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Alekhine's Parrot
TheParrot
Says…Welcome
to the archive of the weekly leader of chess events around the world. Chessville
welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on this week’s news by
writing to
TheParrot@Chessville.com where selected letters will be
featured.
|
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More Alekhine's Parrot Archives
3-25-2006
|
Chess News USA:
Furor at USCF:
Fiery Issue #1: A new editor of Chess Life
Mr. Lucas has summarily fired columnists GM Evans, GM Rohde,
GM Byrne. In comments about the Evans column, he thought that it was
‘played out’, whereas by more objective method, that column has always
been the most popular in the magazine! One reader wrote:
“During the years I was
reading CL, the GM Larry Evans' column was the most striking feature
of the magazine. It was CL's signature, fingerprint, something
that made CL unique, different from other mags.”
Fiery Issue #2: Just to keep it simple,
ex-editor Pehme wrote a voluntary public letter which also recommended
firing GM Polgar. Mr. Pehme’s attention to the 7% female
participation in chess in the USA is somewhat equivocal, as was his
commissioning of the infamous ‘Budapest report’, and private
enthusiasms.
Fiery Issue #3: And for truly simple minds,
a USCF delegate said that if Susan Polgar writes her own column, ‘the
lady has one big case of narcissim’, and also accused her of not writing
her own messages or columns.
Fiery Issue #4: A board member Don Schultz,
said he did not even know about the firings until he read about it in a
newsgroup. It is a wonder that Chess Life can be regarded as being the
communication vehicle of USCF if board members don’t know radical shifts
are going on, to reflect radical policy shifts? Schultz’s statement is
either unbelievable because such a major decision cannot surely be made
on a whim of a new guy? Or it is unbleiveably passive for the board not
to be involved in the policy for which the magazine is the vehicle.
Either way, his statement is unbelievable.
Fiery Issue #5: Where’s the beef?
In other investigations of how many adult rated
USCF members actually played a rated game of chess in the past 12
months, the Parrot’s own number of 10,500 provided by a USCF source,
Mike Nolan, was disputed by another record keeper Tom Martiniak. The
question was simple, how did 2005 compare with 1970? In
subsequent discussion it was resolved with a USCF data keeper that:-
a) 'nobody actually knows'
b) that the current USCF number of 10,500 was an estimate, not a
measurement, and no one knows current numbers of adult rated players
c) the estimated numbers do not reflect all adult members
d) it is unknown what proportion of adult members the estimate does
reflect
e) no one knows anything about 1970 either, except from writers at that
time //eg, Horowitz, who mentioned about ‘8,000 players’.
f) USCF according to Martiniak doesn’t know the age
of its players, but according to Nolan ‘the USCF know the ages of over
95% of its current members.’
Chess News WORLDWIDE:
Not chess, but … Marina
Litvinovich, an aide to Russian opposition politician Garry Kasparov
and a former head of the electoral headquarters of the liberal SPS party
was badly beaten on a Moscow street on Monday evening. She says the
attack may be linked to her work with the victims of the Beslan and
Nord-Ost crises.
 The
Women`s World Chess Championship 2006 takes place in Ekaterinburg,
Russia 10th-27th March 2006. 64 participants in knockout system:
 Round
6 (final) 23-27 March:
Galliamova - Xu Yuhua 0-1
Round 5 (semifinal):
Cmilyte - Galliamova 1/2,0-1
Matveeva - Xu Yuhua 1/2,0-1
Round 4 (quarterfinal):
Galliamova - Khurtsidze 1-0,1-0
Matveeva - Sebag 1/2,1-0
Kovalevskaya - Xu 1/2,1/2,0-1,1/2
Chiburdanidze - Cmilyte 1-0,0-1,0-1,0-1
|
Caption: Maya Chiburdanisdze who quipped:
“
I have many other interests but for chess. Chess is my hobby
though the most serious one. In fact I’ve been thinking of
leaving sports. But I still can’t do it , you see” (laughing).
Official site:
www.womenchess.com |
|
The 15th Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess Tournament will be held
in Monaco March 18-30 2006. The players are: Veselin Topalov g BUL 2801
(born 1975), Viswanathan Anand g IND 2792 (1969), Peter Svidler g RUS
2765 (1976), Levon Aronian g ARM 2752 (1982), Peter Leko g HUN 2740
(1979), Vassily Ivanchuk g UKR 2729 (1969), Boris Gelfand g ISR 2723
(1968), Alexander Morozevich g RUS 2721 (1977), Alexander Grischuk g RUS
2717 (1983), Francisco Vallejo Pons g ESP 2650 (1982), Loek Van Wely g
NED 2647 (1972), Peter Heine Nielsen g DEN 2644 (1973). Vladimir Kramnik
withdrew from the event because of health problems. The prizefund is
Euro 216.000
The 7th Poikovsky in the name of Anatoly Karpov tournament takes
place March 19-27 2006. The participants are: Ruslan Ponomariov g UKR
2723 (born 1983), Alexei Shirov g ESP 2709 (1972), Evgeny Bareev g RUS
2698 1966, Alexey Dreev g RUS 2697 (1969), Ivan Sokolov g NED 2689
(1968), Sergey Rublevsky g RUS 2665 (1974), Vadim Zvjaginsev g RUS 2664
(1976), Viktor Bologan g MDA 2661 (1971), Evgenij Najer g RUS 2652
(1977) and Alexander Onischuk g USA 2650 (1975).
Round 5 standings:
1-4 Shirov, Rublevsky, Zvjaginsev, Najer - 3.0
5-8 Bareev, Dreev, Sokolov, Ponomariov - 2.5
9 Onischuk - 2.0
10 Bologan - 1.0
The 15th Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess Tournament is held in
Monaco March 18-30 2006. The players are: Veselin Topalov g BUL 2801
(born 1975), Viswanathan Anand g IND 2792 (1969), Peter Svidler g RUS
2765 (1976), Levon Aronian g ARM 2752 (1982), Peter Leko g HUN 2740
(1979), Vassily Ivanchuk g UKR 2729 (1969), Boris Gelfand g ISR 2723
(1968), Alexander Morozevich g RUS 2721 (1977), Alexander Grischuk g RUS
2717 (1983), Francisco Vallejo Pons g ESP 2650 (1982), Loek Van Wely g
NED 2647 (1972), Peter Heine Nielsen g DEN 2644 (1973). Vladimir Kramnik
withdrew from the event because of health problems. The prizefund is
Euro 216.000
Round 5 combined standings:
1 Morozevich 6.0
2 Leko 6.0
3 Anand 5.5
4 Vallejo 5.5
5 Aronian 5.0
6 Grischuk 5.0
7 Nielsen 5.0
8 Topalov 5.0
9 Van Wely 4.5
10 Ivanchuk 4.5
11 Gelfand 4.5
12 Svidler 3.5 |
3-18-2006
Chess News North America
Chess News Around the World
 |
Acting on a complaint by the German Chess Federation the FIDE Ethics
Commission and Hungarian Chess Federation get heavy with a fraudulent
tournament that included many high-ranked players.
The indicted Tournament, Kali Cup GM 2004, was a complete fraud.
Such an event did not take place. Disciplinary Committee elected by the
GA of HCF has taken the following disciplinary measures:
-
IM Istvandi, Lajos organizer of the event in question
has been forbidden to organize arbitrate and to participate in all chess
events for two years.
-
IA Fazekas, Gyorgy who contributed creating the
report for the request of the organizer has been forbidden to arbitrate at
any chess event for one and a half years.
-
One-year suspension from tournament play beginning
March 1, 2006: IM Vadim Eschenko (Ukraine), IM Timofey Galinsky (Ukraine),
GM Mato Damjanovic (Croatia), GM Attila Czebe (Hungary)
-
Two and a half years suspension from tournament play
beginning March 1, 2006: IM Miroslav Shvarts
-
Two and a half years suspension from arbiting or
organizing tournaments: IM Lajos Istvan, IM Gyorgy Fazekas
|
|
|
The 7th
Poikovsky / Anatoly Karpov tournament takes place March 19-27 2006. The
participants are: Ruslan Ponomariov g UKR 2723 (born 1983), Alexei Shirov g
ESP 2709 (1972), Evgeny Bareev g RUS 2698 1966, Alexey Dreev g RUS 2697
(1969), Ivan Sokolov g NED 2689 (1968), Sergey Rublevsky g RUS 2665 (1974),
Vadim Zvjaginsev g RUS 2664 (1976), Viktor Bologan g MDA 2661 (1971),
Evgenij Najer g RUS 2652 (1977) and Alexander Onischuk g USA 2650 (1975).
Official site |
|
|
 |
|
|
The Women`s World Chess Championship 2006 takes place in Ekaterinburg,
Russia 10th-27th March 2006. 64 participants in knockout system:
Stefanova Antoaneta GM BUL 2499, Koneru Humpy GM IND 2537, Cramling Pia GM
SWE 2515, Kosteniuk Alexandra GM RUS 2514, Chiburdanidze Maia GM
GEO 2511, Xu Yuhua WGM CHN 2502, Lahno Kateryna IM UKR 2500, Zhu Chen GM CHN
2482, Kosintseva Nadezhda IM RUS 2480, Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman IM/WG IND
2479, Kosintseva Tatiana IM RUS 2479, Socko Monika IM POL 2475, Cmilyte
Viktorija IM LTU 2475, Zhao Xue WG- CHN 2473, Qin Kanying WGM CHN 2469,
Galliamova Alisa IM RUS 2467, Dembo Yelena IM GRE 2461, Skripchenko Almira
IM FRA 2461, Kovalevskaya Ekaterina IM RUS 2458, Mkrtchian Lilit IM ARM
2453, Dzagnidze Nana IM GEO 2452, Krush Irina IM USA 2447, Javakhishvili
Lela IM GEO 2444, Zhukova Natalia WGM UKR 2432, Khurtsidze Nino IM GEO 2430,
Matveeva Svetlana IM RUS 2428, Korbut Ekaterina WGM RUS 2427, Arakhamia-Grant
Ketevan IM GEO 2426, Danielian Elina IM ARM 2423, Paehtz Elisabeth IM GER
2422, Zaiatz Elena IM RUS 2422, Radziewicz Iweta IM POL 2421, Kononenko
Tatiana WGM UKR 2417, Sebag Marie IM FRA 2415, Peng Zhaoqin GM NED 2407,
Foisor Cristina Adela IM ROM 2402, Zielinska Marta WGM POL 2398, Ushenina
Anna WGM UKR 2398, Vasilevich Irina IM RUS 2386, Wang Yu A. WGM CHN 2385,
Shen Yang CHN 2380, Turova IM RUS 2379, Amura Claudia N. WGM ARG 2366, Ovod
Evgenija IM RUS 2366, Ruan Lufei CHN 2361, Pina Sulennis WGM CUB 2358,
Houska Jovanka IM ENG 2355, Lujan Carolina WGM ARG 2346, Purtseladze Maka IM
GEO 2341, Aketaeva Dana WIM KAZ 2330, Kursova Maria WIM RUS 2319,
Pourkashiyan Atousa WIM IRI 2296, Ju Wenjun CHN 2290, Meenakshi S. WGM IND
2289, Berezina Irina IM AUS 2285, Hou Yifan WFM CHN 2269, Arribas Maritza
WGM CUB 2261, Zapata Karen WIM PER 2218, Hoang Xuan Thanh Khiet WIM VIE
2196, Rivera Ingris COL 2128, Khoudgarian Natalia WIM CAN 2106, Basta-Sohair
F. WIM EGY 2083, Sabure Tuduetso WGM BOT 2072, Mezioud Amina ALG 1989.
Official site |
|
|
The 15th
Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess Tournament will be held in Monaco March
18-30 2006. The players are: Veselin Topalov g BUL 2801 (born 1975),
Viswanathan Anand g IND 2792 (1969), Peter Svidler g RUS 2765 (1976), Levon
Aronian g ARM 2752 (1982), Peter Leko g HUN 2740 (1979), Vassily Ivanchuk g
UKR 2729 (1969), Boris Gelfand g ISR 2723 (1968), Alexander Morozevich g RUS
2721 (1977), Alexander Grischuk g RUS 2717 (1983), Francisco Vallejo Pons g
ESP 2650 (1982), Loek Van Wely g NED 2647 (1972), Peter Heine Nielsen g DEN
2644 (1973). Vladimir Kramnik withdrew from the event because of health
problems. The prizefund is Euro 216.000 |
|
|
The
Championships of Russia: juniors under 20 is taking place in
Cheboksary 1-13 March. The tournament comprises round robin tournaments with
12 participants, the title is for Champions.
Official site.
Result: Boris
Grachev
and Elena Tairova became the Champions of Russia under 20. |
|
|
Obituary:
Chess Master
Peter Manetti died in Guerneville, Sonoma County, California on March 8,
2006 of prostate cancer. He succumbed after a long illness. Two years ago he
was given six months to live. He outlived his prognosis. |
3-11-2006
Chess News North America
|
|
 The
U.S. Chess Championship takes place in San Diego March 1st-12th
2006. There are two groups of 32 players, the winners of each will
meet in a final for the title. These matches are of two games of
rapid chess, with blitz tiebreaks. Group A top participants:
Onischuk Alexander g 2650, Nakamura Hikaru g 2644,
Ibragimov Ildar g 2635, Akobian Varuzhan g 2600, Finegold
Banjamin m 2563, Goldin Alexander g 2598, Stripunsky
Alexander 2564, Kudrin Sergey g 2554, Benjamin Joel g
2576, Dlugi Max g 2531, De Firmian Nick g 2547, Serper
Gregory g 2517, Gurevich Dmitry g 2503. |
|
|
Group A Round 8 Leaders
| No. |
T |
Name |
USCF |
FIDE |
|
Pts
|
| 1 |
GM |
Onischuk, Alexander |
2686 |
2650 |
|
6.5 |
| 2 |
GM |
Nakamura, Hikaru |
2774 |
2644 |
|
5.5 |
| 3 |
GM |
Ibragimov, Ildar |
2707 |
2635 |
|
5.5 |
| 4 |
GM |
Akobian, Varuzhan |
2662 |
2600 |
|
5.5 |
| 5 |
GM |
Stripunsky, Alexander |
2642 |
2564 |
|
5.5 |
| 6 |
GM |
Goldin, Alexander |
2642 |
2598 |
|
5.0 |
| 7 |
GM |
Kudrin, Sergey |
2627 |
2554 |
|
5.0 |
| 8 |
IM |
Fernandez, Daniel |
2424 |
2423 |
|
5.0 |
Alexander Onischuk |
Yuri Shulman |
Group B Round 8 Leaders
| No. |
T |
Name |
USCF |
FIDE |
|
Pts
|
| 1 |
GM |
Shulman, Yury |
2623 |
2581 |
|
6.5 |
| 2 |
GM |
Kamsky, Gata |
2729 |
2686 |
|
5.5 |
| 3 |
GM |
Christiansen, Larry |
2633 |
2546 |
|
5.5 |
| 4 |
GM |
Shabalov, Alexander |
2665 |
2595 |
|
5.0 |
| 5 |
GM |
Novikov, Igor |
2643 |
2575 |
|
5.0 |
| 6 |
GM |
Fishbein, Alexander |
2593 |
2519 |
|
5.0 |
| 7 |
GM |
Yermolinsky, Alex |
2590 |
2554 |
|
5.0 |
|
|
|
Self-Indulgent Favorite
Photo-Section from US Open and Music Too!
First
here’s ‘Terminator’ Alex Stipunsky, then Emory Tate Jr. 19-year-old
Batchimeg Tuvshintugs who was born in Mongolia, and Anna Zatonskih:
|
|
|
 In a
series of responses to set questions with the players Boris Gulko
admits that there is nothing currently playing on his MP3 player,
whereas Dean Ippolito admits to “I’m a Little Teapot”, and
Alex Ivanov admits liking Joe Dassin. 2455-rated Josh Friedel
from Goffstown NH is doing Voodoo Child by Hendrix. Laura Ross,
17 from Forest Hills NY is into “Que Onda Guera” by Beck. Leaders
Onishuk isn’t listening to anything but Shulman is into ‘some Russian
music.’
*
Current standings
*
Download all the games
*
Rules and regulations
* Official site
*
Chessville's Special Preview
Report
|
|
|
Next Big Thing:
The
Susan Polgar Foundation proudly
presents the First Annual Susan
Polgar World Open Chess Championship
for Girls under 21 as part of the Las Vegas International Chess Festival,
June 16 - 18, 2006 | Las Vegas, Nevada. Format: 6 SS |
Sections: Under 21, 15, 13 and 10 (as of June 14, 2006). Time
control: G/45. Information courtesy Susan Polgar.
More information can be
found here. |
Chess News Around the World
|
|
 The
second half of the tournament in Linares (Spain) begans 3rd March.
The prize fund is 380.000 Euros. Participants: Veselin Topalov g BUL 2801
(born 1975), Peter Svidler g RUS 2765 (1976), Levon Aronian g ARM 2752
(1982), Peter Leko g HUN 2740 (1979), Vassily Ivanchuk g UKR 2729 (1969),
Etienne Bacrot g FRA 2717 (1983), Teimour Radjabov g AZE 2700 (1987) and
Francisco Vallejo Pons g ESP 2650 (1982). Stuggling Topalov, near the
bottom of the table, got off to a great start against when the games resumed
in Spain after he had not scored well in Mexico, in fact he was on the
bottom of the table. Then he beat Petr Svidler by scoring a whole
point with the black pieces, then in the next game beat Bacrot with the
black pieces, then in the next beat Aronian with the white pieces, then
stabilized his position near the top of the table with 2 draws; AND THEN…
|
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...with
one round to go the seemingly impossible happens, from the bottom of the
table Topalov moves directly to the top. This is the play of a strong
world champion hitting his championship form play against an extremely
strong field. In the final round, Leko, with the white pieces, managed
to lose to Aronian in 40 moves. One of the best performances of his
career, our congratulations to Levon Aronian!
|
|
|
The
Championships of Russia: juniors under 20 is taking place in Cheboksary 1-13
March. The tournament comprises round robin tournaments with 12
participants, the title is for Champions of Russia, boys and girls. The
highest ranked male player is Elo 2586, and female 2349.
 |
Round 8 standings:
1 Savchenko 5.0
2 Tomashevsky 5.0
3 Vitiugov 5.0
4 Nepomniachtchi 5.0
Official site |
|
|
|
 The
Hungarian Championship took place in Szekesfehervar, 1st-9th March
2006.
Zoltan Almasi became the Champion.
Official site
Final standings:
1 Almasi Zoltan g 2646 - 6.5
2-3 Gyimesi Zoltan g 2602, Balogh Csaba g 2561 - 5.5
4-6 Berkes Ferenc g 2597, Ruck Robert g 2540, Cao Sang g 2543 - 5.0
7 Sax Gyula g 2539 - 4.5
8 Szabo Krisztian m 2447 - 3.0
9-10 Portisch Lajos g 2533, Horvath Adam g 2532 - 2.5 |
|
|
The Polish Championship took place in Krakow 25th
February - 9th March 2006. Mateusz Bartel took the title.
Official site
Final standings:
1 Bartel Mateusz g 2524- 8.5
2-5 Socko Bartosz g 2610, Wojtaszek Radoslaw g 2605, Bobras Piotr g 2531,
Macieja Bartlomiej g 2585 - 7.0
6 Czarnota Pawel m 2497 - 6.5
7 Heberla Bartlomiej m 2487 - 6.0
8-10 Dziuba Marcin m 2491, Gajewski Grzegorz m 2486, Markowski Tomasz g 2565
- 5.5
11 Kempinski Robert g 2619 - 5.0
12 Grabarczyk Miroslaw g 2479 - 4.0
13 Warakomski Tomasz f 2430 3.5 |
3-4-2006
Chess News North America
|
|
2006 U.S. Junior Chess Congress - Breaks Attendance Record!
 260
chess enthusiasts under the age of 19 participated this past weekend in
the 2006 U.S. Junior Chess Congress. The six round national chess
championship was held at the East Middle School in Anderson, Indiana
under the direction of Chief Tournament Director Scott Reisinger.
The 260 chess players represented only eight US states! The
championship was divided up into six sections for individual winners as
well as team competition. The winners of each section were:
18 & Under:
1st - Matthew Fouts (IN) 5 points.
Team winner: Terre Haute South Vigo HS (Terre Haute, IN)
16 & Under:
1st - Evan Hanley (IN) 5 points.
Team winner: Lafayette Jefferson HS (Lafayette, IN)
14 & Under:
1st - Gautam Nagendra 5 points.
Team winner: Canterbury School (Ft. Wayne, IN)
12 & Under:
1st - Boris Xu (GA) 6 points (perfect score)
Team winner: Sycamore School (Indianapolis, IN)
10 & Under:
1st - Sean Vibbert 5.5 points.
Team winner: Evansville Chess Club (Evansville, IN)
8 & Under:
1st - Stevan Kriss (KY) 5.5 points.
Team winner: Kentucky Knights Chess Club (KY)
Finals results for all players will be posted at the
official website soon. |
Chess News Around the World
|
|
And this year
at Linares the tournament is divided into 2 parts: the first half of
the tournament took place in Morelia (Mexico).
Standings after round 9:
1.- Leko 6 / 9
2.- Aronian 5.5
3-5 Radjabov, Topalov, Svidler 4.5
6-7 Ivanchuk, Vallejo 4
8.- Bacrot 3
Chessville coverage |
|
|
The second half in Linares (Spain) began 3rd March. The
prize fund is 380.000 Euros. Participants: Veselin Topalov g BUL 2801
(born 1975), Peter Svidler g RUS 2765 (1976), Levon Aronian g ARM 2752
(1982), Peter Leko g HUN 2740 (1979), Vassily Ivanchuk g UKR 2729 (1969),
Etienne Bacrot g FRA 2717 (1983), Teimour Radjabov g AZE 2700 (1987) and
Francisco Vallejo Pons g ESP 2650 (1982).
Stuggling
Topalov got off to a great start against Svidler by scoring a whole point
with the black pieces, and Bacrot also scored a point with black against
Ivanchuk. The other two games were drawn. |
|
|
The
Championships of Russia: juniors under 20 is taking place in Cheboksary 1-13
March. The tournament comprises round robin tournaments with 12
participants, the title is for Champions of Russia, boys and girls. The
highest ranked male player is Elo 2586, and female 2349.
Official site |
|
|
The Cappelle la Grande tournament took place 18th-25th February 2006.
Final
Standings:
1 Moiseenko Alexander g UKR 2657 7.5
2 Gashimov Vugar g AZE 2625 7.0
3 Goloshchapov Alexander g UKR 2533 7.0
4 Azarov Sergei g BLR 2581 7.0
5 Drozdovskij Yuri g UKR 2509 7.0
6 Grigoriants Sergey g RUS 2550 7.0
7 Sasikiran Krishnan g IND 2670 7.0
8 Burmakin Vladimir g RUS 2519 7.0
9 Szelag Marcin m POL 2468 7.0 |
2-25-2006
Chess News Podcast:
Mostly for beginners, but an interesting demonstration of technology for
chess, are podcasts available from Alexandra Kosteniuk:
http://www.kosteniuk.com/podcast/
Chess News North America
|
|
1088 chess enthusiasts made up 272 teams to compete
in the 2006 U.S. Amateur Team East (USATE) Chess Championship
held at the Parsippany Hilton Feb. 18-20 in Parsippany, New Jersey.
1st Place: My G8 Predecessors
2nd Place: UTD White
3rd Place: Mike Khodarkovsky’s
Tycoons
4th Place: The Fed Express
5th Place: Hikaru Wins the Games
My
G8 Predecessors
secured first place and will represent the USATE in an online playoff
against the other three winners from the: 2006 U.S. Amateur Team
Mid-West (USATMW), 2006 U.S. Amateur Team West (USATW) and 2006 U.S.
Amateur Team South (USATS). Details for the playoff will be announced
soon, say USCF. |
Chess News Around the World
|
|
 And
this year at Linares the tournament is divided into 2 parts: the
first half of the tournament took place in Morelia (Mexico)
February 18th-26th 2006, at the Palacio de Clavijero in the city of
Morelia, Michoacan. The second half in
Linares (Spain). The prize fund is 380.000 Euros.
Participants: Veselin Topalov g BUL 2801 (born 1975), Peter Svidler g
RUS 2765 (1976), Levon Aronian g ARM 2752 (1982), Peter Leko g HUN 2740
(1979), Vassily Ivanchuk g UKR 2729 (1969), Etienne Bacrot g FRA 2717
(1983), Teimour Radjabov g AZE 2700 (1987) and Francisco Vallejo Pons g
ESP 2650 (1982). The web site also offers information on two other
tournaments to take place in Morelia. See Official site in Mexico:
www.moreliachess.com.
Chessville coverage |
|
|
Before this round currently famous player Topalov was
infamous! He sat at the bottom of the table, with Svidler and Leko playing
confidently and clear leaders at the top. Then came two Round 5 Queen pawn
openings with very different results…
It must
feel fantastic for Toppy to bounce back into the race with a fine win with
the black pieces over Ivanchuk, who seemed to retreat his pieces after the
opening, allowing Toppy the two bishops in a semi-open position, then
allowed simplifying play to allow black to activate all his pieces and to
comprise white's k side position; a shot at move 36 with a temporary knight
sac settled the game result at move 40. |
|
|
Meanwhile Svidler couldn't hold Aronian even though his
game seemed completely equal at move 30, by move 35 Svidler had sacked a
pawn, and also allowed White to gain a supported passed-pawn, apparently
thinking he still had a draw in hand, but he had to resign the black pieces
at move 38.
|
Its
interesting that even though he lost this game Svidler is still in
clear 2nd place, a half point from the lead. Speculation on
Leko and Svidler has always been that one of them would become world
champion. In the aftermath of Kasparov’s era in chess the world waits
for a new player to emerge and claim the crown by consistently
demonstrated high level play, and this will be the chess agenda for
Topalov, Svidler and Leko over the next few years. |
 |
|
 |
Round 5
standings:
1 Leko 4.0
2 Svidler 3.5
3 Aronian 3.0
4 Ivanchuk 2.0
5 Bacrot 2.0
6 Topalov 2.0
7 Radjabov 2.0
8 Vallejo Pons 1.5 |
|
|
|
The
Cappelle la Grande tournament takes place 18th-25th February 2006.
Partcipants: Sasikiran Krishnan g IND 2670, Delchev Aleksander g BUL 2661,
Moiseenko Alexander g UKR 2657, Korneev Oleg g RUS 2649, Gashimov Vugar g
AZE 2625, Miroshichenko Evgenij g UKR 2619, Guseinov Gadir g AZE 2607,
Baklan Vladimir g UKR 2601, Roiz Michael g ISR 2599, Riazantsev Alexander g
RUS 2594, Popov Valerij g RUS 2592, Rozentalis Eduardas g LTU 2582, Azarov
Sergei 2581, Brodsky Michail g UKR 2581, Spraggett Kevin g CAN 2581, Golod
Vitali g ISR 2577, Erenburg Sergey g ISR 2573, Luther Thomas g GER 2569,
Andersson Ulf g SWE 2562, Shengelia Davit g GEO 2562, Sorokin Maxim g RUS
2560 etc.
Round
6 leaders standings:
1 g Moiseenko Alexander UKR 2657 5.5
2 g Gashimov Vugar AZE 2625 5.0
3 g Goloshchapov Alexander UKR 2533 5.0
4 g Luther Thomas GER 2569 5.0
5 g Vysochin Spartak UKR 2551 5.0
6 g Drozdovskij Yuri UKR 2509 5.0
7 g Grigoriants Sergey RUS 2550 5.0
8 g Azarov Sergei BLR 2581 5.0
9 g Malakhatko Vadim UKR 2556 5.0
10 g Belikov Vladimir RUS 2528 5.0
11 g Kulaots Kaido EST 2558 5.0
12 g Shengelia Davit GEO 2562 5.0
Then come 24 very strong players all at 4.5 points.
Official site |
|
|
The FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship 2006 will take place in
Ekaterinburg, Russia from 10-27 March 2006.
The list of 64 final participants is posted at:
http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=951 |
2-18-2006
Chess News North America
|
|
 Highly
recommended:
A
selection of pictures from Mark Taimanov’s photo album is current
appearing at www.chessbase.com,
with a few anecdotes about famous players and politicians, including one
of Mark Taimanov and Larry Evans with Che Guevara looking on. For
more about this legendary Russian GM
and former World Championship candidate, see
his 20 Questions
interview, and his annotations to
Taimanov-Fischer, 1971 World Championship Quarterfinal
Candidate's Match, in the
March 2004 Lesson's Learned: A Defeat Which Could Not Be Forgotten. |
Chess News Around the World
|
|
The official website of the European Chess
Championship 2005 (Zegrze Poludniowe / Warsaw / Poland)
http://www.eurochamp.pl/film/index.html is featuring a
20-minute film devoted to that event. The film was originally
broadcast in Stockholm's local channel, in Sweden, on the 18th
of July 2005. Viewing requirements: Flash8.
Krzymowski Chess TV Production, is
the biggest chess TV producer in the world. They have produced and aired
over 30 hours of chess material in Stockholm's local channel, in Sweden,
and produce reports from tournaments, make interviews and compose chess
films. You can
contact them by e-mailing
tv@mittischack.se
, or telefax: +46-8-106811. It is also possible to mail to: Krzymowski
Chess TV, Box 2071, 103 12 Stockholm, Sweden.
Information courtesy: Bartlomiej Macieja. |
|
|
On
Again:
Match on a title of the World Chess Champion between Vladimir
Kramnik (Russia) and Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) will take place
in mid September this year in Elista (Kalmykia) according to a
press-conference by the President of FIDE Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. It is
planned that contracts with participants will be signed in the near future.
The match will consist of 12 games with the 7-hour time control. In case the
match results in a draw after 12 games, additional games will be played
until one of the players wins a game. The prize fund of 1.2 dollars will be
divided 50/50 between participants irrespective of the result. The winner of
this match will be included in the general system of carrying out the World
Chess Championships. |
|
|
And
this year at Linares the tournament is divided into 2 parts: the
first half of the tournament takes place in Morelia (Mexico) February
18th-26th 2006, at the Palacio de Clavijero in the city of Morelia,
Michoacan. The second half in Linares (Spain). The prize fund is
380.000 Euros. Participants: Veselin Topalov g BUL 2801 (born 1975), Peter
Svidler g RUS 2765 (1976), Levon Aronian g ARM 2752 (1982), Peter Leko g HUN
2740 (1979), Vassily Ivanchuk g UKR 2729 (1969), Etienne Bacrot g FRA 2717
(1983), Teimour Radjabov g AZE 2700 (1987) and Francisco Vallejo Pons g ESP
2650 (1982). The web site also offers information on two other
tournaments to take place in Morelia. See Official site in Mexico:
www.moreliachess.com |
|
|
  The
Aeroflot Open took place in Moscow 8th-17th February 2006.
Among participants: Shakhrijar Mamedjarov g AZE 2709, Vladimir Akopian g
ARM 2704, Alexei Dreev g RUS 2697, Vladimir Malakhov g RUS 2694,
Areshchenko Alexander g UKR 2670, Krishnan Sasikiran g IND 2670, Zahar
Efimenko g UKR 2666, Dmitry Jakovenko g RUS 2662, Viorel Bologan 2661,
Alexander Khalifman g RUS 2660, Arkadij Naiditsch 2657, Alexander
Moiseenko g UKR 2657, Pavel Eljanov g UKR 2655, Artem Timofeev g RUS
2653, Aleksej Aleksandrov g BLR 2653, Evgeniy Najer 2652, Zvaid Izoria g
GEO 2652, Konstantin Sakaev g RUS 2649, Karen Asrian g ARM 2646, Bu
Xiangxi g CHN 2645, Kiril Georgiev g BUL 2645, Alexander Motylev g RUS
2638, Evgeny Alekseev g RUS 2634 etc. The winner of this event
will take part in Dortmund tournament. |
|
|
Leaders Final standings:
1 Jobava 6.5
2 Bologan 6.5
3 Sasikiran 6.5
4 Mamedyarov 6.5
5 Eljanov 6.0
6 Vachier-Lagrave 6.0
7 Petrosian 6.0
8 Akopian 6.0
9 Georgiev 6.0
10 Naiditsch 6.0
11 Jakovenko 6.0 |
Baadur Jobava
Several Chess stars were in Moscow, including
Evgeny Sveshnikov, and Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Official site
|
|
 |
 |
|
2-11-2006
Chess News North America
|
|
United
States Chess Federation’s Scholastic Director Jerry Nash has
announced the return of a stand-alone publication to address the needs
of the scholastic community. The target audience of the new bi-monthly
Chess Life, Jr. (CLjr) will be students age 12 and younger, but
will also have articles of interest for parents, teachers, and coaches.
CLjr will coordinate its presentation with the
USCF website, to expand its
coverage of events across the country and around the world. Former
Chess Life editor Glenn Petersen will be the editor of the new
publication, premiering April, 2006. |
Chess News Around the World
|
|
Happy
Birthday! Mark Taimanov is 80! As a professional pianist
Mark Taimanov was included in the top 1000 best musical performers of
20th century. In his ‘other’ career Chessville had the pleasure
and privilege of
interviewing him a few years ago in 20-Questions format, and also
receiving his contribution to Lesson’s Learned, which featured his 3rd
match game against Robert James Fischer (A Defeat Which Could Not Be
Forgotten) a game that achieved possibly the most complex
position in chess from the C20th? |
|
|
The German Championship takes place in Osterburg 2nd-12th February
2006. The participants: Gustafsson Jan GM 2614, Jussupow Artur GM
2605, Graf Alexander GM 2604, Khenkin Igor GM 2595, Luther Thomas GM 2569,
Prusikin Michael GM 2563, Kritz Leonid GM 2561, Baramidze David GM 2544,
Naumann Alexander GM 2532, Sprenger Jan-Michael IM 2505, Meister Jakov IM
2502, Tischbierek Raj GM 2466, Kunin Vitaly IM 2462, Meins Gerlef IM 2446,
Heinemann Thies IM 2443, Henrichs Thomas IM 2434 ... 46 players.
|
 |
Round 8 leaders:
1 Kritz 6.0
2 Khenkin 5.5
3 Henrichs 5.5
4 Kunin 5.5
5 Luther 5.5
6 Jussupow 5.5 |
Official site:
www.chess-international.de/ticker/dem2006/index.html
The information was given by Franz Jittenmeier. |
|
|
The
Aeroflot Open takes place in Moscow 8th-17th February 2006. Among
participants: Shakhrijar Mamedjarov g AZE 2709, Vladimir Akopian g ARM 2704,
Alexei Dreev g RUS 2697, Vladimir Malakhov g RUS 2694, Areshchenko Alexander
g UKR 2670, Krishnan Sasikiran g IND 2670, Zahar Efimenko g UKR 2666, Dmitry
Jakovenko g RUS 2662, Viorel Bologan 2661, Alexander Khalifman g RUS 2660,
Arkadij Naiditsch 2657, Alexander Moiseenko g UKR 2657, Pavel Eljanov g UKR
2655, Artem Timofeev g RUS 2653, Aleksej Aleksandrov g BLR 2653, Evgeniy
Najer 2652, Zvaid Izoria g GEO 2652, Konstantin Sakaev g RUS 2649, Karen
Asrian g ARM 2646, Bu Xiangxi g CHN 2645, Kiril Georgiev g BUL 2645,
Alexander Motylev
g
RUS 2638, Evgeny Alekseev g RUS 2634 etc. The winner of this event
will take part in Dortmund tournament. Official tournament of the ACP
Tour. Official site |
|
|
 Just
finished is The Cuernavaca Young Masters round robin tournament in
Mexico 1st-11th February 2006. The participants: Ponomariov Ruslan g
UKR 2723, Volokitin Andrei g UKR 2665, Karjakin Sergey g UKR 2660, Bruzon
Lazaro g CUB 2650, Vallejo Pons Francisco g ESP 2650, Nakamura Hikaru g USA
2644, Dominguez Lenier g CUB 2638, Cheparinov Ivan g BUL 2625, Felgaer Ruben
g ARG 2607, Leon Hoyos Manuel m MEX 2428.
Official site
(Spanish language site). Final standings:
|
1
|
Vallejo Pons, Francisco - GM |
2650
|
ESP
|
6.5
|
|
|
Ponomariov, Ruslan - GM |
2723
|
UKR
|
6.5
|
|
3
|
Nakamura, Hikaru - GM |
2644
|
USA
|
6.0
|
|
4
|
Domínguez, Leinier -GM |
2638
|
CUB
|
5.5
|
|
5
|
Bruzón, Lázaro - GM |
2650
|
CUB
|
5.0
|
|
6
|
Volokitin, Andrei - GM |
2665
|
UKR
|
4.5
|
|
7
|
Cheparinov, Ivan - GM |
2625
|
BUL
|
4.0
|
|
8
|
Karjakin, Sergey - GM |
2660
|
UKR
|
3.5
|
|
9
|
León, Manuel - IM |
2428
|
MEX
|
2.0
|
|
10
|
Felgaer, Rubén - GM |
2607
|
ARG
|
1.5
|
|
|
|
 The
International Moscow festival "Moscow Open 2006" took place in Moscow
29th January - 6 February. The organizer of the event is Moscow Chess
Federation. Dreev Alexei g RUS 2697, Aleksandrov Aleksej g BLR 2653,
Belov Vladimir g RUS 2608, Winner = Alexander g RUS 2594, Riazantsev
Alexander g RUS 2594, Bocharov Dmitry g RUS 2590, Khismatullin Denis g RUS
2576, Rustemov Alexander g RUS 2573, Amonatov Farrukh g TJK 2564 etc. The
prize fund is 700000 rubles (about $25000).
|
Final Standings:
1 Lastin, Alexander 7.5
2 Grachev, Boris 7.5
3 Rychagov, Andrey 7.0 |
Official site |
|
2-4-2006
Chess News North America
|
|
USCF
membership Numbers:
are
posted, courtesy Peter Nixon at
http://detroitchess.com/USCFmem2.htm |
|
|
A late notice of an LA Open Tournament: This
coming first Sunday of the month, Feb. 5th, will be the occasion of a free,
unrated, open, three-round chess tournament. Cash prizes will *NOT* be
awarded.
The
Library's address and contact information is:
Exposition Park Regional Library
3665 South Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90007
Tel: 1 323 732 0169
Fax: 1 213 612 0540 |
Chess News Around the World
|
|
Just
started is The Cuernavaca Young Masters round robin tournament in
Mexico 1st-11th February 2006. The participants: Ponomariov Ruslan g UKR
2723, Volokitin Andrei g UKR 2665, Karjakin Sergey g UKR 2660, Bruzon
Lazaro g CUB 2650, Vallejo Pons Francisco g ESP 2650, Nakamura Hikaru g
USA 2644, Dominguez Lenier g CUB 2638, Cheparinov Ivan g BUL 2625,
Felgaer Ruben g ARG 2607, Leon Hoyos Manuel m MEX 2428. |
|
|
|
 |
Round 1:
Ponomariov - Nakamura 1/2
Volokitin - Vallejo Pons 1/2
Cheparinov - Karjakin 1/2
Bruzon - Dominguez 1/2
Leon Hoyos - Felgaer ½ |
|
|
|
I’m not going to comment on 5 games 5 draws. Let’s call it nerves.
Round 2 was more decisive:
|
1 |
Karjakin, Sergey |
1/2
- 1/2 |
Domínguez, Leinier |
|
2 |
Felgaer, Rubén |
1/2
- 1/2 |
Bruzón, Lázaro |
|
3 |
Vallejo Pons, Francisco |
1 -
0 |
León, Manuel |
|
4 |
Nakamura, Hikaru |
1 -
0 |
Volokitin, Andrei |
|
5 |
Cheparinov, Ivan |
1/2
- 1/2 |
Ponomariov, Ruslan |
Chessville coverage
Official site
(Spanish) |
|
|
The Gibtelecom Chess Festival took place
24th January - 2nd February 2006 in Gibraltar. The participants: Shirov
Alexei g ESP 2709, Akopian Vladimir g ARM 2704, Short Nigel g ENG 2676,
Bologan Viktor g 2661 MDA, Kobalia Mikhail g 2654 RUS, Georgiev Kiril g
2645 BUL, Gurevich Mikhail g 2629 TUR, Volkov Sergey g 2629 RUS,
Sutovsky Emil g 2624 ISR, Korchnoi Viktor g 2608 SUI etc. Final
standings:
1 Georgiev Kiril 8.5
2 Short Nigel 7.5
3 Sutovsky Emil 7.5
4 Akopian Vladimir 7.0
5 Areshchenko Alexander 7.0
6 Efimenko Zahar 7.0
7 Gurevich Mikhail 7.0
8 Gyimesi Zoltan 7.0
9 Shirov Alexei 7.0
10 Volkov Sergey 7.0
11 Al-Modiakhi Mohamad 6.5
12 Bellon Lopez Juan 6.5 |
13 Bologan Viorel 6.5
14 Kobalia Mikhail 6.5
15 Korchnoi Victor 6.5
16 Pavlovic Milos 6.5
17 Pelletier Yannick 6.5
18 Sandipan Chanda 6.5
19 Spragget Kevin 6.5
20 Stefanova Antoaneta 6.5
21 Sundararajan Kidambi 6.5
22 Zhu Chen 6.5
23 Zhukova Natalia 6.5
|
No
photos from this event were available at the website by the final round.
An early look at Round 10 games had tournament leader Georgiev at least
equal against Sutovsky, but a more exciting game in Al-Modiaki against
Nigel Short, who played a Ruy with g6 and f5.
Official Site |
|
|
The
International Moscow festival "Moscow Open 2006" takes place in
Moscow 29th January - 6 February. The organizer of the event is
Moscow Chess Federation. In A tournament take part (the list
changed): Dreev Alexei g RUS 2697, Aleksandrov Aleksej g BLR 2653, Belov
Vladimir g RUS 2608, Lastin Alexander g RUS 2594, Riazantsev Alexander g
RUS 2594, Bocharov Dmitry g RUS 2590, Khismatullin Denis g RUS 2576,
Rustemov Alexander g RUS 2573, Amonatov Farrukh g TJK 2564 etc.
The prize fund is 700,000 rubles (about $25,000.)
Official site |
|
|
| Round 6 leaders:
1 Lastin Alexander 5.5
2 Najer Evgeniy 5.0
3 Kosyrev Vladimir 5.0
4 Nikolenko Oleg 5.0
5 Grachev Boris 5.0
6 Nepomniachtchi Ian 5.0
7 Czarnota Pawel 5.0
8 Ivanov Victor L 5.0 |
|
|
|
|
6th International Chess Festivals Series CZECH TOUR 2006/2007 and
preliminary regulations of 17th International Festival of Chess,
Bridge and Games CZECH OPEN 2006. Dr. Jan Mazuch, Director of
CZECH OPEN & CZECH TOUR - j.mazuch@avekont.cz.
CZECH OPEN - International Festival of Chess, Bridge and Games -
http://www.czechopen.net.
CZECH TOUR - International Chess Festivals Series -
http://www.czechtour.net.
International Chess Calendar -
http://www.avekont.cz/calendar/. Sachovy kalendar turnaju v CR
a SR -
http://www.avekont.cz/kalendar/. Chess shop -
http://www.avekont.cz/shop.
Information courtesy: Jan Mazuch |
1-28-2006
Chess News North America
|
|
College Chess USA, looking for international
action.
A new
inter-collegiate tournament next month open for team registrations at
www.tatiana.net/iccl/.
The tournament will be hosted by the internet chess club, and they have
offered us free ICC accounts to the teams participating in the
tournament. There will be many new teams in the tournament, and it
should prove to be quite competitive. We also are trying to attract some
of the international college teams that participated in the Pan-American
college tournament this year in Miami. Information courtesy: Gregory
Alexander. |
|
|
A USCF board
member, IM Greg Shahade, has resigned after only 5 months in office. |
|
|
Meanwhile USCF have not addressed the boycott
(see
USCF's
Fingerfehler) by their outsourced sales company Chesscafe to books on
America’s own chess heritage! The titles ironically are kept alive and
in print by a British Publisher, Hardinge Simpole. USCF members will
not be able to read about these books on or by:
|
Morphy
Pillsbury
Marshall
Reshevsky--2 vols
Fine
Fischer
Evans |
Parr
Watson
Mednis
Schiller
Denker
Peters
Piatigorsky Cups: 1963 & 1966 |
Or buy them,
since USCF's retailer, Chesscafe, doesn't carry any of them. Silence
has been the stern reply to all inquiries. |
Chess News Around the World
|
|
 The
Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee is taking place January
13th-29th 2006.Participants of A tournament: Topalov Veselin g BUL
2801, Anand Viswanathan g IND 2792, Aronian Levon g ARM 2752, Leko Peter
g HUN 2740, Ivanchuk Vassily g UKR 2729, Gelfand Boris g ISR 2723,
Bacrot Etienne g FRA 2717, Mamedyarov Shakhriyar g AZE 2709, Adams
Michael g ENG 2707, Sokolov Ivan g NED 2689, Kamsky Gata g USA 2686,
Tiviakov Sergei g NED 2669, Karjakin Sergey g UKR 2660, Van Wely Loek g
NED 2647. |
|
|
Topalov continues to prove himself against the best players in the world
and leads the field at round 12. Official
site
Chessville coverage
Standings:1.- Topalov 8.5 / 12
2.- Anand 8
3-5 Gelfand, Karjakin, Adams 7
6.- Ivanchuk 6.5
7.- Leko 6
8-10 Van Wely, Tiviakov, Aronian 5.5
11.- Bacrot 5
12.- Kamsky 4.5
13-14 Mamedyarov, Sokolov 4 |
|
|
 Parrots
Picks from Round 11:
Ivanchuk Topalov; Ivanchuk declined to draw by repeating the
position at move 23 then sacked an exchange at move 31, won it back at
37, to enter an endgame with equal pawns but Topalov’s passed black pawn
on b6.
Leko won the exchange on against Mamedyarov on move 21
of a Ruy, which looks like an unforced error, and wrapped it up at move
37 with 2 white Queens on the board.
Kamsky, struggling in this tournament, player van Wely,
and at move 34 had a Q, B PPP, against R BB PPPP. Black, however, had no
weaknesses.
Adams seemed to lose his way and the initiative at move 24
against Bacrot, but the game ended peaceably at move 39.
Karjakin
found a simple but profound shot at move 50 which
converted his advantage against opponent Sokolov. The clever
Parrot saw the move live on the Java game viewer (see URL below) and
sure enough, Black resigned next move. |
|
|
6th International Chess Festivals Series
CZECH TOUR 2006/2007 and preliminary regulations of
17th International Festival of Chess, Bridge and Games CZECH OPEN 2006.
Dr. Jan Mazuch, Director of CZECH OPEN & CZECH TOUR
-
j.mazuch@avekont.cz
CZECH OPEN - International Festival of Chess, Bridge and Games -
http://www.czechopen.net
CZECH TOUR - International Chess Festivals Series -
http://www.czechtour.net
International Chess Calendar -
http://www.avekont.cz/calendar/
Sachovy kalendar turnaju v CR a SR -
http://www.avekont.cz/kalendar/
Chess shop -
http://www.avekont.cz/shop
Information courtesy: Jan Mazuch |
1-21-2006
Chess News North America
|
|
Now that
the door has been firmly shut on
USCF's new Book &
Equipment
Deal with Chess Cafe,
USCF politicians have come out fighting. A pity this couldn’t have taken
place during the process when it may have been useful, rather than after
it. Of course, the worth of further discussion is now moot. |
|
|
Although the
continuing subject of book-banning by USCF and its sales
representative of specific authors and publishing houses (see
USCF's
Fingerfehler)
is not moot but still a taboo subject in any public discussion by the
National Chess Federation of the USA. |
|
|
Meanwhile in
public newsgroup the subject of Chess Life as an on-line magazine is
being bandied back and forth, in combination with a printed version, and
de-coupled with membership requirements for rated chess. It is meeting some
resistance from politicos who, presumably, are still waiting to see if the
internet is here to stay. |
|
|
Meanwhile, on the content of Chess Life, one
board member has written publicly described an infamous CL
article about, frankly, whoring in Budapest, as adding a ‘literary
dimension’ to the magazine. The full-paragraph reads:
“The recent CL article concerned the
experiences of an itinerant chess player in Hungary. It reminded me of
some of Hemingway's work (especially A Movable Feast). It was too
much for children and it offended some readers, but it sure added a
literary dimension that I believe would be a very welcome addition to CL
when it is separated from Chess Mates.”
Whereas another public newsgroup writer has described
this publishing episode as “pathetic, tawdry and sad” and TheParrot
noticed that when it was first published a female chess organizer from
Chicago wrote in to say that she would quit her membership and never
organize for USCF again.
And by all
these means, we reverse at full speed into the C21st of chess in the USA,
with incidentally just 7% of USCF chess players being female.
I wonder why? This topic is also not exactly welcome, as the recently
published
Chess Bitch
explains. |
Chess News Around the World
|
|
The
Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee is taking place January
13th-29th 2006. Participants of A tournament: Topalov Veselin g
BUL 2801, Anand Viswanathan g IND 2792, Aronian Levon g ARM 2752, Leko
Peter g HUN 2740, Ivanchuk Vassily g UKR 2729, Gelfand Boris g ISR 2723,
Bacrot Etienne g FRA 2717, Mamedyarov Shakhriyar g AZE 2709, Adams
Michael g ENG 2707, Sokolov Ivan g NED 2689, Kamsky Gata g USA 2686,
Tiviakov Sergei g NED 2669, Karjakin Sergey g UKR 2660, Van Wely Loek g
NED 2647. Round 7 standings:
|
1 Topalov 5
2 Karjakin 4.5
3 Anand 4.5
4 Gelfand 4
5 Ivanchuk 5
6 Adams 4
7 Van Wely 3.5 |
8 Leko 3.5
9 Mamedyarov 3
10 Tiviakov 3
11 Aronian 3
12 Bacrot 2.5
13 Sokolov 2.5
14 Kamsky 2 |
|
|
|
Try the live game viewer: recommended Parrot Picks games from
round 6: Adams Ivanchuk with an innovative Sicilian by Micky,
eventually pentrating black’s position with Rf6, but strangely offering
a draw at move 25, which fortunately for Micky was declined. In
Kamsky Anand, where we find Gata suffering alone at the bottom of
the Round 5 table with only a single point, plays against the clear
leader of the tournament who ventured a Queens Gambit Accepted, and by
absurd coincidence with the Adams game, Rf6 effectively seals Anand’s
doom at move 29.
Magnus
Carlsen plays an unusual Pelikan against Naiditsch, and
although his King is shuffled to g6 by move 25 and black is a pawn down,
a nice exchange sacrifice at move 29 provides a pretty swindle at move
33 to end the game! Other games of note are van der Wiel’s 26
move King-storming win against Bensdorp’s English Opening. |
|
|
 Still
time to sign up for a Fide Arbiter Course, anyone? There
will be an arbiters course in Gibraltar from Thursday 26 to Monday 30
January 2006 to be conducted by FIDE Organizers Committee Chairman
Stewart Reuben. There will be an examination and passing this will
be equivalent to one FIDE Arbiter norm. Please download the invitation
in
Word format
and in
pdf format. If anybody should require a formal
invitation for a visa, they need to contact Judy Whurr at
conf.banq@caletahotel.gi.
A book by Stewart Reuben, Chess Organisers Handbook, was published early
July. |
|
|
 And
www.chessbase.com reports a frank
interview with GM Alexander Morozevich: 'I will not play chess all
my life'. The current number eleven in the world is having second
thoughts about the game. "Chess is not my calling, but only a temporary
occupation, one of the methods to develop my intellect," he says, in
this revealing Moscow News interview. Full interview in Russian
language is at:
http://www.mn.ru/issue.php?2006-1-25 |
|
|
 On
the world stage, The Official FIDE site still seems to be
 pushing
associations with the IOC, which of course involves the infamous drug
testing question. There are no notices of any debate on acceptance
of this issue – and not even of any dissent from players world wide. |
|
|
Meanwhile
ACP and its new president is looking ahead: read two good
interviews by Yannick Pelletier and Viorel
Bologan
at the official site. |
1-14-2006
Chess News North America
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100% Chess Politics, Finances and
Organization
this week, at home and abroad
The great debate
surfaces in a public newsgroup over USCF’s deal with Chesscafe, a debate
which raises more questions than answers about what USCF is up to, since
it has gone into hiding since the election, and staffers reportedly told
to keep its affairs secret. |
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Even so, two subjects very important to Chess in the
USA have become hot-topics! The first is the reported book-banning of
authors and even whole publishing houses (see
USCF's
Fingerfehler), and the second to do with USCF’s relationship with the
book vendor Chesscafe (see
The USCF's Book &
Equipment Deal with Chess Cafe), and what happened to
between $175,000 to $250,000 due USCF. See Chessville’s special report,
The USCF's Finger-fehler, a letter
from IM John Donaldson and in response to it UK’s GM Ray Keene, and
today's Squaaawk! |
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How much is a lot? Correspondent and former Chess Life
editor Larry Parr makes the following analysis: I have read and reread
EB 06-018, moved by Joel Channing. It would appear from this document
that Hanon Russell's total debt under the contract he originally signed
would be the original $173,000, plus an additional $350,000 through the end
of March 2006 at the rate of about $29,000 a month. That puts his
total obligation under the old contract at $523,000 -- more than a cool half
mil.
Under the Channing resolution, it appears that Mr. Russell must pay 13.5
percent commission for the months of April-July. So, one deducts, if I
understand correctly, $116,000 from the $523,000, leaving $407,000.
[[[[[ But here I may misunderstand. It is possible that Mr. Russell
will pay far less during these slow sales months -- his obligation being to
pay on sales during that period rather than $29,000 a month.]]]]] At
which point Mr. Russell pays 12 percent with a lower annual guarantee for
the months
August-March 2006. That annual guarantee is $150,000 or $12,500 a
month. So, then, Mr. Russell will pay $100,000 during this period.
One deducts, then, $100,000 from $407,000, leaving a total of $307,000,
minus $86,500 as an agreed payment.
Over the first two years of the contract signed by Mr. Russell, the
Federation has surrendered $220,500. This number is possibly larger,
depending on the amount that Mr. Russell will have to pay for the April-July
2005 period. It seems fair to conclude that the Federation has
forgiven Mr. Russell about $250,000 over the first two years of his original
contract. |
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Meanwhile, in another Chessville interview Paul Troung
tells us what should really be happening to promote chess in the USA
for the C21st. |
Chess News Around the World
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 New
head of ACP: Presidential elections of the Association of
Chess Professionals took place. The new President became
grandmaster
 Pavel
Tregubov (Russia). The board included: Pavel Tregubov
(Russia), Bartlomiej Macieja (Poland), Viorel Bologan (Moldova), Yannick
Pelletier (Switzerland), Igor Glek (Germany), Alexei Shirov (Spain),
Vladimir Chuchelov (Belgium), Elmira Skripchenko (France), Elena Sedina
(Italy). The secretary became Bartlomiej Macieja, the treasurer -
Elmira Skripchenko. |
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And a Conference on Developing Chess: Russian Chess Federations
from the Volga region, Southern and Central federal districts declare a
 First
All-Russia Conference "Actual problems of development of chess in
Russia". to take place from January 11th till January 14th 2006 in
the Samara area. During the Conference problems of chess life in Russia,
including questions of children's chess, refereeing, qualification,
chess clubs, women’s chess, problems of professional chess players,
rapid chess and decision-making methods will be discussed.
Official site |
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Fide
Arbiter Course, anyone? There will be an arbiters course in
Gibraltar from Thursday 26 to Monday 30 January 2006 to be conducted by
FIDE Organizers Committee Chairman Stewart Reuben. There
will be an examination and passing this will be equivalent to one FIDE
Arbiter norm. Please download the invitation in
Word format and in
pdf format. If anybody should require a formal invitation
for a visa, they need to contact Judy Whurr at
conf.banq@caletahotel.gi.
A book by Stewart Reuben, Chess Organisers Handbook, was published early
July. |
1-7-2006
Chess News North America
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Steve
Rubenstein, staff writer of the San Francisco Chronicle reports
Mrs. Koltanowski, 99, who helped her husband [George] run chess
tournaments and compose his chess column for more than five decades,
died last week in her San Francisco apartment after a long illness.
They first met on a blind date! Mr. Koltanowski began writing his
daily chess column in The Chronicle, continuing without
interruption until his death in 2000 at the age of 96. It was the
longest-running chess column in newspaper history, reports the
Chronicle. |
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Correspondent
ex-editor of Chess Life Larry Parr, points out that this is not strictly
true; Hermann Helms' column in the Brooklyn Eagle ran from 1893 to
1955, when the paper itself folded. Helm's magazine, the ACB, had a
run from 1904 to 1963, when Hermann finally folded. See the
full SF Chronicle story. |
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Meanwhile
a revealing
debate surfaces in a public newsgroup over USCF’s deal with Chesscafe, a
debate which raises 20 questions about what USCF is up to, since it has gone
into hiding since the election, and staff threatened with firings if they
speak up. |
Chess News Around the World
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FIDE is announcing the 16 participants of the Candidates Matches for
the World Chess Championship 2007 according to the
FIDE January 2006 Rating List:
Levon Aronian ARM 2752 - Magnus Carlsen NOR 2625
Peter Leko HUN 2740 - Mikhail Gurevich TUR 2633
Ruslan Ponomariov UKR 2723 - Sergey Rublevsky RUS 2665
Boris Gelfand ISR 2723 - Rustam Kasimjanov UZB 2670
Etienne Bacrot FRA 2717 - Gata Kamsky USA 2686
Alexander Grischuk RUS 2716 - Vladimir Malakhov RUS 2694
Judith Polgar HUN 2711 - Evgeny Bareev RUS 2698
Alexei Shirov ESP 2709 - Michael Adams ENG 2707
The pairings were arranged according to article 3.1.A of the
official regulations of the Candidate Matches of the World Chess
Championship 2007. |
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Click here
for:
FIDE January 2006 Rating List for download.
| Player |
ELO rating |
|
Garry Kasparov |
2812 |
| Veselin Topalov |
2801 |
| Viswanathan Anand |
2792 |
| Peter Svidler |
2765 |
| Levon Aronian |
2752 |
| Vladimir Kramnik |
2741 |
| Peter Leko |
2740 |
| Vassily Ivanchuk |
2729 |
| Boris Gelfand |
2723 |
| Ruslan Ponomariov |
2723 |
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 The
Rilton Cup took place in Stockholm 27th December 2005 - 5th
January 2006.
Official
siteFinal leaders standings:
1 Rozentalis, Eduardas LTU 2585 gm - 7.0
2 Ivanov, Sergey RUS 2538 gm - 7.0
3 Nybгck, Tomi FIN 2563 gm - 7.0
4 Postny, Evgeny ISR 2571 gm - 7.0
5 Miezis, Normunds LAT 2469 gm - 7.0
6 Karlsson, Lars SWE 2501 gm - 6.5
7 Johannessen, Leif Erlend NOR 2564 gm - 6.5
8 Berg, Emanuel SWE 2540 gm - 6.5
9 Cicak, Slavko SWE 2496 gm - 6.5
10 Nouro, Mikael FIN 2349 im - 6.5
11 Brynell, Stellan SWE 2496 gm - 6.5 |
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The Hastings Chess Congress takes place 28th December 2005 -
6th January 2006.
Official site
Round 9 leaders:
1 Neverov Valeriy g UKR 2569 - 7.5
2-3 Gagunashvili Merab g GEO 2542, Pavlovic Milos g SCG 2507 - 7.0
4-7 Erenburg Sergey g ISR, Bobras Piotr g POL 2531, Williams Simon m ENG
2452, Colin Vincent m FRA 2374 - 6.5
8-16 Kristjansson Stefan m ISL 2476, Belov Vladimir g RUS 2620, Negi
Parimarjan IND 2396, Kuzubov Yuriy g UKR 2541, Hendriks Willy m NED
2402, Pert Richard G m ENG 2429, Hebden Mark g ENG 2514, Kobese Watu m
RSA 2397, Gordon Stephen J f ENG 2411 - 6.0
I started to watch the Final Round live games Friday 6 Jan and Game 1
was a 9 move draw between two leading players, Neverov 2569, and
Gagunasvili 2542. V. Colin 2376 played a very good last round game
from the Black side to defeat S. Kristjansson 2469 in 30 moves. T he
match has had 5 games broadcast daily by DGT products sensory boards. |
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 Only
six men's and four women's teams came to Iranian city of Esfahan to take
part in the 14th Asian Team Championship. China, gold medal
winners in both categories from Jodhpur (2003) did not arrive this time.
Former Asian champions like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and the Philippines
were missing as well. Because of limited number of participating
teams the event was a double round robin.Vietnam and India dominated
the men's event. India took their first ever Asian Championship
title trouncing Vietnam 3-1 on penultimate round. Iran "A" came
third.
In the women's section Vietnam took gold after very close run ahead
of India and sensational Iran "B". Information courtesy: Wojtek
Bartelski.
Find complete records, standings and all the games from the Esfahan
Championship at
http://www.olimpbase.org |
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Anna
Zatonskih took the title among women defeating Rusadan Goletiani
1.5:0.5 in the women's final. Just announced is the participation of
Alex Onishuk in the 
