Zurich Chess R1: Aronian - Anand 1-0

Zurich Chess Challenge 2014 Round 1 - Five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand began his campaign in the Zurich Chess Challenge as he went down to Armenian Levon Aronian in the first round here. 

It turned out to be a bad day in office for Anand who lost his way in the middle game and his counter play bid did not materialize. The loss may prove quite costly as every win here is worth two points for the overall standings. 

World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen started from where he had left the classical chess. His last outing being the World Chess Championship match in Chennai, Carlsen did not show any rustiness coming back to the board and outplayed Boris Gelfand of Israel in a remarkable game. The other game of the six-player round-robin tournament between Fabiano Caruana of Italy and Hikaru Nakamura of United States ended in a draw. 

Viswanathan Anand all set for his game versus Levon Aronian. Photo: Maria Emelianova

With four rounds in the Classical chess remaining and then five in the rapid stage to be played, Carlsen and Aronian emerged as the early leaders on two points each and they are followed by Nakamura and Caruana with a point apiece. Gelfand and Anand will look forward to open their account in the second round. 

The tournament has a unique format wherein the Classical and rapid scores will be clubbed together to find the winner. Every Classical win gives two points, draw one and a loss none while in rapid every win gives one and a draw a half point. 

After tying for third and finishing fifth (in the opening pairings blitz chess), Anand got a black to start the proceedings and Aronian came up with the English opening as an initial surprise. After the opening Anand was close to equal but Aronian ensured a consistent pressure on the queen side that increased after an error. 

The Indian decided to part with a piece for three pawns but it was Aronian’s day as he masterminded the ensuing endgame in copy book fashion. The technical issues remained and Anand fought on till the end but the Armenian gave nothing away and won in 73 moves. 

Meanwhile, Carlsen was at his technical best against Gelfand. The Norwegian chose to get a playable position as white and then, in his typical style, created huge complications that were hard to handle. When the dust settled, Gelfand found himself two pawns less and the rest was child's play. 

Nakamura and Caruana battled it out in a Grunfeld defense game wherein the latter as black got a level endgame and the draw was a just result despite a tough contest. -- PTI

Results Round 1: Magnus Carlsen (Nor) beat Boris Gelfand (Isr); Levon Aronian (Arm) beat Viswanathan Anand (Ind); Hikaru Nakamura (Usa) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Ita). 

* Anand Gifts Magnus a Checkmate in Three

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Zurich Chess Challenge 2014: Carlsen beats Anand; wins Opening Blitz

Zurich: Five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand won two, lost two and drew one for a joint third place finish at the blitz tournament of Zurich Chess Classic that concluded here on Thursady.

On what turned out to be a decent outing, Anand had to bear the brunt of losing to Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, who had beaten him in the last World championship match at Chennai, and Levon Aronian of Armenia. While he posted victories against Fabiano Caruana of Italy and Boris Gelfand of Israel.

Anand gifts Magnus a checkmate in three

The Indian ace played out a sole draw against American Hikaru Nakamura to tally 2.5 points out of a possible five and finished fifth in the tiebreak following a three-way tie for the third spot. Carlsen trailed the field in the first three rounds where he scored just one point but won his last two games to finish first along with Aronian, who also scored three points.

Gelfand ended last scoring 1.5 points in all. Carlsen suffered his first defeat in the very first game that he played as the world champion. Italian Caruana swept the number one ranked off the board in almost no time with black pieces displaying fine tactical acumen.

After a first round loss, Carlsen played out two draws and his first victory in the blitz came against Anand in a game that will haunt the latter at least for a few days. It was an innocuous opening, almost never tried in top level chess, from where Carlsen got a dangerous king side attack and won in a mere 21 moves. In the final round, the Norwegian again won at the expense of Nakamura and pipped Aronian at the post thanks to a better tiebreak.

For Anand, too, the event started with a loss against Aronian but the Indian pulled himself up quickly to beat Caruana. Then came a draw against Nakamura and after losing to Carlsen, Anand made short work of Gelfand to land in the tie for third. The blitz tournament also decided the draws for the classical tournament, wherein Anand will now get three black games out of a possible five.

Anand's first outing will be against Aronian again and he will meet Carlsen in the final round. The Classic is a short event with just five rounds between six of the world's top 10 players. The event boasts of being the highest category tournament ever organised with an average rating of 2801 elo points. -- PTI

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Kasparov Receives First Interactive Digital Chess Magazine - New in Chess

New in Chess Digital - Amsterdam, Jan 30: Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov received the first copy of New In Chess magazine 2014#1 when he visited the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. "I am delighted that you can replay all games without the need of a chess set," says editor-in-chief Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, when he presented Kasparov with the iPad and the magazine. "This digital edition travels well. It is great that our readers can now choose between a paper and a digital edition. Or enjoy both!" 

In the first digital chess magazine with a gameviewer the reader can play through all games which are annotated by top GM's. Issue 2014#1 has annotations by Nakamura, Karjakin, Giri, Vachier-Lagrave, Nepomniatchi and many others.

• Hikaru Nakamura: I’m the biggest threat to Carlsen
• Jonathan Speelman on the trickiest player on the planet
• Yuri Dochoian explains why coaching the Russian team to victory in the World Team Championship was a hell of a job
• The 30,000 chess books of Lothar Schmid
• Willy Hendriks on Turing, Alzheimer and chess
• Mihail Marin: why was Lajos Portisch so good?
• Nigel Short: how the Brits invented rapid chess
• Jan Timman: what really happened in my match with Karpov
• Daniel King on playing the bass-guitar

Other regular contributers are Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Svidler, Nigel Short, Anish Giri, Jan Timman and many more.

New In Chess 2013#8 is still available as a FREE download for iPad. This issue features the World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand. Top-GM Anish Giri analyses the crucial games of the match. Vishy Anand explains why he lost and Russian GM Sergey Shipov points out why Carlsen won.

To download the app and the free issue, please click here

The apps for Kindle Fire and Android tablets will be available soon.

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Zurich Chess Live: India 12 am Tonight

Indian chess ace Viswanathan Anand will find himself in the unfamiliar position of starting as the lowest-ranked player when he takes on a tough field in his first Classical tournament since losing the world title, in the Zurich Challenge at the Savoy. 

The small event, having just five rounds between six players, boasts of a very strong field led by reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen, who is playing his first tournament since clinching the champion's tag from Anand. 

Watch Live tonight India time 12.00 am at official website.

For Anand it will be a new challenge and one can expect him to play at his best having got a good rest. For the upcoming candidates tournament too, this could prove to be a good warm-up. Anand will have a chance to even the scores a little. 

World number two Levon Aronian of Armenia, Fabiano Caruana of Italy, Hikaru Nakamura of United States and former world championship challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel complete the lineup of what is the highest category tournament ever in the history of the game. 

This will be the first time when Anand starts a tournament as the lowest ranked player with his world ranking slipping to number nine. 

According to the January list, Nakamura is third, Caruana is fourth and Gelfand is just a shade ahead of Anand at eight. Anand's return to competitive chess after the World Championship was in London Classic but it was played under rapid chess rules. 

The Indian was ousted in the quarterfinals when he lost to Vladimir Kramnik of Russia. Here, however, it will be a different ball game wherein Anand will get a chance to test himself before the Candidates Tournament slated in mid-march. Carlsen has been busy in various promotions since the World Championship triumph. 

The 23-year-old was on a long tour to United States where he gave a simultaneous display against Google employees, a nine-move checkmate to Bill Gates and some lesson to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg besides others. 

Carlsen's return to the board might not sound alarming to his competitors but the form he displayed in the match against Anand makes him a huge favourite for the title here. Aronian is fresh from his round-to-spare victory at the Tata steel tournament that finished just a few days back and is considered to be in top form while rising star Caruana has proven himself to be a world beater on his day. 

Nakamura had an indifferent Tata Steel tournament and the American will be keen to make amends. Gelfand, who finished joint last in the Tata event, too would like to stage some sort of comeback. The draw of lots will be done through a blitz tournament and the event will complete with a rapid event. -- PTI

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S. Asian Amateur Chess in Kathmandu

KATHMANDU: Nepal is hosting the first South Asian Amateur Chess Championship next month with around 100 players from the region taking part in the inaugural edition to be held from February 1-6.

“We are hosting such big event of chess for the first time in South Asia and we need cooperation from all the quarters of society,” said Rajesh Hari Joshi, President of Nepal Chess Association, at a press meet today.

Around 100 players including 30 women from all the South Asian nations except for Afghanistan have confirmed their participation in the February 1-6 tournament — for below 2,000-rated players — to be held at the Russian Culture Centre. “The number of participants might go up as we have also invited top two players each from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bhutan,” added Joshi.

As of now 60 Nepali players including 10 women have confirmed their names for the championship that offers a cash purse of Rs 222,000, informed Press Coordinator Herakaji Maharjan, who is also the Secretary of NCA. The top three players will receive Rs 50,000, Rs 35,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively. Others in the top 15 will also get their share of cash prizes. Likewise, the winners in other categories — unrated, women, veteran, U-15, rated below 1,600, 1,699 and 1,799 — will also get cash.

“The World Chess Federation has provided us financial help for this tournament but we are planning to make it big in future. We have decided to propose the world chess governing body to make it an official event during the FIDE congress in August in Norway,” Joshi added.

National Sports Council, Nepal Tourism Board and Hotel Mountain are the partners of the tournament to managed by Kathmandu District Chess Association. After the tournament, Geoffrey D Borg, Chief Executive Officer at the FIDE will conduct the Trainer’s Seminar from February 7-9. -- Agencies

* South Asian Amateur Chess in Kathmandu 

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Gibraltar Chess 2014: The 1st Move

The first move of the 2014 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival at The Gibraltar Masters tournament took place this afternoon at the Caleta Hotel. 

Tradewise Chairman James Humphreys makes the first move against England No.1 Michael Adams. Standing is Adams' Round 1 opponent Spanish player FM Emilio Miguel Sanchez Jerez from Murcia. Photos: Sophie Triay

At precisely 3pm (Gibraltar time/India time 7.40) James Humpreys, Chairman of Tradewise Gibraltar Insurance Ltd, the main sponsor of this event made the first move on the top board against top seeded player Grandmaster Michael Adams, England’s No.1 and ranked 13th in the world. In his first round game GM Adams is playing against one of the many Spanish players in this festival FM Emilio Miguel Sanchez Jerez from Murcia.

James Humpreys, whose company has been sponsoring the game for nine years, four of them as the main sponsor, welcomed the players and wished them well.

“Have a great time!” he told them all.

As play began he spoke of the importance of the development of chess on the Rock and of the Festival itself.

“Tradewiseis becoming synonymous with chess as much as it is to insurance and this is important for Gibraltar. In chess we have Tata Steel, and I am hoping that over the years Tradewise will be exactly the same as that company in its association with the festival,” he said.

Moments later the 252 chess players in The Masters from some 60 countries made their opening moves in the tournament which is being held over the next 10 days over 10 rounds.

The top woman player this year is Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia).

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Gibraltar Chess Begins - Watch Live 7.40 pm 70 GMs from 60 Countries!

The pairings for the start of the 2014 Masters Chess tournament which kicks off today at 3 pm local time (India time 7.40 pm) were drawn last night by Gibraltar’s Sport,Culture and Heritage Minister Steven Linares at the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Gibraltar Tradewise Chess Festival. Minister StevenLinares welcomed all the players to Gibraltar “those who have annually been coming to this tournament and to those who are here for the first time.”

Mr Linares once again pledged the Gibraltar Government’s commitment to the tournament which has grown annually over the past 12 years.

“It is a great pleasure to be part of the biggest tournament and event annually in Gibraltar,” he said.

“As it continues to grow the Government will continue to support it as it does others. But this tournament takes the biscuit. It is the biggest tournament the Government has ever been involved with,” he added.

 

Minister for Sports Culture, Heritage and Youth, The Hon. Steven Linares draws the black pieces, in round 1, for top seed GM Mickey Adams (left). Photos: Sophie Triay (and below) Cheer for India: Pentala Harikrishna, Tania Sachdev, Surya Sekhar Ganguly.

 

In a relaxed and friendly atmosphere Minister Linares told England’s No.1 and ranked 13th in the world GM Mickey Adams, “It’s black!”

Adams plays on the top board today against FM Emilio Miguel Sanchez Jerez from Spain. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave from France is paired with Peter Lombaers from the Netherlands. GM Vassily Ivanchuk from Ukraine is paired with IM Leon Lederman. GM Nikita Vitiugovfrom Russia is paired with IM Petter Haugli from Norway.

Hosting the night Director of the tournament, Stuart Conquest, spoke of the tournament’s many accomplishments over the years.

“This is a story of continued success,” he said which this year welcomes close to 70 Grandmasters from 60 nations.

The Live Commentary from the studio with Simon Williams and Irina Krush (Reigning women's USA Chess Champion). There are 252 chessplayers in the Gibraltar Masters this year with around 370 playing in all three tournaments. Sixty countries are being represented this year.

For all information, as well as live commentaries, Masterclasses, and interviews, the dedicated festival website, powered by Gibtelecom, is www.gibraltarchesscongress.com. The festival venue is the Caleta Hotel. The festival closes on Thursday, February 6th, with a banquet and prize-giving ceremony.

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Gary Kasparov Press Conference in Wijk aan Zee Video (Updated)

Former world #chess champion Gary Kasparov and Fide election 2014 candidate addresses a press conference in Wijk aan Zee on the sidelines of the 76th Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014. New in Chess editor, Dutch sports journalist, Dirk Jan Ten Geuzendam conducts the press conference for the organisers.  

I believe I will be opening the (world chess championship 2014) match in November 2014 (as FIDE president) between Magnus Carlsen and the Khanty-Mansiysk Candidates winner: Gary Kasparov.

I am grateful for Magnus Carlsen being an inspiration for so many players: Kasparov on the 'end of draws'  

* NY Times article

* FIDE announcement in reference to the article

* FIDE letter to Ignatius Leong seeking resignation

* Kasparov election website 

* Chessdom interview with Morten Sand

* Fide responds to payment questions raised by Kasparov

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Tata Steel Chess: Aronian Leads; Harikrishna beats Nakamura

Second-highest rated Indian, Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna has clocked two straight wins in Rounds 8 and 9 beating Hikaru Nakamura and Arkadij Naiditsch. Meanwhile, Armenia's Levon Aronian - the world no. 2 - retains lead a full 1.5 points ahead of the rest of the field.

 

Gary Kasparov will open Round 10 in Wijk aan Zee on Saturday and also be in the commentary room. -- Official website

Earlier, in Round 4, the Indian Grandmaster drew with Loek van Wely. In Round 5 Harikrishna lost to Anish Giri and allowed Fabiano Caruana to escape with a draw in Round 6. Harikrishna lost to Richard Rapport in Round 7, but returned to pick up two straight wins in Round 8 and 9. 

World No. 2 Levon Aronian continues to lead the group and is set to win the title with only two rounds to go. 

 

 

 

 

The 76th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament is taking place January 10-26, 2014 in two groups (instead of the traditional three), with twelve players in each, instead of fourteen. Two rounds will be played in Amsterdam and Eindhoven. 

Standings after Round 9

1. Levon Aronian 7

2. Anish Giri

3. Fabiano Caruana

4. Leinier Dominguez

5. Sergey Karjaki all at 5.5

6. Pentala Harikrishna 

7. Wesley So both at 5.0

8. Loek van Wely 4.5

9. Richard Rapport

10. Hikaru Nakamura both at 3.5

11. Boris Gelfand 2.4

12. Arkadij Naiditsch 1.5

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Tata Steel Chess R3: Harikrishna in Joint Lead with win over Dominguez

India's second highest rated chess Grandmaster, Pentala Harikrishna is cruising along in joint lead at the 76th Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee with two points from three rounds. Tuesday was a rest day. The fourth round resumes on Wednesday and you can watch it Live at the official website.

Harikrishna has scored two very commendable draws versus World No. 2 Levon Aronian and World No. 11 Sergey Karjakin. In the first round, Levon Aronian said, "it was a strange game" and he did not feel that he could push his position too much. Both players agreed to a repetition of moves. 

In the second round, Sergey Karjakin and Pentala Harikrishna quickly reached a position in the Queen’s Gambit declined that looked highly drawish. Karjakin had the slightly better bishop but Harikrishna defended adequately for a draw.

For the third round, Pentala Harikrishna and Leinier Dominguez played out a Sicilian Najdorf. Neither player managed to obtain a clear advantage out of the opening. An endgame with both sides having rooks and opposite-coloured bishops was reached. Harikrishna later said: “His moves 27. …b6 and 32. …a5 were too committal and after that only I could play for a win.” Dominguez was left with a difficult defensive task and when Harikrishna pushed his passed d-pawn things got dangerous for Dominguez. When Harikrishna obtained a passed c-pawn as well it was only a matter of time before the Indian Grandmaster got his first win of the tournament.

Round 4 - Wednesday the 15thGiri, A. - So, W.
Gelfand, B. - Naiditsch, A.
Aronian, L. - Nakamura, H.
Karjakin, S. - Rapport, R.
Dominguez, L. - Caruana, F.
Van Wely, L. - Harikrishna, P

Schedule

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament has two main tournaments. They are played according to the 'round robin' system, whereby each competitor plays in turn against every other during the tournament. The Tata Steel Masters has 12 players and the Tata Steel Challengers has 14 players. Both groups start on January 11th 2014. All rounds in Wijk aan Zee begin at 13.30 hours, except for the last round on January 26th, which begins at 12.00 hours. The two rounds in Amsterdam and Eindhoven start at 14:00 hours.
Time control

The time control is: 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from the first move. (With inputs via official website)

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Tata Steel Chess R1: Watch Live Harikrishna begins vs Levon Aronian

76th Tata Steel Chess 2014: Talented Indian (No. 2) chess Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna (World No. 42/Live 31) takes on World No. 2 Levon Aronian in the first round of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014 on Saturday. 

The 76th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament takes place January 11-26, 2014 in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian won the Tata Steel Chess in 2012. Harikrishna himself, as a debutant in A group of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in January 2013 Harikrishna finished in the first half (7th place) and reached an elo rating of over 2700.

Watch the games live at the official website.

Participants of Tata Steel MastersNameCountryRating World Ranking
GM Aronian, Levon ARM 2812 2
GM Nakamura, Hikaru USA 2789 3
GM Caruana, Fabiano ITA 2782 6
GM Gelfand, Boris ISR 2777 8
GM Karjakin, Sergey RUS 2759 10
GM Dominguez, Leinier CUB 2754 14
GM Giri, Anish NED 2734 19
GM So, Wesley PHL 2719 28
GM Naiditsch, Arkadij GER 2718 29
GM Harikrishna, Pentala IND 2706 42
GM Rapport, Richard HUN 2691 56
GM Van Wely, Loek NED 2672 77
Average rating : 2743
Category : 20
FIDE-ratings of January 2014

Participants of Tata Steel Challengers
NameCountryRatingGM Wojtaszek, Radek POL 2711

GM Jobava, Baadur GEO 2710 

GM Yu, Yangyi CHN 2677 

GM Saric, Ivan CRO 2637 

GM Timman, Jan NED 2607 

GM Brunello, Sabino ITA 2602 

GM Reinderman, Dimitri NED 2593 

GM Zhao, Xue CHN 2567 

GM Muzychuk, Anna SLO 2566 

IM Bok, Benjamin NED 2560 

GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof POL 2553 

IM Troff, Kayden USA 2457 

IM Goudriaan, Etienne NED 2431 

IM Van Delft, Merijn NED 2430 

Average rating : 2579
Category : 14
FIDE-ratings of January 2014

On Friday, the opening ceremony took place with an interesting theatrical presentation based on 'The Night Watch'. 

Photo: Opening ceremony theatrical presentation/official website

(More photos and report at www.chessvibes.com)

 -- Team Black and White

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World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen at CES Las Vegas (Updated)

(The event update available now at partner chess site) World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen spent a whole afternoon signing autographs at CES in Las Vegas - to be precise at Booth MP25277 of Norwegian exhibitors, Nordic Semiconductor. You can find some great photographs on the Nordic Semiconductor Facebook Page. Needless to add, there was a huge crowd at the booth as Magnus Carlsen got down to some 'hard work' signing chess boards and wowing fans.

World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen signing autographs at CES Las Vegas at sponsor Nordic Semiconductor's booth. Photo: Nordic Semi

On Thursday afternoon, the very talented World Chess Champion will play a simul against 20 opponents in an auditorium. Magnus Carlsen, and his opponents, will all be hooked to a special wireless pulse gauge that uses Bluetooth Low Energy chips, says Managing Director, Nordic Semiconductor, Svein Tore Larsen.

Nordic Semiconductor is an industry leader in ultra low-power wireless devices. With a world-class mixed-signal R&D team Nordic develops innovative ground-breaking devices for Bluetooth low energy, ANT and 2.4GHz proprietary markets. The ARM Cortex M-series lie at the core of Nordic's highly flexible, ultra low-power wireless SoC solutions.

Ultra-low power (ULP) wireless sensors that are small enough to be worn on the body are transforming the sports & fitness world by making it easy to track and log training data – such as heart-rate, speed, and distance – and share the results on-line with others. This benefits everyone from elite athletes seeking to fine-tune their training regimes to those who simply want to get fit and stay motivated by seeing the results of their hard work.

Typical products in this segment are:Wearable sensors
Heart-rate belts
Speed-distance foot pods
GPS pods
Pedometers
Activity sensors
Bike cadence sensors
Bike speed sensors
Bike power sensors
Weight scales

The International CES is the world’s largest tradeshow for consumer technology and America’s largest annual tradeshow of any kind. With more than four decades of success, the International CES reaches across global markets, connects the “who’s who” of the industry and enables consumer electronics (CE) innovations to grow and thrive.

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Chess World Record: Judit Polgar No. 1 Woman for 25 Years on Jan 1, 2014!

Screen grab from special video on Judit Polgar.

World Record in Chess: Hungarian Grandmaster Judit Polgar completed 25 years as world No. 1 among women on January 1, 2014 with FIDE releasing the latest chess ratings list. 

Polgar's current rating on the FIDE list is 2693. She is followed by Hou Yifan of China at 2629 and India's Koneru Humpy at 2613.

-- Judit Polgar official website

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Anand vs Carlsen at Zurich Chess Jan 29-Strongest Tournament in History

Zurich Chess Challenge 2014 – The strongest tournament in chess history to date

On Wednesday, 29 of January 2014, the «Zurich Chess Challenge 2014» will commence at the Hotel Savoy. With six participants it is the first tournament in the history of chess to reach category 23 with an amazing average rating of 2801!

The star of the «Zurich Chess Challenge 2014» will be the newly crowned world-championMagnus Carlsen. During his first tournament appearance since winning the world title last November, the 23-year old Norwegian will compete against his predecessor and former world-champion, Viswanathan Anand of India (number 9 in the world-ranking), the Armenian Levon Aronian (2), the American Hikura Nakamura (3), the US-Italian Fabiano Caruana (6), as well as the Israeli Boris Gelfand (8).

This brilliant event, which will take place in the extraordinary familial environment of the ballroom of the Hotel Savoy, has already caught the attention and led to the registration of many journalists and top-players from throughout the world, including Peter Leko,Jan Timman and Gennadi Sosonko. Further, the Chinese women's world-championHou Yifan will attend this unique occasion and will be playing a simultaneous exhibition with clocks against 6 top Swiss juniors on 1 February at 1 p.m. at the Zurich «Zunfthaus zur Saffran».

For the «Zurich Chess Challenge 2014», a blitz tournament will determine the color distribution on the first day. Five rounds of classical chess will then be played from Thursday to Monday (30 January to 3 February), followed by a rapid tournament with reversed colors on the last day (4 February). A won game in the classical tournament counts two points, draws one point. Wins in the rapid tournament count one point and draws half a point. All games will be commented live by GM Yannick Pelletier and IM Werner Hug and broadcast world-wide live via Internet on www.zurich-cc.com. Admission to the classical and rapid games of this formidable event is free and no previous registration of spectators is required!

The «Zurich Chess Club» was founded in 1809 and is the oldest active chess club of the world. With the «Zurich Chess Challenge 2014» it will continue its long-standing tradition of hosting top-level tournaments, which have included such memorable events as the «Candidate's Tournament 1953», the simul and rapid tournament of all living world-champions at at the Zurich main train station 2009, the «Zurich Chess Challenge 2012» with Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik as well as the «Zurich Chess Challenge 2013» with the four grand masters Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand, Fabiano Caruana and Boris Gelfand.

The «Zurich Chess Club» is very proud to be the organizer and host of this unique event. Further, it would like to thank the main tournament sponsor and chess-enthusiast Oleg Skvortsov from the «International Gemological Laboratories» of Moscow, Russia, whose generous contribution has allowed for this extraordinary happening! We look forward to welcoming all our friends from throughout the chess world either at the Hotel Savoy or live via the Internet!

Participants (Elo rating according to FRL of January 2014)

Magnus Carlsen (Norway, Elo 2872, Nr 1)
Levon Aronian (Armenia, Elo 2812, Nr 2)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA, Elo 2789, Nr 3)
Fabiano Caruana (Italy, Elo 2782, Nr 6)
Boris Gelfand (Israel, Elo 2777, Nr 8)
Vishwanathan Anand (India, Elo 2773, Nr 9)

Schedule

Daily from 30 January to 4 February 2014.
The rounds start at 15.00 local time (CET), except for the last round, which begins at 13.00 CET.
Spectators are welcome, entrance free.

Main sponsor

«IGC International Gemological Laboratories» is a Russian institute providing gemological services, such as diamond grading reports, enhanced diamonds identification, man-made/synthetic diamonds and imitation detection, as well as certification of diamonds, gemstones and jewelry in the Russian Federation. IGC is the Russian branch of «GCI» a group of gemological laboratories located worldwide.

Co-sponsors

Aspeco, SurJewel, Savoy Chess Corner, Zurich Chess Club (founded in 1809, the oldest chess club of the world)

Partners

Hotels Savoy Baur en Ville, Rössli and Seehof in Zurich

Organization

Zurich Chess Club

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Kasparov Muscat Chess Simul Puzzle!

Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov has just wrapped off a cool chess visit to Muscat, Oman. The Times of Oman reports, in an interview, 50-year-old Russian chess great said winning the world chess title was the best moment in his life!

Garry Kasparov making a move against one of the 20 hand-picked players of Oman during an exhibition battle. Kasparov moved around to play against the 20 players at the same time. Photo – JUN ESTRADA / Times of Oman

Here are some quotes that Garry Kasparov gave to Oman journalists, plus a video.

- "I think luck played only a minor role. It was pure hard work and patience that helped me win the championship. I think I played a better game than my opponent and when you play a good match, you deserve to win, don't you?"
"Winning the world championship was the best moment in my life. I don't think there was any world champion who won because he was lucky. The world championship title had been in contest since 124 years and we have only six world champions. So that makes the game extra special.
- On the simul he played in Muscat with 20 selected players: "They have great skills but they need to have more knowledge about the game. A proper League will benefit these players to attain international rating and for that, they need to have a federation. I am sure they will soon have one.
- Tips to young chess players: Practice makes you perfect. You need to regularly practice the game to hone your skills. The rest will fall in place automatically.  

The simul was hosted by International Chess Academy of Oman. IM Karim Ismael of the Academy said, Kasparov normally completes such exhibition matches in not more than two hours but I think this was one with the longest duration.

Garry Kasparov's official website has this very interesting chess update from Oman

Garry went 19-0 in his simultaneous exhibition in Oman on January 3, 2014. A beautiful line from one game caught his mind’s eye, but unfortunately his young opponent chose to lose in a relatively uneventful way!

In the diagram, White to play and win...

For a full analysis of the actual game and the beautiful move that chess great Garry Kasparov hoped he would get to play, read the post at the the former World Chess Champion's official website.

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South Asian Amateur Chess (u2000) in Kathmandu Feb 1-6

The latest chess news via FIDE is that the South Asian Amateur Chess Championship 2014 will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal from February 1-6.

(FIDE Rating under 2000)

2014 Feb. 1-6, Kathmandu.
Venue:Covered Hall, National Sports Council, Tripureshor, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Tournament Rules
* System of Play: As per FIDE Laws of chess & Swiss System 9 rounds game will be played. Swiss Manager Software will be use for pairings.
* Time Control: 90 min. + 30 sec. /per move from move 1.
* Tie- break: The latest FIDE Rules shall apply. The cash prizes won't be share.
* Special Rule: The tournament is only for players under FIDE rating 2000 or without rating. Feb. 2014 FRL will be used for the ranking list.
* Players with FIDE titles except CM are not allowed to participate in this event.

For more details download the brochure from the FIDE website.

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