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Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Top Chess Stars at World Mind Games Beijing Dec 11 - Be There!
Hello chess blog friends, the Chess events at the SportAccord World Mind Games 2014 begin in Beijing December 11. The chess events at the SportAccord World Mind Games 2014 are under the auspices of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). The exciting events witness 32 players, 16 men and 16 women, competing for a rich haul of medals. The disciplines on the programme will be for both men and women Rapid, Blitz, Basque System. This year again, 12th women’s world chess champion Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk will be the official Chess Ambassador of the 2014 Sport Accord World Mind Games. This is the fourth edition of the Mind Sports Games. It’s a unique multi-sport event which highlights the great value of Mind Sports. The world’s best players will deliver top-level performances and create new valuable experiences based on intelligence, strategy and exercise of mind.
Here is the official trailer of the World Mind Games
You will recall that GM Kosteniuk got the very first Gold Medal in the Blitz Event of the first edition of the IMSA Mind Sports Games, by beating ex-world champion Antoaneta Stefanova in the blitz final 2-1. It was very tough because she started by losing the first game. Below are the 3 games in video.
SportAccord World Mind Games Chess Blitz: Gunina, Aronian Lead on Day 1
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
Blitz Chess events began at the SportAccord World Mind Games 2013 in Beijing on Saturday. This category has a different format, whereby players will face-off two times and only have 3 minutes (+2 seconds added after every move) for an entire game.
Valentina Gunina from Russia was leading after 10 rounds with 8 points. She showed great play with excellent decision making. Right behind is Anna Muzychuk from Slovenia and Yifan Hou (reigning women's world chess champion) from China.
In the Men's Blitz category, Levon Aronian from Armenia was leading with 8.5 points. Right behind the leader was Current World Blitz Chess Champion, Le Quang from Vietnam.
Chess Grandmaster Bartek Heberla teaches a young chess club member)
On a day where no school visit took place, the students of the Faming Mountain Chess Club visited the competition venue. Chess Grandmasters Bartek Heberla and Pieter Heine Nielsen welcomed the 15 students of the Chess Club at the spectator area of the Beijing International Convention Center. This time around, the Grandmasters were the ones getting taught by 5-10 year olds!
Sport Accord World Mind Games Chess 2013: Wang Yue, Valentina Gunina win Chess Rapid (men and women's) Event
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
Congratulations to Wang Yue of China and Valentina Gunina of Russia for winning the Rapid Chess events (in the men and women's categories) at the SportAccord World Mind Games in Beijing. The champions were crowned after two days of exciting rapid chess. In the women's section, reigning women's world chess champion Hou Yifan was second and Ju Wenjun was third. In the men's section, Peter Leko was second and Alexander Grischuk was third.
Meanwhile, special school visits have also been arranged at the event to encourage students and give children an educative cultural experience. The SportAccord school visits included a group of young students visiting the World Mind Games venue, while SportAccord President, Mr. Marius L. Vizer and World Bridge Federation President, Mr. Giovanni Arrigo Rona attended the Number 5 Beijing High School.
SportAccord World Mind Games 2013 in Beijing from Dec 10
Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013 Hi everyone,
Fide has announced the players selected for the SportAccord World Mind Games 2013 to be played in Beijing, China from December 10. Players are invited to send in their contract. The selection of the players for this annual event has been based on the average of the player’s three ratings for classical, blitz and rapid. SportAccord World Mind Games are a multi-sport event centered on the gymnasium of the mind and highlighting the great value of the mind sports. The first and second editions in 2011 and 2012 included five mind sports of great popularity and influence worldwide - Bridge, Chess, Draughts, Go and Xiangqi (Chinese Chess).
Before we give you the list of participants for this year, here's a special chess video from the SportAccord World Mind Games 2012! (Click on the screen grab below) for a special commented video. This video features 12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk explaining her win over 13th Women's World Chess Champion Hou Yifan in Beijing last year at the SportAccord Mind Games.
The special Houdini-powered chess training programme used in this commented video is Chess King™. Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk trains with Chess King ™ regularly. This chess training programme includes the super-strong analysis engine Houdini, but also GigaKing - a database of all chess games played from "the beginning of time". Know all about Chess King at the official website.
For all of GM Kosteniuk's posts and victories at the SportAccord Mind Games, click this link of a list of write-ups on www.chessqueen.com. For all posts about the SportAccord World Mind Games on Chess Blog, click here. There are lots of photos and videos in there including an interview with GM Kosteniuk as the official ambassador of the SportAccord World Mind Games 2011 and GM Kosteniuk's gold medal wins. Back to the list of participants announced by Fide for the Mind Games Chess Section 2013.
1. The list for men is as follows :
No more than two players from each country with exceptions made only for World Champions 2012 and 2013 for Blitz and Rapid. 2. The women’s list is as follows :
3. The events will be the following : · Rapid Events · 16 male players – 16 female players (separate event for male/female) · two days with seven rounds Swiss events; · time control 20 mins each side plus 10 secs increment · Blitz Events · 16 male players – 16 female players (separate event for male/female) · Three days with double round robin events (10 games per day); · time control 3 mins each side plus 2 secs increment · Basque Events · 16 male players – 16 female players (separate event for male/female) · two days with five rounds Swiss events; · each player plays two games simultaneously per round with white and black pieces · time control 20 mins each side plus 10 secs increment per game 4. Schedule: 10th December 2013 Arrival of players and officials 12th December 2013 Rapid event (rounds 1-4) 13th December 2013 Rapid event (rounds 5-7) 14th December 2013 Blitz event (rounds 1-10) 15th December 2013 Blitz event (rounds 11-20) 16th December 2013 Blitz event (rounds 21-30) 17th December 2013 Basque event (rounds 1-3 Women), (rounds 1-3 Men) 18th December 2013 Basque event (rounds 4-5 Women), (rounds 4-5 Men) 19th December 2013 Departure 5. Prizes For each event the following prizes will be awarded. Place Men Place Women 1 $18.000 1 $10.000 2 $15.000 2 $9.000 3 $12.000 3 $8.000 4 $9.000 4 $7.000 5 $7.000 5 $6.000 6 $6.000 6 $5.000 7 $5.000 7 $4.000 8 $4.000 8 $3.000 9 $3.000 9 $2.000 10 $2.000 10 $1.000 11 $1.000 11 $500 12 $1.000 12 $500 13 $1.000 13 $500 14 $1.000 14 $500 15 $1.000 15 $500 16 $1.000 16 $500 Total $87.000 Total $58.000 Tie break will be used only for final medal positions but money prizes will be split equally. Air fares will be organised by BODA (Beijing Olympic Development Agency) and accommodation will also be covered on a full board basis by the organisers. From Alexandra Kosteniuk's www.chessblog.com Also see her personal chess blog at www.chessqueen.com Don't miss Chess Queen™ YouTube Channel
FIDE has announced that SportAccord Mind Games 2012 will be held in Beijing, China between December 12-20.
PARTICIPANTS: Hou Yifan, Anna Muzychuk, Koneru Humpy, Zhao Xue, Kateryna Lahno, Viktorija Cmilyte, Anna Zatonskih, Antoaneta Stefanova, Bela Khotenashvili, Harika Dronavalli, Elizabeth Paehtz, Zhu Chen, Pia Cramling, Monika Socko, Elina Danielian and Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Among the men, the participants are: Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov, Sergey Karjakin, Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Morozevich, Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexander Grischuk, Vesselin Topalov, Gata Kamsky, Peter Leko, Viktor Bologan, Baadur Jobava, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Wang Hao, Anish Giri and Ding Liren.
An exciting chess video with comments by 12th World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk. The game: against Antoaneta Stefanova that fetched the gold for Chess Queen™ in 2010.
The complete World Mind Games are being held from December 9-16. The chess section includes the following three events:
9th – 11th December, Rapid Events (Open and Women – 16 players each)
12th – 13th December, Blitz Events (Open and Women – 16 players each)
14th – 16th December, Blindfold Event (Open and Women – 8 players each) and Pairs Event (8 teams of two players)
Congratulations also to Kateryna Lahno for the silver and Nana Dzagnidze for the bronze. Congratulations to all the beautiful women who told the world that chess can be so beautiful, imaginative and such a feminine statement of mental prowess.
Sportaccord World Mind Games Rapid – Women Final standings: 1. GM Kosteniuk Alexandra RUS 2439 – 6 2. GM Lahno Kateryna UKR 2549 – 4.5 3. GM Dzagnidze Nana GEO 2516 – 4.5 4. WGM Ju Wenjun CHN 2543 – 4.5 5. GM Harika Dronavalli IND 2512 – 4 6. GM Hou Yifan CHN 2578 – 4 7. IM Muzychuk Anna SLO 2562 – 4 8. IM Dembo Yelena GRE 2468 – 3.5 9. GM Cramling Pia SWE 2495 – 3.5 10. GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2531 – 3.5 11. IM Paehtz Elisabeth GER 2457 – 3 12. GM Socko Monika POL 2479 – 3 13. GM Cmilyte Viktorija LTU 2503 – 2.5 14. IM Skripchenko Almira FRA 2468 – 2 15. IM Zatonskih Anna USA 2506 – 2 16. GM Danielian Elina ARM 2497 – 1.5
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
Beijing,China 09.12.2011 – The opening ceremony of 2011 SportAccord World Mind Games took place on Friday and the Games are now officially open. The event took place in the Beijing International Convention Center.
SportAccord President Hein Verbruggen expressed his gratitude for the warm reception of SportAccord in China’s Capital. He continued by acknowledging the General Sport Administration of China and Beijing Municipal Government for their support for SportAccord World Mind Games, the Local Organising Committee and all the people involved in the preparations. He acknowledged the official partners of SportAccord World Mind Games; Rado and Samsung.
Deputy Major of Beijing Liu Jingmin, Deputy Director of General Administration of Sport of China Feng Jianzhong welcomed SportAccord, players, coaches, referees, and friends. They underlined the values and importance of SportAccord World Mind Games and wished the event a great success.
The addresses were followed by cultural performances of a children’s chorus, Beijing Opera Group and Beijing Women New Folk Music Band.
The first edition of SportAccord World Mind Games takes place from 9-16 December 2011 in Beijing. This unique multi-sport event highlights the great value of Mind Sports. The world's best players will deliver top-level performances and create new valuable experiences based on intelligence, strategy and exercise of mind. Rado and Samsung are the official partners of SportAccord World Mind Games.
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12th Women's World Chess Champion
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