Nigel Short wins PokerStars Isle of Man Chess

Hello chess blog friends, GM Nigel Short has won the PokerStars Isle of Man Chess tournament with a clear first after beating GM David Howell. Short had slipped out of the top-100 for the first time in three decades in September and is now back in the list with the £6000 tournament victory. 

Laurent Fressinet and Sergey Tiviakov drew their round 9 game quickly and got 6.5 points each, as well as Gil Popilski and David Howell. The 6-points group consists of Michael Adams, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Gabriel Sargissian, Gawain Jones, IM Jonathan Hawkins and FM Alan Merry (the latter has outplayed Avital Boruchovsky in the long endgame). The best woman player was Harika Dronavalli with 5.5 points. (Inputs via www.chess-news.ru and official website)

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Top Six English Players Register for 5th London Chess Classic

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

Hi everyone,

Six leading English players, Michael Adams, Luke McShane, Nigel Short, Matthew Sadler, David Howell and Gawain Jones 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 December to Sunday 15th December.

Life begins at 41 for the UK No.1, Michael Adams, who was one of the world’s best players in the 1990s. He was a four-time semifinalist (1993, 1997, 1999 and 2000) in World Championship events, and in 2004 he made itto the final. He was ranked No.4 in the world in 2001 and 2002, but by 2009 had dropped to No.50.

Since then, the popular Cornishman has seen a renaissance in his game with a return to elite status; and this summer, he scored the biggest tournament victory of his career by winning the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund, Germany, ahead of a field that included Vladimir Kramnik, the former world champion and world No. 3, and Fabiano Caruana of Italy, who is ranked fifth.

Luke McShane, 29, and Matthew Sadler, 39, both follow in that quaint English tradition -- much like C.H.O’D Alexander and Jonathan Penrose, who shocked top Soviet stars such as Botvinnik, Bronstein and Tal -- by being regarded as the world’s top two amateur players, as they hold down very demanding full-time professional jobs. McShane works in finance in the City, and Sadler in IT in The Netherlands - but while chess is now a “hobby” for both, the English No’s. 2 and 4 respectively still play to a very high standard.

Globe-trotting Nigel Short continues to add further successes to his long list of tournament victories, with this summer seeing the English No.3 share first prize in the Sigeman Invitational in Malmo, Sweden, and first on tiebreak in the Canadian Open Championship in Ottawa; and, on both occasions, ahead of talented younger rising stars.

Short, 48, consistently performs at or close to the elite GM 2700 rating level, as he fights off younger rivals by using his wealth of experience from a glittering career whose peaks include victory at the VAS Amsterdam tournament in 1991, ahead of Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, a Candidates match victory over Karpov in 1992 and a world title challenge in 1993 to Kasparov. Short is also in demand as an online commentator for some of the world’s top tournaments -- but we are always glad to see him play!

David Howell, 22, and Gawain Jones, 25, are, respectively, the English No. 5 and 6, and also the last two winners of the British Championship titles - Howell storming to victory this summer in Torquay, for his second title (which he dedicated to his late father), and Jones, winning last year in North Shields. Both represented England at the very top at junior level, and have now become a regular fixture for their country at Olympiads and European Team Championships.

Adams, McShane, Short, Sadler, Howell and Jones will be cheered on by the patriotic home crowd expected to fill the Kensington Olympia, as they go into battle in the 5th London Chess Classic with the tough elite opposition of World Champion Vishy Anand, World Cup winner Kramnik, Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Boris Gelfand, Peter Svidler and Judit Polgar. The composition of the remainder of the 16-player field will be announced next week.

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100th British Chess Championship Begins Sunday

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

Hi everyone,

The 100th British Championships will take place from Sunday 28 July to Saturday 10 August 2013 at the Riviera International Centre, Torquay, England. The event is expected to attract a record-breaking number of entrants of well over 1000. The current record is 1010 in Edinburgh in 2003.

Players from England, Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey, Scotland and Wales are entitled to compete in the 32 Championships which include British, Seniors to Under 8 and even a Pairs Championship. In addition there are tournaments open to anybody from anywhere.

(Left: Second seed GM David Howell) The recent winner of the Scottish Championship Gawain Jones is the first seed so far. David Howell, who is participating in Leiden, is the second seed. Mark Hebden, Jonathan Hawkins, Daniel Gormally and Peter Wells follow close behind. The event starts at 10am on Sunday 28 July with a THINK DRINK Bullet Chess (all the moves in one minute) Challenge Match between GM Keith Arkell and IM Gary Lane.

It is hoped that the games will be broadcast live on the website, but there may be problems. The match will last one hour and will create a new World Record for the number of games in one hour. (Chessdom.com)

Official website

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Leiden Chess Festival Begins July 11

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

Hi everyone, 

Grandmaster David Howell will open the 7th edition of the Leiden Chess Tournament on Thursday July 11th with a clock simultaneous against 10 (co) sponsors. He will have to try and win these 10 matches within one short hour (from 19:00 till 20:00 hr).

The sponsoring ten players will consist of pretty strong regional players and therefore the defending winner of last year’s tournament might have a fairly hard time winning these 10 matches. We wish him luck!

The Open Championship will start Friday July 12th. The first move on the highest board will be made by main sponsor Roel Piket of Adhoc & Solide Administratie.

Amongst participants are four former winners from the tournament with for instance local grandmaster Erik van den Doel. Moreover, this year there are former European and World Youth Champions to be followed. Furthermore there are about twenty (Grand) Masters from thirteen different countries who will participate. The highest eight boards will be live on the internet.

Nine rounds will be played through Sunday July 21st. Wednesday July 17th is a non-playing day. Location and host will be again the Leidse Denksportcentrum (Leiden’s Mindsport Centre) at Robijnstraat 4 in Leiden.

Official tournament website

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You too can play at the London Chess Classic 2010

Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess News & Trivia (c) 2010

Hi Everybody,

You've heard about the London Chess Classic 2010.... Right? It's supposed to be the strongest-ever tournament to be held in Britain. Eight of the world's best players will be competing in the London Chess Classic from December 8-15 December 2010 at the Olympia Conference Centre. You can pick up tickets here!

And, that's the best part. You can get tickets not just to be a fan watching the greats but also play in a wide range of subsidiary events.

Of course, for the main event, Magnus Carlsen is going to be the defending champion. You can read our earlier blog entry here about the details of the London Chess Classic 2010.

The average rating of the 2010 London Chess Classic is 2729 – an unprecedented figure for a tournament held in Britain and also making it one of the strongest tournaments held anywhere in the world this year.

The 400-seater auditorium at the Olympia Conference Centre is very nice. As games end, spectators have the chance to hear the players’ immediate post-game comments as they are interviewed live in the commentary room.

There are all sorts of events and prizes for all chess standards and tastes, from the humblest beginner, and tournaments which last days at a time, or over the weekend – or for just part of a day (e.g. evening blitz events lasting no longer than 2½ hours).

Entry forms are available for download NOW from the tournament website at www.londonchessclassic.com. Apart from the eight-player elite tournament, there is a nine-round world-rated open which attracts professional grandmasters from around the world, chasing the £2,500 first prize. As in 2009, one of the legendary figures of the game, Viktor Korchnoi, will be playing simultaneous displays, where amateur players can experience what it is like to face the player who contested world championship matches with Anatoly Karpov in the 1970s and 1980s.

Tournament Line-Up

Name Title Country Rating (1/9/2010) World Ranking (1/5/2010) D.O.B. (dd/mm/yy)

Carlsen, Magnus grandmaster NOR 2826 1 30.11.1990

Anand, Viswanathan world champion IND 2800 3 11.12.1969

Kramnik, Vladimir ex-world champion RUS 2780 5 25.06.1975

Nakamura, Hikaru grandmaster USA 2733 15 09.12.1987

Adams, Michael grandmaster ENG 2728 18 17.11.1971

Short, Nigel grandmaster ENG 2690 48 01.06.1965

McShane, Luke grandmaster ENG 2657 85 07.01.1984

Howell, David grandmaster ENG 2616 167 14.11.1990

Last Year’s Tournament (n.b. win = 3pts, draw = 1pt)

Final Placings: 1 Magnus Carlsen (NOR) 13/21, 2 Vladimir Kramnik (RUS) 12, 3 David Howell (ENG) 9, 4 Michael Adams (ENG) 9, 5 Luke McShane (ENG) 7, 6 Ni Hua (CHN) 6, 7 Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 6, 8 Nigel Short (ENG) 5.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

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Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com