Ruslan Ponomariov from the Ukraine Sunday won the 2010 Sparkassen Chess Meeting, keeping his full point margin and strengthening his return to the world’s elite. Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem finished on a splendid sole second place.

I must admit that after two weeks of enjoying the Provence region in France, with nothing but sun, baguettes and beautiful little villages, I’ve not quite settled down yet behind my computer. Hundreds of emails are still waiting to be answered, and then there’s chess… what was it again, dark square down left, white queen on a white square, no?

‘The best thing of going on holiday is returning home’, my mother tends to say semi-jokingly, but even when it means saying goodbye to the mediterranean weather and returning to cloudy Amsterdam, for me returning does have one big plus. It’s something I experience not too often. I switch on the computer, open the browser and go to ChessVibes.com, and then I can read many stories and articles that are completely new to me!

I haven’t read everything yet but limited myself to the Dortmund articles for preparing this last round’s report. It’s surprising to see regular guests Kramnik and Leko underperform, although we shouldn’t forget that such things happen to every player every now and then. Le Quang Liem is clearly a force to reckon with now that he finished his very first super tournament in clear second place. Like my compatriot Robert Gesink, who cycled his first complete Tour de France this year and finished on a 6th place, the Vietnamese GM kept pace with the strong field and eventually climbed to a solid plus one score.

Le Quang Liem, who qualified by winning this year's Aeroflot, proved a more than worthy participant

It’s too difficult to find a Tour analogy for every player, but if we try a few more then we have to name Mamedyarov Dortmund’s Andy Schleck. The Azeri GM attacked aggressively and was a clear contender for victory, but his blunder against Naiditsch in round 6 was similar to Schleck letting his chain of his bicycle popping out of the derailleur in stage 15, just as he sought to distance himself from Contador.

Calling Vladimir Kramnik this year’s Lance Armstrong would be too far-fetched, but it’s clear that the 2010 edition wasn’t his tournament. The 9-times winner fell off his bike twice, against Ponomariov and Naiditsch, and compensated this with wins against Naiditsch and Mamedyarov in the last round.

Vladimir Kramnik thinking things over, before beating Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

This way Ponomariov kept his full-point margin in the final standings, and Kramnik caught Mamedyarov on shared third place with fifty percent. Leko finally won a game, against Naiditsch, and so the two shared last place with a minus two score.

By holding on to the yellow jersey in Dortmund, Ponomariov confirmed once more that he has returned to the world’s elite. After finishing second at the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk and the final Grand Prix in Astrakhan, the Kings’ Tournament in Romania went less successful. There the Ukrainian felt he played too superficial in the opening phase, but he remained optimistic for his next strong tournament, in Dortmund. And rightly so. Ponomariov virtually re-entered the world’s top 10, for the first time since April 2006.

With strong, all-round chess Ruslan Ponomariov secured tournament victory

Games round 10

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Sparkassen Chess Meeting 2010 (Dortmund) | Round 10 (final) standings

The stage of the city theater in Dortmund

A happy Ponomariov with flowers and trophy

All players and some officials posing one more time

Photos by Georgios Souleidis

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC

Née le 24 Décembre 1983 à Odessa (URSS à l'époque et l'Ukraine aujourd'hui), cette championne d'échecs naturalisée américaine a remporté le championnat national US féminin en 1998, 2007 et 2010.

Cette très forte joueuse d'échecs a gagné en popularité en dehors même de la communauté échiquéenne lors du match très médiatisé "Kasparov contre le Monde" en 1999. Garry Kasparov jouait côté blanc face au public avec les Noirs.

Le vote du public par internet était guidé par les recommandations de cette joueuse, alliée à celles d'Étienne Bacrot, d'Elisabeth Pähtz et de Florin Felecan. Au 10ème coup noir, elle proposa une nouveauté théorique que le public valida. Garry Kasparov expliqua plus tard qu'il avait perdu le contrôle de la partie à partir de ce coup magistral.

Alors pourriez-vous citer le patronyme de cette championne du jeu d'échecs ?

Née le 24 Décembre 1983 à Odessa (URSS à l'époque et l'Ukraine aujourd'hui), cette championne d'échecs naturalisée américaine a remporté le championnat national US féminin en 1998, 2007 et 2010.

Cette très forte joueuse d'échecs a gagné en popularité en dehors même de la communauté échiquéenne lors du match très médiatisé "Kasparov contre le Monde" en 1999. Garry Kasparov jouait côté blanc face au public avec les Noirs.

Le vote du public par internet était guidé par les recommandations de cette joueuse, alliée à celles d'Étienne Bacrot, d'Elisabeth Pähtz et de Florin Felecan. Au 10ème coup noir, elle proposa une nouveauté théorique que le public valida. Garry Kasparov expliqua plus tard qu'il avait perdu le contrôle de la partie à partir de ce coup magistral.

Alors pourriez-vous citer le patronyme de cette championne du jeu d'échecs ?

A round table conference took place in Odessa on May 29th on the theme “Popularisation of the game of chess: experience, perspectives, plan of action”. Both famous chess players (Ivanchuk, Eljanov, Gashimov, among others) and top-level managers of the chess world (including FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov) participated. We received a report on the round table, and our visitors are invited to join the discussion.

The report below was written and sent to us by WIM Olena Boytsun, who is General Secretary of the International Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) and working in marketing and PR for chess. Since June 2010 she is full time employed as Marketing Director of the Ukrainian Chess Federation.

After the findings of the round table were published earlier this week by Chessbase, Olena also sent us the material, adding

…it would be very interesting to gather any comments, suggestions, ideas on the subject – I usually follow the comments after ChessVibes articles with interest, although never participated. It is always great to brainstorm, and chess community is such a creative and wise community.

We gladly publish the report, and invite our readers to join the discussion below in the comments section.

By Olena Boytsun

The main aim of the round table was to estimate already existing ways of chess game promotion and to develop plan of actions both for Ukraine and the international chess community. The questions of the target audience for chess projects, building the personal brand of a chess player, ways to improve the effectiveness of the implemented marketing decisions were reviewed.

The participants defined the following factors as having a positive influence on the popularization of chess:

• Support from a government, national state programs for chess development;
• Inclusion of the game of chess into the programm of the Olympic games, work with the International Olympic Committee (is among the current priorities of FIDE);
• Support from a sport manager, who may help chess players to concentrate on the game and on other chess promotion activities. A manager assists in administrative questions as well as in questions of negotiations with sponsors and contract signing; however currently there is a lack of professional chess managers in the chess world;
• Stable event calendar and the clarity in the cycle of the World Chess Championship, the clear definition of the beginning and the end of the cycle;
• Targeted actions toward the audience (currently most of the event on chess popularisation are not planned, but are spontaneously organized);
• Informational materials on media relations (the absence of permanent and systematic communication among press, federations and players was noticed);
• Perception of the chess popularization as the project-oriented activity, reputation management;
  Social-corporate responsibility of business community;
• Widening “the base of pyramid” (increase of the number of amateurs);
• Efficiency of the project management etc.

The importance of the control under the situation and the effective allocation of resources and contacts (including contacts with press) while providing the policy of development was also emphasized.

The main result of the round table is that participants developed propositions of practical application. The following propositions were supported:

• To suggest tournament organizers to include in players’ contracts a paragraph stating that these players would take part in special promotion events (seminars, simuls, blindfold games, commenting on games, communication with the audience, special actions etc) during the tournament at a convenient time for them;
• To develop a detailed description of the possible event package for chess promotion (simuls, blindfold games, seminars, informal meetings with a chess player etc);
• To develop a separate rating list for rapid chess;
• To organize a team of professional managers who wouldn’t deal with the promotion of certain tournaments, but would promote the game of chess in general. In case the international manager structure is not possible to create so far, to use the connection chess player – trainer and to organize the manager courses for trainers;
• To develop and to publish an informational handbook containing the Public Relations information for chess professionals, managers, national federations as well as for mainstream media journalists and wide audience with an interest in chess. The publication of the informational handbook is to be annual with constant information update, including press contacts in every country that is a member of FIDE. The ACP suggested developing the media handbook for FIDE.

On the invitation of FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov Olena Boytsun will present the results of the round table at the FIDE Presidential Board meeting in July 2010 in Norway.

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov identified several priority target groups to develop projects to promote chess. The first step is to focus the attention on the increasing number of fans and the development of children’s chess. In addition, Ilyumzhinov said that the recognition of chess an Olympic sport is one of the major challenges for FIDE.

Vadim Morohovsky, ACP President and Chairman of the Bank PIVDENNY, noted that the main purpose of the ACP is to protect the rights of professional players, but at the same time, the ACP also includes the development and chess and organizing special activities for children.

International grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk, among other things, noted that the knock-out system helps to promote chess, because inherent in such a system, an element of entertainment and wrestling helps to attract additional interest from the audience. Ivanchuk also suggested to add more activities in tournaments (seminars, lectures, simultaneous games and more) with the involvement of players.

Journalist and International Grandmaster Mikhail Golubev encouraged, in chess development policies, not to forget about existing resources and contacts, “not to alienate those who can help”. In particular, Golubev mentioned the situation with the chess representative of the news agency Associated Press. As a result of the fact that the date of the big chess events are postponed several times, the leading information agency was unable to plan their chess media coverage with their correspndent and therefore abolished their coverage. Golubev expressed the opinion that at this stage the popularization of chess depends on FIDE incomparably more than on the ACP, and referred to the transfer of a number of major events in 2008-2009, and urged “not to create a negative image of chess by making decisions that were not necessary.”

Vassily Ivanchuk, Sergei Movsesian and Pavel Eljanov emphasized the desirability of introducing a separate rating list for rapid chess, because it is rapid chess that has great television potential. The clarity of the world championship cycle was also named among the necessary conditions for the successful promotion of the game of chess, because it is fighting for the world title that attracts the most attention from the media and the general public.

International Grandmaster Vugar Gashimov raised the suggestion of organizing a team of professional chess managers, whose main task would be to ensure sponsorship and promotion of chess.

International Grandmaster Ernesto Inarkiev supported the idea of special events in general, highlighting the interaction with kids as a priority. Among the reasons that in chess it is difficult to work with a personal manager, is primarily a financial issue, said Inarkiev.

Paul Tregubov made a proposal to develop and distribute a special handbook for journalists and national federations with useful information for all interested groups.

Ali Nihat Yazici, President of Turkish Chess Federation, shared the secrets of the “Turkish miracle”: in five years the popularity of chess in Turkey has increased by several times. Yazici emphasized the need for interaction between the national federation of state bodies, as government support is essential to the success of projects such as chess in schools. According to Yazici, the efficiency of the national federation is the key to a successful promotion of chess in each country.

Photos © Boris Bukhman

Links

• Association of Chess Professionals
• Marketing Chess

After weeks of speculation and uncertainty we now know that the 2010 FIDE Presidential Election will be contested between the incumbent, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, and former World Chess Champion, Anatoly Karpov. The deadline for nominations passed on 28 June, though not, as we’ve come to expect, without controversy.

By Colin McGourty

There were two unknowns right up until the last moment. The first was the full line-up of Karpov’s ticket. We knew about his candidates for Deputy President – Richard Conn Jr (USA), Treasurer – Viktor Kapustin (Ukraine) and Vice President – Alisa Maric (Serbia). The new additions are: General Secretary – Abd Hamid Majid (Malaysia) and Vice President – Dr. Aguinaldo Jaime (Angola).

The greater mystery, however, was which candidate the Russian Chess Federation would finally choose to nominate. After the fiercely disputed events of 14 May (when a majority of the RCF Supervisory Board voted for Karpov), the expulsion of Chairman Alexander Bakh from his office on 20 May, and Ilyumzhinov suing Karpov earlier this month, there was a strange lull in proceedings. The election campaign moved to Latin America and Arkady Dvorkovich, Chairman of the RCF Supervisory Board and economic advisor to President Medvedev, seemed oddly reluctant to engineer a new vote in his favour. There were even rumours that after all the RCF had nominated Karpov, leaving Ilyumzhinov in a tricky position.

Yesterday, however, the FIDE website published the nominations received by the deadline. Ilyumzhinov’s ticket was already known as well: Deputy President – Georgios Makropoulos (Greece), Vice President – Lewis Ncube (Zambia), Vice President – Beatriz Marinello (USA), General Secretary – Ignatius Leong (Singapore), Treasurer – Nigel Freeman (Bermuda).

At first glance we can conclude: 1) Both candidates had a Plan B – Ilyumzhinov is also nominated by Argentina and Mexico, while Karpov is nominated by France, Germany and Switzerland, and 2) Ilyumzhinov was the final choice of the RCF. This latter point is handled with customary modesty by the Ilyumzhinov campaign website:

However, let there be NO MISTAKE, no bits of ‘curiosity’ here…

THE CHOICE IS CLEAR FOR RUSSIA…RUSSIA’S ONLY CHOICE IS KIRSAN ILYUMZHINOV!

A second glance at the FIDE website, however, paints a different picture. Given there in Russian and hasty English translations are the minutes of a meeting of the RCF Supervisory Board held on the deadline day itself, and an exchange of letters between FIDE and the RCF.

What they reveal is that Alexander Bakh did actually write to FIDE to nominate Karpov as late as 23 June. From the screenshot at the bottom of this Chessbase report we can also see that Karpov had accepted the RCF’s nomination on 22 June. Holding a new meeting as late as the 28th might therefore seem like a reckless piece of brinkmanship, but in fact it appears to have provided a smooth technocratic solution to the problem.

In a curious symmetry with the meeting where Karpov was nominated, 17 delegates voted unanimously on all points raised (4 of the Karpov voters seem, as long predicted, to have switched sides). Those present were informed that Bakh had tendered his voluntary resignation, to come into effect on the 10 July. The reason for this can only be speculated upon, though Mark Crowther’s suggestion of a “go quietly or you’ll really regret it kind of ultimatum” seems spot on. His replacement is to be the 30-year-old Ilya Levitov, previously better known to a chess audience as Evgeny Bareev’s co-author on From London to Elista. He also appears to have headed the PR Department of the Egorov, Puginsky, Afanasiev & Partners law firm, whose legal opinion Dvorkovich relied on to declare the nomination of Karpov on 14 May invalid.

The short meeting included no discussion of the nomination for FIDE President, but there was a sting in the tail: point 4 voted Dvorkovich the right to represent the RCF to third parties. He sat down afterwards and used his new powers to write to FIDE and confirm his earlier (likely invalid) letter announcing the RCF’s support for Ilyumzhinov. The only other loose end to be tied up was the letter Bakh sent to FIDE. Levitov responded to FIDE’s query by writing that Bakh’s document was “not a legally valid document”.

And so the dispute in the Russian Chess Federation ends, “not with a bang but a whimper”. Of course the Karpov campaign may choose to legally challenge the Russian nomination, but in a way the current state of affairs might suit all involved: Ilyumzhinov has avoided the embarrassment of losing his own federation’s support, Dvorkovich has taken a step back from the damaging PR of his earlier actions and is free to concentrate on other matters (here he is on the BBC talking about his plans to bring the FIFA World Cup to Russia in 2018 – while on his Twitter account he wrote, “Yesterday I held the first [sic] Supervisory Council of the Russian Chess Federation, we’ve started to get out of our nosedive”), Bakh has regained the emperor’s favour and can organise chess events without fearing criminal charges relating to his time at the RCF, while Karpov… Karpov has in any case been nominated and still has strong claims to be the moral victor of the Russian campaign. It’s true that technically his candidacy could still be challenged (FIDE’s regulations include “No person can be elected to a FIDE-office against the will of his national federation”), but in the absence of a third challenger it’s hard to imagine that even FIDE would contemplate an “election” with a single candidate.

So now it’s all down to winning the votes of chess federations worldwide. Ilyumzhinov appears to be leading in endorsements by around two to one (claiming 55 supporting federations at the moment), though as the case of Honduras demonstrates (where both candidates can provide signed statements of support) what finally matters is the vote in Elista this September. There’s still a long way to go.

Evgeny Bareev goes into chess politics. The Russian grandmaster is mentioned as ‘Vice President’ on Ali Nihat Yazici’s ticket for the upcoming presidential elections of the European Chess Union. The other nominations, now officially received by ECU, are those of Silvio Danailov and Robert von Weizsäcker, who has three GMs on his side.

During the Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, the new President of the European Chess Union (ECU) will be elected. The exact moment of this election has not been decided yet, but it will certainly take place after the elections of the FIDE Presidential ticket. In its montly Circular Letter, sent to all European federations, associated members, board members, FIDE and FIDE Zone Presidents, the European Chess Union yesterday made public the names of the nominations:

Ticket of Silvio Danailov
President Silvio Danailov, Bulgaria
Deputy President Tomasz Sielicki, Poland
Vice President Ion-Serban Dobronauteanu, Romania
Secretary General Sava Stoisavljevic, Serbia
Treasurer Almog Burstein, Israel

Ticket of Robert von Weizsäcker
President Robert von Weizsäcker, Germany
Deputy President Nigel Short, England
Vice President Ivan Sokolov, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Secretary General Johann Hjartarson, Iceland
Treasurer Yuri Kaplun, Ukraine

Ticket of Ali Nihat Yazici
President Ali Nihat Yazici, Turkey
Deputy President Peter Rajcsanyi, Hungary
Vice President Evgeny Bareev, Russia
Secretary General Geoffrey Borg, Malta
Treasurer Joan Antoni Obregon, Andorra

The names of the Danailov and Von Weizsäcker tickets were already known. The most interesting name on the Yazici ticket is that of Russian grandmaster Evgeny Bareev, who follows the example of Short, Sokolov and Hjartarson. And there’s another familiar name: that of FIDE Commercial Director Geoffrey Borg, who was responsible for the FIDE Grand Prix Series.

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Beautiful Days In Roseto

? Roseto, Saturday ,12th of June, 2 o?clock in the afternoon, the Roseto tournament has just ended, and we settle down at the bar for a coffee with Oleg Mikhajlovic Romanishin : it?s time for that interview that was promised us. Romanishin speaks fluent English,? as was evident during the magnificent coaching session held on Wednesday night. Luckily, the Scacchierando team is in full force, with LightKnight and Stefano Bellicampi who are far more proficient than me.

The prize giving ceremony with the town councillor, Dr. Antonio Porrini

Le belle giornate di Roseto

Roseto, sabato 12 giugno, ore 14, il torneo si è appena concluso. Per il caffè del dopopranzo ci sediamo al bar con Oleg Mikhajlovhic Romanishin: è il momento della promessa intervista. Romanishin parla un inglese fluente, come già dimostrato nel magnifico stage tenuto mercoledì sera. Per fortuna Scacchierando è presente in forze, con LightKnight e Stefano Bellincampi che se la cavano molto meglio di me.

Per una ventina di minuti si è seduto con noi ad ascoltare anche Lorenzo Pescatore, alle prese con un gelato. Giovanissimo speciale Lorenzo, scacchisticamente e non solo! Il clima della chiacchierata è immediatamente piacevole e cordiale: non si parte con una domanda ma parlando di scacchi azzurri.

Romanishin: Gli scacchi in Italia stanno sicuramente crescendo e si disputano molti tornei. Ho incontrato molti giocatori italiani: ho giocato con Mariotti, a Leningrado nel 1977, un giocatore molto creativo, molte volte con Godena, giocatore interessante, sempre molto solido, e con tanti altri. Ho anche avuto modo di tenere un breve training con Vocaturo e Piscopo, organizzato da Nicola Pienabarca.

Scacchierando: Che impressione ha di Caruana?

Romanishin: con tutta evidenza un giovane di talento, ma non saprei dire di più senza conoscerlo direttamente, giocarci e analizzare con lui.

S. : Qui ha giocato con Axel Rombaldoni.

Romanishin: Sì, l?avevo già incontrato a Bratto. Ho vinto entrambe le volte, anche se è un giovane con buone qualità e potenzialità. Forse, per ora, tende a sbilanciarsi troppo in attacco. Ho incontrato due volte anche Denis.

S. : Quando è venuto per la prima volta in Italia?

Romanishin: Nel 1978, a Genova, in occasione di una Festa dell?Unità, tenendo diverse simultanee. Sono tornato nel 1984, sempre per delle simultanee, in varie città. Il primo torneo è stato quello di Reggio Emilia 1984 / 85 . Da allora sono venuto molte volte e mi trovo sempre benissimo in Italia, mi piace molto la cucina e adoro il caffè. Durante il Torneo di Frascati, nel 2006, ho avuto modo di passeggiare per Roma con la mia famiglia e di prendere un caffè a Piazza di Spagna: ho un magnifico ricordo di quella giornata. Prima di ripartire (per un torneo in Ungheria, a Heviz, sul lago Balaton) mi fermerò un giorno?a passeggiare per Roma, città che mi piace moltissimo.

S. : Ha imparato a giocare a 5 anni.

Romanishin: Sì, con mio padre, che era un forte giocatore, ha vinto anche un Campionato di Leopoli (Lvov), la nostra città. Mio padre aveva molti libri e a casa c?era una bella atmosfera scacchistica. Io sono l?ultimogenito: anche i miei fratelli giocavano ma con minor dedizione.

S. : C?era grande spazio per gli scacchi nell?Unione Sovietica di allora.

Romanishin: Ah, sì, erano il gioco più seguito dopo il calcio! Il governo promuoveva il gioco, che era davvero molto diffuso. Si parlava di scacchi sui giornali, non solo su quelli specializzati ma anche sui quotidiani, e c?erano delle trasmissioni alla radio. Durante il match tra Botvinnik e Petrosjan, nel 1963 (Romanishin aveva allora 11 anni - ndr), c?era un aggiornamento ogni ora, con le mosse giocate. Io e mio padre seguivamo le partite alla scacchiera, analizzando e in attesa delle mosse successive.

S. : Poi ha studiato con Viktor Kart. Oltre che un ottimo istruttore, Kart era un forte giocatore?

Romanishin: Non proprio allora, era un buon Candidato Maestro (ricordando che un CM sovietico dell?epoca corrisponde almeno a un forte FM di oggi - ndr), in un certo qual modo è cresciuto anche lui con noi, il suo primo gruppo di allievi, con me, Alexander Beliavsky e Adrian Mikhalchishin. I successi di Stejn, buon amico di Kart, avevano entusiasmato l?ambiente scacchistico di Lviv. Nel 1973 io vinsi il titolo europeo dei giovani e Beliavsky vinse il mondiale. Viktor si dedicava con passione e capacità. Invitava forti giocatori per un periodo di allenamento con noi, ad esempio Korchnoj, nel 1976. Oggi vive in Germania, ha 80 anni, siamo ancora in contatto.

Beliavsky, Viktor Kart e Romanishin a Lviv in occasione del festeggiamento dell'80? compleanno di Kart (foto Chessbase - segnalo il bell'articolo http://www.chessbase.com/newsprint.asp?newsid=5548?)

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S. : La sua crescita è stata rapida?

Romanishin: Abbastanza, sono diventato Candidato Maestro a 14 anni e Maestro a 16. Ho avuto il titolo di Maestro Internazionale con la vittoria all?europeo e sono arrivato a quello di GM nel 1976 (dopo aver già partecipato a due finali del Campionato Sovietico, con un fantastico secondo posto nel 1975, con Tal, Vaganjan, alle spalle di Petrosjan? Altri tempi e altri titoli! ? ndr).

S. : Come giovane promettente fu affiancato a Tal.

Romanishin: No, questo non è esatto. Sono stato mandato a giocare un torneo insieme a Tal. Poi, nel 1975, abbiamo giocato di nuovo insieme e siamo diventati ottimi amici. Abbiamo svolto tre periodi di training insieme. Nel 1977 abbiamo vinto a pari merito il torneo di Leningrado, davanti a Karpov, Smyslov, Vaganjan, Taimanov, Ribli, Balashov, Beliavsky? Io sono stato fortunato, ho avuto modo di giocare e lavorare con grandissimi campioni.

Mikhalchishin, Romanishin e Beliavsky?(foto Chessbase)

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S. : Il suo stile è stato ispirato da qualcuno in particolare?

Romanishin: Non direi? Si apprende da tutti, da tanti diversi stili. Era la forza dell?Unione Sovietica di allora, c?erano tanti fortissimi giocatori, una grande diversità di idee e di fermenti. Ho sempre dato molto valore alla molteplicità dei punti di vista. Ho giocato con quasi tutti, anche con Leonid Stejn (detto con un sorriso, nel ricordo del grande campione ucraino, prematuramente scomparso). Oggi i giovani lavorano molto con i database ma hanno minori opportunità di allenarsi con i grandi campioni. Gli scacchi sono cambiati, sono diventati più veloci, forse troppo, i giovani hanno l?energia giusta per gli scacchi di oggi. Io dopo una partita di 5 ? 6 ore sono esausto, per non parlare di un doppio turno.

S. : Lei è un attaccante e un grande teorico delle aperture.

Romanishin: Era maggiormente possibile proporre novità teoriche una volta, se lavoravi molto alla scacchiera. Oggi giochi una novità e dopo poche ore è conosciuta in tutto il mondo. Io ho sempre giocato cercando la vittoria, senza calcoli rispetto al torneo. Quando ho usato prudenza non sempre è andata benissimo. Nel 1975 giocai un torneo ad Olot, in Spagna. Ad un certo punto della gara ero in testa con 7,5 insieme a Csom e Filip. Il turno dopo giocavo con il bianco contro Csom, che usava spesso una sorta di ?Riccio?. Pensai poco prima della partita a una novità nella sequenza 1.Cf3 Cf6 2.c4 e6 3.Cc3 b6 4.e4 Ab7 , giocando Ad3 al quinto tratto (la mossa era stata già sperimentata da Huebner contro Johannessen a Oslo, l?anno precedente, ma allora non c?erano i database e Romanishin non conosceva quella partita - ndr). Tuttavia non volli rischiare, giocai in modo diverso e persi malamente. Ci restai malissimo e passai tutta la notte ad analizzare la partita e la nuova variante. Alla fine dello stesso anno, al Campionato Sovietico disputato a Yerevan, giocai con Petrosjan e stavolta utilizzai Ad3: vinsi una bella partita! ( http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1107067?) Il giorno dopo Lev Polugaevsky giocò allo stesso modo contro Boris Gulko, poi è stata una variante giocata anche da Tal e da molti altri. In quel Campionato giocai un?altra buona novità contro Geller. Ricordo che Petrosjan mi disse che potevo anche giocare due buone novità a torneo ma che poi dovevo anche giocare tutte le altre partite! C?è una piccola curiosità successiva: nel 1996, 21 anni dopo, durante le Olimpiadi di Yerevan, andai in una farmacia e l?uomo dietro il banco esclamò: ?Io la conosco! Lei ha distrutto il nostro grande Petrosjan nel Campionato del 1975!?. Mi sono trovato in una situazione simile al penultimo turno di Groningen, nel 1993, in una partita con il nero contro Beliavsky, decisiva per la qualificazione al Torneo dei Candidati della PCA. Due ore prima della partita pensai ad una novità nella variante Capablanca della Nimzoindiana, con Donna f5 (1.d4 Cf6 2.c4 e6 3.Cc3 Ab4 4.Dc2 d5 5.cxd5 Dxd5 6.Cf3 Df5 ). Stavolta, a differenza di Ad3, la giocai e vinsi! ( http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1105910?) All?ultimo turno affrontai Benjamin, non feci calcoli, giocai per vincere e andò bene, chiudendo con 7 su 11.

S. : Ha giocato con molti campioni del mondo.

Romanishin: Si, molte volte. Sono in vantaggio con Tal, Petrosjan, Spassky, anche con Kasparov, anche se ho giocato con lui solo quando era molto giovane, prima che arrivasse al titolo mondiale. Ho uno score tremendamente negativo con Karpov. Parlando della molteplicità degli approcci, Karpov ha una visione della scacchiera molto globale: di fronte a una posizione tende a valutare quali pezzi cambiare, quali valorizzare, a formulare un piano generale più che varianti. All?estremo opposto c?è Ivanchuk, con il quale ho svolto un periodo di training. Ivanchuk si affida alle sue eccezionali capacità di memoria e di calcolo, con varianti profondissime, anche di una quindicina di mosse!

S. : Ha vinto qui a Roseto!

Romanishin: Oh si, ho vinto, ma gli avversari mi hanno aiutato!

S. : Ha vinto molti tornei, ricorda quanti?

Romanishin: No, assolutamente! Poi bisogna distinguere tra i diversi tornei. Un secondo o terzo posto in una gara di valore mondiale ha un peso rilevante. Ho vinto tornei importanti, come a Odessa 1974, Hastings 1976, il già citato Leningrado 1977, Jurmala 1983, Mosca 1985, ma ricordo anche con piacere, ad esempio, il secondo posto a Tilburg 1979, a mezzo punto da Karpov e precedendo tanti grandissimi giocatori, come Portisch, Larsen, Spassky, Timman, Smyslov, Huebner, Hort, Sax, Sosonko e Kavalek? Un torneo durissimo!

S. : C?è una partita a cui è maggiormente legato?

Romanishin: Tutte! Forse di alcune sono particolarmente orgoglioso, come quella con Tibor Karolyi, a Tbilisi nel 1986, con un bel sacrificio, una partita incredibile (?http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1118572 ). Anche quella con Amador Rodriguez, nel 1977, una partita particolare,?con tantissime mosse consecutive di pedone. Poi sicuramente la vittoria con Spassky a Tilburg (?http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1118162 ), le già citate partite con Petrosjan e Beliavsky.

S. : Ha giocato alle Olimpiadi sia con l?Unione Sovietica che con l?Ucraina.

Romanishin: Nel 1978, a Buenos Aires, venni convocato in quanto mancava Karpov, impegnato per il match con Korchnoj. Sono stato vicino alla convocazione altre volte ma quella fu l?unica occasione olimpica con l?URSS, mentre ai Campionati Europei ho vinto sei medaglie d?oro. Con l?Ucraina alle Olimpiadi ho vinto due argenti e due bronzi. Non mi piace molto il sistema attuale delle Olimpiadi, con i punti squadra. Soprattutto non mi piace la tolleranza zero nell?arrivo alla scacchiera, una regola idiota, in particolare alle Olimpiadi, con migliaia di persone in sala. Basta nulla per un ritardo. E? una regola insensata per gli scacchi. Nel tennis, e il tennis ha grandi esigenze televisive, è ammesso un ritardo di un quarto d?ora! E nel tennis e in molti altri sport il riscaldamento pre - gara si svolge in campo, a scacchi non è così! A Wijk Aan Zee si paga una penale per il ritardo, più alta per il torneo A. E? già un buon compromesso.

S. : Gioca a scacchi da 50 anni, ha ancora la stessa passione?

Romanishin: Da giovane ero più motivato, avevo molte ambizioni. Oggi vivo di scacchi, e si, comunque, li amo molto tuttora.

S. : C?è un campione del passato che le piace particolarmente?

Romanishin: Tutti! E? come ho accennato per la scuola sovietica, la molteplicità di punti di vista e di stili è un valore. Mi dispiace non aver mai giocato con Keres, lui ha disputato il suo ultimo Campionato Sovietico nel 1973 e io il primo nel 1974. Ma l?ho conosciuto! (con un sorriso molto simile a quello fatto ricordando Stejn, con un segnale di stima, e di affetto per il ricordo ? ndr).

La premiazione, con l'Assessore al Turismo di Roseto, Dr. Antonio Porrini?

Qui si conclude l?intervista, durata ben due ore, ma non il pomeriggio con Oleg! Ci offriamo di dargli un passaggio per la premiazione, che si svolgerà nella piazza del comune; nell?attesa ci troviamo davanti a una scacchiera della sala analisi e Stefano chiede a Romanishin delle valutazioni su alcune varianti minori della Nimzoindiana. Ne esce fuori una diversa sequenza di mosse, naturalmente segreta!! Si va alla premiazione e dopo accompagniamo Romanishin a fare il biglietto per il pullman, verificando in albergo la possibilità di essere accompagnato l?indomani mattina presto alla stazione. Alla compagnia si aggiunge il Maestro Internazionale Pap. In macchina si chiacchiera, non solo di scacchi. Si parla di Roma e risulta evidente l?interesse che susciterebbe un bel Festival nella città eterna. Romanishin trova un interesse in comune con Stefano nel tennis, sport che ha scoperto tardi ma che gli piace molto. Oleg ha anche una figlia sedicenne che è una buona promessa del tennis?e disputa già tornei internazionali giovanili. Dopo il torneo sul Balaton, Romanishin giocherà un open in Germania e il suo carnet di impegni è già pieno fino ai primi di settembre, senza la previsione per ora di altri tornei in Italia.

Si torna al Villaggio?e dopo cena ci salutiamo con grande cordialità. In macchina verso Roma io e Stefano commentiamo le belle giornate di Roseto e lo splendido pomeriggio. E? stato davvero un grandissimo piacere conoscere Oleg Mikhajlovhic Romanishin!

?

This week Silvio Danailov and Robert von Weizsäcker, who are both running for the European Union presidency, presented their teams. Von Weizsäcker is joined by three chess grandmasters.

Not only will the new FIDE President be chosen during the upcoming Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, but also the new President of the European Chess Union. As we reported before, Silvio Danailov, Boris Kutin, Robert von Weizsäcker and Turkish Chess Federation President Ali Nihat Yacizi are the candidates. This week Danailov and Von Weizsäcker presented their teams.

Robert von Weizsäcker

The following letter was sent by the Deputy President of the German Chess Federation:

To all European Federations

7 June 2010

Dear Presidents, dear Delegates,

The German Chess Federation is pleased to announce that its President Robert von Weizsäcker will run for ECU President. He has been asked by a lot of federations and players to form a ticket representing all parts of Europe.

He has succeeded in creating the following strong team:

President: Prof. Dr. Robert von Weizsäcker (CC-GM), Germany
Deputy President: Nigel Short (GM), England
Vice President: Ivan Sokolov (GM), Bosnia & Herzegovina
Secretary General: Johann Hjartarson (GM), Iceland
Treasurer: Dr. Yuri Kaplun, Ukraine

As according to the ECU Statutes the Board should comprise representatives of different federations, the current ECU Secretary General Horst Metzing cannot be included anymore into the Board. In the interest of the future successful work for European chess he should be appointed as Executive Director and should continue to run the ECU Office in Berlin.

Enclosed you will find short curricula vitae of all Board members as well as a first mission paper of Robert von Weizsäcker’s team.

We would like to ask all European Chess Federations to support this team and to vote for this new European leadership.

Best regards,

Dr. Hans-Jürgen Weyer
Deputy President

Silvio Danailov

The following communiqué was sent by the Bulgarian side:

Respected Colleagues,

Please find the ticket of Mr. Silvio Danailov for ECU elections:

1. President – Mr. Silvio Danailov (Bulgaria)
2. Deputy President – Mr. Tomasz Sielicki (Poland)
3. Vice President – Mr. Ion-Serban Dobronauteanu (Romania)
4. Secretary General – Mrs. Sava Stoisavljevic (Serbia)
5. Treasurer – Mr. Almog Burstein (Israel)

On Monday, June 14th we are going to publish the CV of all the members of the ticket.

Une paella royale à plus de 5.000 points Elo ! C'est ce que nous vous proposons aujourd'hui en guise de question people sur les échecs avec ce joli couple en vacances. Né à Suresne en 1980, il est 6 fois champion de France chez les jeunes, dont 2 fois en junior. Née en Ukraine en 1989, c'est la plus jeune femme à avoir obtenu le titre de grand maître international féminin.

Facile, non ? Alors, pourriez-vous citer le patronyme de ces deux célèbres champions d'échecs, mariés en 2009 ?

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

Game viewer by ChessTempo

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

Yesterday, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov responded with an open letter to the nomination of Anatoly Karpov by the Russian Chess Federation on Friday, at the Central Chess House in Moscow. As it turns out his letter contradicts the facts. Meanwhile Garry Kasparov’s address to the RCF has been posted on YouTube. Developing story.

We already published Ilyumzhinov’s open letter as an update to our previous article on the FIDE elections, but we’ll repeat it here for the sake of clarity:

Moscow, Russian Federation / Saturday, May 15, 2010

Dear Presidents, Delegates and Federation members,

In certain media, it was reported that the Russian Chess Federation supposedly “took a decision” to nominate Anatoly Karpov as its representative for FIDE President. Unfortunately, a “decision” shrouded in clear deceit and typical of the misrepresentations which we have become accustomed to the last few weeks, from the troika of Karpov, Bakh and Kasparov.

A meeting was originally for 5.00 p.m. in Mr Dvorkovich’s office, and it was suddenly changed by Mr Bakh notifying some of the delegates that they should meet at 4.30 p.m. at the premises of the Russian Chess Federation. The Chairman of the Russian Chess Federation was not notified at all. A grave insult to the office of the Chairman and the Russian Chess Federation. This clearly violates the statutes which determine that all meetings are to be presided over by the Chairman.

A rough show of hands was called for and an immediate statement released on this basis. These tactics are reminiscent of the behavior which Karpov and his team, were so content to exploit, during Soviet times. From my side, I had preferred to leave the delegates in a neutral position, but such behavior not only infringes any sense of ethics, but makes this decision completely illegal and contestable, apart from any other actions that are reserved against persons who knowingly misled the delegates into taking such action.

Let me make it crystal clear, dear delegates, I will run for FIDE President once again and I am confident that the delegates will once again put their trust in our team.

I have the clear support of the majority of FIDE’s member Federations who have been waiting patiently in the background, for the Russian Chess Federation to proceed with its nomination. Today’s decision makes a mockery of Karpov and his team, who believe they are capable of running a future FIDE. His campaign so far has been based on misrepresentation and false accusations.

Our mission grows stronger to protect the unity, transparency and democracy that has been created within FIDE these last fifteen years.

Gens una sumus.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
FIDE President

As was confirmed to us by Russian chess journalist Denis Bilunov, Ilyumzhinov’s version of the facts is incorrect. This was also indirectly pointed out in a press release by what seems to be the Karpov side of the Russian Chess Federation, published on the Russian chess site e3e5 (curiously, not on the site of the RCF itself, where only an older statement by Dvorkovich can be found see also the official announcement of the Supervisory Board on the RCF website):

On our site of the Russian Chess Federation was a press release that read: “May 14, 2010, at the Botvinnik Central House of Chess in Moscow, meeting of the Supervisory Board of RCF”. Of the place and time of the meeting, as well as on the proposed agenda, Council members were informed in advance. Relevant information messages were also posted on the official website of the RCF.

But on the eve of the meeting, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, A.V. Dvorkovich, suddenly decided to change the place of the meeting. He suggested a meeting in his office, namely Dvorkovich’s place. Most members (17 of 32) rejected this proposal – given the special historical status of the Central House of Chess, as well as the large interest from the chess public and the media for the meeting. Chairman of the Board of the RCF, A.G. Bach, informed A.V. Dvorkovich about this decision by telephone and invited him and other members of the Supervisory Board to arrive at the Central House of Chess. On the previously scheduled time (17:00), the Council meeting started under the chairmanship of A. Selivanova. (…)

Heart of the matter is the fact that the meeting of the RCF was originally scheduled not at Mr. Dvorkovich’s office, but at the Botvinnik Central Chess House on Gogol Boulevard in Moscow. The announcement with place and time was already posted on the site of the Russian Chess Federation on 5 May 2010 and again on 7 May 2010. Therefore, President Ilyumzhinov’s interpretation is simply wrong on this point and casts serious doubt on the rest of his (legal) points as well.

Meanwhile, WGM Natalia Pogonina has linked to a video (made by Oleg Kozyrev) of Garry Kasparov’s speech to the Supervisory Board, right before the start of the meeting last Friday.

Pogonina also provided a transcript in English, which we reproduce here as well:

I could answer some questions, but maybe I would rather address a common falsification of facts that is going on in the world. Even though we live in the age of the Internet and other modern technologies, some news spread slowly. There are a few myths in the chess world on which people try to base their ungrounded decisions. The situation itself is somewhat surreal: I and Karpov have clashed at this very building a couple of times, we have always been antagonists. A lot of issues have been sorted out, sometimes everything ended in an ideologic debate, sometimes in “bad peace”. It has always been a confrontation.

As you might understand, today is a totally different case. I believe this day is very important for Russian chess. The sole fact that there is a dilemma, and it it seriously discussed – Karpov or Ilyumzhinov – seems strange to me. Not because it’s a candidate master vs a world champion; but because nowadays in chess and the professional world in general reputation is the key factor. I don’t think there is any challenge in determining who is more reputable.

It’s a disgrace that they are trying to impose the 15-year old (as Ilyumzhinov’s reign) mythology on the Russian Chess Federation. The other members of the Supervisory Board (who haven’t joined us) are under the impression that the whole world supports Ilyumzhinov. It’s a lie. I haven’t been in the chess circles for a while, but I visit a lot of countries. I can estimate in what condition the world is. That statement is not true. In fact, the chess world is in a disastrous condition. The leading chess website – ChessBase – has posted a trivia. People had to guess where the 6th Grand Prix stage will take place. Baku, Jermuk, Sochi, Nalchik, Elista, where will the next one be? The answer was Astrakhan, to form a circle on the map. Just think about the names of the cities! (Then some polite remarks aimed at showing he means no offense towards the locations).

When we were playing with Karpov, where was it? Moscow, London, New York, Seville, Leon. And where are we today? It didn’t happen just all of a sudden. Chess is not at the circumference because everywhere else it is not taken seriously. And it’s not just a problem of world’s chess, it’s a problem for Russia. When all the world media is showing the FIDE president recalling his meeting with aliens. One can live in the world of hallucinations. But when the future of chess depends on such people… It’s obvious that this situation won’t change, and everyone understands it in (lists countries). You have been provided with a presentation by Anatoly Evgenievich Karpov with a list of the countries which support him. The chess countries (USA, Germany, England, Spain, Switzerland) are on the list. Also many others (mentions them). Even Ukraine. I.e. the countries which have traditionally been supporting Ilyumzhinov. Just think about it.

This support stands for something. Supporting someone at an early stage is a risky step. It’s a serious risk to oppose the current President (who has been the head of FIDE for 15 years) at such an early stage of the elections. The situation has changed dramatically. 21 countries already, before the elections, are supporting Karpov. About half of them have been supporting Ilyumzhinov before. Ukraine – it’s actually a very uncommon thing. Before they have been supporting Iyumzhnova vs Bessel Kok, now they have expressed their support for Karpov…

Per Anatoly Evgenievich request I have been communicating with many leaders of chess federations and grandmasters. Everyone is afraid of just one myth: that in Khanty-Mansiisk (where the elections will take place – Pogonina.com) everyone will be “buried”. Today’s meeting will be decisive in the confrontation. People somehow believe that Ilyumzhinov controls everything in Russia. Today we have a chance to show that it is not the truth. Kirsan has no support in the world, all the can rely upon is the so-called “administrative resource”. Dvorkovich, Ilyumzhinov, Magomedov? And Karpov? How can one compare them?

This discussion is extremely important. It’s not only about Russian chess, it’s about the future of world chess. These things are interconnected. The agenda which we were supposed to discuss today has some unreal items. Let’s talk about the real problems. We can’t win 3 Chess Olympiads in a row. I have been brought up in the system of coordinates where 2nd place was a failure. Has something happened, now people approach it in a different way. For the first time since 1921 (Lasker-Capablanca) no Russian (or Soviet) representative is playing at the WC match. Look at our teeenagers. Karjakin (although he is not a teenager already), and came from Ukraine. Anyway, it’s clear that he is not a future world champion due to…(pauses) format. We are on the decline everywhere. That’s what we should be discussing.

Today we have a great chance to start affecting the process. Not by hiring legionaries from (names countries), but by working with Karpov’s strong team. This can be discussed properly. And where is Ilyumzhinov? Why is Kirsan not here? Why is he not telling us about aliens, his connections, banks, Chess City, New Vasiuki? He has nothing to say because 15 years is a lot of time. It has been understood everywhere. The only reason why not everyone has supported Karpov already is that they are afraid and waiting for the decision here. We have to prove that it’s not like that. It’s a house of cards.

A great chess player on one side and a cardsharper on the other. You have the power to change this. If you have any questions on the situation in the world, feel free to ask. I know it pretty well, and have contacted a great number of people during the last two months. I am surprised. I also had the same instincts: everyone in Africa and the Carribean region is bribed; and then you start talking to people and see that people have understood everything. They are contacted once in 4 years, and then forgot about. They want changes, they want to see grandmasters, some programs.

Campomanes (although we had many controversies with him), at least tried to do something. Not much, but now nothing is being done at all. This situation can be changed, because the potential of chess is absolutely incredible. Modern technologies would allow create chess communities on the Internet, but nothing of that type has been done. Once again, we’re faced with some sort of delirium: David Kaplan is going to teach us how to live. We have got more professional experience. And the reaction from the federations that have already supported Karpov show us that it is the right moment, people are ready for a change. Questions?

Update: many more videos of the meeting on Friday can be found on the New Times website.

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

Game viewer by ChessTempo

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FIDE MAY 2010 RATING LIST: TOP 100 WOMEN

2007-2010 © Chess & Strategy - tous droits réservés

Rank		Old	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games
	1	1	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2682 (0)	0 (0)
	2	2	Koneru, Humpy	g	IND	2622 (0)	0 (-10)
	3	3	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2589 (+19)	12 (-6)
	4	4	Stefanova, Antoaneta	g	BUL	2560 (+5)	16 (+6)
	5	5	Kosintseva, Nadezhda	m	RUS	2553 (-1)	11 (-7)
	6	9	Cramling, Pia	g	SWE	2536 (+13)	21 (0)
	7	7	Kosintseva, Tatiana	g	RUS	2534 (+10)	11 (-7)
	8	6	Muzychuk, Anna	m	SLO	2529 (-4)	22 (+9)
	9	10	Lahno, Kateryna	g	UKR	2527 (+9)	3 (+3)
	10	12	Sebag, Marie	g	FRA	2524 (+18)	14 (+5)
	11	8	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	g	RUS	2519 (-5)	6 (-4)
	12	23	Cmilyte, Viktorija	m	LTU	2514 (+29)	24 (+14)
	13	11	Chiburdanidze, Maia	g	GEO	2514 (0)	0 (0)
	14	16	Pogonina, Natalija	wg	RUS	2501 (+5)	6 (-1)
	15	15	Ju, Wenjun	wg	CHN	2500 (0)	0 (-9)
	16	17	Zhukova, Natalia	wg	UKR	2499 (+7)	17 (+7)
	17	19	Zhao, Xue	g	CHN	2493 (+3)	8 (-10)
	18	28	Harika, Dronavalli	m	IND	2491 (+18)	9 (-15)
	19	20	Galliamova, Alisa	m	RUS	2487 (0)	0 (-9)
	20	22	Paehtz, Elisabeth	m	GER	2485 (-1)	30 (+21)
	21	33	Socko, Monika	g	POL	2485 (+20)	21 (+13)
	22	26	Xu, Yuhua	g	CHN	2484 (+6)	2 (+2)
	23	21	Hoang Thanh Trang	g	HUN	2482 (-5)	11 (+11)
	24	14	Javakhishvili, Lela	m	GEO	2482 (-18)	11 (-8)
	25	24	Dzagnidze, Nana	g	GEO	2478 (-1)	11 (-9)
	26	13	Mkrtchian, Lilit	m	ARM	2477 (-26)	11 (+11)
	27	27	Zhu, Chen	g	QAT	2476 (0)	0 (-7)
	28	25	Ruan, Lufei	wg	CHN	2474 (-5)	1 (+1)
	29	18	Danielian, Elina	m	ARM	2473 (-18)	12 (+10)
	30	36	Zatonskih, Anna	m	USA	2470 (+9)	27 (+17)
	31	39	Dembo, Yelena	m	GRE	2470 (+13)	11 (+11)
	32	44	Ushenina, Anna	m	UKR	2468 (+16)	15 (+15)
	33	30	Melia, Salome	m	GEO	2466 (-1)	20 (-11)
	34	31	Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman	m	IND	2466 (0)	0 (-11)
	35	29	Gaponenko, Inna	m	UKR	2465 (-7)	20 (+15)
	36	41	Skripchenko, Almira	m	FRA	2464 (+8)	17 (+17)
	37	34	Tan, Zhongyi	wg	CHN	2464 (0)	2 (+2)
	38	37	Rajlich, Iweta	m	POL	2460 (+1)	22 (+14)
	39	38	Gunina, Valentina	wf	RUS	2457 (0)	15 (-3)
	40	40	Polgar, Sofia	m	HUN	2457 (0)	0 (0)
	41	35	Krush, Irina	m	USA	2455 (-6)	23 (-1)
	42	42	Tairova, Elena	m	RUS	2455 (0)	0 (0)
	43	49	Muzychuk, Mariya	m	UKR	2452 (+8)	32 (+19)
	44	50	Shen, Yang	wg	CHN	2452 (+8)	3 (+3)
	45	43	Hunt, Harriet V	m	ENG	2452 (0)	0 (0)
	46	47	Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan	g	SCO	2449 (+2)	16 (+6)
	47	56	Khurtsidze, Nino	m	GEO	2448 (+14)	11 (-2)
	48	52	Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	m	RUS	2447 (+9)	16 (+7)
	49	48	Atalik, Ekaterina	m	TUR	2444 (-1)	5 (+5)
	50	53	Moser, Eva	m	AUT	2440 (+3)	32 (+25)
	51	51	Huang, Qian	wg	CHN	2437 (-2)	3 (+3)
	52	57	Repkova, Eva	m	SVK	2434 (0)	29 (+29)
	53	54	Zhang, Xiaowen	wg	&nb
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/eljanov-is-ukraines-number-one/
Sat, 01 May 2010 08:28:59 +0000
La chronique échecs de Samir
La foi dans l’attaque est à la Une de la chronique hebdo sur les échecs de notre ami Samir. Prenez donc le temps de découvrir son nouvel article du journal Paris-Normandie, un surprenant voyage dans le monde des cases blanches et noires, raconté avec passion chaque semaine sur notre site échiquéen. Laam - Jamais loin de toi Au sommaire, un mat en deux coups signé J. Scheel, tiré du périodique De Maasbode de 1937. Une partie d’échecs entre Shirov et Lapinski illustrant la foi dans l’attaque. Un gambit est un pari. On sacrifie un pion voire une pièce afin d’obtenir en échange l’initiative des opérations. Cela exige une vraie foi dans l’attaque et une bonne dose d’imagination. La partie exemple est une parfaite illustration de cette conviction. Place ensuite à la curiosité de la semaine, une mésaventure qui s’est produite en 1902 à Monte-Carlo dans la partie qui a opposé Von Popiel (blancs) à Marco (noirs). Puis un saut à Donetsk en Ukraine pour une superbe finale jouée cette fois en 1998, entre Tukmakov et Savchenko, c'est la leçon de technique de la semaine. Enfin, une petite phrase de notre ami et joueur d'échecs français Jérôme Mauffras, et pour finir un piège d'ouverture sur la défense Caro-Kann. Merci Samir !
http://www.chess-and-strategy.com/2010/04/la-chronique-echecs-de-samir_29.html
Fri, 30 Apr 2010 00:33:00 +0000
Who will win? The opinion of top GMs (2)
According to our poll on the homepage Vishy Anand is the clear favourite to win the World Championship match, by 69%, where Topalov gets 31% of the votes. But what do their colleagues think? Today the opinion of Aronian, Carlsen, Gelfand and Ivanchuk. ChessVibes asked nine of the world’s best players what they think of the upcoming World Champion match. Who is the favourite? Who is the better player? And what about Topalov’s plan to follow the Sofia rule? Will this be to his advantage? In part 1, yesterday, we gave answers from Leinier Dominguez, Vugar Gashimov, Alexander Grischuk, Sergei Karjakin and Ruslan Ponomariov. Today, in the second and last part, we get the answers from Levon Aronian, Magnus Carlsen, Boris Gelfand and Vassily Ivanchuk. Please note that the interviews were conducted a few weeks ago. World's number 11 Vassily Ivanchuk (2748, Ukraine) Who is the favourite to win the match? Vassily Ivanchuk I think it’s about equal chances, and I expect a very intersting fight. It’s difficult to say if one has the better chances. Fifty-fifty for me. Playing in Sofia can be an advantage but it can also be a disadvantage. I cannot definitely say this is an advantage for Topalov. As far as Anand is concerned, well, I wouldn’t feel uncomfortable about it; I played in Sofia, and when I played against Topalov, against Cheparinov I didn’t feel any problem and nobody disturbed us, because Bulgarian chess amateurs are very polite and always correct, so it’s no problem for any chess player to play in Sofia. [Magnus Carlsen, who was listening along: “You didn’t play to badly either, against Topalov and Cheparinov!”] Yes, but OK, it’s a very nice place, Sofia, with very nice people. Levon Aronian Since the match is played in Bulgaria, I guess this will be more than a home-ground advantage. As we know from experience with matches for the World Championship, Veselin’s manager is capable of producing blunders when it comes to mixing things up during the match. So even if things go really well for Vishy, you can never be sure some things will not appear. Magnus Carlsen The cances are about even, just like the match Anand-Kramnik, which I think was also pretty even. Even with the pretty crushing result I think if they had played another match I would again say that the chances were even. I mean these are all very strong players. Of course Topalov has the home advantage, but I think the Anand team has taken, or at least should have taken a lot of precautions and done some preparation to make sure they’re comfortable and all that, so I don’t think that’s going to matter much. Also I think match experience in general is overrated. [Smiles.] I mean, whether it’s tournament chess or a match, you still have to play chess and you still have to have great opening preparation. The quality of the moves is what matters. Boris Gelfand Very hard to say, but I really hope it will be a good match, because after what Topalov did in Elista, there’s a risk they’ll do it in Sofia as well. I hope common sense will prevail. Vishy took care that the Appeals Committee consists of honorable people, whose opinion can be trusted, not like it was in Elista. A far as the cances are concerned: both are fantastic players with a very high level, so both of them could win. I think playing in Sofia is a big advantage for Veselin. As he says himself, he only makes the moves, and his team does everything, his manager takes care of everything else, and I don’t trust much. After the history in Elista, judging from what happened before, and he never admitted his guilt or apologized. All over chess was compared to toilet, all over the chess world, I think it was a big damage to chess in general that we associate ourselves not with something honorable but with toilet, just be the whim of one person, that’s really damaging to all of us, to the whole chess movement. World's number 9 Boris Gelfand (2750, Israel) And it you just look at the players, is it 50-50 then? Levon Aronian They’re both great players; it’s hard for me to say. I have a really good score with Anand and, not a bad score, but… Topalov plays better with me. So I might be really subjective. But a lot of people, a lot of my colleagues, tell me Anand is a better player. But we’ll see this interesting clash of a very aggressive player (Topalov), and more of a strategical player (Anand). Magnus Carlsen At least their top level, their highest possible level, is pretty even. Of course both of them are capable of playing particularly well at times. Boris Gelfand It’s clear that both of them are going to prepare very well and very profound, so we will have to see who comes in better form. I believe there will be a lot of critical momens in the match. Who will stand the pressure better? Who will prepare an extra novelty? Something like this will decide. But both are fantastic players who will have all the reasons to win. World's number 1 Magnus Carlsen (2813, Norway) What do you think of Topalov following the Sofia rule? Magnus Carlsen I think that’s his business, if he doesn’t want to offer a draw. That’s a right every chess player has. The Topalov team probably shouldn’t probably not try to force it on Vishy, but if he doesn’t want to, that’s his business. It would not bother me. It would bother me, however, if someone said that because I’m not following the Sofia rule, I’m offending the host. I mean that’s just crap. But Anand knows that he has to fight anyway, so that he will need to play a few further moves every now and then shouldn’t bother him too much, especially since he is known for playing quickly anyway. Vassily Ivanchuk This is a little bit strange, especially with a drawish position. I don’t think it’s a completely correct decision. For me it’s not interesting to see if the position is completely drawn and the players need to continue to play, to make a lot of stupid moves. If I remember correctly, Svidler-Topalov for example, an opposite-coloured bishop ending, and they played twenty moves. Why? For whom? I don’t understand this. The Sofia rule is acceptable, but it has to be used sensibly. Levon Aronian That’s actually… crazy. That kind of things can go through one’s mind. I don’t see a reason for Vishy to get upset about it. OK, let him play. If he wants to play till the end of the world, he’s going to exhaust himself. Boris Gelfand Very strange. Let’s say we get a rook ending with three against three, what will he do? Or Vishy would have a rook ending with two against one? What will happen? I think we have very cheap PR here; it’s not in the rules of the Championship that you should ask the arbiter in such cases. You should offer a draw to your opponent. I think in general this rule is outdated twenty years. If you look at the history, in the early 80s it really was a problem in top tournaments. Nowadays it’s not a problem; there are very few short draws. At the very top, you need to be an ambitious player, otherwise you don’t get to the top. If you make short draws, you will stop at a certain level. But OK if organizers like it, they can impose it upon the players, who can accept or decline the invitation. I think it’s just some kind of pressure, I mean, the Elista toilet scandal didn’t start from nothing. It was preceded by four or five protests on any subject, so I’m afraid it’s the start of the same campaign. I hope it’s not, I hope it will be a fair match. This is very important for the chess world, to have a great match and a fair match. World's number 5 Levon Aronian (2782, Armenia) Do you think longer games, as a result of the Sofia rule, would help Topalov, who is five years younger? Levon Aronian When I play against Topalov, I think that when he loses a game, he blunders things. Otherwise he’s very tough to beat, but he blunders. I think that blunder comes because he spends too much energy while he thinks, and because he doesn’t stand up during the game. So that’s one of the factors that I think may represent a threat to him. Magnus Carlsen Maybe, but the match is not that long. If it was a 24-game match I would definitely say Topalov would have a slight advantage. If it was an 18-game match probably also, but I’m pretty sure that with 12 games Vishy isn’t going to be too worn out. Boris Gelfand I don’t think it has something to do with age. We will have to see who will be in better form. There’s no reason to believe that Vishy wouldn’t be able to play long games. He has a few months to prepare physically. I think it’s just bad PR, and I hope there will be no more scandals. Some people say bad advertisement for chess is still advertisement, but I don’t think so. I think chess should position itself as a high-level sport, a high-level activity for cultural people and that’s why all these scandals are very bad for chess.
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/who-will-win-the-opinion-of-top-gms-part-2/
Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:17:18 +0000
Who will win? The opinion of top GMs (1)
According to our poll on the homepage, the readers of ChessVibes think World Champion Anand is the clear favourite to win the match, by 69%, where Topalov gets 31% of the votes. But what do their colleagues think? Today the opinion of Dominguez, Gashimov, Grischuk, Karjakin and Ponomariov; tomorrow Aronian, Carlsen, Gelfand and Ivanchuk. ChessVibes asked nine of the world’s best players what they think of the upcoming World Champion match. Who is the favourite? Who is the better player? And what about Topalov’s plan to follow the Sofia rule? Will this be to his advantage? In part 1, today, we get answers from Leinier Dominguez, Vugar Gashimov, Alexander Grischuk, Sergei Karjakin and Ruslan Ponomariov. Please note that the interviews were conducted a few weeks ago. World number 12 Vugar Gashimov (2740, Azerbaijan) Who is the favourite to win the match? Vugar Gashimov First, of course, I hope, as every chess player, it will be an interesting match. Because, OK, everybody wants to see something. We know both of them like to attack, to sacrifice something, and to play good chess. In this match, if I will bet, I will bet for Topalov, because he will play in Sofia. He has better chances, because last time he played bad against Kamsky but now I think he wll play well. It’s not possible he will play bad twice! [Laughs.] Leinier Dominguez For me it’s very difficult to say; I wouldn’t even give anyone a slight favourite or anything. For me it’s a very even match. They’re both very strong, practical players with a very deep preparation and with a good team. I think it will be a very difficult match for both; it will be tough. To me it’s not clear whether playing in Sofia is an advantage for Topalov. To play in your own country could easily become a handicap, I’m not so sure about this. I can understand that for some people it’s very good to play at home. For example Topalov seems to be very good to play in his country because he’s always having very nice results there, but OK, that’s anywhere he’s playing because he’s very strong. I don’t think it will matter so much. Sergey Karjakin It’s a very hard question. I think the player who will be better prepared, who will have a better team, and who will play better chess [laughs] he will win, but it’s hard to say who. I think slight favourite is Topalov, because he’s playing in Sofia and I think he will have big support. I think it’s a clear advantage to him, and I think it’s a mistake from Anand. If my own country wouldn’t offer anything then I would have to play there, but in other cases I wouldn’t. Alexander Grischuk First of all I expect this to be the most interesting match since Kasparov-Kramnik. I think in Sofia Topalov is the slight favourite but I think otherwise the chances would be completely equal. He usually plays good there, and also I think Vishy doesn’t like to be under pressure so it will be a little bit difficult. World number 15 Ruslan Ponomariov (2737, Ukraine) Ruslan Ponomariov This match will be quite interesting; I think they have more or less an even score. For me it’s always interesting to follow World Championship matches, to follow the development of chess, maybe something new, and when two strong personalities play, it’s also very interesting. Who will crush another personality first? What can of psychological tricks will appear? When you play a match against another strong player you must always make strong pressure on him in all aspects. Both have advantages. Kramnik beat Topalov, but Anand beat Kramnik, so Anand also must beat Topalov, but maybe in this case it’s not so clear. It’s also interesting that for example when Anand played against Kramnik, he used a very tricky tactic. Kramnik is a very good technical player, which he proved in his match againt Topalov, but Anand played much more complicated chess than Topalov and it gave him success. But which new tactic Vishy will use against Topalov is not so clear, because Topalov likes this very complicated chess very much. Maybe playing in Sofia gives him some advantage but even when he played against Kamsky, who is I think much weaker than Anand, even then it was very difficult, so it has some advantages and some disadvantages. It has some psychological advantage because when more people are coming to watch your games and support you maybe also receive this kind of positive energy. When football teams play, maybe you can see it’s just a field with 11 players, but at home, when people support you, it’s better. Of course, maybe in some aspects you want to show your best, and it’s also some extra weight for you. During the last few months Anand’s games were perhaps not so impressive, maybe Veselin played a bit better, but remember that when Anand played against Kramnik, before that he came last in Bilbao. World number 27, Leinier Dominguez (2713, Cuba) And it you just look at the players, is it 50-50 then? Vugar Gashimov Maybe in chess skills Anand is more talented. We remember before, he was always playing fast, very strong, and finally he’s the World Champion now. In chess skills he’s better a bit, but Topalov has one better skill: he’s a fighter. He can always fight. That’s why I think the match can be decided because it’s in Sofia. This can be the only thing that’s decisive. Leinier Dominguez To me they’re pretty even. Maybe one of them is stronger in some areas and the other may be slightly better in some other areas, but it’s pretty even I think. Sergey Karjakin I think they’re playing more or less equal chess. What do you think of Topalov following the Sofia rule? Vugar Gashimov OK, I don’t think anyone of them is going to offer a draw with White or something! [Laughs.] But if he wants to do this, this is his problem, this is his business. Ruslan Ponomariov Yes, I read this discussion on ChessVibes. I don’t think Vishy will have any trouble with it because he’s a very quiet player with Indian mentality, and he’s quite experienced. He must be ready to play till the end, no short draws. When he played against Kramnik, the second game was quite interesting. It was a very complicated position and suddenly they agreed to a draw. For the spectators it would have been much better if they had continued. Chess is first of all a game of gentlemen and they must show respect to each other, to give a good example to the younger players: how not only to fight, but also to show good manners. Sergey Karjakin I don’t really understand this. If the position is drawn, then it’s time to accept a draw. If this is not in the contract, then why to do it? World number 7 Alexander Grischuk (2756, Russia) Alexander Grischuk It’s their right. I still don’t understand why you have to speak to your opponent via the arbiter, I don’t see any sense in that. I mean you can just allow that I will never offer or refuse a draw and Vishy is not stupid or totally unethical, I mean if he would just announce this, he would not bother him by offering draws in playable positions. OK, they’re just trying to bring some attention to the match; I don’t take it very seriously. Leinier Dominguez In general I like this Sofia rule, because it’s a good thing not to allow players to make short draws. But I don’t know what is happening now in the match. There are different circumstances and, I don’t know, it’s kind of strange. Do you think longer games, as a result of the Sofia rule, would help Topalov, who is five years younger? Leinier Dominguez [Laughs.] Well, I’m not so sure. OK, of course Topalov is very strong in this point, he has a lot of energy, he’s always playing till the end. But Vishy is also very strong, and it’s not like he’s physically weak or something. I don’t think it’s a really important aspect. World number 21 Sergey Karjakin (2725) Ruslan Ponomariov I don’t think it’s just following this rule, maybe he just wants to play till the end, like when I played Ivanchuk in 2002 somehow I also had such tactic, play till the end, to fight every position, when I was in trouble, and somehow it gave me some advantages because I was younger, I had more energy. Of course now the match is not so long, it’s not like Kasparov against Karpov, and they have lots of free days. Sergey Karjakin Maybe it’s a little bit to the advantage of Veselin because he’s a little bit younger and I think basically he has more energy than Vishy but I don’t know, we will see. Alexander Grischuk I don’t think it would favour anyone but the observers, especially after Kramnik-Leko which was really disgusting for a lot of people! Tomorrow we’ll publish part 2, with Boris Gelfand, Vassily Ivanchuk, Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen.
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/who-will-win-the-opinion-of-top-gms-part-1/
Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:32:14 +0000
Tejas earns 1st IM norm
Tejas earns maiden IM norm Wednesday , April 14 , 2010 Dubai: Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi dropped to the 15th spot after losing to Eduardo Itturizaga but Tejas Ravichandran earned his maiden International Master norm, beating Vladimir Grabinsky of Ukraine in the penultimate round of the 12th Dubai Open chess tournament here Tuesday. India’s Ramnath Bhuvanesh, who defeated compatriot Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta, shares the fourth spot with 10 others. Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com Chess daily news from Susan Polgar
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100414/jsp/sports/story_12337723.jsp
2010-04-14T00:07:00.000-05:00
Wijk aan Zee Recap Part II
Greetings to everyone around the world. Fortunately, it is sunny outside and most of us in the United States have recovered from SUPER SUNDAY! I know most people here probably would prefer chess to football (including Dave the webmaster, who is a Colts fan!) but I found the game to be extremely exciting. Having grown up in New York, I always was impressed by Sean Payton's ability as the defensive coordinator for the Giants. Overall, I felt that New Orleans won due to the many interesting and simply brilliant decisions including the onside kick to start the second half. Although I was pulling for Peyton Manning and the Colts due to the people I know in Indy, New Orleans was simply the better team last night. Alas, another football season has come and gone, but there's always next year for my Titans! Now back to chess... Round 6: Ivanchuk-Nakamura In the sixth round, I kept facing strong players as I was Black against GM Vasily Ivanchuk from Ukraine. Of the modern day players, I think my style most resembles his in that we are the two players who play just about any opening depending on which side of the bed we wake up on! At the same time, he is also one of the few players who can beat anyone which makes him dangerous. Having beaten Vasily in the rapid finals of Cap D'Agde in 2008, I knew that he'd be angling for revenge this time around. Therefore, I decided to play the Slav against his 1.d4 (a minor surprise!). This was really the first surprise of the game as I have played the fairly obscure 12...0-0-0. In other top encounters, 12...Be6 was preferred. During the game, I was feeling fairly confident as I had reached this position in my analysis prior to the game. At the board, though, I began thinking to myself what if he plays 13.a5? My suspicions were confirmed shortly afterwards when he played it! Fortunately, it was not hard for me to come up with the right plan as there aren't a whole lot of logical moves. As such, I was able to force a repitition after 13...Nc5 14.Qe1 Nb3 15.Ra4 Nc5 16.Ra1 Nb3 leading to a draw. During the tournament, there were many people who asked how could I take a quick draw as it runs contrary to my style. The answer is quite simple in that if either Vasily or I chose to play on, we'd be worse. Sometimes, being practical and taking quick draws makes sense. Obviously, I had the foresight to do that here, but not against Karjakin when it mattered, D'oh!  Round 7: Nakamura-Shirov After the draw with Ivanchuk, I was on a very respectable 4/6 while Shirov was blazing on 5.5/6 and in the clear lead by a half point. Although neither Kris nor I came into the tournament with expectations of me winning, we decided that I should definitely go all out for glory in this game. Since I went into the game with this mindset I decided to play 1.e4 as I felt Shirov would create complications no matter which opening I chose. Despite the fact I felt Alexei made a mistake in choosing the sicilian against me, I still must respect his decision to stay true to his style despite the tournament situation. The opening was very much a seesaw battle as I felt after 15 moves I was simply better. To his credit, it was around this time that Alexei used a lot of time and came up with the right idea of exchanging his dark square bishop. Over the course of the next few moves I got careless giving away any advantage I had. The key point occurred in the following position after 19.Bf3. In this position, I was not quite sure about the evaluation. However, I correctly judged that Alexei would go for a tactical solution in the position. In chess, there are certain positions where intuitively you feel like there has to be a way to win material. As it turns out, Black is probably better after the simple 19...Rd8, but Alexei like myself spent most of his time trying to come up with something tactical which was incorrect. After 19...Nh3 20.Kh1 Nxf2 21.Rxf2 Qxe3 22.Bxb7 I think Alexei overlooked 22...Qxf2 23.Qxd6 with a crushing threat of Bc6 mate. Once this key opportunity was missed, the position became difficult to play for Black. Although any computer program would probably draw (beat us weak humans) it without too much trouble, it was still incredibly unpleasant to play. This coupled with Alexei's impending time pressure proved to be too much as in the time pressure, he cracked and I won! Although it was not fate to win the tournament, I knew that after this win that this event was a success regardless of how I ended. Round 8: Kramnik-Nakamura In the eighth round, I got Black against the 14th World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik. Coming off such a high following the previous round, I knew this would be an extremely difficult task. However, as a good friend said once before, you play the games since the underdog can come out ahead.  Thanks to a certain girl, I took the French Canadien phrase, "C'est de la biere" (It's a beer which basically means it's a piece of cake) and simply tried to relax and enjoy the game. There are some days when we all just play badly. This day proved to be one of these as it got off to a bad start when I switched my opening choice at the last minute and decided to play the Dutch. In the game, we went into the Leningrad and Vladimir played the interesting 8.Rb1 line. Pretty much immediately I went off the beaten path as I started pushing pawns like a total patzer. Eventually we reached the first of two key positions after 19.Bxe3. In this position, I calculated 19...Qe7 and thought it made the most sense only to have a finger fehler and play 19...Nxd4. In reality, the move I played was correct but it screwed with my mind. Normally this is not a problem, but almost immediately after I played Nxd4, I started thinking, "hmm, wait, why did I not go Qe7??" After 20.Qc1 White would had a big advantage, but when you have lingering doubts during a game, it can affect you adversely. After a series of more or less forced moves we reached the second and final chance I had to save the game. In this position, Vladimir had just played 23.Rxd5. During the game, I only considered playing either 23....Bf5 or 23...Be6. As it turns out, our silicon friend thinks I am probably fine if I trade on g3 and then follow it up with Be6. However, during the game I fully intended to play Bf5 only to then start considering Be6. For some bizarre reason, I calculated 23...Be6 24.Rxd4 Qxd4 25.Nxf4 as a variation. Then, once I played 23...Be6 I immediately spotted the obvious 24.Nxf4. After this secondary blunder, the game was beyond hope and I duly lost. This certainly was not a positive development as far as the tournament was concerned. On the positive side, it was only after the second blunder that I was losing. Nevertheless, I played badly and got punished. Alas, I only join the likes of people such as Kasparov who have gotten crushed by Kramnik. Being in such good company cannot be something to complain about! Round 9: Nakamura-Karjakin In the ninth round, I had White against former child prodigy, Sergey Karjakin formerly of Ukraine and now playing for Russia.Sergey and I are certainly no strangers as we have played several times in the past. Before I discuss the game, I would just like to point out that despite my sometimes controversial style and comments in the past, I have not intentionally insulted someone in public. In many ways, I found Sergey's comments on chesspro to be incredibly disgusting and insulting. One can only hope that people grow up much like I have since my younger days. In this game, I chose to play 1.d4 as I was coming off a brutal loss and wanted to play a bit safer. Sergey surprised me almost from the start by choosing the Nimzo Indian over his preferred Slav. The opening was a bit unusual in that I had two doubled pawns on the c file. However, the diagonals certainly made up for it. In this important position, we had repeated with 17.Ba7 Ra8 18.Be3 Rb8. Much like in my game against Ivanchuk, I had a serious decision to make here. Should I take a relatively quick draw and get ready for the following round or try to press on. Here, I thought for some time and decided to play despite the messy position and not having a lot of time. Although this was objectively fine since the position was not any worse for me, from a general standpoint it was simply wrong. The rest of the game, I did not play particularly inspiringly, and I eventually overpressed in time pressure making a horrible blunder. There really was not much positive news from this game as I once again just did not play very accurately. However, with four rounds still left, I felt that it would be possible to put up a solid plus score if i returned to form. The one big drawback at this point was that during this game, I started feeling a bit tired and hallucinating during this and the subsequent games. Alas, when you play two major tournaments back to back eventually all the energy being spent will catch up.   Stay tuned for the third and final installment from north of the border! Cheers, Hikaru 2.8.10
http://www.hikarunakamura.com/naka/main/Blog/tabid/57/EntryId/100/Wijk-aan-Zee-Recap-Part-II.aspx
Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:08:00 GMT
Anna Ushenina Wins Rector Cup - 8-players top women chess event
The traditional chess tournament Cup of the Rector was held on the stage of the Palace of Students of the National Law Academy of Ukraine, Yaroslav the Wise, March 26th - 29th 2010. GM Anna Ushenina (UKR 2452) won five games and conceded only two draws to convincingly claim the tournament with total of six points.
http://reports.chessdom.com/news-2010/anna-ushenina-wins-rector-cup
Mon, 29 Mar 2010 22:11:24 +0200
Amber: final video
We return once more to the 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, which finished a few days ago. The final round was a thrilling affair, and the closing ceremony a pleasant one, when both Vassily Ivanchuk and Magnus gave a brief speech. Final video. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament took place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event was organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters took part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Final Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Final Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Final Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/amber-final-video/
Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:40:42 +0000
Carlsen & Ivanchuk joint winners Amber
Magnus Carlsen and Vassily Ivanchuk shared first place at the Amber tournament in Nice. Carlsen blundered a full queen in his blindold game against Alexander Grischuk, but then won the rapid game convincingly. Vassily Ivanchuk defeated Boris Gelfand 1.5-0.5 to join the Norwegian in first place in the combined standings. There’s no sole winner; the two share first prize. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 11 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 11 report Carlsen and Ivanchuk win 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament has ended in an overall victory for Norway’s Magnus Carlsen and Ukraine’s Vasily Ivanchuk. In the 11th and final round Ivanchuk caught up with Carlsen thanks to a 1½-½ victory over Boris Gelfand. In the rapid session Carlsen had to defeat Alexander Grischuk to assemble the same number of points as Ivanchuk after he had dropped his queen in the blindfold game. Alexander Grischuk won the blindfold section one and a half point ahead of Carlsen, Ivanchuk and Kramnik. In the rapid section Carlsen and Ivanchuk finished on top together. The blindfold game between Vugar Gashimov and Peter Svidler ended in a draw by threefold repetition, but also saw both players drop a pawn at quite different moments in the game. Gashimov sacrificed a pawn in the opening because he believed that he could win Black’s queen, but once that ‘moment’ arrived he realized that after 21.b4 Qxb4 22.Bd2 Black has the simple 22…Qa4 and no queen is lost. After that oversight Svidler was a healthy pawn up and winning until it was his turn to throw a pawn for nothing. Slightly low on time he erred with 40…Nb6 (correct was 40…Bd8 41.Bb2 Bc7) and was immediately punished for his oversight (if you can call it that way in a blindfold game) by 41.Bxf7+. In the ensuing situation White had the better chances, but when Gashimov didn’t exploit them optimally the game ended in a draw. With a further draw in the rapid game Svidler was happy that he finished on plus-1, which means that now his overall Amber score is positive as well (he started the event with 22 points from 44 games played in two previous Ambers). In the opening Gashimov simplified into a position that Svidler was quite pleased with. When on move 17 he put his knight on d6, he believed he was much better, but actually this knight didn’t bring him much at all. Still, he got the clearly better position when Black committed some inaccuracies and after 28…Rc8, a remarkable position arose in which White had an extra pawn, but Black a threatening front of central passed pawns. The position remained complicated, but as Svidler summed up the final moves ‘it seems to be a draw tempo by tempo’. In their blindfold game Leinier Dominguez played an opening line against Levon Aronian that the Armenian had been studying recently with the intention to play it as White! Perhaps that was the reason why afterwards the Armenian grandmaster could easily point out the mistakes his Cuban colleague made. To begin with the only move with which White can play for an advantage is 10.e4, as all other tries are fine for Black. It would also have been safer for Dominguez to exchange queens himself and on move 13, it would have been better to look for play with 13.g4. And next 16.a3 had to be played as White was simply lost after 16.Bg2. However, Aronian also made a slip, when he missed that he could have won immediately with 18…Rfd8+ 19.Kb1 Ba3! Fortunately for him the idea was still winning one move later, after which the rest was easy. The rapid game seemed to be giving Dominguez good chances for his first win, but it wasn’t to be. In the opening Aronian believed he was repeating a Kramnik game from the 1993 Amber tournament, but his memory wasn’t entirely clear. In hindsight he believed his move 19.Bxd4 was too optimistic (a move like 19.Na4 was called for) and from that moment onwards he was slightly worse. He got optimistic again when he managed to stir up counterplay, but it was not enough. As he remarked with a resigned expression: ‘You can’t win if you’re opponent has a passed a-pawn.’ Ruslan Ponomariov and Jan Smeets played an Exchange Slav in their blindfold game in which Black got a backward pawn that he compensated by active play. This play might have been even more active if he had interpolated 26…Qb8 to challenge White’s weakness on g3 (White therefore continues 27.f4), but as it went chances remained balanced. White might have stirred up complications with 30.Qxa1 Qxe3+ 31.Kd1 Bd3, but when he didn’t go for this possibility the game was soon drawn. The rapid game was a lively exchange of exchange sacrifices, that ended to Ponomariov’s advantage when the third exchange sacrifice lacked punch. Smeets got a pleasant position from the opening and his first exchange sacrifice had its merits in view of Black’s fractured pawn-structure. Nevertheless he preferred to call it ‘completely nonsensical’ after the game. Still, his game improved when Ponomariov felt forced to give back the exchange and this improved position even inspired Smeets to sacrifice another exchange. However, as said, it was hard to explain its strength and without too much effort Black hauled in the point. Boris Gelfand was confronted by an interesting novelty in his blindfold game against Vasily Ivanchuk. In a well-known position the Ukrainian grandmaster introduced an inspired exchange sacrifice. Commenting on the game Gelfand said that it was hard to say if Black’s compensation was fully sufficient or not, but in any case it was easier to play the black position, particularly in a blindfold game. In the game Gelfand looked hard to find ways to exploit his material advantage, but when he failed to see a concrete way to make progress he accepted a draw by a repetition of moves on move 33. The rapid game saw a Petroff with 5.c3 that soon got very complicated. Gelfand seemed to be in control, but Ivanchuk was relentless and whipped up a devastating attack that crashed through in only 32 moves. ‘It’s getting hot all of a sudden’, commented Vladimir Kramnik after he had won the blindfold game against Sergey Karjakin, obviously referring to the overall standings that suddenly also offered chances for him again. The game was a repeat of their last-round encounter in this year’s Corus tournament, with Kramnik deviating with 14.Nb5. On his next turn he introduced a novelty, 19.Bg5, which proved a pretty strong improvement. After the bishops had been exchanged ‘things were no longer funny for Black’ as Kramnik put it. In fact he believed that from this moment onwards White was winning and although Karjakin managed to create some counterchances he thought that that assessment held true for the rest of the game. ‘A rather clean game’, he concluded with a satisfied smile. In the rapid game Kramnik fought for his last chance with a Pirc. Not hiding his intentions he sacrificed a knight for two pawns, but he failed to shock Karjakin, who called the sacrifice ‘dubious’. White got a slightly better position, but he needed to make some precise moves to really shake off the black pressure, such as 21.Nc3 and 22.Ra4. Gradually Karjakin took over the initiative and decided the game in a fierce kingside attack. The blindfold game between Alexander Grischuk and Magnus Carlsen, the leader and runner-up in the blindfold standings, took a dramatic turn when the Norwegian believed that his opponent’s queen was on a different square. Till that point he had conducted an excellent game and had gradually outplayed Grischuk on the black side of a King’s Indian. If instead of 23…Qh4 Carlsen had played 23…Qf6, White would have faced a tough task after 24.Qd2 Qd4 and White can barely move. But Carlsen believed White’s queen was on d2 and thought he was capturing an unprotected pawn on e4. Once he realized this was not so there was no choice but to resign. In the rapid game Carlsen was happy with the position he got from the opening. He didn’t obtain a real advantage, but it was ‘complicated enough’. And he felt that his position was easier to play, which he proved in the middlegame when he managed to create a serious advantage. By the time Ivanchuk won his rapid game against Gelfand and walked over to have a brief look at Carlsen’s game, the Ukrainian grandmaster understood that he and Carlsen were going to be the joint winners of the 19th Amber tournament. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Final Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Final Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Final Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/amber-r11-grischuk-wins-blindfold-as-carlsen-blunders-queen/
Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:14:34 +0000
12th Rector Cup Participants Announced
The traditional chess tournament Cup of the Rector will be held on the stage of the Palace of Students of the National Law Academy of Ukraine, Yaroslav the Wise, March 26th - 29th 2010. It is an 8 player women chess tournament, featuring some of the strongest women players. Among participants are the Olympic Champions Inna Gaponenko and Anna Ushenina, the vice-champion of Europe Lilit Mkrtchian, the leader of the national woman team of Israel Masha Klinova, the vice-champion of Europe among girls Anna Burtasova, the current champion of Ukraine Evgeniya Doluhanova, the champion of Europe as a member of the youth team of Ukraine Anastasiya Karlovich and the multiple champion of Ukraine among girls Liza Soloviova. Thus, the resulting tournament will be the strongest women event held in Ukraine in the last years. The tournament will be round robin with 7 rounds, 45 minutes for each player to finish the game with extra 10 seconds for each move from the start. All games will be in live broadcast on the official website of the tournament. Check out Chessdom's article to get to know the participants.
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Chessvine/~3/KIIiDryqXKo/765-12th-Rector-Cup-Participants-Announced.html
Amber: Carlsen and Ivanchuk win 19th Amber
The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament has ended in an overall victory for Norway’s Magnus Carlsen and Ukraine’s Vasily Ivanchuk. Ivanchuk caught up with the leading Carlsen in the final round thanks to a 1½-½ victory over Boris Gelfand, while Magnus shared the points with Alexander Grischuk with one win apiece. Big pictorial report with some really cool Google imagery of Nice.
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6214
Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT
12th Rector Cup - 8-players top women chess event
The traditional chess tournament “Cup of the Rector” will be held on the stage of the Palace of Students of the National Law Academy of Ukraine, Yaroslav the Wise, March 26th - 29th 2010. It is an 8 player women chess tournament, featuring some of the strongest women players.
http://previews.chessdom.com/rector-cup
Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:18:15 +0100
Amber R10: Carlsen back on top
Magnus Carlsen today reclaimed first place in the overall standings of the Amber tournament with a 2-0 win over Ruslan Ponomariov. With one round to go the Norwegian grandmaster is half a point ahead of Vasily Ivanchuk, who drew twice with Vladimir Kramnik. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 10 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 10 report Carlsen back on top with one round to go In round 10 of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Magnus Carlsen reclaimed first place in the overall standings with a 2-0 win over Ruslan Ponomariov. With one round and two games to go, the Norwegian grandmaster is half a point ahead of Vasily Ivanchuk and one and a half points ahead of Vladimir Kramnik. Ivanchuk and Kramnik drew their mini-match today after two hard-fought games. Tomorrow in the last round Carlsen (13½) plays Grischuk (11½). Ivanchuk (13) is paired against Gelfand (11), while Kramnik (12) faces Karjakin (11). Round 11 starts two hours earlier than normal: at 12.30 hrs. The blindfold game between Levon Aronian and Alexander Grischuk saw a sad end when the Russian champion lost on time in a level position, because he had briefly forgotten about the position of his queen. In the final position, believing his queen was on d5, he tried to play 38…Rc5, a move that obviously was not possible with the queen on c6. Grischuk still had 14 seconds on his clock when he made his first attempt. Realizing there was something wrong he tried to exchange queens, but the move 38…Qd5xb5 was not possible either. He didn’t get a third chance to find out the position of his pieces as his time expired. An unfortunate turn of events for the leader in the blindfold rankings, as up that point he had played well. Very well, even, in the eyes of Aronian, who was duly impressed by Grischuk’s clever 29…Ba7 giving the pawn on d5, a material deficit that he quickly corrected after 31…Nf6. Grischuk admitted that it had indeed been a clever ploy, but he was also honest enough to reveal that in actual fact he had really blundered the pawn and that he was just lucky to recover it so easily. But that luck soon ran out. The rapid game was an interesting Catalan that seemed to give White good play. A critical moment appeared on move 27, when Grischuk could have pushed 27.d5 obtaining a potentially dangerous passed pawn. When he let that opportunity go by, Aronian equalized quite comfortably. In the fight for the last place Jan Smeets seemed to be doing very well in the blindfold game when Leinier Dominguez ‘didn’t know what he was doing in the opening’. Dominguez got a clearly worse position in which he was two pawns down. The only chance he saw was to play fast and hope that Smeets would once again end up in time-trouble. Indeed the Dutch grandmaster took his time for his moves and Dominguez saw his hopes to stay in the game come true. After 63 moves of mainly defending he saved the draw. A heroic role was played by Black’s knight on d6 that set up an impressive blockade. In the rapid game Smeets did win and one might say that he was rewarded for brave play. In an Open Ruy he chose an aggressive approach with 12…g5 and even more audacious was his castling queenside. As might be expected White tried to break open the queenside and aim for the black king, but the black queenside front was firm and strong and actually more menacing than its white counterparts. As Dominguez discovered when his position collapsed after Black’s 40th move. Magnus Carlsen scored a relatively uncomplicated win against Ruslan Ponomariov in their blindfold game. The Ukrainian more or less dug his own grave when he opened his kingside position with 21…g4. With White’s bishop pair and most of his pieces ready to jump at the Black’s king this was indeed a poorly judged advance. Or, as Carlsen out it: ‘Once the position opens you can immediately see who is mating who.’ White’s attack grew almost by itself and on move 41 Ponomariov had seen enough. The rapid game was quite a different affair. ‘It pays off to play on’, said with a grin, when he walked into the hospitality lounge after he had ground down Ponomariov in 102 moves. In a Grünfeld Defence he had been slightly worse for a long time, but he kept looking for chances. These finally came in the endgame, a rook ending with both players having four pawns on the kingside. Carlsen explained that he had some practice with exactly this ending as he had played it four years ago in Norway. At that time he had to work out the principles himself, now he already had some essential knowledge. His first step forward he made when he managed to isolate White’s e-pawn. But it was still a far way from a win and much more manoeuvring was required. Carlsen kept plodding on, and bit by bit he achieved what he was looking for. Of course he should be praised for his perseverance, but it also must be said that Ponomariov put up feeble resistance. The longest game of the day was the blindfold encounter between Vasily Ivanchuk and Vladimir Kramnik, a key game between the tournament leader and one of his main rivals. The game lasted 112 moves and more than two hours (and thus seriously delayed the start of the first rapid session). At first Kramnik had no problems at all in his favourite Petroff Defence, but a couple of inaccuracies on the Russian’s part combined with Ivanchuk’s fighting spirit led to a big advantage for the Ukrainian phenomenon. White’s passed pawns forced Kramnik to give up a piece for two pawns and now the question was whether this ending was won for Ivanchuk. After the game Kramnik exchanged views with a host of grandmasters in the hospitality lounge and opined that to his mind it was an ‘absolute draw, but unpleasant to defend’. Not everyone was convinced, but definite conclusions were not reached. Ivanchuk stated that he had thrown away his winning chances with 49.h4, ‘a terrible move’. Of course he was right, but frustrated by this missed chance he kept playing on and only accepted a draw in a rook and knight versus rook endgame more than sixty moves later. The rapid game was also a gritty fight and this time it was Kramnik who got the winning chances. At least that was his opponent’s conviction after he had managed to escape with a draw. Ivanchuk indicated 18…bxc5 as a critical moment where he had to calculate a lot. He gave up an exchange for a pawn and from that moment onwards he had to work hard to earn a precious half point. Which he managed after 46 moves, leaving him the only player in the tournament who has not yet lost a single game. Peter Svidler was ‘reasonably satisfied’ after his blindfold encounter with Boris Gelfand, as he felt he had played an interesting game (even if the ultimate result was only a draw). And he held a promising position for most of the game. Gelfand was critical of his move 13…Nf8 as with 14.c5 White scored an important triumph in the fight for the f4-square. But there were various dangers looming (such as 13…dxc4 14.0-0-0 b5, trying to hold on to the pawn and Black will not survive long after 15.Bh5). Svidler was optimistic and believed that the sacrifice 24.Rxg6+ would lead to a winning attack, but in fact Black could stay afoot with careful play. The ending also looked very promising for him, but he had missed 40…f3 and now White’s pawns are too fragmented to offer real winning chances. In the rapid game Svidler got the opportunity to play his umpteenth Grünfeld Defence and as it is his specialty he obviously had no objections. Certainly after Gelfand missed 20…Bh6 which effectively cost him a pawn. And in case you wonder if White could have prevented losing this pawn with 24.axb5 then the following line will show you that this was not the case: 24…axb5 25.Rxa8+ Bxa8 26.Kf2 Nd5 and the pawn goes anyway (27.Nf1 Rxe2+). A pawn down Gelfand kept trying to save the game, but Svidler didn’t falter and gained the full point after 75 moves. Sergey Karjakin and Vugar Gashimov showed a good sense of Amber history in their blindfold when they repeated the queen sacrifice with which Vasily Ivanchuk baffled the spectators two years ago. Of course, at the time ‘Mr Amber’ also baffled his opponent, who happened to be … Karjakin. Well, actually Karjakin hadn’t specifically prepared it for his occasion (and neither had Gashimov), but stumbled into it as he hadn’t expected his opponent to play the Najdorf. In the past two years the knowledge about this variation has grown rapidly and the general consensus is that Black should be fine. That assessment was confirmed by this further example, as the game ended in a draw by repetition on move 25. The rapid game also saw a theoretical discussion, with Karjakin taking on the role of Grischuk who recently has played three games in this line of the Najdorf Poisoned Pawn with 8.Qd3 against Gashimov. The new move was played by Gashimov, who tried 18.0-0, where he played 18.Rf1 against Grischuk. Karjakin reacted correctly with 18…d5 and after a series of exchanges the game ended in a draw by perpetual check. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/amber-r10-carlsen-back-on-top/
Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:46:40 +0000
Amber R9: Carlsen closes in
In round 9 of the Amber tournament, Vasily Ivanchuk defended first place in the overall standings with two draws against Vugar Gashimov. With two rounds to go the Ukrainian grandmaster has a half-point lead over Magnus Carlsen, who defeated Leinier Dominguez of Cuba 1½-½. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 9 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 9 report Carlsen closes in on tournament leader Ivanchuk In round 9 of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Vasily Ivanchuk defended first place in the overall standings with two draws against Vugar Gashimov. With two rounds and four games to go the Ukrainian grandmaster has a half-point lead over Magnus Carlsen, who defeated Leinier Dominguez of Cuba 1½-½. Vladimir Kramnik also improved his position, moving into third place, half a point behind Carlsen and one full point behind Ivanchuk. Kramnik shares third place with Alexander Grischuk, who defeated Jan Smeets 2-0. In round 10 Ivanchuk plays Kramnik, while Carlsen faces Ponomariov. Grischuk meets Aronian. Following a day of relaxation the players returned to work today for round 9. Unfortunately the second free day was not a perfect day to enjoy the attractions of the Palais de la Méditerranée (the outdoor swimming pool, for example) or of Nice in general (the beach, for example) as the sun was barely seen and the sky was mainly cloudy with occasional showers pouring down. The ‘official program’ offered two ‘excursions’, the traditional laser game and a guided tour through Baroque Nice. Only few players joined the guided walk, but as always the enthusiasm for the laser game was heart-warming. All participants showed great fighting spirit, but in all honesty the true stars of the event were Peter Svidler’s wife Olga and John Nunn’s son Michael. But all that was well forgotten when this afternoon at 14.30 hrs the clocks were started again (while outside the sun had returned with a vengeance attracting a considerable crowd to the beach!). The blindfold game between Vugar Gashimov and Vasily Ivanchuk was a brief fierce cash that ended in perpetual check after 30 moves. White grew optimistic when he obtained a beautiful space advantage and could freely push his pawns to g5 and f5. And after the inspired 22.Nc5 Gasimov felt he was winning. He still felt this way after the game, even if in the final position he had not seen a way to proceed. But he believed a remark from a colleague in the hospitality lounge who opined that he could have played for a win with 28.Kg2 Rc6 29.Qd5+ Kc8 30.Rxc4 and Black is indeed in trouble. However, when Gashimov had a brief look at the position with a computer, he immediately found the considerably stronger 28…Qd4 and concluded with some relief that he had not missed a golden chance to inflict Ivanchuk’s first defeat and that it was a draw after all. The rapid game was a balanced positional act in which pieces were exchanged in rapid succession. On move 38, when both players had only one knight and five pawns left, the game ended in a draw by repetition of moves. Vladimir Kramnik steered clear of all Grünfeld main line theory against Peter Svidler (‘Apparently he is impressed by my Grünfeld skills’) and opted for a sound but harmless approach. Black had many ways to equalize, but as Svidler put it, he still managed to create some problems for himself. Problems which he next managed to solve. One of the improvements he indicated was 21…f6 to put his bishop on f7. And a possible improvement for White that he suggested was 24. Qd4 Kg8 25.e5. Kramnik had been under the impression that on move 29 he could play 29.Rd6 as on 29…Bxb3 30.Qxb3 Qxe5 he briefly believed that he could go 31.Qe3, but when the moment arrived he spotted that this would hit on the embarrassing 31…Qa1+ and he loses his queen. A few moves later there was little to fight for anymore and the players agreed on a draw. The rapid game was a painful loss for Svidler. In a fashionable variation that Kramnik called ‘slightly difficult for Black but playable’, he committed a big strategic mistake when he pushed his pawn to f6 on move 20 and robbed himself of all play. The rest of the game Kramnik described as easy, he only needed to remain concentrated and choose the right moment to break through on the queenside. Once he broke through White lost material and soon had to resign. The blindfold game between Boris Gelfand and Sergey Karjakin only took half an hour and 18 moves, but it did contain a small story. They repeated a game played by their seconds, Maxim Rodshtein and Alexander Motylev at the recent Aeroflot Open in Moscow. In that game White was a bit better after 12…0-0 13.Nb5. Karjakin improved with 12…a6, which allowed White pushing e4 and e5, but after 15…Nc5 Gelfand failed to find a way to keep his initiative alive. As he had various weak pawns in his position he was not too eager to make an all-out winning attempt and went for the repetition of moves that was on offer. The rapid game saw a long discussion in the Petroff with Karjakin introducing a novelty, 18.Bd3 in combination with g4. The true merits of the new move may only become clear in future games. White seemed to get good chances, but didn’t find the right follow-up. In the hospitality lounge Ljubomir Ljubojevic and Fabiano Caruana believed that White could have improved his play with 25.Qf5 Rd8 followed by gain of space with h4 and a4, and afterwards Gelfand agreed with this assessment. As it went, he played the right countermoves and drew comfortably. Ruslan Ponomariov was a bit surprised that Levon Aronian chose the Grünfeld Defence for their blindfold game, as it is an opening he doesn’t normally play. His surprise only increased when it became clear that the Armenian grandmaster hadn’t prepared anything particular and committed a couple of inaccuracies, such as 11…e6, where 11…Nc6 is a better option. The rest of the game Ponomariov summed up with the words ‘I just took his pawns and pieces and didn’t know why he didn’t resign’. Ponomariov could even blunder a pawn and still be winning (he should have played 30.Bxf4 Qxf4 31.d8Q Qxc1+ 32.Kg2 and the queen on d8 is untouchable because of mate). Aronian finally resigned when he was three moves away from mate. Aronian hit back in the rapid game. ‘The variation isn’t that good’, he commented after he had won, ‘Of course we both made inaccuracies, but it was difficult for him.’ White could have finished the game quicker with the nice 46.g7 Qf7 47.g8N!, but as it went, Ponomariov had to resign soon enough. With his win over Jan Smeets, the leader in the blindfold standings, Alexander Grischuk, raised his total score in the blindfold to a most impressive 7 out of 9. Nevertheless the Russian champion was mainly modest after this further win. ‘I played the opening so badly, that I both needed to get lucky and needed the help of my opponent’. One of the moves he criticized was 11.d4, which he called ‘an amazingly bad move’. The chances in the game fluctuated with White getting the better game, spoiling his advantage and being clearly worse and then being on top again. After 44.Qg4 it was clear the black position was going to collapse soon and so it did. The rapid game was a much smoother performance of the Russian champion. In a Sicilian Hedgehog he carefully manoeuvred behind the lines, preparing the central break that almost inevitably came. And once he pushed 30…d5, Smeets immediately erred. He should have tried 31.f4, as after 31.exd5, Grischuk could strike hard with 31…Nxf3+ 32.gxf3 Bxg3 and White was fighting a lost battle. The blindfold game between Leinier Dominguez and Magnus Carlsen started with a peculiar ‘intermezzo’, when after the third move of his opponent the Norwegian had to heed nature’s call and left the playing room in the company of the assistant arbiter. Carlsen returned quickly, but the excursion nevertheless cost him some three minutes. The game developed along the lines of an everyday Catalan with Dominguez getting slightly optimistic after 19.Qf3 and 20.Rac1. Carlsen was in time with his counterplay (21.b4 and 22…Qa4) and from that moment onwards Black exerted some pressure, but couldn’t really achieve something with the strong white knight on c4. ‘A pretty normal game’, Dominguez concluded after it had been drawn after 50 moves. At the start of the rapid game it seemed as if Dominguez wanted to offer some compensation for the time Carlsen wasted in the blindfold game when the Cuban thought for one minute before he replied to White’s 1.e4 with his pet 1…e4. Most probably he had expected Carlsen to play something else. Once Dominguez played his favourite Najdorf, Carlsen opted for 6.Be2 and got a good game. Still, he wasn’t completely happy with his play and felt that he could have won quicker once he had gotten his knight to f5. What he did like were the three connected passers he got on the queenside and his move 27.Qh3 that threw Black on the ropes, particularly so as Black immediately blundered with 27…f4, where he would have put up more resistance with 27…g6. The rest wasn’t too difficult anymore and Carlsen won without much difficulty. As said, he still had his doubts about his play, but he also concluded that with four games to go he had already won more games (ten) than in the previous years. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/amber-r9-carlsen-closes-in/
Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:33:25 +0000
Wijk aan Zee Recap Part II
Greetings to everyone around the world. Fortunately, it is sunny outside and most of us in the United States have recovered from SUPER SUNDAY! I know most people here probably would prefer chess to football (including Dave the webmaster, who is a Colts fan!) but I found the game to be extremely exciting. Having grown up in New York, I always was impressed by Sean Payton's ability as the defensive coordinator for the Giants. Overall, I felt that New Orleans won due to the many interesting and simply brilliant decisions including the onside kick to start the second half. Although I was pulling for Peyton Manning and the Colts due to the people I know in Indy, New Orleans was simply the better team last night. Alas, another football season has come and gone, but there's always next year for my Titans! Now back to chess... Round 6: Ivanchuk-Nakamura In the sixth round, I kept facing strong players as I was Black against GM Vasily Ivanchuk from Ukraine. Of the modern day players, I think my style most resembles his in that we are the two players who play just about any opening depending on which side of the bed we wake up on! At the same time, he is also one of the few players who can beat anyone which makes him dangerous. Having beaten Vasily in the rapid finals of Cap D'Agde in 2008, I knew that he'd be angling for revenge this time around. Therefore, I decided to play the Slav against his 1.d4 (a minor surprise!). This was really the first surprise of the game as I have played the fairly obscure 12...0-0-0. In other top encounters, 12...Be6 was preferred. During the game, I was feeling fairly confident as I had reached this position in my analysis prior to the game. At the board, though, I began thinking to myself what if he plays 13.a5? My suspicions were confirmed shortly afterwards when he played it! Fortunately, it was not hard for me to come up with the right plan as there aren't a whole lot of logical moves. As such, I was able to force a repitition after 13...Nc5 14.Qe1 Nb3 15.Ra4 Nc5 16.Ra1 Nb3 leading to a draw. During the tournament, there were many people who asked how could I take a quick draw as it runs contrary to my style. The answer is quite simple in that if either Vasily or I chose to play on, we'd be worse. Sometimes, being practical and taking quick draws makes sense. Obviously, I had the foresight to do that here, but not against Karjakin when it mattered, D'oh!  Round 7: Nakamura-Shirov After the draw with Ivanchuk, I was on a very respectable 4/6 while Shirov was blazing on 5.5/6 and in the clear lead by a half point. Although neither Kris nor I came into the tournament with expectations of me winning, we decided that I should definitely go all out for glory in this game. Since I went into the game with this mindset I decided to play 1.e4 as I felt Shirov would create complications no matter which opening I chose. Despite the fact I felt Alexei made a mistake in choosing the sicilian against me, I still must respect his decision to stay true to his style despite the tournament situation. The opening was very much a seesaw battle as I felt after 15 moves I was simply better. To his credit, it was around this time that Alexei used a lot of time and came up with the right idea of exchanging his dark square bishop. Over the course of the next few moves I got careless giving away any advantage I had. The key point occurred in the following position after 19.Bf3. In this position, I was not quite sure about the evaluation. However, I correctly judged that Alexei would go for a tactical solution in the position. In chess, there are certain positions where intuitively you feel like there has to be a way to win material. As it turns out, Black is probably better after the simple 19...Rd8, but Alexei like myself spent most of his time trying to come up with something tactical which was incorrect. After 19...Nh3 20.Kh1 Nxf2 21.Rxf2 Qxe3 22.Bxb7 I think Alexei overlooked 22...Qxf2 23.Qxd6 with a crushing threat of Bc6 mate. Once this key opportunity was missed, the position became difficult to play for Black. Although any computer program would probably draw (beat us weak humans) it without too much trouble, it was still incredibly unpleasant to play. This coupled with Alexei's impending time pressure proved to be too much as in the time pressure, he cracked and I won! Although it was not fate to win the tournament, I knew that after this win that this event was a success regardless of how I ended. Round 8: Kramnik-Nakamura In the eighth round, I got Black against the 14th World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik. Coming off such a high following the previous round, I knew this would be an extremely difficult task. However, as a good friend said once before, you play the games since the underdog can come out ahead.  Thanks to a certain girl, I took the French Canadien phrase, "C'est de la biere" (It's a beer which basically means it's a piece of cake) and simply tried to relax and enjoy the game. There are some days when we all just play badly. This day proved to be one of these as it got off to a bad start when I switched my opening choice at the last minute and decided to play the Dutch. In the game, we went into the Leningrad and Vladimir played the interesting 8.Rb1 line. Pretty much immediately I went off the beaten path as I started pushing pawns like a total patzer. Eventually we reached the first of two key positions after 19.Bxe3. In this position, I calculated 19...Qe7 and thought it made the most sense only to have a finger fehler and play 19...Nxd4. In reality, the move I played was correct but it screwed with my mind. Normally this is not a problem, but almost immediately after I played Nxd4, I started thinking, "hmm, wait, why did I not go Qe7??" After 20.Qc1 White would had a big advantage, but when you have lingering doubts during a game, it can affect you adversely. After a series of more or less forced moves we reached the second and final chance I had to save the game. In this position, Vladimir had just played 23.Rxd5. During the game, I only considered playing either 23....Bf5 or 23...Be6. As it turns out, our silicon friend thinks I am probably fine if I trade on g3 and then follow it up with Be6. However, during the game I fully intended to play Bf5 only to then start considering Be6. For some bizarre reason, I calculated 23...Be6 24.Rxd4 Qxd4 25.Nxf4 as a variation. Then, once I played 23...Be6 I immediately spotted the obvious 24.Nxf4. After this secondary blunder, the game was beyond hope and I duly lost. This certainly was not a positive development as far as the tournament was concerned. On the positive side, it was only after the second blunder that I was losing. Nevertheless, I played badly and got punished. Alas, I only join the likes of people such as Kasparov who have gotten crushed by Kramnik. Being in such good company cannot be something to complain about! Round 9: Nakamura-Karjakin In the ninth round, I had White against former child prodigy, Sergey Karjakin formerly of Ukraine and now playing for Russia.Sergey and I are certainly no strangers as we have played several times in the past. Before I discuss the game, I would just like to point out that despite my sometimes controversial style and comments in the past, I have not intentionally insulted someone in public. In many ways, I found Sergey's comments on chesspro to be incredibly disgusting and insulting. One can only hope that people grow up much like I have since my younger days. In this game, I chose to play 1.d4 as I was coming off a brutal loss and wanted to play a bit safer. Sergey surprised me almost from the start by choosing the Nimzo Indian over his preferred Slav. The opening was a bit unusual in that I had two doubled pawns on the c file. However, the diagonals certainly made up for it. In this important position, we had repeated with 17.Ba7 Ra8 18.Be3 Rb8. Much like in my game against Ivanchuk, I had a serious decision to make here. Should I take a relatively quick draw and get ready for the following round or try to press on. Here, I thought for some time and decided to play despite the messy position and not having a lot of time. Although this was objectively fine since the position was not any worse for me, from a general standpoint it was simply wrong. The rest of the game, I did not play particularly inspiringly, and I eventually overpressed in time pressure making a horrible blunder. There really was not much positive news from this game as I once again just did not play very accurately. However, with four rounds still left, I felt that it would be possible to put up a solid plus score if i returned to form. The one big drawback at this point was that during this game, I started feeling a bit tired and hallucinating during this and the subsequent games. Alas, when you play two major tournaments back to back eventually all the energy being spent will catch up.   Stay tuned for the third and final installment from north of the border! Cheers, Hikaru 2.8.10
http://www.hikarunakamura.com/main/Blog/tabid/57/EntryId/100/Wijk-aan-Zee-Recap-Part-II.aspx
Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:08:00 GMT
Interview with GM Smbat Lputian - Vice-President of the Armenian Chess Federation speaking for News-
"In my opinion, ten teams will compete for medals, and I don't think there will be new teams to make surprises. Of course, Russia has always been one of the strongest, Ukraine is a very good team, China, the United States. India is quite active recently, Azerbaijan has a strong team. In addition, France and Israel can be seen as strong rivals."
http://interviews.chessdom.com/smbat-lputian
Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:41:24 +0100
Baklan wins Hypercube Blitz in Utrecht
This popular blitz tournament was held in the National Mindsport Centre in Dutch town of Utrecht for the eleventh time this year. The event was won by the top seed Vladimir Baklan of Ukraine, who beat all GMs, drew four games and lost two – against talented Dutch youngsters. The most colorful figure was GM Vladimir Epishin, who played in coat and cap. Big pictorial report by Fred Lucas.
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6206
Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Amber R8: Kramnik beats Carlsen 1.5-0.5, Ivanchuk increases lead
In the 8th round of the Amber tournament in Nice, Vladimir Kramnik defeated Magnus Carlsen 1.5-0.5, which should have been 2-0. Vasily Ivanchuk was held to two draws by Dominguez; the Ukrainian did increase his lead in the combined standings to a full point. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 8 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 8 report Ivanchuk retains lead, Kramnik defeats Carlsen 1½-½ In round 8 of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Vasily Ivanchuk retained first place in the overall standings. The tournament leader drew both his games with Leinier Dominguez and increased his lead over runner-up Magnus Carlsen to one point. Carlsen had a rough day. He lost the key encounter with Vladimir Kramnik ½-1½, and actually couldn’t complain that he didn’t lose both games. Kramnik moved up to joint third place with Boris Gelfand, only half a point behind Carlsen. Monday is a free day. Play is resumed coming Tuesday, March 23, at 14.30 hrs. ‘A decent game that I can be happy with’, Peter Svidler called the blindfold game he won against Ruslan Ponomariov. Once again the Russian grandmaster played 1.d4 (‘I keep playing this, hoping for openings that never happen’), but didn’t achieve anything tangible from the opening. He only became optimistic after 21.h3, one reason being his bishop on h6, which really was a ‘pest’. Black’s plan with Bb5 and building up pressure on c4 would have been good, had it not been for the little tactic 25.g4, which prevented Black from taking on c4. Svidler criticized 25…Rd8 and offered the following alternative (that he had seen staring at the blank screen in front of him): 25…e6 26.Nd6 Rxc1 27.Bxc1 Rc3 28.Bxd5 Be2 29.Re1 Nxd5 30.Bd2 Rc6 31.Nxb7 Bf3 32.Nc5 Nc7, with drawing chances (after 32…h5 33.Kh2 hxg4 White has 34.Kg3). After the move in the game White has various trumps; the bishop pair, the c-file and a big space advantage. Black blundered with 31…e6, as after White’s reply the black knight cannot withdraw to d7 because of 33.Nc4 and an entire rook drops off. The game was essentially over after 34.Rc7 which led to a quick collapse of the black position. The rapid game was a wondrous affair. In a Grünfeld Defence, with Svidler once again behind the black pieces, Ponomariov got ‘everything I wanted’, as he put it himself. The Ukrainian grandmaster was very pleased with his 12.e5!, but the situation he was talking about was the position after his 18th move. Apparently Svidler agreed, as not seeing a normal way out anymore he decided to sacrifice a piece for two pawns. And after 28.f3 he sacrificed a further piece, again for another two pawns. Of course, White was totally winning, but the game was far from over. Ponomariov didn’t use all his chances and Svidler fought back creatively, the dead certain outcome wasn’t that dead certain anymore. In the end Ponomariov won anyway, but only after Svidler had missed a draw on move 54 with 54…f1Q 55.Bxf1 c4 and there is no win. Easily the longest game of the first blindfold session was the encounter between Sergey Karjakin and Alexander Grischuk, lasting one hour and forty minutes (for 82 moves) and even delaying the start of the second session. Karjakin played 6.f3 against Grischuk’s Najdorf, but derived little pleasure from his choice when the Russian champion energetically took over the initiative. Karjakin worked hard to neutralize the black initiative and once he managed to make progress on the kingside the advantage switched to White again and Black was as good as lost. But then it was Grischuk’s turn again to show his ambitions and get the better play. White made the decisive mistake on move 65 when he could have made a draw (see this week’s endgame study). Now Karjakin had to defend a King and Queen ending against a King and Rook ending, and as we all know this is an ungrateful challenge. The course of the rapid game was determined when Grischuk sacrificed his bishop on h6 as early as move 17. After the game the players analyzed a long time to understand the secrets of the position. Grischuk summed up their findings with his typical irony: ‘We discovered that we both played badly.’ According to him the sacrifice would have been unsound if Black had gone 23…Rad8 instead of 23…Tfd8. And Black would have been better if he had gone 26…Kh8 instead of 26…Kf8. And instead of the repetition of moves at the end his conclusion was that White should have played on with 30.Rxh7 Qxh7 31.Nxg5 Qf5 32.Qe3. To balance all this self-criticism we may add that the computer does not entirely share these findings. So, perhaps they didn’t play that badly after all. The opening of the blindfold game between Vasily Ivanchuk and Leinier Dominguez was a Sicilian Najdorf, which could hardly be called a surprise after White had played 1.e4. The Cuban grandmaster obviously chose his pet Najdorf and once again went for the ultra-sharp line starting with 7…Nc6, an approach that he himself also called ‘dangerous’, especially after the approach with 14.Bg3 chosen by Ivanchuk. Still, once he managed to exchange queens and push f5, Dominguez got a good game. He even felt that he was better, but in the ensuing phase he failed to prove anything concrete and after 57 moves a draw was agreed on. In the rapid game Ivanchuk came well-prepared for the Sicilian line that Dominguez had already played on various occasions. The Cuban grandmaster sat thinking hard to remember his work on this line and possible ways to get an advantage. After the game he was satisfied with the plan with 18.h4 and 20.Rh3 that he came up with. Still, he couldn’t solve all his problems and already in quite serious time-trouble he fled into a rook endgame in which he had to fight for survival. That task he acquitted himself of well and after 54 moves he saved the draw. The blindfold game between Jan Smeets and Vugar Gashimov saw a rare line of the Sicilian Rauzer in which the struggle quickly came to a head when Black sacrificed an exchange with 10…Rxc3. With the strong 12…d5, Black more or less forced his opponent to give back the exchange as otherwise the black initiative would take on dangerous proportions. Smeets wasn’t unhappy with the way the game developed, especially after he was allowed to march his a-pawn to a5 (which Black might have stopped by 18…Ba3). He was also happy with the next pawn he offered with 27.c5, as he got a promising pair of passed pawns. White looked to be in clover, but in the next phase he didn’t proceed accurately enough, he felt. For instance, he believed the immediate 35.c6 would have been stronger. When Black’s counterplay got on his nerves, he decided to bury his aspirations and went for the draw. In the rapid game Gashimov surprised Smeets with a dangerous idea in a popular line of the Petroff. With 13.d6 and 14.Nb5 he sacrificed a pawn, but got excellent compensation thanks to the compromised position of the black king. After the game the Dutchman wasn’t sure if the white pawn sacrifice had been entirely correct, but he readily admitted that finding black answers to all the white questions at the board was perhaps more than you could expect from a human in a rapid game. As it went, he was steamrollered by White’s attack on the kingside and the game was over on move 33. In the blindfold game between Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik a fashionable gambit line of the Vienna Game appeared on the board. The Norwegian had aggressive intentions, but according to his opponent his aggression was half-hearted. At a point where he should have gone all out for the attack Carlsen seemed to have second thoughts and tried to regain the pawn with 14.Ba3, a move that Kramnik criticized. When White started working on his kingside attack, Black was prepared (and two full pawns up) and Kramnik had no doubt that he was winning if he didn’t blunder anything. In fact he did make things more difficult for himself than necessary, when he omitted the simple 35…Kf8, which would soon have decided the issue and two moves later Carlsen even got a golden chance to save his skin with 37.hxg7. The engines immediately indicate this possibility as a draw, but Kramnik begged to differ. According to him there may be drawing chances for White, but he believed that Black is winning after the amazing line: 37.hxg7 Qf3+ 38.Kh2 Qxg2+ (38…Qf4+ 39.Kh3) 39.Qxg2 e2 40.Qh3 Kxg7 41.Qg3+ Kf8 42.Qe1 b5 43.Kg3 Re5 and White will have to sweat to make a draw. After Carlsen missed this chance the game was soon over. The rapid game was even more spectacular. Carlsen showed that he was ready for an open fight by playing the King’s Indian, but again his play was too risky and with the ‘piece sacrifice’ 27.Bxe5 Kramnik obtained a winning position. No one doubted that the Russian was cruising to his second victory, except for Carlsen perhaps. With great determination he kept trying to pose problems and much to the amazement of the watching grandmasters he indeed managed to confuse his opponent. Or maybe Kramnik was confusing himself. In any case, watched by fascinated spectators and various colleagues Carlsen saved a draw (after 90 moves!) that might turn out to be important if four days from now when the prizes are distributed. Levon Aronian got a good game in the blindfold encounter with Boris Gelfand, when a skirmish on the c-file looked to end to his advantage. His initiative evaporated after 20.Nfd4, where it seems he could have cemented it with 20.Nfe5, when after 20…Na4 21.Rd7, Black surprisingly cannot play 21…Bxe5 because of 22.Ne7+. After this missed chance there soon followed a mass liquidation that led to a draw on move 34. In the rapid game Gelfand obtained a fine game, when Aronian freely surrendered the d-file. Black’s position looked cramped, but Aronian gradually solved his problems and was rewarded for his efforts when on move 37 his opponent offered a draw. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/amber-r8-kramnik-beats-carlsen-1-5-0-5-ivanchuk-increases-lead/
Mon, 22 Mar 2010 09:01:45 +0000
Amber: Ivanchuk erobert Spitze zurück
Ein 1,5:0,5-Sieg über Alexander Grischuk reichte Vassily Ivanchuk, um sich nach der heutigen 7. Runde des Amber-Turniers wieder an die Spitze der Tabelle zu setzen. Magnus Carlsen, der den Ukrainer gestern überholt hatte, unterlag nämlich mit 0,5:1,5 Vugar Gashimov. In der Blindpartie war dem Norweger die Berliner Variante ziemlich missglückt. Ebenfalls mit 1,:0,5 siegten Boris Gelfand gegen Jan Smeets und Peter Svidler gegen Lenier Dominguez. Mit 2:0 gewann Sergey Karjakin gegen Ruslan Ponomariov. Aronian und Kramnik spielten 1:1. Offizielle Seite... Mehr...
http://chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=10191
Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Amber R7: Ivanchuk once again back in sole lead
Vasily Ivanchuk is back in the lead at the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament in Nice. The Ukrainian defeated Alexander Grischuk 1.5-0.5 today, while Magnus Carlsen lost with the same score to Vugar Gashimov. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 7 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 7 report Vasily ‘Mr Amber’ Ivanchuk once again back in the sole lead In round 7 of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Vasily Ivanchuk once again moved into the sole lead. The Ukrainian grandmaster had luck on his side in his mini-match against Russian champion Alexander Grischuk. Thanks to this 1½-½ win Ivanchuk replaced Magnus Carlsen as leader in the overall standings. The Norwegian top-seed had an off-day. He was obviously disappointed by his ½-1½ loss against Vugar Gashimov, but he was even more worried by the play he had shown. Sergey Karjakin moved up to shared third place thanks to a 2-0 win over his former compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov. Vladimir Kramnik won a nice game against Levon Aronian in their blindfold encounter. In a Tarrasch Defence Black got into problems when he pushed 20…d4. Better would have been 20…Qc5+ 21.Kh2 and only now 21…d4. After 21.f5 White’s attack became very dangerous. If for instance Black had played 21…Bd5 instead of 21…Bc4, White pushes 22.f6 and he is in time to mate the black king. The game got a sudden end when Black blundered with 22…Qxa2, allowing White the crushing 23.Rb2 (”I had forgotten about that one,” Aronian said) and 24.f6. Aronian levelled the score in the rapid game, but this was a far from flawless performance from both players. As Aronian summed it up when he entered the hospitality lounge after the game: ‘First I was winning, then I was losing and then I was winning again.’ No one argued with that, not even the various engines present. The first time the tables were turned when Aronian blundered with 26.Rxe3 (after the wrong 25…Nxb2? where 25…Ree8 was necessary) and found himself in a lost position after Black’s answer, while he could have gotten a great position with 26.Qg2 Re7 27.Rxe7 Kxe7 28.Qg7+. Kramnik returned the favour with 32…Kf8, which gave away most of his advantage, whereas 32…Kf6 33.Re4 Rg8 would still have had him winning comfortably. After this missed opportunity the game seemed to be steering for a draw, but another mistake by Kramnik cost him the game. With 49…Kh7 he would have kept the draw. After 49…c3 he must have been shocked by White’s unnerving reply and one move later he had to resign. After he had drawn the blindfold game against Boris Gelfand, Jan Smeets admitted that this was the first time in his Amber debut that he had felt comfortable ‘watching’ his position. Which didn’t mean that he hadn’t realized that the opening hadn’t entirely gone his way. What he meant to say was that he was just feeling comfortable. Without hesitation he sacrificed a pawn to get some play and, as if this was the most natural cause the game could take, he regained it relatively effortlessly some ten moves later. The ensuing endgame was level and no longer contained problems for Black that could rob him of a well-deserved draw. The rapid game was less pleasant for the Dutchman. Between moves 15 and 20 he misplayed the position that had arisen from a popular line of the Petroff and ended up in trouble. He decided to give a pawn, but this concession did little to alleviate the pain. By a forced sequence the players ended up in a rook endgame in which Black had an extra pawn and good winning chances. That was the way Gelfand described it and he proved his point on the board. Vugar Gashimov was confronted by a Berlin Wall in his blindfold game against Magnus Carlsen. In the endgame that duly appeared on the board within a few moves, White is supposed to be only slightly better, but Gashimov’s life was made easy by Carlsen’s 14…b6 (the white player suggested 14…Ne7 as an improvement). After 13.Ng5 and 14.c4 White had two imposing knights in the centre and Black’s position was not to be envied. Gashimov was proud of his move 18.Rac1 and felt that in general he had played a good game. He also kept a cool head when Carlsen came up with his last trick, 29…c6, and converted his advantage with a steady hand. In the rapid game Carlsen seemed to get good chances to level the score in this mini-match, when Gashimov played too riskily in the opening. With 20.Rd1 Qa5 21.Ne4 the Norwegian could have gotten a considerable advantage, but thinking 20.Nf5 was also promising he spurned this opportunity. Carlsen had missed 24…Rfe8 and now suddenly he was in trouble. The ending should have been winning for Gashimov (one improvement Carlsen indicated was 34…Rb3 instead of 34…Rxf3), but as always it’s not over till it’s over and with tenacious play White managed to save the draw; on 58 there were only two kings left on the board. Carlsen was obviously disappointed about the chance he had missed and when he was asked whether he minded that he had drawn his first game he replied negatively but added that he did worry about his play today. After the blindfold encounter between Alexander Grischuk and Vasily Ivanchuk had ended in a draw, the Ukrainian runner-up described the course of the game as ‘complicated’, his favourite word when for whatever reason he doesn’t want to go into too much detail. What he did want to say was that he had the feeling that he had had winning chances after 25…Rc3. He certainly got good chances after that move, but how close he came he will probably explore in his private analysis later today. The rapid game featured another Najdorf Poisoned Pawn. Grischuk got a good game as Black, but at the point that Ivanchuk could bail out with a draw with 29.Qxd4, he spurned this opportunity and played the risky 29.Qe1. ‘I was feeling that I was in danger, but I wanted to try this’, he explained after the game. ‘Probably I was losing, but I was lucky’, he spoke frankly. If he was really lost was not that clear, but he certainly was lucky when Grischuk blundered 39…Qb7, where he could have made a draw with 39…Qf4. After White’s answer 40.Qb3+ Black was indeed lost. Leinier Dominguez came very close to his first Amber win in his blindfold game against Peter Svidler. Unfortunately for the luckless Cuban it wasn’t to be. Having played strong and pointed chess in a classical Ruy Lopez, Dominguez reached a wonderful position. In fact, the win was there to be harvested, but at this point his play lost punch and he missed various wins, perhaps the most obvious being 39.Nxg7 Kxg7 40.Qg4+, when the defences around Black’s king are in ruins. His last inaccuracy was 42.Nd6 and two moves later he offered a draw. The Cuban tried not to be too upset about the missed chances and admitted that playing blindfold has proven more difficult than he had expected. In the rapid game Dominguez surprised Svidler with his opening choice, but didn’t manage to fully equalize. After the game Svidler suggested various improvements for his opponent, such as 11…Qe4+ or 13…Nd5 14.Bxd5 0-0-0! Or 16…Rxf3 17.Re4 Nd4 18.Rxg4 Nxe2 19.Bxe2. But the real mistake of Dominguez was that he had missed 31.g6+ which was followed by a sequence that Svidler had foreseen and left to a winning position after 40.Rxb7. Dominguez kept fighting on, but twenty moves further on he had to resign. The longest game of the blindfold sessions between Ruslan Ponomariov and Sergey Karjakin lasted 71 moves and 90 minutes and ended in a victory for the latter. Karjakin was reluctant to give an assessment of the opening (‘that has to be analyzed’), but pointed out that the game turned around when White played 28.Nd6, a move ‘that looks nice, but after my simple answer White’s position is unpleasant’. After 34…Bf8 Black felt very comfortable and once the white f-pawn had inevitably dropped off, Karjakin was simply a pawn up and his main concern was not to forget the position of his pawns and pieces. This he managed well (although there was a moment when he played some rook moves to find out the position of the white king that he had briefly forgotten about!) and after a long session the point was his. The rapid game was a walkover for Karjakin, as Ponomariov put up feeble resistance. In the opening Karjakin deviated from the game Ivanchuk played against the same opponent here with 7.Nxg4 (Ivanchuk went 7.a4). Black’s first inaccuracy was 9…Bb7, as at this point he had been better advised to complete his development. White got a great game and when Black took another risky decision with 14…d5 Black was soon with his back against the wall. Karjakin was proud about his move 16.Nc3 (and in general he thought that this was his best game in this year’s Amber so far) which greatly boosted his initiative. Things very quickly went totally wrong for Black and when Ponomariov resigned on move 23 he was only three moves away from mate. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/amber-r7-ivanchuk-once-again-back-in-sole-lead/
Sat, 20 Mar 2010 20:54:37 +0000
Carlsen takes over the lead in Nice
After six rounds Magnus Carlsen is in sole lead at the Amber tournament. The Norwegian scored yet another 2-0 victory, today against Boris Gelfand, while Vasily Ivanchuk drew twice with compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov. Jan Smeets scored his first victory and played 1-1 against Vladimir Kramnik. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 6 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 6 report Fourth 2-0 knock-out brings Magnus Carlsen back on top again In Round 6 of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Magnus Carlsen regained the lead in the overall standings. In a gripping clash, the Norwegian defeated Boris Gelfand 2-0 and overtook former leader Vasily Ivanchuk from Ukraine, who had to settle for two draws against his compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov. The gap between the front-runners is widening. Third place is shared by Boris Gelfand, Alexander Grischuk en Vladimir Kramnik, two full points behind Carlsen and one and a half points behind Ivanchuk. After 12 games Carlsen has not yet drawn a single game, winning 9 and losing 3. Ruslan Ponomariov explained that his blindfold game against Vasily Ivanchuk reminded him of their final match in the 2002 FIDE World Championship in Moscow, where stubborn defence in suspect positions contributed to his ultimate success. Once again a Ruy Lopez with an early g6 appeared on the board, one of the most popular openings in this Amber, and this time it was Ivanchuk who improved on Dominguez’s play against Ponomariov with 5.d4. Ivanchuk’s idea (combined with 7.a4) worked out fine and if you’re wondering why Black didn’t take the exchange on offer on move 10, the following line may give you an idea: 10…Bxd4 11.Qxd4 Qf6 12.e5 Qb6 13.Qf4. The critical moment came on move 15, where Ponomariov felt he should have played 15…Bxb3 16.Qxb3 Kh7 followed by Kh7. After 15…Qb8 his position was just unpleasant and Ivanchuk could start to realize all his plans at his leisure. But Ponomariov didn’t just wait to be finished off, and tried to create some counterplay by playing his bishop to f4 and bringing his queen to the kingside via d8. And it worked. Afterwards various improvements were suggested for White, such as 47.h4, which would have allowed him to put his king on h2, but as it went the game ended in a repetition of moves on move 68. In the rapid game Ponomariov wanted to discuss a line in the Catalan, but was bit clumsy when that opportunity really appeared. Instead of playing the critical move, 13.Ne4, he mixed up moves and went 13.Bf4. And soon found himself two pawns down and wondering what his compensation consisted of. Luckily for him he found 16.Ng5, an aggressive assault that allowed him to bail out with a draw by repetition. Ponomariov wasn’t too happy with his missed chance to play the opening he had aimed for (‘I would have liked to see what Ivanchuk had prepared’) and only found some consolation in the thought that ‘maybe Carlsen will not complain about my result’. The blindfold game between Peter Svidler and Alexander Grischuk was a wonderful achievement by the Russian champion (the current champion Grischuk we mean, not five-times former champion Svidler). At least, that’s what we thought when we saw Black’s queen sacrifice and the way he next obtained more than enough compensation. But Grischuk, although he had a contented smile on his face, wasn’t too impressed: ‘It looks impressive, but in fact it is quite easy. If you look at the way my pieces coordinate and the threats I have it is not that difficult.’ Of course not, particularly not in blindfold. According to Grischuk, White’s 14.Qh5 was a ‘stupid move’ based on a miscalculation and after this Black would also have been better without the queen sacrifice. The key move of the combination was 20…Bd3, a quiet move that highlights White’s problems with his queen. In fact, Grischuk had hoped that Svidler would resign at that point, not because it would have made the picture prettier, but for the simple reason that it would have prevented him from making any possible moves. Obviously, Grischuk was referring to his recurring time-trouble problems, but this time such worries were unwarranted as he converted his advantage without any glitches. ‘Not a very exciting game, but a correct one’, Svidler commented after the rapid game had ended in a draw. In a Grünfeld Defence Grischuk tried a new move (in this position), 9.Qa4. Black’s 14…Qa5 was a precise move, as he has to stop his opponent from steamrolling him on the kingside and White cannot really avoid the exchange. Perhaps in the following phase 15.g4 would have been more critical, as now Black was doing fine after 16…f5. And once some pieces were exchanged the draw was not far off. Sergey Karjakin and Leineir Dominguez discussed the merits of a Be3-Najdorf with Black playing an early h5 in their blindfold game. This discussion will no doubt continue in future games, but once the principled fight between Black’s queenside ambitions and White’s kingside ambitions came to a head, the pawn on h5 was more of a liability than an asset. The game turned sour for Black when he played 29…Nxc6? Which soon had him in insurmountable problems. Instead, he might have fought on with 29…Nxg4 30.Qxg4 f5 31.Re2 fxg4 32.Rxg2. The rapid game saw an Exchange Slav in which Karjakin tried to stir up complications. His attempts bore fruit when Dominguez erred with19.h3, allowing the strong 19…Bb5. The Cuban took the wisest decision and sacrificed the exchange, leaving Black with a slightly better position, but no tangible advantage. But the game was far from over and in mutual time-trouble Karjakin kept looking for his chances. In the end he was successful when Dominguez let himself be tricked and dropped a piece. Levon Aronian arrived for his blindfold game against Vugar Gashimov in an impeccable white suit, white shoes, and black shirt to match the white jacket and black shirt of his opponent. After the game he admitted jokingly that this had been part of his strategy: ‘That’s why I only put it on briefly before the game. I didn’t want him to see my novelty.’ As expected Gashimov defended himself with his pet Benoni, but apparently he wasn’t very familiar with the old sideline that Aronian played. ‘And it’s a big disadvantage in rapid and blindfold if you’re not familiar with a line and your opponent is’, the Armenian explained. According to him his opponent’s 12…fxg4 was imprecise and that 12…Nf6 was theory. But his real error was 14…Bg7, where he should have played 14…Be7. ‘Later in the game I was mainly trying not to do what I was doing in previous rounds’, Aronian continued. He did so convincingly and after 38 moves Gashimov threw the towel. In the rapid game Aronian defended with the Berlin Defence, which these days is more often called the Berlin Wall. The opening served him well, as Aronian, who lives in Berlin, was better throughout the game. In the end it was not enough when Gashimov forced a draw by a repetition of moves. A beaming Jan Smeets walked into the hospitality lounge after had won the blindfold game against Vladimir Kramnik. Not only had he beaten the former world champion in an excellent game, he had also won his first game in his Amber debut. As in their game in Wijk aan Zee, Kramnik relied on the Pirc Defence. That game he won, but this time things went different. Smeets had chosen a sharp line, and although he admitted that he didn’t remember all the ins and outs he felt at ease. Kramnik tried to invade the white position with an avalanche of pieces, but he couldn’t avoid that his knights became unstuck. As a result White won a piece against a couple of pawns, but this compensation was not enough for Black. Smeets’ main concern was that he would end up in this traditional time-trouble and blunder something. The time-trouble he couldn’t avoid entirely, but for the rest he kept a clear head, picked up a pawn here and there and forced Kramnik’s surrender on move 41. Kramnik hit back in the rapid game, but only after a gritty fight from both sides. The opening put Black under pressure, although Smeets didn’t worry too much. Looking for a speedy kill Kramnik sacrificed a piece with 32.Bxh6, but it was questionable if he objectively made much progress with this investment. He did when Smeets steered for an endgame with 34…Qe8, wrongly assessing the following developments. The Dutch grandmaster had assumed that his a-pawn would be a strong trump, but whereas his a-pawn didn’t move that fast, his opponent’s pawns became truly menacing. Magnus Carlsen was pleased with the way he had played the blindfold game against Boris Gelfand. He obtained nothing from the opening, but that had not worried him. Instead he had enjoyed he had worked to create something from nothing. The ‘something’ was in the air when he finally could play 37.Ne5 and when that same knight struck on g6 one move later it was clear that White was on to something. The game was essentially decided when Carlsen played 41.g4, after which he assessed the position as ‘very bad to lost for Black’. Ten moves later he concluded the game with mate and notched up his first point after his winning streak was interrupted in yesterday’s rapid game. ‘Six more to go’, he grinned. The rapid game also ended in a win for Carlsen, but what a fight it was. In a King’s Indian he ended up with a worse position and could only breathe again when Gelfand made a mistake with 24.Nxc5, giving Black a nice outpost for his knight on d6. The remainder of the game was a demonstration of Carlsen’s magnificent fighting spirit. Many a player would have been tempted to go for a draw when it was there for the taking, but he rather played for a win skirting the precipice. Gelfand certainly missed various ways to draw, but Carlsen’s courage prevailed when under great pressure he managed to deal the decisive blow. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/carlsen-takes-over-the-lead-in-nice/
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:34:47 +0000
Amber: Carlsen's winning streak ends after seven games
It must surely be a record: seven wins in a row for the Norwegian super-talent Magnus Carlsen. But he was stopped by a defeat at the hands of Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine. Boris Gelfand, Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler all scored 2-0 wins, while Vassily Ivanchuk celebrated his 41st birthday by regaining the overall lead at the Amber tournament. Round five report.
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6196
Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Amber R5: Ivanchuk (41) back in sole lead
On his 41st birthday Vasily Ivanchuk defeated Jan Smeets 1.5-0.5 at the Amber tournament in Nice. Because Magnus Carlsen won one and lost one against Sergey Karjakin, Ivanchuk is now half a point ahead of Carlsen and Gelfand, who beat Aronian 2-0. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 5 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 5 report Vasily Ivanchuk grabs lead on 41st birthday In round 5 of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Vasily Ivanchuk, who celebrated his 41st birthday today, grabbed the sole lead in the overall standings with a 1½-½ win over Jan Smeets. Magnus Carlsen saw a winning streak of seven consecutive wins interrupted by Sergey Karjakin. The Norwegian top-seed is now in second place together with Boris Gelfand, who defeated Leinier Dominguez 2-0 (scoring his fourth consecutive win in the process). Yesterday the participants of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament enjoyed a free day. Some of them stayed at the hotel to recharge their batteries, others joined an excursion to Gourdon, an age-old mountain village perched on a rock 780 meters above sea-level with a splendid view of the surrounding natural scenery and of Nice at a distance of some 10 kilometres (the ride there was obviously longer and lasted about an hour). The excursion included a visit to the local museum and a relaxed lunch on the outside terrace of Le Nid d’Aigle. At the end of the afternoon the players who took part in the excursion returned to the Palais de la Méditerranée, where in the evening they were joined by their colleagues at a Quiz evening. The theme of the evening was Movies (with questions about chess interspersed) and we can reveal that Ruslan Ponomariov, who was on the winning team, astounded all and sundry with his passionate rendition of We Are the Champions. And then today, at 14.30 it was back to chess again with the games of the fifth round. After he had won the blindfold game against Leinier Dominguez, Boris Gelfand was full of praise for his opponent’s opening play. Without going into any detail (he preferred the telling stock phrase ‘future games will have to shed more light on this variation’) Gelfand explained that the complications had been big and that he was suffering a pawn down at the ‘end’ of the opening. But Dominguez’ problem was to find a way to convert his material and this proved not so easy. And searching for a plan he got confused by the sudden advance of Black’s e-pawn that started marching down the board. Things were still fine for White, but the Cuban panicked and before he knew it he was lost. The opening in the rapid game again was highly complicated and although in various instances the computer prefers Black, Gelfand had full confidence in the white side. To his mind his opponent went astray with 24…Rd8, where he could have stayed in the game with the ‘beautiful idea’ (Gelfand’s words) 24…Rd3 25.Nf2 Rxf3 26.gxf3 f5. Now things went rapidly downhill for Black and after 30.Qa4 Gelfand believed that he was close to winning. The game lasted another 36 moves, but indeed the result was never in any doubt and Gelfand scored his fourth consecutive win. Vugar Gashimov and Alexander Grischuk conducted a tense battle in the Poisoned Pawn Variation of the Najdorf, with White going for the less usual 8.Qd3. White seemed to have a promising initiative and Gashimov’s hopes were rising, when Grischuk found the beautiful defending move 28…Kh7, that essentially saved the draw. In the rapid game they also repeated the opening they had played in Linares last month and with Gashimov behind the black pieces it’s no big surprise that we saw another Benoni. The novelty came on move 12, when instead of 12…Nh5, the Azeri grandmaster now played 12…b5, an improvement he was most pleased with. Black got a fine game, but White remained ambitious and in the end it was the Russian’s wish to keep on playing on that did him in. After he had repeated moves several times (in different positions) Grischuk finally fell for the trap that Gashimov had spied many moves ago and when White proceeded 43.Bb5, Black’s answer 43…Rxc7 came very quickly. Vladimir Kramnik scored a convincing win against Ruslan Ponomariov in their blindfold game, although he wasn’t too impressed by his achievement. To his mind Ponomariov had simply forgotten to play 6…d6 (as Ponomariov was happy to explain he had already played this exact variation without …d6, way back in 1997 against Volkov amongst others; ‘it used to be one of my specialties at the time’), which gave White a considerable space advantage. He also was critical of Black’s 10…dxe5 and believed that Black’s best chance on move 15 was 15…Bxc3+ 16.Qxc3 Qxb5, as after 15…Kg7? 16.0-0 he felt that White was almost winning. What Black probably missed was that 16…Nf6 would have been answered by 17.Bh6+ Kxh6 18.Qe3+. The remainder of the game Kramnik played with a steady hand and Ponomariov never got a chance to turn the tide again. After the blindfold game Ponomariov mused that he should not have played so adventurously and that it was wiser to strive for a healthy position, solidly developing your pieces and all that. But once he sat down for the rapid game he had already forgotten about most of this wisdom and went for wild adventures again with 12.Be5 and 13.Bd3. Further on 20.Qa1 was not fortunate choice and 21.Rb1 was a blunder that practically immediately cost him the game. Perhaps the question most people were asking themselves at the start of the blindfold game between Sergey Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen was whether the Norwegian would continue his winning streak or that the Ukrainian would slow him down. And indeed, despite the fact that he had the black pieces Carlsen managed to win his seventh consecutive game. In a first reaction he called it ‘a good game’ and it was certainly impressive how he first solved his opening problems and next started to look for more. By the time he had played 23…Nxe3 followed by 24…Bf2, he felt he got a grip on the position. He was even more pleased when Karjakin let himself be tempted to play 34.Bxg6, as he had sharply calculated the consequences of his move. Still, it wasn’t clear if Black’s advantage was winning, but with Karjakin in severe time-trouble and the pressure building up on him he faced an arduous task. Carlsen wasn’t entirely sure if he had played the queen endgame perfectly, but the way he played it was enough to score another point. Carlsen’s winning streak ended in the rapid game. Dithering opening play didn’t bring him anything and when Karjakin stepped up his counterplay, dark clouds gathered over the white position. Carlsen tried his best to muddy the waters but in fact his fate was sealed well before the end of the game. Levon Aronian and Peter Svidler played a blindfold game that the latter called ‘wildly exciting’ and who would argue with that? In a sharp anti-Grünfeld system Black was reluctant to go for the endgame that would have arisen after 11…Qxd1+ even if a brief look afterwards convinced him that there was nothing wrong with it for him. When he played 11…Qe7+ he had missed White’s 12.Bb5+ and wild (indeed) complications began. Initially Black’s position looked under threat but with 21…Qe4 Black took over the initiative. But White crawled back into the game and a manoeuvring phase ended in a drawish position. At this point, however, Aronian had little time left and lost control. First he spurned a repetition of moves and next he put his queen en prise. After he’d also won the rapid game, Svidler suppressed his happiness with the words ‘Today Levon had one of those days that I normally have’. Aronian’s opening turned out badly when he played 12…Re8, where moves like 12…Be6 or 12…Bd7 were called for, and was punished by 13.Nb5. Still, Svidler didn’t continue in the most powerful manner. To his mind, if he had gone 15.Qd2 Bf5 16.Rfe1, the game ‘wouldn’t have lasted twenty moves’. Now Aronian could fight back and with 18…Be4 19.Rf2 Rxf2 20.Kxf2 Qh4+ 21.Kg1 Qg4 22.Qg3 Qxg3 he would have had the worst behind him. Now White was soon in the driver’s seat again and hauled in the point without too many problems. Jan Smeets and Vasily Ivanchuk went down a long line of Caro-Kann theory in their blindfold game. Today was Ivanchuk’s birthday (he turned 41), but Smeets had obviously no wish to present any gifts and although Black was slightly better in the endgame that appeared on the board, the Dutchman confidently secured the draw. At the very end of the game he even came close to a win on time when Ivanchuk had lost track of his bishop, but after a series of tentative mouse clicks the Ukrainian managed to trace it (if the players made an ‘impossible’ move the note ‘illegal move’ appears on their screen; there are no sanctions, however, so they can keep searching for a piece or pawn as long as you want, provided you have enough time). In the rapid game, a Four Knights’ Opening, Smeets at first didn’t have any real problems either. But an ill-advised queen excursion on the queenside, while White was advancing menacingly on the kingside cost him dearly. His kingside proved much more vulnerable than it had appeared at first sight and within a few moves he had to resign. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/amber-r5-ivanchuk-41-back-in-sole-lead/
Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:44:06 +0000
Amber: Carlsen pflügt durchs Feld
Mit unverändertem Tempo durchpflügt Magnus Carlsen das Feld beim Amberturnier in Nizza. Heute war es Jan Smeets, der sich die obligatorische 0:2 abholte. aber auch Vassily Ivanchuk ist weiter gut unterwegs, wenn auch nicht in dem Tempo, dass der Norweger vorlegt. Der Ukrainer gewann mit 1,5:0,5 gegen Levon Aronian. Mit dem gleichen Ergebnis schlug Vugar Gashimov Ruslan Ponomariov. Klare 2:0-Siege feierten außerdem Boris Gelfand gegen Vladimir Kramnik und Alexander Grischuk gegen Lenier Dominguez. Svidler und Karjakin spielten 1:1. Offizielle Seite... Mehr...
http://chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=10171
Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Carlsen wins 2-0 again, joins Ivanchuk in the lead
After winning 2-0 one more time, today against Smeets, Carlsen joined Vasily Ivanchuk in the lead in Nice. The Ukrainian on his turn defeated Aronian 1.5-0.5, while Kramnik went down 2-0 against Gelfand. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 4 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 4 report Magnus Carlsen catches up with Vasily Ivanchuk after third 2-0 wipe-out After four rounds of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Magnus Carlsen and Vasily Ivanchuk are tied for first in the overall standings with 6 points from 8 games. The Ukrainian grandmaster defeated last year’s winner Levon Aronian 1½-½. Magnus Carlsen continued his remarkable comeback after he lost 2-0 to Ivanchuk in Round 1. The world’s number one defeated Jan Smeets 2-0, raising his number of consecutive wins to six. Manifold Amber winner Vladimir Kramnik suffered a highly atypical 2-0 defeat at the hands of Boris Gelfand. Perhaps typical for the fighting spirit of the round was the fact that 5 out the 6 rapid games were won by black. Tomorrow, March 17, is a rest day. Play is resumed Thursday March 18 with Round 5. Magnus Carlsen was understandably ambitious to continue his winning streak in his blindfold game against bottom-seed Jan Smeets. Despite a modest opening set-up (that started with 1.g3) he indeed got an edge, but there was no reason for Black to despair yet. Afterwards Carlsen commented that had Smeets just stayed put, instead of becoming active with 31…Rc3, he didn’t see how he could have made progress. Smeets’ action was based on a miscalculation. After 32…Rxc4 the only reply he had counted on was 33.Rd6+, but instead Carlsen dealt a killer blow with 33.Bg5. Three moves later Black resigned, raising Carlsen’s winning streak to five. In the rapid game the Norwegian also scored his sixth consecutive win, but this time he really had to squeeze water from a stone. After the opening he was slightly worse, but he kept looking for his chances, collecting one minimal asset after the other. On move 33 there was a minuscule victory when he exchanged his knight for a bishop and with 38…g5 he made a brave winning attempt, as he let the white c-pawn on the board. Objectively speaking all his tries would have been in vain had Smeets kept his cool, but low and time and feeling the pressure the Dutchman finally succumbed. As late as move 54 he still could have made a draw with 54.Nh2 as this saves an essential tempo compared to the move he played, 54.Nf2. The blindfold game between tournament leader Vasily Ivanchuk and defending champion Levon Aronian suddenly ended when the board was still full of pawns and pieces when on move 25 White offered a draw. In a slightly unorthodox Ruy Lopez it seemed that Black had obtained a good game, but Aronian wasn’t so sure. When he was asked why he had accepted the draw, he simply replied: ‘Because I am worse.’ And he elaborated that his pieces might look nice and active, but that White can slowly continue h3, Rd1 and c4, and on top of that he didn’t like the g5-h4 pawn-structure on the kingside either. In the rapid game Ivanchuk maintained the (shared) lead with a fine win with the black pieces. A speculative piece sacrifice by Aronian (19.Nxe6) for three pawns and the initiative failed to impress and although the game remained complicated Ivanchuk hauled in the point with determined and precise play. In the blindfold game between Peter Svidler and Sergey Karjakin a tense Sicilian with chances for both sides saw an untimely and unfortunate end when on move 42, White put a knight en prise. Following his resignation yesterday against Carlsen when there was still everything to play for, this was a new blow for the Russian grandmaster. Svidler found some consolation in a well-played rapid game that finally brought him a win again. In his beloved Grünfeld Defence he believed that his 12…Rd8 was a safe road to equality, but it required accurate play. Instead of 17…g5 he could also have played 17…c4, but he felt more attracted to the push of the g-pawn. Karjakin felt optimistic about his chances when he won a pawn, but in fact this materialistic decision spelled disaster, as very soon the black pieces assembled for a strong attack. One nice line that didn’t appear on the board was 24.Bf2 (in the game 24.Bd7 was played) 24…Nxf3 25.Bg3 Qxg3! 26.hxg3 Rh6+ 27.Kg2 Rh2 mate. The end of the game was less drastic, but nevertheless there was no escaping for White. Boris Gelfand didn’t hide his contentment after he had won his blindfold game against Vladimir Kramnik. ‘It’s always nice to win against such a great player’, he almost humbly commented. The Israeli grandmaster more or less blamed Black’s defeat on the opening system he had chosen, the Bg4-system that is mainly popular among some Azeri players. One of the ideas of the black approach is the exchange sacrifice on e3 that also happened in this game. Gelfand wasn’t convinced of its correctness and suggested Black should have looked for something else at that point. He pointed out the sad offside position of the black knight on c7 in particular and quoted Tarrasch who said that if one piece doesn’t take part in the play there’s something wrong with the entire position. Gelfand was satisfied with his plan Bd1 and Ne2 which allowed him to cement his advantage and slowly but surely win the game. In the rapid game Kramnik was perhaps too cautious in his approach, certainly if he had clear plans to level the score, and this seriously backfired. Playing actively Gelfand freely advanced his pawns and directed his pieces to active positions. Objectively speaking, White was not yet in trouble, but Black’s position was much more pleasant and easy to play. Gradually the black pressure built up and following a blunder, 31.Rc2, Kramnik soon had to throw in the towel. An impressive achievement by Gelfand. Ruslan Ponomariov seemed determined to blow up Vugar Gashimov’s Benoni Defence in their blindfold game and judging by the comments of the kibitzing grandmasters in the hospitality lounge he was soon on his way to realize that objective. But then the Benoni is a resilient customer and although his position looked highly suspect, Gashimov seemed to have no wish to surrender without a fight. He stayed afoot in the complications and he could have even taken over the initiative if instead of 31…Rh8+ he had gone 31…Rxf4 32.Rxf4 Qh6+. But soon he was in the driver’s seat anyway when White first missed the winning continuations 32.Kg2 and next 32.Kg1. Instead the players ended up in a rook ending with one pawn (white) against two. This they played on for many more moves until on move 68 the computer indicated a threefold repetition and the game was drawn. The rapid game was a protracted battle in which the balance was not really disturbed for a long time. Nevertheless, Gashimov managed to upset the equilibrium in the endgame and score his second win in the tournament. Alexander Grischuk was clearly satisfied after his blindfold win against Leinier Dominguez and he had every reason to. In a Sicilian Najdorf that his opponent had clearly prepared (Dominguez blitzed out his first 18 moves), the Russian champion was in a creative mood and managed to create attacking chances with pointed play. Probably the key moment of the game was the point where White played 23.Qh5, a move that Black had missed and that netted White the important f7 pawn. Grischuk kept playing strong and incisive chess and after 63 moves he had earned a well-deserved point. The rapid game also saw a Najdorf, but (not surprisingly) a different line. Dominguez’ troubles started when early on in the opening he played his knight to d5 and shortly afterwards had to withdraw it to c3 again, losing two precious tempi. Grischuk obtained a comfortable game and it was impressive to see how he gradually exploited his advantage to score his second win of the day. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/carlsen-wins-2-0-again-joins-ivanchuk-in-the-lead/
Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:25:11 +0000
Ivanchuk in sole lead after three rounds in Nice
After beating Sergey Karjakin 1.5-0.5, Vasily Ivanchuk leads the combined standings of the Amber tournament with a score of 4.5/6. Magnus Carlsen again won 2-0, this time against Peter Svidler, who resigned in a probably drawn position in the blindfold game. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 3 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 3 report Vasily Ivanchuk in sole lead Magnus Carlsen back in business with two more wins After three rounds of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Vasily Ivanchuk is in the sole lead in the overall standings with 4½ points from 6 games. The Ukrainian grandmaster, the only GM to play in all 19 Amber tournaments, defeated Sergey Karjakin 1½-½. Defending champion Levon Aronian scored his first full points at the cost of Jan Smeets. Magnus Carlsen also won 2-0, the victim being Peter Svidler. Despite his dramatic start, the Norwegian is now only half a point behind the leading Ivanchuk. And he optimistically faces the future: ‘I am hoping for two more tomorrow.’ Vasily Ivanchuk immersed in thought at the start of his blindfold game against Sergey Karjakin. Following a 1½-½ win over his former compatriot the Ukrainian grandmaster is in the sole lead. Alexander Grischuk and Boris Gelfand played a blindfold game that at first sight may have looked lively and entertaining for the spectators. However, they were following a theoretical line and after the game Grischuk summed up his assessment of what had happened as ‘very boring’. White had a small advantage in the ending that appeared on the board, but it never took on serious proportions and the games petered out to a draw. For Gelfand the line evoked old memories: ‘The last time I played this line was in 1988 in Vilnius. Against Goldin at the Soviet Young Masters.’ Certainly an interesting footnote to this game. The rapid game was anything but boring. Playing adventurously Gelfand sacrificed two pawns to develop an attack against the black king and was awarded for his courage with a winning position. But just when everyone expected Grischuk to resign soon, Gelfand faltered and failed to deal the final blow. With 32.Bh7+ he let Black back into the game, where he could have decided the issue with 32.axb5 cxb5 33.Nd5 exd6 34.Bxd5+. In raging time-trouble for both, Gelfand again got a winning position, and might just as well have lost if Black had found 42…Kh6 instead of 42…Kg6, but in the end it was a draw and that was a result that definitely felt deeply unsatisfactory for Gelfand. When Leinier Dominguez arrived at the board for his blindfold game against Ruslan Ponomariov, the Ukrainian grandmaster already sat waiting impatiently. As he laughingly told the arbiter: ‘I am nervous, let’s start!’ Once he was allowed to start the game, Ponomariov went for 4…g6 against the Ruy Lopez, a set-up that is sometimes considered slightly suspect, but mostly leads to satisfactory play for Black. Dominguez certainly obtained an edge, but with precise and active play Ponomariov comfortably equalized and once they reached a rook endgame with three pawns on each side, there were few reasons left not to draw the game. The blindfold game presented Ponomariov with a problem that every grandmaster faces from time to time: he had to play against an opening variation that he also has played himself. A tense struggle developed in which both sides were fighting for their chances, and although those of White looked slightly more promising in the middlegame, the game ended in a draw when most pieces and pawns had left the board on move 47. The blindfold game between Vugar Gashimov and Vladimir Kramnik saw the Russian grandmaster play another Pirc. However, this time it didn’t bring him much pleasure, as his mix of set-ups landed him in a risky position. Things looked threatening for Kramnik, especially when on move 26 Gashimov got a golden opportunity. With 26.Rxd6 he could have been a healthy pawn up, as 26…Ne8 is answered by 27.Rxh6, but instead of all this the Azeri grandmaster played 26.Nxd6 and a few moves later he agreed on a draw. In the rapid game Kramnik emphatically wanted to be at the wheel from the word go. With gritty play he put his opponent under pressure and obtained a sizable advantage. But Gashimov had no wish to knuckle under and fought back with determination and his 37…Bg5 came as a rude awaking for Kramnik. Now suddenly the win was far off, objectively speaking no longer there, and a messy phase followed in which White kept looking for a win. And found it, because Gashimov didn’t grab his chances. The final mistake came on move 51, when the Azeri grandmaster played the right idea in the wrong order. Had he gone 51…Qf1+ 52.Kh2 Ne1, White would have had to resign himself to a draw. When he played 51…Ne1 immediately, Kramnik had 52.Qb5 and now 52…Nf3 doesn’t work because of 53.Qf8 mate. The blindfold game between Peter Svidler and Magnus Carlsen started with a comic prologue when, once they were seated behind their laptops, the Norwegian discovered much to his dismay that he wasn’t White is this game, as he had believed, but Black. The comedy of errors was continued in the game and even after the Russian had resigned, when the spectators in the hospitality lounge switched on some engines. In the game Carlsen invited Svidler to play a full-fledged Dragon, but instead White opted for a more quiet approach. For some time there was nothing new under the sun until White played a new move, 19.Qf4 (19.Qe2 had been seen). The comedy of errors came back to life on move 20, when Svidler suddenly had second thoughts about the intended 20.Rxd7 because of 20…Qc6 21.Rxb7 Rxf4 22.Bd5 and now 22…Qf6 wins for Black. However, both players had missed 22.Rb6 with an edge for White. On move, 22 Svidler refrained from 22.Qh3 because he didn’t like 22…Nf4, but after the move he played, 22.Qe1, he was unpleasantly surprised by 22…Bxg2. Now Black developed a raging attack, but was it was deadly as Svidler acknowledged when, after 25…Nd4, he resigned? Indeed it would have been if Black had played 24…Nh4+ (instead of 24…Nf4+). But now things were different, as in the final position the engines immediately showed the amazing 26.Nd7!, attacking the rook on f8, and there is no immediate win and the position looks drawish. At that point the players had already left for their rooms, Carlsen happily laughing off the fact that he had prepared for the wrong colour: ‘In any case it seems to be clear that in the blindfold I do better when I play the black pieces.’ Yes, but this time he needed a helping hand from his opponent. In his room he obviously also found 26.Nd7, but to his mind Black could nevertheless have kept on playing for a win with 26…Nh3+ 27.Kg2 Qc6+ 28.Bd5 Qxd7 29.Rxd4 e6. The rapid game saw a rare sideline of the Qb3 Grünfeld, which, according to Carlsen, both players were not too familiar with. He himself seemed to suffer the least from this relative ignorance as he obtained a pleasant position. ‘And then it just got better and better’, he summed up the game. One moment he pointed out to illustrate the strength of his position was the moment when he played 22.Nd3, planning g5, pushing away the knight on d5 with e4, and then playing Nf4 threatening Nxg6 mate. To prevent such plans Svidler played 22…g5 himself, but his troubles remained and after 34 moves he had had enough and resigned. When Sergey Karjakin, who is now playing for Russia, sat down to play his former compatriot Vasily Ivanchuk there was little doubt that a fierce clash would follow. In the blindfold game Ivanchuk gradually managed to took over the initiative and when he pushed 19…c4! it was clear that Karjakin faced a difficult defence. The final mistake White made on move 32, when playing his bishop to a3, he allowed Black to invade his position and force his surrender. In the blindfold game Ivanchuk got promising play and tried various ways to improve the position of his pieces. But Karjakin defended tenaciously and when his opponent failed to make any headway a draw was the result after 44 moves. Jan Smeets was happy with the outcome of the opening of his blindfold game against Levon Aronian. After all he was allowed to play the improvement he had suggested after his game against Karjakin in Round 2, 17.Be4 instead of 17.Ne4. White got an edge, but failed to exploit it. His first inaccuracy was 24.Rac1 where 24.a4 was called for, but the real mistake was 26.Bxd8?, an exchange that was prompted by his fear that Black’s knight would come to e6 and White’s bishop on f6 would end up out of play. Now Smeets suddenly found himself in an unpleasant rook endgame, which Aronian first converted in a winning pawn endgame and then into a winning queen endgame. The rapid game was a tumultuous affair that started out with an opening that was popular at the start of the 20th century (the rather unusual 4…Nc6 followed by 5.e4). Aronian was pleased with his position but commented afterwards that he should have played 13.Qa4+ instead of 13.Bxf4, as he had underestimated 15…Qd7. Further on he had planned the imaginative 19.Kf1 until he saw 19…0-0 20.Rd6 Bc4!. Black’s troubles started with 24…Qh1, where he could have secured a level position with 24…Qxf2+ 25.Kf2 Ne4+ 26.Kg2 Nxd6 27.Bxa7. His final mistake was 25…Qh5, when he should have gone 25…Qxh6 26.Nd5 Qh4. Now his king was too vulnerable and as Smeets was also in time-trouble it didn’t come as a surprise that Aronian quickly hauled in the point. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/ivanchuk-in-sole-lead-after-three-rounds-in-nice/
Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:30:14 +0000
Amber R2: Carlsen bounces back, beats Aronian 2-0
Magnus Carlsen today recovered completely from his bad start in Nice. The Norwegian defeated Levon Aronian, the winner in 2008 and 2009, in both the blindfold and the rapid game. Ukrainians Ivanchuk and Ponomariov lead the combined standings after two rounds. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 2 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 2 report Carlsen bounces back with 2-0 win over defending champion Aronian After two rounds of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Vasily Ivanchuk and Ruslan Ponomariov are in the lead in the overall standings with 3 points from 4 games, followed at half a point’s distance by Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler. Top-seed Magnus Carlsen recovered from his poor start with a 2-0 win over defending Amber champion Levon Aronian. The Norwegian admitted that he had been upset about his 2-0 loss on the first day (particularly the rapid game, where he believed he was in no danger of losing), but said that he certainly had not despaired: ‘With twenty rounds to go there is always time to recover.’ The first two of those twenty rounds were certainly encouraging for him. Magnus Carlsen fared excellently in Round 2 with two wins over Levon Aronian. After the round the Norwegian was happy to comment on his blindfold game for the tournament website. Just like last year the second round of the Amber tournament clashed with the final stage of Paris-Nice, the 8-stage cycling race that started in Paris (you had guessed that much) a week ago. For many hours the Promenade des Anglais was crowded with people waiting for the denouement of the 68th edition of this legendary race and we can tell you that quite a number of chess fans mingled among these spectators. But after, early in the afternoon, Alberto Contador had won his second Paris-Nice, three years after his first victory, they could concentrate on chess again. Right they were. After the drama in Round 1 there was every reason to look forward to the developments in Round 2. The final stage of the cycling course Paris-Nice finished today, about two hundred metres from the venue and about two minutes after the second round started | Photo Nadja Wittmann Alberto Contador after winning the final stage of Paris-Nice | Photo Nadja Wittmann Magnus Carlsen was obviously eager to fight back after yesterday’s dramatic 2-0 loss, but with Levon Aronian as opponent this was easier said than done. Moreover the Norwegian had the black pieces in the blindfold game and one would think that his first concern should be not to lose again. Already before the tournament Carlsen had prepared the King’s Indian and his ambition to steer for a highly complicated struggle worked out beyond expectation. To begin with he got the chance to implement an idea he had seen in a game Eljanov-Radjabov; a quick counter-push on the queenside to undermine White’s centre followed by a piece sacrifice (20…Nxd5) to break up that same centre. The tactical complications that ensued demanded a lot from both players and it was soon clear that Carlsen felt more at ease. Aronian missed the push 22…e4, a seemingly contradictory move that seems to contribute little to Black’s wish to open up lines and files, but which in fact is the right move to keep his initiative going. White could still have put up some resistance with 25.Bg5 (instead of 25.Nxf2), but Aronian had also missed 25…Qh4, which in case of 26.Be1 is followed by the deadly 26…Be5. Three moves later Aronian threw the towel. Carlsen found it easy to smile again when a couple of minutes later he spoke to the press. Aronian’s worries were compounded when he also lost the rapid game. And perhaps this loss hurt even more as it was completely unnecessary. From a Four Knights’ Defence the players ended up in a totally drawish rook endgame. Probably the main factor that kept the game going was that neither of the players were willing to offer a draw. And as they plodded on Aronian got himself into trouble. A first moment where he was inaccurate was when he played 42…Ra2, when he could have thwarted all White’s further tries with 42…g5. He further pleased Carlsen with 50…h5 when he should have played 50…Kh7. Now his position became very unpleasant, and when he missed a last chance to stir up complications with 59…d5 he was inexorably counted out. Blindfold: Carlsen beats Aronian with Black in a spectacular King's Indian Jan Smeets had no trouble acknowledging that he had been completely lost in his blindfold game against Sergey Karjakin, as he was happy enough with the half point that he had saved miraculously. In a Ruy Lopez with 3…Nge7 and 4…g6, White drifted into trouble when he played his knight to e4 on move 17 (better 17.Be4) and followed this up with 20.Nf6+. Things quickly went from bad to worse and with 35…Kf8 Black could have forced his resignation. But even the pawn ending that Karjakin allowed his opponent, was lost for Black if only he had found 46…h5. Now the Dutch grandmaster could save the draw, even if, as usually, he was very short of time for the greater part of the game. The blindfold game was another eventful affair and again the surprising outcome was a draw. In a Ruy Lopez Smeets lost his c-pawn after a heavy manoeuvring phase. Things looked bleak, but it wasn’t too easy for White to make further progress and when Karjakin made the move Smeets had been waiting and hoping for (58.h4), the vulnerability of his king suddenly became a source of sorrow. In fact, White would have been totally lost had Smeets played 59…Qg1. But being short of time (just like Karjakin) he failed to see this opportunity and the game ended in a repetition of moves. Ironically, Smeets could still play Qg1 in the final position, but he didn’t complain that the threefold repetition had ‘only’ brought him a draw. Dutchman Jan Smeets managed to draw twice with Sergey Karjakin The blindfold game between Vasily Ivanchuk and Peter Svidler not surprisingly saw a Grünfeld Defence, an opening in which the Russian is one of today’s greatest specialists. Afterwards he called the opening phase of ‘mild theoretical importance’, as Ivanchuk deviated on move 11 from an earlier game Gelfand-Svidler. In that game White played 11.Be2, Ivanchuk preferred to first play 11.Nf3. Almost forced the players ended up in an ending that Svidler had (of course) looked at before and although Black’s play is not entirely carefree he felt that it should be a draw objectively speaking. As a possible improvement for White he indicated 21.Bc6, the way it went now the point was quickly shared. In the blindfold game Svidler felt he had missed a good chance when he played 13.Qd2 instead of 13.Qc1. ‘The idea is essentially the same, but it would have saved me a tempo in almost any variation’, as he explained afterwards. He even got into slight problems when Black played 22…Qe7, effectively stopping Ng5, the move White had hoped to make. In the final phase of the game the Russian had to be careful not to lose any material, but when he managed this task the game was drawn. Boris Gelfand recovered from his poor performance in the first round with a win in the blindfold game against Vugar Gashimov. Nevertheless he called it ‘a stupid game’, as he had spoiled an excellent opening position to end up in a problematic situation. The last trick he wanted to try in order to extricate himself from this situation was 20.Nxd5. Now he was lucky as Gashimov could have played 22…Qb4 and White might as well resign. After 22…Qc7, White’s problems were not over yet, but when Black blundered with 23…Qxc4?, he suddenly was presented with a winning position. For the rest of the game Gelfand kept his eyes on the ball and converted his advantage without further problems. The blindfold game started slowly. White got a slight edge but nothing for Black to get worried about. The game turned around when Gelfand opened the position and Gashimov snatched a pawn, that his opponent called ‘poisoned’. Soon White was totally lost, but the game was far from over yet. Gelfand spoiled his advantage and in the end he had to win an opposite-coloured bishop ending in a study-like manner (although the Israeli grandmaster was the first to say that he was not sure if this win was waterproof). Gelfand was certainly pleased with his two wins, but he didn’t forget how he obtained them: ‘Two points with bad play’. The blindfold game between Vladimir Kramnik and Leinier Dominguez was a fascinating fight. Obviously Kramnik emphatically played for a win, but Dominguez fought back in his customary razor-sharp style. The game was decided when in a highly complicated position the Cuban grandmaster continued 36…Kh7 where his only chance was 36…Bf8. With the text-move he invited a forced mate and a couple of moves before this mate would become reality, Dominguez resigned. In the blindfold game Kramnik played the Pirc Defence, the opening with which he surprised (and beat) Smeets in the recent Corus tournament. Again it looked as if this rather offbeat opening would give him easy and pleasant play, particularly after he bagged a point. But White had compensation for his material deficit and although Kramnik remained better for the rest of the game, Dominguez hung in tenaciously and was rewarded with a draw after 88 moves. Deep concentration: Leinier Dominguez and Vladimir Kramnik The blindfold game between Ruslan Ponomariov and Alexander Grischuk saw a Catalan Opening, similar to a game Ponomariov had played with colours reversed against Gelfand in the final of the recent World Cup. Instead of 10…Bb7, as Ponomariov had played, Grischuk went 10…Ba6. White obtained the bishop pair, but with a symmetrical pawn-structure it was difficult to exploit that slight advantage. Both players invested a lot of time as there were always tactics to be considered with opposing rooks on the c-file, but when Grischuk offered the opportunity to repeat moves and agree to a draw, Ponomariov saw no good reason to play on. At the end of the rapid game Ponomariov walked into the hospitality lounge and wondered what people had thought of his rapid game. He himself wasn’t too happy as he had hoped to play something active, but somehow his Grünfeld ended up in a static position in which he had to suffer for a draw. When on move 32 the queens left the board, Grischuk offered that draw and Ponomariov didn’t have to think long before he accepted. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/amber-r2-carlsen-bounces-back-beats-aronian-2-0/
Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:32:01 +0000
Amber: Ivanchuk und Ponomariov mit dem besten Start
Mit 0:2 zog Magnus Carlsen zum Auftakt des 19. Amberturniers heute gegen Vassily Ivanchuk den Kürzeren. Der Ukrainer nimmt folgerichtig die Spitzenposition in der Tabelle ein, die er mit seinem Landsmann Ruslan Ponomariov teilt. Dieser hatte sich mit dem gleichen Resultat gegen Boris Gelfand durchgesetzt und war besonders stolz, weil er hier seine erste Blindpartie überhaupt gespielt und auch gleich gewonnen hatte. Zu positiven Gesamtergebnissen kamen außerdem Svidler gegen Smeets und Gashimov gegen Dominguez. Offizielle Seite... Partien und Impressionen...
http://chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=10157
Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament
Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament will start tomorrow in Nice, France with 12 strong players: Magnus Carlsen – Norway Vladimir Kramnik - Russia Levon Aronian – Armenia Alexander Grischuk – Russia Peter Svidler – Russia Boris Gelfand – Israel Vasily Ivanchuk - Ukraine Vugar Gashimov – Azerbaijan Ruslan Ponomariov – Ukraine Sergey Karjakin - Russia Leinier Dominguez – Cuba Jan Smeets – The Netherlands
http://www.usefulchess.com/others/amber.html
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:46:45 +0200
Amber Chess Tournament
The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament takes place from March 13 (first round) to March 25 (last round) at the Palais de la Mediterranée, splendidly located on the famous Promenade des Anglais, number 13-15, in Nice. The tournament is organized by the Association Max Euwe in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The twelve participants are: 1. Magnus Carlsen – Norway 2. Vladimir Kramnik - Russia 3. Levon Aronian – Armenia 4. Alexander Grischuk – Russia 5. Peter Svidler – Russia 6. Boris Gelfand – Israel 7. Vasily Ivanchuk - Ukraine 8. Vugar Gashimov – Azerbaijan 9. Ruslan Ponomariov – Ukraine 10. Sergey Karjakin - Russia 11. Leinier Dominguez – Cuba 12. Jan Smeets – The Netherlands The rate of play is 25 minutes per game per player. With every move made in the blindfold games 20 seconds is added to the clock, with every move made in the rapid games 10 seconds is added. Every day four sessions will be played, two blindfold sessions and two rapid sessions. The first session starts at 14.30 hrs. The fourth session finishes around 20.00 hrs. (Note: the final round on March 25 starts at 12.30 hrs. March 17 and 22 are rest days.) Official website
http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/4409-amber-chess-tournament.html
Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:09:09 +0000
Ivanchuk beats Carlsen 2-0 in first round Amber
“The 40-year old Ukrainian has a reputation of being an unpredictable genius, capable of producing absolutely brlliant games, as well as amateur-like losses from time to time,” Magnus Carlsen wrote on his blog yesterday. Today, at the Amber tournament in Nice, he met with a Chuky in excellent shape, and lost 2-0. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The following twelve grandmasters take part: Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Games round 1 Game viewer by ChessTempo Round 1 report First day sensation: top-seed Carlsen loses 2-0 to ‘Mr Amber’ Last night the opening ceremony of the 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament took place at the Chateau de Cremat, a stylish wine chateau perched on a hill overlooking Nice at a half and hour’s drive from the Palais de la Mediterranée, the five-star luxury hotel on the Promenade des Anglais where the grandmasters are staying and playing. The evening started with a degustation of various wines of the house and then the guests of the Van Oosterom family and the players sat down for a delicious dinner. In the opening speech there was special attention for the totally unique place that the Amber tournament occupies in chess history. There have been chess benefactors who sponsored one tournament, two or even three. But no one ever came even close to the astounding 19th edition that the Amber tournament reaches this year. There were also references to Steely Dan’s Hey Nineteen, Joe Jackson’s Nineteen Forever and Chanel 19 (by some strange coincidence Coco Chanel was presented the famous Chanel logo – two C’s elegantly locked together – by the owner of the Chateau de Cremat about a century ago!) and of course the twelve grandmasters were welcomed, with a special mention for Vasily Ivanchuk, ‘Mr Amber’, who participated in all 19 tournaments. Once the drawing of lots had taken place, we could start to think about the pairings for the first round and the overall chances of the participants. Who is the top-favourite for first place? Vladimir Kramnik, who won a record of six Amber tournaments? Levon Aronian, who won the last two editions? Or Magnus Carlsen, the world’s number one, who very appropriately celebrated his 19th birthday a couple of months ago? In any case the opening round didn’t go as they may have hoped. Not at all. Today at 14.30 the first round started of a blindfold and rapid spectacle that will keep us entertained for the coming fortnight (the 11th and last round is on March 25). As always the players started with two blindfold sessions (in each of which six GMs played) followed by two rapid sessions and immediately there were some intriguing pairings. When Ruslan Ponomariov saw at the drawing of lots that he had to play Boris Gelfand in the first round, he wondered aloud if he had to play Gelfand for the rest of his life. What he meant to say was that this was his first official competition since the dramatic final Gelfand and he played in the World Cup last December, a lengthy final that was only decided in the blitz games. Ponomariov’s second remark was that he wanted to have his revenge for that lost final. The only problem was that the first game was a blindfold game and his experience in that discipline was almost zero. In fact he had asked to play a training game on the day of his arrival in Nice. To avoid any complications he decided to play fast and to remain fully concentrated, not even considering the option of going to the toilet if needed. The approach worked well, as with the help of Gelfand his opening was a great success and after 15.Ng5 he felt that he was spoiled for choice when looking for a way to exploit his advantage. The game was practically decided when Ponomariov captured Black’s h-pawn. The rest was simple and he converted without any problems. After the game he was greatly relieved that this game for which he had been so nervous had gone so well. ‘Perhaps it turns out that I am not so bad at blindfold chess.’ He also shared his impression of playing chess on a screen that only shows an empty chess board: ‘It’s just like a computer game!’ Ponomariov completed his ‘revenge’ (to avoid any misunderstanding, he was the first to point out that, of course, these two games cannot be compared to the World Cup final) in the rapid game. Spoiling for a fight he came up with an interesting plan in the Grünfeld, sacrificing an exchange for promising play. He indeed got wonderful compensation when Gelfand played 14.f3? where he should have tried 14.Qe3. Suddenly it was a delight to sit behind the black pieces and Ponomariov fully enjoyed the next phase. White still managed to get into an ending with opposite-coloured bishops, but the two extra black pawns quickly carried the day. Russian champion Alexander Grischuk had his work cut out for him when he immediately had to play Vladimir Kramnik. There could be no misunderstanding about Kramnik’s intentions as he played almost all his moves instantly. ‘He wanted to trick me’, smiled Grischuk after the game. Playing with white he had to leave the initiative to Black, but to his mind Kramnik went too far in his winning attempt. But even if Black ended up in a difficult position, the situation was still far from lost and things only got hopeless when he reverted to the desperate 38…Nxg4, where it seemed that Black could have stayed in the game with 38…Nf3. Now things were easy for Grischuk and the handful of seconds he still had on the clock proved enough to win an important scalp. Kramnik struck back in the rapid game. After a strongly played opening he obtained a clear advantage and looking back he concluded that Black’s position was difficult after 34.Rd4. But Kramnik praised his opponent for his inventive defence in the next phase and expressed his doubts whether the position was really winning for White (‘That has to be checked with the computer’). However, Grischuk was once again low on time and after 40…Nc3 (he should have played 40…Nb6) Black certainly was lost. The rest wasn’t difficult anymore and Kramnik wrapped up fairly effortlessly. The encounter between debutants Dominguez and Gashimov took a relatively quiet course, although the grandmaster from Azerbaijan offered to play a sharp Benoni, an invitation that was quietly turned down with Rodriguez. They ended up in a rook endgame that was slightly better for Black, but it was his lavish use of time that did Dominguez in. With more than ten minutes less on the clock he committed a few inaccuracies and when Gashimov stormed down the board with two passed pawns it was clear that the fight was over. After the game Gashimov was congratulated on his blindfold debut and confessed that he had not especially prepared for this unusual type of chess. ‘I played one training game two days ago against Ruslan (Ponomariov), this was my second game.’ The rapid game was a variation of the Italian Game ‘in which many games have been played’, as the database experts call it these days. The key question was if the knight that Gashimov managed to post on e7, was an asset or a weakness. Frantically he calculated variations, considering sacrifices here and there, but there was nothing that worked. In the meantime, Dominguez just stayed put and maintained his position. After some further manoeuvring it was clear that this balance was not going to be upset and a draw was agreed. Magnus Carlsen openend his blindfold game against Vasily Ivanchuk with 1.a3, aiming for an open battle, unburdened by theory and steering clear of any possible preparation of his opponent. The plan wasn’t a success, even if he managed to win a pawn, but Black got such good compensation that the Norwegian top-seed must have regretted his unorthodox approach. He kept looking for his chances, but Ivanchuk remained fully concentrated and his advantage was such that at some point the white position should collapse. An oversight on move 31 sped up the end of the game and floored another top-favourite. In the rapid game Carlsen tried to fight back with the Poisoned Pawn of the Najdorf Defence. Afterwards Ivanchuk felt that he again had had sufficient compensation for the sacrificed pawn, but was reluctant to give a concrete assessment of the game as it had been so ‘very complicated’. One move he criticized was 25…Kf7, which allowed him to increase the pressure. They ended up in a rook endgame of three pawns versus two, which Black failed to defend, leading to a sensational 2-0 defeat of the top-seed. ‘It’s been a while, clearly’, Peter Svidler commented after he had beaten Jan Smeets in his first Amber blindfold game in three years. Svidler had an edge from the opening, but Smeets should have been able to hold a draw. Things got funny when Svidler, played his 39th move thinking Black’s bishop was on e6 (it was on d7). That it was not, he found out when Black played 39…Ne6+ and picked up the pawn on g5. This was not a problem in itself as now White can go 40.Nd5+ and pick up the b6 pawn, but not knowing where the black bishop was, Svidler now reasoned that it was on c6, which ‘prevented’ this knight jump. Smeets on his part got confused by White’s 44.Bxg6 and panicked with 45…Be6 when 45…Kg5 was still a draw. Well, in fact he would have even won, as (still thinking the black bishop was on c6) Svidler had planned to answer 45…Kg5 with 46.Be4 Kxh6 47.Bc6, thinking he would capture a bishop but in fact giving one away. After this comedy of errors had ended, Smeets was left with a lost position and had to resign soon. The rapid game ended in a draw. In a classical Ruy Lopez Black got good play and when he started piling up on White’s a pawn, Smeets decided that instead of defending a pawn that will drop off anyway at some point, he better hand it over immediately for some activity. This turned out to be an excellent exchange and at a certain point his compensation even seemed to turn into more. But his advantage got never concrete and both players could live with the draw that materialized. Sergey Karjakin obtained a winning position in the blindfold game when in a sharp opening tussle Levon Aronian committed a serious error. Instead of 19…Bg5?, the Armenian grandmaster should have played 19…Bh4 or 19…Rb4. Things looked bleak for Aronian, but then he didn’t win himself a reputation for ‘slow-motion’ swindling for nothing last year. And this time, too, he almost escaped when Karjakin allowed a repetition of moves. But Aronian was going for the whole hog and thinking he was winning he didn’t repeat moves, but played 36…Nxc3, which turned out to be a losing move. In the rapid game Levon Aronian showed a different face and put his opponent under pressure right from the opening. Perhaps this permanent pressure also explained the mistake Karjakin made at the end of the game. Instead of hanging on in a dubious ending he blundered and even got mated. Report & photos © official website, more here Videos Amber 2010 | Pairings & results Amber 2010 | Blindfold Standings Amber 2010 | Rapid Standings Amber 2010 | Combined Standings Links Official website Games in PGN: Blindfold | Rapid, via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/ivanchuk-beats-carlsen-2-0-in-first-round-amber/
Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:34:21 +0000
Efimenko and Jobava lead in Rijeka
Zahar Efimenko (Ukraine) and Baadur Jobava (Georgia) are sharing the lead at the European Individual Championship after seven rounds of play. The two are both on 6 out of 7. The 11th European Individual Men and Women’s Chess Championship is held from 5th to 19th of March 2010 in Rijeka, in new Zamet Centre sports hall. The event is organized by chess club “Rijeka”, in agreement with the Croatian Chess Federation under the auspices of the City of Rijeka and the European Chess Union. It is open to all players representing the chess federations which comprise the European Chess Union (FIDE zones 1.1 to 1.9) regardless of their title or rating. There is also no limit of participants per federation. The championship is based on Swiss system in accordance with the ECU Tournament Rules and FIDE Rules of Chess. The rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. As always, the European Championship is a qualification event for the next World Cup. According to FIDE regulations and the decision of the ECU Board, 22 players will qualify. Rounds 6-7 The four players on 4.5/5 obviously met in the sixth round on Thursday. Baadur Jobava reached a better ending which suddenly turned into an easily winning one, when his opponent exchanged a pair of knights. Timofeev-Jobava Position after 39…Kd7 After 40.Ne3?! Nxe3 41.Kxe3 Bb7! the b3 pawn was just too weak, and it kept the White knight passive on c1. Black didn’t even have to put his bishop on d5; the threat was enough. After winnin a few nice White games, Nisipeanu was on the wrong side of a devastating attack in round 6. Efimenko was in a killing mood: Efimenko-Nisipeanu Position after 15…Rd8 White is better developed than Black, who desperately needs more space, but won’t get it in this game. 16.g4! Nhf6 17.Bf4 Qb6 18.g5!? The more quiet 18.h3 also gives White a clear plus. 18…Nh5 Perhaps 18…hxg5 19.Nxg5+ Kg8 was the lesser evil, but it looks very dangerous too. 19.Ne4 Nxf4 20.Qf4 Rf8 22.c5! Qxb2 23.Bc4 This extra piece pointing at the opponent’s kingside position decided the game. In the women’s section Monica Socko is the only player on 6/7. Today is a rest day in Rijeka. We brought the news unofficially last week already, and now according to the official website Karpov has now officially announced his candidacy for FIDE President: Grandmaster Karpov annonced his candidacy for the president of the World Chess Federation and pointed out that he is ready to use his chess fame around the world. He said that if he became the president, his first step will be the Federation’ reorganization as well as finding a major sponsors that will allow accoure more efficient FIDE activities. Karpov considers that it is necessary to remove the current negative FIDE image in the world, and that the main thing is to respect our own rules. He note that by now he founded numerous chess schools and clubs all over the world, and than he recalled the times when he was the world’s leading chess player. On the question of how to restore the old glory of chess, Karpov said that the national federations must highlight the big names of world chess so they could obtain new sponsors. “I was at Croatia 30 years ago, and the organization of this Championship in Rijeka delighted me. The organizers provided ideal conditions for a large number of players and so I congratulate them for the excellent organization“, Karpov said. European Championship 2010 | Round 7 Standings (top 40) Full standings here Selection of games rounds 6-7 Game viewer by ChessTempo Zahar Efimenko, in shared first place, here in his round 6 game, beating Nisipeanu Baadur Jobava, also on 6/7 Photos courtesy of the official website, more here Links Official website All details and statistics Games in PGN: Men | Women via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/efimenko-and-jobava-lead-in-rijeka/
Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:24:05 +0000
Who will win Amber? – second preview video
Tomorrow the first round of the 2010 Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament will be played, and we have a second preview video to get you warmed up. The world’s number one, Magnus Carlsen, is there. Vladimir Kramnik, who won many times, is there. Levon Aronian, who won the last two editions, is there. Who do you think will win? The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. Preview video by Macauley Peterson The world’s number one player, Magnus Carlsen, is the top-seed in Nice. Also present are Levon Aronian, the winner of the past two Amber tournaments, and Vladimir Kramnik, who won the Amber tournament a record six times. These three players are clearly the big favourites, but what about Alexander Grischuk, who replaced Alexander Morozevich less than a week ago? Or the ever unpredictable Vasily Ivanchuk? Or Ruslan Ponomariov, who is back among the world’s elite? The following twelve grandmasters will take part (between brackets their country and their rating in the March 1, 2010 world rankings): Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Every day four sessions will be played, two blindfold sessions and two rapid sessions. The first session starts at 14.30 CET. The fourth session finishes around 20.00 CET. The final round on March 25 starts at 12.30 CET. March 17 and 22 are rest days. The rate of play is 25 minutes per game per player. With every move made in the blindfold games 20 seconds is added to the clock, with every move made in the rapid games 10 seconds is added. Like in previous years, many more will be posted on the official website during the tournament. Besides, you can expect something new this year: live chess with audio commentary, streaming footage from the playing hall and live commentary sessions with the top GMs! Link Official website
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/who-will-win-amber-second-preview-video/
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:57:20 +0000
Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament 2010
The 19th traditional TopGM’s blindfold and rapid tournament in Nice, France will be held from March 13th to 25th. Players: Levon Aronian (Armenia), Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Alexander Grischuk (Russia), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Sergey Karjakin (Russia), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Ruslan Ponomariov, Jan Smeets (The Netherlands) and Peter Svidler. Magnus Carlsen (2813) (NOR) brVladimir Kramnik (2790) (RUS) brLevon Aronian (2782) (ARM) brAlexander Grischuk (2756) (RUS) brPeter Svidler (2750) (RUS) brBoris Gelfand (2750) (ISR) brVasily Ivanchuk (2748) (UKR) brVugar Gashimov (2740) (AZE) brRuslan Ponomariov (2737) (UKR) brSergey Karjakin (2725) (RUS) brLeinier Dominguez (2713) (CUB) brJan Smeets (2651) (NED)
http://chessok.com/?p=23520
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:04:47 +0000
Zero Tolerance?
After four rounds at the European Indivdual Chess Championships, just two players lead the men's event with perfect scores. GM's Baadur Jobava of Georgia and and Zahar Efimenko of Ukraine (pictured) have a half point lead over a 15-strong chasing...
http://www.chess.com/news/zero-tolerance-3583
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:39:24 -0800
Chess Olympiad 2012 Logo and History
Hi everybody! I just got back from Colombia and am preparing a post about it for you. Before that, I'd like to share the following with you, about the Chess Olympiads: The organizers of the 40th Chess Olympiad which will take place in 2012 in Istanbul, invite you till the 31st of March to vote for your favorite logo of the event, here. The Chess Olympiad is a very special event. A tournament where one can really feel the moto of the FIDE - Gens Una Sumus! A little bit of history about the Chess Olympiads: The first world team competition took place in Paris in 1924 and was reported as the 'Chess Olympic Games.' It is not, however, counted as one of the official 'Chess Olympiads'; on the one hand it was not organised by FIDE, while on the other the method of scoring was different from that worked out later. The year 1924 is a milestone in chess history not so much because of this competition but because it saw the formation of the International Chess Federation (Federation Internationale des Echecs) by the players present in Paris. The first President of FIDE, Dr Rueb, of Holland, was also elected in Paris, and for a quarter of a century he fulfilled this important office with great skill and diplomacy. In 1927, representatives from sixteen countries assembled in London to take part in the first of the series of international team competitions which have become known as Chess Olympiads. The naming of FIDE's team championship as the "Chess Olympiad" is of historical origin and implies no connection between this event and the Olympic Games, which means that, unfortunately, chess Olympiad medals are not Olympic medals, and a clear distinction should be made about it. Therefore it is misleading and untrue to call the medals earned in chess Olympiads as "Olympic". In the first three Olympiads the board order of the players was not fixed and therefore was not necessarily identical with their strength. But since 1931 it has been the rule that the playing order submitted with the entry must be adhered to throughout the competition. If a player is rested, those below him have to play a board higher. The first women's chess olympiad has been held in 1957, and from 1972 it takes place every two years together with the men's chess olympiad. The full table of the men's and women's olympiads you can find on the olimpbase.org The 2008 Olympiad was held in Dresden, Germany. The 2010 Olympiad is going to be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia in September this year. The 2012 Olympiad is going to be held in Istanbul, Turkey. There is already a bid for the 2014 Olympiad by Tromso, Norway. The host for the 2014 Olympiad will be decided during the General Assembly of FIDE in Khanty-Mansiysk this year. I already took part in 5 Olympiads. In 1998 I took part in my first ever Olympiad which took place in Elista, Russia. I played for the Russia-3 team which was also called the team of Kalmykia. Our team was seeded 33rd at the beginning of the event but we managed to do very well and at the end shared 6-9th places. I scored 10 out of 13 and took the silver medal on my board. In 2002 I played in my second Olympiad but it was my first Olympiad for the national team of Russia. Our team took silver medals, behind the Chinese women. In 2004 in my third Olympiad, I played for the first time on the first board. I met over the board against 3 former (Xie Jun, Maia Chiburdanidze, Susan Polgar) and one reigning (at that time) World Champions (Antoaneta Stefanova) and lead my team to the bronze medals. In 2006 in Turin I played once again on the first board for Russia and this time we took silver medals behind the team of Ukraine. In 2008 in Dresden I played on the first board for Russia once again. For the first time since the Olympiad in Moscow in 1994 our women's Russian team didn't take medals. We shared the third place but was fourth on tie-breaks. So this year we will try to do our best in Khanty-Mansiysk and I'm sure it will be a great event. See photos of most women's teams from the Torino 2006 Olympiad But for the moment go to the official web-site of the 2012 Chess Olympiad in Istanbul and vote for the logo you like most. Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk Women's World Chess Champion www.chessblog.com
http://www.chessblog.com/2010/03/chess-olympiad-2012-logo-and-history.html
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:08:00 +0000
The Chess Queen Becomes Champion for Peace
MONACO, MARCH 3, 2010 – WOMEN'S WORLD CHESS CHAMPION ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK TODAY JOINED "CHAMPIONS FOR PEACE", A CLUB OF TOP INTERNATIONAL ATHLETES COMMITTED TO SERVING PEACE IN THE WORLD THROUGH SPORT. Champions for Peace, an initiative from "Peace and Sport, l'Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport" is now delighted to count 39 heroes from the winner's podium who actively or symbolically help to create a genuine culture of peace throughout the world using sport. They represent 24 nationalities, 25 Olympic and non-Olympic sports disciplines, 49 World Champions, 20 Olympic Champions and more than a hundred national and regional titles. At 25, reigning women's world chess champion Alexandra Kosteniuk brings her international reputation and her numerous victories to promote this noble cause. Initiated to the game of chess at 5 years old, she started collecting international awards from the age of 10, became world champion Girls U-12 in 1996, Women’s European Champion in 2004, Russian Champion in 2005, before winning the supreme women’s world title in 2008. The same year she won the first-ever gold medal in ‘Mind Sports Games'. Alexandra holds the highest title available to men and women chess players – Grandmaster. Beyond her talent and performance, through her leadership in chess education excellence, Alexandra brings unprecedented experience and motivation to the Champions for Peace initiative. For over 10 years, her high moral standards, ethics and charisma have made her an inspiration and role model for her generation and for millions of fans all over the world. A true ambassador for chess worldwide and on the web, Alexandra has always worked to ensure that her favourite sport serves peace, human development and social progress. In her role of "Champion for Peace", she will travel to Colombia in the near future to launch a program for peace and social cohesion, initiated by Peace and Sport in partnership with the NGO Colombianitos and the International Chess Federation (FIDE). This program will over time enable 4,000 children living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in cities in Colombia to learn chess. "I am very pleased to be part of the Peace and Sport movement," declared Alexandra Kosteniuk. "I want to give back to the world the love and happiness that I have received through the wonderful game of chess. I firmly believe that chess serves the cause of peace by improving the lives of young people. I have seen firsthand how chess helps students to develop the skills they need to be successful in life." Joel Bouzou, President and Founder of Peace and Sport, himself a World Champion and Olympic Medallist, added: "We are deeply honoured that the Chess Queen has joined the Champions for Peace family. Alexandra has proved to the world that "Chess is Cool". It’s a real pleasure to be able to count on her enthusiasm, determination and intelligence to inform new audiences and convince policy-makers that sport can and must contribute to sustainable peace." Other Champions of Peace include such sporting legends as SERGEY BUBKA (Olympic Champion and six-times World Champion, Pole Vault, Ukraine); FRANKIE FREDERICKS (double World Champion, 100 and 200 metres, Namibia); CATHY FREEMAN (Olympic Champion and double World Champion, 400m, Australia); YELENA ISINBAYEVA (double Olympic Champion and double World Champion, Pole Vault, Russia), CHRISTIAN KAREMBEU (World Champion, Football, France) BRADLEY MCGEE ( Double Olympic Champion, World Champion, cycling, Australia), PAULA RADCLIFFE (World Champion, Marathon, United Kingdom) as well as many more. Press contacts PEACE AND SPORT press@peace-sport.org www.peace-sport.org Diego Garcés diego@kosteniuk.com www.kosteniuk.com
http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/4393-the-chess-queen-becomes-champion-for-peace.html
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:38:39 +0000
Vassily Ivanchuk wins in Caxias do Sul - 9-rounds rapid tournament, IM Sandro Mareco with same point
The XI Torneio Festa da Uva with 9 rounds Swiss and rapid time control was held in Caxias do Sul, the second largest city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The tournament had a colossal turnout of 292 participants, and among them special stars Vassily Ivanchuk from Ukraine and legendary Ulf Andersson from Sweden.
http://reports.chessdom.com/news-2010/vassily-ivanchuk-caxias-do-sul
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:43:03 +0100
Grischuk replaces Morozevich at Amber
Alexander Morozevich has withdrawn from the Amber tournament, which starts in six days from now in Nice, France. The Russian is replaced by his compatriot Alexander Grischuk. To get you a bit in the mood already, today we present a video with footage from 2008 and 2009. The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament takes place at the Palais de la Mediterranée in Nice, France, from March 12 to 25, 2010. The event is organized by the Association Max Euwe of chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom, which is based in Monaco. The total prize-fund is € 216,000. The world’s number one player, Magnus Carlsen, is the top-seed in Nice. Also present are Levon Aronian, the winner of the past two Amber tournaments, and Vladimir Kramnik, who won the Amber tournament a record six times. The following twelve grandmasters will take part (between brackets their country and their rating in the March 1, 2010 world rankings): Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2790), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2782), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2756), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2750), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2748), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan, 2740), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2737), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2725), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 2713) and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands, 2651). Every day four sessions will be played, two blindfold sessions and two rapid sessions. The first session starts at 14.30 CET. The fourth session finishes around 20.00 CET. The final round on March 25 starts at 12.30 CET. March 17 and 22 are rest days. The rate of play is 25 minutes per game per player. With every move made in the blindfold games 20 seconds is added to the clock, with every move made in the rapid games 10 seconds is added. Below you’ll find an appetizer video. Like in previous years, many more will be posted on the official website during the tournament. Besides, you can expect something new this year: live chess with audio commentary, streaming footage from the playing hall and live commentary sessions with the top GMs! Video Link Official website
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/grischuk-replaces-morozevich-at-amber/
Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:18:55 +0000
Four-way tie at Reykjavik Open
The 2010 Reykjavik Open ended in a four-way tie between Abhijeet Gupta, Yuriy Kuzubov, Ivan Sokolov and Hannes Stefansson. The four grandmasters all ended on 7/9; Dutchman Sokolov had the best tiebreak. The Reykjavik Open took place February 24 – March 3 in the capital of Iceland. It was a 9-round Swiss with 104 players (20 GMs, 16 IMs). The rate of play was 1.5 hours for 40 moves plus 30 minutes to end te game, with an increment of 30 seconds starting from move 1. The main sponsor was MP Bank, the bank started by grandmaster Margeir Pétursson and the only bank in Iceland that more or less managed to avoid the biggest damage in the crisis so far. As always the Reykjavik open was quite a strong event, with 11 GMs rated higher than 2550 and six rated 2600 or higher. Besides the usual suspects (Baklan, Dreev…) there were the sometimes quite famous veterans (Westerinen, Ehlvest, Romanishin) and some of the biggest talents around (Nyzhnyk, Jorge and Deysi Cori). In the end the first place was shared between Abhijeet Gupta (India), Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukraine), Ivan Sokolov (The Netherlands) and Hannes Stefansson (Iceland). Sokolov recovered well from his terrible result at his last open, the open in Cappelle-la-Grande. For local hero Stefansson it was the third time in a row that he ended (shared) first, and the fifth time in total. Reykjavik Open 2010 | Final Standings (top 30) Selection of games Game viewer by ChessTempo Veterans meet: Alexey Dreev (Russia) vs Oleg Romanishin (Ukraine) Newcomers meet: Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukraine) vs Ilya Nyzhnyk (Ukraine) Peruvian rising star Jorge Cori vs Iceland's number two (on rating still behind the inactive Johann Hjartarson) Hannes Stefansson Ivan Sokolov (The Netherlands) vs Irina Krush (USA) A draw in the last round between Hannes Stefansson and Abhijeet Gupta The fifth victory for Stefansson Photos courtesy of the tournament website Links Official website Games in PGN via TWIC
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/four-way-tie-at-reykjavik-open/
Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:44:29 +0000