundits may now be convinced at Nakamura’s resilience and ability to adapt. There are still a lot of doubters who insist on viewing him based on his online persona of a “blitz god” with an arrogance far exceeding his accomplishments. One thing critics may overlook is Nakamura’s maturation over the past few years. He is willing to experiment at a high level and to reignite debates on acceptable play. One of the difficulties at top level is preparing for an opponent like Vassily Ivanchuk or Nakamura. While Nakamura doesn’t have the depth in opening knowledge of Ivanchuk, he still poses difficult problems and is comfortable in a variety of positions. Self-Critic – Nakamura is openly critical of his play. On his silver-medal performance in the World Team Championship and his Corus “A” debut, he was quick to point out improvements… even in victory. This is a good sign and is contrary to the belief that he doesn’t work hard to improve his game. His ability to be self-critical will keep him alert and hungry enough to know that he can still improve. Approaching the 2750 mark, he will continue to vault over many of the veterans as he continues his march. At some point, he may enlist the help of a world-class player to help him in specific areas. GM Hikaru Nakamura at 2010 Corus in Wijk aan Zee. Photo by Fred Lucas. Will these factors mean that he has enough to win a World Championship? Time will tell. One thing that is true is that if Nakamura has his goal set and resources are not an issue, he will have more than an adequate shot at winning the World Championship. He is only 22 years old and he will continue to get better. The downside is does not have a sponsor and gets limited help from his federation which means that he does not have the luxury of focusing purely on chess development. In a 2005 interview with the New York Times, Nakamura summed up his chances. ”If I am able to get up there and play for the actual title of the world championship, then once again, everyone will be excited,” Mr. Nakamura said, noting how chess gained wide appeal when Mr. Fischer toppled Boris Spassky, the Soviet world champion, in 1972. ”There have been plenty of great players since Fischer but none have been American players.” (see link) Nakamura has the tenacity, the nerves and still has some areas of improvement in his game. Given Carlsen’s breach of 2800, there will be a new cadre of players to vie for the world crown. With the right combination of training, sponsorship and tournament invitations, Nakamura hopes to be one in that number.
http://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2010/02/08/is-nakamura-the-real-deal/
Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:38:07 +0000
Kramnik beats Nakamura, Shirov draws with Carlsen
Round 8 news. Vladimir Kramnik defeated Hikaru Nakamura, Alexei Shirov drew a theoretical dual against Magnus Carlsen to retain the lead. Nigel Short misses drawing chance against Sergey Karjakin.
http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/malcolmpein/kramnik-beats-nakamura-shirov-draws-with-carlsen
Wed 27 Jan 2010 10:06:00 AM UTC
Dramatic Finish at Corus
The 2010 Corus Chess Tournament, which was composed of three 14-player groups and took place on 16-31st January, had a thrilling finish with the last round deciding on who will win the main group A. Magnus Carlsen sat for the final game with a half point advantage ahead of the former world champion Vladimir Kramnik and tournament's earlier leader Alexei Shirov. Kramnik was the first to give up on the ambition to claim a full point after the last year winner Sergey Karjakin comfortably held equality with black pieces in the Queen's Indian defence. Meanwhile, Carlsen tried to squeeze something out of the equal position against Fabiano Caruana, and Alexei Shirov jumped into the fire hoping to clear the way to Leinier Dominguez's King by sacrificing the material. The developments in this game provoked Carlsen to risk more while searching for a win and secured clear first place. However, Shirov burned his clock to find precise moves which maintain the attack and consequently run into the horrible zeitnot. On the 30th move Dominguez erred but accompanied his move with a draw offer, which Shirov, with only few seconds remaining, accepted. Now Carlsen needed only half a point to become a sole winner, but Caruana was already pressing for a full point in the slightly better endgame. After the persistent defence, Carlsen took a well deserved draw and trophy for the first place. Dutch champion Anish Giri battled his way through a higher rated opposition to win the Corus B and qualify for the next year's main event. He collected 9.0 points from 13 games and practically secured the first place even before the last round. The Chinese GM Li Chao B, top-seeded in the Corus C, also reserved the first place in advance, but he finished the tournament in style, with a win over the Netherland's GM Zhaoqin Peng. Corus A final standings: 1. GM Magnus Carlsen, Norway - 8.5 2-3. GM Alexei Shirov, Spain and GM Vladimir Kramnik, Russia - 8.0 4-5. GM Viswanathan Anand, India and GM Hikaru Nakamura, USA - 7.5 6-7. GM Vassily Ivanchuk, Ukraine and GM Sergey Karjakin, Russia - 7.0 8-9. GM Leinier Dominguez Perez, Cuba and GM Peter Leko, Hungary - 6.5 10. GM Fabiano Caruana, Italy - 5.5 11-12. GM Loek van Wely, Netherlands and GM Nigel Short, England - 5.0 13-14. GM Jan Smeets, Netherlands and GM Sergey Tiviakov, Netherlands - 4.5 Corus B final standings: 1. GM Anish Giri, Netherlands - 9.0 2. GM Arkadij Naiditsch, Germany - 8.5 3. GM Ni Hua, China - 8.0 4-5. GM Wesley So, Philippines and GM Erwin l’Ami, Netherlands - 7.5 6-7. GM Parimarjan Negi, India and GM Pentala Harikrishna, India - 6.5 8-9. GM David Howell, England and GM Emil Sutovsky, Israel - 6.0 10-11. WGM Anna Muzychuk, Slovenia and GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Romania - 5.5 12-13. GM Tomi Nyback, Finland and GM Dimitri Reinderman, Netherlands - 5.0 14. GM Varuzhan Akobian, USA - 4.5 Corus C final standings: 1. GM Li Chao B, China - 10.0 2. GM Abhijeet Gupta, India - 8.5 3-4. GM Daniele Vocaturo, Italy and IM Robin van Kampen, Netherlands - 8.0 5-6. GM Ray Robson, USA and GM Robin Swinkels, Netherlands - 7.5 7. FM Benjamin Bok, Netherlands - 7.0 8-10. WGM Marya Muzychuk, Ukraine, FM Stefan Kuipers, Netherlands and IM Nils Grandelius, Sweden - 6.0 11. GM Kjetil Lie, Norway - 5.5 12. GM Zhaoqin Peng, Netherlands - 5.0 13-14. WGM Soumya Swaminathan, India and Sjoerd Plukkel, Netherlands - 3.0
http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/4318-dramatic-finish-at-corus
Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:03:27 +0000
Magnus Carlsen gana el torneo Corus 2010; Anish Giri el grupo B
Magnus Carlsen se coronó vencedor del torneo Corus en Wijk aan Zee, Holanda, tras empatar su partida contra Fabiano Caruana. Kramnik había empatado con Sergey Karjakin tras 21 movimientos. En la rueda de prensa, Carlsen comentó que la victoria le hace ilusión, pero que su motivo principal, como siempre había sido jugar bonitas partidas y opinó con modestia que aún le quedan muchas cosas que mejorar. Anish Giri empató su partida con Parimarjan Negi y se aseguró la victoria del torneo Corus B y la plaza en el grupo A para el año que viene sumando 8,5 puntos en 13 rondas. El ganador del grupo C es Li Chao con 9/13. Recordarles también que Leontxo García emitirá su ágora hoy a partir de las 22:30 horas (hora peninsular española) en la sala Retransmisiones de Playchess.com. Ronda 13...
http://www.chessbase.com/espanola/newsdetail2.asp?id=8001
Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Anand gewinnt, Carlsen führt
Eine Runde vor Schluss sieht es beim Corus-Turnier in Wijk aan Zee tatsächlich so aus, als könnte Magnus Carlsen sein erstes Turnier als Nummer Eins der Welt gewinnen. Carlsen selbst spielte in Runde 12 Remis gegen Peter Leko, aber Weltmeister Vishy Anand zeigte sich gegen Vladimir Kramnik hoch motiviert und gewann eine schöne Partie. Da sich Alexei Shirov und Sergey Karjakin Remis trennten, liegt Carlsen eine Runde vor Schluss mit 8 aus 12 alleine an der Spitze, einen halben Punkt vor Kramnik und Shirov mit je 7,5. Für die zweite Gewinnpartie des Tages in Gruppe A sorgte Jan Smeets, der Loek Van Welys Najdorf-Variante in wenigen Zügen demontierte. In Gruppe B führt Anish Giri das Feld mit 8,5 Punkten mit einem Punkt Vorsprung an und braucht nur ein Remis zum Turniersieg. In Gruppe C steht der Sieger bereits sicher fest: mit 9 Punkten liegt der Chinese Li Chao mit anderthalb Punkten Vorsprung uneinholbar vor seinen Konkurrenten. Turnierseite... Tabellen, Partien, Bilder...
http://chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=10035
Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Corus Chess 2010 : Carlsen - Caruana en Live à 12h30
Carlsen neutralise hier Leko et joue la victoire finale! © Fred Lucas Le Direct Live à 12h30 + Toutes les parties à Visualiser et/ou Télécharger Coup de théâtre hier ronde 12 : Kramnik perd face à Anand. Du coup, en annulant face à Leko, Magnus Carlsen passe en tête avant l'ultime ronde. Les appariement de la 13ème et dernière ronde : Loek van Wely NED (2641) - Viswanathan Anand IND (2790) Nigel Short ENG (2696) - Jan Smeets NED (2657) Hikaru Nakamura USA (2708) - Sergey Tiviakov NED (2662) Magnus Carlsen NOR (2810) - Fabiano Caruana ITA (2675) Vassily Ivanchuk UKR (2749) - Peter Leko HUN (2739) Alexei Shirov ESP (2723) - Leinier Dominguez CUB (2712) Vladimir Kramnik RUS (2788) - Sergey Karjakin RUS (2720) Le traditionnel tournoi d'échecs Corus se déroule du 16 au 31 Janvier 2010 à Wijk aan Zee, une station balnéaire de Hollande. Cette année encore, le plateau est particulièrement relevé, avec la présence de Magnus Carlsen (2810), Vishy Anand (2790) et Vladimir Kramnik (2788) parmi les 14 participants. Ce tournoi majeur - un catégorie 19 - affiche la moyenne Elo stratosphérique de 2719 points, identique à celle de l'édition 2009. ChessVibes nous offre un résumé quotidien du tournoi © ChessVibes Le classement après 12 rondes : A votre avis, qui va gagner le Corus 2010 ? Magnus Carlsen Vishy Anand Vladimir Kramnik Un autre joueur Pour en savoir plus : Le site officiel - Le classement - Les appariements 2007-2010 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2010/01/corus-chess-2010-carlsen-caruana-en.html
Sun, 31 Jan 2010 09:17:00 +0000
Corus Chess 2010 : la ronde 12 en Live à 13h30
Carlsen intraitable face à Dominguez façon Kasparov © Fred Lucas Le Direct Live à 13h30 + Toutes les parties à Visualiser et/ou Télécharger Les appariements de l'avant-dernière ronde : Viswanathan Anand IND (2790) - Vladimir Kramnik RUS (2788) Sergey Karjakin RUS (2720) - Alexei Shirov ESP (2723) Leinier Dominguez CUB (2712) - Vassily Ivanchuk UKR (2749) Peter Leko HUN (2739) - Magnus Carlsen NOR (2810) Fabiano Caruana ITA (2675) - Hikaru Nakamura USA (2708) Sergey Tiviakov NED (2662) - Nigel Short ENG (2696) Jan Smeets NED (2657) - Loek van Wely NED (2641) Le traditionnel tournoi d'échecs Corus se déroule du 16 au 31 Janvier 2010 à Wijk aan Zee, une station balnéaire de Hollande. Cette année encore, le plateau est particulièrement relevé, avec la présence de Magnus Carlsen (2810), Vishy Anand (2790) et Vladimir Kramnik (2788) parmi les 14 participants. Ce tournoi majeur - un catégorie 19 - affiche la moyenne Elo stratosphérique de 2719 points, identique à celle de l'édition 2009. ChessVibes nous offre un résumé quotidien du tournoi © ChessVibes Le classement après 11 rondes : A votre avis, qui va gagner le Corus 2010 ? Magnus Carlsen Vishy Anand Vladimir Kramnik Un autre joueur Pour en savoir plus : Le site officiel - Le classement - Les appariements 2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2010/01/corus-chess-2010-la-ronde-12-en-live.html
Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:07:00 +0000
Corus Chess 2010 : la ronde 11 en Live à 13h30
Carlsen victorieux de Karjakin peut-il gagner le Corus ? © Fred Lucas Le Direct Live à 13h30 + Toutes les parties à Visualiser et/ou Télécharger Les appariements de la ronde 11 : Jan Smeets NED (2657) - Viswanathan Anand IND (2790) Loek van Wely NED (2641) - Sergey Tiviakov NED (2662) Nigel Short ENG (2696) - Fabiano Caruana ITA (2675) Hikaru Nakamura USA (2708) - Peter Leko HUN (2739) Magnus Carlsen NOR (2810) - Leinier Dominguez CUB (2712) Vassily Ivanchuk UKR (2749) - Sergey Karjakin RUS (2720) Alexei Shirov ESP (2723) - Vladimir Kramnik RUS (2788) Le traditionnel tournoi d'échecs Corus se déroule du 16 au 31 Janvier 2010 à Wijk aan Zee, une station balnéaire de Hollande. Cette année encore, le plateau est particulièrement relevé, avec la présence de Magnus Carlsen (2810), Vishy Anand (2790) et Vladimir Kramnik (2788) parmi les 14 participants. Ce tournoi majeur - un catégorie 19 - affiche la moyenne Elo stratosphérique de 2719 points, identique à celle de l'édition 2009. ChessVibes nous offre un résumé quotidien du tournoi © ChessVibes Le classement après 10 rondes : A votre avis, qui va gagner le Corus 2010 ? Magnus Carlsen Vishy Anand Vladimir Kramnik Un autre joueur Pour en savoir plus : Le site officiel - Le classement - Les appariements 2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2010/01/corus-chess-2010-la-ronde-11-en-live.html
Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:08:00 +0000
Anand was lucky to beat Shirov in Corus Chess tourney
World champion Viswanathan Anand ended his long chain of draws with a lucky victory over Spaniard Alexei Shirov in the tenth round of the ‘A’ group of the Corus chess tournament. Having drawn the first nine games, Anand yet again tried hard to be back on his winning ways but missed a simple tactic which might have seen him on the receiving end. However, Shirov missed the opportunity at the fag end of the first time control and instead landed in a lost position which the Indian ace converted without much ado. Ahead of the third and final rest day, this welcome break for Anand saw him jump to joint fourth spot with just three rounds remaining in this category-19 event. Russian Vladimir Kramnik emerged as the new sole leader on seven points after Shirov’s disastrous loss. The Russian played drew with Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine on a day that also saw Magnus Carlsen uncork the French defense and winning a fine game against defending champion Sergey Karjakin. Carlsen and Shirov are joint second with 6.5 points each while Anand shares the next position along with Hikaru Nakamura of United States, Leinier Dominguez of Cuba, Vassily ivanchuk of Ukraine and Karjakin who all have 5.5 points each. In the ‘B’ group, P Harikrishna suffered a shocking loss against Dmitri Reinderman of Holland, while Parimarjan Negi played out a draw with Ni Hua of China. Harikrishna was outdone in an English opening by Reinderman who stuck form. Harikrishna lost a couple of Queen side pawns in the middle game and his counter play bid did not really materialise as Reinderman won in 58 moves. Parimarjan Negi yet again held a higher ranked opponent to an easy draw. Playing the black side of a Queen’s gambit declined, Parimarjan had no difficulties in equalizing out of the opening and timely exchanges forced the game in a level ending. The peace was signed in 51 moves. Anish Giri of Holland remained at the top of the tables in this section after taking a draw with top seed German Arkadij Naiditsch. The 15-year old now has seven points and Erwin l’Ami of Holland and Ni Hua are still on his toes a half point behind. Parimarjan is joint fifth on 5.5 points while Hari slipped to joint seventh spot on 5 points. Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta suffered his second reversal in as many days in the ‘C’ group as the Indian could not find an adequate method to combat Norwegian Lie Kjetil and sacrificed a pawn early in the opening. Kjetil played the ensuing middle game quite well to romp home in 53 moves. World junior girls’ champion Soumya Swaminathan scored her first victory in the event at the expense of Swede Nils Grandelius. The Pune-based got an attacking position early in the opening and she was a treat to watch in tactical complications. Grandelius resigned in 36 moves. Chinese Li Chao increased his lead to a whopping 1.5 points after beating Robin Swinkles and took his tally to 7.5 points in all and a group of four follow him with six points each. Abhijeet with 5.5 points is joint fifth here while Soumya stands 13th in the 14-players competition.
http://www.365chess.com/news/anand-was-lucky-to-beat-shirov-in-corus-chess-tourney/
2010-01-29T10:19:25Z
"Rebellion der Wunderkinder"
"Ja, ich kann die ganzen alten Gesichter am Brett auch nicht mehr sehen," scherzte Kramnik, als er in Wijk aan Zee auf die neue junge Generation von starken Spielern angesprochen wurde. "Endlich mal ein paar neue Köpfe!" In jedem Jahr werden zu den Turnieren in Wijk eine Reihe von Talenten eingeladen. In diesem Jahre treten diese besonders dominant auf. Magnus Carlsen hat durch sein starkes letztes Jahr und seinen ersten Rang in der Weltrangliste auf sich aufmerksam gemacht. Aber auch andere junge Spieler befinden sich auf dem Weg nach oben, wie Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana und Sergey Karjakin. In der B- und C-Gruppe führten mit Anish Giri und Ray Robson zwei Jugendliche. Wesley So bewies mit seinem Resultat beim World Cup, dass mit ihm ebenfalls zur rechnen ist. Hartmut Metz schildert in einem Artikel die neue Situation für die Leser der Thüringer Allgemeine. Rebellion der Wunderkinder...
http://chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=10026
Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Wijk aan Zee Round 10
Source: Chessbase On his blog for Arctic Securities Magnus writes: Sergey Karjakin (20) is from Ukraine but has recently moved to Moscow and is in the process of switching federations. His is currently trained by Dokhoyan, a former associate of Kasparov. Karjakin became a Grandmaster at 12, the youngest ever, and is famous for being a second for FIDE Knockout World Championship winner Ponomariov at the age of 11! We are both born in 1990 though nearly a year apart, and he was already a master player when I played my first children tournament. For many years he was the top rated player born in 1990 and earlier until I briefly past him in October 2004 and permanently (up to now) from October 2006 onwards. Against his 1.e4 I chose the French Defence, an opening I haven’t played at a serious level before. He did not get any advantage out of the opening and seemed quite uncomfortable in the middle game when my counterplay got going. After several inaccuracies from him the tactics in the position all favoured black, and he found nothing better than to sacrifice an exchange for my active knight. I found a precise way to force the exchange of queens and one pair of rooks, and the endgame was easily won. Finally! All our previous classical chess encounters have ended in draw. I felt focused and determined today and was of course very satisfied to win after yesterday’s dismal result. Shirov lost to Anand while Kramnik drew against Ivanchuk. Kramnik is sole leader with 7/10 while Shirov and I are sharing 2nd at 6.5 with three rounds to go. I’m white against Lenier Dominquez, Cuba after the free day.
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Chessvine/~3/iPlI6WKLEuM/703-Wijk-aan-Zee-Round-10.html
Corus Chess 2010 : le point à 3 rondes de la fin
Alexei Shirov perd hier sa position de leader dans une partie dramatique contre Viswanathan Anand. L'espagnol obtient une position gagnante contre le champion du monde, mais rate une combinaison tactique finale sur un aveuglement mutuel au 39ème coup, et finit par perdre. Carlsen bat Karjakin avec les Noirs dans une française et Kramnik partage le point avec Ivanchuk. A 3 rondes de la fin, Kramnik possède une demi-longueur d'avance sur Carlsen et Shirov. Nos héros se reposent aujourd'hui. Le Direct Live demain + Toutes les parties à Visualiser et/ou Télécharger Le traditionnel tournoi d'échecs Corus se déroule du 16 au 31 Janvier 2010 à Wijk aan Zee, une station balnéaire de Hollande. Cette année encore, le plateau est particulièrement relevé, avec la présence de Magnus Carlsen (2810), Vishy Anand (2790) et Vladimir Kramnik (2788) parmi les 14 participants. Ce tournoi majeur - un catégorie 19 - affiche la moyenne Elo stratosphérique de 2719 points, identique à celle de l'édition 2009. Les résultats de la ronde 10 : Viswanathan Anand IND (2790) 1-0 Alexei Shirov ESP (2723) Vladimir Kramnik RUS (2788) 1/2 Vassily Ivanchuk UKR (2749) Sergey Karjakin RUS (2720) 0-1 Magnus Carlsen NOR (2810) Leinier Dominguez CUB (2712) 1/2 Hikaru Nakamura USA (2708) Peter Leko HUN (2739) 1/2 Nigel Short ENG (2696) Fabiano Caruana ITA (2675) 1/2 Loek van Wely NED (2641) Sergey Tiviakov NED (2662) 1-0 Jan Smeets NED (2657) ChessVibes nous offre un résumé quotidien du tournoi © ChessVibes Le classement après 10 rondes : A votre avis, qui va gagner le Corus 2010 ? Magnus Carlsen Vishy Anand Vladimir Kramnik Un autre joueur Pour en savoir plus : Le site officiel - Le classement - Les appariements 2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2010/01/corus-chess-2010-le-point-3-rondes-de.html
Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:46:00 +0000
Corus Chess 2010 : Kramnik seul leader !
Ronde 9 : Victoire noire de Kramnik face à Carlsen © Fred Lucas Le Direct Live à 13h30 + Toutes les parties à Visualiser et/ou Télécharger Les résultats de la ronde 10 : Viswanathan Anand IND (2790) 1-0 Alexei Shirov ESP (2723) Vladimir Kramnik RUS (2788) 1/2 Vassily Ivanchuk UKR (2749) Sergey Karjakin RUS (2720) 0-1 Magnus Carlsen NOR (2810) Leinier Dominguez CUB (2712) 1/2 Hikaru Nakamura USA (2708) Peter Leko HUN (2739) 1/2 Nigel Short ENG (2696) Fabiano Caruana ITA (2675) 1/2 Loek van Wely NED (2641) Sergey Tiviakov NED (2662) 1-0 Jan Smeets NED (2657) Le traditionnel tournoi d'échecs Corus se déroule du 16 au 31 Janvier 2010 à Wijk aan Zee, une station balnéaire de Hollande. Cette année encore, le plateau est particulièrement relevé, avec la présence de Magnus Carlsen (2810), Vishy Anand (2790) et Vladimir Kramnik (2788) parmi les 14 participants. Ce tournoi majeur - un catégorie 19 - affiche la moyenne Elo stratosphérique de 2719 points, identique à celle de l'édition 2009. ChessVibes nous offre un résumé quotidien du tournoi © ChessVibes Le classement après 10 rondes : A votre avis, qui va gagner le Corus 2010 ? Magnus Carlsen Vishy Anand Vladimir Kramnik Un autre joueur Pour en savoir plus : Le site officiel - Le classement - Les appariements 2007-2009 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2010/01/corus-chess-2010-la-ronde-10-en-live.html
Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:12:00 +0000
Wijk 10: Anand and Carlsen win, Kramnik leads
We had to wait ten rounds for this: World Champion Vishy Anand won his first game, with a little help from opponent Alexei Shirov. Magnus Carlsen surprised everyone in the world by playing the French Defence for the first time in a tournament game – and won it against his permanent rival Sergey Karjakin. Vladimir Kramnik drew and is in the sole lead. Illustrated report.
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6094
Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Corus R8: Wijk aan Zee con 'sneeuw'
A vuelto el invierno a Wijk aan Zee, con nieve ('sneeuw') que ha pintado la costa holandesa de blanco. Quizá los jugadores de las piezas blancas lo interpretaron como buen presagio, porque en el grupo A hoy hubo cuatro victorias con blancas. Vladimir Kramnik venció a Hikaru Nakamura en una Leningrado; Sergey Karjakin se impuso a Nigel Short en una Española; Peter Leko se apuntó su primera victoria contra Jan Smeets y, en la partida más larga de la jornada, Fabiano Caruana derrotó a Tiviakov en la Escandinava. Alexei Shirov empató con Magnus Carlsen y mantiene el liderato. Tras su victoria de hoy, Kramnik comparte la segunda posición con el noruego. En los grupos B y C siguen en cabeza los mismo líderes (Giri y Robson) Ronda 8 con fotos, partidas...
http://www.chessbase.com/espanola/newsdetail2.asp?id=7981
Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Corus Chess 2010 : le choc Carlsen - Kramnik en Live
Ronde 8 : superbe victoire de Kramnik face à Nakamura © Fred Lucas Le Direct Live à 13h30 + Toutes les parties à Visualiser et/ou Télécharger Les appariements de la ronde 9 : Sergey Tiviakov NED (2662) - Viswanathan Anand IND (2790) Jan Smeets NED (2657) - Fabiano Caruana ITA (2675) Loek van Wely NED (2641) - Peter Leko HUN (2739) Nigel Short ENG (2696) - Leinier Dominguez CUB (2712) Hikaru Nakamura USA (2708) - Sergey Karjakin RUS (2720) Magnus Carlsen NOR (2810) - Vladimir Kramnik RUS (2788) Vassily Ivanchuk UKR (2749) - Alexei Shirov ESP (2723) Le traditionnel tournoi d'échecs Corus se déroule du 16 au 31 Janvier 2010 à Wijk aan Zee, une station balnéaire de Hollande. Cette année encore, le plateau est particulièrement relevé, avec la présence de Magnus Carlsen (2810), Vishy Anand (2790) et Vladimir Kramnik (2788) parmi les 14 participants. Ce tournoi majeur - un catégorie 19 - affiche la moyenne Elo stratosphérique de 2719 points, identique à celle de l'édition 2009. Bianca Muhren nous offre un résumé quotidien du tournoi © ChessVibes