Kasimdzhanov Not to Be Anand Second

By Zainab Raza Undulusi

It was this January that the Norwegian newspaper VG reported that Danish GM Peter Heine Nielsen (39) who has worked with World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand for almost 10 years would be working with World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. Nielsen joined Carlsen in February to help Carlsen with the Candidates Tournament in March in London. Carlsen duly won the Candidates. 

On Saturday, another of Viswanathan Anand's seconds, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, said at a press conference at the Renova Group Grand Prix press conference that he has decided not to continue as Anand's second. 

“I think three World championship matches are enough for me. There were all very tough – one tougher than the other. At the end I think I deserve some rest (smiles). I’m a bit worried if the match is going to take place because it was announced to be held in India and Magnus is seriously opposed to the idea to play there. If they push it and Magnus gets nervous we can have the situation when the Norwegian will just refuse to play, as he had done with previous candidates tournament. It’s a great match and it would be a pity if something happens. I will be happy if they find some neutral ground. On the other hand India deserves to host the World Championship match because Anand has been holding the title for many years. So the situation is difficult,” said the former world chess champion. 

Earlier, after Nielsen joined Team Carlsen, the World No. 1's manager Espen Agdestein had said, "We cannot use Peter after he has worked so long with Anand. That would not be good, morally, even if there are no problems legally. Peter is therefore not going to work with us in preparation (for the World Chess Championship 2013 match) if Magnus qualifies as World Championship challenger."

Also Read: World Chess 2013: Is it Chennai 100%?

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Alekhine Chess Memorial Begins Today

Today (April 20) will begin the biggest chess event in France  the Alekhine Chess Memorial. The press conference can be watched live from 8.30 pm India time on the official website followed an hour later by the grand opening ceremony which will feature the pairings announcements and concert by Nikolay Lugansky and Vadim Repin.  All activities will be broadcast via the official website - www.alekhine-memorial.com. Daily rounds can be watched India time 6.30 pm.

The event - dedicated to the memory of the great Russian chess player and 4th World Chess Champion Alexander Alekhine will take place in two famous museums of the world – the Louvre (Paris) and the Russian Museum (Saint-Petersburg). The idea is to highlight both the chess event and Russian culture. The Alekhine Memorial Super Tournament continues the tradition of holding chess tournaments in World’s biggest museums – the tradition which was set up during the match Anand-Gelfand, held in May 2012 in the Engineering building of the State Tretyakov Gallery.

The opening ceremony and first five rounds will take place in Paris, in the Tuileries Garden. On April, 26 in the morning the participants, arbiters, journalists will leave Paris for Saint-Petersburg. Last four rounds will be played in Saint Michael’s Castle (The Russian Museum branch).

The part of the tournament which will be held in Paris will take place in a pavilion built in the Tuileries Garden. It is open for public from 1:30 P. M. No entry fee required.

Vadim Repin, one of the world’s most famous and popular musicians, will give a concert at the opening of the Alekhine Memorial Chess Super-Tournament, which will take place on 20 April in Paris. Vadim Repin will join with pianist Nikolai Lugansky to perform a programme of works by Sergei Rachmaninoff for piano and violin. Also, Russian pianist Nikolai Lugansky will perform at the opening ceremony selected works Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. Lugansky believes there are a number of parallels between Rachmaninoff's career and the fate of Russia's first World Chess Champion!

Alexander Alekhine (1892–1946)

Born in Moscow on 19 October 1892, the first Russian World Chess Champion Alexander Alekhine was the son of a State Duma deputy, marshal of the Voronezh nobility, and the owner of huge black-earth estates in Central Russia. Alekhine graduated from the St Petersburg School of Law in 1914. That same year, he became one of the world’s strongest chess players, placing third at the prestigious St Petersburg chess tournament, after the then-reigning World Champion Emanuel Lasker and before the future Champion José Raúl Capablanca.
Alekhine was playing at a tournament in Germany when WWI broke out. He was arrested and thrown into a German prison; upon his return to Russia, he signed up as a volunteer with the Red Cross. Alekhine was twice contused on the Galician Front, carried the wounded from battlefields, was decorated several times and was nominated for the Order of Saint Stanislaus with Swords. He became the first Chess Champion of the USSR in 1920, before leaving Soviet Russia in 1921 for France, where he became a citizen in 1925.
In 1927, Alekhine defeated the “invincible” José Raúl Capablanca in a match for the World Champion title. He dominated the chess world for several years after that, winning major tournaments at a big advantage over his rivals. In 1935, he lost a match to Max Euwe, only to defeat the Dutch Grandmaster two years later in a return match and to remain undefeated until his death.
In 1939, during the chess Olympics in Buenos-Aires he called for the German team to be disqualified because of the German attack on Poland. After the Olympics he performed charity games, with funds going to the Polish Red Cross. In 1940, he joined the French army, which brought many complications to his life in occupied France.
Alekhine died in Portugal in 1946, on the eve of an announcement that his World Championship match against Mikhail Botvinnik would take place after all. Alexander Alekhine was the only World Chess Champion to die undefeated.

Participants: World Champion Viswanathan Anand, his challenger from 2012 match Boris Gelfand, former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, World Cup winner Peter Svidler, Levon Aronian, Nikita Vitiugov, Michael Adams, Ding Liren, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Fressinet Laurent.

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Renova Chess R1: Moro, Caruana Win

The first round of the third stage of Grand Prix tournament in Zug got under way on the 18th of April 2013, after FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov made the first symbolic move in the game Caruana-Radjabov. The first round was a pretty tough one for the start of the tournament - Fabiano Caruana and Alexander Morozevich started with victories while the other four games were drawn.

Leko-Kamsky 1/2:1/2
Gata Kamsky was surprised that his opponent remembered him playing the same line in Ruy Lopez during the match against Vishy Anand in Las-Palmas 1995. Therefore, Peter Leko decided to avoid playing some dubious side-lines and went for the main variation. The preparation of Hungarian player finished on move 15.Ne2, which was played by Bobby Fisher long time ago. “I thought if Fisher had played this move, it cannot be bad and it actually makes sense. Nowadays all players go for15. Ne6 but I don’t think White has something there.”

After 15.Ne2 Gata Kamsky chose the plan with c4 and g5, which Leko defined as “a desperate attempt” but American player was short in time and was looking for some counter play. With the 20…f4 Gata Kamsky sacrificed a pawn and managed to activate his pieces. The forced line led to the endgame where White got 2 rooks for his queen and in a few moves the game finished after three-time repetition. “It seems my opponent defended so well in the time trouble or it was just too hot in the playing hall and computer will show that I’ve missed something, but I didn’t see how I could win, even there were some promising continuations. Out of nowhere it’s a draw,” said Peter Leko on the press-conference.

Giri-Topalov 1/2:1/2
Dutch player Anish Giri said he was preparing a lot and was looking forward for this GP to start. His opponent Veselin Topalov, who had played his last classical game on November 2012, confessed he felt a bit strange to play a long game, tried to make not too risky moves and to be solid. Few months ago the same opponents met at the last round of London Grand Prix. Anish Giri lost against Vesilin Topalov and let his opponent to win the first stage of GP. “The problem was that there was also bishop and knight endgame in that game. At the end I was really panicking and trying to hold this slightly better position. It was very painful to see the same guy, the same tournament and almost the same position there (laughing). It’s good that at least the result is different!” said Anish Giri during the press-conference. Veselin Topalov had to defend a bit unpleasant endgame but after inaccurate 23. Bf4 Black proved to be quite safe.

Morozevich-Kasimdzanov 1:0
Alexander Morozevich started the game with 1.g3 and was more or less expecting the line which happened in the game. According to Morozevich, Black could have played 14…de instead of 14…d4. “The position looked about equal but maybe it’s more pleasant to play it with White”, explained Russian player. Rustam Kasimdzhanov was defending 14…d4 and said the horrible mistake happened later, when he played 19…Ra8. “ I had to play 19…ab 20. ab and than Ra8. I think White is probably still better but this advantage has reasonable limits.” After 20.b4 White started to increase his positional advantage and after the first time control could be happy with the position on the board. “Black position was so hopeless,” said Rustam Kasimdzanove, nevertheless, Alexander Morozevich had to show good technique to convert his advantage into a full point.

Karjakin-Nakamura 1/2-1/2
The longest game of the first round (7 hours, 107 moves) started with the well-known position for both opponents, which has already appeared in their games before. Sergey Karjakin explained that 15…Qd8 was a new move for him and he should have played 16. 0-0 or 16.Bb6 instead of 16.f5, but blundered 17…Qc4. ”Here I’m slightly worse. I was already upset and had to defend till the end of the game,” said Russian player. “I felt that my position was much better. I don’t know if it’s winning but there were so many ideas and it was not easy to choose which one was worth a try,” said Hikaru Nakamura. White chose a bit passive defense but managed to hold the position. At the final point Black has two extra pawns but cannot improve his position. “Black can also put a few more white-square bishops on the board and still it will be a draw”, said Sergey Karjakin after the game.

Caruana-Radjabov 1:0
Teimour Radjabov chose to play Janisch Gambit in the Spanish against Fabiano Caruana, however Caruana looked prepared and surprised his opponent with 10.Na4. Azeri player chose the position with tripled pawns but was hoping to get some activity on the King’s side. Italian player made a few accurate moves and was left with a pleasant advantage. Step by step White exchanged some pieces and outplayed his opponent in the opposite colored bishops endgame.

Mamedyarov-Ponomariov 1/2-1/2
“I’m glad to make a draw with Black against such a good opponent as Shakhriyar”, said Ruslan Ponomariov at the press-conference. In the Queen's Gambit Declined Ukrainian player successfully defended slightly passive position. Mamedyarov didn’t manage to use the inactive position of the opponent’s pieces and after all pieces were changed, two lonely kings were left on the board.

Pictures and report by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich

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