The London Chess Classic at Olympia, so impressively successful in 2009, will be repeated on 8-15 December with an increased prize fund and the participation of the reigning world champion, Vishy Anand.

The Indian, who will be 41 during the tournament, will take on the former champion Vlad Kramnik and the current world No1 and likely future champion Magnus Carlsen. They will be the principals in a field which will also include Hikaru Nakamura, ranked No1 in the US, and England's top four Michael Adams, Nigel Short, Luke McShane and David Howell. The fact that Howell, reigning British champion and at age 20 one of the best young talents in Europe, is the lowest ranked player shows that this is indeed an elite contest, which the organisers hope will cement London's bid to stage Anand's next world title defence in 2012.

In this game from a current Russian tournament, Kramnik's Berlin Wall defence is defeated by a rather simple plan. White's 13 f4 with b3/c4 aims to render Black's Q-side pawns static while mobilising White's 4-3 majority on the other flank. It worked when Black made an unsound knight sac (22...a6!) which was refuted by 27 Na7+! and 28 e6 with a winning passed pawn for White.

S Karjakin v A Naiditsch, Poikovsky 2010

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6 4 0-0 Nxe4 5 d4 Nd6 6 Bxc6 dxc6 7 dxe5 Nf5 8 Qxd8+ Kxd8 9 Nc3 Ne7 10 Ne4 h6 11 Rd1+ Ke8 12 Nd4 Ng6 13 f4 Nh4 14 b3 Bg4 15 Re1 c5 16 Nb5 Kd7 17 c4 Kc6 18 Kf2 Be7 19 h3 Bd7 20 g4 h5 21 f5 hxg4 22 hxg4 Nxf5? 23 gxf5 Rh2+ 24 Kg1 Rah8 25 Ng3 R2h3 26 Bf4 a6 27 Na7+! Kb6 28 e6 Bd6 29 Bxd6 cxd6 30 exd7 Rxg3+ 31 Kf2 Rgh3 32 Re8 Rh2+ 33 Ke1 Rh1+ 34 Kd2 R8h2+ 35 Kc3 Rh3+ 36 Kb2 1-0

3143 1 Rb4. If Qxd7 2 Be4, or Qd5 2 Bb5, or Qd4 2 Rb3, or e5 2 Qh3, or Bf6 2 Qh7.

3142 The black pawn at e5 should be a bishop.

Very few top tournaments have been played for 23 years in a row, like the City of Leon (Spain), where chess has strong social roots that not even the financial crisis has broken. Four stars: Levon Aronian (Armenia), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba) and Paco Vallejo (Spain), will give a vibrant show, again at the Auditorium in Leon, Spain with live TV and internet coverage (June, 4-7).

By Leontxo Garcia

Garry Kasparov said in 1998: “Leon is a symbol of the chess avant-garde”. The central strand of this tournament has always been the innovation, in order to make it attractive to the general public: electronic boards, live internet broadcast with high quality commentators (seven times Spanish champion GM Miguel Illescas and IM Michael Rahal) and earphones for the public.

The two main novelties in 2009 were a big success, and therefore will be repeated in 2010: the excellent Auditorium will be the venue, and the Castilla and Leon TV has scheduled a special coverage, including live broadcasting of some games.

Such an elegant stage requires great actors, as the four already engaged for 2010. Levon Aronian, current Grand Prix champion, is one of the Big Five beyond any doubt due to a very universal style, pretty uncomfortable for his opponents, and comes from a country where chess is as popular as football.

Boris Gelfand, current World Cup champion, has demonstrated that, in top chess, being older than 40 doesn’t necessarily imply being on the decline, if you combine outstanding talent with huge homework.

Over the last two years, Leinier Dominguez has made clear he’s ready to stay at thetop of chess for a long time, thanks to his excellent preparation, professionalism and cold blood.

In 2009, Paco Vallejo went over the 2700 Elo points mark, and his bravery and creativity at the recent Linares tournament, where he was praised by all his opponents, indicate his ceiling is still far away.

The tournament rules, written by the renowned arbiter Joaquin Espejo, state the two strongest players (Aronian and Gelfand) can only meet in the final. Their respective opponents became known after the drawing of lots, which took place on Thursday, June 3rd at the Conde Luna hotel.

The semi-finals will be: Vallejo-Gelfand (Friday 16.30 CET)

and Dominguez-Aronian (Saturday, 16.30 CET).

Four games will be played in every match, with 20 minutes per player plus 10 additional seconds after each move. If necessary, blitz tie-breaks (five minute games) will decide.

The Leon organizers, whose director is Marcelino Sion, maintain that social and professional chess should function like communicating doors. Even more now, when the latest scientific studies indicate that the frequent practice of chess improves the delay of brain aging, and therefore could be very useful to prevent Alzheimer’s disease, apart from what we already know since almost a century ago: chess teaches how to think.

The parallel activities are consistent with that idea: a simul by Aronian, a lecture class by Illescas, another lecture on “Chess as a social tool” by journalist Leontxo Garcia, a chess cinema week and a Young Talents tournament. Despite the big economic crisis, everything will be sponsored by a balanced combination of public bodies and private companies: a clear sign of how solid this tournament is.

Link

• Official website

Nigel Short, the former world title challenger, has created a niche in coaching and playing matches against young talents. Though Short, 45 next month, is a decade or two past his best he is still a formidable grandmaster, a match player of vast experience and with an individual style which poses novel problems to the rising generation.

So for many chess fans Short's match last week with the 15-year-old Dutch champion Anish Giri was an inspired pairing, and the four-game series did not disappoint. Giri, son of a Nepalese father and Russian mother, fluent in English and a Dutch citizen, made a big impression as a player at Corus B in February and as a writer by deep annotations of the world championship games.

Short's pragmatic approach to the match was to avoid mainline theory and the teenager's computer preparation. He started with the King's Gambit, followed up as Black with the Benoni which he had not used for 20 years, then unleashed the offbeat bomb below. White's 8 Bxf6 improved on the previous slow 8 Kb1, his knight sac at move 12 provoked a defensive blunder (14...Rc7!) and after some more heavy punches Giri resigned hopelessly behind on material.

Sadly in game four Short got a passive position, missed a chance for good counterplay and went down in a pawn endgame for a 2-2 final scoreline.

N Short v A Giri, third game

1 d4 Nf6 2 Nc3 d5 3 Bg5 Nbd7 4 e3 e6 5 Qf3 c5 6 0-0-0 a6 7 Nge2 Qa5 8 Bxf6! Nxf6 9 g4! b5 10 g5 Nd7 11 Nf4 cxd4 12 Ncxd5! exd5 13 Qxd5 Ra7 14 Bh3 Be7? 15 Qxd4 0-0 16 Nh5 f6 17 Be6+ Kh8 18 Qxa7 Bc5 19 Qa8 Ne5 20 gxf6 gxf6 21 Qg2 Ng6 22 Qc6 Bb4 23 Kb1 1-0

3140 1...Qf4! 2 c7 Rxh2+! draws. After 3 Qxh2 Qxe4+ the black queen gives perpetual check at e4, h4 and e1 however White interposes.

While Karpov basks in the limelight of his New York fundraiser, Ilyumzhinov and Dvorkovich find themselves in a tough situation. Given the personalities ranged against him, how can Dvorkovich fight back? An analysis of the Russian media on the matter may clarify some things.

By Colin McGourty

The Russian Chess Federation website dutifully reports that Dvorkovich is sticking to his guns in rejecting Karpov’s nomination. A summary might read: Karpov’s nomination wasn’t valid as I wasn’t at the meeting, though even if I’d been at the meeting it wouldn’t have been valid as the federation’s new charter hasn’t been approved, and even if the charter had been approved and I’d been at the meeting it still wouldn’t have been valid… as we’ve already chosen Ilyumzhinov. It smacks of protesting too much.

This is perhaps best captured by Maxim Kononenko, a columnist at GZT.RU, whose take on the situation has garnered attention on Russian chess forums. It’s entitled, “A scythe ran into Karpov”, where “Karpov” replaces “stone” in the Russian proverb. In short, Dvorkovich met his match. The problem, as Kononenko expresses it (with the occasional mention of aliens…), is that Dvorkovich is fighting a losing battle:

Even if Dvorkovich’s right a thousand times over in coming up with a way around the decision of the national chess federation, he’ll still be a laughing stock. While those members of the federation who voted for Karpov won’t be, even if Karpov hasn’t got a clue about organising chess events.

(…) Plus he has the support, at least briefly, of Kasparov, whose authority in the world of chess (true, only chess, but still) is, in general, limitless. Who on earth is Arkady Dvorkovich compared to Karpov and Kasparov? All things considered, no-one. The whole world knows about Karpov and Kasparov, but no-one in the world knows that the Russian president has an aide called Dvorkovich.

So given the personalities ranged against him, how can Dvorkovich fight back? The answer, perhaps, is in seeking his own endorsements. When he was interviewed a few days ago on Chesspro.ru his final words were the intriguing: “By the way, my conversation with Kramnik showed that he fully supports my position in the current dispute”. Is Kramnik, not known for his political activism, really throwing his weight behind the Dvorkovich/Ilyumzhinov ticket!? The RCF website was glad to elaborate on the issue, quoting the comments of “one of the best known active chess players in the world” to the RBK newspaper:

The fact that there might be two candidates for the post of FIDE President is, on the one hand, a good thing. Competition always leads to better results. But it’s unpleasant that it’s grown into a scandal. According to my information the majority of the RCF Supervisory Board were simply misinformed about the location and time of the meeting. It’s particularly unpleasant to behave in such a manner with such respected people as Dvorkovich and Zhukov.

For years now they’ve practically carried the whole of Russian chess on their shoulders. They’ve supported our young talents and the best professional players, the development of children’s chess and also the organisation of the Tal Memorial, one of the strongest tournaments in the world. For my part, I’d like to make an appeal that the struggle for the very important position of FIDE President be conducted using only civilised methods of combat.

Quite a ringing personal endorsement of Dvorkovich, but is it anything more? No-one seems entirely innocent in the events of 14th May in Moscow. This curious report tells of how delegates from the Volga Federal District spent their day in Moscow, and sheds some more light on the proceedings (the photos from the “official” meeting include Bareev outlining plans for the Olympiad later this year).

After arriving in Moscow they only received a call at noon to say the meeting had been switched to Dvorkovich’s “Hotel”. A bus was to ferry delegates from the Central Chess House at 4 pm, but they decided to take the metro instead. They only learnt of the Karpov vote in a phone call after it was taken, and just before the other meeting began. The report sums up their bemusement with a famous line from the Russian poet Tiutchev, which could serve for the whole affair: “Russia cannot be understood with the mind alone”.

So we can agree that Kramnik’s right to think the events were unseemly and some delegates weren’t fully informed what was going on (by either side!), but we can also doubt the information he was given and, crucially, note that he says nothing to approve Dvorkovich’s nomination of Ilyumzhinov. Coming from a slightly different angle, GM Sergey Shipov, on his forum, responded to Dvorkovich’s claims with:

Voldya’s a “thing-in-itself”, in Kant’s phrase. He stands apart… And to drag him onto your side in any clear way is impossible. But in principle, the way things are shaping up right now is perfectly clear. Grandmasters are for Karpov.

In fact, rather than being an exception to this general rule (like Kevin Spraggett), Kramnik is one of the few top players to have come out in open support of Karpov. Perhaps recent events in the RCF have diminished his enthusiasm, but Kramnik was recently quoted as telling the Russian chess journal, 64:

I’d like, rather, to support the candidacy of Karpov. We don’t yet know exactly what he’s planning to do. But we know for certain that the current leadership of FIDE, if it’s chosen once more, will do nothing. No changes! Another four years of total confusion and incompetence in the chess world is guaranteed.

Perhaps it’s a bit too early to chalk Kramnik up as an Ilyumzhinov supporter! Alexandra Kosteniuk appears a better candidate. Her declaration now has pride of place on the RCF website, alongside Dvorkovich’s. She says she hasn’t received any financial support for over a year (as the RCF claim there’s no money), and dramatically declares:

I must say that if Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich hadn’t been in Russian chess I wouldn’t have decided to return to professional chess at the end of 2007 and I wouldn’t have brought Russia the women’s chess crown in 2008. I also couldn’t have been part of the team that brought Russia its second European gold medal in October 2009, seeing as Dvorkovich was the only person in the whole RCF who was always willing to help when problems arose.

(…) But now all these hopes are threatened by the actions of people who say they are working for the good of chess, while in actual fact their only aim is the will to remain in power. Therefore, I would like to support the position of Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich and call on those who aren’t indifferent to the future of chess in Russia to evaluate the current situation soberly in an attempt to try and reach compromises, rather than destroying what exists in order to build castles in the sky.

Interestingly, Kosteniuk’s passionate declaration has yet to appear on her immensely popular blog, and the news has only been picked up by Chessdom so far. What are its implications? Can we take her clear backing of Dvorkovich’s position as a declaration of support for Ilyumzhinov’s nomination? Perhaps, though his name isn’t mentioned, and the criticism isn’t directed at Karpov (he’s not one of those trying to “remain” in power).

In the meantime, an indication of how Dvorkovich might prevail, at least in the local battle, is emerging in comments on a thread at Shipov’s Crestbook forum (”FIDE Presidential Elections: Ilyumzhinov or Karpov?”). It appears that the local administration of two of the delegates who supported Karpov (Gilyasov and Goncharov) claim the delegates failed to represent their views. Dvorkovich, meanwhile, seems to have switched the security guards at the Central Chess House in Moscow, in what may be a move to exclude Bakh and his team.

Shipov’s summary there, as ever, is sharp and to the point:

The RCF site, it’s already absolutely clear, is working under the direction of Dvorkovich’s men and not Bakh’s. They’ve lost their mass media outlet.
It’s no doubt the same with the Federation’s accounts… People from the provinces, sensing something’s wrong, have rushed to display signs of loyalty to Dvorkovich and rejection of Bakh (even if they’d previously agreed with the latter).

In general, in a pack of wolves the strongest prevails. However, what does this have to do with the FIDE Presidential election? How will it influence it? It seems to me that in no way at all. The success of Karpov in the West is almost 100%. And in the third world he already has many countries on his side.
In the former Soviet Union there are also many under his banner. Even if the neo-RCF under Dvorkovich’s rule favours Ilyumzhinov, it won’t change a thing.

We should also note that Shipov just added that the premises have been taken over. Bakh called the police but when they saw the papers Dvorkovich’s men had they just went away! A new date for the supervisory council to meet appears to have been set for 4 June.

Summing up the current state of affairs, the minor coup d’état that Bakh, Karpov and Kasparov managed to pull off in Moscow on 14 May has altered the game completely. Even if Dvorkovich can somehow uphold his choice of nominee (which, at the moment of writing, looks ever more likely!), Ilyumzhinov’s campaign has suffered a body blow - the majority, when all’s said and done, was still a majority. Not that you’d want to stake your life on predicting the outcome of this strange and enthralling battle – as someone was very quick to respond after Shipov’s, “Grandmasters are for Karpov”:

That sounds like a verdict! If grandmasters are for Karpov then his chances of winning aren’t great…

Update 22 May 2010
The events described above, almost as they happened, have been confirmed. On Thursday 20 May Dvorkovich completed what Karpov, in a letter published at Chessbase, calls “a hostile takeover of the
Russian Chess Federation”. Security guards expelled Bakh from his office at the Central Chess Club in Moscow, after first seizing control of the accounts and official website.

Karpov challenges the legality of Dvorkovich’s actions, but also goes much further, accusing him of libel and “efforts to intimidate other federations from supporting me”. In turn a radio interview revealed the depth of Dvorkovich’s animosity towards Karpov: “As a man, I just can’t stand some people (…) it would be easier for me to support Kasparov than Karpov, based on personal considerations”.

What happens next, and especially how the power struggle in Russia affects the overall FIDE election, is hard to guess, though in the same interview Dvorkovich left open an intriguing possibility:

“There are many scenarios, even the scenario in which both [Karpov] and [Ilyumzhinov] are nominated by foreign chess federations. The Russian Chess Federation, in view of the different positions and the very strong differences of opinion, might not nominate anyone”.

Baraka Shabazz (ba-roka sha-boz) is a famous name is Black chess lore. The name exudes power, but her arrival on the scene was as sudden as light shedding darkness. Then as fast as she rose she tumbled into obscurity and disappeared. Baraka’s story is so common of young talents who either become disenchanted, or simply move onto other activities. In Baraka’s case, perhaps it was the prospects of a bright future and initial success that may have blinded her.

Originally born in Denver, Colorado, Baraka spent her early years in Anchorage, Alaska, with her stepfather Yusef Shabazz and mother Raqiba Shabazz. Mr. Shabazz bought a chess set for the family and taught his children the moves. Baraka showed glimmers of talent. It wasn’t long before she began beating her stepfather. In an interview, her mother noted, “Who ever heard of a black girl playing chess?”

Here is the story as Baraka told it in a 1981 interview in The Spokeman,

“He went out and bought us a chess set,” Baraka recalls, “and he gave it to my sister and me and said, “Here, play chess.” We told him, “We don’t know how to play,” so he showed us how the piece work and said, ‘You have to get your opponent’s king,’ and that was the first time I played. Six week ater Febuary 16, 1978, I entered my first chess tournament and won three games out of five.”

At that point, the parents Raqiba and Yusef decided to afford her the best opportunities to excel at chess. The initial efforts bore fruit as she began her assault on chess competition and three years, she was the #6 woman in the country at age 15. She was the first female player of African descent to reach the rank of “Expert” or a 2000 rating in the U.S. Chess Federation system. Many supporters chipped in including a private tutor. According to a 1981 People magazine article,

…Oakland Mayor Lionel Wilson has paid the Shabazzes’ rent bill from a community fund, and others—including a black-owned travel agency and entertainer Eartha Kitt—have donated money and services so Baraka can compete in distant tournaments.

Reflecting on future plans, “I’ll have time for friends, travel, college. Maybe I’ll be a diplomat. I’ve been taught you go after what you want—I want to be a symbol of achievement for blacks. I’ll make it, you’ll see.” The family made further sacrifices and after two years in California, the family moved to the “Mecca” of U.S. chess, the east coast. There the family settled in the Baltimore area. Here she gained her legend in Dupont Circle. Baraka originally had to overcome sexism and men taking her lightly.

Opponents blew smoke in her face. In another case, a 17-year old boy looked at his opponent and told his mother, “You won’t have to wait for me, I’ll be back in half and hour.” Baraka dragged the game out for hours and hit him with a tactical shot winning the queen. The boy swept the pieces off the board. Success was coming for Baraka and she was indeed living up to her name, meaning “blessed.”

There were some rumours that her stepfather was overbearing and especially harsh when Baraka lost. National Master Charles Covington reflected on his stint as a trainer for Baraka. During training games, Mr. Shabazz would be watching carefully and was very critical of Baraka. Covington also mentioned that the stepfather would scold her when he suspected she was not focused. Assessing the situation, Covington admitted to being an easier opponent to avoid contributing to her humiliation.

Baraka got an invitation to play in the 1981 U.S. Women’s Championship and was #6 ranked player. Alexey Rudolph, now Dr. Alexey Root, was also in that tournament and told The Chess Drum both she and Baraka were the youngest in the tournament. Root was another rising talent and won their individual encounter. Baraka failed miserably coming in an abysmal last place.

After that setback, the family hit hard times resulting in the family having to receive public assistance housing in Maryland’s Prince Georges County. According to the article in Jet magazine (December 17, 1981), the family’s case was taken up by Delta Sigma Theta’s Dr. Grace Hewell who charged, “this wouldn’t have happened to a Black who can sing, dance or excel in sports.”

It was a sordid ending to a bright moment in history. No one knows the current whereabouts of Baraka Shabazz, but Covington has gone on record to say that she became disenchanted and wanted nothing more to do with the game. However, Baraka’s story is one that is important to know. She was a young talent with promise, but did not have the proper combination of resources to help realize her talent.

Baraka, meaning ‘Blessed’, will go down as one of the historic figures in Black chess. Her drive is inspiring, but the story contains many lessons for the ages. She stated that she wanted to be a symbol of achievement for Blacks. While she never became a World Champion, or reached Master level, but she certainly accomplished her goal. The chess community commends Baraka’s efforts as one of the first female prodigies in U.S. history.

Simeon Booker, “Ticker Tape USA“, Ebony Jr., 17 December 1981, 13.

1. New In Chess issue 2010/1
The World’s Premier Chess Magazine by The NIC Editorial team
NIC’s Caf? – Carlsen Claims London Chess Classic – A Country for Old Men – Roulette Chess – Alexander Grischuk Russian Champion – Alexander Alekhine’s Paris Years – Kortchnoi-Spassky Reunion – Chess Metaphors – Old Hands and Young Talents – Just Checking – did they play your opening? In this issue games with the following openings were annotated by world class players read more…

2. New In Chess: The First 25 Years
An Anthology, edited by Steve Giddins
Ever since its launch in 1984, New In Chess has been the most popular and widely-read chess magazine in the world, with a readership that ranges from world champions to the humblest club player. No other magazine in chess history can boast such a glittering array of world-class grandmasters amongst its regular contributors. Now, to mark the 25th anniversary of the read more…

3. Revolutionize Your Chess
A Brand-new System to Become a Better Player, by Viktor Moskalenko
A breakthrough in chess teaching by Former Ukrainian Champion and experienced chess coach Viktor Moskalenko. A new concept which teaches players how to develop their personal skills and presents five new basic rules for improving at chess. Moskalenko’s Five Touchstones provide players with tools to assess any position. Club players are shown how to get a read more…

4. Attacking Manual 1 & 2
SAVE 10% on volume 1 & 2 Combined, by Jacob Aagaard
Jacob Aagaard explains the rules of attack (the exploitation of a dynamic advantage), balanced between understandable examples, and deep analysis. Where Volume One was about the laws of dynamics, the font of all attacks. Volume Two deals with weak kings, sacrifices, various minor attacking themes, intuitive sacrifices, opposite castling, modern king hunts, and read more

5. Chess Strategy for Club Players
The Road to Positional Advantage by Herman Grooten
AWARDED: ChessCafe 2009 Book of the Year! With this book, International Master Herman Grooten presents to amateur players a complete and structured course on: how to recognize key characteristics in all types of positions, how to make use of those characteristics to choose the right plan. His teachings are based on the famous “Elements” of Wilhelm Steinitz, but Grooten read more…

Many of the world’s top chess federations will assemble in the Bursa province of Turkey for the World Team Championships. Some of the notable teams represent perennial powers Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Israel and USA. Also included in the field is India, the world’s #6 team Despite the fact that World Champion Viswanathan Anand is busy preparing for his match, India will trot out two young talents as reserves.

Perhaps the favorite will be the reigning European Champion, Azerbaijan who will field their strongest possible team. Other teams vying for the crown have one or more players missing from the top. Russia is missing Vladimir Kramnik, but still has a formidable 2700 team. This tournament will be key for Russia to prove that they are capable of winning a team event after struggles in the past decade. In coming years, the team may get stronger if they add Sergey Karjakin.

Other teams competing from the various regions are Brazil, Egypt, Greece and host Turkey. Ali Nihat Yacizi has fueled the engine of chess growth in Turkey and this is the latest of his efforts to make Turkey a competitive chess country. Although his projections are ambitious, he claims to have two million youth playing chess. Certainly many out of this number will be inspired by seeing the elite players and may one day represent their country at this same tournament.

Main Site: http://wtcc2009.tsf.org.tr/

Australian junior chess, already feting their first World Champion in Melbourne’s Bobby Cheng, has a new reason to celebrate with the signing of a new sponsor for the national chess Junior Elite Training Squad, JETS.

The JETS squad, founded in 2000, features 30 of the best junior players from around Australia, with an emphasis on developing the skills of young talents of 14 years or less. Johns-Putra Limited has agreed to fully fund the 2010 JETS squad, including the national camp in Sydney in July.

Managing Director of Johns-Putra Limited, Geraldine Johns-Putra expressed her pleasure at the agreement struck with the Australian Junior Chess League, the organiser of the JETS squad; “As someone who has benefited tremendously from chess as a junior, I feel privileged to be in a position to do something for Australian juniors today. Many of the opportunities I gained through chess would not have been possible without the support of individuals who donated time and money. I wish all of the juniors in the JETS squad the best and hope that they learn and grow as much as they can from this wonderful initiative. "

Johns-Putra Limited is a London-based boutique legal consulting practice focussing on cross-border China mergers and acquisitions. Its mission is to help clients build bridges between China and the West and to secure success across cultures. It is committed to advancing cross-cultural business in China and is one of the few boutique legal consulting practices in cross-border corporate transactions in China.

The Australian Junior Chess League is dedicated to organising and promoting chess among young people around Australia. In January the AJCL will be backing the Australian Junior Championships in Hobart and later in 2010 will select players to represent Australia at the Asian and World Junior Championships.

For more information, please contact Geraldine Johns-Putra, on +44 (0)20 7286 7664 or at geraldine@johns-putra.com, or Ian Rogers, Deputy President AJCL, on +61 (0)416599230 or GMIanRogers@gmail.com .

The complete field of the London super-tournament, to be held in December this year, was announced today. It turned out to be an interesting mixture with some of the world’s best players and some young British talents: Michael Adams, Magnus Carlsen, David Howell, Vladimir Kramnik, Luke McShane, Hikaru Nakamura, Ni Hua and Nigel Short.

We first reported on this brand new tournament on March 10th, when initiator IM Malcolm Pein announced his tournament. The tournament boasts a minimum prize fund of € 100,000 and has applied for membership of the Grand Slam.

It will be the most prestigious tournament in London since former world champion Anatoly Karpov won the Phillips and Drew Masters in 1984. Included in the prize fund will be a €10,000 Brilliant Game award along with prizes for each victory with the White and Black pieces.

Besides, the tournament will apply the Sofia Rule and the “football scoring system”: players will receive three points for a win and one for a draw.

Today, in a second press release, Pein announced the complete field of participants:

PRESS RELEASE

The London Chess Centre is pleased to announce that the line up for the London Chess Classic 2009 is complete after GM David Howell of England accepted his invitation. This creates a balance to the event, an eight player all play all, with four world class players pitched against England’s four highest rated Grandmasters. Using the latest available ratings and information supplied by the players on their recent successes, the tournament rating average is currently well above 2690 and may reach 2700 by December.

The players are:

Vladimir Kramnik (Russia)
Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA)
Ni Hua (China)
Michael Adams (England)
Nigel Short (England)
Luke McShane (England)
David Howell (England)

Nigel Short and Hikaru Nakamura are both in great shape. Nigel recently dominated the Sigeman tournament at Malmo and Hikaru won the US Championship held at St Louis. Vladimir Kramnik was top scorer at the Azerbaijan v Rest of the World match with 6.5/8.

Play begins Tuesday December 8th and runs until Tuesday December 15th.

The venue for what will be the most prestigious chess tournament in the capital for 25 years will be announced shortly.

Malcolm Pein

London Chess Centre

ChessVibes is already looking forward to this tournament! In case you missed it, here’s the interview we did with Malcolm Pein early March:

Firstly, why a single round-robin?
“For promotional and business reasons a one week event is better. It’s hard to keep media focused on an event for much longer than a week in my opinion.”

It’s a big difference with other Grand Slam tournaments, especially Corus, which has 13 rounds. Wouldn’t it be much easier to qualify for Bilbao in your tournament?
“We’re going for a 2700 average, so I don’t think it will be easy to win it. One could say that the physical effort is less, but it certainly won’t be easy. And I’m sure the Grand Slam people would love to have a big city included in their Series. It might be a relatively small affair, but it is in the right place.”

Can you say something about the sponsors?
“At the moment all I can say is that there’s a private individual who wants to bring chess back into the UK. The commercial options are still open but the money is there.”

I understand that you cannot speak about players yet, but is it your ambition to have both Adams and Short, or will you prefer to give young talents a chance?
“We’re trying for both.”

Your tournament is already special because there will be a brilliant game prize and extra prizes for wins – is this your way of avoiding short draws? Is the Sofia rule not enough?
“Yes, that’s correct. People can still make a draw if they want to. In my opinion, every game has to matter. By the way, I can add that there will be a bonus for a win with Black.”

You’re also going for the “football system” with three points for a win, and one for a draw, as was applied at the first Bilbao Grand Slam Final. However, it has become clear that it makes very little difference to the standings of such a tournament. Why did you decide on this?
“It’s more interesting for the public – we’re going to focus on the public, PR and the media.”

What kind of venue are you having in mind? A glass cube?
“We would certainly like to because it’s a fantastic innovation of Silvio [Danailov - CV]. Actually all of his innovations have been great. But we’re not sure if it’s possible; it depends on the venue.

And what about the future? Will it be an annual event?
“If it is a success then yes, but the plan is to lead to more widespread series of events at both local and international level. We might even bid for the WCC final - not Anand-Topalov but perhaps for 2012.”

ChessVibes is in León and we’ll be providing on-the-spot coverage of the 22nd edition of the Ciudad de León rapid tournament, which took off just one and a half hours ago with the first semi-final between Ivanchuk and Morozevich. In this post we have yesterday’s opening press conference on video.

The XXII Magistral de Ajedrez Ciudad de León takes place from June 4th to 7th. Over the years the Spanish city of León has seen the world’s best players and this year it welcomes Magnus Carlsen, Alexander Morozevich, Vassily Ivanchuk and Wang Yue. Following the traditional format, one semi-final is played on Friday (Ivanchuk-Morozevich), one on Saturday (Carlsen-Wang Yue) and the final on Sunday. Each match contains four rapid games with twenty minutes on the clock, plus ten seconds increment each move.

Today is the first semi between Morozevich and Ivanchuk...

...and tomorrow the next one, between Carlsen and Wang Yue

Besides the games there will be some parallel activities as well: a lecture by Ivanchuk on Saturday at noon, a Young Talents tournament on Sunday morning and a simul by Morozevich on Monday afternoon. Earlier this week there was a lecture class by Illescas and throughout the week chess movies were shown in cinemas in León!

Yesterday I arrived in what can be called the chess capital of Spain during this long weekend, exactly one hour before the opening press conference & drawing of lots. Just in time to setup and switch on the cameras to make the video below, which is followed by a few quotes collected by press officer Leontxo Garcia.

-Morozevich: “Rapid chess should have a separate ranking, and the same applies to blitz and blindfold. I also think team championships games should not count for the Elo rating”. The other three participants agreed with him on that.

-Carlsen: “I don’t have a clear opinion on chess and doping. But I do think something must be urgently done to avoid the help of computers during the games”.

-Wang Yue on his good results: “I knew all my opponents well because I had study their games carefully. But, as I was new on the top, they knew much less about me”.

-Ivanchuk: “My crisis is now gone, after my good play last week against Navara”. On how he learned Spanish: “A bit of everything. Books, tapes, TV programmes, my second and Mexican friend Manuel Leon Hoyos and, of course, the Mexican girls, who helped me a lot”.

Links

• Official website

After the ACP World Rapid Cup, three more rapid events will be held this month. Already tomorrow a match between Ivanchuk and Navara starts in Prague and next week there’s both a match between Anand and Leko in Miskolc, and the traditional event in Leon with this year Carlsen, Ivanchuk, Morozevich and Wang Yue playing.

Ivanchuk is in Prague already; in the background the Charles Bridge | Photo: Pavel Matocha

Navara-Ivanchuk rapid match
Everyone agrees on it, including Vassily Ivanchuk himself: some rest would do him good. However, he has committed himself to several new events, and we can find him behind the chess board already tomorrow!

The Ukrainian will play an eight-game rapid match against the best Czech player, David Navara. Venue is the Best Western Kampa hotel in Prague. The match is the main attraction of the chess festival CEZ CHESS TROPHY 2009, organized by the Prague Chess Society. The two will play on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, two games each day, at 17:00 and at 19:00 CET.

All games will be broadcast online, and commented for the audience in the hotel by the Czech-American grandmaster Lubomir Kavalek. The match will be complemented by a chess simul and by lectures by grandmasters Lubomir Kavalek, Vlastimil Hort and Jan Plachetka. The chess festival CEZ CHESS TROPHY 2009 is held in a partnership with the capital city Prague.

Website: Prague Chess Society

Leko-Anand rapid match
Next week it’s time for a very similar event in Miskolc, Hungary, where Peter Leko has been playing rapid matches against different opponents for years now. This year he faces the strongest opponent possible: Viswanathan Anand, the current World Champion and 11-times rapid World Champion.

Like Ivanchuk and Navara, the two will play an eight-game rapid match. Venue is the National Theater in Miskolc; the dates are June 2nd to 7th. Mirroring the schedule in Prague this week, two games a day will be played on Wednesday (June 3), Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, at 16:30 and 18:00 CET.

Website: Leko-Anand

XXII Ciudad de Leon Masters
Almost simultaneously with Leko-Anand, from June 4th to 7th, the 22nd edition of the traditional chess tournament in Leon, Spain takes place. Like in previous years, the format is two semi-finals on Friday, a match for 3rd and 4th place on Saturday and the final on Sunday.

Over the years Leon has seen the world’s best players. and this year the city welcomes Magnus Carlsen, Alexander Morozevich, Vassily Ivanchuk (!) and Wang Yue. Besides the games there will be some parallel activities as well: a lecture by Ivanchuk, simuls by Morozevich, a lecture class by Illescas, a chess cinema week and a Young Talents tournament.

Spanish journalist and León press officer Leontxo Garcia made your editor-in-chief an offer I couldn’t refuse and so I will be covering the tournament from Leon! I’m curious and excited, since the event makes a very professional impression. The press releases (yes, organizers, that’s the way to do it: send several press releases in the months before your even starts!) say:

Those who maintain that chess doesn’t fit well on TV have probably never watched the Leon Chess Masters. The players’ faces reflecting a huge tension on time trouble attract even those who know nothing about chess. The Castilla y Leon TV catches the idea: it will produce a daily special program during the tournament (June, 5-7th) and broadcast the end of every game live.

In order to fit well on TV, chess has to be transformed into a good show, and not only by speeding the game. Remote control cameras at the stage (and even on the playing table), electronic boards, giant screens, GM commentary for the spectators’ headphones and, not less important, a nice and suitable venue. The Junta de Castilla y Leon (regional government) building’s assembly hall has been an excellent one for many years, but we now have a better one: the Auditorium, equipped with the latest technology.

The Castilla y Leon TV will rely on four professional and experienced chess commentators for its broadcasting: GM Miguel Illescas, Jesus Boyero, Miguel Angel Nepomuceno and Leontxo Garcia. The company’s main executives know the very successful background to chess on TV in Spain, always produced by Televisión Española, the public channel: 50 daily programs during the Kasparov-Karpov World Championship, Seville 87; the very exciting last game of that match was broadcasted live, with 13 million spectators (official statistics); and the 39 programs of the weekly En Jaque, from September 1990 to June 1991, including two games Kasparov vs. spectators.

Left to right, standing: Marcelino Sion (organizer), Javier Martinez (Alsa), Arturo Bascones (Diputación), GM Miguel Illescas (commentator), Javier Ochoa de Echagüen (FEDA president), Alejandro Vaquera (University) and Avelino Hernandez (Cajaduero).Left to right (seated): Natalia Rodriguez Picallo (City Hall, Sports Deputy Mayor), Juan Ignacio Gallardo (Marca newspaper Deputy Editor) and Miguel Ignacio Gonzalez (Junta de Castilla y Leon, Sports General Director).

As you can imagine I’m looking forward to attending this tournament. Hopefully I can learn from the TV crew over there and implement some ideas in our chess videos here at ChessVibes!

Website: Ciudad de Leon Masters

• Yian Liou and Evan Sandberg in K-12
• Ted Xiao in K-8 (not really my student, but he lives in my city and attends club)
  
• James Kwok in K-6
• Daniel Liu and Neel Apte in K-5

• Complete results
• My photos on Flickr and Facebook (please send other photo links to me)
• Photos by Richard Shorman on Facebook (hopefully on ChessDryad soon)
  
• I hope for the tournament to be rated by Tuesday or Wednesday.
• I plan to post more results and photos throughout the week, including a big final report on Thursday or Friday.
  

• Neel (left) and Daniel (right) pose with their trophies and teacher.
• James smiles for the camera!
• Yian, Arthur Liou (3rd place K-12) and Daniel stand for a group photo.
  

From July 27th to August 2nd, Viswanathan Anand will defend his title of Rapid World Champion, which he won already 11 times, against Levon Aronian, Arkadij Naiditsch and Ian Nepomniachtchi. In an interview with Harry Schaack the World Champion reviews the events of the last half year – and looks ahead to the Grenkeleasing Rapid World Championship in Mainz.

Photo: Christian Bossert

From July 27th to August 2nd, once again the best players in the world will meet in the Rheingoldhalle in Mainz, Germany to play the most important rapid chess festival in the world: the Chess Classic. The world championships in rapid chess and Chess960 will be staged in a tried and trusted double round robin format with four players, after which the players battle it out in mini-matches to determine the top spot. During the GRENKELEASING Rapid World Championship the chess world champion and Chess Classic serial winner Vishy Anand will try do win his title 12th title.

However, with the leader of the successful Armenian Olympic Team, Levon Aronian, who won both the Amber tournament in Nice and the FIDE Grand Prix in Nalchik this year, he faces a formidable opponent who already showed his strength in rapid chess in Mainz in the past. The winner of the ORDIX Open 2008, Ian Nepomniachtchi from Russia and local hero Arkadij Naiditsch will try do their best to put a spoke in the favourite’s wheel. Since the German number one showed an upturn in form in the last few months, he will certainly be the one to watch out for.

More information on the Mainz Chess Classic can be found at the Chess Tigers website. The experienced organizers know how to bring their tournament under the spotlights at an early stage: they distributed the following in-depth interview with Viswanathan Anand to the media.

Translation: Johannes Fischer

Harry Schaack: Several months passed between the World Championship in Bonn in October and the Linares tournament. A rather unusual break for a World Champion. What did you do in that time?

Vishy Anand: After the exhausting match I needed this break, but there was not much time for regeneration. Shortly after the World Championship I went to India. The first days were pretty chaotic. There were many tributes, receptions and parties. Basically, I was incredibly busy. In two months I flew more than 6.000 km all over India. The enthusiasm I encountered was of course fantastic. However, it was also rather demanding.

Back in Europe you immediately went to Davos…

…where I had been invited to take part in the annual conference of the World Economic Forum. It was a new experience for me. A lot of scientists, influential politicians and businessman met in Davos. I had a lot of interesting discussions.

For the first time in many years you decided against playing in Wijk aan Zee. Only in Linares, where you had won the previous two years, you came back to the tournament arena.

Yes, and despite the break I played quite well in the beginning. I won the first game against Radjabov. But against Aronian I suffered a blackout in a clearly better position, which cost me the game. In the second part of the tournament my luck returned, particularly so in the games against Ivanchuk and Grischuk. All in all, I cannot complain. My result reflects my play. Altogether my performance was not as steady as it was in the two previous years. But I did not think that I played badly.

Grischuk wins Linares 2009

Somewhat surprisingly, Grischuk won. Considering his permanent time trouble it is amazing that he is so successful.

If I have only five minutes left on the clock, I start to get nervous. For Grischuk time trouble only begins, when he has five seconds left. Before that he carefully writes the moves on his scoresheet, including minutes and seconds spent by each player – all that with unbelievable calm. Maybe he needs the thrill. At any rate he is an excellent blitz player. One must never underestimate him in time trouble.

In Bonn you surprised your challenger Kramnik with 1.d4 after having almost exclusively played 1.e4 before. In Linares you tried your new opening repertoire for the first after the World Championship match in a regular tournament. Were you happy with the results?

Yes, I could use a couple of things I had prepared for the match in Bonn. For me it was important not to lose the feeling for 1.d4-openings because I have worked very hard to get it. The mistakes I made in Linares did not happen in the opening.

Did you have problems to play after your long break?

That’s difficult to say. The first part of the tournament went better for me than the second. I did not necessarily play better with more practice. At the end of the tournament I made eight draws in a row. That is not really satisfying. It simply was no particularly good tournament – but neither the worst. This happens. 50% in Linares is no disaster.

In the Amber tournament in Nice, which followed right after Linares, and where blindfold and rapid chess were played you at first seemed to follow a similar pattern as you did in Spain.

I again started somewhat shaky. But you play 22 games in the Amber tournament and you can quickly recover losses by winning. After the first rest day things went pretty well. With a little bit of luck I would have won the tournament. However, in the end Aronian finished first, closely followed by me, Kramnik and Carlsen.

Anand-Kramnik (blindfold) at Amber 2009

In the blindfold game you won against Kramnik, who played his beloved Petroff. How important was this success against your rival?

Well, every win against the Petroff is great – particularly against Kramnik. Of course it was nice to win against him and to draw the following rapid game rather easily with Black. But these things are only nice for a short moment because the tournament goes on.

The encounter with Kramnik had no particular significance for you?

Maybe it was more important than I would like to admit to myself. But I try not to take it too seriously. You play so many games in Nice. It is difficult to really cherish a win because you quickly have to focus on the next game.

In the blindfold game against Wang you had a funny endgame: two knights against pawn. According to the tablebases you missed a forced win a couple of times…

Yes, at one time I had a forced win in a bit more than 40 moves, another time in more than 60 moves … (laughs) It is incredibly difficult to play this endgame in a blindfold game. At a certain point I was a bit confused and did no longer exactly know where my knights were. A couple of years ago – also at the Amber tournament – Topalov won the same endgame against Karpov, but in a rapid game and with a better version of this endgame.

Were you happy about your result in Nice?

I cannot complain. I had been leading for a long time, I won the rapid tournament, and almost won the overall tournament. I left Nice with a good feeling.

There were reports that Carlsen angered you in the second game. You had lost the blindfold game against him and in the rapid game the Norwegian declined your draw offer even though the position was equal.

I was only slightly angry but not really furious. I decided to take it more as a joke. However, when he declined my draw offer I was really astonished because the position was completely equal. When he offered peace a couple of moves later I wanted to go one on top of him and declined (laughs). But I did not realize that I did that in such a loud way that everybody in the playing hall could hear it. But that was okay. I have good relations with Magnus and we analyzed the game afterwards in a friendly way.

After Amber you played in the Bundesliga.

It was the final round. Even if the whole team had played horrendously badly we would have won the title. I won both of my games and was happy about my performance. But I have to admit that my team colleagues had finished the job a bit earlier. My wins were no longer important.

The Baden-Baden team with Peter Heine Nielsen, Viswanathan Anand, Peter Svidler, Michael Adams and Pentala Harikrishna | Photo: Christian Bossert

Do you like to play in a team?

I’ve now been playing for a couple of years for Baden-Baden. Unfortunately, I did not have much time in the last two seasons. In the previous years I sometimes played no less than seven games in one season. I like my team colleagues, the team spirit is excellent. It is fun to play together with the guys.

Your game against Stellwagen was very complicated…

I had prepared for the sharp Poisoned Pawn variation of the Najdorf-Sicilian. He surprised me with a sideline and I had problems to remember the theoretical lines. All the classical games by Tal, Tolush and the great players of the 50ies came to my mind. It took me 20 minutes to get everything in order. One wrong move in this position and mate can follow quickly. I decided to give the queen for three pieces, which led to a very complex position. I calculated so many lines that my head was spinning. However, my opponent did not fare any better. A lot of my team colleagues and the spectators liked this game. But we, the players, suffered (laughs).

Next year, 2010, you will have to defend your title of World Champion. What did you think about the match between Topalov and Kamsky, in which your challenger was established?

The duel turned out to be much closer than I had thought. I had assumed that Topalov would win because of his excellent preparation, even though I had expected stubborn resistance by Kamsky. In fact, it was exactly the other way round. More than once Topalov had problems in the opening, but Kamsky did not finish the job. Topalov showed excellent nerves – for which his opponent is renowned. If Kamsky had defended a bit better the match would have gone over the whole distance. However, he had great problems with the clock.

Anand and Topalov analyzing their blindfold game at the Amber tournament this year

A World Championship requires months of preparation. When will you begin your preparation?

I can only start when I have some more details. For the time being the match is scheduled for April but a lot of things are still unclear. At the moment, I only make general plans.

The qualification cycle for the World Championship came under threat in the last months because the Grand Prix Series was about to collapse. Now, a candidates tournament shall be played. What do you think about the change of rules that directly affect you?

I think it incredible that the FIDE changes the rules within a running cycle. One could have sought a new mode for future events. But the way it is now, things are quite unpleasant for our sport. One of the main problems is communication. Those in charge should have discussed the changes much more openly with the players. I think, FIDE simply has to make better contracts with the organizers to prevent similar things in the future.

Let us talk a bit about the Chess Classic, which will take place from 27. July – 2. August in Mainz. You won the title no less than eleven times – an extraordinary success. In fact, you achieved everything in your sport. You have been in the top for more than 20 years, you won World Champion titles in three different formats, and you won all important tournaments once or several times. How do you motivate yourself?

The most important is to enjoy playing chess. I don’t believe you can only motivate yourself with titles or tournaments. Of course, these are goals that are necessary and that give you a direction. But the motivation comes from the game. I am aware that my drive will diminish at a certain point of time. But at the moment I just need a little break when I had too much. I still find chess very interesting. Moreover, in 20 years you always meet new players who pose new challenges. Talents such as Radjabov, Carlsen or Karjakin take care that things don’t get boring.

Sponsor and chess fan Wolfgang Grenke chatting with Anand | Photo: Christian Bossert

At the Chess Classic you won all of the last nine rapid chess events. Can you even imagine that you will not win in Mainz?

I have to admit that this record is indeed a great success. Every year at the Chess Classic I keep my fingers crossed, and hope that Lady Luck will continue to smile at me. However, I know that in the past things could easily have been different. It was hardly ever as clear as it seemed to be afterwards. Even my most successful tournaments had one or two key moments. If they had turned out differently, things would have been more complicated.

This year your main rival will be Levon Aronian, who not only plays for the crown in rapid chess but will also defend his Chess960 title. Is it an advantage for you that he has to play two tournaments?

Hard to say. You never know in advance whether you get tired or whether it keeps you in shape. In the last two years Aronian had good results against me. At any rate, he is a tough and dangerous opponent. And I have to be very careful.

Could you characterize Aronian’s style of play?

As far as his openings and the structures he strives for are concerned, he is positionally oriented. But he plays these positions very tactically. Though he opens with 1.d4, he treats these positions like an e4-player. If things get complicated he always sets small traps for his opponents. He is a very gifted tactician, calculates excellently and hardly ever misses chances offered to him. All this makes him extremely dangerous.

Anand-Aronian at the Grand Slam Final in Bilbao 2008, with Topalov watching

You will also have to play against Arkadij Naiditsch. Since last year you are team colleagues in Baden-Baden. What can you say about him?

We played a couple of times in Dortmund, but no rapid games. He is a promising „youngster“. Being 23 years of age, he probably won’t like to hear that, but it’s arguably still the case. He works hard on his openings. For some time I thought he might have his breakthrough in 2004, when he had a number of good results. In 2005 he won Dortmund in sensational fashion. After that he had no really bad results but was not playing steadily enough. After some minor setbacks he made great progress in the last year. His rating went up and in the April list he has more than 2700 Elo.

The fourth player in the GRENKELEASING Rapid World Championship is Ian Nepomniachtchi. In last year’s Chess Classic he won the Ordix Open.

From the three players, this is the one, I know the least. I have not played against him yet. He tries to emulate Morozevich a bit. His play reveals that he admires his countryman very much. But it is very difficult to copy Moro’s style because it is so unique. It requires an enormous amount of positional understanding. If you continuously strive for unknown positions, in which you cannot rely on theory or your preparation, you much more have to rely on your own sense of direction. Which in itself indicates his outstanding talent – after all, he can play that way. At any rate, he has the most unusual style of this year’s participants in the Chess Classic.

Nepomniachtchi had a couple of good results in the last years, but failed to achieve a major breakthrough. Despite some excellent tournament results his rating is still relatively low…

Nowadays a lot of young talents compete with each other. Sometimes things do not go well for a year even though you make no mistakes. Maybe you just did not get the right invitations. Then again, you have the necessary luck and you suddenly play on a different level. I am certain that Ian will be very motivated in Mainz and that he will show his skills. I am looking forward to him.

Thank you very much for the interview.

Link

• Chess Tigers website

In recent years students of chess school in Moldova show consistently high results on the international arena, regardless of kind of competitions they are competing in: the international classification tournaments, the European Championships, the World Championships or the World Chess Olympiads. We are proud to have leading Grandmaster such as Victor Bologan, Viorel  Iordachescu, Almira Skripchenko, Svetlana Petrenko, Karolina Smokina and on an equal basis with them and our young talented chess masters Irina Bulmaga, Diana Baciu, who represent our country at various chess forums.

And I would like to stress once again that our leading chess players are the pupils of the program "chess in schools", which was carried out in the schools in Chisinau and in several other cities and districts with the approval of the Ministry of Education of the former Moldavian SSR from 1981 until the collapse of the former Soviet empire.

After our republic became independent, Moldova Chess Federation directed its activities to continue the mass chess education in the schools and create a reliable source of education of young talents.

Together with a team of the Chess Club, Chess CYSC ? 7 in Chisinau, in Balti and other cities and districts, we manage to give chess lessons in schools on a voluntary basis, thanks to the initiative of chess enthusiasts. However, taking into account the enormous influence of chess on the all-around development and upbringing of children, we never lose hope that the relevant organizations and government will support us to resolve the issue of resuming the process of "chess in schools", which has rapidly implemented in such countries as USA, Russia, Canada, China, Spain, Peru, Brazil, France, Germany, India and many others.

But it was the Chess Federation of Moldova who was the founder of the introduction "chess in schools". The program started in 1966, and this fact was confirmed at the 68^th International FIDE Congress, held in Chisinau in 1997 and there were the representatives of 112 national federations from all over the world.

To resume "chess in schools" in our country, Chess Federation of Moldova prepared the necessary documents and sent them to the Government of Moldova for consideration. We believed that this issue would be resolved in favor of our children, but in the fact we did not expect that it would be resolved in such a short period of time, we could only dream about it. But our dreams have come true.

Most recently, the Government of the Republic of Moldova, considered the petition of Moldova Chess Federation and reviewed all the submitted papers, adopted a Resolution ? 22 dated March 16 "On some measures of chess sports promoting in the Republic of Moldova". It states in part: to consider the promotion of chess sports as one of the priorities of the sport development in the Republic of Moldova. The Ministry of Education and Youth have to include chess module in the curriculum of school discipline "Physical Education", with effect since 2009-2010 school year. For that purpose to establish a coordinating council for the implementation of the chess study program in the national education system.

There are many other decisions in that Resolution which are entrusted jointly to the Ministry of Education and Youth, the Agency of Sports and Chess Federation of Moldova.

I take the opportunity to appeal to all chess federations in cities and districts of our republic, to all Grandmaster and masters, to chess experts and trainers together with the municipal and district departments of Education and Sports to involve actively in solution of the issue so that children in our republic could start learning to play chess from the new school year.

It will be necessary to arrange short-term training courses for trainers and teachers to conduct classes in schools and to resolve the issue of acquisition of the required number of chess sets and demonstration boards by each school.

It is necessary for Chess Federation to resolve the issue of the publication of the required number of methodological and educational chess literature. Trainers and teachers will be guided by these literature in the development of the program and the plan to conduct chess classes in schools.

It is also necessary to include additional chess competitions in the calendar plan, which will encourage young chess-players to achieve the goal.

I think that many chess players and chess experts, chess school trainers will provide the necessary assistance and support to municipal and regional departments of education in facilitating the chess educational process of children. And they will start to teach our children to play chess and this will be their personal example.

This way we show our love and respect for the Chess, and we will promote the generation of our country, and of course the search for the young chess talents who will not only achieve the results of our leading players, but also surpass them. From 1 September 2009, I will personally go to Chisinau school ? 29 and start teaching first formers to play chess.

For the first time in 25 years, London will have a chess tournament with the world’s best players. From December 10 to 17, 2009 a single round-robin with eight players (five world-class grandmasters and three English players) will be held in the capital of the United Kingdom. The tournament boasts a minimum prize fund of € 100,000 and has applied for membership of the Grand Slam. Initiatior Malcolm Pein: “We’re going to focus on the public and the media.”

PRESS RELEASE

London Chess Centre is proud to announce the hosting of a world-class chess tournament to be held in London in December, 2009. The event will be an elite eight-player all-play-all in the most prestigious tournament in the capital since former world champion Anatoly Karpov won the Phillips and Drew Masters in 1984.

Since then, despite London hosting three world title contests, there has not been a tournament in which England’s leading players could lock horns with the world’s best on home soil. The December 09 tournament will be the first in a series of events designed to reinvigorate UK chess and promote the game and its undoubted educational benefits in schools and communities.

The tournament will be FIDE Category 19 with an average FIDE rating of 2700 and a minimum prize fund of €100,000. The eight players will comprise of three English and five world-class Grandmasters from abroad. Included in the prize fund will be a €10,000 Brilliant Game award along with prizes for each victory with the White and Black pieces. Matches will be covered live
online where fans will be able to vote for Game of the Day.

The tournament has applied for membership of the prestigious annual Grand Slam which culminates in Bilbao and boasts a €400,000 prize fund.

The games will be under classical chess time control; 40 moves in two hours, 20 in the subsequent hour then an additional 15 minutes plus an increment of 30 seconds a move until the end of the game. The tournament will further benefit from the use of Sofia Rules which disallow early draws. Players will receive three points for a win and one for a draw.

The opening ceremony will take place on Thursday, December 10 and will include a blindfold chess display and charity simultaneous. Play will take place daily from Friday, December 11 to Thursday, December 17 inclusive.

The list of players and venue will be announced in April.

IM Malcolm Pein
Director London Chess Centre

This morning ChessVibes spoke with Malcolm Pein on the phone.

Firstly, why a single round-robin?
“For promotional and business reasons a one week event is better. It’s hard to keep media focused on an event for much longer than a week in my opinion.”

It’s a big difference with other Grand Slam tournaments, especially Corus, which has 13 rounds. Wouldn’t it be much easier to qualify for Bilbao in your tournament?
“We’re going for a 2700 average, so I don’t think it will be easy to win it. One could say that the physical effort is less, but it certainly won’t be easy. And I’m sure the Grand Slam people would love to have a big city included in their Series. It might be a relatively small affair, but it is in the right place.”

Can you say something about the sponsors?
“At the moment all I can say is that there’s a private individual who wants to bring chess back into the UK. The commercial options are still open but the money is there.”

I understand that you cannot speak about players yet, but is it your ambition to have both Adams and Short, or will you prefer to give young talents a chance?
“We’re trying for both.”

Your tournament is already special because there will be a brilliant game prize and extra prizes for wins – is this your way of avoiding short draws? Is the Sofia rule not enough?
“Yes, that’s correct. People can still make a draw if they want to. In my opinion, every game has to matter. By the way, I can add that there will be a bonus for a win with Black.”

You’re also going for the “football system” with three points for a win, and one for a draw, as was applied at the first Bilbao Grand Slam Final. However, it has become clear that it makes very little difference to the standings of such a tournament. Why did you decide on this?
“It’s more interesting for the public – we’re going to focus on the public, PR and the media.”

What kind of venue are you having in mind? A glass cube?
“We would certainly like to because it’s a fantastic innovation of Silvio [Danailov - CV]. Actually all of his innovations have been great. But we’re not sure if it’s possible; it depends on the venue.

And what about the future? Will it be an annual event?
“If it is a success then yes, but the plan is to lead to more widespread series of events at both local and international level. We might even bid for the WCC final - not Anand-Topalov but perhaps for 2012.”

I had arrived in Jakarta in the late afternoon and was soon meeting up one after another with PERCASI Deputy Secretary General Sebastian Simanjuntak, Publicty Head Kristianus Liem, WGM Irene Sukandar and her brother Jenius Kaiser as well as with Drs Bunawan till late despite having to leave at 4 a.m. to catch a flight to Surabaya.

Then I was was woken by Sebastian with the sad news that our good friend Grandmaster and FIDE Trainer Edhi Handoko has passed away at 1 a.m. He had been ill recently but we did nit think it was so serious and I was looking forward to seeing him soon at a coaching assignment or at the JAFPA Chess Festival in April.

Edhi is well known to the ASEAN chess community at large and I am proud to be able to call him a friend since we first met in 1983 when he was already eclipsing the long time No 1. Indonesian GM Herman Ardianysah.

I have seen a lot of Edhi in the past year - meeting him many times at diverse places from Tarakan, Jakarta (JAFPA), Beijing (World Mind Sports Games), etc. and we spent at lot of time together in Dresden at the 38th World Chess Olympiad, often watching the games of the Indonesian team of which he was the captain with McDonald's for dinner often to follow at GM Susanto Megaranto's insistence!

There is only one world to describe Edhi's career - uncompromising.

Edhi played chess without fear or favour and believed that he could find something in any position. His game was full of the tactics that has always epitomised the Indonesian chess school but with his own special twist with incredibly deep calculation of variations.

As a result, he was Indonesian Champion in 1978, 1979, 1984, and 1991, and a member of his country's Olympiad Teams in 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1992, and 2000.

He became a Grandmaster in 1994 and was Asian Cities Champion in both 1993 and 1994.

When finally overtaken by GM Utut Adianto in the late 80's as indonesia's No. 1, they became a much feared and respected combination of good friends and genial rivals who certainly benefited from each other and together led Indonesia to its best every international results for over a decade.

In recent years Edhi had started to become a great trainer and brought not only his vast knowledge of the games honed through literally tens of thousands of top level competitive games but also by his attitude to playing chess.

He will be missed greatly as a friend (he had no enemies and no detractors), as a role model for all young chess players, and for the so much more he was starting to offer Indonesian chess in building a new generation of young talents in his new career as a trainer.

Edhi's funeral procession will be from Rumah Duka Tiong Teng, Solo, Jawa Tengah at 9 a.m. Sunday, 22 February 2009 to the Bonoloyo, Cemetery and is survived by his wife Endang Hastari S and his two sons Ekona Sulistya Wibowo (21 years) and Okana Razzi Giovani.

Contributions to his family is welcome and I will be happy and honoured to facilitate these (email me at peterlong64@gmail.com for details).

The Dresden Olympiad is here and there have been a lot of changes since the last biennial tournament. Armenia took the men’s gold while the Ukraine took the women’s gold in a tournament marked by the rise of the Chinese men (2nd) and the fall of the Russians (6th). This year, these two nations will be vying for gold with Russia bringing a team boasting an average rating over 2750. China touts the rising quartet of 2700-rated players under age 25. This presents a breakthrough for China who along with India are the fastest rising powers in the chess world.

Other federations will be stocked with their best talent and we will see the usual powers from Armenia, Israel, USA, Georgia and Azerbaijan shoot for medals. What is more exciting is the emergence of young stars from France (GM Maxim Vachier-Lagrave), Cuba (GM Lenier Dominguez), the Philippines (GM Wesley So), Vietnam (GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son) and Mexico (GM Manuel Leon Hoyos). The landscape of chess is changing. This tournament has broken a record for the number of teams registered (156) and Africa will have 24 teams represented! Here are the top ten Drum Predictions for 2008!

Analysis: The fastest rising chess power in the world. At the 2006 Olympiad, Wang Yue (2732) had not reached 2600, but led the Chinese side with a blistering 10/12 and 2837 performance. Bu Xiangzhi (2714) scored a solid 8/12 with a 2790 performance. China will be even stronger and will replace Zhang Zhong (now Singapore), Zhang Pengxiang and Zhao Jun with rising juniors Wang Hao (2696) and Li Chao (2622). With the momentum China has created, the team cohesion and the improvement of their junior stars, China stands an excellent chance to take the gold.

X-factor: The key here will be experience of the young Chinese players Wang Hao and Li Chao. This will be their first Olympiad and it remains to be seen how they will fare in pressure matches. Wang Yue will hold his own on top board. His flexible style can match-up with other board #1 contenders well. Bu Xiangzhi is actually the elder statesman at 25 and he has been in the international spotlight since age 13. He has a tendency to be inconsistent as does Ni Hua (2710). However, all have shown tremendous form in the World Minds Sports Games. This cohesion and team spirit has been the golden formula for both the Ukraine (2004) and Armenia (2006).

Analysis: This young cadre of players from Azerbaijan have had the potential to bring home the medal the past Olympiad tournaments, but inexperience and the absence of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in 2006, hurt their chances. With a “dynamic duo” on #1 and #2, Azerbaijan’s Teimour Radjabov and Mamedyarov will be ready. Radjabov appears to be in excellent form and will have a young and talented quartet to follow (Mamedyarov, Vugar Gashimov (right), Gadir Guseinov and Rauf Mamedov)… all under 24.

X-Factor: The main factor here will be Radjabov’s stability on board #1. He has a tendency to take risks in tournament play, but in team play he has proven to be more solid. Azerbaijan can put Mamedyarov on board #1 without a loss in strength in case Radjabov needs rest. Mamedyarov also has a provocative style which can squeeze crucial 1/2-points when needed. The surprise could be Gashimov who has breached 2700, won Cappelle LaGrande and tied for FIDE Grand Prix tournament this year and is on the rise. Like China, they are young with very good team chemistry.

Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik led onslaught against China in 2006.
Photo by Daaim Shabazz.

Analysis: By all accounts, most will pick Russia merely because they boast an average rating of over 2750. However, they have had powerful teams in the past two Olympiads and have not struck gold. This year will be no different. While Kramnik will certainly provide a strong showing on board #1, five-time Russian Champion Svidler has to be more consistent. Morozevich will perhaps be asked to push for points, but he has a tendency to suffer lapses with his pragmatic style. Russia will have a better alternate in Dmitry Jakavenko who will hopefully replace Sergei Rublevsky’s -1 performance in 2006.

X-factor: Which Svidler will show up? Will it be the world championship contender or the player who crashed in Aerosvit and the FIDE Grand Prix? Alexander Grischuk is playing a lot of poker these days and there remains a question of his focus. We will see. Look for Kramnik to play well and to prove something after his loss to Viswanathan Anand. However, a team of stars does not equal a strong team. We will see who Russia places on boards #2 and #3 and how often they go to Jakovenko.

4. Ukraine - This team is practically the same from the previous years, but young talents Sergei Karjakin, Andrei Volokitin and Alexander Moiseenko have stagnated. Vassily Ivanchuk often plays so many tournaments one wonders if he will have enough energy to play at a high level. He has recently played in the World Blitz Championship and the Cap D’Agde losing in the finals to Lenier Dominguez and Hikaru Nakamura, respectively.

5. Bulgaria - This team looks solid. With former FIDE champ on board #1 and with a Ivan Cheparinov on #2, Bulgaria will not stand a chance of losing on both boards in the same match. The Bulgarians have a reputation of being well-prepared and have unfurled a number of novelties in crucial games. This provides somewhat of a psychological advantage and may affect the board match-ups since some teams may not want to run into prepared lines. This is perhaps the strongest team Bulgaria has had in recent Olympiads.

6. Armenia - The defending Olympic champions will miss Karen Asrian’s stability. Asrian died tragically this year and will be replaced by the World Champion namesake, Tigran Petrosian. The lineup is still very powerful, but they lack power on the lower boards. Gabriel Sargissian scored a stunning 10/13 at the 2006 Olympiad playing every match. He may go the distance this time as well. Levon Aronian and Vladimir Akopian are a solid duo, but the latter has been quiet in recent years.

7. USA - USA was the surprise bronze medallists in 2006, and it would not be out of the question if they scored a medal in this tournament. Hikaru Nakamura has been on fire and is playing with a more universal style. Gata Kamsky is itching for a fight since his match with Veselin Topalov has been delayed. The downsides… Alexander Onischuk has been playing in Europe without spectacular results. He remains a very solid team player. US Champion Yury Shulman will be making his debut and Varuzhan Akobian is also a good team player to have in reserve. Nakamura could win a board medal and can squeeze 1/2-points if the team needs them.

8. Israel - A perennial power with a mixture of veterans and youth. Boris Gelfand will most likely be playing one board #1 with his solid style, but he has tailed off lately. Teenage sensation Maxim Rodshtein will be a new face. It seems like yesterday that Boris Avrukh and Emil Sutovsky were rising juniors, but are both at least 30. They will have to show that they have something left if Israel is going to get into medal contention.

9. India - This is a surprise since World Champion Viswanathan Anand is not playing. However, India is riding on tremendous national pride and have a cadre of young players who will be able to compete. The team is rather young and got a bit younger with G.N. Gopal as an alternative. Nevertheless, the chemistry is exceptional and look for India to make a surprising showing despite the absence of their national hero. India came in 8th in 2004, but a disappointing 30th in 2006. This tournament will show how much the Indians have matured.

10. France - With rising star Maxim Vachier-Lagrave on #2, France may make some waves. Etienne Bacrot proves he can still play at the elite level and has a good supportive cast with Vachier-Lagrave and Laurent Fressinet. They also have blitz specialist Vladislav Tkachiev and young star Sebastien Maze.

Regional Predictions

Top African Teams - (1) Egypt (2) Algeria (3) South Africa
Top Asian Teams - (1) China (2) India (3) Vietnam
Top Caribbean Teams - (1) Cuba (2) Dominican Republic (3) Barbados
Top European Teams - (1) Azerbaijan (2) Russia (3) Ukraine
Top North American Teams - (1) U.S.A. (2) Canada (3) Mexico
Top Latin American Teams - (1) Brazil (2) Argentina (3) Venezuela
Top Middle Eastern Teams - (1) Israel (2) Iran (3) Turkey