The Linares tournament takes place in Spain 12th-25th February 2010. Players: Veselin Topalov, Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk, Francisco Vallejo Pons, Boris Gelfand and for the first time in a super-tournament Vugar Gashimov who deserves his chance in this company.
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Saturday, February 13, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Aeroflot Open 2010
The 9th Aeroflot Open is taking place from February 9th to 18th, 2010, for the fifth year in succession in the tourist complex Izmailovo Hotel Gamma-Delta, where most of the participants also stay. The prize sum is EUR 180,000, including prizes for the World Blitz Qualification Tournament. Four Open Tournaments (A1, A2, B and C) are made up according to the rating of the participants. The A1 tournament has players with a rating of 2550 or higher.
Time controls: for tournament A1 and A2 it is 40 moves in 100 minutes, then 20 moves in 50 minutes, finally 15 minutes for the remaining moves, with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move one. For tournaments B and C: 90 minutes for the whole game with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move one
Website
Aeroflot Videos
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Time controls: for tournament A1 and A2 it is 40 moves in 100 minutes, then 20 moves in 50 minutes, finally 15 minutes for the remaining moves, with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move one. For tournaments B and C: 90 minutes for the whole game with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move one
Website
Aeroflot Videos
>
>
Monday, January 25, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
72nd Corus Wijk aan Zee 2010
The 72nd Corus tournament takes place in Wijk aan Zee 15th-31st January 2010
Participants:A Group
GM Magnus Carlsen NOR 2810 1 1990
GM Viswanathan Anand IND 2790 3 1969
GM Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2788 4 1975
GM Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2749 8 1969
GM Peter Leko HUN 2739 12 1979
GM Alexei Shirov SPA 2723 20 1972
GM Sergey Karjakin RUS 2720 21 1990
GM Leinier Dominguez CUB 2712 25 1983
GM Hikaru Nakamura USA 2708 28 1987
GM Nigel Short ENG 2696 38 1965
GM Fabiano Caruana ITA 2675 51 1992
GM Sergey Tiviakov NED 2662 62 1973
GM Jan Smeets NED 2657 73 1985
GM Loek van Wely NED 2641 104 1972
Website
Participants:A Group
GM Magnus Carlsen NOR 2810 1 1990
GM Viswanathan Anand IND 2790 3 1969
GM Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2788 4 1975
GM Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2749 8 1969
GM Peter Leko HUN 2739 12 1979
GM Alexei Shirov SPA 2723 20 1972
GM Sergey Karjakin RUS 2720 21 1990
GM Leinier Dominguez CUB 2712 25 1983
GM Hikaru Nakamura USA 2708 28 1987
GM Nigel Short ENG 2696 38 1965
GM Fabiano Caruana ITA 2675 51 1992
GM Sergey Tiviakov NED 2662 62 1973
GM Jan Smeets NED 2657 73 1985
GM Loek van Wely NED 2641 104 1972
Website
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
LONDON CHESS CLASSIC
Monday 7th December 2009
London Chess Classic: Press conference and drawing of lots
Today was the day when the much-anticipated London Chess Classic tournament opened its doors to the press. The conference kicked off with an upbeat address from organiser Malcolm Pein. Most of us were already pretty impressed by the line-up and playing arrangements at the Olympia Conference centre – but Malcolm tells us that this year’s tournament – the biggest London has seen for 25 years – is just for starters. He has even bigger and better plans on the horizon, working towards a possible World Chess Championship match in 2012 (the World Chess Federation has already given London its option for the title match, in London’s Olympic year). He also stressed the importance of the charity that is to emerge from the event: Chess in Schools and Communities has been set up to get youngsters interested in the game and its first activity would be to bring lots of schoolchildren to Olympia to soak up the palpable excitement of a really big chess tournament.
The eight grandmasters themselves played their part in some PR activities staged around the landmarks of England’s capital city. Nigel Short and Luke McShane went off to the London Eye to play blindfold chess while Magnus Carlsen stayed at the plush Hilton Hotel to play a game with Guardian journalist Stephen Moss. Despite the small matter of 1,100 rating points that separate Magnus and Stephen, the Guardian man gave the Norwegian wunderkind quite a good pre-tournament work-out. We’ll return to this in due course.
Back at the press conference: next on the agenda was the drawing of lots. For this the organisers had provided a beautiful giant wooden chessboard. Underneath each of the eight white pawns was a hidden number. Each player was asked to step forward, choose a pawn and hold it up for all to see. The honour of being the first player to uncover his pairing number went to the man with the highest rating – at 2801, this was 19-year-old Magnus Carlsen. Magnus didn’t hesitate – he went straight to the c2 pawn, picked it up and – yes, it was the number one. The audience laughed but the serene look on Magnus’ face seemed to say “of course!”. Vladimir Kramnik shook his head and exclaimed “exactly the same as in Moscow!”. He then stepped forward to choose a pawn – it was the number eight. Knowledgeable members of the audience knew immediately that it meant he would Black in round one against Magnus Carlsen.
After the players had all drawn their lots, and arbiter Albert Vasse had read out the first-round pairings for Tuesday, they proceeded to the photo-call. As the players lined up in front of their images on the wall, some paparazzi were perplexed at the large difference in height between the very tall Kramnik and players flanking him. One even dared suggested Vlad stoop or kneel so that his head was in line with some of his colleagues. But Vlad is not for bending and he politely demurred. This recalled to mind a similar occasion in London more than nine years before, when the newspaper snappers wanted Vlad to smile. “Russian grandmasters do not smile!,” exclaimed the then world title challenger. Then, after a pause: “well, perhaps after I win the title!” Which he did, of course – he is still the only chessplayer in history to win the world championship title in London (though we must not forget that Kasparov made a couple of successful defences here).
Once the photographers had their fill of pictures, the players returned for an open question session. Malcolm Pein pointed out that Vladimir Kramnik’s recent “double happy event” (birth of a child and victory in Moscow) bucked the trend. Usually, said Malcolm, paternity led to an inevitable loss of rating points. Nigel Short felt that evidence that consisted of nothing more than one newly-born child and one tournament success didn’t really add up to much. The look he gave Vlad seemed to say “wait till you have two children!”. Magnus Carlsen, not much older than Nigel Short’s eldest child, looked off into space whilst this fatherly badinage was being exchanged but, when called upon to answer a few questions which came his way, he did so poise and confidence.
For the record, the draw was as follows: 1 Carlsen, 2 McShane, 3 David Howell, 4 Hikaru Nakamura, 5 Ni Hua, 6 Michael Adams, 7 Nigel Short, 8 Vladimir Kramnik. The first four named get an extra white, of course; quite an advantage in such a short tournament. Magnus Carlsen, as number one, starts with two whites, which means that if he exploits his first-move advantage twice he has already taken a big step towards winning the tournament. But Vladimir Kramnik is a very large obstacle. One of the photographers had earlier tried to get Vlad to move to one side when composing his shot because “you are blocking your own picture”. Vlad retorted: “wherever I go, I will be blocking!”. And, he might have added, this is especially true in London, as Garry Kasparov will know only too well.
John Saunders
Chess Press Chief, London Chess Classic
WEBSITE
London Chess Classic: Press conference and drawing of lots
Today was the day when the much-anticipated London Chess Classic tournament opened its doors to the press. The conference kicked off with an upbeat address from organiser Malcolm Pein. Most of us were already pretty impressed by the line-up and playing arrangements at the Olympia Conference centre – but Malcolm tells us that this year’s tournament – the biggest London has seen for 25 years – is just for starters. He has even bigger and better plans on the horizon, working towards a possible World Chess Championship match in 2012 (the World Chess Federation has already given London its option for the title match, in London’s Olympic year). He also stressed the importance of the charity that is to emerge from the event: Chess in Schools and Communities has been set up to get youngsters interested in the game and its first activity would be to bring lots of schoolchildren to Olympia to soak up the palpable excitement of a really big chess tournament.
The eight grandmasters themselves played their part in some PR activities staged around the landmarks of England’s capital city. Nigel Short and Luke McShane went off to the London Eye to play blindfold chess while Magnus Carlsen stayed at the plush Hilton Hotel to play a game with Guardian journalist Stephen Moss. Despite the small matter of 1,100 rating points that separate Magnus and Stephen, the Guardian man gave the Norwegian wunderkind quite a good pre-tournament work-out. We’ll return to this in due course.
Back at the press conference: next on the agenda was the drawing of lots. For this the organisers had provided a beautiful giant wooden chessboard. Underneath each of the eight white pawns was a hidden number. Each player was asked to step forward, choose a pawn and hold it up for all to see. The honour of being the first player to uncover his pairing number went to the man with the highest rating – at 2801, this was 19-year-old Magnus Carlsen. Magnus didn’t hesitate – he went straight to the c2 pawn, picked it up and – yes, it was the number one. The audience laughed but the serene look on Magnus’ face seemed to say “of course!”. Vladimir Kramnik shook his head and exclaimed “exactly the same as in Moscow!”. He then stepped forward to choose a pawn – it was the number eight. Knowledgeable members of the audience knew immediately that it meant he would Black in round one against Magnus Carlsen.
After the players had all drawn their lots, and arbiter Albert Vasse had read out the first-round pairings for Tuesday, they proceeded to the photo-call. As the players lined up in front of their images on the wall, some paparazzi were perplexed at the large difference in height between the very tall Kramnik and players flanking him. One even dared suggested Vlad stoop or kneel so that his head was in line with some of his colleagues. But Vlad is not for bending and he politely demurred. This recalled to mind a similar occasion in London more than nine years before, when the newspaper snappers wanted Vlad to smile. “Russian grandmasters do not smile!,” exclaimed the then world title challenger. Then, after a pause: “well, perhaps after I win the title!” Which he did, of course – he is still the only chessplayer in history to win the world championship title in London (though we must not forget that Kasparov made a couple of successful defences here).
Once the photographers had their fill of pictures, the players returned for an open question session. Malcolm Pein pointed out that Vladimir Kramnik’s recent “double happy event” (birth of a child and victory in Moscow) bucked the trend. Usually, said Malcolm, paternity led to an inevitable loss of rating points. Nigel Short felt that evidence that consisted of nothing more than one newly-born child and one tournament success didn’t really add up to much. The look he gave Vlad seemed to say “wait till you have two children!”. Magnus Carlsen, not much older than Nigel Short’s eldest child, looked off into space whilst this fatherly badinage was being exchanged but, when called upon to answer a few questions which came his way, he did so poise and confidence.
For the record, the draw was as follows: 1 Carlsen, 2 McShane, 3 David Howell, 4 Hikaru Nakamura, 5 Ni Hua, 6 Michael Adams, 7 Nigel Short, 8 Vladimir Kramnik. The first four named get an extra white, of course; quite an advantage in such a short tournament. Magnus Carlsen, as number one, starts with two whites, which means that if he exploits his first-move advantage twice he has already taken a big step towards winning the tournament. But Vladimir Kramnik is a very large obstacle. One of the photographers had earlier tried to get Vlad to move to one side when composing his shot because “you are blocking your own picture”. Vlad retorted: “wherever I go, I will be blocking!”. And, he might have added, this is especially true in London, as Garry Kasparov will know only too well.
John Saunders
Chess Press Chief, London Chess Classic
WEBSITE
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Fide World Cup 2009
The World Cup takes place in Khanty-Mansiysk 20th November - 15th December 2009. The event is part of the next world championship cycle. 7 rounds of knockout chess produce the winner.
Round 1 rapid and blitz playoffs. Start time is around 10am UK time but the eaerly rounds have started later than that, or at least coverage has.
Sergei Movsesian is the top seed to drop out. David Navara and Leinier Dominguez Perez are the leading seeds who will have to win a playoff.
All the rounds but the final take place over three days. There is just one rest day, directly prior to the final.
Website
Round 1 rapid and blitz playoffs. Start time is around 10am UK time but the eaerly rounds have started later than that, or at least coverage has.
Sergei Movsesian is the top seed to drop out. David Navara and Leinier Dominguez Perez are the leading seeds who will have to win a playoff.
All the rounds but the final take place over three days. There is just one rest day, directly prior to the final.
Website
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