World Cup: All Indians Knocked Out

Grandmaster and former national champion B. Adhiban bowed out of the chess World Cup after losing his second game on the trot against higher-ranked Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the third round in Tromso. (Left Photo B Adhiban) Overall, Peter Svidler, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Boris Gelfand and Gata Kamsky guaranteed their places in the fourth stage. Julio Granda Zuniga levelled the score by defeating Anish Giri to play the tiebreaks on August 19. Alexander Grischuk played the longest game of the round against Le Quang Liem and managed to level the score after 154 moves and 6.5 hours. Ten matches will be decided by tiebreaks. 

As regards the Indian challenge, losing the first game as white, Adhiban started the day in a must-win situation but his aspirations suffered setbacks as Nakamura scored another chance-less victory against the Indian.

Adhiban was the best-performing Indian in the event as compatriots G. Akash and Parimarjan Negi had crashed out in the first round itself against Fabiano Caruana of Italy and Yuri Kryvoruchko of Ukraine.

Krishnan Sasikiran found his nemesis in Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the second round of the 128-player knockout event.

World No. 2 Levon Aronian knocked out by...

World number two Levon Aronian of Armenia was sent packing too as he could not win in the return game against Evgeny Tomashevski of Russia and lost the two-games mini-match by 0.5-1.5 margin.

...Evgeny Tomashevski of Russia

Russian Alexander Grischuk however rose from his ashes to square it up against Le Quang Liem of Vietnam. It was a dead-drawn endgame on board which on another day was no problem for Liem.

  

Great fighting spirit: Alexander Grischuk

However, the pressure got to the Vietnamese as he squandered away the chance to be in last 16 and will have to now battle it out in the rapid tiebreaker.

Apart from victories by Grischuk and Nakamura, the day provided just one more decisive game and veteran Peruvian Grandmaster Julio Granda Zuniga benefitted at the expense of Dutchman Anish Giri.

Fighting for Peru: Julio Granada Zuniga

Incidentally, Anish had won the first game so this one too goes to the tie-break stage.

Adhiban went for the King’s Indian defence against Nakamura but the American just went for an equal variation that involved trading of queens early in the opening.

Seeking a victory desperately, Adhiban felt the heat and his attempts to complicate did not come good. Nakamura spotted an opportunity to sacrifice an exchange that sealed the fate of the game effectively and the American notched the victory in 40 moves.

Adhiban got $16,000 after his ouster out of which 20 per cent will be paid to FIDE as part of the regulations. The Indian had beaten Evgeny Alekseev of Russia in the first round and Alexander Fier of Brazil in the second. (All photos by Anastasiya Karlovich)

Results round 3 game 1: Levon Aronian (Arm) lost to Evgeny Tomashevsky (Rus) 0.5-1.5; Vladimir Malakhov (Rus) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Ita) 1-1, goes to tiebreak; Vloadimir Kramnik (Rus) drew with Alexander Areshchenko (Ukr) 1-1, goes to tiebreak; Le Quang Liem (Vie) v/s Alexander Grischuk (Rus) 1-1, goes to tiebreak; Sergey Karjakin (Ukr) drew with Pavel Eljanov (Ukr) 1-1, goes to tiebreak; B Adhiban (Ind) lost to Hikaru Nakamura (Usa) 0-2; Boris Gelfand (Isr) beat Alexander Moiseenko (Ukr) 1.5-0.5; Jon Ludvig Hammer (Nor) lost to Gata Kamsky (Usa) 0.5-1.5; S Mamedyarov (Aze) drew with Wei Yi (Chn) 1-1; M Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) beat Leinier Dominguez Perez (Cub) 1.5-0.5; Daniil Dubov (Rus) drew with Anton Korobov (Ukr) 1-1, goes to tiebreak; Dmitry Andreikin (Rus) drew with Aleksey Dreev (Rus) 1-1, goes to tiebreak; Peter Svidler (Rus) beat Teimour Radjabov (Aze) 1.5-0.5; Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) drew with Yuri Kryvoruchko (Ukr) 1-1, goes to tiebreak; Julio Granda Zuniga (Per) v/s Anish Giri (Ned) 1-1, goes to tiebreak; Nikita Vitiugov (Rus) drew with Alexander Morozevich (Rus) 1-1, goes to tiebreak.

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World Cup: Arbiter on Hao-Dreev Issue

Armenian Arbiter Ashot Vardapetyan explains the incident in the game Wang Hao - Alexei Dreev in detail.

I will try to answer to all the questions raised in the Russian site and hope you will find the answers interesting to you as well.

Indeed, I have read all the original Russian comments and I am sorry to find out that 90% of the people didn’t understand what happened on site. They chose to interpret everything from their point of view based on their imagination of “what could happen” or they just don’t comprehend the FIDE rules.

Let me note that it is not for the first time that such a situation happened in international events, including official events. In my practice, the last time I encountered such a situation was during the Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk. Such situations were discussed during the FIDE Rules Commission meetings with a general opinion formulation at the end.

Moreover, many lecturers discuss such situations during the FIDE Arbiters’ seminars. I am sorry, that many readers, including chess players and arbiters, voiced their decisive opinions without the command of chess rules’ nuances.

The situation is very simple. Let us again discuss the situation:

1. Before claiming a draw, Wang Hao offered a draw to his opponent as it is obvious that after the planned move is made, the position will be repeated 3 times. Getting no response from his opponent, Wang Hao claimed a draw by telling the planned move to the arbiter. According the Rules he may not stop the clock while claiming a draw.

2. The arbiter was right when he did not react on the claim as there was an obvious failure in procedure. Then after the second claim, the arbiter felt that Wang’s incorrect procedure claim disturbed his opponent. Because of this, he stopped the clock.

3. The Chief Arbiter added time to Dreev's time to punish Wang Hao for disturbing his opponent. This is in accordance to the rule.

4. Dreev did not understand why his time was added, telling all that he has no connection with any of this. (The reader who made own assumptions, could hardly understand that by watching the video).

5. Finally, after clarifying the situation and adding more time to Dreev’s clock, the arbiter re-started the clock.

Here, let us make a note: in fact, no claim of draw (neither correct nor incorrect) is recorded at this moment since Wang did not write down his next intended move on the score sheet. There was only wrong behavior (procedure failure) that disturbed the opponent in time trouble. At least this was recorded by the arbiters.

6. The fact that Wang Hao told the move he was planning to make could have no consequence as the move was not written down.

7. It was clear that Wang Hao understood his mistake after the arbiter’s first intervention (and not after the arbiter’s tip) and was indifferent to the punishment of adding time to his opponent’s clock.

8. He wrote down the move immediately after the game was restarted, stopped the clock, and claimed a draw with no procedure failure, according to the FIDE Rules of Chess.
Let us note that in the first case, if he wrote down a move which would bring to incorrect claim, indeed, he would make exactly that move and on that move he would have no right of three times repetition claim.

9. Then Dreev, probably, taking into no account of that nuance claimed that his opponent lost the right of claim on that move and all the rest conversations and explanations were only and only on that issue.

10. Finally, the two sides agreed on three fold repetition and no checking of position was required as the claim of draw is also the draw offer that is recorded immediately upon the sides agreeing to it.

I would like to thank all the minority who made the efforts to invite attention on the facts rather than speculation as there was really no mistake by the arbiters in this case.

Hopefully, this will satisfy all the curiosity about this situation.

Ashot Vardapetyan
Councillor of the RTRC

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World Cup: Adhiban in Round 3

Grandmaster and former national champion B.Adhiban made the most of his opportunities to beat Brazilian Grandmaster Alexander Fier in the second round and advance to the third round of the chess World Cup here.

After drawing the first game as white Adhiban made good use of his opportunities as Fier went berserk while trying to attack and lost a piece and the game soon after.

The other Indian left in the fray -- Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran -- again did well to hold the Russian world number nine Sergey Karjakin to tie the two games match 1-1 and set up a tie-break contest to start with the rapid games.

Chinese teenage sensation Wei Yi continued with his demolition act and ousted highly-regarded Alexei Shirov of Latvia after winning the second game. In the first round, Yi had beaten Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia.

Sasikiran plays the tiebreak against Russian Sergey Karjakin on Friday - watch live India time 6.30 pm. Will he go to Round 3 as well?

Among the higher seeds, Levon Aronian of Armenia, Alexander Grischuk of Russia, Fabiano Caruana of Italy and Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine cruised in to the third round effectively at the expense of Mikhail Markovof and Dariusz Swierczof of Poland, Yu Yangyi of China and Ray Robson of United States respectively.

However, Gata Kamsky of United States and former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia were stretched to the tiebreaker by Russians Alexander Shimanov and Mikhail Kobalija.

Among other fancied players, Anish Giri of Holland accounted for Li Chao of China for the second time in two days while Hikaru Nakamura of United States did not disappoint his fans and moved to the last 32 defeating Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan by 1.5-0.5 margin.

Adhiban stole the thunder showing determination and skill to hold a difficult position against Fier.

It was a Four Knights opening by Fier that gave excellent position to the Brazilian as white but he soon crumbled impatiently while going for a quick checkmate with a piece sacrifice.

Adhiban digested the extra piece with remarkable ease and proved that white’s attack was only optical.

Sasikiran went for the trusted Breyer defense as black against Karjakin and the Russian could not do much despite having the experience of playing at the top level. The game was drawn in just 23 moves.

Important and Indian results round 2 game 1: Evgeny Tomashevsky (Rus) beat So Wesley (Phi) 1.5-0.5; Alexander Morozevich (Rus) beat Rafael Leitao (Ger) 1.5-0.5; Gata Kamsky (Usa) v/s Aleksandr Shimanov (Rus) 1-1 goes to tiebreak; Alexei Shirov (Lat) lost to Wei Yi (Chn) 0.5-1.5; Alexander Grischuk (Rus) beat Dariusz Swiercz (Pol) 1.5-0.5; Krishnan Sasikiran (Ind) drew with Sergey Karjakin (Rus) 1-1, goes for tiebreak; Fabiano Caruana (Ita) beat Yu Yangyi (Chn) 1.5-0.5; Julio Granda Zuniga (Per) beat Peter Leko (Hun) 1.5-0.5; Anish Giri (Ned) beat Li Chao (Chn) 2-0; Leinier Dominguez Perez (Cub) beat Alexander Onischuk (Usa) 1.5-0.5; Ray Robson (Usa) lost to Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) 0-2; Hikaru Nakamura (Usa) beat Eltaj Safarli (Aze) 1.5-0.5; B Adhiban beat Alexandr Fier (Bra) 1.5-0.5; Anotn Korobov (Ukr) v/s Baadur Jobava (Geo) 1-1, goes to tiebreak.

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World Cup R2: Sasi, Adhiban Draw

Tromsø, Norway: Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran kept himself in the hunt by holding Sergey Karjakin of Russia to a draw in the first game of the second round of World Chess Cup here  on Wednesday.

After beating Romanian Constantin Lupulescu in the tiebreak games, Sasikiran took it easy in the first encounter of the two-game mini-match and gave little chance to Karjakin, ranked ninth in the world currently.

Grandmaster B Adhiban, however, could not make use of a good advantage and drew with Brazilian GM Alexander Fier after an opening tussle.

Former national champion, Sasikiran surprised Karjakin by going for the King's Indian attack as white.

Karjakin spent more time in the opening but it was clear that the Russian was well-prepared and was only trying to remember the best moves. As the middle game approached, Karjakin got his counter play rolling on the queen side and Sasikiran had to play a bit cautiously to avoid giving any leeway.

The minor pieces changed hands and when Karjakin traded the queens after which there was nothing left to fight for. The Russian proposed the draw that was accepted. The game lasted 44 moves.
 

B Adhiban

Adhiban missed out on gaining the lead. Fier came up with the Noteboom variation where the Indian opted for the razor-sharp Marshall gambit. Very early in the opening, Fier decided to part with his rook for a minor piece. In established theory that was quite unplayable and the Brazilian was soon under pressure.

The game, however, took a different route and Adhiban as a result spent a lot of time in the middle game, thereby falling a little under time pressure. Sensing trouble, the Indian proposed a draw after just 20 moves which Fier gladly accepted.

After a few surprises in the opener, most of the higher ranked players got off to a good start in the first game of second round in this USD 1.6 million knock-out event.

The day saw top players like Alexander Morozevich and Alexander Grischuk of Russia, Gata Kamsky of United States, Anish Giri of Holland and Fabiano Caruana of Italy registering victories over lower rated opponents.

Julio Granda Zuniga of Peru

Julio Granda Zuniga of Peru, however, sprang a major surprise defeating Hungarian Peter Leko. Isan Ortiz Suarez from Cuba suddenly lost to French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in a position with a huge advantage.

Alexander Morozevich blundered in a winning position but his opponent Rafael Leitao didn't see the winning shot and instead lost. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov didn’t convert a huge advantage against Maxim Matlakov, while Wang Hao got a three-time repetition in a lost position. Local hero Jon Ludvig Hammer, who defeated Sergey Movsesian in the previous round, drew with David Navara in a game where he had a better position, although it wasn't winning as he'd thought after the game.

Some players preferred not to take any risks in the first game and didn’t mind a short draw. Peace agreements were signed relatively quickly in the games Dubov-Ponomariov, Bacrot-Moiseenko, Jakovenko-Eljanov, and Lysyj-Aronian (pictured above). The others fought for many hours but the positions remained balanced in the Kobalia-Kramnik and Svidler-Bologan games.

In the 12 decisive games the victories for White outnumbered Black by 10 to 2. Only Vassily Ivanchuk and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won with the black pieces.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had a winning position but lost his advantage in one move.
"Seems I’m getting old if I cannot win such positions," Mamedyarov wrote on his Facebook page.

The World Chess Cup is a part of the next World Championship cycle. The event started with 128 players but half of them were knocked out after the first round, including Parimarjan Negi and G Akash of India.

Each round, except the final, is a mini-match of two games followed by encounters of shorter duration in case of tied result.

Important and Indian results of Round 2 game 1:Igor Lysyj (RUS) drew with Levon Aronian (ARM); Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS) beat So Wesley (PHI); Alexander Morozevich (RUS) beat Rafael Leitao (GER); Gata Kamsky (USA) beat Aleksandr Shimanov (RUS); Alexei Shirov (LAT) drew with Wei Yi (CHN); Alexander Grischuk (RUS) beat Dariusz Swiercz (POL); Krishnan Sasikiran (IND) drew with Sergey Karjakin (RUS); Fabiano Caruana (ITA) beat Yu Yangyi (CHN); Julio Granda Zuniga (PER) beat Peter Leko (HUN); Anish Giri (NED) beat Li Chao (CHN); Leinier Dominguez Perez (CUB) beat Alexander Onischuk (USA); Ray Robson (USA) lost to Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR); Hikaru Nakamura (USA) beat Eltaj Safarli (AZE); B Adhiban (IND) drew with Alexandr Fier (BRA); Anotn Korobov (UKR) beat Baadur Jobava (GEO).

Watch all the games live at the official website of the World Chess Cup 2013. (Photos: Anastasiya Karlovich)

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Kasparov on Cori Forfeit at World Cup

Start of play and Jorge Cori is not in the playing hall as Teimour Radjabov waits at the board.

  

Jorge Cori rushing to the playing hall, but two minutes is too late. (Photos: Anastasiya Karlovich)

Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov has commented via twitter on the forfeit of 17-Year-old Peruvian Jorge Cori from 

Round 1 at the World Chess Cup 2013 due to a mistake in hearing the time of start of play. Cori mistook 15 for 50 and reached the venue two minutes late. By that time, Azerbaijani GM Teimour Radjabov had already signed the scoresheet and left. As a result Cori got a forfeit in his first tiebreak game. Kasparov tweeted the following on Tuesday:

"I have zero tolerance for FIDE's zero tolerance policy! Forfeiting a kid at the most important event of his life for being a minute late? Young Peruvian star Jorge Cori misunderstood 6:15 for 6:50 & wasn't at board at World Cup event. Forfeited, and in round 1! He's appealing.

"I have always promoted professionalism and treating chess as a serious sport, not a casual game.But rules like this destroy common sense.

"Struggling federations like Peru's cannot send a big staff of coaches & aides. Difficult just to send players! But FIDE taxes them anyway.

Kasparov retweeted World Cup Norway participant Jon Ludvig Hammer's tweet: "There really should be at least 33% players in the Appeals Committee!" [Three FIDE Officials are the members of the board]

Kasparov: "Players?! Ilyumzhinov's FIDE give players a real voice? Too dangerous!

Nothing to do with Cori's opponent. Obviously not Radjabov's fault. The foolish rule is the problem and I have said it before. "

*the chess world is abuzz with shocked opinions on the incident

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World Chess Cup: Sasi, Adhiban in R2

Former National champions B. Adhiban and Krishnan Sasikiran have made it to Round 2 of the Chess World Cup being played in Tromso, Norway.

Pitted against a much higher-rated rival, Adhiban displayed top form to beat Evgeny Alekseev of Russia 5-3, winning in the blitz tiebreaker while Sasikiran prevailed over Constantin Lupulescu of Romania 2.5-1.5 cruising past in the second rapid game to reach the round of 64.

Parimarjan Negi lost to Yuri Kryvoruchko of Ukraine in the mini-match. Parimarjan lost 2-4 but before that he won the first rapid tiebreaker as black. He blew it away with white pieces in the return game. Adhiban’s victory turned out to be the second biggest upset in the World cup so far after Wei Yi of China had beaten Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia.

Ranked way below, Adhiban showed a lot of determination and played with his heart out to beat Alekseev, a member of the top 50 club it he world rankings.

It started with the rapid tiebreaker wherein Adhiban drew the first blood but lost the return game. The stage was thus set for two 10-minutes each games that ended in draws.

Alekseev missed out on a clear advantage in the subsequent five-minutes each blitz game and ran out of time and in the second blitz game Adhiban gave no chances and picked up as many as three pawns before the Russian called it a day. Sasikiran gave a perfect display of technical chess to outplay Lupulescu.

Playing the white side of a Queen pawn game in the second rapid tiebreaker after drawing the first, Sasikiran weakened the king side with some precise moves in the middle game and launched an attack on the king side to knock down a pawn for no compensation. The rest was child’s play for the seasoned Indian.

Negi was unlucky yet again. In the normal games too he had won the first game with black pieces but could not make a draw as white and in the second too it was a similar story. Winning with black with a fine combination, Negi got a balanced position again as white but missed out in the endgame to let Kryvoruchko level the scores again.

In the next set of tiebreakers, Kryvoruchko won both games. Sasikiran has a tough challenge to tackle in Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the next round of this USD 1.6 million event.

Adhiban will take on Alexander Fier of Brazil in what is expected to be an even contest.

According to the regulations of the World Cup tiebreaks two rapid games are played at a rate of 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds per move. If the score is still tied two accelerated rapid games are played with a time control of 10 min + 10 sec. If the score is still deadlocked two blitz games are then played at 5 min + 3 sec. Finally, if a winner has still not been determined a sudden death Armageddon game takes place with 5 minutes for White and 4 minutes for Black with a 2 sec increment after move 60. In that game Black has draw odds (i.e. he wins if the game is drawn).

A total of 15 players were eliminated after the tiebreaks. In general, the favorites won their matches: Peter Svidler, Michael Adams, Alexander Morozevich, Dmitry Andreikin, Anton Korobov, Jobava Baadur and Alexei Dreev all went through to the next round. Georgian GM Jobava Baadur won against Ukrainian GM Martyn Kravtsiv with a 2-0 score. At the same time a few of the rating favorites were unexpectedly knocked out of the World Cup at this stage.

Norwegian player GM Hammer defeated Armenian GM Sergei Movsesian in the first game of the playoff and drew the second game, thus eliminating his more experienced opponent from the FIDE World Cup. Brazilian GM Alexander Fier defeated an opponent more than one hundred points higher rated, Polish GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek.

Women’s World Champion Anna Ushenina lost the first rapid game but could have upset Peter Svidler in the second. She missed her chance and the Russian player won the match. 

A total of 13 rapid matches finished drawn so 26 players continued their battles at the 10 min + 10 sec time control. Gata Kamsky, Alexei Shirov, Teimour Radjabov, Ruben Felgaer, Rafael Leitao, Eltaj Safarli, Viktor Bologan, Yuriy Kryvoruchko and Alexandr Shimanov were successful at that stage.Not an easy match for Gata Kamsky, who only managed to win the fifth game against Chinese IM Lou Yiping.

Hou Yifan and Alexei Shirov exchanged victories in rapid and continued their match. The Latvian player proved to be stronger at the 10 min + 10 sec time control. Despite the final outcome, the former Women’s World Champion showed great play in the event.

Jorge Cori Forfeit: Sad Event

After two draws in the classical games Azeri GM Teimour Radjabov struggled against GM Jorge Cori (Peru) in rapid – each won a game. The spectators were waiting for an exciting continuation at the 10 min+10 sec time control. Surprisingly, Cori didn’t appear in time for the first game. One second after the start of the round, Teimour Radjabov stopped the clock, signed the score sheet and left the playing hall, while Jorge Cori was running to the playing hall.

Using the advantage of the white pieces the Azeri player didn’t have any problem drawing the second game. After the end of the match GM Cori from Peru made an appeal. The decision of the Appeals Committee has been published here on the official website. Cori said he had heard wrong the start time and rushed to the hall only after seeing the players walk in via the live Internet feed. A little less than 2 minutes later Cori came to the playing hall and tried to explain what had happened. 

Also, an unfortunate day for Russian GM Alexander Riazantsev, who lost against Argentinian GM Ruben Felgaer. Four matches remained to be decided in blitz. Two Russian GMs Zvjaginsev and Alekseev were defeated by Polish GM Swiercz and Indian GM Adhiban respectively, while players on the two remaining boards reached Armageddon games.

Many participants of the tournament and spectators came to watch the matches Tomashevsky versus Ramirez and Melkumyan versus Granda Zuniga in the playing hall. Playing White Evgeny Tomashevsky defeated his opponent and Granda Zuniga, who played with Black and just needed to make a draw to advance, also managed to win.

The second round of the FIDE World Cup starts at 3 p.m. local time on 14th of August. 64 participants will continue playing but as before only half of them will advance to the next stage. You can watch the live broadcast of the Chess World Cup 2013 at the official website.

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World Chess Cup R1.2: Akash Exits

Caruana and Akash - Young talents

India's Parimarjan Negi let slip a position of strength and lost to Ukraine’s Yuri Kryvoruchko in the second game of the chess World Cup in Tromso. The shocking loss with white pieces means that Negi will have to now battle it out in the tie-break games of shorter duration as the final score after the two-game mini-match stands tied at 1-1.

G. Akash made his exit from the 128-player event with a memorable game wherein he held world No. 3 Caruana to a creditable draw with black pieces.

Having lost the first game of the match, the draw only helped Akash to gain some rating but this is one result he will cherish for a long time.

B. Adhiban played out his second draw with Evgeny Alekseev of Russia while K. Sasikiran achieved the same result against Constantin Lupulescu of Romania.

Negi was pretty unlucky not to progress to the round of 64. Kryvoruchko went for the Sicilian Dragon but his hopes of a combat in complications evaporated as Negi got slightly better position without much ado. Kryvoruchko had to part with a pawn also and it was smooth sailing for the Indian till disaster struck on move 42. Negi followed a mistake with a blunder and the fate of the game was soon sealed.

Sasikiran allowed the Nimzo Indian defence but could not force an advantage in the late middle game. Lupulescu, to his credit, handled the middle game well enough to remain in hunt for the next round.

Adhiban had slightly better prospects against former Russian champion Alekseev but to make progress was not easy for the Indian. Alekseev equalised towards the end and just repeated moves to force a draw.

In other important results, the world’s highest ranked woman Judit Polgar of Hungary was ousted by Isan Ortiz Suarez of Spain while defending champion Peter Svidler of Russia was shocked by women’s world champion Anna Ushenina.

Just as on day one there were plenty of fireworks on the second day of the FIDE World Cup in Tromsø. Thirteen players won their matches with a 2-0 score (not counting Alexander Moiseenko, whose opponent could not come to Tromsø).

While some victories with impressive results could be expected from top players such as Aronian, Kramnik, Grischuk, Nakamura and Dominguez, there were also a few 2-0 results produced by players with ratings lower than their opponents.

Russian GM Daniil Dubov managed to outplay experienced and higher rated Ukrainian GM Sergey Fedorchuk. American GM Ray Robson didn’t leave any chances for Ukrainian GM Andrei Volokitin by winning 2-0. One of the most surprising results for those who compare the ratings of opponents happened in the Nepomniachtchi-Wei match. The youngest participant of the event, Chinese GM Yi Wei (a nominee of FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov), defeated Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi 1.5-0.5.

The participants of the upcoming Women’s World Championship match Hou Yifan and Anna Ushenina are doing well so far. Anna Ushenina defeated Peter Svidler in his favorite Gruenfeld and Hou Yifan drew the second game against Alexei Shirov. The reigning and former Women’s World Champions will proceed to the playoff stage on Tuesday.

Judit Polgar, the strongest female player in the history of chess, lost out on a number of winning chances, drew against Cuban GM Isan Reynaldo Ortiz and lost the match. A total of 28 matches were undecided after two games at the classical time control and 56 players will continue to fight at 3 p.m. local time on August 13.
Russian GM Alexander Morozevich lost his first game, but managed to equalize.

Rising star from Russia GM Daniil Dubov defeated GM Sergey Fedorchuk 2-0 as well. GM Michael Adams made a second draw against Wan Yunguo of China. The strongest Chinese GM Wang Hao outplayed his compatriot Liu Qingnan. An unexpectedly quick elimination for Ukrainian GM Andrei Volokitin. Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk outplayed Polish IM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who upset him with a draw the day before.

The FIDE World Cup is a knockout which starts with 128 players and runs from August 10 to September 3rd. The top two players will qualify for the next FIDE Candidates Tournament which will take place in March 2014 and determine the challenger for the World Championship match in 2014.

The time control for each two-game match is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. If the score is equal there are two rapid chess tiebreak games, played at a rate of 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds per move. If the score is still equal then two accelerated games will be played, with a time control of 10 min + 10 sec. If the score is still equal two more games will be played at 5 min + 3 sec. If the winner is still not determined then a final Armageddon game with 5 minutes for White and 4 minutes for Black, with a 3 sec increment after move 60, will be played. In this game Black has draw odds (i.e. he wins if the game is drawn). 

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World Chess Cup R1: Negi Wins

World’s second youngest ever Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi of India outplayed higher-ranked Yuri Kryvoruchko of Ukraine in the first round of the World Chess Cup which began here.

Fresh from some strong performances including a recent victory in the Politiken Cup with a whopping 9/10 score, Negi proved that his warm up tactics before the World Cup were perfect as Kryvoruchko proved no match.

It turned out to be a mixed day for the Indians in the first round of this knockout event as B Adhiban held higher ranked Grandmaster Evegny Alekseev to a draw while Krishnan Sasikiran drew easily as black against Romanian Grandmaster Constantin Lupulescu.

Indian champion G Akash, however, lost his first game of the two-game mini-match against Fabiano Caruana of Italy.

Akash now needs a victory in the return game to stay in the hunt in the 128-players event.

Negi was the star of the day as he almost effortlessly outplayed Kryvoruchko in all departments of the game. Playing the black side of a Sicilian Scheveningen, Negi used a new idea that unsettled the Ukrainian early and showed precise technique to go one up.

Kryvoruchko now faces a daunting task to make a comeback as he has to win with black pieces.

Adhiban employed the Sicilian Taimanov and was happy to get the Fianchetto variation on board. Soon as the middle game arrived, Alekseev went for a direct attack on the king side only to realise soon that it was not intimidating enough.

 

Adhiban could have pressed for more but given his maiden appearance in the World Cup, a draw with black against much higher ranked Alekseev was a good result.

Apart from the Indians, the first day witnessed the top seeds win apart from a few surprises. The round started late due to a security check. A minute's silence was also observed in memory of Russian GM Kurnosov who passed away, at the age of 28, in a tragic road accident recently.

GM Alexander Morozevich lost to Canadian GM Bator Sambuev in the biggest upset of the day. GM Ray Robson beat the higher rated GM Andrey Volokitin. GM Gata Kamsky and GM Michael Adams drew against Chinese players Lou Yiping and Wan Yunguo respectively. Former Women’s World Champion Hou Yifan drew with GM Alexey Shirov, but reigning Women's World Champion Anna Ushenina lost to defending champion Peter Svidler. Four women are taking part in the FIDE World Cup in Tromso: Judit Polgar, Hou Yifan, Anna Ushenina and Deysi Cori. Judit Polgar also lost to GM Reynaldo Suarez Ortiz in a big upset.  

The first games of the opening round started in Tromso after Commissioner for Business, Culture and Sports of Tromso Municipality, Mr. Jonas Stein, made the first symbolic move in the Aronian-Markov game. (PTI and Agencies)

The FIDE World Cup is a knockout, starting with 128 players. Two games are played between each pair of players. The rate of play is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. If the score is equal there are two rapid chess tiebreak games (25 min + 10 sec), then, if the score is still tied, two accelerated games (10 min + 10 sec). If the score is still tied two blitz games will be played at 5 min + 3 sec, and if there is still no decision a final Armageddon game with 5 minutes for White and 4 minutes for Black, with a 3 sec increment after move 60, will be played. In this game Black has draw odds (i.e. he wins if the game is drawn). The winner and the runner-up of the World Cup 2013 will qualify for the Candidates Tournament of the next World Championship cycle.

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World Chess Cup Live from Aug 11

A chess feast is set so mark your calendar for the World Chess Cup 2013 from August 11-September 3 in Tromsø Norway. We are delighted to officially announce the 128 players in the FIDE World Cup 2013 in Tromsø. In the 1st round of the World Chess Cup 2013, the three top-seeded players GM Levon Aronian of Armenia, GM Fabiano Caruana of Italy and Russian GM Vladimir Kramnik face Mikhail Markov (2305) of Kyrgyzstan, IM G. Akash (2332) from India and FM Gillian Bwalya (2310) from Zambia respectively. Previous World Cup winner GM Peter Svidler of Russia faces reigning Women's World Chess Champion GM Anna Ushenina of Ukraine.

Watch the live broadcast of the World Chess Cup 2013 at the official website beginning Sunday, August 11.

G. Akash happens to be the youngest-ever Indian chess player to have won the Indian national chess title breaking Viswanathan Anand's record. He is participating in the event for the first time. The other Indians in the event are Parimarjan Negi, B Adhiban and Krishnan Sasikiran.  

The World Chess Cup 2013 is a part of the World Championship Cycle 2012-2014. The winner and the runners-up will qualify for the Candidates of the World Championship cycle 2012-2014. There are 128 qualifiers (in order of priority): World Champion + four (4) semi-finalists from the World Cup 2011, Women’s World Champion, World Junior U-20 Champions 2011 & 2012, eighteen (18) rated players as described in 3.1.2, ninety (92) players from Continental Championships, six (6) FIDE President nominees, four (4) organiser nominees.

There will be six (6) rounds of matches comprising two (2) games per round, with the winners progressing to the next round, plus the final seventh (7th) round comprising of four (4) games.

Here is the official video of the World Chess Cup 2013.

Side Chess Events
Tromsø Chess Club (TSK) and Tromsø Youth Chess Club (TSKU) are organizing a series of open tournaments on the sidelines of the World Chess Cup 2013. Title players who get knocked out from the World Cup will play in these tournaments. Arctic Chess NGP, an international weekend tournament, will be held on 16-18th August as a seven-round swiss open. The total prize fund is 5000 EUR.
A Main: 1000-600-400; Elo-2300: 500-300-200; Elo–2000: 250-150-100
B Main: 500-300-200; Elo-1500: 250-150-100
The first three rounds will be played with the time control 20′+5”, while the remaining four rounds will be played with classical 90′+30”.
The legendary TSKU chess cafe will be operating outside the playing venue throughout the tournament.
Registration
Chief Arbiter: Trond Romsdal
Arbiter: Øyvind Pedersen
Organizer: Jan Sigmund Berglund (+47 992 79 489)

An exclusion

One of the strongest Egyptian Grandmasters Ahmed Adly will have to skip the event due to obligatory service in the Egyptian Army. Adly told The Chess Drum that he had exhausted all efforts including the submission of an official letter from the Ministry of Sports. The other Egyptian players (GM Bassem Amin, GM Essam El-Gindy and IM Samy Shoker) were not affected.

The complete players' list is as follows:
For the pairings please see the Results and Pairings page.

a) 2011 World Cup semi-finalists
01. P. Svidler (RUS)
02. A. Grischuk (RUS)
03. V. Ivanchuk (UKR)
04. R. Ponomariov (UKR)

b) 2012 Women's World Champion
05. A. Ushenina (UKR)

c) 2011 and 2012 Junior World Champions
06. D. Swiercz (POL)
07. A. Ipatov (TUR)

d) 18 players based on their average FIDE rating from 3/2012 to 1/2013
08. L. Aronian (ARM) 2816.22
09. V. Kramnik (RUS) 2798.88
10. T. Radjabov (AZE) 2789.22
11. S. Karjakin (RUS) 2777.44
12. F. Caruana (ITA) 2775.44
13. H. Nakamura (USA) 2772.77
14. A. Morozevich (RUS) 2760.44
15. G. Kamsky (USA) 2748.55
16. S. Mamedyarov (AZE) 2744.88
17. Wang Hao (CHN) 2739.11
18. B. Gelfand (ISR) 2738.44
19. P. Leko (HUN) 2731.11
20. E. Tomashevsky (RUS) 2728.77
21. L. Dominguez (CUB) 2727.44
22. M. Adams (ENG) 2721.66
23. R. Wojtaszek (POL) 2721.55
24. A. Giri (NED) 2715.33
25. I. Nepomniachtchi (RUS) 2709.00
26. A. Shirov (LAT) 2708.33

e) 46 players from the 2012 and 2013 European Championships
27. D. Jakovenko (RUS) 2012
28. L. Fressinet (FRA) 2012
29. V. Malakhov (RUS) 2012
30. D. Andreikin (RUS) 2012
31. E. Inarkiev (RUS) 2012
32. M. Matlakov (RUS) 2012
33. V. Bologan (MDA) 2012
34. F. Vallejo Pons (ESP) 2012
35. Y. Kryvoruchko (UKR) 2012
36. S. Azarov (BLR) 2012
37. E. Najer (RUS) 2012
38. V. Akopian (ARM) 2012
39. A. Volokitin (UKR) 2012
40. J. Smeets (NED) 2012
41. C.B. Gawain Jones (ENG) 2012
42. N. Vitiugov (RUS) 2012
43. E. Bacrot (FRA) 2012
44. A. Dreev (RUS) 2012
45. D. Khismatullin (RUS) 2012
46. M. Kobalia (RUS) 2012
47. V. Durarbeyli (AZE) 2012
48. A. Riazantsev (RUS) 2012
49. B. Jobava (GEO) 2012
50. A. Moiseenko (UKR) 2013
51. E. Alekseev (RUS) 2013
52. E. Romanov (RUS) 2013
53. A. Beliavsky (SLO) 2013
54. C. Lupulescu (ROU) 2013
55. S. Movsesian (ARM) 2013
56. H. Melkumyan (ARM) 2013
57. A. Korobov (UKR) 2013
58. I. Lysyj (RUS) 2013
59. A. Shimanov (RUS) 2013
60. A. Areshchenko (UKR) 2013
61. P. Eljanov (UKR) 2013
62. M. Kravtsiv (UKR) 2013
63. D. Dubov (RUS) 2013
64. M. Ragger (AUT) 2013
65. Z. Hracek (CZE) 2013
66. I. Popov (RUS) 2013
67. S. Brunello (ITA) 2013
68. S. A. Fedorchuk (UKR) 2013
69. E. Postny (ISR) 2013
70. V. Zvjaginsev (RUS) 2013
71. A. Istratescu (FRA) 2013
72. E. Safarli (AZE) 2013

f) 20 players from the Americas
73. G. Kaidanov (USA) Continental 2012
74. J. Granda Zuniga (PER) Continental 2012
75. A. Shabalov (USA) Continental 2012
76. E. Hansen (CAN) Continental 2012
77. A. Ramirez (USA) Zonal 2.1
78. A. Onischuk (USA) Zonal 2.1
79. C. Holt (USA) Zonal 2.1
80. L. M. Christiansen (USA) Zonal 2.1
81. R. Robson (USA) Zonal 2.1
82. I. R. Ortiz Suarez (CUB) Continental 2013
83. D. Flores (ARG) Continental 2013
84. J. Cori (PER) Continental 2013
85. D. Cori T. (PER) Continental 2013
86. R. Felgaer (ARG) Zonal 2.5
87. S. Mareco (ARG) Zonal 2.5
88. R. Leitao (BRA) Zonal 2.4
89. A. Fier (BRA) Zonal 2.4
90. B. Sambuev (CAN) Zonal 2.2
91. L. Bruzon (CUB) (Zonal 2.3)
92. E. Iturrizaga (VEN) (Zonal 2.3)

g) 20 players from Asia/Oceania
93. Negi Parimarjan (IND) Continental 2012
94. Yu Yangyi (CHN) Continental 2012
95. Salem A. R. Saleh (UAE) Continental 2012
96. Liu Qingnan (CHN) Continental 2012
97. Oliver Barbosa (PHI) Continental 2012
98. Nguyen Ngoc Trung Son (VIE) Zonal 3.3
99. Wesley So (PHI) Zonal 3.3
100. G. Akash (IND) Zonal 3.7
101. Z. Rahman (BAN) Zonal 3.2
102. Lou Yiping (CHN) Zonal 3.5
103. Wan Yunguo (CHN) Zonal 3.5
104. Li Chao B (CHN) Continental 2013
105. M. Paragua (PHI) Continental 2013
106. Le Quang Liem (VIE) Continental 2013
107. B. Adhiban (IND) Continental 2013
108. K. Sasikiran (IND) Continental 2013
109. I. Bjelobrk (AUS) Zonal 3.6
110. Darini Pouria (IRI) Zonal 3.1
111. A. Filippov (UZB) Zonal 3.4
112. M. Markov (KGZ) Zonal 3.4

h) 6 players from Africa
113. Amin Bassem (EGY) Continental 2013
114. A. Adly (EGY) Continental 2013
115. E. El Gindy (EGY) Continental 2013
116. Ali Sebbar (MAR) Zonal 4.1
117. S. Shoker (EGY) Zonal 4.2
118. Gillian Bwalya (ZAM) Zonal 4.3

i) 6 nominees of the FIDE President
119. M. Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)
120. Hou Yifan (CHN)
121. J. Polgar (HUN)
122. D. Navara (CZE)
123. J-K. Duda (POL)
124. Wei Yi (CHN)

j) 4 nominees of the local organising committee
125. Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR)
126. Simen Agdestein (NOR)
127. Leif Erlend Johannessen (NOR)
128. Torbjorn Ringdal Hansen (NOR)

Total = 128 players

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FIDE Chess Online Arena Launched

FIDE has just launched the online chess playing arena in its beta version. Here is the announcement by FIDE president:

I am proud to announce today's launch of the limited test version of FIDE online arena, FIDE's official Internet playing platform developed in co-operation with CNC. In October 2013, after the Executive Board meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, the fully operational version of FIDE online arena will be in service and available all over the world.

FIDE firmly believes that online chess offers enormous opportunities for millions of chess lovers who are unable to regularly participate in over-the-board events for a variety of reasons: professional and family commitments, problems reaching tournaments and other difficulties, etc.

Now FIDE makes the virtual real with an online arena that allows players to compete in top class tournaments with official FIDE ratings. The attractiveness and ease of online chess will also draw millions of new players - in particular the young. FIDE online arena will be an important step in achieving my goal of '1 billion chess players' throughout the world.

As you know, there are many chess playing platforms. However, FIDE online arena has a unique feature that completely sets it apart: a highly sophisticated chess anti-cheating system, AceGuard. Until now, it has been impossible to award official ratings for online chess because of the difficulty in preventing cheating. Now AceGuard will be an invaluable tool in Fide's fight against cheaters and we would like to praise the PremiumChess company for developing this revolutionary technology and to congratulate CNC for bringing this service to FIDE.

When the full version of FIDE online arena starts in October, every move of every game played by full arena members will be monitored and extensively analyzed by the anti-cheating system and a special team of experts, creating a fair playing venue for all. While it is not possible to prevent some players from cheating, this constant highly detailed monitoring guarantees that they can be successfully identified and appropriate action taken. Every member's playing history is evaluated with a Fairness Index rating, allowing you to see quickly if an opponent is reliable or not.

In addition, FIDE online arena offers a complete chess experience online: challenge games and tournaments, master challenge matches and simuls, free master lessons and lectures, full statistical analysis, broadcasts of major FIDE events, chat, game files, multi-lingual interface and much more - all from the comfort of your home or anywhere elsewhere you happen to be.

So now you can enjoy all the features that FIDE online arena has to offer and very soon play in official FIDE events night or day, seven days a week.

Enjoy it! http://www.arena.myfide.net

Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov

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Kosteniuk Writes Chess History

For the first time in Switzerland’s 113-year chess history, a woman has been able to win both the women’s and men’s national chess titles. Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk has conquered the top step on both podiums last week in Grächen, Switzerland. Thanks to her dual Swiss-Russian citizenship, Alexandra Kosteniuk has been invited to fight for the National Swiss Championship for the 5th year in a row. The last 4 years she was close to the top but not quite first, the winners last years have been Grandmasters Viktor Kortchnoi (2009 and 2011), Yannick Pelletier (2010), and Joe Gallagher (2012).
This year’s Swiss championship took place in the beautiful mountain resort Grächen (close to Zermatt). The event started with 8 GM’s and 8 IM’s, the strongest being GM’s Bauer, Stojanovic, Sokolov and Miezis, and the highest ranked fighting for the Swiss title were Gallagher, Kosteniuk, Gerber, Lötscher, Buss, Klauser and Carron.

The last round was critical, Alexandra drew GM Bauer (Elo 2637) and got 6.5/9: But IM Buss and GM Gallagher also finished with 6.5/9, so according to the rules of the championship the top 2 players according to Bukhholz had to play a tie-break match of 2 games. Alexandra won both games against IM Buss and became the first woman to win the men’s Swiss Championship.

So the men’s podium was as follows: 1. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk 2. IM Ralph Buss 3. GM Joe Gallagher. The women’s podium was as follows: 1. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk 2. WFM Laura Stoeri 3. WGM Barbara Hund. The traditional photo all Swiss champions, from left to right: FM Vjekoslav Vulevic (Seniors), GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (both Men and Women), Aurélien Pomini (U-16), and André Meylan (U-18):

You can find lots of more photos, game and reports at Chess Queen Alexandra Kosteniuk's personal blog at www.chessqueen.com.

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India Wins World U-16 Chess

India regained the team title in World Youth (Under-16) Chess Olympiad after a gap of five years with a resounding victory over Iran in the final round in Chongqing, China on Monday. The Indian quartet of S A Gagare, Murali Karthikeyan, Diptayan Ghosh and Sayantan Das beat Iran 3.5-0.5 in the 10th round to top the team standings with 30.5 points ahead of heavyweight Russia, who took second spot with 30 points, and Turkey (third with 26 points). 

The Indian team won eight ties while drawing twice. This is India`s third title in this prestigious team event having won it previously in Singapore 2007 and Turkey 2008. International Master Gagare gave India a bright start by defeating Ahmad Asgari Zadeh before Karthikeyan drew his game against woman international master Sarasadat Khademalsharieh. 

That was the only time Iran could pose a challenge in the tie as Ghosh and Das -- both Kolkata-based -- came up with impressive performances to beat Shahin Lorpari Zangeneh and Seyed Khalil Mousavi Palatkaleh respectively. Going through a purple patch, Sayantan, who had recently won Under-10 Nationals, clinched gold in the fourth board that also confirmed his IM title. He had got his first IM norm in 2009 and 3rd-and-last one in Bhubaneswar Grandmasters meet this year. 

Sayantan, who has all age group national titles in his kitty, garnered 7.5 points out of nine games in this 10-round event en route to the gold, while Diptayan clinched a silver in the third board with 8.5 points out of 10. Gagare (6/9) and Karthikeyan (6.5/10) won bronze in the first and second boards respectively. India had started the Olympiad as second seed and also scored an important win against the top seed Russians. (PTI)

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Help Slovenia WIM Vesna Rožič

Appeal: 19.7.2013 (via Chessbase) - Vesna Rožic , 27, has played for her country in six Mitropa Cups, four European Championships and four Chess Olympiads. She is the second strongest Slovenian player, after world number four Anna Muzychuk. Now she has been struck by a very serious condition, metastatic peritoneal cancer. Always a fighter Vesna is determined not to give up but to combat the disease. For this she needs our help. 

Chessbase received this letter from Rožič's father:
Dear Sir,

I turn to you with a request for a donation for the cancer treatment of my 26-year-old daughter Vesna Rožič. Vesna is a final year student of the Faculty of Medicine and a permanent member of the Slovenian chess team. In May this year she became seriously ill. The doctors diagnosed metastatic peritoneal carcinoma. Since Vesna fighter by nature, she has decided that we shall all work together to combat the cancer.

Vesna's treatment was initiated in Slovenia, where she has already received two cycles of systemic chemotherapy. This is not enough to cure the disease. We contacted the Medias Klinikum GmbH, Burghausen, Germany, where Vesna will receive further treatment. Doctors estimate that it will require at least three cycles of local chemotherapy. Each cycle costs between 15,000 and 20,000 Euros. These treatment costs are very high. We are able to pay for the first cycle of local chemotherapy in Germany, but turn to you and ask you to help us collect donations to pay the remaining costs of Vesna's treatment.

Maybe I did not say everything I wanted at the moment, but my distress and the hardship in our family is so great that I cannot do any better.

Yours sincerely,
Adrijan Rožič

The Slovenia Chess Federation has asked Chessbase, on behalf of the Rožič family, to help raise funds needed for Vesna's difficult struggle for life. Every Euro that is donated will be appreciated.

Donations should be addressed to the Regional Association of the Red Cross Maribor, IBAN: SI56 0451 5000 0397 432, Ref: 50751, purpose: Vesna Rožic. All funds received will be reserved exclusively for the payment of expenses for Vesna's treatment in Germany. In the event that more funds than necessary will be raised the remaining money will be allocated to the development of young chess players and chess activities of the Slovenia Chess Federation. – Primoz Kokalj, Secretary of the Slovenian Chess Federation.

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India Sweeps Commonwealth Chess

Port Elizabeth, South Africa: Grandmaster and former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta won the Commonwealth Chess Championship after settling for a draw with Indian national title-holder G. Akash in the 11th and final round that concluded here at the Boardwalk. (Photo: Officials and players at the venue)

Putting a solid performance right through the tournament, Gupta scored nine points out of a possible eleven and had the best tiebreak score to win the gold medal in the championship that also incorporated the South African International open.

Expectedly it was a clean sweep of medals as veteran Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua got the silver medal and Grandmaster M.R. Lalith Babu won the bronze.

Among women, Soumya Swaminathan won the silver medal, while national women’s champion Mary Ann Gomes won the bronze. The gold in this category went to International Master Jovanka Houska of England.

The Indians also swept the junior section with G. Akash winning the gold, Sahaj Grover getting silver and Rakesh Kulkarni securing the bronze medal. Kulkarni also won the South African open blitz championship. (PTI)

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Negi is Joint Winner World Open 2013

India's young Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi finished tied first with 10 others and shared the prize money of $43,000 at the World Open Chess in Arlington, Virginia. According to information reaching here, another Indian Grandmaster, Magesh Panchanathan finished 11th in the tournament that concluded Sunday.

The 41st Annual World Open was held from June 29-July 7, 2013, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, 2799 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia.

World Open 2013 had a very close and exciting finish Sunday morning with a 10-way tie for the first place in the Open Section. It was the second time that Negi was jointly declared the winner. Earlier this week, Negi won the DC Open title by scoring 7.5/9, clearly half point ahead of his nearest rival at the same venue.

The full list of GMs who tied for first at the 2013 World Open include: GM Lazaro Bruzon, of Cuba; GM Viktor Laznicka, of the Czech Republic; GM Tamaz Gelashvili, of Georgia (the country); GM Varuzhan Akobian, of Kansas; GM Quesada Yunieski, of Cuba; GM Sergey Erenburg, of Pennsylvania; GM Parimarjan Negi, of India; GM Alejandro Ramirez, of Texas; and GM Yury Shulman, of Illinois.

GM Akobian earned the title of World Open champion in a Armageddon game victory over GM Yunieski, in which Akobian had black and draw odds but Yunieski had a 5 to 3 minute time advantage. The tiebreak was played between the two GMs with the best tiebreak score.

Akobian also took a bonus prize for this win, for a total payout of 3990.90. GM Varuzhan Akobian said players usually have to score 7 points to share the World Open first place prize money with just a few players. Akobian won the World Open outright in 2004 with 7.5 points and was one of nine players to win the World Open in 2007 with 6.5 points. (Agencies)

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Beijing Chess GP Begins July 3

FIDE and Chinese Chess Association are pleased to announce the fifth stage of the FIDE Grand Prix Series will be held in Beijing (China) between the 3rd and 17th of July 2013. New Century Grand Hotel will host the players and the playing venue will be at the premises of the Chinese Chess Association.

The opening ceremony will take place at the New Century Grand Hotel at 8 p.m. on the 3rd of July. The games start at 3 p.m. local time except the last round. The prize fund to be shared by the players in Beijing is 170,000 EUR, while a further 70,000 EUR is being provided to the accumulated prize fund for the overall Grand Prix series standings.

The players' list in Beijing is impressive with former World Champion Veselin Topalov trying to repeat his performance in Zug, Switzerland earlier this year and clinching one of the two places for the forthcoming Candidates tournament in 2014.

He will be challenged by several world class players. Boris Gelfand, coming hot from his recent epic victory in Moscow Tal memorial will be one of the prime challengers as will be Shakhriyar Mamedyarov who has had a very good month of June starting with winning the world Rapid Championship in Khanty Mansiysk. Also not to forget world top ten players such as Sergey Karjakin, Alexander Grischuk as well as former Candidates players Vasily Ivanchuk, Peter Leko.

GM Teimur Radjabov has withdrawn from the Beijing Grand Prix for personal reasons and has been replaced by GM Wang Yue from China. The top Chinese player Wang Hao, who placed fourth in overall Grand Prix at the moment, will also play in Beijing.
There will be a systematic renewal of images, reports and press-conferences with the players on the official page of the tournament: beijing2013.fide.com.

Time control: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then each player will be allotted 15 minutes after the second time control and an increment of 30 seconds per move will be allowed from move 61 onwards.
The Grand Prix Series consists of six tournaments to be held over two years (2012-2013). 18 top players participate in 4 of these 6 tournaments. The winner and second placed player overall of the Grand Prix Series will qualify for the Candidates Tournament to be held in March 2014.

Players
Gelfand, Boris ISR
Giri, Anish NLD
Grischuk, Alexander RUS
Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR
Kamsky, Gata USA
Karjakin, Sergey RUS
Leko, Peter HUN
Mamedyarov, Shakriyar AZE
Morozevich, Alexander RUS
Topalov, Veselin BUL
Wang, Hao CHN
Wang, Yue CHN

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Humpy Wins Dilijan Chess Grand Prix

India's chess pride Grandmaster Koneru Humpy has won the FIDE Women’s Chess Grand Prix in Dilijan, Armenia, this Friday. She finished the tournament with a fantastic performance even piccking up a win in the final round against Mongolia’s Tuvshintugs Batchimeg. 

The top seed from Vijayawada scored eight points from 11 rounds which was a full point ahead of Slovenia’s Anna Muzychuk, the second seed, and Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia. Humpy was the only unbeaten player in the field that contained 12 of the top women chess players in the world.

The other Indian chess player who attended the tournament, D. Harika, played well and finished with five points and tied for the sixth place, after drawing with former World Chess Champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria.

The FIDE Grand Prix is a six-part series that will determine the challenger for the 2015 Women’s World Chess Championship.

Koneru Humpy's victory at the Dilijan Chess Grand Prix included draw with D Harika, win over Elina Danielian, draw with Anna Ushenina, win over Tatiana Kosintseva, draw with Bela Khotenashvili, win over Anna Muzychuk, win over Anna Stefanova, draw with Viktorija Cmilyte, draw with Nana Dzagnidze,  draw with Olga Girya and a win over Batchimeg Tuvshintugs.


The standings: 1. Humpy 8; 2-3. Muzychuk and Dzagnidze 7; 4. Kosintseva 6; 5. Ushenina 5.5; 6-8. Stefanova, Batchimeg & Harika 5; 9-11.Girya, Cmylite & Danielian 4.5; 12. Khotenashvili 4.

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Geneva Chess Masters 2013 Live 7 pm

The Geneva Chess Masters Festival 2013 is taking place from June 26-30 at the Pitoeff Theatre, a renovated cathedral in the centre of Geneva. The main event will be the highlight of the big chess festival that includes two open chess tournaments and several age-group event for players U-10, U-12 and U-14.

The main event - a rapid masters - will have (two groups of four each in the single-round robin format) former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, former US champion Hikaru Nakamura, top-rated woman player Judit Polgar, former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Etienne Bacrot, Yannick Pelletier and Romain Edouard. Each group will have the top two players advance to the semi-finals. 

Every match between 2 players consists of 2 games of 25 minutes + 10 seconds; if it’s necessary a tie-break of two games of 4 minutes + 2 seconds will be played; in case of a tie, a decisive game with 4 minutes + 2 seconds for white and 3 minutes + 2 seconds for black (with draw odds) will be necessary. Watch the games live at the official website of the Geneva Chess Festival 2013.

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Gelfand Wins Tal Chess 2013

World champion Viswanathan Anand ended his campaign with an easy draw against Sergey Karjaikin of Russia in the ninth and final round of Tal Memorial Chess tournament that concluded here.

Boris Gelfand of Israel, who had lost to Anand in the last World championship match, deservingly won the tournament after signing peace with Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in the final round.

Gelfand finished with six points in all and remained a half point ahead of World number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway who ended on 5.5 points following a last round draw against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan.

Mamedyarov and Dmitry Andreikin of Russia and Fabiano Caruana of Italy finished tied third on five points, a half point ahead of Hikaru Nakamura of United States who succumbed to his third straight loss in the tournament after losing the final game against Alexander Morozevich of Russia.

Karjakin finished seventh on four points while Anand and Morozevich are tied for the eighth spot on 3.5 points each. Kramnik ended a disappointing last on just three points.

The last round was devoid of much excitement for obvious reasons. Kramnik just wanted to finish the tournament and did not do much with white against Gelfand who secured an easy draw.

With black, Anand too did not have to sweat much against Karjakin out of a Sicilian Najdorf that was drawn early.

Carlsen wanted to catch up with Gelfand at the top but he was lucky in fact to come out unscathed against Mamedyarov who played an enterprising game with white. Carlsen had to solve some tactical problems in the middle game and technical problems in the endgame to split the point.

Nakamura had beaten Anand in the sixth round but his luck apparently deserted him thereafter. In the seventh round he had lost to Gelfand, in the eighth Carlsen had proved stronger while in the final round Alexander Morozevich scored his first victory in the tournament at the expense of the American.

For Anand the bad showing here is going to reflect on his rating. With 2774 points after the outing here, Anand finds himself on seventh spot in world rankings.

For the records, Anand lost three games, won one and drew the remaining five. Kramnik was in similar shoes and lost three and drew six.

Caruana seems to be drawing closer to the 2800 rating mark with every tournament. The Italian is the new world number three in live ratings behind Carlsen and Levon Aronian of Armenia. (PTI)

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Norway Chess R2: Carlsen, Anand Draw

SANDNES: World champion Viswanathan Anand won the psychological battle holding his world championship challenger Magnus Carlsen of Norway to an easy draw in the second round of the Norway Chess 2013 Super tournament in progress here.

The much awaited clash turned out to be a full entertainer to the audience as Carlsen tried but could not make much use of his white pieces in a keenly contested game arising out of a Sicilian defence.

Both Carlsen and Anand inched to one point out of a possible two in the 10-player round-robin tournament following a draw in the opener too.

The other game to end early was a damp squib between former world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan while Levon Aronian came up with a fine effort to outclass Hikaru Nakamura of United States.

In the other two games Sergey Karjakin crashed through the defences of Jon Ludvig Hammer of Norway and, in a surprise, Peter Svidler of Russia was outdone by Wang Hao of China.

After the end of the second round, Karjakin emerged as sole leader with a perfect two points out of a possible two and he is now followed by Aronian a half point behind.

Anand, Svidler, Nakamura, Calrsen, Topalov and Wang Hao share the fourth spot on one point each while Radjabov is ninth with ahalf point in his kitty. With seven rounds still to come, Hammer is at the bottom of the tables, yet to open his account.

Anand went for the principled Sicilian defence against Carlsen. The Norwegian had beaten Anand in the Moscow variation last time out and he stuck to the same but Anand was much better prepared this time. While the position remained equal Carlsen still had that nagging advantage he wanted to encash and Anand had to be precise in the defence even though it was not too difficult.

A rook and knight endgame was reached early and thereafter all Anand had to do was to get rid of the pawns off the board. The game was drawn with Carlsen having an extra knight but no pawns on the board on move 59.

Aronian crushed Nakamura out of an exchange Slav that speaks volumes about the world No 3. The position was about level out of the opening but the Armenian obviously had more ideas.

Nakamura thought he was fine when giving white a queen side pawn majority but he was proven wrong in the endgame as Aronian made most of it. In the end, the American fought vainly after losing a rook for lmost nothing. As it happened, nothing came of it and he had to resign after 70 moves.

Wang Hao played the game of the day outwitting Svidler in his pet Grunfeld. The Chinese was in command early in the opening and did not falter even while reaching an advantageous end-game.

Hammer lost with white which is certain to dent his confidence. Karjakin did everything right after getting a better endgame and won in 54 moves. (PTI)

Results: Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 1) drew with V Anand (Ind, 1); Veselin Topalov (Bul, 1) drew with Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 0.5); Levon Aronian (Arm, 1.5) beat Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 1); Jon Ludvig Hammer (Nor, 0) lost to Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 1); Wang Hao (Chn, 1) beat Peter Svidler (Rus, 1).

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Norway Chess Round 1

SANDNES: World champion Viswanthan Anand could do little with white pieces as his opponent Levon Aronian of Armenia held him to an easy draw in the first round of Norway Chess 2013 super tournament that got underway in Sandnes.

It turned out to be rather sedate Anand who has got a tough draw in the tournament. White pieces against most of the top seeds and black against lower ranked players means that the Indian ace has to be in top form to deliver the goods and in the opener Aronian was not troubled much.

Sergey Karjakin of Russia continued from where he had left -- winning the blitz drawing of lots -- and put it across Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan whose woes continued after falling hugely in the world ranking.

Norwegian world number one Magnus Carlsen, who is set to play Anand in the next round as well as in the next world championship match in Chennai, could not do more than splitting the point with former world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.

The other two games in the high category 10-player round-robin tournament, however, were decisive as Russian Peter Svidler scored a lucky win over Jon Ludvig Hammer of Norway and Hikaru Nakamura proved smarter than Wang Hao of China.

After the end of the first round, Nakamura, Karjakin and Svidler emerged as early leaders with a full point and Anand, Aronian, Topalov and Carlsen are close behind with a half point each. The three losers are on the bottom of the table.

Anand went for the closed Ruy Lopez as white and his strategy did not yield desirable result. Aronian was well armed in the opening and as many as three minor pieces changed hands by 13th move itself.

The resulting middle game with more heavy pieces was not dry but the presence of opposite coloured Bishops did not give any chance to either player. After a bit of a shadow-boxing, the peace was signed on move 33.

Radjabov slipped further after a dismal show in the last candidates tournament as he fell prey to a finely crafted manoeuvre by Karjakin in the middle game arising out of an off-beat Sicilian.

Playing white, the Russian sensed his chances perfectly in the middle game and his 26th move was a clincher leading to a winning endgame.

Svidler was only trying to equalize a pawn less endgame against Hammer out of a Grunfeld defence when the Norwegian number two started to make a lot of mistakes. Launching his double rook on the seventh rank, the Russian won a handful of pawns to turn the tables.

In the other decisive game of the day, Nakamura won two pieces for a rook with a sortie against Wang Hao to get a winning endgame. The Chinese had gone for the solid Petroff defence which did not come good as black.

Carlsen played a solid English opening as white but got nothing against Topalov who is in top form the game was drawn after 51 moves. (PTI)

Results Round 1: Viswanathan Anand (Ind) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm); Magnus Carlsen(Nor) drew with Veselin Topalov (Bul); Sergey Karjakin (Rus) beat Teimour Radjabov (Aze); Hikaru Nakamura (Usa) beat Wang Hao (Chn); Peter Svidler (Rus) beat Jon Ludvig Hammer (Nor).

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Norway Chess Super Event Begins

SANDES: World champion Viswanathan Anand will take on Levon Aronian of Armenia in the first round of the Norway Chess 2013 super tournament that gets underway in Sandes.

Anand secured five whites in the nine-round tournament by finishing joint second in the blitz event that was played to prepare the drawing of lots.

The top five contestants in the blitz tournament will get five white and four black games in the 10-player event which is also one of the strongest ever.

The much-awaited clash between Anand and Norway's world number one Magnus Carlsen will happen as early as in the second round and the latter will get to play white in that encounter.

Carlsen, who had expressed his disappointment at Chennai being the awarded the hosting rights of the next world championship match between him and Anand, said he will not let that news "diminish the joy and excitement derived from playing the top level Norway chess tournament".

For Anand, apart from the clash with Carlsen, it will also be a real test against a very high quality opposition.

The event also boast of participation of world number four and former world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria who is fresh from a fantastic victory in the Grand Prix tournament.

Sergey Karjakin and Peter Svidler of Russia and Hikaru Nakamura of United States are the other players, who are a big force to reckon with while Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan will look forward to regain his touch.

Wang Hao of China and local talent Jon Ludvig Hammer complete the line-up of the 10-player tournament to be played on a round-robin basis.

For the Indian ace it has been a decent start to the competition.

The blitz tournament was taken quite seriously by Anand, whose joint second finish was a good result even though he suffered a shocking loss at the hands of lowest-ranked Hammer.

Sergey Karjakin won the tournament scoring 6.5 points while Anand, Carlsen and Nakamura were tied for the second spot a half point behind.

Svidler finished fifth on 5.5 points after losing the last round against Carlsen. Topalov was completely off-colour in the blitz, finishing last with just one point from nine games while Aronian was another surprise for the spectators as he ended ninth scoring 2.5 points. (PTI)

Pairings round 1: V Anand (IND) vs Levon Aronian (ARM); Magnus Carlsen (NOR) vs Veselin Topalov (BUL); Hikaru Nakamura (USA) vs Wang Hao (CHN); Peter Svidler (RUS) vs Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR); Sergey Karjakin (RUS) vs Teimour Radjabov (AZE).

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