Not Chess Trivia: Name the Russian GM, Identify Symbol on T-Shirt!
Hello chess friends, this is a special chess trivia photo. Do you know what this very strong GM does in his spare time? It's represented by his t-shirt! So, name the Russian GM and name his 'secret' hobby.
Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich via official website World Rapid Chess Championship 2014 in Dubai.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
Labels: russian chess grandmaster, world rapid chess championship 2014
World Rapid Chess Championship 2014: Spills, Chills, Thrills... and Carlsen Wins.
Hello chess friends, three days of exciting rapid chess have concluded in Dubai with World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen becoming the new World Rapid Chess Champion 2014. That is a double along with is World Classical Chess Champion title! The World Blitz Chess Championship begins tomorrow in Dubai and everyone's asking the same question: Can Magnus pick up a third world title?
Meanwhile, looking at the rapid event, let's just say it was spills, chills and thrills all the way. Magnus Carlsen concluded the first day of play just 0.5 points behind leaders Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana, Sergey Karjakin who had 4.5 points. Carlsen, along with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Laurent Fressinet, Le Quang Liem and Sergei Movsesian had 4.0 points.
World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen makes a double by winning the World Rapid Chess Championship 2014 in Dubai. Photo: Screenshot
However, the World Chess Champion concluded the second day of play with a clear lead after 10 rounds with 8 points. Levon Aronian was right behind at 7.5. There was quite a group at 7.0 points including Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Alexander Grischuk, Yu Yangyi, Viswanathan Anand and Peter Svidler.
The third day of play was not easy at all today. Magnus stayed in a 0.5 lead after drawing with Levon Aronian in the 11th round (the first on the third day of play today), but suddenly lost the 12th round - the BIG ONE - to Viswanathan Anand. Most fans on twitter took it as a psychological win for the Indian and started calculating who was going to win the title by the time the 15 rounds ended.
The loss meant Caruana and Anand were suddenly in joint lead with 9.0 points. Carlsen was down to third at 8.5 points along with Yu Yangyi, Levon Aronian and Teimour Radjabov.
So, was it going to be Anand picking up the Rapid World title, or perhaps Caruana? Then came the 13th round. Could Carlsen pick himself, dust off the loss and go forward?
Magnus stood firm and beat Yu Yangyi, while Anand could only draw Carlsen and Levon Aronian could only draw Radjabov. This meant we again had three joint leaders after 13 rounds (two to go) -- Caruana, Carlsen and Anand at 9.5 each. The rest of the pack just 0.5 points away.
Round 14 was actually mad! Totally! Carlsen beat Grischuk in a game that was so obviously lost... that it must have been a heartbreak for the Russian Grandmaster to not win it. Carlsen won. Caruana also floundered and lost to Aronian. Radjabov held Anand to a draw.
The 15th round began with Carlsen needing just a draw with Radjabov to win the title. None of the other managed to catch him and he got a clear first. Karjakin could have won and drawn level to force a tiebreak score evaluation, but he lost to Morozevich. Anand and Aronian drew. Caruana beat Le Quang Liem to win the silver, while Anand got the bronze on better tiebreak score over Aronian.
Stay tuned at the official website for the Blitz World Chess Championship 2014 beginning tomorrow.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
Labels: Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, world rapid chess championship 2014
World Rapid Chess begins in Dubai: Day 1 Video, Report
Hello chess blog friends, the very exciting World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships 2014 have begun in Dubai. Here is a cool Day 1 video by Vijay Kumar. On the first day, the first five rounds of the Rapid section were held.
A total of 113 participants from 46 countries 16th edition of the Championships. After the conclusion of five rounds on Day 1 we had Ian Nepomniachtchi, Sergey Karjakin (both from Russia) and Fabiano Caruana (Italy) in joint lead with 4. 5 points out of 5. The championship began with two major upsets in the first round itself as both Levon Aronian and defending champion Hikaru Nakamura lost to their lower-rated opponents.
This lovely photo of the first day is by Anastasiya Karlovich. Click on photo to see the full album.
World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen made 2 draws against Gadir Guseinov and Evgeny Tomashevsky, won three games and after 5 rounds was placed half a point behind the leaders. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Laurent Fressinet, Le Quang Liem and Sergei Movsesian also had 4 out 5.
The only woman chess player in the fray, Judit Polgar began with a straight 3,5 out 4, defeating GMs Rauf Mamedov and Pentala Harikrishna. She was in shared second place after four rounds but plunged to the 10th place after losing to Karjakin in the fifth round.
Twenty five year old Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli of Venezuela (2652) beat Hikaru Nakamura (2841) in 49 moves of an English Opening. Nakamura lost a Rook on the 41st move as he tried to prevent mating threats.
Then world number 2, Levon Aronian of Armenia, 32, also lost in round 1 to Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly, 31, who utilised the Evans Gambit and won a Rook and pawn endgame in a marathon 69 moves.
The FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship 2014 will consist of 15 rounds to be held in the first three days. Games are scheduled 3pm daily on 16th, 17th and 18th June. The Blitz championship follows with 21 rounds starting 3pm on 19th and 20th June. The total prize find of both tournaments is $400,000 with $40,000 for the winner of each championships.
The championship will be broadcast live on the tournament’s official website www.dubai2014wrb.com with online games and commentary. See the Photo Album of the first day (By Anastasija Karlovic)
In the Rapid Championship, each player will have 15 minutes + 10 seconds additional time per move, starting from move 1.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
Labels: dubai chess, world rapid chess championship 2014
|
|
