THE WEEK IN CHESS 631 11th December 2006 by Mark Crowther
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Games section
Kramnik - Fritz Match 1 game
Russian Championship SuperFinal 36 games
Russian Women's Championship 42 games
Topalov - Polgar Blindfold Match 6 games
Karpov - Vescovi Match 4 games
Benidorm Open 138 games
Bundesliga 128 games
Ukrainian Championships 18 games
Greek Championships 10 games
Marshall Club Championship 36 games
Romanian Championships 301 games
Belgian League 48 games
RGSU Moscow 62 games
1st Memorial Carpintero 55 games
Torneio Nacional de Mestres 45 games
El Sauzal Rapid 146 games
First Saturday December 42 games
Polyarniy Krug Tournament 339 games
Commonwealth Chess Championship 37 games
36th National Chess Congress 1 game
1495 games
My thanks to Hans Ree, Adolivo Capece, Doru Ionescu, AF Manrique, Thomas
Henrich, Miklos Orso, Valery Maes, Sinisa Drazic, Krzysztof Pytel, Luís
Santos, Yannick Pelletier, Eugenio Davolio, Jimmy Adams, Michael Atkins, Spiros
Ilandzis and everyone else who helped with the issue.
This week was dominated by the sad news of David Bronstein's death. The
former world championship challenger was a leading player from the mid-1940s
until the early 1970s. Above all people will remember the fascinating chess
which he could produce because of his tremendous natural ability for the game.
In writing the obituary I was faced by a number of controversies surrounding
off the board influence affecting his results in the candidates of 1950 and
1953 and his match against Botvinnik. I think it time that we were told the
full story of the Soviet Chess and the way they conducted these events. There
has been a code of silence but before everyone is gone I think they have a duty
to tell us. I think the stories of fixes and influence may be slightly over
stated but we don't know because no-one will say. I must say I was deeply
unconvinced by Bronstein's accounts which fell far short of an explanation and
merely left me saying on many occasions "what could he mean?" or "that doesn't
make any sense" (for instance Boleslavsky is said by Bronstein to have slowed
down to allow Bronstein to catch him in the 1950, as far as I can see the only
serious case that can be made is that he drew with black against Kotov (a good
result) and took a short draw in the final round againt Stahlberg something
many players would have done without influence, a long way short of
confirmation of this story). Its unfair to criticise Bronstein alone in this,
but I think we need to know before everyone has gone. Without this context I
think it hard to evaluate some of the key moments of his career and others of
this time. Bronstein himself preferred to talk chess alone and it is there that
he leaves his greatest legacy, his games.
Hope you enjoy this issue.
Mark
Vladimir Kramnik played the ChessBase computer program Deep Fritz in a 6
game match 25th November - 5th December 2006 in the German’s Art and
Exhibition Hall in Bonne. Deep Fritz won 4-2.
Official site: http://www.rag.de/microsite_chess_com/
Kramnik, Vladimir - DEEP FRITZ 1/2 47 E03 Catalan
DEEP FRITZ - Kramnik, Vladimir 1-0 35 D20 QGA
Kramnik, Vladimir - DEEP FRITZ 1/2 44 E03 Catalan
DEEP FRITZ - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 54 C43 Petroff's Defence
Kramnik, Vladimir - DEEP FRITZ 1/2 35 E51 Nimzo Indian
DEEP FRITZ - Kramnik, Vladimir 1-0 47 B86 Sicilian Sozin Attack
The Duel Bonne GER (GER), 25 xi-5 xii 2006
------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6
------------------------------------------------------------
DEEP FRITZ ---- = 1 = = = 1 4.0
Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2750 = 0 = = = 0 2.0
------------------------------------------------------------
The Russian Championship SuperFinal takes place in Moscow 3rd-15th
December 2006 (rest days 7th and 12th).
Official site: http://russiachess.org/content/view/94/:
live coverage: http://russiachess.org/online
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ch-RUS Superfinal Moscow RUS (RUS), 3-15 xii 2006 cat. XV (2622)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2671 * 0 = = 1 . . 1 1 . = 1 5.5 2757
2. Khairullin, Ildar m RUS 2543 1 * = = . = = . 1 = . = 5.0 2734
3. Svidler, Peter g RUS 2750 = = * = = . = = 1 . 1 . 5.0 2693
4. Alekseev, Evgeny g RUS 2639 = = = * . 0 . = . 1 1 1 5.0 2733
5. Tomashevsky, Evgeny g RUS 2595 0 . = . * = 1 1 . = = = 4.5 2686
6. Rublevsky, Sergei g RUS 2688 . = . 1 = * = = 0 = . = 4.0 2597
7. Grigoriants, Sergey g RUS 2582 . = = . 0 = * = = . = 1 4.0 2622
8. Inarkiev, Ernesto g RUS 2628 0 . = = 0 = = * . 1 1 . 4.0 2638
9. Nepomniachtchi, Ian m RUS 2545 0 0 0 . . 1 = . * = 1 1 4.0 2632
10. Vitiugov, Nikita m RUS 2596 . = . 0 = = . 0 = * 0 = 2.5 2467
11. Khismatullin, Denis g RUS 2583 = . 0 0 = . = 0 0 1 * . 2.5 2484
12. Najer, Evgeniy g RUS 2648 0 = . 0 = = 0 . 0 = . * 2.0 2414
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Round 3 (December 5, 2006)
Jakovenko, Dmitry - Inarkiev, Ernesto 1-0 64 C84 Ruy Lopez Centre Attack
Khairullin, Ildar - Grigoriants, Sergey 1/2 19 B12 Caro Kann Advanced
Svidler, Peter - Khismatullin, Denis 1-0 42 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Rublevsky, Sergei - Alekseev, Evgeny 1-0 31 B30 Sicilian Rossolimo
Vitiugov, Nikita - Tomashevsky, Evgeny 1/2 15 E13 Queens Indian 5.Bg5
Najer, Evgeniy - Nepomniachtchi, Ian 0-1 55 D30 Queen's Gambit (without Nc3)
Round 4 (December 6, 2006)
Khairullin, Ildar - Najer, Evgeniy 1/2 20 C10 French Rubinstein
Alekseev, Evgeny - Vitiugov, Nikita 1-0 53 D43 Anti-Meran Gambit
Tomashevsky, Evgeny - Jakovenko, Dmitry 0-1 49 A34 English Symmetrical
Grigoriants, Sergey - Khismatullin, Denis 1/2 32 E15 Queens Indian
Inarkiev, Ernesto - Svidler, Peter 1/2 35 D78 Gruenfeld 3.g3
Nepomniachtchi, Ian - Rublevsky, Sergei 1-0 38 B43 Sicilian Paulsen
Round 5 (December 8, 2006)
Jakovenko, Dmitry - Alekseev, Evgeny 1/2 45 B83 Sicilian Scheveningen
Svidler, Peter - Tomashevsky, Evgeny 1/2 42 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed
Rublevsky, Sergei - Khairullin, Ildar 1/2 25 B26 Sicilian Closed
Vitiugov, Nikita - Nepomniachtchi, Ian 1/2 59 E09 Catalan
Khismatullin, Denis - Inarkiev, Ernesto 0-1 50 A65 Benoni
Najer, Evgeniy - Grigoriants, Sergey 0-1 38 B80 Sicilian Scheveningen
Round 6 (December 9, 2006)
Khairullin, Ildar - Vitiugov, Nikita 1/2 11 B30 Sicilian Rossolimo
Alekseev, Evgeny - Svidler, Peter 1/2 29 C89 Ruy Lopez Marshall
Tomashevsky, Evgeny - Khismatullin, Denis 1/2 31 A34 English Symmetrical
Grigoriants, Sergey - Inarkiev, Ernesto 1/2 13 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed
Nepomniachtchi, Ian - Jakovenko, Dmitry 0-1 72 C77 Ruy Lopez Anderssen
Najer, Evgeniy - Rublevsky, Sergei 1/2 27 B46 Sicilian Paulsen
Round 7 (December 10, 2006)
Jakovenko, Dmitry - Khairullin, Ildar 0-1 40 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Svidler, Peter - Nepomniachtchi, Ian 1-0 73 C03 French Tarrasch
Rublevsky, Sergei - Grigoriants, Sergey 1/2 36 C45 Scotch Game
Inarkiev, Ernesto - Tomashevsky, Evgeny 0-1 63 E15 Queens Indian
Vitiugov, Nikita - Najer, Evgeniy 1/2 34 D43 Anti-Meran Gambit
Khismatullin, Denis - Alekseev, Evgeny 0-1 39 E20 Nimzo Indian
Round 8 (December 11, 2006)
Khairullin, Ildar - Svidler, Peter 1/2 20 B46 Sicilian Paulsen
Alekseev, Evgeny - Inarkiev, Ernesto 1/2 11 C54 Giuoco Piano
Rublevsky, Sergei - Vitiugov, Nikita 1/2 33 C07 French Tarrasch
Grigoriants, Sergey - Tomashevsky, Evgeny 0-1 51 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed
Nepomniachtchi, Ian - Khismatullin, Denis 1-0 57 B23 Sicilian Closed
Najer, Evgeniy - Jakovenko, Dmitry 0-1 50 E20 Nimzo Indian
The Russian Women's Championship takes place in Gorodets 1st-12th
December 2006.
Official site: http://russiachess.org/content/view/125/38/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ch-RUS w Gorodets RUS (RUS), 1-12 xii 2006 cat. VII (2407)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Korbut, Ekaterina wg RUS 2435 * 1 1 . = 1 = 0 1 1 1 1 8.0 2643
2. Kosintseva, Tatiana m RUS 2458 0 * = = = 1 1 1 1 1 1 . 7.5 2596
3. Kosintseva, Nadezhda m RUS 2493 0 = * = . 1 1 1 = 1 1 1 7.5 2588
4. Tairova, Elena wg RUS 2415 . = = * = = 0 1 1 1 = 1 6.5 2513
5. Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina m RUS 2434 = = . = * 0 = 1 = = 1 1 6.0 2467
6. Galliamova, Alisa m RUS 2470 0 0 0 = 1 * = 1 . 1 1 1 6.0 2471
7. Shadrina, Tatiana wg RUS 2396 = 0 0 1 = = * . = 1 1 = 5.5 2445
8. Zaiatz, Elena m RUS 2395 1 0 0 0 0 0 . * 1 0 = 1 3.5 2299
9. Matveeva, Svetlana m RUS 2415 0 0 = 0 = . = 0 * 1 = 0 3.0 2250
10. Bodnaruk, Anastasia wf RUS 2255 0 0 0 0 = 0 0 1 0 * . 1 2.5 2237
11. Komiagina, Maria wm RUS 2326 0 0 0 = 0 0 0 = = . * 1 2.5 2237
12. Gunina, Valentina wf RUS 2392 0 . 0 0 0 0 = 0 1 0 0 * 1.5 2107
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Veselin Topalov and Judit Polgar played a blindfold rapid match in
Bilbao 7th-9th December 2006. Time control: 25 minutes + 10 seconds a move.
Topalov won the match 3.5-2.5 although that includes a final game win for
Polgar when the match was already lost.
Official site: http://www.ajedrezbilbao.com/FestivalEN.htm
Topalov, Veselin - Polgar, Judit 1-0 27 B81 Sicilian Keres Attack
Polgar, Judit - Topalov, Veselin 1/2 55 B33 Sicilian Sveshnikov
Topalov, Veselin - Polgar, Judit 1-0 46 B48 Sicilian Paulsen
Polgar, Judit - Topalov, Veselin 1/2 32 B41 Sicilian Paulsen
Topalov, Veselin - Polgar, Judit 1/2 44 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Polgar, Judit - Topalov, Veselin 1-0 51 B42 Sicilian Paulsen
Blindfold Rapid Bilbao ESP (ESP), 7-9 xii 2006
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2813 1 = 1 = = 0 3.5 2767
Polgar, Judit g HUN 2710 0 = 0 = = 1 2.5 2756
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Anatoly Karpov beat Giovanni Vescovi 2½-1½ in a rapid
chess match played in the hall of the Bristol Hotel in Guarulhos (near Sao
Paulo), December 5th-6th 2006.
Official site: http://www.fpx.com.br/
Vescovi, Giovanni - Karpov, Anatoly 1-0 30 B19 Caro Kann
Karpov, Anatoly - Vescovi, Giovanni 1-0 42 D38 QGD Ragozin
Vescovi, Giovanni - Karpov, Anatoly 0-1 54 B19 Caro Kann
Karpov, Anatoly - Vescovi, Giovanni 1/2 37 D38 QGD Ragozin
Rapid Match Guarulhos BRA (BRA), 5-6 xii 2006
----------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4
----------------------------------------------------------
Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2668 0 1 1 = 2.5 2687
Vescovi, Giovanni g BRA 2592 1 0 0 = 1.5 2581
----------------------------------------------------------
The III Open Rapid Masters took place 7th-10th December 2006. Time rate:
15mins + 15 seconds a move. There was also standard time rate Open A and B
events. Cesar Zuluaga, Carlos Salgado Allaria and Marcos Rodriguez Fontecha
finished on 7.5/9.
Official site: http://www.ajedrezbali.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------
3rd Rapid Masters Benidorm ESP (ESP), 7-10 xii 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Kozul Zdenko CRO 2589 g 7.5 45.0 55.0 38.0
2. Delchev Aleksander BUL 2628 g 7.5 44.0 53.5 38.5
3. Malakhov Vladimir RUS 2682 g 7.0 47.5 58.0 38.5
4. Camarena Gimenez Rufino ESP 2330 f 7.0 39.5 46.5 34.0
5. Damaso Rui POR 2449 m 6.5 44.5 54.0 35.0
6. Moskalenko Viktor UKR 2543 g 6.5 42.5 51.0 34.0
7. Baches Garcia Guillermo ESP 2379 m 6.5 41.0 49.5 34.0
8. Vidarte Morales Arturo ESP 2405 m 6.5 40.5 48.5 34.0
9. Cabrera Alexis COL 2508 g 6.0 44.5 53.5 34.5
10. Taboas Rodriguez Daniel ESP 2296 f 6.0 44.0 52.0 33.5
11. Fokin Sergey RUS 2157 6.0 43.0 49.5 33.5
12. Frois Antonio POR 2345 m 6.0 40.5 47.5 30.5
13. Vassallo Mauricio ESP 2380 m 6.0 39.0 47.5 32.0
14. Padilla Hugo PER 2195 6.0 39.0 46.0 29.0
15. Garcia Fernandez Carlos ESP 2367 m 6.0 38.0 47.5 30.5
16. Granero Roca Antonio ESP 2348 m 6.0 38.0 46.5 31.0
17. Mena Corrochano Alberto ESP 2149 6.0 37.5 43.5 31.0
18. Dutina Dario CRO 2298 f 5.5 41.0 49.0 30.5
19. Sanchez Botella Luis J ESP 2210 5.5 40.0 47.5 30.0
20. Cappon John FRA 2240 5.5 39.5 48.0 29.5
21. Remoli Sargues Francisco ESP 2278 5.5 39.5 47.0 29.5
22. Diogo Vasco POR 2220 5.5 38.5 44.5 27.5
23. Madina Martin ARG 2262 5.5 38.0 46.0 29.5
24. Contreras Henry COL 2293 f 5.5 38.0 45.5 29.0
25. Lomineishvili Maia GEO 2382 m 5.5 36.0 43.5 26.5
26. Bosque Ortega Xavier ESP 2230 5.5 33.5 41.0 26.0
27. Serrano Marhuenda Salvador ESP 2173 c 5.5 33.0 40.5 26.0
28. Ortiz Nadya Karolina COL 2293 wm 5.0 42.0 46.0 31.0
29. Mihailovs Jurijs LAT 2298 5.0 40.5 49.5 30.0
30. Djingarova Emilia BUL 2302 wg 5.0 37.0 44.0 28.0
31. Mascarell Canet Ricardo ESP 2114 5.0 37.0 42.0 24.0
32. Moreto Quintana Alex ESP 2162 5.0 35.5 41.0 25.0
33. Santos Ramos Carles ESP 2042 5.0 33.5 38.5 21.0
34. Galan Fernandez Felix ESP 2152 5.0 33.0 39.0 24.0
35. Varas Carlos CHI 2290 5.0 32.5 39.0 25.0
36. Muelas Cerezuela Jose ESP 2111 5.0 32.5 38.0 24.5
37. Torres Garrigos David ESP 2203 5.0 32.0 37.5 25.0
38. Camacho Calle Pedro ESP 2174 5.0 31.5 38.0 24.5
39. Morejon Eduardo VEN 2103 5.0 31.0 36.5 21.0
40. Moreno Garcia Alfonso ESP 1988 5.0 30.0 35.0 19.0
41. Tonus Alex ITA ---- 5.0 28.0 35.5 20.0
94 players
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Open A Benidorm ESP (ESP), 1-9 xii 2006
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Zuluaga Cesar COL 2278 7.5 46.0 55.5 43.0 2494
2. Salgado Allaria Carlos ESP 2288 f 7.5 43.5 52.0 36.5 2463
3. Rodriguez Fontecha Marcos ESP 2200 7.5 40.5 49.0 37.5 2454
4. Perez Yosvany CUB 2293 f 7.0 43.5 54.5 36.0 2418
5. Bolado Saez Sergio ESP 2297 7.0 41.5 48.5 33.0 2373
6. Perez Lopez Jesus M ESP 2212 7.0 41.0 48.0 34.0 2454
7. Taboas Rodriguez Daniel ESP 2296 f 6.5 41.5 50.0 33.0 2330
8. Forsaa Espen NOR 2170 6.5 41.5 48.5 32.5 2350
9. Peña Alfredo COL 2274 f 6.5 40.5 47.0 34.5 2292
10. Carrascoso Morales Abel ESP 2146 6.5 40.0 47.0 35.5 2403
11. Padilla Hugo PER 2195 6.5 35.0 42.0 29.5 2300
12. Mena Corrochano Alberto ESP 2149 6.5 33.0 38.5 27.5 2281
13. Fokin Sergey RUS 2157 6.0 46.5 54.0 35.0 2355
14. Madina Martin ARG 2262 6.0 43.0 51.0 35.0 2304
15. Sanchez Botella Luis J ESP 2210 6.0 41.5 50.0 34.5 2316
16. Lacrosse Marc BEL 2238 f 6.0 41.5 48.5 33.5 2308
17. Navarro Perez Manuel ESP 2109 6.0 40.5 48.0 26.5 2301
18. Goormachtigh Johan BEL 2235 f 6.0 40.0 48.0 33.5 2317
19. Urukalovic Roman CRO 2289 6.0 40.0 47.5 31.5 2284
20. Mihailovs Jurijs LAT 2298 6.0 39.0 46.5 31.5 2272
21. Leburgue Sylvain FRA 2179 6.0 37.5 44.0 30.5 2274
22. Lara Lopez Jose ESP 2145 6.0 37.5 44.0 27.0 2258
23. Avila Jimenez Javier ESP 2222 6.0 37.0 45.0 35.0 2320
24. Stubberud Ornulf NOR 2183 6.0 34.5 42.0 30.0 2249
25. Lillo Ferrer J M ESP 2214 6.0 33.5 41.5 27.0 2216
26. Martin Perez Javier ESP 2280 f 5.5 42.0 50.5 31.0 2247
27. Sanchez Jerez Emilio ESP 2167 5.5 41.0 47.0 28.5 2220
28. Uribe Arteaga Daniel COL 2202 5.5 40.5 48.0 30.0 2208
29. Pintor Ariana POR 2093 wf 5.5 39.5 49.0 30.5 2270
30. Estrada Martinez Cesar ESP 2167 5.5 39.5 46.5 32.5 2296
31. Murcia Paredes Angel ESP 2180 5.5 38.5 46.0 30.0 2220
32. Ballesteros David ESP 2217 5.5 38.5 45.0 29.5 2221
33. Martinez Tormo Jorge ESP 2206 5.5 36.5 43.0 30.0 2182
34. Sanz Arilla Luis ESP 2290 5.5 35.5 43.0 28.0 2245
35. Rocabert Andreu Guillem ESP 2238 5.5 35.5 43.0 28.0 2213
36. Diogo Vasco POR 2220 5.5 35.0 42.5 29.0 2203
37. Sanchez Barbado Carlos ESP 2106 5.5 35.0 41.0 26.0 2261
38. Bosque Ortega Xavier ESP 2230 5.5 34.0 41.0 29.5 2217
39. Amoros Moran Jose Joaquin ESP 2003 5.5 33.5 38.5 23.0 2222
40. Hostalet Ferrer Pedro ESP 2159 5.5 33.0 38.5 26.0 2224
41. Dutina Dario CRO 2298 f 5.5 32.0 37.5 24.5 2193
42. Remoli Sargues Francisco ESP 2278 5.5 31.0 35.5 19.0 2164
155 players
The 5th and 6th rounds of the Bundesliga took place 9th-10th December
2006.
Official site: http://www.schachbundesliga.de/ -
German Chess Federation: http://www.schachbund.de
Round 5 9th December 2006
Venue: Bann
SC Bann 5 - 3 SK König Tegel
1 Laznicka,Vikt ½ : ½ Rabiega,Rober 1
2 Stocek,Jiri 0 : 1 Stern,Rene 2
3 Cvek,Robert 1 : 0 Muse,Mladen 3
5 Slobodjan,Rom 1 : 0 Muse,Drazen 4
6 Muraniy,Karl- 0 : 1 Von Herman,Ul 6
8 Bunzmann,Dimi 1 : 0 Sarbok,Torste 7
12 Nun,Jiri ½ : ½ Pachow,Joerg 8
13 Feller,Sebast 1 : 0 Giemsa,Stepha 10
OSC Baden Baden 7 - 1 SC Kreuzberg
4 Bacrot,Etienn 1 : 0 Sargissian,Ga 2
5 Carlsen,Magnu 1 : 0 Socko,Bartosz 3
6 Nisipeanu,Liv ½ : ½ Luther,Thomas 4
8 Vallejo Pons, 1 : 0 Kalinitschew, 5
10 Movsesian,Ser 1 : 0 Volke,Karsten 7
11 Krasenkow,Mic 1 : 0 Loeffler,Stef 8
13 Schlosser,Phi ½ : ½ Paehtz,Elisab 9
14 Doettling,Fab 1 : 0 Richter,Micha 10
Venue: Remagen
SC Remagen 4½-3½ TV Tegernsee
1 Ivanchuk,Vass 1 : 0 Khenkin,Igor 3
2 Fressinet,Lau 1 : 0 Sokolov,Andre 4
3 Fedorchuk,Ser 0 : 1 Ribli,Zoltan 5
4 Bauer,Christi 1 : 0 Bromberger,St 7
6 Degraeve,Jean 1 : 0 Boensch,Uwe 8
8 Bindrich,Falk ½ : ½ Kindermann,St 9
11 Boidman,Yuri 0 : 1 Hertneck,Gera 10
14 Schulz,Klaus- 0 : 1 Teske,Henrik 11
SG Köln Porz 6 - 2 SC Eppingen
1 Vaganian,Rafa 1 : 0 Gyimesi,Zolta 1
2 Lutz,Christop 1 : 0 Balogh,Csaba 2
3 Van Wely,Loek ½ : ½ Postny,Evgeny 3
4 Timman,Jan H 1 : 0 Braun,Arik 5
5 Graf,Alexande ½ : ½ Meier,Georg 6
7 Sakaev,Konsta ½ : ½ Medvegy,Zolta 7
9 Hansen,Curt ½ : ½ Mann,Christia 8
10 Van den Doel, 1 : 0 Vogt,Lothar 11
Venue: Solingen
SG Aljechin Soli 4½-3½ SF Katernberg
1 Jussupow,Artu 0 : 1 Volokitin,And 1
2 Nikolic,Predr 0 : 1 Motylev,Alexa 2
3 Stellwagen,Da ½ : ½ L'Ami,Erwin 4
5 Naumann,Alexa 1 : 0 Chuchelov,Vla 5
6 Werle,Jan ½ : ½ Glek,Igor V 6
7 Hoffmann,Mich 1 : 0 Firman,Nazar 8
8 Smeets,Jan ½ : ½ Souleidis,Geo 11
10 Ernst,Sipke 1 : 0 Thesing,Matth 12
SV Wattenscheid 4 - 4 SV Mülheim Nord
2 Macieja,Bartl 0 : 1 Tregubov,Pave 1
3 Rustemov,Alex ½ : ½ Landa,Konstan 2
4 Johannessen,L ½ : ½ Golod,Vitali 3
5 Bartel,Mateus 1 : 0 Fridman,Danie 4
7 Appel,Ralf ½ : ½ Levin,Felix 5
8 Holzke,Frank 0 : 1 Saltaev,Mihai 6
9 Handke,Floria ½ : ½ Hausrath,Dani 7
11 Dinstuhl,Volk 1 : 0 Schebler,Gerh 8
Venue: Bremen
Werder Bremen 3 - 5 Bindlach-Aktionä
1 McShane,Luke ½ : ½ Naiditsch,Ark 1
2 Efimenko,Zaha ½ : ½ Navara,David 2
4 Hracek,Zbynek ½ : ½ Baklan,Vladim 3
6 Babula,Vlasti 0 : 1 Baramidze,Dav 4
7 Nyback,Tomi ½ : ½ Prusikin,Mich 5
8 Fish,Gennadij ½ : ½ Bischoff,Klau 6
9 Schandorff,La ½ : ½ Stohl,Igor Dr 7
10 Knaak,Rainer 0 : 1 Markos,Jan 9
Hamburger SK 5 - 3 SF Berlin 1903
2 Gustafsson,Ja ½ : ½ Brynell,Stell 4
3 Ftacnik,Lubom 1 : 0 Polzin,Rainer 5
4 Kempinski,Rob 1 : 0 Thiede,Lars 6
5 Hansen,Sune B 0 : 1 Berndt,Stepha 7
7 Mueller,Karst 1 : 0 Borriss,Marti 8
8 Reeh,Oliver 0 : 1 Poldauf,Dirk 9
10 Heinemann,Thi ½ : ½ Kraemer,Marti 10
13 Sebastian,Dir 1 : 0 Schneider,Ilj 11
Round 6 10th December 2006
Venue: Bann
SK König Tegel ½ - 7½ OSC Baden Baden
1 Rabiega,Rober 0 : 1 Bacrot,Etienn 4
2 Stern,Rene 0 : 1 Nisipeanu,Liv 6
3 Muse,Mladen 0 : 1 Vallejo Pons, 8
4 Muse,Drazen 0 : 1 Movsesian,Ser 10
6 Von Herman,Ul 0 : 1 Krasenkow,Mic 11
7 Sarbok,Torste 0 : 1 Dautov,Rustem 12
8 Pachow,Joerg 0 : 1 Schlosser,Phi 13
10 Giemsa,Stepha ½ : ½ Doettling,Fab 14
SC Kreuzberg 5 - 3 SC Bann
2 Sargissian,Ga 1 : 0 Laznicka,Vikt 1
3 Socko,Bartosz 1 : 0 Stocek,Jiri 2
4 Luther,Thomas ½ : ½ Cvek,Robert 3
5 Kalinitschew, ½ : ½ Jirovsky,Milo 4
7 Volke,Karsten 0 : 1 Slobodjan,Rom 5
8 Loeffler,Stef 0 : 1 Bunzmann,Dimi 8
9 Paehtz,Elisab 1 : 0 Mozny,Mylos 11
10 Richter,Micha 1 : 0 Feller,Sebast 13
Venue: Remagen
TV Tegernsee 2½-5½ SG Köln Porz
3 Khenkin,Igor ½ : ½ Vaganian,Rafa 1
4 Sokolov,Andre ½ : ½ Lutz,Christop 2
5 Ribli,Zoltan 0 : 1 Van Wely,Loek 3
7 Bromberger,St ½ : ½ Timman,Jan H 4
8 Boensch,Uwe 0 : 1 Graf,Alexande 5
9 Kindermann,St ½ : ½ Sakaev,Konsta 7
10 Hertneck,Gera 0 : 1 Hansen,Curt 9
11 Teske,Henrik ½ : ½ Van den Doel, 10
SC Eppingen 4½-3½ SC Remagen
1 Gyimesi,Zolta 0 : 1 Ivanchuk,Vass 1
2 Balogh,Csaba ½ : ½ Fressinet,Lau 2
3 Postny,Evgeny ½ : ½ Fedorchuk,Ser 3
5 Braun,Arik 1 : 0 Bauer,Christi 4
6 Meier,Georg ½ : ½ Degraeve,Jean 6
7 Medvegy,Zolta ½ : ½ Bindrich,Falk 8
8 Mann,Christia 1 : 0 Boidman,Yuri 11
11 Vogt,Lothar ½ : ½ Schulz,Klaus- 14
Venue: Solingen
SF Katernberg 5 - 3 SV Wattenscheid
1 Volokitin,And 1 : 0 Macieja,Bartl 2
2 Motylev,Alexa ½ : ½ Rustemov,Alex 3
4 L'Ami,Erwin ½ : ½ Johannessen,L 4
5 Chuchelov,Vla ½ : ½ Bartel,Mateus 5
6 Glek,Igor V 1 : 0 Appel,Ralf 7
8 Firman,Nazar 1 : 0 Holzke,Frank 8
11 Souleidis,Geo 0 : 1 Handke,Floria 9
12 Thesing,Matth ½ : ½ Dinstuhl,Volk 11
SV Mülheim Nord 2½-5½ SG Aljechin Soli
1 Tregubov,Pave ½ : ½ Jussupow,Artu 1
2 Landa,Konstan ½ : ½ Nikolic,Predr 2
3 Golod,Vitali 0 : 1 Stellwagen,Da 3
4 Fridman,Danie 0 : 1 Naumann,Alexa 5
5 Levin,Felix ½ : ½ Werle,Jan 6
6 Saltaev,Mihai ½ : ½ Hoffmann,Mich 7
7 Hausrath,Dani 0 : 1 Smeets,Jan 8
8 Schebler,Gerh ½ : ½ Ernst,Sipke 10
Venue: Bremen
Bindlach-Aktionä 4 - 4 Hamburger SK
1 Naiditsch,Ark 0 : 1 Gustafsson,Ja 2
2 Navara,David 1 : 0 Ftacnik,Lubom 3
3 Baklan,Vladim ½ : ½ Kempinski,Rob 4
4 Baramidze,Dav ½ : ½ Hansen,Sune B 5
5 Prusikin,Mich 0 : 1 Mueller,Karst 7
6 Bischoff,Klau 1 : 0 Reeh,Oliver 8
7 Stohl,Igor Dr ½ : ½ Heinemann,Thi 10
9 Markos,Jan ½ : ½ Sebastian,Dir 13
SF Berlin 1903 4½-3½ Werder Bremen
4 Brynell,Stell 0 : 1 McShane,Luke 1
5 Polzin,Rainer ½ : ½ Efimenko,Zaha 2
6 Thiede,Lars ½ : ½ Hracek,Zbynek 4
7 Berndt,Stepha ½ : ½ Babula,Vlasti 6
8 Borriss,Marti ½ : ½ Nyback,Tomi 7
9 Poldauf,Dirk ½ : ½ Fish,Gennadij 8
10 Kraemer,Marti 1 : 0 Schandorff,La 9
11 Schneider,Ilj 1 : 0 Knaak,Rainer 10
Table:
1. OSC Baden Baden 7 12 43,0
2. SG Porz 7 12 36,0
3. Hamburger SK 7 10 31,5
4. SC Remagen 7 10 29,0
5. TSV Bindlach-Aktionär 6 9 28,0
6. SG Aljechin Solingen 7 8 30,0
7. Werder Bremen 7 6 27,5
8. SC Kreuzberg 6 6 23,5
9. SF Katernberg 6 6 23,0
10. SC Eppingen 6 6 21,0
11. SV Wattenscheid 7 5 24,0
12. SV Mülheim Nord 6 4 22,5
13. SF Berlin 6 4 20,5
14. TV Tegernsee 6 3 22,0
15. SC Bann 7 3 21,0
16. SK König Tegel 6 0 13,5
1st Granada International Open took place 6th-10th December 2006. Jose
Carlos Ibarra Jerez won the event on tie-break, he was in a group of 7 players
on 7/9. I will round up the games when all rounds are available.
Official site: http://www.internacionaldegranada.com/
Rank ELO Name Tit Pts T P B GR PER IT
1 2479 IBARRA JEREZ, Jose Carlos im Murcia 7 7 57 2536
2 2657 KORNEEV, Oleg gm Rusia 7 7 54,5 2504
3 2565 MOVSZISZIAN, Karen gm Armenia 7 7 54,5 2494
4 2547 CAMPORA SIVORI, Daniel Hugo gm Argentina 7 7 54 2451
5 2445 RODRIGUEZ GUERRERO, Enrique im Ogíjares 7 7 54 2450
6 2386 POMES MARCET, Joan im Terrassa 7 7 52,5 2338
7 2453 KOZIAK, VITALI im Ucrania 7 7 51 2325
8 2476 STAROSTITS, Ilmars im Letonia 6,5 6,5 53 2410
9 2549 CONQUEST, Stuart gm Navarra 6,5 6,5 51,5 2405
10 2509 GOFSHTEIN, Zvulon gm Israel 6,5 6,5 51,5 2370
11 2535 SUBA, Mihai gm Rumanía 6 6 56 2398
12 2441 MATEO, Ramon im Lleida 6 6 55,5 2424
13 2456 KOZAKOV, Mikhail gm Ucrania 6 6 51,5 2326
14 2508 ORAL, Tomas gm R. Checa 6 6 51 2320
15 2542 MATAMOROS FRANCO, Carlos S. gm Ecuador 6 6 51 2292
16 2516 CIFUENTES PARADA, Roberto gm Gipuzkoa 6 6 50,5 2271
17 2350 FERNANDEZ SILES, Luis fm Motril 6 6 49 2197
18 2331 RADOVANOVIC, Jovica fm Serbia 6 6 49 2188
19 2455 TERAN ALVAREZ, Ismael im Sevilla 6 6 48,5 2307
20 2354 FIERRO BAQUERO, Martha L. im Ecuador 6 6 48,5 2173
21 2393 KOVACEVIC, Slobodan im Serbia 6 6 47,5 2226
22 2479 SIMACEK, Pavel im R. Checa 6 5,5 52 2291
23 2542 ANDERSSON, Ulf gm Suecia 6 5,5 50 2371
24 2472 DJURIC, Stefan gm Serbia 6 5,5 49,5 2276
25 2375 KONONENKO, Tatiana wgm Ucrania 6 5,5 48,5 2230
26 2401 MOGRANZINI, Roberto fm Italia 6 5,5 48,5 2225
147 player
The 75th Chess Championship of Ukraine (final) took place in Poltava
24th November - 3rd December 2006. The event is a 32 player knockout with five
rounds. Zahar Efimenko defeated Yuri Drozdovskij 1.5-0.5.
In addition the Ukrainian Women's Chess Championship took place in
Odessa 26th November - 6th December 2006. Oksana Vozovic won the event on
tie-break from Anna Ushenina after both finished on 8/11.
Official site: http://www.ukrchess.org.ua/eng/
75th ch-UKR m 2006
Final
-----
Efimenko,Z 1.5
Drozdovskij,Y 0.5
3rd-4th
-------
Korobov,A 4.0
Kuzubov,Y 2.0
Semifinal
---------
Efimenko,Z 1.5
Kuzubov,Y 0.5
Drozdovskij,Y 1.5
Korobov,A 0.5
Quarterfinal
------------
Efimenko,Z 1.5
Zinchenko,Ya 0.5
Areshchenko,A 2.0
Kuzubov,Y 2.0
Drozdovskij,Y 3.0
Eljanov,P 1.0
Korobov,A 3.0
Baklan,V 1.0
Round 2
-------
Goloshchapov,A 0.5
Efimenko,Z 1.5
Boginin,O 2.0
Zinchenko,Ya 2.0
Sumets,A 0.5
Areshchenko,A 1.5
Kravtsiv,M 1.5
Kuzubov,Y 2.5
Drozdovskij,Y 2.0
Brodsky,M 2.0
Eljanov,P 2.5
Zubov,A UKR 1.5
Korobov,A 2.0
Miroshnichenko,E 2.0
Baklan,V 1.5
Timoshenko,G 0.5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
75th ch-UKR w Odessa UKR (UKR), 24 xi-6 xii 2006 cat. IV (2332)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Vozovic, Oksana wg UKR 2352 * = = = 1 = 1 1 = 1 1 = 8.0 2505
2. Ushenina, Anna wg UKR 2430 = * = = = 1 = 1 1 1 = 1 8.0 2498
3. Zdebskaja, Natalia wg UKR 2343 = = * = 1 0 1 1 1 = 1 = 7.5 2464
4. Gaponenko, Inna m UKR 2448 = = = * = 1 = 0 = 1 1 1 7.0 2423
5. Zhukova, Natalia wg UKR 2456 0 = 0 = * = 1 = 1 1 1 1 7.0 2422
6. Muzychuk, Mariya wm UKR 2278 = 0 1 0 = * 0 1 = = = 1 5.5 2336
7. Vasilevich, Tatjana m UKR 2396 0 = 0 = 0 1 * 1 = = 0 1 5.0 2290
8. Kalinina, Olga UKR 2191 0 0 0 1 = 0 0 * = 1 1 1 5.0 2308
9. Arutyunova, Diana wg UKR 2362 = 0 0 = 0 = = = * 0 1 = 4.0 2227
10. Dolzhikova, Kateryna wm UKR 2324 0 0 = 0 0 = = 0 1 * 1 = 4.0 2230
11. Breslavska, Galina wf UKR 2176 0 = 0 0 0 = 1 0 0 0 * 1 3.0 2171
12. Ivanova, Svetlana1 wm UKR 2228 = 0 = 0 0 0 0 0 = = 0 * 2.0 2079
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 56th Greek Men's Championship took place in Salonica 27th November -
5th of December 2006. Vasilios Kotronias won the men's event.
The 29th Greek Women's Championship took place 25th November - 3rd
December 2006 in Athens. WGMs Anna-Maria Botsari won the event with on
tie-break (number of wins) from last year's champion Ekaterini Fakhiridou after
both finished on 6/9.
Official site:
http://www.chessfed.gr/Tournaments/ClosedGreekChamp06/
and http://www.chessfed.gr/Tournaments/ClosedGreekWomenChamp06/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
56th ch-GRE Salonica GRE (GRE), 27 xi-5 xii 2006 cat. IX (2459)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Kotronias, Vasilios g GRE 2587 * = = 1 = = = = 1 1 6.0 2569
2. Skembris, Spyridon g GRE 2455 = * = = = 1 = = 1 = 5.5 2539
3. Banikas, Hristos g GRE 2568 = = * = = = = 1 = 1 5.5 2526
4. Mastrovasilis, Athanasios g GRE 2533 0 = = * = 1 = 1 = 1 5.5 2530
5. Mastrovasilis, Dimitrios g GRE 2562 = = = = * = = = = 1 5.0 2490
6. Nikolaidis, Ioannis g GRE 2536 = 0 = 0 = * = 1 1 1 5.0 2493
7. Kapnisis, Spyridon m GRE 2421 = = = = = = * = = = 4.5 2463
8. Goritsas, Christos GRE 2289 = = 0 0 = 0 = * = 1 3.5 2397
9. Kotrotsos, Vasilios f GRE 2276 0 0 = = = 0 = = * 1 3.5 2399
10. Karayannis, Athanasios m GRE 2361 0 = 0 0 0 0 = 0 0 * 1.0 2118
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
29th ch-GRE w Athens GRE (GRE), 27 xi-5 xii 2006
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Botsari, Anna-Maria wg GRE 2351 * = 0 = = 1 = 1 1 1 6.0 2304
2. Fakhiridou, Ekaterini wm GRE 2285 = * = 1 = = = 1 = 1 6.0 2311
3. Pambalou, Fotini GRE 2177 1 = * = = 0 = 1 = 1 5.5 2278
5. Makka, Evanthia GRE 2076 = 0 = * 0 1 1 = = 1 5.0 2253
4. Makropoulou, Marina wg GRE 2313 = = = 1 * = 1 0 = = 5.0 2226
6. Stiri, Alexandra wm GRE 2252 0 = 1 0 = * = 0 1 1 4.5 2190
7. Papadopoulou, Vera wm GRE 2246 = = = 0 0 = * = 1 1 4.5 2191
8. Makka, Ioulia wm GRE 2204 0 0 0 = 1 1 = * 0 1 4.0 2152
9. Sperdokli, Elli GRE 2111 0 = = = = 0 0 1 * 1 4.0 2163
10. Pavlogianni, Despina GRE 1951 0 0 0 0 = 0 0 0 0 * 0.5 1779
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The 90th Marshall Club Championship (Edward Lasker Memorial) took place
1st-10th (1st-3rd, 9th-10th) December 2006. Jaan Ehlvest lead throughout and
finished on 7/9 half a point clear of the field.
Official site: http://www.marshallchessclub.org/
---------------------------------------------------------
90th ch-Marshall CC New York USA (USA), 1-10 xii 2006
---------------------------------------------------------
1. Ehlvest, Jaan g USA 2597 7.0 $2,000
2. Ivanov, Alexander g USA 2587 6.5 $750
3. Sarkar, Justin m USA 2380 6.5 $750 GM Norm
4. Izoria, Zviad g GEO 2657 6.0 $225
5. Stripunsky, Alexander g USA 2597 6.0 $225
6. Yudasin, Leonid g ISR 2578 5.5
7. Almeida Saenz, Alfonso m MEX 2409 5.5
8. Krush, Irina m USA 2443 5.0
9. Privman, Boris f USA 2266 5.0 $150
10. Treger, Effim USA 2232 5.0 $150
11. Hoffmann, Asa f USA 2282 5.0 $150
12. Bonin, Jay R m USA 2310 4.5
13. Jacobs, John N f USA 2300 4.5
14. Chernin, Oliver USA 2162 4.5
15. Zenyuk, Iryna wf USA 2192 4.5 $25
16. Gaillard, Edward USA 2155 4.5 $25
17. Waxman, Marian USA 2033 4.5 $25
18. Paciulli, Frank USA 2026 4.5 $25
19. Pressman, Leif USA 2020 4.0
20. Vayserberg, Tatia USA 2023 4.0
21. Kopiecki, Edward USA 2189 4.0
22. Kelleher, Jeff USA 2089 4.0
23. Hess, Robert L f USA 2394 3.5
24. Pearson, Michael USA 2187 3.5
25. Hammer,Dale M USA ---- 3.5
26. Santanna,Paulo USA ---- 3.5
27. Sena, Juan DOM 2187 3.0
28. Rabin, Evan Z USA 2028 3.0
29. Lamb,Terence P USA ---- 3.0
30. Mehmedovic,Sabrij USA ---- 2.5
31. Sloan Aravena, Peter USA 2250 2.0
32. Frumkin, Edward USA 2036 2.0
33. Szuper, Paul USA 2085 0.0
34. Maffeo,Nicole USA ---- 0.0
--------------------------------------------
The Romanian Championships took place in Predeal, 27th November - 7th
December 2006. Vlad-Cristian Jianu took first place on tie-break from
Ciprian-Costica Nanu after both finished on 8/11. Ioana-Smaranda Padurariu took
clear first on 8/11 in the women's event. My thanks to Doru Ionescu.
Official site: http://www.frsah.ro
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ch-ROM Predeal ROM (ROM), 27 xi-7 xii 2006
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Jianu, Vlad-Cristian m ROM 2502 8 58.0 70.0 50.0
2. Nanu, Ciprian-Costica m ROM 2482 8 57.5 70.5 44.0
3. Manolache, Marius m ROM 2507 7.5 62.5 75.5 50.5
4. Sofronie, Iulian m ROM 2421 7.5 59.0 71.5 45.5
5. Murariu, Andrei g ROM 2516 7.5 58.5 71.0 45.0
6. Berescu, Alin m ROM 2485 7.5 56.0 69.0 43.5
7. Grigore, George-Gabriel g ROM 2480 7 61.5 75.0 50.0
8. Badea, Bela g ROM 2508 7 61.0 74.5 48.0
9. Szabo, Gergely-Andras-Gyula m ROM 2465 7 60.5 74.0 45.0
10. Itkis, Boris m ROM 2447 7 59.5 70.0 48.0
11. Barnaure, Vlad-Victor m ROM 2433 7 58.0 70.0 42.5
12. Grunberg, Mihai-Lucian m ROM 2414 7 58.0 69.0 43.0
13. Marin, Mihail g ROM 2552 7 56.0 68.0 42.5
14. Parligras, Mircea g ROM 2511 7 56.0 68.0 42.5
15. Manea, Alexandru f ROM 2376 7 52.0 62.0 40.5
16. Lupulescu, Constantin g ROM 2571 6.5 61.0 74.0 44.0
17. Valeanu, Eduard-Andrei ROM 2361 6.5 57.5 70.0 41.0
18. Vasilescu, Lucian-Mihail m ROM 2288 6.5 57.5 69.5 39.5
19. Bonte, Andrei ROM 2223 6.5 53.0 65.0 35.5
20. Cioara, Andrei Nestor m ROM 2419 6.5 50.5 63.0 39.0
21. Ciobanu, Viorel Adrian ROM 2209 6.5 49.5 60.5 34.5
65 players
-------------------------------------------------------------------
ch-ROM w Predeal ROM (ROM), 27 xi-7 xii 2006
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Padurariu, Ioana-Smaranda ROM 2221 8 59.5 72.5 50.5
2. Marin, Irina Luiza wm ROM 2222 7.5 52.5 64.5 44.0
3. Ionica, Iulia-Ionela wm ROM 2231 7 57.0 69.5 42.5
4. Sterpu, Constanta-Andreea ROM 2056 7 56.5 69.0 41.5
5. Tutulan, Mihaela ROM 2024 7 54.0 66.0 38.0
6. Gheorghe, Corina wm ROM 2265 7 51.5 64.0 38.5
7. Dragomirescu, Angela wm ROM 2237 6.5 58.0 71.0 45.5
8. Craciun, Paula-Iulia ROM 2097 6.5 57.0 69.0 37.5
9. Paulet, Iosefina wm ROM 2167 6.5 55.0 67.5 40.5
10. Motoc, Alina wg ROM 2306 6.5 53.0 65.5 37.0
11. Traistaru, Teodora ROM 2126 6 61.0 71.0 44.5
12. Jicman, Ligia-Letitia wm ROM 2178 6 56.0 68.5 38.5
13. Kovacs, Ondina ROM 1995 6 43.0 50.0 28.5
14. Baciu, Anca-Otilia wf ROM 2111 5.5 54.5 66.5 35.5
15. Sgircea, Silvia-Raluca wf ROM 2136 5.5 47.0 55.5 33.5
16. Ciubara, Vladlena wf ROM 2168 5.5 44.5 52.0 31.5
17. Duca, Delia-Monica ROM 2027 5.5 43.0 51.0 28.5
18. Florea, Dorina ROM 1953 5 50.5 58.0 28.0
19. Anusca, Madalina-Maria ROM 1941 5 48.0 56.0 31.0
20. Adoamnei, Roxana ROM 2030 5 46.0 55.0 28.0
23. Comanescu, Ionela ROM 1942 5 45.0 52.5 26.0
13. Manicuta, Monica ROM 2151 4.5 46.0 54.0 28.0
22. Stoican,Ionica Alexandra ROM ---- 4.5 44.5 52.5 26.0
24. Moldovan,Petruta Alisia ROM ---- 2.5 44.0 50.5 18.5
25. Sonfalean,Maria Laura ROM ---- 1 43.5 51.0 11.0
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Belgian League 2006-7 saw the fifth round of the event on the 3rd
December 2006. CRELEL (Liège) consolidates their lead by winning from CE
Namur, while CREC ( Charleroi ) was surprisingly defeated bij KBSK 1 ( Bruges )
The second team from Eynatten now takes the third place, which is important to
qualifiy for the European championship. News: Valery Maes.
Further details: http://users.pandora.be/vmaes/interclub/
and http://www.schakers.info
Results Round 5 03-12-06
SK Rochade - KBSK 2 7 - 1
CE Namur - CRELEL 3.5 - 4.5
CREC - KBSK 1 2.5 - 5.5
Eynatten 1 - KGSRL 4 - 4
Eynatten 2 - Leuven 6.5 - 1.5
Borgerhout - Temse 4.5 - 3.5
Standings after 5 rounds
Rank Team Boardpoints
1. CRELEL 28.5
2. CE Namur 25.5
3. Eynatten 2 24.5
4. CREC 24.5
5. SK Rochade 24
6. Eynatten 1 20.5
7. KBSK 1 18.5
8. KGSRL 17.5
9. Borgerhout 17
10. Temse 16
11. KBSK 2 12
12. Leuven Centraal 11.5
The 15th Asian Games take place in Doha 1st-15th December 2006. I'm not
at all hopeful that games will turn up.
Details: http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=1167,
official site: http://www.doha-2006.com/
Men's Rapid 04 DEC 2006
GOLD KAZHGALEYEV Murtas KAZ
SILVER DAO Thien Hai VIE
BRONZE BU Xiangzhi CHN
Women's Rapid 04 DEC 2006
GOLD KONERU Humpy IND
SILVER ZHAO Xue CHN
BRONZE CHEN Zhu QAT
There were two RGSU tournaments in Moscow 6th-14th November 2006.
Nikolay Konovalov won the GM event and Armen Tonoian won the masters event with
9/12. Olga Girya's score in the masters official table seems to have been
miscalculated. Games from rounds 9-13 are now available.
Official site: http://www.rgsu.regionset.ru
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RGSU GM Moscow RUS (RUS), 6-14 xi 2006 cat. VIII (2437)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Konovalov, Nikolay m RUS 2443 * = = 1 = = 1 = 1 1 = 1 1 9.0 2629
2. Nepomniachtchi, Ian m RUS 2545 = * 0 1 = 0 1 = = 1 1 1 1 8.0 2553
3. Kunin, Vitaly g GER 2492 = 1 * 0 = 1 1 0 = 1 1 = = 7.5 2527
4. Chadaev, Nikolai m RUS 2459 0 0 1 * = = 1 = = = 1 = 1 7.0 2492
5. Komliakov, Viktor g MDA 2438 = = = = * = = = = 1 = = = 6.5 2466
6. Krapivin, Alexander m RUS 2459 = 1 0 = = * = 0 = = = 1 1 6.5 2464
7. Tairova, Elena wg RUS 2415 0 0 0 0 = = * 1 1 1 = 1 1 6.5 2468
8. Mongontuul, Bathuyag wg MGL 2383 = = 1 = = 1 0 * = 0 0 = = 5.5 2412
9. Bagirov, Rufat g AZE 2504 0 = = = = = 0 = * = 1 = = 5.5 2402
10. Pustov, Pavel RUS 2407 0 0 0 = 0 = 0 1 = * 1 1 = 5.0 2382
11. Prosviriakov, Vladimir m USA 2346 = 0 0 0 = = = 1 0 0 * = = 4.0 2319
12. Nebolsina, Vera wm RUS 2349 0 0 = = = 0 0 = = 0 = * 1 4.0 2319
13. Sjugirov, Sanan m RUS 2444 0 0 = 0 = 0 0 = = = = 0 * 3.0 2243
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
RGSU Masters Moscow RUS (RUS), 6-14 xi 2006 cat. III (2310)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Tonoian, Armen f RUS 2400 * 0 1 1 1 1 = 1 = 1 = = 1 9.0 2495
2. Mozharov, Mikhail RUS 2418 1 * 0 = 1 0 = = 1 1 1 1 1 8.5 2459
3. Belous, Vladimir RUS 2251 0 1 * 0 = 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 7.5 2409
4. Khamitskiy, Sergei BLR 2323 0 = 1 * 0 1 = 1 = = = 1 1 7.5 2403
5. Plotnikov, Pavel f RUS 2291 0 0 = 1 * 1 = 1 = 1 1 = 0 7.0 2368
6. Kislov, Oleg BLR 2267 0 1 0 0 0 * 1 = 1 1 = 1 1 7.0 2370
7. Castaneda, Georgui m PER 2477 = = 0 = = 0 * = = = 1 1 1 6.5 2325
8. Girya, Olga wf RUS 2240 0 = 1 0 0 = = * = 0 1 1 1 6.0 2315
9. Zhidkov, Valery S m UKR 2366 = 0 0 = = 0 = = * = = 1 1 5.5 2276
10. Markosian, David S m ARM 2359 0 0 0 = 0 0 = 1 = * 1 0 1 4.5 2218
11. Cherenkova, Kristina wm RUS 2238 = 0 0 = 0 = 0 0 = 0 * = 1 3.5 2158
12. Bodnaruk, Anastasia wf RUS 2255 = 0 0 0 = 0 0 0 0 1 = * 1 3.5 2156
13. Drozdova, Dina RUS 2145 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 * 2.0 2050
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Aratovsky Memorial took place in Saratov November 27th - December
5th 2006. Boris Savchenko edged out Konstantin Chernyshov because he had one
more black in the event. Favourite Gabriel Sargissian finished 24th. No games
available.
Details: http://news.chessportal.ru/index.php?razd=467
Leading Final Round 9 Standings:
1. 16 Savchenko Boris -1 7.0
12 Chernyshov Konstantin 1 7.0
3. 28 Kryakvin Dmitry -1 6.5
9 Lysyj Igor 1 6.5
5 Svetushkin Dmitry -1 6.5
47 Askarov Marat -1 6.5
2 Smirnov Pavel -1 6.5
26 Pashikian Arman -1 6.5
23 Oleksienko Mikhailo 1 6.5
33 Iljin Artem -1 6.5
27 Evdokimov Alexander 1 6.5
12. 13 Shaposhnikov Evgeny 1 6.0
17 Dyachkov Sergej 1 6.0
39 Tihonov Jurij 1 6.0
11 Burmakin Vladimir 1 6.0
15 Vorobiov Evgeny 1 6.0
59 Karavaev Vladimir -1 6.0
42 Zubarev Alexander -1 6.0
6 Kornev Alexei -1 6.0
40 Voitsekhovsky Stanislav 1 6.0
38 Aveskulov Valery -1 6.0
30 Iskusnyh Sergei -1 6.0
22 Zhigalko Andrey -1 6.0
24. 1 Sargissian Gabriel 1 5.5
148 players
Thye 1st Memorial Carpintero was held in the Hotel Evora 27th-29th
November 2006. The 5 round swiss was won by Ibragim S Khamrakulov with 5/5.
Official site: http://www.fpx.pt/~ficheiros/1MXJC/
------------------------------------------------------------------
1st Javier Carpintero Mem Evora POR (POR), 27-29 xi 2006
------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Khamrakulov, Ibragim S g ESP 2527 5 0 2155 2556 15 14
2. Santos, Luis m POR 2368 4½ 0 2075 2441 13 13
3. Santos, Antonio P POR 2250 4 0 2083 2323 13 14
4. Fernandes, Antonio g POR 2453 4 0 2067 2227 12 12
5. Ulyanovskyy, Viktor f UKR 2291 4 0 1927 2100 12 11
6. Santos, Jose Alves POR 2195 4 0 1880 2075 11½ 11
7. Leite, Catarina wm POR 2237 3½ 0 2133 2220 13 13½
8. Pinheiro, Jose f POR 2336 3½ 0 2131 2166 13 14½
9. Diogo, Vasco POR 2220 3½ 0 2006 2155 11½ 14½
10. Ferents, Andrey UKR 2253 3½ 0 1984 2133 11 13
11. Paulino, Jose POR 2024 3½ 0 1983 2164 10½ 14½
12. Morais, Vitor POR 2052 3½ 0 1965 2092 11 13
13. Dias, Paulo f POR 2387 3½ 0 1926 2184 10 11½
59 players
The Torneio Nacional de Mestres took place 14th-22nd November 2006.
http://www.fpx.pt/~ficheiros/TNMestresHonra2006/
and commented games on Luís Santos page:
http://luissantosxadrez.no.sapo.pt/lsmestres2006.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------
Nacional de Mestres Barreiro POR (POR), 14-22 xi 2006cat. VI (2381)
------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Santos, Luis m POR 2368 * = = 1 1 = 0 1 = 1 6.0 2507
2. Galego, Luis g POR 2533 = * = = = = 1 = 1 1 6.0 2489
3. Dias, Paulo f POR 2387 = = * 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 6.0 2505
4. Damaso, Rui m POR 2449 0 = 1 * 0 1 1 0 = 1 5.0 2416
5. Pina, Vladimiro m POR 2253 0 = 1 1 * 0 0 1 1 0 4.5 2395
6. Vitor, Antonio f POR 2414 = = 0 0 1 * = = = 1 4.5 2377
7. Rocha, Sergio m POR 2410 1 0 0 0 1 = * 0 = 1 4.0 2334
8. Fernando, Diogo m POR 2465 0 = 0 1 0 = 1 * = 0 3.5 2291
9. Leonardo, Joao f POR 2282 = 0 0 = 0 = = = * = 3.0 2267
10. Santos, Antonio P POR 2250 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 = * 2.5 2229
------------------------------------------------------------------
The VII International Rapidplay took place in El Sauzal - Tenerife,
4th-5th November 2006. Kamil Miton won with 8/9 half a point clear of the
chasing field. News: AF Manrique.
Official site: http://www.ajedrezelsauzal.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
VII Rapid El Sauzal ESP (ESP), 4-5 xi 2006
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Miton, Kamil g POL 2638 8 42.0 53.0 39.0
2. Mirzoev, Azer g AZE 2543 7.5 45.0 57.0 42.0
3. Granda Zuniga, Julio E g PER 2646 7.5 44.5 57.0 41.5
4. Lalic, Bogdan g CRO 2491 7.5 41.5 53.0 40.0
5. Moskalenko, Viktor g UKR 2543 7.5 41.5 53.0 37.0
6. Spraggett, Kevin g CAN 2610 7 46.0 58.5 40.0
7. Glek, Igor V g GER 2538 7 46.0 58.5 39.0
8. Hoffman, Alejandro g ARG 2442 7 42.0 55.0 37.0
9. Barsov, Alexei g UZB 2537 7 41.5 53.0 39.0
10. Todorcevic, Miodrag g ESP 2465 7 41.0 54.0 38.0
11. Munoz Pantoja, Miguel m PER 2483 7 41.0 52.0 38.0
12. Davies, Nigel R g ENG 2504 7 40.5 51.0 36.0
13. Kurajica, Bojan g CRO 2555 7 40.5 51.0 34.5
14. Fernandez Garcia, Jose Luis g ESP 2470 7 39.0 50.0 35.5
15. Komljenovic, Davor g CRO 2487 7 38.5 49.5 36.5
16. Mogranzini, Roberto f ITA 2401 6.5 46.5 58.0 37.5
17. Cabrera Trujillo, Jorge ESP 2255 6.5 43.5 55.0 37.5
18. Rivas Pastor, Manuel g ESP 2511 6.5 42.5 55.0 38.0
19. Fierro Baquero, Martha L m ECU 2339 6.5 40.5 50.0 36.0
20. Meijers, Viesturs g LAT 2465 6.5 40.0 52.0 35.0
21. Strikovic, Aleksa g SCG 2535 6.5 40.0 51.5 36.5
22. Barlov, Dragan g SCG 2439 6.5 38.5 49.5 35.0
23. Vega Gutierrez, Sabrina wm ESP 2299 6.5 37.0 48.0 32.5
24. Gonzalez Garcia, Guillermo ESP 2208 6.5 35.5 46.0 32.5
25. Vidarte Morales, Arturo m ESP 2405 6.5 35.5 45.5 33.0
26. Lopez Pereyra, Antonio ESP 2138 6.5 34.5 42.5 31.0
27. De la Cruz Sanchez, C. Gustavo ESP 2237 6.5 34.0 44.5 31.0
247 players
The First Saturday December tournaments in Budapest including GM-IM-FM
round robins, takes place 3rd-15th December 2006.
Website: http://www.firstsaturday.hu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
FSGM December Budapest HUN (HUN), 2-12 xii 2006 cat. VIII (2427)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Ilincic, Zlatko g SCG 2451 * . . . . = 1 = 1 1 . . = 4.5 2608
2. Kosic, Dragan g SCG 2518 . * . . = = = = = 1 . 1 . 4.5 2513
3. Prohaszka, Peter2 f HUN 2392 . . * = 0 1 0 1 1 . . = . 4.0 2464
4. Boros, Denes m HUN 2465 . . = * 1 = . . = . 1 0 . 3.5 2465
5. Rombaldoni, Denis f ITA 2377 . = 1 0 * . . . . . = 1 = 3.5 2491
6. Fogarasi, Tibor g HUN 2425 = = 0 = . * . . . = 1 . = 3.5 2445
7. Szabo, Krisztian1 m HUN 2476 0 = 1 . . . * = . 0 = . 1 3.5 2432
8. Pataki, Gyozo HUN 2370 = = 0 . . . = * . 1 . . = 3.0 2443
9. Bergez, Luc m FRA 2395 0 = 0 = . . . . * . = = 1 3.0 2387
10. Banusz, Tamas m HUN 2450 0 0 . . . = 1 0 . * . . 1 2.5 2378
11. Hoang Thanh Trang m HUN 2470 . . . 0 = 0 = . = . * 1 . 2.5 2364
12. Smith, Bryan G f USA 2390 . 0 = 1 0 . . . = . 0 * . 2.0 2311
13. Paschall, William M m USA 2374 = . . . = = 0 = 0 0 . . * 2.0 2262
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Polyarniy Krug (Polar Circle) tournament took place in Salekhard,
Russia 29th November - 7th December 2006. Roman Ovetchkin had the best
tie-break for the 5 players on 7/9.
Details: http://chesstournaments.ru/salekhard2006
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Polyarniy Krug Salekhard RUS (RUS), 29 xi-7 xii 2006
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Ovetchkin, Roman g RUS 2543 7.0 54.0 41.00 38.0 2667 +1.20
2. Yakovich, Yuri g RUS 2576 7.0 52.0 39.25 37.0 2678 +0.97
3. Riazantsev, Alexander g RUS 2632 7.0 51.5 39.25 35.0 2647 +0.16
4. Dvoirys, Semen I g RUS 2553 7.0 51.5 38.50 38.0 2659 +1.01
5. Geller, Jakov m RUS 2501 7.0 50.5 36.75 35.0 2673 +1.76
6. Sorokin, Maxim g RUS 2561 6.5 53.0 36.25 35.0 2625 +0.62
7. Turov, Maxim g RUS 2556 6.5 46.5 32.00 32.5 2510 -0.42
8. Chuprov, Dmitry m RUS 2511 6.5 44.5 30.75 33.5 2551 +0.38
9. Kotsur, Pavel g KAZ 2587 6.0 53.5 32.75 34.5 2578 -0.12
10. Kabanov, Nikolai m RUS 2521 6.0 51.5 30.50 33.0 2515 -0.12
11. Kopylov, Alexander A RUS 2237 6.0 46.5 26.00 30.0 2508 +1.98
12. Obodchuk, Andrei m RUS 2406 6.0 44.5 27.00 30.5 2358 -0.41
13. Musakaev, Emil RUS 2254 6.0 44.0 26.00 28.0 2259 +0.04
14. Ovod, Evgenija m RUS 2407 6.0 43.0 27.75 29.0 2233 -1.38
15. Okara, Andrey RUS 2314 6.0 40.5 24.00 29.0 2326 +0.04
16. Bocharov, Dmitry g RUS 2577 5.5 54.0 29.75 34.0 2550 -0.35
17. Bezgodov, Alexei g RUS 2561 5.5 52.0 29.75 33.0 2478 -0.86
18. Demianjuk, Alexander RUS 2345 5.5 49.5 26.75 28.5 2400 +0.56
19. Nachev, Stanislav f RUS 2418 5.5 49.0 28.50 31.0 2382 -0.38
20. Gutenev, Alexander RUS 2256 5.5 48.5 26.50 30.0 2424 +1.18
21. Rozhkov, Vecheslav RUS 2287 5.5 45.0 24.25 29.0 2327 +0.42
22. Gajsin, Evgenij RUS 2456 5.5 44.5 24.50 28.0 2291 -1.66
23. Savitskiy, Sergey RUS 2079 5.5 41.0 22.25 26.5 1659 -0.42
24. Turubanov, Egor RUS 2032 5.5 36.5 21.75 24.0 1623 -0.26
78 players
The Commonwealth Chess Championship took place in Mumbai November
19th-29th 2006. Nigel Short won the event with an impressive 9/10. Some game
turned up, not on the official site but in a report on
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3531.
Just 37 games after doubles were romoved, but better than nothing.
Official site: http://www.venuschessacademy.in/ -
Additional
info
Rank Name Rtg FED Pts BH. RtgØ
1 GM Short Nigel D 2677 ENG 9 63½ 2432
2 GM Sandipan Chanda 2550 IND 8 60½ 2389
3 IM Venkatesh M R 2466 IND 8 60 2386
4 GM Neelotpal Das 2490 IND 7½ 60 2370
5 GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J 2501 IND 7½ 58½ 2373
6 GM Kunte Abhijit 2524 IND 7½ 57½ 2337
7 IM Sundararajan Kidambi 2451 IND 7 61½ 2378
8 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2573 IND 7 59 2388
9 IM Gupta Abhijeet 2481 IND 7 57½ 2346
10 Gopal G N 2397 IND 7 57½ 2316
11 IM Himanshu Sharma 2387 IND 7 57½ 2303
12 Sethuraman S P 2329 IND 7 56½ 2332
13 WGM Harika Dronavalli 2353 IND 7 54½ 2308
14 GM Rahman Ziaur 2544 BAN 7 54½ 2297
15 Saptarshi Roy 2417 IND 7 53½ 2269
16 IM Prakash G B 2403 IND 7 52½ 2288
17 Rohit G 2393 IND 7 48½ 2229
18 Das Arghyadip 2373 IND 6½ 60 2380
19 IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman 2424 IND 6½ 59½ 2333
20 IM Roy Chowdhury Saptarshi 2423 IND 6½ 57½ 2364
21 GM Barua Dibyendu 2471 IND 6½ 57 2321
22 IM Satyapragyan Swayangsu 2415 IND 6½ 55 2265
23 GM Ramesh R B 2491 IND 6½ 54½ 2309
24 IM Arun Prasad S 2424 IND 6½ 53 2317
25 WGM Karavade Eesha 2321 IND 6½ 52½ 2275
26 Anilkumar O T 2265 IND 6½ 50½ 2215
27 WGM Tania Sachdev 2383 IND 6½ 49 2214
28 WGM Swathi Ghate 2385 IND 6½ 48 2225
29 Sanjay N 2352 IND 6½ 48 2169
170 players
The 12th Navalmoral de la Mata International tournament took place
6th-10th December 2006. The full final standings are not yet available.
Official site:
http://www.ajedrezenmadrid.com/torneos/torneo.asp?torneo=06120601
The 36th National Chess Congress organised and directed by the
Continental Chess Association took place November 25th-27th 2006 in the
Philadelphia Wyndham Hotal. One corrected game.
Official site:
http://members.cox.net/tournaments/ncc/index.htm
Leading Final Round 6 Standings:
1 GM Hikaru Nakamura 2709 5½ 20.5 23.5 20.5
2 GM Alexander Shabalov 2650 5 20 23 18.5
3 GM Jaan Ehlvest 2666 5 19.5 22.5 17.5
4 IM Justin Sarkar 2397 5 19 21 17
5 GM Sergey Kudrin 2592 4½ 22 24.5 18
6 GM Daniel Fridman 2661 4½ 20 23 17
7 GM Zviad Izoria 2692 4½ 19 20.5 16.5
8 FM Ray S Robson 2258 4½ 18 20 15
9 FM Thomas J Bartell 2402 4½ 14 15.5 15
10 GM Ildar Ibragimov 2682 4 22 25 17
11 GM Alexander Ivanov 2640 4 20.5 23 17
12 FM Oleg N Zaikov 2359 4 18.5 21 15.5
13 WGM Anna Zatonskih 2497 4 18 20 14
14 Timur Aliev 2293 4 16 18 14.5
15 FM Ilye Figler 2344 4 15 15 13
16 IM Oladapo Adu 2324 4 11 11 12.5
FIDE have yet another proposal for the world chess championships.
http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=1189.
Basically they still want a knockout with 128 players but with early groups
stages. Its a total mistake. I understand the need to simplify the cycle and
that Candidates matches are basically impossible but a simple cycle would be an
Interzonal Swiss, Candidates Tournament and a Final which would either be a
match against the champion or a San Luis style final.
The knockout has failed to catch the imagination of anyone it is complex
to report, is subject to random results due to the short matches and I have
noted the players see this and in general don't prepare for it as they would a
real world championship. Apart from anything else even if they wanted to do
this there are far, far too many players competing in this event. I would say
32 or even better 16 players is plenty with prequalifying via a swiss and ELO
rating. This would at least mean that effective reporting from the start could
take place. Their continued obsession with this FAILED format just shows how
deluded they are.
Bronstein demonstrating the King's Gambit (Probably whilst
coaching some UK juniors in the Sadlers Wells theatre in London at the time of
the Candidates matches in the late 80s). Photo © Alan Phillips.
David Bronstein 1924-2006 by Mark Crowther
David Ionovich Bronstein was born in Bila Tserkva near Kiev, Ukraine
February 19th 1924 and died in Minsk 5th December 2006.
David Bronstein emerged at the end of the second world war playing the
kind of exciting and creative chess that was later to become the calling card
of Soviet chess but at the time it was incredibly new. Bronstein's reputation
as a creative genius was well deserved and he leaves a great legacy of
fantastic games. But the label of creative also has negative connotations of
impracticality which does a real disservice to his power as a player. The cult
of the ELO rating is a relatively late phenomenon starting in 1970, before that
the concept of the world number one in chess didn't really exist, just the
world champion. According to some
retrospetive
analysis by Jeff Sonas on his chessmetrics site David Bronstein was in the
top ten in the world between 1945 and 1959 and maintained a top twenty place
until the early 1970s. He was barely out of the top five between 1948 and 1959
peaking in 1951 at the time of his match against Botvinnik at number one. In
fact Bronstein had a really eclectic style. He could play dull chess,
positional chess, attacking chess, crazy chess, exciting chess, sharp chess,
complex strategic chess depending on his mood and the dictations of the
situation.
Bronstein was a complex man born in complex times. He was a child of the
Stalin era where just to survive you had to tread a very fine line all the
time. All of this was complicated by the fact he was Jewish and that his father
(said to be a relative of Leon Trotsky but Bronstein specifically says in his
book that he knows of no such family relationship) was arrested in December
1937 during the Stalin purges and was only released in February 1944 from the
camps due to ill health, and even on his emergence he was forbidden to live
within 100km of Moscow or Kiev. Bronstein's mother got a document in 1955
admitting that there was "absence of any evidence" that he committed any crime
but that was all way after the fact and three years after his death.
I will draw heavily upon his fantastic book "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"
written with Tom Fürstenberg but the book only offers tantilising glimpses
as to his real views and the reality of his life. We were promised a real
autobiography at the time it was published in 1995 and hopefully he did write
one. Indeed he's one player whose career became more controversial with each
passing year not less so.
Bronstein was clearly marked out as a talented player from his earliest
years. He was part of the Soviet School of Chess (an abused term but for me it
means he was found and trained properly from being young) taught in the Palace
of Pioneers by the trainer Alexander Konstantinopolsky a strong player who
finished well (2nd=?) in the 10th Soviet Championships of 1937 and some
subsquent championships. By the age of 14 Bronstein was starting to attract
attention, in 1940 at 15 he was second behind Boleslavsky in the Ukrainian
Championship. However the 2nd World War was to impinge strongly over the next
years. In May 1941 he was awarded the title of Master of Chess at the age of 17
and he competed in the Semi-Finals of the 13th USSR Championship in Rostov on
Don but this was halted due to the outbreak of war. He had to flee Kiev on foot
in 1941 (losing everything including the records of most of his games up to
then) but avoided going to the front in the spring of 1942 due to his bad
eyesight. He eventually ended up in Tbilisi, Georgia and later, by 1944 he was
in Stalingrad working on the reconstruction of a steel factory. It was then
with the war almost won he was permitted to return to chess (but for a couple
of minor events) reconvening to Baku in February 1944 to take up his place
again in the 13th Soviet Championship semi-finals. He qualified for the finals
in Moscow later in the year where he defeated Mikhail Botvinnik on the way to
finishing a disappointing 15th of 17 (+4 -7 =5). But he was soon really on his
way.
1945 was Bronstein's breakthrough year. 1st in the Semi-Finals of the
Soviet Championships in Moscow he then went on to finish 3rd behind Botvinnik
and Boleslavsky in the 14th Soviet Championships and scored his first GM norm
(according to his book, although I'm not really sure they had them then). It
was enough to get him into the 1945 USSR - USA Radio match (2-0 against
Santasiere). 1st in the 1946 Moscow Championships (2nd GM norm). He spent the
rest of 1946 representing Moscow and the USSR in various matches. It was in one
of those he played his first couple of truly famous games both in the King's
Indian, a not highly regarded opening up until then. Both were against Prague
where he defeated Ludek Pachman and Frantisek Zita.
Zita,Frantisek - Bronstein,David I [E68]
Moscow-Prague Moscow
(6), 1946
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 d6 4.d4 Nbd7 5.g3 g6 6.Bg2 Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.b3
Re8 9.Bb2 c6 10.e4 exd4 11.Nxd4 Qb6 12.Qd2 Nc5 13.Rfe1 a5 14.Rab1 a4 15.Ba1
axb3 16.axb3 Ng4 17.h3
17... Rxa1
18.Rxa1 Nxf2 19.Re3 Nxh3+ 20.Kh2 Nf2 21.Rf3 Ncxe4 22.Qf4 Ng4+ 23.Kh1 f5 24.Nxe4
Rxe4 25.Qxd6 Rxd4 26.Qb8 Rd8 27.Ra8 Be5 28.Qa7 Qb4 29.Qa2 Qf8 30.Bh3 Qh6
0-1
1947 saw him stand still a little with 6th place in the 15th USSR
Championship, and 2nd after a playoff in the Moscow Championship. Then in 1948
came two of his career highlights, first of all he took clear first place in
the Salsjöbaden Interzonal +8 -0 =11 (awarded Soviet GM title) and shared
first place with Alexander Kotov in the 16th USSR Championship in Moscow. He
repeated the trick the following year sharing first place with Vassily Smyslov
in the 17th USSR Championships Moscow again.
Then came the 1950 Candidates tournament in Budapest. Isaak Boleslavsky,
David Bronstein and Paul Keres started with wins and in the early part of the
event set the pace. Bronstein was defeated in round two by Smyslov who I
imagine would have been the pre-event favourite. Then Smyslov lost to Stahlberg
in the following round and Boleslavsky in the 6th and despite a brief rally in
rounds 10 and 11 he was put out of it by a defeat to Bronstein. Keres picked up
a couple of early wins but was bogged down by a lot of draws before finally
Kotov defeated him in round 14 to virtually end his challenge. The man who
should probably have won the event was Isaak Boleslavsky. A quiet and meek man
he played some of the most enterprising and risky chess around this time. He
went through the entire event undefeated and won in rounds 1, 6, 8, 10, 13 and
14 to set up a strong lead. David Bronstein had a more colourful route to
staying in touch. He won against Szabo in round one, lost to Smyslov in round
2, won against Kotov in round three, beat Najdorf in round 5 but lost to
Stahlberg in round 8. However that was the end of his losses. He came from the
pack by winning against Smylov in round 11, Flohr in round 13 and Najdorf in
14. Boleslavsky had white against Bronstein in round 16 and they drew in 21
moves after some brief fireworks. This left Boleslavsky a point clear of
Bronstein with two rounds to go with Keres a further point behind. Bronstein
defeated Stahlberg with black in a very complex Dutch whilst Boleslavsky drew
out against Kotov. Boleslavsky took a quick draw against Stahlberg in the final
round leaving the stage open for Bronstein who had white against Keres. There
are some strange stories about how Boleslavsky was told to slow down and allow
Bronstein to catch up. Looking at the results and games I simply don't buy it
at all. I think as Boleslavsky said later, he expected Keres to hold a draw
against Bronstein. Indeed this final game was an incredibly tense affair.
Bronstein,David I - Keres,Paul [C91]
Candidates Tournament
Budapest (18), 1950
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0
8.d4 d6 9.c3 Bg4 10.h3 Bxf3 11.Qxf3 exd4 12.Qd1 dxc3 13.Nxc3 Na5 14.Bc2 Re8
[14...c5 ½-½ Khairullin,I (2445)-Smirnov,P (2629)/Krasnoyarsk RUS
2003/The Week in Chess 462 (56); 14...c6 0-1 Khairullin,I (2329)-Obukhov,A
(2444)/Samara RUS 2002/The Week in Chess 405 (40)] 15.f4 b4 16.Nd5 Nxd5
17.Qxd5 c6 18.Qd3 g6 19.Kh1 Bf8 20.Rf1 Bg7 21.Bd2 c5 22.Ba4 Rf8 23.Rab1 Qb6
24.f5 Bd4 25.Qg3 Nc4 26.Bh6 Bg7 [26...Nxb2 27.Rxb2 Bxb2 28.Bb3 was probably
what was feared by Keres according to Bronstein.] 27.Bxg7 Kxg7 28.f6+ Kh8
29.Qg5! [29.Qh4 g5 was maybe the intended defence.] 29...b3
This is pretty
desperate stuff but the black King is very weak. [29...Rg8 30.Rf4 Qd8 31.Rh4
Qf8 32.Rh6 intended Qh4.] 30.axb3! According to Bronstein this shows
respect. He thinks it would have been childish to go for the flash [30.Rf4 bxa2
31.Qh6 axb1Q+ 32.Kh2 when the text is sufficient.] 30...Qb4 31.bxc4 Qxa4
32.Rf4 Qc2 33.Qh6 1-0
Candidates Tournament 1950
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1 Bronstein,David I ** ½½ 01 ½1 11 1½ 01 ½½ 1½ ½1 12.0/18 103.00
2 Boleslavsky,Isaak ½½ ** 1½ ½½ ½½ 1½ ½½ ½1 ½1 11 12.0/18 101.25
3 Smyslov,Vassily 10 0½ ** ½½ 1½ ½1 01 ½1 ½½ ½½ 10.0/18
4 Keres,Paul ½0 ½½ ½½ ** ½½ 10 1½ ½½ ½1 ½½ 9.5/18
5 Najdorf,Miguel 00 ½½ 0½ ½½ ** ½½ ½½ 11 ½1 ½½ 9.0/18
6 Kotov,Alexander 0½ 0½ ½0 01 ½½ ** ½1 10 10 ½1 8.5/18
7 Stahlberg,Gideon 10 ½½ 10 0½ ½½ ½0 ** ½½ ½½ ½½ 8.0/18
8 Lilienthal,Andor ½½ ½0 ½0 ½½ 00 01 ½½ ** 10 ½½ 7.0/18 63.00
9 Szabo,Laszlo 0½ ½0 ½½ ½0 ½0 01 ½½ 01 ** 10 7.0/18 61.75
10 Flohr,Salo ½0 00 ½½ ½½ ½½ ½0 ½½ ½½ 01 ** 7.0/18 60.75
So at the end of the Candidates Bronstein and Boleslavsky tied with
12/18 two points clear of Smyslov. Bronstein claims he didn't prepare for the
match but spent his time chasing after a girl. Whatever the truth Boleslavsky
was at the height of his powers both theoretically (always his strength) and
practically and an attritional match took place (famously Bronstein spent 50
minutes as black trying to work out what to play against 1.e4 in game two, he
eventually opted to punt an Alekhine's Defence). Bronstein won the first and
seventh games but then let Boleslavsky back in losing a 55 move grind in game
eight. Boleslavsky then won with black in a King's Indian in game eleven to tie
the match back up with one game to go. The match was drawn 6-6 and went into
over time. Things got even sharper in game 13 where Boleslavsky as black ended
up with two queens and Bronstein gave perpetual check. The fatal 14th game for
Boleslavsky saw Bronstein hit him with a novelty on the black side of a French
on move 8 from which Boleslavsky didn't really recover. Thus at the age of 27
David Bronstein would play the hero of Soviet Chess Mikhail Botvinnik. That
same year FIDE started awarding GM titles, he was of course amongst the list of
the top players who got the title.
Boleslavsky,Isaak - Bronstein,David I [C15]
Candidates
playoff Moscow (14), 1950
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 dxe4 5.Qg4 Qxd4 6.0-0-0 Nf6 7.Qxg7
Rg8 8.Qh6 Bf8!? This move, prepared by Bronstein and Konstantinopolsky, his
second, for this crucial encounter, caught Boleslavsky by surprise.
[8...Ng4; 8...Rg6] 9.Qh4 [9.Qh3; 9.Qe3?; 9.Qf4] 9...Rg4! 10.Qh3
[10.Bg5] 10...Qxf2! 11.Nb5? [11.Be2! Rg6 a)
11...Rh4? 12.Qxh4 Qxh4 13.g3 e3! (13...Qh6 14.Bxh6 Bxh6+ 15.Kb1
Bd7= (Gligoric 75)) 14.gxh4 exd2+ 15.Kxd2 Bh6+ 16.Ke1 Bd7=/+
(Boleslavsky); b) 11...Qxg2 12.Bxg4 Qxg4 13.Qxg4 Nxg4 14.Nxe4 (Pachman
75) 14...Nd7 15.Nf3+/= (Gligoric 75) 15...f5 16.Neg5; 12.g4 Qc5! (12...e5?
13.Be3) 13.Be3 (13.g5? Rxg5!) 13...Qe5 14.Bd4 Qf4+ 15.Be3= (Euwe);
11.Be3!? Qf5 (11...Qh4!? 12.Qxh4 Rxh4 13.Bg5 Bh6!) 12.Nb5 Na6]
11...Na6 12.Kb1 Bd7 13.Be3 [13.Bc3 Rh4! 14.Bd4 Rxh3 15.Bxf2 Rh5
(Pachman 75)] 13...Qf5-+ 14.Nd4 [14.Nxa7? Nd5 15.Bd4 (15.Nb5 Nxe3
16.Qxe3 Bxb5 ) 15...c5] 14...Qg6-/+ Black is winning.
15.Nb3 Nb4 16.Ne2 Nfd5 17.Nc3 Nxc3+ 18.bxc3 Nd5 19.Bd4 Rg5! 20.g4 e5 21.Bf2
Bxg4 White should resign but he needs a few moves just to collect his
thoughts before doing so. 22.Rxd5 Bxh3 23.Bxh3 Rd8 24.Rxd8+ Kxd8 25.Rd1+ Bd6
26.Be3 f5 27.Nc5 f4 28.Ne6+ Ke7 29.Bxa7 Rh5 0-1
Candidates playoff 1pl 1950
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
1 Bronstein,David I 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 7.5/14
2 Boleslavsky,Isaak 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 6.5/14
It was probably for the best that Boleslavsky lost as he had a
catastrophic record against Botvinnik whereas Bronstein was much more
confident. Botvinnik for whatever reason (for some reason I've never been
totally convinced by his explanation that he was studying engineering) hadn't
played a single competitive game since taking the title in the 1948 match
tournament. I would guess this was due to the strain of finally fulfilling the
expectations of his Soviet masters and his own ambitions. Nevertheless
Botvinnik was the master of preparation and would be a difficult opponent. For
Bronstein he had different problems. He was comparatively inexperienced having
played just the one match against Boleslavsky. That said he was obviously one
of the best players in the world (probably would have been number one in the
rating list with Botvinnik marked as inactive in modern times) and he seemed to
have almost unlimited gifts.
Gm1 Botvinnik, Mikhail - Bronstein, David I 1/2 29 A91 Dutch Classical
Gm2 Bronstein, David I - Botvinnik, Mikhail 1/2 49 D87 Gruenfeld Botvinnik
Gm3 Botvinnik, Mikhail - Bronstein, David I 1/2 63 C08 French Tarrasch
Gm4 Bronstein, David I - Botvinnik, Mikhail 1/2 47 D90 Gruenfeld Flohr
Gm5 Botvinnik, Mikhail - Bronstein, David I 0-1 39 E43 Nimzo Indian Rubinstein
Gm6 Bronstein, David I - Botvinnik, Mikhail 0-1 57 B63 Sicilian Rauzer
Gm7 Botvinnik, Mikhail - Bronstein, David I 1-0 66 A93 Dutch Stonewall
Gm8 Bronstein, David I - Botvinnik, Mikhail 1/2 41 D49 Queens Gambit Meran
Gm9 Botvinnik, Mikhail - Bronstein, David I 1/2 41 A91 Dutch Classical
Gm10 Bronstein, David I - Botvinnik, Mikhail 1/2 54 A85 Dutch
Gm11 Botvinnik, Mikhail - Bronstein, David I 0-1 39 E17 Queens Indian
Gm12 Bronstein, David I - Botvinnik, Mikhail 0-1 40 A85 Dutch
Gm13 Botvinnik, Mikhail - Bronstein, David I 1/2 56 E44 Nimzo Indian Rubinstein
Gm14 Bronstein, David I - Botvinnik, Mikhail 1/2 66 A08 Barcza System
Gm15 Botvinnik, Mikhail - Bronstein, David I 1/2 33 C08 French Tarrasch
Gm16 Bronstein, David I - Botvinnik, Mikhail 1/2 75 A91 Dutch Classical
Gm17 Botvinnik, Mikhail - Bronstein, David I 0-1 35 E45 Nimzo Indian Rubinstein
Gm18 Bronstein, David I - Botvinnik, Mikhail 1/2 58 D46 Semi-Slav Defence
Gm19 Botvinnik, Mikhail - Bronstein, David I 1-0 60 D75 Gruenfeld 3.g3
Gm20 Bronstein, David I - Botvinnik, Mikhail 1/2 46 A14 Reti Opening
Gm21 Botvinnik, Mikhail - Bronstein, David I 0-1 64 E69 King's Indian Fianchetto
Gm22 Bronstein, David I - Botvinnik, Mikhail 1-0 38 A91 Dutch Classical
Gm23 Botvinnik, Mikhail - Bronstein, David I 1-0 57 D71 Gruenfeld 3.g3
Gm24 Bronstein, David I - Botvinnik, Mikhail 1/2 22 D44 Anti-Meran Gambit
19th World Championship 1951
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
1 Botvinnik,Mikhail ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 12.0/24
2 Bronstein,David I ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 0 ½ 12.0/24
The match for the world title that defined David Bronstein's career took
place 16th March - 11th May 1951 in Moscow, Russia. It was a match of extreme
bitterness and wildly fluctuating standards. The players did not have normal
professional relations for years afterwards.
The early games saw enterprising chess, Botvinnik missed a good chance
running up to second time control in game three, Botvinnik was doing fine as
white up to move 30 and if Fritz is to be believed just a couple of moves
before then end of game five before totally collapsing and losing. Bronstein
pressed hard with white in game 6 before committing probably one of the worst
errors in world title history.
57.Kc2??
[57.Ne6+ Kf3 58.Nd4+ Kf2 59.Ka4 e2 60.Nc2 e1Q 61.Nxe1 Kxe1 62.Kxa5 Kd2 63.Kb4
b6=] 57...Kg3! 0-1
Bronstein then went on to lose game seven too he was the one to collapse
from move 30 on the run up to first time control this time. Botvinnik
effectively finished things off in the adjournment session. One of the things
about the old classical 24 game matches is that none of these ups and downs
mattered overly much, they were pretty much getting going at this point.
Bronstein missed a good chance in game 9 and the session ended in controversy
over the sealed move after time pressure, Botvinnik returned the favour in game
10. Again move 30 seemed to be the weakening point for Botvinnik in game 11 as
he blundered his position away in only 9 moves to allow Bronstein back level.
Bronstein was done in the opening in game 12 and was already practically lost
by move 13, he resigned on move 40. Game 13 was drawn. Game 14 saw Bronstein
write down a bad move but pull back at the last moment and play correctly.
Botvinnik had the initiative but was blowing his chances this was true in game
15 and especially right at the end of game 16 when 72. Rxg3+ was an error. Game
17 saw Bronstein level the match up again after Botvinnik was gradually
outplayed and then just blundered his entire position away. Game 18 was a
tremendous struggle, one of the best of the match saw a manoevering game where
Bronstein missed a chance with his sealed move. 41 c6 would have won.
41.Qd3?.
Bronstein doesn't hurry to convert with his sealed move. Sadly it costs
him.
[41.c6 Bxc6 42.bxc6 Qxc6 43.Bxf4 gxf4 (43...Qc4 44.Qxc4 dxc4 45.Bc1 Nb6
46.Kg3 which Bronstein assessed as better for black instead of winning for
him.) 44.Qg4+ Kf7 45.Qxf4+ Kg7 46.Qg4+ Kf7 47.Qh4 Nf8 48.Qxh6]
41...Nb8!! Saves the day. 42.h4 Qc4 43.Qh3 Qxb5 44.hxg5 hxg5
45.Qxe6 Qd3 46.Qf6+ Kh7 47.Qf7+ Kh8 48.Qf6+ Kh7 49.Bxf4 gxf4 50.Qf7+ Kh8
51.Qe8+ Kg7 52.Qe7+ Kh8 53.Qe8+ Kg7 54.Qe7+ Kh8 55.Qf8+ Kh7 56.Qf7+ Kh8 57.Qxb7
Qg3+ 58.Kh1 ½-½
Botvinnik won game 19 after Bronstein blundered in his adjournment
analysis rejecting the drawing idea after setting the position up incorrectly.
Game 20 was drawn, game 21 brought the match back level after Bronstein
completely outplayed Botvinnik on the black side of a Kings Indian. Bronstein
was in the psychologically dominant position against a clearly tiring
Botvinnik. There was a heavyweight struggle against Botvinnik's Dutch Defence
and again Botvinnik collapsed in the run up to the first time control. Thus
with two games to go Bronstein only had to draw out the match.
Bronstein,David I - Botvinnik,Mikhail
[A91] Moscow Moscow
(22), 06.05.1951
1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nc3 0-0 6.e3 d5 7.Nge2 c6 8.b3
Ne4 9.0-0 Nd7 10.Bb2 Ndf6 11.Qd3 g5 12.cxd5 exd5 13.f3 Nxc3 14.Bxc3 g4 15.fxg4
Nxg4 16.Bh3 Nh6 17.Nf4 Bd6 18.b4 a6 19.a4 Qe7 20.Rab1 b5 21.Bg2 Ng4 22.Bd2 Nf6
23.Rb2 Bd7 24.Ra1 Ne4 25.Be1 Rfe8 26.Qb3 Kh8 27.Rba2 Qf8 28.Nd3 Rab8 29.axb5
axb5 30.Ra7 Re7 31.Ne5 Be8 32.g4 fxg4 33.Bxe4 dxe4 34.Bh4
34...
Rxe5? 35.dxe5 Bxe5 36.Rf1 Qg8 37.Bg3 Bg7 38.Qxg8+ 1-0
Game 23 saw Botvinnik gradually obtain the advantage but then throw it
away with an incorrect sealed move. However his adjournment analysis was to his
usual standard, as was Bronstein's just two moves in Bronstein played a very
bad move and collapsed within 14 moves. Thus Bronstein needed a win in the
final game to win the title.
Botvinnik,Mikhail - Bronstein,David I [D71]
Moscow Moscow
(23), 08.05.1951
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 c6 4.Bg2 d5 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Nh3 Bxh3
8.Bxh3 Nc6 9.Bg2 e6 10.e3 0-0 11.Bd2 Rc8 12.0-0 Nd7 13.Ne2 Qb6 14.Bc3 Rfd8
15.Nf4 Nf6 16.Qb3 Ne4 17.Qxb6 axb6 18.Be1 Na5 19.Nd3 Bf8 20.f3 Nd6 21.Bf2 Bh6
22.Rac1 Nac4 23.Rfe1 Na5 24.Kf1 Bg7 25.g4 Nc6 26.b3 Nb5 27.Ke2 Bf8 28.a4 Nc7
29.Bg3 Na6 30.Bf1 f6 31.Red1 Na5 32.Rxc8 Rxc8 33.Rc1 Rxc1 34.Nxc1 Ba3 35.Kd1
Bxc1 36.Kxc1 Nxb3+ 37.Kc2 Na5 38.Kc3 Kf7 39.e4 f5 40.gxf5 gxf5 41.Bd3 Kg6
42.Bd6?Sealed after a long thought and a mistake. [42.Bb1 Nc6
(42...fxe4 43.fxe4 dxe4 44.Bxe4+ Kg7 45.Bxb7 Nxb7 46.Kc4 Kf7 47.Kb5 Nac5
48.dxc5 Nxc5 49.a5) 43.exd5 exd5 44.Ba2 Nab4 (44...Ne7 45.Bh4) 45.Bb3]
42...Nc6 43.Bb1 Kf6? [43...Na7!] 44.Bg3!! fxe4? After this
he just loses. [44...h6] 45.fxe4 h6 46.Bf4 h5 47.exd5 exd5 48.h4 Nab8
49.Bg5+ Kf7 50.Bf5 Na7 51.Bf4 Nbc6 52.Bd3 Nc8 53.Be2 Kg6 54.Bd3+ Kf6 55.Be2 Kg6
56.Bf3 N6e7 57.Bg5 1-0
So Bronstein was left needing a win with white in game 24 to take the
title. He never came close and was much worse when the final game was agreed
drawn.
Looking at the entire match it was clear that Botvinnik was rusty
through inactivity and was struggling at the end of the first sessions.
Bronstein was generally the better player but his complete inability to come to
terms with adjournment analysis and play completely undid him. All of which
must have been vexing, especially as his career unfolded. Then over the years
stories came about that Bronstein was threatened or more specifically his
father. He was told it wouldn't be good to win the match the story goes.
Botvinnik said these rumours started with Bronstein's second Vainstein a man he
called his "evil genius". Bronstein in his book seems to want to have it both
ways. "A lot of nonesense has been written about this. The only thing that I am
prepared to say about all this controversy is that I was subjected to a strong
psychological pressure from various sources and it was entirely up to me to
yield to that pressure or not. Let's leave it at that." Written in 1995 this
seems to me a terrible cop out. (see also this ChessBase article
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=946)
I met David Bronstein at the Prestwich tournament in 1990 (or possibly Preston
the year before, my memory sometimes fails me) where he was the guest of
honour. I heard he was there and took my precious copy of his book on Zurich
1953 for signing, the chance to meet one of the real super stars of the golden
age of chess was not to be missed. He was unfailingly polite despite the fact I
was no doubt just one of many people over the years asking about the tournament
and congratulating him on the book. I can confirm what he must have said to
many, many people over the years, that the 1953 Candidates itself was not a
happy one for him without elaborating on the details. It may not have been his
intention but all this coyness actually is worse than making direct
accusations. What could he possibly mean by all this? One's imagination can run
riot.
Not surprisingly 1952 was not a particularly good year for Bronstein, he
finished in a tie for 7th-9th in the Soviet Championship, scored +7-1=2 on
board 3 for Russian in the Helsinki Olympiad and did win the Moscow
Championship at the start of 1953. He was obviously qualified for the 1953
Candidates in Neuhausen and Zurich. This was Vassily Smyslov's event. He
dominated throughout and finished a full two points clear of David Bronstein,
Sammy Reshevsky and Paul Keres. It is this event that Bronstein is most fully
identified with. Its due wholly to his classic book on the event. The book
analyses every single game, verbally explaining the good, the bad and the
indifferent game in an unvarnished manner. It was at first in Russian but when
it was recommended by Kotov in his widely translated works a couple of
translations appeared in English in the late 1970s which made this work much
more widely available. The book was written in conjunction with Boris Vainstein
with "much of the text" (see
http://www.chesshistory.com/
article) coming from him. As I mentioned above there are rumours that Smyslov
was the anointed one for the event and some games were thrown to him (Bronstein
says in his that "Soviet Officials had determined Smyslov should win). I see no
evidence of this, Smyslov clearly was the number one player in the world at
this time and only a catastrophic start against Botvinnik cost him a world
title victory. But again I repeat I heard it personally from Bronstein that
there was something wrong about the tournament without actually directly coming
out and saying in specific terms.
Bronstein continued on being one of the best players in the world. 1954
was another team year with the Russian team travelling the world playing
matches and winning the Olympiad in Amsterdam where Bronstein scored +7-0=7.
1955s highlight was his 15/20 demolition of the Gothenberg Interzonal a
point and a half clear of Keres. This was probably his last truly great
result.
1956 was again a disappointment for him. He finished the Candidates
tournament in Amsterdam on +1 tied 3rd-7th on +4-3=11 a long way behind the
winner Vassily Smyslov. 1957 was quiet for him but he did finish 3rd in the
25th USSR Championship which doubled as a zonal event. I'm sure Bronstein went
to the 1958 Portoroz Interzonal fully expecting to qualify in a calm and
sensible fashion. Indeed he started out reasonably well, probably a few too
many draws but it was fine. A couple of things derailed him. Firstly no-one
expected Bobby Fischer to be a factor. He was much too young. But Fischer
fought like a tiger and got into a share of the places. A nervous Bronstein had
black in the final round against the young and inexperienced Radolfo Tan
Cardoso of the Philippines and the youngster proceeded to hack up Bronstein for
his first loss and with that he missed the candidate places by half a point.
This effectively marked the end of Bronstein's ambitions to be world champion.
He quickly slipped from the top 10 to being somewhere in the top 20 and new
heroes such as Tal, Spassky Fischer and Larsen came along to take up his
mantel.
Bronstein continued to pick up good results, he played his final
Olympiad for the Soviet Union in Munich 1958 scoring +7-0=5. He was 1st= in the
1959 Alekhine Memorial Moscow Central Chess Club tournament with Smyslov and
Spassky, 3rd in the Mar del Plata International behind Spassky and Fischer, 3rd
in the 29th USSR Championships in Baku in 1961 behind Spassky and Polugaevsky
but ahead of many strong players. Tied for 4th-6th 31st USSR Championship in
Leningrad 1963, tied 2nd-3rd in the ridiculously strong Moscow Zonal which
qualified him for the Interzonal in 1964.
Moscow zt 1964
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 Spassky,Boris V ** ½½ ½½ 01 1½ ½1 01 7.0/12
2 Stein,Leonid ½½ ** ½½ ½½ ½1 ½1 0½ 6.5/12 38.50
3 Bronstein,David I ½½ ½½ ** ½½ 1½ 10 ½½ 6.5/12 38.25
4 Kholmov,Ratmir D 10 ½½ ½½ ** 0½ 1½ ½½ 6.0/12
5 Suetin,Alexey S 0½ ½0 0½ 1½ ** ½½ 1½ 5.5/12 32.00
6 Kortschnoj,Viktor ½0 ½0 01 0½ ½½ ** 11 5.5/12 31.75
7 Geller,Efim P 10 1½ ½½ ½½ 0½ 00 ** 5.0/12
Bronstein was in 6th place in the Amsterdam 1964 Interzonal only a point
away from qualification for the new Candidates Match series. Results started to
trail away into mediocrity with a few peaks. 2nd in the 32nd USSR Championship
1964-5 in Kiev. In 1968 1st= in the Moscow Championship with Petrosian, 2nd in
the 8th IBM tournament in Amsterdam, 1st= in the Lasker tournament in Berlin.
In 1970 he beat Korchnoi in a friendly match and finished 2nd-4th at Vinkovci
half a point behind Bent Larsen. He was awarded a position in the 1973 world
series as 2nd reserve in the player of strength list, on the non-participation
of Botvinnik and the death of Leonid Stein he got a place in the 1973
Petropolis Interzonal. This really seemed to motivate him, he played some great
chess, and although one gets the feeling he got a bit fed up of talking about
the game, he won a classic wild game against Ljubojevic in the Four Pawns
variation of the Alekhine's Defence in round 11. In the end he finished a point
off a share of qualification in 6th place. His last USSR Championship final was
the 43rd in Yerevan in 1975 sharing 9th-10th.
Bronstein was not one of the Soviet authorities favourites and when he
refused to sign a letter condemning Korchnoi for his defection in 1976
Bronstein was forbidden to travel abroad (or at least to the west) and this had
the knock-on effect of depressing his rating which meant he didn't get
prestigious home invitations either. Bronstein is probably correct in saying
that they wouldn't have been able to do this if he had been an ex-world
champion.
In 1979 he finished 4th in the Keres Memorial in Tallinn behind
Petrosian, Tal and Vaganian. In 1983 he stopped playing for a while and 1984
was pensioned off by the Soviet Sports Committee (a point of bitterness in his
book). He resumed playing in 1987 with a 2nd= at Pancevo, he played on with
diminishing returns until 1999 finishing with a highly respectable 2432 rating.
Bronstein,David I (2585) - Ljubojevic,Ljubomir (2570) [B03]
Petropolis Interzonal Petropolis (11), 1973
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Nc3
exd5 9.cxd5 c4 10.Nf3 Bg4 11.Qd4 Bxf3 12.gxf3 Bb4 13.Bxc4 0-0 14.Rg1 g6N
Improving on a game he'd played against Honfi in 1971. 15.Bg5! Qc7
16.Bb3!! Sacrificing a whole rook without clear compensation.
16...Bc5 17.Qf4 Bxg1 18.d6 Qc8 19.Ke2?! [19.0-0-0 was later shown to be
better but both players are on their own here and this is one of the most
analysed games ever.] 19...Bc5? loses. [19...Qc5] 20.Ne4!
N8d7 21.Rc1! Qc6 22.Rxc5 Nxc5 23.Nf6+ Kh8 24.Qh4 Qb5+ 25.Ke3!! White was in
severe time pressure which is why the game continues. But having found this
Bronstein wins. 25...h5 26.Nxh5 Qxb3+ 27.axb3 Nd5+ 28.Kd4 Ne6+ 29.Kxd5 Nxg5
30.Nf6+ Kg7 31.Qxg5 Rfd8 32.e6 fxe6+ 33.Kxe6 Rf8 34.d7 a5 35.Ng4 Ra6+ 36.Ke5
Rf5+ 37.Qxf5 gxf5 38.d8Q fxg4 39.Qd7+ Kh6 40.Qxb7 Rg6 41.f4 1-0
Bronstein in play against Brett Lund in 1995 at the
Manchester Open.
In the year's I have been compiling TWIC there has only been one death
of comparible stature, that of Mikhail Botvinnik in 1995. I have raked over his
results and achievements without I think quite getting to the essence of why
the man was so important and great. When he emerged he was to that generation
as Tal and Fischer were to the next or the young Kasparov was to me. He brought
something new and exciting to the game and he took that ability right to the
very top and in doing so he actually influenced how a generation played. He has
more great games than most, and wins against almost every player of importance
(he did draw all his games against Fischer and Euwe and only had a -4=19 record
against Spassky but had some great records against some of the other legends).
The man won Soviet Championships, he won two interzonals alone, he finished
1st= in a Candidates and fought for the world title and drew. He was the top
player in the world in the early 1950s. He was an important chess journalist in
Russia and some of his writings have made it to the west. The key book is his
Zurich 1953 book but his Soucerer's Apprentice is an almost equal delight and
200 Open games is worth having. In his long career and even lengthy decline he
could shock and surprise. His influence on the openings, particularly the early
development and popularisation of the King's Indian along with Boleslavsky was
great. He pioneered Man-Machine matches (starting in the 1960s and including
playing Deep Thought 2 in the early 1990s and the AEGON events) and pioneered
different time rates including something close to the Fischer time rate with
increments. He's also probably along with Tal the great player the ordinary joe
chess player might have run into somewhere on his long and peripatetic journey
round the world in his later years. He was a true great and should be
remembered as such.
6th Amplico AIG Life
The 6th Amplico AIG Life International Chess Tournament - European Rapid
Chess Championship Under the auspices of the President of the city of Warsaw.
All players play the 8-round Swiss Qualification Tournament with the rate of
play G-15'+10" (15 minutes for a game for a player, with an increment of 10
seconds per move). After the 8th round 16 players qualify to the Final
Tournament, which contains 4 Group Tournaments, Tournaments for places 5-8,
9-12, 13-16, the Semi-finals, the Match for the 3rd place and the Final.
Players who didn't qualify to the Final Tournament play further 5 rounds for a
win in the Swiss Tournament. 16th-17th December 2006.
Official site:
http://www.poloniachess.pl/amplico2006/index.php?lang=en
ACP Christmas Blitz Tournament 2006
The ACP Board is glad to invite you to take part in the ACP Christmas
Blitz Tournament. The prize fund will amount to 4,550 euros. The event will be
organized on the ACPO, the official playing zone of our association. The
preliminary stages of the tournament will take place from December 19th to 22nd
2006, and the final stages on December 26th and 27th 2006.
The prize distribution as well as the registration form can be found on
our special page http://www.acpochess.com/acpo/acpxb_index.php
49th Reggio Emilia Tournament
The 49th edition of the Reggio Emilia Torneo di Capodanno takes place
December 30 2006 - January 7 2007. 9 rounds at the hotel Astoria Mercure
starting 2,30 pm. Time rate: 1h and 40 min x 40 moves then 50 min to end, plus
30 sec starting from the first move.
Players
GM KHENKIN IGOR GER ELO 2620
GM GELASHVILI TAMAD GEO ELO 2606
GM LANDA KONSTANTIN RUS ELO 2570
GM IORDACHESCU VIOREL MOL ELO 2564
GM ROMANISHIN OLEG UKR ELO 2542
IM BRUNELLO SABINO ITA ELO 2460
IM SHYTAJ LUCA ALB/ITA ELO 2441
IM MANCA FEDERICO ITA ELO 2425
IM BORGO GIULIO ITA ELO 2420
MOGRANZINI ROBERTO ITA ELO 2401
GM norm = 6 points - IM norm = 4 points
Sydney International Open
SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL OPEN (10/04/2007-14/04/2007) - Australia's
strongest Open tournament ever held.
More information at http://www.chessaustralia.com.au/open
or contact info@chessaustralia.com.au
Novi Sad Chess
Novi Sad will host the 2009 Europian National Team Championship. In the
run up to that the Championship of Novi Sad takes place 18th-25th March 2007.
Further detail: http://www.drazic.co.yu
Politiken Cup
The 29th Copenhagen Open Politiken Cup takes place 21st-29th July 2006.
Official site: http://www.politikencup.dk/
Coulsdon Christmas International
The Coulsdon Christmas International takes place 11th-15th December
2006. The organisers need 2 titled and 1 non-titled players for the 10 player
all-play-all event for IM norms. In addition, we there are 3 spaces in their
Challengers' event. If interested contact Scott Freeman chess@ccfworld.com
Details:
http://www.ccfworld.com/Chess/Results/2006-12-15_International.htm
Hungarian tournaments January - May 2007
The list of the chess tournaments from January - May 2007 in Hungary:
1. 27th of December until 4th of January, Kecskemet, IM Berger tmt,
org: Dr.Erdelyi, Tamas, e-mail: postmaster@caissa.t-online.hu Website:
www.caissachessbooks.hu Usually also in the second half of the month IM tmt-s
in Kecskemet. 100 km South from Budapest.
2. 5th-13th of January 2007 - EVADNYITO (SEASON STARTING) Open, First
prize: brutto 100 000 Ft (1 EURO = 258 Ft now) Prize found: 300 000 Ft.
Budapest, org: Marti György, more info: Nagy Laszlo, firstsat@hu.inter.net
http://www.firstsaturday.hu
3. 3rd-16th of February 2007 FIRST SATURDAY Budapest GM-IM-FM, GM-IM-FM
round robins (BERGER- ROUND ROBIN), 9-13 games, GM-IM norm possibilities in
Budapest, venue: Hungarian Chess Federation, Falk Miksa Str.10. 2nd floor.
Organisation: Nagy Laszlo, FIDE International Chess Organizer /NL/, E-mail:
firstsat@hu.inter.net Website: http://www.firstsaturday.hu Other
website: http://home.hu.inter.net/~firstsat
Phone-fax: +(361)-2632859, cellphone: +(36)-30-230-1914 /From 12:00 a.m. until
midnight - Central European Time - GMT+1 hour/..
4. 3rd-16th of March FS Budapest, GM-IM-FM, org: NL.
5. 16th-24th of March Budapest Spring Festival 9 round Swiss Open, org:
Nagy L. www.firstsaturday.hu
6. 25th of March - 7th of April, GM closed tournament in SIKONDA,
South-West 250 km from Budapest, org: Mr.Gruenwald, mobile phone:
+36-30-9971005
7. 7th-20th of April, FS GM-IM-FM, Budapest, org: NL
8. 21st of April - 1st of May GM tmt minimal cat.9. Planned /2451-2475
Elo range/, Org: NL,
9. 5th-18th of May, GM-IM-FM Budapest, org NL,
10. 19th-29th of May, ELEKES MEMORIAL, GM-IM closed, Org: IM Zsinka,
e-mail: zsinkala@t-online.hu
Corus and Linares 2007
The Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee takes place 12th-28th January 2007.
The fields for the top two groups have been announced.
A Group : Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik,
Peter Svidler, David Navara, Levon Aronian, Teymour Radjabov, Alexei Shirov,
Ruslan Ponomariov, Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Tiviakov, Loek van Wely, Sergey
Karjakin and Alexander Motylev
David Navara replaces Alexander Morozevich who withdrew for personal
reasons.
B Group: Dmitry Jakovenko, Bu Xiangzhi, Gabriel
Sargissian, Pavel Eljanov, Friso Nijboer, Erwin L’Ami, Suat Atalik, Maxime
Vachier-Lagrave, Daniel Stellwagen, Jan Werle, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Vladimir
Georgiev, Jan Smeets and Tatiana Kosintseva
Official site: http://www.coruschess.com
In addition the line up for the Morelia / Linares tournament (again in
Mexico and Spain) has been announced. The Morelia half takes place 16th-25th
February 2007 and Linares 2nd-11th March 2007.
The field is: Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, Peter Leko, Peter
Svidler, Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov, Magnus Carlsen and one of either
Alexander Morozevich (it may be that marca has is right as they are the
official site and its Moro), Alexei Shirov or Francisco Vallejo Pons depending
on who you read. (Mexican
Story - or
Marca
story)
Karpov Simul in Moscow
On Thursday at capital restaurant " Stork"
(www.novikovgroup.ru/restaurants/aist) took place a simul of of Anatoly Karpov.
Opponents of the Ex-World Champion became well-known businessmen, politicians,
representatives of show business. Considering, that the place of action was
fashionable restaurant, it has turned to a cheerful secular party with chess
subjects.
See details: http://en.chess-events.org/News
Chess FM Chess and Books with Fred Wilson
This week's guest on the internet radio show "Chess and Books with Fred
Wilson" will be PHILIP H. L. HUGHES, author of the eagerly awaited new
biography "Aron Nimzowitsch's Chess Career". Nimzowitsch specialist Hughes is
also the editor & translator of the recently released, 21st-century edition
of NIMZOWITSCH'S "The Blockade. A New Point of View" (Hardinge Simpole, 2006).
Philip will discuss the intense research involved in tracking down ALL the
surviving games played by "Crown Prince of the Chess World", including visits
to both Riga, Latvia and Copenhagen, Denmark where he unearthed fascinating
biographical data. Please send questions about ARON NIMZOWITSCH'S life, career
and/or games for PHILIP H. L. HUGHES to fred@fredwilsonchess.com".
The show runs from 8:00 to 10:00 PM (EST) every Tuesday evening. As
always, there will be replays of the show almost immediately afterwards for our
chess enthusiasts on the West Coast & elsewhere; and often there will be
several replays the following day.
You can access "Chess and Books with Fred Wilson" at the following
website: http://www.chess.fm, ONLY IF YOU ARE
AN ICC MEMBER. However, if you visit chessclub.com you can sign up for a one
week FREE trial membership, listen to the show that week, and access all the
other good stuff on Chess.fm while you're at it!
5th Crikvenica Rapid
The 5th Crikvenica Rapid takes place 29th December 2006 - 1st January
2007.
Details:
http://www.crochess.com/turniri/crikvenica/crikvenica_06.htm
First Saturday December 2006
First Saturday Budapest GM-IM-FM closed tournaments, Budapest, HUNGARY,
2nd-15th of December... Vacancies in the GM - IM and FM sections. Website:
http://www.firstsaturday.hu .
Contact: Lazlo Nagy firstsat@hu.inter.net - Phone-fax: (+36)-1-263-28-59
Mobile: (+36)-30-230-1914 ICC, SKYPE, YAHOO and MSN messenger nickname:
mrfirstsaturday
Prague Open 2007
PRAGUE OPEN 2007 (11.-18.1. 2007 - 2 FIDE opens, one of them with a
possibility to fulfill IM norm, active chess and blitz tournament, more
information at the address http://www.czechtour.net/praha/index.php
Marienbad Open 2007
MARIENBAD OPEN 2007 Marienbad is the second largest spa town in the
Czech Republic, 19.-27.1. 2007 - closed GM tournament, closed IM tournament,
FIDE open, active chess and blitz tournament,
http://www.czechtour.net/marlazne/index.php
ACP Tour Report August - October
Read the ACP Tour Report August - October 2006.
Read the report:
http://www.chess-players.org/eng/news/viewarticle.html?id=579
Dutch Team Championship
The Dutch Team Championship Meesterklasse takes place 23rd October 2006
- 12th May 2006. The first three rounds have already taken place. Ivanchuk,
Tiviakov and Ivan Sokolov are amongst the players who have already played.
Dutch Chess Federation: http://www.schaakbond.nl/ - Meesterklasse
Games side bar at: http://www.schakers.info/ - Photo report
at: http://www.chessvista.com
Swiss Chess Tour 2007
The Swiss Chess Tour 2007 starts in Basle in the New Year
(1.-7.1.2007.). Venue of Chess Festival for 9th time is Hotel Hilton in Basle.
Hilton Open (1-7.1.2007.) 7 Rounds, 6 hours (2 hours for 40 moves + 60
minutes for complete the game.) Prizes:
2000/1500/1200/800/600/500/2x400/2x300/5x200 CHF. Special prizes 200 CHF for
best Lady, Senior (1947), junior (1987-90), schoolboy (1991). Enter fee: 140
CHF (FM and juniors 70 CHF) GM & IM free. At the door 20 CHF.
Players so far for Basle: GM Ulf Andersson (SWE), GM Borislav Ivkov
(SCG), GM Andrei Sokolov (FRA), GM Miso Cebalo (CRO), GM Igor Rausis (BAN), GM
Nenad Sulava (CRO), GM Stefan Djuric (SCG), IM Martin Senff (GER), IM Simon
Kuemin (SUI) etc.
Basle amateur (1-7.1.2007.) 7 Rounds, 4 hours (90 minutes 30 moves + 30
minutes to complete the game). Players under 1900 rating (FIDE or national).
Enter fee: 120 CHF (juniors 60 CHF). At the door 20 CHF. Prizes:
500/400/2x300/2x200/4x150 CHF.
Basle juniors (2.1.2007.) 7 Rounds, 15 minutes for the game. Juniors
1987 and younger. Enter fee 5 CHF. Natural prizes for all players.
Basel Lighting Chess (6.1.2007. from 14.00 to 16.00) 9 Rounds, 5
minutes. Enter fee: 20 CHF (juniors 5 CHF). Prizes 300/200/150/2x100/2x50 CHF
natural prizes for everybody 50% and more points.
More information and registration: Robert Spoerri tel. +41+62+9654-650,
fax +41+62+9654-651 E-mail info@beochess.ch Further information:
http://www.beochess.ch or
http://yubc.net/~yuchess
Italian Championship
Players: GM Michele Godena, GM Carlo Garcia-Palermo, IM Daniel Contin,
IM Fabio Bruno, IM Sabino Brunello (17 years old), IM Daniele Vocaturo (16
years old), IM Federico Manca, IM Fabiano Caruana (14 years old), IM Pierluigi
Piscopo, IM Giulio Borgo, IM Spartaco Sarno, FM Michelangelo Scalcione.
XVI Pamplona Open
The XVI Pamplona Open takes place 21st-29th December 2006.
Official site: http://www.chesspamplona.com/
Austrian Team Championship
The first three rounds of the Austrian Team Championship took place in
Graz 3rd-5th November 2006.
Schedule: R 01-03: 03.11.-05.11.2006, Graz (Hotel Novapark) R 04-07:
18.01.-21.01.2007, Leoben (Gösserbräu) R 08-11: 08.03.-11.03.2007,
Mattersburg
Official site: http://www.chess.at/staatsligen/stl_a.htm
Slovenian Chess Centre
The Slovenian Chess Federation opened a centre on the 21st October 2006.
Official site: http://www.sah-zveza.si/news/0610/sahdom/
Pierre Barthélémy Chess Blog
Pierre Barthélémy Chess Blog in French:
http://echecs-info.blogspot.com
II Magistral 5 Soles
The II Magistral 5 Soles took place 3rd-11th November 2006. Details may
become available.
Official site: http://www.comunic.com.br/xadrez/
Insel-Seniorenturnier
The Insel-Seniorenturnier takes place in Wyk auf Föhr im Hotel
"Schloss am Meer" 8th-16th November 2006.
Official site: http://www.schach-info.de/wyk/teil.html
10th A.V.Momot Memorial
The 10th A.V.Momot Memorial takes place November 11th-12th 2006 in
Kramatorsk (Ukraine).
Participants: GMs Eljanov (2658), Areshchenko (2640), Efimenko (2612),
Brodsky (2566), Kuzubov (2559), Lahno (2459), Andreev (2459) etc.
Official site: http://www.chess.krm.dn.ua/memor.htm
ACP Rapid Cup in Odessa
The Association of Chess Professionals
http://www.chess-players.org/eng/index.html
have announced their first major event. The 1st ACP World Rapid Cup is set to
take place in Odessa in the Ukraine 4th-8th January 2007. The event will be
sponsored by the Bank Pivdennyi based in Odessa. The venue will be the Hotel
Londonskaya. The tournament organisers are the Bank Pivdennyi and the
Association of Chess Professionals. The total prize fund will amount to 136,000
US Dollars. 16 grandmasters will participate in this Knock-Out tournament. The
time control will be 20 minutes for the whole game with an increment of 5
seconds per move.
Thus, following players will be officially invited: Vladimir Kramnik
(world champion, Russia), Viswanathan Anand (world champion in rapid chess,
India), Alexander Morozevich (Russia), Levon Aronian (winner of the 2005 World
Cup and Olympic Champion, Armenia), Peter Leko (Hungary), Boris Gelfand
(Israel), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Alexei Shirov (Spain), Sergey
Rublevsky (Russia), Evgeny Bareev (Russia), Arkadij Naiditsch (Germany),
Penteala Harikrishna (India), Ivan Sokolov (The Netherlands), Viorel Bologan
(Moldova).
All these 14 players belong to the elite of modern chess, while 6 of
them are currently ranked in the Top Ten of the rating list. They are also
members of the Association of Chess Professionals. As Viswanathan Anand and
Viorel Bologan finished in the top eight of both ACP Tours, two places in the
First ACP World Rapid Cup remain vacant. The Bank Pivdennyi and the ACP will
soon decide in common to whom they will award these “Wild Cards”.
Detailed press release:
http://www.chess-players.org/eng/news/viewarticle.html?id=573
66th Italian Championship
The 66th Italian Championship takes place 21st November - 4th December
2006. The tournament will consist of 11 players in a round robin at Hotel
Impero in Cremona. Games will be played on DGT boards, and viewable live at the
Italian Chess Federation web site.
Official tournament information:
http://federscacchi.it/doc/notcom/d20060902032222_bando_66.pdf
Official federation site: http://www.federscacchi.it/
Rilton Cup
The Rilton Cup takes place 27th December 2006 - 5th January 2007.
Details and entry.
Official site: http://www.rilton.se/
Czech Chess Christmas 2006
Czech Chess Christmas 2006 Litomysl (CZE) 26.12.2006-1.1.2007 8th
christmas chess FIDE tournament, swiss system of 9 round, rate of game 2 x 1,5h
+ 30s/move, prize fund 61.000 CZK (1st prize 20.000 CZK = 680 EUR), special
conditions for IM, WGM and GM, New Year’s Eve programme. Contact:
Proclient s.r.o., Jaroslav Fuksik, Svedska 3, 772 00 Olomouc, mobil: 608 364
664, e-mail: a64@proclient.cz, web: http://www.a64.cz
Fischer on the Radio
Bobby Fischer appeared on the Icelandic private radio station Utvarp
Saga on October 16th 2006, He discussed his public despute with UBS, Chess in
the past and present, and Interntional affairs, even the North Korea crises.
50 minute interview. It may become available at:
http://www.utvarpsaga.is/ is the radio
station, (MP3 at: http://www.deep-chess.de/)
3rd Singapore International Chess Convention
The 3rd Singapore International Chess Convention 2006 incorporates the
1. 2nd Asian Schools 17 to 24 December 2nd Asian Schools Entry Form for
Singapore Only 2. Seminar for Coaches 18 to 24 December 3. Arbiters Training
Seminar 19 to 24 December 4. Masters & Challengers Open 26 to 31 December
Masters & Challengers Open.
Details of all events at: http://www.singaporechess.org.sg/
Obrenovac 2006
International Open Championship of Belgrade "Obrenovac 2006" Obrenovac,
22-30.11.2006. Prizes : EUR 5,250.00
Contact information: BELGRADE CHESS INFORMATION 11000 Belgrade,
Deligradska 27/III, Serbia and Montenegro Tel/Fax; +381-11 -656 846 E-mail:
beochess@eunet.yu
Details: http://www.beochess.org.yu
XLI Capablanca Memorial
The XLI Capablanca Memorial had to move from its normal dates in May
due to the Turin Olympiad. This years event takes place 19th-30th November 2006
in the hotel Habana Riviera.
As usual there will be a number of events, the elite for players rated
over 2600 and an 11 round swiss with 22 players etc
For details and entry by 3rd November 2006 contact: anayar@inder.co.cu
or baby@inder.co.cu or baby@23yb.uci.cu
27th Bethune International Open
The Bethune chess club is preparing his 27th International Open, Hall
Olof Palme, Commercial centre La Rotonde, Bethune, France (Pas-de-Calais) from
December 26 to 30. 9 rounds The tournament is divided in 2 tournaments: -
Tournament A for players whose Elo rating is above or equal to 1600, 1st price
: 1500 euros - Tournament B for players strictly below 1800 and not FIDE, 1st
price : 300 euros, Fischer pace 1h30+30s KO for each game in both tournaments.
At least 5500 euros of prices, prices for Elo categories in both tournaments.
Inscription fee : 40 euros (adults), 20 euros (youngsters under 20), free for
IM, GM and FIDE Masters. Conditions for IM and GM and special conditions for
GM>2600, contact us at open@bethunechess.com For more information visit:
http://www.bethunechess.com
Corus Invitations
in a press release on September 19th 2006 on their website the Corus,
Wijk aan Zee organisers announced the first players for the event in January
2007. The top three in the world Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand and Levon
Aronian will all play. It was already known that Alexander Motylev qualified
from the B group last year and that Magnus Carlsen who officially lost out on
tie-break to him would also be invited.
Official site: http://www.coruschess.com/article.php?s=n115
Hastings Congress
The Hastings Congress takes place 28th December 2006 - 7 January 2007.
9 round master Swiss +many other events including a FIDE Rated open 6-7
January. Details Con Power conpowr@aol.com.
Further details: http://www.hastingschess.org.uk/
Hull Congress
The 43rd Hull Chess Congress (Yorkshire, England) will take place in the
Student Union Building, University of Hull, over the weekend of November 17-19,
2006. This year's Hull Congress has three sections, Open, Under 150 and Under
100 and the total prize fund for the tournament is 1200 pounds (1st 250, 2nd
100, 3rd 50 each section), with the option of adding additional prizes based on
the number of entries. The entry fee is just 15 pounds if you commit your entry
on or before October 31, 2006 and just 20 pounds after that date. For more
information about the Hull Congress and to download an entry form, please visit
the new Hull & District Chess Association website at
http://www.h-d-c-a.org.uk/ or contact
Mark Ieronimo, Tournament Organizer, at congress@h-d-c-a.org.uk to obtain an
entry form via email.
Kramnik - Deep Fritz
Vladimir Kramnik will play the ChessBase computer program Deep Fritz in
a 6 game match 25th November - 5th December 2006 in the German’s Art and
Exhibition Hall in Bonne. Kramnik stands to win a prize of $1 Million US for a
win in the match doubling his starting fee.
Asked how he estimates his chances, Kramnik reacted cautiously: "Fritz
examines millions of moves per second. It is extraordinarily difficult to play
against such a calculating monster. Right from the start you are walking on a
very narrow ridge, and you know that any inattentiveness will be your downfall.
It is a scientific experiment and I will have to fight very hard for my
chance."
The WCC is being organized by Universal Event Promotion (UEP), in
cooperation with the Art and Exhibition Hall.
Schedule: Game 1: Saturday 25.11.2006 16h Game 2: Monday 27.11.2006 16h
Game 3: Wednesday 29.11.2006 16h Game 4: Friday 01.12.2006 16h Game 5: Sunday
03.12.2006 16h Game 6: Tuesday 05.12.2006 16h
During the entire period of the match the Art and Exhibition Hall will
offer a varied program.
Official site: http://www.rag.de/microsite_chess_com/
Sydney International Open 2007
The 2007 Sydney International Open will be held as a 9-round FIDE-rated
Swiss event from 10th-14th April 2007. The venue is Parramatta Town Hall, an
historic centre and business hub just 30 minutes by train from Central Sydney
and International Airport. Some conditions are offered to titled players. It is
also possible to play in Australia's largest weekender, the Doeberl Cup, a
7-round FIDE-rated event held in Canberra 6-9 April 2007. An information sheet,
registration form and other details are available at
http://www.chessaustralia.com.au/open.
The organisers are Australian Chess Enterprises. Contact is Brian Jones at
info@chessaustralia.com.au
GibTelecom Chess Festival
The GibTelecom Chess Festival takes place 23rd January - 1st February
2007. including a 9 round Masters with a rest day. Also two 5 round Swisses for
players under 2200 and two separately for players under 1800. Total prize fund
£71,000, including £9000 awards specifically for females with a
first of £4000; £12000 for players under 2200, where such a player
could win £6000; seniors £2000; junior £1000. So far
Arishchenko, Efimenko, Kuzubov, Milov, Krush, Ganguly, Kunte, Sand ipan,
Bellon, Cramling have accepted invitations. further details Judy Whurr
conf.banq@caletahotel.gi
Further details: http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/
European Rapid Chess Championship
The European Rapid Chess Championship 2006 takes place in Warsaw, Poland
(at the same time the 6th AMPLICO AIG LIFE Tournament played during the 25th
Memorial of Stanislaw Gawlikowski) takes place 16th-17th of December 2006. The
prize fund is 20.000 Euros. The tournament is a part of the ACP Tour. Visit the
Official site for more information, updates are coming soon. Contact details of
Organizers and Chief arbiter.
Tournament Director - Mrs Maria Macieja mobile: + 48 603 391 318 e-mail:
mariamacieja@o2.pl
Official site: http://www.warsawchess.pl/
olimpbase
The olimpbase website: http://www.olimpbase.org from April covers
all team events. The latest addition is the European U18 Team Ch. has just
finish in Balatonelle. Also, there is a lot on the history of this interesting
event at my page, including details, games and results of all previous
editions, overall statistics and medal table. See
http://www.olimpbase.org/youth/euro18.html
Swiss Chess Tour Christmas 2006
The "Swiss Chess Tour 2006" will restore "Christmas Tournament" back
after a one year break and four years in Interlaken this time in Bern. The
change is only in the venue in the Hotel "Bern", in the very center of the
city. The 1st International Open Hotel "Bern" December 26th-30th 2006. Swiss
system, 7 rounds and the games will last a maximum of 5 hours (40 moves for 2
hours and 30 minutes till the end). Prize are: 2.000 SF, 1.500, 1.000, 700,
500, 400, 300, 250, 200 and 150 SF. The natural prizes till 20th place. Special
prizes for best Lady, senior (1945), junior (1986-89), schoolboy (1990) and
best local player. Entry fee 130 SF, FMs and juniors 60 SF, at the door 20 SF
more, GMs and IMs free. Venue: Hotel "Bern" Blitz tournament, Swiss system, 9
double rounds.Prize are: 300, 200, 150, 2x100, 2x50 CHF. Entry fee 20 CHF
(juniors 5 CHF) Time table for "Bern Open": December 26. The last registration
12.00-13.00. Open ceremony and apero reception from 13.30-14.00. Round 1st
14.00-19.00. December 27. Round 2nd 9.30-14.30 Round 3rd 15.30-20.30 December
28.: Round 4th 14.00-19.00. Blitz Tournament 19.30-22.30. December 29. Round
5th 9.30-14.30. Round 6th 15.30-20.30 December 30. Round 7th 9.30-14.30 Closing
ceremonies 15.00. Special chess rates in Hotel "Bern". More information and
registration: Robert Spoerri tel. +41+62+965-465-40, fax +41+62+965-46-51
E-mail beochess@bluewin.ch
Further information: http://www.beochess.ch/
Computer chess tournament calendar
The Computer chess tournament calendar by Frank Quisinsky has been
updated. Frank's Chess Page: http://www.amateurschach.de Frank's
Chess Page, CC-Calendar:
http://www.amateurschach.de/atl4/_calendar.htm
AnMon 5.6 by Christian BARRETEAU won the computer chess tournament in
Massy (France) with 6/6 . This tournament has been organised for many years by
a very strong group of French computer chess engine programmers. Unfortunately,
this year only seven French programs participated. Second place for Pharaon 3.4
by Franck ZIBI with 5/6 and the third place for ChessTiger 2006 Alpha by
Christophe THERON with 4/6. In other words ... AnMon defended its title. The
next computer chess tournament is the Australasian-NCC-ch in Canberra at August
20th, 2006. TOP favorits are Bodo, Trace and Warp.
Lugano tournaments
International Week-end Chess Open Lugano 2006 "ONE WEEKEND IN THE SOUTH
PART OF SWITZERLAND" When: Friday, 17 November ' Sunday November Where: Hotel
Flora, Via Geretta 16, 6900 Lugano- Paradiso Phone +41 91 994 16 71 Fax: +41 91
994 27 38 E-mail: hotelflora@bluewin.ch Modality: International Tournament. 5
Rounds Swiss System Rate of Play: 36 Moves in 90 Minutes + 30 Minutes K.O.
Rating: CH- & FIDE
International Amateurs Chess Open Ascona 2006 Only for Amateurs, Max.
2299 ELO. , 26th December ' Saturday, 30th December 2006 Where: Hotel Ascona,
via Collina, 6612 Ascona (Switzerland) Modality: International Chess
Tournament. 7 Rounds Swiss System Rate of Play: 40 Moves in 120 Minutes + 60
Minutes K.O. ELO: Not valid for ELO Points (holiday mood!)
Lugano Rapid Chess Marathon Ticino Cureglia 2006 Sunday, 18.06.2006
Where? Parco Rusca (Park & town hall), CH-6944 Cureglia Modality?
International Rapid Chess Tournament 24 rounds Swiss System Rate of play? 5
minutes to finish the game Prizes? CHF 600 (€ 400) / 400 (€ 268) /
300 (€ 200) / 200 (€ 133) / 100 (€ 67) CHF 100 (€ 67) Best
Ticino player + 9 Special prizes (Full prize amount with 50 players, otherwise
% to the number of participants ) Inscriptions? CHF 40 (€ 27) under 20 CHF
20 (€ 14), Sunday: 08.00 - 09.00 Timetable? Sunday 09.15 - 13.00 (15
rounds) 14.30 - 16.30 (9 rounds)
Further details: http://www.luganoscacchi.ch/
Frits Agterdenbos Photos
Chess Photographer Frits Agterdenbos has launched a website of his
photos at: http://www.chessvista.com/.
He is at the Turin Olympiad and his photo reports is available there.
French Team Championship
The final four rounds of the French Team Top 16 Championship took place
4th-7th May 2006 in Asnières-sur-Seine. NAO Chess Club again won the
title three points clear of Monaco who they defeated in the final round. Games
from the final two rounds are not yet available (apart from the Monaco - NAO
match) if anyone has them I'd be grateful.
Further details: http://www.echecs.asso.fr,
http://www.europe-echecs.com/ and
http://www.nao-cc.com
IbeatGarry.com: The Six Degrees of Kasparov
If you've won a game that's appeared in Chessbase Megabase 2005 then
find out a series of results which by separation means you beat Garry Kasparov!
Fun stuff from Karlheinz Zoechling. I'm not in Megabase but have beaten someone
who has a separation of two, giving me a separation of three!
Site: http://ibeatgarry.com/
Czech Tour 2006/2007
There is new information about the Czech Tour 2006/2007 including:
9th OLOMOUC CHESS SUMMER (the Sigma hotel) 2nd-10th August 2006.
3rd HIGHLANDS OPEN (Havlickuv Brod, the Slunce hotel) 23rd September -
1st October 2006.
7th LIBEREC OPEN (the Liberec hotel) 11th-18th November 2006.
6th PRAGUE OPEN (TOP HOTEL Praha) 11th-18th January 2007.
6th MARIENBAD OPEN (the Evropa hotel) 19th-27th January 2007.
Further details: http://www.czechtour.net or Dr. Jan Mazuch,
Director of CZECH OPEN & CZECH TOUR - j.mazuch@avekont.cz
In addition there is the 27th Tournament of Chess Hopes and 17th
Pobeskydi Tournament organised by the town of Frydek-Mistek 13th-17th April
2006.
Further details: http://www.chessfm.cz
10th Anniversary of correspondencechess.com
correspondencechess.com is celebrating its 10th Anniversary. It has a
10th Anniversary Commemorative Coin:
http://www.correspondencechess.com/coin.htm
Home of: Grandmaster V.V. Palciauskas' The World of Correspondence Chess
Senior International Master Knudsen's The Correspondence Chess Place The
Campbell Report Ralph Marconi's Chess Pages The Canadian Correspondence Chess
Association (CCCA) American Postal Chess Tournaments (APCT) The Correspondence
Chess Message Board (TCCMB) and much, much more!
Official site: http://www.correspondencechess.com/
Christophe Bouton Chess Blog
Christophe Bouton has started a chess blog in French at:
http://echecs64.blog.20minutes.fr/
Spanish Championship
The Spanish closed and open Championships will be held in León
November 22nd-30th 2006. The Hotel Conde Luna from León will be the
venue and the official hotel of the organization.
Alushta Tournaments
01.02.06 Tournaments in Alushta:
GM Norm: 29.04-9.05, 11.05-21.05, 23.05-1.06, 2.06-12.06, 16.06-26.06,
2.09-12.09, 14.09-24.09, 26.09–6.10,
IM Norm: 29.04-9.05, 11.05-21.05, 23.05-1.06, 2.06-12.06, 16.06-26.06,
2.09-12.09, 14.09-24.09, 26.09–6.10,
Rating tournament: 5.06-13.06, 23.06–27.06
Open tournament (under 16 years) First prize - 200$ 14.06-22.06, Swiss 9
rounds.
Open tournament First prize - 1000$ First prize (woman)- 500$:
28.06-6.07, Swiss 9 rounds. Open tournament (rapid chess) 7.07–8.07, Swiss
9 rounds. Blitz tournament 9.07. Session of school of Gennadi Kuzmin
23.06–27.06. Individual and group studying.
Further information: http://www.kaissa.com.ua phone +38
(06560)5-05-32, +380505828911 (for Russian speaking) + 38 050 669-26-04 (for
English speaking) e-mail: info@kaissa.com.ua
Seagaard ChessReviews
Soren Sogaard has announced that his site Seagaard ChessReviews will be
updated after receiving a lot of positive e-mails, "I decided to try to keep
running the site. I also got two new reviewers, and the well known danish IM
Steffen Pedersen reviews his first book." He'll see if he can keep it going
another 6 months.
Website: http://seagaard.dk/review
1st ICCF Webchess Open Tournament
The ICCF have announced the 1st WebChess Open Tournament and invites
every player worldwide to participate in the event. The event is to be played
on the ICCF dedicated Webserver http://www.iccf-webchess.com. This
tournament is open to all correspondence chess players worldwide, also for
those without any previous ICCF experience. Multiple entries are allowed. The
tournament will be played in three stages - preliminaries, semifinal and final.
Details: http://www.iccf-webchess.com/Message.aspx?message=19
Russia vs ROW Correspondence
The Russian Chess Federation is celebrating its 10th anniversary and is
using this occasion to challenge the rest of the world to a match over 64
boards with 2 games for each and the start is 15.02 2004. Players include Joop
van Oosterom
http://www.mychessweb.com/Tables/Internationale/Play/russia-world.htm
