exd5!

14.04.2010
– In the first
part of our report on the Georgy Agzamov Memorial Tournament, which was
held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, we – actually the author Jamshid Begmatov – provided
you with pictures and descriptions of a large number of players. There were
too many to put into a single report. Here is part two with the rest of his
pictures. New faces and portraits.

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Andrew Martin:
O’Kelly Sicilian
The variation 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 a6!? does not have an especially good reputation in the theory books. Competitive players can use this unjustified assessment to their advantage because the variation is entirely playable, as International Master Andrew Martin shows on this new Chessbase DVD.
More information...

IV
International Georgy Agzamov Memorial

Report by Jamshid Begmatov

The IV International chess tournament in the memory of Georgy Agzamov, the
first grandmaster of Central Asia, was held in Tashkent from 23rd to 31st of
March. A great chess player, promoter, coach and organizer, Georgy Agzamov tragically
died at the age of only 32 in the Crimean resort of Sevastopol – while
on a mountain outing, he stumbled and fell down the gorge. The annual Georgy
Agzamov memorials are the tribute the Uzbek Chess Federation and the entire
country pay to the memory of this wonderful person.

Top final standings

The tournament cross table, round-by round results and a selection of top games
are available at the website of the Uzbek Chess
Federation. Above are the top scorers – the full table is available
here.

Picture gallery – part two

Georgian GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili, Elo 2634

Last year in India Mchedlishvili co-authored one of absolutely the greatest
games of chess ever, which in my view should go into all chess tactics books.
Unfortunately for Mikheil, he was on the losing side, Nigel Short with his consummate
mastery – on the winning.

Uzbek champion IM Jurabek Hamrakulov from Samarkand (Elo 2509)

...and women's champion WIM Nafisa Muminova (Elo 2338) from
Kokand. This tournament didn't go too well for our champions.

The best result among Uzbekistani participants:
GM Anton Filippov, Elo 2598, place ten with 6.5 points.

Anton's girlfriend and permanent supporter Olga with her dazzling smile

GM Marat Dzhumaev, Elo 2525. In my version, his last name
would spell Jumayev, which is actually how you pronounce it.

GM Nurlan Ibrayev of Kazakhstan, Elo 2405

The Under 14 champion of Uzbekistan Iskander Aripov

GM Gadir Guseinov, Elo 2609, place six with 6.5 points. Gadir is a member
of the
Azerbaijan's national team which won the European Team Championship 2009.

Post-game analysis. Gadir wore this green sweatshirt throughout the entire
tournament

IM Vladimir Egin of Uzbekistan, Elo 2410. I might seem a nitpicker
(which I actually am), but his last name should spell Yeghin.

GM Pavel Kotsur of Kazakhstan, Elo 2565

GM Anuar Ismagambetov, Kazakhstan, Elo 2508

WFM Guliskan Nakhbayeva, Kazakhstan, Elo 2245

The winner of the first women's prize Dinara Sadvakasova,
with her mom, and coach GM Nurlan Ibrayev.

Bored of the grandmaster games? Tournament doctors on duty. There was nothing

for them to worry about, but it's still good to know you have doctors available,
just in case.

Always interesting to watch ladies fight. WGM Irene Sukandar Kharisma vs
Hulkar
Tahirjanova: 0-1 in hard-fought, six-hour-long game.

Our old
friend GM Saidali Yuldashev

Old shark GM Leonid Yurtaev of Kirghizstan, who finished eleventh

GM Raset Ziyatdinov now represents the USA

These schoolkids pose for the photographer: as if they were sitting for
an exam

Miss photogenic on a good hair day: WFM Irina Gevorgian

The tournament Director and experienced coach Sergey Pinchuk delivering
the closing speech

Grandmasters lined up: Rinat Jumabayev, Sergey Zhigalko and Maxim Turov
at the closing ceremony

On the other side: Dreev, Yurtaev, Kotsur, Ismagambetov, Filippov

Anton Filippov posing with his envelope. Wonder how much he got there?

We zoom in and see…

Downstairs the Central House was full of girls in fancy dresses: a rehearsal
for some big show

The social side of chess tournaments is always nice: Hulkar Tahirjanova, Irene
Sukandar Kharisma and Nafisa Muminova in the Museum of the Timurids Dynasty,
posing by a model of the Taj Mahal. The Taj is a mausoleum located in Agra,
India, built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, the grandson of Babur Shah, the founder
of the Mughal Empire. Babur Shah came from the city of Andijan in what is now
Uzbekistan. He was a direct descendant of Timur through his father, and a descendant
of Genghis Khan through his mother.

Most of visiting players stayed at Hotel Uzbekistan...

...while the Indonesian players stayed at Hotel Le Grande Plaza run by an
Indonesian company

In parallel with the tournament, Le Grande Plaza also hosted a FIDE seminar
for chess arbiters where would-be and functioning arbiters from five republics
of Central Asia had the opportunity to improve their professional skills. Seminar
participants including yours truly. We had a great time and learned a lot of
new stuff

The seminar was delivered by the well-known International Arbiter,
member of the FIDE Board of Arbiters, Ashot Vardapetian from Armenia

About the author Jamshid Begmatov works as a consultant for the European Commission’s office in Tashkent. His hobbies include chess and photography. Jamshid has been writing reports and articles for ChessBase since 2003. Official tournament site All available games in PGN First part of this report To read, replay and analyse the PGN games we adivse you to download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light. This program also gives you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.

Copyright
ChessBase

Chessbase.com

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13.04.2010
– Today is Garry Kasparov's 47th birthday. Reader Ben Vinyard of Woodstock, USA, sent us a YouTube link with "a cool video on a simul Kasparov gave in 1988". A perfect birthday gift for the former World Champion, who was 24 at the time. We know for a fact that Garry has not seen the video – at least not in the last fifteen or twenty years. Happy Birthday Garry Kimovich!

Advertisement

Andrew Martin:
O’Kelly Sicilian
The variation 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 a6!? does not have an especially good reputation in the theory books. Competitive players can use this unjustified assessment to their advantage because the variation is entirely playable, as International Master Andrew Martin shows on this new Chessbase DVD.
More information...

Kasparov's clock simuls

Kasparov's stint of playing impossibly strong clock simultaneous exhibitions
began in 1985, when he took on the Bundesliga team of Hamburg, Germany. This
was the professional squad of eight players, led by GM Murray Chandler on board
one. Kasparov knew nothing about most of the other opponents, was tired and
got into time trouble. He lost that simul by 3½-4½ – the
first and only time this has ever happened to him. He swore to return for revenge.

And return he did, in January 1987. A couple of days before the simul Frederic
Friedel and Matthias Wüllenweber handed him the very first copy of a program
they had named "ChessBase" – no number behind it, but the serial
number of the 3.5" floppy disk was 00001. It contained all available games
of Kasparov's opponents, this time from a Hamburg team that was nominally stronger
than the one to which he had lost just over a year earlier.

The ChessBase program on Atari ST back in 1987

Kasparov spent two days preparing for the opponents, on an Atari
ST – a computer with 512 kilobytes of memory and no hard drive, but
with a sharp black and white monitor. With the home prep the clock simul went
differently: Kasparov crushed his opponents 7:1.

In late 1988 Kasparov was working on an Atari ST with a 20 MB hard disk
(!)

This experience was so exhilirating that Garry started to do it on a regular
basis – and take on stronger and stronger opposition: the Swiss national
team, the French (twice), the US junior team, the German junior team, the German
Olympiad squad and finally the Argentenians and the Israelis. It was always
preceeded by careful preparation, initially on the Atari, then on PCs when ChessBase
migrated to this generation of computers.

Kasparov proudly presents the latest ChessBase running on a PC – in
1988

American Gambit: Kasparov vs the US Juniors

In early 1988 Kasparov took on the American juniors. This was a viciously strong
squad of six young players, and the general consensus was that in a clock simul
he did not stand a chance. The match took place in the famous Russian
Tea Room in New York. The rest of the tale is told in three parts by the
following film that was produced after the event and uploaded to YouTube by
Larry Millington from Warrington, England. Take the time to absorb the atmosphere,
listen to the players and experience how a clock simul is played. The games
are given at the bottom of the page.

In one section (starting from around seven minutes into the video) Danny Edelman
says: "Tonight, it doesn't matter if I win, it doesn't matter if I draw,
it doesn't matter if I lose. I hope to engage in one of the brilliant games.
If I lose it is because of a beautiful attack, and wonderful that I am part
of something; and if I draw then equally so; and if I win, well, that will be
excellent as well." Watch what happens in the next segment.

There is a cute section starting from 8 min 30 sec: Sofia Rohde, wife of the
grandmaster, had been intructed to have Toblerone available for Kasparov, who
used it to get his blood sugar up after a number of hours of play. Sophia got
chocolate for the other players as well, but warns them repeatedly not to touch
the Toblerone. She is on Facebook
in case you want to know more about the staging of such events.

The commentator at the demo boards is Sofia's husband GM Michael Rohde, who
is in the Manhattan Chess Club across the road and getting the moves on scoresheets
carried by a running courier – cutting edge technology at the time.

The most poignant scene in this video comes at 3 min 20 sec, where Kasparov
repeats moves, expecting his opponent to deviate.

Edelman,Daniel (2360) - Kasparov,Garry (2750) [B33]
New York sim New York, 1988
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bf4 e5 8.Bg5
a6 9.Na3 b5 10.Nd5 Qa5+ 11.Bd2 Qd8 12.Bg5 Qa5+ 13.Bd2 Qd8

This is a strategy of simultaneous masters, and Garry used a number of times
in his own exhibitions. White can repeat and take the draw, or play on with
a deviation that leads to an unclear position without a clear advantage. Watch
Edelman's face when Kasparov plays 13...Qd8. After some thought he takes the
draw: 14.Bg5 ½-½. Kasparov is deeply upset: "You
have white, you have to play. That is my opinion, sorry. When I was young I
would never have missed a chance to play the World Champion." He offers
Edelman the chance to continue, but after consultation Sophia signals that the
draw is taken.

Starting from 8 minutes you see Patrick Wolff with his at the time trademark
hat putting the pressure on Kasparov. Watch him glare at his opponent and then
play 22.Qh6-d2, knowing that he is winning.

The final section show Patrick, who later worked with Vishy Anand, defeat Kasparov.
It is quite moving to hear him explain what that feels like. Meanwhile Rachels,
who was doing very well in the middlegame, gets blitzed by Kasparov. The film
very nicely captures the end of the game, starting from around 3 min 15 sec.
Watch the faces and the demeanor of the two players. Beautiful stuff. At around
6 min 30 sec, Kasparov blunders into a draw against Alex Fischbein – watch
Garry flash out the winning move, 56...d2!, immediately after the draw is agreed.

In the end Kasparov wins the simul 4-2. Click
here to replay and download these historical games.

Chessbase.com

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12.04.2010
– This international tournament, with 114 participants, is held in Tashkent every year in the memory of Georgy Agzamov, the first grandmaster of Central Asia, who died tragically at the age of only 32. Four international participants tied for first with 7.0/9 points – Russian GM Maxim Turov took first on tiebreaks. We bring you part one of a pictorial spectacular by Jamshid Begmatov. New faces and portraits.

Advertisement

Andrew Martin:
O’Kelly Sicilian
The variation 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 a6!? does not have an especially good reputation in the theory books. Competitive players can use this unjustified assessment to their advantage because the variation is entirely playable, as International Master Andrew Martin shows on this new Chessbase DVD.
More information...

IV
International Georgy Agzamov Memorial

Report by Jamshid Begmatov

The IV International chess tournament in the memory of Georgy Agzamov, the
first grandmaster of Central Asia, was held in Tashkent from 23rd to 31st of
March. A great chess player, promoter, coach and organizer, Georgy Agzamov tragically
died at the age of only 32 in the Crimean resort of Sevastopol – while
on a mountain outing, he stumbled and fell down the gorge. The annual Georgy
Agzamov memorials are the tribute the Uzbek Chess Federation and the entire
country pay to the memory of this wonderful person.

Thanks to the excellent organization by the Chess Federation of Uzbekistan,
the professional work of arbiters and technical staff, and sponsorship of MTS-Uzbekistan
mobile operator, the tournament turned into a great chess festival with a total
of 114 players and a record number of foreign participants. These included world-renowned
players, as well as young talents from twelve countries, including Russia, Belarus,
Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Indonesia, USA, the Netherlands, Israel, Kazakhstan,
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. This nine-round Swiss is by far the top tournament
in the region, which this year attracted such names as Alexei Dreev, Sergey
Tiviakov, Gadir Guseinov, Vitaly Tseshkovsky, and many other great chess personalities.

The tournament was held in this beautiful building – the so-called Central
House of Officers. Sorry for the limited view – this is about as much
as the widest angle of my lens could get from the few meters I could afford.
Behind me was a big street with heavy traffic and full of cars parked on the
sides. But I will compensate with a verbal explanation. These houses exist in
virtually all major cities of post-Soviet countries, and used to serve as a
kind of entertainment clubs for Soviet Army officers and their offsprings, offering
them such facilities as a billiards hall, cinema, concert hall, dance club,
etc. With the collapse of the USSR, they retained the name, but went open for
general public, and offer their facilities for rent.

The main playing hall

The total prize fund amounted to US $20,000, with the first prize of $5,000.
In addition, special prizes were established for women, juniors under 20, juniors
under 16, and veterans.

In the overall ranking, four players tied for first with seven points, with
the Russian grandmaster
and well-known chess commentator Maxim Turov clinching the first prize on Buchholz
tie-breaks.

The tournament cross table, round-by round results and a selection of top games
are available at the website of the Uzbek Chess
Federation. Above are the top scorers – the full table is available
here.

Picture gallery

We always ask our contributors to send us sharp, well-framed pictures,
with proper white balance, but also with captions. Too many images are published
on chess sites without any indication of who the people might be. The picture
galleries are often simple uploads from the SD cards – numerous software
applications for organizing and editing digital photos allow you to do this
with a few mouse clicks. Of course the readers are left to work out what the
pictures depict all by themselves: some guy, another guy at the chessboard,
a chick, two gals playing against each other, an older dude, another guy –
hang on, isn't that Tiviakov?

So we beseech people to include short descriptions of the people they portray.
Some comply, some do so in exemplary fashion. A very good example is our old
friend Jamshid Begmatov, who is a keen and competent photographer, but always
remembers to include descriptions and little stories in his reports. This time
he sent us a large package with plenty of new faces and portraits. We bring
it to you in two parts.

The tournament winner Maxim Turov of Russia

In the category of veterans, Vyacheslav Agzamov, the elder
brother of Georgy Agzamov became the winner with 4.5 points

The other brother of Valery Agzamov, a keen photographer

The Under-16 section was won by the talented young player from Bukhara

Jahongir Vakhidov with six points, the son of GM Tahir Vahidov

In the women's section, the winner with 5.5 points was WFM Dinara
Sadvakasova from Kazakhstan – no relation to GM Darmen Sadvakasov

The World Under-20 Vice-champion GM Sergey Zhigalko from Belarus...

...and Kazakhstani grandmaster Rinat Jumabaev shared 2-3 with absolutely
identical
tie-breaks in the order of priority: Buchholz, Median Buchholz, and the number
of wins.

GM Vitaly Golod from Israel took fourth with the lowest tie-break among
the top scorers.

OK, so much for the official part. Now let’s take a photo tour of the
tournament and personalities within and around it, and look at one game of special
interest that I picked up from a great many fighting games.

Sergey Tiviakov, Holland, vs Vitaly Golod, Israel: 0-1

This is the round seven game I'm referring to. Why special? Because this was
a clash of generations: the youngest (20) and the oldest (66) grandmasters of
the tournament Sergey Zhigalko and the Russian chess legend Vitaly Tseshkovsky.
The former won in a style, with a devastating kingside attack.

Zhigalko,S (2648) - Tseshkovsky,V (2549) [B06]
4th G. Agzamov Mem Tashkent UZB (7), 29.03.2010
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Be3 a6 5.Qd2 b5 6.a4 b4 7.Nce2 a5 8.Ng3
c6 9.Nf3 h5 10.Bd3 Bg4 11.Ng5 Nh6 12.h3 Bc8 13.c3 bxc3 14.bxc3 d5 15.e5 h4 16.Ne2
Nf5 17.Bf4 Na6 18.0-0 Nc7 19.Rab1 f6 20.Nf3 Ne6 21.Qc2 0-0 22.Bxf5 gxf5 23.Nxh4
Ba6 24.Ng6 Rf7 25.Rfe1 c5 26.dxc5 Nxc5 27.Rbd1 e6 28.Ng3 Rc8

29.Nxf5 fxe5 30.Nxg7 exf4 31.Nxe6 Qf6 32.Nxc5 Rxc5 33.Re8+ Kg7 34.Ne5
Rfc7 35.Re1 d4 36.Qb3 Bc4 37.Nxc4 Rxc4 38.cxd4 Qxd4 1-0.

One of two top rated players of the tournament – Alexei Dreev, Elo
2653;
who finished shared 5-15, with 6.5 points, place six on tie-breaks

Here, I would like to continue my discussion of common mistakes
in the transliteration of Cyrillic-based names to English. In English, you normally
read the double "e" as a prolonged sound [i:] like in "greens".
So, Rajeev would be a correct spelling for the Indian name, but Dreev is a very
common misspelling, because the proper pronunciation of this name is dreyev
with a very clear sound "y" between the two "e"s. The mistake
is a result of direct transliteration from the Russian spelling Дреев
which you indeed read as dreyev. Same goes for Kazhgaleev, Bareev, Timofeev,
Gareev and all other -eev's.

The other top-rated player, many times Dutch Champion hailing from Krasnodar,
Russia: Sergei Tiviakov, Elo 2653. He was quite disappointed with his 5.5 points
and 2501 performance.

Arbiters Irina and Julia pulled aside for a shot by your photographer

Julia under her second hat: photographer

The oldest participant of the tournament: Erkin Karimov, Elo 2035

And perhaps the youngest. Well, shortest for sure. He would
barely see the board if he sat actually on the chair.

This lady brought her little daughter all the way from Kazakhstan

Sometimes the person's back tells you more than the face. This young player
must be disappointed with Wednesday night's grand football show Manchester United
vs Bayern Munich.

Tim Catur Mahasiswa Gunadarma – Gunadarma University Students'
Chess Team is what you read on the top Indonesian GM Susanto Megaranto's back...

...and his face in deep thought.

Five points with a 2299 performance is not what he expected from this tournament.
But things happen. Susanto can surely blame his low score on his bad luck: he
bought a T-shirt at a local bazaar; incidentally, the T-shirt had 13 printed
on the back. After this purchase, he scored half a point in the next three games.
I wonder if he will ever wear that shirt again.

Top Indonesian female player, WGM Irene Sukandar Kharisma, Elo 2316

The Indonesian team Captain Mr. (or Pak) Bunawan

When I saw him, I immediately knew where he was from. I still remembered some
smattering of Bahasa Indonesia from my trip to the country a few years ago,
so I thought I'd surprise him and said: Selamat siyang, apa kabar? (Good afternoon,
how are you?) He was totally shocked, and we were friends in no time.

About the author Jamshid Begmatov works as a consultant for the European Commission’s office in Tashkent. His hobbies include chess and photography. Jamshid has been writing reports and articles for ChessBase since 2003. Official tournament site All available games in PGN To read, replay and analyse the PGN games we adivse you to download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light. This program also gives you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com. Copyright ChessBase

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12.04.2010
– The 2009/10 German "Schachbundesliga" season ended with a victory for Baden-Baden, the team with the most stellar members (Anand, Carlsen, Svidler, Shirov, Bacrot, Movsesian, Adams, Naiditsch, etc.). They ended a point ahead of Werder Bremen and two above Solingen. It was the fifth consecutive title for Baden. The next season begins in October 2010. Final report.

Advertisement

Andrew Martin:
O’Kelly Sicilian
The variation 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 a6!? does not have an especially good reputation in the theory books. Competitive players can use this unjustified assessment to their advantage because the variation is entirely playable, as International Master Andrew Martin shows on this new Chessbase DVD.
More information...

OSG Baden-Baden German champion 2009/10

The decisive final rounds of the 2009/10 German "Schachbundesliga"
season took place on April 10th and 11th in Baden-Baden and Bremen. In Bremen
Werder Bremen faced SG Solingen, and in Baden-Baden it is OSG Baden-Baden vs
SV Mülheim Nord. Both teams, Baden-Baden and Solingen, were tied at twelve
wins and one loss, with 24 match points each. Bremen was a point behind.

The final rounds of a thrilling and very hard-fought season saw OSG Baden-Baden
take the German team championship. The outcome was decided in round 14, when
the four best teams played each other. Baden-Baden won against Mülheim
with a 4.5:3.5 score, and Bremen was able to beat Solingen by 5.5:2.5. The last
round was a mere formality for Baden-Baden as they beat Katernberg 7:1. It was
the fifth consecutive title in the highest German chess league for the best
team of the last years, which is sponsored by GrenkeLeasing AG.

The winning team – eagle eyes will recognise Naiditsch, Vallejo, Adams,
Nisipeanu,
Bacrot, Gustafsson, Schlösser, Grenke, Dautov, Shirov, Zanner and Noppes.

Anand, Viswanathan Carlsen, Magnus Svidler, Peter Shirov, Alexei Bacrot, Etienne
Movsesian, Sergei Adams, Michael , Arkadij Pons, Francisco Nielsen, Peter-Heine
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter Caruana, Fabiano Gustafsson, Jan Dautov, Rustem Doettling,
Fabian Schlosser, Philipp Dinger, Florian Hager, Joshua Aarasch

The fight against relegation was as exciting as the fight for the championship.
SF Berlin saved the day with a 4:4 against their toughest rival Bayern Munich
in the last round. Munich, Heidelberg, Erfurt and the second team from Berlin,
SK König Tegel, are relegated to the second division.

The season 2009/10 was a big success for the Schachbundesliga. On every playing
weekend an average of 15,000 chess fans followed the live coverage on the Internet.
For the season 2010/11, which starts in October 2010, the Schachbundesliga is
planning further novelties in order to increase the attraction for all chess
lovers.

Final standings

Rnk	Team	Rds	+	=	–	TP	BP
1	OSG Baden-Baden	15	14	0	1	28	87.5
2	Werder Bremen	15	12	3	0	27	78.5
3	SG Solingen	15	13	0	2	26	75
4	SV Mülheim Nord	15	8	5	2	21	71
5	Hamburger SK	15	8	1	6	17	64
6	SC Eppingen	15	7	2	6	16	64.5
7	SK Turm Emsdetten	15	8	0	7	16	63
8	SV Wattenscheid 1930	15	7	2	6	16	61
9	SC 1950 Remagen	15	7	1	7	15	61.5
10	SG Trier	15	7	0	8	14	58.5
11	SF Katernberg	15	6	1	8	13	50.5
12	SF Berlin 1903	15	2	5	8	9	54.5
13	FC Bayern München	15	2	4	9	8	49.5
14	Heidelberg-Handschuhsheim	15	0	7	8	7	43
15	Erfurter SK	15	0	4	11	4	38
16	SK König Tegel	15	0	3	12	3	40

The winning team OSG Baden-Baden

Brd	Player	Rtng	Title	Pts	Gms	Score
1	Anand, Viswanathan	2788	GM	1.5	2	75%
2	Carlsen, Magnus	2772	GM	0	0	0%
3	Svidler, Peter	2741	GM	2.5	5	50%
4	Shirov, Alexei	2730	GM	7	10	70%
5	Bacrot, Etienne	2709	GM	10	13	77%
6	Movsesian, Sergei	2711	GM	6.5	9	72%
7	Adams, Michael	2682	GM	5	8	63%
8	Naiditsch, Arkadij	2685	GM	9	13	69%
9	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	2696	GM	6.5	9	72%
10	Nielsen, Peter-Heine	2687	GM	6.5	9	72%
11	Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	2664	GM	6.5	8	81%
12	Caruana, Fabiano	2662	GM	2	2	100%
13	Gustafsson, Jan	2622	GM	10	13	77%
14	Dautov, Rustem	2596	GM	7.5	9	83%
15	Doettling, Fabian	2571	GM	0	0	0%
16	Schlosser, Philipp	2555	GM	7	10	70%
17	Dinger, Florian	2359	FM	0	0	0%
18	Hager, Joshua Aarasch	2235	-	0	0	0%

OSG Baden-Baden: Alexei Shirov, rated 2730, scored 70% in ten games

OSG Baden-Baden: Arkadij Naiditsch, 2685, scored 69% in 13 games

OSG Baden-Baden: Etienne Bacrot, 2709, scored 77% in 13 games

OSG Baden-Baden: Michael Adams, 2682, scored 63% in eight games

OSG Baden-Baden: Jan Gustafsson, 2622, scored 77% in 13 games

Mühlheim Nord: Maxime Vachier-Legrave: 2718, scored 55% in 11 games

Mühlheim Nord: Daniel Fridman, 2661, scored 73% in 15 games

SF Karternberg: Klaus Bischoff, 2561, scored 40% in 15 games

SF Karternberg: Sarah Hoolt, one of the few women in the Bundesliga, 2225,
25% in four games

Links Official Bundesliga site (English version) All games of the 2009/2010 BL season in zipped PGN The games of the Bundesliga are broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!

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12.04.2010
– One month ago Anatoly Karpov announced his candidacy for President of the World Chess Federation (elections in September). The former World Champion was nominated by the French and Swiss Federations. Now the President of the German Chess Federation, Robert von Weizsäcker, has come forward with a nomination and unanimous support. Press release and information.

Advertisement

Andrew Martin:
O’Kelly Sicilian
The variation 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 a6!? does not have an especially good reputation in the theory books. Competitive players can use this unjustified assessment to their advantage because the variation is entirely playable, as International Master Andrew Martin shows on this new Chessbase DVD.
More information...

Press statement:

At the beginning of October FIDE will conduct elections in Khanty-Mansiysk,
Russia. A few weeks ago former World Champion Anatoly Karpov announced his intention
to run for the FIDE Presidency. The President of the German Chess Federation
Robert von Weizsäcker has warmly welcomed this decision and has officially
nominated Anatoly Karpov as a candidate. This is possible according to the laws
of FIDE, since the former World Champion has been a member of the [German chess
club] Schachvereinigung 1930 Hockenheim since 1994, which automatically
makes him a member of the German Chess federation.

Anatoly Karpov, Prof. Robert von Weizsäcker

The question of the FIDE elections was discussed at the last meeting of the
Presidential Board of the German Chess Federation, on March 25 in Berlin, and
decided unanimously to support Anatoly Karpov.

Horst Metzing, German Chess
Federation

DSB President Robert von Weizsäcker

Robert Klaus Freiherr von Weizsäcker, 55, is the son of the former President
of Germany, Richard von Weizsäcker, and nephew of one of Germany's most
eminent physicists and philosophers, Carl
Friedrich von Weizsäcker. Robert von Weizsäcker is a tenure Professor
for Economics at the Technical University of Munich and also the President of
the German Chess Federation. He studied mathematics and economics at the University
of Bonn and did his PhD at the London School of Economics/University of Bonn
in 1985. He became a Professor in 1992 at the Humboldt University in Berlin
and has taught at the universities of Halle-Wittenberg, Mannheim and Munich.

Robert von Weizsäcker was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge,
the Université catholique de Louvain, the London School of Economics,
Stanford University, the University of Oxford and at the International Monetary
Fund in Washington D.C. He is a Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy
Research in London, the ifo Institut for Economic Research in Munich and the
Institute for the Study of Labor in Bonn. He has been a Heisenberg awardee of
the German Research Society and a member of the National Science Council.

Apart from his academic career Robert von Weizsäcker has maintained a
strong interest in chess. He has played in the German Team Championship and
is an International Correspondence Chess grandmaster. His latest rating is 2591.
Here is an early example of his play in the German "Bundesliga":

Von Weizsaecker,Robert - Galle,Andre [A43]
GER-chT W 7778 Germany, 1978
1.d4 e6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 exd5 4.cxd5 d6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Nf3 Nh6 7.Bg5 f6 8.Bf4
Nf7 9.e3 a6 10.a4 b6 11.Be2 Bg7 12.0-0 0-0 13.Qd2 Qe7 14.Rab1 f5 15.b4 g5 16.bxc5
bxc5 17.Bg3 f4 18.exf4 gxf4 19.Bxf4 Bxc3 20.Qxc3 Qxe2 21.Rbe1 Qa2

22.Re7 Qxd5 23.Bh6 Ne5 24.Nxe5 dxe5 25.Rxe5 Qd4 26.Rg5+ Kf7 27.Qf3+
Qf6 28.Rg7+ Ke8 29.Re1+ Be6 30.Qh5+ Rf7 31.Rxf7 Qg6 32.Rxe6+ Kxf7 33.Rxg6 1-0.

His name is pronounced "fonn weitz-secker" – and Robert
as in Robert.

Chessbase.com

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