Hou Yifan has been a sensation before her teenage years. She successfully defended her world championship and has since continued her stellar play by leading the Chinese to a gold medal in the World Team Championship, winning the Women’s Grand Prix. However, the highlight of her young storied career may be her recent performance at Gibraltar where she shared joint first with Nigel Short (8/10), later losing in a blitz tiebreak.

As one continues to watch the rise of Hou and the domination of the Chinese women, one can also sense that there is a new era unfolding. Chinese women have dominated women’s chess for almost 30 years and they will only get stronger with such a rich pool of talent, organized structure and strict training regiment.

How far can Hou Yifan go? After beating Judit Polgar, some have said that her title has now been legitimized. There is no question that Polgar is still the strongest women player in history, but was their first encounter a watershed moment? At 35, Polgar still has some years left, but Hou is still improving and playing with sheer confidence.

In an interview, Judit Polgar was asked if she would agree to a match with Hou and she mentioned that if the conditions were right, she may consider it. It may come that Polgar will one day meet her presumed predecessor. Meanwhile, the Chinese phenom may have her sights set on higher goals since she beat five 2700 players and gained a whopping 27 ELO points.

After five years of success at Texas Tech, Grandmaster Susan Polgar is taking her chess institute called “SPICE” to Webster University in St. Louis. The program was built into a chess powerhouse with eight Grandmasters and two International Masters hailing from a variety of countries.

The ten players will transfer to Webster University and continue their studies effective August 2012. SPICE was also host to a number of strong tournaments and ran the Polgar Girls Invitational. Of course this will add quite a bit of prestige to the St. Louis University who may not have had the esteemed name of its predecessor. Webster University released the following statement.

SPICE and Champion U.S. College Chess Team Moving to Webster University (St. Louis)

Grandmaster Georg Meier – Germany – Sophomore
Grandmaster Wesley So – Philippines – Freshman
Grandmaster Ray Robson – USA – Freshman
Grandmaster Manuel Leon Hoyos – Mexico – Freshman
Grandmaster Elshan Moradiabadi – Iran – Graduate student
Grandmaster Anatoly Bykhovsky – Israel – Junior
Grandmaster Andre Diamant – Brazil – Junior
Grandmaster Denes Boros – Hungary – Junior
International Master Vitaly Neimer – Israel – Sophomore
International Master Faik Aleskerov – Azerbaijan – Graduate student

Levon Aronian of Armenia continues his string of career successes by adding yet another accolade. The 2012 Tata Steel at Wijk aan Zee was a powerhouse tournament with the strongest assembly of players the tournament has seen to date. Certainly, the majority of chess fans had chosen Magnus Carlsen as the consensus favorite, but there were many candidates including the reigning champion, Hikaru Nakamura and a slew of contenders such as veterans Vassily Ivanchuk and Boris Gelfand and rising stars Fabiano Caruana and home favorite Anish Giri. Rising start Teimour Radjabov was also in the running until the last round. As it were, the two played a rather peaceful game in the last round to clinch the title for Aronian. All the build-up over the old Armenian-Azerbaijan controversy was anti-climatic.

Aronian-Radjabov would only take 12 minutes to decide.
Photo by Frits Agterdenbos (www.chessvista.com).

Typically in long tournaments, players try to pace themselves and plan wisely. It is not uncommon for a player to win this tournament with +3 or +4, but +5 would almost certainly fetch gold. Aronian paced the field with seven wins and played dynamically throughout the tournament with several nice wins including a spectacular finish against Giri. The Armenian was able to fend off Carlsen after both were deadlocked after eight rounds. In the end, Aronian showed more stability than his pursuers and his victory was well deserved.

Official Site: http://www.tatasteelchess.com/
Drum Coverage: http://www.thechessdrum.net/
Photos: Frits Agterdenbos of ChessVista

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Columbia University freshman Victor Shen scored 6/7 to win 1st ahead of several luminaries. The FIDE Master from New Jersey toppled top-ranked IM Leonid Gerzhoy (2595 USCF) in round five before drawing out against blitz-specialist Yaacov Norowitz (2552) and IM Mauricio Santana (2418).

Most persons following American chess tournaments understand that they are “youth-oriented” with many of the top sections populated by scholastic players. The Open section had 52 players and nearly half appeared to be under-21. Several of the New York contingent players competed including the trio of 13-year old African-American Masters Justus Williams, Josh Colas and James Black, Jr. In this tournament, both Williams and Black vaulted over 2300.

Amazingly, Williams was the highest finisher amongst all New York players including GM Vladimir Romanenko. He finished with 4.5/7 and a 2452 performance. Black tallied 4/7 with a 2362 performance drawing FM Thomas Bartell (2416) and IM Dean Ippolito (2531). Colas got 3.5/7 with five draws including Mark Kai (2521) and a 102-move marathon with FM Alisa Melekhina (2321). All three had creditable performances and we can look to further successes given the support they have garnered from HEAF.

Official Site: http://www.libertybellopen.com/

NM Justus Williams (2283 >>> 2316)

Result: 3½/7 (2237 TPR)

With five round left in the 2012 Tata Steel tournament, the world’s two highest-rated players hold the lead in a tight race. Both Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian hold a half-point lead over Teimour Radjabov and a mere one-point lead over Vassily Ivanchuk, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura.

There are some marquee matchups in the sunset phase of the tournament with Carlsen-Karjakin and Aronian-Caruana in round 9; Carlsen-Nakamura in round 10; Carlsen-Topalov and Caruana-Giri in round 11; Aronian-Radjabov in round 13.

There have already been plenty of fireworks throughout the three sections. This beauty between Anish Giri and Vugar Gashimov was widely commented on. IM Andrew Martin does the honors.

Official Site: http://www.tatasteelchess.com/
Drum Coverage: http://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2012/01/12/2012-tata-steel-chess-wijk-aan-zee/
Pairings: http://www.tatasteelchess.com/tournament/schedule/year/2012/
Photos: Frits Agterdenbos of ChessVista

The stage has been set for the first tournament in the Botswana Chess Calendar. The tournament dubbed Year Opener will take place from 20th-22 January. The tournament presents an opportunity for last year’s winner CM Providence Oatlhotse to defend his title. Oatlhotse had an impressive run in the past year as he won almost all the chess tournaments against his fellow locals. His flame was dozed when he narrowly missed the national championship title and the Botswana closed.

The tournament will see the return of CM Ignatious Njobvu. Njobvu had a silent run last and only resurfaced at the end of the year to win the Botswana Closed Tournament. He is popularly known for digressing off the main lines, something which most players find hard to swallow.

The return of FM Phemelo Khetho adds the deserved spark to the tournament. Khetho who has been on a short break will hope to salvage his reputation by winning the competition. He is currently the only active FM in the country.

The silver medalist at the last year’s Commonwealth Games Moakofhi Notha is expected to contest vigorously for the title. Notha who has risen steadily over the ranks is now a force to reckon with and his strength cannot be understated.

The other players who will make the tournament an unpredictable affair are, reigning national champion Dzilani Abel, former national champion Barileng Gaealafshwe and former national team player Tebogo Pitlagano.

The country’s under-21 stars will also try and prove their mettle against the experience veterans. These include amongst other Thato Olebile, David Mooketsi and Goabaone Tangane.

In an unexpected turn of events, the tournament has lured and resuscitated the interest of former national team player Kenneth Boikhutswane. When asked about his readiness for the event, Boikutswame quipped, “I will be happy to finish in the top 15. I have been working hard on tactics and endgame study.” On the ladies section, Kgalalelo Botlhole will faced with an uphill task of defending her title. Baying for her blood will be reigning national champion Thapelo Francis and WIM Boikhutso Modongo.

The tournament is sponsored by Aifficieny and will be played at Yarona country lodge.

~ Tshenolo Maruatona

If someone had predicted that Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian would be leading the Tata Steel Chess tournament (3/4), it would not be much of a surprise. The tournament has been rather competitive with Fabiano Caruana putting in a strong performance in joint second with Teimour Radjabov on 2.5/4. There is a quintet of players at 50% (Vassily Ivanchuk, Anish Giri, Loek Van Wely, Veselin Topalov, Sergey Karjakin).

Magnus Carlsen won against Levon Aronian, but the two share joint 1st after four rounds. Photo by Frits Agterdenbos of ChessVista.

Hikaru Nakamura had hoped to be in a better position to defend his title, but has not been able to break through in the win column. He lost a crucial game against Aronian, but there are still nine rounds left. A disappointing performance by World Challenger Boris Gelfand who seems to be duplicating the lackluster results of his future opponent Viswanathan Anand. Both are perhaps saving preparation. Gata Kamsky is also having a tough tournament as is Vugar Gashimov. David Navara is last on -2.

Official Site: http://www.tatasteelchess.com/
Drum Coverage: http://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2012/01/12/2012-tata-steel-chess-wijk-aan-zee/
Pairings: http://www.tatasteelchess.com/tournament/schedule/year/2012/
Photos: Frits Agterdenbos of ChessVista

IM Kenny Solomon
Photo by Daaim Shabazz.

In mid-December South African national IM Kenny Solomon earned his first GM norm in the Open Internazionale “Città di Padova”. Having barely missed a norm at Cappelle La Grande, the Italy-based IM scored 6.5/9 and scored +1 against five GMs reaching a career-high of 2461 ELO. Having greater access to stronger tournaments Solomon has put together a string of successes and is on the cusp of 2500. Now married with a daughter, Solomon has kept a busy schedule and will hopefully have more chances at earning two more norms. He is now the top-ranked player in South Africa and the 7th on the continent of Africa.

Official Standings

The Ghana National Individual Chess Championship 2012 was held at the Accra Sports Stadium-Accra from January 2 to January 7, 2012.

The system and rate of play was a 7-round Swiss, 90 minutes per player per game for the first round to select the best six players from twelve. The qualified six then engaged in a 5-round robin to determine the national champion. The rate of play was 90 minutes per player.

Kojo Hasford won the qualifier with 5½/7 and then dominated the final with 4½/5. Francis Anquandah took second on 3½/5 while Edward Thompson took third on 3/5. Anquandah had been champion since 1986. In the women’s competition there were four women and Paulina van Gyuet won on 3/3.

The Ghanaian team hopes to be competing at the Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey later this year.

2012 Ghana National Individual Championships January 2nd-7th, 2012 (Accra, Ghana)
Participants (alphabetical)
Rank	Seed	Name	NRtg	IRtg	FED	Flag
1	8	Ackam, Michael	2001	0	Ghana
2	1	Anquandah, Francis	2058	1992	Ghana
3	11	Arko-Dadzie, George	1998	1567	Ghana
4	4	Bonsu, Kwadwo	2020	1952	Ghana
5	12	Coleman Vitaly	1956	0	Ghana
6	9	Garbah Richard	2001	0	Ghana
7	2	Hasford Kojo	2055	0	Ghana
8	5	Koney NII Kwaku-Koney	2008	0	Ghana
9	6	Lamb Pastor Sherpherd	2008	0	Ghana
10	7	Nkrumah Sekou	2005	0	Ghana
11	10	Sosu Edward	2000	0	Ghana
12	3	Thompson Edward	2020	1834	Ghana

After seven rounds of plays, here are the following results (top six players qualify for final):

The championship was organized by the Ghana Chess Association with support from the largest local electronic assembly firm, rlg Communication Company limited. The winner of the competition took home the trophy at stake plus an rlg laptop computer.

Kwadwo Bonsu and Edward Thompson do battle!

Francis Anquandah versus eventual champion, Kojo Hasford.

Paulina van Gyuet (right) won the women’s competition on 3/3.