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Big names begin Blitz
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Michael Adams has qualified for the final of the World Blitz Championship. The England number one travelled to Moscow and finished equal second in a qualifying event in which he was the top seed. Adams scored 14.5/22 with former Fide champion Rustam Kazimdzhanov first on 15/22. Adams’ recent slide down the world rankings to 13 meant he was not seeded.
The king of Blitz Chess, Vladeslav Tkachiev, did not make it. The top eight joined twelve seeded players in the final which has virtually every major name bar Veselin Topalov who does not appear to feel comfortable playing in Russia. Anatoly Karpov has been given a wild card.
The field includes world champion Vishy Anand, world number two Vasily Ivanchuk and former champion Vladimir Kramnik as well as Candidates; Alexander Morozevich, Alexei Shirov, Boris Gelfand, Alexander Grischuk - the defending champion, Magnus Carlsen and Gata Kamsky.
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Vladimir the impaler
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All the games were drawn in the ninth round of the Tal Memorial leaving Vladimir Kramnik with an impressive margin of victory of 1.5 points. Kramnik’s final opponent Vasily Ivanchuk was in no mood for a quick draw but he never had even the remotest chance of winning as Kramnik’s Petroff Defence was solid once more.
Alexey Shirov was the only other player to make a positive score which he thoroughly deserved as he played attacking and uncompromising chess throughout. His victory over Magnus Carlsen was very much in the style of Tal, his fellow Latvian and former mentor.
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Defence at breaking point
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‘Win with white, draw with black’ is the secret to success most of the time in an all play tournaments and Vladimir Kramnik is giving something of an exhibition at the Tal Memorial as he won for the fourth time with the advantage of the first move and extended his lead to 1.5 points.
The former world champion was the only winner in the eighth and penultimate round and wrapped up tournament victory with a round to spare. The world number seven Shakriyaz Mamedyarov was outplayed after trying a sharp line of the Modern Defence to avoid Kramnik’s Catalan Opening.
In a complicated struggle both sides had to play with their king in the centre but Kramnik ensured that he was able to later ‘castle by hand’ while the black monarch was forced to suffer the attentions of the white queen and knight throughout.
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Champion is class act
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Vladimir Kramnik increased his lead in the sixth round of the Tal Memorial taking place at Moscow. The fourteenth world champion dismissed the Russian champion Evgeny Alekseev in a powerful display to reach 4.5/6 a point clear.
The message was: ‘ you might have won the Russian championship, but that’s because I wasn’t playing’.
Alexey Shirov played in the style of his former mentor Mikhail Tal and despatched Magnus Carlsen with a couple of sacrifices. Gata Kamsky also sacrificed soundly but eventually lost.
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Topalov Pulls Off Yet Another of His Last-Minute Victories
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Veselin Topalov has made a point of rallying after falling behind. He did it again last week at the Chess Champions League tournament in Vitoria Gasteiz, Spain.
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Leonard Barden. November 17, 2007
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UK problem solvers are dominating top competitions in an Indian summer which recalls our over-the-board successes in the 1970s and 1980s. The British team took gold for the third year in a row at the recent world problem championship in Rhodes, relegating the Russians to silver.
Grandmaster John Nunn won his second world individual title with 89/90 and the dropped point was due to a clerical error. GM Jonathan Mestel and FM David Friedgood were also in the winning team of former over-the-board internationals, who proved stronger than problem specialists from rival countries.
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Topalov on top form
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Veselin Topalov was back to his best as he won the League of Champions event at Vitoria in Spain, a tournament held in aid of a charity that is building a hospital in Congo. The chess took place alongside fashion shows and charity auctions and the field also included Anatoly Karpov and Judit Polgar.
Topalov lost to Polgar early on but gained his revenge in the final round to secure tournament victory as Polgar, half a point behind at start of play, overplayed her hand in an attempt to win the tournament. Topalov’s margin of victory was 1.5 points.
Karpov had a very hard time and failed to win a game. A lack of detailed preparation in the opening gave him some problems although he was well prepared in the game below.
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A taste of Cat
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The Catalan Opening did it again for Vladimir Kramnik as he took the lead of the Tal Memorial at Moscow. Kramnik defeated Alexey Shirov after securing just a small advantage in the opening, exchanging pieces and gradually improving his position in a double knight endgame where Shirov’s queenside pawns were slightly weak. Kramnik is the only player on 3.5/5.
Vasily Ivanchuk suffered more misfortune as he failed to convert a winning endgame against Magnus Carlsen after allowing the 16 year old prodigy to force perpetual check in a position of queen v queen and two pawns.
Peter Leko also missed his chances against Dmitry Jakovenko and Gata Kamsky could make nothing of a slight edge against Evgeny Alekseev. Five players remain unbeaten
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Defending to the end
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The placings remained unchanged after five draws in the fourth round of the Tal Memorial at Moscow. The players of the black pieces all needed to defend actively to neutralise the advantage of the first move but all managed to do so. Vasily Ivanchuk even managed to secure a slight advantage against Alexey Shirov but could make no progress in the endgame.
Peter Leko and Gata Kamsky sacrificed pawns against Evgeny Alekseev and Vladimir Kramnik and did not seem to have full compensation when the draws were agreed so it was slightly disappointing not to see these games continue.
Round four: Kamsky draw Kramnik; Leko draw Alekseev; Gelfand draw Yakovenko; Carlsen draw Mamedyarov; Shirov; draw Ivanchuk.
Scores: Kramnik, Carlsen, Mamedyarov 2.5/4; Leko, Shirov, Alekseev, Gelfand 2; Yakovenko, Ivanchuk, Kamsky 1.5.
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Teen trounces champion
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The 16 year old prodigy Magnus Carlsen is one of the leaders after one of the most eventful rounds of top flight chess this year at the Tal Memorial in Moscow. The Norwegian was one of four winners after outplaying the former Russian Champion Dimitry Yakovenko with black.
Vladimir Kramnik demonstrated that knowing he is going to play the Catalan is not enough as he reached 2/3 by defeating Peter Leko. Leko suffered a second time; he lost with black to Kramnik in a Catalan at Mexico City. Kramnik again obtained nagging pressure that he converted prettily in the endgame
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Leko leaps ahead
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There was plenty of fighting play but no decisive results in the second round of the Tal Memorial being played at Moscow. Peter Leko, who has started with two games with the white pieces is the only player on 1.5/2. Leko was easily held to a draw by the American Gata Kamsky in the second round. Kamsky played the Pirc-Modern Defence, rarely seen at the top level and was never in any difficulty.
Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand had another hugely complicated game during which Kramnik had to sacrifice a piece to extricate his queen but the material had to be returned by force and accurate play led to a draw on move 31.
The game between Shakriyaz Mamedyarov and Alexey Shirov was played in the style of Mikhail Tal. Shirov, white sacrificed a pawn and his opponent offered a piece but Shirov declined for reasons I cannot fully fathom and instead forced Mamedyarov to give up his queen for two rooks. In a position where neither king was safe the players repeated moves.
Gelfand draw Kramnik, Slav Defence, 31 moves; Carlsen draw Alekseev, QGD, 45; Shirov draw Mamedyarov, Ruy Lopez, 45; Leko draw Kamsky, Modern Defence, 38; Ivanchuk draw Yakovenko, Ruy Lopez, 31.
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Tal's kind of fireworks
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A wild 40 move draw between Vladimir Kramnik and the 16 year old Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen was the highlight of the first round of the Tal Memorial at Moscow. Carlsen varied from his bad loss to Kramnik at Dortmund in July and held his own in the resulting complications. Tal would have appreciated the many sacrificial ideas in the game.
Alexei Shirov, a fellow Latvian and in many ways the modern Mikhail Tal was the only loser of the round as his sacrifice proved unsound and left Peter Leko an easy task. The game between the Russian champion Evgeny Alekseev and the world number two Vasily Ivanchuk ended prematurely in a draw after 32 moves with lots of play left in the position.
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Is China the One to Beat Now? Don’t Tell This Russian Team
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The former Soviet Union and then Russia used to dominate team events, but in recent years the Russians have struggled. They’re back.
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Leonard Barden. November 10, 2007
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Russia outclassed the field in this week's European team championship in Crete, where its team secured the gold medals with a round to spare and its top pair, Peter Svidler and Alex Morozevich, had the best individual performances.
England were seeded 16th and finished in that position, but the only real blemish on a good result was a 0.5-3.5 disaster against Poland. Michael Adams scored an unbeaten 5.5/8 and a 2800 rating performance on top board.
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Let the fight begin
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The 2008 Tal Memorial starts today in Moscow with a superb field that should produce fighting chess worthy of the memory of the ‘Magician from Riga’. The ten player all play all is comprised of players ranked in the world’s top twenty and includes the 14th and recently deposed world champion Vladimir Kramnik.
Kramnik caused a stir, not least in India with recent comments in an interview with Izvestia. Kramnik stated that he felt he had only loaned the world title to Vishy Anand who outscored him at the WCC tournament in Mexico in September and that he was looking forward to the head to head match later in the year.
Anand denied Kramnik’s claim that the match would take place in Germany this September. Undoubtedly he must be hoping sponsorship can be found in India.
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Russia takes Euro glory
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Russia made a clean sweep of the European Team Championships at Crete as their women’s team also took gold. The star performer was GM Alexandra Kosteniuk who was in good form in her first serious competitive event since the birth of her first child. Kosteniuk scored 5.5/8 on board one and only a last round defeat by Katerina Lahno of Ukraine took her tournament rating performance below the 2600 mark.
England’s performance was indifferent with only Ingrid Lauterbach performing above her rating. If England could field their top four players, Harriet Hunt and Susan Lalic were unavailable, they would challenge for a medal.
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Russia rocks
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Russia celebrated the capturing the gold medals at the European Team Championships with victory over Bulgaria in the final round. The Russians conceded just one 2-2 draw in nine matches and were just too strong on the top boards where Peter Svidler scored 6/7 on board one and Alexander Morozevich 6/8 on board two. Svidler’s tournament rating performance was 2989.
The minor medals went to the Caucasus as Armenia defeated Israel to take silver and Azerbaijan overcame France to secure bronze.
England were hugely out-rated by Ukraine in their final match but Michael Adams had one of his best results for some time and defeated Vasily Ivanchuk, the latter’s third loss at the event. Ukraine won on boards two and three and England finished 16th on 10/16 which corresponded to their seeding but the performance was better than that.
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Russians out of reach
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Russia won the European Team Championships at Crete with a round to spare. Although their run of victories was ended by Spain in the eighth round, a 2-2 draw was sufficient to give them an unassailable lead of three match points as their closest rivals Azerbaijan and Armenia drew 2-2.
Alexander Morozevich lost to Alexey Shirov and his personal score dropped to 6/8, still a wonderful performance. Peter Svidler was rested for the match against Spain. His 5/6 score gives him a tournament rating performance close to 3000 and he could surpass that with victory in the final game against Bulgaria.
England had another great day defeating Georgia 2.5-1.5. Michael Adams won on top board and Gawain Jones crushed another highly rated Grandmaster with the f4 Sicilian. The line with Bb5 as opposed to the original Bc4 plan gives Black different problems to solve. Readers may recall Jones’ demolition of Loek Van Wely at the Staunton Memorial in August. In that game black’s fianchettoed bishop left the kingside with predictably dire results for the black monarch, this game is similar.
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Russia goes for gold
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It is now a magnificent seven wins out of seven for Russia as they defeated France 2.5-1.5 to increase their lead to 3 match points at the European Team Championships taking place in Crete. Alexander Morozevich scored the decisive win over the European Individual champion Vladislav Tkachiev on the second board.
Morozevich’s score on board two is 6/7, on board one Peter Svidler has 5/6. Both players have tournament rating performances close to 3000.
With two rounds to play, Russia need only draw their remaining matches to secure the gold medals. Next up for the leaders is an Armenian team who have defeated them before.
It is a very long time since world number two Vasily Ivanchuk lost twice in the same event but after his reverse at the hands of French number one Etienne Bacrot the Ukrainian’s loss to Shakriyaz Mamedyarov, ranked seven was the cause of his teams 1.5-2.5 defeat against Azerbaijan.
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Russia makes comeback
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Russia defeated the ex Russians in the sixth round of the European Team Championships at Crete as the leaders enjoyed a comfortable 3-1 victory over Israel. In Russia there was an old joke which ran ‘the best chess players are Russian Jews, Russians and then Jews’ there was something in it during the days of the old USSR but this era is over.
Post war, the USSR dominated team tournaments and after the break-up of the Soviet Union Russia enjoyed a brief period of dominance before it was usurped by former Soviet Republics such as Ukraine and Armenia. Russia’s last win in the European Team Championships was at Plovdiv in 2003.
At Gothenburg two years ago the Netherlands took gold and Russia finished a disastrous 14th. Now it seems they are making a comeback, even without the assistance of the 14th world champion Vladimir Kramnik who is in Moscow licking his wounds and planning the downfall of Vishy Anand.
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Topalov tricks Kasimdzhanov with a Trojan Horse
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Two former FIDE world champions clashed at the Chess Champions League in Vitoria Gasteiz, Spain. The ever flamboyant Veselin Topalov permitted his opponent to take a pawn, but in return he had the initiative that ended up being decisive. Judit Polgar drew Anatoly Karpov, while late replacment Nisipeanu held his own against Ponomariov. On the side we saw a bunch of chess pieces having fun.
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When the Sacrifice of a Queen Leads to a Checkmate Victory
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There is no moment in chess that is more magical than the queen sacrifice, especially when it leads to checkmate. But effective sacrifices require a high degree of precision.
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Leonard Barden. November 3, 2007
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England, the main rivals to the Soviet Union 20 years ago, are seeded only 16th in the current European championships at Heraklion, Crete. Though led by the world No13, Michael Adams, the team otherwise consists of modestly ranked GMs with the inexperienced Gawain Jones on board two. England still made a solid start and are 12th before this afternoon's sixth round of nine. Mark Hebden, at 49 the team veteran, has 4/5.
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Russia proves relentless
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Who will stop Russia? That is the question after the favourites comfortably despatched their main rivals Azerbaijan in the fifth round of the European Team Championships taking place in Crete. Russia are the only team on maximum points and it was their leading players Peter Svidler and Alexander Morozevich who overcame Azerbaijan’s stars both of whom are rated in the world’s top 10.
Svidler outplayed Shakriyaz Mamedyarov with black while Morozevich pulled off another astonishing victory over Teimour Radjabov from a level endgame where he had a knight completely out of play. However even these exploits were overshadowed by David Navara’s demolition of Ivan Cheparinov playing on top board for the Czech Republic against Bulgaria for whom Veselin Topalov has already departed to play in a tournament in Spain. France held Ukraine to a 2-2 draw after Etienne Bacrot beat world number two Vasily Ivanchuk with black.
England achieved a 2-2 draw with Spain despite being out-rated. Gawain Jones lost to Paco Vallejo-Pons, Michael Adams drew with Alexei Shirov on top board but Mark Hebden played a superb game to defeat Miguel Illescas.
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Russian roulette
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A round five showdown between Russia and Azerbaijan is in prospect as they overcame Slovenia and Holland respectively to continue their winning runs and reach 8/8 match points at the European Team Championships taking place in Crete. Team score two for a win and one for a 2-2 draw over the four boards.
The leaders are already two match points clear of the field as the other two unbeaten teams; Israel and Ukraine have both drawn two matches. Another of the favourites, Armenia, were surprisingly held 2-2 by Denmark and their two match wins and a draw give them only 5/8.
England drew 2-2 with Sweden which was pretty much a par result. Michael Adams won on top board but Nick Pert lost. Scotland defeated Luxembourg.
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Chess Group Officials Accused of Faking Web Posts to Hurt Rivals
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Two officers of the nation’s leading chess organization have been accused of posting inflammatory remarks on the Internet under false names to win election to the group’s board.
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Azerbaijan's aces
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Russia, Azerbaijan, Slovenia and Holland are the only teams to have won all their matches after three rounds of the European Team Championships taking place in Crete. The Russians, led by Alexander Morozevich and Peter Svidler look in good form and have already scored victories over the Armenians and Czechs.
Azerbaijan are the only team with two players in the world’s top ten and Shakriyaz Mamedyarov demolished Vishy Anand’s trainer Peter-Heine Nielsen to score the decisive win in a narrow victory over Denmark.
Ukraine were frustrated by Israel for whom Michael Roiz overcame Sergey Karjakin. Roiz is a somewhat underrated player and he scored a masterful victory over Anatoly Karpov earlier this year.
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Russian Killer Gets Life Sentence
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 The “Chessboard Killer,” who had hoped to become the most prolific murderer in post-Soviet Russian history, was convicted last week of murdering 48 people.
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Russia's 'Chessboard Killer,' Claiming 63 Murders, Gets Life in 48
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Aleksandr Y. Pichushkin was convicted last week of murdering 48 people and trying to kill three others. The Russian news media had dubbed him the Chessboard Killer.
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Tiger shows his stripes
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Tiger Hillarp-Persson won the Guernsey Chess Festival with a score of 6/7. ‘The Tiger’ arrived late but had organised a first round half point bye in advance. He won his first five games and then drew with the Russian GM Vladimir Epishin before defeating Robert Bellin in the last round – see below. Epishin scored 5.5.
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