Viswanathan Anand starts off in style at London Chess Classic 2013

London: Indian ace Viswanathan Anand put the disappointing loss in the World Championship behind him and started his campaign in style by beating local Luke McShane in the first 'A' group game of the London Chess Classic that got underway here.

Anand's victory came after some precise calculation and deft manoeuvres on his 44th birthday, leaving McShane gasping from a point where he thought he had a chance.

The five-time world champion Indian thus started with three points under the Soccer scoring system in place here that gives a three points for a win and one for a draw.

Viswanathan Anand put the disappointing loss in the World Championship behind him and started his campaign in style by beating Luke McShane.

Anand was not the only one to start with full points as Michael Adams of England matched him on points at the expense of Andrei Istratescu of France in the same group.

With 16 players taking part this year, the Classic is divided in to four groups and the top two from each group will reach the knockout stage after a double round robin.

Anand heads the 'A' group on three points after the first round sharing the lead with Adams while McShane and Istratescu are yet to open their account.

Russian Vladimir Kramnik was lucky to score over compatriot Peter Svidler from a seemingly drawn endgame while wild card entrant Jonathan Rowson of England scored over country-mate Matthew Sadler from a similar situation in the 'B' group.

The 'C' group saw local hopeful Gawain Jones holding Hikaru Nakamura of United States to a draw while former world championship challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel got the better of highest rated woman Judit Polgar of Hungary.

In the 'D' group, English duo of Nigel Short and his former protege David Howell played out a draw while rating favourite Fabiano Caruana of Italy shot in to lead defeating Emil Sutovsky of Israel.

Anand played Michael Adams of England in the second round of his group and drew. -- PTI

McShane, L. (2684) - Anand, V. (2773)

Result: 0-1

Site: London ENG

Date: 2013.12.11

[...] 1.e4 c6 2.♘f3 d5 3.♘c3 ♗g4 4.h3 ♗xf3 5.♕xf3 e6 6.♗e2 ♘f6 7.O-O ♗b4 8.e5 ♘fd7 9.♕g4 ♗f8 10.d4 c5 11.♗g5 ♕b6 12.dxc5 ♕xc5 13.♗e3 h5 14.♕g3 d4 15.♘e4 h4 16.♕f3 ♕d5 17.c4 ♕xe5 18.♗f4 ♕f5 19.♗d3 ♕h5 20.♘f6+ gxf6 21.♕xb7 ♘e5 22.♕xa8 ♗d6 23.c5 ♘f3+ 24.♕xf3 ♕xf3 25.gxf3 ♗xf4 26.b4 ♘c6 27.♗b5 ♔d7 28.♖fd1 e5 29.a3 f5 30.♔f1 ♔c7 31.♔e2 e4 32.fxe4 fxe4 33.♗xc6 d3+ 34.♔f1 ♔xc6 35.♔g2 ♔d5 36.♖g1 ♗e5 37.♖ad1 ♖g8+ 38.♔f1 ♖xg1+ 39.♔xg1 f5 40.♔g2 ♔d4 41.c6 f4 42.b5 ♗c7 43.♖b1 d2 44.♔f1 ♔d3 45.a4 e3 46.fxe3 fxe3

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Geneva Chess Masters 2013 Live 7 pm

The Geneva Chess Masters Festival 2013 is taking place from June 26-30 at the Pitoeff Theatre, a renovated cathedral in the centre of Geneva. The main event will be the highlight of the big chess festival that includes two open chess tournaments and several age-group event for players U-10, U-12 and U-14.

The main event - a rapid masters - will have (two groups of four each in the single-round robin format) former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, former US champion Hikaru Nakamura, top-rated woman player Judit Polgar, former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Etienne Bacrot, Yannick Pelletier and Romain Edouard. Each group will have the top two players advance to the semi-finals. 

Every match between 2 players consists of 2 games of 25 minutes + 10 seconds; if it’s necessary a tie-break of two games of 4 minutes + 2 seconds will be played; in case of a tie, a decisive game with 4 minutes + 2 seconds for white and 3 minutes + 2 seconds for black (with draw odds) will be necessary. Watch the games live at the official website of the Geneva Chess Festival 2013.

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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 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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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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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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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 R3 - Both Indian Teams Continue Winning Spree

GM P Harikrishana
flying the Indian flag high

Indian teams at the Istanbul Chess Olympiad 2012 continued with a steady performance winning the third round in both the open and women's section. GMs P Harikrihsna and Abhijeet Gupta beat former world chess championship candidate Alexander Beliavsky and Malej Sebenik for a 3-1 victory. The other two games were draw. Tania Sachdev scored an important win for India over Lilit Galojan even as other three boards were draw. Both the teams play the fourth round on the top board. Eight more rounds have to be played and the tough part begins now.

Indian pairings for Round 4 are as follows:

United States Of America - India 
1.1 GM Nakamura, Hikaru 2778 - GM Sasikiran, Krishnan 2707
1.2 GM Kamsky, Gata 2746 - GM Harikrishna, Pentala 2685
1.3 GM Onishuk, Alexander 2666 - GM Negi, Parimarjan 2664
1.4 GM Akobian, Varuzhan 2617 - GM Gupta, Abhijeet 2637

India - Serbia 
1.1 GM Dronavalli, Harika 2503 - IM Bojkovic, Natasa 2392
1.2 IM Karavade, Eesha S 2371 - WGM Manakova, Maria 2304
1.3 IM Sachdev, Tania 2379 - WIM Rakic, Marija 2300
1.4 WGM Gomes, Mary Ann 2396 - WGM Benderac, Ana 2266

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Judit Polgar signs up for the 4th London Chess Classic 2012

World No. 1 Judit Polgar

Judit Polgar celebrates her 36th birthday today with the news that she’s confirmed her participation for the 4th London Chess Classic, at Kensington Olympia, 1-10 December, 2012, according to the official press release. Polgar now joins World No 1 Magnus Carlsen, World Champion Vishy Anand, World No 2 Levon Aronian, the defending champion Vladimir Kramnik, and the UK No 1 Mickey Adams as those that have so far confirmed their invitations to play in the year-ending elite chess spectacular in the Capital City.

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Turkish Chess League Game of the Day: Judit Polgar-Rauf Mamedov 1-0

The Turkish Isbank Chess League has begun in Konya Rixos Hotel (Turkey) with defending champions Aquamatch losing to Besiktas Jimnastik Club with a 7-3 score. The only player from Aquamatch club who won was the world's strongest woman chess player Judit Polgar. She beat Rauf Mamedov and later, wrote on her FB page, "For a start, it is always great to have a win!...Black made his final mistake with 34...Bc6 in his time trouble, and I grabbed my chance and did not let it go!”

Want to replay the Judit Polgar-Rauf Mamedov game? Check out the Chess King Game Page.

 

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July Chess Ratings: Magnus Carlsen at Record 2837; Anand Slips to 5th Place for Winning World Chess Championship!

World's Highest Rated Chess Player
Norway's Magnus Carlsen

Fide has released the July chess ratings which have World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen on a runaway lead with a record rating of 2837. The highest ever rating record is held by legendary 13th World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov of an 'Everest elo' worth 2851!

The list of top players is published at dedicated page of FIDE ratings website. All players can check new ratings at the main page of FIDE ratings website or download TXT version from downloads page.

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Anand Retains World Chess Champion Title: Experts Comment Including Legendary Gary Kasparov

World Chess Championship 2012 - A selection of expert comments were compiled by Pogonina.com. After drawing Boris Gelfand 6-6 in the classical part of the match Anand won the rapid tie-break 2.5-1.5 to retain the World Chess Champion title. Here's what some of the well-known chess experts have to say about it:

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Dream Chess Lineup for Any World Championship Format

Saturday May 19 is rest day at the Anand Gelfand 2012 world chess championship being played in Moscow. Here is a fun post for the rest day. Maybe, if there were a chess tournament to decide the strongest chess player in the world, we could invite a dream line-up. No statistics whether this is a recommended format or something. This is just a fun idea. Of course, we are leaving out Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand because they are already playing. You might imagine the chess we would witness as fans if such a tournament were to take place!


Dream Chess Lineup for Any World Championship Tournament

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