In the first round of the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 2010 in Dortmund, Germany, which started yesterday, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Ruslan Ponomariov had a great start with wins over Arkadij Naiditsch and Peter Leko respectively. Elo-favourite Vladimir Kramnik drew his game against 19-year old Liem Quang Le.

The elite tournament in Dortmund is a double round robin, lasting until July 25th. The tournament is played under the Sofia rule, which means a draw can only be declared after intervention from the arbiter.

The first round no doubt contained a small surprise: Vladimir Kramnik couldn’t beat young Quang Le with the white pieces. Looking at the game, one gets the impression the Vietnamese close-to-2700 GM simply held himself very well in a relatively quiet Slav encounter. Kramnik naturally tried for a long time to achieve something in a QR vs. QR ending, but in the end he gave up his winning attempts and the peace was signed.

Liem Quang Le (photo by Georgios Souleidis)

Naiditsch-Mamedyarov was a much more explosive duel. In a razor-sharp 6.Bc4 Najdorf, Mamedyarov played the strong theoretical move 12…d5! – which is already known since Topalov-Short, Amsterdam 1996 – after which Naiditsch’s initiative seems to have simply faded away into nothingness. It leaves one wondering what the German had actually prepared.

Ruslan Ponomariov said he wanted to surprise Leko in the opening (he played the Scotch), but his experienced opponent didn’t seem too impressed. However, at move 17, Leko made a mistake (according to Pono) by exchanging queens, after which White seems to be better.

Ruslan Ponomariov (photo by Georgios Souleidis)

According to Ponomariov, the decisive mistake was 29…a5? after which White was clearly on top in the resulting rook ending. Today, Pono faces another tough client: Vladimir Kramnik, but judging from his fine play yesterday, he seems up to the challenge. The other games are Leko-Mamedyarov and Quang Le-Naiditsch.

Vladimir Kramnik (photo by Georgios Souleidis)

Games start daily at 15.00 CET and can be followed live here.

Dortmund Games round 1

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC

Glenn Flear is one of my favourite chess authors, ever since I purchased his 550-pages tome “Practical Endgame Play - Beyond the Basics”. How he has issued a new book for Everyman publishing house - “Starting Out: Open Games”.

From the publisher: “Open Games refer to a myriad of openings arising after the ever-popular 1 e4 e5: the Italian Game, the Scotch, The Two Knights Defence, the King’s Gambit, the Evans Gambit, the Bishop’s Opening, the Four Knights, the Petroff and much more besides. In this book, Glenn Flear goes back to basics, introducing the key moves and ideas, and taking care to explain the reasoning behind them - something that has often been neglected or taken for granted in other works. He places particular emphasis on the lines that players are most likely to face.”

From the author: “My idea has been to introduce people to the types of position that occur, and to offer them a few ideas that should enable them to venture the Open Games, for either colour, with a certain degree of confidence. In the illustrative games and notes I have also tried to give an indication of the better ways of handling a system, based on my own experience.”

Content:
Bibliography - 5
Introduction to 1 e4 e5 - 7
1 The Quiet Italian - 11
2 Two Knights Defence - 35
3 Evans Gambit and Giuoco Piano - 70
4 Four Knights Game - 99
5 Scotch Game - 123
6 Central Gambits - 148
7 King’s Gambit - 166
8 Vienna Game - 191
9 Other White Systems - 215
10 Black Avoids 2…Nc6 – Introduction - 235
11 Philidor’s Defence - 245
12 Petroff’s Defence - 267
Index of Variations - 307
Index of Complete Games - 316

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We have just received: The Modern Philidor Defence.

This book follows the structure of other Chess Stars publications, like ‘The Sharpest Sicilian’ and ‘The Scotch Game for White’.
Each chapter comprises of a “Quick Repertoire”, then a thorough theoretical study in the part “Step by Step” followed by “Complete games”.

The perfect way to learn this very solid opening!

Despite an incredibly snowy winter, we had a good turnout at the latest Philadelphia 9Queens Academy held on Saturday, February 20th. While Israel Riley, Windsor Jordan and Ben Cooper at ASAP worked with some of the younger girls, the advanced group worked on opening strategies. Alisa Melekhina and Leteef Street specifically showed the girls the Scotch Opening. I facilitated a consultation game in which each side would get two passes to ask me or Alisa for advice on the best move. The ladies only used one pass each but the game was very interesting. Check it out and some key variations below. The next Philadelphia Queens Academy is on March 27. Contact Jenshahade@gmail.com if you’re interesting in joining the fun.

How does White do something with this passive position?

Howell-Werle, London 2009. White to play.

Concluding our brief survey of the Scotch (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4), we look at the kind of dynamic endgame struggle that can arise from this old but still important opening.

RB White's position after 1 exf5 Nxf5 2 Re1 (or 2 e4, or 2 Kd2) is so passive – and the e-pawn likely to be a long-term weakness – that White's best chance is to push with 1 e5. Assuming Black takes (1...d5 2 Na4 followed by Nc5 would give the white knight a great post ) with 1...dxe5, White has 2 Bc4, developing his bishop to another great square. If 2...exf4 3 exf4, OK White is a pawn down, but it hardly matters. With the white pieces all ready for action and Black's queenside pawns in a dreadful state, this has to be the best move.

DK 1 e5, as Howell played, is an excellent pawn sacrifice. To find it one needs to appreciate that the alternative, 1 exf5, leaves Black comfortably placed. Here's a typical scenario: 1...Nxf5 2 e4 Nh4. The f-pawn must advance to save itself, and then the knight hops via f3 into e5. Compare this knight with White's, unable to move to its outpost on d5. With the pawns blockaded, Black has stabilised the position and can begin to take control.

After 1 e5 dxe5, it would be wrong to recapture with 2 fxe5 as 2... Ng6 followed by Nxe5 gives Black more freedom than in the game. 2 Bc4 is correct, preventing Black's bishop from emerging on e6, and now 2...exf4 3 exf4 Ng6? would be met by 4 Rxg6! hxg6 5 Rd3, and there is no defence to the checkmate on h3.

If you'd like to investigate the Scotch, then Starting Out: The Scotch Game by John Emms (Everyman Chess, £13.99) will provide you with the basics, while The Scotch Game for White by Vladimir Barsky (Chess Stars, £17.99) – just published – will provide more up-to-date theory. If you prefer to study with a DVD, I recommend the The Scotch Game by Nigel Davies (ChessBase, €26.99).

chess@guardian.co.uk

Fashions come and go in chess. And this is is one that may well be on the way back

4... Bc5 is one of Black's main options against the Scotch (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4). How should White continue?

RB I've done a tiny bit of study on the Scotch and so am not quite the total novice I was when we began this survey. In fact, I've reached this position in a couple of recent casual games. I've tried both of White's two principal continuations here, 5 Nxc6 and 5 Be3 (5 Nb3 is less often seen).

The first of these looks appealing for White: 5...dxc6 6 Qxd8+ Kxd8 puts an end to Black's castling rights, while 5...bxc6 messes up his queenside pawns. But Black, as I discovered to my cost in one game, has a nice move in 5...Qf6, threatening mate and forcing White into an awkward defence of f2 (both 6 Qd2 and 6 Qe2 block a bishop). I prefer the second alternative 5 Be3, developing a piece and maintaining the tension. After 5...Qf6 6 c3 Nge7 I would play 7 Bc4, at which point my knowledge of the theory runs out.

DK How one continues here is largely a matter of taste. At the London Chess Classic, McShane-Short continued 5 Nxc6 Qf6 6 Qf3 (the latest trend), and the players quickly reached an endgame in which White had a little more space and therefore a theoretical advantage. In the same tournament Howell-Adams continued instead 5 Be3 Qf6 6 c3 Nge7 7 Bc4 b6, and with all the pieces still on the board, a complex struggle lay ahead. Although this line is relatively common, I must admit to feeling uncomfortable with White: the knight can no longer move to c3 to suppress Black's ...d5 break, and I prefer to have more control.

5 Nb3 is rarely played at the top levels, but perhaps that's just fashion. I have a book from 1977 that indicates it as the strongest move. Magnus Carlsen played it four times at the World Blitz Championship in November – winning three. After 5...Bb6, he tried 6 Qe2 followed by Be3, Nc3 and queenside castling. I bet we will see more of that in the future.

chess@guardian.co.uk

Corus Wijk aan Zee, the most popular event on the chess calendar, ends tomorrow with ex-champion Vlad Kramnik and the world No1 Magnus Carlsen competing for the lead in the closing rounds. Kramnik won their individual game impressively, but the 19-year-old Norwegian has the easier finish. Carlsen is not yet dominating his peers in the style of Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov at their peaks, but he is already the man to beat.

The reigning world champion Vishy Anand has played an uncharacteristically low-key tournament, drawing his first nine games. Nigel Short, in his strongest event for years, has struggled in some games but missed a clear win against Kramnik.

David Howell, 19, was seeded low in the B group, but the young British champion is in mid-table and scored one of the best attacks at Wijk.

Below, White's opening system is less effective than 2 Nf3 and 3 Bb5 so Shirov soon has the initiative. White takes a hot pawn by 23 Qxh7? (23 Qh6!) missing 23...Kd7! and 24...Bxg2+! with a crushing attack (25 Rxg2 Rxg2 25 Kxg2 Rg8+ 27 Kf3 e4+! leads to mate).

S Tiviakov v A Shirov

1 e4 c5 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nd4 4 Bc4 e6 5 Nge2 Nf6 6 O-O a6 7 d3 b5 8 Bb3 Nxb3 9 axb3 Bb7 10 f4 d5 11 e5 d4 12 exf6 dxc3 13 fxg7 Bxg7 14 bxc3 Rg8 15 Rf2 Bxc3 16 Nxc3 Qd4 17 Kf1 Qxc3 18 Ra2 Qd4 19 Qh5 c4 20 bxc4 bxc4 21 Ra4 Bd5 22 f5 e5 23 Qxh7? Kd7! 24 Qh6 Bxg2+! 25 Ke1 Bd5 26 Ba3 Rg1+ 27 Ke2 Qg4+ 28 Ke3 Re1+ 29 Kd2 Qd1+ 30 Kc3 Qa1+ 31 Kb4 Rb1+ 0-1

Howell's improved results with the white pieces have coincided with his increasing readiness to ditch the insipid 1 e4 e5 2 Bc4 Bishop's Opening in favour of the sharp Scotch 3 d4. When Finland's No1 lost time with his knight (13...Nf6) Howell blitzed the black king with an incisive attack. Black's 20...Na5? (Qh4) allowed 21 f6! with the point Nxc4 22 Qh5! Nxe3 23 Qg5 winning.

D Howell v T Nyback

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4 Bc5 5 Be3 Qf6 6 c3 Nge7 7 Bc4 Ne5 8 Be2 Qg6 9 O-O d6 10 Kh1 O-O 11 Nd2 Ng4 12 Bf4 Nc6 13 f3 Nge5? 14 Be3 Bb6 15 f4 Nxd4 16 cxd4 Nc6 17 f5 Qf6 18 e5! dxe5 19 Ne4 Qd8 20 Bc4 Na5? 21 f6! Bxd4 22 fxg7 Kxg7 23 Bg5! 1-0

3124 (a)1 f8N! g6 2 Kh6 g5 3 Ng6 mate. (b) It's an illegal position! Black has no possible last move.

The former world champion was responsible for a revival of interest in the opening. But how does he exploit it here

Kasparov-Karpov, World Championship (game 14), 1990.

More on the Scotch. Garry Kasparov was responsible for its revival. Here he finds his e-pawn under pressure. What should he play?

RB There are so many possibilities that I'm going to have to go through a process of elimination. We can discard the obvious hara-kiri options of 1 cxd5 and 1 exf6 Qb4+. Nor does 1 f4 fxe5 2 fxe5 Qg5 look particularly appealing. 1 Bg2 looks like it just loses a pawn and gives Black all the play after 1...fxe5 2 0-0, and 1 e6 is just bad. Nor do 1 Nd2, 1 Kd1 and 1 Ba3 solve the problem.

That leaves the queen. Where to? More elimination. 1 Qg4 and 1 Qh5 seem pretty pointless. 1 Qf3 looks better. Ah, wait. Black will play 1...Nb4, threatening to fork the king and rook. 1 Qd2 Nb4 2 a3 would result in Black losing the knight, and if 1...Nb6 I'd probably opt for 2 Bg2, giving up the e-pawn in return for getting my king to safety. Black gets a formidable pawn centre but at least the present crisis has been dealt with.

DK This position arises from 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nxc6 bxc6 6 e5, the so-called Mieses Variation, one of the sharpest and most demanding lines of the Scotch. The number of options that Ronan has considered already tells us how complicated the position is.

It is tempting to try to force Black's centralised knight to move, with 1 Qd2, but after 1...Nb6 2 Bg2, instead of capturing the e-pawn, Black should play 2...Bxc4! sacrificing a piece for three pawns: 3 bxc4 Nxc4 4 Qe2 Nxb2 5 Qxb2 Qxe5+. Even in the endgame, Black has the initiative.

Instead, Kasparov developed and castled straight away: 1 Bg2! fxe5 2 0-0 h5 3 Qd2 Nf6 4 Qa5. A highly unusual position. White has given up a pawn and the centre, but his king is safe and he is banking on his attack against Black's weakened king position. Karpov did well to survive from here.

chess@guardian.co.uk

Alexei Shirov also defeated Loek van Wely today and now leads the Corus Chess Tournament with 5 out of 5. The Spaniard is 1.5 points ahead of Carlsen, Nakamura and Ivanchuk. Giri is in sole lead in the B group again, and so is Robson in the C group.

The Corus Chess Tournament takes place January 16-31 in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. Next to hundreds of amateurs, three Grandmaster Groups (A, B and C) with 14 players each play a closed round-robin. The rate of play is 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 minutes for 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, and 30 seconds increment starting from move 1.

Corus Chess Daily News

Corus Chess Newsflashes

Games round 5

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Round 5

14:59 CET
Yesterday was the first of three rest days and for the TV program De Wereld Draait Door a football match between Holland and Norway was organized, in which both teams played with the official shirts. Unfortunately I couldn’t be there but it’s not clear if it had made a difference since the DWDD team didn’t even allow official Corus photographer Fred Lucas to shoot on the scene. I did hear that that Kjetil Lie is a fantastic footballer and that he basically decided matters by himself, with 4 goals in a match that was won 5-1 by the Norwegians.

Today it’s chess again, and the first that catches the eye is Vladimir Kramnik’s opening choice with Black against Jan Smeets. A) Not the Petroff, and B)… the Pirc. Yes, the opening that’s not considered to be a real test to 1.e4, and the opening that’s mainly used by GMs who want to beat weaker opponents during the first few rounds of 9-round Swisses. Kramnik might well be trying to win this one, since in his (only) previous game against Smeets, he was easily held to a draw in a Scotch, when the ex-World Champion played for Groningen in the Dutch league in March 2007.

In the top encounter Nakamura-Carlsen White goes for ultra-solid play with a Delayed Exchange against the Ruy. Tiviakov is in a similar mood (his usual mood) and tries his pet Qe2 against Karjakin, who makes it look totally harmless. Caruana went for 1.d4 against Dominguez and it looks like he has to be careful already in a Grünfeld. Short has successfully managed avoid theoretical waters and has a classical, tiny edge against Ivanchuk’s IQP position.

Leko and Anand are in a very unclear, queenless middlegame arising from a 4…Bc5 Ruy Lopez while Shirov continues aggressively against Van Wely. About his move 9…g4, which we’ve seen in a similar position in the Korchnoi-Spassy match last month, Jon Speelman said on the Chess.FM broadcast (with typical native British accent): “What a hero, what a hero!” Host Mig said “it seems like these days this is a move before breakfast”.

16:32 CET
Except for a quick draw between Leko & Anand and So & Harikrishna in group B, all games are still running. We were wrong about Caruana-Dominguez: after the strong move 20.Re6! it’s Black who is in danger. At the moment of writing Caruana is thinking about his 24th move, where Qd8! seems close to winning.

Short is still trying to get more than an edge, now in an ending, and after Van Wely’s exchange sacrifice against Shirov it looks about equal there as well. In Smeets-Kramnik, 8.e5 looks dubious as it leads by force to an ending where Black is fine, if not already better. The youngest of the three Dutchmen is under pressure there. For a while Nakamura seemed to have serious pressure against Carlsen, with a menacing knight on f5, but with some cool defensive moves Carlsen avoided real problems. The long line Nakamura went for, starting with 23.Qh4, looks risky. Tiviakov and Karjakin seem to be heading to a draw, although Black might be more comfortable.

Naiditsch-Nisipeanu is an interesting Panov Caro-Kann in group B where the complications seem to favour White.

Giri is doing well again, in a better ending against Sutovsky. Peng-Robson from C is another good one to follow today.

18:07 CET
Anish Giri also beat Emil Sutovsky and is now on a fantastic 4/5. Ni Hua probably won’t win today, and so the reigning Dutch champion will take the sole lead in the B group again. A good reason to have him doing the press conference! This just finished in the press room, and Anish explained his success as follows: “They just make some mistakes and then I win.” Press officer: “OK, but this group is stronger than the Dutch Championship. They have 2700.” Giri: “Yes, but they also make mistakes.”

Meanwhile, Naiditsch beat Nisipeanu in a very powerful game, and in C Robson beat Peng with Black. Kramnik outplayed Smeets in the ending, and to the question why he went for the Pirc, the Russian answered that he was was sure Smeets would refute it. “The problem is I’m playing the Petroff for a very long time already and I had no doubt he was going to refute the opening and then I thought: I still have a long career and if he’s going to refute it, what am I going to do. For this game I thought: I can do it with Anand, but not with this guy.”

20:01 CET
Van Wely collapsed against Shirov, and so the Spaniard is now on an amazing 5/5. “I believe that he definitely shouldn’t take on c6 immediately. After that all the time I have this idea of …c5 and doing something on the diagonal”, the tournament leader said after today’s game. He thought first Re1 would have been better, after which it’s roughly equal.

Nakamura pressed a lot today, and “deserves credit for declining my draw offer”, as Carlsen said after the game. The American eventually reached an ending with rook, two knights and two pawns against rook, bishop and three pawns, but it was impossible to win this ending. Caruana was disappointed as he was almost sure he missed a win against Dominguez. He thought 24…Bf6 was an adequate answer to 24.Qd8, but then 25.Rc1 Bxe7 26.Rxc6 Bxd8 27.Rc8 wins a piece.

Short also had to be satisfied with a draw, and he complimented his opponent Ivanchuk for his great defence. “Against any other GM I would have won this.” In our opinion the Englishman is playing fine so far, and fully deserves his return into the A group. Tiviakov easily survived Karjakin’s bit of pressure. In B, Howell beat Ni to take over clear second place. The Englishman is half a point behind Giri.

Corus 2010 | Schedule & results Grandmaster Group A

Corus 2010 | Schedule & results Grandmaster Group B

Corus 2010 | Schedule & results Grandmaster Group C

Corus 2010 | Round 5 Standings Grandmaster Group A

Corus 2010 | Round 5 Standings Grandmaster Group B

Corus 2010 | Round 5 Standings Grandmaster Group C

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC: Group A | Group B | Group C

Black has made an incredibly aggressive move with his queen. What does White do?

White to play.

We continue our survey of the Scotch (which arises after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4) with a move that was the height of fashion in the 19th century.

RB On my shelves is a book on the 4...Qh4 variation of the Scotch. I wish I'd actually opened it because these early queen sorties never fail to unnerve me. I'm sure this is partly because when we first try our hand at chess we immediately reach for the queen. Then, as we grow more practised, we learn to delay her deployment until we've developed the minor pieces and got the king to safety. So this kind of aggressive invasion – on move 4! – can come as a shock. It presages sharp play and the danger of getting blown out of the water very early in the game.

I can see that 5 Nb5 is a possibility. The pawn-snatching spree of 5...Qxe4+ 6 Be2 Qxg2 would lead to disaster for Black after 7 Bf3. But Black doesn't have to take the g-pawn and could guard c7 by 6...Kd8. It's all sharper than I like, especially not knowing the theory. So I'm going to be boring – and, I hope, safe – and play 5 Nc3, and if 5...Bb4, I'll continue with 6 Be2, giving up the e-pawn in return for better development.

DK 4...Qh4 was a favourite of the first world champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, but it is telling that since the modern revival of the Scotch none of the elite players has ever risked it. I already dislike Black's position after the direct 5 Nb5, but in fact 5...Bb4+! 6 Bd2 Qxe4+ 7 Be2 Kd8 – as Steinitz played – isn't so clear.

Ronan's idea of 5 Nc3 Bb4 6 Be2 is stronger. You can't go too far wrong with simple development. After 6...Qxe4 7 Nb5, Black will again have to defend c7 with his king. Several games have continued 7...Bxc3+ 8 bxc3 Kd8 9 0-0. White has greater compensation for the pawn than in the variation above as he has the two bishops – as well as the sitting target of Black's uncastled king. You'd have to be a masochist to play like this with Black.

chess@guardian.co.uk

The Scotch Opening is still played at the highest level. But how does use it to gain control of the centre?

Carlsen-Leko, Nanjing 2009. White to play.

Over the next few weeks we're going to take a look at the Scotch Opening, which arises after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4. The Scotch is hardly new: it got its name after it was used by players from the Edinburgh Chess Club in a correspondence match against London (1824-28). But unlike some of its contemporaries from the romantic era – the King's Gambit, for example – the Scotch remains a solid and respected opening. Kasparov was responsible for its modern revival after he used it in world championship matches against Karpov, Short and Anand. With Kasparov now coaching Magnus Carlsen, it is no surprise that the 19-year-old Norwegian, the world's No1 according to the latest Fide ratings, is also using the Scotch.

The Scotch is a true "open game" with free lines for pieces and fluid pawn structures liable to change at any moment – as in this position.

RB I don't know what theory recommends. I do see that White is a pawn down, that he has an isolated queen's pawn and the cover around his king is a little loose. On the plus side, Black's pieces don't have anything like the scope of White's two bishops, or the central squares available for the white knight.

But what's the plan? I'm going to harry the queen with 1 Bd3 and after 1...Qf6 follow up with 2 Qb3 to try to exploit Black's relatively unguarded queenside.

DK 1 Bd3 Qf6 2 Qb3 is excellent for White. Not only is Black's queenside under threat, but the queen is close to being trapped by Ne4. But Black should reply to 1 Bd3 with ...Qg4 and he is closer to clearing his jam of pieces with ...Bf5.

In the game, Carlsen played 1 Bf3!, preparing to bring the knight to a great square on d4 via e2 and opening the c-file for the rook. After 1...Rac8 2 Qb3 b5 3 Ne2 Qh3 4 Nd4 Bg4 5 Bg2 Qh5 6 h4, White had a firm grip on the centre allowing him to attack the queenside pawns, and Black's pieces were still in each other's way.

chess@guardian.co.uk

A new year has begun, and is there a better moment to start working some more on your openings? We’ve changed our weekly PDF (+PGN!) magazine ChessVibes Openings slightly, and it might well be even more instructive…

This week on page 4 we introduced a new, interactive section called It’s Your Move: every week two exercises, of which the solutions and explanations will follow one week later. This will improve your understanding of certain opening, middlegame or even endgame themes even further.

A new year offers the chance to start all over, with new goals and new energy, also on the chess board. A bit of preparation can be of great help, and ChessVibes Openings is a fun and instructive way to keep your openings up to date.

What is ChessVibes Openings?

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

• What’s hot? A round-up of this week’s important opening developments, with statistics about the frequence and score of the week’s most important opening novelty (page 1)
• What’s not? Which openings are not recommended at the moment, according to the top players? And why not? (page 1)
• Game of the week Each week you’ll find the theoretically most important game analysed by our two IMs, with a detailed survey of the opening phase (page 2).
• This week’s harvest Four more new important opening ideas from this week (page 3) revealed and described with explanation of the opening and early middlegame (page 3).
• It’s Your Move An interactive element: every week two exercises, of which the solutions/explanations will follow one week later. This will improve your understanding of certain opening, middlegame or even endgame themes even further.

Which openings are hot in top level chess? Which are not? Receive the latest opening novelties right in your mailbox with ChessVibes Openings, a weekly PDF magazine (+ PGN!) covering the latest openings news, co-authored by International Masters Merijn van Delft and Robert Ris and published by ChessVibes.

This week’s issue: #53, January 6, 2010

ChessVibes Openings #53
The latest opening developments of the first week of January 2010, covering Reggio Emilia, Hastings, Rilton Cup and the World Team Championship. All about the 7.Nf3 Najdorf which was analysed in our Game of the Week Bologan-Safarli, Reggio Emilia 2010.

Other lines that are covered:

• Ruy Lopez, Anti-Marshall
• Sicilian, Alapin
• Caro-Kann, Advance
• KID, Bayonet

This week we started a new section which replaced the Opening Expert: It’s Your Move. After one year of presenting opening experts, we felt it’s time to change page 4 of our magazine and introduce an interactive element: two exercises, of which the solutions/explanations will follow one week later.

Last week’s issue: #52, December 30, 2009

ChessVibes Openings #52
The latest opening developments of the last week of December 2009, covering the Russian Championship, the Korchnoi-Spassky match, Pamplona and Reggio Emilia. All about the Ruy Lopez, Berlin Wall which was analysed in our Game of the Week Grischuk-Jakovenko, Moscow 2009.

Other lines that are covered:

• Ruy Lopez, Marshall, 15.Qe2
• Alekhine, 4…dxe5
• QGA, 7.dxc5
• KID, Mar del Plata

This week’s Opening Expert is Georgian GM Baadur Jobava.

Previous issue: #51, December 23, 2009

ChessVibes Openings #51
The latest opening developments of the fourth week of December 2009, covering the European Rapid Championship, the Russian Championship and the Korchnoi-Spassky match. All about the Fianchetto Variation of the Grünfeld Defence which was analysed in our Game of the Week Khismatullin-Svidler, Moscow 2009. Other lines that are covered:

• Scotch, 4…Bc5 5.Nxc6
• Berlin, 5…Be7
• OSlav, 4.e3 Bg4
• Chebanenko Slav

This week’s Opening Expert is Israel GM Victor Mikhalevski.

Previous issue: #50, December 16, 2009

ChessVibes Openings #50
The latest opening developments of the third week of December 2009, covering the World Cup and the London Chess Classic. All about the Ragozin Defence which was analysed in our Game of the Week Kramnik-Short, London Chess Classic 2009. Other lines that are covered:

• Open Ruy Lopez
• Chebanenko Slav
• Open Catalan
• King’s Indian, 7…Na6

This week’s Opening Expert is Russian top GM and former World Champ Vladimir Kramnik.

Previous issue: #49, December 9, 2009

ChessVibes Openings #49
The latest opening developments of the second week of December 2009, covering the World Cup and the London Chess Classic. All about the Open Ruy Lopez which was analysed in our Game of the Week Karjakin-Mamedyarov, World Cup 2009. Other lines that are covered:

• Queen’s Gambit Declined, 5.Bf4
• Queen’s Gambit Accepted
• Grünfeld Indian, 5.Bd2
• King’s Indian, 6.h3

This week’s Opening Expert is Russian GM Vladimir Malakhov.

Ehm… can I have a look?

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

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

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

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

What does it cost?

As a subscriber you’ll receive the PDF Magazine and accompanying PGN files in your mailbox every week.

A one-year subscription is € 25 (that’s less than € 0.50 per issue!) - for price in US $ click here

Please note that it’s still possible to start your subscription as a first-week subscriber.
Just let us know and we’ll send you all previous issues!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chess Stars has just published : The Scotch Game for White

In this brand new work IM Vladimir Barsky, coaching second of Alexander Morozevich and co-author of The Chigorin Defence According to Morozevich, explains the ideas behind the Scotch Game.

It’s a very attractive opening for the White player because he chooses
the direction in which the fight develops, while the Black player only follows suit. It’s an opening based on solid positional common sense.

The Scotch has been studied and tested in practice by the strongest players, among them Garry Kasparov, Alexander Morozevich and Vassily Ivanchuk. Recently Magnus Carlsen has joined this list.

This book will bring you plenty of joy and fulfillment and probably
quite a few victories!

You can get a hold of The Scotch Game here!

Wesley So did it again. On the second day of the World Cup’s 3rd round he drew with Gata Kamsky and so the 16-year-old Philippine GM reached the 4th round, and the World Cup 2007 winner is out. Polgar levelled the score against Gelfand and Karjakin and Areshchenko did the same against Navara and Jakovenko respectively.

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

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

Round 3, day 2

Many times the Dutch soccer team was close to winning the World Cup, and almost always we lost to the eventual winners. This doesn’t make it any more bareable, but at least there’s some logic in it! Perhaps Vassily Ivanchuk will be comforted a little by the fact that after he lost to Wesley So, the Pinoy grandmaster also kicked out Gata Kamsky. Again he needed only a draw in the second game, and this time he offered a draw, probably out of respect for his famous opponent, in a position that still offered winning chances.

The other finalist of two years ago, Alexei Shirov, did reach the 4th round. He beat Tomashevsky in not so popular but highly theoretical line of the Ruy Lopez, where White ends up with a small exchange in return for a pawn. After some manoeuvering Tomashevsky blundered on move 40, allowing 41.Bd6! which wins on the spot (41…Rf7 42.Rb7!+-).

Areshchenko, Karjakin and Polgar prolonged their stay in Khanty-Mansiysk for at last another day. Areshchenko lost to Jakovenko the day before but played an excellent game with the White pieces; reaching a better bishop ending out of a Scotch Opening and converting it on move 61. The way Polgar defeated Gelfand was quite spectactular; we know the Hungarian lady is deadly when attacking, but unfortunately we don’t see it that often anymore these days. But this game was a classic, perhaps not fully correct, but that’s not important. Karjakin’s win against Navara was pretty impressive stuff too.

Vitiugov drew with Sakaev and reached the next round, just like Ponomariov did against Motylev, Mamedyarov against Wang Hao and Vachier-Lagrave against Yu Yangyi. There are quite a lot of tiebreaks to be played on Sunday.

All photos by Galina Popova | courtesy of FIDE

Games round 3, day 2

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Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN

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

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

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

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

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

What is ChessVibes Openings?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Previous issue: #45, November 11, 2009

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

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

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

Ehm… can I have a look?

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

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

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

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

What does it cost?

As a subscriber you’ll receive the PDF Magazine and accompanying PGN files in your mailbox every week.

A one-year subscription is € 25 (that’s less than € 0.50 per issue!) - for price in US $ click here

Please note that it’s still possible to start your subscription as a first-week subscriber.
Just let us know and we’ll send you all previous issues!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After Yu Yangyi’s surprising success of yesterday, two more famous grandmasters were eliminated by Chinese rising stars in the tiebreaks today. Gabriel Sargissian lost to Li Chao and Emil Sutovsky went down against Zhou Weiqi. Tomorrow is already the second round and we’re left with 64 players.

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

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

Round 1.3

For a while it was unclear whether the tiebreaks would consist of two or four rapid games, since the results page was showing only ‘R1′ and ‘R2′ after the ‘G1′ and ‘G2′, followed by ‘B1′, ‘B2′ et cetera. But the regulations stipulate four and in the course of the day it became clear that the players indeed had to play four rapid games.

David Smerdon from Australia again showed good chess against 2700-GM Dominguez from Cuba; only after three more draws Dominguez managed to decide the match. When Smerdon had shown world-class Dragon preparation in his first game with black, the Cuban was more successful in a sideline in game 4.

Smerdon proved a tough opponent for Dominguez

GMs Navara (Czech Republic) and Laylo (Philippines) also started with two draws, but then the Czech won two games in a row. Bacrot defeated Nijboer in the first two rapid games and then decided matters by drawing a rook ending with a pawn down in the third.

Bacrot in round 2, Nijboer out

Naiditsch opened the score in his minimatch against Hou Yifan, but the Chinese countered immediately. In the third game it was the German’s turn again, the third win for Black, when Hou Yifan blundered an exchange right after the opening. With a draw in the fourth game Naiditsch reached the 2nd round,

After Movsesian yesterday, Sargissian was the second player to be eliminated by one of the many strong young Chinese grandmasters. After both winning two and then drawing two, Li Chao turned out to be the strongest blitz player. It was slightly surprising that Sargissian went for the same Scotch ending (you know, the one Radjabov likes to play with White) with Black in a must-win situation. Sutovsky suffered the same fate against Zhou Weiqi: a draw in the first game was followed by two wins for the Chinese.

Emil Sutovsky is also out

Cheparinov went through thanks to just one rapid victory against Kryvoruchko, but his friend and colleague in Topalov’s team of seconds, l’Ami, was eliminated by Sasikiran. Tiviakov lost 2.5-1.5 in the rapids against Iturrizaga (check the move 25…Nf3! in their last game) and so all Dutch speaking grandmasters had to say goodbye to the World Cup already after one round.

Sergei Tiviakov was eliminated by Eduardo Iturrizaga from Venezuela

Shabalov lost the first rapid game against Baklan, “falling for” a standard trick in the Sicilian and resigning on move 12 being two pawns down for nothing. But the Latvian-born American GM came back, allowed the same trick in the next White game because he has thought up an improvement and won eventually in the second blitz game.

Alex Shabalov (USA), another qualifier for round 2.

Negi lost to Milov and Timofeev sent Leitao home (another match where all wins were scored by the Black player). One rapid victory was enough for Khalifman to defeat Fier and after six draws; Bartel beat Grachev 2-0 in the blitz.

The match Fier-Khalifman

For Gustafsson the adventure is also over after the first round; he blew two promising positions against Inarkiev and then had to win with Black, but the Russian forced a perpetual at some point. Savchenko-Shulman was another match that was decided in the blitz; interestingly, here too Black won all rapid games. But then Savchenko won with White in the first blitz game (which was not preserved correctly, unfortunately) and drew the second. Tkachiev first drew with Black against Le Quang Liem and then beat the Vietnamese GM in two endings.

Vladislav Tkachiev knocks out Vietnamese grandmaster Le Quang Liem

So was too strong for Guseinov in quickplay; the Philippine rising star won three rapid games in a row. Nyback did the same as Shabalov: losing the first rapid game but eventually winning the match in the blitz. The by far longest match of the first round was Akobian-Tregubov, an absolute thriller. Eventually the American grandmaster won the marathon in the 10th (!) blitz game. Just look at it!

Akobian, Varuzhan USA 1 0 ½ ½ 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 9
Tregubov, Pavel V. RUS 0 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 7

Tiebreak games round 1

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Cheparinov and L'Ami before the start of the tiebreak...

...Cheparinov having reason to smile afterwards as well...

...but L'Ami went down against Sasikiran

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN

The Tal Memorial started today with five draws, but the first round was far from boring. Most eyes were focused on Carlsen-Kramnik, in which the former World Champion went for the top seed’s throat – a surprising but welcome act of aggression with Black by Kramnik which was almost successful. Update: some photos of the opening ceremony by Mark Gluhovsky.

The Tal Memorial takes place November 4-18 in Moscow, Russia. The category 21 round-robin has Viswanathan Anand (India, 2788), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2786), Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2801), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2772), Peter Leko (Hungary, 2752), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2758), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2739) Alexander Morozevich (Russia, 2750), Peter Svidler (Russia, 2754) and Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine, 2739).

The first four rounds of the round-robin are held in hotel “National” on November 5, 6, 7 and 8. Rounds 5-9 take place in the Main Department Store GUM on Red Square. The time control is the classic 40 moves in 2 hours, then 20 moves in 1 hour and then 15 minutes plus 30 seconds increment to finish the game. The rounds begin daily at 15:00 Moscow time which is 13:00 CET.

Round 1

The stongest tournament of the year has finally begun. Except for Veselin Topalov and Vugar Gashimov the whole top 10 is in Moscow. The only player perhaps who hasn’t been around too much at elite (whatever that may be) events recently is Ruslan Ponomariov, but he used to be, of course. And it’s good to have the former FIDE World Champion around again.

As could be expected after Carlsen’s success in China, most attention went to his game against Kramnik today, and the ex-World Champion almost personally made sure that we kept on following that game. After his lost match with Anand last year, Kramnik promised the chess world that he would have a second look at his opening repertoire, and it looks like we saw an example of that today.

Kramnik, unlike Kramnik, played a very sharp set-up with Black that started with Anand’s recent innovation in the Nimzo that makes the move 4.Qc2 almost look dubious. To prevent further damage Carlsen went for an ending a pawn down, with rooks and opposite-coloured bishops, but even there Black had excellent winning chances.

Anand, unlike Anand, chose a solid but passive set-up with Black, against Ivanchuk. The World Champion soon came under pressure and in the early (queenless) middlegame White had a nice advantage, which vanished after one or two inaccurate move by Ivanchuk.

Another ending with lots of pieces was seen in Morozevich-Leko, which started as a Scotch but soon looked like a Sicilian Dragon. Great, imaginative play by Moro was answered by great, accurate defence by the Hungarian. Excellent game.

Svidler feels at home in the Grünfeld and yet again equalized comfortably against Aronian, who even had to be a bit careful in the end. Gelfand-Pononariov was the least interesting game; a Catalan that was mainly full of exchanges.

Live commentary

As one of the strongest tournaments ever held in chess history, the Tal Memorial is an excellent moment to introduce live commentary, we figured. During the tournament, at our special live page www.chessvibes.com/live (how easy to remember is that?) the games and, more importantly, analysis by IMs and GMs will be provided. We started today with IM Merijn van Delft and had some technical problems (almost inevitable at the start) but we hope to improve tomorrow!

Games round 1 [IM Merijn van Delft]

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Tal Memorial 2009 | Schedule and results

Following an excellent idea of Georg in the comments yesterday, we try to write something about Mikhail Tal every day. Because one thing we shouldn’t forget: the tournament is dedicated to the eighth World Champion, a great player and a great person who we should keep in our minds.

Before Tal passed away, the annual Moscow tournament was known as the Alekhine Memorial. The last game in The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal is against IM Hans Böhm, played at that event in 1975. Böhm tells about that game:

“Naturally that was a special experience, against a charismatic world champion who almost always put the board on fire. Unfortunately during that tournament I suffered pneumonia, and threw away many won positions. Also against Tal I was probably winning if I had played 22.Nxf7. He knew I was a dangerous opponent because he knew I had a winning position in several previous games. But he also knew I spoilt these positions!”

In his book Tal writes: “Up till the sixth round, in which this game was played, the two players had made a pretty poor showing, This applies in particular to the Dutch master playing White: his column in the tournament table showed a string of five successive noughts. It has long been known that such an opponent is doubly dangerous (this is shown by the following rounds, where Böhm scored two successive wins), since this series is always liable to come to an end.”

Böhm: “I hang out a lot with him at tournaments, and for example when he played the KRO-match against Timman in Hilversum. There was much he liked to talk about in those days, the West, Fischer, politics, and he had an original way of seeing things. He appreciated the small things in life, a study, a nice move, but also stories, small jokes, and often with drinks, of course.

One night we walked in Moscow and he suddenly remembered an old friend from 40 years back. You know what he did? He called her!”

Mikhail Tal himself

At the opening ceremony. In the audience we recognize Ruslan Ponomariov, Levon Aronian, Geurt Gijssen, Joel Lautier (who lives in Moscow) and Genna Sosonko

Peter Leko, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Morozevich

Boris Gelfand ("I'd better switch that phone off altready") and Viswanathan Anand

Magnus Carlsen draws no. 1 at the drawing of lots - organizer Alexander Bakh and arbiter Geurt Gijssen next to him

No. 6 for the World Champion...

...and no. 4 for Aronian

Players, organizer and arbiters posing

Henrik Carlsen and Mark Dvoretsky ("Well, you know, Mark, it's just that... we have found a trainer which is said to be quite decent. But I'll keep it in mind.")

Photos © Mark Gluhovsky

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN

Gulko - Kaufman
White to play and win.

• NJ Knockouts Blog
• Baltimore Kingfishers Blog
  
• NJ Knockouts on Twitter
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• US Chess League

Magnus Carlsen, 18 and already everyone's choice as the next world champion, won his first elite grandmaster tournament this week when he led all the way at Nanjing, China. The young Norwegian also advanced into the top two in the world rankings, ahead of the reigning world champion, Vishy Anand, and behind only Veselin Topalov, who finished runner-up at Nanjing and lost the game below.

Carlsen's recent training from Garry Kasparov, the all-time No1, showed in his more solid opening repertoire. Out were his risky Dragon Sicilians, in was the Scotch 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 that helped win one of Kasparov's title matches with Anatoly Karpov. He began with 4.5/5, was soon two points clear, and finished yesterday with 8/10.

It is Karpov rather than Kasparov whose style Carlsen usually prefers, a strategic and subtle approach that is highlighted here by White's opening play where his Q-side castling and K-side pawn advances are designed to limit Black's options rather than attack the black king. 17 Bb5! is a pure Karpovian idea, exchanging Black's active light-squared bishop, and it provokes the dubious 21...Na8, a pawn sacrifice for activity which misfires.

After 31 hxg6 hxg6 32 Rxg6+! Kxg6 33 Qg3+ and 34 Qxf2 is winning. Near the end Carlsen missed 37 Qh3! Nd2+ 38 Ka1 Rh8 39 Qxh8+! when Rh1-h7xd7 wins a rook – but it was still an impressive performance.

M Carlsen v V Topalov

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Nf3 0-0 6 h3 Na6 7 Be3 e5 8 d5 c6 9 g4 Nc5 10 Nd2 a5 11 a3 Nfd7 12 Rg1 a4 13 Qc2 Nb6 14 0-0-0 Bd7 15 Kb1 cxd5 16 cxd5 Rc8 17 Bb5! Bxb5 18 Nxb5 Qd7 19 Nc3 Bf6 20 g5 Bd8 21 h4 Na8? 22 Bxc5 Rxc5 23 Qxa4 Qc8 24 Rc1 Nb6 25 Qd1 Qh3 26 Qf3 Qd7 27 Qd3 Kg7 28 Rc2 f6 29 gxf6+ Rxf6 30 h5 Rxf2 31 hxg6 h6 32 Nd1 Rxc2 33 Nxf2 Rc8 34 Ng4 Bg5 35 Nf3 Nc4 36 Nxg5 hxg5 37 Ne3?! Nxe3 38 Qxe3 Qa4 39 Qxg5 Qxe4+ 40 Ka1 Re8 41 Rc1 1-0

3108 1 Bf4 Kc6 2 Kc4 Kb6 3 Bb8 when if Ka6/a5 4 Qa7 or Kc6 4 Qc7.

Using Kasparov’s favourite defence against Jakovenko’s 1.e4, Carlsen won his third game today, with the black pieces. The Norwegian increased his lead at the Pearl Spring Grand Slam tournament in Nanjing to 1.5 points as both Radjabov-Topalov and Wang Yue-Leko ended in a draw.

The 2nd Pearl Spring tournament takes place September 27th – October 9th in Pukou, Nanjing, China. Again it’s a six-player, double round-robin with this year Veselin Topalov (2813), Magnus Carlsen (2772), Peter Leko (2762), Teimour Radjabov (2757), Dmitry Jakovenko (2742) and Wang Yue (2736) playing for a € 250,000 prize fund. The rate of play is 40 moves in 90 minutes plus 1 hour.

Round 4

We should be careful with already fetching those superlatives and statistics, but it’s a fact that Magnus Carlsen leads the Pearl Spring tournament with 3.5/4, that his performance rating is 3101, that he has passed Levon Aronian on the live rating list (see the right column on this site) and that he’s just 1.4 points behind Vishy Anand now. Similar scenarios could be seen during Bilbao 2008, so let’s keep it with this, await what the rest of the tournament will bring us, and just enjoy the chess, which has been very enjoyable indeed.

In his round 4 game, Carlsen foremost and once more showed his will to win. He seemed to feel at home in yet another Kasparov favourite, the Sicilian Najdorf, and equalized comfortably. Jakovenko came under long-term pressure after an inaccuracy on move 24 which allowed the activation of the black bishop, but with one move in timetrouble (33…Bxe3?) Carlsen spoilt his carefully constructed advantage.

For a moment things looked very bad for Black, but the young Norwegian impressively adjusted to the sudden change of events, quickly tossing out the only defence 36…Re6 and 37…Bg5, and after a small mistake by Jakovenko on the infamous 40th move, Carlsen was slightly better again after the time control. He kept on putting his opponent under pressure, to which the solid Russian grandmaster eventually succumbed. The ending with bishop and extra pawn versus knight was winning remarkably easy.

Wang Yue-Leko wasn’t very interesting but the other drawn game, Radjabov-Topalov, contained about as much drama. The Bulgarian was happy to enter the complications of the Scotch opening, but after about 17 moves it turned out that his preparation hadn’t been 100% succesful. Radjabov was enjoying a slight advantage when Topalov miscalculated with 19…d5, which in the game lost a pawn, but could have led to a quick defeat if Radjabov had changed the move order.

Still, it seems that the Azeri was winning anyway at some point (the very accurate 35.Ka3! leaves Black defenceless) but Topalov miraculously escaped with a draw thanks to 39…Bf5! which dominated (and caught) White’s knight. The ensuing ending probably cannot be won by White.

Games round 4

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2nd Pearl Spring (Nanjing) 2009 | Round 4 Standings

2nd Pearl Spring (Nanjing) 2009 | Schedule & results

Links

• Pearl Spring website
• Gujuan Tzu’s blog
• Ye Rongguang’s photo blog
• Pearl Spring games in PGN
• Women GP website
• Women GP games in PGN

Three combative games ended in a draw in today’s third round of the Pearl Spring Grand Slam tournament in Nanjing. Carlsen keeps his one-point lead ahead of Jakovenko, Radjabov and Wang Yue.

The 2nd Pearl Spring tournament takes place September 27th – October 9th in Pukou, Nanjing, China. Again it’s a six-player, double round-robin with this year Veselin Topalov (2813), Magnus Carlsen (2772), Peter Leko (2762), Teimour Radjabov (2757), Dmitry Jakovenko (2742) and Wang Yue (2736) playing for a € 250,000 prize fund. The rate of play is 40 moves in 90 minutes plus 1 hour.

Round 3

Especially Wang Yue-Carlsen was a great game in today’s round, and we’re not sure whether it’s still the Valencia vibes or not, but it reminded of a typical Karpov-Kasparov encounter, where Black sacrifices a pawn in a Grünfeld to open up diagonals, and White defends by keeping a positionally healthy position, using all the tactics available. The star move was 13…e5! – did you even put a pawn on that square where it is attacked by pawns on both d4 and f4?

It was a logical response to White’s remarkable strategy of giving up the black-squared bishop for a knight on b8, followed by f2-f4, trying to cement the center – a theme known from many modern (Chebaneko) Slav games. Just when he seemed to get into big trouble, Wang Yue came up with a plan that suited his clumsy-looking piece set-up: running with the h-pawn. Continuing with active defence, the Chinese GM wonderfully held his own. Carlsen’s best chance for more seems to be 27…Bf5.

Radjabov continues his attempts to gain an advantage in the Scotch ending-with-doubled-pawns-on-both-sides which has really become is personal speciality (all of his games so far in this line have been included in the viewer). Most of the time Black doesn’t seem to be facing too many problems and taking his successes in the King’s Indian into account, it surprises us that the Azeri grandmaster still enjoys this kind of position. Admittedly, he did seem to have a slight edge against Jakovenko today, but it wasn’t much.

Another small endgame advantage was enjoyed by Veselin Topalov today, in his White game against Peter Leko. The critical position was reached on move 22, where the Bulgarian had to decide to continue adding pressure with 22.Nb4 or immediately go for an ending with a pawn up, but where Black’s remaining pieces would be very active. He chose the latter, but Leko indeed held the ending relatively easily.

Games round 3

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2nd Pearl Spring (Nanjing) 2009 | Round 3 Standings

2nd Pearl Spring (Nanjing) 2009 | Schedule & results

Links

• Pearl Spring website
• Gujuan Tzu’s blog
• Ye Rongguang’s photo blog
• Pearl Spring games in PGN
• Women GP website
• Women GP games in PGN

In the first round of the Pearl Spring tournament in Nanjing, Magnus Carlsen defeated Peter Leko to grab an early lead. With the white pieces Veselin Topalov couldn’t break through Dmitry Jakovenko’s stubborn defence while Wang Yue and Teimour Radjabov also split the point, in a quiet King’s Indian.

Photo: Gujuan Tzu

Now officially part of the Grand Slam from the start, the 2nd Pearl Spring tournament takes place September 27th – October 9th in Pukou, Nanjing, China. Again it’s a six-player, double round-robin with this year Veselin Topalov (2813), Magnus Carlsen (2772), Peter Leko (2762), Teimour Radjabov (2757), Dmitry Jakovenko (2742) and Wang Yue (2736) playing for a € 250,000 prize fund.

Although the official website mentions an extremely fast rate of play of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment for the whole game, from the live transmission of the first round we gather it’s in fact 2 hours for 40 moves plus 1 hour to complete the game. Phew.

The tournament is organized by the Municipal People’s Government of Nanjing and the Chess & Cards Administration Center of General Administration of Sport of China. Like last year, it is held at the Mingfa Pearl Spring Hotel in the Pukou District of Nanjing, China. The city of Nanjing (literally meaning “southern capital”) is the capital of China’s Jiangsu Province, located 300 km northwest of Shanghai.

Like last year the players are wearing special Chinese clothes – this time colourful, shiny shirts – and for his first-round game against Leko, Carlsen decided to try something new on the board as well: the Scotch. The young Norwegian had played this opening only a few times before in his career, so perhaps it’s a first sign of the cooperation between him and Garry Kasparov, who popularized this opening in the 90s.

In the 5…Bc5 line Carlsen went for the well-known pawn sacrifice that starts with 10.f4, and perhaps caught by surprise, Leko didn’t follow the game Morozevich-Kramnik, Dortmund 2001, where the Russian had quickly drawn with the move 13…Bh3. The Hungarian soon found himself under considerable pressure, as he couldn’t generate any counterplay on the kingside while his queenside was being robbed. The desperate-looking 29…Nxh4 was in fact practically Black’s best chance, but Carlsen defended flawlessly. An impressive start, enough for clear first after one round.

It’s good to see the world’s number one playing again, for the first time since the MTel Masters in May this year. Topalov went for 8.a4 in the Catalan main line and got some space advantage, but the Bulgarian could never hope for more than a draw against an ultra-solid Jakovenko today. Wang Yue started cautiously in his first-round game against Radjabov. The two have met each other quite often in recent years, and their personal theoretical battle in the King’s Indian continues to be quite interesting, except for today. The Chinese first exchanged queens, and then traded the e-pawns as well. OK, Radjabov needed to find one accurate defensive idea, but when he did, a drawn rook (and later pawn) ending was reached by force.

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Alongside the Pearl Spring the 2nd FIDE Women Grand Prix is held at the same venue. Like the men’s event, the Women GP is a series of 6 tournaments over two years. The winner of each tournament receives 6,500 euros out of a prize fund of 40,000 Euros; the overall winner of the series will win a further 15,000 Euros.

The first Women Grand Prix was held March 5-20, 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey and was won by Humpy Koneru from India. In Nanjing, GM Zhao Xue (2544), Wenjun Ju (2443), GM Nana Dzagnidze, (2536), GM Marie Sebag (2531), GM Xu Yuhua (2485), GM Zhu Chen (2473), IM Lilit Mrktchian (2467), WGM Shen Yang (2453), WGM Munguntuul Batkhuyag (2412), WGM Baira Kovanova (2406), IM Martha Fierro (2394) and WIM Betul Yildiz (2217) play.

Links

• Pearl Spring website
• Gujuan Tzu’s blog
• Pearl Spring games in PGN
• Women GP website
• Women GP games in PGN