Last Update: Friday 21st November 2008. 11:50 GMT

Dresden Olympiad

Games in PGN

38th Olympiad Dresden (GER), 13-25 xi 2008 Games in PGN
Rd	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	All
Men	Rd1	Rd2	Rd3	Rd4	Rd5	Rd6	Rd7	-	-	-	-	-
Women	Rd1	Rd2	Rd3	Rd4	Rd5	Rd6	Rd7	-	-	-	-	-

I have done a small amount of editing and correcting of the mens games from rounds 1-6. I can't make use of the compiled PGN files for the individual rounds from the official site. I simply don't trust them. There may be extra material in there but I can't make use of it as a number of games are misattributed. In fact when I downloaded them rounds 1-2 for the women actually had the men's games in them. If people find obvious errors please let me know. The games above are taken from the live coverage and then processed into the normal TWIC format. I have tinkered with probably around 20 results and false game endings in the above files for round 1-6. In round 7 Albaba, Izzat is in fact Albonni, Asaad in the rating list, I've no idea how that works.

Reports

Malcolm Pein's Round 5 Report

Malcolm Pein's Round 4 Report

Malcolm Pein's Round 2 Report

Malcolm Pein's Round 1 Report

Round 7 News by Mark Crowther

• Defending champions and 9th seeds Armenia defeated top seeds Russia 2.5-1.5 in a match that could go a long way towards settling the fate of the gold medal. There were three drawn games but Gabriel Sargissian defeated Alexander Grischuk to win the match for the Armenians.
• 2nd and 3rd seeds Ukraine and China met in a match that ended in a 2-2 stalemate. At first it appeared to be that Wang Yue was going to beat Ivanchuk quite handily but he allowed Ivanchuk right back in the game again and indeed handed the advantage to him but the game finished in a draw. Sergey Karjakin vs Bu Xiangzhi settled the match and that finished in a draw only after Karjakin blew a winning advantage.
• Germany again performed well this time against Romania 2.5-1.5. They started with a 29 move win for black for Jan Gustafsson against Andrei Istratescu and then David Baramidze won on bottom board.
• Michael Adams was back for England and has white against Tiemour Radjabov which was a fairly tame draw, on board two Short sharpened things up straight away with black against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and just stuffed him in only 25 moves. It looked like a Short style position right from the start and he brought home the full point in a very natural way. Gawain Jones held a draw on the bottom board but David Howell went badly astray after failing to convert and extra pawn thus the match finished 2-2. England were very much outgunned on every board in terms of Elo rating but I had a good feeling for the team right from the start, precisely the opposite that which I had yesterday, where I thought we had no chance from the start. A draw is still a good result but it could have been better for England!
• Carlsen and Topalov were huge favourites against weaker opposition today, it was interesting to see how they went about their tasks. Topalov (with white) won after building a huge advantage, he then disippated much of this after missing a straightforward win but he still had comfortably enough of an advantage to bring home the point. Carlsen (with black) against Ziaur Rahman (a man who plays a LOT of chess, believe me, so is extremely experienced) drew after provoking complications not in his favour from the opening but eventually reached a dead level ending after his opponent went wrong.
• The games Kamsky vs Leko and Gelfand - Shirov were both drawn. The out of touch Judit Polgar was dropped today by the Hungarians and they lost to the United States when Onischuk beat Balogh on board 3.
• Leading Round 8 Pairings: France vs. Armenia, Israel vs. Germany 1, United States of America vs. Russia, China vs. Vietnam, Ukraine vs. New Zealand, Azerbaijan vs. Croatia, Bulgaria vs. Belarus, England vs. Georgia, Slovakia vs. Greece, Turkey vs. Poland, Slovenia vs. India, Romania vs. Serbia, Hungary vs. Italy, Netherlands vs. Philippines, and Norway vs. Czech Republic.

Round 7 Live Games from 2pm GMT

The PGN file used in the viewer.

The board needs Silverlight 2. Click through the moves using the arrows or the moves next to the board. The board automatically checks for new moves every 3 minutes. Board by Martin Bennedik.

38th Olympiad Dresden (GER), 13-25 xi 2008 Leading Round 7 Results 17th Nov 2008. 2pm GMT start.
Br.	7	FRA France (FRA)	Elo	-	9	ARM Armenia (ARM)	Elo
1.1	GM	Bacrot Etienne	2705	-	GM	Aronian Levon	2757
1.2	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2716	-	GM	Akopian Vladimir	2679
1.3	GM	Fressinet Laurent	2676	-	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2642
1.4	GM	Tkachiev Vladislav	2664	-	GM	Petrosian Tigran L	2629
Br.	8	ISR Israel (ISR)	Elo	-	11	GER Germany 1 (GER1)	Elo
2.1	GM	Gelfand Boris	2719	-	GM	Naiditsch Arkadij	2678
2.2	GM	Roiz Michael	2677	-	GM	Khenkin Igor	2647
2.3	GM	Avrukh Boris	2657	-	GM	Fridman Daniel	2630
2.4	GM	Postny Evgeny	2674	-	GM	Baramidze David	2557
Br.	10	USA United States of America (USA)	Elo	-	1	RUS Russia (RUS)	Elo
3.1	GM	Kamsky Gata	2729	-	GM	Svidler Peter	2727
3.2	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2704	-	GM	Grischuk Alexander	2719
3.3	GM	Onischuk Alexander	2644	-	GM	Morozevich Alexander	2787
3.4	GM	Akobian Varuzhan	2606	-	GM	Jakovenko Dmitry	2737
Br.	3	CHN China (CHN)	Elo	-	37	VIE Vietnam (VIE)	Elo
4.1	GM	Bu Xiangzhi	2714	-	GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	2567
4.2	GM	Ni Hua	2710	-	GM	Le Quang Liem	2583
4.3	GM	Wang Hao	2696	-	GM	Dao Thien Hai	2510
4.4	GM	Li Chao B	2622	-	GM	Tu Hoang Thong	2496
Br.	2	UKR Ukraine (UKR)	Elo	-	71	NZL New Zealand (NZL)	Elo
5.1	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2786	-	GM	Chandler Murray G	2515
5.2	GM	Eljanov Pavel	2720	-	IM	Dive Russell John	2357
5.3	GM	Efimenko Zahar	2680	-	FM	Smith Robert W	2316
5.4	GM	Volokitin Andrei	2659	-	FM	Nokes Roger I	2293
Br.	4	AZE Azerbaijan (AZE)	Elo	-	24	CRO Croatia (CRO)	Elo
6.1	GM	Radjabov Teimour	2752	-	GM	Palac Mladen	2583
6.2	GM	Gashimov Vugar	2703	-	GM	Kozul Zdenko	2593
6.3	GM	Huseynov Gadir	2650	-	GM	Zelcic Robert	2589
6.4	GM	Mammadov Rauf	2631	-	GM	Stevic Hrvoje	2588
7.1	GM	Topalov Veselin	2791	-	GM	Zhigalko Sergei	2592
7.2	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2696	-	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	2617
7.3	GM	Georgiev Kiril	2645	-	GM	Fedorov Alexei	2584
7.4	GM	Delchev Aleksander	2632	-	GM	Zhigalko Andrey	2568
Br.	15	ENG England (ENG)	Elo	-	17	GEO Georgia (GEO)	Elo
8.1	GM	Adams Michael	2734	-	GM	Jobava Baadur	2664
8.2	GM	Short Nigel D	2642	-	GM	Izoria Zviad	2610
8.3	GM	Howell David W L	2593	-	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil	2615
8.4	GM	Jones Gawain C B	2548	-	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	2580
Br.	25	SVK Slovakia (SVK)	Elo	-	27	GRE Greece (GRE)	Elo
9.1	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2732	-	GM	Papaioannou Ioannis	2597
9.2	GM	Ftacnik Lubomir	2571	-	GM	Kotronias Vasilios	2587
9.3	GM	Markos Jan	2557	-	GM	Halkias Stelios	2584
9.4	IM	Vavrak Peter	2478	-	GM	Mastrovasilis Dimitrios	2572
Br.	50	TUR Turkey (TUR)	Elo	-	21	POL Poland (POL)	Elo
10.1	GM	Gurevich Mikhail	2634	-	GM	Miton Kamil	2604
10.2	IM	Can Emre	2464	-	GM	Wojtaszek Radoslaw	2599
10.3	IM	Erdogdu Mert	2449	-	GM	Gajewski Grzegorz	2577
10.4	FM	Yilmaz Mustafa	2387	-	GM	Bartel Mateusz	2602
11.1	GM	Beliavsky Alexander G	2619	-	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2694
11.2	GM	Pavasovic Dusko	2597	-	GM	Harikrishna P	2659
11.3	GM	Lenic Luka	2569	-	GM	Geetha Narayanan Gopal	2548
11.4	IM	Borisek Jure	2548	-	GM	Sandipan Chanda	2579
Br.	14	ROU Romania (ROU)	Elo	-	22	SRB Serbia (SRB)	Elo
12.1	GM	Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter	2684	-	GM	Ivanisevic Ivan	2658
12.2	GM	Istratescu Andrei	2633	-	GM	Solak Dragan	2595
12.3	GM	Parligras Mircea	2611	-	GM	Kovacevic Aleksandar	2581
12.4	GM	Lupulescu Constantin	2594	-	GM	Perunovic Milos	2580
Br.	5	HUN Hungary (HUN)	Elo	-	44	ITA Italy (ITA)	Elo
13.1	GM	Leko Peter	2747	-	GM	Caruana Fabiano	2640
13.2	GM	Polgar Judit	2711	-	GM	Godena Michele	2517
13.3	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2663	-	IM	Brunello Sabino	2455
13.4	GM	Berkes Ferenc	2645	-	IM	Rombaldoni Denis	2436
Br.	20	NED Netherlands (NED)	Elo	-	38	PHI Philippines (PHI)	Elo
14.1	GM	Van Wely Loek	2618	-	GM	Villamayor Buenaventura	2468
14.2	GM	Smeets Jan	2604	-	GM	So Wesley	2610
14.3	GM	Stellwagen Daniel	2605	-	IM	Gomez John Paul	2519
14.4	GM	Werle Jan	2582	-	GM	Laylo Darwin	2507
Br.	19	NOR Norway (NOR)	Elo	-	18	CZE Czech Republic (CZE)	Elo
15.1	GM	Carlsen Magnus	2786	-	GM	Navara David	2633
15.2	GM	Agdestein Simen	2588	-	GM	Hracek Zbynek	2613
15.3	GM	Johannessen Leif Erlend	2545	-	GM	Laznicka Viktor	2591
15.4	IM	Hammer Jon Ludvig	2522	-	GM	Babula Vlastimil	2608
Br.	12	ESP Spain (ESP)	Elo	-	55	BAN Bangladesh (BAN)	Elo
16.1	GM	Shirov Alexei	2726	-	GM	Rahman Ziaur	2510
16.2	GM	Vallejo Pons Francisco	2664	-	GM	Hossain Enamul	2494
16.3	GM	Illescas Cordoba Miguel	2604	-	GM	Abdulla Al-Rakib	2522
16.4	GM	San Segundo Carrillo Pablo	2564	-	FM	Minhazuddin Ahmed	2377




38th Olympiad Dresden (GER), 13-25 xi 2008 Leading Round 7 of 11 Standings
Rg.	Snr	Team	Team	Anz	+	=	-	Wtg1	Wtg2	Wtg3	Wtg4
1	9	Armenia	ARM	7	6	1	0	13	1650	580	205
2	11	Germany 1	GER1	7	5	2	0	12	1495	590	190
3	8	Israel	ISR	7	5	2	0	12	1415	500	190
4	7	France	FRA	7	5	2	0	12	1370	550	190
5	1	Russia	RUS	7	5	1	1	11	1550	640	175
6	2	Ukraine	UKR	7	4	3	0	11	1495	670	160
7	3	China	CHN	7	5	1	1	11	1450	570	180
8	37	Vietnam	VIE	7	5	1	1	11	1300	500	200
9	10	United States of America	USA	7	5	1	1	11	1160	520	180
10	4	Azerbaijan	AZE	7	4	2	1	10	1475	620	185
11	6	Bulgaria	BUL	7	5	0	2	10	1475	510	210
12	17	Georgia	GEO	7	5	0	2	10	1365	570	175
13	27	Greece	GRE	7	3	4	0	10	1335	600	175
14	21	Poland	POL	7	5	0	2	10	1335	540	195
15	13	India	IND	7	5	0	2	10	1300	550	175
16	14	Romania	ROU	7	5	0	2	10	1255	540	175
17	22	Serbia	SRB	7	5	0	2	10	1240	540	175
18	28	Slovenia	SLO	7	5	0	2	10	1230	530	180
19	50	Turkey	TUR	7	4	2	1	10	1220	470	195
20	15	England	ENG	7	4	2	1	10	1205	570	170
21	25	Slovakia	SVK	7	5	0	2	10	1190	480	200
22	23	Belarus	BLR	7	4	2	1	10	1150	520	180
23	24	Croatia	CRO	7	5	0	2	10	1085	460	160
24	71	New Zealand	NZL	7	5	0	2	10	910	440	165
25	5	Hungary	HUN	7	4	1	2	9	1385	570	170
26	20	Netherlands	NED	7	4	1	2	9	1315	590	170
27	19	Norway	NOR	7	3	3	1	9	1265	570	155
28	12	Spain	ESP	7	4	1	2	9	1215	580	165
29	30	Sweden	SWE	7	4	1	2	9	1200	550	170
30	34	Kazakhstan	KAZ	7	4	1	2	9	1150	510	185
31	51	Estonia	EST	7	4	1	2	9	1150	430	190
32	16	Cuba	CUB	7	4	1	2	9	1110	580	160
33	33	Uzbekistan	UZB	7	4	1	2	9	1085	460	180
34	18	Czech Republic	CZE	7	4	1	2	9	1060	470	180
35	41	Germany 2	GER2	7	4	1	2	9	1035	510	160
36	38	Philippines	PHI	7	4	1	2	9	1025	500	155
37	55	Bangladesh	BAN	7	4	1	2	9	1015	450	170
38	44	Italy	ITA	7	4	1	2	9	910	540	155
39	29	Bosnia & Herzegovina	BIH	7	4	0	3	8	1195	530	165
40	35	Lithuania	LTU	7	3	2	2	8	1060	570	155
154 teams




38th Olympiad Dresden Women (GER), 13-25 xi 2008 Leading Round 7 of 11 Standings
Rg.	Snr	Team	Team	Anz	+	=	-	Wtg1	Wtg2	Wtg3	Wtg4
1	3	China	CHN	7	6	1	0	13	1760	610	205
2	2	Ukraine	UKR	7	5	2	0	12	1610	550	205
3	1	Russia	RUS	7	4	3	0	11	1660	600	200
4	7	United States of America	USA	7	5	1	1	11	1560	570	205
5	8	Hungary	HUN	7	5	1	1	11	1540	590	200
6	10	Serbia	SRB	7	5	1	1	11	1330	560	185
7	9	Poland	POL	7	5	1	1	11	1320	620	175
8	11	India	IND	7	5	1	1	11	1275	560	170
9	4	Georgia	GEO	7	4	2	1	10	1415	590	175
10	5	France	FRA	7	5	0	2	10	1400	520	210
11	17	Netherlands	NED	7	5	0	2	10	1345	630	165
12	14	Slovenia	SLO	7	4	2	1	10	1295	520	195
13	6	Armenia	ARM	7	5	0	2	10	1200	600	165
14	28	Azerbaijan	AZE	7	4	2	1	10	1140	560	160
15	16	Romania	ROU	7	5	0	2	10	1130	530	180
16	37	Ecuador	ECU	7	5	0	2	10	1115	520	175
17	32	Moldova	MDA	7	5	0	2	10	1115	510	170
18	43	Uzbekistan	UZB	7	5	0	2	10	1050	500	170
19	13	Bulgaria	BUL	7	4	1	2	9	1205	530	180
20	18	Czech Republic	CZE	7	4	1	2	9	1145	490	185
21	19	Greece	GRE	7	4	1	2	9	1120	460	190
22	47	Mongolia	MGL	7	4	1	2	9	1090	560	150
23	24	Vietnam	VIE	7	4	1	2	9	1090	530	170
24	23	Lithuania	LTU	7	3	3	1	9	1015	490	160
25	29	Argentina	ARG	7	4	1	2	9	990	410	200
26	38	Switzerland	SUI	7	4	1	2	9	980	500	160
27	15	Slovakia	SVK	7	4	0	3	8	1200	580	170
28	25	Cuba	CUB	7	4	0	3	8	1195	510	195
29	31	England	ENG	7	4	0	3	8	1130	520	175
30	26	Belarus	BLR	7	3	2	2	8	1125	460	175
31	21	Israel	ISR	7	3	2	2	8	1085	550	150
32	12	Germany 1	GER1	7	3	2	2	8	1045	560	145
114 teams

The Week in Chess 732

Issue #732, November 17th 2008. Latest News

TWIC #732 zipped downloads:

News section - Games in New ChessBase format - Games in PGN (text) - Games in old ChessBase format (cbf)

Previous issues of TWIC

Old version of TWIC

Old Front Page

Topalov - Kamsky match awarded to Bulgaria

A report from Macauley Peterson says that agreement has been reached to hold the Topalov - Kamsky Match in Sofia. As I said a while back the only serious bidders were Bulgaria and so, nomatter that the home advantage gives Topalov a big edge it had to take place there. No doubt there were tough negotiations over the conditions but I have to give Kamsky a big amount of credit for this. Topalov likely has to give up participation at Linares if the dates turn out to be February 16th-28th 2009 but as he stands big favourite in the match and the reward will be a lucrative match against Anand this isn't really such a big stumbling block. Topalov can no doubt agree a future Linares participation in return.

Kudos not only goes to Kamsky but to Macauley for the exclusive.

Kamsky's manager Alexander Chernenko who said he had more money in Lvov is apparently not Kamsky's manager anymore. His bid was too good to be true (3 times the likely amount in Sofia) and we all know what that means, For instance I've had several e-mails today saying I've won huge amounts in lotteries I haven't entered.

Details: https://webcast.chessclub.com/blog/2008/11/18/its-on-kamsky-topalov-sofia-february/

Earlier FIDE announcement on Topalov - Kamsky

Nanjing Super GM

There is a Super GM Tournament in Nanjing, China taking place place 10th - 22nd December 2008. Six-player double round robin event.

Players: Veselin Topalov g BUL 2791; Vassily Ivanchuk g UKR 2786; Levon Aronian g ARM 2757; Movsesian Sergei g 2732 SVK; Peter Svidler g 2727; Bu Xiangzhi g CHN 2714.

It will be the strongest tournament ever held in China (at least by Elo average, 2751.6, making it a category 21 tournament)

The Nanjing tournament will become super one like Wijk aan Zee, Sofia, and Linares.

Further info: http://www.64ge.net/ and Gujuan Tzu's Chessnews Blog: http://blog.sina.com.cn/chessnews

IV World Blitz Championship won by Dominguez



The IV World Blitz Championships took place in Almaty Kazakhstan 7th (opening) - 8th (play) November 2008. 5 minutes per game. First place went to Leinier Dominguez Perez half a point clear of Vassily Ivanchuk (the game file had Ivanchuk beating Kamsky when he actually lost, this decisive game is unfortunately incomplete).

Games in PGN - Some games are clearly incomplete.

Official site: http://worldblitz2008.kz/

Players: Amin Bassem (Egypt), Shakhriar Mamediarov (Azerbaijan), Krishnan Sasikiran (India), Gata Kamsky (USA), Alexander Morozevitch (Russia), Leinier Domiguez Perez (Cuba), Rafael Vaganian (Armenia), Sergey Rublevsky (Russia), Teimur Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Vladislav Tkachiev (France), Peter Svidler (Russia), Alexander Grischuk (Russia), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Judit Polgar (Hungary), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) and Murtas Kazhgaleyev (Kazakhstan).

IV World Blitz Almaty KAZ (KAZ), 8-8 xi 2008															cat. XIX (2702)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6
1.	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	g	CUB	2719	*	½	½	1	1	½	1	1	½	1	1	½	½	1	½	1	11.5	2911
2.	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2786	½	*	½	1	0	1	1	½	0	1	1	½	1	1	1	1	11.0	2871
3.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2727	½	½	*	½	0	½	1	½	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	½	10.0	2825
4.	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2719	0	0	½	*	1	1	½	1	1	1	½	½	1	0	1	1	10.0	2825
5.	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2731	0	1	1	0	*	½	1	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	9.5	2794
6.	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2751	½	0	½	0	½	*	½	1	1	½	1	1	0	1	1	1	9.5	2793
7.	Kazhgaleyev, Murtas	g	KAZ	2640	0	0	0	½	0	½	*	1	1	0	½	1	1	1	½	1	8.0	2726
8.	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2787	0	½	½	0	1	0	0	*	0	1	0	½	1	1	1	1	7.5	2696
9.	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	2729	½	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	*	½	½	0	½	0	1	1	7.0	2679
10.	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2719	0	0	0	0	0	½	1	0	½	*	½	½	1	1	1	1	7.0	2679
11.	Tkachiev, Vladislav	g	FRA	2664	0	0	1	½	0	0	½	1	½	½	*	½	½	0	1	½	6.5	2654
12.	Rublevsky, Sergei	g	RUS	2702	½	½	0	½	0	0	0	½	1	½	½	*	0	½	1	1	6.5	2651
13.	Vaganian, Rafael A	g	ARM	2590	½	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	½	0	½	1	*	1	1	0	5.5	2614
14.	Amin, Bassem	g	EGY	2560	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	½	0	*	0	1	4.5	2562
15.	Sasikiran, Krishnan	g	IND	2694	½	0	0	0	1	0	½	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	*	½	3.5	2491
16.	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2711	0	0	½	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	0	1	0	½	*	2.5	2428

Corus Qualifier on ICC



Venezuelan GM Eduardo Iturrizaga, beat Brazilian GM Alexander Fier to win the Corus 'C' Group satellite qualifier hosted on the Internet Chess Club.

Iturrizaga, 19, won 3-1 in the blitz tiebreakers after two tough draws in the rapid matches, to take the top prize of the Corus C Group invite, round-trip ticket to Amsterdam, Hotel & Breakfast in Wijk aan Zee, plus $1300 appearance fee.

The result of a place in the famous Corus tournament is a dream come true for the young three-time Venezuelan champion, who is a national hero being his country's one and only grandmaster. It also comes on the back of some promising results during the summer for Iturrizaga, who was runner-up (behind Peruvian GM Julio Granada Zuniga) in the 2008 Iberamerican Championship before going on to win the Central America & Caribbean Fide Sub-Zonal.

16-players - selected by Corus, in consultation with ICC - from around the globe originally fought it out in this unique online rapid knockout tournament. And to ensure fair-play for all, at each location and for each match, an independent "proctor" was in place to oversee the proceedings, many of whom being national chess officials, international arbiters, national arbiters and ICC administrators.

Games in PGN

Details: http://www.chessclub.com/activities/corusqual08/

Corus Internet Qualifier ICC (INT), 1-9 xi 2008
¤	1/8 FINAL	1/4 FINAL	1/2 FINAL	FINAL
1 16	GM Alexander Fier (BRA, 2581) 1.5 FM Graham Morrison (SCO, 2328) 0.5	GM Fier 1.5 IM Mekhitarian 0.5	GM Fier 2.5 GM Salgado 1.5	GM Fier 1 GM Iturrizaga 3
8 9	IM Manuel Rodriguez (CUB, 2521) 0 IM Sevak Mekhitarian (BRA, 2511) 2.0
5 12	GM Ivan Salgado (ESP, 2556) 2.5 FM Anish Giri (RUS, 2466) 1.5	GM Salgado 1.5 GM Bluvshtein 0.5
4 13	GM Mark Bluvshtein (CAN, 2557) IM Robert Ris (NED, 2417) bye/no-show
3 14	GM Georg Meier (GER, 2558) FM Marcus Santo (BRA, 2394) bye/no-show	GM Meier 1.5 IM Robson 0.5	GM Meier 0.5 GM Iturrizaga 1.5
6 11	IM Sanan Sjugirov (RUS, 2549) 2.0 IM Ray Robson (USA, 2466) 3.0
7 10	GM Eduardo Iturrizaga (VEN, 2538) IM David Smerdon (AUS, 2470) bye/no-show	GM Iturrizaga 3 GM Safarli 1
2 15	GM Eltaj Safarli (AZE, 2568) 2.0 WGM Dagne Ciuskytev (ENG, 2339) 0

Fascinating field for Corus A-Group 2009

The 71st Corus Chess tournament takes place Friday, January 16th to Sunday, February 1st, 2009 in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. Alexander Morozevich, Vassily Ivanchuk, Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian and Teimour Radjabov are the favourites for the event in the absence of world champion Viswanathan Anand, challenger Vladimir Kramnik and World Number one Veselin Topalov. This shake up of the field with these three regular missing has really freshened things up and should make for exciting chess, in the usual way they do things they'll probably be all back next year.

Five players will make their debut in the A-group: the young Dutch grandmasters Jan Smeets and Daniel Stellwagen, the sensational Wang Yue from China, who climbed up to the 11th place on the latest world ranking list, the winner of Grandmastergroup B in 2008, Sergei Movsesian, and Leinier Dominguez from Cuba (ranked 21st on the FIDE October rating list).

The official participants lists of Grandmaster groups B and C will be published later this year. Together with all amateur players and participants in the special groups, approximately 2,000 chess players are expected to come to Wijk aan Zee for the traditional chess festival in the small beach village at the west coast of The Netherlands, approximately 25 kilometers from Amsterdam.

As from January 2009, the rate of play in Grandmaster groups A, B and C will change. The rate of play will be: 40 moves in 2 hours, then 20 moves in 1 hour, followed by 15 minutes with 30 seconds per move increment to finish the game.

Official site: http://www.coruschess.com/

71st Corus Wijk aan Zee A-Group (NED), 16 i - 1 ii 2009
Alexander Morozevich	RUS	2	2787	1977
Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	3	2786	1969
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	4	2786	1990
Levon Aronian	ARM	7	2757	1982
Teimour Radjabov	AZE	8	2751	1987
Wang Yue	CHN	11	2736	1987
Michael Adams	ENG	12	2734	1971
Sergei Movsesian	SLW	13	2732	1978
Sergei Karjakin	UKR	15	2730	1990
Gata Kamsky	USA	16	2729	1974
Leinier Dominguez	CUB	21	2719	1983
Loek van Wely	NED		2618	1972
Daniel Stellwagen	NED		2605	1987
Jan Smeets	NED		2604	1985

Anand retains World Title



World Champion Viswanathan Anand he looks very happy. Photo © Eugeny Atarov

World Champion Viswanathan Anand successfully defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in a 12 game match in Bonn, Germany, October 14th– 2nd November, 2008. The main sponsor was Evonik Industries AG and the prizemoney 1,5 Million Euro.

Official Website: http://www.uep-worldchess.com/

Game 11. Anand retains his title

Final Score

Anand 6½ Kramnik 4½

World Chess Championship Stories

Gm11: Anand retains his title

Gm10: Kramnik strikes back

Gm9: Anand three up with three to play

Gm8: Anand needs just a point

Gm7: Anand presses but Kramnik holds on

Gm6: Third win for Anand places him on the verge of victory

Gm5: Catastrophic blunder opens a gap for Anand

Gm4: Kramnik holds Anand

Gm3: Game three produces a great struggle and an Anand victory

Gm2: Kramnik passes Anand's 1.d4 test by IM Malcolm Pein

John Watson Reviews the DVDs of Anand and Kramnik

Gm1: Anand holds Kramnik comfortably by IM Malcolm Pein

Match Facts

World Championship Results
Kramnik, Vladimir	-	Anand, Viswanathan	½-½	32	D14	Slav Exchange
Anand, Viswanathan	-	Kramnik, Vladimir	½-½	32	E25	Nimzo Indian Saemisch
Kramnik, Vladimir	-	Anand, Viswanathan	0-1	41	D49	Queens Gambit Meran
Anand, Viswanathan	-	Kramnik, Vladimir	½-½	29	D37	QGD 5.Bf4
Kramnik, Vladimir	-	Anand, Viswanathan	0-1	35	D49	Queens Gambit Meran
Anand, Viswanathan	-	Kramnik, Vladimir	1-0	47	E34	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Anand, Viswanathan	-	Kramnik, Vladimir	½-½	36	D19	Slav Defence
Kramnik, Vladimir	-	Anand, Viswanathan	½-½	39	D39	QGD Ragozin
Anand, Viswanathan	-	Kramnik, Vladimir	½-½	45	D43	Anti-Meran Gambit
Kramnik, Vladimir	-	Anand, Viswanathan	1-0	29	E21	Nimzo Indian 4.Nf3
Anand, Viswanathan	-	Kramnik, Vladimir	½-½	24	B96	Sicilian Najdorf




World Chess Championship Bonn (GER), 14 x - 2xi 2008
Name	Ti	NAT	Rtng	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total	Perf
Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2783	½	½	1	½	1	1	½	½	½	0	½	.	6½	2837
Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2772	½	½	0	½	0	0	½	½	½	1	½	.	4½	2718

Games in PGN

Games in PGN - Malcolm Pein Annotated Games in PGN

Other Coverage

• Chessvibes
• Official Broadcaster: Foidos
• Chesscube
• ICC
• Playchess
• Chess Mind By Dennis Monokroussos

World Chess Championship. Viswanathan Anand retains title

Cap d'Agde


The players. Photo © Europe Echecs

Games in PGN

The Cap d'Agde took place 26th October - 1st November 2008. Hikaru Nakamura beat Vassily Ivanchuk in the final.

Details: http://www.europe-echecs.com/articles/a-la-une-8e-rencontres-du-cap-d-agde-1451.html and http://www.capechecs.com/trophee_ccas.php

Trophee CCAS Knockout Cap d'Agde (FRA), 28 x 2008
Final
Ivanchuk,V	0.5
Nakamura,Hi	1.5
Semi-final
Carlsen,M	1.5
Ivanchuk,V	2.5
Karpov,Ana	1
Nakamura,Hi	3
Quarter-final
Bu Xiangzhi	0.5
Carlsen,M	1.5
Radjabov,T	1
Ivanchuk,V	3
Caruana,F	2.5
Karpov,Ana	3.5
Nakamura,Hi	3
Vachier Lagrave,M	1




Cap d'Agde (FRA), 26 x - 1 xi 2008
Vasily Ivanchuk	UKR	GM	2786
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	GM	2786
Teimour Radjabov	AZE	GM	2751
Maxime Vachier Lagrave	FRA	GM	2716
Bu Xiangzhi	CHN	GM	2714
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	GM	2704
Ivan Cheparinov	BUL	GM	2696
Anatoly Karpov	RUS	GM	2651
Fabiano Caruana	ITA	GM	2640
Humpy Koneru	IND	GM	2618
Hou Yifan	CHN	WGM	2578
Marie Sebag	FRA	GM	2533
Sebastien Feller	FRA	GM	2526
Alexandra Kosteniuk	RUS	GM	2525
Katerina Lahno	UKR	GM	2488
Almira Skripchenko	FRA	WGM	2455

Schachbundesliga 2008-9 2nd weekend

Rounds 3 and 4 of "Schachbundesliga" take place 25th-26th October 2008. The 16 teams are located at four venues and play two matches each. One of the most exciting clashes will take place on Sunday in Munich between the champions OSG Baden-Baden and the strong team of Tegernsee. Other crucial matches are Remagen-Muelheim (possibly with Robert Huebner) and Bremen-Solingen. Like during all the season all the games, this weekend 128, will be covered live on the internet.

Rounds 3 and 4 games in PGN

Bundesliga 2008-9 (GER), 2 x 2008 - iii 2009
Munich
Round 3 Saturday, 25th October, 2 pm
Bayern Muenchen	1.5-6.5	OSG Baden-Baden
TV Tegernsee	4.5-3.5	SC Eppingen
Round 4 Sunday, 26th October, 10 am
OSG Baden-Baden	4.5-3.5	TV Tegernsee
SC Eppingen	5-3	Bayern Muenchen
Berlin
Round 3 Saturday, 25th October, 2 pm
SC Kreuzberg	4-4	SF Berlin
USV TU Dresden	2.5-5.5	Hamburger SK
Round 4 Sunday, 26th October, 10 am
SF Berlin	4.5-3.5	USV TU Dresden
Hamburger SK	2-6	SC Kreuzberg
Remagen
Round 3 Saturday, 25th October, 2 pm
SC Remagen	3.5-4.5	SV Muelheim-Nord
SG Turm Trier	3-5	SF Katernberg
Round 4 Sunday, 26th October, 10 am
SV Muelheim-Nord	6-2	SG Turm Trier
SF Katernberg	5-3	SC Remagen
Wattenscheid
Round 3 Saturday, 25th October, 2 pm
SV Wattenscheid	5.5-2.5	Werder Bremen
Aljechin Solingen	6-2	SK Turm Emsdetten
Round 4 Sunday, 26th October, 10 am
Werder Bremen	3.5-4.5	Aljechin Solingen
SK Turm Emsdetten	2.5-5.5	SV Wattenscheid

Further information (in German) and entrance site for the live coverage: http://www.schachbundesliga.de/index.aspx

European Club Cup

The European Club Cup 2008 (24th European Club Cup for Men, 13th European Club Cup for Women) took place in Kallithea, Greece 16th-24th October 2008. This very strong event had many of the best players in the world. URAL Sverdlovskaya (Radjabov, Kamsky, Shirov, Grischuk, Malakhov, Motylev and Dreev) edged out OSG Baden Baden (Svidler, Bacrot, Nisipeanu, Naiditsch, Vallejo, Harikrishna and Krasenkow) on board count.

Cercle d'Echecs Monte Carlo won the European Club Cup for Women.

Men's Games Archive in PGN - Women's Games Archive in PGN

Official site: http://ecc2008.chessdom.com/

12th Essent Chess Tournament

The 12th edition of the Essent Chess Tournament took place October 17th-25th 2008. The location was the city of Hoogeveen. Ivan Sokolov took clear first in the Crown Group with 5/6.

Official site: http://www.essentchess.nl/

Russian Chess Championship. Svidler takes the title in playoff.

The 61st Russian Championship SuperFinal took place 3rd-15th October 2008. There was a three way tie on 7/9. Dmitry Jakovenko beat Nikita Vitiugov to overtake him and catch Evgeny Alekseev. Peter Svidler started with three wins then became becalmed and lost his lead with a loss to Timofeev. In the final round he defeated the leader Evgeny Alekseev to catch him and set up a three way playoff. Playoffs were on 28th October 1pm Moscow time - according to the regulations it was supposed to after the final round, but that would have lasted until 1am - the format was 6 games (double-round robin) of 15'+10'' Peter Svidler won with 3/4.

Playoff games in PGN

Games in PGN

Official site: http://www.russiachess.org/

ch-RUS Playoff Moscow (RUS), 28-28 x 2008								cat. XIX (2718)
					1		2		3
1.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2738	*	*	½	1	1	½	3	2901
2.	Jakovenko, Dmitry	g	RUS	2709	½	0	*	*	1	1	2½	2818
3.	Alekseev, Evgeny	g	RUS	2708	0	½	0	0	*	*	½	2401




ch-RUS Moscow (RUS), 3-15 x 2008													cat. XVII (2673)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2
1.	Jakovenko, Dmitry	g	RUS	2737	*	½	1	½	1	0	½	1	1	½	½	½	7	2769
2.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2727	½	*	1	½	½	1	0	½	½	1	1	½	7	2770
3.	Alekseev, Evgeny	g	RUS	2715	0	0	*	½	½	½	1	½	1	1	1	1	7	2771
4.	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	g	RUS	2646	½	½	½	*	½	1	1	0	½	½	1	½	6½	2740
5.	Vitiugov, Nikita	g	RUS	2638	0	½	½	½	*	½	1	1	½	1	½	½	6½	2741
6.	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2787	1	0	½	0	½	*	½	½	1	½	1	1	6½	2728
7.	Timofeev, Artyom	g	RUS	2670	½	1	0	0	0	½	*	½	½	1	1	1	6	2709
8.	Lastin, Alexander	g	RUS	2651	0	½	½	1	0	½	½	*	½	0	½	1	5	2639
9.	Sakaev, Konstantin	g	RUS	2640	0	½	0	½	½	0	½	½	*	½	½	½	4	2574
10.	Inarkiev, Ernesto	g	RUS	2669	½	0	0	½	0	½	0	1	½	*	½	½	4	2571
11.	Riazantsev, Alexander	g	RUS	2656	½	0	0	0	½	0	0	½	½	½	*	1	3½	2541
12.	Maslak, Konstantin	g	RUS	2544	½	½	0	½	½	0	0	0	½	½	0	*	3	2510

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