Alekhine Chess R4: Four in Lead

Round 4 games of Alekhine Memorial were played in Paris on April 24. Like in Round 3 four games out of five ended in a draw. The key game of the round was played between Levon Aronian and Peter Svidler. It was hard to predict however that this would be the only effective game of the round. Yet, Aronian’s fighting mood was clearly seen. It seems that he tries to catch up what he missed when he played in Candidates Tournament in London. 

Aronian performed a deep home preparation against Svidler’s hallmark in Grunfeld defense. Russian grandmaster, World Cup winner, couldn’t solve his opening problems and got a bad endgame, where Aronian gained a strategic advantage. Before the first time control was reached the game was consistently won for white. As all other games ended in a draw Levon Aronian joined the tournament leaders – Gelfand, Adams and Vachier-Lagrave.

Boris Gelfand, who was playing black, met some minor opening problems that were created by Nikita Vitiugov, but managed to avoid all the threats and drew the game. French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave played white against World champion Viswanathan Anand. He got a slight advantage, but before the first time control Maxime made a mistake and his opponent capitalized on opponent’s error and drew the game as well. At the press conference after the game Vachier-Lagrave mentioned that the position on the board still remained equal.

The game between Chinese prodigy Ding Liren and former World champion Vladimir Kramnik ended earlier than others. Kramnik showed a precise way to equality. The game between Laurent Fressinet and Michael Adams looked much more dramatic. French grandmaster tried to change the tournament leader, however Adams performed an obstinate defense and saved himself half a point that still keeps him in the leading group of the tournament.

Places after four rounds: 1-4. Adams, Vachier-Lagrave, Gelfand, Aronian – 2.5 points; 5-7. Kramnik, Ding Liren, Fressinet – 2 points; 8-9, Vitiugov, Anand – 1.5 points, 10. Svidler – 1 point.
Round 5 pairings: Gelfand – Aronian, Adams – Vitiugov, Svidler – Vachier-Lagrave, Kramnik – Fressinet, Anand – Ding Liren.

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'Not bothered about Carlsen's Trainers'

by Zainab Raza Undulusi

World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand has said he would try to understand how his next challenger World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen is going to play, but is not bothered about who is going to train Carlsen for the upcoming World Title match even if it is legendary 13th World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov. 

Viswanathan Anand was speaking in a special interview given to Russian news site RIA Novosti's Viktor Ivanov. Anand said, "I believe that my opponent - a strong chess player, his results speak for themselves. I will train very seriously before our meeting with him and will do everything possible to win."

Anand also said, "My match preparation would cover Carlsen's games and I am trying to understand my opponent. After that I will decide how to proceed. Of course, there will be a team that will help me prepare for the match though I cannot yet tell you about my second."

In reference to rumours about 13th World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov training Magnus Carlsen, a confident Anand said, "Both of us will naturally have a team to help us prepare for the match, but I am not paying all that attention to who is in which team."

Regarding the venue being Chennai for the World Chess Championship 2013, Viswanathan Anand said, "I was very happy even last year when there were prospects of Chennai being the venue for my previous (World Chess Championship 2012) match against Boris Gelfand. This time, if Chennai is the venue, I think it will be a powerful incentive for the development of chess in my state and my country. Personally, first of all it is important just to feel comfortable and to be able to fully concentrate on chess."

When asked about what could be the deciding factors in the forthcoming match particularly considering Carlsen has less experience at that level than Anand, the World Chess Champion said, "In theory, such an experience can really help in an important game. Each of us have our advantages. But not enough just to have them, you should be able to use them. I have experience, I've played these games before, but now the problem is different: to apply them correctly and that would help."

Also Read: World Chess 2013: Is it Chennai 100%

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Alekhine Chess R3: Three in Lead

Round 3 games of the Alekhine Chess Memorial were played in Paris on April, 23. Four games out of five ended in a draw. The key game of the round was played between Boris Gelfand and Michael Adams. Adams was playing black. He started the tournament with two victories over Anand and Svidler. As for Gelfand – it was his first game in the tournament played with white pieces. The most significant duel of the round lasted longer than others and continued for approximately seven hours.

After the game Gelfand said he used the opening scheme that was played by Alekhine himself. The Grandmaster from Israel grabbed the initiative and systematically increased his advantage. In the endgame, Gelfand won a pawn and gradually forced his opponent to resign. Having won his first game in the event so far, Boris Gelfand joined the tournament leader.

Vladimir Kramnik had a good chance to join the leaders too, but he missed it. Kramnik won a pawn against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, board number 1 of the French national team. However, Vachier-Lagrave managed to save a difficult endgame and also became one of the tournament leaders

Another French Grandmaster Laurent Fressinet faced young Chinese prodigy Grandmaster Ding Liren. The game turned out to be a sharp one. Black had an initiative but white found a way to save the game and it ended in a draw.

Anand– Aronian game showed that the World Champion couldn’t use the advantage of his white pieces and had to pass to an equal endgame. This game ended first. Soon after that a draw was concluded by two players from Saint-Petersburg – Peter Svidler and Nikita Vitiugov. Their game finished with a perpetual check.

Round3 results: Gelfand – Adams 1-0, Kramnik – Vachier-Lagrave, Ding Liren – Fressinet, Anand – Aronian, Svidler –Vitiugov (all four games ended in a draw).


Standings 

1-3.Adams, Vachier-Lagrave, Gelfand – 2 points; 

4-7. Aronian, Kramnik, Ding Liren, Fressinet – 1,5 points; 

8-10. Svidler, Vitiugov, Anand – 1 point.

Round 4 pairings: Watch Live 5.30 pm onwardsVachier-Lagrave– Anand, Vitiugov – Gelfand, Fressinet – Adams,Ding Liren – Kramnik, Aronian – Svidler.

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Renova Chess R2: 3 Players Lead

Alexander Morozevich, Veselin Topalov and Ruslan Ponomariov have taken joint lead by the end of the second round of the Renova Group Grand Prix in Zug. Topalov and Ponomariov beat Leko and Caruana respectively on Friday evening. Alexander Morozevich drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. After an unpleasant start Rustam Kasimdzanov managed to beat Gata Kamsky. Two other games Radjabov-Karjakin and Nakamura-Giri finished in a draw.

Morozevich-Mamedyarov 1/2:1/2
Alexander Morozevich chose to play early h4-h5 against Gruenfeld. This line, was successfully played by Russian against Anish Giri in China and happened in the game Grischuk-Carlsen recently. Even there is no clear theory in this line, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov seemed to be ready for this variation, chose to play quite sharp and more rare continuation with 5…c5 but forgot his analysis after 9.Bh6. According to Morozevich, he was hoping to play for some advantage but chose inaccurate 15.e3. “White has to play 15.e4 and after 15…Ne6 there were many choices. White could have tried to play for something real here,” said Alexander during the press-conference. However many pieces were exchanged, the position became absolutely equal and the game finished after three-time repetition.

Radjabov-Karjakin 1/2:1/2
Sergey Karjakin decided to surprise his opponent with Grunfeld, which was absent in his opening repertoire after he had lost the game against Viktorija Cmilyte 10 year ago. “It took me 10 years to recover after that game and finally I did it,” said Sergey with smile. Both players agreed that one of the critical moments was after 23…Rac8. White could have tried to play more principal 24.Rc8 and fight for advantage after Rc8 25. Qe7 Rc2 26. Rb1! However Teymur preferred to grab all pawns on the Queen’s side and after few exchanges the position became completely drawn.

Topalov-Leko 1:0 

Peter Leko got quite promising position out of the opening after dubious maneuver of White’s dark square bishop. Black managed to advance his pawns on the Queen’s side while White tried to find some counter play by pushing e4. The game was very sharp and according to Topalov Black had much better position at some point. At the time trouble Peter Leko spoiled his position with two last moves before the first time control. With 20 seconds on his clock Hungarian player first missed an opportunity to play 39…Kf7 and immediately made the second mistake 40…Qg6. After the time control Peter Leko tried to defend worse endgame and lost his last opportunity to fight for draw on 49th move. After 49…Ra8 instead of 49…f5 Black had good chances to resist.

Kasimdzhanov-Kamsky 1:0
“This opening is very complicated and I lost a threat in one moment. I had a very little time left on my clock and didn’t feel optimistic at all,” said Rustam Kasimdzanov at the start of the press-conference. Black got quite comfortable play out of the opening and decided to complicate the position after 19…f6. Rustam Kasimdzhanov was thinking to go for Bg6 but not only was short on time but also didn’t have feeling it was a right decision. 

Later, Kamsky showed his ambitions to play for a win by avoiding the repetition of moves. “I was hoping that Gata would repeat the moves but he had definitely more time at that moment”, pointed out Rustam Kasimdzhanov. In the time trouble Black started to make mistakes, missed Qa4 and tactics 39. Ng7 afterwards. The former world champion got the technically winning endgame with two extra pawns and didn’t leave any chance to his opponent.

Ponomariov-Caruana 1:0
Ruslan Ponomariov didn’t get anything special out of the opening playing with white against Fabiano Caruana. Italian player missed 29.Nc6 and let his opponent to activate the rooks and to get bishop against knight in the endgame. It was not easy for Black to defend all the time and according to Caruana 39…c4 was one of the inaccurate moves he had made. Later on, Fabiano decided to sacrifice a pawn in order to activate his rook but Ruslan calmly took “the gift” and later on converted his advantage into a full point.

Nakamura-Giri ½-½ Hikaru Nakamura got a slight advantage after the opening. Anish Giri was defending very well and managed not to fall into all possible traps created by American. Both players pointed out they would have agreed for a draw earlier but according to the rules it was impossible. “These rules teach us how to play against Magnus because Norwegian never agrees for a draw,” pointed out Anish Giri. (Photos and report by Anastasiya Karlovich/official website)

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Alekhine Chess R2: Adams Leads

Round 2 games of Alekhine Chess Memorial were played on April, 22 in Paris. Three games out of five finished in a draw, like in Round 1. Despite the fact that it was a week-day the chess pavilion in the Tuileries Garden (the Louvre Museum) was again full of spectators.

Fressinet – Gelfand and Vitiugov – Anand games finished earlier than others. Fressinet kept a slight pressure on his opponent after the opening was over, however the grandmaster from Israel found a way to neutralize the threat. World champion Viswanathan Anand, who lost his game in Round 1, found himself in an unpleasant position again, but Nikita Vitiugov from Russia wasn’t able to get all the chances he could out of his position.

The champion of France, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave made his fans very happy as he scored a good victory against Ding Liren from China. After this success Maxime is currently second with 1.5 points out of 2.

Michael Adams is the tournament leader at the moment. He outplayed World Cup winner Peter Svidler in his favorite style and got another point with white.

The game between two top rated players Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik was thrilling. World’s second highest-rated player did better in the opening and didn’t let his opponent equalize the position in the middle game. Soon the game turned into a winning endgame for white, which Aronian played very precisely. After round 2 both rating favorites have 1 point out of 2 and still need a lot to reach the leader.

Results after round 2: 1. Adams – 2 points; 2. Vachier-Lagrave – 1,5 points; 3-7. Aronian,Kramnik, Ding Liren, Fressinet, Gelfand – 1 point; 8-10. Svidler, Vitiugov, Anand – 0,5 point.

Round 3 pairings: Ding Liren – L. Fressinet, V. Kramnik – M. Vachier-Lagrave, V. Anand — L. Aronian, P. Svidler — N. Vitiugov, B. Gelfand — M. Adams.

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Exciting Chess at Alekhine Memorial

The Alekhine Chess Memorial began with great fireworks on the chessboard in Paris on Sunday. The chess pavilion which had been built specially for the Memorial on the premises of the Tuileries Garden (the Louvre Museum) was overcrowded. The Grandmasters didn’t disappoint their spectators – every game was a true and interesting fight and three of them were decisive.

Vachier-Lagrave – Fressinet and Svidler – Gelfand games finished earlier than others. Both of them ended in a draw: black managed to equalise the game after the opening. Ding Liren created a sensation by defeating Levon Aronian. The newcomer of the super tournament performed a wonderful attack against his opponent’s king. Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, who looks upon Alekhine Memorial as his “home” tournament (Kramnik has been living in Paris for a long time), scored a decisive victory over Nikita Vitiugov. Vladimir analysed his game in details in the press centre and showed the way he used his opponent’s inaccurate moves.

The game between Adams and Anand was very challenging. Anand, who was playing white, had to face a deep strategic idea put into effect by Adams, a multiple British champion. Adams won the game in his favorite manner and joined the leaders.

The venue was the Tuelerie Garden (the Louvre). This is the first major tournament in classical chess held in France in the past 30 years. The round began amid the overflowing presence of journalists and chess enthusiasts: The 300-seat hall was fully packed and spectators still waited outside. All games are broadcast live with commentary in three languages - Russian, English and French - at the official website.

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