A true brain teaser

White to move. Can you win this position since Black will play Rc8 then move the Rook back and forth between a8, b8, c8, d8, e8 and f8? Please no computer analysis. Have fun figuring it out using your own mind :)

7k/6pP/2r3P1/8/8/8/2B5/2Q3K1 w - - 0 1

Sigman, 1970

Babujian & Grigoryan lead Lake Sevan

Standings after 4 rounds:

1-2.	Babujian, Levon	m	ARM	2515											3
1-2.	Grigoryan, Avetik	g	ARM	2504											3
3.	Pashikian, Arman	g	ARM	2650											2½
4-6.	Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel	g	ARM	2480											2
4-6.	Li Chao2	g	CHN	2634											2
4-6.	Berkes, Ferenc	g	HUN	2647											2
7-9.	Lysyj, Igor	g	RUS	2617											1½
7-9.	Zhigalko, Sergei	g	BLR	2621											1½
7-9.	Kotanjian, Tigran	g	ARM	2580											1½
10.	Jumabayev, Rinat	m	KAZ	2550											1

Official site: http://www.sevan.chessacademy.am/

Nakamura maintains leads at San Sebastian

Round 6 results:

Nakamura, Hikaru	1/2 Ponomariov, Ruslan
Svidler, Peter	1/2 Vallejo Pons, Francisco
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	1-0 San Segundo Carrillo, Pablo
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	1-0 Granda Zuniga, Julio E
Karpov, Anatoly	0-1 Movsesian, Sergei

Official site: http://www.donostiachess.com/en/

Standings after 6 rounds:

1.	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2710											5
2-3.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2739											4
2-3.	Ponomariov, Ruslan	g	UKR	2727											4
4.	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2703											3½
5-7.	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	g	ESP	2693											3
5-7.	Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	g	UZB	2672											3
5-7.	Movsesian, Sergei	g	SVK	2716											3
8.	Granda Zuniga, Julio E	g	PER	2647											2
9.	San Segundo Carrillo, Pablo	g	ESP	2570											1½
10.	Karpov, Anatoly	g	RUS	2644											1

Maccabiah super event update

THREE FESTIVE SIMULTANEOUS GAMES On July 15, 2009

The three highest rated participants of the chess Super-Tournament, which takes place at Blue-Bay Hotel, Netanya, between July 12-14 (rapid) and then on July 16 (rapid and closing ceremony), will give simultaneous displays around the country on Wednesday, July 15.

The main event will take place at Tel-Nof military base, of the IDF Air Force. Beginning at 15:00, the No. 1 woman in the world, JUDIT POLGAR will face the IDF Air Force! Earlier the Air Force championship is going to take place, with the top 30 finishers eligible to play against Judit. During the morning hours of July 15, there will be a guided tour of Tel-Nof base for Maccabiah participants.

At 17:00 will start in the Jerusalem Town Hall a simultaneous display by BORIS GELFAND against celebrities and reporters. The registration for this display is organized by Alon Cohen-Revivo, manager of JeruChess club. The number of players is limited to 30. The general public is hereby invited to attend the event! Anyone who wishes to play against Gelfand may contact Alon Tel: 052-2688666 E-mail: jeruchess@gmail.com

And at 20:00 will start in the Netanya amphitheater by the beach, a simultaneous display by PAVEL ELJANOV against celebrities and the general public. The registration for this display is organized by Nick Kopaloff, manager of the Netanya Chess club. The number of players is limited to 30. The general public is hereby invited to attend the event! Anyone who wishes to play against Eljanov may contact Nick Tel: 052-3572157 E-mail: kishka@netvision.net.il.

Standings (some played 7 games and some played 8 games)

1	Jan Nepomniachi	GM	Russia	2632	5	0	3	6.5
2	Evgeniy Najer	GM	Russia	2663	5	0	2	6.0
3	Boris Gelfand	GM	Israel	2755	2	1	5	4.5
4	Pavel Eljanov	GM	Ukraine	2716	3	2	3	4.5
5	Michael Roiz	GM	Israel	2658	3	2	3	4.5
6	Alexander Beliavsky	GM	Slovenia	2662	3	3	2	4.0
7	Ilia Smirin	GM	Israel	2650	3	2	2	4.0
8	Judit Polgar	GM	Hungary	2687	2	2	3	3.5
9	Maxim Rodshtein	GM	Israel	2623	2	3	2	3.0
10	Daniel Fridman	GM	Germany	2665	1	3	3	2.5
11	Boris Avrukh	GM	Israel	2641	1	3	3	2.5
12	Vitali Golod	GM	Israel	2599	0	3	4	2.0
13	Emil Sutovsky	GM	Israel	2675	0	6	1	0.5

Official website: http://mchess.co.il

Nakamura 1/2 Ponomariov

GM Nakamura (2710) - GM Ponomariov (2727) [B96]
San Sebastian (6), 13.07.2009

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Nbd7 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.0–0–0 b5 10.e5 Bb7 11.Qh3 dxe5 12.Nxe6 fxe6 13.Qxe6+ Be7 14.Bxb5 Game drawn ½–½

Click here to replay the game.

Students happy for chance to learn from teen prodigy

15 junior chess players no match for master

Students happy for chance to learn from teen prodigy

By Andrea Sands, Edmonton Journal
July 13, 2009 6:43 AM

Taking on 15 adversaries at once might seem a daunting task, but a young chess grandmaster needed just seconds at each board Sunday to pick off his opponents' pieces.

In truth, Anton Kovalyov's challengers had little chance of beating the internationally recognized chess champion, but they were eager to try.

"I'm nervous, because all the people are higher rated than me," said nine-year-old Allan Stanislus before the demonstration event Sunday at West Edmonton Mall.

Kovalyov, 17, conducted 15 games simultaneously against mainly elementary-school opponents, providing the same thrill a novice hockey star might experience facing off with Sidney Crosby.

It's not often junior players get to meet a grandmaster, let alone play one, said Bruce Thomas, junior chess co-ordinator for the Alberta Chess Association.

"For the average chess player and even for a young competitive chess player, it's a pretty big privilege."

Here is the full story.

Creative chess tactic

Black to move. What is the most accurate continuation for Black?

Source: ChessToday.net

Kramnik sets Guinness world record

Russian chess grandmaster Kramnik sets Guinness world record
Today, 03:13 PM

Russian chess grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik has set a Guinness world record for winning the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund for the ninth time, Russian website NewsRu.com reports.

Kramnik won the 2009 Sparkassen Chess Meeting by beating Arkadij Naiditsch in the last round. The Russian, who clinched his 9th title in Dortmund, finished a full point ahead of Carlsen, Leko and Jakovenko.

The Sparkassen Chess Meeting took place July 2-12 in Dortmund, Germany. Carlsen, Jakovenko, Kramnik, Leko, Bacrot and Naiditsch played a double round-robin. The rate of play was 40 moves in 100 minutes + 50 minutes for 20 moves + 15 minutes to end the game with 30 seconds increment per move from the start.

What started as a dreary tournament eventually finished with three very entertaining rounds. In the last match Vladimir Kramnik beat 2005 winner Arkadij Naiditsch to finish a full point ahead of his rivals, as the Carlsen-Bacrot and Leko-Jakovenko matches both ended in draws.

Kramnik has shown excellent preparation at this tournament and in the last round showed innovative gamesmanship against Naiditsch. It was a slight improvement over Leko’s play of just two days ago which should technical prowess, although it did not pose too great a threat to Kramnik.

The former World Champion played another strong game, took the full point and showed that he was the strongest in Dortmund this year - again, for the 9th time.

Here is the full story.

Nakamura ready to make his move

Chess notes
July 13, 2009

Ever since Bobby Fischer dropped out of chess, American players have been looking for a new hero in the Royal Game. Gata Kamsky played superlative chess in winning the 2007 World Cup and in contesting Veselin Topalov in the semifinals of the World Championship, but has had difficulties of late. He came here at the age of 15.

Hikaru Nakamura came to this country at the age of 2, and has always been considered to be an American player. His stepfather and early coach was Sunil Weeramantry, one of the most prominent chess coaches in this country. Nakamura early on broke records for being the youngest US chess master and the world’s youngest grandmaster. But he also became known as a reckless combinational player, active on the Internet with blitz play. He plans publication of a book “Bullet Chess, One Minute to Mate’’ later this year. In Denmark, Nakamura shook the world by playing as White 1.e4, e5 2. Qh5! against Indian grandmaster Krishnan Saskiran. He lost that game but had the better of the opening. In defying established chess wisdom that best play reserves the queen for active play in the middle game, Nakamura earned the sardonic disapproval of Garry Kasparov.

Surely Nakamura, 2009 American Champion, takes first place as an American hero with substantial chances against the world grandmasters. Another candidate for popularity is Robert Hess of New York, a grandmaster in high school this year, who came in second to Nakamura in the United States Championship. But getting back to Nakamura, it appears that he has been biding his time in Dickinson College with only occasional forays to Europe. In 2005, he was knocked out in the first round of the World Cup. Since then he has entered the Gibraltar tournaments, placing first, second, and joint third in three tournaments.

Now, it seems that Nakamura is ready to make a serious bid in Europe. The big news is that he has been invited to next year’s Corus “A’’ event held in Wijk aan Zee, Holland. He has also been invited to a super-tourney in Spain this month and the London Chess Classic in December. He left the World Open early to play in Spain, and so took two byes and tied for first place. Sergey Karjakin, who lost a match to Nakamura in 2004, won Corus in 2009. Competitors this year included Magnus Carlsen, Alexander Morozevich, Vassily Ivanchuk, and Levon Aronian, who can be expected to be reinvited. Missing in 2009 were Viswanathan Anand, Topalov, and Vladimir Kramnik, but it is conceivable one of them might be present.

Source: http://www.boston.com

White to move and win

Ericsson, 1970

White to move and win. It is quite a difficult puzzle.

k7/p7/1P6/8/Nb4q1/5bP1/2R5/1R1B2K1 w - - 0 1

Nakamura leads San Sebastian

Official website: http://www.donostiachess.com/en/

Standings after 5 rounds:

Group A

1	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	USA	2710	4,5
2	GM	Svidler Peter	RUS	2739	3,5
	GM	Ponomariov Ruslan	UKR	2727	3,5
4	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	FRA	2703	2,5
	GM	Vallejo Pons Francisco	ESP	2693	2,5
6	GM	Granda Zuniga Julio E	PER	2647	2,0
	GM	Movsesian Sergei	SVK	2716	2,0
	GM	Kasimdzhanov Rustam	UZB	2672	2,0
9	GM	San Segundo Carrillo Pablo	ESP	2570	1,5
10	GM	Karpov Anatoly	RUS	2644	1,0

Groups B

1	GM	Van Wely Loek	NED	2655	4,5
2	GM	Magem Badals Jordi	ESP	2534	4,0
3	GM	Bauer Christian	FRA	2602	3,5
	GM	Hamdouchi Hicham	FRA	2589	3,5
5	GM	Ubilava Elizbar	ESP	2547	2,0
	GM	Fernandez Garcia Jose Luis	ESP	2465	2,0
	GM	Hauchard Arnaud	FRA	2528	2,0
8	GM	Cifuentes Parada Roberto	ESP	2539	1,5
9	IM	Argandona Riveiro Inigo	ESP	2364	1,0
	GM	Fernandes Antonio	POR	2415	1,0

Group C

1	GM	Flear Glenn C	ENG	2490	4,0
2	GM	Prie Eric	FRA	2491	3,5
3	FM	Michna Christian	GER	2224	3,0
	GM	Galego Luis	POR	2435	3,0
	GM	Hoffman Alejandro	ARG	2417	3,0
6	FM	Gonzalez De La Torre Santiago	ESP	2390	2,5
7	IM	Llaneza Vega Marcos	ESP	2521	2,0
	IM	Franco Alonso Alejandro	ESP	2480	2,0
9	IM	Huerga Leache Mikel	ESP	2456	1,5
10		Martin Alvarez Inigo	ESP	2239	0,5

Women's Group

1	IM	Milliet Sophie	FRA	2388	4,0
	WGM	Melnikova Yana	RUS	2285	4,0
3	WGM	Zakurdjaeva Irina	RUS	2305	3,0
4	IM	Tania Sachdev	IND	2410	2,5
	WIM	Rozic Vesna	SLO	2239	2,5
	WGM	Michna Marta	GER	2379	2,5
	WGM	Pokorna Regina	SVK	2381	2,5
8	WGM	Ionica Iulia-Ionela	ROU	2263	2,0
9	WGM	Hamdouchi Adina-Maria	ROU	2324	1,5
10	WGM	Karlovich Anastazia	UKR	2211	0,5

Big names at Canadian Open

The Canadian Open 2009 will be held in Edmonton, and the tournament has attracted some very famous Grandmasters this year. Because it is an Open Swiss, where professionals and amateurs are in the same tournament, some lucky players will have a chance to take on big names like GM Alexei Shirov and Ni Hua, rated over 2700. Britain's top GM, Michael Adams (rated 2699) will be playing in the tournament, and will also be conducting a simul on the morning of Sunday July 12th. The event kicks off with a free lecture, open to the public, from GM Shirov just a few hours before the first round. There will be lectures and simuls throughout the event. Unlike most open tournaments in North America, there is just one round/day in the Canadian Open, leaving plenty of time for relaxation and tourism.

Edmonton is the capital city of Alberta, with a population of just over 1 million people. Edmonton is well known for its scenic river valley and a thriving music and art community. The city is home to North America's largest shopping and entertainment complex, West Edmonton Mall. More than just a shopping centre, West Edmonton Mall also has a giant water park, a man-made lake, a skating rink, two mini-golf courses, 21 movie theatres, a Vegas-style casino and an amusement park with 25 rides and attractions. Fort Edmonton Park is a large living history museum that recognizes Edmonton's past through a series of interactive restorations. The Muttart Conservatory, an expansive horticultural spectacle, is noted for its unique architecture, as is the remarkable Alberta Legislature Building.

Early leaders after 1 round:

Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Tot
1	GM Alexei Shirov	2748	W115	1
2	GM Hua Ni	2701	W116	1
3	GM Michael Adams	2699	W117	1
4	GM Surya Ganguly	2637	W118	1
5	GM Victor Mikhalevski	2631	W119	1
6	IM Artiom Samsonkin	2612	W120	1
7	GM Mark Bluvshtein	2598	W121	1
8	GM Eugene Perelshteyn	2588	W122	1
9	GM Anton Kovalyov	2586	W123	1
10	GM Xue Zhao	2544	W124	1
11	IM Leonid Gerzhoy	2530	W125	1
12	IM Edward Porper	2510	W126	1
13	IM Irina Krush	2481	W127	1
14	FM Eric Hansen	2472	W128	1
15	IM Zhe Quan	2465	W129	1
16	IM Joseph Bradford	2459	W130	1
17	FM John C Yoos	2442	W131	1
18	IM Michael Mulyar	2440	W132	1
19	IM Dmitry Zilberstein	2437	W133	1
20	FM Raja Panjwani	2418	W134	1
21	FM Theo Hommeles	2412	W135	1
22	IM Leon Piasetski	2406	W136	1

Full standings: http://monroi.com/2009-canadian-open-chess-championship-results.html

Maccabiah Chess Festival with Gelfand & Judit

Super-Tournaments

From July 12 to 17, 2009, alongside the other chess tournaments of the 18th Maccabiah, two super-tournaments will be held: Rapid (15 minutes per player + 5 seconds per move) and Blitz (4 minutes per player + 2 seconds per move).

Ten out of the twelve are among the top 100 players in the international rating list of FIDE.

Official site: http://mchess.co.il/

1.	GM	Boris Gelfand	Israel	2733
2.	GM	Judit Polgar	Hungary	2693
3.	GM	Pavel Eljanov	Ukraine	2693
4.	GM	Evgeny Najer	Russia	2669
5.	GM	Emil Sutovsky	Israel	2660
6.	GM	Boris Avrukh	Israel	2647
7.	GM	Daniel Fridman	Germany	2646
8.	GM	Ilia Smirin	Israel	2641
9.	GM	Alexander Beliavsky	Slovenia	2640
10.	GM	Michael Roiz	Israel	2635
11.	GM	Maxim Rodshtein	Israel	2627
12.	GM	Vitali Golod	Israel	2587

3-way tie for the lead at Lake Sevan

Rank after round 3

Rank	SNo.		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pts	SB.
1	4	GM	Grigoryan Avetik	2504	ARM	*	½			½		1				2	3.25
2	8	IM	Babujian Levon	2515	ARM	½	*				½			1		2	2.75
3	10	GM	Pashikian Arman	2650	ARM			*	½				½		1	2	2.25
4	6	GM	Lysyj Igor	2617	RUS			½	*	½				½		1½	2.25
	7	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel	2480	ARM	½			½	*				½		1½	2.25
6	3	GM	Berkes Ferenc	2647	HUN		½				*	0			1	1½	2.00
	9	GM	Kotanjian Tigran	2580	ARM	0					1	*	½			1½	2.00
8	2	GM	Zhigalko Sergei	2621	BLR			½				½	*		0	1	1.75
9	5	GM	Li Chao	2634	CHN		0		½	½				*		1	1.50
10	1	IM	Jumabayev Rinat	2550	KAZ			0			0		1		*	1	1.00

Official site: http://www.sevan.chessacademy.am/

Kunin wins Heart of Finland

Official website: http://www.shakki.net/turnaukset/hof09/index.html

GM Vitaly Kunin sweeps through Heart of Finland
WGM Anna Rudolf top woman of the competition

The German grandmaster Vitaly Kunin won the first place at the strong Heart of Finland chess tournament. He finished a full point ahead of competition and proved to be in top form gaining 8,0/9. The silver medal went to the Russian GM Maxim Novik, while the bronze was won by the high rated international master from the Netherlands Robin Swinkels.

The top seeded player of the competition GM Evgeniy Solozhenkin took the 4th place with 6,5/9, the same points as the highest placed player from FInland - FM Petri Lehtivaara.

The top woman of the event, and 6th in the general standigs with 6,5/9, is WGM Anna Rudolf. One more time she proved to be going for higher challenges, managing to hold a strong grandmaster and defeat other higher rated players in the process.

Top finishers:

1 GM Kunin Vitaly GER 2532 8
2 GM Novik Maxim RUS 2464 7
3 IM Swinkels Robin NED 2516 6.5
4 GM Solozhenkin Evgeniy RUS 2543 6.5
5 FM Lehtivaara Petri FIN 2376 6.5
6 WGM Rudolf Anna HUN 2313 6.5
7 FM Ivanov Sergey A RUS 2386 6.5
8 FM Larsen Karsten DEN 2337 6.5
9 IM Gladyszev Oleg RUS 2447 6.5
10 Michielsen Joost NED 2359 6.5
11 Valli Frans FIN 2158 6.5

Full report on chessdom.com

3 way tie for 1st at Barbera del Valles

Official website: http://www.ajedreznd.com/2009/BARBERA.html

Final standings of the leaders:

1		GM	Peralta Fernando		ARG	2574			7,0
2		GM	Balogh Csaba		HUN	2595			7,0
3		FM	Mestre Bellido Hector		ESP	2292			7,0
4		GM	Lopez Martinez Josep Manuel		ESP	2555			6,5
5		IM	Sundararajan Kidambi		IND	2506			6,5
6		GM	Cuartas Jaime Alexander		COL	2521			6,0
7		GM	Moskalenko Viktor		UKR	2558			6,0
8		FM	Bregadze Levan		GEO	2426			6,0
9		IM	Ipatov Alexander		ESP	2454			6,0
10		IM	Fluvia Poyatos Jordi		ESP	2449			6,0
11		IM	Cruz Cristhian		PER	2525			6,0

Full standings here. Chessdom.com also has extensive reports about this event.