THE WEEK IN CHESS 139 - 7th July 1997 by Mark Crowther

E-Mail          mdcrowth@netcomuk.co.uk
www             http://www.tcc.net/gmtchess.html
Tel or fax      01274 882143 [Bradford England]
Produced for Thoth Communications Corporation part 
of Grandmaster Technologies Incorporated.

1) Introduction
2) Miguel Najdorf 1910-1997
3) Dortmund 1997 Tournament
4) Aarhus Denmark Category 14
5) Peter Leko wins in Colombia
6) 12th Dr. Milan Vidmar memorial Tournament
7) Kasparov rejects FIDE KO
8) Broekhuis Dutch Chess Championships
9) Academics v Philistines Match London
10) Tal Shaked wins US Junior Championships
11) World Open Philadelphia
12) Ongoing events
13) Theoretical Corner by Marco R. Martini (ITA)

1) Introduction

My thanks to Roberto Alvarez, Skolernes Skakklub, Lost Boys, Michael Greengard, Duif Calvin, Daði Örn Jónsson, John Henderson, Osvaldo Orozco Mendez, Marco R. Martini and all those who helped with this issue.

A busy week which ended with the sad news of Miguel Najdorf. I used to imagine how great it would be to be in the press room with him and others noisily discussing the play and the time of day. Sadly he didn't come to the Nigel Short - Kasparov match in London so I never got to find out. His enthusiasm for chess was his greatest legacy yet if most of the World remembers this it is Argentina that will miss him most. He played board one for them leading them to years of success, he organised and promoted the game and in his own back yard he scored some tremendous results. The accident of the Olympiad being held in their country as the Second World War broke out changed their chess history and his life completely.

I apologies to those whose material I have either briefly mentioned or not used at all this week. I have a lot of material to catch up on in what promises to be a huge issue next week.

Hope you enjoy this issue

Mark

2) Miguel Najdorf 1910-1997

Miguel Najdorf 1910-1997

Mieczyslaw Najdorf was born in Warsaw Poland on April 15th 1910, he died on Friday 4th July 1997. He represented along with Andre Lilienthal one of the few living links with pre-war chess. He played against all World Chess Champions except Steinitz and Lasker, although he did play bridge with the latter. Tartakower was his teacher in pre-war Poland and his style reflected this rather old fashioned view of chess. He was a fluid, instinctive player whose competitive instincts were best seen at speed chess. The turning point of his life, and simultaneously the turning point of South American chess also was the outbreak of the Second World War. He was playing for the Polish team in Buenos Aires in 1939 and he decided to stay on there rather than return to Europe. His family (he had a wife and children) in Europe all perished during the war and this quite possibly would have been his fate also.

Many chess players stayed in Argentina and some found making a living very hard. Najdorf and fellow GM Carlos Guimard built an eventually successful insurance business from scratch. He became a naturalised Argentinian in 1944 changing his first name to Miguel. Passionate about his chess he promoted and played the game tirelessly. In recent years he organised an annual Miguel Najdorf tournament that recently had its 8th edition. He claimed that he spent over a $1m on organising events over the years and he was even more generous with his time promoting chess with simultaneous exhibitions well into his eighties.

His pre-war chess career was not very high profile. He won the Hungarian Championships (playing as a guest) in 1936 with a score of +10 =4 -1 but little else other than team tournament appearances for Poland. He played his first important international tournament in Margate 1939. (1st Keres 7.5; 2nd Capablanca 6.5; Flohr 6.5; Thomas 5; Milner Barry 4.5; Najdorf 4; etc 10 players) where he only drew against one of the top four, Capablanca. This was at least ten years too late for a player who was later to have World Title pretensions. When he arrived in Argentina at the age of 29 he could be described at best as only of average Grandmaster standard. The man who proved to be so good for chess in Argentina also found that chess in Argentina was good to him. Chess in Argentina was popular and in 1939 had a number of good young players. He set about dominating the scene there first with a series of excellent results. Mar del Plata 1941 2nd behind Stahlberg, 1st= with Stahlberg in Buenos Aires 1941, 1st in Mar del Plata 1942, 1st in Mar del Plata 1943 and 1st= in Mar del Plata 1944 was the start of his progress as a tournament chess player. He gave two huge simultaneous displays in order to try and get his name publicised in the hope that news would reach his family in Poland. A 202 game simultaneous display in 1943 (+182 -8 =12) and a 45 game blindfold simultaneous in San Pablo, Brazil (+ 39 = 4 - 2) in 1947.

When the war ended he was extremely confident in his own abilities and set about trying to prove it in Europe. He was invited to the Staunton Memorial in 1946 the first strong tournament of the post-war period. He shared 4th-5th there with 11.5 points including a last round win over Botvinnik (not in truth a very good game). This event was used by FIDE as a good indication of the form of players who might be invited to the World Championship Tournament that they proposed to hold to find a new champion after the death of Alekhine. Smyslov's performance in the event (a point in front of Najdorf) was the decisive factor in his invitation to the 1948 event. The event was scheduled to be a six player event but Reuben Fine withdrew when the event was postponed from 1947 to 1948. Najdorf believed that this should have opened the way for him to be invited to the event but there were to be no substitutions so the event went ahead as a five player event. In an interview in 1947 he declared "I am going to be World Champion. My profession does not permit me to devote to chess all the attention that it merits and needs; but if I were to be invited to compete for the World Championship I would dedicate three months to the study of theory, abstaining from displays and casual games, hoping in this way to fill the vacuum in my knowledge of the openings. I am thirty-six years old and at the height of my powers. At first I was a "brilliant" player, loving sacrifices. I believe that I am inferior to none of the players who are to participate in the next World Championships … Botwinnik, Fine, Keres, Reshevsky, Euwe. None of these have a better record than I. I have played much less than they have, admittedly, but I am satisfied with my results." In fact no-one quite realised the level of preparation that the Soviet players were doing, their performance in Groningen was actually quite poor compared to that which was to come. Najdorf was not going to make up for lack of experience and preparation in three months. In fact it was some time before he appreciated how chess had changed he said in that 1947 interview "I believe that I have the least book knowledge of all the masters; all are my superiors in theory. But as Kmoch and Tartakower (my teacher) have said, it is in the middle game and endgame that a good chess player reveals himself." In the early 1930s Tartakower complained to Flohr "You don't play chess you play systems." This was the direction that chess was moving. Opening preparation had started to change it was no longer just the opening moves, it was a system of play, something which the Russians were developing to perfection, Najdorf had his old teacher's views. He was also wrong about being at the height of his powers. He actually continued to improve for years, mostly due to the huge international experience he was to gain, something sadly lacking in his career up to that time. Here is a small, almost random sample of results.

After Groningen he won weaker events in Prague and Barcelona in 1946. In 1947 he was 2nd Buenos Aires, 1st Mar del Plata. In 1948 he had a mixed year 4th-5th Mar del Plata; 1st Buenos Aires was followed by a very sobering result in the first Interzonal. He came 6th-9th in the Saltsjobaden IZ 1948 with 10.5 points 3.5 points behind the winner Bronstein and only just qualifying for the 1st Candidates tournament. Later in the year he won the Venice Tournament. In the 1948/9 New York tournament he was second behind Reuben Fine. He also played Fine in a match which they drew +2 -2 =4. In the 1950 Budapest Candidates tournament he was 5th on 9/18. In 1950 he won a tournament in Bled and then a quite strong tournament in Amsterdam ahead of Reshevsky, Stahlberg, Gligoric and Euwe amongst others. Najdorf lost two matches to Reshevsky one in New York 1952 the other in Buenos Aires 1953.

He was seeded through to the 1953 Candidates tournament where he shared 6th place. He played in the Gothenburg Interzonal of 1955 but only shared 12th-13th on 9.5/20 which was his last attempt to qualify for the World Championships. Mar del Plata 1959 1st= with Pachman ahead of Fischer. Bled 1961 11th-13th in a strong international field including Tal, Fischer, Gligoric, Keres, Petrosian and Geller. Havana 1962 1st (+14 =5 -2) ahead of Polugaevsky, Spassky, Gligoric and Smyslov, 1st Piatigorsky Cup Los Angeles 1963 3rd-4th with Olafsson behind Petrosian and Keres. Buenos Aires 1964 4th behind Keres, Petronsian, and Byrne. Mar del Plata 1965 1st 1.5 points clear of Leonid Stein who was second. 2nd Piatigorsky Cup Santa Monica 1966 8th/10 but he did defeat Fischer for the first and only time. Moscow 1967 9th-12th on 50% in a very strong field. USSR vs the Rest of the World 1970 +1 -1 =2 against Tal. Palma de Mallorca 1969 9th-10th again on 50% in another strong event. Buenos Aires 1970 4th= ahead of Smyslov but a long way behind the winner Fischer. Wijk aan Zee 1971 14th on 5 points. Hastings 1971-2 5th= (Karpov and Korchnoi won) Buenos Aires 1979 2nd= behind Larsen. Bugojno 1982 11th-12th/14 (Gligoric and Ivkov below him) in his only tournament appearance with Kasparov. In 1991 he played his last national Championships, in 1992 he played in the strong Mar del Plata. The 50th anniversary of the Staunton Memorial saw him play in a short event there. He beat Denker quite handily in his final game at that event.

Najdorf played in a huge number of the Olympiads. He represented Poland in 1935, 1937 and 1939. He played for Argentina in 11 Olympiads between 1950 and 1976. He made the best score on board one in 1950 and 1952. Argentina finished second in 1950, 1952, 1954, 3rd in 1958, 1962 in no small part due to his ability to score heavily in these events. His best known Olympiad game was a loss in 24 moves to Bobby Fischer who had just the night before said that he couldn't see the game lasting 25 moves. However he only lost that one game on the way to a +9 -1 =7 record including playing Robatsch twice, the Austrian only lasted 41 moves in total.

Anjo Anjewierden has put together a lot of tables of results from throughout his career.

http://www.swi.psy.uva.nl/usr/anjo/najdorf.htm

If chess had not been given Miguel Najdorf it would have had to invent him. Passionate, loud, volatile he would dominate the press rooms of World Championships with his analysis of the games or in taking on all comers at speed chess. His sheer enthusiasm was almost without limit. In serious play he was always on the move, leaping up after playing a move and find someone to talk to, restless whilst waiting his opponents move. Yet a tough competitor who worked at his game and was extremely good at winning against lesser players and who kept his standard of play very high for decades. One of the best players outside the Soviet Union for 15 years after WWII he competed at the highest level comparatively late in life. His style was a little too lightweight to have any sustained success against the very, very best but he had wins against Botvinnik, Smyslov, Petrosian, Tal and Fischer. To sum him up is difficult. To his close friends he was Mendel, to everyone else he was Don Miguel respected player and perhaps even more respected for his enthusiasm and drive in promoting the game especially in Argentina. He backed himself to win and his self-confidence was a hugely important part of his personality. He had his fair share of wins and losses retaining his sharpness and appetite for the game right until the end. They broke the mould when they forged Najdorf.

3) Dortmund 1997 Tournament

The Category 18 (one point shy of category 19) Dortmund chess tournament takes place between July 4th-13th. The event is being covered on my www pages and those at http://www.dortmund.de/chess97.htm

The first four rounds show that the event should be an exciting one with Kramnik, Anand and Polgar being in near top form. The event got off to a bang with Kramnik's victory over Karpov in round one. He caught Karpov in a vice and tried positionally squeezing him for many moves. Karpov ran very short of time with only a couple of minutes for something like the last ten moves. Karpov may have missed his chance to at least draw in this phase (32. Qxd4 is at the very least better than the game) and Kramnik emerged the winner. In the other decisive game of the first round Anand probed Ivanchuk for 50 moves before winning. Ivanchuk resigned after a long thought in a position where many would have at least continued for a few more moves, Anand was certainly caught by surprise by the resignation. Anand and Kramnik drew in the second round, Kramnik stood slightly better and probably should have continued instead he offered a draw which Anand gladly accepted. Four decisive games including a win for Judit Polgar who out calculated Topalov. Round 3 saw a 19 move win for Kramnik over the unpredictable Ivanchuk. The decisive mistake appeared to occur just the move before although Kramnik undoubtably held an advantage anyhow. Kramnik was the only winner in round 4 although Anand was surely just winning against Huebner. I thought 24. ...b5 let Huebner right back in the game and he defended very well to hold it after that. With some players struggling and others in fine form there are going to be a lot of decisive games to come in this event.

Results

Round 1 (1997.07.04)

Kramnik, Vladimir   -  Karpov, Anatoly     1-0   39  A15  English; 1.c4
Polgar, Judit       -  Gelfand, Boris      1/2   32  B92  Sicilian; Najdorf
Anand, Viswanathan  -  Ivanchuk, Vassily   1-0   50  C19  French; Winawer
Huebner, Robert     -  Topalov, Veselin    1/2   32  D77  1.d4 d5 2.c4 g6
Jussupow, Artur     -  Short, Nigel D      1/2   22  D05  Queen's pawn

Round 2 (1997.07.05)

Anand, Viswanathan  -  Kramnik, Vladimir   1/2   24  B33  Sicilian; Sveshnikov
Karpov, Anatoly     -  Jussupow, Artur     1-0   63  D56  QGD;
Short, Nigel D      -  Huebner, Robert     1-0   51  C52  Evans gambit
Ivanchuk, Vassily   -  Gelfand, Boris      1-0   49  D53  QGD;
Topalov, Veselin    -  Polgar, Judit       0-1   38  A16  English; 1.c4

Round 3 (1997.07.06)

Kramnik, Vladimir   -  Ivanchuk, Vassily   1-0   19  D45  Semi-Slav
Polgar, Judit       -  Short, Nigel D      1-0   39  B40  Sicilian
Gelfand, Boris      -  Topalov, Veselin    1/2   43  E92  Kings indian; Classical
Huebner, Robert     -  Karpov, Anatoly     1/2   35  B12  Caro-Kann
Jussupow, Artur     -  Anand, Viswanathan  0-1   32  D29  QGA;

Round 4 (1997.07.07)

Kramnik, Vladimir   -  Jussupow, Artur     1-0   44  D37  Queen's gambit
Anand, Viswanathan  -  Huebner, Robert     1/2   60  D21  QGA;
Karpov, Anatoly     -  Polgar, Judit       1/2   13  D24  QGA;
Short, Nigel D      -  Gelfand, Boris      1/2   25  B90  Sicilian; Najdorf
Ivanchuk, Vassily   -  Topalov, Veselin    1/2   51  B23  Sicilian; Closed


Dortmund GER (GER), VII 1997                    cat. XVIII (2700)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
                                   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Kramnik, Vladimir   g RUS 2770  * . = 1 . . . 1 . 1  3.5  3054
 2 Polgar, Judit       g HUN 2670  . * . = 1 = . . 1 .  3.0  2904
 3 Anand, Viswanathan  g IND 2765  = . * . . . = 1 . 1  3.0  2871
 4 Karpov, Anatoly     g RUS 2745  0 = . * . . = . . 1  2.0  2665
 5 Short, Nigel D      g ENG 2660  . 0 . . * = 1 . . =  2.0  2646
 6 Gelfand, Boris      g BLR 2695  . = . . = * . 0 = .  1.5  2613
 7 Huebner, Robert     g GER 2580  . . = = 0 . * . = .  1.5  2641
 8 Ivanchuk, Vassily   g UKR 2725  0 . 0 . . 1 . * = .  1.5  2656
 9 Topalov, Veselin    g BUL 2745  . 0 . . . = = = * .  1.5  2580
10 Jussupow, Artur     g GER 2640  0 . 0 0 = . . . . *  0.5  2413
-----------------------------------------------------------------

4) Aarhus Denmark

The Skolernes Skakklub celebrated its 25th anniversary by holding this event. It took place between June 20th to June 29th and included a closed cat. 14 round robin-tournament, and an international open featuring some strong title players. There was live coverage on the internet

http://www.mi.aau.dk/~mygind/festival97.html

I will republish the games given last week as I put the wrong header to them. In addition I have most of the games from the open event. Credit should go to Daði Örn Jónsson for doing the hard work on the games. Also to Jesper Mygind for sending the games. Check out Daði's detailed coverage on his Chess in Iceland page. http://www.vks.is/skak/ssk97ds.html

Open:

 1 Volzhin, Alexander            m RUS 2505   7.5 2630
 2 Shipov, Sergei                g RUS 2540   7.0 2618
 3 Kupreichik, Viktor D          g BLR 2500   6.5 2502
 4 Hillarp Persson, Tiger        m SWE 2475   6.5 2432
 5 Mikhalevski, Victor           g ISR 2535   6.0 2493
 6 Ochsner, Thomas                 DEN 2300   6.0 2460
 7 Holst, Allan                    DEN 2305   6.0 2403
 8 Jacobsen, Bo                    DEN 2255   5.5 2428
 9 Kveinys, Aloyzas              g LTU 2545   5.5 2421
10 Antonsen, Mikkel              m DEN 2410   5.5 2434
11 Christensen, Thomas             DEN 2250   5.5 2253
12 Lukin, Andrei M               m RUS 2480   5.5 2315
13 Belov,Vladimir                      ----   5.5 2358
14 Cole, Roland                    ENG 2250   5.5 2272
15 Matthiesen, Martin              DEN 2135   5.5 2219
16 Rewitz, Poul                    DEN 2310   5.5 2306
17 Guindy, Esmat                   DEN 2145   5.0 2296
18 Sobjerg, Erik                   DEN 2260   5.0 2197
19 Alkaersig, Ole                  DEN 2185   5.0 1945
20 Madsen, Peder                   DEN 2175   5.0 2189
21 Rathlev,Jakob                       ----   5.0 2012
52 players.

5) Peter Leko wins in Colombia

The tournament, a round-robin, was played 20-30 June in Casanare, Yopal, 250 miles from Bogota. The sponsor was The British Petroleum Company and there is a total prize fund of $25,000 (dollars), $5,000 for the winner.

The International Tournament in Yopal Colombia ended with a victory for Peter Leko. Undefeated he scored 4.5/5 with the white pieces drawing only with second placed Gilberto Milos. Second placed Milos only lost against tail-ender Nelson Gamboa. Stuart Conquest's games are often very wild and always worth looking at he scored 3 wins and 3 losses. My thanks to Osvaldo Orozco Mendez of Colombia who typed in all the games from the bulletin brought back from the event by a friend.

Yopal COL (COL), VI 1997                               cat. XII (2541)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Leko, Peter              g HUN 2600  * = = = 1 = 1 1 1 =  6.5  2699
 2 Milos, Gilberto          g BRA 2605  = * = = = 1 1 1 = 0  5.5  2613
 3 Morovic Fernandez, Ivan  g CHI 2580  = = * = = 1 = 0 = 1  5.0  2579
 4 Miles, Anthony J         g ENG 2550  = = = * 0 0 = 1 1 =  4.5  2539
 5 Conquest, Stuart         g ENG 2540  0 = = 1 * = 0 0 1 1  4.5  2540
 6 Arencibia, Walter        g CUB 2560  = 0 0 1 = * = = = =  4.0  2495
 7 Zapata, Alonso           g COL 2515  0 0 = = 1 = * = = =  4.0  2500
 8 Garcia, Gildardo         g COL 2485  0 0 1 0 1 = = * 0 1  4.0  2503
 9 Rodriguez, Amador        g CUB 2555  0 = = 0 0 = = 1 * 1  4.0  2495
10 Gamboa, Nelson             COL 2415  = 1 0 = 0 = = 0 0 *  3.0  2429
----------------------------------------------------------------------

6) 12th Dr. Milan Vidmar memorial Tournament

The 5th of July saw the start of the 12th Vidmar Memorial. The point of interest for me is the play of Vadim Zvjaginsev whose name draws attention to the player but he has rarely had a failure in recent times and is definitely one to watch. Event to be covered on the internet at: 12th Dr. Milan Vidmar memorial Tournament

Round 1 (1997.07.05)

Kozul, Zdenko           -  Chernin, Alexander      1/2   56  D26  QGA;
Zvjaginsev, Vadim       -  Azmaiparashvili, Zurab  1/2   36  D91  Gruenfeld indian
Mohr, Georg             -  Beliavsky, Alexander G  0-1   55  C47  Four knights

Round 2 (1997.07.06)

Zvjaginsev, Vadim       -  Mohr, Georg             1-0   58  E92  Kings indian; Classical
Azmaiparashvili, Zurab  -  Chernin, Alexander      1/2   22  A29  English; 1.c4 e5
Beliavsky, Alexander G  -  Kozul, Zdenko           0-1   64  E71  Kings indian


Portoroz SLO (SLO), VII 1997                       cat. XV (2619)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
                                      1  2  3  4  5  6 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1 Kozul, Zdenko           g CRO 2605 ** .. .. =. 1. ..  1.5  2868
2 Zvjaginsev, Vadim       g RUS 2635 .. ** =. .. .. 1.  1.5  2755
3 Azmaiparashvili, Zurab  g GEO 2645 .. =. ** =. .. ..  1.0  2637
4 Chernin, Alexander      g HUN 2640 =. .. =. ** .. ..  1.0  2625
5 Beliavsky, Alexander G  g SLO 2710 0. .. .. .. ** 1.  1.0  2542
6 Mohr, Georg             m SLO 2480 .. 0. .. .. 0. **  0.0      
-----------------------------------------------------------------

7) Kasparov rejects FIDE KO

Juan Antonio Samaranch the President of the IOC wrote to both Karpov and Kasparov asking them to consider playing in the FIDE knockout event at the end of the year. Both players are on record as saying they would not compete although there is a belief of some that Karpov might be open to changing his mind. Kasparov's reply to Samaranch definitively rejected any possibility of playing. In Novgorod Kasparov revealed that the possibility of a match between himself and Karpov was still being pursued although chances and prize fund were less than they were at the end of last year.

Letter from Garry Kasparov to Juan Antonio Samaranch

Palace Hotel Madrid

Sr. D: Juan Antonio Samaranch

Marques de Samaranch

President

International OLYMPIC COMMITTEE

June 27th 1997

Dear Juan Antonio

This is to acknowledge the receipt of you June 5th fax regarding the F.I.D.E. version of the World Chess Championship, which you will hardly fail to observe totally ignores the fact that I have held this title continuously since 1985.

Your personal efforts to enhance and elevate the game of Chess are greatly appreciated by me but unfortunately I cannot and will not agree to play in this series of matches which are being organised in a farcical manner. From the first moment that this idea was announced by the F.I.D.E President I have publicly expressed my concern about the concept, the source of funding and regard as totally inadequate this system for defining the strongest Chess player in the World.

In Chess, the tradition of playing for the official WORLD TITLE is 111 years old and recognises the age-old tradition of a match between the HOLDER of the title and the CHALLENGER. Tradition dictates that this challenge is made in a serious manner with a full series of matches. The format being suggested flies directly in the face of tradition and unfortunately trivialises the World Title.

Regrettably, I believe that you have probably been misled about my position in this matter. I have stated publicly in an unambiguous and unequivocal manner that I will not under any circumstances participate in this event.

Yours sincerely

Garry Kasparov

8) Broekhuis Dutch Chess Championships

The category 12 National Championships in the Netherlands ended in a two way tie between last years winner Jan Timman and Predrag Nikolic. There will be a playoff between them in Rotterdam in the offices of the sponso "Broekhuis Training" taking place between October 20th- 24th. Jan Timman lost a truly horrible game in round 9 to threaten his first place but Nikolic only drew his last three games whereas Timman managed to win in round 10. There was some fine coverage of the event on the homepage of the event including round by round summaries. The Lost Boys coverage is at http://www.lostcity.nl/chess/nk97/

Round 9 (1997.07.01)

Timman, Jan H              -  Cifuentes Parada, Roberto  0-1   21  E00  
Nikolic, Predrag           -  Sokolov, Ivan              1/2   31  D78  
Van der Wiel, John T.H     -  Riemersma, Liafbern        1-0   41  B76  
Van der Sterren, Paul      -  Sosonko, Gennadi           1/2   42  D38  
Van den Doel, Erik         -  Nijboer, Friso             0-1   34  B06  
Van der Weide, Karel       -  Piket, Jeroen              0-1   40  B06  

Round 10 (1997.07.02)

Sokolov, Ivan              -  Van der Weide, Karel       1-0   52  E94  
Sosonko, Gennadi           -  Nikolic, Predrag           1/2   20  E18  
Nijboer, Friso             -  Cifuentes Parada, Roberto  1-0   63  C10  
Piket, Jeroen              -  Timman, Jan H              0-1   40  D97  
Van den Doel, Erik         -  Van der Wiel, John T.H     0-1   33  B32  
Riemersma, Liafbern        -  Van der Sterren, Paul      1-0   58  E55  

Round 11 (1997.07.03)

Timman, Jan H              -  Sokolov, Ivan              1/2   30  D43  
Nikolic, Predrag           -  Riemersma, Liafbern        1/2   51  D76  
Van der Wiel, John T.H     -  Nijboer, Friso             1/2   44  B88  
Van der Sterren, Paul      -  Van den Doel, Erik         1/2   68  E97  
Cifuentes Parada, Roberto  -  Piket, Jeroen              0-1   21  D55  
Van der Weide, Karel       -  Sosonko, Gennadi           0-1   48  A04  


Rotterdam NED (NED), VI-VII 1997                             cat. XII (2535)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Timman, Jan H              g NED 2630  * = = 1 = = 1 = 1 1 0 1  7.5  2658
 2 Nikolic, Predrag           g BIH 2655  = * = = = 1 = = 1 = 1 1  7.5  2656
 3 Sokolov, Ivan              g BIH 2615  = = * = 1 = 0 = 1 1 = 1  7.0  2629
 4 Van der Wiel, John T.H     g NED 2555  0 = = * = = 1 1 1 1 = =  7.0  2634
 5 Sosonko, Gennadi           g NED 2515  = = 0 = * = = = 1 1 = 1  6.5  2601
 6 Nijboer, Friso             g NED 2555  = 0 = = = * = = 1 0 1 1  6.0  2568
 7 Piket, Jeroen              g NED 2640  0 = 1 0 = = * = 0 = 1 1  5.5  2525
 8 Van der Sterren, Paul      g NED 2515  = = = 0 = = = * = 0 1 =  5.0  2500
 9 Van den Doel, Erik         m NED 2430  0 0 0 0 0 0 1 = * 1 1 1  4.5  2479
10 Riemersma, Liafbern        m NED 2435  0 = 0 0 0 1 = 1 0 * 0 1  4.0  2441
11 Cifuentes Parada, Roberto  g NED 2515  1 0 = = = 0 0 0 0 1 * 0  3.5  2403
12 Van der Weide, Karel       f NED 2355  0 0 0 = 0 0 0 = 0 0 1 *  2.0  2288
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

9) Academics v Philistines Match London

David Norwood, Non-playing England Captain and amongst other things Daily Telegraph correspondent organised a fun event in London last week. Sponsored by Pizza Express at London Wall there was a match between Oxbridge Graduates and the rest. Twenty years ago there would have been no doubt who would have won but these days the philistines look the stronger squad if they can get their full team out. The match was settled on the lower boards including with a game involving British Chess Federation President and professional snooker player Steve Davis who lost to a journalist with the Times Daniel Johnson. The fixture is expected to be renewed next year with the Philistines expecting their team to be stronger next time.

Final result Academics 6.5 - Philistines 3.5

1.  Norwood        0-1 Adams
2.  Speelman       1/2 Sadler
3.  Nunn           1-0 Chandler
4.  Watson         1/2 Emms
5.  Mestel         1-0 Wall
6.  Kumaran        1-0 Summerscale
7.  Hartston       0-1 Pein
8.  Burgess        1/2 Mortazawi
9.  Rita Hennigan  1-0 Ruth Sheldon
10. Daniel Johnson 1-0 Steve Davis

10) Tal Shaked wins US Junior Championships

The table I published need one correction. The player who finished ninth was Charles Gelman. The games will probably be fully available next week. See http://www.jaderiver.com/chess/usjr97.html for further details.

Name                    Age   Rating     1  2  3 4  5  6 7  8 9 10 Total
1   SHAKED,TAL              19    2520       X  1  1 =  =  1 =  1 =  1   7.0*
2   SHLIPERMAN, IGOR        17    2513       0  X  1 =  =  1 =  0 1  1   5.5
3   PERELSHTEYN,EUGENE      16    2462       0  0  X 1  =  1 =  0 1  0   4.0
4   IPPOLITO,DEAN           18    2449       =  =  0 X  0  1 =  = 1  1   5.0
5   MULYAR,MICHAEL A        18    2400       =  =  = 1  X  1 =  1 0  1   6.0
6   STERIEV,LJUPCO          19    2399       0  0  0 0  0  X 0  0 0  0   0.0
7   ZILBERSTEIN,DMITRY      18    2398       =  =  = =  =  1 X  1 1  1   6.5
8   SHAHADE,GREGORY         18    2385       0  1  1 =  0  1 0  X 1  1   5.5
9   GELMAN,CHARLES          20    2385       =  0  0 0  1  1 0  0 X  1   3.5
10  WHEAT,JAMES FRANKLIN    19    2321       0  0  1 0  0  1 0  0 0  X   2.0

11) World Open Philadelphia

Round 8 leading standings.

ICC report that after round 8 of 9

7.0-1.0: Shabalov

6.5-1.5: Kudrin, Wojtkiewicz, Epishin, Serper, Vigorito

6.0-2.0: Kaidanov, Gulko, Smirin, Yermolinsky, Blatny, 
Hjartarson, Waitzkin, Goldin, A.Ivanov, I.Ivanov, Palos, 
Shliperman

12) Ongoing events

Politiken Cup

Results available at the Chess in Iceland page http://www.vks.is/skak/indexe.html further coverage here next week.

Swedish Championships 1997

Robert Ericsson reports that the Swedish Championships 1997 are being held in Haninge (a suburb of Stockholm) during June 28th - July 13th. Information on Internet can be found on the following sites:

Start site for Swedish Championships 1997:

http://www.sbv.se/chess/

World Cities Championships

The Gunadarma Invitational World Cities will start on 8 July. The last round (round 10) shall be played from 1000 to 1400 local time. This shall be followed by the Gunadarma International Open from 15 to 23 July.

Daily results shall be posted on the special webpage which will be operative from 6 July.

Read the messages of PCA World Champion Garry Kasparov and FIDE World Champion Anatoly Karpov on this website.

http://chess.gdarma.ac.id

13) Theoretical Corner by Marco R. Martini (ITA)

Special section in the games section
Email: avvmartini@mailbox.icom.it
WWW  : http://www.icom.it./user/scac