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CT-366 (2976)
CT-366 (2976) Wednesday, 31 December 2008
Test Yourself! Burn – Whitehead Liverpool Chess Club, 1896
XIIIIIIIIY 8r+l+-mk-tr0 7zppzp-vlLzpp0 6-wq-+-sn-+0 5+-+-+-vL-0 4-+-zp-+-+0 3+QzP-+-+-0 2PzP-+-+PzP0 1+-+-tRRmK-0} xabcdefghy
On This Day by GM Alex Baburin Famous English player Amos Burn was born 160 years ago. He was one of the best players of the 19th century and a well-known chess author. To find out more about Burn, please refer to Wikipedia and ChessBase articles.
And why not have a rule say, that all events with the participation of the world's top 10 players are counted as operatively as possible? The top of the rating list now looks as follows (with the names of Nanjing participants in bold): 1. Topalov 2. Anand 3. Ivanchuk 4. Carlsen 5. Morozevich 6. Radjabov 7. Jakovenko 8. Kramnik 9. Leko 10. Movsesian 11. Aronian
2796 2791 2779 2776 2771 2761 2760 2759 2751 2751 2750
Indian Championship The 46th Indian National A Championship for men finished in Mangalore yesterday.
Final standings:
World Chess News
New FIDE Ratings by GM Mikhail Golubev On the 30th December FIDE published new ratings. It is hard to believe, but Nanjing (Category 21) was not counted, while Elista (Category 19), which finished later, was counted. The explanation from the yesterday's FIDE article is: "His (Topalov's) victory in the Pearl Springs tournament in Nanjing, China, which ended 22nd December, will be rated for April 2009, according to FIDE regulations." But who writes these terrible regulations, one may ask once again.
1. GM Ganguly (2603) - 8 out of 12, 2-3. IM Akshayraj (2400) and GM Negi (2597) - 7½, 4. GM Deepan (2464) - 7. 5-7. IM Rathnakaran (2458), GM Neelotpal (2477) and IM Sriram (2458) - 6½. 8. IM Satyapragyan (2417) - 6. 9. GM Thipsay (2444) - 5. 10-12. Thejkumar (2441), IM Shyam (2402) and IM Konguvel (2463) - 4½. 13. IM Adhiban (2439) - 4.
5th Vandoeuvre Open Final standings: 1-2. GMs Bauer and Svetushkin - 7½; 3-7. IM Haub, IM Gozzoli, GM Abergel, GM Velicka and IM Riff - 6½, etc. (92 players, 9 rounds). Official website (in French)
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2nd Berkeley Masters, USA The 2008 Berkeley Masters took place from the 14th to the 23rd of December in Berkeley, California.
Rilton Cup, Sweden Round 5 top pairings: S. Ivanov (3½) - Kuzubov (3½) Wojtaszek (3½) - Hillarp-Persson(3½) Grandelius (3½) – P. Cramling (3)
Final standings: 1. GM Kacheishvili (GEO, 2572) - 7½; 2. GM Izoria (GEO, 2610) – 7; 3-5. IM Friedel (USA, 2498), IM/WGM Krush (USA, 2452) and FM Rensch (USA, 2354) - 6, etc. (10 rounds)
Official website
Hastings Chess Congress Round 3 top results:
For more details see TWIC-738
Hebden (2) – Neverov (2) ½-½ Jones (2) – Gordon (2) 1-0 Berg (1½) - Conquest (2) ½-½ Salem (2) – Kurnosov (1½) 0-1 Atako (2) – Gormally (1½) ½-½
First Asian Club Ch Al Ain, UAE by Vijay Kumar Al Ain team scored a crucial win over third seeded Qi Yuan Club of China to emerge as sole leader after the 5th Round of the 1st Asian Club Cup being played here in Al Ain, UAE. While three games ended in hard fought draws, GM Jobava defeated Zhou Weiqi. Fajr team trounced Vietnam Victory Club by 3½ to ½. The victory took them to 8 points and they share the second spot with Tagaytay Chess Club who defeated India club by a narrow margin. Now AL Ain tops the standings with 10 points. 5 teams are close on their heels with 8 points.
Round 4 top pairings: Conquest (2½) - Jones (3) Kurnosov (2½) - Hebden (2½) McPhillips (2½) - Howell (2½) Neverov (2½) – Williams (2½) Gordon (2) - Atako (2½) Official website
FIDE Grand Prix Standings The full FIDE Grand Prix standings after three events can be found at the FIDE website. 1. Radjabov 2. Wang Yue 3. Gashimov 4. Grischuk 5. Jakovenko 6. Mamedyarov 7. Aronian
Reggio Emilia, Italy Round 4 results: Landa - Gustafsson ½-½ Ni Hua - Leon Hoyos 1-0 Shytaj - Dreev ½-½ Almasi - Ronchetti 1-0 Marin - Cebalo 1-0
363,33 (3 events) 353,33 (3) 328,33 (3) 303,33 (3) 243,33 (2) 185 (2) 180 (1)
Ivanchuk vs. Leko by GM Mikhail Golubev
Standings after 4 rounds: 1. Almasi – 4; 2. Ni Hua - 3½; 3-4. Dreev and Gustafsson - 2½; 5. Marin – 2; 6-8. Landa, Leon Hoyos, Shytaj – 1½; 9-10. Cebalo and Ronchetti – ½. Official website (in Italian)
The Ivanchuk vs. Leko match will take place in Mukachevo, Ukraine on 3-5 January. Six rapid chess games will be played. The main organiser is Joseph Resh who was born and grew up in Mukachevo. The official website of the match is www.ivanchukleko2009.com (in English and Russian). I'll visit the match and probably play there in a rapid chess tournament, which will take place there at the same time.
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Ivanchuk's Proposals Vassily Ivanchuk's proposals (in Russian) regarding the world championship have been published at www.chesspro.ru (in Russian).
ACP News On the 27th of December the ACP officially postponed the 3rd ACP Cup: "The ACP World Rapid Cup scheduled for February 2009 is postponed until 7-10 May 2009. This decision had to be taken due to the world financial crisis. It should enable the organisers to optimise their resources and to work out the best possible solution for overcoming the current complicated situation on the market. We apologize to anyone affected by this compulsory measure and count on your understanding. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us. ACP Board" One day earlier, ACP published the Agreement of Cooperation between the Association of Chess Professionals and the French Chess Federation.
The Best Player of 2008 GM Susan Polgar is trying to find out who the best player of 2008 is in a poll on her website.
Annotated Games: Crushing the Berlin Wall by GM Mikhail Golubev I prepared several games to show in CT around the New Year celebrations. By coincidence, two of them were played in the Ruy Lopez Berlin. Jakovenko (2737) - Wang Yue(2736) FIDE Grand Prix (1), Elista, 14.12.2008
Ruy Lopez; C67 1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥b5 ¤f6 4.0– 0 ¤xe4 5.d4 ¤d6 6.¥xc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 ¤f5 8.£xd8+ ¢xd8 9.¤c3
(D)
XIIIIIIIIY 8r+lmk-vl-tr0{ 7zppzp-+pzpp0 6-+p+-+-+0 5+-+-zPn+-0 4-+-+-+-+0 3+-sN-+N+-0 2PzPP+-zPPzP0 1tR-vL-+RmK-0 xabcdefghy 9...¢e8 10.h3 ¥e7 11.g4 ¤h4 12.¤xh4 ¥xh4 13.¦d1 ¥e7 14.¢g2 h5 15.f3 ¥e6 16.¤e2 ¦d8 17.¥e3 a6 18.¤f4 g6 19.¦xd8+N 19.b3 Adams-Wang Yue, ECC 2008. 19...¢xd8 20.¦d1+ ¢c8 21.¤xe6 fxe6 22.f4 b5 (D)
XIIIIIIIIY 8-+k+-+-tr0 7+-zp-vl-+-0 6p+p+p+p+0 5+p+-zP-+p0 4-+-+-zPP+0 3+-+-vL-+P0 2PzPP+-+K+0 1+-+R+-+-0} xabcdefghy 23.b3 ¦h7 24.¥f2 hxg4 25.hxg4 ¦h8 26.¦h1 ¦xh1 27.¢xh1 ¢d7 28.¢g2 ¥b4 29.¢f3 ¢e8 30.¢e4 ¢e7 31.¥h4+ ¢e8 32.f5 gxf5+ 33.gxf5 exf5+ 34.¢xf5 ¥c3 35.¥f2 ¢e7 36.e6 ¢e8 37.¥g3 ¥a5 38.¥e5 ¥b6 (D)
XIIIIIIIIY 8-+-+k+-+0 7+-zp-+-+-0 6pvlp+P+-+0 5+p+-vLK+-0 4-+-+-+-+0 3+P+-+-+-0 2P+P+-+-+0 1+-+-+-+-0} xabcdefghy 39.c3! Dennis Monokroussos reviewed 'The Berlin Wall' book in our previous issue. And this Elista game maybe would deserve a place in the next Berlin Wall book. According to the russiachess.org report by IM Odessky, GM Jakovenko and his second, GM Khismatullin, explained
This issue is prepared by GM Mikhail Golubev; technical editor: Graham Brown Subscription is 15 euro for 3 months. For further details please refer to http://www.chesstoday.net CT-366 (2976) Page 3 of 5
that Wang Yue drew a number of games in similar endings where White already put a pawn to c4. And the text, which is a new idea, is a result of their preparation - White is planning ¥d4!. Wang Yue lost (after being unbeaten in more than 80 games) after 39...c5 40.c4 ¥a5 41.¢f6 c6 42.e7 ¥e1 43.¢e6 ¥h4 44.¢d6 ¥xe7+ 45.¢xc6 bxc4 46.bxc4 ¢d8 47.¥d6 ¥h4 48.¥xc5 ¢c8 49.¢b6 a5 50.¢xa5 ¢b7 51.¢b5 ¥g3 52.a4 ¢a8 53.¥e3 ¥d6 54.¥d2
(D)
XIIIIIIIIY 8k+-+-+-+0{ 7+-+-+-+-0 6-+-vl-+-+0 5+K+-+-+-0 4P+P+-+-+0 3+-+-+-+-0 2-+-vL-+-+0 1+-+-+-+-0 xabcdefghy 1–0 Black resigned in a theoretically lost position: White won't allow him to give up his bishop for the c-pawn. White will play ¥b4, place his pawns on c6 and a6, his bishop on b6, and then his king will go to e6 and d7. After that a transfer of the bishop to d6 will decide. Shirov (2726) - Karjakin (2730) Spanish Club Ch (1) Motril, 01.11.2008
Ruy Lopez; C67 1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥b5 ¤f6 4.0– 0 ¤xe4 5.d4 ¤d6 6.¥xc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 ¤f5 8.£xd8+ ¢xd8 9.¤c3 ¤e7 10.h3 ¤g6 11.¥g5+ ¢e8 12.¦ad1 ¥d7 (D)
XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+kvl-tr0 7zppzpl+pzpp0 6-+p+-+n+0 5+-+-zP-vL-0 4-+-+-+-+0 3+-sN-+N+P0 2PzPP+-zPP+0 1+-+R+RmK-0} xabcdefghy This line is often seen at the top level.
13.¤d4 h6 14.¥c1 ¥e7N 14...¥b4 Kotronias-Eljanov, Bundesliga 2007/2008. 15.f4 h5 16.¦fe1 ¤h4 17.¤e4 ¢f8 18.¤g5 (D)
XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+-mk-tr0{ 7zppzplvlpzp-0 6-+p+-+-+0 5+-+-zP-sNp0 4-+-sN-zP-sn0 3+-+-+-+P0 2PzPP+-+P+0 1+-vLRtR-mK-0 xabcdefghy 18...¥xg5?! Probably, Black should have played 18...c5. 19.fxg5 ¤g6 20.b3 ¢e8 21.e6 ¥xe6 22.¥b2 ¦g8 23.¤f5 ¢f8 24.¥a3+ ¢e8 25.¥b2 ¢f8 (D)
XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+-mkr+0 7zppzp-+pzp-0 6-+p+l+n+0 5+-+-+NzPp0 4-+-+-+-+0 3+P+-+-+P0 2PvLP+-+P+0 1+-+RtR-mK-0} xabcdefghy 26.¦d7! c5? After 26...¥xd7 27.¥a3+ c5™ (27...¤e7? 28.¦xe7+-) 28.¥xc5+ ¤e7 White can try 29.¦xe7!? b6 30.¦xd7+ bxc5 31.¦xc7 g6 32.¤d6 ¦g7 33.¦xc5 ¢e7 34.¤e4. Still, after 34...¦gg8 Black is worse, but not lost yet, as 35.¦e5+ ¢d7 36.¤f6+ does not regain the exchange in view of 36...¢d6. 27.¥xg7+!+- (D)
XIIIIIIIIY 8r+-+-mkr+0{ 7zppzpR+pvL-0 6-+-+l+n+0 5+-zp-+NzPp0 4-+-+-+-+0 3+P+-+-+P0 2P+P+-+P+0 1+-+-tR-mK-0 xabcdefghy 27...¢e8
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If 27...¦xg7, then 28.¦xe6!+-. 28.¦xc7 ¢d8 29.¦xc5 ¥xf5 30.¥f6+ ¢d7 31.¦xf5 Having two extra pawns, White won easily: 31...¦ae8 32.¦d1+ ¢c8 33.¦c5+ ¢b8 34.¦d7 ¦c8 35.¦xc8+ ¦xc8 36.¦xf7 ¦xc2 (D)
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37.¥d4 ¦xa2 38.¦g7 ¦a6 39.¥f6 ¤h4 40.¥e5+ ¢c8 41.¦c7+ ¢d8 42.¦h7 1–0
¤ ¤¤¤ ¤¤¤¤¤ ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
Solution to our Quiz: Burn – Whitehead Liverpool Chess Club, 1896
XIIIIIIIIY 8r+l+-mk-tr0 7zppzp-vlLzpp0 6-wq-+-sn-+0 5+-+-+-vL-0 4-+-zp-+-+0 3+QzP-+-+-0 2PzP-+-+PzP0 1+-+-tRRmK-0} xabcdefghy 15.¦xf6! (15.¥h5?! ¥e6!) 15...£xb3 16.¥h5+!+- gxf6 (16...¢g8 17.¦xe7! £b5 18.¦xg7+ ¢xg7 19.¦f7+ ¢g8 20.¥h6 £e8 21.¦g7+ ¢f8 22.¦xc7+! ¢g8 23.¥xe8 and wins) 17.¥h6+ ¢g8 18.¦xe7 £e6 19.¦g7+ ¢f8 20.¦d7+ ¢g8 21.¦d8+ (Source) 1–0
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