Women's Chess Grand Prix: Koneru Humpy Begins Quest Sept 15

GM Koneru Humpy

India's highest-ever rated woman chess player and only World Chess title challenger Koneru Humpy will begin a new quest at the sixth Women's Chess Grand Prix 2011-12 cycle on September 15. The sixth in the series is a round-robin event and runs from September 15-29 in Ankara, Turkey. Reigning women's world chess champion Hou Yifan won the first two women's chess grand prix events in the series in Rostov and Shenzen. Zhao Xue of China won the third in Nalchik. Konery Humpy and Anna Muzychuk were joint winners in Kazan, while Hou Yifan won again in Jermuk.

Read more »

Istanbul Chess Olympiad: Indian Men Finish 35th, Women 4th! Abhijeet Gupta Wins Individual Silver; Tania Sachdev Wins Individual Bronze

Armenia is World Chess Olympiad Champions 2012

Photos: David Llada, Arman Karakhanyan

The last round at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul was as exciting as it could get with the results being decided with tiebreaks after all the final games were played! Indian men finished with the 35th place below their seeding of ninth. Indian women finished with the fourth place above their seeding of sixth. National Champion Abhijeet Gupta picked up an individual Silver Medal as board prize for the fourth board. Tania Sachdev picked up an individual bronze medal as board prize for the third board.

Indian women on their way to beating France in the last round and finishing fourth at the Istanbul Chess Olympiad.

The Final round saw India lose to Azerbaijan with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov beating Pentala Harikrishna. All other boards were draw. Indian women beat France in an exciting match.

Bo.	7	Azerbaijan (AZE)	Rtg	-	13	India (IND)	Rtg	2½:1½
9.1	GM	Safarli, Eltaj	2620	-	GM	Sasikiran, Krishnan	2707	½ - ½
9.2	GM	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	2729	-	GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	2685	1 - 0
9.3	GM	Mamedov, Rauf	2634	-	GM	Negi, Parimarjan	2664	½ - ½
9.4	GM	Guseinov, Gadir	2613	-	GM	Gopal, Geetha Narayanan	2550	½ - ½

Bo.	14	France (FRA)	Rtg	-	6	India (IND)	Rtg	1½:2½
4.1	IM	Skripchenko, Almira	2442	-	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2503	0 - 1
4.2	IM	Milliet, Sophie	2411	-	IM	Sachdev, Tania	2379	½ - ½
4.3	WGM	Maisuradze, Nino	2284	-	WGM	Gomes, Mary Ann	2396	1 - 0
4.4	WIM	Bollengier, Andreea	2253	-	WGM	Soumya, Swaminathan	2271	0 - 1

Read more »

Chess Video: Judit Polgar Presents her book 'How I Beat Fischer’s Record'

World's No. 1 woman chess player Judit Polgar is the only woman to ever play in the open section of the Chess Olympiad and the Candidates Matches. She has scaled the highest-ever chess rating a woman has reached on the planet. Polgar presented her new book at the 40th Chess Olympiad. Here is a video of Judit Polgar from the official website of the Istanbul Chess Olympiad.

Read more »

Istanbul Chess Olympiad Round 10: Indian Men Draw with Cuba, Women Beat Israel; Abhijeet, Tania in with Chance to Win Board Prize!

Tania Sachdev-Going for 
gold medal Board prize for 
India! Photo: David Llada

The tenth round at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul saw the Indian men drawing with Cuba and the Indian women beating Israel 3.5-0.5. Grandmasters Abhijeet Gupta and Parimajan Negi beat Yuniesky Quezada Perez and Yusnel Bacallao Alonso on the third and fourth boards. Both Sasikiran and Harikrishna lost.  Abhijeet Gupta and Tania Sachdev are in with a chance for a board prize! Saturday is a rest day and the final round will be played on Sunday.  Here are the tenth-round results: 

Top Board Harika Dronavalli. Photo: David Llada 

Bo.	13	India (IND)	Rtg	-	15	Cuba (CUB)	Rtg	2 : 2
9.1	GM	Sasikiran, Krishnan	2707	-	GM	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	2725	0 - 1
9.2	GM	Harikrishna, Pentala	2685	-	GM	Bruzon Batista, Lazaro	2711	0 - 1
9.3	GM	Negi, Parimarjan	2664	-	GM	Quesada Perez, Yuniesky	2626	1 - 0
9.4	GM	Gupta, Abhijeet	2637	-	IM	Bacallao Alonso, Yusnel	2583	1 - 0

Bo.	6	India (IND)	Rtg	-	25	Israel (ISR)	Rtg	3½: ½
5.1	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2503	-	WIM	Porat, Maya	2295	1 - 0
5.2	IM	Sachdev, Tania	2379	-	WIM	Efroimski, Marsel	2174	1 - 0
5.3	WGM	Gomes, Mary Ann	2396	-	IM	Klinova, Masha	2317	½ - ½
5.4	WGM	Soumya, Swaminathan	2271	-	WFM	Shvayger, Yuliya	2202	1 - 0

Read more »

Istanbul Chess Olympiad R9: Russia Loses to USA; Indian Men Draw with Georgia, Women Lose to Russia

India's top board -
the very strong K Sasikiran
Photo: David Llada

Round 9 was played at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul on Thursday. The Indian team did their best to draw with Georgia in the open section. The Indian women's team did their best to hold up against Russia, but lost because of the very high rating of their opponents. Two more rounds are to be played. Though, the Indian men are out of medal contention, the Indian women have an easy tenth round against Israel and could be well on the winning dias after Round 11.

Results Round 9 @ 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul
Georgia (GEO)-India (IND) 2 : 2
9.1 GM Mchedlishvili, Mikheil 2659-GM Sasikiran, Krishnan 2707 ½ - ½
9.2 GM Gagunashvili, Merab 2578-GM Harikrishna, Pentala 2685 ½ - ½
9.3 GM Sanikidze, Tornike 2585-GM Gupta, Abhijeet 2637 0 - 1
9.4 GM Pantsulaia, Levan 2575-GM Gopal, Geetha Narayanan 2550 1 - 0

India-Russia 1 : 3
2.1 GM Dronavalli, Harika 2503-GM Kosintseva, Tatiana 2530 ½ - ½
2.2 IM Karavade, Eesha Sanjay 2371-IM Gunina, Valentina 2507 0 - 1
2.3 IM Sachdev, Tania 2379-GM Kosintseva, Nadezhda 2524 ½ - ½
2.4 WGM Soumya, Swaminathan 2271-GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2489 0 - 1

Standings after Round 9 have India in the nineteenth place in the open section and twelfth place in the women's section. Here are the pairings for Round 10 which you can watch live from India time 5.30 pm at the official website. A live video feed is available at this link.

Top board for Indian women - the talented Harika Dronavalli Photo: Arman Karakhanyan

Read more »

Istanbul Chess Olympiad Round 8: Indian Men Draw with Serbia, Women Beat Vietnam

Russia beat Ukraine in Round 8

The eighth round at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul saw India draw with Serbia. The board results included GM Sasikiran, Krishnan (2707) losing to GM Ivanisevic, Ivan (2645), GM Harikrishna, Pentala (2685) drawing with GM Perunovic, Milos (2614), GM Negi, Parimarjan (2664) drawing with GM Sedlak, Nikola (2549) and GM Gopal, Geetha Narayanan (2550) beat GM Popovic, Dusan (2579).

In the women's section, the Indian team beat Vietnam nicely with the board results being WGM Le Thao Nguyen, Pham (2393) drawing with GM Dronavalli, Harika (2503), WIM Thi Mai Hung, Nguyen (2212) beating IM Karavade, Eesha Sanjay (2371), WIM Kieu Thien Kim, Le (2226) losing to IM Sachdev, Tania (2379) and WIM Bich Ngoc, Pham (2172) losing to WGM Gomes, Mary Ann (2396).

The Philippines beat England

Three more rounds are to be played. Indian men play Georgia and women take on Russia on Thursday.
Georgia (GEO)-India (IND)
9.1 GM Mchedlishvili, Mikheil 2659 - GM Sasikiran, Krishnan 2707
9.2 GM Gagunashvili, Merab 2578 - GM Harikrishna, Pentala 2685
9.3 GM Sanikidze, Tornike 2585 - GM Gupta, Abhijeet 2637
9.4 GM Pantsulaia, Levan 2575 - GM Gopal, Geetha Narayanan 2550
India (IND)-Russia (RUS)

2.1 GM Dronavalli, Harika 2503 - GM Kosintseva, Tatiana 2530

2.2 IM Karavade, Eesha Sanjay 2371 - IM Gunina, Valentina 2507

2.3 IM Sachdev, Tania 2379 - GM Kosintseva, Nadezhda 2524

2.4 WGM Soumya, Swaminathan 2271 - GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra 2489

Rank after eight rounds in Open section @ Istanbul Chess Olympiad
Russia has a cool 15 points. China, Armenia, USA, Germany and the Philippines are right behind with 13 points each. Azerbaijan, Ukraine, the Netherlands, France, Israel, Argentina and Poland are in third place with 12 points each. In joint fourth place are (hold your breath) Hungary, India, Georgia, England, Uzbekistan, Czech Republic, Serbia, Belarus, FYROM, Vietnam, Italy, Slovenia, Denmark, Brazil and Austria! (in that order of tiebreaks.) That puts India in a current standing of 15th place.

Rank after eight rounds in Women's section @ Istanbul Chess Olympiad
Among the women, China is leading with 14 points. In joint second place are Russia, France, India and Uzbekistan. According to tiebreak points, India is right there in for a medal contention at fourth place! In joint third place are Ukraine, USA, Poland, Kazakhstan and Armenia.

Read more »

Istanbul Chess Olympiad Round 7: Russians on the Rampage; Indian Men Draw with Argentina; Women Beat Estonia

Parimarjan Negi

This is going to be surely the best India has ever done at the Chess Olympiads. In the seventh round, at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, India held Argentina to a creditable draw. There were fighting games on all boards despite what the scoresheet reads.

Round 7 Results

Argentina-India

1 GM Peralta, Fernando (2606) ½-½ GM Sasikiran, Krishnan (2707)

2 GM Flores, Diego (2589) ½-½ GM Harikrishna, Pentala (2685)
3 GM Felgaer, Ruben (2570) 1-0 GM Negi, Parimarjan (2664)
4 GM Mareco, Sandro (2589) 0-1 GM Gupta, Abhijeet (2637)

In the women's section, India had a fantastic result.

Round 7 Results

Estonia-India

1 WIM Tsiganova, Monika (2164) 0-1 GM Dronavalli, Harika (2503)

2 WIM Fomina, Tatjana (2189) 0-1 IM Sachdev, Tania (2379)

3 WCM Narva, Triin (2028) 0-1 WGM Gomes, Mary Ann (2396)

4 WFM Narva, Regina (2042) 1-0 WGM Soumya, Swaminathan (2271)

Meanwhile, the seventh round brought another win for Russia as they beat Azerbaijan with three draws and a win by Alexander Grischuk on the second board in the open section. Grischuk continued to fight and corner Eltaj Safarli eventually breaking the latter's defense.

 

Abhijeet Gupta

Top standings after Round 7

Russia has 13 match points. China and Ukraine have 12 points each. Armenia, USA, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Germany, Uzbekistan and Philippines have 11 points each.

Armenia had another tough match this time against China on table two. Sergei Movsesian, who yesterday saved his team in the clash with Russia, fell victim to Wang Yue's counterattack. With the other three games being drawn, China celebrated an important victory that leaves them on the shared second place, right behind Russia. (Photos: David Llada)

Read more »

Istanbul Chess Olympiad Round 6: Indian Men Draw with Israel; Women Beat Germany

 Star of Round 6: Vladimir Kramnik of Russia who beat Levon Aronian of Armenia with a nice sac. Photo: David Llada

The Indians teams are playing tenacious chess at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul without giving an inch. In the sixth round, after the rest day, India drew with Israel and the Indian women beat Germany convincingly!

Round 6 Results
India-Israel1 GM Sasikiran, Krishnan (2707) ½-½ GM Gelfand, Boris (2738)
2 GM Harikrishna, Pentala (2685) ½-½ GM Sutovsky, Emil (2687)
3 GM Negi, Parimarjan (2664) 1-0 GM Rodshtein, Maxim (2642)
4 GM Gupta, Abhijeet (2637) 0-1 GM Avrukh, Boris (2605)

India-Germany
1 GM Dronavalli, Harika (2503) ½-½ WGM Paehtz, Elisabeth (2483)
2 IM Karavade, Eesha Sanjay (2371) ½-½ WGM Melamed, Tetyana (2356)
3 IM Sachdev, Tania (2379) 1-0 WGM Ohme, Melanie (2337)
4 WGM Soumya, Swaminathan (2271) 1-0 WGM Michna, Marta (2380)


India's pairing for Round 7 on Tuesday are as follows:
Argentina-India
1. GM Peralta, Fernando (2606)-GM Sasikiran, Krishnan (2707)
2. GM Flores, Diego (2589)-GM Harikrishna, Pentala (2685)
3. GM Felgaer, Ruben (2570)-GM Negi, Parimarjan (2664)
4. GM Mareco, Sandro (2589)-GM Gupta, Abhijeet (2637)
 
Estonia-India
1. WIM Tsiganova, Monika (2164)-GM Dronavalli, Harika (2503)
2. WIM Fomina, Tatjana (2189)-IM Sachdev, Tania (2379)
3. WCM Narva, Triin (2028)-WGM Gomes, Mary Ann (2396)
4. WFM Narva, Regina (2042)-WGM Soumya, Swaminathan (2271)

Read more »