After many draws in the penultimate round, Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) defeated Vladimir Akopian (Armenia) in the last round and won the gold medal at the European Championship in Rijeka. The women’s section was won by Swedish GM Pia Cramling, who beat Viktorija Cmilyte (Lithuania) in the last round.

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 an 11-round Swiss 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 10-11

With draws on the first seven boards in round 10, nothing changed in the top of the standings in Rijeka. Ian Nepomnaichtchi went into the final round in sole lead, and no less than seven GMs were chasing him with half a point less. Some GMs in Nice expected the last round’s top game Nepomniachtchi-Akopian to quickly end in a draw (since both would be sure of a good prize and qualification for the World Cup) but that’s not what happened.

Nepomniachtchi-Akopian
Position after 23.Rec1

Pia Cramling had a very strong finish, drawing with Socko and then beating Khurtsidze, Stefanova and Cmilyte in rounds 8-11. The decisive game went like this:

Cramling-Cmilyte
Position after 24.Ne4

27…a4

28.Nd7! Rh8 29.Rd6

And so for the gold medals in both sections no tiebreak is needed. In the women’s section the silver medal goes to Viktorija Cmilyte, who was the only one to score 8.5/11.

Thursday tiebreaks will be played to establish the silver and bronze medal in the open section, the bronze medal in the women’s section and to establish the qualifiers for the World Cup.

Selection of games rounds 10-11

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Photo courtesy of the official website, more here

Links

• Official website
• All details and statistics
• Games in PGN: Men | Women via TWIC

With two rounds to go, Ian Nepomniachtchi is in sole lead at the European Individual Championship. The Russian GM scored 7.5/9. In the women’s section Viktorija Cmilyte leads with the same score.

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 an 11-round Swiss 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 8-9

Baadur Jobava continued strongly in round 8, with a nice victory over Hungarian GM Zoltan Almasi.

Jobava-Almasi
Position after 15…bxc5

The other leader after 7 rounds, Ukrainian Zahar Efimenko, drew relatively quickly with Armenian grandmaster Vladimir Akopian. Ivan Sokolov and Ian Nepomniachtchi won their games and joined Efimenko at second place. The Russian GM did it with a nice sacrifice:

Nepomniachtchi-Inarkiev
Position after 32…Rb6

Another pretty game from round 8 was the folllowing.

Svetushkin-Landa
Position after 12…Qxb2

Yesterday, on the top board of round 9, Ian Nepomniachtchi grabbed sole lead:

Nepomniachtchi-Jobava
Position after 23…Re8

The Championship will see two more rounds, today and tomorrow. 22 players will qualify for the next World Cup. Tiebreaks will be played on Thursday to establish the Champion, to establish the medal winners and to establish qualifiers for the World Cup.

Selection of games rounds 8-9

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Ian Nepomniachtchi (2656, Russia) leads the European Individual Champioship with a score of 7.5/9. His perfomance rating is 2864.

Viktorija Cmilyte (2485, Lithuania) leads the Women's section, also with a score of 7.5/9 and with a perfomance rating of 2658.

Photos courtesy of the official website, more here

Links

• Official website
• All details and statistics
• Games in PGN: Men | Women via TWIC

En remportant sa partie face à Vladimir Akopian, lors de la dernière ronde des 11èmes championnats individuels d'Europe d'échecs, le Russe Ian Nepomniachtchi s'adjuge le titre avec 9 points sur 11. Pas de qualifiés français chez les hommes pour le championnat du monde.

Même résultat à 9 points sur 11 pour la suédoise Pia Cramling qui décroche le titre féminin en allant chercher la victoire à l'ultime ronde face à Viktorija Cmilyte. En terminant aux 5e et 13e places, Marie Sebag (8/11) et Almira Skripchenko (7,5/11) gagnent leur billet pour le championnat du monde.

Statu quo hier au classement des 11èmes championnats individuels d'Europe d'échecs. Dans la section masculine, le Russe Ian Nepomniachtchi se maintient en tête du tournoi avec 8 points. Côté Français, le meilleur tricolore, Laurent Fressinet pointe à la 11ème position avec 7 points sur 10. Après sa 8ème nulle consécutive ronde 9, Etienne Bacrot a jeté l'éponge et abandonné le tournoi.

Double coup de théâtre lors de la 9ème ronde des 11èmes championnats individuels d'Europe d'échecs. Dans la section masculine, le Russe Ian Nepomniachtchi défait le précédent leader Baadur Jobava, et passe en tête du tournoi avec 7,5 points. Côté Français, le meilleur tricolore, Laurent Fressinet pointe à la 12ème position avec 6,5 points sur 9.

Three rounds so far have been played in this year’s edition of the Czech Coal Match, and the team of “Snow Drops” (Humpy Koneru, Anna Muzychuk, Kateryna Lahno and Jana Jackova) are in the lead: 7 points versus 5 for the “Old Hands” (Jan Timman, Vlastimil Hort, Robert Hübner and Viktor Kortchnoi).

The Czech Coal Chess Match 2009, a double-round Scheveningen match, takes place November 28 – December 5 at the Chrystal Palaca Hotel in Marianske Lazne (the former Marienbad), Czech Republic. The rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes and 30 seconds increment to finish the game. The tournament is organized by the Prague Chess Society.

Last year the “Snow Drops” versus “Old Hands” tournament was very even but nevertheless it was won by the quartet of men (Anatoly Karpov, Vlastimil Hort, Fridrik Olafsson and Wolfgang Uhlmann). Of the four ladies (Viktorija Cmilyte, Anna Ushenina, Jana Jackova and Katerina Nemcova) it was the Czech number one, Jana Jackova, who was the most successful. She managed to take down former world champion Anatoly Karpov already in the first round.

This year the “Snow Drops” team is a bit stronger, led by the world’s number 2 player Humpy Koneru, and after three rounds they are leading with a small margin: 7-5. And again it was Jana Jackova who started strongly; this time with the black pieces she defeated the now 78-year-old Viktor Kortchnoi in the first round. In the next round she would lose to Hübner with White, while Koneru defeated Hort. Yesterday Muzychuk also beat Kortchnoi, and by now we’ve already mentioned all decisive results so far in this friendly tournament.

Rounds start at 16:00 CET (except for the last round which starts at 13:00 CET), live here.

Games rounds 1-3

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The venue, like last year, is the Chrystal Palace Hotel in former Marienbad

Music at the opening ceremony...

...and the eight participants presenting themselves

Arbiter Pavel Votruba and guest and former FIDE President Fridrik Olafsson

Another famous guest: Mark Dvoretsky, together with organizer Pavel Matocha..

...and perhaps the most famous guest: 10th World Champion Boris Spassky

Round 1: Viktor Kortchnoi vs Jana Jackova...

...a win for the Czech lady

These organizers know how to set up a commentary room. There's the live boards, there's Chessbase and there's GM Marek Vokac, sometimes aided by Boris Spassky

Anna Muzychuk vs Jan Timman

Robert Hübner versus Kateryna Lahno

Timman and Lahno analyzing, Spassky kibitzing

Pavel Matocha with Bessel Kok

A unique experience for Humpy Koneru: advice from Olafsson, Dvoretsky, Timman and Spassky!

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN

Hikarua Nakamura defeated Magnus Carlsen 3-1 in the final of the BNbank Blitz tournament, held Saturday, November 28th in Oslo, Norway. Carlsen won the first game and had good positions in games 2 and 4, but Nakamura had the strongest nerves.

The one-day blitz tourney sponsored by BNBank, a Norwegian retail and corporate bank, took place in Oslo Central Station on Saturday, November 28. Six blitz tournaments took place already on October 31st in Norway in the cities of Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger, Tromso, Trondheim and Porsgrunn. The winner from each city earned a spot in the final in Oslo, where ten invited world class players were also present, and the prize fund was 74,000 NOK (app. 8,700 Euros).

The participants were GM Magnus Carlsen (2802, NOR), GM Hikaru Nakamura (2715, USA), GM Peter Heine Nielsen (2697, DEN), 4. GM Emanuel Berg (2594, SWE), 5. GM Jon Ludvig Hammer (2588, NOR), 6. GM Kjetil A. Lie (2547, NOR), 7. IM Viktorija Cmilyte (2480, LTU), 8. GM Monica Socko (2457) POL), 9. WIM Ellen Hagesæther (2269, NOR), 10. GM Leif Erlend Johannessen (2528, NOR), 11. Anders Hobber (2132, NOR, winner of the qualifier in Porsgrunn), 12. Daniel Kovachev (2243, NOR, winner of the qualifier in Oslo), 13. FM Kjetil Stokke (2382, NOR, winner of the qualifier in Bergen), 14. Pal Andreas Hansen (2072, NOR, winner of the qualifier in Trondheim), 15. FM Vadims Daskevics (2380, LAT, winner of the qualifier in Stavanger) and 16. Peter Flermoen (NOR, 2100, second place in the qualifier in Tromsø).

In the preliminary rounds the players were divided into 4 double round-robin groups. Two players from each group qualified for the quarter-finals. The time control was 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment per move. All results are nicely put together on this page of the tournament website.

Below are all available games for replay; unfortunately only the top 2 boards of each round were recorded. Below the viewer there are four videos of the final. Carlsen was dominating in the first two games, but his 62.Kf6?? in game 2 turned a won pawn endgame into a lost one. It had a devastating effect and eventually the reigning World Blitz champion had to acknowledge defeat after four games. The king of online blitz, Hikaru Nakamura, beat Magnus Carlsen 3-1.

Game viewer

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Here are the games of the final, posted on YouTube by Todd Freitag:

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN

Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura are the top favourites to win tomorrow’s BNbank Blitz 2009, a one-day blitz tournament in Oslo, Norway.

A strong field of players will participate in the BNbank Blitz 2009 which takes place in Oslo on Saturday, November 28. Among the ten invited players is the 18-year-old Norwegian chess wonder Magnus Carlsen, who recently won the World Blitz Championship. The other contenders include Hikaru Nakamura, the 2009 US champion considered one of the strongest blitz players on the internet, Peter Heine Nielsen of Denmark, the second strongest chess player in the Nordic region, Jon Ludvig Hammer who is ranked as the second strongest player in Norway and two of the strongest female chess players in the world Victoria Cmilyte, Lithuania and Monika Socko, Poland, who recently won the strongest chess tournament ever played in Northern-Norway.

In the preliminary rounds the players are divided into 4 double round-robin groups. Two players from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals. The time control is 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment per move.

Preliminary groups: 11.00 – 12.15 CET
Quarter-Finals: 12.30 – 13.30 CET
Side tournament for places: 9-16 12.30 – 14.00 CET
Semi-Finals: 14.15 – 15.15 CET
Final and Bronze final: 15.30 – 16.30 CET
Prize giving ceremony: 16.45 CET

Six blitz tournaments took place on October 31st in Norway in the cities of Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger, Tromso, Trondheim and Porsgrunn. The winner from each city earned a spot in the final in Oslo, tomorrow, where he or she will compete against ten invited world class players for a prize fund of 74 000 NOK (app. 8700 Euros).

The participants tomorrow are:
1. GM Magnus Carlsen (2802, NOR)
2. GM Hikaru Nakamura (2715, USA)
3. GM Peter Heine Nielsen (2697, DEN)
4. GM Emanuel Berg (2594, SWE)
5. GM Jon Ludvig Hammer (2588, NOR)
6. GM Kjetil A. Lie (2547, NOR)
7. IM Viktorija Cmilyte (2480, LTU)
8. GM Monica Socko (2457) POL)
9. WIM Ellen Hagesæther (2269, NOR)
10. GM Leif Erlend Johannessen (2528, NOR)
11. Anders Hobber (2132, NOR, winner of the qualifier in Porsgrunn)
12. Daniel Kovachev (2243, NOR, winner of the qualifier in Oslo)
13. FM Kjetil Stokke (2382, NOR, winner of the qualifier in Bergen)
14. Pal Andreas Hansen (2072, NOR, winner of the qualifier in Trondheim)
15. FM Vadims Daskevics (2380, LAT, winner of the qualifier in Stavanger)
16. Peter Flermoen (NOR, 2100, second place in the qualifier in Tromsø)

The tournament will be covered live at Chessbomb. Here’s the official site.

The Mainz Chess Classic is probably the most professional, well-organized and streamlined tournament in the world. On top of that, Mainz itself is an interesting city to visit, with a rich history and a more than fascinating architecture. Arne Moll paid a visit to the Chess Classic, and to Mainz itself.

By Arne Moll

Despite its fantastic lineup and highly attractive events, the Mainz Chess Classic tournament is still mainly visited by German chess players – non-titled players, that is. On the first day of the open rapid tournament, I couldn’t find a single Dutch compatriot among the almost 700 (!) players. This wasn’t a big deal for me, though, for there were plenty of other interesting players to follow.

The hall & bar next to the playing hall, with Viktorija Cmilyte on the video screen

The super-strong Ordix Open, with GMs like Bologan and Moiseenko on boards 13 and 16!

GM Alexander Grischuk with White against GM Leonid Gofshtein

Germany's top GM Naiditsch also on stage

Former top 5 player Vlastimil Hort still enjoying the game...

...as does Rafael Vaganian

Aronian's girlfriend and Australia's top player Arianne Caoili

Ian Nepomniachtchi doing well on Saturday in the preliminaries...

...here playing against the World Champion who was in bad shape

GM Daniel Fridman

Chess960 winner Hikaru Nakamura came close to winning the Ordix Open as well

Former FIDE World Champ Alexander Khalifman

Sergei Movsesian

Gata Kamsky

Mainz was so heavily bombed during the second World War that practically the whole city has been rebuilt after the war. Many of the ancient buildings have been renovated or redecorated entirely,often in very bright colours, while many new buildings have arisen in the city center as well. As a result, Mainz now offers a curious mixture of renovated and repainted baroque buildings next to either completely neglected, or very modern and futuristic stores and apartments – a rather deadly combination in some cases.

A view from the Weiszliliengasse

Around the Marktplatz, modern and old architecture don't always go together very well

Still, Mainz rightly prides itself, among other things, as the city where Johannes Gutenberg invented the book press around the year 1450 and printed his famous Gutenberger bibles, some of which can be seen together with even older medieval manuscripts in the Gutenberg Museum. In my opinion, this piece of world heritage alone is worth the trip to Mainz – even if you don’t particularly care for bibles.

The Gutenberg Museum has many ancient manuscripts on display

Interestingly, the city has a number of exceptionally striking (modern) statues.

A refreshingly sober and thought-provoking tribute to the Mainzer episcopate

Walking towards the Rheingoldhalle, where the tournament is held, from the riverside along the stately houses, it’s hard not to think of the famous ‘rheingold! reines gold!’ end tune from Wagner’s first Nibelungen opera, not in the least because this is indeed the ‘golden’ neighborhood of Mainz – something which can also be discovered by looking at the cars parked here.

A view from the tournament hall at the famous Dom

The boulevard along the river Rhine as seen from the playing hall

You’re probably wondering what this all has to do with chess, and perhaps the answer is that the interesting but strange mix of beautiful and ugly as seen in the city centre of Mainz, definitely isn’t applicable to the tournament itself. At the Mainz Chess Classic, everything is just perfect. The huge entry hall with its book stalls, chess computer exhibitions, gigantic movie screens (showing ChessVibes videos as it turns out) and monitors displaying the main boards together with the most actual evaluation of either Rybka or Fritz, and even grandmasters commenting on the games, are just the main eye catchers.

GM Sebastian Siebrecht commenting on the games from the Grenkeleasing Rapid World Championship

What struck me most while walking around the tournament area was something which in my opinion is rarely seen at chess tournaments: an extreme concern and care for visitors and chess lovers. The tournament organization looks extremely skilled and professional, and this shows in just about everything. On top of that, they’re friendly and helpful and easy going. It truly is chess players (and chess journalists!) heaven.

The Rapid World Championship beautifully set-up on stage, with big screens showing thepositions and smaller TV screens showing computer evaluations

Carlo D’Amore e Daniele Vocaturo le punte azzurre

Sin dalla sua prima edizione, nel 2007, Porto Mannu si è proposto come uno dei grandi appuntamenti del nostro calendario, con promesse  puntualmente mantenute e non è un caso se molti appassionati vantano un 3 su 3 nelle partecipazioni!

Yuri Garrett, coadiuvato dal team di Caissa Italia e dal padrone di casa Stefano Lupini, ha puntato su molti aspetti qualitativi, della sede, dell’ambiente e dei materiali di gioco, del clima dato dalla sensazione di città degli scacchi che viene a formarsi nel bel residence di Capo d’Orso, uno degli aspetti più piacevoli e interessanti rilevato dagli appassionati nelle precedenti edizioni. Confermate anche quest’anno le lezioni gratuite da parte di alcuni dei GM presenti. Numero chiuso di fatto per la partecipazione, in relazione agli spazi previsti per l’area di gioco (con un lieve ampliamento quest’anno, con circa 180 partecipanti), che il torneo raggiunge con largo anticipo, a testimonianza del gradimento.

La manifestazione non si ferma tuttavia sull’ottimo livello raggiunto e cerca di proporre ulteriori aspetti di sviluppo. Quest’anno, dopo il Festival, si svolgeranno, dal 25 al 28 maggio, anche due corsi di scacchi, gratuiti per chi ha partecipato al torneo e prolunga il soggiorno. Per la Scuola Superiore di Scacchi alla presenza del GM Mihail Marin, eccellente didatta e amico consolidato di Caissa Italia, si aggiunge un grandissimo come il GM Arthur Jusupov, per tanti anni tra i primissimi giocatori al mondo e trainer al massimo livello! Un massimo di 40 partecipanti divisi in due gruppi, in relazione alla forza di gioco, che vedranno l’alternarsi dei due docenti attraverso sei sessioni. Non da meno l’iniziativa Scuola di Scacchi Sardegna U17, condotta dagli IM Roberto Mogranzini e Martha Fierro Baquero, in collaborazione con il Comitato Regionale, che sostiene interamente la partecipazione di 10 giovani sardi. Anche qui un massimo di 40 partecipanti, con analoga organizzazione.

Arthur Jusupov

Jusupov partecipa anche all’Open, che vanta una partecipazione crescente anche a livello qualitativo, a partire dal n° 1 del tabellone Sergey Tiviakov e con nuove presenze come quelle di giocatori di primo piano come Malakhatko e Pelletier. Per scendere sotto i 2400 è necessario arrivare al n° 22 del tabellone, tra l’altro con una presenza interessante come quella della IM e WGM Anna Zozulia (2371).

Sergey Tiviakov

I primi del tabellone:

1 GM Sergej Tivjakov (NLD)

2 GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson (SWE)

3 GM Vadim Malakhatko (BEL)

4 GM Oleg Korneev (RUS)

5 GM Jusupov Artur (DEU)

6 GM Mihail Marin (ROU)

7 GM Yannick Pelletier (CHE)

8 GM Stuart Conquest (GBR)

9 GM Damian Lemos (ARG)

10 IM Viktorija Cmilyte (LTU)

11 IM Nils Grandelius (SWE)

12 GM Igor Naumkin (RUS)

13 IM Carlo D'Amore (ITA)

14 IM Daniele Vocaturo (ITA)

15 IM Duilio Collutiis (ITA)

16 GM Spyridon Skembris (GRC)

Yannick Pelletier

Da seguire la partecipazione di giovanissimi di grande talento come Nils Grandelius (16 anni, 2491) e Jorge Cori (PER, 14 anni, 2418).

A sinistra Nils Grandelius. A destra Jorge Cori con la sorella Deisy, 16 anni, anche lei a Porto Mannu

Qualche problema di "affollamento" nel calendario e la concomitanza della Mitropa Cup non consentono la partecipazione di alcuni azzurri, già presenti in passato a Porto Mannu. I nostri colori sono comunque ben rappresentati da D’Amore, Vocaturo, Collutiis e Piscopo, restando nel solo ambito degli over 2400.

Daniele Vocaturo. Due norme e mezzo da GM, con la vittoria di Torino al vaglio della Fide... E se decidessimo la questione a Porto Mannu, e non se ne parla più?

Pierluigi Piscopo, grande creatività e ottimi margini di ulteriore crescita

Prime scacchiere on-line, per 9 turni, dal 16 al 23 maggio, con doppio round il 19 maggio (4° e 5° turno). Tempo di gioco 100’ x 40 + 20’ + 30s per mossa a partire dalla prima. Stessa formula Open integrale del 2008 con sistema svizzero accelerato decrescente, sulla base di una suddivisione in tre fasce dei giocatori. Montepremi di 8.600 euro e diversi premi accessori, tra cui spicca il Chesstravels “Dilettanti sugli scudi”, iscrizione e soggiorno per il torneo di Pardubice 2009 per il miglior italiano ad esclusione dei titolati IM/GM. Insomma, già sapore di tradizione (dopo soli tre anni) e qualche nuovo ingrediente nell’ottima cucina degli chef Yuri Garrett e Stefano Lupini! Sito di riferimento quello di Caissa Italia.

L’interesse degli appassionati seguirà certamente la lotta al vertice ma sarà ovviamente calamitato dalla gara nella gara tra due gigantesche figure come quelle di Alessandro J. e CrazyHorse, impegnati prima alla scacchiera e poi attesi a due report che potrebbero varcare la soglia del mito: tra impressioni tratteggiate con sapienza pittorica, spaccati umani e scacchistici, elegante umorismo e finezze stilistiche, due “penne” fantastiche! CrazyHorse ci ha già dato un saggio!

In the first round he escaped with a draw against a much weaker opponent, but after seven games Vugar Gashimov is leading the 7th Gibtelecom Chess Festival with six points. Seven follow with 5.5 points, including Peter Svidler, Hikaru Nakamura and Alexander Beliavsky.

The 7th 2009 Gibtelecom Chess Festival takes place January 27th to February 5th in the luxurious Caleta Hotel in Gibraltar, with a record 199 players from 36 countries, including 35 grandmasters, The strongest field ever assembled for a 10-round Open Swiss are competing for £100,000 (€ 111,170) sterling of prize money, with £15,000 (€ 16,700) going to the eventual winner.

This year’s line-up is tremendous, again, with a tie for top rated player: both Azeri star Vugar Gashimov and super-grandmaster and many-times Russian champion Peter Svidler are rated 2723. One of their major rivals is the 2008 winner Hikaru Nakamura returning to defend his title.

Other stars in contention for the first prize are 18-year-old French super-star Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, plus Michael Roiz, Pentala Harikrishna, Boris Avrukh and Ivan Sokolov.

Leading the challenge for the generous women’s awards (first prize is £6,000; app. € 6,700) are world championship semi-finalist Pia Cramling, Antoaneta Stefanova, Viktorija Cmilyte, Nana Dzagnidze, former world champion Zhu Chen, Irina Krush, Ketevan Arakhamia and Anna Zatonskih.

Former World Champion Boris Spassky, special guest in Gibraltar this year, always happy to pose with someone for a photo

Round 1
First rounds in big Swisses are always full of excitement.

Quillan versus Gashimov: almost 1-0

Elsewhere, results went pretty well as one might have expected although there were a couple of shocks as FM Stefan Fruebing (GER) beat Pia Cramling with the black pieces and Hungarian FM Attila Istvan Csonka did the same to Jonathan Speelman whilst Jovanka Houska drew as black with Vadim Milov and Spanish GM’s Josep Lopez Martinez (2540) and Gabriel Del Rio (2532) could only draw with lower rated opposition in Anthony Stebbings (ENG) and Benjamin Bok (NED) respectively.

Round 2
The accelerated pairings used at Gibraltar meant that, even though 200 players were playing, there were a number of GM v GM clashes in Round 2. Several of these games from the most prestigious open swiss in the world showed why you should always study your endgames as several games were decided by endgame technique (both good and bad).

Berczes-Svidler, a nice rook ending by the Russian

Round 3
How many children in the world can claim that both their father and mother are full grandmasters? Well, we don’t know the exact answer - maybe somebody out there can help us? - but we do know that two of them are in the photograph below…

Sitting at the board in the picture is little Anna Cramling-Bellon, daughter of GM Juan Manuel Bellon and GM Pia Cramling (who is also in the photo). Anna made her international competition debut on 29 January here in Gibraltar. On the right, having some fun with Pia Cramling is Weronica Socko, daughter of GM Bartosz Socko and GM Monika Socko. All four parents hold the full GM title. How many other children can boast two GM parents? Other than Weronica's siblings that is. We can think of maybe one more double GM husband and wife with children but haven't thought about it too deeply yet. Maybe there are more - can you think of any?

In Round 3 of the Masters event chess was hard fought and exciting. Surya Ganguly (2614) defended well on top board to hold a draw with the black pieces against Peter Svidler (2723) whilst there was something of a shock on board 2.

GM Bartosz Socko defeated GM Antoaneta Stefanova and joined Kotronias in the lead.

Round 4
On 30 January 1649, King Charles I of England was beheaded for treason. 360 years later to the day in Gibraltar there was no treason that we know of, but several players attempted to execute the opposing monarch!

Charles I

Elsewhere Greek GM Vasilios Kotronias (2603) had another excellent win, defeating Indian Pentala Harikrishna (2673) in 53 moves with Black. Kotronias secured an early edge, and gently applied the pressure until it became unbearable. An impressive victory which gives him the sole lead of the tournament on 4/4 after the other two players on maximum points GM Dzagnidze and GM Socko drew with each other.

Kotronias, often wearing football shirts, scored a nice win over Harikrishna

Round 5
There were no players left on maximum points after Vassilios Kotronias drew with Michael Roiz. But this was no “Grandmaster” draw as peace only broke out after 76 moves. Slovenian GM Alexander Beliavsky joined Kotronias in the lead on 4½/5 by defeating Nana Dzagnidze by proving that his bishop was better than her knight in the endgame. There were no fewer than 12 players just half a point behind the leaders. Joining Roiz on 4/5 are Bartosz Socko and Vugar Gashimov (draw in 30) and Vitali Golod and Boris Avrukh (draw in 77).

Round 6
In the sixth round the top two boards both saw decisive results and, coincidentally, both featured instructive rook and pawn endgames. On board 1, former World Junior Champion, Slovenian GM Alexander Beliavsky (2646) demonstrated his technical prowess against the co-leader, Greek GM Vasilios Kotronias (2603) to take the full point and move into clear first.

Round 7
White won in all the important games round seven: Gashimov-Beliavsky 1-0, Harikrishna-Avrukh 1-0, Svidler-Stefanova 1-0, Milov-Del Rio 1-0 and Kotronias-Sokolov 1-0. After this round Gashimov is leading with six points. Seven follow with 5.5 including Svidler, Nakamura and Beliavsky.

Gashimov grabs the lead after a fine, positional game against Beliavsky

Svidler scoring an easy win against Stefanova

7th Gibtelecom Chess Festival Masters | Round 7 Standings (top 40)

Thanks to Sean Hewitt for providing excellent daily reports and Sunil Weeramantry for game annotations.

Links:

• The excellent tournament website
• Games in PGN

This headline could be read in Blesk, the biggest newspaper of the Czech Republic, earlier this week. Its readers were informed about the fantastic victory of Jana Jackova over ex-world champion Anatoli Karpov, who lost in just 22 moves. After five rounds in Mariánské Lázn?, “Snowdrops and Old Hands” are exactly even: 10-10.

We know the formula from the 90s when chess maecenas Joop van Oosterom (currently responsible for the Amber and NH tournaments) sponsored many tournaments between talented female chess players against highly experienced, former top players. It was exactly this format that was chosen by Pavel Matocha for a tournament that’s currently taking place in the Czech town of Mariánské Lázn? (the former Marienbad).

The town where 72-year-old Goethe met his 17-year-old Ulrika is witnessing four chess legends meeting promising young female chess players. In the “Old Stagers” (as they are called by the Czech) team there’s Anatoli Karpov, Vlastimil Hort, Fridrik Olafsson and Wolfgang Uhlmann; the “Lasses” team consists of Viktorija Cmylite, Anna Ushenina, Katerina Nemcova and Jana Jackova.

The two teams (called “Snowdrops versus Old Hands” elsewhere - were prefer this one) meet twice following the Scheveningen system. Venue is the hotel Cristal Palace in Mariánské Lázn?, from November 29 to December 6, 2008.

Hotel Christal Palace

The games start at 16:00 CET daily (live here) with the exception of the last day, when they start at 13:00. The tournament is organized by Prague Chess Society and tournament director is Pavel Matocha, who was also responsible for e.g. the rapid matches Navara-Short & Timman-Jackova and Navara-Kramnik.

The first round included a sensation: after a mere 22 moves Anatoli Karpov had to resign against Jana Jackova. He was about to get mated!

At half time, after four rounds, the young ladies were leading by a small margin: 8.5 points out of 16 games, to 7.5 for the legends. Yesterday the four distinguished gentlemen levelled the score with the white pieces: Karpov took revenge against Jackova and Hort beat Nemcova, while Olafsson-Ushenina had ended in a draw. Cmilyte prevented the men from taking the lead; she beat Uhlmann.

Here are all the games played so far:

Old Hands, Old Friends: Karpov, Uhlmann, Hort and Olafsson

WGM Katerina Nemcova (2369), no. 1 in the Czech Republic, at the drawing of lots

World champion in "footbag" Vaclav Klouda

IM Jana Jackova (2360) interviewed for NOVA TV

Pavel Matocha - remarkable harcuts, remarkable tournaments

Vlastimil Hort with his wife, who works in the publishing business

Jackova made headlines by crushing a former world champion

Viktorija Cmylite, best performing lady with 3½ / 5

Anatoli Karpov, with the same score after five rounds

Former FIDE President GM Fridrik Olafsson (2440) analyzing with Katerina Nemcova

The legendary GM Wolfgang Uhlmann (2417) from the Olympiad's city of Dresden

IM Anna Ushenina (2496), Ukraine's highest rated female player

Links:

• Tournament website
• Games rd 1-5 in PGN