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6-30-2007

Chess Quote of the Week from CBS News reports on 2 kids from Texas.  Even though Brownsville is in the second-poorest county in the nation, it's actually known for producing chess champs.

"In a lot of areas, chess is considered maybe sort of a nerdish activity, and in Brownsville chess is the cool thing to do," says Russell Harwood, Chess Program Director, University of Texas at Brownsville.

Your local, on the 8x8s:

Chess Volunteer Opportunities!:  Did you want to get into chess journalism or infrastructural support of chess activities?  Chessville has strong appeal across all skill and age groups in chess, and in response to very strong growth in readership needs to add new positions.  Most jobs require just a few hours per week, and you can review them right here http://www.chessville.com/helpwanted.htm.  Of course, it will mean working with an international crew, English, Spanish, Danish, Israeli, and even American!  Your efforts will reach about five thousand chess players per day in 130 countries; current opportunities are:

TCW Associate Editor - New On the Net
TCW Games Reviewer
Associate Editor for History
Associate Editor for Scholastics
Associate Editor for Beginning Instruction
Associate Editor for Intermediate Instruction
Associate Editor for Advanced Instruction
Webmaster
Assistant Webmaster

Interested persons should visit the page URL above, review the detail, and follow the link to begin a discussion to discover if we have a fit together!

The World Open began last Thursday June 28th and runs 'til Jul 4th in Philly, with the CCA as organizer - this year there are chess political messages on the same page as tournament info.  Live games can be viewed at the MonRoi site, http://www.monroi.com/tournamentgate/WorldOpen07/games.html which on the first day lacked any other information except "Prizes at $400,000 based on 1450 paid entries."

US Women's Championship:

First of all !! kudos!! to Alpheta, a Chessville Forum regular, who has made a contribution to the Brilliancy Prize.  Through the website Goddesschess a $300 Brilliancy Prize has been donated. [See Chessville Forums]

On July 16-20, 2007.  A total prize fund of $25,000 is up for grabs in Stillwater, Oklahoma, with the winner taking home $7,000.  There are also 3 qualifying places for the American Zonal Tournament and various players have the opportunity to score WGM and WIM norms.  A website put up by sponsor Mr. F. Berry is here http://www.uswcc2007.com/ and live games will be shown at http://www.monroi.com/tournamentgate/07USW/.

Her Brilliant Brain:  Susan Polgar wrote this week about her beginnings in chess for a forthcoming National Geographic film:

"I started at this chess club when I was 4 years old.  It brought back a lot of special memories.  This club will be featured in my upcoming film with National Geographic titled "My Brilliant Brain" (I did not choose this title).  This is a scientific film about the human brain.  I agreed to go through a series of test to show the connection between the right and left side of the human brain through chess.  I think this film will open many eyes about this area.  It will be a very important film to argue for chess and education and I hope it will benefit the entire chess community around the world since it will be aired worldwide."

The Association of Chess Professionals, the ACP, have found themselves a sponsor: The Bank Pivdenny has officially announced its eagerness to stage the 2nd ACP World Rapid Cup in January 2008, who made this additional announcement "The total prize fund will amount to 136,000 $US. 16 participants will take part in this KO tournament.  The time control will be 20 minutes with an increment of 5 seconds for each move.  Best players of the 3rd ACP Tour 2006/07 (http://www.chess-players.org/eng/tour/tour_2006/standings.html ) will be entitled to take part.  The Bank has already organized 7 chess tournaments since 2005.  Over 250,000 spectators came to watch."

70,000 children competing in 2,300 schools throughout the UK make for the world's largest chess tournament.  Malcolm Pein reports in the Telegraph that The British Land UK Chess Challenge is now approaching its final stages, still with over two thousand children remaining.  Those qualifying go on to the Terafinal on 18th and 19th August, along with the runners up from the Gigafinal, who will play in two Challengers sections.  The Terafinal, to be held at North Leamington Arts and Technology College, has a £2,000 prize for the winner who receives the title of The Strat.  In addition there is £1,000 for the top girl, £1,000 for the top under 11 player and £300 for the top under 9 player, as well as many other prizes for high scorers.

Fan Mail: "Chessville is the best way to learn chess online. Thanks this Site is exciting, the !BEST! on the net. Miklos from Hungary."

Thanks Miklos!  This puzzle is just for you!  That is, the puzzle is if you can understand a language just to the South-East of you.

NE(OCEKIVANA) POBJEDA

GM Larry Evans u svojoj knjizi Modern Chess Brilliancies, na 175. strani opisuje jedan neobican slucaj sa turnira u Havani 1952. godine: "... U Havani 1952, na jednom od mojih prvih velikih medjunarodnih turnira naucio sam iz prve ruke sta znaci Tartakoverova izjava da "ne mozes dobiti partiju predajom".  Holandski majstor Prins je imao figuru manje protiv jednog od manje poznatih kubanskih sahista, Quesade; njegova pozicija je bila ocigledno beznadezna, ali je on insistirao da partiju prekine. Kada sam upitao Prinsa  zasto odmah nije predao, odgovorio mi je da se sve moze desiti. I zaista njegov protivnik je sutra dozivio srcani udar i umro. Takvo dramaticno rjesenje spasavanja izgubljene partije je mucno. Kao i tako tvrdoglavo ponasanje naseg dragog majstora prema svojim kolegama." Lodewijk Prins, (1913-1999), pobjednik turnira u Wijku 1948. godine. Pozicija Quesada-Prins u kojoj je Prins prema tekstu Larry Evansa prekinuo partiju

The 2nd International Chess Tournament "Aerosvit-2007" took place in Crimean Foros, Ukraine 17th-30th June 2007. Participants: Svidler Peter g RUS 2736, Ivanchuk Vassily g UKR 2729, Jakovenko Dmitry g RUS 2708, Shirov Alexei g ESP 2699, Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter g ROM 2693, Sasikiran Krishnan g IND 2690, Eljanov Pavel g UKR 2686, Karjakin Sergey g UKR 2686, Rublevsky Sergei g RUS 2680, Dominguez Perez Lenier g CUB 2678, Van Wely Loek g NED 2674, Onischuk Alexander g USA 2663.  The average rating is 2693.5.  17th June is arrival day, the 1st round 18th June.  Chief arbiter - International arbiter Leonid Bodankin (Ukraine).  The Shahcom Company provides live coverage of games of this tournament in the playing hall and via internet on the official site and the www.ruschesscom site.

Ivanchuk wins!  Very honorable mention to last year's US Champ Alex Onischuk who lost a first-round game, then lost no more to came on strong near the end to grab 3rd place. Final standings: 1 Ivanchuk - 7.5 2 Karjakin - 7.0 3 Onischuk - 6.0 4 Svidler - 6.0 5 Van Wely - 6.0 6 Shirov - 6.0 7 Dominguez - 5.5 8 Rublevsky - 5.0 9 Jakovenko - 4.5 10 Eljanov - 4.5 11 Sasikiran - 4.0 12 Nisipeanu - 4.0

Sasikiran, writing his move Karjakin, who came in second

Readers might remember that Sergey Karjakin is still only 17 years old, and also note his 2860 performance rating, so far!  Here is playing Loek van Wely. And Sasikran is playing Rublevsky.  Official site: www.ukrchess.org.ua/aerosvit2007.

Born January 18, 1966, in Leningrad; was taught chess by his father when he was six years old.  He achieved the IM title in 1986 and became a GM at the New York Open in 1990.  He is best known for becoming FIDE World Champion in 1999 by winning a knockout tournament in Las Vegas.  He lost the title in the next knockout, held the following year in New Delhi.  Viswanathan Anand eliminated him in the quarterfinals.  Khalifman's other successes include the Russian Championship of 1996 and first place in Essent 2000 with 5.5 points out of 6.  According to the January 2007 edition of the FIDE ratings list, he has a rating of 2619, placing him joint 97th in the world.

Final standings:
1. Khalifman 7
2. Vaganian 6
3. Beliavsky 5 ½
4-6. Andersson, Ribli, Mecking 5
7-9. A. Sokolov, Chiburdanidze, Portisch 4 ½
10-11. Suba, Timman - 4

The Sparkassen Chess Meeting takes place 23rd June - 1st July 2007 in Dortmund. Participants: Viswanathan Anand 2786 IND, Vladimir Kramnik 2772 RUS, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2757 AZE, Peter Leko 2738 HUN, Boris Gelfand 2733 ISR, Magnus Carlsen 2693 NOR, Evgeny Alekseev 2679 RUS, Arkadij Naiditsch 2654 GER.

Round 4 standings: Kramnik leads over Anand, Leko and Carlsen - Alekseev, the Petersburgh player is playing well to hold 2nd place.  Official site: www.sparkassen-chess-meeting.de

1 Kramnik - 3.0
2-3 Alekseev, Anand - 2.5
4-5 Leko, Mamedyarov - 2.0
6-7 Gelfand, Carlsen - 1.5
8 Naiditsch - 1.0

Coming up is one of the annual strongest tournaments in northern Europe, Politiken Cup 2007, July 21-29, Copenhagen, is 10 rounds Open Swiss tournament.  The rate of play is 40 moves for 2 hours and 1 hour is added after move 40.  In case of equal points, a tiebreak is applied: 1. Middle Buchholz, 2. Sonneborn-Berger.  Politiken Cup will be the most important tournament in Denmark for 2007.  Up to now over a hundred players have signed up and, besides the fantastic prizes, the organizers have prepared fun simul and blitz events.  Moreover, the Danish brewery Wiibroe will provide over 300 bottles of its finest beer.  See http://www.sjakk.no/nordisk/ for more information.

6-23-2007

Your local, on the 8x8s:

The New Marshall Chess Club has issued a press release about its new President, Dr. Frank Brady, an International Arbiter of the World Chess Federation (FIDE), was unanimously elected.

The Marshall is recognized as one of the largest and most prestigious chess clubs in the world, with over 25 International Grandmasters and scores of other Masters among some 300 members.  It was founded by Frank J. Marshall, a Grandmaster and U.S. Champion.  The club has been housed in a landmark brownstone building since 1931.

Dr. Brady is the Chair of the Mass Communications Department of St. John's University.  He is the author of ten books, including the perennial chess bestseller, Profile of a Prodigy: The Life and Games of Bobby Fischer.  See www.marshallchessclub.org, though it contains much old information, and some new sections are unavailable as 'under construction'.

And USCF have released preliminary financials of an annual deficit of $57,000, which some observers think a tad understated underneath the forthcoming election, but added to the $130,000 deficit from last year, its starting to sound like real money.

Honorable Chess Gossip:

The US Woman's Championship: the top 10 people from the May list qualify.  Mr. Frank Berry, Stillwater, Virgina, has written with the current list of actually signed-up players:

Krush, Irina 2512
Baginskaite, Camilla 2361
Rohonyan, Katerine 2304
Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg 2263
Abrahamyan, Tatev 2258
Airapetian, Chouchanik 2157
Battsetseg, Tsagaan 2234
Melekhina, Alisa 2168
Zatonish, Anna Undecided due to the recent birth of her baby
and / or
Eynullaueva, Roza 2122
Vicary, Elizabeth 2155 "

Quite obviously, Irina Krush must be considered the very clear favorite, with her 150 point rating lead plus her recent Euro-tour result when she held Carlsen to a draw, must be a huge confidence boost to a continuously improving player.
 

Nigel Short has something say this week about FIDE:

"As to chess politics: it is well known that I supported the Right Move campaign of Bessel Kok in the last FIDE Presidential election.  I have come to the conclusion that FIDE is unreformable in its current state and that corruption and incompetence are deeply entrenched.  Due to the manner with which this election was won, with cash-stuffed envelopes being handed out to the more flexible delegates, I cannot see myself wishing to get involved again in such an ugly process for many years to come.  I will confine myself to rather more modest attempts to promote chess throughout the Commonwealth."

From an interview: http://www.latestchess.com/showInterview.php?id=3

Annual Chessville GM Poetry Competition: Important Notice: Event CANCELLED!  Poems have been dribbling in, but are so .um, so.  Therefore, the all-new GM Blitz painting competition has been launched instead.  See Rare Chess Pics, below.

Another Chess Conference may be of great natural interest to American players: The International Scholastic Chess Convention discussion will contain the following sections: 1. Chess at Schools, 2. Chess in Education, 3. Chess and Technology, 4. Chess for Peace.

The Convention's special guests are invited to be: World Chess Champions GM Anatoly Karpov and GM Susan Polgar.  The International Scholastic Chess Forum will be organized by the International Educational and Cultural Services, Inc., a 501-c3 non-profit organization that established Chess for Peace program in 2005.  The site lists its board of directors:

Dr. Mikhail Korenman - President - Orland Park, Il
Dr. Donna Bogner - Secretary - Hutchinson, KS
Mr. T. William Varney - Director - Manhattan, KS
Mr. Alexander Onischuk - Director - Baltimore, MD
Mrs. Anna Zatonskih - Director - New York, NY

For more information please contact Dr. Mikhail Korenman, the event organizer at intecsus@yahoo.com or visit their web site: http://www.intecsus.org/.

I know Chessville sells Rybka, and avoids self-serving advertising, but this is News Anyway - Rybka wins 15th World Computer Championship, with a score of 10/11 after shredding Shredder in the last round.  Defending champion Junior didn't compete, and second place Silver went to Zappa with 9/11, and 3rd Bronze to Loop.  IM Vasik Rajlich, is the author of Rybka, 2007 world champion.

The 2nd International Chess Tournament "Aerosvit-2007" takes place in Crimean Foros, Ukraine 17th-30th June 2007. Participants: Svidler Peter g RUS 2736, Ivanchuk Vassily g UKR 2729, Jakovenko Dmitry g RUS 2708, Shirov Alexei g ESP 2699, Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter g ROM 2693, Sasikiran Krishnan g IND 2690, Eljanov Pavel g UKR 2686, Karjakin Sergey g UKR 2686, Rublevsky Sergei g RUS 2680, Dominguez Perez Lenier g CUB 2678, Van Wely Loek g NED 2674, Onischuk Alexander g USA 2663.  The average rating is 2693.5. 17th June is arrival day, the 1st round 18th June. Chief arbiter - International arbiter Leonid Bodankin (Ukraine).  The Shahcom Company provides live coverage of games of this tournament in the playing hall and via internet on the official site and the www.ruschess.com site.

Round 4 standings:

1-3 Shirov, Karjakin, Ivanchuk - 2.5
4-10 Dominguez, Svidler, Sasikiran, Onischuk, Jakovenko, Eljanov, Van Wely - 2.0
11 Rublevsky - 1.5
12 Nisipeanu - 1.0

Official site: www.ukrchess.org.ua/aerosvit2007

The Gorenje 2007 tournament in Valjevo took place 13th-21st June 2007.  Participants are: Karpov Anatoly g RUS 2668, Georgiev Kiril g BUL 2660, Nikolic Predrag g BIH 2631, Ivanisevic Ivan g SRB 2614, Roiz Michael g ISR 2605, Stojanovic Mihajlo m SRB 2588, Iordachescu Viorel g MDA 2587, Damljanovic Branko g SRB 2585, Atalik Suat g TUR 2584, Pavasovic Dusko g SLO 2567.

Round 3 standings:

1-3 Atalik, Ivanisevic, Roiz - 2.0
4-7 Karpov, Nikolic, Damljanovic, Stojanovic - 1.5
8 Georgiev, Pavasovic, Iordachescu - 1.0

Mikhail Roiz took first place on tie-breaks.

Official site: www.chessdom.com

Coming up is one of the annual strongest tournaments in northern Europe, Politiken Cup 2007, July 21-29, Copenhagen, is 10 rounds Open Swiss tournament.  The rate of play is 40 moves for 2 hours and 1 hour is added after move 40.  In case of equal points, a tiebreak is applied: 1. Middle Buchholz, 2. Sonneborn-Berger.

Politiken Cup will be the most important tournament in Denmark for 2007.  Up to now over a hundred players have signed up and, besides the fantastic prizes, the organizers have prepared fun simul and blitz events.  Moreover, the Danish brewery Wiibroe will provide over 300 bottles of its finest beer.  See http://www.sjakk.no/nordisk/ for more information.

6-16-2007

The Parrot didn't appear last week because of molting problems too personal to mention, so last week's Squawwk on women in chess now appears at the bottom, and this week's is a Guest Squawwk!  By GM Susan Polgar.

Your local, on the 8x8s visits Vegas:

The New England Masters August 13-17, 2007 website is now up and open for business, visit http://www.newenglandmasters.com/.  4 GMs have confirmed entry so far, Leonid Kritz from Germany (FIDE 2593), Eugene Perelshteyn from USA (2531), Bosko Abramovic from Serbia (2509) and Nigel Davies from England (2501).  The Holiday Inn Peabody (near Boston) is the venue for the tournament.
 

Texas Tech officially sponsor Polgar and Denker youth tournaments.  Signed by Dr. James Brink, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, Mr. Dewain Barber, Chairman of the Denker Committee and authorized representative of the United States Chess Federation and Mr. Paul Truong, Chairman of the Polgar Committee.  One of the main features of the new arrangement seems to be off-setting $50,000 of costs for participants.  Quite an improvement!
 

But the Bronx loses chess clubs in schools, says a report; "Four other schools announced the certain demise of their programs last week.  Citywide, the loss of funds will cripple 118 schools, affecting 20,000 children.  Some 62 schools across the city face losing their programs."

Nakamura won the National Open.  Top scorers:

1 GM Nakamura, Hikaru NY 2738 5.5
2 GM Kortchnoi, Viktor SUI 2664 5.0
3 IM Sevillano, Enrico CA 2571 5.0
4 GM Serper, Gregory WA 2562 5.0
5 IM Friedel, Joshua E NH 2542 5.0
6 IM Gonzalez, Renier FL 2526 5.0
7 IM Matikozyan, Andranik CA 2524 5.0

Honorable Chess Gossip :  Pulitzer Prize Winner Michael Chabon's has a new book, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, and we're in it!  Of all chess sites Chessville was chosen.  Many chess references occur in the title, and are listed on page 414.  Thanks to reader Lawrence Totaro for the mention.

The US Woman's Championship: the top 10 people from the May list will qualify, whenever the May list is published.  And the Parrot asked this week and last, if anyone at all knows who will do so?  No answers yet, just checking.

The Ultimate Computer Chess Challenge 2007 was won by... well, the point is, not by Rybka, and IM Vasik Rajlich author of Rybka has written to the Fide president to ask in effect, what was so 'ultimate' about it, and inquiring after the selection process?  Then IM Rajlich throws down the gauntlet:

"It's no wonder that Rybka is generally considered the undisputed strongest chess program in the world.  Some of the other aspects of the match also raise questions. Chessbase exclusively markets three of the world's top ten engines, so it's a curious coincidence that two of them will participate. Also curious is the involvement of the ICGA - after all, their own self-titled "World Computer Chess Championship" is being held on overlapping dates. This type of apparent division between insiders and outsiders runs counter to all principles of sport and fairness, and I call on you to uphold democratic FIDE norms in the organization of such events.

In the spirit of open competition, I am formally offering a $100,000 computer chess challenge from Rybka to FIDE, who will be represented by the winner of the Ultimate Computer Chess Challenge 2007.  My challenge consists of a 24 game match, at classical time controls, on unlimited hardware and with unlimited opening books, held at 2 games per day over twelve days, with Rybka giving a handicap of one point plus draw odds and thus requiring a score of 13 out of 24 or better to win the match. The prize fund of $100,000 should be a winner-takes-all, loser-pays-all proposition."

Annual Chessville Competition: GM's Parrot Poems!  The, ah, race is on, and two GM Poems have been received so far.  Closing date is last day of June, or until I fall of this perch.
 

They're off Gain!  The World Candidates Matches round 2 starting Wednesday, June 6, 2007:

Round 1: (games 1,2,3,4,5,6 + tie-break)
Carlsen - Aronian 0-1,1/2,1-0,0-1,1-0,1/2,0-1,1/2,1/2,1-0,0-1,0-1 = 5:7
Leko - Gurevich 1/2,1-0,1-0,1-0 = 3.5:0.5
Ponomariov - Rublevsky 1/2,1/2,0-1,1/2,1/2,1/2 = 2.5:3.5
Gelfand - Kasimdzhanov 1/2,1/2,1/2,1/2,1/2,1/2,1-0,1/2,1-0 = 5.5:3.5
Kamsky - Bacrot 1/2,1-0,1-0,1-0 = 3.5:0.5
Grischuk - Malakhov 1-0,1/2,1/2,1-0,1/2 = 3.5:0.5
Polgar - Bareev 1/2,0-1,1/2,0-1,1-0,1/2 = 2.5:3.5
Adams - Shirov 1/2,1/2,1/2,1-0,1/2,0-1,0-1,0-1,1/2 = 3.5:5.5

Round 2
Match 1
Aronian Levon (ARM) 3.5 Shirov Alexei (ESP) 2.5
Match 2
Leko Peter (HUN) 3.5 Bareev Evgeny (RUS) 0 1.5
Match 3
Grischuk Alexander (RUS) 5.5 Rublevsky Sergei (RUS) 3.5
Match 4
Kamsky Gata (USA) 1.5 Gelfand Boris (ISR) 3.5

Official site: www.globalchess.eu

And they're off again in Hungary in the latest series of norm-seeking tournaments.  Spotted in the GM group is US hopeful IM Paschall, William M. USA, 2353, and Canadians GM Bluvshtein, Mark CAN 2520 and IM Roussel-Roozmon, Thomas CAN 2422. In the IM-A group there is an Englishman FM Eggleston, David J ENG 2301 who is doing well, and in IM-B FM Kaufman, Raymond USA 2319, and FM Kaufman, Raymond USA 2319 who is also doing well.  In FM-B there is Brooke, John ENG 1887.

Featuring big wins for Canadian players!  GM Bluvshtein, Mark CAN rating 2520 scored 8 performance rating 2607. IM Roussel-Roozmon, Thomas CAN rating 2422 scored 6.5 performance rating 2506.

The 7th European Individual Senior Championship takes place 2nd-10th June 2007 at Hockenheim (Germany).  The event is 9 rounds Swiss system. I count 158 participants.  The tournament is currently led by Jacob Murey with 18.0, 2nd is 2499-rated Vlastimil Jansa with 16.5, and 3rd Boris Khanukov [round 5] Norman Hutchinson is the only British player I saw in 75th place with 13.5 points, and no Americans seem to be taken part in this large tournament composed mostly of people from Germany and Russia.  Official site: www.euro-seniorchamp.de.vu.

The 2nd International Chess Tournament "Aerosvit-2007" takes place in Crimean Foros, Ukraine 17th-30th June 2007.  Participants: Svidler Peter g RUS 2736, Ivanchuk Vassily g UKR 2729, Jakovenko Dmitry g RUS 2708, Shirov Alexei g ESP 2699, Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter g ROM 2693, Sasikiran Krishnan g IND 2690, Eljanov Pavel g UKR 2686, Karjakin Sergey g UKR 2686, Rublevsky Sergei g RUS 2680, Dominguez Perez Lenier g CUB 2678, Van Wely Loek g NED 2674, Onischuk Alexander g USA 2663.  The average rating is 2693.5.  17th June is arrival day, the 1st round 18th June.  Chief arbiter - International arbiter Leonid Bodankin (Ukraine).  The Shahcom Company provides live coverage of games of this tournament in the playing hall and via internet on the official site and the www.ruschesscom site.  Official site.

6-9-2007

There was no Parrot published this week.

6-2-2007

Your local, on the 8x8s

Letter to the Parrot:

To The Editor, titled: Thanks for Defending Free Speech

Kudos to Chessville for publishing GM Susan Polgar's article (Editor:  Guest Editorial: Susan Polgar Speaks Out) about the USCF Elections.  We know that the sport of chess encompasses some strange people, but anyone who would threaten Susan and her family is a vile and cowardly disgrace.  Susan has worked tirelessly to promote chess and deserves our support.

-  Russ Mollot, www.cxrchess.com

The Parrot notes that the forum where much abuse occurs is USCF's own rather troubled one, and in investigating noticed this interesting statistic: Most users ever online was 31 on Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:44 pm. At the time of looking there were 25 online, plus, so it said [!] 4 moderators.

The US Woman's Championship: the top 10 people from the May list will qualify, whenever the May list is published, and then we can see which qualifiers sign up.

Chess Gossip:

Now complete are 71 studies from Bron plus 71 paintings, see the URL below, although in cruising the site I found a study by Otto Titusz Blathy Mat en 290 coups, which for those of you less linguistically gifted than moi, means Mate in 290 moves.  http://www.jmrw.com/Chess/Bron/base.htm

They're off!  The World Candidates Matches take place May 26th - June 14th, 2007 in Elista, Kalmykia.  Each match will consist of six games, and, if necessary, tie-break rapid games.  Reader's Challenge of the Week:  Adams gets a stupendous attack - but its not quite enough.  Any improvements anyone?

GM Adams (2734) - GM Shirov (2699) [C78]
FIDE candidates Matches Elista, Kalmykia Russia, 29.05.2007

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.axb5 axb5 11.Qd3 0-0 12.Bg5 exd4 13.cxd4 h6 14.Bh4 g5 15.e5 gxh4 16.Qg6+ Kh8 17.Qxh6+ Nh7 18.Bc2 f5 19.exf6 Rf7 20.Ng5 Qxf6 21.Nxf7+ Qxf7 22.Bxh7 Qxh7 23.Qf8+

A rook lift at 23 is seemingly refuted by Nxd4, so if there is anything better, it's likely earlier.  Micky didn't find it OTB.  Can you now?

23...Qg8 24.Qh6+ Qh7 25.Qf8+ Qg8 26.Qh6+ Game drawn 1/2-1/2

Elista game of the Week:

GM Carlsen (2693) - GM Aronian (2759) [A05]
FIDE candidates Matches Elista, Kalmykia Russia, 29.05.2007

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 b6 3.g3 c5 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.0-0 e6 6.Nc3 Be7 7.Re1 d5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.d4 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Be4 11.Ne5 Bxg2 12.Kxg2 0-0 13.e4 Qc8 14.Qg4 Bf6 15.Nf3 Kh8 16.h4 Nc6 17.Bg5 cxd4 18.Bxf6 gxf6 19.cxd4 e5 20.Qxc8 Raxc8 21.d5 Na5 22.h5 Nc4 23.Nh4 Nd6 24.h6 Rc3 25.Rac1 Rfc8 26.Rxc3 Rxc3 27.Nf5 Nxf5 28.exf5 Kg8 29.Re4 Kf8 30.Rg4 Rc7 31.Rg7 b5 32.Rxh7 Kg8 33.Rg7+ Kh8 34.d6 Rd7 35.Kf3 b4 36.Ke4 Rxd6 37.Rxf7 Ra6 38.g4 Kg8 39.h7+ Kh8 40.g5 fxg5 41.f6 White wins 1-0

A huge confidence booster for Carlsen.  After that questionable 19.e5 the very next question was how to win an endgame with even material against a 2759-rated opponent?  They should put this one in the books to demonstrate the 'rook lift' and also the shock of that 39.h7.

The 1st World Women's Team Chess Championship took place May 19th- 30th 2007 in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Ten women's teams participated in the event: Armenia, Botswana, China, Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Vietnam.

Caption 1 (above, right):  Rising Star Hou Yifan is a Fischer fan. "-I was born in a Chinese town Tianschu; but at the moment together with my mother I am living in Beijing, where there is the National Chess Centre with a boarding school for young talented chess players which are selected throughout the country.  My coach is Grandmaster Ye."  She answered who was her favorite player?  "Well, I wouldn't single out any among women.  I like many players, but it's hard to name an idol.  As for men - it's certainly Robert Fischer."

Whereas her team Captain Zhao Xue (Caption 2, left) had another favorite, "I like to read Karpov's books and Russian history!"

The program for the US Women's Team, who won a silver medal two years ago, was terminated and so the US did not compete.  Official site: www.chesswomen.com

The traditional 37th Bosna tournament took place May 18th-28th 2007 in Sarajevo.  Double round robin with: Alexander Morozevich RUS 2762, Nigel Short ENG 2691, Artyom Timofeev RUS 2658, Ivan Sokolov NED 2655, Sergei Movsesian SVK 2642, Borki Predojevic BIH 2609.  Official site

Final standings:
1 Movsesian - 6.5
2 Predojevic - 5.5
3-4 Morozevich, Sokolov - 5.0
5 Short - 4.5
6 Timofeev - 3.5

The Fifth International chess tournament among juniors - "Young Stars of the World - 2007"  Vanja Somov's memorial took place 16th-27th May in Kirishi (Leningrad's region) with Yan Nepomnjashchy becoming the winner.

5-26-2007

In memoriam:

Alexander Borisovich Roshal, one of the best chess journalists, the editor-in-chief of the magazine "64-Chess Review ", a merited chess trainer of Russia, a merited art worker died on May, 21st in Moscow.

Three Memories:

I woke this morning with a phrase on my mind.  It was something written by a German in the psychological line who ran an arts rehabilitation center, and followed a newsgroup discussion about the effects of legal and illegal stimulants in chess.  He said:

            “The brain makes chemicals of its own”.

Sometimes profoundly simple observations like this put things in context, and is certainly the way that both the creative and analytical effects of playing chess can address some societal problems.  I was then trying to think of anything equally simple and profound, when the single instance of something Garry Kasparov wrote in the New York Times a month or so ago emerged from my memory.  He asked:

            “What do kids do with their aggression?”

Which I think is another address to American mainstream culture, which recommends our game as a useful, and even as Konrad Lorenz might like it, an essential, cultural artifact.

I had only brief contact with Mr. Roschal before his illness effectively ended the correspondence, yet he was actively interested in furthering cross-cultural exchanges, America & Russia, and we worked on some ideas for citizen exchanges in chess, certainly with young players, but which also including the military in both countries.  If that project ever comes about, I will remember to put his name on it.

Your local, on the 8x8s

The Parrot’s spies in NY State have reported that Steve Gore is a speed-demon!  Steve dominated a round-robin of 9 players event, scoring 8 points.  Meanwhile, says the Vassar Newsletter, in the premier event Ernie Johnson won the Duchess County Championships with a 4.5-0.5 score, yielding a draw to 2^nd Place winner Scott Strattner.  This year’s event had 24 players who participated.  In the Poughkeepsie Double Quads Scott Strattner won the Top Section with a perfect 6-0 and continued his winning ways with a 3.5-.5 score ahead of two Experts - Larry Wagner and Ernie Johnson in the Vassar-Chadwick Memorial Tournament.

Hey!  I can’t resist Johnson & Johnson!  Here they have a go at each other at USATE:

E.Johnson-Chris Johnson
USATE 2-19-07 Parsippany NJ –Round 6

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.g3 Bc5 4.Bg2 Ng4 5.e3 Nf6 6.Nf3 d6 7.a3 a5 8.0-0 Nc6 9.d4 exd4 10.exd4 Ba7 11.Re1+ Ne7 12.Qe2 (Bg5 probably better) Bg4 13.Be3 0-0 14.Bg5 Nc6 15.Qd3 h6 16.Be3 Ne7 17.b4 Bf5 18.Qd2 ab 19.ab c6 20.Nh4 Bh7 21.Ra5 g5 22.Nf3 c5 23.dxc5 Nc6 24.Ra4 dc 25.Qxd8 Raxd8 26.b5 Nb4 27.Rxa7 b6 28.Ne5 Nc2 29.Rd1 Nd4 30.Bxd4 cxd4 31.Nd5 Nxd5 32.Bxd5 d3 33.Nxf7 Rde8 34.Nxg5+ Kh8 Rxh7 1-0

Texas Tech University And the new blog for the SPICE program is:
http://texastechchess.blogspot.com.

National Traffic: US Championship … they’re done!

Headline!  Alexander Shabalov, by winning in the Final Round vs Sergy Kudrin, wins the US Championship outright as Alex Onischuk was held to a draw by Boris Gulko.  www.monroi.com has the results, games etc...

Though its less clear what is happening with the Woman’s Championship, does anyone know who is playing in it?

LookIt!  This is a World Champion folks!

The Wonder kid of Karnataka became World Chess Champion by defeating second seed Irakli Beradze of Georgia. He was declared as champion after the 8th round, three rounds prior to completion of the Tournament.

Now, B.G. Mahesh writes A Letter from India to tell us how he is doing:  Girish Koushik, a nine and half year-old chess prodigy from Karnataka, nurtures a dream of becoming the youngest grandmaster ever in India before he turns 13. And to realize his dreams, the World Champion in U-10, needs specialized training and testing competitions in Europe. But paucity of funds and lack of support from governmentt, the corporate sector and from fellow citizens, leaves his career in stalemate.  The Parrot has written a friend in India undertaking a serious chess study there to see if help is possible, but is interested in helping this young Winner at Batumi, and those like him!  Read the full story here.

Half A Letter from England:

Ray Keene wrote this week to say the police came to see him.  In fact, they wanted his help in solving a murder.  He agreed, consulted, and solved it!  Now… I think the gentleman should share more on this subject, and we wait the other half of the anecdote – which would be, ‘and how did you do that, Ray?’  Ray has agreed to share, and the Parrot would like the movie rights.

They’re off! The World Candidates Matches take place May 26th - June 14th, 2007 in Elista, Kalmykia.  Each match will consist of six games, and, if necessary, tie-break rapid games.

Aronian Levon (ARM) - Carlsen Magnus (NOR)
Leko Peter (HUN) - Gurevich Mikhail (TUR)
Ponomariov Ruslan (UKR) - Rublevsky Sergei (RUS)
Gelfand Boris (ISR) - Kasimdzhanov Rustam (UZB)
Bacrot Etienne (FRA) - Kamsky Gata (USA)
Grischuk Alexander (RUS) - Malakhov Vladimir (RUS)
Polgar Judith (HUN) - Bareev Evgeny (RUS)
Shirov Alexei (ESP) - Adams Michael (ENG)

Further details: www.fide.com

In the World Women's Team Championship, the Chinese women are ‘doing a Fischer’ – having scored 11.5 points out of 12 so far, and blanked the Euro champions Poland 4-0 <gulp>  And I think they just went 3.5 to 0.5 against Ukraine <double-gulp>  With one round to go against Armenia on Saturday, this is the trail they traced to completely dominate the world:

China 3.5 - .5 Vietnam
China 4-0 Russia
China 4-0 Poland
China 2-2 Georgia
China 3.5 - .5 Ukraine

The MTel Masters, a double round robin event, took place in Sofia 9th-20th May 2007.

Here was the drama at Round 7:
1 Sasikiran - 4.5
2-4 Adams, Topalov, Mamedyarov - 3.5
5-6 Nisipeanu, Kamsky - 3.0

But the Final picture looked like this:
1 Topalov - 5.5
2-5 Mamedyarov, Nisipeanu, Kamsky, Sasikiran - 5.0
6 Adams - 4.5

Official site: www.mtelmasters.com

but beware! <aargh>  None of the site links worked when the Parrot tried last week, and they don’t work this week either.  So I can’t report who this is: American won the Play like Topalov game or Kamsky’s comments: Gata Kamsky: Worrisome things are happening in chess.

The traditional 37th Bosna tournament takes place May 18th-28th 2007 in Sarajevo.  Double round robin with: Alexander Morozevich RUS 2762, Nigel Short ENG 2691, Artyom Timofeev RUS 2658, Ivan Sokolov NED 2655, Sergei Movsesian SVK 2642, Borki Predojevic BIH 2609.

Morozevich and Short need to eat their Wheaties or something!  Since I would have put them as favorites to lead the whole way. Which is perhaps why the local press are delighted to announce MOROZEVICH IZGUBIO U MINIJATURI ! and also PREDOJEVIĆ NADIGRAO SHORTA ! Which, as any fool can see, means they bombed.  Official site

Round 6 standings:
1 Movsesian - 4.5
2 Predojevic - 3.5
3 Sokolov - 3.0
4-5 Morozevich, Short - 2.5
6 Timofeev - 2.0

The Fifth International chess tournament among juniors - "Young stars of the world - 2007" Vanja Somov's Memorial takes place 16th-27th May in Kirishi (Leningrad's region).

1 Nepomniachtchi - 5.5
2 Andriasian - 5.0
3-5 Kuzubov, Negi, Grigoryan - 4.5
6 Mamedov - 4.0
7-11 Gorovykh, Popov, Zhigalko, Lintchevski, Safarli - 2.5
12 Bindrich - 1.5

Konstantin Sakaev became the winner of the Grandmaster rapid chess tournament G.E.Nesis's Cup which took place during the main event 21st-22nd May.  It was a double round robin tournament with the time control 20 minutes for the whole game with an increment of 10 seconds per move.  The participants were: Evgeny Alekseev 2679 RUS, Konstantin Sakaev 2633 RUS, Alexander Khalifman 2624 RUS, Dimitri Komarov 2539 UKR, Sergey Janovsky 2496 RUS and Maxim Novik 2466 RUS.  Official site

Final standings:
1 Sakaev - 7.0
2-4 Alekseev, Komarov, Khalifman - 5.0
5-6 Janovsky, Novik - 4.0

GM Sakaev was the only player to win with the black pieces over 10 rounds of chess!  And he managed to do that twice.

5-19-2007

Welcome to the Net: Especially for Spanish readers, a new Spanish Chess Blog has been created at http://comentariosdeajedrez.blogia.com set up by Luis Méndez Castedo.

The Parrot liked 2 articles particularly, Bent Larsen en Gijón, 1956; also Una hermosa partida de ataque which follows Dizdarevich,E - Miles,A [E14].

There is also a review of a new book in Spanish El Arte Del Ajedrez [from Anderssen to Karpov], which seems well worth a look:

“Editorial Fundamentos. Con el ajedrez se puede disfrutar jugando, pero también leyendo interesantes libros escritos con este fin. Este es el caso de la obra que reseñamos hoy, escrita por L. W. Cámara en 1982. A lo largo de algo más de doscientas páginas defiende la tesis del ajedrez como arte, y nos muestra su belleza en todo su esplendor. El libro está dividido en dos partes: en la primera el autor justifica el por qué el ajedrez es un arte y en la segunda lo demuestra con numerosos ejemplos de hermosas partidas, bonitas posiciones y preciosos finales compuestos. En resumen toda una delicia para saborear por cualquier ajedrecista. Para nosotros ha resultado notablemente interesante el capítulo quinto dedicado a los finales compuestos. Acostumbrados como estamos en la actualidad al ajedrez rápido, al juego restringido por horarios implacables, resulta admirable la cantidad talento, creatividad y esfuerzo reflexivo que emplearon los compositores en estas obras.”

“This is a seismic event in the chess world,”

Anyone wanting to put a little spice into their chess life should check out C-SPAN and here is when: Dr. Polgar’s commencement speech at Texas Tech University during their American Perspectives block on Saturday (May 19) at 7 p.m. and again at 10 p.m.

Texas Tech University announced Saturday (May 12) that it will establish the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) and hire chess powerhouses Susan Polgar and Paul Truong to head the program.

The university announced Saturday (May 12) that it will establish the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) and hire chess powerhouses Susan Polgar and Paul Truong to head the program.

Polgar, four-time women’s world chess champion and five-time Olympic chess champion, has been hired as director of SPICE and coach of the Knight Raiders chess team. Truong, 11-time national champion, is the institute’s business manager and assistant coach.

“We are obviously very excited about SPICE and the opportunities it will provide,” said Polgar. “We plan to build one of the world’s premier centers for chess research and outreach while solidifying Texas Tech as a national chess contender.”

The institute will include academic and outreach components and provide an almost unprecedented forum for academic research on the game.

Situated under the Office of the Provost, SPICE will allow researchers across disciplines to study chess from angles as diverse as artificial intelligence, cognition, and women’s studies. Research could probe the influence of chess on learning, for example, or tap the university’s High Performance Computing Center to create sophisticated computer programs.

Institute developers also intend to use SPICE as a way to promote and support collegiate-level competitive chess and to promote chess outreach to players of all ages.

Recruiting chess champions will benefit the university academically, said Jim Brink, senior vice provost for academic affairs, noting that chess requires a combination of intellect, spatial thinking and other skills that often translate into classroom success.

“Smart people play chess,” he said. “There is a very close correlation between chess excellence and academic capability.”

Creating an institute devoted to chess and hiring two of the game’s top personalities will increase Tech’s profile in the chess scene, said Haraldur Karlsson, the current team coach and mentor who helped found the Knight Raiders and was a key player in building Texas Tech’s relationship with Polgar and Truong.

“This is a seismic event in the chess world,” Karlsson said. “This institute is a unique opportunity to apply the resources of a major research university to promoting and understanding chess.”

Polgar has a lengthy list of credentials, including being the only person – male or female – to win chess’ Triple Crown, comprised of Rapid, Blitz and Classical world championships.  She currently is the top-ranked woman player in the United States and, at the age of 21, was the first woman to earn the Grandmaster title.  Truong is an eleven-time national champion in Vietnam and was the captain and business manager of the 2004 U.S. Women's Olympiad Team.

And the new blog for the SPICE program is: http://texastechchess.blogspot.com.

Not only… but also …

1st Annual Susan Polgar World Chess Challenge for Boys
     Sections: Under 19, 14, 11, 8
2nd Annual Susan Polgar World Open Championship for Girls
     Sections: Open to all, under 14, 11, 8, June 8-10, 2007 - Las Vegas - 6 RD Swiss - G/45
See http://www.susanpolgarfoundation.org for more information or email PolgarFoundation@aol.com for more information.

ICC buys two competitive online chess services, World Chess Network, from Master Games International, and Chess Live, from GamesParlor.  The two services will be merged together to form a new service, separate from ICC, to be called World Chess Live.

“We recognize,” says Joel Berez, President and CEO of ICC, “that both the World Chess Network and Chess Live communities have cultures and traditions that are much more similar to each other than they are to the ICC community. Therefore keeping them together in a new service with an atmosphere similar to what they already enjoy makes more sense than forcing them to move to ICC and will undoubtedly be appreciated.”

Founded in 1995 ICC has more than 35,000 paying members from all over the world regularly playing casual or tournament chess games against each other.

Chess Jokes:

A man went to visit a friend and was amazed to find him playing chess with his dog.  He watched the game in astonishment for a while.  "I can hardly believe my eyes!" he exclaimed.  "That's the smartest dog I've ever seen."

"Nah, he's not so smart," the friend replied.  "I've beaten him three games out of five."

National Traffic: Pay-to-Play … they’re off!

Round 3 standings:

Though its less clear what is happening with the Woman’s Championship, though the Parrot understands it may be held sometime in July, even though the top contestants were not consulted.  The USCF site continued to say nothing until today, when this announcement was made U.S. Women's Championship Schedule:

Opening Ceremony- Monday 11 AM
Rounds 1+2- Monday at Noon and 6 PM
Rounds 3+4-Tuesday the 17th at 11 AM and 5 PM
Rounds 5+6- Wednesday the 18th 11 AM and 5 PM
Rounds 7+8- Thursday the 19th-11 AM and 5 PM
Round 9- Friday the 20th at 11 AM
Blitz Tournament (Open) July 20
Weekend Swiss (Open) July 21-22

One correspondent even wrote to the Parrot with a contribution to a brilliancy prize – but where to send it?  And don’t ask me who is playing.  I’ll tell you when …

Chess Gossip:

Toppy kicks good?  Part of a strange chess and soccer tournament involves a soccer match and a chess match.  Here is our hero looking the part.

Dr. Polgar!  Honored by Texas Tech Chancellor Hance, Regent Miller and President Whitmore, GM Susan Polgar recieves a [rare] honarary degree in association with a massive initiative to study and support chess with $100million.

The MTel Masters, a double round robin event, takes place in Sofia 9th-20th May 2007.  The participants are: Veselin Topalov 2791 BUL, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2757 AZE, Gata Kamsky 2705 USA, Michael Adams 2734 ENG, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 2693 ROM, Krishnan Sasikiran 2690 IND.

Round 7 standings:
1 Sasikiran - 4.5
2-4 Adams, Topalov, Mamedyarov - 3.5
5-6 Nisipeanu, Kamsky - 3.0

Official site: www.mtelmasters.com but beware!  <aargh>  None of the site links worked when the Parrot tried.

The Fifth International chess tournament among juniors - "Young stars of the world - 2007" Vanja Somov's memorial takes place 16th-27th May in Kirishi (Leningrad's region).  The strongest world chess players from Russia, India, Germany, Bielorussia, Armenia, Azerbajan and Ukraine participate in the traditional tournament in the memory of Vanya Somov.  Among them there are World, Europe and Asia Champions in their age categories.  The event is a round robin tournament and has 11th category.  The paricipants are: m Yan Nepomnjashchy (1990 w.b.) RUS 2602, g Rauf Mamedov (1988) AZE 2584, g Yuriy Kuzubov (1990) UKR 2545, g Sergei Zhigalko (1989) BLR 2540, m Ivan Popov (1990) RUS 2533, g Zaven Andriasian (1989) ARM 2523, g Parimarjan Negi (1993) IND 2515, m Falko Bindrich (1990) GER 2469, m Eltai Safarli (1992) AZE 2463, m Avetik Grigoryan (1989) ARM 2455, m Daniil Linchevski (1990) RUS 2445, mf Eduad Gorovykh (1990) RUS 2416.

This year during the event the Grandmaster rapid chess tournament G.E.Nesis's Cup takes place 21st-22nd May. It will be a double round robin tournament with the time control 20 minutes for the whole game with an increment of 10 seconds per move. The participants are: Evgeny Alekseev 2679 RUS, Konstantin Sakaev 2633 RUS, Alexander Khalifman 2624 RUS, Dimitri Komarov 2539 UKR, Sergey Janovsky 2496 RUS and Maxim Novik 2466 RUS.

The Shahcom Company will provide a live coverage of games of this tournament in the playing hall and via internet on our site utilizing its electronic boards "Shahcom".

Official site: www.somovs-memorial.ru

Russian Team Championships took place in Sochi 1st-12th May 2007.

Final results:
1 "Tomsk - 400" (Tomsk) - 18 (35.5)
2 "Ural" (Ekaterinburg) - 14 (32.5)
3 "Elara" (Cheboksary) - 12 (29.5)
4 "Ekonomist" (Saratov) - 11 (29.5)
5 "Junost Moskvy" (Moscow) - 10 (27.5)
6 "TPS" (Saransk) - 9 (28.5)
7 "Shatar" (Republika Buriatia) - 5 (23)
8 "Ladja" (Kazan) - 5 (23)
9 "Juzhny Ural" (Cheliabinsk) - 5 (22)
10 "Politekhnik" (Nizhnij Tagil) - 1 (19)
Official site: www.chessliga.ru

Dateline Budapest!  Get your norms!  That is, if you can: Spotted in the GM ‘A’ group is another American player, Nat KOONS, USA, 2289, the lowest rated player in his group and who is playing ‘up’ from 100 to 250 points per game – the average rating in the GM group is 2421, IM norm will require 7.5 points, and GM norm 10.5 points.  Also spotted in the FM ‘A’ group is John Perrotta playing is a section with average rating 2146.  But this is interesting: an Irish player has scored an IM norm playing in the GM group.  Sam Collins, ELO 2398, scored 7.5 points to attain an IM-norm, coming in clear second in the group to the strong 2488 GM ILINCIC Zlatko from Serbia, who took first place.

Result: "Match of the Hopes" took place on Friday, May 18, 2007 in Porto-Vecchio (south of Corsica) between two young superstars Teimour Radjabov and Magnus Carlsen.

First Teimour scored, then Magnus scored back, then 2 draws and then… Teimour won the 5th game to clinch it.

5-12-2007

Anyone wanting to put a little spice into their chess life should check out C-SPAN this weekend, or maybe the NY Times and other major newspapers for an event that the Parrot is sworn to secrecy until the news officially breaks.  This will definitely be headline news in the mainstream press – not just the chess press.

Houston Calling: The Parrot has received a letter about a live-chess broadcast to net-TV.  On Saturday May 12, 2008, between the hours of 8am -12pm Central Standard Time, the Houston Independent School District will be broadcasting a live Chess Tournament via the Internet. The address to watch this live Broadcast is www.helloworld.com, then you must click on the link that says watch live tv. From there you will see the banner to watch the tournament.
 

National Traffic: Pay-to-Play … continued

The Frank K. Berry 2007 US Chess Championship!  At last!  And the competitors are…

Chess Gossip:

Vishy gives an interview at www.latestchess.com and addresses the importance of daily physical exercise for the chess players, his views on modification of draw rules, cheating at high-level tournaments, about the playing style of the world's strongest chess players, computer chess programs, how children can manage the balance of both academics as well as chess.  I couldn’t make a direct link to the article work, so go to the web-site URL above, and select the interview to read the whole thing.  Nigel Short has also been talking about cheating and ethics, see below.

They’re off! (again).  After the collapse of Fide Commerce in 1999, Fide is having another go.  The President of the Malta Chess Federation Mr. Geoffrey D. Borg has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Global Chess BV, a Dutch company which has been set up to exclusively promote and market FIDE, the World Chess Federation and its world class events.

You may laugh, but (Sofia, May 2, 2007) Six GMs will face six football champions on May 15 at 12:30 at the stadium Georgi Asparuhov in a clash seen never before.  The teams of Chess United and PFC Levski will compete in two sports. First the two teams will play soccer, then the captains of the two teams will seat behind the chess board.

The coach of Chess United, Silvio Danailov, has included in his team Veselin Topalov (captain), the Indian Krishnan Sasikiran, the Englishman Michael Adams, the Romanian Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, the American Gata Kamsky and Shakhryar Mamedyarov from Azerbaijan.  The six GMs will compete for the title of the super chess tournament M-Tel Masters this year.

What do you think? We chess players are probably going to win the chess, right? Soccer fans are probably laughing for another reason.

The MTel Masters, a double round robin event, takes place in Sofia 9th-20th May 2007. The participants are: Veselin Topalov 2791 BUL, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2757 AZE, Gata Kamsky 2705 USA, Michael Adams 2734 ENG, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 2693 ROM, Krishnan Sasikiran 2690 IND.  Official site
Round 1
Topalov - Nisipeanu 0-1
Mamedyarov - Kamsky 1-0
Adams - Sasikiran 1/2

Russian Team Championships take place in Sochi 1st-12th May 2007. Perhaps you’ll notice a few famous faces taking part – for sure – this is the absolutely toughest team event on the planet. Check out the participants: There are 5 tournaments: 2 Men leagues: Premier and Superior, 2 Women semifinals and a children's league. Among participants are: g Morozevich Alexander 2762 Russia, g Radjabov Teimour 2747 Azerbaidzhan, g Gelfand Boris 2733 Israel, g Ivanchuk Vasily 2729 Ukraine, g Grischuk Alexander 2717 Russia, g Jakovenko Dmitry 2708 Russia, g Akopian Vladimir 2703 Armenia, g Shirov Aleksey 2699 Spain, g Karjakin Sergey 2686 Ukraine, g Elianov Pavel 2686 Ukraine, g Rublevsky Sergey 2680 Russia, g Alekseev Evgeny 2679 Russia, g g Malakhov Vladimir 2679 Russia, g Kasymzhanov Rustam 2677 Uzbekistan, g Inarkiev Ernesto 2669 Russia, g Karpov Anatoly 2668 Russia, g Onischuk Alexander 2663 USA, g Tiviakov Sergey 2663 Holland/Russia, g Zvjaginsev Vadim 2659 Russia, g Timofeev Artem 2658 Russia, g Volokitin Andrey 2654 Ukraine, g Georgiev Kiril 2653 Bulgaria, g Tkachiev Vladislav 2652 France, g Harikrishna Pentala 2650 India, g Bareev Evgeny 2643 Russia, g Bologan Viorel 2636 Moldova etc.

There may be players with higher ELO’s but who really wants to face Viktor Korchoi?  Anatoly Karpov doesn’t since he is sitting on the same side of the table, playing on the same team!  Still and TV cameras are everywhere.  Last week I spotted US Champion Alex Onishuk.

Round 8 results:
1 "Tomsk - 400" (Tomsk) - 16 (32)
2 "Ural" (Ekaterinburg) - 14 (30)
3 "Ekonomist" (Saratov) - 11 (27)
4 "Elara" (Cheboksary) - 11 (26.5)
5 "Junost Moskvy" (Moscow) - 9 (24.5)
6 "TPS" (Saransk) - 7 (25)
7 "Ladja" (Kazan) - 4 (20)
8 "Juzhny Ural" (Cheliabinsk) - 4 (19)
9 "Shatar" (Republika Buriatia) - 3 (19.5)
10 "Politekhnik" (Nizhnij Tagil) - 1 (16.5)

You get a sense of the strength of these team events by looking at their players, e.g. here is the leader, Tomsk with an average rating of 2692:

1 g Morozevich Alexander 2762 Russia
2 g Jakovenko Dmitry 2708 Russia
3 g Karjakin Sergey 2686 Ukraine
4 g Kasymzhanov Rustam 2677 Uzbekistan
5 g Inarkiev Ernesto 2669 Russia
6 g Tkachiev Vladislav 2652 France
7 g Bologan Viorel 2636 Moldova
8 g Smirnov Pavel 2631 Russia

Whereas the team in second position has average rating of 2701:

1 g Radjabov Teimour 2747 Azerbaidzhan
2 g Grischuk Alexander 2717 Russia
3 g Shirov Aleksey 2699 Spain
4 g Akopian Vladimir 2703 Armenia
5 g Malakhov Vladimir 2679 Russia
6 g Zvjaginsev Vadim 2659 Russia
7 g Motylev Alexander 2642 Russia
8 g Sakaev Konstantin 2633 Russia

But perhaps the most interesting team is this one, "Juzhny Ural" (Cheliabinsk) Av. rating: 2621 featuring both A. Karpov and V. Korchnoi:

1 g Karpov Anatoly 2668 Russia
2 g Asrian Karen 2635 Armenia
3 g Lputian Smbat 2634 Armenia
4 g Riazantsev Alexander 2621 Russia
5 g Korchnoi Victor 2603 Switzerland
6 g Kurnosov Igor 2566 Russia
7 m Romanov Evgeny 2520 Russia
8 g Bezgodov Aleksey 2561 Russia

Official site: www.chessliga.ru

A rapid match between World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and World Cup Holder Levon Aronian took place May 4th-6th, 2007 in Yerevan (Armenia).  Two games were played each day with time control of 25 minutes for the whole game with an increment of 10 seconds per move.  Now, how about this!
Game 1 Kramnik - Aronian 1-0
Game 2 Aronian - Kramnik 1-0
Game 3 Kramnik - Aronian 0-1
Game 4 Aronian - Kramnik 1-0
Game 5 Kramnik - Aronian 1/2
Game 6 Aronian - Kramnik 1/2
Official site: www.aroniankramnik2007.am

Dateline Budapest!  Get your norms!  That is, if you can: Spotted in the GM ‘A’ group is another American player, Nat KOONS, USA, 2289, the lowest rated player in his group and who is playing ‘up’ from 100 to 250 points per game – the average rating in the GM group is 2421, IM norm will require 7.5 points, and GM norm 10.5 points. Also spotted in the FM ‘A’ group is John Perrotta playing is a section with average rating 2146.

Mexico City is to host some of these 16 players for the 2007 World Championship, but they have to qualify to get there – the individual line-ups are shown in the chart - and this must be the most wide-open competition in years! Aronian just beat Kramnik by 2 clear points [and politely, declined to take another.] Carlsen has been shocking people this year with the maturity of his play – but against this field? And Gata Kamsky is back in the race flying the flag for USA- can he beat Bacrot? Do you think Judit will beat Evgenny Bareev?

Its exciting to speculate on the results – and will be even more so after 3 rounds.  After this group have played their matches, and 8 remain, they will then replay each other for another match – so that 4 players join:

Veselin Topalov, plus Viswanathan Anand, Peter Svidler, and Alexander Morozevich.  Although a FIDE announcement says: “On Oct. 13, 2006, Vladimir Kramnik defeated Topalov in a championship unification match and so will take his place in Mexico City as the defending champion.”  Which, it must be said, is pretty rough on Toppy, since either he or Vishy must be considered favorites to win.

5-5-2007

This week, another friendly welcome to the chess world: A new forum at http://www.ChessForums.org features departments titled, New to Chess, Chess Strategy, and Chess General Discussion; Chess Articles; plus a department to comment on the site itself.

Forthcoming Major US Tournaments by CCA, Continental Chess Association.  May 25-28, 26-28 or 27-28, 2007: Chicago Open, Oak Brook IL.  June 30-July 4, July 1-4, July 2-4 or June 28-July 4, 2007: World Open, Valley Forge PA.  Entry can be made on-line at this site: http://www.chesstour.com/refs.html

National Traffic: Pay-to-Play … continued.

The Frank K. Berry 2007 US Chess Championship! The competitors are…? USCF haven’t updated their announcement ‘read the latest’ for over a month. We are all still waiting for a Stillwater playing list – if you want to play yourself, I believe you can still pay to do so.  Who knows why there are no announcements, perhaps this event is in a new style and intentionally boring?

Chess Gossip:

Alexandra announces she is 7 months pregnant. According to the new FIDE rating list which was published April 1, there are only 7 women in the world rated above 2500 ELO points, and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk moves up to the #5 spot from the #6 spot last quarter.  She has 2515 ELO points and is “training hard to continue to improve.”

Meanwhile, a retrospective notice of a tribute from Susan Polgar to Arnold Denker: “I was paying tribute to GM Arnold Denker at a National Scholastic Event after his passing.  GM Denker, Mr. Dewain Barber, Mr. Jack Mallory and Mr. Ralph Bowman have all done so much for scholastic chess in America.  Without their efforts and hard work, there would be no Denker Tournament of High School Champions and Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls.  And without Dr. Tim Redman and UTD, countless students would not have had a chance to earn valuable chess scholarships.”

Talking of Tim Redman, he has agreed to write an article or two about his UTD work in chess for a Chessville Special Report.  Dr. Redman is also a past-president of USCF, although he once joked with me that past-presidents prefer to be called ‘Ring-Wraiths.’  The caption is of GM Arnold Denker's last chess game.  Tim Redman and Don Schultz lost a consultation match with Arnold on Dec. 13, 2004.

Looks like Viktor Korchnoi is coming to the States and playing in the National Open – also holding a 25 game simul. The 2007 National Open features a $100,000 Prize Fund with 3-day and 2-day schedules. June 7-11 in Las Vegas. More air-TIME for Garry Kasparov who made the cover of Time magazine as a subject of The Most Influential 100 people in the world. I noticed that a search produced 21 TIME articles referencing GK.

Max is Back!  In 2006, Max decided it was time to get back into chess in a big way. He is co-founder and Chair of a new North American entity, International Chess Management Inc., which was founded with the mandate of establishing elite chess as a successful international broadcast/sponsorship property. Chess organization at the top is nothing new to Maxim. At 23 years of age he became the youngest President in United States Chess Federation history and had one of the most successful tenures as President. International Chess Management Inc. is currently preparing for the launch of a new international chess league which will reinforce the viability of chess as an attractive international sport.  Caption, Max Dlugy with Colin Powell.

Russian Team Championships take place in Sochi 1st-12th May 2007.  Perhaps you’ll notice a few famous faces taking part – for sure – this is the absolutely toughest team event on the planet.  Check out the participants: There are 5 tournaments: 2 Men leagues: Premier and Superior, 2 Women semifinals and a children's league. Among participants are: g Morozevich Alexander 2762 Russia, g Radjabov Teimour 2747 Azerbaidzhan, g Gelfand Boris 2733 Israel, g Ivanchuk Vasily 2729 Ukraine, g Grischuk Alexander 2717 Russia, g Jakovenko Dmitry 2708 Russia, g Akopian Vladimir 2703 Armenia, g Shirov Aleksey 2699 Spain, g Karjakin Sergey 2686 Ukraine, g Elianov Pavel 2686 Ukraine, g Rublevsky Sergey 2680 Russia, g Alekseev Evgeny 2679 Russia, g g Malakhov Vladimir 2679 Russia, g Kasymzhanov Rustam 2677 Uzbekistan, g Inarkiev Ernesto 2669 Russia, g Karpov Anatoly 2668 Russia, g Onischuk Alexander 2663 USA, g Tiviakov Sergey 2663 Holland/Russia, g Zvjaginsev Vadim 2659 Russia, g Timofeev Artem 2658 Russia, g Volokitin Andrey 2654 Ukraine, g Georgiev Kiril 2653 Bulgaria, g Tkachiev Vladislav 2652 France, g Harikrishna Pentala 2650 India, g Bareev Evgeny 2643 Russia, g Bologan Viorel 2636 Moldova etc.  Official site: www.chessliga.ru

Round 3 results:
1 "Tomsk - 400" (Tomsk) - 6
2 "Ural" (Ekaterinburg) - 5
3-5 "Elara" (Cheboksary), "Junost Moskvy" (Moscow), "Ekonomist" (Saratov) - 4 6-7 "Ladja" (Kazan), "TPS" (Saransk) - 3
8 "Juzhny Ural" (Cheliabinsk) - 1
9-10 "Politekhnik" (Nizhnij Tagil), "Shatar" (Republika Buriatia) - 0

A rapid match between World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and World Cup Holder Levon Aronian takes place May 4th-6th, 2007 in Yerevan (Armenia).  Two games will be played each day with the time control 25 minutes for the whole game with an increment of 10 seconds per move.

Kramnik is the current World Champion and #3 in the world; Aronian is #5 in the world.  While Kramnik is relatively well-known, Aronian is not, so here are a few words from an interview with him:
 

AH: Armenians have cemented their reputation as a strong chess-playing nation.  Is there a so-called “Armenian style” of chess? If so, how would you describe it?

LA: Generally, you could say that Armenians have had a lack in opening preparation, leading to positions out of the opening where they haven’t enjoyed much of an opening advantage. Maybe the Informants [compendiums of opening theory and analysis] didn’t reach far-away Armenia because of the unreliable postal service [smiling]. Seriously though, one could characterize Armenians by their fighting spirit, often playing long games, striving for victory to the very end. But it's possible that I am not so typical in this regard. My recent experience playing in many high level tournaments has compelled me to improve my opening preparedness.

AH: Levon, you are well known as a strong player in all kinds of formats. What do you have to say about the 25 minute game time control?

LA: I like playing chess. It doesn’t matter if it is 5 minute blitz, 25 minute rapid, or a 2 hr per side classical match. Quite simply, I enjoy playing chess.

The first two games provided the White player the whole point:
Game 1 Kramnik - Aronian 1-0
Game 2 Aronian - Kramnik 1-0
Official site: www.aroniankramnik2007.am

An 8 game rapid match between World Champion Kramnik and Leko took place April 25th-29th in Miskolc, Hungary.  Official site: www.lekokramnyik.hu

Game 1 Kramnik - Leko 1/2
Game 2 Leko - Kramnik 1/2
Game 3 Kramnik - Leko 1-0
Game 4 Leko - Kramnik 1/2
Game 5 Kramnik - Leko 1-0
Game 6 Leko - Kramnik 1-0
Game 7 Kramnik - Leko 1/2
Game 8 Leko - Kramnik 1/2

Chess History:

Chess Prodigies: Anne Sunnucks in her Encyclopedia of Chess published in 1970 had this to say – the reader should note that this work was published pre-Polgar era:

Every 10 years or so a newly discovered ‘chess prodigy’ is acclaimed in the press. Occasionally the claim is justified, but more often than not the opposition on which the prodigy’s standard has been judged proves to be of little more than second-class club strength.

There have been a few real chess prodigies, but a number of children have achieved a high standard of play before reaching their teens. Many of these before the age of 4 or 5 with little or no formal instruction – She then cites the chess careers of Capablanca, Reschevsky and Keres, and continues to note Reschevsky in US and Pomar in Spain.

The only girl prodigy who has so far emerged was Elaine Saunders, now Elaine Pritchard, who played blindfold chess as a child and won an international girl’s under-21 tournament when she was 10. She won the British Ladies’ Championship at the age of 13.

In fact the author of the piece above Anne Sunnucks, took over the reins in 1957, but Elaine came back in 1965 to win yet another national championship.  The final entry in 1966 is to Margaret Clarke, who the Parrot had the pleasure of playing a couple of times [50/50 result], wife of P. H. Clarke.  British Woman Champions:

Biographic details of Elaine Pritchard are elusive.  But captioned is Elaine with Vera Menchik.

‘She’s a genius.’ That was Alekhine’s observation on the 12-year-old Elaine Saunders after playing her in a simultaneous exhibition in London on 22 January.

She is listed as a participant for the first 3 women's (chess) Olympic Teams.  (As reported by an officer of the British Chess Federation)  Note: Mrs. Richardson did participate in the aforementioned Women's Zonal Tournaments AND played on the British Olympic Chess Team.  She also won a Silver Medal at the FIDE Olympiad of Haifa, 1976 ... but she does not say which board.)

She was granted the title of WIM in 1957, according to one FIDE year-book I have.

(This is confirmed by Mrs. E. Pritchard, herself.) One researcher, A. J. Goldsby concluded:

• She was probably MASTER strength by the time she was 10 or 11!!!!

• She was one of the strongest female prodigies who ever lived.  (And maybe one of the strongest prodigies of all time.)

• She defeated some VERY strong men players, both in tournaments and in off-hand games.  Long before she was 20, she was easily as strong as the weak GM or strong (male) IM of today!

• She had a style that was strongly tactical, but also a positional vein.

• Mrs. Pritchard, (Formerly E. Saunders.) resides in a small village in England. (The town of Cambridge, Gloucestershire county.)

In her own words:  ‘The incident which received the most publicity was the “affair Alekhine”.  Most of the pre-war giants were kindly if a little condescending towards me but the new world champion – he had just regained the title from Euwe – showed me no mercy.  He took on 30 Kent players at the Charing Cross Hotel and after five hours demolished all except myself.  [In fact, Alekhine’s final score was +27 –2 =1.] The ending was equal.  He stood over our board and glowered.  “Give the child a draw”, said someone in Russian in the audience, which despite the midnight hour were everywhere on chairs and even under tables.  “I know what I am doing”, came the reply, and of course he did. I lost.’

4-28-2007

Jenn Shahade has on article titled: Josh Friedel Wins Samford at USCF's website which tells of the winner’s origins in New Hampshire.  Born 1986, Josh now lives in the Bay Area where he often trains and travels with last year's Samford winner, IM David Pruess.  Josh now has two GM norms.

“Josh learned chess at the remarkably early age of three and began tournament play at age six. In 1995 he scored his first tournament victory, winning the New Hampshire State Amateur (under 2000 rating) Championship at age eight. The next year he won the kindergarten to grade 3 nationals with a 7-0 score and then became a master at age thirteen. At that point Josh began training with grandmaster Larry Christiansen.” [caption Josh Friedel, photo credit Jennifer Shahade.]

Forthcoming Major US Tournaments by CCA, Continental Chess Association:

• May 25-28, 26-28 or 27-28, 2007: Chicago Open, Oak Brook IL

• June 30-July 4, July 1-4, July 2-4 or June 28-July 4, 2007: World Open, Valley Forge PA

Entry can be made on-line at this site: http://www.chesstour.com/refs.html.

Meanwhile, a look around the Chess Press features recent Chesscafe articles, where Hans Ree regrets the death of Leo Kerkhoff, aged 62, and an interesting technical article on Building a Fortress by Stefan Bücker, which also contains some interesting illustrative games.

Welcome to the USA! Letter from GM Ray Keene in London.  (Extracted from an article which will appear at Chessville, where the GM talks of the dearth of chess on TV.)

Ray Keene wrote this week to say the FANTASTIC! BBC production of the Master Game is going to be available in the US [UK too!]  Well, at least I thought he wrote that the final, Miles/Karpov had gone missing.  A more careful reading of his letter suggests that the entire 1983 series is lost.  Ouch!

When I last inquired only GM Walter Browne seemed to have a copy in the entire USA - An extract from Ray’s letter adds…

“Another tragedy was the 1983 edition of the BBC Mastergame.  This was won by Tony Miles who dramatically defeated the then World Champion, Anatoly Karpov, in the final.  Unfortunately a technicians strike meant that this fascinating victory for the British grandmaster was never aired.”

I don't want to make this notice commercial, for either the Maurice Ashley DVD [a superior effort to present chess, on this side of the pond] or directly of Master Game or other BBC products, but would recommend anyone interested in researching this sort of chess presentation to obtain copies.  The point of all, is that Master Game achieved good viewing figures to a mainstream audience and you will have to beg, borrow or steal a copy, since you can’t buy one!

The Programme had a truly professional level of production which understood TV drama presentation from the very start, beginning with cool animated pieces zipping around the board, but the main impression was sound – the loud clock going tick tick tick created an extraordinary level of tension.  The players were also of some interest:

Master Game features Kasparov, Karpov, Short, Adams, Speelman, King , Fischer, Spassky and Botvinnik - hey, and Our Tony [captioned].

Tony Miles really was the original bad-boy genius of British Chess. (Though I once went to Cambridge Springs, PA where he played a tournament, and the barmaid told me he had a beautiful singing voice! She clearly thought he no bad-boy, but angelic!)

Very special thanks to GM Keene for this notice.  Chessville will also advise readers where and when they can get their hands on of any new BBC chess footage to be released on DVD.

National Traffic: Pay-to-Play … continued.

And now for something completely different!  The players!  Unfortunately the list of players supplied to the Parrot by a reader is only a list of ‘qualified’ entrants, and does not indicate that they will play.  I have already been [rightly!] told-off for publishing the qualifiers, as if they were the participants.  We are all still waiting for Stillwater.

Garry has another new book, this time a chess one. Its only published in Russia, and there is no current English edition. But for enthusiasts or Russian speakers it is for sale, see advertisement at www.ruschess.com.

An 8 game rapid match between World Champion Kramnik and Leko takes place April 25th-29th in Miskolc, Hungary.  Official site.

Game 1 Kramnik - Leko 1/2
Game 2 Leko - Kramnik 1/2
Game 3 Kramnik - Leko 1-0
Game 4 Leko - Kramnik 1/2

Vladimir Belov became the Champion of Moscow 2007.  The Moscow Championship took place 18th-24th April 2007.  Just for fun, this is what a cross-table looks like to Moscovites.  Final placements below are in English.

1 Belov - 4.5 [caption] 2 Grachev - 4.5 3 Amonatov - 4.0 4 Novikov - 3.5 5-7 Vorobiev, Rychagov, Korotylev - 3.0 8 Gavrilov - 2.5

Official site

The Gausdal Chess Classics takes place 18th-26th April 2007 in Gausdal, Norway.  The participants are: Carlsen Magnus g NOR 2693, Krasenkow Michal g POL 2661, Dreev Alexey g RUS 2633, Rozentalis Eduardas g LTU 2578, Lie Kjetil A g NOR 2529, Kulaots Kaido g EST 2525, Jones Gawain C m ENG 2518, Portisch Lajos g HUN 2512, Krush Irina m USA 2464, Moskow Eric USA 2260.  I think its respectable to single out Irina for special mention, since her performance rating was a very respectable 2546.  Magnus, playing very strong at the moment, performs mid-2700s to win 1.5 points clear of the field.  Official site

This is why she was probably pretty pleased with this individual encounter: IM Krush 1/2 GM Carlsen.  When Chessville interviewed Jenn Shahade she thought Irina Krush had the best chance to be the first woman US Champion.

Place Name Fed ELO Title Score Perf

1. Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2690 gm 7.0 2748
2. Krasenkow, Mikal POL 2651 gm 5.5 2608
3. Portisch, Lajos HUN 2512 gm 5.5 2619
4. Rozentalis, Eduardas LIT 2578 gm 5.5 2611
5. Kulaots, Kaido EST 2526 gm 5.0 2580
6. Krush, Irina USA 2449 im 4.5 2546
7. Dreev, Alexei RUS 2658 gm 4.5 2527
8. Lie, Kjetil A NOR 2529 gm 4.0 2494
9. Jones, Gawain ENG 2509 im 2.5 2373
10. Moskow, Eric USA 2260 1.0 2197

The 15th Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament takes place in Malmo 18th-26th April 2007.  Participants: Cheparinov Ivan g BUL 2646, Hillarp Persson Tiger g SWE 2552, Kotronias Vasilios g GRE 2570, Negi Parimarjan g IND 2515, Timman Jan H g NED 2545, Berg Emanuel g SWE 2574, Carlsson Pontus m SWE 2506, Hector Jonny g SWE 2537, Hermansson Emil m SWE 2475, L'Ami Erwin g NED 2617.  Official site

Final standings:
1 Cheparinov - 7.0
2 Timman - 5.5
3 Hillarp Persson - 5.5
4 Berg - 5.5
5 Carlsson - 5.0
6 Kotronias - 4.5
7-8 L'Ami, Negi - 4.0
9-10 Hermansson, Hector - 2.0

Who’s that?  Caption is of Tony Miles’ old sparring partner, Jan Timman.

The Parrot would like to thank www.ruschess.com for several of these notices – it is a good site, without journalism, but which usually contains solid essential details of high level encounters in Russia and around the world.

Another match of maybe future world champions is taking place: Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaïdjan) and Magnus Carlsen (Norway) see www.corse-echecs.com/porto-vecchio/porto_vecchio2007.html.

Letter from Budapest:

International organizer Laszlo Nagy, [caption, left] member of the FIDE Organizers' Committee, asks Chessville readers their opinion of a new chess site in Bulgaria which recently featured a report on his FirstSaturday events, see http://reports.chessdom.com/first-saturday and also other features of the site which seem well displayed by tabs, and its all in English!  I was fearing that the site would be all about little-known Bulgarians, but cruising around I found an intelligent article on Kamsky [caption, right] for example.  For those interested in the theoretical basis of chess I also recommend an essay on Claude Elwood Shannon (1916-2001), “mathematician who contributed to chess analysis.  Besides important calculations, Shannon was author of many texts about chess and computers.  He was the first one to calculate with precision the game tree complexity of chess”.  Chessville welcomes Chessdom to Chess world!

Chess History:

Looking back at the Olympiads from a Dutch, Argentinian and Yugoslav perspective.  At the First Olympiad, London 1927, they placed 4th, highest ever, and even in Dubrovnik, 1950 came 5th.

Looking at the year [1950] here are world team rankings before the entry of USSR in 1952:
1) Yugoslavia
2) Argentina
3) West Germany
4) USA
5) Netherlands
One notable factor is the position of Argentina in world rankings: 1950 = 2, 1952 = 2, 1954 = 2, 1956 = 4, 1958 = 3, 1960 = 7th.

That was the Leipzig Olympiad, and USA had been coming back after ‘owning’ the Olympiads with 4 firsts in the 30s, and then skipping Moscow 56, were 4th in Munich 58, and 2nd 1960.

Probably Yugoslavia had the best Olympic record for a single country for the 2 decades 1950 to 1968, coming second or third every time.

Finally, back to Netherlands, the third Woman's Olympiad, at Oberhausen 1966 placed the Dutch women 5th, ahead of England 9th and USA 10th.

4-21-2007

In Memoriam: Clark R. Harmon

FM Zufic, M (2321) - Harmon, Clark (2223), Budapest, 2003

Born Portland, Oregon (USA) Oct. 18, 1942, he lived in Seattle for a short time, working for Boeing, then returned to Portland to work for Freightliner.  He later established his own certified public accountant practice in Olympia, Washington.  In 1989, he went into the business of manufacturing and selling greenhouses.  A master chess player, he was a 10-time winner of the state chess championship.  He belonged to the Portland Chess Club and U.S. Chess Federation.

Welcome to the USA!  The Dutch National Federation and their Olympics Committee sent two teenage female chess players and their coach to the US to train with Susan Polgar.  They are training right now at the Polgar Chess Center and it will be documented for the whole Netherlands to see.  They are blogging and updating their federation daily.

Meanwhile a Canadian Nicolas Arsenault traveled the other way… and wound up in Budapest scoring a very respectable 5 points in this company, and having started with a [Canadian] rating of 2143, wound up with a performance of 2276. More extensive reporting below.

In other local news, the Parrot has learned that Sophia Polgar is also in New York City to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Polgar Center – and maybe a more detailed report or interview will appear at Chessville of the player who achieved the 5th highest performance rating of all time.

National Traffic: Pay-to-Play … continued.

The Parrot is unable to meet readers’ requests to know who is going to play in the FKB US Chess Championship, [was US Chess Championship] and no official list appears at the US Chess site, not in the press area, not in the on-line reports, and not in ‘What’s new.’ So what’s new?

Want a Chess Job?

ANATOLY KARPOV INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF CHESS needs a Director.

“The ideal candidate should have a passion for chess and chess promotion. The ideal candidate should enjoy working with students K-12 and have a USCF rating of at least 1800 or higher.  The person accepted for the position will be expected do some limited traveling within the state of Kansas.” is an outline of the job description.

Interested parties should submit their resumes via e-mail or by U.S. mail to the Karpov Chess School.  Mark Cobb 316-708-3698.  cobb@anatolykarpovchessschool.org or Wes Fisk 785-227-4121 fisk@anatolykarpovchessschool.org.

[Caption, unlike some other pictures shown here this week this one is of a visit by the Karpov School in Siberia to Kansas.  This is the right sort of exchange of views!  And what GREAT idea for citizen exchanges!  Its in strong contrast to the images following, where we see Karpov’s historic rival Kasparov involved in quite a different form of group encounter.]

Chess Press:

Garry Kasparov has a new book: HOW LIFE IMITATES CHESS, 256pp. Heinemann. £20. ISBN 978 0 434 01410 1 which is reviewed in the London Times by Daniel Johnson, who says ‘Kasparov claims that chess can teach us how to make better decisions and so be more successful. His is, in other words, a self-help book, and it is not free of the tiresome jargon typical of the genre’, but continues with ‘What lifts this book high above the run of such confidence-boosters is the extraordinary personality of its author. Kasparov is not only the greatest chess player the world has ever seen, he is also the leader of the opposition and the last hope of democracy in Russia.’ Read the entire review at http://tls.timesonline.co.uk:80/article/0,,25346-2634628,00.html

Garry also appears as the subject of the news after he was arrested then released at a political rally in Moscow this week.  Another anti-Putin rally planned for this Sunday in St. Petersburg, has been banned.  Kasparov now appears as the front-runner in the opposition, says Associated Press writer Douglas Birch.

A statement on Kasparov’s Web site, www.kasparov.ru, [Russian language only] said the FSB was investigating whether, in a radio interview he gave before the protest and in a newspaper published by the opposition movement, he made calls for extremist action.

The investigation into Kasparov came as a Kremlin spokesman conceded that Russian police who broke up opposition protests with batons at the weekend had over-reacted.

Although Putin-supporter and ex President Gorbachev told reporters in Moscow “Opposition marches in Russia only undermined stability in the country”. Both US and German governments have both expressed concern over heavy-handed policing.

Does life imitate chess?  What we've got here is a full-fledged no-compromises Sicilian, with no one seeming to be playing for a draw.

Letter from Budapest:  New GM and IM norms achieved.  Following the previous report on the First Saturday events in Budapest, here are final results:

GM norm: CARUANA Fabiano (ITA)
IM norm: PROHASZKA Peter (HUN)
IM norms : KHANTUEV Alexander (RUS)
ROMBALDONI Axel (ITA)
IM-norm: MIHOK Oliver (HUN)

Thank you very much for your publication, said IM Miklos Orso Chief Arbiter.  The Parrot offers brief biographical information and photos of the IM-Norm winners.  Here are a few new stars in the sky!

“A 15 year Italian-American chessplayer won the First Saturday Budapest grandmaster tournament in April.  Fabiano CARUANA became the No.1, reaching his 2nd GM-norm.  He moved from the US to Budapest with his family for half a year, to get a possibility to reach GM-norms in the monthly organized round robin events.  His coaches are the best Hungarian and foreign chess experts.  We have there some vacancies, who does wish to try a shot for the GM-IM-norms, the FM title and the Elo rating in May?” wrote Laszlo Nagy, who also provided us with these photographs.  Mr. Nagy is an International chess organizer, and member of the FIDE Organizers' Committee.

In the IM groups there were three norms scored:

1. MIHÓK, Olivér, HUN, 14 years, his first IM-norm;
2. KHANTUEV Alexander from Irkutsk, RUS, 19 years, his 3rd IM-norm (Studying economics in London); and
3. ROMBALDONI, Axel ITA, 15 years, his 1st IM-norm (his mother is Hungarian, the father is Italian, they live in Pesaro, Italy.)

The 8th Individual European Chess Championships take place 3rd-16th April in Dresden (Germany). 11 rounds Swiss system will be played.

Final leading standings:
1 Tkachiev - 8.0
2 Sutovsky - 8.0
3 Jakovenko - 8.0
4 Pavasovic - 8.0
5 Cheparinov - 8.0
6 Sakaev - 8.0
7 Iljin - 8.0

Vladislav Tkachiev [caption] became the Champion of Europe after beating Emil Sutovsky 2-0 in a playoff for the title.

Final leading standings:
1 Kosintseva T. - 10.0
2 Kosintseva N. - 8.0
3 Stefanova - 8.0
4 Hoang Thanh Trang - 8.0

Caption is of Tatiana Kosintseva who became European Woman Champion finishing with 10/11!

Official site: www.dresden2008.de

Another Euro-result was a rapid chess match between Boris Spassky and Lajos Portisch which took place in Heviz in Hungary 13th-15th April 2007.  The match was drawn 3-3.

4-5-2007

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