2007
Morozevich leads Russian Championship.
Peter Parr (SMH 31/12/07)
Alexander Morozevich,ranked fourth in the world,leads the Russian Championship Super-Final in Moscow half a point ahead of Alexander Grischuk with one round to play. E.Inarkiev 2674 v A.Dreev 2607 D43 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Be2 Nbd7 10. O-O b4 11. Na4 Nxe4 12. Be5 Nef6 13. Rc1 Bb7 14. Re1 Qe7 15. Rxc4 Rd8 16. Nc5 Nxc5 17. Rxc5 Bg7 18. Qa4 g4 19. Nd2 O-O 20. Qxb4 Nd5 21. Qa5 f6 22. Bg3 f5 23. Be5 Bxe5 24. dxe5 Nf4 25. Bf1 Kh7 26. Nc4 Rg8 27. Nd6 Nh3+ 28. gxh3 gxh3+ 29. Kh1 Qh4 30. Qc3 Qxf2 31. Bxh3 Rg7 32. Rf1 Rdg8 33. Qc1 Qh4 34. Qe3 Ba6 35. Rcc1 Bxf1 36. Rxf1 Rg3 37. Bxf5+ exf5 38. Qxa7+ R3g7 39. Qe3 Rg2 40. h3 R2g3 41. Qa7+ R8g7 0-1
Leading scores after 10 rounds(11rounds,12players,av rating2656) A.Morozevich(2755) 7,A.Grischuk(2715)6.5, E.Tomashevsky(2646)6,E.Inarkiev(2674) 5.5,D.Jakovenko (2710) and A.Dreev(2607) 5. E.Tairova 2391 and E.Korbut lead the Womens Championship with 7/10.
International Master Zong-Yuan Zhao from Coffs Harbour NSW,The Australian Open Champion,has scored 2.5/3 in a round robin grandmaster tournament in Mondariz,Spain. Zhao needs to score a 2600 GM result in this event and again in Gibraltar in a few weeks time to become a grandmaster. Z.Zhao(AUS 2491) WGM S.Vega-Gutierrez (ESP 2331) A00 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 c3 d5 4 e5 a6 5 d4 Qb6 6 Bd3 Bd7 7 0-0 cxd4 8 cxd4 Bb5 9 Nc3 Bxd3 10 Qxd3 Nc6 11 Be3 Nge7 12 Rfc1 Nc8 13 a3 a5 14 Na4 Qa6 15 Qb3 b5 16 Nc5 Qb6 17 Qd3 N8a7 18 Rc2 h6 19 Rac1 Be7 20 b3 Rd8 21 Qd2 b4 22 a4 0-0 23 Bxh6 gxh6 24 Qxh6 Nb8 25 Ng5 Bxg5 26 Qxg5+ Kh7 27 Rc3 1-0
Leading players on the January 2008 World Rating List - V.Kramnik(RUS 2799)+14,V.Anand(IND 2799)-2,V.Topalov(BUL 2780)+11,A.Morozevich(RUS 2765)+10,P.Svidler(RUS 2763)+31,S.Mamedyarov(AZE 2760)+8,A.Shirov(ESP 2755)+16,P.Leko(HUN 2753)-2,V.Ivanchuk(UKR 2751)-36,L.Aronian(ARM 2739)-2. Juniors- M.Carlsen(NOR 2733),S.Karjakin(UKR 2732). Women-J.Polgar(HUN 2707),H.Koneru(IND 2612),J.Xie(CHN 2574),C.Zhu(QAT 2548),Y.Hou(CHN 2527). Leading countries (143,average top 10) Russia 2721(174 GM,448 IM,1770 titled),Ukraine 2680(64 GM),Israel 2636(34 GM),USA 2633(61 GM),China 2631(20 GM).Australia is ranked 55th at 2450(2 GM,18 IM,75 titled)and New Zealand is 67th at 2360(1 GM,6 IM,26 titled).
Leading Australian players - GM I.Rogers 2545,IM Z.Zhao 2487,GM D.Johansen 2475,IM S.Solomon 2468,IM D.Smerdon 2459,T.Tao 2422,IM A.Wohl 2418,IM G.Xie 2413,IM G.Lane 2412,IM M.Chapman 2402. Women - IM I.Berezina 2246,WM A.Sorokina 2194,WM N.Phan-Koshnitsky 2168,WM A.Caoili 2144,WM B.Dekic 2134
The top ten seeds in the Australian Championship starting on Wednesday at Parramatta RSL Club are GM D.Antic(SRB) 2480,GM D.Johansen(VIC) 2475,IM S.Solomon(QLD) 2468,IM G.Xie(NSW) 2413,IM G.Lane(NSW) 2412,FM I.Goldenberg (VIC) 2395,IM H.Van Riemsdijk (BRA)2391,FM I.Bjelobrk (NSW)2381,M.Ly (QLD) 2319 and FM G.Canfell(NSW) 2315. There are 36 players in the title event and over 100 players in the supporting tournaments.
The Sydney Morning Herald will publish regular extra chess columns to cover the Australian Championships 2-11 January and the Australian Junior Championships at Cranbrook School,Sydney 13-25 January.
Kamsky wins World Cup
Peter Parr (SMH 24/12/07)
Gata Kamsky,born in Siberia in 1974,has won the 128 player World Cup knock-out match tournament in Khanty-Mansiysk,Siberia.Kamsky went through the event undefeated winning 7 and drawing 11 for an overall performance rating of 2822. Kamsky beat Alexei Shirov 2.5-1.5 in the World Cup Final. Kamsky (USA) will now play a match late next year against ex world champion Veselin Topalov(BUL). The winner of this match will become the official challenger for the World Title against the winner of the Anand-Kramnik match. The twelve game Title match(prize fund $2.5 million) between Viswanathan Anand(India),the defending champion, and Vladimir Kramnik(Russia)will be held in Bonn,Germany October 11-30th 2008.
The Super-Final of the 60th Russian Championship is in progress in Moscow. F.Amonatov 2637 v A.Timofeev 2637 B89 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 Be7 8. Qe2 a6 9. O-O-O O-O 10. Bb3 Nd7 11. Kb1 Qc7 12. f4 Nc5 13. f5 Ne5 14. g4 b5 15. a3 Rb8 16. g5 Re8 17. h4 b4 18. axb4 Nxb3 19. cxb3 Rxb4 20. f6 Bd8 21. h5 Bb7 22. fxg7 h6 23. gxh6 Kh7 24. Rhg1 Rg8 25. Qg2 Qe7 26. Nf3 Bb6 27. Ng5+ Kxh6 28. Nxf7+ Kh7 29. Qg6+ Nxg6 30. hxg6+ Kxg7 31. Bh6+ Kf6 32. Rdf1+ 1-0
P.Svidler 2732 v A.Dreev 2607 B63 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. O-O-O Nxd4 9. Qxd4 O-O 10. f3 a6 11. h4 b5 12. Kb1 Bb7 13. Bd3 Rc8 14. g4 Nd7 15. Be2 Rc6 16. a3 Bxg5 17. hxg5 Qxg5 18. Rh5 Qf4 19. Rdh1 Nf6 20. R5h3 Rfc8 21. Bd3 h6 22. Ne2 Qd2 23. e5 Rxc2 24. Bxc2 Qxc2+ 25. Ka1 dxe5 26. Qxe5 Nd7 27. Qe3 Qc5 28. Rxh6 gxh6 29. Qxh6 Qe5 30. Rh5 Rc5 31. Rxe5 Rxe5 32. Nf4 Bd5 33. b4 Re1+ 34. Kb2 f6 35. Ng6 Re2+ 36. Kc1 1-0
Leading scores after round 4 (12 players,av 2656,11 rounds) Morozevich 2755,Grischuk 2715,Tomashevsky 2646,Vitiugov 2594,Amonatov 2637 all 2.5 and 5 players on 2 points.
Final placings in the 2007 Myer Tan Australian Chess Grand Prix (60 events) 1st GM D.Antic(SRB),2nd IM S.Solomon(QLD),3rd GM I.Rogers (NSW),4th FM I.Bjelobrk (NSW),5th IM P.Froehlich (QLD). Women - 1st WIM N.Szuveges(VIC),2nd WIM L.Moylan(NSW). Junior- D.Stojic(VIC),Girls-WIM A.Jule(QLD),Under 2000-FM G.Nakauchi(QLD),Under 1600-C.Antolis(VIC),unr K.Ringrose (QLD).
The Australian Championship and supporting events have so far attracted 120 players from 2nd-11th January at Parramatta RSL Club. Top seeds in the title event are GM D.Antic,GM D.Johansen,IM S.Solomon,FM I.Bjelobrk,IM G.Xie,IM G.Lane,FM I.Goldenberg and IM H.Van Riemsdijk.
Fifteen-year-old Gill Morris of the Blue Mountains has won the NSW Country Junior Championship,half a point ahead of Alex Mehan of Newcastle and Garry Mann of Blayney. The Under 12 title has been retained by James Brodnik of Wollongong with a large margin of three points;equal second were Bradley McKinnon of Ardlethan,Paul Russell of the Central Coast and Jordan Morris of Bulli. The championships were conducted in three preliminary divisions,in the north,west and south of the state,followed by finals in Sydney.
The NSW Junior Chess League will be holding a one-day tournament on Thursday 3rd January and a two-day event on Wed/Thur 9th-10th January. These tournaments are suitable for all levels of player. The League will also be conducting the Australian Junior Championships in Sydney 13th-25th January. For details of all these events see www.nswjcl.org.au or contact Richard Gastineau-Hills,phone 9412 4579.
Grandmaster result for Zhao
Peter Parr (SMH 17/12/07)
Sydney University pharmacy student 21-year-old IM Zong Yuan-Zhao,scored his first Grandmaster norm (over 2600 rating performance)in Budapest last week. Zhao started slowly with 2/4 but won his last 5 games to tie for first place with GM Zlatko Ilincic(SRB 2545). IM Z.Zhao (AUS 2491) v GM G.Kosanovic (SRB 2400) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Nc2 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Be2 b6 9. O-O Bb7 10. f3 d6 11. Be3 Rc8 12. Qd2 Na5 13. b3 Qc7 14. Rac1 Qb8 15. Rfd1 Rfd8 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. exd5 e6 18. dxe6 fxe6 19. Nd4 Bxd4 20. Bxd4 Qc7 21. Qg5 Qf7 22. Qg3 Qe7 23. h4 Nc6 24. h5 d5 25. Be3 d4 26. Bg5 1-0.
Zhao will now be rated over 2500 and needs two more GM norms for the grandmaster title. Zhao is due to play in Spain followed by Gibraltar to try and achieve his other two norms. Zhao was an International Master at the age of 14 and this year won the Australian Open with 9.5/11 (2673 performance rating) and later won the Oceania zonal with 7/9.
The 280 player Commonwealth Championship in New Delhi resulted in a tie for first place between Grandmaster R.Ramesh (IND 2473),the winner on countback from GM S.Ganguly(IND 2585) each scoring 8.5/10. Results of the 8 Australians - IM A.Wohl 2415 was undefeated drawing with 4 GM's from India Ganguly 2585,Kunte 2547,Barua 2491 and Neelotpal 2489. Wohl scored 7 points (performance 2478). IM D.Smerdon 2466 also scored 7 (performance 2451),G.Oliver (2164) 6,WFM S.Oliver (1940) 5.5,B.Harris (2015) 5,WIM A.Jule (1896) 4,WFM R.Harris(1819) 4,H.Hughes( -)2.5
Gata Kamsky beat Magnus Carlsen (aged 17) 1.5-0.5 in the World Cup semi-final in Khanty-Mansiysk,Siberia and Alexei Shirov defeated Sergey Karjakin (aged 17) 2.5-1.5. Kamsky leads the four game final match 2-1 (two draws and the following fighting win). G.Kamsky USA 2714-A.Shirov ESP 2739 B30 7.2 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Nc3 e5 4 Bc4 Be7 5 d3 d6 6 Nd2 Bg5 7 Qh5 Nh6 8 h3 Nd4 9 0-0 0-0 10 Nb3 Bxc1 11 Raxc1 Ne6 12 Ne2 Qf6 13 Nd2 Kh8 14 c3 g5 15 d4 Rg8 16 dxe5 dxe5 17 Nf3 Rg6 18 h4 Qg7 19 Bxe6 Bxe6 20 hxg5 f6 21 gxf6 Rxg2+ 22 Kh1 Qxf6 23 Qxe5 Qxe5 24 Nxe5 Rg5 25 f4 Rh5+ 26 Kg1 Rg8+ 27 Kf2 Rh2+ 28 Ke3 Rgg2 29 Ng1 Rxb2 30 f5 Bxa2 31 Rcd1 Rbc2 32 Rd8+ Ng8 33 Ngf3 Rxc3+ 34 Kf4 Rh6 35 Rg1 Rf6 36 Ng5 h6 37 Ngf7+ 1-0 (after 37..Bxf7 38 Nxf7+ Rxf7 39 Rgxg8+ Kh7 40 Rh8+ Kg7 41 Rdg8+ kf6 42 e5+ Ke7 43 Re8+ Kd7 44 e6+).
Kamsky needs only to draw the fourth game to be the overall winner of the 128 player World Cup. Kamsky was born in Siberia in 1974,won the Soviet under 20 Championship twice but moved to the USA in 1989. He won world title qualifying matches against Anand and Kramnik but lost the 1996 World Title match against Karpov. He was ranked third in the world but retired from chess from 1997-2004 graduating in law. Kamsky's comeback is most impressive.
Wesley So (PHI) has become the 7th youngest GM (youngest Karjakin age 12, 3rd youngest Carlsen at 13) in history at the age of 14 yrs 1 month. 15-year-old GM Fabiano Caruana(2594) has won the Championship of Italy(pr 2729)with 9.5/11 - 3 points clear of the field.
1050 Teams in NSW Primary Schools
Peter Parr (SMH 10/12/07)
The NSW Primary Schools Competition, which was contested by 1050 four-player teams from 385 schools, has been concluded after a lengthy series of finals matches between the zone and regional winners. Summer Hill Public School won the Metropolitan Championship and Wollongong Public School won the Country Championship, with Summer Hill winning the grand final to claim the NSW Primary Schools title.
Winners of the Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition, held in three grades based on school year, were: Junior Grade (Years 7-8) Sydney Boys High School, Intermediate Grade (Years 9-10) Blue Mountains Grammar School, and Senior Grade (Years 11-12) Knox Grammar School. The Country Secondary Schools Competition, which culminated in a finals tournament between the six country region winners, was won by Merewether High School of Newcastle.
The Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments, a series of tournaments in 33 districts around the state for teams of three players has also been completed. The Country Districts finals, was won by Wollongong Public School ahead of the other 13 country district winners, and the State finals, contested 59 teams (the top teams from the 19 metropolitan tournaments together with the four highest-placed country finals teams) was won by Summer Hill Public School. A total of 1010 teams from 275 schools took part in the Primary Schools One-Day series.
Results of the schools representing NSW in the Australian Schools Teams Championships in Brisbane: Secondary Open – Knox Grammar School 4th 9.5/20; Secondary Girls – North Sydney Girls High School 1st 16.5/20 ; Primary Open and Primary Girls – Summer Hill Public School 4th 11.5/20,girls 3rd 9/20.
NSW country teams final scores Gosford One 12.5/15,Katoomba 10.5,Gosford 9,Blayney and Bathurst 8.5(12 teams).
The Australian Championship(entries close on December 16th) and supporting events will be held at Parramatta RSL Club 2-11 January 2008.
The semi-final matches of the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk,Siberia are between Magnus Carlsen(NOR 2714,aged 17) v Gata Kamsky(USA 2714,aged 33) and S.Karjakin(UKR 2694,aged 17)v A.Shirov(ESP 2739,aged 35). Carlsen was a GM at the age of 13.Kamsky,born in Siberia,was twice Soviet Under 20 Champion before the age of 15.Karjakin was the youngest GM ever at the age of 12. Shirov was World Under 16 Champion in 1988.
R.Ponomariov (UKR 2705) v K.Sasikiran (IND 2661) World Cup Rd 4.1 D20 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 e5 4. Nf3 exd4 5. Bxc4 Nc6 6. O-O Be6 7. Bb5 Bc5 8. b4 Bb6 9. a4 a6 10. Bxc6+ bxc6 11. Nbd2 Nf6 12. Qc2 O-O 13. Qxc6 Re8 14. Bb2 Bd7 15. Qc2 Qe7 16. Nxd4 Qxb4 17. Bc3 Qc5 18. a5 Ba7 19. Rac1 Rac8 20. Rfe1 Qh5 21. Nf1 Ng4 22. f3 Ne5 23. Kh1 g6? 24. Ne3 c6 25. f4 Ng4 26. Nxg4 Bxg4 27. Ba1 Bb8 28. Rf1 Qh6 29. Qc3 f6 30. Qb3+ Kg7 31. e5!c5 32. Qb7+ Rc7 33. Qb6 Rf7 34. Nc6 Bc7 35. Qxc5 Qh4 36. exf6+ Kh6 37. Ne7 Bd8 38. Qc4 Rff8 39. Ng8+ Kh5 40. f7 Re7 41. Bf6 1-0
Australian Open Champion IM Zong-Yuan Zhao (2491)was knocked out by Carlsen in a first round match in Siberia but has scored 5/7 (rating performance 2582) so far in the Budapest Grandmaster tournament.Zhao started with 2/4 and won the next 3 rounds.Zhao needs to win his last two games to achieve a GM norm(2600+ performance).
Eight Australians are competing in the British Commonwealth Championship in New Delhi. IM Aleks Wohl (AUS 2415)is undefeated on 5.5/8 drawing with Indian Grandmasters Ganguly 2585,Kunte 2547 and Barua 2491. IM David Smerdon (AUS 2466) has scored 5 points.
Sixteen left in Siberia
Peter Parr (SMH 03/12/07)
The third round matches in the 128 player World Cup knock-out match tournament in Khanty-Mansyisk,Western Siberia finished this morning leaving only 16 players. The top 18 seeds all won their first round matches. GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR 2714) defeated IM Zong-Yuan Zhao(AUS 2491)2-0 in round 1 and like Alexei Shirov is through to the last 16. The second and third seeds Mamedyarov and Radjabov of Azerbaijan have been knocked out.
A.Shirov ESP 2739 v Y.Shulman USA 2616 C18 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 cxd4 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 Qc7 10. Ne2 Nbc6 11. f4 Bd7 12. Qd3 dxc3 13. Rg1 O-O-O 14. g4 d4 15. h4 Be8 16. h5 f6 17. exf6 Nd5 18. Bh3 Kb8 19. g5 Bxh5 20. Bxe6 Bxe2 21. Kxe2 Rge8 22. f5 Qe5+ 23. Kf3 Qh2 24. Qf1 Ne3 25. Bxe3 dxe3 26. Rd1 e2 27. Qxe2 Ne5+ 28. Ke3 Qh3+ 29. Kf4 Nc6 30. Qg4 Qh2+ 31. Qg3 Qxc2 32. f7 Rh8 33. g6 Rxd1 34. g7 Rhd8 35. f8=Q Rxg1 36. Qxg1 Qd2+ 37. Qe3 Ka8 38. Qxd2 cxd2 39. Bb3 1-0
Final scores of the 17 Australians in the World Youth Championship in Antalya, Turkey (1436 players including 143 titled,from 91 countries in 12 divisions, each 11 rounds).U18:- D.Stojic 4, U18G - WIM A.Jule 5.5, U16G - J.Kinder 5, U14 - R.Vijayakumar 4.5, U14G - S.Yu 6.5, U12 - FM G.Nakauchi 7.5, U12G - E.Guo 5, L.Simmonds 4.5, A.Kanagarajah 4.5, U10 - O.Wang 5.5, C.Koh 5, U10G - C.Koh 5,M.Mithran 4.5, U8 - S.Gu 7, A.Smirnov 6.5, C.Gray 5.5 E.Derwent 5.FIDE Master Gene Nakauchi of Queensland scored the best Australian result and was in equal second place with 7.5/9 but lost the last two rounds.Bobby Cheng of New Zealand was placed 4th in the Under 10 scoring 8.5/11. Russian Grandmaster Ivan Popov won the under 18 with 9/11(performance rating 2682). Russia won 5 gold,2 silver,2 bronze medals ahead of China 1 gold and 4 bronze. The Commonwealth Championship starts today in New Delhi with 280 players including nine Australians led by International Masters David Smerdon 2466 and Aleksander Wohl 2415.
The Australian Chess Federation has rated 125 tournaments(93 classic,32 rapid) and 8748 games (6622 classic,2126 rapid) in the past three months. Leading players: December 2007 - GM I.Rogers(NSW)2605=,IM Z.Zhao(NSW)2560 =,IM D.Smerdon(VIC)2471=,GM D.Johansen(VIC) 2439 +15,IM S.Solomon(QLD)2429 -18,FM I.Bjelobrk(NSW)2416 -7,IM G.Xie(NSW)2414 +8,IM G.Lane(NSW)2377 -28,T.Tao(SA) 2375=,FM I.Goldenberg(VIC)2356 -35. U-20 S.Chow(VIC)2320,U-18 and U-16 M.Ly(QLD)2305,J.Ikeda(ACT)2233,U-14 Z.Lin(VIC)2135,U-12 Y.Yuan (ACT) 1935,U-10 R.Sam (WA)1602.Seniors over 60-IM M.Rujevic(VIC)2234,FM A.Flatow(NSW)2172,B.Vojvodic(NSW)2166. Over 70-P.Viner(NSW)2013. Women-WIM A.Caoili(QLD)2157,G.Nguyen(SA)2102,WIM L.Moylan(NSW)2017,WFM A.Song(NSW) 1915,A.Musaeva(NSW)1887.
The Championship of Victoria resulted in a tie for first place between FM Igor Goldenberg 2391 and IM Mirko Rujevic 2216.The title will be decided in a play-off match. GM Dejan Antic and IM George Xie tied for first place in the Fisher's Ghost at Campbelltown Catholic Club. St.George defeated Norths 20.5-15.5 in the 2nd leg of the big board match at St. George Leagues Club last Tuesday evening.IM George Xie (2406 St. George) defeated FM Malcolm Stephens (2327 Norths) on top board.
Norths won the first leg 29.5-11.5 leaving Norths the overall winners 45-32.
Kramnik Wins Tal Memorial
Peter Parr (SMH 26/11/07)
Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik won the Tal Memorial in Moscow by scoring four wins with the white pieces and drawing five games. The result,a 2901 performance,will make Kramnik World Number 1 on the Jan 2008 World rating list just above World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India.
V.Kramnik 2785 v S.Mamedyarov 2752 Rd 8 A40 1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. e4 e5 5. Nge2 exd4 6. Nxd4 Nc6 7. Be3 Nge7 8. h4 f5 9. h5 fxe4 10. hxg6 hxg6 11. Rxh8+ Bxh8 12. Nxe4 d5 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Bd4! Bg4 15. Qxg4 Bxd4 16. cxd5 Bxb2 17. Rd1 cxd5 18. Bb5+ Kf8 19. Qe6 Kg7 20. Bc6 Nxc6 21. Qxc6 d4 22. Kf1 Rb8 23. Ng5 Qd6 24. Qc4 Qd7 25. Kg1 c6 26. Ne6+ Kf6 27. Nc5 Qe7 28. Rb1 Rb6 29. Nd3 Qe4! 30. Re1! Qd5 31. Qa4 Bc3 32. Qxa7 Bxe1 33. Qxb6 Bc3 34. a4 Qe4 35. Qd8+ Kf7 36. Qc7+ Kf6 37. Qd6+ Qe6 38. Qf8+ Qf7 39. Qh8+ Ke7 40. a5 Qa2 41. Qg7+ Kd8 42. Ne5 1-0
Final scores (10 players, average rating 2741,9 rounds)V.Kramnik (RUS 2785) 6.5, A.Shirov (ESP 2739) 5, B.Gelfand (ISR 2736), M.Carlsen (NOR 2714), D.Jakovenko (RUS 2710), P.Leko (Hun 2755) all 4.5, V.Ivanchuk (UKR 2787), G.Kamsky (USA 2714), S.Mamedyarov (AZE 2752) all 4, E.Alekseev (RUS 2716) 3.5
World Blitz(Lightning) Championship in Moscow(20 players,38 rounds) V.Ivanchuk(UKR 2787) 25.5,V.Anand (World Champion IND 2801)24.5,A.Grischuk(RUS 2715),G.Kamsky(USA 2714) 23.5,V.Kramnik(RUS 2785),P.Leko(HUN 2755),S.Rublevsky (RUS 2676) 21.5
The World's two highest rated players were equal on 24.5/37 before the final round when Ivanchuk recovered from a bad position to defeat Anand. Former World Champion Garry Kasparov was convicted of organising an unauthorized protest against President Vladimir Putin and resisting arrest and sentenced to five days in jail by a Moscow court on Saturday.
The top five seeds Ivanchuk,Mamedyarov,Radjabov,Aronian and Shirov all won their first round games in the 128 player World Cup in Khanty-Mansyisk,Western Siberia on Saturday evening. Australian Open and Oceania Champion IM Zong-Yuan Zhao(2491)and seeded 118th lost in 72 moves to 10th seed 16-year-old GM Magnus Carlsen(NOR 2714). Zhao gained the advantage but Carlsen defended well and a later exchange of pieces led to an ending of rook and pawn versus rook and more advanced pawn(for Carlsen). Zhao,very short of time,made a mistake on move 67 in a drawn position which proved fatal.Zhao must win the second game with the black pieces or he will be knocked out of the event.
Progress scores of the 17 Australians after 7 rounds of the World Youth Championship in Antalya, Turkey(1450 players from 103 countries) U8-C.Gray 4.5,S.Gu 4,E.Derwent 2.5,A.Smirnov 2.5 U10-O.Wang 3,C.Koh 2 U10G-M.Mithran 4.5,C.Koh 3.5 U12-FM G.Nakauchi 5.5 U12G-E.Guo 4.5,L.Simmonds 3.5,A.Kanagarajah 2.5 U14-R.Vijayakumar 3 U14G-S.Yu 3.5 U16G-J.Kinder 3 U18- D.Stojic 3 U18G-WIM A.Jule 3
Leading final scores in the NSW Lightning Championship(26 players,11 rounds) IM G.Xie(2485)and M.Illingworth(2247) 9(title shared after a drawn play off match 1-1 and 0.5-0.5),J.Hu(2154) and IM Mas Hafizulhelmi(2372) 8. The AGM of the NSW Chess Association was held at Rooty Hill RSL Club on Saturday afternoon. The executive were re-elected. President - Bill Gletsos,Vice President-Jason Hu,Treasurer-Norm Greenwood,Secretary-Tom Accola. Every player in all events commencing after 1st January 2008 held in NSW must be members of the NSWCA for the events to be rated by NSWCA. The membership fees for 2008 are Full -$30,Concession -$20,Country membership and rating only membership -$10.
Zhao leaves for Siberia (SMH 19/11/07)
Peter Parr
International Master Zong-Yuan Zhao,the Australian Open and Oceania Champion,flies to Moscow today from Sydney on his way to the 128 player World Cup in Khanty-Mansyisk,Western Siberia,Russia. The City is 2759 km from Moscow,the temperature is 10 degrees below zero and Zhao seeded 118th meets 10th seed Magnus Carlsen in a two-game knock-out match on 24th and 25th November.
Zhao became an IM at 14 and now at 21(rating 2491) is a pharmacy student at the University of Sydney. Carlsen became a GM at 13 and now at the age of 16 is ranked 17th(rating 2714) in the world.
Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik has a commanding lead in the Tal Memorial in Moscow. Carlsen is performing well above his rating. D.Jakovenko 2710 v M.Carlsen 2714 E20 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 O-O 7. Bg2 d5 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Qb3 Qa5 10. Bd2 Nc6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. O-O Bxc3 13. bxc3 Ba6 14. Rfd1 Qc5 15. e4 Bc4 16. Qa4 Nb6 17. Qb4 Qh5 18. Bf4 c5 19. Qb2 Rad8 20. Re1 Rd7 21. h3 h6 22. a4 Ba6 23. Qa2 Rfd8 24. a5 Nc4 25. Bf1 e5 26. g4 Qg6 27. Bxc4 exf4 28. Bd5 f3 29. c4 h5 30. Kh2 Qf6 31. Rg1 hxg4 32. Rab1 Bxc4 33. Qxc4 Qf4+ 34. Rg3 Rxd5 35. Qxd5 Rxd5 36. exd5 c4 37. Rd1 c3 38. d6 c2 39. Rd3 Qc4 40. Re3 Qc6 41. Rd3 Qc5 0-1
Scores after round 7(10 players,av 2741,9 rounds)V.Kramnik(RUS 2785) 5,A.Shirov (ESP 2739) 4,M.Carlsen(NOR 2714),B.Gelfand(ISR 2736),S.Mamedyarov(AZE 2752),D.Jakovenko(RUS 2710),P.Leko(HUN 2755) 3.5,G.Kamsky(USA 2714),V.Ivanchuk(UKR 2787)3,E.Alekseev(RUS 2716) 2.5
Veselin Topalov(World Champ 2005/6) rated 2769 has won the 6 player Vitoria Gasteiz,Spain event scoring 7/10,a 2835 performance rating. Ruslan Ponomariov(world Champ 2002/4)was 2nd on 5.5 followed by J.Polgar 2708 and D.Nisipeanu 5,R.Kasimdzhanov (world champ 2004/5) 4.5 and A.Karpov(world champ 1975-1985) 2670 3
The 78th FIDE Congress Executive Board meeting in Antalya,Turkey reported 95 countries recognised chess as a sport and in 75 countries the national chess federations are full members of their national olympic committees. The World Youth Championships in 12 divisions started last night in Antalya. There are over 2450 players,parents and officials including 35 Australians of which 17 are playing in the events. IM David Smerdon is a coach and will later play in the Commonwealth Championship in India in December returning to work in Canberra in January. Smerdon has his 3 grandmaster results but needs a 2500 rating to receive the GM title.
IM Mas Hafizulhelmi (ranked number 3 in Malaysia) led the fourth Coffs Harbour Open from start to finish defeating IM George Xie in round 5 and IM Peter Froehlich in round 6 but lost to the top seed Grandmaster Dejan Antic of Serbia in the final round. Xie beat Antic in round 4. Leading final scores (40 players, 7 rounds) IM M.Hafizulhelmi (MAS 2372), IM G.Xie (NSW 2406), GM D.Antic (SRB 2486) all 6, IM P.Froehlich (GER 2365), G.Nakauchi (QLD 1870) 5.
Dr.Vladimir Smirnov won the Ford Memorial Open at Norths scoring 8/8 before leaving for overseas. Leading final scores(65 players,9 rounds) V.Smirnov 8,R.Cook 7.5,I.Ilic 7,T.Luchtmeijer and P.Gosney 6.5. The NSW State Lightning Championship will be held at Rooty Hill RSL Club commencing at 11am next Saturday. The NSWCA Annual General Meeting follows at 2:30pm.
Russia wins European Championships
Peter Parr (SMH 12/11/07)
Russia won the European men's and women's championship last week in Crete. GM Peter Svidler (RUS 2732) on board 1 scored 6/7 (5 wins,2 draws)for a sensational 2989 performance rating. GM Alexander Morozevich (RUS 2755)achieved a 2855 result on board 2 scoring 6/8. The five player Russian team lost only two games,drew eighteen,and won sixteen - ten wins out of fifteen games came from Svidler and Morozevich.
GM P.Svidler RUS 2732 v GM I.Cheparinov BUL 2670 B81 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. g4 h6 8. Bg2 e5 9. Nf5 g6 10. h3 gxf5 11. exf5 Nc6 12. Qe2 Qa5 13. O-O-O Bd7 14. f4 Rc8 15. Kb1 Nb4 16. a3 Rxc3 17. axb4 Qxb4 18. fxe5 Ba4 19. exf6 Bxc2+ 20. Qxc2 Rxc2 21. Kxc2 d5 22. Rxd5 Qa4+ 23. Kb1 Bb4 24. Bc5 Qb3 25. Re5+ Kd8 26. Bxb4 Qxb4 27.Rc1 1-0 GM M.Rodshtein ISR 2615 v IM C.Landenbergue SUI 2452 E15 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. d5 exd5 8. cxd5 Bxd5 9. Nc3 Bc6 10. e4 d6 11. Bf4 Nbd7 12. O-O-O Be7 13. Rxd6 Bxd6 14. Bxd6 Nf8 15. Rd1 Ne6 16. Ne5 Qc8 17. Nd5 Bb5 18. Qb3 Qa6 19. Nc7+ 1-0
Leading final scores (match points out of 18 followed by game points out of 36)Men's (39 teams): Russia 17 (25), Armenia 14 (21.5), Azerbaijan 13 (20.5), Poland 12 (21.5), Ukraine 12 (21), Israel 12 (20.5).Women's (29 teams): Russia 15 (25), Poland 13 (23.5), Armenia 13 (21), Ukraine 12 (22.5), Georgia 12 (22.5), Slovenia 12 (20.5).
First round results of the very strong Tal Memorial in Moscow (10 players,9 rounds,average rating 2741) P.Leko(HUN 2755) 1 A.Shirov(ESP 2739)0,E.Elekseev (RUS 2716) 0.5 V.Ivanchuk (UKR 2787),D.Jakovenko (RUS 2710) 0.5 S.Mamedyarov (AZE 2752),G.Kamsky (USA 2714) 0.5 B.Gelfand (ISR 2736),V.Kramnik(RUS 2785) 0.5 M.Carlsen(NOR 2714).
Grandmaster Darryl Johansen won the $2200 first prize in the Elwood Bendigo Grand Prix tournament in Victoria. Johansen defeated the highly rated IM Stephen Solomon in round 5 to lead with 5/5 and drew with GM Dejan Antic in round 6 in 19 moves and a quick draw with FM Jesse Sales in the final round secured outright first place.
Nicholas Kordahi of Sydney was in excellent form winning the following tactical struggle in fine style against his much higher rated opponent. A final round loss however cost Kordahi a tie for second place.
D.Dragicevic 2254 v N.Kordahi 1888 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. cxd4 e6 7. Nc3 Nxc3 8. bxc3 d6 9. exd6 Bxd6 10. Bd3 Bd7 11. O-O Rc8 12. Ng5 Qa5 13. Bd2 Be7 14. Nf3 O-O 15. Re1 Rfd8 16. Ne5 Be8 17. Re3 Bf6 18. Nc4 Qc7 19. Rh3 g6 20. Qf3 Bg7 21. Bh6 b5 22. Nd2 b4 23. Ne4 f5 24. Bxg7 Qxg7 25. Ng5 Qe7 26. Qe3 h5 27. Bc4 Nxd4 28. Nxe6 Rxc4 29. Nxd8 Ne2+ 30. Kf1 Re4 31. Qd2 bxc3 32. Qd5+ Kh7 33. Re3 Rxe3 34. fxe3 Qxe3 35. Qf3 Qg1+ 36. Kxe2 Bb5+ 0-1
Leading final scores (86 players, 7 rounds) GM D.Johansen (VIC 2446) 6 ($2200): GM D.Antic (SRB 2476), IM S.Solomon (QLD 2465), FM I.Bjelobrk (NSW 2379), FM J.Sales (PHI 2312), IM L.Sandler (VIC 2364) all 5.5
Chris Morrison (2150) of Scotland won the Gosford Open Grand Prix Weekender with 6.5/7 half a point ahead of Johny Bolens (2095) on 6 points. Paul Broekhuyse was 3rd on 5.5 followed by Alex Mehan (1475) and Allen Robinson (1436) on 4.5 points.
The 12 divisions of the World Youth Championships with 1424 early entries including 17 Australians start next Sunday in Antalya,Turkey.
Russia 12 points,12 wins,12 draws,12 games to play.
Peter Parr (SMH 05/11/07)
Russia leads the 39 team European Championship in Crete after six rounds by winning all six matches scoring 12 match points. The 5 Russian players have between them scored 12 wins and 12 draws from the 24 games. Peter Svidler on board one has 4.5/5(performance rating 3045)and Alexander Morozevich 5/6 (p.r. 2922)on board 2. There are 3 matches(12 games) left to play. Slovenia led by Alexander Beliavsky and seeded 19th are in second place two points behind Russia.
P.Svidler RUS 2732 v E.Berg SWE 2593 C18 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 cxd4 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 Qc7 10. Ne2 Nbc6 11. f4 Bd7 12. Qd3 dxc3 13. Rg1 O-O-O 14. g4 d4 15. Rb1 Be8 16. Rg3 f6 17. exf6 Nd5 18. Qc4 e5 19. g5 Bf7 20. Qd3 Bg6 21. f5 Bh5 22. Qe4 Rge8 23. Kf2 Bf7 24. Bg2 Nb6 25. g6 Bd5 26. Qg4 e4 27. f7 Ne5 28. Qf4 e3+ 29. Kg1 Re7 30. Bxd5 Nxd5 31. Qxd4 Nxf7 32. gxf7 Rxf7 33. Bxe3 Rxf5 34. Qxa7 Re8 35. Qa8+ Qb8 36. Qxb8+ Kxb8 37. Nd4 Nxe3 38. Rxe3 Rxe3 39. Nxf5 Re2 40. Nd4 Rd2 41. Rb4 1-0
B.Jobava GEO 2644 v H.Steingrimsson ISL 2533 B43 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 a6 4. Be2 b5 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Bb7 7. O-O Qc7 8. Re1 Nf6 9. Bf3 d6 10. a4 bxa4 11. Nd5 exd5 12. exd5+ Kd8 13. Rxa4 Nxd5 14. Bg5+ Be7 15. Bxd5 Bxg5 16. Rc4 Qb6 17. Bxf7 Bf6 18. Ne6+ Ke7 19. Nxg7+ Kf8 20. Re8+ Kxg7 21. Qg4+ 1-0
Russia are also leading the 29 team Women's event on countback from Poland each with 10/12 match points. The team is made up of the 5 K's - Kosteniuk,Kosintseva T.,Kosintseva N.,Kovalevskaya and Korbut (5 K's who were recent world champions are Kasparov,Karpov,Kramnik,Khalifman and Kasimdzhanov). Iweta Rajlich has scored 5/6 on board 2 for Poland.
Leading scores after round 6(match points followed by game points) Russia 12(18),Slovenia 10(15.5),Ukraine 9(15),France 9(14.5),Armenia 9(14.5)Poland 8(14.5),Israel 8(13.5),Azerbaijan 8(13.5),Spain 8(13). Women - Russia 10(17),Poland 10(17),Ukraine 9(16.5),Georgia 9(16.5)
World number 2 Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR 2787) led 5-3 in his 12 game rapid match against World number 5 Peter Leko (HUN 2755) but Leko recovered to tie the match 6-6. Ivanchuk won the two game blitz play-off 1.5-0.5 IM Aleks Wohl(AUS 2415) tied for first place(performance rating 2478) with British Champion GM J.Aagaard (SCO 2535),GM Igor Naumkin(RUS 2486) and T.Serafimov(BUL 2379) in the 108 player International Open in Arco,Italy.Wohl drew with GM Naumkin in the final round.
The Surfers Paradise Weekender attracted 94 players in 3 divisions(open,under 1600 and under 1000). Grandmaster Dejan Antic won the $2000 first prize by scoring five wins,a draw with top seed Schmaltz and a last round draw with Lane. Leading final scores in the main event(34 players,7 rounds) GM D.Antic (SRB 2486) 6,GM R.Schmaltz (GER 2568) and M.Ly(QLD 2280)5.5,F.Klein(GER 2212),IM P.Froehlich (GER 2365),FM J.Sales (PHI 2312),B.Thomas(QLD 1874) all 5,IM S.Solomon(QLD 2447) and IM G.Lane(NSW 2405) 4.5.
The next Grand Prix event will be The 4th Coffs Harbour Open incorporating the NSW Country Individual Championship. The event will be held over 7 rounds on 10th(registration 8.30am) and 11th November(round 5 starts at 8.30am sharp) at Coffs Harbour Catholic Club.
Russia set to take out European Championship
Peter Parr (SMH 29/10/07)
Russia should win the European Team Championship which started last night in Heraklion,Crete. The team of Svidler 2732,Grischuk 2715,Morozevich 2755,Alekseev 2716 and Jakovenko 2710 clearly outclasses the teams from 39 other European Countries. Ukraine are seeded 2nd,Azerbaidjan 3rd and Armenia 4th. Netherlands,the defending champions,are seeded ninth and a total of 147 grandmasters are competing.
Seven of the top ten players in the world - Ivanchuk(UKR 2787),Topalov(BUL 2769),Morozevich (RUS 2755),Mamedyarov(AZE 2752),Aronian (ARM 2750),Radjabov (AZE 2742)and Shirov(ESP 2739)head the list of 66 players rated above 2600. There are 29 countries competing in the European Women's Championship.The top seeds are Russia 1st,Georgia 2nd and Ukraine 3rd.
Nineteen-year-old Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura has won the very strong category 15 Barcelona GM tournament scoring 7/9(rating performance 2822) ahead of GM Lenier Dominguez of Cuba(2683)in second place. Nakamura was a USA Master at the age of 10 and a Grandmaster at the age of 15. Here is his most brilliant game in the event.
M.Krasenkow (POL 2668) v H.Nakamura (USA 2648) A 14 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. b3 a5 7. Nc3 c6 8. d4 Nbd7 9. Qc2 b6 10. e4 Ba6 11. Nd2 c5 12. exd5 cxd4 13. Nb5 exd5 14. Nxd4 Rc8 15. Re1 b5 16. Bb2 Re8 17. Qd1 bxc4 18. bxc4 Qb6 19. Rb1 dxc4 20. Nc6 Rxc6 21. Bxf6 Qxf2+ !! Sacrificing the queen 22. Kxf2 Bc5+ 23. Kf3 Rxf6+ 24. Kg4 Ne5+ 25. Kg5 Rg6+ 26. Kh5 f6 27. Rxe5 Rxe5+ 28. Kh4 Bc8 0-1
Calvia,Spain Oct 2007 I.Khamrakulov (ESP 2604) v I.Cheparinov (BUL 2670) B13 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Qb3 Bxf3 9. gxf3 Nb6 10. Be3 e6 11. O-O-O Be7 12. d5 exd5 13. Bxb6 axb6 14. Qxd5 O-O 15. Qe4 Qc8 16. Bd3 Qh3 17. Kb1 Bc5 18. Qf4 Bxf2 19. Nd5 Bd4 20. Bf5 Qg2 21. Bc2 Rxa2! 22. Ne7+ (if 22 Kxa2 Qxc2)Kh8 23. Qe4 Rxb2+ 24. Kc1 Rxc2+! 25. Qxc2 Qg5+ 26. Kb1 Qxe7 27. Qb3 Ra8 28. Rhe1 Qc5 0-1
IM Aleks Wohl (AUS 2415) shares the lead on 6.5/8 with GM Igor Naumkin(RUS 2486) with one round play in the 108 player International Open in Arco, Italy. Six players including British Champion GM J.Aagaard(SCO 2535) and GM M.Lazic(SRB 2493) are half a point behind. Wohl has white against Naumkin in the final round.
World number 2 Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR 2787)leads 5-3 in a twelve game rapid match against World number 5 Peter Leko (HUN 2755) in Mukachevo,Ukraine.
IM Zong-Yuan Zhao (2491)the Australian Open Champion and winner of the Oceania Zonal is seeded 119 in the 128 player World Cup in Khanty-Manisysk,Russia. Zhao plays a two-game knock-out match on 24th and 25th November against GM Magnus Carlsen(NOR 2714),the tenth seed in the first round. Carlsen became a Grandmaster at the age of 13 in 2004.
A 7 round rapid play tournament will be held at Rooty Hill RSL Club on Saturday 3rd November.
The next Grand Prix weekend tournament will be held over 7 rounds at Central Coast Leagues Club, Gosford 3-4 November.
Adly wins World Junior
Peter Parr (SMH 22/10/07)
Egyptian Grandmaster Ahmed Adly has won the World Junior(Under 20) Championship scoring 10 wins,no draws and three losses in Yerevan,Armenia.Adly won the African junior(9-0)in 2001,caught cerebral malaria,aged 16, at the all Africa Games,Abuja,Nigeria in 2003 where several of his team mates died from the deadly disease. He won the African Adult title in 2005 but was only seeded 21st in Yerevan. Adly lost his first game but won the next seven in a row,lost two more then won the last three.
GM G.Jones (ENG 2567) v GM A.Adly (EGY 2494)1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Bc4 e5 7. Nde2 Be7 8. f3 Be6 9. Bb3 Nc6 10. g4 Na5 11. Ng3 Nxb3 12. axb3 h6 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Bd7 15. Be3 Bh4 16. Qe2 h5 17. O-O-O hxg4 18. fxg4 Bxg3 19. hxg3 Ke7 20. Bc5 f6 21. Ba3 b5 22. g5 a5 23. gxf6+ gxf6 24. Qe4 Qg8 25. Kb1 Rxh1 26. Rxh1 b4 27. Rh7+ Kd8 28. Qh4 Qxd5 29. Qxf6+ Kc7 30. Qe7 Rd8 31. Rh4 Re8 32. Qg7 e4 33. c4 Qd1+ 34. Ka2 a4 0-1
Leading final scores(80 players including 15 GM's,13 rounds)GM A.Adly(EGY 2494) 10,GM I.Popov(RUS 2539) 9.5,GM H.Wang(CHN 2643,the top seed - 5wins,8draws) 9,GM D.Andreikin(RUS 2555) 9. Vincent Suttor(AUS 2164) scored 4/13. WIM Vera Nebolsina(RUS 2349) won the World Girls Title scoring 10/13 in the 58 player event. The World Youth Championships will be held in 12 divisions from under 8 to under 18 next month in Antalya,Turkey. There are 1108 early entries including 17 Australians.
Final scores in the Blindfold World Cup in Bilbao,Spain - GM Bu Xiangzhi(CHN 2692) 21,S.Karjakin(UKR 2694) 17,M.Carlsen(NOR 2714) 16,J.Polgar(HUN 2708) 12,V.Topalov(BUL 2769) 9,P.Harikrishna(IND 2668) 6. Final scores of the Crown Group in Essent(NED) 4 players,6 rounds - GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov(AZE 2752) 4.5, L.Van Wely (NED 2679) 4,R.Ponomariov(UKR 2705)3.5,Z.Andriasian (ARM 2546,World Junior U-20 champion 2006) 0.
IM David Smerdon (AUS 2466) needing another 25 rating points to become a grandmaster started well in the open event. Smerdon had scored 3 wins and 4 draws against GM Nijboer 2559,GM Smeets 2558,GM Gofshtein 2542 and GM Werle 2568 advancing 11 rating points after 7 rounds. Smerdon lost in round 8 to IM E. Safarli(AZE 2488)who won the 77 player(14 GM's) tournament scoring 7/9. Smerdon also lost his final round game to IM Grooten 2350 so instead of gaining 11 rating points he lost 0.4 of one point. FM Jonathan Humphrey(AUS 2284) scored 4.5/9(performance 2316) and WIM Alexandra Jule(AUS) finished third equal in the 85 player amateur event.
The Integra NSW State Championship and supporting Tournaments (total 34 players) were held at Parramatta RSL Club on Sunday afternoons. Eight players competed in the round robin title event but only 17 of the scheduled 28 games were played with 11 games lost on forfeit. Camer,Huynh and Norman all forfeited their last round games and with the other game played in advance there were no games played at all on the final day of play. Final scores FM G.Canfell(2322) 6/7(winner for the sixth time),G.Charles(2093) 5.5,J.Bolens(2107) 5,A.Rose(2082)4,B.Norman(1801 2 forfeits),A.Furst(1752) 3,A.Huynh(1833,4 forfeits) 0.5,A.Camer(1983, 6 forfeits) 0.
The final FIDE crosstable scores after deleting the players who played less than half their games is (6 players,5 rounds) Canfell 4,Charles 3.5,Bolens 3,Rose 2.5,Norman 1,Furst 1. Barrister Paul Glissan,a former unofficial co-champion of The Antarctic won the ten player major event with 5.5/7 and former NSW Country Champion Heinrich Korbe won the 16 player Minor event scoring 6.5/7. 86 players including GM's Roland Schmaltz (GER 2568) and Dejan Antic (SER 2486)have so far entered the Surfers Paradise Weekender 27/28 October.
One Million Chess Sets for Istanbul Children
Peter Parr (SMH 15/10/07)
The Istanbul,Turkey,Great Municipality will distribute one million chess sets and one million chess books to one million primary school children over the next few weeks.
The European Club Cup was held in Antalya,Turkey. The winner in the men's section (15 of the 22 players in the world rated above 2700 competed) was Linex Magic Merida led by G.Kamsky(USA 2724) and M.Adams(ENG 2729) which won 6 of 7 matches and drawing just one thus scoring 13 match points and 28.5 board points. Ural Sverdlovskaya scores 31 board points but won only 5 matches,drawing two(=12 points) and took second place. In the women's section Cercle D'Echecs de Monte-Carlo (led by H.Koneru IND 2606,P.Cramling SWE 2531 and Zhu Chen QAT 2531) took first place.
N.Short 2649 v A.Gunnarsson 2439 D37 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. Bf4 c6 6. e3 Be7 7. h3 b6 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. O-O Nf8 12. Rc1 Ng6 13. Ne5 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 O-O 15. Qg4 g6 16. Rc3 Bd6 17. f4 Qe7 18. Bxd6 Qxd6 19. f5 Rae8 20. Rf3 c5 21. Qh4 c4 22. Qh6 Kh8 23. fxg6 fxg6 24. Bxg6 1-0
IM Aleks Wohl (AUS 2423) scored 6.5/9 finishing 6th in the 98 player Munich, Germany International Open.The winner was GM Cyril Marcelin ( FRA 2514) on 7.5 points.
Grandmaster Darryl Johansen(AUS 2446) won the 46 player, Nelson Open (NZL) with 7.5/9 above English Grandmasters M.Chandler(2540) and S.Conquest(2540)on 7 points. IM S.Solomon(AUS 2465) scored 6.5,FM B.Jones(AUS 2084) 5.5,A.Flitney(AUS 1999) 5. Vincent Suttor(AUS 2164) seeded 73rd out of 80 has so far scored 3/10 in the very strong World Junior in Yerevan,Armenia. The Crown Group played with glass chess pieces in Essent, Netherlands (4 players AV=2671, 6 rounds).
S.Mamedyarov (AZE 2752) , R.Ponomariov (UKR 2705), L.Van Wely (NED 2680), Z.Andriasyan (ARM 2546) starts tonight.IM David Smerdon (AUS 2466) is seeded 17th in the open event and has won his first two games. FM Jonathan Humphrey (AUS 2284) seeded 43rd has 1 point. WIM Alexandra Jule (AUS 1896) has scored 1.5/2 in the amateur division.
Johny Bolens caught the bus from Granville to Parramatta for the sixth round of the NSW State Championship and was surprised to see the driver was Angelito Camer!
Camer has played only one game so far in the event losing to Bolens in a postponed game from round 2. Greg Canfell who had won the event 3 weeks ago after scoring 5 points from 5 games and a win on forfeit against Camer lost his final game to Gareth Charles who is in second place. Results round 6 - G.Charles 1 G.Canfell 0,A.Furst plays A.Rose , A.Camer 0F - B.Norman 1F, J.Bolens 1F A.Huynh 0F. Progress scores (8 players, 7 rounds). FM G.Canfell 6/7, G.Charles 4½/6, J.Bolens 4/6, A.Rose 3.5/6, B.Norman 3/6 (1 forfeit), A.Furst 1.5/5, A.Huynh ½/6 (3 forfeits), A.Camer 0/6 (5 forfeits).
The Canterbury Open starts tonight at Lakemba Memorial Services Club and the Berger Cup commences this evening at The Hakoah Club,Bondi.
Young players achieved outstanding results in the NSW Junior League's Spring One-Day tournament,which was contested by 246 players aged from 6 to 17. Ten-year-old Oscar Wang was victorious,with a score of 8.5 out of 9. Six players shared second place on 7.5 points - Joshua Lau(aged 11),Peng Yu Chen(10),Cedric Koh(8),Kevin Tan(14),Peter Yang and Clive Ng(both 15).
Joseph Nguyen(2006 NSW Junior Champion) came from behind to win the City of Sydney Under 18 Championship with a score of 6.5/8,half a point ahead of Adrian Kong. Benjamin Cheung easily won the Under 15 with 7/8;equal second were Jonathan Ren and John McMahon with 5.5/7. The Under 12 was won by Joshua Lau with 9/11,followed by Oscar Wang and Bernard Chau on 8.5/11. The NSW Under 10 Allegro Championship was jointly won by Sean Gu and Andrew Pan with 9.5/11,half a point ahead of Cedric Koh. Joshua Lau won the Under 12 Allegro with a clean score of 9/9,two points ahead of Cedric Koh and Sean Gu.
109 Teams at Knox Grammar
Peter Parr (SMH 08/10/07)
The NSW Junior Chess League's Schools Chess Challenge, held at Knox Grammar School, attracted 109 teams from 54 schools. The host school led all the way to win the Secondary Schools section, but the Primary Schools section was exceptionally close, with Neutral Bay Public School edging ahead in the final round. Leading final scores (7 rounds): Secondary Schools (37 teams) – Knox A 19, Sydney Boys High A 18, North Sydney Boys High 14; Primary Schools (72 teams) – Neutral Bay A 17, Sydney Grammar St Ives A 16, Summer Hill A 15.5.
Fifteen-year-old Deborah Ng has won the NSW Girls Championship(Under 18) with a clean score of 5 out of 5,one and a half points ahead of the 2006 champion Joanne Tan and Sarah Behne-Smith of Newcastle. The Under 12 Championship finished in a triple tie between Clarise Koh,Caroline Shan and Shirley Gu,who each scored 7 out of 8. A play-off will be held.
Jamie Boyce of Campbelltown won the NSWJCL 213 player Two-Day event scoring 10/11. Eleven-year-old Joshua Lau was second on 9 points. The first of three Allegro tournaments,Under 8(with players ranging from 4 to 7 years old), was convincingly won by six-year-old Anton Smirnov. The remaining Allegros Under 10 and Under 12 will be held at Rockdale this Tuesday and Saturday respectively.
The City of Sydney Junior Championships (in three age divisions: under 18, 15 and 12) will be held this Wednesday to Friday at Lidcombe. For details see www.nswjcl.org.au or contact Richard Gastineau-Hills, phone 9412 4579.
Leading final scores in the 50 player Ryde-Eastwood Open Grand Prix Weekender - J.Ikeda(ACT 2176) 6/7,FM I.Bjelobrk (NSW 2423),IM A.Toth(HUN 2426),M.Illingworth(NSW 2097),GM D.Antic(SER 2486) all 5.5
Leading players on the October 2007 World Rating List - V.Anand(IND 2801 +9),V.Ivanchuk(UKR 2787 +25),V.Kramnik(RUS 2785 +16),V.Topalov(BUL 2769),P.Leko(HUN 2755),A.Morozevich(RUS 2755),S.Mamedyarov(AZE 2752),T.Radjabov(AZE 2742),L.Aronian(ARM 2741),A.Shirov(ESP 2739),B.Gelfand(ISR 2736),P.Svidler(RUS 2732). Juniors - T.Radjabov (AZE 2742),M.Carlsen (NOR 2714),Y.Wang(CHN 2703). Women - GM J.Polgar(HUN 2708),GM H.Koneru (IND 2606),GM P.Cramling(SWE 2531),GM C.Zhu(QAT 2531).
The average rating of the top 100 players is 2672. Leading countries(132,average top 10) Russia 2727(173 GM,441 IM,1736 titled),Ukraine 2676(63 GM),USA 2631(61 GM),Armenia 2628 (20 GM),France 2625 (30GM),Hungary 2621 (40 GM). Australia is ranked 51st at 2448(2 GM,18 IM,69 titled)and New Zealand is 64th at 2337(0 GM,5 IM,24 titled).
Leading Australian players GM I.Rogers 2545,IM Z.Zhao 2491,IM D.Smerdon 2466,IM S.Solomon 2465,GM D.Johansen 2446,T.Tao 2422,IM A.Wohl 2415,IM G.Xie 2413,IM G.Lane 2412,FM I.Goldenberg 2408,IM M.Chapman 2402,IM J.Wallace 2398. Women IM I.Berezina 2246,WM A.Sorokina 2194,WM N.Phan-Koshnitsky 2168,WM A.Caoili 2144,WM B.Dekic 2138.
Six grandmasters tied for first on 6.5/9 in the Isle of Man International Open. IM David Smerdon(AUS 2461)scored 50% losing 4 rating points. He now needs to gain 29 rating points to qualify for his GM Title. Sixteen-year-old Moulthun Ly (AUS 2295) just missed his third and final IM norm(performance 2450) with 4/9 (average rating of his opponents was 2422).
FM Manuel Weeks(AUS 2200) scored 3.5/9 in the event.
Anand wins World Championship
Peter Parr (SMH 01/10/07)
Viswanathan Anand, the highest rated player in the world, has won the World Championship Title in Mexico City. Anand took the early lead in the eight player event with good fighting games and finished with four wins,ten draws and no losses. Vladimir Kramnik, the defending World Champion, was never in the running for first place having scored 50% after 11 rounds including nine draws.
Boris Gelfand was the main rival for first throughout the event. The following game was played in round eleven. Gelfand and Kramnik had finished their games and a draw in this double-edged position would have left Anand well ahead in the tournament. Anand,the tiger of Madras, played on for victory leaving him 1.5 points ahead of his rivals.
V.Anand 2792 v A.Morozevich 2758 Rd 11 B90 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3 Nbd7 9. g4 Nb6 10. g5 Nh5 11. Qd2 Rc8 12. O-O-O Be7 13. Rg1 O-O 14. Kb1 Qc7 15. Qf2 Nc4 16. Bxc4 Bxc4 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. Rxd5 f5 19. gxf6 Rxf6 20. Qe2 Nf4 21. Bxf4 Rxf4 22. Rd3 Qd7 23. Nc1 Rcf8 24. a3 Kh8 25. Na2 Qh3 26. Rg3 Qh5 27. Qg2 Rh4 28. h3 Qh6 29. Rb3 b5 30. Nb4 Rh5 31. Qf1 Rh4 32. Qg2 Rh5 33. Nxa6 Bh4 34. Rg4 Bf6 35. Qe2 Rxh3 36. Rxb5 Bd8 37. Rb8 Qf6 38. Nb4 Rxf3 39. Nd5 Qf7 40. Qa6 h5 41. Rg2 h4 42. Qxd6 Be7 43. Qxe5 Rxb8 44. Qxb8+ Kh7 45. Qc7 Bf8 46. Qxf7 Rxf7 47. Rg4 Rf1+ 48. Ka2 Rh1 49. e5 Bc5 50. e6 Kh6 51. Rc4 h3 52. Rxc5 h2 53. Ne3 Ra1+ 54. Kxa1 h1=Q+ 55. Ka2 Qe4 56. Re5 1-0
Final scores (8 players,av 2752,prize fund $1.6 million,14 rounds) V.Anand(IND 2792) 9,V.Kramnik(RUS 2769)and B.Gelfand(ISR 2733) 8,P.Leko(HUN 2751) 7,P.Svidler(RUS 2735)6.5,A.Morozevich(RUS 2758) and L.Aronian(ARM 2750)6, A.Grischuk(RUS 2726)5.5. Anand will have to defend his World Title in a match against Kramnik next year.
IM Algimantas Butnorius(LTU 2394) won the World Seniors Championship (15 GM,233 players)scoring 9/11 in Gmunden,Austria. IM Mirko Rujevic (AUS 2287) was 23rd on 7.5(rp 2331) and Phillip Viner(AUS 2175) was 33rd on 7 (rp 2232).WIM Biljana Dekic (AUS 2138)scored 5.5/11(rp 2118)in the Womens World Seniors won by WGM Hanna Erenska-Barlo(POL 2238). David Lovejoy(AUS 1994)competed in the Traunsee Open(AUT)finishing on 4/7
IM David Smerdon(AUS 2461) has scored 4/8 in the Isle of Man International(86 players including 38 grandmasters). Sixteen-year-old Moulthun Ly(AUS 2295)has also scored 4 points against a very strong field(losing only to GM Kuzubov UKR 2568 and GM Kobalia RUS 2634 and drawing with IM Haslinger ENG 2468,IM Paehtz GER 2457,GM Svetushkin MDA 2618 and GM Speelman ENG 2511. FM Manuel Weeks(AUS 2200)has 2.5 points. Nur Yachou(AUS 1992)defeated IM V.Panush(MDA 2257)in the Arad,Romania round robin IM event.
Leading final scores in the New Zealand Masters in Auckland(10 players,9 rounds) GM S.Conquest(ENG 2546) 7, GM D.Johansen(AUS 2446),IM S.Solomon(AUS 2467) 6.5,FM T.Reilly(AUS 2280)5.5 Vincent Suttor of Sydney represents Australia in The World Junior Championship which starts tomorrow in Yerevan,Armenia.
The 27th Fisher's Ghost Open at Campbelltown Catholic Club and the Rooty Hill RSL Club Championship start next Monday evening 8th October and The Berger Cup at Hakoah Club,Bondi and Canterbury Open start on Monday evening 15th October.
Anand leads World Championship
Peter Parr (SMH 24/09/07)
Viswanathan Anand,ranked number one,leads the World Championship in Mexico City(3 wins,5 draws) half a point ahead of Boris Gelfand(2 wins,6 draws) with six rounds to play. Vladimir Kramnik,the defending World Champion,also remains undefeated with one win and seven draws.
V.ANAND 2792 v P.SVIDLER 2735 C89 Marshall Attack 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. Re1 Bd6 13. g3 Bf5 14. d4 Qd7 15. Be3 Rae8 16. Nd2 Bg4 17. Qc2 Bf5 18. Qc1 Re7 19. Nf3 (new move better than Nf1)Bg4 20. Nh4 Rfe8 21. Qd2 h6 22. Qd3 g6 23. Bd1 Bh3 24. Bf3 g5 25. Ng2 Bf5 26. Qd1 Nf6 27. a4 Ne4 28. axb5 axb5 29. Ra6 Qb7 30. Qa1 Bc8 31. Ra8 Bb8 32. Bc1 Nf6 33. Rxe7 Rxe7 34. Qa3 Rd7 35. Ra5 Ba7 36. Ne3! Qc7 37. Nf5 c5 38. Nxh6+ Kh7 39. Bxg5 1-0
Progress scores after round eight (8 players, av 2752, 14 rounds, prize fund AUS $1.6 million) V.Anand(IND 2792) 5.5,B.Gelfand(ISR 2733) 5,V.Kramnik(RUS 2769) 4.5,P.Leko(HUN 2751) 4,A.Grischuk(RUS 2726),L.Aronian(ARM 2750) 3.5,P.Svidler(RUS 2735),A.Morozevich(RUS 2758) 3
The six qualifiers for the Russian Championship Super-Final after an 11 way tie for first place in the 67 player (43 GM's) Russian Championship higher league in Krasnoyarsk were Vitiugov,Rychagov,Dreev,Amonatov,Tomashevsky and Timofeev.
IM Mirko Rujevic(AUS 2287) took the early joint lead by winning his first 3 games in the World Seniors Championship in Gmunden, Austria.Rujevic beat 2nd seed GM V.Tseshkovsky(RUS 2513)in the third round. German GM Wolfgang Uhlmann defeated both Australians Viner and Rujevic. Progress scores after round 5(233 players) IM M.Rujevic 3.5,P.Viner 3. WIM Biljana Dekic(AUS) has scored 2/5 in the Womens World Seniors.
First round results of Australians in the New Zealand Masters at the Auckland Chess Centre - FM T.Reilly(AUS 2280) 0 GM D.Johansen (AUS 2446) 1,IM S.Solomon(AUS 2467)0 FM R.Smith(NZL 2318) 1 and in the Isle of Man International(86 players including 38 grandmasters of which 20 are rated over 2550,7 hour games) GM D.Svetushkin (MDA 2618) 1 IM D.Smerdon (AUS 2461) 0,C.Majer(ENG 2041)0 M.Ly(AUS 2295)1, FM M.Weeks(AUS 2200)bye 0.5.
FIDE Master Greg Canfell, the defending champion rated 2322, has convincingly won this year's Integra NSW State Championship at Parramatta RSL. Canfell outclassed the second seed Johny Bolens in the fifth round to give Canfell 5 points from 5 games(average rating of opponents 1915) winning the title in the shortest number of games in the 106 year history of the NSW Championship.
The other rd 5 results were A.Rose 0 G.Charles 1,B.Norman 0.5 A.Furst 0.5,A.Huynh 0F A.Camer 0F.Progress scores (8 players, 7 rounds) G.Canfell 6/6,G.Charles 3.5/5,J.Bolens 3/5,A.Rose 2.5/5,B.Norman 2/5,A.Furst 1.5/5,A.Huynh 0.5/5,A.Camer 0/4. Camer lost on forfeit to Canfell,Charles and Huynh.The event finishes on 14th October. Canfell was also NSW Champion in 1996,1997,1998,2001 and 2006.
Leading final scores in the 22 player Hakoah Club Open at Bondi - J.Bolens 8/9, I.Venclovas 6.5. A lightning event will be held at the club tonight.
The seven round NSWCA Ryde-Eastwood Open Grand Prix event will be held over the longweekend 29th Sep-1st Oct. Details FM Brett Tindall 8756 5974
Kramnik and Anand ahead in Mexico
Peter Parr (SMH 17/09/07)
World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and World Number 1 Viswanathan Anand have taken the early lead in the World Championship Match tournament in Mexico City. Anand beat Aronian and Kramnik defeated Morozevich in round 2 but Morozevich won against Svidler in round 3. The other nine games played so far have all been drawn. The important Anand-Kramnik game in round 3 resulted in a stalemate(draw)after 65 moves.Leko drew a difficult queen and pawn endgame in 100 moves after seven hours play against Gelfand in round 3. The winner of the event will be crowned World Champion on 30th September.
Progress scores after round 3(8 players,average rating 2752,14 rounds). V.Anand(IND 2792) and V.Kramnik(RUS 2769)2,B.Gelfand(ISR 2733),A.Morozevich(RUS 2758),A.Grischuk(RUS 2726),P.Leko(HUN 2751) all 1.5,L.Aronian(ARM 2750),P.Svidler(RUS 2735) 1.
China defeated the United Kingdom 28-20 (8 boards, 6 matches) in Liverpool, England.
Four Chinese players Wang Hao 2624, Zhang Pengxiang 2649, Wang Yue 2696 and Ni Hua 2681 all scored 4/6 with performance ratings of 2722. World number 15 Michael Adams 2724 was the best performer in the UK team scoring 3.5/6 (PR 2700).
Grandmaster Daniel Fridman (GER 2628) won the supporting Liverpool International Open (87 players, 9 rounds) scoring 7/9.
International Master David Smerdon (AUS 2461) the joint leader after 7 rounds, lost his last two games to finish in 23rd place scoring 5.5/9. Smerdon met a strong field and gained 9 rating points. Manuel Weeks (AUS 2200) gained 3 rating points finished 34th with 5 points.
Eleven Grandmasters rated between 2679 and 2557 tied for first place each scoring 7/11 in the 60th Russian Championship (higher league,prize fund AUS $120,000) in Krasnoyarsk (67 players including 43 GM's). The top 6 in the 11 player play-off qualify for the Russian Championship Super-final. The World Seniors Championship starts tonight in Gmunden, Austria. Australia's representatives are Men-(231 players from 41 countries) IM Mirko Rujevic 2287,Phillip Viner 2175 and Women-(39 players from 16 countries)WIM Biljana Dekic 2138.
The inaugural Blayney Open Grand Prix Weekender was won by top seed FIDE master Lee Jones who won every game.
Leading final scores (34 players, 6 rounds) FM L.Jones (2072) 6, D.Castor (2042) 5, F.Van der Wal (1758) 4.5.
J.Bolens (2107) seeded second defeated G.Charles (2093) seeded third in the fourth round of the Integra NSW Championship.
A.Huynh lost on forfeit to A.Furst. A.Camer,unable to play on Sunday for the fourth consecutive week,postponed against Greg Canfell,the defending champion,and the game B.Norman v A.Rose was also postponed.Canfell won a long endgame against Rose,played in advance from round 7,when Camer did not turn up for his postponed game.Leading scores after round 4 (8 players, 7 rounds) FM G.Canfell (2322) 4/4(plus a probable win on forfeit against Camer), J.Bolens (2107) 3,G.Charles(2093) 2.5,A.Rose(2082),B.Norman(1801) each 1.5(x).
The NSW Junior League's Schools Challenge will be held next Sunday 23rd September at Knox Grammar School,Wahroonga. This annual event,for teams of three players in two sections,primary and secondary,is the largest single-venue tournament in the league's calendar and in 2002 attracted over 600 players. For details see www.nswjcl.org.au or contact Richard Gastineau-Hills,phone 9412 4579.
China 23.5 United Kingdom 16.5
Peter Parr (SMH 10/09/07)
China has defeated the United Kingdom in the Liverpool,England 800th anniversary match. The top two rated UK players GM M.Adams 2724 and GM N.Short 2683 are the best scorers in the UK open team having each scored 50% after 5 games. GM Wang Hao 2626,GM Zhang Pengxiang 2649 and GM Ni Hua have each scored 3.5/5 and GM Wang Yue 2696 and GM Bu Xiangzhi 2685 have scored 3 points and WGM Hou Yifan 2523 2.5 points in the Chinese Open team. China leads 19-11 on the 6 open boards.The UK leads 5.5-4.5 on the women's boards with Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant the best overall scorer with 4/5. China leads the match by 23.5-16.5 with one match of 8 games to play. Here are a few games from the event.
Ni Hua 2681 v J.Rowson 2599 C45 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. Qf3 bxc6 7. Nd2 Qxf3 8. Nxf3 Nf6 9. Bd3 d5 10. e5 Nd7 11. O-O O-O 12. Re1 Re8 13. Bd2 Bb6 14. Bf1 Nc5 15. c4 Bg4 16. Nd4 Ne4 17. Be3 Bd7 18. Nb3 a5 19. c5 a4? 20. cxb6 axb3 21. b7 Rab8 22. f3 d4 23. Bxd4 Nd2 24. Ba6 bxa2 25. Ba7 Be6 26. Bxb8 Rxb8 27. Red1 Nb1 28. Rc1 1-0
D.Howell 2519 v Wang Hao 2626 C07 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Ngf3 cxd4 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nb3 Nc6 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 a6 11. Bb3 Bd7 12. c3 Qc7 13. Bg5 O-O-O 14. Qf3 Bd6 15. h3 Be5 16. Rad1 h6 17. Bc1 g5 18. Qe2 Rhg8 19. Rfe1 Bh2+ 20. Kh1 Bd6 21. Qf3 Bf4 22. g3 e5 23. gxf4 g4 24. Qd3 exd4 25. cxd4 Bc6+ 26. Kh2 gxh3 27. Qf5+ Qd7 28. Qxd7+ Bxd7 29. Be3 Rg2+ 30. Kh1 Bc6 31. Bxf7 Bf3 32. Be6+ Kb8 33. Bxh3 Rdg8 34. Bxg2 Rxg2 0-1
International Master David Smerdon AUS 2461 has gained a valuable 13 rating points(21 more required for his grandmaster title) so far with one game to play in the main supporting event in Liverpool. Smerdon won his first two games,followed by GM A.David LUX 2529 0.5,GM M.Hebden ENG 2540 1,IM S.Williams ENG 2480 0.5,IM S.Haslinger ENG 2468 0.5,GM N.Meizis LTU 2524 1. Smerdon was in the joint lead in the 87 player event with 5.5/7 and two rounds to play. Smerdon lost to IM Y.Vovk UKR 2557 in round 8 and plays GM E.Berg SWE 2580 in the final round. FM Manuel Weeks AUS 2200 has scored 4/8 in the event.
The eight player World Championship Match tournament (8 players,double round robin)will be held at The Sheraton,Mexico City from 12th-30th September. The players are - World no 1 V.Anand IND 2792,the defending World Champion V.Kramnik RUS 2769,A.Morozevich RUS 2758,P.Leko HUN 2751,L.Aronian ARM 2750,P.Svidler RUS 2735,B.Gelfand ISR 2733 and A.Grischuk RUS 2726. Two top players V.Topalov BUL 2769 and V.Ivanchuk UKR 2762 were not qualified.
FIDE Master Greg Canfell 2322,the defending champion,has taken the sole lead in the eight player NSW Championship by defeating A.Huynh 1833,B.Norman 1801 and A.Furst 1752 in the first three rounds of this year's event at Parramatta RSL Club. Johny Bolens 2107,seeded second,complained unsuccessfully before his game with fourth seed Adrian Rose 2082 that he should have white not black in the round robin event.Rose won a tricky endgame. Gareth Charles,the third seed,won on forfeit against Angelito Camer. Leading scores after round 3 - G.Canfell 3,G.Charles 2.5,J.Bolens 2,A.Rose 1.5(x).
A nine round swiss event starts tomorrow evening at St George Leagues Club. The NSWCA annual grade match presentation night will be on Wednesday evening at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club.
Grandmaster Title for Chris Fenwick
Peter Parr (SMH 03/09/07)
The International Correspondence Chess Federation has confirmed that Chris Fenwick of Victoria will be awarded the ICCF Grandmaster Title next month.Fenwick scored 11/14,a full point above the GM norm,in the recent David Parr(my brother) Memorial cat 9 International GM tournament. Ninety-year-old Romanas Arlauskas(SA)was the last Australian player to be awarded the ICCF Grandmaster title in 1965. Two other Australians earned the title CJS Purdy(1906-1979)-the first World Champion from 1953 to 1958,and Lucius Endzelins(1909-1981) in 1959. Senior International Master Stephen Kerr(NSW) missed his GM title last week by half a point. Leading Australian players on the October 2007 ICCF rating list - SM S.Kerr 2561,SM C.Fenwick 2559,SM B.Oates 2549,SM G.Benson 2484,IM R.Basden 2468,SM T.Runting 2449,IM G.Lambert 2429,S.Dibley 2406,IM J.Henri 2404.
Leading final scores in the Malaysian Open (87 players, 11 rounds) Chao Li (CHN 2529) 9, Yunguo Wan (CHN 2386) 8.5 (both untitled teenagers), GM R.Ziaur (BAN 2522), IM R.Wang (CHN 2482), GM A.Nguyen (VIE 2537) all 8. Australian players - IM G.Lane (NSW 2412) and FM B.Tindall (NSW 2258) 6, C.Wallis (VIC 2238), M.Illingworth (NSW 2137), FM B.Jones (NSW 2084) 5.5, WIM L.Moylan (NSW 2100) 5, E.Schon (VIC 1963), R.Brockman (VIC 1793) 4.5. J.Tan (VIC UNR) 3.5.
China beat Russia(both men and women) 52.5 - 47.5 (men 25.5-24.5,women 27-23,ten matches with ten players per side)in Nizhniy Novgorod,Russia. The best result was by Evgeny Alekseev(Russia 7/10,performance 2814).
NSW Championship (8 players) results round 2 - B.Norman 0 G.Canfell 1, A.Furst 0 G.Charles 1, A.Camer 0 J.Bolens 1, A.Huynh 0.5 A.Rose 0.5. Leading scores G.Canfell and J.Bolens 2,G.Charles 1.5,A.Rose 0.5(x).
65 players(top seed FM Vladimir Smirnov 2273) are competing in the FIDE rated Ford Memorial tournament at Norths, Cammeray which started last Tuesday evening. The winner of the following game is six-year-old Anton Smirnov(son of Vladimir)the Australian Under-8 Champion. R.Pike (1540) v A.Smirnov (277)1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d4 exd4 6. Qxd4 Qxd4 7. Nxd4 Bc5 8. Nb3 Bb6 9. Bf4 Be6 10. N1d2 O-O-O 11. Nf3 Ne7 12. O-O Ng6 13. Bg3 h5 14. h3 Rhe8 15. Rfe1 Bxb3 16. axb3 Bd4 17. c3 Be5 18. Nxe5 Nxe5 19. Bxe5 Rxe5 Anton plays the rook and pawn endgame very well. 20. f4 Rb5 21. b4 Rd2 22. Rad1 Rxb2 23. Rd3 c5 24. Red1 b6 25. Rd7 cxb4 26. c4 Rc5 27. Rxf7 Rxc4 28. e5 Re2 29. Rdd7 b3 30. Rd3 b2 31. Rb3 Rc1+ 32. Kh2 b1=Q 33. Rxb1 Rxb1 34. Rxg7 a5 35. Rg3 h4 36. Rf3 Ree1 0-1
A 6 round Grand Prix weekend tournament will be played at Blayney Bowling Club 8-9 September.
The Australian Chess Federation has rated 128 tournaments (10930 games) in the past three months. Leading players September 2007 - Men - GM I.Rogers (NSW)2605 -19, IM Z.Zhao (NSW)2560 +12, IM D.Smerdon(VIC) 2471 +3,IM S.Solomon(QLD) 2447 -29,GM D.Johansen(VIC)2424 -21,FM I.Bjelobrk(NSW) 2423 -5,IM G.Xie(NSW) 2406 +28,IM G.Lane(NSW) 2405 -4,FM I.Goldenberg(VIC) 2391 =,T.Tao(SA) 2375 +21. U20-S.Chow (VIC)2327,U18&U16-M.Ly(QLD) 2280,U14-Z.Lin(VIC)2095,U12-Y.Yuan(ACT)1877,U10-Y.Liu(QLD) 1510.Seniors over 60-IM M.Rujevic(VIC)2216,FM A.Flatow(NSW)2179,B.Vojvodic(NSW)2166.Over 70-P.Viner(NSW)2013.Women-WIM A.Sorokina(VIC)2172,G.Nguyen(SA) 2163,WIM A.Caoili(QLD) 2157,IM I.Berezina-Feldman (NSW)2154,WIM B.Dekic(NSW) 2075,WIM L.Moylan(NSW) 2016. Girls U20-WFM A.Song(NSW) 1915,A.Jule(QLD)1748.
China 27.5 Russia 22.5 (SMH 27/08/07)
Peter Parr
China are leading by 5 points at the half way stage of the China-Russia match in Nizhniy Novgorod,Russia. There are ten matches in total with ten players(5 men and 5 women)per side. China are ahead by 15.5-9.5 on the women's boards and Russia lead 13-12 on the men's boards.
The untitled teenager Chao Li(CHN 2529) leads the Malaysian Open(87 players including 9 Australians,11 rounds) with 8.5/10. Yunguo Wan(CHN 2386)and GM Ziaur Rahman(BAN 2522) share second place with 7.5 points. Former Australian Champion IM Gary Lane started well with 4.5/6 after defeating GM Murray Chandler(ENG 2540).
Women's International Master Laura Moylan of Sydney,Olympic Silver Medalist Istanbul 2000, defeated her much higher rated opponent in the following game with her favorite Benko Gambit Opening. Sadikin Irwanto (2456 IM IND) v Laura Moylan (2100 WIM AUS) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. Nf3 g6 5. cxb5 a6 6. bxa6 Bg7 7. Nc3 Bxa6 8. e4 Bxf1 9. Kxf1 d6 10. g3 Nbd7 11. Kg2 O-O 12. Re1 Ng4 13. h3 Nge5 14. Nxe5 Nxe5 15. f4 Nd7 16. Bd2 Qb6 17. Qc2 Rfb8 18. Rab1 Qa6 19. b3 Nb6 20. Re2 Ra7 21. Be1 Rba8 22. Kf3? Qc8 23. a4 Qxh3 24. Nb5 Rb7 25. Rh2 Qc8 26. Bc3 Bxc3 27. Qxc3 h5 28. Rbh1 Qg4+ 29. Kf2 Nxa4! 30. bxa4 Rxa4 31. Na3 Rab4 32. Rh4 Qd7 33. Nc4 Qa4 34. Rc1 Rb3 35. Qc2 Rb2 36. Nxb2 Qd4+ 37. Kf3 Rxb2 38. Qxb2 Qxb2 39. Rhh1 Qb3+ 40. Kf2 Qd3 41. Rhe1 Qd2+ 42. Kf3 f5 43. exf5 Qxd5+ 44. Kf2 gxf5 45. Rcd1 Qb7 46. Rb1 Qd5 47. Rbd1 Qf7 48. Ra1 Kg7 49. Ra7 Kf6 50. Re2 Qe8 51. Ra6 Qc8 52. Ra7 Qd8 53. Rb2 c4 54. Rbb7 c3 55. Ke2 Qg8 56. Rc7 Qg4+ 57. Kf2 Qd1 58. Rxe7 Qd2+ 59. Kf3 c2 60. Rh7 Qd5+ 61. Ke2 Qd1+ 62. Kf2 Qd4+ 0-1 Australian players scores after round 10 - IM G.Lane NSW 2412 and C.Wallis VIC 2238 each 5.5,WIM L.Moylan NSW 2100,FM B.Tindall NSW 2258,M.Illingworth NSW 2137 all 5,FM B.Jones NSW 2084,E.Schon VIC 1963 each 4.5,R.Brockman VIC 1793 4,J.Tan VIC unr 2.5. Joshua Lau(NSW)and Emma Guo(ACT) have each scored 5.5/10 in the supporting event.
IM David Smerdon(AUS 2461) seeded 76th in the very strong Ordix rapid-play in Mainz,Germany had an excellent result finishing in 22nd place in the 762 player event.Smerdon needs to gain 34 rating points in classical games for his GM title.
The NSW State Championship and supporting tournaments at Parramatta RSL attracted a very disappointing entry of 32 players.There are well over 100 active NSW players rated over 1900 for the title event but only 4 entered. Three other players agreed to be promoted making the event only six games.Greg Canfell,the defending champion,is the only player to compete in 2005,2006 and 2007 and no other player ranked in the top 20 has competed in any of these 3 years.
Round 1 results(7 players) - FM Greg Canfell(2322)beat Arthur Huynh(1833),Johny Bolens(2107)defeated Andrew Furst(1752) and Gareth Charles(2093)drew with Brendon Norman(1801),Angelito Camer-Bye. Camer,unable to play on the first two Sundays,played his second round game in advance but lost to Bolens. Bolens has 2/2 with only 4 games left to play.
This is the 90th NSW Championship started in 1901.The record entry is 188 and in 1988 7 divisions were held with 140 players.Canfell,5 time winner, was 2nd in the 103 player events in 1990. The lowest entry 1991-1996 was 92 in 1994. There have been eleven different Sydney CBD venues in the last 40 years. 1999 saw 68 at Burwood,2001-58 at Parramatta. Entries at Ryde-Eastwood 2002-2006 were 81,72,69,45,47. The solution is not easy with no permanent chess centre - Eleven evening rounds as in the 20th century rather than afternoon rounds in the 21st century,a less crowded NSW calendar,state membership a requirement to be rated,a central venue,personal invitations to the leading players,a major sponsor and nine months planning are some ideas.
Adams Makes His Best Move (SMH 20/08/07)
Peter Parr
England's leading grandmaster Michael Adams made his best move on August 4th marrying his long-time girlfriend Tara McGowran in Taunton,Somerset. Two days later Adams was top seed in the fifth annual Staunton Memorial tournament held at Simpsons-in-the-Strand in Central London. Simpsons opened in 1828 and was the most historic London chess venue in the nineteenth century. Howard Staunton(England 1810-1874)was the best player in the world from 1843-1851 and unofficial World Champion. Staunton pattern chess sets have been standard competition sets since 1849.
Adams played the best moves throughout the Staunton Memorial scoring six wins and five draws in the strongest tournament held in London for over twenty years. Here are two games from the event.
L.Van Wely(2679) v P.Wells (2517)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 b6 7. Bg5 Bb7 8. e3 d6 9. Ne2 Nbd7 10. Qc2 c5 11. Rd1 cxd4 12. Rxd4 h6 (12...Qc7 is a good alternative)13. Bh4 Ne5 14. Nc3 Rc8?(overlooking the strength of white's reply) 15. Bg3! Qe7 16. Nb5!(attacking a7 and d6) Nc6 17. Rd1 e5 18. Nxd6 Nd4 (black is in trouble and plays for tactics)19. exd4 Qxd6 20. dxe5 Qe7 21. Be2 Ne4 22. Bf4 g5 23. Be3 Qxe5 24.0-O Qe6 25. Rfe1 Rfe8 26. b3 g4 27. Bf1 Qg6 28. Rd7 Bc6 29. Rxa7 h5 30. Ra6 h4 31. Rxb6 Re6 32. b4 g3 33. b5 Ba8 34. Rxe6 fxe6 35. c5 gxf2+ 36. Bxf2 Rf8 37. c6 1-0
M.Adams (2724)v G.Jones(2526)
1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 g6 6. Qb3 e6 7. Bc4 Qd6 8. Na3 a6 9. dxc5 Qxc5 10. Be3 Qe7 11. O-O-O Nc6 12. Qb6 Nd7 13. Qc7 Nde5 14. Qxe7+ Bxe7 15. Nxe5 Nxe5 16. Bd4 Bf6 17. Be2 Nd7 18. Nc4 Bxd4 19. Rxd4 Ke7 20. Rhd1 Ra7 21. a4 a5 22. Kb1 f6 23. Bf3 f5 24. Nd6 Ne5 25. Be2 b6 26. f4 Nf7 27. Nxf7 Kxf7 28. Rd6 Bb7 29. g3 Be4+ 30. Bd3 Bxd3+ 31. R1xd3 Rc8 32. Rxb6 h6 33. Rdd6 Re7 34. Rb5 Ra8 35. Ka2 g5 36. Ka3 gxf4 37. gxf4 Rc7 38. Re5 Rb7 39. Rexe6 Rab8 40. Re2 1-0
Leading final scores (12 players,all grandmasters,average rating 2557,11 rounds) M.Adams(ENG 2724) 8.5,L.Van Wely (NED 2679),I.Sokolov (NED 2666) 7.5,J.Smeets(NED 2538),J.Werle(NED 2552),G.Jones (ENG 2526) 6.5,E.L'AMI (NED 2598),J.Timman(NED 2560) 5.
IM David Smerdon (AUS) scored 2.5/9 in the PAKS (HUN) grandmaster tournament (PR 2309) losing 18 rating points. Smerdon seeded eighth in the ten player field started with 2.5/6 but lost his last 3 games.Smerdon will now need to gain 34 rating points to reach 2500 for his grandmaster title.
Fourteen teams competed in the NSW Teams Challenge one-day rapid play last week at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club. The event was won by the team - 3 Musketeers - IM DR Alex Matros (Kazakhstan 2476) (7/7) and FM Dr Vladimir Smirnov (2352) (7/7) and CM Dr Kazimir Kolossovsky (RUS 2006)6/7 and Anton Smirnov (829, aged 6) 2/7.
The annual FIDE-Rated Ford Memorial tournament with numerous prizes will be held over nine rounds at Norths (formerly North Sydney Leagues Club) from 28th August to 13th November. Contact is Norman Greenwood - Mob 0431 234 741.
Australia Fifth In Youth Olympiad
Peter Parr (SMH 13/08/07)
Australia(no 1 team) finished in fifth place in the World Youth Under Sixteen Olympiad which finished on Saturday in Singapore. We played all the leading teams for an overall 50% against the following six countries (scoring out of 4) v India 1.5,Hungary 2,Philippines 2,Uzbekistan 2,Turkey 1.5,Iran 3.
Moulthun Ly on board 1 scored 5/9 against a very strong field achieving the 4th highest rating performance (2359) of the 151 players in 34 teams from 24 countries. Junta Ikeda on board 2 was impressive winning a silver medal with 6.5/8,Lin Zhigen Wilson scored 2.5/7,Raymond Song 5/8 and Max Illingworth,the only undefeated player, 5/8.
Final scores of Australia's 2nd,3rd and 4th teams - each player 10 games - AUS no 2 team(all girls) scored 19/40(WFM A.Song 5,E.Guo 2.5,J.Kinder 6.5,T.Oliver 5). AUS no 3 team 18/40(A.Brown 7.5,F.Zulfic 6.5,A.Chibnall 2,A.Kanagarajah 2). AUS no 4 team 18.5/40(D.Yu 6.5,J.Lau 5,I.Ng 4.5,S.Chitturi 2.5).
International Master Wesley So(PHI 2516)was easily the strongest player scoring 9.5/10 for a 2736 performance rating. Only five of the top twenty-five countries competed in the event. Leading final scores (40 games)- India 28,Hungary 27.5,Philippines 25.5,Uzbekistan 24.5,Australia 1 24,Turkey and Indonesia 23.5,Iran 23.
International Master David Smerdon(AUS 2461) has scored a disappointing 2.5/7(average rating of opponents 2462)in the Paks(Hungary) Grandmaster tournament with two rounds to play. Smerdon scored his third and final GM norm two weeks ago but needs his rating to reach 2500 to be awarded the GM title.
The British Championship in Great Yarmouth resulted in a Double Scotch victory. Scotch citizens IM Jacob Aagard 2467(born in Denmark) won the mens title and IM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant 2418(born in Georgia) won the womens title.Aagard who scored his final GM norm nearly 3 years ago will become a grandmaster as he will now be rated above 2500.
Australian IM Aleks Wohl tied for fifth place behind four grandmasters in the 61 player Spanish La Pobla De Lillet International. Wohl(2423) lost to the winner GM A.Kogan(ISR 2569) but drew with GM T.Luther(GER 2529).
Johny Bolens of Sydney won the Hunter Valley Open Grand Prix weekend tournament which had a most unusual finish. Bolens won his first five games and led by 1.5 points with one game to play. Bolens requested to not play the last round which was surprisingly accepted. Leading final scores - J.Bolens 5/6,N.Greenwood,C.Belton 4.5.
The Integra NSW Championship for players rated 1900 ACF or higher and supporting events - major (under 1900) and minor (under 1600) will be held at Parramatta RSL. The three events will be held on seven Sunday afternoons from 19th August to 14th October (except September 23rd and 30th).For further details contact FM Brett Tindall on 8756 5974.
The last time the NSW Championship was only a seven round event was in 1969 with the number of rounds varying from fifteen in 1984 to seven in the last 40 years.
Magnus Carlsen Wins Biel
Peter Parr (SMH 06/08/07)
Sixteen-year-old Magnus Carlsen(Norway) and thirty-one year-old Alexander Onischuk(Baltimore USA,formerly Ukraine)tied for first place in the Biel,Switzerland Super-grandmaster tournament.Carlsen won the play-off match 3-2. The top six players were separated by only half-a-point.
Teimour Radjabov,the leader and top seed,aged twenty,lost the following game to Carlsen in the vital last round. M.Carlsen(NOR 2710)-T.Radjabov(AZE 2746) B 07 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 e5 4 Nge2 Nbd7 5 g3 c6 6 Bg2 b5 7 a3 Be7 8 0-0 0-0 9 h3a5 10 g4 Ba6 11 Ng3 b4 12 Nce2 bxa3 13 Rxa3 d5 14 Re3 dxe4 15 Re1 Qc7 16 Nf5 Bd8 17 g5 Nd5 18 Rxe4 f6 19 Neg3 g6 20 Nh6+ Kg7 21 dxe5 fxg5 22 e6 Kxh6 23 e7 Qb6 24 exf8 Q + Nxf8 25 c4 Nf4 26 Qd6 Kg7 27 Bxf4 gxf4 28 Re7+ 1-0
Final scores (10 players av 2679,9 rounds)M.Carlsen(NOR 2710)and A.Onischuk(USA 2650) 5.5,Y.Pelletier(SUI 2583),J.Polgar(HUN 2707),A.Grischuk(RUS 2726),T.Radjabov(AZE 2746) all 5,Bu Xianghzi(CHN 2685),L.Van Wely(NED 2679),A.Motylev (RUS 2648),B.Avrukh(ISR 2645) all 3.5.
76-year-old Viktor Korchnoi(SUI 2610),the best player in history for his age,tied for first undefeated(rp 2660)in the Banja Luka(BIH) GM event.
World number four Vassily Ivanchuk(UKR) has won his third consecutive GM tournament in Montreal with a 2857 performance rating which may see him ranked world number two on the October rating list.
IM Jacob Aagaard,born in Denmark but living in Scotland,leads the British Championship in Great Yarmouth with 5.5/6. Aagard scored his three grandmaster norms in 2004 but the GM title was not awarded as his rating had not reached 2500. Aagard scored a fourth GM norm in 2006 and last month increased his rating to 2492 in the Spanish League. Aagaard's score of 5.5/6 will push his rating above 2500 and he will be listed as a GM on the October world rating list.
Australian IM David Smerdon is competing in the Paks Grandmaster tournament in Hungary which started last night. Smerdon scored his third and final GM norm last week in the Czech Republic. Smerdon seeded eighth in the ten player event in Paks needs to gain about 15-20 rating points to bring his rating up to 2500 to be awarded the Grandmaster title.
International Master Zong-Yuan Zhao,the Australian Open Champion and top seed,won the Australian National University Open in Canberra scoring five wins and two draws. Zhao beat second seed Grandmaster Dejan Antic (Serbia) in round 4. Leading final scores (26 players, 7 rounds) - IM Z.Zhao (NSW 2548) 6, FM I.Bjelobrk (NSW 2428) 5½, GM D.Antic (SER 2471) 5, IM G.Lane (NSW 2409), IM A.Toth (HUN 2421), J.Ikeda (ACT 2215), WM A.Caoili (QLD 2119), I.Rout (ACT 1859) all 4½. Sunny Yoon (ACT 1376) won the 37 player supporting event scoring 6/7.
NSW Chess Association grade matches under 1500 finals - St.George Dragons 25, North Sydney 24, St. George Saints 16.5, Wests Tigers 13.5. The NSW Chess Association four player teams challenge will be held at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club on Sunday 12th August from 11am-7:30pm over seven rounds. John Nutter has won the Central Coast District Championship for the sixth consecutive year.
Smerdon scores third grandmaster norm.
Peter Parr (SMH 30/07/07)
Australian International Master David Smerdon(2461) scored his third and final Grandmaster norm in Pardubice,Czech Republic. Smerdon,seeded 72nd, started the event with three wins beating GM M.Oleksienko (UKR 2567) in round 3. A draw with GM G.Gajewski(POL 2556) in round 4 was followed by a win against IM A.Vovk(UKR 2504). A GM norm is a 2600+ performance - so far Smerdon was performing at 2805.Smerdon lost to GM V.Laznicka(CZE 2594),beat GM E.Sveshnikov(LAT 2504),drew with IM M.Kravtsiv(UKR 2492)and lost to IM K.Maslak(RUS 2548) in the final four rounds for an overall score of 6/9(placed 30th-64th equal) and a performance rating of 2607. Smerdon's latest result will push his rating up to about 2485. His GM Title application form when received by FIDE will appear on the FIDE website for a minimum of 60 days prior to finalisation by the FIDE Qualifications Commission. Smerdon will also need to achieve a minimum 2500 rating to be awarded the GM Title. FM Manuel Weeks(AUS 2200)scored 3.5/9 performance 2203 in Pardubice.
Progress scores in the Biel,Switzerland Super-Grandmaster tournament(average
2679) after 5 rounds - M.Carlsen(NOR 2710 aged 16) 4,A.Onischuk(USA 2650)and B.Avrukh(ISR 2645) 3,J.Polgar(HUN 2707),T.Radjabov(AZE 2746),A.Grischuk(RUS 2726),Bu Xianghzi(CHN 2685)2.5, A.Motylev (RUS 2648),Y.Pelletier(SUI 2583)2,L.Van Wely(NED 2679) 1
The World Youth Olympiad with 36 teams will be held in Singapore 4-12 August. Australia has four teams and are seeded 4th(Ly,Ikeda,Lin,Song,Illingworth),17th,21st and 25th. Top seeds are UKR 2442,HUN 2437,IND 2348,AUS 2211.
NSW Chess Association inter-club grade match competition.Final scores open division (4 teams, 36 games)Ryde-Eastwood 20½ (N.Wright 8/9 with 7 other players scoring a total of 12½/27 on the other 3 boards).Canterbury 19½ (IM G.Xie 7½/8 on board 1)Parramatta and Sydney Academy of Chess 16. Under 1900 Parramatta 23/32 (B.Mandla 8/8),Rooty Hill 18,North Sydney 16.5,St George 13.5,Ryde-Eastwood 9. Under 1700 rated division (9 teams, 32 games) St.
George Dragons 22 (N.Kordahi 7½/8) Parramatta 18½, St.George Saints 17, Manly and Ryde-Eastwood Checks 16, Rooty Hill 15, North Sydney Grizzlies 14½, Norths Brown Bears 13, Ryde-Eastwood Mates 12. Under 1500 St.George Dragons 17/24(J.Papantoniou 7.5/8),North Sydney 15.5,St George Saints 12,Wests Tigers,Parramatta 10.5,Manly 9.5,Rooty Hill 9. Progress scores in the Under 1500 finals St George Dragons 23.5,North Sydney 21.5,St George Saints 13.5,Wests Tigers 12.5. Under 1300 Ryde-Eastwood 18.5/32(A.Marton 7/8),St George 17,Manly 16.5,Rooty Hill 14.5,Wests 13.5.
The Grand Prix weekender organised by the NSW Chess Association at Parramatta RSL Club was won by fifth seed Benjamin Harris (1840) who scored five wins and two draws against Alexander Papp (1589) and Ahmed Faris (1739). Johny Bolens (2105) the top seed won his first five games but lost his last two rounds to Harris and Michael Dunn (1868).
Leading final scores (38 players, 7 rounds):- B.Harris 6, M.Dunn, A.Faris 5.5.
The Australian Championship and supporting tournaments will be held at Parramatta RSL Club in January 2008.
BIEL offers a new challenge without 3000 year wait
Peter Parr (SMH 24/07/07)
The annual Biel(Switzerland) Super-grandmaster tournament(10 players,average rating 2677,9 rounds)starts this evening.The top seeds are T.Radjabov (AZE 2746,GM at 14 in 2001), A.Grischuk (RUS 2726,GM at 16 in 2000), M.Carlsen(NOR 2710,GM at 13 in 2004), J.Polgar (HUN 2707,GM at 15 in 1991), X.Bu(CHN 2685,GM at 13 in 1999).
GM Xiangzhi Bu from China finished outright first with 8/10 in the 280 player (including 22 GM's) Canadian Open in the capital city Ottawa. Hamish Selnes(AUS 1956) scored 4.5 points.
Fourteen-year-old IM Fabiano Caruana (ITA 2549) scored his final Grandmaster result by winning the Budapest GM event With 7/9 (performance 2634). Caruana,born in Miami,USA is the twelfth youngest grandmaster(14 years,11 months) in history. GM Zlatko Ilincic (SRB 2509) was second on 5.5 and Australian IM David Smerdon rated 2461 was equal third on 5 points with a 2467 performance.
D.Smerdon v IM Bui Vinh(Vietnam 2466) 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nf3 d6 6. cxd4 e6 7. Bc4 Nb6 8. Bd3 dxe5 9. dxe5 Na6 10. Qe2 Nc5 11. Bc2 Nd5 12. O-O Bd7 13. Rd1 Be7 14. Nbd2 Qb6 15. Ne4 Nxe4 16. Qxe4 Rc8 17. Bb3 Bc6 18. Qg4 O-O 19. Bh6 g6 20. Bxf8 Rxf8 21. Rac1 a5 22. Qd4 Qd8 23. Ba4 Bxa4 24. Qxa4 b6 25. a3 Qb8 26. Rd2 Bc5 27. Qh4 Kg7 28. Rxd5 exd5 29. b4 1-0
D.Smerdon v GM G.Todorovic (SRB 2471) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. Nbd2 Nc5 10. c3 Be7 11. Bc2 Bg4 12. Re1 Qd7 13. Nf1 Rd8 14. Ne3 Bh5 15. b4 Ne6 16. g4 Bg6 17. Nf5 h5 18. h3 d4 19. Be4 hxg4 20. hxg4 Nb8 21. N3xd4 Nxd4 22. cxd4 Bxb4 23. Bd2 Bxf5 24. gxf5 Qxd4 25. Bxb4 Qxb4 26. Qg4 Kf8 27. Qg5 Re8 28. Rad1 Qc3 29. Bd5 Qh3 30. e6 Rh4 31. e7+ Kg8 32. Bg2 Qh2+ 33. Kf1 Rh5 34. Qg4 Rh8 35. Rd8 Kh7 36. Re3 1-0
Smerdon is now competing in the Pardubice Open,Czech Republic which has attracted over 2000 players including 79 grandmasters from 48 countries. Smerdon seeded 82nd won his first two games and FM Manuel Weeks(AUS 2200) seeded 408th started with 0.5/2 in the 476 player main event.
Humpy Koneru (IND 2572) won the strong 88 player Kaupthing Open in Luxemburg. Koneru was the youngest woman to earn the men's GM title at the age of fifteen in 2002 and is ranked second in the world for women behind Judith Polgar (HUN 2707).
IM Aleks Wohl(AUS 2423)raced to 6/7 in the 90 player Gers Open in France but lost his last two games to finish a disappointing eighth.
Canterbury's Winter Rapid Play over three Monday evenings starts on July 30th at the Lakemba Services Memorial Club.
The nine round Rooty Hill RSL Open also starts on Monday evening July 30th.
Final scores of the Australian Young Masters in Rockdale(10 players,9 rounds) Tomek Rej 7,Michael Morris 6.5,Ken Xie,Ronald Yu 5.5,Andrew Brown 5,Jason Hu 4,Michael Yu 3.5,Nick Chernih and Ilia Zvedeniouk 3,Angela Song 2.Jason Cohn won the Australian Junior Masters and Sally Yu won the Australian Girls Masters.
Checkers after 13 years of brute force analysis of all 500 billion billion possible positions has been solved.Prof Schaeffer(Canada)calculated that if checkers could be solved in one nanosecond(instead of 13 years)it would take this computer 3000 years to solve chess.
Rogers Retires
by Peter Parr (SMH 16/07/07)
Australian Champion Grandmaster Ian Rogers announced his retirement from competitive chess after winning the Lidums Checkmate weekend tournament in Adelaide. Leading final scores: (51 players, 7 rounds) GM I.Rogers (NSW 2624) 6, GM D.Antic (SER 2471), S.Chow (VIC 2297), IM G.West (VIC 2291) all 5.5.
Rogers was born in Hobart in June 1960 but grew up in Melbourne and now lives in Sydney.He learned chess from his parents at the age of 7 and played in the 1973 Australian Open in Melbourne at the age of 12.Rogers was Victorian Under 14 Champion in 1973 and Under 18 Champion in 1974 at the age of 13 and Australian Junior Champion at the age of 15.
Rogers scored his IM norms in quick succession Brisbane 1979, Sydney 1979 and convincingly won the Australian Championship 1979/80 at the age of 19. He became an IM in 1980 after his final norm in the Malta Olympiad.Rogers finished a science degree majoring in meteorology at Melbourne University but turned chess professional in 1982.He became Australia's first Grandmaster in 1985 after scoring his 3 norms in 1984 and 1985. Darryl Johansen of Melbourne is the only other Australian to have gained the grandmaster title.Rogers' first overseas events were the World Cadet (under 17) in 1975 and again in 1976 where he finished equal third each time (equal with Garry Kasparov in 1976!).
The following game was played in the last round of the Jan 1980 Australian Championship in Adelaide. Watching the game I was impressed not only by the tricky tactics but by the speed of the youngster's play. I.Rogers v C.Laird(former NZ Champion) 1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. Be2 Bg4 6. Be3 e6 7. Nd2 Bxe2 8. Qxe2 Be7 9. O-O d5 10. e5 Nd7 11. f4 Nb4 12. f5 Bg5 13. Rac1 c5 14. fxe6 Bxe3+ 15. Qxe3 fxe6 16. dxc5 Qe7 17. Nde4 dxe4 18. Nxe4 Nd5 19. Qd4 O-O-O 20. Rf7 Nf4 21. Nd6+ Qxd6 22. Qxd6 Ne2+ 23. Kf2 Nxc1 24. c6 bxc6 25. Qxc6+ Kb8 26. Rxd7 1-0.
Rogers represented Australia in 14 Olympiads(12 times on board 1) scoring an overall 60 wins,60 draws,32 losses.He won the Australian Championship in 1980,1986,1998 and 2006 and the Australian Open in 1993. He won the Australian Grand Prix 7 times and the Doeberl Cup 12 times 1980-2007.
Ian's wife of 23 years Cathy is a Womens FIDE Master and former Australian girls champion who has travelled to all tournaments with Ian preparing his schedule and assisting with database preparation - essential these days. Rogers retired on strong medical advice due to a kidney problem and the stress of high level tournament play.
The next Grand Prix weekend tournament organised by the NSW Chess Association will be held over 7 rounds on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd July at Parramatta RSL Club with a prize fund of $2220 based on 55 players.The nine round Hakoah,Bondi Championship commences on Monday evening 23rd July.
Fourteen-year-old Max Illingworth has won the 2007 NSW Junior(Under 18) Championship. He conceded only one draw and finished one and a half points ahead of his nearest rival,Joshua Levin. The Under 12 Championship produced a tie between Pasan Perera and the defending champion Joshua Lau;a play-off will be held for the title. Leading final scores : Under 18(34 players,9 rounds)-Max Illingworth 8.5,Joshua Levin 7,Adrian Miranda 6.5 Under 12(59 players,10 rounds)-Pasan Perera and Joshua Lau 8.5,Oscar Wang 8. Max Illingworth will represent Australia in the World Youth Olympiad in Singapore next month and immediately after will compete in the Malaysian Open.
International Master Aleks Wohl(AUS 2428) has scored 6/8 in the Open in Gers,France. IM David Smerdon(AUS 2461)has scored 4.5/8 in the Budapest Grandmaster tournament.
Kramnik wins in Dortmund
Peter Parr (SMH 09/07/07)
World Champion Vladimir Kramnik has won the Dortmund,Germany Super-Grandmaster tournament scoring 3 wins and 4 draws to finish a full point ahead of 3 players including World No 1 Viswanathan Anand who scored 6 draws and won only one game. Kramnik was clear first in Dortmund in 1995,1997 and 2007 and shared first 5 times. The sixteen-year-old Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen is outclassed in the following game.
V.Kramnik 2772 v M.Carlsen 2698 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. d4 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. Qxc4 b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 (black's idea is a later c7-c5 or e6-e5)10. Bd2 Nc6 11. e3 Nb4 12. Bxb4 Bxb4 13. a3 Be7 14. Nbd2 Rc8 15. b4 a5 16. Ne5! Nd5?(better is 16..Bxg2 17 Kxg2 axb4) 17. Nb3! axb4 (Carlsen played the last few moves quickly but Kramnik's well placed knights soon give him a strategically winning position)18. Na5 Ba8 19. Nac6 Bxc6 20. Nxc6 Qd7 21. Bxd5! exd5 22. axb4 Rfe8 (This loses a pawn but there was nothing better)23. Ra5 Bf8 24. Ne5 Qe6 25. Rxb5 Rb8 26. Rxb8 Rxb8 27. Qxc7 Bd6 28. Qa5 Bxb4? 29. Rb1! Qd6 30. Qa4 1-0 (if.. Bc3 31 Rxb8+ Qxb8 32 Qd7 wins)
Final scores (8 players, 7 rounds, average 2727) - V.Kramnik (RUS 2772) 5, E.Alekseev (RUS 2679), P.Leko (HUN 2738), V.Anand (IND 2786) 4, S.Mamedyarov (AZE 2757) 3.5, M.Carlsen (NOR 2698) 3, B.Gelfand (ISR 2733) 2.5, A.Naiditsch (GER 2654) 2. Leading final scores in the Odessa,Ukraine rapid (10 players,9 rounds)- V.Ivanchuk(UKR 2729) 7,A.Grischuk(RUS 2717) 6.5,T.Radjabov(AZE 2747),A.Shirov (ESP 2699) 5.5,B.Gelfand (ISR 2733) 5.
International Master Aleks Wohl(AUS 2428) of Sydney won the 83 player Vins Du Medoc Open in France on countback just ahead of IM M.Van Delft(NED 2397). Wohl won 89 bottles of wine,improved his world rating,and is now competing in the Open in Gers,France where the top seed is Romanian GM G.Grigore 2534.
Grandmaster Murray Chandler who was in Sydney last week confirmed details of the Queenstown,New Zealand Chess Classic 15th-24th January 2009. The event will be played in the Grand Ballroom of the Millennium Hotel,Queenstown.The prize fund is $50,000 with a first prize of $10,000. Chandler left New Zealand at the age of fifteen and lived in England where he became a leading grandmaster and has recently returned to live in New Zealand.
IM George Xie won the Rooty Hill Rapid Play half a point ahead of Serbian Grandmaster Dejan Antic.
Thirteen-year-old John Papantoniou,who last month won the Under 1600 Division of the NSW Open,has followed up that success by tying for first place in the NSW Junior League's Winter One-Day Tournament and winning outright the Winter Two-Day Tournament. Fifteen-year-old Charley Peng shared first place in the One-Day event which attracted a near record 280 players. Foremost amongst the younger players was nine-year-old Andrew Pan,who finished equal fifth in both tournaments.
Leading final scores : Winter One Day(280 players,8 rounds) - Charley Peng and John Papantoniou 7.5,Adrian Kong and Bernard Chau 7. Winter Two-Day(214 players,11 rounds) - John Papantoniou 9.5,George Guse,Andrew Jung and Hayden Van Rys 9.
The NSW Junior Championship(Under 18)started yesterday and will finish on Friday,and the Under 12 will be played from Wednesday to Friday. For details see www.nswjcl.org.au or contact Richard Gastineau-Hills,phone 9412 4579
World Champion Wins With White.
Peter Parr (SMH 02/07/07)
World Champion Vladimir Kramnik has won all three games with the white pieces in the Dortmund,Germany Super-Grandmaster tournament.Kramnik's four main rivals have won only one game each. Scores (8 players,7 rounds,average rating 2727)V.Kramnik 4.5/6,V.Anand,P.Leko,E.Alekseev 3.5,S.Mamedyarov 3,M.Carlsen 2.5,B.Gelfand 2,A.Naiditsch 1.5.
Aerosvit GM tournament in Foros,Ukraine - Final scores (12 players, 11 rounds, average rating 2694)V.Ivanchuk(UKR 2729) 7.5,S.Karjakin(UKR 2686,aged 17) 7,A.Onischuk(USA 2663),P.Svidler(RUS 2736),L.Van Wely (NED 2674),A.Shirov(ESP 2736)all 6 WFM Shannon Oliver(AUS 1925)scored 4/9(pr 2068,303 players)last week in Pula,Croatia.
Leading players on the July 2007 world rating list - V.Anand(IND 2792),V.Kramnik(RUS 2769),V.Topalov (BUL 2768),V.Ivanchuk (UKR 2762),A.Morozevich(RUS 2758),S.Mamedyarov(AZE 2755),P.Leko(HUN 2751),L.Aronian(ARM 2750),T.Radjabov(AZE 2746),D.Jakovenko (RUS 2735),A.Shirov(ESP 2735),P.Svidler(RUS 2735). Women-J.Polgar(HUN 2707),H.Koneru(IND 2572),P.Cramling(SWE 2533)Juniors-T.Radjabov(AZE 2746),M.Carlsen(NOR 2710),Y.Wang (CHN 2696). Leading countries (146, average top 10) - Russia 2725(173 GM,439 IM,1715 titled),Ukraine 2676,China 2632,USA 2631,Israel 2629. Australia 2448 is 54th(2 GM,17 IM,68 titled)
Leading Australian players - GM I.Rogers 2547(+34),IM Z.Zhao 2491(+15),IM S.Solomon 2467(+37),IM D.Smerdon 2461(+5),GM D.Johansen 2446(-10),IM A.Wohl 2423(-5),T.Tao 2422(=),IM G.Xie 2413(+9),IM G.Lane 2412(-9),IM M.Chapman 2402(+14).Women IM I.Berezina 2246,WM A.Sorokina 2208,WM N.Phan-Koshnitsky 2168,WM A.Caoili 2144,WM B.Dekic 2138.
Grandmaster Dejan Antic (Serbia) won the Gold Coast Open weekender which attracted 111 players in three divisions.
Antic won 5 games and drew againt his two main rivals Australian Champion Ian Rogers, the top seed, and David Smerdon.
Leading final scores GM D.Antic (SER) 6/7, M.Ly (QLD) and GM I.Rogers (NSW) 5.5, IM D.Smerdon (VIC), B.Lazarus (QLD) and IM P.Froehlich (QLD) 5. The next Grand Prix event will be the Lidums checkmate open in Adelaide next weekend.
Early entries include GM I.Rogers(NSW),GM D.Johansen(VIC),GM D.Antic(SER).
International Master George Xie won the 33 player NSW Rapid Championship at Parramatta scoring 7 out 7.
Veteran Toby Lewski was second with 5.5 points followed by J.Chan, S.Berezovski,A.Faris and J.Bolens on 5 points.
This year's Secondary Schools One-Day tournament(same day as NSW Rapid) attracted 55 teams from 33 schools,a big increase on last year's 31 teams. The Terrey Shaw Shield,awarded each year to the winning team in the Open Division(19 teams),was won by Sydney Grammar School finishing half a point ahead of Fort Street High and Normanhurst Boys High. The junior division(36 teams)was won by North Sydney Boys High 4.5 points above Newington College and Sydney Boys High. The NSW Junior League's holiday events commence with a one-day tournament on Wednesday and a two-day tournament on Thursday and Friday. The NSW Junior Championships will be held next week. Details see www.nswjcl.org.au or contact Richard Gastineau-Hills phone 9412 4579.
Mamedyarov leads Dortmund.
Peter Parr (SMH 25/06/07)
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov(aged 22,World Junior Champion 2003 and 2005) ranked sixth in the world,defeated GM Arkadij Naiditsch in the first round to take the sole lead in the Dortmund,Germany Super Grandmaster Tournament. World Champion Vladimir Kramnik drew in 35 moves with World number One Viswanathan Anand. Scores (8 players,7 rounds,average rating 2727)S.Mamedyarov(AZE 2757) 1,V.Anand (IND 2786),V.Kramnik(RUS 2772),P.Leko(HUN 2738),B.Gelfand(ISR 2733),M.Carlsen(NOR 2693,aged 16),E.Alekseev (RUS 2679) all 0.5,A.Naiditsch(GER 2654) 0.
Seventeen-year-old Sergey Karjakin(who became the youngest GM in history at the age of 12 years and 7 months) leads the Aerosvit GM tournament in Foros,Ukraine. P.Eljanov 2686 v S.Karjakin 2686 D15 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Nc3 b5 6. c5 Nbd7 7. a3 a5 8. Bd3 e5 9. dxe5 Ng4 10. e6 fxe6 11. Nd4 Nxc5 12. Be2 Nxf2 13. Kxf2 Bd6 14. g3 O-O+ 15. Kg2 Bd7 16. Bd2 e5 17. Nb3 Ne6 18. Bg4 a4 19. Nc1 Qg5 20. h4 Qg6 21. h5 Qg5 22. Rh4 e4 23. Qe1 Nc5 24. Bxd7 Nxd7 25. N1e2 Ne5 26. Qh1 Nf3 27. Qh3 Qf6 28. Nf4 Nxd2 0-1
V.Ivanchuk 2729 v L.Nisipeanu 2693 D39 1.d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 dxc4 4. Nc3 e6 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bg5 c5 7. e5 cxd4 8. Qa4+ Nc6 9. O-O-O Bd7 10. Ne4 Nxe4 11. Bxd8 Rxd8 12. Nxd4 Bd2+ 13. Rxd2 Nxd2 14. Nxc6 Bxc6 15. Qa3 Nxf1 16. Rxf1 Rd3 17. Qb4 a5 18. Qxc4 Rd5 19. Rd1 O-O 20. Rxd5 Bxd5 21. Qa4 Bxg2 22. Qxa5 Bd5 23. f4 f6 24. f5 fxe5 25. fxe6 Bxe6 26. b3 e4 27. Qb5 Bf7 28. Qxb7 e3 29. Qb5 h6 30. Kd1 g5 31. Qe2 Rd8+ 32. Ke1 Rd2 33.Qxe3 Rxa2 34. b4 Rxh2 35. b5 Rb2 36. b6 g4 37. Qxh6 Rb1+ 38. Kf2 Rb3 39. Qc6 1-0
Leading scores after round 6 (12 players, average 2694, 11 rounds) S.Karjakin (UKR 2686) 4,V.Ivanchuk(UKR 2729) 3.5 with eight players including P.Svidler (RUS 2736),D.Jakovenko(RUS 2708) and A.Shirov(ESP 2699) on 3 points.
Fifty-six year old Anatoly Karpov(RUS,World Champion 1975-1985)gained a few rating points finishing third in Valjevo,Serbia a point behind Israeli GM Michael Roiz and Turkey's GM Suat Atalik.
Edwin Malitis died last Thursday in Melbourne. He was chief arbiter of numerous events including my first Australian Championship in Melbourne 1968. He was awarded the International Arbiter title by FIDE in 1980 and the Koshnitsky Medal by the ACF in 1999 for chess administration. Malitis was an icon of the Melbourne Chess Club,treasurer for over 20 years,and club champion in 1969.
Progress scores in the NSWCA Grade Matches - Open Div - Parramatta 11/20,Ryde-Eastwood 10,Sydney Academy of Chess,Canterbury 9.5. IM George Xie has scored 4/4 on board 1 for Canterbury. Under 1900 Div - Parramatta 12/16,North Sydney 8.5,Rooty Hill,St George 7.5,Ryde-Eastwood 4.5.
The Rooty Hill RSL Open Rapid will be held over 7 rounds on Saturday 30th June from 10:30am - 6:15pm.
The NSW Junior League's activities in the coming school holidays include a coaching clinic on Monday 2nd July,a one-day tournament on Wednesday 4th July,a two-day tournament on the next two days and the NSW Junior Championships in the following week. For details see www.nswjcl.org.au or contact Richard Gastineau-Hills,phone 9412 4579.
World Championship in Mexico City (SMH 18/06/07)
Peter Parr
The next World Championship will be decided by an eight player double round robin in Mexico City from 11th September to 1st October. The four qualifiers from the last cycle are Vladimir Kramnik (RUS 2772)the defending champion,V.Anand(IND 2786),P.Svidler (RUS 2736) and A.Morozevich (RUS 2762).The other four qualified in Elista last week L.Aronian, P.Leko, B.Gelfand and A.Grischuk.
Final scores of the World Championship Candidates Matches in Elista, Russia - L.Aronian (ARM 2759) 3.5 v A.Shirov(ESP 2699) 2.5, P.Leko (HUN 2738) 3.5 v E.Bareev (RUS 2643) 1.5, B.Gelfand (ISR 2733) 3.5 v G.Kamsky (USA 2705) 1.5, A.Grischuk (RUS 2717) 5.5 v S.Rublevsky (RUS 2680) 3.5.
The Aerosvit tournament in Foros, Ukraine starts tonight. The average rating of the 12 player round robin is 2694.Top seeds are P.Svidler (RUS 2736), V.Ivanchuk (UKR 2729), D.Jakovenko (RUS 2708) and A.Shirov (ESP 2699). Sydney barrister and tourist FIDE master Tim Reilly (2298) scored 4.5 out of 9 in the 2nd Maia Chiburdanidze Cup in Tbilisi, Georgia.The event was won by Grandmaster Levan Pantsulaia (GEO 2616) scoring 7.5/9.
Grandmaster Dejan Antic of Serbia won the NSW Open at Parramatta RSL. Antic won the first five rounds and drew with top seed GM Ian Rogers in round 6 and drew with Jason Hu in the final round. Rogers won 4 games and drew with Hu,Antic and Toth. Hungarian IM Andras Toth scored five wins, a loss to Antic in round 5 and a draw with Rogers in the last round.
Leading final scores (50 players, 7 rounds) GM D.Antic (2471) 6, GM I.Rogers (2624) and IM A.Toth (2421) 5.5, J.Hu (2096), A.Ayvazyan (2225), I.Bjelobrk (2428), N.Wright (2141) and J.Bolens(2107) all 5. Thirteen-year-old John Papantoniou (1460) won the 57 player supporting under 1600 rated tournament scoring 6 out of 7.
Chris Wallis won his first 6 games in the Victorian Open Championship in Melbourne but was defeated by the top seed International Master David Smerdon in the final round. Leading final scores (81 players, 7 rounds) IM D.Smerdon (2468) 6.5, C.Wallis (2248) 6, D.Dragicevic, D.Bourmistrov, M.Lojanica, J.Morris 5.5.
The 32 player Tasmanian Open was won by Tony Dowden and Kevin Bonham each scoring 5 out of 6. The Adelaide Queen's Birthday weekender resulted in a four way tie for first between IM M.Chapman,S.Zaric,E.Mdinaradze and F.Zulfic each scoring 4.5/6.
Progress scores in the NSWCA Grade Matches Open Division after 16 games(4 clubs,total 36 games) Sydney Academy of Chess 9,Ryde-Eastwood 8.5,Parramatta 7.5,Canterbury 7. The NSW Rapid Play 2007 will be held at Parramatta RSL next Sunday over 7 rounds from 11am to 7:30pm.
The annual Secondary Schools One-Day Teams Tournament for the Terrey Shaw Shield will also be held next Sunday.The event commemorates IM Terrey Shaw,a Sydney barrister who represented Australia with distinction in nine consecutive Chess Olympiads and who died in 1997. The tournament is sponsored by Terrey Shaw's former colleagues in the legal profession and in the chess community. Enquiries : Richard Gastineau-Hills,phone 9412 4579,or see the NSW Junior League's website www.nswjcl.org.au
Grandmasters in 107 player NSW Open (SMH 11/06/07)
Peter Parr
Grandmasters Ian Rogers and Dejan Antic are the top two seeds in the NSW Open Weekender at Parramatta RSL which attracted 107 players in two divisions. Australian Champion Ian Rogers won the following game in the second round on Saturday evening against Nicholas Kordahi. GM I.Rogers 2624 N.Kordahi 1714 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 d6 6 Bg5 e6 7 Qd2 a6 8 0-0-0 Be7 9 f4 0-0 10 Nf3 Qc7 11 Bd3 b5 12 Rhe1 Rd8 13 e5 dxe5 14 fxe5 Nd5 15 Bxe7 Ncxe7 16 Nxd5 Nxd5 17 Re4 Bb7 18 Rh4 f5 19 Ng5 Qe7 20 Rxh7 Nb4 21 Qf4 Nxd3 + 22 Rxd3 Rxd3 23 Rh8+ 1-0 (after Kxh8 24 Qh4+ Kg8 25 Qh7+ Kf8 26 Qh8 mate).
Meanwhile in Melbourne there are 81 players competing in the Victorian Open Championship. IM David Smerdon 2468,FM Erik Teichmann 2341 and IM Mirko Rujevic 2254 all won their first two games but third seed FM Jesse Sales 2340 lost to John Beckman 1591 in the first round.
The World Championship Candidates Finals Matches are in progress from June 6th -14th in Elista,Russia.
Three of the eight first round knock out matches were drawn 3-3. Boris Gelfand beat former World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov 2.5-0.5 in the rapid tie-break.Alexei Shirov beat Michael Adams by the same score but the top seed Levon Aronian was held to a 2-2 draw by sixteen-year-old Magnus Carlsen of Norway.The score stood at 5-5 and Aronian won the blitz(5 minute games)play-off 2-0.
The following two games were played in the final matches. A.Grischuk 2717 v S.Rublevsky 2680 B84 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 d6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Be3 Bd7 9. a4 Be7 10. f4 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Bc6 12. b4! White has an advantage in space O-O 13. b5 Be8 14. e5 Qc7 15. b6 Qc6 16. Bf3 good opening preparation with this new move by Grischuk d5 17. Rae1 Nd7 18. Nxd5! White sacrifices a knight with all his other pieces well placed exd5 19. Bxd5 Qc5 20. e6 Qxd4 21. Bxd4 Nf6 22. Bb3 white is one hour ahead on the clock 22...Rd8! Only move 23. Bxf6 Bc5+ 24. Kh1 gxf6 25. e7 Bxe7 26. Rxe7 Bc6 27. Rc7 Rd2 28. Re1 Rf2? 29. h3 Rxf4 30. Ree7 Rf1+ 31. Kh2 Rf2 32. Rxc6! The final blow bxc6 33. Rxf7! Rf4 34. c3 1-0
L.Aronian 2759 v A.Shirov 2699 D20 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 e5 4. Nf3 exd4 5. Bxc4 Nc6 6. O-O Be6 7. Bxe6 fxe6 8. Qb3 Qd7 9. Qxb7 Rb8 10. Qa6 Nf6 11. Nbd2 Bd6 12. b3 O-O 13. Bb2 Bf4 14. g3 Bh6 15. Ba3 Nxe4!? Black sacrifices the exchange for active play 16. Bxf8 Nxd2 17. Nxd2 Bxd2 18. Ba3 Qd5 19. Qc4 Qxc4 20. bxc4 Ne5 21. Rab1 Rd8 22. c5 Nc4 23. Bc1 d3 perhaps ...Ba5 was better 24. Rb7 c6?! 25. Bxd2 Nxd2 26. Rd1 Ne4 27. f3 Nc3 28. Rd2 Nxa2 29. Rb3 Nc1 30. Rb1 Ne2+ 31. Kf2 e5 32. Ra1 Rd5 33. Rxa7 Rxc5 34. Rxd3 Nd4 35. Rd2 h6 36. f4 Nb5 37. Ra8+ Kh7 38. f5 Nd4 39. g4 Rc3 40. Rb2 h5? ...Nb5 was forced 41. Rbb8 1-0 Progress scores in the four final matches - L.Aronian (ARM 2759) 2 Alexei Shirov(ESP 2699) 1, P.Leko(HUN 2738) 2.5 E.Bareev(RUS 2643) 0.5,A.Grischuk (RUS 2717) 2 S.Rublevsky (RUS 2680) 1,B.Gelfand (ISR 2733) 2 G.Kamsky(USA 2705) 1
China wins Gold
Peter Parr (SMH 04/06/07)
China won the spectacular 15kg golden trophy decorated with 16 precious Urals Stones in the First Women's World Teams Championship held in Yekaterinburg,Russia. The five players (Zhao Xue 6.5/8, 13yr old Hou Yifan 7.5/9,Ruan Lufei 6/7,Shen Yang 6.5/8,Huang Qian 4/4) aged between 13 and 22 were physically extremely fit,dedicated and determined with a team of coaches. Leading final scores(10 teams,9 matches) China 17/18,Russia 15,Ukraine 14,Georgia 11. China scored 30.5/36 game points,Russia 24.
Results of the eight 6-game World Championship Matches in Elista,Russia - P.Leko(HUN 2738)3.5 v M.Gurevich(TUR 2635)0.5, G.Kamsky(USA 2705)3.5 v E.Bacrot(FRA 2709)0.5, A.Grischuk (RUS 2717)3.5 v V.Malakhov (RUS 2679)1.5,S.Rublevsky(RUS 2680)3.5 v R.Ponomariov(UKR 2717)2.5,E.Bareev(RUS 2643)3.5 v J.Polgar(HUN 2727)2.5. The other 3 matches M.Carlsen(NOR 2693)v L.Aronian(ARM 2759),B.Gelfand(ISR 2733)v R.Kasimdzhanov(UZB 2677),M.Adams (ENG 2734)v A.Shirov(ESP 2699)were all drawn 3-3 and will be decided by rapid play games. The eight winners will compete in the next round of four 6-game knock out matches commencing on Wednesday evening.
World number 12 Vassily Ivanchuk(UKR) 2729 easily won the Capablanca Memorial in Havana,Cuba scoring 7.5/9 (performance 2883!). Australian Champion Grandmaster Ian Rogers of Sydney was seeded seventh but finished equal second in the Limburg Open(Netherlands).Leading final scores(102 players,7 rounds)- ex-world U18 Champion GM L.Kritz 2593(GER) 6,GM I.Rogers 2513(AUS)performance 2576,GM E.Berg(SWE)2574,GM G.Schebler(GER)2530,IM M.Luch (POL)2509 all 5.5.
The Australian Chess Federation has rated 139 tournaments (10737 games) in the past 3 months.Leading players June 2007: Men- GM I.Rogers (NSW)2624 +3, IM Z.Zhao (NSW)2548 +11, IM A.Wohl (NSW)2479 =,IM S.Solomon (QLD) 2476 +48,IM.D.Smerdon (VIC) 2468 -1,GM D.Johansen (VIC)2445 -22,IM M.Chapman(SA) 2444 +41,FM I.Bjelobrk (NSW) 2428 +6,IM G.Lane (NSW) 2409 -43,FM I.Goldenberg (VIC) 2391 +23. Under 20-S.Chow(VIC)2297,Under 18 and Under 16-M.Ly(QLD) 2267,Under 14-Z.Lin (VIC)2097 Under 12-G.Nakauchi(QLD)1819 Under 10-Y.Liu (QLD) 1468. Seniors Over 60-IM M.Rujevic (VIC) 2254,FM A.Flatow (NSW) 2210,FM D.Hamilton(VIC) 2183. Over 70-P.Viner(NSW) 2013.Women-IM I.Berezina-Feldman (NSW) 2154,WM A.Caoili (QLD)2119,I.Eriksson (NSW)2110,G.Nguyen(SA) 2097,WM B.Dekic (NSW) 2075,WM L.Moylan (NSW) 2053. Girls under 20-R.Harris(NSW)1722,A.Jule(QLD)1705.
Leading final scores in the Mingara Major Open Grand Prix tournament (24 players, 6 rounds) FM I. Bjelobrk (2422) 5.5, IM G.Lane (2452) 5, J.Bolens (2080), J.Adams (1636), M.Canfell (1746) all 4 points.
The next Grand Prix event will be the NSW Open 9-11 June at Parramatta RSL. The tournament organised by the NSW Chess Association has a prize fund of $6250 based on 100 entries in two separate divisions - open and under 1600 rated. There will be 7 rounds held over 3 days for each event. Further details from Brett Tindall (Tel) 8756 5974.
Topalov wins Masters
Peter Parr (SMH 28/05/07)
Former world champion Veselin Topalov beat the leader in the following exciting final round game to win the M-Tel Masters in his hometown of Sofia,Bulgaria.
V.Topalov 2772 v K.Sasikiran 2690 E52 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 b6 5. Bd3 Bb7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. O-O d5 8. a3 Bd6 9. cxd5 exd5 10. b4 Nbd7 11. b5! Ne4 12. Bb2 Re8 13. a4 Re6 14. Ne2 a5 15. Ba3 Rc8 16. Bxd6 cxd6 17. Rc1 Ndf6 18. h3 Re7 19. Qb3 h6 20. Rxc8 Qxc8 21. Rc1 Rc7 22. Rxc7 Qxc7 23. Qc2 Qe7 24. Qc1 g6 25. Nh2 Kg7 26. h4 Ne8 27. f3 N4f6 28. Nf1 h5 29. Nf4 Nd7 30. Qe1! Nf8 31. Qg3 Kh6 32. Nxh5 gxh5 33. Qg8 f5 34. Ng3 Ng7 35. Bxf5 Ng6 36. Bxg6 Kxg6 37. Nxh5 Qxe3+ 38. Kh2 Qe7?(much better was Qxd4) 39. Nf4+ Kf6 40. g4 Qf7 41. Qd8+ Qe7 42. Qg8 Qf7 43. Qd8+ Qe7 44. Qxe7+ Kxe7 45. Kg3 Ne6 46. Nxe6 Kxe6 47. f4 Bc8 48. f5+ Kf7 49. h5 Bd7 50. h6 Kg8 51. Kf4 Be8 52. Kg5 Kf7 53. h7 Kg7 54. h8=Q+ Kxh8 55. Kf6 Bxb5 56. Ke7 Bd3 57. f6 Bg6 58. f7 Bxf7 59. Kxf7 1-0 Final scores(6 players,10 rounds) V.Topalov (BUL 2772) 5.5,K.Sasikiran(IND 2690),G.Kamsky(USA 2705),D.Nisipeanu(ROM 2693),S.Mamedyarov(AZE 2757) all 5,M.Adams(ENG 2734) 4.5
Leading final scores in the United States Championship(36 players including 18 GM's,9 rounds) Alexander Shabalov(2671) 7,Alexander Onishuk(2712)6.5,G.Kaidanov,Y.Shulman,J.Becerra 6. Former Australian Champion GM Walter Browne scored 4 points.
The first World Women's Teams Championship is in progress in Yekaterinburg,Russia. China beat Russia 4-0 and Ukraine 3.5 -0.5 and drew with Georgia 2-2. Leading match points after round 6 (10 countries,9 rounds) China 11/12,Russia 9,Georgia and Ukraine 8.
The eight world championship candidates matches started last night in Elista,Russia. Aronian-Carlsen,Leko-Gurevich,Ponomariov-Rublevsky,Gelfand-Kasimdzhanov,Bacrot-Kamsky,Grischuk-Malakhov,Polgar-Bareev,Shirov-Adams. Each of the six game matches has a prize fund of $50,000.
Grandmaster Ian Rogers,the Australian Champion, is seeded 7th in the 102 player Limburg Open (Netherlands) and has so far scored 2.5/3.
The John Kellner Memorial tournament at St. George Leagues Club saw a titanic struggle between the top two seeds Grandmaster Dejan Antic and Johny Bolens in round 4. Bolens playing white gained the advantage but after some exchanges a draw seemed likely. Antic tried to win but a draw was finally agreed after a marathon game of 107 moves.Antic and Bolens each had 5.5/6 before the final round. Antic beat the fourth seed Steven Retallick (1969) and Bolens was fortunate to draw with Michael Dunn.Leading final scores (30 players, 7 rounds) GM D.Antic (2428) 6.5, J.Bolens (2080) 6, M.Dunn (1847), B.Mandla (1785) 5, WIM L.Moylan (2076), N.Greenwood (1515), A.Mascarenhas (1423) and M.Weltner (1422) all 4.5
The 7 round Canterbury Winter Swiss starts tonight at Lakemba Memorial Services Club. The Mayor of Marrickville,Councillor Morris Hanna will be opening the new open air chessboard for public use at Addison Road Community Centre,Marrickville on Sunday at 11am. The giant pieces made by artist Jeff Wood are based on the American Revolution.
Sasikiran tops the Masters
Peter Parr (SMH 21/05/07)
Indian Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran leads the M-Tel Masters in Sofia,Bulgaria with one round to play against the top seed and local hero World no 2 Veselin Topalov. Sasikiran,seeded last,was born in Chennai in Jan 1981 and is one of the rising generation of Indian players following in the footsteps of World no 1 Viswanathan Anand also from Chennai(Madras).
Sasikiran fought hard for victory in the following game on Saturday evening but accurate defence by black led to a draw.
K.Sasikiran 2690 - L.Nisipeanu 2693 Round 9 B38 1 Nf3 c5 2 c4 g6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 5 e4 Bg7 6 Be3 Nf6 7 Nc3 0-0 8 Be2 b6 9 0-0 Bb7 10 f4 Nxd4 11 Bxd4 Rc8 12 Qd3 d6 13 Rad1 Qc7 14 Kh1 Rfe8 15 e5 dxe5 16 fxe5 Nh5 17 Nd5 Bxd5 18 cxd5 Bxe5 19 Bxh5 Bxd4 20 Qxd4 gxh5 21 Rd3 e5 22 Qh4 Qd6 23 Qxh5 Kh8 24 Rg3 f6 25 Qh6 Qf8 26 Qh4 Red8 27 h3 Rxd5 28 Rg6 Rd4 29 Rgxf6 Rxh4 30 Rxf8+ Rxf8 31 Rxf8+ Kg7 32 Rf3 Rb4 33 b3 a5 34 Kh2 e4 35 Rf5 a4 36 bxa4 Rxa4 37 Rb5 Rxa2 38 Rxb6 Ra3 39 Re6 Re3 40 Kg1 Kf7 41 Kf2 Rxh3 42 Rxe4 draw. All six players are within half-a-point of 50% before the last round.
Progress scores after round 9 (6 players,10 rounds)K.Sasikiran (IND 2690) 5,G.Kamsky (USA 2705),V.Topalov(BUL 2772),D.Nisipeanu(ROM 2693),S.Mamedyarov(AZE 2757) all 4.5,M.Adams (ENG 2734) 4
The World Championship Title will be decided in an eight player double round robin tournament in Mexico from 11 Sep to 1 Oct. Kramnik(RUS) World Champion, Anand(IND), Svidler(RUS)and Morozevich(RUS) have already qualified.The final four places will be decided in Elista,Kalmykia,Russia 26 May to 14 June.
16-year-old New Zealand Champion Puchen Wang beat Gary Lane (AUS),the defending champion,in the recent Oceania Zonal in Nadi,Fiji Rd 4 FM P.Wang 2322 v IM G.Lane 2421 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nge2 O-O 6. Ng3 c6 7. Be2 a6
