Posted in FIDE, World Championships on May 11th, 2011 20 Comments »
When looking at the eight players who qualified for the candidates matches, many had chosen Levon Aronian as the odds-on favorite. With Magnus Carlsen having withdrawn, Aronian was hoping to make a big splash against Alexander Grischuk. Surprisingly, Armenia’s Levon Aronian failed to advance. The match went into tiebreaks and Grischuk completed the upset in [...]
Posted in World Championships on Jan 8th, 2011 3 Comments »
Garry Kasparov in 2005 after retiring from professional chess. Since Garry Kasparov bolted from FIDE, there has been the question of whether a player should be both the highest-rated player and the declared World Champion. Although Kasparov forfeited his official crown, he continued to have credibility as the world’s strongest player and was able to [...]
Posted in Asia, China, Turkey, World Championships on Dec 24th, 2010 2 Comments »
GM Hou YifanWomen’s World Champion Since becoming one of the youngest Grandmasters in history (14 years, 6 months), the chess community knew that good things were to come for the diminutive girl from China. GM Hou Yifan, 16, would compete for the Women’s World Championship in 2008 losing to GM Alexandra Kosteniuk in the finals, [...]
Posted in Asia, China, World Championships on Dec 18th, 2010 15 Comments »
2010 Women World Chess ChampionshipFINALS (Hou Yifan vs. Ruan Lufei) Player ELO Nation Flag Player ELO Nation Flag Hou 2591 CHN Ruan 2480 CHN Preview: The stage is set and at the end of this final match, the glory will be China’s once again. However, who will win the Women’s World Championship Chess match? If [...]
Posted in China, India, Turkey, World Championships on Dec 15th, 2010 13 Comments »
2010 Women World Chess ChampionshipRound #5 Pairings # Player ELO Nation Flag Player ELO Nation Flag 1 Ruan 2480 CHN Zhao 2474 CHN 2 Koneru 2600 IND Hou 2591 CHN Preview: As if on cue, China has made a statement on the world stage once again. They will boast three of the last four players [...]
Posted in Turkey, World Championships on Dec 12th, 2010 2 Comments »
2010 Women World Chess ChampionshipRound #4 Pairings # Player ELO Nation Flag Player ELO Nation Flag 1 Harika 2525 IND Ruan 2480 CHN 2 Zhao 2474 CHN Skripchenko 2460 FRA 3 Koneru 2600 IND Ju 2524 CHN 4 Hou 2591 CHN Lahno 2522 UKR Preview: Looking at the quarterfinals, you have Koneru Humpy and Hou [...]
Posted in Turkey, World Championships on Dec 10th, 2010 2 Comments »
2010 Women World Chess ChampionshipRound #3 Pairings # Player ELO Nation Flag Player ELO Nation Flag 1 Kosteniuk 2507 RUS Ruan 2480 CHN 2 Muzychuk,M 2462 UKR Harika 2525 IND 3 Dembo 2454 GRE Zhao 2474 CHN 4 Skripchenko 2460 FRA Cmilyte 2514 LTU 5 Koneru 2600 IND Zatonskih 2478 USA 6 Muzychuk,A 2462 SLO [...]
Posted in Turkey, World Championships on Dec 8th, 2010 2 Comments »
2010 Women World Chess ChampionshipRound #2 Pairings # Player ELO Nation Flag Player ELO Nation Flag 1 Kosteniuk 2507 RUS Khukhashvili, 2430 GEO 2 Koneru 2600 IND Houska 2421 ENG 3 Hou 2591 CHN Romanko 2414 RUS 4 Kosintseva 2581 RUS Dembo 2454 GRE 5 Dzagnidze 2551 GEO Skripchenko 2460 FRA 6 Stefanova 2548 BUL [...]
Posted in Turkey, World Championships on Dec 4th, 2010 7 Comments »
Round #1 – Game #1 Saturday, 4 December 2010 Top Seeds maul Challengers GM Koneru Humpy got off to a promising start.Photo by wwcxc2010.tsf.org.tr. In the first round of a two-game match, upsets are likely to occur. However, in the Women’s World Chess Championship, there were no major upsets and the top seeds rolled to [...]
Posted in Turkey, World Championships on Dec 4th, 2010 22 Comments »
Today starts the Women’s World Championship with most of the top players in the world. Of course, Judit Polgar has eschewed playing in the gender-based tournament, but as the gap closes, there may be more entrants into the upper echelon of chess. Two possibilities are from the Asian continent in India’s Humpy Koneru and China’s [...]
Posted in FIDE, Norway, Politics, World Championships on Nov 5th, 2010 7 Comments »
Magnus Carlsen has written FIDE a letter expressing his intent to exit from the World Championship Cycle. Photo by ChessBase. Magnus Carlsen, one of the top contenders for the World Championship crown, has decided to drop out of the cycle. This is the first time since Garry Kasparov that such a top three player has [...]
Posted in World Championships on May 11th, 2010 16 Comments »
Viswanathan Anand Photo © Chessvibes. There was speculation on whether the match finale would show Topalov going for the juglar. Yet it was Anand who bolted out of the opening with the dynamism that he had been reserving with the black pieces. Anand played with the energy, speed and precision that made him one of [...]
Posted in World Championships on May 10th, 2010 4 Comments »
While this match has had its share of mistakes, no chess fan on the planet will say that the match was not hard-fought. This match has had many exciting battles where the game hung in the balance such that the result was unclear. Game #11 was different because it featured 1.c4, the first time a [...]
Posted in World Championships on May 8th, 2010 No Comments »
Topalov and Anand battle in Game 10′s Grunfeld Defense. Photo by Chessvibes. This world championship will go down go down as one of the best in the past 25 years. The play has not been stellar, but the fighting between the two players has been admirable and the games (and the match) have been accented [...]
Posted in World Championships on May 7th, 2010 No Comments »
This illustration was done by Mike Magnan of Toronto. Magnan is one of several talented chess cartoonists which include José Diaz for Chessvibes and Rene Duret for Alexandra Kosteniuk’s site. These types of images will certainly make chess appear to be more friendly. Viswanathan Anand may have missed a crucial chance to put pressure on [...]
Posted in World Championships on May 4th, 2010 6 Comments »
The body language tells all… Topalov will be pressing and Anand will be defending. Game #8 had its twists and turns but certainly not reminiscent of Game #7. Photo © ChessVibes. If it is not clear that the momentum shifted after Game #7, then it should be absolutely clear that Veselin Topalov has it now. [...]
Posted in World Championships on May 3rd, 2010 3 Comments »
Anand and Topalov have an epic battle in Game #7. Photo © Chessvibes. World Champion Viswanathan Anand and Challenger Veselin Topalov played what was arguably the most exciting game in the match. A game replete with theoretical complications and a perpetual ebb and flow, Topalov rolled out his famous preparation and stunned Anand with an [...]
Posted in World Championships on May 2nd, 2010 1 Comment »
Veselin Topalov knows that he will have to build some momentum since he is a point down in a short match. In Game #6, Topalov gained that momentum by outplaying Viswanathan Anand in the latter stages of the game, but unfortunately was unable to score a full point. Nevertheless, this game had to have been [...]
Posted in World Championships on May 1st, 2010 No Comments »
Topalov and Anand square in a pivotal 5th game. Photo by ChessBase. Game #5 was a key affair for Challenger Veselin Topalov. Many pundits were wondering how he would react to the severe thrashing he took in the previous game. Would he come out with guns blazing trying to get the point back? Would he [...]
Posted in World Championships on Apr 29th, 2010 1 Comment »
Anand is on a roll… wins again with ‘Killer Catalan’! Photo by Europe-Echecs.com. World Champion Viswanathan Anand destroyed Challenger Veselin Topalov today in another “Killer Catalan”. This time it would be Anand to deliever a crushing knight sacrifice to shatter black’s king. The game evolved into a very interesting battle with Topalov deviating early with [...]
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