The JR Chess Report (September 6)" Grand Slam Final Begins in Bilbao

Grand Slam Final Begins in Bilbao



The Grnad Slam Final Tournament began in Bilbao, Spian, today with three of the four winners of designated qualifying tournaments and Aremian grandmaster Levon Aronian, who took the place of Nanjing winner Veselin Topalov after Topalov withdrew from the event.

The other three competitors are Alexander Grischuk, who won this year's Linares International Tournament in March; Sergey Karjakin, now designated a Russian grandmaster, who won the Corus Tournament in Wijk aan Zee in January; and Alexei Shirov, playing in his adopted home country, who won the MTel Masters' Tournament in Sofia in May.

In today's first round action, Grischuck defeated Aronian in 52 moves while Karjakin and Shirov fought 25 moves to a draw.

The quadragular tournament consists of six rounds and ends Saturday.



Old Timers Defeat Youth for First Time



The Experience team scored its first victory in the three-year-old team match series against Rising Stars today in Amsterdam as the latest edition of the event ended in a 27½-22½ win for the old timers.

Not-so-old old timers Peter Heine Nielsen (36) and Peter Svidler (33) were the top scorers for the Experience team with 6½ and 6 points respectively.

Jan Smeets, the reigning Dutch national champion, was the only Rising Star to score better than 50% in the ten round match. Smeets had 6 points out of a possible 10. As the leading scorer on the Rising Stars, Smeets will compete in next Spring's Melody Amber Rapid/Blindfold Tournament in Nice, France. The past winners of the ticket to Nice from Amsterdam were Magnus Carlsen in 2007 and Sergey Karjakin in 2008.



Bacrot and Naiditsch lead Empresa in Montreal



French grandmaster Etienne Bacrot, who won the Aeroflot Open in February, and German GM Arkadij Naiditsch are tied for the lead in the 10th Montreal Chess Festival's Empresa International Tournament with 6 points each after nine rounds.

M. Bacrot's compatriot, Sebastian Maze, is in third place with 5½ points.

The tenth round began a few minutes ago and can be seen here by clicking the links that says parties.

The final round begins tomorrow at noon EDT.



Higher League Competes for spots in Russian Championship -- Riazantsev Leading



Russian grandmaster Alexander Riazantsev leads the Russian Higher League competition after 5 rounds with 4½ points in the Siberian outpost of Ulan-Ude.

Grandmaster Sanan Sjugirov is in second place with 4 points and nine participants, including reigning Europoean champion Evgeny Tomashevsky, are tied for third with 3½ points each.

The top five finishers will compete in the Russian National Championship this fall in Moscow.

The action can be followed at the website of the Russian Chess Federation. Games begin at 10 am Moscow time (11 pm the previous day PDT).



Sandipan Leads 4th Koltata Open



Indian GM Chanda Sandipan leads the fourth annual open tournament in Kolkata, the capital of India's West Bengal state formerly known as Calcutta.

Sandipan Sahib has 4½ points in five rounds.

Resurgent British GM Nigel Short, who is again his country's leading grandmaster after rejoining the mythical 2700 club last month, is one of five players tied for second with 4 points each. The others are Panchanathan Magesh Chandran of India; Emanul Hossain of Bangladesh; Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan; and the promising Vietnamese teenager, Le Quang Liem.

The event ends Thursday. The action can be followed at the website of the All India Chess Federation.


Poland Leads Second World Women's Team Championship in Ningbo



A strong team from Poland anchored by Rybka co-developer Iweta Rajlich leads the field in the second World Women's Team Championship in Ningbo, China, after five rounds.

Poland has won four matches and tied one for nine points out of a possible ten.

In addition to Mrs. Rajlich, the Polish team boasts of Joanna Dworakowska on board three, who has scored three points in the four game she has played for the team's best score.

China's first team (as host country, China fields two teams) and the Georgian team are in second place with seven points each.

The tournament ends Friday. Live broadcasts begin at 2:30 pm local time (11:30 pm the previous day PDT) on the event's official website.




Calendar


Second Pearl Spring Tournament, Nanjing 27 September-9 October. Topalov, Anand, Carlsen, Radjabov, Jakovenko and Wang Yue.

World Junior Championship, Mar del Plata (Argentina) 16-29 October.

European Club Cup (Team Championship), Novi Sad (Serbia) 21-31 October.

World Cup, Khanty Mansiysk 28 November-15 December.

London Chess Classic 7-16 December.

Corus Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee 15-31 January 2010. Nakamura has been invited to play in group A.

Anand-Topalov Match for the World Title, Site TBA c. April 2010.

CHENNAI, India (Reuters) - A leading French chess player turned up drunk and dozed off after just 11 moves in an international tournament in Kolkata, losing the round on technical grounds, domestic media reported Friday.

Grandmaster Vladislav Tkachiev arrived for Thursday's match against India's Praveen Kumar in such an inebriated state that he could hardly sit in his chair and soon fell asleep, resting his head on the table, Hindustan Times newspaper reported.

Indian papers carried pictures of the world number 58 sleeping and the organizers' futile attempts to wake his up.

The game was awarded to the Indian on the technical ground of Tkachiev being unable to complete his moves within the stipulated time of an hour and 30 minutes, the paper said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE5831HB20090904?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

He was declare forfeit of the game.

Tkachiev just won the French national championship.

It is the Reuter's headline so I guess it makes for a good headline. From reading the article it's clear it was forfeit but Reuter's wrote the headline, not me.

. . . from ChessBase.

Tkachiev has been in trouble like this over his drinking before. He likes life in the fast lane. Unfortunately, drinking goes that territory.

That's really too bad. He's a good player.

Mikhail Tal's drinking was legendary. There are two big difference between Tkachiev and Tal. First, Tal was in poor health his enire life and knew from his yout he wasn't likely to live to be an old man. Tal embraced life because he knew he wouldn't time to live, so he lived while he had the time. He was once asked about correspondence chess. He replied: I drink, I smoke, I gamble and I chase girls, but correspondence chess is a vice I've never acquired.

The second big difference is that Tal was a functioning drunk. After a night of drinking, a friend had to get Tal to a morning game. He could hardly walk. But he won the game.

I thought you might know a little bit about it. Interesting tidbit about Mikhail Tal.

Tkachiev has scored 3½ points in 6 rounds (as of today) in Kolkata. I would wager that the forfeited game is his only loss.

Incidently, he was playing an opponent he would be expected to beat. Had he done so, he would be within striking distance of first place.

I don't know what the prize money is like in Kolkata, but it sounds like Tkachiev took a pretty expensive drink. I hope it was good stuff.

Incidently, according to a friend of his, Tkachiev won the French national championship last month after going dry for three months. He won by a half-point over defending champion Maxime Vachier Lagrave.

That's a first. I can see soccer players falling asleep, but I guess chess makes sense also.

The poor guy was hungover, I guess. I'd probably start drinking too if I woke up one morning and realized chess was my whole life.;)

!!

Besides, in Tkachiev's case, chess isn't his whole life. There's also the women. Lots of women.

I think I need to rethink this...:evilgrin:

Now this is what I call a real sports figure . . .


AjedrezVinotinto

And I'm not kidding. That's her. In the picture.

Nikita Vitiugov
Photo: ChessBase.de (Germany)


Nikita Vitiugov - Evgeny Romanov
Russian Championship Higher League, Round 1
Ulan-Ude, 2 September 2009

Spanish Grand Royal Game: Yates Opening

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.d4

• 9.h3 is the main line move designed to prevent Black's next.

9...Bg4 10.d5

• If 10.Be3 exd4 11.cxd4 Na5 12.Bc2 then:
• If 12...c5 13.h3 then:
• 13...Bh5 14.g4 Bg6 15.Nbd2 Re8 16.d5 Nd7 17.Nh2 Bh4 18.Re2 Nc4 19.Nxc4 bxc4 is equal (Yemilin-Balashov, Russian Ch ½-finals, Kazan, 2005).
• 13...Bxf3 14.Qxf3 cxd4 15.Bxd4 Rc8 16.Bb3 Nc6 17.Qd1 Nxd4 18.Qxd4 Nh5 19.Nc3 Bf6 is equal (Ivanchuk-Romanishin, Ukrainian Ch, Kharkov, 2004).
• If 12...Nc4 13.Bc1 c5 14.b3 then:
• If 14...Nb6 15.Nbd2 Nfd7 16.h3 Bh5 17.Bb2 then:
• 17...Re8 18.a4 bxa4 19.bxa4 Rb8 20.a5 Nc8 21.Nc4 Na7 22.dxc5 Nxc5 23.Qd2 Bxf3 24.gxf3 Nc6 is equal (Kramnik-Adams, IT, Dormund, 2005).
• If 17...Rc8 18.Rc1 cxd4 19.Bxd4 Bf6 then:
• 20.g4 Bg6 21.Nf1 Nc5 22.Ng3 Ne6 23.Be3 Bb2 24.Rb1 Bc3 gives Black the initiative (Klovans-Geller, Soviet Ch, Moscow, 1976).
• 20.Be3 Bb2 21.Rb1 Bc3 22.Re2 Re8 23.g4 Bg6 24.Nf1 Qf6 gives Black the initiative (Fedorchuk-Froeyman, Op, Condom, 2005).
• 14...Na5 15.d5 Nd7 16.Nbd2 Bf6 17.Rb1 Bc3 18.h3 Bxf3 19.Qxf3 b4 20.Rd1 Re8 21.Nf1 Qf6 22.Qxf6 Nxf6 23.f3 is equal (Bronstein-Smyslov, ITZ, Petropolis, 1973).

10...Na5 11.Bc2 c6 12.h3 Bc8

• If 12...Bxf3!? 13.Qxf3! cxd5 14.exd5 Nc4 15.Nd2 Nb6 then:
• If 16.Nf1!? then:
• 16...Ne8?! 17.a4 bxa4 18.Ng3 g6 19.Bh6 Ng7 20.Bxa4 Nxa4 21.Rxa4 gives White a better center and a more active game (Tseshkovsky-Beliavsky, Soviet Ch, Tbilisi, 1978).
• 16...Nbxd5! 17.Ng3 Qc7 18.Nf5 Rfe8 is equal.
• 16.Bb3 Qc7 17.Nf1 Nc4 18.Ng3 Rfe8 19.Nf5 gives White the initiative and a slight advantage in space.

13.dxc6 Qc7 14.Nbd2 Qxc6 15.Nf1 Bb7

• If 15...Nc4 16.Ng3 Re8 17.a4 then:
• If 17...Be6 18.Ng5 Bd7 19.b3 Na5 20.Bd2 then:
• 20...Qc7 21.axb5 axb5 22.Qe2 h6 23.Nf3 Be6 24.Reb1 Reb8 25.Nh2 Qb7 26.Ng4 Nc6 27.b4 Nxg4 28.hxg4 Rxa1 29.Rxa1 is equal (Becerra-Kamsky, US Ch, San Diego, 2006).
• 20...Bd8 21.Nh5 h6 22.Nxf6+ Bxf6 23.Nf3 Qc7 24.axb5 axb5 25.Bd3 Be6 is equal (Adams-Aronian, IT, Dortmund, 2006).
• 17...Bb7 18.Qe2 Bf8 19.Bg5 Nd7 20.b3 Ncb6 21.a5 Nc8 22.c4 bxc4 23.Rec1 Na7 24.Be3 Qc8 25.bxc4 Nc5 26.Rcb1 gives White a small advantage in space (Kamsky-Eljanov, Grand Prix, Nalchik, 2009).

16.Ng3 Rfe8!?

• 16...g6 17.Qe2 Nc4 18.Bd3 Nb6 19.Bh6 Rfe8 20.Rad1 Rac8 21.Bb1 is equal (Kinderman-Barbero, Op, Debrecen, 1989).

17.Nf5

• White has a small advantage in space.

17...Bf8!?

• Black should fight back by seeking exchanges.
• If 17...Nc4! then:
• If 18.a4 Bf8 19.b3 Nb6 20.axb5 axb5 then:
• 21.Bb2 Rxa1 22.Bxa1 Ra8 is equal.
• 21.Rxa8 Rxa8 22.Bg5 Nfd7 is equal.
• If 18.b3 Nb6 19.Qd2 Bf8 20.Ba3 then:
• If 20...g6 21.Qg5 Qxc3 then:
• If 22.Bxd6! then:
• 22...Qxc2 23.Bxf8 Rxf8 24.Qxf6 gxf5 then:
• 25.Qxb6 Bxe4 26.Nxe5 Rfe8 27.Qe3 gives White a strong game.
• 25.Rac1 Qxa2 26.Qg5+ Kh8 27.Qxf5 Bc8 28.Qf6+ gives White a fierce attack.
• 22...Bxd6? 23.Nxd6 Qxc2 24.Qxf6 Re6 25.Qxf7+! wins for White.
• 22.Nxd6? Bxd6 23.Bxd6 Qxc2 24.Qxf6 Re6 wins a piece for Black.
• If 20...h6 21.Rad1 Rad8 22.Bxd6 Bxd6 23.Nxd6 then:
• If 23...Re6 24.Nxe5 then:
• 24...Rxe5 25.Qf4 Qxc3 26.Nxb7 Rxd1 27.Rxd1 Qxc2 28.Rd8+ Re8 leaves Black a pawn to the good.
• 24...Rexd6? 25.Nxc6 Rxd2 26.Nxd8 Rxd1 27.Bxd1 wins for White.
• 23...Rxd6? 24.Qxd6 Qxd6 25.Rxd6 Bxe4 wins for White.

18.Bg5 Nd7

• 18...Nc4 19.Bxf6 gxf6 20.Qb1 Qc5 21.Nh2 Re6 22.Ng4 gives White more freedom.

19.Nh2!?

• The game is equal
• If 19.a4 Nc4 20.b3 Na5 21.Bd2 Qb6 22.axb5 axb5 23.Qe2 Rec8 24.Red1 g6 25.Ng3 gives White an extra pawn.
• 21...Qc7 22.axb5 axb5 23.Qe2 d5 24.exd5 Bxd5 25.Qxb5 gives White an extra pawn and the initiative.

19...f6!?

• While this chases away the Bishop, Black opens the a2/g8 diagonal for White's other Bishop.
• 19...Nc4 20.Rb1 g6 21.Ne3 Nxe3 22.Rxe3 h6 23.Bh4 remains equal.

20.Bc1 Kh8 21.h4 d5 22.h5!?

• While White maneuvers on the kingside, Black strengthens his center.
• 22.Ne3 dxe4 23.b4 Rad8 24.bxa5 Nc5 25.Bd2 temporarily gives White an extra piece.

22...Rad8

• The game is once again equal.

23.Qg4 dxe4 24.Rxe4?

• White captures with the wrong piece.
• 24.Bxe4! Qc7 25.Bxb7 Nxb7 26.Be3 Ndc5 remains equal.

BLACK: Evgeny Romanov
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WHITE: Nikita Vitiugov
Position after 24.Re1e4:p

24...Nc5!

• Black takes the initiative.

25.Re3 Nc4 26.Rg3 Ne4 27.Rh3 Ncd6

• If 27...Rd7 then:
• 28.Rd3 Rxd3 29.Bxd3 Rd8 30.Bc2 Ncd2 gives Black the advantage in space.
• If 28.h6 g6 29.Ng7 f5 then:
• If 30.Bxe4 fxg4 31.Bxc6 Rd1+ 32.Nf1 Bxc6 then:
• 33.Rg3 Bxg7 34.hxg7+ Kg8! gives Black a strong game.
• 33.Rh4 Bc5!! 34.Nxe8 g3 35.Be3 Rxa1 36.Rxc4 bxc4 wins for Black.
• 30.Qf3? Red8 31.Bxe4 fxe4 32.Qe2 Rd1+ wins for Black.

28.Nxd6 Nxd6 29.Rg3 f5 30.Qh3 f4 31.Rg6

• If 31.Rd3 e4 32.Rd4 then:
• 32...e3 33.Rxf4 e2 34.Be3 Nc4 maintains a strong position for Black.
• 32...f3!? 33.gxf3 exf3 34.Be3 Qc8 35.Qxc8 Rxc8 36.a4 gives White some counterplay.

31...Qc8 32.Ng4

BLACK: Evgeny Romanov
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WHITE: Nikita Vitiugov
Position after 32.Nh2g4

32...Be4!?

• Black is on the vege of winning, but now begins to make some inferior move that cost him first the victory and then the game.
• If 32...Bd5 33.Rg5 Nf7 34.Rf5 Be6 35.Rxf7 Bxf7 36.h6 g6 37.Qf3 Bd5 38.Qe2 Bb7 leaves Black an exchange to the good.
• 35.Nxe5 Nxe5 36.Bxf4 Nf7 37.Be4 Bd7 wins for Black.

33.Bb3 Bxg6 34.hxg6 h6

• Forced.

35.Bc2 b4 36.Bd2 Nc4 37.Be1 e4!?

• Again Black balks at putting the game away.
• 37...Nxb2 38.Rb1 Qc4 39.Rxb2 Qe2 40.cxb4 Qxe1+ would just about finish Black.

38.cxb4 Ne5

• 38...Rd6 39.Rc1 Qd7 40.f3 exf3 41.Bc3 f2+ maintains Black's advantage, but it is no longer a winning advantage.

39.Nxe5 Rxe5 40.Qxc8?!

• After getting back in the game, White tries to give it back to Black again.
• 40.Qh4 e3 41.fxe3 Rxe3 42.Bc3 Rxc3 43.bxc3 leaves White up by a pawn.

40...Rxc8 41.Bb3

• If 41.Bc3 Re7 42.Kf1 Re6 then:
• 43.Rd1 Be7 44.Rd5 Bf6 45.Ke2 Bxc3 46.bxc3 Ree8 gives Black the initiative.
• 43.Bb3 Rb6 44.Rc1 Rd8 45.b5 Rxb5 46.Rd1 Rxd1+ Black is up by an exchange.

41...e3! 42.fxe3

• If 42.Bc3 then after 42...Re4 43.Bc2 Re7 44.Kf1 Ree8 45.Bd3 Rb8 Black is clearly better.

42...fxe3 43.Bc3 Rg5!?

• Black doesn't need to waste time pawn hunting. He needs to move his passed pawn forward.
• Better is 43...Ree8 44.Ba4 Re4 45.Bc2 Rf4 46.a3 Be7 when the focus is on Black's advanced passer.

BLACK: Evgeny Romanov
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WHITE: Nikita Vitiugov
Position after 43...Re5g5

44.Bf7!?

• Better is 44.Re1 Rg3 45.Be5 Rxg6 46.a3 Bd6 47.Rxe3 Rc1+ when Black is still better but the critical pawn is eliminated.

44...Bd6 45.Rd1 Bc7?!

• This is another critical error that costs Black his passer.
• Black remains better after 45...Rd8 46.Kf1 Bc7 47.Rxd8+ Bxd8 48.a4 Rg4, since if the e-pawn falls White's pawn at g2 will fall with it and Black will still have a passed pawn.

46.Rd7!

• Black cannot support his passed pawn.

46...Bb6

• If 46...Be5 then after 47.Re7 e2 48.Kf2 the pawn falls and the game is equal.

47.Rb7 Rb5 48.Kf1!

• White has equalized.

48...Bc7 49.Ra7 Rf5+

• 49...Rb6 50.Ke2 Rc6 51.a3 h5 52.Bd4 remains equal.

50.Ke1 Bb8 51.Rb7

• 51.Rxa6 Rf2 52.Re6 Bf4 53.Re4 Rd8 remains equal.

51...Bg3+?

• Having thrown away the victory, Black now throws away the draw.
• If 51...Rb5 52.Re7 Bd6 then:
• 53.Re4! Rcb8 54.a3 Bg3+ 55.Ke2 Bf2 56.Bd4 remains equal.
• 53.Rxe3!? Bxb4 54.Bxb4 Rxb4 55.b3 Rb6 56.a3 Rbc6 puts Black back in the driver's seat.

BLACK: Evgeny Romanov
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WHITE: Nikita Vitiugov
Position after 51...Bb8g3+

52.Ke2!

• Let it suffice to say the only other legal move loses.
• If 52.Kd1? Rf2 53.Re7 Rd8+ then:
• 54.Kc1 Bh4 55.Re4 e2 wins for Black.
56.Bd5 Rf1+ 57.Kc2 e1Q leaves Black a piece to the good.
• 54.Ke1 Rxb2+ 55.Kf1 Rd1+ 56.Be1 Rxe1#.

52...Rb8

• 52...Rb5 53.Re7 Bd6 54.Ra7 Bxb4 55.Bxg7+ Kxg7 56.Bc4+ gives White an extra pawn.

53.Rd7 Rg5 54.Kxe3 Be5

• 54...Bh2 55.Re7 Rd8 56.Kf2 Rf8 57.Re6 Ra8 58.Rc6 is equal.

55.Rd5 Bf6 56.Rxg5 hxg5 57.Kd3

• 57.g4! deprives Black of all reserve pawn tempi.

57...g4 58.Kc4 g3

• Black had nothing better to do but to spend his last two pawn tempi anyway.

59.Bd5 Rc8+ 60.Kb3 Rd8 61.Bb7 Rd6 62.a4 Bd8

• The text move shortens the agony.
• Even som Black is barely holding on to any hope after 62...Rb6 63.Bd5 Bg5 64.Bc4 Rxg6 65.a5.

BLACK: Evgeny Romanov
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WHITE: Nikita Vitiugov
Position after 62...Bf6d8

63.a5!

• White wins.
• If 63.b5!? axb5 then:
• 64.a5! Rxg6 65.a6 Bb6 66.Kb4 Rg5 67.Bc6 gives White excellent winning chances.
• 64.axb5!? Rxg6! 65.Kc4 Bc7 66.Bd5 Rh6 is equal.

63...Rxg6

• If 63...Bf6 64.Ka4 Re6 65.b5 axb5+ 66.Kxb5 then:
• 66...Bxc3 67.bxc3 Re5+ 68.Kb6 Re6+ 69.Bc6 wins for White.
• If 66...Re2 then after 67.a6 Bxc3 68.bxc3 Rb2+ 69.Ka5 Ra2+ 70.Kb6 White easily gets his King to b8 and wins.

64.Bd4 Rd6 65.Bc5 Rd2

• If 65...Re6 then after 66.Ka4 Bf6 67.b5 axb5+ 68.Kxb5 Re2 69.b4 White wins.

66.b5 Bf6 67.bxa6 Rxb2+ 68.Ka3 1-0

• White will queen a pawn.
• Romanov resigns.