Communist Invasion

I've seen many people in ICC channels wondering why are Wang Yue and Leinier Dominguez now constantly being invited to all top tournaments. Corus, Linares and next is Mtel Masters. And the common answer, joking or not, is "communist invasion". But they are simply strong and fresh faces. Other top players have had their turns, let's see some new guys in action.

Adding Chinese players, both Wang Yue and Bu Xiangzhi, certainly encouraged establishment of Nanjing Pearl Spring, another Grand Slam tournament. Leinier Dominguez is playing crazy chess, his Gruenfelds and Naidorfs are great to watch. Further, Karjakin and Grischuk have won their first big tournaments, earning tickets for the Bilbao Masters. Now it would be nice if Shirov wins Mtel Masters!

"Losing Our Credibility"

Saturday, a Grand Prix tournament for women starts in Istanbul, Turkey. The participants include Koneru Humpy of India, the No. 2 ranked woman in the world; Hou Yifan of China, No. 3; Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria, a former women’s world champion, who is No. 4; Pia Cramling of Sweden, No. 5; Marie Sebag of France, No. 7; and Maia Chiburdanidze of Georgia, another former champion, who is No. 9.
......
But there is another problem with the Istanbul Grand Prix: It conflicts with another major women’s event, the European Women’s Championship in St. Petersburg, Russia. It also starts Saturday.

Full article on the New York Times Chess Blog

It is amazing how poor is the communication between the two biggest chess associations. Moreover, Kirsan Ilymzhinov and Boris Kutin are sharing the table in the FIDE Presidential Board for the last ten years, and they have probably seen each other at the opening of the Kamsky-Topalov match. Letter by Boris Kutin.

Linares to lend a half of the tournament to UAE

One of the most-renowned tournaments in world chess - is surrendering to the power of an Arab businessman, who is set to bring the best players to the desert in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 2010.

"We pay the expenses of players and the prizes, I think around 2 million euros (some 2.5 million dollars)," Sulaiman Al Fahim told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in an interview in Dubai.

"From 2010, the tournament will be held in Spain and the UAE," he said.

Full story

Gata Kamsky Interview

Chess.fm blog has a video of the final moments in 7th game Kamsky-Topalov and also a 12-minute interview with Gata Kamsky.

Topalov Beats Kamsky, BCF Chesckmates Chessbase

Veselin Topalov won the match against Gata Kamsky with the final score of 4.5-2.5. The games were fantastic and I think that Kamsky didn't play weaker, he was just unlucky. Bad time management in game two, blunder in game five and now missed win in game seven. But also kudos to Topalov who jumped into complications when draw was desired result for his team.

Another battle was fought between Chessbase and the Bulgarian Chess Federation. We have seen the announcement on the match website that Chessbase is violating copyright laws (they didn't explain how though). BCF hired a lawyer who threatened Chessbase and made them eventually stop the broadcast.

Earth vs. Space Match

NASA and the U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) are teaming up to host the first public chess match between astronaut Greg Chamitoff, in orbit aboard the International Space Station, and the public. Key players in the game, set to begin on Monday, Sept. 29, will be the kindergarten through third grade U.S. Chess Championship Team and its chess club teammates from Stevenson Elementary School in Bellevue, Wash.

The K-3 champions will select up to four possible moves each time it is Earth's turn, and then the public will vote on which move will be made. NASA will transmit the winning move to Chamitoff, who will respond. The USCF will facilitate the match on its web site at: www.uschess.org/nasa2008

Read more

A curious fact is that Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko are aboard the Space Station together with Greg. Sergei Volkov is also the name of a strong Russian Grandmaster.

Karjakin swims for the first place

Sergey Karjakin believes that a swim in the cold North Sea, together with hail shower, helped him to win at Corus! Will other players bring their speedos next year?

Meanwhile, Teymour Radjabov commented: "Before the start I did not consider him to be one of the main candidates to win the tournament in Wijk aan Zee. But during the tournament, Karjakin got himself involved in many high-risk positions, when all three possible results (win or defeat or a draw) were at the table, and in the end he had succeeded."

Fed Cup Record Attendance

Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic won their reverse singles Sunday as Serbia beat Japan 4-1 in the first round of the Fed Cup's World Group II.
Jankovic defeated Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 6-2, before Ivanovic cruised past Ayumi Morita, 6-1, 6-2.
In the meaningless doubles, Japan's Rika Fujiwara and Aiko Nakamura defeated Jankovic and Ana Jovanovic 3-6, 7-5 after Jovanovic retired in the third set with back pains.

Read more on IHT

Jelena and Ana have attracted huge crowd and Belgrade Arena welcomed 15,118 spectators. The earlier record for a Fed Cup match was 14,000 people on the stands. Read also Impressions from Serbia vs. Japan Fed Cup tie.

Wesley So studies openings only

I was shocked to hear Wesley So, winner of Corus C and one of the most perspective young players, saying that he studies openings only, and pays no attention to middlegame or tactics in his preparation. Amazing. See the video interview by Macauley Peterson.

Youth Conquers Corus

Sergei Karjakin, who was the youngest player ever to become a Grandmaster, fulfilled expectations and won one of the world's most prestigious tournaments, main group of Corus Wijk aan Zee. He was the only winner, with 8 points, but six players were on shared first prior to the last round. Karjakin was the only to win, with Black against Dominguez.

Corus B finish was a thriller. "Crazy" Motylev beautifully sacrificed his Queen in the early opening against the leading Kasimdzhanov and went on to win after 70+ moves. At the same time Fabiano Caruana kind of swindled against another leader Nigel Short and won to become lone winner.

Corus C is always the most interesting tournament because of many decided games. Those people are fighting like they will never play chess again. Manuel Leon Hoyos made 5 wins, 8 losses, without draws. Eduardo Iturrizaga made a single draw and this put him half a point ahead of Leon Hoyos. The winner was 15 years old Wesley So, pride of Philippines, who collected fantastic 9,5 points.