ChessUpdated.com   Chess World in Synthesis

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Leiden Chess Tournament 2008

20.07.2008 The second Leiden Chess Tournament (a 9 rounds Swiss Open, first prize in the main group 2000 euro) took place 11-20 July 2008 in Leiden (Netherlands). The main group (Group A), for players with Elo > 1850, attracted 84 participants including 7 GMs and 4 IMs. The tournament was won by Roeland Pruijssers. IM Roeland Pruijssers and GM Erik Van Den Doel, both from the Netherlands, finished with 7.0 points, but the Dutch IM had a better Buchholz score.

Five players finished with 6.5 points: GM Milos Pavlovic, GM Csaba Horvath, FM Fred Slingerland, GM Mikhail Golubev and GM Lev Gutman. Guido Bakker won the second group (Group B), for players with Elo < 1900; the group attracted 57 participants. The tournament was organized by Stichting Denksportpromotie Nederland.

The sponsors of the event were amongst others: the H.L. Druckerfonds and the Stichting Kasteel Oud Poelgeest. Playing venue was the Leiden Denksportcentrum (Mind Games Center Leiden). Photo impression of round 8, 19 July.

Leiden Chess Tournament website: www.leidenchess.nl
Schakers.info: www.schakers.info
Games: http://www.leidenchess.nl/games/LCT-08.pgn

Photo and report by Frits Agterdenbos of www.chessvista.com.

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

White to move. Can White make progress? How should White continue?

Kopayev 1949, presented by Andreas

8/4P3/R2K4/8/2k5/7p/4r3/8 w - - 0 1

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Carlsen continues his winning way right off the bat in Biel. He is now once again unofficially rated #2 and inching closer toward the #1 crown.

GM Carlsen (2775) - GM Pelletier (2569) [E15]
20.07.2008 / Biel - Round 1

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Bg2 c5 7.d5 exd5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.0–0 Be7 10.Rd1 Nc6 11.Qf5 Nf6 12.e4 d6 13.e5 Qd7 14.Qxd7+ Nxd7 15.exd6 Bf6 16.Re1+ Kf8 17.Nc3 Nb4 18.Bg5 Nc2 19.Re7 Bxf3 20.Bxf3 Bxg5 21.Rxd7 Rd8 22.Rxd8+ Bxd8 23.Rd1 Nd4 24.Bg2 h5 25.a4 a6 26.Bb7 Rh6 27.d7 Rd6 28.Bc8 Nf3+ 29.Kg2 Rxd1 30.Nxd1 Ne1+ 31.Kf1 Nf3 32.h4 Ke7 33.Ne3 g6 34.Bxa6 Kxd7 35.Ke2 Ne5 36.f4 Ng4 37.Bb5+ Ke7 38.Nd5+ Kd6 39.Bc4 Nh6 40.Ne3 Bf6 41.Bd3 Bd8 42.Kf3 Ng4 43.Nxg4 hxg4+ 44.Kxg4 Ke6 45.Bc4+ Ke7 46.Kf3 f5 47.Ke2 Kf8 48.Kd3 Bf6 49.b3 Bb2 50.Bd5 Ba3 51.Kc4 Bb4 52.Kb5 Ba5 53.Bc4 Ke7 54.Kc6 Kf6 55.Bd3 Kf7 56.h5 gxh5 57.Bxf5 Kf6 58.Be4 Kg7 59.Bf3 Kh6 60.Kb5 Kg6 61.Bd1 Kh6 62.Be2 Kg6 63.Bf3 Kh6 64.Bc6 White wins 1–0

Click here to replay the game.

GM Alekseev (2708) - GM Bacrot (2691) [D15]
20.07.2008 / Biel - Round 1

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 a6 5.c5 Nbd7 6.Bf4 Nh5 7.Bd2 Nhf6 8.Qc2 Qc7 9.e4 e5 10.exd5 cxd5 11.b4 Be7 12.Be2 0–0 13.0–0 e4 14.Ne1 Nb8 15.Qc1 Be6 16.Nc2 Nc6 17.Rb1 Bd8 18.a4 Ne7 19.Bf4 Qd7 20.b5 Ba5 21.Rb3 Bg4 22.Bxg4 Nxg4 23.Ne3 Nxe3 24.fxe3 Nf5 25.Ne2 axb5 26.axb5 g6 27.Qb2 Bd8 28.Rc1 Be7 29.c6 bxc6 30.bxc6 Qe6 31.c7 Rac8 32.Rb6 Qd7 33.Qb5 Qxb5 34.Rxb5 g5 35.Rxd5 gxf4 36.Rxf5 fxe3 37.Rc6 Ra8 38.Rf1 Rfc8 39.d5 Ra2 40.d6 Bxd6 41.Rxd6 Rxc7 42.Rd8+ Kg7 43.Ng3 White wins 1–0

Click here to replay the game.

GM Dominguez (2708) - GM Onischuk (2670) [C78]
20.07.2008 / Biel - Round 1

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Bc5 6.c3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a4 Bg4 9.axb5 axb5 10.Rxa8 Qxa8 11.h3 Bh5 12.d3 0–0 13.Bg5 Nd7 14.g4 Bg6 15.Nh4 Kh8 16.Bd5 h6 17.Bc1 Nf6 18.b4 Bb6 19.Bb3 Ne7 20.Qf3 c5 21.bxc5 dxc5 22.Bxh6 c4 23.Bg5 cxb3 24.Bxf6 Nc6 25.Bg5 b4 26.Qd1 bxc3 27.Qxb3 Ba5 28.Be3 Qd8 29.Nxg6+ fxg6 30.Nxc3 Qxd3 31.Qa4 Nd4 32.Qxa5 Nf3+ 33.Kg2 Nh4+ 34.Kg1 Nf3+ 35.Kg2 Nh4+ 36.Kg1 Game drawn ½–½

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Round 1 matchups:

Dominguez - Onischuk
Carlsen - Pelletier
Alekseev - Bacrot

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Source: Jim West On Chess http://jimwestonchess.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
Having lost his first two games yesterday, my third round opponent at Hamilton forfeited against me, giving me the opportunity to take these photos.

You will see shots of the Ray Dwier Recreation Center, the start of the contest between Dragan Milovanovich and Mark Kernighan, and analysis of a third round game from a lower quad.

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Knight’s tour: Three masters emerge
July 20, 2008
Bill Cornwall

Clash of Florida talents: Last weekend at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, eight masters, 11 experts and 91 other contenders competed in five rounds for cash and trophies in the second annual Summer Solstice Open. Three of the masters emerged victorious in the main open section. In tie-break order, they are: Renier Gonzalez, Bruci Lopez and Fabio La Rota. Both Gonzalez and La Rota are former Florida champions.

Finishing first in the non-open sections are: Harris Nizel (under 2,100 rating), Steven Kaufman and Arturo Saliva (under 1,700), and Antonio Paez Jr., Adam Friedman and Jason Fernandez (under 1,300). The event was sponsored by the Boca Chess Club and run by Jon Haskel, who deserves recognition for organizing major Florida chess events consistently for years.

Today’s game occurred in round three between the two international masters of the event, Gonzalez and Blas Lugo. Having white, Lugo tossed a free pawn to his foe on move four, creating positional imbalances. The winner had to run his king back and forth to find its final hiding place in the center. Pawns moved toward queening. Pieces were sacrificed. A king was set up to be mated.

Here is the full article.

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Advocates want chess to have greater role
Kelli Jacobi • The (Monroe) News-Star • July 20, 2008

MONROE - Along the Gulf Coast in southwestern Louisiana, Henry Heights Elementary in Calcasieu Parish teaches by this simple mission statement: ” … to provide an education that allows all students the opportunity to grow and develop to their fullest potential.”

Ina F. Delahoussaye, Calcasieu Parish director of technical assistance for school improvement, believes chess may be the key.

Chess - a 2,000-year-old game said to be “the touchstone of the human intellect” - is seeing a dramatic increase within the scholastic community, though it has flourished in some places more than others.

Numerous studies have concluded chess develops mental abilities used throughout life such as concentration, critical thinking and abstract reasoning, and it can be used as a tool to teach problem-solving and reasoning.

Delahoussaye used grant funding to start scholastic chess clubs in southern Louisiana years ago, following an analysis of the game’s effect in improving academic outcomes in other states.

Chess clubs since have proliferated along the I-10 corridor, and a Louisiana Chess Association roster of state winners attests to its growth there.

But schools in the northeastern part of the state have been slower to incorporate chess as a valid teaching tool, and existing chess clubs are small in number.

Here is the full article.

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

The match of all time
With Errol Tiwari

The following story is inspired by an interview I had with Iceland’s Ambassa-dor to Guyana, His Excellency Hjalmar Hannesson. Ambassa-dor Hannesson presented his letters of credence to President Bharrat Jagdeo last Monday.

For centuries, Icelanders have had a great love for chess. Their devotion to the game is steeped in an ancient tradition dating back to the Norse kings of the twelfth- century.

Today, thirteenth-century historical sagas are still the favourites of Icelandic school children. They are found in most homes and abound in references to chess. In 1561, Gories Peerse tells a story of the masters of a house who do nothing for weeks in the wintertime but have their servants wait on them while they play chess interminably.

The lonely isolation of the long, dark, frozen winter evenings has helped chess to become the Icelandic farmer and fisherman’s favourite pastime. And today, Iceland is ranked among the top ten countries of the world in registered federation players in proportion to their national population of 320,000. Nothing significant happened in Icelandic chess for years until 1958 when the country got its first grandmaster, Fridrik Olafsson. Olafsson qualified for the coveted grandmaster title when he placed sixth at the 1958 Interzonal Tournament in Potoroz, Yugoslavia. In that tournament he scored a win against Bobby Fischer, who was 15 at the time, and who also qualified for the grandmaster title, thereby becoming the youngest grandmaster ever in the history of the game up to that point.

Icelanders became inspired by Olafsson’s singular achievement and chess, inevitably, became more popular. But it was 1972 that changed Icelandic chess forever, and by extension, changed the country forever. Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, was the city that was chosen as the locale for the world championship match between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer. Iceland had put up the third highest bid of US5,000 to the governing body of world chess (FIDE) to host the match. Only Yugoslavia and Argentina had put up higher bids. After much negotiation and a frenzied inspection of credible venues, both players agreed to play in Iceland.

The match, before its start, was already being billed as the ‘Match of the Century.’ For a decade, even longer, Fischer, like another American original, Muhammad Ali, had boasted that he was the “greatest.” The entire chess world was eager to see if he could prove his claims, especially against such a formidable player as Spassky, the world champion and certainly himself one of the greatest by anyone’s standards.

Here is the full article.

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

We work to train well Bulgarian teams for Chess Olympiad:
Bulgarian Chess Federation President
20 July 2008 10:49 FOCUS News Agency

Sofia. I would not say chess is a professional sport in Bulgaria. There are individual chess players who are professionals, at that in the democracy years, Stefan Sergiev, president of the Bulgarian Chess Federation, said in an interview with Focus News Agency on the occasion of July 20th, International Chess Day.“One of the problems we face is the our attempt to make World Chess Foundation /FIDE/ President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov apply the decisions made at the FIDE congress so that the match between Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik can take place. The match is a semi-final for the world title. Meanwhile, we work to train well the Bulgarian chess teams for their participation in the Chess Olympiad,” Sergiev added.The Chess Olympiad takes place from November 8th to 25th in the city of Dresden, Germany. Bulgarian women and men’s teams each have four major chess players and one reserve.

Official Olympiad websit: www.dresden2008.com

Source: Susan Polgar Blog

Source: Streatham & Brixton Chess Club Streatham & Brixton Chess Club

White to play and mate in three moves.

(CH Wheeler)

Source: Streatham & Brixton Chess Club Streatham & Brixton Chess Club