The 7th Bangkok Chess Club Open will take place on 27 March - 1 April at Phuket Graceland Resort and Spa. 150 players are registered in two rating groups, top rated are GM Rogelio Antonio (PHI 2551), GM Dimitri Komarov (UKR 2540), GM Gerhard Schebler (GER 2534), GM Ian Rogers (AUS 2529), GM R.B Ramesh (IND 2483), IM Danny Juswanto (INA 2470) and IM David Smerdon (AUS 2460).
7th International Chess Championship of Montenegro "Sozina 2007" will take place on 31 March - 7 April in Bar. Organizers have provided 8.500 € for prize fund. 110 players have signed up and top rated are GM Igor Miladinovic (SRB 2607), GM Milos Perunovic (SRB 2547), GM Sergey Kasparov (BLR 2546), GM Milan Drasko (MNE 2543), GM Miodrag R.Savic (SRB 2533), GM Dragisa Blagojevic (MNE 2530) and GM Nikola Djukic (MNE 2527).
The standings: 1-2. GM Dragan Kosic (2504) and IM Danilo Milanovic (2499) 7.0/9 3-10. GM Milos Perunovic (2547), GM Dusan Rajkovic (2511), GM Bosko Abramovic (2513), IM Dritan Mehmeti (2402), GM Miodrag R.Savic (2533), GM Dragisa Blagojevic (2530), GM Dejan Pikula (2513) and Stefan Mijovic (2205) 6.5 ... (123 players)
Though Anand has been one of the finest players of his time, and one of the best of all-time, he was also caught in the time period, which saw two of the game’s greatest stars in Karpov, who even while being on the downside was a force to reckon with, and Kasparov, who reached his peak in this period. In the latter stages, there also emerged Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov. And the next lot with the likes of Lev Aronian, Magnus Carlsen and Teimour Radjabov are all ready to have their time in the sun. But it is a tribute to Anand that he has stayed the route and finally reached the very top.
Long back, Ian Rogers once told this writer that when Anand become the World champion and No 1 in the world, he would be the first nicest No 1. Time to tell Ian he had good insight even then, more than a dozen years ago.
Via VeselinTopalov.net we found the complete list for Sofia Mtel Masters 2007 tournament, which will take place on 9-20 May. There is unofficial information that new website, to be launched soon, will provide extensive coverage of Mtel Masters.
Players: Veselin Topalov, Bulgaria 2783 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Azerbaijan 2754 Michael Adams, England 2735 Gata Kamsky, USA 2705 Krishnan Sasikiran, India 2700 Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu, Romania 2689
International Chess Tournament "Victor Ciocaltea Memorial" took place on 6-19 March in Bucharest, Romania. Four players ended tied on first place, point and half ahead of rest of the field.
The standings: 1-4. GM Alin Berescu (ROM 2510), IM Vadim Shishkin (UKR 2474), GM George-Gabriel Grigore (ROM 2496) and GM Constantin Lupulescu (ROM 2566) 7.5/12 5-7. IM Gergely Szabo (ROM 2496), IM Petar Benkovic (SRB 2433) and IM Vlad-Victor Barnaure (ROM 2440) 6.0 8. IM Vlad-Cristian Jianu (ROM 2493) 5.5 9-12. IM Danilo Milanovic (SRB 2499), GM Vasile Sanduleac (MDA 2478), IM Mihai-Lucian Grunberg (ROM 2424) and IM Alexey Ivanov (RUS 2458) 5.0 13. IM Ciprian-Costica Nanu (ROM 2505) 4.5
First Serbian Chess Championship was held on 4-17 March in Vrsac. City Council has provided appearance fees and 5000 euros for prize fund. Exciting race has ended with GM Branko Damljanovic (2590), IM Mihajlo Stojanovic (2576) and GM Milos Perunovic (2547) sharing first place with 9.0 points each.
GM Branko Damljanovic
Tiebreak match should be arranged in next few months as Damljanovic is now going to Villa Cañada de Calatrava and Stojanovic is playing Sydney Open. IM Mihajlo Stojanovic also scored final GM norm, well done!
GM Ivan Ivanisevic - IM Mihajlo Stojanovic
Championship started with one DGT board stolen, so only 6 games were relayed live over the Internet. Organizers have called for help, and since DGT projects from Netherlands have no retailer in Serbia, FM Slobodan Adzic sent new board from Hungary. Two days later, missing board mysteriously appeared in Millennium hotel.
Serbian most popular portal B92 finally started reporting about chess. There is no English version for now, but this is progress.
Remember this name - FM Boban Bogosavljevic
Final standings: 1-3. GM Branko Damljanovic 2590, IM Mihajlo Stojanovic 2576 and GM Milos Perunovic 2547 - 9.0/13 4. GM Bojan Vuckovic 2551 - 8.0 5-6. FM Boban Bogosavljevic 2470 and GM Igor Miladinovic 2607 - 7.5 7. GM Dragan Solak 2564 - 6.5 8. GM Ivan Ivanisevic 2603 - 6.0 9-10. IM Branko Tadic 2496 and GM Miodrag R.Savic 2533 - 5.5 11. GM Dejan Pikula 2513 - 5.0 12. IM Slavisa Brenjo 2491 - 4.5 13-14. Jovan Todorovic 2381 and IM Zoran Arsovic 2457 - 4.0
GM Milos Perunovic
Games in PGN and other information on the tournament website. Photos by Pera Stajic.
31st Blackpool Chess Conference will take place on 16-18 March in Blackpool. The Conference is sponsored with £8000 from Blackpool Borough Council and entry fees range in £17-37. Nice encouragement for other sponsor and local councils to support chess events.
15-years old Italian Fabiano Caruana has performed GM norm with 7 points from 9 games in the main tournament of the First Saturday festival in Budapest, Hungary.
2nd Chess Festival Villa Cañada de Calatrava will be held on 6-8 April in Cañada de Calatrava in Ciudad Real region, Spain. Rapid, Fischer Random and Blitz tournaments will carry 90.000 euros prize fund. Participation fee (valid for all tournaments) is 5 euros - anyone from US reading?
Amongst 170 players signed so far are Viswanathan Anand (India 2779), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan 2754), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine 2750), Levon Aronian (Armenia 2744), Boris Gelfand (Israel 2733), Peter Svidler (Russia 2728), Judith Polgar (Hungary 2727), Alexander Grischuk (Russia 2717), Alexei Shirov (Spain 2715), Etienne Bacrot (France 2705), Krishnan Sasikiran (India 2700) etc.
Update: Main Rapid tournament ended with 4 players tied on the first place. Fantastic event for FM Diego Del Rey who tied 5th place with a bunch of sharks.
Rapid Standings: 1-4. GM Alexei Shirov (ESP 2699), GM Daniel Fridman (LAT 2635), GM Ivan Sokolov (NED 2655) and GM Boris Gelfand (ISR 2733) 7.5/9 5-14. GM Judit Polgar (HUN 2727), GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE 2757), GM Alexander Grischuk (RUS 2717), GM Laurent Fressinet (FRA 2644), GM Michal Krasenkov (POL 2661), GM Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR 2729), GM Vladimir Baklan (UKR 2618), GM Vishy Anand (IND 2786), GM Kamil Miton (POL 2653) and FM Diego Del Rey (ESP 2405) 7.0 etc (289 players)
Teimour Radjabov will participate in Corsica international festival which is scheduled for May. French sponsors will also organize rapid match between Teimour and Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen in order to promote chess in Corsica.
Meanwhile, Radjabov and GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had a joint seance for amateurs in National Park in Baku. Also Linares Mayor was quoted in the title: "I promised to invite Teymour Radjabov to Linares", but we can't read the news because Azeri agency is asking for credit card.
Also interesting is Teimour's earlier comment about his loss against Levon Aronian at Corus: "I was very tired at the game with Aronian. I decided to play carefully. Unfortunately, the wish to win showed itself. On the other hand, Topalov won Anand. So I tried to risk and win. I have always played for win at the game with Aronian. But this risk frustrated the plans. I was not upset for losing the game as I lost it." It seems like games against Armenians are causing specific tension.
On March 12, grandmaster Teimour Radjabov from Azerbaijan, one of the world's strongest players, turns 20.
Teimour Radjabov was born on March 12, 1987, in Baku. He is a seven-time medal winner of the World and European junior championships, including 5 gold medals. At the age of 12 he won the European under-18 championship, which remains an unbroken world record as a victory in continental championship U-18 at such early age. He became an international master at 11, and met the requirements for grandmaster title at 13, becoming the world's youngest grandmaster in the history of chess on that period.
In 2002, Teimour Radjabov participated in the historical Match of the New Century, playing for the World team, which defeated Russia in Kremlin. He was a runner-up in the Grand Prix Cup in Moscow, took the bronze of the World championship in 2004, became the European vice-champion in 2005, won the European Champion's Cup twice with French "NAO Chess Club" team and "BOSNA" from Bosnia, and won the silver medal with "Ladja-Kazan" from Russia (playing on the first board). Teimour won the bronze medal in the 1st FIDE World Blitz championship in 2006 in Israel, won the 1st Cup of President Geydar Aliyev, became the semi-finalist of the 1st ACP World Rapid Cup in Odessa 2007, and was among the winners in many prestigeous international chess tournaments. In January 2007, Radjabov won one of the most important tournaments of the chess calendar - Corus Wijk aan Zee.
The Azeri grandmaster has wins against many world's strongest top players, including the world champions such as Karpov, Kasparov, Anand, Ponomariov and Topalov. He heads the national team of Azerbaijan since he turned 14.
Recently a book dedicated to chess prodigies such as Capablanca, Fischer, Kasparov, Polgar etc., was published in Russia. One of the chapters is dedicated to Teimour Radjabov.
Teimour is a student of Baku State University, Law Department. He is a Goodwill Ambassador of the UNICEF since 2006.
This article is calling for a change. You know that feeling of great excitement when the next top tournament is about to start? And then the numerous authors, websites and fans are analysing players and predicting results. What do we get from it? I'm brave to speculate that many game lovers are feeling frustration by great number of short draws. In short I also count 30 moves of theory in popular line before signing scoresheets. Personally, I feel betrayed. Heck, they have even desecrated Tal's Memorial. I didn't want to post the results and poor champion was probably turning sides in his grave.
I don't intend to analyse psychological background of this behavior. Ok, one friendly draw can be tolerated if player is tired or just not feeling well on the day. Nor rating or prize calculation, most of them receive fat envelopes before the tournament anyway. After all, sponsors should be worried how they spend the money. Oh, we complain about the lack of sponsorship, there's one hint.
Personally, I'm getting bored seeing same players "fighting" eachother over and over. Chess audience likes to hear statistics just as much as NBA or football folks. Your wish.... ChessBase will return the query with exact "these two have met eachother in 35 games, success percentage goes as follows...". Why would I want to see them playing 36th game? Can they surprise the opponent, can they be inspired to fight? Adams, Polgar, Bacrot and Shirov were members of the exclusive club, until they were dropped out. Ivanchuk and Gelfand were on hold for awhile, but Ivanchuk was playing and winning tournaments without a break to prove that his place is among the tops. I think few others should be sent on similar voyage. At the same time, Mamedyarov is sitting 4th on the rating list, still waiting for his chance. A bunch of others, too.
Mig Greengard was calling for Sofia rules on numerous occasions. While Sofia surely represents an improvement, I'm not sure if it's perfect solution. Players are not allowed to draw, but they are not forced to fight either. Try to beat Kramnik's Petroff-Berlin rock. And Leko can equally draw 20 moves or close the gates and defend for 80. At the same time, I believe most of them are fed up of eachother.
One of the possibilities is to decrease appearance fees and put the money into fight for prize fund. Surely, this would cause resistance and habits are hard to change. New idea deserving to be tested are mixed lineups. Make the rating spans 2600-2750 for example. Players from the both ends of rating scale would be motivated. For a 2750 finishing on 50% in Linares or Dortmund is normal, but facing 2600s it would be embarrassment. Let them dig with nails for glory and money and let's test those huge ratings. Affiliate with strong opens and have the winners join the club. I would also advocate filling at least quarter of the field with domestic players. How else to attract attention of media and generate interest of chess in your country. Having Tiviakov shaking his pants to lose as little as possible? A bunch of talented Dutch players were going unnoticed in B group. Or guarding Linares' category and reputation by tolerating draws instead of throwing some Spaniard into the fire? Why not a 2400-2500 country's junior champion. Poor fellow might be knocked on the floor, but the gained experience is of huge value.
Magistral Ruy Lopez, organized by Agrupación Ruy López de Zafra, will take place on 16-23rd March in Extremadura, Spain. Players: Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR 2723), Krishnan Sasikiran (IND 2700), Gabriel Sargissian (ARM 2658), Ivan Sokolov (NED 2652), Julio Granda Zuniga (PER 2612), Manuel Perez Candelario (ESP 2512), Hou Yifan (CHN 2509) and Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL 2483).
Ruslan Ponomariov
Open rapid tournament with a solid prize fund will be held on 24-25th March. The only "catch" is that all games have to start with 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5.
10th Open Internacional de Ajedrez "Villa de Campillos" took place on Feb 24th - Mar 3rd in Campillos, Malaga. This was good tournament for Serbian grandmasters as Aleksa Strikovic and Stefan Djuric finished tied on first place.
The standings (84 participants, 9 rounds): 1-3. GM Aleksa Strikovic (SRB 2557), GM Franco Matamoros (ECU 2540) and GM Stefan Djuric (SRB 2464) 7.0 4-6. GM Mihai Suba (ROM 2529), IM Oswaldo Zambrana (BOL 2495) and IM Aleksandar Colovic (MKD 2463) 6.5 etc
GM Michael Roiz faced Rybka last night in 25/5 match. Roiz's small advantage through the game didn't seem enough for full point but Rybka went for suicidal trade with 81...Bxg4 in time trouble. Next Man vs Machine match is on Friday 17:00 est on WorldChessNetwork.
John Nash, subject of the Oscar-winning film A Beautiful Mind, will talk for the first time in public about his struggle with schizophrenia and his unexpected Nobel Prize at Europe's first Mathematics Festival in Rome in three weeks.
Former world chess champion Boris Spassky will talk to Nobel prize winner for Physics Zhores Alferov about the relationship between maths and chess...