Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
Here is the latest chess news update via FIDE: Eirik T. Gullaksen of Bergensjakk.no stated that six players have been confirmed for the super-tournament Norway Chess 2014. World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, WCC Candidates Levon Aronian, Veselin Topalov, Sergey Karjakin and Peter Svidler are part of the 10-player field. The remaining four names will be announced later. The dates are 2-13th June.
As it was last year, the tournament will take place in different venues. So far confirmed are Inge Brigt Aarbakke factory hall in Bryne, Vågen Videregående Skole – High school in Sandnes, and the main arena in Scandic Hotel Stavanger Forus.
The organizers are making efforts to secure two additional venues. The players will be staying on the new Scandic Stavanger City hotel which will open its doors in May.
Kjell Madland, Norway Chess Chairman, said for Aftenbladet that former World Champion Viswanathan Anand will not participate this time, but is looking forward to come back for Norway Chess 2015.
Madland added that the first prize will be 100,000 EUR, as last year, and that possibly one spot in the tournament will be awarded to the winner of the “Nordic Challenge Tournament”.
The organizers have signed new partners for the next event, including the SR-Bank and Conventor AS.
5th Chess Masters Final in Sao Paulo, Bilbao with Anand, Carlsen, Aronian, Karjakin, Vallejo, Caruana!
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
Five of the eight best chess players in the world will compete in the 5th edition of the Chess Masters Final to be held in Sao Paulo and Bilbao from September 24 to 29.
These include reigning world chess champion Viswanathan Anand, World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, World No. 2 Levon Aronian, Sergey Karjakin, Fabiano Caruana and Paco Vallejo.
Sao Paulo, Brazil's economic capital, will host the first half of the tournament from September 24 to 29. The second and deciding half will be played in Bilbao from October 8 to 13. Sao Paulo and Bilbao will, this year, once again host the Grand Slam Chess Masters Final, making both cities for the second consecutive year the world Chess capitals. The tournament will be played via a double half-robin league. The Brazilian megalopolis will host the first half from September 24 to 29 and the second and defining half will be played in Bilbao from October 8 to 13.
The last edition of the Grand Slam masters Final, first shared by Sao Paulo and Bilbao (the championship's fixed venue) was held from September 25 to October 1 in Brazil and October 5 to 11 in the Biscayan capital. Norway's Magnus Carlsen, number 1 in the world chess rankings, walked away with the title of champion on that occasion. From Alexandra Kosteniuk's www.chessblog.com Also see her personal blog at www.chessqueen.com Don't miss ChessQueenTV
Making Chess Glamorous, Exciting: The Guardian on Andrew Paulson
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The Guardian report on Andrew Paulson who is gearing up to give chess a jazz new look makes an interesting read. Here is an excerpt.
Chess impresario hopes to bring back the Fischer v Spassky glory days
Andrew Paulson, a 54-year-old American businessman who has spent most of the past 15 years in Russia, is committed to reversing this decline. In a remarkable financial coup, he has persuaded Fide, the international governing body of chess, to hand him the media and marketing rights to the world championship for the next 10 years.
Suddenly, this chess enthusiast who admits to being a "patzer" – a player of no great ability – has become the game's potential king. "The characters in the chess world are fascinating," he says at Simpson's in the Strand, a famous chess coffee house in the 19th century and a possible venue for a new grand prix tournament to be staged in London next year. "When I first dove into the chess world, I felt incredibly comfortable with these people. It was like being back in college. These were passionate, eccentric, but deeply committed. They see themselves as the keepers of the holy grail."
Paulson, who ran publishing businesses in Russia and remains a director of an internet company based in Moscow, did not set out to become a major player in the chess world. He met Fide's controversial president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, by chance last September, and says he immediately realised chess had huge untapped commercial potential.
How did he convince Fide to let him take over marketing of the game? "Their fundamental error was that they were trying to get sponsors for [single] events. I said to them, 'No. If you give me all of the events connected to the world championship, I can reconceive this as a whole.' Then we're not selling an event, we're selling chess. We're selling chess as an idea, as a symbol, as a metaphor."
His company, Agon, is about to release the results of a YouGov poll on chess in the US which he says proves how extensive is the interest in the game. Fourteen per cent of adults play at least once a year; and the percentage is higher if you add the number of children playing regularly. Even more striking is the fact that two-thirds of American adults have played chess at some point in their lives.
Design group Pentagram is developing a new visual identity for the world championship, using the tagline "The best mind wins", and Paulson has commissioned a short film drawing on footage from the Fischer-Spassky match and from movies which have featured chess, notably From Russia with Love. He wants chess to be seen not as some nerdy pastime, but as central to the culture of both east and west.
Paulson claims he will shortly be unveiling long-term sponsorship deals with half a dozen companies in different sectors. They will provide the €6m (£4.8m) a year it will cost to finance the new biennial world championship series, which will incorporate grand prix events in leading cities, a world cup, a candidates tournament between the top eight players emerging from those earlier competitions, and then an extended title match between the challenger and the holder.
Paulson is allowed to choose one wildcard entry to the candidates tournament, and it is a testimony to the fact he intends to reintroduce some showmanship into chess that he has already sounded out Kasparov for what would be a sensational comeback. Kasparov, who will be 50 next year, has so far rejected the idea, but Paulson hopes he can be persuaded to change his mind.
As his play in exhibition matches shows, he remains a formidable opponent, and his return to competitive chess would generate widespread interest. "I see one of my goals as making chess a spectator sport," says Paulson. "You can make it interactive now. There are so many resources that can be brought to bear to make the watching of a chess event fun for individuals and for groups."
Tal Chess Memorial R5: All games drawn after ballistic chess;
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
Even though all the games were drawn in the fifth round at the VI Tal Chess Memorial in Moscow on Sunday, the round was an exhausting one. Absolutely. Nepomniatchtchi, Aronian and Carlsen were all poised to win but the defenses were equally tenacious.
The standings after Round 5 have Aronian, Carlsen, Karjakin and Nepomniachtchi with 3 points, Anand, Ivanchuk and Svidler 2.5 points, Kramnik and Nakamura 2.0 points and Gelfand with 1.5 points.
Vladimir Kramnik at the Tal Chess Memorial
Here are all the games of Round 5 while you can access the official website at this link.
It's football season as the World Cup continues in South Africa. Check out the following game and you will feel as if the Black King caught the football fever too!
The Black King decided to march down himself - all the way into enemy territory - to score a 'goal' (read 'queen a pawn'!)
This game was played between GM Alexander Riazantsev and Sergey Karjakin at the just-concluded XI Karpov Poikovsky Chess Tournament. The game was so complicated that it even got chess engines thinking. That's the power of 'human chess'!
You can even read a beautiful column by GM Lubomir Kavalek on the game in the Huffington Post.
Karjakin wins XI Karpov Poikovsky Chess Tournament
Hi everyone!
It seems Sergey Karjakin is on a magical run. Congratulations to him for winning the XI Karpov Poikovsky Tournament. The 20-year-old young man just won the World Rapid Cup in Odessa.
In the final round he beat Israeli Grandmaster Emil Sutovsky. Though Sutovsky was the one who was pressing for a win with Black, Karjakin seized a small chance to eventually win the point.
Meanwhile, Moldovian GM Viktor Bologan won his last few games to tie with Karjakin. However, Sergey won on tie-break points. Congratulations!
You can read all about it at the Russian website Chesspro.ru.
And, here is Karjakin's last-round game against Sutovsky. It's really worth looking at.
Here is the pgn which you can also run in our pgn player:
Four players - D. Jokovenko, V. Bologan, N. Vitiugov, S. Karjakin - were jointly leading after the tenth round at the XI Poikovsky Karpov Tournament in Poikovsky. Poikovsky is located in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region of Russia.
Earlier, in the ninth round, Grandmaster Dimtry Jakovenko was leading by half a point. However, he lost his game to Alexander Onischuk while Sergey Karjakin, who was only half a point behind, drew his game. Only one round is left to be played.
You can read interesting articles about the tournament at Chesspro.ru in Russian or at Chessbase.com in English. You can find the official website of the tournament here.
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12th Women's World Chess Champion
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Here is the latest chess news update via FIDE: Eirik T. Gullaksen of Bergensjakk.no stated that six players have been confirmed for the super-tournament Norway Chess 2014. World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, WCC Candidates Levon Aronian, Veselin Topalov, Sergey Karjakin and Peter Svidler are part of the 10-player field. The remaining four names will be announced later. The dates are 2-13th June.
