British Chess Magazine - News Archive for 2006
2006
Happy New Year [01/01/07]
British Chess Magazine (which celebrates its 126th birthday today
- no human has ever lived as long) wishes all its readers a happy new
year.
† David Bronstein (1924-2006) [07/12/06]
 One
of the all-time greats of chess, David Bronstein, died in Minsk on 5 December,
after a long battle with cancer, aged 82. Born in Bila Tserkva near Kiev,
Ukraine, on 19 February 1924, Bronstein became a top player in his early
20s after (like so many other Soviet stars) suffering extreme privations
during the Second World War.
Bronstein was the first player to qualify for
a world championship match via FIDE's newly-instituted system, winning
the 1948 Salsjöbaden Interzonal and then the 1950 Budapest Candidates'
competition, after a play-off with Boleslavsky. In the meantime he had
tied for the Soviet Championship in 1948 and 1949. His 1951 world title
challenge went right down to the wire, eventually drawn 12-12 which meant
that Botvinnik retained his title. Though the circumstances surrounding
this match have long attracted speculation that Bronstein was leant on
in some way, Bronstein never owned up to any specific arm-twisting, only
admitting that he was subjected to 'strong psychological pressure'. Retrospective
ratings indicate that Bronstein was the leading player in the world at
that time and was one of the world top five during the early 1950s. He
was highly imaginative in his approach to the game and a great influence
on chess as played in the post-war era, right up to the present day. He
was a superlative chess writer; some of his titles, such as his 1953
Zurich Candidates, 200 Open Games and The Sorcerer's Apprentice,
rank on many players' lists of favourite chess books.
As a man, David Bronstein was one of the friendliest
and most engaging of men, singlehandedly breaking down barriers between
peoples and countries long before anyone had heard of glasnost
or perestroika, and at a time when most Soviet players felt constrained
to keep their distance. A great globe-trotter (when he was allowed to
be), he developed a special bond with Britain, spending quite a long time
here and playing in various tournaments here from the 1970s. He even played
match chess for Charlton in the London League. He was very approachable
and on the friendliest terms with the chess public, happily discussing
the finer points of chess with humble woodpushers. On a personal note,
I consider one of my most memorable chess moments was when I sat at the
next board to him during one of the Lloyds Bank Masters tournaments in
the early 1990s. He wasn't just a great chessplayer, he was a great man
too. We will not see his like again. John Saunders. Other obituaries:
The
Guardian (by Leonard Barden) • ECF
(by Stewart Reuben) • Daily
Telegraph • The
Times • The
Independent (by Bill Hartston) • ChessBase
(by Frederic Friedel) • TWIC
(by Mark Crowther) • Google
News [note: contrary to what has been said in some obituaries,
there is NO evidence that David Bronstein was related to Leon Trotsky]
Kramnik vs Deep Fritz, 25 Nov - 5 Dec [05/12/06]
World Champion Vladimir Kramnik played Deep Fritz in a six-game exhibition
match in the Federal Art Hall, Bonn from 25 November to 5 December. Kramnik
was to receive US$1,000,000 in the event of winning the match or US$500,000
if he didn't. The sponsor of the match was Essen-based energy and chemicals
company RAG. Most pundits in the chess world - including Kramnik himself
- considered Deep Fritz to be hot favourite. However, the undisputed world
champion was widely regarded as the best equipped chess player to take
on a chess-playing computer. But Kramnik lost 4-2 after making a huge
blunder in game 2 and then being outplayed in game 6. Final:
Game 6 (Tuesday) ended in a win for Deep Fritz draw after Kramnik tried
to open things up with a Sicilian but was effortlessly rebuffed by the
machine. Download
PGN • View
games • Official website: http://www.rag.de/microsite_chess_com/index.html
Short Retains Commonwealth Championship, Mumbai, 19-28 Nov [29/11/06]
The Commonwealth Championship took place in Mumbai, with Nigel Short
defending the title he won in 2004 against a field almost entirely made
up of Indian players. Short was top seed by a large margin, with the 2500+
opposition consisting of Ganguly, Sandipan, Rahman, Kunte and Deepan.
Final: Nigel Short, who led by half a point going into the
final round, finished off with a win with Black against Surya Ganguly
to make sure of retaining the Commonwealth championship. Short's nearest
rivals drew so he finished a whole point clear of the field. Final
scores: 1 Short 9/10, 2-3 Chanda Sandipan, MR Venkatesh 8, etc. Official
website: http://www.venuschessacademy.in/
4NCL, 2nd Weekend, 11-12 November [11/11/06]
The second weekend of the 4NCL (British Team League) season is taking
place on 11-12 November. The round three match between Wood Green and
Barbican is being covered live here.
Latest: Barbican beat Wood Green by 4½-3½.
Games from Guernsey and Dorset [08/11/06]
We have recently received complete games files for Britbase
from the Guernsey International (15-21 October, won by GM Leonid Gofshtein
on tie-break from Eduard Porper - click here
for report) and the Dorset Open (Weymouth, 6-8 October, won jointly by
Tyson Mordue and Martin Simons - details at the Chess
Devon site). My thanks to Arthur Brameld (Guernsey) and Bill Frost
(Dorset) for sending the games. Download
Guernsey PGN •
View Guernsey games • Download
Dorset PGN • View
Dorset games
 Out
now - the November issue of BCM, with ALL the games from the Kramnik-Topalov
match, fully annotated, plus all the controversy from the match that had
everything. Only £3.60. Click
here to buy a copy.
British Rapidplay Championship, 4-5 Nov [05/11/06]
There is live coverage of the 2006 British Rapidplay Championship at
http://www.british-rapidplay.org.uk/
on 4-5 November.
Click on the link above for an article by sports journalist and TV presenter
John Inverdale for the Daily Telegraph on the possibility
of holding the 2012 Chess Olympiad in London (and using the Olympic facilities
after all the regular sports people have gone home). John Inverdale compered
a FIDE press conference in London a few years ago and did a good job.
He would make a great presenter of a chess programme on the TV...
Gerry and the Pacemakers in charge at the ECF... [22/10/06]
So it's a case of 'Gerry and the Pacemakers' at the ECF... you'll never
walk alone. At the ECF Board Election (Bristol, 21 October), the incumbent
president was re-elected to office by a large majority while most of the
representatives of the 'Way
Forward' ticket have been elected to office ahead of candidates who
mainly represent the ECF status quo. Results were as follows - president:
Gerry Walsh won with 145 votes to Brian Driscoll's 79 (9 abstained); chief
executive: Martin Regan won with 119 to Roy Heppinstall's 116 (after two
recounts); incumbent finance director Geoff Steele then stood down, and
Robert Richmond was elected unopposed, as was Peter Sowray to the uncontested
international director post (though there were about 50 proxies against
each); FIDE delegate: Gerry Walsh won with 125 votes to Nigel Short's
81 (30 abstentions); Junior director: Claire Summerscale won with 181
votes against Andrew Moore's 19 (8 abstained); marketing director: Peter
Wilson won with 119 votes against Cyril Johnson's 70; non-executive directors:
Mike Truran 170 votes; John Wickham 160; none 9 (these were the only two
candidates for two positions). The Home director post remains unfilled
because the only candidate withdrew two weeks ago (my thanks to Neville
Belinfante for supplying missing data)
VLADIMIR KRAMNIK - UNDISPUTED WORLD CHESS CHAMPION... [13/10/06]
 The
world championship reunification match between rival world champions Vladimir
Kramnik and Veselin Topalov took place in Elista, Kalmykia. from 23 September
to 13 October. Final Score 6-6 in the regulation games, with Vladimir
Kramnik winning the tie-break by 2½-1½. So 31-year-old
Vladimir Kramnik of Russia becomes the first undisputed world chess champion
of the 21st century.
Latest: 16.02, BST- Rapid Game 1 - ½-½
(47 moves; Kramnik grabbed a pawn, was seemingly in zugzwang, but escaped
with 36...Nc4!); Rapid Game 2 - win for Kramnik (45 moves; careful
positional play by the Russian, followed by some clever tactics to obtain
two fast-running passed pawns - could rank as his best display of the
match, despite the time control); Rapid Game 3 - win for Topalov
(50 moves - Kramnik reached a difficult position where his opponent had
a dominating e-pawn. But he still looked OK until move 34 when he moved
his king towards the centre and was blown apart by a withering attack)
... match score Kramnik 1½, Topalov 1½ ... one more
rapid game to go - the winner takes all, but if it is drawn we move onto
blitz...; Rapid Game 4 - win for Kramnik (45 moves - queens off
early, but then Kramnik gradually outplayed Topalov in his best, creeping
style. He won a pawn, increased the pressure - but then Topalov miscalculated
and lost a rook), So, just on the stroke of 4pm, UK time, on Friday the
13th, the world had its first undisputed world chess champion in 13 years.
Not the 13th world champion (that was Garry Kasparov) but the 14th world
chess champion - Vladimir Kramnik of Russia. Congratulations to
him!
 Match
Score 6-6. Match drawn (or 6-5 to Kramnik depending which side of the
fence you are). The 12th game ended in a draw after what looked like an
imbalanced struggle, although it looked as though both players maintained
some level of control throughout. That ends the 'main course' of the match;
it only remains to see what is for 'dessert' (with Kramnik still grumbling
about missing a course and unwilling to pay the bill). Tie-breaks tomorrow
(at the same time): 4 games of rapidplay (25 mins + 10 second increments),
followed if necessary by 2 blitz games (5 mins + 10 second increments),
followed by one 'Armageddon game' (White 6 minutes, Black 5 minutes, draw
counts as Black win). Imagine - it could come down to an 'Armageddon'
game for the world title (on Friday the 13th - are world chess champions
superstitious?) - whatever would Botvinnik have said. Some pundits are
backing Kramnik as the better rapid player - but it is very much a lottery.
Official
website • Match
Regulations • Internet
Chess Club coverage • Playchess.com
coverage • Download
PGN • DGT
Game Viewer • Dr
Kenneth Regan's analysis of computer cheating claims • Veselin
Topalov website • Vladimir
Kramnik website
32nd Fortis Guernsey Festival, 15-21 Oct [22/10/06]
The 32nd Guernsey Chess Festival, sponsored by Fortis Guernsey and the
Peninsula Hotel, took place from 15-21 October. Many thanks to Kevin
Thurlow for sending us a daily report. Click
here for final results. 1st= were Leonid Gofshtein and Eduard
Porper on 6/7, both of Israel. Gofshtein took the trophy on tie-break.
See also the excellent Guernsey
Chess Club website (full pairings, TV report, plus historical
archive of results and photos, etc).
Essent Hoogeveen, 20-28 Oct [20/10/06]
Ex-FIDE Champion is straight back in action at the annual Dutch event
in Hoogeveen, where he plays a double-cycle all-play-all with Judit Polgar,
Ivan Sokolov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The GM tournament doesn't start
play until 22 Oct. There is a rest day on 25 Oct. Not quite clear what
the time control is, but the open uses 40 moves/2 hrs + all/1 hr. Official
website: http://www.essentchess.nl/index2006.htm
Barcelona Casino Masters, 19-27 Oct [20/10/06]
Ten players take part in this all-play-all at the Gran Casino, Barcelona.
Top players are Ivanchuk (UKR), Bologan (MDA), L.Dominguez (CUB), Timman
(NED), Korneev (RUS) and Granda Zuñiga (PER). The time limit is
40 moves/90 mins (+ 30 second increments), all/30 mins (+ 30 second increments).
Official website: http://www.fcde.org/casino/presentacio.html
World Junior Championship, Armenia, 2-17 Oct [17/10/06]
The World Junior Championship is being held in Yerevan, Armenia. Official
website: http://www.armchess.am/
(note: pages take a long time to load). England's David Howell took part,
as did Stephen Jessel of Ireland. Final scores: 1 Z Andriasian (ARM) 9½/13,
2-4 Y Kryvoruchko (UKR), N Vitiugov (RUS), L Pantsulaia (GEO) 9... 15
D Howell 8 (TPR 2522). Girls: 1 Shen Yang (CHN) 9, 2 Hou Yifan (CHN) 9,
3 S Melia (GEO) 9, 4 B Mongotuul (MGL) 9.
European Club Cup, Fuegen (AUT), 8-14 Oct [17/10/06]
The European Club Cup (Fuegen, 8-14 Oct) was won by Tomsk-400 (RUS),
while Mika Yerevan (ARM) won the women's competition. Scores: 1 Tomsk
12mpts/30gpts, 2 Ladya Kazan 12/26½, 3 Ural Sverlovskaya 12/26½...
36 Hilsmark Kingfisher (ENG) 6/19, 37 Slough Sharks (ENG) 6/18... 49 Kilkenny
(IRL) 4/17... 52 Belfast (Ulster) 4/11, 53 Cardiff (WLS) 3/17... 55 Nidum
Liberals (WLS) 2/11... 56 Galway (IRL) 0/10. 56 teams took part. Gawain
Jones of Slough Sharks made a GM norm (subject to confirmation); he scored
5½/7 on top board, with a TPR of 2672. Jones also scored a GM norm
at the recent European Union Championship. He now needs a further 10-round
norm and 2500 rating for the title. Official website: http://www.ecc2006.com/
 The
Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International is the most prestigious chess
tournament held in the British Isles every year. Check out the official
website - http://www.monarchchess.bcmchess.co.uk.
Final: Alexander Areshchenko of Ukraine is
the 2006 Manx Monarch, winning on tie-break from Sergey Volkov. Both scored
7/9. Elisabeth Paehtz of Germany won the women's prize. Gary Quillan (ENG)
and Anna Zatonskih (USA) made IM norms.
2713-rated Vladimir Akopian headed the list of
GMs who are taking part in the Monarch Assurance tournament in Port Erin,
Isle of Man. 2005 'Manx Monarch' Alex Shabalov will be back to defend
his title, while Elisabeth Pähtz of Germany and the US women's champion
Anna Zatonskih head up the challenge for the women's prize. Download
PGN (all games) • DGT
Game Viewer
WC 2006... The Toilet Controversy [03/10/06]
References to the world championship are quite often abbreviated to 'WC'
but these initials have been given a whole new meaning by events at the
Kramnik-Topalov match in Elista. Topalov's manager Silvio Danailov has
complained about the number of visits that Kramnik has been making to
the 'rest room', even going so far as to threaten Topalov's withdrawal
from the match if it persists. We have just received the decision of the
Appeals Committee which has taken the view that the number of visits Kramnik
has made to the toilet has been exaggerated; but it has also decided to
close both the toilets in the players' rest areas and open up another
toilet that will only be available to the two players. Full
text of the appeal and the decision of the appeal committee. Following
this decision, the Kramnik camp has decided to launch a counter-protest
about the Appeal Committee's decision to close the rest rooms, and as
a result he has defaulted the fifth game. The text of the Kramnik
team protest has been added to the above file.
My first take on the WC issue was that it was probably
just an attempt to stir up some major publicity for the match in the general
media but it seems from the reaction of the Kramnik that it has become
much more serious than that. One remembers the inspection of chairs in
1972 and the yogurt flavour controversy in (I think) 1978. One also doubts
whether the appeal would have been launched had Topalov been 3-1 up and
not 3-1 down. I'm beginning to regret the closing sentence of my October
BCM editorial (out in a day or two's time). Here's what I said: "And
now, for the really, really good news. The name of the undisputed world
chess champion is... to be published here next month. We hope. As you
read this, the Kramnik-Topalov in Elista match should be well underway."
Note that I had sufficient experience of goings-on in the chess world
to add the words "We hope." Sadly, it seems that, rather than
being 'underway', the Kramnik-Topalov match could well be flushed down
the toilet of oblivion by the time BCM subscribers get their copy of the
magazine.
4NCL 2006/7, 1st Weekend [21/09/06]
The new season of the 4NCL started on 16 September at the Initial Style
Conferences, Sunningdale. Div 1, Rd 1 results: Oldham 3Cs 3-5
Barbican 1, Bristol 2½-5½ Hilsmark Kingfisher, Guildford-ADC
2 2-6 Guildford-ADC 1, South Wales Dragons 3½-4½
Slough Sharks, The ADs 2½-5½ NW Eagles, Wood Green
3-5 Betsson. Rd 2 results: Hilsmark Kingfisher 6½-1½
Wood Green, Guildford-ADC 1 7-1 South Wales Dragons, Barbican 4-4
The ADs, Betsson 3½-4½ Bristol, Slough Sharks 1-7
Guildford-ADC 2, NW Eagles 5½-2½ 3Cs Oldham. My thanks
to Steve Giddins for getting the games to me in double-quick time. Download
PGN (Div 1, Rds 1 & 2) • DGT
Game Viewer (Div 1, Rd 1) • Official
website
European Union Championships, Liverpool, 6-15 Sept [15/09/06]
The European Union Championships takes place at the World Museum in Liverpool.
Amongst the line-up are Nigel Short, Luke McShane, Zoltan Gyimesi, Thomas
Luther and a good few other GMs. Final: Nigel Short beat
Mark Hebden to secure first place on his own with 7½/10. Eight
players finished on 7: Sarunas Sulskis (LTU), Luke McShane, Stephen Gordon,
Gawain Jones, Luis Galego (POR), Danny Gormally, Klaus Bischoff (GER),
Karel van der Weide (NED). Gawain Jones and Stephen Gordon achieved GM
norms in the ninth round - well done to both of them, and also to the
organisers - an excellent tournament, with some encouraging results for
young English players. Official
website • Crosstable
• Download
PGN (all games - corrected, 21 Sept) • DGT
Game Viewer • Tournament publicity: Google
News • Liverpool
Daily Post story, 7 Sept • Liverpool
Daily Post, 1 Sept • Liverpool
Daily Post, 31 Aug •
English Chess Federation Board Elections, October [14/09/06]
This year there will be a major challenge for some of the leading positions
on the ECF (English Chess Federation) board. A full list of candidates
may be viewed here
on the ECF website and further information may be found at http://www.new-ecf.co.uk/
- a website set up by a group of like-minded candidates who have stated
their intention of reversing the decline in English chess and formed a
'ticket' with a detailed manifesto to achieve that objective. Heading
up the 'Way Forward' ticket is Martin Regan, president of the Cheshire
& North Wales Chess Association; he is standing against Roy Heppinstall
for the post of ECF Chief Executive. Current ECF president Gerry Walsh
is being challenged for the presidency by the 'Way Forward' candidate
Brian Driscoll, a former NCCU president who has previously served on ECF
board and Council. Gerry Walsh's role as the ECF delegate is being challenged
by another Way Forward candidate, GM Nigel Short, who is now the president
of the Commonwealth Chess Association. The post of finance director is
being contested by current incumbent Geoff Steele and the previous director
Robert Richmond, who is now standing as part of the 'Way Forward' ticket.
Two directorial nominations are unchallenged, with current incumbents
not seeking re-election: thus, Peter Sowray (a Way Forward candidate)
and Sean Hewitt (independent, not a Way Forward candidate) will, subject
to confirmation, become international director and home chess director
respectively. No 'Way Forward' candidates have been put up to contest
the vacant junior chess and marketing directorships though other candidates
have been nominated. Elections take place at the ECF's AGM on 21 October
in Bristol.
56th Paignton Congress, 3-9 Sep 2006 [12/09/06]
In the UK, many counties award prizes to 'best kept villages'. If there
were a prize for the 'best kept chess tournament', it would probably be
awarded every year to the delightful Paignton Congress. It was held for
the 56th time at the beautiful Oldway Mansion in Paignton, surrounded
by tennis courts, bowling greens, putting courses and a croquet lawn.
FM Steve Berry (King's Head), winner of the Ron Bruce Premier last year,
was the runaway winner with 6½/7. Second place was shared by Tyson
Mordue and John Hodgson on 5. My thanks to Bill Frost of Keverel Chess
for providing the games. Official
website • Crosstable
• Download
PGN (all games) • DGT
Game Viewer
Coulsdon Tournaments, 28 Aug - 1 Sept [06/09/06]
My thanks to Scott Freeman for sending me the PGN files of two tournaments
which took place over the Bank Holiday weekend. A category 3 IM-norm tournament
was won by Roland Berzinsh (LAT) with 6/9, ahead of four players on 5½,
including norm seekers Jovica Radovanovic (SCG) and Matthew Broomfield
(ENG) who both missed norms by 1 point. A challengers tournament was won
by Tristan Cox (ENG) with the fine score of 7/9. Crosstables
• Download
PGN • DGT
Game Viewer
Hereford International, 29 Aug-3 Sep [04/09/06]
The Hereford International runs from 29 August to 3 September. It is
sponsored by Devereaux Software Ltd, which is an IT consulting business
and software development company, and its director, FM Max Devereaux,
is a strong chess player who scored an IM norm in the recent Smith &
Williamson British Championship. Max is sponsor, organiser and webmaster
- and playing in the tournament. The line-up for this 10-player all-play-all:
GM Danny Gormally (ENG, 2513), GM Peter Wells (ENG, 2480), GM Colin McNab
(SCO, 2433), FM Lars Stark (2425, GER), IM Gawain Jones (2416, ENG), IM
Richard Palliser (2413, ENG), FM Max Devereaux (2377, ENG), FM James Cobb
(2370, WLS), FM Peter Sowray (2357, ENG), FM Iain Gourlay (2337, SCO).
The title norms were 7 for GM and 5 for IM. Official
website • Crosstable
• Download
PGN (all games) • DGT
Game Viewer. Latest: Final Scores - 1 Gormally 6/9,
2-3 Jones, J Cobb 5½, 4 Stark, Wells 5, etc. James Cobb (WLS) made
his 4th IM norm and Lars Stark (GER) his second. Congratulations to Max
Devereaux for a well-organised, well-publicised chess tournament.
4th Staunton Memorial Tournament, 14-25 August [25/08/06]
The 4th Staunton Memorial took place at Simpsons in the Strand, London,
from 14-19 August, then Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire, from
21-25 August (2pm start). It was a 12-player all-play-all featuring Michael
Adams (2732), Ivan Sokolov (2652), Jan Timman (2594), Erwin L'Ami (2586),
Jonathan Speelman (2541), Jan Werle (2531), Yge Visser (2516), Peter Wells
(2480), David Howell (2479), Jonathan Levitt (2431), Tea Bosboom-Lanchava
(2389) and Lawrence Day (2278). Average rating 2517. Final:
The tournament was won outright by Ivan Sokolov with 9/11, half a point
ahead of Michael Adams and Jan Timman on 8½. The wide disparity
of strength in this tournament caused a larger proportion of decisive
games (70%) than is usual in international competitions. Positions: 1
Sokolov 9/11, 2-3 Adams, Timman 8½, 4 Werle 7, 5 L'Ami 6½,
6 Wells 5½, 7 Speelman 5, 8 Bosboom-Lanchava 4½, 9 Visser
4, 10 Howell 3½, 11 Levitt 3, 12 Day 1.
The tournament moved to Wellington College in Crowthorne, Berkshire
on 20 August
Round 7 - Sokolov ½-½ Timman, Werle 1-0 Visser,
Wells 0-1 Adams, Day 0-1 Levitt, Lanchava 0-1 Howell, Speelman ½-½
L'Ami. Three English winners today, following the migration from Waterloo
to Wellington... - the country air clearly suits them better than London
smog.
Round 8 - Timman 1-0 Levitt, L'Ami 1-0 Day, Adams ½-½
Speelman, Howell 0-1 Wells, Visser 0-1 Bosboom-Lanchava, Sokolov ½-½
Werle.
Round 9 - Werle 0-1 Timman, Lanchava 0-1 Sokolov, Wells 1-0 Visser,
Speelman 1-0 Howell, Day 0-1 Adams, Levitt 0-1 L'Ami. My thanks to
Jonathan Speelman for the games.
Round 10 - Timman 1-0 L'Ami, Adams 1-0 Levitt, Visser 0-1 Speelman,
Sokolov ½-½ Wells, Howell 1-0 Day, Werle 1-0 Lanchava.
Round 11 - Lanchava ½-½ Timman, Wells 1-0 Werle,
Speelman 0-1 Sokolov, Day 0-1 Visser, Levitt 0-1 Howell, L'Ami ½-½
Adams.
Crosstable • Download
PGN (all rounds) • DGT
Game Viewer
When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth... [23/08/06]
Just as small children are fascinated by dinosaurs, chessplayers love
to see the all-time greats of the chess world in action. Yesterday, for
one day only, we were treated to the sight of some mighty flesh-eating
monsters back at the board, doing what they do best. Zurich was the venue
for a one-day extravaganza of exhibition blitz chess (to celebrate the
150th anniversary of the Credit Suisse bank), featuring Garry Kasparov,
Anatoly Karpov, Viktor Korchnoi and Judit Polgar. Final scores: 1-2
Karpov, Kasparov 4½/6, 3 Polgar 2½, 4 Korchnoi ½.
The oldest (but ironically most active) participant could only manage
a draw - but at least it was with Kasparov. Polgar drew one game with
Karpov, and the two winners were unbeaten. DGT
Game Viewer
Smith & Williamson British Championships, Swansea, 7-19 Aug [20/08/06]
  Final
Round - reigning champion Jonathan Rowson has retained his British
Championship title. He beat Jonathan Parker in an exciting game where
Rowson boldly sacrificed pawns to establish a grip on the position. This
is Rowson's third successive title - the first time this has been done
since 1969 when Jonathan Penrose won the last of his ten titles (Penrose
won six and four titles in successive years). Rowson has won titles in
England, Isle of Man and Wales - it only remains for him to win a British
title in his native Scotland (he has won three Scottish titles, of course).
In the game between the players on 7, Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant emerged
triumphant, which meant that she finished a clear second in the championship
- the best performance by a woman player in championship history. It need
hardly be added that she took the British Women's Championship title (her
third in a row if you allow for the fact that it was not competed for
last year). Scores: 1 J Rowson 8½/11, 2 K Arakhamia-Grant
8, 3-6 J Parker, D Gormally, M Hebden, G Jones 7½, 7-13 N Pert,
B Lalic, R Pert, N Davies, C Ward, S Haslinger, R Palliser 7.
Official
website • Crosstable
(final) • Live
Games • Download
PGN (all games) • DGT
Game Viewer
A Tale of Four Tournaments... [updated 07/08/06]
There hasn't been much high-level chess to report on in Britain since
the 4NCL final weekend in May. Many UK titled players have been travelling
to places on the continent to find some quality tournament chess but,
other than the events reported below in Wales and Scotland, there has
been nothing to speak of in England. But, in the next few weeks, big-time
chess returns to the UK.
First, the Smith
& Williamson British Championships in Swansea, from 6-19 August.
The championship line-up looks pretty useful with GM Jonathan Rowson trying
for three successive titles - not done since the days of Penrose. In the
battle for the £10,000 first prize, he is up against GMs such as
Danny Gormally, Bogdan Lalic, Mark Hebden, Jonathan Parker and Nigel Davies,
plus IMs such as Simon Williams, Richard Pert, Richard Palliser, Gawain
Jones, Thomas Rendle, Graeme Buckley, James Sherwin, Simon Knott, etc.
And the British Women's Championship should be a good battle this year,
with Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant and Jovanka Houska in the field. Click
here for live games from 7 August.
Like London buses, big tournaments sometimes come along
in pairs, and there is an overlap of a few days with the 4th
Staunton Memorial Tournament, which is to be bigger and better
than ever. It has split venues: Simpsons in the Strand, London, from 14-19
August, then Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire, from 21-25 August.
It is a 12-player all-play-all featuring Michael Adams (2732), Ivan Sokolov
(2652), Jan Timman (2594), Erwin L'Ami (2586), Jonathan Speelman (2541),
Jan Werle (2531), Yge Visser (2516), Peter Wells (2480), David Howell
(2479), Jonathan Levitt (2431), Tea Bosboom-Lanchava (2389) and Lawrence
Day (2278). Average rating 2517 - very impressive. You have spotted the
theme? It is a blend of English and Dutch players, with one British Commonwealth
player, the Canadian Lawrence Day.
At the end of August, there is to be a brand-new
tournament, the Hereford
International, from 29 August to 3 September, sponsored by Devereaux
Software Ltd. Anyone thinking that they recognise the sponsor's name will
be right: it is an IT consulting business and software development company,
and its director, FM Max Devereaux, is a strong chess player who is well
known throughout the UK chess community. Max is sponsor, organiser and
webmaster - and playing in the tournament. The invited GMs for this 10-player
all-play-all are Nick Pert, Peter Wells and Colin McNab.
The following month - 6-15 September - there is to be
the European
Union Championships in Liverpool, which, as we have mentioned
here previously, is to be the precursor to a number of other prestigious
events in Liverpool over the next couple of years. Amongst the line-up
in Liverpool are Nigel Short, Luke McShane, Zoltan Gyimesi, Thomas Luther
and Jonathan Rowson and a good few other GMs.
Dortmund Sparkassen [07/08/06]
The annual Dortmund super-GM tournament was won by world champion Vladimir
Kramnik on tie-break from Peter Svidler. After drawing his first five
games, Kramnik came to life with two wins in the final two rounds, beating
Jobava in only 15 moves with Black and then downing erstwhile leader Peter
Leko in the final game. English GM Michael Adams had a good tournament
to finish 3rd= with Leko and Gelfand.
Dortmund Sparkassen (GER), 29 Jul - 6 Aug 2006 cat. XIX (2720)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2743 * = = 1 = = = 1 4.5 2818
2 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2742 = * = = = = 1 1 4.5 2818
3 Adams, Michael g ENG 2732 = = * = 1 = = = 4.0 2768
4 Leko, Peter g HUN 2738 0 = = * = 1 1 = 4.0 2767
5 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2729 = = 0 = * = 1 1 4.0 2768
6 Naiditsch, Arkadij g GER 2664 = = = 0 = * = 1 3.5 2728
7 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2761 = 0 = 0 0 = * = 2.0 2556
8 Jobava, Baadur g GEO 2651 0 0 = = 0 0 = * 1.5 2499
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Official website
• Download
PGN • DGT
Game Viewer
Biel GM, 23 Jul - 3 Aug [04/08/06]
The annual Biel GM tournament ended yesterday. It was a runaway victory
for Alexander Morozevich, who finished 1½ points clear of the field.
But he suffered a 0-2 defeat at the hands of 15-year-old Magnus Carlsen
which must have taken some of the gloss off his achievement.
Biel (SUI), 23 Jul - 3 Aug 2006 cat. XVII (2674)
----------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6
----------------------------------------------------------------
1 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2731 ** 00 1= 11 11 11 7.5 2856
2 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2675 11 ** == 00 1= =1 6.0 2746
3 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2728 0= == ** 1= 1= 1= 6.0 2735
4 Volokitin, Andrei g UKR 2662 00 11 0= ** =0 == 4.0 2604
5 Pelletier, Yannick g SUI 2583 00 0= 0= =1 ** =1 4.0 2620
6 Bruzon, Lazaro g CUB 2667 00 =0 0= == =0 ** 2.5 2482
----------------------------------------------------------------
Yannick Pelletier won a brilliant tactical victory in the round 10 against
Andrei Volokitin. Notes to this game are included in the download and
viewer. Official
website • Download
PGN • DGT
Game Viewer
Jessie Gilbert [28/07/06]
 Early
on 27 July, BCM heard the appalling news that the 19-year-old English
women's international player Jessie Gilbert died in the most tragic of
circumstances on 26 July. In the early hours of that morning she had fallen
from an 8th floor window of a hotel in Pardubice, Czech Republic, where
she had been taking part in the Czech Open tournament.
As well as being a promising player (she scored a creditable
5½/11 on board two for Engand in the Turin Olympiad), Jessie was
a delightful, courteous and well-liked member of the UK chess community.
She had been taking a gap year to gain her WIM norms before taking up
a place at Oxford to read medicine.
BCM sends its deepest condolences to Jessie's family
and her many chess friends.
ECF
tribute • Coulsdon
Chess Club tribute • Google
News Reports • Daily
Mail (27 July) • Daily
Mail (28 July)
Garry Gets His Award [24/07/06]
 I
accompanied two members of the British Chess Federation book of the year
committee this evening to make the 2005 BCF Book of the Year award to
Garry Kasparov … more...
posted on the blog on 24 July.
BCM Blog - http://uk.360.yahoo.com/bcmchess
113th Scottish Championship, Troon, 8-16 July [18/07/06]
 This
year's Scottish Championship (the 113th, held at Walker Halls, Troon,
8-16 July) was won by Jonathan Grant (pictured left) with 6½/8
ahead of IM Andrew Muir and Alan Grant on 5. Only nine players competed
in the main championship this year, so the tournament became an all-play-all.
Jonathan Grant's wife Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant won the Scottish Championship
in 2003, so this could be the first time that husband and wife have both
won the same national title. Official
website • Download
PGN • DGT
Game Viewer
3rd South Wales International, 8-13 Jul [14/07/06]
 The
3rd South Wales International took place at Caerleon College, near Newport,
Gwent (WLS). It was a nine-round Swiss, time limit 40/2 hours, then all/30
minutes. Four GMs competed: A Barsov (UZB, 2546), D Gormally (ENG, 2513),
M Pavlovic (SCG, 2497) and V Dobrov (RUS, 2493) and there were 62 players
in total. Final: Milos Pavlovic (SCG) finished first on
7/9 ahead of D Gormally, A Barsov, J Cobb, R Jones and M Broomfield on
6½. FM Charles Cobb scored 6/9 and secured his final IM norm. Official
website • DGT
Game Viewer • Download
PGN
 Like
most chessplayers, I always thought g8 was a square that a black knight
sat on in the starting position, but it means something entirely different
in the world of politics. Garry Kasparov still knows a thing or two about
how to get his pieces onto strong squares before the other guy. President
Putin is hosting a G8 summit in St Petersburg in a few days' time, but
Garry Kasparov has got his g8 move in first. His new political movement,
the United Civic Front, is currently hosting an alternative G8 summit
in Moscow, with significant attendees from USA, UK and elsewhere. Today's
Telegraph has the story - click
here • Google
news search
A Quiet Week in Chess? [13/06/06]
 I've
always been a terrific admirer of Mark Crowther and The Week in Chess,
but I had to guffaw when I read his opening sentence this week... more
[for rest of this article, click
here to go to BCM Blog]
BCM Blog - http://uk.360.yahoo.com/bcmchess
 The
Turin Olympiad starts with the opening ceremony on 20 May in the playing
venue, the Turin Oval, followed by 13 rounds of chess, from 21 May to
4 June (with rest days on 26 May and 1 June). One of the big events of
this Olympiad will be the presidential election, with Dutch businessman
Bessel Kok mounting a serious attempt to oust the sitting tenant, Kirsan
Ilyumzhinov. The 77th FIDE Congress runs from 27 May to 4 June, with the
general assembly timetabled for 2-4 June. Latest: Final
round - England finished with a 2½-1½ win against Serbia
& Montenegro to finish 19th. Armenia won the gold from China (silver)
and USA (bronze). Ukraine won the women's event ahead of Russia and China.
Click here for British and Irish team results
and useful links. Official website: http://www.chessolympiad-torino2006.org/
- also recommended are (a) the Wiener
Zeitung website, with names of players, statistics, etc, and (b) the
Olimpbase website,
with records of previous Olympiads and international team tournaments.
Ilyumzhinov still the President [02/06/06]
 NEWS
FLASH... at 18.30 British time on 2 June 2006, the result of the FIDE
Presidential election was announced - Kirsan Ilymuzhinov has retained
the FIDE Presidency by 96 votes to Bessel Kok's 54 (3 spoiled papers/abstentions).
A very good summary of the reasons for Ilyumzhinov's success, by IM David
Levy, may be found here
at the ChessBase.com website.
This year saw a genuine election for the post of FIDE
(World Chess Federation) president for the first time in many years. The
current incumbent, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, stood again, but he was
up against a formidable opponent in the shape of Bessel Kok, a
high-profile 64-year-old Dutch businessman with a strong track record
as a chess organiser.
Topalov wins Mtel Masters, Sofia, 11-21 May [21/05/06]
 The
Mtel Masters was a six-player, double-cycle tournament, held in Sofia,
Bulgaria, and featuring six of the world's leading players. They were
world champion Veselin Topalov (2804, BUL), Viswanathan Anand (2803, IND),
Peter Svidler (2743, RUS), Ruslan Ponomariov (2738, UKR), Etienne Bacrot
(2708, FRA), Gata Kamsky (2671, USA). Time control: 40/2 hours, 20/1 hour,
all/30 mins. The 'no draw offers' rule was being applied as in 2005. The
cartoon, left, by Bulgarian caricaturist Chavdar Nikolov, shows
the tournament winner, Veselin Topalov, wearing his world champion's crown.
Results
and Crosstable • Download games
• Games
Viewer
Official Website: http://www.mtelmasters06.com/
Latest: Round 10: Topalov completed a fantastic
come-back - a 4/4 finish - to take the first prize after seeming to be
out of the running just four rounds before. Svidler ½-½
Kamsky - rather a dry game with most of the pieces coming off by move
20. Svidler may have had a slight edge but there was nothing too serious
for Kamsky to worry. Topalov 1-0 Bacrot - the Frenchman's opening selection
did not look ideal, but it is hard to know what to do against Topalov
when he is in this sort of form. The Bulgarian was content to establish
a slight edge and build up the pressure. He then started to play more
vigorously, advancing his h-pawn to cramp his opponent and then sacrificing
it to expose Bacrot's position to attack. In truth it just looked like
a super-confident player outplaying someone whose morale is rather low.
Eventually Topalov picked off some weak pawns and Bacrot's attempts at
counterplay got him nowhere. Ponomariov ½-½ Anand - Ponomariov
also looked like a man who had run out of ideas. That said, his h4-h5-h6
plan looked reasonable enough, but by 26 Bf5 things were beginning to
slide. Ponomariov soon spoiled his position irreparably, and should surely
have been dispatched without much effort. But Anand used up a surprising
amount of time, did not find the best way to finish off and allowed an
opposite coloured bishop ending. Neither player could be very happy with
this game.
Round 9 - Kamsky was brought to earth by Topalov
in this round - for the second time in the tournament. They now share
the lead. It has taken Topalov just three games to make up a two-point
deficit. Kamsky 0-1 Topalov - quite an easy win for the world champion.
Perhaps Kamsky's memory let him down. He played a rather better version
of this Najdorf Poisoned Pawn declined line in a Sicilian theme tournament
in Buenos Aires in 1994 (against Ljubojevic). Although 12 Rhe1 and 13
Qh3 have been played before, they have never been explored by a top-notcher
like Topalov. White should probably have played 13 a3 to stave off Black's
queenside attack although Black obviously still has good chances. By the
time Kamsky played 20 Nc4, the computers were writing him off - probably
correctly. Black just has too much play. Like a top football striker,
Topalov rarely has difficulty getting the ball into the net from positions
such as these and so it proved. Perhaps Kamsky was unwise to try such
a sharp variation in the first place. Bacrot ½-½ Ponomariov
- White played rather unambitiously. Black tried a bit harder but he could
not make much impression on the young Frenchman. Anand ½-½
Svidler. Only one Ruy Lopez today but this was another good game. Things
looked fairly even until Black got in f7-f5 and started making the running
on the kingside. White tried to react positively but this involved leaving
his b-pawn to the wolves. He won it back with 37 Rxe5 but it looked a
very risky line for Anand. Svidler thought about trying for more for a
while but then baled out with a perpetual check. Scores: Kamsky,
Topalov 5½/9, Anand 5, Svidler 4½, Bacrot 3½, Ponomariov
3.
Round 8 - Kamsky remains a full point clear.
Kamsky ½-½ Anand - the American opted for the Exchange Ruy
Lopez, a sign that he was content with a draw. The queens came off early
and, despite conceding a pawn, Kamsky never looked in serious danger of
losing. Svidler ½-½ Bacrot - this was a reasonably hard
fought game but, as in Kamsky-Anand, it ended up with pawns on one side
of the board and a drawn endgame. Topalov 1-0 Ponomariov - a very lively
encounter (the third of three Ruy Lopez openings today - thankfully it
has replaced the Petroff as the fashionable super-tournament opening -
or do they also have a 'no Petroffs' rule?). On move 21 Topalov played
21 f4!? and gave the game a sort of King's Gambit feel. He gambled by
sacrificing the exchange. It may not have been entirely sound but it was
effective. Ponomariov played a series of plausible moves and wandered
off to the queenside with his queen, but he was first hit by 30 f6 and
then 32 Nxf6 after which he was a dead duck. But his 31...d5 was certainly
a big mistake - 31...Rg8 may have been a good enough defence for Ponomariov
to cash in his material advantage. That said, Topalov himself could have
improved with 30 Kh2!?. Anyway, Topalov is now level with Anand and needs
to beat Kamsky with Black tomorrow to share the lead. Given Topalov's
reputation for last-gasp recoveries, who would bet against him? Scores:
Kamsky 5½/8, Anand, Topalov 4½, Svidler 4, Bacrot 3, Ponomariov
2½.
Round 7 - Kamsky's lead increases to a full point
after he draws and Anand loses - Bacrot ½-½ Kamsky - quite
an interesting struggle, particularly when Kamsky played the risky pawn
advance 39...h3 just before the time control. Kamsky had the two bishops
but nothing ever came of this slight theoretical advantage. Anand 0-1
Topalov - the world champion avenged his earlier loss to his fellow 2800+
rated rival. Curious that both of these games were won by Black. Anand
had his queen chased around by a rook and Topalov decided it was worth
sacrificing a pawn for some activity. It seemed to work pretty well and
he followed up by exchanging two pieces for a rook and three pawns. The
transformation into the endgame also worked out well for Black and he
converted with some ease. Ponomariov 1-0 Svidler. The Ukrainian emerged
from the opening with a slight edge and nursed it for many a move, to
a position where his knight was better than Svidler's bishop, and the
Black b-pawn was too weak to last long. The 'no draw offers' rule seems
to be working well - 12 decisive results out of 21 so far. Scores:
1 Kamsky 5/7, 2 Anand 4, 3-4 Svidler, Topalov 3½, 5-6 Bacrot, Ponomariov
2½.
Round 6 - Kamsky 1-0 Ponomariov - and still he keeps
coming! Any notion that Kamsky would fade away after his phenomenal run
was brought to an end by the world champion in round 5 was scotched today
in Sofia. Or rather the notion was 'spanished' - the Ruy Lopez is the
opening of choice in Sofia having appeared in 8 of the 18 games so far.
Kamsky plays the same line with both colours; this game diverged from
Anand-Kamsky on move 11. Ponomariov had himself to blame, allowing Kamsky's
rook to reach the seventh and then overlooking a crushing e6 move followed
by a mating attack. Anand ½-½ Bacrot - this game, a Marshall
Attack, followed Anand-Svidler from the 2005 world championship until
Anand diverged with 16 Qe1. Anand gave up the exchange for a pawn to relieve
the pressure on his kingside. Bacrot looked quite close to winning for
a while but Anand managed to hold on. Topalov 0-1 Svidler - the several
times Russian champion won with his favourite Grunfeld against the world
champion, who is now 2 points behind the leading score. Topalov innovated
with 16 c4 but soon had his pawn centre rolled up. A very messy pawn structure
came about but it soon transpired that Black's pieces were far better
posted than White's. Topalov tried giving up a bishop to stop a far advanced
pawn but it proved a hopeless task. Scores: Kamsky 4½/6,
Anand 4, Svidler 3½, Topalov 2½, Bacrot 2, Ponomariov 1½.
Round 5 - Topalov 1-0 Kamsky - Kamsky's wonderful
run comes to an end (though he is still joint leader). The American's
decision to surrender his dark-squared bishop on move 23 looked rather
suspect and Topalov took immediate advantage with an exchange sacrifice
to open up Black's exposed king still further. Black failed to find an
adequate defence and White finished the game off with some precise and
attractive moves. Ponomariov ½-½ Bacrot - the Ukrainian
former world champion put the Frenchman under a good deal of pressure
in the middlegame, but Ponomariov let him off the hook. By the end it
looked like Bacrot might even have some winning chances but nothing came
of them. Svidler ½-½ Anand - Svidler seemed to have slightly
the better of a cagey game but eventually took a perpetual check when
the opportunity arose. Scores at the halfway stage: Kamsky, Anand
3½/5, Topalov, Svidler 2½, Bacrot, Ponomariov 1½.
Tuesday is a rest day.
Round 4 - Kamsky 1-0 Svidler - Gata Kamsky,
the 'Kome-Back Kid', has certainly hit a rich vein of form, with a rating
performance of 3000+ for the tournament so far. Peter Svidler's mind must
have been on the England v Sri Lanka test match in London as he played
a horrible 15th move which allowed Kamsky a shock reply. It soon went
from bad to worse and Svidler decided to walk before the umpire raised
his finger. Anand 1-0 Ponomariov - Anand improved on the game Webb-Woodward
from a recent 4NCL Division 2 match on move 15 (I'm kidding - I think
- but maybe the super-GMs do have a quick look round the web for the latest
games in their lines?!). It all looked rather unpromising until Anand
inexorably closed in on Ponomariov's a-pawn. It is difficult to know where
Black went wrong but perhaps there was some way of stopping the rook invasion.
Bacrot ½-½ Topalov - the world champion was comfortably
held by the Frenchman in this less than exciting game which came down
to a lifeless opposite bishop endgame. Scores: Kamsky 3½/4,
Anand 3, Svidler 2, Topalov 1½, Bacrot, Ponomariov 1.
Round 3 - Anand 0-1 Kamsky - The Indian super-GM's great
start came to a halt with a surprising loss to the naturalised American,
who has now taken over the lead. This line of the Ruy Lopez has now had
four outings already in this event, but seems to be working better for
Black. Anand played down rather an insipid line, swapping down to a rook
and pawns endgame. Anand then let Kamsky's king get a bit too strong and
he tried to swap off into a king and pawn endgame. But it soon proved
to be utterly lost. Ponomariov ½-½ Topalov - this was quite
an interesting struggle, with Topalov giving up a pawn and later a piece
(for pawns) to maintain an active defence, rather than resorting to passivity
in a slightly worse position. The fact that the players were obliged to
play it out to the bitter end was instructive for the audience. Bacrot
½-½ Svidler - a fairly large slab of Grünfeld theory
was followed by a period of entertaining imbalance, and then a repetition.
Scores after Rd 3 - Kamsky 2½, Anand, Svidler 2, Ponomariov,
Topalov 1, Bacrot ½.
Round 2 - Topalov 0-1 Anand - as in round 1,
some forceful play from Vishy Anand brought about a sharp tactical imbalance
after what looked like some tentative opening play by Topalov. Anand played
a combination to win a pawn but the world champion made it worse for himself
and ruined the rest of his position. Kamsky 1-0 Bacrot - the top French
player has made a poor start in the tournament. He let a pawn go in the
middlegame and it came down to a drawish rook and pawn endgame. Bacrot
seemed to have done enough to secure the draw but played a terrible 61st
move. Even so he still managed to get into a drawn knight v rook endgame
but once again Bacrot went wrong and handed Kamsky a win in a marathon
103 move game. Svidler 1-0 Ponomariov - Svidler had the better of things
in the opening and reached a R+B v R+N endgame where he had two connected
passed pawns. But it did not look too terrible until a faulty 35...e4
move. Ponomariov's resignation looks slightly premature until realisation
dawns that Black's knight is about to be reeled in. Anand leads with 2/2,
ahead of Svidler and Kamsky on 1½.
Round 1 - Svidler ½-½ Topalov -
the cricketing Russian was saddled with a bad bishop against the world
champion but dead-batted his way to a draw in 71 moves. Ponomariov ½-½
Kamsky - the former world champion had an edge throughout, but it was
not enough to overcome the US grandmaster. Bacrot 0-1 Anand - a very entertaining
game. Anand played a bold flank advance to counter Bacrot's big centre,
and gave up two rooks and a pawn to win the Frenchman's queen. At this
stage things looked OK for Bacrot, but Anand's queen got behind the lines
and eventually picked off three pawns to put the game beyond White.
Mtel Masters, Sofia (BUL), 11-21 May 2006 cat. XX (2745)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Final Table 1 2 3 4 5 6
-------------------------------------------------------------
1 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2804 ** 11 01 =0 =1 =1 6.5 2842
2 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2671 00 ** 1= 1= 1= =1 6.0 2831
3 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2803 10 0= ** == 1= 1= 5.5 2768
4 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2743 =1 0= == ** == 10 5.0 2744
5 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2708 =0 0= 0= == ** == 3.5 2641
6 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2738 =0 =0 0= 01 == ** 3.5 2635
-------------------------------------------------------------
4NCL 2005/6: Season Finale [02/05/06]
 The
long weekend of 29/30 April/ 1 May saw Wood Green 1 win the 2005/6
4NCL (British Team League) at the Paragon Hotel in Birmingham. The 11th
and final round on 1 May saw a show-down between the league's strongest
teams, Wood Green 1 and Guildford-ADC 1 for the title (as happened in
the previous two seasons).
As usual, the two teams were heavily reinforced by
super-grandmasters for the occasion. The rules of the league stipulate
that a team must have at least one female player. Wood Green reacted to
that by deploying the ultimate female chess-playing weapon - Judit
Polgar (pictured left, alongside team-mate Michael Adams, photo
©BCM ) - in their team for the first time. As well as being the
best woman chessplayer ever, Judit Polgar brought another advantage to
bear - the fact that she is in an advanced state of pregnancy with her
second child. Advantage, you ask? Well, the recent world and European
women's championships were both won by pregnant women, so the latest evidence
suggests that it is no bad thing for a female chessplayer to be expecting
a child.
Despite her 2711 rating, Judit Polgar only played on
board two - Michael Adams, rated 2720, was on board one. Wood Green
averaged 2670 to Guildford-ADC's 2617. The higher-rated team was held
to a 4-4 draw - but that was good enough to give them the league title
(on game points) for the third time. Emil Sutovsky was the Guildford-ADC
star, winning for the third time in three successive matches against Wood
Green 1 in this showcase match. Only three of the 16 players in this match
were from Britain but they scored an impressive 2½/3.
Scores in the Wood Green 1 v Guildford-ADC 1 match
(Wood Green names first, they had black on the odd boards) - Bd
1 Michael Adams 2720 1-0 Laurent Fressinet 2633, Bd 2 Judit
Polgar 2711 ½-½ Pentala Harikrishna 2680, Bd 3 Alexey
Dreev ½-½ Mikhail Gurevich 2643, Bd 4 Ivan Sokolov
2676 ½-½ Michal Krasenkow 2650, Bd 5 Ilya Smirin
2662 0-1 Joel Lautier 2682, Bd 6 Victor Bologan ½-½
Jonathan Rowson 2594, Bd 7 Peter Heine Nielsen 2646 0-1 Emil Sutovsky
2628, Bd 8 Luke McShane 1-0 Dagne Ciuksyte 2423. Overall Score
4-4.
DIVISION 1 GAMES NOW AVAILABLE
Round 09: Download
|
View
Round 10: Download
| View
Round 11: Download
| View
All the weekend's results may be found on the official website - http://www.4ncl.co.uk/
Welsh Chess Championships [28/04/05]
 The
2006 Welsh Chess Championships took place over the Easter weekend (14-17
April) and were held at the Indoor Training Arena, Hensol, and sponsored
by The Vale of Glamorgan Hotel, Golf & Spa Resort. The surprise winner
was John Trevelyan (pictured left) , who recovered from a first-round
loss to take the title on his own with 5½/7. If you cannot remember
him winning the title before and think it was his first title, you would
be wrong - but it would be a perfectly forgivable mistake. A lot of readers
may not have been born when John won his two previous Welsh titles (both
shared with others) in 1973 and 1979. So that adds up to 33 years between
John Trevelyan's first Welsh title and his most recent (I won't say 'last'
because, who knows, he may win it again in the future). That's a very
long time and younger readers may have trouble imagining what 33 years
are like. Try adding the lifespans of Sergey Karyakin and Magnus Carlsen
together - it is a year or two longer than that.
Trevelyan's feat sent me to the record books to see
how many national champions have had a bigger gap between titles won.
I couldn't find anything to match it when it came to Britain and Ireland.
30 years is not unprecedented - JM Aitken and WA Fairhurst in Scotland,
and Rowena Bruce (British Women's title) all chalked up 30-32 year spans
between their first and last titles, but I'm pretty sure nobody has chalked
up a third of a century like John. It is not a world record - Max Euwe
won his first Dutch title in 1921 and his last in 1955 - that's 34 years.
But not bad company for the 58-year-old, 2190-rated Welsh player to be
keeping. My search was not exhaustive and Euwe may not be the record-holder
- if someone finds another national championship winner with a longer
span, email me (link above). John Saunders ... later: Alasdair
Alexander emailed me and suggested Ortvin
Sarapu, who won the New Zealand Championship first in 1951/2 and for
the 20th and last time in 1989/90 - a 38 year span - impressive! Further
update: David Cilia Vincenti tells me that Harry Camilleri first won
the Malta Championship in 1965 and won it for the 18th time in 2005 -
a gap of 40 years. An amazing achievment. Any advance on 40?
Results: 1 John Trevelyan 5½/7, 2-4 James
Cobb, Leighton Williams, Richard S Jones 5, 5-8 Alan Spice, Jonathan Blackburn,
Tim Kett, David Bennion 4½, 9-13 Ioan Rees, Michael White, Gareth
Morris, Abigail Cast, Gwynfor Rees 4, 14-16 Pat Bennett, Joseff Thomas,
Olivia Smith 3½, etc. Abigail Cast won the women's title. DOWNLOAD
ALL 96 GAMES OF THE WELSH CHAMPIONSHIP HERE. John Trevelyan's
results were: 0 v David Guy (1894 WCU), 1 v Olivia Smith (1986wf), 1 v
Joe Turner (2053), 1 v David Bennion (2096), 1 v Michael White (1995),
1 v Alan Spice (2216), ½ v James Cobb (2365). Full
results on the Welsh Chess Union website.
Liverpool: Capital of Culture - and Chess [17/04/04]
Liverpool is better known worldwide for The Beatles and football, but
it looks like it could be about to establish itself on the chess map.
Click here to read an article entitled 'Capital of Culture
& Chess in Liverpool, 2006-2008 and beyond' by Prof. David Robertson
of Liverpool John Moores University (and Atticus Chess Club). Following
the city's successful bid to be crowned European
Capital of Culture 2008, plans have been put in place to hold the
European Union Chess Championships in September of this year, followed
by a possible European Individual Championship in 2007, and a world-class
GM tournament plus the British Championships in 2008. An exciting prospect!
Coulsdon Easter International, 9-13 Apr [17/04/04]
Coulsdon Chess Fellowship held a ten-player category 3 tournament in
the week before Easter. First place was shared by GMs Danny Gormally,
Colin McNab (SCO) and FM Thomas Rendle with 6½/9. Gormally was
the rating favourite by a considerable margin but he was caught in some
sharp opening preparation by Mark Lyell and lost. Thomas Rendle achieved
his third and final IM norm; he has already reached 2400 in the past so
should receive the title. Scores: 1-3 D Gormally, C McNab (SCO),
T Rendle 6½/9, 4 M Taylor 5½, 5 I Snape 4½, 6-7 M
Lyell, J Rudd 4, 8-9 N Tavoularis (GRE), A Khantuev (RUS) 3, 10 R Lukman
(INA) 1½. Note: the download is now complete. Download
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In an open
letter dated 13 April, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) has announced
a world championship match between Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik,
to be played in Elista, Kalmykia, from 21 Sept - 13 Oct, over 12 games
and for a guaranteed minimum of US$1m. This match would effectively heal
the schism in world chess which dates back to the breakaway Kasparov-Short
world championship match of 1993, since when there have been two versions
of the world chess championship. Topalov is the official FIDE world champion,
while Kramnik won Kasparov's more traditional version of the world title
by beating him in 2000, so the winner would be the first undisputed world
chess champion for 13 years. This is very good news for chess, if it happens.
One must always add that rider to official announcements as there have
been so many false dawns. The firm dates, venue and prize fund are all
positive indicators and grounds for above average optimism. However, there
is no question that FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has timed the announcement
to boost his re-election campaign (see below). Too good to be true? Only
time will tell.
On
30 March the English
Chess Federation finally announced its squads for the Turin
Olympiad, which starts on 20 May. The men's/open team is Adams, Short,
Speelman, Gormally, Conquest and N Pert, with the top two players' participation
being secured thanks to the generous sponsorship of David Norwood. The
day before the official announcement grandmasters Murray Chandler
and Daniel King issued a statement about the selection which BCM published
here in its entirety... for the
full story and official ECF press release, click here...
Ceefax Chess [31/03/06]
The BBC Ceefax chess pages, which appear as teletext (page 568) on BBC1
and BBC2 TV screens in the UK, are now available online - go to www.ceefax.tv
and enter '568' into the search engine. Ceefax chess features the latest
chess headlines, some games, forthcoming UK tournaments and contact details
for UK chess federations.
124th Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity Match, 11 March [12/03/06]
The world's oldest regular chess fixture - the Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity
Match - took place on 11 March at the RAC Club, Pall Mall, London. This
was the 124th match in a series that has run from 1873, with gaps for
the two world wars. Oxford University won 4½-3½ after seeming
worse for much of the match. In the end it rested on the top board game
which swung Oxford's way in the final half hour. Results (Oxford had Black
on the top board):
OXFORD UNIVERSITY CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY
1 Alvar Kangur (2231) 1-0 Tom Nixon (2116)
2 David Shaw (2200) ½-½ David Hodge (2164)
3 Kieran Smallbone (2194) ½-½ Adam Eckersley-Waites (2143)
4 Tom Eckersley-Waites (2116) ½-½ Richard Mycroft (2141)
5 Mark Gray (2120) ½-½ Andreas Werner (2154)
6 Christopher Rawlinson (2063) 0-1 Teresa Khoo (2055)
7 Anna Partington (2064) ½-½ John Rennie (2053)
8 Benedikt Wagner (e2050) 1-0 Martin Rohrmeier (e2000)
4½-3½
One curiosity is that twin brothers took part - on opposite sides.
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Kramnik Pulls Out of Wijk aan Zee [13/01/06]
World Champion Vladimir Kramnik has been forced to pull out of the forthcoming
Corus Wijk aan Zee
tournament because of ill health. A short statement appears at his
website and has been circulated to the world's chess press, as follows:
“I would like to inform the chess community that due to health problems
I shall not be able to participate in the Corus Chess Tournament 2006.
A couple of years ago a form of arthritis was diagnosed. This disease
causes painful inflammation in the joints. Unfortunately since that time,
the symptoms have started to appear more often and with greater severity.
A new recent crises makes it necessary to undertake serious clinical treatment.
Solving the present problem within a few months will allow me to come
back and enjoy competitive chess at the highest level. I want to stress
clearly, that – as always – I am eager to continue and enhance
my chess career. There are still many goals to achieve.” There is
unconfirmed speculation that the illness Kramnik may be suffering from
is ankylosing
spondylitis, a chronic rheumatic/arthritic condition. BCM's sympathy
and best wishes for a full and speedy recovery go to the world match-play
champion. Kramnik's replacement at the Corus
tournament is Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, the world junior champion.
Zugzwang [08/01/06]
Leading UK Sunday newspaper The Observer relaunched in a new format
on 8 January and (as part of that relaunch) began serial publication of
a complete novel in weekly parts. The first novel to be published in this
way has chess as its subject. The novel's title is Zugzwang, and
its author is award-winning writer of fiction - and keen chess player
- Ronan
Bennett. The first two chapters appeared in today's Observer
and can also be read online at The
Observer website. The novel is set in 1914 at the time of
the famous St Petersburg tournament, and one of the main characters is
based on Akiba Rubinstein (1882-1961). According to the website, the novel
embraces 'murder, detection, intelligence and counter-intelligence'. It
should be fascinating to see how the story unfolds over the next 29 weeks...
Hastings International Congress, 28 Dec - 6 Jan [08/01/06]
 This
year's Hastings Congress (the 81st) took place at the Horntye Park Sports
Centre. Official website: http://www.hastingschess.org.uk.
Final Scores: 1 Valeriy Neverov (UKR, pictured left) 8/10,
2-4 V Colin (FRA), S Erenburg (ISR), M Gagunashvili (GEO) 7½, 5-10
V Belov (RUS), P Bobras (POL), M Hebden (ENG), W Kobese (RSA), M Pavlovic
(SCG), S Williams (ENG) 7, etc. Simon Williams achieved his third and
final GM norm, but still needs to record a 2500 rating to qualify for
the title. 12-year-old Parimarjan Negi of India completed the requirements
for his IM title and also scored his first GM norm.
Many of this year's games at Hastings were recorded
using the new Monroi.com games recording system, where the players use
a loaned handheld computer to record their moves instead of writing them
down on a scoresheet. As well as recording the moves for posterity this
allows games to be watched by an online audience while they are being
played. Click
here to follow live action. Use of the handhelds is purely voluntary
and those players wishing to stick to traditional pen and paper are free
to do so. Take-up of the Monroi 'electronic scoresheet' is running at
about 40% of the 50 or so games played in the Masters section. Though
there have been a few gremlins in the automatic recording, it is a lot
better than having no games. I have sorted through the downloads from
the official website, standardising names, adding ratings and amending
a handful of results and scores which are clearly wrong.
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Ilyumzhinov still the President [02/06/06]
NEWS
FLASH... at 18.30 British time, the result of the FIDE Presidential
election was announced - Kirsan Ilymuzhinov has retained the FIDE Presidency
by 96 votes to Bessel Kok's 54.
This year sees a genuine election for the post of FIDE
(World Chess Federation) president for the first time in many years. The
current incumbent, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, is standing again, but he
is up against a formidable opponent in the shape of Bessel Kok,
a high-profile 64-year-old Dutch businessman with a strong track record
as a chess organiser. Kok's running mate (for deputy president) is Ali
Nihat Yazici, president of the Turkish Chess Federation. Their 'Right
Move' campaign (http://www.rightmove06.org/)
claims the support of many leading federations , including those of USA,
England, France, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, etc,
as well as chess personalities including Michael Adams, Nigel Short, Yasser
Seirawan, Judit Polgar, etc. Their website features a long list of statements
of support - click
here. Nigel Short, who is campaigning for Right Move, told
BCM: "Many people seem to have problems distinguishing between
number of endorsements and actual level of support. The majority of countries
prefer to keep their voting intentions to themselves. We estimate the
Right Move's support to be a healthy multiple of our actual number of
30 open endorsements."
FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has now launched
his own presidential campaign via the web - http://www.chessfidelity.com/
- his campaign claims to have the endorsement of 50 national federations
around the world including Russia, India, Greece and Georgia. The shrewdest
national federation is Afghanistan - they appear to be endorsing both
candidates at the moment [update 6 April - the Right Move website
now shows a statement of support from the Afghan Chess Federation indicating
their unequivocal support for Bessel Kok]. To be serious, though, the
latter ambiguity demonstrates that it is not entirely clear the extent
to which claimed endorsements translate into committed support. There
do not yet appear to be any statements of support from national federations
on the Ilyumzhinov website. However, former world champion Anatoly
Karpov puts Ilyumzhinov's chances of winning a third term at "close
to 100%. The major reason is that Bessel Kok only looks at chess from
the point of view of professional chess players. But [FIDE] incorporates
much more than this. And professional chess is only a tiny part of the
entire range of events and activities which take place in the world of
Chess."
On 8 March, 18 English grandmasters sent a petition
to the English
Chess Federation (ECF) to urge it to support Bessel Kok in the
forthcoming election. The petition stated that "We believe this
is a unique opportunity to restore credibility to FIDE and to reverse
the decline in their capacity to attract commercial sponsorship."
Click here for the full text of the
petition. On 18 March the ECF published a press release announcing
its intention to support Bessel Kok - click
here for the ECF press release.
The election will take place in Turin in June. Official
FIDE Website.
Garry Kasparov on BBC TV... [31/03/06]
Garry Kasparov appeared on BBC TV's political debate show Question
Time on 30 March. He appeared as part of a panel of politicians and
experts answering audience questions on this famous, long-running British
TV show which has relocated to Moscow for the occasion. Click
here for details at the BBC Website, where you may be able to watch
the show online for a limited period. Kasparov was given star billing
ahead of British and Russian government ministers. There was no chess
content. Kasparov was scathing in comments directed towards a Russian
government minister. One opinion we've heard was that Kasparov came over
as too volatile for a politician.
The FIDE Women's World Championship takes place in Ekaterinburg, Russia,
from 11-27 March. 64 players are taking part in a knock-out, with two-game
mini-matches in each round until the final, which consists of four games.
Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria is defending her world title and other
2500+ players include Humpy Koneru (IND), Pia Cramling (SWE), Alexandra
Kosteniuk (RUS), former world champion Maia Chiburdanidze (GEO), Xu Yuhua
(CHN) and Kateryna Lahno (UKR).
The final of the women's world championship
resulted in a 2½-½ victory for 29-year-old Xu
Yuhua of China, ranked number 6 woman in the world, against 34-year-old
Alisa
Galliamova of Russia, ranked number 18 in the world. Xu Yuhua's
previous best career performances were her victories in two successive
FIDE World Cups for women, in 2000 and 2002. Xu Yuhua becomes the 11th
women's world champion and is the third Chinese player to have won the
title after Xie Jun and Zhu Chen. She also gains the title of (full) grandmaster,
having not previously been a full IM but only the lower ranking title
of woman grandmaster.
In the semi-finals, Galliamova beat Viktorija
Cmilyte (LTU) 1½-½, while Xu Yuhua beat Svetlana Matveeva
(RUS) by the same score. Cmilyte missed a golden opportunity to win the
first game against Galliamova but allowed her opponent a perpetual check.
In the second, Galliamova seized control of the h-file towards the end
of a tough game to win through. Xu Yuhua outplayed Matveeva in an equal
rook and pawns endgame in the second game.
Quarter-Final results: Alisa Galliamova
(RUS) 2-0 Nino Khurtidze (GEO); Svetlana Matveeva (RUS) 1½-½
Marie Sebag (FRA); Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (RUS) 1½-2½ Xu
Yuhua (CHN); Maia Chiburdanidze (GEO) 1½-2½ Viktorija
Cmilyte (LTU).
Round 3: another big name bit the dust in this
round - Alexandra Kosteniuk was knocked out ½-1½ by Viktorija
Cmilyte of Lithuania. This round also saw the end for the pre-teen sensation
from China, Yifan Hou (who only turned 12 on 27 February - another Judit
Polgar in the making?): she lost 0-2 to Nino Khurtidze of Georgia. Another
youngster from China, Wenjun Ju (aged 15) took former champion Maia Chiburdanidze
to a blitz decider before bowing out.
Round 2: British interest in the tournament
came to an end when Jovanka Houska was knocked out in the rapidplay play-off
by Qin Kanying of China. But she had done well to get this far. Her coach,
John Emms, said: "Given that Jovanka played six games against tough
opponents, she must be very happy with her result as well as her performance.
Beating the former European Champion, Almira Skripchenko, in a match
is a significant breakthrough and will give her big boost going into
the Olympiad and European Championship."
British women's champion Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant also
lost, to her compatriot Maia Chiburdanize of Georgia. But there were three
huge shocks as the title holder Stefanova, and two of the ratings favourites,
Koneru and Cramling, were all eliminated. World champion Antoaneta Stefanova
won her first game, but then lost the next three against Iweta Radziewicz
of Poland. Humpy Koneru also lost both her play-off games to Marie Sebag
of France. Pia Cramling lost ½-1½ in the regulation games
to Peng Zhaoqin of Netherlands. Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia is probably
the new favourite: she beat Elina Danielian of Armenia by 2-0. But former
champion Maia Chiburdanidze may also fancy her chances, as some of the
newer names in the field. For example, Yifan Hou of China who, despite
her modest 2269 rating, crushed former European Women's Champion Natalia
Zhukova 2-0. This frantic format lends itself to big surprises and nobody
can be written off.
Round 1: England's Jovanka Houska (ranked 47th
of the 64) did extremely well to eliminate 18th seed and former European
women's champion Almira Skripchenko 1½-½. There were quite
a number of other shock results. These included the elimination of Kateryna
Lahno at the hands of a 2218-rated unknown from Peru, Karen Zapata, as
well as losses for Nadezhda Kosintseva (RUS) and Monika Socko (POL) at
the hands of lowly-rated Chinese players; but one of the top Chinese players,
Zhao Xue, herself lost to a little-known Russian. Current British women's
champion Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (who represents Georgia) came through
the first round safely after a rapidplay play-off with Marta Zielinska
(POL). Official website: http://womenchess.com
Grand Slam for Chess? [17/03/06]
Today's issue of Chess
Today carries the story that organisers of the world's top all-play-all
tournaments are to meet to discuss a 'grand slam' concept for chess. Those
responsible for Linares/Morelia, Corus Wijk aan Zee and the M-Tel Masters
are planning to meet during the next edition of the M-Tel event in Sofia
(in mid-late May). This is an interesting idea and could be useful for
gaining wider interest in the general media. One difficulty is that not
all of the players can play in all of the potential 'grand slam' events.
For example, Aronian is not down to be playing in the M-Tel Masters, so
how can he achieve a grand slam? One simple solution would be to agree
that the winner of one grand slam event is automatically qualified for
the next one on the calendar. Three events seems a small number; the magic
number is four in tennis (and, I think, golf). I wonder why Dortmund is
not involved.
23rd Linares/Morelia, 18 Feb - 11 Mar [12/03/06]
This year's 'City of Linares' tournament is being split between Spain
and Mexico for the first time. Eight players play in a double-cycle all-play-all,
with the first cycle held in Morelia, in the Michoacán province
of Mexico (18-26 Feb) and then a week's break before the second cycle
is held in its traditional venue of Linares, Spain (3-11 March). Players:
Topalov (BUL, 2801), Svidler (RUS, 2765), Aronian (ARM, 2752), Leko (HUN,
2740), Ivanchuk (UKR, 2729), Bacrot (FRA, 2717), Radjabov (AZE, 2700),
Vallejo Pons (ESP, 2650). Results
and Crosstable • Download games
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23rd Linares/Morelia (ESP/MEX) cat. XX (2732)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Final Positions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2752 ** =0 1= =1 0= 1= 1= =1 8.5 2808
2 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2801 =1 ** 0= =1 1= 01 =1 0= 8.0 2771
3 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2700 0= 1= ** 0= =1 =1 1= == 8.0 2786
4 Leko, Peter g HUN 2740 =0 =0 1= ** 1= == == 1= 7.5 2759
5 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2729 1= 0= =0 0= ** 1= =0 =1 6.5 2703
6 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2765 0= 10 =0 == 0= ** 1= 1= 6.5 2698
7 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2717 0= =0 0= == =1 0= ** =1 6.0 2683
8 Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2650 =0 1= == 0= =0 0= =0 ** 5.0 2641
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Round 14: In the end Levon Aronian snatched the first prize, with
a win as Black against a tiring Peter Leko. This left Leko adrift in 4th
place, having led from the start to round 13, but finishing with 0/2.
But it was a great achievement for the young Armenian who is now firmly
established amongst the very best players in the world. Topalov's miraculous
second-half recovery ended just short of victory when he was held by Vallejo
Pons. Radjabov was also unable to capitalise on his excellent showing
in the Spanish cycle of the tournament, but must be pleased with a share
of second place with the world champion. Svidler was two pawns up against
Ivanchuk but the Ukrainian found enough counterplay to hold the game.
Round 13: An astonishing day's chess. It scarcely seems possible
after his nightmare in Morelia, but Topalov now stands proudly at the
top of the crosstable with one round to go. His win against the erstwhile
leader Leko was the product of constant pressure, which finally brought
its reward towards the end of the game when the Hungarian fell foul of
some tactics. In fact, Topalov is not really top of the table, but shares
that position with no less than three others. Aronian drew with Bacrot
after trying hard to win a fairly lifeless position; he did well to get
as close as he did. Radjabov won against an unrecognisable Peter Svidler,
who allowed a powerful piece sacrifice to open up his king and made it
even worse with further errors. Radjabov was in very bad time pressure,
made a few errors but still managed to win. Ivanchuk-Vallejo Pons was
a crazy game with the Spaniard making some very poor moves against the
aggressive Ukrainian. So Topalov, Radjabov, Leko and Aronian all have
7½/13. Tomorrow should be interesting!
Round 12: all four games were drawn. Svidler-Aronian was a quick
draw but the others were more hard fought. Topalov won a pawn against
Ivanchuk but it proved insufficient to win. Vallejo Pons-Radjabov reached
a very complex knight and pawns endgame which is very hard to call; understandably,
the two players decided to call it quits.
Round 11: Aronian was the only winner and he moves into sole second
place, half a point behind Leko. He reached a position with R+R and pawns
vs R+B+N, but Vallejo Pons allowed the rooks to become too powerful. Topalov's
winning run ended with a fairly solid Berlin Defence draw against Radjabov.
Bacrot won Svidler's Q for R+B but eventually allowed a perpetual check.
Ivanchuk-Leko was a long and rather cagey game which ended in a draw.
Round 10: Topalov makes it 3/3 in Linares (already outscoring
his dismal 2½/7 in Morelia). By beating Aronian, he has moved into
joint 2nd (with Aronian and Radjabov), just a point behind Leko. Aronian
seemed to be well placed in the early part of the game but then drifted
into a bad position. Leko-Svidler promised to be lively but then all the
pieces came off and the game petered out (sorry about the pun). Vallejo
Pons played a rather rash g4 move against Bacrot and was soon in trouble.
Ivanchuk-Radjabov was quite complex and decided by the strength of Radjabov's
passed d-pawn.
Round 9: Another good round for world champion Veselin Topalov,
who beat Bacrot with Black to reach a 50% score. He is now within 1½
points of the leader Peter Leko. Aronian got himself into some trouble
against Ivanchuk but still managed to hold a draw. Svidler-Vallejo Pons
was a steady draw. Radjabov was a pawn up against Leko for much of a long
game, but the extra pawn remained safely blockaded throughout; Leko's
impeccable defensive technique saw him through to a draw.
Round 8: As the tournament resumes in Linares, Topalov's luck
may have changed. He beat Peter Svidler in a Grünfeld Defence today.
Peter Leko settled for a draw in a complex, possibly better, position
against Vallejo Pons. Aronian sacrificed a piece to force a draw by perpetual
check against Radjabov. Ivanchuk once again ran horribly short of time
and paid the penalty, losing on time in a winning position against Bacrot.
Round 7: Aronian won a complicated game against Bacrot to move
into second place as the Morelia cycle comes to an end. He sacrificed
one piece, and then a second, in order to build up a big queenside pawn
attack but the out of form French GM missed chances to save the game.
The other games were drawn, though Leko-Topalov and Svidler-Radjabov were
both interesting struggles. The tournament now moves across the Atlantic
and resumes in its traditional venue of Linares on 3 March. It is clear
that Topalov must hope for something approaching his San Luís first
cycle performance (+6) if he is to have any chance of winning another
tournament. Scores at the halfway mark: Leko 5, Aronian 4½, Svidler
4, Ivanchuk, Radjabov 3½, Vallejo Pons 3, Topalov 2½, Bacrot
2.
Picture right: World Champion Veselin Topalov shows good ball skills
in a kick-about with the Morelia Monarchs football team - but he still
cannot find the net in the chess tournament (not until Linares, that is!).
Photo: Cathy Rogers
Round 6: Leko extended his lead to one point after drawing comfortably
with Aronian and seeing his nearest rival Svidler succumb to a quick loss
against Ivanchuk. Bacrot got a bad opening against Radjabov; despite playing
on a long time, he never really looked like escaping defeat. There was
a third loss for world champion Topalov who is now in joint last place.
Vallejo Pons produced some sharp tactics to reduce his position to rubble.
Round 5: Leko took over the sole lead, drawing with Bacrot. Svidler
lost to Aronian after being steadily outplayed. Topalov won his first
game after Ivanchuk drifted into a bad position. Radjabov-Vallejo Pons
was the most entertaining game, but eventually petered out to a draw.
Round 4: This is turning into a two-horse race. Leko beat Ivanchuk
and Svidler beat Bacrot to increase their joint lead to 1½ points.
Topalov is looking anything but a world champion after losing his second
game, with White versus Radjabov. He is joint last with Vallejo Pons.
Round 3: All four games drawn. Three of them were over quickly
but Aronian-Topalov lasted 123 moves. At first the world champion seemed
to be pressing for a win but eventually he had to struggle for a draw.
Round 2: Leko beat Radjabov, and Svidler beat Vallejo Pons, so
both have started with 2/2 (whilst their beaten opponents are on 0/2).
Ivanchuk beat Aronian, while Topalov drew with Bacrot.
Round 1: Peter Svidler got off to the best possible start, defeating
FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov. Aronian beat Radjabov and Leko beat
Vallejo Pons (with Black), while Ivanchuk came close to beating Bacrot.
Book Reviews [18/02/06]
As regular readers of this website will know, all book reviews published
in British Chess Magazine are made available online for anyone
to read. Click here for the index
to all the book reviews we have published since January 2000. In addition,
we sometimes publish longer, in-depth book reviews as articles in the
magazine. In January we published Jonathan Levitt's review of Chess
for Zebras (by Jonathan Rowson) and in February we published Cathy
Forbes' review of Chess Bitch (by Jennifer Shahade). We are pleased
to tell you that both of these reviews are now available online. Click
here for the Levitt review of Jonathan Rowson's book, and click
here for Cathy Forbes' review of Jennifer Shahade's book.
IM Angus Dunnington turned up halfway through the recent Gibtelecom
Masters in Gibraltar, but not to play chess. He was there to take part
in a poker tournament which was being held as part of the congress, sponsored
by one of the chess tournament's sponsors 32redpoker.com.
Click on the title link above for his reflections on this event
and a few photographs. One additional piece of gossip: it is said that,
of the super-GMs, Alexander Grischuk is the strongest poker player.
This year's Gibtelecom Masters was bigger and stronger than ever, with
such luminaries as Shirov, Akopian, Short, Bologan and Korchnoi among
the 124 competitors. BCM editor John Saunders was on the spot. Click
here for final results and report. Kiril Georgiev (centre of
photo) scored 8½/10, a full point clear of Sutovsky and Short
who scored 7½, etc. The 2007 Gibtelecom tournament promises to
be even stronger than this year, with a major increase in the prize fund.
Download all games in PGN (zipped).
Official website: http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/
Corus Wijk aan Zee, 14-28 Jan [30/01/06]
We have day-by-day coverage here courtesy of regular BCM columnist FM
Steve Giddins
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Rd 13 - In the final round
Vishy Anand beat Boris Gelfand in order to tie Topalov for first place.
It is now becoming clear that these two are the dominant players in world
chess in the post-Kasparov age. Steve Giddins analyses Anand-Gelfand.
Final scores: Anand, Topalov 9/13, Adams, Ivanchuk 7½, Gelfand,
Kariakin 7, etc.
Rd 12 - Only one decisive game
today (Mamedyarov 0-1 Kamsky) while Topalov and Anand drew. Steve Giddins
reports on Gelfand's 'Great Escape' against Ivanchuk. Scores with one
round to go: Topalov 8½, Anand 8, Adams, Gelfand, Kariakin 7, etc
Rd 11 - No change at the top.
With two rounds to go, Topalov has 8, Anand 7½, Adams, Gelfand,
Kariakin 6½, etc. Steve Giddins annotates Sergey Kariakin's win
against Sokolov.
Rest Day (3) - More news
from the B and C events, a delightful endgame study by Harold van der
Heijden and an excellent win by Yochanan Afek.
Rd 10 - Topalov takes the sole
lead again with a win against Aronian. Steve Giddins analyses a fascinating
game. Other decisive results: Van Wely 1-0 Leko, Bacrot 1-0 Kamsky.
Rd 9 - Anand wins to level with
Topalov, and these two are now a point clear of Adams and Gelfand.
Rest Day (2) - Steve Giddins
reports on Magnus Carlsen's phenomenal performance in the Corus B group.
Rd 8 - Anand beat Bacrot to rejoin
Topalov in the lead. Mamedyarov lost again, this time to Aronian.
Rd 7 - Topalov beat Ivan Sokolov
to move into first place on his own. Anand drew with Adams, while Kariakin
beat the last unbeaten player, Mamedyarov, to move into joint 2nd with
Anand. Leko won a beautiful game which Steve Giddins compares to a Tal
masterpiece.
Rd 6 - Bottom beats top - Kamsky
beat Anand, while Adams beat Ivanchuk. Anand and Topalov now share first
place with 4/6, with Adams, Gelfand, Ivanchuk and Kariakin on 3½.
Only one player remains unbeaten - Mamedyarov - and he has drawn all six
games.
Rd 5 - Decisive results - Kariakin
1-0 Bacrot, Anand 1-0 Leko, Ivanchuk 1-0 Kamsky. Anand leads with 4/5.
Rest day - No play today,
but that doesn't mean there is nothing for you to read. Check out Steve
Giddins's rest day summary, with his reflection on the tournament
so far, the linguistic talents of the competitors and an annotation of
the game Carlsen-L'Ami from the 'B' Group.
Rd 4 - Topalov wins again to
tie with Anand on 3/4. Decisive results: Bacrot 0-1 Gelfand, Van Wely
0-1 Topalov, Kamsky 0-1 Aronian. Wednesday is a rest day.
Rd 3 - after the celebration
of Sunday, comes the hangover. Mickey Adams lost to Boris Gelfand today.
I've put the Union Jack away for another day. The big game between Ivanchuk
(on 2/2) and Anand ended in favour of the Indian, so Vishy has taken over
as tournament leader with 2½/3. Click on the Round 3 Report above
for Steve Giddins' annotation of Ivanchuk-Anand. Decisive games: Topalov
1-0 Bacrot, Ivanchuk 0-1 Anand, Kariakin 1-0 Kamsky, Gelfand 1-0 Adams.
Rd 2 - Rule Britannia! UK Chancellor
of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has recently mooted the idea of having a
British
Day, when we Brits celebrate our Britishness. Good idea, Gordon,
and we chess players would like to nominate 15 January - the day
when top British chess player Mickey Adams beat world champion
Veselin Topalov at the Corus Wijk aan Zee tournament. It has been
a good weekend for British grandmasters: last night on Who Wants to
Be a Millionaire, British grandmaster Jim Plaskett made sure
of at least £8,000. Tune in next Saturday, when my crystal
ball tells me that Jim is going add to his existing stash big-time (you
heard it here first). It is the third time that Jim has appeared on the
show.
Queenstown Classic, 15-24 Jan [21/02/06]
New Zealand is staging its most prestigious tournament in years: a 10-round
open swiss event, which also incorporates the 113th New Zealand Championship
(which is incidentally one of the oldest national championships in the
world). 192 players from five continents, including four GMs and 15 IMs
are competing for a total prize fund of over NZ$35,000. It also marks
a nostalgic return for 84-year-old IM Bob Wade who has not set foot on
his native soil for 56 years. Final: M Chandler (ENG) 8½/10,
2-3 I Rogers, D Smerdon (AUS) 8, etc. Murray Chandler, whose idea the
event was, thus won his first New Zealand championship title since 1976
• Official
website • Download
games (460 games, input and amended by Peter Stuart)
Plaskett to Buy New Trousers... [22/01/06]
English GM Jim Plaskett won £250,000 yesterday on ITV's Who
Wants to be a Millionaire TV programme (which was actually recorded
in November). Plaskett, who had already won £8,000 on the previous
week's show, answered another five questions correctly to win the money.
He used up all his 'lifelines' (ask the audience, 50:50, phone a friend
- Jim phoned his wife Fiona, but she wasn't sure) on the £250,000
question ("Crispin is the patron saint of which craftsmen? A: Thatchers,
B: Shoemakers, C: Coopers, D: Clockmakers" - answer - Shoemakers)
and opted not to answer the £500,000 question ("Which of these
astronauts has never set on the moon? A: Jim Lovell, B: Edgar Mitchell,
C: James Irwin, D: Charles Duke" - answer - Jim Lovell). On handing
Jim the cheque, the show's compere Chris Tarrant said "I've never
given a quarter of a million to anyone who looked so miserable".
Jim's initial reaction to his new-found wealth: "I can afford some
new trousers now."
Kramnik Pulls Out of Wijk aan Zee [13/01/06]
World Champion Vladimir Kramnik has been forced to pull out of the forthcoming
Corus Wijk aan Zee
tournament because of ill health. A short statement appears at his
website and has been circulated to the world's chess press, as follows:
“I would like to inform the chess community that due to health problems
I shall not be able to participate in the Corus Chess Tournament 2006.
A couple of years ago a form of arthritis was diagnosed. This disease
causes painful inflammation in the joints. Unfortunately since that time,
the symptoms have started to appear more often and with greater severity.
A new recent crises makes it necessary to undertake serious clinical treatment.
Solving the present problem within a few months will allow me to come
back and enjoy competitive chess at the highest level. I want to stress
clearly, that – as always – I am eager to continue and enhance
my chess career. There are still many goals to achieve.” There is
unconfirmed speculation that the illness Kramnik may be suffering from
is ankylosing
spondylitis, a chronic rheumatic/arthritic condition. BCM's sympathy
and best wishes for a full and speedy recovery go to the world match-play
champion. Kramnik's replacement at the Corus
tournament is Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, the world junior champion.
Zugzwang [08/01/06]
Leading UK Sunday newspaper The Observer relaunched in a new format
on 8 January and (as part of that relaunch) began serial publication of
a complete novel in weekly parts. The first novel to be published in this
way has chess as its subject. The novel's title is Zugzwang, and
its author is award-winning writer of fiction - and keen chess player
- Ronan
Bennett. The first two chapters appeared in today's Observer
and can also be read online at The
Observer website. The novel is set in 1914 at the time of
the famous St Petersburg tournament, and one of the main characters is
based on Akiba Rubinstein (1882-1961). According to the website, the novel
embraces 'murder, detection, intelligence and counter-intelligence'. It
should be fascinating to see how the story unfolds over the next 29 weeks...
Hastings International Congress, 28 Dec - 6 Jan [08/01/06]
This
year's Hastings Congress (the 81st) took place at the Horntye Park Sports
Centre. Official website: http://www.hastingschess.org.uk.
Final Scores: 1 Valeriy Neverov (UKR, pictured left) 8/10,
2-4 V Colin (FRA), S Erenburg (ISR), M Gagunashvili (GEO) 7½, 5-10
V Belov (RUS), P Bobras (POL), M Hebden (ENG), W Kobese (RSA), M Pavlovic
(SCG), S Williams (ENG) 7, etc. Simon Williams achieved his third and
final GM norm, but still needs to record a 2500 rating to qualify for
the title. 12-year-old Parimarjan Negi of India completed the requirements
for his IM title and also scored his first GM norm.
Many of this year's games at Hastings were recorded
using the new Monroi.com games recording system, where the players use
a loaned handheld computer to record their moves instead of writing them
down on a scoresheet. As well as recording the moves for posterity this
allows games to be watched by an online audience while they are being
played. Click
here to follow live action. Use of the handhelds is purely voluntary
and those players wishing to stick to traditional pen and paper are free
to do so. Take-up of the Monroi 'electronic scoresheet' is running at
about 40% of the 50 or so games played in the Masters section. Though
there have been a few gremlins in the automatic recording, it is a lot
better than having no games. I have sorted through the downloads from
the official website, standardising names, adding ratings and amending
a handful of results and scores which are clearly wrong.
Download games • Games
Viewer (complete games now available)
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