Kiran Mohanty defeats Eesha Karavade

Kiran Monisha Mohanty pulled off an upset win over WGM Eesha Karavde while Swati Ghate beat Nisha Mohota to join Tania Sachdev and Dronavalli Harika in lead at the end of the 6^th round of the 34th Women’s National A Chess Championship organised by Symbiosis Spa Chess School at Symbiosis Center for Health Care Campus, Range Hills Road, Kirkee, Pune.

Asian Individual Women’s Champion Tania and Asian Zonal Women’s Champion Harika probably showed mutual respect and employed the ‘draw with the best and beat the rest’ theory when they agreed to share the point after just 8 moves at the halfway stage of the tournament. But the same theory did not work for Pune’s WGM Eesha Karavade who after drawing her games against WGMs in the last three consecutive rounds lost to a lower seeded rival Kiran Mohanty. Mohanty has so far has had a very impressive run. She also beat WGM Swati Ghate in the third round. Today in a Spanish Anti-Marshal variation Eesha playing Black sacrificed a pawn which according to Mohanty was not the right thing to do. Kiran maneuvered her pieces to attacking positions and when the moment was right struck some deadly blows which left Eesha with no options but to resign. WGM Nisha Mohota blundered a pawn against Swati Ghate and after that Swati made no mistake to bring home the full point.

Padmini Rout erred from the White side of the Sicilian Rauzer variation against WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy. According to Aarthie Padmini’s 18^th move Bd3 was not such a good try for advantage while her 21^st move was a gross blunder. Aarthie sacrificed material and took great advantage of Padmini’s exposed King position to win a Queen and soon the game. WGM Mary Ann Gomes beat Sai Meera after both players made a lot of errors in mutual time trouble. WIM Soumya Swaminathan made good use of the opposite coloured Bishops position on the board to create undefendable mating threats and win the game against Nimmy George.

Pune’s Amruta Mokal drew with Ch. Divyashri while Anuprita Patil held Pon. Krithika to a draw.

Games

Results:Round6

Tania Sachdev 4.5 drew with Harika Dronavalli 4.5;
Nisha Mohota 3.5 lost to Swati Ghate 4.5;
Kiran Manisha Mohanty 4.5 beat Eesha Karavade 3.5;
Padmini Rout 3 lost to Ramaswamy Aarthie 4;
Mary Ann Gomes 4 beat Sai Meera Ravi 3;
Nimmy George 3 lost to Soumya Swaminathan 4;
Divyasri Ch 3 drew with Amruta Mokal 3;
Pon. Krithika 3 drew with Anuprita Patil 3;
Rucha Pujari 2.5 lost to P Priya 3.5;
S Nabeela Farheen 3 beat R Preethi 2;
M R Sangeetha 2 lost to S Harini 3;
Uthra P 2 drew with Dhyani Dave 2;
Savetha C H 1 lost to Swati Mohota 2;
S Athirai 2 beat Baisakhi Das 1

CHess Jokes-16

A guy gets on a long-distance flight. He's just getting comfortable when somebody sits down next to him. He looks up and wow, it's Garry Kasparov.

Kasparov basks for a moment in the recognition. Some way into the flight, the meals are cleared away and Garry produces an elegant little wooden travel chess set. He begins to play.

After a while Kasparov asks the guy whether he would like to play chess to kill time. The guy replies, "Hey Garry, You think I don't know who you are? I can't compete with a world champion." Kasparov replies, "'How about if I play left handed?"

The guy thinks about this for a minute, then agrees. He is demolished in 8 moves, and is inconsolable for the rest of the journey.

On landing he meets his friend, who asks him how the flight was. "It was terrible," he says. "Completely humiliating. I played chess with Garry Kasparov and he beat me in spite of him playing left-handed!"

His friend replies - "Ha! You were swindled! Dude, Garry Kasparov is left-handed!!"

Chess Jokes-15

A good chess player
A man went to visit a friend and was amazed to find him playing chess with his dog. He watched the game in astonishment for a while. "I can hardly believe my eyes!" he exclaimed. "That's the smartest dog I've ever seen."

"Nah, he's not so smart," the friend replied. "I've beaten him three games out of five."

CHess Jokes-14

2 friends see themselves by the street and one of them says:
- My wife says that if tomorrow I go to the chess match, it will take my children and it will leave me.
The other friend asks to him:
- And what you will do?
And the other answers to him:
- E4, how always!

CHess Jokes-13

2 friends see themselves by the street and one of them says:
- My wife says that if tomorrow I go to the chess match, it will take my children and it will leave me.
The other friend asks to him:
- And what you will do?
And the other answers to him:
- E4, how always!

Chess Jokes-12

2 friends see themselves by the street and one of them says:
- My wife says that if tomorrow I go to the chess match, it will take my children and it will leave me.
The other friend asks to him:
- And what you will do?
And the other answers to him:
- E4, how always!

Chess Jokes-11

Frasier: I can see why she likes the game - "the king is stationary, the queen has all the power".

Chess Jokes-10

A Chess Player is walking from the lake carrying two fish in a bucket. He is approached by the Game Warden who asks him for his fishing license. The Chess player says to the warden, "I did not catch these fish, they are my pets's pawn. Everyday I come down to the water and whistle and these fish jump out and I take around to see the sights only to return them at the end of the day; remember that the Chess Board is like an ocean; full of fish". The warden, does not play chess, he not had any idea what he's taking about; not believing him, reminds him that it is illegal to fish without a license. The Chess Player turns to the warden and says,
"CHECK" "If you don't believe me then watch," as he throws the fish back into the water. The warden says, "Now whistle to your fish and show me that they will come out of the water." The Chess Player turns to the warden and says, "What fish!?"

"Chess Champions League"

Ponomariov leads by a point after round 6.

Results
Ponomariov, Ruslan 1-0 Polgar, Judit
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 1-0 Kasimdzhanov, Rustam
Topalov, Veselin ½-½ Karpov, Anatoly

Games
Ponomariov,R vs. Polgar,Ju





Topalov,V vs. Karpov,Ana



Nisipeanu,LD vs. Kasimdzhanov,R



Standings
Ponomariov, Ruslan 4½
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 3½
Topalov, Veselin 3½
Polgar, Judit 3
Karpov, Anatoly 2
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 1½

University of Texas chess team wins Transatlantic Cup

The University of Texas at Dallas chess team soundly defeated the University of Belgrade's chess team by a final score of 11-5 in Friday's Transatlantic Cup tournament. The 16-board tournament was played via the Internet and broadcast on the Web site www.chessclub.com.

Last year, the Belgrade team won by one point. Players from both sides also recognized the 50th anniversary of the 1957 Dallas International Chess Tournament held in the Adolphus Hotel.

Serbian Grand Master Svetozar Gligoric tied for first in the tournament.

news @ http://www.wfaa.com/

Tal Memorial Moscow

Tal Memorial Moscow

The Tal Memorial Tournament takes place in Moscow 9th-19th November 2007. Eight of the ten players have been decided with World Number 2 and 3 Vassily Ivanchuk and Vladimir Kramnik heading the field which includes the up and coming talent Magnus Carlsen for one. The full field is now available . I don't yet have an official site for the event.

This will be followed by the FIDE approved World Blitz Championship which will be a double round robin November 21st-22nd 2007. This will apparently have a big qualification event followed by the final. There is a controversy in that although a number of top players will be seeded straight into the final one of them will not be the defending champion Alexander Grischuk who has been asked to qualify . Although how attractive this event will be to those serious about winning the World Chess Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk (Arrival supposed to be on the 22nd, Opening Ceremony 23rd and Round 1 24th November) is anyone's guess.

Tal Memorial - Moscow - 9th-19th November 2007
No	Name	t	NAT	YroB	oc07
2	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	1969	2787
3	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	1975	2785
5	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	1979	2755
7	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyaz	g	AZE	1985	2752
10	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	1972	2739
11	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	1968	2736
14	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	1974	2724
15	Alekseev, Evgeny	g	RUS	1985	2716
17	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	1990	2714
19	Jakovenko, Dmitry	g	RUS	1983	2710

34th Women’s National A Chess Championship of India

08.11.2007 – This event sees the cream of Indian women's chess battling it out in Puna. Top seed Dronavalli Harika, rated 2480, is the overall number 15 player in the country, Nisha Mohota, 2416, and Tania Sachdev, 2413 follow close behind. The three top players will represent India at the next Olympiad. Pictorial report

34th Women’s National A Chess Championship of India

This event is being held from November 4th to 15th 2007. The event is organised by Symbiosis Spa Chess School at Symbiosis Center for Health Care Campus in Pune, India, with technical assistance being provided by Buddhibal Kreeda Trust.

The tournament, which includes the cream of Indian women’s chess among its participants, offers a record prize money of Rs.250,000 (Euro 4,350 or US $6,400). The top three players from this tournament will be selected to represent India at the World Chess Olympiad to be held at Dresden, Germany in 2008, while the top six players will comprise the Indian women’s team for various other international events.

The inaguration function was held under the title theme "Fountain of Innovation"

The seeded players had an easy outing in the first round, the only minor upset being provided by local girl Anuprita Patil who held WGM Mary Ann Gomes to a draw with the white pieces. IM Dronavalli Harika looked in some trouble as she lost a pawn in the middlegame, but her opponent P. Priya made a series of errors, Harika won an exchange and finished it off the game without any further hiccups.

Tania Sachdev, 2413 vs M.R. Sangeetha, 2118 in round one (Sachdev won)

The Women's International Master beat her untitled opponent in this round one game

In the second round two leaders with full score emerged: Dronavalli Harika of Andhra Pradesh and Eesha Karavade of Maharashtra. WGM Tania Sachdev of Indian Airlines played the black side of Sicilian Paulsen opening against Nimmy George. White tried to create attacking threats on the kingside but Tania did well to neutralize those and even won a couple of pawns. But Nimmy had some compensation and in mutual time trouble Tania failed to produce accurate moves and had be content with a draw by giving perpetual checks.

WGM and chess star Tania Sachdev with problems against untitled Nimmy

Top seed IM Dronavalli Harika needed 78 moves to defeat her untitled opponent in round two

After three rounds there are five players in the lead with 2.5 points: Harika, Sachdev, Manisha Kiran, Eesha Karavade and R. Aarthie. The games are being shown live on the official tournament web site.

Chess championship hangs in the balance

Nov 7 2007 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post
Liverpool 800th Anniversary chess tournament at St Georges Hall. Picture: Colin Lane


THE staging of Europe’s most prestigious chess championship in Liverpool appeared in doubt last night after the Culture Company reneged on a deal to contribute £100,000.

It was hoped the European Individual Chess Championship, due at St George’s Hall in September 2008, would be a highlight of the city’s culture year.

Organisers understood they would receive £100,000, but yesterday it emerged that had been cut to £60,000.

Last night, the North West Development Agency said it was confident – but did not confirm – it could find £40,000.

But those behind the event feel “very annoyed” about the episode, and said they believed the Culture Company had failed to grasp the importance of the event.

Leaders from the European Chess Union (ECU) warned that if Liverpool cancelled, it may be too late to find an alternative venue.

Chief organiser Prof David Robertson, of Liverpool John Moores University, said: “I'm delighted the NWDA recognise the strategic importance of what we are attempting.

“Liverpool's future prosperity will come from high skills and high quality achievement. It won't come from a provincial parade of gigs, gags and shopping.

About 200 players will attend, with about 20m internet viewers.

Liverpool beat off Budapest, Dresden and Turin to stage it.

In many countries, chess enjoys a huge following.

The Culture Company last night confirmed it had decided to give just £60,000.

Bernice Law, chief operating officer, said: “The programme for 2008 is constantly evolving and growing and the Culture Company is constantly reviewing how to ensure the people of Liverpool and visitors to the city get the best possible return for the money from the way we invest.

“As a result, instead of just the chess championship, we will be able to announce another event in the future.”

Steve Broomhead, of the NWDA said: “We realise the importance of the chess cham- pionship, which increases visitor numbers to Liverpool.”

Chess Favorate Players

Anand
Kasparov
Bobby Fischer
Karpov
Kramnik
J.Polgar

Bobby Fischer

Robert James "Bobby" Fischer (born March 9, 1943) is a United States-born chess Grandmaster who in 1972 became the only US-born chessplayer to become the official World Chess Champion. In 1975 he refused to defend the title when FIDE, the international chess federation, refused to accept his conditions for a title defense. He is a regular candidate in discussions of who is the greatest chess player of all time.

Fischer now lives in Iceland, and has also become known for his anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism.

Early years

Robert James Fischer was born at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Regina Wender, was a naturalized American citizen of German Jewish descent, born in Switzerland but raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and later a teacher, a registered nurse and a physician.Fischer's father was listed on the birth certificate as Wender's first husband, Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, a German biophysicist. The couple married in 1933 in Moscow, U.S.S.R., where Wender was studying medicine at the First Moscow Medical Institute. However, a 2002 article by Peter Nicholas and Clea Benson of The Philadelphia Inquirer suggests that Paul Nemenyi, a Jewish Hungarian physicist, may have been Fischer's biological father. Nicholas and Benson quote an FBI report that states that Regina Fischer returned to the United States in 1939 while Hans-Gerhardt Fischer never entered the United States. Hans-Gerhardt and Regina Fischer divorced in 1945 when Bobby was two years old, and he grew up with his mother and older sister, Joan. In 1948, the family moved to Mobile, Arizona, where Regina taught in an elementary school. The following year they moved to Brooklyn, New York, where Regina worked as an elementary school teacher and nurse.
Bobby Fischer and John Collins


In May 1949, the six-year-old Fischer learned how to play chess from instructions found in a chess set that his sister had bought at a candy store below their Brooklyn apartment. He saw his first chess book a month later. For over a year he played chess on his own. At age seven, he joined the Brooklyn Chess Club and was taught by its president, Carmine Nigro. He later joined the Manhattan Chess Club. Other important early influences were provided by Master and chess journalist Hermann Helms and Grandmaster Arnold Denker. Denker served as a mentor to young Bobby, and often took him to watch professional hockey games at Madison Square Garden, to cheer the New York Rangers; Denker wrote that Bobby enjoyed those treats and never forgot them; the two became lifelong friends (The Bobby Fischer I Knew And Other Stories, by Arnold Denker and Larry Parr, Hypermodern Press 1995, p. 107). When Fischer was thirteen, his mother asked John W. Collins to be his chess tutor. Collins had coached several top players, including future grandmasters Robert Byrne and William Lombardy. Fischer spent much time at Collins' house, and some have described Collins as a father figure for Fischer. The Hawthorne Chess Club was the name for the group which Collins coached. Fischer also was involved with the Log Cabin Chess Club.

Bobby Fischer attended Erasmus Hall High School together with Barbra Streisand, though he later dropped out in 1959 when he turned 16. Many teachers remembered him as difficult. When his chess feats mounted, the student council of Erasmus Hall awarded him a gold medal for his chess achievements (source: Profile of a Prodigy, by Frank Brady (1965)). According to school records, he had an IQ of 187[7] and an incredibly retentive memory.

Young champion (1956-57)

Fischer's first real triumph was winning the United States Junior Chess Championship in July 1956; he scored 8.5/10 at Philadelphia to become the youngest-ever junior champion,[8], a record which still stands today. In the 1956 U.S. Open Chess Championship at Oklahoma City, Fischer scored 8.5/12 to tie for 4-8th places, with Arthur Bisguier winning.[9] Then he played in the first Canadian Open Chess Championship at Montreal 1956, scoring 7/10 to tie for 8-12th places, as Larry Evans won.[10] Fischer's famous game from the 3rd Rosenwald Trophy tournament at New York 1956, against Donald Byrne, who later became an International Master, was called "The Game of the Century" by Hans Kmoch. At the age of 12, he was awarded the U.S. title of National Master, then the youngest ever.

In 1957, Fischer first successfully defended his U.S. Junior title, scoring 8.5/9 at San Francisco.[12] Then he won the U.S. Open Chess Championship at Cleveland on tie-breaking points over Arthur Bisguier, scoring 10/12; he remains the youngest-ever U.S. Open champion.[13] Fischer defeated the young Filipino Master Rudolfo Tan Cardoso by 6-2 in a match in New York.[14] He next won the New Jersey Open Championship.[15] From these triumphs, Fischer was given entry into the invitational U.S. Chess Championship at New York. Many thought he was too weak, and predicted that he would finish last. Instead, he won, with 10.5/13, becoming in January 1958, at age 14, the youngest U.S. champion ever (this record still stands in 2007). He earned the title of International Master with this victory, becoming the youngest player ever to achieve this level

First World title attempts (1958-59)

Fischer's victory qualified him to participate in the 1958 Portorož Interzonal, the next step toward challenging the World Champion. At 15, he was the youngest-ever Interzonal player. The top six finishers in the Interzonal would qualify for the Candidates Tournament, but few thought the youngster had much chance of this. Again he surprised the pundits, tying for 5-6th places, with 12/20, after a strong finish.[16] This made Fischer the youngest person ever to qualify for the Candidates, a record which stood until 2005 (it was broken under a different setup by Magnus Carlsen), and also earned him the title of Grandmaster, making him at that time the youngest grandmaster in history.

Before the Candidates' tournament, he competed in 1959 in strong International tournaments at Mar del Plata, Argentina; Santiago, Chile; and Zurich, Switzerland. In all three events, he scored well, showing that he was of true grandmaster strength.

At the age of 16, Fischer finished a creditable equal fifth out of eight at the Candidates Tournament held in Bled/Zagreb/Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1959. He scored 12.5/28 but was outclassed by tournament winner Mikhail Tal, who won all four of their individual games.

The road to the world championship (1969-1972)
The 1969 U.S. Championship was also a zonal qualifier, with the top three finishers advancing to the Interzonal. Fischer, however, had sat out the U.S. Championship because of disagreements about the tournament's format and prize fund. To enable Fischer to compete for the title, Grandmaster Pal Benko gave up his Interzonal place, for which the United States Chess Federation (USCF) paid him a modest $2,000; the other zonal participants waived their right to replace Benko. This unusual arrangement was the work of Ed Edmondson, then the USCF's Executive Director.

Before the Interzonal, though, in March and April 1970, the world's best players competed in the USSR vs. Rest of the World match in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Fischer agreed to allow Bent Larsen of Denmark to play first board for the Rest of the World team in light of Larsen's recent outstanding tournament results, even though Fischer had the higher Elo rating.[19] The USSR team won the match by a hair (20.5-19.5), but on second board, Fischer beat Tigran Petrosian, whom Boris Spassky had dethroned as world champion the previous year, 3-1, winning the first two games and drawing the last two.[20]

Following the Match of the Century, the unofficial World Championship of Lightning Chess (5-minute games) was held at Herceg Novi. Fischer annihilated the super-class field with 19/22, 4.5 points ahead of Tal. Later in 1970, Fischer won tournaments at Rovinj/Zagreb with 13/17, and Buenos Aires, where he crushed the field of mostly Grandmasters with 15/17. Clearly, he had taken his game to a new level.

The Interzonal was held in Palma de Mallorca in November and December 1970. Fischer won it with a remarkable 18.5-4.5 score, 3.5 points ahead of Larsen, Efim Geller, and Robert Hübner, who tied for second at 15-8.[21] Fischer finished the tournament with seven consecutive wins (one by default).

Fischer continued his domination in the 1971 Candidates matches, defeating his opponents with a lopsided series of results unparalleled in chess history. First, he crushed Mark Taimanov of the USSR at Vancouver by 6-0. A couple of months later, he repeated the shutout against Larsen at Denver, again by 6-0 (+6−0=0).

The latter result was particularly shocking: just a year before, Larsen had played first board for the Rest of the World team ahead of Fischer, and had handed Fischer his only loss at the Interzonal.

Only former World Champion Petrosian, Fischer's final opponent in the Candidates matches, was able to offer resistance in their match played at Buenos Aires. Petrosian unleashed a strong theoretical novelty in the first game and had Fischer on the ropes, but Fischer defended with his customary aplomb and even won the game. This gave Fischer a remarkable streak of 20 consecutive wins, the second longest winning streak in chess history after Steinitz's 25-game streak from 1873 to 1882.Petrosian won decisively in the second game, finally snapping Fischer's winning streak. After three consecutive draws, however, Fischer swept the next four games to win the match 6.5-2.5 (+5=3−1). The final match victory allowed Fischer to challenge World Champion Boris Spassky, whom he had never beaten before (+0=2−3).

1972 World Championship Match
Fischer's career-long stubbornness about match and tournament conditions was again seen in the run-up to his match with Spassky. Of the possible sites, Fischer preferred Yugoslavia, while Spassky wanted Iceland. For a time it appeared that the dispute would be resolved by splitting the match between the two locations, but that arrangement fell through. After that issue was resolved, Fischer refused to play unless the prize fund, which he considered inadequate, was doubled. London financier Jim Slater responded by donating an additional $US 125,000, which brought the prize fund to an unprecedented $250,000. Fischer finally agreed to play.

The match took place in Reykjavík, Iceland, from July through September 1972. Fischer lost the first two games in strange fashion: the first when he played a risky pawn-grab in a dead-drawn endgame, the second by forfeit when he refused to play the game in a dispute over playing conditions. Fischer would likely have forfeited the entire match, but Spassky, not wanting to win by default, yielded to Fischer's demands to move the next game to a back room, away from the cameras whose presence had upset Fischer. The rest of the match proceeded without serious incident. Fischer won seven of the next 19 games, losing only one and drawing eleven, to win the match 12.5-8.5 and become the 11th World Chess Champion.

World-class match play (i.e., a series of games between the same two opponents) often involves one or both players preparing one or two openings very deeply, and playing them often during the match. Preparation for such a match also usually involves analysis of those opening lines known to be played by the upcoming opponent. Fischer surprised Spassky by never repeating an opening line throughout the match, and often playing opening lines that he had never played before in his chess career. During the last half of the match, Spassky abandoned his prepared lines and attempted to outplay Fischer in lines that (hopefully) neither of them had prepared, but this also proved fruitless for the defending champion.

Fischer's win was a momentous victory for the United States during the time of the Cold War: the iconoclastic American almost single-handedly defeating the mighty Soviet chess establishment that had dominated world chess for the past quarter-century.

Fischer was also the (then) highest-rated player in history according to the Elo rating system. He had a rating of 2780 after beating Spassky, which was actually a slight decline from the record 2785 rating he had achieved after routing Taimanov, Larsen, and Petrosian the previous year.

The match was coined "The Match of the Century", and received front-page media coverage in the United States and around the world. With his victory, Fischer became an instant celebrity. He received numerous product endorsement offers (all of which he declined) and appeared on the covers of Life and Sports Illustrated. With American Olympic swimming champion Mark Spitz, he also appeared on a Bob Hope TV special. Membership in the United States Chess Federation doubled in 1972 and peaked in 1974; in American chess, these years are commonly referred to as the "Fischer Boom."

Fischer gave the Worldwide Church of God $61,200 of his world championship prize money. However, 1972 was a disastrous year for the church, as prophecies by Herbert W. Armstrong were unfulfilled, and the church was rocked by revelations of a series of sex scandals involving Garner Ted Armstrong. Fischer, who felt betrayed and swindled by the Worldwide Church of God, left the church and publicly denounced it.

Fischer-Karpov 1975
Fischer was scheduled to defend his title against challenger Anatoly Karpov in 1975. Fischer had played no tournament games since winning the title, and he laid down numerous (a total of 64) conditions for the match. While most of them were purely game-oriented in nature, some were as bizarre as a requirement for everyone entering the room where the game is conducted to take off head covering. Many commentators supposed that Fischer's objective in making the demands was to avoid conducting the match, the outcome of which Fischer was not certain. Fischer made the following three principal demands:

1. The match should continue until ten wins, without counting the draws.
2. There is no limit to the total number of games played.
3. In case of a 9:9 score, champion (Fischer) retains his title.

Fischer claimed the usual system (twenty-four games with the first player to get 12.5 points winning, or the champion retaining his title in the event of a 12-12 tie) encouraged the player in the lead to draw games, which he regarded as bad for chess. Fischer instead wanted a match of an unlimited number of games. However, a match based on the first two conditions could take several months (In 1927 the Capablanca-Alekhine match to achieve the condition of winning only six games continued for 34 games). Many argued that this would be an exercise in stamina rather than skill. The FIDE commission headed by FIDE president Max Euwe and consisting of both, US and USSR, representatives, ruled that the match should continue until six wins. However, Fischer replied that he would resign his crown and not participate in the match. Instead of accepting Fischer's forfeit, the commission agreed to allow the match to continue until nine wins, leaving only one of the 64 conditions set by Fischer unsatisfied. FIDE postulated that the player achieving nine victories first would win the match, eliminating any advantage for the reigning champion (Fischer). Most observers considered Fischer's demand of his win in case of 9:9 draw to be unfair. It meant that Fischer only needed to win nine games to retain the championship, while Karpov had to win by a 10-8 score. Because FIDE would not agree to that demand, Fischer resigned in a cable to FIDE president Max Euwe on June 27, 1974:

"As I made clear in my telegram to the FIDE delegates, the match conditions I proposed were non-negotiable. Mr. Cramer informs me that the rules of the winner being the first player to win ten games, draws not counting, unlimited number of games and if nine wins to nine match is drawn with champion regaining title and prize fund split equally were rejected by the FIDE delegates. By so doing FIDE has decided against my participating in the 1975 world chess championship. I therefore resign my FIDE world chess champion title. Sincerely, Bobby Fischer."

Former U.S. Champion Arnold Denker, who was in contact with Fischer during the Karpov match negotiations, claimed that Fischer wanted a long match to be able to play himself into shape after a three-year layoff. [28] Karpov became World Champion by default in April 1975. In his 1991 autobiography, Karpov expressed profound regret that the match did not take place, and claimed that the lost opportunity to challenge Fischer held back his own chess development. Karpov met with Fischer several times after 1975, in friendly but ultimately unsuccessful attempts to arrange a match. [29] Garry Kasparov has argued that Karpov would have had a good chance to defeat Fischer in 1975.

Fischer disappeared and did not play competitive chess for nearly twenty years. To this day, he claims that he is still the World Champion because he never lost a title match.

Contributions to chess theory

Fischer was renowned for his opening preparation, and made numerous contributions to chess opening theory. He was considered the greatest practitioner of the White side of the Ruy Lopez; a line of the Exchange Variation (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0) is sometimes called the "Fischer variation" after he successfully resurrected it at the 1966 Havana Olympiad.

He was also a recognized expert in the Black side of the Najdorf Sicilian, as well as being one of the greatest theoreticians of the King's Indian Defense. He also demonstrated several important improvements in the Grunfeld Defence. In the Nimzo-Indian Defence, the line beginning with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Ne2 Ba6 is named for him.

Fischer established the viability of the so-called "Poisoned Pawn" variation of the Najdorf Sicilian (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6!?). Although this bold queen sortie, snatching a pawn at the expense of development, had been considered dubious, Fischer succeeded in proving its soundness, a claim supported by contemporary theory. Fischer won many games with this line; his only loss was in the 11th game of his 1972 match with Spassky.

On the White side of the Sicilian, Fischer made advancements to the theory of the line beginning 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 (or e6) 6. Bc4, which is now called the Fischer-Sozin Attack.

In 1960, prompted by a painful loss to Spassky,[1] Fischer wrote an article entitled "A Bust to the King's Gambit" for the first issue of Larry Evans' American Chess Quarterly, in which he recommended 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d6. This variation has since become known as the Fischer Defense to the King's Gambit. After Fischer's article was published, the King's Gambit was seen even less frequently in master-level games, although Fischer took up the White side of it in three games (preferring 3.Bc4 to 3.Nf3), winning them all.

Other contributions to chess

Fischer clock

In 1988, Fischer filed for U.S. Patent 4,884,255 for a new type of digital chess clock. Fischer's clock gave each player a fixed period of time at the start of the game and then added a small increment after each completed move. The Fischer clock soon became standard in most major chess tournaments. The patent expired in November 2001 because of overdue maintenance fees.

Fischer Random Chess

On June 19, 1996, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Fischer announced and advocated a variant of chess called Fischer Random Chess, also known as Chess960, that is intended to allow players to contest games based on their understanding of chess rather than their ability to memorize opening variations. Chess960 has gone on to be moderately popular.

* Audio clip of Bobby Fischer describing the unsavory side of chess in its current form at the highest levels.

Other talents

Fischer is an expert at solving the Fifteen puzzle, and has been timed multiple times in under 25 seconds. Fischer demonstrated this on November 8, 1972 on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Fischer was also an expert at playing pinball machines[

Chess Jokes - 9

During the recent Karpov-Kasparov world chess championships they came to an adjournment and left for their hotel. In the lobby of the hotel several
chess enthusiasts could be heard bragging, "I could beat Karpov with no
problem". "Oh yeah, I could beat both of them at the same time." "That's nothing, I could beat both of them blindfolded!"

Finally, the hotel manager had had enough and threw them all out of the
hotel.

But why?" a bystander asked.
"Because," the manager replied "I hate chess nuts boasting by an open foyer!"

Chess Jokes - 8

Q:Why should you never buy a house from a chess player?
A:Because they take ages to move! :-D

Chess Jokes - 7

Capablanca was waiting in a train station in New York one day, with his coffee, danish, newspaper and chess set, when a man approached him. Gesturing at the chess set, he asked if Capablanca cared for a game. Always delighted to play, Capablanca immediately set up the board, then removed his queen from the board, to even up the game. Annoyed, the man blurted out, "Why did you do that? You don't know me, I might beat you!" Unruffled, Capablanca replied, "Sir, if you could beat me, I would know you."

Day tables in the Tournament of Champions

The fifth day of the tournament ended with a triple tie in the three games involved, which keeps intact the classification: Ruslan Ponomariov continues to head the table with Judit and Topalov as only half a point

The fifth day of the tournament "Playing Champions League-for a better world" resulted in a triple tie in the three games involved, which keeps intact the classification: Ruslan Ponomariov, 24 years old, continues to head the table with Judit Polgar and Veselin Topalov as immediate pursuers just half a point.








The leader was aware of the importance of their clash today with whom undoubtedly will be one of its direct rivals facing the final triumph, and also of what it can be dangerous if allowed Topalov give free rein to its aggressiveness. Therefore, Ponomariov decided to take advantage of playing with white lead to the departure of the quietest possible paths.Topalov was trying to force things with a sacrifice pawn, which, however channeled directly to a line position forced tables. A result that appears to satisfy the interests of most young Ukrainian prodigy, to enable it to end as winner of the first round of the tournament.

In his departure face Judit Polgar, Nisipeanu followed the same strategy used to contain Kramnik Kasparov in his historic duel of the year 2000: Berlin raised a defense in which, as is typical, white obtained a microscopic advantage, but where timing Romanian countered in the flank Ladies and ensured a draw after 27 moves.

Anatoli Karpov versus Kasimdzhanov won a position apparently calm, but held out dangerous subtleties. However, when the legendary champion was about to get some tangible advantage, committed a minor inaccuracy that land threw his good work so far, and opted for the division point after just 23 moves.

Veselin Topalov falls before Judit Polgar, allowing Ponomariov turn to solo lead

Judith did it !!!!!!!!!
The Hungarian Judit Polgar has been imposed on Veselin Topalov in a game that turns out to be the umpteenth example of the motto that says that in chess, wins the person committing the penultimate mistake. Judit had lost a pawn in exchange for practically nothing, and everything seemed to indicate that Topalov will score a new victory that will enhance definitely in the lead. But the Bulgarian returned the favor in a very advantageous position, was the victim of a kind of mental mirage, leaving their fate to one of his pieces and was immediately captured by Judit. La rendición fue inmediata. The surrender was immediate. "If there becomes this very serious mistake, Judit had to suffer a lot in the game and it had not been easy save," lamented a visibly affected Topalov.

The benefited from this setback is Ruslan Ponomariov, who tie with the black face Kasimdzhanov won lets you turn to lead the classification alone. But it was not exactly easy tables.



1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7
8. Nc3 Bf5 9. Re1 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Bxd3 11. Qxd3 O-O 12. Rb1 Rb8 13. c4 Bf6
14. c3 dxc4 15. Qxc4 Qd7 16. Bf4 Rbd8 17. h3 b6 18. Re4 Na5 19. Qxc7 Qd5
20. Rbe1 Nc4 21. Qxa7 Ra8 22. Qc7 Bd8 23. Re5 Bxc7 24. Rxd5 Bxf4 25. Re2
Ra3 26. Rc2 Rfa8 27. Kf1 Kf8 28. Ke2 Rxa2 29. Rxa2 Rxa2+ 30. Kd3 Nd2 31.
Ne5 Bxe5 32. Rxe5 Nb3 33. c4 Na5 34. c5 Nc6 0-1


The early Ponomariov, who for 13 years and was world champion U-18, and to 18 world champion all, embarked on a position and played in 1987 in one of the historical duels between Karpov and Kasparov, which showed that it was very bad for black. His opponent, a little more veteran, showed better understanding the historical background and enjoyed throughout the departure of a comfortable lead. But the defensive tenacity allowed Ponomariov escape from the difficult situation with a valuable half point it is worth the leadership.

The last of the items in the conclusion was that faced Dieter Nisipeanu with Anatoli Karpov, which ended with the distribution point. It was the first time in his career that the talented Romanian faced the great chess legend alive, and the advantage of driving the white pieces allowed to take the initiative. However, the skilful Karpov managed to neutralize all threats contained in the board, and its position gradually began to seem preferable. However, once again the troubles of time you were a handicap: with just 4 minutes on the clock, Karpov chose to offer the draw and not take risks, despite the slight advantage gained.

Results
Topalov, Veselin 0-1 Polgar, Judit
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter ½-½ Karpov, Anatoly
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam ½-½ Ponomariov, Ruslan

Standings
Ponomariov 3/4
Topalov 2.5/4
Judit Polgar 2.5/4
Nisipeanu 1.5 */3
Karpov 1/4
Kasimdzhanov 0.5 */4

Anand blasts FIDE's 'political patronage' of Kramnik

06.11.2007 – Gentlemen, let the hostilities begin. After Vladimir Kramnik passed some disparaging remarks about Vishy Anand's world championship win ("I have lent Anand the crown") in an Izvestia interview, the Indian star strikes back in a national newspaper, saying Kramnik's arguments were based on mere technicalities. Anand also reveals that he may soon move back to India. Hindustan Times stories.

Kramnik says he has lent Anand the crown; champ laughs it off

Long after the bitter days of rivalry between Kasparov and Karpov, another chess star war seems to be in the offing. Vladimir Kramnik, dethroned as the FIDE world chess champion by Viswanathan Anand, has passed disparaging comments against the Indian star, who has retaliated strongly.

In a recent interview to the Russian newspaper Izvestia, Kramnik said that he has "lent the title temporarily to Anand". He added that he would accept Anand as the champion only if Anand wins their rematch next year. "OK, on paper Anand may be world champion, but from my point of view, there is a difference in significance between a title won in a match and in a tournament," Kramnik said. "For me, the forthcoming match with Anand is more important. If I lose that, I will accept completely the fact that I have lost the title."

Kramnik's comments re-ignite the debate over the best format for the event, apart from showing Kramnik in a poor light, for he had acknowledged Anand as the champion soon after the World Championship in Mexico in late September. Anand has suggested that Kramnik's argument was based on mere technicalities. He reacted strongly to Kramnik's comment and told HT: "He is trying to make the most of the political patronage he enjoys from the FIDE. Kramnik's position seems like a legal explanation of a situation arising from the political patronage."

"Who the best player in the world is decided on the board," Anand said over the phone from Chennai. Kramnik also claimed that his rematch with Anand – a gift guaranteed to the Russian by the FIDE even before the Mexico event – would be played in September 2008 in Germany. Kramnik told Izvestia that sponsors and organisers were already in place and contracts would be signed within a month. Anand refuted these claims and said nothing had been decided as yet.

ARMENIAN CHESS TEAM ASPIRES FOR MEDAL

Armenian men's and women's chess national teams have real chances to win a competitive place at the European team chess tournament in Iraklion town of Crete Island in Greece.

At the one but last round, 8th, the men's group met with the Azerbaijani team. The meeting ended in draw with a score of 2:2. After this meeting our national team with a team score of 12 and individual score of 19 is in the 2nd place with the Israeli representatives. The Russian team has got no defeats. The Armenian team will compete with the Israeli players today.

The women's group's results are even more impressive. Until the 8th round the competitor of the Armenian group was the national team of Poland that is the acting champion of Europe. Armenian women managed to win over the Polish group due to Lilit Mkrtchyan's victory. Three other Armenian women players played draw. After these games, our women group is in the third place with a team score of 12 and individual score of 19.

Practically, in this case as well, Russia has secured its place of a champion. They need one more score to earn in the final round. Our players will be the Georgian national team that is one score behind our team and is in the fourth place.

Grahesh, Madhumita win chess titles

Lucknow,INDIA, November 5 Andhra Pradesh’s Y Grahesh and Madhumita bagged the winner’s titles in the boys’ and girls’ section, respectively, in the XXIst National Under-7 Chess Championship that came to a close at the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium, here on Monday.

The prize distribution ceremony was held later in the day. Dr Kashmir Singh (IPS) was the chief guest on the occasion.

The points’ positions after the final round:

Girls’ Section:

1. N Madhumita [Andhra; 8.5 points], 2. Sagar Tejaswini R [Mah; 8 points], 3. PN Sneha (Pon), 4. Sawantriya (Goa) [both 7.5 points each], 5. Manoj Anjali (Kerala), 6. Bansi Pratima (Andhra), 7. MA Lathecka Sai (TN), 8. Sankalp Shreya (Bihar) [all 7 points each], 9. Patnaik Adyasha (Orissa), 10. M Tulsi (Kar), 11. Aggrawal Vanshika (Del), 12. K Rakshana (TN) [6.5 points each).

Boys’ Section:-

1. Y Grahesh [Andhra; 8.5 points, Fide 48.5], 2. Srivastava Adarsh [UP; 8.5 points, Fide 45.5], 3. M Sabhareesh (TN), 4. Mitrabha Guha (WB) [both 8 points each]; 5. Pradhan Dipu (Asm), 6. Mohanty Sourav (Orissa) [both 7.5 points each], 7. Jain Jeet (Guj), 8. Patkar Tejas Nilesh (Mah), 9. Puranik Abhimanyu (Mah), 10. Chatterjee Haraprasad (Orissa), 11. Khasbardar Soham (Mah), 12. Nadar Anand (Mah), 13. S Sukirthi (TN), Srivastava Yashwant (Delhi) [all 7 points each].

Inter unit sports meet

As a concluding part of the year long Indian Air Force Platinum Jubilee celebrations, a four-day Inter Unit Sports Meet 2007-08 was organised at Air Force Station Memaura recently.

Throughout the week various events like football, volleyball, basketball matches and athletic meets took place. The final day witnessed a Tug of War competition between Team ‘Alfa’ (Air Warriors) and Team ‘Bravo’ (Defence Security Corps- DSC personnel).

The overall meet trophy was bagged by Wing Commander R Verma (captain of team Bravo) from Group Captain T Rajeevan, VM, Station Commander, Air Force Station Memaura who graced the occasion as chief guest.

M'lore: Lourdes School Wins Under-14 National Chess Title

Mangalore,INDIA Nov 6: In the history of Karnataka chess the Lourdes Central School has scripted a new episode by winning the under-14 category championship in the national CBSE chess championship 2007-08 which was held in Chennai from October 29 to November 3.

According to a press release, the team comprising Nihal Manjunath (captain), Adith Jagadish, Yashas Salian, Rammohan Bhandari and Akash Harendranath scored 19.5 points in 6 rounds. The 80 points of the Jawahar School helped the Lourdes Central School clinch the title as against 82.5 points, which was the tie-break score of Lourdes School.

Adith Jagadish who remained unbeaten and Yashas Salian also won the Board prizes in 3rd and 4th Board respectively with their individual scores of 6 and 5 points respectively.

For the Magalorean team this is the maiden major chess title in CBSE chess event. The team won the title despite the participation of strong teams from all over India. All the players of the team are being trained at Derik’s Chess School, in the city.

Bobby Fischer Goes to War by David Edmonds and John Eidinow

Today it seems unlikely that one chess tournament could hold the world in thrall, but in 1972, Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky battled it out for the title of world champion under the scrutiny of everyone from the audience of the nightly news to foreign governments to Henry Kissinger. In "Bobby Fischer Goes to War," David Edmonds and John Eidinow reset the stage and give a full account of everything that was at stake in this series of chess matches.

Called "the High Noon of chess, the 1972 tournament was the first real chance America had at winning a world championship in decades. The Soviets had held the title since World War II, and returning champion Spassky was considered at the top of his game. But Fischer was different than any other chess player. Not only a chess genius, he conducted psychological warfare at the chessboard. "The most interesting phenomenon about Fischer," they write, "is not the effect chess had on him, but the effect his chess had on his opponents, destroying their morale, making them feel that they were in the grip of an alien hostile force to whose powers there was no earthly answer." And whether intentionally or not, Fischer's infamous histrionics contributed to his opponents' breakdowns. He never arrived on time, he refused to play unless the chessboard, the lighting, the noise level, the audience met with his approval. Fischer was the celebrity, and the heads of the tournaments almost always bent to his will.

Spassky was almost Fischer's polar opposite. While American chess player Arthur Bisguier declared that if Bobby Fischer "wasn't a chess player, he might have been a dangerous psychopath," Spassky was nothing less than a gentleman. Raised in Leningrad during the 900-day siege, Spassky was a fan of literature and the arts, was married (which Fischer posited as the cause of Spassky's loss), and he considered himself to be a Russian, not a Soviet. He refused to play a part in the Soviet propaganda that it was their communist system that turned out such great chess players. He clashed with the KGB and government officials on several occasions, and if he hadn't been the top rated player, there would have been serious consequences.

The match between Spassky and Fischer was very important to both governments, but it almost didn't happen. The tournament was bending to Fischer's every wish, but he still refused to leave America even as the first game was defaulted to Spassky. After a little persuading from Henry Kissinger, Fischer finally got on a plane to Reykjavik. While the tournament itself ends very anti-climactically, Edmonds and Eidinow manage to keep up the suspense with tales of hypnosis, mind control, poisonings, and espionage. There are rumors of involvement by both the CIA and the KGB during the proceedings. And meanwhile, the entire world watched, as moves in each game were read over the evening news.

Edmonds and Eidinow are careful to balance how much chess technicalities a layperson might be able to handle. There is just enough to spark the interest of people who know chess, but it's buried well enough that everyone else can glide over it in favor of the human interest. It's a well-constructed book, and it can even make you understand why the world stopped to watch Bobby Fischer give America the world championship title.

Bobby Fischer Goes to War by David Edmonds and John Eidinow
Ecco
ISBN: 0060510242

Champions League Chess Tournament - Round 3

3 rd Round: Ponomariov gives scope to Topalov

Topalov maintains its leading position in the tournament, although tied with Ponomariov, who has given scope to defeat an Karpov who sinned optimistic.

The Bulgarian Veselin Topalov stays at the forefront with Ponomariov in the Tournament of Champions in Vitoria, after obtaining a draw with black in a complicated game before Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. It was certainly the duel of the day, and a real battle to death: Topalov chose the Najdorf, and the departure led to a struggle enroques opposites, with each player
launched an attack against the king opponent.The outcome is worthy of tables to the ability of both chess players.

Judit Polgar won one of the victories of the day, imposed the Uzbek Rustam Khasimdzhanov.The Hungarian surprised entering the call or Spanish Opening Ruy Lopez, a variant that is not in his usual repertoire, but have proved well prepared. After breaking in the center with its move d5, the game took a course very favorable for her, and beset by the pressure Kasimdzhanov committed a grave error that precipitated its defeat.

Karpov again bite the dust, and again after having enjoyed a favorable position. After displaying the talent to the strategy that has made him world famous, perhaps Karpov sinned an excess of confidence before Ponomariov, and he threw lose its advantage to embark on a dubious attack. The Ukrainian took advantage of his opportunity and launched a deadly counterattack, which favor in their favor this interesting duel between the most veteran player and the youngest in the tournament.

Round -3 Games
Karpov,Ana - Ponomariov,R



1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Be4 7. f3 Bg6 8. g3
a6 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. Kf2 b5 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. Bd2 Bd6 13. a4 b4 14. Na2 a5
15. Bb5+ Nbd7 16. Nc1 O-O 17. Nb3 e5 18. Rc1 g5 19. Kg2 e4 20. f4 gxf4 21.
exf4 Nb6 22. Be3 Nc4 23. Qe2 Nxe3+ 24. Qxe3 g6 25. Rhf1 Kg7 26. h3 Rh8 27.
f5 Nh5 28. g4 Qh4 29. gxh5 Rxh5 30. f6+ Kh7 31. Kh1 Bg3 32. Bd7 Rd8 33. Rg1
Bf4 34. Rg4 Bxe3 35. Rxh4 Rxh4 36. Rc7 Bf4 37. Rb7 Rxd7 0-1



Nisipeanu,LD - Topalov,V


1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nde2 Be6
8. f4 Nbd7 9. f5 Bc4 10. Nc1 d5 11. Bxc4 dxc4 12. Qf3 b5 13. N1e2 b4 14.
Nd5 Nxd5 15. exd5 Nf6 16. O-O-O Bd6 17. g4 b3 18. cxb3 cxb3 19. Kb1 bxa2+
20. Ka1 e4 21. Qg2 Be5 22. Bd4 Bxd4 23. Nxd4 O-O 24. d6 Qb6 25. g5 Nd5 26.
g6 fxg6 27. fxg6 Qxd6 28. gxh7+ Kh8 29. Rhg1 Qf6 30. Qxe4 Rad8 31. Ne6 Rfe8
32. Rxd5 1/2-1/2


Kasimdzhanov,R - Polgar,Ju


1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8.
c3 O-O 9. h3 Bb7 10. d4 Re8 11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. a4 Na5 13. Bc2 b4 14. Bd3 d5
15. exd5 exd4 16. c4 c6 17. dxc6 Rxe1+ 18. Qxe1 Bxc6 19. Qd1 g6 20. Ne5 Bb7
21. Ndf3 Nd7 22. Bg5 Qc7 23. Nxd7 Qxd7 24. Ne5 Qd6 25. Ng4 Bg7 26. Nh6+ Kf8
27. Bd2 Re8 28. Rc1 Qc5 29. Qg4 Nc6 30. Qf4 Ne5 31. Be4 g5 32. Qf5 Bxe4 33.
Qxe4 Bxh6 34. h4 Ng6 35. Qb7 a5 36. Qb5 Re5 0-1



Results
Karpov,Ana 0-1 Ponomariov,R
Nisipeanu,LD 1/2-1/2 Topalov,V
Kasimdzhanov,R 0-1 Polgar,Ju

Standings
1: Ponomariov, R 2705 2.5 / 3
2: Topalov, V 2769 2.5 / 3
3: Polgar, Ju 2708 1.5 / 3
4: Nisipeanu, LD 2668 1.0 / 2
5: Karpov, Ana 2670 0.5 / 3
6: Kasimdzhanov, R 2690 0.0 / 2

European Team Championship- Round 7

Impressive derby matches in the women section

Both Poland and Russia have won in the women section, staying tied on the top of the crosstable with only half a point advantage for Poland on individual scores. Netehrlands and Armenia are sharing the 3rd after routing pass Slovenia and Bulgaria respectively. Azerbaijan held France to 2-2 thanks to WGM Turkan Mamedjarova's win on the third board.

Russia met the equally strong team of Georgia and it was to be expected that most of the games would be draws. However, IM Ekaterina Korbut outplayed IM Maia Lomineishvili and gave Russia the advantage. Final score - 2.5:1.5

Ukraine managed get two draws from the powerful Polish team, but IM Rajlich and IM Dworakowska brought Poland the victory in the match (1:3) and thus the pole position in the ranking

The Netherlands managed to win over Slovenia with 2.5:1.5 and ranked third in the standings right after Poland and Russia

Armenia outperformed Bulgaria by drawing the black boards and winning the white, scored 3:1 and took the fifth place in the ranking

After Round 7
Standings (Men Section)

Rk. SNo Team Team Games + = - TB1 TB2 TB3
1 1 RUS RUSSIA RUS 7 7 0 0 14 20,5 111,5
2 4 ARM ARMENIA ARM 7 5 1 1 11 17,0 106,0
3 19 SLO SLOVENIA SLO 7 5 0 2 10 17,0 106,0
4 8 ISR ISRAEL ISR 7 4 2 1 10 16,5 113,0
5 3 AZE AZERBAIJAN AZE 7 5 0 2 10 16,0 114,0
6 5 BUL BULGARIA BUL 7 4 1 2 9 17,5 104,5
7 12 HUN HUNGARY HUN 7 4 1 2 9 16,5 109,5
8 10 POL POLAND POL 7 4 1 2 9 16,5 94,0
9 2 UKR UKRAINE UKR 7 3 3 1 9 16,5 93,5
10 6 FRA FRANCE FRA 7 4 1 2 9 16,0 117,0
11 7 ESP SPAIN ESP 7 3 3 1 9 15,0 107,5
12 11 GEO GEORGIA GEO 7 3 2 2 8 17,0 92,0
13 17 GRE GREECE GRE 7 4 0 3 8 17,0 87,0
14 9 NED NETHERLANDS NED 7 3 2 2 8 16,0 102,0
15 13 CZE CZECH REPUBLIC CZE 7 3 2 2 8 15,5 113,0
16 16 ENG ENGLAND ENG 7 3 2 2 8 15,5 95,0
17 26 MKD FYROM MKD 7 3 2 2 8 14,5 100,0
18 25 LTU LITHUANIA LTU 7 3 1 3 7 16,0 83,0
19 31 ISL ICELAND ISL 7 3 1 3 7 15,0 106,0
20 27 NOR NORWAY NOR 7 3 1 3 7 15,0 99,0
21 30 MNE MONTENEGRO MNE 7 3 1 3 7 14,5 98,0
22 20 DEN DENMARK DEN 7 3 1 3 7 14,0 100,5
23 28 SUI SWITZERLAND SUI 7 3 1 3 7 14,0 96,5
24 21 SWE SWEDEN SWE 7 2 3 2 7 13,5 117,0
25 15 GER GERMANY GER 7 2 2 3 6 14,5 94,0
26 14 SRB SERBIA SRB 7 3 0 4 6 14,0 102,5
27 33 EST ESTONIA EST 7 3 0 4 6 13,0 99,5
28 34 FIN FINLAND FIN 7 2 2 3 6 13,0 93,5
29 29 ITA ITALY ITA 7 1 4 2 6 12,5 95,5
30 18 CRO CROATIA CRO 7 2 1 4 5 12,5 99,5
31 23 TUR TURKEY TUR 7 2 1 4 5 12,5 94,0
32 24 ROU ROMANIA ROU 7 2 1 4 5 12,5 91,5
33 32 AUT AUSTRIA AUT 7 2 0 5 4 13,0 90,0
34 37 LUX LUXEMBOURG LUX 7 1 2 4 4 10,0 78,5
35 35 BEL BELGIUM BEL 7 1 2 4 4 9,5 96,0
36 38 WLS WALES WLS 7 1 2 4 4 7,5 86,5
37 40 CYP CYPRUS CYP 7 1 1 5 3 7,5 79,5
38 36 SCO SCOTLAND SCO 7 1 1 5 3 7,0 98,0
39 39 MNC MONACO MNC 7 0 1 6 1 6,5 91,5
40 22 BIH BOSNIA & HERCEGOVINA BIH 0 0 0 0 0 0,0 16,5




After Round 7 ( Women Section)

Rk. SNo Team Team Games + = - TB1 TB2 TB3
1 6 POL POLAND POL 7 5 2 0 12 20,0 109,0
2 1 RUS RUSSIA RUS 7 5 2 0 12 19,5 115,0
3 8 NED NETHERLANDS NED 7 4 2 1 10 16,5 110,0
4 10 ARM ARMENIA ARM 7 4 2 1 10 16,5 101,5
5 2 GEO GEORGIA GEO 7 4 1 2 9 18,0 97,5
6 3 UKR UKRAINE UKR 7 4 1 2 9 17,5 102,5
7 5 HUN HUNGARY HUN 7 4 1 2 9 17,5 100,5
8 15 ESP SPAIN ESP 7 3 2 2 8 17,0 86,5
9 14 BUL BULGARIA BUL 7 4 0 3 8 16,0 104,5
10 12 ROU ROMANIA ROU 7 3 2 2 8 15,5 90,0
11 11 SLO SLOVENIA SLO 7 3 2 2 8 15,0 106,5
12 7 GER GERMANY GER 7 3 2 2 8 14,0 103,5
13 4 FRA FRANCE FRA 7 3 2 2 8 13,5 113,0
14 22 CRO CROATIA CRO 7 3 1 3 7 16,5 72,5
15 13 GRE GREECE 1 GRE1 7 3 1 3 7 15,5 95,5
16 21 CZE CZECH REPUBLIC CZE 7 3 1 3 7 15,0 85,5
17 18 AZE AZERBAIJAN AZE 7 3 1 3 7 14,0 105,5
18 9 SRB SERBIA SRB 7 2 2 3 6 13,5 102,0
19 17 LTU LITHUANIA LTU 7 1 4 2 6 12,5 113,5
20 19 TUR TURKEY TUR 7 3 0 4 6 12,5 91,5
21 16 ISR ISRAEL ISR 7 3 0 4 6 12,0 103,0
22 27 MNE MONTENEGRO MNE 7 2 2 3 6 10,5 105,5
23 20 ENG ENGLAND ENG 7 3 0 4 6 10,0 103,5
24 26 EST ESTONIA EST 7 1 3 3 5 11,5 92,5
25 24 AUT AUSTRIA AUT 7 1 2 4 4 12,5 81,5
26 25 SWE SWEDEN SWE 7 1 2 4 4 12,0 79,0
27 23 SUI SWITZERLAND SUI 7 0 4 3 4 11,5 89,0
28 29 FIN FINLAND FIN 7 1 1 5 3 7,0 103,5
29 30 GRE GREECE 2 GRE2 7 0 1 6 1 5,0 101,5
30 28 BIH BOSNIA & HERCEGOVINA BIH 0 0 0 0 0 0,0 15,5

European Team Championship- Women Photos

Sophie Milliet (France)


Nino Khurtsidze (Georgia)



Natalia Zhukova (Ukraine)



Nargiz Umudova (Azerbaidjan)



Maia Lomineishvili (Georgia)


Lela Javakhishvili (Georgia)



Ketino Kachiani (Germany)



Jovanka Houska (England)



Inna Gaponenko (Ukraine)


Ilaha Kadimova (Azerbaidjan)



Deimante Daulyte (Lithuania)




Andjelija Stojanovic (Serbia)

Rank after Round 6

Rank after Round 6
Rk. SNo Team Team Games + = - TB1 TB2 TB3
1 1 RUS RUSSIA RUS 6 6 0 0 12 18,0 82,0
2 19 SLO SLOVENIA SLO 6 5 0 1 10 15,5 76,5
3 2 UKR UKRAINE UKR 6 3 3 0 9 15,0 66,5
4 6 FRA FRANCE FRA 6 4 1 1 9 14,5 85,0
5 4 ARM ARMENIA ARM 6 4 1 1 9 14,5 78,5
6 10 POL POLAND POL 6 4 0 2 8 14,5 68,5
7 8 ISR ISRAEL ISR 6 3 2 1 8 13,5 85,5
8 3 AZE AZERBAIJAN AZE 6 4 0 2 8 13,5 85,0
9 7 ESP SPAIN ESP 6 3 2 1 8 13,0 80,0
10 5 BUL BULGARIA BUL 6 3 1 2 7 14,5 78,0
11 12 HUN HUNGARY HUN 6 3 1 2 7 14,0 81,0
12 9 NED NETHERLANDS NED 6 3 1 2 7 14,0 74,0
13 27 NOR NORWAY NOR 6 3 1 2 7 14,0 72,5
14 13 CZE CZECH REPUBLIC CZE 6 3 1 2 7 13,5 85,0
15 31 ISL ICELAND ISL 6 3 1 2 7 13,5 78,0
16 28 SUI SWITZERLAND SUI 6 3 1 2 7 13,0 67,0
17 11 GEO GEORGIA GEO 6 2 2 2 6 14,0 66,0
18 17 GRE GREECE GRE 6 3 0 3 6 14,0 61,0
19 25 LTU LITHUANIA LTU 6 3 0 3 6 14,0 59,5
20 16 ENG ENGLAND ENG 6 2 2 2 6 13,0 68,5
21 15 GER GERMANY GER 6 2 2 2 6 13,0 66,5
22 14 SRB SERBIA SRB 6 3 0 3 6 12,5 76,5
23 26 MKD FYROM MKD 6 2 2 2 6 12,0 75,0
24 33 EST ESTONIA EST 6 3 0 3 6 12,0 71,5
25 21 SWE SWEDEN SWE 6 2 2 2 6 11,5 87,5
26 20 DEN DENMARK DEN 6 2 1 3 5 11,5 74,0
27 30 MNE MONTENEGRO MNE 6 2 1 3 5 11,5 71,0
28 23 TUR TURKEY TUR 6 2 1 3 5 11,5 66,5
29 24 ROU ROMANIA ROU 6 2 1 3 5 11,5 65,0
30 18 CRO CROATIA CRO 6 2 1 3 5 11,0 72,5
31 32 AUT AUSTRIA AUT 6 2 0 4 4 12,0 66,0
32 34 FIN FINLAND FIN 6 1 2 3 4 10,0 74,0
33 29 ITA ITALY ITA 6 0 4 2 4 9,5 68,5
34 37 LUX LUXEMBOURG LUX 6 1 1 4 3 8,0 60,5
35 35 BEL BELGIUM BEL 6 1 1 4 3 7,5 67,5
36 36 SCO SCOTLAND SCO 6 1 1 4 3 6,0 73,5
37 38 WLS WALES WLS 6 1 1 4 3 5,5 66,5
38 39 MNC MONACO MNC 6 0 1 5 1 5,0 72,5
39 40 CYP CYPRUS CYP 6 0 1 5 1 5,0 62,5
40 22 BIH BOSNIA & HERCEGOVINA BIH 0 0 0 0 0 0,0 15,0

Annotation:
Tie Break1: Matchpoints (2 for wins, 1 for Draws, 0 for Losses)
Tie Break2: points (game-points)
Tie Break3: Buchholz Tie-Breaks (variabel with parameter)

European Team Championship: England Round 5 Report

In round 5 England were playing against 7th seeds Spain. They fought hard and came away with a well earned 2-2 draw.

Top board was an all 2700+ clash between Michael Adams and Alexei Shirov. Micky gained a slight edge in a Ruy Lopez and some pressure with the two Bishops. Shirov played accurately and swapped off into a rook+pawn ending where he was minutely worse. He held with ease.

On an individual front Mark Hebden is on 4/5 and has a 2701 performance. Michael Adams has 2.5/4 and is performing at 2733.

For the women Ingrid Lauterbach has 2/5 and is performing at 2225, 100 points above her current rating.

On board 2 Gawain Jones had Black against Vallejo Pons,F (2660). Gawain played the solid Accelerated Dragon and Vallejo gained a slight edge. Vallejo slowly gained control and started to attack the weak d6 pawn. Gawain was never able to get much counterplay and Vallejo won on move 39.

Board 3 saw something unprecedented in this tournament. Mark Hebden had the White pieces! After scoring 3/4 with Black, Mark was rewarded with the advantage of the 1st move, an advantage he never gave up. He sacked a pawn against Miguel Illecas Cordoba (2598) and I shall analyse his attacking win in my next update.

Stuart Conquest held a quick draw on the Black side of a Sicilian against Marc Narciso Dublan (2546).

The women lost a close match against higher seeded Romania by 2.5-1.5.

Jovanka Houska looked to have gained some advantage in a Sicilian against Corina-Isabela Peptan (2405) but an inaccuracy allowed Peptan to equalise. The players decided to repeat moves and the game finished a draw on 31 moves.

Dagne Ciuksyte scored her first victory of the event as Black in a complicated Sicilian against Carmen Volcu (2333). I will analyse this, as well as Mark's game, in a double game special update on Sunday evening!

Board 3 and 4 were always going to be tough with Ingrid Lauterbach and Meri Grigoryan-Lyell both facing much higher opponents. They both put up strong fights and can count themselves unlucky not to come away with something fromt the games. They went down in 52 and 68 moves respecively.

A solid day for both teams, though the women will feel they deserved a draw.

The Men have now won 2, drawn 2 and lost 1. They have 12.5/20 game points.

The Women have won 2 and lost 3. They have 7/20 game points.

After 5 rounds Russia lead the 'Unrestricted' section with 5/5 match wins and 15 game points ahead of surprise package Slovenia in 2nd. England are 12th (they're 16th seeds).

In the Women's section Poland lead a tight section ahead of Georgia and Russia. England are in 22nd (they're 20th seeds).

Mark Hebden is the leading England scorer with 4/5 and a 2701 rating performance.

Etienne Bacrot - Magnus Carlsen

Video of the post-mortem

Etienne Bacrot and Magnus Carlsen analysing their 4th round game, joined by Laurent Fressinet and Russian coach Yuri Razuvaev.

Ratnamakaran wins chess tourney

Kochi, (PTI): Top seed IM K Ratnakaran of Southern Railways, Chennai, won the All India National FIDE rated chess tournament here with 7.5 points.

Though Ratnakaran lost to Sayeed Anwar Shazuli (ICF) in the ninth round, he emerged victorius on the basis of the progressive FIDE points.

R R Laxman (Tamil Nadu), M B Murlidharan (Kerala) and Syed Anwar Shazuli (all 7.5 points) came second, third and fourth respectively.

IM Balasubramanian Ramanatha (ICF) won the fifth spot with seven points.

Judit Polgar

Judit Polgar (born July 23, 1976) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. She is by far the strongest female chessplayer in history. In 1991, she achieved the title of Grandmaster (GM) at the age of 15 years and 4 months. She was, at that time, the youngest person to do so.

Judit Polgár is Jewish, and from Budapest. Members of her family perished in the Holocaust.

She and her two older sisters, Grandmaster Zsuzsa and International Master Zsófia, were part of an educational experiment carried out by their father László Polgár, in an attempt to prove that children could make exceptional achievements if trained in a specialist subject from a very early age. "Geniuses are made, not born," was László's thesis. He and his wife Klara educated their three daughters at home, with chess as the specialist subject.

The father also taught his three daughters the international language Esperanto.

The rest of Judit's family eventually emigrated (Zsofia and her parents to Israel and later to Canada, Zsuzsa to New York), but she remained in Hungary and married Gusztáv Fonts, a veterinary surgeon from Budapest.


High chess ranking

Polgar is ranked number 20 in the world on the October 2007 FIDE rating list with an Elo rating of 2708, the only woman on FIDE's Top 100 Players list, and has been ranked as high as number eight. Polgár has defeated almost all the world's top players, including former World Champion Garry Kasparov (the highest-rated chessplayer of all time), former #1 Veselin Topalov, and current World Champion Viswanathan Anand.

Since Judit achieved her GM rating at age 15, others have surpassed her record, though none has held it as long as Judit.

Career

Judit has always preferred men's events, making it clear from the beginning that she wanted to become the true World Champion of Chess.

Trained in her early years by her sister Zsuzsa (who ultimately became Women's World Champion herself) Judit was a prodigy from an early age. She first defeated an International Master (Dolfi Drimer) at age 10,[7] and a Grandmaster (Vladimir Kovacevic) at age 11.[8]

In 1994 she suffered a controversial defeat at the hands of then-world champion Garry Kasparov, the highest-rated chessplayer of all time. Kasparov changed his mind after making a losing move and then made another move instead. According to chess rules, once a player has released a piece s/he cannot make a different move, so Kasparov should have been made to play his original move. However, Polgár did not challenge this because she says there were no witnesses and an arbiter was not around. She was also unaware at the time that the re-move was caught on tape by a television crew. The tournament director was criticised for not forfeiting Kasparov when the videotape evidence was made available to him.[9] However, she won a rapid chess game against Kasparov in 2002.

On the November 1995 FIDE ratings list, Polgár's 2676 rating made her the number 10 ranked player in the world,[10] the first woman ever to enter the world's Top Ten.

In 2003, Judit scored one of her best results: an undefeated clear second place in the Category 19 Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, just a half-point behind Indian star Viswanathan Anand, and a full point ahead of world champion Vladimir Kramnik.[11]

In 2004, Polgár took some time off from chess to give birth to her son, Olivér. She was consequently considered inactive and not listed on the January 2005 FIDE rating list. Her sister Zsuzsa reactivated her playing status during this period, and temporarily became ranked the world's number one woman player again.[12]

Polgár returned to chess at the prestigious Corus chess tournament on January 15, 2005, scoring 7/13. She was therefore relisted in the April 2005 FIDE rating list, gaining a few rating points for her better-than-par performance at Corus. In May she also had a better-than-par performance at a strong tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria, finishing third. This brought her to her highest ever rating, 2735, in the July 2005 FIDE list and enabled her to retain her spot as the eighth ranked player in the world.

In September 2005, Polgár became the first woman to play for a World Championship, at the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. However, she had a rare disappointing performance, coming last out of the eight competitors. Nigel Short criticised her poor opening repertoire, and some speculated that taking a year off to have a baby may have left her rusty, despite her strong performances in two tournaments earlier in the year.

She did not play at the 2006 Linares tournament because she was pregnant again. On July 6, 2006, she gave birth to a girl, Hanna.

In October 2006, Judit scored another excellent result: tied for first place in the Essent Chess Tournament, Hoogeveen, Holland.[13] She scored 4.5 out of 6 in a double round robin tournament that included two wins against the world's top-rated player, Veselin Topalov.

In May-June 2007 she played in the Candidates Tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007. She was eliminated in the first round, losing to 3.5-2.5 to Evgeny Bareev.

Polgar-Kasparov, Russia vs. The Rest of the World match, Moscow 2002



1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 h6 10.Rd1+ Ke8 11.h3 Be7 12.Ne2 Nh4 13.Nxh4 Bxh4 14.Be3 Bf5 15.Nd4 Bh7 16.g4 Be7 17.Kg2 h5 18.Nf5 Bf8 19.Kf3 Bg6 20.Rd2 hxg4+ 21.hxg4 Rh3+ 22.Kg2 Rh7 23.Kg3 f6 24.Bf4 Bxf5 25.gxf5 fxe5 26.Re1 Bd6 27.Bxe5 Kd7 28. c4 c5 29.Bxd6 cxd6 30.Re6 Rah8 31.Rexd6+ Kc8 32.R2d5 Rh3+ 33.Kg2 Rh2+ 34.Kf3 R2h3+ 35.Ke4 b6 36.Rc6+ Kb8 37.Rd7 Rh2 38.Ke3 Rf8 39.Rcc7 Rxf5 40.Rb7+ Kc8 41.Rdc7+ Kd8 42.Rxg7 Kc8 1-0

Chess Jokes - 6

A gentleman must play a game of chess with a blind person, he proposes to the blind person:
"As him cannot see he will grant an advantage to him as part of the deal. We will not play in equality of conditions."
"This sound really fair" replied the Blind Person.
Then he asks the gentleman: "When?"
"Very well", the other men responded to him "any night that you prefer."

Chess Jokes - 5

A Chess Player is walking from the lake carrying two fish in a bucket. He is approached by the Game Warden who asks him for his fishing license.

The Chess player says to the warden, "I did not catch these fish, they are my pets's pawn. Everyday I come down to the water and whistle and these fish jump out and I take around to see the sights only to return them at the end of the day; remember that the Chess Board is like an ocean; full of fish".

The warden, does not play chess, he not had any idea what he's taking about; not believing him, reminds him that it is illegal to fish without a license. The Chess Player turns to the warden and says,
"CHECK" "If you don't believe me then watch," as he throws the fish back into the water. The warden says, "Now whistle to your fish and show me that they will come out of the water." The Chess Player turns to the warden and says, "What fish!?"

Chess Jokes - 4

A group of chess enthusiasts had checked into a hotel, and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse.
"But why?" they asked, as they moved off.
"Because," he said, "I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."

Champions League Chess Tournament (2nd Round)

2 nd Round: Topalov takes command at the Tournament of Champions

The Bulgarian Veselin Topalov, World Champion in 2005, was put in front of the qualifying tournament chess Vitoria to get his second consecutive victory. His victim this time was Rustam Kasimdzhanov, and its strategy of the Trojan horse: Topalov allowed his opponent to capture a pawn, but in return obtained an initiative which ultimately proved decisive. The Uzbek player lamented after having overestimated their chances defensive, and admitted that he had made a wrong decision.

The duel between the two defeated yesterday, Anatoli Karpov and Hungarian Judit Polgar, ended in a draw. Although Karpov attempted surprise from the start using a rare opening therein, Judit knew take advantage of the white pieces to carry the weight of the game, but the hard fajador it Karpov managed to keep the balance up to a final line that is not he deparaba any serious threat.

Ponomariov also made tables with the white pieces, faced Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. Despite being a last-minute inclusion as supplement to Khalifman-, and failure to adequately prepare for this tournament, the player will Romanian showed that size. Details showed high quality in the most delicate moments of the game, and reached the charts with the black pieces in all serenity.

Results

Games


1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 c6 8. Bc3
d5 9. Ne5 Ne4 10. O-O Nxc3 11. Nxc3 O-O 12. Rc1 Bb4 13. e3 Qe7 14. Re1 f6 15.
Nd3 Ba3 16. Rc2 dxc4 17. bxc4 Bxc4 18. Nb1 Bb5 19. Nxa3 Qxa3 20. Nf4 Re8 21.
Qh5 Nd7 22. Bxc6 Bxc6 23. Rxc6 Qxa2 24. Rc7 Re7 25. Rec1 e5 26. Qf3 Rd8 27. Nd5
Rf7 28. Nc3 Qb3 29. Rb1 Qe6 30. d5 Qe8 31. Rxa7 f5 32. Kg2 Ra8 33. Rc7 Nc5 34.
d6 e4 35. Qd1 Nd3 36. Qb3 Rd8 37. Ra1 Kf8 38. Rxf7+ Qxf7 39. Qxb6 Rc8 40. Ne2
Qh5 41. Nd4 Nxf2 42. d7 1-0




1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. a3 d5 7. cxd5 exd5 8.
Bg5 Bc5 9. e3 O-O 10. Be2 Bxd4 11. exd4 h6 12. Bh4 Qd6 13. Bg3 Qe7 14. Qd3 Re8
15. O-O Bf5 16. Qd2 Ne4 17. Nxe4 Qxe4 18. Bb5 Qxd4 19. Qxd4 Nxd4 20. Bxe8 Ne2+
21. Kh1 Rxe8 22. Rad1 d4 23. Rd2 d3 24. Rfd1 Nd4 25. h3 Nb3 26. Rxd3 Bxd3 27.
Rxd3 Nc5 28. Rd5 Ne4 29. Rd7 Nxg3+ 30. fxg3 b5 31. Rxa7 Re3 32. Rb7 Rb3 33. a4
b4 34. a5 Rxb2 35. a6 Ra2 36. a7 Kh7 37. Rxf7 b3 38. Rb7 b2 39. Rxb2 Rxa7 40.
g4 1/2-1/2




1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Nbd2 Be7 10. c3 O-O 11. Qe2 Nxd2 12. Bxd2 Na5 13. Bc2 Nc4 14. Nd4 Nxd2
15. Qxd2 Qd7 16. f4 c5 17. Nxe6 fxe6 18. Rad1 Rad8 19. Qd3 g6 20. Qg3 Rf7 21.
h4 Rg7 22. Qh3 c4 23. Kh1 a5 24. h5 Bc5 25. Rf3 Qe8 26. Rg3 gxh5 27. f5 Rxg3
28. Qxg3+ Kh8 29. Qh4 Qe7 30. f6 Qf7 31. Rf1 Rg8 32. Bd1 Qg6 33. Qh3 Qd3 34.
Qxd3 cxd3 35. f7 Rf8 36. Bxh5 Kg7 37. Rd1 Be3 38. Rxd3 Bf4 39. a4 bxa4 40. Rd4
a3 41. bxa3 Bxe5 42. Rg4+ Kh6 43. Rg8 Bd6 44. Rxf8 Bxf8 45. Bg4 e5 46. a4 Kg6
47. Be6 d4 48. cxd4 1/2-1/2


Round -2

PONOMARIOV Ruslan 2705 ½ - ½ NISIPEANU Liviu-Dieter 2668
TOPALOV Veselin 2769 1 - 0 KASIMDZHANOV Rustam 2690
POLGAR Judit 2708 ½ - ½ KARPOV Anatoly 2670

Standings

1 GM TOPALOV Veselin 2769 2
2 GM PONOMARIOV Ruslan 2705 1½
3 GM NISIPEANU Liviu-Dieter 2668 ½
GM POLGAR Judit 2708 ½
GM KARPOV Anatoly 2670 ½
6 GM KASIMDZHANOV Rustam 2690 0