 A Touch of Glass
 Essent Chess Tournament 2007
 Top seeds Shakhrya Mamedyarov and Ruslan Ponomariov are showing a "touch of glass", as both are tied at the top in the Essent Crown Group on unbeaten scores of 3.5/5 going into the final round.
The top duo have a half point lead over local Dutch star Loek Van Wely, who moved into contention after inflicting yet another defeat on the hapless Zaven Andrisian (pictured above left, with Mamedyarov right). Photo courtesy and © Fred Lucas.
Winning the world junior championship crown usually leads to the next rung on the ladder with an invite onto the elite stage, where it's notoriously tough and you either sink or swim. And last year’s world junior champion, Andriasian, playing in his first senior event at the Essent Crown Group, looks to be not waving but drowning as his latest defeat to Van Wely proved to be his fifth successive loss in as many rounds, as he's now firmly rooted at the bottom on zerooooo.
For further information visit the official Essent Chess Tournament 2007 web site.
Crosstable
| N |
FLAG |
T |
NAME |
FED |
FIDE |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
PTS |
| 1 |
 |
GM |
Ponomariov |
UKR |
2706 |
|
|
½ |
½ |
½ |
. |
1 |
1 |
3.5 |
| 2 |
 |
GM |
Mamedyarov |
AZE |
2757 |
½ |
½ |
|
|
1 |
½ |
1 |
. |
3.5 |
| 3 |
|
GM |
Van Wely |
NED |
2679 |
½ |
. |
0 |
½ |
|
|
1 |
1 |
3.0 |
| 4 |
 |
GM |
Andriasian |
ARM |
2540 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
. |
0 |
0 |
|
|
0.0 |
|
US Chess League 2007
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US Chess League 2007
 Monday and Wednesday [19:00 EDT | 01:00 CET]
Follow all the top US stars in action every week at the United States Chess League, hosted exclusively by the ICC! The USCL, with ICC favorites such as Hikaru Nakamura (New York Knights), Larry Christiansen (Boston Blitz) and Joel Benjamin (New Jersey Knockouts). The USCL is held every Monday & Wednesday starting from 19:00 EDT and shown live on ICC.
Get all the latest at the US Chess League web site.
USCL Week 8 highlights -
Dallas, Philadelphia and San Francisco win.
The playoffs are looming large as the U.S. Chess League approaches the end of the regular season. Week 8 on the ICC last week saw several teams improve their standing with some crucial victories.
In the "Subway Series", The New York Knights, with Hikaru Nakamura winning his first game in the USCL, won their second consecutive match, easily defeating the Queens Pioneers, 2.5-1.5, and are tied for third place in the East and within striking distance for a playoff run. In the West, after losing last week to the Seattle Sluggers, Dallas Destiny extended their lead at the top with a revenge victory over Seattle.
WEEK 8 -
- New York Knights 2.5-1.5 Queens Pioneers
- New Jersey Knockouts 2-2 Boston Blitz
- Baltimore Kingfishers 1-3 Philadelphia Inventors
- Miami Sharks 2-2 Tennessee Tempo
- Carolina Cobras 1-3 San Francisco Mechanics
- Dallas Destiny 3-1 Seattle Sluggers
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| EASTERN DIVISION |
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WESTERN DIVISION |
| TEAM |
W |
L |
Points |
| Boston |
5.5 |
2.5 |
19.0/32 |
| Philadelphia |
5.0 |
3.0 |
16.5/32 |
| New Jersey |
4.0 |
4.0 |
15.5/32 |
| New York |
4.0 |
4.0 |
15.5/32 |
| Baltimore |
3.5 |
4.5 |
15.5/32 |
| Queens |
3.0 |
5.0 |
114.0/32 |
|
|
| TEAM |
W |
L |
Points |
| Dallas |
6.0 |
2.0 |
19.5/32 |
| Seattle |
4.5 |
3.5 |
18.0/32 |
| San Francisco |
4.0 |
4.0 |
18.0/32 |
| Carolina |
3.5 |
4.5 |
15.0/32 |
| Miami |
3.0 |
5.0 |
14.0/32 |
| Tennessee |
2.0 |
6.0 |
11.0/32 |
|
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There's now only 2 weeks of the regular season remaining in the USCL, and it's so close that remarkably almost all the teams are still in with a chance of making the playoffs. Week 9 could well be the most exciting of the season next week - and you can see it all here on ICC!
The big Monday night match-up from the West sees the Seattle Sluggers looking to regain their momentum again, as they take on the San Francisco Mechanics.
On Wednesday, the red hot Philadelphia Inventors meet square the New York Knights, the Queen Pioneers face the Boston Blitz (who now only lead the East by one-half game), and the Carolina Cobras do battle against the Miami Sharks.
Next week's fixtures on ICC include:
WEEK 9 -
Monday October 22nd
- San Francisco Mechanics vs Seattle Sluggers 19:00 ET
Wednesday October 24th
- Philadelphia Inventors vs New York Knights 19:00 ET
- New Jersey Knockouts vs Baltimore Kingfishers 19:15 ET
- Queens Pioneers vs Boston Blitz 20:00 ET
- Carolina Cobras vs Miami Sharks 20:30 ET
- Tennessee Tempo vs Dallas Destiny 21:00 ET
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Ask the Renaissance Man |
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Tune-in for "Ask the Renaissance Man" with National Master Dan Heisman
every Thursday at 21:00 EDT. Click "Play Video" for a free 5 minute
preview of Dan's latest show. To listen to the full show, sign up for
membership now! You send in the questions and Dan provides the
answers every week on his Q&A show. Questions on tournament rules,
opening play, chess books, chess politics, current events, and more!
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GM Joel Benjamin "Game of the Week"
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Game of the Week
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New on ICC Chess.FM! Three-time U.S. Champion GM Joel Benjamin starts
his weekly show every Friday at 15:00 Server Time. Click "Play Video"
for a free 5 minute preview of Joel's latest show. To listen to the
full show, sign up for membership!
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 are available. Enjoy!
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Chess Talk with IM John Watson |
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Tune-in for Chess Talk with IM John Watson on ICC Chess.FM. Click "Play Video" for a free 5 minute preview of John's latest show with Howard Goldowsky. To listen to the full show, sign up for membership now!
Award winning chess writer for Chess Life, Chesscafe.com, and other magazines, Howard Goldowsky has been playing competitive chess for over 20 years, and Engaging Pieces: Interviews and Prose for the Chess Fan is his first book that goes past asking the most obvious questions to leading players and pundits as it skillfully draws out the human and the unexpected from them.
John's guest next week (23rd Oct.)will be Mig Greengard.
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Duels of the Mind (4 DVDs) - Raymond Keene
Originally broadcast on Thames television in 1989 this 4 DVD set features all 12 programs making up Keene’s selection of the twelve best games of chess. Running time: 6 hours.
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Chess Opening Essentials - Djuric and Panteleoni
An accessible primer and opening reference book, providing es sential knowledge on all chess openings. It explains the basic plans and ideas for both black and white. It gives beginners the ability to choose the openings that suit their style and taste, and gives club players the opportunity to test and review their opening repertoire. Chess Opening Essentials gives a flavour of how a particular opening works, with pointers in the right direction if you wish to explore further.
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Complete Chess Workout, The - Richard Palliser
In this book, tactics expert Richard Palliser presents the reader with a massive 1200 puzzles, all checked for accuracy by the latest computer engines. There is something for players of all levels here: a huge number of basic tactics - forks, pins, skewers and checkmates - to appeal to beginners and improvers, and several brain-teasers that will tax even the strongest of players.
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Encyclopedia of Chess Openings - Vol. 1
 The 5th edition of Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings C is made up mostly of the games, analysis and assessments of leading Grandmasters. The focus is put on games played recently and published in Chess Informant, as well as, other publications.
Accompanied with the set of following Monographs of Chess Openings: C 05-06, C 18-19, C 42, C 43, C 78, C 80-81, C 82, C 83, C 89, C 92-93 and C 94-95.
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Chess Praxis - Aron Nimzovitch NEW EDITION
Chess Praxis is a superb collection of Nimzovitch's best games and annotated by the man himself, but it is even more than that. Nimzovitch and his hypermodern ideas had a huge influence on modern chess thinking, views which were first expounded in My Sytem. In this follow up, he demonstrates and explains how his concepts work his own own games.
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