http://gameknot.com/ World chess news digest by GameKnot.com, where you can play chess online! en-us For years, chess players have bemoaned that chess is not as popular as poker, particularly when it comes to attracting television coverage. While part of the complaint doubtless has to do with the desire of some chess players to have their egos stroked, the real issue is money. Poker players earn more because they have higher exposure and name and face recognition. In the United States, more people would recognize the poker personality Phil Hellmuth than Viswanathan Anand, even though Anand is the world chess champion and has been one of the top three players in the world for almost 20 years. Not surprisingly, Hellmuth earns more money. The question of whether chess can ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15729;ext=1 Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:34:39 GMT The two newest United States chess champions have very different future plans. On Monday, Irina Krush, 26, won the women’s chess championship for the third time, earning $16,000, her biggest payday. Krush said of her prospects of earning a living as a professional chess player, “I am actually at the stage where I am going to get into it more than ever.” Samuel Shankland, 18, who won the junior chess championship in a playoff on Tuesday, plans to quit playing professionally for the time being, and perhaps for good. He is beginning studies at Brandeis University in Boston in the fall. “I’m going to go down the other road and see where it goes,” he said. Krush, who also won ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15723;ext=1 Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:26:04 GMT Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine only needed a draw on Sunday to win the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting tournament in Dortmund. He accomplished that without too much difficulty against Le Quang Liem of Vietnam and finished with a score of 6.5 points. The result should put Ponomariov in the top 10 in the world, according to Live Top List, an unofficial ranking site that has proved accurate in the past. Le Quang, 19, the lowest-ranked competitor in the field, who was playing in his first elite chess tournament, performed far better than expected and was second with 5.5 points. Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, the top seed, who has won Sparkassen nine times, had a disappointing ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15712;ext=1 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:48:58 GMT How does white get a win from this position? RB Is there anything more headache-inducing in chess than an endgame study? And the simpler the position, the more intense the pain. I think, after almost an hour, that I've found the first three moves of the winning sequence, but I can't seem to find the knockout blow. 1 Kf6 seems obvious and good – go for the diagonal opposition! Since 1...g5 loses immediately to 2 Kg6, Black's only move is 1...Kh7. Now 2 g4 is equally obvious (after 2 h4 h5 White can make no further progress). Black has only two options, and since 2...h5 allows 3 g5, when the black king will be forced to retreat to the back rank and White will gobble up ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15702;ext=1 Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:57:11 GMT After the chess champion Bobby Fischer settled in Iceland, he spent much of his time with a small group of people that he trusted. Though he died more than two years ago, that small group of confidants remain loyal and protective of him and his legacy. All of them are unhappy about the fight over his estate and about the recent procedure to extract D.N.A. from his remains to perform a test to determine if he is the father of a nine-year-old Filipino girl. To the outside world, Fischer in his later years seemed eccentric, even ghastly, spouting antisemitic comments and celebrating the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. But his friends say that image was misleading and even ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15691;ext=1 Sat, 24 Jul 2010 17:00:24 GMT Wesley So of the Philippines drew his Round 4 game Thursday in the Biel Chess Festival, which was enough for him to hold on to the lead. He has 3 points. Most of the other games also ended in draws, with the exception of the contest between Dmitry Andreikin of Russia and David Howell of Britain. In that game, Andreikin found a new idea in a well-known variation of the English opening. Surprised, Howell struggled and quickly fell into trouble. Andreikin’s rooks penetrated to the seventh rank, after which there was little Howell could do and he resigned after only 30 moves. Andreikin is tied for second with Fabiano Caruana of Italy and Evgeny Tomashevsky of Russia. They each have 2.5 points. Once ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15678;ext=1 Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:35:50 GMT One of the eternal frustrations of chess is that a well played game can be lost with one careless move. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, the No. 6 chess player in the world, was reminded of this on Wednesday at the elite Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmunt, Germany. In Round 6, Mamedyarov was White against Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany. Mamedyarov got a clear edge out of the opening and had his opponent under pressure for much of the game. Naiditsch defended well and the game seemed to heading for a draw when Mamedyarov blundered, taking a knight with his rook that was defended by Naiditsch’s queen. As chess blunders go, it was not exactly colossal, but ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15671;ext=1 Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:41:36 GMT Samuel Shankland, an 18-year-old international master, survived a three-way playoff on Tuesday to win the United States junior chess championship. Shankland was the No. 2 seed, but he beat Ray Robson, the top seed and a chess grandmaster, in an Armageddon game to claim the title. As there were three players tied for first, there were two playoff games. Robson, by virtue of having the better tie-breaker scores, met the winner of the first game. In that one, Shankland beat Parker Zhao. The playoff involved long Armageddon games, just like the one used at the U.S. Chess Championship earlier this year. Shankland and Zhao, each chess player secretly bid on how much time, up to ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15651;ext=1 Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:31:38 GMT Irina Krush, 26, won the United States Women’s Championship on Monday by defeating Abby Marshall, 19, in the final round of the chess tournament. Krush finished with 8 points. It is Krush’s third title. She previously won in 1998 and 2007. For winning this time, she earned $16,000. Krush’s principal rival, Anna Zatonskih, 32, the 2009 champion, who was tied with Krush before the final round, could only draw against Sabina Foisor, 20. She finished with 7.5 points and tied for second with Tatev Abrahamyan, 22, who beat Katerina Rohonyan, 26. Zatonskih and Abrahamyan each earned $10,500. Krush’s win over Marshall was not easy. Marshall, playing in her first U.S. Chess Championship, had ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15646;ext=1 Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:50:59 GMT Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan took over the lead of the elite Sparkassen Chess-Meeting tournament in Germany on Sunday after he drew his game while his co-leader, Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine, lost. Mamedyarov has 3 points after four rounds, Ponomariov has 2.5, Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, who beat Ponomariov, has 2, and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, the defending chess champion, Peter Leko of Hungary and Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany are tied for last with 1.5 points each. The standings are startling as Kramnik, Leko and Naiditsch are all previous champions in Dortmund, while the top three players have never won there. Mamedyarov faced Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, the defending chess ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15638;ext=1 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:55:08 GMT The World Open in Philadelphia has been staged annually since the early 1970s, and although it has never quite justified its grandiose title it is still a huge magnet for chess players from grandmasters to novices. It is a big money event, with high entry fees but first prizes of several thousand dollars even for weaker sections. Its continued success reflects a ruthless policy by the organisers towards rating cheats, coupled with a highly flexible schedule. The final rounds are on Independence Day, but it is possible to compete anywhere between three and seven days and to re-enter if you start badly. For GMs in the top section, it can be a vicious battle. They normally get a minimum ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15622;ext=1 Sun, 18 Jul 2010 16:42:14 GMT A superb lesson from Magnus Carlsen in endgame technique. It's been a while since we looked at the endgame, so this week we begin a short series on this often neglected area with a terrific demonstration of endgame technique from the ever-improving chess world No 1 Magnus Carlsen. Although White has the advantage of rook against bishop, Black has an extra pawn and a solid position on the chess board. How did Carlsen make progress? RB I'm pretty sure the answer lies in g4. The question is whether to nudge the pawn forward immediately or whether some preparation is needed first, perhaps exchanging on d5 or advancing the king to e3. The only way is concrete calculation, so let's see what ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15621;ext=1 Sat, 17 Jul 2010 16:49:32 GMT The Sparkassen Chess-Meeting (an odd name, to be sure) began Thursday in Dortmund. Though the chess tournament is not at the level of Linares or Corus, it still attracts top players, notably Vladimir Kramnik, the former world chess champion from Russia. Kramnik has been associated with Dortmund, as the chess event is often referred to, for many years because he has won the tournament nine times, far more than any other. He first won it in 1995 and is the defending champion this year. The tournament is a double-round robin this year, meaning each competitor plays all the others twice, once with each color. In addition to Kramnik, the No. 4 chess player in the world, the field includes ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15613;ext=1 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:33:28 GMT Anna Zatonskih, the defending chess champion, took the lead of the U.S. Women’s Championship on Wednesday, while Parker Zhao, the ninth seed, solidified his grip on the U.S. Junior Championship. The two chess tournaments are being held concurrently at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. Zatonskih had shared the lead for the last few rounds with Irina Krush, the top seed. But in Round 5 on Wednesday, Zatonskih beat Iryna Zenyuk, while Krush only drew against Camilla Baginskaite. Zatonskih now leads with 4.5 points, while Krush and Tatev Abrahamyan, who beat Abby Marshall on Wednesday, have 4 each. In the junior championship, Zhao, who ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15600;ext=1 Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:53:06 GMT One single square can make a big difference in a chess game. It helped me to launch one of my longest combinations against Anatoly Karpov in Caracas 40 years ago. It was a memorable chess tournament for both of us. Karpov arrived in Venezuela as the reigning world junior champion. He played well enough in Caracas to become the world's youngest chess grandmaster at that time, at age 19, and his brilliant career began to take shape. In 1971 in Moscow, he clinched the first major tournament victory, sharing first place with the three-time Soviet champion Leonid Stein at the prestigious Alekhine Memorial tournament. In 1975 he was crowned the world chess champion. This year ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15591;ext=1 Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:49:32 GMT The top two seeds in the U.S. Women’s Chess Championship could make no headway against each other and drew their Round 3 game on Monday. But their two nearest competitors lost, so Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih now lead the chess tournament by half a point over Tatev Abrahamyan, Alisa Melekhina (who lost to Abrahamyan on Monday) and Iryna Zenyuk, who lost on Monday to Beatriz Marinello. In the U.S. Junior Chess Championship, which is being held concurrently at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, Warren Harper, the seventh seed, is the surprising leader after three rounds with a perfect score. His play so far has been stellar and on Monday he demolished his ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15576;ext=1 Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:59:16 GMT Anatoly Karpov and some supporting chess federations have filed a lawsuit against FIDE in the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. Karpov's lawyers, White & Case, are a global firm based in Manhattan. They seek nothing less than the disqualification of the incumbent FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov who is standing for a fifth term. The rules demand that at least one member of a Presidential ticket be female and Ilyumzhinov's choice is American WIM Beatriz Marinello. Supporting documents indicate Ms Marinello was not nominated by the US Chess Federation but by her native Chile and Brazil. Karpov contends she is not even a member of either chess federation. Karpov's lawyers also ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15575;ext=1 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:56:20 GMT Momentum from a few wins can buoy a chess player and cause opponents in future rounds to wilt. It can happen the other way around, too. A couple of losses can lead opponents to become like sharks sensing blood. When chess players are on losing streaks, opponents are reluctant to settle for draws and will instead press on, hoping for victory. Players on losing streaks also often begin second-guessing their decision-making and analytical skills, leading to more mistakes and more losses. That is why it is often said that the most important thing to do after a loss is to get a draw in the next game in order to stop the bleeding. The consequences of failing to do so, even among elite chess ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15562;ext=1 Sun, 11 Jul 2010 17:04:51 GMT The world chess body Fide's plans for a Grand Prix tournament circuit were badly hit when its status as a world chess championship eliminator was downgraded, the world No1 Magnus Carlsen and other top Western chess players withdrew and all six events had to be played in the former USSR. Armenia's world No5, Levon Aronian, won the series. Fide's women's Grand Prix, in contrast, has been notably successful. Most leading women including Westerners are taking part, there is a wider range of venues and the series will directly qualify a world title challenger. China's Hou Yifan and India's Humpy Koneru were the favourites, but after the fourth event (of six) finished ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15554;ext=1 Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:46:17 GMT The remains of Bobby Fischer, the American chess champion, were exhumed Sunday night in the cemetery of Laugardaelir Church in Iceland, according to a report in The Reykjavik Grapevine. The exhumation was ordered by the Icelandic Supreme Court last month to determine if Fischer is the father of Jinky Young, a 9-year-old Filipino girl. Ólafur Helgi Kjartansson, the sheriff of Selfoss, the town near the cemetery; Rev. Kristinn Ágúst Fridfinnsson, the pastor of Selfoss; members of the local parish; medical staff and several other lawmen were at the exhumation to oversee it, according to the Grapevine. Fischer’s grave has already been put back as it was, according to reports. Fischer ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15547;ext=1 Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:40:02 GMT In what undoubtedly is a first, the world’s top-ranked chess player, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who is 19, has taken on a second career: fashion model. Wednesday, G-Star RAW, a Dutch clothing company that has three stores in Manhattan, rolled out an advertising campaign featuring Carlsen and the actress Liv Tyler. NRK, Norways’s public broadcasting company, has photographs from the campaign and the photo shoot at which Carlsen posed for them. The Web site also includes a short video. According to the Web site, Carlsen said, “I think people will be surprised to see me like this. Surely just as surprised as I was when I was picked for this.” As part of the fashion campaign, Carlsen will play a chess ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15536;ext=1 Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:28:32 GMT The World Open is without doubt one of the toughest and most competitive chess tournaments of the year. It regularly attracts a world-class field and it has an impressive roster of previous winners (or those who tied for first). This year’s tournament, which ended Monday, was no different. There were three dozen chess grandmasters from around the world and numerous other international masters and masters. Though certainly not an unknown player, this year’s winner, Viktor Laznicka of the Czech Republic, was a bit of a surprise as he was not among the better-known chess grandmasters at the start. But he raced out to a one point lead by winning his first six games, including ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15521;ext=1 Wed, 07 Jul 2010 16:31:50 GMT How did the late Russian chess grandmaster deal with this situation? The life of a professional chess player is mentally and physically challenging. After the age of 40, for most professionals, there is a seemingly inevitable slide down the chess rankings. Garry Kasparov retired at 42, rated No 1 in the world, but I suspect he felt that the chasing pack was getting too close. That's why Vassily Smyslov's chess career was so remarkable. Smyslov, who died earlier this year, became world chess champion in 1957 at the age of 36, but continued playing at the highest levels, qualifying for the final of the world chess championship at the age of 63. This was the victory that got him ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15503;ext=1 Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:42:15 GMT One of the reasons that Garry Kasparov was the world’s dominant chess player from the late 1980s through the ’90s was that he was better prepared than his competitors. He spent an enormous amount of time researching chess openings for new ideas to spring on his opponents, or he paid others to do it for him. Magnus Carlsen, currently the world’s top-ranked chess player, is beginning to be as dominant as Kasparov was, but it is not because of his preparation. He has described himself as a bit lazy, and so rather than play the most popular chess openings, which everyone has studied, he often chooses systems, particularly as White, that do not yield any advantage. Carlsen wants to ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15489;ext=1 Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:44:01 GMT The World Open, the annual chess tournament in Philadelphia that always takes place around July 4th, often lives up to its name by attracting a world-class contingent of chess players. This year is no different as the field includes Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain, Surya Shekhar Ganguly of India, Loek Van Wely of the Netherlands, Luke McShane of England, Evgeny Najer of Russia, Viktor Laznicka of the Czech Republic and Ilya Smirin of Israel. It also includes many of the best Americans, among them Gata Kamsky, the United States chess champion, and Alexander Onischuk. The players come because the tournament offers one of the biggest prize funds in the world. This year’s is ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15482;ext=1 Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:28:12 GMT Magnus Carlsen is closing in fast on Garry Kasparov's all-time record chess rating. The 19-year-old Norwegian scored an unbeaten 7.5/10 at Medias, Romania to take his score on the daily calculations up to 2826, just 25 points shy of the great Russian's peak mark. And Carlsen did it while still not in optimum form. He began with two draws, then took risks including a 1 e4 e5 2 f4 King's Gambit and a couple of dubious positions, but his inventiveness and will to win coupled with the growing Carlsen-fear of those on the other side of the chess board ensured another impressive outcome. Technically his most interesting game, certainly from the practical viewpoint of competition ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15466;ext=1 Sat, 03 Jul 2010 16:59:39 GMT With four rounds left in the Fourth Women’s Chess Grand Prix in Jermuk, Russia, time is rapidly running out for anyone to try to overtake Nana Dzagnidze of the Republic of Georgia for first place. She leads by 1.5 points over Lilit Mkrtchian of Armenia and Tatiana Kosintseva of Russia. She still has to play Mkrtchian and Hou Yifan of China, the chess tournament’s top seed, who is currently in fourth, so there is still a chance she might be caught. But her form so far has been superb as she has only yielded one draw in seven rounds. So the rest of the tournament may be a race for second. The Grand Prix is a series of six tournaments organized by the World Chess Federation. The winner will ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15460;ext=1 Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:29:30 GMT Everyone knows that playing White is an advantage in chess (though curiously it was not during the last round of the King’s Tournament in Romania that ended Friday; then Black won all the games). But, the results of Round 6 of the Women’s Chess Grand Prix in Jermuk, Russia, were still startling. White won every game. It was the second time in the first six rounds of the chess tournament that every game had ended decisively. Over all, only 8 of the 36 games in the tournament have ended in draws, an astonishingly low percentage. After six rounds, Nana Dzagnidze of the Republic of Georgia leads with 5.5 points, a point ahead of Lilit Mkrtchian of Armenia. Tatiana Kosintseva of Russia is ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15452;ext=1 Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:46:23 GMT How did the great Russian grandmaster win this game? Vasily Smyslov, the former world chess champion who died in March, was often described as a master of the endgame and brilliant positional player, but great chess players are able to change their style according to the demands of the position. I've been going through his games and found strategic masterpieces but also blistering attacking play. Earlier in this game he sacrificed a piece to activate his forces and followed up by advancing his h-pawn – one of my favourite attacking methods. But it takes skill to finish the game. RB This may be a very famous chess position but it's not one that I ever remember seeing and ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15443;ext=1 Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:34:38 GMT For some chess players, July 4th is more than a holiday, it is the time of year for the World Open, which has been held in Philadelphia, or the surrounding area, every year since 1983. The World Open, which is run by the Continental Chess Association, is usually the largest chess tournament of the year, mostly because it has the biggest prize fund. This year’s is guaranteed to be $175,000 and could be as much as $250,000, depending on how many people play. That is less than in some previous years (the record was $358,000 in 2006), but the economic downturn has probably had an impact. Every year, more than 1,000 chess players compete; last year there were 1,350. The tournament lasts ... http://gameknot.com/news.pl?id=15431;ext=1 Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:27:47 GMT