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Azerbaijan Takes Gold in European Team Championship

2009-11-02T14:12:09Z

Vugar Gashimov scored the critical win for Azerbaijan in the final round of the European Team Chess Championships, allowing them to defeat the Netherlands 2.5-1.5 and slip ahead of Russia in the final standings to take first place. Azerbaijan and Russia entered the final round tied for first, and one of the two were guaranteed to take first unless both teams lost in the final round.

Russia, though, stumbled slightly in their final round encounter with Spain. While Alexander Morozevich scored a board two victory over Francisco Vallejo Pons, Evgeny Alexseev gave the point back to the Spaniards by losing to Ivan Salgado Lopez on the fourth board. The 2-2 draw opened the door for Azerbaijan to win outright by defeating the Netherlands.

The battle for third was also fierce, and was ultimately won by Ukraine, which scored a win over Israel in the final round to take the bronze medal on tiebreaks over Armenia.

In the Women's division, the battle for first between rivals Russia and Georgia came down to tiebreakers. In the end, the Russian women had two more board points than Georgia, which was enough to give them the gold. Georgia settled for second, while Ukraine nipped Azerbaijan for third on tiebreaks, far behind the leaders.

The tournament, held in Novi Sad, Serbia, attracted 38 Open and 28 Women's teams from across Europe. In the end, there were few surprises, but the event produced a great deal of exciting chess. Much like the European Championships in soccer (or football, for the Europeans reading this), which are second only to the World Cup in international competition, this event is likely the second biggest team competition on the chess schedule after the Olympiad. You can expect the top finishers here to figure prominently in the standings at the 2010 Chess Olympiad, scheduled for Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

Azerbaijan Takes Gold in European Team Championship originally appeared on About.com Chess on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 14:12:09.

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Should Women's Chess Titles Stay or Go?

2009-10-26T11:27:05Z

A recent Wall Street Journal editorial in favor of abolishing women's titles in chess has generated a lot of discussion online. For a while now, this -- and similar issues, such as the necessity of female-only events in chess -- have simmered, becoming hot topics now and again whenever an article like this WSJ editorial pops up.

Reaction, not surprisingly, has been mixed. Some, like Russian GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, are strongly against taking away these titles, while Mig Greengard and others fall on the opposite side. Still others have made the point that the editorial's author, Barbara Jepson, is not a chess player herself, which may make her understanding of the issues involved less than ideal.

What is your take on women's chess titles? I honestly feel very ambivalent about them; while they do help promote strong female players who have yet to gain the equivalent "open" title (i.e., WGM vs. GM), they also lead to confusion, and can even promote the idea that lower standards are fine for woman, despite the fact that many women have proudly earned the GM and IM titles. As several other commentators have pointed out, though, women's tournaments are another issue entirely. While there shouldn't be too many of these events (I'm not sure anyone would like to see female players playing a schedule of tournaments that effectively keeps them separated from male players), these tournaments do help promote promising players, and from an early age give girls and young woman a more comfortable environment in which to develop their chess talent -- not to mention giving many girls more reasons to stay with chess, something I think most chess players would like to see.

Should Women's Chess Titles Stay or Go? originally appeared on About.com Chess on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 11:27:05.

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World Championship to be Held in Sofia

2009-10-18T22:37:39Z

The World Chess Championship finally has a host. The match has been awarded to Sofia, Bulgaria, thanks to a bid worth 3 million Euros backed by the Bulgarian government. According to a report by ChessBase, Turkey and Singapore were also in the running to host the event, but dropped out when Bulgaria's bid -- which includes a 2 million Euro prize fund for the players -- was submitted.

This effectively gives challenger Veselin Topalov home field advantage for the match, though the Bulgarian government has guaranteed neutrality. I think it's unlikely that there would be any material advantage for Topalov anyway, beyond the comfort of playing at home, which shouldn't be dismissed. While hometown venues have been a subject of complaint by players before, it's hard to imaging Viswanathan Anand making much of a fuss about this.

As for the 2011 World Championship, FIDE has made a decision on the Candidates Tournament designed to work around the tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The tournament scheduled for late 2010 and/or early 2011, will take place with two groups of four players competing in two different countries: one group in Azerbaijan, and the other in another country -- though not Armenia. This solution allowed Azerbaijan to host a portion of the tournament, while ensuring that Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian would not have to play in Azerbaijan. If one of the finalists is Armenian (specifically, Aronian), the tournament will be played in a neutral country; if it is between a player from Azerbaijan and a player other than Aronian (or between two players from other nations), it will be held in Azerbaijan.

It seems like a lot of work to please all sides, but at least the end result still appears to be a fairly reasonable event. Having two groups (the structure of how a winner will be determined is unclear, but a double-round robin or short matches seem likely) and a final match between the two group winners is as good a way to pick a challenger as any. If this is the most inconvenient thing FIDE has to do during the 2011 World Championship cycle, I think everyone will call this cycle a success.

World Championship to be Held in Sofia originally appeared on About.com Chess on Sunday, October 18th, 2009 at 22:37:39.

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Zatonskih Goes Undefeated to Win US Women's Championship

2009-10-15T11:59:26Z

Anna Zatonskih came into the US Women's Chess Championship as the top seed (just barely -- her USCF and FIDE ratings were just two and four points higher, respectively, than those of Irina Krush), but few could have predicted that she'd dominate a fairly strong field as thoroughly as she did last week, winning the event by two points without a single loss. Her score of 8.5/9 was nearly reminiscent of Bobby Fischer's 11-0 score at the 1963/64 US Championship; Zatonskih's only blemish came in a draw against Camilla Baginskaite, who finished second at 6.5 points.

The complete tournament standings show just how competitive the championship was. Even the lowest rated player, Yun Fan, scored a respectable 2.5 points, and every player recorded at least two wins. Third place was shared by Krush and each scoring 5.5 points.

This year's championship was held at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, the same beautiful venue which hosted the 2009 US Championship. The prize fund of over $64,000 was the largest ever for a US Women's Championship, with Zatonskih winning $15,000 for first place. Her performance was so impressive that even in a field that would be considered weak compared to many of the international tournaments we talk about here (the average FIDE rating of the group was just 2292), her performance rating was 2765 -- meaning she did about as well as you'd expect any super GM to do in an event of this level! Congratulations to Anna Zatonskih on a fantastic performance, and a well-earned championship.

Zatonskih Goes Undefeated to Win US Women's Championship originally appeared on About.com Chess on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 11:59:26.

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Magnus Dominates in Nanjing, Crosses 2800 Barrier

2009-10-12T13:27:37Z

Magnus Carlsen didn't keep up his blistering pace after starting 4.5/5 in Nanjing, but he did more than enough to win, finishing at 8/10, a full 2.5 points ahead of second place Veselin Topalov. Carlsen went an incredible 5/5 with White and also took a win with Black against Dmitriy Jakovenko without losing a single game throughout the event.

Not only did Carlsen put on a historical performance, he also crossed the 2800 barrier for the first time on the live rating list. If he hangs on to his 2801 rating until the November rating list, he'll be just the 5th place to cross that barrier on a FIDE rating list in history. The other four - Kasparov, Kramnik, Topalov and Anand - have all become world champions. Can Carlsen be far behind? He'll have to wait at least one more cycle, but all signs are pointing towards Carlsen following their path.

Magnus Dominates in Nanjing, Crosses 2800 Barrier originally appeared on About.com Chess on Monday, October 12th, 2009 at 13:27:37.

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Carlsen Blazes Through Nanjing

2009-10-03T01:26:23Z

Maybe bringing Kasparov on board was a good idea after all. Magnus Carlsen has been utterly dominant thusfar in the Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament scoring 4.5/5 to begin the event. Who is he beating? Some of the world's top players: Veselin Topalov, Peter Leko, Teimour Radjabov and Dmitry Jakovenko have all fallen to the Norwegian youngster, with only China's Wang Yue managing to hold him to a draw. The tournament is nearly decided at the halfway point, since other than Carlsen's four wins, there hasn't been a single decisive game, meaning he already has a two point lead over Wang Yue and a 2.5 point cushion on the rest of the field.

Performances like this are rare, but not unheard of, even at the elite level. The most recent instance of such an attention-grabbing start may have come in the 2005 FIDE World Championship Tournment, where Topalov started with a blistering 6.5/7 over a field that was arguably stronger than the one in Nanjing. It will be interesting to see if Carlsen will try to continue pouring on the points to make a statement (but risk bringing one or more players back into contention should he lose), or if he'll attempt to draw out and take first place by coasting to the finish. One potential bit of drama: Carlsen appears to be about 12 points shy of Topalov on the current unofficial live ratings list. If Carlsen stays hot, or Topalov drops a game or two, it's possible that Carlsen could come out of this event as the (unofficial) world #1.

If you'd like to play over one of Carlsen's gems, here's his most recent win in the event, over Radjabov:

White: Magnus Carlsen
Black: Teimour Radjabov
Nanjing Pearl Spring Tournament 2009
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.O-O Nge7 5.c3 a6 6.Ba4 b5 7.Bc2 Bb7 8.Qe2 d5 9.e5 d4 10.Be4 Qb6 11.d3 Rd8 12.a4 Nd5 13.axb5 axb5 14.cxd4 cxd4 15.Nbd2 Nf4 16.Qd1 Nb4 17.Nb3 Bxe4 18.dxe4 Nfd3 19.Bg5 Rc8 20.Nfxd4 Nxb2 21.Qe2 Nc4 22.Rfc1 Bc5 23.Nxb5 O-O 24.Nxc5 Nxe5 25.Be7 1-0

Carlsen Blazes Through Nanjing originally appeared on About.com Chess on Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 at 01:26:23.

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128 Players, 1 Candidate

2009-09-27T21:21:07Z

A field of 128 will battle in a series of knockout matches later this year at FIDE's Chess World Cup 2009, with the winner becoming one of the eight candidates in the 2011 World Championship cycle. The World Cup, taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from November 20 to December 15, features players who qualified due to rating along with those two had success in various national, regional, and worldwide tournaments and championships.

Several spots were also reserved for nominees chosen by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, including young stars like Fabiano Caruana and Ray Robson. At the moment, only 124 spots have been filled, with the four remaining players to be chosen by the tournament organizers.

The list of participants is headed by top seed Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan, and features most of the world's top players, with several notable exceptions: Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian and Veselin Topalov are already qualified for the World Championship cycle, while Michael Adams, Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik and Hikaru Nakamura committed to playing in the London Chess Classic, which will be being played at the same time as the World Cup. American chess fans will have plenty of players to root for; there are 10 players from the United States in total, with Alexander Onischuk and Gata Kamsky likely to be the top American contenders in the absence of Nakamura. Kamsky won the last World Cup event in 2007.

No, short knockout matches aren't ideal for chess competitions, which is what made them a horrible choice for determining a world champion in the years when the FIDE World Championship was split from the Classical Chess Championship. However, for an event which simply seeks to give a spot in the Championship cycle, I think it works perfectly. If nothing else, the knockout format (including the rapid, blitz and "armageddon" playoff games) does generate a lot of excitement in every round, and creates fighting chess due to the high number of must-win games.� Allowing a large number of players to fight for a single golden ticket to the World Championship cycle allows some new blood the chance to participate, without turning the whole process of becoming World Champion into a lottery: which is how many players and commentators categorized the FIDE knockout events. What do you think: should a large knockout event like this one play a part in determining the World Championship?

128 Players, 1 Candidate originally appeared on About.com Chess on Sunday, September 27th, 2009 at 21:21:07.

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Kasparov Defeats Karpov in Lopsided Match

2009-09-25T15:17:21Z

While Garry Kasparov has played chess only sparingly since his retirement in 2005, he's only a few years removed from being a 2800+ player, while former rival Anatoly Karpov is well past his best days. With that in mind, it can hardly be called a surprise that Kasparov easily defeated Karpov in both rapid and blitz matches this week in Valencia. Kasparov took the rapid portion 3-1 and won the blitz portion by a 6-2 score -- about what you'd expect in a match between two players separated by about 200 points on the ratings list.

Of course, it's hard to get a real sense of how strong Kasparov is today from rapid and blitz games, but according to Mig Greengard's blog, Garry himself was disappointed with the quality of play. While most people probably wouldn't describe the games as "terrible" like he did, it's quite likely that both players played a little below the level their ratings suggest.

Still, there were moments of brilliance for both sides. Karpov managed to inject some drama into the blitz proceedings by winning the first game with Black, then drawing the second, staking himself to an early 1.5-0.5 lead. Kasparov then showed he was clearly the stronger player, starting with an impressive win in game three that began a 5-game winning streak, putting the match well out of reach. If you'd like to see the games, TWIC has PGN files of the rapid and blitz matches available.

All in all, the Kasparov-Karpov match was a fun, nostalgic chess event that was well-received by chess fans. If you missed out on this one, don't worry: you'll have a second chance when the ex-champions collide again this December in Paris.

Kasparov Defeats Karpov in Lopsided Match originally appeared on About.com Chess on Friday, September 25th, 2009 at 15:17:21.

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Who Are These Guys? A Guide to the World's Top Players

2009-09-20T23:40:04Z

It would be tough to follow tennis if you didn't know who Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were. Nobody would dream of calling themselves golf fans if they couldn't recognize Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson. These are the premier names in their respective sports, and with the incredible amount of coverage their achievements receive, even casual fans know all about their talents and accomplishments.

Chess players don't get nearly the attention major sports stars get these days, and this can make it difficult to have a real understanding of the world's elite competitors. Other than a handful of hardcore fans, do most chess players really know much about World Champion Viswanathan Anand or former champion Vladimir Kramnik?

This gap in knowledge makes it difficult for the new chess fan to get started when following world-class chess. With this in mind, I've started working on a guide to the world's top chess players. These mini-profiles of the world's top players (and some prominent female and junior players) aren't meant to fill you in on every detail about each player. Instead, they offer a brief overview into their playing style and accomplishments, designed to get you up to speed on players you may not be familiar with or want to learn more about.

This page is a work in progress, and will never truly be complete; as time goes on, players will be added and dropped from the page (though every profile will remain on the site) as the shape of world-class chess changes. I hope you'll find this page a valuable resource for learning about the very best chess players in the world. And if you want to learn about the best players in chess history, take a look at my list of World Chess Champions, all of which are profiled in brief.

Who Are These Guys? A Guide to the World's Top Players originally appeared on About.com Chess on Sunday, September 20th, 2009 at 23:40:04.

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Aronian Wins Bilbao Grand Slam

2009-09-14T12:08:03Z

In high level chess tournaments -- especially short ones -- it's rare for someone to clinch first place before the final round even begins. Yet Levon Aronian did just that this past week in Bilbao, where he had already won the Bilbao Grand Slam Masters after the penultimate 5th round. Aronian rounded out his tournament by drawing Sergey Karjakin in the final round, easily coasting to victory.

In Bilbao, an alternate scoring system was used, in which players were awarded 3 points for a win, and 1 point for a draw. The system was designed to encourage fighting play, and it seems to have worked; of the 12 tournament games, seven were decisive, a very high percentage for such a strong tournament. Aronian finished with 13 points; under a more traditional scoring system, he would have scored 4.5/6. No other player finished above even, with Karjakin and and Alexander Grischuk both losing as many games as they won. On Bilbao scoring, however, Grischuk finished second with 8 points, due to having two wins and two losses (versus one win and one loss for Karjakin). Alexei Shirov finished last with 3 points, failing to win a game and drawing just three.

This is just the latest victory in a great year for Aronian, who is closing in on Viswanathan Anand for the #2 spot on the FIDE rating list. Aronian is also on top of the standings for the FIDE Grand Prix, and has clinched a spot in the next Candidates Tournament. At just 26, Aronian is entering his prime years as a chess player. If he keeps up his current form, he should be a factor in World Championship discussions for many years to come.

Here's one of Aronian's wins from Bilbao: the round five victory over Shirov which clinched first place.

Bilbao Grand Slam Masters
White: Levon Aronian
Black: Alexei Shirov

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.0-0 Nb6 7.b3 Bd6 8.Bb2 0-0 9.d3 Bg4 10.h3 Bh5 11.Nbd2 Qe7 12.Ne4 f5 13.Nxd6 cxd6 14.b4 Nxb4 15.Qb3+ N4d5 16.Nxe5 dxe5 17.Bxd5+ Nxd5 18.Qxd5+ Kh8 19.Rfe1 Rae8 20.Rac1 f4 21.g4 Bf7 22.Qe4 Bg6 23.Qg2 Qf7 24.Rc5 Qxa2 25.Rb5 b6 26.Ra1 Qf7 27.Rxe5 Qb3 28.Rxe8 Rxe8 29.Bd4 Qb4 30.Qd5 Qe7 31.Rc1 h6 32.Qf3 Qd6 33.Bb2 Kh7 34.Rc4 b5 35.Rc6 Qb4 36.Bc3 Qe7 37.Qxf4 Rf8 38.Qe3 Qf7 39.Be5 Re8 40.f4 Qd7 41.Qc5 Qe7 42.Rc7 Qxc5+ 43.Rxc5 1-0

Aronian Wins Bilbao Grand Slam originally appeared on About.com Chess on Monday, September 14th, 2009 at 12:08:03.

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