White to move and win.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
One game for the titles in St. Louis
Final round pairings
| White | Score | Rating | Black | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GM Nakamura, Hikaru | 7.5 | 2775 | GM Seirawan, Yasser | 3.5 | 2643 |
| GM Hess, Robert L | 4.5 | 2635 | GM Kamsky, Gata | 7.0 | 2741 |
| GM Ramirez, Alejandro | 4.0 | 2593 | GM Lenderman, Aleksandr | 5.0 | 2587 |
| GM Robson, Ray | 5.0 | 2614 | GM Stripunsky, Alexander | 3.0 | 2562 |
| GM Onischuk, Alexander | 6.0 | 2660 | GM Shulman, Yuri | 5.5 | 2571 |
| GM Kaidanov, Gregory S | 4.0 | 2594 | GM Akobian, Varuzhan | 5.0 | 2625 |
Women's section
| White | Score | Rating | Black | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IM Zatonskih, Anna | 6.0 | 2510 | WGM Abrahamyan, Tatev | 4.5 | 2329 |
| WFM Kats, Alena | 1.5 | 2137 | IM Goletiani, Rusudan | 4.5 | 2333 |
| WGM Baginskaite, Camilla | 2.0 | 2358 | IM Krush, Irina | 6.0 | 2457 |
| WGM Foisor, Sabina-Francesca | 4.5 | 2364 | WIM Zenyuk, Iryna | 3.5 | 2224 |
| FM Melekhina, Alisa | 3.5 | 2242 | WIM Ni, Viktorija | 4.0 | 2228 |
FIDE Grand Prix Cycle 2012-2013
FIDE Grand Prix Cycle 2012-2013
FIDE and AGON are pleased to announce the full details of the new Grand Prix cycle 2012/2013. Regulations for the Series as well as Players contracts can be found below.
Each player will be assigned to play in four of the six cities and his best three results will be accumulated for his / her overall ranking at the end of the series. The top two overall placed in the Grand Prix will qualify for the Candidates event in 2014.
From the Regulations, the 18 players qualifying to participate in the series are as follows :
Art. 3.1 Current World Champion and Challenger from 2012 World Championship match
Viswanathan Anand (IND)
Boris Gelfand (ISR)
3.2 World Cup
Peter Svidler (RUS)
Alexander Grischuk (RUS)
Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR)
Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR)
3.3 FIDE President Nominees. The FIDE President may nominate one player who must be rated at least 2700 as per the January 2012 rating list.
3.4 Organiser Nominees. Six players may be nominated by AGON and must be rated not less than 2700 in the January 2012 rating list or have been a former World Chess Champion.
3.5 Rating (five players plus reserves as may be required)
Name / Title / Country / Jan-12 / Jul-11 / Jan+Jul Avg
Carlsen, Magnus GM NOR 2835 2821 2828.0
Aronian, Levon GM ARM 2805 2805 2805.0
Kramnik, Vladimir GM RUS 2801 2781 2791.0
Karjakin, Sergey GM RUS 2769 2788 2778.5
Topalov, Veselin GM BUL 2770 2768 2769.0
Nakamura, Hikaru GM USA 2759 2770 2764.5 1st Reserve
Gashimov, Vugar GM AZE 2761 2760 2760.5 2nd Reserve
Radjabov, Teimour GM AZE 2773 2744 2758.5 3rd Reserve
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar GM AZE 2747 2765 2756.0 4th Reserve
Kamsky, Gata GM USA 2732 2741 2736.5 5th Reserve
Jakovenko, Dmitry GM RUS 2729 2736 2732.5
Vitiugov, Nikita GM RUS 2726 2733 2729.5
Morozevich, Alexander GM RUS 2763 2694 2728.5
Wang, Hao GM CHN 2733 2718 2725.5
Dominguez Perez, Leinier GM CUB 2730 2719 2724.5
Tomashevsky, Evgeny GM RUS 2740 2707 2723.5
Caruana, Fabiano GM ITA 2736 2711 2723.5
Nepomniachtchi, Ian GM RUS 2735 2711 2723.0
Almasi, Zoltan GM HUN 2717 2726 2721.5
Adams, Michael GM ENG 2724 2715 2719.5
3.6 Replacements. Any replacement for the initial selection, will be selected on the basis of Article 3.5 which takes into account the average rating and greater number of games, if of equal rating.
All the players qualified above (including the five reserves) must download and sign the Players Agreement and return it by email to office@fide.com and also by mail (postdated not later than 1st June 2012) to FIDE Office, 9 Syggrou Avenue, 11743 Athens, Greece.
The six cities and dates for the Grand Prix series are:
2012
Grand Prix Chelyabinsk September 19 – October 3
Grand Prix Tashkent November 21 – December 4
2013
Grand Prix Lisbon April 10 – April 24
Grand Prix Madrid May 22 – June 4
Grand Prix Berlin July 3 – July 17
Grand Prix Paris September 18 – October 2
Players must also submit, along with their signed agreement, the six cities ranked in order or preference of participation. FIDE and AGON will consider the players’ requests and allocate the players to the various tournaments taking into consideration the players’ preferences, average rating and other parameters.
Grand Prix Regulations (pdf)
India National Challengers Chess Championship Started
Tirupathi (18 May 12):- The 50th edition of National Challengers Chess Championship formerly known as National B Chess Championship got off to a surprising start as Secunderabad based N Krishna Teja stunned fourth seed International Master P Karthikeyan of Tamilnadu while Goa lad Ritviz Parab outwitted seasoned campaigner International Master P Konguvel of PSPB here at Ramatulasi Kalyana Mandapam on Friday.
Playing white side of English opening, Karthikeyan over looked his opponent’s Knight Move and blundered his queen on 22nd move to hand over full point to his Andhra Pradesh rival after 12 more moves while Parab used his Queen and Knight to good effect to outwit his fancied rival in 31 moves.
Apart from Karthikeyan and Konguvel, as expected almost all the top seeded players posted easy victories to advance to the second round with full points in their kitty.
Top seed and defending champion International Master Vikramaditya Kulkarni of Railways defeated Jalpan Bhatt of Gujarat while second seed International Master S Satyapragyan of Air India had an easy outing against Ankit Gajwa of Madhya Pradesh and third seed International Master Debashis Das made short work of Kotepalli Sai Nirupama of Andhra Pradesh.
In other surprises of the day, highly rated Bitan Banerjee of West Bengal was held by Yogit S of Tamilnadu while International Master PDS Girinath forced to sign the peace treaty with young Rohan Ahuja of Goa.
A total number of 236 players, which include 24 International Masters, 1 Women Grandmaster and 213 International Rated Chess players from across India are participating in this prestigious championship and serve as selection event for the forthcoming National Premier Chess Championship scheduled to be held at West Bengal in the month of October.
Earlier in a colourful opening ceremony, Shri. L V Subramanyam IAS, Executive Officer Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams inaugurated the event by making the customary first move against veteran International Master PDS Girinath in presence of Shri. Kranti Kumar Rana IPS, Superident of Police, Shri. D V Sundar, Vice President World Chess Federation, Shri. Kanna Reddy, General Secretary Andhra Pradesh Chess Association and Shri. Y Praveen, Organizing Secretary National Challengers Chess Championship.
News by Gopakumar Sudhakaran
Nakamura Beats Kamsky to Take Lead at U.S. Champs
For more information, please contact:
Mike Wilmering
Communications Specialist
Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
For Immediate Release
Nakamura Beats Kamsky to Take Lead at U.S. Champs
By FM Mike Klein
The battle all chess fans waited to see at the 2012 U.S. Championship did not disappoint. GM Hikaru Nakamura beat GM Gata Kamsky for the first time ever in classical chess to take over the lead by one-half point with one game to go. Nakamura has 7.5 points to Kamsky's seven.
Playing Black in round ten, Nakamura chose the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defense because he wanted a volatile position. During their last encounter, at the Tata Steel Tournament in January, Nakamura's Dragon Variation did not produce any winning chances. Today, he needed more from the opening.
Kamsky uncharacteristically labored in the opening, spending more time than his opponent for one of the first times in the event. He spent 30 minutes after 11...Na5. Lacking his usual confidence, he was down 45 minutes on the clock a few moves later.
Later, Nakamura won a pawn, but refused to go for more. In the post-game press conference, Nakamura said that he was not sure of the complications arising from 25...Nxc3 26. bxc3 Qxc3 27. Ng4 Qxa5 28. Nxh6+ gxh6 29. Qg4+ Kh8. While it seems Black is simply up an armada of pawns, white can chase the black queen around the board until she gives herself away for two rooks. Nakamura said he thought it was still technically winning, but he was worried about his king's safety. The alternative plan from the actual game left Nakamura up the exchange, but with a different set of difficulties ahead.
“Optically the knights are very strong, but at the same time, they don't have very many squares,” Nakamura said. He wanted to avoid an endgame where one of Kamsky's knights would sacrifice for his lone queenside pawn, as an ending with pawns on only one side can often reduce winning chances.
The defending champion's lack of time came back to hurt him on the 40th and final move of time control. According to Nakamura, 40. Kh4 is an unrecoverable mistake. The forcing sequence beginning with the pinning of one knight and the sacrifice for another led to Kamsky searching fruitlessly for counterplay against the inexorable march of his opponent's a-pawn. While Kamsky attempted to conjure an attack with his limited material, Nakamura did not need any moves to rebuff the plan, and simply marched onward with his pawn.
“A lot of moves Gata played in this game surprised me,” Nakamura said, adding the opinion that neither he nor Kamsky is playing his best at the championship.
Nakamura thought that he was due for some good fortune, as he had better positions in several of the games that he drew.
Tomorrow, Nakamura assured everyone that he was out to win, as he gets white versus GM Yasser Seirawan. If he is able to do so, he will clinch the title, his first since 2009. Kamsky meanwhile needs some help to win his third consecutive championship. He will likely need to win as black against GM Robert Hess, then get some help from Seirawan. Should there be a tie at the end of the 11th round, the playoff will be Sunday at noon Central time.
All other games Friday were drawn, except GM Alejandro Ramirez, who beat GM Alex Stripunsky. GM Alex Onischuk retained his position in third by easily drawing GM Varuzhan Akobian.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Nakamura in control of his own destiny
After beating Kamsky with black, Nakamura is now in control of his own destiny. He will have white against Seirawan. Kamsky on the other hand must hope that Nakamura will draw Seirawan and he will beat Hess with black to have a playoff.
Standings with one round to go
| Rk | Name | Rating | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM Nakamura, Hikaru | 2775 | x | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 7.5 | |
| 2 | GM Kamsky, Gata | 2741 | 0 | x | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7.0 | |
| 3 | GM Onischuk, Alexander | 2660 | ½ | 0 | x | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 6.0 | |
| 4 | GM Shulman, Yuri | 2571 | ½ | ½ | x | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 5.5 | |
| 5 | GM Akobian, Varuzhan | 2625 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | x | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.0 | |
| 6 | GM Robson, Ray | 2614 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | x | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 5.0 | |
| 7 | GM Lenderman, Aleksandr | 2587 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | x | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5.0 | |
| 8 | GM Hess, Robert L | 2635 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | x | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | |
| 9 | GM Kaidanov, Gregory S | 2594 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | x | 0 | ½ | 1 | 4.0 | |
| 10 | GM Ramirez, Alejandro | 2593 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | x | 0 | 1 | 4.0 | |
| 11 | GM Seirawan, Yasser | 2643 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | x | 0 | 3.5 | |
| 12 | GM Stripunsky, Alexander | 2562 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | x | 3.0 |
Deciding a World Championship
If the Anand - Gelfand WC match goes the distance and the score is tied at 6-6, the players have to play rapid, blitz, and then Armageddon to decide the title. Here is the rule: http://moscow2012.fide.com/files/FWCM2012.pdf
How about using Fischer Random to decide the match? This would eliminate the influence of Houdini, Rybka, Stockfish, Fritz, etc. This would also eliminate 20-30-40 move deep home preparation.
It can be in rapid format if the score is still tied after 4 playoff games, they will go to sudden death mode. This means that which ever player scores first after 4 playoff games will win.
What do you think? What other ideas do you have? Time odd Armageddon does not seem to be appropriate to me. Let's get some brilliant ideas going :)
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