Russia wins World Women's Chess Championship -- 18-Sep-08
Chess Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk ended a 44-year-old drought for Russia by clinching the World Women's Chess Championship after playing out a draw with Yifan Hao of China in the fourth game of the finals that concluded here. This was Kosteniuk's third draw on the trot and she was in fact winning on two occasion in the final game but opted for the safer route to ensure her maiden world chess championship title. The experience proved to be the key factor in the finals as Kosteniuk was already a finalist in 2000, when Yifan was just six years old. The chess victory for Koeteniuk brings 60,000 US Dollars in addition to a superb crown embedded with diamonds and sapphires. ... |
Adams shares the lead -- 16-Sep-08
England chess number one Michael Adams and David Howell are both on the leading score of 5/6 with four to play of at the EU Chess Championship being hosted by the Liverpool World Museum. Adams outplayed the Latvian GM Normunds Miezis while Howell won rapidly against Danny Gormally who had been in superb form having held the French Super GM Etienne Bacrot to a draw with black and then defeating former WCC Candidate Alexander Belyavsky in a fine game. Nigel Short’s woes continued as he lost to IM Lorin D’Costa of Hertford in the fifth round and he is still off the pace. The chess tournament must be the strongest Open event ever held in the UK with six of the world’s top 100 chess ... |
Topalov's late show -- 15-Sep-08
Another storming finish from Veselin Topalov secured the 150,000 Euro first prize in the inaugural Grand Slam Final at Bilbao. In the tenth and final round Topalov overcome Vasily Ivanchuk with some dynamic play from a position many chess players would have given up as drawn. The three points for a win and one for a draw scoring system ensured Topalov’s two wins in his last three games propelled him into first place. There was another bonus for the former FIDE chess champion as he moved to number one on the unofficial live rating list. I was able to witness the innovative arrangements first hand at the Plaza de Nuevo which hosted a unique chess festival for ... |
Battery unpowered -- 14-Sep-08
Ring ring knock over your king, that’s the rule nowadays in chess. If a mobile phone sounds the owner loses immediately and it was Nigel Short’s turn to be a victim of this when his phone sounded during his game against former British Ladies Chess Champion Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant in the second round of the EU Chess Championship underway at Liverpool’s World Museum. Short had recently changed his phone and had switched it off but was undone when the device ran low on power and gave out a fatal warning. There was another telephonic tragedy a few days ago in round six of the Russian High Chess League as Vladimir Malakhov the number one seed was defaulted in ... |
Barden on chess -- 13-Sep-08
Bilbao's €400,000 (£317,000) Grand Slam, which ends today, is one of the strongest chess tournaments ever, with six elite chess grandmasters competing in a double round tournament. It has been staged alfresco in a special sound-proof glass enclosure erected in the city's main square, and it has already witnessed a historic moment. In round four, the world chess champion, Vishy Anand, lost the game below while Magnus Carlsen won. That meant that on the unofficial but widely respected daily chess rankings the Norwegian became world No1 at age 17, a feat which eclipses both Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov at his age. However, two late defeats meant that Carlsen's ... |
The shock of the new -- 11-Sep-08
There was another twist at the Grand Slam Final at Bilbao as the lead changed hands again and it was Magnus Carlsen, the 17 year old Norwegian chess prodigy who moved to the head of the field thanks to the scoring system that gives three points for a win. Carlsen defeated Levon Aronian who never recovered from the shock of an astonishing innovation he was confronted with on move 15 in the Slav Defence. The other two games were drawn but Topalov v Radjabov was very odd as they reached a Benoni type position and played cat and mouse until Topalov made the standard breakthrough in the centre. Black seemed to be in chess dire straits but a few moves ... |
Russian bears play hard -- 10-Sep-08
The 4th European Union Chess Championship is underway at the World Museum in Liverpool. The ten-round Swiss tournament runs until 18 September and is the latest in a series of prestigious chess events which have been organised by Professor David Robertson as part of the Liverpool 2008 European Capital of Culture celebrations. The line up is fantastic and we are spoiled by the sight of England’s top two players competing in the same chess event on these shores for the second time in a month. This must be the strongest Swiss tournament held in the UK since the heyday of the Lloyds Bank Masters in the 1990s. England number one Michael Adams is top seed followed by France’s leading two chess players ... |
Barden on chess -- 07-Sep-08
The annual women's world chess championship has a $450,000 prize fund and is hotly contested, even though the all-time No1 Judit Polgar never competes. But the current version in Naichik, Russia, hit serious trouble at the start last weekend. The venue is about 100 miles from the border with Georgia, whose sextet of chess players first asked for the tournament to be moved, and, when this was refused, boycotted the chess event. The off-board action in Naichik favoured India's Humpy Koneru, 21, the highest-ranked chess player, who after an easy first-round win received a bye in round two where she was due to have met one of a pair of absentees. The other popular favourite, China's chess prodigy Hou Yifan, ... |
Time waits for no man -- 04-Sep-08
A lively first round entertained the chess spectators staring in at the glass playing hall as the Grand Slam Final got underway in Bilbao. The chess players seemed unaffected by the novelty of playing in the street in an air conditioned and silent shell and there were three interesting games. The six players are competing for a prize fund of 400,000 Euros, a record for a chess event of this type. The 17 year old Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen made a winning start from an unpromising position but he managed to break the shackles on his position imposed by Levon Aronian who sacrificed a pawn to establish a dominating pair of bishops and some pressure on open files. The single ... |
Magnus Carlsen, chess prodigy from Norway -- 02-Sep-08
The 17-year-old chess player Magnus Carlsen appears to spend his time after school much as any typical teenage boy would. He vanishes to his small, sparsely furnished bedroom at the top of a yellow clapboard house in this suburb of Oslo and settles in front of the computer. "Maybe I spend too much time chatting with people," he said with a smile. He should not be too hard on himself. When he is chatting, Magnus is also playing chess. His online practice sessions have helped propel him to No. 6 in the official world rankings, and he could become No. 1 if he wins the Grand Slam Chess Final Masters, a tournament with top chess players that begins Tuesday in Bilbao, Spain. Given ... |
Vasily the victorious -- 01-Sep-08
Vasily Ivanchuk made it a wonderful double at the Tal Memorial as he added the Blitz tournament to his burgeoning list of chess tournament successes. Ivanchuk scored 23.5/34 to finish a point ahead of Vladimir Kramnik with Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen third on 21. Anatoly Karpov scored 14/34. The 34 Blitz games were played over two days as each chess player took on all his rivals with both colours and five minutes each on the clock. Ivanchuk started the chess tournament with a defeat to qualifier Boris Grachev but lost only one mini match, to Peter Leko while defeating four of his opponents, including Alexander Morozevich, with both colours. Ivanchuk’s win ... |
Barden on chess -- 30-Aug-08
Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik are limbering up for their 12-game, €1.5m world title chess match in Bonn from October 14 to November 2 and so far the preparations have gone very much in favour of the Indian title-holder. Anand, 38, triumphed in Linares and crushed the young chess pretender Magnus Carlsen in Mainz. Kramnik failed in Dortmund, a chess event which used to be the 33-year-old Russian's favourite patch, then lost the game below at this week's Tal Memorial in Moscow, though he recovered to score 5/9. The pair have very different notions of what constitutes a true chess champion. Anand believes the No1 should prove himself in all disciplines - matches, chess tournaments, speed chess and ... |
Ivanchuk seals victory -- 29-Aug-08
Vasily Ivanchuk secured victory at the Tal Chess Memorial in Moscow with a short draw in the ninth and final round against Alexey Shirov. Ivanchuk played a simplifying line against the Queen’s Gambit Accepted that gives Black no chances to play for a win and Shirov was doubtless pleased to end the chess tournament without a fifth defeat as he finished last. Ivanchuk’s margin of victory was a full point which is exceptional in a nine round chess event of this standard. Final scores: 1 Ivanchuk (Ukraine) 6/9; 2-5 Morozevich (Russia), Gelfand (Israel), Ponomariov (Ukraine), Kramnik (Russia) 5; 6 Leko (Hungary) 4.5; 7-8 Alekseev (Russia), Kamsky ... |
Ivanchuk surges to lead -- 28-Aug-08
Vasily Ivanchuk looks set for another fine chess tournament victory at the Tal Memorial in Moscow as he emerged from a bad endgame against Ruslan Ponomariov with half a point and a lead of double that as he moved to 5.5/8 with the chasing pack only on 4.5. As so often happens with Alexander Morozevich, one loss was followed by another and Gata Kamsky was the beneficiary in a crazy chess game where the advantage swung back and forth. Vladimir Kramnik finally stirred and won a nice positional chess game against Evgeny Alexeev and may finish on a positive score for the first time in 2008 in a Classical Chess tournament after poor results at Wijk aan Zee and Dortmund. Alexey Shirov managed ... |
Ivanchuck surges to lead -- 27-Aug-08
Alexander Morozevich was defeated by Vasily Ivanchuk in the seventh round of the Tal Chess Memorial. Morozevich’s sojourn at the top of the unofficial live rating list was short lived and it is Ivanchuk, on 5/7 who is now half a point ahead with two to play. Morozevich sacrificed two pawns but only had enough compensation for one and his grim resistance ended in the king and pawn endgame. There was further evidence of Vladimir Kramnik’s poor chess form as he gained a clear advantage against Boris Gelfand but then played a combination in which Gelfand found a tactical flaw and the former world chess champion was then fortunate to escape with half a point. This was the only draw of ... |
Shock of the new -- 26-Aug-08
Alexander Morozevich swatted the former Fide Chess Champion Ruslan Ponomariov off the board in the sixth round of the Tal Chess Memorial, maintained his lead, and moved to the top of the unofficial live rating list, at least for today. Morozevich played a new move in the opening, and when his opponent was unable to adapt to the changed situation on the chess board he was close to beaten after only 11 moves. The last 20 moves of the 37-move chess game were superfluous. A Morozevich (2788) – R Ponomariov (2718); Tal Memorial Moscow (6); Nimzo Indian. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.Nf3 c5 6.dxc5 Na6 7.c6 (Black was going to take on c5 next move anyway. Now if ... |
Send in the pawns -- 25-Aug-08
An England junior chess team is competing with success at the World Under 16 Chess Olympiad at Mersin in Turkey. Despite being younger than most of the other chess teams and considerably out-rated by many, the team climbed as high at joint fourth before succumbing to a very highly rated chess team from Azerbaijan. The ninth round won’t provide any respite as their next opponents are the Philippines who have the world’s youngest GM, Wesley So, on top board. England are represented by Yang Fan Zhou, Callum Kilpatrick, Felix Ynojosa, Subin Sen and Elliot Auckland. Peter Leko joined Alexander Morozevich at the head of the Tal Chess Memorial at Moscow after five of ... |
Dick Cavett recalls interviews with Bobby Fischer -- 24-Aug-08
Brickbats and bouquets were tossed at Bobby Fischer after he died of kidney failure at 64. "He was a great man with tragic flaws who was persecuted by his own country," I noted in Chess Life. Talk show host Dick Cavett interviewed him three times on TV and recalled: "I became quite fond of him. It seems strange to remember there was once a chess champion, of all things, who was probably the most famous celebrity on earth. "His long-anticipated chess match with Russia's Boris Spassky was watched worldwide as if it were the Super Bowl, except it was publicized as a Cold War battle and drew a much bigger audience. Time out of mind the Soviet chess dynasty had reigned ... |
Barden on Chess -- 23-Aug-08
Two decades ago London chess had numerous sponsors - three banks, two stockbrokers, the Evening Standard newspaper and several IT firms. Now the Staunton Memorial grandmaster chess tournament is the only survivor and that is financed by a Dutchman, the multi-millionaire Jan Mol who lives in the UK. The Staunton has its quirks. The venue is historic Simpson's in the Strand, one of the great centres of European chess in the late nineteenth century, where Howard Staunton himself played. The Victorian was briefly the world No1 in the 1840s, a prolific author and a Shakespearian scholar. Spectators have free entry and this week they could watch England's best-ever chess duo, Michael Adams and ... |
Full might in Moscow -- 22-Aug-08
Vladimir Kramnik was one of three winners in the first round of the Tal Memorial chess tournament underway in Moscow. The full line up is: Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) Alexander Morozevich (Russia), Evgeny Alekseev (Russia), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Alexey Shirov (Spain) Gata Kamsky (USA), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine), Shakriyaz Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), Peter Leko (Hungary), Boris Gelfand (Israel). The prize fund is $100,000 with $30,000 to the winner. Kramnik defeated Alexey Shirov with the white pieces while Vasily Ivanchuk crushed Gata Kamsky who never recovered from his dubious position in the opening. In the Gruenfeld Defence pressure against the d4 square is ... |
Adams holds onto trophy -- 21-Aug-08
Michael Adams won the Staunton Memorial for the second successive year as he ensured that Loek van Wely, half a point behind at start of play, had no opportunities to score the victory he required to overhaul him. Adams played white and he is unbeaten at Simpsons in the Strand in three years when playing with the advantage of the first move. Simpsons is the traditional home of chess in London where gentlemen used to smoke cigars and play chess in the Grand Divan in the nineteenth century. Adams played a solid line against the Sicilian and as playing for a win with black entails great risk, Van Wely agreed to a draw. Jan Smeets defeated Alexander Cherniaev, his third win in a row and ... |
Sacrifices set Werle apart -- 20-Aug-08
The 6th Staunton Memorial is perfectly set up for the last round after Loek Van Wely moved to within half a point of Michael Adams with victory over Alexander Cherniaev in round ten. The leading pair meet in the last round. Adams was fortunate to escape his first defeat at the hands of Ivan Sokolov after underestimating his opponent’s position in the opening. Adams had an early draw offer rebuffed and then needed all his defensive skills to withstand the attack that followed. The England chess number one apologised for the draw offer after the game as he had clearly not understood the danger he was in at ... |
Heroic Howell held at last -- 18-Aug-08
David Howell’s magnificent effort just failed to clinch the world Junior Chess Championship as he lost to the winner Abhijeet Gupta of India in the in thirteenth and final last round held at Gaziantep in Turkey. Gupta, who won his last five games took the gold medal with 10/13 as Howell ended in joint third on 9/13. Howell’s chess performance was outstanding, at one point his performance was over 2700, the elite chess Grandmaster level and seven of his eight wins were against very strong opponents. He also displayed great determination, fighting to the end in two consecutive games that lasted over 120 moves, winning one and losing one. At this level it is extremely hard to win ... |
Barden on chess -- 17-Aug-08
Disaster struck David Howell yesterday. The Sussex 17-year-old was in the gold medal position with one round to go in the world junior (U20) chess championship in Turkey, a legendary chess event where Tony Miles in 1974 has been the UK's only winner. But in the final game Howell played a nervous and insipid opening followed by a king's side pawn push with his queen's side undeveloped. His Indian opponent, Abhijeet Gupta, took full advantage, poured pieces into the weakened defences and gained decisive material and the title. Parimarjan Negi, 15, also of India, won silver and Howell finished out of the medals. Despite the limp conclusion Howell's play showed that ... |
Howell in the case -- 16-Aug-08
David Howell’s rollercoaster chess tournament continued at the world Junior Chess Championship in Turkey as he won for a seventh time in eleven games and climbed back to joint second as the leader Maxim Rodshtein of Israel lost to Ngoc Nguyen of Vietnam. In the previous round Rodshtein totally Arik Braun in the game below but the German bounced back to defeat the world’s youngest GM Wesley So, 14, of the Philippines and reach 8.5/11, half a point ahead of Howell and five other GMs. M Rodshtein – A Braun; World Junior Gaziantep (10.1); Slav Defence; 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 ... |
A rare encounter -- 15-Aug-08
The most pleasing aspect of this year’s Staunton Memorial is that it brings together England’s two leading chess players Michael Adams and Nigel Short in an all play all chess event for the first time ever in the UK. This sad statistic is of course a reflection of England’s decline as a chess nation and it is only thanks to a Dutchman, Jan Mol whose generous support ensures the continuance of the chess event, that the pair are both playing. They met in round six and Adam’s unbeaten run with white was nearly ended when he overlooked a neat tactic after being surprised by Short’s choice of the Alekhine Defence. It was the kind of oversight that can easily lead to a loss when one is Black but ... |
Howell the Hercules -- 14-Aug-08
David Howell’s herculean effort continued at the World Junior Chess Championship taking place at Gaziantep in Turkey. Following his 132 move defeat in round eight Howell nearly surpassed this effort as he defeated Ivan Popov of Russia in another epic chess game that lasted 127 moves. Howell is in joint second, half a point behind the leader Arik Braun of Germany who has 7.5/9 after defeating the 14 year old Chinese girl Hou Yifan. Hopefully Howell will have enough energy left to confront his next opponent, the world’s youngest GM, Wesley So from the Philippines. Howell’s game came down to queen v rook which is far from trivial. I imagine both chess players were down to ... |
Howell and Braun lead -- 12-Aug-08
David Howell shares the lead at the World Junior Chess Championships taking place at Gaziantep Turkey. Howell warmed up with one of the best results of his career when he won the Andorra Open ahead of a strong field and his fine form has continued. After seven rounds the chess Grandmaster from Seaford in Sussex has 6/7 level with the German GM Arik Braun who was so impressive at Wijk aan Zee earlier this year. The World Junior is very strong with four chess players rated over 2600 and Howell is 14th seed but on current form his rating will quickly surpass the 2600 mark. D Howell – R Pruijssers; World Junior Gaziantep (2) ; Giuoco Piano. ... |
Conquest conquers all -- 11-Aug-08
Stuart Conquest emerged victorious as the 95th British chess championship went to a play off at St Georges Hall in Liverpool. Conquest defeated Keith Arkell 1.5-0.5 in a Rapid Chess tie break, drawing the first and winning the second game in style. Conquest received £5000 for his efforts and rarely can a victory at the British have been so popular or well deserved. Conquest has been a professional chess player for over 20 years, this was his first championship victory and he always produced original and fighting chess. At Liverpool his aggressive style proved too good for many and he won several fine chess games. Conquest drew his last round game against Simon Williams and ... |
Larry Evans on chess: Marcel Duchamp's vexing problem -- 10-Aug-08
"There is no solution, because there is no problem," quipped Marcel Duchamp. In a recent issue of The Sienese Shredder, Francis Neumann discussed this chess diagram composed by Duchamp for a New York exhibition in 1943. Many years ago Neumann also submitted it to my column in Chess Life, offering a reward of $15 to anyone who either could solve it or prove there was no possible solution. "I have since subjected this problem to the most powerful chess computers and I am now convinced that Duchamp has given us, in effect, a problem with no solution." The position was accompanied by an image of a Cupid with a bow and arrow. "Closer examination revealed ... |
Novelty pays off -- 09-Aug-08
Stuart Conquest emerged as the sole leader of the 95th British chess championship with one game to play at St Georges Hall in Liverpool. Novel and imaginative play in the opening enabled Conquest to build a fine attacking position and he outplayed Stewart Haslinger in just 29 moves to become the only chess player on 7.5/10. The other four joint leaders all drew. Bogdan Lalic’s Petroff Defence held against Gawain Jones and there was another short draw but Stephen Gordon and Simon Williams entertained the crowd although there too the game ended in a draw. Keith Arkell and Dietmar Kolbus advanced to 7/10 at the expense of Andrew Ledger and David Eggleston ... |
Fischer Random Chess -- 08-Aug-08
In July 2007, researchers announced that they had, for all intents and purposes, solved checkers. There seems to be no danger of that happening in chess, which is many orders of magnitude more complex, in the foreseeable future. (There are roughly 10 to the 120th power possible games in chess vs. 5 x 10 to the 20th power possible positions in checkers.) Computers, nevertheless, have had a profound impact on chess. In some openings, it is possible to make 20 or even 25 moves before leaving well-known theory, a development that some chess players say has sapped creativity from the game. What to do? One answer is to play Chess960. Also known as Fischer Random Chess after ... |
Assertive Surtees -- 07-Aug-08
Grandmaster Danny Gormally has not lost for a year and Bogdan Lalic is very solid with black so a draw on top board was no surprise in round eight of the British chess championship at St Georges Hall in Liverpool. However elsewhere chess battle was joined and with three to play, three share the lead on 6/8. Stephen Gordon took advantage of a blunder by Nigel Davies while Stuart Conquest engineered the kind of unbalanced position in which revels and overpowered Andrew Ledger and these two joined Lalic on 6/8. Yang Fan Zhou scored a wonderful win over England international GM Nick Pert, one ... |
Dancing with queens -- 06-Aug-08
The Croatian chess Grandmaster Bogdan Lalic emerged as sole leader in the seventh round of the British Chess Championship taking place in the splendour of Liverpool’s St Georges Hall, one of Europe’s finest neo-classical buildings recently restored to its former glory. Lalic is notoriously hard to beat and is often content to split the point but when he achieves an advantage in the opening he is very dangerous and he proved this against Lawrence Trent. Lalic has 5.5/7 with most of his main chess rivals half a point behind. Mark Hebden fell further back to 4.5/7 after losing Andrew Ledger. Hebden lost a piece but then put up stern resistance before succumbing on ... |
Anand on fire -- 05-Aug-08
The world chess champion Vishy Anand slayed the Dragon and defeated the seventeen year old chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen in the final of the 13th Grenkeleasing Rapid World Chess Championship, the headline event of the Mainz Chess Classic. Carlsen has recently enjoyed success with the Dragon, one of Black’s sharpest replies to 1.e4 but in the first game of the four game chess match Anand stormed the kingside and won the black queen. Carlsen continued to resist and it took some deft endgame play from Anand to force the win a queen for rook ahead. Anand won the second game with black and completed a 3-1 win. The pair had first competed in a double round all play ... |
It's tight at the top -- 04-Aug-08
The British Chess Championship is wide open as the second week’s play commences this afternoon at St Georges Hall in Liverpool. With six games played and five remaining, six chess players share the lead on 4.5/6 but realistically up to twenty remain in the hunt as the field is so tightly packed at the top. Nigel Davies was unlucky not to end the week in the lead as only desperate, and it must be said ingenuous defence from Stuart Conquest saved a lost endgame in the seventh hour of play. Davies appeared to be smoothly converting an extra pawn, the fruit of his superior chess play in the middlegame but found his king unable to cross to the queenside to support his pawn’s ... |
Barden on chess -- 02-Aug-08
In the 1960s and 1970s, it was Fischer fear. The American's intense eyes, long arms, talon-like fingers and air of effortless superiority overawed many chess opponents. Come the 1980s, and Kasparov fear took over. The Russian's hostile glare, ready sneer, huge opening knowledge and instant tactics terrorised normal chess grandmasters. Jon Speelman called it "bombardment by thought waves". The new disease is Carlsen fear. The Norwegian 17-year-old's histrionics are limited to a teenage slouch while at the board and copious refuelling with raisins and orange juice, but he is still today's charismatic chess superstar and that is sufficient to make experienced GMs freeze into ... |
Dylan Loeb McClain: Chess -- 01-Aug-08
People who go to Cuba often say it is a country caught in a time warp, a result of the long trade embargo imposed on it by the United States. Cuba has a proud tradition when it comes to chess, but, in some ways it, too, was stagnant for many years. The country, which was host to two world chess championship matches in the 19th century and which produced José Raul Capablanca, the supremely gifted third world chess champion (1921-27), had not been home to any top-flight chess players for decades. That is until recently. Cuba now has more than a dozen chess grandmasters, most in their 20s. The two most talented are unquestionably Lázaro Bruzón Batista and Leinier Dominguez Perez. ... |
Yang makes his mark -- 30-Jul-08
The Croydon schoolboy Yang Fan Zhou confirmed his recent promise by producing the upset result of the first round of the British Chess Championship being staged at St Georges Hall in Liverpool. The youngster defeated IM Richard Pert with the black pieces and his reward is white against one of the two GMs from the north west, Nigel Davies of Southport, who got proceedings under way on Sunday as he took on forty chess players simultaneously. GM Stewart Haslinger also of Southport, the winner of the South Wales International earlier this month lost to IM Thomas Rendle. Top seed GM Gawain Jones started in style as he outfoxed Graeme Buckley in the opening and ... |
Howell turns up the heat -- 29-Jul-08
England’s youngest GM David Howell had a fabulous result at the Andorra Open winning with a score of 8/9. Howell finished ahead of many other chess Grandmasters including Maxim Rodshtein of Israel a former world under 16 chess champion and Peruvian Julio Granda Zuniga the reigning Pan American chess champion. Also in the field was Mihail Marin of Romania the leading chess trainer and theoretician. It is a shame that Howell was unable to hot foot it to Liverpool for the British Chess Championship but he has other commitments and won’t be playing the Staunton Memorial either. Three of England’s leading senior chess players competed. Ray Edwards and Professor Julian Farand ... |
British title up for grabs -- 28-Jul-08
The British Chess Championships start today at St Georges Hall in Liverpool with a new name destined to appear on the trophy in the absence of Nigel Short and Michael Adams as well as defending chess champion Jacob Aagaard. Adams, Short, Peter Wells and Jon Speelman will be playing at the Staunton Memorial in London and in their absence Gawain Jones is top seed. The ladies chess championship will be a straight fight between Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant now officially playing for Scotland, Jovanka Houska and Susan Lalic. Magnus Carlsen duly took the sole lead at Biel with three to play after shrugging aside the challenge of Yannick Pelletier whose planless chess play gave him ... |
Playing a Lot (or Very Little) to Keep a Competitive Edge -- 27-Jul-08
How much chess is too much? Top chess competitors must play an official game at least once a year to maintain their rankings, but chess players have long held varying opinions about how often they should compete to maintain an edge. Viswanathan Anand of India, the world chess champion, has played only two games in the last few months as he has prepared for a world championship semifinal match in October against Vladimir Kramnik of Russia. And Kramnik has entered only two chess tournaments this year. Last week, it was announced that Gata Kamsky, who will play in the other semifinal, will be part of the United States team at the Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany, in ... |
Barden on chess -- 26-Jul-08
The annual British Chess Championship starts at St George's Hall, Liverpool, on Monday. As the British Chess Magazine website points out, there are no previous chess champions in the field for the first time since 1952. Both Michael Adams and Nigel Short will be absentees. Instead England's top pair will be in action in the Staunton Memorial at Simpson's-in-the-Strand, London, in August and also at the European Union Chess Championship in Liverpool in September. Liverpool's two fine chess events are part of the city's European City of Culture programme. The director, Stewart Reuben, has still secured a good grandmaster entry for the British Chess Championship in ... |
Cordova scores again -- 25-Jul-08
Readers may recall the travails of the teenage Peruvian International Master Emilio Cordova who failed to return home from a chess tournament in Argentina last year and ended up in the arms of a dancer is one of Sao Paulo’s more high profile night clubs. Well, it seems to have done him no harm at all as he recently took the honours at the IV Alajuela Open in Costa Rica scoring 8/9 to finish ahead of a strong field that included the European Individual Chess Champion Sergei Tiviakov. E Moncayo – E Cordova; IV Open Alajuela (3); French Defence. ... |
Carlsen is in luck -- 24-Jul-08
A little good fortune for Magnus Carlsen gave him victory over French chess number 1 Etienne Bacrot in the 3rd round at Biel and the lead on 2.5/3. Bacrot’s solid defence to the Queen’s Gambit was working out very well but when Carlsen complicated matters with a dubious pawn sacrifice his opponent collapsed and was lost just a few moves later. M Carlsen – E Bacrot; 41st Biel Festival (3); Queen’s Gambit. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.cxd5 exd5 7.e3 Be7 8.Qc2 Nh5 (This simplifying and solid line was favoured by Ulf Andersson, it is notoriously hard to beat) ... |
Teenager causes angst -- 23-Jul-08
The top seeds Evgeny Alexseev and Magnus Carlsen met in the second round at Biel with Carlsen black. The teenage chess prodigy managed to stir up huge complications from a quiet position when he broke out of his cramped formation but his opponent, a former Russian chess champion managed to defend himself and reach a drawn endgame despite the invasion of a black knight into the heart of his position. E Alekseev – M Carlsen; 41st Biel Festival (2); Queen’s Indian. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qa4 Bb7 6.Bg2 c5 7.dxc5 bxc5 8.0–0 Be7 9.Nc3 0–0 10.Rd1 Qb6 11.Bf4 Rd8 (11...Qxb2 12.Rab1 Qxc3 13.Rxb7 Nc6 14.Bd2 traps the queen) ... |
Four share the spoils -- 21-Jul-08
There was a four way tie for first at the 9th Karpov Poikovsky chess tournament in Siberia. Alexey Shirov could not hold onto his lead after an eighth round defeat at the hands of the 21 year old Azerbaijani GM Vugar Gashimov who was a surprise winner of the inaugural FIDE Grand Prix chess tournament at Baku earlier this year. Gashimov joined Shirov on the winning score of 5.5/9 and the leading quartet was completed by 2005 Russian chess champion Sergei Rublevsky and 2006 co winner Dmitry Jakovenko. A Volokitin – A Shirov; 9th Karpov Poikovsky chess ... |
Nine moves to glory -- 20-Jul-08
The Norwegian teenager Magnus Carlsen ranked world number six is back in action today and starts as the clear favourite to win the 2008 Biel chess tournament. Although Biel is a strong tournament Carlsen has advanced so much since his invitation has announced that he is expected to win and win well. The full line up is: Magnus Carlsen (Norway 2775) (6) ; Leinier Dominguez (Cuba 2708) (25); Evgeny Alekseev (Russia 2708) (26) ; Etienne Bacrot (France 2691) (33) ; Alexander Onischuk (USA 2670) (50) ; Yannick Pelletier (Switzerland 2569) - outside the world’s top 100. Carlsen is too strong to play in the Norwegian chess championship. A smooth victory from one of chess ... |
Nab him, jab him, tab him -- 19-Jul-08
When faced with his favourite weapon, the Sicilian Najdorf, Bobby Fischer countered with Bc4. Garry Kasparov also used the move and it has had a renaissance recently. On c4 the bishop is immensely powerful as it attacks f7 and if Black castles kingside the bishop’s influence extends all the way to the king on g8. Black typically plays the move e7-e6 to limit the bishop but often has to reckon with a White sacrifice on e6 that gains two pawns and access to the black king. This year we have seen many chess games where Black has failed to exchange the bishop after its customary retreat to b3 and suffered the consequences. The games Naiditsch – Van Wely from Dortmund and Nisipiean-Grischuk ... |
Dylan Loeb McClain: Chess -- 18-Jul-08
World chess champions have tremendous influence on the development of chess with the openings they choose and their style of play. But some great chess players have shaped the game through their contributions to theory. Aron Nimzowitsch, for example, never played for the title, but he is remembered for his writing, in particular his book "My System," which is considered required reading by many serious chess players. Another player, Reuben Fine, who missed a shot at playing for the world chess championship because of World War II, wrote books on opening, middle game and endgame theory that are still influential. Pal Benko, a Hungarian chess grandmaster who ... |
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