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11-17-2007

www.MonRoi.com was on hand to broadcast all the games LIVE.  The trophy was hand made by Mr. Marty Grund, one of the founders of ICC.

Another year, another prestige event in chess: The Tal Memorial

From 9 to 23 Nov Moscow hosts the second Mikhail Tal Memorial.  This year three major contests will take place within the framework of the event viz., a round-robin classical chess tournament of category 20 (with the average rating of 2742), the World Blitz Championship and an exhibition ''advanced chess'' match between Vishi Anand and Vladimir Kramnik.

The round-robin tournament, where Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2787), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2785), Peter Leko (Hungary, 2755), Shakhriar Mamedyarov (Azerbajan, 2752), Alexei Shirov (Spain, 2739), Boris Gelfand (Israel, 2752), Gata Kamsky (the USA, 2724), Evgeny Alekseyev (Russia, 2716), Magnus Karlsen (Norway, 2714), and Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia, 2710) are taking part, started on 10 Nov. Each round starts at 3 p.m. The playing days are 10 through 4 and 16 through 19 Nov.  Rate of play is 100 minutes to each player for the first 40 moves plus 50 minutes for the next 20 moves plus 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from the first. Cross table so far:
 

			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Score
1	Leko, Peter	2755		=	0	=	=					1	2,5
2	Kamsky, Gata	2714	=		=	=					=	0	2
3	Kramnik, Vladimir	2785	1	=						=	=	1	3,5
4	Alekseev, Evgeny	2716	=	=					=	=	=		2,5
5	Jakovenko, Dmitry	2710	=					=	=	0	=		2
6	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	2752					=		1	=	=	=	3
7	Ivanchuk, Vassily	2787				=	=	0		=		=	2
8	Carlsen, Magnus	2714			=	=	1	=	=				3
9	Gelfand, Boris	2736		=	=	=	=	=					2,5
10	Shirov, Alexei	2739	0	1	0			=	=				2

What to say at this stage? Carlsen continues to play very strongly against very strong 2700 opponents? We said that earlier in the year. If any reader has a better favovite for a future world champion, write to the Parrot.

At round 5 Drawzzzzzzzz Death strikes again!  Of 25 games played only 5 were decisive.  This cheered up in round 6 where 3 from 6 had a decisive result:

STOP PRESS: Round 6 report

1 Kramnik - 4.5
2 Mamedyarov - 3.5
3-7 Carlsen, Shirov, Gelfand, Leko, Jakovenko - 3.0
8-9 Alekseev, Ivanchuk - 2.5
10 Kamsky - 2.0

Standings after round 6:
1. Ponomariov - 3.5
2. Polgar - 3
3. Topalov - 3
4. Nisipeanu - 2.5
5. Kasimdzhanov - 1.5
6. Karpov - 1.5

Official website: www.ajedrez-hotelakua.com

Last week we offered the results of the European Team Chess Championships (ETCC) Men’s tournament. Here are the top finishers from the Women’s competition:

Final women's teams standings
1 RUSSIA RUS 15 25,0 184,5 [captioned]
2 POLAND POL 13 23,5 179,5
3 ARMENIA ARM 13 21,0 176,0
4 UKRAINE UKR 12 22,5 172,5
5 GEORGIA GEO 12 22,5 166,5
6 SLOVENIA SLO 12 20,5 171,0
7 HUNGARY HUN 11 22,5 172,5
8 ROMANIA ROU 11 20,0 162,5
9 CROATIA CRO 10 21,0 132,0
10 AZERBAIJAN AZE 10 19,0 173,0
11 GERMANY GER 10 19,0 170,5
12 NETHERLANDS NED 10 17,5 188,5
13 FRANCE FRA 10 17,5 181,5
14 SPAIN ESP 9 19,5 141,0
15 ISRAEL ISR 9 16,5 175,5
16 GREECE 1 GRE1 8 19,0 152,0
17 CZECH REPUBLIC CZE 8 18,5 150,5
18 BULGARIA BUL 8 18,0 172,0
19 SERBIA SRB 8 18,0 162,5
20 SWITZERLAND SUI 8 18,0 134,0

Here is a cool chess tradition: The XXII Friendly Chess Match between USSR and Yugoslavia teams took place 8th-9th November 2007 at the Central Chess Club of Moscow. The USSR won 11:9

Gligoric - Korchnoi 0-1,1/2 [caption]
Vasiukov - Ivkov 1/2,1/2
Matanovic - Taimanov 1/2,1/2
Balashov - Velimirovic 0-1,1/2
Karaklajic - Zaitsev 1/2,1/2
Averbakh - Vlahovic 1/2,0-1
Spasojevic - Vorotnikov 1/2,0-1
Machulsky - Savic 1/2,1/2
Lazarevic - Fatalibekova 0-1,1/2
Zaitseva - Blagojevic 1-0.1/2

Vassily Ivanchuk won a 14 rounds rapid match against Peter Leko, took place in Mukachevo, Ukraine 26th-28th October. Time control 10min. + 10 sec. for a move.  Final score is 7.5:6.5 in Ivanchuk's favor.  Official site

Leko - Ivanchuk 1/2,0-1,1/2,1/2,1/2,0-1,1/2,1/2,1-0,1/2,1-0,1/2,1/2,0-1

11-10-2007

And Irina [captioned] got off to a good start, and was the only winner with the black pieces – here are all round 1 results:

Hernandez, Gilberto vs Gulko, Boris 1-0
Hera, Imre vs Schneider, Dmitry 1-0
Lugo, Blas vs Krush, Irina 0-1
Perelshteyn, Eugene vs Hoyos, Manuel Leon 1-0

Games covered LIVE on
http://www.monroi.com/.

Another report on American chess is a feature on young Ray Robson, that is, the new young IM-norm Ray, where reporter Luke Mullins, associate editor of U.S. News and World Report, says, “Stallings says his chess team’s annual budget is “a few hundred thousand dollars, which goes toward travel and the salaries of a coach, a director, and an assistant director.  Each of the 25 members of UTD’s current chess team is on some form of scholarship, which the university treats as an academic award, rather than an athletic grant, and which it finances through its general scholarship fund.

How is the strategy working?  While it is impossible to measure precisely the chess team’s effect on UTD’s reputation, university officials couldn’t be more pleased.  “Chess has served our purpose well; we are not the same university that we were ten years ago,” Coleman says.  “It has brought us onto the national stage in terms of being a university that promotes intellectual character.”

This is a big read on how current chess talent is encouraged and supported in the US of A.

39 countries confirmed their participation for the European National Team Championship 2007 in Crete, Greece 27 October - 7 November 2007, including all the chess power houses of the continent!  Here is a summary of the event:

Russia triumphed with both men and women teams taking the golden medals at the 16th European Team Chess Championship 2007.  Men's team had an impressive run of eight consecutive wins and only one draw, claimed the title even before the last round, and most of their players took medals for individual scores as well.

Silver medals go to the 2006 Olympiad winners - Armenia.  This ultra solid team took a slow start, but broke through to the second place with the series of narrow wins.  Quite the opposite happened to the bronze medalists, the explosive team of Azerbaijan.  They started furiously in the first few rounds until they were stopped by the Russians. Still, the third place is a fantastic achievement for this young team.

Russia women were having a tough race with the title defenders from Poland.  Only in the 8th round Poland succumbed and Russia routinely drove the ship into the safe harbor.  Just like men, most of the Russian ladies also earned individual medals.

Poland still managed to capture the silver medals on better tie-breaks/individual points.  Armenian female team resisted famous Georgians in the last round, and after Ukraine didn't win against Russia, girls from Yerevan started celebrating bronze medals.

It was a fantastic event, the motivated players gave us aesthetic pleasure with wonderful games and our kind hosts in Creta Maris provided excellent playing and lodging conditions.

1st board medal winners men:
   Svidler (RUS), Carlsen (NOR), Adams (ENG)
1st board medal winners women:
   Peng (NED), Danielian (ARM), Kosteniuk (RUS)

Highest performances of the European Team Championship:

Source: chessdom.com

Final standings:

Source: http://www.greekchess.com/euro2007/news.html

Chess Champions League Vitoria Gasteiz
And Another Polgar, Judit, make the news: “[she] broke the spell of the two leaders – by beating former FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov with the black pieces in the fourth round of the Champions lead (after beating another former FIDE champion, Rustam Kasimdzhanov with the black pieces a round earlier)”.  Reports ChessBase.  Current standings of that tournament uncertainly reflect a round one result Kasimdzhanov vs Nisipeanu, which is may still be unplayed.

Here were the ELO/TPR ratings at round 4:

1. Ponomariov, 2705 2877
2. Polgar, J 2708 2803
3. Topalov, 2769 2779
4. Nisipeanu, 2668 2714
5. Karpov, 2670 2519
6. Kasimdzhanov, 2690 2454

Standings after round 6:
1. Ponomariov - 3.5
2. Polgar - 3
3. Topalov - 3
4. Nisipeanu - 2.5
5. Kasimdzhanov - 1.5
6. Karpov - 1.5

But what are they doing with the soccer gear?  Official website: www.ajedrez-hotelakua.com.

Coming up:

The Tal Memorial Tournament takes place in Moscow 9th-19th November.  Players are: Ivanchuk Vassily g UKR (born 1969) 2787, Kramnik Vladimir g RUS (1975) 2785, Leko Peter g HUN (1979) 2755, Mamedyarov Shakhriyar g AZE (1985) 2752, Shirov Alexei g ESP (1972) 2739, Gelfand Boris g ISR (1968) 2736, Kamsky Gata g USA (1974) 2724, Alekseev Evgeny g RUS (1985) 2716, Carlsen Magnus g NOR (1990) 2714, Jakovenko Dmitry g RUS (1983) 2710.

And the World Blitz Championship approved by FIDE follows the event.  This double round robin tournament take place November 21st-22nd.

Another chess cheater, Banned.  “In the match Bergen op Zoom vs AAS, played in Dutch League 2C last Saturday, the arbiter caught the team captain of AAS (who was playing himself on board six), using a PDA outside the playing hall, which he had left, with permission, to "get some fresh air."  The arbiter had followed him and caught him using Pocket Fritz.  On the screen the current position of the game was shown.”  Reports ChessBase.

11-3-2007

Chessville in Europe: This year for the first time Chessville will have a correspondent and photographer at the very strong annual Dutch tournament at Corus / Wijk aan Zee 2008.

Benidorm 2007 International Chess Festival

Dear Parrot,   From the 30th November to the 9th of December you can visit www.ajedrezbali.com or www.eventosdeajedrez.com.  [Editorial note; these pages are definitely funky, and all in Spanish]  If you need more information, don’t hesitate and call the following numbers: 615547567 – 66202592.  Best regards, Patricia Claros Aguilar

Nakamura Motors Home: [Result] At the 2007 Corsica Masters super rapid event, Hikaru defeated Bareev 3-1 in the semifinal and Kasimdzhanov 2-0 in the final, to win 20,000 Euros.

Semi-final :
Bareev - Nakamura 1 - 3
Kasimdzhanov - Karpov 3 – 1

Final : Kasimdzhanov - Nakamura 0 – 2

39 countries confirmed their participation for the European National Team Championship 2007 in Crete, Greece 27 October - 7 November 2007, including all the chess power houses of the continent!  If India and China took part this tournament would be a virtual world team championship.  Participants will include 7 of the World Top-10 GMs.  Therefore, this week an extensive look at overall national strength in chess.

Here were the leaders at Round 4:

Caption 1, board 1, Israel v England, and Klinova – Houska

Caption 2, board 1, Greece v Bulgaria, and Dembo – Voiska

Caption 3 is the powerhouse Russian Men’s team

Team-to-team reports from round 4, summary result follow:  Slovenia was finally stopped as Russian power-machine proved to be too strong. Full points by Alexander Morozevich and Dmitry Jakovenko were good enough for comfortable 3-1. Sergei Tiviakov and Teimour Radjabov quickly drew their game, then Gadir Guseinov beat Erik Van Den Doel and after Vugar Gashimov held Daniel Stellwagen to a draw, Azerbaijan celebrated 2.5-1.5 against Netherlands. Fifth round will see big derby Azerbaijan-Russia.

The strong Russian team, lead by GM Morozevich [says the official report, but that looks like Peter Svidler on board 1] took a glorious victory against Slovenia with two wins and two draws.

In Netherlands vs. Azerbaidjan GM Tiviakov and GM Radjabov got to a very fast draw and quickly made a post-mortem of their game at the analysis hall. Azerbaidjan won with one point difference.

Israel gained early advantage against Hungary on the third table thanks to, who else than Michael Roiz. Zoltan Almasi, however, beat Boris Avrukh in a marathon to set the final 2-2 tie. FYROM was very close to upsetting Ukraine after Nedev's blitzkrieg on Moiseenko. Ivanchuk and Volokitin remained concentrated to turn the tables and secure narrow 2.5-1.5.

Hungary and Israel gave us a great game, switched a loss on first and second board and with drawing the other two games finished 2:2

FYROM gave in to very strong Ukraine, score - 1.5:2.5

Armenia and Denmark showed a smooth and equal game all the way - four tie games, total score 2:2

In the last game of ex-world champion GM Topalov, Bulgaria scored an outstanding victory against Croatia with wins on the first three boards and a draw on the forth, which amounts to Croatia:Bulgaria - 0.5:3.5

Powerful France triumphed against Norway with GM Bacrot getting a draw from GM Carlsen on board one.

The Czech team outplayed Serbia with a minor advantage because of a mishap in the game on board one where GM Damljanovic was winning against his younger opponent GM Navara but made a critical mistake leading to 2.5:1.5

England and Sweden finished at 2 points each in a very interesting and varied match Spain reached the desired win against Germany with a minor 1pt advantage thanks to GM Vallejo Pons who won his game against GM Naiditsch, while the other three games were tie

Turkey clearly outperformed Romania with two wins and two ties

Finland and Geogia also joined the club of 2:2 draws, where GM Nyback from Finland won on board one and GM Pantsulaia from Georgia triumphed on board two while the other finished a tie

Austria really showed what they're made of against Poland today with IM Ragger, IM Atlas and IM Weiss drawing against the much stronger GM Socko, GM Socko and GM Gajewski respectively. Nevertheless GM Bartel gained victory on board four and produced the final 1.5:2.5

The Baltic battle between Lithuania and Estonia ended favorably for Estonia with GM Kulaots and FM Lauk victorious on board one and three respectively producing the final 1:3

Iceland and Switzerland played a long mixed match and could not produce a winner, result on board - 2:2

Italy vs. Montenegro also did not give us a winner, they showed a balanced game and deservingly finished 2:2

Greece prevailed in their match against the first time appearance of Monaco with three wins, however, GM Efimov surprisingly took the victory on board one against the much higher rated GM Kotronias

Belgium chased Cyprus all over the boards and took their three points, nevertheless FM Klerides on board three for Cyprus surprisingly won against the higher rated IM Laurent

Scotland scored a win against Luxembourg after a five-hour match with 2.5:1.5

10-27-2007

1. Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2648 5
2. Gashimov, Vugar g AZE 2664 3½
3. Beliavsky, Alexander G g SLO 2646 3½
4. Dominguez Perez, Lenier g CUB 2683 3½
5. Illescas, Miguel g ESP 2598 3
6. Krasenkow, Michal g POL 2668 3
7. Oms Pallise, Josep g ESP 2506 3
8. Narciso Dublan, Marc g ESP 2546 2½
9. Vaganian, Rafael A g ARM 2600 1½
10. Fluvia, Jordi m ESP 2508 1½

With one round to go will Hikaru hang on to win the tournament from his 6 point base? 1^st seed Cuban Perez has shot up the charts to claim solo-second with 5.5.

39 countries confirmed their participation for the European National Team  Championship in Crete, Greece 27 October - 7 November 2007, including all the chess power houses of the continent!  The participants will include 7 of the World Top-10 GMs.  Visit the Chessdom site and review all national teams and players, listed by Mens, and by Womens: here are a few from an extensive list:

England -Men

Adams, Michael ENG 2729 GM
Pert, Nicholas ENG 2539 GM
Jones, Gawain ENG 2567 GM
Hebden, Mark ENG 2542 GM
Conquest, Stuart ENG 2540 GM

Russia -Men

Svidler, Peter RUS 2732 GM
Grischuk, Alexander RUS 2715 GM
Morozevich, Alexander RUS 2755 GM
Alekseev, Evgeny RUS 2716 GM
Jakovenko, Dmitry RUS 2710 GM

Greece -Women

Dembo, Yelena GRE 2448 IM
Botsari, Anna-Maria GRE 2341 WGM
Makropoulou, Marina GRE 2243 WGM
Fakhiridou, Ekaterini GRE 2270 WIM
Papadopoulou, Vera GRE 2218 WIM
 

The Parrot just had the priviledge recently of playing two correspondence games against the top women player from Greece, Yelena Dembo, and also writing with the top male player from England, Michael Adams, in preparation for Chessville’s 20 Question interview with him...

10-20-2007

The biggest jump in the IM group was by 2263-rated Norwegian Espen Forsaa who scored 8 points and with a tpr of 2362.  Another IM norm was performed in the GM section by former U12 World Champion Fodor, Tamas (HUN). No GM norms this time. Two Brits also took part in the FM-A series, Martyn Goodger and Christopher A. Gibson.   Regards, Miklos

Honorable Chess Gossip: 

Kasparov in Philly.  An article at philly.com reports on a visit form GK, who made an address about current Russian politics and even Russian anti-Semitism, but also attended the Central Library of the Free Library. Melissa Dribben and Ashwin Verghese report as follows:

You learn manners, too, evidently.

"Nice move," Charmaine Brown, 15, a Vaux sophomore, said in graciously praising her opponent.

Like most of the students invited to skip English, chemistry and the cafeteria for a chance to meet - perhaps even play against - the master, Brown said she knew little about Kasparov other than that he was a brilliant player and was involved in politics in Russia.

She had never heard of Deep Blue, the chess-playing computer that Kasparov defeated in Philadelphia in 1996 - when she was four years old.  That was the last time the man who reigned for 15 years as world chess champion set foot in this city.  "It's good to be back," he said.  Full story link.
 

39 countries confirmed their participation for the European National Team Championship in Crete, Greece 27 October - 7 November 2007, including all the chess power houses of the continent! The participants will include 7 of the World Top-10 GMs:

V. Ivanchuk (UKR 2787, No. 2 in the world)
V. Topalov (BUL 2769, No. 4)
A. Morozevich (RUS 2755, No. 5)
S. Mamedyarov (AZE 2752, No. 7)
T. Radjabov (AZE 2742, No. 8)
L. Aronian (ARM 2741, No. 9)
A. Shirov (ESP 2739, No. 10)

http://www.chessdom.com/ will be the official media partner of the event.

World Junior Championship (U20) took place on October 3rd-16th in the Armenian capitol Yerevan.

Final juniors leading standings
1 Adly EGY - 10.0
2 Popov RUS - 9.5
3-4 Wang Hao CHN, Andreikin RUS - 9.0
5-9 Meier GER, Pashikian ARM, Rodshtein ISR, Negi IND, Jones ENG - 8.5
10-16 Jojua GEO, Stellvagen NED, Romanov RUS, Gupta IND, Corrales CUB, Amin EGY, Khairullin RUS - 8.0
17-25 Grigorian ARM, Gopal IND, Laznicka CZE, So PHI, Ashwin IND, Deepan IND, Vovk UKR, Brandenburg NED, Simonian ARM - 7.5

Final girls leading standings
1 Nebolsina RUS - 10.0  [Vera captioned]
2-3 Zawadzka POL, Melia GEO - 9.5
4 Tairova RUS - 9.0
5-8 Harika IND, Mongontuul MGL, Arutyunova UKR, Soumya IND - 8.5
9-14 Karavade IND, Vega ESP, Dauletova KAZ, Dauletova KAZ, Priya IND, Kulon POL - 8.0
15-19 Gasik POL, Khotenashvili GEO, Pertlova CZE, Limontaite LTU, Bokuchava GEO - 7.5
Official site: www.armchess.am

10-13-2007

Honorable Chess Gossip:

Just a note on 2 US and two Brit players currently in Budapest taking part in the IM First Saturday norm-tournament – where at round 6 it looks like IM Paschall is a point off the lead, and with a TPR of 2383.

Two English players are taking part in the FM-A group, and while still 1.5 points off the lead, Martyn Goodger is ‘playing up’ 150 points with TPR of 2211.

Did you ever check out Chessville's Forum?  Its starting to become an interesting place for all sorts of chess chat.  It has a moderator, and sometimes celebrity appearances – but the main thing is that it is by and for us chess fans.

I note that this week Dan Heisman is asking about chess psychology and ‘chunks’!  See 'Ask the Renaissance Man'.  One other person in the world [than the Parrot] admits to having read Karpov on Karpov, and incidentally, we are looking for a picture of Karpov and Fischer, anyone have one?  A disabled veteran is looking for a technical resource to enable him to play chess and you can also read 34 opinions on the world championship.

There is also a letter from Chessville’s business manager:  Hello Everybody - as well as infra-structural support for Chessville [write to publisher] we are also interested in recruiting writers and editors, in which case write to TheParrot.  It can even be a single contribution.  Several existing categories are for:  The Vignettes series, where you get to write an anecdote about a favorite player.  Previous contribution was by Chess Life editor Larry Parr on Arnold Denker.  We are also launching our own team against international chess organizers managed by Assoc. Editor Rob Mitchell [first up, the English Federation] and would like a game editor and commentator for its own column.  I see that Rob Mitchell was also a commentator on NPR this week.

People who would like to write on more general subjects of their own choice should also contact me - one idea at the recent CV annual picnic, was to have an independent weekly column with a different 'voice' every week and the writer's choice of subject.

'Chess Killer' confesses to 63 murders, from correspondents in Moscow October 09, 2007 10:58pm, Article from: Agence France-Presse

A RUSSIAN serial killer, who reportedly hoped to murder one person for every square on a chessboard, today admitted at his trial to 63 murders and attempted murders, Interfax news agency reported.

Alexander Pichushkin told the court he would admit to the 52 murders and attempted murders that he has been accused of, as well as 11 others.  “I thought it would be unfair to forget about 11 more people,” he said.

Pichushkin, nicknamed the “mad chess player” in Russia's tabloid press, is alleged to have committed his first murder as a student in 1992 and to have bludgeoned many of his victims to death with a hammer.

Investigators said Pichushkin aimed to match his victims to the 64 squares on a chessboard, and to exceed the number of victims of the infamous Soviet-era serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, who was convicted in 1992 of murdering 52 people.

Source: News.com.au News from Susan Polgar

AFP News brief
Homeless man is chess king of Washington
by Virginie Montet

He sleeps on a bench, but he is king of chess during the day at Washington's Dupont Circle, where he dazzles beginners and masters alike with his winning moves on the park's stone chessboards. Tom Murphy, 49, is a former math and science major and a celebrity among amateurs, Murphy has made the Dupont Circle public square America's most prestigious chess park after New York's fabled Washington Square, according to some chess lovers.

"The mathematical equation has always been fascinating to me, then when you add the camaraderie, the ambiance, the open air, it's almost irresistible," said Murphy, peering over a park chessboard that draws players from all walks of life -- students, doctors, lawyers, drunkards.

Garrulous and brilliant, Murphy, grew up in North Carolina and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, two well known chess centers, and specializes in a lightning version of chess known as "blitz."

"The appeal of blitz is that, maybe in two or five minutes, I may put together a work of art that might last a life time," Murphy said in his inimitable style of explaining chess basics. The game, he said consists of "few guiding principles: king safety, fight for the center, give every piece a job."

"At blitz he is a very strong player. He has a very fast mind and he sees combinations very quickly. He calculates very quickly," said Mehler, who has been teaching the board game to underprivileged children for 15 years. Murphy has won several chess tournaments and finished 15th in the 2005 world blitz championship. He's not always down and out, but his addiction to booze often lands him on the street.  "I would dearly love to go on and make my master's rating because through that I get a credibility to increase my teaching fee," he said.

"There is an upcoming tournament on Thanskgiving (November 22) in Philadelphia. That's looking promising," he added.

For now, the homeless chess teacher charges 20 to 30 dollars an hour and will match his wits with any rival for two to five dollars per game. "Grand masters are teaching 100 or 200 bucks (dollars) an hour, masters can get at least 50, that's not bad," he said.

Full article http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/administration/afp-news.html?id=071011050233.75dl8fi7&cat=culture  Photo credits © 2007 AFP - Nicholas Kamm

“Medals Square”

This doesn’t look too good for USA and Canada, but the announcements for the event seem to only have been issued by USCF six weeks prior, and during school…

World Junior Championship (U20) is taking place on October 3rd-16th in the Armenian capitol Yerevan.

Round 7 juniors leading standings:
1 Adly - 6.0
2 Laznicka - 5.5
3-11 Rodshtein, Stellwagen, Meier, Gopal, Grigoryan, Wang Hao, So, Popov, Negi - 5.0
12-21 Pashikian, Romanov, Kaplan, Andreikin, Jones, Melkumyan, Ashwin, Amin, Gupta, Corrales - 4.5

Round 7 girls leading standings:
1 Nebolsina RUS - 6.5
2 Vega ESP - 6.0
3 Harika IND - 5.5
4-10 Hoolt GER, Karavade IND, Mongontuul MGL, Zawadzka POL, Borosova SVK, Airapetian RUS, Gasik POL - 5.0
11-14 Abrahamyan USA, Hairapetian ARM, Melia GEO, Arutyunova UKR - 4.5
Official site: www.armchess.am

10-6-2007

Honorable Chess Gossip:

Are we all together now?  The World Championship is over, as we are all one big happy family again, right?  NOT!

New Delhi, Oct. 4 (PTI): Newly-crowned world chess champion Viswanathan Anand today ridiculed the championship rules that will require him to play the former champion Vladimir Kramnik in a few months' time to retain the title.

The 37-year-old Indian Grandmaster, who won the championships last week in Mexico, told PTI from Madrid that the International Chess Federation (FIDE) formulated the complicated rules to win a few votes during their election last week and hoped such a cycle would not be repeated in future.

"These are ridiculous rules.  It was decided by FIDE during their elections last year in order to win a few votes.  I hope it is not repeated in future," Anand said.

Letter from Hungary:

Dear Mr. Parrot,

I believe you were the only one who read AND understood my book ' BLACK Is (Still) OK!  In that book there was given the statistics of Kasparov - Karpov matches in 1987 and 1990.  It showed 8 - 1 and 7 – 0 in white 's favour.  I asked: what should we say seeing 15 - 1?  Is that so they played like geniuses with white or (rather) they performed with BLACK like patzers?

In the recent World Championship there were 20 decided games.  White won 18 (!!) while BLACK scored only twice.

Would you mind to say, ask the readers or just anybody sane: isn't it a scandal, ridiculous or just sad to see the best players NOT to be able handling the BLACK pieces?

I look forward to hear the result of the poll.

IGM ADORJÁN András,
3-time Hungarian Champion
World Ch. Candidate
Olympic Ch.
 

North American Youth Chess Championship has just begun, no results at press time, but and the Official website: http://www.aguascalienteschess2007.com/ hangs… anyway, when there is news of the event Oct 5 to Oct 7, we’ll report it.  The announcement for the tournament went out just a few weeks ago, so who knows who was able to organize themselves to take part?

The Parrot has figured out that there are actually three countries taking part, Mexico, Canada and USA. The vast majority of players are from Mexico, perhaps 100 of them, but Canadian and US participants are:

Corus is perhaps the strongest and most quality-consistent world tournament outside Linares. This year, even more so, with news that World Champion Vishy Anand will play, and the field of extraordinary strength:

News - World Champion Anand to play in 70th Corus Chess Tournament
The 70th Corus Chess Tournament will enter history as the world’s strongest chess tournament that has ever been organized.  That is the main conclusion at today’s publication of the players list...

Here is Group A
Participants Grandmaster Group A 2008

 And here is a little side-tournament: Participants honorary four-event match 2008:

 The only problem is that its not next week:  The 70th Corus Chess Tournament is being held from January 11 to January 27 2008.  Official site: http://www.coruschess.com/.

World Junior Championship (U20) is taking place on October 3rd-16th in, just like last year, Armenian capitol Yerevan.  Even with Magnus Carlsen and Teimour Radjabov preferring the more lucrative (money-wise) European Club Cup, both events are exceptionally strong: 80 participating juniors are averaging 2330 Elo points, while 59 girls are forming the field of average 2030 Elo points.

The European Club Cup takes place 2nd-10th October 2007 in Kemer-Antalya, Turkey. 56 Men and 18 Women Clubs take part in the event. Top players are: Anand Viswanathan 2801 IND, Ivanchuk Vassily 2787 UKR, Morozevich Alexander 2755 RUS, Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2752 AZE, Radjabov Teimour 2742 AZE, Shirov Alexei 2739 ESP, Svidler Peter 2732 RUS, Adams Michael 2729 ENG, Kamsky Gata 2724 USA, Alekseev Evgeny 2716 RUS, Grischuk Alexander 2715 RUS, Carlsen Magnus 2714 NOR, Akopian Vladimir 2713 ARM, Jakovenko Dmitry 2710 RUS, Ponomariov Ruslan 2705 UKR.

First round upsets added dynamism to whole event: The big surprise in the team results was the Club Prishtina winning against Strasbourg Chess Club with a field including grandmasters despite having much lower ratings. Furthermore, among the individual results there were some upsets such as former World Champion GM Kasýmdzhanov and former contenders GM Short and GM Kamsky made draws with their opponents IM Maki(2405), Briscoe(2273), GM Johannessen(2536), respectively.

Leading Round 2 standings (men)
1 Ural Sverdlovskaya - 12
2 OSC Baden-Baden e.V. - 11
3 Alkaloid - 11
4 Bank King Yerevan - 10
5 Keystone - 10
6 Utrecht - 10
7 Bosna Sarajevo - 9.5
8 Tomsk-400 - 9.5
9 Vilnius Chess-Bridge club ''NSEL30'' - 9.5
10 Clichy Echecs - 9
11 Gros Xake Taldea - 8
12 Vesnianka Gran - 7.5

Leading Round 2 standings (women)
1 AVS Krasnoturinsk - 7
2 Southern Ural Cheliabinsk - 7
3 Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo - 6.5
4 MIKA Yerevan - 6.5
5 Interplast Tbilisi – 6

Is this a serious competition? Look at the language of a reporting web-site, www.chessdom.com “The third day of the European Club Cup in Kemer, Tureky, confirmed the trend established at round 2. Ural Sverdlovskaya did not have mercy against the strong team of Vesnianka Gran. Ural won convincingly 4,5 - 1,5 and showed they are one of the teams with highest ambition to win the European Club Cup.”  That’s a ‘yeah’.  Official site.

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