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9-20-2008

Special thanks to GM Pentala and all who are involved in this effort! If you would like to contribute, please send a check payable to Susan Polgar Foundation (501(c)(3) non-profit organization) 6923 Indiana Avenue (Suite 154) Lubbock, Texas 79413 . Thank you! Chess news from Susan Polgar

Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1290139/fullcredits#cast

MATE – The Movie

I see that advertising for the forthcoming chess movie “Mate” now formally lists Susan Polgar as a producer.  Of course, details of the film are a tight secret, but the Parrot was able to find out that the advertising poster is not USCF President Bill Goichberg in a ski-mask, nor the mysterious FSS.

Just Kidding 2,
World Championship

Here is an extract from an interview with FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos:

Q: And the question that most of us are interested in. Will match Kamsky-Topalov take place as planned?

A: You know that we have a sponsor. At least he claims that he wants to be a sponsor for this match to take place in Ukraine. He was supposed to send the money to FIDE many months ago. For the last few weeks we are hearing "tomorrow, tomorrow, the money is going to be transferred". FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who knows the sponsor,

Category 15 Begins Stateside

2008 SPICE Cup International Invitational Tournament

Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Chief Organizer: Susan Polgar Category: XV | FIDE Average: 2605.5 | USCF Average: 2666.5 September 19-28, 2008, Day off on September 23.

Highest rated 10-player International RR tournament in U.S. history has begun. Spice takes the cake – they made it too.

Title Name FIDE USCF Country

1. Grandmaster Alexander Onischuk 2670 2741 USA
2. Grandmaster Harikrishna Pentala 2668 2724 India
3. Grandmaster Varuzhan Akobian 2610 2656 USA
4. Grandmaster Leonid Kritz 2610 2647 Germany
5. Grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov 2605 2678 USA
6. Grandmaster Julio Becerra 2598 2647 USA
7. Grandmaster Victor Mikhalevski 2592 2680 Israel
8. Grandmaster Kamil Miton 2580 2702 Poland
9. Grandmaster Hannes Stefansson 2566 2598 Iceland
10. Grandmaster Eugene Perelshteyn 2555 2591 USA

Round 1 results

Akobian 1-0 Perelshteyn
Becerra 1/2 Onischuk [captioned]
Stefansson 1/2 Pentala
Kaidanov 0-1 Kritz
Mikhalevski 1-0 Miton

Official websites: www.SusanPolgar.blogspot.com and www.SPICE.ttu.edu.  Games will be broadcast on www.MonRoi.com

Liverpool – European Individual Championship, Result

Here are the final standings of the top 15 at the European Union Championship (by tiebreaks order)

1 WERLE, Jan NED g 2591 8

2 LAZNICKA, Viktor CZE g 2601 7½
3 ADAMS, Michael ENG g 2735 7½
4 SHORT, Nigel ENG g 2655 7½

5 DAVID, Alberto LUX g 2568 7
6 L'AMI, Erwin NED g 2610 7
7 VACHIER-LAGRAVE, Maxime FRA g 2681 7
8 FRIDMAN, Daniel GER g 2637 7
9 BERG, Emanuel SWE g 2592 7
10 BACROT, Etienne FRA g 2691 7
11 HOWELL, David ENG g 2561 7
12 TIVIAKOV, Sergei NED g 2645 7
13 LUTHER, Thomas GER g 2570 7
14 SMEETS, Jan NED g 2593 7
15 BELIAVSKY, Alexander G SLO g 2606 7

Jan Werle has just captured the 2008 European Union Championship by drawing French GM Vachier-Lagrave.  Super-GM Adams who could have caught up with Werle with a win inexplicably took a 13-move draw.

Indeed, that was not the only short draw: here is commentator John Saunder’s opinions of round 9:

“The afternoon got off to a disappointing start when the clash of the English titans failed to live up to its billing.  Mickey Adams and Nigel Short concluded hostilities in 12 moves.  This sparked off some disapproving emails to us, and messages on chess forums lamenting their lack of fighting spirit.  It is hard to argue with some of the sentiments expressed though perhaps the ire needs to be directed towards the format of modern tournaments rather than the players themselves who have a living to make and a limited shelf-life...”

GM Werle (2591) - GM Vachier-Lagrave (2681) [A05]
European Union Championship, 18.09.2008

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Qa4+ Bd7 6.Qh4 Bc6 7.Qd4 Rg8 8.e3 Bg7 9.Qc4 Nb6 10.Qb3 e5 11.e4 N8d7 12.d3 Qe7 13.Be2 Nc5 14.Qc2 Ne6 15.a4 a5 16.0–0 g5 17.Be3 Game drawn ½–½

GM Berg (2592) - GM Adams (2735) [C92]
European Union Championship, 18.09.2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0–0 9.h3 Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.Ng5 Rf8 12.Nf3 Re8 13.Ng5 Game drawn ½–½

Official website: http://www.liverpoolchessinternational.co.uk

Record Breaking Olympiad in Dresden Record-breaking Olympiad Official Dresden Olympiad Website: http://www.dresden2008.com/ FIDE and Organizing Committee enable further registrations. Clear already: largest Olympiad of all times. Three days after the official registration deadline it is obvious that Dresden will not only be a reform but also a record-breaking Olympiad. The so far highest number of participants was listed in Torino in 2006 but will be beaten by length in Dresden. After the closing of the registration period the national federations have nominated 148 for the open and 114 teams in the women’s tournament. Despite the enlargement of the women’s teams to now four seated and one substitute players already more women teams than in 2006 have registered. The most impression number is, however, the of active participants. Including the 309 registered coaches and accompanying persons, 80 arbiters and 35 FIDE Officials this number is up to 1984. The world chess association FIDE and the Organizing Committee agreed to give another ten federations the chance to participate, providing they will register until Friday, 19. September 2008. This exception does include all federations that have already contacted the organnizers in whatever way. Federations which have not yet done so will receive no further chance for late registration.

Last Week the Parrot commented on Chess and Violence, citing 3 recent examples. Reviewing an interview question with a now-board member, Randy Bauer, he made the following response. The Parrot is interested in what aspects of his promise has been made true? Question 2:  To what extent do you feel the USCF has any obligation to establish and maintain ethical standards in the recruitment and security of women and children in US chess?  How would you go about implementing such a program?  Should the USCF, in the process of establishing such standards, conference with both women and parents of scholastic players to gain their insights and hear their recommendations?  Should USCF develop standards and certifications for chess teachers? I think the USCF should stress ethical standards in all of its programs and the services it provides to its members.  Likewise, the USCF definitely should solicit regular feedback from its members and stakeholders as well.  I pushed for greater opportunities for member communication while on the Board the last time.  As with many things, it is often couched as a question of resources, but I think it is a priority and that opportunities are available. The USCF has an active and involved scholastic council, and I think they are the appropriate vehicle for developing standards and/or certification for chess teachers or instructors.

Final figures and detailed participation lists of nations will be published in the following days.  Official Dresden Olympiad Website: www.dresden2008.com

Bilbao - results:  Final standings (scoring System is: 3 points per win, 1 point per draw, 0 point per loss)

1 Topalov - 17.0
2 Aronian - 13.0
3 Carlsen - 13.0
4 Ivanchuk - 12.0
5 Radyabov - 10.0
6 Anand - 8.0

Official website: http://www.bilbaofinalmasters.com/

Women’s World
Championship Final

After very tense playoff games GM Alekandra Kostniuk managed to defeat her 14 year old GM-elect oponent Hou Yifan.

Alexandra wrote one day to say that Chessville was her favorite English language chess-site, and Chessville this week made inquiries to interview her opponent.

It’s difficult to know who to praise more.

9-13-2008

Chess Media – Chess & Violence 1,
Chess Problems not Life Problems

No, this isn’t about chess politics.  It is about real politicians selecting chess as something desirable in 2008.

Alberto Murillo immigrated to Salinas from Mexico for the fourth grade. That’s when his math teacher urged him to master the chessboard. “I would not be here right now if it wasn't for chess. Chess helped me through school, get to college and I know it could help other students, too,” Salinas chess coach Alberto Murillo said. City leaders have already launched chess activities in libraries and recreation centers in an effort to help calm down crime on the streets. “This is our salvation to ending some of the problems we're having in our community, by getting these kids early on like some of the ones you see today,” Salinas City Councilman Sergio Sanchez said. Kids at local elementary schools said they agree.

Read the entire article including a video link: http://www.ksbw.com/news/17435545/detail.html

Chess Media – Chess & Violence 2,
Women as 2^nd Class Chess Citizens?

In 2005 the issue of women as 2^nd class citizens in chess arose, and I engaged in a conversation with an English player, first on the subject of Vera Menchik’s era, then on today’s conditions. I was completely startled when, at length, she volunteered this response:

“…actually although we are The North Circular league I live near Canary Wharf in East London.  Certainly I have heard of Vera Menchik.  It was a tragedy that she died early.  A truly gifted player and I agree with Alekhine that it was a pity she was playing below her level.  I think if I had been Vera I would have not worried about the Women’s Championship.

As regarding the worst experience I ever endured.  I was punched in the face by an arbiter called <I have removed the individual's name> at the Sutton Congress in 1994.  This happened in public and I was left unconscious on the floor.  Two things struck me (excuse the pun) as particularly bad about the incident.  He lied about hitting me despite witnesses.  The British Chess Federation went to great lengths to hide the incident and a fellow organiser <I have removed the individual's name> stated that it wasn't important as it was only a woman and not someone like Mickey Adams.  Still that’s chess for you.”  2/18/2005.

Ray is a Chessville columnist and also has his own new site where he features a couple articles, one on Kasparov, and another being my Chessville interview with him, where he explains how he escaped search by the KGB smuggling samizdat materials on Refuseniks out of Russia. In the interview Ray answers questions about chess in the old Soviet Union, and the state of chess in the world today.

As well as writing with Chessville he has columns in The Spectator, The Times, The Sunday Times, the International Herald Tribune, and has some 130 books published.

An insufficiently reviewed title is one by Ray Keene on Tony Miles.  The blurb reads in part, “Miles also won numerous first prizes in international tournaments.  He feared no-one and his will to win was legendary, as exemplified by the front jacket photograph of this book.  Taken at the Tilburg 1985 tournament, this shows Miles in play on a form of stretcher against grandmaster Djinjihashvili.  Although suffering from terrible back pain, Miles insisted on competing, even from this unorthodox position, the only one in which the pain subsided.  Characteristically Miles went on to win shared first prize in the event.

Tony Miles died tragically early in November 2001.  This book is a memorial to him, written by a Grandmaster rival who faced him many times over the board.”

Liverpool– She Loves Chess, Yeah Yeah Yeah!

THE highest caliber chess tournament in Britain England began at Liverpool’s World Museum last Tuesday.  Fifty Grandmasters battle for chess championship honor, reports Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post.

Taking part are Michael Adams, England's highest ever rated player.  His highest ranking was world number 4, achieved from October 2000 to October 2002 with a rating of 2755.  He is currently number 13 in the world and the number one British chess player with a rating of 2735.  Nigel Short is one of England's greatest ever players, former World Championship Challenger and European Union Individual Champion 2006.  His highest rating was 2712 in 2004.

Results of tops boards at round 4:

1 ABERGEL, Thal........... 2499   (3)       ½ - ½  ADAMS, Michael.......... 2735   (3)   

2 BITALZADEH, Ali......... 2310   (3)    ½ - ½  VACHIER-LAGRAVE, Maxime. 2681   (3)   

3 FRIDMAN, Daniel......... 2637   (3)      ½ - ½  CONQUEST, Stuart C...... 2536   (3)    

4 BACROT, Etienne......... 2691  (2½)    ½ - ½  GORMALLY, Daniel W...... 2504  (2½)
5 MIEZIS, Normunds........ 2540  (2½)  1 - 0  TIVIAKOV, Sergei........ 2645      (2½)

For information and results, log on here.

Bilbao
Round 9 results:

Anand, Viswanathan - Topalov, Veselin ½-½
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Aronian, Levon ½-½
Radjabov, Teimour - Carlsen, Magnus ½-½

Standings with one round to go:

1. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2777 14
2. Aronian, Levon g ARM 2737 13
3. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2781 12
4. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2775 12
5. Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2744 7
6. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2798 7

Official website.

Women’s World Championship Semi-Final Played by blitz playoff. M-elect Hou (2557) - GM Koneru (2622) [B06] WWC - Blitz Playoff - Game 2, 12.09.2008 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Be3 a6 5.f4 Nd7 6.Nf3 e6 7.Bd3 b5 8.e5 Ne7 9.Bf2 Nb6 10.Bh4 Qd7 11.a4 b4 12.Ne4 Nbd5 13.Qd2 Nf5 14.Bf2 f6 15.c4 bxc3 16.bxc3 fxe5 17.fxe5 0–0 18.0–0 Bb7 19.a5 Bh6 20.Nfg5 Qe7 21.c4 dxe5 22.dxe5 Nb4 23.Bc5 Bxg5 24.Qxb4 Be3+ 25.Kh1 Qh4 26.Qxb7 Bxc5 27.Nf6+ Rxf6 28.Bxf5 Rff8 29.Bxe6+ Kh8 30.Qd5 Bf2 31.Qd3 Rad8 32.Qe2 Bg3 33.h3 Bf4 34.Qg4 Qh6 35.Rae1 Rfe8 36.Qxf4 Qxf4 37.Rxf4 Rxe6 38.Rf7 c5 39.Rc7 Rd2 40.Rb1 Re8 41.Rbb7 White wins 1–0 Hou wins the blitz playoff 2-0 and will move on to the final to face Kosteniuk of Russia. Another awful Armageddon play-off arose earlier – see for yourself if you think this is chess at all. The Armageddon finish starts about 1minute 35 seconds into the tape. When the Parrot took on the same issue with USCF he was accused of being ‘personal’ about the finals – now it seems the whole world is being personal about them. USCF have not deemed to notice public reaction, and the Fide Arbiter didn’t seem to care about knocked over pieces and two players each with insufficient winning material, King and Knight each, slapping things around. As with the US Women’s championship, so with the Women’s world Championship. Thanks to Russian journalist Evgeny Surov for posting the video of Socko-S.Foisor at Youtube. STOP PRESS: we have arrived at 2 finalists: 14 year-old Hou defeated Humpy after a blitz play-off and will now contest Russian GM Alexandra Kosteniuk for the title.

What’s in a Word? Part 1 The word CHESS is tolerably complex in origin, and not clearly a loan-word. There is the A. Sax CHESE; to chose, with a secondary meaning to see "Even til the hegh bord he chese," being the past participle in Syr Gowghter, 312. Some people think it is a loan word from the Latin for Roman brass coins found in some places in Gloucestershire, 'and so called by country people.' Not unlikely an origin, many coins, stones etc, were original game pieces - CHESSIL; gravel or pebbles [A. Sax], and the beach or gravel bank still named for it. Earliest reference to a chess player I can find is Middleton's CHESSNER. Likely most direct early reference is also A. Sax from CHESTE (var. CHEESTE); strife, debate, which the atavist Gower uses. The word CHEST is more clearly Latin, as is CHESTER, but the first means 'coffin' and the second 'embalmer'. Neither likely candidates. Whereas the word CHESTS means chess; "The playe at chests," //Nomenclature, p. 293. Interesting is CHEKERE: (1) the exchequer //Langtoft p. 312 (2) the game of chess //Rob. Glouc. p. 192. A later version is A. Norm, (3) a chess-board, but CHECKERED is a checkered sermon, one full of Greek and Latin quotations. Much later we have CHECKSTONE; a game played by children with round small pebbles. It is mentioned in the early play of Apollo Shroving, 12mo. Lond. 1627, p. 49. Unclear if the origin of CHEK; fortune; ill-fortune, is from the French echec? CHEKE means (1) choked //Ritson, (2) checked, as in the game of chess ; and hence used metaphorically. (3) a person or fellow [Lincs.] The word CHESS means in Lincolnshire; to crack.

9-6-2008

9^th Montreal – “Empresa”

Yuri Shulman wins a whole point ahead of the field.  Official website
 

12 Year Old Scores 2500 rating, right here in USA

The Florida State Chess Championship just concluded on Labor day this past week in St Petersburg Florida. The surprise of the tournament was 12 year old Lucas van Beuzekom (1948), an 8th grader from Orlando Florida.

He finished tied for 3rd place in the Open section, just a 1/2 point out of first place with 4.5 out of 6. His only loss was to GM Julio Becerra (2640), who tied for first with Ray Robson (2484).

Lucas was tied for first going in to the last round where he had a draw with FM Mark Ritter (2353). Along the way he managed to beat a virtual who's who of Florida chess talent, including Andrew Cunanan (2197), Jeffery Haskel (2238) and Corey Acor (2302).

The performance rating for this tournament was just above 2500! an incredible result for a 12 year old. The full results can be see here: http://www.floridachess.org/2008FloridaChampionship.htm.

Un-Official but up-to-date Ratings
Carlson #1

01 Carlsen 2791,3
02 Anand 2790,9
03 Morozevich 2787,0
04 Topalov 2786,2
05 Ivanchuk 2781,8
06 Kramnik 2771,9
07 Aronian 2754,1
08 Radjabov 2749,5

Chess Media –

Susan Polgar has been making blog reports all week from Bilbao, including interviewing all the players and reporting on the games and atmosphere. Interestingly she reports on top GM habits; beginning with Aronian she says,

“It is interesting to see how all the players develop their daily routines / rituals during the tournament. I know I had mine when I was active.

For example, Topalov is first to come down (by himself) to the lobby to wait to be driven (along with the other participants) to the playing site. As he is always early, he then goes for a short walk to get some fresh air around the park behind the hotel.

Ivanchuk with his second Mexican GM Manuel Leon are usually next to come down and they always have the last minute coffee before the game.”

In other news, an out-of-sorts Carlsen caught a bug in Moscow and is not playing well, whereas she talked with Vishy Anand about chess in India, and learned that now 170,000 children receive chess education in schools.

Coming Up

The World Chess Championship will be held from October 11 to 30, 2008 in the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Cermany in Bohn, between Vishvanatan Anand (India) and Vladimir Kramnik (Russia). The match will consist of twelve games played under classical time control. If there is a tie at the end of these games a tie-break will be played on October 30, 2008. The prize fund, which will be split equally between the players, is 1.5 million euro (approximately 2.1 million dollars) including taxes and FIDE licensee fees.
Information courtesy Rolf Behovits - Press Officer

Bilbao FC?

Aronian, Carlsen, Radjabov, Ivanchuk, Anand, and Topalov. This year the scoring system will be NOT the traditional chess scoring system. They are using the soccer scoring system with 3 points for a win and 1 point for a draw.

In addition, players who do not attend the official reception at Bilbao's Town Hall on September 1st or the closing ceremony on September 13th will be fined €6,000!

“In an earlier post, I mentioned that I spoke to some of the players. I finally had a chance to speak to Topalov at the Opening Ceremony. We tried to figure out when we saw each other last. We think it was at the Zonal in Budapest in 1993 and Intel Grand Prix a year later. Time really flew by so quickly :)” --wrote Susan Polgar early this week.

Standings after 4 rounds:

1. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2777 8
2. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2775 7
3. Aronian, Levon g ARM 2737 5
4. Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2744 3
5. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2781 3
6. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2798 3

Malcolm Pein sets the stage for us:

The qualifying events were Corus Wijk aan Zee, Linares and MTel Sofia. All six are ranked in the world’s top dozen with the field headed by the world champion Vishy Anand for whom this is the last competitive outing before he defends his title against Vladimir Kramnik.

The most innovative feature of the event is that it will take place in the street but that does not mean the spectators will be allowed to kibitz and there is no risk of rain stopping play as a large glass playing hall complete with areas for commentators and spectators has been constructed in the Plaza Nueva, in the centre of Bilbao's Old Town.

To encourage fighting chess, players will score three points for a win and one for a draw. In addition the ‘Sofia Rules’ which forbid draw offers will be in force.

Women’s World Championship – Final 8

Upper bracket
Ushenina (2476) vs. Kosteniuk (2510)
Stefanova (2550) vs. Cramling (2544)

Lower bracket
Koneru (2622) vs. The winner of Shen Yang (2445) and N. Kosintseva (2460)
The winner of Yifan Hou (2577) and Sedina (2344) vs. Mkrtchian (2436)

8-30-2008

2) United States of America Chess Federation, Inc., will issue a written public apology to Susan Polgar and to the USCF membership relative to its participation in the events, acts and/or omissions as alleged by Susan Polgar in the above referenced litigation; and

(3) United States of America Chess Federation, Inc., will agree to the entry of an appropriate cease and desist order of the Court relative to any and all future acts of slander, slander per se, tortious interference with existing and future contracts, business disparagement, and tortious interference with any future business relationships of Susan Polgar.

In making this offer of compromise and settlement, Susan Polgar specifically retains and reserves any and all claims and causes of action she has or may have against all other persons, entities or parties including but not limited to those parties named in the above referenced litigation.

Susan Polgar makes this offer of compromise and settlement solely for the purpose of allowing USCF, Inc., and its membership, to avoid the burden and expense of protracted litigation and with the knowledge and understanding that the mission, spirit and assets of the USCF have been grievously compromised and subverted by the actions of members of its Board, its Administration and its attorneys acting in furtherance of their personal interests.

Chess Media – Ground Control to Major Greg

Reports indicate that astronaut Greg Chamitoff is defeating ground controllers in Houston's Mission Control at chess! Last week I asked around if anyone had the game score, and a kind person replied that he had, but the game seemed to have faulty notation, which he corrected thus:

[Event ""]
[Site "Space!"]
[Date "2008.08.23"]
[White "Greg Chamitoff"]
[Black "Ground Control"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 c6 3. Bf4 Nf6 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. e3 e6 6. Ne5 Qa5 7. Bd3 Nxe5 8. Bxe5 Ba3 9. Qc1 Bb4 10. O-O b6 11. a4 Ba6 12. Nb5 O-O 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14.c3 cxb5 15. Rd1 Rac8 16. axb5 Bxc3 17. Rxa5 Bxa5 18. Qb1 Bb7 19. b4 f5 20. bxa5 bxa5 21. Rc1 a4 22. Rxc8 Bxc8 23. Qb4 Bd7 24. Qxa4 Rc8 25. Qxa7 Rc1+ 26. Bf1 Bc8 27. Qa8 Kg7 28. b6 h6 29. b7 Bxb7 30. Qxb7 Kf6 31. f3

But, though that is the official game-score: “Something has gone slightly wrong as White's 28th move was b7! i.e. it moved from b5 to b7 in one move. Initially I assumed that they had missed a move out and that Black played h6 around here, but in fact Black's 31st move was h6, so I think White might have inadvertently made an illegal move.”

I also see an amusing commentary by “Fat Lady”, who wrote: FIDE's jurisdiction covers the entire earth and the airspace up to 200 miles above it. The International Space Station is orbiting just beyond this at 220 miles and at first NASA thought they could get away without paying the usual game fee to FIDE.

However, since half the moves are being played on the surface of the earth, it has been ruled that for legal purposes this game should be considered to be have been played at the average of zero and 220 miles above the earth, i.e. 110 miles.

This is well within the area controlled by FIDE and so all normal FIDE rules and fees apply.

Coming Up, Category 15 in USA

The upcoming SPICE Cup will take place from September 19-28 at Texas Tech University (Student Union Building) in Lubbock, Texas.

In addition to having the games broadcast LIVE on MonRoi, ICC and other sources, we will also try to show LIVE video feeds and taped video interviews. Here are the players:

USA - GM Onischuk, Alexander  2741 USCF / 2670 FIDE
IND - GM Pentala, Harikrishna 2724 USCF 2668 FIDE
GER - GM Kritz, Leonid 2647  USCF / 2610 FIDE
USA - GM Akobian, Varuzhan  2656 USCF / 2610 FIDE
USA - GM Kaidanov, Gregory  2678 USCF / 2605 FIDE
USA - GM Becerra, Julio  2647 USCF / 2598 FIDE
ISR - GM Mikhalevski, Victor  2680 USCF / 2592 FIDE
POL - GM Miton, Kamil 2702  USCF / 2580 FIDE
ISL - GM Stefansson, Hannes  2598 USCF / 2566 FIDE
USA - GM Perelshteyn, Eugene  2591 USCF / 2555 FIDE (Defending Champion)

Average FIDE: 2605.5  (Category 15)
Average USCF: 2666.5

This will make the 2008 SPICE Cup the highest rated 10 person International RR event in U.S. history. Chess news from Susan Polgar

Who is this? A 1930’s Hollywood star?  Maybe looks a bit of a villain?

Not exactly, this is Mr. GM Wang Yue, who just went 6 games without defeat in Holland then was held to a draw by Norwegian GM Agdestein. Facing 2587 rated Jussupov, he uncorked this beauty, and finished with a 3034 performance rating:

GM Wang (2704) - GM Jussupow (2587)
[E21] 28.08.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 0–0 5.Bg5 d6 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Qc2 Qe7 8.Be2 Re8 9.0–0 Bxc3 10.bxc3 e5 11.Nd2 h6 12.Bh4 Nf8 13.Ne4 g5 14.Nxf6+ Qxf6 15.Bg3 Bf5 16.Qb3 b6 17.Rad1 Qg6 18.Rd2 Nd7 19.f3 e4 20.f4 g4 21.Qa3 Qe6 22.Qa6 Nf8 23.Bd1 Qc8 24.Qa3 Ng6 25.c5 d5 26.Bb3 Rd8 27.c4 c6 28.cxd5 cxd5 29.Rc1 Qb7 30.Rdc2 Rac8 31.Qb4 h5 32.Qb5 h4 33.Be1 Rc6 34.cxb6 Rxb6 35.Qa5 Rd7 36.Ba4 Ra6 37.Qb5 Qxb5 38.Bxb5 Ra3 39.Bxd7 Bxd7 40.Rc5 Be6 41.f5 Bxf5 42.Rxd5 Be6 43.Rd8+ Kh7 44.Bc3 h3 45.d5 Bf5 46.Rc2 Kh6 47.d6 hxg2 48.Kxg2 Kg5 49.Kg3 Be6 50.d7 a6 51.Bd4 Rd3 52.Rc6 1–0

Tal Memorial –2008, Result

The Tal Memorial is taking place in Moscow 17th-31st August. The players are: Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Morozevich, Evgeny Alekseev, Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexei Shirov, Gata Kamsky, Ruslan Ponomariov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Peter Leko and Boris Gelfand. After the main event will take place a blitz tournament with qualfiers on the 27th and 28th and the invitees Anatoly Karpov and Magnus Carlsen.
1st round starts 18th August at 3pm local time (+3 GMT).

But things warmed up in round 7 with changes at the top and 4/5 games decisive, including a big set back for the previous leader Morozevich who lost to the ultimate victor, Ivanchuk.

Round 7
Ivanchuk - Morozevich 1-0
Gelfand - Kramnik 1/2
Ponomariov - Shirov 1-0
Alekseev - Mamedyarov 1-0
Kamsky - Leko 0-1

Final standings
1 Ivanchuk - 6.0
2-5 Morozevich, Gelfand, Ponomariov, Kramnik - 5.0
6 Leko - 4.5
7-8 Kamsky, Alekseev - 4.0
9 Mamedyarov - 3.5
10 Shirov - 3.0

Official site

The French Championship took place in Pau 11th-23rd August 2008. –Result

Final standings:
1-2 Bacrot, Vachier-Lagrave - 8.5
3 Fressinet - 7.0
4-5 Bauer, Maze - 6.0
6 Sokolov - 5.5
7 Feller - 5.0
8-9 Nataf, Abergel - 4.5
10 Degraeve - 4.0
11 Apicella - 3.5
12 Vaisser - 2.5

Etienne Bacrot [caption] won the Play-off against Vachier-Lagrave 1-0, 1/2
Official site

Women’s World Championship

For a week the official fide site hasn’t worked, so I hesitate to offer it to readers, but perhaps it will have improved by the time you attempt it – relays from other sites also fail - nalchik2008.fide.com. The only news I have, if it can be called news, are those players who refused to play for safety reasons, and here they are:

Zapata, Karen PER
Sebag, Marie FRA
Chiburdanidze, Maya GEO
Krush, Irina USA
Javakhishvili, Lela GEO
Korbut, Ekaterina RUS
Gvetadze, Sopio GEO
Bosboom Lanchava, Tea NED
Lomineishvili, Maia GEO
Khukhashvili, Sopiko GEO
Khurtsidze, Nino GEO

The first day’s play was marked by the absent players’ boards being set-up then forfeited to their opponents.

In the world of real politics Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia will not be isolated over its conduct in Georgia and warned the Europe not to "serve" the United States.  He also stressed Russia does not fear any Western sanctions, saying that if forced to choose between life and sausage, "we choose life."

It seems to this writer that the absent women, when forced to choose between life and bombs, chose life.

8-23-2008

Un-Beatable Parrot!

After a magnificent season of applying captions and challenging the world to do better. Parrot declares victory and flies off. Beat the Parrot will return in the Fall. Last week’s effort is recorded below in Afore ye go.  {Editor's Note: We received the following image of an alleged Parrot sighting, without any accompanying explanation.  Readers are left to form their own conclusions about The Parrot's current, err, doings.]

Chess in Prison

I read about a chess in the prisons program this week in this article.

The program began in April when Carolyn Young, a counselor and classification administrator at the jail, decided that the maximum security prisoners, in jail for violent crimes, had little to do.

Young brought in a chess coach she knew from her church.  He taught at the jail briefly and then recommended Ken Clayton, 70, of Columbia, as his replacement.  Clayton is a master level chess player who previously taught chess in jail settings and as far afield as Vietnam.

Clayton said he volunteers at the jail to help the players turn their lives around.  "These guys made a mistake, they're going to have to pay for it, but they deserve a chance to do something differently," he said.

Jeremiah Lewis, 21, who was in jail on a violation of probation charge, said he had learned chess in school but was beginning to master the game through Clayton's lessons.

"It helps me use my brain more. I won't be so quick to lash out," Lewis said of the class. Lewis, who was released from jail Aug. 7, said he plans on pursuing the game further.

So this Parrot contacted Dave Rudel, author of the new Zuke-Em! title on the Colle-Zukertort, an all purpose white opening system, and said,

“Hey Dave, would you consider giving….”

“How many copies you need?” answered Dave straightaway.

I then contacted the journalist who wrote the article and asked him to contact the chess teacher at the prison and find out...

Women’s W Ch too dangerous?  The Leader Speaks

Dear chess friends,

During last several days I have received a number of  letters, including an open letter from six Georgian chess players in respect of  a possible change of a venue and dates of the World Women's Chess Championship.  As you know, the championship is scheduled to take place from 28 August to 18  September in Nalchik, capital of Kabardino Balkaria.

Tal Memorial -2008

The Tal Memorial is taking place in Moscow 17th-31st August. The players are: Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Morozevich, Evgeny Alekseev, Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexei Shirov, Gata Kamsky, Ruslan Ponomariov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Peter Leko and Boris Gelfand. After the main event will take place a blitz tournament with qualfiers on the 27th and 28th and the invitees Anatoly Karpov and Magnus Carlsen.  1st round starts 18th August at 3pm local time (+3 GMT).

After 5 rounds, Morozevich still maintains his clear lead at the 2008 Tal Memorial in Moscow.  However, Mamedyarov and Ponomariov now join Ivanchuk in 2nd place with just 1/2 point behind the leader.  With the loss to Shak, Kamsky is now next to the bottom.  Shirov draws two straight games after opening the tournament with 3 straight losses.

Standings after 5 rounds:

1. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2788 3½

2. Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2742 3

3. Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2718 3

4. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2781 3

5. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2720 2½

6. Leko, Peter g HUN 2741 2½

7. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2788 2½

8. Alekseev, Evgeny g RUS 2708 2

9. Kamsky, Gata g USA 2723 2

10. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2741 1

Official site  But beware!  The Russian language version is 2008, and for the first few rounds the English language version reverted to 2007 – I couldn’t figure out why Mickey Adams was in it, since he seemed to be simultaneously in London winning the Staunton.

The French Championship takes place in Pau 11th-23rd August 2008. Participants:  Bacrot Etienne g FRA 2691, Vachier-Lagrave Maxime g FRA 2681, Fressinet Laurent g FRA 2673, Bauer Christian g FRA 2583, Sokolov Andrei g FRA 2561, Maze Sebastien g FRA 2553, Vaisser Anatoly g FRA 2542, Nataf Igor-Alexandre g FRA 2534, Degraeve Jean-Marc g FRA 2523, Feller Sebastien g FRA 2523, Apicella Manuel g FRA 2521, Abergel Thal m FRA 2499.  Official site

Hastings has it

20 August 2008, Reported By Julia Taylor

Hastings chess prodigy Stuart Conquest has won the British Chess Championships for the first time.

Grandmaster Stuart, 41, became the World Under 17 Chess Champion in 1984, and won this year's championships earlier this month at St George's Hall, Liverpool.

Former Grove pupil Stuart, who now lives in Spain, beat fellow grandmaster Keith Arkell in the final of the 95th annual championships - the first of which was held in Hastings in 1904.

Congress manager Stewart Reuben said: "I'm sure Stuart is very, very pleased. He is an active player and has had other successes. "He is a professional chess player, and plays individually and as part of teams.

"The trophy is absolutely magnificent, but it is fragile, so we decided very recently to site it permanently at the English Chess Library in Hastings."

Source: http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk
Chess news from Susan Polgar

STAUNTON MEMORIAL - Result

The Category 13 Staunton Memorial takes place from August 7-18 2008, with the rest day on August 13. There will be eleven Grandmasters and 87- year-old IM Bob Wade participating.

Michael Adams became the winner of the Staunton Memorial, which took place in London August 7th-18th. Participants: Adams Michael g ENG 2735, Sokolov Ivan g NED 2658, Short Nigel g ENG 2655, Van Wely Loek g NED 2644, L'Ami Erwin g NED 2610, Smeets Jan g NED 2593, Werle Jan g NED 2591, Timman Jan g NED 2562, Wells Peter g ENG 2526, Speelman Jon g ENG 2524, Cherniaev Alexander g RUS 2431, Wade Robert m ENG 2167.

Final standings
1 Adams - 8.0
2 Van Wely - 7.5
3 Smeets - 7.0
4 Timman - 6.5
5-6 L'Ami, Sokolov - 6.0
7-9 Speelman, Short, Werle - 5.5
10 Wells - 5.0
11 Cherniaev - 3.5
12 Wade - 0.0

Chessville’s columnist GM Ray Keene, OBE, also reported the tournament in his regular Times [of London] column, the International Herald Tribune and here.  Official website

8-16-2008

US Open

Commentary this week has centered around the decline of this event, from some dozen GMs 5 years ago, to just 2 in 2008.  This is also indicated in numbers of participants which parallel USCF’s membership: the overall attendance took a downward trend: 543 players in 2006, 408 in 2007 and 379 in 2008.

USCF membership numbers also took a dive from 2003, membership was around 95,000.  In 2008, it is around 80,000.

Leaders after 8 rounds:

1 Shabalov, Alexander PA 2656 7.0
2 Sevillano, Enrico M CA 2546 7.0
3 Bradford, Joseph Mark TX 2467 7.0
4 Mulyar, Michael A CO 2454 7.0
5 Milovanovic, Rade TX 2422 7.0
6 Vaidya, Chaitanya N TX 2324 7.0

New England Masters

First of all, Chessville’s columnist [1^st caption] has taken part and reports by blog, see http://newenglandmasters.com/blog/ where Andy Hortillosa writes:

“Before round six, my performance rating was 2373. I got three points going into the 6th round against IM Sarkar who already has a GM norm. I lost the game. By the way, I had four chances to make FIDE master in this tournament if I could score just one more point.”

Did he get it?  I’m sure Andy will tell us and also make a detailed report on the tourney in his own column.  2nd caption is of organizer Chris Bird.

Parker Zhao (USA) [3^rd caption] and Victor Kaminski have both scored IM norms with one round to spare.  Alisa Melekhina needs half-point in her final game to score a WGM norm.  Congratulations to Parker and Victor!  Good luck Alisa!  Here is a huge result for Parker [captioned].

Final top-5 standings:
1 Erenburg, Sergey ISR 2563 7.5
2 Gareev, Timur UZB 2570 7.0
3 Vovsha, Eli ISR 2461 6.5
4-7 Kritz, Leonid GER 2610 6.0
4-7 Friedel, Joshua E USA 2524 6.0
4-7 Stopa, Jacek POL 2440 6.0
4-7 Zhao, Parker USA 2242 6.0 (IM norm)

Photo Credits: Tony Cortizas.  Official Site

Chess Media – Edward Winter cannot claim

Chessbase reports as a result of its survey by Edward Winter, columnist, on ‘very best chess books’ the results were (1) Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chess, and then followed a list somewhat downhill from there.  One possibility explanation of the survey is that despite the rather abstruse material usually favored by the article’s author, people who write in are of other sympathy.

RYBKA shows off, again

Rybka alread gave GM Dzindzichashvili pawn and move odds then won by 2.5 -1.5

Could the top chess program give away a pawn and 2 moves to an IM? In a series of games against IM Eugene Meyer, Rybka scored 3.5 – 0.5 and concluded the match with this miniature: [Important! See diagram for start position.  Remove black’s f-pawn and establish a white pawn at e4.]. 1.d4 Nc6 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Qe2 e5 5.dxe5 Nxe5 6.Nxe5 dxe5 7.Nc3 c6 8.Bg5 Bc5 9.f4 Bg4 10.Bxf6 Bxe2 11.Bxd8 Bxc4 12.Bc7 exf4 13.Bxf4 0-0 14.Bg3 Rad8 15.Rd1 Bd4 16.Ne2 Bxb2 17.Rb1 Bf6 18.Rxb7 Bg5 0-1.

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1      a      b      c      d      e       f       g      h

The 4 games were played Potomac/Maryland 09.08.2008.

I was informed this past weekend that at least one of the U.S. players has withdrawn due to safety reason. I do really hope that this can be changed ASAP.  Chess news from Susan Polgar.

Final round results:

Aronian, Levon - Grischuk, Alexander 1-0
Karjakin, Sergey - Radjabov, Teimour 0-1
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Wang Yue ½-½
Gashimov, Vugar - Svidler, Peter 0-1
Jakovenko, Dmitry - Cheparinov, Ivan 1-0
Navara, David - Kamsky, Gata 0-1
Al-Modiahki, Mohamad - Gelfand, Boris ½-½

Final standings:

1. Aronian, Levon g ARM 2737 8½
2. Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2744 8
3. Wang Yue g CHN 2704 7½
4. Kamsky, Gata g USA 2723 7½
5. Svidler, Peter g RUS 2738 7
6. Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2709 7
7. Karjakin, Sergey g UKR 2727 7
8. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2781 6½
9. Gashimov, Vugar g AZE 2717 6½
10. Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2728 6
11. Cheparinov, Ivan g BUL 2687 6
12. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2720 5½
13. Navara, David g CZE 2646 4
14. Al-Modiahki, Mohamad g QAT 2556 4

The Official website is very slow, and in fact rarely worked at all.  These reports courtesy Susan Polgar’s blog.  Official website.

World Junior - Result:

1 GM GUPTA Abhijeet 2551 IND 10
2 GM NEGI Parimerjan 2529 IND 9½
3-7 IM BRAUN Arik 2533 GER 9
GM HOWELL David 2561 ENG 9
GM SAFARLI Eltaj 2527 AZE 9
WGM HOU Yifan 2557 CHN 9
GM AMIN Bassem 2561 EGY 9

World Girl's Championship Final Standings:

1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 10½
2-5 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 9
WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 9
WIM GOMES Mary Ann 2316 IND 9
WFM PAIKIDZE Nazi 2277 GEO 9

Official website

MORE BRIT ACTION – STAUNTON MEMORIAL

The Category 13 Staunton Memorial takes place from August 7-18 2008, with the rest day on August 13. There will be eleven Grandmasters and 87- year-old IM Bob Wade participating.

Standings after 6 rounds:

1. Adams, Michael g ENG 2735 5
2. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2644 4
3. Smeets, Jan g NED 2593 3½
4. Timman, Jan g NED 2562 3½
5. Short, Nigel g ENG 2655 3½
6. Speelman, Jon g ENG 2524 3½
7. Wells, Peter g ENG 2526 3
8. L'Ami, Erwin g NED 2610 2½
9. Sokolov, Ivan g NED 2658 2½
10. Werle, Jan g NED 2591 2½
11. Cherniaev, Alexander g RUS 2431 2½
12. Wade, Robert m ENG 2167 0

Chessville’s columnist GM Ray Keene, OBE, is also reporting the tournament in his regular Times [of London] column.  Official website

8-9-2008

MAGNANIMOUS MAGNUS ON ICC!

Do You Want To Play Magnus Carlsen on the Internet Chess Club (ICC) and help raise money for a good cause?  You may remember last year that World Champion Vishy Anand raised $10,000 on ICC for a charity that was close to his heart?  Well, this year young rising Norwegian star Magnus Carlsen has magnanimously agreed to do a similar fundraising simul at ICC, with 100% of the monies raised going to help a young fellow grandmaster in need of urgent medical treatment.

Serbian GM Dusan Popovic tragically took ill earlier this year and  diagnosed with chronic kidney failure and now is in urgent need of a transplant.  You can read more about Dusan's plight here.

Magnus Carlsen will be giving of his time to help a fellow player in his hour of need by hosting a simultaneous exhibition on ICC on Monday, August 11, with matches beginning at 2pm U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (7pm GMT)

You can PLAY! You can HELP!

Internet Chess Club is offering on eBay 18 seats to play in the simultaneous exhibition with Super-Grandmaster Carlsen.  This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play whom many believe will soon become the world #1 and world champion - and at the same time help towards a good cause.   Twelve seats will be sold in a Dutch Auction, and six seats are offered in this listing at a fixed price.  To view the auctions, go to: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZinternetchessclub

The six people who donate $500 each for these special fixed-price seats will receive a two-year subscription (or two-year renewal) to ICC; a downloadable copy of the latest version of Junior, the three-time world champion chess engine; and a one-year subscription to the world's leading chess magazine, New In Chess—for a total value of about $250!

Your winning bid will earn a seat to play Super Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen on ICC. The time control will be 90 minutes with a 5 second increment. Seats will only be available to players under the rating of 2200 and they will play with the black pieces.

Notes:  All payments must be made by PayPal or credit card within 24 hours of the close of the auction in order to allow time to properly prepare for this event.  You need not be an ICC member in order to participate; you will receive instructions via email upon payment.

ICC members can also pay a modest sum of 5 chekels (or donate more) to play in two large online qualifiers (Saturday, 9 August, 5pm ET and Sunday, 10 August, 4pm ET) with the two winners - and the player with the highest accumulated score from both qualifiers  - winning through to play in the Magnus Carlsen simultaneous.

Please remember that ALL 100% of the proceeds raised will go directly to GM Dusan Popovic's medical fund for his kidney transplant - please give generously to his cause.

The Magnus Carlsen Simultaneous takes place Monday, August 11th with matches beginning at 2pm U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (7pm GMT).

JOHN B. HENDERSON
Director of Marketing
Internet Chess Club

VISHY and SUSAN Contribute

A letter of Support for this Initiative from Susan Polgar states:

I also supported the fundraising effort right from the start to help GM Dusan Popovic when I was informed about this by our friends at Chessdom.  I posted about it here several times.  I personally donated $250 to ICC for GM Popovic.  I urge others to contribute what they can.  Our thoughts and prayers are with him. Susan Polgar

Message of support (and donation of $750!) from World Champion Viswanathan Anand:

I was really saddened when I first heard of GM Dusan Popovic's plight. At such a young age, he has to confront a serious health condition that needs a lot of courage and persistence to combat. I wish him all the best. As a chessplayer, we all know what it is to fight. I am sure he will use these fighting skills he would have honed over the chessboard.

While I know Dusan will be receiving unstinting support from his family and friends, I congratulate Magnus Carlsen in stepping forward in his hour of need with his spontaneous and magnanimous gesture to play on the Internet Chess Club  to help the cause.

It is also nice to see the next generation coming together for a cause that is far greater than the game itself. It is, as Dusan himself states, to be a "game of life" and I am sure the whole chess community will come together as one to participate and contribute to the fundraising efforts on ICC. For my part, I personally pledge $750 to the fund and urge everyone to contribute what they can on the day.

My prayers, thoughts and best wishes are with Dusan and his family during this time and I am sure, like me, the chess community would all wish to see his return to active duty at the chessboard as quickly as possible.

Regards, Viswanathan Anand

---------------------------------

Chess Media – ABC TV & Chessville team-up
…and its all about you, well… maybe?

Chessville reached an agreement with Amanda Gershkowitz, Casting Associate Producer for ABC families hit reality show 'Wife Swap.'  Please read carefully what follows, which is ABC’s approved text, and then contact Amanda directly at her numbers or e-mail address below, if you would like to learn more.

We are currently casting for our fifth season and we are looking for great families that love to play competitive chess!

The premise of Wife Swap is simple: for seven days, two wives from two different families with very different values exchange husbands, children and lives (but not bedrooms) to discover what it's like to live a different family's life. It's an interesting social experiment and a great way to see your family in a whole new light. It is shot as a documentary series, so NO scripts and no set. It's just one camera that is documenting your life.

Families that appear on the show will receive a financial honorarium for lost wages, time and commitment. And if you refer a family that appears on the show you would receive $1000.

Here at 'Wife Swap' we look for a two-parent home with at least one child between the ages of 6 and 17 living at home full time.

If you are interested, please email me your contact information and tell me a little about your family. Or if you would like to refer a family, please email me their contact information and I will be in touch.

Amanda Gershkowitz | Casting Associate Producer | Wife Swap
1790 Broadway | 11^th Floor| New York | NY 10019
tel. + 1 646 747 7949 | fax. + 1 212 586 3419
amanda.gershkowitz@castingrdf.com

Sochi Round 1 results: Grischuk, Alexander - Karjakin, Sergey 1-0 Radjabov, Teimour - Al-Modiahki, Mohamad 1-0 Gelfand, Boris - Jakovenko, Dmitry ½-½ Cheparinov, Ivan - Gashimov, Vugar ½-½ Svidler, Peter - Kamsky, Gata ½-½ Navara, David - Ivanchuk, Vassily ½-½ Wang Yue - Aronian, Levon ½-½ Apologies for the brevity of news on this event, the site has not been operational this week. Official website: http://sochi2008.fide.com

A reader writes: One famous GM describing  another younger GM's style as being "dangerous - like a drunk with a machine-gun" which @ the time I found rather amusing but can't for the life of me remember who they were :) .. Current guesses are Tal, Stein and Nezhmetdinov. Anyone know better, when this was said, where said, which GM spoke of the referenced GM or where the quotation is located in chess literature? Trouble is; a Certain Dr. Dowd already came up with the answer – see “afore ye go” at the end of the column.

The Najdorf Memorial

Takes place August 2-10, 2008.  It is a category 15 event.

Standings after 6 rounds:

1. Sasikiran, Krishnan g IND 2684 5 [captioned]
2. Socko, Bartosz g POL 2627 4
3. Krasenkow, Michal g POL 2639 3½
4. Nyback, Tomi g FIN 2639 3½
5. Berg, Emanuel g SWE 2592 3
6. Balogh, Csaba g HUN 2624 2½
7. Rozentalis, Eduardas g LTU 2599 2½
8. Kempinski, Robert g POL 2613 2
9. Macieja, Bartlomiej g POL 2606 2
10. Olszewski, Michal m POL 2458 2

Official website: http://www.poloniachess.pl/najdorf2008/

Final Cross-Table

A big score for Antoaneta Stefanova, here pictured in an early round playing Marie Sebag, who eventually finished equal second on points scored.

Thanks to Olesya Aleynikova for English translations of each round, which are also available at the Official website.
 

Editor: A late flash update - the tournament is over, and the winners are...

GM Keith Arkell, English Champion 2008; IM Jovanka Houska, British Ladies Champion 2008;
and GM Stuart Conquest British Champion 2008

St George's Hall, site of the 2008 British Championship
 

MORE BRIT ACTION – STAUNTON MEMORIAL

The Category 13 Staunton Memorial takes place from August 7-18 2008, with the rest day on August 13. There will be eleven Grandmasters and 87- year-old IM Bob Wade participating.

Here are the players:

Michael Adams (ENG) 2735

Ivan Sokolov (NED) 2658

Nigel Short (ENG) 2655

Loek van Wely (NED) 2644

Erwin L'Ami (NED) 2610

Jan Smeets (NED) 2593

Jan Werle (NED) 2591

Jan Timman (NED) 2561

Peter Wells (ENG) 2526

Jonathan Speelman (ENG) 2524

Alexander Cherniaev (RUS) 2431

Bob Wade (ENG) 2167

Most fascinating game so far is illustrated here from Round 1 Smeets,Jan - Adams,Michael, White has just played 19.Ke4?  Which provides Adams with a fantastic shot – can you see it?  Answer in Afore Ye Go, below.

According to Chessbase, the last time Adams and Short competed against one another in a classical tournament in their country was at the English KO Championship in 1991.  The Staunton memorial will be the first time ever that these two players have played together in an all play-all tournament there.  Source: Chess Today.

Chessville’s columnist GM Ray Keene, OBE, is also reporting the tournament in his regular Times [of London] column.  Official website.

8-2-2008

Complaint about a Chessville columnist, publisher

Frankly, its my own complaint about ICCF-IM Keith Hayward [captioned] who last week published more analysis about Bird’s Opening with 2… Bg4. [1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Bg4.]

My complaint is that he published it a week late!  And if I had known what I know now, then my own correspondence game against a strong player would be proceeding less nervously.

Can the publisher please try to be more sensitive to what is going on in the real world and publish these articles in a more timely way?

If you missed Keith’s article, its still up – and worth checking out, since unusual second moves are often not as ‘simple’ as they appear, and Keith at least can prepare you for some complexities if you find yourself out-of-the-book on move two.  If you missed it last week, take another look, and perhaps do what I did by following the link to other unusual opening systems and ask yourself, ‘do I have a clue what to do here.’  An interesting and safe experiment you can try at home, and not at the tourney.

His article covers both tactical aspects, and also strategic ideas in this ‘shocking’ opening.  The Parrot will suffer the remains of his own game in silence <mope>.  I think its well known that these ‘deviant’ openings are only for immature players, and I resemble that remark.

SPNI – Big US Tourney for Girls

Final Round Pairings – top boards:

1 Courtney Jamison (2046 : W : 5.0) - Linda Diaz (1726 : W : 4.5)
2 Ashley Carter (1877 : W : 4.0) - Michelle Xue Chen (1762 : B : 4.0)
3 Rebekah Liu (1699 : W : 4.0) - Sylvia S Yang (1911 : B : 3.5)
4 Amelia Wheeless (1711 : B : 3.5) - Rita Mirchandani (1813 : B : 3.5)
5 Eve Zhurbinskiy (1747 : W : 3.5) - Angel Bohannon (1700 : B : 3.5)
6 Nisha Deolalikar (1726 : B : 3.5) - Taylor Bailey (1650 : B : 3.5)
7 Fiona Lam (1727 : B : 3.0) - Alexandra Wiener (1560 : B : 3.5)
8 Rheanna English (1713 : W : 3.0) - Leanne Hwa (1436 : B : 3.0)
9 Brianna Conley (1573 : W : 3.0) - Melanie Newell (1198 : W : 3.0)
10 Ashbea Oyadomari (900 : W : 3.0) - Michelle Farell (1506 : B : 3.0)

And the winner was… 1 Courtney Jamison with 5.5 finishing ahead of 2-3 Linda Diaz 5.0 and Ashley Carter 5.0.

Shown is the SPNI Cup with past Champions:

• 2007: Julia Kerr (New York) and Eunice Rodriguez (Florida)
• 2006: Abby Marshall (Virginia)
• 2005: Anya Corke (California), Alisa Melekhina (Pennsylvania), Abby Marshall (Ohio)
• 2004: Roza Eynullayeva (Massachusetts)

Congratulations to Ashley Carter (Michigan) and Janice Chen (Utah) tied for 1st at the 2008 SPNI Blitz Championship with the score of 4.5 / 5. Congratulations to both Ashley and Janice!

Chess Media

Chess club wants Polgar's e-mails - By Marlena Hartz | Avalanche-Journal

Monday, July 28, 2008, Story last updated at 7/28/2008 - 4:46 pm

A national chess club filed a court request in Lubbock to obtain computer records and testimony from the founders of Texas Tech’s chess institute.

The U.S. Chess Federation, Inc., a non-profit club based in Illinois, wants to determine if chess celebrity Susan Polgar and her husband, Paul Truong, leaked confidential e-mails from the club’s executive board sometime in June, according to court records.

The club is also investigating who impersonated Sam Sloan, a chess writer and former board member, on the Internet, records show.

The club and the couple are co-defendants in a New York lawsuit that Sloan filed in October.

Polgar, Truong and Sloan were vying for seats on the club’s board at the same time. Sloan lost his seat, while the couple won seats. Sloan claims they posted thousands of obscene messages on the Internet in his name, which caused him to lose the election.

Truong denied Sloan’s allegations in a previous interview with The A-J. He and his wife declined to comment on the subpoena on Monday, saying they were not aware of it. The subpoena was filed Wednesday evening.

It’s also tied to a California lawsuit concerning illegal access to Federation e-mails, said Bill Hall, the Federation’s executive director.

A San Francisco judge has ordered Truong and Polgar to give depositions for that suit. The Federation filed a similar request for records and testimony in Lubbock because the couple reside in the city, according to court records.

“There was some inappropriate stuff that happened with e-mail,” Hall said. “There’s evidence they may have some important information related to that.”

Earlier this year, a Federation committee called for Truong’s resignation. He declined to resign, but the issue will be revisited at a club meeting in Dallas next month, Hall said.

Polgar and Truong founded the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence, or SPICE, at Tech last year.

Chess Media – More Bad

The event above is believed to center around a dispute between USCF and its Vendor, Chess Café, which is run by lawyer Hanon Russell. Each claim differing amounts owed USCF, from $14,000 to $85,000. Mr. Russell had previously expressed dismay over the way USCF managed his advertising, by supporting other vendors and also changing the basis of Chess Life membership to ‘optional.

The crime of board members Susan Polgar and Paul Truong appears to be their challenge to the verity of the amount owed USCF.

Reporting of the law-suit goes like this:

“The U.S. Chess Federation, Inc., a nonprofit club based in Illinois, wants to determine if chess celebrity Susan Polgar and her husband, Paul Truong, leaked confidential e-mails from the club's executive board sometime in June, according to court records.”

In other words, not a challenge to the truth of the differences between USCF and Chess Café, but for reporting it. See Latest  News below.

World Mind Sports administration, the USCF way

Latest: USCF now reverses itself and offers Susan Polgar a place on the team, but at short notice, and only if another player drops out. Instead of the 2600 blitz rated GM USCF chose a 1460 blitz rated player. They then simultaneously confounded the issue by bringing a lawsuit on a separate subject, [see above] In terms of representing the US the GM commented:

"This is now a matter between me, the ED, and the USCF. The issue is a lot deeper than just this invitation. I am not able to give you a commitment until things can be resolved between the ED, the USCF, and me. The way I was treated by the USCF is totally unprofessional and inexcusable.  – Susan Polgar.

Sochi

Meanwhile, another tournament has kicked off, and many eyes East and West will be on Gata Kamsky in this run-up to his World Championship Challenge.  In the first round he had black and held Petr Svidler to a draw. Here is the field:

Round 1 results:

Grischuk, Alexander - Karjakin, Sergey 1-0
Radjabov, Teimour - Al-Modiahki, Mohamad 1-0
Gelfand, Boris - Jakovenko, Dmitry ½-½
Cheparinov, Ivan - Gashimov, Vugar ½-½
Svidler, Peter - Kamsky, Gata ½-½
Navara, David - Ivanchuk, Vassily ½-½
Wang Yue - Aronian, Levon ½-½

Official website: http://sochi2008.fide.com

Biel – Result

Standings after 5 rounds were:

1-2 Carlsen, Alekseev 3.5

3-4 Dominguez, Onischuk 3.0

5 Bacrot 1.5

6 Pelletier 0.5

But by Tuesday and Round 7:

Round 7 standings
1 Dominguez - 5.0
2-3 Alekseev, Carlsen - 4.5
4 Bacrot - 3.5
5 Onischuk - 3.0
6 Pelletier - 0.5

Very notable have been the past few rounds, with no draws, 4 wins for black, especially Alekseev’s win with the black pieces over Carlsen. In fact, Evgenny continued to tie Dominguez for first place and also succeeded in the play-off with a score of 2.5 to 1.5. It was a big finish for all, with no games drawn, and our congratulations to the players for their fighting chess.

Mainz 2008
Kosteniuk wins Chess960
Rybka and Shredder qualify

01.08.2008 – Alexandra Kosteniuk [captioned] won the 2nd FiNet Chess960 Women's Rapid World Championship, beating Ukrainian GM Kateryna Lahno in the final of this shuffle chess variant. On the second day of the computer Chess960 world championship Rybka scored nine points out of twelve games, easily qualifying for the final against Shredder (6.5/12).

7-26-2008

US Olympiad Squads Announced

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jerry Nash  jnash@uschess.org

(Crossville, July 18, 2008)  The United States Chess Federation (USCF) announced the teams and captains for the 38th Chess Olympiad scheduled for November 12 – 25, 2008, in Dresden, Germany.

The Chess Olympiads, begun in 1924, are the most prestigious of the world team tournaments organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE).

Teams from more than 100 nations participate in this event scheduled every two years.  In the previous two Olympiads, US teams achieved success in bringing home medals.  In 2004, the US Women’s team won the Silver in Calvia, Spain, and in 2006, the US Men’s team captured the Bronze in Turin, Italy.

The 38th Chess Olympiad United States Teams

Men’s Team: Varuzhan Akobian, Gata Kamsky, Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Onischuk, Yury Shulman, Captain - John Donaldson.

Women’s Team: Tatev Abrahamyan, Rusudan Goletiani, Irina Krush, Katerina Rohonyan, Anna Zatonskih, Captain - Michael Khodarkovsky and Coach - Gregory Kaidanov.

The players were selected by a formula which takes into account several factors including USCF and FIDE ratings.  Yury Shulman and Anna Zatonskih also qualified by winning the 2008 US Men’s and Women’s Chess Championships.

The captains and coaches were selected by a vote of the players of each team.  Significant modifications in the tournament format will impact the play at the 2008 Olympiad.  The event has been reduced from 14 rounds to 11 rounds and scoring has been changed from game to match points.

Another change is the composition of the teams themselves.  The men’s teams have been reduced by one alternate player to the current Four Boards plus One Board alternate player.  The women’s teams have been increased by one player to an identical 4+1 composition.

Official Olympiad Website: www.dresden2008.com

Chessville by Knight

The Chessville Knights of Neep! correspondence team is current playing ***L-I-T-H-U-A-N-I-A*** | Jamaican Blue Mountain | U.S. Veterans Chess Team | International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers | # 1 TEAM CANADA

A second team, The Chessville Hitmen, is playing Western Music: The Classical Period | The Columbian Connection. | Jamaican Blue Mountain | Hodgson's Heroes | All The World | Computer Consultants | Team Tal | Aussies

New teams are always showing up with challenges, and if you would like to play we are building a 3rd team. Contact the Parrot for more information.

Current Chessville challenges to others – notes by team captain Rob Mitchell. [captioned]

1. The United States Chess Federation.... They have been too cautious to even acknowledge the challenge.

2. The English Chess Federation.... They said they will play anyone anytime and any place!  Gotta love the Brits fighting spirit.  We are working out arrangements.

3. The Scottish Chess Federation... Still all quiet in the Highlands.  Hopefully they won't allow the English to outdo them.

4. The Irish Chess Union.... Same as the Scots.  Being of Celtic heritage I had hoped for a quicker reply.  Still waiting a reply from the Emerald Isles as well.

5. Canadian Chess Federation.... They are bringing the matter before their executive board.  Hal Bond is to get back with us soon.

AND Chessville challenged the Susan Polgar chess discussion group, AND despite their star player… pfft!  She is probably afraid of facing the Parrot or King Kong Kelly!

As readers can see, apart from the dreaded Intergalactic Net Travelers we done pretty good!

 This Chessville team won their division scoring 33 of 46 possible points.

Chess Media
Susan Polgar Teases Chess

“I recently found many additional pictures of me playing Fischer Random chess with Bobby Fischer. In addition, I also found a number of our games scores. Maybe one day when I have time, I will publish them with full analysis :)”

– said Susan Polgar writing on her blog site this week.  It is the Parrot’s understanding that Bobby Fischer gave up saying things about women’s ability to play the game after these encounters, but surely she shouldn’t tease us so much!

If she doesn’t have the time to annotate the games, we do!  What do readers think?

Personally it would be a fascinating and irresistible exercise to try to fathom Fischer with completely new game scores – not that I slight Susan Polgar’s contribution to their encounter, since a little bird told me she did rather well.

Chess Media – W Ch off again?

Topalov has not signed contracts for the match with Kamsky and the World Mind Sports Games Danailov informs Chessdom.com in a short telephone call.

Chessdom.com has received a telephone call from Silvio Danailov with interesting information.  Topalov's manager claims that his client has not signed contracts for the match with Kamsky, nor for the World Mind Sports Games scheduled to take place this year in Beijing.

"Following the information that was published these days on your website, I have to inform that Topalov has not signed yet the contracts for the match with Kamsky.  One for the WMSG in Beijing is also not present," said Danailov.  "The only sure participations for Veselin Topalov are in Villarrobledo and in the Grand Slam Final."

With the FIDE President Kirsan Ilymzhinov guaranteeing the money and Lvov starting preparations for the match everything seemed calm.  However, the call from Danailov brings up more questions about the status of the match.  Topalov's manager did not want to reveal more information in the short telephone call and confirmed he will say more after Villarrobledo is over.  Report by Susan Polgar

World Mind Sports administration, the USCF way

Sometimes the Parrot is accused of ‘making it up’ or exaggerating the faults of USCF – to illustrate matters here is a full-length exchange so the reader can assess what’s fair comment.  I certainly couldn’t make up the following…

[A letter addressed to USCF President Bill Goichberg by Susan Polgar.]

Could you please explain why I was never invited or asked to participate in the 1st World Mind Sports Games (Blitz and Rapid) in Beijing, China? I would have been happy to compete in all the possible events to try to bring home the titles for the United States.

I understand that I have to meet the USCF activity requirements for the Olympiad / US Championship. However, the regulation does not apply for an event like this.

Even if you believe that I may not accept the invitation, I would expect a courtesy inquiry. When I received the invitation to represent the U.S. in the Women's World Chess Cup in Dresden, Germany, I accepted and I won.

The last time I played in a rapid event (which was the strongest RR Invitational rapid event in U.S. history), I finished second 1/2 point behind Kamsky and ahead of Onischuk, Ibragimov, Gulko, and Stripunsky (http://main.uschess.org/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,181/).  As I stated above, I also won the Women's World Chess (Rapid) Cup in Dresden, Germany without a single loss.

In addition, I won the last 3 US Open Blitz I played in, the latest one in 2006, by a margin of 2 points. (http://main.uschess.org/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,181/)

The FIDE notification was dated January 3, 2008.  She continued: As you can see, it clearly states the date January 3, 2008.  The ED and the USCF had more than enough time before asking you for help on June 10, 2008 and the deadline on July 14, 2008.  This is precisely the reason why I kept on insisting for the USCF to have a quality control system so this kind of incredible error would not happen.

Lastly, according to your own email on June 10, 2008, Bill Hall was copied on your email to the top players. It is clearly his responsibility to catch an omission this size.

---

After a reply from ex-board member Don Shultz urging USCF to correct the issue, Susan Polgar replied: “Thank you Don. However, the damage has occurred and there is no way back. The deadline has passed. Announcements have been made. Press releases have been issued. Teams have been set. I am stunned that something like this can happen with 7 months notice.”

There followed a response by Bill Goichberg, and Susan Polgar asked again:

Your response does not address my original question.  In addition, IM John Donaldson clearly stated that he was asked to take over this task by you on June 10th.  Why did the USCF wait so long before sending out invitations to players?

In addition, John said the following: "With no previous Mind Sports Olympiad invitation criteria to go by, I stuck with something simple.  I invited the top ten men and women on the July 2008 USCF rating list.  This produced a few positive responses, but I ended up having to go to numbers 20-30 to eventually complete the teams."

On the bottom of this email, John showed us the list of the top 10 players according to the July 2008 list.  When he did not get enough response, he then went further down the list to number 30.

According to USCF's own MSA, Jennifer Shahade last played in 2004 while my last event took place in 2006.  Why is there a different standard for me?  Why did one get an invitation and one did not?

We cannot have things work both ways.  If I am not qualified because of the activity requirement then how come another player who also did not meet this requirement received the invitation and I did not?  And if the activity requirement does not apply in a blitz and rapid event (since this is clearly not the Olympiad or US / US Women's Championship) then why was I not invited?

Problems with core product – Ratings

A couple of recent Chessville articles about the USCF rating system have attracted reader responses.  See an exchange between USCF Delegate Eric Johnson and the author of the articles.  Essentially, the ‘challenge’ reinforces the mix-and-match proposal of the article’s author, so that somewhat random scholastic ratings are combined with mainstream adult ones – with very strange effects.  Russ Mollott, author, concludes on USCF’s ‘fixes’ to problems:

“Unfortunately, they have also made the ratings process practically incomprehensible to the human mind, as only a powerful computer can get through the calculations.  This will make it extremely difficult for anyone to verify the results.”

Biel – Our Alex holds the Kid.

GM Onischuk (2670) - GM Carlsen (2775) [D18]
Biel, 24.07.2008 / Round 4

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0–0 Nbd7 9.Qe2 Bg4 10.h3 Bxf3 11.Qxf3 0–0 12.Rd1 e5 13.d5 Bxc3 14.dxc6 e4 15.Qe2 Be5 16.cxd7 Qe7 17.Ra2 Rfd8 18.b3 Rxd7 19.Rxd7 Qxd7 20.Rd2 Qe7 21.Rd1 h6 22.Qa2 Rd8 23.Rxd8+ Qxd8 24.Qd2 Qe7 25.Qa5 b6 26.Qd2 a5 27.Bb2 Bxb2 28.Qxb2 Kf8 29.Qd4 Qc7 30.Kf1 Ke7 31.Ke2 g5 32.g3 Qc5 33.Qxc5+ bxc5 34.f4 Ne8 35.g4 Nd6 36.Bd5 Kf6 37.Kf2 Kg6 38.Kg3 f6 39.Be6 Game drawn ½–½
 

A few rounds later Alex O had the black pieces against the co-leader, and did it again:

GM Alekseev (2708) - GM Onischuk (2670) [C55]
25.07.2008 / Biel - Round 5

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 a6 6.Bb3 d6 7.0–0 0–0 8.Be3 Bxe3 9.fxe3 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Qe2 Be6 12.Nbd2 Qe7 13.d4 exd4 14.exd4 Nf4 15.Qe4 Bxb3 16.Qxf4 Bd5 17.Nh4 Be6 18.Rae1 Qd6 19.Qxd6 cxd6 20.Nf5 Rad8 21.Ne3 d5 22.Nb3 b6 23.Nc1 Rfe8 24.Nd3 f6 25.Nf4 Bf7 26.Nf5 Kf8 27.g4 Ne7 28.Nxe7 Rxe7 29.Kf2 Rde8 30.Rxe7 Rxe7 31.h4 Re4 32.Kg3 Re3+ 33.Kf2 Re4 34.Kg3 Re3+ Game drawn ½–½
 

Susan Polgar wrote: Here are the live ratings after 3 rounds in Biel.  Magnus has pulled within 1.6 point of Anand and he has 7 more rounds to make history.

1 Anand  2798.0

2 Carlsen  2796.4

3 Ivanchuk  2791.5

4 Morozevich  2788.0

5 Topalov  2777.0

6 Kramnik  2772.9

Standings after 5 rounds:

1-2 Carlsen, Alekseev 3.5

3-4 Dominguez, Onischuk 3.0

5 Bacrot 1.5
6 Pelletier 0.5

7-5-2008

Chess Media GM Baburin wants your opinion GM Baburin comments on the [slow] July FIDE rating list: The trouble with omitting Foros is that FIDE broke its own rules on several occasions in the past (i.e. for Linares).  I am not calling on FIDE to break rules again – I think that FIDE should set a different deadline for submitting tournaments for rating - the current period of 15 days is ridiculous in this day and age – do chess organisers deliver tournament cross-tables using horses?  Do FIDE guys calculate them using pen and paper?  Hardly...  With e-mail and computer calculations something like 2 days would be a reasonable deadline – and then FIDE should make no exceptions!

And here is your prize for beating the Parrot, from a Chessville advertiser: The Colle just grew up … and now it eats “silver bullets” for breakfast! ZUKE ‘EM: The Colle-Zukertort Revolutionized Refining the main line, Refuting the pet defenses, Redefining what an opening book should be. New ideas against … practically all defenses  www.zukertort.com You win, you get one!

This may sound like a theoretical dispute for some chess fans, but for the chess pros affected it could mean serious loss (or gain) of income! If you have an opinion on these matters and would like to share it with other CT readers, drop me a note to ababurin@iol.ie

California (Northern) Conf Rebekah Liu
California (Southern) Conf Nisha Deolalikar
Colorado Conf Alexandra Lasley
Connecticut Conf Alexandra Wiener
Delaware Conf Ann Marie Fitch
District of Columbia
Florida Conf Rita Mirchandani
Georgia Conf Ananya Roy
Hawaii Conf Ashbea Oyadomari
Idaho Conf Erica Barkell
Illinois Conf Sonya Vohra
Indiana Conf Emily Tallo
Iowa Conf Dhrooti Vyas
Kansas Conf Katrina Pritchard
Kentuck
Louisiana
Maine Conf Sorel Edes
Maryland Conf Fiona V. Lam
Massachusetts Conf Michelle Chen
Michigan Conf Ashley Carter
Minnesota Conf Morgan Mahowald
Mississippi Conf Melanie Newell
Missouri Conf Joanna Gossell
Montana
Nebraska Conf Elizabeth Oliver
Nevada
New Hampshire Conf Avary Bell
New Jersey Conf Eve Zhurbinskiy
New Mexico Conf Rebecca Anne DeLand
New York Conf Linda Diaz
North Carolina Conf Amelia Wheeless
North Dakota
Ohio Conf Brianna Conley
Oklahoma Conf Michelle Farell
Oregon Conf Taylor Bailey
Pennsylvania Conf Shinan Jin
Rhode Island
South Carolina Conf Hannah Whatley
South Dakota Conf Kaitlynn Loos
Tennessee Conf Autumn Douthitt
Texas Conf Sylvia Yang
Texas Conf Rheanna English
Utah Conf Jamie Olsen-Mills
Vermont
Virginia Conf Susan Brown
Washington Conf Leanne Hwa
West Virginia Katherine E. King
Wisconsin Conf Mira Ensley-Field
Wyoming
WILD CARD Conf Victoria Bian
Special Invitation Conf Courtney Jamison
SPNatOpen Conf Claudia E. Munoz
LVPolgarWorldGirls Conf Annie Wang-U8
LVPolgarWorldGirls Conf Alisha Chawla-U8
LVPolgarWorldGirls Conf Rebecca Lelko-U19
All Star Team Conf Michelle Xueying Chen

Chess Media – Ding-dong

“Our Nigel” speaks up again at Chessbase and causes a [usual] furor, this time with the UK Telegraph’s Jonathon Rowson, Scotland’s top player. Nigel Short is for sure a plain-speaker, and unlikely diplomat, and instead of indepent country teams, opined on a joint UK team incorporating Scotland with the English one. A too-and-fro interchange ensued, Short mocking Fide’s acceptance of each individual UK country, and causing this reponse from Rowson on Short:

In a brief remark published on Wednesday, he labeled the notion as offensive and betraying "complete ignorance of the unique geopolitical situation in Britain, where several nations peacefully coexist within one nation state".

But this elicited an angry reaction from Short, who mocked the status quo where five federations are recognized by FIDE, chess's governing body.

The Parrot doesn’t really understand why Our Nigel brought this all up – or what it would achieve if there was any ‘unification’, except that the Parrot’s family lived in the Highlands of Scotland for a thousand years, and hardly recognised even the Lowlands as being very different from the Sassenachs proper – and with substantially differing culture and values. Sassenachs in the highlands is a version of ‘Saxons’, and a relatively polite terms used to describe English people.

While the interchange will no doubt continue for a week, I suggest to GM Rowson an old saw: “There is good, even in a Saxon.” Though, in truth, it is not much said.

Chess Media USCF Board dislikes interviews, likes leaks   I will post a few items (of dozens and dozens) of leaks by the board to Jerry Hanken (now that I have a written consent by the other side) and others as soon as I have a chance. Then all USCF members will see the pattern of conduct by the board majority, wrote Susan Polgar this week. The item below will show the conduct of Bill Goichberg and other board members (this was copied / sent / forwarded to other USCF insiders and it floated around and even landed on one of the public forums and finally it got back to me). There was no discussion or debate, just an under the table deal instigated by the President himself.

State of Play A week is a long time in chess politics and this week the fur flew and a gauntlet too. Susan Polgar offered to resign if USCF material was released and her statements were proved wrong. On the other hand, she said, if she was proved right, President Bill Goichberg should resign along with the rest of the board. If you would like to read more about the specifics of ‘the gauntlet’ try this URL.

"What should we do about military liaison? ...I see no evidence that she has done any work for USCF as a board member; she seems motivated entirely by self interest....

...Probably just as well, as if she did speak to him it's not likely she would have been working in the interests of USCF.

...I wish we could remove her as Scholastic liaison, but don't know who could replace her. At least, one of you should become military liaison. If you could discuss this with each other and one of you make a motion that the other be the liaison, that would be very good."

And the truth is that Susan Polgar has been working with top levels of military chess for this year’s event – The Parrot knows because he was too. I also know there was no independent USCF presence, didn’t cost USCF a red cent, and why why why when so many other things need attention, are board members conspiring in the dark to destructively compete with existing healthy relationships in promotion of chess?

Mangalia Chess Festival With New Scoring System Chessdom made the first report about the innovative 3, 1, 0, scoring system – what do readers think? European Champion Sergei Tiviakov wins with 23 points from 9 rounds. The 2nd Mangalia International Chess Festival, popular "Neptun", took place on June 21-29 at the Romanian Black Sea coast. The tournament was exceptionally strong, with European Champion Sergei Tiviakov as top seeded, but the first thing that catches the wandering journalist's eye is highly unusual scoring system. Here are the tournament rules: each game bears three points instead of the "normal" one. In case of decisive result, the winner receives three points, the defeated signs zero. But if the game ends in a draw, each player takes one point and then they move in to play Armageddon blitz game (5 minutes for White, 4 for Black + draw odds) for the remaining third point. Thus a game can give 3-0 or 2-1 score.

Editors Note Readers are asked to consider this variation of 3, 1, 0, scoring system at Mangala, rather than the Armageddon finish.  The Parrot thinks he knows your opinion on that.  The twist with this particular tournament is that by playing another blitz game the result can be that you score 2 points as result of your initial draw, and therefore the result of two drawn games can be 4 points, whereas for a win and a loss only 3 points.  The result can actually reward drawish play rather than penalize it as in other 3, 1, 0 systems. Any opinions or experience of these novel systems out there?  Write to the Parrot.

However, in regard with FIDE rating calculations, the usual 1; 0.5; 0 system applies. This extravagant scoring plan will surely cause lots of discussion, particularly in combination with the issue of Armageddon games, raised after the US Women's Championship tiebreak.

Final leader standings:
1. GM Sergei Tiviakov (NED 2635) - 23 points (5 wins)
2. IM Jean-Pierre Le Roux (FRA 2482) - 20 (6)
3-6. GM Erwin L'Ami (NED 2600), GM Viorel Iordachescu (MDA 2584), GM Dmitry
Svetushkin (MDA 2568) and IM Gergely Szabo (ROU 2516) - 19 etc

Big Bucks at Bilbao

[convert Euros to Dollars at 1.5] The Bilbao super tournament will take place on September 2-13, 2008. The field is very strong with 6 players competing in a double round robin format: Anand, the in form Vassily Ivanchuk, Veselin Topalov, Magnus Carlsen, Teimour Radjabov and Levon Aronian.  Time control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and another 60 minutes to finish the game. The total prize fund amounts to €400,000:

€150,000 for 1st
€70,000 for 2nd
€60,000 for 3rd
€50,000 for 4th
€40,000 for 5th
€30,000 for 6th

The players:

Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2798
Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2781
Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2777
Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2775
Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2744
Aronian, Levon g ARM 2737

Susan Polgar will be joining former WC Boris Spassky and the best chess commentator in the world Mr. Leontxo Garcia at the commentary booth.

The Sparkassen Chess-Meeting takes place in Dortmund 28th June - 6th July 2008. Participants: Kramnik Vladimir RUS 2788, Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2752, Leko Peter HUN 2741, Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2740, Van Wely Loek NED 2676, Nepomniachtchi Ian RUS 2634, Naiditsch Arkadij GER 2623, Gustafsson Jan GER 2603.  Official site

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