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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.

 
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

Palais de la MéditerrannéeAlexander Morozevich has withdrawn from the Amber tournament, which starts in six days from now in Nice, France.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

 
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.

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.

Mikalevski ponders Kamsky's next move while Nakamura-Najer reaches the climatic stage of the 2009 World Open.

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

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
carlsenThe 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 victorieux de Dominguez peut-il gagner le Corus ? © Fred Lucas
Carlsen neutralise hier Leko et joue la victoire finale! © Fred Lucas
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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 :
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
 
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
Magnus Carlsen
Carlsen intraitable face à Dominguez façon Kasparov © Fred Lucas
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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 :
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
 
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
Carlsen victorieux de Karjakin peut-il gagner le Corus ? © Fred Lucas
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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 :
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
 
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
Anand face à Shirov lors de la 10ème ronde 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 Les parties d'échecs à visualiser Les parties d'échecs à télécharger 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 :
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
 
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 !
Vladimir Kramnik - photo Fred Lucas
Ronde 9 : Victoire noire de Kramnik face à Carlsen © Fred Lucas
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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 :
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
 
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
Vladimir Kramnik
Ronde 8 : superbe victoire de Kramnik face à Nakamura © Fred Lucas
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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

Ronde 7 : Magnus Carlsen exploite une gaffe de Vassily Ivanchuk au 15ème coup © Fred Lucas
Ronde 7 : Magnus Carlsen exploite une gaffe d'Ivanchuk © Fred Lucas
Hikaru Nakamura face à Shirov
Ronde 7 : Hikaru Nakamura remporte son duel face au leader Shirov © Fred Lucas
Le classement après 8 rondes :
Le classement après 8 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
 
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2010/01/corus-chess-2010-le-choc-carlsen.html
Tue, 26 Jan 2010 09:22:00 +0000
 
 
 
Corus: Vier Weißsiege im weißen Wijk
Der Winter ist mit Schnee nach Wijk zurück gekommen und hat die holländische Küste in Weiß getaucht. Vielleicht interpretierten die Führer der weißen Steine dies als Signal, denn heute kam es in der A-Gruppe zu vier Siegen der anziehenden Spieler. Vladimir Kramnik besiegte Hikaru Nakamura in der Leningrader Variante, Fabiano Caruana gelang ein Sieg gegen Tiviakovs Dd6-Skandinavisch, Sergey Karjakin schlug Nigel Short im Spanier und schließlich kam Peter Leko gegen Jan Smeets in der Russischen Verteidigung zum vollen Punkt. In der Tabelle bleibt Alexei Shirov nach seinem Remis gegen Magnus Carlsen in Führung. Kramnik hat zum Norweger aufgeschlossen und teilt den zweiten Platz.
Turnierseite... Bericht, Bilder, Partien, etc...
 
http://chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=10016
Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT
 
 
 
Cuban Chess GM Remains Undefeated in Wijk aan Zee

Cuban Chess GM Remains Undefeated in Wijk aan Zee
HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 25 (acn)

Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez drew his match against host Loek van Wely, thus remaining undefeated along other four players at the Grand Slam underway in the Dutch city of Wijk aan Zee.

The Cuban now has 4.5 points, resulting from 7 draws and a win, wich places him tied in the 6-8 position. This last game he agreed to the draw after 45 moves of a Sicilian Defense, Najdorf variant, according to www.chesscenter.com Spaniard Alexei Shirov leads the tournament after tying with Norweigian Magnus Carlsen after only 30 moves of a Sicilian Defense, and now accumulates 6 points, more than any of the other 13 GMs participating in this Grand Slam.

It is precisely the Wonderboy Carlsen his closest rival with 5.5 units, along Russian Vladimir Krammik who defeated American Hikaru Nakamura.

Meanwhile, defending champ Russian Sergey Karjakin beat English Nigel Short after 61 moves of a Spaniard Opening, while Hungarian Peter Leko added another point thanks to his victory over Dutch jan Smeets in 45 moves of a Petroff Defense.

The standing positions have Shirov in the top place followed by Carlsen and Krammik. After them Nakamura has 5 points and has a half unit advantage over the group made of Karjakin-Leinier-Leko-Ivanchuk, all of them with 4.5.World champion Anand accumulates 4 points for the ninth position, ahead of Caruana (3,5), Tiviakov and Short (2,5), Van Wely (2) and Smeets (1,5).

Source: http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu
Posted by Picasa
 
http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu/idioma/ingles/2010/0125leinier.htm
2010-01-26T00:20:00.000-06:00
 
 
 
Kasparov Reviews "Chess Metaphors"

Garry Kasparov's "The Chess Master and the Computer" (The New York Review of Books, February 11, 2010) offers not only an excellent review of Diego Rasskin-Gutman's Chess Metaphors: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Mind but extensive reflections by the world's greatest chess player on the effects that computers have had on the game.  I especially liked the way he sums up some of those effects:

There have been many unintended consequences, both positive and negative, of the rapid proliferation of powerful chess software. Kids love computers and take to them naturally, so it's no surprise that the same is true of the combination of chess and computers. With the introduction of super-powerful software it became possible for a youngster to have a top- level opponent at home instead of needing a professional trainer from an early age. Countries with little by way of chess tradition and few available coaches can now produce prodigies. I am in fact coaching one of them this year, nineteen-year-old Magnus Carlsen, from Norway, where relatively little chess is played.

The heavy use of computer analysis has pushed the game itself in new directions. The machine doesn't care about style or patterns or hundreds of years of established theory. It counts up the values of the chess pieces, analyzes a few billion moves, and counts them up again. (A computer translates each piece and each positional factor into a value in order to reduce the game to numbers it can crunch.) It is entirely free of prejudice and doctrine and this has contributed to the development of players who are almost as free of dogma as the machines with which they train. Increasingly, a move isn't good or bad because it looks that way or because it hasn't been done that way before. It's simply good if it works and bad if it doesn't. Although we still require a strong measure of intuition and logic to play well, humans today are starting to play more like computers.

The availability of millions of games at one's fingertips in a database is also making the game's best players younger and younger. Absorbing the thousands of essential patterns and opening moves used to take many years, a process indicative of Malcolm Gladwell's "10,000 hours to become an expert" theory as expounded in his recent book Outliers. (Gladwell's earlier book, Blink, rehashed, if more creatively, much of the cognitive psychology material that is re-rehashed in Chess Metaphors.) Today's teens, and increasingly pre-teens, can accelerate this process by plugging into a digitized archive of chess information and making full use of the superiority of the young mind to retain it all. In the pre-computer era, teenage grandmasters were rarities and almost always destined to play for the world championship. Bobby Fischer's 1958 record of attaining the grandmaster title at fifteen was broken only in 1991. It has been broken twenty times since then, with the current record holder, Ukrainian Sergey Karjakin, having claimed the highest title at the nearly absurd age of twelve in 2002. Now twenty, Karjakin is among the world's best, but like most of his modern wunderkind peers he's no Fischer, who stood out head and shoulders above his peers—and soon enough above the rest of the chess world as well.
 Hat tip The Chess Mind.
 
http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/kenilworthian/2010/01/kasparov-reviews-chess-metaphors.html
Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:56:00 +0000
 
 
 
Wijk 08: Kramnik beats Nakamura, Karjakin, Leko and Caruana win
Four white wins, one a fateful victory by Vladimir Kramnik over Hikaru Nakamura, left the former in equal 2nd/3rd place and demoted the latter to fourth. Alexei Shirov drew Magnus Carlsen to remain in the lead, by just half a point. Sergey Karjakin, Peter Leko and Fabiano Caruana won. In Group B Anish Giri scored again to lead the field by 1½ points. Big illustrated report from snow-covered Wijk.
 
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6084
Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT
 
 
 
Corus Chess 2010 : la ronde 8 en Live à 13h30
Ronde 7 : Magnus Carlsen exploite une gaffe de Vassily Ivanchuk au 15ème coup © Fred Lucas
Ronde 7 : Magnus Carlsen exploite une gaffe d'Ivanchuk © Fred Lucas
Le Direct Live Les parties d'échecs à visualiser Les parties d'échecs à télécharger Le Direct Live + Toutes les parties à Visualiser et/ou Télécharger

Les appariements de la ronde 8 :
  • Viswanathan Anand IND (2790)- Vassily Ivanchuk UKR (2749)
  • Alexei Shirov ESP (2723) - Magnus Carlsen NOR (2810)
  • Vladimir Kramnik RUS (2788) - Hikaru Nakamura USA (2708)
  • Sergey Karjakin RUS (2720) - Nigel Short ENG (2696)
  • Leinier Dominguez CUB (2712) - Loek van Wely NED (2641)
  • Peter Leko HUN (2739) - Jan Smeets NED (2657)
  • Fabiano Caruana ITA (2675) - Sergey Tiviakov NED (2662)
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

Hikaru Nakamura face à Shirov
Ronde 7 : Hikaru Nakamura remporte son duel face au leader Shirov © Fred Lucas
Le classement après 7 rondes :
Le classement après 7 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
 
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2010/01/corus-chess-2010-la-ronde-8-en-live.html
Sun, 24 Jan 2010 08:14:00 +0000
 
 
 
Corus Chess 2010 : Shirov stoppé par Nakamura
Bianca Muhren nous offre un résumé quotidien du tournoi © ChessVibes

Le Direct Live Les parties d'échecs à visualiser Les parties d'échecs à télécharger Le Direct Live + 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.
Nouvelle victoire de Shirov face à Smeets © Fred Lucas
Première défaite ronde 7 du leader Shirov face à Nakamura © Fred Lucas
Les appariements de la 7ème ronde :
  • Fabiano Caruana ITA (2675) 1/2 Viswanathan Anand IND (2790)
  • Sergey Tiviakov NED (2662) 1/2 Peter Leko HUN (2739)
  • Jan Smeets NED (2657) 1/2 Leinier Dominguez CUB (2712)
  • Loek van Wely NED (2641) 1/2 Sergey Karjakin RUS (2720)
  • Nigel Short ENG (2696) 1/2 Vladimir Kramnik RUS (2788)
  • Hikaru Nakamura USA (2708) 1-0 Alexei Shirov ESP (2723)
  • Magnus Carlsen NOR (2810) 1-0 Vassily Ivanchuk UKR (2749)
Le classement après 7 rondes :
Le classement après 7 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
 
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2010/01/corus-chess-2010-la-ronde-7-en-live.html
Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:55:00 +0000
 
 
 
Corus Chess 2010 : Shirov en tête
Bianca Muhren interroge le secondant de Jan Smeets © ChessVibes

Le Direct Live Les parties d'échecs à visualiser Les parties d'échecs à télécharger Le Direct Live + 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.
Nouvelle victoire de Shirov face à Smeets © Fred Lucas
Nulle ronde 6 entre le leader Shirov et Nigel Short © Fred Lucas
Les résultats de la 6ème ronde :
  • Viswanathan Anand IND (2790) 1/2 Magnus Carlsen NOR (2810)
  • Vassily Ivanchuk UKR (2749) 1/2 Hikaru Nakamura USA (2708)
  • Alexei Shirov ESP (2723) 1/2 Nigel Short ENG (2696)
  • Vladimir Kramnik RUS (2788) 1-0 Loek van Wely NED (2641)
  • Sergey Karjakin RUS (2720) 1/2 Jan Smeets NED (2657)
  • Leinier Dominguez CUB (2712) 1-0 Sergey Tiviakov NED (2662)
  • Peter Leko HUN (2739) 1-0 Fabiano Caruana ITA (2675)
Le classement après 6 rondes :
Le classement après 6 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
 
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2010/01/corus-chess-2010-la-ronde-6-en-live.html
Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:12:00 +0000
 
 
 
Corus Chess 2010 : Shirov à 5 points sur 5 !
Bianca Muhren nous offre un résumé quotidien du tournoi © ChessVibes

Le Direct Live Les parties d'échecs à visualiser Les parties d'échecs à télécharger Le Direct Live + 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. Reprise du tournoi après la journée de repos de mercredi.
Nouvelle victoire de Shirov face à Smeets © Fred Lucas
5ème victoire consécutive du leader Shirov face à Van Wely © Fred Lucas
Les résultats de la 5ème ronde :
  • Peter Leko HUN (2739) 1/2 Viswanathan Anand IND (2790)
  • Fabiano Caruana ITA (2675) 1/2 Leinier Dominguez CUB (2712)
  • Sergey Tiviakov NED (2662) 1/2 Sergey Karjakin RUS (2720)
  • Jan Smeets NED (2657) 0-1 Vladimir Kramnik RUS (2788)
  • Loek van Wely NED (2641) 0-1 Alexei Shirov ESP (2723)
  • Nigel Short ENG (2696) 1/2 Vassily Ivanchuk UKR (2749)
  • Hikaru Nakamura USA (2708) 1/2 Magnus Carlsen NOR (2810)
Le classement après 5 rondes :
Le classement après 5 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
 
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2010/01/corus-chess-2010-la-ronde-5-en-live.html
Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:25:00 +0000
 
 
 
Amber 2010 field announced, Anand & Topalov opt out

The traditional blindfold and rapid annual Amber Super GM chess tournament will be sans Anand and Topalov this time around. With the world championship scheduled a few weeks later during April 2010, the Indian and Bulgarian Grandmaster chose to skip this event. In the just announced Amber 2010 field  World No.1 Magnes Carlsen leads the interesting pack which includes Kramnik, Aronian, Gelfand, Gashimov, Ivanchuk, Svidler and Morozevich among others.

The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée, a legendary hotel on the world-famous Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess baron Joop van Oosterom, who is also a former world champion of correspondence chess. Named after his daughter, Melody Amber, the tournament is usually held in March. The new World No.1, 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 12 Grandmasters will take part : Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2810), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2788), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2781), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2761), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2759), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2749), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2744), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Alexander Morozevich (Russia, 2732), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2720), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2712) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2657).
Official site  : http://amberchess2010.com/
 
http://chessgurukul.com/running/amber-2010-field-announced-anand-topalov-opt-out/
Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:25:45 +0000
 
 
 
Corus Chess 2010 : Shirov à 4 points sur 4
Nouvelle victoire de Shirov face à Smeets © Fred Lucas
R4: Quatrième victoire du leader Shirov face à Smeets © Fred Lucas

Le Direct Live Les parties d'échecs à visualiser Les parties d'échecs à télécharger Le Direct Live à 13h30 + 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 appariements de la 4ème ronde :
  • Viswanathan Anand IND (2790) 1/2 Hikaru Nakamura USA (2708)
  • Magnus Carlsen NOR (2810) 1/2 Nigel Short ENG (2696)
  • Vassily Ivanchuk UKR (2749) 1-0 Loek van Wely NED (2641)
  • Alexei Shirov ESP (2723) 1-0 Jan Smeets NED (2657)
  • Vladimir Kramnik RUS (2788) 1/2 Sergey Tiviakov NED (2662)
  • Sergey Karjakin RUS (2720) 1/2 Fabiano Caruana ITA (2675)
  • Leinier Dominguez CUB (2712) 1/2 Peter Leko HUN (2739)
Seconde victoire pour l'américain Hikaru Nakamura © Fred Lucas
R3: Seconde victoire pour l'américain Hikaru Nakamura © Fred Lucas
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
 
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2010/01/corus-chess-2010-la-ronde-4-en-live.html
Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:04:00 +0000
 
 
 
Corus Chess 2010 : la ronde 3 en Live à 13h30
Bianca Muhren nous offre un résumé quotidien du tournoi © ChessVibes

Le Direct Live Les parties d'échecs à visualiser Les parties d'échecs à télécharger Le Direct Live à 13h30 + 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 appariements et résultats de la 3ème ronde :
  • Leinier Dominguez CUB (2712) - Viswanathan Anand IND (2790)
  • Peter Leko HUN (2739) 1/2 Sergey Karjakin UKR (2720)
  • Fabiano Caruana ITA (2675) 1/2 Vladimir Kramnik RUS (2788)
  • Sergey Tiviakov NED (2662) - Alexei Shirov ESP (2723)
  • Jan Smeets NED (2657) - Vassily Ivanchuk UKR (2749)
  • Loek van Wely NED (2641) - Magnus Carlsen NOR (2810)
  • Nigel Short ENG (2696) 0-1 Hikaru Nakamura USA (2708)
Première victoire pour votre favori Magnus Carlsen © Fred Lucas
Première victoire pour votre favori Magnus Carlsen © Fred Lucas
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
 
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2010/01/corus-chess-2010-la-ronde-3-en-live.html
Mon, 18 Jan 2010 05:48:00 +0000
 
 
 
Corus Chess 2010 : la ronde 2 en Live à 13h30
Belle interview de Nigel Short deux fois vainqueur du Corus © ChessVibes

Le Direct Live Les parties d'échecs à visualiser Les parties d'échecs à télécharger Le Direct Live à 13h30 + 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 appariements de la 2ème ronde :
  • Viswanathan Anand IND (2790) - Nigel Short ENG (2696)
  • Hikaru Nakamura USA (2708) - Loek van Wely NED (2641)
  • Magnus Carlsen NOR (2810) - Jan Smeets NED (2657)
  • Vassily Ivanchuk UKR (2749) - Sergey Tiviakov NED (2662)
  • Alexei Shirov ESP (2723) - Fabiano Caruana ITA (2675)
  • Vladimir Kramnik RUS (2788) - Peter Leko HUN (2739)
  • Sergey Karjakin UKR (2720) - Leinier Dominguez CUB (2712)
Début difficile pour Nigel Short battu ronde 1 par Van Wely © Fred Lucas
Début difficile pour Nigel Short battu ronde 1 par Van Wely © Fred Lucas
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
 
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2010/01/corus-chess-2010-la-ronde-2-en-live.html
Sun, 17 Jan 2010 06:47:00 +0000
 
 
 
2010 Corus Chess (Wikj ann Zee, Netherlands)

The annual Corus Chess tournament is currently taking place in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. This years promises to be an exciting event with a variety of players from around the globe. This tournament will be bolstered by a number of young stars who have born in the past few years. Below are the participants of the Group “A”.

Title Player Country Flag
Rating
rank
born
GM Magnus Carlsen NOR Norway"
2810
1
1990
GM Viswanathan Anand IND India"
2790
3
1969
GM Vladimir Kramnik RUS Russia"
2788
4
1975
GM Vassily Ivanchuk UKR Ukraine"
2749
8
1969
GM Peter Leko HUN Hungary"
2739
12
1979
GM Alexei Shirov SPA Spain"
2723
20
1972
GM Sergey Karjakin RUS Russia"
2720
21
1990
GM Leinier Dominguez CUB Cuba"
2712
25
1983
GM Hikaru Nakamura USA USA"
2708
28
1987
GM Nigel Short ENG England"
2696
38
1965
GM Fabiano Caruana ITA Italy"
2675
51
1992
GM Sergey Tiviakov NED Netherlands"
2662
62
1973
GM Jan Smeets NED Netherlands"
2657
73
1985
GM Loek van Wely NED Netherlands"
2641
104
1972

Average rating: 2719 – Category: 19


Main Site: http://www.coruschess.com/

Video by Europe Echecs (GM Robert Fontaine)

 
http://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2010/01/16/2010-corus-chess-wikj-ann-zee-netherlands/
Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:40:10 +0000
 
 
 
Group A For Wijk aan Zee Announced


Title Player Nat. Rating rank born
GM Magnus Carlsen NOR 2810 1 1990
GM Viswanathan Anand IND 2790 3 1969
GM Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2788 4 1975
GM Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2749 8 1969
GM Peter Leko HUN 2739 12 1979
GM Alexei Shirov SPA 2723 20 1972
GM Sergey Karjakin RUS 2720 21 1990
GM Leinier Dominguez CUB 2712 25 1983
GM Hikaru Nakamura USA 2708 28 1987
GM Nigel Short ENG 2696 38 1965
GM Fabiano Caruana ITA 2675 51 1992
GM Sergey Tiviakov NED 2662 62 1973
GM Jan Smeets NED 2657 73 1985
GM Loek van Wely NED 2641 104 1972
Average rating: 2719 – Category: 19

 
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Chessvine/~3/L8kPOu8s1Y4/688-Group-A-For-Wijk-aan-Zee-Announced.html
 
 
 
Corus Chess 2010 : la ronde 1 en Live à 13h30
Le joueur américain Hikaru Nakamura (2715) © Fred Lucas
Le joueur américain Hikaru Nakamura (2708) © Fred Lucas

Le Direct Live Les parties d'échecs à télécharger Le Direct Live à 13h30 + Les parties à 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 appariements et résultats de la 1ère ronde :
  • Sergey Karjakin RUS (2720) - Viswanathan Anand IND (2790)
  • Leinier Dominguez CUB (2712) 1/2 Vladimir Kramnik RUS (2788)
  • Peter Leko HUN (2739) - Alexei Shirov ESP (2723)
  • Fabiano Caruana ITA (2675) - Vassily Ivanchuk UKR (2749)
  • Sergey Tiviakov NED (2662) - Magnus Carlsen NOR (2810)
  • Jan Smeets NED (2657) 1/2 Hikaru Nakamura USA (2708)
  • Loek van Wely NED (2641) - Nigel Short ENG (2696)
Magnus Carlsen (2801) a la faveur de vos pronostics © Fred Lucas
Magnus Carlsen (2810) a la faveur de vos pronostics © Fred Lucas
A votre avis, qui va gagner le Corus 2010 ?
Magnus Carlsen Vishy Anand Vladimir Kramnik Un autre joueur
  
Pour en savoir plus :
 
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2010/01/corus-chess-2010-la-ronde-1-en-live.html
Sat, 16 Jan 2010 06:34:00 +0000
 
 
 
Corus GM-A 2010

  Wijk aan Zee…

Sabato 1° turno: Caruana - Ivanchuk

Iniziando a scrivere queste righe mi sono ricordato delle occasioni in cui sfogliavo un nuovo informatore (perché poi una grande schiappa comprasse il mitico sahovski informator è tutta un’altra storia!). La prima cosa che andavo a vedere erano i tabellini dei tornei, in fondo al volumetto, ed  ecco saltar fuori eventi di mesi prima, da luoghi “noti all’orecchio scacchistico” ma che, magari, non sapevi nemmeno dove fossero… Sono così andato a prendere un vecchio informatore (il numero 11, primo semestre 1971) ed eccoli lì! A Gori (?? – Capoluogo della regione di Shida Kartli in Georgia – Wiki : - ) ) vittoria di Gufeld, a Tallinn primo gradino del podio per Keres e Tal, davanti a Bronstejn e Stejn, a L’Avana successo di Hort davanti a Geller, a Netanya (in Israele) Kavalek e Parma precedono Reshevsky e Benko, e tanti altri tornei…

Da quell’epoca due sole tracce raggiungono il presente, il nostro Reggio Emilia (che bel torneo anche quest’anno!), con il podio composto da Parma, Benko e Damjanovic (Paoli, Cosulich e Trincardi a difendere la nostra bandiera), e Wijk aan Zee

“Ma dove sta Wikkenziì?” “In Olanda” rispose il Prima Nazionale del circolo, ammantato da un’aura non troppo dissimile da quella di un GM… 39 anni fa nel torneo B due ventenni in testa alla gara, Jan Timman, primo, e Andras Adorjan, secondo. Nel torneo principale vittoria di Korchnoj, che superò di mezzo punto Ivkov, Petrosjan, Gligoric e Olafsson. Bene i giovani, Andersson, vent’anni, e Mecking, diciannove, nelle retrovie il grande Najdorf, all’epoca 61enne.

Il torneo Hoogovens (Corus dal 2000, con il cambiamento di denominazione della ditta produttrice di acciaio) ha mosso i primi passi a Beverwijk, nel 1938, passando a Wijk aan Zee dal 1968. Penso che sul palco del Corus si possa facilmente immaginare la “presenza” di tanti grandi campioni, da Euwe, Tartakower, Stahlberg, Keres, Larsen, Petrosjan, Portish, Botvinnik, Spassky, Korchnoi (4 volte sul primo gradino e vincitore anche della prima edizione a Wijk aan Zee, 42 anni fa), via via attraverso i decenni, con la vittoria di Karpov nella 50ma edizione, fino al trittico 1999 – 2001 di Kasparov e alle 5 vittorie (da solo o a pari merito) di Anand! Tra i grandissimi solo Smyslov e Fischer non hanno mai partecipato.

Hoogovens 1940: Euwe contro Wijnants. L’ex campione del mondo si aggiudicherà partita e torneo (foto endgame.nl)

 

Oggi, stesso gioco ma altri scacchi! Niente partite sospese e tutto in diretta nel nostro villaggio globale. Soprattutto, ci sono i software e il lavoro di preparazione casalingo diventa sempre più mastodontico e rilevante, tanto da far considerare che Anand difficilmente potrà vincere, dato che probabilmente riserverà tutto il suo arsenale di novità in vista del match mondiale con Topalov.

Cerimonia d’apertura il 15 gennaio e primo turno sabato 16, alle 13,30, attraverso tre giorni di riposo, 20, 25 e 28, fino all’ultimo turno del 31, anticipato alle 12,30. Sito di riferimento http://www.coruschess.com/  . La crisi economica ha ovviamente colpito anche gli scacchi. Lo scorso anno era sorto qualche dubbio sull’effettiva effettuazione del Corus, poi fortunatamente fugato. L’edizione 2010 è pienamente all’altezza della tradizione ma, con un Elo medio di 2719, resta al di sotto dell’edizione 2008 (2742) o dell’edizione 2001, con in gara nove tra i primi dieci del mondo. I partecipanti:

Giocatore – anno di nascita – nazionalità – Elo – posizione in classifica mondiale

GM Magnus Carlsen (1990) NOR 2810 (01)

GM Viswanathan Anand (1969) IND 2790 (03)

GM Vladimir Kramnik (1975) RUS 2788 (04)

GM Vassily Ivanchuk (1969) UKR 2749 (08)

GM Peter Leko (1979) HUN 2739 (12)

GM Alexei Shirov (1972) ESP 2723 (20)

GM Sergey Karjakin (1990) RUS 2720 (21)

GM Leinier Dominguez (1983) CUB 2712 (25)

GM Hikaru Nakamura (1987) USA 2708 (28)

GM Nigel Short (1965) ENG 2696 (38)

GM Fabiano Caruana (1992) ITA 2675 (51)

GM Sergey Tiviakov (1973) NED 2662 (62)

GM Jan Smeets (1985) NED 2657 (73)

GM Loek van Wely (1972) NED 2641 (104)

 

Fa un certo effetto vedere la scritta “ITA” in questo contesto! Da tempo si disserta sulle nostre pagine in merito alle possibilità di Fabiano in questa gara, con pareri a volte molto forti e che, francamente, è difficile attribuire ad una sola competizione, soprattutto parlando di un 17enne, ad esempio del tipo: “Sarà la prova del fuoco, e se Fabiano non dovesse ottenere un risultato almeno discreto sarebbe evidente che non può aspirare all’elite mondiale…” (??). Qualcuno, dopo la vittoria nel Corus B dello scorso anno, con la conseguente attuale partecipazione, ha giustamente osservato (rispetto alle "previsioni" di un torneo principale ancora troppo difficile per lui) che Caruana non doveva giocare in quel momento ma di lì ad un anno (e che Fabiano sia oggi ancora un po’ più forte mi sembra più evidente di quanto l’Elo non dica).

Si è considerato il precedente di Carlsen che nel 2007 (a poco più di 16 anni, Magnus è nato il 30/11/1990) è arrivato ultimo con 4,5 , 4 sconfitte e 9 patte. Questo non ha impedito a Carlsen di salire ancora qualche posizione nella classifica mondiale... L’anno dopo, a 17 anni, Magnus si piazzava sul primo gradino del podio insieme ad Aronian!! Anche Karjakin ha partecipato per la prima volta a 16 anni, nel 2006 (è nato il 12 gennaio 1990), disputando una magnifica gara, quinto con 7 su 13 (4 vittorie e 3 sconfitte)! L’anno dopo per Sergey 50% dei punti (3 vittorie e 3 sconfitte) dopo un inizio in piena corsa per il podio finale. E se Carlsen ha vinto nel 2008 è proprio di Karjakin il sigillo 2009! Paragonare Fabiano a Carlsen e Karjakin era forse eccessivo fino a 3 / 4 anni fa ma la crescita successiva lo rende ampiamente possibile e sottintende, di fatto, una probabile carriera da top 20, che negli scacchi di oggi penso sia il massimo che si possa dire di un giovane. Quanto “top” sta al futuro! (Annoto che un nostro lettore ha scritto spesso che Fabiano ha lo “shining”… Io tendo ad essere d’accordo, c’é la sensazione di quel “qualcosa in più” che…)

Dopo la prima partita un po’ più incerta con Bruzon (che resta un talento non del tutto espresso ma sempre molto “pericoloso”) il Caruana della World Cup ha impressionato per forza e sicurezza, pur impegnato contro avversari di primissimo livello. Fabiano dà la netta impressione di continuare una crescita decisamente importante e, personalmente, mi ha dato spesso la sensazione di essere già un passo oltre rispetto a quanto ci si potesse attendere. I 2700 sono ormai lì, sia che Fabiano li superi a breve che con qualche tempo in più, e hanno un “suono” già aderente alla sua statura di giocatore. Dunque, Fabiano al Corus 2010? Difficile pensare che non avverta l’emozione al primo turno, poi dipenderà dal feeling con la gara, dagli eventuali zeitnot, da mille fattori, a cominciare da come starà fisicamente. Il suo punteggio atteso è 5,59: io mi aspetto qualcosa in più e, comunque, ho la netta sensazione che Fabiano sia semplicemente dove inizia a meritare di essere, comunque vada questo torneo! Forza FAB, supertifo da ola!!

Accennavo ai 9 dei primi 10 giocatori al mondo del Corus 2001 ma in quest'ultimo anno ha forse più senso parlare dei primi 5, alle cui spalle ci sono almeno una ventina di giocatori che appartengono all’elite ma restano un passo indietro, non solo per quel piccolo gap che nelle ultime liste Elo separa il 5° dal 6° ma anche per la qualità del gioco e la “sensazione” delle chance di attacco al titolo mondiale. Topalov e Aronian giocheranno a Linares, dove finora sembra che nessuno dei partecipanti al Corus sarà presente.

Anand ha appena compiuto 40 anni (l’11 dicembre). Molte interviste di recente, con un Vishy completamente concentrato verso il match mondiale di aprile, durissimo lavoro con il team di secondi (del quale è noto solo Peter Nielsen) e grande voglia di mantenere il titolo mondiale più a lungo possibile. Rinnovato amore per gli scacchi (“Mi piace ancora molto giocare”) e energie da distribuire bene, con i periodi di pausa in famiglia avvertiti come buona ricarica. Tutto, compresa la necessità di mantenere le carte coperte, sembra dire che Anand “attraverserà” semplicemente questo Corus, con un buon training alla scacchiera, in cui sarà importante però non perdere sicurezze: una partita come quella persa con Aronian al Memorial Tal può lasciare qualche strascico. Un segnale da questo 2009, forse più importante dei mancati acuti nei tornei importanti: per la prima volta Vishy è parso perdere colpi nel gioco rapid. Ciò non toglie che il match con Topalov sia da 50 – 50 e che Anand, la cui statura nella storia degli scacchi è probabilmente superiore - finora - a quella del campione bulgaro, abbia ancora “qualcosa da dire”!

Sembra così vi sia tutto lo spazio in questo Corus perché Carlsen e Kramnik continuino il loro recente duello. Dopo lo strepitoso Nanjing di Carlsen, splendida vittoria di Kramnik al Memorial Tal (con un Carlsen che sembra fosse febbricitante nei primi turni, comunque secondo e imbattuto) e London Chess Classic in cui Magnus si è aggiudicato confronto diretto e torneo, pur in modo meno convincente di quanto fatto in Cina e con un Kramnik che è parso in ogni caso incisivo e in buona forma.

Primo torneo per Carlsen da n° 1 del ranking, prossimo obiettivo il 2° posto Elo all time sorpassando i 2813 di Topalov, per i 2851 di Kasparov manca ancora un po’. Prima di questo Corus nuovo ciclo di allenamento con Kasparov: a Wijk aan Zee rivedremo il rullo compressore di Nanchino? Di sicuro sembra essere iniziato il regno di Carlsen e un primo gesto regale in Olanda potrebbe darci l’idea se si tratterà di un regno o di un impero. C’è un indizio che, se confermato nelle prossime gare, potrebbe far riflettere: Carlsen a volte vince in modo strepitoso, a volte vince in modo semplicemente volitivo, patta, anche ed ovviamente, ma non perde…

Da parte sua Kramnik sembra aver ritrovato tutta la sua forza di gioco e, se sta bene in salute, la sensazione è che resti il giocatore più profondo e completo, con quell’aria di quasi imbattibilità che sembra solo momentaneamente scalfita dai periodi meno positivi. E’ presto per pronosticare una finale dei Candidati tra Carlsen e Kramnik? Peccato che le formule della Fide sviliscano un po’ questi match e la corsa al titolo mondiale nel suo insieme.

Da questo Corus non avremo risposte ma solo indizi e in questa “investigazione” Karjakin, campione uscente del torneo, è sicuramente un osservato speciale. Appena passato alla Russia, Sergey è atteso all’ultimo salto verso la zona 2800. Nei pronostici su Scacchierando della recente World Cup è stato dato non a caso come il vincitore più probabile della manifestazione: pronostico sbagliato ma, direi, idea esatta. Il passaggio ad una federazione ancora forte come quella russa rispetto alla più debole struttura ucraina potrebbe dare a Karjakin un supporto maggiore ed essere il trampolino necessario.

Domande interessanti anche per quanto riguarda Dominguez, la cui crescita sembra essersi fermata dopo aver dato una sensazione più positiva. Tetto raggiunto o solo una fase di stasi per il bel gioco del cubano? La massima elite mondiale (intesa come inserimento tra i primissimi e lotta per il titolo) non sembra comunque alla portata, cosa che non è facile dire per Nakamura. Il 22enne geniale super talento nippo – americano saprà trovare i giusti equilibri tra la sua creatività e una più robusta padronanza strategica e teorica? Difficile dire quali possano essere i limiti massimi di Hikaru! Prova un po’ deludente al London Chess Classic ma dimostrazione di muscoli al World Team Championship conclusosi oggi, con una performance di 2851 nonostante la sconfitta con Aronian, derivata da una prestazione superba dell’armeno!

 

Ultima ricerca di indizi per Peter Leko, anche se forse le risposte rispetto al campione ungherese sono già arrivate. L’età, 31 anni, è da zona top ma i risultati, dopo l’ottimo periodo 2004 / 2005 con il pari nel match con Kramnik e la vittoria qui al Corus, non sembrano parlare di un trend positivo. La classe è indubbiamente molta ma sembra forse mancare quel pizzico di capacità di rischiare e voglia di vincere che a volte fa la differenza.

I tre olandesi chiudono la griglia di partenza. Splendida terra di scacchi l’Olanda ma si stenta a trovare l’erede di Euwe e Timman. Nuove speranze con il 15enne "neo-olandese" Anish Giri, ma qui l'investigazione passa al torneo B!

 

Basta “domande”, non prima di rendere onore però a due superbi giocatori come Alexei Shirov e Vassily Ivanchuk! Sarebbe bello vedere anche in questo Corus le “fiamme sulla scacchiera” firmate Riga! Ed è difficile trovare paragoni per le sinfonie scacchistiche di Ivanchuk, 40 anni, come Anand, ma qualche fragilità in più e troppe occasioni lasciate sfuggire. E, tuttavia, tutti sappiamo che Ivanchuk sarebbe capace di vincere anche questo Corus se quel piccolo “qualcosa” che lo fa a volte giocare in modo incomparabile “scattasse” in questi giorni. Sarebbe bello, in controtendenza con i software e il mondo online, qualcosa dal sapore un po’ più antico, sarebbe da… Wijk aan Zee!

 
http://www.scacchierando.net/dblog/articolo.asp?articolo=1681
2010-01-14T01:43:18+01:00
 
 
 
Corus Chess [Wijk aan Zee] 2010

coruslogoThe 72nd traditional Corus Chess tournament will be held in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands from Jan 15th to Jan 31st. There are going to be three groups as usual

Group A average ELO is 2719. It is 19th FIDE tournament category.
All rounds except for the final round start at 12:30 GMT. The Final round will start at 11:30 GMT.
ChessOK is going to broadcast all games of group A tournament with Rybka Aquarium commentary.

Round 1 - Jan 16th

Round 2 - Jan 17th

Round 3 - Jan 18th

Round 4 - Jan 19th

Round 5 - Jan 21st

Round 6 - Jan 22nd

Round 7 - Jan 23rd

Round 8 - Jan 24th

Round 9 - Jan 26th

Round 10 - Jan 27th

Round 11 - Jan 29th

Round 12 - Jan 30th

Round 13 - Jan 31st

 
http://chessok.com/?p=23323
Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:29:37 +0000
 
 
 
Großartiges Feld in Wijk aan Zee
Am kommenden Samstg beginnt das Corus-Turnier in Wijk aan Zee. Auch in diesem Jahr haben die Organisatoren wieder großartige Felder mit vielen interessanten Spielern in den drei Turnieren, Corus-A, Corus-B und Corus-C zusammengestellt. Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand und Vladimir Kramnik allein würden sicher schon für genügend Aufmerksamkeit am A-Turnier sorgen. Doch kämpferisch eingestellte Spieler wie Hikaru Nakamura, Alexej Shirov, Fabiano Caruana, Nigel Short, Loek van Wely oder Vassily Ivanchuk garantieren zusammen mit weiteren Topspielern wie Peter Leko, Sergey Karjakin, Sergei Tiviakov oder Jan Smeets für spannende und inhaltsreiche Partien. In der B-Gruppe geht mit Arkadij Naiditsch auch ein deutscher Spieler an den Start. Er wird versuchen, in einem starken "B-Feld", u.a. mit den Nachwuchsspielern Wesley So und Ansih Giri, die Qualifikation für das nächste A-Turnier zu schaffen. Im C-Turnier nehmen anderen junge Spieler wie Nils Grandelius und Daniel Vocaturo teil.
Turnierseite... Die Teilnehmerfelder...
 
http://chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=9970
Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT
 
 
 
Corus 2010 starts in four days

Corus 2010In just five days from now, one of the most important international chess festivals, and certainly that of The Netherlands, takes off: the Corus Chess Tournament. By now traditionally, ChessVibes will be there to cover the event with lots of videos, including the press conferences.

With Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, the A group will be stronger than last year. Anand won the tournament already five times, and this year his opponent in the 2008 World Championship match, Vladimir Kramnik, will be among his main rivals. The two will obviously encounter strong competition from Magnus Carlsen. The Norwegian, who started working with Garry Kasparov last year, has become the youngest player ever to reach the number one spot on the FIDE rating list.

Peter Leko and Vassily Ivanchuk are two more familiar names in Wijk aan Zee but reigning U.S. Champion Hikaru Nakamura makes his debut in the top group. The American played in Corus B in 2004 and this year he’ll be a force to reckon with on the highest stage, as he’s currently showing great form at the World Team Championship in Turkey. Fabiano Caruana, who promoted from Grandmaster group B last year, played a solid tournament in Reggio Emilia recently.

Former World Championship contender Nigel Short missed promotion last year in a nail-biting last-round game against Caruana, in which the Englishman threw away a winning position and even lost. However, Short can look back at an excellent year in which he brought his rating over 2700 again, and so the Corus organizers invited him to the A group anyway.

Of course we’ll see the glorious winner of 2009, Sergey Karjakin, back in Wijk aan Zee (now under the Russian flag) and this counts for Cuba’s number one Leinier Dominguez as well, who also did very well this year. Besides another public favourite, Alexei Shirov, three Dutch players complete the field: Jan Smeets, Sergey Tiviakov and Loek van Wely.

In the B group Arkadij Naiditsch, Emil Sutovsky, Ni Hua, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and Pentala Harikrishna are the biggest favourites. Rising star Wesley So promoted from the C group and former world’s youngest grandmaster Anish Giri plays as well.

Due to the financial crisis the continuation of Grandmaster Group C was in doubt for a while, but in September it was given the green light by main sponsor Corus. As always, the winner will promote to Grandmaster Group B next year.

The youngest participant this year is Dutch FM Benjamin Bok (14); the oldest is 11-times Dutch Women Champion GM Zhaoqin Peng (41). Reigning Dutch champion under 20 IM Robin van Kampen (15) was also invited, as well as Soumya Swaminathan from India, who won the 2009 World Junior Championship for girls (U-20) in Argentina.

Both Muzychuk sisters are coming to Wijk aan Ze this year. The strongest, Anna, who represents the chess federation of Slovenia, is participant of Grandmaster Group B. Maryia, who still has ‘UKR’ behind her name, plays in group C.

Below once more we give the participants of Grandmaster Groups A, B and C. The 72nd Corus Chess Tournament takes places Jarnuary 15-31 2010 in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. The tournament website will be providing many videos, all produced by ChessVibes, and at this site you can watch the very popular press concerence videos. We’re looking forward to another exciting Corus!


Corus Chess Tournament 2010 | Participants Grandmaster Group A

Corus A

Corus Chess Tournament 2010 | Participants Grandmaster Group B

Corus A

Corus Chess Tournament 2010 | Participants Grandmaster Group C

Corus A

 
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/corus-2010-starts-in-five-days/
Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:27:50 +0000
 
 
 
World Team Championship has started

World Team ChYesterday the World Team Championship started in Bursa, Turkey. The participating teams are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Egypt, Greece, India, Israel, Russia, Turkey and the USA. Quite a few strong players (such as Aronian, Gelfand, Grischuk and Nakamura) travelled to Turkey, where in the first round Azerbaijan defeated Armenia thanks to Mamedyarov, who beat Pashikian.

To our surprise we found out that the World Team Ch is a tournament we’ve never covered before at ChessVibes, simply because the last edition was held before this site even existed! The event, an invitational round-robin, is being held every four years, and was established in 1985. The first edition, in Lucerne, was won comfortably by the USSR. (France, led by former World Champion Spassky did surprisingly well finishing in fourth position.) The last edition was in 2005, when China was performing very well. Russia had to beat the Chinese by 3½-½ in the last round to outpace them and they did it. (More historical details at the great Olimpbase.)

The 7th edition, the ‘2009 World Team Championship’ takes place at the Merinos Congress Centre in Bursa, Turkey from January 3rd till 14th, 2010. It’s a 9-round round-robin with 10 teams of 6 players (’athletes’, according to the official website): 4 players + 2 reserves, and one coach/captain. The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves +30 minutes to end the game, with 30 seconds increment from the start. At the tournament the zero-tolerance rule is in effect, and draw offers are not allowed before move 30.

Here are the participating teams with their line-ups:


World Team Ch 2010 | Teams & players


Sergey Karjakin was supposed to play his first team event for Russia, after he changed federations, but due to some unclear restrictions of FIDE he was not able to play in Bursa for Russia yet. (In the comments, ebutaljib makes clear that it’s not so unclear.) He was replaced by Jakovenko.

It’s a bit of a strange event, with some very strong teams but also some weak ones. The qualifiying rules are:

Continental Champions: Russia, Brazil, China, Egypt
3 Qualifiers from Olympiad: Armenia, Israel, USA
Organiser Country and two invited federations by FIDE President’s approval: Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Greece.

Somehow the World Team Championship never became a really prestigious event, where all the top teams and players play. Dutch GM Loek van Wely already expressed his disappointment back in 2005:

Between the WTCh 2001 and the WTCh 2005 three European Team Championships have taken place, of which The Netherlands managed to win two. Unfortunately this did not give us the right to participate in the WTCh. As you can see, Fide really appreciates winning the strongest continental championships.

Back to 2010. The first round was played yesterday; it was delayed by one day and the rest day was canceled. The tournament website says that

by the Request of FIDE and consultation of the Chief Arbiter of event the first round moved to 5th January and free day cancelled. That is only for giving more time to players to prepare for their opponents. All players, and coaches as it is clearly mentioned in regulations must participate to the Opening Ceremony on 4th January at 10:00 am.

“More time to prepare” is quite a remarkable reason to postpone a first round, we must say. No doubt some players would have preferred to arrive a day later, but well, at least they can safely skip the planned excursion this way.

India replaced China, who dropped out as the Asian representative shortly before the tournament. The organizers were not very happy about this, to put it mildly, considering the way they communicate this on the tournament website:

Just one week before event starts, 23 December evening, Chinese Chess Association withdrew from event. That is very pitty [sic], considering talented young Chinese Team, and no reason beyond that scandelous withdrawal. Fortunately, the owner of the 2nd place of Asian Team Championship, India, jumped on the seat and accepted to participate.

The reason for China’s absence is probably a political one, connected to the ethnic and religious connections between Turkey and the Uyghur minority in the Western Chinese province of Xinjiang. In the last few months, diplomatic relations between China and Turkey have gone from bad to worse.

Back to chess. Here are the results of the first round, the standings and the games. Don’t miss Can-Shulman.


World Team Ch 2010 | Results round 1

World Team Ch 2010 | Round 1 standings


Game viewer

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Links

 
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/world-team-championship-has-started/
Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:00:33 +0000
 
 
 
Karjakin: 'I don't consider Magnus my principal rival'
He became a grandmaster at the age of twelve years and seven months – the youngest in history. Sergey Karjakin, who turns twenty next Tuesday, is ten months older than Magnus Carlsen, the current number one in the world rankings. In the magazine Segodnja Sport the former Ukrainian, who is lives in and plays for Russia, tells us about his chess programme, marriage and life in Moscow.
 
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6042
Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT
 
 
 
Interview with Sergey Karjakin - Karjakin about the Russian citizenship, the Candidate matches, and
Sergey Karjakin is officially listed as a Russian player in the January FIDE rating list. He gives an extensive interview for segodnya.ua, where he talks about his absence from the World Team Championship, his expectations as a Russian player, the Candidate matches in Baku. Karjakin also discusses his "rivalry" with Carlsen, against who he has to defend the title at Corus 2010.
 
http://interviews.chessdom.com/karjakin-chess-russia
Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:17:04 +0100
 
 
 
Karjakin - Gelfand, World Cup 2009

Karjakin - Gelfand
Position after 11....Ra6!



It has been hard to follow the FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk Siberia (see games at Chessgames.com), which seems like a chaotic awards show, with loads of great stars making only cameo appearances and very few memorable performances.  That is until yesterday's Round 6 game between Sergey Karjakin and Boris Gelfand, which is very well annotated by Dennis Monokroussos.  Karjakin resorted to a Giuoco Piano by a Bishop's Opening move order to sidestep the drawing power of the Petroff, but Gelfand had easy equality with a Two Knights set-up and an early d5 (a la Marshall).  Then Karjakin ended up getting his head handed to him when he failed to play the standard 11.Qf3 inducing 11...Be6 and allowed Gelfand a neat Rook lift with 11....Ra6! (see diagram above) followed by Rg6 with attacking chances.  You may be asking yourself (or you should) why not simply 12.Bxd5 Qxd5 13.Rxe7 winning a piece?  Well, Black has a strong attack and at least a draw after 13...Rg6 (see Monokroussos's notes for details).  A fascinating game right out of the opening, and probably right out of Gelfand's preparation.


Related Links
 
http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/kenilworthian/2009/12/karjakin-gelfand-world-cup-2009.html
Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:55:00 +0000
 
 
 
Carlsen Wins Tal Memorial Blitz
The World Blitz Championship at the Tal Memorial in Moscow has just concluded, with Magnus Carlsen first, Viswanathan Anand second, and Sergey Karjakin third. Carlsen dominated the field today and the three have led since yesterday. See the final table at ChessBase for full results.

The Tal Memorial Blitz event is for many the highlight of this wonderful tournament, which this year is among the strongest in history. Blitz has a visceral appeal that anyone can relate to with only a basic understanding of the game. Such events should receive wider publicity. Video is available online from the official site and was available live during the event. Numbering the days after the tournament's fortnight, you can see video of the blitz event on Day 16, Day 17, and Day 18. It is interesting to watch even when the board is not very visible (though I recommend playing over the games at the same time on Chessgames or with the PGN). ChessBase covered the action also in their reports: "World Blitz Championship Day One: Anand Leads," "Impressions from Day One in Moscow" (by Misha Savinov), "World Blitz Championship Day Two: Carlsen Takes Over," "Trials and Tribulations of a Blitz Player," "Carlsen Wins with Three-Point Margin," "World Blitz Championship: Pictorial Impressions," "World Blitz Championship: Close-Up Video Footage."

U.S. resident Alexandra Kosteniuk finished at the bottom of the field, but she had some very strong scalps along the way, including wins over the top finishers Anand and Carlsen. The reaction of the two greats to losing was a study in contrasts, with the World Champion resigning amicably and shaking hands (despite having a significant time advantage that might have caused Kosteniuk some trouble, though she was easily winning) and predicted future champ Carlsen simply jumping up from the table and stalking off to sip his orange juice. He knew he had let a strong attacking position slip in time pressure, but his behavior was hardly gallant.


You can see video of the Anand - Kosteniuk game online at YouTube. If I am able, I will try to post some games with analysis. I was especially interested in Kosteniuk's win over Carlsen and in Aronian's handling of the black side of the Spanish in several games.

 
http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/kenilworthian/2009/11/carlsen-wins-tal-memorial-blitz.html
Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:17:00 +0000
 
 
 
2009 World Team Championship (Bursa, Turkey)

Armenia Azerbaijan Brazil Egypt Greece India Israel Russia Turkey USA

Many of the world’s top chess federations will assemble in the Bursa province of Turkey for the World Team Championships. Some of the notable teams represent perennial powers Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Israel and USA. Also included in the field is India, the world’s #6 team Despite the fact that World Champion Viswanathan Anand is busy preparing for his match, India will trot out two young talents as reserves.

Perhaps the favorite will be the reigning European Champion, Azerbaijan who will field their strongest possible team. Other teams vying for the crown have one or more players missing from the top. Russia is missing Vladimir Kramnik, but still has a formidable 2700 team. This tournament will be key for Russia to prove that they are capable of winning a team event after struggles in the past decade. In coming years, the team may get stronger if they add Sergey Karjakin.

Other teams competing from the various regions are Brazil, Egypt, Greece and host Turkey. Ali Nihat Yacizi has fueled the engine of chess growth in Turkey and this is the latest of his efforts to make Turkey a competitive chess country. Although his projections are ambitious, he claims to have two million youth playing chess. Certainly many out of this number will be inspired by seeing the elite players and may one day represent their country at this same tournament.

Main Site: http://wtcc2009.tsf.org.tr/

 
http://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2010/01/03/2009-world-team-championship/
Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:39:41 +0000
 
 
 
Aronian, Carlsen, Kramnik in Amber 2010, Anand and Topalov not

Palais de la MéditerrannéeHot from the press: the organizers of the 2010 Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament today announced the list of participants – Carlsen, Kramnik, Aronian, Gelfand, Gashimov, Ivanchuk, Svidler, Ponomariov, Morozevich, Karjakin, Dominguez and Smeets.

PRESS RELEASE

The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée, a legendary hotel on the world-famous Promenade des Anglais 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 new number one in the world rankings, 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 January 1, 2010 world rankings): Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2810), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2788), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2781), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2761), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2759), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2749), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2744), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Alexander Morozevich (Russia, 2732), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2720), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2712) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2657).

Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov were invited, but apparently they decided to skip this year’s event because just a few weeks later their World Championship match is scheduled. In fact half of the field of last year is different: Leko, Radjabov, Kamsky and Wang Yue also don’t play next time; new compared to last year are Gelfand, Gashimov, Svidler, Ponomariov, Dominguez and Smeets.

For the 2010 edition we should consider Aronian, Carlsen and Kramnik as the big favourites. But what about the rest of the field?


 
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/aronian-carlsen-kramnik-in-amber-2010-anand-and-topalov-not/
Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:30:37 +0000
 
 
 
January 2010 FIDE Rating list released!

Carlsen: World’s Top-Ranked Chess Player!

GM Magnus Carlsen

GM Magnus Carlsen
Photo by ChessBase.com.

There is a new king in the world ranking of chess. The nineteen-year old Magnus Carlsen (2810, +9) has officially vaulted over 2800 mark to become only the 5th person in history to eclipse the magical figure. It appears as if 2800 is the old 2700.

Approximately 10 years ago, there were only a handful of players having reached the 2700 level. There are currently 34 players over 2700 with a number of players having reached the mark previously and fallen below. Carlsen has had a meteoric rise to the world’s number one position and some project that he may break Garry Kasparov’s 2851 mark.

Being knocked from his comfortable perch, Veselin Topalov (2805, -5) is more focused on his upcoming match with World Champion Viswanathan Anand (2790, +2). The match will take place in Bulgaria in April 2010. Some believe Carlsen will be vying for the title in the next cycle. However, there are a lot of viable candidates in the loop.


Out of the top 20 juniors, 12 countries are represented. For the top 20 girls, two nations dominate the list… Russia (6) and China (4).


Vladimir Kramnik (2788, +16) scored a nice victory in the recent Tal Memorial placing 1/2-point ahead of Carlsen. Kramnik had dropped precipitously prior to winning the ‘Toiletgate’ match against Topalov, but has overcome ailments to regain his form. In fact, many state that he is playing more aggressively. Armenia’s Levon Aronian (2781, -5) switched places with Kramnik and dropped to the #5 spot.

Rounding out the top ten, you have FIDE World Cup winner Boris Gelfand (2761, +3) who gained only a few points are the tournament performance is added to his tally. Vugar Gashimov (2759, +1) is Azerbaijan’s #1 and in an recent interview he stated the possibility of becoming the top-rated player one day. He lead his nation to a win in the prestigious European Team Championship and they will be a favorite to win a medal at the 2010 Olympiad.

Vassily Ivanchuk (2749, +10) continues his fluctuation in and out of the top ten. He regained some points are a strong showing at Tal Memorial, but had an early exit from the World Cup losing to rising star Wesley So (2656, +14) of the Philippines (pictured left). A Chinese player has reached the top ten for the first time in history and his name is Wang Yue (2749, +15).

With his solid style and consistency, Wang continues to climb the rating ladder and can clearly be considered in the elite class. With invitations rolling in, he has had opportunities to show the talent that had been developing since his youth days. There seems to be more talent in the Chinese pipeline.

Peter Svidler (2744, -10) rounds out the top ten, but has hit skids lately. He bombed in the Tal Memorial with 3.5/9, was eliminated in the FIDE World Cup quarterfinals and just a week ago he lost in 23 moves to talented junior, Sanan Sjugirov (2610, -2).

Has GM Koneru Humpy hit her peak?
Photo by Manisha Mohite.

In women’s chess, nothing has changed in terms of the order. Judit Polgar has been on top for decades and is now regaining form. Hou Yifan (2590, +2) is hot on the heels of world #2 Koneru Humpy (2614, +11).

Humpy scored a good result in the match featuring the Queens vs. Veterans, but entered in a public dispute with her federation about her contractual committments. While she continues to play primarily against women, her improvement has not been very dramatic since reaching 2600 two years ago.

Former World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova (2545, +4) has remained steady over the past year, but the new sensation in the women’s section is Nadezhda Kostineva (2533, +15) of Russia. She has vaulted over 2500 and is now the top-rated Russian woman.

Kostineva overtakes World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk (2523, -6) who had held the top position since she first won the title at age 17. She will most probably keep the top board at the Olympiad regardless of the rating difference. Kosteniuk was blanked by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2741, +22) in the FIDE World Cup but helped Russia win the European Team Championship.

As the world’s number one Carlsen leads the Juniors and French #1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2730, +12) is now second and Sergey Karjakin (2720, -3) is third. All were born in 1990 and will dominate the list for a few more years. Karjakin has recently changed his federation from Ukraine to Russia.

GM Fabiano Caruana is knocking at the door of the 2700 club. Here he plays Sweden’s GM Pontus Carlsson enroute to winning Corus ‘C’ earlier last year.

Italian #1 Fabiano Caruana (2675, +33) has pilled up points at a rapid pace and is approaching 2700. He made the fourth round of the FIDE World Cup finally losing to Gashimov. Ian Nepomniachtchi (2658, +32) of Russia gained a whopping 31 ELO points in the Russia Final with 8.5/10!

Perhaps one of the junior receiving the most praise (besides Carlsen) is Wesley So of the Philippines (2656, +14). He got to the 4th round of the FIDE World Cup beating Gadir Guseinov (2614), Vassily Ivanchuk (2749) and Gata Kamsky (2693).

One of the best thing about the juniors list (and other lists) is the wide diversity of nations represented, a fact not solely because of emigration from strong nations. Out of the top 20 juniors, 12 countries are represented. For the top 20 girls, two nations dominate the list… Russia (6) and China (4). Hou Yifan (2590, +2) is the #20 junior, but the top girl.

Jorge Cori and sister Daysi of Peru.

Jorge Cori and sister Daysi of Peru.

Daysi Cori of Peru is the sole representative on the girl’s list from the Western Hemisphere. Her brother Jorge recently made headlines by fulfilling the requirements a Grandmaster at age 14 and earlier winning the under-14 title. Daysi won the under-16 girl’s title.

FIDE: http://ratings.fide.com/toplist.phtml

 
http://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2009/12/31/january-2010-fide-rating-list-released/
Fri, 01 Jan 2010 02:08:37 +0000
 
 
 
Star Interview: Anna Zatonskih


This year has been a great year for US players. Two very successful US-championships for men and women have been held in Saint-Louis, many young American players participated successfully in the youth championships and after visiting the Supernationals and National scholastic chess tournaments in the US one can say that chess is definitely on the go in the USA.

From October 4 to October 13, the 2009 US women's chess championship took place. The tournament had the highest prize-fund in the history of the US women's championships. All the strongest women US players took part in it and it was won convincingly by Anna Zatonskih with the fantastic result of 8,5 out of 9.

Immediately after the tournament I asked Anna a few questions and it is a pleasure for me now to introduce this new chess star on my blog: the strong chess-player, adventurer and chess mom Anna Zatonskih!

Interview of Anna Zatonskih conducted by Alexandra Kosteniuk:

Alexandra Kosteniuk - Congratulatation on your win at the 2009 women's US chess championship! 8,5 out of 9 - is an impressive result! Tell us a little bit about the tournament, the organization, how it felt to play in Saint Louis.

Anna Zatonskih - The organization was just superb! That was already my second trip to Saint Louis this year. The first one was for the men’s US chess championship and was not very successful for me. I just started the tournament, played two games and was hospitalized. My friends were telling me: “Don’t’ worry, you’ll get better, you’ll come back in October and will take first prize”.

The organization team in Saint Louis is just great. In May, during the US men’s championship I was staying at the main organizer’s home. Everybody is very kind and you feel like playing chess. You feel like you are doing something really important. Also, there was the highest prize-fund of the women’s US championships in history. Everything that we wished for, was instantly done by the organizers. The playing hall was very nice. I think I wouldn’t be mistaken if I’d say that the Saint Louis Chess Club is the best chess club in America and also the best chess club I have ever seen. When you are in this club you can see that people who have created it love chess and put their soul in every detail as it was their house. The media coverage of the event was fantastic.

The ICC boradcasts of Jeniffer Shahade, Macauley Peterson were just great. Many interesting side-events took place during the tournament.

AK – What was your best game in the tournament?

AZ – A few moves that I made during this tournament were special for me. First of all, it’s the move b5 in the game against Irina Krush.


the position before 22. ... b5!

It is rather a simple move but it doesn’t come to your mind, I didn’t notice it immediately.

[Event "ch-USA w"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2009.10.6"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Krush,I"]
[Black "Zatonskih,A"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Eco "D56"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 O-O 7.e3 Ne4
8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Rc1 Nxc3 10.Rxc3 c6 11.Qc2 Nd7 12.cxd5 exd5 13.Bd3
Nb6 14.O-O Be6 15.Rb1 a5 16.Nd2 Nc8 17.Ra3 Nd6 18.Qc5 Qc7 19.Rc3
Rfc8 20.Rbc1 Qd8 21.h3 Bf5 22.Bf1 b5 23.Rb3 Nb7 24.Qa3 b4 25.Qa4
c5 26.dxc5 Nxc5 27.Qb5 Rab8 28.Qe2 a4 0-1

Second, the 41st move a4 in the game against Alisa Melekhina


The position before 41. a4!

[Event "ch-USA w"]
[Site "Saint Louis USA"]
[Date "2009.10.10"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Zatonskih,A"]
[Black "Melekhina,A"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "E62"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.g3 O-O 5.Bg2 d6 6.Nf3 Bd7 7.O-O
Qc8 8.Re1 Bh3 9.Bh1 Bg4 10.Bg5 Re8 11.Qd2 c6 12.Rad1 Nbd7 13.Bh6
Bh8 14.Ng5 Nf8 15.Bg2 Ne6 16.f3 Nxg5 17.Bxg5 Bh3 18.Bxh3 Qxh3
19.e4 Nh5 20.Qf2 Bf6 21.Be3 b6 22.f4 c5 23.e5 cxd4 24.Bxd4 dxe5
25.fxe5 Bh8 26.Nd5 Rac8 27.b3 Qe6 28.Bb2 Ng7 29.Rf1 h5 30.Nf4
Qf5 31.Qe2 Ne6 32.Nd5 Qg4 33.Qg2 h4 34.gxh4 Qxh4 35.Rd3 Bg7 36.Rh3
Qg5 37.Rg3 Qh5 38.Rh3 Qg5 39.Rg3 Qh5 40.Qf2 g5 41.a4 Rcd8 42.Qf5
Qg6 43.Qg4 Kh7 44.h4 Bh6 45.Qf3 Rf8 46.h5 Qc2 47.Rg2 g4 48.Qxg4
Rg8 49.Rxf7+ Kh8 50.Rxc2 Rxg4+ 51.Rg2 Rxg2+ 52.Kxg2 Nf4+ 53.Nxf4
Rd2+ 54.Kf3 Rxb2 55.Ng6+ Kg8 56.Rxe7 Rxb3+ 57.Ke4 Rb4 58.Rc7
Rxa4 59.e6 Ra1 60.Rc8+ Kg7 61.e7 Re1+ 62.Kd5 Kf7 63.Rf8+ 1-0

and also the Be4 move from my game with Foisor.

The position before 56. ... Be4!

[Event "2009 US Women's Ch."]
[Site "St.Louis"]
[Date "2009.10.12"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Foisor, Sabina Francesca"]
[Black "Zatonskih, Anna"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Eco "D35"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 Nf6 6.Qc2 c5 7.e3
cxd4 8.exd4 Nc6 9.Bb5 Qb6 10.Nge2 O-O 11.Bxc6 Qxc6 12.O-O Be6
13.Rac1 Rac8 14.f3 Qd7 15.g4 b5 16.a3 Ne8 17.Qb3 a6 18.Bg3 Rc4
19.Rcd1 f6 20.Rfe1 Bf7 21.Nf4 Nc7 22.Qc2 b4 23.axb4 Bxb4 24.Qf5
Qxf5 25.gxf5 Nb5 26.Nfe2 Nxc3 27.bxc3 Bxc3 28.Nxc3 Rxc3 29.Kf2
Rfc8 30.Re3 Rxe3 31.Kxe3 Rc3+ 32.Rd3 Rxd3+ 33.Kxd3 Bh5 34.Ke3
a5 35.Bd6 Kf7 36.Kf4 Ke8 37.Ba3 a4 38.Ke3 Kd7 39.h3 Kd8 40.Bf8
Ke8 41.Bc5 Kf7 42.h4 Kg8 43.Kf4 Be8 44.Ba3 Bb5 45.Ke3 Kf7 46.Bb4
Bc4 47.Kd2 Bf1 48.Ke3 Bh3 49.Kf4 Ke8 50.Ba3 Kd7 51.Bf8 Kc6 52.Ke3
Bxf5 53.Kd2 g5 54.Be7 gxh4 55.Bxf6 h3 56.Be5 Be4 0-1

I also won the prize for the best game of the tournament for my game against Alisa Melekhina but for me it’s difficult to name the best game, all my games were pretty well-played. I didn’t have any worse position almost anywhere except for the first game.

AK - Tell us a little bit about the special event that you participated in before the start of the championship. You played a 5 boards-simul blindfolded.

A blindfolded defending champ. Photo Betsy Dynako

AZ - Yes, we played in the Modern Art Museum, I played against 5 players. 2 players were from Saint Louis, one player from the club, one more was the organizer of the women’s championship Rex Sinquelfield, who is doing a lot for chess in the region. Except the men’s and women’s US championships that took place in SL this year, there are big chess programs for kids, the kids chess center and they are trying to include chess to school’s programs, so we are very fortunate that so great people live in SL! The fifth players of the simul was the cousin of Rex. I would say that the strongest players were 1700-1800 and the others are a little bit weaker. Of course I felt tremendous pressure since there were quite many people watching and I was very afraid to forget anything. The games of the simul can be found here.


AK - Did you have any prior experience with this kind of simuls?

AZ - When I was working in Long Island in a very good non-for-profit organization which is called the Great Knights, I often gave blindfolded simuls in clubs and they were quite successful, kids liked it but especially their parents. So I had some experience with this kind of simuls and when we talked with Jennifer about different possible events during the championship we decided that a blindfold simul is an interesting idea.

AK - Weren’t you afraid that the blindfolded simul just before the beginning of the important US championship is a too difficult challenge for your brain? They say that blindfolded chess is a very big strain for the brain and in the USSR this kind of chess was even prohibited due to the belief that it could be dangerous for health.

AZ – Well, some players of the tournament asked me this question. But since people from Saint Louis are doing such an amazing job for chess and I thought if I could help somehow to popularize chess as well I should do it. I thought that people will like it and they even talked about it on the radio. People might not remember my name after the simul but they knew that I was the one who gave the simul on 5 boards. I also wasn’t afraid, because I was not sure about my form since in September I played badly in the women’s world team championship, so in order to get somehow to a better chess mood I decided that I have to do something a little bit extraordinary, maybe that helped. And also the championship started only on the next day so I had some time to rest.

AK – What did you do after China? What changed since then?

AZ – I wouldn’t say that I did anything special. Maybe I just decided to relax and took it easy.

AK – Who helped you throughout the tournament.

AZ – My husband, GM Daniel Fridman was helping me, but since at the same time he was participating in the European Club Cup and we had 7 hours time difference, he was just giving me some advice, ideas, which were helpful and were very important for me. And honestly I don’t think that on our level the openings are the most important part of the game.

AK – By the way, about the level of play. I have a few questions regarding this issue to you. First of all, shortly after the end of the championship the Wall Street Journal published an article where the author asks to abolish women’s titles.

AZ – Yeah, I read this article.
.
AK – Ok, so what’s your opinion regarding this article? And the second question about it, what’s your point of view about the difference between women’s and men’s chess? And why do men play stronger then women at the moment?

AZ – Well, I think there are many differences between men and women. We should first say that we should popularize more women’s chess, we should create more possibilities for women that will attract to chess. About the article I don’t think that it’s a problem to have men’s and women’s titles and women’s titles motivate women and girls to continue playing and participate in tournaments. Maybe with some time it will be worth considering to abolish some of those titles but it’s definitely not for today. For example when I was giving lessons to kids I notice that there were much more boys then girls probably even 80% to 20%. And we have to change this, since chess is helpful for boys as well as for girls. Chess helps children to succeed in school and there are many good words about it that have already been said. Also 200 years ago there were only men playing while women were mainly housewifes and also I think chess was at the beginning invented as the game for the kings that teaches the strategical principles of battles, so at the beginning chess was considered to be a war game and war is the privilege of men. In the modern world, however, we can see that there are many girls who go to the army. Especially in Israel, in US there are many such women. I often fly in airplanes and see these girls. And it's the same for chess, nowadays there are many more girls and women who play chess. That’s why the difference between women’s and men’s chess 50 years ago was just huge, today, maybe slowly but steadily women are moving forward chesswise and most likely in a few more years women will play chess better compared to today. Also professional chess requires a lot of energy and often women who become mothers face problems since to play chess professionaly one needs to go to chess camps and to go away for a long time and according to Nature women tend to prefer to spend more time with their family. So in other words we have been created differently and we have different priorities in life. And I think it’s absolutely natural to have separate women’s and men’s tournaments. In the USSR we had different categories and in order to get this category a man or a woman needed to fulfill some norms and these norms were different for men and for women, so if we consider chess a sport, why should we have the same norms for men and for women?

AK – Yes, but the supporters of the Wall Street Journal article say that chess is not a physical, but rather an intellectual kind of sport and women can compete on the same level with men. Of course being a professional chess player myself I understand that one need to have great physical capabilities to play chess professionaly on a very high level but still these people say that women should be able to compete on the same level as men on the intellectual fields.

AZ – Well, chess is like gymnastics for the brain, but it’s still gymnastics. On the professional level when the average game can last for 5-6 hours, plus four hours of preparation one definitely needs a lot of physical strength. And still, we need to motivate more young girls to play chess and the titles are one of the way to motivate them. It's the same way with titles, as when players get trophies and medals playing in tournaments.

AK – What do you think is the most important step in improving women chess what are we lacking?

AZ – It’s a good question. We have a few good organizations that are doing a great job for promoting kids chess, so I think we have to do the same thing for women chess. In the US they are doing a great job for promoting youth chess, you and I both visited the Supernationals in Nashville in April this year and we saw how many kids participate, so we need to do the same with women. We have to create these organizations that will try to attract more girls to chess and will motivate them with different kind of scholarships to stay in chess and to continues playing chess professionaly.

Ak – Anna, tell me, for a very long time you represented the Ukraine and then you decided to change federations. First of all where were you born?

AZ – I was born on July 17, 1978 in Mariupol.

AK – And then you changed federation, by the way what is your point of view in regards of changing federation at the recent cogress of FIDE, where this problem has been discussed, since after Sergey Karjakin decided to change his federation from the Ukraine to Russia many people think the rules shall be sricter. And tell us, since you have seen both sides of chess in the Ukraine and in the US, why did you decide to change federation?

AZ – I can understand that if a player plays one Olympiad for one country then he changes his federation and at the next Olympiad plays for another country, that's ok. But I think it’s not right if every single Olympiad the player changes federation, one – for one country, the other one – for another, the third one – for some other country, I think first of all we have to have some restrictions.

AK – So why did you decide to change your federation?

AZ – Well, in the Ukraine I had some problems which I’m not ready to share with the world. I immigrated to the US and started to live here, and I changed my federation not instantly but after some thought. Also at that time we had a special programm that supportedpreparation for the women’s team for the chess olympiads and we had a very good support. And at that moment I thought that it’s the right decision, I lived in this country and I loved this country and that’s why I decided to change my federation. Today I live in Germany since I’m married to a German GM however I’m not planning to change my federation for the moment.

AK – What do you consider your homeland? For people like you, who were born in one country, then moved to another now live somewhere else.

Az – I have very strong ties with the Ukraine. When I watch the Olympic Games I always root for the Ukraine. But I've lived in the USA for a long time, and also like it very much. So it’s a very difficult question I would say both the Ukraine and the USA are my homelands.

AK – Can you tell us what differences you see between people in the Ukraine and in the USA?

AZ – Well, first of all, if we compare the USA with Europe, in the US nobody feels they are foreigners. Everybody is very patient to your accent, to your problems, they are trying to help, in some way people in the US are more well-wishing, open. Maybe that’s because the average level of living is higher in the US, than for example in the Ukraine. For example when I was living in the US on Long Island I like it there very much.

AK – How did you start playing chess?

AZ – I was the only child in my family. My parents were also chess-players. My dad has a rating around 2300, at some point he played even stronger. So they are big admirers of chess and they supported my chess lessons very much. I was about 4 or 5 years old when I started to play but I went to a chess club much later, at the age of 9 or 10.

AK – When did you decide to become a professional chess player?

AZ – I had many hobbies in my childhood. I was taking quite seriously track-and-field athletics classes, I also visited the theatrical club. At one point I couldn’t’ anymore go to track-and-field athletics so I started to spend more time playing chess. I became the champion of my city. So I would say that at the age of 13-14 I knew that most likely chess would be my profession.

AK – What are your main achievements in chess?

AZ – According to perfomance, it’s my win in the recent US championships in Saint-Louis. It’s difficult to say, but I think it’s the highest perfomance of my chess career so far. So I am a 3-times US champion, I was also the Ukranian champion among women and girls. Also my result of the 2008 chess olympiad, where we took the bronze medals and I took the gold medal on my board, and also the result of the 2004 chess olympiads.

AK – If we look at your results, there are many big successes after you became a mom in March 2007. I understand that normally the birth of a child can not help a professional chess player but in your case it seems that it motivated you even more.

AZ – Well, if we look at the facts 10 years ago I had the same Elo rating. But somehow my daugther Sophia motivates me because I think since I’m leaving my baby alone when going to tournaments I have at least to try to show the best result possible. Maybe these thoughts motivate me. And also this huge love for my baby gives me more power.

AK – Does you dauhgter say anything when you leave for tournaments?

AZ – She is very close to her grandma and I don’t have a problem with that. My mom has been with her since her birth and now she is very close to her.

AK – How often do you study chess? How many hours per day?

AZ- As much and refularly as possible. Especially just before and during tournaments.

AK – What in your point of view is the most important part of a chess game to study – opening, middle game or endgame? And what part of the game you would recommend to study to beginners?

AZ – For beginers, it’s definitely not the opening. So they have to focus on the basics which are the middle game and the endgame.

AK - Do you prefer to play chess with men or with women?

AZ – Hmm, I don’t really see the difference. I play in both kind of competitions.

AK - What is your favorite chess book?

AZ – I would definitely recommend “ My System” of Nimzowitsch, it’s a classic, that influenced my playing style a lot.

AK - If you had not become a chess player what career would you have chosen?

AZ – It’s a difficult question, I was studying accounting at the university. But now I’m more interesting in genes engineering, physics, psychology, something scientific.

AK - When did you feel happiest about being a chess player? Why?

AZ – I have two special moments. First one is my game against Votava in the Reikjavik-open,


The position before 17. ... Qxf3+

[Event "Reykjavik op 21st"]
[Site ""]
[Date "2004.3.14"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Votava Jan"]
[Black "Zatonskih Anna"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Eco "A00"]

1.g3 e5 2.Bg2 d5 3.c4 dxc4 4.Na3 Nf6 5.Nxc4 Bc5 6.Nxe5 Bxf2+
7.Kxf2 Qd4+ 8.Ke1 Qxe5 9.Qa4+ Nbd7 10.Qf4 Qe6 11.Qxc7 O-O 12.b3
Ne5 13.Nf3 Nd3+ 14.Kf1 Re8 15.Nd4 Qg4 16.Qc3 Bf5 17.Bf3 Qxf3+
18.Nxf3 Bh3+ 19.Kg1 Rxe2 20.Qxd3 Rg2+ 21.Kf1 Rxd2+ 22.Ke1 Rxd3
23.Ke2 Rd7 24.Re1 Ng4 25.Bd2 Re8+ 26.Kd1 Nf2+ 27.Kc2 Bf5+ 0-1

and now in Saint-Louis where I showed the best result of my career and people respected that.

AK - What is your favorite non-chess book?

AZ – I have many favorite books. First of all it’s Master and Margarita by Bulgakov, and Arch of Triumph by Remark;

AK - Whom do you consider the best chess player in history?

AZ – I would say it’s Kasparov and Fischer

AK - What do you like doing besides playing chess?

AZ – I like going out with my dauhgter and explaining her all the simple things. I also like riding a bicycle, going to the mountains. During the 2008 women's world chess championship in Nalchik I dreamt about going to the top of the Elbrus Mountain.

AK - What is the best chess country in the world?

AZ – I have heard a lot of good things about Iceland.

AK - What is the best organized women’s tournament you took part in?

AZ – Saint Louis and also I remember a rapid tournament in China in 2005.

AK - What is your goal in chess?

AZ – I don’t really have a goal in chess, I try to enjoy the game.

AK - What is your favorite chess piece?

AZ – All pieces, maybe the most important one - the king.

AK - What is your favorite kind of food?

AZ – I like chinese, indian food, spicy food.

AK - What is your favorite place in the world?

AZ – First of all, it's Curacao, I tried scuba-diving there for the first time, and basically I like all water kind of sports very much. There is also a place Blue Lagoon in Iceland that’s I liked very much, and the Elbrus area amazed me a lot.

Anna, thank you very much for your time. I wish you all the best and we hope to hear of your great results in the future!

Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Chess Champion
www.chessblog.com




 
http://www.chessblog.com/2009/12/star-interview-anna-zatonskih.html
Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:34:00 +0000
 
 
 
Termina la semifinal de la 3ª Copa Mundo
Boris Gelfand. Atrás, las graderías vacías.

Boris Gelfand. Atrás, las graderías vacías.

Ha llegado a su fase final la 3ª Copa Mundo de ajedrez. Los finalistas son el ruso-israelí Boris Gelfand y el ucraniano Ruslán Ponomariov. Se trató de un evento en grande, que comenzó con 128 jugadores y en el que se jugaron alrededor de 500 partidas.

 La Copa FIDE Mundial De ajedrez 2009 empezó en Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia, del 20 de noviembre al 15 de diciembre de 2009. Se jugó bajo un sistema de eliminación simple. Los jugadores pareados jugaban un mini-match. Primero jugaban dos partidas de ajedrez clásico a 90 minutos para los 40 primeros movimientos, con 30 minutos para el resto del juego, con una adición de 30 segundos por movimiento. Si había empate, jugaban cuatro partidos de 25 minutos + 10 segundos de incremento por movimiento. Si persistía el empate, jugaban 4 partidas de blitz, con un tiempo de 5 minutos + 3 segundos por movimiento. Si el empate seguía persistiendo, una campaña “Armagedón” o “muerte súbita”, con 5 minutos para las negras y 6 minutos para los blancas, los que fueran necesarios para ganar, con una adición de 3 segundos por movimiento. 

La Copa del mundo de ajedrez 2009 es parte integral del ciclo 2011 del campeonato mundial. El  vencedor jugará el torneo de candidatos de 2011. De acuerdo a los planes de la FIDE, éste deberá ser el papel de la Copa del mundo de ajedrez en los ciclos venideros.

Miércoles 09 de diciembre Día de descanso
Jueves 10 de diciembre Ronda 7 – Partida 1
Viernes 11 de diciembre Ronda 7 – Partida 2
Sábado 12 de diciembre Ronda 7 – Partida 3
Domingo 13 de diciembre Ronda 7 – Partida 4
Lunes 14 de diciembre Desempates / Clausura
Martes 15 de diciembre Salida

Jugadores que tuvo que eliminar cada semifinalista para llegar a la final:

Rondas Boris Gelfand

Ruslán Ponomariov

Ronda 1 Obodchuk, Andrei (RUS) El Gindy, Essam (EGY)
Ronda 2 Amonatov, Farrukh (TJK) Akobian, Varuzhan (USA)
Ronda 3 Polgar, Judit (HUN) Motylev, Alexander (RUS)
Ronda 4 Vachier-Lagrave,Max.(FRA) Bacrot, Etienne (FRA)
Ronda 5 Jakovenko, Dmitry (RUS) Gashimov, Vugar (AZE)
Ronda 6 Karjakin, Sergey (UKR) Malakhov, Vladimir (RUS)

Muchos famosos cayeron a lo largo del camino. Entre ellos podemos recordar a Judith Pólgar, Vasily Ivanchuk, Gata Kamsky, Étienne Bacrot, Máxime Vachier-Lagrave, Peter Svidler, Alexander Morozevich, Teimour Radjabov, Dimitri Jakovenko, David Navara, Alexander Khalifman, Evgeny Alekseev, Yue Wang, Ernesto Inarkiev, Pavel Eljanov, Leinier Domínguez, Alexei Shirov, Mamedyarov Shak., Fabio Caruana, Entre los semifinalistas: Sergey Karjakin y Vladimir Malakhov. Y un desconocido que se hizo famoso eliminando famosos, el filipino Wesley So.

Ahora veamos dos partidas de la fase semifinal.

Karjakin, Sergey (2723) – Gelfand, Boris (2758) [C55]
World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (6.1), 06.12.2009
Ajedrez clásico.

1.e4 e5 2.Ac4 Cf6 3.d3 Cc6 4.Cf3 Ae7 5.0-0 0-0 6.Ab3 d5 7.exd5 Cxd5 8.h3 a5 9.a4 Cd4 10.Cxd4 exd4 11.Te1

Posición después de 10.Te1

Posición después de 10.Te1

La amenaza de las blancas es AxC, seguido de TxA, pero: 
 
11…Ta6! Novedad

[12.Axd5 Dxd5 13.Txe7 Tg6 – con la amenaza 14...Dxg2#]

12.Dh5 Cb4 13.Ca3 Tg6

No es normal a estas alturas de una partida ver una torre en posición tan amenazante.

14.Af4 b6 15.Df3 Ae6 16.Axe6 fxe6 17.De4 Ad6 18.Axd6 cxd6 19.Dxd4

Posición después de 19.Dxd4

Posición después de 19.Dxd4

 

Las negras entregan este peón en aras de mantener su ataque.

19…Dg5

Amenaza de nuevo el mate en “g2”. 

20.g3 Df5 21.g4 h5 22.Te4 d5 23.Rh2 Df3 24.Tee1 hxg4 25.De3 gxh3 26.Dxf3 Txf3 27.Tg1 Txf2+ 28.Rxh3 Txg1 29.Txg1 Cxc2 30.Cb5 Tf3+ 31.Rg4 Txd3
 
Con tres peones de desventaja, el blanco no durará mucho.

32.Cd6 Ce3+ 33.Rf4 Cc4 0-1.

(4) Malakhov, Vladimir (2706) – Ponomariov, Ruslán (2739) [E35]

Ajedrez rápido.

World Cup Khanty-Mansiysk/Russia (6.4), 08.12.2009

1.d4 Cf6 2.c4 g6 3.Cc3 d5 4.cxd5 Cxd5 5.Ad2 Cb6 6.Af4 Ag7 7.e3 0–0 8.Cf3 c5

No sabemos cómo se clasificará esta apertura. Creemos que sea una especie de Grünfeld diferida.
 
9.dxc5 C6d7 10.Cd5 e5 11.Ag3 Cc6 12.Tc1 Cf6 13.Cxf6+ Dxf6 14.Ad3 e4 15.Axe4 Dxb2 16.0–0 Ae6 17.Ad6 Tfe8 18.Ad5 Df6.
 
Aunque las negras tienen un peón de menos, la posición está equilibrada.

19.Tb1 Ca5 20.e4 Tac8 21.e5 Df5 22.Tb4 Axd5 23.Dxd5 De6 24.Dxe6 Txe6 25.Tb5 b6 26.cxb6 axb6 27.Cd2 Cb7 28.Ce4 Cxd6 29.Cxd6 Ta8 30.f4 f6 31.f5 gxf5 32.Cxf5 fxe5 33.Tfb1 Af8

Posición después de 33...Af8

Posición después de 33...Af8

Se ha restablecido el equilibrio material. Pero en el final resultante el alfil negro tiene mejores perspectivas que el caballo blanco.

34.T5b2 Ac5+ 35.Rh1 e4 36.Te2 Rf7 37.Tbe1 Ta4 38.g3 Rf6 39.Tf1 Re5 40.Rg2 Tf6 41.g4 h5 42.h3 hxg4 43.hxg4 Tg6 44.Rh3 Ta3+ 45.Cg3 e3 46.Cf5 Tg8 47.Rg3 Tga8 48.Rf3 T8a4 49.Tfe1 Tf4+ 50.Rg3 Re4 51.Tb1 Tf3+ 52.Rg2 Rf4 53.Tc1 Tf2+ 54.Txf2+ exf2 55.Tc4+ Rg5 56.Cd4 Te3 57.a4 Te1

Si Rxf, Te4 gana el caballo.
0–1

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http://www.ajedrez32.com/termina-la-semifinal-de-la-3%c2%aa-copa-mundo/
Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:13:55 PST
 
 
 
The Big ChessVibes Christmas Trivia Quiz (part II of III)

Today we give you the second set of ten questions of our Big ChessVibes Christmas Trivia Quiz! Good luck!

Today questions 11-20; tomorrow the last ten will follow. Send your answers before Sunday, December 27th, 23:59 CET to christmas09@chessvibes.com and who knows, you might end up winning one of the following prizes:

Prizes

NIC Yearbook NIC Magazine ICC
First prize: 1-year subscription New in Chess Yearbook Second prize: 1-year subscription New in Chess Magazine Third prize: 1-year subscription Internet Chess Club (ICC)




Big ChessVibes Christmas Trivia Quiz – Part II

11. The World Junior Chess Championship has been organized since 1951.
11A Of the following ten players, five won the title once, and five never. Which of these names won the title? Aronian, Bielicki, Carlsen, Fischer, Hübner, Ivkov, Kaplan, Leko, Spassky, Timman.
11B Four of the sixteen World Champions also won the World Junior title. Which four?

12. Where do they live?

Viswanathan Anand Amsterdam
Levon Aronian Athens
Fabiano Caruana Berlin
Vladimir Kramnik Budapest
Joel Lautier Collado Mediano
Yasser Seirawan Moscow
Alexei Shirov Paris
Nigel Short Riga
Veselin Topalov Salamanca


13. Thirteen games in the match between Anand and Kasparov in 1995 ended in a draw. How often was Kasparov the one who offered a draw?
13A zero
13B two
13C eleven
13D all thirteen

13E There are only three players who played more than one classical game against Kasparov and have a plus score. Name all three players.

14 Three photos. One of them is a former World Champ, the other a former FIDE President and the third a former World Junior Champ. Name these three famous players.

14A 14B 14C


15 Four album covers. Name the albums and artists!

15A 15B
15C 15D


16 IM Christoph Wisnewski wrote a monograph about 1…Nc6, the Nimzovich Opening, for Everyman. Last year a book about opening traps was published by the same publisher, this time written by Christoph Scheerer. ‘Previously Wisnewski’, according to Everyman. This question is about players whose name was changed significantly during their chess career. Connect the old names to the correct new names.

Fleischmann Adorjan
Foerder Afek
Grünfeld Forgacs
Jocha Gereben
Kardinaal Graf
Kopelovich Kasparov
Nenashev Van Laatum
Weinstein Porath


17. A question about the World Senior Chess Championship.
17A From what age are you allowed to participate in this event?
17B Which player won the title three times?
17C Of the following names, six players won the title at least once, and six didn’t. Which players won the title?
Yuri Averbakh, Jacob Murey, Ewfim Geller, Jusefs Petkevich , Larry Kaufman, Lajos Portisch, Viktor Korchnoi, Vassily Smyslov , Bent Larsen, Boris Spassky , Henrique Mecking, Mark Taimanov.

18.There are many couples of two chess players in the chess world. Create the correct couples!

Men Women
Suat Atalik Elena Akhmilovskaya
Juan Manuel Bellon Lopez Anna Akhsharumova
Pascal Charbonneau Claudia Amura
Glenn Flear Ketevan Arakhamia
Laurent Fressinet Camilla Baginskaite
Daniel Fridman Monika Bobrowska
Robert Fontaine Pia Cramling
Jonathan Grant Katerina Dolzhikova
Alexander Grischuk Esther Epstein
Boris Gulko Petra Fink
Gilberto Hernandez Petra Krupkova
Lars Bo Hansen Irina Krush
Alexander Ivanov Kateryna Lahno
Sergey Karjakin Christine Leroy
Yona Kosashvili Yvette Nagel
Vadim Malakhatko Sofia Polgar
Mohamed al-Modiahki Ekaterina Polovnikova
Sergei Movsesian Evgenia Peicheva
John Nunn Almira Skripchenko
Georgy Orlov Natalia Zhukova
Yasser Seirawan Anna Zatonskikh
Bartosz Socko Zhu Chen
Alex Yermolinsky Anna Zozulia


19. For a long time Peter Svidler thought the Marshall Gambit of the Ruy Lopez to be dubious, but eventually he started playing the move 8…d5 himself. Who inspired him?
19A Michael Adams
19B John Nunn
19C Jimi Hendrix
19D Billy Joel

20A Who are the two men in the left picture?
20B Which chess player is chosen for the sculpture on the right?


That’s it for today. Tomorrow the last ten questions! Feel free to discuss the quiz in the comments, but needless to say, no answers please!

 
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/the-big-chessvibes-christmas-trivia-quiz-part-ii-of-iii/
Fri, 25 Dec 2009 09:21:28 +0000
 
 
 
Does the Soviet School of Chess still rule?

Mikhail Botvinnik, Soviet School icon.

Chess has a storied history. There are many theories of its origin stemming from either India or China and going to Persia through the Middle East across the Sahara and into Europe. Some say that chess went through Central Asia and into Eurasia. Regardless of where chess started and how it got there, the form the Moors brought into Spain appears to be the precursor to the form that we play now.

Today there is a question circulating… it pertains to the apparent changing of the guard in chess. With the retirement of Garry Kasparov, the changing of the guard had begun. The transition was not a smooth one and a scramble ensued within the disjointed chess world. Before Kasparov, several Soviet champions drew inspiration from Mikhail Botvinnik who became a symbol of the Soviet School of Chess. There would exist a single line of domination for 50 years effectively ending with Kasparov. Vladimir Kramnik had this to say about the World Champion:

Botvinnik’s example and teaching established the modern approach to preparing for competitive chess: regular but moderate physical exercise; analysing very thoroughly a relatively narrow repertoire of openings; annotating one’s own games, those of past great players and those of competitors; publishing one’s annotations so that others can point out any errors; studying strong opponents to discover their strengths and weaknesses; ruthless objectivity about one’s own strengths and weaknesses.

In the modern era, there were a lot of new talented players and the chess behemoth representing the Soviet Union was led by Anatoly Karpov followed by Garry Kasparov. The era from Botvinnik to Kasparov represented the glory years of the Soviet tradition and it remains an important time in chess history.

Viswanathan Anand,
World Champion of a new era.

While many of the strongest chess nations were once a part of the Soviet empire, does the “Soviet School of Chess” still reign supreme in the face of rising powers such as China and India? One may believe the proof is still evident when approximately 70% of the world’s top 100 players are from Russia and the former Soviet republics. However, there are some changing trends.

The trend of globalization has brought about a “chess wave” and currently the top three players are from Norway, Bulgaria and India. When Viswanathan Anand (right) became World Champion, it signaled a new era. Certainly a different time from when there was at least one “K” in the top ten for three decades.

As the largest Soviet remnant, Russia has not scored an Olympiad medal in three straight Olympiads and its players no longer dominate tournaments as before. In addition, tournament winners span a variety of countries. The former Soviet bloc still represents an influential and formidable tradition, but what has become of the “Soviet School of Chess”? Does it still exist? Did it ever exist in the magnitude of its reputation?

During the recent FIDE World Cup, there were 27 players from Russia competing out of 128. Nearly eighty-percent of the total players were from the former Soviet bloc. The tournament was won by a veteran from Belarus, Boris Gelfand, who now plays for Israel. Despite the high percentage of players from the outset, Russia did not place a player in the final match. However, the last eight players were from the “Soviet tradition”. Perhaps one can argue that the tradition is alive, but there are also other developments indicating that the balance of power is shifting. Does it remain a monolithic ideology or is it a deep-seated culture that has diverged into different approaches to chess?

Back in 2006, Vladimir Kramnik complained about the lack of young talent coming up in Russia. He remarked that the veterans were indeed very strong, but needed to make way for young players with great stamina. Other nations in the former Soviet bloc seem to be thriving despite their small size. The Ukraine won the Olympiad in 2004 and Armenia has won in 2006 and 2008. Azerbaijan recently won the European Team Championship. Each of these teams have young stars making of a great part of their success. Of course, we cannot forget that both Israel (#3 in the world) and the U.S. (#8) consist of a number of of Soviet emigres.

Russia’s Peter Svidler and Vladimir Kramnik at the 2008 Olympiad in Dresden. These two elite players work to bridge the gap of the old and new. Photo by Daaim Shabazz.

If one has to answer whether the Soviet School is still relevant, there is no question that it is very much a force. However, times are changing and the method of assimilating mass amounts of knowledge in a short time (to reach a critical analysis) has overtaken the method of deeply analyzing select classic games and positions. Other regions have proved that other techniques can be used with great effect. Many of the promising juniors being produced today are from many parts of the world who do not have the benefit of a rich chess culture, yet they are making a mark and entering the upper echelon with improvised techniques.


“But unfortunately I don’t see much talent coming from our country
and this is scaring for me as we shall not get any younger.”

~Vladimir Kramik in 2006


If we look at the rise of China, there may be an argument that there is a “massification” of talent, but that argument has not panned out yet. China has a very well-defined system for producing talent… a strong player as national trainer (GM Ye Jiangchuan) and government support. The number of players they produce is selective, yet all of the players appear to be very strong and well-prepared. Liu Wenzhe wrote a book about the “Chinese School of Chess” but it is not clear how close that model is being followed today.

The nation has created a powerhouse in less than 30 years and its women have dominated chess for more than two decades. China currently holds the #5 ranking (behind Russia, Ukraine, Israel and Azerbaijan). They have produced four 2700s and have a cadre of young strong players who are unrated and indeed ready to enter the chess stage. Li Chao and Yu Yangyi showed great promise in the FIDE World Cup, not to mention Hou Yifan, a legitimate talent.

Wesley So represents a new era of chess players.

Wesley So represents a new era of chess players. Photo by Galina Popova courtesy of FIDE.

India has the benefit of a great icon in World Champion Anand and perhaps more of a massification effect in terms of young talent. We are witnessing the “Anand Effect” or “Anand Boom” similar to what happened in the U.S. with Bobby Fischer. India has excelled in many of the age group world championships and in 2008 won both the boy’s and girl’s junior titles. Overall, India is now ranked as the #6 federation (counting the top 10 players). The players have strong support from the corporate sector, but internal rankling could slow process.

Vietnam and the Philippines have begun to show promise with young talent such as Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and Wesley So, respectively. Cuba has led the way in showing that there are other methods for producing elite players and have Lenier Dominguez. Iran has also made tremendous strides in producing strong talent. In North America, there is Hikaru Nakamura who has soared over 2700 and is has developed a unique approach to chess development.

What does all this mean? It means that while the Soviet School of Chess still has tremendous influence in terms of chess training, literature and tradition, methods are evolving quickly. The methods still show results, but is perhaps losing ground. Kramnik has made such comments in a 2006 interview when asked about the rising Russian players.

With regard to Russia I am not aware of the most recent developments; actually it is Evgeny Bareev who is working with the main players in his school. But unfortunately I don’t see much talent coming from our country and this is scaring for me as we shall not get any younger. Some of the players in this team already played in 1994, so you need some new blood at some point and at the moment I can’t see who can bring some new resources to the team. OK, we have some good players such as Malakhov, we have Jakovenko, but they are not much stronger than the rest of the guys. Bareev is already 40 you know, but I hope that he will be able to prepare in his school some young players for the Olympiad in two years time in Dresden. (Link)

In Dresden, it was not to be. Armenia would take gold again on the strength of Levon Aronian and Gabriel Sargissian. Israel took silver and the U.S. took the bronze. For the time being, Russia, the Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Armenia will keep the tradition strong, but how long can we continue to identify success as a result of the “Soviet School”?

Garry Kasparov was perhaps the first player from the Soviet School to make effective use of the traditional methods along with the use of databases. Players like Ruslan Ponomariov, Teimour Radjabov and Sergey Karjakin are steeped more in the information age than previous generations, but one can still see the influence of the Soviet tradition. The idea of studying classic games is invaluable as are the deep studying of middlegame positions, but the means by which that is done will change drastically. Younger players are finding other ways to practicalize their preparation.

Sergey Karjakin... straddling between two traditions?

Sergey Karjakin… straddling between two traditions?
Photo by Galina Popova courtesy of FIDE.

Viktor Korchnoi has been very critical of the new generation by saying that too much reliance is placed on computers and databases. One thing for sure… computers and databases are here to stay. Other nations are certainly benefiting from the mass amount of data, powerful engines and access to strong players on the Internet. In interviews, Anand has described the role of computers in “leapfrogging” and leveling the field.

I think that happened with chess. I think that is exactly right. Not only in India but there has been a sort of levelling in the world. The rest of the world has been able to catch up with Russia much faster than it would have had these things not come into play. And now I would say even the expertise is being levelled because you have computers that are so strong. I mean most programs on a PC would beat almost any grandmaster. Even when I play, or any top GM, we have to really concentrate to have a chance. If you are casual, the machine is too strong. So you have such a strong computer with which you can work, all your doubts can be cleared much easier. That is why the sport has become much younger. The time needed to accumulate a certain amount of experience and understanding has dropped. So yes, first the lag in information, then the lag in expertise or knowledge and geographical boundaries through the Internet. Each of these things we have bypassed. We are still as far away as we used to be, but we have bypassed them. (Link)

The methods as taught by many Soviet trainers will still have some relevance, but will require some adaption if they are going to continue to be affective against players who require speed and volume of many games over the depth and critical analysis of fewer games. The Soviet School as we know it will never be the same. Eventually, it will have to give way to a more dynamic pedagogy. It’s going to be exciting to see where the world of chess is headed.

 
http://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2009/12/24/does-the-soviet-school-of-chess-still-rule/
Fri, 25 Dec 2009 02:26:45 +0000
 
 
 
A gennaio esordio di Karjakin con la Russia
Sergey Karjakin esordisce con la (virtuale) maglia della Russia. L'asso di origine ucraina, semifinalista nella recente Coppa del mondo, dal 4 al 13 gennaio 2010 giocherà, per la prima volta, spalla a spalla con Morozevich, Grischuk e compagni...
 
http://www.messaggeroscacchi.it/?p=1352
Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:00:26 +0000
 
 
 
Soviet methods still reign in the chess world | Leonard Barden

Two decades after the USSR broke up, Soviet training methods remain potent at the chessboard. When the field of 128 was reduced to the quarter-finals in the current World Cup, all eight grandmasters remaining had their education from Soviet coaches.

The final four-game match now in progress to decide who qualifies for the 2010 candidates is between Ukraine's Ruslan Ponomariov, who won the 2002 World Cup as a teenager, and Boris Gelfand, the 41-year-old top seed. In the semi-finals Ponomariov beat Vlad Malakhov 4-2 while Gelfand eliminated Sergey Karjakin 2-0. In both the semi-final and in the game below the Israeli veteran defeated opponents more than half his age.

Sergey Karjakin, 19, who lost to Gelfand 0-2, chose the 'safe' Bishop's Opening in an attempt to avoid the Petroff 2 Nf3 Nf6, but after 1 e4 e5 2 Bc4 Nf6 3 d3 Nc6 4 Nf3 Be7 5 0-0 0-0 6 Bb3 d5 7 exd5 Nxd5 8 h3 a5 9 a4 Nd4 10 Nxd4 exd4 11 Re1 was rocked by the new plan Ra6! White should have bailed out for a draw by 12 Bxd5 Qxd5 13 Rxe7 Rg6 14 f3 Bxh3 15 Re2 Qxf3 16 Qf1 Bxg2! but instead fell to a crushing attack on his king.

Gelfand's 1 c4 English Opening had a tiny edge against France's junior world champion when Black erred by 16...f5? (better c6 17 bxc6 bxc6 18 Ne3 Rb8) after which 17 Nh4! and 19 Qh5! homed in on the weak light squares. When Gelfand launched a second front down the open b file, Black's defences collapsed.

B Gelfand v M Vachier Lagrave

1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e5 3 Nf3 Nc6 4 a3 g6 5 g3 Bg7 6 Bg2 O-O 7 O-O d6 8 d3 h6 9 Rb1 Be6 10 b4 Qd7 11 b5 Nd8 12 a4 Bh3 13 Nd5 Bxg2 14 Kxg2 Ne8 15 e4 Ne6 16 Bb2 f5? 17 Nh4 Kh7 18 exf5 gxf5 19 Qh5 c6 20 bxc6 bxc6 21 Ne3 f4 22 Nef5 Rf6 23 d4 exd4 24 Nxd4 Nxd4 25 Bxd4 Re6 26 Qf5+ Kg8 27 Rfe1 Nc7 28 Bxg7 Kxg7 29 Rb7 Re7 30 Rxe7+ Qxe7 31 Qxf4 Kg8 32 Nf5 1-0

3117

P Svidler v V Malakhov, World Cup 2009. Black (to play) can choose a plausible move which loses instantly or a less obvious one which wins instantly. Can you find both?

3117 1...dxe1Q?? 2 Bxf7+ Rxf7 (Kg7 3 Qg6+) 3 Qxf7+ forces a speedy mate. The game ended dxe1N+! and White resigned due to 2 Rxe1 Qf2+ and Ng3 mate.


guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/blog/2009/dec/11/leonard-barden-chess-column
Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:21:16 GMT
 
 
 
World Cup: Erste Finalpartie remis
Nach einem Tag Ruhe begann heute das Finale des World Cups in Khanty-Mansiysk zwischen Boris Gelfand und Ruslan Ponomariov. Der frühere FIDE-Weltmeister führte in der ersten Finalpartie die weißen Steine und ließ sich im Gegensatz zu seinem ehemaligen Sekundanten Sergey Karjakin, der im Halbfinale gegen Gelfand ausgeschieden war, auf die Russische Verteidigung ein. Der Ukrainer folgte der Partie Akopian gegen Kasimdzhanov, GP Jermuk 2009, ohne aber Gelfand in Verlegenheit bringen zu können. Im 37. Zug endete die Partie durch Dauerschach.
Turnierseite... Mehr...
 
http://chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=9866
Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT
 
 
 
World Cup Final Match
The 2009 World Cup final match between former World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov and Boris Gelfand is starting on Thursday at 11:00 CET. The final consists of four games with classical time control, to be played on 10-13th December, and in case of the tied score, additional rapid games will be played on the 14th.

Ponomariov finally earned a rest day after three consecutive rounds with difficult tiebreak matches. He also confirmed that the score against Gelfand in classical games is equal: - "We had all draws in the classical games. I won a couple of times in rapid. In blitz I lost in two games, and I won in four. It is funny, in Tal Memorial I played my first and my last game against Gelfand. The last game at the World Blitz Championship I played against Boris as well. And here, again the last match against Gelfand."

Boris Gelfand had an extra day of rest after swiftly eliminating Sergey Karjakin with 2-0 in the semifinal. He said: - "This is the first time that I managed to qualify for the finals in the knock out tournament. I cannot say that I had an easy way to go. My opponents were stronger and stronger in every next round. I could win three matches only in the tie breaks."
Gelfand was pleased with the result in the semifinal, but added: - "It is too early to relax, I should get prepared for the decisive duel."

Official website


gelfand
Boris Gelfand


ponomariov_final
Ruslan Ponomariov


 
http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/4216-world-cup-final-match
Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:04:32 +0000
 
 
 
World Cup: Boris Gelfand erster Finalist
Nach seinem gestrigen Schwarzsieg über Sergey Karjakin ließ Boris Gelfand heute keine Fragen aufkommen. Mit den weißen Steinen überspielte er Sergey Karjakin in der Meraner Variante und zog sicher mit 2:0 als erster Spieler ins Finale ein. Ruslan Ponomariov und Vladimir Malakhov vertagten die Entscheidung nach einem weiteren Remis auf den morgigen Stichkampf.
Turnierseite... Partien, Bilder...
 
http://chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=9850
Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT
 
 
 
Gelfand reaches World Cup final

Boris Gelfand has reached the final of the 2009 FIDE World Cup. Today he again defeated Sergey Karjakin, who had to take many risks in a must-win situation. Malakhov and Ponomariov drew again and so tomorrow’s tiebreaks will decide who will be Gelfand’s opponent.

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

Round 1 (November 21-23): 128 players Round 5 (December 3-5): 8 players
Round 2 (November 24-26): 64 players Round 6 (December 6-8): 4 players
Round 3 (November 27-29): 32 players Round 7 (December 10-14): 2 players
Round 4 (November 30-December 2): 16 players


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

Results round 6

World Cup 2009 | Results round 6

Round 6, day 2

How to beat Boris Gelfand with Black? For Sergey Karjakin it was a mission impossible today, but he certainly tried. His 16…h6 was very risky, but at least if forced some complications, and complications is already something, isn’t it. However, as it turned out they favoured White, and an accurately calculating Gelfand had no trouble in finding the flaws of Black’s play. He had seen that the trapped bishop on h7 could simply be sacrificed for a devastating attack.

Malakhov-Ponomariov was quite an interesting Nimzo which ended rather abruptly when already at move 27 the players decided it was enough. They will battle it out in the tiebreaks tomorrow, starting from 11:00 CET. It will be covered live by us, as well as the first round of the London Chess Classic. (You can still replay IM Robert Ris’ annotations on the live page until tomorrow morning.)

ChessVibes LiveWe’re covering the World Cup and the London Chess Classic for free; starting from 2010 our live commentary will be subscription-based. You’ll find more info here.

Games round 6, day 2

Game viewer by ChessTempo

FIDE World Cup – Pairings & results rounds 2-7

Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
 
Shabalov (2606)
  Navara (2707)
Navara (2707)  
Karjakin (2723)
Karjakin (2723)    
  Karjakin (2723)    
Timofeev (2651)  
Karjakin (2723)
Sakaev (2626)    
  Sakaev (2626)    
Radjabov (2748)      
Vitiugov (2694)    
Vitiugov (2694)    
  Vitiugov (2694)    
Milos (2603)  
Karjakin (2723)
Cheparinov (2671)    
  Bologan (2692)    
Bologan (2692)      
Laznicka (2637)    
Morozevich (2750)        
  Laznicka (2637)        
Laznicka (2637)      
Mamedyarov (2719)    
Milov (2652)    
  Mamedyarov (2719)    
Mamedyarov (2719)      
Mamedyarov (2719)    
Wang Hao (2708)    
  Wang Hao (2708)    
Ganguly (2654)  
Gelfand (2758)
Meier (2653)  
  Vachier-Lagrave (2718)  
Vachier-Lagrave (2718)    
Vachier-Lagrave (2718)  
Yu Yangyi (2527)      
  Yu Yangyi (2527)      
Bartel (2618)    
Gelfand (2758)  
Amonatov (2631)      
  Gelfand (2758)      
Gelfand (2758)        
Gelfand (2758)      
Polgar (2680)      
  Polgar (2680)      
Nisipeanu (2677)    
Gelfand (2758)  
Iturrizaga (2605)  
  Jobava (2696)  
Jobava (2696)    
Grischuk (2736)  
Grischuk (2736)      
  Grischuk (2736)      
Tkachiev (2642)    
Jakovenko (2736)  
Sandipan (2623)  
  Jakovenko (2736)  
Jakovenko (2736)    
Jakovenko (2736)  
Rublevsky (2697)  
  Areshchenko (2664)  
Areshchenko (2664)
 
Sasikiran (2664)
  Bacrot (2700)
Bacrot (2700)  
Bacrot (2700)
Wang Yue (2734)    
  Wang Yue (2734)    
Savchenko (2644)  
Ponomariov (2739)
Akobian (2624)    
  Ponomariov (2739)    
Ponomariov (2739)      
Ponomariov (2739)    
Motylev (2695)    
  Motylev (2695)    
Najer (2695  
Ponomariov (2739)
Li Chao (2596)    
  Li Chao (2596)    
Pelletier (2589)      
Gashimov (2758)    
Gashimov (2758)        
  Gashimov (2758)        
Zhou Jianchao (2629      
Gashimov (2758)    
Caruana (2652)    
  Caruana (2652)    
Dominguez (2719)      
Caruana (2652)    
Alekseev (2715)    
  Alekseev (2715)    
Fressinet (2653)  
Khalifman (2612)  
  Tomashevsky (2708)  
Tomashevsky (2708)    
Shirov (2719)  
Shirov (2719)      
  Shirov (2719)      
Fedorchuk (2619)    
Svidler (2754)  
Nyback (2628)      
  Svidler (2754)      
Svidler (2754)        
Svidler (2754)      
Naiditsch (2689)      
  Naiditsch (2689)      
Onischuk (2672)    
Malakhov (2706)  
Zhou Weiqi (2603)  
  Kamsky (2695)  
Kamsky (2695)    
So (2640)  
Ivanchuk (2739)      
  So (2640)      
So (2640)    
Malakhov (2706)  
Inarkiev (2645)  
  Eljanov (2729)  
Eljanov (2729)    
Malakhov (2706)  
Malakhov (2706)  
  Malakhov (2706)  
Smirin (2662)



Links

 
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/gelfand-reaches-world-cup-final/
Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:13:48 +0000
 
 
 
World Cup Round Six
For years Boris Gelfand enjoyed the sharp positions of the Sicilian Naidorf, but later he moderated the style and switched to the solid Petroff defence. Having seen him refuting the attacks of Judith Polgar, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Dmitry Jakovenko, the new Russian star Sergey Karjakin thought it would be wise to sidestep the Petroff and open with Italian in the first game of the semifinal match.

But Karjakin ended caught in his own trap as Gelfand boldly took the initiative with black, sacrificed a pawn and stormed towards the white Monarch. The only way to absorb the pressure was to exchange heavy pieces, but black also collected several pawns in the process and claimed an important victory.

In the second game, Sergey Karjakin was faced with an incredibly difficult task - to win against Gelfand with black in order to reach the tiebreaks. The Israeli Grandmaster is well known by his powerful opening preparation and thirst for the initiative from the move one. He took early control of the game and with constant aggression forced the young opponent to commit a mistake. A clean 2-0 victory and Gelfand qualifies for the World Cup final.

The second semifinal match, between the former World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov and Russian GM Vladimir Malakhov, took a more moderate course. In the first game, Chebanenko Slav passed another test in the hands of the well prepared Malakhov. In the return game, Ponomariov prepared a special surprise in the Classical Nimzo-Indian, but Malakhov was alert not to allow too much of the counterplay to his opponent. The position was balanced and the draw was agreed on move 27.

Vladimir Malakhov said after the game: "Truly speaking I don't know what would happen if Ruslan did not offer a draw. We both had a chance, but if you intend to win, you enormously risk. There is almost no time and there is a danger to miscalculate."
Ruslan Ponomariov added: "I was trying to find something new. I created some problems, but at the end was scared myself, everything was so mixed up (laughing). There were several variations in the endgame, but it was difficult to play. If you make a mistake, you pay a high price."

The tiebreak games take place on Tuesday. Official website


malakhov


ponomariov


 
http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/4212-world-cup-round-six
Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:09:01 +0000
 
 
 
Coupe du Monde d'échecs : Ponomariov qualifié pour la finale
Ruslan Ponomariov 3-1 Vladimir Malakhov © Site Officiel
Ruslan Ponomariov 3-1 Vladimir Malakhov © Site Officiel

Le Direct Live Les parties d'échecs à visualiser Les parties d'échecs à télécharger Le Direct Live à 11h avec notre partenaire Chessdom + Les parties à Visualiser et/ou à Télécharger

La Coupe du Monde d'échecs se déroule à Khanty-Mansiysk en Sibérie occidentale (Russie) du 20 Novembre au 15 Décembre. Cet événement échiquéen inaugure le prochain cycle du championnat du Monde d'échecs. Evénement spectaculaire, le vainqueur sera désigné sur la base des 7 rondes à élimination directe.
128 joueurs sont sur la ligne de départ dont 4 grands-maîtres d'échecs français: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Etienne Bacrot, Laurent Fressinet et Vladislav Tkachiev. Les 6 premières rondes se jouent en 2 parties avec couleurs inversées, la 7e ronde (finale) en 4 parties.
Les départages:
Les départages se jouent en 4 parties en cadence rapide (25 minutes + 10 secondes par coup). En cas d'égalité, on recourera à 8 blitz au maximum en 4 matchs aller-retour. Puis le fameux blitz "mort subite", 5min contre 6 avec l'obligation de gagner pour les Noirs !
Boris Gelfand 2-0 Sergey Karjakin © Site Officiel
Boris Gelfand 2-0 Sergey Karjakin © Site Officiel

Au programme du jour:
Les départage de la demi-finale à 11h heure française (à 15 heures sur place en Sibérie occidentale). Hier, Boris Gelfand (2758) s'est brillamment qualifié en battant le jeune champion d'échecs ukrainien Sergey Karjakin (2723). En revanche, Ruslan Ponomariov (2739) et Vladimir Malakhov (2706) ont à nouveau annulé. Place donc aux départages avec comme enjeu un billet pour la finale.
Le joueur russe Vladimir Malakhov sous l'oeil de Boris Kutin, le Président de l'Union Européenne des Echecs © Site Officiel
Le joueur russe Vladimir Malakhov sous l'oeil de Boris Kutin,
le Président de l'Union Européenne des Echecs © Site Officiel

Les départages des demi-finales:
  • Ruslan Ponomariov (2739 UKR) 3-1 Vladimir Malakhov (2706 RUS)
Pour en savoir plus :
 
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2009/12/coupe-du-monde-dechecs-les-departages_08.html
Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:41:00 +0000
 
 
 
Coupe du Monde d'échecs: Boris Gelfand en finale
Boris Abramovich Gelfand en free style à -35°C © Site Officiel
Boris Gelfand s'impose 2-0 face à Sergey Karjakin © Site Officiel

Le Direct Live Les parties d'échecs à visualiser Les parties d'échecs à télécharger Le Direct Live à 11h avec notre partenaire Chessdom + Les parties à Visualiser et/ou à Télécharger

La Coupe du Monde d'échecs se déroule à Khanty-Mansiysk en Sibérie occidentale (Russie) du 20 Novembre au 15 Décembre. Cet événement échiquéen inaugure le prochain cycle du championnat du Monde d'échecs. Evénement spectaculaire, le vainqueur sera désigné sur la base des 7 rondes à élimination directe.
128 joueurs sont sur la ligne de départ dont 4 grands-maîtres d'échecs français: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Etienne Bacrot, Laurent Fressinet et Vladislav Tkachiev. Les 6 premières rondes se jouent en 2 parties avec couleurs inversées, la 7e ronde (finale) en 4 parties.
 Mais qui va gagner cette coupe du monde d'échecs ? © Site Officiel
Qui va gagner cette coupe du monde d'échecs ? © Site Officiel

Au programme du jour:
Les demi-finales retour à 11h heure française (à 15 heures sur place en Sibérie occidentale). Hier, Boris Gelfand (2758) a pris une sérieuse option pour sa qualification en battant avec les Noirs le jeune champion d'échecs ukrainien Sergey Karjakin (2723). En revanche, Ruslan Ponomariov (2739) n'a pas su profiter des Blancs face à l'étonnant russe Vladimir Malakhov (2706). Les parties du jour seront intenses avec comme enjeu la qualification en finale.
Le champion d'échecs ukrainien Ruslan Ponomariov © Site Officiel
Le champion d'échecs ukrainien Ruslan Ponomariov © Site Officiel

Flash Info: Boris Gelfand qualifié pour la finale. Vladimir Malakhov et Ruslan Ponomariov joueront demain les départages.
Les demi-finales retour:
  • Boris Gelfand (2758 ISR) 1-0 Sergey Karjakin (2723 UKR)
  • Vladimir Malakhov (2706 RUS) 1/2 Ruslan Ponomariov (2739 UKR)
Résultats des demi-finales aller:
  • Sergey Karjakin (2723 UKR) 0-1 Boris Gelfand (2758 ISR)
  • Ruslan Ponomariov (2739 UKR) 1/2 Vladimir Malakhov (2706 RUS)
Pour en savoir plus :
 
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2009/12/coupe-du-monde-dechecs-les-demi-finales_07.html
Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:44:00 +0000
 
 
 
World Cup R5: Gelfand in the fiinal
He was unstoppable: Israeli GM Boris Gelfand, who needed just a draw after yesterday black-piece win, went ahead and beat the elegantly posing Ukainian GM Sergey Karjakin to go through on a 2-0 score. Meanwhile Vladimir Malakhov, Russia, and Ruslan Ponomariov played a second draw and have tiebreak games on Tuesday. Illustrated report.
 
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5968
Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT
 
 
 
Gelfand Cruises Into Final
Top seed Boris Gelfand (pictured) made qualifying for the final of the 2009 World Cup look easy by beating Sergey Karjakin again to win their match 2-0. Needing a win with the black pieces, Karjakin tried desperately to complicate matters, but in...
 
http://www.chess.com/news/gelfand-cruises-into-final-8325
Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:11:32 -0800
 
 
 
Gelfand beats Karjakin on first day semi-finals

On the first day of the World Cup’s semi-finals Boris Gelfand delivered a big blow to his 22 years younger opponent Sergey Karjakin. The Israeli grandmaster continued his fantastic World Cup tournament with a win with the black pieces today, and only needs a draw with White tomorrow to reach the final. The game Ponomariov-Malakhov ended in a draw.

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

Round 1 (November 21-23): 128 players Round 5 (December 3-5): 8 players
Round 2 (November 24-26): 64 players Round 6 (December 6-8): 4 players
Round 3 (November 27-29): 32 players Round 7 (December 10-14): 2 players
Round 4 (November 30-December 2): 16 players


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

Results round 6

World Cup 2009 | Results round 6

Round 6, day 1

Boris Gelfand is playing very, very strongly in Khanty-Mansiysk. The ease with which he set aside Dimitry Jakovenko yesterday in the tiebreaks of the quarter-finals was impressive, and today he came with an excellent follow-up: a win with the black pieces against Sergey Karjakin.

Already on move 11 Gelfand sacrificed a piece, but accepting it would be too dangerous:


11…Ra6!?
Now 12.Bxd5 Qxd5 13.Rxe7 Rg6 14.g4 f5 and White is playing with fire. However, just a few moves later Black got his attack anyway, thanks to a strong pawn sac.


18.Bxd6? cxd6! 19.Qxd4 Qg5 and Black’s attack was so strong that Karjakin could only avoid mate by giving back three pawns, which of course was too much.

Where many other GMs failed as well in the earlier rounds of this World Cup, Ponomariov couldn’t get anything tangible either against Malakhov’s Chebanenko Slav. White’s endgame advantage was only a theoretical one as it was impossible to profit from Black’s isolated pawns on the kingside.

All photos by Galina Popova | courtesy of FIDE

ChessVibes LiveTomorrow at 11:00 CET is the second and last classical game of the semi-finals and again we’ll have live commentary. (You can still replay GM Sipke Ernst’s annotations on the live page until the new round starts.) We’re covering the World Cup and the London Chess Classic for free; starting from 2010 our live commentary will be subscription-based. You’ll find more info here.

Games round 6, day 1

Game viewer by ChessTempo

FIDE World Cup – Pairings & results rounds 2-7

Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
 
Shabalov (2606)
  Navara (2707)
Navara (2707)  
Karjakin (2723)
Karjakin (2723)    
  Karjakin (2723)    
Timofeev (2651)  
Karjakin (2723)
Sakaev (2626)    
  Sakaev (2626)    
Radjabov (2748)      
Vitiugov (2694)    
Vitiugov (2694)    
  Vitiugov (2694)    
Milos (2603)  
Karjakin (2723)
Cheparinov (2671)    
  Bologan (2692)    
Bologan (2692)      
Laznicka (2637)    
Morozevich (2750)        
  Laznicka (2637)        
Laznicka (2637)      
Mamedyarov (2719)    
Milov (2652)    
  Mamedyarov (2719)    
Mamedyarov (2719)      
Mamedyarov (2719)    
Wang Hao (2708)    
  Wang Hao (2708)    
Ganguly (2654)  
Meier (2653)  
  Vachier-Lagrave (2718)  
Vachier-Lagrave (2718)    
Vachier-Lagrave (2718)  
Yu Yangyi (2527)      
  Yu Yangyi (2527)      
Bartel (2618)    
Gelfand (2758)  
Amonatov (2631)      
  Gelfand (2758)      
Gelfand (2758)        
Gelfand (2758)      
Polgar (2680)      
  Polgar (2680)      
Nisipeanu (2677)    
Gelfand (2758)  
Iturrizaga (2605)  
  Jobava (2696)  
Jobava (2696)    
Grischuk (2736)  
Grischuk (2736)      
  Grischuk (2736)      
Tkachiev (2642)    
Jakovenko (2736)  
Sandipan (2623)  
  Jakovenko (2736)  
Jakovenko (2736)    
Jakovenko (2736)  
Rublevsky (2697)  
  Areshchenko (2664)  
Areshchenko (2664)
 
Sasikiran (2664)
  Bacrot (2700)
Bacrot (2700)  
Bacrot (2700)
Wang Yue (2734)    
  Wang Yue (2734)    
Savchenko (2644)  
Ponomariov (2739)
Akobian (2624)    
  Ponomariov (2739)    
Ponomariov (2739)      
Ponomariov (2739)    
Motylev (2695)    
  Motylev (2695)    
Najer (2695  
Ponomariov (2739)
Li Chao (2596)    
  Li Chao (2596)    
Pelletier (2589)      
Gashimov (2758)    
Gashimov (2758)        
  Gashimov (2758)        
Zhou Jianchao (2629      
Gashimov (2758)    
Caruana (2652)    
  Caruana (2652)    
Dominguez (2719)      
Caruana (2652)    
Alekseev (2715)    
  Alekseev (2715)    
Fressinet (2653)  
Khalifman (2612)  
  Tomashevsky (2708)  
Tomashevsky (2708)    
Shirov (2719)  
Shirov (2719)      
  Shirov (2719)      
Fedorchuk (2619)    
Svidler (2754)  
Nyback (2628)      
  Svidler (2754)      
Svidler (2754)        
Svidler (2754)      
Naiditsch (2689)      
  Naiditsch (2689)      
Onischuk (2672)    
Malakhov (2706)  
Zhou Weiqi (2603)  
  Kamsky (2695)  
Kamsky (2695)    
So (2640)  
Ivanchuk (2739)      
  So (2640)      
So (2640)    
Malakhov (2706)  
Inarkiev (2645)  
  Eljanov (2729)  
Eljanov (2729)    
Malakhov (2706)  
Malakhov (2706)  
  Malakhov (2706)  
Smirin (2662)



Links

 
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/gelfand-beats-karjakin-on-first-day-semi-finals/
Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:07:55 +0000
 
 
 
World Cup Semi-Finals
Boris Gelfand took a crucial lead against Sergey Karjakin in the 2009 World Cup by winning the first of their semi-final games with the black pieces. Karjakin played the Bishop's opening to avoid the Petroff, but Gelfand soon equalised with an un...
 
http://www.chess.com/news/world-cup-semi-finals-2103
Sun, 06 Dec 2009 06:05:23 -0800
 
 
 
Coupe du Monde d'échecs: les demi-finales en Live à 11h
L'ukrainien Sergey Karjakin (2723) © Site Officiel
L'ukrainien Sergey Karjakin (2723) © Site Officiel

Le Direct Live Les parties d'échecs à visualiser Les parties d'échecs à télécharger Le Direct Live à 11h avec notre partenaire Chessdom + Les parties à Visualiser et/ou à Télécharger

La Coupe du Monde d'échecs se déroule à Khanty-Mansiysk en Sibérie occidentale (Russie) du 20 Novembre au 15 Décembre. Cet événement échiquéen inaugure le prochain cycle du championnat du Monde d'échecs. Evénement spectaculaire, le vainqueur sera désigné sur la base des 7 rondes à élimination directe.
128 joueurs sont sur la ligne de départ dont 4 grands-maîtres d'échecs français: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Etienne Bacrot, Laurent Fressinet et Vladislav Tkachiev. Les 6 premières rondes se jouent en 2 parties avec couleurs inversées, la 7e ronde (finale) en 4 parties.
Boris Abramovich Gelfand en free style à -35°C © Site Officiel
Que nous prépare l'israélien Boris Gelfand ? © Site Officiel

Au programme du jour:
Les demi-finales à 11h heure française (à 15 heures sur place en Sibérie occidentale). Hier, Boris Gelfand (2758) et Ruslan Ponomariov (2739) se sont qualifiés aux départages. Ils rejoignent ainsi l'ukrainien Sergey Karjakin (2723) et l'étonnant russe Vladimir Malakhov (2706) dans le dernier carré de la coupe du monde d'échecs.
Ruslan Ponomariov a éliminé Vugar Gashimov © Site Officiel
Ruslan Ponomariov a éliminé hier Vugar Gashimov © Site Officiel

Les demi-finales:
  • Boris Gelfand (2758 ISR) - Sergey Karjakin (2723 UKR)
  • Vladimir Malakhov (2706 RUS) - Ruslan Ponomariov (2739 UKR)
Pour en savoir plus :
 
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2009/12/coupe-du-monde-dechecs-les-demi-finales.html
Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:52:00 +0000
 
 
 
2009 World Cup: Semi-Finals

Will Ruslan Ponomariov win another knockout tournament?

Will Ruslan Ponomariov win another knockout tournament?

Only four players remaining. The top-seed is still playing, two Ukrainians stars and one unsung Russian will fight for the crown. Boris Gelfand has played solidly and has lost only one game thus far (Polgar). Ruslan Ponomariov and Sergey Karjakin are trying to advance for another all-Ukrainian battle. In 2002, Ponomariov beat Vassily Ivanchuk to with the FIDE World Championship.

Karjakin may finally get his chance to gain the spotlight. Vladimir Malakhov has overachieved, but it would be wrong to call his performance “lucky”. He is a strong player, solid and incredibly difficult to beat. Malakhov has not lost a single game in the tournament and he has also shown his strength in the rapids with 8.5/9!

Should be a great showdown! Only two tables will remain from the 64 that were arranged at the outset.

Results: http://cup2009.fide.com/results.php
Games (PGN): (all)

 
http://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2009/12/06/2009-world-cup-semi-finals/
Sun, 06 Dec 2009 05:18:43 +0000
 
 
 
World Cup: Malakhov, Karjakin, Ponomariov und Gelfand im Halbfinale
Vladimir Malakhov und Sergey Karjakin qualifizierten sich gestern schon für das Halbfinale. Heute kamen Boris Gelfand und Ruslan Ponomariov nach den Tiebreaks dazu. Beide Stichkämpfe - Boris Gelfand gegen Dmitry Jakovenko sowie Ruslan Ponomariov gegen Vugar Gashimov - endeten schon nach drei Schnellschachpartien. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt waren die beiden Sieger bereits uneinholbar mit 2,5:0,5 in Führung gegangen. Mit dem zuletzt so starken Vugar Gashimov ist ein weiterer Topfavorit ausgeschieden.
Turnierseite... Ergebnisse, Partien, Bilder...
 
http://chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=9845
Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT
 
 
 
World Cup round 5 game 2
The stakes are high as the 2009 World Cup is closing to its end and the players are becoming more cautious. Vugar Gashimov and Ruslan Ponomariov, and on the another table, Dmitry Jakovenko and Boris Gelfand, did not want to take risks after drawing the first game of the fifth round. Both matches proceed to rapid tiebreaks after draws were simultaneously agreed on the 15th move in the return games.

On the other two boards, Peter Svidler and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov were fighting to equalise the scores and earn tiebreaks. Svidler refrained from his favourite Gruenfeld Indian and tried to surprise Vladimir Malakhov with the King's Indian defence. But Malakhov set an early course for controlled exchanges and black offered a draw in the equal position on move 28. "I had a tremendously difficult task - to win with black against one of the strongest and toughest opponents" - Svidler said after the match - "I did my best, but alas. Am I upset? Of course! I was very much hoping that I could go further than quarterfinals".

 

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was also trailing after losing the first game to Sergey Karjakin. Today he tried one of his favourite aggressive setups - trade dark-squared Bishop, switch pawns in the center, place the Queen on b3 and combine the play in center and on the queenside. But Karjakin defended well and patiently cleared the board by exchanging the pieces whenever possible to reach an endgame with excellent chances to make a draw. Mamedyarov tried for about twenty moves, but it was not possible to break the black fortress on the kingside.

 

Malakhov and Karjakin progress to the semifinal, while the other two matches will be decided after tiebreaks on Saturday.

 

Round 5 game 1Official site

 
http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/4208-world-cup-round-5-game-2
Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:36:47 +0000
 
 
 
Gelfand And Ponomariov Into Semis
The quarter final tie-breaks of the 2009 World Cup are over, and Boris Gelfand and Ruslan Ponomariov (pictured) are through to the semi-finals, joining Sergey Karjakin and Vladimir Malakhov. Both Gelfand and Ponomariov both made the tiebreaks loo...
 
http://www.chess.com/news/gelfand-and-ponomariov-into-semis-4498
Sat, 05 Dec 2009 09:19:00 -0800
 
 
 
World Cup: Karjakin und Malakhov weiter
Nur zwei der heutigen vier Spielansetzungen beim World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk führten auch zu einer Partie. Peter Svidler musste nach der gestrigen Niederlage heute mit den schwarzen Steinen versuchen, gegen Vladimir Malakhov zu punkten, was ihm nicht gelang. Schon im 28.Zug war klar, dass die Position nicht geeignet war, auf Gewinn zu spielen und der St.Petersburger willigte ins Remis ein. Länger mühte sich Shakhriyar Mamedyarov gegen Sergey Karjakin, seinen Rückstand aufzuholen. Mehr als einen Bauern gab Karjakin aber nicht her und dieser im Turmendspiel mit ungleichen Läufern nicht zum Punkt zu verdichten. In den anderen beiden Partien, Jakovenko gegen Gelfand und Gashimov gegen Ponomariov verständigte man sich rasch auf eine Verlängerung im morgigen Stichkampf.
Turnierseite... Ergebnisse, Partien, Bilder...
 
http://chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=9843
Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT
 
 
 
Coupe du Monde d'échecs: Gelfand et Ponomariov qualifiés pour les demi-finales
Boris Abramovich Gelfand en free style à -35°C © Site Officiel
Boris Abramovich Gelfand en free style à -35°C © Site Officiel

Le Direct Live Les parties d'échecs à visualiser Les parties d'échecs à télécharger Le Direct Live à 11h avec notre partenaire Chessdom + Les parties à Visualiser et/ou à Télécharger

La Coupe du Monde d'échecs se déroule à Khanty-Mansiysk en Sibérie occidentale (Russie) du 20 Novembre au 15 Décembre. Cet événement échiquéen inaugure le prochain cycle du championnat du Monde d'échecs. Evénement spectaculaire, le vainqueur sera désigné sur la base des 7 rondes à élimination directe.
128 joueurs sont sur la ligne de départ dont 4 grands-maîtres d'échecs français: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Etienne Bacrot, Laurent Fressinet et Vladislav Tkachiev. Les 6 premières rondes se jouent en 2 parties avec couleurs inversées, la 7e ronde (finale) en 4 parties.
Dmitry Jakovenko (2736) © Site Officiel
Dmitry Jakovenko (2736) © Site Officiel

Au programme du jour:
Les départages des quarts de finale à 11h heure française (à 15 heures sur place en Sibérie occidentale). Hier, l'ukrainien Sergey Karjakin (2723) et l'étonnant russe Vladimir Malakhov (2706) se sont qualifiés pour les demi-finales. Restent deux places... pour quatre candidats.
Les départages:
Les départages se jouent en 4 parties en cadence rapide (25 minutes + 10 secondes par coup). En cas d'égalité, on recourera à 8 blitz au maximum en 4 matchs aller-retour. Puis le fameux blitz "mort subite", 5min contre 6 avec l'obligation de gagner pour les Noirs !
Le départage entre Ruslan Ponomariov et Vugar Gashimov © Site Officiel
Le départage entre Ruslan Ponomariov et Vugar Gashimov © Site Officiel

Les départages des quarts de finale:
  • Boris Gelfand (2758 ISR) 2,5-0,5 Dmitry Jakovenko (2736 RUS)
  • Ruslan Ponomariov (2739 UKR) 2,5-0,5 Vugar Gashimov (2758 AZE)
Pour en savoir plus :
 
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2009/12/coupe-du-monde-dechecs-le-tie-break-en.html
Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:05:00 +0000
 
 
 
Coupe du Monde d'échecs: Malakhov et Karjakin qualifiés pour les demi-finales
 Mais qui va gagner cette coupe du monde d'échecs ? © Site Officiel
Qui va gagner cette coupe du monde d'échecs ? © Site Officiel

Le Direct Live Les parties d'échecs à visualiser Les parties d'échecs à télécharger Le Direct Live à 11h avec notre partenaire Chessdom + Les parties à Visualiser et/ou à Télécharger

La Coupe du Monde d'échecs se déroule à Khanty-Mansiysk en Sibérie occidentale (Russie) du 20 Novembre au 15 Décembre. Cet événement échiquéen inaugure le prochain cycle du championnat du Monde d'échecs. Evénement spectaculaire, le vainqueur sera désigné sur la base des 7 rondes à élimination directe.
128 joueurs sont sur la ligne de départ dont 4 grands-maîtres d'échecs français: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Etienne Bacrot, Laurent Fressinet et Vladislav Tkachiev. Les 6 premières rondes se jouent en 2 parties avec couleurs inversées, la 7e ronde (finale) en 4 parties.
Sergey Karjakin (2723) 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2719)
Sergey Karjakin a battu hier Shakhriyar Mamedyarov © Site Officiel

Au programme du jour:
Les matchs retour des quarts de finale à 11h heure française (à 15 heures sur place en Sibérie occidentale). Avec leurs victoires d'hier, l'ukrainien Sergey Karjakin (2723) et l'étonnant russe Vladimir Malakhov (2706) ont un orteil en demi-finale. Mais attention, rien n'est fait!
Peter Svidler (2754) battu par Vladimir Malakhov (2706) © Site Officiel
Peter Svidler surpris hier par Vladimir Malakhov © Site Officiel

Les matchs retour des quarts de finale: les qualifiés en gras
  • Dmitry Jakovenko (2736 RUS) 1/2 Boris Gelfand (2758 ISR)
  • Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2719 AZE) 1/2 Sergey Karjakin (2723 UKR)
  • Vugar Gashimov (2758 AZE) 1/2 Ruslan Ponomariov (2739 UKR)
  • Vladimir Malakhov (2706 RUS) 1/2 Peter Svidler (2754 RUS)
Rejouer les matchs aller: Pour en savoir plus :
 
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2009/12/coupe-du-monde-dechecs-le-5e-tour-en.html
Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:50:00 +0000
 
 
 
Malakhov And Karjakin In Semis
The second games of the quarter-finals were all drawn, so Vladimir Malakhov and Sergey Karjakin (pictured) are safely through to the 2009 World Cup semi-finals at the expense of Peter Svidler and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov respectively. Svidler tried ...
 
http://www.chess.com/news/malakhov-and-karjakin-in-semis-2307
Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:21:45 -0800
 
 
 
World Cup R5: Karjakin & Malakhov start with wins

Sergei Karjakin and Vladimir Malakhov have excellent chances to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup. On the first day of round 5, Karjakin beat Mamedyarov with White in an Open Ruy Lopez while Malakhov beat Svidler with Black in a Chebanenko Slav. Both Gelfand-Jakovenko, and Ponomariov-Gashimov ended in a draw.

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

Round 1 (November 21-23): 128 players Round 5 (December 3-5): 8 players
Round 2 (November 24-26): 64 players Round 6 (December 6-8): 4 players
Round 3 (November 27-29): 32 players Round 7 (December 10-14): 2 players
Round 4 (November 30-December 2): 16 players


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

Results round 5, day 1

World Cup 2009 | Results round 5

Round 5, day 1

Only four boards, and eight players are left in Khanty-Mansiysk. By the way, the round 4 losers went home with US $ 20,000 each (tax already deducted), while the players still in the field will be dividing a total (net) sum of $ 352,000. (This round’s losers will earn US $ 28,000, the losers of the semis US $ 40,000, the runner-up US $ 64,000 and the winner US $ 96,000).

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov started with wins in all first four rounds, but today he lost game 1 against his first higher-rated opponent, Sergey Karjakin. Shakh’s opening choice was a surprising one, since according to the database he played the Open Ruy Lopez only 11 games before, the last time in December 2004. Besides, Karjakin’s preparation looked much better too.

15…0-0 was a deviation from a previous Karjakin game, but already with 18.g4! White had a clear advantage. Black just held on in the endgame, but White was always clearly on top. It seems that the last phase of the rook ending contains a few mutual mistakes:


49.f3! is winning on the spot here because of Zugzwang. After 49.Rf5 the move 49…g4 was absolutely necessary, but 49…Rb2? allowed the pretty 50.f4! and the pawn always queens.

In this group of eight, Vladimir Malakhov is a relatively unknown grandmaster since he’s never played in a super-tournament, but as we mentioned before, the Russian has been a 2600-high GM for a long time (and now even 2700+). More concretely we’re talking about the FIDE rating list of April 2002, when Malakhov passed the 2650 border and never went below!

This little intro makes it less of a surprise that Malakhov beat Svidler today, and we might add in an excellent game. Svidler went for 1.d4, despite the fact that his opponent’s Chebanenko Slav has been looking very solid in this World Cup. After the opening the game got more and more interesting with every move, with Svidler sacrificing material for an attack, and Malakhov just taking everything because he had seen something very nice at the end of a long variation.


The move 27…g5! was necessary here but after 28.Qh5 d2 29.f6 Qxf6! 30.Bxd4 Qxd4+ 31.Kg2 it looks like White is winning…


…except for Malakhov’s final move: 31…dxe1N+! and Svidler resigned.

Gelfand was probably caught in preparation by Jakovenko and got nothing out of the opening. In a long and tiresome event like this it’s not a bad idea to take an early draw, even with White. And that’s what Gelfand did.

Ponomariov-Gashimov was a fascinating battle. The Sicilian Dragon has been theoretically under a cloud for years against 1.e4, and in this respect its counterpart against 1.d4 is the Benoni. However, the new top 10 player Vugar Gashimov has been using it successfully for quite a while now.

Perhaps the opening needs such a strong player to be playable, because also in this game White got the upper hand. However, it looks like Ponomariov missed a few chances and therefore Gashmov’s Benoni draw was a narrow escape today.


29.f3! would have won because 29…Rxd5 can be answered by 30.Nb4! Rc5 31.N2d3. In the game 29.Nd3 Qf7 was played, where 30. g5! Nxg5 31.Na7! Rb8 32.Nxc8 Rbxc8 33.Rxc8 Rxc8 34.f4 would have trapped the knight.

All photos by Galina Popova | courtesy of FIDE

Games round 5, day 1

Game viewer by ChessTempo

FIDE World Cup – Pairings & results rounds 2-7

Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
 
Shabalov (2606)
  Navara (2707)
Navara (2707)  
Karjakin (2723)
Karjakin (2723)    
  Karjakin (2723)    
Timofeev (2651)  
Karjakin (2723)
Sakaev (2626)    
  Sakaev (2626)    
Radjabov (2748)      
Vitiugov (2694)    
Vitiugov (2694)    
  Vitiugov (2694)    
Milos (2603)  
Cheparinov (2671)    
  Bologan (2692)    
Bologan (2692)      
Laznicka (2637)    
Morozevich (2750)        
  Laznicka (2637)        
Laznicka (2637)      
Mamedyarov (2719)    
Milov (2652)    
  Mamedyarov (2719)    
Mamedyarov (2719)      
Mamedyarov (2719)    
Wang Hao (2708)    
  Wang Hao (2708)    
Ganguly (2654)