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Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Unive Chess from October 18: Michael Adams Top Seed
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
Get set for the traditional 17th Unive Chess Tournament to be held from October 18-26 in the town hall of Hoogeveen, Netherlands. The main Crown Group will see two talented juniors competing against two experienced players in a double round robin event. The first round is on 20th October.
The players are Michael Adams (England 2753), Wesley So (Philippines 2706), Loek van Wely (Netherlands 2693) and Robin van Kampen (Netherlands 2607). The 2012 champion at the event was Hikaru Nakamura. The additional events are Unive Open with a strong international field and two Amateur tournaments (morning and afternoon groups). These events will be held over nine rounds of Swiss system. (www.chessdom.com)
Top rated players in the Unive Open are: GM Rodshtein Maxim ISR 2664, GM L’Ami Erwin NED 2645, GM Krasenkow Michael POL 2640, GM Ernst Sipke NED 2573, GM Haslinger Stewart ENG 2543 and GM Moskalenko Viktor ESP 2520.
Sigeman Chess Tournament 2013: Rapport, Sokolov, Van Wely Lead
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013 Hi everyone,
Three rounds have been already played at the Sigeman Chess Tournament 2013. The field is very strong and evenly matched, so the score of the three players that are sharing the lead is only +1, according to a Chessdom report. Richard Rapport is among the leaders thanks to his second round victory over experienced GM Nigel Short. The young Hungarian played with white and delivered mate after 52 moves. The Englishman used his usual creative play but was not able to get an advantage as he wished. The position seemed quite balanced when, right after the time control, Short started to blunder in a queens and rooks endgame. Rapport profited from these mistakes and got his first full point of the event. In the third round, Rapport faced another member of the leading pack, Ivan Sokolov. The game was a Benoni proposed by the Hungarian, which finished in a rather short 25 moves draw. Ivan Sokolov gained his edge in the tournament after beating Emanuel Berg with white in the first day of competition. Sokolov used a correct position style to outplay his opponent in a King’s Indian Defense. He gained an advantage very early in the game, but had to work hard to convert it into a win. Berg only signed his defeat after 62 moves. Sokolov already played against the other two leaders, drawing against both. He will have a chance to grab sole lead in the fourth round, as he will have the white pieces against Hans Tikkanen, who lost his last game with white. Dutch GM Loek Van Wely was the last one to join the leading pack. His victory with black over Hans Tikkanen in today’s third round puts him in the fight for first place. The players battled in a Reti Opening where Van Wely went for the initiative from the beginning, leaving his king uncastled. The tactical phase of the game was handled precisely by the Dutch who forced his opponent to resign right after the time control. Van Wely comes from playing successfully in Oceania where he grabbed clear first place in Sidney and shared second place in Canberra. His good performances might allow him to go back to the 2700+ Elo club. If he manages to do so, we will see him once again at the main world events. Standings after 3 rounds: 1 Rapport, Richard HUN 2674 2 2 Sokolov, Ivan NED 2642 2 3 Van Wely, Loek NED 2689 2 4 Short, Nigel D ENG 2681 1½ 5 Berg, Emanuel SWE 2561 1½ 6 Grandelius, Nils SWE 2556 1½ 7 Tikkanen, Hans SWE 2537 1 8 Hector, Jonny SWE 2512 ½ From Alexandra Kosteniuk's www.chessblog.com Also see her personal blog at www.chessqueen.com Don't miss Chess Queen™ YouTube Channel
75th Tata Steel Chess 2013 R9: Carlsen in Sole Lead
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
In round 9 of the 75th Tata Steel Chess Tournament the world number one Magnus Carlsen increased his lead to a full point. Although the top seed quickly gained the upper hand with black against the bottom seed, Hou Yifan, the former Women's World Champion put up a fierce fight and only threw in the towel deep in a queen endgame. Viswanathan Anand, in second place at 6 out of 9, surprised Peter Leko with a Najdorf Sicilian, and a novelty. It did not give him more than equality and the game was drawn in 25 moves.
Round 9 - Tuesday the 22nd Sokolov, I. - van Wely, L. 0-1 Leko, P. - Anand, V. ½-½ Karjakin, S. - Harikrishna, P. ½-½ Hou, Y. - Carlsen, M. 0-1 L'Ami, E. - Aronian, L. ½-½ Wang, H. - Caruana, F. ½-½ Nakamura, H. - Giri, A. ½-½
On paper, Hikaru Nakamura seemed to have good chances to join Anand in 2nd place, playing White against Anish Giri 2012 Tata, the American had played the Dutchman six (!) times, winning two games and losing none.
Remco Heite Chess Begins with McShane, Sokolov, Van Wely, Sadler
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The Remco Heite Chess Tournament 2012 is taking place from November 15 – 18th in Netherlands. It is a round robin tournament with Grandmasters Luke McShane, Ivan Sokolov, Loek Van Wely, Matthew Sadler, Ernst Spike, and Daniel Fridman.
The first round was played on Friday. Luke McShane and Loek Van Wely took the lead after victories against Ivan Sokolov and Daniel Fridman, while the game Sadler – Ernst finished draw.
Saturday and Sunday will have double rounds.
The Remco Heite Tournament is a biennial tournament. The first edition, in 2006, was won by Loek van Wely. In 2008, the first prize went to the Polish Grandmaster Bartlomiej Macieja. Englishman Luke McShane won in 2010. From Alexandra Kosteniuk's www.chessblog.com Also see her personal blog at www.chessqueen.com Don't miss Chess Queen™ YouTube Channel
No Work Visa, No Chess Camp: U.S. Authorities to GM Van Wely
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The Chess Vibes has just reported that On Monday night at Newark Airport Loek van Wely was denied to enter the United States because he "lacked a work visa". When the Dutch grandmaster told the authorities that, among other things, he was going to teach chess to American kids, they considered this an illegal working activity. As a result of that, Van Wely's entry was refused, he got detained, handcuffed and escorted by police to a plane and deported. Monday, July 9th at 21.30 Loek van Wely arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport. He had just started a big trip to the USA. As always, at customs he was asked what he was going to do in the USA, and he explained that he would celebrate holidays, play poker, play chess and participate in two chess camps.
This attracted their attention,
Van Wely told Chess Vibes on the phone on Wednesday night.
"I explained that I was going to teach kids chess, and they asked if I would be earning money with this. I said yes, and told them how much. Then they detained me."
Van Wely was held in a small room for eight hours, and had to hand over his mobile phone.
"I was allowed to make one phone call, as if I was some dangerous criminal. I called the Duch consulate, but they couldn't help me," said Van Wely. On Tuesday morning at 04:30 AM he was handcuffed and escorted to a terminal. There he had to wait for another 4.5 hours before he was escorted by police to a plane which flew him back to London. (He had also flown to Newark via London.)
Besides visiting Atlantic City, New York and Las Vegas, Van Wely was going to coach quite strong teenagers, rated between 2200 and 2500, in Saint Louis for a few days. Later he would also join a short chess camp in L.A.
"Instead of considering this a noble act, they looked at this as an illegal working activity. (...) I was surprised I didn't end up in Guantanamo Bay," Van Wely wrote on Facebook, where he revealed the whole affair in a status update on Wednesday.
The Dutch grandmaster said he understands that a working visa is required for his coaching work. "However, the reaction was heavily exaggerated. The thing is, they are never bothered when you tell them you will play a chess tournament, and you have a chance to win some money. And for a chess player, making money with coaching comes down to the same thing, but for the authorities it's very different. They see coaching, much more than playing, as work."
Last year Van Wely also took part in a chess camp in Los Angeles, before playing in a tournament there.
"I only started recently with these chess camps, so it's not a regular income or anything. And it was just going to be ten days; it's not that I was going to doing a lot of work in the States."
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