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Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Beijing Chess Grand Prix 2013: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Wins Clear First
Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013
Hi everyone,
This completes a hat-trick of sorts for Azerbaijan Grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov as he wins the Beijing Chess Grand Prix event in China on Tuesday. He came to Beijing right after winning the Geneva Chess Masters and the World Rapid Chess Championship 2013.
World Chess Federation (FIDE) President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov nominated on Tuesday two Chinese chess players - Hou Yifan and Wei Yi to participate in the World Cup 2013. "Intellectual sports are growing in popularity, particularly among young people. As a result, I have nominated Hou Yifan and Wei Yi to participate at the World Cup 2013," said Ilyumzhinov during the closing ceremony of the FIDE World Chess Grand Prix Series Beijing. A former women's world champion, Hou was the youngest ever to win the title at the age of 16. Her countryman Wei Yi, whose name sounded the same as "only", was the youngest Grandmaster(GM) at 13 years 8 months and 23 days and the only GM in the world who is under 15 years old. FIDE World Cup 2013 will be held from August 10 to September 3 in Tromso, Norway.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mamedyarov drew against Boris Gelfand of Israel in the last round of the Grand Prix to take the clear first place with 7 points. Earlier, he was in sole lead. Based on the results of the five stages of the FIDE Grand Prix, Mamedyarov is in second place (behind Veselin Topalov) for earning the right to participate in the Candidates Tournament in 2014.
Under the rules of the series each participant can take part in four tournaments of the six stages, of which the top three will be counted. Two winners of the Grand Prix tournament can participate in the Candidates Tournament.
Mamedyarov has represented Azerbaijan at the Chess Olympiads in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2010. In 2009, he won a gold medal for Azerbaijan at the European Team Chess Championship, having won a bronze medal in 2007 and silver in 2011.
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hi everyone,
The Sberbank Rapid Chess Tournament came to an end today in Kiev. Sergey Karjakin had another good day and managed to overtake Veselin Topalov at the top of the standings to get the winner’s trophy, according to a Chessdom report. The Russian star got his second important victory in rapid chess this year, after getting first place at the Aeroflot rapid event in February. This is also his second straight victory after winning the super-tournament in Norway. Karjakin will continue his busy schedule at the Tal Memorial, which begins next week. Karjakin started the third playing day with a win. He caught Veselin Topalov in the lead thanks to his victory over Sergei Zhigalko. The eventual champion turned around an inferior position in a Ruy Lopez. Zhigalko handled the tactical early middlegame accurately and got a pawn advantage, but was not able to follow through and fell victim of Karjakin’s active play on the kingside. Meanwhile, Peter Leko quickly held Topalov to a draw with the black pieces. The Hungarian simplified to an opposite-colored bishops endgame and signed the peace treaty on move 24. Given Leko’s good play in the second day, Topalov might have decided to avoid any unnecessary risk in this round. Pavel Eljanov gave Karjakin a hand in the eighth round. He defeated Topalov with white in 54 moves. The game was a long strategic battle where Eljanov’s rooks became very active and ended up being the key factor to get the full point. The Ukrainian saved face after a bad second day and finished on 4.5/9 after beating Naiditsch in the last round. The Russian derby between Evgeny Tomashevsky and Sergey Karjakin finished with a split point after 31 moves. Tomashevsky, playing white, looked for play on the queenside, but his higher-rated colleague correctly assessed that he should simplify the position to avoid getting in trouble. However, the peace treaty might have been slightly premature, especially for a rapid event. With these results, Karjakin was already first in the standings, a half point ahead of Topalov. The last round saw what can be seen as a clash of generations. Sergey Karjakin had white against Anatoly Karpov and had the chance to secure first place with a win. The ex-world champion chose the Scandinavian but quickly faltered, as his eight move already gives white an important advantage. Karjakin used his usual active style to grind down the veteran in 33 moves. This secured overall first place for the young Russian. Veselin Topalov also finished with a victory. He beat Tomashevsky with white in a Ruy Lopez. Peter Leko and Sergei Zhigalko, who had also arrived half a point behind Topalov, ended up sharing third place with 5/9 points. (Photos by Evgenia Dolukhanova) Final Standings: 1 Karjakin, Sergey RUS 2782 6½ 2 Topalov, Veselin BUL 2784 6 3 Leko, Peter HUN 2737 5 4 Zhigalko, Sergei BLR 2661 5 5 Eljanov, Pavel UKR 2707 4½ 6 Tomashevsky, Evgeny RUS 2709 4½ 7 Korobov, Anton UKR 2715 4½ 8 Areshchenko, Alexander UKR 2708 4 9 Karpov, Anatoly RUS 2619 3 10 Naiditsch, Arkadij GER 2710 2 From Alexandra Kosteniuk's www.chessblog.com Also see her personal blog at www.chessqueen.com Don't miss Chess Queen™ YouTube Channel
Sberbank Chess in Kiev: Toplaov Leads; Leko, Karjakin and Zhigalko Close Behind
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hi everyone,
Veselin Topalov maintains the lead he got in the first day of the Sberbank Rapid Chess Tournament. Three players have closed on the Bulgarian; Peter Leko, Sergey Karjakin and Sergei Zhigalko are a mere half point behind the ex-world champion with three rounds to go. Everything is still up for grabs in Kiev, states a Chessdom report.
The second playing day began with a direct clash between two of the pre-tournament favorites, Sergey Karjakin had white against Topalov. What could have been a very long struggle finished as a miniature victory for the Russian. In a sharp variation of the French Defense, Topalov seems to have forgotten his preparation or, maybe, he was not able to calculate all the complications over the board. After 13…Qg4, black loses at least an exchange. The Bulgarian gave up on move 21 when he is about to lose even more material. This round also saw the beginning of Sergei Zhigalko‘s ascent to the top. The Belarussian defeated Arkadij Naiditsch with the white pieces in 37 moves. The German put all his confidence in his passed d-pawn, but Zhigalko neutralized it to get a totally winning position thanks to his material advantage. Anatoly Karpov got his first full point in this round. He defeated Pavel Eljanov in 52 moves of a highly strategical battle. The fifth round had three decisive results. All three players that eventually got to share second place won his games. Peter Leko, who is the only undefeated player of the event, defeated Evgeny Tomashevsky. As expected, give the nature of these players’ styles, the struggle was full of maneuvering; neither of them sacrificed the solidity of their pawn structures up until the late middlegame. Leko eventually got a pawn and converted the rook endgame with his usual strong technique. Sergey Karjakin got his second consecutive win against Arkadij Naiditsch. The Russian played the Ruy Lopez with black and used his space advantage on the kingside to grind down the German. Sergei Zhigalko also had black, and defeated Alexander Areschenko in only 26 moves. Zhigalko gained the initiative on the queenside in an opposite-sides castling Sicilian. His extremely strong bishop on g6 was a nightmare for white, who decided to resign when mate was inevitable in the next move. From Alexandra Kosteniuk's www.chessblog.com Also see her personal blog at www.chessqueen.com Don't miss Chess Queen™ YouTube Channel
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.
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
It was heavy rain in London, but as Ivanchuk said, it's a great weather to play chess! Very fighting games in Round 4 at the London Chess Grand Prix with no short draws and the players were happy slogging it out after three hours of play. One of the leaders of the tournament, Peter Leko, decided to play a closed Spanish opening against Michael Adams, who is well known to be the specialist of the Marshall gambit. Avoiding the main weapon of the English player, Peter went for a peaceful line, very technical and positional. Adams equalized, took the control of the only open file of the position and was already aiming to be better. Not enough however to break down Peter’s defence and the draw was signed.
Sparkassen Chess Meeting: Vladimir Kramnik Top Seed in Dortmund
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The 2012 Sparkassen Chess Meeting begins on July 13 and runs until July 22, 2012 in Dortmund, Germany. Ten players are competing in the round-robin event. Former World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia is the top seed. The just-crowned World Rapid Chess Champion, also from Russia, Sergey Karjakin, is the second seed. Four of the five members of the German national chess team that won the gold medal at the recent European Team Chess Championship are also taking part, according to the official website.
Players:
1. Kramnik Vladimir RUS 2799 (Dortmund 2011 winner)
2. Karjakin Sergey RUS 2779 (World Rapid Chess Champion 2012)
3. Caruana Fabiano ITA 2775
4. Leko Peter HUN 2730
5. Ponomariov Ruslan UKR 2726
6. Naiditsch Arkadij GER 2700
7. Bartel Mateusz POL 2674 (winner of the 2012 Aeroflot Open)
8. Fridman Daniel GER 2655 (Reigning German champion)
Friday chess endgame study: Can you spot the magic move?
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
Being material up might make you a little relaxed. You can get the whiff of victory. Still, the question remains - how to finish with a flourish! Check this position from Peter Leko-Veselin Topalov, Candidates, 2002. Can you spot the magic move that Leko played to get resignation from Black?
You can run the gameplayer to check your idea. Enjoy.
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Best chess wishes to you! Alexandra Kosteniuk
12th Women's World Chess Champion
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