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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