Only eight episodes are left to the conclusion of "Battlestar Galactica", the best series ever aired on television. The show is going every Friday on Sci-Fi channel and tonight's episode is titled "The Oath". Do we have fans in the chess blogosphere?
Been waiting for one of my favorite journalists to publish his blog on the USCF website. GM Ian Rogers is regularly reporting from the top tournaments.
The biggest worry for the organisers in 2009 had been the large number of short draws in the elite top group – a feature of top GM chess which some had thought was disappearing thanks to the Sofia anti-draw rules (not in use in Wijk aan Zee). Corus choose their field very carefully every year to maximize the entertainment potential but in 2009 even wonderboy Magnus Carlsen had been unable to escape the draw virus and his first nine games had ended peacefully.
Arcapita International Chess Championship 2009 is currently in progress at the Bahrain Chess Club. This Swiss Open with 9 rounds finishes on 2nd Feb. There are 95 players and Grandmasters Anton Filippov and Valentin Iotov are on the first with 4 points after 4 games. 14 Grandmasters applied at the start, Pavel Tregubov being the highest rated with 2647 elo, and married couples GM Sergey and WIM Tatiana Kasparov and Vadim Malakhatko and IM Anna Zozulia are also taking participation.
The USCF website put up an interesting photo contest where members should link move-executing hands with the players' names. The top prize is one year membership on the online club WorldChessLive. I think I could guess Korchnoi (easy one), and maybe Yermolinski and Perelshteyn. What would be your score?
Mr. George Perez from Punta Borinquén Chess Club emailed information about the VI Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez - José De Diego, that is scheduled to commence on 17th April. The text is basically the same as announcement posted on Chessdom, and it might be best to read it there.Lars Bo Hansen's new book "How Chess Games Are Won and Lost," published last year by Gambit Publications, is a delightful modern chess manual. The Danish grandmaster splits the chess game into five stages. To the usual three stages -- the opening, the middlegame and the endgame -- he adds the transition to the early middlegame and the transition from middlegame to endgame. This breakdown helps the student to understand the flow of the game better.Full article
"18-year old IM Jon Ludvig Hammer from Oslo won the Gjøvik 100th anniversary tournament alone with 7 points from 9 games, ahead of 10 strong GMs of whom 6 were rated above 2600. In last round he defeated also Polish GM Bartel with black, and Hammer now becomes Norway's tenth Grandmaster."
From festival webpage
Vladimir Kramnik is raising many valid questions in his recent interview with ChessBase, for example about FIDE inconsistency and privileges given to Veselin Topalov and Gata Kamsky in the latest cycle changes.
But I am not sure if he has the moral rights to complain about these issues. He was awarded with possibility to challenge (he called it differently) Vishy Anand to a rematch after losing the title in Mexico City 2007. FIDE earlier protected him from giving a rematch to Topalov by dragging bank guarantees until the deadlines were breached. And Topalov had the right to this rematch thanks to the Elista clause that was included on Kramnik/Hansen insisting. Bulgarians threatened to sue and they would most likely win. This is why FIDE came up with Topalov-Kamsky match. And this is the answer to Kramnik's - "First of all there is this match between the two of them, which actually should never have happened – it was basically created out of nothing." - It's your fault, too!
Topalov and Kamsky are indeed privileged with guaranteed seats, irrespective of the match outcome, in the Candidate Tournament. But even without this wildcard, Topalov has excellent chances to sneak in as top rated player. Kramnik is often mentioned as the most likely pick of the organiser, being that Germany or Russia.
Veselin Topalov is top player on the latest FIDE Rating list in spite of being robbed of for points from Nanjing Pearl Spring. This tournament, finished on 22nd December, was not included in the list, but Elista Grand Prix is, although it ended six days later.
Top 10:
1. Topalov Veselin BUL 2796
2. Anand Viswanathan IND 2791
3. Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2779
4. Carlsen Magnus NOR 2776
5. Morozevich Alexander RUS 2771
6. Radjabov Teimour AZE 2761
7. Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2760
8. Kramnik Vladimir RUS 2759
9. Leko Peter HUN 2751
10. Movsesian Sergei SVK 2751
Nobody cares about FIDE's laziness anyway, as Hans Arild Runde of Live Top List is doing excellent job in keeping us up to date with daily changes in the 2700-club.
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