Chess Classic Mainz 2006
On site report by John Henderson - Day 4
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Phineas T. Barnum was once described as "The Greatest Showman On Earth."
In the redoubtable figure of Hans-Walter Schmitt, he would have had some competition.
Hans-Walter is the chess world’s very own Barnum. He’s the great
chess showman. He’s an innovator in the game and a great visionary. He’s
the man that, simply put, produces one of the most entertaining chess shows in
the world with his Mainz Chess Classic, situated here in Germany right on the
banks of the Rhine at the Hilton Hotel’s Rhinegoldhalle.
 More
information about ICC coverage.
Listen ICC
Webcast coverage of Mainz.
Visit the
official website.
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 Where
else could you see so many chess stars under the one roof than in Mainz? Firstly,
we had the Chess960 matches of the ages and sexes with Portisch vs. Hort, Harikrishna
vs Naiditsch and Kosteniuk vs Pahtz, then moving on to the FiNet Open that was
won today by French ace Etienne Bacrot on 9.5/11, a half point behind his nearest
rivals Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grishuk on 9/11.
Meanwhile, outside the main playing hall in the foyer, there was a silicon
battle royale going on as ten computer programs fought to the last chip for the
Livingston IT Chess960 World Championship, which – surprise, surprise –
was won by the multi-title winning Shredder, the chess program written by Stefan
Meyer-Kahlen of Germany.
Saturday will see the start of normal chess with a bumper entry expected for
the Ordix Open. The organizers in Mainz are gearing up for a 700-player entry
– and with even more GMs, including the addition of Alexei Shirov along
with the usual suspects from the FiNet Open: Bacrot, Morozevich, Mamedyarov, Grischuk,
Bareev, Harikrishna, Sargissian, Volokitin, Kasimdzhanov et al.
It’s hard to believe that this is all a curtain-raiser for the main event
that takes place in the evening here, the Grenkeleasing Rapid World Championship
Match between Vishy Anand and Teimour Radjabov, and the Clerical medical Chess960
World Championship Match between Peter Svidler and Levon Aronian.
And in the matches, eight-time Chess Classic winner Anand stormed back against
the Beast from Baku II, as the Tiger from Madras (or should that be Chennai now?)
won game three to tie the match at 2-2, and similarly defending champion Svidler
fought back to tie his match with Aronian.
Anand
vs Radjabov rapids (2,0-2,0) after round 4.
Aronian
vs Svidler Chess960 (2,0-2,0) after round 4.
Photo Gallery - day 4
Anand stormed back and won game three
Radjabov, the Beast from Baku II
FiNet Open: decisive game Grischuk vs Bacrot
 
The explicit face of Grischuk say all
 
Svidler fought back to tie his match with Aronian
Stefan Meyer-Kahlen, creator of multi-title winning program Shredder
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