Susan Polgar Chess Daily News and Information

Gibraltar LIVE! Hou Yifan vs Judit!

2012-01-30T07:59:00.000-06:00

The Gibraltar Chess Festival 2012 continues to bring excitement to the chess calendar, this time attracting not only some of the best Grandmasters, but also the women chess elite. As a result of that just a few days ago we witnessed the battle between Judit Polgar, the top rated women on the planet for many years, and Humpy Koneru, World Chess Championship finalist (replay the game here).

Today it gets even better, as we will see Judit Polgar play with the World Champion Yifan Hou. Follow the game at this here at this article and here with computer analysis starting at 15:00 CET.

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Moscow 2012 LIVE

2012-01-30T06:35:00.000-06:00

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Checkmate in 9!

2012-01-30T06:34:00.003-06:00

White to move and checkmate in 9. No computer please.

rq6/1b2Q2p/3P2k1/r4p2/3n2pP/1P6/1PP5/1KR2R2 w - - 0 1

Happy 75th to Boris Spassky!

2012-01-30T06:34:00.002-06:00

TRADEWISE GIBRALTAR CHESS FESTIVAL
Monday 23 January - Thursday 2 February 2012

PRESS RELEASE No. 19 30, January 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BORIS FROM GIBRALTAR!

We would like to send birthday wishes from all of us here at the 2012 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival to GM Boris Spassky on his 75th birthday. Boris, one of the greatest chess players of all time, is of course a special friend of the Festival and has visited us on two previous occasions. Happy Birthday Boris!

Organiser of the Festival Brian Callaghan, who has met with him on several occasions, sends special birthday greetings to him and wishes him well.

Caption:

The photograph is of GM Boris Spassky when he visited the tournament in 2009.

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS ARE ON OUR WEBSITE
www.gibraltarchesscongress.com

Please do not hesitate to contact me at gibchesspress@gmail.com

Like us on Twitter and Follow us on Facebook
@GibraltarChess the official Tradewise Festival site
and also @Stuthefox with Tournament Director Stuart Conquest
Or Facebook. Look for us at Tradewise Chess Gibraltar

Alice Mascarenhas
Tradewise Chess Press Officer

--
Press Office
2012 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival
www.gibraltarchesscongress.com

Master Class in Gibraltar

2012-01-30T06:30:00.002-06:00

2012 TRADEWISE GIBRALTAR CHESS FESTIVAL
Monday 23 January - Thursday 2 February 2012

PRESS RELEASE No. 18 30, January 2012

MASTER CLASSES AT THE TRADEWISE CHESS FESTIVAL

The Master Class has become a major feature of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival. This year has been no exception. So far there have been four Master Classes broadcast from our studio at the Caleta Hotel which have again attracted a global audience of high numbers.

Perhaps the most anticipated Master Class this year was given by the strongest female player in history Judit Polgar proving a huge success and lasting almost one and half hours. A well-attended master class she presented her R2 game against Vyacheslav Ikonnikov.

In a relaxed and friendly atmosphere she chatted to tournament director Stuart Conquest on various aspects of her game and career. Spoke openly about her sisters Susan and Sofia and 'Polgar Chess Day' in which all three participate to further promote the game of chess. Judit said she was enjoying her time in Gibraltar and spoke highly of the organisation. She spoke about her new book and she also showed an endgame study which was inspired by a game she played against Alexey Shirov some years ago. Her Master Class provided entertainment and education for players of all strengths where she also took questions from the audience.

The first Master Class of 2012 was given by GM David Howell where he showed his 1 and 2R wins over Gislason and Javakhishvili. GM Emil Sutovsky in his Master Class presented his game against Vladimir Kramnik in Dortmund in 2005. That same night GM Michael Adams, a former winner in 2010, analysed his win over Natalia Zhukova from R1.

There are still have a further two Master Classes to look forward to in this years programme.

YOU CAN VIEW THESE MASTER CLASSES ON THE FOLLOWING LINKS

Judit Polgar Master Class Recorded live from the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival
Part 1: Analyzing the game Polgar - Ikonnikov from round 2: Runtime: 36 minutes
Link: http://blip.tv/gibchess/polgar-master-class-part-1-5915630
Part 2: Q & A with live audience and online questions via Twitter: Runtime: 31 minutes
Link: http://blip.tv/gibchess/polgar-master-class-part-2-5915646

Master Class -David Howell
Runtime: 56:20
Link: http://blip.tv/gibchess/david-howell-masterclass-5911211

Master Class - Emil Sutovsky
Sutovsky - Kramnik (Dortmund, 2005) and audience questions
Link: http://blip.tv/gibchess/master-class-emil-sutovsky-5917293

Master Class - Michael Adams
Adams' win over Natalia Zhukova from round 1 and audience questions
Link: http://blip.tv/gibchess/master-class-michael-adams-5917286

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS ARE ON OUR WEBSITE
www.gibraltarchesscongress.com

Please do not hesitate to contact me at gibchesspress@gmail.com

Alice Mascarenhas
Tradewise Chess Press Officer

--
Press Office
2012 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival
www.gibraltarchesscongress.com

Historic clash

2012-01-30T06:22:00.002-06:00

HI ALL

I am certain you will all be interested in the following.

HISTORIC CLASH

There will be an historic clash at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Masters in Round 7 on 30
January 2012 at the Caleta Hotel starting 3pm today (Gibraltar time).

Women's World Champion Yifan Hou (China) rated 2605 will play white against Judit Polgar (Hungary) 2710, the highest-ever rated woman player in the history of the game.

They have never previously met as Judit doesn't play in women only events and it is some years since she played in an open tournament. Both players have 4.5/6.

We will have pictures available as soon after the start as possible.

Regards

Alice

--

PRESS OFFICE - 2012 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival

Alice Mascarenhas, Tradewise Press Chess Officer
gibchesspress@gmail.com
www.gibraltarchesscongress.com

10 YEARS OF INTERNATIONAL CHESS ON THE ROCK!

Full English Breakfast

2012-01-30T05:45:00.002-06:00

The FEB

Wrapping up 2011, Big Vlad in London, Rybka muddies the water, double-time Donastia, and Nakamura's 'In Da House'.

Also, in case you missed it: The Full English Blitz Game 2, recorded live at the London Chess Classic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMi6kNdmoeg (Feel free to embed or cross-post!)

Web: http://TheFEB.com - Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or your preferred podcast RSS reader.
iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-full-english-breakfast/id308000944
Facebook: http://Facebook.com/TheFEB
Twitter: http://Twitter.com/TheFEBShow

The Full English Breakfast is now going bi-monthly! Wish us luck!

Hou Yifan vs Judit in Gibraltar

2012-01-30T01:44:00.000-06:00

Round 7 top board pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	2	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2747	5		5	GM	Negi Parimarjan	2641	22
2	3	GM	Adams Michael	2724	5		5	GM	Howell David W L	2603	27
3	11	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2700	5		5	GM	Gopal G N	2566	35
4	15	GM	Short Nigel D	2677	5		5	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2535	41
5	4	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2717	4½		4½	GM	David Alberto	2598	28
6	5	GM	Le Quang Liem	2714	4½		4½	GM	Nabaty Tamir	2563	36
7	25	GM	Hou Yifan	2605	4½		4½	GM	Polgar Judit	2710	6
8	33	GM	Felgaer Ruben	2571	4½		4½	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2700	10
9	54	GM	El Debs Felipe De Cresce	2497	4½		4½	GM	Bologan Viktor	2680	14
10	51	GM	Salem A R Saleh	2505	4½		4½	GM	Akobian Varuzhan	2617	24
11	1	GM	Svidler Peter	2749	4		4	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2523	46
12	7	GM	Shirov Alexei	2710	4		4	GM	Baron Tal	2498	53
13	45	GM	Al-Sayed Mohammed	2524	4		4	GM	Laznicka Viktor	2704	8
14	9	GM	Sutovsky Emil	2703	4		4	GM	Gallagher Joseph G	2505	50
15	48	GM	Kanep Meelis	2509	4		4	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2699	12
16	56	GM	Cramling Pia	2491	4		4	GM	Fridman Daniel	2660	16
17	17	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2652	4		4	GM	Zhu Chen	2472	59
18	52	GM	Cabrera Alexis	2504	4		4	GM	Parligras Mircea-Emilian	2650	18
19	19	GM	Iturrizaga Edoardo	2649	4		4	IM	Khurtsidze Nino	2444	65
20	21	GM	Gustafsson Jan	2643	4		4	IM	Raznikov Danny	2436	67
21	58	IM	Arnold Marc T	2482	4		4	GM	Erdos Viktor	2634	23
22	69	IM	Aloma Vidal Robert	2431	4		4	GM	Fier Alexandr	2603	26
23	77	IM	Quillan Gary	2409	4		4	GM	Koneru Humpy	2589	29
24	31	GM	Kulaots Kaido	2581	4		4	GM	Zhukova Natalia	2426	70
25	81	IM	Alvarez Marquez Johann	2398	4		4	IM	Muzychuk Anna	2580	32

Full pairings: http://chess-results.com/tnr63931.aspx

GM norm opportunity in Chicago

2012-01-30T01:40:00.000-06:00

28th North American Masters

The 28th North American Masters will be held at North Shore Chess Center located in Skokie, IL from Sunday March 11th through Thursday March 15, 2012. The event will showcase three different events all at the same time.

If you are interested in seeking your GM norms, please contact the organizer here: http://www.nachess.org/contact

Grandmaster Georg Meier (GER) vs Grandmaster Wesley So (PHI)

You can watch GM Georg Meier, who led the Germany national team to the European Team Championships take on the top player from the Philippines, the young phenom GM Wesley So. They will collide in a 4 game classical match followed by a 4 game rapid match.

Classical match time control: 40/90 SD/30 + 30/sec increments

Rapid match time control: Game-20 + 10/sec increments

Classical Match time: 10am each day Sunday - Wednesday

Rapid Match time: 10am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm

Grandmaster Group A

Our Grandmaster Group A section will feature a 6-player Double Round Robin (10 rounds). 3 Grandmasters and 3 International Masters will lock horns twice each day. To earn a Grandmaster norm, the International Masters must score 6.5/10 points.

Our confirmed participants include:

• Grandmaster Elshan Moradiabadi (IRI) - 2538
• Grandmaster Mesgen Amanov (TKM) - 2526
• Grandmaster Andre Diamant (BRA) - 2494
• International Master Mackenzie Molner (USA) - 2449
• International Master Leonid Gerzhenov (CAN) - 2495
• One more International Master TBA

Time control: Game-90 + 30/sec increment

Round times: 10am and 3pm Chicago time Sunday through Thursday

Grandmaster Group B

Our Grandmaster Group B section will feature a 10-player Single Round Robin (9 rounds). 3 Grandmasters and 7 International Masters will lock horns twice each day. To earn a Grandmaster norm, the International Masters must score 6.5/9 points.

Our confirmed participants include:

• GM Anatoly Bykhovsky (ISR) - 2536
• GM Denes Boros (HUN) - 2482
• 3rd Grandmaster - TBA
• International Master Vitaly Neimer (ISR) - 2381
• International Master - elect Faik Aleskerov (AZE) - 2362
• International Master Daniel Rensch (USA) - 2401
• International Master Darwin Yang (USA) - 2448
• 3 more International Masters - TBA

Time control: Game-90 + 30/sec increment

Round times: 10am and 3pm Chicago time Sunday through Wednesday, and 10am only on Thursday

Official website: http://www.nachess.org

Tata Steel Final Round Report

2012-01-30T01:30:00.000-06:00

Tata Steel Final Round Report

An anticlimactic repetition of moves in what was hoped would be the crowning duel of the final round in one of the most combative chess events in recent years, earned Armenia’s Levon Aronian an unshared 10,000-euro first prize in the 74th annual Tata Steel Tournament at the wintry resort town of Wijk-aan-Zee Sunday.

Playing white against Teymour Radjabov of Azerbaijan – one of his main rivals in the field of fourteen - Aronian came up with an innocuous line of the Gruenfeld, followed theory for ten moves and then initiated the repetition that ended the game two moves later. He wrote down the intended (but not executed) 13.Ne5 on his score-sheet, looked up at Radjabov and nodded, after which the two GMs shook hands. Speaking to reporters after their short sojourn in the tournament arena, both players stressed that there had been no deals of any kind beforehand.

“No, no,” said Aronian, “I really came to play today. I was prepared for a fight but when Teymour allowed the repetition of moves, I was glad to take the draw, of course.” His lack of pugnacity “actually came as a pleasant surprise for me.”

And Radjabov explained: “I was surprised by Aronian’s choice for an opening. I had expected him to go for a win in an effort to reach first place on FIDE’s world rating list, and prepared for a completely different line. I ended up slightly worse with black and a draw was fine with me. I was happy to be the only player to remain unbeaten.”

At a press conference later in the day, Aronian said the tournament victory was his “best result so far. Sure, I’ve had some other good tournaments, but winning in Wijk-aan-Zee is very special, because, after all, this tournament is for chess what Wimbledon is for tennis. This year’s edition was very interesting, with several young players who had something to prove. Many games were fighting games, and, of course, there are bound to be mistakes in such games.”

Earlier, Aronian put in an appearance at the commentary pavilion on the town commons, where he told the audience that he was quite happy with his tournament record of seven wins, four draws and two losses. When asked whether he ought not to have tried and gone for a win in his final-round game in an effort to come alongside Magnus Carlsen on top of the world ranking list, Aronian replied: “I want to win tournaments and become World Champion, but a first place on any rating list, FIDE’s or any other, doesn’t interest me at all.”

Radjabov’s final score of 8 points - for his unbeaten tournament record of three wins and ten draws - kept him one point below Aronian’s 9 and was not enough for an unshared second place in the final Group-A standings. The Azeri GM could lay claim to only one-third of the combined 13,000 euros for the second, third and fourth prizes. The remaining two thirds went to Norway’s Carlsen and Italy’s Fabiano Caruana.

Carlsen, black in a Stonewall against Holland’s Loek van Wely, gave it a valiant try for 41 moves, but got no further than a small advantage and in the end proposed to sign the peace himself. With Aronian and Radjabov agreeing on a draw so soon, Carlsen said he “had pretty much given up hope to play for first place anyway. Although … well … they can do what they want, of course … and if they want to make a draw, well I guess that’s okay … although I was a little bit surprised that Radjabov didn’t even try. I suppose he was happy with the outcome.”

Asked about his performance, Carlsen said: “I played really well in the first three rounds and all went okay until the seventh round. After that, it was a total mess. In the end, I was even lucky to finish at plus 3.” He added that he hoped to be invited for next year’s jubilee tournament. “We’ll have to see, of course … but I’ve been here nine times in a row, so it would be a shame to miss out next year,” Carlsen said.

Caruana earned a 500-euro bonus on top of his share of the prize fund, as GM Ivan Sokolov picked his victory in 48 moves with white from a Petroff Defense against Israel’s Boris Gelfand for this year’s final ‘Piet Zwart Prize’. “Nice,” Caruana said. “I mean, it’s always nice to win, but this one was really very welcome. It was probably a draw for quite some time but somewhere Boris went wrong and I profited.”

In the longest Group-A game of the day, U.S. Champion Gata Kamsky ground down Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov in 71 moves from a Queen’s Pawn opening, in which the black-player, clearly not on form throughout the tournament, seriously mishandled the middle game.

The three other encounters –Gashimov-Nakamura, Ivanchuk-Karjakin and Giri-Navarap were all relatively quickly drawn.

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

Judit video

2012-01-30T01:06:00.000-06:00

Judit Polgar Master Class

Recorded live from the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival

Part 1: Analyzing the game Polgar - Ikonnikov from round 2:
Runtime: 36 minutes

Part 2: Q & A with live audience and online questions via Twitter:
Runtime: 31 minutes

Tata Steel Final Standings

2012-01-29T15:44:00.002-06:00

Final standings - Group A

1.	Aronian, L.	9
2.	Carlsen, M. Caruana, F. Radjabov, T.	8
5.	Ivanchuk, V. Nakamura, H.	7½
7.	Kamsky, G.	7
8.	Karjakin, S.	6½
9.	Van Wely, L.	5½
10.	Gashimov, V. Gelfand, B. Topalov, V.	5
13.	Giri, A. Navara, D.	4½

Group B

1.	Harikrishna, P.	9
2.	Bruzon, L. Motylev, A.	8½
4.	L'Ami, E. Tiviakov, S.	8
6.	Nyzhnik, I. Reinderman, D.	7½
8.	Potkin, V.	6½
9.	Timman, J.	6
10.	Ernst, S.	5
11.	Lahno, K. Vocaturo, D.	4½
13.	Cmilyte, V.	4
14.	Harika, D.	3½

Group C

1.	Turov, M.	10½
2.	Tikkanen, H.	10
3.	Adhiban, B. Brandenburg, D.	8½
5.	Grover, S. Paehtz, E. Sadler, M.	7
8.	Tania, S.	6
9.	Danielian, E.	5½
10.	Goudriaan, E.	5
11.	Ootes, L.	4½
12.	Hopman, P. Schut, L.	4
14.	Haast, A.	3½

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

Turkish Chess Champioships started in Kemer!

2012-01-29T14:59:00.002-06:00

Turkish Chess Champioships started in Kemer!

Dear Friends!

Turkish Chess Championships among women and men has started on 29th of January, 2012 in Kemer, Antalya and will continue till 5th of February, in a ten-round Swiss system. The top seeds are GM Dragan Solak, GM Baris Esen, GM Emre Can etc. 309 participants (52 more compare to previous year) including 19 title players together with 4 GMs, 6 IM and 6 FM, 3 CM take part in Turkish Championship among men.

69 players participate in Women Turkish Championship including WIM Betul Yildiz, WGM Kubra Ozturk (who recently made the last WGM norm). It’s a first Turkish championship for Dragan Solak who recently completed the transfer from Serbian Chess Federation to Turkish Chess Federation and is going to represent the Turkish national team in the next Olympiad.

This year an impressive prize fund for both championships was introduced by sponsors. Turkish Chess Federation together with general sponsor Is Bank provided a prize fund of about 12500 Euro in Turkish Championship among men. At the same time Women’s Championship has its own sponsorship from Arzum Company (Arzum Small Home Appliances Company is main sponsor of Turkish Women Championships for 4 years since 2009). Arzum Company provided about 45,000 TL (about 20000 euro) in total. The prize fund includes (products (4300 euro) + money prizes (7500 euro)). The strongest women players (more than 20) received free accommodation in 5-star Limra Hotel from sponsor as well.

Official websites: http://tr2012.tsf.org.tr/
http://kadinlar2012.tsf.org.tr/
Live games: http://tr2012.tsf.org.tr/tr/canli-yayin

If you use our pictures please give a reference: “pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich and TCF”

With best wishes
Anastasiya Karlovich
Member of media team

Aronian wins A, Harikrishna wins B, Turov wins C at Tata

2012-01-29T10:26:00.004-06:00

Final round results

Kamsky, G. - Topalov, V.
Van Wely, L. - Carlsen, M.	½-½
Gashimov, V. - Nakamura, H.	½-½
Ivanchuk, V. - Karjakin, S.	½-½
Aronian, L. - Radjabov, T.	½-½
Caruana, F. - Gelfand, B.	1-0
Giri, A. - Navara, D.	½-½

Group B

Timman, J. - Motylev, A.	½-½
Potkin, V. - L'Ami, E.	1-0
Tiviakov, S. - Cmilyte, V.	1-0
Nyzhnik, I. - Harika, D.
Vocaturo, D. - Lahno, K.	½-½
Ernst, S. - Bruzon, L.	0-1
Harikrishna, P. - Reinderman, D.	½-½

Group C

Danielian, E. - Hopman, P.	1-0
Turov, M. - Goudriaan, E.	1-0
Schut, L. - Adhiban, B.
Haast, A. - Brandenburg, D.	0-1
Ootes, L. - Paehtz, E.
Tikkanen, H. - Tania, S.	½-½
Grover, S. - Sadler, M.

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

Aronian wins Tata Steel, Carlsen-Radjabov-Caruana 2nd

2012-01-29T09:29:00.002-06:00

Aronian wins 2012 Tata Steel A group by drawing Radjabov in the final round. Caruana defeated Gelfand to join Carlsen and Radjabov for 2nd place. He will also likely to break into the top 10.

http://www.tatasteelchess.com

Games from Moscow 2012

2012-01-29T09:25:00.000-06:00

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Gibraltar LIVE!

2012-01-29T07:59:00.000-06:00

The Gibraltar Chess Festival 2012 will be live daily on Chessdom.com with analysis by the Houdini 2.0 engine. Games start at 14:00 CET.

All news about Gibraltar Chess Festival here

Full participants list at this link

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

An epic encounter by two warriors

2012-01-29T07:58:00.000-06:00

Novak Djokovic (1)		5		6		6		6		7
Rafael Nadal (2)		7		4		2		7		5

Epic match! Amazing!

Tata Steel group A LIVE!

2012-01-29T04:30:00.000-06:00

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Tata Steel Chess Tactic

2012-01-29T04:29:00.001-06:00

White to move. How should white proceed?

Source: ChessToday.net

Tata Steel group B LIVE!

2012-01-29T04:29:00.000-06:00

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Tata Steel group C LIVE!

2012-01-29T04:28:00.000-06:00

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Tata Steel final round - Who will come through?

2012-01-29T01:36:00.000-06:00

Round 13 - Sunday the 29th
Kamsky, G. - Topalov, V.
Van Wely, L. - Carlsen, M.
Gashimov, V. - Nakamura, H.
Ivanchuk, V. - Karjakin, S.
Aronian, L. - Radjabov, T.
Caruana, F. - Gelfand, B.
Giri, A. - Navara, D.

Group B

Timman, J. - Motylev, A.
Potkin, V. - L'Ami, E.
Tiviakov, S. - Cmilyte, V.
Nyzhnik, I. - Harika, D.
Vocaturo, D. - Lahno, K.
Ernst, S. - Bruzon, L.
Harikrishna, P. - Reinderman, D.

Group C

Danielian, E. - Hopman, P.
Turov, M. - Goudriaan, E.
Schut, L. - Adhiban, B.
Haast, A. - Brandenburg, D.
Ootes, L. - Paehtz, E.
Tikkanen, H. - Tania, S.
Grover, S. - Sadler, M.

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

Tata Steel Daily Video

2012-01-29T01:29:00.000-06:00

TATA STEEL CHESS DAILY - Round 12 2012

Gibraltar round 6 matchups

2012-01-29T01:01:00.000-06:00

Round 6 top board pairings

Bo.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg
1	GM	Gopal G N	2566	4½		4½	GM	Adams Michael	2724
2	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2535	4½		4½	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2700
3	GM	Erdos Viktor	2634	4		4	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2747
4	GM	Akobian Varuzhan	2617	4		4	GM	Le Quang Liem	2714
5	GM	Polgar Judit	2710	4		4	GM	Felgaer Ruben	2571
6	GM	Howell David W L	2603	4		4	GM	Sutovsky Emil	2703
7	GM	David Alberto	2598	4		4	GM	Bologan Viktor	2680
8	GM	Koneru Humpy	2589	4		4	GM	Short Nigel D	2677
9	GM	Negi Parimarjan	2641	4		4	GM	Rapport Richard	2543
10	GM	Laznicka Viktor	2704	3½		4	GM	El Debs Felipe De Cresce	2497
11	GM	Berg Emanuel	2550	3½		3½	GM	Svidler Peter	2749
12	GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	2537	3½		3½	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2717
13	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2523	3½		3½	GM	Shirov Alexei	2710
14	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2700	3½		3½	IM	Zatonskih Anna	2506
15	GM	Gallagher Joseph G	2505	3½		3½	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2652
16	GM	Parligras Mircea-Emilian	2650	3½		3½	GM	Al-Sayed Mohammed	2524
17	IM	Khurtsidze Nino	2444	3½		3½	GM	Gustafsson Jan	2643
18	IM	Muzychuk Mariya	2483	3½		3½	GM	Hou Yifan	2605
19	GM	Brunello Sabino	2581	3½		3½	GM	Salem A R Saleh	2505
20	GM	Zhu Chen	2472	3½		3½	GM	Kulaots Kaido	2581
21	IM	Muzychuk Anna	2580	3½		3½	GM	Cabrera Alexis	2504
22	GM	Nabaty Tamir	2563	3½		3½	IM	Molner Mackenzie	2449

Full pairings: http://chess-results.com/tnr63931.aspx

Tata Steel Chess 2012 - En passant - Veselin Topalov round 12

2012-01-29T00:34:00.000-06:00

Tata Steel Chess 2012 - En passant - Veselin Topalov round 12

Tata Steel round 12 report

2012-01-29T00:17:00.000-06:00

Report of round 12

Armenian GM Levon Aronian is certain of netting at least a fair share of the 10,000-euro first prize in Grandmaster Group A at the 74th annual Tata Chess Tournament. A victory with black over World Title Challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel in 12th-round action put him one point ahead of his nearest rivals in the field of fourteen Saturday. Only a loss in Sunday’s final round would prevent him from taking all of the prize money all for himself.

Aronian’s win came on the heels of a smarting defeat at the hands of Czech GM David Navara in the previous round and, he told reporters, “after a good night’s sleep, I decided I’d be happy with a draw by way of a recovery,” when he entered the tournament arena at the start of Saturday’s action. But “after having been under pressure for a while, I was able to take the initiative when Boris declined my double pawn sacrifice 19…b5? He should have gone 20.Qxc6 but played 20.Nc5 instead. From that moment on, I wasn’t in danger of losing any longer and began to enjoy the game.” He refused the peace offer his opponent came up with and increased the pressure in the time trouble stage of the encounter. Gelfand didn’t flinch and made it to the time control only to cave in a few moves later with 46.Kxg2?, where 46.Nxg2 might have saved the day.

Aronian’s main rivals, Norway’s Magnus Carlsen and Azerbaijan’s Teymour Radjabov, got no further than a draw each, although they both had the advantage of playing with the white pieces. Radjabov picked up his half point the easy way, agreeing to a draw after only 20 moves in a Volga Gambit against Vassili Ivanchuk of the Ukraine. “I tried to go for a win,” Radjabov excused himself afterwards, “but it was a very tricky position and I didn’t like it one bit for white.”

Carlsen, the world’s highest rated grandmaster with 2835 Elo points to his name, went about it in the true and tried Carlsen way, i.e. the most aggressive and most risky way. He declined the Marshall Gambit that his opponent, U.S. Champion Gata Kamsky, chose for an opening and then made a mistake playing 16.c4?, where 16.f4 would have been a better way to handle the position.

“No, it wasn’t a very good game,” admitted Carlsen afterwards. “But, fortunately, I defended well enough after I messed up the opening, or the middle game, whatever. True, my opponent had the advantage but it was never clear, nothing was ever clear.” Kamsky agreed, telling reporters that “black was better throughout most of the game but white found all the decisive moves. I couldn’t find a way to make my advantage count. In the end, I didn’t wasn’t to take any risks. So it was a draw.”

Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov took the 500-euro ‘Piet Zwart Prize’ for his victory with white against Dutch champion Anish Giri. Topalov deserved the prize - put up by the municipalities of Velsen and Beverwijk - said GM Ivan Sokolov in awarding it, “because he had pressure straight from the opening and gradually ground his young opponent down.” For ‘Toppy’, who performed below par, it was his first win this year and it came as a relieve. “May be I didn’t play the best moves, but at least I didn’t let my advantage slip away this time,” he said. Having produced a disappointing series of eight draws and three losses in the previous rounds, he complained that “finally winning a game” could not make up for the fact that “I failed to profit from the advantage I held in at least seven games.”

In the third win of Saturday’s last but final round, Hikaru Nakamura of the U.S. played white against Holland’s Loek van Wely’s Shveshnikov Defense to obtain a position “which optically looked better for me … but objectively was probably finely balanced,” as “Naka” put it. “Somehow, in the middle game, however, Loek tried to outwait me, in stead of coming up with an active plan. That enabled me to regroup my rooks on the d-file and position my knight optimally with 35.Ng5. After that it was very difficult for him, especially when he came under time pressure as well.” So difficult, in fact, that Van Wely made the decisive mistake with 35...Bxg5 36.hxg5 Qxg5 37.Bh3 Rc7 38.Rxd6 Kg7?. He fought back, made it to the time control but was forced to surrender 17 moves later. When asked after the game whether he had chosen the wrong plan, Van Wely replied: “Plan? Which plan? I misplaced a few pieces in time trouble and he got some kind of attack going. After that, it was clear I could only escape by a miracle. Well, I didn’t.”

The two remaining games of the round were both drawn. Navara had an advantage with white in a Ruy Lopez against Italy’s Fabiano Caruana but wasted itb in time trouble and had to fight until his 64th to salvage a half point. Russia’s Sergei Karjakin and Azerbaijan’s Vugar Gashimov played a Queen’s Indian that was over before it had really begun, with the twosome splitting the point after only 27 moves.

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

Learn from Aronian

2012-01-28T23:13:00.000-06:00

Tata Steel Chess 2012 - Analysis - Levon Aronian shows his win against Boris Gelfand round 12

Melkumyan wins Armenia’s Chess 960 Championship

2012-01-28T14:16:00.000-06:00

Hrant Melkumyan becomes Armenia’s Chess 960 champion of 2012
January 28, 2012 - 17:03 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Scoring 6 points out of 7, grandmaster Hrant Melkumyan became Armenia’s Chess960 (Fischer Random Chess) champion of 2012.

With 5 points Zaven Andriasian came 2nd, while Levon Babujyan came 3rd with 4 points.

Chess960, or Fischer Random Chess, is a chess variant invented by former World Champion Bobby Fischer. It uses the same board and pieces as standard chess but the starting position of the main pieces is chosen at random.

Source: http://www.panarmenian.net

A record 170 players at the 2012 Lubbock Open

2012-01-28T13:11:00.004-06:00

The 2012 Lubbock Open draws record number of participants, about 170, with 5 Grandmasters and 2 International Masters. The event is being held at the Science Spectrum.

Top seed of the Open section is GM Meier 2722, followed by GM Bykhovsky 2640, GM Moradiabadi 2594, GM Diamant 2538, GM Boros 2521, IM Aleskerov 2478, and IM Neimer 2421.

Stay tuned for full results.

Tata Steel standings with one round to go

2012-01-28T12:38:00.003-06:00

Standings after 12

1.	Aronian, L.	8½
2.	Carlsen, M. Radjabov, T.	7½
4.	Caruana, F. Ivanchuk, V. Nakamura, H.	7
7.	Kamsky, G. Karjakin, S.	6
9.	Gelfand, B. Topalov, V. Van Wely, L.	5
12.	Gashimov, V.	4½
13.	Giri, A. Navara, D.	4

Group B

1.	Harikrishna, P.	8½
2.	L'Ami, E. Motylev, A.	8
4.	Bruzon, L.	7½
5.	Reinderman, D. Tiviakov, S.	7
7.	Nyzhnik, I.	6½
8.	Potkin, V. Timman, J.	5½
10.	Ernst, S.	5
11.	Cmilyte, V. Lahno, K. Vocaturo, D.	4
14.	Harika, D.	3½

Group C

1.	Tikkanen, H. Turov, M.	9½
3.	Adhiban, B. Brandenburg, D.	7½
5.	Grover, S. Sadler, M.	6½
7.	Paehtz, E.	6
8.	Tania, S.	5½
9.	Goudriaan, E.	5
10.	Danielian, E. Ootes, L.	4½
12.	Hopman, P. Schut, L.	4
14.	Haast, A.	3

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

Aronian wins, guarantees share of first with 1 to go

2012-01-28T12:33:00.002-06:00

Round 12 results

Topalov, V. - Giri, A.	1-0
Navara, D. - Caruana, F.	½-½
Gelfand, B. - Aronian, L.	0-1
Radjabov, T. - Ivanchuk, V.	½-½
Karjakin, S. - Gashimov, V.	½-½
Nakamura, H. - Van Wely, L.	1-0
Carlsen, M. - Kamsky, G.	½-½

Group B

Motylev, A. - Harikrishna, P.	½-½
Reinderman, D. - Ernst, S.	1-0
Bruzon, L. - Vocaturo, D.	1-0
Lahno, K. - Nyzhnik, I.	0-1
Harika, D. - Tiviakov, S.	0-1
Cmilyte, V. - Potkin, V.	½-½
L'Ami, E. - Timman, J.	½-½

Group C

Hopman, P. - Grover, S.	½-½
Sadler, M. - Tikkanen, H.	0-1
Tania, S. - Ootes, L.	0-1
Paehtz, E. - Haast, A.	½-½
Brandenburg, D. - Schut, L.	1-0
Adhiban, B. - Turov, M.	0-1
Goudriaan, E. - Danielian, E.	0-1

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

First Icelandic Chess Day Celebrated

2012-01-28T12:01:00.000-06:00

First Icelandic Chess Day Celebrated

The first annual Icelandic Chess Day was celebrated around the country for the first time on Thursday. It is held in honor of Iceland’s first grand master Friðrik Ólafsson, who celebrated his 77th birthday on January 26.

Friðrik is considered to have furthered the sport and boasted magnificent success in his career, including beating four world champions, Morgunblaðið reports.

A reception was held at the presidential residence Bessastaðir to mark the occasion. Among visitors were children who will play for Iceland at the Nordic Championship in Chess.

Friðrik played against ten-year-old Nansý Davíðsdóttir, the Icelandic Children’s Champion in Chess, who is the first girl to earn the title. The game ended with an honorary draw.

Other events included multiple games of chess played simultaneously in the Laugardalslaug swimming pool in Reykjavík and the inauguration of a swimming pool chess board in the Akureyri pool.

Gunnar Björnsson, president of the Icelandic Chess Federation, said the sport is growing in popularity in Iceland. “It is inexpensive and easy to practice chess. […] And chess is incredibly fun and rewarding.”

Chess Day is organized by various chess associations, sports associations and others.

Source: http://www.icelandreview.com/

Gibraltar LIVE!

2012-01-28T08:00:00.000-06:00

The Gibraltar Chess Festival 2012 will be live daily on Chessdom.com with analysis by the Houdini 2.0 engine. Games start at 14:00 CET.

All news about Gibraltar Chess Festival here

Full participants list at this link

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Tata Steel group A LIVE!

2012-01-28T06:30:00.000-06:00

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Tata Steel group B LIVE!

2012-01-28T06:29:00.000-06:00

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Tata Steel group C LIVE!

2012-01-28T06:28:00.000-06:00

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

A classic review

2012-01-28T00:37:00.000-06:00

White to move. This is a famous study by Troitsky in 1912. How should White proceed?

8/4P2N/1k1K3r/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1

Tata Steel round 12 matchups

2012-01-28T00:27:00.001-06:00

Round 12 - Saturday the 28th
Topalov, V. - Giri, A.
Navara, D. - Caruana, F.
Gelfand, B. - Aronian, L.
Radjabov, T. - Ivanchuk, V.
Karjakin, S. - Gashimov, V.
Nakamura, H. - Van Wely, L.
Carlsen, M. - Kamsky, G.

Group B

Motylev, A. - Harikrishna, P.
Reinderman, D. - Ernst, S.
Bruzon, L. - Vocaturo, D.
Lahno, K. - Nyzhnik, I.
Harika, D. - Tiviakov, S.
Cmilyte, V. - Potkin, V.
L'Ami, E. - Timman, J.

Group C

Hopman, P. - Grover, S.
Sadler, M. - Tikkanen, H.
Tania, S. - Ootes, L.
Paehtz, E. - Haast, A.
Brandenburg, D. - Schut, L.
Adhiban, B. - Turov, M.
Goudriaan, E. - Danielian, E.

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

Tata Steel Chess Daily - Round 11

2012-01-28T00:24:00.000-06:00

Tata Steel Chess Daily - Round 11

Tata Steel round 11 report

2012-01-28T00:17:00.002-06:00

Report of round 11

The 10,000-euro first prize in Grandmaster Group A at the 74th annual Tata Steel Chess Tournament was up for grabs again after an exciting eleventh round played havoc with the standings Friday.

Tournament leader Levon Aronian, one point free of the pack at the outset of the round, went down with white against David Navara of the Czech Republic (see picture), with a tournament record of five draws and an equal number of losses last in the field of fourteen. Runner-up Vassili Ivanchuk, also playing white, long kept the balance in a quiet Catalan against World Title Challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel but then wasted a pawn and was forced to resign a relatively simple ending.

Norway’s Magnus Carlsen, the world’s highest rated player, meanwhile, surprised friends and enemies alike by messing up his opening with white in a Sicilian against Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov to end up in a losing position. But Topalov failed to find his way to a win through the minefield of middle-game complications, allowing Carlsen to bounce back and clinch victory after 56 moves.

“It was a crazy game,” agreed Carlsen when facing the press afterwards. “I thought I was better out of the opening but then I blundered. Nevertheless, I saw a great number of attacking possibilities and I felt I was going to create a brilliancy. I realized only too late that I was probably just lost, when he took my rook with (see diagram) 21…Nxd1. After 22.Bxf6 Nxc3 23.Qg4 Bxe4, however, I got some hope. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on precisely, but when he sacrificed his queen with 24.Nxh6 Kh7 25.Bxf7 Qxf7, I knew I had the initiative. At least, I didn’t see a forced win for him any longer. He had excellent drawing chances until late in the game, but somehow I managed to win it.”

“Today seems to be a very strange round,” said former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, who visited the tournament Friday, checking out the tournament arena and the press room. “It feels wonderfully relaxed to be here as a spectator. But I’m not here just to watch the games, exciting though they are. I hope to sign some contracts, too. I prefer to play, of course, and I hope to be here as a player again next year, when the tournament celebrates a jubilee, I think.”

Kramnik seemed most interested in Carlsen’s performance but the 500-euro ‘Piet Zwart Prize’ for the best game of the day in Group A – put up by the municipalities of Velsen and Beverwijk – was awarded to Navara. GM Ivan Sokolov, responsible for picking the prize winners, praised Navara for his technical novelty 11…Na6 and said he “soon had a better ending.” Although “he’s had a miserable tournament so far, Navara showed a nice execution and brought excitement back into the tournament,” Sokolov said.

Navara himself told the press afterwards that “I had a great advantage out of the opening but it was very well defended and it was very difficult to convert the advantage into a win. I’m tired now but so far Levon had a 6-1 score against me. I’m glad I was able to something about that.” Aronian blamed his loss to his faulty preparation. “I hadn’t reckoned with 11…Na6 during my preparation and was not at all happy with what I got onto the board. Maybe, at one moment I was about to even out but I guess I missed it.”

Ivanchuk’s loss against Gelfand was due to carelessness, the Israeli GM explained after the game. “It was a simple win. I evened out quickly and the position was drawish. After (see diagram) 22…Ne4 I felt it was still equal but Vassili had to be careful. I thought it was clear he had to play very precisely.” Apparently, ‘Chukie’ didn’t, and Gelfand took the full point in a simple pawn ending after 42 moves.

There were two regional derbies in Friday’s round. The first, between the two highest rated American players ended in a draw after 44 moves in a Sicilian Dragon, with U.S. champion Gata Kamsky playing white and Hikaru Nakamura defending with black. In the other, Azerbaijan’s strongest GM, Teymour Radjabov, defeated his countryman Vugar Gashimov with black in an exciting Sicilian that lasted 53 moves.

For the Dutch contingent in Wijk-aan-Zee the 11th round proved a disaster, with national champion Anish Giri going down in a semi-Slav against Italy’s Fabiano Caruana, and drawing master Loek van Wely suffering his first defeat of the tournament at the hands of Russia’s Sergei Karjakin in an English game.

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

Tata Steel Chess 2012 - En passant - Loek van Wely and Sergey Karjakin round 11

2012-01-28T00:12:00.000-06:00

Tata Steel Chess 2012 - En passant - Loek van Wely and Sergey Karjakin round 11

Gibraltar round 5 pairings

2012-01-28T00:07:00.002-06:00

Round 5 top board pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	3	GM	Adams Michael	2724	3½		3½	GM	Brunello Sabino	2581	30
2	15	GM	Short Nigel D	2677	3½		3½	GM	Le Quang Liem	2714	5
3	35	GM	Gopal G N	2566	3½		3½	GM	Laznicka Viktor	2704	8
4	41	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2535	3½		3½	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2700	10
5	11	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2700	3½		3½	GM	Hou Yifan	2605	25
6	4	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2717	3		3½	GM	Rapport Richard	2543	39
7	1	GM	Svidler Peter	2749	3		3	GM	Kosintseva Nadezhda	2537	40
8	2	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2747	3		3	IM	Huschenbeth Niclas	2518	47
9	48	GM	Kanep Meelis	2509	3		3	GM	Polgar Judit	2710	6
10	7	GM	Shirov Alexei	2710	3		3	GM	Gallagher Joseph G	2505	50
11	9	GM	Sutovsky Emil	2703	3		3	GM	Baron Tal	2498	53
12	54	GM	El Debs Felipe De Cresce	2497	3		3	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2699	12
13	14	GM	Bologan Viktor	2680	3		3	IM	Dvirnyy Daniyyl	2492	55

Full pairings: http://chess-results.com/tnr63931.aspx

Tata Steel Chess 2012 - En passant - Magnus Carlsen round 11

2012-01-27T17:51:00.000-06:00

Tata Steel Chess 2012 - En passant - Magnus Carlsen round 11

Djokovic vs Nadal! Who will reign supreme at the Australian Open Final?

2012-01-27T16:17:00.000-06:00

N. Djokovich defeated Andy Murray in a marathon 5-set match to earn a spot in the final to face R. Nadal. After losing the first set, Nadal won the next three against R. Federer.

Tata Steel Chess 2012 - En passant - Levon Aronian and David Navara round 11

2012-01-27T16:15:00.000-06:00

Tata Steel Chess 2012 - En passant - Levon Aronian and David Navara round 11

Hanging on by a thread

2012-01-27T15:49:00.000-06:00

Photo by Fred Lucas

With just two rounds to go, anything can still happen in all three groups.

Standings after round 11 - Group A

1.	Aronian, L.	7½
2.	Carlsen, M. Radjabov, T.	7
4.	Caruana, F. Ivanchuk, V.	6½
6.	Nakamura, H.	6
7.	Kamsky, G. Karjakin, S.	5½
9.	Gelfand, B. Van Wely, L.	5
11.	Gashimov, V. Giri, A. Topalov, V.	4
14.	Navara, D.	3½

Group B

1.	Harikrishna, P.	8
2.	L'Ami, E. Motylev, A.	7½
4.	Bruzon, L.	6½
5.	Reinderman, D. Tiviakov, S.	6
7.	Nyzhnik, I.	5½
8.	Ernst, S. Potkin, V. Timman, J.	5
11.	Lahno, K. Vocaturo, D.	4
13.	Cmilyte, V. Harika, D.	3½

Group C

1.	Tikkanen, H. Turov, M.	8½
3.	Adhiban, B.	7½
4.	Brandenburg, D. Sadler, M.	6½
6.	Grover, S.	6
7.	Paehtz, E. Tania, S.	5½
9.	Goudriaan, E.	5
10.	Schut, L.	4
11.	Danielian, E. Hopman, P. Ootes, L.	3½
14.	Haast, A.	3

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

Tata Steel round 11 wild results

2012-01-27T12:10:00.004-06:00

Round 11 - Friday the 27th - Group A
Carlsen, M. - Topalov, V.	1-0
Kamsky, G. - Nakamura, H.	½-½
Van Wely, L. - Karjakin, S.	0-1
Gashimov, V. - Radjabov, T.	0-1
Ivanchuk, V. - Gelfand, B.	0-1
Aronian, L. - Navara, D.	0-1
Caruana, F. - Giri, A.	1-0

Group B

L'Ami, E. - Motylev, A.	½-½
Timman, J. - Cmilyte, V.	1-0
Potkin, V. - Harika, D.	1-0
Tiviakov, S. - Lahno, K.	1-0
Nyzhnik, I. - Bruzon, L.	1-0
Vocaturo, D. - Reinderman, D.	0-1
Ernst, S. - Harikrishna, P.	1-0

Group C

Goudriaan, E. - Hopman, P.	½-½
Danielian, E. - Adhiban, B.
Turov, M. - Brandenburg, D.	½-½
Schut, L. - Paehtz, E.
Haast, A. - Tania, S.	0-1
Ootes, L. - Sadler, M.
Tikkanen, H. - Grover, S.	1-0

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

Chess benefactor promotes Fair Tax

2012-01-27T12:00:00.000-06:00

Realtors bemoan Rex's latest big check to pass 'fair tax'
Friday, January 27, 2012 11:45 am

ST. LOUIS • It's not often that the state Realtors' association, with their thousands of members and pair of lobbyists in Jefferson City, fret about being the underdog.

But now that retired investor and free-market evangelist Rex Sinquefield has given another giant campaign check to his bid to rewrite the state tax code, the real estate agents are selling a "David versus Goliath" narrative.

On Thursday, Sinquefield deposited $1.2 million into his "Let Voters Decide" political committee, whose latest push is rescinding the state's income tax and replacing it with higher sales taxes.

The group has already spent much of an earlier $1.3 million check from Sinquefield on lawyers, campaign consultants and a professional petition drive firm charged with making sure the tax proposal has enough signatures to get on the ballot.

(For a man who made his fortune as a pioneer of the index fund, some of the expenditures by his political committe are head scratchers. Other than the $1.3 million donated by Sinquefield and a $10,000 check from an admirer in the financial world, Let Voters Decide raised only $1,465 from other donors, all in small increments, in the last quarter. However, during that same period, the committe paid $16,000 to a St. Louis fundraising firm.)

Realtors don't like the "fair tax" proposal because it would potentially mean a higher tax on sales transactions — including the purchase of a home.

Before Sinquefield's latest donation even became public, a spokesman for the Realtor's group, Missourians for Fair Taxation, blasted the opposition's wealthy benefactor.

"It’s clear that Let Voters Decide’s answer is to throw more and more money behind its awful proposal, but they cannot sell it to working class Missourians," said the Realtor's spokesman, Scott Charton. "They have a billionaire benefactor with an agenda, but even a billionaire gets just one vote."

However, the last election cycle, Charton was far from critical of the tactics of Sinquefield, who has never said he is a billionaire.

In 2010, Charton's Columbia, Mo. public relations firm was paid more than $60,000 by Sinquefield's committee, which at the time was working on a measure effecting local earning taxes.

Gibraltar chess tactic

2012-01-27T11:44:00.000-06:00

White to move. How should white proceed?

Source: ChessToday.net

Meier vs So match!

2012-01-27T07:56:00.005-06:00

Grandmaster Georg Meier (2671 - GER) vs Grandmaster Wesley So (2653 - PHI)

You can watch GM Georg Meier, who led the Germany national team to the European Team Championships take on the top player from the Philippines, the young phenom GM Wesley So. They will collide in a 4 game classical match followed by a 4 game rapid match.

Classical match time control: 40/90 SD/30 + 30/sec increments

Rapid match time control: Game-20 + 10/sec increments

Classical Match time: 10am each day Sunday - Wednesday

Rapid Match time: 10am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm

Grandmaster Group A

Our Grandmaster Group A section will feature a 6-player Double Round Robin (10 rounds). 3 Grandmasters and 3 International Masters will lock horns twice each day. To earn a Grandmaster norm, the International Masters must score 6.5/10 points.

Our confirmed participants include:

Grandmaster Elshan Moradiabadi (IRI) - 2538
Grandmaster Mesgen Amanov (TKM) - 2526
Grandmaster Andre Diamant (BRA) - 2494
International Master Mackenzie Molner (USA) - 2449
Two more International Masters TBA

Time control: Game-90 + 30/sec increment

Round times: 10am and 3pm Chicago time Sunday through Thursday

Grandmaster Group B

Our Grandmaster Group B section will feature a 10-player Single Round Robin (9 rounds). 3 Grandmasters and 7 International Masters will lock horns twice each day. To earn a Grandmaster norm, the International Masters must score 6.5/9 points.

Our confirmed participants include:

GM Anatoly Bykhovsky (ISR) - 2536
GM Denes Boros (HUN) - 2482
3rd Grandmaster - TBA
International Master Vitaly Neimer (ISR) - 2381
International Master - elect Faik Aleskerov (AZE) - 2362
International Master Daniel Rensch (USA) - 2401
International Master Darwin Yang (USA) - 2448
3 more International Masters - TBA

Time control: Game-90 + 30/sec increment

Round times: 10am and 3pm Chicago time Sunday through Wednesday, and 10am only on Thursday

Official website: http://www.nachess.org

Gibraltar LIVE!

2012-01-27T07:30:00.000-06:00

The Gibraltar Chess Festival 2012 will be live daily on Chessdom.com with analysis by the Houdini 2.0 engine. Games start at 14:00 CET.

All news about Gibraltar Chess Festival here

Full participants list at this link

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Should every child be made to play chess?

2012-01-27T07:20:00.000-06:00

Should every child be made to play chess?
By Vanessa Barford
BBC News

Armenia is making chess compulsory in schools, but could mandatory study of a board game really help children's academic performance and behaviour?

Every child aged six or over in Armenia is now destined to learn chess. The authorities there believe compulsory lessons will "foster schoolchildren's intellectual development" and improve critical thinking skills.

The country has plenty of reasons to believe in chess. It treats grandmasters like sports stars, championships are displayed on giant boards in cities and victories celebrated with the kind of frenzy most countries reserve for football.

Chess is nothing less than a national obsession.

It may only have a population of 3.2 million, but Armenia regularly beats powerhouses such as Russia, China and the US and its national team won gold at the International Chess Olympiad in 2006 and 2008.

Added to that, the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has just been re-elected as chair of the Armenian Chess Federation.

Creative

Now the chess-mad country is investing nearly $1.5m (£920,000) to teach all of its children. But for other countries constantly strategising about how to boost child development and education, is making study of the Sicilian and the Queen's Gambit a good idea?

Proponents of chess in schools do claim some evidence. A two-year study conducted in the US by Dr Stuart Marguilies found that learning chess improved reading test scores and reading performance in elementary schools.

Another study by Professor Peter Dauvergne, who is also a chess master, concluded playing chess could raise IQ scores, strengthen problem solving skills, enhance memory and foster creative thinking.

Malcolm Pein, chief executive of Chess in Schools and Communities, a programme that puts chess into UK schools, says there are lots of reasons why chess has a positive impact on primary school children.

"Not only does it give children good thinking skills and improve concentration, memory and calculation, but it teaches children to take responsibility for their actions.

"There are also behavioural attitudes and social attributes to the game too. Children shake hands at the start, and although it's not deathly silent in classes, it's reasonably quiet and disciplined."

Far from it just being the case that more academically-minded people are more likely to play chess, he says the game is a very universal and inclusive activity that can be played at all standards.

More here.

Tata Steel group A LIVE!

2012-01-27T06:30:00.000-06:00

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Tata Steel group B LIVE!

2012-01-27T06:29:00.001-06:00

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Tata Steel group C LIVE!

2012-01-27T06:28:00.000-06:00

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Gibraltar round 3 report

2012-01-27T05:57:00.001-06:00

2012 TRADEWISE GIBRALTAR CHESS FESTIVAL

Monday 23 January - Thursday 2 February 2012

PRESS RELEASE 14 27, January 2012

Thursday 26 January 2012 report by Stewart Reuben on Round 3 of the Masters

Participation of female players in this congress is very important to the whole ethos of this congress. Our webmaster, Steve Connor, reminded me I intended to comment on the passing of Elaine Pritchard, who died very recently and whose career spanned a major period in women’s chess. In a way, it is fortuitous that the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival can be regarded as a memorial to her. She was a child prodigy in the late 1930s (which must have been very unusual for a girl in that period). She remembered sitting on Vera Menchik’s knee. Vera was the first-ever Women’s World Champion and won the World Girls title the same year. Elaine won the World Girls in 1936 at the age of 10 and again in 1937. She was British Ladies Champion in 1939, 1946, 1955 and 1965. Her last FIDE Rating was 2150. In her period, women mainly played separately from men. For more details, see:

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?p=16227.

Nigel Short ENG v Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE

Nigel won a very nice, easy game. It was predicted he would reach the Commentary Room by 6.15pm, but he made it by 6.01pm.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0–0 9.h3 Nb8 10.d3 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.Nf1 Nc5 13.Bc2 Re8 14.Ng3 Bf8 15.b4 Ne6

(15 Ncd7 is more common)

16.d4 g6 17.Bd2 Nd7 18.Bb3 Qf6 19.d5 Nf4

(Although Black has a nicely placed knight, Nigel felt the rest of his pieces were just in a tangle. The pressure on the c file was unbearable for Black.)

20.c4 Nb6 21.Rc1 bxc4 22.Bxc4 Nxc4 23.Rxc4 Rac8 24.Qc2

24...Be7 (24...Nxh6ch seems attractive. But there follows 25 gxh6 Qxf6 26 Bg5 trapping the queen.) 25.Bxf4 exf4 26.Ne2 Bd8 27.Ned4 Rb8 28.Qa4 Kf8 29.Nc6 Bxc6 30.Rxc6 Qb2 31.a3 f5 32.e5 1–0

In the final position, Black’s queen is all dressed up with nowhere to go.

Michael Adams ENG v Daniel Fridman GER

It is heart-warming to see the two leading English players on the top two boards in the Masters. Even better, they both won. What could be more appropriate in this extremely patriotic setting? Michael sacrificed a pawn in return for weakening Black’s kingside, a very long-term plan indeed. His handling of the delicate endgame put Black under so much pressure that he eventually won. 53 move games don’t usually win the £1000 Best Game Prize, but this could be the exception.

Hou Yifan CHN v Zoltan Almasi HUN

Another elegant game played by Hou Yifan, the 17 year old Women’s World Chess Champion. The Berlin Wall is regarded as virtually impregnable, but she chipped away at its foundations.

Le Quang Liem VIE v Mircea-Emilian Parligras ROU

Basically they shuffled around until the music stopped. But doing nothing extremely well is a characteristic of very strong players.

Alexei Shirov LAT v Mariya Muzychuk UKR

Alexei again came to the Commentary Room as did Emanuel Berg. Thus we got three master classes that afternoon. He was very surprised by 24…Kf8. It was a nice positional crush.

Peter Svidler RUS v Anna Muzychuk SLO

She took the fight to the Russian, sacking a pawn early on. This was returned and it then came down to a drawn endgame.

David Howell ENG v Judit Polgar HUN

Black seemed better initially, but not after the mutual time scramble. The fortunes of the game ebbed and waned and it concluded after 82 moves with only kings on the board.

Gabriel Sargissian ARM v Sabino Brunello ITA

100 rated points difference isn’t all that much, so Black’s win was not a shocking surprise. The Armenian went wrong with 38 bxa6 and after this was unable to recover.

BLITZ TEAMS OF FOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

This traditional event attracted 20 teams of 4 players in 6 rounds. They played at the rate of 4 minutes per game plus 4 seconds cumulatively for each move. That works out at about 8 minutes for the whole game for each player, or an average of 8 seconds per move. This is considered quite leisurely for such an event.

The team USSR Mixed Team were red hot favourites. It consisted of Peter Svidler 2749 RUS, Viktor Bologan 2680 Moldova, Nadezhda Kosintseva woman 2537 RUS, Natalia Zhukova 2426 UKR.

USSR Mixed 20½ game points, 12 match points

Arabic Dragon 15½ game points, 8 match points

Linares Team 15 game points, 9 match points

In addition to the 3 hours of this event some people also played 4 hours in the morning and 5 hours in the evening.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL PHOTOGRAPHS ARE ON OUR WEBSITE

www.gibraltarchesscongress.com

Please do not hesitate to contact me at gibchesspress@gmail.com

Alice Mascarenhas

Tradewise Chess Press Officer

Press Office

2012 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival

www.gibraltarchesscongress.com

Tata Steel round 11 pairings

2012-01-27T02:30:00.000-06:00

Round 11 - Friday the 27th - Group A
Carlsen, M. - Topalov, V.
Kamsky, G. - Nakamura, H.
Van Wely, L. - Karjakin, S.
Gashimov, V. - Radjabov, T.
Ivanchuk, V. - Gelfand, B.
Aronian, L. - Navara, D.
Caruana, F. - Giri, A.

Group B

L'Ami, E. - Motylev, A.
Timman, J. - Cmilyte, V.
Potkin, V. - Harika, D.
Tiviakov, S. - Lahno, K.
Nyzhnik, I. - Bruzon, L.
Vocaturo, D. - Reinderman, D.
Ernst, S. - Harikrishna, P.

Group C

Goudriaan, E. - Hopman, P.
Danielian, E. - Adhiban, B.
Turov, M. - Brandenburg, D.
Schut, L. - Paehtz, E.
Haast, A. - Tania, S.
Ootes, L. - Sadler, M.
Tikkanen, H. - Grover, S.

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

Gibraltar Masters Round 3

2012-01-27T01:41:00.000-06:00

Gibraltar Masters Round 3

The 3rd round of the 2012 Gibraltar Chess Masters was very successful for the players commanding the white pieces. On the top three boards white, namely Women World Champion Hou Yifan and England’s Nigel Short and Michael Adams, snatched victories to continue with perfect records.

Sabino Brunelo and Ruben Felgaer defeated the higher rated opposition to join the leading pack. World Cup winner Peter Svidler signed another draw, this time against the always-progressing Anna Muzychuk. Full round 3 results bellow.

Replay the games with computer analysis. Round 4 live broadcast starts at 15:00 CET.

Grandmaster Pablo Lafuente and Alexander Kromhout (RSA) playing in the gardens of the hotel

Top round 4 pairings are GM Hou Yifan 2605 (3 points) – GM Adams Michael 2724 (3), GM Brunello Sabino 2581 (3) – GM Short Nigel 2677 (3), GM Le Quang Liem 2714 (2½) – GM Felgaer Ruben 2571 (3), and the big derby GM Polgar Judit 2710 (2½) – GM Koneru Humpy 2589 (2½).

The social side to the tournament plays a major part and players meet and analyse games in the comfort of the hotel lobby, in the reception area, or wherever they can place a chess board after the competition is over for the day. Every evening there is a social event and on Wednesday night GM David Howell showed his first and second round wins over Gislason and Javakhishvili.

Macauley Peterson recorded the lecture and you can view it here (Runtime 56:20).

Official website

Judit vs Humpy in Gibraltar

2012-01-27T00:09:00.000-06:00

Round 4 top board pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	25	GM	Hou Yifan	2605	3		3	GM	Adams Michael	2724	3
2	30	GM	Brunello Sabino	2581	3		3	GM	Short Nigel D	2677	15
3	5	GM	Le Quang Liem	2714	2½		3	GM	Felgaer Ruben	2571	33
4	6	GM	Polgar Judit	2710	2½		2½	GM	Koneru Humpy	2589	29
5	28	GM	David Alberto	2598	2½		2½	GM	Shirov Alexei	2710	7
6	8	GM	Laznicka Viktor	2704	2½		2½	GM	Kulaots Kaido	2581	31
7	10	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2700	2½		2½	GM	Jussupow Artur	2569	34
8	32	IM	Muzychuk Anna	2580	2½		2½	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2700	11
9	18	GM	Parligras Mircea-Emilian	2650	2½		2½	GM	Gopal G N	2566	35
10	39	GM	Rapport Richard	2543	2½		2½	GM	Gustafsson Jan	2643	21
11	26	GM	Fier Alexandr	2603	2½		2½	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2535	41
12	47	IM	Huschenbeth Niclas	2518	2½		2½	GM	Howell David W L	2603	27
13	2	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2747	2		2½	IM	Zatonskih Anna	2506	49
14	61	IM	Hunt Adam C	2462	2		2	GM	Svidler Peter	2749	1
15	4	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2717	2		2	GM	Cramling Pia	2491	56
16	63	IM	Javakhishvili Lela	2454	2		2	GM	Sutovsky Emil	2703	9
17	12	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2699	2		2	IM	Arnold Marc T	2482	58
18	65	IM	Khurtsidze Nino	2444	2		2	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2683	13
19	14	GM	Bologan Viktor	2680	2		2	IM	Krush Irina	2467	60
20	16	GM	Fridman Daniel	2660	2		2	IM	Molner Mackenzie	2449	64

Full pairings here: http://chess-results.com/tnr63931.aspx

15th Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational

2012-01-26T22:40:00.001-06:00

15th Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational

Metropolitan Chess, Inc. is hosting an International Master norm round robin tournament from January 25th to 29th of 2012.

This tournament is the 15th in its series and is being held in Suite C1002 of the California Market Center on 110 East 9th Street, Los Angeles 90079. The tournament is organized by Ankit Gupta.

The participants include: IM Zhanibek Amanov (KAZ), IM Andranik Matikozyan (ARM), IM Enrico Sevillano (USA), FM Mark Duckworth (USA), FM Konstantin Kavutskiy (USA), Vadim Kudryavtsev (RUS), Craig Clawitter (USA), Garush Manukyan (ARM), and FM Harutyan Akopyan (USA).

The tournament will be a 10 player round-robin (all play all), with rounds scheduled as follows – 25th: 7:00 PM, 26th: 11:00 AM & 5:00 PM, 27th: 11:00 AM & 5:00 PM, 28th: 11:00 AM & 5:00 PM, 29th: 10:00 AM & 4:00 PM.

Spectators are welcome and encouraged to come to watch the games in person at the tournament site.

The tournament is sponsored by California Market Center, Fashion Business, Inc, Chess.com, MonRoi, LawyerFy, and Betty Bottom Showroom.

The standings can be found on the Metropolitan Chess, Inc. website at: http://metrochessla.com/schedule.php

Tata Steel round 10 chess video

2012-01-26T12:49:00.001-06:00

TATA STEEL CHESS DAILY - Round 10 2012

2nd Ferdowsi International Chess Open Tournament

2012-01-26T12:04:00.000-06:00

2nd Ferdowsi International Chess Open Tournament

The 2nd Ferdowsi International Chess Open Tournament is set to take place from 9th to 20th February in Mashhad, Iran.

The Chess Association of “Khorasan–Razavi” province on behalf of I.R.Iran Chess Federation has the honor to invite all players from national federations to participate in the tournament. Each National Chess Federation has right to nominate and send one player.

Organizing Committee will provide free participation, domestic transfer (from Tehran to Mashhad and return) and full board accommodation (with 3 meals per day) in 4 stars Samen Hotel, for official nominated players as well as GM title holders and 2500+ rated chess players.

The tournament will be played over 11 rounds of Swiss system. The prize fund of 25.000 US$ will be distributed for the top ten finishers. The winner gets 5000 USD. Note: 20% tax will be deducted from the winnings.

The 1st Ferdowsi International was held on 8-15th June 2010. Grandmasters Vladimir Malaniuk UKR, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami IRI and Azer Mirzoev AZE shared the first place.

Mashhad is the capital of “Khorasan–Razavi” province in northeastern of I.R.Iran and it has an International airport directly connected by different airlines to many major destinations like: Istanbul, Dubai, Bahrain, Doha, Bangkok, Bishkek, Dushanbe, Kuwait, Baghdad, Najaf, Almaty, and also more than 15 daily flights from Tehran.

For more information about flights see: http://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashhad_International_Airport, http://www.mahan.aero/home.asp?lang=en-us.

Mashhad is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world.

It is located 850 kilometers (530 mi) east of Tehran, close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its population was 2,427,316 at the 2006 population census.

The city benefits from the proximity of the mountains, having cool winters, pleasant springs, mild summers, and beautiful autumns. It is only about 250 km (156 miles) from Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

In 2011 Mashhad hosted the 19th Fajr International Chess Open Tournament and 10th Asian Continental Individual Championships.

Contacts of the Organizing Committee:

Khorasan Chess Association
www.razavichess.com

Email: shima_haghani2003(at)yahoo.com
Tel: +98 511 2463055
Fax: +98 5112463626
Mobile: +98 915 307 6081

Email: federation(at)ircf.ir
Email: wfajr2012(at)ircf.ir
Tel: +98 21 88971040
Fax: +98 21 88951514

Tata Steel Chess 2012 - En passant - Vladimir Potkin round 10

2012-01-26T12:02:00.000-06:00

Tata Steel Chess 2012 - En passant - Vladimir Potkin round 10

Who will the Australian Open?
	N. Djokovic (#1 seed)
	R. Nadal (#2 seed)