The competition took place from June 14th to 25th 2010 in Medias, Romania. ROMGAZ and the Chess Club Society “Elisabeta Polihroniade” of Bucharest organized a double round robin tournament with six top GMs: Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Ukrainian GM Ruslan Ponomariov, Boris Gelfand of Israel, the top Chinese player Wang Yue, Teimour Radjabov, the second highest ranked player of Azerbaijan, and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, the best Romanian player.

A victory with black pieces against Wang Yue in the last round, left Carlsen an advantage of two points ahead from his immediate followers: Radjabov and Gelfand.

Final Standings

Wang Yue (2752) – Carlsen,M (2813) [D85]
4th Kings Tournament Medias ROU (10), 2010-06-25
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bd2 Bg7 6. e4 Nb6 7. Be3 O-O 8. Bb5 Be6 9. Nge2 c6 10. Bd3 Nc4 11. Bxc4 Bxc4 12. O-O Nd7 13. Qd2 Qa5 14. Rfd1 Rad8 15. Bh6 Bxe2 16. Nxe2 Qxd2 17. Bxd2 Nb6 18. Bc3 Rd7 19. b3 f5 20. f3 Rfd8 21. Re1 fxe4 22. fxe4 e5 23. dxe5 Rd3 24. g3 Nd7 25. e6 Bxc3 26. Nxc3 Ne5 27. Red1 Kf8 28. Rac1 Ke7 29. Rxd3 Rxd3 30. Rc2 Nf3+ 31. Kf1 Nd4 32. Rc1 Kxe6 33. Rd1 Rxc3 34. Rxd4 Rc2 35. a4 Rxh2 36. a5 Rh5 37. b4 Rh2 38. a6 b5 39. e5 Ra2 40. Rd6+ Kxe5 41. Rxc6 Kf5 42. Rc7 Rxa6 43. Rxh7 Kg4 44. Kf2 Ra2+ 45. Ke3 g5 46. Rg7 Rb2 47. Rxa7 Kxg3  0 – 1 (view game)

La 4ème édition du Kings Tournament d'échecs de Bazna vient de s'achever sur le triomphe de Magnus Carlsen avec 7,5 points sur 10, soit une performance de 2920 Elo.

Celui que l'on imagine comme le prochain champion du monde d'échecs, a donné une véritable leçon en remportant 5 parties et en concédant 5 nulles. Il laisse ses plus proches poursuivants, Teimour Radjabov et Boris Gelfand, à 2 points derrière.

La 4ème édition du Kings Tournament d'échecs de Bazna se déroule du 14 au 25 juin à Medias. Ce tournoi d'échecs se joue en 10 rondes aller-retour, avec 6 grands-maîtres dont le n°1 au Elo Magnus Carlsen. Nous suivrons la partie Wang Yue - Magnus Carlsen lors de cette ultime ronde.

In the seventh round of the Kings Tournament, which has returned to Bazna, Carlsen won against Radjabov. Gelfand is still a point behind the Norwegian after beating Nisipeanu with Black. Games commented by GM Dorian Rogozenco & videos.

The fourth Kings Tournament takes place in Medias, Romania from June 14 till 25. Against it’s a 6-player, double round-robin, with two rest days. This year Carlsen, Gelfand, Nisipeanu, Ponomariov, Radjabov and Wang Yue play. The rate of play is 2 hours for the first 40 moves, one hour for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes plus an increment of 30 seconds per move.

The rounds start each day at 15.30 which is 14.30 CET and 08.30 EDT. They can run well into the evening, as we won’t see ultra-short draws in this tournament – no draw agreement by the players are allowed before move 30, except for cases of a triple-repetition, a perpetual or a theoretically drawn position.

The event is organized by Romgaz and the Chess Club Society “Elisabeta Polihroniade”. This year the tournament is officially part of the Grand Slam, substituting the cancelled MTel Masters. Venue is the brand new Romgaz Center in Medias (near Bazna), but the organizers are considering to move back to Hotel Complex Balnear Expro in Bazna, where everyone is staying.

ChessVibes will be at the tournament from start to finish, providing videos for the official website:

Videos

Source files: (for iPhone users and others)

Round 7

Monday morning the tournament organizers decided to move back to Bazna, where the first three editions of tournament were held as well. It was clear that the players weren’t really fond of the half an hour drive to Medias and back each day, but the final ‘drop’… were the drops of rain that fell on Carlsen and Ponomariov’s board in round 6.

To avoid any further problems as result of the unpredictable weather, all boards, pieces and other things were moved to the conference room of the hotel complex. The players and seconds were all quite happy about this. One of the reasons might have been that they now have some more football to watch each day!

After a somewhat slow start (certainly from hindsight) it’s now full steam ahead for Magnus Carlsen, who won his fourth game in a row. His tournament performance rating is now 2960 according to TWIC, 2955 according to Chessbase. (Who is right? Well, it doesn’t matter too much.) His live rating is now 2825.

“I thought it was a very good game actually,” said a cheerful Carlsen afterwards. The Norwegian pointed out that both he and his opponent Teimour Radjabov had probably played the strongest moves up till the rook ending. “He handled the position very well. I thought I should at least make him work a little bit for the half point,” said Carlsen, and after the inaccurate 32…Rc5 Black indeed needed to work hard. Radjabov had gotten into timetrouble and after 39…Kg8 the rook ending was lost. We are using Carlsen’s own words when we say that the rest was a ‘matter of technique’.

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu was clearly disappointed after his loss against Boris Gelfand, which brought the local hero on minus two. The Romanian was mostly disturbed by the simple tactics he missed in the middlegame. He had planned 21.Rxe4 dxe4 22.Qxe4 but this is refuted by 22…Qxc6.

Ruslan Ponomariov had no reason to be happy either after his draw with Wang Yue. The Ukrainian had been clearly better and a healthy pawn up, but couldn’t win the ending. It was surprising that he didn’t play the positional standard move 28.h4, and later he simply overlooked 37…Ng6 completely.

Round 7 games commented by GM Dorian Rogozenco

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC

La 4ème édition du Kings Tournament d'échecs de Bazna se déroule du 14 au 25 juin à Media?. Ce tournoi d'échecs se joue en 10 rondes aller-retour, avec 6 grands-maîtres dont le n°1 au Elo Magnus Carlsen.

Ci-contre, le champion d'échecs Magnus Carlsen.

Teimour Radjabov defeated Ruslan Ponomariov in the third round of the Kings Tournament in Medias, Romania. Gelfand and Nisipeanu kept their slim lead; the Israeli drew with Carlsen while the Romanian split the point with Wang Yue. Games annotated by GM Dorian Rogozenco & videos.

The fourth Kings Tournament takes place in Medias, Romania from June 14 till 25. Against it’s a 6-player, double round-robin, with two rest days. This year Carlsen, Gelfand, Nisipeanu, Ponomariov, Radjabov and Wang Yue play. The rate of play is 2 hours for the first 40 moves, one hour for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes plus an increment of 30 seconds per move.

The rounds start each day at 15.30 which is 14.30 CET and 08.30 EDT. They can run well into the evening, as we won’t see ultra-short draws in this tournament – no draw agreement by the players are allowed before move 30, except for cases of a triple-repetition, a perpetual or a theoretically drawn position.

The event is organized by Romgaz and the Chess Club Society “Elisabeta Polihroniade”. This year the tournament is officially part of the Grand Slam, substituting the cancelled MTel Masters. Venue is the brand new Romgaz Center in Medias (near Bazna), but the organizers are considering to move back to Hotel Complex Balnear Expro in Bazna, where everyone is staying.

ChessVibes will be at the tournament from start to finish, providing videos for the official website:

Videos

Round 3

“I don’t agree,” Nisipeanu answered to the question whether there should be tournaments where the Petroff is not allowed. “It’s just an opening where White needs to work more.” Wang Yue improved upon a recent game between his compatriots Li Chao and Bu Xiangzhi, which ended in romantic style, as can be seen in today’s video. Nisipeanu couldn’t find anything tangible against the improvement and so the game ended quickly.

Carlsen tried an interesting plan with f4 and Rf1-f3, but soon found out that it was’t very dangerous, due to some accurate moves by Gelfand over the c-file. In fact it was Black who had the advantage in the second phase of the game, but the Israeli regretted playing …e5 too quickly. “If I prepare it with Kg7 first it’s much stronger.”

Gelfand’s reaction to Spain’s 1-0 loss against Switzerland at the World Cup: “It’s always better to lose the first game than the last.” He said he was rooting for Spain, and Holland. “I always root for Holland.” Carlsen also said he liked the Spanish team, despite the fact that, being a Real fan, he sees Barcelona delivering most players. “No, I don’t mind.”

Ponomariov reached a promising postion out of the opening against Radjabov, but then played too slowly. He agreed with his opponent that he should have tried b4-b5 at some point. In fact Radjabov could have won earlier, as he explains in the video, but “There I trusted my opponent too much.”

More comments by the players in the round 3 video, now up.

Round 3 games annotated by GM Dorian Rogozenco

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Photos © Tournament website

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC

La 4ème édition du Kings Tournament d'échecs de Bazna se déroule du 14 au 25 juin à Media?. Ce tournoi d'échecs majeur se joue en 10 rondes (matchs aller-retour) avec six grands-maîtres de premier plan dont le n°1 au classement Elo Magnus Carlsen (2813).

La 4ème édition du Kings Tournament d'échecs de Bazna se déroule du 14 au 25 juin à Media?. Ce tournoi d'échecs majeur se joue en 10 rondes (matchs aller-retour) avec six grands-maîtres de premier plan dont le n°1 au classement Elo Magnus Carlsen (2813).

The 3rd Kings tournament takes place in Medias, Romania, Monday, June 14, 2010 - Friday, June 25, 2010.
Participants: Magnus Carlsen, Wang Yue, Boris Gelfand, Teimour Radjabov, Ruslan Ponomariov and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu.

Games start at 13:30 UTC. Final round starts at 11:30 UTC
ChessOK is going to broadcast all games of the tournament with Rybka Aquarium commentary.

Games: Round 1 [ PGN], Round 2 [ PGN]

Carlsen - Ponomariov 1/2 brGelfand - Wang Yue 1-0 brNisipeanu - Radjabov 1-0 brRadjabov - Carlsen 1/2 brGelfand - Nisipeanu 1/2 brWang Yue - Ponomariov 1/2 Carlsen (2813) (NOR) brWang Yue (2752) (CHI) brGelfand (2741) (ISR) brRadjabov (2740) (AZE) brPonomariov (2737) (UKR) brNisipeanu (2672) (ROM)

All three games in round 2 of the Kings Tournament in Medias, Romania ended in a draw. Magnus Carlsen tried for a long time to win an ending against Teimour Radjabov, who said he was simultaneously “fighting against a flu.” Games annotated by GM Dorian Rogozenco & new video.

The fourth Kings Tournament takes place in Medias, Romania from June 14 till 25. Against it’s a 6-player, double round-robin, with two rest days. This year Carlsen, Gelfand, Nisipeanu, Ponomariov, Radjabov and Wang Yue play. The rate of play is 2 hours for the first 40 moves, one hour for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes plus an increment of 30 seconds per move.

The rounds start each day at 15.30 which is 14.30 CET and 08.30 EDT. They can run well into the evening, as we won’t see ultra-short draws in this tournament – no draw agreement by the players are allowed before move 30, except for cases of a triple-repetition, a perpetual or a theoretically drawn position.

The event is organized by Romgaz and the Chess Club Society “Elisabeta Polihroniade”. This year the tournament is officially part of the Grand Slam, substituting the cancelled MTel Masters. Venue is the brand new Romgaz Center in Medias (near Bazna), but the organizers are considering to move back to Hotel Complex Balnear Expro in Bazna, where everyone is staying.

ChessVibes will be at the tournament from start to finish, providing videos for the official website:

Videos

Round 2

Although the temperature in the playing hall was much better thanks to some improvements by the organizers, Ruslan Ponomariov again finished first in round 2. He said that by now he’s quite “fed up with these Catalans”, but still “Black is quite solid”. Wang Yue, who had to wait 20 hours at Munich airport and then had a 7-hour game in the first round, wasn’t unhappy with a short game.

More interesting was Gelfand-Nisipeanu, where we saw a clash between the bishop pair and the knight pair. Black was just in time with the risky but necessary …b5 move, because otherwise White would have had time for Rd1 and Be3, with an advantage. The players agreed that in the final position Black is probably a bit better, but continuing wouldn’t have been without risks. As Gelfand said it, “bishops are bishops.”

Carlsen was a bit surprised about Radjabov’s opening choice, but he thought he “handled it quite well,” as he reached a promising position. He thought he shouldn’t have gone for the luiquidation in the middlegame. “I thought I would win a pawn, but I didn’t.” Radjabov played carefully till the end, as he didn’t want to spoil it by falling for a trick after playing so long. “It was probably a draw all the time.”

More comments by the players in the round 2 video, now up.

Round 2 games annotated by GM Dorian Rogozenco

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Photos © Tournament website

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu made headlines in the local newspapers after beating Teimour Radjabov in the first round of the Kings Tournament in Medias, Romania. Carlsen and Ponomariov drew relatively quickly, and Boris Gelfand defeated Wang Yue in the longest game of the round. Games annotated by GM Dorian Rogozenco & videos with comments by all six players!

The fourth Kings Tournament takes place in Medias, Romania from June 14 till 25. Against it’s a 6-player, double round-robin, with two rest days. This year Carlsen, Gelfand, Nisipeanu, Ponomariov, Radjabov and Wang Yue play. The rate of play is 2 hours for the first 40 moves, one hour for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes plus an increment of 30 seconds per move.

The rounds start each day at 15.30 which is 14.30 CET and 08.30 EDT. They can run well into the evening, as we won’t see ultra-short draws in this tournament – no draw agreement by the players are allowed before move 30, except for cases of a triple-repetition, a perpetual or a theoretically drawn position.

The event is organized by Romgaz and the Chess Club Society “Elisabeta Polihroniade”. This year the tournament is officially part of the Grand Slam, substituting the cancelled MTel Masters. Venue is the brand new Romgaz Center in Medias (near Bazna), but the organizers are considering to move back to Hotel Complex Balnear Expro in Bazna (where everyone is staying) after the rest day, because they fear the daily, half-an-hour ride to Medias (and back) might prove too uncomfortable.

ChessVibes will be at the tournament from start to finish, providing videos for the official website:

Videos

Round 1

On the first playing day the temperature was again well above 30 degrees Celcius and this could be felt at the venue. Naturally there is airco, but somehow this seemed to work better in the press room (thus far only occupied by press officer GM Dorian Rogozenco and yours truly) than in the playing hall. Ruslan Ponomariov could be found in the slightly cooler corridor often during the game, and in fact the Ukrainian was happy to be able to draw as soon as move 30 was reached. Carlsen “did notice it was a bit warmer than usual” but wasn’t much affected, he said.

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu started well, with a nice victory over Teimour Radjabov, who played too much “on intuition”, as he said after the game. Nisipeanu thought 21…f5 was “too ambitious” and he basically decided the game by the strong concept 23.Bxc6! and 24.f4, which left Black with a bad bishop and a bad structure.

Gelfand continued his strong form which he showed last week in Leon (though he’s still playing “game by game”, as he said afterwards), and played the best game of the round. It looked like Wang Yue had put up an impenetrable middlegame fortress, but in fact White’s way to break through with taking on h7 and g6 could’t be prevented according to Gelfand. He didn’t look at 50.Nxc6, which wins quicker, because he had correctly evaluated the endgame as technically winning.

Round 1 games annotated by GM Dorian Rogozenco

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Magnus Carlsen arriving at the venue - good to see him play again - with his father Henrik on the right and FIDE Treasurer Nigel Freeman on the left

The first move executed by the mayor of Medias, Teodor Neamtu

A good start for local hero Nisipeanu...

...and a tough one for Wang Yue

Henrik Carlsen (r.) and yours truly

Photos © Tournament website

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC

?

Grande Slam.



Cerimonia di apertura con Nisipeanu, idolo locale (foto chessdom.com)


PARTECIPANTI:

Carlsen	NOR	2813-n?1
Wang Yue	CHI	2752-n?8
Gelfand	ISR	2741-n?11
Radjabov	ARZ	2740-n?13
Ponomariov	UKR	2733-n?18
Nisipeanu	ROM	2672-n?59

Magnus Carlsen, 2813	Wang Yue, 2752	Boris Gelfand, 2741
Teimour Radjabov, 2740	Ruslan Ponomariov, 2733

Magnus Carlsen

Il torneo-regole:

• NANCHINO (CINA 2009) = Carlsen

• WIJK AAN ZEE (OLANDA 2010) = Carlsen

• LINARES (SPAGNA) = 12-25 Febbraio Topalov

• SOFIA (BULGARIA)= 25 Maggio - 5 Giugno? Non disputato

• FINALE MASTER = SHANGHAI ( Cina, 3-12 Settembre) & BILBAO ( Spagna, 6-14 Ottobre)

CLASSIFICA BAZNA 2009-1? Kings Tournament



1.	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2746													7
2.	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2733													6
3-4.	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2756													5?
3-4.	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2745													5?
5-6.	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	2720													3
5-6.	Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	g	ROU	2675													3



GM Ivanchuk (2746) - GM Nisipeanu (2675) [B80]
Bazna (6), 20.06.2009

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be3 Be7 7.f4 0?0 8.Qf3 e5 9.Nf5 Bxf5 10.exf5 Nbd7 11.Bc4 Rc8 12.Bb3 d5 13.Nxd5 Nxd5 14.Qxd5 exf4 15.Bxf4 Bb4+ 16.c3 Qe7+ 17.Kf1 Rc5 18.Re1 Qh4 19.Qe4 Ba5 20.Bd6 Qxe4 21.Rxe4 Rxf5+ 22.Ke2 Nc5 23.Re3 Rc8 24.g4 1?0

?

CLASSIFICA 2008

1. Short, Nigel g ENG 2660 7
2. Portisch, Lajos g HUN 2523 5
3. Andersson, Ulf g SWE 2537 5
4. Suba, Mihai g ROU 2487 4?
5. Khalifman, Alexander g RUS 2628 4?
6. Beliavsky, Alexander g SLO 2641 4?
7. Mecking, Henrique g BRA 2565 4?
8. Murariu, Andrei g ROU 2483 4
9. Timman, Jan g NED 2565 4
10. Vaganian, Rafael A g ARM 2617 3?
11. Sokolov, Andrei g FRA 2596 3?

? SITO UFFICIALE

? LIVE GAMES

The fourth Kings Tournament takes off on Sunday with the opening ceremony and on Monday with the first round. This year Carlsen, Gelfand, Nisipeanu, Ponomariov, Radjabov and Wang Yue play in Medias, Romania and ChessVibes will be there too!

The fourth edition of the Kings Tournament will take place June 14-25 in Medias, Romania. Again it’s organized by Romgaz and the Chess Club Society “Elisabeta Polihroniade”. This year the tournament is officially part of the Grand Slam, substituting the cancelled MTel Masters.

Against it’s a 6-player, double round-robin with a rest day after five rounds. Venue is the brand new Romgaz Center in Medias (near Bazna). The rate of play is 2 hours for the first 40 moves, one hour for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes plus an increment of 30 seconds per move.

No draw agreement by the players are allowed before move 30. Any such draw claim will be permitted only through the Chief Arbiter in the case of a triple-repetition of the position, a perpetual check or a theoretically drawn position.

Norwegian GM and world’s number 1 Magnus Carlsen is, not surprisingly, top seed. Last year’s winner Vassily Ivanchuk is playing the Capablanca Memorial in Cuba and was been replaced by his fellow countryman, the ex-FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov. The other participants are the 2009 World Cup winner Boris Gelfand, the best Chinese player Wang Yue, Azerbaijan’s number two Teimour Radjabov and the best Romanian player Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. Together they create an average rating of 2742.

ChessVibes will be at the tournament from start to finish, providing videos for the official website and thus having the opportunity to bring on-the-spot reports from Medias, Romania. Don’t miss it!

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

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

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

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

V Campeonato de España de Selecciones Autonómicas 2010.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Más abajo todas las partidas para ver y descargar.

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

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

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

Más abajo todas las partidas para ver y descargar.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hacemos un resumen de sus partidas.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Pavel Eljanov today won the sixth and final FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Astrakhan, Russia. The Ukrainian finished with a score of 8/13, a full point ahead of a group of five GMs. One of them was Teimour Radjabov, who finished second in the final GP standings and qualified for the FIDE Candidates matches.

The 6th FIDE Grand Prix took place May 10-24 in Astrakhan, Russia. Akopian (2694), Alekseev (2700), Gashimov (2734), Gelfand (2741), Eljanov (2751), Inarkiev (2669), Ivanchuk (2741), Jakovenko (2725), Leko (2735), Mamedyarov (2763), Ponomariov (2733), Rajabov (2740), Svidler (2735) and Wang Yue (2752) played. More details can be found in our first report.

Round 10

Would Pavel Eljanov be able to finish the tournament as strongly as he had played so far? How would he fare after the second and last rest day? Well, on Friday the Ukrainian had a crystal clear answer to this question. He defeated Hungarian top GM Peter Leko in 43 moves, perhaps not in the most convincing way, but the result is what counts.

Leko was more than fine after the opening (Eljanov didn’t like his 10.Ng3) and even rejected a draw offer on the 20th move. However, in the subsequent game the Hungarian made a few mistakes, and White obtained an advantage in the ending due to a strong passed pawn on the queenside. From that point Eljanov played very energetically. He did not allow Black to bring his king into the center, which would save the game for Leko. On the 43rd move White’s passed pawn became unstoppable, and Leko resigned.

Gashimov stayed half a point behind the leader after beating Inarkiev in a strong Ruy Lopez game. “I found an interesting plan with 15.Bd3 and 16.Re2,” he said afterwards. “My pawn sacrifice led to a curious position: White is a pawn down, Black pieces seem to be active, but actually White can play for a win at no risk. Soon I regained the material, keeping all the advantages of my position, then won an exchange and converted the advantage without much trouble.” Inarkiev: “I admit that Vugar played very energetically and deserved his win.”

Radjabov slowly but surely outplayed Akopian with Black in a Sveshnikov. “Maybe trading the queens was wrong,” said Akopian, “and I should have preferred 24.Qh6. I also don’t like my next moves – 26.Ndf4 and 28.f4. White’s position became very cramped, and Teimour showed good technique, not giving me any chances to survive.” 26.Ndf4 was a “serious inaccuracy” according to Radjabov.

Round 11

This round saw another Azeri derby: Radjabov versus Mamedyarov. It was an important game, since Radjabov’s win regained his chances to qualify for the Candidates matches. In the Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez White got a small advantage and then developed a strong initiative following Black’s unsuccessful queen maneuver on the 19th move. The game transposed to a queen ending with a remote passed pawn for White. Black was short on time and committed the decisive error on the 38th move. Mamedyarov resigned immediately due to inevitable loss of the kingside pawns.

Radjabov: “I think after 20.Qf4 White may already be winning. Not sure if 28.d6 was necessary, but I thought I needed to force the issues. In any case, after this move it becomes extremely difficult for Black to hold.” Mamedyarov didn’t agree with Radjabov’s assessment of the opening: “In my opinion, White didn’t get any advantage. He started to take the upper hand only when I made a mistake by 19…Qd4 – this move is overambitious.”

Also relevant for the Candidates spot was Gashimov’s loss against Ponomariov. He couldn’t adopt his Benoni as the Ukrainian went for other schemes. Ponomariov about Gashimov only playing the Benoni: “The disadvantage is that he knows other lines superficially. Thus I decided to transpose to the Nimzo-Indian Defense. In my opinion, I got a very comfortable position. Perhaps in the middlegame I could play better. For example, on the 17th move I could take on g3 with the queen, making Black’s defensive task tougher. Yet, defending was unpleasant enough for such an active player as Vugar. He started to make reckless moves such as 26…h5, which helped me to win the game.”

Round 12

Five-time Russian champion Peter Svidler finally won his first game in Astrakhan. He successfully avoided Gelfand’s Petroff and used the Four Knights to beat the Israeli in 31 moves. Gelfand’s sharp f-pawn push on the 21st move proved to be a big mistake. Svidler delivered a nice tactical blow, and Black’s position collapsed.

Akopian defeated Ivanchuk in just 23 moves. The Ukrainian handled the Ragozin Variation of the Queen’s Gambit too passively. Akopian comfortably arranged his pieces and launched a kingside attack. On the 21st move the Armenian sacrificed an exchange, which turned out to be a very unpleasant surprise for Black. In two more moves Ivanchuk abandoned his resistance.

Akopian, after the game: “I’m surprised that the victory came so easily – I have a bad score against Vassily. The plan that I employed in this game is not new: White ignores the d4-pawn and concentrates on a kingside attack. Vassily played without confidence; his 14…g6 only provokes my attack. And on the next move he should have played 15…h5. After he missed this opportunity, my only problem was to choose correctly from several good continuations. The final position is so ugly for Black that Vassily just resigned. Well, this probably just wasn’t his day…”

Mamedyarov improved upon his first round game against Jakovenko, to which Leko couldn’t find a good answer. Perhaps White didn’t find all the best moves, but nevertheless Mamadyarov managed to transpose to an ending with a big advantage, which he effectively converted to the full point.

Leko: “This was a strange game. Losing to Eljanov killed my chances to qualify for the candidates matches, which obviously affected my motivation today. Of course, this is not a good excuse for my poor play against Shakhriyar…”

Alekseev-Inarkiev was the longest game of the 12th round. After interesting complications in the Slav Defense the players arrived at a very original position, in which White had three minor pieces against a rook and three pawns. White slowly but surely consolidated his pieces and launched the attack on the king. He then won a pawn and advanced to a winning ending. Despite Black’s stubborn resistance, Alekseev won the game on the 88th move.

Round 13

Eljanov needed a draw to secure sole first, and he did so with the black pieces against Gelfand. The two have worked together in the past years, but with White Gelfand did press for while. In a Nimzo he sacrificed a pawn to open up the position, but Eljanov gave back the material and after the exchange of the minor pieces the position remained balanced.

After winning the Bosna tournament in 2009, Eljanov now has a new ‘best tournament of his career’. Winning this Grand Prix, one of the strongest tournaments on average rating and of this scale ever held, is a fantastic result for the 27-year-old, who proved that his new status of Ukraine’s number one player wasn’t a coincidence.

Report based on the tournament website

Photo courtesy of FIDE, more here

Games rounds 10-13

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Astrakhan Grand Prix 2010 | Schedule & results

After the 12th round, Ivanchuk, Leko, Mamedyarov and Alekseev were eliminated from qualifying for the runner-up position. Grischuk was also eliminated, because Radjabov scored well enough to ensure that even if he’d lose his final round, he’d gain enough GP points to surpass Grischuk.

In the final round of Astrakhan, Jakovenko was eliminated with his draw and Gashimov has been eliminated with his loss. The winner of the Radjabov-Wang Yue game decided matters: a win for the Chinese would have meant qualification, but Radjabov with White held a Petroff ending a pawn down to a draw and this was enough to end second in the overall Grand Prix. Thanks to ebutaljib for providing this table:

Source used: Wikipedia page on the GP

And so an end has come to a long series of six super tournaments which had its ups and downs. Positive were the tournament websites, with extensive reports (disclaimer: which were written by yours truly in Baku and Sochi), sometimes videos (by the Turkish Chess Federation in Baku, Europe-Echecs in Sochi and – another disclaimer – by me in Nalchik) and sometimes game analysis by GM Sergey Shipov.

More importantly, a big number of players had the opportunity to play in big, strong events and make good money.

But of course many more things went wrong. Three host cities (Doha, Karlovy Vary and Montreux) withdrew when it became clear that the money wasn’t there. Their nominated players had to leave the series and Yannick Pelletier was hit the most, as he couldn’t play a single event. The Czech organizers were very disappointed when Adams and Carlsen had good reason to leave the series: because of the sudden change of the World Championship cycle, during the cycle.

When it all started, the idea was that the winner of the GP would play against the World Champ. (We would have had a Aronian-Anand match in 2012.) winner of the World Cup. (We would have a Gelfand-Aronian match and the winner would play Anand.) But during the Olympiad in Dresden, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov suddenly announced the Candidates ‘tournament’ (which would later be rephrased to ‘matches’), for which the numbers one and two of the GP Series would qualify.

Another point of criticism FIDE received by many (e.g. more than once by Kasparov) was about the locations of the events. The whole series never managed to leave the greater Caucasus region, and so no single event was organized in a bigger, Western city, which didn’t really help to attract corporate sponsorship either.

In general the idea wasn’t so bad. But the execution could have been much better.

Update: according to Harish in the comments, the pairings for the Candidates matches are:

1. Topalovs vs Kamsky ( 1 vs 8 )
2. Carlsen vs Radjabov ( 2 vs 7 )
3. Kramnik vs Nominee ( 3 vs 6 )
4. Aronian vs Gelfand ( 4 vs 5 )

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC

Previous reports

• Astrakhan FIDE GP R1: Gashimov beats Ivanchuk
• Many draws so far at Astrakhan FIDE GP
• Eljanov leads in Astrakhan
• FIDE GP: Eljanov back ik the lead

La dernière étape du Grand Prix Fide vient de s'achever par la superbe victoire de l'Ukrainien Pavel Eljanov avec 8 points sur 13, un point devant ses concurrents directs.

Ukraine’s new number one Pavel Eljanov started strongly in Astrakhan. After five rounds he’s leading the sixth FIDE Grand Prix tournament with 3.5 points. His compatriot Vassily Ivanchuk started with 1/4, but yesterday he defeated another Ukrainian, Ruslan Ponomariov, with the black pieces.

The sixth and final FIDE Grand Prix takes place May 10-24 in Astrakhan, Russia. Akopian (2694), Alekseev (2700), Gashimov (2734), Gelfand (2741), Eljanov (2751), Inarkiev (2669), Ivanchuk (2741), Jakovenko (2725), Leko (2735), Mamedyarov (2763), Ponomariov (2733), Rajabov (2740), Svidler (2735) and Wang Yue (2752) play. More details can be found in our first report.

Rounds 4-5

In round 4, played on Thursday, Vassily Ivanchuk already suffered his second loss. The Ukrainian obtained a big advantage in a Caro-Kann and the game quickly proceeded to an endgame. Ivanchuk needed to make a few accurate moves to secure a win, but instead he lost the thread. He conceded the initiative to the opponent, and soon initiated an unsuccessful rook maneuver, allowing Black to promote his passed pawn.

At the press conference “Chucky” said: “I got a big advantage, and all I needed to do was to find the best way of converting it. Maybe 34.Kd4 instead of 34.Kf4 was the right move. I’d probably win the game if I played 34.Kd4. And then I made an elementary blunder…” Inarkiev: “I consciously went for an inferior ending, expecting to neutralize White’s advantage. However, I made a mistake somewhere, and my position became lost. Of course I was very lucky in the end.”

All other games ended in a draw. (With five more undecisive games in round 5, the drawing percentage is now as a high as 78%). Good games were Akopian-Mamedyarov and Eljanov-Gashimov, where both Azeri GMs had winning chances.

On Friday Pavel Eljanov took the lead by defeating Wang Yue in round 5 with Black. Quite an achievement, we’d say, since the last classical game the ultra-solid Chinese number one lost with White was art Corus 2009!

It must be said that Eljanov was forced to defend a difficult position for most of the game. In his own words: “I played terribly in the first half of the game, partly because I underestimated my opponent. My position was worse, and I wasted a lot of time… Wang Yue played well and obtained a solid advantage.”

The Chinese obtained a big space advantage following a temporary pawn sacrifice in a well-known variation of the Slav Defense. Eljanov: “I even wanted to resign at some point, but then found the only chance and sacrificed an exchange. I was almost exhausted at that moment and had nothing to lose…” Prior to the first time control Eljanov managed to complicate the game with an exchange sacrifice, and Wang Yue got nervous. First he missed the winning continuation, and then, after the control was already passed, blundered a rook instead of transposing into a better ending.

Vassily Ivanchuk won his first game in Astrakhan, defeating his arch-rival Ruslan Ponomariov. Ponomariov, having White, got a slight advantage after of the opening, but made an unsuccessful pawn sacrifice on the 22nd move and gave away the initiative. White’s problems got worse after he missed Black’s strong bishop manoeuvre. After the first control Black already had a winning position.

Ponomariov’s take on the game at the press conference: “Both players showed a lot of creativity from the start, especially after Vassily Mikhailovich played 9…Qe7. I thought I played logically, developed my pieces… Ivanchuk was taking his decisions very fast, and maybe I didn’t get enough time to fully comprehend the position. After 28…Be3 I gave away the initiative completely. Black started to attack… Maybe I had to play something more principled, but it’s hard to say without serious analysis. I thought I played well, but Black’s energetic play left me perplexed.”

Ivanchuk said: “As far as I know, 9…Qe7 occurred in the Anand-Karpov match. I misplayed something in the opening, as I didn’t like my position early on. The a6- and b6-pawns could easily become weak. 22.h4 gave me some hope. Instead of 31.Nd5 White had 31.Bc2 intending 32.Bd1 with an unclear position.”

Saturday was the first rest day of the tournament. Today the sixth round is played.

Report based on the excellent tournament website

Games rounds 4-5

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Astrakhan Grand Prix 2010 | Schedule & results

The brand new Astrakhan State Drama Theatre...

...with a stunning area for commentary by GM Evgeny Sveshnikov

Chess fans getting as close as possible to the players

A cheerful press conference with Peter Leko and Ruslan Ponomariov

Peter Svidler and Teimour Radjabov are not in a bad mood either

Vassily Ivanchuk: a bad start, but also a first victory

Pavel Elanov, in sole first place after five rounds

Photo courtesy of FIDE, more here

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC

Previous reports

• Astrakhan FIDE GP R1: Gashimov beats Ivanchuk
• Many draws so far at Astrakhan FIDE GP

Ville riche de 150 nationalités, Astrakhan surnommée "l'étoile du Sud" par Alexandre Dumas, accueille du 10 au 25 mai le Grand Prix Fide, un tournoi d'échecs majeur en 13 rondes.

The final FIDE Grand Prix is held in in Astrakhan from May 9th to 25th.

Players: Vladimir Akopian (Armenia) Evgeny Alekseev (Russia) Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine) Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan) Boris Gelfand (Israel) Ernesto Inarkiev (Russia) Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia) Peter Leko (Hungary) Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine) Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) Peter Svidler (Russia) Wang Yue (China).

The top two in the Grand Prix series standings qualify for the next FIDE Candidates cycle 2010-11.

Games: Round 1 [ PGN], Round 2 [ PGN]

Gashimov Vugar - Ivanchuk Vassily 1-0 brEljanov Pavel - Svidler Peter 1/2 brAkopian Vladimir - Gelfand Boris 1/2 brMamedyarov Shakhriyar - Jakovenko Dmitry 1/2 brWang Yue - Leko Peter 1/2 brAlekseev Evgeny - Radjabov Teimour 1/2 brInarkiev Ernesto - Ponomariov Ruslan 1/2 brJakovenko Dmitry - Gashimov Vugar 1/2 brRadjabov Teimour - Inarkiev Ernesto 1/2 brSvidler Peter - Ponomariov Ruslan 0-1 brLeko Peter - Alekseev Evgeny 1-0 brGelfand Boris - Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 1-0 brEljanov Pavel - Akopian Vladimir 1-0 brIvanchuk Vassily - Wang Yue 1/2 br Gashimov Vugar (2734) (AZE) brEljanov Pavel (2751) (UKR) brAkopian Vladimir (2694) (ARM) brMamedyarov Shakhriyar (2763) (AZE) brWang Yue (2752) (CHN) brAlekseev Evgeny (2700) (RUS) brInarkiev Ernesto (2669) (RUS) brPonomariov Ruslan (2733) (UKR) brRadjabov Teimour (2740) (AZE) brLeko Peter (2735) (HUN) brJakovenko Dmitry (2725) (RUS) brGelfand Boris (2741) (ISR) brSvidler Peter (2735) (RUS) brIvanchuk Vassily (2741) (UKR)

Vladimir Kramnik won the President’s Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan on Saturday. The former World Champion edged out Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Gata Kamsky on tiebreak.

Kramnik vs Polgar at the President’s Cup | Photo © Azerbaijan Chess Federation

The President’s Cup took place April 29-May 1 in Baku, Azerbaijan. It was a single round robin with eight players: four from Azerbaijan (Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Teimour Radjabov, Rauf Mamedov and Gadir Guseinov) and four from abroad (Vladimir Kramnik, Gata Kamsky, Emil Sutovsky and Judit Polgar). As we reported earlier, the organizers couldn’t give a clear answer to the question why Vugar Gashimov wasn’t playing.

Rounds 3-7

Two rounds were played on Thursday, three on Friday and two on Saturday. In our first report we saw that only Shakhryiar Mamedyarov started with two wins on the first day. In the follow-up it was Gata Kamsky who had a good series, scoring 3/4 (he beat Azeri’s Mamedov, Mamedyarov and Guseinov but lost to Kramnik).

Mamedyarov-Kamsky

With one round to go the American was topping the standings with 4.5/6. In the last round he started with 1.g3 and was easily held to a draw by Polgar. This allowed Kramnik and Mamedyarov to catch him; they defeated Sutovsky and Mamedov respectively, both with the black pieces. On tiebreak it was Kramnik who ended first; second was Mamedyarov and third came Kamsky.

Radjabov-Guseinov
White won with 56.Bc3! Ne2+ 57.Ke3 Nxc3 58.a5 and Black resigned.

Games rounds 3-7

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Kamsky, held to a draw by Polgar, dropped from 1st to 3rd place in the last round

Kramnik won the Cup - here in his win against Radjabov

The President's Cup

Photos © Azerbaijan Chess Federation, more here

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov started with two wins today at the President’s Cup in Baku. The rapid tournament in memory of Azerbaijan’s great leader Haydar Aliyev also has Azeri’s Teimour Radjabov, Rauf Mamedov and Gadir Guseinov, and Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Gata Kamsky (USA), Emil Sutovsky (Israel) and Judit Polgar (Hungary).

Last year’s President’s Cup was a Scheveningen match between four players (actually five, but every round a team of four played) from Azerbijan and a Rest of the World team. This year there are again four Azeri players and for foreigners, but it’s simply a single round-robin of seven rounds.

The ‘foreigners’ this year are Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Gata Kamsky (USA), Emil Sutovsky (Israel) and Judit Polgar (Hungary). The players in the Azerbijan ‘team’ are Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Teimour Radjabov, Rauf Mamedov and Gadir Guseinov.

The invitation policy of the Azerbaijan Chess Federation is often hard to guess and this time Vugar Gashimov has become victim of it – why he was left out of the team remains unclear. According to 1news a journalist asked about this at a press conference, and Vice President Faik Gasanov answered: “This is not a team tournament, and so he’s not necessarily invited here.”

The event started today with the first two rounds. Tomorrow three more rounds are played and on Saturday the last two. On Sunday there’s a blitz tournament. If you’d like to follow the games live, the schedule looks like this:
29 April 2010 – round 1 16:00 CET, round 2 17:15.
30 April 2010 – round 3 15:00 CET, round 4 16:15 CET.
1 May 2010 – round 6 09:00 CET, round 7 10:15 CET.
2 May 2010 – blitz tournament.

After two rounds only Shakhryiar Mamedyarov still has a 100% score. It must said he played with the white pieces twice, but he used them well and defeated both Polgar and Kramnik. Share second are Kamsky and Sutovsky, a team that has been known as ‘player-second’ as well (for instance in February 2009 in Sofia!) but now they’re both in the tournament a as participants.

Games rounds 1-2

Game viewer by ChessTempo

The stage with the players, and the late Heydar Aliyev in the background

Photos © Azerbaijan Chess Federation, more here

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC

La última victoria de Anand sobre Topalov.

La última victoria del Vishy sobre Topalov se produjo en la 8va Ronda del Corus 2008. En el torneo A, los dos ajedrecistas que partían en cabeza al inicio de la última jornada, Levon Aronian (2739) y Magnus Carlsen (2733), hacían tablas contra Judit Polgar (2707) y Teimour Radjabov (2735) respectivamente. Esto les situó en cabeza del torneo de ajedrez después del empate entre Vishy Anand (2799) y Vladimir Kramnik (2799), que disputaron una larga partida de 61 movimientos. Así pues, Aronian y Carlsen, que han completado un fantástico torneo, terminaban empatados a 8 puntos pero era Aronian el que ocupaba la primera plaza al superar a Carlsen en el desempate. Tercero y cuarto quedaban Anand y Teimour Radjabov, ambos empatados a 7,5 puntos pero el hindú con mejor desempate. Topalov tuvo un flojo desempeño, con +3 =6 -4, ubicándose en el 7mo puesto y perdiendo varios puntos en el ránking.

Se jugó una Defensa Siciliana, vaiante Najdorf. En este caso con la preventiva línea, anti ataque inglés, 8...h5. La partida se encaminó a un juego eminentemente posicional en donde Anand demostró su gran clase. Primero presionó con la amenaza de ruptura en c5 y, una vez que limitó las piezas negras en el ala dama, se encaminó al sector rey. El búlgaro buscó reaccionar mediante 30...e4 pero no hizo más que acelerar la derrota al ofrecer otro punto de ataque al blanco. Un triunfo impecable.

La última victoria de Topalov sobre Anand.

Esta victoria fue en la primera Final de Maestros del Grand Slam de Ajedrez, de categoría XXI, celebrado en Bilbao, España, del 2 al 13 de septiembre de 2008, que se adjudicó el ex campeón del mundo Veselin Topalov en una excelente actuación, con 1½ de ventaja sobre sus perseguidores. Anand, Campeón del Mundo, finalizó último en el torneo, algo casi inédito, y además cercano del Match por el Campeonato, en octubre frente a Kramnik. Algo similar al pálido desempeño de Vladimir en el torneo de Dortmund y regular en el Memorial Tal. Topalov, tenía una cita de similar importancia a fines de noviembre en Ucrania, su match con Kamsky, paso previo a desafiar al Campeón del mundo.

En la cuarta Ronda Topalov gana de manera contundente al Campeón del Mundo, el indio Viswanathan Anand, en 25 movimientos y algo más de 2 horas de juego.

La preparación de una partida es a veces decisiva para el resultado de la misma. Topalov, afincado en Salamanca, viajó los últimos días de agosto a Menorca, después de realizar una exhibición de partidas simultáneas en Alcubierre (Huesca), donde en compañía del gran maestro español Francisco Vallejo encontró una interesante idea contra la defensa india de dama que habitualmente juega Anand. En el movimiento 12, Topalov ensayó un plan que implicaba cambiar su alfil de casillas negras por el caballo contrario, con la idea de debilitar el enroque. El búlgaro efectuó todos estos movimientos con gran velocidad para desconcierto de Anand, que no encontró el plan defensivo adecuado pese a emplear muchos minutos del tiempo asignado reglamentariamente al comienzo de las partidas: 90 minutos para 40 movimientos. El campeón del mundo devolvió el peón sacrificado por Topalov; sin embargo, la suerte de la partida estaba decidida y en la jugada 25 el gran maestro indio paró el reloj en señal de abandono.

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23 de abril al 12 de mayo de 2010 en Sofía Bulgaria

A pocos días del comienzo del Match por el Campeonato Mundial y con un pedido de postergación de tres días del Campeón Vishy Anand.

Llegado con su esposa a Frankfurt, como escala en su viaje a su Sofía, ante la cancelación de todos los vuelos ha solicitado formalmente a través de la Federación de Ajedrez de la India, un aplazamiento de tres días del comienzo de su Match contra Veselin Topalov. Como es público y notorio, la enorme nube de cenizas provocada por la erupción de un volcán del área del glaciar Eyjafjallajokull, en el sur de Islandia, obligó a la suspensión de vuelos en una buena parte de Europa.

El Match está pactado a 12 partidas y en caso de igualdad el desempate en partidas rápidas y finalmente partidas relámpago y muerte súbita.

En caso de paridad (6-6), cuatro de juegos de desempate a 25 minutos para cada jugador con un incremento de 10 segundos después de cada movimiento.

Veamos algunas declaraciones de Topalov:

Anand es el mayor talento en la historia del ajedrez. Ahora tiene 40 años y durante la mitad de ese tiempo fue uno de los jugadores más fuertes. De todos modos, una observación: en el Campeonato Mundial en México, donde Vishy ganó su título, yo no participé debido a la imbécil normativa inventada por los funcionarios de la FIDE. En cuanto a la próxima partido -en Sofía- a Anand le será mucho más fácil que a mí desde el punto de vista psicológico. Todo el mundo espera de mí nada menos que la victoria. Si Anand pierde la gente diría: jugó en terreno enemigo, en caso de una victoria que sería héroe! (…) Mis ventajas son: '+1' de los resultados de nuestros juegos en el ajedrez clásico, y ' -5 'de la edad. Él tiene 40, mientras que yo 35.”

Los juegos comienzan a las 15:00 (UTC +3) de Sofía. La página oficial es www.anand-topalov.com.

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Anand vence a Topalov – Topalov vence a Anand

A días del comienzo del Match por el Campeonato del Mundo las dos últimas victorias de cada uno sobre el otro.

La última victoria de Anand sobre Topalov.

La última victoria del Vishy sobre Topalov se produjo en la 8va Ronda del Corus 2008. En el torneo A, los dos ajedrecistas que partían en cabeza al inicio de la última jornada, Levon Aronian (2739) y Magnus Carlsen (2733), hacían tablas contra Judit Polgar (2707) y Teimour Radjabov (2735) respectivamente. Esto les situó en cabeza del torneo de ajedrez después del empate entre Vishy Anand (2799) y Vladimir Kramnik (2799), que disputaron una larga partida de 61 movimientos. Así pues, Aronian y Carlsen, que han completado un fantástico torneo, terminaban empatados a 8 puntos pero era Aronian el que ocupaba la primera plaza al superar a Carlsen en el desempate. Tercero y cuarto quedaban Anand y Teimour Radjabov, ambos empatados a 7,5 puntos pero el hindú con mejor desempate. Topalov tuvo un flojo desempeño, con +3 =6 -4, ubicándose en el 7mo puesto y perdiendo varios puntos en el ránking.

Se jugó una Defensa Siciliana, vaiante Najdorf. En este caso con la preventiva línea, anti ataque inglés, 8...h5. La partida se encaminó a un juego eminentemente posicional en donde Anand demostró su gran clase. Primero presionó con la amenaza de ruptura en c5 y, una vez que limitó las piezas negras en el ala dama, se encaminó al sector rey. El búlgaro buscó reaccionar mediante 30...e4 pero no hizo más que acelerar la derrota al ofrecer otro punto de ataque al blanco. Un triunfo impecable.

La última victoria de Topalov sobre Anand.

Esta victoria fue en la primera Final de Maestros del Grand Slam de Ajedrez, de categoría XXI, celebrado en Bilbao, España, del 2 al 13 de septiembre de 2008, que se adjudicó el ex campeón del mundo Veselin Topalov en una excelente actuación, con 1½ de ventaja sobre sus perseguidores. Anand, Campeón del Mundo, finalizó último en el torneo, algo casi inédito, y además cercano del Match por el Campeonato, en octubre frente a Kramnik. Algo similar al pálido desempeño de Vladimir en el torneo de Dortmund y regular en el Memorial Tal. Topalov, tenía una cita de similar importancia a fines de noviembre en Ucrania, su match con Kamsky, paso previo a desafiar al Campeón del mundo.

En la cuarta Ronda Topalov gana de manera contundente al Campeón del Mundo, el indio Viswanathan Anand, en 25 movimientos y algo más de 2 horas de juego.

La preparación de una partida es a veces decisiva para el resultado de la misma. Topalov, afincado en Salamanca, viajó los últimos días de agosto a Menorca, después de realizar una exhibición de partidas simultáneas en Alcubierre (Huesca), donde en compañía del gran maestro español Francisco Vallejo encontró una interesante idea contra la defensa india de dama que habitualmente juega Anand. En el movimiento 12, Topalov ensayó un plan que implicaba cambiar su alfil de casillas negras por el caballo contrario, con la idea de debilitar el enroque. El búlgaro efectuó todos estos movimientos con gran velocidad para desconcierto de Anand, que no encontró el plan defensivo adecuado pese a emplear muchos minutos del tiempo asignado reglamentariamente al comienzo de las partidas: 90 minutos para 40 movimientos. El campeón del mundo devolvió el peón sacrificado por Topalov; sin embargo, la suerte de la partida estaba decidida y en la jugada 25 el gran maestro indio paró el reloj en señal de abandono.

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Magnus Carlsen is the top seed of this year’s Kings Tournament in Bazna, Romania. The 4th edition “replaces the MTel Masters in the Grand Slam circuit”, according to the organizers. Besides Carlsen, the field has Gelfand, Nisipeanu, Ponomariov, Radjabov and Wang Yue.

Last week we received the following, brief press release from the organizers of the Kings Tournament.

The Kings Tournament will take place in the period 14-25 June in Bazna, Romania. This year’s participants are Magnus Carlsen, Wang Yue, Boris Gelfand, Teimour Radjabov, Ruslan Ponomariov and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. The playing modus is double-round robin event with 2 free days. Sofia (anti-draw) rules apply.

The Kings Tournament replaces the Sofia M-Tel Masters in the Grand Slam circuit of this year.

The Romanian Gas Company „Romgaz” is sponsoring the event, while the main organizer of Kings Tournament is „The chess club Elisabeta Polihroniade”.

And so after a relatively long period of inactivity (as far as classical chess is concerned), world number one Magnus Carlsen will return to the chess board in June. Fans eagerly await his new tournament in Romania, the first after Corus, which will be another 6-player, double round-robin, like last year. Then it was Vassily Ivanchuk who finished first with a 7/10 score, ahead of Boris Gelfand (6/10), Teimour Radjabov & Alexei Shirov (5.5/10) and Gata Kamsy & Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (3/10).

Members of the Grand Slam Chess Association had been talking with the Romanian organizers for a while about inclusion in the Grand Slam, and we can assume that the cancellation of the MTel Masters has speeded up this process. With Carlsen in the field this brings the risk of an interesting complication. After Nanjing and Corus, the Norwegian might also win this one. In that case the organizers of the Grand Slam Final Masters in Bilbao/Shanghai, who already invited Carlsen, will need to look at the best numbers 2 for deciding on their other invitations.

Hikaru Nakamura has quite a story to tell. Born in Osaka, Japan and arriving in the U.S. at the age of two, Nakamura has been gracing the pages of chess magazines since he began breaking many of Bobby Fischer’s records. One of the first indicators of chess talent is the age record for National Master.

There have been many talented players to come through the scholastic ranks, but many either quit playing after high school, or shortly after reaching National Master. When Nakamura entered Dickinson College, there were fears that America would lose yet another promising talent along the likes of Grandmasters Michael Wilder and Patrick Wolff.

Under the early tutelage of his stepfather FM Sunil Weeramantry and the mentorship of older brother Asuka Nakamura, young Hikaru shattered the record reaching the mark in 10 years, 79 days. In 2008, his record was later lowered to 9 years, 11 months by Nicholas Nip, a player who is no longer active. Five years later, he broke Bobby Fischer’s long-standing record by earning Grandmaster status in 15 years, 79 days.

Media comparisons to Fischer immediately heightened when he won the U.S. Championship at age 16. However, Nakamura reminded everyone, “I’m not Bobby Fischer.” He was intimating the point that Fischer was an unbalanced individual who only thought of chess. Of course, this was only half the story with Fischer, but certainly he was one who could not operate comfortably outside of the chess realm.

When you talk to Nakamura, he is comfortable talking about a wide range of topics including his beloved Vancouver Canucks hockey team. He also has a variety of interests including music, finance, sports and politics. Many of the existing stereotypes of Nakamura are based on history from his teen years and commentary from online chess servers.

Chief Organizer Erik Anderson (left) stands next to GM Hikaru Nakamura and WGM Rusudan Goletiani after both were crowned the 2004 U.S. Champions.

Nakamura’s talent was hardly questioned on the U.S. scene as he had put together an impressive résumé of wins. At the closing ceremonies of the 2003 U.S. Championship, winner Alexander Shabalov singled out a young Nakamura and stated that he had a bright future in chess. In American tournaments, Nakamura’s brash style has become a breath of fresh air in a sport that had become stagnant with the same players competing every year in the U.S. Championships and the open tournaments. His victory the next year was definitely good for chess.

Once Nakamura joined the elite class in the U.S., he carried a reputation as being an isolationist and distrustful of his colleagues. He rankled many when he made comments about collusion among the U.S. elite. “That’s actually why I still work alone. It’s very hard to trust anybody.” However, as Nakamura begin to ascend to a world-class level, he enlisted some help. After the 2009 U.S. Championship, he mentioned that he had been working with National Master Kris Littlejohn. This choice of a second puzzled many, but has paid dividends.

Viktor Mikalevski ponders Gata Kamsky’s next move while Nakamura-Najer reaches the climatic stage of the 2009 World Open. Photo by Daaim Shabazz.

In U.S. chess, there had been too many “friendships” between top players which resulted in many quick draws and dispirited play. Nakamura was dismissive of these tactics and forced the issue with his ‘play-to-win’ attitude. His determination affords him psychological capital when an opponent understands that they have to fight when they are already content on drawing. This fighting spirit came into great effect when he won his first U.S. Championship at age 16. However, in an important interview in Salon magazine, there were still had doubters.

“The finish is very good but few purists will rank his play in the same league as Fischer’s — it lacks elegance,” wrote chess scribe Alan Goldsmith. Another chess writer, Bobby Ang, wondered, “When Nakamura reaches the higher echelons of the chess elite, will his style work?” Citing a benchmark of great contemporary players, Ang asked of Nakamura, “Can his brilliance overcome the tactical mastery of Alexei Shirov? Will his will-to-win be sufficient to breach the solid fortifications of Vladimir Kramnik, or Peter Leko? Is his much-touted resourcefulness of a high enough standard to battle with Rustam Kasimdzhanov? I doubt it very much.” (see link)

Nakamura’s sales pitch to Europe was more difficult, but he was beginning to pick up momentum. Tournament organizers were attracted to his brash, no-nonsense style. He has since broken through in a number of strong tournaments and is now comfortably ensconced in the top 20. Many detractors rail at the notion that Nakamura has not gotten the opportunities to face the elite level. They cite his skipping Corus “B” in 2008 for the Gibraltar Masters as a snub. Nakamura cited inadequate conditions, but made good on his trip by winning Gibraltar.

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.

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.

A Bursa, nella zona nord-occidentale della Turchia, si svolge dal 5 al 13 gennaio la settima edizione del Campionato del Mondo per nazioni. La competizione si tiene nei primi giorni del 2010, in realtà però è relativa all’anno 2009 dato che la manifestazione ha cadenza quadriennale.

Il Campionato del Mondo per nazioni ha una storia relativamente recente: nasce nel 1985 e originariamente tutte le sue edizioni avrebbero dovuto tenersi ogni quattro anni a Lucerna in Svizzera, dove peraltro si erano svolte le Olimpiadi scacchistiche del 1982. Il progetto venne abbandonato dopo quattro edizioni, trasferendo la competizione in Armenia nel 2001 e in Israele nel 2005. La formula è sempre stata quella del torneo ad inviti: dieci le squadre invitate che si confrontano in un girone all’italiana. Attualmente vengono ammesse le squadre vincitrici dei Campionati Continentali d’Europa, Asia, Africa e America (in questa edizione Russia, India che ha rimpiazzato il forfeit della Cina, Egitto e Brasile), le tre squadre meglio classificate alle precedenti Olimpiadi (Armenia, Israele e USA), due squadre invitate dalla FIDE (Azerbaigian e Grecia) e il paese ospitante (Turchia).

Le squadre in campo:

Morozevich, un giocatore scintillante!

Russia:

Alexander Grischuk 2736

Alexander Morozevich 2732

Vladimir Malakhov 2716

Dmitry Jakovenko 2730

Evgeny Tomashevsky 2705

Nikita Vitiugov 2692

Nella Russia assente Kramnik, ma anche Svidler. Fallito il tentativo di schierare per la prima volta Karjakin in una formazione russa, i regolamenti FIDE l’hanno impedito e Sergey è stato sostituito da Jakovenko. Attesa per Malakhov che ha fatto molto bene nel 2009. Sono i Campioni del Mondo per nazioni in carica avendo conquistato il titolo nel 2005 a Beer Sheva, dopo un emozionante ultimo turno, nel quale hanno surclassato i Cinesi fino ad allora in testa alla manifestazione. L’edizione del 2005 vedeva presente nella squadra femminile della Cina (fino al 2005 partecipava al Campionato anche una formazione femminile), una giocatrice che farà poi sensazione, l’allora 11enne Hou Yifan.

Malakhov, ha ricevuto consensi unanimi nel 2009

Gelfand, il vincitore della World Cup 2009

Israele:

Boris Gelfand 2761

Ilia Smirin 2668

Michael Roiz 2657

Emil Sutovsky 2657

Evgeny Postny 2648

Maxim Rodhstein 2622

La squadra del vincitore della World Cup, Boris Gelfand. Attualmente è al secondo posto nel ranking mondiale per nazioni, tra Russia e la grande assente Cina.

Rodshtein, giovanissimo secondo di Gelfand a Khanty-Mansiysk

Gashimov, finalmente n° 1 dell'Azeirbaigian

Azerbaijan:

Vugar Gashimov 2759

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2741

Teimour Radjabov 2733

Rauf Mamedov 2640

Gadir Guseinov 2614

Nidjat Mamedov 2610

Campioni Europei in carica, presenta ora Gashimov in prima scacchiera al posto di Radjabov. Quarti nel ranking FIDE (da tenere conto che nella classifica FIDE uscita il 1° gennaio 2010 mancano sia l’Ucraina che l’Argentina).

Nidjat Mamedov, tra i meno conosciuti dello squadrone azero

USA:

Hikaru Nakamura 2708

Alexander Onischuk 2670

Varuzhan Akobian 2628

Yuri Shulman 2624

Robert L. Hess 2572

Ray Robson 2570

Quinti nel ranking FIDE, senza Kamsky inpegnato a Reggio Emilia e con due giovani di notevoli ambizioni, Hess e Robson (rispettivamente classe 1991 e 1994).

Robert Hess

Ray Robson

Harikrishna Pentala

India:

Harikrishna, Pentala 2672

Ganguly, Surya Shekhar 2654

Sasikiran, Krishnan 2653

Geetha Narayanan Gopal 2584

Arun Prasad, S. 2567

Adhiban, B. 2511

Naturalmente assente Anand, rimpiazza la Cina, ma è una sostituzione di lusso, visto che gli indiani sono al sesto posto nel ranking mondiale.

Adhiban

Aronian, TopPlayer in questo WTCC 2009

Armenia:

Levon Aronian 2781

Gabriel Sargissian 2680

Vladimir Akopian 2678

Arman Pashikian 2647

Tigran Petrosian 2627

Tigran Kotanjian 2537

Noni nella classifica per nazioni 2010, ma Campioni Olimpici sia nel 2006 che nel 2008!

Arman Pashikian

Vescovi, in continua ascesa

Brasile:

Giovanni Vescovi 2660

Rafael Leitao 2620

Gilberto Milos 2618

Alexandr Fier 2601

Andre Diamant 2497

Darcy Lima 2481

Hanno vinto il Campionato Panamericano 2009 davanti a Cuba. 23esimi nella classifica FIDE.

Andre Diamant

Kotronias, esperienza al servizio della Grecia

Grecia:

Ioannis Papaioannou 2625

Hristos Banikas 2608

Vassilios Kotronias 2599

Dimitrios Mastrovasilis 2571

Stelios Halkias 2566

Athanasios Mastrovasilis 2510

Forse il loro miglior risultato come squadra è stato un pregevolissimo quarto posto al Campionato Europeo di Goteborg nel 2005. 24esimi nel ranking mondiale.

Dimitrios Mastrovasilis, l'abbiamo visto spesso giocare in Italia

Adly, una delle due "perle" egiziane

Egitto:

Ahmed Adly 2591

Bassem Amin 2544

Mohamed Ezat 2471

Khaled Abdel Razik 2468

Imed Abdelnabbi 2448

Walaa Sarwat 2386

Campioni d’Africa ma anche vincitori dei “Pan Arab Games”. 40esimi nel Ranking FIDE.

Bassem Amin, altro grande talento, ma qui sarà dura

Kivanc Haznedaroglu e il dovere di una prestazione dignitosa

Turchia:

Mert Erdogdu 2513

Baris Esen 2513

Kivanc Haznedaroglu 2498

Mustafa Yilmaz 2478

Emre Can 2442

Burak Firat 2413

Paese ospitante di questa come di tante altre manifestazioni scacchistiche di primissimo livello. Non hanno ancora una squadra competitiva (e curiosamente manca il suo giocatore più forte, Mikhail Gurevich, 2597), ma sembra che in Turchia gli scacchi siano attualmente un fenomeno di massa. 43esimi nella classifica mondiale.

Emre Can, si è fatto valere in tanti tornei giovanili

Previsti dunque nove turni, si gioca su quattro scacchiere e due sono le riserve.

Cadenza di gioco: 90’ x 40 mosse + 30’ per finire, sempre con 30” d’abbuono a mossa.

La formazione USA che vinse l'edizione 1993 a Lucerna: inconfondibile Gata Kamsky!

L'Ucraina vincitrice nel 2001: si riconoscono tra gli altri Ponomariov, Romanishin e SuperIvanchuk

Sito ufficiale

The World Team Championship is a round robin event with time control 90 min/40 moves +30 min/end, with 30 seconds additional time per move, starting from move one.

Official site: wtcc2009.tsf.org.tr

Armenia

Levon Aronian 2786
Vladimir Akopian 2700
Gabriel Sargissian 2676
Arman Pashikian 2656
Tigran Petrosian 2615
Tigran Kotanjian 2542

Israel

Boris Gelfand 2758
Michael Roiz 2659
Ilia Smirin 2662
Emil Sutovsky 2666
Evgeny Postny 2650
Maxim Rodhstein 2650

USA

Hikaru Nakamura 2715
Alexander Onischuk 2672
Yuri Shulman 2623
Varuzhan Akobian 2624
Robert L. Hess 2572
Ray Robson 2567

Russia

Alexander Morozevich 2750
Alexander Grischuk 2736
Vladimir Malakhov 2706
Dmitry Jakovenko 2736
Evgeny Tomashevsky 2708
Nikita Vityugov 2694

Brazil

Giovanni Vescovi 2648
Rafael Leitao 2621
Alexandr Fier 2653
Gilberto Milos 2603
Andre Diamant 2493
Darcy Lima 2504

Egypt

Ahmed Adly 2583
Bassem Amin 2553
Mohamed Ezat 2472
Khaled Abdel Razik 2469
Imed Abdelnabbi 2447
Walaa Sarwat 2405

Azerbaijan

Vugar Gashimov 2758
Teimour Radjabov 2748
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2719
Rauf Mamedov 2634
Gadir Guseinov 2625
Nidjat Mamedov 2617

Greece

Vassilios Kotronias 2599
Ioannis Papaioannou 2628
Hristos Banikas 2615
Stelios Halkias 2573
Dimitrios Mastrovasilis 2569
Athanasios Mastrovasilis 2513

Turkey

Kivanc Haznedaroglu 2497
Mert Erdogdu 2489
Mustafa Yilmaz 2468
Emre Can 2449
Baris Esen 2493
Burak Firat 2392

GM Julio Granda

Esta época de diciembre parece ser la más propicia del año para jugar ajedrez. Para prueba, pueden observarse las páginas www.ajedrezenmadrid.com, www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com, http://www.europe-echecs.com/ o www.chess-results.com/, que en opinión de este colaborador le brindan muy buena información al interesado en estos temas. En estas páginas, el lector podrá informarse de la gran cantidad de torneos que hay actualmente en juego en todo el mundo.

El torneo internacional de Pamplona comprende un torneo magistral, al que aquí haremos referencia, y uno abierto, en el que hay inscritos 60 jugadores; todos españoles, con excepción del búlgaro Iván Tetimov.

Ficha del torneo magistral: 
Organizador  : IO Joaquin Perez-Seoane
Director del Torneo  : GM Jesus De la Villa García
Árbitro Principal  : IA Jesus Mena
Árbitro  : FA Gregorio Sola
Ciudad  : Pamplona
Categoría  : 13 (Elo medio: 2575)
Fecha  : 21.12.2009 A 29.12.2009

El torneo se disputará en el Hotel Blanca de Navarra de Pamplona. El acto de clausura y el reparto de premios tendrán lugar el día 29 de diciembre de 2009 a las 21′00 horas en la sala de juego.
 
El ritmo de juego será de 90 minutos para las primeras 40 jugadas más otros 30 minutos para terminar la partida.  Desde la primera jugada se añadirán 30 segundos por cada nueva jugada realizada. Se utilizarán relojes digitales. 

Listado de Participantes torneo magistral:

 Clasificación tras la 4ª ronda:

A continuación, veamos quiénes han ganado el torneo desde que se fundó en el año 90. 

Veamos ahora dos de las partidas que ha ganado el peruano Julio Granda, que en esta ocasión lleva cuatro partidas ganadas en las cuatro rondas.     
                  
Granda Zúñiga, Julio (2640) – Recuero Guerra, David (2494) [A29]
19. Ciudad de Pamplona – Magistral Pamplona ESPAÑA (2.2), 22.12.2009

 1.c4 Cf6 2.Cc3 e5 3.Cf3 Cc6 4.g3 Ab4 5.Ag2 0–0 6.0–0 Te8 7.d3 h6 8.e4 d6 9.h3 a6 10.Ae3 Axc3 11.bxc3 b5 12.c5 Ae6 13.cxd6 cxd6 14.Cd2 d5 15.Cb3 Dc8 16.Rh2 dxe4 17.dxe4 Td8 18.Dc1 Dc7 19.Da3 Axb3 20.axb3

Granda se ha quedado con la pareja de alfiles.

20…Td3 21.Db2 a5

El negro se prepara para doblar las torres en la columna ‘d’.

22.Tfd1 Txd1 23.Txd1 Td8 24.Tc1 Db7 25.c4 Cb4 26.Da1 bxc4 27.Txc4 Cc6 28.Da4 Td6 29.Tc5 Db4 30.Dxb4 axb4 31.Tc4 Cd7 32.Af1 Rh7 33.Rg2 Rg6 34.f4 f6 35.Rf2 Rf7 36.h4 exf4 37.gxf4 g5 38.e5 fxe5 39.fxg5 hxg5 40.hxg5 Cd4 41.Tc7 Rg6 42.Ad3+ Rh5 43.Tc1 e4

La situación del rey negro es delicada. Está cayendo en una red de mate. Por eso se deciden a entregar este peón.

44.Axe4 Ce5 45.Af4 Te6 46.Re3 Cg6 47.Th1+ Rg4 48.Tg1+ Rh5 49.Th1+ Rg4 50.Rxd4 Cxf4 51.g6!? Te7 52.Th7 Ce6+ 53.Rc4 Cg7 54.Ad5 Rf5 55.Txg7 Txg7

La torre está presa y el otro peón está a punto de caer.
56.Af7 Re5 57.Rc5 Rf6 58.Rxb4 Re7 59.Rc5 Rd7 60.Rd5 Re7 61.Re5 Rf8 62.Re6

Ahora la torre está obligada a tomar.

1–0
(15) Mirzoev, Azer (2617) – Granda Zúñiga, Julio (2640) [E20]
19. Ciudad de Pamplona – Magistral Pamplona ESP (3.5), 23.12.2009
1.d4 Cf6 2.c4 e6 3.Cc3 Ab4 4.Ad2 0–0 5.a3 Axc3 6.Axc3 Ce4 7.Dc2 Cxc3 8.Dxc3 b6 9.Cf3 Ab7 10.e3 d6 11.Ae2 Cd7 12.0–0 c5 13.Tfd1 De7 14.dxc5 Cxc5 15.Cd2 Tac8 16.Tac1 Tc7 17.b4 Cd7 18.Dd4 Tfc8 19.Cb3 Dg5

El peón ‘d’ es débil, pero por ahora Granda amenaza mate en ‘g2’.

20.g3

Posición después de 20.g3

Da la impresión de que esta jugada sea la causa de muchos de los problemas del GM Mirzoev a lo largo de la partida.

20…Dg6

Tampoco se puede tomar el peón ‘d’ por 21…De5, con nueva amenaza de mate.

21.Df4 e5 22.Dg4 Df6 23.Dh3 g6 24.Df1 De6 25.Cd2 Cf6 26.Af3 Aa6 27.b5 Ab7 28.Axb7

Aquí termina el capítulo del poderoso alfil blanco de las negras. Pero continua vigente la debilidad blanca en ‘c4’.
 
28… Txb7 29.Tc3 Tbc7 30.Td3 Rg7 31.h4 e4 32.Td4 Tc5 33.a4 h6 34.Dg2 d5!? 35.cxd5 Txd5 36.Cb3 Te5 37.Tb4?! De7 38.Tbd4 De6 39.Tb4 Cd5 40.Cd4 Dg4

Con unas piezas más activas, Granda no está interesado en las tablas.

41.Tbb1

Esto, por desgracia, es una necesidad.

41…Cc3 42.Df1 Cxd1 43.Txd1 Tc3 44.Ta1 Td5 45.De1 Td3 46.Rh2 g5 47.hxg5 Txg5 48.Rg1 Th5 49.Df1 Rh7 50.Te1 Rh8 51.Tc1? Txe3 52.Tc8+
 
[52.fxe3 Dxg3+ 53.Dg2 Dxe3+ 54.Rf1 Dxc1+ 55.Rf2 Dd2+ 56.Rg1 Dxd4+]

52…Rh7 53.Tc7 Txg3+

0–1

Construcción histórica en Pamplona

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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.

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

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

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

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

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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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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

Kiril Georgiev, numero 1 del Tabellone

LAZNICKA alla World Cup 2009

GM MEIER, Georg 2653 - IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435
GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589 - IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523
GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672 - IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488
GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637 - GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640
IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494 - GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617

Round 2 on 2009/12/22 at 16:00

IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435 - GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617
GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640 - IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494
IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488 - GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637
IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523 - GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672
GM MEIER, Georg 2653 - GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589

Round 3 on 2009/12/23 at 16:00

GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589 - IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435
GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672 - GM MEIER, Georg 2653
GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637 - IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523
IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494 - IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488
GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617 - GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640

Round 4 on 2009/12/24 at 15:00

IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435 - GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640
IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488 - GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617
IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523 - IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494
GM MEIER, Georg 2653 - GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637
GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589 - GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672

Round 5 on 2009/12/25 at 16:00

GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672 - IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435
GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637 - GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589
IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494 - GM MEIER, Georg 2653
GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617 - IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523
GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640 - IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488

Round 6 on 2009/12/26 at 16:00

IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435 - IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488
IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523 - GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640
GM MEIER, Georg 2653 - GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617
GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589 - IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494
GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672 - GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637

Round 7 on 2009/12/27 at 16:00

GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637 - IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435
IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494 - GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672
GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617 - GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589
GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640 - GM MEIER, Georg 2653
IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488 - IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523

Round 8 on 2009/12/28 at 16:00

IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435 - IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523
GM MEIER, Georg 2653 - IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488
GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589 - GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640
GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672 - GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617
GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637 - IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494

Round 9 on 2009/12/29 at 16:00

IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494 - IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435
GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617 - GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637
GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640 - GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672
IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488 - GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589
IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523 - GM MEIER, Georg 2653

ALBO D' ORO

Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez Perez is a world-class player known for almost always going for the absolute main lines. When David Smerdon was preparing for Dominguez, his opponent in the World Cup, the Australian GM decided not to avoid theory, but to play… the Sicilian Dragon! The diagram position contains an important finesse he found while preparing – before you click on ‘full story’, see if you can find what Black should play…

The diagram position is from the second rapid game Dominguez-Smerdon, World Cup (Khanty-Mansiysk) 2009, played last Monday, after the moves 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. Kb1 Re8 13. h4 h5 14. g4 hxg4 15. h5 Nxh5 16. Bh6 e6 17. Rdg1 Qf6 18. fxg4 Bxh6 19. Qxh6 Qg7 20. Qe3 Nf6 21. g5 Nh5 22. Ndb5 Bxb5 23. Nxb5 Red8 24. Qxa7 Nf3 25. Rg2 Qe5 26. Qe3.

Here Smerdon played 26…Ne1! because 26… Qxb5 fails to 27. Qxf3 Qe5 28. Rxh5!! and wins. After 27. Rxe1 Qxb5 28. c3 Qe5, ChessVibes Openings editors IM Merijn van Delft and IM Robert Ris write:

In the first round of the World Cup five interesting Dragon games were played. After 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Shabalov beat Baklan with 12. ..Bxd4 13.Qxd4 Qb6 14.Na4 Qa5 15.b3 Rb8!? while the first game Dominguez-Smerdon (with 12…Nxc3) saw Black neutralising 17.Bd3 with 17…Qe3 18.Rd2 Rfe8!N 19.Qh4 Bxa2! although 19.Qf6 seems to be the critical move here. In the next encounter Dominguez went for the big 9.Bc4 line, to be confronted with the new 25…Qe5! 26.Qe3 Ne1! distracting the White pieces from a succesful exchange sacrifice on h5. The engines think White is better in the diagram position, but Black turns out to be rock solid. Finally Dominguez managed to beat Smerdon with 7.Be2, but that can never be a theoretical problem for Black. Areshchenko-Corrales followed Motylev’s recent victories in the old 10.h4 labyrinth.

All this was published yesterday in ChessVibes Openings #47, only two days after this theoretically important Dragon game was played!

What is ChessVibes Openings?

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

• What’s hot? A round-up of this week’s important opening developments, with statistics about the frequence and score of the week’s most important opening novelty (page 1)
• What’s not? Which openings are not recommended at the moment, according to the top players? And why not? (page 1)
• Game of the week Each week you’ll find the theoretically most important game analysed by our two IMs, with a detailed survey of the opening phase (page 2).
• This week’s harvest Four more new important opening ideas from this week (page 3) revealed and described with explanation of the opening and early middlegame (page 3).
• Opening expert Every week an opening expert is covered, explaining the GM’s expertise and showing a key game with annotations (page 4). Examples from the first two issues: Teimour Radjabov (King’s Indian with Black), Alexey Dreev (White: Nimzo-Indian; Black: Caro-Kann and Slav).

This week’s issue: #47, November 25, 2009

ChessVibes Openings #47
The latest opening developments of the fourth week of November 2009, covering the Tal Memorial World Blitz Championship and the complete first round of the FIDE World Cup. All about the Marshall Gambit of the Slav which was analysed in our Game of the Week Jobava-Robson, Khanty-Mansiysk 2009. Other lines that are covered:

• Scotch, 4…Bc5
• Dragon, 9.Bc4 main line
• French, Rubinstein
• Slav, 6.Ne5, 11…g5

This week’s Opening Expert is Swiss GM Yannick Pelletier.

Last week’s issue: #46, November 18, 2009

ChessVibes Openings #46
The latest opening developments of the third week of November 2009, covering the Tal Memorial, the Bundesliga and the Haije Kramer tournament. All about the Najdorf/Scheveningen (English Attack) which was analysed in our Game of the Week Carlsen-Ponomariov, Tal Memorial 2009. Other lines that are covered:

• Ruy Lopez, sidelines
• Ragozin, 8.dxc5
• Vienna, 8.e5
• Slav, 11…g5

This week’s Opening Expert is Ukrainian top GM Pavel Eljanov.

Previous issue: #45, November 11, 2009

ChessVibes Openings #45
The latest opening developments of the second week of November 2009. All about the Grünfeld, Exchange Variation which was analysed in our Game of the Week Kramnik-Svidler, Tal Memorial 2009. Other lines that are covered:

• Sicilian Rauzer, 6…Bd7
• Anti-Moscow Gambit
• Grünfeld-Indian, 8.Rb1
• Nimzo-Indian, 4.Qc2

This week’s Opening Expert is the World Champion, GM Vishy Anand.

Ehm… can I have a look?

Here’s what ChessVibes Openings #16 (April 22, 2009) looks like:

FREE SAMPLE ISSUE – ChessVibes Openings #16 – click to download!

• What’s hot? A round-up of the most important opening developments of mid-April, including statistics about the frequence and score of the Chebanenko position after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.c5 Nbd7 6.Bf4 Nh5 7.Bd2 Nhf6
• What’s not? This week 1.e4 e5 was hot, as the top players categorically avoided the Semi-Open Games. Interestingly, the classical 1…d5 was also much more popular than the more modern answers to 1.d4, at the FIDE Grand Prix in Nalchik.
• Game of the week “‚ÄúI didn‚Äôt spend much time on it before the game, but I prepared seriously for this tournament and we did investigate this line,‚Äù Peter Leko said at the press conference in Nalchik, after his game against Sergei Karjakin. Page two has a closer look at this highly interesting draw in the Chebanenko.
• This week’s harvest For more opening ideas from the Ruy Lopez Marshall, Sicilian Taimanov, Queen’s Indian and Ragozin Defence.
• Opening expert This week Rustam Kasimdzhanov is highlighted. The former FIDE World Champion and current second of Anand has a broad repertoire, switching from hypersharp openings like Dragon and Anti-Moscow to positional Queen‚Äôs Gambit lines.

FREE SAMPLE ISSUE – ChessVibes Openings #16 – click to download!

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July 1, 2009: Eugene Manchester reviews ChessVibes Openings for ChessCafe

In the July 1 issue of ChessCafe’s Book Review (mirror here) ChessVibes Openings was reviewed by Eugene Manchester. Some quotes:

“So, who-ya-gonna-call? Opening busters? Not quite. For the reasonable price of 25 euros per year, once a week you can receive intelligent, interesting opening surveys and analysis presented by a team lead by Dutch IMs Merijn van Delft & Robert Ris.”

“The format and presentation are consistently of high quality, with variety of coverage and opening analysis.”

“The cost per year is roughly equivalent to a good chess book. Each week you get a four- page issue packed with opening analysis, at least two thoroughly annotated games with one or more of that week’s featured openings, a glimpse into the world of the latest opening novelties, in short, a quality weekly opening report.”

May 7, 2009: GM Hedinn Steingrimsson reviews ChessVibes Openings for Chess Today

In issues 3103 (Thursday, May 7) of Chess Today, the daily chess newspaper which also comes into your inbox by email in PDF, ChessVibes Openings was reviewed by GM Hedinn Steingrimsson from Iceland. Some quotes:

“What I like about ChessVibes Openings is their focus on the trend and discoveries that are revealed in super tournaments and by very strong players. It makes sense for all tournament chess players and opening theoreticians to follow these developments and getting an overview from ChessVibes Openings definitely saves time.”

“I find it positive that there is consistency in the openings covered so that the readers will with time have a certain repertoire available based on different theoretical articles from ChessVibes about e.g. the Anti-Moscow Variation.”

“For those that really want to find out how to get a better position out of the opening and are willing to enter complications and do some homework in order to succeed, ChessVibes Openings can be recommended.”

After so many upsets yesterday, it was almost inevitable that some of the top seeds had to leave the World Cup after round 2. And indeed: Alexander Morozevich, Vassily Ivanchuk and Teimour Radjabov are out. Morozevich was beaten by Laznicka again, Ivanchuk couldn’t create winning chances with Black against So and Radjabov was held to a draw by Sakaev. Svidler is still in the race after beating Nyback in a fine game.

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

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

Round 2, day 2

When Alexander Morozevich refused to participate in the FIDE Grand Prix Series, early 2008, he basically limited his options in the current World Championship cycle to his participation in the World Cup. However, after easily defeating Khaled Abdel Razik from Egypt in the first round, Morozevich didn’t stand a chance against Czech Republic’s 2nd player, Viktor Laznicka.

Out of the World Cup already: Alexander Morozevich

In a must-win situation with Black, the Elo-favourite tried a kind of Benoni set-up with a knight on e7, but with simple developing moves followed by strong miniplans (b2-b4, Nf3-h2-g4) Laznicka held a nice advantage, and then easily countered Black’s attacking ideas on the queenside. Morozevich is out, and the strange thing is: the 2-0 for Laznicka is fully deserved.

Viktor Laznicka, well-dressed for a day to reach the headlines

Except for his lost final against Ponomariov in 2002, Vassily Ivanchuk hasn’t done very well in FIDE knockout events. Still, it comes unexpected to see the brilliant Ukrainian having to leave Khanty-Mansyisk already after round 2. But as so often he has himself to blame: his impractical decision yesterday to decline the draw in heavy timetrouble cost him the full point. After his strong defence in game 1, Wesley So didn’t flinch today either and easily held the draw with the white pieces using the Exchange Slav. Perhaps there was one moment where Ivanchuk could have hoped for more (with 33…Qe2!) but that was it.

Eliminating Vassily Ivanchuk, a great result for Wesley So

Radjabov was the third top GM who can book his flight back home already. Azerbaijan’s number 2 player had to win with the white pieces. He went for 1.d4, got a 5.Bf4 QGD and ‘of course’ castled queenside. In the early middlegame Radjabov decided to swap queens to reach a better ending, but as could be expected from an experienced Russian grandmaster like Sakaev, he didn’t make any big mistakes and simply held the rook ending (the Rp-R was always a draw).

Konstantin Sakaev proved too strong for Teimour Radjabov

As you’ll remember, Peter Svidler also lost yesterday, but this top GM did manage to level the score by winning an excellent Ruy Lopez with White against Nyback (check his great moves 33 and 34!). After draws in the first game, Gelfand and Gashimov went through smoothly today by beating Amonatov and Zhou Jianchao respectively. Well, smoothly isn’t the correct word in the case of Gelfand, who erred on move 36 and 37 and could have been eliminated if Amonatov would have found 40…Kg7!.

Even better did Jakovenko, Wang Yue, Wang Hao and Bacrot, who all won their matches 2-0. Like Svidler, Eljanov and Fedorchuk managed to come back from yesterday’s loss against Inarkiev and Shirov respectively.

The surprise of the first round, Yu Yangyi, also went through to the third: he defeated Bartel 0.5-1.5. Grischuk, Motylev, Kamsky and Naiditsch went through with the same score.

Reaching the third round, Yu Yangyi's tournament is already a big success, whatever happens

Tomorrow there will be tiebreaks in the following matches: Svidler-Nyback, Ponomariov-Akobian, Eljanov-Inarkiev, Timofeev-Karjakin, Fedorchuk-Shirov, Dominguez-Caruana, Vachier-Lagrave-Meier, Fressinet-Alekseev, Tomashevsky-Khalifman, Navara-Shabalov, Smirin-Malakhov, Areshchenko-Rublevsky, Milos-Vitiugov, Bologan-Cheparinov, Pelletier-Li Chao and Nisipeanu-Polgar.

Some round 3 matches are already known: Jobava-Grischuk, Mamedyarov-Wang Hao, Wang Yue-Bacrot and So-Kamsky.

All photos by Galina Popova | courtesy of FIDE

Games round 2, day 2

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Players in bold have reached the third round; players in italics have been eliminated.

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN

The first day of the World Cup’s second round saw quite a number of big upsets. Svidler lost with Black against Nyback, Morozevich went down with the white pieces against Laznicka, Sakaev defeated Radjabov, Ivanchuk lost to So and Inarkiev defeated Eljanov.

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

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

Round 2, day 1

It was the world upside down today in Khanty-Mansyisk. The first seven rating favorites scored only 1.5 points and big names such as Ivanchuk, Svidler, Morozevich and Radjabov are in danger of an early knockout!

Top seeded player Boris Gelfand was again the first to finish his game today. Besides his famous “game after game” approach, his strategy in Khanty-Mansyisk is clear: draw with Black, try to win with White, and save energy wherever possible. His Petroff against Amonatov lasted just twelve moves, so the Israeli grandmaster clearly bets on his White game. And why not.

Many of the underdogs did well or very well today. Zhou Jianchao played an excellent game against Gashimov; in a Berlin Wall the Chinese 21-year-old even played a positional exchange sacrifice that kind of forced the draw immediately when Gashimov decided to go for an ending with opposite-coloured bishops.

Peter Svidler lost to Finnish grandmaster Tomi Nyback (against whom yours truly once managed to draw in a King’s Indian; perhaps a better choice than the Grünfeld for a Peter? ) and here too all credits should go to the lower-rated player for what looks like a fine game. Nyback grabbed his chance at the right moment with the strong 30.e6!.

Peter Svidler, in danger of an early knockout

The third upset was Alexander Morozevich going down against Viktor Laznicka from the Czech Republic. The world’s number 10 tried to trick his opponent but Laznicka gladly fell for it: he got a pawn and the bishop pair for the lost exchange, and then duly won when got a passed pawn on the queenside.

A bad start of round 2 for Alexander Morozevich

Radjabov was the next to falter on this crazy first day of round 2. Sakaev ran with his king from e1 to b3, but with all the important squares and the centre protected, White was fine. Soon an ending was reached where Black should have been fine as well, but suddenly Radjabov couldn’t prevent the loss of a piece on the kingside.

Teimour Radjabov also needs a win tomorrow

The biggest surprise perhaps was the loss of Vassily Ivanchuk, the favourite to win this World Cup according to the ChessVibes visitors, against super-talent Wesley So. It seemed that the Ukrainian was totally outplaying his Pinoy opponent, but when he couldn’t find the knockout blow he should probably have taken the draw. Instead, in terrible timetrouble already, Chuky decided to play on but then lost in the ending.

Ernesto Inarkiev, who was a bit lucky to qualify in yesterday’s tiebreaks against Gustafsson, continued very well by defeating 84 points higher rated Pavel Eljanov – White powerplay in the Berlin Wall this time. Yu Yangyi proved to be more than a one-day fly and beat Polish GM Mateusz Bartel.

Ernesto Inarkiev: a good follow-up after yesterday's tiebreaks

World Cup 2007 finalist Shirov and winner Kamsky won their first game while Polgar, who had qualified without playing, started with a draw against Nisipeanu. Tomorrow 11:00 CET is the start of day 2 of round 2.

Alexei Shirov, still a favourite among the fans, did win his first game of round 2

All photos by Galina Popova | courtesy of FIDE

Games round 2, day 1

Game viewer by ChessTempo