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Hikaru Nakamura receives his winners check from Rex Sinquefield, US Championship sponsor, president and founder of the Chess Club and Scholastic Centre of Saint Louis - photo by Betsy Dynako of Inspiring Art.
In the final round, second-seeded Nakamura, who last won the title in 2004, resorted to "back to the future" tactics to win a convincing miniature against GM Josh Friedel, as he confused his opponent with a very rare sideline of 8. Bd3 in the Two Knights Defense which was played by Isidore Gunsberg against Mikhail Chigorin back in 1890. Checkout Nick de Firmian's Game of the Day from the final round to see what happened.
Also checkout the 10-minute post-championship video interview by Macauley Peterson and WGM Jennifer Shahade with Hikaru Nakamura, just minutes after he was confirmed as the new champion. Click here to view.
There was also more good news at the official closing ceremony when CCSCSL founder and president, Rex Sinquefield announced that Saint Louis would also host the 2010 Championship!
The 18th edition of the Amber tournament in Nice, France, just concluded with defending champion Levon Aronian becoming one of the few players to win a triple crown at the tournament.
The Armenian ace took the lion’s share of the $287,000 prize fund by winning the combined tournament outright and sharing first equal (with Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik) in the blindfold, and also first equal (with Vishy Anand and Gata Kamsky) in the rapid.
Chess.FM's Macauley Peterson has some amazing video and audio interviews from Amber that can be found on the Chess.FM Blog. The Chess.FM commentary team was also in action throughout, and you can find their "Game of the Day" for each round below.
GAME OF THE DAY: Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess Tournament 2009 (March 14th - 26th)
Start time 9:30 a.m. ET (CET 2:30 p.m.) - Last round 7:30 a.m. ET(CET 12:30 p.m.) * Videos are FREE to all. *
After a week-long series of qualifiers followed by an exciting 32-player final, ICC has a new Dos Hermanas champion! He's 20-year-old Ukraine GM Dmitry Kononenko (Dako), who dominated the final by beating GM Zaven Andriasyan (ZavenGrozny), 3.5-1.5, to take the 2009 title and €2,000 first prize.
En route to the title though, Kononenko fought off two formidable challenges. Firstly, in the quarter-finals, he beat top seed Hikaru Nakamura (CapilanoBridge), 2.5-1.5, before an epic semi-finals match-up with two-time winner Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (NECF-InSchools), which he edged out the defending champion by 5-4.
Click here for brackets for Dos Hermanas 32-player finals, scores and game downloads.
After the high-drama of an exciting penultimate round, the final round at Linares proved to be less dramatic with all four games drawn, leaving the two leaders, Alexander Grischuk of Russia and Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine tied at the top with plus two scores of 8/14.
But Linares is Linares and there has to be one overall winner of the Spanish supertournament, so the title this year went - fittingly, as he led for most of it - to Grischuk in one of the best results of his career. The Linares method of deciding tiebreaks is first based on individual scores against each other (both draws), and secondly on number of total wins, with Grischuk having three to Ivanchuk's two.
For all the best post-Linares reactions to the results, check out Macauley Peterson's videos and interviews now at the new ICC Chess.FM Blog.
Catch the full rebroadcast (over 4 hours worth!) of GM Peter Svidler's commentary of World Chess Challenge opening round, as he expertly dissects the days play and discusses major chess issues of the day. Don't miss it! This is for ICC members-only.
Watch the video
GAME OF THE DAY: World Chess Challenge + Linares 2009
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World Chess Challenge + Linares '09
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VampJack
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Game 14
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House of Staunton Trivia Contest
Game of the Day Email Trivia Contest! ICC Chess.FM ICC and The House of Staunton present the Game of the Day e-mail trivia, where each day an ICC member will win the Zagreb '59 series set, a reproduction of the classic set used during the 1959 Candidates tournament in Bled, Zagreb and Belgrade, Yugoslavia, that featured Tal, Keres, Petrosian, Smyslov, Gligoric, Olafsson, Benko and a young 16-year-old Bobby Fischer!
As you can see from the picture above, kindly supplied by the organizers of the recent Gibtelecom Masters in Gibraltar, ICC Chess.FM favorite, Peter Svidler, is an avid cricket fan (he once famously played here at ICC with the username of "Tendulkar") and was more than happy to show his prowess at the game pre-tournament in the practice nets as he fended off a few balls. READ MORE
The Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee ended in a teenage rampage with three of the youngest players taking the sole top spots in the A, B and C groups ahead of experienced professionals.
In the top-rated A group, Ukraine's Sergey Karjakin, now 19, and who still holds the record at 12 of being the world's youngest-ever grandmaster, emerged the only winner going into the 6-way tie at the top in the final round. He defeated Cuban fellow leader Leinier Dominguez to take the biggest victory of his career to date, as none of the other joint leaders could win to join him on 8/13.
In the B group, young Italian stallion Fabiano Caruana, 17, saved the best till last with a stunning last round victory over leader Nigel Short to pip the English world championship challenger to the top spot. Caruana took the title and automatic promotion to next year's A group with his score of 8.5/13, a half point ahead of Short, Alexander Motylev (Russia) and Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Kazakhstan).
And to complete the rampage, the youngest terror of them all, 15-year-old Wesley So, from the Philippines, easily secured his promotion to next year's B group with a convincing win of the C group. So, on 9.5/13, took the title a full point ahead of Tiger Hillarp Persson (Sweden) and Anish Giri (Russia).
Catch the full rebroadcast (over 4 hours worth!) of GM Peter Svidler's commentary of Corus opening round, as he expertly dissects the days play and discusses major chess issues of the day. Don't miss it! This is for ICC members-only.
'New in Chess' TRIVIA Contest! ICC Chess.FM ICC and New in Chess present The
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For more information and rules, visit our help page.
Corus Wijk aan Zee '09
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V-Proudian
BobbyTal
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chipahoy
EeEk
Nogard
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miranda01
miranda01
RLLN
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RidingOnThewind & zenzanon
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Game 7
Schaakie
ThatOne
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Game 8
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Chessklok
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Game 9
Laurentius
panosjoydome
Phlox
Game 10
siddhu
fearlab
chesschallenged
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Game 13
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Game of the Day Email Trivia Contest! ICC Chess.FM ICC and The House of Staunton present the Game of the Day e-mail trivia, where each day an ICC member will win the Reykjavik chess set, an exact reproduction of one of the most famous sets ever produced, the set used for the legendary Fischer-Spassky 1972 World Championship Match.
Corus Wijk aan Zee '09
Winners
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Wombat
Game 2
Four-queens
Game 3
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Game 5
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Emstrem
Corus Call-In Contest winners
Corus Call-In Contest! ICC Chess.FM ICC and Everyman Chess present Corus Call-In, where ICC members can leave their questions on Skype, with the best ones aired during the show, and each day a signed copy of the latest book in Garry Kasparov's series on Modern Chess, Kasparov-Karpov 1975-1985, going to the best question!
A new year brought with it a new tournament on the international calendar, as the Aker Chess Challenge (the main event of the Gjovik International Festival) ran January 2-5 in Gjovik, Norway.
The four superstars in action for this inaugural event included: Local hero Magnus Carlsen, five-time Russian champion Peter Svidler, American ace Hikaru Nakamura, and Kjetil Lie of Norway. READ MORE
The coming new year is shaping up to be an interesting one chess-wise, as Veselin Topalov turned in a trademark bulldozing of the field to win the Pearl Spring Super-GM tournament in Nanjing, China - yet another truly phenomenal performance by the Bulgarian.
Topalov, undefeated on 7/10, reigned supreme to take the title and first prize of $112,000 with a round to spare. The blowout from the Bulgarian equated to a tournament performance rating of 2890, with the Elo rating points gained giving him first place (yet again), ahead of world champion Vishy Anand, come the publication later next week of the January 1st FIDE world rankings.
This all bodes well for Topalov's world championship qualifier in Sofia, Bulgaria, coming in February 2009 against America's Gata Kamsky -- a match everyone expects him to win on his home turf and in his present form. And indeed, should he win, he will play what looks to be a lucrative title decider against Anand.
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ICC was saddened to hear that IM Mark Diesen died suddenly prior to Christmas, aged 51, in Conroe, Texas. A former native of Buffalo, New York, Mark was a World Junior Chess Champion in 1976, the US Junior Co-Champion, the Louisiana State Champion in 1986, 1987, 1988, Texas State Champion, Southwestern Open Champion, and an active chess coach in Houston. He was active here also on ICC under the username "Diesen", both as a player and a former Chess.FM lecturer.
Our thoughts at this time are with his wife, Melinda, and daughters Gina, Amy and Sarah. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the U.S. Chess Trust, PO Box 838, Wallkill, NY 12589, 800-388-5464.
In another seasonal special for ICC, two-time Dos Hermanas winner, Jorge Sammour-Hasbun, brings us two instructive videos to help improve your blitz skills and endgame knowledge.
Jorge is unquestionably one of the top dogs on ICC for blitz, as his phenomenal successes in winning the last two Dos Hermanas tournaments ably demonstrate. And in Improve Your Blitz (60 min), Jorge shows you all the little tricks and tips that will make you a better blitz player. His second video, Middlegame to Endgame (35 min), shows you how best to take a middlegame advantage through to a won endgame using a simple technique.
Taking a break from the “Elite” Grandmaster circuit, ICC sent Macauley Peterson to Orlando, Florida, to check out potential stars of the future at the National Scholastic K-12 Grade Championship.
Kids from all over the U.S.A. competed in sections based on grade level, some individually, but most on school teams of three or more players. And conspicuous among the regulars to the winners stage were Chess.FM commentators Joel Benjamin (ICC: MrHat), John Fedorowicz (ICC: bronxbattler), and Nick Defirmian (ICC: N-DeFirmian), who coached for New York private schools Columbia Grammar and Horace Mann.
You can check out Macauley's video and audio coverage at the Chess.FM blog by clicking here.
The 2nd Gibtelecom Qualifier, held on the ICC on Saturday, December 13 saw nearly 400 players battling it out through two hotly-contested large swiss events for the coveted 8 spots for the finals.
And just like last year's inaugural event, again there's an all-titled line-up for the finals with (in ICC rating order): 1. IM Anton Kovalyov (Argentina), 2. GM Alexey Dreev (Russia), 3. FM Federico Perez Ponsa (Argentina), 4. IM Levon Atounian (USA), 5. GM Yuri Vovk (Ukraine), 6. IM Gaby Livshitz (Israel), 7. GM Mark Hebden (England), 8. GM Sergei Azarov (Belarus).
And in the finals, it was the young turks who prevailed over the veterans as 15-year-old FM Federico Perez Ponsa (Argentina) and 20-year-old GM Yuri Vovk (Ukraine) fought it out for the top prize, with the Ukrainian winning the tussle 3.5-2.5.
Prizes:
GM Yuri Vovk - Gibraltar package
FM Federico Perez Ponsa - USD $400
GM Mark Hebden - USD $150
IM Anton Kovalyov - USD $150
¤
1/4 FINAL
1/2 FINAL
FINAL
1 8
IM Anton Kovalyov (ARGENTINA, 3419) 5.0 GM Sergei Azarov (BELARUS, 2764) 3.0
For over an hour, Kasparov signed copies of various books and posed for photos with customers, many of whom had lined up early to await his arrival. Afterwards, Kasparov spoke to Macauley Peterson of Chess.FM about his Great Predecessors series, K vs K 1975-1985, and future works in the pipeline for publishers Everyman. A video not to be missed!
Have you read and viewed the latest two entries on Chess.FM's exciting new blog? Svidler on Russian's woes is a 4 min audio interview by Macauley Peterson, as the five-time Russian champion rebuts former World Champions Boris Spassky and Anatoly Karpov, who both raised concerns about the present state of the Russian Olympiad Team after failing to win a medal in Dresden.
Also not to be missed is The Oldest Olympian, as Jonathan Hilton talks to Olympiad legend Bill Hook of the British Virgin Islands, who at 83 was playing in his 17th Olympiad. In this 5 min video, Hook talks about his career and his best-selling memoir for New In Chess, Hooked on Chess.
Anyone can read the blog, but ONLY ICC members can exchange comments. Other features in the blog include Macauley Peterson's video reporting direct from Dresden, where he's given Chess.FM scoops on the Kamsky-Topalov match. There's also audio and video from Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Boris Gelfand (Israel) , Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Boris Spassky (France), Fabiano Caruana (Italy), Varuzhan Akobian (USA), Irina Krush (USA), Alejandro Ramírez Álvarez (Costa Rica), David Smerdon (Australia), Baadur Jobava (Georgia), Wang Hao and Hou Yifan (China), and Georg Meier (Germany).
ICC was saddened to hear that IM Robert “Bob” Wade OBE, regarded by many as the doyen of British Chess, died last week in London of complications from pneumonia, aged 87.
A three-time New Zealand champion, Bob was born in Dunedin, New Zealand 1921. Early in his career though, he emigrated to the U.K. and became British champion at Chester 1952, and again in 1970 at Coventry. He represented England in seven Olympiads between 1954 and 1972.
From 1969, Bob edited Batsford Chess Books - a famed series known to all that launched a publishing boom for chess material in English across the world. He also had an extensive chess library that was consulted by authors, journalists and top players alike - and he even supplied secret files on Taimanov, Larsen, Petrosian and Spassky for Bobby Fischer, on his road to capturing the world title in 1972 (and also his 1992 rematch with Spassky).
But arguable his greatest contribution was that in laying the foundations for the English chess explosion, as he and Leonard Barden successfully groomed a stable full of young players to top grandmaster level, resulting in England, during the mid-1980s being the main threat to the Soviet dominance in the game.
Bob was awarded his OBE by the Queen of Gt. Britain for his services to chess in 1979. A couple of Bob's acclaimed books as author include Soviet Chess and (in conjunction with Kevin O'Connell) The Games of Robert J. Fischer. Bob Wade: Tribute to a Chess Master was released last year highlighting his playing career. With a ready quick wit, he was one of the most likable and trusted personalities on the chess scene and will be sadly missed by all in the game.
In a special audio tribute on the Chess.FM blog, Macauley Peterson interviews GM Jon Speelman and IM Malcolm Pein on the life and times of Bob Wade OBE. To listen to this special tribute, click here. A fuller obituary of Bob's outstanding career and service to the game can be found at Mark Crowther's TWIC. Other obituaries come from Malcolm Pein at The Daily Telegraph, Leonard Barden at The Guardian. There's also an interesting 1999 interview with Bob Wade by John Saunders at the British Chess Magazine.
The tiny chess-mad nation of Armenia clinched the gold medal at the 38th Olympiad in Dresden, as they successfully defended their title by retaining the Hamilton Russell Cup with a final score of 19/22.
But in a moment of high-drama at the Olympiad, a spectacular last round meltdown from Ukraine - - who were joint overnight leaders with Armenia - saw the silver medal going to Israel. Second seeds Ukraine were routed 3.5-0.5 by the USA in their worst Olympiad score ever, as the USA snatched the bronze medal on tiebreak from the 2004 Olympiad champions.
And for the third Olympiad running, top seeds Russia finished out of the medal hunt, despite sending their strongest-ever Olympiad squad.
In the women's section, Georgia rolled back the years to pull off a first victory since 1996 in Yerevan. Led by former world champion GM Maya Chiburdanidze - who also took the individual gold medal for her performance on top board - the Georgians clinched gold and the Gaprindashvili Cup on tiebreak, ahead of defending champions Ukraine, with the big surprise of a double joy for USA as they took bronze on tiebreak from top-seeds Russia and Poland.
You can read more about the Olympiad in ICC's new Chess.FM blog! Anyone can read the blog, but ONLY ICC members can login to leave comments. Other features in the blog include Macauley Peterson's video reporting direct from Dresden, where he's given Chess.FM scoops on the Kamsky-Topalov match. There's also audio and video from Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Boris Gelfand (Israel) , Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Boris Spassky (France), Fabiano Caruana (Italy), Varuzhan Akobian (USA), Irina Krush (USA), Alejandro Ramírez Álvarez (Costa Rica), David Smerdon (Australia), Baadur Jobava (Georgia), Wang Hao and Hou Yifan (China), and Georg Meier (Germany).
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Iturrizaga, 19, won 3-1 in the blitz tiebreakers after two tough draws in the rapid matches, to take the top prize of the Corus C Group invite, round-trip ticket to Amsterdam, Hotel & Breakfast in Wijk aan Zee, plus $1300 appearance fee.
The result of a place in the famous Corus tournament is a dream come true for the young three-time Venezuelan champion, who is a national hero being his country's one and only grandmaster. It also comes on the back of some promising results during the summer for Iturrizaga, who was runner-up (behind Peruvian GM Julio Granada Zuniga) in the 2008 Iberamerican Championship before going on to win the Central America & Caribbean Fide Sub-Zonal.
16-players - selected by Corus, in consultation with ICC - from around the globe originally fought it out in this unique online rapid knockout tournament. And to ensure fair-play for all, at each location and for each match, an independent "proctor" was in place to oversee the proceedings, many of whom being national chess officials, international arbiters, national arbiters and ICC administrators.
¤
1/8 FINAL
1/4 FINAL
1/2 FINAL
FINAL
1
16
GM Alexander Fier (BRA, 2581) 1.5
FM Graham Morrison (SCO, 2328) 0.5
GM Fier 1.5
IM Mekhitarian 0.5
GM Fier 2.5
GM Salgado 1.5
GM Fier 1 GM Iturrizaga 3
8
9
IM Manuel Rodriguez (CUB, 2521) 0
IM Sevak Mekhitarian (BRA, 2511) 2.0
5
12
GM Ivan Salgado (ESP, 2556) 2.5
FM Anish Giri (RUS, 2466) 1.5
GM Salgado 1.5
GM Bluvshtein 0.5
4
13
GM Mark Bluvshtein (CAN, 2557)
IM Robert Ris (NED, 2417) bye/no-show
3
14
GM Georg Meier (GER, 2558)
FM Marcus Santo (BRA, 2394) bye/no-show
GM Meier 1.5
IM Robson 0.5
GM Meier 0.5
GM Iturrizaga 1.5
6
11
IM Sanan Sjugirov (RUS, 2549) 2.0
IM Ray Robson (USA, 2466) 3.0
7
10
GM Eduardo Iturrizaga (VEN, 2538)
IM David Smerdon (AUS, 2470) bye/no-show
The eagerly-awaited announcement of the participants for the Corus A Group has just been released, and Norwegian teenage sensation, Magnus Carlsen, is joined by "old hands" Alexander Morozevich (Russia) and Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) as top seeds for the 71st edition, which runs from Friday, January 16th to Sunday, February 1st, 2009 in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands.
Carlsen won the jubilee event earlier in the year in January along with the Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian, who also returns as one of the main seeds.
Five players will make their debut in the A-group: the young Dutch grandmasters Jan Smeets and Daniel Stellwagen, the sensational Wang Yue from China, who climbed up to the 11th place on the latest world ranking list, the winner of Grandmastergroup B in 2008, Sergei Movsesian, and the flamboyant grandmaster Leinier Dominguez from Cuba (ranked 21st on the FIDE October rating list).
BBC World Service: The title of "World Chess Champion" is up for grabs in Bonn, Germany. The two finalists - from India and Russia - are battling through a 12-Game match.
Anchor Marco Werman gets the latest from reporters Macauley Peterson and Arvind Aaron, who are covering the showdown for the Internet Chess Club.
Congratulations to Vishy Anand of India, who with a draw in game 11 against Russian challenger Vladimir Kramnik, won the match 6.5-4.5 to be crowned the undisputed world champion!
Needing to win in a do-or-die situation for Kramnik in game 11, the Russian tried his best to complicate things from the off with a wild main-line Sicilian Najdorf, but Anand was more than a match as he neutralized all the potential dangers to emerge from the complications with an edge, as the game ended in a 24 move draw.
After all the schisms of recent years of rivaling world titles with various different formats from KO to tournament-style events, Anand has emerged as the best and can safely be regarded as World Champion #15 in a heritage line that stretches back to Wilhelm Steinitz in 1886.
Name of Player
Game
Total Points
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Anand
0.5
0.5
1
0.5
1
1
0.5
0.5
0.5
0
0.5
6.5
Kramnik
0.5
0.5
0
0.5
0
0
0.5
0.5
0.5
1
0.5
4.5
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World Championship
Date
Round
Host
Commentator
GOTD
Call-In Winners
Tuesday, October 14
1
Mig
Joel Benjamin
Wednesday, October 15
2
Mig
Joel Benjamin
Friday, October 17
3
Mig
Jan Gustafsson
Saturday, October 18
4
Mig
Nick de Firmian
Monday, October 20
5
Ronen Har-Zvi
Jon Speelman
Tuesday, October 21
6
Mig
Larry Christiansen
Thursday, October 23
7
Mig
Ronen Har-Zvi
Friday, October 24
8
Mig
Larry Christiansen
Sunday, October 26
9
Mig
Nick de Firmian
Monday, October 27
10
Mig
Gregory Kaidanov
Wednesday, October 29
11
Mig
Jan Gustafsson
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World Championship '08
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Game 1
RueeLopaith
trabiwa
FourthDimension
Game 2
Russianbear
pawn111
castlekeep
Game 3
sloper-c
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Masciarelli
Game 4
finnerik
joesixpack
TAlent
Game 5
Rueelopaith
KoalaDefence
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Game 6
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Game 7
Jack-ONeill
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Game 8
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Game of the Day Email Trivia Contest! ICC Chess.FM ICC and The House of Staunton present the Game of the Day e-mail trivia, where each day of the world championship match, an ICC member will win the Reykjavik chess set, an exact reproduction of one of the most famous sets ever produced, the set used for the legendary Fischer-Spassky 1972 World Championship Match.
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Darrenov
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Dondo
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World Championship Call-In Contest! ICC Chess.FM ICC and Everyman Chess present World Championship Call-In, where ICC members can leave their questions on Skype, with the best ones aired during the show, and each day a signed copy of the latest book in Garry Kasparov's series on Modern Chess, Kasparov-Karpov 1975-1985, going to the best question!
In a dramatic finale to the Grand Slam Final in Bilbao last weekend, Veselin Topalov outplayed Vassily Ivanchuk to not only win the record-breaking $215,000 first prize but also turbo-boost his rating to become the new World #1.
With four wins, five draws and one loss, the Bulgarian proved to be the big in-form player in the richest tournament-ever, as he took the title by a big margin ahead of Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian, with the Norwegian teenager taking second place and $100,000 on tiebreak ahead of the Armenian.
The rating surge took Topalov to the top of Hans Arild Runde’s virtual live rating list - and with the official cut-off date for FIDE’s October list falling a few days after Bilbao, this mean Topalov once again tops the official world rankings to be published next week.
But all eyes were also on the opposite end of the table at Bilbao. Vishy Anand slumped big-time to finish last, as he ceded his coveted #1 spot to first Carlsen, Ivanchuk and then Topalov in the same week(!) - not exactly the best of preparations for the world champion with the first defence of his title coming up next month in Bonn, Germany, against challenger Vladimir Kramnik.
Chess.FM had unrivaled coverage throughout Bilbao with Mig Greengard hosting our live coverage each day, supported by his regular GM sidekicks of Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen, Nick de Firmian, Ronen Har-Zvi, Gregory Kaidanov, not to mention our very special guest commentator, four-time Russian champion Peter Svidler. We also had American Chess Journalist of the Year, Macauley Peterson giving us his unique video spin of all the action from Bilbao.
During our live broadcast, there’s also the New In Chess Trivia contest, where each day you could win ICC membership extensions and the top prize of a one year subscription to the best chess magazine in the world, New In Chess! You can view some of the highlights with our special 5 min preview clip from live Chess.FM during Bilbao - click here to discover just what all our members are raving about and what you are missing by not being a member of ICC!
The same Chess.FM team, plus more surprise top commentators will be here on ICC giving all our members the best move-by-move action from the “Battle in Bonn”, as Anand and Kramnik square off October 14th to November 2nd in their 12-game, $2 million plus world title match. Why not join all the action here at ICC Chess.FM by signing up for your 7-day trial membership now - don’t delay, sign-up today!
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Tune-in to Mig on ICC Chess.FM for our round-by-round coverage of the Grand Slam Finals in Bilbao, Spain, and each round you could win a 1-year subscription to the world's best chess magazine in the New in Chess TRIVIA Contest!
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It looks as if a “Wang Bang” in Amsterdam could provide another defining moment for Chinese chess. Nineteen-year-old Wang “Bang” Yue, China’s exciting and explosive young teenage sensation, is blowing away the opposition in the Rising Stars vs. Experience match in the Dutch capital, and looks to be on the brink of a major breakthrough into the elite arena.
After getting off to a perfect start of six wins, Wang was held to his first draw by Norwegian GM Simen Agdestein before getting back to his winning ways by beating GM Artur Jussupow. In the penultimate round, he found himself fighting for a draw - and getting - against the one and only, the venerable Viktor Korchnoi.
Now on 8/9, and a tournament performance rating of 2940, Wang has (so far) increased his Elo rating by a seismic 33-points and now looks destined to become the first Chinese player in history to enter the world’s elite Top 10. And already his rise in status hasn’t gone unnoticed. Jeroen van den Berg, Tournament Director for the world famous Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee, approached Wang in Amsterdam with an invite to play in next January’s Grandmaster ‘A Group’ alongside superstars Anand, Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Carlsen and Topalov.
In the 'Scheveningen' team match in Amsterdam, sponsored by NH Hotels, in conjunction with the Monaco-based Association Max Euwe, the Rising Stars team leads the Experience team by a one-sided score of 30-15 with the final round left to play.
Wang’s performance though has overshadowed that of his fellow teammate, Ivan Cheparinov, who has also had a stellar tournament being unbeaten on 7/9, with a full point separating the two going into the final round. This is important because the Rising Stars’ player with the top score also gets an automatic invitation to another prestigious tournament on the elite circuit, that being next year’s Amber Rapid and Blindfold tournament in Nice, France.
ICC Chess.FM's Macauley Peterson (voted Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America - Congratulations, Macauley!) brings us his inimitable spin on this intriguing match-up, with daily videos throughout, along with Peter Doggers of ChessVibes.com. Check out their videos below.
Books and songs were written about him; and the ongoing Tal Memorial in Moscow further reminds us of the legacy of the incomparable Soviet-Latvian attacking genius Mikhail Tal, who died in 1992, aged just 56.
They called him the "Magician from Riga," and even to this day, the compliment "You played like Tal" is regarded as the highest praise we can give to anyone who wins a dazzling attacking game. And in Moscow right now, the player today most likened to Tal, Russia's Alexander Morozevich, is leading the Tal Memorial at the midpoint.
With an uncompromising style of fighting chess that makes him a big crowd-pleaser, “Moro” stunned the former world champion, Vladimir Kramnik, in round three, with a 31 move victory to take the outright lead, and now enjoys a half point lead over the chasing pack on 3.5/5 going into Saturday's rest day.
Standings: 1. A. Morozevich (Russia), 3.5/5; 2-4. S. Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), R. Ponomariov (Ukraine), V. Ivanchuk (Ukraine), 3; 5-7. B. Gelfand (Israel), P. Leko (Hungary), V. Kramnik (Russia), 2.5; 8-9. E. Alekseev (Russia), G. Kamsky (Russia), 2; 10. A. Shirov (Spain), 1.
The Chess.FM team of Mig Greengard and GMs Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen, Nick de Firmian, Ronan Har-Zvi and Gregory Kaidanov have been busy doing live coverage throughout for ICC, and below you can catch-up with some of the action with their Tal Memorial "Game of the Day" selection.
Play will resume on Sunday, August 24 and will go through till Wednesday, August 27, starting daily at 7am ET here on ICC. Official website: http://www.russiachess.org/
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Four-time Russian champion Peter Svidler joined the Chess.FM team for their round five live coverage of the Tal Memorial. In this exclusive, 90 minute rebroadcast video, Svidler dissects the days play and discusses major chess issues of the day. Don't miss it!
Anand showed why he's still the world's number one player by beating Magnus Carlsen decisively in the final of the Grenke Leasing Rapid World Championship. Macauley spoke to Magnus after the event.
Kosteniuk & Nakamura top Mainz Chess960. Macauley wraps up the Women's Chess960 World Championship and the FiNet Open.
Viswanathan Anand is in Mainz for the Rapid World Championship. Macauley brings you video from the opening press conference and a preview of what's to come all weekend long.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Hikaru! After winning the recent ICC-Mainz Chess960 qualifier, U.S. Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura (Smallville) lived up to his Superman-themed handle by going on to win the FiNet Chess960 crown at the Mainz Chess Classic in Germany!
The FiNet Chess960 Open started though on a somber note with a one minute silence in respect of Bobby Fischer, the former world champion who died earlier this year and who endorsed his own version of shuffle chess used in Mainz.
And among the 83-player field, there were 44 grandmasters with the average rating of the top 10 players being 2687! Players like Sergei Movsesian and Pavel Eljanov, who have a 2700+ rating and once again some players came to Mainz who have a 2650+ rating like Sasikiran, Najer, Kasimdzhanov, Almasi, Motylev, Fressinet, Tregubov and Bareev.
But ICC qualifier Hikaru Nakamura, a dark horse tipped by many to do well, took first place on tiebreak ahead of Motylev and Movsesian, as all three finished in equal first on 9/11. Congratulations Hikaru on picking up yet another major European title!
The Mainz Chess Classic includes a cornucopia of tournaments and Opens in traditional and Random Chess featuring a whole galaxy of chess stars old and new - and we urge you to checkout the links below to follow all the results from this extravaganza.
All of which is just a warm-up act for the main event now underway, the Grenke-Leasing Rapid Chess World Championship featuring the current World Champion and world #1 Vishy Anand, the young Norwegian pretender Magnus Carlsen, Russian maestro Alexander Morozevich and the strongest female player of all time, Judit Polgar. ICC will be relaying the games from this event live each day, and also not to be missed is GM Ronen Har-Zvi GOTD from Mainz. Full
ICC schedule.
Chess.FM's Macauley Peterson is also in Mainz and he'll be bringing you video reports on all the action and news.
Four players tied for First in the 36th Annual World Open in Philadelphia (July 6), but Evgeny Najer (Russia) from Moscow, earned the World Open title by winning an Armageddon-style blitz playoff over Parimarjan Negi (India). Both players had edged out Alexander Moiseenko (Ukraine) and Lubomir Ftacnik (Slovakia) on tie-breaks to reach the playoff. All four took home over $12,000 for their efforts! Macauley spoke to Najer, Negi, and Moiseenko after the critical last round and filed this report:
With
a late push at the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund, Peter Leko took the
honors and clear first with his +2 winning score of 4.5/7.
Dortmund went Leko’s way after a penultimate round victory over the unlikely
German overnight leader Jan (GodGusti) Gustaffson. A last round draw with Arkadij
Naiditsch secured the Hungarian No.1 the title (his third at Dortmund), a half
point ahead of the chasing pack.
Dortmund has usually belonged to Vladimir Kramnik, who has won or shared first
there eight times, including the last two editions. But, worryingly in his penultimate
outing before taking on Vishy Anand in a title challenge in October, there was
a reversal of fortunes for the former world champion.
Kramnik’s normally dependable Petroff was again blown
away, this time in the final round by Vassily Ivanchuk, as he turned in a traumatic
-2 (where he’s normally ‘Mr. +2’) to finish second from last
- easily the Russian’s worst performance ever, as he lost in the process
15 Elo-points to slip to world No.6 on Hans Arild Runde’s Live Ratings
at www.chess.liverating.org.
And if you thought Kramnik’s performance was bad, then
spare a thought for his sometime second '(Un)Lucky' Loek Van Wely. The Dutch
No.1 imploded completely with four successive losses in the last four rounds
to finish on 1/7 and slam-bang in the cellar with a dismal tournament performance
rating of just 2388.
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Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Hikaru! After winning the recent ICC-Mainz Chess960 qualifier, U.S. Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura (Smallville) lived up to his Superman-themed handle by going on to win the FiNet Chess960 crown at the Mainz Chess Classic in Germany! 
With
a late push at the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund, Peter Leko took the
honors and clear first with his +2 winning score of 4.5/7.
