Peter Svidler vs Boris Gelfand Rapid Chess July 20

Hello chess blog friends, FIDE has announced an interesting chess event. Grandmasters Boris Gelfand (2725) and Peter Svidler (2793) will play a Rapid Chess match of 8 games on July 20-24 2014 in Jerusalem, Israel. 

The match, open to the general public, is the highlight of the 2nd Gideon Japhet Memorial Open Chess Tournament, to take place in Jerusalem on July 16-24. The tournament is organized by the Jeruchess Club of Jerusalem and the Japhet family represented by Gilad Japhet, CEO of MyHeritage.com. The tournament has been named Chess Event of the Year in Israel by GM Ram Soffer on the homepage of the Israel Chess Federation.

The Gideon Japhet Memorial Open Chess Tournament includes 4 categories covering the full spectrum from grandmasters to unranked amateurs and is expected to draw more than 200 chess players this year from Israel and overseas. Total prize fund is $16,000. Registration is still open and details are available in English, Hebrew and Russian on the tournament’s website. The tournament is part of a chess festival that includes a simultaneous exhibition by GM Alexander Huzman (Israel Vice Champion 2014), a FIDE Chess Arbiters Seminar, and Israel’s Chess Problem Solving Championship 2014.

The 8 games between Gelfand and Svidler will be held 2 per day, per the schedule below:

Sunday July 20, 12:30 - 15:00 GMT
Monday July 21, 11:00 - 13:30 GMT
Wednesday July 23, 11:00 - 13:30 GMT
Thursday July 24, 8:00 - 11:00 GMT

The games will be broadcast live (including video stream) and can be watched in real time by chess enthusiasts worldwide on this page. Following each pair of games, grandmasters Gelfand and Svidler will be interviewed and will commentate their games; the interview videos will be available through the link above as well.

The tournament is held in memory of Gideon Japhet, a lover of chess and sports.

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Russian State Award for Chess Stars Anand, Gelfand!

Hello chess blog friends, a quick chess update via www.chess-news.ru states that more than two years after the World Chess Championship held in the Tretyakov State Museum in Moscow, Russian president Vladimir Putin awarded the participants of the match Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand with the Order of Friendship "for their contribution in strengthening friendship and cooperation with the Russian Federation, for developing economical, scientific and cultural ties."

The then World Chess Champion and Challenger had met the President on May 31 in 2012 immediately after the match had finished in Anand's favour.

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Zurich Chess Challenge 2014: Magnus Carlsen wins Tournament despite Collapse in Rapid Section

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2014

Hello everyone,

World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen begins the rapid section, at the Zurich Chess Challenge 2014, with a win over Boris Gelfand. He managed to score only 2/5, but won the tournament thanks to super performance in the classical section and some crazy results in the rapid section! Photo: Maria Emelianova

World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen has won the Zurich Chess Challenge 2014 despite being "outplayed by Aronian and Caruana" on the final day in the five-game rapid section. Carlsen had come into the rapid section after winning the five-game classical section with a two-point lead over Aronian.  

The Zurich Chess Challenge 2014 had a unique format: Five rounds of classical games over five days and five rounds of rapid games (15 minutes +10 seconds increment) on the final day. Each win in the classical section was worth two points and draw was one point. In the rapid section, each win was worth one point and draw was half-point. 

Today, in the rapid section, the world #1 scored 2/5 with Caruana playing extremely well to score 4/5 including wins over Carlsen, and Nakamura. The Zurich title nearly slipped out of the World Champion's hands.

Rapid Standings

1. Fabiano Caruana 4.0

2. Hikaru Nakamura 3.5

3. Levon Aronian 3.0 

4. Magnus Carlsen 2.0

5. Boris Gelfand 1.5

6. Viswanathan Anand 1.0

Final Standings (on a max of 15 points)

1. Magnus Carlsen 10.0

2. Fabiano Caruana 9.0

3. Levon Aronian 9.0

4. Hikaru Nakamura 7.5

5. Viswanathan Anand 5.0

6. Boris Gelfand 4.5

But, it was a crazy situation in the rapid section. Hikaru Nakamura did a huge favour to Magnus Carlsen by beating Levon Aronian in after Magnus himself lost to both Caruana and Aronian. Nakamura also lost to Caruana, but drew with Magnus. 

This held Aronian back from catching up with the World Chess Champion! Aronian scored 3/5 and could not cover up the two-point lead Carlsen had obtained over him in the classical section.  

This was the Magnus Carlsen's first tournament (and first tournament victory) after winning the world chess champion title in November 2013 by beating Viswanathan Anand in Chennai.

Fabiano Caruana was the youngest player at the Zurich Chess Challenge 2014. He was also the defending champion. This year's edition of the event was also the highest-average rating tournament in chess history.

Replay all the games of the rapid section at the Zurich Chess Challenge 2014 with Chess King.

Here is the closing ceremony video:

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Zurich Chess Challenge 2014 with Anand, Carlsen, Aronian, Nakamura, Caruana, Gelfand from Jan 29

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

The Zurich Chess Challenge 2014 will be the first encounter between the newly-crowned World Chess Champion, Norway’s Magnus Carlsen, and the former title holder, India’s Viswanathan Anand after their recent match in Chennai. 

Zurich Chess 2013 Opening Ceremony: Boris Gelfand, Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik and Fabiano Caruana (left to right)

From Wednesday, 29 January to Tuesday, 4 February 2014, they will compete in the 3rd Zurich Chess Challenge along with four other great chess stars Levon Aronian (Arm), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Fabiano Caruana (It) and Boris Gelfand (Isr). With an average of 2794 Elo points (according to the September 13 rating list) this is going to be the strongest tournament in chess history.
The main sponsor is Oleg Skvortsov of the International Gemological Laboratories, Moscow, with the Zurich Chess Club acting as organizer.

The owner of IGC International Gemological Laboratories, Mr. Oleg Skvortsov, is the creator of this chess event. He not only loves chess, but also plays chess and supports chess events. Furthermore, Mr. Skvortsov knows many of the greatest chess players in the world personally and has played a lot of games with them.

The first Zurich Chess Challenge in 2012 was a match between Kramnik and Aronian. The second event in 2013 was a double-round robin with Kramnik, Anand, Caruana and Gelfand.

For the 2014 edition, a blitz tournament will determine the color distribution. A round-robin tournament of five rounds with a classical time control is then followed by a rapid tournament with colors reversed on the last day of play. A won game in the classical tournament counts 2 points, a draw 1 point. Wins in the rapid tournament count 1 point and draws half a point.

All games will be commented by Yannick Pelletier and Werner Hug and broadcast live via Internet.

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London Chess Classic 2013 Super-16 Rapid: Hikaru Nakamura beats Boris Gelfand to win Title

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

Twenty-six-year-old American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura has won the 5th London Chess Classic 2013, staged this year as a rapid chess tournament and billed 'the Super-Sixteen Rapid'. Nakamura defeated former World Chess Championship Challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel 1½-½ in the final.

As the world number four on the FIDE Rating List for classical chess, and number three at rapid chess, Nakamura's result was far from being a surprise but it was a significant achievement in the career of a remarkable player who must be a leading contender to threaten Magnus Carlsen’s world crown in the next few years.

Hikaru’s progression through the competition was impressive. He scored +2, =4, -0 in the preliminary phase, and then improved that to +3, =3, -0 against sterner opposition in the knock-out phase. To go through without a loss was a clear sign of strength. His toughest moment was when he came close to elimination in his second semi-final game with Vladimir Kramnik but he showed an amazing resilience in first holding the former world champion at bay and then taking advantage of Kramnik’s evident state of confusion to finish the match off with a win.

In the final match against Boris Gelfand, Hikaru showed the courage of his convictions by going straight for an ultra-sharp tactic in the opening against a player who had hitherto proved himself the best defender in the event, and also at this time control in world championship qualifiers. They say ‘fortune favours the brave’ and Hikaru’s conquest of this elite rapid chess event backs that up. 

THE FINAL

Nakamura 1½-½ Gelfand

Game 1 - win for Nakamura

Hikaru received the white pieces in the draw for colours conducted by chief arbiter Albert Vasse, and they launched into a Grünfeld Defence, one of the most fashionable of all current super-GM openings.

Hikaru's 10.Ng5 is quite a double-edged move but Boris avoided the standard continuation 10...Nb6 by playing instead 10...Nc6. Hikaru's response was brave and speculative – 11.Nxf7!? – a move we all like to play against a castled king, whatever level we play at.

On the face of it, the line looks very dodgy for Black as he has to give up the exchange, but it is almost inconceivable that Boris wouldn’t have something prepared for this. By way of compensation he demolished the white centre and got his minor pieces to strong outposts. Was it enough? The unofficial grandmaster jury in the VIP Room was undecided: the Hiarcs engine thought White was better around move 15 but Matthew Sadler and others preferred Black.

Hikaru may not have been entirely confident of his chances as he thought for nine minutes about his 16th move: quite a big chunk of his allotted 25 minutes. However, within a few moves, the initiative seemed to have shifted back to the American after Boris played the dubious 17...Ne4. "He's blown it," exclaimed GM Julian Hodgson, perhaps a little melodramatically. Then, calming down slightly, "I think Hikaru's over the worst now – he'll survive."

Julian might have been right the first time. The next few moves saw Hikaru consolidate his material advantage, in machine-like fashion, and Boris never really looked like getting back into the game. At move 25 he used around half of his remaining six minutes, suggesting he was running out of ideas.

More solid moves followed from Hikaru and Boris had to resign.

Game 2 - draw

Boris, with White, played the Averbakh variation of the King's Indian Defence. It followed theory for about 15 moves and Boris acquired a space advantage. However, Black’s position remained playable and White couldn’t bring any real pressure to bear on it. Hikaru used his tactical prowess to exchange queens and then give up the exchange for two pawns. It might sound risky but Black’s pieces remained well-coordinated and Boris’s pair of rooks had no useful inroads. Boris pressed too hard and made a slip. Eventually only Hikaru could win the position but, since he didn’t need to, he was happy to acquiesce to a draw.

What a gripping competition! Thanks to Malcolm Pein and his team for their hard work, the players for their wonderful chess, and to everyone at home and at the venue for being a great audience. See you all again this time next year! (Report by John Saunders)

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London Chess Classic 2013: Boris Gelfand vs Hikaru Nakamura in Final

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

The London Chess Classic 2013 is going to witness the grand final between Boris Gelfand of Israel and Hikaru Nakamura of the USA on Sunday from 17.30 onwards local time at the Olympia Centre in London.

WATCH LIVE FINALS @ LONDON CHESS CLASSIC OFFICIAL WEBSITE

The semi-finals have just finished where Gelfand knocked out a determined Michael Adams and Hikaru Nakamura snatched a win on an endgame-jitters' from Vladimir Kramnik. Gelfand won the first game and drew the second with Adams to cruise to the final. Hikaru drew the first game and was a tad lucky as Kramnik stumbled. 

Earlier, on Saturday, in the quarter-finals, interestingly, three of the eight semi-finalists had an average age of about 40! 

Kramnik 1½-½ Anand: This pairing got off to a hesitant start which drifted into a a draw. In the second game, however, Anand played defensively in the opening and Kramnik beat him in a Semi-Tarrasch with a vicious attack. 

Adams 1-1 (2-0) Svidler: Mickey Adams beat Peter Svidler swapping rooks and converting to an easily winning king and pawn endgame. The second game featured a Réti-ish opening with Svidler winning back. But, in the blitz play-off, Adams won to cruise to the semis. 

Caruana 1-1 (0-2) Gelfand: The Israeli Grandmaster and former World Chess Championship Challenger also needed the tiebreaks to go through to the semis. Both main games were drawn, but Gelfand struck to win the tiebreak! 

Short ½-1½ Nakamura: The first game was a shocker defeat for Nigel Short and Nakamura held his ground to draw the second and get into the semis. 

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Chennai World Chess Match Game 2 Draw: Is it warm Chennai Weather, Players Settling in, Or 2012 Replay Likely?

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

Chennai World Chess Championship Game 2 Anand - Carlsen 1/2-1/2: Is it the warmth of the Chennai weather, the players are just settling in, or an Anand - Gelfand replay in the offing? We are not sure just yet. 

Viswanathan Anand - Magnus Carlsen World 

Chess Championship Game 2 1/2-1/2: 

Photo via official website. Replay the game with Chess King.

Game 2 at the World Chess Championship also ended in a draw this Sunday in Chennai. We're not ready to commit with a verdict yet even though most chess fans said they were disappointed with the quick draw.

The second game of the FIDE World Championship Match saw another repetition of moves (like Game 1) and the draw was agreed on move 25. Defending champion Viswanathan Anand's 1.e4 was met with the Caro Kann which, as Anand admitted at the post-game press conference, was a slight surprise for him. Magnus Carlsen played the Caro Kann last in 2011. Anand has had a recent experience in this line as he has won a nice game against GM Ding Liren, but this time he deviated on move 14 by choosing the seemingly sharper 14.0-0-0. An exchange of Knights and thereafter the Queen left the choice of battle for Anand. 

To the surprise of the commentators and audience alike, Anand decided to accept the trade of Queens instead of continuing to press with 18.Qg4. The resulting endgame was equal.

Monday is a rest day at the Chennai World Chess Championship. Both the players said at the press conference that they would be keen to relax and, possibly, watch football on Monday.

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5th London Chess Classic: Caruana, Gelfand, Svidler, Polgar Also Sign Up

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

 

Chess in Schools and Communities has announced that another four international stars, Fabiano Caruana, Boris Gelfand, Peter Svidler and Judit Polgar have accepted their invitation to play in the 5th London Chess Classic to be staged at the Olympia Conference Centre in Kensington, running from Saturday 7th Fabiano Caruana, 21, is the Miami-born, Brooklyn-raised former chess prodigy who beat Bobby Fischer’s record of becoming the youngest American Grandmaster. He holds both Italian and American citizenship, and plays under the Italian tricolour. In the last year or so, Caruana has burst onto the elite stage with some superb results. Currently, he is ranked World number five on the September 2013 FIDE rating list.

Boris Gelfand, 45, is the Belarus-born Israeli grandmaster who, nearly a quarter-century ago, became a World Top 10 player and qualified for a number of World Championship Candidates events. But just when everyone thought his best days were behind him, he
made a dramatic comeback to win the Candidates to challenge Vishy Anand in last year’s World Championship match, where he lost in the play-offs. And his Indian summer continues: this year, he tied for first in the Alekhine Memorial in Paris and St. Petersburg
followed by clear first at the Tal Memorial in Moscow.

Peter Svidler, 36, is the erudite and popular St. Petersburg grandmaster, former World Cup winner, and multi-time Candidates qualifier with a record-breaking six Russian championship titles to his name. But he’s not your stereotypical Russian grandmaster,
because Svidler is a big cricketing fan who owns a complete set of the cricketer’s almanac Wisden, and once had a letter read out by Henry Blofeld on the BBC’s Test Match Special. 

Judit Polgar, 37, from Budapest, Hungary is a phenomenon in the game. At the age of 15, she broke Bobby Fischer’s near 30-year record for becoming the youngest Grandmaster. Polgar is the best woman player of all time and the only woman currently in the world’s Top 100. At her peak she was in the Top 10 and would regularly do battle in Super GM tournaments with the likes of Kasparov, Karpov and Anand. 

Caruana, Gelfand, Svidler and Polgar now join World Champion Vishy Anand, recent World Cup winner Vladimir Kramnik and the US No.1, Hikaru Nakamura to have confirmed they will play in the 5th London Chess Classic. The rest of the 16-player field will
be announced early next week.

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Boris Gelfand Wins 8th Tal Chess Memorial, Magnus Carlsen Second, Fabiano Caruana Third

12th Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Latest Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone, 

Boris Gelfand was declared sole winner of the Tal Memorial on Sunday in Moscow. The Israeli Grandmaster had an undefeated performance of +3; two of his wins were achieved with the black pieces. This great run put Gelfand back in the top-10 at the live ratings list; he is 9th after gaining 18 points in this event. Defending champion Magnus Carlsen recovered from his loss against Caruana in the third round to finish sole second with 5.5/9 points.

The best Russian in the competition ended up being the lowest-rated, Dmitry Andreikin. The national champion drew eight of his games and defeated Vladimir Kramnik. Andreikin shared 3rd-5th places with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Fabiano Caruana. The young Italian jumped to third place in the live ratings list, and is four points away from the 2800-mark.

The eventual champion arrived to his last game with a draw in mind. His rival, Vladimir Kramnik, did not have a good event and was not likely to push too hard with white, as he was probably expecting to finish the tournament as soon as possible, rest and think about his next compromises. This forecast was accurate as their game was the first one to finish. The experienced strategists split the point in 25 moves.

Gelfand left the playing hall and went on to wait for the result in the game of his closest follower, favorite Magnus Carlsen. The Norwegian also had the black pieces, and faced Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. This game was a totally different affair, as the players went into a sharp middlegame. Gelfand must have been relieved to see that the Azerbaijani was in the driver seat in the middle of the complications, but it is impossible to write-off Carlsen even in the worst situations. This time, the Israeli finished on top as the game ended in a draw in 33 moves.

 

Boris Gelfand with his trophy

The only decisive game of the day was the win of Alexander Morozevich over Hikaru Nakamura. This was Morozevich’s only victory of the event and Nakamura’s third straight loss. The American had a performance full of ups and downs, as he only drew one game, won four and lost four. He seemed in good shape to win the tournament after the sixth round, when he was sole leader and only had Gelfand close behind.

The game was a sharp Queen’s Gambit Accepted where Morozevich chose very complicated lines at the critical moments. The American was left with a healthier pawn structure while black had the bishop pair and a dangerous passed c-pawn. However, the decisive factor in the end was Morozevich’s control of the open h-file. Nakamura sacrificed an exchange to free himself but the material disadvantage was impossible to overcome later. The American resigned on move 49.

Fabiano Caruana and Dmitry Andreikin drew their last round game in 41 moves of a Ruy Lopez. Both players finished on +1 which might be considered more successful for the Russian. Caruana comes from playing the Grand Prix in Thessaloniki and, with two good results in these two events, he rose to third place in the live ratings lists, thanks to an impressive gain of 22 points in the last period. The Italian was not very satisfied with his play in the event, but said that his result was not bad, and that he got it with a little bit of luck.

Sergey Karjakin and Viswanathan Anand signed a rather quick draw in a Sicilian. The world champion’s performance was below par, as he lost three games, something that is very rare for the Indian. The young Russian finished on -1 and was probably expecting a better result in the tournament. (Text: Chessdom.com/Photo: Eteri Kublashvili)

Final Standings:
1 Gelfand, Boris ISR 2755 6
2 Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2864 5½
3 Caruana, Fabiano ITA 2774 5
4 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar AZE 2753 5
5 Andreikin, Dmitry RUS 2713 5
6 Nakamura, Hikaru USA 2784 4½
7 Karjakin, Sergey RUS 2782 4
8 Morozevich, Alexander RUS 2760 3½
9 Anand, Viswanathan IND 2786 3½
10 Kramnik, Vladimir RUS 2803 3

 

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8th Tal Chess Memorial 2013 Round 1: Mamedyarov, Caruana, Carlsen Begin with Wins in Moscow

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone,

The clocks were started at 15:00 local time. This year’s stage is set at the elegant Red October Building in Moscow. Yet another edition of the prestigious Tal Memorial started officially in Russia. The first playing day was long and did not lack emotions. Three decisive games left the same number of players at the top of the standings. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Fabiano Caruana won their first points leading the black pieces, while rating favorite Magnus Carlsen did it with white. The battle has begun.

The first, and rather quick, decisive game favored the new rapid world champion Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. His victim, American Hikaru Nakamura, seemed to be in good shape and ready to have a rampage start after his clear victory in the pre-tournament blitz competition. However, the number 1 player in United States will have to recover from his loss against the Azerbaijani in the upcoming rounds.

The game lasted only 31 moves. In a rather quiet Nimzo-Indian, Nakamura did not sense the imminent danger in the middlegame and allowed his opponent to launch a direct attack against the white king. Mamedyarov is not the kind of player to shy away from a sacrificial attack, and that is precisely what he did on move 19. Today, this aggressive attitude paid up and gave him his first full point.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

Two players known for their deep preparation and their seriousness on and off the board faced each other today. World champion Viswanathan Anand led the white pieces in a battle against the American-born Italian grandmaster, Fabiano Caruana. The young star came out on top in 47 moves of a tense Ruy Lopez.

Read more »

World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand Explains Title Win Over Boris Gelfand in Moscow, 2012 (Video)

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

This is a video with World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand explaining his title win over Boris Gelfand in Moscow, 2012. This was Anand's fifth title - fourth in a row. (Also read:
World Chess Championship 2013 at Hyatt Regency Chennai Nov 6-26)





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Alekhine Chess Memorial 2013: Levon Aronian Wins Title; Boris Gelfand Second, Vishy Anand Third

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

 

The games of the last round of the Alekhine Memorial were played on May 1st in St. Petersburg. Levon Aronian and Boris Gelfand shared the first place with 5.5 points out of 9. The Armenian Grandmaster had a better tie-break score and was awarded the first prize. The Israeli Grandmaster took the second place. The reigning World Champion Vishy Anand finished third with 5 points.

In the last round, Boris Gelfand had White against Vishy Anand. Last year these players competed for the chess crown in a World Chess Championship match in Moscow. Their game was quiet and ended in a draw on the 40th move.

Levon Aronian played a very aggressive opening against the recent leader Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The French Grandmaster ended up in severe time trouble and soon committed the decisive error. Thanks to this victory, Levon Aronian, who considers Alexander Alekhine his favorite player, won the Alekhine Memorial.

At the closing ceremony Aronian thanked the sponsors of the event, its organisers and spectators, who showed genuine interest to the tournament and inspired its participants to demonstrate their creative talent.

The longest game of the round was Adams-Kramnik. The Russian Grandmaster managed to score his second victory, and finished at 50%. The main prizes and special prizes were awarded during the closing ceremony. 

The prize for a game in Alekhine's style was given to Laurent Fressinet who defeated Vladimir Kramnik in Paris. The best combination prize went to Ding Liren for his victory against the eventual tournament winner. Boris Gelfand received the best technique prize and Nikita Vitiugov got the last special prize for the best play during the St. Petersburg half of the tournament.

Resuts of Round 9: Aronian – Vachier-Lagrave 1-0, Adams – Kramnik 0-1, Gelfand – Anand, Vitiugov – Ding Liren, Svidler – Fressinet draws.

Final standings: 1-2. Aronian and Gelfand – both 5.5; 3. Anand – 5; 4-8. Adams, Vitiugov, Fressinet, Kramnik, and Vachier-Lagrave – all 4.5; 9. Ding Liren – 3.5; 10. Svidler – 3.

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Alekhine Chess Memorial 2013 Round 8: Boris Gelfand in Lead with One Round to Go

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

 

The penultimate, 8th round of the Alekhine Memorial was played in St. Petersburg on April 30th. The young St. Petersburg Grandmaster Nikita Vitiugov celebrated his first victory. With Black pieces he outplayed the French Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who was undefeated and shared the first place before the start of the round. St. Petersburg spectators applauded the local player after the game.

Another St. Petersburg Grandmaster, the World Cup winner Peter Svidler made a relatively easy draw as Black against the World Chess Champion Vishy Anand. Soon after that another draw occurred in Fressinet-Aronian. Ding Liren from China and Michael Adams from England played a very complicated and hard-fought game, which ended peacefully.

The longest game of the round was played between Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand. It was also very important for the tournament situation. Kramnik demonstrated a strong novelty and obtained a big advantage. Gelfand defended very tenaciously, as drawing the game would make him a sole leader of the tournament. After seven hours of play, following the series of mutual errors, the game was finally drawn. The last round of the Alekhine Memorial is played on May, 1st.

Results of the round 8: Vachier-Lagrave – Vitiugov 0-1, Kramnik – Gelfand, Fressinet – Aronian, Dong Liren – Adams, Anand – Svidler – all draws.


The standings after eight rounds: 1. Gelfand – 5; 2-5. Adams, Anand, Aronian, Vachier-Lagrave – all 4.5; 6-7. Vitiugov, and Fressinet – both 4; 8. Kramnik – 3.5; 9. Ding Liren – 3; 10. Svidler – 2.5.


The 9th round games: Gelfand – Anand, Aronian – Vachier-Lagrave, Adams – Kramnik, Vitiugov – Ding Liren, Svidler – Fressinet.

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Alekhine Chess Memorial 2013 Round 7: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Boris Gelfand in Joint Lead

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

The 7th round of the Alekhine Memorial was played on April 29th. Before the start of the round it was announced that the charity funds Ladoga and Neva created four special prizes: the best game in Alekhine's style, the best combination, the best technique, and the best result in the St. Petersburg part. These prizes will be awarded at the closing ceremony on May 1st.
There were two decisive games in the 7th round. The World Champion Vishy Anand scored his second victory in the tournament, defeating the French Grandmaster Laurent Fressinet with White. This sharp game was not ideally played by both sides, but Anand made a better use of the opponent's mistakes, and is now just half a point behind the leaders.

His former opponent in the World Championship Match Boris Gelfand defeated young Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren with White. This victory allowed Gelfand to tie for the first place with two rounds to go.

Round 7 results: Anand – Fressinet 1-0, Gelfand – Ding Liren 1-0, Adams – Vachier-Lagrave, Vitiugov – Aronian, and Svidler – Kramnik – draws.

The standings after seven rounds: 1-2. Gelfand and Vachier-Lagrave – both 4.5; 3-5. Adams, Anand, and Aronian – all 4; 6. Fressinet – 3.5; 7-8. Kramnik and Vitiugov – both 3; 9. Ding Liren – 2.5; 10. Svidler – 2.

The 8th round pairings: Kramnik – Gelfand, Vachier-Lagrave – Vitiugov, Fressinet – Aronian, Ding Liren – Adams, Anand – Svidler.

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Fide Chess Candidates 2013: Magnus Carlsen wins on Tiebreak (Final Report)

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone,

Magnus Carlsen won the FIDE Candidates' Tournament in London on Monday after a bizarre finish of what has become a historic event for chess. Both the Norwegian and the other leader, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, unexpectedly lost their game in the final round, and so they remained tied for first place and Carlsen won on the second tie-break rule: higher number of wins. This means that in the next title match, World Champion Viswanathan Anand will face Carlsen. On the last day Levon Aronian of Armenia beat Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan while Boris Gelfand of Israel and Alexander Grischuk of Russia drew their game.

A Hollywood blockbuster couldn’t have had a more dramatic scenario with the hero of the story going down just before the end, only to emerge as the winner after all. This is what happened in rounds 12-13 with Carlsen losing his lead to Kramnik on Friday and then recovering on Sunday, and it also happened in a thrilling final round. The Norwegian unexpectedly lost his white game against Peter Svidler, but because Vladimir Kramnik also went down against Vassily Ivanchuk, Carlsen won the tournament anyway. It was quite a fitting scenario for April 1st, except that this is what really happened!

The day started quietly with a draw between Boris Gelfand and Alexander Grischuk. Facing the Grünfeld, which he included in his own repertoire last year against Anand, Gelfand tried the 5.Bd2 variation. Grischuk was “surprised by 11.Bc4” but reacted well and about the position after 17.f4 he said: “White at maximum can get a very slight advantage but Black can get a winning position if something goes wrong for White.” Already with 18…b4 Black “more or less forced the draw”, according to the Russian. Joining the live commentary, Grischuk said: “I’m quite happy to finish my game early so that I can enjoy this!”

Then, the game between Levon Aronian and Teimour Radjabov finished in favour of the Armenian. “In general after the opening I got a big advantage and it was very difficult to play for Black,” said Aronian. Radjabov, who finally went for a proper King’s Indian – the defence with which he has had so many successes – managed to trap the white queen in the early middle game, but Aronian got two rooks for it and combined with the presence of opposite coloured bishops, his attack on the king was just too strong.

But, of course this last round was all about the other two games: Vassily Ivanchuk versus Vladimir Kramnik and Magnus Carlsen versus Peter Svidler. Because Carlsen was leading on tie-break, Kramnik basically had to outperform him in the final round to emerge as the winner: he needed a win if Carlsen drew, or a draw if Carlsen lost. It all went quite differently. Kramnik, playing black, got under serious pressure right out of the opening, while Carlsen didn’t get much of an opening advantage playing white.

To keep all options open, Kramnik played the Pirc Defence, and Ivanchuk responded with simple, healthy developing moves. However, the Ukrainian (again!) needed quite some time to make his moves in this game, so even though he was building up an advantage, the Carlsen fans weren’t sure at all about the situation. Would Ivanchuk lose on time again...?

Meanwhile, Carlsen himself was using lots of time himself – too much time. After making his 27th move, the Norwegian had only 5 minutes left for 13 moves, and 2 moves later his clock was down to 1 minute and 20 seconds. It was a situation Carlsen hadn’t been in before in all previous rounds! It must have been around this time that the home page of Norway’s biggest newspaper online, vg.no, crashed (like several chess servers) due too the high number of visitors trying to follow the games.

Carlsen only barely made the time control – he made his last three moves in about nine seconds, knocking over some pieces in the process and losing precious seconds there. After the dust had cleared, he found himself in a completely lost ending. Svidler had simply played an excellent game, while Carlsen had succumbed under the pressure and the tension. “I was trying to equalize and then Magnus perhaps overestimated his position,” said Svidler.

“I was spending too much time in the middle game on reasonably good moves but also on not too difficult moves. (…) I definitely overestimated my position. Additionally, I just couldn't calculate very well today and then you have to spend a lot of time, that’s the way it is. Obviously not as much time as I did, because it became a serious liability at the end, but it's not easy. From early on there were lots of things to calculate on every move,” said Carlsen at the press conference, while Ivanchuk and Kramnik were still playing.

Before leaving the press room, Carlsen asked whether he could get the position of that last game on the laptop that was available. By that time Ivanchuk had made the time control, and he had a winning position. Carlsen said: “I think this cannot possibly go wrong,” and right at that moment Kramnik resigned his game, and with it his fight for first place. Carlsen was congratulated by his manager and by Svidler, and immediately gave a few interviews to mostly Norwegian press.

Meanwhile, Ivanchuk and Kramnik arrived in the press room to comment on their game. “I had to play for a win, to burn bridges in a way, because of course I didn't think that Magnus was going to lose. I thought I got what I wanted at some point. It was an interesting position but terribly complicated. Somewhere around 20…Nhf4 I liked my position and then somehow I lost a bit of concentration because I didn’t know what to do,” said Kramnik, who also kept an eye on the other game.

“The problem was that Peter [Svidler]’s position was already promising but not yet so clear so I didn’t know what to do, whether to play for a draw… Somehow I got a bit lost between watching that game and trying to understand what I should do. Then I made a few awful decisions and I was unlucky that I had to make a tough decision on move 40, not 41.” In time trouble the Russian missed an important tactic, and then his position was lost. Ivanchuk agreed that the position was at some point drawish. “But I noticed that my opponent started to play a bit risky and he gave me chances.”

Carlsen then returned to the press room to answer questions in his new status as tournament winner. He said: “I never expected to lose and I didn't really have any expectations for the other game. That didn’t make sense to me since I couldn’t do anything about it. (...) I didn't really want to resign before I was sure that Ivanchuk would win!”

The tournament winner felt that until the 11th round he “played the best chess for sure”. “At the end everyone got tired, the quality got lower and anything could happen. But overall I think I did pretty well and I deserve to win.” Carlsen said he was “very impressed” by Kramnik’s comeback in the second half of the tournament. About his match against Anand, he said: “I think it’s going to be very interesting, a great event but it’s a long time ahead so we’ll see what happens.”

The final standings are as follows: 1. Carlsen 8.5 points (5 wins), 2. Kramnik 8.5 points (4 wins), 3-4. Svidler and Aronian 8 points, 5-6. Grischuk and Gelfand 6.5 points, 7. Ivanchuk 6 points and 8.Radjabov 4 points.

The FIDE Candidates' Tournament took place March 14th-April 1st, 2013 at IET London, Savoy Place. It was sponsored by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and organized by AGON and the World Chess Federation (FIDE).

(Report by Peter Doggers/Pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich)

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Fide Chess Candidates R14: Magnus Carlsen Wins Tournament, Qualifies to Challenge Vishy Anand in Nov, 2013

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

Breaking Chess News:  Magnus Carlsen has earned the right to challenge World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand later this year. The tournament ended with a crazy quirk of fate.

Carlsen won the the Fide Chess Candidates 2013 a few minutes back in an exciting last round. Both Vladimir Kramnik and Magnus Carlsen went into the last round with equal scores. If both were to win their last-round games, Carlsen would have qualified on the basis of the tiebreak as he had more wins. Carlsen would also have qualified if both drew, or both lost. Kramnik would have qualified if he were to win and Carlsen were to draw or if he were to draw and Carlsen were to lose. No one expected both Kramnik and Carlsen to lose their last round games this Monday to Vassily Ivanchuk and Peter Svidler respectively! 

The illustrious line-up in London included Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov, Peter Svidler, Alexander Grischuk, Boris Gelfand and Vassily Ivanchuk.  

Final report now updated.

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Fide Chess Candidates 2013 R13: Carlsen beats Radjabov, in Joint Lead with Kramnik

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

In yet another truly dramatic 13th round of the FIDE World Chess Candidates' Tournament Magnus Carlsen (Norway) caught Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) in first place. Carlsen, who ground down Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) in 89 moves, is now first on tie-break because of his higher number of wins. Kramnik had a promising position against Boris Gelfand (Israel) but couldn't get more than a draw. Alexander Grischuk (Russia) and Levon Aronian (Armenia) drew as well, while Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) lost yet another game on time against Peter Svidler (Russia).

In the 13th round “giant killer” Vassily Ivanchuk returned to his bad habit in this tournament of handling the clock terribly. It’s hard to believe but it’s true: the Ukrainian's flag fell for the fifth time! It must be said that in this game the final position was lost. “It was a new experience for me. When he played 27…Rd7 he looked away, and after I played 28.a4 and pressed the clock, he lost about half a minute trying to figure out which move I made,” said Svidler.

The game was a French Advance, and the Russian grandmaster played concrete moves from the start. “If I do nothing Black will develop very naturally so I went 11.Bg5 and 12.Be3 asking questions with every move.” Then, on move 15, Svidler went for pawn sacrifice. It was “one of those moments” where he thought: “If I don’t play this I will kind of regret it forever.” After 23.Re1 he was “very happy for a while” until he realized that Black has 23…Nd6 there. Svidler then showed an amazingly complicated computer line which his seconds told him about after the game. “Good luck finding that. There’s absolutely no one who can find that out at the board!”

Ivanchuk didn’t spot it, again spent too much time and after White’s 37th move his flag fell. “I saw White’s ideas but I didn’t know what to do. From the opening my position wasn’t very comfortable,” the Ukrainian said. At the press conference GM Danny King asked him the question that needed to be asked: how can you explain to yourself the masterpieces you played against Radjabov and Carlsen, and at the same time losing on time in five games? Ivanchuk: “Everything has happened. I don’t like to focus too much on my lost games. I’d like to forget them as quickly as possible and soon start a new tournament.” On his game against Kramnik tomorrow, he said: “For me it’s not important, it’s just a normal game.”

Alexander Grischuk and Levon Aronian drew a Slav/Catalan in 38 moves. “I think I got a comfortable advantage out of the opening. Black has of course decent chances to equalize but he has to play very accurately because White has a positional advantage in the centre,” said Grischuk, who thought that Aronian’s 12…a5 was “very ambitious”. White got a nice endgame advantage with the bishop pair and more active rooks, but somehow Grischuk misplayed it. “White has to be precise and it will be long suffering for Black,” he said. A tactical phase followed and Aronian could save the half point. At the press conference Grischuk said that he did play for a win: “Of course I lost a big part of my motivation but it’s not every day that I can play against such a brilliant player like Levon!”

Moving on to the two key games of the round, Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand were the first to finish. This encounter started as a Fianchetto Grünfeld and the former World Champion came up with a new idea as early as move five – something that’s very rare in chess. “It’s amazing how many ideas he’s introducing, maybe more than all of us together!” said Gelfand. “At least I got a game, I got a game,” said Kramnik, who needed to keep all options open: going for a solid draw or playing for a win, depending on the developments in Radjabov-Carlsen.

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Big Chess Show 2013: Candidates' Opening Ceremony Today

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

The big chess show of 2013 is here. Today is the opening ceremony of the World Chess Candidates Tournament being held in London

London from March 15-April 1. The event has been announced by FIDE and AGON – the World Chess Federation’s 

commercial partner. 

The London Candidates will be the strongest tournament of its kind in history. The Prize Fund to be shared by the players totals €510,000. The winner of the Candidates will become the Challenger to Viswanathan Anand who has reigned as World Champion since 2007.

Format: The Candidates is a double round-robin tournament with four rest days.

Venue: The IET at 2 Savoy Place

Address: 2 Savoy Place, London WC2R 0BL

Tickets will be available on the official website and at the venue.

Players:

Levon Aronian (ARM)

Magnus Carlsen (NOR)

Boris Gelfand (ISR)

Alexander Grischuk (RUS)

Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR)

Vladimir Kramnik (RUS)

Teimour Radjabov (AZE)

Peter Svidler (RUS)

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of FIDE, said: “FIDE is happy that this major tournament will take place in London and that UK chess fans will be able to see the greatest chess players live. We support AGON’s efforts to bring important chess events to the great cities of Europe.” Andrew Paulson, the founder of AGON, said: “I am pleased to confirm that the 2013 Candidates Tournament will take place in a great venue on the banks of the River Thames and be broadcast online to a global audience.”

The World Chess Championship Cycle is the pinnacle of chess and consists of nine events over two years. The Championship Match between Viswanathan Anand and the winner of the Candidates Tournament will take place in November, 2013. The commercial rights for the World Chess Championship Cycle were accorded to AGON by the World Chess Federation (FIDE) in February 2012.

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Candidates Chess London March 14 - Pairings ad Curtainraiser

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

The Guardian has carried a super curtainraiser on the upcoming Candidates Chess matches in London from March 14. Most fans are betting on World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen to win the tournament and obtain the chance to challenge Viswanathan Anand for the world title. Here is one of the best articles with a preview and analysis of this must-watch historic event!

Chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen enters endgame for world title

22-year-old grandmaster labelled greatest ever player hopes to earn right to play for world championship at London tournament
Stephen Moss in Oslo

  

Magnus Carlsen has been described as the greatest chess player of all time. Photograph: Fred Jonny for the Guardian

Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen is the Tiger Woods of chess. In a good way. Just as Woods, before his fall, established an iron grip on golf, so Carlsen, at the age of 22, has made himself supreme in his own more esoteric field. He became world No 1 while still a teenager, and is now officially rated the strongest player of all time.

What he is not, however, is world champion. That title has been held since 2007 by India's Viswanathan Anand, a great player but 20 years older than Carlsen and now rated only No 6 in the world. The time may be ripe for the young genius, and, in a three-week tournament that starts in London on Thursday, Carlsen and seven other top grandmasters will compete for the right to challenge Anand for his crown later in the year. (Continue reading here.)

Meanwhile, the official website of the event has details of the venue and profiles of the players as well. You can access the site here. In the extended post, you can read the full pairings for all the rounds of the Candidates Chess matches 2013.

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Zurich Chess Challenge 2013 Title Goes to Fabiano Caruana

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

Fabiano Caruana has won the Zurich Chess Challenge 2013. Caruana earned two victories - over Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand - in the six-round round-robin four-player format. Viswanathan Anand finished second with a win over Vladimir Kramnik's after the latter's blunder in the last round. The next tournaments ahead for Kramnik and Gelfand is the Candidates in London.

 

Photo: Georg Kradolfer

Final Standings:
1. Caruana, Fabiano ITA 2757 4
2. Anand, Viswanathan IND 2780 3
3. Kramnik, Vladimir RUS 2810 2½
4. Gelfand, Boris ISR 2740 2½

Here is the video of the awards ceremony via the official website.

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Also see her personal blog at
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