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

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Gibraltar Chess Begins - Watch Live 7.40 pm 70 GMs from 60 Countries!

The pairings for the start of the 2014 Masters Chess tournament which kicks off today at 3 pm local time (India time 7.40 pm) were drawn last night by Gibraltar’s Sport,Culture and Heritage Minister Steven Linares at the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Gibraltar Tradewise Chess Festival. Minister StevenLinares welcomed all the players to Gibraltar “those who have annually been coming to this tournament and to those who are here for the first time.”

Mr Linares once again pledged the Gibraltar Government’s commitment to the tournament which has grown annually over the past 12 years.

“It is a great pleasure to be part of the biggest tournament and event annually in Gibraltar,” he said.

“As it continues to grow the Government will continue to support it as it does others. But this tournament takes the biscuit. It is the biggest tournament the Government has ever been involved with,” he added.
 
Minister for Sports Culture, Heritage and Youth, The Hon. Steven Linares draws the black pieces, in round 1, for top seed GM Mickey Adams (left). Photos: Sophie Triay (and below) Cheer for India: Pentala Harikrishna, Tania Sachdev, Surya Sekhar Ganguly.
 


In a relaxed and friendly atmosphere Minister Linares told England’s No.1 and ranked 13th in the world GM Mickey Adams, “It’s black!”

Adams plays on the top board today against FM Emilio Miguel Sanchez Jerez from Spain. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave from France is paired with Peter Lombaers from the Netherlands. GM Vassily Ivanchuk from Ukraine is paired with IM Leon Lederman. GM Nikita Vitiugovfrom Russia is paired with IM Petter Haugli from Norway.

Hosting the night Director of the tournament, Stuart Conquest, spoke of the tournament’s many accomplishments over the years.

“This is a story of continued success,” he said which this year welcomes close to 70 Grandmasters from 60 nations.

The Live Commentary from the studio with Simon Williams and Irina Krush (Reigning women's USA Chess Champion). There are 252 chessplayers in the Gibraltar Masters this year with around 370 playing in all three tournaments. Sixty countries are being represented this year.
For all information, as well as live commentaries, Masterclasses, and interviews, the dedicated festival website, powered by Gibtelecom, is www.gibraltarchesscongress.com. The festival venue is the Caleta Hotel. The festival closes on Thursday, February 6th, with a banquet and prize-giving ceremony.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Gary Kasparov Press Conference in Wijk aan Zee Video (Updated)

Former world #chess champion Gary Kasparov and Fide election 2014 candidate addresses a press conference in Wijk aan Zee on the sidelines of the 76th Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014. New in Chess editor, Dutch sports journalist, Dirk Jan Ten Geuzendam conducts the press conference for the organisers.  


I believe I will be opening the (world chess championship 2014) match in November 2014 (as FIDE president) between Magnus Carlsen and the Khanty-Mansiysk Candidates winner: Gary Kasparov.

I am grateful for Magnus Carlsen being an inspiration for so many players: Kasparov on the 'end of draws'  





* NY Times article

* FIDE announcement in reference to the article

* FIDE letter to Ignatius Leong seeking resignation


Saturday, January 25, 2014

Tata Steel Chess: Aronian Leads; Harikrishna beats Nakamura


Second-highest rated Indian, Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna has clocked two straight wins in Rounds 8 and 9 beating Hikaru Nakamura and Arkadij Naiditsch. Meanwhile, Armenia's Levon Aronian - the world no. 2 - retains lead a full 1.5 points ahead of the rest of the field.
 
Gary Kasparov will open Round 10 in Wijk aan Zee on Saturday and also be in the commentary room. -- Official website
Earlier, in Round 4, the Indian Grandmaster drew with Loek van Wely. In Round 5 Harikrishna lost to Anish Giri and allowed Fabiano Caruana to escape with a draw in Round 6. Harikrishna lost to Richard Rapport in Round 7, but returned to pick up two straight wins in Round 8 and 9. 

World No. 2 Levon Aronian continues to lead the group and is set to win the title with only two rounds to go. 
 
 
 
 
The 76th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament is taking place January 10-26, 2014 in two groups (instead of the traditional three), with twelve players in each, instead of fourteen. Two rounds will be played in Amsterdam and Eindhoven. 

Standings after Round 9

1. Levon Aronian 7
2. Anish Giri
3. Fabiano Caruana
4. Leinier Dominguez
5. Sergey Karjaki all at 5.5
6. Pentala Harikrishna 
7. Wesley So both at 5.0
8. Loek van Wely 4.5
9. Richard Rapport
10. Hikaru Nakamura both at 3.5
11. Boris Gelfand 2.4
12. Arkadij Naiditsch 1.5

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Tata Steel Chess R3: Harikrishna in Joint Lead with win over Dominguez

India's second highest rated chess Grandmaster, Pentala Harikrishna is cruising along in joint lead at the 76th Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee with two points from three rounds. Tuesday was a rest day. The fourth round resumes on Wednesday and you can watch it Live at the official website.

Harikrishna has scored two very commendable draws versus World No. 2 Levon Aronian and World No. 11 Sergey Karjakin. In the first round, Levon Aronian said, "it was a strange game" and he did not feel that he could push his position too much. Both players agreed to a repetition of moves. 


In the second round, Sergey Karjakin and Pentala Harikrishna quickly reached a position in the Queen’s Gambit declined that looked highly drawish. Karjakin had the slightly better bishop but Harikrishna defended adequately for a draw.

For the third round, Pentala Harikrishna and Leinier Dominguez played out a Sicilian Najdorf. Neither player managed to obtain a clear advantage out of the opening. An endgame with both sides having rooks and opposite-coloured bishops was reached. Harikrishna later said: “His moves 27. …b6 and 32. …a5 were too committal and after that only I could play for a win.” Dominguez was left with a difficult defensive task and when Harikrishna pushed his passed d-pawn things got dangerous for Dominguez. When Harikrishna obtained a passed c-pawn as well it was only a matter of time before the Indian Grandmaster got his first win of the tournament.


Round 4 - Wednesday the 15thGiri, A. - So, W.
Gelfand, B. - Naiditsch, A.
Aronian, L. - Nakamura, H.
Karjakin, S. - Rapport, R.
Dominguez, L. - Caruana, F.
Van Wely, L. - Harikrishna, P





Schedule

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament has two main tournaments. They are played according to the 'round robin' system, whereby each competitor plays in turn against every other during the tournament. The Tata Steel Masters has 12 players and the Tata Steel Challengers has 14 players. Both groups start on January 11th 2014. All rounds in Wijk aan Zee begin at 13.30 hours, except for the last round on January 26th, which begins at 12.00 hours. The two rounds in Amsterdam and Eindhoven start at 14:00 hours.
Time control

The time control is: 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from the first move. (With inputs via official website)



Saturday, January 11, 2014

Tata Steel Chess R1: Watch Live Harikrishna begins vs Levon Aronian

76th Tata Steel Chess 2014: Talented Indian (No. 2) chess Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna (World No. 42/Live 31) takes on World No. 2 Levon Aronian in the first round of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014 on Saturday. 

The 76th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament takes place January 11-26, 2014 in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian won the Tata Steel Chess in 2012. Harikrishna himself, as a debutant in A group of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in January 2013 Harikrishna finished in the first half (7th place) and reached an elo rating of over 2700.

Watch the games live at the official website.

Participants of Tata Steel MastersNameCountryRating World Ranking
GM Aronian, Levon ARM 2812 2
GM Nakamura, Hikaru USA 2789 3
GM Caruana, Fabiano ITA 2782 6
GM Gelfand, Boris ISR 2777 8
GM Karjakin, Sergey RUS 2759 10
GM Dominguez, Leinier CUB 2754 14
GM Giri, Anish NED 2734 19
GM So, Wesley PHL 2719 28
GM Naiditsch, Arkadij GER 2718 29
GM Harikrishna, Pentala IND 2706 42
GM Rapport, Richard HUN 2691 56
GM Van Wely, Loek NED 2672 77
Average rating : 2743
Category : 20
FIDE-ratings of January 2014


Participants of Tata Steel Challengers
NameCountryRating
GM Wojtaszek, Radek POL 2711

GM Jobava, Baadur GEO 2710 
GM Yu, Yangyi CHN 2677 
GM Saric, Ivan CRO 2637 
GM Timman, Jan NED 2607 
GM Brunello, Sabino ITA 2602 
GM Reinderman, Dimitri NED 2593 
GM Zhao, Xue CHN 2567 
GM Muzychuk, Anna SLO 2566 
IM Bok, Benjamin NED 2560 
GM Duda, Jan-Krzysztof POL 2553 
IM Troff, Kayden USA 2457 
IM Goudriaan, Etienne NED 2431 
IM Van Delft, Merijn NED 2430 
Average rating : 2579
Category : 14
FIDE-ratings of January 2014

On Friday, the opening ceremony took place with an interesting theatrical presentation based on 'The Night Watch'. 
Photo: Opening ceremony theatrical presentation/official website
(More photos and report at www.chessvibes.com)

 -- Team Black and White

Thursday, January 9, 2014

World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen at CES Las Vegas (Updated)

(The event update available now at partner chess site) World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen spent a whole afternoon signing autographs at CES in Las Vegas - to be precise at Booth MP25277 of Norwegian exhibitors, Nordic Semiconductor. You can find some great photographs on the Nordic Semiconductor Facebook Page. Needless to add, there was a huge crowd at the booth as Magnus Carlsen got down to some 'hard work' signing chess boards and wowing fans.


World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen signing autographs at CES Las Vegas at sponsor Nordic Semiconductor's booth. Photo: Nordic Semi

On Thursday afternoon, the very talented World Chess Champion will play a simul against 20 opponents in an auditorium. Magnus Carlsen, and his opponents, will all be hooked to a special wireless pulse gauge that uses Bluetooth Low Energy chips, says Managing Director, Nordic Semiconductor, Svein Tore Larsen.
Nordic Semiconductor is an industry leader in ultra low-power wireless devices. With a world-class mixed-signal R&D team Nordic develops innovative ground-breaking devices for Bluetooth low energy, ANT and 2.4GHz proprietary markets. The ARM Cortex M-series lie at the core of Nordic's highly flexible, ultra low-power wireless SoC solutions.

Ultra-low power (ULP) wireless sensors that are small enough to be worn on the body are transforming the sports & fitness world by making it easy to track and log training data – such as heart-rate, speed, and distance – and share the results on-line with others. This benefits everyone from elite athletes seeking to fine-tune their training regimes to those who simply want to get fit and stay motivated by seeing the results of their hard work.

Typical products in this segment are:Wearable sensors
Heart-rate belts
Speed-distance foot pods
GPS pods
Pedometers
Activity sensors
Bike cadence sensors
Bike speed sensors
Bike power sensors
Weight scales

The International CES is the world’s largest tradeshow for consumer technology and America’s largest annual tradeshow of any kind. With more than four decades of success, the International CES reaches across global markets, connects the “who’s who” of the industry and enables consumer electronics (CE) innovations to grow and thrive.

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