Peter Svidler vs Boris Gelfand Rapid Chess July 20
Hello chess blog friends, FIDE has announced an interesting chess event. Grandmasters Boris Gelfand (2725) and Peter Svidler (2793) will play a Rapid Chess match of 8 games on July 20-24 2014 in Jerusalem, Israel.
The match, open to the general public, is the highlight of the 2nd Gideon Japhet Memorial Open Chess Tournament, to take place in Jerusalem on July 16-24. The tournament is organized by the Jeruchess Club of Jerusalem and the Japhet family represented by Gilad Japhet, CEO of MyHeritage.com. The tournament has been named Chess Event of the Year in Israel by GM Ram Soffer on the homepage of the Israel Chess Federation.
The Gideon Japhet Memorial Open Chess Tournament includes 4 categories covering the full spectrum from grandmasters to unranked amateurs and is expected to draw more than 200 chess players this year from Israel and overseas. Total prize fund is $16,000. Registration is still open and details are available in English, Hebrew and Russian on the tournament’s website. The tournament is part of a chess festival that includes a simultaneous exhibition by GM Alexander Huzman (Israel Vice Champion 2014), a FIDE Chess Arbiters Seminar, and Israel’s Chess Problem Solving Championship 2014.
The 8 games between Gelfand and Svidler will be held 2 per day, per the schedule below:
Sunday July 20, 12:30 - 15:00 GMT
Monday July 21, 11:00 - 13:30 GMT
Wednesday July 23, 11:00 - 13:30 GMT
Thursday July 24, 8:00 - 11:00 GMT
The games will be broadcast live (including video stream) and can be watched in real time by chess enthusiasts worldwide on this page. Following each pair of games, grandmasters Gelfand and Svidler will be interviewed and will commentate their games; the interview videos will be available through the link above as well.
The tournament is held in memory of Gideon Japhet, a lover of chess and sports.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
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at www.chessqueen.com
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Labels: Boris gelfand, peter svidler
Norway Chess 2014 with Carlsen, Aronian, Karjakin, Svidler, Topalov, Caruana Confirmed
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2014
Hello everyone,
There's plenty of Norway in chess these days and some strong chess in Norway as well! Coming this June is the very exciting Norway Chess Festival (June 2-13)including a super-GM event.
The official website states: The idea behind Norway Chess was not only to arrange one of the strongest tournaments in the world, but also to show the world our beautiful country and region. A traditional chess tournament is normally held in a fairly neutral venue, where the game and the players are in focus. We will of course also focus on the players, but we will give the event a edge by showing beautiful and unique surroundings while playing chess."
Six of the 10 players invited have already confirmed participation for the Norway Chess 2014 tournament: Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Veselin Topalov, Fabiano Caruana, Sergey Karjakin and Peter Svidler.
Looks like a replica of the Candidates that will first be held in March in Khanty-Mansiysk. It will be nice also to have a stronger Russian flavour as compared to the very exciting Zurich Chess that concluded recently.
Here is a nice promo video Norway Chess 2013 featuring World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen. In all probability you've seen it before!
Labels: Fabiano Caruana, levon aronian, Magnus Carlsen, norway chess 2014, peter svidler, sergey karjakin, veselin topalov
World Chess Candidates Khanty-Mansiysk 2014: GM Peter Svidler is Organisers' Nominee
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
FIDEhas announced today that GM Peter Svidler of Russia is going to be the organisers' nominee for the Khanty-Mansiysk in the World Chess Candidates scheduled for March 12-30, 2014. This gives us the following list:
1- Vladimir Kramnik
2- Levon Aronian
3- Veselin Topalov
4- Shahriyar Mammadyarov
5- Dmitry Andreykina
6- Sergey Karjakin
7- Peter Svidler
8- Viswanathan Anand or Magnus Carlsen (Whoever loses the World Chess Championship 2013 in Chennai)
You may remember that Peter Svidler handed World Chess Challenger Magnus Carlsen a terrible defeat at the London Chess Candidates and Carlsen would not have been in Chennai right now, but for Vladimir Kramnik's equally disastrous loss to Vassily Ivanchuk.
Labels: peter svidler, world chess championship candidates
Record 7th Russian Chess Title: Peter Svidler goes 'Wheeeeeeeee' with Joy
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
From left: Peter Svidler, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Nikita Vitiugov
Peter Svidler has become the Russian National Chess Champion 2013 thereby creating a Russian chess record of having won the title seven times. Svidler picked up the title after beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the tiebreak. Svidler tweeted "wheeeeeeeee" right after winning the title as congratulations poured in! Svidler has previously won the title in 1994, 1995, 1997, 2003, 2008 and 2011.
In the last round, Ian Nepomniachtchi was able to capitalise on a blunder by Vladimir Kramnik to catch up with Svidler as the latter drew a game with Sergey Karjakin. Svidler and Nepomniachtchi then faced each other in a 15-minute rapid playoff which was won by Svidler 1.5-0.5. Also, Nikita Vitiugov was able to beat Vladimir Kramnik for the third spot on a better tiebreak score.
Meanwhile, hope you also read the Chess Blog earlier post:
This was Valentina Gunina's second title at the Russian Chess Super Finals.
The Russian Chess Championship Super Final 2013 for men and women was held from 5th to 14th October at the State Historical and Architectural Museum in Nizhny Novgorod. Both events were held according to the round robin system with 10 players each. The total prize fund for both groups is 6 million RUB (approx 138,000 EUR).
Final Standings:
1. Peter Svidler 6.5 2. Ian Nepomniachtchi - 6.5
3. Nikita Vitiugov 4. Vladimir Kramnik - at 5.5
5. Dmitry Andrejkin - 5
6. Sergey Karjakin, 7. Ernest Inarkiev - 4.5
8. Aleksey Goganov - 3.5
9. Alexander Motylev - 2.5
10. Anton Shomo - 1
Labels: ian nepomniachtchi, Nikita Vitiugov, peter svidler, russian chess super final 2013
5th London Chess Classic: Caruana, Gelfand, Svidler, Polgar Also Sign Up
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013 Hello everyone,
Chess in Schools and Communities has announced that another four international stars, Fabiano Caruana, Boris Gelfand, Peter Svidler and Judit Polgar 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 Fabiano Caruana, 21, is the Miami-born, Brooklyn-raised former chess prodigy who beat Bobby Fischer’s record of becoming the youngest American Grandmaster. He holds both Italian and American citizenship, and plays under the Italian tricolour. In the last year or so, Caruana has burst onto the elite stage with some superb results. Currently, he is ranked World number five on the September 2013 FIDE rating list.
Boris Gelfand, 45, is the Belarus-born Israeli grandmaster who, nearly a quarter-century ago, became a World Top 10 player and qualified for a number of World Championship Candidates events. But just when everyone thought his best days were behind him, he
made a dramatic comeback to win the Candidates to challenge Vishy Anand in last year’s World Championship match, where he lost in the play-offs. And his Indian summer continues: this year, he tied for first in the Alekhine Memorial in Paris and St. Petersburg
followed by clear first at the Tal Memorial in Moscow.
Peter Svidler, 36, is the erudite and popular St. Petersburg grandmaster, former World Cup winner, and multi-time Candidates qualifier with a record-breaking six Russian championship titles to his name. But he’s not your stereotypical Russian grandmaster,
because Svidler is a big cricketing fan who owns a complete set of the cricketer’s almanac Wisden, and once had a letter read out by Henry Blofeld on the BBC’s Test Match Special.
Judit Polgar, 37, from Budapest, Hungary is a phenomenon in the game. At the age of 15, she broke Bobby Fischer’s near 30-year record for becoming the youngest Grandmaster. Polgar is the best woman player of all time and the only woman currently in the world’s Top 100. At her peak she was in the Top 10 and would regularly do battle in Super GM tournaments with the likes of Kasparov, Karpov and Anand.
Caruana, Gelfand, Svidler and Polgar now join World Champion Vishy Anand, recent World Cup winner Vladimir Kramnik and the US No.1, Hikaru Nakamura to have confirmed they will play in the 5th London Chess Classic. The rest of the 16-player field will
be announced early next week.
Labels: Boris gelfand, Fabiano Caruana, Judit Polgar, london chess classic 2013, peter svidler
World Chess Cup 2013 Tromso Official Fide Website goes Online
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hi everyone,
The FIDE World Cup is one of the highlights of the chess calendar – a month of intense knockout action that uses 7 quick-fire rounds to whittle 128 players down to one. At stake is not only a cool $1.6 million prize fund ($120,000 for the winner) but qualification for next year’s World Championship “Candidates” tournament – a chance to earn the right to a match against the World Champion, either India’s Viswanathan Anand or Norway’s own Magnus Carlsen.
Click to access official website
While those two players will be deep in preparation for their match in India this November the line-up for the World Cup in Tromsø is set to be spectacular, featuring the world numbers 2 and 3, Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik. Although they'll be the favourites when the games start on August 11 if there's one thing the World Cup can be guaranteed to provide it's surprises!
Two Years Ago
Victory in the 2011 FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk was a career-best performance for Peter Svidler. The six-time Russian Champion didn’t lose a game as he overcame Fabiano Caruana, Gata Kamsky, Judit Polgar, Ruslan Ponomariov and Alexander Grischuk on his way to the title.
Labels: levon aronian, Magnus Carlsen, norway chess, peter svidler, tromso chess, Viswanathan Anand, vladimir kramnik, world chess cup 2013
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.
Read more »Labels: gata kamsky, peter svidler, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, thessaloniki chess grand prix 2013
Norway Chess Super Tournament 2013 Round 6: Carlsen Wins, Karjakin Leads
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hi everyone,
Just like in previous rounds of Norway Chess 2013, round 6 offered a lot of entertainment for the audience. We saw one pretty brutal win, one pretty boring draw, one exciting draw where none of the players ever seemed to get the upper hand, one nail biting draw where the worse side held on by the slimmest of margins and finally a totally exhausting end game squeeze where the relentless pressure eventually became too much for the defending side.
In other words, Hammer lost rather brutally to Aronian, Topalov and Wang Hao played a peaceful draw, Nakamura and Svidler both stayed in control in their sharp battle, Karjakin barely saved a draw against World Chess Champion Anand and Carlsen managed to bank another full point in a long grind against Radjabov.
In the first game to finish, Hammer ventured down a daring path in his Grünfeld game against Aronian, giving up a pawn in the hope that his a-passer should provide sufficient counterplay, only to realize that it simply wasn’t enough. Topalov vs Wang Hao was a Queen’s gambit where the tension in the center was resolved early with queens coming off resulted in a symmetrical pawn structure with no weaknesses in either camp. The game never became very exciting, and it finished uneventfully with a repetition and a draw on move 32.
Nakamura’s Ponziani against Svidler turned into a sharp, tactical battle already in the opening, leaving the mainlines. The game was a draw. Anand vs Karjakin started rather quietly, but sharpened up as the time control approached. Anand found a way to open the h-file and was close to beating Karjakin at some point, but the game went for a draw.
The last game to finish was another Carlsen vs Radjabov marathon, reminiscent of their 13th round battle in the London Candidates. The game saw yet one rather unassuming setup with white by Carlsen, with black taking on an isolani in the d-file quite early on, seemingly without any kind of problems. The isolani turned into two hanging pawns in the c- and d-file when white exchanged off his bishop for a knight on c6, and the battleground was set. However, Carlsen went for the long haul and eventually beat Radjabov.
Karjakin is still in the lead after 6 rounds, now only half a point ahead of Carlsen, who’s been going full steam ahead since round 4. Aronian’s win brought him up to shared 3rd with Nakamura, a full point off the pace of Karjakin, but half a point ahead of Anand and Svidler, who still have some chances to catch up with the guys in front. The rest of the field is probably too far behind by now to be considered real contenders for the tournament victory. (Read the full report by Hans Arild Runde at the official website.)
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com
Don't miss Chess Queen™
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Labels: Hikaru nakamura, jon ludvig hammer, levon aronian, Magnus Carlsen, norway chess super tournament 2013, peter svidler, sergey karjakin, teimour radjabov, veselin topalov, Viswanathan Anand, wang hao
Norway Chess 2013 Round 1: Karjakin, Nakamura, Svidler Begin with Wins
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hi everyone,
History was in the Norwegian air when the French chief arbiter Anémone Kulczak exactly as scheduled at 15.00, May 8 2013, started the first round in the Super Group of Norway Chess 2013. Including this year’s World Champion, this year’s World Challenger and five other players from the world’s top ten list, this is not only by far the strongest chess tournament in the history of this country – but also one of the strongest round robin tournaments in the history of this game! Here is the full report by Hans Olav Lahlum
As the tournament will be played with nine rounds in eleven days and true quality time limits, Norway and the rest of the chess world for sure can look forward to many great games this week. The tournament made a fresh start this afternoon, with four of out five games lasting more than four hours – and three of them getting a winner.
To tell the truth, World Champion Viswanathan Anand made a very solid but not very frightening start on this Norwegian chess adventure. Playing white in a closed Ruy Lopez against second seeded Levon Aronian, the chess star from India played a rather slow and closed set up with an early c4. The ambitious Armenian (of course) did not hesitate to jump in at the outpost d4 with one of his knights before move 10. Three set of minor pieces were exchanged within five moves afterwards, leaving a fairly balanced position with queen, rooks, different colored bishops and eight pawns on each side. Something finally seemed about to happen as Aronian played 22.— Bh6!?, intending to answer 23.Qh4 with a tactical 23.— Bxf4 – as played. Some spectators wondered (creatively) whether the World Champion was planning to sacrifice his queen for rook and bishop, but Anand instead (wisely) exchanged some more pieces to regain the pawn he gave up on f4. In the endgame with rook and six pawns versus rook and six pawns, Aronian at move 29 placed his rook on the seventh rank and for a few minutes seemed close to something. Anand however remained laidback and still was not in any real danger. As black could never accept to exchange rooks, it all dried out with two rooks following each other around to a repetition of moves after 33 moves.
The second game to finish was the slowest start, as Sergey Karjakin spent much time as white and Teimour Radjabov even much more time as black in their internal youngster meeting. Only 14 moves were made on the board after two and a half hours had passed on the clock, and continuing in the same slow speed, Radjabov two moves later had only eight minutes left to reach the time control after 40 moves.
On the board was a closed Sicilian line with 4.Bb5, in which white came a little better after black played 5.— e5 followed by 7.— h6. Although black got a nice outpost for his knight on d4, white playing with a guarded passed pawn at d5 appeared somewhat better after 20 moves. While Karjakin methodically increased the pressure with a queenside attack, Radjabov somehow somewhere mixed up the critical lines and lost a pawn just before 30 moves. Defending with rook and bishop versus rook and knight, black still had some drawing chances, but having only seconds left he lost another pawn just before 40 moves. In the end Radjabov threw out his move 39 with two seconds left and his move 40 with nine seconds left on the clock – only to resign instead of making his move 41, as Karjakin’s 41.c5! demonstrated the rook endgame on the board to be won. No way a promising start for Radjabov on the third tournament following two nightmare results, while Karjakin looked relaxed and inspired at the same time today.
Less relaxed but all the more inspired (as usual) was the United States representative, colorful Hikaru Nakamura. Facing a solid Russian opening from Chinese opponent Hao Wang, white bravely castled long to go for a kingside attack. Objectively speaking black was perfectly fine from the opening, but white still got an initiative following a probably inaccurate manoeuver with 15.— Re4 and 16.— Re6. Having weakened his kingside with h6, Wang felt forced to exchange queens at the cost of a pawn. Sacrificing two minor pieces for a rook later on was a creative try from a Chinese point of view. Although the computer programs gave black some drawing chances, the endgame with rook and six pawns versus knight, bishop and six pawns for most present human beings still looked difficult at best. Anyway Wang too lost the thread on the board when running short of time on the clock, and the outcome became obvious as white got an octopus knight on e6 while black still had no open line for his rook. Wang too survived the time trouble, having seven seconds left after making his move 40 – but the new time only helped him to realize that his position was lost behind all reasonable doubt. Nakamura definitely is a potential hit man also in this tournament, remaining to test out whether he will hit only his opponents or also himself in later rounds…
Much too few home country spectators were observed in the playing hall today, but those present got a lot of excitement as the Norwegian players both played long and interesting games. Most of the heat of course turned on a tight and heavyweight positional battle between top rated Magnus Carlsen and former World Champion Veselin Topalov. Carlsen handling the white stones (as usual) did not get much of an advantage, this time in an English fianchetto line. Having played d5 and exchanged the queens at d1 before 10 moves, Topalov equalized as black without any known difficulties. Carlsen however played on with his usual optimism, and although his king appeared a little awkward on c2, white kept a slight initiative in the middle game. A balanced position with rook, bishop, knight and five pawns on each side became more interesting as Magnus established a stronghold on d5. Then it became even more interesting as Topalov kicked out the bishops to reach a highly double edged rook and knight endgame.
An isolani pawn on d5 gave white some more chances, but at the same time he had to watch out not to overstretch. Some Norwegian spectators claimed they saw some light just before 40 moves, as white apparently was about to get a dangerous attack in the h-file (which black had been helpful to open up a few moves earlier on). A top concentrated Topalov however walked confidently around on the water, and it turned out white had nothing better than exchanging rooks. Just after 40 moves some Bulgarian chess fans on internet claimed they saw some light, as Topalov won the d5-pawn in the knight endgame. It however soon turned out that white’s active king was too disturbing for black to reach any winning chances even with an extra pawn, and Topalov returned the pawn while offering a draw after 51 moves. A waiting start both for the former rating king and the former World Champion, but still under the surface a very interesting game.
Seeded more than 100 points below the ninth rated player in this field, Jon Ludvig Hammer obviously is the underdog among the wolves this week. Still he started barking immediately, being ahead on the clock and probably equal on the board after 15 moves as black against Russian chess star Peter Svidler in a well known Grünfeld exchange line. Without the queens white kept a slight queenside initiative, but black defended creatively when sacrificing a pawn on b6 to win back another pawn on e4. Being a patient player with a magnificent technique, Svidler still played on for a win as white. He was partially rewarded as Hammer made some inaccuracies when entering the rook and minor piece endgame, forcing himself to give up a pawn in the rook endgame. Still these rook endgames, with three kingside pawns for both players and an extra a-pawn for white, usually is drawn if black can place his rook beside the a-pawn and cut off the white king – like Hammer did from the start in this endgame.
Still there was some play left in the position, and Hammer probably made the decisive mistake when he just before 40 moves put his king out in the thin air at f6 instead of just waiting and smoking on g8. Svidler (of course) used his chance, instructively opening up the kingside with h4-h5 to win another pawn and the game before 60 moves. A very honest loss still was a difficult start for Hammer. While Svidler following a slow but successful start, no way should be underestimated by anyone in this tournament either…
In short: Karjakin, Nakamura and Svidler are sharing the lead at +1 – so far. Still much to learn and discuss from the games from round one while we are waiting for round two – including the much expected game between World Chess Challanger Carlsen and World Chess Champion Anand!!From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com
Don't miss Chess Queen™
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Labels: anemone kulczak, hans olav lahlum, Hikaru nakamura, jon ludvig hammer, levon aronian, Magnus Carlsen, norway chess super tournament 2013, peter svidler, sergey karjakin, veselin topalov, Viswanathan Anand
Norway Chess 2013 May 7-13: Where Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand will Meet
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hi everyone,
The first chess super tournament in
Norway! 07th to 18th of May
No matter where the World Chess Championship 2013 is going to be held, World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand are going to be meeting this May! They will be playing at the Norway Chess Festival 2013. If you wish to see this match between the two best chess players in the world next month, purchase your tickets here. Also playing would be six-time Russian Chess Champion Peter Svidler. He is replacing Vladimir Kramnik.
With an average of 2776, so far this tournament might be the strongest ever. Tal Memorial 2012 had an average of 2776.
The tournaments
A unique twist is being planned for the location of the super tournament by using a variety of historical locations. The Stavanger region wants to use the event as a means to promote the whole district. The option to repeat the tournament in the region is already being reviewed.
The tournament will include:
- Super tournament with the majority of the top 10 ranked players
- School tournament with hundreds of children
- Celebrity tournament with a range of celebrities to show their chess skills
Labels: norway chess 2013, peter svidler, vladimir kramnik
Russian Team Chess Championships 2013 Begin April 6 with Top Chess Stars
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hi everyone,
The Russian Team Chess Championships will take place from April 6th-14th at the village of Loo in the Krasnodar-Krai region of Russia.
The men’s tournament will be a 7-round Swiss open, while the women’s competition will be a single round-robin with six teams. The time control will be 90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 minutes until the end of the game and 30 seconds increments per move, starting from move one.
Sergey Karjakin will be the highest-rated player in the event
The players cannot agree to a draw before move 40.
The first seven seeded teams have line-ups with 8 GMs. Some of the strongest players in the world will be participating, including Candidates Peter Svidler, Vassily Ivanchuk and Alexander Grischuk.
Other highlights will be the young stars Fabiano Caruana and Sergey Karjakin, the always interesting Alexander Morozevich, crowds pleasers Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexei Shirov, among others. Full line-ups below (according to a Chessdom report).
Read more »Labels: Alexander Morozevich, Alexandra Kosteniuk, alexei shirov, peter svidler, russia team chess, sergey karjakin, shakhriyar mamedyarov, valentina gunina
Fide Chess Candidates 2013: Magnus Carlsen wins on Tiebreak (Final Report)
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013Hi everyone, Magnus Carlsen won the FIDE Candidates' Tournament in London on Monday after a bizarre finish of what has become a historic event for chess. Both the Norwegian and the other leader, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, unexpectedly lost their game in the final round, and so they remained tied for first place and Carlsen won on the second tie-break rule: higher number of wins. This means that in the next title match, World Champion Viswanathan Anand will face Carlsen. On the last day Levon Aronian of Armenia beat Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan while Boris Gelfand of Israel and Alexander Grischuk of Russia drew their game.
A Hollywood blockbuster couldn’t have had a more dramatic scenario with the hero of the story going down just before the end, only to emerge as the winner after all. This is what happened in rounds 12-13 with Carlsen losing his lead to Kramnik on Friday and then recovering on Sunday, and it also happened in a thrilling final round. The Norwegian unexpectedly lost his white game against Peter Svidler, but because Vladimir Kramnik also went down against Vassily Ivanchuk, Carlsen won the tournament anyway. It was quite a fitting scenario for April 1st, except that this is what really happened!The day started quietly with a draw between Boris Gelfand and Alexander Grischuk. Facing the Grünfeld, which he included in his own repertoire last year against Anand, Gelfand tried the 5.Bd2 variation. Grischuk was “surprised by 11.Bc4” but reacted well and about the position after 17.f4 he said: “White at maximum can get a very slight advantage but Black can get a winning position if something goes wrong for White.” Already with 18…b4 Black “more or less forced the draw”, according to the Russian. Joining the live commentary, Grischuk said: “I’m quite happy to finish my game early so that I can enjoy this!”Then, the game between Levon Aronian and Teimour Radjabov finished in favour of the Armenian. “In general after the opening I got a big advantage and it was very difficult to play for Black,” said Aronian. Radjabov, who finally went for a proper King’s Indian – the defence with which he has had so many successes – managed to trap the white queen in the early middle game, but Aronian got two rooks for it and combined with the presence of opposite coloured bishops, his attack on the king was just too strong.But, of course this last round was all about the other two games: Vassily Ivanchuk versus Vladimir Kramnik and Magnus Carlsen versus Peter Svidler. Because Carlsen was leading on tie-break, Kramnik basically had to outperform him in the final round to emerge as the winner: he needed a win if Carlsen drew, or a draw if Carlsen lost. It all went quite differently. Kramnik, playing black, got under serious pressure right out of the opening, while Carlsen didn’t get much of an opening advantage playing white.
To keep all options open, Kramnik played the Pirc Defence, and Ivanchuk responded with simple, healthy developing moves. However, the Ukrainian (again!) needed quite some time to make his moves in this game, so even though he was building up an advantage, the Carlsen fans weren’t sure at all about the situation. Would Ivanchuk lose on time again...?Meanwhile, Carlsen himself was using lots of time himself – too much time. After making his 27th move, the Norwegian had only 5 minutes left for 13 moves, and 2 moves later his clock was down to 1 minute and 20 seconds. It was a situation Carlsen hadn’t been in before in all previous rounds! It must have been around this time that the home page of Norway’s biggest newspaper online, vg.no, crashed (like several chess servers) due too the high number of visitors trying to follow the games.Carlsen only barely made the time control – he made his last three moves in about nine seconds, knocking over some pieces in the process and losing precious seconds there. After the dust had cleared, he found himself in a completely lost ending. Svidler had simply played an excellent game, while Carlsen had succumbed under the pressure and the tension. “I was trying to equalize and then Magnus perhaps overestimated his position,” said Svidler.“I was spending too much time in the middle game on reasonably good moves but also on not too difficult moves. (…) I definitely overestimated my position. Additionally, I just couldn't calculate very well today and then you have to spend a lot of time, that’s the way it is. Obviously not as much time as I did, because it became a serious liability at the end, but it's not easy. From early on there were lots of things to calculate on every move,” said Carlsen at the press conference, while Ivanchuk and Kramnik were still playing.Before leaving the press room, Carlsen asked whether he could get the position of that last game on the laptop that was available. By that time Ivanchuk had made the time control, and he had a winning position. Carlsen said: “I think this cannot possibly go wrong,” and right at that moment Kramnik resigned his game, and with it his fight for first place. Carlsen was congratulated by his manager and by Svidler, and immediately gave a few interviews to mostly Norwegian press.
Meanwhile, Ivanchuk and Kramnik arrived in the press room to comment on their game. “I had to play for a win, to burn bridges in a way, because of course I didn't think that Magnus was going to lose. I thought I got what I wanted at some point. It was an interesting position but terribly complicated. Somewhere around 20…Nhf4 I liked my position and then somehow I lost a bit of concentration because I didn’t know what to do,” said Kramnik, who also kept an eye on the other game.“The problem was that Peter [Svidler]’s position was already promising but not yet so clear so I didn’t know what to do, whether to play for a draw… Somehow I got a bit lost between watching that game and trying to understand what I should do. Then I made a few awful decisions and I was unlucky that I had to make a tough decision on move 40, not 41.” In time trouble the Russian missed an important tactic, and then his position was lost. Ivanchuk agreed that the position was at some point drawish. “But I noticed that my opponent started to play a bit risky and he gave me chances.”Carlsen then returned to the press room to answer questions in his new status as tournament winner. He said: “I never expected to lose and I didn't really have any expectations for the other game. That didn’t make sense to me since I couldn’t do anything about it. (...) I didn't really want to resign before I was sure that Ivanchuk would win!”The tournament winner felt that until the 11th round he “played the best chess for sure”. “At the end everyone got tired, the quality got lower and anything could happen. But overall I think I did pretty well and I deserve to win.” Carlsen said he was “very impressed” by Kramnik’s comeback in the second half of the tournament. About his match against Anand, he said: “I think it’s going to be very interesting, a great event but it’s a long time ahead so we’ll see what happens.”The final standings are as follows: 1. Carlsen 8.5 points (5 wins), 2. Kramnik 8.5 points (4 wins), 3-4. Svidler and Aronian 8 points, 5-6. Grischuk and Gelfand 6.5 points, 7. Ivanchuk 6 points and 8.Radjabov 4 points.The FIDE Candidates' Tournament took place March 14th-April 1st, 2013 at IET London, Savoy Place. It was sponsored by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and organized by AGON and the World Chess Federation (FIDE).
(Report by Peter Doggers/Pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich)
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.comAlso see her personal blog atwww.chessqueen.comDon't miss Chess Queen™YouTube Channel
Labels: alexander grischuk, Boris gelfand, fide chess candidates 2013, levon aronian, Magnus Carlsen, peter svidler, teimour radjabov, Vassily Ivanchuk, vladimir kramnik
Fide Chess Candidates R14: Magnus Carlsen Wins Tournament, Qualifies to Challenge Vishy Anand in Nov, 2013
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hi everyone,
Breaking Chess News: Magnus Carlsen has earned the right to challenge World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand later this year. The tournament ended with a crazy quirk of fate.
Carlsen won the the Fide Chess Candidates 2013 a few minutes back in an exciting last round. Both Vladimir Kramnik and Magnus Carlsen went into the last round with equal scores. If both were to win their last-round games, Carlsen would have qualified on the basis of the tiebreak as he had more wins. Carlsen would also have qualified if both drew, or both lost. Kramnik would have qualified if he were to win and Carlsen were to draw or if he were to draw and Carlsen were to lose. No one expected both Kramnik and Carlsen to lose their last round games this Monday to Vassily Ivanchuk and Peter Svidler respectively!
The illustrious line-up in London included Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov, Peter Svidler, Alexander Grischuk, Boris Gelfand and Vassily Ivanchuk.
Labels: alexander grischuk, Boris gelfand, fide chess candidates 2013, levon aronian, Magnus Carlsen, peter svidler, teimour radjabov, Vassily Ivanchuk, vladimir kramnik
Fide Chess Candidates 2013 R13: Carlsen beats Radjabov, in Joint Lead with Kramnik
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hi everyone,
In yet another truly dramatic 13th round of the FIDE World Chess Candidates' Tournament Magnus Carlsen (Norway) caught Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) in first place. Carlsen, who ground down Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) in 89 moves, is now first on tie-break because of his higher number of wins. Kramnik had a promising position against Boris Gelfand (Israel) but couldn't get more than a draw. Alexander Grischuk (Russia) and Levon Aronian (Armenia) drew as well, while Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) lost yet another game on time against Peter Svidler (Russia).
In the 13th round “giant killer” Vassily Ivanchuk returned to his bad habit in this tournament of handling the clock terribly. It’s hard to believe but it’s true: the Ukrainian's flag fell for the fifth time! It must be said that in this game the final position was lost. “It was a new experience for me. When he played 27…Rd7 he looked away, and after I played 28.a4 and pressed the clock, he lost about half a minute trying to figure out which move I made,” said Svidler.
The game was a French Advance, and the Russian grandmaster played concrete moves from the start. “If I do nothing Black will develop very naturally so I went 11.Bg5 and 12.Be3 asking questions with every move.” Then, on move 15, Svidler went for pawn sacrifice. It was “one of those moments” where he thought: “If I don’t play this I will kind of regret it forever.” After 23.Re1 he was “very happy for a while” until he realized that Black has 23…Nd6 there. Svidler then showed an amazingly complicated computer line which his seconds told him about after the game. “Good luck finding that. There’s absolutely no one who can find that out at the board!”
Ivanchuk didn’t spot it, again spent too much time and after White’s 37th move his flag fell. “I saw White’s ideas but I didn’t know what to do. From the opening my position wasn’t very comfortable,” the Ukrainian said. At the press conference GM Danny King asked him the question that needed to be asked: how can you explain to yourself the masterpieces you played against Radjabov and Carlsen, and at the same time losing on time in five games? Ivanchuk: “Everything has happened. I don’t like to focus too much on my lost games. I’d like to forget them as quickly as possible and soon start a new tournament.” On his game against Kramnik tomorrow, he said: “For me it’s not important, it’s just a normal game.”
Alexander Grischuk and Levon Aronian drew a Slav/Catalan in 38 moves. “I think I got a comfortable advantage out of the opening. Black has of course decent chances to equalize but he has to play very accurately because White has a positional advantage in the centre,” said Grischuk, who thought that Aronian’s 12…a5 was “very ambitious”. White got a nice endgame advantage with the bishop pair and more active rooks, but somehow Grischuk misplayed it. “White has to be precise and it will be long suffering for Black,” he said. A tactical phase followed and Aronian could save the half point. At the press conference Grischuk said that he did play for a win: “Of course I lost a big part of my motivation but it’s not every day that I can play against such a brilliant player like Levon!”
Moving on to the two key games of the round, Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand were the first to finish. This encounter started as a Fianchetto Grünfeld and the former World Champion came up with a new idea as early as move five – something that’s very rare in chess. “It’s amazing how many ideas he’s introducing, maybe more than all of us together!” said Gelfand. “At least I got a game, I got a game,” said Kramnik, who needed to keep all options open: going for a solid draw or playing for a win, depending on the developments in Radjabov-Carlsen.
Read more »Labels: alexander grischuk, Boris gelfand, fide chess candidates 2013, levon aronian, Magnus Carlsen, peter svidler, teimour radjabov, Vassily Ivanchuk, vladimir kramnik
Fide Chess Candidates 2013 R3: Aronian in Sole Lead
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hi everyone,
Levon Aronian is the sole leader at the FIDE World Chess Candidates’ Tournament after three rounds of play. On Sunday the Armenian grandmaster beat Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, who overstepped the time limit for the second day in a row. In what was a very exciting round, co-leader Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan lost to Russia’s Peter Svidler in a Sämisch King’s Indian. Magnus Carlsen of Norway beat Boris Gelfand of Israel with Black in 57 moves from the old Cambridge Springs variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined. Russian grandmasters Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Grischuk drew a Grünfeld game in 35 moves.
Two and a half hours into the third round of the FIDE World Chess Candidates’ Tournament a remarkable situation occurred: in all four games, between the two contestants there was a time difference of about an hour on the clock. Thanks to their preparation Peter Svider, Vladimir Kramnik, Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian enjoyed a big time advantage against Teimour Radjabov, Alexander Grischuk, Boris Gelfand and Vassily Ivanchuk respectively.
In the case of Grischuk, however, this was nothing special. The 29-year-old Muscovite is the reigning World Blitz Champion and known for getting into time trouble quite often in his classical games. At the press conference his opponent noted that things could have been even worse. Kramnik: “At some point when Sacha was thinking, I was trying to compete with Peter Svidler, I mean, who would have more advantage on time!”
Read more »Labels: levon aronian, london chess candidates 2013, Magnus Carlsen, peter svidler
Big Chess Show 2013: Candidates' Opening Ceremony Today
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hi everyone,
The big chess show of 2013 is here. Today is the opening ceremony of the World Chess Candidates Tournament being held in London
London from March 15-April 1. The event has been announced by FIDE and AGON – the World Chess Federation’s
commercial partner.
The London Candidates will be the strongest tournament of its kind in history. The Prize Fund to be shared by the players totals €510,000. The winner of the Candidates will become the Challenger to Viswanathan Anand who has reigned as World Champion since 2007.
Format: The Candidates is a double round-robin tournament with four rest days.
Venue: The IET at 2 Savoy Place
Address: 2 Savoy Place, London WC2R 0BL
Players:
Levon Aronian (ARM)
Magnus Carlsen (NOR)
Boris Gelfand (ISR)
Alexander Grischuk (RUS)
Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR)
Vladimir Kramnik (RUS)
Teimour Radjabov (AZE)
Peter Svidler (RUS)
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of FIDE, said: “FIDE is happy that this major tournament will take place in London and that UK chess fans will be able to see the greatest chess players live. We support AGON’s efforts to bring important chess events to the great cities of Europe.” Andrew Paulson, the founder of AGON, said: “I am pleased to confirm that the 2013 Candidates Tournament will take place in a great venue on the banks of the River Thames and be broadcast online to a global audience.”
The World Chess Championship Cycle is the pinnacle of chess and consists of nine events over two years. The Championship Match between Viswanathan Anand and the winner of the Candidates Tournament will take place in November, 2013. The commercial rights for the World Chess Championship Cycle were accorded to AGON by the World Chess Federation (FIDE) in February 2012.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com
Don't miss Chess Queen™
YouTube Channel
Labels: alexander grischuk, Boris gelfand, candidates chess, levon aronian, Magnus Carlsen, peter svidler, teimour radjabov, Vassily Ivanchuk, vladimir kramnik
Candidates Chess London March 14 - Pairings ad Curtainraiser
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hi everyone,
The Guardian has carried a super curtainraiser on the upcoming Candidates Chess matches in London from March 14. Most fans are betting on World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen to win the tournament and obtain the chance to challenge Viswanathan Anand for the world title. Here is one of the best articles with a preview and analysis of this must-watch historic event!
Chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen enters endgame for world title
22-year-old grandmaster labelled greatest ever player hopes to earn right to play for world championship at London tournament
Stephen Moss in Oslo
Magnus Carlsen has been described as the greatest chess player of all time. Photograph: Fred Jonny for the Guardian
Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen is the Tiger Woods of chess. In a good way. Just as Woods, before his fall, established an iron grip on golf, so Carlsen, at the age of 22, has made himself supreme in his own more esoteric field. He became world No 1 while still a teenager, and is now officially rated the strongest player of all time.
What he is not, however, is world champion. That title has been held since 2007 by India's Viswanathan Anand, a great player but 20 years older than Carlsen and now rated only No 6 in the world. The time may be ripe for the young genius, and, in a three-week tournament that starts in London on Thursday, Carlsen and seven other top grandmasters will compete for the right to challenge Anand for his crown later in the year. (Continue reading here.)
Meanwhile, the official website of the event has details of the venue and profiles of the players as well. You can access the site here. In the extended post, you can read the full pairings for all the rounds of the Candidates Chess matches 2013.
Read more »Labels: alexander grischuk, Boris gelfand, candidates chess london 2013, levon aronian, Magnus Carlsen, peter svidler, teimour radjabov, Vassily Ivanchuk, vladimir kramnik
Aeroflot Chess Blitz 2013: Congrats to Ian Nepomniachtchi for Clear First; GM Alexandra Kosteniuk Best Among Women
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi Everyone,
Winner of the 2008 Aeroflot Chess Open and the 2010 Russian Chess Champion Ian Nepomniachtchi has won the 2013 Aeroflot Blitz Chess event today. Taking home $10,000 as the first prize, the Russian Grandmaster showed a steady performance in a Swiss system of 9 rounds paired. This means each player played nine matches of two games against every opponent of a round. 12th Women's World Chess Champion Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk was leading the tournament after four rounds with a perfect score of 8.0 points and Ian Nepomniachtchi was in second place with 7.5 points. The two were paired in the fifth round. That's when the 2010 Russian champion put on speed and went on to win the title. A nice report is available at the Russian Chess Federation website.
The time control was 3 minutes per game plus two seconds per move starting from the first. A total of 270 participants were in attendance at the tournament that began with a different format instead of the traditional open chess tournament.
Ian Nepomniachtchi scored 15.5 points out of 18. Peter Svidler came in second with 14.5 points and third was Alexander Grischuk with 14 points.
If the Russian men Grandmasters were sweeping the top slots, the Russian women chess divas were not far behind.
12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk proved to be the best woman chess player at the event scoring 11.0 points. That gave her the 48th position in the final ranking. GM Kosteniuk earned 31 elo points for her strong performance and her next official blitz chess rating will be 2612!
Second among women was India's GM Dronavalli Harika in 72nd place with 10.5 points. In 92nd place was Russia's GM Tatiana Kosintseva with 10.0 points. GM Kateryna Lahno was one place below in 93rd place also with 10.0 points. GM Natalia Zhukova was in 117th place with 9.5 points.
Top women's standings at Aeroflot Blitz Chess 2013
| Rnk |
|
|
|
|
Pts |
Perf |
| 48 |
GM |
Kosteniuk Alexandra |
RUS |
2581 |
11.0 |
2632 |
| 72 |
GM |
Harika Dronavalli |
IND |
2397 |
10.5 |
2444 |
| 92 |
GM |
Kosintseva Tatiana |
RUS |
2480 |
10.0 |
2458 |
| 93 |
GM |
Lahno Kateryna |
UKR |
2519 |
10.0 |
2466 |
| 117 |
GM |
Zhukova Natalia |
UKR |
2531 |
9.5 |
2355 |
Top men's standings at Aeroflot Blitz Chess 2013
| Rnk |
|
|
|
|
Pts |
Perf |
| 1 |
GM |
Nepomniachtchi Ian |
RUS |
2723 |
15.5 |
2897 |
| 2 |
GM |
Svidler Peter |
RUS |
2697 |
14.5 |
2834 |
| 3 |
GM |
Grischuk Alexander |
RUS |
2860 |
14.0 |
2835 |
| 4 |
GM |
Korobov Anton |
UKR |
2700 |
13.5 |
2810 |
| 5 |
GM |
Karjakin Sergey |
RUS |
2901 |
13.5 |
2759 |
Full results are now available at Chess-Results. You can read a personal update by GM Alexandra Kosteniuk at www.chessqueen.com as well. A nice report on the Aeroflot Blitz Chess 2013 is also available at Chessdom. (All photos in this Chess Blog post are by Eteri Kublashvili)
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
Labels: aeroflot blitz 2013, alexander grischuk, Alexandra Kosteniuk, anton korobov, harika dronavalli, ian nepomniachtchi, peter svidler, sergey karjakin
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