London Chess Classic 2012: Viswanathan Anand signs off with draw with Carlsen

World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand finished his campaign with a draw against Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the ninth and final round of London Chess Classic here on Tuesday. Anand ended the tournament on nine points and had to content with a fifth place finish among nine contenders as Carlsen emerged as the clear winner on 18 points under the soccer-like scoring system in place here.

Vladimir Kramnik of Russia finished second after an easy draw as black against Michael Adams, who ended joint third. Kramnik scored 16 points in all, while Adams ended on 13 points along side Hikaru Nakamura of the United States. Nakamura was involved in the lone decisive game of the day. The American accounted for Brit Luke McShane.

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Must-Watch Carlsen Chess Video: I have a Lot to Learn!

On Saturday, December 8th Magnus Carlsen broke Garry Kasparov's chess rating record of 2851.By drawing with Hikaru Nakamura at the London Chess Classic, the Norwegian player will be certain of an Elo of at least 2856 on the January 1 FIDE rating list. Here is a must-watch video produced by ChessVibes in which Carlsen talks about the game and about breaking the record.

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Magnus Carlsen Wins London Chess Classic 2012

World number 1 and highest rated chess player in history Magnus Carlsen, winner of the London Classic winner 2012: Detailed report to follow.

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2012 London Chess Classic 2012: Vishy Anand Escapes Hikaru Nakamura

LONDON: World champion Viswanathan Anand played out an exciting draw with Hikaru Nakamura of the United States in the eighth and penultimate round of the London Chess Classic, on Monday. After a steady draw with Judit Polgar of Hungary in the previous round, it was a nerve-wracking game in which fortunes fluctuated many a times and the draw was probably a good result from a sporting point of view as both Anand and Nakamura missed many opportunities.

On a day when tournament leader Magnus Carlsen of Norway had a bye, Russian Vladimir Kramnik capitalised on his opportunities and crushed Gawain Jones of England. In other games, English Michael Adams of England could not use his extra pawn to full use and split the point with Levon Aronian of Armenia, while Polgar scored her first victory at the expense of Luke McShane of England.

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2012 London Chess Classic Round 7: Anand Draws with Polgar

LONDON: World champion Viswanathan Anandplayed out a draw with Judit Polgar of Hungary to go out of contention in the London Chess Classic, now in progress. Having lost a game through a blunder in the previous round, Anand was apparently satisfied with the result as Polgar also played it safe after showing early aggression. For the first time in the tournament, all the four games were drawn leaving Norwegian Magnus Carlsen with a huge five points lead over Russian Vladimir Kramnik. Carlsen drew with American Hikaru Nakamura after an exciting game to take his tally to 17 points in the soccer-like scoring system in place here. The world number one has just one game left, against Anand, and in all likelihood, he is going to emerge as the winner.

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2012 London Chess Classic Round 6: Anand Blunders against Adams

World Champion Viswanathan Anand fell prey to an inexplicable blunder in a perfectly balanced position and went down to Michael Adams of England in the sixth round of London Chess Classic at the Olympia in London.  After a fine victory in the previous round against Gawain Jones of England, the Indian ace survived some anxious moments in the middle game before equalising completely and just when the experts had given up declaring the game a 'sure-draw', Anand lost track, and lost in no time.

Magnus Carlsen of Norway stretched his lead to three points by defeating highest ranked woman Judit Polgar of Hungary. Under the soccer-like scoring system, Carlsen took his tally to a whopping 16 points out of a possible eighteen, and the world number one is sitting pretty with just two games to come for him.

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2012 London Chess Classic Round 5: Anand Beats Jones; Carlsen Leads

World champion Viswanathan Anand ended the winless draught by defeating Grandmaster Gawain Jones of England in the fifth round of London Chess Classic. Under pressure to score a victory, Anand outclassed Jones and finally recorded a win after 17 Classical Chess games. Magnus Carlsen of Norway continued with his top form to beat Michael Adams of England. Vladimir Kramnik accounted for Luke Mcshane to complete the English rout in the fifth round while American Hikaru Nakamura coasted to a win against the world’s best woman player Judit Polgar of Hungary.

The victory took Carlsen to an astonishing thirteen points from four games in the soccer-like scoring system in place here. Kramnik remains on the toes of the leader with eleven points in his kitty and the rest of the field is now far behind.

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Cool Video: Chess Queen Kosteniuk was at the Peace and Sport Sochi Forum

This week an 8-minute video interview by Peace and Sport was published, with Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk, a Champion for Peace (see Press Release) in the organization Peace and Sport supported by H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, speaking of her love of chess and how chess and sport can promote peace in the world. Alexandra was at the 2012 Sochi Forum, together with other great champions, such as Elena Isinbayeva. Here is the nice video interview. 

Read more at ChessQueen.com!

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2012 London Chess Classic Round 4: Anand Holds Kramnik to Draw; Carlsen Leads

World Champion Viswanathan Anand's hunt for an elusive victory continued as he was held by the former challenger Vladimir Kramnik of Russia for a draw in the fourth round of London Chess Classic on Tuesday. Wednesday was a rest day. The fifth round resumes on Thursday with the following pairings:

Vladimir Kramnik - Luke McShane
Gawain Jones - Vishy Anand
Mickey Adams - Magnus Carlsen
Judit Polgar - Hikaru Nakamura

Earlier, on Tuesday, another draw statistically meant that Anand hasn't won for 17 classical games in a row, including four matches in the last World Championship, the Final Masters tournament where he finished winless and three games in the Classic here.

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2012 London Chess Classic Round 3: Anand Allows Aronian to Escape with Draw

World Champion Viswanathan Anand and Dr J Bhagwati, High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom. More great photos by talented photographer Ray Morris-Hill at his website.

World Champion Viswanathan Anand failed to capitalise on chances that came his way and played out a draw with tail-ender Levon Aronian of Armenia in the third round of the London Chess Classic on Tuesday. Hunting for his first victory in a Classical Chess game since the last World Championship in May earlier this year, Anand got a better position with an extra pawn against Aronian but his opponent fought valiantly to split the points in the end.

World number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway played out a draw with co-leader Vladimir Kramnik of Russia while Michael Adams coasted to his second victory in as many games at the expense of top woman player Judit Polgar of Hungary.

In the other game of the day, debutant Englishman Gawain Jones shared the point with Hikaru Nakamura of United States.

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2012 London Chess Classic Round 2: Anand Escapes McShane with Draw

World champion Viswanathan Anand survived anxious moments before he salvaged a draw against Luke McShane of England in the second round of the London Chess Classic on Sunday. Having started with a bye, Anand had the advantage of playing white in the opener but the Indian ace could not find any real advantage and finally survived by the skin of the teeth to open his account.

World number one, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen registered himself as the highest-rated player ever in the history defeating second seed Levon Aronian of Armenia in a finely-crafted game.

Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia made sure that Carlsen did not get a runaway lead in just two rounds and ground down Hikaru Nakamura of United States in a long drawn queen and pawns endgame. The other game between Judit Polgar of Hungary and Gawain Jones of England ended in an exciting draw.

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Kasparov Chess Exhibition, Lecture in Macau Today

Mr João Riquito poses beside the chess table conceived by Konstantin Bessmertny

Considered the “greatest chess master of all time”, Garry Kasparov is coming to Macau play a match against Xiong Junyang, a female Chinese chess master and two-time winner of the Chinese National Chess Championship in the junior category who resides in Macau.
The match is being organized by the “Riquito Advogados” solicitors’ office and is scheduled for December 2, at 2:30 pm in the STDM Auditorium, at the University Library of the University of Macau. The event is part of a series of activities as Mr João Riquito, who himself is a passionate chess player, believes “there are more interesting things to do than to deal with the law.” 

Thus the former World Chess Champion will not only come to play but also deliver a seminar on “The theory of decisions” the day before, on December 1st. This talk will take place at 11 am at the lawyers’ office; however, is only for members of the office and “a few selected guests.” 

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Asia's Biggest Chess Open in Kolkata December 3

In what is being billed as the strongest chess open in Asia, 36 Grandmasters and five women Grandmasters will be among 105 players from 16 countries taking part in the Rs.12 lakh Rose Valley Open International Chess Tournament to be played in Kolkata Dec 3-12. The field includes 13 Grandmasters who have FIDE ratings of over 2,600, Polish Radesk Wojtaszek (2,734) being the highest ranked player. Leading the Indian challenge will be former national chess champion Abhijeet Gupta.

The 25-year-old Super Grandmaster, a former world youth chess champion, has been one of the four seconds to world chess champion Viswanathan Anand during the Indian’s successful title defences in 2008 and 2010 and earlier this year.

Vietnam’s Le Quang Liem (2,705), Anton Koropov (2,702) of Ukraine, Netherlands player Sergei Tiviakov (2,663) are the second, third and fourth highest ranked GMs in the tourney to be staged at the Alekhine Chess Club, West Bengal sports minister Madan Mitra told a media meet here Sunday.

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Cat-astrophe Chess Video: Must Watch!

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Category-18 Chess in New Delhi with GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek as Top Seed

Former Indian national chess champion 

GM Parimarjan Negi with journalists.

The AIFC-AAI Chess Cup is being held in New Delhi, India from Dec 20-30, according to a press release. The six-player double round-robin format category-18 tournament will be played at the Airport Authority of India Club (AAI) here. his is the second edition of the AICF-AAI Cup, which was a category-17 event last year. The tournament was won by Fabiano Caruana of Italy in its inaugural edition and the player has subsequently moved into the top-10 of the FIDE world rankings.

All India Chess Federation (AICF) secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan said, "The list of players for this tournament is the best line up India have ever seen and we are expecting very tough competition in the ten days of the tournament."

This year's star attraction would be GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland. Wojtaszek is a top-50 player and would be looking to add valuable rating points to his tally. Leading the charge of challengers against him would be GM Anton Korobov of Ukraine, who boasts of a 2700+ rating and Russia's in-form player GM Evgeny Alekseev.

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Carlsen beats McShane, cracks all time high rating

World number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway cracked all-time high ratings, defeating Luke McShane of England in the first round of the London Chess Classic at the Olympia here.

The rating for Carlsen stood at 2851.2 points in the unofficial live rating portals which means that the Norwegian has cracked the all-time high rating record of 2851 held by former world champion and his former trainer Gary Kasparov of Russia.

On what turned out to be a perfect opener, all the four games in the nine-players round robin tournament ended decisively and the biggest upset was recorded by Hikaru Nakamura of United States who defeated World number two Levon Aronian with black pieces.

With Nakamura calling the shots, Vladimir Kramnik turned out to be another winner of the day at the expense of world's top woman player Judit Polgar of Hungary. The all-decisive-games record was kept intact by a late-benefitting Michael Adams of England against compatriot Gawain Jones. World champion Vishwanathan Anand had a rest day in the opener as he drew number one in the official drawing of lots.

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Anna Ushenina is New Women's World Chess Champion

After a 2-2 deadlock in the normal games, the stage was set for an exciting finale in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia and Ushenina came up triumph winning the second game under rapid time control after the first game had ended in a draw. The Ukrainian won 60000 USD for her efforts in the championship and gets to play the next World Championship against Yifan Hou of China next year as part of the new cycle in the women’s World Championship.

The 64-players championship ended in a tie-break much like the men’s World Championship earlier this year where Vishwanathan Anand won defeating Boris Gelfand of Israel in the rapid tie-break. The Indian challenge in the championship had lasted till the semi-finals where D Harika went down to Stefanova after an intense struggle.

Speaking about the match, Ushenina did not mince words while calling it a gruelling schedule. “The match was very interesting, but we were clearly tired and made many mistakes. In the third and fourth games we exchanged blows -- first I took the lead, then Antoaneta equalised the score. In the first tie-break game white stood better, but I held a draw. In the second game black was slightly worse, but Antoaneta was very short on time, defended inaccurately and gave me a chance to win,” said the new women’s world champion.

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Harika Exits World Chess Semis in Khanty Mansiysk after Great Show

KHANTY MANSIYSK (Russia): Grandmaster D Harika bowed out of the world championship after playing a draw in must-win second game with former Bulgarian world champion Antoaneta Stefanova in the semifinals, which she lost 0.5-1.5.

 

After losing the first game of semis as black, the Indian was under tremendous pressure to score a comeback victory and the situation did not help as Harika could not find anything worthwhile and stood worse when she signed the peace in the return game.

However, this was the best ever performance by Harika who had made it to the quarterfinals in the last championship. For her efforts, Harika will take home a prize purse of $16000 after FIDE's 20% deduction apart from some hard-earned rating points.

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Khanty-Mansiysk World Chess Semi-Finals: Harika Loses 1st Game to Stefanova

Harika vs Stefanova

Grandmaster D Harika’s title aspirations suffered a major blow as she lost to Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the first game of the semifinal of World Women chess championship in Khanty Mansisysk, Russia. Despite displaying top form so far, Harika could not get things moving well for her in the first game and went down rather easily. The next game is a must win for Harika as that’s the only way to proceed to the tiebreaker with some respite.

In the clash between Harika and Stefanova, there was a difference in approach as the Indian tried to make things happen, while the latter waited patiently for something to come her way. Eventually it did. Harika had slight initiative at the cost of a pawn. Normal play in the middle game would have yielded a decent result but in her bid to push for more, Harika went haywire with a piece sacrifice. The Bulgarian had to correctly calculate a few lines thereafter and she did not falter.

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Harika's Spectacular Entry in Women's World Chess Championship Semi-Finals!

KHANTY MANSIYSK (Russia): Grandmaster D Harika came up with a spectacular performance in the tiebreak games to beat Zhao Xue of China and enter the last four stage of the World Women Chess Championship. The Indian set the records right after a real scare in the second game on yesterday and displayed top form to win the first rapid game and then drawing the second easily as white. The victory means Harika will not only remain in the championship but will also have a fair chance of having a shy at the title with just two matches to go in the premier women event.

 

Fantastic show by Harika, knocks out Zhao Xue of China to reach semi-finals.

In the next round now, Harika will meet Antoaneta Stefanova ofBulgaria who was world champion in 2004. Chinese Ju Wenjun defeated compatriot Hunag Qian, while Stefanova accounted for Marie Sebag of France in the other tiebreak matches.

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Play Carlsen as World Chess Team this Weekend!

Two special chess events will take place this weekend as part of the Gran Fiesta UNAM 2012. The first event will be the Torneo Cuadrangular where Carlsen will meet Lazaro Bruzon, Judit Polgar, and Manuel Leon Hoyos. The tournament is a knockout event composed of mini-matches. On Friday at 17:30 local time (00:30 CET, 18:30 EST) the World number 1 will meet Lazaro Bruzon in the first semi final. Polgar and Leon Hoyos play at the same time on Saturday. The 3rd-4th place mini-final is Sunday at 11:00 local time, while the Grand Final of Torneo Cuadrangular starts at 17:00 the same day. The second event of Carlsen takes place the day of the mini-match Polgar – Leon Hoyos. At 12:00 local time Carlsen will play against The World in simultaneous games. The tournament will be a variant of vote chess. Three GMs will be suggesting what they consider to be the best moves in the game, while the audience will choose between them in a given time frame. Magnus will play on two boards, one of them against 2000 players in the Sala Magna Nezahualcoyotl, while on the other against thousands of internet spectators. To complete his visit in Mexico, Carlsen will give an open press conference at 12:00 the day after the Carlsen vs The World games. Official website of the competition

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Women's World Chess Championship 2012: Harika to Play Zhao Xue for Quarter Final Tiebreak Today

MANSIYSK (Russia): Grandmaster D Harika played a sensational game to survived the match against Zhao Xue of China in the Quarter Finals of the Women's World Chess Championship on Wednesday. After drawing the first round, Harika played with white and missed serious tactical chances. However, a late blunder by Zhao in a completely winning position allowed Harika to escape with a draw through perpetual checks.

 

Anna Ushenina of Ukraine made it to the semifinals defeating fancied Nadezhda Kosintseva of Russia in the second game. Ushenina won by 1.5-0.5 and sent back the last remaining Russian in the championship. Harika remains in the championship as the last Indian in the fray since the ouster of top-rated Koneru Humpy in the first round.

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Fujairah Chess Open: Ganguly, Chanda, Moiseenko Tie for First

FUJAIRAH (UAE): Grandmasters Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Sandipan Chanda settled for a quick draw and shared first place along with Alexander Moiseenko of Ukraine in the Fujairah International Open Chess tournament that concluded on Wednesday.

 

There was an added incentive for Ganguly after the ties were resolved as he had the best tie-break score among three players tied for the top slot. The Indian rose back to form from this tournament and stands to gain around 20 rating points which certainly is a huge gain at present level. Sandipan finished third overall after a bad start and was also visibly pleased with his excellent results that included victories over the top two seeds - Baadur Jobava of Georgia and Liem Le Quang of Vietnam.

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Harika in Quarter-Finals of Women's World Chess Championship 2012 in Khanty Mansiysk

KHANTY MANSIYSK (Russia): Grandmaster D Harika marched her way to the last-eight stage of the World Women's Chess Championship after disposing the challenge of Lela Javakhishvili of Georgia in the second game of the third round.

 

After drawing the first game easily with black, Harika played to her strength and outwitted Javakhishvili. The 1.5-0.5 victory also helped Harika gained some rating points apart from more assured prize money.

After the exit of top three seeds, fourth seed Zhao Xue of China also made it to the quarters following a victory over Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine.

Like Harika, Xue had also drawn the first game as black and a victory ensured her passage to the next round. Harika and Xue will meet in the next round now.

The championship this year is played on a knockout basis and highest rated Koneru Humpy, defending champion Yifan Hou of China and third seed Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia were ousted in the second round itself.

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Polgar Chess Day Video from Hungary

The annual Polgar Chess Festival, in its sixth edition by now, has firmly established itself as a very prestigious social event, where celebrities, athletes, artists, scientists, businessmen, politicians and most importantly children like to participate and have fun for an entire day. The EU Youth Talents vs Judit Polgar simul, the world's No. 1 female chess player, as an ambassador of Chess in School program adopted by the European Parliament, gave a 27 board simul to children representing the 27 nations of the EU. The event also served as a promotion of the European Year for Solidarity between Generations by implementing the Generations Chess Clash into the program. The Polgar Chess Day provided meaningful programs for three generations sharing the same passion, from 4 years old kids to 99 years old chess enthusiasts, to grandchildren, grandparents and parents. Here is the video:

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Norway Chess 2013: Magnus Carlsen Special Promo Video

Are you planning to play at the Norway Chess 2013 Festival? Think about it! Here's World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in a great promo video.



Music video with Magnus Carlsen playing chess on The Pulpit Rock in the Norwegian Lyse fjord in the Stavanger region.
Produced for Norway Chess by Genesis Film.

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Khanty-Mansiysk Women's World Chess Championship 2012: Humpy vs Zhukova, Harika vs Danielian in Round 2 Today

RUSSIA: India's GM Koneru Humpy will take on Natalia Zhukova of Ukraine in the second round of the Women's World chess championship now in progress.

After winning the first round with an easy 2-0 whitewash against lower ranked Denise Frick of South Africa, Zhukova will be a much tougher challenge for Humpy with better practice as she beat World junior girls' champion Guo Qi of China in the first round.

 

GM D Harika will also face a tough opponent in Elena Danielian of Armenia after beating compatriot Soumya Swaminathan in the first round. Danielian showed excellent nerves in her come-from-behind victory against Sopiko Khukhashvili of Georgia.

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Khanty-Mansiysk Women's World Chess Championship 2012: Humpy, Harika Sail into Round 2

KHANTY MANSIYSK (RUSSIA): Koneru Humpy effortlessly defeated Denise Frick of South Africa while D Harika outplayed compatriot Soumya Swaminathan to move to the second round of the World Women's Chess Championship 2012 on Monday. Humpy scored an easy win, though Harika had to struggle a bit against Soumya. The other higher-ranked players also cruised to the second round and topping the list was reigning world champion Yifan Hou of China who scored easily over Sachini Ranasinghe of Sri Lanka, former Women's World Chess Champions Alexandra Kosteniuk and Antoaneta Stefanova. 

Amongst the fancied, Ju Wenjun of China was the only exception as she suffered a reversal against Atousa Pourkashiyan of Iran and the two will now battle it out in the tie-break games of shorter duration.

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Fujairah Chess Open: Abhijeet Gupta, Ganguly, Chanda among Several Indians to Participate

Fujairah (UAE): Grandmaster and former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta will spearhead the Indian challenge in the Fujairah International chess tournament that gets underway here on Tuesday. Currently ranked fourth in the country, Gupta is playing his first tournament after the Chess Olympiad where he bagged the silver medal on the fourth board playing for Team India.

 

Mr. Abdullah Al Barkat, Chairman of Fujairah Chess club welcomes Mr. Geoffrey Borg, Chief Executive Officer of 'Global Chess', the Marketing Arm of World Chess Federation who visited the UAE Chess Federation recently. They discussed about the rules and regulations of the Fujairah International Chess Championship. Also present were His Excellency Sheikh Saud Al Mualla, President of the UAE Chess Federation, Mr Mehdi and Mr. Tunaiji.

The Indian has escalated himself to 2667 ELO rating points and the expectations are high despite the presence of a very strong field here. Gupta is not the lone Indian hopeful in the 50500 USD prize money tournament as multiple times national champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Sandipan Chanda have it in them to make the best on their day. For the records, this will be amongst the strongest ever tournament in Asia with presence of over 20 players above 2600 rating in the fray.

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Women's World Chess Championship 2012: Humpy off to Winning Start; Harika, Soumya Draw

KHANTY MANSIYSK (Russia): Top rated Grandmaster Koneru Humpy has begun her campaign for the World Chess title with a win with Black over Denise Frick of South Africa in the first round on Sunday. Frick went for a crazy all-out attack on the Kingside down the h-file, but Humpy knew to handle it all with a forced Queen exchange and was never really in any serious trouble. The all-India match between Soumya Swaminathan and D Harika ended in a draw. 

 

While there were no great surprises in the first game of the first round, the second game to be played on Monday is likely to bring many of the higher ranked under pressure as they drew. The list includes Harika who either has to win or force herself in to the tiebreaker the following day.

The championship is back to the knock out format wherein 64 top woman players across the globe take part fighting for a total prize pool of $450000. Humpy and Harika were ousted in the semis in the previous edition of the event. In the return game now, Humpy just needs a draw to advance to the next round. 

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Women's World Chess Championship 2012: Humpy, Harika, Soumya Lead Indian Challenge; Games Begin Sunday

Reigning women's world chess champion, Hou Yifan of China, draws a white pawn at the colourful opening ceremony that took place in Khanty-Mansiysk earlier today.

RUSSIA: Grandmaster Koneru Humpy will take on Denise Frick of South Africa in the first round of the World Women's chess championship on Sunday.

Looking for an elusive world title, Humpy starts as the highest rated player in the 64-player knockout event that will have almost all the top rated woman players of the world.

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Magnus Carlsen Wins Sao Paulo-Bilbao Chess Masters; Vallejo-Pons Announces Retirement

The world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen has won tonight in Sao-Paulo Bilbao Chess Masters Final on Saturday night. The first section was played in the last week of September in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo. The Norwegian Grandmaster's victory comes after a thrilling tiebreak played against Italian Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana. 

The direct duel between the top two players after 10 rounds was scheduled after both Carlsen and Caruana drew their games with Levon Aronian and Francisco Vallejo respectively. Carlsen went into the tiebreaks as a clear favourite. Carlsen confirmed his superiority in the Alhondiga Bilbao by winning both the games of the tiebreak.


Final standings:
• Magnus Carlsen: 17 points (champion)
• Fabiano Caruana: 17 points.
• Levon Aronian: 11 points.
• Sergei Karjakin: 10 points
• Viswanathan Anand: 9 points.
• Francisco Vallejo: 6 points.

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Times Now 'The Amazing Indians Stories' Feature Visually Challenged Chess Player Charudatta Jadhav

For 44-year-old Charudatta Jadhav (visually challenged), chess is not just a game but a way of life and he believes that chess is important for a blind persona as is it is the only game that a blind person can play at par with the sighted and if you want to be successful in mainstream, the most imp qualities which every individual should have is self belief, self confidence and if you want to compete you should have a sense of equality.

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Fischer Chess Memorabilia Auction Oct 14 in New York

On Sunday, October 14, 2012, an auction of one part of chess historic collection owned by Nenad Nesh Stankovic will be held in Philip Weiss Auctions, New York. Offered objects take us 20 years back in time of “Rematch of XX century” - remake of Iceland chess match from the period of Cold War. The objects on the auction are unique part of history and expression of eternal value. For more details, please visit www.weissauctions.com (Sport auction lot # 2200A, 2200B, 2200C and 2200D). 

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Best Chess Radio Show on the Planet: The Full English Breakfast 025

Okay folks, let's say it: No one does it better than them - The Full English Breakfast chess radio show is here with the 25th episode. MUST HEAR.

Episode 025 - Olympiadding it Up
The Stevie G. behind the scenes report, with Grischuk, Leko and Mamedyarov.(Below-right: Sergei Movsesian, Levon Aronian, Arshok Petrosian. Credit: Macauley Peterson)

Donate to the show to be entered into THE BIG RAFFLE! Listen for details! (Radio player in extended post).

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London Chess Grand Prix Round 1: Naka Loses to Gelfand; Others Draw

The London Chess Grand Prix has begun and the first day saw all exciting games even though there were draws except one. Here is the Round 1 Report by Grandmaster Robert Fontaine:

The first round of the World Chess Grand Prix in London started at 2 pm local time with the first move played by the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Most of the games started smoothly and the Chinese player Wang Hao was playing very quickly the first 20 moves, with still 1h56 on his clock. His opponent, British number one Michael Adams who replaced GM Peter Svidler at the last minute. Adams took his time to fully equalize after exchanging the Queens. Adams was pushing the whole game, got a pawn up in a rook endgame but it was not enough to win. Draw. 

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World Chess Grand Prix London Launched in Grand Style

Model Lily Cole takes on Veselin Topalov, the top Bulgarian Grandmaster in a 10 minute 'blitz' chess game.

FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov presided at last night’s opening ceremony for the World Chess Grand Prix London at Somerset House. The evening was hosted by Andrew Paulson of Agon, the new rights holder to the World Chess Championship Cycle, who thanked Vladimir Palikhata, the president of the Moscow Chess Federation, for supporting the reception. Headed his appreciation to FIDE for according him the commercial rights to the World Chess Championship Cycle.

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Women's Chess Grand Prix in Ankara: Humpy Begins With Win

India's talented chess player Koneru Humpy, second seed at the 6th Women's Chess Grand Prix, began with a win in Ankara, Turkey on Sunday. Humpy played a flawless game with Black to beat Turkey's Betul Yildiz. This edition is the final stage of the Fide Women's Grand Prix Series 2011-12. It is being held from September 16-28 in the Turkish Chess Federation building. The winner receives 6,500 euros out of a prize fund of 40,000 euros for the event. 

 

Humpy (right) showing her game against Betul at the press conference after the first round.

Somehow, women's chess always turns out to be more fighting than men's chess. Even the draws were fought till the last on each chess board! Only two games were drawn: Chinese players Ruan Lufei and Zhao Xue won their games Kubra Ozturk and Antoaneta Stefanova respectively. 

 

Top seed Anna Muzychuk

Their Chinese colleague, Ju Wenjun, drew with top seed Anna Muzychuk. Viktorija Cmilyte won over Monika Socko and Betul Yildiz. The longest game of the first round between Munguntuul Batkhuyag and Tatiana Kosintseva finished in a draw after 76 moves.

You can watch the games live at the official website from 5.30 pm India time. Rest day: September 20th (after round 4) and September 25th (after round 8).  (Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich)

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Determined Chess Girl Ashley Tapp: Can You Help her Get to World Youth Chess Championship?

How many 12-year-olds would you find working night and day to fulfill a difficult dream? How many 12-year-olds can you spot who have the determination of Ashley Tapp? Here is her interesting and inspiring story:

This young Canadian chess player is trying to raise funds all by herself for her journey to the World Youth Chess Championship in Slovenia this November, 2012. In the last few days, Ashley has been in the news in every major Canadian newspaper, radio interviews, Global LIVE TV, top chess blogs in the world. She's playing chess everywhere - in the market, on the street, at exhibitions... all to raise money for her trip to the world championship.

Moreover, Ashley's campaign is special for another reason. Her crusade is not just about her chess trip. It's also about supporting chess for children, chess in Canada and promoting health and fitness for kids and youngsters! Ashley's mom Sophia told Chess Magazine B&W. "At the WYCC in Slovenia 100 countries will compete and 1,500 children will be playing chess. This is a great opportunity for any chess player." Sophia said, "Ashley finished second at a national championship and earned herself the right to play in November’s World Youth Chess Championship in Slovenia. Parents in Canada have to carry the entire financial burden; they have to pay high tournament fees."

Ashley playing in the market to raise funds for her chess championship trip.

There is no sponsorship for this little girl to go as Canada does not recognise Chess as a sport. Can this little girl change all that? She has played chess in the streets to raise funds outside the art gallery, to Chapters bookstore and now in the PNE, Canada's largest ticketed event, a historic move by the PNE.

Can you help sponsor Ashley? Donate via Ashley's website. Giver her a Facebook Like and ask friends. Follow her on twitter.

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Women's Chess Grand Prix: Koneru Humpy Begins Quest Sept 15

GM Koneru Humpy

India's highest-ever rated woman chess player and only World Chess title challenger Koneru Humpy will begin a new quest at the sixth Women's Chess Grand Prix 2011-12 cycle on September 15. The sixth in the series is a round-robin event and runs from September 15-29 in Ankara, Turkey. Reigning women's world chess champion Hou Yifan won the first two women's chess grand prix events in the series in Rostov and Shenzen. Zhao Xue of China won the third in Nalchik. Konery Humpy and Anna Muzychuk were joint winners in Kazan, while Hou Yifan won again in Jermuk.

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Istanbul Chess Olympiad: Indian Men Finish 35th, Women 4th! Abhijeet Gupta Wins Individual Silver; Tania Sachdev Wins Individual Bronze

Armenia is World Chess Olympiad Champions 2012

Photos: David Llada, Arman Karakhanyan

The last round at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul was as exciting as it could get with the results being decided with tiebreaks after all the final games were played! Indian men finished with the 35th place below their seeding of ninth. Indian women finished with the fourth place above their seeding of sixth. National Champion Abhijeet Gupta picked up an individual Silver Medal as board prize for the fourth board. Tania Sachdev picked up an individual bronze medal as board prize for the third board.

Indian women on their way to beating France in the last round and finishing fourth at the Istanbul Chess Olympiad.

The Final round saw India lose to Azerbaijan with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov beating Pentala Harikrishna. All other boards were draw. Indian women beat France in an exciting match.

Bo.	7	Azerbaijan (AZE)	Rtg	-	13	India (IND)	Rtg	2½:1½
9.1	GM	Safarli, Eltaj	2620	-	GM	Sasikiran, Krishnan	2707	½ - ½
9.2	GM	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	2729	-	GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	2685	1 - 0
9.3	GM	Mamedov, Rauf	2634	-	GM	Negi, Parimarjan	2664	½ - ½
9.4	GM	Guseinov, Gadir	2613	-	GM	Gopal, Geetha Narayanan	2550	½ - ½

Bo.	14	France (FRA)	Rtg	-	6	India (IND)	Rtg	1½:2½
4.1	IM	Skripchenko, Almira	2442	-	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2503	0 - 1
4.2	IM	Milliet, Sophie	2411	-	IM	Sachdev, Tania	2379	½ - ½
4.3	WGM	Maisuradze, Nino	2284	-	WGM	Gomes, Mary Ann	2396	1 - 0
4.4	WIM	Bollengier, Andreea	2253	-	WGM	Soumya, Swaminathan	2271	0 - 1

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Chess Video: Judit Polgar Presents her book 'How I Beat Fischer’s Record'

World's No. 1 woman chess player Judit Polgar is the only woman to ever play in the open section of the Chess Olympiad and the Candidates Matches. She has scaled the highest-ever chess rating a woman has reached on the planet. Polgar presented her new book at the 40th Chess Olympiad. Here is a video of Judit Polgar from the official website of the Istanbul Chess Olympiad.

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Istanbul Chess Olympiad Round 10: Indian Men Draw with Cuba, Women Beat Israel; Abhijeet, Tania in with Chance to Win Board Prize!

Tania Sachdev-Going for 
gold medal Board prize for 
India! Photo: David Llada

The tenth round at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul saw the Indian men drawing with Cuba and the Indian women beating Israel 3.5-0.5. Grandmasters Abhijeet Gupta and Parimajan Negi beat Yuniesky Quezada Perez and Yusnel Bacallao Alonso on the third and fourth boards. Both Sasikiran and Harikrishna lost.  Abhijeet Gupta and Tania Sachdev are in with a chance for a board prize! Saturday is a rest day and the final round will be played on Sunday.  Here are the tenth-round results: 

Top Board Harika Dronavalli. Photo: David Llada 

Bo.	13	India (IND)	Rtg	-	15	Cuba (CUB)	Rtg	2 : 2
9.1	GM	Sasikiran, Krishnan	2707	-	GM	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	2725	0 - 1
9.2	GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	2685	-	GM	Bruzon Batista, Lazaro	2711	0 - 1
9.3	GM	Negi, Parimarjan	2664	-	GM	Quesada Perez, Yuniesky	2626	1 - 0
9.4	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet	2637	-	IM	Bacallao Alonso, Yusnel	2583	1 - 0

Bo.	6	India (IND)	Rtg	-	25	Israel (ISR)	Rtg	3½: ½
5.1	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2503	-	WIM	Porat, Maya	2295	1 - 0
5.2	IM	Sachdev, Tania	2379	-	WIM	Efroimski, Marsel	2174	1 - 0
5.3	WGM	Gomes, Mary Ann	2396	-	IM	Klinova, Masha	2317	½ - ½
5.4	WGM	Soumya, Swaminathan	2271	-	WFM	Shvayger, Yuliya	2202	1 - 0

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