Ukraine Chess Champions 2013: Yuriy Kryvoruchko, Mariya Muzychuk Crowned Champions
12th Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Latest Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013
Hi everyone,
The final of the 82nd Ukrainian Chess Championship took place on 15-26th June in Kiev with 12 players competing in the round-robin format. Grandmasters Yuriy Kryvoruchko and Ruslan Ponomariov shared the first place with 7,5 points each. Kryvoruchko is declared new national champion thanks to the better tie-break score. Last year's champion Anton Korobov finished third half a point behind.
Yuriy Kryvoruchko (photo by Anestis Mihailidis)
Final standings:
1-2. Kryvoruchko Yuriy 2659 and Ponomariov Ruslan 2743 – 7,5
3. Korobov Anton 2715 – 7,0
4-5. Alexander Areshchenko 2708 and Moiseenko Alexander 2711 – 6,5
6. Efimenko Zahar 2651 – 6,0
7-9. Volokitin Andrei 2687, Pavel Eljanov 2707 and Bogdanovich Stanislav 2567 – 5,5
10. Kravtsiv Martyn 2626 – 4,5
11. Baryshpolets Andrey 2547 – 3,0
12. Neverov Valeriy 2515 – 1,0
The Ukrainian Women Championship featured ten players in the round robin tournament. Mariya Muzychuk repeated last year’s success and convincingly won the title with 7,5/9 points, leaving the nearest follower point and a half behind. The reigning World Champion Anna Ushenina missed the tournament because she is competing in FIDE Grand Prix in Dilijan. (Text: chessdom.com/Official website)
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Labels: mariya muzychuk, Ruslan Ponomariov, yuriy kryvoruchko
Renova Chess Grand Prix 2013 R7: Ponomariov, Topalov in Lead
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013Hi everyone,
At the seventh round of the third stage Grand Prix in Zug only one game was decisive while all others finished in draws. Gata Kamsky defeated one of the leaders Alexander Morozevich. The central game of the round between two other leaders Veselin Topalov (White) and Ruslan Ponomariov (Black) finished peacefully after long and precise defence of White in a worse endgame. After 7 rounds Ruslan Ponomariov and Veselin Topalov share the first place with 4, 5 points. Two Russian players Alexander Morozevich, Sergey Karjakin and Italian Fabiano Caruana are half a point behind.
Kamsky – Morozevich 1-0 Gata Kamsky got the position with a small space advantage out of the opening but was not sure how to fight for more, as he estimated the position as equal. The help suddenly came from his opponent, who chose the wrong plan with 19…Nf6 – 20…Nh5. During the press-conference Alexander Morozevich pointed out that the game was completely lost for Black after Nf6. American player could have got advantage after an accurate 22.Bh4 but played Rae1 instead, allowing Black to protect h4 square by playing Qd8. However, Black continued making mistakes and Gata Kamsky, despite the fact he was in time trouble, found the exact way to win.
Leko-Mamedyarov 1/2-1/2 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov chose to play quite rare line in Ruy Lopez with 4...Nge7. Peter Leko was expecting Caro-Kann. He mentioned during the press-conference that his preparation started relatively late because he could not miss the football match Real-Borussia. Hungarian player tried to find the way to get an edge with White but it seems Shakhriyar had better preparation and was following his analyzes at least till the 15th move. Azeri player managed to equalize and after the nice blow Rf2 it was White who had to find the exact moves to make a draw.
Read more »Labels: renova chess grand prix 2013, Ruslan Ponomariov, veselin topalov
Renova Chess Grand Prix 2013 Round 6: Ponomariov, Topalov, Morozevich in Joint Lead
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hi everyone,
The Renova Chess Grand Prix has three leaders after six rounds: Ponomariov, Topalov and Morozevich. Both leaders Veselin Topalov and Alexander Morozevich finished their games in draws while Ruslan Ponomariov outplayed Gata Kamsky to join two other leaders on top of the table.
Hikaru Nakamura won the first game in the tournament against Rustam Kasimdzhanov The craziest game of the sixth round between Fabiano Caruana and Sergey Karjakin ended in a draw, but not before either player had had a winning position.
Teimour Radjabov - Veselin Topalov ½ - ½Following the previous round's game, Radjabov wanted to come back to the event and he selected the Alekhine variation against the Nimzo Indian. The line they followed was quite extensively played before and the new move was 17.0-0-0 but this did not change much. However, White decided to check Black’s preparation and Veselin Topalov had to play precisely in order to equalize.
It seems both opponents were familiar with many different lines in this opening as the players used around 1 hour each for the 30 odd moves played today.
Fabiano Caruana - Sergey Karjakin 1/2-1/2
Six of the GMs in this event have become Grandmasters before the age of 15! The record holder Karjakin (GM at 12 years and 7 months but now a ripe 23 years old!) was Black against Caruana who also achieved his title at a very young age. They chose the positional variation of the Ruy Lopez Berlin with 4.d3 and while Black maintained equality till move 19, Karjakin then chose the dubious 20…Ne5?! which gave Caruana the opportunity to get a winning advantage with 21.f4! However, Caruana missed the easy 35.Rxe7+ Bxe7 36.Qe6+ Kf8 37.d6 Bd8 38.d7 Be7 39.Qd6 winning immediately. After 37…a4 Black was back in the game as the pawn had to be blockaded before it became a runner. Fabiano Caruana started to make mistakes and it was hard for Italian player to defend his position after 42.d6. Computer analysis was showing -6 in Black’s favor when suddenly Sergey “helped” his opponent to survive. 48…Bd4?? 49. Bd4 Rd4 50.Rf6! and it’s a draw on the board! During the press-conference Sergey pointed out that probably he just didn’t deserve to win this game. His opponent replied with a smile that most likely both of them deserved to lose it.
Ruslan Ponomariov - Gata Kamsky 1 - 0
Interestingly, Ponomariov tested his opponent with 1.c4. Kamsky spent some time on his first move choice and then replied 1…c6 which soon transposed into a Caro Kann - Panov Botvinnik with Bb4. Kamsky avoided the main line with 10…Bb7 and instead chose 10…Bxc3 which allowed white to resolve the traditional isolated pawn structure. “I tried to trick my opponent with this move order today. We had English, then Slav, Panov and even ended up in some Nimzo,” explained Ruslan Ponomariov.
The new move came on with 15…Rfd8 but Kamsky was spending a lot of time on the position and around move 25 had only 4 minutes left for 15 moves in a very difficult position. Both players agreed that Black could have tried to play f6 earlier in order not to let White to get so strong initiative. 29.d5! was a nice touch and White dominated from that point on.
“The tournament is very strong and it’s hard to win at least one game here. I have +2 which I believe is a good result, taking into consideration my previous results in Grand Prix events,” said the former world chess champion during the press-conference.
Alexander Morozevich - Peter Leko ½ - ½Morozevich played a positional line against Leko and they chose the Symmetrical English. Black chose a minor line with 6…Bc5 instead of the main line 6…Qb6 or 6…Bb4 transposing to the Nimzo Indian. The idea of Black was just to avoid repeating the line with Qb6 played between same opponents in Tashkent.
Hungarian player lost that important game and it was psychologically hard to repeat the same line. White in turn, chose a rarely played line with 10.Nd5!? instead of 10.Bf4. “If I would have been ready for Nd5 I would have reacted immediately,” said Peter Leko at the press-conference. Leko’s 12…d5 was a new move compared to the previous 12..b5.
There was very little movement in the equality line however as both players played extremely accurate and gave no chance to the other side to take any realistic advantage.
“Today I feel very happy because it’s a first game when I equalised with White and I’m pretty happy that I’m improving. I was not so sure after the opening if I would be able to do it today but once I played Qe4 I thought it should be okay. Maybe I had some advantage but not enough to put some real pressure. So, I plan to keep on playing game by game and equalising,” commented Alexander Morozevich on his play.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov - Anish Giri ½ - ½
After the previous game, the Azeri player decided not to spend much time for preparation and just play some fighting chess. Anish Giri cleverly chose a line with little complications and one which they had both played before, as white!
Mamedyarov tried to tempt Giri to take on c4 after 4.Bg5 but black went for a Ragozin setup with a slight improvement of 13…Bd7. In the post game analysis the players spent some time on 19.Nh5 and although White may have been better, he could not convert the position into a concrete advantage.
Once queens came off there was a steadfast exchange of pieces in very short time and a draw was agreed on move 46. However, after inaccurate move 29.Rb1 Black could have tried to play for more with 29…a5. “I’ve already said to myself it is a draw and in such case it’s not a good idea to change my mind. Maybe I have slight pressure in this position,” explained Anish Giri.
Rustam Kasimdzhanov - Hikaru Nakamura 0-1
Nakamura was obviously in a mood for complications as he first went for 1…Nc6 and then chose 3…Nge7 in the Ruy Lopez. Kasimdzhanov played very well and got a solid advantage up until the dubious sacrifice 26.Rxd6?! which Black reacted very well to and took the upper hand defending against the immediate threats to emerge with a piece extra for three pawns. This might not have been enough to win but Rustam was in time trouble and made a few mistakes.
According to Rustam, the last mistake was 37.Be2. He should have played 37.Be4, changing the pieces and keeping good chances to make a draw. After the move Be2 Black pieces came close to the White’s king and there was no defence against checkmate.
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Labels: Alexander Morozevich, renova chess grand prix 2013, Ruslan Ponomariov, veselin topalov
World Chess Cup 2013: Fide Publishes First List
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
FIDE is publishing the first list of qualifiers for the World Cup 2013, a list which will be continuously updated as zonal and continental events are still taking place throughout the world. The World Cup this year is scheduled for 10 August to 5 September 2013 in Tromso, Norway.
Read more »Labels: alezander grischuk, fide list, Magnus Carlsen, peter svidler, Ruslan Ponomariov, Vassily Ivanchuk, Viswanathan Anand, world chess cup 2013
Tashkent Chess Grand Prix R5: Ponomariov beats Morozevich
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The fifth round at the Chess Grand Prix in Tashkent witnessed Ruslan Ponomariov, Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Gata Kamsky winning their first games at the event. Ruslan Ponomariov beat sole leader Alexander Morozevich allowing Karjakin, Kasimdzhanov, Mamedyarov, Caruana to join Morozevich in the lead. Peter Svidler had good chances to join the group of leaders but didn't succeed to win the position with advantage against Leinier Dominguez. Two other games Karjakin – Leko and Mamedyarov-Caruana were drawn. You can replay the nice Ponomariov-Morozevich game in the extended post with Chess King.
Read more »Labels: Alexander Morozevich, Ruslan Ponomariov, tashkent chess memorial
Tashkent Chess Grand Prix 2012 Round 4: Morozevich Leads
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012Hi everyone,
Svidler on his way to beating Ponomariov in Tashkent.
Four rounds have been played at the FIDE Grand Prix in Tashkent. The fourth round witnessed the maximum number of decisive games so far - three! But, the draws have not been without a fight. The rating favorite of the tournament Fabiano Caruana managed to win his second game in a row whilst Wang Hao outplayed Gata Kamsky in the deep endgame and Peter Svidler won his first game in the tournament against former FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov. The main game of the fourth round was clearly between the sole leader of the tournament Alexander Morozevich and the in-form Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who was in second place, and ultimately finished in a draw. As a result, Morozevich still keeps leading with half a point ahead of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Sergey Karjakin, Wang Hao and Fabiano Caruana.
The third round witnessed two decisive games. Fabiano Caruana outplayed Gata Kamsky and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov defeated Peter Svidler. Chinese player Wang Hao was very close to gain the first victory in the tournament but failed to find the winning idea in the opposite color bishops endgame. Alexander Morozevich made a draw against Boris Gelfand and keeps leading in the tournament. You can replay the Morozevich-Caruana game with Chess King.
Labels: Alexander Morozevich, peter svidler, Ruslan Ponomariov, tashkent chess grand prix
Istanbul Chess Olympiad R3: Ukraine Survives Israel Scare in Open; China Ground Down Ukraine in Women's Section
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The Istanbul Chess Olympiad 2012 is only three rounds old. The fun is just starting with stronger teams finding opponents closer in strength. Ukraine nearly lost against Israel, but for a cool turnaround by Ruslan Ponomariov. GM Ponomariov was clearly worse against his Israeli counterpart GM Maxim Rodshtein, but the former World Chess Champion somehow turned the tables after the first time control and managed to win the game. (left Ruslan Ponomariov).
GM Boris Avrukh ground down GM Pavel Eljanov, but GM Andrei Volokitin showed no mercy against GM Evgeny Postny. With Ivanchuk and Gelfand drawing on the top board, Ukraine won the match by 2,5-1,5.
Russia again played safely, scoring three draws and a win by Jakovenko in their match against Latvia. After yesterday's exhausting game with Lithuania, USA top board Hikaru Nakamura played the necessary 30 moves to take a draw with GM Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela. Nakamura's team-mates cleared the rest of the opposing team for the convincing 3,5-0,5 victory.
Read more »Labels: alexander beliavsky, harikrishna, Hou Yifan, istanbul chess olympiad 2012, kateryna lahno, maria muzychuk, maxim rodshtein, Ruslan Ponomariov, Zhao Xue
Ukraine Chess Championship Begins with Ruslan Ponomariov as Top Seed
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012Hi everyone,
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| Ruslan Ponomariov |
The 81st edition of the Ukrainian National Chess Championship has begun today and would run till August 7 at the President Hotel in Kiev. Twelve players are competing in the event with Ruslan Ponomariov being top seed. He is also the defending champion. Vassily Ivanchuk is not taking part in the event. With the average elo of 2666 this is the strongest Championship ever in the history of independent Ukraine.
Players:
Ruslan Ponomariov 2726
Alexander Moiseenko 2706
Andrei Volokitin 2704
Zahar Efimenko 2694
Pavel Eljanov 2693
Alexander Areshchenko 2691
Anton Korobov 2683
Evgeny Miroshnichenko 2632
Sergey Fedorchuk 2630
Yuriy Kuzubov 2629
Alexander Zubov 2621
Yuri Vovk 2584
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Labels: alexander moiseenko, Andrei Volokitin, pavel eljanov, Ruslan Ponomariov, ukraine national chess, zahar efimenko
Thursday chess endgame study - What's Ponomariov's idea?
World Chess Cup R7.2: Svidler-Grischuk draw; Ponomariov loses to Ivanchuk
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
 The latest chess news from Khanty-Mansiysk is that in the second match of Round 7, Peter Svidler and Alexander Grischuk drew while Ruslan Ponomariov lost to Vassily Ivanchuk. The latter are playing for the third and fourth place while the former are playing, of course, for the title. Hope you're following the excellent live coverage at the official website. But all said and done, it's tough when you are playing against a friend or compatriot from the same country for a crucial title. You can find some very nice interviews by all the players and other press reports at the official website also.
Here are the games of Round 7. Game 2 via the official website game links.
1 1.5−0.5 Svidler, Peter (RUS) ½-½ Grischuk, A (RUS) View
2 0.5−1.5 Ponomariov, R (UKR) 0−1 Ivanchuk, V (UKR) View
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Labels: alexander grischuk, chess news, peter svidler, Ruslan Ponomariov, Vassily Ivanchuk, World Chess Cup 2011
World Cup of Chess R5.2: Judit knocked out; Svidler, Ponomariov through to semifinals
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
Round 5.2 saw a Russian and a Ukrainian go through to the next round. Peter Svidler beat Judit Polgar and Ruslan Ponomariov beat Vugar Gashimov. On the other boards, Teimour Radjabov (who had lost the first game of the round) struck back to win against Vassily Ivanchuk. They now play the tiebreaks tomorrow. Also playing the tiebreaks tomorrow will be Alexander Grischuk and David Navara who drew their second game also today.
Don't forget to watch the great high-definition live broadcast at the official website. (Find great photos of both the semifinalists - Peter Svidler and Ruslan Ponomariov at www.chesspics.com.)
Here are the exciting games for you to follow via the official website link.
Round 5. Game 2 match
1 0.5−1.5 Polgar, Judit (HUN)0−1 Svidler, Peter (RUS) View
2 1−1 Radjabov, T (AZE)1−0 Ivanchuk, Vassily (UKR) View
3 1−1 Navara, David (CZE)½-½ Grischuk, Alexander (RUS) View
4 0.5−1.5 Gashimov, Vugar (AZE)0−1 Ponomariov, R (UKR) View
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Labels: peter svidler, Ruslan Ponomariov, World Cup of Chess
Ruslan Ponomariov wins Ukraine National Chess Championship 2011
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
Grandmaster Ruslan Ponomariov has won the 80th National Chess Championship of Ukraine.
80th Ukrainian Chess Championship. The former Fide World Chess Champion won the last two rounds to win the title with a total of 8.5 points a full point ahead of Grandmaster Pavel Eljanov in second place.
The 80th Ukrainian Chess Championship was held from June 9 to 21 at the Ukrainian House in Kiev. The average rating of the tournament was 2650.5 wit three grandmasters.
Final standings:1. GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2754 - 8.5
2. GM Eljanov Pavel 2712 - 7.5
3. GM Efimenko Zahar 2701 - 7
4. GM Moiseenko Alexander 2679 - 7
5. GM Volokitin Andrei 2677 - 6.5
6. GM Kryvoruchko Yuriy 2640 - 6
7. GM Areshchenko Alexander 2694 - 5
8. GM Miroshnichenko Evgenij 2651 - 5
9. GM Korobov Anton 2660 - 4.5
10. GM Vysochin Spartak 2529 - 4
11. GM Vovk Yuri 2550 - 2.5
12. GM Kovchan Alexander 2558 - 2.5
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at Labels: Ruslan Ponomariov, Ukraine chess championship
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