 The Aronian Shuffle
 The Mainz Chess Classic takes center-stage on the international arena just now, with Vishy
Anand, Levon Aronian, Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Etienne Bacrot heading a galaxy of grandmasters at the annual German extravaganza.
In a change from the usual set-up at Mainz, the quartette will do battle for two rapid world titles: Chess960 and Classical. First up though was the FiNet Chess960 World Championship, where defending champion
Levon Aronian and Vishy Anand easily won through to the final after beating Bacrot and Kasimdzhanov.
The four-game final between the top two was evenly matched though, ending at 2-2, with Aronian taking the title again after winning a blitz playoff, 1.5-0.5. The match for third place between Etienne Bacrot and Rustam
Kasimdzhanov was dominated by the French No.1, who won 3-1.
| N |
FED |
ELO |
TIT |
NAME |
RES |
NAME |
TIT |
ELO |
FED |
| 1-2 |
ARM |
2750 |
GM |
Aronian |
3.5-2.5 |
Anand |
GM |
2792 |
IND |
| 3-4 |
UZB |
2683 |
GM |
Kasimdzhanov |
1.0-3.0 |
Bacrot |
GM |
2695 |
FRA |
|
The four now meet again in the main weekend event, the Grenkeleasing Rapid World Championship, where defending champion Anand will be going all out for revenge.
| GRENKELEASING Rapid after R-3 [August 17-19 | 12:30 EDT] |
| No. |
Name |
ELO |
FED |
PTS |
| 1 |
GM Viswanathan Anand |
2792 |
IND |
2.5 |
| 2 |
GM Levon Aronian |
2750 |
ARM |
1.5 |
| 3 |
GM Etienne Bacrot |
2695 |
FRA |
1.5 |
| 4 |
GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
2683 |
UZB |
0.5 |
|
Victor Bologan (Moldova) is the winner of the 6th FiNet Open. He won in the final round against top-seed and sole leader
Vassili Ivanchuk, who just needed a draw with the white pieces to win the tournament. Bologan scored 9,5 points and he was followed by a handful of players with 9 points: Kamsky, Ivanchuk, Volokitin and Navara. During the interval to one
of the rounds, ICC director Ruy Mora presented the cash prizes to the two finalists for our recent Mainz Chess960 qualifiers: winner Tigran
L. Petrosian and runner-up Kamsky.
 You have more information in the ICC LIVE
coverage page. Also, visit the official website and the ChessVibes on tour videos from Mainz.
Mexico 2007 Qualifier
 After yet another successful series of
qualifiers on ICC that reached a record-breaking total of 1,838 members taking part, the final 32 battle last weekend was just as hotly-contested as the Mainz final won by Armenia's Tigran L. Petrosian.
Everything went with the seeding though straight to the final four, with the only surprise of the semifinal being second seed GM Rauf Mamedov losing 3-1 to the young Armenian IM Hrant Melkumyan.
The minor upset at least provided us with an all-Armenian final, as top seed GM Gabriel Sargissian beat GM Gadir Guseinov, 5-4, after a blitz playoff.
And in a close and enthralling final, Armenian youth got the better of Armenian experience as Melkumyan, 17, a former runner-up in the 2006 World U-18 champion, beat Sargissian, 4.5-3.5, to take the title.
An overjoyed Hrant Melkumyan took the overall winners package, that included: $1500 USD (to be paid out only on arrival in Mexico) to cover his airfares and other expenses. Also included in the package was 4 nights
(13-17 Sept.) at a top hotel in Mexico City, plus VIP tickets for the World Championships, and free entry into the "Copa Internacional de la Cd. De Mexico" Open.
| Place |
ICC handle |
Real Name |
Div |
Prize |
| 1st |
Pchyolka |
IM Hrant Melkumyan |
$USA |
1,500 |
| 2nd |
ARM-AKIBA |
GM Gabriel Sargissian |
$USA |
750 |
| 3rd/4th |
muisback |
GM Rauf Mamedov |
$USA |
375 |
| 3rd/4th |
GGuseinov |
GMGadir Guseinov |
$USA |
375 |
|
| N |
RTG |
TIT |
ICC HANDLE |
RES |
ICC HANDLE |
TIT |
RTG |
N |
| 1 |
3442 |
GM |
ARM-AKIBA |
3.5-4.5 |
Pchyolka |
IM |
3189 |
3 |
|
| N |
RTG |
TIT |
ICC HANDLE |
RES |
ICC HANDLE |
TIT |
RTG |
N |
| 1 |
3442 |
GM |
ARM-AKIBA |
5.0-4.0 |
GGuseinov |
GM |
3175 |
4 |
| 2 |
3389 |
GM |
muisback |
1.0-3.0 |
Pchyolka |
IM |
3189 |
3 |
|
Coming shortly on ICC will be another exciting qualifier for a major tournament, this time for the GibTelecom Masters in Gibraltar, January 2008. Details will be coming soon on ICC on dates for Gibraltar qualifier.
For full details of all the Mexico City qualifiers,
click here.
|
   GM Joel Benjamin Game of the Week
Live on-demand GOTW video library |
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Fridays [15:00 EDT | 21:00 CET]
 New to ICC Chess.FM! Three-time
U.S. Champion GM Joel Benjamin starts his new weekly show every Friday at 15:00 Server Time. Joel is regarded by many as one of the best commentators and analysts' we have in the game today, and each Friday he will be giving
us his insight and spin with his selection of Game of the Week.
This is a not-to-be-missed 30-minute video is exclusively for ICC members only -- so if you want to get ahead of the game, get ready to tune-in!
By popular demand and requests from members, ALL of Joel Benjamin's
GOTW videos will be available now 24/7 by clicking here for his library site archiving all shows. Enjoy! |
|
|
 Take
the Ronen Challenge
 Friday & Saturday,
[20:00 EDT | 02:00 CET]
 Former world under-16 junior champion GM Ronen Har-Zvi has a reputation
of being one of the toughest simultaneous masters on ICC.
Each Friday and Saturday, at 20:00 EDT, Ronen will take on 30 all - comers (restricted to 2150 Elo or below) in a series of twice weekly simuls (time control 45 20), with the winners receiving a 3-month membership extension
and going forward to the third grand prize final on Saturday, 25 August at 20:00 EDT, with a prize of a 1-year membership extension going to anyone who can beat Ronen in the final. In Ronen's July final, he scored 10-0!
Only winners who beat Ronen on the board (not on time), will go forward to the final; and should anyone beat Ronen there, they will also receive an additional 12-month ICC membership extension! Anyone who draws in the final
will also receive a 4-month membership extension. And each month, Ronen will pick and annotate the best game from the final for the ICC Newsletter.
Do you have what it takes for the Ronen Challenge?
Read the full announcement |
|
|
|
John
Watson Chess & Book Show
 Tuesdays [21:00
EDT | 03:00 CET]
New on ICC Chess.FM! Tune-in
for The John Watson Chess & Book Show on ICC Chess.FM. Each Tuesday at 21:00 Server Time, John's 90+ minute show will review the latest titles, followed by a discussion of books and other chess topics with his guests.
John's special guest this week (21 August) is Dutch Grandmaster Hans Ree. A four-time champion of the Netherlands, Hans is now a more recognizable figure as one of the game's great writers. He's a columnist and
chess writer for the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelblad and also a contributer to the award-winning chess magazine New In Chess.
Hans has written many books, though mainly in Dutch, but has written one book in English, The Human
Comedy of Chess: A Grandmaster's Chronicles, based on a collection of his insightful articles that delve into the history of the game and its personalities.
This show is one not to be missed and will be made available for 7 days ONDemand for members.
Chess FM page on our website. |
|
 Wild 27 (Atomic)
Championships!
 Qualifiers
begin August 17th! There will be 2 sections; 1 0 bullet and 3 0 blitz. Bullet qualifiers will be 12 rounds swiss style, and blitz qualifiers will be 7 rounds swiss style. The top 3 finishers in each qualifier will advancing to the
final, along with the next 4 best finishers in the series of qualifiers. Will anyone be able to dethrone last year’s champion, MoltenThinker? Stay tuned to find out!
SwedenForces 5000th Tourney Celebration Recap! Congratulations to SwedenForces for managing 5000 tourneys on ICC! To celebrate this milestone, he ran a 3 0 swiss 20 round tourney! 180 players entered the
tourney with JohnJR (IM) winning with a score of 16.5/20. To check out future celebration tourneys, simply “finger celebration” to see if anything is coming up!
Sunday Night Standard (SNS) Every Sunday evening at 18:30, billscotty hosts a 16 6 standard 5 round tourney in Slomato. The SNS has a unique prize format, with the winner of the most games monthly
receiving a free month. The player who completes the most games every month also receives a free month. And every single week, a random drawing is done for everyone who played all 5 round with the winner receiving
a free month! You don’t even have to be good to win! So come out this Sunday and join the SNS! |
|
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 Tourney
Tip of the Week:
Tourney Status! When you type “Tell 220 tourney” to see which tournaments are going on, you’ll see one of four terms next to each bot.
None means that there is
no tourney going on in that particular bot. Open means the tourney has not yet begun and you can join by typing “tell <bot> join”.
Late means the tourney has already started, but you can still get in by
typing “tell <bot> latejoin”. Closed means that the tournament is too far along to be joined at this point.
Join or latejoin a tourney today!
We run lots of tourneys and we always love
your input: Just
remember these simple guidelines and you’ll enjoy many of your favorite tournaments here on ICC!
Good luck!
|
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ICC
Quiz #3795
submitted by sp
White mates in 2
To play this puzzle on the ICC type:
tell trainingbot number 3795
Then type: play trainingbot
ICC Quiz #3811
submitted by Fighterknight
White mates in 2
To play this puzzle on the ICC type:
tell trainingbot number 3811
Then type: play trainingbot |
|
|
| ICC
Quiz #3807
submitted by Unic
White mates in 3
To play this puzzle on the ICC type:
tell trainingbot number 3807
Then type: play trainingbot
ICC Quiz #3812
submitted by Fighterknight
White mates in 3
To play this puzzle on the ICC type:
tell trainingbot number 3812
Then type: play trainingbot |
 NH Chess Tournament 2007
  Top
chess in the heart of Amsterdam
The youngest grandmaster in the world, Parimarjan Negi, the youngest grandmaster ever, Sergey Karjakin, and former world champion Alexander Khalifman are only a few of the stars who will compete in the NH
Chess Tournament in
Amsterdam, August 22 until September 1.
The ‘Experience’ team consists of Alexander Beliavsky (Slovenia), Artur Jussupow (Germany), Alexander Khalifman (Russia), Ljubomir Ljubojevic (Serbia) and Predrag
Nikolic (Bosnia). The ‘Rising Stars’ team
consists of Ivan Cheparinov (Bulgaria), Sergey Karjakin (Ukraine), Parimarjan Negi (India), Jan Smeets (The Netherlands) and Daniel Stellwagen (The Netherlands).
Apart from the prize money on offer, the best player on the ‘Rising Stars’ team (provided he has a positive score) gets an invite to the 2008 Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament in Monaco.
The
games will be broadcast live on ICC and the official website and also the press conferences after the rounds in streaming video. |
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IX Sants Open, Hostafrancs and la Bordeta
 
The upcoming Catalonia classic, the season-ending Sants Open, will be split into 2 groups. The event takes place in Barcelona, Spain, from August 24 to September 2.
On one side, as previous editions, the main group, formed for all players with federation licenses no matter what Elo Rating points they have. On the other side, a second group of players with Elo lower than 1999 points.
For all rating categories and prizes, FIDE rating will be taking into account first, Catalan rating second, and finally, FEDA rating. Local & National ratings will be validated by Tournament Comission.
| 1. |
2.500 € |
8. |
300 € |
15. |
150 € |
| 2. |
1.500 € |
9. |
250 € |
16. |
140 € |
| 3. |
1.000 € |
10. |
225 € |
17. |
130 € |
| 4. |
700 € |
11. |
200 € |
18. |
120 € |
| 5. |
600 € |
12. |
180 € |
19. |
110 € |
| 6. |
500 € |
13. |
170 € |
20. |
100 € |
| 7. |
400 € |
14. |
160 € |
- |
- |
|
ICC will have daily LIVE COVERAGE and latin Chess.FM on the last two rounds. Also, visit the official
website. |
|
Foxy Openings Special - #75 + #76 - SAVE $5.95
 Foxy Openings 75: The London System 1.d4 2.Bf4
On this DVD IM Martin will teach you this very solid and sound easy to learn opening system. Read more
Foxy Openings 76: The Hippo with 1...b6, g6
On this DVD International Master Andrew Martin and author of the Hippopotamus Rises brings you an original, innovative, and provocative opening for black. Read
more
Price $37.95 - Buy
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Play 1...Nc6! - Wisnewski
 Drawing upon his wealth of practical experience in this
opening, which has produced a remarkable success rate and some notable Grandmaster scalps, Wisnewski uncovers the secrets behind 1...Nc6 and divulges his findings to the reader.
He examines both the critical main
lines and the tricky sidelines, and provides a thorough grounding in the crucial tactical and positional concepts for both White and Black. Reading through this book will allow you to begin playing 1...Nc6 with skill and assurance in your own games. Read
more
Price $22.95 - Buy
now!
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How to Play the English Opening - Karpov
 The
English Opening, from the Flank Games group, was developed by Howard Staunton. In this opening, white avoids or delays the occupation of the centre with Pawns. Once considered a minor diversion, the English is now one of the main openings and all modern
world champions have played it.
One of the most famous world champions, Anatoly Karpov, brings his sharp eye and extensive experience to bear in this concise introduction to the opening. Like the previous volumes from Karpov on the Caro-Kann, it is
a rich book with terrific insight that is ideal for all players, particularly club players. Read
more
Price $20.95 - Buy
now!
Tactics in the Chess Opening 5: Indian Defences - Geert Van Der Stricht & Spike Ernst
 Every chess player loves to win early in the game with a deadly combination
or a cunning trap. On the other hand, nobody wants to be tricked by his opponent before the game has really started.
The popular series Tactics in the Chess Opening teaches how to recognize opportunities to attack early in the game. You will also learn how to avoid standard pitfalls in the opening. This book explains, in around 230 carefully
selected and annotated games, all the tactical themes and typical traps of the main lines in the Indian Openings and related systems like the Catalan Opening and the Benoni Defence. Read
more
Price $20.95
- Buy
now! |
Solution
to ICC Quiz #3795
submitted by sp
1.Nxf7+! Nxf7 2.Bxc7#
Solution to ICC Quiz #3811
submitted by Fighterknight
1.Qxe6+!! fxe6 (Be7 2.Qxe7#) 2.Bg6# |
|
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Solution to ICC Quiz #3807
submitted by Unic
1.Qh5+ g6 2.Bxg6+! (Qxg6+!) hxg6 3.Qxg6#
Solution to ICC Quiz #3812
submitted by Fighterknight
1.Qxg7+!! Kxg7 (Rxg7 2.Rf8+ Rg8 3.g7#) 2.Rf7+! Kh8 3.Rxh7# |
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