Boohoo for Bu
5 hours 51 min ago
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Another stirring victory for Vasily Ivanchuk gave him a clean sweep over his five opponents at the MTel Masters in Sofia. The Ukrainian chess genius is heading for for the record books as his run of wins over such highly rated opposition is reminiscent of Bobby Fischer or Garry Kasparov at their best. Ivanchuk's fifth victim was Levon Aronian whose form this year has been imperious with victories at Corus Wijk aan Zee and Amber.
Ivanchuk's victory was his third with the black pieces and he now faces the same five opponents again in the second half of the tournament emboldened by the prospect of three more games with white and two with black. Ivanchuk's lack of what he calls himself: " psychological stability" is legendary so at the half way stage the question is will we see another spectactular collapse or will 'Chuky' march into the record books?
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Ivanchuk at the double
1 days 6 hours ago
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Vasily Ivanchuk did the double over the Bulgarians and sent his tournament rating performance to stratospheric heights with a fourth straight win at the M-Tel Masters at Sofia. Ivanchuk defeated Ivan Cheparinov with clever defensive play, enticing his opponent forward but somehow managing to keep his own king safe. There were chances for both sides but in a very complicated position Cheparinov erred.
Cheparinov has scored many brilliant wins with the King’s Indian Defence but despite launching an attack with nearly all his pieces he could not break through and when queens were exchanged material loss was unavoidable. Ivanchuk is now 1.5 points ahead of Veselin Topalov as the other two fourth round games were drawn without much incident.
V Ivanchuk - I Cheparinov
4th M-Tel Masters (4) Sofia
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Ivanchuk's demolition
1 days 19 hours ago
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Vasily Ivanchuk is spoiling the party at Sofia as he raced to 3/3 with some sparkling play. Ivanchuk defeated local hero Veselin Topalov with black in the second round and had reduced the position of the Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi to ruins after only nine moves in Saturday's third game.
The tournament is a six player double round all play all and is part of a new Grand Slam which involves Wijk aan Zee and a new event to be held in Bilbao. There are also plans to hold a new event in Seattle with a $750,000 prize fund.
V Ivanchuk - Bu Xiangzhi
4th M-Tel Masters (3) Sofia
English Opening v Slav
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Two New Contenders Emerge for World Championship Slot
2 days 16 hours ago
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Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan and Wang Yue of China, were the only two competitors who did not lose a game at the FIDE Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan.
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Leonard Barden. May 10, 2008
3 days 17 hours ago
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Last week's European championships in Plovdiv were qualifiers for the remunerative World Cup and women's world championship, so grandmasters turned out in force. Gawain Jones and Peter Wells, who represented England in the men's event, are two of our strongest GMs yet both were seeded outside the top 150 and had to work hard to score about 50%. The Netherlands' Soviet-born Sergei Tiviakov won the title.
The women's championship was a better story. Jovanka Houska, England's only female professional, played a bold and positive tournament and narrowly failed to qualify; her game below shows how to use a space advantage to create a winning attack on the king.
A significant UK international success may come in September when the EEC championship is staged in Liverpool. England's top pair, Michael Adams and Nigel Short, will compete and the entry conditions mean that many of the East Europeans who dominated the leading places in Plovdiv will be ineligible.
online chess
J Houska v M Tsiganova
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Great bungle, Bulgaria
4 days 8 hours ago
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The Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov officially opened the fourth edition of the international M-Tel Masters at Sofia’s Central Military Club. For the first time there are two Bulgarians playing as Veselin Topalov’s trainer Ivan Cheparinov is also in the six man field and to celebrate this, Bulgarian Corporate Commercial Bank announced a 40,000 pound bonus for either of them should they capture first prize.
The lure of an extra 1000,000 Bulgarian Lev certainly seemed to spur the pair on although they are two of the most uncompromising players in the world today. Topalov defeated Levon Aronian of Armenia with black to avenge a few recent reverses while Cheparinov outplayed Bu Xiangzhi of China.
Vassily Ivanchuk played an outstanding game, sacrificing the exchange in the endgame against Teimour Radjabov. Ivanchuk’s position looked impregnable and a draw was the likely result but Radjabov immediately returned the material and embarked on a misguided winning attempt which he later described as ‘completely ridiculous’. He was soon worse and his resistance ended in a king and pawn endgame.
The players are housed in a 10-ton glass “aquarium” that isolates them from the noise in the playing hall and any possible kind of outside interference.
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An elegant finish
7 days 6 hours ago
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Battle intensified in the penultimate round of the Fide Grand Prix in Baku with five decisive game and two very hard fought draws. There was another defeat for Michael Adams at the hands of the 17 year old Magnus Carlsen ranked world number 5.
It was a most impressive game by Carlsen who calmly gave up rook for bishop in a queenless middlegame, won back the material and then exploited the advantage of the bishop pair in the endgame.
Going into the final round the relatively unknown Azerbaijani Vugar Gashimov shares the lead with Wang Yue of China. Gashimov defeated Alexander Grischuk, nicknamed ‘The Gambler’ for his prowess at Poker and his risky style of play. Choosing this dangerous line against the Ruy Lopez was one risk too many.
V Gashimov – A Grischuk
FIDE GP (12) Baku
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Tiviakov reigns supreme
9 days 4 hours ago
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Sergey Tiviakov emerged from the pack with a last round victory and took the title of European Individual Champion at the expense of former champion Emil Sutovsky in Plovdiv Bulgaria.
Sutovsky had played out five peaceful draws in succession but came up against an opponent who was in supreme form with the white pieces. Tiviakov employed his favourite 2.c3 against the Sicilian Defence, won a pawn and steadily converted his advantage to finish ahead of the field on 8.5/11. The winner scored 5.5/6 with white and took the 15,000 Euro (?12,000) first prize.
The final day at Plovdiv sees speed chess tie breakers for the players on 7.5 to decide who gains entry to next year’s World Cup knockout. Peter Wells and Gawain Jones finished on 5.5 and 6 respectively.
Here is the finish to Tiviakov’s only win with black. He has emerged with a winning advantage in this endgame. Although material is equal White’s queenside pawns are very weak while the black rook controls the open file and his king is nearer the centre. White’s bishop is also badly placed.
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