Topa, quit your whining I saw a mate you missed

This is what Kon Man, one of the biggest fans of Veselin Topalov, said in WCN chat room. Kon was referring to the 2nd game 32.Rg4 winning move. See the big smile on Danailov's face.

GM Yasser Seirawan calls for a compromise
Requests of Vladimir Kramnik

The Messenger Has Arrived!

We don't use internet in Serbia. It's all NATO, Vatican, EU and Coca-Cola conspiracy... Turin Chess Olympiad was played back in May and our mule-riding reporter is finally home bringing some exclusive news! Serbian daily newspaper "Kurir" is reporting that apparently two Grandmasters have picked up a fight over the beautiful WIM Arianne Caoili.

They must be poor tabloid if the news are 4 months old. Our friend TCG was first to report about the incident, read Romance Blossoming?, Fight! Fight! and British GM Sent Home. At least Kurir got most of the facts to be correct, adding just a bit of spice by saying Aronian to be known as "Armenian Beckham" :-)

Danailov looking for excuse

Silvio Danailov, head of the Bulgarian team in Elista, has accused Vladimir Kramnik for possible cheating. As reported in item about rooms problem, Danailov finds it suspicious that Kramnik is spending long time in the room without video surveillance.

Read posts on World Chess Network, ChessBase and VeselinTopalov.net.

Vladimir Kramnik played far from perfect in first 4 games, missing many good moves. People who play chess on internet can identify pure case of sore loser.

15th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International

15th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International is being held on September 23rd - October 1st in Port Erin. Many strong players are competing for the prize fund of 17500 pounds, WCN site pros WGM Anna Zatonskih and GM Vitali Golod are also playing. GM Mateusz Bartel is sole leader with the perfect 4/4 score.


IM Jha Sriram 2408 - GM Igor Khenkin 2586
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 O-O 5. e4 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. e5 Nfd7 8. f4 c5 9. Nf3 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Nxe5


11. fxe5 Qh4+ 12. Ke2 Bc5 13. Be3 Bg4+ 14. Nf3 d4 15. Bg1 Bxf3+ 16. Kxf3 Nd7 17. g3 Nxe5+ 18. Kg2 Qf6 19. Na4 Qc6+ 20. Kf2 d3+ 21. Nxc5 Qxc5+ 22. Kg2 Qc6+ 23. Kf2 Rac8 24. Bg2 Qf6+ 25. Ke1 Rfe8 0-1


GM Piotr Bobras 2535 - WGM Tatiana Kononenko 2387
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. Qg4 O-O 8. Bd3 f5 9. exf6 Rxf6 10. Bg5 Rf7 11. Qh5 g6 12. Qd1 Nbc6 13. Nf3 Qf8 14. O-O c4 15. Be2 h6 16. Bc1 Qg7 17. a4 Bd7 18. Ba3 g5 19. h3 Ng6 20. Nh2 Rd8 21. Bh5 Kh7 22. Ng4 e5 23. Nxe5 Ncxe5 24. dxe5 Qxe5 25. Bc5 Bf5 26. Qd2 Qc7 27. Bd4 Qd6 28. Rfe1 Rfd7 29. a5 Qa6 30. Re3 Rf8 31. f3 Rdf7 32. Bc5 Rd8 33. Qf2 b6 34. Bd4 bxa5 35. Rae1 Qc6 36. Bxg6+ Qxg6 37. Re8 Rxe8 38. Rxe8 Qd6 39. h4 Qd7 40. Qe3 Kg6 41. Rg8+ Kh7 42. Rh8+ Kg6 43. Qxg5+ 1-0



IM Sebastian Siebrecht 2414 - GM Viorel Iordachescu 2603
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. e3 b6 4. Bd3 Bb7 5. Nbd2 c5 6. O-O cxd4 7. exd4 Be7 8. Ne5 O-O 9. f4 d6 10. Ng4 Nbd7 11. Qe2 Qc7 12. Nxf6+ Nxf6 13. Nf3 Rfe8 14. Bd2 Bf8 15. Rae1 g6 16. Qf2 Bg7 17. Qh4 a6 18. g4 Qc6 19. f5 exf5 20. Rxe8+ Rxe8 21. gxf5 b5 22. Bh6 Qd5 23. b3 Bxh6 24. Qxh6 Re1


25. Rxe1 Qxf3 26. Qg5 Ng4 27. Re8+ Kg7 28. f6+ Nxf6 29. Re3 Qd1+ 30. Bf1 Qxd4 31. c3 Qa7 32. Kf2 Ne4+ 0-1


Official website

Rooms Problem

During the first game Vladimir Kramnik has entered his room for rest more than 27 times, a total of 2 hours. Topalov on the contrary entered only 3 times, about 20 minutes. The manager of the Bulgarian player kindly requested that the governing body of the event provides the video records to the delegations. The president of the organization cometee at first agreed, but later the request was discarded.

VeselinTopalov.net reports

Montenegro League

1st Montenegro Airlines League is in progress. Fearless attacker IM Anto Rmus played great game against FM Igor Solomunovic.


IM Anto Rmus 2394 - FM Igor Solomunovic 2428
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bc4 e6 6. O-O Nge7 7. Qe1 O-O 8. d3 d5 9. Bb3 Nd4 10. Nxd4 cxd4 11. Ne2 dxe4 12. dxe4 d3 13. cxd3 Qxd3 14. Ng3 b6 15. f5 exf5 16. Bg5 Qd6 17. Rd1 Qc5+ 18. Kh1 Ba6 19. exf5 Nxf5 20. Nxf5 Bxf1 21. Rd5


21...Qc7 22. Nxg7 Bc4 23. Nh5 Bxb3 24. Nf6+ Kh8 25. Qh4 h5 26. Bf4 Qc2 27. Rxh5+ 1-0


Official website

Larry Evans Column

This is the fourth and final column that was paid for but not used in Chess Life when a new editor axed Evans On Chess. USCF president Bill Goichberg recently stated: "Based on reactions I have heard from many members, I believe that the cancellation of this column is negating the favorable effect of Chess Life's new appearance and making it more difficult for USCF to gain membership."

Entire article

Regional League, Round 1

New season has started on Sept 24th and already problems for SK Radnicki. We were scheduled to visit SK Postar in Jagodina but 5 out of 10 senior players had to cancel attendance. This made us resign on 1st board without playing. The team played well to gain the 4-2 lead and equal positions in the last two games. Unfortunately, Dr Gajic and Vlada Stanisavljevic have both lost for the final score of 4-4. Postar is direct competitor for promotion and we missed this big chance to make a margin.


Radnicki - Postar 4-4
1. MK Dragan Gajovic 0-1*
2. MK Vladan Ilic 1-0
3. MK Goran Urosevic 1-0
4. Dejan Pantic 1-0
5. Goran Gajic 0-1
6. Vlada Stanisavljevic 0-1
7. Ana Milovanovic 0-1
8. Aleksandar Dimitrijevic 1-0*

Dejan Pantic - Tomislav Glisic

Black has problems with his central pawns. If 1...Qd6, white has 2.d4 and if 1...Qf7 2.Ng5 and next 3.Qd5 is check. Glisic tried with 1...Rf3 2.gf3 Qd3 3.Rad1 Qf3 4.Rd5 but he was forced to resign here.

French Defence

Remember "Targeting d4"? Being persistent French defence player himself, Bogdan Girmacea has analyzed another game in this opening.

This is the game from Second Division Serbia 2006 played by IM Miodrag Perunovic in French defense and because I’m a big fan of this opening I decided to analyze it. His opponent was a pretty strong player Nebojsa Tosic 2228 rated fide. White chose the gambit line in French defense:

1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e5 c5 4. b4 cxb4 5. d4 Nc6

Take a look at his post

WCN Newsletter Sept 22nd

I made another mailout tonight. Again, there are excerpts and links to the various posts from the chess blogosphere. There are also links on the WCN Forum thread. Feel free to register and link to the posts you find interesting. I hope this will bring some new readers and maybe encourage some of them to start their own blogs.

Here is the banter game (25/5 time control) GM Marin - GM Gavrikov.


GM Mihail Marin - GM Viktor Gavrikov
WorldChessNetwork, 16th September 2006

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Nb3
Nb3 takes away some important squares from Black Queen - a5 and c5. But now there is no Nd4 to make strong pressure on the Black position. Other main line is 9.Rb1 Qa3. Rarely we see Mihail playing 1.e4. And he's even running into the sharpest line of Naidorf Sicilian.

9... Qa3 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Be2 Nc6 12. O-O Bd7 13. Kh1 Rc8 14. Nd1
This is probably all theory. Mihail wants to transfer his Knight to d1-e3-c4 if possible. 14.f5 would start immediate action on King side with possible lines 14. f5 h5 15. fxe6 (15. Qf4 Be7 16. Qg3 Ne5 17. Qg7 Rf8) 15... fxe6 16. Rxf6 Be7 17. Rh6 (17. Rf3 b5 18. Rh3 h4 19. Rf1 Ne5) 17... Rxh6 18. Qxh6 Kd8 19. Bxh5 Kc7

14... Bg7 15. Ne3 b5
15....b5 is a must to prevent Nc4. Trying to exploit Bg7 diagonal with f5 would end bad 15... f5 16. Nc4 Qb4 17. Nxd6+ Ke7 18. Rad1

16. c3


It is understandable that White wants to close this potentially dangerous diagonal, but the later development shows that c3 was a mistake because it creates many weaknesses - c3, Nb3 and 2nd rank. Better was to press on d-file with 16. Rad1 O-O (16... Ke7 is dangerous because White has 17. c4 Qb4 18. Qd3 Rhd8 19. cxb5 axb5 20. Nc2) 17. Qxd6 Qxd6 18. Rxd6 Rfd8 19. Rfd1 and the position is unclear

16... O-O 17. Rf3 f5
Excellent move! Viktor is not afraid of bad pawn structure. He's preventing White's f5 and opens important diagonal for Bg7. Pair of Bishops and very active pieces will give more then enough of compensation for weak pawns.

18. exf5 exf5
18... Ne7 with attack on c3 was another possibility, but White can play 19.fe6 Be6 20.Rc1 with solid resistance

19. Rg3 Kh8 20. Rd1 Be6


21. Nd5
Now we can see consequences of c3 move. Nb3 is hanging and there is no good square to move that Knight. If 21.Qd6 black is better 21. Qxd6 Qxa2 (21... Qxd6 22. Rxd6 Bxc3 23. Nd5 Bg7) 22. Nc1 Qb2 23. Bf3 Qxc3 with idea Rfd8. Best try was 21. c4 Qb4 22. cxb5 axb5 23. Qxd6 Rfd8 24. Qxb4 Rxd1+ 25. Nxd1 (25. Bxd1 Nxb4 26. a3 Nd3 wins for Black) 25... Nxb4 26. Bxb5 Nxa2 and Black is still better but position is very reduced with all pawns on the same side.

21... Bxd5 22. Qxd5 Qxa2 23. Rxg7
Desperate move. White Queen was overworked, Be2 is hanging and Black is threatening Ne7. Black has easy win now

23... Kxg7 24. Qxf5 Rg8
But carefully 24... Qxb3 25. Qg5+ Kh8 26. Qf6+ Perpetual!

25. Rxd6 Qxe2 26. h3 Kh8 27. Qf6+ Rg7 0-1



Banter analyzed last week: GM Lev Psakhis - IM Martha Fierro

Chess Player Wounded at Dawson College

From ChessTalk Message Board we heard that "One of the Dawson College (Montreal) shooting victims was Leslie Markofsky, 22, still in serious condition in hospital" - Hugh Brodie

"I remember Leslie and his twin sister. Either Leslie was one of my students in DDO, or he and his sister were campers at my summer camp in the Laurentians." - Jordan S.Berson

"Dave Ross and I taught Leslie for many years when he went to Westpark School in DDO. He was part of the team that won the Montreal K-6 Championship a couple of times." - IM Tom O'Donnell

Andrei Gulko, another chess player, is mentioning some "strange" things about the shooting.

New Season For SK Radnicki

Regional chess league is starting on Sunday September 24th. This is the lowest "concrete" league in Serbia. "Radnicki" Cuprija (Radnichki) will be playing against local teams from city of Jagodina (12km north) and nearby villages. I believe we have the strongest team but it still has to be proved on the field.


SK Radnicki lineup:
1. Dragan Gajovic MK
2. Vladan Ilic MK 2169, new member that has returned after several years of playing for SK Branicevo.
3. Goran Urosevic MK 2210
4. Miroslav Milenkovic MK, 73-years old and probably the best player in Cuprija. In the old days he was competing with GMs Gligoric, Matulovic, Sahovic, Janosevic, Velimirovic on the equal terms. Three years ago he played against IM Slavisa Marinkovic and brought him into such a zugzwang that IM simply let his clock run out. For the last 10 years Miroslav is saying "this is my last league" but we always persuade him "we desperately need you, just play this time and won't bother you ever again"
5. Uros Cvetanovic MK, only 11-years old, he was two times U10 Serbian champion. He returned to his base in Radnicki, great news for all club members.
6. Dragan Novakovic I cat, coach of Uros Cvetanovic
7. Goran Gajic
8. Vladan Stanisavljevic, chairman of the club
9. Sasha Gmitrovic
10. Dejan Pantic

Women board:
Ana Milovanovic

Juniors:
1. Aleksandar Dimitrijevic II cat, 12-years old
2. Andrija Novakovic, 8-years old son of Dragan Novakovic



Uros Cvetanovic (blue shirt)



Aleksandar Dimitrijevic (white pieces)


Good luck team!

Chuck Norris Move

Chuck Norris - his only move is the roundhouse kick, which turns the whole board dumping both players' pieces to the ground. This was to be considered a tie according to International Chess Federation of Russia but Chuck roundhouse kicked all the commies and altered the rules so that HE is the only winner. As always.

Uncyclopedia on Chess

Kramnik - Topalov, Mtel Masters 2005

Kramnik,Vladimir (2753) – Topalov,Veselin (2778)
Sofia MTel Masters Sofia (10), 22.05.2005
Commentary by IM Miodrag Perunovic

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.f3 b5 8.Qd2 b4

b4 move became really fashionable lately. The idea of the black side is not just to move the knight from c3, but at the same time to push his pawns forward attacking queen side and neutralizing pressure over d5 square so d5 will be easier further on in the game.

9.Nce2 e5 10.Nb3 Nc6!?

Interesting novelty since black had really solid results with other moves, but there is no doubt Topalov and his team found some critical lines there. Anyway, it seems to me that d5 looks as logical continuation here. [10…d5 11.exd5 Qxd5 12.0-0-0 Be6 13.Qe1 Qc6 14.Ng3 Nbd7 15.Kb1 Be7 16.Bd3 a5 17.Qe2 a4 18.Bb5 Qc7 19.Nc1 0-0 20.Nd3 b3 0-1 Bhawoodien,S-Mauba,S/Cape Town 1995/ (27)]

11.c4!


Full analysis on veselintopalov.net

Game From Senta, Round 2

I promised to analyze games that I played during 10th Chess Festival "The Battle of Senta 1697". Well here it is, starting with the game against IM Petar Benkovic played in the 2nd round. I won against Petar once back in 1998, he was only FM then.


Goran Urosevic 2210 - IM Petar Benkovic 2431

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Ba6 5. Qc2 c5
I was already surprised here. 5... Bb7 7. Nc3 c5 8. e4 cd4 is the line I knew. How to react on c5? 6. e3 is rather passive, 6.dc5 bc5 gives great game for Black and 6. g3 cd4 7. Nd4 Bb7 is unpleasant. 6. d5 was first that came to my mind, it's the only way to fight for the initiative, but I have to give up the pawn. I saw next six moves and I decided to go for it.

6. d5 exd5 7. cxd5 Bb7 8. e4 Qe7 9. Bd3 Nxd5 10. O-O Nc7 11. Nc3 Qd8 12. Ng5
I was going for position after 11. Nc3. White is pawn down but Black has problems with his development - Qe7 is clumsy (Petar is moving the Q next move) and d-file can become important factor sometimes (he has backward pawn there). After 11... Qd8, playing straightforward 12. Re1 Nc6 13. Nd5 Ne6 14. Bd2 Bd6 15. Bc3 Ncd4 gives nothing to White. Interesting was 12. Be3 Nc6 13. Rfd1 Ne6 14. Be2 Be7 15. Rd2 with doubling Rooks on d-file. Petar told me after the game that 11... Qd8 was new move, 11... Nc6 12. Bg5 f6 13. Nh4 with wild complications was tried earlier. I decided to show my intentions by playing 12. Ng5 instead of 12. Be3. Idea is to play f4 and e5 sometimes and attack either f7 or h7, depending on his castle.


12... Be7 13. f4 Nc6
13. f4 was psychologically hard move. 13... Bg5 14. fg5 looks ugly for me, but since Knight is still on b8 (the one that can reach d4 or e5) I get some tempi to attack along the f-file and maybe transfer the Queen to h4. For example 13... Bxg5 14. fxg5 Nc6 15. Bf4 Ne6 16. Bd6 Qxg5 (16... Nxg5 17. Nd5 Ne6 18. Qf2 f6 19. Be2) 17. Bc4 (17. Qf2 f6 18. Nd5 Kf7) 17... f6. After his 13... Nc6 I already have to bring my Knight back to f3 because Nc6 has nasty jumps on the next move. But I was also happy with Ng5-f4-Nf3 because now I have mobile pawns for e5 or f5.

14. Nf3 d6
14... Nd4 15. Nxd4 cxd4 16. Ne2 Rc8 17. Qd2 O-O 18. b4 Ne6 19. Bb2; 14... Ne6 15. Be3 Ncd4 16. Qf2

15. Be3 Qc8
How to finish the development? On any sign of castle I play e5 - 15... Qd7 16. Rad1 O-O 17. e5; 15... d5 16. Nxd5 Nxd5 17. exd5 Qxd5 18. Be4

16. Rad1 Ba6
After Rad1 I am already better. All of my pieces are developed and ready for action while his King is still in the center. I was very pleased at this moment :-) If 16... O-O 17. e5 or 16... Qe6 17. Rfe1 O-O 18. Nd5 Rac8 19. Nxe7+ Qxe7 20. e5. 16... Ba6 admits that Black has lost theoretical duel (although I was out of book on 6th move). Petar was ready to give pawn back, reduce some of the pressure and fight in a weaker position but with less pieces on the board.


17. Bxa6
Now I believe that best way was 17. Qa4 b5 (17... Bb7 18. Nd5 O-O 19. Qxc6 Bxc6 20. Nxe7+) 18. Nxb5 Bxb5 19. Bxb5 Nxb5 20. Qxb5 trading couple of pieces but with huge positional advantage. But psychologically, it is very hard for the player that has strong attack (me) to switch to the pieces trade and play on a weak backward pawn :-) My blade was sharpened and I wanted to continue with the attack.

17... Nxa6 18. e5
Better was 18. Nd5 O-O (18... Nc7 19. Nxe7 Nxe7 (19... Kxe7 20. e5) 20. Rxd6) 19. Nxe7+ (19. f5) 19... Nxe7 20. Rxd6 and I still keep the big advantage. Now I started to lose my strings and soon everything went downhill. My next 4 moves where all mistakes.

18... dxe5 19. fxe5
Better was 19. Nxe5 O-O 20. Nd5 Nc7 21. Nxc7 (21. Nxb6 axb6 22. Nxc6 Bf6; 21. Nxc6 Nxd5) 21... Qxc7 22. Rd7 Qc8

19... O-O 20. Nd5
Best try was 20. Qa4 Qb7 21. Qe4 keeping his Queen a bit passive. If 20. Qe4 then 20... Qe6

20... Nc7 21. Nf4


Even though position is still very playable, I was lost here. Having dropped huge advantage, I can't stop making mistakes. Best was 21. Nxe7+ Nxe7 22. Ng5 Ng6 but I still have some illusions about the attack and don't want to trade more pieces. Petar's Knight is now reaching dominant e6 square (defending everything) and slowly he started to improve his pieces. Remember? His biggest minus was development and bad placed pieces.

21... Ne6 22. Nh5 Qc7 23. Qe4 Rad8 24. h4 Rxd1 25. Rxd1 Ncd4 26. Kh1 g6
His pieces are now ruling the board and after next f5 I can resign. Also possible was 26... Nxf3 27. gxf3 Rd8

27. Ng3 f5 28. exf6 Bxf6 29. Nxd4 Nxd4 30. Bf4 Qe7 31. Qd5+ Qf7 32. Qxf7+ Rxf7 33. h5 Bh4 34. Be5 Bxg3 35. Bxg3 gxh5 0-1

Games From Vrsac

Bora Kostic Memorial is in progress. Standings after 5th round: 1. GM Ivan Ivanisevic (SRB 2596) 4.5; 2-3. GM Branko Damljanovic (SRB 2625) and GM Bartlomiej Macieja (POL 2613) 3.0; 4-6. GM Aleksander Delchev (BUL 2637), GM Robert Markus (SRB 2586) and GM Kevin Spraggett (CAN 2577) 2.5; 7-9. GM Igor Miladinovic (SRB 2584), GM Dragan Solak (SRB 2564) and GM Oleg Korneev (RUS 2638) 2.0; 10. FM Slobodan Munizaba (SRB 2319) 1.0


GM Ivan Ivanisevic 2596 - GM Oleg Korneev 2638
Round 1
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. Qb3 a5 8. e4 dxe4 9. Nxe4 Bb4+ 10. Kd1 Qf4 11. Bd3 f5 12. Nc3 c5 13. d5 O-O 14. a3 a4 15. Nxa4 Ba5 16. Nb6 Ra6 17. Nxc8 Rxc8 18. Qxb7 Rd8 19. Kc2 e5 20. b4 e4 21. bxa5 exd3+ 22. Kxd3 Rg6 23. Qe7 Nc6 24. Qe3 Qc7 25. g3 Qxa5 26. Rhb1 Qa6 27. Qxc5 Rgd6 28. Ke3 Re8+ 29. Kd2 Na5


30. Rb5 Rc8 31. Rxa5 Rxc5 32. Rxa6 Rxa6 33. Kc3 Rca5 34. Kb4 Ra4+ 35. Kb3 Ra8 36. Nd4 Kf7 37. Nxf5 R4a6 38. Nd4 Ke7 39. Nb5 Kd7 40. c5 Rb8 41. c6+ Kc8 42. Kb4 Rba8 43. Kc5 Ra5 44. d6 Rb8 45. d7+ Kd8 46. c7+ 1-0


GM Oleg Korneev 2638 - GM Robert Markus 2586
Round 2
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O Bd7 9. f3 Be7 10. Kb1 b5 11. h4 h6 12. Be3 Ne5 13. Bd3 Qc7 14. g4 b4 15. Nce2 Nxd3 16. cxd3 e5 17. Rc1 Qb7 18. Nf5 Bxf5 19. gxf5 a5 20. Rhg1 Nh5 21. d4 Rc8 22. Rxc8+ Qxc8 23. dxe5 dxe5 24. Qd5 Qa6


25. Bc5 Bxc5 26. Qxc5 Qd3+ 27. Kc1 Nf6 28. Rd1 Nd7 29. Qc8+ Ke7 30. Qxh8 Qxe2 31. Qc8 Qb5 32. Rd5 Qf1+ 33. Rd1 Qb5 34. Qc7 Ke8 35. Rd5 Qf1+ 36. Rd1 Qb5 37. Qd6 Qb7 38. Kb1 Qa7 39. Rc1 Kd8 40. b3 h5 41. Ka1 Qb7 42. f6 1-0


GM Aleksander Delchev 2637 - GM Ivan Ivanisevic 2596
Round 3
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Re1 d6 7. a4 Be6 8. Nbd2 Qd7 9. c3 Rfe8 10. b4 a6 11. Bb2 Bxc4 12. Nxc4 Bf8 13. Ne3 Ne7 14. c4 Ng6 15. Qb3 c6 16. Bc3 Rad8 17. Qb2 h6 18. Rad1 Qe6 19. Nf1 b5 20. axb5 axb5 21. cxb5 cxb5 22. d4 Ra8 23. d5 Qd7 24. N3d2 Nf4 25. Nb3 Be7 26. Na5 Bd8 27. Kh1 Bb6 28. f3 h5 29. g3 Nh3 30. Ne3 h4 31. g4 Nh7 32. Qd2 N7g5 33. Rf1 g6 34. Qe1 Nf4 35. Ng2 Nxf3 36. Rxf3 Nxg2


37. Qe2 Nf4 38. Rxf4 exf4 39. Nc6 Ra3 40. Rd3 f5 41. gxf5 Qxf5 42. Ne5 Rxe5 43. Bxe5 Qg5 0-1


GM Bartlomiej Macieja 2613 - GM Robert Markus 2586
Round 4
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Nb3 Be7 7. f4 d6 8. Be3 Nf6 9. Qf3 Qc7 10. N1d2 Nc6 11. g4 b6 12. a3 Bb7 13. g5 Nd7 14. O-O-O Nc5 15. Kb1 Na5 16. Bd4 Naxb3 17. Nxb3 O-O 18. h4 Nxd3 19. cxd3 Rac8 20. g6 e5 21. gxh7+ Kh8 22. Bc3 f5 23. Qg3 Bf6 24. fxe5 dxe5 25. Rhe1 f4 26. Qf2 Qd8 27. Qf3 Bxh4 28. Bxe5 Qe7 29. Rh1 Rf5 30. Bxg7+ Qxg7 31. Rxh4 Rb5 32. Rg4 Qe5 33. Rdg1 Rc7 34. Rg8+ Kxh7 35. Qg4 1-0


Official website

World Blitz Chess Championship

Alexander Grischuk won the World Blitz Chess Championship but the best game of the tournament was Svidler-Carlsen. Bogdan Girmacea analysed the game on his blog.

WCN Newsletter

I started to prepare Friday mailouts. It has article excerpts, some news, analysed games and even links to interesting posts in blogosphere :) You can subscribe on WCN website - fill in the form on right sidebar. Here is the banter game (25/5 time control) Psakhis-Fierro.


GM Lev Psakhis - IM Martha Fierro
WorldChessNetwork, 2nd September 2006

1. d4 g6 2. c4 Nf6 3. f3 Bg7 4. e4 O-O 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 a6
Martha is choosing rare move. Her plan is to play a6-Nc6-Rb8-b5 like in fianchetto Kings Indian.

7. Nge2 Nc6 8. Qd2 Rb8 9. d5
Plan that was often used by Russian GMs Dreev and Jussupow. White is gaining space in the center and transfers Knight from e2 to c2. One of the possible setups later is Ne3 and Bd3 preventing e5-f5 classical attack.

9... Ne5 10. Nd4 c5
b5 is not possible while N is on d4, because c6 square is weak (10....b5 11.f4 and 12.Nc6). Game will now look more like Benoni or Volga gambit.

11. Nc2 b5
This pawn sacrifice is not sound. The difference between this line and normal Volga gambit is that Black is having hard time to trade light-squared Bishops and gain usual counterplay on a and b-files. Better was to prepare b5 first 11... Qa5 12. Be2 b5 13. cxb5 axb5 14. O-O b4 15. Nd1 Ba6 =

12. cxb5 axb5 (12... Qa5 13. a4) 13. Bxb5 Ne8
Problem for Black is that now Lev has fast a4 and Na3 to support b5 point. Exchange sacrifice won't help 13... Rxb5 14. Nxb5 Nc4 15. Qe2 Qa5+ 16. Kf2 Nxb2 17. Nca3 or 13... Bd7 14. a4 (14. Bxd7 Nfxd7 15. b3 c4 slightly better for Black) 14... Bxb5 15. axb5 Nfd7 16. Na3

14. a4 Nc7 15. Na3 Nxb5 16. axb5
White is clearly better now

16... Re8 (16... f5 17. O-O) 17. O-O Qc7 18. f4 Nd7 19. Nc4 h6 20. Bh4 Nb6 21. Na5 e6 22. dxe6 (22. Nc6 was also strong) 22... Bxe6 23. f5! Nc4 24. Nxc4
24. Qd3 Nxa5 25. fxe6 Rxe6 26. Nd5 Qa7 27. b6

24... Bxc4


25. f6
Premature. Lev was probably attracted with nice lines after Bf1 (see bellow). More flexible Rf3 was better, keeping fg6 as good option later...25. Rf3 +- Qd7 26. fxg6 fxg6 27. Bf6

25... Bf8
25... Bxf1? would spoil everything 26. fxg7 f5 27. Nd5 +- (27. Kxf1 Qxg7 28. Qxd6 fxe4) 27... Qxg7 28. Nf6+ Kf8 (28... Kh8 29. Ra7 Qxa7 30. Qxh6+) 29. Qxd6+)

26. Rf3
Better was 26. Rfe1 Bxb5 27. Nd5 Qd7 keeping slight edge for White

26... Qb7 27. Bg3 Bxb5 = 28. Bf4
Game is equal now. If 28. b3 Bc6 29. Bf4 Bxe4 30. Bxh6 Bxf3 31. Bxf8 Ra8 (31... Kxf8? 32. Qh6+ Kg8 33. Qg7#) (31... Rxf8? 32. Qh6 Bxg2 33. Qg7#) 32. Rxa8 (White has to trade on a8 because 32. Rc1 Qb4 33. Qh6 Qd4+ 34. Kh1 Qxf6 wins for Black) 32... Qxa8 = (32... Rxa8? 33. Qh6 Ra1+ 34. Kf2 Ra2+ 35. Nxa2 Bxg2 36. Qg7#))

28... Bc6 29. Bxh6
Inferior is 29. Bxd6 Rbd8 30. Rd3 Rxd6 31. Rxd6 Bxd6 32. Qxd6 Qxb2 and Black is better

29... Qxb2 30. Qxb2 Rxb2 31. Bxf8 Kxf8 32. Ra6 Rc8
32... Bxe4 should be examined more closely 33. Rh3 Kg8 (33... Rxg2+ ? 34. Kf1 Kg8 35. Nxe4) 34. Nxe4 Rb1+ 35. Kf2 Rb2+ 36. Kf3 (36. Ke3 d5) 36... Rb3+ 37. Kf2 Rb2+ 38. Kg3 Rb3+ 39. Kf2 Rb2+

33. Rd3 Rb4 34. e5 Rd4?
Decisive mistake. Point is that Martha won't have very useful Rb8 move at the end of the line (see the line after 34...d5 35.Rh3) 34... d5!? looks like a viable alternative 35. Ra5 (35. Rh3 Kg8 36. Ra7 d4 37. e6 Rf8 = 38. Rxf7? Rxf7 39. Rh8+ Kxh8 40. exf7 Rb8 saves the day) 35... c4 and White is only slightly better


35. Rh3! (White has forced win now) 35... Kg8 36. e6! (Demolishes the pawn shield) 36... Rd2
36... fxe6 37. Ra7 and no defence from Rg7 and Rh8 mate

37. Ra7 (Also possible was 37. e7 Bd7 38. Re3) 37... Rxg2+
37... Be8 38. Ne4 Rd1+ 39. Kf2 Rd4 still winning

38. Kf1 Rf8 39. Rxf7 Rxf7 40. Rh8+ !! the opponent will choke on this 40... Kxh8 A deflection 41. exf7 (41. exf7 Kh7 42. f8=Q Bb5+ 43. Kxg2 Bf1+ 44. Kxf1 d5 45. Qg7#) 1-0


Books by GM Lev Psakhis:
French Defence 3Nc3 Bb4
French Defence 3Nd2 (Batsford Chess Book)
Advance and Other Anti-French Variations

DGT ChessTheatre

Thank to Albert Vasse for driving my attention to DGT ChessTheatre. I've installed this PGN viewer and I like its speed very much. Giving ability to publish games on the internet (via FTP), many webmasters have adopted this system - British chess game archive, Russian Super-League and the most recent EU Chess Championship. To view games from the websites you will need the latest Flash Player 8.0 installed (1.3 MB download), but I think that viewers based on Flash are much better then those based on Java. Page refresh is faster and the browser is not sensitive about mouse clicks.

Lost Territory

Montreal (chess) master Simon Gravel now writes a weekly poker column for "La Presse" - just a few months after they dropped Sylvain Barbeau's chess column.

Hugh Brodie post on ChessTalk Message Board

5th Kesarovski - Georgiev Memorial

The 5th Kesarovski - Georgiev Memorial was held on September 2nd-10th in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria. Strong untitled player Pavel Dimitrov won the tournament with 7.5/9 in front of a bunch of GMs and IMs. After GM Boris Chatalbashev and GM Evgenij Ermenkov drew their last round game in 8 moves only, Pavel continued to press against GM Gerhard Schebler to win the game and well deserved 1st place in front of calculative GMs.


Final standings:
1. Pavel Dimitrov (BUL 2293) 7.5
2-3. GM Boris Chatalbashev (BUL 2507) and IM Marijan Petrov (BUL 2430) 7.0
4-12. IM Kalin Karakehajov (BUL 2451), GM Evgenij ERmenkov (PLE 2462), GM Krum Georgiev (BUL 2485), Marian Bojchev (BUL 2325), Hristo Velchev (BUL 2302), IM Sasho Nikolov (BUL 2358), Krasimir Rusev (BUL 2455), Jon Arni Halldorsson (ISL 2142) and Luboslav Katov (BUL 2226) 6.5 etc

There were 90 participants


WGM Suzana Maksimovic 2266 - GM Krum Georgiev 2485
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Nge2 a6 7. Be3 Nc6 8. Qd2 Bd7 9. Nc1 Qb8 10. Nb3 Re8 11. Rc1 b5 12. c5 e6 13. Be2 b4 14. Nd1 a5 15. cxd6 cxd6 16. Bf4 a4 17. Nc5 Nxd4


18. Qxd4 dxc5 19. Qd2 Qa7 20. Ne3 Red8 21. Qc2 Nh5 22. Bd6 c4 23. Nxc4 Bb5 24. Bxb4 Nf4 25. g3 Ng2+ 26. Kf1 Ne3+ 27. Nxe3 Qxe3 0-1


IM Marijan Petrov 2430 - Kiril Badev 2340
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Be2 e6 9. O-O d6 10. Ndb5 Ne8 11. c5 d5 12. exd5 exd5 13. Bf3 a6 14. Nd4 Nc7 15. Rc1 Ne6 16. Nxc6 bxc6 17. Na4 Rb8 18. Qd2 Qh4 19. Qc2 d4 20. Bd2 Ng5 21. Bxc6 Bf5 22. Bxg5 Qxg5 23. Be4 Bd7 24. Nb6 Bb5 25. Bd3 Bc6 26. f4 Qg4 27. Be4 d3 28. Qxd3 Rfd8 29. Qf3 Qxf3 30. gxf3 Bb5 31. b4 Bxf1 32. Kxf1 Rd2 33. c6 Rxh2 34. c7 1-0


GM Evgenij Ermenkov 2462 - IM Kosta Angelov 2191
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Be2 Na6 7. O-O e5 8. Be3 Qe8 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. c5 Ng4 11. Bg5 Nxc5 12. Nd5 Qd7 13. Rc1 Nxe4 14. Rxc7 Qe6 15. Be7 Ngxf2 16. Rxf2 Nxf2 17. Kxf2 e4 18. Bc4 Qf5 19. Bxf8 Bxf8 20. Ne3 Bc5 21. Qd8+ 1-0


Official website

Bucharest Chess Open

Bucharest Open was held on September 4th-11th. GM Dorian Rogozenko and strong untitled Lucian Filip won their last round games to catch IM Ciprian Costica Nanu on the first place tie. Lucian Filip also earned GM norm! There were 89 participants.


Final standings:
1-3. Lucian Filip (ROM 2355), GM Dorian Rogozenko (ROM 2524) and IM Ciprian Costica Nanu (ROM 2457) 7.0
4-7. IM Gabriel Mateuta (ROM 2470), GM Vladimir Malaniuk (UKR 2511), GM Levante Vajda (ROM 2524) and GM Constantin Ionescu (ROM 2427) 6.5 etc


Official website

11th Cesenatico Open

11th Torneo Internazionale Città di Cesenatico was held on September 2nd-10th. There were 69 participants.


Final standings:
1. GM Milko Popchev (BUL 2405) 8.0
2. GM Arkadij Rotstein (GER 2521) 7.0
3-5. GM Franco Carlos Matamoros (ECU 2544), GM Lexy Ortega (ITA 2435) and IM Vlad Tomescu (ROM 2419) 6.5
6-12. WGM Monica Calzetta (ESP 2329), IM Mathias Roeder (GER 2423), IM Bogomil Andonov (BUL 2391), IM Sergio Estremera Panos (ESP 2345), FM Calogero Di Caro (ITA 2340), FM Maurizio Branceleoni (ITA 2275) and IM Milan Mrdja (CRO 2414) 6.0 etc

10th OGD Rapid Tournament

10th OGD Rapid Tournament was held on September 9th in Delft, Netherlands. Aussie IM David Smerdon smashed through competition by scoring 6.5 out of 7 rounds. There were 56 participants in the main group.


Final standings:
1. IM David Smerdon 2472 with 6.5
2. IM Bruno Carlier 2451 with 6.0
3-4. GM Friso Nijboer 2598 and Ted Barendse 2124 with 5.5
5-8. Yvo Wantola 2192, GM Jan Smeets 2519, Joost Michielsen 2323 and IM Eelke Wiersma 2425 with 5.0
9-13. IM Maarten Solleveld 2480, Pieter Roggeveen 2098, FM Johan Quist 2310, IM Piet Peelen 2352 and FM Jan-Willem de Jong 2407 with 4.5 etc


Official website

Memorial Bora Kostić

After 17 years of break, city of Vrsac will host 14th Memorial Bora Kostic. Main tournament will be held on September 12th-21st and participants are: Kamil Miton POL (2638), Oleg Korneev RUS (2638), Aleksander Delchev BUL (2637), Branko Damljanovic (2625), Ivan Ivanisevic (2596), Robert Markus (2586), Igor Miladinovic (2584), Kevin Spraggett CAN (2577), Dragan Solak (2564) and FM Slobodan Munizaba (2319). Open tournament will be held on September 13th-19th.

Bora Kostic was probably first chess globetrotter, going on a world chess tour which lasted from 11 November 1923 to 28 May 1926. From Wikipedia: "From 1923–1926, Kostic traveled all over the world, including Australia, the Far East, Africa, India and Siberia, demonstrating his exceptional skills, generating interest in chess and forging new links with people across the globe. He was undoubtedly a brilliant publicist and ambassador for the game, although this probably prevented him from realizing his full potential as a player." Read also his biography on Vrsac.com.


Update:
GM Ivan Ivanisevic won the tournament with 6.5/9! I'll try to get Ivan for the interview in the next couple of days.

Final standings:
1. GM Ivan Ivanisevic (SRB 2596) 6.5
2. GM Bartlomiej Macieja (POL 2613) 5.5
3-5. GM Kevin Spraggett (CAN 2577), GM Robert Markus (SRB 2586) and GM Igor Miladinovic (SRB 2584) 5.0
6-7. GM Branko Damljanovic (SRB 2625) and GM Aleksander Delchev (BUL 2637) 4.5
8-9. GM Dragan Solak (SRB 2564) and GM Oleg Korneev (RUS 2638) 4.0
10. FM Slobodan Munizaba (SRB 2319) 1.0


Interesting games

The Halloween Gambit

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Ne5!? - is this possible? Paul Kesier provided in-dept analyses for Chessville, part 1 and part 2.

European Youth Chess Championship 2006

European Youth Chess Championship 2006 will be held on September 9th-20th in Herceg Novi (Montenegro) located on Adriatic Coast. Festival will have 742 participants, breaking the last years record by almost 100. Experienced team of organizers is ready to take the challenge. I'm wondering if Nakamura wall is still there?

Official website will be at the old Serbia & Montenegro chess federation address.

The Real Life of WCNers - Goran Urosevic

WCN History Division proudly presents:
"The Real Life of WCNers", a series of biographies of our beloved gold members.

by Luiz Franz


Today we will show you the real life of Goran Urosevic – you know who he is, that admin, remember?

***GORAN, THE GORAN***

Serbia has this weird thing: 47.8% of the men are named Goran, 47.3% are Dragan and those 4.9% that left are divided between Bora, Miroslav and – surprisingly – Winston Charles and Joachin Ernest.
Well, our hero was born in Serbia, one more proud Goran. The Urosevic one.
One? Not really: only in Belgrade phone list you can find 75,976 Urosevic, G.
To make things easier we will call him "Our Goran", or "The WCN Goran". Is that good for you?

Since he was 4 our Goran feels uncomfortable with this name stuff. In his first year of school there were 17 Gorans in his class. Our hero arrived in School, said "Hi, Goran!" and 16 other boys answered "Hi, Goran!". Every single day.
Man, that can cause a serious identity crisis in a young boy.

So, at the age of 7 the WCN Goran decided he had to excel, to be top in something in order to be known as himself and not only one more Goran.
He always liked those mysterious 64 squares, so he decided to be great in chess.
Great idea, no? Tough to say: there are 25,324 Urosevic, G. registered in Serbian Chess Federation.

But our Goran is really good in chess, that made the difference. He was able to excel. He won every junior championship in Serbia and also some in Angola and Botswana.

A great champion in chess, dominoes and dwarf throwing. And then he started his huge collection of records:
WCN Goran was the first chess player to eat 15 hot dogs in less than 2 minutes.
The first and only to beat Fritz in less than 20 moves. But don't forget: Fritz, in this case, is Goran's cat.
The first chess player to face a trained monkey blindfolded.
Of course the match had to be called off because the monkey hated the blindfold.
He was the first high level chess player to play against the statues of Easter Island. Great match, that finished in a draw.
The first Serbian player to cross the English Channel in a rubber duck.
He also played The Sphinx, in Cairo, with a great show of lights, chess and music– of course Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma…
But The Sphinx didn´t reply to any of Goran´s moves…..

Yeah, Goran is a show player. He never forgets that night when he played 15 cheerleaders in the half time of a Super Bowl. The only problem is that the crowd was expecting a Madonna show…
Or that day David Cooperfield made him disappear when WCN Goran was 2 moves from a spectacular mate… Next second our Goran saw himself dressed like Barbra Streisand in a corn field near Barranquilla, Colombia. Weird experience.

WCN Goran was a pioneer in writing chess books for beginners in a style even young kids could understand. His massive 650 pages book on The Fool's Mate is a good example. More than 23,000 kids read it and now, years later, still try The Fool's in every game, with no success.

Our Goran has lots of interesting chess experiences to tell, but now all he wants is a normal life. He is a regular person, just like you and me: loves curling – "the best and most exciting sport ever", he says - enjoys his vacations in Sudan, reads a lot (specially annual reports from auto-parts makers and pharmaceutical companies) and only wear purple clothes.

He is looking for a great girl, with a great bank account, to become his wife and partner. Beauty is not demanded, but the financial data will be checked.

When he is not here, our Goran is taking care of his blog, where you can see him in a pic that demanded 87 hours of Photo Shop hard work. And he is still not very nice…
The blog is focused in chess, and posted every one of the previous bios from this series.
This one will be posted too?

THE END

Leko - Kramnik Match

FM Slobodan Adzic shared exclusive information that city of Miskolc will organize Leko-Kramnik rapid match in September 2007. This year event Leko-Karpov just ended couple of days ago.

Speaking of Leko, he is celebrating his 27th birthday. Peter Leko was born on 8th September 1979 in Subotica, Serbia. He was the youngest Grandmaster in the history of chess back in 1994. Other players broke this record later. More information about Peter's career can be found on his website.

"I'm not coming back"

Garry Kasparov has no intention to resume his playing career: "This is my final decision. I will focus on the serial My Great Predecessors, 6th part is ready for print. I will follow chess life and tournaments but only as observer"

Source: ITAR TASS

He's not writing those books anyway... Maybe he's waiting 5 million offer to come back.

Canadian Champion Gives Interview

Thanks to courtesy of Mr Goran Tomic, we have interview with IM Igor Zugic posted on the WCN News page.

G.T: How do you manage your obligations in Siemens with chess competitions?

IM Igor Zugic: My colleagues have full understanding and support for my chess activities and I am trying to justify that by working well. Certainly, the number of tournaments that I can play outside of Toronto is very limited with my vacation days. During this Canadian Championship that has been played in Toronto I went to work every day in order to have more free days for travels. On the other hand, job gives me financial independence, so I can choose to participate in good tournaments only. It's not always easy to harmonize with all obligations, but I think I can be successful in chess and work at the same time.

Spanish Team Championship

División de Honor Grupo I is being played on September 6th-13th in Olite (Navarra). Teams competing: Intel - Tiendas UPI, Reverté Albox- Unicaja, C.A. Solvay, Escuela Internacional Kasparov - Marcote, Unió Gracienca d'Escacs - UGA and GEVA - CEA Andorra. Best team will qualify for play-off match with the winner of División de Honor Grupo II, which will be held on September 13th-17th in San Sebastián.

You can follow live games on the official website and ICC.


Vassily Ivanchuk 2734 - Viktor Bologan 2645
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ne7 10. h3 h6 11. Be3 b6 12. Rad1+ Ke8 13. Nd4 a6 14. Rfe1 Bb7 15. e6 Ng6 16. e7 Bxe7 17. Nf5 Bc8 18. Nxg7+ Kf8 19. Nh5 Be6 20. Ne2 Rd8 21. Rxd8+ Bxd8 22. Rd1 Ke8 23. Ng7+ Ke7 24. Nd4 Bd7 25. Ndf5+ Bxf5 26. Nxf5+ Ke6 27. Ng7+ Ke7 28. Nf5+ Ke6 29. Ng7+ Ke7 30. Bxh6 f6 31. Nf5+ Kf7 32. Be3 c5 33. Kf1 Ke6 34. Ng7+ Kf7 35. Rd7+ Ne7 36. Bf4 Rh7 37. Rxd8 1-0


Aleksander Delchev 2637 - Giorgi Giorgadze 2607
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 a5 6. Bg2 dxc4 7. Qc2 Bxd2+ 8. Qxd2 Bd7 9. Ne5 Bc6 10. Nxc6 Nxc6 11. Na3 O-O 12. e3 Nb4 13. Nxc4 c5 14. a3 Nbd5 15. O-O b5 16. Ne5 cxd4 17. Qxd4 Rc8 18. Rfc1 a4 19. Bf1 Qa5 20. e4 Ne7 21. Nd7 Nxd7 22. Qxd7 Rxc1 23. Rxc1 Ng6 24. Qxb5 Qd2 25. Rc4 f5 26. exf5 Rxf5 27. Rc8+ Nf8


28. Qxf5 1-0

Chess in Serbian Schools

National education council decided to allow chess as electoral class in junior grades of elementary schools. Teaching plans are ready to be implemented. Of course, there are still many issues left, specially regarding of organization, but we can learn from other countries that already have chess in schools. Our first neighbor Montenegro started with chess classes on 1st September.

People who carried out this battle are Prof. Dr Ljubomir Protic, Gordana Mitrovic, Prof. Dr Vladimir Kebin, Milan Boskovic, Nebojsa Baralic, IM Ivan Markovic, IM Nikola Karaklajic, Borivoje Zaric and number of enthusiast teachers.

Mitropa Cup 2006

Mitropa team event will be held on September 7th-15th in Brno, Czech Republic. Teams competing are: Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Czech Republic "A" and Czech Republic "B".

IM Viktor Erdos 2528, 1st board for Hungary

Official website


Update - Round 7 standings:
1. Czech Republic "A" and Croatia - 17.5
3. Hungary - 17.0
4. Germany - 15.5
5. Czech Republic "B" - 15.0
6. Switzerland - 13.0
7-8. Slovenia and France - 12.5
9. Italy - 10.0
10. Slovakia - 9.5


IM Tomas Petrik 2523 - IM Viktor Erdos 2528
Slovakia - Hungary, board 1
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. exd5 Nxd5 7. N2f3 Bb4+ 8. Bd2 Bxd2+ 9. Qxd2 O-O 10. Bc4 Nb6 11. Bd3 e5 12. Nxe5 Qe7 13. Qe2 Re8 14. f4 f6


15. Qh5 h6 16. O-O fxe5 17. fxe5 Qd7 18. Qg6 Qxd4+ 19. Kh1 Qxd3 20. Qxe8+ 1-0


GM Florian Jenni 2481 - IM Fabiano Caruana 2444
Switzerland - Italy, board 1
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Nf3 Nbc6 8. h4 f6 9. h5 fxe5 10. h6 gxh6 11. Bxh6 Qa5 12. Bd2 Bd7 13. Ng5 O-O-O 14. Nf7 e4


15. Rb1 Qc7 16. Nxd8 Qxd8 17. Bb5 Rg8 18. Rxh7 Rxg2 19. Qh5 Rg1+ 20. Bf1 cxd4 21. Qh2 Rg8 22. cxd4 Nxd4 23. Qd6 Nf3+ 24. Kd1 Rg1 25. Qc5+ Nc6 26. Qb5 Qb6 27. Qxb6 axb6 28. Ke2 Ncd4+ 29. Ke3 Nxc2+ 0-1


Update - Final standings:
1. Hungary 21.5
2-3. Czech "A" and Croatia 21.0
4-5. Czech "B" and Germany 19.5
6-7. Slovenia and Switzerland 18.0
8. France 16.5
9. Italy 14.0
10. Slovakia 11.0

EU Chess Championships

European Union Individual Chess Championships will be held on September 6th-15th in Liverpool World Museum. 78 players have registered so far: GM Nigel Short, GM Luke McShane, GM Zoltan Gyimesi, GM Thomas Luther, GM Stuart Conquest, GM Danny Gormally and WCN Site Pro FM Martin Taylor are among them. 10 rounds will be played and Prize Fund is £15,000.


Round 1 update:
Most of top rated players have started with wins, but a couple of surprises slipped out. FM Jack Rudd (2328) beat GM Zoltan Medvegy (2518) and Brett Lund (2249) beat GM John Shaw (2473). GM Danny Gormally (2513) played couple of tournaments in a row (British Championship, Hereford) and maybe this caused a draw against IM Craig Pritchett (2289). FM Jovica Radovanovic (2366) pulled draw vs GM Luis Galego (2528), while FM Martin Taylor (2332) lost to GM Normunds Miezis (2527). My friend Roger Williamson got a bye in 1st round.


Top round 2 pairings:
GM Karel Van der Weide 2466 - GM Nigel Short 2676
GM Zoltan Gyimesi 2616 - IM Stephen Gordon 2443
IM Dagne Ciuksyte 2440 - GM Luke McShane 2614
IM Stewart Haslinger 2423 - GM Stuart Conquest 2534
FM Jack Rudd 2328 - GM Alexandre Dgebuadze 2527
GM Normunds Miezis 2527 - GM Colin McNab 2433


GM Nigel Short 2676 - IM Mika Karttunen 2422
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Qc7 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. Qe2 Nc6 8. Nxc6 Qxc6 9. Bd2 d6 10. f4 Be7 11. O-O-O e5 12. f5 h5 13. Kb1 Bd7 14. Bg5 b5 15. Bxf6 Bxf6 16. Nd5 Rc8 17. c3 Qb7 18. Bc2 Bd8 19. Rhf1 Bc6 20. Rf3 Rh6 21. Rh3 h4 22. Qg4 Kf8 23. Bb3 Bxd5 24. Bxd5 Qc7 25. a3 Bf6 26. Rhd3 Rb8 27. b4 Qa7 28. Bb3 Be7 29. Qe2 Kg8 30. Qa2 Bf8 31. g4 hxg3 32. hxg3 Qe7 33. g4 Rb7 34. Bd5 Rc7 35. Qd2 g5 36. Qg2 Qf6 37. Rh1 Be7 38. Rxh6 Qxh6 39. Rh3 Qg7 40. Qg1 Qf8 41. Qh2 Bf6 42. Rh6 1-0 (Rg6 next)



GM Luke McShane 2614 - IM Gawain Jones 2416
1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. d5 Ne5 5. f4 Ng4 6. e4 e5 7. f5 h5 8. Nf3 Bc5 9. Bxc4 Nf2 10. Qb3


10...Nf6 11. Qb5+ Nd7 12. Rf1 Ng4 13. Bg5 Be7 14. Bd2 O-O 15. Bb3 Nc5 16. Qe2 Nxb3 17. axb3 c6 18. O-O-O Qc7 19. Kb1 Rd8 20. h3 Nf6 21. Bg5 Nh7 22. Bxe7 Qxe7 23. g4 hxg4 24. hxg4 g5 25. Rh1 f6 26. Rh6 Rf8 27. d6 Qd7 28. Qh2 Rf7 29. Rh1 b5 30. Rg6+ Kf8 31. Nxe5 fxe5 32. Qxe5 Rg7 33. Rxh7 1-0



Round 2 update:
Top seated GM Nigel Short beat GM Karel Van der Weide with Black pieces. IMs Gordon, Ciuksyte and Haslinger held of to draw against GMs Gyimesi, McShane and Conquest. Leading with 2 points are GM Nigel Short, GM Sarunas Sulskis, GM Nicholas Pert, GM Alexandre Dgebuadze and GM Normunds Miezis.


Top round 3 pairings:
GM Nigel Short 2676 - GM Sarunas Sulskis 2514
GM Alexandre Dgeubuadze 2527 - GM Nicholas Pert 2503
IM Simon Williams 2473 - GM Normunds Miezis 2527
FM Jovica Radovanovic 2366 - GM Zoltan Gyimesi 2616
GM Luke McShane 2614 - IM Stewart Haslinger 2423


GM Karel Van der Weide 2466 - GM Nigel Short 2676
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Be3 Qf6 6. c3 Nge7 7. Bc4 Ne5 8. Be2 Qg6 9. O-O d6 10. f3 O-O 11. Nd2 d5 12. Kh1 dxe4 13. fxe4 Bg4 14. Bf3 Rfe8 15. Qe2 Rad8 16. Rae1 Bd6 17. Nb5 N7c6 18. Nxd6 cxd6 19. b4 a6 20. a4 Qe6 21. b5 axb5 22. axb5 Ne7 23. Bd4 N7g6 24. Bxg4 Nxg4 25. Nf3 Qe7 26. Bg1 Nf6 27. Qc2 Nxe4 28. c4 d5 29. cxd5 Rxd5 30. Qc4 Qe6 31. Bd4 h6 32. Kg1 Nf4 0-1


GM Sarunas Sulskis 2514 - Brett Lund 2249
1. e4 c5 2. g3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Bg2 Nc6 6. h3 Qe4+ 7. Kf1 Bd7 8. Nc3 Qb4 9. d3 Qa5 10. Nd2 Qd8 11. Nc4 e5 12. f4 Nh6 13. fxe5 Nf5 14. Bf4 Be7 15. g4 Nh4 16. Bd5 O-O 17. Rh2 Be6 18. Bxe6 fxe6 19. Rf2 Ng6 20. Be3 Bh4 21. Rxf8+ Qxf8+ 22. Kg2 Nd4 23. Ne4 b5 24. Ncd2 Nf4+ 25. Bxf4 Qxf4 26. Nf3 Be7 27. c3 Nc6 28. Qb3 c4 29. Qxb5 Rf8 30. Rf1 Nd8 31. Qxc4 Bh4 32. Nf6+ 1-0



Richard Savory 2101 - GM Danny Gormally 2513
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Bd3 O-O 12. O-O Bg5 13. c3 Rb8 14. Nc2 a5 15. Qe2 Na7 16. Nce3 Be6 17. a4 bxa4 18. Rxa4 Bxe3 19. fxe3 Nc6 20. Bb5 Bxd5 21. exd5 Ne7 22. Bc4 Qb6 23. b4 axb4 24. cxb4 Ra8 25. Rfa1 Rxa4 26. Rxa4 f5 27. Qf2 Ng6 28. Bf1 e4 29. Qd2 Ne5 30. Qd4 Qd8 31. Ra7 Qg5 32. Qc3 f4 33. b5 fxe3 34. b6 Rxf1+ 35. Kxf1 Qf4+ 0-1



Round 3 update:
Nigel Short is the only player with 3 points after beating Sarunas Sulskis. 2nd seed Zoltan Gyimesi was held of to draw by FM Jovica Radovanovic. Roger Williamson lost to another German GM - Thomas Luther.


IM Simon Williams 2473 - GM Normunds Miezis 2527
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 c5 5. a3 Bxd2+ 6. Bxd2 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Ne4 8. Nb5 Nc6 9. Be3 d5 10. f3 Nd6 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Qxd5 Nxb5 13. Qxb5 O-O 14. Rd1 Qf6 15. Bc5 Re8 16. e4 Bh3


17. Qb3 Rac8 18. Qe3 Ne5 19. Bd4 Qh4+ 20. Qf2 Qf4 21. Qg3 Qf6 22. Bxe5 Rxe5 23. Qxh3 Rc2 24. Bd3 Rcc5 25. O-O Qb6 26. Kh1 g6 27. b4 Rc3 28. Qd7 Kg7 29. f4 Rc7 30. Qd8 Ree7 31. Bb1 Qa6 32. f5 Red7 33. f6+ Kh6 34. Qf8+ Kh5 35. g4+ Kg5 36. h4+ Kxg4 37. Qh6 Qe2 38. Qf4+ Kh3 39. Rf3+ 1-0


GM Daniel Gormally 2513 - Robin Swinkels 2286
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. d4 Bb6 9. a4 Rb8 10. Na3 O-O 11. axb5 axb5 12. Nxb5 exd4 13. cxd4 Bg4 14. Be3 Re8 15. Rc1 Na5 16. Ba2 Qd7 17. Nc3 Nxe4 18. h3 Nxc3 19. bxc3 Bh5 20. Bb1 Qb5 21. c4 Bxf3 22. gxf3 Qh5 23. Kh2 c6 24. Rg1 f6 25. Rg4 d5 26. f4 Qf7 27. cxd5 cxd5 28. Qd3 f5 29. Rg5 g6 30. Ba2 Red8 31. h4 Rd6 32. h5 Rbd8 33. Qb5 Nc4 34. Rxc4 dxc4 35. Bxc4 Re6 36. Bxe6 Qxe6 37. d5 Rxd5 38. Qxb6 Qe4 39. hxg6 h6 40. Qb8+ 1-0



Round 4 update:
Nigel Short makes first draw against Portugese GM Luis Galego. English players are smashing through competition - IM Simon Williams beat GM Alexandre Dgebuadze and FM Maxim Devereaux crushed GM Viesturs Meijers in the opening. GM Thomas Luther is catching up after 1st round loss. GM Nigel Short, GM Luke McShane, GM Daniel Gormally and IM Simon Williams are leading with 3.5/4.


IM Stephen Gordon 2443 - GM Daniel Gormally 2513
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. Bh4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. e3 c5 8. cxd5 cxd4 9. cxd4 Qxd5 10. Nf3 Nc6 11. Qa4 Bd7 12. Qb5 Qd6 13. Bg3 Qa3 14. Qd3 Qb2 15. Rb1 Qxa2 16. Rxb7 Qa5+ 17. Nd2 Rc8 18. Qa6 Nxd4


19. Bc7 Qc3 20. exd4 Rxc7 21. Bc4 Rxb7 22. Qxb7 O-O 23. Qxd7 Qc1+ 0-1


FM Maxim Devereaux 2377 - GM Viesturs Meijers 2474
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. d4 dxc4 5. Bg2 Nbd7 6. O-O Rb8 7. a4 a6 8. a5 Nd5 9. e4 Nb4 10. Na3 b5 11. axb6 Nxb6 12. Ne5 Bb7 13. Naxc4 Nxc4 14. Qa4+ c6 15. Nxc4 Be7 16. Bf4 Rc8 17. d5


17...exd5 18. exd5 Nxd5 19. Bxd5 Qxd5 20. Rfe1 Kf8 21. Nb6 Qf5 22. Nxc8 Qxc8 23. Qe4 Bc5 24. Ra5 f5 25. Bd6+ 1-0



Round 5 update:
GM Nigel Short beat GM Daniel Gormally in a fine rook ending. IM Simon Williams knocked another GM, this time he used French defence to beat Luke McShane. Next round will bring Williams - Short clash. GM Sarunas Sulskis is the only player with 4 points and there seventeen following him with 3.5


GM Luke McShane 2614 - IM Simon Williams 2473
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ndf3 Qb6 8. a3 a5 9. b3 Be7 10. h4 f5 11. h5 cxd4 12. cxd4 Ndb8 13. Bd3 Bd7 14. Ne2 a4 15. b4 Na7 16. Nc3 Nb5 17. Nxa4 Qc7 18. Nc5 Nc3 19. Qc2 Ne4 20. h6 Rg8 21. hxg7 Bxc5 22. dxc5 Ba4 23. Qb2 Qxg7 24. Rh3 Nc6 25. Kf1 O-O-O 26. Ne1 Bd1 27. Be3 d4 28. Bf2 Bg4 29. Rh4 Ne7 30. Rh2 Nd5 31. Qc1 h5 32. c6 Qh6 33. g3 Ndc3 34. Ng2 Bf3 35. Qe1 Bxg2+ 36. Rxg2 h4 37. cxb7+ Kxb7 38. Rh2 Qh5 39. Be2 Nxe2 40. Qxe2 Qxe2+ 41. Kxe2 d3+ 42. Ke3 hxg3 43. Rh7+ Kb8 44. Bg1 d2 45. Rd1 Rd5 46. Rh1 g2 47. Rh3 Rc8 48. Ke2 Nc3+ 49. Rxc3 Rxc3 50. Rxd2 Rxd2+ 51. Kxd2 Rf3 0-1



Round 6 update:
IM Simon Williams played brave game against top seed GM Nigel Short - battle ended with a draw. Another good day for English IMs, Gawain Jones crushed GM Klaus Bischoff with Black pieces, IM Stephen Gordon beat GM Luis Galego and Maxim Devereaux beat GM Daniel Gormally. Nigel Short, Simon Williams and Sarunas Sulskis are leading with 5.0 points each.


GM Klaus Bischoff 2533 - IM Gawain Jones 2416
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d5 6. cxd5 Bc5 7. N5c3 O-O 8. e3 e4 9. Be2 Qe7 10. a3 Rd8 11. Nd2 Nxd5 12. Nxd5 Rxd5 13. Qc2 Bf5 14. b4 Bb6 15. Bb2 Nc6 16. O-O Bc7 17. Rfd1 Rc8 18. Qb3 Be6 19. Qa4 b5 20. Bxb5 Bxh2+


21. Kxh2 Qh4+ 22. Kg1 Rh5 23. f4 Qh2+ 24. Kf2 Rh3 25. Nf1 Rf3+ 26. Ke1 Qxg2 27. Rd2 Qg1 28. Rad1 Bh3 29. Qa6 Rxe3+ 30. Re2 Qxf1+ 31. Kd2 Rd8+ 0-1


GM Daniel Gormally 2513 - FM Maxim Devereaux 2377
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. d5 exd5 8. cxd5 Bxd5 9. Nc3 Bc6 10. e4 d6 11. Bf4 Nh5 12. Be3 Be7 13. O-O-O Nd7 14. e5 Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Bxg2 16. Qa4+ Kf8 17. Rhg1 Bb7 18. g4 Nf6 19. g5 Nh5 20. Qb3 Qe8


21. Nc4 Rd8 22. Nd5 Bxd5 23. Rxd5 b5 24. Nd2 g6 25. Ne4 Ng7 26. Rgd1 Nf5 27. Ng3 Nxe3 28. Qxe3 h6 29. gxh6 Kg8 30. Re1 Rd7 31. Qf4 Qf8 32. Nf5 Rh7 33. Nxe7+ Rxe7 34. Rxe7 Qxe7 35. Qd2 Qf8 36. Rxd6 Qxh6 37. Rd8+ Kg7 38. f4 Qh3 39. Rd3 Qf1+ 40. Kc2 b4 41. b3 Rh4 0-1



Round 7 update:
Top two boards Sulskis-Williams and Short-Jones were drawn. IM Craig Hanley played fantastic game to beat GM Thomas Luther. Tomorrow is big derby GM Luke McShane - GM Nigel Short.

Round 7 standings:
1-5. IM Stephen Gordon (ENG 2443), GM Luke McShane (ENG 2614), GM Nigel Short (ENG 2676), GM Sarunas Sulskis (LTU 2514) and IM Simon Williams (ENG 2473) with 5.5
6-10. Daan Brandenburg (NED 2392), IM Dagne Ciuksyte (LTU 2440), IM Craig Hanley (ENG 2419) and IM Gediminas Sarakauskas (LTU 2414) 5.0 etc


IM Craig Hanley 2419 - GM Thomas Luther 2589
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. Nxc6 Bxc6 8. Bxc6+ bxc6 9. c4 Bc5 10. Qa4 Ne7 11. exd5 exd5 12. Nb3 Bb6 13. c5 Bc7 14. O-O O-O 15. Bg5 f6 16. Bf4 Be5 17. Rae1 Qc7 18. Bc1 Bxh2+ 19. Kh1 Nf5 20. g4


20...Nh4 21. f4 Qd7 22. f5 Rae8 23. Nd4 Rxe1 24. Rxe1 Bg3 25. Re6 Bf2 26. Be3 Bxe3 27. Rxe3 Rc8 28. Re6 h5 29. Qd1 Qb7 30. Qe2 Qb4 31. Nxc6 Rxc6 32. Rxc6 Kh7 33. g5 1-0



Round 8 update:
Top four boards saw draws while IM Gawain Jones beat IM Gediminas Sarakauskas to join the leaders. GMs Bischoff, Hebden, Galego and Van der Weide are catching up.

Round 8 standings:
1-6. IM Stephen Gordon (ENG 2443), IM Gawain Jones (ENG 2416), GM Luke McShane (ENG 2614), GM Nigel Short (ENG 2676), GM Sarunas Sulskis (LTU 2514) and IM Simon Williams (ENG 2473) with 6 points
7-13. GM Klaus Bischoff (GER 2533), Daan Brandenburg (NED 2392), IM Dagne Ciuksyte (LTU 2440), GM Luis Galego (POR 2528), IM Craig Hanley (ENG 2419), GM Mark Hebden (ENG 2532) and GM Karel Van der Weide (NED 2446) with 5.5 etc


GM John Shaw 2473 - GM Mark Hebden 2532
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be3 a5 7. Be2 Na6 8. Nd2 e5 9. d5 h5 10. h3 Nh7 11. g4 hxg4 12. hxg4 Bf6 13. Nf1 Bg5 14. Qd2 Qf6 15. O-O-O Bf4 16. Bxf4 Qxf4 17. Ne3 Ng5 18. Ng2 Qxd2+ 19. Kxd2 Kg7 20. Ke3 Bd7 21. Rh2 Nb4 22. Kd2 Rh8 23. Rdh1 Rxh2 24. Rxh2 c6 25. Ne1 cxd5 26. cxd5 Na6 27. Bxa6 Rxa6 28. f3 b5 29. Ke3 Ra8 30. Nb1 b4 31. Rc2 Rh8 32. Nd2 Rh1 33. Ng2 Bb5 34. b3 Rg1 35. Nc4 Bxc4 36. bxc4 a4 37. f4 exf4+ 38. Kxf4 f6 39. Ne3 Rh1 40. Rb2 Rh3


41. Rf2 b3 42. axb3 axb3 43. Nd1 Rd3 0-1


John Trevelyan 2243 - GM Alexandre Dgebuadze 2527
1. e4 c5 2. f4 e6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Nge7 5. c3 g6 6. d4 cxd4 7. cxd4 d5 8. e5 Qb6 9. Nc3 Bd7 10. Bxc6 Bxc6 11. O-O Nf5 12. g4 Ne7 13. Rf2 h5 14. h3 Bg7 15. Rc2 hxg4 16. hxg4 f6 17. Be3 g5


18. exf6 Bxf6 19. fxg5 Bg7 20. Qd3 Kd7 21. Bf4 Raf8 22. Ne5+ Ke8 23. Qe3 Rh3 24. Qxh3 Qxd4+ 25. Be3 Qxe5 26. Qh5+ Kd7 27. Bxa7
d4 0-1



Round 9 update:
Top four boards were drawn again. GM Mark Hebden wins 2nd game in a row to be 7th player on the first place tie. GMs Luther, Conquest, Gormally, Pert and McNab have also won. Last round pairings: GM Short - GM Hebden, GM McShane - IM Gordon, GM Sulskis - IM Jones, GM Gormally - IM Williams, GM Luther - GM Conquest, GM Bischoff - GM Pert etc...

Round 9 standings:
1-7. IM Stephen Gordon (ENG 2443), GM Mark Hebden (ENG 2532), IM Gawain Jones (ENG 2416), GM Luke McShane (ENG 2614), GM Nigel Short (ENG 2676), GM Sarunas Sulskis (LTU 2514) and IM Simon Williams (ENG 2473) with 6.5 points
8-16. GM Klaus Bischoff (GER 2533), Daan Brandenburg (NED 2392), GM Stuart Conquest (ENG 2534), GM Luis Galego (POR 2528), GM Danny Gormally (ENG 2513), IM Craig Hanley (ENG 2419), GM Thomas Luther (GER 2589), GM Nicholas Pert (ENG 2503) and GM Karel Van der Weide (NED 2446) 6.0 etc


GM Mark Hebden 2532 - IM Dagne Ciuksyte 2440
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 c5 4. c4 cxd4 5. exd4 d5 6. Nc3 Be7 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Bd3 Nc6 9. O-O O-O 10. Re1 Nf6 11. a3 b6 12. Bg5 Bb7 13. Bc2 Rc8 14. Qd3 g6 15. Bh6 Re8 16. Rad1 Qd6 17. Ba4 Red8 18. Qe2 a6 19. d5


19...Na5 20. dxe6 Qxe6 21. Qxe6 fxe6 22. Rxe6 Rxd1+ 23. Bxd1 Ng4 24. Rxe7 Nxh6 25. Ng5 Nf5 26. Rxh7 Nd6 27. Rd7 Ndc4 28. Bg4 1-0


GM Nicholas Pert 2503 - FM Maxim Devereaux 2377
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. Bg5 Bb4 6. Nd2 h6 7. Bh4 Bxc3 8. bxc3 d6 9. f3 Nbd7 10. e4 e5 11. Bd3 Qe7 12. Nf1 g5 13. Bf2 exd4 14. cxd4 d5 15. cxd5 Nxd5 16. Ng3 Qb4+ 17. Qd2 Nf4


18. Bf1 Qa4 19. Ne2 O-O-O 20. Nxf4 gxf4 21. Be2 f5 22. O-O fxe4 23. fxe4 Nf6 24. Qxf4 Nxe4 25. Rac1 Rh7 26. Qf5+ Rhd7 27. Bb5 Qxa2 28. Bh4 Ng5 29. Bxd7+ Rxd7 30. Rxc7+ Kxc7 31. Bg3+ Rd6 32. Rc1+ Bc6 33. d5 1-0



Round 10 update:
GM Nigel Short was the only of seven leading players to win the last round game. Therefore, he is sole winner of the European Union Individual Chess Championships.

Final standings:
1. GM Nigel Short (ENG 2676) 7.5/10
2-9. IM Gawain Jones (ENG 2416), GM Luke McShane (ENG 2614), GM Sarunas Sulskis (LTU 2514), IM Stephen Gordon (ENG 2443), GM Klaus Bischoff (GER 2533), GM Luis Galego (POR 2528), GM Danny Gormally (ENG 2513) and GM Karel Van der Weide (NED 2446) 7.0/10 etc


GM Nigel Short 2676 - GM Mark Hebden 2532
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Qf3 h6 9. Ne4 Nd5 10. Ba4 Be7 11. d3 O-O 12. O-O f5 13. Ng3 Be6 14. Re1 Bd6 15. c4 Ne7 16. Bd2 c5 17. Nc3 a6 18. Nd5 Nac6 19. Bxc6 Nxc6 20. Bc3 Qe8 21. h3 Rd8 22. Re2 Bb8 23. Rae1 a5 24. a3 Nd4 25. Bxd4 cxd4 26. Nb6 e4 27. dxe4 f4 28. Nf1 Qc6 29. Nd5 Qxc4 30. Nd2 Qb5 31. Qb3 Qxb3 32. Nxb3 Bxd5 33. exd5 Rxd5 34. Rd2 Be5 35. Nc1 a4 36. Nd3 Bd6 37. Rc2 f3 38. g3 h5 39. Rc4 h4 40. g4 Ra5 41. Rxd4 Rf6 42. Ree4 Bc7 43. Kf1 Rc6 44. Rxa4 Rxa4 45. Rxa4 Rd6 46. Ne1 Rd1 47. Re4 Rb1 48. Re8+ Kh7 49. Rf8 Bd6 50. Rxf3 Rxb2 51. Rc3 Be5 52. Rd3 Bb8 53. Nf3 Ba7 54. Rd2 Rb3 55. Kg2 Rxa3 56. Nxh4 Bb8 57. Nf3 Bf4 58. Rd4 g5 59. h4 1-0


GM Daniel Gormally 2513 - IM Simon Williams 2473
1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 h6 3. Bh4 g5 4. e4 Rh7 5. Qh5+ Rf7 6. Nf3


6...Nf6 7. Qg6 Nc6 8. Bxg5 fxe4 9. Ne5 Nxe5 10. dxe5 hxg5 11. exf6 exf6 12. Nc3 Bb4 13. O-O-O Bxc3 14. Bc4 Bxb2+ 15. Kxb2 Qe7 16. h4 d5 17. Bxd5 Qe5+ 18. c3 Be6 19. Bxe6 1-0



Official website

Chess Championship of Nis

Open Chess Championship of Nis (Nish) has ended yesterday. Young IM Miroslav Miljkovic won the tournament with 7.5 points from 9 rounds, full point ahead of competition. There were 45 participants.


Final standings:
1. IM Miroslav Miljkovic (2399) 7.5
2-3. IM Miodrag Perunovic (2376) and GM Miroslav Tosic (2442) 6.5
4-8. IM Ivica Raicevic (2307), MK Mario Livaja (2086), Vladan Milutinovic, FM Dragoljub Pavlovic (2246) and FM Miodrag Kajganovic (2250) 6.0 etc

IM Miroslav Miljkovic

IM Miodrag Perunovic - GM Miroslav Tosic
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. f4 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O Bg4 8. b3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 Qb6 10. Ne2 e5 11. c3 Nbd7 12. Kh1 Rae8 13. dxe5 dxe5 14. f5 Rd8 15. g4 Nc5 16. Bc2 gxf5 17. gxf5 Kh8 18. Rg1 Rg8 19. b4 Ncd7 20. Bb3 Rdf8 21. Be3 c5 22. Rg2 Qc6 23. Ng3 c4 24. Bc2 h6 25. Rag1 Kh7 26. Bc1 Rd8 27. Nh5 Bh8 28. Qe3 Nxh5 29. Rg6 Rxg6 30. fxg6+ Kg8 31. Qxh6 Ndf6 32. gxf7+ Kxf7 33. Qg6+ Ke7 34. Bg5 Qe8 35. Qf5 Kd6 36. Bd1 Rd7 37. Ba4 Kc7 38. Be3 b5 39. Bxb5 Ng3+ 40. Rxg3 Rd1+ 41. Kg2 Qxb5 42. Bg5 Nh5 43. Qh7+ Qd7 44. Qxh5 Bg7 45. Qe2 Rd3 46. h4 Bf6 47. Bh6 Rxg3+ 48. Kxg3 Qe6 49. Qe3 Kb7 50. Bg5 Bg7 51. Qc5 1-0

Guca 2006

After more then 500 posts, finally something not related to chess. Guca Trumpet Festival is being held on August 30th-September 3rd. It is expected to have 500.000 visitors in 4 days. I was playing some of the tunes on WCN Audio Broadcast while hosting Master challenge - it was well received :-)

Forget Glastonbury, Reading, Burning Man and Cochella: the wildest music festival on earth is a cacophonic and crazy brass band festival that takes place every summer in the tiny Serbian town of Guca (pronounced "Gucha") in the western region of Dragacevo. What began as a small competition for the Dragacevo Assembly of Trumpet Players back in 1961 now attracts nearly half a million people every year. Given Guca's population is 3000 – it's some party. For an entire week the sound of thousands of blaring trumpets rends the air, playing everything from traditional Serbian folk and gypsy music to songs by the likes of Goran Bregovic. Grilled meat washed down with potent plum brandy keeps you and the delirious crowd going...

You can hear some of the tunes on http://www.guca.co.yu and http://www.guca2006.com (Press CTAPT). Mikkel Hornnes has some mp3 downloads and Sini Vlaisavljevic has video uploaded on YouTube (pity there are no shots from the main stage). Review by Davide Sighele. I hope Mikkel Hornnes won't mind - just had to post his photo.





Update: "Guca" movie should be released soon. This year first trumpet Veljko Ostojic is playing one of the roles along with Dejan Petrovic and world-famous Boban Markovic.

The film centers around the ambitions of two young trumpet players in their quest to win 'The Golden Trumpet'.

If you enjoyed the opening scenes of the 1992 Cannes film festival winner 'Underground', then you will love this documentary.

Guča - Serbia's most famous provincial music festival - is finally brought to life in this brilliantly executed documentary.

Website


I should add that biggest Serbian internet portal B92 declined my comment about Guca. They never posted about festival winners, only prime minister's ranting and malicious comments by Teofil Pancic - so maybe they didn't like mine critique.