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British Chess Magazine - News Archive for 2007Archive Keyword Search FacilityYear: 2003 2004 2005 2006 20072007Liverpool 800th Anniversary Summit Match: UK v China, 4-9 Sept [08/09/07]The match between 'Team UK' and 'Team China' started at the prestigious St George's Hall in Liverpool on 4 September. Each team consists of eight players, and a specially adapted six-round Scheveningen format is being used for this six-day competition. Six leading players play against the leading six players of the other team, and two further leading women players play each of their opposite numbers three times each. The two teams are: • Live Games Match Scores: Main Match: China - Ni Hua, Zhang Pengxiang, Wang Yue, Wang Hao 4/6, Bu Xiangzhi 3½, Hou Yifan 2½; UK - Adams 3½, Short, 3, Jones 2½, Howell 2, Pert, Rowson 1½. Women's match: China - Ding Yixin 3½, Shen Yang 2½; UK - Arakhamia 4, Houska 2. So it was 22-14 in the main match, 6-6 in the women's match, making 28-22 overall. • Round 6: UK led for much of the round but China won the final two games to clinch the round by 4½-3½. There were two relatively quick draws, with Pert and Rowson no doubt keen to get the match over, and the Chinese needing one game point to wrap up the overall match result. Hou Yifan has impressed in this match but Michael Adams still represents a bridge too far for her as yet. The English no.1 exchanged queens, gained an edge, won a pawn and cruised to a routine win. Short-Ni Hua was an interesting struggle, with Black giving up a pawn for some play against Short's king. Short may have missed a chance to take the advantage but it eventually petered out to a draw. Gawain Jones had slightly the worst of things as Black against Zhang Pengxiang, but the Chinese player could not exploit his edge, despite trying for 16 moves not to have to resort to a perpetual check finish. A repetition ended the rather colourless game between Shen Yang and Jovanka Houska. That left the UK side one up with two to play, but once again Dolmatov's "Chinese hour" came to pass. Ketevan Arakhamia played in her counterattacking style with Black, producing an excellent exchange sacrifice. Later Black spurned a probable draw by repetition (27...Ng4!?) but thereafter her game went rapidly downhill and Ding Yixin won efficiently, levelling the match. That left Wang Yue, the highest rated of the Chinese contingent , against David Howell. Howell seemed to catch the Chinese no.1 out with his enterprising 27...Bxd4 and his R+PP appeared to give the edge against Wang's B+N. However, at move 40 he allowed his rook to be penned in on h5 and White was able to manoeuvre his way into an overwhelming endgame position. But it was another fascinating day's chess to add to the previous five - all credit to the match organisers and players. IBCA European Individual Championship, Durham, 14-23 Aug [28/08/07]The 4th European Individual Championship for visually-impaired players took place at St. Aidan's College, Windmill Hill, Durham, from 14-23 August as a nine-round swiss. Amongst the favourites is IM Colin Crouch whose eyesight is now impaired as a result of ill health suffered a few years ago. The tournament website can be found via the UK's Braille Chess Association website, which is http://www.braillechess.org.uk/. Final result: Jaroslav Olsar of the Czech Republic won with 8/9, ahead of IM Yuri Meshkov (RUS) on 7½ and Sergey Grigorchuk (UKR) on 7. Best British scores were Colin Crouch and Chris Ross who both made 6. Photo shows Colin Crouch playing Dominick Szurgot (POL), round 2. View/download
all games • thanks to Dave Clayton 5th Staunton Memorial, Simpsons, London, 7-18 August [11/08/07]The Staunton Memorial tournament, once again hosted by Simpsons in the Strand, has a strong line-up again this year. • View/download
games (all games) thanks to Ray Keene and Steve Giddins • Final Crosstable British Championships, 30 July - 10 August [11/08/07]The British Chess Championships are being held at Great Yarmouth College in Norfolk this year and as usual the main tournament is an 11-round swiss event, starting 30 July and finishing 10 August, with a rest day next Sunday. The official website is here and the pairings here. The main interest will be to see if Scottish number one Jonathan Rowson can make it four titles in a row after his battling victories in 2003-5. Second place last year was taken by another Scottish resident, Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant - the best performance ever by a woman player in the main championship - and she will be travelling back from Montreal where she so nearly won the Monroi Women's Grand Prix Final to play in the 2007 championship (and defend her women's title - she also goes for four titles in a row, discounting one year when it was not contested). Congratulations, Mickey and Tara! [08/08/07]Tucked away in a page on the Staunton Memorial tournament's website, comes the news that Britain's no.1 chessplayer Mickey Adams has married his long-time girlfriend Tara MacGowran at a ceremony in Taunton on 4 August. Congratulations to both of them. His honeymoon will be spent playing chess in the Staunton tournament (see here). Liverpool 800th Anniversary Summit Match: UK v China, 4-9 Sept [30/07/07]Click on the above link for details of a superb chess event in Liverpool in September: a match between 'Team UK' and 'Team China' at the prestigious St George's Hall in Liverpool. Each team will consist of eight players, and a specially adapted six-round Scheveningen format is being used for this six-day competition. Six leading players will play against the leading six players of the other team, and two further leading women players will play each of their opposite numbers three times each. The two teams announced are: 16th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International, 22-30 September 2007 [27/07/07]The Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International takes place at the Ocean Castle Hotel from 22-30 September and features a very strong masters event, plus major and minor events for lower-rated players. Sadly, this is to be the last Monarch Assurance tournament, so this will be your last chance to sample some Manx hospitality and the wonderful scenery that the island is famous for. As usual there is a strong line-up: 14 grandmasters with 2600+ ratings are in the field, headed by Ivan Sokolov, Michal Krasenkow, Sergey Volkov, Vladimir Baklan and last year's winner Alexander Areshchenko. From the UK there will be Jonathan Speelman, Mark Hebden, Peter Wells, David Howell, Stewart Haslinger and others, and the women's line-up includes Olympiad gold medallist Inna Gaponenko, Elisabeth Paehtz and Dagne Ciuksyte. The official website has a list of titled entrants and details of how to enter, downloadable entry form, etc.
Haslinger Scores Final GM Norm*, South Wales International, 7-12 July [20/07/07]The 4th South Wales International took place at Caerleon College, near Newport in Gwent, Wales, from 7-12 July. Four GMs - M Dzhumaev (UZB, 2500g), V Dobrov (RUS, 2504g), M Pavlovic (SRB, 2541g), P Wells (ENG, 2517g) - did battle with IM Stewart Haslinger, James Cobb, Charles Cobb, etc. Final Scores: 1st M Dzhumaev (UZB) 8/9 (£1,000), 2nd S Haslinger (ENG) 7½ (£600), 3rd P Wells (ENG) 7 (£300). Haslinger beat GM Dobrov in the last round to gain his final GM norm. *But I am reliably informed that he is still ten points short of the rating threshold (which is 2500) so he needs a good run of form to get him over the line. Richard Jones and Ioan Rees won the prize for the highest-placed Welsh players with 6 points. Official website: http://www.southwaleschess.co.uk/SWI/home.html - the games are now available (my thanks to Jack Rudd) View/download games Thanks to Mark Adams. Scottish Championships 7-15 July [19/07/07]The 114th Scottish Championships are being held in Cumbernauld from 7-15 July. The championship itself is being held as a ten-player all-play-all, with only three players rated above 2250. Official Website (which has the games in text format). Final Scores : 1st Andrew Muir 8/9 (his first Scottish title), 2-3 Alan Grant, Colin McNab 7, 4 Douglas Bryson 6½, etc. View/download games Middlesex vs Young England, 9-13 & 16-19 July [19/07/07]A group of nine young English players is taking on a strong Middlesex side in a nine-round Scheveningen format tournament (each of nine players on each team players each member of the other team once). The tournament is being sponsored by Edexcel, Popularis and the John Robinson Trust. The Middlesex team includes GMs Bogdan Lalic and Aaron Summerscale and IMs Cox and Crouch. Latest: Middlesex lead 40½-31½ with one of the nine rounds to go. This event is being held in celebration of Middlesex County Chess Association's centenary. Tournament coverage and games are available here. I would like to tell you the venue of the match but it appears to be a closely-guarded secret, unmentioned in any press releases and reports that I have seen other than a general reference to the Strand. Irish Open Championship, 30 Jun - 8 Jul [13/07/07]This year's Irish Championship, sponsored by Island Oil & Gas and
held at the Royal Dublin Hotel, O'Connell Street, Dublin, from 30 June
to 8 July, was held as an open swiss of nine rounds for the first time.
Thus non-Irish players were able to compete with the locals for the money
prizes while only Irish-registered players were eligible to win the Irish
Championship title. Four foreign grandmasters competed: Eduardas Rozentalis
(LTU) and Mark Hebden, Stuart Conquest and Nick Pert (all ENG). BCM for July [06/07/07]The July issue of BCM is now available
from the shop, with articles on the World Championship Candidates
matches, Bosna Sarajevo, MTel Masters and much else besides. Pivdenny Bank Chess Cup [06/07/07]The Pivdenny Bank Chess Cup (http://worldcup.pivdenny.com/ru/) takes place in Odessa, Ukraine, from 4-6 July. Ten leading players (including
five 2700+ super-GMs) meet in an all-play-all rapidplay event, with three
games played per day (time control: 20 mins + 10 second increments. The
tournament was being dominated by the two 'Chuks... Grischuk had a perfect
day 1 (3/3, including a win over Ivanchuk), but Ivanchuk equalled his
achievement with a perfect 3/3 on day 2. Final Scores: 1 Ivanchuk
7/9, 2 Grischuk 6½, 3-4 Radjabov, Shirov 4½, 5 Gelfand 5,
6 Drozdovskij 4, 7 Bacrot 3½, 8 Korchnoi 3, 9-10 Smirin, Tukmakov
2½ View/download
games
Internet Chess Club Features [04/07/07] The Internet
Chess Club, in conjunction with Chess Tigers, organizers of the Mainz
Chess Classic in Germany, are offering a unique chance to play in a free
online qualifier to win a round trip ticket, 600 Euro ($811) cash, hotel
room and breakfast at the Hilton Mainz Hotel from 15-20 August (5 nights
and 6 days!). The winner also receive an automatic seat into two of the
biggest and most prestigious series of rapid chess tournaments in the
world, playing alongside many of the game's top grandmasters: the 6th
FiNet Open, the world's biggest Chess960 (FischerRandom) tournaments,
and the 14th ORDIX Open, one of the biggest and strongest rapid tournaments
in the world. While there, you will also have the best seats in the house
for the main evening attraction of two intriguing 6-game matches: Anand
vs. Kasimdzhanov for the Grenkeleasing World Rapid Championship, and Levon
Aronian vs. Etienne Bacrot, for the FiNet Chess960 World Rapid Championship.
To win, you will need to play in a series of Chess960 ICC online qualifiers
from 7-12 July, with the final 32-player KO running 14-15 July - further
details here. This event is only open to ICC members and for those
who sign up NOW for a free trial membership of the ICC - details
here. Hastings Chess Club Celebrates its 125th Anniversary [30/06/07]Hastings
Chess Club celebrated its 125th anniversary on 30 June 2007 with a reception
at the club in Cornwallis Terrace, Hastings. Hastings CC is rightly proud
of its long tradition of chess, as are the people of Hastings. Consequently
it was no surprise that local MP Michael Foster and town councillor Paul
Smith were in attendance, both being terrific supporters of chess in the
town. BCM's editor was there to bring you this full
report with videos and still photos of the occasion.
Dortmund, 23 June - 1 July [01/07/07]The Dortmund Sparkassen tournament is a hugely strong (category event)
featuring eight elite players: Vladimir Kramnik, Vishy Anand, Shak Mamedyarov,
Peter Leko, Boris Gelfand, Magnus Carlsen, Evgeny Alabekseev and Arkady
Naiditsch. Play starts at 2pm GMT. Follow the action online via the official
website, http://www.playchess.com/ (where Yasser Seirawan provides commentary: it costs about 1 euro a day)
and the Internet
Chess Club (where there is also live audio commentary). Aerosvit-Foros, 17-30 June [30/06/07]This impressive tournament in Crimea, Ukraine, features 12 GMs with an
average rating of 2693: Peter Svidler, Vasyl Ivanchuk, Dmitry Jakovenko,
Alexei Shirov, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Krishnan Sasikiran, Pavel Elyanov,
Sergey Karyakin, Sergey Rublevsky, Lenier Dominguez, Loek Van Wely and
Alexander Onischuk. Follow the action online via the official
website and the Internet
Chess Club
FIDE World Championship Tournament, Mexico, 13-29 Sept [13/06/07]This year, as in 2005, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) is holding a tournament to decide the world championship. Hopefully this will be the last time they employ this unsatisfactory format to decide the supreme title. The tournament will be held in Mexico City from 13-29 September 2007, with tie-breaks (what a horrible thought) on 30 September. The tournament format is double-cycle all-play-all (i.e. each player plays all the others once with White and once with Black). The eight-player line-up: Vladimir Kramnik (RUS, reigning world champion); Viswanathan Anand (IND, world rated no.1); Alexander Morozevich (RUS); Levon Aronian (ARM); Peter Leko (HUN); Peter Svidler (RUS); Boris Gelfand (ISR); Alexander Grischuk (RUS). Prize fund: $1.3 million. Official website: http://www.chessmexico.com/. FIDE World Championship Candidates, Elista, 27 May - 13 June [13/06/07]16
qualified players travelled to Elista, Kalmykia, to compete for four places
in the FIDE World Championship tournament in Mexico City later in the
year. The round one pairings were Aronian (ARM) vs Carlsen (NOR), Adams
(ENG) vs Shirov (ESP); Ponomariov (UKR) vs Rublevsky (RUS), Grischuk (RUS)
vs Malakhov (RUS); Leko (HUN) vs M Gurevich (TUR), J Polgar (HUN) vs Bareev
(RUS); Gelfand (ISR) vs Kasimjanov (UZB); Bacrot (FRA) vs Kamsky (USA).
Each match was of six games. After the first match, there was a three-day
break and then a second round of matches between the eight winners to
decide the four players to join Kramnik (RUS), Anand (IND), Svidler (RUS)
and Morozevich (RUS) in the Mexican tournament. Official
website - click here. Another good place to follow the action
is http://www.chessclub.com/chessfm/,
where they offering free audio coverage for the first three rounds (from
12:00pm GMT daily). Which is the best chessplaying software program? As well as the Candidates matches in Elista, there is also a computer match going on between Deep Fritz and Deep Junior. Click on the ICC link above if you wish to follow progress (we are not providing coverage here). Perhaps more interesting is a letter from IM Vasik Rajlich, author of the Rybka software program (see right-hand panel), addressed to FIDE, laying down a challenge for Rybka to play the winner of the Deep Fritz vs Deep Junior match. It is an interesting letter which challenges the fairness and transparency of the choice of software program in what FIDE calls the The Ultimate Computer Chess Challenge 2007. Read Vasik Rajlich's letter here. Candidates Latest: Final Play-Offs (13 June): Alexander Grischuk
will fill the eighth and last place in the world championship final line-up.
He beat Sergey Rublevsky in a four-game decider, scoring 2½-½
and thus qualifying without need of playing the fourth game. Grischuk
won the first and third games with Black; both were Scotch Games, so he
was fully able to avenge his earlier defeat in this line. Rublevsky had
strong pressure in the third game but he was unable to break down Grischuk's
defence. Round 1 matches (27 May - 3 June) Round 2 matches (6-13 June) Lady Thelma Milner-Barry (1921-2007) [05/06/07]Lady
Thelma Milner-Barry, widow of the renowned British chessplayer and wartime
cryptanalyst Sir Stuart Milner-Barry (1906-1995), sadly died on 2 June
2007, aged 85 (born 10 August 1921). Lady Thelma, whose maiden name was Thelma Tennant Wells,
married Milner-Barry in 1947 by which time he had become a senior civil
servant at HM Treasury. Though not a competition chessplayer herself,
Lady Thelma shared her husband's strong sense of public duty and became
the (then) British Chess Federation's first Director of Women's Chess
in 1986, serving on the federation's management board until 1994. After
her husband's death she maintained her links with the chess world, attending
such events as the annual Varsity match. She will be greatly missed. BCM
sends its condolences to her family obituary
by Stewart Reuben at the ECF website
FIDE vs Short [09/05/07]Following the report that FIDE intends to summon Nigel Short before the
FIDE Ethics Commission regarding comments he is alleged to have made about
the activities of FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos and FIDE
VP Zurab Azmaiparashvili, the English
Chess Federation has responded with a strongly-worded reply and prospective
counter-charge against Makropoulos and Azmaiparashvili. ECF
letter to FIDE Malcolm
Pein's Telegraph report BCM
Blog Britbase Bonanza [24/04/07]It's a good day to replenish your chess database with games old and new.
Either click here for the main Britbase
page, or click on the following links. We've got the games from the recent
Welsh Championships, the Southend Easter Open and then, going back in
time, the 1st Lloyds Bank Masters tournament from 1977 and, even further,
the 7th Islington Open in 1971. My thanks to everyone involved in keying
the games and making them available Welsh
Championship 2007 Southend
Open 2007 Lloyds
Bank Masters 1977 Islington
1971 Susan Polgar on UK TV [16/04/07]UK readers: look out for former women's world champion Susan Polgar on
British TV on Tuesday night. She appears on the science news programme
'Horizon' on BBC2 at 9pm (Tuesday 17 April). The programme investigates
ways of measuring intelligence and puts seven high fliers in their fields
to various tests of intelligence. It will be interesting to see how she
fares in competition with a musical prodigy, a quantum physicist, an artist,
a dramatist, an RAF fighter pilot and a Wall Street trader Susan
Polgar blog BBC
Horizon website Easter Congresses [15/04/07] The West of England Chess Union Championship,
reported on the Chess
Devon website, resulted in victory for GM Matthew Turner with 6/7.
View/download
all games and results here.
Anand Charity Online Simul [13/04/07]Announcing
a once-in-a-lifetime chance to play chess against world rated no.1 Vishy
Anand coming up soon... the Indian chess superstar is giving an online
simul on ICC on Saturday 21 April (at 5pm GMT, noon ET) on behalf of a
charity that is close to his heart called Vidyasagar (www.vidyasagar.co.in),
a non-profit organization that strives for inclusion of children with
autism and cerebral palsy. To find out the special appeal Anand has for
Vidyasagar, you can watch
this video on YouTube. If you want to take part in the simul,
which is being held on the Internet
Chess Club, you need to bid for a ticket on
eBay here. The winning bidders of this and the 14 other eBay auctions
will each earn a seat to play Anand on ICC. The time control will be 90
minutes with a 5 second increment. Seats will only be available to players
under the rating of 2200 and they will play with the black pieces. There
are prizes (including subscriptions to BCM) for those who raise the most
money in the auction for places. 31st Blackpool Congress, 16-18 March [11/04/07]The Blackpool Congress (which I refuse to call by its official name of
'Blackpool Chess Conference' on the grounds that it is silly) took place
over the weekend of 16-18 March and was won by the Norwegian player Harald
Borchgrevink with 4½/5 ahead of Jeff Horner, Mark Hebden, Alex
Cherniaev, Jonathan Hawkins, Mike Surtees and Jonathan Blackburn on 4.
The surprise winner (an employee at the Norwegian consulate in Edinburgh)
has written an entertaining report on how he did it which may be found
here.
It seemed to involve drinking before, during and after the game. Congress
website (with results) View/Download
45 Blackpool games Coulsdon Easter Internationals, 31 Mar - 4 Apr [08/04/07]Two ten-player all-play-alls were held at the Coulsdon Chess Fellowship
in the five days preceding Easter. GM Alex Cherniaev won a category 4
tournament with 7½/9 ahead of IM Tom Rendle on 6½. Meanwhile
Robin Haldane won the Challenger's tournament with 7/9. My thanks to Scott
Freeman for sending the games. View/Download
games Liverpool 2007: 800th Anniversary Match [13/03/07]The city of Liverpool is going to celebrate its 800th year of existence
with a highly prestigious summit chess match over six rounds from 4-9
September 2007. This is likely to be the most important chess fixture
in Britain since the 2000 Kasparov-Kramnik world championship match. Four
teams of eight players, representing Britain, China, India and the European
Union, will take part at the prestigious venue of St George's Hall in
Liverpool. The top four boards are open, two are for juniors and two for
women players. Early indications are that the teams will be close to full
strength, with the exception that Anand and possibly Adams may be involved
in the World Championship tournament in Mexico. The Chinese squad has
already been announced and it is superb, including Bu Xiangzhi, Wang Yue
and Ni Hua, plus the sensational 13-year-old Hou Yifan who is on course
to rival Judit Polgar if she continues to improve at the current rate
of progress. A good place to follow news about this event is at the Atticus
CC forum, where chief organiser David Robertson puts up regular items
of news - click
here. The official website (currently in preparation) will be http://www.liverpoolchessinternational.co.uk/ The President's Brain is Missing [13/03/07]Announcing a new prize competition - anyone locating the FIDE President's
brain will receive a copy of Garry Kasparov's new book... visit the BCM
editor's blog - http://bcmchess.blogspot.com/
- to find out more... Chance to Win Kasparov's New Book... [13/03/07]UK-based readers: you have a chance to win a copy of Garry Kasparov's
new book 'Revolution in the 70s' today... there is a competition
in the 'G2' section of today's Guardian newspaper where columnists
Daniel King and Ronan Bennett are offering the new book as a prize
for the person who comes up with the best plan (i.e. not just the best
first move) in the published position. Latest: It is now
up at the Guardian chess website - click
here. Varsity Match, Oxford vs Cambridge, 10 March [11/03/07]The 125th annual Varsity Match, the world's oldest regular chess fixture,
sponsored by Vantis and Henry Mutkin, took place at the RAC Club, Pall
Mall, London, on 10 March. Oxford University, led by super-GM Luke McShane
and Ukrainian WIM Olena Boytsun were widely expected to beat Cambridge,
who has only one player with a 2200+ rating, but it was the Light Blues
who pulled off a surprise win, thereby making the all-time score Cambridge
56 wins, Oxford 51 wins, with 18 matches drawn. Morelia/Linares, 17 Feb - 10 Mar [10/03/07]The annual Morelia/Linares super-torneo has begun in Morelia, Mexico.
The first cycle takes place from 17-25 February (rest days 20th and 23rd)
and then the tournament crosses the Atlantic to Linares, where play takes
place from 2-10 March. Line-up: Topalov (2783), Anand (2779),
Ivanchuk (2750), Leko (2749), Aronian (2744), Morozevich
(2741), Svidler (2728), Carlsen (2690). Teimour Radjabov
was in the original line-up but withdrew after his father's hotel room
was robbed (in Patzcuaro, Mexico, on 10 February) and 'many important
and valuable' items were taken. Radjabov says that the local police did
not even carry out an investigation and that he and his father received
little support from the organisers following the robbery [click
here for the report on ChessBase's website]. The organisers were somewhat
fortunate in having Vasyl Ivanchuk on hand to replace Radjabov - Ivanchuk's
rating is actually higher than Radjabov's. 4NCL, Wokefield Park, 3-4 March [05/03/07]Guildford-ADC 1 remain odds-on favourites to regain the 4NCL (British
Team League) title for 2007/8. Indeed, it seems likely that there first
and second teams will finish first and second in the Division 1 table
after another highly successful weekend at the new Wokefield Park venue,
near Reading, Berkshire. Meanwhile, 3Cs Oldham, Bristol and South Wales
Dragons are likeliest contenders for the drop. Round 7 results:
Barbican 3½-4½ Slough Sharks, The ADs 3½-4½
Hilsmark Kingfisher, Guilford-ADC 2 6-2 Bristol, Betsson 4-4
3Cs Oldham, NW Eagles ½-7½ Guildford-ADC 1, S Wales
Dragons ½-7½ Wood Green. Round 8 results:
Hilsmark Kingfisher 4½-3½ Betsson, Guildford-ADC
1 6½-1½ Barbican, Wood Green 3-5 Guildford-ADC
2, Slough Sharks 4-4 NW Eagles, 3Cs Oldham 3½-4½
The ADs, Bristol 3-5 S Wales Dragons. Scores after round
8 (of 11): 1 Guildford-ADC 1 16/52, 2 Guildford-ADC
2 14/43, 3 Hilsmark Kingfisher 14/38, 4 Slough Sharks 11/33,
5 Barbican 8/31½, 6 North West Eagles 8/30½,
7 Betsson 7/32½, 8 Wood Green 6/32½, 9
The ADs 5/23, 10 3Cs Oldham 3/28½, 11 Bristol 2/20,
12 South Wales Dragons 2/19½. Official site: http://www.4ncl.co.uk/
4NCL in the Fast Lane... [20/02/07]Here's an interesting 4NCL development in a press release just received...
"The 4NCL would like to get an early idea of the likely level of interest for such a tournament in order that the venue booking can be confirmed, so it would be very helpful if interested teams could get in touch as soon as possible with Paul Littlewood, David Welch or Mike Truran, whose contact details can be found on www.4ncl.co.uk."
BCM Blog Has Moved [13/02/07]Note that the BCM Editor's blog has moved to http://bcmchess.blogspot.com/
- it has just been updated with a slightly naughty story entitled 'No
Draws in Pasadena'. Britbase is 10 years old... [10/02/07]Britbase,
the British chess games archive, has reached its tenth birthday. Not particularly
old, certainly when you compare it with our 126-year-old magazine - but
positively ancient in internet terms. It was the first website of its
kind and has since been followed by many other national archives in other
countries (there are links from Britbase). I set it up in the hope that
as many game scores as possible of significant British chess events could
be collected together in the one place and be made freely available to
web users. That is still the philosophy, and I've just uploaded more than
2,000 games from recent events sent by British congress organisers (whom
I duly thank). Note that I have made corrections, standardised names and
added extra data (such as ratings) to the games. As well as downloads,
Britbase now features game viewers so that the games can be played through
in situ. Latest: Games from Gibraltar 2007, Hastings
2004/5 to 2006/7, Coulsdon 2006, Newport 2007 and Bristol 2006. 5th Gibraltar Festival, 23 Jan - 1 Feb [10/02/07]The annual Gibraltar tournament, a nine-round swiss, begins on Tuesday
23 January. Latest: Round 9 - Vladimir Akopian (who beat the erstwhile
leader Sokolov in round 8) beat 16-year-old Yuri Kuzubov (who beat Milov
in round 8) in only 23 moves to secure first place on his own with 7½/9.
Sutovsky, Nakamura and Areshchenko finished 2nd= on 7. IM Thomas Rendle's
last round draw with Gurevich was good enough to secure him his first
GM norm. England's Jovanka Houska shared the women's prize with former
world champion Antoaneta Stefanova (they received £3,000 each).
View
Masters games Download
Masters games View
games of subsidiary events Download
games of subsidiary events Official website www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/Gib2007
www.monroi.com Anyone for Cheating? [30/01/07]Allegations of move-signalling (similar to the system that the horse
racing fraternity call 'tic-tac')
in games at Corus Wijk aan Zee 2007 have been raised in an article by
Martin Breutigam in a German newspaper. Click on the link above for the
BCM editor's take on this controversy. Google
news links to chess and cheating How
to be a tic-tac man Wikipedia
on 'tic-tac' BBC
page on how to perform racing tic-tac Leonard
Barden in the Guardian Nigel
Short interview (DNA Sport India website) Corus Wijk aan Zee, 13-28 Jan [28/01/07]The annual Corus Wijk aan Zee tournament began on 13 January. Final
scores: The tournament ended in a triple tie for first between
Levon Aronian (ARM), Teimour Radjabov (AZE) and Veselin Topalov (BUL).
As far as is known, there is no tie-break for the top section at Wijk
aan Zee. Radjabov and Topalov drew after a cagey game. Aronian beat Tiviakov.
Kramnik finished only half a point behind the leaders after beating Van
Wely in the last round. Svidler lost in 32 moves to Karyakin. Standings:
1-3 Aronian (2744), Radjabov (2729), Topalov (2783) 8½/13,
4 Kramnik (2766) 8, 5 Anand (2779) 7½, 6 Svidler
(2728) 7, 7-8 Karjakin (2678), Navara (2719) 6½, 9
Ponomariov (2723) 6, 10-12 Motylev (2647), Tiviakov (2667), Van
Wely (2683) 5, 13-14 Carlsen (2690), Shirov (2715) 4½. View
games (all sections) Download
games (PGN, all sections) Official website: www.coruschess.com
Video Reports: www.chessvibes.com 4NCL, Coventry, 13-14 Jan [16/01/07]Results of the Sunday games (Round 6): Hilsmark 4½-3½
Barbican, Guildford-ADC2 5½-2½ 3Cs Oldham, Wood Green
3-5 Guildford-ADC1, Betsson 5-3 NW Eagles, SW Dragons 3½-4½
The ADs, Bristol 2½-5½ Slough Sharks. Results of
the Saturday games in the 4NCL (Round 5): 3Cs Oldham 7-1
South Wales Dragons, Barbican 5½-2½ Betsson, Guildford-ADC
1 7½-½ Bristol, NW Eagles 3½-4½
Wood Green, Slough Sharks 3-5 Hilsmark Kingfisher, The ADs 1-7
Guildford-ADC 2. Leaders after Round 6: 1 Guildford-ADC1 12 mpts/38
gpts, 2 Guildford-ADC2 10/32, 3 Hilsmark Kingfisher 10/29, 4 Barbican
8/26½, 5 Slough Sharks 8/24½, 6 NW Eagles 7/26, 7 Betsson
6/25, 8 Wood Green 4/22, 9 The ADs 3/15, 10 3Cs Oldham 2/21, 11 Bristol
2/15, 12 South Wales Dragons 0/14. Official website: http://www.4ncl.co.uk London-Moscow Ice Match Ends in Grandmaster Thaw [11/01/07]A
novel exhibition match was held in London and Moscow on 11 January, with
teams from each city playing on giant pieces carved from ice and linking
up via giant TV screens. The match was held to foster cultural relations
between the two cities and promote the Russian
Winter Festival. The London event was staged in Trafalgar Square,
with GM Nigel Short, famous writer Peter Ackroyd and chess prodigy 8-year-old
Darius Parvizi-Wayne playing the moves for London, and with former world
champion Anatoly Karpov, Russian author Viktor Erofeev, gymnast Alina
Kabaeva and chess prodigy Konstantin Savenkov representing Moscow. Because
of the unseasonably mild weather in both cities, the pieces started melting
almost as soon as the match was underway. After about an hour's play a
draw was agreed. David Howell - UK's Youngest Ever GM [06/01/07]David
Howell qualified as the UK's youngest ever grandmaster today (5 Jan) by
drawing his ninth round game against Emanuel Berg in the Rilton Cup in
Stockholm. David Howell is 16 years 52 days old and rated 2501 on the
January 2007 FIDE rating list. He has improved on Luke McShane's age record
of 16½ when he secured his final norm during the Politiken Cup
in Denmark in July 2000. If Howell's feat is confirmed, it would probably
put him in a list of the top 20 youngest players to qualify for the grandmaster
title worldwide - and he achieved it at a younger age than Garry Kasparov. 82nd Hastings International Congress, 28 Dec - 7 Jan [06/01/07]The annual Hastings Congress began on Thursday 28 December at the Horntye
Park Sports Complex in Hastings. The event is once again being sponsored
by long-term supporters Hastings Borough Council. Additional sponsorship
comes from Carr Taylor Vineyards, Deutsch Ltd. KC Computers, Medoil plc,the
Pig in Paradise and White Rock Hotel. Hastings is the worlds longest
running chess event - there has been an annual event since the 1920s and
most of the world champions have taken part. The Congress includes a nine-round
Masters tournament attracting GMs who compete for a first prize of £2,000
and which runs until 5 January. This years field includes players
from 21 countries, including 12 GMs and 2 WGMs. Latest: Gagunashvili
and Neverov tied first with 7/9. 12-year-old Srinath Narayanan (IND) made
an IM norm. 36-year-old, 2121-rated Chris Briscoe of Surbiton Chess Club
also made an IM norm with his remarkable 6/9. Other norms: IWM - Petra
Schurman (NED), IA - Oscar Ruiz (MEX). Round
9 results and crosstable View
all games Download
all games (PGN) Official website: www.hastingschess.org.uk
(thanks to Lara Barnes and Steve Giddins for results and games) |
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