25.01.2010 – We have heard many excuses before: illness, missed flight, or Oscar Wilde's classy "I have to decline due to a subsequent engagement". But this one is new: I cannot attend the Gibtel Masters because I am taking part in the opera Tannhäuser (by Richard Wagner). Still, even without the singing, dancing, soccer-playing GM the event has a great field. Preview.
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Yasser Seirawan:
My best games Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan began playing chess in the summer of 1972 and by 1979 he had won the World Junior Championship and in January of 1980 earned his final Grandmaster norm. What had he learned in seven and a half years that propelled him so far so quickly?
2010 Gibtelecom Masters: A Knight at the Opera
By John Saunders
The list
of players at the 2010 Gibtelecom Masters in Gibraltar is quite illustrious.
Unfortunately, we have lost a few prospective participants. Sadly, ex-women's
world champion Zhu Chen and her husband Mohamad Al-Modiahki won't be coming
after all due to a family illness. Three Russian GMs, Vitiugov, Romanov and
Andreikin, have run into off-board time trouble – their visa applications
have not been processed in time for them to appear.
But
the most intriguing withdrawal is Simen
Agdestein's, who has the most original reason for not being in Gibraltar:
he is going to be taking part in an opera!
Is there no end to the talents of the Norwegian grandmaster? It is well known
that he was a soccer international (photo left) and that he took part in Dancing
with the Stars (see photo, right) on Norwegian TV.
But is he now an all-singing, all-dancing grandmaster? Well, very nearly.
Here is Simen himself on his off-board career after Dancing with the Stars:
"I must admit it was enormous fun taking part in that program and very
inspirational. Afterwards I started on amateur theatricals and also became interested
in singing and such things. But I’m not going to sing [in the opera],
just play a very minor role in the background."
The opera is Richard Wagner's Tannhauser and it is being performed at the Norwegian
Opera in Oslo. As usual, Simen believes in starting at the top. Next stop Bayreuth?
Trivia question: the children of which strong, active grandmaster actually
sing in Tannhäuser?
You can listen to the famous Pilgrim's Chorus from Tannhäuser. Set your
loudspeaker volume at the beginning and then try not to change it during the
entire piece. The good bit comes when the strings go pom-pom-pom-pom at around
two minutes. If you are hooked you can listen to the overture .
Same loudspeaker volume strategy as above. Listen to the strings in the background
– it will send shivers down your back. And if you still haven't had enough
here's an amazing piano
version of the overture
by Wagner's father-in-law Franz Liszt.
With Kasparov and Carlsen in Marrakech
by Alice Mascarenhas, Gibraltar Chronicle
As the 2010 Gibtelecom Chess Festival opens next week, Brian Callaghan, organizer
of the Gibtelecom Chess Festival met up with two of the most famous world chess
players in Marrakech, Morocco, this past week, former World Chess Champion Russian
Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen, Norwegian grandmaster and chess prodigy currently
ranked number one in the world. These two world chess stars being together provided
an opportunity to brief them on the development of chess in Gibraltar.
In the picture with Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov are representatives
from the local tournament sponsors; Tim Bristow, Gibtelecom, James Humphreys,
Tradewise, and Pepe Canilla, Canillas.
The next Gibraltar Gibtelecom International Chess Festival starts on Tuesday
26th January for ten days and will see some 40 countries presented with some
of the world’s leading chess players, including Etienne Bacrot from France,
Sergei Movsesian Czech Republic, leading Spanish player Francisco Vallejo Pons,
Gata Kamsky from the USA, with the British challenge led by Michael Adams. The
current top women world players include World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk from
Russia, and the highest rated woman player Humpy Koneru.
The in Gibraltar
again plays host to the Gibtelecom International Chess Festival which offers
a friendly gathering to this series of tournaments which run simultaneously:
the Masters, the Challengers and the Amateurs.
The Festival is now the leading tournament of its type in the world, with a
prize fund of over £100,000 and is sponsored by the Gibraltar Government
Sports and Leisure Authority, Gibtelecom, Anglo Hispano Co. Ltd., Bentley Property
Services Ltd., Canillas, Casais, Gibmaroc Ltd., Deloitte, Gibro Group, Isolas,
Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch, Party Gaming, Saccone & Speed, The Caleta
Hotel and Tradewise Insurance Company Ltd.
A selection of games will be broadcast live on the official web site
and on the chess server .
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!
22.01.2010 – At last: Nigel Short chose a favourite variation of the main line Spanish and held a comfortable draw against Alexei Shirov. The Spaniard is now at 5.5/6, with his performance rating at "just" 3094. With his second win Vladimir Kramnik has joined the follower group 1.5 points behind Shirov. In Group B it is Anish Giri and Group C Ray Robson who are dominating. Both are 15. Round six report.
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Yasser Seirawan:
My best games Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan began playing chess in the summer of 1972 and by 1979 he had won the World Junior Championship and in January of 1980 earned his final Grandmaster norm. What had he learned in seven and a half years that propelled him so far so quickly?
Wijk aan Zee 2010 – Round six report
Report by Steve Giddins
Photos by Nadja Woisin and Gallina Tiviakova
On paper, round six should have been one of the most exciting so far, since
it featured two mouth-watering clashes between the favourites: Anand-Carlsen
and Ivanchuk-Nakamura. Sad to relate, though, both turned out to be what Harry
Golombek once described as "games not calculated to add greatly to the
sum total of human happiness". The latter was the first real GM-draw of
the event, lasting just 16 theoretical moves and barely 30 minutes' playing
time, whilst the former was a 26-move draw in a theoretical Dragon Sicilian.
14.b3. 14.dxc5 dxc5 15.e5 lead to a white brilliancy in Smeets-Short,
Staunton Memorial 2008: 15...Nf8 16.Qe2 Bb7 17.Ne4 Ne6 18.h4 Qc7 19.Neg5 Bxg5
20.Nxg5 Nxg5 21.Bxg5 h6 22.Qd3 hxg5 23.Qh7+ Kf8 24.Qh8+ Ke7 25.Qxg7 Rg8 26.Qf6+
Kf8 27.e6 Nc6 28.hxg5 Rd8 29.Qh6+ Rg7 30.g6 fxg6 31.Qh8+ Rg8 32.Qf6+ Ke8 33.Bxg6+
Rxg6 34.Qxg6+ Kf8 35.Re3 10 However, Short has repeated the opening at least
twice since then, so he is clearly confident in an improvement, and Shirov presumably
agrees with him.
Lenier Dominguez has been less conspicuous in this event than last year, but
today he heaped more misery on the Dutch contingent, by opening his winning
account at the expense of Tiviakov.
White has a large space advantage for his pawn, and Black is passive, if very
solid. Such pawn sacrifices are standard in the Catalan, and in this game, Black
never solves his queenside development problems. 16...Nb6 17.Ne5 Nd7 18.Nd3
Qb6 19.Be3 Be7 20.Qc2 Qd8 21.Rfd1 Nf6 22.h3 Ne8 23.Qb3 Nc7 24.Ne5 Bb4 25.Nd3
Qe7 26.Nxb4 Qxb4 27.Qc2
27...Re8? 27...Na6 seems essential. The text allows a decisive breakthrough. 28.d5 exd5 29.exd5 Na6 30.dxc6 bxc6 31.Qxc6 Bf5 32.Qb5 Be4 33.Rc4 Qxb5 34.axb5
Bxg2 35.Kxg2 Nb4 36.b6 Rab8 37.Rd7 h6 38.b7 1-0. [Click
to replay]
Peter Leko also opened his winning account, at the expense of Caruana. Obscure
complications left the Hungarian with a piece for several pawns, and he eventually
managed to consolidate everything and win.
Finally, in the day's longest game, Kramnik won again, ain the process condemning
his sometime second Loek van Wely, to his fifth straight loss. In a typical
KID structure, the Dutchman's 39th allowed a thematic piece sacrifice on c5,
and then failed to find a way to stop the pawns.
With play being relatively quiet in the A Group, the two young guns of the
B and C Groups can take centre stage. Both Giri and Robson won, taking their
scores to 5/6 and 5.5/6 respectively. Giri showed considerable audacity and
should probably have been punished, but his opponent 's position collapsed completely,
in the run up to the time control.
Anish Giri, 15, Dutch Champion 2010, who has now scored 5.0/6 with a 2926
performance
Full marks for creativity. This looks very risky, but Black manages to shelter
his king behind the dark-square central blockade, whilst it is the white monarch
which comes under deadly attack. 22.a3 Qa4 23.Rd3 b5 24.Rc3 Rhc8 25.Be2 Ne5
26.Kd2 b4 27.Rc2 bxa3 28.bxa3 Rab8 29.Rhc1 c4 30.Rc3 Rb2+ 31.R1c2 Qb5 32.Rxb2
Qxb2+ 33.Rc2 Qb1 34.Qc3 Rc5 35.g3 f5 36.Rb2 Qxe4 37.Kc1 Nd3+
0-1. []
Anish Giri discusses his game in the press center
Ray Robson's win was the result of a sharp tactical eye.
22.e5. The engines are initially very sceptical of this double pawn
sacrifice, clearly believing, along with the poet John
Keats, that "a thing of booty is a joy forever". However, they
start to change their view, after White's 25th move. 22...dxe5 23.Ne4 Bxd4
24.Nf6+ Kh8 25.Bc2 g4 26.Nh7 f5. 26...Rd8 27.Rxf7 Qxf7 28.Qxh6 Qg7 29.Qh4
wins. 27.Nxf8 Qxf8 28.Be4 c5 29.Qc2 f4 30.gxf4 exf4
16.01.2010 – Loek van Wely, playing in Wijk an Zee for the 19th time is succession, started
off with a fine text-book victory over Nigel Short, while Alexei Shirov, playing
the black side of Ruy Lopez Moeller, punished Peter Leko's exchange sacrifice
in a fine endgame performance. Live coverage with audio commentary is available
on the server. Big pictorial report.
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Yasser Seirawan:
My best games Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan began playing chess in the summer of 1972 and by 1979 he had won the World Junior Championship and in January of 1980 earned his final Grandmaster norm. What had he learned in seven and a half years that propelled him so far so quickly?
Wijk aan Zee 2010 – Round one report
Report by Steve Giddins
It was a fairly uneventful start to Corus 2010, with only two decisive games
in the top group. World no. one Magnus Carlsen drew a quiet game against Tiviakov's
favourite 5.Qe2 Spanish, whilst Kramnik's trusty Petroff led to an early draw
with Dominguez. World champion Vishy Anand wheeled out the New Archangel against
last year's tournament winner, Sergey Kariakin. A balanced struggle seemed to
swing in Anand's favour in the run-up to the time control, but the result was
a theoretically drawn queen ending, which Anand made no attempt to win.
Smeets-Nakamura and Caruana-Ivanchuk were also both drawn, leaving van
Wely and Shirov to take the lead, by becoming the day's only two winners. The
Dutchman beat Short with a textbook minority attack:
In the B Group, the youthful Dutch champion Anish Giri got off to a fine start,
by beating Harakrishna, whilst there were also wins for Nisipeanu and Sutovsky.
The C Group, or Kindergarten Group, as Nigel Short described it, saw wins for
Robson, Chao, Vocaturo and Grandelius.
Pentala Harikrishna, himself a former child prodigy,...
... was badly mangled by this one, 15-year-old Anish, reigning Dutch Champion
Straight in the eye: Vladimir Kramnik was the first to finish his game in
round one
Hikaru Nakamura, who drew Jan Smeets with black in 34 moves
The typical deep thinking pose of Vassily Ivanchuk
Nigel Short of Greece trying to weather the cold in windswept Wijk
Nigel wore his scarf even during part of the game
His opponent, Dutch GM Loek van Wely, played a model game in round one
Alexei Shirov, one of the great endgame artists in top international chess
Shirov punished Leko's exchange sacrifice in a 64-move victory with the
black pieces
Tiviakov vs Carlsen, which ended in a 27-move draw
Karjakin vs Anand, with Muzychuk vs Akobian in the foreground
US GM Varuzhan Akobian played a 20-move draw with black against...
... Anna Muzychuk, the only female player in Group B
Tomi Nyback lost the white side of a Bogo Indian to Romania's Liviu Nisipeanu
Indian GM Parimarjan Negi drew with black against British Champion David
Howell
GM Peng Zhaoqin drew a Slav against IM Robin van Kampen in 35 moves
IM Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine lost with white against Nils Grandelius in
73 moves
WGM Soumya Swaminathan, World Junior Champion 2009, lost against GM Ray
Robson
The amateur tournament takes place in the same hall, the top groups are
in the background
The public can watch the A, B and C groups from the amateur section
GM Ivan Sokolov commenting in the Chess Tent a few hundred yards from the venue
He'll gladly tell you! An arbiter reading a book entitled "What's wrong,
Mr. Kasparov?"
Video reports by Europe Echecs
video
report by GM Robert Fontaine
Live commentary on Playchess
Naturally the games of the Wijk aan Zee tournament were broadcast live on Playchess.
Anyone who used Fritz 12 to log into the server was able to appreciate the new
features, like the following:
In the broadcast room the different events are listed as separate tournaments.
Double-clicking "Important broadcasts" loads eight top games into
one window. You can start an analysis engine, which follows any game you click.
Naturally all boards are kept up-to-date as the moves come in.
Live audio commentary today was by FM Tiger Lilov of Bularia
There were over 7000 members online at peak hours on Playchess.com. Each
dot on the map represents a player and his or her place of residence. The dots
in the middle of the ocean are people who have not given their location correctly
14.01.2010 – We hear a collective sigh of relief: after the Tal Memorial, the World Blitz,
the London Chess Classic and the World Team Championship (ended yesterday),
some chess fans out there were feeling a twinge of withdrawal. Not to worry:
top GMs are currently arriving in the Dutch seaside town for the annual chess
festival. We will provide full coverage on .
Here are the tournament details.
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Yasser Seirawan:
My best games Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan began playing chess in the summer of 1972 and by 1979 he had won the World Junior Championship and in January of 1980 earned his final Grandmaster norm. What had he learned in seven and a half years that propelled him so far so quickly?
Wijk aan Zee 2010 – information and schedule
Wijk aan Zee is a small town on the coast
of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk in the province of North
Holland of the Netherlands.
The prestigious yearly tournament takes place in three Grandmaster Groups.
There are also a number of amateur groups taking part at the same time. The
three Grandmaster tournaments have 14 players each and are round robins (each
competitor plays against every other).
Participants of Grandmaster Group A
Title
Player
Nat.
Rating
rank
born
GM
Magnus Carlsen
NOR
2810
1
1990
GM
Viswanathan Anand
IND
2790
3
1969
GM
Vladimir Kramnik
RUS
2788
4
1975
GM
Vassily Ivanchuk
UKR
2749
8
1969
GM
Peter Leko
HUN
2739
12
1979
GM
Alexei Shirov
SPA
2723
20
1972
GM
Sergey Karjakin
RUS
2720
21
1990
GM
Leinier Dominguez
CUB
2712
25
1983
GM
Hikaru Nakamura
USA
2708
28
1987
GM
Nigel Short
ENG
2696
38
1965
GM
Fabiano Caruana
ITA
2675
51
1992
GM
Sergey Tiviakov
NED
2662
62
1973
GM
Jan Smeets
NED
2657
73
1985
GM
Loek van Wely
NED
2641
104
1972
Average rating: 2719 – Category:
19
The average rating in Group A is almost exactly the same as in the previous
year: 2719, making this a category 19 tournament. At the top is the world's
highest rated player, Magnus Carlsen, followed by World Champion Viswanathan
Anand and former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik. Hikaru Nakamura comes straight
from his resounding success in the World Team Championships in Bursa, Turkey,
and is good for providing interesting games. Two players from last year's Group
B have moved up to the A section: Nigel Short, former World Championship challenger,
and Fabiano Caruana, who at 17 is Italy's strongest ever grandmaster. Sergey
Karjakin, you might remember, is the winner of last year's event.
Participants of Grandmaster Group B
Title
Player
Nat.
Rating
born
GM
Arkadij Naiditsch
GER
2687
1985
GM
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
ROM
2681
1976
GM
Pentala Harikrishna
IND
2672
1986
GM
Hua Ni
CHN
2657
1983
GM
Emil Sutovsky
ISR
2657
1977
GM
Wesley So
PHI
2656
1993
GM
Tomi Nyback
FIN
2643
1985
GM
Varuzhan Akobian
USA
2628
1983
GM
Parimarjan Negi
IND
2621
1993
GM
Erwin l'Ami
NED
2615
1985
GM
David Howell
ENG
2606
1990
GM
Anish Giri
NED
2588
1994
GM
Dimitri Reinderman
NED
2573
1972
WGM
Anna Muzychuk
SLO
2523
1990
Average rating: 2629 – Category:
16
Eleven players are rated over 2600, and there are three interesting youngsters
in the field: Wesley So and Parimarjan Negi, both 16 years old, and Dutch champion
Anish Giri, who is just 15. Anna Muzychuk, the only female in the field, is
19 and the number seven ranked women player in the world.
Participants of Grandmaster Group C
Title
Player
Nat.
Rating
born
GM
Li Chao
CHN
2604
1989
GM
Abhijeet Gupta
IND
2577
1989
GM
Ray Robson
USA
2570
1994
GM
Kjetil Lie
NOR
2547
1980
IM
Nils Grandelius
SWE
2515
1993
GM
Robin Swinkels
NED
2495
1989
GM
Daniele Vocaturo
ITA
2495
1989
IM
Robin van Kampen
NED
2456
1994
WGM
Marya Muzychuk
UKR
2447
1992
GM
Zhaoqin Peng
NED
2402
1968
FM
Stefan Kuipers
NED
2340
1990
WGM
Soumya Swaminathan
IND
2323
1989
FM
Benjamin Bok
NED
2322
1995
Sjoerd Plukkel
NED
2279
1983
Average rating: 2455 – Category:
11
In Group C the average has dropped by 66 points, but the category is maintained.
There are three female players, including the sister of Anna Muzychuk, Marya,
and the eleven-times Dutch Women's Champion Zhaoqin Peng, who at 41 is the oldest
player in the field. The youngest is FM Benjamin Bok, 14, followed by GM Ray
Robson and IM Robin van Kampen.
Rate of play
For all three groups the rate of play is 40 moves in two hours, then 20 moves
in one hour, followed by 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30 second
increment per move.
Location: The tournament takes place in the De Moriaan Community
Centre (Dorpsduinen 4, 1949 EG Wijk aan Zee). There is running commentary on
the games of the Grandmaster Groups in a special Chess Pavilion, on the Village
Green in Wijk aan Zee (one minute walk from De Moriaan).
Accommodation: For information contact the local Tourist Office.
VVV IJmond Noord, Julianaplein 13-15, 1949 AT Wijk aan Zee. Telephone: + 31
(0)251 374253. E-mail: info@vvvijmondnoord.nl Website: http://www.visitwijkaanzee.nl
Schedule (playing days)
January 2010
M
T
W
T
F
S
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Games begin at 13:30h local time (CET), except for the last round on January
31st, which begins at 12:30h. There are three rest days, on January 20th, 25th,
and 28th.
17.12.2009 – The London Chess Classic was not just about super-grandmasters. The congress was remarkably inclusive and catered for chessplayers of all abilities, from children who had just mastered how the "horsey" moved, right up to the world rated number one. The nine-round Swiss Open was won by a Norwegian prodigy (yes, there are more than one of those), GM Jon Ludvig Hammer. Big pictorial report.
Andrew Martin:
The Trompowsky - The easy way - 2nd Edition Thirty years ago the Trompowsky opening was almost totally unknown. It took a few spectacular games by Rafael Vaganian to bring 2.Bg5 into the limelight, and after that, the die was cast. Today 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 is used by many of the best players in the world and a whole body of complicated theory has built up.
London Festival FIDE Open
By John Saunders
Ranked immediately below the Classic itself was the London Festival FIDE-Rated
Open, a nine-round Swiss tournament which ran from December 8-15 (with rounds
four and five both played on Friday 11 December). With a first prize of £2,500,
and overall prize fund of £8,250, it attracted a strong field of 125 players,
including nine grandmasters and 17 IMs.
The FIDE Open at the Olympia Centre in London
The highest rated competitor was Jon Ludvig Hammer of Norway, and he was expected
to be pursued by a posse of 2500+ rated England grandmasters, namely Stuart
Conquest, Simon Williams, Mark Hebden of England and a few others of a slightly
lesser rating. One of the aforementioned posse was sensationally unhorsed in
the first round by an English amateur: Stuart Conquest lost to the 61-year-old,
2119-rated Alan Barton of Hastings Chess Club.
Top seed and winner: Jon Ludvig GM Hammer, 2588, NOR, 8.0/9
The posse never quite caught up with the Norwegian thoroughbred. Jon Ludvig
is just a few months older than his superstar compatriot who was busy winning
the Classic in the next room. He won his first four games, drew with Hebden,
and then won games against three titled players: Loeffler, McDonald and Cherniaev.
A last-round draw put him one point ahead of the field. His 8/9 was enough for
a TPR of 2756.
Second place was shared by Simon Williams, Mark Hebden and Jovanka Houska.
This was a particularly good result for the 2008 and 2009 British Women’s
Champion. Jovanka also has a connection with Norway, of course... she is married
to a Norwegian and now lives there. She survived two long defensive games against
GMs Hebden and Wells and won her final game for a TPR of 2520.
Here's a nice game we spotted in the Open. It sees the former British Champion
Michael Hennigan succumb to some original play by the Latvian IM Roland Berzinsh.
Hennigan,Michael T (2385) - Berzinsh,Roland (2424) [A07]
London Classic FIDE Op London Olympia (6), 12.12.2009 [John Saunders]
23...Nxb4! A bolt from the blue and the beginning of an extraordinary
concept. 24.Nxb4 Qe7! 25.Qa7. The only good way to defend the c5 knight.
But now the queen finds itself out of play on the wrong side of the board. 25...b6
26.Nca6 Bh3! Having lured the queen and knights to the queenside, Black
strikes at the kingside. 27.Rb1. 27.Qxc7 Qe2 28.Ra1 Re8 would force
White to give the piece back with 29.Nc2 Qxc2 and his position would then be
hopeless. 27...Re8 28.Nc2 Qe2 29.Nab4
Now Black finds a very precise move. 29...h5! 30.Qa1. White thinks his
queen has arrived back in time to join the defence but it is already too late.
30...Qxf2+!! 31.Kxf2 Re2+ 32.Kxf3 [32.Kg1 f2#] 32...Bg4+. Revealing
the point of 29...h5, which was to support this check. 33.Kf4 Bh6# An
exquisite finish. 0-1. [Click
to replay]
Picture Gallery
Second place: GM Simon Williams, 2550, ENG, 7.0/9 points
Simon Williams playing Russian GM Alexander Cherniaev (who finished sixth)
in round 7
GM Mark Hebden, rated 2522, who came third with 7.0/9 points
Richard Almond, 2174, vs IM Hovanka Houska, 2391 (0-1 in 67 moves)
Fourth: IM Jovanka Houska, 2391, ENG, 7.0/9 points (photo John Nunn)
Fifth place: GM Peter Wells, 2489, ENG, 6.5/9 points
Ninth place: IM Pavol Pcola, 2386, SVK, with 6.5/9 points
Despite the loss 10th place for GM Stuart Conquest, 2563, ENG, 6.0/9
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 .
The
But
