Shytaj e Mogranzini alla conquista del Principato di Andorra
IV turnoMI Shytaj - GM Lazaro Bruzon 2653 1/2!
V turnoMI Shytaj - GM Kogan 2541 1/2
VI turno GM Almeida Quintana 2559 - MI Shytaj
È in corso di svolgomento la 28esima edizione dell'"Open Internacional d'Andorra". Il torneo si disputa dal 17 al 25 luglio in Erts, villaggio del principato di Andorra nella parrocchia di La Massana, e dopo quattro turni i Maestri Internazionali Luca Shytaj e Roberto Mogranzini si stanno comportando molto bene. Dopo aver vinto con avversari abbordabili nei primi due turni, Luca ha battuto il MI Loeffler nel terzo e ha fermato sulla patta, nel quarto, il numero uno del tabellone, il Grande Maestro cubano Lazaro Bruzon (2653). Dopo la vittoria del torneo di Udine, che è seguita ad un periodo non esaltante, Mogranzini continua a dare segni di riscatto pattando con Narciso (2540) e De La Riva (2532), due Grandi Maestri che hanno pattato anche contro Martha Fierro Baquero! Grazie a questi risultati, Mogranzini è rientrato nella lista del Live Rating.
Oltre al GM Lazaro Bruzon, partecipano al torneo altri quattro over 2600: il bulgaro Delchev, l'ungherese Balogh e i francesi Edouard e Hamdouchi. Tra i 16 GM presenti, spicca poi il nome di Kevin Spraggett che nel 1989, dopo aver superato Andrei Sokolov negli ottavi, perse con l'allora sovietico Jussupow nei quarti di finale del Torneo dei Candidati. Da segnalare, infine, la presenza della WGM Cory T.Deysi, Campionessa del Mondo Femminile under 16.
Il Montepremi è di 10.000 euro, dei quali 2.100 andranno al vincitore. È prevista la trasmissione in diretta delle prime quattro scacchiere.
Migliori 35 iscritti per ELO FIDE
1
g
Bruzon Batista Lazaro
CUB
2653
2
g
Delchev Aleksander
BUL
2632
3
g
Balogh Csaba
HUN
2628
4
g
Edouard Romain
FRA
2620
5
g
Hamdouchi Hicham
FRA
2600
6
g
Spraggett Kevin
CAN
2575
7
g
Almeida Quintana Omar
CUB
2559
8
g
Paunovic Dragan
SRB
2553
9
g
Alsina Leal Daniel
ESP
2546
10
g
Kogan Artur
ISR
2541
11
g
Narciso Dublan Marc
ESP
2540
12
g
Arizmendi Martinez Julen Luis
ESP
2532
13
g
De La Riva Aguado Oscar
AND
2532
14
g
Gonzalez Vidal Yuri
CUB
2522
15
m
Ipatov Alexander
ESP
2507
16
m
Moreno Ruiz Javier
ESP
2494
17
gm
Cori Jorge
PER
2486
18
m
Pavlovic Milos M
SRB
2483
19
m
Zoler Dan
ISR
2474
20
m
Vernay Clovis
FRA
2470
21
m
Shytaj Luca
ITA
2466
22
m
Delorme Axel
FRA
2455
23
m
Almagro Llamas Pablo
ESP
2451
24
m
Panelo Marcelo
ARG
2450
25
g
Zilberman Yaacov
ISR
2441
26
m
Philippe Christophe
FRA
2431
27
m
Konguvel Ponnuswamy
IND
2416
28
m
Vehi Bach Victor Manuel
ESP
2405
29
m
Gagarin Vasilij
RUS
2403
30
wgm
Cori T. Deysi
PER
2403
31
m
Berkovich Mark A
ISR
2397
32
f
Demuth Adrien
FRA
2394
33
m
Mogranzini Roberto
ITA
2387
34
m
Benitah Yohan
FRA
2382
35
wim
Fierro Baquero Martha L.
ECU
2372
FOTO TRATTE DAL SITO UFFICIALE
4º turno: per Shytaj una patta di prestigio contro il GM cubano Lazaro Bruzon!
3º turno: la Fierro patta con il GM di casa, De la Riva
WGM Cory T. Deisy
una panoramica della sala di gioco
Il Principato d'Andorra è un microstato (468 km², circa 85.000 abitanti) situato nei Pirenei orientali tra la Francia e la Spagna.
regolamento
calendario dal 17 al 25 luglio si disputano 9 turni, con inizio delle partite alle ore 15:30 con l'eccezione dei primi due turni, che si sono disputati alle ore 16, e dell'ultimo turno che avrà inizio alle ore 9:30.
cadenza di gioco 40 mosse in 90' + 30' per terminare la partita con 30" di incremento per mossa dalla prima mossa.
The gap between Magnus Carlsen (2826) and Veselin Topalov (2803) has increased to 23 points on the July 1 FIDE rating list. The Norwegian won 13 points whereas the Bulgarian dropped 9. Third is World Champion Viswanathan Anand, now with 2800 points exactly. Wang Yue dropped from 8th to 28th.
FIDE has published its July 1st rating list and since all the big events were entered in time, there’s no difference between the official top 10 and the “live” top 10 of Hans Arild Runde (which you can also find in the far right column on this website). In fact there aren’t very big changes in the top 10 compared to the previous list either.
Carlsen’s fine victory in Romania last week got him another 13 rating points and because Topalov lost 9 points in his match with Anand, the gap between the world’s number one and two is now 23 points. Those 9 points went to Anand, who thereby surpassed Kramnik to regain the 3rd spot, at a nice 2800 precisely.
At the Kings’ Tournament Gelfand lost twice to Radjabov; the two switched places on the rankings between spots 10 and 13. Malakhov and Navara are in the top 20 on this list – the latter thanks to a stunning 8.5/9 at the Czech Championship.
Vugar Gashimov, who was still 7th in the world on the January 2010 list, dropped further to a 26th spot. The biggest skydive was performed by Wang Yue, who lost 36 points and went down from 8th to 28th. Winning 16 points, Wang Hao surpassed him to become China’s number one at 2724.
After entering the top 100 on the May list, Anish Giri won 30 more points to climb to a 62nd place at 2672, but the highest rated Dutch player is Loek van Wely with five points more. Ivan Cheparinov is back in the top 100 with 2661.
The women’s list is still very stable, with very few changes in the top 10. Judit Polgar again didn’t play, but Humpy Koneru did. The Indian lost 22 points at the 3rd FIDE Grand Prix in Nalchik and so the gap increased from 60 to 82 points. Below you’ll find the new top 100, the top 100 women, the top 20 juniors and the top 20 girls. We give the first two lists including the changes with the previous lists.
FIDE JULY 2010 RATING LIST: TOP 100 PLAYERS
Legend:
black color – player remained on the same position
green color – player moved up in the list
red color – player moved down in the list
blue color – player is new to the current Top list Old represents player’s position in the previous period list
Evgeny Bareev goes into chess politics. The Russian grandmaster is mentioned as ‘Vice President’ on Ali Nihat Yazici’s ticket for the upcoming presidential elections of the European Chess Union. The other nominations, now officially received by ECU, are those of Silvio Danailov and Robert von Weizsäcker, who has three GMs on his side.
During the Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, the new President of the European Chess Union (ECU) will be elected. The exact moment of this election has not been decided yet, but it will certainly take place after the elections of the FIDE Presidential ticket. In its montly Circular Letter, sent to all European federations, associated members, board members, FIDE and FIDE Zone Presidents, the European Chess Union yesterday made public the names of the nominations:
Ticket of Silvio Danailov
President Silvio Danailov, Bulgaria
Deputy President Tomasz Sielicki, Poland
Vice President Ion-Serban Dobronauteanu, Romania
Secretary General Sava Stoisavljevic, Serbia
Treasurer Almog Burstein, Israel
Ticket of Robert von Weizsäcker
President Robert von Weizsäcker, Germany
Deputy President Nigel Short, England
Vice President Ivan Sokolov, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Secretary General Johann Hjartarson, Iceland
Treasurer Yuri Kaplun, Ukraine
Ticket of Ali Nihat Yazici
President Ali Nihat Yazici, Turkey
Deputy President Peter Rajcsanyi, Hungary
Vice President Evgeny Bareev, Russia
Secretary General Geoffrey Borg, Malta
Treasurer Joan Antoni Obregon, Andorra
The names of the Danailov and Von Weizsäcker tickets were already known. The most interesting name on the Yazici ticket is that of Russian grandmaster Evgeny Bareev, who follows the example of Short, Sokolov and Hjartarson. And there’s another familiar name: that of FIDE Commercial Director Geoffrey Borg, who was responsible for the FIDE Grand Prix Series.
Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu surprised world’s number one Magnus Carlsen last Thursday, by choosing this gambit to equalize easily in the ninth round of the Kings Tournament.
You might have guessed it by now, I’m talking about the dynamic Jaenisch Gambit. Proven sound to play against Carlsen, it should certainly be safe for you to use!
“The Jaenisch should appeal to any black player who’s ‘looking for trouble’ at an early stage of the game. I personally support Black’s cause.” - Ivan Sokolov
All three games of round 9 in Bazna, Romania ended in draw. With one round to go, Carlsen leads the Kings Tournament with 6.5/9. Gelfand, who celebrated his 42nd birthday on Thursday, has a point less. Games commented by GM Dorian Rogozenco & videos.
The fourth Kings Tournament takes place in Medias, Romania from June 14 till 25. Against it’s a 6-player, double round-robin, with two rest days. This year Carlsen, Gelfand, Nisipeanu, Ponomariov, Radjabov and Wang Yue play. The rate of play is 2 hours for the first 40 moves, one hour for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes plus an increment of 30 seconds per move.
The rounds start each day at 15.30 which is 14.30 CET and 08.30 EDT. They can run well into the evening, as we won’t see ultra-short draws in this tournament – no draw agreement by the players are allowed before move 30, except for cases of a triple-repetition, a perpetual or a theoretically drawn position.
The event is organized by Romgaz and the Chess Club Society “Elisabeta Polihroniade”. This year the tournament is officially part of the Grand Slam, substituting the cancelled MTel Masters. Venue is the brand new Romgaz Center in Medias (near Bazna), but the organizers are considering to move back to Hotel Complex Balnear Expro in Bazna, where everyone is staying.
ChessVibes will be at the tournament from start to finish, providing videos for the official website:
A bit more than an hour into the round, Radjabov and Wang Yue already finished their game. I was upstairs in my hotel room working on something else, and suddenly I saw the ‘1/2-1/2′ on the live transmission board. I went downstairs with my camera, but the players were nowhere to be seen. There wasn’t much to record anyway, since everything was theory, and analysed to a draw back in 2002.
More interesting were the other two games, but these two also ended in draws. Ponomariov-Gelfand had quite a disappointing finish, since there was still enough going on in the final position. The reason for this draw? Ponomariov was suddenly wondering what he was doing. He didn’t like his last few moves at all, and thought that if he’d continue that way, he’d certainly lose. Then he saw Gelfand had just two minutes left on the clock, and it was a good moment for a draw offer.
Nisipeanu surprised Carlsen by playing the Jänisch Gambit of the Ruy Lopez. This variation has mainly been played at top level by Radjabov recently, and Carlsen said he knew those games, but that he was less comfortable when he saw 5…d5 played. Therefore he didn’t go for the critical 9.Nxa7+, but the more solid 9.f4.
In his recent book The Ruy Lopez Revisited, Sokolov says about 16.Qf1 “this is considered to be White’s best. A number of other moves have been tried – almost everything. Black has adequate counterplay and the tables can easily turn,” and then 16.Nf7 Bxf7 17.Bxf7 Rhf8 (Timman-Speelman, London Candidates 1989), 16.Kb1, 16.a4, 16.Rdf1, 16.Bxe6+ and 16.g4 are mentioned. After 16.Rdf1 (instead of Carlsen’s 16.Rhf1) Sokolov gives 16…Rhe8 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Nf7 (18.Rxf6 Bxe5 as in the game is only possible with a rook on d1 instead of h1) 18…Rd7 Lau-Schiffer, Bundesliga 1996/97.
Nisipeanu played very accurately, e.g. his 21…Qh6+ and 25…Kc7! were strong. When Dorian Rogozenco told him that it had all been played in correspondence games, Nisipeanu said he ought to update his correspondence database, but in fact his second Iordachescu admitted they had looked at it. After the game Carlsen and Nisipeanu analysed a possible pawn ending for about half an hour.
At night, just like last year, Gelfand was given a birthday cake and we all toasted to his health with a glass of champagne. A very nice gesture from the organizers.
Bazna-Romania: inizia oggi il? 2?"Kings Tournament" che vede coinvolti 6 GM di primo piano. Il favorito è il norvegese Carlsen,n? 1 della lista FIDE mondiale. Già nel 2009 il torneo rumeno si affermò a livello internazionale grazie alla presenza di forti GM. Ad imporsi fu l'ucraino Ivanchuk che precedette di un punto Gelfand. Tale evento potrebbe entrare a far parte in futuro del circuito del Grande Slam.
Cerimonia di apertura con Nisipeanu, idolo locale(foto chessdom.com)
PARTECIPANTI:
Carlsen
NOR
2813-n?1
Wang Yue
CHI
2752-n?8
Gelfand
ISR
2741-n?11
Radjabov
ARZ
2740-n?13
Ponomariov
UKR
2733-n?18
Nisipeanu
ROM
2672-n?59
Magnus Carlsen, 2813
Wang Yue, 2752
Boris Gelfand, 2741
Teimour Radjabov, 2740
Ruslan Ponomariov, 2733
Magnus Carlsen dopo l'Amber dichiarò dal suo blog : " la primavera è ormai alle porte e in quel periodo non sarò particolarmente impegnato. Uno degli appuntamenti principali è il Bazna Tournament di Giugno in Romania. Sarà per me eccitante visitare per la prima volta questo Paese. L'edizione 2009 fu il torneo di scacchi più forte mai organizzato in Romania. Fu un successo e rese orgogliosa la comunità scacchistica locale." 1? turno-14 Giugno:
Il torneo-regole: ieri,domenica c'è stata la cerimonia di apertura. Oggi,lunedì 14 Giugno, inizia il torneo, un doppio girone all'italiana per un totale di 10 turni. Ogni giorno si gioca alle 14.30 tranne l'ultimo turno alle ore 12.30. Cadenza di gioco: 120 minuti x 40 mosse+ 20 minuti per altre 20 mosse+ 15 minuti per finire con? 30 secondi di incremento a partire dalla 61esima mossa.
Nel torneo non è possibile accordarsi per la patta prima della 30esima mossa. In ogni caso ciò può avvenire solo in determinati casi:
* triplice ripetizione della posizione * scacco perpetuo * posizioni patte teoriche
Criteti di spareggio: si guarderà nell'ordine 1) il numero di vittorie 2) gli scontri diretti 3)il Berger. Alcune novità riguardanti il Grande Slamdi questo e del prossimo anno, emerse dal congresso del Comitato Organizzatore svoltosi pochi mesi fa.
1)? si sta cercando di coinvolgere altri tornei all'interno del Grande Slam a patto che questi diano garanzia di almeno 3 edizioni di alto livello per gli anni futuri. Si tratta dei tornei :
- Memorial Tal (è stato il torneo più tosto del 2009) - London Chess Classic (anche nel 2010 sarà una grande edizione con Carlsen,Anand e Kramnik) - Bazna Kings (Romania,? in Giugno) - Tra le ipotesi anche San Luis e altri tornei dei continenti americani, per questo motivo Danailov sta incontrando? vari organizzatori d'oltreoceano.
2) La finale del Grande Slam 2010 a Shanghai e Bilbao avrà 8 finalisti, ovvero i 4 vincitori dei supertornei più altri 4 secondo criteri ancora da definire.
La novitàsarà che la Finale del Grande Slam sarà divisa in due parti e si disputerà in due città diverse : Shanghai (Cina, dal 3 al 12 Settembre) e la tradizionale Bilbao (Spagna, dal 6 al 14 Ottobre).? Infatti ad interrompere momentaneamente la manifestazione ci saranno le Olimpiadi 2010 in Russia !
Anche San Luis (Argentina) e Londra (Inghilterra) sono tornei presi in considerazione per farli entrare nel circuito. In ogni caso il Comitato organizzatore del Grande Slam ha posto una regola per i nuovi tornei, ovvero che questi diano garanzia di svolgere almeno 3 edizioni.
CALENDARIO 2010 GRANDE SLAM:
NANCHINO (CINA 2009) = Carlsen
WIJK AAN ZEE (OLANDA 2010) = Carlsen
LINARES (SPAGNA) = 12-25 Febbraio Topalov
SOFIA (BULGARIA)= 25 Maggio - 5 Giugno? Non disputato
FINALE MASTER = SHANGHAI ( Cina, 3-12 Settembre) & BILBAO ( Spagna, 6-14 Ottobre)
1. Short, Nigel g ENG 2660 7 2. Portisch, Lajos g HUN 2523 5 3. Andersson, Ulf g SWE 2537 5 4. Suba, Mihai g ROU 2487 4? 5. Khalifman, Alexander g RUS 2628 4? 6. Beliavsky, Alexander g SLO 2641 4? 7. Mecking, Henrique g BRA 2565 4? 8. Murariu, Andrei g ROU 2483 4 9. Timman, Jan g NED 2565 4 10. Vaganian, Rafael A g ARM 2617 3? 11. Sokolov, Andrei g FRA 2596 3?
This week Silvio Danailov and Robert von Weizsäcker, who are both running for the European Union presidency, presented their teams. Von Weizsäcker is joined by three chess grandmasters.
Not only will the new FIDE President be chosen during the upcoming Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, but also the new President of the European Chess Union. As we reported before, Silvio Danailov, Boris Kutin, Robert von Weizsäcker and Turkish Chess Federation President Ali Nihat Yacizi are the candidates. This week Danailov and Von Weizsäcker presented their teams.
Robert von Weizsäcker
The following letter was sent by the Deputy President of the German Chess Federation:
To all European Federations
7 June 2010
Dear Presidents, dear Delegates,
The German Chess Federation is pleased to announce that its President Robert von Weizsäcker will run for ECU President. He has been asked by a lot of federations and players to form a ticket representing all parts of Europe.
He has succeeded in creating the following strong team:
President: Prof. Dr. Robert von Weizsäcker (CC-GM), Germany
Deputy President: Nigel Short (GM), England
Vice President: Ivan Sokolov (GM), Bosnia & Herzegovina
Secretary General: Johann Hjartarson (GM), Iceland
Treasurer: Dr. Yuri Kaplun, Ukraine
As according to the ECU Statutes the Board should comprise representatives of different federations, the current ECU Secretary General Horst Metzing cannot be included anymore into the Board. In the interest of the future successful work for European chess he should be appointed as Executive Director and should continue to run the ECU Office in Berlin.
Enclosed you will find short curricula vitae of all Board members as well as a first mission paper of Robert von Weizsäcker’s team.
We would like to ask all European Chess Federations to support this team and to vote for this new European leadership.
Best regards,
Dr. Hans-Jürgen Weyer
Deputy President
Silvio Danailov
The following communiqué was sent by the Bulgarian side:
Respected Colleagues,
Please find the ticket of Mr. Silvio Danailov for ECU elections:
1. President – Mr. Silvio Danailov (Bulgaria)
2. Deputy President – Mr. Tomasz Sielicki (Poland)
3. Vice President – Mr. Ion-Serban Dobronauteanu (Romania)
4. Secretary General – Mrs. Sava Stoisavljevic (Serbia)
5. Treasurer – Mr. Almog Burstein (Israel)
On Monday, June 14th we are going to publish the CV of all the members of the ticket.
Chalons en Champagne, led by Loek van Wely and Anish Giri, Sunday won the French league. The team finished just ahead of Evry Grand Roque, who played with Eljanov, Gashimov, Svidler and Vachier-Lagrave.
The last four playing days (rounds 8-11) of the French League Top 16 were held in the stadium of the French soccer club En Anan in Guingamp, a commune in the Côtes-d’Armor department in Brittany in north-western France. The time control was 90 minutes for 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the games with 30 seconds per move from move one.
The last round saw the clash between the two leading teams, Chalons en Champagne and favourite Evry Grand Roque, which had four players rated above 2700. Peter Svidler did his job and defeated Anish Giri with Black in a sharp Grünfeld. Giri had scored 2/3 in rounds 8-10 against Bauer, Bacrot and Housiaux. The game showed remarkable resemblance with the recent computer game Stockfish-Rybka, which we included for comparison. (All details will be explained in this week’s ChessVibes Openings by guest commentator GM Sipke Ernst!)
Loek van Wely, the other Dutchman in the Chalons en Champagne team (mainly for ‘playing Giri’s chauffeur’, as he joked last week) did well by beating Vugar Gashimov with the black pieces. Marie Sebag then managed to hold Pavel Eljanov to a draw, and Sebastien Cossin did the same against Arnaud Hauchard. This way Chalons ended first on tiebreak and became French Team Champions for the first time.
French Team Championship Top 16 2010 | Final Standings
Poikovsky: Jakovenko & Riazantsev lead on rest day
Dmitry Jakovenko and Alexander Riazantsev lead the Karpov tournament in Poikovsky with 4/6. In a tournament where 24 of the 35 games ended peacefully, Ivan Sokolov is not joining the feast of draws but instead plays uncompromising chess.
The 11th edition of the tournament named after 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov takes place June 2-13 in Poikovsky, Russia. For the first time the tournament has not 10, but 12 players. Today is the only rest day of the tournament. See our first report for more info.
Rounds 3-6
So far the tournament in Poikovsky has mainly been exciting for what happened in the fifth round, when both tournament leaders Jakovenko and Karjakin lost. This way the whole pack of players stayed together within one point reach. However, it also has to be pointed out that the tournament has seen a big number of draws – after six rounds the drawing percentage is as high 70% – and more importantly, no fewer than seven games lasted 18 moves or less.
In the first half the most adventurous player has been Ivan Sokolov, who drew just twice. In our previous report we already saw him going for one of his specialities, the Classical (3…Bc5) Ruy Lopez, twice with Black. It’s one of the lines he discusses in his recent book.
In round 4 Sokolov tried a very bold sacrifice against top seed Karjakin.
Karjakin-I.Sokolov after 25.Be3 Black played the stunning 25…Nxg2!? 26.Kxg2 Rxa5!? but after the simple 27.bxa5 Qxh3+ 28.Kh1 Nh4 29.f3 Nxf3 30.Rc1! there was no real follow-up.
A day later it went much better for the Bosnian/Dutch grandmaster, against Jakovenko. In the topical
4.e3 O-O 5.Nge2 line of the Nimzo he got an advantage at an early stage, and he could finish the game nicely:
Yesterday Sokolov met an equally adventurous Riazantsev:
Riazantsev-I.Sokolov after 13.Bxg6 hxg6 White sacrificed a pawn with 14.b4! Bxb4 14…Bc7 15.cxd5 cxd5 16.a4! is good for White) 15.Nxd5 cxd5 16.Bxb4 dxc4 17.e4 and soon Black had to give up an exchange for White’s strong bishop, but didn’t get enough compensation.
Dmitry Jakovenko and Alexander Riazantsev are sharing the lead on the first rest day. Both grandmasters have 4 out of 6 and are followed by Emil Sutovsky and Sergei Karjakin who have 3.5 points.
Karpov Tournament (Poikovsky) 2010 | Round 6 Standings Please note that Onischuk-Bologan (round 6) was postponed.
Robert K. von Weizsäcker ticket for ECU - detailed information on the ticket of the German candidate
The team of the German candidate for ECU President Robert K. von Weizsäcker has officially announced in a letter to Chessdom.com the ticket for the upcoming ECU elections in Khanty Mansiysk. Here is the open statement and curriculums vitae of the participants in the ticket which includes Nigel Short, Ivan Sokolov, Johann Hjartarson, and Yuri Kaplun.
Poikovsky: Bologan, Jakovenko, Karjakin, Riazantsev on 1.5/2
Viktor Bologan, Dmitry Jakovenko, Sergei Karjakin and Alexander Riazantsev started with one draw and one win at the Karpov tournament in Poikovsky, Russia. The other participants are Ivan Sokolov, Emil Sutovsky, Alexander Onischuk, Baadur Jobava, Sergei Rublevsky, Arkadij Naiditsch, Nikita Vitiugov and Alexander Motylev.
The 11th edition of the tournament named after 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov takes place June 2-13 in Poikovsky, Russia. For the first time the tournament now has not 10, but 12 players. In this round-robin of 11 rounds, the rest day is on June 8th.
Poikovsky is located in the Nefteyugansk region of the Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous area. It’s about 150km eastern of Khanty-Mansiysk. Its name comes from the nearby river Poyka. The population is close to 30,000 people and the main economic drive is the extraction of oil and gas.
Eleven years ago local authorities decided that a big chess tournament would do the region well. A year later a chess school for children was opened, like the tournament named after Anatoly Karpov. This year the chess school celebrated its 10th anniversary on June 1st, International Children’s Day. The festivities were opened by Karpov himself.
In the 11th tournament there are two players who never missed a single event in Poikovsky: Bologan and Onischuk. Jobava, Karjakin and Vitiugov make their debut this year. Motylev is defending his 2009 title.
Evgeny Surov posted a first photo report on Chesspro, where many players can be seen planting a tree in Poikovsky, including Anatoly Karpov himself.
Top seed this year is Sergei Karjakin, who just finished the ACP World Rapid Cup successfully a few days ago. He and the other finalist in Odessa, Dmitry Jakovenko, started with 1.5/2, and so did Viktor Bologan and Alexander Riazantsev.
11° torneo Karpov Poikovsky, dopo 4 turni in testa Jakovenko e Karjakin
Dopo 4 turni conducono con 3 punti i favoriti Karjakin e Jakovenko con 3 punti.
Ecco il campo partenti di questa fortissima competizione, che rende omaggio ad Anatoly Karpov e che prevede un round robin con 12 giocatori:
GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS 2739)
GM Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS 2725)
GM Nikita Vitiugov (RUS 2707)
GM Sergei Rublevsky (RUS 2704)
GM Alexander Motylev (RUS 2704)
GM Alexander Riazantsev (RUS 2674)
GM Viktor Bologan (MDA 2668)
GM Alexander Onischuk (USA 2699)
GM Baadur Jobava (GEO 2715)
GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER 2686)
GM Emil Sutovsky (ISR 2661)
GM Ivan Sokolov (BIH, 2654)
Quarto turno
Jakovenko, Dmitry
- Bologan, Viktor
1-0
58
E21
Nimzo Indian 4.Nf3
Karjakin, Sergey
- Sokolov, Ivan
1-0
44
C92
Ruy Lopez Chigorin
Riazantsev, Alexander
- Naiditsch, Arkadij
½-½
36
D37
QGD 5.Bf4
Motylev, Alexander
- Vitiugov, Nikita
½-½
16
C11
French Defence
Rublevsky, Sergei
- Sutovsky, Emil
½-½
85
B84
Sicilian Scheveningen
Onischuk, Alexander
- Jobava, Baadur
½-½
24
D56
Queens Gambit Lasker’s Defence
Terzo turno
Sutovsky, Emil
- Onischuk, Alexander
1-0
26
C78
Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence
Bologan, Viktor
- Karjakin, Sergey
½-½
16
B90
Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Naiditsch, Arkadij
- Jakovenko, Dmitry
½-½
34
C67
Ruy Lopez Berlin
Jobava, Baadur
- Riazantsev, Alexander
½-½
18
A18
English Opening
Rublevsky, Sergei
- Motylev, Alexander
½-½
14
C65
Ruy Lopez Berlin
Sokolov, Ivan
- Vitiugov, Nikita
½-½
40
E46
Nimzo Indian Rubinstein
Secondo turno:
Jakovenko, Dmitry
- Jobava, Baadur
1-0
50
D53
Queens Gambit
Karjakin, Sergey
- Naiditsch, Arkadij
1-0
36
C67
Ruy Lopez Berlin
Riazantsev, Alexander
- Sutovsky, Emil
½-½
37
D93
Gruenfeld 5.Bf4
Vitiugov, Nikita
- Bologan, Viktor
½-½
45
E53
Nimzo Indian
Motylev, Alexander
- Sokolov, Ivan
½-½
28
C64
Ruy Lopez Classical
Onischuk, Alexander
- Rublevsky, Sergei
½-½
32
D20
QGA
Ecco il primo turno:
Bologan, Viktor
- Sokolov, Ivan
1-0
45
C64
Ruy Lopez Classical
Jobava, Baadur
- Karjakin, Sergey
½-½
38
D15
Slav Defence
Naiditsch, Arkadij
- Vitiugov, Nikita
½-½
33
C11
French Defence
Onischuk, Alexander
- Motylev, Alexander
½-½
44
D45
Anti-Meran Variations
Sutovsky, Emil
- Jakovenko, Dmitry
½-½
58
D31
Semi-Slav Defence
Rublevsky, Sergei
- Riazantsev, Alexander
0-1
56
C07
French Tarrasch
Rublevsky - Riazantsev
Il bianco ha appena giocato 49.h4 creando la possibile minaccia Dh8 matto, illudendosi di tenere legato il nero, che però vince con 49…Da1+ 50.Rg2, Ce1+ 51.Rg3, Dxa3+ 52.Rf4, Dc3! mettendo sotto controllo e5 e minacciando la semplice Cg2 matto 53.Df8+, Rh5 54.f3, Cg2+ 55.Rg3, Dxf3+ 56.Rh2, Cf4 con matto imparabile
Anish Giri today defeated co-leader Jon Ludvig Hammer in a direct encounter to win the 18th Sigeman & Co tournament with a score of 4.5/5 (and a 2920 performance rating). Hammer finished clear second with a point less.
The 18th Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament took place at the classical Hipp Theater in central Malmo from May 26 till 30. The event was organized by the Limhamn Chess Club and just like last year, when Nigel Short won, six players face each other in a single round-robin. The time control was 40 moves in 2 hours, then 20 moves in 1 hour, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game.
Round 4
On Saturday both the tournament leader and the tailender scored their first draw of the tournament. After three losses, Pia Cramling split the point with Nils Grandelius, but not before a short, but very sharp fight. The natural 14.Bc4 should be tried by White players next time, as it might give some chances.
After three victories Anish Giri drew with Johnny Hector, who preferred an unambitious variation of the Four Knights over the Petroff. It came down to checking whether Giri had done his homework, and the answer was yes. The two followed Wittmann-Greenfeld, Thessaloniki OL 1984 till the very end.
This allowed Jon Ludvig Hammer to catch Giri in the standings, as he also reached a 3.5/4 score by beating Tiger Hillarp Persson. That 7.Qe2 move of Hammer is quite interesting, and had been tried just once before. Hillarp Persson was probably doing OK until 18…Qc8?! after which White could develop a decisive initiative.
Round 5
And so even with just five rounds in total, the tournament today had a nice apotheosis with the two tournament leaders fighting each other for first prize. And indeed they fought for it – especially Giri, who had the white pieces. The young Dutchman repeated moves in a well-known Catalan variation, but luckily only once (where games such as Harikrishna-Jakovenko, Eljanov-Jakovenko and Mazé-Onischuk indeed ended in a draw).
On move 19 Giri deviated from last year’s Wang Yue-Carlsen; we noticed before that Hammer has a similar black repertoire as Norway’s/the world’s number one, and we don’t think it’s a coincidence. On move 21 Hammer took a principled decision.
Giri-Hammer, after 21.Nd3
Instead of playing against a white bind, he exchanged his light-squared bishop for the white knight on b3, giving White a doubled pawn and making the break c7-c5 possible. This has only one disadvantage, and Giri went for it: the weak pawn on a6.
He had correctly judged that White could untangle his bishop, before Black would have time to
create serious counterplay. Still, Hammer might have been able to hold it somewhere – especially at move 38. Black’s last, slim chance was to flee into a rook ending on move 41; after that it was just waiting for the moment when Giri would sac the exchange and run with the pawns.
Giri-Hammer, after 21.Nd3 54.Rxe7! was a nice way to win the tournament.
Grandelius beat Hector in a very difficult ending, and Hillarp Persson inflicted a fourth loss upon Cramling, using a very nice, postional exchange sacrifice. Both of these games are recommended for replay too.
Of the fifteen games in total, only four ended in draws. Hopefully for next year it will be possible to collect a bigger budget again, because Mr Johan Sigeman surely knows how to create a good (fighting) atmosphere in Malmo.
Anish Giri added his name to the list of Sigeman & Co winners: Hellers, I.Sokolov, Korchnoi, Lautier, Gelfand, Polgar, Gulko, Short, Ivanchuk, Nielsen, Sasikiran, Timman, Cheparinov, Hillarp Persson and Short
De Anand-Topalov. Kasparov, Carlsen, Kramnik, como asistentes de Anand. Karpov y la FIDE. GP Fide y el Próximo Campeonato Mundial. Selecciones Autonómicas en España. GP FIDE: ya están los Candidatos. Karjakin gana la Copa Mundial Ajedrez Rápido. Anish Giri en el Sigeman & Co. Se viene León XXIII.
En Zona de Ajedrez, comentamos extensamente las partidas y alternativas del Match por el Campeonato Mundial, finalizado el 11 de mayo de 2010 tras el cual Anand confirmó su calidad de Campeón y lo será al menos por dos años más.
Alto nivel de combatividad, excelencia técnica fueron las características del Match. Destacamos la preparación previa y el que muchas jugadas venían desde el laboratorio casero. Y casi todas las novedades las aportó Anand. Hoy se sabe que Topalov contó, antes de su salida al mercado del Rybka 4 y que la gente de Hiarcs le facilitó a Anand un equipo muy potente durante todo el Match. Pero el Match no se trató de un duelo entre ordenadores, el factor humano o el “cluster” humano fue más importante. El ordenador sirve, pero también tiene lugares oscuros que pueden llevar al fracaso. No es muy fiable. Así, el jugador no puede no ser creativo “per se” y debe correr riesgos. Tras el error en la primera partida 23…. Rf7? (según Anand una omisión u olvido en el orden de las jugadas), el Vishy tomó el control, rápidamente igualó y pasó a la delantera. Aparentemente el cansancio y la derrota en la 8va partida (54… Ac6?? cuando las tablas estaban ahí nomás) pusieron en aprietos al Campeón. Llegaron a la última partida y la conclusión parece ser que los nervios de Topalov le jugaron una mala pasada. Anand hubiera estado conforme con unas Tablas e ir a los Desempates con una confianza razonable (su calidad en partidas rápidas era un plus). Por eso eligió la sólida Defensa Lasker del Gambito Dama. Lejos de variantes secretas o armas preparadas por Véselin y así controló la partida. No pude dejar de recordar aquella famosa partida de la Final de San Petersburgo 1914, en la que Lasker eligió la Variante del Cambio de la Ruy López frente a Capablanca y fue la llave para ganar aquel Torneo. Pero hablamos de factor humano y más allá de la psicología, la tensión, el cansancio y demás ingredientes, es increíble el equipo que colaboró con Anand. Desde septiembre de 2009 había empezado a trabajar con sus colaboradores habituales: Rustam Kasimdzhanov (UZB-30-2699), Peter Heine Nielsen (NOR-36-2698), Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Pol-23-2663) y Surya Shekhar Ganguly (IND-27-2672).
Pero poco a poco se fue sumando gente a echar mano en la preparación de Anand. Magnus Carlsen se puso en contacto y se ofreció, como ya había hecho en otras oportunidades, una vez finalizado el Amber en Niza, para participar unos días en el entrenamiento. Luego se brindó para ayudar un poco, nada menos que Garry Kasparov e intercambió información, antes y durante el Match y entre otras cosas apoyó la idea de jugar la Catalana. Pero claro, faltaba Vladimir Kramnik, que se comunicó con Anand y fue otro asesor invalorable en el transcurso del Match. También la joven promesa Anish Giri que aportó lo suyo en partidas de entrenamiento. Increíble. Los Campeones Mundiales Kasparov y Kramnik; el candidato de todos, Magnus Carlsen y el sorprendente Anish Giri. Entendemos que Anand tuviera alta la moral. Más allá que ante el tablero se sienten dos seres humanos, con sus virtudes y carencias, Anand tuvo un plus importante en quienes lo apoyaron y colaboraron con él. Tal vez esto valorice aún más la tarea de Topalov, de quien dijo Anand: "Véselin es un luchador excepcional. (…) Lo que ha pasado es que mi rival no ha aguantado la tensión nerviosa en la última partida de un duelo agotador".
V Campeonato de España de Selecciones Autonómicas 2010.
Unos días antes, el 2 de mayo de 2010, había finalizado este importante torneo por Equipos. Se disputó en Tossa de Mar entre el 29 de abril y el 2 de mayo de 2010.
Fue una nueva victoria del fortísimo equipo de Catalunya, cuyos 6 titulares masculinos se ubicaban entre los mejores 10 por ránking inicial y entre los mejores jugadores de toda España y en el Tablero Femenino la segunda mejor española en el ELO.
El Equipo, integrado por GM Miguel Illescas Cordoba (2604); GM Daniel Alsina Leal (2548); GM Marc Narciso Dublan (2530); GM Alfonso Romero Holmes (2515); GM Josep Oms Pallisse (2494); IM Alvar Alonso Rosell (2509-U18) y WIM Patricia Llaneza Vega (2277).
Barcelona ganó todos sus matches, a seis tableros y seis rondas. A continuación la tabla de posición y más abajo todas las partidas para ver y descargar.
Anatoly Karpov “Un Campeón del Cambio”: Después de una vida dedicada a la práctica y promoción del ajedrez, el ex Campeón Mundial, Anatoly Karpov anunció sucandidatura a la Presidencia de la FIDE, bajo el título “Un Campeón del Cambio” e inició su campaña a la presidencia de la Federación Internacional de Ajedrez. Presentó los objetivos y temas principales de su campaña. Podéis acceder a su plataforma y demás en www.karpov2010.org.
En una conferencia de prensa 21 de abril en Moscú, el Presidente del Consejo de Supervisión de la Federación Rusa de Ajedrez (RCF) y asesor del presidente de Rusia, Arkadi Dvorkovich, anunció que se ha decidido apoyar la candidatura presidencial del actual presidente de la FIDE, Ilyumzhinov en 2010.
Garry Kasparov, criticó esta actitud de Dvorkovich y declaró su apoyo a Karpov: "La Federación de Ajedrez de Rusia y Arkadi Dvorkovich -esto no es lo mismo, creo-; y hasta donde yo sé, la cuestión de apoyar (la reelección de) Ilyumzhinov no se discutió (…). Se trata de algo personal de Dvorkovich y creo que su declaración es indignante. Ilyumzhinov Los resultados son conocidos. El ajedrez está ahora en una situación muy difícil, diplomáticamente hablando. Hoy viajo mucho en el mundo y sé que los jugadores de ajedrez, y muchas federaciones desean cambiar. Creo que Karpov es el candidato ideal para hacer los cambios necesarios.”
El 14 de mayo, el Consejo de Supervisión de la Federación Rusa de Ajedrez (RCF) se reunió en Moscú y Anatoly Karpov fue nominado como candidato a presidente de la FIDE en la elección que tendrá lugar en Khanty-Mansiysk, Rusia, en septiembre. La nominación de Karpov recibió 17 votos de los 32 miembros del Consejo.
El 17 de mayo, en Nueva York, Kaspárov y Carlsen participan en una cena para recaudar fondos en apoyo de la candidatura de Karpov y la del norteamericano Richard A. Conn Jr. como vicepresidente de la FIDE.
El 21 de mayo, Karpov y Kasparov, visitaron Berlín para apoyar la candidatura de Robert von Weizsäcker para ser presidente de la ECU (Unión Europea de Ajedrez). La Federación Alemana había organizado una rueda de prensa el viernes al mediodía en la cual se hizo púbico oficialmente la candidatura de Von Weizsäcker para dicho cargo. El candidato para ser presidente de la FIDE Anatoly Karpov y Garry Kasparov también estuvieron presentes y muy activamente además. "Vamos a destrozar el mito del Ilyumzhinov invencible", comentó Kasparov. Weizsäcker cuenta con un equipo de importantes ajedrecistas en actividad, entre ellos Short, Hjartarsson, Sokolov.
Anatoly está recibiendo mucho apoyo mundial (las federaciones de Rusia, EE:UUU., Inglaterra, España, Francia, Suiza, República Checa, Bosnia, Mónaco, Islandia, Escocia, Alemania, Ucrania, Egipto, Congo, Marruecos, Angola, El Salvador, Nicaragua, entre otras han hecho su apoyo oficial y lo pusieron por escrito) y muchas personalidades del Ajedrez también han dado su apoyo y se han sumado a los equipos de Karpov.
Gata Kamsky gana el Campeonato de EE. UU. 14 de mayo al 24 de mayo de 2010.El campeonato de EE.UU. se llevo a cabo en St. Louis, por segundo año consecutivo. El torneo que se desarrolló por sistema suiza a 7 rondas. Los 4 primeros (Shulman, Kamsky, Nakamura y Onischuk) compitieron en un torneo cerrado, empatando en el primer puesto Shulman y Kamsky. El desempate por el 1er lugar es especial: Sobre la base de 60 minutos + 5 segundos, los jugadores pujan secretamente “ofreciendo” una cantidad de tiempo (minutos y segundos igual o inferior a 60 minutos). El jugador que oferta la cifra más baja elige su color, mientras que el oponente tiene 60 minutos. Gata Kamsky ofreció 25’ + 5’’ y eligió las piezas negras. Shulman los blancas y 60’ + 5’’. Estos fueron el tiempo y los colores con los que dispuso cada jugador. El empate consagró a Kamsky como Campeón.
Más abajo todas las partidas para ver y descargar.
Fide Grand Prix – 6ta Etapa: Eljanov gana el Torneo. Levon Aronian y Teimour Radjabov se clasifican para el Candidatura para el Campeonato Mundial a jugarse en 2012.
El gran maestro ucranio Pavel Eljanov ganó con autoridad y un punto de ventaja la última etapa del Grand Prix de la FIDE en Astracán. Compartieron el 2do puesto Ponomariov, Jakovenko, Mamedyarov, Alexeev y Radjabov. Bajo rendimiento de Ivanchuk que pronto quedó sin chances.
Con esto están los 8 candidatos: Veselin Topalov (el perdedor en el Match por el Campeonato del Mundo); Gata Kamsky (por Semifinalista en el ciclo anterior); Boris Gelfand (como ganador de la Copa del Mundo 2009); Vladimir Kramnik y Magnus Carlsen (clasificados por ranking) y por su actuación en el ciclo de FIDE Grand Prix: Levon Aronian y Teimour Radjabov.
Más abajo todas las partidas para ver y descargar.
4th ACP Copa Mundial de Ajedrez Rápido - Sergey Karjakin Campeón.
El ucraniano, naturalizado ruso, venció en la última partida a “muerte súbita” a Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS-2725); tras seis tablas y un grueso error en la jugada 62.
Los 16 participantes se fueron eliminando tras matches a dos partidas, para llegar a la Final, que se definía en cuatro partidas.
El ritmo de juego fue de 20’+5’’. Los desempates en partidas blitz a 3’+2’’ y finalmente a “muerte súbita”.
Casi todos los favoritos ganaron en la 1ra ronda: Grischuk, Eljanov, Shirov, Karjakin, Gashimov, Jakovenko y Movsesian; excepto Vasili Ivanchuk (que parecía estar mal antes del inicio) perdió a Mikhail Gurevich.
En los cuartos de final Grischuk ganó por Movsesian; Sergey Karjakin alguna manera pasó contra Shirov después de una partida relámpago a “muerte súbita”, tras estar dos veces en desventaja, perdiendo en el primera rápida y en el primer relámpago. Fantástico Jakovenko sobre Eljanov. Mikhail Gurevich volvió a sorprender al eliminar a Gashimov.
En las semifinales Sergey Karjakin volvió a pasar con dificultades. Tuvo que ganar con negro la segunda rápida para sobrevivir. Después ganó un primer blitz caótico y entabló en el segundo. Dmitry Jakovenko derrotó a la sorpresa Mikhail Gurevich.
Como dijimos, tras cuatro tablas en las partidas rápidas y dos empates en blitz, se definió a “muerte súbita”.
En la posición del Diagrama, el ruso Jakovenko jugó 62. … Tb8??, lo que permitió el detalle técnico definitorio de Karjakin: 63.Txe5+ Rxe5 64.Ac7+, cae la Tb8 y ambos peones más el Alfil no tienen inconvenientes en marchar fácilmente hacia el triunfo.
Interesante actividad se desarrolló el 29 de mayo, en el marco de la IV Copa del Mundo ACP de Ajedrez Rápido, por la Fundación Caritativa "Mercy Victor". Todo destinado para los niños -juegos a la ciega y simultáneas- con el GM participantes en el torneo.
A continuación la tabla de posición y más abajo todas las partidas para ver y descargar.
Anish Giri ganó el tradicional Torneo Sigeman & Co en Malmö, Suecia (26 al 30 de mayo); con una actuación ELO 2920.
En la última ronda venció al hasta entonces co-líder Jon Ludvig Hammer. En un torneo Cat.13 (2569) empató sólo una partida.
Hacemos un resumen de sus partidas.
1ra Ronda: Anish Giri triunfó con Negras ante Pia Cramling. Tal vez no fue tan fácil, ya que 15… Ce5 parece un descuido que fue castigado inmediatamente por Cramling ganando un peón con 16.Axh7+. El problema era que tras 16.Axh7+ Rxh7 17.Txd8 Cxf3 es fuerte 18.Dxf3. Obtuvo compensación con su par de alfiles y después 24... b5! ya no había peligro. El blanco estaba presionado por el tiempo, Cramling no encontró la mejor defensa y rápidamente se encontró perdida. 32.Cc5 para forzar un cambio de Alfil de casillas negras hubiera ofrecido mayor resistencia, ya que aunque cayese el peón b, el final con alfiles de distinto color, da muchas posibilidades de empate.
2da Ronda: Una interesante partida frente a otro joven, Nils Grandelius. El haber practicado Catalana con el Campeón Mundial Anand le ha servido mucho. Anish sacrifica un par de peones. 13.Dg4 es una novedad (13.Dh5 es lo conocido). Grandelius parecía haberlo previsto y respondido rápidamente. Después de la jugada 20. parecía neutralizada la iniciativa blanca y las Negras mantenían sus dos peones extra. Pero 21... h4 (mejor 21… 0-0 o 21… c3) no ayudó a su posición. El error decisivo 24... Cd8 (24… 0-0), permitió a Giri definir con estilo y finalmente dar mate.
3ra Ronda: El plan de Tiger Hillarp Persson, con Blancas, no se puede decir que haya sido bueno. Obtuvo par de alfiles pero con un costo alto, reflejado en el desarrollo. Además de deficiente estructura de peones. Axial Anish pudo decidir el sacrificio 17... Chf4. Obtuvo compensación por la calidad y fue comprimiendo al Blanco, cuya posición no tardo en desmoronarse. En la jugada 29. el punto fue para las Negras.
4ta Ronda: Una jornada más tranquila que concluyó en un breve empate. Jonny Hector optó por una variante de bien conocido en la apertura de los cuatro caballos, que suele llevar a Tablas. Pronto se hizo evidente que el juego terminaría en empate.
5ta Ronda: Anish Giri condujo las Blancas contra Jon Ludvig Hammer, los dos líderes del torneo. En una Catalana, Giri siguió el juego Grandelius-Hammer, pero eligió 11.Te1 (en lugar de 11.Cg5) y puso un poco de presión. Hammer jugo pasivamente y trató de liberar a su posición con 21... Axb3 22.cxb3 c5. El Negro eligió cambiar las Damas con 24… Dxc5. Giri fue por el peón a6, obteniendo peón de ventaja aunque doblado. La posición no parecía mala para el Negro. Anish reveló una técnica excelente para jugar el final y un lindo sacrificio de calidad (54.Txe7+) lo condujo a la victoria.
A continuación la tabla de posición y más abajo todas las partidas para ver y descargar.
Aronián, Gélfand, Leinier y Vallejo darán espectáculo en el XXIII Magistral de León, del 3 al 7 de junio de 2010.
Poikovsky RUSSIA. Si svolge dal 2 al 14 Giugno il fortissimo 11° Karpov Tournament. 6 dei 12 giocatori sono over 2700! Tra i nomi più prestigiosi troviamo i tre nazionali russi Karjakin (fresco campione del mondo RAPID), Jakovenko,Vitiugov e il Georgiano Jobava (medaglia d'oro Olimpica nel 2004 e Vicecampione Olimpico con la sua nazionale a Dresda nel 2008). A chiudere il lotto dei partecipanti c'è Ivan Sokolov, forte GM che negli ultimi mesi ha vinto l'Open di Rejkiavik, battuto Caruana all'Europeo e organizzato il recente e prestigiosissimo Bosna Open...
Xinghua-Cina - E' in corso il Campionato Cinese che quest'anno si svolge a Xinghua dal 24 Maggio al 4 Giugno. Torneo che vede partecipare i più forti giocatori del Paese tra cui i nazionali Bu, Ni Hua e Wang Hao.Presente anche Ding Liren che l'anno scorso vinse a sorpresa il Campionato.Quest'anno invece è il GM Li Shilong (classe '77) a soprendere, infatti dopo 7 turni è primo con Bu a quota 5.
Nel femminile è invece Ju Wenjun (2500) in testa con 6 su 7.
Avellino - E' in corso di svolgimento il 2° Festival Internazionale "Torre di Bisaccia". Ai nastri di partenza dell'Open A ci sono ben sei GM: Epishin, Tratatr, Kosic, Lazic, Naumkin e Sanchez. Completano il lotto dei giocatori titolati otto MI, tra i quali spicca il nome di Pierluigi Piscopo, quattro MF e la WFM Maria De Rosa. La manifestazione si disputa dal 29 maggio al 2 giugno ed è suddivisa in tre Open nei quali partecipano complessivamente 110 giocatori. Il montepremi è di 7.970 euro, 900 dei quali andranno al vincitore dell'Open A .
Open A, migliori 20 iscritti per elo (50 partecipanti)
1
Epishin Vladimir
GM
2611
2
Tratar Marko
GM
2507
3
Kosic Dragan
GM
2501
4
Lazic Miroljub
GM
2494
5
Salvador Roland
IM
2485
6
Naumkin Igor
GM
2480
7
Sanchez Joseph
GM
2478
8
Laketic Gojko
IM
2453
9
Piscopo Pierluigi
IM
2426
10
Dragojlovic Andjelko
IM
2403
11
Kizov Atanas
IM
2394
12
Aleksic Nenad
IM
2372
13
Vuelban Virgilio
IM
2369
14
Seletsky Grigory
FM
2337
15
Gromovs Sergejs
FM
2319
16
Martorelli Antonio
IM
2259
17
Passerotti Pierluigi
FM
2258
18
Caprio Guido
--
2224
19
Fiore Mario
FM
2223
20
Quimi Marco
--
2163
Vladimir Epishin, numero uno del tabelonne
Pierluigi Piscopo, il miglior italiano nel ranking di partenza
* ??????? ??? ?????????? ??? ??? ?????? ?? ????????????? ???? 11/6 ??: Malakhov, Vladimir 2722 RUS Sargissian, Gabriel 2677 ARM Caruana, Fabiano 2675 ITA Cheparinov, Ivan 2640 BUL Salgado Lopez, Ivan 2606 ESP Cramling, Pia 2536 SWE Perez Candelario, Manuel 2527 ESP Cori T, Deysi 2409 PER
Two weeks ago I wrote about David Vigorito’s new book on the Marshall Attack of the Ruy Lopez. In this review, I want to take a look at GM Ivan Sokolov’s latest book The Ruy Lopez Revisited, published by New in Chess. I think both books have their charm, and in a way, they complement each other quite nicely.
In the introduction to The Ruy Lopez Revisited, Sokolov describes his switch from the Sicilian to the Ruy Lopez about twenty years ago, and how he “faced [a] huge amount of theory and deviations White had at his disposal.” He writes how he made the practical decision to study and play early deviations instead of mainlines, and it clearly paid off. Now, he’s written a book about these sidelines, which he calls a “practical opening guide to a tournament player who is willing to employ these variations, whereby he will often bring a fight to his opponent’s doorstep as easy as move 6 or 7.” And a very impressive opening guide it is, too.
Most attention is devoted to the Jaenisch Gambit (3…f5) and the Classical Variation (3…Bc5), but Sokolov also has a close look at lesser known systems such as the Cozio (3…Nge7), a line I have always liked (but never actually played) because it looks so entirely natural to defend the knight on c6. Sokolov, as always, is quite objective and writes that while it’s an interesting move, “it does not equalize. I abandoned this variation in the mid-1990s and I am in no hurry to return to it.”
One thing that struck me while looking at the variations that follow in this variation is that Sokolov doesn’t always promote the best moves to mainlines. This strange habit is something I’ve noticed before in some New in Chess publications (e.g., The Black Lion) so I don’t think the author is to blame. After 3…Nge7, 4.Nc3! is “the most unpleasant option” according to Sokolov, yet 4.0-0 is the Cozio’s main line. The reason is probably that there’s more theory on castling, but it’s a bad reason in my view since it disrupts the flow of reading and indeed studying. Still, Sokolov’s knowledge of this minor line is absolutely amazing. What I liked in this chapter in particular is his clear and useful explanations, such as the following:
Quinteros-Larsen Manila 1973
17…f6! A standard plan in this type of position – if White takes on f6, then he relinquishes his space advantage, while if he defends the pawn on e5, Black will at some stage take on e5 and get either control of the f-file – should White recapture with his f4 pawn – or mobile pawns of his own – should White recapture with his d4 pawn. Similar motifs we often see in the Open Spanish.
18.f4 a5! Taking some more space and provoking a white weaknesses [sic] on the queenside. 19.a3 a4 20.Kb1 Na5 21.Qd3 Nc4 22.Bd2
22…fxe5! The time has come: White is forced to recapture with his d4 pawn (otherwise 23.fxe5? Rf2) and Black now gets mobile central pawns of his own: 23.dxe5 Rad8 24.Bc1 b5 25.Rhe1 Rfe8 26.Qf3 c5 27.Rd3 d4 The black pawns roll easily, while White cannot push his pawns or create any counterplay (…)
By the way, if you thought this book was written for players on the black side of the Ruy Lopez, you’d be wrong: one of the great qualities of Sokolov is that he’s able to look completely objectively at the lines even though he mainly has experience with them as Black himself. (This is already shown in the above mentioned section on the Cozio when Sokolov confesses he thinks 4.Nc3 is the nastiest reply for White.)
Sometimes, Sokolov gets so carried away in displaying his knowledge and ideas that he forgets to explain some basic stuff to players who are not quite of his strength. For instance, in the Jaenisch mainline – one of the most impressive chapters in the book – after the automatic moves 3…f5 4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 (Sokolov considers 5…Nf6 to be “fully playable” as well) 6.Nxe5 dxe4 7.Nxc6 Qg5 8.Qe2 Nf6 Sokolov seems so eager to get on with the dazzling complexities of it all that he completely fails to mention why the main move, 9.f4, is in fact stronger than the immediate 9.Nxa7+.
To me, the move f2-f4 in this position has always looked distinctly odd (somehow it looks as if the pawn can be taken in two different ways), but then on the next page Sokolov explains it in a slightly different line after all: 9.Nxa7+ Bd7 10.Bxd7+ Nxd7
and now, after 11.f4!, Sokolov does elaborate, explaining that f4 defends the g2-pawn which is obviously quite important. He writes:
The position is very complicated and unfortunately has not been seriously tested in practical (very few good games). I have analysed this position for a while and would like to share those analyses with the reader here. (…) Black is indeed material down, but the white king will be stuck in the centre for quite some tim, the white knight on a7 has to be brought back into play, which will cost time, and White still has to develop his c1 bishop and connect his rooks, which, again, costs time.
On general grounds Black should have good compensation here and therefore 9.Nxa7+ should be considered risky for White, but a rather serious analytical back-up for both sides would be rather helpful here – White can easily get into trouble with his king in the middle and his uncoordinated, under-developed pieces, while Black is after all two pawns down. I am surprised that this line has not been seriously tested in grandmaster practice.
This explanation, very useful in its own right, is just an introduction to over six pages of extremely detailed home analyses by Sokolov. It shows his determination in getting to the heart of the position and how the author is not just satisfied with an ‘unclear’ verdict. Unbelievable, unprecedented stuff and my only complaint is actually one of luxury, namely that this entire line really should have been given a separate chapter or paragraph, since now finding one’s way through the wood of varations numbered C33312b and so on, might not be to everyone’s taste.
Though I’m no expert of the Jaenisch myself, I must say Sokolov’s thorough analyses of all these complex positions look very impressive indeed. I naively checked a few sharp lines with my engine running in the background, but couldn’t find any holes even in what often look like rather speculative variations. Perhaps people who’ve played the variation all their lives will disagree with me, but I would be surprised if this book wouldn’t be a valuable treasure not only for people who are considering to give 3…f5 a try, but also for people who know all the ins and outs of this intoxicating line.
One interesting (and, in my opinion, highly sympathetic) aspect of Sokolov’s way of writing is that he isn’t afraid to admit that he doesn’t understand things. Here’s how he introduces yet another early …Nge7 line in the Classical Variation:
3…Bc5 4.0-0 Nge7
In this line Black develops his g8 knight to e7. Compared to the other moves after 3…Bc5 4.0-0, like 4…Nd4, 4…Nf6, 4…d6 or 4…f5 (after 4.c3), this continuation seems to me to be the least recommended for Black. That said, I have to admit that 4…Nge7 has always remained a bit of a puzzle to me because based on a number of logical and not very difficult variations White seems to be obtaining an easy opening advantage; namely, in the line with 5.Nxe5 as well as the main line (…).
Taking this into consideration, it is rather difficult for me to explain the fact that a number of very strong players, including Fischer (!), have played this line for Black. Unfortunately, in the game Tal-Fischer, Candidates’ Tournament Curacao 1962, the by the ex-World Champion Mikhail Tal decided not to follow the main line, and so we will never find out what Fischer had in store and why Tal refrained from the main line. Over the years, I have spent many days analysing this position and wondering what idea Fischer may have had in store, but I failed to find a satisfactory solution.
For me, such a fragment is pure delight, not only because I always llike it when authors share their uncertainties with their readers, but also because it immediately triggers my imagination and makes me want to find out, too, what Fischer may have had in mind! So, naturally, I had a look at 5.Nxe5 and perhaps I’ve found something which I hereby share with my readers: 5…Nxe5 6.d4 and now Sokolov only mentions 6…c6, leading to a good position for White, but perhaps Black can play my engine’s suggestion 6…Bd6? This move, as I found out afterwards, was tried once by Arhur Kogan in 1995 against Sergei Movsesian when they were both still 2400-players. In that game, Black didn’t have particular problems so maybe, just maybe this is what Fischer had in mind?
The Ruy Lopez Revisited has already been praised numerous times, and rightly so. This is simply a great opening book, probably one of the best ever on the Spanish Opening. I can only hope Sokolov will one day decide it’s time for another book on “offbeat systems and unexplored resources” (as the book is subtitled) from another opening in his repertoire to explain in such detail. What a treat that would be.
We formulated ten questions related to Developing Chess Talent and every Monday we’ll ask them to an interesting personality in the chess world.
1. Please introduce yourself (name, age, nationality, etc.)!
Sergei Movsesian, 31 years old chess-veteran
Armenian, born in Georgia, living in Czech Republic and representing Slovakia.
2. What is your role in the chess world?
I enjoy playing in different kind of tournaments and leagues.
3. How did you develop your chess talent as a kid?
We had a very nice chess library at home, so I was trying to read a lot. Also important was analyzing games with my father.
4. Who had a profound influence on your chess development?
At first it was again my father, who helped me a lot at the very start of my chess carrier, later it was my coach David Dzhanoev, who teached me to work independently (very important quality for a chess-player) and not only rely on coaches.
5. What are your favourite sports besides chess?
Ice hockey. Hard to say why, as in Georgia there is no big tradition of this sport. I often visit matches in Pardubice, which is my favourite hockey club and also follow most of important leagues.
6. What would be your advice for young people?
Try to learn, while you are young, later you may understand it is important, but will not be able to do it
7. What has your main concern in life besides chess?
I would like to be fair to everybody in this life.
8. What is the best chess game you played?
Probably Movsesian – I. Sokolov, Batumi 1999
9. What’s your connection with ‘Developing Chess Talent’?
None at the moment, but I am planning to find out more about the project
10. What question do you miss and what would be your answer?
It may sound very original, but no idea!
Baku, Azerbaigian – Giunge alla quinta edizione la “President’s Cup”, dedicata in verità all’ex Presidente dell’Azerbaigian, deceduto nel 2003, Heydar Aliyev (l’attuale Presidente è suo figlio Ilham). Nelle prime tre edizioni il formato scelto era stato quello dell’open, nella quarta si era invece assistito ad un match tra Azerbaigian e Resto del Mondo a cadenza rapid, dove i pur forti giocatori locali non avevano potuto resistere ad una micidiale formazione composta da Anand, Kramnik, Shirov e Karjakin!
Quest’anno otto sono i partecipanti, quattro locali e quattro “stranieri”, ma il formato scelto è quello di un girone all’italiana di sola andata, quindi tutti contro tutti.
Questi i giocatori invitati:
Strano il mancato invito di Vugar Gashimov, ma l’Azerbaigian certo non sorprende in questo campo: in precedenza lo stesso Mamedyarov, a Torino 2006, non aveva preso parte alla squadra olimpica azera per problemi con la propria federazione.
Cadenza 25’ a testa; due turni previsti il 29 aprile, tre il 30 e gli ultimi due il primo maggio. Il 2 maggio si terrà un torneo blitz.
Nalchik, Russia – E’ in corso la terza prova del “Grand Prix FIDE Femminile”, competizione costituita da una serie di tornei (sei) che hanno la funzione di designare la prossima sfidante al titolo del Campionato del Mondo Femminile che si disputerà nel 2011. La Campionessa del Mondo in carica è Alexandra Kosteniuk, che difenderà il proprio titolo in Turchia nel dicembre di quest’anno, in un Campionato del Mondo KO. La Campionessa del Mondo designata da Turchia 2010 sarà appunto sfidata l’anno successivo dalla vincitrice del Grand Prix Femminile.
Attualmente leader del Grand Prix Femminile è la cinese Zhao Xue.
Queste le partecipanti alla terza prova del GP Femminile:
La prova si svolge dal 26 aprile al 7 maggio, giorno di riposo il primo maggio. Dunque 11 turni; la vincitrice del torneo disporrà di 6.500 euro, 15.000 per la vincitrice del Grand Prix.
La favorita è Koneru Humpy, ma non avrà gioco facile contro Tatiana Kosintseva, le cinesi Hou Yifan e Zhao Xue, senza dimenticare la Campionessa Europea Pia Cramling. Le altre giocatrici sono comunque tutte molte competitive e non ci sarebbe troppo da stupirsi di un loro inserimento nella vetta della classifica finale.
Praga - Consueto match “rapid”, denominato “?EZ CHESS TROPHY“, che ha avuto già diverse edizioni sempre con protagonista David Navara. Nel 2007 si confrontò con Nigel Short, con vittoria di David; nel 2008 con Kramnik che ovviamente stravinse; nel 2009 fu la volta di Ivanchuk, netta vittoria per Chucky. Nel 2010 è Judit Polgar la sfidante di Navara, avversaria tutt’altro che facile, molto forte nel gioco veloce.
And the Winner is…
Judit Polgar!
Il confronto è previsto dal 22 al 24 aprile.
Interessante il programma della manifestazione, anche per alcune accattivanti conferenze:
Giovedì 22
4 p.m. – „Vera Menchik – world’s first women’s chess champion“- lecture by GM Vlastimil Hort
5 p.m. – 1st game of the match David Navara – Judit Polgar
6.15 p.m. – 2ndgame of the match David Navara – Judit Polgar
7.30 p.m. – 3rd game of the match David Navara – Judit Polgar
Venerdì 23
4 p.m. – Quiz of History of female chess – prepared and held by GM Vlastimil Hort
5 p.m. – 4th game of the match David Navara – Judit Polgar
6.15 p.m. – 5th game of the match David Navara – Judit Polgar
7.30 p.m. – 6th game of the match David Navara – Judit Polgar
Sabato 24
4 p.m. – ”On beauty, women and little bit on chess” – lecture by GM Lubomir Kavalek
5 p.m. – 7th game of the match David Navara – Judit Polgar
6.15 pm. – 8th game of the match David Navara – Judit Polgar
7.30 p.m. – tie-break (if the need arises) of the match David Navara – Judit Polgar
Domenica 25
4 p.m. – simul of GM Judit Polgar against 25 competitors
Kragujevac, Serbia. Il Campionato Serbo si svolge dal 18 aprile al primo maggio. Quest’anno si sono registrate importanti defezioni, comunque il livello è sempre notevole.
La lista dei partecipanti:
Dicevamo delle assenze. Certo la mancanza di Bojan Vuckovic, 2630, di Robert Markus, 2618, e soprattutto di Ivan Ivanisevic, 2630 e Campione Serbo sia nel 2008 che nel 2009, si faranno sentire; comunque Milos Perunovic è un giocatore notevole, già Campione Serbo nel 2005 (per quell’anno è più corretto parlare di “Serbia e Montenegro”) e nel 2007, e la concorrenza è senz’altro di tutto rispetto.
Milos Perunovic, in una curiosa immagine (foto Chessbase)
Ovviamente girone all’italiana, tredici turni. Giorno di riposo il 23 aprile.
Hanoi, Vietnam – E’ in corso di svolgimento un match amichevole tra le rappresentative della Germania e del Vietnam, nel corso del 35° anniversario dell’inizio delle relazioni diplomatiche tra i due paesi.
L’incontro si svolge su sei scacchiere di scacchi “internazionali” (quattro maschili e due femminili) e una di scacchi “cinesi” o Xiangqi. Le due nazioni hanno preso molto sul serio l’evento, schierando formazioni molto competitive, come può risultare evidente sia per la Germania che schiera giocatori come i GM Daniel Fridman, 2650, e Jan Gustafsson, 2646, sia per il Vietnam che non risparmia i propri gioielli: Le Quang Liem, 2689 e Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, 2642. Il compito non certo semplice per i tedeschi di tenere il campo nella specialità dello Xiangqi è stato affidato nientemeno che a Robert Hübner, scacchista di primissimo livello che non ha mai nascosto la propria passione per i giochi “da tavolo” orientali, come appunto lo Xiangqi e il Go.
Questi i primi due turni in programma per quanto riguarda gli scacchi “internazionali”; nello Xiangqi Hübner ha dovuto cedere nella prima partita contro Huu Cuong Vu.
Hübner affronta Vu Huu Cuong nella specialità Xiangqi
Kyustendil, Bulgaria – 74^ edizione del Campionato Nazionale della Bulgaria dal 7 al 17 aprile. Ovviamente assenti Topalov (che al Campionato nazionale ha partecipato solo da giovanissimo) e Cheparinov (che invece l’ha vinto due volte, nel 2004 e nel 2005) in questo momento in ben altre faccende affaccendati; manca anche Delchev, colonna della squadra olimpica bulgara. In compenso è presente il n° 2 bulgaro (dietro a Topalov e davanti a Cheparinov) l’esperto Kiril Georgiev, Elo 2669, molto stabile vicino alla soglia dei 2700 ormai da una dozzina d’anni; a suo tempo fu Campione del Mondo Juniores e nel 2009 ha partecipato anche al Campionato Italiano a squadre, nella squadra “Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova”, contribuendo alla conquista del titolo. Senz’altro interessante anche la presenza di Kiprian Berbatov, classe 1996, già Campione Europeo Under 12, vera e propria speranza nazionale, tanto che è già stato candidato (nientemeno che da Danailov) come componente della prossima squadra olimpica bulgara.
Questo il lotto dei partecipanti:
Kiril Georgiev
Kiprian Berbatov
Girone all’italiana, tredici turni. Sono previsti un paio di doppi turni, la cadenza è quindi piuttosto “agile”: 90′ x 40 mosse + 30′ per finire, sempre con l’abbuono di 30″.
Kuala Lumpur, Malesia – Si svolge dal 7 al 12 aprile nella capitale della Malesia il 3° KL Open.
Partecipanti Over2500:
Presenti anche Aleksander Wohl (IM australiano, 2441, “secondo” di Aronian in diverse occasioni) e molti Indiani con Elo non alto ma sicuramente pericolosi.
Mikheil Mchedlishvili (foto Tiviakov per Chessbase)
Top Player dunque il georgiano Mikheil Mchedlishvili, da un paio d’anni solidamente sopra i 2600; ma probabilmente l’attrazione del torneo è Hou Yifan, nonostante il fatto che negli ultimi due anni si sia un pochino arenata, non mantenendo forse le aspettative che molti avevano nei suoi confronti all’epoca della sua esplosione a soli 12 anni: comunque avendo ora solo 16 anni le prospettive di un’ulteriore crescita certo non le mancano…
And the Winner is…
Hou Yifan, Cina!
Nove i turni di gioco previsti. Primo premio di 10.000 ringgit malesi, equivalenti a circa 2300 euro.
Salonicco, Grecia – E’ tempo di “Festival dei Giochi” a Salonicco: per la sesta volta viene organizzata questa ‘kermesse’ in cui accanto a biliardo, freccette, giochi di carte ed altri giochi da tavolo, anche gli scacchi sono in bella mostra. Quest’anno sono diverse le manifestazioni scacchistiche nell’ambito del “Festival dei Giochi”, a partire dall’Open “Thessaloniki 2010”, che vede la partecipazione anche di giocatori italiani particolarmente competitivi.
Questa la “TopTen” del torneo:
1
IM
Petrov Marijan
BUL
2526
2
IM
Grigorov Grigor
BUL
2510
3
IM
Esen Baris
TUR
2506
4
GM
Antic Dejan
SRB
2502
5
IM
Erdogdu Mert
TUR
2502
6
GM
Bezgodov Alexei
RUS
2497
7
GM
Vocaturo Daniele
ITA
2489
8
GM
Georgiev Krum
BUL
2447
9
GM
Velikov Petar
BUL
2423
10
IM
Piscopo Pierluigi
ITA
2418
Sono inoltre presenti:
19
FM
Stella Andrea
ITA
2283
29
WFM
Chierici Marianna
ITA
2094
Daniele Vocaturo (foto Chessbase)
Sono previsti nove turni di gioco.
Cadenza: 90′ x 40 mosse + 30′ per terminare, sempre con abbuono di 30″.
Primo premio di 1.000 euro.
Piuttosto variegato l’orario d’inizio delle partite:
Monday April 5th 16:00 Round 1
Tuesday April 6th 10:00 Round 2
Tuesday April 6th 17:00 Round 3
Wednesday April 7th 16:00 Round 4
Thursday April 8th 16:00 Round 5
Friday April 9th 10:00 Round 6
Friday April 9th 17:00 Round 7
Saturday April 10th 16:00 Round 8
Sunday April 11th 09:30 Round 9
Questo il quadro completo delle competizioni di scacchi organizzate presso il “Festival dei Giochi”:
A) European Individual School Championship dal 5 all’11 Aprile
B) Open Thessaloniki 2010 dal 5 all’11 Aprile
C) International Open Blitz, l’11 Aprile
D) Campionato Europeo Seniores Rapid, 8-9 Aprile
E) Campionato Europeo Seniores, dal 10 al 18 Aprile
And the Winner is…
Marijan Petrov, Bulgaria!
E nel Campionato Europeo Seniores “the Winner is…”
Dubai, Emirati Arabi Uniti – Il 12° Dubai Open è previsto dal 5 al 13 aprile. E’ questo un torneo che per montepremi, confort di soggiorno e inviti non lesinati attira sempre un folto gruppo di GM anche di ottimo livello: l’edizione 2010 non fa eccezione.
Questa la “Top 20” del 12° Dubai Open
Gabriel Sargissian
Nove turni di gioco. Cadenza 90′ con incremento di 30″ a mossa. Primo premio di 8.000 $.
Il 9 aprile è previsto un giorno di riposo (solo per alcuni, visto che è in programma un torneo ‘Blitz’). Doppio turno il 10 aprile.
And the Winner is…
Edoardo Iturrizaga, Venezuela!
Tejas Ravichandran: 15enne non titolato che vince nei primi tre turni contro tre GM!
Filadelfia - Uno dei SuperOpen (a livello quantitativo, difficilmente a livello qualitativo) americani si disputa dal 31 marzo al 4 aprile: si tratta del “Philadelphia Open“. La presenza di Gata Kamsky dà immediato prestigio al torneo.
And the Winner is…
Gata Kamsky, USA!
Questi gli Over 2500 presenti:
Occhi puntati comunque non solo su Gata ma anche su Ray Robson che oramai è considerato “stella di prima grandezza” nel panorama scacchistico statunitense.
Ray Robson
Previsti nove turni. Montepremi variabile in realazione al numero degli iscritti, comunque i 10.000 dollari per il primo classificato dovrebbero essere disponibili.
Deizisau, Germania – E’ iniziato il 14° Neckar Open, competizione che quest’anno coinvolge ben 718 giocatori in tre tornei.
Nell’Open A (più di 400 partecipanti!) questi i giocatori più qualificati:
Naiditsch è un giocatore di altra categoria (un anno fa ha toccato “quota 2700″) ma non sempre i SuperGM dominano i tornei ai quali partecipano e qui ci sono veramente molti GM insidiosi. Arkadij ha già partecipato all’edizione 2009 e in quell’occasione ha dovuto condividere il primo posto con i GM Bachmann e Peralta.
Arkadij Naiditsch (foto Giorgios Souleidis)
Partecipano anche giocatori italiani di ottimo livello:
32. Dvirnyy Daniyyl IM 2450
36. Rombaldoni Axel IM 2439
55. Napoli Nicolo’ FM 2362
95. Corvi Marco FM 2275
229. Paulmichl Martin 2094
255. Spornberger Maximilian 2074
Nicolo' Napoli (foto Giorgios Souleidis)
Daniyyl Dvirnyy (foto Giorgios Souleidis)
Il promettente 14enne Maximilian Spornberger
Si gioca dal primo al 5 aprile, previsti nove turni. 2.500 euro per il primo classificato.
La Roda, Spagna – Giunge alla 37^ edizione il Torneo di La Roda, cittadina spagnola nelle zone in cui furono ambientate le vicende di Don Chisciotte.
Lo stemma di La Roda
Questa la “Top15” dei partecipanti al torneo:
Sono presenti dunque due “pezzi grossi” come il peruviano Julio Granda Zuniga e il cubano Lazaro Bruzon, ma il torneo può costituire un’importante vetrina per alcuni giovani di talento come il 14enne Jorge Cori.
Canberra, Australia – La Doeberl Cup è costituita da una serie di tornei che si svolgono dal primo al 5 aprile. Il più impegnativo di questi tornei, la “O2C Doeberl Cup Premier” (dove O2C sta per l’attuale principale sponsor e Doeberl deriva da Erich Doeberl, primo sponsor del festival che ha avuto origine nel lontano 1963), può vantare una partecipazione di buon livello:
And the Winner is…
Li Chao, Cina!
Li Chao (b) è un giocatore che sta insidiando i “tradizionali” Top Players cinesi: non tanto Wang Yue, che si è ormai solidamente insediato nelle alte vette dell’Olimpo FIDE, o Wang Hao, che ha talmente tanto talento da avere ancora margini di crescita pur avendo superato “quota 2700″, ma Bu Xiangzhi e Ni Hua, che ultimamente qualche passaggio a vuoto l’hanno avuto.
Zhao Zong-Yuan
Sarà interessante anche seguire il rendimento di Zhao Zong-Yuan, miglior giocatore d’Australia che però sembra aver diminuito la propria partecipazione a competizioni scacchistiche proprio ora che è arrivato alla soglia dell’eccellenza.
Nonostante i soli cinque giorni di gioco, previsti nove turni, quasi una gara di resistenza…
4.000 dollari il premio per il primo classificato.
Magnus Carlsen (2813) tops the world rankings by one point. On the May 1 FIDE rating list Veselin Topalov has won seven rating points to reach 2812. Vassily Ivanchuk is not the highest rated Ukrainian anymore; Pavel Eljanov confirmed his steady progress and surpassed him to enter the world’s top 10. And Alexei Shirov is back there too.
FIDE published its May 1st rating list and this time there’s not a big difference between the official top 10 and the “live” top 10 of Hans Arild Runde (which you can also find in the far right column on this website). Only Anand’s and Topalov’s ratings are different because of the current World Championship match: virtually speaking Topalov has dropped back to 2806 and Anand is just 3.6 points away from the 2800 barrier.
The biggest news this time is that Vassily Ivanchuk isn’t Ukraine’s number one player anymore, for the first time in years. Winning another 15 points in 20 games, on the May 2010 list Pavel Eljanov has reached a 9th spot, while Ivanchuk lost seven points and dropped slightly from 11 to 12.
With solid results in not so many games Wang Yue climbed from 10 to 8, and the 10th place is now occupied by Alexei Shirov. Boris Gelfand is out of the top 10 again but only lost 9 rating points. Sergey Karjakin might see the first results of his switch of federations and trainers: he climbed from 21 to 14. Alexander Morozevich didn’t play this period but still dropped three places, to 27 now. Anand’s seconds Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Peter Heine Nielsen can be found next to each other on the list: numbers 39 and 40.
One of the biggest climbers was Ian Nepomniachtchi, who won no less than 39 points and went up from 78 to 42. Reaching 97, Anish Giri is a top 100 player for the first time.
The women’s list has been stable for a long time now, with very few changes in the top 10. Both Judit Polgar and Humpy Koneru didn’t play, so the gap is still 60 points. Below you’ll find the new top 100, the top 100 women, the top 20 juniors and the top 20 girls. We give the first two lists including the changes with the previous lists. All data courtesy of FIDE.
FIDE MAY 2010 RATING LIST: TOP 100 PLAYERS
Legend:
black color – player remained on the same position
green color – player moved up in the list
red color – player moved down in the list
blue color – player is new to the current Top list Old represents player’s position in the previous period list
Admit it: one of the reasons you’re not playing the main line Ruy Lopez or even 1.e4, is that you’re afraid of the Marshall Attack. I, for one, plead guilty to this charge. I’ve always avoided the Marshall Attack like the plague, not because I don’t like exciting openings, but because I simply don’t have the time to investigate all these hypersharp developments.
Of course, there have been publications in the past that dealt admirably with the Marshall Attack, such as Bogdan Lalic’s 2003 book or Nunn and Harding’s Batsford classic from 1989, but that was exactly the problem, wasn’t it: these books are hopelessly outdated now, and there are so many new concepts that it’s impossible to gain a proper overview of recent ideas. But now there finally is a new book on the Marshall: Understanding the Marshall Attack by IM David Vigorito, published by Gambit.
Subtitled “A layman’s guide to the supergrandmaster’s favourite gambit”, this book is an excellent chance for cowards like me to get reacquainted with this great opening line. First of all, the chapter names already give you an idea of what to expect: “Elite Equaliser”, “Refined Rook lift”. Then there’s the pretty elaborate bibliography, in which I couldn’t spot any obivous flaws. (Yes, Anand’s Chess Informant monograph is there as well.) The only thing I missed was a reference to ChessVibes Openings, which has dealt with the Marshall on numerous occasions. A missed opportunity!
Understanding the Marshall Attack is one of those rare objective opening books not aimed at either Black or White, but just intended to give amateurs a good, solid overview and practical tips. It’s not as personal a book as Jonathan Rowson’s Understanding the Grünfeld, but it’s well-written and has a clever setup. I really liked the ‘recommendations’ chapter, which contains useful practical advice such as:
For the typical club player, I would start by going through Chapter 2, the Old Main Line. Although this variation has fallen out of favour, it contains an abundance of typical Marshall Attack themes. In the Old Main Line, Black burns all his bridges and must play for the initiative. The value of every move is high and one can learn a lot about attack, defence and counterattack by going through the lines in this chapter. Similar play can be found in the Pawn Push variations of Chapter 3. Although one may not want to play these lines forever because of their rather dubious theoretical value, I think the creative black player could get some mileage out of these systems if he picks and chooses his lines carefully.
Equally useful is the chapter on ‘Typical Ideas’. Here are two instructive non-tactical examples, one for Black (on the two bishops ending) and one for White (on the exchange sacrifice), also indicative of the book’s objectivity.
I. Gurevich – Benjamin New York 1992
Here we have a typical Marshall endgame. White has difficulty creating a passed pawn and Black’s space on the kingside keeps White at bay as well.
28…Be2! 29.Nh2 If White plays 29.gxf4 Bxf4 his knight will only be able to move somewhere that will allow Black to head for a drawn opposite-coloured ending (30.Bd2 Bxf1! =).
29…Kf7 30.Kg2 Kf6 31.f3 h5! Taking away the g4-square (…)
In this small fragment, note how Vigorito doesn’t avoid the oft-debated question of whether Black should or should not head for a simple draw in the Marshall sometimes: yes, he should!
Yakovenko – Zhang Zhong Ergun 2006
Even with the queens exchanged, White’s central roller combined with the weaknesses in Black’s structure can give White good chances.
21.a4! Before starting operations on the kingside, White creates the possibility of opening the a-file.
21…h6 22.Kg2 Rd7 23.h4! gxh4 24.e5 Be7 25.gxh4 Kg7 If 25…Bxh4 then 26.Nf3 wins the pawn.
26.axb5 The immediate 26.Ne4 was also possible.
26…axb6 27.Ne4 The knight is heading to g3 and f5. White has a powerful initiative.
David Vigorito is able to explain subtle opening ideas in a clear and easily understandable way. For me, and I suppose for many a club player, The Marshall Attack has often given me difficulty to grasp the precise nuances of certain concepts such as 12.d3 instead of 12.d4. I mean, isn’t it just a more passive way of playing? Why would the pawn be any better placed on d3? If anything, it might become a weakness later on, and it doesn’t control the e5 square, right? Of course, things are not that simple:
This is a more modest-looking continuation than 12.d4. At first glance it does not seem like this should be dangerous for Black, but White maintains control over the e4- and c4 squares, which allows for some tactical possibilities. White has not grabbed as much space, however, and the pawn on d3 may become vulnerable itself. White will often be more than willing to offer this pawn in order to fight for the initiative. It will all come down to the specifics of each position. Despite the similar appearances at first glance of this position to those we have already seen, the play is surprisingly different from that in the first four chapters.
12…Bd6 13.Re1
Now Black faces an important decision. In this chapter we look at the most natural move, the direct 13…Qh4, while the next chapter considers the modern preference, 13…Bf5.
13…Qh4 Black continues as he does in the first few chapters. However, White can exploit a tactical detail that was not available to him in Chapter 4.
14.g3 Qh3 15.Re4
This move is the point of White’s play. He intends Rh4 often with Nd2-e4 to follow. Compared to the previous chapter [12.d4 followed by 15.Re4 - AWM], 15…g5 is not possible, because after 16.Bxg5 Qf5 the e4-rook is protected and White will remain two pawns up. Therefore Black must find another way to create counterplay. (…).
Aha! So that’s why 12.d3 is such a useful little move. Very enlightening, and I think I will actually start playing this move once I’ve built up the courage to move the bishop just one square further on move 3. (Of course, I will have to study the ‘elite equalizer’ move 13…Bf5 to avoid a quick draw against an elite player!) The book is up to date until 2009, and contains a lot of mouth-watering recent supergrandmaster games by players like Anand, Aronian and Grischuk. On top of that, most of the main lines in the book are based on these games – always a sign that the author is not afraid of the ‘real’ hardcore stuff.
So, just in case you’re still too afraid to enter these dungeons of adventure, the book also discusses the Anti-Marshall variations such as 8.a4, 8.h3 and some minor deviations on move 8 or 9. Here, too, Vigorito gives useful advice and sometimes an enlightening insight in what these top players might actually be considering when choosing a particular quiet line:
10.a3 White’s play is very flexible, but it is also very slow. I find it very difficult to believe that moves such as 8.h3, 9.d3 and 10.a3 can constitute any kind of threat to the 7…0-0 move-order. White now has two plans of development, depending on how he develops his queen’s knight. It most often develops to d2, from where it will usually go to f1 and then either e3 or g3. The alternative is to develop to c3 with an eye towards d5, which often leads to exchanges. The knight may also go to g3 via e2, but this is less flexible than the Nd2-f1 route.
Finally, I must mention a few light points of criticism, too. Weirdly, there’s no index of players – quite rare for a Gambit publication. Also, some diagrams are inconveniently placed in the wrong column. I also missed a bit of historical background to the Marshall Attack in general. Vigorito does mention Capablanca-Marshall, New York 1918 in the introduction, but that’s about it. It would have been nice to have a little bit more context to some lines and especially their theoretical development. But then again, this is a practical book and so it’s not a real issue.
It will be interesting to compare this book to Ivan Sokolov’s recent book on Ruy Lopez sidelines, which I will discuss in my next review.
We formulated ten questions related to Developing Chess Talent and every Monday we’ll ask them to an interesting personality in the chess world. Artur is a good friend, a very busy man and as he explained totally not into all sorts of modern social networking, which in his view may be a serious waste of time. Since he cannot fail in this series we have his quick answers anyway.
2. What is your role in the chess world?
Chess trainer.
3. How did you develop your chess talent as a kid?
Played games, learned from other players and chess trainers, read good chess books.
4. Who had a profound influence on your chess development?
Mark Dvoretsky is my most important chess teacher. Without Mark I would never be a Junior world champion and a candidate for the world championship. As a coach I profit very much from our previous work. Mark is a good friend and for me he is the best trainer in the world.
5. What are your favourite sports besides chess?
Soccer.
6. What would be your advice for young people?
Read good books, analyse your own games, study the chess classics.
7. What has your main concern in life besides chess?
To be a decent person.
8. What is the best chess game you played?
Maybe my game against Andrey Sokolov, Soviet Championship, Moscow 1988.
9. What’s your connection with ‘Developing Chess Talent’?
“Chief adviser” of the project.
10. What question do you miss and what would be your answer?
This was the most difficult question.
3 partite commentate dal Maestro Internazionale Tibor K?rolyi!
3 partite commentate del Corus 2010!
Il mitico Giorgio Gozzi, grande fotografo sempre in prima linea nella divulgazione del Nobil Giuoco, ci ha inviato una serie di partite del Corus 2010 estesamente commentate dal Maestro Internazionale ungherese Tibor K?rolyi, che lo ha autorizzato a?farle girare nel web per la gioia di tutti gli appassionati.
K?rolyi, oltre ad essere un forte giocatore, è noto anche come arbitro internazionale, allenatore (tra gli altri, di Peter Leko e Judit Polgar), teorico e autore di validi libri come Endgame Virtuoso Anatoly Karpov e Genius in the Background.
Per questo articolo abbiamo selezionato tre partite particolarmente significative:
Anand - Kramnik, ennesimo scontro dei due campioni sulla difesa russa;
Carlsen - Dominguez Perez, la vittoria del n?1 mondiale nell'11??turno?con la quale?ha?raggiunto Kramnik in?testa alla classifica;
Bok - Li Chao, una combattuta vittoria di Li Chao, 1? classificato nel Corus C.?
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Buona lettura!
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Anand,V (2790) - Kramnik,V (2788) [C42] Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (12), 2010 ?
1.e4 e5 2.Cf3 Cf6
Questi due giocatori si sono affrontati cosi' tante volte in diversi tipi di tornei (cadenza classica, rapid, alla cieca, "advanced chess" e chissà cos'altro) che hanno giocato molte volte diversi impianti : questa è la 16a Russa tra i due, con 4 vittorie di Anand e 12 patte.
Giocata in precedenza 2 volte da Kramnik, con una patta ed una sconfitta. [10...Ae6 Kramnik ha giocato anche questo tratto 2 volte, pattando entrambe le partite.]
Vale la pena sottolineare che Anand in questa posizione aveva già provato altre due mosse. Adesso, al terzo tentativo, utilizza una vecchia novità di Kramnik, che aveva impiegato per la prima volta proprio contro Anand! [16.Dc1 La prima novità introdotta da Anand con il B. 16...Ca5 17.c4 De4?? Un errore incredibile, alla seconda mossa pensata dopo la teoria! 18.Ad1! Il B. vince un pezzo. 18...Dd3 19.Te3 Dxc4 20.Te5 Caro lettore, probabilmente pensi che questa sia una partita alla cieca, ma sorprendentemente si tratta di una normale partita a cadenza classica; 16.Da4 Ad7 17.Dc2 Df5 18.Dxf5 Axf5 19.Ab5 Ad7 20.d5 Ce5 21.Axd7 Cxd7 22.Axc7 Txc7 23.d6 Txc3 24.dxe7 f6 25.Tad1 Tc7 Il N. sta meglio, ma Anand si difende egregiamente e riesce a portare a casa il mezzo punto.]
16...Ae4
[16...Af6 17.Ch2 Da5 18.Ad2 Tcd8 19.Af3 h6 20.Cg4 Axg4 (20...Ah4!? 21.g3 Ag5) 21.hxg4 il N. sta meglio, ma la partita termina comunque in parità.]
17.Dc1
Anand introduce la novità teorica Dc1, che lo porterà alla vittoria. Il tratto viene giocato probabilmente per difendere l'Alfiere f4.
17...Ca5
[17...Ad6!? 18.c4 Axf4 19.Dxf4 Dd6 Sembra solida per il N.]
18.De3
[18.c4 Df5!]
18...Af8?
Ancora una volta Kramnik sbaglia alla seconda mossa fuori dalla preparazione! [18...Ad6 19.Ce5 (19.c4 Axf4 20.Dxf4 Df5 Con posizione pari) 19...Af5 20.c4 De4 E sembra che il N. pareggi il gioco.; 18...Af5 19.Cd2 Ad6 20.Dg3 Dc6 21.c4 Tcd8 Il N. ha una posizione giocabile.]
19.c4!
Anand riesce ad avanzare al centro.
19...Dd8
[19...Cxc4? 20.Axc4 Dxc4 21.Cd2 Da4 22.Cxe4 f5 23.Cc3 Il B. vince un pezzo.]
20.Ce5 Af5 21.Dc3 b6
[21...Cc6 Il N. potrebbe provare a gestire i pedoni doppiati.]
22.Tad1 Df6
[22...f6 23.Cg4 Ad6 E' altrettanto sgradevole per il N.]
23.Dg3
[23.c5 Tcd8 24.Ag3!?]
23...Cc6
E' difficile giocare questa posizione con il N. in quanto non riesce a liberarsi della pressione sul centro del B., e quindi risulta problematico scegliere tra le diverse opzioni, tutte poco promettenti. [23...Ad6 24.Af3 Ag6 25.Ag5 Df5 26.Ae4 Axe5 27.Axf5 Axg3 28.Axc8 Txc8 29.fxg3 Il B. ha buone possibilità di vittoria.]
24.Cg4 Dg6 25.d5
Restringe ancora di piu' il campo al N. al centro.
25...Ca5 26.Axc7 Ac2?
Kramnik probabilmente non valuta correttamente la forza del conseguente sacrificio di qualità. [26...Ac5! 27.Af1 (27.Af4 h5 28.Ce3! (28.Ce5 Dxg3 29.Axg3 h4 30.Ah2 Axa3 E il N. ristabilisce la parità materiale in una posizione dove entrambi i colori possono giocare per vincere.) 28...Dxg3 29.Axg3 Axe3 30.fxe3 Cxc4 E il N. continua a resistere.) 27...h5 28.Txe8+ Txe8 29.Ce3 Dxg3 30.Axg3 Axe3 31.fxe3 Txe3 32.Ad6 La coppia degli Alfieri dà il vantaggio al B.]
27.Tc1 Cb3
[27...Cb7 28.Af4 Il B. ha un pedone in piu', ed il compenso del N. è praticamente inesistente.]
28.Txc2!
Questo sacrificio della qualità risulta decisivo in quanto permette l'assalto al Re non adeguatamente difeso.
[34...a5 Inserisco la mossa per mostrare una delle minaccie del B. 35.Ah5 Te7 36.d6 Il pedone "d" è troppo forte.]
35.Ag4
Anand puo' scegliere tra di versi modi di chiudere la partita, e opta per un attacco doppio. [35.Dxg6 Anche il finale è vinto grazie a questo forte pedone passato. 35...hxg6 36.Ag4 Txc4 37.Cf7+ Rg8 38.Ae6 vince]
35...Txc4 36.Dxb3 Txe5 37.Txe5 Tc1+ 38.Rh2 Ad6
Il N. vince la qualità al prezzo di due pedoni passati.
39.f4 Axe5 40.fxe5 gxh6
41.De3!
La Donna blocca tutti gli scacchi e sostiene i pedoni in fuga.
41...Db1 42.d6 Th1+
Un ultimo assalto disperato al Re.
43.Rg3 Te1 44.Df4 Tf1 45.Af3
Il N. abbandona.
1-0
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Carlsen,M (2810)?- Dominguez Perez,L (2712)?[D97] Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (11), 2010 ?
1.d4 Cf6 2.c4 g6 3.Cc3 d5 4.Cf3 Ag7 5.Db3
Carlsen gioca diverse linee contro la Grunfeld, ma questa è la sua preferita
5...dxc4 6.Dxc4 0-0 7.e4 a6
Il Nero imposta il suo controgioco su b5 e c5. [7...Cc6 L'anno scorso i due giocatori si erano affrontati nella stessa variante, e in quell'occasione Dominguez provo' questa mossa ma perse senza opporre molta resistenza. 8.Ae2 e5 provando a indebolire il centro avversario. 9.d5 Cd4 10.Cxd4 exd4 11.Dxd4 c6 12.d6 Cd5 (12...Te8!?) 13.Dd3 Cxc3 14.bxc3 Df6 15.Ab2 Td8 16.Td1 De6 17.f4 Dxa2 18.Td2 Da5 19.De3 Ad7 20.Rf2 Il Bianco ha un netto vantaggio grazie al suo centro ed al pedone passato in d6, Carlsen, M - Dominguez Perez, L Sofia 2009]
8.e5 b5
E' la variante principale, ma sempre lo scorso anno Morozevich ha provato un'altra variante contro il norvegese [8...Cfd7 9.Ae3 Cb6 10.Dc5 Ag4 11.Ae2 C8d7 12.Da3 c6 13.h4 h5 14.Db3 Ae6 15.Dd1 f6?! provando ad aggredire il centro del Bianco, ma?indebolendo la propria ala di re. 16.Ad3 De8 (16...fxe5!? 17.Cg5 (17.Axg6 Txf3 18.Dxf3 exd4 19.Axd4 Axd4 20.Dxh5) 17...Ag4 18.Db3+ Rh8 19.d5 Il Nero sta peggio.) 17.Dc2 f5 18.Cg5 Ad5 19.Cxd5 Cxd5 20.Ce6 La posizione del Nero è abbastanza compromessa e in questa partita Morozevich, dopo una lunga resistenza, fu costretto a capitolare. Carlsen,M-Morozevich,A Nizza 2009.]
9.Db3 Cfd7
10.Cg5?!
Giocata solo 2 volte secondo il Database, la prima volta nel 2001 da R.Moffat, una Prima Nazionale: Carlsen e Kasparov hanno l'abitudine di analizzare le idee in apertura dei dilettanti?
10...Cb6
Il Nero rinuncia a giocare per la spinta in c5 e imposta il suo gioco sul controllo del centro con i pezzi [10...e6 Sembra giocabile, proseguendo nel piano di spingere in c5 11.f4 (11.Cge4 c5 12.dxc5 Cxe5; 11.Ae3 c5 12.dxc5 Cxe5 13.Ae2 Cbc6 Il Nero sta bene) 11...Ab7 12.Ae3 Cb6 con posizione equilibrata]
11.Ae3 Cc6 12.Td1
Nelle linee con Db3 il Bianco a volte arrocca lungo, ma in questa posizione sembra una scelta piuttosto pericolosa.
12...Af5 13.Ae2 Ca5
Dominguez decide di giocare con i pezzi leggeri invece di portare le torri in gioco con Dd7 e Tad8
14.Db4 Cac4 15.0-0 f6 16.Cf3
[16.Cge4 De8 17.Db3 Df7 Il Nero sta bene.]
16...Cxe3
Il Nero preferisce prendere l'Alfiere, che potrebbe risultare molto forte piu' avanti [16...Dd7?! Questa mossa di Donna, per esempio, potrebbe portare problemi al Bianco. 17.Ac1 fxe5 18.dxe5 De6 19.a4 Cxe5 20.Cd4 Il Bianco sta meglio; 16...Tf7! ma il Nero aveva una risorsa nascosta! 17.Ac1 e6! 18.Db3 (18.Tfe1? Af8! Adesso il motivo della mossa misteriosa di Torre diventa chiaro. 19.Db3 Ca5 La Donna è intrappolata!) 18...Ca5 Il Nero forza la ripetizione]
17.fxe3 fxe5?
Il Nero sta decisamente esagerando , andava terminato lo sviluppo dei pezzi pesanti
18.dxe5
Il Bianco prende il vantaggio catturando la colonna "d" con guadagno di tempo.
18...De8 19.Dc5 Tc8 20.a4?!
[20.Cd4! Cd7 21.Da3 Axe5 22.Dxa6 Il B. stà meglio]
20...Cxa4
[20...Ac2!? è rischiosa ma sembra essere migliore della continuazione della partita 21.Td2 Credo che Carlsen preferisse sacrificare un pedone piuttosto che la qualità (21.a5 Axd1 22.Txd1 Cc4 Non credo che il Nero stia peggio) 21...Axa4 Sarebbe stato interessante vedere come il giovane GM Norvegese avrebbe cercato compenso per il pedone. Da considerare: 22.Ce4 (22.Cd4; 22.Cxa4 Cxa4 23.Da3) ]
21.Cxa4 bxa4 22.Cd4
Con meno pezzi presenti sulla scacchiera l'iniziativa del Bianco ad Ovest è piu' forte.
22...Tb8
23.g4!?
Il B. apre la posizione e nella successiva schermaglia tattica gioca meglio del suo avversario: considerato che Carlsen aveva diverse opzioni, credo che abbia calcolato tutto sino alla 30a mossa. [23.Cc6 Tb6! (23...Txb2? 24.Td8 Dxd8 25.Cxd8 Txd8 26.Dxe7 Il Nero non ha abbastanza compenso per la Donna) 24.Cxe7+ Rh8 Gli Alfieri del Nero sono sufficientemente attivi; 23.Cxf5 Txf5 24.Txf5 gxf5 25.Dxc7 Il Bianco ha migliori possibilità; 23.Td2!? merita di essere presa in considerazione]
23...Ae4
[23...Ad7!? E' piu' solida rispetto alla mossa giocata in partita 24.Ac4+ (24.e6 Axd4; 24.Txf8+ Axf8 25.e6 Ac8 26.Td2 Tb6 Con posizione equilibrata) 24...e6 25.b3 axb3 26.Axb3 Tb7 Il Nero è pienamente in partita.]
24.Ce6 Txf1+ 25.Axf1 c6
[25...Aa8 26.Ac4 Rh8 Il Nero scherza col fuoco, ma obiettivamente la posizione puo' essere tenuta.]
26.Cg5 Ad5 27.e4 Ab3 28.Ac4+ e6
[28...Axc4 29.Dxc4+ e6 30.Td6 Rh8 31.Dd4 Il Re Nero è meno esposto del Bianco, ma i pezzi del Bianco sono piu' attivi: Il Nero deve fare attenzione.]
29.Cxe6 Axc4 30.Dxc4
30...Rh8?
Viene naturale evitare uno scacco di scoperta da parte della Donna, ma in questo caso permette una semplificazione vincente. [30...Axe5!! Il Nero puo' prendere questo Pedone grazie a delle complicazioni tattiche 31.Tf1 (31.Cg5+ Rh8 32.Tf1 De7 Il N. tiene) 31...De7 32.Cd8+ Uno scacco terrificante! 32...Rh8 33.Cxc6 Axh2+ (33...Tc8 34.Dd5 Axh2+! 35.Rxh2 Dh4+ 36.Rg2 Dxg4+ Il N: dà perpetuo.) 34.Rxh2 Dh4+ 35.Rg1! (35.Rg2 Txb2+ Black wins.) 35...Dg3+ e il Nero continua a dare scacchi.]
31.Cxg7!
La semplificazione vincente
31...Rxg7 32.e6
I pezzi pesanti del Bianco uniti al pedone "e" sono troppo forti per il Nero.
32...Tb7 33.Dc3+ Rg8 34.Td6 Te7
Con dei pezzi cosi' passivi il Nero non ha alcuna possibilità di sopravvivere.
35.Txc6 Df8 36.Tc8 Te8
37.Txe8
Il finale di Donna è chiaramente vinto
37...Dxe8 38.Df6 Dc8 39.Rg2
Il Re Bianco si premura di proteggersi dagli scacchi del Nero.
Il finale di pedoni è chiaramente vinto per il Bianco.
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Bok,B (2322)?- Li Chao (2604)?[B56] Corus Chess 2010 Wijk aan Zee (1), 2010
1.e4 c5 2.Cf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Cxd4 Cf6 5.Cc3 Ad7
Una specialità di Victor Kupreichik, il giovane GM Cinese a questo punto di solito gioca la Najdorf.
6.Ag5
La variante di solito adottata contro la Najdorf da Bok. [6.f3!? Nell'Attacco Inglese l'Alfiere non è molto ben collocato in d7 visto che se il N. gioca e6, blocca la strada al Cavallo e se e5 l'Alfiere in d7 dovrà muovere di nuovo.]
6...e6 7.Dd2 a6 8.f3
Il B. si attende una trasposizione nella variante Rauzer con Cc6.
8...Ae7 9.0-0-0 b5 10.Ae3!?
Il B. libera la strada al pedone "g". [10.g4 permette 10...h5]
10...h5?!
A mia conoscenza l'idea h5 fu vista per la prima volta nella Sokolov A-Karolyi, Groningen 1981; la mossa blocca, o perlomeno ritarda, g4 per un po' ma toglie al N. la possibilità di arroccare corto, e con b5 già giocata il N. dovrà tenere il Re al centro e la Torre h8 non potrà partecipare all'attacco ad Ovest.
11.Ad3 g6 12.a3
[12.g3 seguita da h3 e g4 sembra poco piacevole]
12...Dc7 13.Ag5!
Il B. rioccupa la casa g5 precedentemente abbandonata.
13...Db6?!
Dubbia, il N. ignora lo sviluppo.
14.Ae2!?
Il B. gioca in maniera solida. [14.e5! Il B. dovrebbe sfruttare il vantaggio di sviluppo. 14...dxe5 (14...Dxd4? 15.Ae3 Dxe5 16.f4 traps the queen.) 15.Ce4 Cxe4 16.Axe4 Axg5 17.Dxg5 con chiaro vantaggio del Bianco.]
14...b4 15.axb4 Dxb4
Il B. punta al finale.
16.Ca2?!
[16.Rb1 era migliore. 16...Cc6 17.Cb3 (17.Cxc6 Axc6 18.Axf6 Axf6 19.Dxd6 Db6 20.Td3 Probabilmente il N. non ha abbastanza compenso per il Pedone.) 17...Tb8 18.Df4 e5 19.Dd2 Ca5 20.Axf6 Cxb3 21.cxb3 Axf6 22.Cd5 Il B. ha praticamente vinto.]
16...Db6 17.Db4?!
Una ricerca eccessiva del cambio di Donna. [17.Rb1 Il B. starebbe meglio dopo questo tratto, oppure The1 in quanto il Re N. alla lunga avrà problemi e non abbastanza controgioco ad Est.; 17.The1]
17...Cd5!!
Una mossa splendidamente creativa che mira a pareggiare il gioco.
18.Dd2
[18.exd5 Axg5+ 19.Rb1 Dxb4 20.Cxb4 e5 21.Cdc6 a5 Il N. puo' giocare il finale.]
18...Cb4?!
Un'altra mossa molto fantasiosa e sorprendente, ma malgrado cio' il N: non riesce a pareggiare. [18...Cf6 Ripeterebbe la posizione]
19.Cxb4!?
[19.Axe7 Cxa2+ 20.Rb1 Rxe7 21.Rxa2 Tc8 Il N. ha attivato la Torre e ottenuto una posizione equilibrata,; 19.Ac4!? Cd3+ 20.Axd3 Dxd4 21.Ae3 Df6 22.e5 Dxe5 23.Ae4 Ac6 24.Af4 Dc5 25.Axd6 Axd6 26.Axc6+ Cxc6 27.Dxd6 Il B. ha prospettive migliori.]
19...Da5
Doppia minaccia da parte del N.
20.Rb1?!
[20.Cb3! Dxg5 21.f4 Adesso il vantaggio di 21. Cb3 puo' essere valutato contro la continuazione della partita : la Donna N. non puo' tornare ad Ovest. 21...Df6 22.Af3 Ta7 23.Cd3 Il B. stà un po' meglio, in quanto malgrado il N. abbia la coppia degli Alfieri, i suoi pezzi sono un po' scoordinati.]
20...Dxg5
Il N. è ben contento di liberarsi dell'Alfiere camposcuro del B.
21.f4
[21.Dxg5 Axg5 22.Thf1 Ae7 con posizione pari.]
21...Dc5!
La Donna deve assolutamente stare ad Ovest.
22.f5?!
E' pericoloso indebolire le case nere. [22.Thf1! è molto forte, seguita da Tf3 per trasferire la Torre ad Ovest.]
22...a5!
Il N. comincia a spingere il pedone "a" per ammorbidire le case nere ad Ovest.
23.Ca2 a4 24.fxe6 fxe6 25.Cc3 a3! 26.b3??
Questa mossa, ancorchè del tutto naturale, indebolisce ulteriormente le case nere. [26.Ccb5! Il B. ha molti pezzi ad Ovest, e con questa mossa potrebbe assalire direttamente la posizione del Bianco attaccando il pedone in d6. 26...axb2 27.Cb3 Ta1+! Una mossa molto carina, ma che dà solo un piccolo vantaggio. 28.Rxb2! Txd1 29.Txd1 De5+ 30.Dd4 Af6 31.c3 0-0 32.Dxd6 Il Bianco ha buone possibilità di tenere la posizione.]
26...a2+!
Il Nero continua a giocare in maniera molto creativa. [26...Cc6!? Questo tentativo piu' diretto di prendere il controllo delle case nere convince di meno. 27.Thf1 (27.Ca2 0-0 28.Ac4 De5 Il Bianco ha seri problemi.; 27.Ab5 Ag5 28.Dd3 Cxd4 29.Dxd4 Dxd4 30.Axd7+ Rxd7 31.Txd4 Af6 32.Tc4 Thc8 Il Nero ha quasi vinto.) 27...Ag5 28.Dd3 Dxd4 29.Dxd4 Cxd4 30.Txd4 Re7 Il Bianco è in serie difficoltà.]
27.Ra1
[27.Cxa2 e5 28.Cf3 Da3 29.c3 Dxb3+ 30.Db2 Da4 Il Re Bianco è troppo scoperto.]
27...Af6?!
dubbia, in quanto permette al Bianco di riorganizzarsi. [27...Cc6! 28.Cdb5 (28.Thf1 Ag5 29.Dd3 Cb4 30.Dg3 h4 31.Df3 e5 e il Nero vince.) 28...0-0 29.Ca4 De5+ 30.Dc3 Af6 il Nero vince.]
28.Thf1 Ae5 29.Ac4?
Il Bianco attacca quando dovrebbe pensare a difendersi. [29.Tf3! Cc6 30.Ccb5 Tf8 31.Txf8+ Rxf8 32.c3 Il Bianco stà indubbiamente peggio, ma almeno stà ancora giocando.]
29...Cc6 30.Cce2
[30.Ccb5 Ca5! vince comunque.]
30...Ca5!
[30...d5! Il Nero vince un pezzo. 31.exd5 exd5 32.Ad3 Axd4+ 33.Cxd4 Dxd4+ 34.c3 Dg7 35.De3+ Ce7 Il Bianco puo' abbandonare.]
31.c3 Cxc4 32.bxc4 Dxc4 33.Cf3
[33.h3 Tb8 34.Tf3 (34.Dxa2 Dc8 vince.) 34...Da6 35.Dg5 (35.Tff1 Db7 36.Dc2 Re7 37.Td2 Thc8 Il Nero ha un vantaggio decisivo.) 35...Db7 36.Dxg6+ Rd8 e il Nero vince.]
33...Dxe2!!
Una mossa bellissima che semplifica in un finale vinto. [33...Ag7 Il Nero vincerebbe anche semplicemente arroccando corto.]
permettendo al Nero di spingere il Re in prima traversa. [53.Rc2! portando il Re al centro, dava al Bianco qualche speranza di patta. 53...Tf2+ 54.Rd3 Txg2 55.Txe6 Rc5 (55...Txh2 56.Tg6) 56.Te8 Il Nero puo' sperare di portarsi a casa il punto intero.]
53...Tf2+ 54.Rc1 Txg2 55.Tg6 Rc3!
Il Pedone in piu' e la posizione dominante del Re e della Torre sono decisivi.
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
Georgia’s number one comes with an impressive, positional pawn sacrifice: 16.b4!? cxb4 17.axb4 Qxb4 18.Rfb1 Qe7 19.Nd4 g6 20.Bxe4 dxe4 21.Qb3 and White had a long-term initiative. Almasi defended well, until he erred in the rook ending with 36…f4, where 36…Kf8 might have saved the game.
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
Do you see it? 33.Nxf7! Wham! 33…Kxf7 34.exd5 cxd5 35.Rc7 and Black had to give his queen with 35…Rd7, but it didn’t help.
Another pretty game from round 8 was the folllowing.
Svetushkin-Landa Position after 12…Qxb2
White had answered the move 11…Qb4 with the strong 12.c4! which means he probably was already intending his next move, again proving that “it’s never good to take on b2″. 13.cxd5! Nc3 14.dxe6!! Nxd1 15.exd7+ Kd8 16.Raxd1 and the two pieces and the pawn on d7 which kept the king in the centre were more than enough compensation for the queen.
Yesterday, on the top board of round 9, Ian Nepomniachtchi grabbed sole lead:
Nepomniachtchi-Jobava Position after 23…Re8
Another White game for Nepomniachtchi, and another inspired attack that brings quick victory: 24.e6! Nxe1 25.Rxe1 fxe6 26.Rxe6 Kh8 27.h3 Rxe6 28.Bxe6 Bb5
29.f5! Qe8 30.f6 Qf8 31.f7 and Black resigned.
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.
European Championship 2010 | Round 9 Standings (top 40)
11? Campionato Europeo: diretta XI ed ultimo turno
Il russo Nepomniachtchi è l'11° Campione Europeo
Brunello batte il GM Bosiocic ed è il primo degli italiani con 6.5!
Dvirnyy patta con il GM Sedlak e raggiunge Caruana a quota 6
Femminile Pia Cramling Campionessa Europea per la seconda volta!
La Sedina patta con la MI Khotenashvili e termina a 6.5
Comprensibilmente deluso per la sconfitta di ieri, che lo ha tagliato fuori dall'obiettivo di entrare tra i 22 che si qualificano alla prossima World Cup, Caruana non riesce a trovare le motivazioni necessarie per terminare bene questo Campionato Europeo e perde con il GM Maiorov. Nell' XI ed ultimo turno arrivano, invece, ottimi risultati dagli altri giocatori italiani. Brunello batte il GM Bosiocic e termina a 6.5, primo degli italiani. Dvirnyy patta con il GM Sedlak e conclude il suo ottimo europeo agganciando Fabiano a quota 6 punti con una perfomance di 2569! Shytaj, Valsecchi e Piscopo vincono e raggiungono Godena e Ortega, che pattano, a quota 5.5.
Tra i giocatori non titolati, Corrado Astengo termina in bellezza battendo, con il nero, il MF croato Plenca (2323). Da segnalare anche la vittoria di Guidi con il Maestro Internazionale Chudinovskikh.
Il russo Nepomniachtchi batte Akopian, vince il torneo per distacco e si laurea 11° Campione Europeo.
Femminile La Sedina patta con la MI georgiana Kothenashvili e conclude il suo europeo con un ottimo 6.5/11. Marina Brunello patta con la MI Kachiani-Gersinska (2346) mentre Roberta Brunello e la Tonel vincono e terminano il torneo con un dignitoso 4/11. Purtroppo la Zimina perde e viene raggiunta a quota 4.5 da Marina.
La Cramling batte la Cmilyte e vince per la seconda volta il Campionato Europeo. La svedese vinse la prima volta nel 2003, proprio davanti alla giocatrice lituana!
Per sapere cosa è successo nel decimo turno clicca QUI
il russo Ian Nepoimniachtchi è il nuovo Campione Europeo
Classifica Finale, primi 10 direttamente qualificati alla prossima World Cup
The gap between Magnus Carlsen (2826) and Veselin Topalov (2803) has increased to 23 points on the July 1 FIDE rating list. The Norwegian won 13 points whereas the Bulgarian dropped 9. Third is World Champion Viswanathan Anand, now with 2800 points exactly. Wang Yue dropped from 8th to 28th.
Carlsen’s fine victory in Romania last week got him another 13 rating points and because Topalov lost 9 points in his match with Anand, the gap between the world’s number one and two is now 23 points. Those 9 points went to Anand, who thereby surpassed Kramnik to regain the 3rd spot, at a nice 2800 precisely.
Evgeny Bareev goes into chess politics. The Russian grandmaster is mentioned as ‘Vice President’ on Ali Nihat Yazici’s ticket for the upcoming presidential elections of the European Chess Union. The other nominations, now officially received by ECU, are those of Silvio Danailov and Robert von Weizsäcker, who has three GMs on his side.
In his book 
All three games of round 9 in Bazna, Romania ended in draw. With one round to go, Carlsen leads the Kings Tournament with 6.5/9. Gelfand, who celebrated his 42nd birthday on Thursday, has a point less. Games commented by GM Dorian Rogozenco & videos.
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This week Silvio Danailov and Robert von Weizsäcker, who are both running for the European Union presidency, presented their teams. Von Weizsäcker is joined by three chess grandmasters.
Chalons en Champagne, led by Loek van Wely and Anish Giri, Sunday won the French league. The team finished just ahead of Evry Grand Roque, who played with Eljanov, Gashimov, Svidler and Vachier-Lagrave. 
Dmitry Jakovenko and Alexander Riazantsev lead the Karpov tournament in Poikovsky with 4/6. In a tournament where 24 of the 35 games ended peacefully, Ivan Sokolov is not joining the feast of draws but instead plays uncompromising chess.
PGN
Anish Giri today defeated co-leader Jon Ludvig Hammer in a direct encounter to win the 18th Sigeman & Co tournament with a score of 4.5/5 (and a 2920 performance rating). Hammer finished clear second with a point less.
De Anand-Topalov. Kasparov, Carlsen, Kramnik, como asistentes de Anand. Karpov y 
Pero poco a poco se fue sumando gente a echar mano en la preparación de Anand. Magnus Carlsen se puso en contacto y se ofreció, como ya había hecho en otras oportunidades, una vez finalizado el Amber en Niza, para participar unos días en el entrenamiento. Luego se brindó para ayudar un poco, nada menos que Garry Kasparov e intercambió información, antes y durante el Match y entre otras cosas apoyó la idea de jugar 
V Campeonato de España de Selecciones Autonómicas 2010.
Anatoly Karpov “Un Campeón del Cambio”: Después de una vida dedicada a la práctica y promoción del ajedrez, el ex Campeón Mundial, Anatoly Karpov anunció su candidatura a 
Gata Kamsky gana el Campeonato de EE. UU. 14 de mayo al 24 de mayo de 2010. El campeonato de EE.UU. se llevo a cabo en St. Louis, por segundo año consecutivo. El torneo que se desarrolló por sistema suiza a 7 rondas. Los 4 primeros (Shulman, Kamsky, Nakamura y Onischuk) compitieron en un torneo cerrado, empatando en el primer puesto Shulman y Kamsky. El desempate por el 1er lugar es especial: Sobre la base de 60 minutos + 5 segundos, los jugadores pujan secretamente “ofreciendo” una cantidad de tiempo (minutos y segundos igual o inferior a 60 minutos). El jugador que oferta la cifra más baja elige su color, mientras que el oponente tiene 60 minutos. Gata Kamsky ofreció 
Fide Grand Prix – 6ta Etapa: Eljanov gana el Torneo. Levon Aronian y Teimour Radjabov se clasifican para el Candidatura para el Campeonato Mundial a jugarse en 2012.
4th ACP Copa Mundial de Ajedrez Rápido - Sergey Karjakin Campeón. 
En los cuartos de final Grischuk ganó por Movsesian; Sergey Karjakin alguna manera pasó contra Shirov después de una partida relámpago a “muerte súbita”, tras estar dos veces en desventaja, perdiendo en el primera rápida y en el primer relámpago. Fantástico Jakovenko sobre Eljanov. Mikhail Gurevich volvió a sorprender al eliminar a Gashimov.
Two weeks ago I wrote about David Vigorito’s new book on the Marshall Attack of the Ruy Lopez. In this review, I want to take a look at GM Ivan Sokolov’s latest book The Ruy Lopez Revisited, published by New in Chess. I think both books have their charm, and in a way, they complement each other quite nicely.
We formulated ten questions related to Developing Chess Talent and every Monday we’ll ask them to an interesting personality in the chess world.
Sito ufficiale
The biggest news this time is that Vassily Ivanchuk isn’t Ukraine’s number one player anymore, for the first time in years. Winning another 15 points in 20 games, on the May 2010 list Pavel Eljanov has reached a 9th spot, while Ivanchuk lost seven points and dropped slightly from 11 to 12.
Admit it: one of the reasons you’re not playing the main line Ruy Lopez or even 1.e4, is that you’re afraid of the Marshall Attack. I, for one, plead guilty to this charge. I’ve always avoided the Marshall Attack like the plague, not because I don’t like exciting openings, but because I simply don’t have the time to investigate all these hypersharp developments.
We formulated ten questions related to Developing Chess Talent and every Monday we’ll ask them to an interesting personality in the chess world. Artur is a good friend, a very busy man and as he explained totally not into all sorts of modern social networking, which in his view may be a serious waste of time. Since he cannot fail in this series we have his quick answers anyway.
3 partite commentate del Corus 2010! 
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.
