THE WEEK IN CHESS 96 19/08/96 Mark Crowther
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E-Mail mdcrowth@netcomuk.co.uk
www http://www.tcc.net/gmtchess.html
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Produced for Thoth Communications Corporation part
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1) Introduction
2) 1000 Years of Austria Chess Festival Sponsored by Bank Austria
3) Donner Memorial Tournament in Amsterdam
4) Foxtrot Chess Tournament 1996
5) US Open 1996.
6) USCF 1996 Policy Board Election Results
7) Games of the Junior computer program by Shay Bushinsky.
8) British Chess Championships Nottingham 1996
9) NINE CHESSPLAYERS QUALIFY FOR THE ARGENTINE CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS
10) KS Summer 1996 Tournament by Per Rasmussen of Under Uret
11) VISA NORDIC GRAND PRIX 1996/97
GAMES SECTION
-----------------------
Vienna International Tournament 30 games
Donner Memorial Tournament 12 games
Foxtrot Veterans vs Ladies tournament 15 games
Junior Man - Machine Games. 7 games
British Chess Championships 1996. 34 games
KS Tournament 45 games
EXTRA GAMES SECTION
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Semi-finals of the Argentinian Championships 37 games
Quarter Finals of the Argentinian Championships 20 games
Open 1 Vienna Austria. 292 games
1) Introduction
---------------
My thanks to Karlheinz Zoechling, Dagobert Kohlmeyer, Martin Raubal,
Eric van der Schilden (TASC), Rod McShane, John Henderson, Michael
Atkins, John Henderson (Channel 4 Teletext Chess p.478), Shay
Bushinsky, Roberto Alvarez, Einar S Einarsson and Per Rasmussen of Under
Uret.
Another long weekend, another large amount of chess to cover. I only
finished my previous job on Friday so this was more or less business as
usual. Please check out my new location as there will probably be
updates on various pieces of chess news during the week. I will at the
Donner Memorial over next weekend so TWIC 97 will appear after I get
back.
Hope you enjoy this issue.
Mark
2) 1000 Years of Austria Chess Festival Sponsored by Bank Austria
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There was a three way tie between Gelfand, Karpov and Topalov in the
Category 18 Bank-Austria event in Vienna.
Round 4 (1996.08.12)
Karpov, Anatoly - Korchnoi, Viktor 1-0 42
Leko, Peter - Jussupow, Artur 1-0 75
Kramnik, Vladimir - Gelfand, Boris 1/2 35
Shirov, Alexei - Polgar, Judit 1/2 60
Ehlvest, Jaan - Topalov, Veselin 0-1 36
Round 5 (1996.08.13)
Gelfand, Boris - Ehlvest, Jaan 1/2 21
Topalov, Veselin - Leko, Peter 0-1 28
Polgar, Judit - Karpov, Anatoly 1/2 19
Jussupow, Artur - Shirov, Alexei 1/2 27
Korchnoi, Viktor - Kramnik, Vladimir 0-1 42
Round 6 (1996.08.14)
Gelfand, Boris - Korchnoi, Viktor 1-0 40
Karpov, Anatoly - Jussupow, Artur 1/2 17
Kramnik, Vladimir - Polgar, Judit 1-0 44
Shirov, Alexei - Topalov, Veselin 0-1 40
Ehlvest, Jaan - Leko, Peter 1/2 26
Round 7 (1996.08.15)
Topalov, Veselin - Karpov, Anatoly 1/2 27
Leko, Peter - Shirov, Alexei 1/2 32
Polgar, Judit - Gelfand, Boris 1/2 91
Jussupow, Artur - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 36
Korchnoi, Viktor - Ehlvest, Jaan 1/2 37
Round 8 (1996.08.16)
Gelfand, Boris - Jussupow, Artur 1/2 14
Karpov, Anatoly - Leko, Peter 1/2 24
Kramnik, Vladimir - Topalov, Veselin 1/2 79
Ehlvest, Jaan - Shirov, Alexei 0-1 60
Korchnoi, Viktor - Polgar, Judit 1/2 73
Round 9 (1996.08.17)
Topalov, Veselin - Gelfand, Boris 1/2 20
Leko, Peter - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 17
Polgar, Judit - Ehlvest, Jaan 1-0 38
Shirov, Alexei - Karpov, Anatoly 0-1 40
Jussupow, Artur - Korchnoi, Viktor 1/2 37
Vienna AUT (AUT), VIII 1996. cat. XVIII (2690)
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
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1 Gelfand, Boris g BLR 2665 * 1 = = = = = = = 1 5.5 2772
2 Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2775 0 * = = = 1 1 = = 1 5.5 2760
3 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2750 = = * 0 = = 1 = 1 1 5.5 2762
4 Leko, Peter g HUN 2630 = = 1 * 0 = = 1 = = 5.0 2739
5 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2665 = = = 1 * 0 = = 1 = 5.0 2735
6 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2765 = 0 = = 1 * 0 = 1 1 5.0 2724
7 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2685 = 0 0 = = 1 * = 1 = 4.5 2690
8 Jussupow, Artur g GER 2665 = = = 0 = = = * 0 = 3.5 2612
9 Ehlvest, Jaan g EST 2660 = = 0 = 0 0 0 1 * = 3.0 2567
10 Korchnoi, Viktor g SUI 2635 0 0 0 = = 0 = = = * 2.5 2529
----------------------------------------------------------------
There has been an almost unbelievable run of category 17, 18 and 19
tournaments during the last 4 months. Since late April there has been
Madrid, Dos Hermanas, Leon, Amsterdam, Dortmund, Novgorod, Biel and now
Vienna. In addition Karpov has played his FIDE World Championships match
against Kamsky. Yet the pace has not slowed and indeed the very players
who have competed in these earlier tournaments are the players who were
successful in Vienna. I cannot believe that this will continue for much
longer. Possibly this will only continue until some sort of order is
restored to the chess World and the young pretenders can have their goal
of World Championship success restored to them. Right now they are
battling for their names and accumulating tournament successes which
will make their exclusion impossible in whatever brave new World we end
up with.
Although the top players in Vienna seemed a little tired they still
managed to produce for the most part enterprising and entertaining
chess.
Karpov wins his second event in a row. In neither did he seem to over
exert himself. However he yet again has revealed that no matter how
impressive his younger rivals are they still lack his power in the
endgame. In this tournament his victories against Kramnik and Shirov
were fine demonstrations of winning by the simplest of means. Perhaps
only Gelfand's technique is starting to match up to the Champions as he
won a consistant, almost Karpovian ending against him.
Probably Karpov's funniest game was his game against Yusupov in round 6.
Karpov opened with 1.e4. The game created a strange impression and I
have a theory as to what happened. Karpov presumably put quite a bit of
work into the Petroff Defence for his match against Kamsky. Perhaps here
he hoped that Yusupov would play his main-line defence. Yusupov smelled
a rat and played the Sicilian instead. The game proceeded to get more
and more critical, probably with both players wondering quite how they
had come to get this position on the board. From their point of view
perhaps they decided that they didn't really know what was happening
after 17 moves so a draw was the fair result! The audience was left
disappointed.
The excellent on-line bulletin for the event contained interviews with
the players. On the 14th of August Karpov gave his interview to Martin
Raubal. In the United States Gata Kamsky has been complaining about not
being paid for his FIDE match against Karpov. We did not know whether
Karpov had been paid. Now we know that he hasn't, although he seems
unconcerned. So what does he think about a match against Kasparov, the
FIDE elections and his recent match against Kamsky?
Extract from an interview with Dagobert Kohlmeyer translated by Martin
Raubal 14th August 1996):
" DK: Talking about your match against Gata Kamsky. It was a very
tough fight.
AK: Yes, because Kamsky didn't give up till the very end. Just
look at the final game of the match. I can't remember any World
Championship were there was such a hard battle. There were no
short draws.
DK: What do you think of the quality of the games?
AK: Very high quality. We played chess the way people love it. No
comparison to the Kasparov-Anand-match in New York.
DK: Rustam Kamksy accused you of getting help from a computer
during the games.
AK: Of course this was complete nonsense. The Kamsky-team received
a fine of 4000 dollars which will be deducted from their price
fund.
DK: Did you get any money yet?
AK: Unfortunately not. After the match FIDE-President Kirsan
Iljumshinov wanted to transfer the money in rubles. I refused. Due
to our contract we have to get valuta [Sic but the meaning is clear!] .
Now we are waiting.
DK: Kamsky also didn't receive anything yet?
AK: No.
DK: Why such a delay?
AK: Banks in Moscow work very slowly. They are basically working
with our money. It's a big apparatus: Central Bank, State Bank,
Branch Banks, ...
DK: Do you think Iljumshinow is a serious person?
AK: Yes, of course.
DK: Will there be a match with Kasparov in 1997?
AK: I think he is waiting for such a match more than I do. His
position is weaker now. No sponsor. The PCA is finished so
Kasparov tries to alter FIDE after his will. But he will not
succeed!
DK: Where could this duel happen?
AK: If it ever happens it has to be in Russia.
DK: Will you take part in the Chess Olympiad in Jerewan?
AK: No, I don't play there.
DK: Why?
AK: As long as a swindler is leading the chess federation in our
country I will not play on the Russian team.
DK: There will be new elections at the FIDE congress?
AK: Yes, but I'm not interested in that. I want to concentrate on
my chess.
DK: But you are on the team of Bachar Kouatly?
AK: I would actually prefer an alliance between Iljumshinow and
Kouatly. Iljumshinow wants to be sole candidate and afterwards
nominate his team. If Kouatly won, he could give his position to
Iljumshinow.
DK: Why should he?
AK: Because Iljumshinow has the most power.
DK: What about the other candidate Sunye Neto?
AK: Nice person but without any power. FIDE is bankrupt so he
wouldn't even be able to get a decent salary.
DK: Who do you think will win the election and become president?
AK: He should be a strong president who helps chess and improves
the financial situation of FIDE. If it isn't Iljumshinow then FIDE
will cease to exist the next day."
Boris Gelfand had a fine tournament. His long run in the FIDE World
Championships and non-participation in the PCA Classics had left him
short of top-level chess. He had quite a mediocre result in the VSB
Tournament in Amsterdam, but in a crowded schedule his results have
improved almost tournament by tournament.
He has had some fine wins this year but his results were affected by too
many losses. Here he was the only undefeated player and of course a fine
win against Karpov was very helpful towards his final result.
Veselin Topalov shares first place. I think even fellow professional
players are astonished at his stamina. He has played almost all the top
events since April, often with only a day or two's break between
events. In that time he has had only one moderate result, in Dortmund
and has shared first place in most of the rest of the events.
In this extract for his interview he doesn't make much of his incredible
stamina.
"Martin Raubal: Mr. Topalov, after 4 rounds you are in the sole
lead with 3 points. Where do you get the energy from after just
having won the Novgorod tournament?
Veselin Topalov: Well, I try to fully concentrate during
tournaments and I also have a lot of energy although there are of
course times when I'm getting pretty tired. But I also think that
the other players have a lot of energy.
MR: But you also win games!
VT: It's going pretty well so far but the tournament is not over
yet.
MR: Last year I spoke to Gary Kasparov and honestly, I had never
before met a person with such a lot of energy. I could actually
feel it. You seem to be like that too.
VT: Kasparov is a special person. He needs a lot of energy during
his games but nevertheless has the power to do other important
things when his games are over. Also Karpov is very good in that.
If I have a tiring game I'm happy to get some rest and relax
afterwards.
MR: Is it anything special to you to play against Kasparov or
Karpov?
VT: Definitely! If you win a game against these guys that means
something. It impresses people if you beat Kasparov or Karpov.
MR: Which game was your hardest so far?
VT: Today's game was pretty difficult. It wasn't easy to beat
Ehlvest. But also the game against Judit Polgar was hard. She gave
me a difficult time.
MR: You don't have a lot of experience with matches. What's your
opinion on the clash between FIDE- and PCA-cycle?
VT: Right now I don't have this problem because we have no cycle.
But I think we will need to have just one cycle in the future.
Playing both of them takes too much energy.
MR: How do you physically prepare for the games? Are you doing any
sports?
VT: Not during tournaments but before and after I like to swim a
lot. I guess after the tournament I have to sleep for a while.
MR: What about sleeping for two weeks?
VT: Maybe!?"
Peter Leko and Judit Polgar scored fine results and are showing signs of
being comfortable at this level. Leko has had some deserved criticism
for his numerous drawn games in recent tournament. In Dortmund he scored
a poor result but was slightly unlucky as his more enterprising approach
is clearly the way forward. Here he got the balance about right, winning
two and losing one but many of his drawn games were also very
interesting. He inflicted Topalov's only loss with some very risky play
as Black, it was the result of some excellent preparation according to
his post-game interview.
Judit Polgar has proved both her stamina and her strength of will in the
last few weeks. Losses seem to affect her less than most of her GM
rivals and she continues to play at the same strength. Here she lost
only to Vladimir Kramnik, gave Topalov a hard time (this is a friendly
rivalry to watch as they play chess that is on the edge against each
other) and she pressed right to the end of the event winning against
Ehlvest in the final round.
Vladimir Kramnik will be a little disappointed with his over all result.
He did not help his cause by losing to Shirov with the white pieces in
round 1 (Kramnik eventually lost on time but his position was hopeless)
and then in round 2 he arrived 50 minutes late for a game against
Karpov. In fact in this second game he seemed well on the way to
drawing, he played 15 moves of book and had appeared almost to equalise.
However then he wanted to simplify the position even more by trading
Queens off at the expense of some King-side pawn weaknesses. This was a
bad idea against Karpov. In the first round Vladimir Kramnik overstepped
the time limit in a lost position. He sped to plus one with wins in
rounds 3,5 and 6 before drawing out the rest of the event. Outrageously
talented he can sometimes get frustrated when things aren't going his
way.
Martin Raubal talked to Vladimir Kramnik (15 Aug 1996) here is an
extract:
MR: Vladimir, have you ever played in a tournament where you lost
two games in a row and then scored 4 out of 5?
VK: Actually I can't remember having started a tournament with
two losses.
MR: Are you satisfied with the quality of your games here?
VK: Not at all. Some were quite okay but most of them were
average. No, actually they were below average.
MR: That's not bad. You played below average and still have +1.
If you played average quality games you'd probably have like +3
or 4.
VK: (laughing) Well, I'm not sure about that but as a matter of
fact I've played some better games in the past.
MR: Do you still see a chance to win this tournament?
VK: There are still two rounds to go and I'll try my best.
MR: You'll play for a win in these games?
VK: I always try to win.
MR: What happened in your 2nd round game against Karpov? Why did
you come 45 minutes late? Somehow it reminded me of Paris when
Anand forfeited the active game against Kasparov.
VK: The problem was that the first round started at 3pm so it was
just natural to think every game will start at that time. But I
was lucky to meet one of the organizers during my walk through
the city. We got into his car and rushed to the City Hall.
MR: Pretty tough to give away 45 minutes against Karpov?
VK: Of course, but that was not the main reason for losing the
game. I wasn't too healthy when I arrived in Vienna but now I'm
okay again.
MR: What do you think of the World Championship in Elista? I was
a bit surprised to hear Karpov saying in an interview that the
quality of the games was very high.
VK: Well, he has to say that. But I think that the quality of the
games wasn't really that high. We've seen much better World
Championship matches. But it was interesting anyway.
MR: Compared to Kasparov - Anand?
VK: There were some short draws but the quality was definitely
better.
MR: Kasparov always says that you will be the future World
Champion. Doesn't it get on your nerves?
VK: Well, he knows me very well. If you include all of the active
games we played about 25 times against each other. Of course it
is also my goal to become World Champion but you can't force such
a thing.
MR: You are one of very few professionals who played in both
cycles. Some people say that that was too exhausting and
therefore you lost two matches. What do you think about it?
VK: No, that wasn't a problem for me. If there are two cycles in
the future I'll definitely play in both of them again. You gain a
lot of experience playing matches.
MR: What do you like more: Tournaments or matches?
VK: Generally I like to play in tournaments. Somehow it's more
interesting. Every round you get a new opponent. If you play in a
match you have to be very tough mentally.
Alexei Shirov had an up and down tournament. He led early on but losses
against Karpov and Topalov took him back to 50%. I get the feeling he's
finding the super-competitive nature of super-GM chess in the last year
a little hard to adapt to. His opening repertoire does not seem sound
enough and his early promise with solid result in successive Linares
tournaments seems to have been lost. A great talent but he needs to go
forward again.
Yusupov and Ehlvest struggled hard in the tournament but it must be
worrying that even though they were comparatively fresh they lost games
without getting the compensating wins.
Korchnoi had one of those tournaments where nothing would go right for
him. To his credit he fought hard in every round. A loss to old rival
Anatoly Karpov followed by a horrid loss to Kramnik were almost more
than flesh and blood could take and he swept the pieces from the board
at the end of that game. He recovered in time to hold a post-mortem
however.
Open 1 Tournament
-----------------
A very strong Open Tournament 1 saw a 4 way tie between Dimitri Komarov,
Ildar Ibragimov, Lev Psakhis, and Mladen Palac. Number one seed GM Igor
Glek (Russia, 2670) lost to IM Silvio Danailov (Bulgaria, 2455) in an
early round and finished on 3.5.
Final standings after Round 9
------------------------------
Rank Name Countr Elo Points
1 GM KOMAROV Dimitri UKR 2595 6
2 GM IBRAGIMOV Ildar RUS 2545 6
3 GM PSAKHIS Lev ISR 2590 6
4 GM PALAC Mladen CRO 2540 6
5 GM SMIRIN Ilia ISR 2625 5.5
6 GM ZVJAGINSEV Vadim RUS 2590 5.5
7 GM MAKSIMENKO Andrei UKR 2545 5.5
8 GM TKACHIEV Vladislav KAZ 2620 5.5
9 GM DREEV Alexey RUS 2645 5.5
10 GM KENGIS Edvins LAT 2560 5.5
11 GM LPUTIAN Smbat ARM 2595 5.5
12 GM BAREEV Evegeny RUS 2655 5.5
13 GM CVITAN Ognjen CRO 2535 5.5
14 GM HERTNECK Gerald GER 2565 5.5
15 GM LANDA Konstantin RUS 2570 5.5
16 GM LERNER Konstantin UKR 2580 5.5
17 IM SKOMOROKHIN Roman RUS 2450 5
18 GM HICKL Joerg GER 2600 5
19 GM KHALIFMAN Alexander RUS 2640 5
20 GM GOFSHTEIN Leonid ISR 2545 5
21 GM ONISCHUK Alexander UKR 2605 5
22 GM HUZMAN Alexander ISR 2575 5
23 GM LUTZ Christopher GER 2565 5
24 IM VAN DER WERF Mark NED 2400 5
25 GM ALMASI Zoltan HUN 2655 4.5
26 GM SVESHNIKOV Evgeny RUS 2535 4.5
27 IM GYIMESI Zoltan HUN 2480 4.5
28 GM KVEINYS Aloyzas LTU 2530 4.5
29 IM DANNER Georg AUT 2375 4.5
30 GM DAUTOV Rustem GER 2615 4.5
31 GM EPISHIN Vladimir RUS 2620 4.5
32 GM TISCHBIEREK Raj GER 2500 4.5
33 GM BLATNY Pavel CZE 2490 4.5
34 GM BOLOGAN Viktor MDA 2600 4.5
35 GM KHARLOV Andrei RUS 2605 4.5
36 GM KINDERMANN Stefan GER 2530 4.5
37 IM TESKE Henrik GER 2520 4.5
38 IM RUCK Robert HUN 2465 4.5
39 GM FTACNIK Lubomir SVK 2610 4.5
92 players:
WWW
---
There was an excellent www page for the event: page design and chief
editor Karlheinz Zoechling (khzoech@xpoint.at)
http://www.xpoint.at/schach/open.htm
chief editor game database
Werner Hinterberger
editors
Dagobert Kohlmeyer, Martin Raubal, Eric van der Schilden (TASC)
many thanks for help to
Phillip Moser, Oliver Lehner
The Festival was sponsored by Bank Austria.
Festival Initiator: Reinhard Baumgartner
Organizer: Chess Club SK Loosdorf
represented through Josef Hamberger
Festival Director: Mag. Ing. Gerhard Bruckner
Main Arbiters: IS IGM Lothar Schmid
IS Gertrude Wagner
3) Donner Memorial Tournament in Amsterdam
------------------------------------------
Jan Hein Donner was a larger than life character in Dutch chess in the
post-war years. An entertaining journalist and a successful player it
was a natural thing to commemorate him. The Dutch have organised a fine
series of tournaments over recent years trying to choose a field which
is not only strong but also one that will produce interesting chess.
This Category 16 tournament contains such well known entertainers as
Alexander Morozevich and Julian Hodgson, strong local representation
with Jeroen Piket, Jan Timman, Van Wely and Ivan Sokolov, and
ex-candidates Vassily Ivanchuk, Valery Salov and Gata Kamsky.
The event marks Gata Kamsky's return to chess after the FIDE World
Championships in Elista and whilst Karpov waited one and a half
tournaments before losing his first game Kamsky decided to get it out of
the way on day one. Van Wely was one of Kamsky's seconds in Elista and
was perhaps helped by some inside knowledge to win in only 34 moves in
the first round.
After two rounds Dutchmen Jeroen Piket and Loek Van Wely lead on their
own. I will report more when I return from Amsterdam on August 26th.
There are many side events and I will be playing in one over the weekend
of the 24th and 25th. I hope there will be time to have a little
socialising also!
The event is organised by Stichting Bevordering Schaaksport Nederland,
or the Foundation for the Promotion of Chess, the Netherlands.
There will be coverage on TASC's and Inside Chess' www pages.
Round 1 (1996.08.17)
Piket, Jeroen - Morozevich, Alexander 1-0 23
Van Wely, Loek - Kamsky, Gata 1-0 34
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Hodgson, Julian M 1-0 28
Adianto, Utut - Timman, Jan H 1-0 45
De Firmian, Nick E - Sokolov, Ivan 1-0 40
Salov, Valery - Granda Zuniga, Julio E 1/2 42
Round 2 (1996.08.18)
De Firmian, Nick E - Van Wely, Loek 0-1 49
Granda Zuniga, Julio E - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1/2 31
Hodgson, Julian M - Adianto, Utut 1-0 48
Kamsky, Gata - Salov, Valery 1-0 38
Sokolov, Ivan - Morozevich, Alexander 1/2 63
Timman, Jan H - Piket, Jeroen 0-1 17
Amsterdam NED (NED), VIII 1996. cat. XVI (2629)
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Piket, Jeroen g NED 2580 * . . . . . . . 1 . . 1 2.0
2 Van Wely, Loek g NED 2605 . * . . 1 . . 1 . . . . 2.0
3 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2730 . . * . . = 1 . . . . . 1.5 2773
4 Adianto, Utut g INA 2605 . . . * . . 0 . . . . 1 1.0 2570
5 De Firmian, Nick E g USA 2575 . 0 . . * . . . . . 1 . 1.0 2637
6 Granda Zuniga, Julio E g PER 2610 . . = . . * . . . = . . 1.0 2702
7 Hodgson, Julian M g ENG 2550 . . 0 1 . . * . . . . . 1.0 2667
8 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2745 . 0 . . . . . * . 1 . . 1.0 2640
9 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2610 0 . . . . . . . * . = . 0.5 2432
10 Salov, Valery g RUS 2675 . . . . . = . 0 . * . . 0.5 2484
11 Sokolov, Ivan g BIH 2670 . . . . 0 . . . = . * . 0.5 2399
12 Timman, Jan H g NED 2590 0 . . 0 . . . . . . . * 0.0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
4) Foxtrot Chess Tournament 1996
--------------------------------
The International Ladies vs Veterans match is organised by the
Association Max Euwe has this year come to London. It is being held in
the London Hilton on Park Lane from the 15th - 26th of August. The sides
are often closely matched and they tend to be quite competitive affairs.
Previous editions were :
The Tumba Tournament held in Aruba 1992
The Waltzer Tournament held in Vienna in 1993
The Paladienne Tournament held in Monaco in 1994
The Polka Tournament held in Prague in 1995.
This year with Judit Polgar and Women's World Chess Champion Zsuzsa
Polgar missing the men have the best opportunity to win for a few years.
Ex-World champions Boris Spassky and Vassily Smyslov are joined by
ex-Candidates Hort, Portisch and Spassky. The Women's team has many of
the best women players, with Pia Cramling in good form recently,
ex-Women's World Chess Champion Xie Jun is a very solid player and Nana
Ioseliani, Sofia Polgar and Ketevan Arakhamia are all very active
players.
In a wild time-scramble Hort-Ioseliani (1) saw a capture which was
illegal on Black's 28th move! Hort still won the game.
After three rounds the Veterans lead 8-7
Round 1 (1996.08.15)
Portisch, Lajos - Arakhamia, Ketevan 1-0 37 E81 Kings indian; Saemisch
Hort, Vlastimil - Ioseliani, Nana 1-0 28 D31 Queen's gambit
Smyslov, Vassily - Xie Jun 1/2 59 A05 Reti (1.Pf3)
Spassky, Boris V - Polgar, Sofia 1/2 47 B40 Sicilian
Taimanov, Mark E - Cramling, Pia 1/2 50 A48 Queen's pawn
Round 2 (1996.08.16)
Cramling, Pia - Smyslov, Vassily 1/2 76 E12 Nimzo indian
Arakhamia, Ketevan - Taimanov, Mark E 1-0 42 B46 Sicilian
Xie Jun - Hort, Vlastimil 1/2 21 B04 Alekhine defence
Ioseliani, Nana - Spassky, Boris V 1/2 40 A47 Queen's pawn
Polgar, Sofia - Portisch, Lajos 0-1 42 B46 Sicilian
Round 3 (1996.08.17)
Portisch, Lajos - Ioseliani, Nana 1/2 34 D45 Queen's gambit
Hort, Vlastimil - Cramling, Pia 0-1 39 A58 Wolga gambit
Smyslov, Vassily - Arakhamia, Ketevan 1/2 34 B40 Sicilian
Spassky, Boris V - Xie Jun 1/2 14 D77 1.d4 d5 2.c4 g6
Taimanov, Mark E - Polgar, Sofia 1/2 69 A06 Reti (1.Pf3)
London ENG (ENG), VIII 1996.
VETERANS
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1 2 3 4 5
--------------------------------------------------------
1 Portisch, Lajos g HUN 2600 . 1 . = 1 2.5 2751
2 Hort, Vlastimil g GER 2545 0 . = 1 . 1.5 2518
3 Smyslov, Vassily g RUS 2510 = = = . . 1.5 2503
4 Spassky, Boris V g FRA 2555 . . = = = 1.5 2496
5 Taimanov, Mark E g RUS 2470 = 0 . . = 1.0 2368
--------------------------------------------------------
8.0
--------------------------------------------------------
LADIES
------
--------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5
--------------------------------------------------------
1 Cramling, Pia g SWE 2545 . 1 = . = 2.0 2633
2 Arakhamia, Ketevan m GEO 2455 0 . = . 1 1.5 2526
3 Xie Jun g CHN 2510 . = = = . 1.5 2536
4 Ioseliani, Nana m GEO 2500 = 0 . = . 1.0 2441
5 Polgar, Sofia m HUN 2480 0 . . = = 1.0 2416
--------------------------------------------------------
7.0
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5) US Open 1996.
-------------
Michael Atkins reports:
(There will be some games in TWIC97)
US open results
The 97th Annual U.S. Open is complete! The moves have been made and the
scoresheets signed and either remembered or forgotten.
GM Gabriel Schwartzmann was the clear winner with 10.5/12 and along with
his $5000 first place goes a seed in the 1997 U.S. Closed Championship.
He clinched his title with a last round victory over local Arlington
Virginia Senior Master and winner of the U.S. Open Blitz tournament,
Alexander Reprintsev.
Tied for Second-Third were GM's Alex Yermolinsky and Gregory Serper, a
half point behind at 10/12. The current U.S. Champion, Yermo had led the
field with 8-0 and suffered back to back losses to Serper and
Schwartzman in the 9th and tenth round and didn't have time to recover.
He defeated FM Ron Burnett in a tough 12th round game GM Serper held a
very tough endgame a pawn dawn against GM Wojtkiewicz that went into
sudden death for both players.
There were four players tied with 9.5/12. GM's Alex Wojtkiewicz and Alex
Ivanov, along with Angelo Young and IM Jon Schroer.
Other scores were
9.0 GM Alex Shabalov (byes in last 2 rounds), FM Ron Burnett, IM Larry
Kaufman,Alex Reprintsev Gregory Shahade, Michael Wierzbicki, Fred
Garcia and Irina Krush
8.5 IM Vladislav Fedorov, FM Emory Tate, GM Arthur Bisquier, IM Walter
Shipman, John Meyer, FM Miles Ardaman, FM John Curdo, George
Kramer, James Wheat, Steve Szpisjak, Stanislav Ritvin and Jennie
Frenklakh
The final results of the Hall of Fame tournament were:
1. Kavalek 2.5/4
2-4 Benko, Bisquier & Curdo 2/4
5. Denker 1.5/4
6) USCF 1996 Policy Board Election Results
-----------------------------------
Those on the internet could not have failed to notice that the USCF had
elections for their Policy Board. The winners were:
PRESIDENT 309 (82.8%) DON SCHULTZ
VICE PRESIDENT 194 (52.0%) BILL GOICHBERG
SECRETARY 211 (56.6%) RACHEL LIEBERMAN (reelected)
TREASURER 260 (69.7%) TOM DORSCH
MEMBER-AT-LARGE 186 (49.9%) JIM EADE
7) Games of the Junior computer program by Shay Bushinsky.
-------------------------------------------------------
In the games section are 2 exhibition games played against Yudasin
in May on the digital user convention (DECUS) plus five games from
the recent Kfar-Saba open 8-9-10 August 1996. The hardware and software
was different in both events with some considerable improvements after
the Yudasin games.
8) British Chess Championships Nottingham 1996
-------------------------------------------
IM Chris Ward, with a score of 9/11, is the winner of the 83rd British
Championships. The runaway leader for most of the event had to endure
some nervous moments after his ninth round loss. After everyone had
finished with their pocket calculators it appears that Ward also secured
his third and final GM norm also.
Second place was taken by Jonathan Parker who also was the British under
21 Champion.
There was an excellent showing from 12 year old Luke McShane and step by
step his promise increases. He was only just short of gaining an IM norm
this time.
My thanks to John Henderson of Channel 4 Teletext Chess p.478 for almost
all the information and games that appear here.
Final Scores:
1. Ward, Christopher............... m ENG 2460 16 9.0/11
2. Parker, Jonathan................ m ENG 2470 20 8.5
3. Summerscale, Aaron.............. m ENG 2500 45 8.0
4. Sadler, Matthew................. g ENG 2615 36 7.5
Emms, John M.................... g ENG 2500 58 7.5
Ferguson, Mark.................. ENG 2385 36 7.5
7. Hebden, Mark.................... g ENG 2530 38 7.0
Martin, Andrew D................ m ENG 2425 22 7.0
9. McShane, Luke J................. f ENG 2385 36 6.5
Lee, Graham D................... f ENG 2375 6.5
Cobb, Charles................... ENG 2260 12 6.5
Duncan, Christopher R........... f ENG 2340 39 6.5
Hunt, Harriet................... m ENG 2315 17 w 6.5
Phillips, Roy................... ENG 2120 13 * 6.5
Buckley, Graeme................. m ENG 2370 46 6.5
Dunworth, Christopher........... f ENG 2335 9 6.5
Ansell, Simon................... ENG 2420 27 6.5
Turner, Matthew................. m ENG 2425 9 6.5
20-28 Wilson, Williams, Cole, Wall, R Pert, Berry, Mason, Molyneux,
Bates 6; 29-36 Trifunovic, S Ledger, Lilley, Vigus, Tebb, Sahu,
Littlewood, J Cobb 5.5; 37-43 N Pert, Mordue, A Ledger, Tait, Merriman,
Richardson, Spice 5; 44-52 Clarke, Wolstencroft, Rudd, Jackson, Baker,
Hempson, Raynor, Watton, Lyell 4.5; 53-58 A Hunt, Bisby, Dyce, Savage,
Moskovic, Wheldon 4; 59 S Buckley 3; 60-61 Fallon, Dauber 2.5; 62 Shah
1.5
* could be Alan.
9) NINE CHESSPLAYERS QUALIFY FOR THE ARGENTINE CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS
---------------------------------------------------------------
by Roberto Alvarez
GM Oscar Panno, IM Marcelo Tempone, FM Jorge Rosito, IM Maximiliano
Ginzburg,IM Diego Valerga, FM Diego Pereyra Arcija, IM Guillermo Llanos,
IM Raimundo Garcia & IM Jorge Szmetan finished in the first 9 places at
the Argentina Chess Championship, semifinal step, and all of them
qualified to the final championship, to be held after August 16th in
Pcia.Roque Saezn Pena, Chaco, Argentina.
The present semifinal was played in Buenos Aires, more exactly in "Casa
de la Provincia del Chaco" rooms, during last week of July. Only 34
players took part of this event, playing by Swiss System, 9 rounds. The
previously named masters, with play the final besides IM Pablo Ricardo
(present champion), IGM Ariel Sorin (present vice- champion), and IGM
Hugo Spangenberg, IGM Daniel Campora and IGM Pablo Zarnicki.
I was unable to obtain the final standings, and the same for the last 3
rounds bulletins, because as always.. it was not produced.
Here are some of the games from the semi-finals along with some played
in the Quarter finals which were held in Buenos Aires City.
10) KS Summer 1996 Tournament by Per Rasmussen of Under Uret
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Copenhagen Chess Club called KS ran a tournament July 19th - 28th
and it resulted in two GM norms. IM Lars Schandorff now has 3 norms and
will be Denmarks next GM. IM Sune Berg Hansen has two norms and looks
likely to follow him.
Copenhagen DEN, VII 1996. cat. X (2490)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Hansen, Sune Berg m DEN 2490 * 0 = 1 1 1 1 = = = 6.0 2615
2 Schandorff, Lars m DEN 2495 1 * = 1 = 0 = 1 = 1 6.0 2614
3 Nielsen, Peter Heine g DEN 2530 = = * = = = = = = 1 5.0 2528
4 Hector, Jonny g SWE 2525 0 0 = * 0 = 1 1 1 1 5.0 2529
5 Sher, Miron N g RUS 2475 0 = = 1 * = = = 1 0 4.5 2491
6 Hellsten, Johan m SWE 2490 0 1 = = = * 0 = = 1 4.5 2490
7 Kumaran, Dharshan m ENG 2495 0 = = 0 = 1 * = 1 = 4.5 2489
8 Parker, Jonathan m ENG 2470 = 0 = 0 = = = * = 1 4.0 2449
9 Volke, Karsten m GER 2475 = = = 0 0 = 0 = * 1 3.5 2411
10 Borge, Nikolaj m DEN 2455 = 0 0 0 1 0 = 0 0 * 2.0 2273
-------------------------------------------------------------------
11) VISA NORDIC GRAND PRIX 1996/97
-------------------------------
The following table shows the score and standings in the VISA Nordic
Grand Prix competition after the first three tournaments:
1st Reykjavik International Open, Iceland. March 2.-10. 1996
2nd Politiken Cup, Denmark. June 22nd to July 4th 1996
3rd [11.8.96] Arnold J. Eikrem Memorial 1996. Gausdal, Norway August 3–11
1996
Player Country NGP-1 NGP-2 NGP-2 Total
1. -- TIGER HILLARP PERSSON SWE - 21.50 21.50 43.00
2. GM MARGEIR PETURSSON ISL 13.00 5.00 24.50 42.50
3. GM CURT HANSEN DEN 13.00 24.50 - 37.50
4. GM SIMEN AGDESTEIN NOR 28.50 - 7.00 35.50
5. GM JOHANN HJARTARSON ISL 7.00 14.17 13.00 34.17
6. GM JONATHAN TISDALL NOR 26.50 - 2.50 29.00
7. GM JONNY HECTOR SWE 12.00 12.17 - 24.17
8. GM RUNE DJURHUUS NOR 7.00 4.00 13.00 24.00
9. GM EINAR GAUSEL NOR 4.50 12.17 7.00 23.67
10. GM HELGI ASS GRETARSSON ISL 9.00 - 13.00 22.00
11. GM HELGI OLAFSSON ISL 8.00 - 14.00 22.00
12. GM HANNES H. STEFANSSON ISL 17.00 - 4.50 21.50
13. GM THROSTUR THORHALLSSON ISL 6.00 - 13.00 19.00
14. IM NIKOLAJ BORGE DEN 17.00 - - 17.00
15. GM PETER HEINE NIELSEN DEN - 13.17 2.50 15.67
16. IM ERLING MORTENSEN DEN - 13.17 - 13.17
17. GM LARS BO HANSEN DEN - 12.17 - 12.17
18. GM RALF AKESSON SWE - 7.00 - 7.00
19. GM HEIKKI WESTERINEN FIN - - 7.00 7.00
20. IM LARS SCHANDORFF DEN - 6.00 - 6.00
21. IM JOHAN FURDOFF SWE - 4.00 - 4.00
22. IM STEFFEN PEDERSEN DEN - 4.00 - 4.00
23. IM SAMIR LEJLICS SWE - 4.00 - 4.00
24. IM BERGE OSTENSTAD NOR - - 3.50 3.50
25. -- STIG GABRIELSEN NOR - - 2.50 2.50
26. -- HELGE GUNDERSEN NOR - - 2.50 2.50
27. -- BRAGI HALLDORSSON ISL 1.50 - - 1.50
28. IM PATRIK LYBERG SWE 1.50 - - 1.50
29. -- MAGNUS ORN ULFARSSON ISL 1.50 - - 1.50
Individual results have been compiled and certified by Steen Juul
Mortensen, special supervisor of the competition, according to
the formal regulation. Further information about the Nordic Grand
Prix Tournament Series is published on the Chess in Iceland WWW
home page.
The 4th VISA NORDIC GRAND PRIX tournament will be held in Sweden,
as a part of The Rilton Cup in Stockholm, 27 Dec.-96 - 7. Jan.
-97 and the 5th one in the Faeroe Islands, as a part of the
Torshavn Open in February 1997.
The best results and individual performance from 3 out of 5 NGP
tournaments count for qualification to the Final Visa Nordic
Grand Prix, a Round Robin tournament of 14 players with
formidable prize fund, which will be held in Reykjavik, Iceland,
in the autumn of 1997. In case of a tie results from the fourth
and if needed fifth tournament will count. Further tie will be
broken by lot. The 14 and last seat will be filled by special
invitation.
Reykjavik, 14 August 1996 - Einar S. Einarsson, Chief
Administrative Officer of the NGP