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English master stroke
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Michael Adams has made a great start to the Grand Prix tournament at Baku. In round one Adams drew solidly as Black against Teimour Radjabov whose Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation achieved no advantage. Adams even got the edge but had to accede to perpetual check in a queen and pawn endgame.
In round two Adams defeated Ivan Cheparinov, the Grandmaster whose disgraceful behaviour led him to be defaulted in his game at Wijk aan Zee against Nigel Short when he refused to shake hands. The game was replayed and Short won, Adams made it an English double over the Bulgarian.
Adams shares the lead with Gata Kamsky who finished this round one game nicely.
Kamsky
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Early sacrifice settles it
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Veselin Topalov took the honours at Dos Hermanas with a comfortable victory over Paco Vallejo in the four game final of the Rapid Chess tournament in which games were played at the rate of 20 minutes plus an increment of ten seconds per move.
Topalov won the first game with a double piece sacrifice after Vallejo was unable to find the best defence and was forced into a lost rook and pawn endgame. After that Topalov was untroubled in the next three games which were all drawn.
J Polgar – V Topalov
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Title Inflation Waters Down the Meaning of Grandmaster
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The World Chess Federation has not addressed title inflation, so an informal two-tier system has evolved. There are now grandmasters and super-grandmasters.
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Champions of child's play
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More kids are coming. Last week there were three notable successes for young players around the world. In Dubai, 14-year-old Wesley So of the Philippines won a very strong Open tournament. So is one of the youngest players ever to be a GM and scored 7/9 to finish level with GMs Merab Gagunashvili of Georgia, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran and Li Chao of China but the youngster had the superior tie break and was awarded the Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup.
Salem Abdulrahman Saleh of the UAE, the Asian under-14 champion who has yet to qualify for the IM title looks like he may not need to as he secured his first GM norm with a round to spare. Twenty nine GMs and twenty one IMs competed.
In Ukraine 11 year old Ilya Nyzhnyk, won the 6th Nabokov memorial held at Kiev. Nyzhnyk was born on 27th September 1996 and scored a GM norm which could be the first step to becoming the youngest GM in the history of the game.
Leading scores: 1 FM Nyzhnyk (2405) 8.5/11; 2 GM Kruppa (2543) 8; 3 GM Vysochin (2521) 7.
In Holland a 13 year old Russian boy won the Intomart GfK Open held at Hilversum ahead of several highly rated Grandmasters. England’s Simon Ansell made a strong showing. This boy also looks like he will dispense with the International Master title and go straight to Grandmaster.
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When disaster strikes
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The field for the 2008 Staunton Memorial has been announced and will be the strongest yet with eleven of the twelve players being holders of the Grandmaster title. The twelfth player, IM Bob Wade may well be setting a world record. At the age of 87 he is thought to be the oldest player ever to be pitted against an all Grandmaster field.
Wade has recently competed with success in both senior and Open events. He was for many years a researcher for Bobby Fischer and assisted the American in his preparation for the ‘Match of the Century’ against Boris Spassky in 1972.
Wade is hugely out-rated but will take heart from the performance of Glenn Flear at the GLC tournament in 1986 when as the lowest rated player in a world class field Flear pulled off a sensational victory.
The tournament venue will again be Simpson's-in-the-Strand, the traditional home of chess in London and entrance to the games will be free. The sponsor Jan Mol has again chosen a mix of UK and Dutch players with the exception of the Russian Alexander Cherniaev, although he is UK based and plays for Guildford ADC in the 4NCL.
Line up: Ivan Sokolov, Jan Timman, Jan Smeets , Jan Werle, Erwin L'Ami, Loek Van Wely – all Holland, Jonathan Speelman, Peter Wells, Michael Adams, Nigel Short , Bob Wade OBE – all England, Alexander Cherniaev (Russia).
Play begins on August 7 and the last round will be August 18. The Chief Arbiter will be Dr Eric Schiller.
One of Flear’s wins from 1986, incredibly, he scored 5/7 with Black.
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Pole is poles apart
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The former world champion Piotr Murdzia of Poland outperformed the finest line up of British solvers ever assembled at the Final of the 2007-2008 Winton Capital British Chess Solving Championship held at Oakham School on 16th February. Murdzia led throughout and won by a big margin.
Thirty three solvers took part, including for the first time, all six titled British solvers. The British title was expected to be a duel between the defending champion and reigning World Champion John Nunn and Jonathan Mestel, himself a former World Champion. Nunn had a disastrous second round, dropping 6 of the 10 points on the mates in 3, which left him in 7th place overall, 6 points behind Mestel. A determined fight back fell just short and Mestel took the title by half a point, his fifteenth victory.
The event consisted of six timed rounds, each involving a different type of problem
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Tsk, tsk, Tomsk
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Last week I wondered how Tomsk 400, a team composed almost exclusively of world class players could be performing so badly at the Russian Team Championships recently concluded at Dagomys in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The tournament was won by Ural of Ekaterinburg.
It has emerged that Tomsk, who are former European Team champions were fined 1000 roubles by the tournament organisers for what was described as a “breach of sporting discipline”.
In Soviet times there were coded phrases for a variety of transgressions and this particular one often referred to drunkenness which is a rather compelling explanation as the fine was levied the morning after the rest day. What’s more, as reported last week, Tomsk 400 scored just a half point out of six against opposition rated below them.
Tomsk only just avoided the ignominy of relegation thanks to a last round 4-2 victory over a strong Moscow 64 team who were the only team to defeat the winners and had it not been for another fine performance from their board one Alexander Morozevich they would surely have been doomed.
Morozevich did have one disaster as he missed a tactic in his game against Ruslan Ponomariov and was immediately lost.
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Pawn grabbing punished
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Garry Kasparov turned 45 on Sunday. At the end of March the 13th world champion returned to the board to give two simultaneous displays, one at Pasching in Austria and another simul at Hluboka, Czech Republic.
The games have not come to light bar a couple of fragments. Here Kasparov finishes handily after the opponent errs in a difficult, but possibly not lost position.
In the position below Kasparov’s bishop is far superior to his opponent’s and he has a space advantage, a better king and there is a weakness on b5. However, the blocked nature of the position makes it hard for the white king to penetrate and Black always has a protected passed pawn on g6 to rely on if play should reach a king and pawn endgame.
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Historical Stalemate: Chess Book May Have Leonardo Illustrations (or Not)
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Reported discoveries of lost works by Leonardo da Vinci are almost as common as images of the Mona Lisa. The latest attribution to be proposed involves the design for a chess book from around 1500.
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Adams Lopez home
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A novelty in the opening was sufficient to secure the draw Michael Adams needed to ensure outright first place at the Ruy Lopez Masters tournament held at Mirida in Spain. Adams held last year’s tournament winner Gabriel Sargissian to a draw by improving on a previous game played by Sargissian’s fellow Armenian Levon Aronian in the Queen’s Indian Defence.
The last round draw with black took Adams to 5.5/7 and a winning margin of a full point. The England number one was the highest rated player in the field but his victory was particularly special as he scored 3/3 in games with the Ruy Lopez.
Here is Adams’ victory over the teenage prodigy and Italian champion Fabiano Caruana in the penultimate round. Black’s Sicilian Defence variation is very risky but he was doing quite well until one over-optimistic move allowed Adams to pounce.
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A prodigious victory
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A victory over the teenage prodigy and Italian champion Fabiano Caruana enabled Michael Adams to secure at least a share of first place with a round to spare at the 2nd Ruy Lopez Masters tournament at Mirida in Spain. The England number one reached the impressive score of 5/6, a point clear of last year’s winner Gabriel Sargissian.
Another case of pin and win for Adams who put the teenage Hou Yifan in a deadly pin in a game given on Friday. Adams uses the Classical Defence to the Ruy Lopez and gradually equalises even though it looks like White’s pin on the e file is going to win material at any moment.
M Perez Candelario – M Adams
2nd Ruy Lopez Masters (5) Mirida
Ruy Lopez
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He May Not Be a Grandmaster, but He’s Hard to Beat at Blitz
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Jorge Sammour-Hasbun, a child champion, gave up tournament chess for years. Now, at 28, he often beats grandmasters in blitz chess.
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Leonard Barden. April 12, 2008
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Fide's new list of the top 100 English players shows some significant changes behind the world ranked pair Michael Adams and Nigel Short. The England No 3, Luke McShane, now plays little but retains his strength, drawing with the world No1, Vishy Anand, in this season's Bundesliga.
The big mover is our youngest grandmaster David Howell, 17, who has advanced to fifth place, the same spot as his Norwegian contemporary Magnus Carlsen has reached on the world list. Howell has regained the edge in his race with England's other young hope, GM Gawain Jones, who has dropped to ninth.
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Two of Yesterday’s Stars, Battling It Out With Gusto
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In chess, as in life, the elders deserve a little respect. The game’s legends may not regularly face the rigors of tournament play, but they can still put on a good show.
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Carlsen’s Top Finish at Corus Signals Changing of the Guard
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At the Corus international tournament in the Netherlands only Viswanathan Anand registered a plus score.
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Fine victory for Boris
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A defeat for Ural of Yekaterinburg in the sixth round did not deprive them of the leading position at the Russian Team Championships taking place at Dagomys in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Moscow 64 defeated the top seeds by the narrowest of margins thanks to an impressive victory for Boris Gelfand over Alexey Shirov on top board.
On board five there was a replay of the 1999 FIDE Championship final at Las Vegas when Alexander Khalifman defeated Vladimir Akopian. On this occasion the game ended in a draw.
Moscow 64 3.5-2.5 Ural: Gelfand 1-0 Shirov; Harikrishna draw Kamsky; Wang Hao 1-0 Grischuk; Bareev 0-1 Malakhov; Khalifman draw Akopian; Rodshtein draw Motylev.
Gelfand was badly beaten in the main lines of the Gruenfeld Defence by Shirov last year so he avoids them and achieves a big advantage in the opening.
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Svidler gets his man
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The Russian Team Championships are being contested at what is now their traditional home of Dagomys in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. After five rounds, Ural of Yekaterinburg who boast a squad that would be a match for virtually any national team are the leaders with maximum points.
Ural have the American world title contender Gata Kamsky on board three, their full squad is Teimour Radjabov, Alexey Shirov, Gata Kamsky, Alexander Grischuk, Alexander Malakhov, Vladimir Akopian, Alexey Dreev and Alexander Motylev. It is quite a luxury to have a former Russian champion on bottom board.
Not for the first time, the old enemies Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi are playing on the same team. Other leading players include Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler and Vasily Ivanchuk.
In round five Morozevich ground down Karpov in a 111-move endgame. Ivanchuk defeated his compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov the man who overcame him in the Fide championship final in 2002 while Peter Svidler managed to score a rare win against the Petroff Defence of Boris Gelfand.
In this game Svidler is rewarded for an aggressive policy when he plays with the black pieces.
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Many Top Players to Sit Out Championship Over Money
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Oklahoma is not O.K. with many champions who, in addition to gripes about the money, cite Tulsa as a poor location for the United States Championship.
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Leonard Barden. April 5, 2008
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Vishy Anand, the world champion, is the clear No1 in Fide's latest rankings but the big mover among the elite is Magnus Carlsen. The 17-year-old Norwegian is up to fifth place and will surely soon become the youngest to top the list.
The leaders are Anand 2803, Vlad Kramnik 2788, Alex Morozevich 2774, Veselin Topalov 2767, Carlsen 2765 and Lev Aronian 2763.
Aronian is not out of it. The Armenian has just won in Nice by a 2.5pt margin, ahead of the quintet above him in the rankings. His win against Topalov, a high-class game for a short time limit, showed sophisticated use of the bishop pair. The fashionable 7 g4 soon had the BK in trouble since 13...axb5 14 Bb4! Rg8 15 Bxb5 g6 16 Nxh6 Rh8 17 Rc1! favours White. If Black swaps queens by 18...Qxe5 19 dxe5 Nfd7 20 Bc3 Nc6 21 0-0-0 is good for White, as is later 21...Nbd7 22 h4! At the end Topalov is material up but White's Qf5 will be decisive.
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Big hand for Kramnik
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Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik gave a clock simultaneous display at Enschede in Holland yesterday to showcase a new transmission system for chess tournaments that carries live video and commentary in tandem with a board display. Kramnik took on the French WGM Marie Sebag and the Dutch GM Jan Werle, defeating them both with the white pieces.
This was quite a feat but hardly compares with Garry Kasparov’s tours de force when he defeated the national teams of Argentina, Germany, Czech Republic and most memorably Israel, over four boards.
Black’s set up with Ra7 leaves him vulnerable if he cannot organise c7-c5 and Kramnik exploits the offside queen and rook.
V Kramnik – J Werle
DGT Clock Simul Enschede 90' + 30"
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A Turkish delight
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Turkey is preparing to host the Women’s World Chess Championship after an approach by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to Turkish Minister of State Murat Basesgioglu. Following the collapse of the original event, due to be hosted by Argentina, Iran offered to host the tournament but only on condition that all the players wore a headscarf.
The disturbing prospect of every player, irrespective of background being forced to cover their heads, irrespective of their background had a lot of FIDE officials running for cover themselves.
The Iranians even demanded that men not be allowed into the playing arena. The religious issues submerged the other consequences of a tournament in Iran which would have been the banning of the Israeli teams and the extreme unlikelihood of the USA and many western countries sending a delegation
It is ironic that Turkey, a country that was strictly secular until recently and which is in the midst of turmoil over the issue of the wearing of headscarves in universities be the place that digs Fide out of a very tight spot.
Ilyumzhinov was in Istanbul for the closing ceremony of the Isbank Ataturk International Women Masters which was won by the Chinese prodigy 14 year old Hou Yifan.
Former Woman World Champion Zhu Chen was outshone by her young compatriot, scoring just 4/9 and losing their individual game.
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Tough Test for a Young Player: Seven Grandmasters in a Row
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Robert Hess, an international master, and sophomore at Stuyvesant High School, faced the unlikely challenge of 7 grandmasters, scoring four wins, two draws and a loss.
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Aronian plays a blinder
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Levon Aronian was three times a winner at the Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess at Nice. As well as winning overall, Aronian won the Rapid Chess and shared first in the Blindfold with Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Morozevich and Veselin Topalov. World champion Vishy Anand scored below 50% at Rapid Chess, the first time I can recall him doing that.
Final scores overall: 1 Aronian 14.5/22; 2-5 Carlsen, Kramnik, Leko, Topalov 12; 6-8 Anand, Ivanchuk, Morozevich 11; 9 Karjakin 9.5; 10-12 Gelfand, Mamedyarov, Van Wely 9.
The British Women's Chess Association held the National Girls Championships at the Elmbank House, York, in February. The event was opened by the Lord Mayor of York Irene Waudby. There was free coaching at the event provided by England internationals Jovanka Houska and Sabrina Chevannes. The Arbiters were Lara Barnes and Alex McFarlane.
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For 14-Year-Old Chinese Girl, Grandmaster Title Is in Sight
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Hou Yifan of China has been among the world’s best female players since she was 12, but her performances since the beginning of the year have stood out.
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Idaho Turns to Chess as Education Strategy
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 Idaho officials plan to make their state the first to offer a statewide chess curriculum as part of a pilot program for second and third graders.
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A Master Before the Age of 10, but Not Without a Mild Debate
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A San Francisco boy has become the youngest master in United States history, but some, including the former record holder, have questioned whether it had been done fairly.
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Leonard Barden. March 29, 2008
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China's golden girl Hou Yifan, 14, is closing in on a record-breaking grandmaster title at men's level. Last week Hou won the Ataturk women's invitational in Istanbul with an unbeaten 7/9 and a rating performance well above the required 2600 points. Normally an all-female event would not count for the open GM title but two of her rivals were full GMs and a third awaited title ratification, so she should be going for her third and final GM norm when she competes in Merida, Spain, next week, where the top seed is the England No1 Michael Adams.
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Aronian scents victory
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Levon Aronian is almost certain of victory at the 17th Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess at Nice after defeating Alexander Morozevich 2-0 in the ninth round. Aronian is two and a half points ahead overall with only two rounds and four games remaining. He leads the Rapid Chess outright and the Blindfold is a three way tie at the top between the Armenian, Vladimir Kramnik and Morozevich.
Kramnik was fortunate to defeat Magnus Carlsen in their Blindfold game as the young Norwegian lost on time in a position where he stood better although it was far from clear whether he could win.
The seventeenth edition of this ‘no expense spared’ chess party is once again sponsored by the Dutch chess enthusiast Joop van Oosterom and is being staged by the Association Max Euwe in the luxurious surroundings of the Palais de la Mediterranee Hotel on the Promenade des Anglais.
The twelve invited players are competing for a prize fund of 216,000 Euros with prizes for the best performance in the two disciplines and for the best scores overall.
Carlsen’s novelty in the sharp Anti Moscow Gambit led to a smooth victory over Loek van Wely who, as Kramnik’s trainer must have analysed this line in enormous detail. The idea of 12.b3 is well known in similar positions. By offering a pawn to open the a and c files White poses the question to Black: where will you put your king? The kingside has been compromised by the g7-g5 advance, the queenside becomes wide open and leaving the king in the centre is hardly an option. 12.Nxf7 Kxf7 13.e5 produced a stunning victory for Veselin Topalov over Kramnik at Wijk aan Zee but since then the sacrifice has been subject to the minute scrutiny of a 1000 laptop computers and defences have been found.
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Dark side of the bishop
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Levon Aronian sent Vishy Anand plummeting down the rankings in the eighth round of the 17th Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess at Nice. The Armenian world title Candidate defeated the world champion in a wild blindfold game and then used his favourite Marshall Attack against the Ruy Lopez to draw the Rapid game.
Aronian leads Anand by 1.5 points in Rapid Chess and overall he has a one point lead with three rounds to go. Seventeen year old Magnus Carlsen is second overall after he convincingly outplayed Shakriyaz Mamedyarov twice. Carlsen described his win in the Blindfold game below as: 'a rare case of domination'.
The dark side of the force prevails, Black’s light squared bishop is no match for White's dark squared prelate after the opening exchanges and such is the disparity in influence Black is virtually paralysed.
17.g4!! was hard to foresee. White's king is quite safe.
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Carlsen cashes in
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Magnus Carlsen achieved his first ever victory over the world champion Vishy Anand in round seven of the 17th Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess at Nice. Carlsen’s win came in the Rapid Chess after he had been badly mauled in the Blindfold game. Playing white, Carlsen avoided opening theory and when Anand blundered a pawn the seventeen year old prodigy made no mistake – see below.
The seventeenth edition of the Amber tournament is again sponsored by the Dutch chess enthusiast Joop van Oosterom and is being staged by the Association Max Euwe in he luxurious surroundings of the Palais de la Mediterranee on the Promenade des Anglais.
The twelve invited players are competing for a prize fund of 216,000 Euros with prizes for the best performance in the two disciplines and for the best scores overall.
Levon Aronian took the opportunity to extend his lead over Anand in the Rapid Chess and the overall standings with victory over Veselin Topalov.
Alexander Morozevich took control of the Blindfold section, increasing his score to 5./6 after a blunderful victory over Vassily Ivanchuk. The standard of play in these games without sight of the board is staggeringly good most of the time but the clock played a factor here and the rule of the last blunder applied, Ivanchuk made it when he gave away his queen in a won position.
M Carlsen – V Anand
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