Carlsen strikes back

GM Magnus Carlsen won the 2nd game of his match against GM Loek Van Wely. Current score is 1-1 and there are two games left.


Magnus Carlsen 2646 - Loek Van Wely 2655
Game 2
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. O-O Bc5 8. Nb3 Be7 9. f4 d6 10. a4 Nc6 11. a5 b5 12. axb6 Qxb6+ 13. Kh1 O-O 14. Qe2 a5 15. Be3 Qc7 16. Nb5 Qb8 17. c3 d5 18. e5 Ne4 19. Bxe4 dxe4 20. Nc5 Bxc5 21. Bxc5 Ba6 22. c4 Rd8 23. Nd6 f5 24. exf6 Rxd6 25. Qxe4 Bb7 26. Bxd6 Qxd6 27. Rad1 Nd8 28. f7+ Kxf7 29. Qxh7 Qc6 30. Rf2 Qe4 31. f5 e5 32. Rfd2 Bc6 33. Qg6+ Ke7 34. Rd7+ 1-0


Live games
Doggers Schaak Weblog

Van Wely wins first game

The Van Wely-Carslen match started today. Van Wely had small advantage with White pieces after Carlsen's 11...Nd2 (according to Topalov's analyses). In the later stage of the game, White managed to break with his Rooks over c-file.


Loek Van Wely - Magnus Carlsen
Game 1
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Rc1 c6 9. e4 d5 10. e5 Ne4 11. Bd3 Nxd2 12. Qxd2 Nd7 13. O-O Bb4 14. cxd5 Bxc3 15. Rxc3 Bxd3 16. Qxd3 cxd5 17. Rfc1 f6 18. Qe2 fxe5 19. dxe5 Nc5 20. Nd4 Qe8 21. f3 a5 22. a3 Qg6 23. b4 axb4 24. axb4 Nd7 25. Rc6 Rae8 26. Rd6 Rf7 27. Kg2 h5 28. h4 Nf8 29. Rxb6 Ra8 30. Qd2 Ra3 31. Rb8 Rd3 32. Qf2 Qh6 33. f4 Qg6 34. f5 Qh6 35. Rc2 Kh7 36. Re8 Rxd4 37. Qxd4 Rxf5 38. Rf2 Ng6 39. Rxf5 exf5 40. Rc8 f4 41. Qd3 1-0


Live games
Doggers Schaak Weblog

The Match of the Decade

The press — conference dedicated to the up coming Topalov — Kramnik Match in Elista (Kalmykia) took place in Moscow in the international news agency Interfax. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and World Champion Veselin Topalov were present, and Vladimir Kramnik (still having a rest in a French resort) joined them over the phone.

The Match will take place September 21 — October 12, 2006 in the Assembly Hall of the Government House of Kalmykia. The Match will consist of 12 games and have a prize fund of $1 million. Both participants will have equal conditions: private houses, two cars each, a personal cook, securities, police escort, and an opportunity to spend time in the sea coast (a helicopter and a yacht will be provided for such occasion). Each participant can take up to four team-members with him at the organizers’ expense.

Read more at Chess Fidelity

Dragan in Brazil

FM Dragan Stamenkovic continues his tour in Brasil. This weekend, April 21st-23rd, he played at the Aberto do Brasil - 1st etapa in Botucatu.

Final standings:
1-2. Cícero Nogueira Braga (2412) and Diego Rafael Di Berardino (2342) with 5.5 points out of 6 rounds
3-10. Martín Santiago Crosa Coll (2449), Alexandr Hilario Takeda Fier (2471), Jorge Humberto Bittencourt (2395), Herman Claudius van Riemsdijk (2349), Felipe de Cresce El Debs (2355), Ricardo Bedin França (2191), Jefferson dos Santos Oliveira (1800) and Dragan Stamenkovic (2334) 5.0/6

There were 164 participants


Tournament website

2nd World School Chess Championship

The 2nd World School Chess Championship will be held on April 25th - May 1st in Halkidiki, Greece. There will be four age groups: U9, U11, U13 and U15. This is official FIDE event and sponsors are MonRoi and WorldChessNetwork.

Official website

Loek Van Wely vs Magnus Carlsen

The 4 games match between Foxwoods winner GM Loek Van Wely and Norwegian prodigy GM Magnus Carlsen will be held on April 28th - May 1st in ROC-vestiging aan de Hofstraat, Netherlands.

More info (in Dutch)

Queen Sacrifice

2nd round of the Russian team championship has been played. Vassily Ivanchuk delivered beautiful queen sac to beat Levon Aronian. Game and diagram source is Sah-Mat lista


Ivanchuk,V (2731) - Aronian,L (2756) [C88]
XIII TCh-RUS Sochi RUS (2), 21.04.2006

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 b4 9.d4 d6 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Nxe5 dxe5 12.Qf3 Bb7 13.Nd2 Bc5 14.Nf1 Qc8 15.h3 Kh8 16.Ng3 Nxe4 17.Nxe4 f5



18.Nxc5 Bxf3 19.gxf3 f4 20.Kh2 Qf5 21.Bd2 Rf6 22.Rg1 Rh6 23.Rg4 a5 24.Re1 Rf8 25.Ne4 Qh5 26.h4 Rg6 27.Rxg6 Qxg6 28.c3 c5 29.Nxc5 Rd8 30.Ne4 Qb6 31.Rd1 Rd3 32.Bc4 Rxf3 33.Be1 g5 34.hxg5 Kg7 35.Rd7+ Kf8 36.Rf7+ Ke8 37.Rf6 1-0

Na3 strikes again

Russian team championship takes place in Dagomys on April 19th - May 1st 2006. Top four teams will qualify for the European club team CUP.

Vadim Zvjaginsev used 1.e4 c5 2.Na3 against Ruslan Ponomariov to win the game in nice fashion.

Results:
Yuzhnyi Ural – Myeria 4-2
Termosteps – Lada 4-2 (Khalifman-Efimenko 0-1)
MCF – Uniline 4-2 (Zvjaginsev- Ponomariov 1-0)
Ural – FINEK 3.5-2.5 (Dreev-Evseev 0-1)
Ladya Kazan – TPS 3-3 (Radjabov-Ivanchuk draw, Volokitin-Kasimdzhanov draw)
Tomsk-400 – Economist 5-1 (Morozevich-Moiseenko 1-0)


Vadim Zvjaginsev 2670 - Ruslan Ponomariov 2738
13th Russian Cht Premier League Sochi RUS (1)
20.04.2006
1.e4 c5 2.Na3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.c3 Bg7 5.d3 Nf6 6.f4 0-0 7.Nf3 d6 8.0-0 Bd7 9.Qe1 e6 10.Qh4 Nh5 11.g4 Qxh4 12.Nxh4 Bf6 13.Nxg6 hxg6 14.gxh5 gxh5 15.Ba4 d5 16.Bd1 c4 17.e5 Be7 18.dxc4 d4 19.Nc2 dxc3 20.bxc3 Na5 21.Ba3 Bxa3 22.Nxa3 Rac8 23.Be2 f6 24.Rad1 Be8 25.f5




25...fxe5 26.fxe6 Rxf1+ 27.Rxf1 Kg7 28.Bf3 b5 29.cxb5 Rxc3 30.Nb1 Rc5 31.Be2 e4 32.Kf2 e3+ 33.Kxe3 Re5+ 34.Kf3 Bxb5 35.Bxb5 Rxb5 36.Re1 Rf5+ 37.Kg3 Kf8 38.Nd2 Ke7 39.Nf3 Rd5 40.Kh4 Nc4 41.Ng5 Rd2 42.Rc1 Nd6 43.h3 Ne8 44.Kxh5 Rxa2 45.Kg6 Ra4 46.Rb1 Nd6 47.Rb8 Rf4 48.Ra8 Rf6+ 49.Kh5 Nb5 50.h4 Rf4 51.Rh8 Nd6 52.Rh7+ Ke8 53.Rxa7 Nf5 54.Nh7 Nd4 55.Kg6 Nxe6 56.Nf6+ Kd8 57.Ra8+ Kc7 58.Nd5+ 1-0

'Villa Cañada de Calatrava' - final standings

Finally some progress, official website has posted the crosstable. Alexander Grischuk and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov are tied on the first place with 7.5 points out of 9 rounds. It is still unclear who took the winners trophy as Alexander has better round progress and Shakhriyar is better on the tiebreak.

Serbian GM Branko Damljanovic made a terrific result by collecting 7.0 points in such a strong lineup. GM Stefan Djuric (2457) took 6.0 points, GM Aleksa Strikovic (2501) and IM Dragan Paunovic are on 5.0, while IM Slobodan Kovacevic is on 4.5 Players like Alexei Shirov, Etienne Bacrot and Francisco Vallejo Pons finished with 6.5. There were 177 participants.


Final standings:
1-2. Alexander Grischuk (RUS 2719) and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE 2699) 7.5/9
3-8. Alexander Dreev (RUS 2673), Branko Damljanovic (SCG 2615), Miguel Muñoz Pantoja (PER 2469), Andrei Shchekachev (RUS 2592), Pavel Tregubov (RUS 2563) and Carlos Matamoros Franco (ECU 2509) etc.


Previous post
Official website

8th Dubai Open Chess Championship

The event will take place on 22nd April-2nd May 2006 in Dubai, UAE. According to the list of participants, this will be another strong tournament. The entire Georgian national team will appear along with many Grandmasters from former USSR. I guess The Closet Grandmaster will be following GM Mark Paragua progress. Last year's winner Wang Hao is not on the list, yet....there are four days left.

Official website

Oslo Easter Chess Festival

The Festival was held on April 8th-16th in Oslo, Norway. There were 62 players and the winner is Norwegian GM Kjetil A. Lie.

Final standings:
1. GM Kjetil A. Lie (NOR 2493) 7.5/9
2. FM Øystein Dannevig (NOR 2329) 6.5
3-12. GM Karel van der Weide (NED 2482), IM Oleg Krivonosov (LAT 2432), Magne Sagafos (NOR 2271), GM Stellan Brynell (SWE 2488), FM Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR 2287), IM William M. Paschall (USA 2352), IM Ilmars Starostits (LAT 2460), IM Martin Senff (GER 2476), Peter Vas (SWE 2168) and IM Svein Johannessen (NOR 2252) 6.0 etc


Official website

8th Foxwoods Open

This tournament with 117 participants took place on April 12th-16th. IM Eugene Perelshteyn scored his third and final GM norm, good news for Boston chess fans. IM Eugene Perelshteyn, GM Alex Stripunsky, GM Alexander Ivanov and GM Alexander Shabalov have qualified for the next US championship.


Final standings:
1-3. GM Ilya Smirin, GM Loek Van Wely (tiebreak winner) and IM Eugene Perelshteyn 7 points out of 9 rounds
4-8. GM Alex Stripunsky, GM Alexander Ivanov, GM Alexander Shabalov, GM Jaan Ehlvest and GM Yury Shulman 6.5/9 etc

Serbian GM Dejan Antic tied 9th place with 6 points.


GM Loek Van Wely - GM Sergey Kudrin
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 O-O 9. O-O Nc6 10. Be3 Bd7 11. Rb1 a6 12. d5 Ne5 13. Bb3 Qc7 14. f4 Ng4 15. Bc1 c4 16. Bc2 e6 17. dxe6 fxe6 18. e5 Nh6 19. Ba3 Rfe8 20. Bd6 Qc8 21. Nd4 Nf7 22. Ba3 Bc6 23. Nxc6 Qxc6 24. Qd4 Red8 25. Qb6 Qxb6+ 26. Rxb6 Rd2 27. Rf2 Rad8 28. Bc1 1-0

GM Loek Van Wely - GM Joseph Gallagher
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Na6 8. Be3 h6 9. Ne1 c6 10. Qd2 Kh7 11. Rd1 Ng4 12. Bxg4 Bxg4 13. f3 Be6 14. d5 cxd5 15. Nxd5 Nc7 16. Nxc7 Qxc7 17. b3 Rfd8 18. a4 f5 19. Nc2 f4 20. Bf2 g5 21. h3 h5 22. Rfe1 g4 23. hxg4 hxg4 24. Kf1 Kg6 25. Ke2 Bf6 26. Nb4 g3 27. Bg1 Qh7 28. Nd5 Rd7 29. Kd3 Bd8 30. Kc2 Qf7 31. Qb4 Rc8 32. Re2 a6 33. Red2 Rc6 34. Kb2 Kg5 35. a5 Kg6 36. Bb6 Qg8 37. Bxd8 Qxd8 38. Nb6 Re7 1-0


Official website is of very poor design.

About 'Villa Cañada de Calatrava'

The previous post about this tournament is driving quite some traffic from Google for keywords Villa Cañada de Calatrava. I guess visitors are curious about the results, but those are not available online. Official website is empty and there is no info from other sources. For now we can only wait...

29th San Sebastian Open

This traditional tournament finished with five players tied on the first place. GM Stuart Conquest took the trophy on the additional criteria. The event took place on April 8th-14th in San Sebastian, Spain.

Final standings:
1-5. GM Stuart Conquest (ENG 2505), GM Kevin Spraggett (CAN 2578), GM Eric Prie (FRA 2475), IM Das Neelotpal (IND 2514) and IM Jordan Ivanov (BUL 2365) with 7 points out of 9 rounds

There were 130 participants


Official website

Topalov supports Ilyumzhinov

In the interview given right after his match against Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Veselin Topalov shares his opinion about the forthcoming FIDE Presidency elections:

I deeply respect the present head of the World Chess Federation, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. I think that his contribution to chess is enormous, and I hope that this time he will win again.

Topalov must have been first top player to give open support to Ilyumzhinov. On the other side, 18 English Grandmasters send joint open letter of support for Bessel Kok. Faroe Islands is 32nd chess federation to openly support the Right Move campaign and seeing Serbia & Montenegro officials very disappointed with the FIDE Presidential Board meeting, I hope they vote for Bessel as well.

33rd Royal Selangor Open

Good friend Lee Kwan Pin drove my attention to this festival. Tournament info can be read here and I guess GilaChess will provide daily reports from the event.

I was happy

...to win a game like this. Last night we had blitz tournament at the chess club. There were 11 players and we played round robin. 7 points from 10 games were good for 4th place only.




This is position from my game against FM Mladen Milenkovic. Having seen square clearance combination from Spassky-Petrosian 1966 so many times helped me to find the move.

1.e5! de5 2.Ne4! ed4? (Losing move. As Mladen argued later, only move was 2...h5 and then 3.gh5 Ne4! is bad for me, but 3.Qe5 gives sharp position with edge for white I think) 3.Bf6 (Better then 3.Nf6 Bf6 4.Bf6 and black is not forced to take!) 3...Bf6 4.Nf6 Kg7 5.Nd7 wins a piece.

Is this possible?

European Blitz Championschip 2006 was held in Cannes, France and funny enough, I could't find the exact date. But what is really surprising is the fact that in lineup full of tough GMs, players rated 2041 and 1499 have tied first place with GM Robert Fontaine. The heroes are Adolivio Capece and Magnus Kristinsson.


Final standings:
1-3. Adolivio Capece 2041, Magnus Kristinsson 1499 and GM Robert Fontaine 2524 with 16 points out of 24 rounds
4-6. IM Nicolai Vesterbaek Pedersen 2516, WGM Bettina Trabert 2276 and IM Vitali Koziak 2465 15.5/24
7. GM Ivan Ivanisevic 2588 15/24
8-10. IM Timur Asanov 2392, Laurent Chaderon 2208 and IM Marc Leski 2413 14.5/24
11-13. IM Ante Saric 2455, IM Matthieu Cornette 2388 and Jean Peyrin 2065 14/24 etc.


There were 69 participants. GM Christian Bauer (2627) finished 18th, GM Viktor Bologan (2661) 24th, GM Jan Timman (2630) 29th....


More information here

Open International du Rhône d'Echecs

The open tournament took place on April 6th-9th in Marcy l'Etoile, France. IM Radoslaw Jedynak and GM Vyacheslav Ikonnikov have tied for the first place with 7.5/9.


Final standings:
1-2. IM Radoslaw Jedynak (POL 2444) and GM Vyacheslav Ikonnikov (RUS 2593) 7.5/9
3-8. IM Grzegorz Gajewski (POL 2493), GM Evgeni Janev (BUL 2495), IM Dimitar Marholev (BUL 2418), GM Vladimir Lazarev (RUS 2497), GM Viesturs Meijers (LAT 2482) and GM Boris Chatalbashev (BUL 2488) 7.0 etc.

There were 130 participants


Official website

12th Werther Mephisto Schloss-Open

This tournament was held on April 6th-9th in Werther, Germany. There were 53 participants and after 7 rounds of swiss pairings, four of them have tied for the first place.


Final standings:
1-4. GM Gerhard Schebler (GER 2471), IM Rainer Buhmann (GER 2552), GM Stelios Halkias (GRE 2528) and IM Rafal Antoniewski (POL 2497) 5.5/7
5-8. GM Aleksandr Karpatchev (RUS 2521), GM Lev Gutman (GER 2495), Vitali Braun (2283) and IM Sebastian Siebrecht (GER 2394) 5.0


Victor Kupreychik 2455 - Stelios Halkias 2528
Round 7
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Qc7 5. O-O Nd4 6. Re1 a6 7. Bf1 d6 8. d3 Bg4 9. Bg5 Bxf3 10. gxf3 e6 11. f4 h6 12. Bh4 Be7 13. Nb1 O-O-O 14. c3 Nc6 15. Bg3 h5 16. h4 d5 17. Nd2 Ng4 18. Qe2 Bd6 19. exd5 exd5 20. Bh3 Kb8 21. Bxg4 hxg4 22. Qxg4 g6 23. Nf3 Ne7 24. d4 c4 25. Ne5 Nf5 26. Rac1 Rh5 27. b3 Rdh8 28. Qf3 Nxh4 29. Qxd5 cxb3 30. axb3 Nf5 31. Qf3 Rh3 32. Kf1 f6 33. Nxg6 R8h6 34. Qd3 Qd7 35. Ne5 fxe5 36. dxe5 Nxg3+ 37. fxg3 Rh1+ 38. Ke2 Qg4+ 39. Qf3 R6h2+ 40. Ke3 Bc5+ 41. Ke4 Qg6+ 42. f5 Rxe1+ 43. Rxe1 Qc6+ 44. Kf4 Rf2 45. Rf1 0-1


Lev Gutman 2495 - Josip Gazic 2266
Round 7
1. Nf3 d6 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e5 4. O-O Be7 5. c4 O-O 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. d4 a5 8. d5 Nb8 9. c5 b6 10. cxb6 cxb6 11. Nxe5 dxe5 12. d6 Ra7 13. dxe7 Qxe7 14. Bg5 Qe6 15. Bxf6 Qxf6 16. Nd5 Qd8 17. Qb3 Nd7 18. Rfd1 b5 19. Rac1 Ba6 20. Qe3 Rb7 21. Rc6 Qa8 22. Nc7 Qc8 23. Nxa6 1-0


More information on schach.com

9th Open Internacional Ciudad de Tamarite

This rapid tournament took place on Sunday March 9th in Tamarite de Litera, Spain. There were 112 participants and time control was 15 minutes. GM Azer Mirzoev and WCN site pro GM Arthur Kogan have tied for the first place with 7.5 points but Arthur took winners trophy on better tiebreaks.


Final standings:
1-2. GM Arthur Kogan (ISR 2563) and GM Azer Mirzoev (AZE 2532) 7.5/9
3-6. GM Vladimir Epishin (RUS 2565), GM Aleksa Strikovic (SCG 2501), IM Daniel Barria (CHI 2428) and IM Slobodan Kovacevic (SCG 2336) 7.0 etc.


More information

The Great Debate Transcript

Readers have inquired about the so-called Great Debate which has never before been published. It took place on January 23, 1988 between Don Schultz, America's representative to FIDE, and myself on the Net via the defunct Leisure LINC chess network. Many of the issues debated such as the banning of players, the role of a free press, and censorship in Chess Life, are still controversial today.

Read this excellent article of GM Larry Evans

Topalov wins the match against Nisipeanu

The match between the World champion Veselin Topalov (2801) and the current European champion Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (2693) was held on April 6th-9th in Bucharest, Romania. Four games have been played and Topalov won both games with white pieces for the final score of 3-1. The board, which was used in this encounter, will be sold in charity auction. Traian Basescu, President of Romania, was one of the promoters of this match.



Veselin Topalov - Dieter Nisipeanu
Game 2
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 c5 6. dxc5 Na6 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Nxd5 exd5 9. e4 O-O 10. exd5 Bxc5 11. Be2 Bb4+ 12. Kf1 Bd6 13. Bg5 Qa5 14. a3 Nc7 15. Bc4 b5 16. b4 Qb6 17. Bb3 a5 18. Be3 Qb7 19. Bc5 Bxc5 20. bxc5 a4 21. Ba2 b4 22. axb4 Qxb4 23. Qd4 Na6 24. c6 Qxd4 25. Nxd4 Nb4 26. Ke2 Nxa2 27. Rxa2 Ba6+ 28. Kd2 Bc4 29. Ra3 Bxd5 30. c7 Be6 31. Nb5 Bd7 32. Nd6 g6 33. Rc1 Kg7 34. Rc4 Ra6 35. Rd4 Ra7 36. Ne8+ Rxe8 37. Rxd7 Raa8 38. Kc3 Kf6 39. Kb4 Ke6 40. Rd4 Ke5 41. Rc4 Rec8 42. Kb5 Kd5 43. Rc2 1-0


Veselin Topalov - Dieter Nisipeanu
Game 4
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. O-O-O O-O 9. f4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Qa5 11. h4 e5 12. Qe3 exf4 13. Bxf4 Be6 14. Bxd6 Bxd6 15. Rxd6 Rac8 16. a3 Rc6 17. Rxc6 bxc6 18. Be2 Nd7 19. Rd1 Qc7 20. g3 Rb8 21. Qd4 Qxg3 22. Qxa7 Nf6 23. Kb1 h5 24. a4 Bg4 25. Bxg4 hxg4 26. Qd4 Qxh4 27. e5 Nd5 28. Nxd5 cxd5 29. Rg1 Qh2 30. Rxg4 Rc8 31. Rxg7+ Kh8 32. Rg4 Rc4 33. Qd1 Rxg4 34. Qxg4 Qxe5 35. c3 Kh7 36. Qd4 Qe6 37. a5 f5 38. b4 Qe2 39. Qxd5 Kg6 40. Qd6+ Kg5 41. a6 f4 42. Qc5+ Kg4 43. a7 1-0


Official website

5th Abierto Internacional de Ajedrez

This open tournament took place on March 30th-April 7th in Ciudad de Dos Hermanas. In a strong field with Ivan Cheparinov (2625), Oleg Korneev (2649), Vadim Milov (2638) and Miguel Illeskas Cordoba (2608), first place was tied by GM Vladimir Burmakin (2519) and IM Florian Handke (2474). Young FM Fabiano Caruana, who recently moved from US to Italy, has earned 5.5 points. There were 173 participants.


Final standings:
1-2. GM Vladimir Burmakin (RUS 2519) and IM Florian Handke (GER 2474) 7.5
3-4. GM Carlos Matamoros (ECU 2510) and IM Das Neelotpal (IND 2512) 7
5-18. GM Ivan Cheparinov (BUL 2625), GM Daniel Campora (ARG 2541), GM Goran Dizdar (CRO 2531), GM Oleg Korneev (RUS 2649), GM Miguel Illeskas Cordoba (ESP 2608), IM Aleksandar Colovic (FRM 2459), GM Kevin Spraggett (CAN 2581), IM Agustin Garcia Luque (ESP 2355), IM Sergei Krivoshey (UKR 2553), IM Osvaldo Zambrana (BOL 2405), IM Ibragim Khamrakulov (UZB 2499), IM Pontus Carlsson (SWI 2430), GM Bogdan Lalic (CRO 2488) and IM Renier Castellanos (CHI 2467) 6.5 etc.


Vladimir Burmakin 2519 - Vadim Milov 2638
1. d4 d6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. e4 c6 5. Ne2 b5 6. O-O Nd7 7. b3 Ngf6 8. Bb2 O-O 9. Nd2 Rb8 10. Nf4 e5 11. dxe5 Nxe5 12. h3 Re8 13. Re1 Nfd7 14. Rb1 Bb7 15. Nf1 Qc7 16. Ne3 Nf6 17. Qd2 h5 18. Rbd1 Rbd8 19. Bc3 Qb8 20. Ba5 Rd7 21. Nd3 Nxd3 22. Qxd3 Re6 23. Bf3 Rde7 24. Ng2 Bh6 25. Nf4 Bxf4 26. gxf4 b4 27. e5 dxe5 28. f5 gxf5 29. Qxf5 Nd5 30. Kh1 Rg6 31. Rg1 Qf8 32. Rxg6+ fxg6 33. Bxd5+ cxd5 34. Qxf8+ Kxf8 35. Bxb4 d4+ 36. Kg1 Kf7 37. Bxe7 Kxe7 38. c3 Bf3 39. Rd2 1-0

Fabiano Caruana 2409 - Das Neelotpal 2512
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. b3 a6 4. c4 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. exd5 Nf6 7. Bb2 Be7 8. Be2 O-O 9. O-O Nxd5 10. d4 Nf4 11. dxc5 Bf6 12. Bxf6 Qxf6 13. Nbd2 Bh3 14. g3 Nxe2+ 15. Qxe2 Bxf1 16. Rxf1 Nd7 17. b4 Rfe8 18. Qc4 Rad8 19. Qb3 b6 20. Rc1 Ne5 21. Rc3 Ng4 22. Rd3 bxc5 23. bxc5 Qa1+ 24. Kg2 Rxd3 25. Qxd3 Qxa2 26. c6 Nf6 27. Nc4 Ne4 28. Qd4 Nxf2 29. c7 Ne4+ 30. Kh3 Qe2 31. Nce5 Nf2+ 32. Kg2 Nd3+ 33. Kg1 Qd1+ 34. Kg2 Qc2+ 0-1

Vladimir Epishin 2553 - Agustin Garcia Luque 2355
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. b4 Nh5 10. Qc2 Nf4 11. Bxf4 exf4 12. Rad1 h6 13. Nd4 a5 14. b5 g5 15. Bh5 Ng6 16. Bxg6 fxg6 17. e5 Bf5 18. Nxf5 gxf5 19. e6 Be5 20. Rd3 g4 21. Re1 Qg5 22. Qd2 Rae8 23. c5 Re7 24. a3 b6 25. cxb6 cxb6 26. Na4 Rb8 27. Qc1 Qg7 28. Re2 f3 29. Rc2 fxg2 30. Rc8+ Rxc8 31. Qxc8+ Kh7 32. Nxb6 Rc7 33. Qe8 Rc1+ 34. Kxg2 f4 35. f3 gxf3+ 36. Kxf3 Rf1+ 37. Ke4 Qg2+ 38. Kf5 Qg5+ 39. Ke4 Bg7 40. Nd7 Qg2+ 41. Kf5 Re1 42. Nf6+ Bxf6 43. Rg3 Qxd5+ 44. Kxf4 0-1


Official website

"Fischer just might search for him"

Daniel Naroditsky won last year Internet Scholastic Chess Championship in the age group 5-9. His opponent in the final was son of IM Georgi Orlov.

Danya (as his friends call him) has big support of his parents to continue the successful chess career.

"We’re like gymnastics or figure-skating parents," says Lena Naroditsky. "I spend hours at the tournaments watching people play."

From "The Jewish News Weekly"

Chess Festival 'Villa Cañada de Calatrava'

This rapid tournament with nice prize fund of 74.000 euros will be held on April 14th-16th. The host will be city of Cañada de Calatrava in Ciudad Real region, Spain. 9 or 10 rounds will be played, depending on the number of participants. Time control is 25 minutes for each player without increment.


Players registered so far:
Etienne Bacrot 2717 FRA, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2709 AZE, Teimour Radjabov 2700 AZE, Alexander Dreev 2697 RUS, Pentala Harikrishna 2673 IND, Andrej Volokitin 2665 UKR, Francisco Vallejo Pons 2650 ESP etc.


Participants from Serbia are GM Branko Damljanovic 2615, GM Aleksa Strikovic 2499, IM Dragan Paunovic 2475 and IM Slobodan Kovacevic 2350. I wish them best of luck!



2007 Villa Cañada de Calatrava

Jaspur The Man Gaard

My good friend and loyal reader (he's been following the blog since its first post) Jaspur T. Gaard has won the HT Vikuskifti tournament! The event was held March 24th-26th on Faroe Islands. Jaspur scored 4 points from 5 rounds and won the trophy by having better tiebreaks then Margar Berg (1579) and Hans Kristian Simonsen (2234). Well done buddy!


Jasup T.Gaard 1291 - Margar Berg 1579
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Bc4 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. h4 h6 10. Be3 Nc6 11. f4 Bd7 12. g4 Nxd4 13. g5 Nxe4 14. Bxd4 Nxc3 15. Bxc3 hxg5 16. hxg5 d5 17. Bd3 Bc5+ 18. Kg2 d4 19. Bh7+ Kxh7 20. Qh5+ Kg8 21. Rh1 Bc6+ 22. Kg3 Qxg5+ 23. fxg5 f5 24. g6 Bd6+ 25. Kf2 Bg3+ 26. Kxg3 f4+ 27. Kf2 1-0

Chess For Anyone

It is amazing how clear Bruce Warner makes learning chess. Anyone can learn to play chess and most people don’t know all the basics before they start to play, does that sound funny? Pitiful as it may sound I have seen and heard chess tutorials that miss many of the Basics that are covered by this DVD. In this DVD you start at the very beginning.

This was brief review of part one of Chess For Anyone DVD series. Bruce Warner aka Mr.Spock 4 on WCN is my good friend and his project certainly deserved a mention.

2nd Frascati International

The festival was held on March 24th-April 2nd in Italian city Frascati, near Rome. International tournament, Italian Rapid championship, Italian Olympiad Team electory tournament and simuls by Anatoly Karpov and Alexandra Kosteniuk were events included.

Serbian GM Branko Damljanovic won the main tournament with 7 points out of 9 rounds.





Branko Damljanovic (left) playing against GM Zoltam Almasi







Final standings:
1. GM Branko Damljanovic (SCG 2615) 7/9
2. GM Ferenc Berkes (HUN 2597) 6.5
3. GM Michele Godena (ITA 2505) 6.0
4-5. IM Sergey Kasparov (BLR 2491) and GM Erald Dervishi (ALB 2491) 5.5
6. GM Oleg Romanishin (UKR 2552) 5.0
7-8. FM Sabino Brunello (ITA 2301) and IM Fabio Bruno (ITA 2409) 3.0
9. FM Roberto Mogranzini (ITA 2370) 2.0
10. FM Niccolo Ronchetti (ITA 2411) 1.5


Roberto Mogranzini - Erald Dervishi
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 d5 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8. Nc3 Qa5 9. Nxe4 Be6 10. Neg5 O-O-O 11. Nxe6 fxe6 12. Rxe6 Bd6 13. Bg5 Rdf8 14. Qe2 a6 15. Bd2 Qd5 16. Qe4 Qh5 17. Qh4 Qb5 18. Qg4 Kb8 19. b3 Qc5 20. Rc1 h5 21. Qe4 Qa3 22. Qd3 Qxa2 23. Nxd4 Nxd4 24. Qxd4 Rd8 25. Qxg7 Ba3 26. Rf1 Qxc2 27. Bf4 Rhg8 28. Qa1 Bb2 29. Qa4 Bd4 30. Be3 Qf5 31. Qc4 Rxg2+ 0-1

Painful Subject

One of the reasons why chess is not attracting big sponsors is that the noble game is "too boring" to be televised. Only matches between top Grandmasters and powerful chess programs can get some electronic media coverage.

DG from Boylston Chess Club Weblog has found two articles about ESPN plans for the future events. Can you imagine yourself watching Dominoes on TV?

Vladimir Kramnik to play against Deep Fritz

World champion Vladimir Kramnik will face Deep Fritz chess program in a 6 games match scheduled for November 25th to December 5th, 2006. The event will be held at the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn, and Kramnik might double his starting fee to $1 Million US if he wins the match.

In an recent interview Kramnik announced his plans regarding this season. (Depending on the treatment progress) Vladimir will play chess Olympiad in May, Dortmund in July, unification match against Veselin Topalov in September (if arranged) and match against the Deep Fritz in November. Unfortunately, he had to skip Monaco Amber after 14 years of constant participation.



Vassily Ivanchuk - Vladimir Kramnik
Linares 1993

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bc4 Qb6 7.Nb3 e6 8.Bf4 Ne5 9.Be2 a6 10.Bg3 h5 11.h3 Qc7 12.f4 Nc4 13.Bxc4 Qxc4 14.Qf3 h4 15.Bh2 Bd7 16.O-O-O Rc8 17.Rhe1 b5 18.Qf2 Qc7 19.e5 b4 20.Rd3 dxe5 21.fxe5 bxc3 22.Rxc3



22...Qxc3 23.bxc3 Ba3+ 24.Kd2 Nd5 25.Re4 Rxc3 26.Rg4 O-O 27.Qxh4 Rfc8 28.Nd4 Bb4 29.Ke2 Bb5+ 30.Nxb5 Rxc2+ 31.Kf3 axb5 32.Rxb4 Nxb4 33.Qxb4 R8c3+ 0-1