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Friday, October 4, 2013
Former FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov Talks Chess and Trading
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
Here are excerpts from an interview with Rustam Kasimdzhanov - World FIDE Chess Champion 2004. You can read the full interview here.
From L-R: Christian (German Operations Manager), Nikita (Russian Operations Manager), Rustam (FIDE 2004 World Champion) and Jack (Tradimo Head Coach)
Rustam Kasimdzhanov: Frankly speaking, there's no routine or schedule. Sometimes I may dedicate 12 or 14 hours to chess, sometimes just half an hour. I spend more time playing when I'm surrounded by other chess players, and less time when I'm alone, obviously. I know some people who spend all their spare time playing chess! However, there are those who can get by on their own talent and who don't spend so much time studying and practising.
Q. It's similar to trading in this way. There are traders who spend days and nights at the PC and others who can manage on two hours a day and still succeed. It's more about style and strategy. Talking of strategies, in trading, there's a concept called money management whereby a trader defines their acceptable levels of risk. Is there anything like this in chess?
In chess, risk management is very important and also depends on your style as a player. Some positions are lower risk than others. Say there's an interesting move but the results are completely unknown, the Old School would say 'no, don't make that move'. But it depends on your style. Someone else will take more risk, and then reassess after every move and every piece sacrificed. Others are not so fond of such uncertainty and weigh all the risks before making a decision. I'm sure it's the same in trading.
Yes, quite right. Traders often take completely different approaches to each other in the same market conditions – some tend to avoid trading, while others enter the market and increase their position sizes, taking on more risk.
Yes, I suppose such people can be found wherever there's a need to make strategic decisions and assess risk.
Rustam, tell us why you came to Tradimo? What did you like about it? Rustam Kasimdzhanov: Frankly speaking, I'm fairly surprised there are people who still haven't signed up on your site. Your project is very interesting as it offers training in financial trading and money management absolutely for free. Too many people prefer to pay huge sums of money to someone who will trade for them, and they lose the chance to maximise their own capital.
Q.Will you share your financial trading experience with our users? What further plans in this area do you have?
This topic is extremely interesting for me. I have read a lot about trading, have tried everything under real conditions and now I'm going to contribute much more time to it. As I see it, one shouldn't trust someone else to manage their money if they have an opportunity to do it themselves. And nowadays, knowing how financial markets and macroeconomics work is no bad thing for anyone.
I agree entirely. Even if we don't take part in financial market trading directly, we do still exchange currency when going abroad and then coming back.
Thessaloniki Chess Grand Prix 2013 Round 1: Svidler, Kamsky, Kasimdzhanov Win
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013 Hi everyone,
The first round of the fourth stage of FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Thessaloniki got under way on 22nd May, with the Greek-Russian businessman Ivan Savvidis, main sponsor of the event, making the first symbolic move in the game Kamsky - Dominguez. After playing 1.e2-e4, Savvidis told Kamsky "now you have no right to lose this game". The American champion lived up to the expectations and went on to defeat Leinier Dominguez. To complete the fortunate day for Mr Savvidis, his club PAOK Saloniki also beat Asteras Tripolis 2-1 in the Greek Football Super-Liga play-off. Peter Svidler and Rustam Kasimdzhanov also started with victories, while the other three games ended in draws. Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated. Ponomariov - Caruana 1/2-1/2 The first game to finish was the match between Ruslan Ponomariov and Fabiano Caruana. The players opened with Ruy Lopez and Caruana pointed that 9...Na5 was in important move to hold the setup. Ponomariov noted that none of the pieces or pawns were exchanged before move 16. Caruana then released tension in center and moved his Knight to f4 because there was no other way to defend the e5-pawn. Within the next dozen of moves a large number of pieces were exchanged. After the Queens also went off, a draw was signed according to Sofia rules. Ponomariov was happy with the result as "it is important to properly adjust to the new setting, and the new tournament." He also added that he is playing similar setups with black, he is familiar with many opening ideas, and that is why he took some time to find the most appropriate plan. He played all the logical moves, but black also played well and the draw is a fair result. Caruana reminded that most of the players competing in Thessaloniki also played last month in Zug Grand Prix and that he has the feeling "of playing the same tournament again". Ponomariov finally said that he is happy that the tournament is receiving a lot of attention from media and local chess fans. Svidler - Bacrot 1-0 Peter Svidler was the first to score a victory in Thessaloniki. His game with Etienne Bacrot started as Semi-Tarrasch and for awhile it looked like black is doing fine. But later he started to err and Svidler used the opportunity to invade the seventh rank with the rooks. Replay the full game with Chess King. Svidler feels greater pressure in Thessaloniki than he had in Norway Chess tournament because this event is a part of the World Championship cycle. He's been playing continuously in many tournaments, but after the Thessaloniki Grand Prix he will probably take a break until the World Cup in Tromso. He added that he might do live commentary for the Tal Chess Memorial. Bacrot said he had some time to work on the openings, but he still didn't get into the proper competitive shape. He hopes to play better as the tournament progresses.
London Chess Grand Prix R10: Mamedyarov Leads, But Last Round to Decide Champion!
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The London Chess Grand Prix draws to a close but not without plenty of excitement. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov has a half-point lead over the others after the end of Round 10. Anything can happen in the last round which is being played on Wednesday.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov took the lead yesterday for the first time and he keeps on leading after the tenth round as five out of sixth games were drawn. In the tenth round the rating number one in the tournament Hikaru Nakamura managed to win against Anish Giri after four defeats in a row! The last tweet of the American player spoke for itself: “While I do my absolute best to commit harakiri, (chess) at least her calming presence from afar puts it all in perspective. So far, Hikaru was losing 26 rating points and was falling down to the 11th place in the World ranking but improved his situation. One round to go Topalov, Gelfand and Grischuk share the 2nd place with six points each, just half-a-point behind the leader.
Wang Hao – Mamedyarov:
Mamedyarov appeared very relaxed when he arrived at Simpson`s with his manager. Shakhriyar decided to play the Caro Kann defence – his opening of choice for this tournament. Wang Hao prepared a surprise for his opponent 5.Nc5 trying to defuse any preparation. “Shak” paused for thought, and then replied 5…e5!? which caught Wang Hao unprepared, as he had not expected Mamedyarov to know this line deeply. The forced line that followed saw a quick exchange of queens which led to the endgame with a slightly better pawn structure for white. “Hao”-ever it was not enough and a draw was the result.
Leko – Gelfand:
The main question is how Gelfand will recover from the Round 9 loss. Boris seemed in a good mood and was smiling before the game. Peter Leko went for a quiet line based on Nc3-Bc4 in close Sicilian. Nothing much happened until move 20 after which some pieces were exchanged. White started to take the initiative by opening the “f” file, and putting a strong bishop on d5. White started to control the black squares, and the knight on e3 defended the whole white pawn centre.
Kasimdzhanov – Grischuk:
Almost all the players of the tournament want to avoid the Marshall Gambit. In this game there was no exception, as Rustam chose the exchange variation of the Spanish opening. White decided to open the centre and found a very interesting plan, putting the queen on “b1” in order to push c3-d4. Sasha took a long time to play the first 15 moves and had just 14 minutes left for 22 moves. The two times World Blitz champion is quite used to time trouble…Taking initiative on the king’s side and centre, Grischuk increased his advantage, pressuring on the f2 pawn.
Kasimdzhanov survived from the attack when Grischuk offered the exchange of queens with 38…Qf3? The rook endgame, which appeared, was finally drawn. A disappointment for Grischuk who could have taken the lead.
Nakamura – Giri:
Giri didn’t change his main weapon against 1.e4 and the Petrov appeared once again on the board. Hikaru exchanged the queens after 5 moves and decided to play a long endgame. White pieces had more space but black pieces found good placing. The bishop on b6 protected by the a5 pawn was controlling the queen side. Hikaru settled his other bishop on a second strong square e6.
The position of Anish was very solid with the bishops on c6 and d6 but Hikaru managed to break through and finally won the game!
Topalov – Adams:
The only chance for Veselin to catch the leader was to win today with the white pieces against Michael Adams. We saw one of the first Queen’s Gambit of the tournament, which looked pretty safe for black. Veselin managed to double black’s pawns on the “b” file and took a small advantage in the endgame but it was not enough to implement it into more.
Dominguez – Ivanchuk:
Vasily was in a good mood before the start of the game, looking at the pictures of Staunton on the wall of the Simpson’s in the Strand. The famous Immortal Game was played in the same building between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky on 21 June 1851. The Ukrainian player decided today to play a rare line of the Spanish opening (4…d6). Leinier replied with a safe line, putting all his pieces in the centre and obtained a slight advantage, due to the doubled black pawns on c7 and c6.
Ivanchuk managed to exchange queens and equalized by putting a strong Bishop on e3. Draw.
Filippov, Kasimdzhanov lead first Central Asia Chess Cup of Fide president
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
Tashkent, in Uzbekistan, is hosting the first Central Asia Chess Cup of the Fide president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov from October 17-27. The chess news update via www.chessdom.com is that top seeded Grandmasters Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Anton Filippov continue to lead the race with 6.5/8 each. Begali Saidov, who was victorious in round 8, and GM Pavel Kotsur are half a point behind.
Kasimdzhanov
Filippov
Entitled to participate in the tournament are chess players from the Central Asian countries – Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. The main aim of the tournament is popularisation and development of the mass chess in the countries of Central Asia.
The tournament is played over 9 rounds, Swiss System. 53 players participate. The total prize fund is 25 000 USD.
Round 8 standings: 1-2. GM Filippov Anton UZB 2606 and GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam UZB 2678 – 6.5 3-4. GM Kotsur Pavel KAZ 2558 and Saidov Begali UZB 2350 – 6.0 5-9. IM Kvon Andrey UZB 2486, GM Dzhumaev Marat UZB 2492, Nugumanov Bakhtiyar KAZ 2216, Karimov Ibragim UZB 2313 and Khoroshev Nikita UZB 2263 – 5.5 10-13. GM Ibraev Nurlan KAZ 2393, FM Abdyjapar Asyl KGZ 2308, GM Ismagambetov Anuar KAZ 2500 and WIM Muminova Nafisa UZB 2319 – 5.0
How chess at top-level can be improved: GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov's open letter to Fide
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
Here is an open letter with a solution by GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov for solving the problems of draws and how to make a chess more exciting sport to draw audiences and sponsors.
Dear chess friends,
I am writing this open letter, addressed both to FIDE and the entire chess playing world, due to a certain crisis, in which our noble game finds itself lately. This crisis is not only defined by a general dissatisfaction, coming from sponsors, organizers and amateurs; also among the professionals there has been some growing distress. Quite a number of traditional tournaments are no longer organized; in those still out there an ever growing number of extremely strong players is competing for the same money. At the same time voices from all around are expressing serious concern about lackluster play in some top tournaments, and notorious short draws.
To understand the reasons why our sport has never made it to the heights it deserves I find it useful to take a look at a sport very similar to ours – tennis. Both games feature the battle of two personalities, showing a whole array of technical weapons in their fight, competing in speed and precision, in patience and wisdom. Why, despite this apparent similarities, despite the fact that many more people worldwide are capable of playing chess properly, do we stand light-years behind tennis in everything that defines success in professional sport?
The reasons are numerous, no doubt, but the main problem, as I see it, is an existence of a draw as a result in chess. Short draws (and I also have made a number of those) make our game look more like an insider academic activity, rather than sport; but they can't be avoided – the preparation of today and the inherent qualities of chess are such, that a draw, and in fact a short draw, is a most likely result in a game between strong well-prepared players. Still, in a well-organized tournament, top players, getting up to go to their hotel rooms after a ten minute draw, do not add attractiveness to chess.
Returning to tennis, the main attraction is, as I see it, the fact that every single fight produces a result; a winner and a loser at the end of the day. And there is a thrill for every spectator to see, say, Nadal and Federer, come to court, and know with certainty that one of them will triumph and the other one will lose. In short, to put it figuratively, there will be blood. And there will be great champions.
In our game, however, things are different. We also have great champions, but their greatness is sometimes limited to insiders of the game. In order to be successful outside of our little world, in order to make front pages and TV, and thereby also the finance that comes in a parcel, we need champions that appeal to a general public, even to a public far from intricacies of chess. Such was a winning streak of Novak Djokovic this year, for instance. Something that a win in a chess super tournament with 8 out of 13 simply cannot match.
And now comes my proposal. If we want success, sponsors, public and the rest of the parcel, we need to abolish those draws in classical tournaments. And not by Sofia rules – tournaments with Sofia rules produced as many draws as any other; and not by 30 move rule, where players are often just waiting for move 30. We need something entirely different. Like a tie-break in tennis. We need a result. Every single day.
And here is how it works. We play classical chess, say with a time control of four to five hours. Draw? No problem – change the colours, give us 20 minutes each and replay. Draw again? Ten minutes each, change the colours and replay. Until there is a winner of that day. And the winner wins the game and gets one point and the loser gets zero; and the game is rated accordingly, irrelevant of whether it came in a classical game, rapid or blitz.
This way the expectations of the crowd will never be deceived. There will always be a winner, there will always be blood. There will come an age of great champions, since with this system there will be times when Vishy or Magnus will win Wijk-aan-Zee with 13 out 13; and there will be winning streaks, when some of the great champions will win 50 games in a row. We'll make front pages.
And much more than that. It will be good for our sport. Not just sponsors and attention and prizes. It will be essentially good for our game. People will try extremely hard with white, in order to decide the issue now, and not in a black rapid game. Instead offering a draw in a slightly better ending in order to save energy and catch a movie, chess players will show their whole ability and will win these endings. As a matter of fact this will develop classical chess.
And there is so much more. Often players, playing white, feeling rough in the morning, get to the game with an attitude "I'll just make a draw today" Imagine, what will happen to this attitude? Chess will become a true sport. We'll wake up to win or to lose that day. We'll come tho the board, ready to play chess. And just like when we come to see Federer play – we see his whipping forehand, his effortless slice, his hammer serve and immaculate return – same will happen in chess. Every single day we'll see players like Aronian or Grischuk pressing with white, wriggling out of trouble with black and showing some blitz skills to an ever larger public. That is something I would like to watch and play.
Anand wins friendly rapid chess match against Kasimdzhanov 3.5-0.5
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
In a friendly, 4-game rapid match held on Sunday, March 27 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan Vishy Anand beat Rustam Kasimdzhanov 3.5-0.5. The first game ended in a draw and then the World Champion won the three remaining games.
The match between the reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand and his second and former FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It was organized by the Chess Federation of Uzbekistan and the “Forum” Foundation, and held directly after the traditional Georgi Agzamov memorial. The match consisted of four games with the time control of 25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment.
Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Uzbekistan’s number one player, won the knockout FIDE World Championship in 2004 and held the title until 2005. Later he joined Anand’s team to help the World Champion defend his crown, won in Mexico in 2007, in matches against Kramnik in Bonn, 2008, and against Topalov in Sofia, 2010.
Although Anand has been known for decades for his speedy chess, Kasimdzhanov is not a bad rapid player himself. His 2004 title was partly based on excellent play in rapid tiebreaks while most recently, Kasimdzhanov won the Rapid Championship of the 16th Asian Games, held in November in Guangzhou, China.
Rapid Match Tashkent
Name
Ti
NAT
Rtng
1
2
3
4
Total
Perf
Anand, Viswanathan
g
IND
2817
½
1
1
1
3½
3023
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam
g
UZB
2687
½
0
0
0
½
2495
The first game was drawn in a Petroff where Kasimdzhanov might have had a slight advantage in the final position. Then, the Uzbek grandmaster played an excellent game and reached a winning ending in the second game. However, he blundered. In the third game Anand won quickly in another Petroff. In the last game Anand got a tiny edge right out of the opening and used back rank tactics to win.
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi Everybody,
Guess where the current world chess champion Vishy Anand and former world chess champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov are headed this March? To Tashkent in Uzbekistan!
And, what would they do there? Play chess of course! A rapid match to be specific.
We found this interesting news here. The reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand will play a rapid match against the 17th World Champion, and currently his second, Rustam Kasimdzhanov. The event is set to take place in March in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, immediately after the traditional Georgi Agzamov Memorial Chess Tournament.
Rustam Kasimdzhanov won the knockout World Championship in 2004 and held the title until 2005. Later Kasimdzhanov joined Anand's team to help the Champion defend the crown in the matches against Kramnik in Bonn, 2008, and against Topalov in Sofia, 2010. Most recently, Kasimdzhanov won the Rapid Championship of the 16th Asian Games which was held in November in Guangzhou, China.
Meanwhile, here's Vishy Anand's video after he won the title in May 2010.
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12th Women's World Chess Champion
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