India's first chess features print magazine published quarterly from Lucknow since 2004 by Aspire Welfare Society.

Monday, August 12, 2013

World Chess Cup R1: Negi Wins


World’s second youngest ever Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi of India outplayed higher-ranked Yuri Kryvoruchko of Ukraine in the first round of the World Chess Cup which began here.

Fresh from some strong performances including a recent victory in the Politiken Cup with a whopping 9/10 score, Negi proved that his warm up tactics before the World Cup were perfect as Kryvoruchko proved no match.

It turned out to be a mixed day for the Indians in the first round of this knockout event as B Adhiban held higher ranked Grandmaster Evegny Alekseev to a draw while Krishnan Sasikiran drew easily as black against Romanian Grandmaster Constantin Lupulescu.

Indian champion G Akash, however, lost his first game of the two-game mini-match against Fabiano Caruana of Italy.

Akash now needs a victory in the return game to stay in the hunt in the 128-players event.

Negi was the star of the day as he almost effortlessly outplayed Kryvoruchko in all departments of the game. Playing the black side of a Sicilian Scheveningen, Negi used a new idea that unsettled the Ukrainian early and showed precise technique to go one up.

Kryvoruchko now faces a daunting task to make a comeback as he has to win with black pieces.

Adhiban employed the Sicilian Taimanov and was happy to get the Fianchetto variation on board. Soon as the middle game arrived, Alekseev went for a direct attack on the king side only to realise soon that it was not intimidating enough.
 


Adhiban could have pressed for more but given his maiden appearance in the World Cup, a draw with black against much higher ranked Alekseev was a good result.

Apart fro
m the Indians, the first day witnessed the top seeds win apart from a few surprises. The round started late due to a security check. A minute's silence was also observed in memory of Russian GM Kurnosov who passed away, at the age of 28, in a tragic road accident recently.

GM Alexander Morozevich lost to Canadian GM Bator Sambuev in the biggest upset of the day. GM Ray Robson beat the higher rated GM Andrey Volokitin. GM Gata Kamsky and GM Michael Adams drew against Chinese players Lou Yiping and Wan Yunguo respectively. Former Women’s World Champion Hou Yifan drew with GM Alexey Shirov, but reigning Wo
men's World Champion Anna Ushenina lost to defending champion Peter Svidler. Four women are taking part in the FIDE World Cup in Tromso: Judit Polgar, Hou Yifan, Anna Ushenina and Deysi Cori. Judit Polgar also lost to GM Reynaldo Suarez Ortiz in a big upset.  

The first games of the opening round started in Tromso after Commissioner for Business, Culture and Sports of Tromso Municipality, Mr. Jonas Stein, made the first symbolic move in the Aronian-Markov game. (PTI and Agencies)

The FIDE World Cup is a knockout, starting with 128 players. Two games are played between each pair of players. The rate of play is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. If the score is equal there are two rapid chess tiebreak games (25 min + 10 sec), then, if the score is still tied, two accelerated games (10 min + 10 sec). If the score is still tied two blitz games will be played at 5 min + 3 sec, and if there is still no decision a final Armageddon game with 5 minutes for White and 4 minutes for Black, with a 3 sec increment after move 60, will be played. In this game Black has draw odds (i.e. he wins if the game is drawn). The winner and the runner-up of the World Cup 2013 will qualify for the Candidates Tournament of the next World Championship cycle.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

World Chess Cup Live from Aug 11

A chess feast is set so mark your calendar for the World Chess Cup 2013 from August 11-September 3 in Tromsø Norway. We are delighted to officially announce the 128 players in the FIDE World Cup 2013 in Tromsø. In the 1st round of the World Chess Cup 2013, the three top-seeded players GM Levon Aronian of Armenia, GM Fabiano Caruana of Italy and Russian GM Vladimir Kramnik face Mikhail Markov (2305) of Kyrgyzstan, IM G. Akash (2332) from India and FM Gillian Bwalya (2310) from Zambia respectively. Previous World Cup winner GM Peter Svidler of Russia faces reigning Women's World Chess Champion GM Anna Ushenina of Ukraine.


Watch the live broadcast of the World Chess Cup 2013 at the official website beginning Sunday, August 11.

G. Akash happens to be the youngest-ever Indian chess player to have won the Indian national chess title breaking Viswanathan Anand's record. He is participating in the event for the first time. The other Indians in the event are Parimarjan Negi, B Adhiban and Krishnan Sasikiran.  


The World Chess Cup 2013 is a part of the World Championship Cycle 2012-2014. The winner and the runners-up will qualify for the Candidates of the World Championship cycle 2012-2014. There are 128 qualifiers (in order of priority): World Champion + four (4) semi-finalists from the World Cup 2011, Women’s World Champion, World Junior U-20 Champions 2011 & 2012, eighteen (18) rated players as described in 3.1.2, ninety (92) players from Continental Championships, six (6) FIDE President nominees, four (4) organiser nominees.

There will be six (6) rounds of matches comprising two (2) games per round, with the winners progressing to the next round, plus the final seventh (7th) round comprising of four (4) games.


Here is the official video of the World Chess Cup 2013.


Side Chess Events
Tromsø Chess Club (TSK) and Tromsø Youth Chess Club (TSKU) are organizing a series of open tournaments on the sidelines of the World Chess Cup 2013. Title players who get knocked out from the World Cup will play in these tournaments. Arctic Chess NGP, an international weekend tournament, will be held on 16-18th August as a seven-round swiss open. The total prize fund is 5000 EUR.
A Main: 1000-600-400; Elo-2300: 500-300-200; Elo–2000: 250-150-100
B Main: 500-300-200; Elo-1500: 250-150-100
The first three rounds will be played with the time control 20′+5”, while the remaining four rounds will be played with classical 90′+30”.
The legendary TSKU chess cafe will be operating outside the playing venue throughout the tournament.
Registration
Chief Arbiter: Trond Romsdal
Arbiter: Øyvind Pedersen
Organizer: Jan Sigmund Berglund (+47 992 79 489)


An exclusion
One of the strongest Egyptian Grandmasters Ahmed Adly will have to skip the event due to obligatory service in the Egyptian Army. Adly told The Chess Drum that he had exhausted all efforts including the submission of an official letter from the Ministry of Sports. The other Egyptian players (GM Bassem Amin, GM Essam El-Gindy and IM Samy Shoker) were not affected.

The complete players' list is as follows:
For the pairings please see the Results and Pairings page.

a) 2011 World Cup semi-finalists
01. P. Svidler (RUS)
02. A. Grischuk (RUS)
03. V. Ivanchuk (UKR)
04. R. Ponomariov (UKR)

b) 2012 Women's World Champion
05. A. Ushenina (UKR)

c) 2011 and 2012 Junior World Champions
06. D. Swiercz (POL)
07. A. Ipatov (TUR)

d) 18 players based on their average FIDE rating from 3/2012 to 1/2013
08. L. Aronian (ARM) 2816.22
09. V. Kramnik (RUS) 2798.88
10. T. Radjabov (AZE) 2789.22
11. S. Karjakin (RUS) 2777.44
12. F. Caruana (ITA) 2775.44
13. H. Nakamura (USA) 2772.77
14. A. Morozevich (RUS) 2760.44
15. G. Kamsky (USA) 2748.55
16. S. Mamedyarov (AZE) 2744.88
17. Wang Hao (CHN) 2739.11
18. B. Gelfand (ISR) 2738.44
19. P. Leko (HUN) 2731.11
20. E. Tomashevsky (RUS) 2728.77
21. L. Dominguez (CUB) 2727.44
22. M. Adams (ENG) 2721.66
23. R. Wojtaszek (POL) 2721.55
24. A. Giri (NED) 2715.33
25. I. Nepomniachtchi (RUS) 2709.00
26. A. Shirov (LAT) 2708.33

e) 46 players from the 2012 and 2013 European Championships
27. D. Jakovenko (RUS) 2012
28. L. Fressinet (FRA) 2012
29. V. Malakhov (RUS) 2012
30. D. Andreikin (RUS) 2012
31. E. Inarkiev (RUS) 2012
32. M. Matlakov (RUS) 2012
33. V. Bologan (MDA) 2012
34. F. Vallejo Pons (ESP) 2012
35. Y. Kryvoruchko (UKR) 2012
36. S. Azarov (BLR) 2012
37. E. Najer (RUS) 2012
38. V. Akopian (ARM) 2012
39. A. Volokitin (UKR) 2012
40. J. Smeets (NED) 2012
41. C.B. Gawain Jones (ENG) 2012
42. N. Vitiugov (RUS) 2012
43. E. Bacrot (FRA) 2012
44. A. Dreev (RUS) 2012
45. D. Khismatullin (RUS) 2012
46. M. Kobalia (RUS) 2012
47. V. Durarbeyli (AZE) 2012
48. A. Riazantsev (RUS) 2012
49. B. Jobava (GEO) 2012
50. A. Moiseenko (UKR) 2013
51. E. Alekseev (RUS) 2013
52. E. Romanov (RUS) 2013
53. A. Beliavsky (SLO) 2013
54. C. Lupulescu (ROU) 2013
55. S. Movsesian (ARM) 2013
56. H. Melkumyan (ARM) 2013
57. A. Korobov (UKR) 2013
58. I. Lysyj (RUS) 2013
59. A. Shimanov (RUS) 2013
60. A. Areshchenko (UKR) 2013
61. P. Eljanov (UKR) 2013
62. M. Kravtsiv (UKR) 2013
63. D. Dubov (RUS) 2013
64. M. Ragger (AUT) 2013
65. Z. Hracek (CZE) 2013
66. I. Popov (RUS) 2013
67. S. Brunello (ITA) 2013
68. S. A. Fedorchuk (UKR) 2013
69. E. Postny (ISR) 2013
70. V. Zvjaginsev (RUS) 2013
71. A. Istratescu (FRA) 2013
72. E. Safarli (AZE) 2013

f) 20 players from the Americas
73. G. Kaidanov (USA) Continental 2012
74. J. Granda Zuniga (PER) Continental 2012
75. A. Shabalov (USA) Continental 2012
76. E. Hansen (CAN) Continental 2012
77. A. Ramirez (USA) Zonal 2.1
78. A. Onischuk (USA) Zonal 2.1
79. C. Holt (USA) Zonal 2.1
80. L. M. Christiansen (USA) Zonal 2.1
81. R. Robson (USA) Zonal 2.1
82. I. R. Ortiz Suarez (CUB) Continental 2013
83. D. Flores (ARG) Continental 2013
84. J. Cori (PER) Continental 2013
85. D. Cori T. (PER) Continental 2013
86. R. Felgaer (ARG) Zonal 2.5
87. S. Mareco (ARG) Zonal 2.5
88. R. Leitao (BRA) Zonal 2.4
89. A. Fier (BRA) Zonal 2.4
90. B. Sambuev (CAN) Zonal 2.2
91. L. Bruzon (CUB) (Zonal 2.3)
92. E. Iturrizaga (VEN) (Zonal 2.3)

g) 20 players from Asia/Oceania
93. Negi Parimarjan (IND) Continental 2012
94. Yu Yangyi (CHN) Continental 2012
95. Salem A. R. Saleh (UAE) Continental 2012
96. Liu Qingnan (CHN) Continental 2012
97. Oliver Barbosa (PHI) Continental 2012
98. Nguyen Ngoc Trung Son (VIE) Zonal 3.3
99. Wesley So (PHI) Zonal 3.3
100. G. Akash (IND) Zonal 3.7
101. Z. Rahman (BAN) Zonal 3.2
102. Lou Yiping (CHN) Zonal 3.5
103. Wan Yunguo (CHN) Zonal 3.5
104. Li Chao B (CHN) Continental 2013
105. M. Paragua (PHI) Continental 2013
106. Le Quang Liem (VIE) Continental 2013
107. B. Adhiban (IND) Continental 2013
108. K. Sasikiran (IND) Continental 2013
109. I. Bjelobrk (AUS) Zonal 3.6
110. Darini Pouria (IRI) Zonal 3.1
111. A. Filippov (UZB) Zonal 3.4
112. M. Markov (KGZ) Zonal 3.4

h) 6 players from Africa
113. Amin Bassem (EGY) Continental 2013
114. A. Adly (EGY) Continental 2013
115. E. El Gindy (EGY) Continental 2013
116. Ali Sebbar (MAR) Zonal 4.1
117. S. Shoker (EGY) Zonal 4.2
118. Gillian Bwalya (ZAM) Zonal 4.3

i) 6 nominees of the FIDE President
119. M. Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)
120. Hou Yifan (CHN)
121. J. Polgar (HUN)
122. D. Navara (CZE)
123. J-K. Duda (POL)
124. Wei Yi (CHN)

j) 4 nominees of the local organising committee
125. Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR)
126. Simen Agdestein (NOR)
127. Leif Erlend Johannessen (NOR)
128. Torbjorn Ringdal Hansen (NOR)

Total = 128 players

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

FIDE Chess Online Arena Launched


FIDE has just launched the online chess playing arena in its beta version. Here is the announcement by FIDE president:


I am proud to announce today's launch of the limited test version of FIDE online arena, FIDE's official Internet playing platform developed in co-operation with CNC. In October 2013, after the Executive Board meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, the fully operational version of FIDE online arena will be in service and available all over the world.

FIDE firmly believes that online chess offers enormous opportunities for millions of chess lovers who are unable to regularly participate in over-the-board events for a variety of reasons: professional and family commitments, problems reaching tournaments and other difficulties, etc.


Now FIDE makes the virtual real with an online arena that allows players to compete in top class tournaments with official FIDE ratings. The attractiveness and ease of online chess will also draw millions of new players - in particular the young. FIDE online arena will be an important step in achieving my goal of '1 billion chess players' throughout the world.


As you know, there are many chess playing platforms. However, FIDE online arena has a unique feature that completely sets it apart: a highly sophisticated chess anti-cheating system, AceGuard. Until now, it has been impossible to award official ratings for online chess because of the difficulty in preventing cheating. Now AceGuard will be an invaluable tool in Fide's fight against cheaters and we would like to praise the PremiumChess company for developing this revolutionary technology and to congratulate CNC for bringing this service to FIDE.

When the full version of FIDE online arena starts in October, every move of every game played by full arena members will be monitored and extensively analyzed by the anti-cheating system and a special team of experts, creating a fair playing venue for all. While it is not possible to prevent some players from cheating, this constant highly detailed monitoring guarantees that they can be successfully identified and appropriate action taken. Every member's playing history is evaluated with a Fairness Index rating, allowing you to see quickly if an opponent is reliable or not.

In addition, FIDE online arena offers a complete chess experience online: challenge games and tournaments, master challenge matches and simuls, free master lessons and lectures, full statistical analysis, broadcasts of major FIDE events, chat, game files, multi-lingual interface and much more - all from the comfort of your home or anywhere elsewhere you happen to be.

So now you can enjoy all the features that FIDE online arena has to offer and very soon play in official FIDE events night or day, seven days a week.

Enjoy it! http://www.arena.myfide.net

Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Kosteniuk Writes Chess History


For the first time in Switzerland’s 113-year chess history, a woman has been able to win both the women’s and men’s national chess titles. Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk has conquered the top step on both podiums last week in Grächen, Switzerland. Thanks to her dual Swiss-Russian citizenship, Alexandra Kosteniuk has been invited to fight for the National Swiss Championship for the 5th year in a row. The last 4 years she was close to the top but not quite first, the winners last years have been Grandmasters Viktor Kortchnoi (2009 and 2011), Yannick Pelletier (2010), and Joe Gallagher (2012).
This year’s Swiss championship took place in the beautiful mountain resort Grächen (close to Zermatt). The event started with 8 GM’s and 8 IM’s, the strongest being GM’s Bauer, Stojanovic, Sokolov and Miezis, and the highest ranked fighting for the Swiss title were Gallagher, Kosteniuk, Gerber, Lötscher, Buss, Klauser and Carron.

The last round was critical, Alexandra drew GM Bauer (Elo 2637) and got 6.5/9: But IM Buss and GM Gallagher also finished with 6.5/9, so according to the rules of the championship the top 2 players according to Bukhholz had to play a tie-break match of 2 games. Alexandra won both games against IM Buss and became the first woman to win the men’s Swiss Championship.

So the men’s podium was as follows: 1. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk 2. IM Ralph Buss 3. GM Joe Gallagher. The women’s podium was as follows: 1. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk 2. WFM Laura Stoeri 3. WGM Barbara Hund. The traditional photo all Swiss champions, from left to right: FM Vjekoslav Vulevic (Seniors), GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (both Men and Women), Aurélien Pomini (U-16), and André Meylan (U-18):



You can find lots of more photos, game and reports at Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk's personal blog at www.chessqueen.com.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

India Wins World U-16 Chess


India regained the team title in World Youth (Under-16) Chess Olympiad after a gap of five years with a resounding victory over Iran in the final round in Chongqing, China on Monday. The Indian quartet of S A Gagare, Murali Karthikeyan, Diptayan Ghosh and Sayantan Das beat Iran 3.5-0.5 in the 10th round to top the team standings with 30.5 points ahead of heavyweight Russia, who took second spot with 30 points, and Turkey (third with 26 points). 

The Indian team won eight ties while drawing twice. This is India`s third title in this prestigious team event having won it previously in Singapore 2007 and Turkey 2008. International Master Gagare gave India a bright start by defeating Ahmad Asgari Zadeh before Karthikeyan drew his game against woman international master Sarasadat Khademalsharieh. 

That was the only time Iran could pose a challenge in the tie as Ghosh and Das -- both Kolkata-based -- came up with impressive performances to beat Shahin Lorpari Zangeneh and Seyed Khalil Mousavi Palatkaleh respectively. Going through a purple patch, Sayantan, who had recently won Under-10 Nationals, clinched gold in the fourth board that also confirmed his IM title. He had got his first IM norm in 2009 and 3rd-and-last one in Bhubaneswar Grandmasters meet this year. 

Sayantan, who has all age group national titles in his kitty, garnered 7.5 points out of nine games in this 10-round event en route to the gold, while Diptayan clinched a silver in the third board with 8.5 points out of 10. Gagare (6/9) and Karthikeyan (6.5/10) won bronze in the first and second boards respectively. India had started the Olympiad as second seed and also scored an important win against the top seed Russians. (PTI)

Friday, July 19, 2013

Help Slovenia WIM Vesna Rožič


Appeal: 19.7.2013 (via Chessbase) - Vesna Rožic , 27, has played for her country in six Mitropa Cups, four European Championships and four Chess Olympiads. She is the second strongest Slovenian player, after world number four Anna Muzychuk. Now she has been struck by a very serious condition, metastatic peritoneal cancer. Always a fighter Vesna is determined not to give up but to combat the disease. For this she needs our help. 

Chessbase received this letter from Rožič's father:
Dear Sir,

I turn to you with a request for a donation for the cancer treatment of my 26-year-old daughter Vesna Rožič. Vesna is a final year student of the Faculty of Medicine and a permanent member of the Slovenian chess team. In May this year she became seriously ill. The doctors diagnosed metastatic peritoneal carcinoma. Since Vesna fighter by nature, she has decided that we shall all work together to combat the cancer.

Vesna's treatment was initiated in Slovenia, where she has already received two cycles of systemic chemotherapy. This is not enough to cure the disease. We contacted the Medias Klinikum GmbH, Burghausen, Germany, where Vesna will receive further treatment. Doctors estimate that it will require at least three cycles of local chemotherapy. Each cycle costs between 15,000 and 20,000 Euros. These treatment costs are very high. We are able to pay for the first cycle of local chemotherapy in Germany, but turn to you and ask you to help us collect donations to pay the remaining costs of Vesna's treatment.

Maybe I did not say everything I wanted at the moment, but my distress and the hardship in our family is so great that I cannot do any better.

Yours sincerely,
Adrijan Rožič

The Slovenia Chess Federation has asked Chessbase, on behalf of the Rožič family, to help raise funds needed for Vesna's difficult struggle for life. Every Euro that is donated will be appreciated.

Donations should be addressed to the Regional Association of the Red Cross Maribor, IBAN: SI56 0451 5000 0397 432, Ref: 50751, purpose: Vesna Rožic. All funds received will be reserved exclusively for the payment of expenses for Vesna's treatment in Germany. In the event that more funds than necessary will be raised the remaining money will be allocated to the development of young chess players and chess activities of the Slovenia Chess Federation. – Primoz Kokalj, Secretary of the Slovenian Chess Federation.

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