Exhibition Chess Live from India Time 5.30 PM to Mark Biel Chess Fest 45th Anniversary

At the Opening Ceremony

The Grandmasters played a garden chess game against Hans Altherr (president of the council of states) and Erich Fehr (mayor of biel). The game ended in a draw.

In a few hours from now, the superstar-studded Biel Chess Festival is going to be open in Switzerland. First up is the Exhibition Blitz Tournament. You can watch it live at the official website from India time 5.30 pm. The festival includes a GM tournament, a masters tournament, several chess exhibitions, blitz, rapid, etc. in the coming days. Stay tuned at Chess Magazine Black & White blog site for regular updates. 

Invitation Blitz Tournament to celebrate the 45 years of the Biel Chess Festival
KO System, with 8 players
Magnus Carlsen NOR (Seeded Nr 1)
Hikaru Nakamaura USA (Seeded Nr 2)
Alexander Morozevich RUS (Seeded Nr 3)
Wang Hao CHN (Seeded Nr 4)
Etienne Bacrot FRA (Nr 5)
Pentala Harikrishna IND (Nr 6)
Yannick Pelletier SUI (Nr 7)
Alexandra Kosteniuk RUS (Nr 8)
System: Two games with 5‘+ 2‘‘/move. If 1-1, one Armageddon game with 5’ for white (has to win) and 4’ for black. The draw will made according the FIDE Elo rankings of 1st July 2012.

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Commonwealth Chess in Chennai from Nov 22

The Commonwealth Chess Championship is going to be held in Chennai, India from November 22-December 1, 2012. The tournament will be conducted as per FIDE Laws of Chess and FIDE Swiss System with 11 rounds. Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will be awarded in Open, Women, Under-20 (Boys and Girls), Under-18 (Boys and Girls), Under-16 (Boys and Girls), Under-14 (Boys and Girls), Under-12 (Boys and Girls), Under-10 (Boys and Girls), Under-8 (Boys and Girls) categories. The medal winners will be referred to as Commonwealth Medalists. The defending champion is GM Gawain Jones of England.

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Jermuk Chess Grand Prix Round 2: Humpy, Wenjun in Joint Lead

Humpy

Women's chess is always quite exciting with the players not willing for draws easily. The Jermuk Women's Chess Grand Prix - fifth edition of the series 2011/12 - has begun. India's Koneru Humpy has won both the rounds to lead with China's Ju Wenjun. The latter has won both the rounds as well.

Watch live India time Round 3 today from 4.30 pm at the official website. Round 3 will see following pairings: Khurtsidze-Zhao, Danielian-Humpy, Yifan-Wenjun, Lufei-Mkrtchian, Kovalevskaya-Munguntuul and Kosintseva-Lahno. 

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Women's Chess Grand Prix Begins in Jermuk; Watch Live India Time 4.30 pm

The fifth leg of the Women's Chess Grand Prix begins in Jermuk, Armenia begins today with the first games being played on July 17. The list of participants includes:

1 Hou Yifan GM CHN 2617
2 Humpy Koneru GM IND 2598
3 Zhao Xue GM CHN 2556
4 Kateryna Lahno GM UKR 2537
5 Ju Wenjun WGM CHN 2518
6 Nadezhda Kosintseva GM RUS 2516
7 Ruan Lufei WGM CHN 2483
8 Elina Danielian GM ARM 2480
9 Nino Khurtsidze WGM GEO 2456
10 Lilit Mkrtchian WGM ARM 2450
11 Munguntuul Batkhuyag WGM MGL 2447
12 Ekaterina Kovalevskaya WGM RUS 2417

The word Jermuk comes from the Armenian word for warmth, a reference to its plentiful hot natural springs and mineral waters. A resort town located about 170 km south-east from Armenia's capital Yerevan, this picturesque and pristine resort is nestled in mountains rising over 2two kms in altitude. Today Jermuk is a revitalized growth of tourism as health spas, medical treatment and tourism, and more traditional touristic destinations offer their services to both local and international guests. 

Watch the Women's Chess Grand Prix - Jermuk live at this link from India time 4.30 pm

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Leiden Chess: Negi Wins Second Place With Cool Games

The reigning Asian chess champion and former national chess champion, India's Parimarjan Negi, has come second at the Leiden Open Chess in The Netherlands. Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi beat Benjamin Bok of the Netherlands in the ninth round to finish sole second. Negi had lost to British GM David Howell in the previous round, but he bounced back to get back into the top slots. Negi finished the event with seven points. Negi's last-round game is a must-watch for all fans of the young Grandmaster for it's neat Queen manoeuvre at our Chess King page.
 
Howell (7.5) won the title with a last-round draw with Predrag Nikolic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Indian Grandmasters S Arun Prasad and M R Lalith Babu finished in a six-way tie for the third place. Bartosz Socko of Poland, Evgeny Vorobiov of Russia, Csaba Horvath of Hungary and Nikolic were the other four players who scored 6.5 points. In the tiebreaker, Arun Prasad finished sixth while Babu was declared eighth. The other Indian GM S Kidambi finished 17th with 5.5 points.

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Chess is Too Hard as Profession: GM Akopian

Armenian Chess Grandmaster Vladimir Akopian says chess is way too hard to be taken up as a profession. He says, "I don't want my boys to be professional chess players, because it's too hard." He was speaking after a win in the Chinese Chess League Division A. When he was 14 in 1986, Akopian was crowned the World Under-16 champion. Three years ago, he was named "Honoured Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia".

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Weekend Chess Tactic Test: Three Chess Puzzles!

Chess tactics help you capitalize on all the effort you put into improving your position. Here are three positions from real games. Can you figure out the best way to win? Test your chess tactics this weekend with Chess King!

Position 1: White to play and win. Mendoza-Diaz, Colombia, 1996. Should White retreat the Bishop from h6 as the mate threat on g7 is thwarted by the Black Queen on f6? Check your answer with Chess King.

Position 2: White to play and win. Balinov-Cebalo, Graz, 1996. This position has an unusual tactical idea that is normally difficult to spot. Can you find the trick move for a win? Check your answer with Chess King.

Position 3: White to play and win. Alekhine-Reshevsky, Kemeri, 1937. Black is not only a pawn up but is training forces on the g2 pawn. However, Rd2 by Black was actually a blunder. Do you know how Alekhine goes on to win? Check the answer with Chess King.

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