• LIVE h. 15:30
• GM Ivan Sokolov-Caruana
• GM Rodshtein-Dvirnyy
• Femminile
  
• MI Danielian-Sedina

Oggi si disputa il settimo turno del Campionato Europeo Caruana. Domani è previsto il primo ed unico giorno di riposo.
Per sapere cosa è successo nel sesto turno, clicca QUI 

Ieri è stata una giornata molto positiva per gli italiani e, come sempre accade in questo genere di manifestazioni, dopo una giornata positiva arrivano gli impegni tosti. Tra gli azzurri con almeno il 50% dei punti Caruana, Dvirnyy e Piscopo incontreranno tre forti GM, mentre Godena e Valsecchi se la vedranno con due MI. Le partite di Caruana e Dvirnyy saranno trasmesse in diretta dalle ore 15:30.

Non basta comunque avere meno del 50% per avere vita facile, visto che Lanzani (2.5) affronterà il GM greco Banikas (2617). Stesso discorso vale per Barlocco (2), che incontrerà il MI Zueger (2425), mentre Ortega, Shytaj e Brunello (2.5) affronteranno due MI e un MF con un elo attorno ai 2300. Da segnalare, infine, il derby tra Bentivegna e Corrado Astengo.

Migliori performance degli italiani
Nome Elo Performance Variazione Elo

Caruana Fabiano 2680 2763 +6,20

Dvirnyy Daniyyl 2450 2669 +17,60
Godena Michele 2561 2519 -1,80

Piscopo Pierluigi 2418 2421 +0,10
Brunello Sabino 2476 2366 -9,10

Astengo Corrado 2136 2360 +18,15

Lanzani Mario 2371 2344 -2,30

Shytaj Luca 2472 2333 -11,10
Valsecchi Alessio 2360 2294 -5,10
Ortega Lexy 2479 2276 -12,20
Bentivegna Francesco 2361 2257 -10,65

Femminile

Sedina Elena 2334 2510 14,10

Brunello Marina 2217 2211 -0,90
Zimina Olga 2319 2180 -11,50
Brunello Roberta 2043 2105 +6,75
Tonel Giulia 2023 1999 -1,50

VI turno: Caruana si appresta a giocare 33.Cxf6+. Salgado Lopez abbandonerà dopo poche mosse

La MI armena Elina Danielian, prossima avversaria della Sedina

VII turno, prime scacchiere

1	10		GM	Jobava Baadur	GEO	2695	5½		5	GM	Riazantsev Alexander	RUS	2660		29
2	58		GM	Vuckovic Bojan	SRB	2630	5		5½	GM	Efimenko Zahar	UKR	2640		48
3	1		GM	Almasi Zoltan	HUN	2720	5		5	GM	Nepomniachtchi Ian	RUS	2656		35
4	3		GM	Movsesian Sergei	SVK	2709	4½		5	GM	Mamedov Rauf	AZE	2639		49
5	61		GM	Delchev Aleksander	BUL	2625	4½		4½	GM	Vallejo Pons Francisco	ESP	2708		5

incontri degli italiani

10	51		GM	Sokolov Ivan	BIH	2638	4½		4½	GM	Caruana Fabiano	ITA	2680		15
49	87		GM	Rodshtein Maxim	ISR	2609	4		4	IM	Dvirnyy Daniyyl	ITA	2450		219
130	74		GM	Banikas Hristos	GRE	2617	2½		2½	IM	Lanzani Mario	ITA	2371		274
138	203		GM	Ortega Lexy	ITA	2479	2½		2½	IM	Medancic Rikard	CRO	2311		296
140	205		IM	Brunello Sabino	ITA	2476	2½		2½	FM	Kunze Carlo	GER	2306		297
141	209		IM	Shytaj Luca	ITA	2472	2½		2½	IM	Nedochetov Mikhail	RUS	2299		301
83	224		IM	Vernay Clovis	FRA	2440	3½		3½	GM	Godena Michele	ITA	2561		135
158	236		IM	Zueger Beat	SUI	2425	2		2	FM	Barlocco Carlo	ITA	2173		337
106	242		IM	Piscopo Pierluigi	ITA	2418	3		3	GM	Cvitan Ognjen	CRO	2550		143
161	276		FM	Bentivegna Francesco	ITA	2361	2		2		Astengo Corrado	ITA	2136		345
117	279		FM	Valsecchi Alessio	ITA	2360	3		3	IM	Sebenik Matej	SLO	2504		177

incontri delle italiane

18	10		IM	Danielian Elina	ARM	2491	3½		4	IM	Sedina Elena	ITA	2334		56
69	117			Djukic Sandra	SRB	2214	2		2		Tonel Giulia	ITA	2023		144
56	141		WFM	Berke Ana	CRO	2097	2½		2½	IM	Zimina Olga	ITA	2319		60
57	143			Brunello Roberta	ITA	2043	2½		2½	WGM	Paulet Iozefina	ROU	2303		70
67	146			Boyarchenko Marie	LUX	2009	2		2	WIM	Brunello Marina	ITA	2217		115

 

Regolamento

Calendario Il torneo si disputa sulla lunghezza di 11 turni (6-17 marzo). L'inizio delle partite è previsto per le ore 15:30. Unico giorno di riposo sabato 13 marzo. Il 18 marzo si svolgeranno gli eventuali Tie-breaks.

Criteri di spareggio in caso di arrivo a pari merito sono previsti i seguenti criteri di spareggio tecnico:
a)  Median-Buchholz 1
b)  Buchholz
c)  Numero di vittorie 
d) Punteggio Progressivo.

Spareggi Rapid sono previsti gli spareggi (15'+10" per mossa) solo per stabilire:
a)  il Campione Europeo
b)  i vincitori di Medaglie
c)  I qualificati (22) alla prossima World Cup.

Tempo di Riflessione 90' x 40 mosse + 30' per terminare la partita + 30" di incremento per mossa a partire dalla prima mossa. 

Siti Utili

sito ufficiale

Live Stream

risultati su chessresult

 articoli di presentazione di Angelmann   1^ parte  2^ parte

 Report fotografico di Ruigino Tonel

VISORE
per vedere la partita di Dvirnyy seguire il percorso Live Games -- > Men --> Board 31-50
per vedere la partita della Sedina seguire il percorso Live Games -- Women

• Dvirnyy batte il GM Sanikidze e sale a 4!!
• Femminile 
• la Sedina patta con la GM Hoang Thanh e raggiunge quota 4
• Nell'articolo i visori delle partite di Caruana e Sedina
• Domani LIVE h. 15:30 Ivan Sokolov-Caruana
• GM Rodshtein-Dvirnyy e MI Danielian-Sedina

Nel VI turno del Campionato Europeo Caruana, dopo tre patte consecutive, torna alla vittoria travolgendo il GM  spagnolo Salgado Lopez. Importantissima vittoria per Dvirnyy contro il GM Sanikidze (2566). Daniyyl sale così a 4. Godena batte il MI Azaladze e raggiunge quota 3.5. 

Nulla da fare per Brunello con il GM Nyback. Sabino resta a 2.5 e viene superato da Piscopo e Valsecchi, che vincono facendo rispettare il pronostico, e agganciato da Ortega Lanzani (vittorie) e Shytaj (patta),

Prosegue l'ottimo torneo (una vittoria e due patte con tre MI, performance 2360) di Corrado Astengo che patta con il MI Rasulov e sale a quota 2 con Bentivegna (patta),

In classifica generale Jobava e Efimenko ristabiliscono le gerarchie battendo i giocatori che li avevavo agganciati in vetta nel turno precedente, Timofeev e Nisipeanu. Da segnalare il veemente ritorno del numero uno del tabellone, l'ungherese Almasi, che dopo un inizio zoppicante (due patte nei primi tre turni) ha infilato tre vittorie consecutive (oggi vittoria, con il nero, contro Sutovsky) e si trova a solo mezzo punto dalla vetta.

Femminile Bella prova della Sedina che patta con la GM Hoang Thanh Trang, e nel finale di donne che si è presentato sulla  scacchiera forse avrebbe potuto ottenere di più! Elena sale così a quota 4/6. La Zimina perde  con la WIM Isgandarova. Stessa sorte per Marina Brunello. A risollevare le sorti della famiglia ci pensa la sorella Roberta, che con il nero batte la WFM russa Semenova. Buona patta per la Tonel contro la WIM austrica Kopinits.

In classifica generale la GM polacca Socko torna di nuovo da sola al comando battendo la GM russa Kosinteseva.

Per sapere cosa è successo nel quinto turno, clicca QUI 

La WIM Isgrandova, avversaria della Zimina

Il GM Sanikidze, avversario odierno di Dvirnyy 

VI turno, prime scacchiere

1	36		GM	Timofeev Artyom	RUS	2655	4½	0-1		4½	GM	Jobava Baadur	GEO	2695		10
2	48		GM	Efimenko Zahar	UKR	2640	4½	1-0		4½	GM	Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter	ROU	2661		28
3	42		GM	Sutovsky Emil	ISR	2650	4	0-1		4	GM	Almasi Zoltan	HUN	2720		1
4	5		GM	Vallejo Pons Francisco	ESP	2708	4	1/2		4	GM	Zvjaginsev Vadim	RUS	2643		46
5	7		GM	Adams Michael	ENG	2704	4	1/2		4	GM	Sokolov Ivan	BIH	2638		51

incontri degli italiani

21	15		GM	Caruana Fabiano	ITA	2680	3½	1-0		3½	GM	Salgado Lopez Ivan	ESP	2592		100
93	65		GM	Nyback Tomi	FIN	2624	2½	1-0		2½	IM	Brunello Sabino	ITA	2476		205
102	135		GM	Godena Michele	ITA	2561	2½	1-0		2½	IM	Azaladze Shota	GEO	2433		230
84	219		IM	Dvirnyy Daniyyl	ITA	2450	3	1-0		3	GM	Sanikidze Tornike	GEO	2566		130
151	261		IM	Plat Vojtech	CZE	2395	2	1-0		2	FM	Barlocco Carlo	ITA	2173		337
168	274		IM	Lanzani Mario	ITA	2371	1½	1-0		1½		Spika Ivica	CRO	2086		357
160	279		FM	Valsecchi Alessio	ITA	2360	2	1-0		2		Valkovic Kristian	CRO	2027		366
132	302			Katzir Moshe	ISR	2288	2	1/2		2	IM	Shytaj Luca	ITA	2472		209
142	309		FM	Dimitrijevic Darko	CRO	2272	2	0-1		2	IM	Piscopo Pierluigi	ITA	2418		242
165	336			Pantaleoni Claudio	ITA	2179	1½	0-1		1½	IM	Berbatov Kiprian	BUL	2481		202
166	344			Kinez Ivo	CRO	2138	1½	0-1		1½	GM	Ortega Lexy	ITA	2479		203
167	345			Astengo Corrado	ITA	2136	1½	1/2		1½	IM	Rasulov Vugar Ural Oglu	AZE	2457		215
169	350			Neagos Raul-Alexandru	ROU	2110	1½	1/2		1½	FM	Bentivegna Francesco	ITA	2361		276

incontri delle italiane

11	56		IM	Sedina Elena	ITA	2334	3½	1/2		3½	GM	Hoang Thanh Trang	HUN	2487		11
44	60		IM	Zimina Olga	ITA	2319	2½	0-1		2½	WIM	Isgandarova Khayala	AZE	2224		110
63	115		WIM	Brunello Marina	ITA	2217	2	0-1		2		Abdulla Khayala	AZE	2141		136
69	123		WFM	Semenova Elena	RUS	2195	1½	0-1		1½		Brunello Roberta	ITA	2043		143
70	144			Tonel Giulia	ITA	2023	1½	1/2		1½	WIM	Kopinits Anna-Christina	AUT	2183		127

 

Regolamento

Calendario Il torneo si disputa sulla lunghezza di 11 turni (6-17 marzo). L'inizio delle partite è previsto per le ore 15:30. Unico giorno di riposo sabato 13 marzo. Il 18 marzo si svolgeranno gli eventuali Tie-breaks.

Criteri di spareggio in caso di arrivo a pari merito sono previsti i seguenti criteri di spareggio tecnico:
a)  Median-Buchholz 1
b)  Buchholz
c)  Numero di vittorie 
d) Punteggio Progressivo.

Spareggi Rapid sono previsti gli spareggi (15'+10" per mossa) solo per stabilire:
a)  il Campione Europeo
b)  i vincitori di Medaglie
c)  I qualificati (22) alla prossima World Cup.

Tempo di Riflessione 90' x 40 mosse + 30' per terminare la partita + 30" di incremento per mossa a partire dalla prima mossa. 

Siti Utili

sito ufficiale

Live Stream

risultati su chessresult

 articoli di presentazione di Angelmann   1^ parte  2^ parte

 Report fotografico di Ruigino Tonel

---------------------------------------------------------------
GM Caruana, Fabiano (ITA, 2680) - GM Salgado Lopez, Ivan (SPA, 2592) 1-0
Difesa Alekhine

--------------------------------------------------------------
MI Sedina, Elena (ITA, 2334) - GM Hoang Thanh, Trang (HUN, 2487) 1/2
Difesa francese

• Dvirnyy patta con un altro GM e sale a quota 3!
• Nulla da fare per Godena con Motylev
• Femminile
  
• La Sedina vince e sale a 3.5!
  
• Nell'articolo i visori delle partite di Caruana e Godena
  
• Oggi Caruana-Salgado Lopez e Sedina-GM Hoang Live h. 15.30

Nel quinto turno del Campionato Europeo, Caruana patta con Safarlj e sale a 3.5/5 mentre Godena, coraggiosamente, sceglie una variante minore della spagnola contro Motylev ma finisce con il perdere in 20 mosse. Nel sesto turno Fabiano se la vedrà con il GM spagnolo Ivan Salgado Lopez. Prosegue la serie positiva di Dvirnyy, ancora imbattuto in questo torneo, che con il nero patta con il forte GM tedesco Buhmann (2587) e sale a 3!  Domani quinto GM in questo torneo per Daniyyl: Tornike Sanikidze (2566).

Questa volta Brunello fa rispettare i favori del pronostico, vince e raggiunge Michele a quota 2.5. Domani Sabino è atteso dall'incontro con il GM Nybak (2624)

Putroppo arrivano le notizie delle sconfitte di Piscopo, Valsecchi, Lanzani, Bentivegna e, a sopresa, di Shytaj. Tutti questi giocatori restano sotto la quota del 50%.

Nessun giocatore resta a punteggio pieno dopo il V turno. In prima scacchiera Jobava ed Efimenko pattano e vengono raggiunti da Nisipeanu e Timofeev, vittoriosi su Pelletier e Skoberne. 

Femminile Buone notizie dal torneo femminile. La Sedina vince e torna nelle zone alte della classifica con 3.5. Ottima patta di Marina Brunello (nero) con la MI Borsuk. Prima vittoria in questo campionato europeo per la Tonel e per Roberta Brunello, che così salgono a 1.5. La  Zimina perde e resta a 2.5.

Anche nel torneo femminile nessuna giocatrice resta a punteggio pieno, visto che la Socko patta con Anna Muzychuk. La giocatrice polacca viene raggiunta in vetta dalla Kosintseva e, a sopresa, dalla scozzese Arakhamia-Grant che ha avuto la meglio su Pia Cramling.

Per sapere cosa è successo nel quarto turno, clicca QUI 

con il tedesco Buhmann arriva la 4^ patta con il 4° GM per di Dvirnyy


con la turca Betul Cemre Yildiz la Sedina coglie un'importante vittoria

V turno, prime scacchiere

1	10		GM	Jobava Baadur	GEO	2695	4	1/2			4	GM	Efimenko Zahar	UKR	2640		48
2	51		GM	Sokolov Ivan	BIH	2638	3½	1/2			3½	GM	Vallejo Pons Francisco	ESP	2708		5
3	71		GM	Iordachescu Viorel	MDA	2621	3½	1/2			3½	GM	Adams Michael	ENG	2704		7
4	24		GM	Inarkiev Ernesto	RUS	2667	3½	1/2			3½	GM	Szabo Gergely-Andras-Gyula	ROU	2525		159
5	28		GM	Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter	ROU	2661	3½	1-0			3½	GM	Pelletier Yannick	SUI	2611		83

Incontri degli italiani 

15	90		GM	Safarli Eltaj	AZE	2606	3	1/2		3	GM	Caruana Fabiano	ITA	2680		15
45	6		GM	Motylev Alexander	RUS	2705	2½	1-0		2½	GM	Godena Michele	ITA	2561		135
75	104		GM	Buhmann Rainer	GER	2587	2½	1/2		2½	IM	Dvirnyy Daniyyl	ITA	2450		219
112	163		IM	Janssen Ruud	NED	2516	2	1-0		2	FM	Valsecchi Alessio	ITA	2360		279
139	186		GM	Danielsen Henrik	ISL	2494	1½	1-0		1½	IM	Lanzani Mario	ITA	2371		274
190	203		GM	Ortega Lexy	ITA	2479	½	1-0		½		Pfeifer Antun	CRO	1900		382
142	205		IM	Brunello Sabino	ITA	2476	1½	1-0		1½	FM	Schiendorfer Emanuel	SUI	2340		286
97	242		IM	Piscopo Pierluigi	ITA	2418	2	0-1		2	GM	Gajewski Grzegorz	POL	2567		129
155	256		IM	Kargin Arseny	RUS	2400	1½	1-0		1½		Astengo Corrado	ITA	2136		345
138	276		FM	Bentivegna Francesco	ITA	2361	1½	0-1		1½	GM	Svetushkin Dmitry	MDA	2554		139
127	307		FM	Djurovic Goran	CRO	2276	2	1-0		2	IM	Shytaj Luca	ITA	2472		209

Incontri delle italiane

29	56		IM	Sedina Elena	ITA	2334	2½	1-0		2½	WIM	Yildiz Betul Cemre	TUR	2244		103
31	104			Mrvova Alena	SVK	2239	2½	1-0		2½	IM	Zimina Olga	ITA	2319		60
54	53		IM	Borsuk Angela	ISR	2338	1½	1/2		2½	WIM	Brunello Marina	ITA	2217		115
76	143			Brunello Roberta	ITA	2043	½	1-0		½		Starcevic Andrea	CRO	1712		151
77	155			Batory Lucija	CRO	1575	½	0-1		½		Tonel Giulia	ITA	2023		144

Regolamento

Calendario Il torneo si disputa sulla lunghezza di 11 turni (6-17 marzo). L'inizio delle partite è previsto per le ore 15:30. Unico giorno di riposo sabato 13 marzo. Il 18 marzo si svolgeranno gli eventuali Tie-breaks.

Criteri di spareggio in caso di arrivo a pari merito sono previsti i seguenti criteri di spareggio tecnico:
a)  Median-Buchholz 1
b)  Buchholz
c)  Numero di vittorie 
d) Punteggio Progressivo.

Spareggi Rapid sono previsti gli spareggi (15'+10" per mossa) solo per stabilire:
a)  il Campione Europeo
b)  i vincitori di Medaglie
c)  I qualificati (22) alla prossima World Cup.

Tempo di Riflessione 90' x 40 mosse + 30' per terminare la partita + 30" di incremento per mossa a partire dalla prima mossa. 

Siti Utili

sito ufficiale

Live Stream

risultati su chessresult

 articoli di presentazione di Angelmann   1^ parte  2^ parte

 Report fotografico di Ruigino Tonel

Partite commentate in diretta da Megalovic
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Safarly - Caruana 1/2

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Motylev - Godena  1-0

After five rounds of play, Zahar Efimenko, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Artyom Timofeev and Baadur Jobava are sharing the lead at the European Individual Championship in Rijeka. The four grandmasters scored 4.5 points and are chased by 23 GMs who are on 4/5.

The 11th European Individual Men and Women’s Chess Championship is held from 5th to 19th of March 2010 in Rijeka, in new Zamet Centre sports hall. The event is organized by chess club “Rijeka”, in agreement with the Croatian Chess Federation under the auspices of the City of Rijeka and the European Chess Union. It is open to all players representing the chess federations which comprise the European Chess Union (FIDE zones 1.1 to 1.9) regardless of their title or rating. There is also no limit of participants per federation.

The championship is based on Swiss system in accordance with the ECU Tournament Rules and FIDE Rules of Chess. The rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. As always, the European Championship is a qualification event for the next World Cup. According to FIDE regulations and the decision of the ECU Board, 22 players will qualify.

Rounds 4-5

Especially the 4th round in Rijeka saw a number of highly entertaining games and in this report we’ll present a few diagrams to give you an idea of how amazing the game of chess can be (if you didn’t knew already). Let’s start with the following brilliancy by Georgia’s number one player Baadur Jobava.

Krasenkow-Jobava
Position after 32…Rxe3

Imaginative play by Baadur Jobava

18-year-old Tamir Nabaty from Israel is a player without any title yet, but he’ll probably become at least an IM soon. In Rijeka he drew with GM Zoltan Gyimesi and then defeated GMs Gadir Guseinov and Ildar Khairullin, only to be stopped by top seeded GM Zoltan Almasi yesterday. The game against Khairullin had a nice finish.

Nabaty-Khairullin
Position after 31…Kc7

Selection of games rounds 4-5

Game viewer by ChessTempo

The top boards of the 5th round

Young & old in Rijeka

Photos courtesy of the official website, more here

Links

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

The 2010 Reykjavik Open ended in a four-way tie between Abhijeet Gupta, Yuriy Kuzubov, Ivan Sokolov and Hannes Stefansson. The four grandmasters all ended on 7/9; Dutchman Sokolov had the best tiebreak.

The Reykjavik Open took place February 24 – March 3 in the capital of Iceland. It was a 9-round Swiss with 104 players (20 GMs, 16 IMs). The rate of play was 1.5 hours for 40 moves plus 30 minutes to end te game, with an increment of 30 seconds starting from move 1. The main sponsor was MP Bank, the bank started by grandmaster Margeir Pétursson and the only bank in Iceland that more or less managed to avoid the biggest damage in the crisis so far.

As always the Reykjavik open was quite a strong event, with 11 GMs rated higher than 2550 and six rated 2600 or higher. Besides the usual suspects (Baklan, Dreev…) there were the sometimes quite famous veterans (Westerinen, Ehlvest, Romanishin) and some of the biggest talents around (Nyzhnyk, Jorge and Deysi Cori).

In the end the first place was shared between Abhijeet Gupta (India), Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukraine), Ivan Sokolov (The Netherlands) and Hannes Stefansson (Iceland). Sokolov recovered well from his terrible result at his last open, the open in Cappelle-la-Grande. For local hero Stefansson it was the third time in a row that he ended (shared) first, and the fifth time in total.

Selection of games

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Veterans meet: Alexey Dreev (Russia) vs Oleg Romanishin (Ukraine)

Newcomers meet: Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukraine) vs Ilya Nyzhnyk (Ukraine)

Peruvian rising star Jorge Cori vs Iceland's number two (on rating still behind the inactive Johann Hjartarson) Hannes Stefansson

Ivan Sokolov (The Netherlands) vs Irina Krush (USA)

A draw in the last round between Hannes Stefansson and Abhijeet Gupta

The fifth victory for Stefansson

Photos courtesy of the tournament website

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC

Yaroslav Zherebukh Saturday won the strong open in Cappelle-La-Grande. The Ukrainian grandmaster, just 16 year old, was the only player to finish on 7.5/9. Veteran GM Mihhail Gurevich was doing well, but lost the crucial round 8 game to Zherebukh.

Yaroslav Zherebukh | Photo Jean Michel Delfosse

The 26th edition of the Cappelle-La-Grande chess festival was held 13-20 February. The main event was a big 9-round Swiss.

The rate of play of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds per move for the first 40 moves and then 30 minutes plus 30 seconds per move to the end of the game. Draws by mutual agreement in under 20 moves were not allowed.

The tournament was organized by the “L’Echiquier Cappellois” chess club and took place at the Palais des Arts in Cappelle-la-Grande, just south of Dunkerque, France.

Yet another relatively unknown Ukrainian grandmaster won in Cappelle this year. 16-year-old Yaroslav Zherebukh scored 7.5 points and only lost to the winner of last year, Yuri Vovk. As Chess Today reports, both are in fact pupils of IM Vladimir Grabinsky.

Zherebukh finished ahead of many favourites, such as Yuri Drozdovskij (2625), Murtas Khazgaleyev (2643) and Ivan Sokolov (2649). The latter probably won’t like to be reminded of the tournament, finishing 85th with 5.5/9 as the top seed. His performance rating was just at GM level: 2507. In Wijk aan Zee Sokolov told me that he’ll be tournament director of the big Bosna chess festival this year, so, well, he has more important things to do!

Selection of games

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC

Veselin Topalov (BUL-2805), Levon Aronian (ARM-2781), Boris Gelfand (ISR-2761), Vugar Gashimov (AZE-2759), Alexander Grischuk (RUS-2736) y Francisco (Paco) Vallejo Pons (ESP-2705), empezaron a mostrar su talento y arrancó Linares.

La primera edición del torneo fue en 1978. En esta primera edición fue la única en que participó un jugador giennense, Viriato Pacheco y fue ganada por el sueco Jaan Eslon (que jugó muchos torneos en España, ya fallecido), fue el ganador de esta edición empatado a puntos con Roberto Debarnot de Argentina. Desde entonces se celebró de los años impares hasta 1987, año en que Linares acogió el match final de candidatos al título entre Anatoly Karpov y Andréi Sokolov. A partir de 1988 el torneo se ha venido celebrando todos los años (a excepción de 1996 en el que la ciudad acogió el Campeonato del mundo de ajedrez femenino).

Brunello e Denis Rombaldoni a Cappelle Le Grande

Con i suoi 640 iscritti ha preso il via oggi, a Cappelle Le Grande (Francia), uno degli Open più frequentati dell'Europa occidentale. Il livello dei partecipanti non è certamente quello del concomitante Aeroflot, ma è garantita la presenza di una ventina di over 2600. Difenderanno i nostri colori i Maestri Internazionali Sabino Brunello e Denis Rombaldoni, alla caccia di una Norma GM.

Denis Rombaldoni è alla sua seconda partecipazione consecutiva in questa manifestazione. Nell'edizione del 2009 Denis partì alla grande battendo il GM Frolyanov, ma successivamente incappò in qualche passo falso concludendo, comunque, con un apprezzabile 5.5/9.

Dopo aver superato abbondantemente quota 2500 e aver sfiorato la terza norma GM, Sabino Brunello ha attraversato un periodo di leggero appannamento. Questo torneo potrebbe essere l'occasione giusta per rimettersi in marcia.

Partecipano al torneo altri due giocatori italiani: Felix Stips (2205) e Veronika Goi (1944).

In arrivo dal Moscow Open, anche quest'anno non farà mancare la sua presenza in questo torneo il Grande Maestro russo Igor Naumkin, simpatico e talentuoso giocatore spesso impegnato nei tornei italiani. 

E' prevista la trasmissione in diretta delle prime 20 scacchiere (visore in fondo a questo articolo)

I turno degli italiani

i nostri due Alfieri

Veronika Goi, unica giocatrice italiana in gara, mentre gioca alla cieca

foto tratta dalla galleria fotografica del settore arbitrale della FSI

Igor Naumkin

Preiscritti Over2600

Ivan Sokolov, numero uno del ranking di partenza

Jon Ludvig Hammer ha fatto la fortuna di molti fantallenatori nell'Europeo 2009

Parimarjan Negi, 6° nel Corus B 2010

la cinese Zhao Xue, giocatrice con l'elo più alto (2504)

Regolamento

Non sono ammesse le patte per accordo in meno di 20 mosse. In caso di arrivo in sede di gioco con oltre 30' di ritardo verrà decretata la sconfitta

Calendario si gioca dal 13 al 20 febbraio tutti i giorni alle ore 14 ad esclusione del primo turno, posticipato alle 16 e dell'ultimo, anticipato alle 10. Il giorno 15 si disputeranno due turni (3° e 4°), il primo alle ore 9 ed il secondo alle 17.

Sistema di accoppiamento viene utilizzato lo svizzero accelerato per 7 turni

Tempo di riflessione 90' x 40 mosse + 30' x terminare la partita + 30" di incremento per mossa dalla prima mossa.

un'immagine della sede di gioco tratta dal sito ufficiale

Siti Utili

sito ufficiale

articolo dell'edizione 2009 di runner

  31 over 2600 in gara!

Inizia oggi la “20 giorni moscovita”, con la sesta edizione dell’Open di Mosca che, ormai tradizionalmente, prelude al torneo Aeroflot (8 – 19 febbraio). L’ombra dell’open più forte del mondo  toglie forse un po’ di luce ad un Festival in realtà fantastico, con numeri da capogiro: circa 1300 gli scacchisti in gara, con un open femminile che raggiunge le 136 preiscritte e la presenza di 74 GM nel torneo principale, dei quali 31 over 2600!!

Il torneo si svolge presso l’Università Statale di Mosca. Suona bene questa collocazione in un tempio della cultura, abbastanza distante, invece e purtroppo, dalla nostra realtà. Si gioca dal 30 gennaio al 7 febbraio, sempre alle ore 16 (14 in Italia) tranne l’ultimo turno, previsto alle 11 (le nove da noi). Identico per tutti i tornei il tempo di gioco, 105 minuti per la partita più 30 secondi per mossa a partire dalla prima. Come sempre razionale e ben fatto il sito di riferimento http://www.moscowchessopen.ru/eng/index . Prevista la trasmissione online delle partite, con link non ancora segnalato ma che credo corrisponda al solito http://russiachess.org/online/ . Montepremi notevolissimo di oltre 5 milioni di rubli (circa 118.000 euro), con 500.000 rubli al vincitore del torneo A.

Sergei Rublevsky

I primi 20 del tabellone principale:

1 GM Rublevsky Sergei 2697 RUS 1974

2 GM Motylev Alexander 2697 RUS 1979

3 GM Bologan Viktor 2692 MDA 1971

4 GM Bu Xiangzhi 2673 CHN 1985

5 GM Georgiev Kiril 2672 BUL 1965

6 GM Zhigalko Sergei 2668 BLR 1989

7 GM Kurnosov Igor 2668 RUS 1985

8 GM Najer Evgeniy 2665 RUS 1977

9 GM Vescovi Giovanni 2660 BRA 1978

10 GM Lastin Alexander 2659 RUS 1976

11 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2658 RUS 1990

12 GM Sasikiran Krishnan 2653 IND 1981

13 GM Grachev Boris 2653 RUS 1986

14 GM Khismatullin Denis 2651 RUS 1984

15 GM Inarkiev Ernesto 2649 RUS 1985

16 GM Le Quang Liem 2647 VIE 1991

17 GM Bareev Evgeny 2643 RUS 1966

18 GM Kazhgaleyev Murtas 2643 KAZ 1973

19 GM Savchenko Boris 2638 RUS 1986

20 GM Andreikin Dmitry 2635 RUS 1990

Ernesto Inarkiev

Non pochi i giocatori che hanno già toccato quota 2700 in carriera. Grandissimo equilibrio comunque e gara pressoché impossibile da pronosticare. Un open così dovrebbe essere più adatto a giocatori che sanno rischiare e che riescono a trovare una buona vena nella gara, tuttavia un giocatore “solido” come Inarkiev, ad esempio, si è comportato benissimo sia nel 2008, nel gruppo dei secondi (alle spalle di Timofeev) dopo aver condotto il torneo con una impressionante serie di vittorie, sia nel 2009, sempre nel gruppetto dei secondi a mezzo punto dal vincitore Onishuk. D’altra parte, altrettanto buoni i risultati di un furente attaccante come Nepomniachtchi, anche lui a 7 su nove nel 2009 (e vincitore dell’Aeroflot 2008!).

"Nepo"

Sorprende un poco la discesa sotto i 2700 di Bu Xiangzhi ma il 24enne cinese ha relativamente ridotto la sua attività nel 2009, giocando peraltro meno spesso all’estero, forse in relazione ad impegni extra-scacchistici (magari qualche lettore ne sa di più). Se si è preparato per questa gara (e per il prossimo Aeroflot) Bu potrebbe essere da “pronosticare”. Notevole crescita nel recente periodo per il 19enne vietnamita Le Quang Liem, sicuramente talentuoso anche se non so se già abbastanza maturo e “roccioso” da sapersi imporre in un torneo così difficile. Fuori dai primi 20 in graduatoria Elo spiccano i nomi della Hou Yifan (2590) e del super creativo 17enne Sanan Sjugirov (2610). Non mancano poi grandi nomi, come Bareev, Andrei Sokolov, Evgeny Sveshnikov. Nonostante i ripetuti fallimenti nel fantascacchi, mi lancio comunque con un possibile podio: 1° Nepo, 2° Bu, 3° Rublevsky!

Bu Xiangzhi

Da notare la presenza di Igor Kurnosov, oggetto lo scorso anno all’Aeroflot di accuse di utilizzo di mezzi informatici da parte di Mamedyarov, duramente battuto nel confronto diretto e ritiratosi poi dalla gara; ne parlammo anche attraverso un’intervista a Mamedyarov di Ludwig Rettore, nostro corrispondente da Mosca (!! ) nelle ultime due edizioni. Non mi sembra che quest’anno Ludwig sia presente ma ripropongo l’introduzione al torneo che ci ha inviato nell’edizione 2009, del tutto attuale per trasportarci nella capitale degli scacchi:

Luwig Rettore impegnato contro il super GM Emil Sutowsky

"Agli amici di Scacchierando,

Mosca è indubbiamente la vera capitale degli scacchi, citare la meraviglia di questi due megaopen immancabilmente appaiati nel mese di febbraio sarebbe per me l’ennesima ripetizione e naturalmente non sono il solo esempio che premia e mette in luce la dedizione di questa città per la nostra amata arte. A tratti è proprio l’aria che si respira a fare la differenza, si vedono ragazzi in metrò presi da tattiche sfide sul cellulare, né è una rarità vedere gente intenta a risolvere l’ultimo problema sulla Shakmatnaia Nedelia, o su un qualche quotidiano russo. Per di più si tratta spesso di problemi che escono dalla nostra un po’ labile mentalità scacchistica in quanto non tendono necessariamente a combinazioni da matto o a cospicui vantaggi di materiale bensì guarda un po’, a semplici vantaggi posizionali, al guadagno di un pedone o dei due alfieri, o ancora di una misera casa debole. Il testo si rivela essere sempre il bianco muove ( e perciò non necessariamente vince!) inducendo perciò il solutore a immedesimarsi nella partita, e a cercare la verità in ogni ambito dell’arte scacchistica, in ogni parte dell’universo della scacchiera. Insomma andare a caccia anche di quei cosiddetti ‘vantaggi minori’ rientra nella tipica logica della scuola russa e porta ad apprezzarne forse ancor più globalmente il gioco e perciò a migliorarsi… (Un consiglio per i nostri mitici direttori Messa e Capece…)

Ma a proposito di bella aria che si respira, io mi reco spesso allo sgangherato circolo dell’Oktiabrskaia club (con le sedie senza schienale e i re senza croce) a due passi dal monumento di Lenin. Qui i tornei lampo sono all’insegna dei grandi maestri e talvolta anche dei grandi nomi, una fortuna che ovviamente si possono permettere data la vastità di GM. Anzi… vedendone sempre di nuovi viene da chiedersi: ma quanti ve ne sono nella sola Mosca? Una domanda che rimbalzo a Runner and company…

Beh per stavolta ho messo più in luce lo sfondo che i tornei in sé data ahimé, la carenza di italiani disposti a parteciparvi quest’anno. Niente Caruana, niente Brunello… (presenti all’Aeroflot 2008 - ndr) quasi niente, nell’Aeroflot a dire il vero vi sarò soltanto io mentre nell’Open di Mosca sarò accompagnato appena da un altro paio di italiani nell’Open B. Ovviamente niente di sufficiente a destare troppo interesse… eppure…eppure pensandoci bene un bel nome in grado di difendere i nostri colori e a farci sognare c’è, soprattutto ricordando quello che ha fatto l’anno scorso e di come gioiva non solo per i risultati eccellenti ottenuti ma anche, ancor più, per il vostro apporto! Avete capito di chi sto parlando?…"

Na zdarovia!

Ludwig Rettore

Non mi sembra ci siano italiani in gara in questa edizione 2010 ma il “nostro” Igor Naumkin (autore di un magnifico torneo nel 2008) c’è anche quest’anno!

Se poi vogliamo affidarci ad un’assonanza italiana per tifare possiamo puntare l’attenzione su Giovanni Vescovi, anche se a parte il nome non ho idea di quanto vicina e avvertita sia la sua ascendenza italiana. Vescovi, 31 anni, è diventato IM a 15 anni e GM a 20, entrando nella top 100 mondiale nel 2001 e superando la soglia dei 2600 nel 2002, pur contemperando l’attività scacchistica con gli studi giuridici. Tra i suoi migliori risultati la vittoria nel torneo delle Bermuda del 2004, doppio girone a sei giocatori in cui ha superato Gelfand, Movsesian, Iordachescu, Shabalov e Macieja, concludento imbattuto con 7 su 10. Nel dicembre 2006 la decisione di lasciare il professionismo per dedicarsi alla carriera legale. Tuttavia, incoraggiato da familiari ed amici, lo scorso giugno ha scelto di dedicarsi completamente all’attività scacchistica, con l’obiettivo dichiarato di superare i 2700. Ha vinto il suo settimo titolo brasiliano lo scorso dicembre ma ha avuto una prova sofferta in prima scacchiera nel recente World Team Chess Championship. Questo Moscow Open é una occasione, peraltro non facile, per ritrovare fiducia.

Il pluricampione brasiliano Giovanni Vescovi

Every chess player, no matter how weak, has a high point in his career. Mine occurred in May 2007, during the last round of the Dutch Team Chess Championship. I was playing in the Master League, the highest level in Dutch chess, and I was surrounded by all the top players of The Netherlands. Moreover, I had prepared a spectacular line which was sure to make the headlines the next day. In reality, I was displaying typical amateur behaviour.

During the first moves, I was king of the world; never felt better. Everything went according to plan. From the outside, it looked as if we got a sharp position on the board, full of chances for both players. To be sure, everybody was looking at my game. What could go wrong? Yet it was then that it all went horribly wrong.

My opponent was the talented youngster Wouter Spoelman, now a respected GM who recently did live commentary for ChessVibes during the Tal Memorial. In a sharp Najdorf main line, I had ‘prepared’ an obscure variation which would guarantee me interesting play against the uncastled black king, and with my opponent unprepared, I hoped to achieve at least a draw and, most  importantly, gain the respect from my teammates, including several grandmasters. It wasn’t to be.

Moll-Spoelman
Dutch League, 2007

In this position, instead of the usual 14.f6, I played the little-analysed

14.g6!? and immediately got up from my chair. I walked around for a while and saw that Ivan Sokolov was studying my position with some interest. I also saw that my opponent had never looked at this move before as he buried his head in his hands and started thinking for almost 45 minutes. In the mean time, I walked around, ordered several coffees, chatted with friends and enjoyed life. When I finally came back to the board, I saw that my opponent had played the expected

14…hxg6 I remembered that John Nunn, in his seminal The Complete Najdorf: 6.Bg5 now gave 15.fxg6 fxg6 16.b4 Na4 17.Nxa4 bxa4 18.e5! leading to extremely complex play, as in the game Markzon-DeFirmian, New York 1991, which I had thorougly looked at in my preparations. So I instantly played what is in retrospect the most stupid move of my entire chess career:

15.fxg6?? and went in total shock after Spoelman played

15…0-0!! … brutally ending my preparation by playing a novelty Nunn failed to mention and, more importantly, which I had failed to analyse beforehand. I immediately felt I was now lost in a higher sense: black’s king is safe, he has an extra center pawn, a lead in development and apart from an isolated e-pawn, my pieces just don’t coordinate at all. I cursed myself for my sloppy homework and my horrible attitude of walking around and being proud of myself instead of thinking about the game. Most of all, I realized how utterly untalented I was in ‘feeling chess’, in recognizing crucial moments and sensing the ‘momentum’, especially in such an important game. I felt utterly amateurish in such a professional setting, and I was truly ashamed of myself. 

Of course, if I had actually thought for a few minutes at move 15, I would have played 15.fxe6! regardless of what Nunn had written, if only because Black can’t castle after that in view of the threat Nd5. Now, however, after the subsequent 16.Qh5 fxg6 17.Qxg6 Bf6 Black was already better and won easily in 32 moves. It was to be my last game in the Master League, and I think I still haven’t fully recovered since. I’m a ‘mere’ chess amateur now - always was destined to be one – and all I have of that period is a few good memories of playing at a level where I totally didn’t belong.

Well, to be honest I had it coming. My ‘preparation’ consisted of checking Nunn’s book and looking at a few possibilities in the DeFirmian game. I hadn’t really studied the tactical nuances of the position at all, let alone its strategical characteristics. I simply lacked the time to do more than I did, but I was also lazy. In short, I lacked both time and interest. I guess I just wasn’t that into chess anymore.

Secondly, I found the fact that I was playing together with these top players in one room more important than actually winning the game. I was playing chess for all the wrong reasons: not because I wanted to have success, but because I wanted to be successful. I wanted to enjoy chess instead of playing it well. And thirdly, of course, I just lacked the talent to turn the game around after seeing it go wrong. In fact, I didn’t even believe in being able to turn it around.  I played a few weak moves right after the crucial stage and found myself lost before I knew it. 

Why am I telling you all this? I think the three factors I’ve mentioned quite accurarely define amateur chess life in general. I thought about this during a project management course in which the teacher showed us the following picture:

This dilemma (here applied to restaurants) is also known as the Project Triangle, which states a project can’t be done cheap, fast and good: it’s always a combination of two, not three of these. Similar examples can be found in other fields, such as operation systems (fast, efficient, stable), engineering parts (strong, light, cheap), dateable men (handsome, high-Earner, faithful) and, inevitably, women (single, sane, sexy, smart – choose three). 

Can this principle also be applied to chess? Well, a club member of mine has long ago suggested that for chess players, it’s impossible to be succesful in relationships, work and chess all at the same time. But what about more specific chess-related aspects? Looking at the above example, I came up with the following ‘Chess Triangle’:

Pick any two. It’s funny how this triangle works for me: I can have fun and not spend time studying chess, but I will lose games as a result of this relaxed attitude and therefore not be successful. Or I can enjoy chess and aim to be successful, but it requires hard work and there’s no way to take it easy. Finally, I can relax and be successful, but at the very least it forces me to play systematic, mechanical and – to me – dull chess; trustworthy openings I know like the back of my hand, instead of experimenting with interesting new ideas.

I think this pretty much works for most chess players, but some seem to defy the rule gloriously. Levon Aronian seems a case in point. The Armenian super-GM has a reputation of not being a hard worker at all. He seems the ultimate example of the relaxed chess player who’s still successful and has fun playing. Asked about the single most important factor in his current success, he answered: “Pure luck”. This seems to echo Artur Rubinstein, arguably the greatest pianist of the 20th century, who once proclaimed: “It is said of me that when I was young I divided my time impartially among wine, women and song. I deny this categorically. Ninety percent of my interests were women.”

Aronian likes to sleep late and has claimed to be “lazy” in his opening preparation. Is he the Rubinsteinian exception that proves the rule? Perhaps, but I, for one, do not believe for a single second that he doesn’t prepare his ass off, together with Gabriel Sargissian, when he faces the big guys. Apart from his reputation of being lazy, Aronian, just like Rubinstein, also has a reputation of being ironic in his answers - perhaps to disguise his true intentions, perhaps because he equates being serious with being boring.

Looking at some of Aronian’s colleagues, however, it’s easy to see hard work is a necessary part of being succesful in chess even for those who could theoretically compensate it with sheer talent. This is the same message Malcolm Gladwell brings home in his recent book Outliers: it’s all about hard work, or: practice, practice, practice. (Gladwell mentions both chess and music as clear examples.) Sadly, that’s exactly what chess amateurs like me lack: time to practice. Even ignoring the fact that most amateurs, including myself, lack any talent for the game, it’s simply a matter of not having enough time to spend on chess, resulting in such awful things as my game against Spoelman.

Like so many others, I try to compensate it by telling myself it’s all about “having fun” and “taking it easy”, but somehow it feels bad when the results don’t follow. No matter how hard I convince myself of the opposite, I still feel positively annoyed whenever I lose. Then again, I don’t want to play ’solid’ or ’safe’ chess and at least avoid the worst kind of catastrophes. I want to have fun in chess, not only by scoring good results but also by playing itself.  But maybe this, too, is over-ambitious.

I’ve often wondered whether a chess ‘pro’ like Vladimir Epishin, who used to play in about every European tournament imaginable, routinely grinding amateurs down in the first three rounds only to start playing seriously against his colleagues in later rounds – whether he actually enjoys chess as a game. Sure, he often wins prizes and he works hard for it, but that’s preciesely the point: it’s work for him (and many others), but where’s the fun in playing? Does he enjoy trying out a new idea in the Sicilian? Somehow, I have my doubts.

I am reminded of Andre Agassi, one of my teenage tennis-heroes, who recenlty stated (in his autobiography) that he hated tennis during his most succesful period. (And he wasn’t alone: his wife, Steffi Graf, used to hate it, too.) Again, the triangle seems to work not only for amateurs but for most (chess) players I can think of. You can’t have fun and relax and be successful at the same time – come to think of it, this is especially true for professionals.

Well then, may it be a consolation for us patzers! We’ll remain amateurs for the rest of our lives – and boy, don’t we hate it? – but at least we get to choose whether we want to have fun, to relax or to be succesful (at least to a certain extent). Against Spoelman, I chose to relax, and got kicked for it hard. Andre Agassi didn’t have that option. Sometimes being an amateur isn’t so bad after all.

• The Openings Explained: The Sicilian Dragon, Levenfish Attack [B71] by NM Abby Marshall at ChessCafe
• The Verdict by Andrew Martin at JeremySilman.com
• Blitz #165 vs daviv52 (1904) by Kingscrusher at Letsplaychess.com
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE3k0BrcNJw
  A smashing game with an interesting idea in the Levenfish for White, meeting Flohr's 6...Nbd7 with 7.Qe2!? trying to force through the e5 push.
• Sicilian, Dragon, Levenfish Variation (B71) at Chessgames.com

• Shankland Teaches the Najdorf 6.f4 at Chess.com
  A preview of a Chess.com video, available to subscribers, which begins laying out the basic ideas for White and Black in the Najdorf and the ideas behind 6.f4, recommending 6...e5 7.Nf3 Nbd7 8.a4 as the natural continuation.
• Sicilian Najdorf, 6.f4 (B93) at Chessgames.com
  
• Sokolov Playing Sicilian Najdorf 6.f4 (B93)
  A great selection of Andrei Sokolov's games which offer a very good repertoire. 
• Victor Kupreichik playing Sicilian B56 at Chessgames
• B82: Sicilian, Scheveningen, 6.f4 at 365Chess.com
  

• The Comeback of the e5 Sicilians by Stefan Bücker
  This article not only covers our preferred variation but also throws in great coverage of the Lowenthal (5...a6) and Haberditz (5...Nf6 6.N1c3 h6!?) The focus is, however, on the tricky 8...Nb8 9.Qf3!? of Paragua - Poliakov, Goa India 2002 and Solleveld-Alekseev, Santo Domingo 2003.  The line was discussed in SOS #1 by Jeroen Bosch. Bücker offers an important improvement on earlier analysis that might just make this line viable for human players despite what some "Centaur analysis" might suggest.  In any case, it is good also to know the more positional variations discussed below.
• Opening Lanes #33 by Gary Lane
  Covers the tricky 9.Qf3!? line.
  
• Chess Knowledge Base Forum
  Analysis of the tricky 8...Nb8 9.Qf3!?
  
• Eduard Gufeld, 1936-2002, by Jack Peters
  In his obituary, Peters analyzes the game Gufeld - Ivanovich, Soci 1979.
  
• Kuperozov - Schipkov, Hungarian Ch 1990 by Boris Schipkov
• Eismont - Schipkov, Team Match 1982 by Boris Schipkov
• Vink - Harikrishna, Corus 2001 by Boris Schipkov
• Dvoirys - Heedt, Biel 2005
  A useful GM-amateur game that shows the ideal situation for White in this line -- though it involves the idea of a4-a5 instead of the c4 that I advocate.
  

• Paulsen System with Bd3 by IM Zoran Ilic
  From the Archives, features White playing an early Be3 and Bd3 against Black's e6 system.
• Friedel - Zivanic, USCL San Francisco - Dallas 2009 analyzed by John Donaldson -- compare also his notes at the team's blog.
• Friedel - De Jong, Hoogeveen 2009 analyzed by Ljubomir Kavalek
• Friedel - De Jong, Hoogeveen 2009 annotated by Jack Peters

Battsetseg - Finn
Black to play.

• Semi-Finals by IM John Donaldson
  Offers some insightful speculation about the line-ups for next week.
• Quarterfinals Game of the Week
  GM Giorgi Kacheishvili -- NY's top board -- wins for his victory over Larry Christiansen.
  
• "Knockouts Win and Draw in Quarterfinal" by Robert Bernard
• Quarterfinals Photos by Masako Uesugi
  
• NJ Knockouts Blog
• NJ Knockouts on Twitter
• NJ Knockouts on Facebook
• US Chess League
• US Chess League News

GM Julio Granda

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

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

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

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

Listado de Participantes torneo magistral:

 Clasificación tras la 4ª ronda:

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

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

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

Granda se ha quedado con la pareja de alfiles.

20…Td3 21.Db2 a5

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

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

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

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

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

Ahora la torre está obligada a tomar.

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

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

20.g3

Posición después de 20.g3

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

20…Dg6

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

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

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

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

41.Tbb1

Esto, por desgracia, es una necesidad.

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

52…Rh7 53.Tc7 Txg3+

0–1

Construcción histórica en Pamplona

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Last month he turned 19, and today Magnus Carlsen officialy became the official world’s number one player. On the January 1st FIDE rating list the Norwegian as a rating of 2810, 5 points more than Veselin Topalov, who had occupied the number 1 spot since October 2008.

After winning the London Chess Classic with three wins and four draws it was a fact: Magnus Carlsen would become the youngest world’s number one in chess history. Thanks to the “live list” by Hans Arild Runde (which you can also find in the far right column on this website) everyone could already see how the top rankings would look like, and today this became official due to FIDE’s publication of the January list.

World Champion Viswanathan Anand won 2 points and is still in third place; after the Tal Memorial and London Vladimir Kramnik surpassed Levon Aronian to become 4th. Vassily Ivanchuk is back in the top 10, and Wang Yue entered for the first time – the Chinese GM is now the world’s 9th player. After a successful period, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is 11th now. Leko and Morozevich dropped out of the top 10.

Frenchman Vachier-Lagrave, just two months older than Carlsen, has now entered the top 20 while another former prodigy, Sergei Karjakin, dropped out – but let’s not forget he’ll be defending his Corus title soon. Vladimir Malakhov’s successful period resulted in a rise from spot 31 to 22. Without getting too much attention, Zoltan Almasi and David Navara occupy the excellent spots 26 and 27.

A disappointing London Chess Classic cost Nigel Short his 2700+ rating but he’s still just England’s best player at 2696; Michael Adams is now one spot below him at 2694. 17-year-old Fabiano Caruana did well again and climbed no less than 30 places; from spot 81 to 51. Another young player did even better: 18-year-old Sergei Zhigalko went from 93 to 58. New in the top 100 compared to the previous list are Ian Nepomniachtchi (69th), Wesley So (77th), Viktor Laznicka (84th), Le Quang Liem (93rd) Tomi Nyback (97th) and Evgeny Bareev (98th).

In the women’s list again the top 3 didn’t change; the difference between Judit Polgar and Humpy Koneru is now 68 points. Nadezhda Kosintseva climbed from 9th to 5th while Alexandra Kosteniuk and Kateryna Lahno are back into the top 10. Nana Dzagnidze dropped out from 4th place all the way to 14th.

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

Rank		Old	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games
	1	2	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2810 (+9)	16 (+6)
	2	1	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2805 (-5)	4 (-6)
	3	3	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2790 (+2)	9 (+9)
	4	5	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2788 (+16)	16 (+16)
	5	4	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2781 (-5)	17 (+4)
	6	7	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2761 (+3)	25 (+14)
	7	6	Gashimov, Vugar	g	AZE	2759 (+1)	21 (+10)
	8	12	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2749 (+10)	13 (0)
	9	16	Wang, Yue	g	CHN	2749 (+15)	8 (-19)
	10	8	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2744 (-10)	27 (+10)
	11	19	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2741 (+22)	19 (-6)
	12	9	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2739 (-13)	9 (-1)
	13	13	Ponomariov, Ruslan	g	UKR	2737 (-2)	25 (+20)
	14	17	Eljanov, Pavel	g	UKR	2736 (+7)	14 (-1)
	15	14	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2736 (0)	8 (-5)
	16	11	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2733 (-15)	13 (+3)
	17	10	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2732 (-18)	19 (+19)
	18	23	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2730 (+12)	21 (+21)
	19	15	Jakovenko, Dmitry	g	RUS	2730 (-6)	17 (+7)
	20	20	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2723 (+4)	19 (+1)
	21	18	Karjakin, Sergey	g	RUS	2720 (-3)	12 (0)
	22	31	Malakhov, Vladimir	g	RUS	2716 (+10)	15 (-11)
	23	28	Wang, Hao	g	CHN	2715 (+7)	10 (-3)
	24	34	Bacrot, Etienne	g	FRA	2713 (+13)	18 (-9)
	25	21	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	g	CUB	2712 (-7)	4 (+4)
	26	33	Almasi, Zoltan	g	HUN	2710 (+6)	7 (-8)
	27	30	Navara, David	g	CZE	2708 (+1)	15 (+6)
	28	24	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2708 (-7)	7 (-10)
	29	22	Movsesian, Sergei	g	SVK	2708 (-10)	2 (-14)
	30	27	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	g	RUS	2705 (-3)	14 (-7)
	31	26	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	g	ESP	2705 (-6)	10 (-10)
	32	39	Jobava, Baadur	g	GEO	2704 (+8)	15 (+15)
	33	25	Alekseev, Evgeny	g	RUS	2703 (-12)	13 (+6)
	34	32	Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	g	UZB	2702 (-3)	2 (-3)
	35	40	Motylev, Alexander	g	RUS	2697 (+2)	6 (-17)
	36	37	Rublevsky, Sergei	g	RUS	2697 (0)	4 (-13)
	37	38	Nielsen, Peter Heine	g	DEN	2697 (0)	0 (-10)
	38	29	Short, Nigel D	g	ENG	2696 (-11)	7 (-9)
	39	36	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2694 (-4)	17 (+5)
	40	41	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	2693 (-2)	6 (-10)
	41	42	Vitiugov, Nikita	g	RUS	2692 (-2)	8 (-16)
	42	44	Volokitin, Andrei	g	UKR	2692 (+1)	8 (-8)
	43	43	Bologan, Viktor	g	MDA	2692 (0)	6 (-18)
	44	45	Naiditsch, Arkadij	g	GER	2687 (-2)	13 (-13)
	45	46	Miroshnichenko, Evgenij	g	UKR	2686 (0)	0 (-26)
	46	48	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2682 (+2)	4 (-2)
	47	50	Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	g	ROU	2681 (+4)	12 (-2)
	48	51	Sargissian, Gabriel	g	ARM	2680 (+4)	12 (-4)
	49	35	Akopian, Vladimir	g	ARM	2678 (-22)	10 (+3)
	50	49	Moiseenko, Alexander	g	UKR	2677 (0)	0 (-17)
	51	81	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2675 (+23)	18 (-3)
	52	47	Bu, Xiangzhi	g	CHN	2673 (-9)	6 (-16)
	53	54	Georgiev, Kiril	g	BUL	2672 (0)	0 (-13)
	54	53	Harikrishna, P.	g	IND	2672 (0)	0 (-16)
	55	78	Fressinet, Laurent	g	FRA	2670 (+17)	12 (-2)
	56	62	Areshchenko, Alexander	g	UKR	2670 (+6)	6 (-10)
	57	52	Onischuk, Alexander	g	USA	2670 (-2)	4 (-14)
	58	93	Zhigalko, Sergei	g	BLR	2668 (+22)	13 (+13)
	59	65	Smirin, Ilia	g	ISR	2668 (+6)	11 (-5)
	60	58	Kurnosov, Igor	g	RUS	2668 (+2)	10 (-10)
	61	59	Najer, Evgeniy	g	RUS	2665 (-1)	4 (-13)
	62	61	Tiviakov, Sergei	g	NED	2662 (-2)	2 (-32)
	63	67	Riazantsev, Alexander	g	RUS	2661 (0)	0 (-16)
	64	91	Vescovi, Giovanni	g	BRA	2660 (+12)	20 (+1)
	65	55	Cheparinov, Ivan	g	BUL	2660 (-11)	15 (+10)
	66	66	Berkes, Ferenc	g	HUN	2659 (-2)	9 (-12)
	67	70	Lastin, Alexander	g	RUS	2659 (+3)	4 (-7)
	68	79	Meier, Georg	g	GER	2658 (+5)	12 (+2)
	69	-	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	g	RUS	2658 (+)	10 (+)
	70	92	Beliavsky, Alexander G	g	SLO	2657 (+9)	18 (+1)
	71	56	Efimenko, Zahar	g	UKR	2657 (-11)	10 (-14)
	72	60	Ni, Hua	g	CHN	2657 (-8)	10 (-25)
	73	88	Smeets, Jan	g	NED	2657 (+7)	10 (-7)
	74	57	Sutovsky, Emil	g	ISR	2657 (-9)	9 (-17)
	75	68	Roiz, Michael	g	ISR	2657 (-2)	8 (+5)
	76	74	Avrukh, Boris	g	ISR	2656 (+1)	8 (+1)
	77	-	So, Wesley	g	PHI	2656 (+)	8 (+)
	78	69	Krasenkow, Michal	g	POL	2656 (0)	0 (-19)
	79	89	Fridman, Daniel	g	GER	2654 (+5)	8 (-7)
	80	75	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar	g	IND	2654 (0)	4 (-21)
	81	73	Baklan, Vladimir	g	UKR	2654 (-1)	2 (-30)
	82	80	Grachev, Boris	g	RUS	2653 (+1)	18 (-5)
	83	64	Sasikiran, Krishnan	g	IND	2653 (-11)	4 (-5)
	84	-	Laznicka, Viktor	g	CZE	2652 (+)	16 (+)
	85	86	Timofeev, Artyom	g	RUS	2652 (+1)	4 (-18)
	86	96	Khismatullin, Denis	g	RUS	2651 (+8)	16 (0)
	87	72	Dreev, Alexey	g	RUS	2650 (-5)	9 (-35)
	88	84	Sokolov, Ivan	g	BIH	2649 (-3)	12 (+1)
	89	94	Inarkiev, Ernesto	g	RUS	2649 (+4)	6 (-15)
	90	90	Seirawan, Yasser	g	USA	2649 (0)	2 (+1)
	91	99	Korobov, Anton	g	UKR	2648 (+6)	17 (+3)
	92	87	Postny, Evgeny	g	ISR	2648 (-2)	7 (-19)
	93	-	Le, Quang Liem	g	VIE	2647 (+)	20 (+)
	94	71	Pashikian, Arman	g	ARM	2647 (-9)	6 (-5)
	95	63	Landa, Konstantin	g	RUS	2645 (-19)	10 (-6)
	96	85	Milov, Vadim	g	SUI	2644 (-8)	6 (+1)
	97	-	Nyback, Tomi	g	FIN	2643 (+)	13 (+)
	98	-	Bareev, Evgeny	g	RUS	2643 (+)	10 (+)
	99	77	Kazhgaleyev, Murtas	g	KAZ	2643 (-10)	9 (-6)
	100	97	Socko, Bartosz	g	POL	2643 (0)	8 (-7)

FIDE JANUARY 2010 RATING LIST: TOP 100 WOMEN

Rank		Old	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games
	1	1	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2682 (+2)	4 (-2)
	2	2	Koneru, Humpy	g	IND	2614 (+11)	8 (+2)
	3	3	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2590 (+2)	14 (-16)
	4	5	Stefanova, Antoaneta	g	BUL	2545 (+4)	7 (-8)
	5	9	Kosintseva, Nadezhda	m	RUS	2533 (+15)	9 (-12)
	6	7	Cramling, Pia	g	SWE	2528 (+3)	4 (-2)
	7	6	Muzychuk, Anna	m	SLO	2523 (-9)	25 (-3)
	8	11	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	g	RUS	2523 (+6)	10 (+4)
	9	17	Lahno, Kateryna	g	UKR	2518 (+19)	16 (+10)
	10	8	Kosintseva, Tatiana	g	RUS	2515 (-7)	8 (-12)
	11	12	Chiburdanidze, Maia	g	GEO	2514 (0)	0 (-13)
	12	13	Ju, Wenjun	wg	CHN	2512 (+3)	4 (-44)
	13	10	Sebag, Marie	g	FRA	2510 (-8)	8 (-3)
	14	4	Dzagnidze, Nana	g	GEO	2506 (-41)	19 (-1)
	15	14	Zhao, Xue	g	CHN	2504 (-2)	4 (-37)
	16	18	Mkrtchian, Lilit	m	ARM	2503 (+11)	9 (-11)
	17	15	Pogonina, Natalija	wg	RUS	2501 (0)	0 (0)
	18	16	Danielian, Elina	m	ARM	2495 (-4)	11 (-13)
	19	21	Javakhishvili, Lela	m	GEO	2493 (+11)	7 (-16)
	20	22	Cmilyte, Viktorija	m	LTU	2489 (+9)	9 (+1)
	21	19	Hoang Thanh Trang	g	HUN	2487 (0)	0 (-6)
	22	23	Paehtz, Elisabeth	m	GER	2484 (+4)	9 (+3)
	23	24	Ruan, Lufei	wg	CHN	2479 (+4)	2 (-9)
	24	20	Xu, Yuhua	g	CHN	2478 (-5)	3 (-25)
	25	26	Harika, Dronavalli	m	IND	2471 (+4)	11 (-4)
	26	34	Gaponenko, Inna	m	UKR	2470 (+13)	16 (-14)
	27	29	Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan	g	SCO	2470 (+4)	9 (-4)
	28	32	Zhu, Chen	g	QAT	2470 (+7)	4 (-13)
	29	30	Qin, Kanying	wg	CHN	2466 (0)	0 (0)
	30	27	Zatonskih, Anna	m	USA	2466 (0)	0 (-16)
	31	33	Tan, Zhongyi	wg	CHN	2464 (+4)	3 (-22)
	32	31	Zhukova, Natalia	wg	UKR	2462 (-3)	8 (-1)
	33	39	Khotenashvili, Bela	m	GEO	2461 (+7)	8 (-17)
	34	25	Dembo, Yelena	m	GRE	2457 (-11)	8 (-12)
	35	37	Skripchenko, Almira	m	FRA	2456 (0)	0 (-5)
	36	35	Rajlich, Iweta	m	POL	2455 (-2)	13 (-7)
	37	42	Krush, Irina	m	USA	2455 (+4)	5 (-12)
	38	38	Tairova, Elena	m	RUS	2455 (0)	0 (-7)
	39	28	Ushenina, Anna	m	UKR	2452 (-14)	6 (-9)
	40	41	Hunt, Harriet V	m	ENG	2452 (0)	0 (0)
	41	36	Socko, Monika	g	POL	2450 (-7)	14 (0)
	42	46	Gunina, Valentina	wf	RUS	2448 (+2)	7 (-6)
	43	44	Korbut, Ekaterina	m	RUS	2448 (0)	0 (0)
	44	45	Muzychuk, Mariya	m	UKR	2447 (0)	0 (-12)
	45	47	Atalik, Ekaterina	m	TUR	2445 (0)	0 (0)
	46	40	Shen, Yang	wg	CHN	2444 (-8)	2 (-33)
	47	50	Foisor, Cristina-Adela	m	ROU	2440 (+5)	10 (-7)
	48	48	Huang, Qian	wg	CHN	2439 (-3)	3 (-23)
	49	52	Khukhashvili, Sopiko	m	GEO	2438 (+6)	7 (-8)
	50	57	Zhang, Xiaowen	wg	CHN	2437 (+15)	24 (-4)
	51	51	Repkova, Eva	m	SVK	2434 (0)	0 (-8)
	52	43	Romanko, Marina	m	RUS	2433 (-16)	6 (-5)
	53	49	Melia, Salome	m	GEO	2431 (-5)	9 (-4)
	54	55	Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina	m	RUS	2428 (+1)	4 (-9)
	55	60	Munguntuul, Batkhuyag	wg	MGL	2427 (+14)	15 (+1)
	56<
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/carlsen-officially-worlds-number-1-at-2810/
Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:22:56 +0000
Lista FIDE ufficiale 1 gennaio 2010
Magnus Carlsen Ecco i primi 100 giocatori della lista FIDE al 1° gennaio 2010 (Caruana è 51°): 1 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2810 16 1990 2 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2805 4 1975 3 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2790 9 1969 4 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2788 16 1975 5 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2781 17 1982 6 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2761 25 1968 7 Gashimov, Vugar g AZE 2759 21 1986 8 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2749 13 1969 9 Wang, Yue g CHN 2749 8 1987 10 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2744 27 1976 11 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2741 19 1985 12 Leko, Peter g HUN 2739 9 1979 13 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2737 25 1983 14 Eljanov, Pavel g UKR 2736 14 1983 15 Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2736 8 1983 16 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2733 13 1987 17 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2732 19 1977 18 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime g FRA 2730 21 1990 19 Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2730 17 1983 20 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2723 19 1972 21 Karjakin, Sergey g RUS 2720 12 1990 22 Malakhov, Vladimir g RUS 2716 15 1980 23 Wang, Hao g CHN 2715 10 1989 24 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2713 18 1983 25 Dominguez Perez, Leinier g CUB 2712 4 1983 26 Almasi, Zoltan g HUN 2710 7 1976 27 Navara, David g CZE 2708 15 1985 28 Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2708 7 1987 29 Movsesian, Sergei g SVK 2708 2 1978 30 Tomashevsky, Evgeny g RUS 2705 14 1987 31 Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2705 10 1982 32 Jobava, Baadur g GEO 2704 15 1983 33 Alekseev, Evgeny g RUS 2703 13 1985 34 Kasimdzhanov, Rustam g UZB 2702 2 1979 35 Motylev, Alexander g RUS 2697 6 1979 36 Rublevsky, Sergei g RUS 2697 4 1974 37 Nielsen, Peter Heine g DEN 2697 0 1973 38 Short, Nigel D g ENG 2696 7 1965 39 Adams, Michael g ENG 2694 17 1971 40 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2693 6 1974 41 Vitiugov, Nikita g RUS 2692 8 1987 42 Volokitin, Andrei g UKR 2692 8 1986 43 Bologan, Viktor g MDA 2692 6 1971 44 Naiditsch, Arkadij g GER 2687 13 1985 45 Miroshnichenko, Evgenij g UKR 2686 0 1978 46 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2682 4 1976 47 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter g ROU 2681 12 1976 48 Sargissian, Gabriel g ARM 2680 12 1983 49 Akopian, Vladimir g ARM 2678 10 1971 50 Moiseenko, Alexander g UKR 2677 0 1980 51 Caruana, Fabiano g ITA 2675 18 1992 52 Bu, Xiangzhi g CHN 2673 6 1985 53 Georgiev, Kiril g BUL 2672 0 1965 54 Harikrishna, P. g IND 2672 0 1986 55 Fressinet, Laurent g FRA 2670 12 1981 56 Areshchenko, Alexander g UKR 2670 6 1986 57 Onischuk, Alexander g USA 2670 4 1975 58 Zhigalko, Sergei g BLR 2668 13 1989 59 Smirin, Ilia g ISR 2668 11 1968 60 Kurnosov, Igor g RUS 2668 10 1985 61 Najer, Evgeniy g RUS 2665 4 1977 62 Tiviakov, Sergei g NED 2662 2 1973 63 Riazantsev, Alexander g RUS 2661 0 1985 64 Vescovi, Giovanni g BRA 2660 20 1978 65 Cheparinov, Ivan g BUL 2660 15 1986 66 Berkes, Ferenc g HUN 2659 9 1985 67 Lastin, Alexander g RUS 2659 4 1976 68 Meier, Georg g GER 2658 12 1987 69 Nepomniachtchi, Ian g RUS 2658 10 1990 70 Beliavsky, Alexander G g SLO 2657 18 1953 71 Efimenko, Zahar g UKR 2657 10 1985 72 Ni, Hua g CHN 2657 10 1983 73 Smeets, Jan g NED 2657 10 1985 74 Sutovsky, Emil g ISR 2657 9 1977 75 Roiz, Michael g ISR 2657 8 1983 76 Avrukh, Boris g ISR 2656 8 1978 77 So, Wesley g PHI 2656 8 1993 78 Krasenkow, Michal g POL 2656 0 1963 79 Fridman, Daniel g GER 2654 8 1976 80 Ganguly, Surya Shekhar g IND 2654 4 1983 81 Baklan, Vladimir g UKR 2654 2 1978 82 Grachev, Boris g RUS 2653 18 1986 83 Sasikiran, Krishnan g IND 2653 4 1981 84 Laznicka, Viktor g CZE 2652 16 1988 85 Timofeev, Artyom g RUS 2652 4 1985 86 Khismatullin, Denis g RUS 2651 16 1984 87 Dreev, Alexey g RUS 2650 9 1969 88 Sokolov, Ivan g BIH 2649 12 1968 89 Inarkiev, Ernesto g RUS 2649 6 1985 90 Seirawan, Yasser g USA 2649 2 1960 91 Korobov, Anton g UKR 2648 17 1985 92 Postny, Evgeny g ISR 2648 7 1981 93 Le, Quang Liem g VIE 2647 20 1991 94 Pashikian, Arman g ARM 2647 6 1987 95 Landa, Konstantin g RUS 2645 10 1972 96 Milov, Vadim g SUI 2644 6 1972 97 Nyback, Tomi g FIN 2643 13 1985 98 Bareev, Evgeny g RUS 2643 10 1966 99 Kazhgaleyev, Murtas g KAZ 2643 9 1973 100 Socko, Bartosz g POL 2643 8 1978
http://soloscacchi.altervista.org/?p=3390
Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:35:11 +0000
Hastings: dal 28 si lotta per la leggenda
Rubinstein, Alekhine, Capablanca, Euwe, Fine, Keres, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Spassky, Tal e Karpov, giusto per citare qualche nome, chi non darebbe un mese di stipendio per finire in questo albo d’oro alzi la mano! Eppure scopro con somma sorpresa che il campo dei partecipanti non è certamente all’altezza della storia del torneo, forse complice un primo premio di “sole” 2.000 sterline….. Hastings, amena località balneare nella costa meridionale dell’Inghilterra….beh, diciamo subito che a dicembre fare un bagno in quelle acque non è che sia il massimo, forse è meglio giocare a scacchi. Perchè la cartolina dice famosa dal 1066? Semplice, perchè nel 1066 vi si tenne una importante battaglia tra le truppe di Aroldo II Re degli Anglosassoni e Guglielmo II Duca di Normandia, che aveva in neri (cioè doveva invadere l’Inghilterra)  e che vinse con una brillante combinazione: “Guglielmo convinse i suoi a fingersi spaventati e, al successivo attacco, quando i Normanni cominciarono a ritirarsi, gran parte dei Sassoni si gettò all’inseguimento. Scesi dal colle, i cavalieri si voltarono e caricarono sulla scompigliata formazione nemica.” Dal 1066 passiamo direttamente al 1895, anno che vede il primo grande torneo di Hastings, non ancora  disputato nel periodo di Capodanno,  ma in pieno agosto, per la gioia degli accompagnatori che potevano fare il bagno. Quel memorabile torneo, al quale partecipò anche l’italiano Beniamino Vergani, si concluse con l’inatteso successo dello semi-sconosciuto americano Pillsbury davanti a tutti i più forti giocatori dell’epoca, Lasker, Steinitz, Cigorin e Tarrasch in testa. Nel 1919 si disputa un’altra edizione estiva, vinta da Capablanca (la terza ed ultima è del 1922 e vincerà Alekhine), e finalmente giungiamo all’inverno del 1920, quando parte la prima edizione a cadenza annuale, quella 1920/21, che vedrà il successo di Frederick Dewhurst Yates (foto sopra da Chessbase). Da allora ecco i vincitori: 1920/21 Yates 1967/68 Gheorghiu, Hort, Stein and Suetin 1921/22 Kostic 1968/69 Smyslov 1922/23 Rubinstein 1969/70 Portisch 1923/24 Euwe 1970/71 Portisch 1924/25 Maróczy, Przepiorka, Steiner and Tartakower 1971/72 Karpov and Kortschnoj 1925/26 Alekhine and Vidmar 1972/73 Larsen 1926/27 Tartakower 1973/74 Kuzmin, Szabó, Tal and Timman 1927/28 Tartakower 1974/75 Hort 1928/29 Colle, Marshall and Takacs 1975/76 Bronstein, Hort and Uhlmann 1929/30 Capablanca 1976/77 Romanishin 1930/31 Euwe 1977/78 Dzindzichashvili 1931/32 Flohr 1978/79 Andersson 1932/33 Flohr 1979/80 Andersson and Nunn 1933/34 Flohr 1980/81 Andersson 1934/35 Euwe, Thomas and Flohr 1981/82 Kupreichik 1935/36 Fine 1982/83 Vaganian 1936/37 Alekhine 1983/84 Karlsson and Speelman 1937/38 Reshevsky 1984/85 Sveshnikov 1938/39 Szabó 1985/86 Petersson 1939/40 Parr 1986/87 Chandler, Larsen, Lputian, Speelman 1945/46 Tartakower 1987/88 Short 1946/47 Alexander 1988/89 Short 1947/48 Szabó 1989/90 Dolmatov 1948/49 Rossolimo 1990/91 Bareev 1949/50 Szabó 1991/92 Bareev 1950/51 Unzicker 1992/93 Polgár and Bareev 1951/52 Gligoric 1993/94 Nunn 1952/53 Golombek, Medina, Penrose, Yanofsky 1994/95 Luther 1953/54 Alexander and Bronstein 1995/96 Conquest, Khalifman and Lalic 1954/55 Keres and Smyslov 1996/97 Hebden, Nunn and Rozentalis 1955/56 Kortschnoi and Olafsson 1997/98 Sadler 1956/57 Gligoric and Larsen 1998/99 I. Sokolov 1957/58 Keres 1999/00 Sutovsky 1958/59 Uhlmann 2000/01 Conquest and Sasikiran 1959/60 Gligoric 2001/02 Barsov, Harikrishna and Sasikiran 1960/61 Gligoric 2002/03 Nielsen 1961/62 Botvinnik 2003/04 Kotronias and Rowson 1962/63 Gligoric and Kotov 2004/05 Belov  (Knock-out) 1963/64 Tal 2005/06 Neverov  (sistema svizzero) 1964/65 Keres 2006/07 Gagunashvili and Neverov (svizzero) 1965/66 Spassky and Uhlmann 2007/08 Malakhatko (svizzero) 1966/67 Botvinnik 2008/09 Kurnosov (svizzero) Avete visto che nomi? Fino agli anni ‘90 la politica era quella di fare un torneo con pochi giocatori (normalmente 10), invitando qualche asso straniero e molti giovani britannici, ma negli ultimi anni dopo una edizione ad eliminazione diretta, si è passati al sistema svizzero, e purtroppo è diventato quasi impossibile convincere qualche forte giocatore a cimentarsi in un torneo-lotteria. Nella foto sopra (tratta dal bell’articolo “A Pilgrimage To Hastings 2003/4″ che trovate qui: hem.passagen.se/tjmisha/1066/hostings.html ) potete vedere una delle pareti del locale circolo scacchistico di Hastings, ricoperta di fotografie di campioni transitati da lì, e non sempre risultati vincitori. Questa è la sede di gioco, io sinceramente mi aspettavo uno di quegli enormi palazzi dell’800 tutto guglie……comunque qui si tengono l’open principale e gli altri tornei minori. Vediamo il campo dei partecipanti 2009/10, che poi non è così scarso, a cominciare da Yuri Drozdovskij, l’ukraino che vanta un punteggio Elo di 2625: DROZDOVSKIJ Yuri, UKR, gm, 2625 HRACEK Zbrynek, CZE, gm, 2624 EDOUARD Romain, FRA, gm, 2620 ISTRATESCU Andrei, ROU, gm, 2624 HOWELL David, ENG, gm, 2597 WILLIAMS Simon, ENG, gm, 2550 HEBDEN Mark, ENG, gm, 2522 ARKELL Keith, ENG, gm 2464 SHALNEV Nikolai, GER, gm, 2450 COLLINS Sam, IRL, im, 2431 PHILIPPE Christophe, FRA, im, 2430 BREDER Dennis, GER, im, 2427 GREET Andrew, ENG, im, 2423 MARTIN Andrew, ENG, im, 2423 ZDEBSKAJA Natalia, UKR, wgm, 2408 Quest’ultima è la signora del già citato GM ukraino. Come possiamo contare, 15 giocatori con un Elo superiore a 2400 punti, e sicuramente altri si aggiungeranno. Attenzione anche al talentuoso 19enne britannico David Howell (foto Chessbase sopra), che nel recente torneo di Londra è rimasto imbattuto con avversari del rango di Carlsen e di Kramnik, e che se non ha un calo di forma dovrebbe essere il naturale favorito. Durante lo svolgimento del torneo cercherò di aggiornarvi sulla situazione ed eventualmente presentarvi qualche bella partita.
http://soloscacchi.altervista.org/?p=2861
Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:32:34 +0000
The Big ChessVibes Christmas Trivia Quiz (part III of III)
Today we give you the third and last set of ten questions of our Big ChessVibes Christmas Trivia Quiz. Soon we’ll bring you all the answers. Good luck! Today questions 21-30. Send your answers before Sunday, December 27th, 23:59 CET to christmas09@chessvibes.com and who knows, you might end up winning one of the following prizes: Prizes First prize: 1-year subscription New in Chess Yearbook Second prize: 1-year subscription New in Chess Magazine Third prize: 1-year subscription Internet Chess Club (ICC) Big ChessVibes Christmas Trivia Quiz – Part III Before we start with the last ten questions, we’d like to make clear that you can answer your questions in whatever form you like. So if you prefer to use a text editor or spreadsheet program, and send an email with an attachment, that’s fine. Rider Hotel, Cambridge Springs 21. Many of you have probably heard of the Interzonal tournament that was held in 1973 in Petropolis, but do you also know in which country that city is located? 21A Combine the following ‘chess cities’ with the correct countries in 2009. Abazzia Bosnia & Herzegovina Barmen Brazil Breslau Germany Bugojno Italy Cambridge Springs Croatia Merano Austria Petropolis Poland Semmering United States A question about the above cities. True or not true? 21B Abazzia – here the famous theme tournament was held in 1912, where the Evans Gambit was the obligatory opening. 21C Barmen – this tournament (1905) had an official tournament song. 21D Breslau – birth place of Adolf Anderssen. 21E Bugojno – the main sponsor of these five tournaments was a stitching-machine factory. 21F Cambridge Springs – the Rider Hotel, where the famous 1904 tournament took place, burnt down completely during the Bay of Pigs incident in 1961. 21G Merano – the location of Nabokov’s The Luzhin Defence 21H Petropolis – Stefan Zweig, author of Die Schachnovelle, died here in 1942. 21I Semmering – the 1937 World Championship match between Vera Menchik and Sonja Graf took place here, in the Panhans Hotel. 22. Of all chess players, Marcel Duchamp is by far the most famous for activities outside the chess world. Besides playing chess, the following persons have another career, in art, science, politics or a different kind of sports. Make the correct connections! Utut Adianto economist at the IMF Simen Agdestein electro technician Nona Gaprindashvili minister Alexander Grischuk papyrologist Robert Hübner member of parliament Bozidar Ivanovic pianist Cenek Kottnauer poker player Kenneth Rogoff tennis player Mark Taimanov chairman national Olympic committee Sir George Thomas soccer player Milan Vidmar water polo player 23. Where were they buried? Alexander Alekhine Amsterdam Marcel Duchamp Budapest Max Euwe Copenhagen Bobby Fischer New Orleans Emanuel Lasker New York Geza Maroczy New York Paul Morphy Paris Aaron Nimzovich Rouen Rudolf Spielmann Selfoss Wilhelm Steinitz Solna 24. In January 2009, at 15 years, 7 months and 1 day Anish Giri became the youngest Grandmaster in the world. Well, on that day he scored his 3rd GM norm; he received the title officially a bit later. 24A Who was the youngest GM before Giri, and who became the youngest GM after him? 24B Traditionally the list of youngest GMs in history starts with Bobby Fischer, who became a GM in 1958, when he was 15 years, 6 months and 1 day old. However, this list of youngest grandmasters ever (so not the youngest GM at a certain moment in the world, but youngest ever) contains ten names, and one of them is Fischer. Give this list of ten names in the correct order. 25. The grandmaster tournament Kiev 1978 was won by Alexander Beliavsky, who, despite losses against the number 2 and 3, won the tournament with a 2-point margin. However, the tournament became famous because of something else: the tournament book. What was so special about this book? 26. We know the player in the picture as a strong grandmaster. In Iceland, however, he’s mainly known as the founder and president of the only Icelandic bank that didn’t collapse in 2008. What’s his name (and the name of the bank)? 27. In the picture we see Ton Timman playing against his more famous brother Jan. Below you’ll find duos; eight of these duos are siblings, eight are not. Which eight duos are siblings? Espen/Simen Agdestein John/Paul Littlewood Georgy/Viacheslav Agzamov Turkan/Zeinab Mamedjarova Daniel/Rafael Fridman Alisa/Mirjana Maric Krum/Kiril Georgiev Predrag/Nebojsa Nikolic Ilya/Dmitry Gurevich Boris/Ruslan Ponomariov Mikhail/Vladimir Gurevich Nigel/Philip Short Csaba/Jozsef Horvath Igor/Alexander Zaitsev Edward/Emanuel Lasker Andrei/Sergei Zhigalko 28. In this video you can see on of the most successful table tennis players today (red shirt). But what is his name? 28A Bu Xiangzhi 28B Ni Hua 28C Wang Hao 28D Wang Yue 29. There are not many players who represented three different federations at Olympiads. From the following list of players, pick the two players who do not belong to this small group: Alexander Beliavsky, Erich Eliskases, Boris Gelfand, Mikhail Gurevich, Viktor Korchnoi, Zdenko Kozul, Ivan Sokolov. 30. Chess journalism – which names belong to which media? Leonard Barden Columnist El País Frederic Friedel Columnist The Guardian Leontxo Garcia Editor Chessbase (English) Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam Editor Chessbase (Spanish) Mark Gluhovsky Editor 64 Dirk Poldauf Editor British Chess Magazine John Saunders Editor Chess Life Online Jennifer Shahade Editor New in Chess Magazine Yuri Vasiliev Editor Schach Nadja Woisin Photographer Sport-Express That’s it! Soon we’ll give the prizes to the best participants, and publish the answers. Feel free to discuss the quiz in the comments, but needless to say, no answers please!
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/the-big-chessvibes-christmas-trivia-quiz-part-iii-of-iii/
Sat, 26 Dec 2009 11:53:51 +0000
Memorial “Mikhail Tal” 2009 (3)
Tercera ronda: Anand-Svidler. ¡Cómo preveíamos!. Hoy se dieron tres partidas preciosas. De momento me quedo con la de Anand, pero las victorias de Aronian sobre Leko y sobre todo la de Krámnik, con negras, sobre Morozevich no desmerecen en absoluto. Hoy “Miguel Tal” estaría muy contento de su torneo (!?). Anand pareció que sacó poco de la apertura contra Svidler, pero pronto movió un caballo de tres alfil rey a dos torre para provocar f2-f4 y f4-f5 que hizo las delicias del público presente. A mi se me pareció esta partida a un gran combate de boxeo entre dos pesos pesados, cuando uno de ellos impone su ley, ¡con pegada directa!, que deja “groggy” al rival hasta mandarlo posteriormente al suelo tras un par de golpes más al mentón. Pasen, vean y repito, ¡tampoco se pierdan la victoria de Krámnik!. Sin duda, el torneo se pone ahora bonito!.      Anand,V (2788) - Svidler,P (2754) [D85] Memorial Tal Moscow (3), 07.11.2009 [Jimenez,A sobre notas de ICC y Rybka] 1.d4 Cf6 2.c4 g6 3.Cc3 d5 Defensa Grunfeld. 4.cxd5 Variante del Cambio. 4...Cxd5 5.Ad2!? Preparación casera para intentar batir la defensa favorita del rival. [5.e4] 5...Ag7 6.e4 Cb6 [6...Cxc3] 7.Ae3 0-0 8.h3 Para evitar la molesta clavada ...Ag4. [8.Ae2; 8.f4] 8...e5 [8...f5; 8...Cc6] 9.Cf3! exd4 [9...Cc6] 10.Axd4 Axd4 11.Dxd4 De7 Las negras no quieren entregar tan fácil el control de la columna "c" a las blancas, algo que sucedería en caso de cambiar en "d4". [11...Cc6 12.De3 Ae6 13.Td1 De7 14.Ad3 Cc4 15.Dc1 Db4 16.b3 C4e5 17.Cxe5 Cxe5 18.0-0 Tad8 19.Ab1 Dc5 20.Db2 Cf3+ 21.gxf3 Dg5+ 22.Rh1 Dh5 23.Cd5 Txd5 24.Txd5 Dxf3+ 25.Rg1 Axh3 26.Tg5 Axf1 27.Rxf1 Td8 28.Td5 Txd5 29.exd5 Dd1+ 30.Rg2 Dg4+ 1/2-1/2 Sokolov,I (2691)-Eljanov,P (2639)/Gothenburg 2005] 12.De3 [12.Ae2 Cc6 13.De3 Ae6 14.0-0 Tad8 1/2-1/2 Broomfield,M (2362)-Lalic,B (2509)/Coulsdon 2007] 12...Cc6 [12...f5 13.Ae2 fxe4 14.Cxe4 Af5 15.Cc5 Dxe3 16.fxe3 C8d7 17.Cxb7 Tae8 18.0-0 Txe3 19.Tae1 Ae4 20.Ca5 Ad5 21.b3 Cc5 22.Ab5 Txe1 23.Cxe1 Ce4 24.Txf8+ Rxf8 25.Ac6 Re7 26.Axd5 Cxd5 27.Cd3 Cdc3 28.a4 Rd6 29.Cc4+ Rd5 30.Cb4+ Rd4 31.Cc6+ Rc5 32.C4e5 Rd5 33.a5 a6 34.g4 g5 35.Rg2 Cb5 36.b4 Cbd6 37.h4 gxh4 38.Rh3 h6 39.Rxh4 Cc8 40.Rh5 Cf6+ 41.Rh4 Cd6 42.Rg3 Cfe4+ 43.Rf4 Cc3 44.Cb8 c5 45.Cxa6 cxb4 46.Cxb4+ Rc5 47.Cec6 Cc4 48.a6 Cb5 49.Rg3 Rb6 50.Rh4 Ce3 51.Rg3 Cc7 52.a7 Rb7 53.Rf4 Cxg4 54.Rxg4 Cb5 55.Rh5 Cxa7 56.Rxh6 Cxc6 1/2-1/2 Sokolov,I (2691)-Sutovsky,E (2674)/Gothenburg 2005] 13.Ab5 Diagram 13...Cb4N [13...f5 14.Axc6 bxc6 15.exf5 Dxe3+ 16.fxe3 Axf5 17.0-0 Tae8 18.Tae1 Ad3 19.Tf2 Cd5 20.Td2 Ae4 21.Cxe4 Txe4 22.Td3 Tfe8 23.Rf2 a5 24.Cd2 Cb4 25.Td7 T4e7 26.Txe7 Txe7 27.Tb1 Te5 28.a3 Cd3+ 29.Re2 Cf4+ 30.Rf3 Cd3 31.Re2 Cf4+ 32.Rf3 Cd3 33.Cc4 Tc5 34.b3 Ce5+ 35.Cxe5 Txe5 36.Tc1 Tb5 37.Tc3 Tb6 38.Re4 Rf7 39.Rd4 Re6 40.e4 Rd6 41.Tf3 Re6 42.e5 c5+ 43.Rc4 Rxe5 44.Tf7 h6 45.Txc7 Rf4 46.Txc5 Rg3 47.Txa5 Rxg2 48.b4 Rxh3 49.b5 Tb8 50.Ta6 Tg8 51.b6 Tb8 52.a4 g5 53.a5 1-0 Gleizerov,E (2552)-Iordachescu,V (2567)/Khanty Mansiysk 2007/CBM 121 Extra] 14.Tc1 Lógica y no sólo para evitar el jaque en "c2". 14...Ae6 15.b3 controlando "c4". 15...a6 16.Ae2 amenazando mejorar el caballo con Cf3-d4. 16...Cc6 17.0-0+/= f6?! Esta jugada debilitadora no gustó en el ICC. 18.Tfe1 Tad8 19.Af1 Af7 [19...Cd7? 20.Cd5!+/-] 20.Ch2! Con idea de f2-f4. 20...Ae6 21.f4! La partida se torna interesante. 21...Cd4? Diagram [Es mejor 21...Tfe8 Rybka.] 22.f5!! La jugada de un campeón del mundo. Prácticamente de la nada resurge tácticamente. 22...Af7 [22...Ac8!? ICC. 23.Cd5 Cxd5 24.Dxd4+/= Rybka.] 23.Cg4 Con la destructora idea de e4-e5. 23...gxf5 24.Ch6+! Anand pasa brillantemente al ataque. 24...Rh8 [Pues no valía la simple 24...Rg7 por 25.Dxd4! Txd4 26.Cxf5++-] 25.Df2! Anand en su elemento táctico. 25...fxe4? [Pero, ¿qué hacer?. Rybka indica que tras lo señalado en el ICC las blancas siguen teniendo ventaja duradera: 25...f4 26.Dxf4 De5 27.Df2 c5 28.Cg4 Dg5 29.Dxf6+ Dxf6 30.Cxf6 Axb3 31.e5 Ae6 32.Cce4+/=] 26.Txe4 Dd6 [26...Ce6 27.De3 Td6 28.Te1+-] 27.Td1! clavando al caballo. 27...c5 En breve b3-b4 decide!. 28.Cxf7+ Txf7 29.b4! f5 30.bxc5! Diagram Svidler se tambaléa antes de caer en la lona. Tras 22.f5!!, podríamos decir que el efecto sobre el deportista ruso es muy parecido al que ejercía sobre sus contrincantes la "mano de piedra" de Mike Tyson!. 30...fxe4 31.Dxf7 Cf3+ 32.Dxf3! K.O. Las doce últimas jugadas blancas fueron de "ensueño". [32.Dxf3 Dxc5+ 33.Df2+-] 1-0 Un saludo!, Angel Jiménez Arteaga http://www.ajedrezcanarias.com (Secretos de Alcoba) aarteaga61@gmail.com
http://ajedreztenerife.blogspot.com/2009/11/memorial-mikhail-tal-2009-3.html
Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:06:00 +0000
19? Torneo Internazionale Ciudad de Pamplona
E' iniziato ieri 21 Dicembre e terminerà il 29  il 19°  Torneo Internazionale Ciudad de Pamplona,  presso l'Hotel Blanca de Navarra. Si tratta di una manifestazione dalla lunga tradizione visto che si è svolto ininterrottamente dal 1990 ad oggi,  ed è organizzata  dall' Institution Oberena e sponsorizzata dal governo di Navarra e dalla città di Pamplona. Nel corso della sua storia il torneo ha visto la partecipazione di illustri over 2700. Quest'anno non ci sono nomi della top 30 mondiale ma  la Media Elo è comunque elevata e pari a 2575 , con Kiril Georgiev numero 1 di tabellone (2672).  Presente anche il GM cecoslovacco Laznicka, autore recentemente di una buona World Cup ma battuto ieri al primo turno dal GM peruviano Granda Zuniga. Kiril Georgiev, numero 1 del Tabellone LAZNICKA alla World Cup 2009 Si tratta di un torneo round robin , quindi di 9 turni, con cadenza di gioco 90 minuti x 40 mosse + 30 minuti + 30 secondi per mossa. Curiosità:  nella prima edizione terza classificata fu la pluricampionessa Olimpica e Mondiale Susan Polgar. In quella occasione realizzò la sua terza norma di GM e conseguentemente il titolo. Nel 2006 Morozevich vinse il torneo imbattuto con 6 su 7 e perfomance pari a 2951. Ecco la lista completa dei partecipanti 2009 : 1 GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672 BUL   2 GM MEIER, Georg 2653 GER   3 GM GRANDA ZUÑIGA, Julio E. 2640 PER   4 GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637 CZE   5 GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617 AZE   6 GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589 ESP   7 IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523 ESP   8 IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494 ESP   9 IM REINALDO CASTIÑEIRA, Roi 2488 ESP   10 IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435 ESP   CALENDARIO TORNEO Round 1 on 2009/12/21 at 16:00 GM MEIER, Georg 2653 - IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435 GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589 - IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523 GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672 - IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488 GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637 - GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640 IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494 - GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617 Round 2 on 2009/12/22 at 16:00 IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435 - GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617 GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640 - IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494 IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488 - GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637 IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523 - GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672 GM MEIER, Georg 2653 - GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589 Round 3 on 2009/12/23 at 16:00 GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589 - IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435 GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672 - GM MEIER, Georg 2653 GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637 - IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523 IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494 - IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488 GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617 - GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640 Round 4 on 2009/12/24 at 15:00 IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435 - GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640 IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488 - GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617 IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523 - IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494 GM MEIER, Georg 2653 - GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637 GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589 - GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672 Round 5 on 2009/12/25 at 16:00 GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672 - IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435 GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637 - GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589 IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494 - GM MEIER, Georg 2653 GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617 - IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523 GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640 - IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488 Round 6 on 2009/12/26 at 16:00 IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435 - IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488 IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523 - GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640 GM MEIER, Georg 2653 - GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617 GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589 - IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494 GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672 - GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637 Round 7 on 2009/12/27 at 16:00 GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637 - IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435 IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494 - GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672 GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617 - GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589 GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640 - GM MEIER, Georg 2653 IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488 - IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523 Round 8 on 2009/12/28 at 16:00 IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435 - IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523 GM MEIER, Georg 2653 - IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488 GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589 - GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640 GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672 - GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617 GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637 - IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494 Round 9 on 2009/12/29 at 16:00 IM RECUERO GUERRA, David 2494 - IM HUERGA LEACHE, Mikel 2435 GM MIRZOEV, Azer 2617 - GM LAZNICKA, Viktor 2637 GM GRANDA ZUNIGA, Julio E. 2640 - GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2672 IM REINALDO CASTINEIRA, Roi 2488 - GM LOPEZ MARTINEZ, Josep Manuel 2589 IM ALSINA LEAL, Daniel 2523 - GM MEIER, Georg 2653   ALBO D' ORO   1990 Leonid Yudasin Viktor Korchnoi Zsuzsa Polgar 1991 Leonid Yudasin Miguel Illescas Zsuzsa Polgar 1992 Joel Lautier Miguel Illescas David García 1993 Jordi Magem Andrei Sokolov Felix Izeta 1994 Alexander Morozevich Vadim Zvjaginsev Jordi Magem 1995 Jordi Magem Julio Granda Miguel Illescas 1996 Zoltan Almasi Jonathan Speelman Zurab Azmaiparashvili 1997 Miguel Illescas Ulf Anderson Julio Granda 1998 Alexander Morozevich Michal Krasenkov Loek Van Welly 1999 Nigel Short Boris Gelfand Zoltan Almasi 2001 Viktor Bologan Teimour Radjabov Zoltan Almasi 2002 Rustam Kasimdzhanov Viktor Bologan Paco Vallejo 2003 Miguel Illescas Luke McShane Emil Sutovsky 2004 Boris Gelfand Segei Karjakin Lázaro Bruzón 2005 Ruslan Ponomariov P. Harikrishna Ivan Cheparinov 2006 Alexander Morozevich Dmitry Jakovenko Alexei Shirov 2007 Francisco Vallejo Yue Wang Baadur Jobava 2008 Krishnan Sasikiran Vladimir Malakhov Francisco Vallejo PAMPLONA Una stupenda città antica di duemila anni che si può fregiare di bellissime opere artistiche ben amalgamate agli edifici moderni.  Infatti la città ha saputo  integrare con armonia le esigenze attuali con quella che è stata la propria storia, senza creare due mondi paralleli e divisi. Anche la natura e il verde hanno conservato un vastissimo spazio. Una bellssima immagine della cattedrale gotica di Santa Maria eretta nela XIV secolo. In particolare il chiostro è uno splendido esempio dello stile. Al tempo l'incoronazione del re e le riunioni del Parlamento avvenivano all'interno della Cattedrale. Invece la facciata esterna neoclassica è molto più sobria ed esteticamente semplice. Giardini Palacio de Navarra La piazza di Pamplona SITO UFFICIALE
http://www.scacchierando.net/dblog/articolo.asp?articolo=1653
2009-12-22T13:00:00+01:00
World Cup tiebreaks round 1: more Chinese successes
After Yu Yangyi’s surprising success of yesterday, two more famous grandmasters were eliminated by Chinese rising stars in the tiebreaks today. Gabriel Sargissian lost to Li Chao and Emil Sutovsky went down against Zhou Weiqi. Tomorrow is already the second round and we’re left with 64 players. The FIDE World Chess Cup takes place November 20th-December 15th inn Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. It’s a seven-round knockout with six rounds of matches comprising two games per round. The final seventh round consists of four games. Round 1 (November 21-23): 128 players Round 5 (December 3-5): 8 players Round 2 (November 24-26): 64 players Round 6 (December 6-8): 4 players Round 3 (November 27-29): 32 players Round 7 (December 10-14): 2 players Round 4 (November 30-December 2): 16 players The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move from move one. Games start at 15:00h local time (11:00 CET). Round 1.3 For a while it was unclear whether the tiebreaks would consist of two or four rapid games, since the results page was showing only ‘R1′ and ‘R2′ after the ‘G1′ and ‘G2′, followed by ‘B1′, ‘B2′ et cetera. But the regulations stipulate four and in the course of the day it became clear that the players indeed had to play four rapid games. David Smerdon from Australia again showed good chess against 2700-GM Dominguez from Cuba; only after three more draws Dominguez managed to decide the match. When Smerdon had shown world-class Dragon preparation in his first game with black, the Cuban was more successful in a sideline in game 4. Smerdon proved a tough opponent for Dominguez GMs Navara (Czech Republic) and Laylo (Philippines) also started with two draws, but then the Czech won two games in a row. Bacrot defeated Nijboer in the first two rapid games and then decided matters by drawing a rook ending with a pawn down in the third. Bacrot in round 2, Nijboer out Naiditsch opened the score in his minimatch against Hou Yifan, but the Chinese countered immediately. In the third game it was the German’s turn again, the third win for Black, when Hou Yifan blundered an exchange right after the opening. With a draw in the fourth game Naiditsch reached the 2nd round, After Movsesian yesterday, Sargissian was the second player to be eliminated by one of the many strong young Chinese grandmasters. After both winning two and then drawing two, Li Chao turned out to be the strongest blitz player. It was slightly surprising that Sargissian went for the same Scotch ending (you know, the one Radjabov likes to play with White) with Black in a must-win situation. Sutovsky suffered the same fate against Zhou Weiqi: a draw in the first game was followed by two wins for the Chinese. Emil Sutovsky is also out Cheparinov went through thanks to just one rapid victory against Kryvoruchko, but his friend and colleague in Topalov’s team of seconds, l’Ami, was eliminated by Sasikiran. Tiviakov lost 2.5-1.5 in the rapids against Iturrizaga (check the move 25…Nf3! in their last game) and so all Dutch speaking grandmasters had to say goodbye to the World Cup already after one round. Sergei Tiviakov was eliminated by Eduardo Iturrizaga from Venezuela Shabalov lost the first rapid game against Baklan, “falling for” a standard trick in the Sicilian and resigning on move 12 being two pawns down for nothing. But the Latvian-born American GM came back, allowed the same trick in the next White game because he has thought up an improvement and won eventually in the second blitz game. Alex Shabalov (USA), another qualifier for round 2. Negi lost to Milov and Timofeev sent Leitao home (another match where all wins were scored by the Black player). One rapid victory was enough for Khalifman to defeat Fier and after six draws; Bartel beat Grachev 2-0 in the blitz. The match Fier-Khalifman For Gustafsson the adventure is also over after the first round; he blew two promising positions against Inarkiev and then had to win with Black, but the Russian forced a perpetual at some point. Savchenko-Shulman was another match that was decided in the blitz; interestingly, here too Black won all rapid games. But then Savchenko won with White in the first blitz game (which was not preserved correctly, unfortunately) and drew the second. Tkachiev first drew with Black against Le Quang Liem and then beat the Vietnamese GM in two endings. Vladislav Tkachiev knocks out Vietnamese grandmaster Le Quang Liem So was too strong for Guseinov in quickplay; the Philippine rising star won three rapid games in a row. Nyback did the same as Shabalov: losing the first rapid game but eventually winning the match in the blitz. The by far longest match of the first round was Akobian-Tregubov, an absolute thriller. Eventually the American grandmaster won the marathon in the 10th (!) blitz game. Just look at it! Akobian, Varuzhan USA 1 0 ½ ½ 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 9 Tregubov, Pavel V. RUS 0 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 7 Tiebreak games round 1 Game viewer by ChessTempo Cheparinov and L'Ami before the start of the tiebreak... ...Cheparinov having reason to smile afterwards as well... ...but L'Ami went down against Sasikiran FIDE World Cup – Tiebreak results round 1 Name NAT G1 G2 R1 R2 R3 R4 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 SD Tot Round 1 Match 01 Gelfand ISR 1 ½ 1.5 Obodchuk RUS 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 02 Sarwat EGY 0 0 0 Gashimov AZE 1 1 2 Round 1 Match 03 Svidler RUS 1 1 2 Hebert CAN 0 0 0 Round 1 Match 04 Abdel Razik EGY 0 0 0 Morozevich RUS 1 1 2 Round 1 Match 05 Radjabov AZE 1 1 2 Ezat EGY 0 0 0 Round 1 Match 06 Bezgodov RUS 0 0 0 Ivanchuk UKR 1 1 2 Round 1 Match 07 Ponomariov UKR ½ 1 1.5 El Gindy EGY ½ 0 0.5 Round 1 Match 08 Sriram IND ½ 0 0.5 Grischuk RUS ½ 1 1.5 Round 1 Match 09 Jakovenko RUS 1 ½ 1.5 Rizouk ALG 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 10 Kabanov RUS 0 0 0 Wang Yue CHN 1 1 2 Round 1 Match 11 Eljanov UKR 1 ½ 1.5 Al Sayed QAT 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 12 Rodriguez Vila URU 0 ½ 0.5 Karjakin UKR 1 ½ 1.5 Round 1 Match 13 Mamedyarov AZE 1 1 2 Kosteniuk RUS 0 0 0 Round 1 Match 14 Kunte IND ½ 0 0.5 Shirov ESP ½ 1 1.5 Round 1 Match 15 Dominguez CUB ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 3.5 Smerdon AUS ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 2.5 Round 1 Match 16 Yu Yangyi CHN 1 ½ 1.5 Movsesian SVK 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 17 Vachier-Lagrave FRA ½ 1 1.5 Yu Shaoteng CHN ½ 0 0.5 Round 1 Match 18 Pridorozhni RUS ½ 0 0.5 Alekseev RUS ½ 1 1.5 Round 1 Match 19 Tomashevsky RUS 1 ½ 1.5 Ivanov USA 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 20 Friedel USA 0 0 0 Wang Hao CHN 1 1 2 Round 1 Match 21 Navara CZE 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 4 Laylo PHI 0 1 ½ ½ 0 0 2 Round 1 Match 22 Amin EGY 0 0 0 Malakhov RUS 1 1 2 Round 1 Match 23 Bacrot FRA ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 3.5 Nijboer NED ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 1.5 Round 1 Match 24 Morovic CHI 0 ½ 0.5 Rublevsky RUS 1 ½ 1.5 Round 1 Match 25 Jobava GEO 1 ½ 1.5 Robson USA 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 26 Hess USA ½ 0 0.5 Motylev RUS ½ 1 1.5 Round 1 Match 27 Kamsky USA 1 ½ 1.5 Antonio PHI 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 28 Gupta IND ½ 0 0.5 Vitiugov RUS ½ 1 1.5 Round 1 Match 29 Bologan MDA 1 ½ 1.5 Adly EGY 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 30 Hou Yifan CHN ½ ½ 0 1 0 ½ 2.5 Naiditsch GER ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½ 3.5 Round 1 Match 31 Bu Xiangzhi CHN ½ 0 0.5 Pelletier SUI ½ 1 1.5 Round 1 Match 33 Nisipeanu ROU 1 ½ 1.5 Lupulescu ROU 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 34 Li Chao CHN ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 5 Sargissian ARM ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 0 0 3 Round 1 Match 35 Onischuk USA ½ 1 1.5 Flores, Diego ARG ½ 0 0.5 Round 1 Match 36 Kryvoruchko UKR ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 2.5 Cheparinov BUL ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 3.5 Round 1 Match 37 Efimenko UKR 0 ½ 0.5 Milos BRA 1 ½ 1.5 Round 1 Match 38 Zhou Weiqi CHN ½ ½ ½ 1 1 3.5 Sutovsky ISR ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1.5 Round 1 Match 39 Najer RUS 1 ½ 1.5 Ghaem Maghami IRI 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 40 Iturrizaga VEN ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 3.5 Tiviakov NED ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 0 2.5 Round 1 Match 41 Areshchenko UKR 1 ½ 1.5 Corrales Jimenez CUB 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 42 L’Ami NED ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1.5 Sasikiran IND ½ ½ ½ 1 1 3.5 Round 1 Match 43 Smirin ISR 1 ½ 1.5 Ehlvest USA 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 44 Shabalov USA 1 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 4.5 Baklan UKR 0 1 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 3.5 Round 1 Match 45 Ganguly IND 1 1 2 Filippov UZB 0 0 0 Round 1 Match 46 Khalifman RUS ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 3.5 Fier BRA ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 2.5 Round 1 Match 47 Fressinet FRA 1 1 2 Sjugirov RUS 0 0 0 Round 1 Match 48 Petrosian ARM ½ 0 0.5 Meier GER ½ 1 1.5 Round 1 Match 49 Grachev RUS ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 3 Bartel POL ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 5 Round 1 Match 50 Bruzon CUB ½ 0 0.5 Caruana ITA ½ 1 1.5 Round 1 Match 51 Sokolov NED 0 0 0 Fedorchuk UKR 1 1 2 Round 1 Match 52 Negi IND 1 0 ½ 0 0 1.5 Milov SUI 0 1 ½ 1 1 3.5 Round 1 Match 53 Timofeev RUS ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 3.5 Leitao BRA ½ ½ ½ 0 1 0 2.5 Round 1 Match 54 Gustafsson GER 1 0 0 0 ½ 1.5 Inarkiev RUS 0 1 1 1 ½ 3.5 Round 1 Match 55 Savchenko RUS ½ ½ 1 0 1 0 1 ½ 4.5 Shulman USA ½ ½ 0 1 0 1 0 ½ 3.5 Round 1 Match 56 Sandipan IND 1 ½ 1.5 Kobalia RUS 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 57 Tkachiev FRA ½ ½ ½ 1 1 3.5 Le Quang Liem VIE ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1.5 Round 1 Match 58 Akobian USA 1 0 ½ ½ 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 9 Tregubov RUS 0 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 7 Round 1 Match 59 So PHI 1 0 1 1 1 4 Guseinov AZE 0 1 0 0 0 1 Round 1 Match 60 Sakaev RUS ½ 1 1.5 Granda Zuniga PER ½ 0 0.5 Round 1 Match 61 Laznicka CZE 1 ½ 1.5 Papaioannou GRE 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 62 Nyback FIN 1 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 4.5 Andreikin RUS 0 1 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 3.5 Round 1 Match 63 Mamedov AZE ½ 0 0.5 Zhou Jianchao CHN ½ 1 1.5 Round 1 Match 64 Volkov RUS 0 ½ 0.5 Amonatov TJK 1 ½ 1.5 Links Official website Games in PGN
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/world-cup-tiebreaks-round-1-a-good-day-for-china/
Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:25:16 +0000
World Cup: Bu Xiangzhi, Movsesian, Efimenko & Sokolov eliminated
Sergei Movsesian is the strongest player who already has to leave the World Cup after two days of play. After losing the first game to Yu Yangyi, the Slovak GM was held to a draw in the second game today. Zahar Efimenko was eliminated 1.5-0.5 by Gilberto Milos; Yannick Pelletier beat Bu Xiangzhi with the same score while Ivan Sokolov lost both his games to Sergey Fedorchuk. The FIDE World Chess Cup takes place November 20th-December 15th inn Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. It’s a seven-round knockout with six rounds of matches comprising two games per round. The final seventh round consists of four games. Round 1 (November 21-23): 128 players Round 5 (December 3-5): 8 players Round 2 (November 24-26): 64 players Round 6 (December 6-8): 4 players Round 3 (November 27-29): 32 players Round 7 (December 10-14): 2 players Round 4 (November 30-December 2): 16 players The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move from move one. Games start at 15:00h local time (11:00 CET). Round 1.2 During the second day of the World Cup the live transmission went well, although we’re not too enthusiastic about the choice of game viewer which is the free Montreux Java applet. During replay the games often jump to the final position, and another downside of it is that it doesn’t respond to the keyboard arrow keys, which we find much more convenient quickly replaying lots of games. Anyway, enough complaining. Boris Gelfand, top seed at this event, was indeed the first to reach the second round because he didn’t care too much about losing a few rating points and agreed to a draw at move 12. Gashimov, Svidler, Morozevich, Radjabov, Ivanchuk, Wang Yue, Mamedyarov, Ganguly, Fressinet and Fedorchuk reached the next round by 2-0 victories; the latter by upsetting the higher-rated Ivan Sokolov. 15-year-old Chinese super-talent (already a GM with 2527 and an expected rating change of 29.7) Yu Yangyi knocked out Sergei Movsesian, who avoided theory today with a Closed Sicilian with c3, but didn’t come close to kingside attack. He had to repeat moves to avoid a disaster on the queenside. Yu Yangyi surprisingly knocks out Sergei Movsesian The third surprise in this first round so far is the elimination of Zahar Efimenko, who yesterday lost with the white pieces against 46-year-old Gilberto Milos. Today the young Ukrainian reached an ending with three pawns against a knight, but the experienced Brazilian grandmaster didn’t falter. Bu Xiangzhi was defeated 0.5-1.5 by Yannick Pelletier, who heroically defended a very difficult position with Black yesterday and then crushed his opponent today in a Grünfeld. A nice thing about the World Cup is that you get to see top 10 players playing against IMs or “weak” GMs, the kind of opponents almost all of us would lose against. The way these top GMs beat them is often very instructive. In most cases the lower-rated players can go along quite well for a while, but after a few hours of play they inevitably start to make small mistakes, which are immediately punished. Tomorrow are the tiebreaks of the first round: Dominguez-Smerdon, Navara-Laylo, Bacrot-Nijboer, Hou Yifan-Naiditsch, Li Chao-Sargissian, Kryvoruchko-Cheparinov, Zhou Weiqi-Sutovsky, Iturrizaga-Tiviakov, L’Ami-Sasikiran, Shabalov-Baklan, Khalifman-Fier, Grachev-Bartel, Negi-Milov, Timofeev-Leitao, Gustafsson-Inarkiev, Savchenko-Shulman, Tkachiev-Le Quang Liem, Akobian-Tregubov, So-Guseinov and Nyback-Andreikin. The rules for the tiebreaks are: 3. 8. 1. a. If the scores are level after the regular games, after a new drawing of colors, four (4) tie-break games shall be played. The games shall be played using the electronic clock starting with 25 minutes for each player with an addition of 10 seconds after each move. 3. 8. 1. b. The tie-break games shall be played according to the following: 1. Play is governed by the Technical Regulations (annex 1), which apply with the exceptions mentioned below in (2), (3) and (4). 2. The player do not need to record the moves. An arbiter shall record the moves. 3. The player who has the move may stop the clock and consult the Arbiter’s score sheet and if his next move will produce a threefold repetition of position (according to Article 9.2a of the Technical Regulations), or the 50 moves rule (according to Article 9.3a of the Technical Regulations), he himself must write the intended move on the score sheet and claim the draw if he wants. A player can also claim a draw according to articles 9.2b and 9.3b of the Technical Regulations. If the claim is found to be correct, the game is immediately ended as a draw. If the claim is found to be incorrect, the Arbiter shall add three (3) minutes to the opponent’s remaining time and the game continues with the intended move in accordance with Article 4 of the Technical Regulations. A maximum of two (2) incorrect claims for a draw can be made by each player. If a player makes a 3rd incorrect claim, the arbiter shall declare the game lost for this player. 4. If a game has ended by resignation, checkmate, time loss, stalemate, triple repetition or any other of the ways described in article 5 of the Technical Regulations, no claim for irregularities shall be accepted (irregularities include clock settings and all other described in article 7 of the Technical Regulations). 3. 8. 2. a. If the scores are level after the games in paragraph 3.8.1a, then, after a new drawing of colors, a match of 2 games shall be played with a time control of 5 minutes plus 3 seconds increment after each move. In case of a level score, the same match will be repeated to determine a winner. If still there is no winner after 5 such matches (total 10 games), one sudden-death game will be played as described below in 3.8.3a. 3. 8. 2. b. The games shall be played according to the Rules mentioned in 3.8.1.b. 3. 8. 3. a. If the score is still level after five matches as described in 3.8.2a, the players shall play a single decisive sudden death game. The player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the color. The player with the white pieces shall receive 5 minutes, the opponent with the black pieces shall receive 4 minutes whereupon, after the 60th move, both players shall receive an increment of 3 seconds from move 61. In case of a draw the player with the black pieces is declared the winner. 3. 8. 3. b. The games shall be played according to the Rules mentioned in 3.8.1.b. 3. 8. 4. Between the tie-break games as well as before the start of the sudden death game there shall be a pause of at least 10 minutes, unless the Chief Arbiter decides otherwise. Games round 1.2 Game viewer by ChessTempo Players are queuing for a security scan... ...here Radjabov just passes, followed by Onischuk and Bologan Adly-Bologan, a 0.5-1.5 victory for the Moldavian GM Parimarjan Negi faces Vadim Milov tomorrow again in the tiebreaks Mamedyarov-Kosteniuk: 2-0 for the Azeri GM Sergei Tiviakov will play tiebreaks tomorrow against his young opponent Eduardo Iturrizaga Jan Gustafsson won the first, but lost the second game to Ernesto Inarkiev Ivan Cheparinov and Yuryi Kryvoruchko are going to play rapid and possible blitz games as well In the clash between the Romanians, Nisipeanu qualified 1.5-0.5 FIDE World Cup – Results round 1 Name NAT Rtng G1 G2 Total Round 1 Match 01 Gelfand, Boris ISR 2758 1 ½ 1.5 Obodchuk, Andrei RUS 2404 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 02 Sarwat, Walaa EGY 2405 0 0 0 Gashimov, Vugar AZE 2758 1 1 2 Round 1 Match 03 Svidler, Peter RUS 2754 1 1 2 Hebert, Jean CAN 2420 0 0 0 Round 1 Match 04 Abdel Razik, Khaled EGY 2469 0 0 0 Morozevich, Alexander RUS 2750 1 1 2 Round 1 Match 05 Radjabov, Teimour AZE 2748 1 1 2 Ezat, Mohamed EGY 2472 0 0 0 Round 1 Match 06 Bezgodov, Alexei RUS 2484 0 0 0 Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR 2739 1 1 2 Round 1 Match 07 Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR 2739 ½ 1 1.5 El Gindy, Essam EGY 2493 ½ 0 0.5 Round 1 Match 08 Sriram, Jha IND 2497 ½ 0 0.5 Grischuk, Alexander RUS 2736 ½ 1 1.5 Round 1 Match 09 Jakovenko, Dmitry RUS 2736 1 ½ 1.5 Rizouk, Aimen ALG 2500 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 10 Kabanov, Nikolai RUS 2501 0 0 0 Wang, Yue CHN 2734 1 1 2 Round 1 Match 11 Eljanov, Pavel UKR 2729 1 ½ 1.5 Al Sayed, Mohamad N. QAT 2504 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 12 Rodriguez Vila, Andres URU 2508 0 ½ 0.5 Karjakin, Sergey UKR 2723 1 ½ 1.5 Round 1 Match 13 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar AZE 2719 1 1 2 Kosteniuk, Alexandra RUS 2517 0 0 0 Round 1 Match 14 Kunte, Abhijit IND 2522 ½ 0 0.5 Shirov, Alexei ESP 2719 ½ 1 1.5 Round 1 Match 15 Dominguez Perez, Leinier CUB 2719 ½ ½ 1 Smerdon, David AUS 2525 ½ ½ 1 Round 1 Match 16 Yu, Yangyi CHN 2527 1 ½ 1.5 Movsesian, Sergei SVK 2718 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 17 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime FRA 2718 ½ 1 1.5 Yu, Shaoteng CHN 2529 ½ 0 0.5 Round 1 Match 18 Pridorozhni, Aleksei RUS 2533 ½ 0 0.5 Alekseev, Evgeny RUS 2715 ½ 1 1.5 Round 1 Match 19 Tomashevsky, Evgeny RUS 2708 1 ½ 1.5 Ivanov, Alexander USA 2539 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 20 Friedel, Joshua E USA 2551 0 0 0 Wang, Hao CHN 2708 1 1 2 Round 1 Match 21 Navara, David CZE 2707 1 0 1 Laylo, Darwin PHI 2552 0 1 1 Round 1 Match 22 Amin, Bassem EGY 2553 0 0 0 Malakhov, Vladimir RUS 2706 1 1 2 Round 1 Match 23 Bacrot, Etienne FRA 2700 ½ ½ 1 Nijboer, Friso NED 2561 ½ ½ 1 Round 1 Match 24 Morovic Fernandez, Ivan CHI 2562 0 ½ 0.5 Rublevsky, Sergei RUS 2697 1 ½ 1.5 Round 1 Match 25 Jobava, Baadur GEO 2696 1 ½ 1.5 Robson, Ray USA 2567 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 26 Hess, Robert L USA 2572 ½ 0 0.5 Motylev, Alexander RUS 2695 ½ 1 1.5 Round 1 Match 27 Kamsky, Gata USA 2695 1 ½ 1.5 Antonio, Rogelio Jr PHI 2574 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 28 Gupta, Abhijeet IND 2578 ½ 0 0.5 Vitiugov, Nikita RUS 2694 ½ 1 1.5 Round 1 Match 29 Bologan, Viktor MDA 2692 1 ½ 1.5 Adly, Ahmed EGY 2583 0 ½ 0.5 Round 1 Match 30 Hou, Yifan CHN 2588 ½ ½ 1 Naiditsch, Arkadij GER 2689 ½ ½ 1 Round 1 Match 31 Bu, Xiangzhi CHN 2682 ½ 0