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

Monday, September 23, 2013

World Junior Chess Round 9: Alexander Ipatov Leads, Sahaj Grover Joint 4th

Grandmaster Sahaj Grover provided the silver lining on a sluggish day for the Indian boys as he held top seed Yu Yangyi to a draw in the ninth round of the World Junior Chess Championship here in the ninth round.

Kocaeli: With the championship approaching its business end, the Indian boys were in for a rude shock as only Debashish Das could score a full point. Despite a good result, Grover slipped to joint fourth with 6.5 points.

Alexander Ipatov (photo) made the most of his chances against Indian GM Vidit Gujrathi and shot into sole lead on eight points out of a possible nine. For the records, this was Ipatov’s fifth victory against an Indian in the championship in as many matches.

For the first time in the event, Yu Yangyi slumped to second on 7.5 points while Jorge Cori of Peru elevated himself to third position on seven points.

With four rounds to come, Grover shares the fourth spot with Samvel Ter-Sahakyan of Armenia, Duda Jan-Krzysztof of Poland and Aleksander Indjic of Serbia, who all have 6.5 points apiece.

Among Indian boys, S.P. Sethuraman was held to a draw by compatriot N. Srinath in a keenly-contested game wherein the former could not make much use of an extra pawn for a long time as Srinath hung in to force a liquidation into a level queen and pawns endgame.

Das defeated lower-rated Jinshi Bai to move to six points, a position he shares with Srinath, Gujrathi and Sethuraman.

Grover did not get many chances out of a Nimzo Indian against Yangyi, who came with a new idea, forcing the Indian to spend a lot of time in the opening.

Grover found the way to equality without much ado and the players arrived at a rook and opposite colour Bishops endgame that was just level. --PTI

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Women's World Chess Champion Hou Yifan: Not Sure if I Defend Title in 2014

China's 19-year-old Hou Yifan has won the World Chess Championship for the third time. She told Anastasiya Karlovich, in an interview that: “This match was not as easy as people might think.” (Left: Hou Yifan, Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich)


The interview taken by Anastasiya Karlovich on the day after the decisive 7th game of the Women’s World Championship Match in which Yifan beat reigning Women's World Chess Champion Anna Ushenina of Ukraine, the 19-year-old World Champion talks about her preparation, her opponent Anna Ushenina, the match and her attitude towards chess and life. 

When I saw you in Beijing in July during Grand Prix tournament it seemed you were not really busy with preparation for the Match. Was it just my impression?
Actually I started my preparation few days after I came back from Tromso. In total it lasted less than one month. The only difference in my preparation was that I knew my opponent and it was a bit more specific. We didn’t have much time, so we worked on some basic things, some openings. 

There is an opinion you don’t really try to outplay your opponent in opening. Do you try to prove you are better in middle game and endgame, same way as Magnus Carlsen does?
Carlsen is famous for being very powerful and much stronger than most of the players in the world in the middle game and endgame. I’m not such a high level player. I believe openings are important but for me it’s also not the most important part of the game, it’s only the first stage and then we have two more.

What do you think about your opponent?
I think she is a strong player. We’ve played several games in the past but for few years we didn’t play at all. I thought if she managed to win the World Championship in knockout it means she is a fighter, she cannot be weak. 

After few years break you had a chance to play against Anna during Women Grand Prix in Geneva and you lost that game. What did you feel after? Did you make any conclusions?
At that tournament I lost not only against her, I also lost to some other players. The most important thing was my bad performance, I was not in a good shape and played just terrible. This game didn’t change my attitude to match, in any case I was going to prepare seriously as I try to do before any official event. Anybody who plays not only for fun should pay attention to preparation. 

How can you explain your results during the last year? Was it in some way connected with the forthcoming match?
I was not in a good shape for a long period. I don’t really know the reason but I thought it was normal in sense that in one moment it was supposed to happen. You cannot always play good and show great results. It also could happen here but what can you do about it, except trying to do your best to get ready for the tournament. I cannot also say that I put too much attention to the match and I didn’t care about other tournaments. No, my results were not connected with the match. In 2011 I showed good results before the match with Koneru, so I think I just had a bad period. 

Did your results during the last year influence your self-belief?
I’m not the person who cares so much about the results, even I take chess seriously. 

Was this period connected with changes in your life? As I know, you started to study in the university.
Yes, I cannot take so much attention to chess as I did before because I have to study as normal student. The only advantage I have is an opportunity not to attend lessons when I participate in the tournaments but I still have to study myself if I miss something. Also it depends on professors, if the person is quite strict and pedantic so I cannot miss a lot. 

What did it mean for you to play in Taizhou? What do you think about conditions? Is it important to play on “your field” as in football?
In fact, Taizhou is not my native city. I was born in Xinghua, it’s one hour by car from here. Xinghua has at least 1 million inhabitants and many of my relatives still live there. 
South of China is not so polluted; there is a fresh air here, better food, vegetables. Of course, while playing here I didn’t need to change my schedule due to time difference and food was okay for me but in general I think the organization was more or less the same as for any other chess event.

What was your reaction when you learnt that Korobov and Khalifman were going to help Anna Ushenina during the match?
At first when I saw her team I said as many other people did: “Wow! Her team is so strong and so powerful!” I thought at that moment: “Maybe I should be more serious about it? Maybe I should do something different?” (smiles) But then after Tromso I just decided to hire a second by myself to help me preparing.

Did you expect the match to finish so quickly?
Well, I was expecting any situation. I expected it would be difficult, or I would have some difficult moments. 

Can you tell which difficult moments did you face during the match?
The first game was very complicated and the fifth game also.

You believed Ushenina’s team was strong. Why did you repeat Keres Attack in the 5th game? Wasn’t it a bit risky?
It was just reasonable, so I repeated. How can you know that some other surprises are not waiting for you in other variations, other openings? (smiles)

How did it happen that Anna lost three games with white pieces? Do you think it was because of wrong opening choices?
In first two games there was Nimzo-Indian, my main weapon with Black. She didn’t lose those games because of openings. It happened later. I can only say that in the third game there was an obvious mistake made by her. 

Are you satisfied with the level of play you showed here?
It’s okay for me but not perfect. I didn’t make big mistakes, I didn’t blunder but I also didn’t play precisely sometimes. I had worse positions in the games I’ve mentioned and I think it was because of my inaccurate play.

You had already won two matches – one in Tirana against Humpy Koneru and another one just one day ago. How can you compare them?
I felt happy two years ago and I feel happy today because in general I’m glad to win such important tournaments. The match in Tirana was more difficult for me. Last time the first half of the match I had worse and difficult positions and I tried hard to fight back. This time it was more one-sided. At the same time this match was not as easy as people might think, judging only from the outcome. In Tirana I faced more problems in the openings comparing to this match but it’s hard to say if I was better prepared in the openings for this match or not. 

You had health problems in Tirana. Have you ever had that unknown pain in stomach again?
Sometimes I get sick during the tournaments. During this match I felt okay, but I had problems just few days before the start and had to take some medicines for 4-5 days. 

Who was helping you this time?
I didn’t have a team this time and as I mentioned before that I only hired a second short time before the match started. Also you may know that GM Ye Jiangchuan is our Chinese team’s chief coach, so when he had time he also helped me a bit but most of the time he had many other jobs to do besides preparing. That’s why finally I decided to hire a second by myself. And a lot of friends all around the World were helping me whether with advises in chess or just support. They were cheering me up and I feel very grateful. I really appreciate their help! 

How do you mentally prepare yourself for the games and for the match?
Of course, I considered this match as a very important event but it’s not the most important thing in my life. For me it’s more important to be healthy, to be happy person in my daily life. I will try to explain you another way. Health and happiness means number “1” for me. Achievements, victories are “zeros”. So I would add those zeros to number “1”. The total number of my day can be 10, 1000, 10000 but without number “1” it’s nothing. I think my attitude helped me to enjoy the match and feel good. I try not to make a tragedy if I lose a game. Until the match is not over I would just focus on following games. In general when you win it doesn’t mean something crazy, if you lose it’s not the end of the world. 

But what if you lose this match?
Yes, I thought about it before the match and for me both cases were acceptable. 
I know many people contributed to organize this match, I appreciate the help of the government and the organizers, but still all results were possible. I was just trying to do my best and to be optimistic.

What does this title means for you? How is it important for you to get it back after nine and half months?
I’m happy to get the title of the Women’s World Champion back. Last year my results were not so good and I hope it’s a signal that I started to recover. 

Do you feel you are the strongest player among women?
No, I don’t. There is no obvious difference in level between me and other players. There are many strong players who have rating over 2500 and with some of them I have a plus, with others balanced results. At the same time I don’t have an opponent among women I have difficulties to play against. 

Does it bother you that you can lose your title in the next World Championship with knockout system like it happened to you in Khanty-Mansiysk?
I have no idea if I’m going to play there or not, I don’t have clear schedule for the next year. You may know that I didn’t really want to participate in the World Championship but had to go to play because of other reasons in the end. I don’t have clear idea which system should be used in women’s chess but we can compare it with the system in men’s chess. I believe the organization of whole cycle in men chess is more reasonable, fairer. I would be glad if FIDE makes the same system for women chess. 

You are young, beautiful and the World Champion! How can you describe your life at the moment?
It’s still long way to go and I have many years ahead to do almost everything I want. It’s time to observe the new things in chess, in studies, in other parts of life. I just want to expand my life. Life is wonderful!

World Junior Chess Round 8: Alexander Ipatov, Yu Yangyi Lead

Kocaeli: Grandmaster Sahaj Grover (left) played out a draw with Iranian Pouya Idani, while Vidit Gujrathi defeated Polish Marcel Kanarek to be joint third after the eighth round of the World Junior Chess Championship here.

On what turned out to be a mixed day for the Indian boys, Gujrathi was at his technical best to squeeze out a victory with black pieces. The middle game arising out of a Taimanov Sicilian was about equal and Gujrathi reached a queen and minor piece endgame where he began perfect deployment of forces to win a pawn.

Kanarek went looking for counter-play but ended up losing his queen in a tactical melee. Grover fell short of time when he needed it the most in another Sicilian Taimanov of the day.

Pouya Idani was quick to spot a tactical stroke after suffering for the major part of the game and Grover could not find the right path to exert pressure with his clock ticking away. The result was a draw after Grover suffered some material deficit.
S.P. Sethuraman could not match the guile of defending champion Alexander Ipatov of Turkey and lost from a position of strength.

It was a promising middle game for the Indian out of a Queen’s gambit declined but Ipatov stayed focused to pose problems for white. As it happened, Sethuraman missed the thread of the position and lost a piece and it was soon all over.

Debashish Das was the other Indian who lost from a drawn position against Vladislav Kovalev Belarus.

Yu Yangyi of China shares the lead with Ipatov on seven points and these two are now a point clear of nearest rivals, Grover, Gujrathi, Idani, Kovalev and Jorge Cori of Peru who drew with Yangyi in the eighth round.

In the girls’ championship being held simultaneously, Padmini Rout showcased her attacking skills to outwit erstwhile leader Aulia Warda Media of Indonesia. It was a French Winawer by Padmini as white that led to complexities favouring her.

G.K. Monisha’s prospects of a norm suffered a setback when she lost to Lanita Stetsko of Belarus and the Indian will have to win a few games to come back in contention.

Among other Indians in the fray, Ivana Maria Furtado also suffered a setback while Shristi Shetty and Anjana Krishna also lost their games. Riya Sawant and J. Saranya won while Rucha Pujari was held to a draw.

Irina Bulmaga of Romania and Alina Kashlinskaya of Russia share the lead in this section on 6.5 points each. Padmini Rout shares the third spot with three others on six points. --PTI

Prakash Nepal Wins Prem Bahadur Thapa Magar Chess in Kathmandu

Kathmandu, Sept 21: Prakash Nepal (left) of Jhapa has won the Prem Bahadur Thapa Magar Memorial Second National Chess Championship held in Hetauda. Nepal totalled seven points in eight rounds to stand clear first.

Nepal beat Balaram Sanjel of Makawanpur in the final round to earn the title and Rs 15,000. He also earned direct qualification for the Nepal chess entry for the Asian Amateur Championship to be held in Saudi Arabia in November and the World Amateur Championship scheduled to be held in Singapore in April, 2014.

Purushottam Chaulagain of Standard Chartered finished second with 6.5 points. He beat Bivek Thing of Times International College in the last round. Suman Shrestha of Dhankuta was third on tie-break ahead of Suraj Pandit of Kathmandu. Shrestha and Pandit received Rs 7,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively. Shrestha beat Herakaji Maharjan of Lalitpur in the last round and Pandit beat Rajan Subedi of Damak, Jhapa.

Subedi, Rahul Chau Pradhan of Kavre and Nabin Kumar Chaudhary of Saptari were 5th-7th with 5.5 points each. Bivek Thing, Balaram Sanjel and Sundar Karki of Makawanpur finished 8th-10th. Each won Rs 2,000 each.

The event organised by Makawanpur District Chess Association was officiated by Gyanendra Khaiju, the first international arbiter from Nepal. -- B&W Chess News Desk

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Tashkent Women's Chess Grand Prix: Koneru Humpy Leads with All Wins

Indian women's chess stars Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli are leading the table at the Tashkent Women's Chess Grand Prix after three rounds. While top seed Humpy is in first place with three wins for a perfect score, Harika is right behind in second place with 2.5 points.

Koneru Humpy

The Tashkent Women's Grand Prix is currently being held in Uzbekistan from September 17th - October 1st. The tournament is part of the Women's World Championship cycle 2013-14 that will determine the next challenger for the world title. The 12-player round robin is based on the time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, with 30 minutes being added at that point and an additional 30 seconds per move through the entire game.

All the girls in Tashkent

Koneru Humpy, a former World Championship Challenger, beat Ju Wenjun, Elina Danielian and Alexandra Kosteniuk in the first three rounds for a perfect score. Harika, on her part, Bela Khotenashvili, drew with Guliskhan Nakhbayeva and beat Olga Girya. 

On Saturday, the Indian chess girls' pairing are:
GM Koneru Humpy 2607 vs GM Lagno Kateryna 2532
WGM Ju Wenjun 2535 vs GM Dronavalli Harika 2475


Harika and Girya

You can watch the games live at the official website every day including boards with analysis and live video feed.

Rank after round 3
1 GM Koneru Humpy 2607 IND 3 
2 GM Dronavalli Harika 2475 IND 2.5 
3 IM Khotenashvili Bela 2514 GEO 2 
4 GM Zhao Xue 2579 CHN 2 
5 GM Lagno Kateryna 2532 UKR 2 
6 WGM Ju Wenjun 2535 CHN 1.5 
7 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2496 BUL 1.5 
8 WGM Muminova Nafisa 2293 UZB 1 
9 WGM Girya Olga 2439 RUS 1 
10 WGM Nakhbayeva Guliskhan 2307 KAZ 0.5 
11 GM Danielian Elina 2470 ARM 0.5 
12 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2495 RUS 0.5 

The opening ceremony of the third leg of FIDE Women Grand Prix Series 2013-2014 took place at the beautiful Gallery of Fine Art on the 17th of September. The event was attended by special guests including FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the Minister of Culture and Sports of Uzbekistan Minhozhiddin Hozhimatov, the First Deputy Minister of Sports of Uzbekistan Zhasur Akramov, the Head of the Administration of Sports Rashid Talipov, the Head of the Administration of Olympic reserve Kamil Bayazitov, the Head of The State Committee for Communication, Informatization and Telecommunication Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan Hurshid Mirzahidov and others. 

The Chairperson of Fund Forum's Board of Trustees Gulnara Karimova couldn't be present at the ceremony but passed her warmest welcome for the participants and expressed the hope to the future of the Fund Forum's cooperation with the World Chess Federation.

GM Viktorija Cmilyte was replaced for the current Grand Prix with WGM Guliskhan Nakhbayeba of Kazakhstan. Two stages of the Women's Chess Grand Prix 2013-2014 Series, out of six, have been played so far. 

GM Anna Muzichuk is currently leading the Chess Grand Prix score with 250 points, GM Nana Dzagnidze is in second place with 220, and third is GM Tatiana Kosintseva, who has replaced her sister Nadezhda for the entire Grand Prix Series, with 190. All could change after the Tashkent Chess Grand Prix!

Friday, September 20, 2013

World Junior Chess Round 7

Kocaeli: Indian Grandmaster S P Sethuraman came back into the reckoning for top honours after defeating Duda Jan-Krzysztof of Poland in the seventh round of World Junior Chess Championship.
After losing the sixth round against Yu Yangyi (photo left) of China, Sethuraman needed to win to stay in contention and he did that in style with white pieces to take his tally to 5.5 points.

Playing the white side of a Queen pawn game, Sethuraman got the initial advantage and he capitalised on it well to win a pawn by force in the middle game. Jan-Krzysztof, however, came up with some real resistance and it was only in the nick of time that Sethuraman found a brilliant queen sacrifice to march to glory.

Yu Yangyi of China, meanwhile, stayed ahead of the rest with another fine performance against Russian Urii Eleseev. The Chinese took his tally to a commanding 6.5 points out of a possible seven and stayed a half point clear of defending champion and local hero Alexander Ipatov.

Indian Grandmaster Sahaj Grover and Sethuraman share a four-way tie for the third spot along with Jorge Cori of Peru and Idani Pouya of Iran with six rounds still to go in the premier event for under-20 players in the world.

Grandmaster Vidit Gujarathi also scored a comeback victory over Turkey's Dastan Muhammed Batuhan while, after initial hiccups, Asian junior champion N Srinath played a fine game to cruise past Martin Romero Martinex of Colombia. Both Gujrathi and Srinath have five points apiece.

Among other Indians in the fray, S L Narayanan moved to four points, Sameer Kathmale secured 3.5 after a draw while Rakesh Kulkarni took his tally to three points with his second victory.

Padmini Rout defeated G K Monnisha to reach five points in the girls' championship being played simultaneously. Irina Bulmaga of Romania defeated overnight leader Aulia Warda Melina of Indonesia to emerge as the new sole leader on six points from seven games in this section.

It was a mixed day for the Indian girls as Rucha Pujari met her nemesis in Zhansaya Abdumalik of Uzbekistan while Ivana Maria Furtado was held to a draw by Aisa Imeeva of Russia. J Saranya also ended on the losing side while Anjana Krishna and Riya Sawant won their games.

Important and Indian Results of Round 7 Open (Indians unless stated): Urii Eliseev (Rus, 5) lost to Yu Yangyi (Chn, 6.5); Alexander Ipatov (Tur, 6) beat Debashis Das (5); Vladislav Kovalev (Blr, 5) drew with Sahaj Grover (5.5); Andry Stukopin (Rus, 4.5) lost t Jorge Cori (Per, 5.5); S P Sethuraman (5.5) beat Duda Jan-Krzysztof (Pol, 4.5); Aleksandar Indjic (Srb, 4.5) lost to Idani Pouya (Iri, 5.5); Vidit Gujrathi (5) beat Dastan Muhammed Batuhan (Tur, 4); Martin Romero Martinez (Col, 4) lost to N Srinath (5); S L Narayanan (4) beat Carneiro Vitor Roberto Castro (Bra, 3); Sameer Kathmale (3.5) drew with Diyap Buyukasik (Tur, 3.5); Yargici Mazhar Kutay (Tur, 2) lost to Rakesh Kulkarni (2).

Girls: Aulia Warda Medina (Ina, 5.5) lost to Irina Bulmaga (Rou, 6); Wang Jue (Chn, 4.5) lost to Alina Kashlinskaya (Rus, 5.5); Deysi Cori (Per, 5.5) beat Zhai Mo (Chn, 4.5); Dinara Saduakassova (Kaz, 4.5) lost to Meri Arabidze (Geo, 5.5); Padmini Rout (5) beat G K Monnisha (4); Zhansaya Abdumalik (Uzb, 5) beat Pujari Rucha (4); J Saranya (3.5) lost to Xiao Yiyi (Chn, 4.5); Ivana Maria Furtado (4) drew with Aisa Imeeva (Rus, 4); Anjana Krishna (3.5) beat Barbara Racki (Cro, 2.5); Gulay Ayca Nuriye (Tur, 2) lost to Riya Savant (3). -- PTI

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