Leon Chess 2013: Vassily Ivanchuk versus Anish Giri

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

 

We first heard Ukraine Chess GM Vassily Ivanchuk declaring a "possible retirement" and then we heard about the Ukrainian GM beating Dutch talent Anish Giri in Leon. Leonxta Garcia's press report states: Ivanchuk beats Anish Giri with 7.5-2.5 in blitz games (five minutes per player). However, the 18-year-old Dutch GM took overall victory as he beat Ivanchuk in the Classical (1.5-0.5) and Rapid chess (3.5-0.5) sections.

 

Ivanchuk, completely focused, even backstage before the round, reached the venue with his trainer Viktor Moskalenko, wearing a baseball cap and unshaven.

The crowd was still talking about his declarations from Saturday: “After a disappointment in a love affair, the solution is to look for other woman, but nothing can replace chess, and I’m not interested in it anymore; thus, my problem has no solution”.

However, Giri realised quickly that this was a different Ivanchuk, maybe because the playing speed did not give him anytime to feel depressed. The Ukrainian genius won the first game in spectacular fashion, drew the second one without much trouble and won the next two. The Dutchman did not give up: after drawing the fifth game, he got a full point on the sixth, however, he was defeated on the next two to leave the blitz match decided.

At the post-games press conference, Ivanchuk was very enthusiastic, he recognised that life was already better and apologized for his depressing statements. When asked about his transformation, he answered: “I drank a very tasty beer at noon, and that relaxed me a lot. Given that the overall score left me four points behind, I decided to win the blitz match with a five points difference, and I did it”.

After praising the local cuisine, Giri was very explicit about his feelings regarding Leon: “Here, I won the Spanish Team Championship with Sestao in 2012, and also got my first Ciudad de Leon in 2013. If I ever have to play a World Championship Match, I will propose Leon as the host city”.

The young Dutchman, first rated at the under-20 lists, just finished high school, and will be working in chess full-time for two years: “I want to check how is it like to be an authentic professional player. However, I do not dismiss the possibility of combining my chess career with college education. I would like to study psychology. Anyway, my next goal is to become world champion, but there are other young candidates, such as Carlsen and Caruana, who want the same and, for now, are stronger”.

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Special Chess Match in Leon in June - Topalov versus Vallejo Pons

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

Veselin Topalov and Francisco Vallejo Pons will play a friendly match as part of the tournament Leon 2012. It will be a six game encounter, with blitz games and Armageddon if needed. The time control is 45 mins + 15 sec per move semi rapid. The playing days are 8th, 9th, and 10th of June and games will be live with computer analysis at Chessdom.


Just recently we saw another classical mini-practice match between Aronian and Kramnik in Zurich. With the World Chess Championship cycle based on matches and mini matches, such practice games become more and more fashionable.


Topalov – Vallejo rules


1). The matches will take place in Leon from 08 to 10 June 2012 (both inclusive) with the following schedule:


Day 08 June 2012 Topalov – Vallejo 1st and 2nd Games.
Day 09 June 2012 Topalov – Vallejo 3rd and 4th Games.
Day 10 June 2012 Topalov – Vallejo 5th and 6th Games.
Drawings lots will be place on 07 June at 20,00 hours.


2). Two games per day will be played with the following schedule:
1st at 16,30 hours.
2nd at 18,40 hours.
There will be 10 minutes break among the games. Each player will have 45 minutes+15 secons/move for the whole game.


3). In a match of a draw it will be decided by a match. The match will consist of two games with a time-control 5 minutes per player + 3 seconds for every move played. In case of another tied result – there will be played a last “sudden-death” decisive game with a time-control 6 minutes for the whole game for the White-player and 5 minutes for the whole game for Black-player. The White-player will only need a victory in this game to win the tournament, whole the Black-player will win the tournament by just not losing that final decisive game.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com