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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.

3-29-2008

Chess News
USA and Canada

US Seniors

An apparent PRESS RELEASE from The United States Chess Federation (USCF) announces the 2008 US Senior Championship to be held at the Boca Marriott Hotel, Boca Raton, Florida from April 28 to May 3.

One feature of the event is Dr. George Dean, who will be giving a talk on his collection, the evolution and historical significance of the chess pieces and some anecdotal tales about how he acquired some of the sets such as the world’s only two Farbarge chess sets.

Where is it?

All the World Champions up to the time of Fischer played there. Past winners include Rubinstein, Euwe, Alekhine, Capablanca, Fine, Reshevsky, Gligoric, Bronstein, Smyslov, Keres, Korchnoi, Larsen, Botvinnik, Tal, Spassky, Portisch, Karpov, Timman, Nunn, Speelman, Short, Bareev, Judit Polgar, Khalifman, Sasikiran.

Clue: The first Women’s World Chess Champion, Vera Menchik, lived there.

I looked at USCF’s Chess Life OnLine for a URL for this tournament, and it wasn’t there. So I pressed ‘Press’ and nothing happened. Well, USCF have been having Senior moments for 25 years, and at least this is appropriate coverage. Wait… the link was just a bit s l o w and did come up, but did not list this tournament. zzzzzzzzz

North American Chess Association
Announces

9th North American FIDE Invitational
Chicago, IL - March 22 - March 28, 2008

10 players from around North America come together in the ultimate mental challenge with 7 of them in search of gaining their International Master titles bestowed by the World Chess Federation, FIDE. Participants include:

IM Mesgen Amanov - TKM
IM Angelo Young - PHI
IM Arjun Vishnuvardhan - IND
FM Mehmed Pasalic - GER
FM Raja Panjwani - CAN
FM Gauri Shankar - IND
FM Teddy Coleman - USA
FM Igor Tsyganov - USA
FM Albert Chow - USA
NM Marc Arnold - USA

Who is it?

A New columnist joins the ranks of Chessville’s authors, who will write about two things – tactics and strategy generally, and also chess in the military.

I introduce to you Andy Hortillosa, who I think is Captain Hortillosa, but I’m sure he will introduce himself with his chess.

Event specifics can be found at www.nachess.org/fide. All games will be broadcast LIVE on the World Databank of Chess by MonRoi at www.monroi.com/wdc - but I couldn’t even find a listing at Monroi for the tournament, instead I found this information at http://www.nachess.org/fide/ and then tried to find a photo or two of the players, but there were not any at all.

With two rounds to go here are round 7 standings:

1st - 5.5/7.0
FM Pasalic

2nd - 5.0/7.0
NM Arnold

3rd - 4.5/7.0
FM Panjwan

4th - 4.0/7.0
IM Amanov

5th - 6th - 3.5/7.0
IM Young, FM Coleman

7th - 3.0/7.0
IM Vishnuvardhan

8th - 9th - 2.5/7.0
FM Tsyganov, FM Shankar

10th - 1.0/7.0
FM Chow

Why did they do it?

I recently decided to collide with chess publisher Bob Long, who wrote here at Chessville last week.

“Bob”, I said, “How come you published my favorite chess book of all time, the Thinker’s Press, Thoreauvian ‘Journal of a Chess Master’?”

Then we started talking of this and that and the other thing, and I said, “Wait, Wait! What about a 20-Questions interview at Chessville?”

So if you would like to ask a contemporary chess publisher a question or two, check out Chessville’s forum, where editor Atkins will select half a dozen questions or so to forward to Bob.

But! Hand’s off Gerzadowicz, he’s mine!

Chess News WORLDWIDE and the Americas:

Chess and Mathematics
Prof. Dr. Christian Hesse to give lecture on “Chess and Mathematics”

The new patron of the Chess Olympiad Dresden 2008 is Christian Hesse, Professor for Mathematics at the University Stuttgart. The avowed chessfriend will promote the worldwide largest chess event which will take place in Germany for the first time after 38 years from 12 to 25 November 2008. He will publicly lobby for the event in Dresden. Thus, Hesse wants to get involved with promoting an attractive programme of collateral tournaments in the first place. Besides, the former youngest German professor plans to give a public lecture in the frame of the workshop „Chess and Mathematics“ from 21 to 23 November 2008.

The special edition stamp sale for the Chess Olympiad 2008 was launched at 9 am this morning by Dresden's incumbent mayor Dr. Lutz Vogel together with the president of the Saxon parliament, Erich Iltgen, and Dr. Heidi Brandt as representative of the Deutschen Post AG with a short ceremony. For one day the special branch post office can be found in the city hall cellar from 10am to 3pm for all souvenir hunters to purchase the collector’s pieces on the occasion of the Chess Olympiad 2008 in Dresden. The postmark which will be stamped with was designed especially for this promotion day.

Chess playing sportsmen
ACP [Fri Feb 15th, 09:00]

Greek basketball player Papadopoulos and Brazilian football star Baptista have a common passion: playing chess as a pastime. In an article which appeared on a website of the Real Madrid, both famous sportsmen claim to have learnt the game at an early age. Since then, they enjoy playing chess as a way of relaxing during competitions and keeping their mind fresh. Real Madrid organized a game between them and interviewed them on their passion for chess. The full article can be found in Spanish here.

Reading the article, it transpires that Papadopoulos is probably a better chess player than Baptista. Not only was he born in Russia, which he claims to be the ideal country for becoming a good chess player. But Baptista himself admits never to have studied games of strong players.

However it is, we were pleased to read an article where famous sportsmen reveal their passion for our game. We remember that boxing champions Lennox Lewis and the Klitschko brothers made no secret either of their love for chess.

Annual
Amber
Over

March 15 to March 27
Blindfold and Rapid, total 2008 prize-fund is 216,000 Euro. Participants:

   Vishy Anand, India
   Vladimir Kramnik, Russia
   Veselin Topalov, Bulgaria
   Alexander Morozevich, Russia
   Shakhriyar Mamedyarov , Azerbaijan
   Peter Leko, Hungary
   Vasily Ivanchuk, Ukraine
   Levon Aronian, Armenia
   Boris Gelfand, Israel
   Magnus Carlsen, Norway
   Sergey Karjakin, Ukraine
   Loek van Wely, The Netherlands

Final Blind Standings:
   1-4. Aronian 6.5
   Kramnik 6.5
   Morozevich 6.5
   Topalov 6.5
   5-7. Anand 6
   Carlsen 6
   Leko 6

Both Gelfand and Ivanchuk won their rapid games to even up the match score against Mamedyarov and Topalov. Therefore, there are no changes in the final combined standings of the 2008 Amber.

Final Round Rapid Results:
Van Wely-Anand 1/2-1/2
Karjakin-Kramnik 1/2-1/2
Gelfand-Mamedyarov 1-0
Ivanchuk-Topalov 1-0
Aronian-Leko 1/2-1/2
Carlsen-Morozevich 1/2-1/2

Final Combined Standings are:
1. Aronian 13½

[captioned with Carlsen at Gibraltar]

   2. Carlsen 11
       Kramnik 11
       Leko 11
       Topalov 11
   6. Anand 10
       Ivanchuk 10
       Morozevich 10
   9. Karjakin 8½
10. Gelfand 8
       Mamedyarov 8
       Van Wely 8

Sorry no pictures, once again, and once again the organizers make a no-copying presentation, and text reporting was also brief or completely absent on what has to be the toughest event in the chess calendar. So if you want to see the players go to the Official website.

Next up,

Leko vs Carlsen in Miskolc, Hungary

Press release

But! I gleaned this information from Chessbase who didn’t say who released what, so assume this commentary is all ‘the release’.

The present year’s most prestigious clash in Hungary is going to be organized at the National Theater of Miskolc.

The No. 1 Hungarian GM, Péter Lékó takes up a duel of eight games against the Norwegian Wunderkind, the challenger, Magnus Carlsen this time.

As the first move of the Lékó+ series Péter Lékó played against Michael Adams in 2005. The exciting duel ended up with a tie of 4-4.

In 2006 Lékó’s opponent was the twelfth world champion of chess, Anatolij Karpov, who, during his carrier, gained 166 competition victories, setting a record that can not likely be broken in the future. The two leading players fought in the new shrine of chess, the beautiful National Theater of Miskolc.

The auditorium was totally sold out. The fans on the spot and via internet were amazed by the games – with good reason. The homepage of the event, www.lekokarpov.hu received more than three millions clicks.

What to Play? When the KID was really young. Continued from last week. Moves and commentary draw on The King Hunt in Chess, W. H. Cozens. 1970.

White: A. Alekhine, Black: F. D.Yates

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.Nc3 d6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.d5 Nb8 8.e4 bNd7 9.0-0 a5 10.Be3 Ng4 11.Bd4 gNe4 12.Nxe5 Nxe5 13.c5

That’s where we left the soon to become World Champion in 1923, after 13. c5, and the result did the KID all sorts of good.

13...dxc5
14.Bxc5 b6
15.Bd4 Ba6
16.Re1

Threatening f4 then an exchange of dark square bishops leaving Alekhine to prosecute his favorite attack against a weakened King position.

16...Qd6!

This sets up a truly diabolical trap if white proceeds 17. f4. Do you see it? Alekine did, and proceeded otherwise. So what was he afraid of… continued below – analysis moves are in red type.

Then, analysis moves:

17.f4 Nd3
18.Bxg7 Qc5+
19.Kh1 Nf2+
20.Kg1 Nh3+
21.Kh1 [its easy now, isn’t it?]

ANALYSIS

21. …Qg1+!
22. Rxg1 Nf2++

But – Alekhine saw it, and instead played:

17.Bf1 Bxf1

16.Rxf1 c5 [and this game continues next week, but beware, dear reader, since here is another snare – would you capture en passant in this position?

Lékó put himself in the lead by winning the third game, and he could preserve his advantage till the end, gaining a victory of 4.5-3.5.

Check out Chessville's Forum

This week you can find 20-Questions for Bob Long; or chat about the Pirc Robatch; or How to take your game to the next level; or about 30 other topics. One technical area is that by agreement with Convekta, you can ask them questions about their software – they monitor the thread and reply directly – so if you have Rybka or Chess Assistant questions, that’s the place to go. Its moderated, its couth, and you are welcome!

3-22-2008

Chess News
USA and Canada

XIX Pan American Youth Festival 2008, Villa Carlos Paz, Provincia de Córdoba - Argentina; June 29 – July 6, 2008.

I. INVITATION

The Confederation of Chess for America (CCA), the Federación Argentina de Ajedrez and the Asociación de Ajedrez de la Provincia de Córdoba are pleased to invite all National Federations of the Americas to the XIX Pan American Youth Festival 2008.

This event will be held in the touristic city of, Villa Carlos Paz, Cordoba, located in the central region of the Republic of Argentina: from June 29 to July 6, 2008.

The International Airport of Cordoba, Ingeniero Tarabella (Pajas Blancas) is located 50 minutes away from the tournament site in Villa Carlos Paz.

There are excellent hotels and touristic venues near the tournament site. All of this, plus, the pleasant climate and the cordiality Argentineans are known for, will allow the chess players to feel at home.

II. GENERAL CONDITIONS

This event will be following the rules and regulations written in this invitation. In case of any omissions, the Regulations for the Pan American Youth Festival will be in effect. These regulations can be found at http://www.presamerica.com.mx/.

Participant Age Requirements: General (Absoluta) / Girls
Under 8: Players must be born after January 1, 2000
Under 10: Players must be born after January 1, 1998
Under 12: Players must be born after January 1, 1996
Under 14: Players must be born after January 1, 1994
Under 16: Players must be born after January 1, 1992
Under 18: Players must be born after January 1, 1990

Tournament Format: 9 Rounds, Swiss System.

Time Control: 90 minutes per player plus 30 seconds incremental per each move. For manual clocks the time control is 2 hours per player, sudden death.

DaVinci Riddles, & Greco Revisited

Following the discovery of two chess diagrams which appeared in last week’s Parrot, a lively correspondence has emerged, and various commentators are researching several aspects of them.

Firstly, those looking at the materials as direct chess instruction might wonder what just two pages of tolerably obscure chess positions can indicate? Are these part of a wider range of papers, collected together in a Codex, and which circulated around Europe before Greco?

Secondly, there are those who examine the materials more symbolically, including the interesting mathematics invoked by 64 squares – as well as medieval sub-structures of drawings which often reveal complex geometries.

Pending more research and reports, the two sides of things are not necessary mutually exclusive, but I would like to ask readers a question.

“What happened to Greco?”

His own secret chess instruction materials were published in Paris between 1610 and 1612, then, the most famous chess teacher in Northern Europe simply vanished from the scene.

In about 1650 a story emerged that he went to the West Indies, but why would a chess teacher go there?

Characteristic: Each National Federation may register as many players as it wishes. All participants must be endorsed by their FIDE recognized, national federations.

Tie Breaks System
1. The Sum of the progressive scores.
2. Bucholz
3. By age in favor of the youngest player.

TITLES, PRIZES AND OTHER CONDITIONS:

General Section (Absoluta) Categories Under 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18: The FIDE Master Title is awarded to the Champion of this category.

Girls Section Categories Under 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18: The FIDE Women Master Title will be awarded to the Champion of this category.

Note: In case of a first place tie, the titles will be given to up to three players per category.

General Section (Absoluta) Categories Under 16 and 18: The Champion of this category will earn a 9 Rounds Norm towards their International Master Title.

Girls Section Categories Under 16 and 18: The Champion of this category will earn a 9 Rounds Norm towards their Women International Master Title.

Note: In case of a first place tie, FIDE Master Titles and FIDE Woman Master Titles will be awarded for the second and third places.

In case there isn’t a tie for first place, in the categories under 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18; the players in second and third places will receive the Candidate FIDE Master Title. In the Girls Section, the title for the second and third places will be the Candidate FIDE Woman Master.

Full information from ajedrezfedarg@hotmail.com

Atatürk International Women Masters Chess Tournament in Turkey.

The youngest player of this tournament won the event by a full point. Yifan Hou took a quick draw against Javakhishvili to ensure herself of a first place finish. Zhao Xue defeated the former tournament leader to finish clear third while Pia Cramling drew Anna Ushenina to finish in clear second.

Final round results:

WIM YILDIZ Betul Cemre 2207 0 - 1 GM CHEN Zhu 2548
GM CRAMLING Pia 2524 ½ - ½ IM USHENINA Anna 2484
WGM YIFAN Hou 2527 ½ - ½ IM JAVAKHISHVILI Lela 2470
WGM XUE Zhao 2517 1 - 0 IM ATALIK Ekaterina 2408
IM DRONAVALLI Harika 2455 ½ - ½ IM KRUSH Irina 2473

Final standings:

1. WGM YIFAN Hou 2527 CHN 7
2. GM CRAMLING Pia 2524 SWE 6
3. WGM XUE Zhao 2517 CHN 5½
4. IM ATALIK Ekaterina 2408 TUR 5
5. IM JAVAKHISHVILI Lela 2470 GEO 4½
6-7. GM CHEN Zhu 2548 QAT 4
IM DRONAVALLI Harika 2455 IND 4
8. IM KRUSH Irina 2473 USA 3½
9. IM USHENINA Anna 2484 UKR 3
10. WIM YILDIZ Betul Cemre 2207 TUR 2½

This news first reported by Susan Polgar. Official site.

Annual Amber

March 15 to March 27; Blindfold and Rapid, total 2008 prize-fund is 216,000 Euro.

Participants:

Vishy Anand, India
Vladimir Kramnik, Russia
Veselin Topalov, Bulgaria
Alexander Morozevich, Russia
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov , Azerbaijan
Peter Leko, Hungary
Vasily Ivanchuk, Ukraine
Levon Aronian, Armenia
Boris Gelfand, Israel
Magnus Carlsen, Norway
Sergey Karjakin, Ukraine
Loek van Wely, The Netherlands

The average rating of the players is 2752, which is a Category 21 FIDE event.

Leaders in Blindfold Chess:
1-4. Ivanchuk, Kramnik, Topalov, Carlsen 2½/4

Leaders in Rapid Chess:
1. Aronian 3
2-5. Anand, Leko, Topalov, Ivanchuk 2½

Full Combined Standings:
   1-3. Topalov, Aronian, Ivanchuk 5
   4. Anand 4½
   5-7. Leko, Carlsen, Kramnik 4
   8-10. van Wely, Mamedyarov, Karjakin 3½
   11-12. Gelfand, Morozevich 3

Stop-press: Current combined standings:
   1. Aronian    6½
   2. Anand      5½
      Carlsen    5½
      Ivanchuk   5½
      Kramnik    5½
      Leko       5½
      Topalov    5½
   3. Karjakin   5
   4. Mamedyarov 4
      Morozevich 4
      Van Wely   4
   5. Gelfand    3½

Official website.

Check out Chessville's Forum

Last week … fascinating discussions on the future of chess, the universe and everything. This week, the same old backward pawn struggles, discussed. It is a moderated forum, so there are no bad questions there, instead – good company from other chess players!

The Championships of Russia among boys and girls under 20 take place in Saint-Petersburg 8th-18th March. Time control: 1 hour 30 min. for 40 moves, 30 min. till the end of the game with an increment of 30 sec. per move since the first. The players who will take 1st place in the tournaments get right to participate in the World Championships under 20.

What to Play? This is when the KID really was a young opening. F.D. Yates was born in Yorkshire in 1884, and never made a very big splash in chess until his mid twenties - while at the Karlsbad tournament in 1923 he played A. Alekhine, who was soon to become World Champion.

In the 1930’s Max Euwe completely drove the KID out of fashion and mostly it was Boleslavsky who brought it back after WWII.

White: Alekhine, Black:Yates

1.d4 Nf6
2. c4 g6
3. g3 Bg7
4. Bg2 0-0
5. Nc3 d6
6. Nf3 Nc6 [a provocation to White to play d5, when the knight redevelops to b8 and d7 or a6.]
7. d5

7. … Nb8
8. e4 bNd7
9. 0-0 a5 [protecting c5 from a pawn to b4 advance]
10. Be3 [Alekhine frustrates the Nc5 plan another way, so Yates goes about establishing it on e5 instead.]
10. … Ng4
11. Bd4 gNe4
12. Nxe5 Nxe5
13. c5 [Let’s pause here at the edge of a famous game and assess if White’s plan to extend the range of his king bishop and also play f4 is sound? Game continues next week.]

Moves and commentary draw on
The King Hunt in Chess, W. H. Cozens. 1970

No apologies for giving these results in full – there are the brightest of the bright in Russia, and in a year or two will be all over the chess headlines – and of course because Chessville has big readership in Eastern Europe. One very noticeable fact in showing the results in full is to view the decisive game rate, especially its gender relation, and also white-black scoring, subjects now occupying the attention of rules maker all over the world.

Final standings:
   1 Sjugirov - 8.0   [Sanan Sjugirov, captioned]
   2 Chadaev - 8.0
   3 Ponkratov - 7.5
   4 Andreikin - 6.5
   5 Linchevsky - 6.5
   6 Romanov - 6.0
   7 Papin - 4.5
   8 Nechepurenko - 4.5
   9 Popov - 4.5
   10 Shimanov - 4.5
   11 Rakhmanov - 4.0
   12 Lovkov - 1.5

Round 1 Shimanov - Papin 1-0 Sjugirov - Popov 1-0 Linchevsky - Lovkov 1-0 Romanov - Chadaev 1/2 Ponkratov - Nechepurenko 1-0 Andreikin - Rakhmanov 1/2	Round 2 Papin - Rakhmanov 1/2 Nechepurenko - Andreikin 1/2 Chadaev - Ponkratov 1-0 Lovkov - Romanov 0-1 Popov - Linchevsky 0-1 Shimanov - Sjugirov 0-1	Round 3 Sjugirov - Papin 1/2 Linchevsky - Shimanov 1-0 Romanov - Popov 1-0 Ponkratov - Lovkov 1/2 Andreikin - Chadaev 1/2 Rakhmanov - Nechepurenko 0-1
Round 4 Papin - Nechepurenko 1-0 Chadaev - Rakhmanov 1-0 Lovkov - Andreikin 0-1 Popov - Ponkratov 0-1 Shimanov - Romanov 1/2 Sjugirov - Linchevsky 1/2	Round 5 Linchevsky - Papin 1/2 Romanov - Sjugirov 0-1 Ponkratov - Shimanov 1-0 Andreikin - Popov 1/2 Rakhmanov - Lovkov 1-0 Nechepurenko - Chadaev 1/2	Round 6 Papin - Chadaev 0-1 Lovkov - Nechepurenko 0-1 Popov - Rakhmanov 1-0 Shimanov - Andreikin 1/2 Sjugirov - Ponkratov 1/2 Linchevsky - Romanov 1/2
Round 7 Romanov - Papin 1-0 Ponkratov - Linchevsky 1-0 Andreikin - Sjugirov 0-1 Rakhmanov - Shimanov 0-1 Nechepurenko - Popov 1/2 Chadaev - Lovkov 1-0	Round 8 Papin - Lovkov 1-0 Popov - Chadaev 1/2 Shimanov - Nechepurenko 1-0 Sjugirov - Rakhmanov 0-1 Linchevsky - Andreikin 1/2 Romanov - Ponkratov 0-1	Round 9 Ponkratov - Papin 1/2 Andreikin - Romanov 1-0 Rakhmanov - Linchevsky 1/2 Nechepurenko - Sjugirov 0-1 Chadaev - Shimanov 1-0 Lovkov - Popov 1/2
Round 10 Papin - Popov 1/2 Shimanov - Lovkov 1/2 Sjugirov - Chadaev 1/2 Linchevsky - Nechepurenko 1/2 Romanov - Rakhmanov 1-0 Ponkratov - Andreikin 1/2	Round 11 Andreikin - Papin 1-0 Rakhmanov - Ponkratov 1/2 Nechepurenko - Romanov 1/2 Chadaev - Linchevsky 1/2 Lovkov - Sjugirov 0-1 Popov - Shimanov 1-0

View games Games in PGN

The participants of the girls tournament: Charochkina Daria 1990 wm 2383 Moscow, Vasilkova Svetlana 1988 wm 2359 Moscow, Girya Olga 1991 wf 2342 Moscow, Gunina Valentina 1989 wf 2295 Moscow, Bodnaruk Anastasia 1992 wf 2317 Moscow, Tarasova Viktoria 1989 wm 2267 Saratov, Ivakhinova Inna 1989 wm 2250 Ulan-Ude, Ambartsumova Karina 1989 wf 2228 Moscow, Severiukhina Zoja 1990 wf 2199 Izhevsk, Meleshko Anna 1989 wm 2215 Primorsk region, Shlakich Anna 1991 2244 Saint-Petersburg, Savina Anastasia 1992 2202 Moscow.

Final standings
1 Bodnaruk - 8.5 [Anastasia Bodnaruk, captioned]
2 Gunina - 7.0
3 Vasilkova - 6.5
4 Charochkina - 6.5
5 Girya - 6.0
6 Savina - 6.0
7 Severiukhina - 5.5
8 Ivakhinova - 5.0
9 Tarasova - 5.0
10 Shlakich - 4.5
11 Ambartsumova - 3.0
12 Meleshko - 2.5

Round 1 Shlakich - Tarasova 1-0 Vasilkova - Savina 1/2 Severiukhina - Girya 1-0 Charochkina - Meleshko 1-0 Bodnaruk - Ivakhinova 1-0 Ambartsumova - Gunina 0-1	Round 2 Tarasova - Gunina 0-1 Ivakhinova - Ambartsumova 1-0 Meleshko - Bodnaruk 0-1 Girya - Charochkina 0-1 Savina - Severiukhina 1-0 Shlakich - Vasilkova 1/2	Round 3 Vasilkova - Tarasova 0-1 Severiukhina - Shlakich 1/2 Charochkina - Savina 1-0 Bodnaruk - Girya 1/2 Ambartsumova - Meleshko 1-0 Gunina - Ivakhinova 1-0
Round 4 Tarasova - Ivakhinova 1/2 Meleshko - Gunina 0-1 Girya - Ambartsumova 1-0 Savina - Bodnaruk 0-1 Shlakich - Charochkina 0-1 Vasilkova - Severiukhina 1-0	Round 5 Severiukhina - Tarasova 1-0 Charochkina - Vasilkova 1-0 Bodnaruk - Shlakich 0-1 Ambartsumova - Savina 0-1 Gunina - Girya 0-1 Ivakhinova - Meleshko 0-1	Round 6 Tarasova - Meleshko 1-0 Girya - Ivakhinova 1-0 Savina - Gunina 1-0 Shlakich - Ambartsumova 0-1 Vasilkova - Bodnaruk 1-0 Severiukhina - Charochkina 1-0
Round 7 Charochkina - Tarasova 1/2 Bodnaruk - Severiukhina 1-0 Ambartsumova - Vasilkova 1/2 Gunina - Shlakich 1-0 Ivakhinova - Savina 1/2 Meleshko - Girya 0-1	Round 8 Tarasova - Girya 1/2 Savina - Meleshko 1-0 Shlakich - Ivakhinova 0-1 Vasilkova - Gunina 1-0 Severiukhina - Ambartsumova 1-0 Charochkina - Bodnaruk 0-1	Round 9 Bodnaruk - Tarasova 1-0 Ambartsumova - Charochkina 0-1 Gunina - Severiukhina 1-0 Ivakhinova - Vasilkova 1-0 Meleshko - Shlakich 1/2 Girya - Savina 1/2
Round 10 Tarasova - Savina 1-0 Shlakich - Girya 1/2 Vasilkova - Meleshko 1-0 Severiukhina - Ivakhinova 1-0 Charochkina - Gunina 0-1 Bodnaruk - Ambartsumova 1-0	Round 11 Ambartsumova - Tarasova 1/2 Gunina - Bodnaruk 0-1 Ivakhinova - Charochkina 1-0 Meleshko - Severiukhina 1-0 Girya - Vasilkova 0-1 Savina - Shlakich 1/2

Big game downloads are available here. Official site.

3-15-2008

Chess News
USA and Canada

Chessbags of the Week

An editorial flurry of comments broke out among Chessville’s staffers last week about JanXena’s handbag mention – [as well as a discussion on the serious issue of playing conditions and remuneration for women in chess] – so the Parrot decided to investigate what women chess players keep in there?

A wide ranging survey of five male chess cronies answered the question “what do women players keep in their handbags” this way:

a) one supercomputer running Rybka, with wireless link to “earrings”
b) last 3 month’s Vogue magazines
c) 2 year’s supply feminine hygiene products
d) 107 cosmetic products
e) 22 credit cards
f) one can pepper spray
g) one police whistle / ear-piercing air-horn / illegal Chinese tazer set to ‘max’.

Dear Reader, who are you?

Recent analysis of our readership is very interesting. There is a strong following of Chessville in the USA, and in Canada, but also throughout Spanish-speaking Central and South America.

There is substantial readership from Eastern Europe, and from India.

Write to TheParrot, if you wish, and tell us about chess playing and conditions in your country. We are pleased to be perhaps more international in scope than any other site reporting chess, and our general philosophy of publishing is “of the players, for the players.”

As a world game we would like to report you all to each other since we are together a world community.

Cordially, The Chessville Team

The average guess of the weight of the bag was 17 pounds, and that every women player had at least 3 bags, with exactly similar contents, but in different colors, some of which was due to spilt make-up.

On the serious side Chessville is become active in support of players remuneration, and we are all pleased to announce that Goddesschess is once again sponsoring a $350 "Fighting Chess" prize for the upcoming 2008 U.S. Women's Chess Championship! AND Susan Polgar has agreed to be the judge for the "Fighting Chess" prize at The Frank K. Berry U.S. Women's Chess Championship.

Prizes -$25,000. Seeding - The 10 contenders for the title will be determined as follows:

U.S. Women's Champion (Irina Krush)
6 Top-Rated Women players on the March Rating List
3 Wild Cards selected by Frank K. Berry (One of these wild cards will be top female finisher at the Qualifier Open)

MonRoi will again be a sponsor, and will carry the official website and host LIVE games.

Just to be fair each male crony had to turf out his wallet and have the contents analyzed, and with remarkable consistency each had:

a)      $28 cash
b)      one debit card
c)      one USCF membership card, expiration date 1999
d)      one ‘Lucky-Brand’ condom, expiration date 1999
e)      one business card; ‘Steve’s auto repair and towing, reasonable rates’
f)        one business card; ‘Steve’s repair-all and not-bad used-tool shop’
g)      one spare car key
h)      one electronic key-card, ‘Marriott Hotel’

Average weight, 5 ounces. Average age of wallet was 17 years. Now, if any chess player’s out there do not ‘profile’ with the above, write to the Parrot.

Chess News WORLDWIDE

Women have Draw Problem [They don’t know how to do it.]

After the last round of Linares and all those draws, it is interesting to review the first round of the Atatürk International Women Masters Chess Tournament in Turkey. Here are results of previous rounds, which contain completely unexpected results; the previous Women’s World Champ going 0-4:

The first two rounds were very decisive, with 9 from 10 games not resulting in draws. Though round 4 produced 4/5 draws.

Krush 1-0 Zhu Chen
Javakhishvili 1-0 Zhao Xue
Ushenina 0-1 Hou Yifan
Yildiz 0-1 Cramling
E. Atalik 1-0 Harika

Luck? Well… here are round 2 results:

[ps, the caption for the two players might well be ‘absolute attention!’]

GM CHEN Zhu 2548 0 - 1 GM CRAMLING Pia 2524
WGM YIFAN Hou 2527 1 - 0 WIM YILDIZ Betul Cemre 2207
WGM XUE Zhao 2517 1 - 0 IM USHENINA Anna 2484
IM DRONAVALLI Harika 2455 1 - 0 IM JAVAKHISHVILI Lela 2470
IM KRUSH Irina 2473 ½ - ½ IM ATALIK Ekaterina 2408

Skipping a round, here are results from Round 4, and current standings:

GM CHEN Zhu 2548 0 - 1 WGM YIFAN Hou 2527
WGM XUE Zhao 2517 ½ - ½ GM CRAMLING Pia 2524
IM DRONAVALLI Harika 2455 ½ - ½ WIM YILDIZ Betul Cemre 2207
IM KRUSH Irina 2473 ½ - ½ IM USHENINA Anna 2484
IM ATALIK Ekaterina 2408 ½ - ½ IM JAVAKHISHVILI Lela 2470

Standings after 4 rounds:

WGM YIFAN Hou 2527 CHN 3½ [caption]
IM ATALIK Ekaterina 2408 TUR 3
GM CRAMLING Pia 2524 SWE 3
IM DRONAVALLI Harika 2455 IND 2½
IM KRUSH Irina 2473 USA 2½
WGM XUE Zhao 2517 CHN 2½
IM JAVAKHISHVILI Lela 2470 GEO 2
IM USHENINA Anna 2484 UKR ½
WIM YILDIZ Betul Cemre 2207 TUR ½
GM CHEN Zhu 2548 QAT 0

Quaere? Is Irina [captioned top] the most active American player overseas, of either gender? Another fun thing to do is to visit the official site and learn to use the navigation buttons in Turkish – this is well worth the effort, since the photographs are good, and there are lots of them.

Here is another picture of Irina listening to an unidentified man, and deserves one of those “make up your own caption” labels. From Irina’s body language I hope he is not lecturing her on <yikes> overweight handbags.

You can also watch live from the Official Site.

Annual Amber - March 15 to March 27

Blindfold and Rapid, total 2008 prize-fund is 216,000 Euro. Participants:

Vishy Anand, India
Vladimir Kramnik, Russia
Veselin Topalov, Bulgaria
Alexander Morozevich, Russia
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov , Azerbaijan
Peter Leko, Hungary
Vasily Ivanchuk, Ukraine
Levon Aronian, Armenia
Boris Gelfand, Israel
Magnus Carlsen, Norway
Sergey Karjakin, Ukraine
Loek van Wely, The Netherlands

The average rating of the players is 2752, which is a Category 21 FIDE event. Official website.

Check out Chessville's Forum

Last week I was joking around over there with a writer who was commenting on how daft chess players are perceived by the general public, and I said, “write a column about it.” He is wavering…

Participants boys tournament: Popov Ivan born 1990 g 2595 Moscow, Andreikin, Dmitry 1990 g 2573 Saratov, Romanov Evgeny 1988 g 2543 Chelyabinsk region, Rakhmanov Alexander 1989 g 2524 Moscow, Nechepurenko Roman 1988 f 2495 Ufa, Ponkratov Pavel 1988 m 2489 Chelyabinsk, Papin Vasily 1988 m 2475 Rostov region, Chadaev Nikolai 1988 m 2471 Moscow, Lovkov Roman 1988 f 2457 Saint-Petersburg, Linchevsky Daniil 1990 m 2440 Leningrad region, Shimanov Alexander 1992 m 2441 Saint-Petersburg, Sjugirov Sanan 1993 m 2491 Lipetsk region.

What to Play?

More eye-watering moves from English Players in the English Defence. Featured Game is Garces-Keene, Lausanne 1977.

1.d4 e6
2. c4 b6
3. e4 Bb7
4. Nc3 Bb4
5. Bd3 [Keene’s own annotation notes that 5. d5?! Posed black no problems in Tartakower Reti, Goteborg 1920, after 5… Qe7! 6. Be2 Nf6 7. Qd4 ed 8. ed Qe4 ‘black was at least equal’]

5…f5 [diagram of the eye-waterer...

...other moves tried have been 5… Bxc3+, Bronstein – Miles, Teeside 1975, black attempting a Nimzo blocked middlegame, but Bronstein was better by move 12.]

6.Qe2 Nf6
7. Bg5 [if 7.f3 0-0! –not fe 8. fe Bxc3+ 9. bc Nxe4 10. Qh5+ g6 11. Qg4 Nf6 12. Qh3 0-0 13. Bg5 Mason-Tinsley, London 1899, though Keene asks what happens now if 13. …Qe8.]

7. … fe
8. Bxe4 Bxc3+
9. bc Bxe4
10. Bxf6 Qxf6
11. Qxe4 Nc6
12. Nf3 0-0
13. 0-0

and we have threaded the maze – the questions for players is, who would you rather be? What are your ambitions as white and black? Another diagram is indicated at this point, see below.

Round 5 standings
   1-2 Linchevsky, Sjugirov - 4.0
   3-4 Ponkratov, Chadaev - 3.5
   5-6 Andreikin, Romanov - 3.0
   7 Papin - 2.5
   8-9 Nechepurenko, Rakhmanov - 2.0
   10 Shimanov - 1.5
   11-12 Lovkov, Popov - 0.5

Participants girls tournament: Charochkina Daria 1990 wm 2383 Moscow, Vasilkova Svetlana 1988 wm 2359 Moscow, Girya Olga 1991 wf 2342 Moscow, Gunina Valentina 1989 wf 2295 Moscow, Bodnaruk Anastasia 1992 wf 2317 Moscow, Tarasova Viktoria 1989 wm 2267 Saratov, Ivakhinova Inna 1989 wm 2250 Ulan-Ude, Ambartsumova Karina 1989 wf 2228 Moscow, Severiukhina Zoja 1990 wf 2199 Izhevsk, Meleshko Anna 1989 wm 2215 Primorsk region, Shlakich Anna 1991 2244 Saint-Petersburg, Savina Anastasia 1992 2202 Moscow.

Round 5 standings
   1 Charochkina - 5.0
   2 Gunina - 4.0
   3 Bodnaruk - 3.5
   4 Shlakich - 3.0
   5-7 Girya, Savina, Severiukhina - 2.5
   8 Vasilkova - 2.0
   9-10 Ivakhinova, Tarasova - 1.5
   11-12 Ambartsumova, Meleshko - 1.0

Shahcom Company provides live coverage of games in the playing hall and via Internet.
Rounds start at 15-00 Moscow time (+3 GMT).

What to Play? ...Continued

Here is the make-or-break point of this game. 13…Na5?! Allowed White to get a better game Sosonko – Keene, Haifa 1976, since White plays 14.Ne5!

In this featured game versus Garces, Keene improves with 13.Qf4! and a draw was agreed at move 26. Perhaps the greater point is that Black has snookered White’s winning chances at move 13 in positions where White neither advances his d-pawn to d5 and also does not prevent the pin and exchange by playing a3.

Is this satisfactory? Not to English players, who continued to Question White. Let’s go a little deeper next time.

3-8-2008

Chess News
USA and Canada

Letter of the Week

From Dennis M. Taylor,
Assistant Attorney General,
Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs,
1 North Capitol Street, NE, Room 9401, Washington, DC 20001

Dear Parrot,

While I certainly understand your frustration, “no board” for USCF is no option. USCF is a corporation; corporations are legally run by boards. Yes, the best boards set policy and review how staff implements that policy. Yes, USCF and its board problems are an abomination. However, a board must be in place. I have done extensive work with USA Table Tennis. USATT has had some unbelievable board activities over the past five years. However, I was always able to tell people that as bad as things were at USATT, USCF was worse.

That is especially true now. The US Olympic Committee essentially performed a coup at USATT and will be placing people of its choosing on the Board. Principal among these will be people from the world of business that know how to run an organization. I suspect that some of them will have no clue as to how to properly play the sport. Until something similar happens at USCF, I fear that the internecine feuding will rule the day, and the organization will sink to new depths.

My statements are not an endorsement or repudiation of any one USCF board member or any group of USCF board members. Regrettably, I have fallen into a “pox on both your houses” mentality.

Sincerely, Dennis M. Taylor

Chess Tributes

Every time I watch an awards show the most genuine response from the recipient seems to be that it is awarded by peers.

Here is one of the most remarkable chess tributes of all time, the following being merely the last paragraph of it:

And even though until the end, for example in Buenos Aires, 1939, as I am about to demonstrate, he could still evolve true pearls of the chess art, he had not sufficient stamina for obtaining practical success in a big tournament. All the same, Capablanca was snatched from the chess world much too soon. With his death we have lost a very great chess genius whose like we shall never see again.

- Alexander Alekhine

The game then illustrated was J. Enevoldsen (Denmark) J.R. Capablanca (Cuba)

From 107 Great Chess Battles, 1939-1945; Edited and translated by Edward Winter. Dover.

[Editor: Here is that game:

Enevoldsen,J - Capablanca,J [E32]
Buenos Aires ol (Men) f-A (14), 1939

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 d6 7.g3 Qe7 8.Bg2 e5 9.d5 a5 10.b3 Nbd7 11.Nf3 Nc5 12.Nd2 Bf5 13.0-0 Nfe4 14.Nxe4 Bxe4 15.f3 Bg6 16.Be3 b6 17.b4 Nd7 18.Rfc1 axb4 19.axb4 f5 20.f4 exf4 21.gxf4 Nf6 22.h3 Rxa1 23.Rxa1 Re8 24.Ra3 Bh5 25.Qc2 Ne4 26.Bd4 Qh4 27.e3 Qe1+ 28.Kh2 Bf3 29.Ra2 Re7 30.Qa4 Kf7 31.Qa8 Nd2 32.Bxf3 Qf2+ 33.Kh1 Qf1+ 34.Kh2 Nxf3+ 35.Kg3 Nxd4 0-1

June 5 to 8, 2008 Riviera Hotel & Casino
LAS VEGAS INTERNATIONAL CHESS FESTIVAL
Susan Polgar World Open for Girls and Boys

The Susan Polgar World Open Chess Championship for Girls June 7-8

The Susan Polgar World Open Chess Championship for Boys June 7-8

Full information: http://www.vegaschessfestival.com/polgar/

Player of the Week:

Youngest US Master ever! Nicholas Nip has broken the US Chess Federation's record for the youngest master at the tender age of 9 years and 11 months, shattering the previous record of 10 years and 79 days held by Hikaru Nakamura. His new rating on the MSA website stands at 2207. Nicholas earned the final 20 rating points on March 5 in a G/60 quad tournament at the Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco, defeating FM Ron Cusi (2339) in the climactic game.

The youngest master record is considered one of the most hallowed marks of the USCF. Future World Champion Bobby Fischer was considered a prodigy when he became a master at the age of 13.

Chess reporter of the Week is Michael Aigner, who broke the story. Photo of Nicholas by ChessDryad. Check out Michael’s site for his full commentary at www.fpawn.com.

Joke of the Week

This week’s joke is provided by Windows Vista chess program, as seen on U-Tube. With a black pawn on c2 White castled Queenside, and then black ignored a capture which would win the game, so White proceeded with RxK [I’m not making this up], and then, the game carried on… If you think the rules of chess haven’t really changed since Elizabeth the First and Isabella of Spain played it, 400 years ago, you’d think maybe they should employ a real chess player to inform the techno-nerds of what the rules are, wouldn’t you? But… What do you think after watching this old nonsense about Chess Titans?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOqaQlIZcGU

Coming Soon, to a Chessville near you

Having recently introduced a new column on Women’s Chess, JanXena, the next new CV column will be from the Military on mil-Chess and also Tactical Training.

Then there are plans to ‘do’ a history of Hastings in serial format; a chess bio or two; a new column on openings; maybe a ‘constant-joke’ column on chess from real life experiences.

Finally, we have a writer all set to go, but can’t decide what his topic is!

But most of all, these initiatives come from you, the chess public. If you would like to write with us, or help with Chessville’s infrastructure, write to This Parrot!

Chess News WORLDWIDE

Its not over ‘till the Riot Police Sirens Sing

The crushing display of police force was sign that authorities would allow no critical mass of dissent or independent opposition as the Kremlin celebrates Medvedev's victory.

"Fifteen years ago I wouldn't have thought that my children would be growing up in a country that reminds me so much of the Soviet Union," said Alexander Ivanov, 48.

In St. Petersburg, Garry Kasparov — the former chess champion who is now an ardent Kremlin foe — and his co-leader in the Other Russia opposition coalition appeared at a simultaneous protest. Unlike in Moscow, the group had permission for the rally in St. Petersburg.

A crowd estimated by police at up to 3,000 gathered in a square and marched toward the heart of the city, shouting "Down with the Police State!" and "This City is Ours!" Police did not intervene.

Zyuganov, Medvedev's nearest challenger with almost 18 percent in near-complete results, said he would dispute the outcome. Zhirinovsky, with 9 percent, threatened to do so as well.

What to Play?

As ani fül no, strong players do not move their queen out in the openings, unsupported by the rest of the crew…

Karpov-Miles, Bugojno 1978

     1.c4 b6
     2.d4 e6
     3.d5 Qh4

A shocking move – Hort commented “here we see an example of chess from another planet… I think Miles deserves the credit for this queen move – it seems to be quite interesting and is probably a playable idea.”

Indeed, neither then nor subsequently, was 3.Qh4 refuted, comment the authors of The English Defence, Keene, Plaskett and Tisdall. Macmillan, 1987.

Liberal opposition leaders Kasparov and Mikhail Kasyanov were barred from running after authorities said they did not meet the strict requirements for gaining a spot on the ballot. Associated Press writers Lynn Berry, Maria Danilova, Angela Charlton, Peter Leonard and Mansur Mirovalev contributed to this report.

OMON, riot police officers detain activists of the vocal opposition group co-led by former chess champion Garry Kasparov as they try to hold an unsanctioned protest over Russia's presidential election, Moscow, Monday, March 3, 2008. Police detained dozens of people at a planned opposition protest Monday over Russia's presidential election, in a strong show of force the day after an election that was dismissed by Kasparov and other liberal opposition leaders as a farce. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)

2700 CLUB: Morelia Linares

The second half of this super-strong contest is about to resume in Linares – here was the picture so from the first half in Morelia:

1 Anand - 4.5
2-3 Shirov, Topalov - 4.0
4-5 Aronian, Carlsen - 3.5
6-7 Radjabov, Ivanchuk - 3.0
8 Leko - 2.5

The stage was set for the final round:

Standings after 13 rounds:

1. Anand 8.0
2. Carlsen 7.5
3-4. Aronian, Topalov 7.0
5.Radjabov 6.5
6. Ivanchuk 6.0
7-8. Shirov, Leko 5.0

Final round 14
March 7th

Vishy Anand (8) - Veselin Topalov (7)
Magnus Carlsen (7.5) - Teimour Radjabov (6.5)
Peter Leko (5) - Levon Aronian (7)
Alexei Shirov (5) - Vassily Ivanchuk (6)

And the winner is [opens envelope] after 69 moves the last contender for the top place Magnus Carlsen couldn’t overcome his opponent, and with four draws in the last round, Vishy kept sole control of his lead, and wins it! Although it must be said, Carlsen is also a big winner here, and his ELO has soared to make him perhaps number 4 in the world – not bad when you consider he is half the age of two players ahead of him.

But Carlsen will not become world champion!

Not with a huge qualifying cycle, and a money-based system during a recession, and a risky knock-out section…

Final round 14 results:

Vishy Anand (8) 1/2 Veselin Topalov (7)
Magnus Carlsen (7.5) 1/2 Teimour Radjabov (6.5)
Peter Leko (5) 1/2 Levon Aronian (7)
Alexei Shirov (5) 1/2 Vassily Ivanchuk (6)

Final Standings

1. Anand 8.5
2. Carlsen 8.0
3-4. Aronian, Topalov 7.5
5.Radjabov 7.0
6. Ivanchuk 6.5
7-8. Shirov, Leko 5.5

Participants of the boys tournament: Popov Ivan born 1990 g 2595 Moscow, Andreikin, Dmitry 1990 g 2573 Saratov, Romanov Evgeny 1988 g 2543 Chelyabinsk region, Rakhmanov Alexander 1989 g 2524 Moscow, Nechepurenko Roman 1988 f 2495 Ufa, Ponkratov Pavel 1988 m 2489 Chelyabinsk, Papin Vasily 1988 m 2475 Rostov region, Chadaev Nikolai 1988 m 2471 Moscow, Lovkov Roman 1988 f 2457 Saint-Petersburg, Linchevsky Daniil 1990 m 2440 Leningrad region, Shimanov Alexander 1992 m 2441 Saint-Petersburg, Sjugirov Sanan 1993 m 2491 Lipetsk region.

Participants of the girls tournament: Charochkina Daria 1990 wm 2383 Moscow, Vasilkova Svetlana 1988 wm 2359 Moscow, Girya Olga 1991 wf 2342 Moscow, Gunina Valentina 1989 wf 2295 Moscow, Bodnaruk Anastasia 1992 wf 2317 Moscow, Tarasova Viktoria 1989 wm 2267 Saratov, Ivakhinova Inna 1989 wm 2250 Ulan-Ude, Ambartsumova Karina 1989 wf 2228 Moscow, Severiukhina Zoja 1990 wf 2199 Izhevsk, Meleshko Anna 1989 wm 2215 Primorsk region, Shlakich Anna 1991 2244 Saint-Petersburg, Savina Anastasia 1992 2202 Moscow.

Shahcom Company provides live coverage of games in the playing hall and via Internet. Rounds start at 15-00 Moscow time (+3 GMT).

3-1-2008