Thursday, August 28, 2008

CHESSDOM: WESLEY WINS GOLD

Wesley So wins gold at World Youth Chess Olympiad

By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.

The Philippine Under-16 Chess Team scored a total of 27 points after ten rounds at the World Youth Under 16 Chess Olympiad held in Turkey and was good enough for third place. The team is composed of Wesley So, Haridas Pascua, Alcon John Datu and Jan Emmanuel Garcia.

India, the defending champion, won on a tiebreak against second place Russia. Both teams have 28 1/2 points. The Philippines earlier scored a 3-1 victory over the fancied Russians in the seventh round of the tournament.

This conquest underscored the character of the team who had lost 1½ - 2½ to India in the sixth round. The Pinoy woodpushers also beat another chess playing nation England in the eighth round by 3-1. They scored a 3-1 win over the Turkish Isek Aquamatch chess club in their final match.

Filipino prodigy Grandmaster Wesley So was the top scorer among the Board One players with 8 wins, two draws and no losses beating Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan (7 pts.) and Aleksandr Shimanov of Russia (7.5 pts.). This gold medal winning effort will provide a much needed analgesic for our wounded sports pride after a disastrous Beijing Summer Olympics.

Our sports officials and corporate sponsors should provide more support to chess. We used to have the best chess players in Asia. Eugene Torre was Asia’s first grandmaster in 1974 and in 1982 became the first Asian to qualify for the Candidates Matches for the 1984 World Championship cycle. We used to top the Asian team championships. But countries like China and India not only caught up with us but surpassed the Filipinos’ achievements. China has been regularly producing prodigies and first broke the Soviet dominance in the female side by winning the World Women’s crown in 1991 courtesy of Xie Jun. The reigning women’s champion Xu Yuhua is also from China.

The reigning World Men’s Champion Viswanathan Anand of India ironically learned the game when he was a six year old student in the Philippines. India and China have the best talent pool in Asia right now.

There were other Pinoy GM’s after Torre – the late Rosendo Balinas, Rogelio Antonio, Nelson Mariano, Bong Villamayor, Mark Paragua and Darwin Laylo. But So is one of a kind. He became the Philippines’ youngest International Master when he was 12 years old and our youngest GM last year. He is the seventh youngest grandmaster in chess history at the age of 14 years, 1 month and 28 days.

So belongs to an elite group of prodigies whose members include Judith Polgar and Peter Leko of Hungary, and Magnus Carlsen of Norway who is currently in the world’s top ten. The youngest grandmaster on record is Sergey Karyakin of the Ukraine who achieved the feat aged 12 years and 7 months.

The late great Bobby Fischer became a grandmaster at age 15 years and 6 months.

One doesn’t need to look far for chess talent. Thousands if not millions of Filipino kids play chess in clubs, school and at home. We do have the inherent “diskarte” that always makes us dangerous opponents on the world stage. What we need now is more financial support for our young talent. Our chess GM’s and IM’s have been teaching school kids but we can do more and develop a better national teaching and development system.The game has changed. Chess masters now depend on computer data bases and chess opening novelties are produced everyday. We need to adopt and use these innovations also to our advantage.

Wesley should also be given more exposure in European tournaments. Anand became an elite player when he started competing against the former Soviets and Eastern Europeans.

Boxing has been labeled as a chess game with blood. Our fighting nature and spirit should make us a chess power once again. But this will need a unified effort from the powers that be. That will be the most difficult game of all.

Source: philboxing.com

CHESSBASE: TAL MEMORIAL R9

Ivanchuk Wins by a Full Point

27.08.2008 – Ivanchuk-Shirov: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 c5 5.Bxc4 e6 6.0-0 a6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Ne5 Ke7 10.Be2 Bd7 11.Bf3 Nc6 12.Nxc6+ draw. That was it, Vassily Ivanchuk won the 2008 Tal Memorial a full point ahead of his nearest rivals (Morozevich, Gelfand, Ponomariov and Kramnik). His performance of 2861 took Ivanchuk to number two in the live world rankings. Final report.

Tal Memorial in Moscow

The Tal Memorial took place from August 17th to 31st 2008 in the Exhibition Hall of GUM mall, located directly on the Red Square. Time controls were two hours for the first 40 moves, one hour for the next 20 moves and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move after move 61.

There will be a blitz tournament on August 29th-30th, with a qualifier two days earlier. Magnus Carlsen and Antoly Karpov are seeded invitees.

Round nine report

Round 9: Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Vassily Ivanchuk
½-½
Alexei Shirov
Gata Kamsky
½-½
Ruslan Ponomariov
Boris Gelfand
½-½
Alex. Morozevich
Evgeny Alekseev
½-½
Peter Leko
Shak. Mamedyarov
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik

Games of the day

We start with the pro forma games which would have caused Misha to raise an eyebrow.

Ivanchuk,V (2781) - Shirov,A (2741) [D27]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (9), 27.08.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 c5 5.Bxc4 e6 6.0-0 a6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Ne5 Ke7 10.Be2 Bd7 11.Bf3 Nc6 12.Nxc6+ draw. What you gonna do, an American would say. Ivanchuk clinched first by a full point, did not lose a single game, produced an overall performace of 2861, and installed himself as number two in the world live rankings. Alexei Shirov was not interested in a Big Fight in the last round with the black pieces against the superbly in-form tournament leader. So no surprise in this game.

Gelfand,B (2720) - Morozevich,A (2788) [A04]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (9), 27.08.2008
1.Nf3 g6 2.e4 d6 3.c4 Bg4 4.d4 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 Bg7 6.Qd1 c6 7.Nc3 Qb6 8.Be3 Qxb2 9.Na4 Qb4+ 10.Bd2 Qa3 11.Bc1 Qb4+ 12.Bd2 Qa3 13.Bc1 draw. One move longer. Actually the game is quite exciting, in a bizarre sort of way. Alexander Morozevich used an entirely insane opening against Gelfand, trying to find a way to play for a win with black. Out of book on move four, then back, then out to stay at move six. Gelfand spent over an hour before forcing the repetition. Amazingly, with all that thinking he missed 11.h4! (or after the first repetition) and Black is very close to losing on the spot. He has to scramble to save his queen or grovel with knight and rook for queen. Lots of amazing lines Fritz can merrily churn out. Maybe Gelfand saw it and chickened out (we will have to ask him about it the next time we meet). In any case he was glad to land on equal second to fifth and gain a few valuable Elo points in the process.

Mamedyarov,S (2742) - Kramnik,V (2788) [E15]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (9), 27.08.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 c6 8.Bc3 d5 9.Ne5 Nfd7 10.Nxd7 Nxd7 11.Nd2 0-0 12.0-0 Rc8 13.e4 c5 14.exd5 exd5 15.dxc5 dxc4 16.cxb6 Nxb6 17.Re1 cxb3 18.Qxb3 Nd7 19.Ne4 Nc5 20.Nxc5. Topalov,Veselin (2783) - Aronian,Levon (2744), 24th Morelia/Linares (14), 10.03.2007 ended here in a draw agreement. In today's Tal Memorial game we saw two extra moves. 20...Bxc5N 21.Rad1 Qb6 22.Qxb6 draw. Kramnik finished on plus one, did not lose more than a couple of rating points and is equal 2-5th on the cross table. Not bad for a warm-up tournament.

Alekseev,Evgeny (2708) - Leko,P (2741) [C53]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (9), 27.08.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 d5 7.Bb5 Ne4 8.cxd4 Bb6 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Be3 Bg4 11.Qc2 Bf5 12.Qb3 Be6 13.0-0 f5 14.exf6 Qxf6 15.Bxc6 bxc6 16.Ne5 Nd6 17.Nxc6 Nc4 18.Rae1 Kh8 19.Nb4 Qf7 20.Na4 Qg6 21.Kh1 Ba5 22.a3 Bh3

The heart-stopper in this game: if 23.gxh3 Black can draw with 23...Qe4+ 24.Kg1 Qg6+ 25.Kh1 Qe4+ 26.Kg1 (26.f3 Rxf3 27.Rxf3 Qxf3+ 28.Kg1 is also a draw). So: 23.Rg1 Bg4 24.Nc5 c6 25.f4 Rab8 draw.


It was left to Gata Kamsky, USA, former World Championship candidate and FIDE world championship finalist, and Ruslan Ponomariov, Ukraine, 2002 FIDE world champion, to provide the excitement in the last round of the 2008 Tal Memorial in Moscow – all of the excitement.

Kamsky,G (2723) - Ponomariov,R (2718) [C65]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (9), 27.08.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.0-0 d6 6.Bxc6+ bxc6 7.h3 0-0 8.Nc3 Bb6 9.Re1 h6 10.Na4 c5 11.Nh2 Bd7 12.Nc3 Nh7 13.a4 Ba5 14.g4 Qe8 15.Re3 Bxc3 16.bxc3 Bxa4 17.Rg3 a5 18.c4 Bd7 19.f4 exf4 20.Bxf4 Qe7 21.Bd2 a4 22.Bc3 c6 23.Nf1 f6 24.h4 Be6 25.Ne3 Qd7 26.Qf3 a3 27.Ra2 Qb7 28.Kf2

Ponomariov has managed to equalise easily in this game and then go on the offensive. Now he ties Kamsky up in an interesting fashion: 28...Qb1 29.Ra1 a2 30.Qh1 Qxh1 31.Rxh1 Rfb8. This position must be winning for Black. But Gata Kamsky has been known since early infancy for world-class defensive skills. 32.Rgg1 Ra3 33.Ba1 Ra7 34.Bc3 Nf8 35.g5 fxg5 36.hxg5 hxg5 37.Rxg5 Rb1 38.Rhg1 Rxg1 39.Rxg1 g6 40.Ba1 Kf7 41.Nd1 d5 42.cxd5 cxd5 43.exd5 Bxd5 44.Nc3 Bc6 45.Bb2 Bd7 46.Ke3 Ra6 47.Kd2 Bf5 48.Ra1 Be6 49.Ne4 c4 50.Ng5+ Ke7 51.Nxe6 Nxe6 52.dxc4 g5 53.Be5 Nf4 54.Kc3 Ke6 55.Bc7 Kf5 56.Kb2 g4 57.Rxa2. At last – it took 28 moves to get rid of that thorn. 57...Rxa2+ 58.Kxa2

Now comes an interesting endgame with the advanced black g-pawn and knight trying to win. 58...g3 59.Bb6 g2 60.Bg1 Nh3 61.Bh2 Ng5 62.Bg1 Nf3 63.Bf2 Ke4 64.c5 Nd4 65.Ka3 Nxc2+ 66.Ka4 Nd4 67.Ka5 Ne6 68.c6 Kd3 69.Kb6 Ke2 70.Bg1 Kf1 71.Bh2

71...g1B+. Yes, he actually took a bishop! 72.Bxg1 Kxg1 73.c7 Nxc7 74.Kxc7. Yes, they actually played down to bare kings. Draw.


Final standings

The one-point victory and the 2861 performance have put Vassily Ivanchuk in the number two spot in the Live Rankings, ten points behind the leader Vishy Anand. Magnus Carlsen is back in place three, seven tenths of a point behind Ivanchuk. Alexander Morozevich, who three days ago was number one in this list, has now dropped to fourth, a tenth of a point behind Carlsen. Kramnik has shed 16 points (his July rating was 2788) by virtue of his results in Dortmund and Moscow.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

BANAT: 16th SHELL ACTIVE

Ruelo nanghawod sa 16th Shell Chess
(Banat) Updated August 26, 2008 12:00 AM

Ang 17-anyos nga si Bernardo Ruelo Jr. maoy gikoronahan isip kampiyon sa bag-o lang natapos nga 16th Shell National Youth Active Chess Tournament sa SM City Entertainment Center.

Si Ruelo mirehistro og 35.5 puntos sa dayong tapos sa maong torneyo aron paghari sa Juniors Division nga gisalmotan sa 218 ka mga partisipante.

Gisundan kini nilang Lenon Hart Salgados alang sa ikaduhang dapit ug Recarte Tiauson, kinsa mikapyot sa ikatulo nga dapit.

Sa laing bahin, tinun-an sa Southwestern University nga si Rhenzkie Kyle Sevillano mao usab ang nanghawod sa Kiddies Division.

Ang 9-anyos nga si Sevillano mitapos sa torneyo bitbit ang siyete puntos. Sila si Godfrey Villamor ug Marq Gabrielle Balbona maoy miangkon sa ikaduha ug ikatulo nga dapit.

Gipasidunggan sab si Rachel Suson kinsa nidaog sa "Sportsmanship" award, samtang ang 4-anyos nga Jeth Romy Morado mao sab ang nidaog sa "Youngest Player" award ning tinuig nga kompetisyon nga gipasiugdahan sa Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

CHESSBASE: TAL MEMORIAL R7

Ivanchuk Beats Morozevich, Takes Lead
25.08.2008 – What a round: four out of five games decided, the only draw a cliff-hanger. Ponomariov beat Shirov, Leko beat Kamsky (with black!), Alekseev beat Mamedyarov. A heart-stopping victory by Vassily Ivanchuk over player-on-fire Alexander Morozevich pushed the latter down from number one in the world on the Live List to number two behind Vishy Anand. High drama in Moscow.

Tal Memorial in Moscow

The Tal Memorial is taking place from August 17th to 31st 2008 in the Exhibition Hall of GUM mall, located directly on the Red Square. The players are former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, who won the tournament last year, Alexander Morozevich, currently the world's second highest ranked player, Vassily Ivanchuk, ranked fourth, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (8th), Alexei Shirov (9th), Peter Leko (10th), Gata Kamsky (17th), Boris Gelfand, (18th), Ruslan Ponomariov (19th), and Evgeny Alekseev (26th).

Time controls are two hours for the first 40 moves, one hour for the next 20 moves and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move after move 61. There is a blitz tournament on August 29th-30th, with a qualifier two days earlier. Magnus Carlsen and Antoly Karpov are seeded invitees.

Round seven report

Round 7: Monday, August 25, 2008
Ruslan Ponomariov
1-0
Alexei Shirov
Vassily Ivanchuk
1-0
Alex. Morozevich
Gata Kamsky
0-1
Peter Leko
Boris Gelfand
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik
Evgeny Alekseev
1-0
Shak. Mamedyarov

Games of the day

Ivanchuk,V (2781) - Morozevich,A (2788) [D87]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (7), 25.08.2008
1.c4 Nf6 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 0-0 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Be3 Na5 11.Bb5 Bd7 12.Bd3 b6 13.Rb1 e5 14.dxc5 Ba4 15.Qd2 Qd7 16.cxb6 axb6 17.Nc1 Rfc8 18.Rxb6 Bf8 19.Ra6 Qb7 20.Rxa8 Qxa8 21.Nb3 Nxb3 22.axb3 Bxb3 23.Rb1 Qa3 24.h3 Be6 25.Rc1 Rd8 26.Qc2 Bb3 27.Qb1 Ba2 28.Qb5 Rc8 29.Qxe5 Bc5 30.Bxc5 Rxc5 31.Qb8+ Kg7 32.Qf4 Qb2 33.Qe3 f6

Now comes an interesting bit: 34.Bf1 Qxc1 35.Qxc5 says the official tournament bulletin, and these were the moves that were relayed on the chess servers. But, as some spectators and many chess engines asked themselves in great puzzlement: instead of taking the rook why didn't Ivanchuk simply take the queen, which was blatantly en prise on c1? We are mystified and can offer two possible explanations: (1) take a look at GM Robert Fontaine's video below of the critical period before the first time control. Both players were bashing out moves at a frantic rate. Perhaps this was just an oversight. On the other hand these world-class GMs are hard-wired to see elementary tactics in milliseconds – have you seen the level of their one-minute bullet chess? So we are left with a second option, proposed by Astolfo Corrêa of São Paulo, Brazil: (2) "the movies 34 and 35 wrong – change the order to 34.Qxc5 Qxc1 35 Bf1 and it all makes sense." Right, we would immediately accept the second explanation in the good old days when people typed in moves from scoresheets and sent them out to the chess community. But these days everybody is using sensor boards and the moves are going out automatically, read by inductive receivers in each square and relayed electronically by computer software to the live broadcast boards.

So: basically it must have been (1) that occurred; although there is one possibility that speaks for (2). Perhaps the sensor board lost track of the game in the extreme zeitnot phase and somebody entered some moves manually (and incorrectly). We will try to find out what actually transpired, but until then please accept these two possible explanations.

[Addendum: Bob Fontaine in Moscow tells us that 34.Qxc5 Qxc1+ 35.Bf1 was actually played.]

The game continued in the direst of time trouble – 20 seconds left for ten moves, that is heart-stopping. You can watch it all in the first 30-second segment of the Europe Echecs video below: "Tal Memorial (R7)".

35...Qe1 36.Qd4 g5 37.c4 Qc1 38.c5 Be6 39.f3 h5 40.Kf2 h4just made the time control! Ivanchuk can hardly believe he made it without blowing the win.

Now comes the technical part: Ivanchuk is two pawns up in the queen and bishop ending. These things can go astray and if one does not come up with a constructive plan the weaker side might still hold the draw.

41.Qe3 Qc2+ 42.Kg1 Bc4 43.Bxc4 Qxc4 44.Kh2 Kf7 45.Qa3 Ke6 46.Qa7 Qc1 47.Qb6+ Kf7 48.Qd6

Morozevich decides to exchange queens and pick up the c-pawn. 48...Qf4+ 49.Qxf4 gxf4 50.Kg1 Ke6 51.Kf2 Kd7 52.Ke2 Kc6.

Okay, how do you play this again? On the Playchess server a number of spectators were enamoured with the move 53.e5, which they thought was the only way to win. But one very strong player showed us why it doesn't work: 53...fxe5 54.Kd3 Kd5 55.c6 Kxc6 56.Ke4 Kd6 57.Kf5 Kd5 58.Kg5 Kd4 59.Kxh4 Ke3 60.Kg5 Kf2 61.h4 Kxg2 62.h5 Kxf3 (62...e4?? trivially allows mate in 68) 63.h6 Kg2 "and White has no check after queening, so draw." All of this in real time, without the use of a chess engine. Garry Kasparov also told us how Ivanchuk had to proceed, which his old buddy obediently did.

53.Kd3 Kxc5 54.Kc3! Kd6 55.Kd4 Ke6 56.Kc4 Kd6 57.Kb5 Ke6 58.Kc6 Ke5 59.Kd7 f5 60.exf5 1-0. A mind-boggling, nerve-racking encounter which will have both players trembling in their showers for days to come.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

MERALCO vs TRANSCO

The Ortigas Center-based MERALCO Chess Club made a trip to industry partner TRANSCO in in Quezon City upon the invite of Monching de Robles, who played for the UST Chess team in his college days. And it was not only a battle between adults as ASEAN Age Group medalist and 2008 10 & Under National Age Group Champion Pau BERSAMINA and Junior Sol Cruz of La Salle Green Hills Chess Team played for MERALCO while 2007 SHELL Finalist Mark Dimaliwat of San Beda played for TRANSCO.








Tuesday, August 19, 2008

CHESSBASE: TAL MEMORIAL R1

Tal Memorial 01: Kramnik, Morozevich, Ivanchuk win
18.08.2008 – The annual Tal Memorial has started, in the heart of Moscow, a round robin with ten players averaging 2745 Elo points. In the first round there was plenty of fighting spirit and action. Vladimir Kramnik beat his old nemesis Alexei Shirov, Alexander Morozevich positionally outplayed Evgeny Alekseev and Vassily Ivanchuk played a crusher against Gata Kamsky. Round one report

Tal Memorial in Moscow

The Tal Memorial is taking place from August 17th to 31st 2008 in the Exhibition Hall of GUM mall, located directly on the Red Square. The players are former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, who won the tournament last year, Alexander Morozevich, currently the world's second highest ranked player, Vassily Ivanchuk, ranked fourth, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (8th), Alexei Shirov (9th), Peter Leko (10th), Gata Kamsky (17th), Boris Gelfand, (18th), Ruslan Ponomariov (19th), and Evgeny Alekseev (26th). Time controls are two hours for the first 40 moves, one hour for the next 20 moves and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move after move 61. There is a blitz tournament on August 29th-30th, with a qualifier two days earlier. Magnus Carlsen and Antoly Karpov are seeded invitees.

Round one report

Round 1: Monday, August 18, 2008
Vladimir Kramnik
1-0
Alexei Shirov
Peter Leko
½-½
Shak. Mamedyarov
Alex. Morozevich
1-0
Evgeny Alekseev
Ruslan Ponomariov
½-½
Boris Gelfand
Vassily Ivanchuk
1-0
Gata Kamsky
Games – Report

Kramnik,V (2788) - Shirov,A (2741) [D47]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (1), 18.08.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.a3 b4 10.Ne4 Nxe4 11.Bxe4 bxa3 12.0-0 Bd6. This position has occurred many times, interestingly in Topalov-Kramnik during their World Championship match in Elista in September 2006 (the game was drawn in 54 moves); in Bareev-Bruzon, at the Capablanca Memorial in November 2006 (Kramnik's second Bareev won in 61 moves); and in Aronian-Grischuk, at the FIDE Grand Prix in Sochi, just four days ago, with Aronian winning in 46 moves. In each case White played 13.b3, but today Kramnik played a move seen in Arencibia-Abreu Delgado in Santa Clara 2002: 13.Nd2 Qc7N [Abreu Delgado played 13...0-0 and the game ended after 33 moves in a draw.

14.Nc4!? Sacrificing a second pawn, a move that Fritz also wants to play. 14...Bxh2+ 15.Kh1 Nb6 16.Nxb6 axb6 17.g3 Bxg3 18.fxg3 Qxg3. White has a bishop for four pawns, with nice attacking potential. 19.Qh5 Ra5. 19...g6 with and exchange of queens was an alternative. 20.Qxf7+ Kd8 21.Bg2 Rg5 22.Qf3 Qxf3 23.Bxf3 axb2 24.Bxb2. Now it's a bishop for three pawns with White calling the shots. 24...Rf8 25.Be4 Rf6 26.Rxf6 gxf6 27.Kh2 Kc7 28.Bc3 e5 29.dxe5 fxe5 30.Rf1 Kd6 31.Rf7 Bc8 32.Rxh7 Be6 33.Rh6 c5 34.Bd3 Kd7 35.Bb5+ Ke7 36.e4 Rg4 37.Bc6 Rg5 38.Be1 Rg4 39.Bg3 Bc4 40.Bxe5. White has picked up two pawns and his bishop pair is dominating the enemy king. Kramnik has won this game. 40...Bd3 41.Bd6+ Kf7 42.Bd5+ Kg7 43.Re6 c4 44.Kh3 Rg1 45.Be5+ Kf8 46.Rxb6. White is a full piece up and Black has no threats. 1-0.

Morozevich,A (2788) - Alekseev,Evgeny (2708) [A45]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (1), 18.08.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.Nd2 h6 4.Bh4 d5 5.e3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ngf3 Bd6 8.Bd3 0-0 9.0-0 e5 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Nxe5 Bxe5 12.f4 Bd6 13.e4 c4 14.Be2 Qb6+ 15.Bf2 Bc5 16.e5 Ne4 17.Nxe4 dxe4 18.Bxc5 Qxc5+ 19.Qd4 Qxd4+ 20.cxd4 Be6 21.f5 Bd5 22.Kf2 Rfc8 23.Rfc1 Rc6 24.a4 Rac8 25.Rc3 Rb6 26.Ra2 Kf8 27.Ke3 Ke7 28.Bd1 Ra6 29.Ra1 b5 30.b4 bxa4 31.b5 Ra5 32.Rxa4 Rxa4 33.Bxa4 f6 34.Bc2 fxe5 35.dxe5 Rc5 36.Ra3 Rxb5 37.Rxa7+ Kf8 38.e6 Bb7 39.e7+ Kxe7 40.Bxe4 1-0. A positional crush – Black did not have a chance.

Ivanchuk,V (2781) - Kamsky,G (2723) [D92]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (1), 18.08.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Rc1 dxc4 7.e4 Bg4 8.Bxc4 Nfd7 9.Be2 Nc6 10.Be3 Nb6 11.d5 Bxf3 12.gxf3 Ne5 13.Qb3 c6 14.f4 Ned7 15.0-0 Qe8 16.a4 cxd5 17.Nb5 Rc8 18.Rxc8 Qxc8 19.e5 a6 20.Na7 Qc7 21.Rc1 Qd8 22.a5 Nc4 23.Bxc4 dxc4 24.Qxb7

Black is already in a lot of trouble, and his next move doesn't make things any easier for him: 24...g5? 25.Nc6 Qe8 26.Rxc4 gxf4 27.Bxf4 Kh8 28.Bg3 Rg8 29.Kf1 e6

30.Rd4. Nice. White has refused to take the free a-pawn, but presses on with his attack. 30...Nc5 31.Qb6 Nd7 32.Qc7 Nb8 33.Nd8! Qb5+ 34.Kg1 h6. Now it is mate in three. 35.Nxf7+ Kh7 36.Qc2+ and mate on the next move. 1-0.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

CASTLING

Logical Chess
The advantage of castling is that the king is safer in the corner, where he is sheltered by three pawns and a stalwart knight, than in the center of the board, while the rook is brought toward the center files in the most convenient way possible.


The 10 Most Common Chess Mistakes
Nothing is more important than safeguarding your king by castling early, within the first dozen moves, if possible.


Portable Chess Coach
So, castling is a multi-purpose move, aiding in the development of a strong piece and protecting the king.

GREATEST CHESS BOOK of ALL TIME

Reviewed by Chessmaster Jude Acers.
ChessLab.com

LOGICAL CHESS MOVE-BY-MOVE (every move explained)

By Irving Chernev. Reprinted July 1999. English edition/ typesetting and incredible 344 diagrams,"abc" labeled, algebraic figurine notation 2 or 4 position diagrams per page, 254 pages of chess dynamite for every chess student....

Introduction (May 1, 1957 by Chernev with terrific notation explanation section. 33 games which are subdivided THE KINGSIDE ATTACK (16 games), THE QUEEN'S PAWN OPENING (7 games) and to polish the student...THE CHESSMASTER EXPLAINS HIS IDEAS. All of this for $13.56. Heaven has arrived.

For the student "The greatest chess book of all time" can be read on a train, bus or plane..by the pool. Strong players can read it "blindfolded" as illustrative diagrams are aplenty...it can be read and re-read with joy and profit...It is the "Secretariat" of all chess books since it acts as a refresher course for the long time chessplayer and electrifying instruction for the absolute beginner. Chernev supplies the energy and brilliance of miniature chess masterpieces that remind us why we play the royal game in the first place.

First, the reader is entertained (more like transfixed!) and appointments go out the window. You forget where you are. Into the chess world you go.(Doomed!) The opening, the middlegame, the endgame are treated with rules, principles that work most of the time. The book is still the all time classic, placing Mr. Chernev in the chess hall of fame for keeps.

Every single move has a marvelous direct comment for the student on why it was played. Nothing is left to chance. It took the author ten years to pick the games, two years to write the deceptively simple "how to" notes....testing it on his neighbors. You learn with hurricane force since this latest edition has the modern "easy as abc" chess move notation designed to keep one flying through the pages.

PLAY WHAT YOU LIKE

Portable Chess Coach
Judee Shipman

Play openings that appeal to you, openings you're comfortable with, openings you've chosen for your repertoire. Don't worry if your opponents know what you play. Don't venture into positions just to surprise your opponents, unless you're familiar with those types of positions yourself. The more you play, the better you'll get to know yourself as a player. Be exactly who you are, and go with the flow of your own personal playing style.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Tahanan Walang Hagdanan








Junior Sol Cruz of the MERALCO Juniors Chess Team conducts a simul play with the children of Tahanan Walang Hagdanan in Cainta.

Friday, August 15, 2008

The Game of the Century

Robert James Fischer learned chess at the age of 6, with his sister Joan, from instructions from a chess set. This is the game he played against a US Open Champion when he was 13 years old. He died in January 2008 at the age of 64.

Donald BYRNE vs Robert James FISCHER

Rosenwald Memorial Tournament

New York, 1956.

1 Nf3 Nf6

Jose Raul Capablanca, World Champion from 1921-27, in Chess Fundamentals, “Bring out knights before bringing out bishops.”

2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7

Emanuel Lasker, World Champion from 1894-1921, in Manual of Chess, “The bishop which aids the center from g7 is there well placed.”

4 d4 O-O

Gary Kasparov, World Champion from 1985-93, in Kasparov Teaches Chess, “Beginners and those with insufficient experience should castle at the earliest opportunity. By remaining in the center, the King may be lured to the very center of the board by sacrifices and then disaster becomes imminent.”

Our junior players should NEVER forget this basic opening rule and should note that even the future World Champion practiced it.

5 Bf4 d5

This pawn move makes the opening a Gruenfeld Defence by transposition where the standard order of moves are 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5.

After 5 … d5

Reinfeld in The Complete Chess Player, “White generally gets an imposing pawn center; but Black hopes to exert sharp pressure against it – generally by a combination of his fianchettoed Bishop striking along the diagonal and the flank thrust … c5.”

Soltis in Transpo Tricks in Chess narrates, “One of Ernst Gruenfeld’s first games with the opening he created went 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 c4 Bg7 4 Nc3 d5 5 cxd5 Nxd5 6 e4 Nxc3 7 bxc3 O-O 8 Be2 c5 9 O-O cxd4 10 cxd4 Nc6 11 Be3 Bg4! with advantage.”

The Gruenfeld was frequently used by Kasparov; vs: Karpov in World Championship Rematch 1986, Karpov in Amsterdam 1988, Karpov in World Championship Match 1990, Beliavsky in Linares 1992, Timman in Amsterdam 1992, Piket in Amsterdam 1995, Kramnik in Chess Classics Giants 1998, Svidler in Wijk aan Zee 1999, and Karpov in New York 2002.

According to Bobby Ang in Inside Philippine Chess, the Gruenfeld was played with success by Bong Villamayor, our 4th GM (vs SuperGM Alexy Dreev in ICC 1998) and Darwin Laylo, our 8th GM, (vs Liang Chong, Asian Junior Championship 1999). Our other GMs are Torre, Balinas, Antonio, Mariano, Paragua, So, and Gonzales.

6 Qb3

Opening theory calls this the Russian Variation perhaps on account of its debut in Ragozin vs Romanovsky in Leningrad Masters Tournament 1932.

Fine in The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings, “Qb3 is the key move for all White attacks in the Gruenfeld Defence.”

But Fischer himself commented on this move in his book My 60 Memorable Games (# 39: Botvinnik vs Fischer), “The main line, but I don’t believe this early development of the Queen can give White anything.”

6 … dxc4 7 Qxc4 c6 8 e4 Nbd7 9 Rd1 Nb6

Steinitz Theory: “In the beginning of the game, ignore the search for combinations, abstain from violent moves, aim for small advantages, accumulate them, and only after having attained these ends search for the combination.”

10 Qc5

Levy in How Fischer Plays Chess, “A curious move, putting the Queen on an exposed square for no apparent reason. Correct was 10 Qb3.”

10 … Bg4 11 Bg5

Capablanca in Chess Fundamentals, “Before development has been completed, no piece should be moved more than once, unless it is essential in order to obtain a material advantage or secure freedom of action.”

International Master Rodolfo Tan Cardoso in MERALCOlympics 2008 Chess Workshop for kids, put it simply as “Don’t move the same piece twice in the Opening.”

Schiller in Learn from Fischer’s Games, “White’s move is effectively an admission that he’s made a mistake. The other bishop should have entered the game.”

11 … Na4!


After 11 … Na4

Bobby-fischer.net, ‘Here Fischer cleverly offers up his Knight, but if Byrne takes it with Nxa4 Fischer will play Nxe4, and Byrne then suddenly has some terrible choices:

a) 13. Qxe7 Qa5+ 14. b4 Qxa4 15. Qxe4 Rfe8 16. Be7 Bxf3 17. gxf3 Bf8 produces a terrible pin.

b) 13. Bxe7 Nxc5 14. Bxd8 Nxa4 15. Bg5 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Nxb2 gives Fischer an extra pawn and ruins Byrne's pawn structure.

c) 13. Qc1 Qa5+ Nc3 Bxf3 15.gxf3 Nxg5 gives Fischer back his piece and a better position.

12 Qa3 Nxc3 13 bxc3 Nxe4 14 Bxe7 Qb6 15 Bc4

Byrne finally remembered his other Bishop that clears the way for a King-side castling, probably thinking “better late than never”. But why not take the rook; Bxf8?

15 … Nxc3 16 Bc5 Rfe8+

Weeramantry & Eusebi in Best Lessons of a Chess Coach, “To strengthen an attack, bring in a new piece, preferably with a check.”

Reinfeld in The Complete Chess Player, “To leave the King in the center condemns him to exposure to a powerful attack.”

17 Kf1 Be6!!












After 17 … Be6

Wikipedia.org, This stunning resource is the move that made this game famous. Instead of saving his queen, Fischer offers to sacrifice it.”

Chessbase.com, “Our chess engine Fritz considers only this move from the first second onwards, giving it a +2 pawns score after a 16-ply search.”

18 Bxb6 Bc4+ 19 Kg1 Ne2+

Reinfeld in The Complete Chess Player, “Simultaneous attack on two hostile units or on two points is almost certain to yield profitable results.”

20 Kf1 Nxd4+ 21 Kg1 Ne2+ 22 Kf1 Nc3+ 23 Kg1 axb6 24 Qb4 Ra4!

Lasker in Manual of Chess, “The more space you dominate, the less space for the opponent in which to move his pieces about, the more restricted the number of moves with which he may threaten you or guard himself against your threats.”

25 Qxb6 Nxd1














After 25 … Nxd1

Wikipedia.org, Fischer has gained a rook, two bishops, and a pawn for his sacrificed queen, leaving him ahead the equivalent, roughly, of one minor piece – an easily winning advantage in master play.”

26 h3 Rxa2

Capablanca in Chess Fundamentals,“Rooks are very dangerous when they reach the 7th rank.”

27 Kh2 Nxf2 28 Re1 Rxe1

Nimzovich in My System, “Simplification is desirable if we have superiority in material.”

29 Qd8+ Bf8 30 Nxe1 Bd5 31 Nf3 Ne4 32 Qb8 b5 33 h4 h5 34 Ne5 Kg7 35 Kg1 Bc5+











After 35 … Bc5+

Capablanca in Chess Fundamentals, “The student should note in all these middle game positions that once the opportunity is offered, all the pieces are thrown into action en masse when necessary; and that all the pieces coordinate their action with machine-like precision.”


36 Kf1 Ng3+ 37 Ke1 Bb4+ 38 Kd1 Bb3+ 39 Kc1 Ne2+ 40 Kb1 Nc3+ 41 Kc1 Rc2#

Donald cannot duck the attack on his King.

This game is ranked No. 1 in Chessgames.com’s Most Important Chess Games of All Times.


God bless.

CHESSBASE: Aronian Wins 2nd FIDE Grand Prix

14.08.2008 – Armenian GM Levon Aronian defeated Alexander Grischuk to take clear first in the Grand Prix tournament, finishing with 8.5/13 points and a performance of 2816. Second is Teimour Radjabov, who beat his main rival Sergey Karjakin with the black pieces. Kamsky, Jakovenko and Svidler won their games against Navara, Cheparinov and Gashimov. Final report with games and statistics.

FIDE Grand Prix in Sochi 2008

The Second FIDE Grand Prix Tournament is taking place in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi, from July 30 to August 15, 2008, with 14 players from ten different countries. The field is dominated by Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk, who is 37 point ahead of the next highest ranked player in the field.

Report after round thirteen

Round 13: Thursday, August 14th

Navara David
0-1
Kamsky Gata
Ivanchuk Vassily
½-½
Wang Yue
Aronian Levon
1-0
Grischuk Alexander
Karjakin Sergey
0-1
Radjabov Teimour
Al-Modiahki Mohamad
½-½
Gelfand Boris
Jakovenko Dmitry
1-0
Cheparinov Ivan
Gashimov Vugar
0-1
Svidler Peter

Tournament leader Levon Aronian was in great form when he outplayed Alexander Grischuk in a Semi-Slav Meran, infiltrating the Russian GM's position over the queenside and then trading down to a clearly winning queen ending where he was a pawn up. Grischuk resigned after 42 moves, and Aronian was assured an undivided place at the top of the final table.

Aronian,L (2737) - Grischuk,A (2728) [D47]
2nd FIDE GP Sochi RUS (13), 14.08.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.0-0 b4 10.Ne4 Nxe4 11.Bxe4 Bd6 12.a3 bxa3 13.b3 Nf6 14.Nd2 Qc7 15.Bf3 Bxh2+ 16.Kh1 Bd6 17.Nc4 Be7 18.Bxa3 0-0 19.Bc5 Rfd8 20.b4 Bxc5 21.bxc5 a5 22.Re1 Ba6 23.Nb6 Rab8 24.Rxa5 Bb5 25.Qa1 Nd5 26.Ra7 Rb7 27.Rxb7 Qxb7 28.Qa5 Qe7 29.Ra1 Qg5 30.Nxd5 exd5 31.Qc7 g6 32.Ra7 Qf6 33.Bg4 Re8 34.Kg1 Kg7 35.Bd7 Re7 36.Qd8 h5 37.Ra8 Kh6 38.Rc8 Kh7 39.Bxc6 Bxc6 40.Rxc6 Qxc6 41.Qxe7 Kg7 42.Kh2 1-0.


The winner of the Sochi Grand Prix: Levon Aronian of Armenia

Sergey Karjakin played aggressively with a Yugoslav Attack in a Sicilian Dragon (9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8) and ended up with two exchanges for two pawns, but with the initiative transferred to Teimour Radjabov's side. The Azeri duely went on the attack, decimated his Ukrainian opponent's pawns and used his own to decide the issue. with his victory Radjabov was undivided second in the event.

Karjakin,Sergey (2727) - Radjabov,T (2744) [B78]
2nd FIDE GP Sochi RUS (13), 14.08.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8 11.Bb3 Ne5 12.Kb1 a6 13.h4 h5 14.g4 hxg4 15.h5 Nxh5 16.Rdg1 Qa5 17.Bh6 Bf6 18.fxg4 Bxg4 19.Bxf8 Kxf8 20.Qe3 Rxc3 21.Qxc3 Qxc3 22.bxc3 e6 23.Bc4 Nxc4 24.Rxg4 Be5 25.Rg2 b5 26.Rf2 Kg8 27.a4 bxa4 28.Ka2 Nf6 29.Re2 d5 30.exd5 Nxd5 31.Rh3 Bxd4 32.cxd4 Nf4 33.Reh2 Nxh3 34.Rxh3 g5 35.Rg3 f6 36.Rc3 Nd2 37.Rd3 Ne4 38.c4 Kf7 39.c5 g4 40.c6 Ke7 41.d5 exd5 42.c7 Kd7 43.Rxd5+ Kxc7 44.Rf5 g3 45.Rf4 Kd7 46.Kb2 Ke6 47.Rxe4+ Kf5 48.Re1 Kg4 49.Kc2 g2 50.Kd2 Kg3 51.Ke2 a3 52.Ra1 a2 0-1.

Czech GM David Navara was doing well enough against top US grandmaster Gata Kamsky, until at move 36 he spurned a draw and launched a tactical shot in the blue. Kamsky was never in any real danger and took the full point a few moves later. He improved his score to plus two and stands to gain a few more Elo points on the next FIDE list.

Navara,D (2646) - Kamsky,G (2723) [D87]
2nd FIDE GP Sochi RUS (13), 14.08.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 0-0 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Be3 Na5 11.Bd3 b6 12.Qd2 e5 13.dxe5 Be6 14.Rad1 Nc4 15.Bxc4 Bxc4 16.f4 Qe7 17.Qc2 Rad8 18.Rfe1 h5 19.Nc1 Qe6 20.Rd2 Bb5 21.Nb3 Qc4 22.Bf2 g5 23.Bg3 gxf4 24.Bxf4 Qe6 25.Rd6 Rxd6 26.exd6 Qf6 27.Qf2 Qxc3 28.e5 Re8 29.Nd2 Bc6 30.h3 Qd3 31.Re3 Qd4 32.Nf1 h4 33.Nh2 Bxe5 34.Rxe5 Qa1+ 35.Qf1 Qd4+ 36.Be3 Qxe5 37.Ng4 Qc3 38.Nh6+ Kh8 39.Nxf7+ Kg7 40.Bh6+ Kg6 0-1.

Ivan Cheparinov, who had been leading the tournament during most of the first nine rounds, came crashing down with losses to Aronian and Karjakin in rounds ten and eleven. Before the final round he was on 50%, which was slightly above his rating expectancy. But in his last game he ran into a determined Dmitry Jakovenko, who did this to his Berlin Defence:

Jakovenko,D (2709) - Cheparinov,I (2687) [C67]
2nd FIDE GP Sochi RUS (13), 14.08.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 Ne7 10.h3 Ng6 11.Ne4 h6 12.b3 c5 13.Bb2 Be6 14.Nfd2 h5 15.Ng5 Be7 16.Nxe6+ fxe6 17.g3 h4 18.Kg2 Kd7 19.Rae1 Rad8 20.Nf3 Ke8 21.Rd1 a5 22.a4 Rd5 23.c4 Rd8 24.Bc1 Rf8 25.Rfe1 Rf7 26.Rxd8+ Bxd8 27.Re4 hxg3 28.fxg3 Rd7 29.h4 Rd3 30.Re3 Rd7 31.h5 Ne7 32.g4 Nc6 33.g5 Ne7 34.Re2 Nf5 35.Rd2 Rf7 36.Rd3 Rf8 37.Kh3 c6 38.Kg4 Bc7 39.Be3 b6 40.g6 Bd8 41.Bf4 Bc7 42.Nd2 Nh6+ 43.Bxh6 gxh6

White is clearly better and seeking to win. Jakovenko goes for it in flamboyant style: 44.Rd6 Bxd6? Black mustn't take the rook, as we shall see in the game continuation. 45.exd6 e5 46.Ne4 Rf4+ 47.Kg3 Rf1. 47...Rxe4 48.d7+ Kxd7 49.g7+–. 48.Kg2 Rf4 49.Nf6+! Rxf6 50.d7+ 1-0. Quite beautiful, actually.

Peter Svidler's ears must have been ringing with the praise he had received from us and from many chess blogs for his lovely endgame performance yesterday. Against Vugar Gashimov he swapped down to an ending by move 31, with rook, knight and an extra pawn. Time to show some endgame magic again. At move 60 he had turned it into knight and two pawns vs knight – an objectively drawn position in which the Saint Petersburger played on (in the style of Magnus Carlsen).

Gashimov,V (2717) - Svidler,P (2738) [C92]
2nd FIDE GP Sochi RUS (13), 14.08.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Re8 10.d4 Bb7 11.a4 Qd7 12.Nbd2 Bf8 13.Bc2 exd4 14.cxd4 Nb4 15.Bb1 g6 16.Ra3 bxa4 17.Rxa4 a5 18.Ra3 Bg7 19.e5 dxe5 20.dxe5 Nfd5 21.Ne4 Qb5 22.Bd2 Nb6 23.Nc3 Qd7 24.Be4 Bxe4 25.Rxe4 Nc6 26.Qe2 Nxe5 27.Nxe5 Rxe5 28.Rxe5 Bxe5 29.Qxe5 Qxd2 30.Ne4 Nd7 31.Nxd2 Nxe5 32.Rc3 Ra7 33.Nb3 Nd7 34.Rd3 Nb6 35.Nd4 c5 36.Nc6 Ra8 37.Rb3 Nc4 38.Rb5 a4 39.Ne7+ Kg7 40.Nd5 Rc8 41.Nc3 a3 42.bxa3 Nxa3 43.Rb7 c4 44.Ra7 Nc2 45.Rd7 Nb4 46.Rd4 Nd3 47.g3 Kf6 48.Kf1 Ke5 49.Rd5+ Ke6 50.Rd4 f5 51.f4 Nc1 52.Rd5 Nb3 53.g4 Rf8 54.Re5+ Kd6 55.Kf2 fxg4 56.Re4 gxh3 57.Rxc4 g5 58.Kg3 h2 59.Kxh2 Rxf4 60.Rxf4 gxf4 61.Ne4+ Ke5 62.Ng5 h5 63.Kh3 Nc5 64.Kh4 Ne6 65.Nh3 Ng7 66.Kg5 f3

Now 67.Nf2 Kd4 68.Kf4 and 69.Kxf3 secures the draw. But: 67.Kg6?? h4! 68.Kg5. 68.Kxg7 Kf5 69.Nf2 Kf4 70.Kg6 Kg3 71.Ne4+ Kg2 72.Kh5 h3 73.Kg4 h2 74.Ng3 f2 is hopeless for White. 68...Ke4 69.Kxh4 Ke3 70.Kg4 Ne6 71.Kg3 Nd4 72.Kh2 Ne2 73.Kh1 Nf4 74.Nxf4 Kxf4 75.Kg1 Ke3

0-1. Another highly instructive endgame by Peter Svidler, someone who certainly rides a mean knight.

Final standings after thirteen rounds


The winners: Teimour Radjabov, Levon Aronian and Wang Yue

Draw statistics: Of the 91 games played in this event 57 or 63% were drawn. White won a total of 23 games, which works out to 25%, and Black was victorious in eleven game, which is 12%. A total of 14 games lasted less than 30 moves (but none less than 20), and two of these short games were decisive (Svidler-Ivanchuk 0-1, Radjabov-Navara 1-0, both in 25 moves). Seven games were 70 moves or longer, with Jakovenko participating in three of these marathons, Svidler, Gashimov and Al-Modiahki in two each.


X axis = length of games; Y axis = number of games; pie graphic = draw statistics

Monday, August 11, 2008

CHESSBASE: FIDE GRAND PRIX R9

Wang Yue Wins Two, Joins Cheparinov in the Lead
10.08.2008 – After drawing all his games in the first seven rounds Chinese GM Wang Yue suddenly galvanised into action, beating Boris Gelfand (with the black pieces) in round eight and then the tournament leader Teimour Radjabov, who fell into 3-7th place. Wang joins Ivan Cheparinov in the plus two lead, with four rounds to go in this event. Sunday is a free day. Report after round nine.

FIDE Grand Prix in Sochi 2008

The Second FIDE Grand Prix Tournament is taking place in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi, from July 30 to August 15, 2008, with 14 players from ten different countries. The field is dominated by Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk, who is 37 point ahead of the next highest ranked player in the field.

Report after round eight

Round 8: Friday, August 8th

Kamsky Gata
1-0
Al-Modiahki Mohamad
Jakovenko Dmitry
½-½
Karjakin Sergey
Gashimov Vugar
½-½
Aronian Levon
Svidler Peter
0-1
Ivanchuk Vassily
Cheparinov Ivan
½-½
Navara David
Gelfand Boris
0-1
Wang Yue
Radjabov Teimour
½-½
Grischuk Alexander

Vassily Ivanchuk played the Berlin (in the Ruy Lopez) against Peter Svidler, who employed a new idea on move ten – and was soundly punished by for it by his Ukrainian opponent. Very traumatic. When is the last time Peter lost a game with white in just 25 moves?

Svidler,P (2738) - Ivanchuk,V (2781) [C65]
2nd FIDE GP Sochi RUS (8), 08.08.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 0-0 6.Bg5 d6 7.Nbd2 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Nh5 10.Bxc6 bxc6 11.d4 exd4 12.Nxd4 Nxg3 13.hxg3 Qf6 14.N2b3 Bb6 15.Qf3 Qxf3 16.gxf3 Kg7 17.g4 d5 18.Nf5+ Bxf5 19.gxf5 Rfe8 20.Nd2 Rad8 21.Rd1 dxe4 22.fxe4 Rd5 23.Ke2 Rxf5 24.Rh2 Rf4 25.f3 f5 0-1.

Kamsky-Al-Modiahki was a Sicilian Rossolimo in which the Qatari GM found himself in trouble after a Kamsky novelty on move 11. He seemed to have saved the day with a "drawn" rook ending a pawn down, but the American world class GM outplayed him thoroughly to take the full point.

Kamsky,G (2723) - Al Modiahki,M (2556) [B31]
2nd FIDE GP Sochi RUS (8), 08.08.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.Re1 e5 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.d3 Ne7 8.a3 a5 9.Be3 b6 10.Nbd2 a4 11.Qb1 Qc7 12.b3 0-0 13.bxa4 Rxa4 14.Qb3 Ra6 15.a4 Be6 16.Qc3 h6 17.Nb3 Bxb3 18.cxb3 Rd8 19.a5 Rxa5 20.Rxa5 bxa5 21.Bxc5 Nc8 22.h4 Nd6 23.Rc1 Nb5 24.Qc4 Rb8 25.Be3 Nd4 26.Bxd4 exd4 27.g3 Qb6 28.Nd2 Qb5 29.Kf1 Rd8 30.Ra1 Bf8 31.Qxb5 cxb5 32.Rxa5 Bb4 33.Ra2 Bxd2 34.Rxd2

From now on it is every pawn for itself. Watch how Kamsky wins this position: 34...Rc8 35.Ke2 Rc3 36.e5 f6 37.exf6 Kf7 38.Kf3 Kxf6 39.Ke4 Rxb3 40.Kxd4 b4 41.Kc4 Rb1 42.Re2 h5 43.d4 Kf5 44.Re3 Rd1 45.d5 Rd2 46.f4 Kf6 47.Rb3 Rd1 48.Rxb4 Rc1+ 49.Kd4 Rd1+ 50.Kc5 Rd3 51.Rd4 Rc3+ 52.Kb4 1-0.

Boris Gelfand suffered one of his rare defeats, certainly with the white pieces, against a vigorously attacking Chinese GM Wang Yue.

Gelfand,B (2720) - Wang Yue (2704) [D17]
2nd FIDE GP Sochi RUS (8), 08.08.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nxc4 Nb6 8.Ne5 a5 9.g3 e6 10.Bg2 Bb4 11.0-0 0-0 12.e3 h6 13.Qe2 Bh7 14.Rd1 Nfd7 15.Nd3 Qe7 16.e4 e5 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.dxe5 Bc5 19.Be3 Bxe3 20.Qxe3 Nc4 21.Qe2 Nxe5 22.f4 Nd7 23.Rd4 Rfd8 24.Rad1 Nc5 25.Qe3 Rxd4 26.Rxd4 Nb3 27.Rd1 Re8 28.e5 Qc5 29.Qxc5 Nxc5 30.Bf1 Kf8 31.Kf2 Ke7 32.Ke3 f6 33.exf6+ Kxf6+ 34.Kf2 Bc2 35.Rc1 Bb3 36.Nd5+ Bxd5 37.Rxc5 Re4 38.Bg2 Rc4 39.Rxc4 Bxc4 40.Ke3 Bb3 41.Kd4 Bxa4 42.Kc5 Bb3 43.Be4 a4 44.h4 Bd1 45.Kd6 h5 46.Bd3?! Not a prudent idea to allow the black bishop to take over the h1-a8 diagonal. 47...Bf3 47.Kc5 b5 48.Bc2 Ke6 49.Bg6 Kd7 50.Bc2 Kc7 51.b3? White was already in trouble after Wang Yue's energetic play, but with this move he jumps into the fire.

51...a3. An interesting alternative was 51...Bd1! and now 52.bxa4 (52.Bxd1 a3 wins) 52...Bxc2 53.axb5 cxb5 54.Kxb5 Kd6 and it is game over for White. 52.Bb1 Be4 53.Ba2 Kd7 54.Kb4 Ke6 and White resigned. 0-1.


Second loss in this tournament: GM Boris Gelfand of Israel

Standings after eight rounds