Some events in the year 2001

Botvinnik Memorial



The Botvinnik Memorial took place in Moscow 1st-9th December 2001. The event will consisted of three matches: classical, fast chess and blitz. Four classical games 2 hours for 40 moves, 1 hour for 20 and 30 minutes to the end of the games (in this last control the players will receive 10 more seconds per move).

All Four Standard Timerate Games in PGN
Rapid Games in PGN
Blitz Games in PGN


Day two Rapidplay
Photo: Eugeny Atarov

Eugeny Atarov reports "Kasparov won the blitz event and with it the Botvinnik's memorial as the winner was defined by quantity of victories in the matches (two tied before winning the blitz match). The nice first prize and also a big check was handed to him. It is amusing that due to the results he has received only on $10,000 more than Kramnik."

Blitz Games

Kramnik, Vladimir - Kasparov, Garry 0-1 55 E14 Queens Indian
Kasparov, Garry - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 47 E12 Queens Indian
Kramnik, Vladimir - Kasparov, Garry 1/2 39 D27 QGA
Kasparov, Garry - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 24 D37 QGD 5.Bf4
Kramnik, Vladimir - Kasparov, Garry 1/2 31 D27 QGA
Kasparov, Garry - Kramnik, Vladimir 1-0 50 E39 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Kramnik, Vladimir - Kasparov, Garry 0-1 34 D27 QGA
Kasparov, Garry - Kramnik, Vladimir 1-0 31 E10 Blumenfeld Counter Gambit
Kramnik, Vladimir - Kasparov, Garry 1-0 43 D27 QGA
Kasparov, Garry - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 47 E12 Queens Indian Petrosian

Rapid Games (6 Games)

Tied 3-3.

Kramnik, Vladimir - Kasparov, Garry 0-1 54 D27 Queen's Gambit Accepted
Kasparov, Garry - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 30 E34 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Kramnik, Vladimir - Kasparov, Garry 1/2 62 D15 Slav Defence
Kasparov, Garry - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 42 A10
Kramnik, Vladimir - Kasparov, Garry 1/2 31 D02
Kasparov, Garry - Kramnik, Vladimir 0-1 52 E44 Nimzo Indian Rubinstein

Standard Time Rate GamesGame one drawn in only 18 moves. Kasparov escapes in game two after 72 moves. Game three drawn in 21 moves and game four in 19. The players were each paid $972 a move.


Eugeny Atarov reports "The third game of the Kasparov-Kramnik match like the first, was quick draw. Vladimir didn't achieve an advantage in the opening and preferred not to take risks. The public were not impressed with this and practically nobody waited to try and get autographs after a game. The only interesting moment of the day was Kasparov's refusal to use a magnificent armchair made specially for this match. Instead he used an ordinary chair from auditorium a chair not as heavy, as the "throne" offered to him."

Kramnik, Vladimir - Kasparov, Garry 1/2 18 D27 Queen's Gambit Accepted
Kasparov, Garry - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 73 B41 Sicilian Paulsen
Kramnik, Vladimir - Kasparov, Garry 1/2 21 D58 Queens Gambit Tartakover
Kasparov, Garry - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 19 C80 Ruy Lopez Open

Websites: http://www.chessmoscow.ru, http://www.kasparovchess.com and further info at: http://www.joeblack.h1.ru

The four standard time rate games will take place 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th December 2001 starting at 16.00 Moscow time. Six rapid games (30 minutes for the entire game) will take place 7th-8th December. Play will start at 17.00, 18.30 and 20.00 each day local time. The Ten blitz-games will be on December 9th starting at 16.00 local time. 5 minutes per game, + 2 seconds per move (without accumulation) when at one of the players has less than 20 seconds (as in their blitz match in 1998). The winner of the Botvinnik memorial will be the one with the most points at whatever timerate. The prize fund is fund - $500 000 ($250,000 - classic games, $200,000 rapid and $50,000 blitz). The Money is shared in a ratio of 3:2 to the winner.

Corsica Rapidplay Open

The Corsica International Rapidplay Open took place October 28th-31st 2001. 600 000 F of prizes (91 500 euros). The event started with a nine round Swiss to produce the top 16 players. This very strong event saw the elimination of Alexei Shirov (a last round loss to Igor Glek finally finished him, he had earlier lost to Cyril Marzolo also). Anand won the event after drawing with black in the final playoff game. Games in PGN

Finals (Wednesday 31st 17:30 CET):
Anand Viswanathan 2770 - Chernin Alexander 2592 1/2 1/2 1/2

Semi Finals (Tuesday 30th 21:00 CET):

Sergei Tiviakov (2599) - Viswanathan Anand (2770) 0-1 1/2
Alexander Chernin (2592) - Joel Lautier (2653) 1-0 1/2

Quarter Finals (Tuesday 30th 17:30 CET):
Sergei Rublevsky (2634) - Joel Lautier (2653) 1/2 0-1
Alexander Chernin (2592) - Vladislav Tkachiev (2632) 1-0 1/2
Viswanathan Anand (2770) - Peter Leko (2739) 1/2 1/2 1/2
Igor Glek (2590) - Sergei Tiviakov (2599) 1/2 1/2 0-1

1/8th Finals (Monday 29th 21-00CET)

Sergei Rublevsky (2634) vs. Andrei Kharlov (2656) 1-0 0-1 1-0
Sergei Tiviakov (2599) vs. Mikhail Gurevich (2605) 1/2 1/2
Predrag Nikolic (2652) vs. Peter Leko (2739) 0-1 1/2
Loek Van Wely (2714) vs. Alexander Chernin (2592) 0-1 1-0 0-1
Vladislav Tkachiev (2632) vs. Aleksandr Shneider (2506) 1/2 1/2 1-0
Etienne Bacrot (2653) vs. Viswanathan Anand (2770) 0-1 0-1
Alexander Rustemov (2611) vs. Igor Glek (2590) 0-1 1/2
Alexei Barsov (2525) vs. Joel Lautier (2653) 1/2 1/2 0-1

Internet coverage: http://www.opencorsica.com, http://www.europe-echecs.com, French Chess Federation (http://www.echecs.asso.fr/) and ICC.

Klompendans Ladies vs Veterans

The Klompendans Ladies vs Veterans tournament took place in Amsterdam 23rd October - 3rd November 2001. The venue was the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam. The event was called the "Klompendans" chess tournament. Sponsored by Mr. J.J. van Oosterom.

The Veterans beat the Ladies 26-24. Games in PGN

Scores (from 10): 1. Portisch, Lajos g HUN 2591 6.5; 2. Zhu Chen g CHN 2497 6.0; 3. Xie Jun g CHN 2553 5.5; 4. Hort, Vlastimil g GER 2519 5.5; 5. Korchnoi, Viktor g SUI 2639 5.5; 6. Ioseliani, Nana m GEO 2497 5.0; 7. Smyslov, Vassily g RUS 2491 5.0; 8. Galliamova, Alisa m RUS 2547 4.0; 9. Polgar, Sofia m HUN 2469 3.5; 10. Taimanov, Mark E g RUS 2439 3.5;

Internet coverage: http://chess2.lostcity.nl/klompendans/

Spanish Team Championships

The Spanish Team Championships take place 13th-21st October 2001 in Cala Galdana (Spain). Players include Anatoly Karpov, Alexei Shirov, and Michael Adams. The favouries Tiendas UPI (Shirov, Adams, Campora) the pre-event favourites won by a point and a half from CA Reverte Albox (Suba, Garcia Ilundain and Afonso Romero Holmes). There were some big scores, Afonso Romero Holmes had a perfect 8/8, Alexei Shirov and Michael Adams both scored 7/8 for the winner. Gran Canaria one of the pre-event favourites did not turn up to play. Games in PGN

Live coverage and results: http://www.ajedrez21.com

5th World Chess Team Championship

The 5th World Chess Team Championship took place October 12th-20th 2001, in Yerevan, Armenia. The National Teams of Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Armenia, Hungary, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Iran, FYROMacedonia participated in the event. A final round victory for the Ukraine over Russia saw them take the title by half a point with Ruslan Ponomariov taking the only win of the match. Games in PGN

Final Standings: 1. Ukraine - 21,5 2. Russia - 21 3. Armenia - 20 4. Germany - 18,5 5. Hungary - 16,5 6. Uzbekistan - 15,5 7. Cuba - 14,5 8. FYROM - 9,5 9. Iran - 7

Internet coverage: http://www.armchess.am

Essent Tournament

The Essent Chess tournament took place in Hoogeveen October 12th-20th 2001. Judit Polgar and Loek Van Wely finished on 3.5/6 half a point clear of Viktor Korchnoi who looked strong favourite after only two rounds. Games in PGN

Final Standings: 1. Polgar, Judit g HUN 2686 3.5; 2. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2714 3.5; 3. Korchnoi, Viktor g SUI 2639 3.0; 4. Bruzon, Lazaro g CUB 2564 2.0;

Internet coverage: http://www.hoogeveen.nl/essent-chess/

Kasparov simul vs Czech Team

Garry Kasparov took on the Czech national team in a simultaneous 2 game match (called the Eurotel Kasparov Trophy) over four boards on October 18th and 20th October 2001 in Prague. The Prize money was 40000 USD. Kasparov won 5.5 - 2.5. On Sunday 21st October 2001 will play Garry Kasparov simultaneous games against 30 opponents in Brno. The profit from this event will be used for charitable purposes. Games in PGN

Results of Day 1: 1. Kasparov - Movsesian 1-0 2. Hracek - Kasparov 0.5-0.5 3. Kasparov - Babula 1-0 4. Oral - Kasparov 1-0 Total Day One: Garry Kasparov 2.5 - Czech National Team: 1.5

Results of Day 2: 1. Movsesian - Kasparov - 0.5-0.5 2. Kasparov - Hracek - 0.5-0.5 3. Babula - Kasparov - 0-1 4. - Kasparov - Oral 1-0 Total Day Two: Garry Kasparov 3 - Czech National Team: 1. Final score Kasparov 5.5 Czech National Team 2.5

Official coverage will be at http://www.kasparov.cz additional coverage: http://www.chessjournal.cz, http://www.sachinfo.cz/ and http://www.kasparovchess.com

October FIDE List

The new top 100 FIDE Rating list has been released for October 2001. Kasparov's lead at the top is cut to 29 points by Vladimir Kramnik. Anand's disaster in Germany cost him 24 points but he is still in clear third place. Alexander Morozevich is in fourth just ahead of Peter Leko. Veselin Topalov rises to sixth in the World with a gain of 22 points. Loek Van Wely is back in the top 10 again after a rise of 19 points. Alexei Shirov drops out of the top 10 for the first time in many years as a result of other players overtaking him. New entries to the top 100 include Peter Heine Nielsen, Stuart Conquest and Lenier Dominguez. Returns include Mihail Kobalija and John Nunn amongst others.

Top 100 October 2001 Rating List

Seek further info at FIDE's Internet site: http://www.fide.com/ or directly at http://www.fide.com/cgi-bin/read.cgi?html=top100men where you will also find top lists for women and juniors also.

Kramnik vs Deep Fritz Postponed

The Braingames Man Machine Match between Vladimir Kramnik and Deep Fritz in Bahrain has been delayed until early 2002 has been postponed in response to last week's terrorist attack on the United States. Sir Jeremy Hanley, Chairman, Brain Games Network explained that "Just as similar international events throughout the Middle East and the rest of the world are being postponed, we too felt that it would be inappropriate to proceed with the match during a period of such concern and tragedy."

The event will be an eight game match held in the Royal Meridiene, Manama, Bahrain hosted by the Emir of Bahrain. It was to have taken place October 12th - November 1st 2001. An announcement of new dates is expected shortly.

TWIC Kramnik vs Deep Fritz mini-site including the latest press release from Braingames about the match conditions.

Official Internet site: http://www.brainsinbahrain.com

Europe versus Asia Match


Adianto plays Kasparov on day 2: Photo Kristianus Liem (http://www.ututadianto.com/)

The Europe versus Asia rapidplay match took place in Batumi Opera House September 16th-20th 2001. This was a Double round Scheveningen system rapidplay (25 mins per side) event with play on three days: 17th,18th and 19th September 2001.

Final Scores Men : Europe 47.5 - Asia 24.5
Women : Europe 10.5 - Asia 21.5
Total : Europe 58.0 - Asia 46.0

Available Games in PGN (Version 2 7th Oct 2001)
All results

Official coverage: http://chess.batumi.net/

Europe: Gary Kasparov, Loek Van Wely, Zurab Azmaiparashvili, Etienne Bacrot, Emil Sutovsky, Mikhail Gurevich, Maia Chiburdanidze, Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, Nana Ioseliani and Nino Gurieli.

Asia Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Ye Jiangchuan, Eugeny Vladimirov, Utut Adianto, Dao Thien Hai, Ian Rogers, Xie Jun, Xu Yuhua, Zhu Chen and Hoang Thanh Trang.

The Captains are for Europe Alexander von Gleich of Germany and for Asia Ignatius Leong of Singapore.

Links: http://www.eurochess.org/

Keene responds to Kasparov criticism

Last week in a press release by Owen Williams it emerged that Kasparov has turned down the Braingames qualifier in Dortmund next year.

Ray Keene has kindly responded to some questions I asked about this letter today (11th September) in a personal capacity in an exclusive interview with TWIC.

Keene started by saying that he had personally proposed an 8 player double round robin as his preferred option. He discussed this with Kasparov and Owen Williams at a lunch after the match against Kramnik last year. According to Keene he "rejected it since he [Kasparov] claimed opponents could gang up on him and cheat thus eliminating him".

BGN's initial proposals for the Candidates in Dortmund were for 2 groups of four double round robin with the first two to qualify followed by a 2 game match semi-final and a 4 game match final. They extended the semi-finals from two games to four games after a general negative reaction hoping that this would make it more likely that Kasparov would play. In Kasparov's official invitation it was made clear that the semi-finals would be a four game match.

Dortmund were happy to make such a change. It should also be made clear that there are many new people involved in the organisation of Dortmund, very few of the old guard with whom he had bad relations in 1995 remain. The Dortmund organisers are quite puzzled by Kasparov's apparent animosity to them since he had earlier been very friendly to them.

Keene says that invitations for the Candidates have already gone out to Kasparov, Anand, Leko, Adams, Topalov and Morozevich. They will be joined by "two website qualifiers who will have to go via an additional preliminary to which elite GMs will be invited."

BGN has written to Owen Williams noting his views and pointing out the deadline for final acceptance is not till the end of December 2001.

Keene feels he has bent over backwards to keep Kasparov on board. He also adds that BGN has a contract with Kramnik and he wants a qualifier and this decision was his. With contracts signed a qualifier will go ahead. BGN really don't want to get into a fight with Kasparov over this and perhaps part of the problem has been that they've been trying to second guess his views.

FIDE Decisions

Willy Iclicki reports on a number of interesting decisions made by FIDE at the FIDE Congress (September 4th - 10th) Halkidiki, Greece.

Moscow is confirmed in November - December and January as the venue for the FIDE Championships in all phases. The venues are likely to be the Kremlin and the Hall of Columns for the final. The final list of entries will not be available before October 15th with the question of Korchnoi's participation being unclear.

FIDE are to return to a two year cycle for their championships. The next one will be in 2003.

In 2002 there will be a rapid chess Grand Prix.

After a long and passionate debate, FIDE has removed both the IM and GM title and rating of the Romanian player Crisan. The player appealed against the decision to the Excecutive Board and this was rejected. He will be able to keep the rating points earned at the Vidmar Memorial. Read the document: RECOMMENDATION TO THE FIDE QUALIFICATION COMMISSION (QC) (note the document lacks some of the appended documents mentioned but now has the Azamiparashvili statement)

As per IOC request FIDE will continue with its doping control program.

Actual time control ( 75 min...) will be maintained for this year but from next year FIDE will suggest a test for a single time control. ( 90 min for the game plus 30 sec per move). Only FIDE organized tournament are concerned and not "private tournaments".

The venue for the 2004 Chess Olympiad has been announced. It will be in Menorca, Spain. This event is held every two years (the 2002 event will be in Bled, Slovenia).

Ukrainian Championships

The Ukrainian Championships took place in Ordzhonikidze, 8-16 September 2001. The event was a nine round Swiss with 30 players. Reports and annotated games will appear at the official site. Internet coverage: http://chess-sector.odessa.ua/ukr01ch.htm

Central Teams Moscow

The Botvinnik Memorial team tournament involving the strongest chess players of the Central Federal District (18 teams, with more than 30 grand masters) took place 14th-16th September 2001. The Moscow team won the event.

1st round
Moscow - Yaroslavl 5:1, Ryazan - Moscow region 1:5, Vladimir - Bryansk 2.5:3.5, Kursk - Tula 1.5:4.5, Ivanovo - Lipetsk 2:4, Orel - Tver 3.5:2.5, Voronezh - Belgorod 4.5:1.5, Smolensl - Tambov 3.5:2.5, Kaluga - Kostroma 4:2

2nd round
Tula - Moscow 2:4, Moscow region - Voronezh 3.5:2.5, Bryansk - Smolensk 3.5:2.5, Tambov - Ryazan 3:3, Kostroma - Vladimir 1.5:4.5, Lipetsk - Orel 3.5:2.5, Yaroslavl - Kaluga 2.5:3.5, Tver - Kursk 2.5:3.5, Belgorod - Ivanovo 3.5:2.5

3rd round: Moscow - Bryansk 5.5:0.5 Kaluga - Moscow region 3.5:2.5 Orel - Belgorod 5:1 Smolensk - Kursk 3:3 Ivanovo - Tambov 2:4 Voronezh - Lipetsk 4.5:1.5 Vladimir - Tula 4.5:1.5 Ryazan - Tver 3.5:2.5 Kostroma - Yaroslavl 0.5:5.5

4th round: Kaluga - Moscow 3:3 Moscow region - Orel 4:2 Lipetsk - Vladimir 3:3 Kursk - Tambov 3:3 Belgorod - Kostroma 3.5:2.5 Bryansk - Voronezh 4:2 Ryazan - Smolensk 4:2 Tula - Yaroslavl 3.5:2.5 Tver - Ivanovo 4:2

5th round Moscow - Moscow region 4.5:1.5 Bryansk - Kaluga 4:2 Tambov - Lipetsk 3:3 Voronezh - Kursk 4:2 Yaroslavl - Tver 3.5:2.5 Vladimir - Ryazan 4:2 Orel - Tula 3.5:2.5 Smolensk - Belgorod 3.5:2.5 Ivanovo - Kostroma 3:3

6th round Vladimir - Moscow 0.5:5.5 Moscow region - Bryansk 4.5:1.5 Voronezh - Orel 3:3 Yaroslavl - Ryazan 3:3 Kursk - Ivanovo 3:3 Lipetsk - Kaluga 4.5:1.5 Tula - Smolensk 4.5:1.5 Belgorod - Tambov 3:3 Kostroma - Tver 3.5:2.5

Botvinnik's 7th round: Moscow - Lipetsk 5:1 Moscow region - Vladimir 5.5:0.5 Kaluga - Voronezh 2:4 Tambov - Yaroslavl 3.5:2.5 Smolensk - Ivanovo 3.5:2.5 Orel - Bryansk 4:2 Ryazan - Tula 3:3 Kostroma - Kursk 3:3 Tver - Belgorod 1.5:4.5

Final standings: 1. Moscow - 13 2. Moscow region - 10 3. Voronezh, 4. Bryansk - 9 5-7. Orel, Lipetsk, Tambov - 8 etc.

Selected players from the teams: Moscow: Vadim Zvjagintsev gm 2638, Aleksander Lastin gm 2628, Mikhail Kobalia gm 2595, Alexej Korotylev gm 2573, Alexander Zlochevskij gm 2450 Moscow-region: Vladimir Malakhov gm 2637, Vladimir Kosyrev gm 2554, Andrei Rychagov im 2505 Bryansk: Evgenij Gleizerov gm 2587, Vasilij Gagrin im 2431 Voronezh: Konstantin Chenyshov gm 2561, Sergej Sergienko gm 2427 Ivanovo: Vladimir Burmakin gm 2583 Orel: Nikolai Pushkov gm 2553, Sergei Kalugin gm 2439 Tambov: Valerij Chekhov gm 2509, Igor Zaitsev gm 2405

Internet coverage (in Russian): http://www.central.chessmoscow.ru/ and http://www.joeblack.h1.ru (photos, articles and interviews)

Najdorf Memorial

The Category XIV Najdorf Memorial tournament took place in Buenos Aires 4th-13th September 2001. Anatoly Karpov recorded his best tournament result since the Credit Suisse Masters in Biel in 1997 (where he came second but had a better rating performance than here). He took clear first with 6.5/9 and a performance of 2750. In joint second place were the oldest and youngest players in the field Viktor Korchnoi and Teimour Radjabov on 6 points.

Games in PGN

Milos vs. Karpov Rd1 in Javascript

Internet coverage: http://www.ajedrezsiglo21.com/Najdorf2001/ (English) and http://www.miguelnajdorf.com.ar (Spanish)


Round 9 (September 13, 2001)


Karpov, Anatoly - Ricardi, Pablo 1-0 44 D35 QGD Exchange Variation
Korchnoi, Viktor - Milos, Gilberto 1/2 78 A17 English Opening
Polgar, Judit - Radjabov, Teimour 1/2 66 C10 French Rubinstein
Felgaer, Ruben - Xie Jun 1/2 19 C54 Giuoco Piano
Mecking, Henrique - Short, Nigel D 1/2 20 A43 Old Benoni

Round 9 Standings: 1. Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2692 6.5; 2. Korchnoi, Viktor g SUI 2617 6.0; 3. Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2558 6.0; 4. Short, Nigel D g ENG 2664 5.0; 5. Xie Jun g CHN 2553 4.5; 6. Polgar, Judit g HUN 2686 4.5; 7. Felgaer, Ruben m ARG 2471 4.0; 8. Mecking, Henrique g BRA 2552 3.5; 9. Ricardi, Pablo g ARG 2545 3.5; 10. Milos, Gilberto g BRA 2614 1.5;

China vs. Russia Rapidplay

There was a China vs. Russia Rapidplay match in Beijing China on 5th September 2001 as a warm up for the China-Russia Summit. The match finished 4-4 after China won the first round 3.5-0.5 but Russia stormed back to win the second by the same score. The Russian team of Alexander Khalifman, Peter Svidler Evgeny Shaposhnikov and Ekaterina Kovalevskaya took on the Chinese team of Ye Jiangchuan Zhang Zhong,Ni Hua and Xu Yuhua.

Games in PGN

Moscow Lightning Tournament

The Moscow Lightning Tournament took place onSeptember 2nd 2001 sponsored by the newspaper "Evening Moscow". This is a traditional event which has taken place for 55 years.

Games in PGN

1st Sergei Rublevsky 14.0, 2nd Peter Svidler 13.5 3rd Alexander Morozevich 13.5 4th= Alexey Korotylev and Vadim Zvjaginsev 12.5 6th Alexey Dreev 11.5 7th= Evgeny Bareev and Alexander Grischuk 11.0 9th Alexander Lastin 10.0 20 players.

Internet sites: http://www.blitz.chessmoscow.ru and http://www.joeblack.h1.ru and in English http://www.blitz.chessmoscow.ru/final_en.htm.

Photos from the event

China - Russia Chess Summit

The China - Russia Chess Summit took place in Shanghai, China, September 7th-12th 2001. The event borrowed ideas from the China-USA match, like that series this one will last four years, China will host the match in 2001 and 2003 while Russia will be the host in 2002 and 2004. They played for the Riverside Weicheng Estate Cup. My thanks to Yin Hao for all his efforts in providing news and games from the event.

Games in PGN

Day 6 12th September 2001

The final day 6 saw just 4 of 12 games drawn. The Russian men won 3.5-2.5, the Chinese women won 2.5-0.5 and the Chinese juniors 2-1. Final Standings: Men Russia 21½ - China 14½, Women Russia 9-9 China , Juniors Russia 11 - China 7.

Final Individual Standings: Men: 1. Motylev, 4.5 2-3. Grischuk, Khalifman 4.04. Dreev 3.5 5-7. Svidler, Xu Jun, Ye Jiangchuan 8-10. Rublevsky, Peng Xiaomin, Zhang Zhong 2.5 11. Liang Chong 2.0 12. Zhang Pengxiang1.5.

Women: 1-2. Wang Lei, Kovalevskaya 4.0 3. Stepovaia 3.5 4. Wang Pin 3.0 5. Xu Yuhua 2.0 6. Zimina 1.5

Juniors: 1. Bu Xiangzhi 4.5 2-3. Kosteniuk, Sharposhnikov 4.0 4. Smirnov 3.0 5. Ni Hua 2.0 6. Xu Yuanyuan 0.5

Venue: Shanghai International Cenvention Center
Sponsor: Weicheng Real Estate Corperation
Prizefund: Men's $30,000, Women's $10,000 and Juniors $6,000.
Format: Single Schveningen for Men, Double Schveningen for both Women and Junior sections.
Time control: 40 moves within 2 hours, then 1 hour for the remaining moves.

Internet coverage: http://www.linta.com

Europe vs. Tartarstan Match

There was a two day match between a team from Europe against a team from Tartasan in Kazan August 15th-16th 2001. The match finished 6-6.

Games in PGN

A European team of Anatoly Karpov (1), Alexander Khalifman (1.5), Viktor Korchnoi (1), Viktor Bologan (1), Vladimir Akopian (0.5) and Maia Chiburdanidze (1) drew 6-6 with a Tartarstan team of Alexey Dreev (1), Sergei Rublevsky, (0.5), Andrei Kharlov (1), Artyom Timofeev (1), Ildar Ibragimov, (1.5) and Alisa Galliamova (1). Individual scores out of two games are given in brackets.

Decisive games:

There was just one decisive game in round 1: Timofeev 1-0 Bologan (37 moves of a Ruy Lopez Breyer)
There were three decisive games in round 2 Khalifman 1-0 Rublevsky (46 moves of a Sicilian Paulsen) Bologan 1-0 Timofeev (39 moves of a Sicilian Keres Attack) and Ibragimov 1-0 Akopian (65 moves of a Nimzo Indian).

Information from Kasparovchess.com Bacrot-Sutovsky Match

A match between Etienne Bacrot and Emil Sutovsky took place October 9-14 in Albert France. It ended in a 3-3 tie. Internet coverage: http://www.echecs.asso.fr

5th Russian Cup Final

The Final tournament of 5th Russian Cup took place in the Kazan (Tatarstan) 2th-12th October 2001. Valerij Filippov took first place on SB tie-break from Valerij Popov both finished on 7.5/11.

Games in PGN

Final Standings: 1. Filippov, Valerij g RUS 2617 7.5; 2. Popov, Valerij g RUS 2559 7.5; 3. Vaulin, Alexander g RUS 2545 6.5; 4. Kornev, Alexei RUS 2525 5.5; 5. Vorobiov, Evgeny E g RUS 2503 5.5; 6. Kharlov, Andrei g RUS 2656 5.5; 7. Loginov, Valery A g RUS 2507 5.5; 8. Timofeev, Artyom f RUS 2521 5.5; 9. Yevseev, Denis m RUS 2530 5.0; 10. Burmakin, Vladimir g RUS 2593 5.0; 11. Galliamova, Alisa m RUS 2547 4.0; 12. Kurnosov, Igor RUS 2361 3.0;

Coverage: http://www.joeblack.h1.ru

Governor's Cup Kramatorsk

The Governor's Cup took place in the town of Kramatorsk (Ukraine) October 2nd-7th 2001. The event was held in the A.V.Momot Regional Chess Club. Ruslan Ponomariov won the event convincingly. Games in PGN

Final Standings: 1. Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2684 7.0; 2. Aleksandrov, Aleksej g BLR 2646 5.5; 3. Baklan, Vladimir g UKR 2599 5.0; 4. Ehlvest, Jaan g EST 2627 5.0; 5. Moiseenko, Alexander g UKR 2581 4.5; 6. Borovikov, Vladislav m UKR 2593 3.0;

Internet coverage: http://chess-sector.odessa.ua/krm01gm.htm

European Club Cup 2001

The European Club Cup finals took place in Crete 22nd-30th September 2001. The event was a 7 round Swiss system and with teams comprising 6 players and the right to use two substitutes. Players include Korchnoi, Svidler, Bareev, Dreev, Beliavsky, Onischuk, Grischuk, Ivanchuk, Rublevsky, Ponomariov, Ivan Sokolov, Svidler and Zvjaginsev.

Leading Final Standings: 1- Norilsky Nikel (RUS,4) 13 29,5 2- Polonia Plus GSM Warsaw (POL,5) 12 26,5 3- Gazovik (RUS,3) 11 27,0 4- Danko Donbass (UKR,6) 11 25,0 5- Bosna Sarajevo (BIH,1) 10 29,5 6- S-Petersburg LTD (RUS,2) 10 25,0 7- Kiseljak (BIH,7) 9 26,5 8- Beer Sheva Chess Club (ISR,9) 9 26,0 9- Shlomo Har-Zvi Tel Aviv (ISR,12) 9 22,5

Games in PGN

Live coverage and results: http://www.venizelia.gr

Tragic news from India

Two Under-10 Asian Chess Champions M Abhinav and D Minoo and three other teammates Sekhar, Haricharan and M Madhuri from Andhra Pradesh were killed and International Master P D S Girinath was injured when a vehicle carrying them to a tournament met with an accident at Sakhigopal on Sunday 23rd September 2001. [Source South Nexus News].

Further details: Initial news, Injured Chess players out of danger and Tribute to players in "The Hindu" and from http://www.chathurangam.com/

Kramnik's EDAMI Interview

Michael Rahal has sent a translation of an interview given on October 1st, as part of the EDAMI http://www.edami.com school and education/internet 2001-2002 campaign. The website is run by GM Miguel Illescas.

Kramnik's EDAMI Interview

Shirov Exhibition

Alexei Shirov played exhibition using a new TV Internet set top box as part of the Funkaustellung in Berlin. Galaxis is a Luebeck company and is launching their "x-treme" set top box at the exhibition. The event took place 31st August 2001 at 18.00 CET. Shirov beat Shredder with the black pieces at a time rate of 20 minutes + 10 seconds per move.

Game annotated by Sean Evans in PGN

Internet coverage: http://www.galaxis.de

British Chess Championships



The British Chess Championships sponsored by Smith & Williamson took place Monday 30th July to Friday 10th August. The winner was Joe Gallagher who took a half point lead into the final round. He became Champion as all the leading games were drawn.

British Chess Championships Mini-Site. Annotated games by Andrew Martin.

Games in PGN (note the mini-site has a version of the file: Mini site version I am just converting to the format I use in TWIC), the earliest version will be available at the mini-site each day.

Daily round up with picture reports and analysis from John Henderson

John Henderson's Round 11 Report
John Henderson's Round 9-10 Report
John Henderson's Round 8 Report
John Henderson's Round 7 Report
John Henderson's Round 6 Report
John Henderson's Round 5 Report
John Henderson's Round 4 Report
John Henderson's Round 3 Report
John Henderson's Round 2 Report
John Henderson's Round 1 Report

Leading Final Standings: 1. Gallagher, Joseph G g SUI 2516 8.0; 2. Hodgson, Julian M g ENG 2581 7.5; 3. Arkell, Keith C g ENG 2431 7.5; 4. Wells, Peter K g ENG 2510 7.5; 5. Emms, John M g ENG 2532 7.5; 6. Gormally, Daniel m ENG 2481 7.5; 7. Lalic, Bogdan g ENG 2528 7.5; 8. Hebden, Mark g ENG 2550 7.5; 9. Ward, Christopher g ENG 2493 7.0; 10. Shaw, John m SCO 2478 7.0; 11. Rowson, Jonathan g SCO 2514 7.0; 12. Summerscale, Aaron g ENG 2510 7.0; 13. Turner, Matthew m ENG 2511 7.0; 14. Chandler, Murray G g ENG 2540 6.5; 15. Pert, Nicholas f ENG 2475 6.5; 16. Lane, Gary W m AUS 2464 6.5; 17. Palliser, Richard f ENG 2337 6.5; 18. Crouch, Colin S m ENG 2407 6.5 72 players

WDR TV Game drawn

Peter Leko and Viswanathan Anand drew live on German TV Channel WDR. Anand replaced last year's champion Kramnik who is preparing for his match against Deep Fritz. This and the Villarrobledo rapidplay are Anand's only scheduled events before his defence of his FIDE World Title. My thanks to Stefan Pfannkuch for sending the game.

Game in PGN (small move order correction)

Details in German: http://www.wdr.de/tv/schach/gm2001.html

US Open

The 102nd Annual US Open took place in Framingham (near Boston) August 4th-12th 2001. Alex Wojtkiewicz, Joel Benjamin, Fabian Doettling and Alexander Stripunsky all finished on 7.5/9.

Games in PGN (rounds 1-8)

K Visweswaran reports.

Official coverage:http://www.uschess.org/tournaments/usopen/

Biel Chess Festival

The 34th Biel International Chess Festival took place July 21st-August 4th 2001. Viktor Korchnoi took clear first place.

Games in PGN

Round 10 (August 3, 2001)

Korchnoi, Viktor - Svidler, Peter 1/2 16 D85 Gruenfeld Defence
Gelfand, Boris - Lautier, Joel 1/2 52 E15 Queens Indian
Pelletier, Yannick - Grischuk, Alexander 0-1 37 D27 Queen's Gambit Accepted

Final Standings: 1. Korchnoi, Viktor g SUI 2617 6.0; 2. Svidler, Peter g RUS 2695 5.5; 3. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2704 5.0; 4. Pelletier, Yannick g SUI 2531 4.5; 5. Lautier, Joel g FRA 2675 4.5; 6. Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2669 4.5;

Website: http://www.bielchessfestival.ch/site/start_e.htm

Kramnik and Topalov 1st in Dortmund 2001



The "Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting 2001" took place July 12th-22nd 2001. Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov finished on 6.5/10, in shock last place was Viswanathan Anand on 3. Kramnik won the 1st prize Trophy with a better tie-break.

John Henderson pictures and reports

John Henderson's Final Round Report
Round 9 Report
Round 8 Report
Round 7 Report
Round 6 Report
Round 5 Report
Round 4 Report
Round 3 Report
Round 2 Report
Round 1 Report

Internet coverage: http://www.chessgate.de

Games in PGN

Round 10 (July 22, 2001)

Topalov, Veselin - Adams, Michael 1/2 25 C42 Petroff's Defence
Morozevich, Alexander - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 19 C45 Scotch Game
Anand, Viswanathan - Leko, Peter 1/2 13 B40 Sicilian Classical

Final Standings: 1. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2802 6.5; 2. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2711 6.5; 3. Leko, Peter g HUN 2730 5.5; 4. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2749 5.0; 5. Adams, Michael g ENG 2744 3.5; 6. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2794 3.0;

Man vs. machine press conference report by James Coleman

31st July 2001 The salubrious Galleria Suite overlooking the pitch at Chelsea Football Club was the elegant venue for the Man v Machine press conference. Considering it was billed as being bigger than the Thriller In Manila, and hotter than the Rumble in The Jungle, proceedings got off to a slow start - by 11.30 am (the event was due to start at 11.00) there was no sign of any of the celebrities. Where were all the football stars? And the boxers? More to the point, where was Big Vlad? Surely he hadn’t taken them all out clubbing the night before? Still, at least Ray Keene had made it.

Suddenly though, it all kicked off (pun intended) and to the usual fanfare that accompanies your average chess competition (loud music, strobe lights, smoke simulations etc) Ray Keene, Franz Morsch (the Fritz programmer) and Vladimir Kramnik made their way on stage to speak about the match.

The first interesting thing that was revealed was that the games in the match are to be adjourned after sixty moves, a revelation that provoked some surprise from the audience. Whilst a logical idea, it could lead to the strange situation whereby Vladimir can use his own opponent to prepare for the resumption of the game ! Both sides seemed upbeat about their chances, Franz Morsch saying the main difference between this version of Fritz compared to its predecessors did not lie so much in greater chess knowledge but more due to the machines newfound ability to deal with anti-computer chess strategy, and to learn from its mistakes. He also said that he believed that this incarnation of Fritz is every bit as strong as the Deep Blue II that defeated Kasparov and has far greater "chess knowledge".

Kramnik meanwhile said that he very much wanted to win because: " I (Kramnik) feel that after the Kasparov Deep Blue Match in 1997 the computer is already stronger than the best human chess-player in the mind of the public and I want to prove that this is not the case." He also said that his preparations for the match would begin on the 1st August and involve one month of "experimentation" followed by a month of planning match strategy with his new knowledge of the computer. When asked how he was planning to celebrate victory in the match, Vlad, serene as always, pointed out that he didn’t want to think about that, as it would then be likely that he would end up with nothing to celebrate ! He certainly looked like a man that was taking the match seriously.

Then came a few more words from Ray Keene about the format of the match before Vladimir, Nigel Benn and a few chess die-hards adjourned to the car-park for a photo-shoot, while the less energetically inclined amongst us preferred to stay and enjoy more drinks and caviar in the Galleria Suite.

The eight game match will take place in Le Royal Meridiene Hotel in Manama, Bahrain, 12th October - 1st November, with the host, Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Issa al-Khaleifa offering $1 million to Kramnik if he wins, $800,000 if he draws and $600,000 if he loses.

Internet site for the match: http://www.brainsinbahrain.com

TWIC Award

TWIC is The World's Greatest Chess Website 2000 according to the ChessAward jury. Of course how could I disagree!?


http://www.chessaward.com

Smith & Williamson Young Masters

The Smith & Williamson Young Masters took place at the King Edward's School Witley (Surrey) 13th-21st July 2001. The Masters saw a repeat of last year's format of a 22-player 9 round IM Swiss.

Games in PGN

Final Standings: 1. Antal, Gergely m HUN 2398 6.0; 2. Gladyszev, Oleg m RUS 2352 5.5; 3. Vigus, James f ENG 2281 5.0; 4. Williams, Simon m ENG 2369 5.0; 5. Mah, Karl m ENG 2404 5.0; 6. Zhao Zong-Yuan m AUS 2390 5.0; 7. Skytte, Rasmus f DEN 2342 4.5; 8. Bromann, Thorbjorn f DEN 2321 4.5; 9. Ippolito, Dean m USA 2394 4.5; 10. Sinkevich, Petr f RUS 2346 4.0; 11. Middelburg, Tom f NED 2373 4.0; 12. Hinks-Edwards, Thom ENG 2316 4.0; 13. Palliser, Richard f ENG 2337 4.0; 14. Hanley, Craig ENG 2278 4.0; 15. Thiruchelvam, Murugan ENG 2240 4.0; 16. Erwich, Marc f NED 2263 3.5; 17. Bick, John D f USA 2286 3.5; 18. Addison, Bret ENG 2218 3.0; 19. Trent, Lawrence ENG 2249 3.0; 20. Jones, Gawain C ENG 2206 2.5; 21. Broomfield, Matthew ENG 2271 2.0; 22. Lappage, Jonathan ENG 2208 1.5;

Internet coverage: http://www.swyoungmasters.co.uk

Perfect 9 for Gurevich in the Belgian Championships

The Belgian Championships took place 7th-14th July 2001. Mikhail Gurevich scored 9/9.

Games in PGN

Final Standings: 1. Gurevich, Mikhail g BEL 2633 9.0; 2. Dgebuadze, Alexandre g BEL 2547 6.0; 3. Chuchelov, Vladimir g BEL 2607 6.0; 4. Winants, Luc g BEL 2497 4.5; 5. Cekro, Ekrem m BEL 2393 4.0; 6. Dutreeuw, Marc m BEL 2390 3.5; 7. Claesen, Pieter m BEL 2411 3.5; 8. Claesen, Jeroen f BEL 2273 3.0; 9. Meessen, Rudolf f BEL 2323 3.0; 10. Van Mechelen, Jan f BEL 2260 2.5.

Internet coverage now at: http://bcc2001.brutele.be/ or http://bcc2001.be.tf

16th North Sea Cup

The 16th North Sea Cup takes place in Esbjerg, Denmark July 6th-14th 2001.

Games in PGN

Round 9 (July 14, 2001)

Nielsen, Peter Heine - Sutovsky, Emil 1/2 25 D85 Gruenfeld Defence
Schandorff, Lars - Rozentalis, Eduardas 1/2 14 A17 English Opening
Speelman, Jonathan S - McShane, Luke J 1/2 10 A49 King's Indian Defence
Rustemov, Alexander - Van den Doel, Erik 1/2 22 E05 Catalan System
Nataf, Igor-Alexandre - Hansen, Curt 1/2 18 B83 Sicilian Scheveningen

Final Standings: 1. Nielsen, Peter Heine g DEN 2593 6.5; 2. Sutovsky, Emil g ISR 2651 6.5; 3. Rozentalis, Eduardas g LTU 2588 5.0; 4. McShane, Luke J g ENG 2511 5.0; 5. Schandorff, Lars g DEN 2551 4.5; 6. Hansen, Curt g DEN 2626 4.5; 7. Speelman, Jonathan S g ENG 2603 4.0; 8. Rustemov, Alexander g RUS 2607 3.5; 9. Nataf, Igor-Alexandre g FRA 2527 3.0; 10. Van den Doel, Erik g NED 2607 2.5;

Internet coverage: http://home1.inet.tele.dk/tpherman/vh2001/1index.htm

Milan Vidmar memorial

The 14th Dr. Milan Vidmar memorial took place in Portoroz (Slovenia) July 3rd - 11th 2001. The event was won by Alexander Beliavsky half a point clear of the favourite Boris Gelfand. Alexandru Crisan finished with 0.5/9, these were his first games since his surprise entry into the World's top 50 in January 1998, in that list he played 50 games none of which have to my knowledge been published and he gained 100 points.

Games in PGN

Round 9 (July 11, 2001)

Beliavsky, Alexander G - Mikhalchishin, Adrian 1/2 25 D88 Gruenfeld Defence
Gelfand, Boris - Kozul, Zdenko 1/2 36 E94 King's Indian Classical
Pavasovic, Dusko - Sermek, Drazen 1/2 31 B01 Centre Counter
Mohr, Georg - Crisan, Alexandru 1-0 95 A45 Trompowsky Variation
Macieja, Bartlomiej - Volokitin, Andrei 1/2 42 A15 English

Final Standings: 1. Beliavsky, Alexander G g SLO 2659 6.5; 2. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2704 6.0; 3. Volokitin, Andrei m UKR 2551 5.5; 4. Kozul, Zdenko g CRO 2556 5.0; 5. Mikhalchishin, Adrian g SLO 2518 4.5; 6. Pavasovic, Dusko g SLO 2539 4.5; 7. Mohr, Georg g SLO 2484 4.5; 8. Sermek, Drazen g SLO 2570 4.0; 9. Macieja, Bartlomiej g POL 2588 4.0; 10. Crisan, Alexandru g ROM 2635 0.5;

Internet coverage: http://www.sah-zveza.si/mv/14/

Mainz Chess Classic Concludes

The Frankfurt Chess Classic rapid tournament moved to Mainz with a new sponsor Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz and the support of the chess playing mayor of Mainz Mayor Beutel. Anand and Kramnik tied a ten game rapid play match 5-5, Anand won the playoff 1.5-0.5.

John Henderson Reports

Report 1, Report 2 and Report 3

Kramnik vs. Anand draw their 10 game rapid match

Kramnik and Anand drew their rapid play match 5-5 with one win each. In the playoffs Anand won the first game. In the second game he had material and positional advantage but delivered perpetual check in order to achieve overall victory.

1) Kramnik, Vladimir - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 34 D27 Queen's Gambit Accepted
2) Anand, Viswanathan - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 14 C67 Ruy Lopez
3) Anand, Viswanathan - Kramnik, Vladimir 0-1 27 C67 Ruy Lopez
4) Kramnik, Vladimir - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 25 D26 Queen's Gambit Accepted
5) Kramnik, Vladimir - Anand, Viswanathan 0-1 47 D29 Queen's Gambit Accepted
6) Anand, Viswanathan - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 23 C78 Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence
7) Anand, Viswanathan - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 46 B33 Sicilian Sveshnikov
8) Kramnik, Vladimir - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 42 D27 Queen's Gambit Accepted
9) Kramnik, Vladimir - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 26 D27 Queen's Gambit Accepted
10) Anand, Viswanathan - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 19 C42 Petroff's Defence

Playoff Games 5 minutes + 5 sec per move
1) Anand, Viswanathan - Kramnik, Vladimir 1-0 28 B33 Sicilian Sveshnikov Variation
2) Kramnik, Vladimir - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 38 D27 Queen's Gambit Accepted

Games in PGN
Playoff Games in PGN

John Henderson will be on the spot for the Anand-Kramnik match with reports for TWIC.

Coverage: http://www.chesstigers.de.

Fischer Random Match Leko vs. Adams

Leko won the match 4.5-3.5.

Games in PGN

Pocket Fritz vs. Leko and Adams

Pocket Fritz runs on handheld computers. Adams beat it 2-0, Leko 1.5-0.5.

Games in PGN

Ordix Open

A small number of games in PGN from the Ordix Open won by Michael Adams.

July FIDE List

The new top 100 FIDE Rating list has been released for April 2001. I've produced the list from their download of all the ratings. The last few lists have been subject to far too many changes shortly after the release of the list. Its already been pointed out to me that Merida hasn't been rated in this list.

Kasparov's rating rises 3 points to 2838 and Kramnik is now definitely the second man over 2800 at 2802. Anand at 2794 isn't far behind. There are 14 players over 2700 including former FIDE Champion Alexander Khalifman. Out of the top 100 are Michal Krasenkow down from 2655 to a shocking 2573, Timman down to 2597, Ftacnik down to 2580, Smagin, Bauer, Sasikiran, Khenkin, Macieja, Palac, Marin, Stutua, Goldin, Rozentalis, Novikov, Kozul, Shabalov and Hodgson (although 2595 was enough to get you in the top 100 last time now its 2598 and this accounts for a number of these players). Winners include Emil Sutovsky up from 2604 to 2651, Aleksej Aleksandrov, up 36 points, Vallejo Pons up 71 points, Delchev up 55, Pigusov, Chuchelov and Andrei Sokolov were significant gainers also. Losers include Tkachiev down 30, Mikhail Gurevich down 55, Korchnoi down 26, Alexander Graf (Nenashev) down 39 points after his move to Germany, and Ulf Andersson down 39.

Top 100 July 2001 Rating List

Seek further info at FIDE's Internet site: http://www.fide.com/

Conquest wins in Clichy

The GM tournament in Clichy took place June 25th- July 3rd 2001. The event was won by Stuart Conquest.

Clichy Pictures

Live coverage at: http://chessevt.zonejeux.com/ or http://www.sportechecs.com/ or http://www.europe-echecs.com or (Live with English Chat).

Further information at: http://www.notzai.com/ and http://www.clichy-echecs.org/

Games in PGN

Round 9 (July 3, 2001)

Conquest, Stuart - Degraeve, Jean-Marc 1-0 22 A57 Volga Gambit
Hebden, Mark - Bauer, Christian 1-0 99 D94 Gruenfeld Defence Closed
Tregubov, Pavel V - Renet, Olivier 1/2 27 D37 QGD 5.Bf4
Nataf, Igor-Alexandre - Gurevich, Mikhail 1/2 31 C11 French Defence
Apicella, Manuel - Lautier, Joel 1/2 46 A48 King's Indian Defence

Final Standings: 1. Conquest, Stuart g ENG 2563 6.0; 2. Lautier, Joel g FRA 2658 5.5; 3. Hebden, Mark g ENG 2560 5.5; 4. Gurevich, Mikhail g BEL 2688 5.0; 5. Tregubov, Pavel V g RUS 2628 4.5; 6. Bauer, Christian g FRA 2612 4.5; 7. Nataf, Igor-Alexandre g FRA 2552 4.0; 8. Apicella, Manuel g FRA 2508 4.0; 9. Degraeve, Jean-Marc g FRA 2589 4.0; 10. Renet, Olivier g FRA 2494 2.0;

Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament

The Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament took place in Malmö, Sweden 12th-20th June 2001. Boris Gulko and Jan Timman both finished on 5.5/9 half a point clear of Ivan Sokolov and Pia Cramling.

Games in PGN

Round 9 (June 20, 2001)

Cramling, Pia - Hansen, Curt 1/2 21 E15 Queens Indian
Wedberg, Tom - Gulko, Boris F 0-1 80 B57 Sicilian Sozin Attack
Radjabov, Teimour - De Firmian, Nick E 1-0 51 E43 Nimzo Indian Rubinstein
Berg, Emanuel - Sokolov, Ivan 1-0 25 C47 Four Knights Game
Hector, Jonny - Timman, Jan 0-1 40 C45 Scotch Game

Final Standings: 1. Gulko, Boris F g USA 2606 5.5; 2. Timman, Jan g NED 2620 5.5; 3. Sokolov, Ivan g BIH 2659 5.0; 4. Cramling, Pia g SWE 2496 5.0; 5. Wedberg, Tom g SWE 2505 5.0; 6. Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2533 5.0; 7. Hansen, Curt g DEN 2619 4.5; 8. Berg, Emanuel m SWE 2474 4.0; 9. De Firmian, Nick E g USA 2545 3.0; 10. Hector, Jonny g SWE 2546 2.5;

Internet: http://www.sigeman-chess.com/

Polish League Super Cup

The two best teams from the last Polish Team Championship met on June 23rd-24th 2001. Polonia Plus GSM (Ivanchuk, Bareev, Macieja etc) were convincing winners against Plockie Towarzystwo Szachowe (Grabarczyk, Miton, Staniszewski etc) winning 4-2 on day one and even more convincingly 5-1 on day 2.

Games in PGN

Coverage: http://www.miastoplusa.pl

2nd European Chess Championship Ohrid

The 2nd European Chess Championship Ohrid, Macedonia 1st-15th June 2001. The event is a 13 round Swiss System. 143 GMs, 38 IMs and 14FMs are playing. The qualification mark was 8 points. 22 players reached 7.5 and a playoff for four places (Azmaiparashvili, Mikhail Gurevich, Van Wely and on 7.5 Short were already qualified on rating) Kiril Georgiev, Zoltan Gyimesi, Joel Lautier and Alexander Delchev took these places. There were 46 places in total available for the FIDE Championships whose venue is as yet unannounced.

Final Day

Round 1 (10:00 hrs)

Roeder vs. Epishin (1/2, 0-1)
Delchev vs. Galkin (1-0, 1-0)
Lautier vs. Markowski (1-0, 0-1, 1-0)
Almasi vs. Piket (1/2, 1/2, 0-1)
Tregubov vs. Najer (1-0, 1/2)

Round 2 (14:00 hrs)

J. Tregubov vs. Istratescu (1-0, 1-0)
K. Piket vs. Sokolov (1-0, 1-0)
L. Lautier vs. Galego (1-0, 1-0)
M. Delchev vs. San Segundo (1-0, 1/2)
N. Epishin vs. Savchenko (1-0, 0-1, 0-1)
O. Iordachescu vs. Atalik (1-0, 0-1, 0-1)
P. Alexandrov vs. Gyimesi (0-1, 0-1)
Q. Georgiev vs. Vaisser (1-0, 1/2)

Round 3 (16.15 hrs)

Tregubov vs. Georgiev (1/2, 0-1)
Piket vs. Gyimesi (1/2, 0-1)
Lautier vs. Atalik (1-0,1/2)
Delchev vs. Savchenko (1-0, 1-0)

Sutovsky beat Ponomariov for the gold medal 1.5-0.5 Zurab Azmaiparashvili beat Judit Polgar for the bronze medal 1.5-0.5

GM Norms: Galego Luis POR, Volokitin Andrei UKR, Ekstroem Roland SUI and Moreno Carnero Javier ESP. IM Norms: Azarov Sergei BLR, Korobov Anton UKR, Stojanovski Dejan MKD and Thorfinnsson Bragi ISL.
Games in PGN (corrected)
Games in PGN (playoffs)
Crosstable of results and standings
Crosstable by Dadi Jonsson

Final Standings: 1. Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2673 9.5; 2. Sutovsky, Emil g ISR 2604 9.5; 3. Polgar, Judit g HUN 2678 9.0; 4. Azmaiparashvili, Zurab g GEO 2670 9.0; 5. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2670 8.5; 6. Timoshenko, Georgy g UKR 2537 8.5; 7. Vaganian, Rafael A g ARM 2641 8.5; 8. Graf, Alexander g GER 2649 8.5; 9. Milov, Vadim g SUI 2605 8.5; 10. Tiviakov, Sergei g NED 2603 8.5; 11. Anastasian, Ashot g ARM 2574 8.5; 12. Luther, Thomas g GER 2568 8.0; 13. Lputian, Smbat G g ARM 2607 8.0; 14. Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2559 8.0; 15. Sakaev, Konstantin g RUS 2637 8.0; 16. Tkachiev, Vladislav g FRA 2672 8.0; 17. Sulskis, Sarunas g LTU 2530 8.0; 18. Macieja, Bartlomiej g POL 2608 8.0; 19. Movsesian, Sergei g CZE 2661 8.0; 20. Avrukh, Boris g ISR 2600 8.0; 21. Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter g ROM 2596 8.0; 22. Gdanski, Jacek g POL 2528 8.0; 23. Zvjaginsev, Vadim g RUS 2627 8.0; 24. Aseev, Konstantin N g RUS 2577 8.0; 25. Bologan, Viktor g MDA 2676 8.0; 26. Dautov, Rustem g GER 2631 8.0; 27. Motylev, Alexander g RUS 2601 8.0; 28. Volokitin, Andrei m UKR 2493 8.0; 29. Ehlvest, Jaan g EST 2630 8.0; 30. Beliavsky, Alexander G g SLO 2638 8.0; 31. Psakhis, Lev g ISR 2575 8.0; 32. Gurevich, Mikhail g BEL 2688 8.0; 33. Malakhatko, Vadim g UKR 2524 8.0; 34. Rublevsky, Sergei g RUS 2657 8.0; 35. Nikolic, Predrag g BIH 2652 8.0; 36. Pigusov, Evgeny g RUS 2584 8.0; 37. Khenkin, Igor g GER 2609 8.0; 38. Asrian, Karen g ARM 2582 8.0; 39. Cvitan, Ognjen g CRO 2526 8.0; 40. Lastin, Alexander g RUS 2627 8.0; 41. Fedorov, Alexei g BLR 2590 8.0; 42. Baklan, Vladimir g UKR 2613 8.0; 43. Conquest, Stuart g ENG 2563 8.0; 44. Volkov, Sergey g RUS 2558 8.0; 45. Kobalija, Mihail g RUS 2590 8.0; 46. Savchenko, Stanislav g UKR 2517 7.5; 47. Istratescu, Andrei g ROM 2561 7.5; 48. Sokolov, Andrei g FRA 2568 7.5; 49. Galego, Luis m POR 2429 7.5; 50. Tregubov, Pavel V g RUS 2628 7.5; 51. Aleksandrov, Aleksej g BLR 2610 7.5; 52. Gyimesi, Zoltan g HUN 2571 7.5; 53. Atalik, Suat g BIH 2537 7.5; 54. Galkin, Alexander g RUS 2584 7.5; 55. Iordachescu, Viorel g MDA 2589 7.5; 56. San Segundo Carrillo, Pablo g ESP 2508 7.5; 57. Almasi, Zoltan g HUN 2640 7.5; 58. Lautier, Joel g FRA 2658 7.5; 59. Piket, Jeroen g NED 2628 7.5; 60. Delchev, Aleksander g BUL 2584 7.5; 61. Short, Nigel D g ENG 2676 7.5; 62. Najer, Evgeniy g RUS 2600 7.5; 63. Georgiev, Kiril g BUL 2676 7.5; 64. Epishin, Vladimir g RUS 2579 7.5; 65. Markowski, Tomasz g POL 2592 7.5; 66. Vaisser, Anatoli g FRA 2540 7.5; 67. Roeder, Mathias m GER 2459 7.5
204 players

Internet coverage: http://www.iecc2001.com.mk/. Live coverage

The event is run by the European Chess Union

Daily reports in German: http://www.zeitschriftschach.de and in French: http://www.sportechecs.com

SmartChess.com International

The 1st SmartChess.com International took place 4th-13th June 2001 at the Marshall Chess Club (Rounds 1-4) and Manhattan Chess Club (Rounds 5-9), both in New York City. The clear winner was Igor Novikov who scored 7.5/9 a point and a half clear of Alexander Stripunsky.

Round 9 (June 13, 2001)

Stripunsky, Alexander - Charbonneau, Pascal 1-0 52 B48 Sicilian Paulsen
Yudasin, Leonid - Krush, Irina 1/2 24 B52 Sicilian Rossolimo
Bonin, Jay R - Novikov, Igor A 1/2 8 B52 Sicilian Rossolimo
Shahade, Gregory - Ippolito, Dean 1/2 14 B97 Sicilian Najdorf
Simutowe, Amon - Sarkar, Justin 1-0 34 E46 Nimzo Indian Rubinstein

Final Standings: 1. Novikov, Igor A g UKR 2596 7.5; 2. Stripunsky, Alexander g USA 2497 6.0; 3. Yudasin, Leonid g ISR 2568 5.5; 4. Bonin, Jay R m USA 2381 5.0; 5. Shahade, Gregory f USA 2458 4.5; 6. Ippolito, Dean m USA 2385 3.5; 7. Krush, Irina m USA 2380 3.5; 8. Charbonneau, Pascal CAN 2407 3.5; 9. Sarkar, Justin f USA 2406 3.0; 10. Simutowe, Amon m ZAM 2470 3.0;

Games in PGN

Official web-site: http://www.smartchess.com/SmartChessOnline/default.htm Broadcast Sponsor: Internet Chess Club (http://www.chessclub.com) Round Times: 6 p.m. Eastern (US) Time (same as ICC official time) except Round 5 at 2 p.m.

Indian Championships

The Indian Championships in New Delhi were won by Dibyendu Barua on 13.5/19 on tie break from Krishnan Sasikiran. The opening day will have one round, and many of the subsequent days will see the players play two rounds. The time control was one hour 30 minutes for 40 moves and 30 minutes for remainder of the moves (there are no incremental clocks available).

Games in PGN (almost complete Men). The remaining games will follow soon.

Day 13 June 16th Men's and Women's final round report
Day 12 June 15th Men's Rounds 18 Women's round 12 report
Day 11 June 13th Men's Rounds 17 Women's round 11 report
Day 10 June 12th Men's Rounds 15-6 Women's round 10 report
Day 9 June 11th Men's Round 14 Women's round 9 report
Day 8 June 10th Men's Round 13 Women's round 8 report
Day 7 June 9th Men's Round 11 report
Day 6 June 8th Men's Round 9-10 report
Day 5 June 6th Men's Round 7-8 and Women's Round 5 report
Day 4 June 5th Men's Round 6 and Women's Round 4 report
Day 3 June 4th Men's Round 4 and 5 and Women's Round 3 report
Day 2 June 3rd Men's Round 3 and Women's Round 2 report
Day 1 June 2nd Men's Round 1-2 and Women Round 1 report
V Krishnaswamy preview

The players: Men: GM Abhijit Kunte, GM K Sasikiran, GM D Barua, IM SS Ganguly, IM DV Prasad, IM P Harikrishna, GM P Thipsay, IM V Saravanan. IM Tejas Bakre, IM Neeloptal Das, IM Atanu Lahiri, IM K Muurgan, IM GB Prakash, IM Lanka Ravi, IM P Konguvel, IM Shekhar Sahu, Saptarishi Roy, Sriram Jhan, IM Neeraj Mishra, Nassir Wajih.

Women: WGM S Vijayalakshmi, WIM S Meenakshi, WIM Saheli Dhar, WIM WIM Pallavi Shah, WIM Swati Ghate, WIM Aarthie Ramaswamy, WIM Nisha Mohota, WIM Bhagyashree Thipsay, Y Pratibha, MR Sangeetha, Sameera Ravi, WIM Anupama Gokhale, D Harika and Dolan Champa Bose.

Advanced Chess Leon 2001

The Advanced Chess tournament was held in Leon (Spain) June 8th-11th 2001. This is the 3rd time the event has been held and is also the 14th Leon tournament. This was originally the idea of Garry Kasparov. Players competed the help of a computer and a Database. In round one Alexei Shirov (Spain) beat Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) 2.5-1.5 on day one. Viswanathan Anand (India) vs. Peter Leko (Hungary) was on day two, Anand went through after a blitz playoff. The final saw Anand defeat Shirov 2.5-1.5.The main sponsors were: Telefonica, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Caja Duero, Chess Base, Excmo. Ayuntamiento de León, Excma. Diputación de León, Junta de Castila y León and the University of Leon. There were 4 games per day and the event was a knockout. Timerate: 20 minutes per player, with 10 or 15 seconds increment after every move.

Games in PGN

Live coverage: http://www.diariodeleon.com

Official websites: http://www.elajedrezdelfuturo.com and http://www.advancedchessleon.com

Kasparov simuls in the Faroe Islands

Garry Kasparov will visit the Faroe Islands June 8th-12th 2001 at the invitation of the Faroese Chess Federation.

Kasparov will play a simultaneous against the Faroese Olympic National Team in Tórshavn the capital city in the Faroe Islands on Sunday the 10th of June at 15.00 GMT. Live Internet transmission of all six games on at: http://www.faroechess.com.

The faroese national team will be: John Arni Nilssen 2315, IM John Rødgård 2310, Heini Olsen 2265, Eyðun Nolsøe 2220, Torbjørn Thomsen 2215 and Ólavur Simonsen 2210.

There will be another simultaneous display on Saturday the 9th of June as part of the annual summer festival in Klaksvig where he will meet 25 opponents all ranked below 2000. Kasparov will also have a session with a number of the most talented junior players in Faroes. There are only 50,000 inhabitants in the Faroe Islands and chess is very popular. In Moscow 1994 the team finished 52nd of 124 participating countries.

Vladimir Kramnik wins the Chess Oscar 2000

64-Chess Review has released the results of the Chess Oscar . Alexander Roshal, editor-in-chief of the magazine started the award again 6 years ago after a break. This year there were 326 submissions from 58 countries. Each entry was weighted in the following manner. 1st places were given 13 points, 2nd - 11 points, 3rd -9 points, 4th - 7 points, 5th - 6 points all the way down to 10th with 1 point.

Final results

1. Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) - 3796 (179 First Place)
2. Viswanathan Anand (India) - 3410 (78 First)
3. Garry Kasparov (Russia) - 3372 (60 First)
4. Alexei Shirov (Spain) - 2028
5. Michael Adams (England) - 1388
6. Alexander Grischuk (Russia) - 971
7. Alexander Morozevich (Russia) - 891
8. Peter Leko (Hungary) - 758
9. Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) - 721
10. Alexander Khalifman (Russia) - 490
11. Polgar Judit (Hungary) - 451
12. Boris Gelfand (Israel) - 374
13. Evgeny Bareev (Russia) - 266
14. Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) - 157
15. Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine) - 112

April rating list study

Boris Schipkov has published an interesting two part analysis of the April FIDE list.

Site: http://www.chessib.com/

2nd SUFE Cup

There was a double-round Sheveningen system match which took place in Shanghai University of Finance and Economics called the "China - World All Stars Women's Summit". It featured the best Chinese women players against the rest of World, mainly Georgia. The time control was 25min/10sec. 2 or 3 games were played each day except Jun 3rd which was a rest day. The 1st SUFE Cup featured GMs such as Krasenkow, Bologan and Ye Jiangchuan. This years was the turn of the women. The event got a lot of publicity. All games were transmitted live by Shanghai Cable TV but not on the Internet. Info: Yin Hao.

The final score was 41.5- 30.5.

Games in PGN

China 41.5

1 Wang Pin wg CHN 2504 8.0 2564
2 Zhu Chen wg CHN 2538 7.5 2534
3 Xie Jun g CHN 2557 7.0 2496
4 Xu Yuhua wg CHN 2501 7.0 2496
5 Wang Lei wg CHN 2498 6.5 2468
6 Qin Kanying wg CHN 2489 5.5 2410

Rest of the World 30.5

1 Chiburdanidze, Maia g GEO 2513 7.0 2571
2 Maric, Alisa m YUG 2446 6.0 2514
3 Alexandria, Nana wg GEO 2336 5.5 2485
4 Ioseliani, Nana m GEO 2499 5.0 2457
5 Gaprindashvili, Nona g GEO 2381 4.0 2389
6 Zhukova, Natalia wg UKR 2463 3.0 2321

Website: http://www.mercan.com.cn/mercan2000/china.htm

Kazakhstan SuperGM

The SuperGM tournament in capital of Kazakhstan, Astana took place in May 19th (Round 1 20th) – June 1st 2001. The event celebrated the tenth anniversary of the independence of Kazakhstan in Astana. The event saw Kasparov take first place after defeating and overtaking Kramnik in the final round.

Games in PGN

Final Standings:

1st Kasparov, Garry g RUS 2827 7.0
2nd Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2797 6.5
3rd Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2712 5.5
4th= Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2722 4.5
4th= Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2749 4.5
6th Sadvakasov, Darmen g KAZ 2585 2.0

Round 10 (June 1, 2001)

Kasparov beat Kramnik to take first place and finally defeated the Berlin Defence. Kramnik chose a new wrinkle in this most flexible of lines but the character of the position was the same with Black's pieces massed on the back rank and the bishop pair compensating the compromised queenside.

Kasparov seems to be coming to terms with the challenge of the Berlin. At Wijk aan Zee he was clearly better and in this game although he did not refute the opening he played straightforwardly and strongly with totally natural moves. Both players consumed a lot of time. Kramnik may have thought a lot about 15. ...Be6 (probably met by the Nd4) and instead allowed the sacrifice 16.e6 which set new problems. Kasparov thought for 40 minutes before playing 14.Rfe1 preparing the idea.

After the sacrifice the Bb2 was liberated and the e5 square was opened for a white knight. If 16. ...Bxe6 17.Nf6+ gxf6 (17. ...Ke7 18.Ba3+) 18.Rxd8+ Kxd8 19.Bxf6+ wins. Kasparov had full compensation but perhaps no more. 17. ...c5 cost Kramnik a tempo because it chased the white knight where it wanted to go and the prophylactic 17. ...Rh7 may have been better. Not 17. ...Nxd4 18.Nf6 mate or 17. ...Bb4 18.Nxe6 Bxe6 19.Bxg7 with advantage.

After 19. Bf6! white was very much in charge although 20.Bh4 was an interesting idea, asking black how he proposed to unravel. After 20.Bh4 Bc6 seems forced and then 21.f4 Bxe4 22.Rxe4 g6 23.Ne3 heading for f6 still gives Black serious problems to solve.

Once Kasparov regained the pawn by force following 20.Bxg7, a rook and knight endgame appeared in which Black was somewhat worse but should have been holding, which is how Kramnik described the whole line after the world championship match.

As it was Kramnik couldn't meet the problems Kasparov set because of time pressure. He had less than twenty minutes to make the time control after playing 17. ...c5. 26.Kh1 was a nice touch, 26. ...Rxg2 27.Nd3 and 26. ...Nxg2 27.Rg1 Rg5 28.Nf3 win for white.

29...Kg7 looks necessary as Black's position looks very bad after 30.Re5! due to threats to the f7 pawn. Fritz finds the nice 30. ...Kg7 31.Nf5+ Kf6 32.Ne3! but its not totally clear after 32. ...Kxe5 33.Nc4+ Kd4 34.Nxd2 Kc3. Kramnik's 30. ...Rxf2? was a blunder because after 31.Rf5 black is losing a piece and the game.

Round 10 (June 1, 2001)

Kasparov, Garry - Kramnik, Vladimir 1-0 41 C67 Ruy Lopez Rio de Janeiro
Shirov, Alexei - Sadvakasov, Darmen 1-0 72 C02 French Advance
Morozevich, Alexander - Gelfand, Boris 1/2 42 C24 Bishop's Opening

Internet coverage: http://astana.fide.com orhttp://www.kasparovchess.ru and http://www.kasparovchess.com

Clear first for Georgiev in Bosnia

The Bosnia 2001 tournament in Sarajevo took place May 12th-22nd 2001. Friday 18th May was a rest day. Kiril Georgiev took clear first ahead of Topalov. Games in PGN

Round 9 (May 22, 2001)

Georgiev, Kiril - Kurajica, Bojan 1-0 31 E15 Queens Indian
Dreev, Alexey - Smirin, Ilia 1/2 14 D92 Gruenfeld Defence 5.Bf4
Sokolov, Ivan - Topalov, Veselin 1/2 32 D85 Gruenfeld Defence
Movsesian, Sergei - Kozul, Zdenko 1/2 65 B85 Sicilian Scheveningen Variation
Atalik, Suat - Dizdarevic, Emir 1-0 74 E61 King's Indian Defence

Final Standings: 1. Georgiev, Kiril g BUL 2676 6.5; 2. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2707 6.0; 3. Smirin, Ilia g ISR 2691 5.5; 4. Dreev, Alexey g RUS 2685 5.5; 5. Dizdarevic, Emir g BIH 2501 4.0; 6. Sokolov, Ivan g BIH 2659 4.0; 7. Kozul, Zdenko g CRO 2595 4.0; 8. Movsesian, Sergei g CZE 2661 3.5; 9. Atalik, Suat g BIH 2537 3.0; 10. Kurajica, Bojan g BIH 2567 3.0;

Official website: http://www.ks.gov.ba/bosna2001

Anand takes clear first in Merida

The II Merida Tournament took place 16th-22nd May with Anand, Khalifman, Short and Gilberto Hernández. Note in round 4 there may be an error. I've been sent two version of Short-Hernandez (in the same E-Mail!!) by the organisers. One finishes 34 Rd1 Kh8 35 Qd2 1-0 and the other 34. Bc5 Re8 35. Rd1 Qb7 36. Qf2 1-0 I've now gone for the former.

Round 6 (May 22, 2001)

Short, Nigel D - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 28 B11 Caro Kann Two Knights
Hernandez, Gilberto - Khalifman, Alexander 1/2 29 B09 Pirc Defence

Final Standings: 1. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2794 4.5; 2. Short, Nigel D g ENG 2676 3.5; 3. Khalifman, Alexander g RUS 2690 3.0; 4. Hernandez, Gilberto g MEX 2567 1.0;

Games in PGN

Internet coverage: http://www.deportesmerida.gob.mx/magistral/ultimo.htm?

Kramnik wins the Korchnoi Anniversary Tournament

The Viktor Korchnoi 70th Birthday Tournament took place in the Hotel Savoy in Zürich, Switzerland (Main Sponsor: Bank Hofmann, Zürich). After a brave sacrifice in Kasparov's time trouble 24.Ba6 although 24.Nc4 would probably have won more easily Kramnik emerged the winner in the second game of the final (the first was drawn).

Schedule:

April 28th Rapid tournament, Qualification in two groups (A and B) April 29th Rapid tournament, Quarterfinals (best 4 of each group), Semifinals and Finals

It was a rapid tournament (25 minutes for the whole game, no timebonus). Semifinals and Finals two games. Tiebreak in the Spassky-Short match was 2 5 minute Blitz games (5 min).

Group Games in PGN
KO Games in PGN

Results:

Final 17:30CET

Kasparov-Kramnik 1/2 0-1

3rd-4th playoff

Piket-Short 1/2 1/2 Place shared.

Semi-Finals 14-30CET:

Kasparov,G 1-0 1/2 Short,N
Piket,J 1/2 0-1 Kramnik,V

Quarter Finals 11-00CET

Kasparov 1-0 1/2 Korchnoi
Unzicker 0-1 1/2 Kramnik
Spassky 1-0 0-1 Short (Tiebreak 0-1 1/2. Spassky playing white in game one seems to be confirmed)
Piket 1-0 1-0 Svidler

Korchnoi Birthday Gp A

Final Standings : 1. Kasparov, Garry g RUS 2827 4.5; 2. Piket, Jeroen g NED 2628 4.0; 3. Short, Nigel D g ENG 2676 2.0; 4. Unzicker, Wolfgang g GER 2432 2.0; 5. Pelletier, Yannick g SUI 2531 2.0 (out on Sonneborn-Berger tie-break); 6. Forster, Richard m SUI 2462 0.5;

Round 1 13-00 CET (April 28, 2001)

Piket, Jeroen - Forster, Richard 1-0 49
Unzicker, Wolfgang - Pelletier, Yannick 1-0 36
Short, Nigel D - Kasparov, Garry 1/2 41

Round 2 14-30 CET (April 28, 2001)

Unzicker, Wolfgang 1/2 Short, Nigel D 46
Kasparov, Garry 1-0 Piket, Jeroen 31
Pelletier, Yannick 1-0 Forster, Richard 32

Round 3 16-00 CET (April 28, 2001)

Piket, Jeroen 1-0 Unzicker, Wolfgang 40
Short, Nigel D 0-1 Pelletier, Yannick 58
Forster, Richard 0-1 Kasparov, Garry 41

Round 4 17-30 CET (April 28, 2001)

Unzicker, Wolfgang 1/2 Forster, Richard 32
Short, Nigel D 0-1 Piket, Jeroen 31
Pelletier, Yannick 0-1 Kasparov, Garry 41

Round 5 19-00 CET (April 28, 2001)

Piket, Jeroen 1-0 Pelletier, Yannick 26
Kasparov, Garry 1-0 Unzicker, Wolfgang 26
Forster, Richard 0-1 Short, Nigel D 36

Korchnoi Birthday Gp B

Final Standings : 1. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2802 3.5; 2. Spassky, Boris V g FRA 2551 3.0; 3. Svidler, Peter g RUS 2695 2.5; 4. Korchnoi, Viktor g SUI 2643 2.5; 5. Hug, Werner m SUI 2470 2.0; 6. Jenni, Florian m SUI 2471 1.5;

Round 1 13-00 CET (April 28, 2001)

Spassky, Boris V - Svidler, Peter 1-0 46
Hug, Werner - Kramnik, Vladimir 0-1 51
Jenni, Florian - Korchnoi, Viktor 0-1 28

Round 2 14-30 CET (April 28, 2001)

Korchnoi, Viktor 0-1 Kramnik, Vladimir 41
Jenni, Florian 1/2 Spassky, Boris V 36
Svidler, Peter 1/2 Hug, Werner 24

Round 3 16-00 CET (April 28, 2001)

Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 Svidler, Peter 27
Spassky, Boris V 1/2 Korchnoi, Viktor 27
Hug, Werner 1-0 Jenni, Florian 49

Round 4 17-30 CET (April 28, 2001)

Korchnoi, Viktor 0-1 Svidler, Peter 27
Spassky, Boris V 1/2 Hug, Werner (not the win for Hug given earlier by the official site) 20
Jenni, Florian 1/2 Kramnik, Vladimir 34

Round 5 19-00 CET (April 28, 2001)

Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 Spassky, Boris V 13
Hug, Werner 0-1 Korchnoi, Viktor (Hug built an advantageous position but played a terrible fingerfehler which was rather painful for him and embarassing for Korchnoi) 29
Svidler, Peter 1/2 Jenni, Florian 16

Live Internet coverage: http://www.chessbase.com/events/zurich/gamesandresults.htm or http://www.chessbase.com

Kasparov , Kramnik and Karpov unite against FIDE. Anand, Khalifman and Shirov reply.

An open letter signed by Kasparov, Karpov and Kramnik has appeared on the Russian Club Kasparov site: http://www.clubkasparov.ru/site/rev/polemic/art15.htm Owen Williams Kasparov's manager has sent this translation: Open Letter from Kasparov, Karpov and Kramnik in addition you can also read an article based on the letter at: http://www.iht.com/articles/17420.html in Friday 20th 2001 International Herald Tribune. FIDE have been quick to respond on their own website: http://www.fide.com/cgi-bin/material/main.pl and contradicting this http://www.gmchess.com/news/fide/ where Artiom Tarasov states clearly "War is war".

Anand, Shirov, Khalifman et al Reply to letter by Kasparov, Kramnik and Karpov: RUSSIAN VERSION and an English version Anand, Shirov, Khalifman et al Reply to letter by Kasparov, Kramnik and Karpov: ENGLISH VERSION (new translation)

Kasparovchess.com interview with Kramnik

XI Dos Hermanas GM tournament

The XI Dos Hermanas GM tournament takes place 19th-27th April 2001.

A Tournament Games in PGN
B Tournament Games in PGN

Round 9 (April 27, 2001)

Dreev, Alexey - Gurevich, Mikhail 1/2 41 E12 Queens Indian Petrosian System
Smirin, Ilia - Azmaiparashvili, Zurab 1/2 36 C71 Ruy Lopez Modern Steinitz
Vallejo Pons, Francisco - Illescas Cordoba, Miguel 1-0 38 C66 Ruy Lopez Berlin Defence
Radjabov, Teimour - Sokolov, Ivan 1/2 91 D51 Queens Gambit Cambridge Springs
Krasenkow, Michal - Almasi, Zoltan 1/2 11 D12 Slav Defence

Final Standings: 1. Dreev, Alexey g RUS 2685 5.5; 2. Smirin, Ilia g ISR 2691 5.5; 3. Almasi, Zoltan g HUN 2640 5.0; 4. Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2559 5.0; 5. Illescas Cordoba, Miguel g ESP 2562 5.0; 6. Azmaiparashvili, Zurab g GEO 2670 5.0; 7. Gurevich, Mikhail g BEL 2688 4.5; 8. Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2533 4.0; 9. Sokolov, Ivan g BIH 2659 4.0; 10. Krasenkow, Michal g POL 2655 1.5;

GM B Tournament Final Standings: 1. Campora, Daniel H g ARG 2503 6.5; 2. Korneev, Oleg g RUS 2572 6.0; 3. Spraggett, Kevin g CAN 2526 5.5; 4. Cifuentes Parada, Roberto g ESP 2496 5.0; 5. Rivas Pastor, Manuel g ESP 2429 4.5; 6. Fernandez Garcia, Jose Luis g ESP 2465 4.0; 7. Moreno Carnero, Javier m ESP 2480 4.0; 8. Teran Alvarez, Ismael m ESP 2382 3.5; 9. Oms Pallise, Josep m ESP 2427 3.0; 10. Vega Holm, Fernando m ESP 2408 3.0;

Internet coverage: http://www.doshermanas.net/ and http://www.edami.com/

Garry Kasparov beats Terence Chapman in their charity odds match


Kasparov wins final game against Chapman to take the match 2.5-1.5. Further details on the mini-site.

John Henderson's Report 1
John Henderson's Report 2
John Henderson's Report 3

Link to Jon Speelman's Inside Account in the UK Independent Newspaper April 25th 2001

Game 1 Chapman 0-1 Kasparov
Game 2 Kasparov 1/2 Chapman
Game 3 Chapman 1-0 Kasparov
Game 4 Kasparov 1-0 Chapman

All Games in PGN

The TWIC Mini-site for the event is at: http://www.chesscenter.com/chapmankasparov/.

On Wednesday 4th April I spoke with Terence Chapman about the match. Read the Interview

Category XVII in Enghien-les-Bains

The Category XVII Enghien-les-Bains tournament in France takes place April 10th-20th 2001.

Games in PGN

Round 9 (April 20, 2001)

Lautier, Joel - Akopian, Vladimir 1/2 42 E45 Nimzo Indian Defence
Bareev, Evgeny - Grischuk, Alexander 0-1 31 A84 Dutch Defence
Tkachiev, Vladislav - Bacrot, Etienne 1-0 40 D49 Queen's Gambit: Meran Variation
Bologan, Viktor - Fressinet, Laurent 0-1 43 C55 Two Knight's Defence
Bauer, Christian - Van Wely, Loek 1-0 40 B78 Sicilian Modern Dragon

Final Standings: 1. Akopian, Vladimir g ARM 2654 6.0; 2. Lautier, Joel g FRA 2658 5.5; 3. Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2627 5.0; 4. Bareev, Evgeny g RUS 2709 5.0; 5. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2670 5.0; 6. Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2668 4.5; 7. Fressinet, Laurent g FRA 2575 4.0; 8. Tkachiev, Vladislav g FRA 2672 3.5; 9. Bologan, Viktor g MDA 2676 3.5; 10. Bauer, Christian g FRA 2612 3.0;

Further details: http://enghien.free.fr

Israel Open Championships

The Israel Open Championship took place in the Kasparov Academy in Tel Aviv 9th-17th April 2001. 128 players competed from 13 countries including 23 GMs and 19 IMs.Games in PGN from all rounds. My thanks to Alon Shulman.

Alon Shulman reports: A dramatic last round saw 2 players come from behind to share joint first place. Israeli G.M Alon Greenfeld played briliantly to beat Gyimesi on board 1 and take first place with 7 pts. If Greenfeld's win is a slight surprise the identity of the co-champion is a sensation. Just a week ago, 18-year-old I.M Evgeny Postny won the Israel U-20 Youth championship with 8/9. In this tournament he played against no less than 6 Grandmasters ! beating 3 and drawing 2. In the penultimate round the young I.M from Haifa created a major upset by beating G.M Sutovsky with black. In the last round he beat G.M Victor Mikhalevsky after the young G.M from Beer-Sheba played too wildly. Postny was declared champion by tie-break.

Spring seems to really be shining on Postny. Within 2 weeks he became National Youth Champion, National Open Champion, got his first G.M norm and can enjoy his first prize of about $3500. A fine achievement too for Alon Greenfeld the captain of the Israeli National Team. Alon will comfort himself with $3000.

Third came Erik Van den Doel (NDL) who drew with Doettling (GER) in the last round. Doettling came 6th. and clinched his final G.M norm. Fourth was Dov Zifroni after a short draw with Kantsler.

The prize for best lady went to Stefanova (BUL) and Nora Medvegy who played 4 G.M's but missed the I.M norm after losing in the last round. $250 Beauty prize went to Anatoly Donchenko for hos incredible win with black over G.M Gofshtein.

It was a wonderful tournament with lots of excitement and plenty of very interesting games. The 4 Arbiters were: IA Yochanan Afek, IA Avi Dorner, NA Malkiel Perets, NA Alon Shulman.

Final Standings: 1. Postny, Evgeny m ISR 2432 7.0, 2. Greenfeld, Alon g ISR 2570 7.0, 3. Van den Doel, Erik g NED 2574 6.5, 4. Zifroni, Dov g ISR 2525 6.5, 5. Avrukh, Boris g ISR 2600 6.5, 6. Doettling, Fabian m GER 2509 6.5, 7. Huzman, Alexander g ISR 2578 6.5, 8. Gyimesi, Zoltan g HUN 2571 6.5, 9. Tseitlin, Mark D g ISR 2492 6.5, 10. Jonkman, Harmen m NED 2410 6.5, 11. Kantsler, Boris g ISR 2507 6.5, 12. Gruenfeld, Yehuda g ISR 2520 6.5, 13. Sutovsky, Emil g ISR 2604 6.0, 14. Zoler, Dan m ISR 2487 6.0, 15. Khenkin, Igor g GER 2609 6.0, 16. Bykhovsky, Avigdor g RUS 2420 6.0, 17. Psakhis, Lev g ISR 2575 6.0, 18. Rabinovich, Alexander m ISR 2433 6.0, 19. Mikhalevski, Alexander m ISR 2443 6.0, 20. Lerner, Konstantin Z g UKR 2575 6.0, 21. Donchenko, Anatoly G m RUS 2436 6.0, 22. Kaldor, Avraham m ISR 2260 6.0, 23. Kundin, Alexander f ISR 2417 6.0, 24. Kleiner, Bronislav RUS 2238 6.0, 25. Roiz, Michael m ISR 2449 5.5, 26. Golod, Vitali g ISR 2593 5.5, 27. Mikhalevski, Victor g ISR 2523 5.5, 28. Movsziszian, Karen g ARM 2508 5.5, 29. Zilberman, Yaacov g ISR 2481 5.5, 30. Gofshtein, Leonid D g ISR 2523 5.5, 31. Berkovich, Mark A m ISR 2413 5.5, 32. Oratovsky, Michael m ISR 2499 5.5, 33. Murey, Jacob g ISR 2528 5.5, 34. Bitansky, Igor ISR 2323 5.5 128 players

Redbus Knockout

The Redbus Chess Knockout tournament, held as part of the Southend Chess Congress at the town's Civic Centre over the Easter weekend, 13th-16th April 2001. Players: Julian Hodgson, Michael Adams, Luke McShane, Jim Plaskett, Mark Hebden, Murray Chandler, John Emms, Nigel Davies, Bogdan Lalic, Jonathan Rowson, Chris Ward, Glenn Flear, Stuart Conquest, Peter Wells, Aaron Summerscale and Jonathan Levitt. The favourite Michael Adams won the event.

Games in PGN

Four of the eight seeds fell in round one of the Redbus Knockout at the Southened Civic Center, Third seed Stuart Conquest was downed by Bogdan Lalic. Peter Wells lost to Nigel Davies and Mark Hebden was defeated 2-0 by Britain's youngest GM Luke McShane.

Round 1 results:
Chris Ward draw 0-1 Michael Adams; Glenn Flear draw draw Murray Chandler, Play off: 0-1 draw, Chandler qualifies ; Stuart Conquest 0-1 0-1 Bogdan Lalic; James Plaskett 0-1 draw John Emms; Julian Hodgson draw 1-0 Jonathan Rowson; Peter Wells draw 0-1 Nigel Davies; Mark Hebden 0-1 0-1 Luke McShane; Aaron Summerscale draw 0-1 Jonathan Levitt;
Quarter final pairings: Adams v Chandler; Emms v Lalic; Davies v Hodgson; McShane v Levitt;

Quarter final results: Adams 1-0 draw Chandler; Emms draw 0-1 Lalic; Davies draw draw Hodgson, Hodgson won the 10' play off 2-0; McShane 1-0 draw Levitt;

Adams defeated Bogdan Lalic 1.5-0.5 while Hodgson needed a play off to overcome year old Luke McShane but won both tie-breakers with ten minutes on the clock.

Adams won the final 2-0

Internet site: http://www.chess.redbus.co.uk/

Oakham

Oakham school was the venue for a cat. VII (2407) GM tournament March 29th- April 6th 2001. Nick Pert won the event but there were no GM norms.

Games in PGN

Final Standings: 1. Pert, Nicholas f ENG 2455 6.5; 2. Krush, Irina m USA 2380 6.0; 3. Koneru, Humpy wm IND 2299 5.5; 4. Gormally, Daniel m ENG 2505 5.0; 5. McNab, Colin A g SCO 2403 5.0; 6. Tyomkin, Dimitri m ISR 2496 4.0; 7. Estrada Nieto, Julian m MEX 2372 4.0; 8. Bluvshtein, Mark CAN 2287 3.5; 9. Levitt, Jonathan g ENG 2438 3.0; 10. McDonald, Neil R g ENG 2439 2.5;

Tenth Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament

The "Tenth Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament" wa held at the Metropole Palace Hotel in Monaco, 17th-29th March 2001. The event was sponsored by J.J. van Oosterom and the total prize fund is US $ 193,250.

Games in PGN

Final Rapidplay Standings: 1. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2712 7.5; 2. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2772 7.5; 3. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2718 7.0; 4. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2790 6.5; 5. Leko, Peter g HUN 2745 5.5; 6. Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2679 5.5; 7. Piket, Jeroen g NED 2632 5.0; 8. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2717 5.0; 9. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2700 4.5; 10. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2718 4.5; 11. Almasi, Zoltan g HUN 2640 4.0; 12. Ljubojevic, Ljubomir g YUG 2566 3.5;

Final Blindfold standings:1. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2718 8.0; 2. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2772 7.5; 3. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2790 7.0; 4. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2718 7.0; 5. Ljubojevic, Ljubomir g YUG 2566 6.0; 6. Piket, Jeroen g NED 2632 5.5; 7. Leko, Peter g HUN 2745 5.5; 8. Almasi, Zoltan g HUN 2640 5.5; 9. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2717 4.0; 10. Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2679 3.5; 11. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2712 3.5; 12. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2700 3.0;

Combined Standings: 1. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2718 15.0; 2. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2772 15.0; 3. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2790 13.5; 4. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2718 11.5; 5. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2712 11.0; 6. Leko, Peter g HUN 2745 11.0; 7. Piket, Jeroen g NED 2632 10.5; 8. Ljubojevic, Ljubomir g YUG 2566 9.5; 9. Almasi, Zoltan g HUN 2640 9.5; 10. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2717 9.0; 11. Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2679 9.0; 12. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2700 7.5;

Official Internet coverage: http://chess.lostcity.nl/amber

FIDE.COM Trophy Cup

Alexander Khalifman and Nigel Short played a match in Moscow for the FIDE.COM Cup. The event took place on March 26th 2001. This probably marks the start of heavy involvement of Octagon Marketing Ltd in FIDE events (they weren't involved in the Rapid Cup in France) and a video of the event will be used to try and attract potential sponsors. Short won 2-1 after two draws he won the playoff game with black.

Games in PGN

Internet coverage: http://www.fide.com/

There is an interview with Artiom Tarasov, President FIDE Commerce International Ltd and Aidan Day, Senior Vice-President Octagon Marketing Ltd. As predicted on these pages FIDE will take action to either try and destroy or coerce established tournaments that don't join the new Grand Prix. Artiom Tarasov says "In certain cases, for the progressive good of chess, we will organise new tournaments in the capital cities of some of these countries. This would be a slightly unfortunate situation for some events as the new Grand Prix events will be likely to take place at the same time as those events rejecting our proposal."

World Cup of Rapid Chess

Garry Kasparov won the Second World Cup of Rapid Chess in Cannes, France 21st-25th March 2001. The event was organised by the French Chess Federation in conjunction with FIDE (the FIDE Presidential Board will be present during the event). Kasparov won the World Cup of Rapid Chess when he beat Evgeny Bareev in the final 1.5-0.5 when Bareev resigned game two with only a few seconds left in what appears very much to be a drawn position. (44. ...Kc6 45.Kc4 Kd6 46.Kb5 Kd5 47.Kxa5 Ke4 48.a4 Kxf4 49.Kb6 Kg3 50.a5 f4 51.a6 f3 52.a7 f2 53.a8Q f1Q is equal).

Playoffs consisted of 2 blitz games of 5 minutes/player with alternating colours. In case of a tie: 2 blitz games of 5 minutes/player with alternating colours. In case of a tie: sudden death 1 blitz, 6 minutes white/5 minutes black. Black qualifies if the game is drawn. Prior to the game there a draw decided which colour they took.

Final Games in PGN
Semi Final Games in PGN
Quarter Final Games in PGN
Preliminary Games in PGN
Results from Preliminary Sections

Final (March 25, 2001)

Kasparov, Gary - Bareev, Evgeny 1-0 44 C09 French Tarrasch Variation
Bareev, Evgeny - Kasparov, Gary 1/2 23 A34 English Opening

Semi-Finals (March 24, 2001)
Grischuk, Alexander - Kasparov, Gary 1/2 20 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Kasparov, Gary - Grischuk, Alexander 1/2 58 B45 Sicilian Defence (Classical System)

Semi-Final Playoffs (March 24, 2001)

Kasparov, Gary - Grischuk, Alexander 1-0 43 C96 Ruy Lopez (Deviations from Tchigorin Defence)
Grischuk, Alexander - Kasparov, Gary 0-1 39 B80 Sicilian Scheveningen Variation

Polgar, Judit - Bareev, Evgeny 0-1 28 C11 French Defence
Bareev, Evgeny - Polgar, Judit 1/2 39 A24 English Opening

Qualified for Finals: Bareev and Kasparov (after playoff with Grischuk ).

Quarter Finals (March 23, 2001)

Tkachiev, Vladislav - Kasparov, Gary 1/2 57 D71 Gruenfeld Defence (3.g3)
Kasparov, Gary - Tkachiev, Vladislav 1-0 33 C88 Ruy Lopez (Closed System)

Bacrot, Etienne - Bareev, Evgeny 0-1 61 D17 Slav Defence
Bareev, Evgeny - Bacrot, Etienne 1/2 65 A25 English Opening

Grischuk, Alexander - Gurevich, Mikhail 0-1 56 C02 French Advance Variation
Gurevich, Mikhail - Grischuk, Alexander 0-1 55 A24 English Opening

Polgar, Judit - Adams, Michael 1/2 53 C42 Petroff's Defence
Adams, Michael - Polgar, Judit 0-1 43 B40 Sicilian Defence

Playoffs

Grischuk, Alexander - Gurevich, Mikhail 0-1 53 C02 French Advance Variation
Gurevich, Mikhail - Grischuk, Alexander 0-1 66 E61 King's Indian Defence
Gurevich, Mikhail - Grischuk, Alexander 1-0 44 D30 Queen's Gambit (without Nc3)
Grischuk, Alexander - Gurevich, Mikhail 1-0 86 C02 French Advance Variation
Grischuk, Alexander - Gurevich, Mikhail 1-0 63 C02 French Advance Variation

Much as in the Cap D'Agde the top four finishers in each group will go on to a second group all-play-all phase. Then there will be a semi-final phase and the top two will play in the final. Time rate 50 moves in 25 minutes followed by 10 seconds a move after that.

Official site: http://www.echecs.asso.fr/Tournois/2001/CpMonde/Default.htm
Live pictures and moves from Canalweb: http://www.canalweb.net/vers/diagonalevent.html
Page of links to Important Events of 2001 so far including Linars and Wijk ann Zee (these have reports by John Henderson)

Wijk, Dortmund and Linares organisers unite in rejecting approach by FIDE COMMERCE

A Press release from Linares on March 6th 2001 signed by representatives of the Corus Wijk aan Zee, Linares and Dortmund tournaments makes it clear they are not prepared to join FIDE's Grand Prix. Asserting their rights to independence and to keep their own traditions alive the three tournaments say they will work together in the future. This is a blow to FIDE COMMERCE who had hoped that Wijk aan Zee would be part of their Grand Prix next year and had prematurely announced as much. In addition in a comment on their website FIDE (as part of their Linares coverage) say "February 22, at the Opening Ceremony of the Linares Tournament a meeting was held between the President of FIDE Commerce International and the Organizers of the tournament. The meeting resulted in an agreement making the Linares tournament a possible part of a Grad Prix Cup series."

Press release in full from chess organisers from Linares, Wijk aan Zee and Dortmund

Material on the new FIDE Time controls

New material about the new FIDE time controls.

A press release dated Moscow February 27th 2001 from FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov appears on the FIDE site at: http://www.fide.com/release/.

Material on the new FIDE time control

Included: Press release of the German Chess Federation
Press Release by the French Chess Federation
Dutch Federation Letter
Letter to the German and Dutch Chess Federations by Emmanuel Omuku Executive Director of FIDE
Comments from Egon Ditt
Extract of the tape recording of the meeting of the FIDE General Assembly in Istanbul 2000
Letter from Jonathan Berry on the players poll
New Italian Chess Federation adds their voice to the protest
Dutch and German Chess Federation threaten to fight new time control in Court of Arbitration unless the decision is reversed

Internet petition against the new time controls

Read the recent press releases on this issue at: http://www.fide.com/release/

Spanish Press Release on Olympiad Bid

USA-China Match

The Seattle Chess Foundation ran the US-China Chess Summit Match March 14-18 in Seattle at the Norton Building's Harbor Club in downtown Seattle (second and Columbia). The four round match had the top six players of each country facing each other in one game a day for four days. In addition, two leading women players and two junior players (under 18) from each country competed. John Henderson was on the spot. China won the event 21-19 thanks to a brilliant day 3 (6.5-3.5), days 2 and 4 were drawn and the US edged day 1.

Internet site: http://www.seattlechessfoundation.com/

John Henderson's Round 4 report US-China Chess Summit Match
John Henderson's Round 3 report US-China Chess Summit Match
John Henderson's Round 2 report US-China Chess Summit Match
John Henderson's Round 1 report US-China Chess Summit Match

US-China Results Day One. The US beat China 5.5-4.5. Day Two. US 5 : China 5. Day Three US 3.5 - China 6.5. Day Four US 5 - China 5. Final score China 21 - US 19. .

Games in PGN

Round 4 (March 18, 2001)

Zhang Zhong - Benjamin, Joel 1/2 41 C00 French Defence (Unusual Moves)
Gulko, Boris F - Yin Hao 1/2 21 D35 Queen's Gambit: Exchange Variation
Xu Jun - Seirawan, Yasser 1/2 14 E15 Queen's Indian Defence (Main Line - Deviations)
Kaidanov, Gregory S - Peng Xiaomin 1/2 30 D70 Gruenfeld Defence (Deviations in the 3rd move)
Ni Hua - Nakamura, Hikaru 1-0 47 B22 Sicilian Defence (Alapin Variation)
Ivanov, Alexander - Xie Jun 1-0 43 C93 Ruy Lopez (Smyslov Variation)
Zhu Chen - Christiansen, Larry M 0-1 33 A50 Queen's Indian (without e7-e6)
Krush, Irina - Wang Lei 1/2 36 B33 Sicilian Defence
Qin Kanying - Baginskaite, Camilla 1/2 40 B51 Sicilian Defence (Rossolimo Variation)
Bhat, Vinay S - Bu Xiangzhi 0-1 32 B23 Sicilian Defence (Closed System)

Linares 2001

The Linares 2001 tournament took place 22nd February until March 7th 2001. The event was a double round robin. Alongside it was an event with the strongest blind chess players (Link to blind event).

Linares 2001 index (all reports and games)

Latest

All Games in PGN
John Henderson Round 10 Linares 2001 Report
Round 10 games in CB Javascript
Linares 2001 Results and Crosstable



Round 10 (March 6, 2001)

Kasparov, Gary - Grischuk, Alexander 1-0 45 B45 Sicilian Defence (Classical System). Kasparov nicely maintained his advance pawn and made it count.
Leko, Peter - Karpov, Anatoly 1/2 48 B17 Caro Kann. Leko had a winning position for much of the game but probably ruined it coming up to first time control.
Shirov, Alexei - Polgar, Judit 1-0 59 B92 Sicilian Najdorf with 6.Be2. Even with black Polgar seemed better but she became over ambitious and eventually even lost.

Final Standings: 1. Kasparov, Gary g RUS 2849 7.5; 2. Polgar, Judit g HUN 2676 4.5; 3. Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2679 4.5; 4. Leko, Peter g HUN 2745 4.5; 5. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2718 4.5; 6. Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2663 4.5;

Live Internet coverage: http://www.ajedrez21.com

Alongside the tournament was an event with eight former World Blind Chess Champions competing. Internet coverage: http://www.granajedrez.com/

Corus, Wijk aan Zee. Kasparov wins


TWIC mini-site with live games, commentary, reports and pictures from John Henderson

John Henderson's Round 12 photo report
Wijk aan Zee PGN file with Grandmaster Neil McDonald's comments

Sports.com coverage: http://www.sports.com/chess/

14 players competed in the Corus 2001 chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands January 13th-28th 2001. For the 3rd year running Garry Kasparov won the event.

PGN Section

Games in PGN Main Group Complete
[Correction to the move order of Timman-Kramnik Rd1 now.]
Wijk aan Zee PGN file with Grandmaster Neil McDonald's comments
Games in PGN B Group Complete

John Henderson Reports

John Henderson's Round 12 photo report
John Henderson's Round 11 photo report
John Henderson's Round 10 photo report
John Henderson's Round 9 photo report
John Henderson's Round 8 photo report
John Henderson's Round 7 photo report
John Henderson's Round 6 photo report
John Henderson's Round 5 photo report
John Henderson's Round 4 photo report
John Henderson's Round 3 photo report
John Henderson's Round 2 photo report
John Henderson's Round 1 photo report

Pairings for all 13 rounds


Interviews

Interview with Vishy Anand just before he travelled to Wijk aan Zee by David Llada
Spanish version: http://www.larazon.es/hoy/deportes21.htm
Anand interviewed by Arvind Aaron for the newspaper "The Sportstar"

Full crosstable in TWIC325

Final Standings: : 1. Kasparov, Gary g RUS 2849 9.0; 2. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2790 8.5; 3. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2772 8.0; 4. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2717 8.0; 5. Adams, Michael g ENG 2746 7.5; 6. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2745 7.5; 7. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2718 7.5; 8. Leko, Peter g HUN 2745 6.5; 9. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2718 5.5; 10. Fedorov, Alexei g BLR 2575 5.0; 11. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2700 5.0; 12. Piket, Jeroen g NED 2632 4.5; 13. Tiviakov, Sergei g NED 2597 4.5; 14. Timman, Jan g NED 2629 4.0;

Korchnoi-Ponomariov Match

The intriguing Korchnoi-Ponomariov Match takes place 16th-23rd January 2001. Game one was drawn and Korchnoi won game 2. Ponomariov struck back immediately in game three and game four was drawn as was game five. Ponomariov took the lead by winning with black in game 6. Game 7 was drawn. Korchnoi won the final game to tie the match.

Games in PGN 1-8

Internet coverage: http://chess-sector.odessa.ua/match01p.htm

76th Hastings Chess Congress

The 76th Hastings International Chess Congress took place 28th December 2000 to 7th January 2001. It was played at the new £4.5 million Horntye Park Sports Complex in Hastings. There was a two way tie between Krishnan Sasikiran and Stuart Conquest (he finished at 9pm in the final round) on 6/9. In joint third place were Lubomir Ftacnik and Matthew Turner on 5.5, the latter scoring a second GM norm to go with his appearance in the final of countdown. My thanks to Pam Thomas for the scoresheets for the missing games (if you think there are errors in the two long games from the final round let me know).

Round 9 results

Bischoff 0-1 Ftacnik
Aronian 1-0 Plaskett
Turner ½-½ Speelman
Gormally ½-½ Sasikiran
Beshukov 0-1 Conquest

Final Standings: 1. Conquest, Stuart g ENG 2529 6.0; 2. Sasikiran, Krishnan g IND 2573 6.0; 3. Ftacnik, Lubomir g SVK 2608 5.5; 4. Turner, Matthew m ENG 2491 5.5; 5. Aronian, Levon g ARM 2551 5.0; 6. Speelman, Jonathan S g ENG 2623 4.5; 7. Gormally, Daniel m ENG 2499 4.5; 8. Bischoff, Klaus g GER 2556 3.0; 9. Plaskett, Jim g ENG 2525 2.5; 10. Beshukov, Sergei g RUS 2428 2.5;

Round 1-9 Games in PGN (complete)

Internet Coverage: http://www.hastingschess.org.uk

Reggio Emilia

The 2000-1 "Torneo di Capodanno" di Reggio Emilia, Italy, wasn't a big category edition but it kept the 43 year tradition. It was a Category 8 event and took place December 30th 2000 to January, 7th, 2001 nine rounds without rest day. Oleg Romanishin dominated and won with 7.5/9.

All Games in PGN

Final Standings: 1. Romanishin, Oleg M g UKR 2591 7.0; 2. Efimov, Igor g ITA 2520 5.5; 3. Zaja, Ivan m CRO 2513 5.0; 4. Bellini, Fabio m ITA 2484 5.0; 5. Tomescu, Vlad m ROM 2432 4.0; 6. Vezzosi, Paolo f ITA 2421 4.0; 7. Naumkin, Igor g RUS 2440 3.0; 8. Drei, Andrea f ITA 2350 3.0; 9. Costantini, Roberto ITA 2233 2.5; 10. Iotti, Pierluigi f ITA 2294 1.0;

Internet coverage at http://www.cronaca.it/ippogrifo

Kramnik beats Leko 7-5

The "RWE Gas Match" sponsored a match between Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Leko held from January 2nd to 8th 2001. There were 12 rapid games (two per day, rest day: January 5th) in the Hotel Kempinski in the city centre of Budapest (Hungary). Kramnik won the match 7-5.

Day 1 Vladimir Kramnik won the first game of the match on the white side of a Gruenfeld Defence. Game two was a Berlin Defence and was drawn after 71 moves Leko missed a win with 64.Rd2+ Ke6 65.Rd1 Rc2 66.c8Q+ according to Artur Yusupov. So far the match has followed Kramnik's preparation for his match against Kasparov.

Day 2 Interesting gambit play from Kramnik on the white side of a Queen's Indian was defused by accurate play from Peter Leko and a draw was agreed on move 28. Kramnik beat Leko on the black side of a sharp Berlin Defence after he got two bishops for rook and pawn.

Day 3 Leko struck back by winning with black in the first game of day 3. The game was a Main Line Hedgehog by transposition and after building up a threatening looking position (but it mostly looks this wayfor white in this opening) Kramnik was shown to have over-reached by Leko's counter attack which won the day. Game two of the day was a draw after Leko played a Vienna opening 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3. g3.

Day 4 Another complex Queen's Indian saw most of the players time used by move 28. The game ended on move 120! in a draw around 5 minutes later. The second game of the day saw Leko break through and beat Kramnik's Berlin Defence to level the match.

Day 5 Kramnik retook the lead with a smooth win against Leko's Nimzo-Indian in the first game of the day. The second game saw Kramnik gain an edge from a Sicilian and then eventually win the enchange. He won on time in the end on move 133 in a Rook vs Bishop ending where Leko needed to reach move 145 without losing his bishop to draw.

Day 6Leko played the Benoni against Kramnik in the penultimate game of the match. Kramnik played conservatively getting a small edge but the game simplfied to a draw after only 30 moves. The final game was drawn after 33 moves of a Sicilian.

Games 1-12 in PGN

Official site included live coverage and daily annotations to the games.

Internet coverage: http://www.chessgate.de