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) Dortmund 1997 Tournament
3) 12th Dr. Milan Vidmar memorial Tournament
4) Schahin Cury Tournament
5) Russian Cup 8th-9th Stages
6) First Saturday Tournament July
7) Canadian Open 1997
8) Swedish Championships 1997
9) News from Portugal by Luis Santos
10) World Open Philadelphia
11) South African Championships By Nick Barnett
12) Politiken Cup
13) Hogeschool Zeeland Vissingen Open
14) World Cities Championships
15) Theoretical Corner by Marco R. Martini
(ITA)
It, Dortmund GER 1997 25 Vidmar mem, Portoroz SLO 1997 18 Schahin Cury, Americana BRA 1997 15 It, Villa Martelli ARG 1997 7 FSIM July, Budapest HUN 1997 43 Russian Cup 1997 8th-9th leg 576 ch-SWE, Haninge 1997 91
My thanks to Herman van Riemsdijk, ChessAssistant, Veselin Topalov, Laszlo Nagy, Cecil Rosner, Robert Ericsson, Luis Santos, ICC, Eduardo Bauza Mercere, Nick Barnett, Lars-Henrik Bech Hansen, Daði Örn Jónsson, Hans Groffen, Marco R Martini and all those who helped out this week.
A busy week with the highlight being Kramnik's win in Dortmund. His win in Dortmund marks him out as Kasparov's nearest challenger. This is just an extension of a series of good results and increasingly powerful play. There were lots of other events to report on. For number of the events I have held over the games until next week when I should have the software I usually use for processing the games updated with the new rating list.
Hope you enjoy this issue
Mark
Vladimir Kramnik took the Category 18 Dortmund International Chess Tournament by a clear point. Undefeated and for the most part untroubled he won the event by a clear point from Indian Viswanathan Anand. The event was held in conjunction with WDR who covered the event with four television programs. They also handled the www coverage on the internet. They covered one game live and then added the other games later in the day. This was the first year they had tried such coverage and the main improvement would be all the games being available live. They had an IRC chat room where Hort chatted about the games (and just chatted about anything at all when things got quiet) which I found quite addictive. They had a couple of interviews with Judit Polgar and one with the winner Vladimir Kramnik (of which more later.) where they answered questions on-line. The www site was:
http://www.dortmund.de/chess97.htm
Kramnik's style is starting to become clear. He likes to play always with great precision to find the correct move. Although he is tactically gifted he does not play for a win by trying to make the position confusing even though he is a better calculator than most. His sacrificial attack against Kasparov at Dos Hermanas 1996 where his piece sacrifice was probably unsound (although extremely difficult to defend against) is untypical of his style. Indeed his willingness to agree draws has caused some criticism even if he wins tournaments. It misunderstands his credo as a chess player as he doesn't believe in playing unsound chess. An ability to go to war, especially against weaker players, may be something he will have to try to develop but it is perhaps a little dangerous to attempt to change things when his play is so exceptional. It also underestimates the strength of his opponents, he rarely plays anyone outside the top 20 in the World. This credo of soundness flows from the opening, whether white or black his repertoire is well worked out and shows very good taste. You never ask the question "why is he playing such an unsound opening?" something that can be asked of many others in the top 20.
Kramnik is only 22 years of age and his main weakness might be seen as his temperament. He has in the past shown considerable uncertainty after a loss. A fault that is extremely common and which may simply disappear as he continues to play better and better. His only shots at the World Championships were in the PCA and FIDE cycles of 1994. He qualified for both Candidates events. He beat Leonid Yudasin 4.5-2.5 in the first round of the FIDE Candidates, a score that was a little less than might have been expected. He lost horribly to Gata Kamsky in June 1994 against Gata Kamsky 4.5-1.5 in the PCA cycle and was surprisingly beaten by Boris Gelfand 4.5-3.5 in the FIDE cycle shortly afterwards. These results were three years ago. He does need some more experience at match play however. He aided Kasparov in his World Title defence against Anand in 1995 and this experience will undoubtedly help him, to see the most successful match player in the World contest a match from the inside of his camp will have told him what approach is required.
In Dortmund he won four games. The first was perhaps the most important. For the second time in succession he has a bad positional beating to Anatoly Karpov. Even though the former World Champion is clearly not in good form, few have beaten him in this style. He beat Judit Polgar when he got a superior position right out of the opening which left Judit Polgar defending a passive position without prospects. His systematic creation of weaknesses all over the board against very stubborn defence was a fine display. Ivanchuk simply self-destructed after a sharp opening debate. He systematically took Jusspow apart in their game. He drew the remaining games with few difficulties.
After Kramnik's win in the Dortmund tournament he took questions on the IRC #schachtage channel which was hosted by Hort. His answers to some of the questions were very interesting.
[Adamski] Will you enter the FIDE KO Tournament?
[Kramnik] If it takes place the answer will probably be yes.
[MC] Do you think you are playing your best ever chess?
[Kramnik] I think I have improved a lot, but I hope I will improve even more.
[MC] If Kasparov was to organise a small Candidates Tournament to produce a match challenger for him would you enter? In other words is your final goal to beat Kasparov in a match?
[Kramnik] I would like to play in FIDE. I want of course to beat Kasparov, but probably I will not play that tournament, because I don't agree with all the conditions they have.
[FRITZ3] What about the Kasparov-Deep Blue match?
I think they [public and press] have paid too much attention to that match. Normally Kasparov would have won.
On German Television he was also questioned about his World Title ambitions. He said that he would like to be World Champion but that the World Championships don't exist at the moment. He added that no-matter how many times he beats Kasparov in tournament play he can only become World Champion by beating Kasparov.
The question of participation in the FIDE event seems to be answered in the same way by most players, they will play if it takes place, they don't believe it is a real World Championships and they don't like or understand the reasoning behind, the format. Indeed there does seem to be a lack of real competitiveness between players. Anand who finished 2nd is playing quite ragged chess. He seems also to be just waiting for developments and for a further challenge. His result was very respectable as few can compete with his fantastic opening knowledge and speed of play. In 3rd was Topalov who gives the impression that chess is a real struggle at the moment. He is a hugely competitive player and he pulled himself to +1 after victories in the 7th and 9th rounds after losing to Judit Polgar in round two (these two always have ferocious games against each other). Level with Topalov was Ivanchuk. He is clearly still struggling mentally and he seems to not be able to play against Anand or Kramnik anymore. Two bad losses to them apart he had a fine event winning three games, some with great determination and risk. Judit Polgar seemed on course for a very fine results until derailed in games in rounds 6 and 7. Her loss against Kramnik was something like her 8th from 11 games. I always have the feeling that if she could only get a decent opening … Her opening repertoire is fine against all but the very best where she always seems to start with a disadvantage although she did confess that all these losses against Kasparov and Kramnik might be a psychological problem too. It is extremely common for losing runs to continue in chess for years simply due to the weight of previous losses against the same opponents. Of course Kramnik and Kasparov are also very strong players, Kasparov seems to go out of his way to make sure he wins against Polgar. Gelfand who finished joint 6th simply couldn't beat anyone yet lost just the single game to the mercurial Ivanchuk. Nigel Short also joint 6th seems to have lost all faith in his main-line opening repertoire. His most spectacular victories have come with side-lines. He has started a number of events poorly recently, resorting to the King's Gambit in recent times to try and get a win. Against Karpov he played a d-pawn opening, which doesn't form part of his repertoire at all, and then played a very dubious but brutal variation of the Nimzo-Indian, Karpov didn't know how to react and inexplicably used large amounts of time (25 minutes on move 9 for instance). Short demolished him on the Kings-side. Karpov too was on 4 points and his play has declined alarmingly in the last year. His openings are simply not the weapon they were and his ability to win against the lower end of the field has almost deserted him. He finds himself in trouble on the clock in a lot of games seemingly unable to ration his time out. It must be hard to keep your motivation over 25 years at the top and perhaps this is simply a rough patch. The recent run of results are the worst in his career. It is hard to believe he will overtake Kasparov, Anand or Kramnik again although it would be foolish to write him off just yet. The local invitees Huebner and Jussupow had a hard time although Huebner did perform considerably above his rather low current rating.
The event was Category 18 (one point shy of category 19) and took place between July 4th-13th.
Round 5 (1997.07.09)
Topalov, Veselin - Short, Nigel D 1/2 43 B43 Sicilian
Polgar, Judit - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 20 B76 Sicilian; Dragon
Gelfand, Boris - Karpov, Anatoly 1/2 20 E12 Nimzo indian
Huebner, Robert - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 16 E11 Bogo indian
Jussupow, Artur - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1/2 40 D10 Slav defence
Round 6 (1997.07.10)
Kramnik, Vladimir - Polgar, Judit 1-0 41 D30 Queen's gambit
Anand, Viswanathan - Gelfand, Boris 1/2 46 E97 Kings indian; Main line
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Short, Nigel D 1-0 41 B40 Sicilian
Karpov, Anatoly - Topalov, Veselin 1/2 36 D78 1.d4 d5 2.c4 g6
Jussupow, Artur - Huebner, Robert 1/2 20 E57 Nimzo indian
Round 7 (1997.07.11)
Topalov, Veselin - Anand, Viswanathan 1-0 42 B96 Sicilian; Najdorf
Polgar, Judit - Jussupow, Artur 0-1 62 B05 Alekhine defence
Gelfand, Boris - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 32 D55 QGD;
Short, Nigel D - Karpov, Anatoly 1-0 44 E32 Nimzo indian
Huebner, Robert - Ivanchuk, Vassily 0-1 42 A43 Queen's pawn
Round 8 (1997.07.12)
Kramnik, Vladimir - Topalov, Veselin 1/2 36 E97 Kings indian; Main line
Anand, Viswanathan - Short, Nigel D 1-0 48 C87 Ruy Lopez
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Karpov, Anatoly 1/2 32 B17 Caro-Kann
Huebner, Robert - Polgar, Judit 1/2 48 E63 Kings indian
Jussupow, Artur - Gelfand, Boris 1/2 78 E73 Kings indian
Round 9 (1997.07.13)
Topalov, Veselin - Jussupow, Artur 1-0 75 C18 French; Winawer
Polgar, Judit - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1/2 37 C63 Ruy Lopez
Gelfand, Boris - Huebner, Robert 1/2 28 D27 QGA;
Karpov, Anatoly - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 32 D20 QGA;
Short, Nigel D - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 26 B33 Sicilian; Sveshnikov
Dortmund GER (GER), VII 1997 cat. XVIII (2700)
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
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1 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2770 * = = 1 1 = 1 = = 1 6.5 2857
2 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2765 = * 0 1 = = = 1 = 1 5.5 2772
3 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2745 = 1 * = 0 = = = = 1 5.0 2737
4 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2725 0 0 = * = 1 = 1 1 = 5.0 2739
5 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2670 0 = 1 = * = = 1 = 0 4.5 2702
6 Gelfand, Boris g BLR 2695 = = = 0 = * = = = = 4.0 2657
7 Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2745 0 = = = = = * 0 = 1 4.0 2651
8 Short, Nigel D g ENG 2660 = 0 = 0 0 = 1 * 1 = 4.0 2660
9 Huebner, Robert g GER 2580 = = = 0 = = = 0 * = 3.5 2632
10 Jussupow, Artur g GER 2640 0 0 0 = 1 = 0 = = * 3.0 2581
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After eight of the 10 rounds of the12th Vidmar Memorial the event is being led by Vadim Zvjaginsev and Zdenko Kozul lead. The event is very close with many draws. Only Georg Mohr appears outclassed having drawn only three games. Event to be covered on the internet at: 12th Dr. Milan Vidmar memorial Tournament
Round 3 (1997.07.07)
Kozul, Zdenko - Zvjaginsev, Vadim 1/2 25 D12
Chernin, Alexander - Beliavsky, Alexander G 1/2 25 E71
Mohr, Georg - Azmaiparashvili, Zurab 0-1 36 A13
Round 4 (1997.07.08)
Zvjaginsev, Vadim - Chernin, Alexander 1-0 51 A28
Azmaiparashvili, Zurab - Beliavsky, Alexander G 1-0 62 C01
Mohr, Georg - Kozul, Zdenko 1/2 42 E90
Round 5 (1997.07.09)
Kozul, Zdenko - Azmaiparashvili, Zurab 1/2 16 A41
Chernin, Alexander - Mohr, Georg 1-0 42 E75
Beliavsky, Alexander G - Zvjaginsev, Vadim 1/2 44 D38
Round 6 (1997.07.11)
Azmaiparashvili, Zurab - Zvjaginsev, Vadim 1/2 21 B52
Chernin, Alexander - Kozul, Zdenko 1/2 32 E81
Beliavsky, Alexander G - Mohr, Georg 1/2 50 A52
Round 7 (1997.07.12)
Zvjaginsev, Vadim - Beliavsky, Alexander G 1/2 30 A49
Azmaiparashvili, Zurab - Kozul, Zdenko 1/2 18 E92
Mohr, Georg - Chernin, Alexander 1/2 42 B07
Round 8 (1997.07.13)
Kozul, Zdenko - Mohr, Georg 1-0 53 E94
Chernin, Alexander - Zvjaginsev, Vadim 1/2 24 E33
Beliavsky, Alexander G - Azmaiparashvili, Zurab 1-0 79 B07
Portoroz SLO (SLO), VII 1997 cat. XV (2619)
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1 2 3 4 5 6
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1 Zvjaginsev, Vadim g RUS 2635 ** =. == 1= == 1. 5.0 2729
2 Kozul, Zdenko g CRO 2605 =. ** == == 1. =1 5.0 2704
3 Azmaiparashvili, Zurab g GEO 2645 == == ** =. 10 1. 4.5 2670
4 Chernin, Alexander g HUN 2640 0= == =. ** =. 1= 4.0 2599
5 Beliavsky, Alexander G g SLO 2710 == 0. 01 =. ** 1= 4.0 2595
6 Mohr, Georg m SLO 2480 0. =0 0. 0= 0= ** 1.5 2397
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A category 9 tournament is taking place in Americana a town about 100 miles from São Paulo. Six players are playing a double round robin tournament. Three Brazilian IMs (Leitão, Vescovi and De Toledo) and three foreign GMs (Zapata, Sorin and Urday) compete. The games can be followed on the internet: http://www.fpx.com.br/inter/inter.html
The event is also covered at:
http://www.hipernet.com.br/HiperChess/
The tournament is being directed by José Alberto Ferreira dos Santos, President of the São Paulo Chess Federation is the tournament director. Herman van Riemsdijk (who sent the results and games) is the arbiter.
Schahin Cury is a Brazilian engineering company who have sponsored Rafael Leitão since 1990. He is seeking a 3rd and final GM norm.
Schahin Cury Sao Paulo 1997
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Leitao,R 2515 -1 * ½ 1 ½ 0 1 3.0/5 7.25
2 De Toledo,J 2395 +143 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 3.0/5 6.75
3 Sorin,A 2460 +65 0 ½ * ½ 1 1 3.0/5 6.25
4 Urday,H 2445 +26 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 2.5/5
5 Zapata,A 2505 -103 1 ½ 0 ½ * 0 2.0/5
6 Vescovi,G 2480 -141 0 0 0 ½ 1 * 1.5/5
Average elo: 2466 <=> Category: 9
gm = 7.00 m = 5.00
Stanislav Viotsekhovsky took first prize on tie-break in the 8th stage of the Russian Cup in Smolensk which took place between June 3rd-11th. The total prizefund was $8,000 and 68 players participated. My thanks to ChessAssistant for the games and standings.
Smolensk RUS (RUS), VI 1997 1 Malaniuk, Vladimir P g UKR 2610 6.5 2633 2 Vaulin, Alexander g RUS 2490 6.5 2623 3 Voitsekhovsky, Stanislav m RUS 2475 6.5 2644 4 Kotsur, Pavel g KAZ 2480 6.5 2609 5 Ibragimov, Ildar g RUS 2555 6.0 2593 6 Kharitonov, Andrei Y g RUS 2520 6.0 2600 7 Volkov, Sergey RUS 2480 6.0 2586 8 Filippov, Valerij g RUS 2510 6.0 2558 9 Landa, Konstantin g RUS 2570 6.0 2543 10 Korneev, Oleg g RUS 2590 5.5 2548 11 Aleksandrov, Aleksej m BLR 2615 5.5 2559 12 Zaitsev, Igor A g RUS 2450 5.5 2514 13 Kuporosov, Viktor m RUS 2500 5.5 2469 14 Asrian, Karen m ARM 2440 5.5 2596 15 Zagrebelny, Sergey g UZB 2480 5.5 2555 16 Shchekachev, Andrei g RUS 2520 5.5 2396 17 Kharlov, Andrei g RUS 2555 5.5 2483 18 Popov, Valerij m RUS 2430 5.5 2473 68 players.
The 9th stage of the Russian Cup was played almost immediately afterwards in Novgorod alongside the SuperGM tournament. Sherbakov, Zakharevich and Ibragimov finished on 6.5 points. The top 3 are the only places I have confirmed. The table below was recontructed from the games having failed to get one from any source. My thanks to Topalov for giving me the disk of the games he was given in Novgorod. He actually couldn't find the games on the disk. They were stored in an arj file and were in a Russian document file (that is both the names and the pieces) rather than a database file just to make life a little harder. I hope that my transliteration hasn't conjured up any new players.
Novgorod RUS (RUS), VI 1997 1 Sherbakov, Ruslan g RUS 2580 6.5 2658 2 Zakharevich, Igor m RUS 2505 6.5 2647 3 Ibragimov, Ildar g RUS 2555 6.5 2541 4 Dvoirys, Semen I g RUS 2590 6.0 2610 5 Dolmatov, Sergey g RUS 2560 6.0 2582 6 Galkin, Alexander m RUS 2510 6.0 2639 7 Voitsekhovsky, Stanislav m RUS 2475 6.0 2636 8 Yandemirov, Valeri m RUS 2500 6.0 2651 9 Kharitonov, Andrei Y g RUS 2520 6.0 2600 10 Asrian, Karen m ARM 2440 6.0 2600 11 Galliamova-Ivanchuk, Alisa m RUS 2440 6.0 2627 12 Landa, Konstantin g RUS 2570 5.5 2556 13 Yakovich, Yuri g RUS 2575 5.5 2504 14 Balashov, Yuri S g RUS 2510 5.5 2545 15 Korneev, Oleg g RUS 2590 5.5 2530 16 Vaulin, Alexander g RUS 2490 5.5 2568 17 Razuvaev, Yuri S g RUS 2565 5.5 2525 18 Tregubov, Pavel V g RUS 2525 5.5 2492 19 Zagrebelny, Sergey g UZB 2480 5.5 2520 62 players.
Laszlo Nagy has sent results and games of the First Saturday Tournament in July. There is an IM event and a Scheveningen event. I'm not quite sure of the result of the game Farago-Kahn (7) which was reported as a draw in the individual results section but is given as a win to Farago in the table. I have assumed it was a win.
The Scheveningen tournament was won by a 12 year old Russian boy called Sagit Ishbulatov from UFA in the Ural mountains and scored 8.5/9 with an ELO average of the adult opponents 2140. A record achievement for First Saturday Tournaments and a name to watch out for.
First Saturday Scheveningen 1997.07.13 Round 9
Toth, Mate (HUN 2160) - Ishbulatov, Sagit (RUS)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.f3 axb5 6.e4 Qa5+ 7.Bd2 b4 8.Na3 d6 9.Nc4 Qd8 10.a3 bxa3 11.Rxa3 Rxa3 12.bxa3 e6 13.Ba5 Qd7 14.Nb6 Qa7 15.Qa4+ Bd7 16.Bb5 Be7 17.Ne2 Bd8 18.Nc4 Bxa5+ 19.Nxa5 exd5 20.exd5 O-O 21.Nc3 Re8+ 22.Kd2 c4 23.Bxd7 Nbxd7 24.Rd1 Nc5 25.Qb4 Nd3 26.Qxc4 Qf2+ 27.Kxd3 Re3+ 0-1
Standings after 9 rounds
FSIM July Budapest HUN 1997
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
1 Karatorossian,D 2335 +141 * ½ 1 ½ 1 1 0 1 1 1 7.0/9
2 Persson,R 2150 +237 * 0 ½ ½ 1 0 1 1 1 1 6.0/9 20.50
3 Farago,S 2330 +73 * 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 6.0/9 20.25
4 Eperjesi,L 2340 0 1 * 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 5.5/9
5 Belotetov,D 2260 +49 ½ ½ 1 * ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 5.0/9 22.25
6 Alvir,A 2390 -53 0 1 ½ * 1 0 1 1 ½ 0 5.0/9 22.00
7 Kovacs,LM 2365 -38 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 1 5.0/9 21.50
8 Pirisi,G 2355 -53 ½ ½ 1 ½ * ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 4.5/9 19.25
9 Appleberry,M 2235 +57 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * 1 ½ 1 4.5/9 18.50
10 Kahn,E 2270 -42 0 1 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 * ½ 3.5/9 17.25
11 Roser,K 2270 -64 1 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ * 0 1 3.5/9 16.50
12 Murzin,L 2310 -166 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 0 ½ * 2.5/9 11.75
13 Pinto,Mar 2190 -41 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 * 0 2.5/9 11.00
14 Kiss,Ged 2260 -107 0 0 0 0 1 0 ½ 0 1 * 2.5/9 9.75
First Saturday Web Page Organiser Laszlo Nagy has a web site: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/chess_first_saturday_hu/
You can contact Laszlo Nagy in the following ways: Postal address: H-1101 Budapest, Hungaria krt. 5.-7. XI.ep.I.em.7. Tel-fax: int-(361)-263-28-59 E-mail address: chess_first_saturday_hu@compuserve.com or 100263.1700@compuserve.com
Cecil Rosner reports on the very strong Canadian Open being held in Winnipeg. After three rounds 8 players lead on a perfect 3/3 score.
Shabalov, Smirin, Stefansson, Vera, Murey, Sasikiran, Gofshtein and Nogueiras.
The second round provided a couple of surprises. Johann Hjartarson of Iceland was held to a draw by Robert Gardner (2305) of Quebec. And Julian Hodgson, who came second in the 1994 Canadian Open in Winnipeg, could also only manage a draw against Knut Neven (2245) of Saskatchewan. At the end of two rounds, 20 players had perfect scores.
The third round saw a quick draw between Canadian champion Kevin Spraggett and David Ross (2419) of Quebec. Kevin Gentes (2385) of Manitoba held two-time Soviet champion Lev Psakhis to a draw. At the Canadian Open of 1986, Gentes, then a 17-year-old junior, created a sensation when he defeated Artur Yusupov, who was then ranked third in the world.
Shabalov, a surprise last-minute entry, seems comfortable in his top board chair. He defeated Milan Vukadinov of Ontario in the third round.
The fourth round will be the true test for Sasikiran, the 16-year-old from Madras who journeyed to Canada specifically for the Canadian Open.
Robert Ericsson reports on the Swedish Championships 1997 which were held in Haninge (a suburb of Stockholm) during June 28th - July 13th. Further information on the many event are available on the Internet can be found at the official site for Swedish Championships 1997 http://www.sbv.se/chess/
The main championships were won by Lars Degerman on tie-break from Evgenij Agrest.
Haninge SWE (SWE), VI-VII 1997 cat. VI (2383)
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
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1 Degerman, Lars m SWE 2480 * = = 1 = 1 = 1 1 = = 1 0 1 9.0 2516
2 Agrest, Evgenij m RUS 2460 = * 0 = = 1 0 1 1 = 1 1 1 1 9.0 2518
3 Astrom, Robert m SWE 2450 = 1 * = = 0 1 1 = 1 = = = 1 8.5 2488
4 Brynell, Stellan m SWE 2445 0 = = * = 1 1 0 1 = = 1 1 1 8.5 2488
5 Barkhagen, Jonas m SWE 2410 = = = = * = = = = = 1 = 1 1 8.0 2468
6 Ernst, Thomas g SWE 2405 0 0 1 0 = * = 1 1 = 0 1 1 1 7.5 2438
7 Engqvist, Thomas m SWE 2345 = 1 0 0 = = * 1 0 = 1 = 1 0 6.5 2386
8 Laveryd, Peter SWE 2390 0 0 0 1 = 0 0 * 0 1 1 = 1 1 6.0 2353
9 Ziegler, Ari f SWE 2455 0 0 = 0 = 0 1 1 * 0 = = 1 1 6.0 2348
10 Jepson, Christian SWE 2380 = = 0 = = = = 0 1 * 0 0 = 1 5.5 2326
11 Sandstrom, Ludvig SWE 2345 = 0 = = 0 1 0 0 = 1 * = 0 1 5.5 2329
12 Moberg, Karl Johan m SWE 2335 0 0 = 0 = 0 = = = 1 = * = 1 5.5 2329
13 Rylander, Dennis SWE 2100 1 0 = 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 1 = * 0 3.5 2230
14 Malmstig, Erik SWE 2365 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 * 2.0 2088
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The Championships of Lisbon finished on July 4th. They took place in the Hotel Embaixador (Finalissima) and finished with a tie for first place. The tie will be resolved by a four game match between IM Sirgio Rocha and FM Carlos P. Santos. Further details http://www.ip.pt/~ip001018
Lisbon POR (POR), VI-VII 1997
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
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1 Santos, Carlos P f POR 2340 * = 1 = 1 = 1 1 = 1 1 1 9.0 2436
2 Rocha, Sergio f POR 2405 = * = 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 9.0 2427
3 Ribeiro,B ---- 0 = * = = 1 = = 1 1 1 0 6.5 2223
4 Gaspar, Artur POR 2210 = 0 = * = 0 1 = 1 1 1 = 6.5 2225
5 Guerra, Victor ESP 2130 0 0 = = * 1 1 = = 0 1 1 6.0 2236
6 Fernandes, Alberto POR 2200 = 0 0 1 0 * 1 = = 1 0 1 5.5 2328
7 Reis, Luis Sousa POR 2225 0 1 = 0 0 0 * 1 1 0 1 1 5.5 2064
8 Rodrigues,R ---- 0 0 = = = = 0 * = 1 = 1 5.0 2180
9 Boino,C ---- = 0 0 0 = = 0 = * 1 1 1 5.0 2180
10 Dias, Paulo POR 2180 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 * 1 1 4.0 2179
11 Cruz,P ---- 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 = 0 0 * 1 2.5 2030
12 Costa, Fernando J.M POR 2095 0 0 1 = 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 * 1.5 1819
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The Portuguese team championships were won by Boavista after a tie-break match with Diana de Evora. Boavista boasts almost all the best Portuguese players. Strikovic (YUG) and Eslon (SWE) helped Diana Evora. The rounds were held on May 24th, May 29th-1st June, 6th-10th 1997. There are 190 games in the games section.
39th PORTUGUESE TEAM NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
1st DIVISION - 1997
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pts
1. GD Diana/Delta Cafis * 2½ 2½ 4 3½ 3 4 4 3 4 30½
2. Boavista FC 1½ * 2 3½ 4 4 4 3½ 4 4 30½
3. GX Porto 1½ 2 * 1½ 2½ 1½ 3½ 2½ 1½ 4 20½
4. SMD Canegas 0 ½ 2½ * 2½ 2½ 2 3 3 3 19
5. UDC Camarate ½ 0 1½ 1½ * 3 3 1½ 4 2½ 17½
6. NX Faro/EVA SA 1 0 2½ 1½ 1 * 2 3 3 3 17
7. Sporting CP 0 0 ½ 2 1 2 * 2 2½ 3½ 13½
8. SC Farense 0 ½ 1½ 1 2½ 1 2 * 2 3 13½
9. CR Feijs/Frindus 1 0 2½ 1 0 1 1½ 2 * 2 11
10. EDP - Lisboa 0 0 0 1 1½ 1 ½ 1 2 * 7
Play-off: Boavista, 2,5 - GD Diana/Delta Cafis, 1,5
Champion 1997: Boavista FC
The World Open held in Philadelphia between July 3rd-6th was won clearly by Grandmaster Alexander Shabalov with 7/9. The event was covered by ICC and I take the results from a posting by Eric Peterson. Eduardo Bauza Mercere has sent me a selection of the games which I will put in TWIC next week when I can process them properly with access to a full ELO list.
8.0-1.0: GM Alexander Shabalov (7 wins, 2 draws, $14,000)
7.5-1.5: GM Sergey Kudrin (6 wins, 2 draws, one bye, $7,000)
7.0-2.0: GM Gregory Kaidanov, GM Alex Wojtkiewicz, GM Alex Yermolinsky,
GM Alexander Goldin, GM Vladimir Epishin, GM Alexander Ivanov
($1566 each)
6.5-2.5: Smirin, Gulko, Serper, DeFirmian, Blatny, Hjartarson,
Sevillano, Ziatdinov, Dableo, Vigorito
Gordon Meyer of Johannesburg, is the new South African Open Chess Champion.Meyer owes his excellent score of 9 1/2 points out of a possible 11 to meticulous preparation. He finished the week-long tournament, which ended in Newlands yesterday, half-a-point in front of three Western Province players, Charles de Villiers, Antonio Bravetti and Howard Goldberg.
On eight points were former Open Champion, Dr Shabir Bhawoodien (Gauteng), Victor Chow (Gauteng) and Graham Solomon, the least-known of the Solomon brothers. Both Maxwell and Kenny Solomon have won major tournaments. Chow, is also the current South African GO champion, and will be giving an exhibition of the ancient Oriental game at Rondebosch Library tonight
(Monday).
In yesterday's final round, the trio who finished as runners-up had an anxious wait as Meyer ground down Bennie Levin to clinch the title. For Meyer this is his first national title, but he has a fine record against highly rated players, having defeated both GM James Plaskett and GM Miguel Quinteros in previous SA championships.
While the field of 193 was slightly weakened by the absence of the five players representing South Africa at the African team championship now in progress in Cairo, there was a fiece fight for the category prizes almost all won by junior players in addition to their age-group prizes.
The winners of the junior categories were: Under 18; J E Bowers, U-16 DJ
Wium, U-14 W Jacobs, U-12 C Willenberg and U10 J Child. C November won the prize for the top woman competitor.
The tournament was jointly sponsored by Norwich Unit Trusts and the Western Cape Department of Sport.
The president of Chess Western Province announced that Antonio Bravetti flying to Cairo tomorrow to join the South African squad at the African teams championship. Although his selection has nothing to do with this event, his score here fully justifies Bravetti's inclusion in the team that also includes Kenny Solomon.
Results and games are available at the Chess in Iceland page http://www.vks.is/skak/indexe.html further coverage here next week. Due to some difficulties in processing the games I will hold them over until next week. After eight of the nine rounds. Table from Daði Örn Jónsson's chess in Iceland page. The games are available there. Thanks to Lars-Henrik Bech Hansen for sending the results round by round.
Leading scores after 8 rounds.
1 1-2 Gretarsson, ISL 2470 g 7
Helgi Ass
2 Borge, NikolajDEN 2405 m 7
3 3 Mortensen, DEN 2450 m 6½
Erling
4 4-8 Danielsen, DEN 2490 g 6
Henrik
5 Hoi, Carsten DEN 2425 m 6
6 Bezold, GER 2500 m 6
Michael
7 Schandorff, DEN 2510 g 6
Lars
8 Rasmussen, DEN 2425 m 6
Karsten
9 9–18 Bradbury, NeilENG 2335 m 5½
H.
10 Hillarp SWE 2475 m 5½
Persson, Tiger
11 Hansen, Lars DEN 2545 g 5½
Bo
12 Ochsner, DEN 2300 5½
Thomas
13 Adamski, Jan POL 2405 m 5½
14 Gullaksen, NOR 2325 5½
Eirik T.
15 Thorhallsson, ISL 2500 g 5½
Throstur
16 Antonsen, DEN 2410 m 5½
Mikkel
17 Salo, Tapio FIN 2315 f 5½
18 Sorensen, DEN 2295 5½
Torben
The Hogeschool Zeeland Chess Tournament took place in Vlissingen 1997 reports Hans Groffen.
About the tournament: After 6 wins GM I. Glek was leading by 1 point. In a thrilling last round IM V. Ikonnikov won against him, so Ikonnikov and M. Gurevich could catch the leader.
On Saturday July 12 GM M. Gurevich gave a clock simul on 12 boards against some regional players. He won with 10,5 - 1,5.
I need another week to process the games. They are available at the www page for the event:
http://www.hzeeland.nl/hzhome-ned.html
VLISSINGEN, JULY 5 - 11 1997 RANKING AFTER ROUND 7 1. GM I. Glek RUS 2505 6.0 34.5 2. GM M. Gurevich BEL 2620 6.0 32.5 3. IM V. Ikonnikov RUS 2550 6.0 31.0 4. GM J. van der Wiel HOL 2525 5.5 33.0 5. IM A. Kogan ISR 2500 5.5 32.5 6. GM L. van Wely HOL 2655 5.5 32.0 7. IM S. Safin UZB 2510 5.5 32.0 8. IM Gy. Horvath HUN 2460 5.5 29.0 9. E. Kuipers HOL 2220 5.5 28.0 10. D. de Vreugt HOL 2295 5.0 33.5 11. GM I. Rausis LAT 2490 5.0 33.0 12. IM N. Miezis LAT 2515 5.0 32.5 13. FM H. Jonkman HOL 2365 5.0 31.0 14. GM Xie Jun CHN 2495 5.0 29.0 15. IM M. Bosboom HOL 2430 5.0 28.0 16. IM L. Pliester HOL 2365 5.0 27.5 17. FM J. Hoogendoorn HOL 2320 5.0 27.0 18. IM T. Horvath HUN 2390 5.0 24.5 19. M. van der Zalm HOL 5.0 24.5 20. GM M.M. Ivanov RUS 2445 4.5 31.5 21. IM A. Barsov UZB 2445 4.5 31.0 22. H. Groffen HOL 2225 4.5 29.5 23. S. Djuric BEL 2180 4.5 29.0 24. R. Tiggelman HOL 4.5 28.0 25. M. Azadmanesh HOL 2110 4.5 28.0
The Gunadarma Invitational World Cities started on July 8th. The last round (round 10) will be played today. The event will be followed by the Gunadarma International Open from 15 to 23 July. There have been daily results on the internet at:
With one round to go Donetsk of Ukraine took a lead of 2.5 points over the field today. Donetsk's lead from Moscow who have 24.5 points.
Donetsk - Depok Margonda 4-0 Moscow beat Sydney 3.5-0.5 Oslo-Tashkent 0.5-3.5 Bandung-Ho Chi Minh City 2-2 Depok Kelapa Dua-Yangon 1.5-2.5. Apart from Other leading scores are Tashkent 22.5 points, Bandung 22, Ho Chi Minh City 21 and Oslo 20.5.
Special section in the games section Email: avvmartini@mailbox.icom.it WWW : http://www.icom.it./user/scac