About Chess

Kasparov Rules Out Comeback

2010-02-08T12:49:00Z

In a recent interview over at ChessBase, former World Champion Garry Kasparov ruled out the possibility of a serious comeback to chess, saying that his life is now on a different path. However, he does feel connected to the world of chess through Magnus Carlsen, and mentioned feeling the same sense of nervousness and tension again when following the games of his young protege.

Kasparov also covered a wide range of other topics, including his past in chess, his role in Russian politics, and his feelings on Chess960. He had an interesting idea when it comes to Fischer Random Chess: pick a position every year that will be played for that year's "season," allow some theory to build up to give some structure to the games but less than we see in standard chess, and then switch to a new position the next year. It would certainly spice things up, though it would take a lot more discussion before becoming a viable idea.

Speaking of comebacks, I had recently discussed with a friend how well Kasparov would do in a comeback. Actually, it would be impossible for us to know how strong a player he is now; we wondered how his chances would be perceived by the viewing public. In the final part of the interview, Kasparov addresses this somewhat, saying that if he had a few months to prepare seriously, he'd be able to compete with anyone in rapid chess, though he's less certain of where he would stand in classical games.

Where do you think Kasparov would find himself if he were to make a hypothetical comeback to the world of competitive chess?

Kasparov Rules Out Comeback originally appeared on About.com Chess on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 12:49:00.

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Carlsen Hangs On For Corus Title

2010-01-31T16:41:15Z

It wasn't pretty, but Magnus Carlsen added another notch to his belt by hanging on to win the Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Carlsen found himself in a difficult (perhaps even losing) position against Fabiano Caruana in the final round, but Caruana couldn't find a way to win, allowing Carlsen to draw. Combined with draws by Vladimir Kramnik and Alexei Shirov, Carlsen's 8.5/13 score left him a half-point ahead of his nearest competitors.

The only decisive game in the final round came from Hikaru Nakamura, who scored a victory over Sergey Tiviakov to claim a share of 4th place. Along with Viswanathan Anand, Nakamura finished a point behind Carlsen.

In the lower groups, there was less drama in the final round. Anish Giri drew to take first place in Group B with a 9/13 score, a half-point ahead of German grandmaster Arkadij Naiditsch. This victory earns Giri a spot in next year's A Group. In Group C, Li Chao finished 1.5 points ahead of the field with an impressive 10/13 score, coasting to first place. American Ray Robson, who led earlier in the event, finished in a tie for 5th. Robson did well against the bottom half of the field, but had no success at all against the leaders, losing all four of his games against the top four players in the group.

Overall, Corus was a successful tournament for the winner Carlsen, despite a few rocky points and a bit of luck in the final round. Some might have expected an even bigger score, but the world's #1-rated player still outperformed his rating, and it's hard to fault a 2800 player who does that. The other big winner in Wijk aan Zee may have been Hikaru Nakamura, who showed that he can compete at the elite level with a solid +2 score. That might be enough to start securing Nakamura more invitations to top-level events -- something American fans would be very thankful for.

Carlsen Hangs On For Corus Title originally appeared on About.com Chess on Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at 16:41:15.

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Kramnik Beats Carlsen, Joins Shirov in First

2010-01-26T16:31:41Z

After a slow start, Vladimir Kramnik has crawled back to join Alexei Shirov in first place at the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee with a 6.5/9 score. Kramnik culminated his comeback by repaying Carlsen -- who beat Kramnik with the black pieces in London last month -- with a thrilling win from the black side in round nine. Carlsen had joked on Facebook that he would "crush Kramnik like a bug,", which in most other sports would be considered "bulletin board material." Somehow, I doubt Kramnik gained extra motivation from a status update, but it did add a little buzz to the game.

Carlsen's loss leaves him in a tie for third with Sergey Karjakin, who defeated Hikaru Nakamura to move up to 5.5/9. Nakamura has now lost two consecutive games, but still shares fifth place, a half-point behind Carlsen and Karjakin.

In the other groups, the battle for the top is also tight. Anish Giri retook the lead in Group B by defeating Pentala Harikrishna earlier today. Giri stands a half-point ahead of Erwin L'Ami and Ni Hua. Group C also saw a changing of the guard, as Li Chao defeating Ray Robson to overtake the young American by a half-point. Robson now shares second place with Daniele Vocaturo and Robin Swinkles.

Round ten begins Wednesday morning, with Sergey Karjakin facing Magnus Carlsen in a potentially must-win game for both players if they want to stay in the race for first place, while Viswanathan Anand takes on Alexei Shirov and Vladimir Kramnik faces Vassily Ivanchuk.

Kramnik Beats Carlsen, Joins Shirov in First originally appeared on About.com Chess on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 16:31:41.

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New US Championship Format Promises Exciting Finish

2010-01-24T19:40:17Z

The 2010 US Chess Championship will debut a new format, but continue to use most of the structure from last year's event, as well as keeping the same venue: the beautiful Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. The tournament is still a 24-player Swiss system event. The biggest change will be seen at the tail end of the tournament, where a unique idea will be tried for (I believe) the first time.

The idea is similar to one I recall hearing Greg Shahade propose last year -- not surprising, since he is the rules adviser to the event -- in which the first seven rounds would be played as normal, but the restriction on playing the same person twice would be eliminated for the final two rounds, allowing for dramatic clashes between the leaders even if they previously met in the tournament. This year's US Championship will use a refined version of this idea; after the first seven rounds of a normal Swiss tournament, the top four players will carry their scores over into a round-robin quad, with the player with the highest combined score at the end of the quad taking the title. Players who do not make the "final four" will also play two additional rounds to round out a 9-round event for them.

I like the idea, if only because it guarantees important chess games being played on the final days of the event without making the first seven rounds of the tournament meaningless. A player that enters the final with a full-point lead over the field will have a significant advantage, but not an insurmountable one. Even the fourth place player will have a chance to beat his competitors head-to-head to make up ground if they can get hot at the right time.

Full details can be found on the USCF website. Other changes include a larger prize pool, which has risen to over $170,000 in 2010, including $35,000 for first place.

New US Championship Format Promises Exciting Finish originally appeared on About.com Chess on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 at 19:40:17.

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Fire On Board: Shirov 4/4 at Corus

2010-01-20T13:46:42Z

Talk about a hot start: Alexei Shirov is a perfect 4/4 in Wijk aan Zee, giving him a full point edge over the field at the Corus tournament. Shirov got opponent Jan Smeets into a mess of time trouble that Smeets could not work himself out of, and after a blunder on move 33, the game was soon over. There's a three-man chase group lined up a point behind Shirov, waiting for the leader to falter. Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Vassily Ivanchuk all have three points, with Carlsen and Nakamura set to face off in round five. Shirov has Black against Loek Van Wely in the next round, which will be play on Thursday after today's rest day. In both lower groups, a pair of co-leaders have emerged. In a tightly packed Group B, Ni Hua and Anish Giri share the lead with 3/4 scores after drawing their round four encounter. Ray Robson remains atop the Group C standings at 3.5/4, but has been joined by Li Chao. The two stand a full point ahead of the field, and will not face each other until the 9th round. Shirov, while certainly not someone that any opponent would take lightly, had fallen out of the spotlight in recent years before winning the 2009 MTel Masters. While he's not currently in the top ten of the FIDE rating list, another major tournament victory in under a year would make Shirov one of the names to watch in 2010. There's still nine more rounds to play though, and Shirov has yet to play any of his key games against the tournament favorites like Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik or Viswanathan Anand. Still, such a hot start has to make him the odds on favorite -- at least, until someone makes a move to catch him.

Fire On Board: Shirov 4/4 at Corus originally appeared on About.com Chess on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 at 13:46:42.

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Shirov Grabs Early Corus Lead

2010-01-17T22:51:42Z

Alexei Shirov won his first two games -- over Peter Leko and Fabiano Caruana -- to post the only 2/2 score and take an early lead at the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Shirov is followed by Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen, each of whom won their second round games (against Loek Van Wely and Jan Smeets, respectively) to move up to 1.5 points. Nobody else has a plus score, though most of the field is sitting on one point at the moment. Monday's third round will see all three of the leaders taking the Black pieces. Of course, with 11 more rounds to play, it's much too early to make predictions as to how the tournament will turn out, though Shirov appears to be in good form and will likely stay in or near the lead until (unless?) he loses a game.

It's easy to forget, but one of the great things about the Corus tournament is the large amount of chess we get to see over the two weeks or so of the tournament. Not only are the biggest names in chess matching wits in the "A" tournament, there are also "B" and "C" groups, each of which feature strong fields -- in fact, the B Group features 13 GMs, while the C Group has 7 more.

Both of these groups have also had a single player shoot out to an early 2/2 to take the lead. In the B Group, Anish Giri has jumped out to the fast start, while American fans will be happy to know that Ray Robson has taken the C Group lead. The results in these sections have added importance, since the winner of each group traditionally gets an invitation to play up a group next year; this is how Fabiano Caruana earned his A Group invitation for 2010. Because of the large fields and the multiple group format, Wijk aan Zee has been the home for breakout performances by many players, including Magnus Carlsen, who came to worldwide attention when he won the C Group in 2004, earning his first grandmaster norm.

More coverage is available at the official tournament site, and I'll be posting updates throughout!

Shirov Grabs Early Corus Lead originally appeared on About.com Chess on Sunday, January 17th, 2010 at 22:51:42.

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Russia Wins Team Title

2010-01-14T13:50:52Z

The United States made a good run at first, but in the end, Russia was able to hold on and take first at the World Team Championships. Russia finished with a +7 -1 =1 match record, finishing just ahead of the US and India, who each finished with +6 -2 =1 marks. The Americans took second on tiebreaks.

The key moment occurred in round eight, when the American team lost to Armenia while Russia trounced Egypt to retake the lead. After that, Russia was able to clinch victory in the final round by defeating Israel 3-1; the United States drew with Azerbaijan to hold onto second, while India took a 3.5-0.5 victory over Brazil to leap past Armenia and Azerbaijan for the bronze.

The American team may not have finished first, but they did have the most impressive performances on the top boards. Hikaru Nakamura had the best performance on board one, scoring 6/8 for a 2851 performance rating. Alexander Onischuk was the top board two player, with a 6.5/9 score and a 2809 performance. The overall top performance, however, came on board four, where Azerbaijani GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov scored an incredible 8/9 to put up a 2950 performance.

Overall, it was a good result for the American team, especially at the top, where both Nakamura and Onischuk showed that they could hang with elite competition. Nakamura will be in action again this weekend, when the annual Corus tournament begins in Wijk aan Zee. Two other Americans who played on the team will also be participating at Corus: Varuzhan Akobian will take part in the B Group, while Ray Robson will compete in the C Group.

Russia Wins Team Title originally appeared on About.com Chess on Thursday, January 14th, 2010 at 13:50:52.

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United States and Russia Lead World Team Championship

2010-01-10T21:35:55Z

The United States and Russia have both posted impressive 5-1 records to share the lead at the 2010 World Team Championships, taking place in Turkey. Despite the broken English, the official site has all the important information on the tournament. There's also a four way tie for third place between rivals Armenia and Azerbaijan, along with India and Israel.

The US team -- made up of Nakamura, Alexander Onischuk, Yuri Shulman, Varuzhan Akobian and alternates Robert Hess and Ray Robson -- lost their head-to-head match with the Russians, but got some help from the Greek team, who beat the Russians in the second round to give both leading teams a match loss.

Perhaps the story of the tournament so far has been the sensational win by Hikaru Nakamura over Israel's Boris Gelfand. Nakamura took the black side of a King's Indian and left his queen en prise for several moves in route to a big win. I've posted the moves from the game below, but that doesn't do the game justice; I recommend looking at analysis by Malcolm Pein over at This Week in Chess. The tournament continues Monday with the United States taking on Greece, while Russia competes against Armenia.

White: Boris Gelfand
Black: Hikaru Nakamura

2009 World Team Championships (Round 5)

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5
Ne7 9. Nd2 Ne8 10. b4 f5 11. c5 Nf6 12. f3 f4 13. Nc4 g5 14. a4 Ng6 15. Ba3 Rf7
16. b5 dxc5 17. Bxc5 h5 18. a5 g4 19. b6 g3 20. Kh1 Bf8 21. d6 axb6 22. Bg1 Nh4
23. Re1 Nxg2 24. dxc7 Nxe1 25. Qxe1 g2+ 26. Kxg2 Rg7+ 27. Kh1 Bh3 28. Bf1 Qd3
29. Nxe5 Bxf1 30. Qxf1 Qxc3 31. Rc1 Qxe5 32. c8=Q Rxc8 33. Rxc8 Qe6 0-1

United States and Russia Lead World Team Championship originally appeared on About.com Chess on Sunday, January 10th, 2010 at 21:35:55.

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A Name From the Past: Shahade Interviews Jeff Sarwer

2010-01-09T18:35:51Z

While Josh Waitzkin is probably the most famous chess prodigy of the 1980s (thanks in large part to the tremendous book written by Fred Waitzkin, Searching for Bobby Fischer, and the movie based on it), there was another young player who may have made even bigger waves at the same time. Jeff Sarwer, a prodigy from Canada, was the World Under 10 Champion in 1986, and was a media darling. He appeared on television and in magazines, and was known as much for his chess as for the unusual (and according to many, abusive) conditions under which he and his sister lived.

Although Sarwer hadn't been seen in chess circles for many years, he did show up and play at a very high level in a rapid tournament that took place in Poland during 2007, and is also quickly becoming a successful poker player. Chess Life Online recently posted an interview with Sarwer, conducted by Jennifer Shahade, which talks about his childhood, what he's been up to, and what his future plans for chess and poker might be. It's a great read, and gives a lot of insight into the kind of life Sarwer has been leading as an adult. His passion for chess is still very much real, and it would be interesting to see how strong he would be if he came back to the game seriously; in the above mentioned rapid tournament, he drew a couple of GMs on the way to a 7/9 score, so the sky might be the limit for him were he to go back to serious chess study.

A Name From the Past: Shahade Interviews Jeff Sarwer originally appeared on About.com Chess on Saturday, January 9th, 2010 at 18:35:51.

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Grischuk Wins Russian Championship

2010-01-03T16:01:41Z

While we were celebrating the holidays (and for many, getting some well-deserved time off from work), Alexander Grischuk was busy, working hard at the Russian Championship Superfinal. His hard work paid off to the tune of a first place finish and the title of 2009 Russian Chess Champion. With a 6.5/9 score, Grischuk finished a half-point ahead of Peter Svidler to take home the championship (his first) and the $25,000 first prize.

The Russian Women's Championship was held concurrently with the overall championship, and was won by International Master (and Women's Grandmaster) Alisa Galliamova, who posted an impressive 7.5/9 score.� Nadezhda Kosintseva finished second, just a half point behind.

As is often the case, the Women's section had perhaps the more exciting chess overall, at least if you're not a fan of draws; just 20% of the games were drawn, perhaps owing to the lower average rating of the players competing. However, the game of the tournament likely occurred in the open championship. If you want to see four passed, connected pawns do battle with a couple of rooks, then Timofeev-Khismatullin is the game for you! It's rare to see a position like this, but Timofeev shows just how powerful an advancing wall of pawns can be. While it was his only victory in the tournament, it certainly was a spectacular one.

Grischuk Wins Russian Championship originally appeared on About.com Chess on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 16:01:41.

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