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Back to the drawing board
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Peter Leko rather predictably took no risks with the white pieces and secured tournament victory at Dortmund by steering play into a known drawing variation in the Marshall Attack to the Ruy Lopez. Of course Leko needed the cooperation of his opponent, Dortmunder Arkady Naiditsch but Naiditsch probably felt he had already given his home crowd enough entertainment by defeating former world champion Vladimir Kramnik in round three. Leko finished clear first, undefeated on 4.5/7, half a point ahead of the field.
Kramnik had a terrible event and finished on a negative score after losing a middlegame battle against Vasily Ivanchuk. The position was roughly equal for much of the game although Ivanchuk had a slight edge with queen, rook and bishop against queen, rook and knight on an open board. Ivanchuk was pressing when Kramnik blundered and had to resign immediately. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that Kramnik, and his trainer Loek Van Wely had their minds on the former’s world title match in the autumn against Vishy Anand.
I doubt if Kramnik has ever lost twice with the solid Petroff Defence in the same event but some might say that this is good for chess as games in this opening are often uneventful.
V Ivanchuk – V Kramnik
Sparkassen Dortmund (7)
Petroff Defence
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Ranking System Is Questioned After a Wealthy Russian’s Rise
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The sudden ranking of Vladimir Afromeev as a master in the World Chess Federation has raised eyebrows in the chess world.
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A fiendish trap
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Nigel Short lost the first two games of his Rapid Chess match against the Ukrainian prodigy Sergei Karjakin. The eight game contest is sponsored by the Ukrainian mobile operator life and played at the Kiev Puppet Theatre. Short could easily have emerged ahead at the end of the day but somehow Karjakin seemed to be pulling the strings at the critical moments.
The second game saw a terrible finger fehler from Short that transformed a totally won position into a lost one. Short’s F4 Sicilian gave him no advantage but Karjakin kept sacrificing pawns in search of a non-existent mate and in the diagram below he is four down with just a few random tactical ideas to keep him interested. Short doubtless saw 47.c5 Rb2 with strong threats and with very little time on the clock appears to panic.
Karjakin
Short
Position after 46...Rb3
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Pawns get racing
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Ian Nepomniachtchi who qualified for the Sparkassen tournament at Dortmund by winning the Aeroflot Open in Moscow joined the leaders after a comfortable win over Loek Van Wely of Holland in round four. The Dutchman played sharply and sacrificed rook for bishop and pawn but then immediately blundered – see below - and was in a lost endgame before he could think of making a fight of the game. There was a pawn race as the time control approached but there was only ever going to be one winner.
Vladimir Kramnik’s chances of scoring a morale-boosting tournament victory in his last outing before the WCC match in the autumn receded further when he repeated moves against Peter Leko. The lowest rated player Jan Gustafsson played an interesting idea in the opening which put Vasily Ivanchuk under early pressure but the game ended in a draw.
How did White clarify his advantage here ?
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A Naiditsch in time...
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Vladimir Kramnik will have mixed feelings about his crushing defeat at the hands of Arkady Naiditsch in the third round of the Sparkassen tournament at Dortmund. Although he hardly ever loses in this, his favourite event, if he is going to have one of his main lines of defence to 1.e4 refuted then at least it has happened before his world title match against Vishy Anand and not during it.
This was a fine piece of home analysis by Naiditsch who found a clever new wrinkle on move 19 in what was a known rook sacrifice. Kramnik will be disappointed not to have found the best defence but the practical problems the defender faces when confronted with a new idea in such a sharp position are considerable. Naiditsch’s novelty might have made an appearance in 2000 during Kramnik’s title match against Garry Kasparov. Kasparov revealed that he looked at an enhanced version of the same idea in 1999 but Kramnik avoided his analysis by defending 1.e4 with the Berlin Defence to the Ruy Lopez.
Previously 16.Qb3 0–0 17.Nxe7+ Qxe7 18.Qxb5 a6 19.Qb3 Rfd8 20.Be3 Rac8 21.Rac1 h6 22.h3 Nd4 was agreed drawn in Kasparov - Karpov, Moscow WCC 1985; Kasparov was planning 16.a4!? b4 17.Bf4 and this is clearly better than Naiditsch's idea as the b4 pawn is en prise with check in the critical variation given on move 19, see below. After 17...Nxf4 18.Rxe7+ Kf8 19.Re5 Qd6 20.Qd2 Qxe5 21.Qxb4+ Ke8 22.Re1 Ne2+ 23.Kf1 Rc8 24.f4 Qxd5 25.Rxe2+ Kd7 26.Rd2 Qxd2 27.Qxd2+ Kc7 28.Qc3+ Kb8 29.Qxg7 Rhd8 White is better but Black may be able to draw with accurate play.
A Naiditsch – V Kramnik
Sparkassen Dortmund
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Carlsen misses out
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The latest Fide rating list has stirred controversy in the chess world. After conflicting statements from the governing body, the recent Aerosvit tournament held at Foros in Ukraine was excluded from the calculations thus depriving Magnus Carlsen of the number two spot. The event was dominated by the 17 year old Norwegian prodigy and although the tournament ended a few days after the deadline for the submission of results, exceptions have been made before. Instead Carlsen is number six.
The top twenty, published yesterday is:
1 Vishy Anand, India 2798
2 Alexander Morozevich, Russia 2788
3 Vladimir Kramnik, Russia 2788
4 Vasily Ivanchuk, Ukraine 2781
5 Veselin Topalov, Bulgaria 2777
6 Magnus Carlsen, Norway 2775
7 Teimour Radjabov, Azerbaijan 2744
8 Shak Mamedyarov, Azerbaijan 2742
9 Alexei Shirov, Spain 2741
10 Peter Leko, Hungary 2741
11 Peter Svidler, Russia 2738
12 Levon Aronian, Armenia 2737
13 Michael Adams, England 2735
14 Alexander Grischuk, Russia 2728
15 Sergei Karjakin, Ukraine 2727
16 Sergei Movsesian, Slovakia 2723
17 Gata Kamsky, USA 2723
18 Boris Gelfand, Israel 2720
19 Russialan Ponomariov, Ukraine 2718
20 Vugar Gashimov, Azerbaijan 2717
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That's entertainment
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The first round of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting at Dortmund was rather low key. Two of the games reached drawn endings very quickly and your correspondent was having chess deja vu as they unfolded. Sure enough, when I consulted the database it confirmed that Kramnik, who was black, had played virtually his whole game with white against Peter Svidler in last year’s Amber tournament.
Kramnik does not want to reveal his openings before his match against Anand and so he played the Gruenfeld Defence and Jan Gustafsson, as the lowest rated player obviously did not want to take too many risks, yet I can’t help feeling that the spectators were short-changed.
Dortmund only has four games per day so if a couple end early then there is a problem. Mamedyarov and Leko played a variation of the Nimzo - Indian that leads to total equality but at least Leko had to demonstrate some good preparation. Loek Van Wely’s defence was also sound and he forced perpetual check against Vasily Ivanchuk.
It was left to the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi to provide the entertainment and he played some bold moves with black in the Sicilian Defence. His opponent, local GM Arkady Naiditsch was not to be outdone and sacrificed a knight but as we shall see, he could do no better than repeat moves.
A Naiditsch – I Nepomniachtchi
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A Rare Elite Meet in New York
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Last week, top-flight competition returned to New York when the Marshall Chess Club on West 10th Street held a tournament that attracted a strong field of 40 players.
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Leonard Barden. June 28, 2008
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Long ago when I debuted in the Hastings Premier Reserves my first opponent was Jacques Mieses, who had competed at Hastings 1895 and crossed pawns with Wilhelm Steinitz, the first official world champion. At 84, Mieses was still a dangerous tactician who kept fit with daily dips in the Serpentine. He began our game 1 e4 d5, lost a piece early, then swindled me so well that I was glad to draw.
Decades earlier in his own chess youth at Breslau 1889, Mieses won the imaginative but slightly unsound attack below where Black can safely take a second pawn at a2 and could still hold at move 24 with the computer idea Ne8 25 Ng5 Rxg5 26 Qxg5 Rc5 instead of the mistake h6?
The loser, Louis Paulsen, was an openings innovator and strategist, but was most famous as the opponent of the legendary Paul Morphy in the final of the first US congress, New York 1857.
There may be a few others alive who met Mieses in 1950s Hastings events but I guess I am the only one still chessically active. So if you happen to meet me at five-minute blitz at www.chessclub.com you can secure your own historic niche on the shortest possible chain link to Morphy.
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In the mood for Lvov
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Following months of wrangling and uncertainty the world title eliminator between Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and Gata Kamsky of the USA looks certain to take place at Lvov in Ukraine and have a prize fund of $750,000. The Bulgarians had originally offered to stage the match in Sofia for a fraction of the money but Kamsky was unwilling to play in his opponent’s home city.
One of Kamsky’s advisors was able to raise funds to stage the match in Ukraine which was the least worst option for Topalov and his team who were desperate not to play in Russia after the Toiletgate scandals at Elista during Topalov’s failed attempt to wrest the title from Vladimir Kramnik in the 2006 unification contest.
The eight game match will start on November 28 and will last twenty days including possible tie breaks.
Kamsky’s record against Topalov is dire, four defeats and four draws but perhaps he should take heart from the last American to take a shot at the world title. Bobby Fischer had never beaten Boris Spassky before they played their match at Reykjavik in 1972.
V Topalov – G Kamsky
Corus Wijk aan Zee (1) 2006
Scandinavian Defence
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Random successes
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GM Hikaru Nakamura of the USA nicknamed the ‘H Bomb’ over the board and operating under the handle ‘Smallville’ online reasserted his authority as top dog on the Internet Chess Club on Sunday by winning the Mainz Chess Classic online Chess960 title. After winning the first qualifier, Nakamura beat three opponents in head to head matches en route to the six-game final where he overcame the young Russian Dmitry Andreikin, one of the few players who out-rate the American speed chess wizard online. Nakamura won the $1090 first prize and an expenses paid invitation to the FiNet and Ordix opens at Mainz this August.
Chess 960 is also known as Fischer Random Chess as the pieces are jumbled up on the first two ranks at the start of the game. This eliminates opening theory and looks very odd but it is remarkable how quickly the positions begin to resemble normal openings or middlegames.
Nakamura sacrifices a pawn to open the h file and this fits in so nicely with the positioning of his bishop on b8 at the start of the game.
Smallville - DSquared
Mainz Qualifier Internet Chess Club
Chess 960
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An elegant finish at Sparkassen Chess Meeting
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The traditional Sparkassen Chess Meeting, sponsored by the German bank in Dortmund begins on Saturday. Once again the event is an 8 player all play all with the fourteenth world champion Vladimir Kramnik as top seed although it is possible he will be out-rated by Vasily Ivanchuk in the next list which will be published during the tournament. This is Kramnik’s first Classical Chess event since his failure at Corus Wijk aan Zee and his last before he attempts to wrest the title from Vishy Anand in the autumn.
The talented Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi who plays fine attacking chess qualified for Dortmund as the winner of the 2008 Aeroflot Open at Moscow and this year the organisers have added a second German player, Jan Gustafsson. Arkady Naiditsch, a resident of Dortmund always plays.
The line up is:
Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) 2788
Shakriyaz Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) 2752
Peter Leko (Hungary) 2741
Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) 2740
Loek van Wely (Holland) 2676
Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) 2634
Arkady Naiditsch (Germany) 2623
Jan Gustafsson (Germany) 2603
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A 17-Year-Old From Norway Is Poised to Grab No. 1 Ranking
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A player can define an era. The 1960s and early ’70s belonged to Bobby Fischer. In the ’80s and ’90s, Garry Kasparov held sway. This may go down as the Magnus Carlsen era.
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Leonard Barden. June 21, 2008
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Bobby Fischer was 23 when he became world No2 behind Boris Spassky. Garry Kasparov was 19 when Fide ranked him second to Anatoly Karpov.
Last weekend Norway's wunderkind Magnus Carlsen eclipsed the immortal pair when daily Fide ratings showed that, after elegantly solving the puzzle below, he had jumped over Russia's Vladimir Kramnik and was now No2, only five points behind the world champion, Vishy Anand of India. Carlsen is aged 17 years and six months.
The Anand v Kramnik title match in Germany this October was billed as the ultimate showdown between the two current active greats after Kasparov's retirement. Now, however, it starts to have the look of a warm-up bout before the crown prince stakes his inevitable claim to the throne.
So impressive has been Carlsen's surge to the top that I predict a growing clamour from chess fans and media for the ultimate match: Carlsen v Kasparov. Kasparov never played Fischer. Fischer never met Karpov. Chess needs an encounter between legends.
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Defeating the dangers
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Magnus Carlsen was forced to defend carefully in the last round of the Aerosvit tournament at the Crimean resort of Foros as another prodigy, Sergei Karjakin at eighteen, a year older, sacrificed a pawn and attacked him on the kingside. The position looked dangerous but computer analysis suggests that Carlsen was never in real danger of defeat and when he reached a level endgame a draw was agreed.
Carlsen had already secured tournament victory and won by a full point. At present Carlsen’s rating makes his second in the world, ahead of Vladimir Kramnik and behind Vishy Anand. However the Aerosvit tournament ended a few days after the deadline for submission of results for the July rating list. Perhaps Fide will include it, they really should.
Online chess
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Fast Finish and Controversy at Women’s Championship
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A series of rapid tiebreakers between Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih ultimately brought victory to Ms. Zatonskih.
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Aronian speeds to victory
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Levon Aronian the Armenian number one was able to record another Rapid Chess triumph in his home city of Yerevan as he overhauled Peter Leko on the final day of the Karen Asrian Memorial. The event was renamed following Asrian’s sudden death at the age of 28 just hours before play was due to start. The Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian officiated at the closing ceremony and declared that the event will continue to keep the memory of Asrian, who won a gold medal playing for Armenian at the 2006 Chess Olympiad, alive.
It’s hard to imagine a senior British politician turning up at a UK chess tournament and making such a speech but in Armenia chess has the status of a major sport, tournaments are held under the patronage of government ministers and the players are major celebrities.
Aronian defeated the then world champion Vladimir Kramnik at the same venue last year and the crowds at Yerevan’s Opera House were able to laud their man again as he came from half a point behind to finish half a point ahead of Peter Leko with a victory and a draw on the final day’s play.
Aronian’s cause was helped enormously by a finger slip by Michael Adams who had a decent position before his seventeenth move.
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Carlsen charges on
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Magnus Carlsen is knocking on Vishy Anand’s door after another win at the Aerosvit tournament, sponsored by the Ukrainian airline and staged in the Crimean resort of Foros. If the rating list were to be published now, Carlsen’s string of five victories in seven games have gained him so many rating points he would be almost level with Anand, the world champion and world number one. The seventeen year old Norwegian prodigy already leads the tournament by two clear points.
The players the visited the town of Balaklava on the rest day and Carlsen returned apparently more refreshed and more inspired than his opponent Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania. I would have liked to have reported that Nisipeanu boldly sent his cavalry forward into the attack before losing gallantly but this was no Charge of the Light Brigade on the chess board. The white knights were meekly exchanged before battle could be properly joined and then White’s foot soldiers were cut down by the black bishops as Carlsen won easily.
Nisipieanu is a very strong player who has reached the semi finals of the Fide World Championship and won the European Individual champion yet he was easily outplayed despite having the advantage of the white pieces. Carlsen’s win took his tournament rating performance back over 3000.
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Carlsen run checked
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The frantic pace of the Aerosvit tournament in Ukraine relented a little in the sixth round as Magnus Carlsen’s winning run was ended by Evgeny Alexseev who held the youngster with black. However, even this game demonstrated how far Carlsen has advanced recently. Alexseev was a pawn ahead in the final position and could have played on but was not minded to take the risk. Carlsen retains a 1.5 point lead. A wild game, typical of Planet Shirov a faraway world that most players will never visit and where the philosophy is never to take material back when you can sacrifice more. I am sure most players would have played 21.Bh4 Bxh4 22.Qxh4+ N7f6 23.Rfe1 Kd7 when Black's position looks distinctly shaky but Shirov cannot resist giving up his queen.
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Rivalries, Both Old and New, and Two Blowout Victories
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Last weekend, Anatoly Karpov faced Viktor Korchnoi, and Viswanathan Anand of India, the world champion, played Vassily Ivanchuk.
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Carlsen snares Shirov
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Magnus Carlsen won yet again at Foros to take a 1.5 point lead over the field after only five rounds. Carlsen outplayed Alexey Shirov in an endgame where he held just the faintest of edges. After some skilful manoeuvring reminiscent of the former world champion Tigran Petrosian, the youngster laid a fiendish trap worthy of another world champion Mikhail Tal. Shirov missed the hidden tactical point and his king was suddenly in a mating net.
Here is the denouement.
M Carlsen– A Shirov
Aerosvit (5) Foros
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Carlsen's carve-up
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The Norwegian wunderkind Magnus Carlsen is carving up another world class field at the Aerosvit tournament being staged in the Crimean resort of Foros. Carlsen took the lead in round three with a victory over Loek van Wely and maintained it in the fourth round by defeating Pavel Eljanov with black. Carlsen’s tournament rating performance climbed over 3000 and if he maintains this remarkable pace he may take the world number one spot.
One of Carlsen’s most impressive results last year was holding Kramnik with black in the former world champion’s favourite Catalan Opening. Against Eljanov Carlsen equalised then outplayed the Ukrainian in an endgame with rook and four pawns against two knights and one pawn. Carlsen lost two of his pawns but then found the right idea and won after 82 moves.
The performance of another former prodigy should not be overlooked. Sergei Karjakin of Ukraine, at 18, a year older than Carlsen has ? after a win over former Russian champion Dmitry Jakovenko. Play followed a game between Peter Svidler and Vladimir Kramnik for 22 moves before Karjakin’s 23rd move made a subtle difference to the situation on the board and he whipped up a strong attack.
Alexey Shirov, who started with two wins, misplayed a quiet position against Pavel Eljanov. The white queen looks odd on a3 but pressures a7 while controlling d6 and e7. It only takes one inaccurate move to transform an uncomfortable position into one that is very difficult to defend.
P Eljanov – A Shirov
Aerosvit Foros (3)
English v Gruenfeld
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Death mars opening
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The opening of the Armenian Chess Giants at Yerevan was overshadowed by news of the tragic death of Karen Asrian, one the country's top Grandmasters, at the age of 28. The news was announced to the audience at the Yerevan Opera House by his teammate Smbat Lputian and a minute's silence was observed. Asrian was champion of Armenia three times, their number four ranked player and number 92 in the world rankings. Asrian was a member of the gold medal winning Armenian team at the 2006 Chess Olympiad in Turin.
When play started there were wins for Alexander Morozevich over Boris Gelfand who hung his queen in a drawn position and for Peter Leko who defeated Bu Xiangzhi 1.5-0.5. The Armenian players appeared too distraught to compete and drew all their games in about ten moves. Under the circumstances Michael Adams was content to share the points with Armenian Gabriel Sargissian.
Although Asrian excelled in quiet positions and in endgame he could also unleash fearsome attacks and opened with 1.e4 much of the time.
K Asrian – V Karasev
Chigorin Mem St Petersburg 1997
Sicilian Defence
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Adams in the fast lane
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Michael Adams is in action at an elite Rapid Chess tournament, the Yerevan Chess Giants taking place in the Armenian capital. The England number one is in an eight player field that includes three of the world’s top 10 including the Armenian number one Levon Aronian and world number three Alexander Morozevich.
The line up is:
Alexander Morozevich, Russia, 2774
Levon Aronian, Armenia, 2763
Leko, Peter Hungary 2741
Michael Adams, England, 2729
Boris Gelfand, Israel, 2723
Bu Xiangzhi, China, 2708
Vladimir Akopian, Armenia, 2673
Gabriel Sargissian, Armenia, 2643
Another elite event is underway at the Ukrainian resort of Forose. The Aerosvit tournament, sponsored by the Ukrainian airline has an average rating of over 2700 which even in today’s rating inflated world is impressive. The seventeen year old prodigy Magnus Carlsen continues to play non-stop and he is the top seed.
1. Carlsen Norway 2765
2. Svidler Russia 2746
3. Ivanchuk Ukraine 2740
4. Shirov Spain 2740
5. Karjakin Ukraine 2732
6. Jakovenko Russia 2711
7. Alekseev Russia 2711
8. Eljanov Ukraine 2687
9. Volokitin Ukraine 2684
10. Nisipeanu Romania 2684
11. Van Wely Netherlands 2676
12. Onischuk USA 2664
It is approximately 100 years since the birth of the Hungarian Master Sammi Fajarowicz who first played the gambit 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ne4 eighty years ago. This Fajarowicz Gambit is an offshoot of the Budapest Gambit which runs 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4. The Fajarowicz is pretty rare nowadays but gives the first player ample opportunity to go wrong in the opening.
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Martial Art of Chess, Promoted by a Rapper
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 The rapper RZA, a founder of the Wu-Tang Clan and holder of the Hip-Hop Chess Federation belt, is turning his interest into a business.
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Leonard Barden. June 7, 2008
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Nigel Short made a shrewd decision last week. The England No2 spurned the chance to return to Sarajevo, where he finished next to last in 2007, and instead opted for Bazna, Romania, and a tournament of grandmaster old-timers. Short, 43, was the second youngest in the event and the former world title challenger won first prize with 7/10. If he had gone to Sarajevo he would have come up against the world No3, Alex Morozevich, in unstoppable form.
This week's polished game must have especially pleased Short. Back in 1980 as a 15-year-old he finished runner-up in the world junior (under-20) championship in Dortmund. The winner was Garry Kasparov, so it seemed sure that Short's turn would come. Alas, it did not, and one who blocked his path was Andrei Sokolov, then of the USSR, who won the 1982 U20 and went on to contest the 1987 candidates' final against Anatoly Karpov before his career went on the slide.
Short's win below had an original touch. The Keres Attack, 6 g4, normally presages a king-side pawn storm; Sokolov's extravagant 14...Nh7 stopped g5 and planned f5 Bg5 but it enabled Short to switch his pressure to the Q-side. Later 23 e5! gained material since Black could not allow 25...Nh7 26 Rd7 winning the c6 knight. Sokolov continued with two pawns for a piece but 29 Qa2! cashed in Short's c pawn, and at the end White made large material gains.
N Short v A Sokolov
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Short crowned king
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Nigel Short was a convincing winner of the Tournament of Kings held at Bazna in Romania. The eleven player event comprised nine former world championship Candidates and two Romanian players. Some of the players could be regarded as veterans but all remain active in tournament play. Short was the highest rated player but more than justified his billing as he won four games, drew six and had won the tournament with a round to spare.
We have already seen Short’s fine over Ulf Andersson but his best game by far was this victory over Andrei Sokolov which was reminiscent of Short at his best in the 1990s when no Sicilian player was safe.
N Short – A Sokolov
King's Tournament (7) Bazna
Sicilian Defence Keres Attack
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Sarajevo superman
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Alexander Morozevich was a class apart at Sarajevo and has secured the first prize with a round to spare. The Russian GM who is ranked third in the world conceded just five draws on his was to 7.5/10 and gained nine rating points and closer to Vladimir Kramnik, ranked two. Only the Cuban Lenier Dominguez avoided defeat at Morozevich’s hands and the winner must have been doubly delighted as last year he played indifferently at Sarajevo, losing three games, one to Nigel Short, and scored just 50%. This time roles were reversed as Sergei Movsesian, the winner in 2007 had to be content with 5/10. L Dominguez - A Morozevich
Sarajevo (4)
Sicilian Taimanov
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Sweet 16 for Ivanchuk
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Vasily Ivanchuk’s wonderful form continued as he defeated the world champion Vishy Anand in just sixteenth moves in the fourth and decisive game of the final of the City of Leon Rapidplay tournament in Spain. Both players won with black, Ivanchuk in game one and Anand in game two. After many vicissitudes game three was drawn before Ivanchuk secured victory as follows Anand appears to either ignore or forget the theoretical continuation.
Ivanchuk’s recent triumphs include:
· Carlos Torre Memorial Yucatan Mexico 2007
· World Blitz Moscow 2007
· Montreal 2007
· Pivdeny Bank Odessa 2007
· Foros 2007
· Capablanca Memorial Havana 2007
· M Tel Masters Sofia 2008
Black is losing rook for bishop and pawn but after a further error it’s a case of what John Nunn famously described as LPDO, ‘ loose pieces drop off’ .
V Ivanchuk – V Anand
XXI Magistral Rapid Final (4) Leon
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After a Run for the U.S. Title, the Champ Has an Off Day
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After his undefeated United States Championship win, grandmaster Yury Shulman performed poorly at the Chicago Open.
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