Chess Commander

Tata Steel Chess 2012 - En passant - Magnus Carlsen round 11

Who will the Australian Open?
	N. Djokovic (#1 seed)
	R. Nadal (#2 seed)

N. Djokovich defeated Andy Murray in a marathon 5-set match to earn a spot in the final to face R. Nadal. After losing the first set, Nadal won the next three against R. Federer.

Tata Steel Chess 2012 - En passant - Levon Aronian and David Navara round 11

Photo by Fred Lucas

With just two rounds to go, anything can still happen in all three groups.

1.	Aronian, L.	7½
2.	Carlsen, M. Radjabov, T.	7
4.	Caruana, F. Ivanchuk, V.	6½
6.	Nakamura, H.	6
7.	Kamsky, G. Karjakin, S.	5½
9.	Gelfand, B. Van Wely, L.	5
11.	Gashimov, V. Giri, A. Topalov, V.	4
14.	Navara, D.	3½

Group B

1.	Harikrishna, P.	8
2.	L'Ami, E. Motylev, A.	7½
4.	Bruzon, L.	6½
5.	Reinderman, D. Tiviakov, S.	6
7.	Nyzhnik, I.	5½
8.	Ernst, S. Potkin, V. Timman, J.	5
11.	Lahno, K. Vocaturo, D.	4
13.	Cmilyte, V. Harika, D.	3½

Group C

1.	Tikkanen, H. Turov, M.	8½
3.	Adhiban, B.	7½
4.	Brandenburg, D. Sadler, M.	6½
6.	Grover, S.	6
7.	Paehtz, E. Tania, S.	5½
9.	Goudriaan, E.	5
10.	Schut, L.	4
11.	Danielian, E. Hopman, P. Ootes, L.	3½
14.	Haast, A.	3

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

White to move. How should white proceed?

Source: ChessToday.net

Round 11 - Friday the 27th - Group A
Carlsen, M. - Topalov, V.	1-0
Kamsky, G. - Nakamura, H.	½-½
Van Wely, L. - Karjakin, S.	0-1
Gashimov, V. - Radjabov, T.	0-1
Ivanchuk, V. - Gelfand, B.	0-1
Aronian, L. - Navara, D.	0-1
Caruana, F. - Giri, A.	1-0

Group B

L'Ami, E. - Motylev, A.	½-½
Timman, J. - Cmilyte, V.	1-0
Potkin, V. - Harika, D.	1-0
Tiviakov, S. - Lahno, K.	1-0
Nyzhnik, I. - Bruzon, L.	1-0
Vocaturo, D. - Reinderman, D.	0-1
Ernst, S. - Harikrishna, P.	1-0

Group C

Goudriaan, E. - Hopman, P.	½-½
Danielian, E. - Adhiban, B.
Turov, M. - Brandenburg, D.	½-½
Schut, L. - Paehtz, E.
Haast, A. - Tania, S.	0-1
Ootes, L. - Sadler, M.
Tikkanen, H. - Grover, S.	1-0

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

Realtors bemoan Rex's latest big check to pass 'fair tax'
Friday, January 27, 2012 11:45 am

ST. LOUIS • It's not often that the state Realtors' association, with their thousands of members and pair of lobbyists in Jefferson City, fret about being the underdog.

28th North American Masters

The 28th North American Masters will be held at North Shore Chess Center located in Skokie, IL from Sunday March 11th through Thursday March 15, 2012. The event will showcase three different events all at the same time.

Grandmaster Georg Meier (2671 - GER) vs Grandmaster Wesley So (2653 - PHI)

You can watch GM Georg Meier, who led the Germany national team to the European Team Championships take on the top player from the Philippines, the young phenom GM Wesley So. They will collide in a 4 game classical match followed by a 4 game rapid match.

Classical match time control: 40/90 SD/30 + 30/sec increments

Rapid match time control: Game-20 + 10/sec increments

Classical Match time: 10am each day Sunday - Wednesday

Rapid Match time: 10am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm

Grandmaster Group A

Our Grandmaster Group A section will feature a 6-player Double Round Robin (10 rounds). 3 Grandmasters and 3 International Masters will lock horns twice each day. To earn a Grandmaster norm, the International Masters must score 6.5/10 points.

Our confirmed participants include:

• Grandmaster Elshan Moradiabadi (IRI) - 2538
• Grandmaster Mesgen Amanov (TKM) - 2526
• Grandmaster Andre Diamant (BRA) - 2494
• International Master Mackenzie Molner (USA) - 2449
• Two more International Masters TBA

Time control: Game-90 + 30/sec increment

Round times: 10am and 3pm Chicago time Sunday through Thursday

Grandmaster Group B

Our Grandmaster Group B section will feature a 10-player Single Round Robin (9 rounds). 3 Grandmasters and 7 International Masters will lock horns twice each day. To earn a Grandmaster norm, the International Masters must score 6.5/9 points.

Our confirmed participants include:

• GM Anatoly Bykhovsky (ISR) - 2536
• GM Denes Boros (HUN) - 2482
• 3rd Grandmaster - TBA
• International Master Vitaly Neimer (ISR) - 2381
• International Master - elect Faik Aleskerov (AZE) - 2362
• International Master Daniel Rensch (USA) - 2401
• International Master Darwin Yang (USA) - 2448
• 3 more International Masters - TBA

Time control: Game-90 + 30/sec increment

Round times: 10am and 3pm Chicago time Sunday through Wednesday, and 10am only on Thursday

Official website: http://www.nachess.org

The Gibraltar Chess Festival 2012 will be live daily on Chessdom.com with analysis by the Houdini 2.0 engine. Games start at 14:00 CET.

All news about Gibraltar Chess Festival here

Full participants list at this link

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Should every child be made to play chess?
By Vanessa Barford
BBC News

Armenia is making chess compulsory in schools, but could mandatory study of a board game really help children's academic performance and behaviour?

Every child aged six or over in Armenia is now destined to learn chess. The authorities there believe compulsory lessons will "foster schoolchildren's intellectual development" and improve critical thinking skills.

The country has plenty of reasons to believe in chess. It treats grandmasters like sports stars, championships are displayed on giant boards in cities and victories celebrated with the kind of frenzy most countries reserve for football.

Chess is nothing less than a national obsession.

It may only have a population of 3.2 million, but Armenia regularly beats powerhouses such as Russia, China and the US and its national team won gold at the International Chess Olympiad in 2006 and 2008.

Added to that, the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has just been re-elected as chair of the Armenian Chess Federation.

Creative

Now the chess-mad country is investing nearly $1.5m (£920,000) to teach all of its children. But for other countries constantly strategising about how to boost child development and education, is making study of the Sicilian and the Queen's Gambit a good idea?

Proponents of chess in schools do claim some evidence. A two-year study conducted in the US by Dr Stuart Marguilies found that learning chess improved reading test scores and reading performance in elementary schools.

Another study by Professor Peter Dauvergne, who is also a chess master, concluded playing chess could raise IQ scores, strengthen problem solving skills, enhance memory and foster creative thinking.

Malcolm Pein, chief executive of Chess in Schools and Communities, a programme that puts chess into UK schools, says there are lots of reasons why chess has a positive impact on primary school children.

"Not only does it give children good thinking skills and improve concentration, memory and calculation, but it teaches children to take responsibility for their actions.

"There are also behavioural attitudes and social attributes to the game too. Children shake hands at the start, and although it's not deathly silent in classes, it's reasonably quiet and disciplined."

Far from it just being the case that more academically-minded people are more likely to play chess, he says the game is a very universal and inclusive activity that can be played at all standards.

More here.

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

2012 TRADEWISE GIBRALTAR CHESS FESTIVAL

Monday 23 January - Thursday 2 February 2012

PRESS RELEASE 14 27, January 2012

Thursday 26 January 2012 report by Stewart Reuben on Round 3 of the Masters

Participation of female players in this congress is very important to the whole ethos of this congress. Our webmaster, Steve Connor, reminded me I intended to comment on the passing of Elaine Pritchard, who died very recently and whose career spanned a major period in women’s chess. In a way, it is fortuitous that the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival can be regarded as a memorial to her. She was a child prodigy in the late 1930s (which must have been very unusual for a girl in that period). She remembered sitting on Vera Menchik’s knee. Vera was the first-ever Women’s World Champion and won the World Girls title the same year. Elaine won the World Girls in 1936 at the age of 10 and again in 1937. She was British Ladies Champion in 1939, 1946, 1955 and 1965. Her last FIDE Rating was 2150. In her period, women mainly played separately from men. For more details, see:

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?p=16227.

Nigel Short ENG v Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE

Nigel won a very nice, easy game. It was predicted he would reach the Commentary Room by 6.15pm, but he made it by 6.01pm.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0–0 9.h3 Nb8 10.d3 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.Nf1 Nc5 13.Bc2 Re8 14.Ng3 Bf8 15.b4 Ne6

(15 Ncd7 is more common)

16.d4 g6 17.Bd2 Nd7 18.Bb3 Qf6 19.d5 Nf4

(Although Black has a nicely placed knight, Nigel felt the rest of his pieces were just in a tangle. The pressure on the c file was unbearable for Black.)

20.c4 Nb6 21.Rc1 bxc4 22.Bxc4 Nxc4 23.Rxc4 Rac8 24.Qc2

24...Be7 (24...Nxh6ch seems attractive. But there follows 25 gxh6 Qxf6 26 Bg5 trapping the queen.) 25.Bxf4 exf4 26.Ne2 Bd8 27.Ned4 Rb8 28.Qa4 Kf8 29.Nc6 Bxc6 30.Rxc6 Qb2 31.a3 f5 32.e5 1–0

In the final position, Black’s queen is all dressed up with nowhere to go.

Michael Adams ENG v Daniel Fridman GER

It is heart-warming to see the two leading English players on the top two boards in the Masters. Even better, they both won. What could be more appropriate in this extremely patriotic setting? Michael sacrificed a pawn in return for weakening Black’s kingside, a very long-term plan indeed. His handling of the delicate endgame put Black under so much pressure that he eventually won. 53 move games don’t usually win the £1000 Best Game Prize, but this could be the exception.

Hou Yifan CHN v Zoltan Almasi HUN

Another elegant game played by Hou Yifan, the 17 year old Women’s World Chess Champion. The Berlin Wall is regarded as virtually impregnable, but she chipped away at its foundations.

Le Quang Liem VIE v Mircea-Emilian Parligras ROU

Basically they shuffled around until the music stopped. But doing nothing extremely well is a characteristic of very strong players.

Alexei Shirov LAT v Mariya Muzychuk UKR

Alexei again came to the Commentary Room as did Emanuel Berg. Thus we got three master classes that afternoon. He was very surprised by 24…Kf8. It was a nice positional crush.

Peter Svidler RUS v Anna Muzychuk SLO

She took the fight to the Russian, sacking a pawn early on. This was returned and it then came down to a drawn endgame.

David Howell ENG v Judit Polgar HUN

Black seemed better initially, but not after the mutual time scramble. The fortunes of the game ebbed and waned and it concluded after 82 moves with only kings on the board.

Gabriel Sargissian ARM v Sabino Brunello ITA

100 rated points difference isn’t all that much, so Black’s win was not a shocking surprise. The Armenian went wrong with 38 bxa6 and after this was unable to recover.

BLITZ TEAMS OF FOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

This traditional event attracted 20 teams of 4 players in 6 rounds. They played at the rate of 4 minutes per game plus 4 seconds cumulatively for each move. That works out at about 8 minutes for the whole game for each player, or an average of 8 seconds per move. This is considered quite leisurely for such an event.

The team USSR Mixed Team were red hot favourites. It consisted of Peter Svidler 2749 RUS, Viktor Bologan 2680 Moldova, Nadezhda Kosintseva woman 2537 RUS, Natalia Zhukova 2426 UKR.

USSR Mixed 20½ game points, 12 match points

Arabic Dragon 15½ game points, 8 match points

Linares Team 15 game points, 9 match points

In addition to the 3 hours of this event some people also played 4 hours in the morning and 5 hours in the evening.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL PHOTOGRAPHS ARE ON OUR WEBSITE

www.gibraltarchesscongress.com

Please do not hesitate to contact me at gibchesspress@gmail.com

Alice Mascarenhas

Tradewise Chess Press Officer

Press Office

2012 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival

www.gibraltarchesscongress.com

Round 11 - Friday the 27th - Group A
Carlsen, M. - Topalov, V.
Kamsky, G. - Nakamura, H.
Van Wely, L. - Karjakin, S.
Gashimov, V. - Radjabov, T.
Ivanchuk, V. - Gelfand, B.
Aronian, L. - Navara, D.
Caruana, F. - Giri, A.

Group B

L'Ami, E. - Motylev, A.
Timman, J. - Cmilyte, V.
Potkin, V. - Harika, D.
Tiviakov, S. - Lahno, K.
Nyzhnik, I. - Bruzon, L.
Vocaturo, D. - Reinderman, D.
Ernst, S. - Harikrishna, P.

Group C

Goudriaan, E. - Hopman, P.
Danielian, E. - Adhiban, B.
Turov, M. - Brandenburg, D.
Schut, L. - Paehtz, E.
Haast, A. - Tania, S.
Ootes, L. - Sadler, M.
Tikkanen, H. - Grover, S.

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

Gibraltar Masters Round 3

The 3rd round of the 2012 Gibraltar Chess Masters was very successful for the players commanding the white pieces. On the top three boards white, namely Women World Champion Hou Yifan and England’s Nigel Short and Michael Adams, snatched victories to continue with perfect records.

Sabino Brunelo and Ruben Felgaer defeated the higher rated opposition to join the leading pack. World Cup winner Peter Svidler signed another draw, this time against the always-progressing Anna Muzychuk. Full round 3 results bellow.

Replay the games with computer analysis. Round 4 live broadcast starts at 15:00 CET.

Top round 4 pairings are GM Hou Yifan 2605 (3 points) – GM Adams Michael 2724 (3), GM Brunello Sabino 2581 (3) – GM Short Nigel 2677 (3), GM Le Quang Liem 2714 (2½) – GM Felgaer Ruben 2571 (3), and the big derby GM Polgar Judit 2710 (2½) – GM Koneru Humpy 2589 (2½).

The social side to the tournament plays a major part and players meet and analyse games in the comfort of the hotel lobby, in the reception area, or wherever they can place a chess board after the competition is over for the day. Every evening there is a social event and on Wednesday night GM David Howell showed his first and second round wins over Gislason and Javakhishvili.

Macauley Peterson recorded the lecture and you can view it here (Runtime 56:20).

Official website

Round 4 top board pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	25	GM	Hou Yifan	2605	3		3	GM	Adams Michael	2724	3
2	30	GM	Brunello Sabino	2581	3		3	GM	Short Nigel D	2677	15
3	5	GM	Le Quang Liem	2714	2½		3	GM	Felgaer Ruben	2571	33
4	6	GM	Polgar Judit	2710	2½		2½	GM	Koneru Humpy	2589	29
5	28	GM	David Alberto	2598	2½		2½	GM	Shirov Alexei	2710	7
6	8	GM	Laznicka Viktor	2704	2½		2½	GM	Kulaots Kaido	2581	31
7	10	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2700	2½		2½	GM	Jussupow Artur	2569	34
8	32	IM	Muzychuk Anna	2580	2½		2½	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2700	11
9	18	GM	Parligras Mircea-Emilian	2650	2½		2½	GM	Gopal G N	2566	35
10	39	GM	Rapport Richard	2543	2½		2½	GM	Gustafsson Jan	2643	21
11	26	GM	Fier Alexandr	2603	2½		2½	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2535	41
12	47	IM	Huschenbeth Niclas	2518	2½		2½	GM	Howell David W L	2603	27
13	2	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2747	2		2½	IM	Zatonskih Anna	2506	49
14	61	IM	Hunt Adam C	2462	2		2	GM	Svidler Peter	2749	1
15	4	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2717	2		2	GM	Cramling Pia	2491	56
16	63	IM	Javakhishvili Lela	2454	2		2	GM	Sutovsky Emil	2703	9
17	12	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2699	2		2	IM	Arnold Marc T	2482	58
18	65	IM	Khurtsidze Nino	2444	2		2	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2683	13
19	14	GM	Bologan Viktor	2680	2		2	IM	Krush Irina	2467	60
20	16	GM	Fridman Daniel	2660	2		2	IM	Molner Mackenzie	2449	64

Full pairings here: http://chess-results.com/tnr63931.aspx

15th Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational

Metropolitan Chess, Inc. is hosting an International Master norm round robin tournament from January 25th to 29th of 2012.

This tournament is the 15th in its series and is being held in Suite C1002 of the California Market Center on 110 East 9th Street, Los Angeles 90079. The tournament is organized by Ankit Gupta.

The participants include: IM Zhanibek Amanov (KAZ), IM Andranik Matikozyan (ARM), IM Enrico Sevillano (USA), FM Mark Duckworth (USA), FM Konstantin Kavutskiy (USA), Vadim Kudryavtsev (RUS), Craig Clawitter (USA), Garush Manukyan (ARM), and FM Harutyan Akopyan (USA).

The tournament will be a 10 player round-robin (all play all), with rounds scheduled as follows – 25th: 7:00 PM, 26th: 11:00 AM & 5:00 PM, 27th: 11:00 AM & 5:00 PM, 28th: 11:00 AM & 5:00 PM, 29th: 10:00 AM & 4:00 PM.

Spectators are welcome and encouraged to come to watch the games in person at the tournament site.

The tournament is sponsored by California Market Center, Fashion Business, Inc, Chess.com, MonRoi, LawyerFy, and Betty Bottom Showroom.

The standings can be found on the Metropolitan Chess, Inc. website at: http://metrochessla.com/schedule.php

TATA STEEL CHESS DAILY - Round 10 2012

2nd Ferdowsi International Chess Open Tournament

The 2nd Ferdowsi International Chess Open Tournament is set to take place from 9th to 20th February in Mashhad, Iran.

The Chess Association of “Khorasan–Razavi” province on behalf of I.R.Iran Chess Federation has the honor to invite all players from national federations to participate in the tournament. Each National Chess Federation has right to nominate and send one player.

Organizing Committee will provide free participation, domestic transfer (from Tehran to Mashhad and return) and full board accommodation (with 3 meals per day) in 4 stars Samen Hotel, for official nominated players as well as GM title holders and 2500+ rated chess players.

The tournament will be played over 11 rounds of Swiss system. The prize fund of 25.000 US$ will be distributed for the top ten finishers. The winner gets 5000 USD. Note: 20% tax will be deducted from the winnings.

The 1st Ferdowsi International was held on 8-15th June 2010. Grandmasters Vladimir Malaniuk UKR, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami IRI and Azer Mirzoev AZE shared the first place.

Mashhad is the capital of “Khorasan–Razavi” province in northeastern of I.R.Iran and it has an International airport directly connected by different airlines to many major destinations like: Istanbul, Dubai, Bahrain, Doha, Bangkok, Bishkek, Dushanbe, Kuwait, Baghdad, Najaf, Almaty, and also more than 15 daily flights from Tehran.

For more information about flights see: http://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashhad_International_Airport, http://www.mahan.aero/home.asp?lang=en-us.

Mashhad is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world.

It is located 850 kilometers (530 mi) east of Tehran, close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its population was 2,427,316 at the 2006 population census.

The city benefits from the proximity of the mountains, having cool winters, pleasant springs, mild summers, and beautiful autumns. It is only about 250 km (156 miles) from Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

In 2011 Mashhad hosted the 19th Fajr International Chess Open Tournament and 10th Asian Continental Individual Championships.

Contacts of the Organizing Committee:

Khorasan Chess Association
www.razavichess.com

Email: shima_haghani2003(at)yahoo.com
Tel: +98 511 2463055
Fax: +98 5112463626
Mobile: +98 915 307 6081

Email: federation(at)ircf.ir
Email: wfajr2012(at)ircf.ir
Tel: +98 21 88971040
Fax: +98 21 88951514

Tata Steel Chess 2012 - En passant - Vladimir Potkin round 10

2012 TRADEWISE GIBRALTARCHESS FESTIVAL
Monday 23 January - Thursday 2 February 2012

PRESS RELEASE N0. 12 26, January 2012
Wednesday 25 January 2012 report by Stewart Reuben on Round 2 of the Masters

The life-blood of publicity for chess tournaments is the games of the players. The better the games, the more they will be circulated. Since there were so many clashes at the top, there were a very large number of entertaining games considering it is only the second round. Some of the games will be anthologised and played over for many years to come in many different countries.

However the game between Artur Jussupov GER 2569 and Peter Svidler RUS 2749 was not one of them. The game was a very fair draw after 30 moves, but there should be a Chessbase symbol for such games. Virtually all the other games were in complete contrast and provide a very enjoyable experience when played through.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE 2747 v Tamir Nabaty ISR 2563 had just one flaw. Tamir resigned before the spectators understood why. There should be a law against it. But Black played a splendid concept with 14…Ng4. Whether it was sound is quite another matter.

Emanuel Berg SWE 2550 v Michael Adams ENG 2724 was possibly the Game of the Day. But no doubt there are a lot of contenders that I have yet to see. Michael is much better prepared these days than years ago.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0–0 9.h3 Nb8 10.d3 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.Nf1 Re8 13.Ng3 Bf8 14.Ng5

(There is no doubt Michael gave up a pawn deliberately with 14…d5 as 15…Bxd5 16 Bxd5 Nxd5 17 Qh5 wins.)

14…d5 15.exd5 Nc5 16.d6 Nxb3 17.Qxb3

(Black has some compensation for the pawn lost in the shape of the bishop pair and the backward d pawn. 17…Bd5 loses to 18 c4.)
17…Qd7 18.dxc7 Rac8 19.a4 Rxc7 20.axb5 axb5 21.Ra5 Bc6 22.c4?!

(But was 21 Ra5 wise in conjunction with 22 c4 when the two white rooks could be attacked by the black bishop? After Black won the rook for bishop and White’s kingside was shattered, it was all over.)

22… bxc4 23.dxc4 Rb7 24.Qc2 h6 25.Nf3

(25 Raxe4 would still be approximately equal).

25…Bxf3 26.gxf3 Bb4 27.Rexe5 Bxa5 28.Rxa5 Qxh3 29.Bd2 Rd7 30.Bc3 Red8 31.Ra1 Nh5 32.Nxh5 Qxh5 33.Ba5 Re8 34.Qa4 Qh3 35.Qc6 Re6 36.Qa8+ Kh7 0–1

Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (2747) (AZE) - Nabaty, Tamir (2563) (ISR)

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Qe7 5.a3 Bxd2+ 6.Qxd2 d5 7.Nc3 0–0 8.e3 Nbd7 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Bd3 c5 11.0–0 c4 12.Bc2 Rb8 13.Rfe1 Qd6 14.Ng5 Ng4 15.Bxh7+ Kh8 16.f4 f5 17.h3 Nh6 18.Qf2 Rf6 19.g4 g6 20.Qh4 Kg7 21.Bxg6 Kxg6 22.gxf5+ Kg7 23.e4 dxe4 24.Ncxe4 Qxd4+ 25.Kh1 Nf8 26.Nxf6 Qxf6 27.Re7+ 1–0

We had problems understanding why the Israeli resigned. The late, great Danish grandmaster, Bent Larsen, once said, “You should never resign until all the audience understands why.”

Even the commentator Simon Williams was puzzled. Basically 27 Re7! Qxe7 28 Ne6ch Qxe6 29 fxe6 Bxe6 30 Rg1ch forces Ng4 and Black’s position is in ruins.

The game of Judit Polgar 2710 (HUN) v Vyacheslav Ikonnikov 2531 (RUS) exploded into tactics in a manner we have grown accustomed to for the great Hungarian woman. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2699 (FRA) v Anna Zatonskih 2506 (USA) fizzled out into a draw.

There isn’t time in the commentary room to look at all the jewels on display. Should we ask the players to slow down so that we can keep up?

Alexei Shirov delighted us in the Commentary Room by joining us after he beat the English IM/poker player Simon Ansell with the Black pieces. Thus we had two Master Classes in one day. The young English grandmaster David Howell went over his first two games Wednesday evening, much to the delight of a packed audience. You can see this on http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/videos.htm.

Please do not hesitate to contact me at gibchesspress@gmail.com

Alice Mascarenhas
Tradewise Chess Press Officer
--
Press Officer
2012 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival
www.gibraltarchesscongress.com

The Gibraltar Chess Festival 2012 will be live daily on Chessdom.com with analysis by the Houdini 2.0 engine. Games start at 14:00 CET.

All news about Gibraltar Chess Festival here

Full participants list at this link

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

NordWest-Cup in Bad Zwischenahn

The 14th NordWest-Cup will be played from 26th to 29th January in the “Wandelhalle” Bad Zwischenahns. The 7-round Swiss event is organized by the SK Union Oldenburg and SC Schwarzer Springer Bad Zwischenahn.

Currently 310 players are registered for the Main and U1800 Groups. Among them are 10 Grandmasters with GM Yuri Solodovnichenko being the top seeded.

The prize fund is 5000 EUR with 1000 EUR dedicated to the winner.

Last year Grandmasters Henrik Teske and Vladimir Epishin and IM Tobias Jugelt shared the first place with 6 points each.

Alfons Gudat, Ernst Heinemann and Tobias Jugelt took part in all previous 13 editions of the NordWest-Cup.

Official website

White to move. How should white proceed?

Source: ChessToday.net

Report of round 10

Armenian GM Levon Aronian seemed well on his way to win the 10,000-euro first prize in Grandmaster Group A of the 74th annual Tata Steel Tournament at Wijk-aan-Zee on Wednesday. With just three more rounds to go in this, the world’s strongest chess event, he defeated Dutch champion Anish Giri with black to remain on top of the standings, one point ahead of the competition. Of the runners-up sharing second place at the outset of the tenth round, only Vassili Ivanchuk of the Ukraine managed to keep up the pace, winning his game with black against David Navara of the Czech Republic. Azerbaijan’s Teymour Radjabov and Norway’s Magnus Carlsen were both held to a draw and fell back to the third spot.

“It was a very complicated game,” Aronian said about his victory over Giri, which came after 43 moves from a rare line of the Queen’s Gambit and in which preparation played a crucial part. The Armenian knew the line quite well. “Actually, I was the first person to try 7.Be2 dxc4 8.0-0 with white myself and, with black, I now played the new 8…Nb6, which may not have been the best move, but white must know how to play. Anish didn’t quite grasp the position. After 13.Bf3 Rxf3, maybe it was unclear but it was easy for black to play. I had a clear plan and, somehow, Anish began to play very badly. Maybe he was upset it wasn’t what he had prepared for. He committed some inaccuracies and after that it was more or less easy for me.”

Asked whether he felt he was going win the tournament, Aronian smiled and said: “We’ll have to wait and see, don’t we? Anyway, I hope I’ll be able to play the next few games as well as I did today.” Giri, who felt he “was a little bit unlucky, getting these coffee-house positions against coffee-house players” had different hopes for the remainder of the tournament. “Maybe, after three defeats in a row, it is time for a new approach: not to try anything and just play better.”

The ‘Piet Zwart Prize’ – 500 euros set aside for the best game of the day by the municipalities of Velsen and Beverwijk – went to Ivanchuk. GM Ivan Sokolov was impressed by the way ‘Chukie’ handled the modern Ben Oni line, in which black delays castling, changing pieces and freeing his game. “The most interesting aspect was that after move #27, the black knight on g7 turns out to be much stronger than the white bishop on d3, as he demonstrated convincingly,” Sokolov said.

Ivanchuk himself felt that he “was in good shape the last few days” and said that Navara had giving him a helping hand, allowing the devastating 30.Bxf5 Re2. “Before that, I believe the position was maybe about equal.”

Carlsen, the world highest ranked player but still smarting from his defeat at the hands of Russia’s Sergei Karjakin in the previous round, settled for a quiet draw after just 21 moves with black from a semi-Slav Defense against Hikaru Nakamura of the U.S., who said “the opening came as a surprise” for him. “Anyway, I haven’t been feeling too well these last few days, and so,” accepting the peace offer “seemed the practical thing to do. After all, the onus wasn’t on me here. I mean, he’s the stronger player,” Nakamura said.

Radjabov splitting the point with Holland’s Loek van Wely was a comedy of errors caused by the fact that both players were in time trouble. Their game, from a Dutch Defense with the Azeri playing white, was entirely balanced until Radjabov reached the time control with 40.Qf3?? and proposed a draw. With only seconds left on his clock, Van Wely went for the half point – a serious blunder, as 40…Ra2! would at least have earned him a piece.

“It seemed a very reasonable peace offer to me,” said Van Wely, for whom it was his tenth consecutive draw. “Of course, if I’d had a little more time to consider his proposal …”

The draw between World Championship Challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel and Azerbaijan’s Vugar Gashimov, in 25 moves from a Queen’s Indian, was less spectacular with neither player getting any chances or making any serious mistakes.

There were mistakes galore, however, in Karjakin’s Ruy Lopez with white against U.S. champion Gata Kamsky. Karjakin, still in a winning mood after his victory over Carlsen, was too aggressive, Kamsky felt. “It was a very strange game,” he said, in which “I messed up the opening. But then when I played 18…Qc7, he forgot that I had the retreat 19.Qg3 Bd8 after which I equalized because he couldn’t get the two bishops any longer. 22.Nf5 was a mistake, because after 22…Bxf5 23.exf5, he gets no attacking chances and I can just push my pawn and position my rooks.” Karjakin resigned after the time control in a hopeless position.

The final Group-A game of the day also ended in a victory for black, with Italy’s Fabiano Caruano beating Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov in 39 moves from rare line of the Sicilian Defense.

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

Tata Steel Chess 2012 - Analysis - Levon Aronian shows his win against Giri round 10

Top 20 boards round 3 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	15	GM	Short Nigel D	2677	2		2	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2747	2
2	3	GM	Adams Michael	2724	2		2	GM	Fridman Daniel	2660	16
3	25	GM	Hou Yifan	2605	2		2	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2717	4
4	5	GM	Le Quang Liem	2714	2		2	GM	Parligras Mircea-Emilian	2650	18
5	27	GM	Howell David W L	2603	2		2	GM	Polgar Judit	2710	6
6	29	GM	Koneru Humpy	2589	2		2	GM	Laznicka Viktor	2704	8
7	31	GM	Kulaots Kaido	2581	2		2	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2700	10
8	11	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2700	2		2	GM	David Alberto	2598	28
9	13	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2683	2		2	GM	Brunello Sabino	2581	30
10	33	GM	Felgaer Ruben	2571	2		2	GM	Bologan Viktor	2680	14
11	1	GM	Svidler Peter	2749	1½		2	GM	Muzychuk Anna	2580	32
12	7	GM	Shirov Alexei	2710	1½		1½	IM	Muzychuk Mariya	2483	57
13	55	IM	Dvirnyy Daniyyl	2492	1½		1½	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2699	12
14	56	GM	Cramling Pia	2491	1½		1½	GM	Lupulescu Constantin	2648	20
15	21	GM	Gustafsson Jan	2643	1½		1½	GM	Zhu Chen	2472	59
16	58	IM	Arnold Marc T	2482	1½		1½	GM	Negi Parimarjan	2641	22
17	23	GM	Erdos Viktor	2634	1½		1½	IM	Khurtsidze Nino	2444	65
18	60	IM	Krush Irina	2467	1½		1½	GM	Akobian Varuzhan	2617	24
19	148		Adler Bo	2167	2		1½	GM	Fier Alexandr	2603	26
20	34	GM	Jussupow Artur	2569	1½		2		Samu Sorin-Mihai	2156	153

Full pairings: http://chess-results.com/tnr63931.aspx

Tata Steel Chess 2012 - En passant - Ivanchuk round 10

Oliver Barbosa becomes Philippines’ 3rd super GM
Philippine Daily Inquirer 12:36 am | Thursday, January 26th, 2012

Oliver Barbosa became the third Filipino super Grandmaster after he ruled the 10th Parsvnath International Grandmasters Chess Tournament in New Delhi, India on Monday.

The Taytay, Rizal, native finished the eleven-round Swiss system tournament with 9.5 points on eight wins and three draws en route to the title, which enabled the former University of the Philippines (UP) mainstay to raise his Elo live rating to 2627 from 2573 points.

Super Grandmasters are those with Elo ratings of at least 2600.

The undefeated Filipino gained 53.8 Elo rating points plus a Tournament Rating Performance (TPR) 2710 with his victory.

“We (NCFP) are honored to present Oliver Barbosa as our newest super Grandmaster in Philippine History,” said National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) head Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr., who is fully supporting the players’ overseas campaign as part of the country’s preparation for this year’s 38th World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.

Mark Paragua was the Philippines’ first super Grandmaster after he placed second in the 2006 Asian Zonal 3.3 Chess Championships.

Paragua finished with 8.5 points in the same tournament in India and finished fourth overall.

Whiz kid Wesley So, on the other hand, achieved a rating of 2627 in 2009, a Philippine national record. So, who is currently considered as the strongest chess player from the Philippines, achieved the GM title at the age of 14 years, 1 month and 28 days, making him the seventh youngest person to achieve the Grandmaster title.

The Filipino woodpushers returned from their India chess campaign Wednesday.

Source: http://sports.inquirer.net

Standings after round 10 - Group A

1.	Aronian, L.	7½
2.	Ivanchuk, V.	6½
3.	Carlsen, M. Radjabov, T.	6
5.	Caruana, F. Nakamura, H.	5½
7.	Kamsky, G. Van Wely, L.	5
9.	Karjakin, S.	4½
10.	Gashimov, V. Gelfand, B. Giri, A. Topalov, V.	4
14.	Navara, D.	2½

Group B

1.	Harikrishna, P.	8
2.	L'Ami, E. Motylev, A.	7
4.	Bruzon, L.	6½
5.	Reinderman, D. Tiviakov, S.	5
7.	Nyzhnik, I.	4½
8.	Ernst, S. Lahno, K. Potkin, V. Timman, J. Vocaturo, D.	4
13.	Cmilyte, V. Harika, D.	3½

Group C

1.	Turov, M.	8
2.	Tikkanen, H.	7½
3.	Adhiban, B.	7
4.	Brandenburg, D. Grover, S. Sadler, M.	6
7.	Goudriaan, E. Paehtz, E. Tania, S.	4½
10.	Schut, L.	4
11.	Danielian, E. Haast, A. Hopman, P. Ootes, L.	3

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

2012 TRADEWISE GIBRALTAR CHESS FESTIVAL

Monday 23 January - Thursday 2 February 2012

PRESS RELEASE - 25 January 2012

'This is impressive'
says Gibraltar's Mayor Julio Alcantara

Mayor Julio Alcantara paid a visit to the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival yesterday at the start of the Masters competition. Organiser Brian Callaghan, tournament director Stuart Conquest and arbiter Laurent Freyd, showed him round the main hall where the 256 players were already making their moves in the second round of the competition. As he left the hall having paused for a moment to see GM Michael Adams, GM Victor Korchnoi, the number one board with Peter Svidler and Artur Jussuupow, World Champion Hou Yifan, he remarked, “this is impressive.”

Mr Alcantara who also took a few minutes in the broadcast suite to catch up with the analysis of the games by presenter Simon Williams, commented how “the sheer numbers, the spread of countries and the overall set up at the Caleta Hotel is indeed impressive”.

“When something like this works well, and this obviously does, we all tend to forget the hard effort behind an organisation such as this,” he emphasised.

Happy with what he had witnessed, he added, it was great to see that Gibraltar was “out there” putting its mark on the world of chess all over the world in a very positive way.

A chess player himself he admitted he did not play any more but had followed the Daily Telegraph chess column. He also recalled how as a former teacher of the secondary school in Gibraltar, Bayside Comprehensive, he had organised a chess club for his pupils as far back as 1972 (incidentally, the year that Boris Spassky played Bobby Fischer for the World Championship in Reykjavik). Remembering their surnames, he said, today they were doing very well in their chosen professions.

Please do not hesitate to contact me at gibchesspress@gmail.com

Alice Mascarenhas
Tradewise Chess Press Officer
--
Press Office
2012 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival
www.gibraltarchesscongress.com

2012 TRADEWISE GIBRALTAR CHESS FESTIVAL

Monday 23 January - Thursday 2 February 2012

PRESS RELEASE - 25 January 2012

Tuesday 24 January 2012 report by Stewart Reuben

Monday evening there was the usual very pleasant ceremony to start the congress fully. The Minister for Sports, Leisure, Culture and Heritage Steven Linares was introduced by Stuart Conquest and then made a short speech. Miss Gibraltar, Michelle Pedersen, then did the Drawing of Lots for the first round in the Masters. This is a somewhat more elaborate affair than in most other countries. There then followed a buffet laid on by the Caleta Hotel with their customary hospitality. The highlight of the subsequent evening in the bar was Maria Jose Rescaglio Yarur, who plays in the Amateur, singing, accompanying herself on a stringed instrument.

Continuing on that theme, Tuesday evening there was a dinner at the official residence – the Convent - of His Excellency, the Governor of Gibraltar to mark the 10th anniversary of the festival. It became clear why he is referred to as His Excellency, when he gave a most polished speech.

Tuesday morning I found myself in the not-unusual role as filler in the second round of the Challengers. This was the first time I had ever played in a rating restricted tournament. We believe people mostly come to the event to play chess, not to secure a win by default. You may have noticed one of our arbiters, Priscilla Morris, has already played two games in Amateur A.

Several people over the years have come to the congress despite being in very poor health. Daniel Yarur of Chile suffered an extremely bad skiing accident one year. He said one of the most important things that gave him the will to get better was that he couldn’t miss the Gibraltar Congress. One of the players this year had pneumonia. He said that he felt he had to come as he couldn’t let Brian Callaghan down. Eric Schiller is in very poor physical health. That he has come from California is a triumph of will.

This year there are 256 in the Masters. 59 people played in the first event in 2003 and 232 last year. There are 60 federations represented, including Gibraltar, which is regarded as part of England in FIDE. Thus more federations than there were players at the inaugural event.

Due to the Accelerated Pairings, many of the top players had to face opponents over 2400 in the first round. As Nigel Short said, ‘it is hardly surprising that we didn’t find it easy’. Tennis legend Pat Cash made an interesting comment concerning this very subject and the Australian Open. He said seeding 32 players out of 128 protects the stronger players too much and leads to uninteresting first rounds.

It is tempting to look only at the big upsets in the first round. I have been bribed by the Swedes to say that Alexei Shirov LAT 2710 was under siege in his game against Patrik Lyrberg 2435. Emil Sutovsky ISR 2703 played rather wildly against air-traffic controller Craig Hanley ENG 2421. Jovanka Houska ENG 2414 defended well against Peter Svidler RUS 2749. 17…Nc4 was a star move. But she eventually buckled under pressure.

Svidler, Peter (2749) - Houska, Jovanka (2414) [A00]
Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2012, 24.01.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Nd7 6.0–0 Ne7 7.Nbd2 Nc8 8.c3 Be7 9.Ne1 Bg6 10.Nd3 c5 11.Nf4 cxd4 12.cxd4 Ncb6 13.Nxg6 hxg6 14.Bd3 Rc8 15.Qe2 Nb8 16.f4 Nc6 17.Nf3 [diagram] 17… Nc4 18.b3 Na3 19.Bb2 Qb6 20.Rac1 a6 21.g4 Kd7 22.Kh1 Nb5 23.f5 gxf5 24.gxf5 Nb4 25.Bb1 Rxc1 26.Rxc1 Rc8 27.Rxc8 Kxc8 28.Qg2 exf5 29.Bxf5+ Kb8 30.Qxg7 Nxa2 31.Qxf7 Qd8 32.Qh7 Nac3 33.h4 Ne2 34.h5 Bg5 35.Bd3 Nbc3 36.Bxc3 Nxc3 37.Qg7 Be7 38.h6 Bf8 39.Qg8 Qc8 40.h7 Qh3+ 41.Nh2 1–0

Final top 10 standings:

1. GM Ghaem Maghami (IRI, 2570) 9 / 11

2. GM Pantsulaia (GEO, 2592) 8½

3-10. IM Nigalidze (GEO, 2460), IM Darini (IRI, 2458), IM Azaladze (GEO, 2403), GM R.Ibrahimov (AZE, 2550), GM Golizadeh (IRI, 2464), Sevdimaliyev (AZE, 2143), IM
Grabliauskas (LTU, 2374) and GM Toufighi (IRI, 2444) 8 (121 players).

Official website: http://www.eazchess.ir

Black to move. How should black proceed?

Hanley vs Koneru, 2012

Round 10 - Wednesday the 25th
Topalov, V. - Caruana, F.	0-1
Giri, A. - Aronian, L.	0-1
Navara, D. - Ivanchuk, V.	0-1
Gelfand, B. - Gashimov, V.	½-½
Radjabov, T. - Van Wely, L.	½-½
Karjakin, S. - Kamsky, G.	0-1
Nakamura, H. - Carlsen, M.	½-½

Group B

Motylev, A. - Ernst, S.	1-0
Harikrishna, P. - Vocaturo, D.	1-0
Reinderman, D. - Nyzhnik, I.	1-0
Bruzon, L. - Tiviakov, S.	½-½
Lahno, K. - Potkin, V.	½-½
Harika, D. - Timman, J.	½-½
Cmilyte, V. - L'Ami, E.

Group C

Hopman, P. - Tikkanen, H.	1-0
Grover, S. - Ootes, L.	1-0
Sadler, M. - Haast, A.	1-0
Tania, S. - Schut, L.	1-0
Paehtz, E. - Turov, M.	½-½
Brandenburg, D. - Danielian, E.	1-0
Adhiban, B. - Goudriaan, E.	½

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

The Gibraltar Chess Festival 2012 will be live daily on Chessdom.com with analysis by the Houdini 2.0 engine. Games start at 14:00 CET.

All news about Gibraltar Chess Festival here

Full participants list at this link

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

The top seeds are facing tough opponents in round 2 since this is a strong open event.

Round 2 top board pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	34	GM	Jussupow Artur	2569	1		1	GM	Svidler Peter	2749	1
2	2	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2747	1		1	GM	Nabaty Tamir	2563	36
3	38	GM	Berg Emanuel	2550	1		1	GM	Adams Michael	2724	3
4	4	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2717	1		1	GM	Korchnoi Viktor	2558	37
5	42	GM	Del Rio De Angelis Salvador G	2531	1		1	GM	Le Quang Liem	2714	5
6	6	GM	Polgar Judit	2710	1		1	GM	Ikonnikov Vyacheslav	2531	43
7	8	GM	Laznicka Viktor	2704	1		1	GM	Pavlovic Milos	2531	44
8	10	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2700	1		1	GM	Al-Sayed Mohammed	2524	45
9	46	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2523	1		1	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2700	11
10	12	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2699	1		1	IM	Zatonskih Anna	2506	49
11	50	GM	Gallagher Joseph G	2505	1		1	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2683	13
12	14	GM	Bologan Viktor	2680	1		1	GM	Salem A R Saleh	2505	51
13	53	GM	Baron Tal	2498	1		1	GM	Short Nigel D	2677	15
14	16	GM	Fridman Daniel	2660	1		1	GM	Cabrera Alexis	2504	52
15	18	GM	Parligras Mircea-Emilian	2650	1		1	GM	El Debs Felipe De Cresce	2497	54
16	20	GM	Lupulescu Constantin	2648	1		1	IM	Dvirnyy Daniyyl	2492	55
17	57	IM	Muzychuk Mariya	2483	1		1	GM	Gustafsson Jan	2643	21
18	22	GM	Negi Parimarjan	2641	1		1	GM	Cramling Pia	2491	56
19	59	GM	Zhu Chen	2472	1		1	GM	Erdos Viktor	2634	23
20	24	GM	Akobian Varuzhan	2617	1		1	IM	Arnold Marc T	2482	58
21	61	IM	Hunt Adam C	2462	1		1	GM	Hou Yifan	2605	25
22	26	GM	Fier Alexandr	2603	1		1	IM	Krush Irina	2467	60
23	63	IM	Javakhishvili Lela	2454	1		1	GM	Howell David W L	2603	27
24	28	GM	David Alberto	2598	1		1	IM	Raznikov Danny	2436	67
25	72	IM	Hanley Craig A	2421	1		1	GM	Koneru Humpy	2589	29
26	30	GM	Brunello Sabino	2581	1		1	FM	Kuipers Stefan	2391	84
27	89	FM	Fenollar Jorda Manuel	2360	1		1	GM	Kulaots Kaido	2581	31
28	32	IM	Muzychuk Anna	2580	1		1		Valgmae Toomas	2208	133
29	135		Zygouris Hristos	2205	1		1	GM	Felgaer Ruben	2571	33

Full results and pairings here: http://chess-results.com/tnr63931.aspx

TATA STEEL CHESS DAILY - Round 9 2012

GM Darryl K Johansen claims the Queenstown Chess Classic 2012

The New Zealand Chess Federation organized the 2012 Queenstown Chess Classic on 15th-23rd January 2012, at the ballroom of the Millennium Hotel, Queenstown.

The tournament was a nine round Swiss event, staged over nine days. The $50,000 sponsorship was provided by New Zealand Chess Grandmaster Murray Chandler.

Australian Grandmaster Darryl K Johansen defeated the Commonwealth champion Gawain Jones in the final round to catch China’s duo Li Chao B – Zhao Jun on the shared first place. Johansen is declared winner on best tie-break score.

Seeded only 14th at the beginning of the tournament, Johansen continues the string of fantastic results as he already won the 2012 Australian Chess Championship two weeks ago. He improved his elo by 40 points from these two events.

The 119th New Zealand National Championship was also incorporated within the Queenstown Chess Classic. This event has a famous history, being the oldest continuously staged national championship in the world.

FM Michael Steadman from Auckland wins the national title by collecting 6.5 points, half a point better than nearest followers. Full standings bellow.

Previous Queenstown events have also attracted numerous international players, including Grandmasters and Masters. For further information visit the tournament website.

Final standings (top 25):

1 GM Johansen Darryl K AUS 2403 – 7.5
2 GM Li Chao B CHN 2693 – 7.5
3 GM Zhao Jun CHN 2569 – 7.5
4 IM Akshat Khamparia IND 2414 – 7
5 GM Rozentalis Eduardas LTU 2592 – 7
6 Tao Trevor AUS 2422 – 7
7 GM Hansen Sune Berg DEN 2572 – 7
8 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar IND 2639 – 7
9 GM Bojkov Dejan BUL 2553 – 6.5
10 FM Ikeda Junta AUS 2349 – 6.5
11 Bird Andrew AUS 2216 – 6.5
12 FM Steadman Michael NZL 2258 – 6.5
13 WGM Sukandar Irine Kharisma INA 2325 – 6.5
14 Dragicevic Domagoj AUS 2277 – 6.5
15 FM Illingworth Max AUS 2388 – 6.5
16 FM Cheng Bobby AUS 2375 – 6
17 FM Smith Robert W NZL 2273 – 6
18 Zelesco Karl AUS 1990 – 6
19 FM Stojic Dusan AUS 2294 – 6
20 GM Bischoff Klaus GER 2537 – 6
21 IM Dive Russell John NZL 2345 – 6
22 IM Morris James AUS 2354 – 6
23 GM Zhao Xue CHN 2551 – 6
24 GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 2653 – 6
25 IM Solomon Stephen J AUS 2375 – 6
26 IM Ly Moulthun AUS 2376 – 6
27 IM West Guy AUS 2323 – 6

Armenian teams for the 2012 Chess Olympiad in Istanbul

Following the conclusion of the 2012 Armenian Chess Championships, the national federation has announced the lineups for the World Chess Olympiad, which will be held in August in Istanbul, Turkey.

Men’s Team: Levon Aronian, Sergei Movsesian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian, Tigran L. Petrosian. Coach – Arshak Petrosian.

Women’s Team: Elina Danielian, Lilit Mkrtchian, Lilit Galojan, Maria Kursova, Anna Hairapetian. Coach – Artur Chibukchian.

Georgi Tringov Memorial 2012

The 34th Bulgarian Open Chess Championship 2012 – Georgi Tringov Memorial is organized by the Bulgarian Chess Federation, the Chess Club Lokomotiv Plovdiv and Plovdiv Municipality from 29th January to 5th February in Novotel Hotel, Plovdiv.

The tournament will be played over 9 rounds of Swiss system and is valid for FIDE elo and GM/IM norms. Total prize fund is 10000 EUR, with 2000 EUR reserved for the winner.

147 players registered until today with GM Ivan Cheparinov as the top seed.

Participants (top seeds):

1. GM Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2659
2. GM Spasov Vasil BUL 2570
3. GM Radulski Julian BUL 2570
4. GM Nikolov Momchil BUL 2560
5. GM Georgiev Vladimir MKD 2533
6. GM Petkov Vladimir BUL 2519
7. IM Benidze Davit GEO 2516
8. GM Antic Dejan SRB 2504
9. GM Drenchev Petar BUL 2493
10. GM Grigorov Grigor BUL 2491
11. IM Miljkovic Miroslav D SRB 2491
12. IM Smith Bryan G USA 2460
13. IM Bozic Milan SRB 2443
14. IM Arsovic Zoran SRB 2441
15. IM Bruno Fabio ITA 2439
16. IM Dimitrov Radoslav BUL 2437
17. IM Milchev Nikolay BUL 2434
18. IM Enchev Ivajlo BUL 2430
19. GM Ristic Nenad SRB 2427
20. GM Georgiev Krum BUL 2424

1.	Aronian, L.	6½
2.	Carlsen, M. Ivanchuk, V. Radjabov, T.	5½
5.	Nakamura, H.	5
6.	Caruana, F. Karjakin, S. Van Wely, L.	4½
9.	Giri, A. Kamsky, G. Topalov, V.	4
12.	Gashimov, V. Gelfand, B.	3½
14.	Navara, D.	2½

Group B

1.	Harikrishna, P.	7
2.	Bruzon, L. L'Ami, E. Motylev, A.	6
5.	Nyzhnik, I. Tiviakov, S.	4½
7.	Ernst, S. Reinderman, D. Vocaturo, D.	4
10.	Cmilyte, V. Lahno, K. Potkin, V. Timman, J.	3½
14.	Harika, D.	3

Group C

1.	Tikkanen, H. Turov, M.	7½
3.	Adhiban, B.	6½
4.	Brandenburg, D. Grover, S. Sadler, M.	5
7.	Goudriaan, E. Paehtz, E. Schut, L.	4
10.	Tania, S.	3½
11.	Danielian, E. Haast, A. Ootes, L.	3
14.	Hopman, P.	2

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

White to move. How can white save this game? This is quite difficult.

r3rk2/1p1n1p1Q/3P1bp1/1qP5/1n4R1/5B2/p5PP/5RBK w - - 0 1

3°Torneo Internazionale di Scacchi Forni di Sopra - Dolomiti - 16-23 giugno 2012

"Dove la qualita' costa poco"

50 Euro pensione completa, iscrizione euro 55!! - 10.000 euro di montepremi e la possibilita' di giocare con diversi GM e MI. Un torneo da non perdere..

Tutte le Informazioni su www.accademiainternazionalediscacchi.com

Group A

Round 9 - Tuesday the 24th
Nakamura, H. - Topalov, V.	½-½
Carlsen, M. - Karjakin, S.	0-1
Kamsky, G. - Radjabov, T.	½-½
Van Wely, L. - Gelfand, B.	½-½
Gashimov, V. - Navara, D.	½-½
Ivanchuk, V. - Giri, A.	1-0
Aronian, L. - Caruana, F.	1-0

Group B

Cmilyte, V. - Motylev, A.	½-½
L'Ami, E. - Harika, D.	1-0
Timman, J. - Lahno, K.	½-½
Potkin, V. - Bruzon, L.	0-1
Tiviakov, S. - Reinderman, D.	1-0
Nyzhnik, I. - Harikrishna, P.	0-1
Vocaturo, D. - Ernst, S.	1-0

Group C

Adhiban, B. - Hopman, P.	1-0
Goudriaan, E. - Brandenburg, D.	½-½
Danielian, E. - Paehtz, E.	½-½
Turov, M. - Tania, S.	1-0
Schut, L. - Sadler, M.	½-½
Haast, A. - Grover, S.	1-0
Ootes, L. - Tikkanen, H.	0-1

Official website: http://www.tatasteelchess.com

2012 TRADEWISE GIBRALTAR CHESS FESTIVAL

Monday 23 January - Thursday 2 February 2012

PRESS RELEASE - 24 January 2012

TOP BOARD NO. 3
Michael Adams v Natalia Zhukova

One of the pairings from today on one of the top six boards in round one of the Gibraltar Masters, between Adams v Zhukova, is an exact repetition in both names and colours as that featured on the new 30p chess stamp from 2012 issued by the Gibraltar Philatelic Bureau this week.

The stamps were launched on Monday night at the first night reception where the pairings for day one were drawn by Miss Gibraltar 2011 Michelle Gillingwater Pedersen. The stamp is a set of four commemorating 10 years of international chess in Gibraltar.

The collection is available as a Set of 4 stamps, First Day Cover and Presentation Pack
These are available from the Gibraltar Philatelic Bureau online at www.gibraltar-stamps.com and www.wopa-stamps.com

Please do not hesitate to contact me at gibchesspress@gmail.com

Alice Mascarenhas
Tradewise Chess Press Officer
--
Press Office
2012 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival
www.gibraltarchesscongress.com