Posted in Armenia, Europe, Tournaments on Jan 30th, 2012 6 Comments »
GM Levon Aronian (Armenia)2012 Tata Steel ChampionPhoto by Fred Lucas. 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 [...]
Posted in Netherlands, Tournaments on Jan 18th, 2012 No Comments »
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 [...]
Posted in Africa, Europe, Italy, South Africa on Jan 18th, 2012 4 Comments »
Posted in England, Europe, Tournaments, USA on Jan 12th, 2012 6 Comments »
WFM Sabrina Chevannes of Birmingham, England penned an article for ChessBase about her American chess experience. Late last year, Sabrina told me she was coming to the U.S. for a visit. I had been covering her chess activities since she was around 13. Unfortunately, she would be too far away for an overdue face-to-face meeting, [...]
Posted in Europe, Netherlands, Tournaments on Jan 12th, 2012 34 Comments »
In a couple of days, Wijk aan Zee will host the strongest field in its 74th edition. The average rating is 2754 with several of the top players on the card. Sponsored by Tata Steel conglomerate, the power-packed lineup includes reigning champion Hikaru Nakamura, the world highest-rated player Magnus Carlsen and world number two Levon [...]
Posted in England, Europe, Tournaments on Dec 1st, 2011 27 Comments »
The four 2800-rated players will repeat (from the 2011 Tal Memorial) the headlining of a super-GM event as the London Chess Classic begins with the opening ceremonies on tomorrow. World Champion Viswanathan Anand and world’s #1 player Magnus Carlsen will be joined by fellow 2800s Levon Aronian (new addition) and Vladimir Kramnik. Carlsen has won [...]
Posted in Albania, Europe, Tournaments on Nov 26th, 2011 No Comments »
Magnus Carlsen has made his late spurts legendary as he won yet another tournament in the late stages. In one of the strongest tournaments ever (four 2800s), he was near the top the entire tournament, but a last-round win over Hikaru Nakamura helped him to claim the crown on tiebreaks over Levon Aronian. Aronian had [...]
Posted in Albania, Asia, China, Europe, India, Tournaments, World Championships on Nov 24th, 2011 2 Comments »
GM Hou Yifan, Women’s World Champion Photo by Anastasiya Karlovich for FIDE. Hou Yifan successful defended her title against Koneru Humpy by drawing the eight game in the Women’s World Chess Championship in Tirana, Albania. This was her first title defense and she won in convincing manner by 5½-2½. Perhaps her bad stretch months ago [...]
Posted in Europe, Russia, Tournaments on Nov 24th, 2011 No Comments »
With the current five-way tie, the 2011 Tal Memorial will come to an exciting end. Photo by russiachess.org. 2011 Tal Memorial is one of the strongest tournaments in history and is going down to the wire. There is a five-way tie for first with only two rounds remaining. Levon Aronian, Magnus Carlsen, Vassily Ivanchuk, Sergey [...]
Posted in Albania, Asia, China, Europe, India, Tournaments, World Championships on Nov 23rd, 2011 7 Comments »
International Arbiter Carol Jarecki starts the clock for Hou Yifan in Game #7 against Koneru Humpy. In a must-win situation, Koneru Humpy of India was certainly looking to steal a game with a surprise in the opening. Eschewing the Sicilian once again, Humpy tried a peculiar line (9…Qd7) against the Ruy Lopez, but was not [...]
Posted in Europe, Sweden on Nov 22nd, 2011 2 Comments »
GM Pontus Carlsson After just coming off of a strong result in the European Team Championship (5.5/8) GM Pontus Carlsson is back in Sweden charting the course for his next event. In the meantime, he told Daaim Shabazz of The Chess Drum that he is open for business. Having given lessons for the better part [...]
Posted in Albania, Asia, China, Europe, India, Tournaments, World Championships on Nov 21st, 2011 No Comments »
Hou Yifan was somber in victory. Her health scare was soothed by a nice win. Last night things were not looking well for Hou Yifan. According to ChessBase, she fell ill and was rushed to emergency for severe stomach pains. After tests were conducted, doctors attributed her condition to stress from the match. The defending [...]
Posted in Albania, Asia, China, Europe, India, Tournaments, World Championships on Nov 20th, 2011 No Comments »
Panoramic view of the playing hall. In today’s game, Hou Yifan and Koneru Humpy fought to another draw repeating the same opening from Game #4. Yifan tried 12.cxd4 attempting to improve on yesterday’s game where she got a slight advantage but was unable to make anything of it. This game seem to offer few chances [...]
Posted in Albania, Asia, China, Europe, India, Tournaments, World Championships on Nov 18th, 2011 No Comments »
Koneru Humpy (right) on the move against Hou Yifan. Photo by Anastasiya Karlovich for FIDE. After breaking out on top with a win yesterday, Hou Yifan had the white pieces against her Asian rival, Koneru Humpy. Looking to put a comfortable distance between them, Hou started the game with 1.e4 and perhaps expected another Petroff. [...]
Posted in Albania, Asia, China, Europe, India, Tournaments, World Championships on Nov 17th, 2011 No Comments »
Hou Yifan broke on top in a tense game which ended with Koneru Humpy’s position collapsed under pressure. Photo by Anastasiya Karlovich for FIDE. China’s Hou Yifan won the first decisive game of the match after struggling to hold in the first two games. In the Queen’s Gambit, Hou played actively and aggressively expanded on [...]
Posted in Albania, Europe, FIDE, World Championships on Nov 15th, 2011 No Comments »
Koneru Humpy trots out the Petroff in Game #2. The Indian pressed by could not score the full point. Photo by Anastasiya Karlovich for FIDE. Looking at the first two games of the Women’s World Championship, one may say that it is the challenger who looks to be more aggressive. In game two of the [...]
Posted in Europe, Russia on Nov 15th, 2011 20 Comments »
All roads lead to Moscow as the Tal Memorial will begin tomorrow with one of the strongest fields in history. The tournament of ten players includes four 2800s and seven of the top ten highest-rated players. The field also includes World Championship candidates challenger, Boris Gelfand and FIDE World Cup champion, Peter Svidler. Ian Nepomniachtchi [...]
Posted in Albania, Europe, FIDE, Tournaments, World Championships on Nov 15th, 2011 No Comments »
The highly-anticipated world championship match between China’s Hou Yifan and India’s Koneru Humpy got underway today. The first of ten games began with the “Killer Catalan” which has become a serious weapon in several World Championship matches. Viswanathan Anand employed with great effect against Veselin Topalov. Perhaps Koneru got some coaching from Anand. She is [...]
Posted in Brazil, Spain, Tournaments on Oct 12th, 2011 1 Comment »
Magnus Carlsen had another inspired win at Bilbao.Photo by Pascal Simon. In a very exciting ending, Magnus Carlsen won the Bilbao Grand Slam by catching Vassily Ivanchuk and then beating him in a tiebreak blitz match. The key win for Carlsen may have been round #9 when he scored a tying win against then-leader Ivanchuk. [...]
Posted in Drum Majors, Europe, Sweden on Oct 6th, 2011 13 Comments »
GM Pontus CarlssonPhoto by Mig Greengard. GM Pontus Carlsson will play on the Sweden squad at the 2011 European Team Championship with GM Hans Tikkanen, GM Nils Grandelius, IM Daniel Semcesen, GM Stellan Brynell. The tournament will take place from November 3-11 in Porto Carras, Greece. Several of the top teams will be on hand [...]
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