Chess Cool - Know about Chess News Jokes Cartoons Players information

MovePawn.com is Launched!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-12-27T23:41:00.004+05:30

www.MovePawn.com site is launched and I am updating continuously now.

Site: www.movepawn.com

Anastasia's Mate

2008-10-10T08:44:00.000+05:30

China, Bulgaria share rapid chess gold medals

2008-10-09T08:39:00.001+05:30

BEIJING, Oct. 8- 2008 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Bu Xiangzhi was crowned in men's rapid chess event at the World Mind Games here on Wednesday, while the gold in women's competition was clinched by Bulgarian pinup blonde player Stefanova Antoaneta.

In the short two-round final, Bu, whose world ranking was above his rival, beat Korobov Anton from Ukraine in the opening round and forced the latter to ask for a draw in the second. Bu's victory also gifted the Chinese chess team the first gold of the 15-day Games.

"It was really difficult in the second game as I couldn't find any offence chance. But later, things changed and I found a critical opportunity to grasp the momentum tightly," said Bu.

"Anyway, it feels great to win the gold, especially the first one for our team. I hope we can play better in the following team events," added the 23-year-old winner.

In the third-place playoff, Zhang Zhong from Singapore outscored his Brazilian opponent Fier Alexandr 2-1 to wrap up the bronze.

Women's final was between old rivals Chinese Zhao Xue and former world champion Stefanova. Apparently in better form, the 29-year-old Bulgarian started with a tight defense and then gained initiative by abandoning the soldiers to seize Zhao's queen.

Taking the white chessman, Zhao has to win the second round to stage a turnover. But the less experienced Zhao failed to start well in faced with Stefanova intricate routines and lost to the veteran again after her same defeat in the preliminaries.

Zhao's teammate Huang Qian survived a three round seesaw battle to beat Houska Jovanka of Britain for the bronze.

When asked about her title of "chess beauty", the Bulgaria winner smiled shyly.

"Appearance doesn't necessarily contradict with wisdom," said Stefanova.

"Of course I don't mean to say myself," the girl soon added, "in international events there are many pretty girls, and I hope Icould meet more such rivals in the future."

Russian "chess queen" Kosteniuk Alexandra who impressed audiences with her Hapburn-style hat and Chinese 14-year-old hopeful Hou Yifan finished seventh and eighth due to their not-so-good performances in the preliminaries.

Chess Funny Video: Chess training

2008-09-20T22:11:00.002+05:30

Funny Chess Video - More amazing video clips are a click away

Chess funny video :Small boy playing Chess

2008-09-20T22:06:00.001+05:30

Funny Chess - The best home videos are here

Check mate! Chess thrives in Idaho grade schools

2008-09-20T22:03:00.001+05:30

The elementary school at the edge of this rural town has a playground that boasts little more than a swing set. That's no problem — the hot new game is inside.

Chess, once used as a way to teach war strategy, is now being taught to second- and third-graders across Idaho once a week as part of a plan to make students better at subjects like math and reading.

"At first I thought, 'You've got to be kidding,'" said Penny Lattimer, a Council Elementary School teacher. "We already have so much stuff to teach."

Lattimer didn't know how to play chess until last year, when she and a dozen other Idaho teachers were trained as part of a pilot program to bring chess into public schools.

The state Department of Education has now invested $120,000 into the project, which was tested in 100 schools last year and expanded this fall to 100 more.

Jerry Nash, scholastic director for the United States Chess Federation, said he has worked with public schools nationwide to develop chess programs, but Idaho is the first state to encourage public schools statewide to use the game as part of their curricula in second- and third-grades.

While the federation estimates 500,000 students nationwide in grades K-12 are being taught some aspect of the game through chess clubs, programs, or in the classroom, chess proponents such as Nash consider Idaho a trailblazer for introducing the game on such a large scale.

"What we're hoping is that it will be a great introduction," Nash said. "The more teachers that we have involved, obviously the greater impact we'll make."

Earlier this week at Council Elementary, third-grader Kristen Kruger, 8, played chess across the room from her brother, Tyler, a 9-year-old in the fourth grade. Kruger said the two often challenge one another.

"He's beat me like a hundred times," she said. "I won him once."

Lattimer points out one of her students who she said struggles with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. "In the classroom, he cannot sit still," Lattimer said, "but he sits still for this."

Council Elementary embraced the chance to become one of the first to try the program last year, when the state paid for it. This year, those same schools had to pay $340 per classroom to keep it.

The cash-strapped elementary school has scaled back on teaching aides just to make ends meet, but Principal Bonnie Thompson said it was able to find enough money to keep the program going.

Council doesn't stray far from tradition, she said, but the game has brought a new dimension to life in this former timber town where its 800 people struggle to survive the economic downturns of the logging industry.

"They just don't have that much exposure to culture here," Thompson said. "They do what they've always done in Council. They play football and they go to the park. I've never heard them talk about chess."

The program being taught in Idaho public schools — called First Move — was developed by the America's Foundation for Chess, and was first tested in Seattle-area schools, said foundation Vice President Wendi Fischer.

First Move is now taught in 26 states, with Idaho public schools Superintendent Tom Luna the first to adopt it on such a large scale.

The game can help students develop critical thinking skills that make them better at math, reading and writing, Fischer said. For example, students who become familiar with the vertical and horizontal lines of a chess board and how they are numbered also learn the fundamentals of how maps, graphs and how X and Y coordinates work.

"That's pre-algebra," Fischer said.

Idaho was second only to Utah in the lowest school district spending per student in 2006, according to a 2008 U.S. Census Bureau report based on the most recent data available. The report says Idaho spent about $6,440 per pupil in 2006, compared to the national average of $9,138 per student.

Luna acknowledges there's little hard evidence students actually benefit from playing chess, and it could take a few years before Idaho can gauge whether students who learn chess are more successful in academics.

"But if we're going to encourage innovation and new ideas," Luna said, "we have to give those new ideas time to produce results."

Lattimer said she has noticed students seem more polite after learning a game that requires opponents to shake hands before and after they play.

"You'll see it on the playground," Lattimer said. "The kids are just more kind."

On the Net:

America's Foundation for Chess: http://www.af4c.org
United States Chess Federation: http://main.uschess.org

Kearsley coach Mike Skidmore gets inducted into Chess Hall of Fame

2008-09-20T21:59:00.003+05:30

But, it wasn't great valor or even a wicked jump shot that landed Mike Skidmore in the Hall of Fame. Instead, it was instead his cunning strategies and all those checkmates.

Skidmore joined earlier this month an elite group of only 14 others named to the Michigan Chess Hall of Fame since its formation 20 years ago by the Michigan Chess Association.

There will be no multimillion dollar contracts, wax figures or Vince Lombardi trophy. Not even a crown for one of chess' kings.

Skidmore will get just a plaque, lifetime membership to the association, and be featured in an article for the association's magazine.

For Skidmore, the honor itself is worth more than any glamorous prize.

For the past 30 years, he's coached the Kearsley High School Chess Team, leading teams to win several state and national championships over the years.

Just as he's shared his knowledge of the game with his students, he also is sharing his honor.

"It's nice because it means some of the people in Michigan chess are recognizing what we do here," Skidmore said. "It's not about the individual honor. It's about the kids, the team and what they do."

The association exists in name only. There are no headquarters or offices. Instead board members meet four or five times a year at different locations.

The organization produces a bi-monthly magazine and bulletin of events and is responsible for organizing state championship events.

Hall of Fame inductees must have made a significant contribution to the growth, development, and prestige of chess in Michigan and the MCA, the selection requirements state.

Skidmore paid his dues by serving two terms on the MCA board, serving as chair of several sub-groups, editor of the magazine and coordinator of the U.S. Open Denker Invitational Tournament of Champions.

Skid, as he's affectionately called by his players, taught himself to play chess in fourth grade and went on to earn himself both local and state titles.

He started his first job coaching chess at Daly Jr. High School in 1973, the year after chess legend Bobby Fischer became the first American to win the World Chess Match igniting enormous interest in the game.

And, now, his students enjoy it when Skidmore occasionally makes rookie mistakes -- allowing them that rare chance to beat him at his own game.

"It's exciting because I know how experienced he is and how many people he's played and beat," said student Zach McComb, a 17-year-old senior.

Skidmore said he wants his students to learn more than just how to be good chess players.

"The kids are learning life skill through this game," Skidmore said. "I tell them to take those chess decision making skills and apply them to your life."

Flint Journal extras

More about 'Skid'

• Name: Mike Skidmore

• Age: 60

• Job: Chess coach and media specialist for Kearsley High School

• Family: Married with adult children

• Nickname: Skid

• How long have you been playing chess? "Since fourth grade. I taught my sister to play so I could beat her."

• How many games have you won? "Too many to count."

• Have you ever lost to any of your students? "Yes, but only when I'm tired or off my game."

Humpy wins against Yifan, match goes to tie-breaker

2008-09-12T09:11:00.001+05:30

NALCHIK: Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy rose to the occasion defeating Yifan Hao of China in the return game and forced the mini-match in to a tie-breaker in the ongoing World Women's Chess Championship here.

Humpy, who lost the first game as black, won the second game of the two-game mini-match and will now have to play the tie-break games on Friday.

The highest rated woman player after Judit Polgar of Hungary played imaginatively to beat Yifan, a 14-year-old sensation, who has been training hard and playing well against high opposition for past couple of years.

Meanwhile, in the other semifinal of the day Russian Alexandra Kosteniuk made sure she did not make mistakes in her quest for a berth in the finals and held Pia Cramling of Sweden to a draw to win the match by a 1.5-0.5 margin. In the first game of this semifinal, Kosteniuk had won with white pieces.

Humpy rose back in style to draw level in the second game. Starting with a knight manoeuvre on the first move, the Andhra girl transposed to a position akin to the Accelerated Sicilian Dragon and Yifan was in troubles early looking out for best ways to counter the opening.

While Yifan spent a lot of time in the opening, Humpy saved it for the crucial middle game stage where she had to find some tricky manoeuvre to avoid an equal position. As a result, both players fell in acute time pressure and the nerves played a crucial role.

Yifan could have defended better but the clock was ticking away and it was on the 32nd move that the Chinese blundered decisively and allowed Humpy to get a crushing attack on her king. The game ended just four moves later giving Humpy a chance to remain in the match and now in the tie-break the Indian will be a big favourite to win the match.

In the tie-breaker the players will first play a 2-game rapid match and if the scores are tied there will be two more games under blitz chess rules. If still tied the match will go in the sudden-death stage where white will get a minute extra on the clock with no increment and will have to win in order to qualify to the next stage.

Kosteniuk did many things right in order to gain a draw against Cramling. Her opening choice of Queen's gambit accepted proved correct, the concentration along the central squares was excellent and when the opportunity arose, the calculation was perfect.

Cramling on her part tried hard but Kosteniuk, despite being lower on rating, was simply the better player in this match. The game was eventual drawn vide perpetual checks. If Cramling had tried to avoid that the scoreline would have read 2-0 instead of 1.5-0.5.

For the records this will be Kosteniuk's second appearance in the final of the World Women's Championship. The last time she went to the finals was in 2000 at Moscow, where Zhu Chen of China had beaten her comprehensively to win the crown.

Results of game 2 semifinal with final score in the end: Koneru Humpy (Ind) beat Yifan Hao (Chn) 1-1 goes to tie-breaker; Pia Cramling (Swe) drew with Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus) 0.5-1.5, Kosteniuk goes to the finals.

Humpy fights her way back, takes match into tie-breaker

2008-09-12T09:09:00.000+05:30

Koneru Humpy came back into contention as her young Chinese opponent Hou Yifan blundered in the crucial stage of the Women’s World chess semi-finals Thursday. Humpy won the second game to get back into the match. Humpy, who had lost the first game with white thus equalised with black to send the match into a tie-breaker. He won in 36 moves after an opening in the English Symmetrical.

In the other semi-final Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia) needing only a draw to get onto the final stage of the Women’s World Chess Championship played a solid game with no surprises or novelties to beat Pia Cramling of Sweden. The game was in Queen’s Gambit declined and lasted 40 moves.

Kosteniuk made the final after seven years and she will now play the winner of Humpy-Yifan match in the final.

The 21-year-old Humpy favourite and top seed here came out with a slight advantage from the opening phase but could not find a strong continuation despite the desperation to win. Yifan pushed the pawn to d5 and gave a chance for exchanging the light pieces which could have been a nice way for a possible draw.

Humpy took her chance and avoided the full exchange and took a risky line but after that her position started to gradually loose momentum and deteriorated.

But her luck into came play as Yifan blundered and provided a chance for White to mate. Hou resigned after a few more moves as Humpy saw the line and went for it.

Humpy and Yifan will now clash in a tie break on Friday.

In the first game, Yifan played maturely to score an upset over the top-seed. Humpy played the first part of the game in her usual manner but out of the blue things changed greatly. Having captured a “poisoned pawn” Humpy lost her way and the game.

So upset was she that she kept sitting at the table for five minutes after the match trying to find a reason for her poor play.

Women World Chess CUP Semifinals:Kosteniuk in the final, Koneru-Hou tie break

2008-09-11T23:27:00.001+05:30

What a turn around !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KONERY HUMPY WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After winning yesterday against Cramling`s French defense, Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia) needed only a draw to get onto the final stage of the Women`s World Chess Championship. In a solid game with no surprises or novelties but with a strong fight, she made it and after seven years, she will play for the title again.

Koneru (India) came out with a slight advantage from the opening phase but could not find a strong continuation although she had to win after the loss of yesterday. Her Chinese opponent pushed the pawn to d5 and gave a chance for exchanging the light pieces which could have been a nice way for a possible draw. Koneru avoided the full exchange and took the risky Bb5 move after which her position started to gradually loose momentum and deteriorated.

In a worse position, Caissa run in to support her: Hou Yifan made a blunder with Na5, thus the position provided the chance for White to mate in 8 moves and Hou resigned after a few more moves. We are looking for a tie break tomorrow between Koneru, Humpy and Hou, Yifan. Please, follow the line on the official site.

World Women`s Chess Championship Nalchik 2008 : Round 1

2008-08-31T14:53:00.002+05:30

The Presidents of the World and Russian Chess Federations were there, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and the Kabardino-Balkaria President. But not the Georgian players, and some international participants, who did not attend due to the Russian-Georgian conflict. They lost their games by default. Otherwise most of the top seeds won their first games comfortably.

The Women's World Championship 2008 is taking place from August 28th to September 18th in Nalchik, in the Kabardino-Balkaria region of Russia. 64 players were eligible to play in the knock-out event, which has a prize fund of US $450,000. Due to the tensions in the region the Georgian players and a few others decided not to participate.

After the pre-tournament turmoil, in which the Georgian and other players protested and the FIDE President appealed to them and then to the Georgian president ("Do not mix politics and sport") we had to wait until the start of the first round to see who would turn up and who wouldn't. All the Georgians – Chiburdanidze, Gvetadze, Javakhishvili, Khukhashvili, Khurtsidze, Lomineishvili – were absent, as were a few others: Tea Bosboom Lanchava, Karen Zapata, Marie Sebag, Irina Krush and Ekaterina Korbut. They all lost their first game by default.

In the following table we can see that the top seeds generally won their games. The first upset is to be found on board 13, where 13th seed Natalia Zhukova of Ukraine lost to 52nd seed Katherine Rohonyan of the US. The next: 16th seed Elisabeth Paehtz, former Girl's Junior World Champion from Germany, lost to 49th seed Ilaha Kadimova of Azerbaijan. The defaulted players are shown in red.

Bd	SNo	Player	Nat.	Result	Player	Nat.
1	1-64	Xu, Yuhua	CHN	1-0	Solomons, Anzel	RSA
2	63-2	Alaa El Din, Yorsa	EGY	0-1	Koneru, Humpy	IND
3	3-62	Hou, Yifan	CHN	1-0	Khaled, Mona	EGY
4	61-4	Zapata, Karen	PER	-+	Stefanova, Antoaneta	BUL
5	5-60	Cramling, Pia	SWE	1-0	Sanchez Castillo, Sarai	VEN
6	59-6	Gasik, Anna	POL	+-	Sebag, Marie	FRA
7	7-58	Zhao, Xue	CHN	1-0	Zuriel, Marisa	ARG
8	57-8	Muminova, Nafisa	UZB	0-1	Kosintseva, Tatjana	RUS
9	9-56	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	RUS	1-0	Pourkashiyan, Atousa	IRI
10	55-10	Golubenko, Valentina	CRO	0-1	Cmilyte, Viktorija	LTU
11	11-54	Muzychuk, Anna	SLO	1-0	Velcheva, Maria	BUL
12	53-12	Zakurdjaeva, Irina	RUS	0-1	Ruan, Lufei	CHN
13	13-52	Zhukova, Natalia	UKR	0-1	Rohonyan, Katherine	USA
14	51-14	Nguyen, Thi Thanh An	VIE	+-	Chiburdanidze, Maya	GEO
15	15-50	Hoang Thanh Trang	HUN	1-0	Arribas Robaina, Maritza	CUB
16	49-16	Kadimova, Ilaha	AZE	1-0	Paehtz, Elisabeth	GER
17	17-48	Ushenina, Anna	UKR	1-0	Le Thanh Tu	VIE
18	47-18	Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	ROM	1/2	Socko, Monika	POL
19	19-46	Krush, Irina	USA	-+	Sedina, Elena	ITA
20	45-20	Zhang Jilin	CHN	1/2	Gaponenko, Inna	UKR
21	21-44	Javakhishvili, Lela	GEO	-+	Amura, Claudia	ARG
22	43-22	Nebolsina, Vera	RUS	0-1	Harika, Dronavalli	IND
23	23-42	Kosintseva, Nadezhda	RUS	1-0	Mohota, Nisha	IND
24	41-24	Gvetadze, Sopio	GEO	- -	Korbut, Ekaterina	RUS
25	25-40	Zatonskih, Anna	USA	+ -	Bosboom Lanchava, Tea	NED
26	39-26	Kachiani-Gersinska, K	GER	1/2	Shen, Yang	CHN
27	27-38	Mkrtchian, Lilit	ARM	1/2	Moser, Eva	AUT
28	37-28	Tan Zongyi	CHN	1/2	Tania, Sachdev	IND
29	29-36	Bojkovic, Natasa	SRB	1/2	Ju, Wenjun	CHN
30	35-30	Mongontuul, Bathuyang	MGL	1-0	Rajlich, Iweta	POL
31	31-34	Lomineishvili, Maia	GEO	- -	Khukhashvili, Sopiko	GEO
32	33-32	Matveeva, Svetlana	RUS	+ -	Khurtsidze, Nino	GEO

Schedule :

Thursday	28	August	Opening Ceremony/Player's Meeting
Friday	29	August	Round 1, game 1
Saturday	30	August	Round 1, game 2
Sunday	31	August	Tiebreaks
Monday	01	September	Round 2, game 1
Tuesday	02	September	Round 2, game 2
Wednesday	03	September	Tiebreaks
Thursday	04	September	Round 3, game 1
Friday	05	September	Round 3, game 2
Saturday	06	September	Tiebreaks
Sunday	07	September	Round 4, game 1
Monday	08	September	Round 4, game 2
Tuesday	09	September	Tiebreaks
Wednesday	10	September	Round 5, game 1
Thursday	11	September	Round 5, game 2
Friday	12	September	Tiebreaks
Saturday	13	September	Free Day
Sunday	14	September	Round 6, game 1
Monday	15	September	Round 6, game 2
Tuesday	16	September	Round 6, game 3
Wednesday	17	September	Round 6, game 4
Thursday	18	September	Tiebreaks/Closing Ceremony

Courtesy : www.chessbase.com

Official WebSite : http://nalchik2008.fide.com/

Wish you Happy birthday to Sabina

2008-08-31T14:50:00.001+05:30

The chess player from Romania Sabina-Francesca Foisor celebrated her birthday on the second day of the Championship. The Organizing Committee of the Championship congratulated her on her 19 birthday with champagne and a cake with candles. Aslan Afaunov, the Chairman of the KBR State Committee on Physical Culture and Sport wished her success and happiness and presented her with a bouquet of red roses. In the presence of all those present singing “Happy Birthday” the young Romanian blew out all the candles from the first attempt. While doing it she probably thought of winning the World Championship. The time will show.

Chess Videos: Bobby Ficher Life

2008-08-23T21:28:00.002+05:30

Chess Videos : Bobby Fischer truth

2008-08-23T21:16:00.002+05:30

Chess Video: Bobby Fischer Interview

2008-08-23T21:11:00.002+05:30

Chess Profiles : Bobby Fischer

2008-08-23T20:57:00.001+05:30

Robert James "Bobby" Fischer (March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008) was an American-born chess Grandmaster, and the eleventh World Chess Champion.

Fischer became famous as a teenager as a chess prodigy. In 1972, he became the first, and so far the only, American to win the official World Chess Championship,[1] defeating defending champion Boris Spassky, of the Soviet Union, in a match held in Reykjavík, Iceland. The match was widely publicized as a Cold War battle. He is often referred to as one of the greatest chess players of all time. In 2005, Iceland awarded citizenship to Fischer in recognition of his 30-year-old match that put the country "on the map".[2]

In 1975, Fischer failed to defend his title when he could not come to agreement with the international chess federation FIDE over the conditions for the match. He became more reclusive and played no more competitive chess until 1992, when he had a rematch with Spassky. The competition was held in Yugoslavia, which was then under a strict United Nations embargo.[3][4][5] This led to a conflict with the US government, and he never returned to his native country.

In his later years, Fischer lived in Hungary, Germany, the Philippines and Japan. During this time he made increasingly anti-American and anti-Semitic statements. During the 2004–2005 time period, after his US passport was revoked, he was detained by Japanese authorities for nine months under threat of extradition. After Iceland granted him citizenship, the Japanese authorities released him to that country, where he lived until his death in 2008.[6]
Contents

* 1 Early years
* 2 Young champion
* 3 US Championships
* 4 Olympiads
* 5 Grandmaster, Candidate
* 6 1962 Candidates setback
* 7 Involvement with the Worldwide Church of God
* 8 Semi-retirement in the mid-1960s
* 9 World Champion
o 9.1 The road to the world championship
o 9.2 World Championship Match
o 9.3 Forfeiture of title to Karpov
* 10 Sudden obscurity
* 11 Spassky rematch
* 12 Life as an émigré
o 12.1 In the Philippines
o 12.2 Anti-Jewish statements
o 12.3 Anti-American statements
o 12.4 Japan
o 12.5 Asylum in Iceland
o 12.6 Death
+ 12.6.1 Estate
* 13 Contributions to chess
o 13.1 Chess theory
o 13.2 Endgame
o 13.3 Fischer clock
o 13.4 Fischer Random Chess
o 13.5 Other talents
o 13.6 Legacy
* 14 In popular culture
* 15 Writings
o 15.1 Under Fischer's name
* 16 Notable games
* 17 See also
* 18 References
* 19 Further reading
* 20 External links

[edit] Early years

Robert James Fischer was born at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Illinois on March 9, 1943. His mother, Regina Wender, was a naturalized American citizen of Polish Jewish descent,[7] born in Switzerland but raised in St. Louis, Missouri. She later became a teacher, a registered nurse, and a physician.[8] Fischer's birth certificate listed Wender's husband, Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, a German biophysicist, as Fischer's father. The couple married in 1933 in Moscow, USSR, where Wender was studying medicine at the First Moscow Medical Institute. They 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.

A 2002 article by Peter Nicholas and Clea Benson of The Philadelphia Inquirer suggests that Paul Nemenyi, a Hungarian Jewish physicist, may have been Fischer's biological father. The article quotes an FBI report that states that Regina Fischer returned to the United States in 1939, while Hans-Gerhardt Fischer never entered the United States, having been refused admission by US immigration officials because of alleged Communist sympathies.[9][10][11] Regina and Nemenyi had an affair in 1942, and he made monthly child support payments to Regina.[12] Nemenyi died in March, 1952.

In May 1949, the six-year-old Fischer learned how to play chess along with his sister in instructions found in a chess set that was bought[13] 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 began to play chess seriously,[14] joining the Brooklyn Chess Club and receiving instruction from its president, Carmine Nigro. He later joined the Manhattan Chess Club, one of the strongest in the world, in June, 1955. 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, often taking 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.[15] When Fischer was thirteen, his mother asked the Master 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. Another mentor and friend during those years was the broadcaster and author Dick Schaap, who often took Fischer to basketball games of the New York Knicks.

Bobby Fischer attended Erasmus Hall High School at the same time as Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond. The student council of Erasmus Hall awarded him a gold medal for his chess achievements.[16] Fischer dropped out of Erasmus in 1959 at age 16, the minimum age for doing so, saying that school had little more to offer him.[17]

When Fischer was 16, his mother moved out of their apartment to pursue medical training. Her friend Joan Rodker, who had met Regina when the two were "idealistic communists" living in Moscow in the 1930s, believes that Fischer resented his mother for being mostly absent as a mother, a communist activist and an admirer of the Soviet Union, and that this led to his hatred for the Soviet Union. In letters to Rodker, Fischer's mother states her desire to pursue her own "obsession" of training in medicine and writes that her son would have to live in their Brooklyn apartment without her: "It sounds terrible to leave a 16-year-old to his own devices, but he is probably happier that way."[18]

[edit] Young champion
Bobby Fischer (left) and John Collins
Bobby Fischer (left) and John Collins

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 at age 13,[19] a record that stands to this day. 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.[20] He then played in the first Canadian Open Chess Championship at Montreal 1956, scoring 7/10 to tie for 8-12th places, with Larry Evans winning.[21] 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 US title of National Master, then the youngest ever.[22]

In 1957, Fischer played a two-game match against former World Champion Max Euwe at New York, losing 0.5-1.5.[23] He then successfully defended his US Junior title, scoring 8.5/9 at San Francisco.[24] Next, he won the U.S. Open Chess Championship at Cleveland on tie-breaking points over Arthur Bisguier, scoring 10/12.[25] Fischer defeated the young Filipino Master Rodolfo Tan Cardoso by 6-2 in a match in New York.[26] He next won the New Jersey Open Championship.[27] From these triumphs, Fischer was given entry into the invitational U.S. Chess Championship at New York. He won, with 10.5/13, becoming in January 1958, at age 14, the youngest US champion ever (this record still stands). He earned the title of International Master with this victory, becoming the youngest player ever to achieve this level (a record since broken).[28][29][30]

[edit] US Championships

Fischer eventually played in eight United States Chess Championships, each held in New York City, winning every one.

His scores were:

* 1957-58: 10.5/13
* 1958-59: 8.5/11
* 1959-60: 9/11
* 1960-61: 9/11
* 1962-63: 8/11
* 1963-64: 11/11
* 1965-66: 8.5/11
* 1966-67: 9.5/11.

There was no 1964-65 US Championship. Fischer missed the 1961-62 event and ones after 1966-67. The total is 74/90 (82.2%), with only three losses (to Mednis, Reshevsky, and Robert Byrne).

His 11-0 win in the 1963-64 championship is the only perfect score in the history of the tournament, and one of only a handful of perfect scores in high-level chess tournaments ever, one that has been called "the most remarkable achievement of this kind."[31]

[edit] Olympiads

Fischer had been forced to attend school, and therefore missed the 1958 Olympiad. But he represented the United States on top board with great distinction at four Olympiads:
Olympiad Individual result US team result
Leipzig 1960 13/18 (Silver medal) Silver.
Varna 1962 11/17 Fourth
Havana 1966 15/17 (Silver) Silver
Siegen 1970 10/13 (Silver) Fourth

His overall total was +40, =18, −7, for 49/65 or 75.4%.[32] He had planned to play for the United States at the 1968 Lugano Olympiad, but backed out when he saw the playing hall with its bad lighting.[17]

[edit] Grandmaster, Candidate

Fischer's victory in the US Championship qualified him to participate in the 1958 Portorož Interzonal, the next step toward challenging the World Champion. The top six finishers in the Interzonal would qualify for the Candidates Tournament. Prior to the Interzonal, he played two short training matches in Yugoslavia. He drew both games against Dragoljub Janosevic. Then he defeated Milan Matulovic in Belgrade by 2.5-1.5.[33] At the Interzonal, Fischer again surprised the pundits, tying for 5th and 6th places, with 12/20, after a strong finish.[34] 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). It also earned him the title of Grandmaster, making him the youngest grandmaster in history at 15 years and 6 months. This was a record that stood until 1991 when it was broken by Judit Polgar. In addition, Fischer remained the youngest grandmaster in the world until Florin Gheorghiu earned the title in 1965.

Before the Candidates' tournament, Fischer competed in the 1958-9 US Championship (winning 8.5/11) and then in international tournaments at Mar del Plata, Santiago, and Zurich. He played unevenly in the two South American tournaments. At Mar del Plata he finished tied for third with Borislav Ivkov, half a point behind tournament winners Ludek Pachman and Miguel Najdorf. At Santiago, he tied for fourth through sixth places, behind Ivkov, Pachman, and Herman Pilnik. He did better at the strong Zurich event, finishing a point behind world-champion-to-be Mikhail Tal and half a point behind Svetozar Gligoric.[35][36]

Fischer had, up to this point, dressed like a normal teenager, in jeans and casual shirts, at chess tournaments, but was influenced by veteran Grandmaster Miguel Najdorf, whom he met at Mar del Plata, to improve his appearance. Najdorf dressed well in fine suits. Fischer's strong performances increased his income, and he soon became known for his elegant dress at major events, built up an extensive wardrobe of custom-made suits, and took considerable pride in his image as a young professional.[37]

At the age of 16, Fischer finished a creditable equal fifth out of eight, the top non-Soviet player, at the Candidates Tournament held in Bled/Zagreb/Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1959. He scored 12.5/28 but was outclassed by tournament winner Tal, who won all four of their individual games.[38]

[edit] 1962 Candidates setback

In 1960, Fischer tied for first place with the young Soviet star Boris Spassky at the strong Mar del Plata tournament in Argentina, with the two well ahead of the rest of the field, scoring 13.5/15.[39] Fischer lost only to Spassky, and this was the start of their relationship, which began on a friendly basis and stayed that way, in spite of Fischer's troubles on the board against him.

Fischer struggled in the subsequent Buenos Aires tournament, finishing with 8.5/19 (won by Viktor Korchnoi and Samuel Reshevsky on 13/19).[40] This was the only real failure of Fischer's competitive career. According to Larry Evans, Fischer's first sexual experience was with a girl to whom Evans introduced him during the tournament.[41] Pal Benko says that Fischer did horribly in the tournament "because he got caught up in women and sex. ... Afterwards, Fischer said he'd never mix women and chess together, and he keep that promise."[42] Fischer concluded 1960 by winning a small tournament at Reykjavik with 4.5/5,[43], and defeating Klaus Darga in an exhibition game in West Berlin.[44]

In 1961, Fischer started a 16-game match with Reshevsky, split between New York and Los Angeles. Despite Fischer's meteoric rise, the veteran Reshevsky (born in 1911, 32 years older than Fischer) was considered the favorite, since he had far more match experience and had never lost a set match. After 11 games and a tie score (two wins apiece with seven draws), the match ended prematurely due to a scheduling dispute between Fischer and match organizer and sponsor Jacqueline Piatigorsky. The hard-fought struggle, with many games being adjourned, had delayed the original match schedule, causing some logistical challenges for site bookings. Reshevsky received the winner's share of the prizes.[16] Fischer later made up with Mrs. Piatigorsky by accepting an invitation to the second Piatigorsky Cup, Santa Monica 1966, which she helped to sponsor.

Fischer was second behind former World Champion Tal at Bled 1961. He defeated Tal head-to-head for the first time, scored 3.5/4 against the Soviet contingent, and finished as the only unbeaten player, with 13.5/19.[45]

In the next World Championship cycle, Fischer won the 1962 Stockholm Interzonal by 2.5 points, scoring 17.5/22, making him one of the favorites for the Candidates Tournament in Curaçao, which began soon afterwards.[46][47] He finished fourth out of eight with 14/27, the best result by a non-Soviet player but well behind Tigran Petrosian (17.5/27), Efim Geller, and Paul Keres (both 17/27).[48] Tal fell very ill during the tournament, and had to withdraw before completion. Fischer, a friend of Tal's, was the only player who visited him in the hospital.[16].[49]

Following his failure in the 1962 Candidates (at which five of the eight players were from the Soviet Union), Fischer asserted, in an article entitled The Russians Have Fixed World Chess, which was published in Sports Illustrated magazine, August 1962, that three of the Soviet players (Tigran Petrosian, Paul Keres, and Efim Geller) had a pre-arranged agreement to draw their games against each other, in order to save energy and to concentrate on playing against Fischer, and also that a fourth, Victor Korchnoi, had been forced to deliberately lose games to ensure that a Soviet player won the tournament. It is generally thought that the former accusation is correct, but not the latter.[50] (This is discussed further at the World Chess Championship 1963 article). Fischer also stated that he would never again participate in a Candidates' tournament, since the format, combined with the alleged collusion, made it impossible for a non-Soviet player to win. Following Fischer's article, FIDE in late 1962 voted a radical reform of the playoff system, replacing the Candidates' tournament with a format of knockout matches.[51]

Fischer defeated Bent Larsen in a summer 1962 exhibition game in Copenhagen for Danish TV. He also defeated Bogdan Sliwa in a team match against Poland at Warsaw later that year.[52]

[edit] Involvement with the Worldwide Church of God

In an interview in the January, 1962 issue of Harper's Magazine, Fischer was quoted as saying, "I read a book lately by Nietzsche and he says religion is just to dull the senses of the people. I agree."[53][54] Nonetheless, Fischer said in 1962 that he had "personal problems" and began to listen to various radio ministers in a search for answers. This is how he first came to listen to The World Tomorrow radio program with Herbert W. Armstrong and his son Garner Ted Armstrong. The Armstrongs' denomination, The Worldwide Church of God (then under its original name, the Radio Church of God), predicted an imminent apocalypse. In late 1963, Fischer began tithing to the church. According to Fischer, he lived a bifurcated life, with a rational chess component and an enthusiastic religious component.

At the 1967 Sousse Interzonal his religious observances led to problems with the organizers (see below).

Fischer gave the Worldwide Church of God $61,200 of his 1972 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.[55] Fischer, who felt betrayed and swindled by the Worldwide Church of God, left the church and publicly denounced it.[56]

[edit] Semi-retirement in the mid-1960s

Fischer turned down an invitation to play in the 1963 Piatigorsky Cup tournament in Los Angeles, which had a world-class field. Instead, he preferred to play at the same time in the Western Open in Bay City, Michigan, which he won, with 7.5/8. Fischer also won the 1963 New York State Championship at Poughkeepsie, another minor event, in late summer, with a perfect 7/7.[57] He won the 1963-64 US Championship with a perfect 11/11 (see above).

Fischer decided not to participate in the Amsterdam Interzonal in 1964, thus taking himself out of the 1966 World Championship cycle. He held to this decision even when FIDE changed the format of the eight-player Candidates Tournament from a round-robin to a series of knockout matches, which eliminated the possibility of collusion. Fischer instead embarked on a continent-wide tour through the United States and Canada lasting several months, where he played simultaneous exhibitions and gave lectures. He also turned down an invitation to play for the United States in the 1964 Olympiad.[58]

Fischer wanted to play in the Capablanca Memorial Tournament, Havana 1965, but Americans were not allowed to travel to Cuba at that time. Fischer had traveled to Cuba to play as a youth, before Fidel Castro assumed power in 1959. Fischer was able to play by telegraph, staying in New York and playing from the Marshall Chess Club. His games lasted longer because of the transmission delays and receipt of moves logistics. But Fischer tied for second through fourth places, with 15/21, behind former World Champion Vasily Smyslov, and defeated Smyslov in their game. Chess became a news item in the United States with this unusual achievement.[59]

Fischer started 1966 by winning the US Championship for the seventh time. He then finished second at the 1966 Santa Monica supertournament, just behind world finalist Boris Spassky, scoring 11/18. In 1967, he won the US Championship for the eighth and final time before victories over strong fields at Monte Carlo (7/9) and Skopje (13.5/17).[26] Fischer traveled to the Philippines and played a series of nine exhibition games against Master opposition there, winning eight and drawing one.[60]

In the next World Championship cycle, at the 1967 Sousse Interzonal, Fischer scored a phenomenal 8.5 points in the first 10 games. His observance of the Worldwide Church of God's sabbath was honored by the organizers, but deprived Fischer of several rest days, which led to a scheduling dispute. Fischer forfeited two games in protest and later withdrew, eliminating himself from the 1969 World Championship cycle.[51]

Fischer won the tournaments at Netanya 1968 (11.5/13) and Vinkovci 1968 (11/13) by large margins.[26] He stopped playing for the next 18 months, except for a win in a New York Metropolitan League team match over Anthony Saidy.

[edit] World Champion

In 1970, Fischer started a new effort to become World Champion. As he became a viable contender, much positive publicity for chess arose. In 1972, he succeeded in his quest, but forfeited his title a few years later.

[edit] The road to the world championship
Bobby Fischer's score card from his round 3 game against Miguel Najdorf in the 1970 Chess Olympiad in Siegen, Germany. Throughout his career, Fischer used the older descriptive chess notation system when recording his games, never switching to the modern algebraic system.
Bobby Fischer's score card from his round 3 game against Miguel Najdorf in the 1970 Chess Olympiad in Siegen, Germany. Throughout his career, Fischer used the older descriptive chess notation system when recording his games, never switching to the modern algebraic system.

The 1969 US Championship was also a zonal qualifier, with the top three finishers advancing to the Interzonal. Fischer, however, had sat out the US 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. This unusual arrangement was the work of Ed Edmondson, then the USCF's Executive Director.[17]

Before the Interzonal, in March and April 1970, the world's best players competed in the USSR vs. Rest of the World match in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, often referred to as "the Match of the Century." 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.[61] The USSR team won the match (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.[62]

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(+17=4-1), 4.5 points ahead of Tal. Later in 1970, Fischer won tournaments at Rovinj/Zagreb with 13/17 (+10=6-1), and Buenos Aires, where he crushed the field of mostly Grandmasters with no losses: 15/17 (+13=4). Fischer had taken his game to a new level. He defeated Ulf Andersson in an exhibition game for the Swedish newspaper 'Expressen' at Siegen 1970.[63]

The Interzonal was held in Palma de Mallorca in November and December 1970. Fischer won it with a remarkable 18.5-4.5 score (+15=7-1), 3.5 points ahead of Larsen, Efim Geller, and Robert Hübner, who tied for second at 15-8.[64] Fischer finished the tournament with seven consecutive wins.[65]

Fischer continued his domination in the 1971 Candidates matches. First, he beat 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.[66] 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. "The record books showed that the only comparable achievement to the 6-0 score against Taimanov was Wilhelm Steinitz's 7-0 win against Joseph Henry Blackburne in 1876 in an era of more primitive defensive technique."[67]

Fischer won a strong lightning event in New York in August 1971 with an overwhelming score of 21.5/22.[68]

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 played a strong theoretical novelty in the first game and had Fischer on the ropes, but Fischer defended and won the game. This gave Fischer a streak of 20 consecutive wins against the world's top players (in the Interzonal and Candidates matches), the second longest winning streak in chess history after Steinitz's 25-game streak from 1873 to 1882.[69] Petrosian won decisively in the second game, finally snapping Fischer's winning streak. After three consecutive draws, 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).

[edit] World Championship Match

Main article: World Chess Championship 1972

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 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.

The Cold War trappings helped serve to make the result somewhat of a media sensation. This was an American victory in a field that Soviet players had dominated for the past quarter-century, players closely identified with, and subsidized by, the Soviet state. The match was called "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. Upon his return to New York, a Bobby Fischer Day was held, and he was cheered by thousands of fans, a unique display in American chess.[70] 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.[71] Membership in the United States Chess Federation doubled in 1972[72] and peaked in 1974; in American chess, these years are commonly referred to as the "Fischer Boom." Spassky, referring to professional chess, later summarized: "He made chess popular, briefly, and he made us all rich men."[73]

Fischer won the 'Chess Oscar' award for 1970, 1971, and 1972. This award, started in 1967, is determined through votes from chess media and leading players.

[edit] Forfeiture of title to Karpov

Fischer was scheduled to defend his title in 1975. Anatoly Karpov eventually emerged as his challenger, having defeated Spassky in an earlier Candidates match. Fischer, who had played no competitive games since his World Championship match with Spassky, laid out a proposal for the match in September 1973, in consultation with a FIDE official, Fred Cramer. He made the following three principal demands:

1. The match should continue until one player wins 10 games, 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 and the prize fund is split equally.

A FIDE Congress was held in Nice in June 1974, headed by FIDE president Max Euwe and consisting of both US and USSR representatives. It ruled that the match should continue until six wins, not 10. However, Fischer replied that he would resign his crown and not participate in the match. Instead of accepting Fischer's forfeit, FIDE agreed to allow the match to continue until 10 wins, but ruled it should not last longer than 36 games and rejected the 9-9 clause. Many considered that clause unfair because it would require the challenger to win by at least two games (10-8).[74] In response to FIDE's ruling, Fischer sent a cable to 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.

In a letter to Larry Evans, published in Chess Life in November 1974, Fischer claimed the usual system (24 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. Not counting draws would be "an accurate test of who is the world's best player."[75] Former US Champion Arnold Denker, who was in contact with Fischer during the negotiations with FIDE, claimed that Fischer wanted a long match to be able to play himself into shape after a three-year layoff.[76]

Due to the continued efforts of US Chess Association officials,[77] a special FIDE Congress was held in March 1975 in Bergen, North Holland in which it was accepted that the match should be of unlimited duration, but the 9:9 clause was once again rejected by a narrow margin of 35 votes to 32.[78] After no reply was received from Fischer, Karpov officially 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.[79] Garry Kasparov has argued that Karpov would have had a good chance to defeat Fischer in 1975.[80][81]

[edit] Sudden obscurity

After the World Championship, Fischer did not play another serious game in public for nearly 20 years. He did not defend his title and public perception was reflected in the decline of interest in chess in the West in the following years.

In 1977, Bobby Fischer played three games in Cambridge against the MIT Greenblatt computer program. Fischer won all the games.[82][83]

On May 26, 1981, a police patrolman arrested Fischer on the sidewalk of Lake Street in Pasadena, claiming that he matched the description of a man who had just committed a bank robbery in that area. During the arrest, he was slightly injured. He was held for two days and subjected to further assault and interrogation. He was released on $1000 bail and the matter was later dropped. Two weeks later, he published a 14-page pamphlet detailing these experiences and expressing outrage that the arrest had been pre-arranged.[84][85][86]

In the early 1980s, Fischer stayed for extended periods in the San Francisco-area home of his friend, the Canadian Grandmaster Peter Biyiasas. In 1981, the two played 17 five-minute games. Despite his layoff from competitive play, Fischer won all of them, according to Biyiasas, who lamented that he was never even able to reach an endgame.[85][86]

[edit] Spassky rematch

After twenty years, Fischer emerged from isolation to challenge Spassky (then placed 96-102 on the rating list) to a "Revenge Match of the 20th century" in 1992. This match took place in Sveti Stefan and Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia, in spite of a United Nations embargo that included sanctions on sporting events. Fischer demanded that the organizers bill the match as "The World Chess Championship," although Garry Kasparov was the recognized FIDE World Champion. Fischer had only ever mentioned resigning his "FIDE" title. He insisted he was still the true world chess champion, and that for all the games in the FIDE-sanctioned World Championship matches, involving Karpov, Korchnoi and Kasparov, the outcomes had been pre-arranged. In a 2005 interview he explained his attitude toward Kasparov: "Anyone who prepares matches in advance and, especially, who plays contractual games, is a liar and a dealer. I just call Kasparov a criminal."[87]

The purse for Fischer's re-match with Spassky was reported to be US$5,000,000 with two-thirds to go to the winner.[88] Fischer won the match, 10 wins to 5 losses, with 15 draws. Many grandmasters observing the match said that Fischer was past his prime. In the book Mortal Games, Kasparov is quoted: "Bobby is playing OK, nothing more. Maybe his strength is around 2600 or 2650. It wouldn't be close between us."[89] Fischer never played any competitive games afterwards.[90][91]

During the match, the two contestants gave, in all, nine press conferences between games. The content of these press conferences can be found, in full, in the book No Regrets by Yasser Seirawan and George Stefanovic. On page 291, Seirawan writes, "After 23 September [1992], I threw most of what I’d ever read about Bobby out of my head. Sheer garbage. Bobby is the most misunderstood, misquoted celebrity walking the face of the earth"[92]. We also learn that Fischer is not camera shy (page 85), that "He smiles and laughs easily" (page 96), and that "... Bobby is a wholly enjoyable conversationalist. A fine wit, he is a very funny man" (page 303).

The US Department of the Treasury had warned Fischer beforehand that his participation was illegal as it violated President George H. W. Bush's Executive Order 12810[93] that implemented United Nations sanctions against engaging in economic activities in Yugoslavia.[94] In front of the international press, Fischer was filmed spitting on the US order forbidding him to play. Following the match, the Department obtained an arrest warrant for him. Fischer remained wanted by the United States government for the rest of his life and never returned to the United States.

[edit] Life as an émigré

Fischer again slid into relative obscurity. Now a fugitive from American justice, he intensified his vitriolic rhetoric against the US. For some of these years Fischer lived in Budapest, Hungary allegedly having a relationship with young Hungarian chess master Zita Rajcsanyi.[95][96] He claimed to find standard chess stale and he played varieties such as Chess960 blitz games. He visited with the Polgár family in Budapest and analyzed many games with Judit, Zsuzsa, and Zsófia Polgár.[97][98]

[edit] In the Philippines

From 2000 to 2002, Fischer lived in Baguio City in the Philippines.[99] He resided in the same compound as the Filipino grandmaster Eugenio Torre, a close friend who acted as his second during his matches with Spassky.[99] Fischer played tennis at the Baguio Country Club, where he met a 30-year-old girl friend from Davao in Baguio City.

Torre introduced Fischer to a 22-year-old woman named Justine Ong (or Marilyn Young). Together, they had a daughter named Jinky Ong, born in 2002 (or 2001) at the Saint Louis University, Baguio City, Sacred Heart Hospital.[100][99][101]([102][103])

In 2001, Nigel Short said that he had played almost 50 blitz games online with a person whom he believed to be Fischer, but the person's identity has not been verified, and Fischer denied that he was the person.[104][105][106]

[edit] Anti-Jewish statements

In 1961 Fischer "made his first public statements despising Jews."[107] In 1984 Fischer sent an open letter to Encyclopedia Judaica, in which he vehemently denied being a Jew and denounced Judaism.[108] In recent years, Fischer's primary means of communicating with the public was via sometimes-outrageous radio interviews. Fischer participated in at least 34 such broadcasts between 1999 and 2006, mostly with radio stations in the Philippines, but also with stations in Hungary, Iceland, Colombia, and Russia.

In 1999, he gave a call-in interview to a radio station in Budapest, Hungary, during which he described himself as the "victim of an international Jewish conspiracy." Fischer's sudden re-emergence was apparently triggered when some of his belongings, which had been stored in a Pasadena, California storage unit, were sold by the landlord, who claimed it was in response to nonpayment of rent.[109] Fischer interpreted this as further evidence of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy perpetrated by "the Jew-controlled US Government" to defame and destroy him.[citation needed] In 2005, some of Fischer's belongings were auctioned on eBay. In 2006, Fischer claimed that his belongings in the storage unit were worth millions.[110][111] Fischer, whose mother was Jewish,[54][112] made occasional hostile comments toward Jews from at least the early 1960s.[54][113] From the 1980s and thereafter, however, his hatred for Jews was a major theme of his public and private remarks.[114] He denied the "Holocaust of the Jews," announced his desire to make "expos[ing] the Jews for the criminals they are [...] the murderers they are" his lifework, and argued that the United States is "a farce controlled by dirty, hook-nosed, circumcised Jew bastards."[115] In one of his radio interviews, Fischer said that it became clear to him in 1977, after reading The Secret World Government by Count Cherep-Spiridovich, that the Jews were targeting him.[116]

[edit] Anti-American statements

Fischer also made anti-Zionistic statements in connection with anti-American statements. Hours after the September 11, 2001, attacks Fischer was interviewed live by Pablo Mercado on the Baguio City station of the Bombo Radyo network, shortly after midnight September 12, 2001 Philippines local time (or shortly after noon on September 11, 2001, New York time). Fischer commented on U.S and Israeli foreign policy that "nobody cares ... [that] the US and Israel have been slaughtering the Palestinians for years".[117][118][119] Informed that "the White House [sic] and Pentagon have been attacked", Bobby Fischer proclaimed "This is all wonderful news."[117][118] Fischer stated "What goes around comes around even for the United States."[117][118] and said that if the US fails to change its foreign policy, it "has to be destroyed." After calling for President Bush's death, Fischer also stated he hoped for a coup d'état in the US, and that the military government would then execute "hundreds of thousands of American Jewish ring-leaders", "arrest all the Jews", and "close all synagogues".[117][118]Subsequent to that interview, Fischer's "right to membership in the United States Chess Federation [was] canceled" by a unanimous 7-0 of the USCF,[120] taken on October 28, 2001.

Chess columnist Shelby Lyman, who in 1972 had hosted the PBS broadcast of that year's Championship, said after Fischer's death that "the anti-American stuff is explained by the fact that ... he spent the rest of his life [after the game in Yugoslavia] fleeing from the US, because he was afraid of being extradited".[121]

[edit] Japan

Fischer lived for a time in Japan.[122]

Fischer was arrested at Narita International Airport in Narita, Japan, near Tokyo for allegedly using a revoked US passport while trying to board a Japan Airlines flight to Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines. The passport, issued in 1997, had been said by U.S. officials to be revoked in 2003. Fischer assumed that it was still valid.[123]

Tokyo-based Canadian journalist and consultant John Bosnitch set up the "Committee to Free Bobby Fischer" after meeting Fischer at Narita airport and offering to assist him. Bosnitch was subsequently allowed to participate as a friend of the court by an Immigration Bureau panel handling Fischer's case. He then worked to block the Japanese Immigration Bureau's efforts to deport Fischer to the United States and coordinated the legal and public relations campaign to free Fischer until his eventual release. Fischer renounced his United States citizenship. A month later, it was reported that Fischer was marrying Miyoko Watai, the President of the Japanese Chess Association, with whom he had been living since 2000. Fischer also appealed to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell to help him renounce his citizenship. Japan's Justice Minister rejected Fischer's appeal that he be allowed to remain in the country and ordered him deported.

[edit] Asylum in Iceland

Seeking ways to evade deportation to the United States, Fischer wrote a letter to the government of Iceland in early January 2005 and asked for Icelandic citizenship. Sympathetic to Fischer's plight, but reluctant to grant him the full benefits of citizenship, Icelandic authorities granted him an alien's passport. When this proved insufficient for the Japanese authorities, the Althing agreed unanimously to grant Fischer full citizenship in late March for humanitarian reasons, as they felt he was being unjustly treated by the US and Japanese governments.[124] Fischer unsuccessfully requested German citizenship on the grounds that his late father, Hans Gerhardt Fischer, had been a lifelong German citizen. The US government filed charges of tax evasion against Fischer in an effort to prevent him from traveling to Iceland.

Shortly before his departure to Iceland, on March 23, 2005, Fischer and Bosnitch appeared briefly on the BBC World Service, via a telephone link to the Tokyo airport. Bosnitch stated that Fischer would never play traditional chess again. Fischer denounced President Bush as a criminal and Japan as a puppet of the United States. He also stated that he would appeal his case to the US Supreme Court and said that he would not return to the US while Bush was in power.

Upon his arrival in Reykjavík, Fischer was welcomed by a crowd.[125] He gave a news conference in which he was reminded of a past friend, Dick Schaap, by Schaap's son, and Fischer showed that he was still pointedly resentful over his falling out with Schaap Sr.[126] Fischer had an apartment in Reykjavík as his new home.

Fischer lived a reclusive life in Iceland, avoiding entrepreneurs and other people who approached him with various proposals.[127]

On December 10, 2006, Fischer phoned in to an Icelandic television station and pointed out a winning combination which was missed, by players and commentators alike, in a chess game that was televised live in Iceland.[128]

[edit] Death
Church of Laugardælir, Fischer's resting place.
Church of Laugardælir, Fischer's resting place.

Fischer was suffering from degenerative renal failure.[129] This had been a problem for some years, but became acute in October 2007, when Fischer was admitted to a Reykjavík Landspítali hospital for stationary treatment. He stayed there for about seven weeks, being released in a somewhat improved condition in the middle of November. He returned home gravely ill in December apparently rejecting any further Western medicine.

Fischer stayed in an apartment in the same building as his closest friend and spokesman, Garðar Sverrisson, whose wife Krisín happens to be a nurse and looked after the terminally ill patient. Garðar's two children, especially his son, were very close to Fischer. They were his only close friends and contacts during the last two years of his life.

Fischer did not believe in prolonging life at any cost – such as by the use of large amounts of pain killers or permanent dependence on a dialysis machine. When he was released from hospital his doctors gave him a few months to live. His wife Miyoko Watai flew in from Japan to spend the Christmas season with him. She returned on January 10, 2008, just before Fischer's death, and so had to make another trip almost immediately after.[130]

In the middle of January his condition deteriorated and he was returned to hospital, where elevated levels of serum creatinine were found in his blood. He died on January 17, 2008, at home in his apartment in Reykjavík.[131][132][133][134][135][136][137] Like his great predecessors Howard Staunton and Wilhelm Steinitz,[138] he died at the age of 64. Magnús Skúlason, who stayed with Fischer until he died, said that his last words were, "Nothing soothes pain like the touch of a person."[139]

Fischer had instructed Garðar that he wished to be buried in the small Catholic cemetery of Laugardælir church, outside the town of Selfoss, 60 km south-east of Reykjavik. It was a place Bobby had visited a number of times with Garðar and Krisín, whose parents live there. He said that the Laugardælur countryside would be perfect as his final resting place, should he die in Iceland. He did not wish anyone to be present at the funeral, except Miyoko Watai and Garðar's family, who would arrange it. On January 21st at noon, after a Catholic funeral presided over by Fr. Jakob Rolland of the diocese of Reykjavik, he was buried according to his wishes.[130][140][141][142][143][144]

[edit] Estate

Fischer's estate was estimated at 140 million ISK (about 1 million GBP or US$2,000,000) and quickly became the object of a legal battle between Fischer's Japanese wife Miyoko Watai and a presumed Filipina heir, Marilyn Young.[145] The dispute seems to have been settled amicably in the Icelandic courts.[146]

[edit] Contributions to chess

[edit] 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 a recognized expert in the Black side of the Najdorf Sicilian and the King's Indian Defense. He demonstrated several important improvements in the Grünfeld Defense. In the Nimzo-Indian Defense, the line beginning with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Ne2 Ba6 is named for him.[147][148][149]

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,[150][151][152] Fischer succeeded in proving its soundness. He won many games with it, losing only to Spassky in the 11th game of their 1972 match. Today, the Poisoned Pawn is a respected line played by many of the world's leading players.[153]

On the White side of the Sicilian, Fischer made advances 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 loss to Spassky,[154] 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.[155] This variation has since become known as the Fischer Defense to the King's Gambit.[156][157] 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.[158]

[edit] Endgame

International Master Jeremy Silman listed Fischer as one of the five best endgame players. The others he listed were Emanuel Lasker, Akiba Rubinstein, José Capablanca, and Vasily Smyslov. Silman called him a "master of bishop endings".[159]

The endgame of a rook and bishop versus a rook and knight (both sides with pawns) has sometimes been called the "Fischer Endgame" because of three instructive wins by Fischer (with the bishop) in 1970 and 1971 over Mark Taimanov.[160][161] One of the games was in the 1970 Interzonal and the other two were in their 1971 quarter-final candidates match.

[edit] 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. See also the Fischer delay game clock.

[edit] 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.

Fischer Random was designed to remove the importance of opening book memorization. Fischer complained in a 2006 phoned-in call with a television interviewer that talented celebrity players from long ago, if brought back from the dead to play today, would no longer be competitive, because of the progress in memorization of opening books. "Some kid of fourteen today, or even younger, could get an opening advantage against Capablanca," he said, merely because of opening-book memorization, which Fischer disdained. "Now chess is completely dead. It is all just memorization and prearrangement. It’s a terrible game now. Very uncreative."[162] Fischer described the unsavory side of chess in its current form at the highest levels.[163]

[edit] Other talents

Fischer was an expert at solving the fifteen puzzle, which he completed in under 25 seconds multiple times. Fischer demonstrated this on November 8, 1972 on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

[edit] Legacy

Fischer is considered one of the greatest players of all time. Some leading players and some of Fischer's biographers rank him as the greatest player who ever lived.[164][165][166][167] Many other writers say that he is arguably the greatest player ever, without reaching a definitive conclusion.[168][169][170][171][172][173][174] Leonard Barden wrote, "Most experts place him the second or third best ever, behind Kasparov but probably ahead of Karpov."[175]

Fischer was a charter inductee into the United States Chess Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C. in 1985. He was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in Miami in 2001.[176]

After routing Taimanov, Larsen, and Petrosian in 1971, Fischer achieved a then-record Elo rating of 2785. He was rated so far ahead of Spassky and everyone else that he lost five rating points by beating Spassky 12.5-7.5 in played games, taking him to a 2780 rating.

Although international ratings were only introduced in 1970, Chessmetrics.com uses modern algorithms to rank performances retrospectively and uniformly throughout chess history. According to the Chessmetrics calculation, Fischer's peak rating was 2895 in October 1971. His one-year peak average was 2881, in 1971, and this is the highest of all time. His three-year peak average was 2867, from January 1971 to December 1973 - the second highest ever, just behind Garry Kasparov. Chessmetrics ranks Fischer as the #1 player in the world for a total of 109 different months, running (not consecutively) from February 1964 until July 1974.[177]

Fischer's great rival Mikhail Tal praised him as "the greatest genius to have descended from the chess heavens."[178]

American rival Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier, who won his first tournament game against Fischer, drew his second, and then lost the remaining 13, wrote "Robert James Fischer is one of the few people in any sphere of endeavour who has been accorded the accolade of being called a legend in his own time."[179]

Speaking after Fischer's death, Serbian Grandmaster Ljubomir Ljubojevic said, "A man without frontiers. He didn't divide the East and the West, he brought them together in their admiration of him."[180]

In a sympathetic obituary for Fischer, Kasparov wrote "he became the detonator of an avalanche of new chess ideas, a revolutionary whose revolution is still in progress.

Chess Funny Video : Old Guy playing chess

2008-08-23T20:50:00.002+05:30

Play a chess grandmaster at Memorial Union

2008-08-15T20:30:00.000+05:30

Chess grandmaster Maurice Ashley will simultaneously play up to 25 of the best chess players at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St., at an event scheduled for 2 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 15.

Up to a dozen playing places remain available for UW-Madison students, faculty and staff on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, e-mail info@assetbuilders.org with your name, phone number, age and address.

Ashley is a world-renowned chess player and the only African American international grandmaster of chess. The Asset Builders of America are sponsoring Ashley's visit to Madison, as part of a weekend-long conference about financial education."

As part of the conference, to be held Saturday, Aug. 16, at Wright Middle School, Ashley will also lecture on chess openings and address the conference about chess as a metaphor for life.

"The mission is to promote financial education and wealth building for low and moderate income families and communities," says Robert Wynn, director of Asset Builders of America. "A lot of financial success is built off of education and education requires analytical thinking. Chess helps to develop cognitive and analytical thinking. We approach our mission from a very big picture perspective."Chess

Anand Interview : "I think, this year it might well be one of the most exciting events of the Chess Classic"

2008-08-01T09:05:00.003+05:30

When the Grenkeleasing Rapid World Championship will begin as part of the Chess Classic Mainz, World Champion Vishy Anand will try for the eighth time in a row to defend his rapid chess title. All in all he won the main event of the Chess Classic no less than ten times. Harry Schaack talked to the World’s number one about the peculiarities of rapid chess and the opponents he will face this year. (Translation by Johannes Fischer)

Mr. Anand, for more than ten years you have been the world’s best rapid chess player, which is also shown by your impressive series of ten wins at the Chess Classic. What are the most important qualities necessary for successful rapid chess?

Anand talking about the Rapid Chess World Championship in Mainz

Generally, there is no difference whether you play short or long games. If you play well, you usually play well in both disciplines. The difference lies in the way you have to focus. In rapid chess you have to give everything in 30 minutes, whereas you can allow yourself a 10 or 20 minute break in a seven hour game. Another difference is that you have to react very quickly when confronted with an opening novelty. This year Aronian came up with a spectacular novelty against Leko at the tournament in Morelia, and Leko thought one and a half hours about his reply – the amount of time you do have in three rapid games. With 30 minutes on the clock you have to be able to react very quickly. Apart from that, it’s simply important to play a good move (laughs). I like rapid chess because I find it easier to focus only for half an hour. And I think this way of playing chess is also very attractive to the public.

What about psychology? I would guess it’s psychologically particularly demanding, because you need to overcome defeats very quickly?

Yes, playing three games per evening means three periods of enormous emotional pressure. You have to learn to cope with the emotional ups and downs and to forget losses quickly. However, in contrast to a long game in rapid chess you do have the chance to straighten things out immediately by winning the next game.

What do you expect from this year’s Grenkeleasing Rapid World Championship?

I look really forward to play rapid chess in Mainz, because my results have not been particularly good this year.

You were out of shape at the Melody Amber...

Yes, this tournament was simply a disaster. I can’t remember ever having had such a bad result. But in the other tournaments, too, something was amiss. In Leon I had to fight a lot against Paco Vallejo and in the final against Ivanchuk I neither played particularly well. I hope things will run more smoothly in Mainz.

You do want to regain some lost ground at the Chess Classic?

Yes, during the last years I have won Leon three times and I have won the Rapid Chess Tournament at the Melody Amber four times in a row. But this year, things have not been going too well. I do have this in mind and I know that I have to work hard to be successful. All my opponents in Mainz are in excellent shape and have achieved a number of outstanding results in the last months. Both Carlsen and Morozevich have had a convincing and impressive year. And Judit Polgar is always dangerous. She takes to rapid chess like a fish to water. This is an excellent field and I think this year it will be harder than ever to defend my title.

How do you feel about the Chess Classic? Is the familiar atmosphere important for you?

There are tournaments, which I have played so often at a certain time of the year that I cannot remember ever to have done anything different at that time. In August I usually have been in Mainz and in January I am always at the tournament in Wijk aan Zee. In 2002 I did not play in Wijk and asked myself: so, what do you do with your spare time in January now? (laughs). Of course, you get used to these regular tournaments. However, each year you have to think about them anew. It would be fatal to believe things will run on their own. But of course I know exactly what I do in Mainz. Everyday I take a walk along the Rhine, I do have my favorite restaurants and I know what I will do before the game. As far as that is concerned, there are hardly any surprises anymore.

Anand with Chess Classic main organiser Hans-Walter Schmitt

Do you feel pressure because of the success you have been enjoying at the Chess Classic for such a long time now?

I try not to think too much about this. Now I can say that I have been winning eight times in a row. But each year the tournament is a new experience in “surviving” (laughs). Every time I manage to better my own record I am happy. Of course, I hope that my series will still continue for a while.

In October you will defend your title of World Champion against Vladimir Kramnik. Since months you have been preparing for this event. Could you focus on the Chess Classic as well as in the years before?

Last year, I could not prepare particularly thoroughly for Mainz either, because of the World Championship in Mexico. But these four player tournaments are easier to play. If you have to play a match as you had once had to at the Chess Classic you have to work much more to prepare. At a tournament you prepare in a much more general way and you do not have to go to that deep in your analysis. However, in rapid chess it is first of all important to play well. You have to have a clear head at the board and you have to be fresh. In rapid chess your performance depends on your play at the board not on your preparation. This is difficult to control. You have to focus to be able to react quickly and alertly – even more so than in classical chess. That is the most important.

This year you will face the new "Bobby Fischer": the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen. He might even be better than the American at 17. Do you see parallels between the two?

That is difficult to say because I know Carlsen personally and regularly play against him. Though I met Bobby Fischer once, I have never played against him – it is just not the same. He stopped playing 1972. However, you can say that both have a simple way to play, both are “classical” players. They do not strive for complications, but choose moves which later are easy to understand. That’s what I mean with “classical”, a kind of style one can also find in the games of Capablanca. Carlsen and Fischer are both brilliant in simple technical positions. This year, Magnus has often won positions, in which he had only a small or even no advantage at all. Usually you need to be older for such a mature style. Carlsen actually does not yet have the experience to play this way. It is a bit surprising to see that he is already that far with 17 years of age. That is very impressive. You could say that both Fischer and Carlsen had or have the ability to let chess look simple.

People eagerly await the battle between you and Magnus Carlsen in Mainz. You have never lost a long game against him.

That’s true, but I don’t want to talk much about that because I hope this will last for a long time (laughs). Carlsen is developing very quickly. The Magnus from August is no longer the one from January.

What do you think about Carlsen’s skill in rapid chess?

Carlsen belongs to the generation of players who often play blitz on the internet. You don’t have to explain to him why rapid or blitz chess is interesting. For him this is quite natural, he grew up with it. This is something the great players of the past could not do. These young players do have a different perspective on these things. Carlsen, too, belongs to this "computer generation". This is particularly apparent if you remember that the computer program "Fritz" is older than Carlsen. Today, everybody is used to playing rapid chess.

Anand in a simultaneous exhibition in Mainz

Currently Alexander Morozevich is number 2 – behind you – on the official FIDE ranking list.Again and again he achieves excellent results, but in top tournaments he occasionally performs not as good as one would expect. Is this due to his style, which does not work against the top players or is this a psychological problem?

I don’t know. I play at least twice a year against him, at the Melody Amber, and there he is really very dangerous. It is not for nothing that he often won the overall competition – blindfold chess and rapid chess together.

How would you characterize his style?

His way of playing is something special, and of course not as classical as Carlsen’s (laughs). He plays very, very creatively and extremely aggressively. He tries to disturb the balance on the board no matter what it takes. This exerts an enormous pressure on his opponents. This style is very difficult to emulate. In his way to play chess Morozevich is unique.

Does he not also play with enormous risks because he wants to win at all costs?

Maybe, but I believe he does not think that he takes a lot of risks. The positions he reaches are very unusual for us but not unusual for him. In hair-rising complications he feels as much as home as Ulf Andersson in an equal endgame. His way to understand chess is clearly different from most other top players. However, it is obvious that someone who again and again managed to climb to the top of the world’s ranking list is simply a top player – no more and no less. Currently he is one of the outstanding players of the world.

In 2003 you played quite an intense match against Judit Polgar at the Chess Classic. All games were decided. Your games against Judit are marked by remarkable aggressiveness: 70% of the games had a winner, which is rather unusual on your level. Even the draws, such as the one in Wijk aan Zee 2003 are fought with utmost sharpness.

Indeed, to play with Judit is really something special. In a rapid chess match in Parla, in which I won 4:2, we did not have one single draw either. Judit is particularly good in tactical positions. Of course, she also has a good positional understanding, but it is in tactical positions that she is able to display her most marked strengths. She has a very good feeling for these tactical positions. One reason for the few draws between us is certainly the choice of openings. We both like the Sicilian, and thus we often reach this kind of tactical positions. And our overall result is really strange. I think, with no other player from the world’s top I have played such a small number of draws.

So all participants are known for their extremely aggressive style..

Yes, I think, this year it’s going to be very interesting. I think, it might well be one of the most exciting events of the Chess Classic.

Chess Ladies : Anna Ushenina

2008-07-29T20:18:00.003+05:30

Anna Ushenina (born August 30, 1985 in Kharkov) is a Ukrainian chess player with the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM).

Biography

Born in Kharkov, she still lives there with her family. It was her mother who introduced her to chess at the age of seven, along with painting and music, being determined that the young Ushenina would develop intellectual and creative talents.[1]Her earliest chess results were remarkable; consistently winning events in her age group and beyond, culminating in becoming the Ukrainian Girls' (under 20) champion at just 15 years. Many of her chess skills have been self-taught, although there was some coaching at a specialist facility in Kramatorsk. Even today she often works without a trainer but is, at the same time, critical of the lack of support for chess in the Ukraine. Other countries such as China offer concessions and generous stipends to their top players.

[edit] National success

At the national Ukrainian Women's Championship, her progress and achievements have been noteworthy. In 2003 (Nikolaev) and 2004 (Alushta), she finished in fourth and sixth places respectively, thereafter becoming the champion at Alushta in 2005, and outperforming top seed Tatjana Vasilevich along the way. She almost repeated the success at Odessa in 2006, finishing second, but ahead of the higher rated Natalia Zhukova and Inna Gaponenko.[2]At these combined (men and women) events, she has defeated male grandmasters of the calibre of Anton Korobov and Oleg Romanishin and in the Ukraine was endowed with the title Honored Master of Sports.

[edit] Exceptional team performances

Her many successes in team chess reached an early pinnacle in 2006. At the Turin Women's Olympiad she was a part of the victorious Ukrainian team and remained undefeated throughout the contest. Ushenina and her compatriots Natalia Zhukova (also undefeated), Kateryna Lahno and Inna Gaponenko each scored between 70-80%, in what was a commanding performance, earning them team gold medals and much adulation in chess circles.[3]

For Ushenina, her earliest major medal-winning performance occurred in Balatonlelle, at the European Team Championship for Girls (under 18) in 2002, where she took team gold and individual silver on board 1. On another occasion at the 2007 Women's World Team Chess Championship in Yekaterinburg, she helped Ukraine to a bronze medal finish and added an individual bronze to her tally. She has also played twice at the European Team Championship, in 2005 and 2007. The team finished outside of the medal places each time, but for her personal performance, Ushenina took individual gold at the latter event, held in Heraklion, with 5/7.[4]

A very active league chess player, she regularly plays in the national leagues of France, Russia, Serbia, Montenegro and Slovenia.

Tournaments and titles

Tournament successes at Kiev in 2001 and Odessa in 2003, earned her the WGM title, awarded in 2003. Her Olympiad performance and subsequent results in Pardubice and Abu Dhabi (both 2006) then qualified her for the IM title, awarded in January 2007.

In the 'A2' section of the prestigious Aeroflot Open in Moscow 2007, she scored 5 points from the first 7 rounds, defeating three male grandmasters for a part performance rating of 2672. At the Women's European Individual Chess Championship, held 2008 in Plovdiv, she took the bronze medal, losing out 1-2 to Viktorija Cmilyte in a tie-break for silver. Playing at the Wijk aan Zee Corus 'C' (mixed) event of 2008, she found the standard very tough and finished towards the bottom of the Group, equal with Peng Zhaoqin on 4½/13. At the 2008 Moscow Open Women's event, run alongside the Aeroflot tournament, she took second place (after Anna Muzychuk, but ahead of Natalia Zhukova and Kateryna Lahno).[5]

In her spare time, she enjoys reading detective novels and listening to classical and pop music.

As of July 2008, Anna Ushenina had an Elo rating of 2476, placing her third behind Kateryna Lahno and Natalia Zhukova in the national listings and number 22 in the world among women.

Courtesy : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Ushenina

know about chess boxing rules

2008-07-21T07:58:00.002+05:30

The chess boxing rules:

1.A chess boxing match starts at the chessboard. In this version of speed chess, each player has a total of 12 minutes in which to beat his opponent. During a player's turn, the clock is running. When he completes a move he stops his clock, and his opponent's clock starts ticking.

2.When the contestants have played four minutes of chess between them, the board game is suspended and they put on their gloves. The boxing is in three-minute rounds. After each boxing round, contestants have a one-minute rest before returning to the chessboard. The contest can last as long as five boxing rounds and six chess rounds.

3.If you knock your opponent out, the chess is over, too, and you win the match. If you beat your opponent at chess, then the boxing is over, and you win. In the case of a draw at the chessboard, the boxer with more points in the ring is declared the winner.

Chess Videos : Jeff Klinger Effinfunny Stand Up - Sexy Chess Moves

2008-07-13T11:38:00.001+05:30

Funny Chess Video

2008-07-13T11:36:00.001+05:30

Fide Rankings July 2008 : Anand on Top and big suprise Carlsen on sixth !!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-07-02T20:25:00.005+05:30

Despite sliding five points, World Champion Viswanathan Anand continued to reign supreme in the latest world rankings issued by the International Chess Federation (FIDE).
Magnus Carlsen is only sixth on the official FIDE list, although up-to-date rating calculations put him on a history-making second place. The media (and chess fans) assumed that would be his place on the FIDE list, but a missed deadline thwarted that. Alexander Morozevich is second Vassily Ivanchuk third. Here are the FIDE and the Live Rating lists.

Anand is followed by Russian Alexander Morozevich and his upcoming world championship match contender compatriot Vladimir Kramnik, both just 10 ELO points adrift of the Indian at ELO 2788.

Another up-and-comer is roller coaster Vassily Ivanchuk, who gained 41 points (in words: forty would you believe it one) from 25 games to jump from place 11 to place 4, four points ahead of number five, Veselin Topalov, who gained ten points from ten games.

Next in line is Magnus Carlsen, who just turned 17½ and, as everyone knows, is de facto number two in the world. Magnus won the Aerosvit tournament in Foros with a stunning 2877 performance, but the tournament ended four days after a deadline set by FIDE for submission of tournaments for the rating list (the 15th of the previous month). So Magnus has landed on place six, two points behind Topalov. Fortunately we now have a "Live List" which give accurate, up-to-the-minute ratings for players over 2700.

Links :

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4738

http://ratings.fide.com/toplist.phtml

http://chess.liverating.org/

Notable Changes

The list above includes all relevant events played. In the top of the list, we see that Morozevich has caught up with Kramnik, who hasn't played any games in this rating period. The reason for Morozevich being ranked ahead of Kramnik despite them having the exact same rating, is FIDE's tie-break criteria, which is number of games played. Moro won the big majority of his 14 point gain by winning Bosna Sarajevo in style, while snatching the final points needed in the Bosnia Herzegovina league competition. Ivanchuk has made a huge leap upwards after several strong events, mainly his break-out win in MTel, with a TPR of 2977 after an undefeated 8/10. The same event was miserable for Aronian, who ended up dropping out of top 10 for the first since time since April 2005. Topalov and Carlsen gained around 10 points each, but both were pushed one place down due to Ivanchuk's big leap.

In the lower half of the list, we can welcome several players to the 2700 club, most of them for the first time: Since the April list, Movsesian (2723), Gashimov (2717), Eljanov (2716), Dominguez (2708), Milov (2705) and Wang Yue (2704) have crossed the somewhat less magical 2700-border - the lesser magic explained by a record-breaking 29 players above 2700.

Chess Ladies : Anna Zatonskih

2008-06-28T20:18:00.008+05:30

Anna Zatonskih (born Mariupol, Ukraine, June 17, 1978) is a chess player from the United States, where as of April 1, 2007, she has the 23rd highest Elo rating on the FIDE list among women (2462). She is a Woman Grandmaster, as well as an International Master. She is a chess professional, who coaches players and competes in tournaments. She is the 2006 and 2008 U.S. Women's Chess Champion.

Zatonskih learned chess at age five from her parents, who are both strong players. Her father Vitaly is rated about 2300, while her mother is a Candidate Master. Anna won against her mother for the first time at age 14.

Anna won many Ukrainian Girls' titles in several age categories. She was awarded the WGM title in 1999. She twice won the Ukrainian Women's Chess Championship, in 2001 and 2002. She represented Ukraine in two Chess Olympiads: in 2000 at Istanbul, she scored 7/11 (+5 =4 -2) on board two; and in 2002 at Bled, she scored 3.5/7 (+2 =3 -2) on board three.

She represented the U.S. in the Chess Olympiads of 2004 and 2006. The Americans won the team silver in 2004, their highest finish ever. Zatonskih won the United States Women's Championship in 2006 and 2008.

Chess Ladies : Zehra Topel

2008-06-28T20:04:00.003+05:30

WIM Zehra Topel won the 2007 Turkey Women Championship after already being three-times Turkish U18 champion. This talented and perspective player was born on April 1987 in Shumen, Bulgaria and at the age of 8 she started visiting local chess club in Shumen after her mother taught her how to move pieces.

The family moved to Istanbul, Turkey on 1997 and on 2000 they were granted Turkish citizenship. Currently, Zehra is studying 2nd year of English Philology at the Istanbul University and she is member of the Istanbul Technical University chess club.

Picture of the Day

2008-06-19T10:16:00.002+05:30

Yes, Magnus, Andrei Volokitin turned 22 today.
Source : http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4708

Image Source : http://www.chessbase.com/news/2008/events/foros76.jpg

Chess Jokes : What is a chess program?

2008-05-02T09:18:00.002+05:30

"I've created a chess program that mimics human play" said the computer science major.

"So it plays at GM level then?" asks the advising professor.

"No, but it does blame its loss on outside conditions!"

Chess Jokes : Chess has got to go

2008-05-02T09:14:00.001+05:30

Berkeley Board of Education voted last night to ban the game of Chess from all of its elementary, junior high and high schools. The board claims that Chess has a negative influence on students because of the backwards and outdated thinking that was responsible for creating the game.

One board member, Claudia Starsniffer, compiled a list of seven grievances against Chess. Starsniffer's list claims,

Chess is irrelevant to our society because it was created by dead white guys.
Chess encourages racism by having a 'war' between a white army and a black army.
Chess reinforces current racist tendencies in our society by always having the white army move first.
Chess glorifies war.
Chess oppressively reinforces heterosexual stereotypes. It does this by forcing each army to have a king and a queen and by not allowing the game to be played with either two kings or two queens.
Chess is guilty of breaking the separation of church and state by allowing a bishop to be a belligerent in war.
Chess destroys self-esteem. When children play the game, one always loses. Losing causes a child to feel dumb and inadequate.

Said Starsniffer, "There is no place in our society for a monstrous game like Chess. Chess is dangerous. Chess is destructive. Chess teaches racial and sexual oppression. Chess has got to go!

Chess Funny Video :

2008-05-02T00:06:00.002+05:30

Chess Funny Video:

Chess Cartoon : What is draw in chess??

2008-04-30T22:28:00.002+05:30

Chess Cartoons : Sportsman

2008-04-30T22:26:00.002+05:30

Chess Beautiful Women : Irina Krush

2008-04-27T20:33:00.009+05:30

Irina Krush (b. December 24, 1983) is an American chess player and won U.S. Women's Chess Championship in 1998 and 2007.^[1] Born in Odessa, USSR (now Ukraine), she is widely known for her series of chess training videos, the "Krushing Attacks" series.

Krush learned to play chess at age five, emigrating with her parents to Brooklyn that same year (1989).

At age 14 Krush won the 1998 US Women's Chess Championship to become the youngest U.S. Women's Champion ever. She holds the title of International Master (IM) and has one of three tournament results (norms) necessary to qualify for the International Grandmaster (GM) title. On the April 2008 list, Krush has a FIDE Rating of 2479, 17th best among active female players^[2].

Krush gained a measure of fame both inside and outside chess circles during the well-publicized "Kasparov versus The World" chess competition in 1999. Garry Kasparov played the white pieces and the Internet public, via a Microsoft host website, voted on moves for the black pieces, guided by the recommendations of Krush and three of her contemporaries, Etienne Bacrot, Elisabeth Pähtz and Florin Felecan. On the tenth move, Krush suggested a novelty, for which the World Team voted. Kasparov said later that he lost control of the game at that point, and wasn't sure whether he was winning or losing.^{[citation needed]}

Krush currently plays for the New York Knights in the U.S. Chess League, and both she and her husband Canadian Grandmaster Pascal Charbonneau ^[1] have played in the United Kingdom league for Guildford-ADC. In 2006 they were students in Paris.

Chess Cartoons : Chess and boxing

2008-04-27T20:27:00.003+05:30

Chess Cartoons: makeup and pieces

2008-04-27T20:24:00.002+05:30

Chess Beautiful Ladies : Antoaneta Stefanova

2008-04-23T22:09:00.015+05:30

Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgarian: Антоанета Стефанова) (born April 19, 1979) is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster, and a former Women's World Chess Champion. She became the twelfth titleholder in 2004 in a 64-player knockout tournament held in Elista, Kalmykia under the auspices of FIDE. Stefanova's FIDE rating of 2538 on the April 2008 list placed 6th in the world among active female players.

Stefanova was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. Her chess-bound passion was inflamed when she was just four years old and she received first classes on the black-and-white chessboard by her own father, Andon Stefanov, himself a designing artist. With her elder sister, Liana, Antoaneta had made her best mating tandem.

* At the age of seven, Stefanova became a Sofia champion.
* In 1989, Stefanova swept the world chess crown for kids in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico and later the same year triumphed in the under-14 Czech championship.
* Since 1994, Stefanova has successively competed in grandmaster championships, taking even seventh among male nationals in 1993.
* In 1997 Stefanova's FIDE rating broke into the top ten of women worldwide. Also she earned the title of Grandmaster in June 2003, a title held by only ten other women.
* She has played for Bulgaria in five Chess Olympiads so far, starting in Manila, the Philippines, when just 13.
* In 2000, her coach promoted her in the Bulgarian men's team for the Istanbul Olympiad.

"Sexy, self-confident, sociable ... can we be talking about a professional chess player? Yes, we can," says Pergammon Chess where her photo was on the cover.

Photo Album:

Chess Jokes:Chess Nuts funny

2008-04-22T22:54:00.003+05:30

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!

Why Michiel Jackson hates to play chess

2008-04-22T22:45:00.004+05:30

Why doesn't Michiel Jackson like to play Chess???

Answer: Because he didn't know weither to be Black or White!!

Chess cartoons : Funny Cartoons

2008-04-22T22:34:00.001+05:30

Chess Cartoons : Funny Cartoons

2008-04-22T22:32:00.002+05:30

Chess cartoon: Funny Cartoon

2008-04-22T22:27:00.002+05:30

FIDE is going to open a chess centre with academy and museum in Baku

2008-04-22T22:24:00.003+05:30

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. Ceremony of official opening of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) Grand Prix first tournament took place in Baku yesterday. The ceremony that was attended by the FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the birthday of the national leader of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, and led off a range of the Grand Prix tournaments. Within the strategy of opening of chess palaces and centres in capitals of the world FIDE made a proposal to the Azerbaijan Chess Federation for construction of an international chess centre in Baku.

“In case the proposal is received a complex to compose International Chess Academy and Chess Museum can be built in the centre of Baku. This is an investment and commercial project. Investments in the project will be made by both FIDE and organizations co-operating with it (Global Chess, Chess Line, etc). Terms and cost of the construction depend on the proposal and the project that is estimated differently in various countries,” Ilyumjinov said.

In 2009 FIDE is to open such a centre in Yekaterinburg (Russia), Seoul (Republic of Korea) and Kishinev (Moldova).

“We mark high chess potential of Azerbaijan. The country is one of the few ones that is ready to adopt State Chess Development Programme for period until 2013,” Ilyumzhinov said.

The tournament that opened yesterday is due to last until May 6. It gathered 14 Grand Masters from 10 countries and has XIXth (the highest) category of FIDE.

Source : http://abc.az/cgi-bin/wnews_one.cgi?nid=23325&lang=eng

Chess News: Oscar's a chess wizard– at five!

2008-04-21T21:51:00.002+05:30

CHESS, said the great Dutch grandmaster Hans Ree, is beautiful enough to waste your life on.

And at the ripe old age of five, it seems this little Calderdale boy is in full agreement.

Oscar Powell, of Charnock Close, Skircoat Green, Halifax, was taught the game by dad Richard just six months ago and since then he's hardly put down his pawns and rooks.

Now the All Saints Junior and Infant School pupil has shown such skill in an after-school league he has qualified for a Yorkshire wide tournament in Sheffield.

And if he wins, he will go on to compete in a northern final in Manchester followed by a possible national final.

Mr Powell said: "It's extraordinary. "We were on holiday in the Dominican Republic and there was a giant chess board.

"I showed Oscar and his brother Harry how to play and it just spiralled. He loved it.

"I can't beat him any more and neither can his granddad – and I'm not just saying that, he's a brilliant strategist, a natural."

The youngster will play other children aged between five and seven before possibly taking part in an open ages competition.

The tournament will be held on June 8.

Chess Funny Jokes : Happy Potter Chess Game -2

2008-04-21T20:25:00.002+05:30

BUT ITS NOT FINISHED YET........... THEN THE ORDER SURROUNDS THE REMAINING DEATH EATERS, AND THEY ARE CAPTURED AND PUT IN AZKABAN WITH THE REST OF THE DEATH EATERS. EXCEPT ONE PERSON.

*LUPIN* PULLS CRABBE ASIDE AND I MAKE HIM SAY, "WHERE ARE THE OTHER ORDER MEMBERS?!" CRABBE SAYS, "NO I'LL NEVER TELL YOU!" THEN SIRIUS COMES AND SAYS, "YESS TELL US OR WELL KILL YOU!" "OKAY OKAY." SO CRABBE SET OTHER DEATH EATERS FREE BU THEN I MAKE MR. WEASLEY COME OUT AND SAY, "YOU HURT MY WIFE! AVADA KEDRVA!" AND KILLS CRABBE. LOL. SO THEN MY FRIEND PICKS UP SIRIUS CHESS PIECE AND MAKES HIM SAY, "YOU WERNT SUPPOSSED TO DO THAT. OH WELL." THEN THE ORDER SURROUNDS HARRY, LUPIN AND THE PON THAT SACRIFICE ITSELF AND GO, "YAY!" THEN HARRY WALKS UP TO A STAGE AND THE ORDER GATHERS AROUND LIKE AN AUDIENCE.

HARRY SINGS:
THANK GOODNESS FOR TODAY I COULDNT BE HAPPIER NO I COULDNT BE HAPPIER THOUGH IT IS A ADMIT THE TINIET BIT UNLIKE I ANTICIOATED BUT I COULDNT BE HAPPIER SIMPLY COULDNT BE HAPPIER BECAUSE BTHERES A KINDA A SORT OF..... COST. AND A COUPLE OF THINGS GET...LOST. WHERED GINNY GO? THERES BRIDGES YOU CROSS YOU DIDNT KNOW OUVE CROSSED UNTIL YOUVE CROSSED AND IF THAT JO THA THRILL DOESNT THRILL LIKE YOU THINK IT WIL...GINNY.THEN ONE OF THE PONS (GINNY) WALKS OUT AND GOES UP TO HARRY. AND THEY DANCE TOGETHER AND SING: WITH THIS PERFECT FINALE THE CHEERS AND THE BALLYHO WHO WOULDNT BE HAPPIER SO I COULDNT BE HAPPIER BECAUSE HAPPY IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ALL UR DREAMS COME TRUE!

I know its wierd and sorry for it all being capitilized my computer went wierd...........
Then..... Ginny and Harry make out and Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley make out. Next Harry went on someones shoulders....who just happened to be Dumbledore. But if youve ever put one chess piece on top of another pretending they are people........well...........lets just say if you cant picture it then dont try to, So then he went on Sirius's shoulders.....wow that looked wrong too so.......well just forget about that.....yeah....... Anyway

Chess Funny Jokes : The Harry Potter Chess Game for fun

2008-04-21T20:21:00.002+05:30

Me and my aquaintince were playing chess, and we decided to play the part of the Death Eaters and the Order, and my friend was the Order and I was the Death Eaters.

Here were the Order(aquaintince):
King = Dumbledore
Queen = Harry
Castles = Mr. and Mrs. Weasley
Knights = Moody and Tonks
Bishops = Lupin and Sirius
Pons = Insignificant

Here were the Death Eaters:

King = Voldemort
Queen: Snape
Castles: Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy
Knights: Crabbe and Goyle
Bishops: Rookwood and Lenstrange
Pons: Insignificant, one is Wormtail

Now the Game Starts :

1. On my 2nd and 3rd turn, I kill my friends two pons. Yay for Snape!
2. We play for a while and I capture Mrs. Weasley, then Tonks, then Moody.
3. Now my friend takes Goyle, then Rookwood, then Wormtail
4. Alright we are playing more then and I'm singing(Yes im singing and im a death eater!)
Me: "la la la HEY WHY IS GOYLE KISSING WORMTAIL???!!!!" (yes indeed I typed it right but seriously the horse dubbed goyle was kissing the poon wormtail.)
5. Lupin makes a good move and yeah i could of taken him and killed him eaisly but..........
Me: "YOU KNOW BLOODY WELL THAT I CANT KILL LUPIN!!!!! ITS LUPIN!!!!" (i mean really would you kill Lupin?!)
6. Now Harry makes his move. (Me: heh heh i can kill harry yes...)<> 7. Now for me to attack the king.......I quickly surround Dumbledorre with Snape, Mr. Malfoy, and Crabbe. The only one left to guard Dumbledore is Mr. Weasley.
8. Okay everything going normal when.....
Me: "NOW GOYLES KISSING ROOKWOOD!!!!" wow goyles cheating on his wife and on Wormatil. Naughty Naughty!
9. YAY! I capture Haryy Potter! (Mwah haha I killed him) And hes a queen to!
10. My friend takes Lenstange. Hey I dont care I hate her anyway - she pushed Sirius into the veil!
11. My friend's bishop makes a good move but I can kill him mwah ha ha but then........
Me: "DAMN IT I CANT KILL SIRIUS EITHER!!! JERK!!!"
12. My friend throws her tissue at me. -_-
Me: "FREAK! FREAK!"
13. Yes! I finally got Dumbledore at my knees...and by Snape nothenless! So Im chasing Dumbledore around ha ha!
14. Then Dumbledore turns around and kills Snape. (wow i didnt see that coming I was right behind him...)
Me: "SCORE FOR SNAPE! YEAH DUMBLEDORE KILLED HIM!" (yes i know that was one of my pieces but oh well ive still got crabbe and malfoy...)
15. Me: "Wait isnt there some move where you can switch one player with another?" *goes over to dad* "hey cant ou switch player?"
Dad: Yes, when the pon gets all the way to the other side, you can switch it with an piece that has been taken."
16. Two moves later my friend's pon gets to my side of the board. (dang it!) And Harry is ressurected (DANG IT!!) Nooooo!
17. Harry corners Voldemort: checkmate the game is over and the Order won.
18. HEY! THAT PROPHECY THINGY SAID THAT ONE WOULD KILL THE OTHER AND IT CAME TRUE EVEN IN A CHESS GAME! HARRY KILLED VOLDEMORT! BUT DUMBLEDORE'S STILL ALIVE!

Chess BeautifulLadies : Almira Skripchenko

2008-04-20T14:02:00.006+05:30

Almira Skripchenko (born 17 February 1976) is a French chess player who has achieved the FIDE Woman Grandmaster title. She won the second European Open Women's Chess Championship in 2001.

She was born in Kishinev (today Chişinău, Moldova). The daughter of pedagogues, both chess coaches, Skripchenko started playing chess when she was 6 years old.

In 1991, Moldova became independent from the Soviet Union. This meant that Skripchenko could take part for the first time in the World Youth Chess Championships. She was soon crowned champion at Under-16 level (1992, Duisburg, Germany) and in 1993, took the bronze at Under-18.

She married French Grandmaster Joel Lautier in 1997 and consequently moved to live in France. Despite separating from Lautier in 2003, she became a French citizen in 2001 and continued to make France her home. Skripchenko then married French Grandmaster Laurent Fressinet and in January 2007, gave birth to a daughter.

In 2001, at 25 years old, she celebrated her biggest success ever, winning the individual ladies European championship. She was at this time chosen "best sportsperson in 2001 in Moldova" and decorated with the Order of National Merit in her native country.

In 2004 she won the North Urals Cup, the second international super-tournament for female chess players. Held in Krasnoturinsk, the 9-round single round robin tournament featured ten of the strongest female players in the world. Skripchenko finished a half point ahead of Maia Chiburdanidze, the former Women's World Champion, and also defeated her in their individual encounter.

Living in Paris and representing France in tournaments since 2002, Skripchenko has become a noted ambassador for the game in Europe. She was the first woman to have competed in the Men's French Individual Championship (2002, 2003). In 2004, 2005 and 2006, she also won the Ladies' French Chess Championship. In team play, she won the French Nationale Chess League with celebrated club side NAO Chess Club (2003, 2004) and the German Chess Bundesliga with Werder Bremen (2005). Her career victories also include three Nationale ladies titles which she earned with Baden-Oos in 2003, 2004, and 2005.

Almira Skripchenko has taken part in several Chess Olympiads (with Moldova, then with France), each time playing on her team's top board. She is also a member of the ACP Board (Association of Chess Players).

Photo Album :

Chess Jokes : Chess Funny Questions

2008-04-20T13:56:00.002+05:30

For your own good, for the sake of your loved ones, take e few minutes to determine if you are a chess-o-holic.

Answer yes or no to the following questions:

As soon as you are out of bed, you log onto Chessclub.com "just for a quickie".
The bottom four links of the intellectual food-chain are fish, potzers, weakies, and "jerks who can’t even play".
When with your "most significant other" at that "most significant moment" you yell "Mate! Mate!"
In the absence of a most significant other, you fondle your Staunton pieces.
Kramnik excites you.

Choose the response which fits you best:
Gentlemen, you find yourself seated on a bus next to this woman. Do you:
1. Whip out your best come-on line;
2. Whip out your little black book and ask the lady why her name’s not in it;
3. Whip out your pocket-sized Russian dictionary;
4. Whip out your pocket-sized chess set, push e-4, and growl, "Yer move, grandmaster!"
Ladies, you find yourself seated on a bus next to this man. Do you:
1. Whip out your best "come-on-big-boy" look
2. Whip out your patented pervert-repellent pepper spray;
3. Whip out your Nikes and run for your life
4. See above
The threat of global annihilation via nuclear holocaust:
1. Is a result of the man above.
2. Is the result of articles like this.
3. Is evidence that we are in "End-Times"
4. What the hell does that have to do with chess?
Vladimir Nabokov was:
1. A Russian James Joyce with a dash of Poe in his veins.
2. A fellow with a taste for unripe fruit.
3. A butterfly chaser.
4. Some guy who wrote a book about a nutty chess player.
Chess is:
1. A metaphor for truth and beauty.
2. A mystery all insoluble.
3. Better than "doing the wild thing."
4. ________________________(Fill in the blank)

Scoring:

The mere fact that you took this test counts against you: negative 10 points.
For every "yes" answer you gave, that’s negative another 10, pal.
For every answer "d" you gave, you know what to do. (By the way, if you answered both questions 6 and 7, you have problems well beyond the scope of this article.)
If you choose "d" for number 10 and said "Life", please close this web-page and go get one.

Rating:

-30 to –50: Incipient Chess Addict. Seek professional help now! It’s not too late for you to get into a more healthy, fulfilling lifestyle, such as bungee-cord jumping, crocodile wrestling, or monster-truck fairs!
-60 to –80: Confirmed Chess Abuser. Buddy, you’re a mess. With bloodshot eyes, you stagger from game to game, loose pawns in your raggedy pockets. You have so many old game-scores lying around your house that you use them for toilet-paper (which you forgot to buy). Do you think your mama had you so you could hit the board like Alekhine hit the bottle? Think it over.
-90 an up. Ugante: You despise me, don’t you? Rick: If I gave you any thought, I probably would.

Chess Beautiful Ladies : Alexandra Kosteniuk

2008-04-20T01:03:00.012+05:30

Alexandra Kostantinovna Kosteniuk (Александра Костенюк) (born April 23, 1984 in Perm, Volga Federal District) is a Russian chess Grandmaster with a FIDE rating of 2515. Her most notable chess achievements include: Becoming female European champion in 2004 by winning the tournament in Dresden, Germany. And in August 2006 she became the first Chess960 (Fischer Random) women world champion after beating Germany's top female player Elisabeth Pähtz 5.5-2.5.

In November 2004, she achieved the International Grandmaster title, becoming the tenth of the eleven women who have received the highest title awarded by the World Chess Federation (FIDE). She also holds the titles of Woman Grandmaster and International Master. She is sixth on the October 2007 FIDE women Elo rating list with a rating of 2515. Kosteniuk won the 2005 Russian Women's Championship, held from May 14 to 26 in Samara, Russia, finishing with a score of +7 =4 -0.

Kosteniuk's mottos have been "chess is cool" and "beauty and intelligence can go together". With these as a backdrop, Kosteniuk has been promoting chess in the capacity of a fashion model and ambassador of chess in order to spark interest in the game around the world.

She is also the host of a popular podcast "Chess is Cool" which informs listeners about Alexandra's life and current chess events.

Alexandra learned to play chess at the age of five after being taught by her father. She also has a little sister named Oxana Kosteniuk, who is a master level chess player.

Kosteniuk is married to Swiss-born Diego Garces, who is of Colombian descent, and 25 years her elder.On April 22, 2007 Alexandra gave birth to a daughter, Francesca Maria. Francesca was born 2 1/2 months premature, but after an 8 week stay in the hospital, has since made full recovery. Alexandra's website, which is maintained by her husband, covers the chess events she is participating in and offers up to date information about her.

Alexandra Kosteniuk Album

Chess Jokes: Chess Picture

2008-04-20T00:02:00.002+05:30

Chess Jokes: Chess cartoon 2

2008-04-19T23:38:00.002+05:30

Chess Joke: Chess Funny Cartoon 1

2008-04-19T23:36:00.002+05:30

Chess Jokes: Kings Indian

2008-04-19T23:34:00.001+05:30

(Two old friends get together after work for drinks and catch up on things)

Joe: “How are things, do you still play chess like we did in the old days?”
Larry: ”Sure do. In fact, I play almost every weekend down at the club.”
Joe: “That must be tough on your personal life.”
Larry: ”A couple of months ago, I told my wife that I was going to play in a tournament on our anniversary. She told me that if I went to the club that night, our marriage would be over!”
Joe: “Wow. So what did you do?”
Larry: “I played Nf3. I always play the Kings Indian Attack!”

Chess Quotes:Funny chess Quotes

2008-04-19T23:32:00.002+05:30

"Chess is mental torture" -Kasparov

"You sit at the board and suddenly your heart leaps. Your hand trembles to pick up the piece and move it. But what chess teaches you is that you must sit there calmly and think about whether it's really a good idea and whether there are other, better ideas." -Stanley Kubrik

"The winner is the one who makes the next to last mistake" -Tartakower

"Play the opening like a book, the middle game like a magician, and the endgame like a machine" -Spielman

"A bad plan is better than no plan at all" -Marshall

"Two passed pawns on the sixth beat everything, up to a royal flush" -Ian Rogers

2008-04-19T23:32:00.000+05:30

Chess Jokes : Queens Gambit

2008-04-19T23:27:00.002+05:30

CHESS JOKE :

A seaside town was hosting a world caliber chess tournament. Two days into the tournament, one of the competitors, finished with his game, decides to go for a swim. After a few minutes, he is heard crying out; it is discovered that a shark has taken a bite out of his leg. Everyone is alarmed, but assurances are given that the shark will be found, and it was after all small bite.

The next day another tournament player goes swimming, and his leg also has a bite taken out of it. Same thing the third day. Strangely, though there are other people at the beach, it is only the chess players that are being nibbled.

In an effort to assure the public and keep the tournament from collapsing, a strong net is placed around the beach and the queen is asked if she can intervene. "It is well known that you play chess, your Majesty. There is a protective net up now, and if you can swim safely, then the players will be reassured and the people can feel comfortable on our beaches again. The queen agrees, and goes for a quick swim. She has been out for only a minute when she yelps. She is quickly pulled out of the water, and her leg inspected. Lo and behold, another shark bite. This time however, it appears the shark dd not remove any flesh. The public is told tha queen has emerged in one piece.

The tabloids cannot resist the story.
The next day's headlines read "Queen's gam bit, declined."

Topalov: Chess Player Profile

2008-04-19T22:59:00.003+05:30

Veselin Topalov (born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster and former FIDE world champion. In the January 2008 FIDE rating list, he is ranked third in the world with an Elo rating of 2780.His current trainer and manager is International Master Silvio Danailov.

Topalov became the FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. Topalov was awarded the 2005 Chess Oscar. In October 2006, Topalov had the second highest Elo rating of all time (2813).

Topalov played Classical World Champion Vladimir Kramnik in a twelve-game title unification match. The match was drawn at 6-6, but Topalov lost the tie-break 2.5-1.5.

Early career

Topalov was born in Rousse, Bulgaria. His father taught him to play chess at the age of eight. In 1989 he won the World Under-14 Championship in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, and in 1990 won the silver medal at the World Under-16 Championship in Singapore. He became a Grandmaster in 1992.

Topalov has been the leader of the Bulgarian national team since 1994. At the 1994 Chess Olympiad in Moscow he led the Bulgarians to a fourth-place finish.

Over the next ten years he won a number of tournaments, and ascended the world chess rankings. As early as 1996, he was being invited to "supergrandmaster" events for the world's élite. Topalov's loss to reigning Classical World Champion Garry Kasparov at the 1999 Corus chess tournament is generally hailed as one of the greatest games ever played. Kasparov later said, "[[During the game Topalov]] looked up. Perhaps there was a sign from above that Topalov would play a great game today. It takes two, you know, to do that."[3] In the knockout tournaments for the FIDE World Chess Championship, he reached the last 16 in 1999, the quarter-finals in 2000, the final 16 in 2001, and the semi-finals in the 2004 tournament. In 2002, he lost the final of the Dortmund Candidates Tournament (for the right to challenge for the rival Classical World Chess Championship) to Péter Lékó.

Topalov scored his first "super-tournament" success at Linares 2005, tying for the first place with Garry Kasparov (though losing on tiebreak rules), and defeating Kasparov in the last round, in what was to be Kasparov's last tournament game before his retirement.[4] He followed this up with a one point victory (+4 =5 −1) at the M-Tel Masters 2005 tournament, ahead of Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Ruslan Ponomariov, Michael Adams, and Judit Polgar. The average rating of the participants was 2744, making this super-GM, double round-robin tournament the strongest in 2005.

World Champion

On the strength of his rating, Topalov was invited to the eight-player, double round-robin FIDE World Chess Championship in San Luis, Argentina, in September-October 2005. Scoring 6.5/7 in the first cycle, Topalov had virtually clinched the tournament at the halfway mark, before drawing every game in the second cycle to win by 1.5 points and become FIDE World Chess Champion. The average rating of the field in the championship was 2739, and Topalov's performance rating was 2890.[5]

The unification of the FIDE World Title (held by Topalov) and the Classical Chess World Title (held by Vladimir Kramnik) was fervently encouraged by the chess community. On 16 April 2006, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced that a reunification match between Kramnik and Topalov would be held in September-October 2006. Kramnik defeated Topalov to become the first undisputed champion in thirteen years.

In May 2006, Topalov defended his M-Tel Masters title in the 2006 edition of the tournament, coming first with 6.5, a half point ahead of Gata Kamsky (whom he beat 2-0). Topalov started the tournament somewhat hesitantly to later record four consecutive wins and clinch the title.

Kramnik-Topalov match controversy

FIDE World Chess Championship 2006

On 28 September 2006, Danailov published a press release, casting suspicion on Kramnik's behaviour during the games. The Bulgarian team made a public statement that Kramnik visited his private bathroom (the only place without any audio or video surveillance) unreasonably often, about 50 times per game (a number that FIDE officials later claimed to be exaggerated) and made the most significant decisions in the game in the bathroom.

They also demanded that the organizers of the tournament make available to journalists the surveillance video from Kramnik's room for games 1 through 4. The organizers made parts of the video available, explaining that other parts of it were missing due to technical issues. Danailov demanded to stop the use of private restrooms and bathrooms, and threatened to reconsider Topalov's participation in the match.[7] The Appeals Committee that governed the match agreed, and ruled that the players' private restrooms should be closed and replaced with a shared one.

Kramnik refused to play game 5 and was forfeited. On 1 October, the restroom issue was resolved in Kramnik's favour and the Appeals Committee resigned and were replaced. The FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov decided that the current score of 3-2 should be preserved. He also indicated that this was not a compromise decision but his own.[8] The match resumed on 2 October 2006.

On 1 October, the Association of Chess Professionals released a statement denouncing Danailov for publicly accusing his opponent without evidence, and calling for him to be investigated by the FIDE Ethics Committee. Topalov has also been similarly denounced by numerous top players, including former World Champions Anatoly Karpov, Boris Spassky, and Viswanathan Anand, grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi,[9] former US Champions Lev Alburt and Yasser Seirawan, and others.[10][11]

On 3 October, Topalov said in a press conference, "I believe that his Kramnik's play is fair, and my decision to continue the match proves it".[12] However the next day the crisis escalated, with Topalov's manager strongly implying that Kramnik was receiving computer assistance.[13]

In a post-match interview, Danailov expressed a desire for a rematch between Topalov and Kramnik, saying, “FIDE regulations allow every world champion that has lost the title to challenge the title holder. The total prize fund is 1.5 million dollars. We will find this money and will request the game to take place in Sofia. We will offer an exact date, 3rd of March 2007.”[14] However this will be impossible, because according to FIDE's regulations such a match must be held and finished six months before the next world championship, which will begin in September 2007 in Mexico.

On 14 December 2006, Topalov directly accused Kramnik of using computer assistance in their World Championship match.[15] On 14 February 2007, Topalov's manager released pictures, purporting to show cables in the ceiling of a toilet used by Kramnik during the World Championship match in Elista. They were supposedly reported to the authorities, who Danailov claims suppressed the information. The Topalov team claims they were pressured by officials to keep their allegations quiet.[16] On 29 July 2007, following a complaint by Kramnik's manager Carsten Hansel, the FIDE Ethics Commission sanctioned Topalov with "a severe reprimand" because of the accusations made in the interview of 14 December. According to the Ethics Commission, "these statements were clearly defamatory and damaged the honour of Mr. Vladimir Kramnik, harming his personal and professional reputation".

Cheating allegations against Topalov

Topalov has himself been accused of cheating, both at the San Luis tournament in 2005 and at the 2007 Corus Tournament.

Career after the unification match

Soon after losing the world title, Topalov participated in the Essent Chess Tournament. He finished third of four players with only 2.5 points of 6 games and a 2645 performance. He lost two games against Judit Polgár and one against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

In January 2007, Topalov finished in joint first place (ahead of Kramnik, who finished 4th) at the Category 19 Corus Chess Tournament along with Levon Aronian and Teimour Radjabov.

Traditionally, defeated champions enjoy the right to a return match against the new champion. In the 2006 reunification match, Topalov lost his berth in the 2007 world championship tournament as incumbent FIDE champion to Kramnik. However, as part of the reunification process, both Topalov and Kramnik were granted special privileges in the 2008-09 championship cycle.

Kramnik, who lost the title when Viswanathan Anand won the 2007 tournament, will meet Anand in a title match in 2008. Meanwhile, Topalov will play a match against Gata Kamsky, winner of the 2007 FIDE World Cup. The winner of this match will qualify for the 2009 world championship match against the 2008 world champion.
Topalov Notable tournament victories

* Madrid 1994, 1996, 1997
* Dos Hermanas 1996
* Amsterdam 1996
* Vienna 1996
* Novgorod 1996
* Antwerp 1997
* Monaco 2001
* Dortmund 2001
* Semi-finalist at the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 in Tripoli, Libya.
* Shared first place with Kasparov (Kasparov technically won on tiebreaks though Topalov won their individual game) at Linares 2005
* M-Tel Masters 2005 (a point ahead of Anand)
* FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 (a point and a half ahead of Anand and Svidler)
* Corus 2006 (joint first with Anand)
* M-Tel Masters 2006 (half a point ahead of Gata Kamsky)
* Corus 2007 (joint first with Aronian and Radjabov)
* M-Tel Masters 2007 (half a point over four others)
* Champions League 2007 (a point and a half a head of Ponomariov)

Sasikiran: Chess Profile

2008-04-19T22:54:00.002+05:30

Krishnan Sasikiran (born January 7, 1981) is an Indian chess Grandmaster. Among Indians, he is second only to Vishwanathan Anand in FIDE rating.

"Sasi" as he is sometimes called, comes from Chennai in Tamil Nadu in south-eastern India. He earned the Grandmaster title at the 2000 Commonwealth Championship. In 2001, he won the prestigious Hastings International Chess tournament. In 2003, he won the 4th Asian Individual Championship as well as the Politiken Cup in Copenhagen. Sasikiran tied Jan Timman for first place in the 2005 Sigeman Tournament in Copenhagen/Malmo Denmark.

Sasikiran's Achievements:

Sasikiran became an International Chess Grandmaster at the 2000 Commonwealth Championship held at Sangli, Maharashtra.
Won the Hastings International Chess Congress, England, in 2001 and 2002.
Won the Pentamedia Category XI GM tournament, Chennai in 2000.
In 2003, Sasikiran won the 4th Asian Individual Championship as well as the Politiken Cup in Copenhagen.
Sasikiran tied Jan Timman for first place in the 2005 Sigeman Tournament in Copenhagen Denmark.

In the January 2007 FIDE rating list, Sasikiran was ranked number 21 in the world with an Elo rating of 2700.[1] He became only the second chess player from India to reach ELO rating of 2700.[2] He won Gold medal in Asian Games 2006 in team event. Tamilnadu Government presented a cheque of Rs 20 Lacs as appreciation towards his success.

Hari Krishna : Chess profile

2008-04-19T22:49:00.003+05:30

Hari Krishna,born May 10, 1986, is a chess player from Andhra Pradesh, India. He is now rated second amongst the top Indian players ranking next to Viswanathan Anand and ahead of Krishnan Sasikiran. Harikrishna became the youngest grandmaster from India in 2001.

In November 2004, he won the World Junior Chess Championship. In August 2006, he won the Chess960 (Fischer Random) Junior Chess Championship, beating Arkadij Naiditsch 4.5-3.5 in the final.

Chess Championships

* World under-10 championship, 1996, Menorca (Spain), Gold.
* World under-12 rapid championship, 1996, Paris, Silver.
* Children's Olympiad, 1998, Istanbul, Gold.
* Commonwealth championship, 2000, Sangli, Gold (under-18).
* India's youngest International Master, 2000.
* Asian under-14 championship, 2000, Tehran, 2000-01, Gold.
* National 'A' championship, 2000, Mumbai, Fifth.
* Asian junior championship, 2000, Mumbai, Silver.
* Chess Olympiad, 2000, Istanbul, First Grandmaster (GM) norm.
* Corus tournament, 2001, Wijk Aan Zee, Second GM norm.
* National 'A' championship, 2000, New Delhi, Fifth.
* Asian junior championship, 2001, Tehran, Silver.
* Asian championship, 2001, Kolkata, Tenth; Qualified for World championship; Final GM norm.
* India's youngest GM, 2001.
* Ron Banwell MSO Masters tournament, 2001, London, Gold.
* Commonwealth championship, 2001, London, Gold.
* World Junior Champion, 2004.
* Tiayuan Chess Tournament (FIDE Category 15) in China on 20 July 2005, Clear First
* 9th Essent Tournament Hoogeveen, 2005, Clear First
* Bermuda Invitational Tournament, 2005, Shared First with Boris Gelfand
* Pamplona International Tournament, 2005, Shared Second with Ivan Cheparinov
* Reykjavik Open, 2006, Shared FIRST.
* 4th Marx Gyorgy Memorial tournament in Hungary, 2006, clear FIRST.
* Ordix Open (Rapid chess) - Shared Third.
* Beats Arkady Naiditsch in Mainz to become Chess960 World Junior Champion.

Koneru Humpy : Chess Player profile

2008-04-19T22:41:00.005+05:30

Humpy Koneru (born 31 March 1987 in Gudivada, Andhra Pradesh) is a chess grandmaster from India. Her October 2007 FIDE Elo rating was 2606, placing her at number two in the world for women (behind Judit Polgar), breaking the record of 2577 set by Susan Polgar for the second-highest ranked female player in Chess history and becoming the second female player ever, after Judit Polgar, to cross the 2600 elo mark.

Humpy was originally named Hampi by her parents but her father later changed it to Humpy, a more Russian-sounding name. She writes her family name (Koneru) before her given name.

Humpy holds the record for the youngest woman ever to become a grandmaster (not merely a Woman Grandmaster), which she achieved in 15 years, 1 month, 27 days, beating Judit Polgar's previous record by 3 months.

In 2001 she won the World Junior Girls Chess Championship. In 2006 she participated in the Women's World Chess Championship, but was eliminated in the second round.

Humpy's Achievements:

World under-14 championship, 2001, Castellan, Spain.
Asia's youngest International Woman Master, 1999.
India's youngest Woman GM, 2001.
World junior championship, 2001, Athens.
In 2002, Koneru Humpy become the first woman chess player from India to receive the Men's Grandmaster title.
At 15 years, one month and 27 days, Koneru also became the world's youngest Women Grandmaster to achieve full Grandmaster status, beating the record of her idol Judith Polgar, who achieved the feat at 15 years, four months and 27 days.
As of July, 2006, Humpy is world number 2 in women's rankings with an Elo score of 2545.

June 1st, 2002

INDIA CHESS DIARY

By V Krishnaswamy, New Delhi

ONLY TECHNICAL AND BUREAUCRATIC DETAILS REMAIN

Only technical and bureaucratic details remain between Humpy and a decade-old landmark set by Judit Polgar, which crumbled last week. In some ways that landmark, which had bestowed upon Judit the honour of being the youngest woman to complete a Grandmaster title in men's section, was quite appropriately overtaken in the Polgar homeland, in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, where Judit lives.

Taking over that mantle is Koneru Humpy, a shy teenager from India's little-known district of Gudivada near Vijaywada, in Andhra Pradesh. At the Elekes memorial 12-round tournament, Humpy earned her third and final GM norm with a score of 7.5 out in the first 11 rounds. The average rating of her opponents in the first 11 rounds was 2437. On the day Humpy achieved her third Men's GM Norm, she was exactly, 15 years, 1 Month, and 27 days, which bettered Judit Polgar's record of 15 years, 4 months and 27 days.

Chess players, more than other commoners in life, know how technical hurdles are sometimes more difficult to surmount than on-board problems. The latest to discover this could be India's teenaged chess star.

Technical details and bureaucracy are two phrases purists love to hate. And with enough reason. Even as Humpy was re-writing the record books, there were enough critics pointing out to her current rating of 2486. This young holder of four world title in various age categories, is now being stymied by those who claim that she still has one more requirement to complete before being conferred the GM title – that of getting her Elo rating to 2500, which is one of the stipulations of a GM title being conferred upon a player.

Analysts agree that the next rating list, which will be released in July 2002, will see her breach that mark, too. But now the debate is whether she should right away be considered the youngest woman to become a GM in men's section, or should we wait till the FIDE confirms her rating as 2500-plus. The next rating list is due out on July 1, 2002 and the one after that on October 1, 2002. The question is now, in case Koneru Humpy falls a little short, and is say on 2495 or 2498, on July 1, 2002, will she be disallowed the record. If that is the case, that will really be a pity.

As things stand, if Koneru Humpy's rating is 2500 or over before August 26, 2002 the record is hers.

Humpy's third and final GM norm with 7.5 points from the first 11 rounds of the 12-round tournament. The average rating of the tournament was 2437, and it is expected she will gain some vital Elo points.

In the next few days Humpy is also due to play another GM level tournament in June itself and hopefully that event as well as the Elekes memorial where she won her final GM norm will lift her above 2500 and set to rest all debates.

Pictures from the Koneru Humpy album: as a child top left with her father, on a plane to
the under 10 world championship, at the boys' under 14, with the World Junior Trophy
in 2001, After winning the World U14 in Dortmund (bottom centre and right).

PROFILE OF A CHAMPION

BY V KRISHNASWAMY

SOON AFTER a daughter was born to Koneru Ashok and Latha on March 31, 1987, the father decided his daughter was special. The young one was named Hampi, derived from the word "Champion". Sometime later, Ashok changed that to Humpy, because he felt that sounded a little Russian (!) and his daughter would be a champion in that sport. How true.

A fast and attacking player, Humpy has often dominated the events she has won in India. A good positional player, she has a good finish and she rarely misses a winning ending.

But what is even more outstanding is that she possesses a record at world championships, which even Anand does not have. She is the first, and so far the only, Indian to win four World Championships, having picked a title each in Under-10, Under-12 and Under-14 and the World Juniors (Under-20) age groups. In between she also won a silver medal in Under-12 section.

Born in 1987, Humpy took to chess at the age of six in 1993. Coached by her father, Ashok Koneru, she picked up the finer points in very little time and won the first tournament she played at Vijayawada in 1994. More followed in the next few years.

Humpy in 1997 won her first world title the U-10 World title in Cannes. To that she added the World U-12 title in Oropesa del Mar in Spain in October-November 1998, when the curly haired Andhra girl notched up nine wins, one loss and one draw. The lone draw came against teammate Tania Sachdeva, who finished third. In 1999 Humpy missed out on what would have become an unique record. Starting out as the defending champion in the Under-12 section, she finished second behind Georgian Nana Dzagnidze.

In 1999, Humpy showed her fondness for Ahmedabad as a venue, where she created history, by becoming the first Indian woman player to win a National Boys title. She won the Under 14 Boys title in the National Children Chess Championship for the year 2000 at the Karnavati Club.

Interestingly, in 1998 in December, Humpy had won the Asian sub junior boys (under-12) title at the same venue. That was the first time a girl had won an international boys event since Judit Polgar of Hungary had done that in 1989. A year later in 2000, she paid back Georgian Dzagnidze in the same coin and beat her to the title in the World Under-14 title in Spain.

Magnus Carlsen : Chess Profile

2008-04-19T22:31:00.005+05:30

Magnus Øen Carlsen (born November 30, 1990 in Tønsberg, Norway) is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy.

On April 26, 2004 Carlsen became Grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 4 months, and 27 days, the third youngest Grandmaster age in history.

Since then, he has established himself as an elite Grandmaster. In the April 2008 FIDE list, he has an Elo rating of 2765, making him Norway's number 1, World Juniors' number 1 and World's number 5.

Chess Biography

Sometimes nicknamed the ‘Mozart of chess’, wunderkind Magnus started playing competitive chess at the age of 8, and by the age of 13 and 3 months became a grandmaster – a record second only to Karjakin. Carlsen lives in Lommedalen, Bærum, near Norway's capital, Oslo. He played his first tournament at the age of eight and was coached at the Norwegian high school for top athletes led by the country's top player, Grandmaster (GM) Simen Agdestein. Agdestein put his civil worker and master player Torbjørn Ringdahl-Hansen, currently a FIDE master with IM and GM norms, as his coach and they had one training session every week, together with one of Magnus' close friends. The young International Master was given a year off from elementary school to participate in international chess tournaments during the fall season of 2003. In that year, he finished third in the European Under-12 Boys Championship.

Chess career

2004

Corus 2004

The result that brought him to the attention of the international chess world, however, was his victory in the C group at the Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee with 10.5/13, losing just one game (against the highest rated player of the C group, Dusko Pavasovic), taking his first Grandmaster norm, and achieving an Elo tournament performance rating of 2702. Particularly notable was his win in the penultimate round over Sipke Ernst in which Carlsen sacrificed material to mate Ernst in just 29 moves. This game won Carlsen the Audience Prize for best game of the round (including all the games played in the B and A groups), though the first 23 moves had already been seen in the game Almagro Llanas-Gustafsson, Madrid 2003 (which, however, was a draw).

Carlsen's tournament victory in the C group qualified him to play in the B group in 2005, and led to Lubomir Kavalek, writing in the Washington Post, to describe him as the "Mozart of chess". According to an interview with mentor Agdestein, himself once the world's youngest GM at 18, Carlsen is a significantly better player than he was himself at the same age. Carlsen is said to have an excellent memory and plays an unusually wide range of different openings.

[edit] Moscow Aeroflot Open 2004

Carlsen obtained his second GM norm in the Moscow Aeroflot Open in February 2004. In a blitz chess tournament (where players have much less time for their moves than in normal chess) in Reykjavík, Iceland, on 17 March 2004, Magnus Carlsen defeated former world champion Anatoly Karpov. The blitz tournament was a preliminary event leading up to a rapid chess knock out tournament beginning the next day, where Carlsen achieved one draw against Garry Kasparov, who was then the top-rated player in the world, before losing to Kasparov after 32 moves of the second game, thus being knocked out of the tournament.

[edit] Dubai Open Chess Championship 2004

In the 6th Dubai Open Chess Championship, held 18 April to 28, 2004, Carlsen obtained his third Grandmaster norm (enough for getting the GM title), after getting four wins and four draws before the last game was to be played. Resulting from this he was at the time world's youngest GM and the second youngest person ever to hold GM status, after Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine who attained the feat at 12 years and 7 months of age in 2002.

World Championship 2004

Carlsen was the youngest player to participate in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004, but was knocked out in the first round on tie breaks by Levon Aronian.

[edit] Norwegian Championship

In July 2004, Carlsen finished second place behind Berge Østenstad in the Norwegian Chess Championship. Since the scores of these two players were equal (each got 7 points out of 9 but Østenstad had better tiebreaks) a 2-game play-off match between the two was arranged. Due to Østenstad's superior tiebreak score he would win the title should this match end with a 1-1 tie. The match did end with a 1-1 tie after two draws, so Østenstad retained his Norwegian championship title.

2005

Smartfish Chess Masters 2004-05

In Smartfish Chess Masters at the Drammen chess festival 2004-05 (Norway) Carlsen defeated Alexei Shirov, ranked number 13 in the world. In June 2005 in the Ciudad de Leon rapid chess tournament Carlsen played a four-game semi-final against Viswanathan Anand, former FIDE World Champion and number 1 ranked player in the world. Magnus lost 3-1. Carlsen was invited to the tournament as the most promising young chess player in 2005.

[edit] Norwegian Chess Championship

In the 2005 Norwegian Chess Championship, Carlsen again finished in a shared first place, this time with his mentor Simen Agdestein. A playoff between them was arranged between November 7 and November 10. This time Carlsen had the better tiebreaks, but the rule giving the player with better tiebreaks scores the title in the event of a 1-1 draw had been revoked previously. The match was closely fought, Agdestein won the first game, Carlsen won the second, so the match went into a phase of two and two rapid games until there was a winner. Carlsen won the first rapid game, Agdestein the second. Then followed a series of three draws until Agdestein won the championship title with a victory in the sixth rapid game.

World Chess Cup

At the end of 2005 he participated at the World Chess Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. In the knock-out tournament, Carlsen upset the 44th-ranked Georgian Zurab Azmaiparashvili in round one, winning 2–0 at rapid chess after a 1–1 tie in the normal length games, and proceeded to beat Tajik Farrukh Amonatov and Bulgarian Ivan Cheparinov (also after rapid chess) to reach the round of 16. There he lost 1.5-2.5 to Evgeny Bareev, which prevented him from finishing 1st to 8th. He then won against Joel Lautier 1.5-0.5 and Vladimir Malakhov 3.5-2.5 securing him at least a tenth place and therefore a spot in the Candidate Matches. Carlsen became the youngest player to be an official World Championship Candidate.

Other

In October 2005 he took first place at the Arnold Eikrem Memorial in Gausdal with 8 out of 9 points and a performance rating of 2792 at the age of 14.

2006

In the 2006 Norwegian Chess Championship, Carlsen was close to winning outright, but a last round loss to Berge Østenstad again tied him for first place with Agdestein. The last-round loss deprived Magnus of beating Agdestein's record of becoming the youngest Norwegian champion ever. Nonetheless, in the play-off November 19-21, Carlsen won 3-1. After two draws in the initial full time games, Magnus won both rapid games in round two, securing his first Norwegian championship.

Magnus won the 2006 Glitnir Blitz tournament [1] in Iceland. He won 2-0 over Viswanathan Anand (2003 FIDE World Rapid Chess Champion, 2004 Amber Rapid Chess Champion, 2007 FIDE Classical World Champion) in the semi finals. Carlsen also won 2-0 in the finals. [2]

Magnus scored 6/8 in the 37th Chess Olympiad in 2006 against opponents averaging 2627 ELO, gaining 18 ELO (a rating performance of 2820 points). One of his notable wins was against top English grandmaster Michael Adams.[3]

In the Midnight Sun Chess tournament Carlsen had some misses and came in second, beaten by Sergei Shipov (FIDE-Elo: 2576).

In the 2006 Biel/Bienne grandmaster tournament he achieved second place, after having beaten the eventual winner Alexander Morozevich twice (once with each color).

In the NH Chess Tournament held in Amsterdam in August 2006, Carlsen participated in an 'Experience' v 'Rising Stars' Scheveningen team match. The 'Rising Stars' won the match 22-28 with Carlsen achieving the best individual score for the youngsters, 6.5/10 and a 2700 ELO performance, thus winning the right to participate in the 2007 Melody Amber tournament.[4]

* In the World Blitz Championship at Rishon LeZion, Israel he was no. 8 of 16 participants with 7.5/15 points.

* In the rapid chess tournament Rencontres nationales et internationales d'échecs i Cap d'Agde, France he got to the semifinal, losing to Sergey Karjakin.

* Carlsen achieved a shared 8th place of 10 participants in the Mikhail Tal Memorial in Moskow with 2 losses and 7 draws. In the associated blitz tournament Tal Blitz Cup he received 17.5/34 points and 9th place in a group of 18 participants.

2007

* In the 2007 Corus chess tournament Carlsen, playing in group A for the first time, had to settle for the last place after 9 draws and 4 losses, scoring 4.5 points in 13 rounds.
* In the prestigious Linares chess tournament Carlsen met the following top-rated players: Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, Peter Svidler, Alexander Morozevich, Levon Aronian, Peter Leko, and Vassily Ivanchuk (replacing Teimour Radjabov). With the significantly lowest ELO rating, he achieved a 2nd place (on tiebreaks) with 7.5 points after 4 wins, 7 draws and 3 losses, and an ELO performance of 2778.
* In March 2007, Carlsen played for the first time in the Melody Amber blind and rapid chess tournament in Monte Carlo. In the 11 rounds he achieved 8 draws and 3 losses in the blindfold, and 3 wins, 7 draws and 1 loss in the rapid part. This resulted in a shared 9th place in the blindfold, shared 2nd place in the rapid (beaten only by Anand), and an 8th place in the overall tournament.
* In May-June 2007, he participated in the Candidates Tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007. He was paired with the top seed Levon Aronian. The 6-game match was drawn (2 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses), with Carlsen coming from behind twice. The 4-game rapid playoff was drawn as well (1 win, 2 draws, and 1 loss), with Carlsen winning the last game to stay in the match. Finally, Aronian won both tiebreaker (blitz) games, to eliminate Carlsen from the Championship.
* In July-August 2007, he won the International Chess Festival Biel Grandmaster Tournament 2007, with a +2 record (an ELO performance of 2753). His score was equalled by Alexander Onischuk and by the tie-breaker rule of the tournament, they played a tie-breaker match to determine the winner. After drawing two rapid and two blitz games, Carlsen won the armageddon game. He became the youngest person ever to win a category 18 tournament.
* In December 2007, he reached the semi-final round of the World Chess Cup 2007, after defeating Michael Adams in the round of 16, and Ivan Cheparinov in the quarter-finals. In the semi-final, he was eliminated by the eventual winner Gata Kamsky, 0.5:1.5.

2008

* Playing for the second time in the top group A of the Corus chess tournament, Carlsen showed big improvement over his 2007 performance. His final score was 8 points in 13 rounds, an ELO performance of 2830. Carlsen scored 5 wins (including beating former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik with the black pieces), 2 losses and 6 draws. He shared first place with Levon Aronian, becoming the youngest person ever to win a category 20 tournament.

* At the 2008 Linares chess tournament, Carlsen had another 2800+ ELO performance, scoring 8 out of 14 (5 wins, 3 losses and 6 draws). He finished in sole second place, 1/2 point behind the winner, world champion Viswanathan Anand.

* In March 2008, Carlsen played for the second time in the Melody Amber blind and rapid chess tournament, which was held in Nice for the first time. In the 11 rounds he achieved 4 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses in the blindfold, and 3 wins, 6 draws and 2 losses in the rapid part. This resulted in a shared 5th place in the blindfold, shared 3rd place in the rapid and a shared 2nd place in the overall tournament.

* Between April 20 and May 6, 2008 Carlsen will be first seed in the first Grand Prix Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Rating

In the October 2006 FIDE ratings, Carlsen advanced to world number 22 with a rating of 2698. In the January 2007 ratings he dropped to 2690 and rank 24. In the July 2007 ratings, after a series of strong results, Carlsen advanced to become world number 17 with a rating of 2710. On the January 2008 FIDE rating list he was rated at 2733, and on April 2008 he reached 2765 ELO rating, reaching fifth place in the world rankings.

Chess Video: Funny chess

2008-04-19T09:16:00.002+05:30

Chess Funny Video

2008-04-19T09:14:00.001+05:30

Chess Jokes: Who is Chess Addict

2008-04-18T09:25:00.003+05:30

You know you are a chess addict if:

1. You bump into someone or something and say J'adoube.
2. Fantasizes of beating Mr Spock in 3-D chess.
3. Proudly display, 'Chessplayers make better mates' bumper sticker on your car.
4. Mate, mating positions, exposed bishops, and forking the queen have nothing to do with sex.
5. When you meet someone, your first question is, "What's your rating?"
6. You have fantasies of mating one of the Polgar sisters.
7. You have a crush on Irina Krush.
8. You have checkered underwear with "It's your move" on the front.
9. You spot the chessboard set up wrong in every movie with a chess scene.
10. You who know exactly what James Bond movie the above scene was taken from.
11. You have read all of this.

Chess Jokes : Chess Warning Signs

2008-04-18T09:23:00.001+05:30

Warning signs you won't beat a computer at chess.

1. Before moving your queen, you consulting Eddie Murphy.
2. Your "garlic breath" strategy fails to intimidate this particular opponent.
3. You counter 'every' move with the "Canadian Burbon Opening."
4. Video tapes of you shouting at the ATM are legendary among the bank security staff.
5. You plan to use the "James T. Kirk Strategy" -- Talk the computer into blowing itself up!

Chess Jokes

2008-04-17T20:41:00.002+05:30

Once, two Sardars were feeling bored and decided to play a few games

of chess to pass the time.

They were doing this for some time, when two more sardar friends

dropped by. Seeing them play chess, they said -

"Come on guys, we are feeling bored too. Let us play doubles!"

Chess Jokes

2008-04-17T20:37:00.001+05:30

Santa Singh is Flying from Moscow to Delhi. To his surprise, sitting right beside
him is Gary Kasporov, the world Chess Champion. Santa has always been in awe
of Chess players, and immediately starts up a conversation with Gary about the
Nuances of the Game etc. Gary says ... "How would You like to Play me for $ 500/
US"?

Santa: "But you're too damn good".

Gary: "I'll play left handed".

Santa cant resist the bet and accepts. Kasparov, Check Mates our Sardar in 8
Moves .......

Santa is still scratching his head, as he leaves the airplane.

Upon Reaching Amritsar, Santa tells Banta about the game he had with
Kasparov.

Banta: "Tu bhi pura buddhu hai Santa". (You're an absolute fool Santa)
Santa: "kyon" (why)?

Banta: "Abe chooteye ........ Gary Kasparov Khabbu hai". (You ass hole, Gary
Kasparov IS a lefty, no wonder he beat you left handed).

Fide Rankings : Anand leads April 2008 FIDE ratings, Carlsen fifth , Aronian Sixth

2008-04-04T22:06:00.005+05:30

The World Champion gained four points to cross the 2800 mark and top the rankings alone. Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov shed points to move to second and fourth; Alexander Morozevich gained points to move to third place. But the sensation is of course Magnus Carlsen, who at 17 years and four months is in place five, just 38 points below the leader. Is this a record?

World Champion Viswanathan Anand has gained four points to cross the magic 2800 line and top the April 2008 alone (in the previous list he was equal first with Kramnik). Vladimir Kramnik shed eleven points to move to second place at 2788. Third is Alexander Morozevich who gained nine to reach 2774; fourth Veselin Topalov who lost 13 to sink to 2767.

The sensation of the list, of course, is the Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen (above), who at the age of 17 years and four months has climbed to place five in the world rankings, having gained a resounding 32 points to bring his Elo rating to 2765. Statisticians and historians need to get to work: is it the first time ever for a 17-year-old? Has anyone at that age ever approached the top rating by 38 points? Is there anything to stop this lad from becoming world champion? We for our part can only say: congrats Magnus, keep it up! You are one of the most intriguing personalities in current-day chess.

Going down the list a bit we find that Levon Aronian has gained 24 points to install himself firmly in place six. It is interesting to note that the Armenian is just two points behind Carlsen and four shy of Topalov. Other notables in the April 2008 list:

21-year-old Teimour Radjabov has gained 16 points to move from place 12 to place eight.
Peter Svidler lost 17 points to drop from place five to nine (but hey, he's still in the top ten).
Peter Leko, who is having a bad spell, dropped 12 points and two ranks to end at tenth and 2741.
Vassily Ivanchuk, who in October 2007 was second in the world, is now number 11 at 2740.
Alexei Shirov lost fifteen points to drop from seventh to 12th at 2740.
Big winners are Chinese GMs Bu Xiangzhi and Ni Hua, who gained 17 and 23 points respectively to come in at 21st and 23rd in the world. GM Wang Hao gained 19 points to move from 48th to 34th.
There are no women in the top 100 list – Judit Polgar has dropped out, perhaps due to inactivity (but see women's list below)?!

FIDE April 2008 Rating List

Top 53 Women April 2008

Here is where we find Judit Polgar, at the top of the Women's list. She has gained two points from 13 games played in the rating period, so we really do not understand why she is not in the main list. Probably just a glitch in the generation of the list.

In second place is the second female player in history to cross the 2600 mark, Koneru Humpy. In third, snapping at her heels, is the Chinese chess phenomenon Hou Yifan, who turned 14 just a month ago. Like Carlsen all we can say is: who is to stop this lass from becoming world champion?

Top 20 Girls April 2008

We can only repeat ourselves: guess who is the strongest girl in the world. Yifan, the chess marvel, who is 63 points ahead of Anna Muzychuk in second. Our friend Katya Lahno is closing in in third, with another favourite, Harika, in fourth place.

FIDE

City teen makes his move in world chess

2008-02-05T20:53:00.000+05:30

He might only be a schoolboy but Cape Town's Anant Dole, 15, made a world-class impression at an international chess competition in 2008.

Anant exploded on to the local chess scene a few years ago just a year or two after his sister taught him the game.

But his proudest triumph yet was at 2008 Fide-hosted Parsvnath International Open Chess Tournament in New Delhi, India, where he clinched a joint fifth place and scooped a prize of 10 000 rupees (about R2 000).

In a rare occurrence for such a junior player, he also defeated Turkmenistan grandmaster Sapar Batyrov.

The tournament, held from January 13 to 20, was open to anyone so Anant had to compete against 400 talented players of all ages and backgrounds.

These opponents included grandmasters, Fide masters and international masters with years of experience and reputable international ratings.

The Grade 9 Sacs pupil who is also one of Mark Shuttleworth's Hip2b² ambassadors this year is ranked among the top 10 junior chess players in the country and has been invited to the national championships every year since he was eight.

"I won (nationals) at least five times in my age group," he said.

After his success at the competition, Anant was left with a local rating of about 2 150 (points) and an international Fide rating of 1 985.

His ambition is to eventually become a grandmaster - the most prestigious title a chess player can hold.

Players require an international rating of 2 500 to make grandmaster status.

"I would love to become a grandmaster one day but it will take a lot of effort. At the moment, I practise about an hour a day, but grandmasters put in about five hours a day," Anant said.

He believed the game not only taught him discipline, but also played a big role in his academic performance.

"I don't have to put as much effort into certain tasks as I used to, especially subjects like maths, because maths and chess are closely related. It has helped me face problems in all spheres of life," he said.

Anant's former coach, Kenny Solomons, said Anant had "great potential" as a chess player.

"If he continues to work hard and stay disciplined, he could be one of the best chess players around," he said.

Courtesy : http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=139&art_id=vn20080204112814395C455487

Kasparov Talks on Fischer

2008-02-05T20:50:00.002+05:30

he latest issue of Time Magazine has a moving tribute to the eleventh World Champion Bobby Fischer, written by Garry Kasparov, the thirteenth World Champion. Meanwhile controversy is brewing over Fischer's estate, estimated at £1 million. And Variety reports on plans for a Hollywood movie "Bobby Fischer Goes to War" directed by Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald. Links and excerpts.

Kasparov on Fischer

Time: The Chessman, by Garry Kasparov
It is hard to say exactly when I first heard the name Bobby Fischer, but it was quite early in my life. When he was battling Boris Spassky for the world title in 1972, I was a 9-year-old club player in my native Baku in the Soviet Union. I followed the games avidly. The newspapers had extensive daily coverage of the match, although that waned as it became clear the Soviet champion was headed for defeat. Fischer's My 60 Memorable Games was one of my first chess books. (It had been translated into Russian and sold in the U.S.S.R. with no respect for copyright or royalties, infuriating its author.)

Controversy over Fischer's legacy

Times Online: Bobby Fischer, chess genius, heartless son
Unpublished letters seen by The Timesnow throw new light on the origins of Fischer’s precarious mental state and his obsession with beating Boris Spassky at the so-called match of the century in Reykjavik in 1972. He did not know who his real father was, and he deeply resented his mother for being an active communist under constant surveillance by the FBI.

Guardian: Fischer's 'widow' and nephews in legal tussle for £1m estate
As a chess mastermind Bobby Fischer was capable of executing manoeuvres as complicated as they were brutal. Now, following his death, the tussle over his million-pound estate may turn out to be just as convoluted. Last week the Reykjavik newspaper Visir reported that Fischer's estate, worth an estimated 140m Icelandic kronur (£1.07m), would go to Miyoko Watai, whom it described as Fischer's widow. But Fischer's brother-in-law Russell Targ has been in Iceland to instruct a lawyer to investigate whether Targ's two sons should be the beneficiaries. There are also confusing accounts of a daughter, now seven, whom Fischer is said to have fathered during a relationship which blossomed at country club in the Philippines. Yesterday Watai's lawyer, Arni Vilhjalmsson, said he had received an official document from Japan confirming the marriage. "It's a copy and I am waiting for the original," he said. If the document is proved authentic, Vilhjalmsson will take it to a magistrate in Iceland and ask for a private liquidation of the assets. Yesterday the Chesbase website carried a letter from John Bosnitch claiming that Fischer had married Watai in a ceremony at which he had been present: "I was the male witness to that marriage and the marriage certificate bears my name."

IceNews Daily: The complicated legacy of Bobby Fischer
Chess legend Bobby Fischer, who died on January 17th, was recently buried at a country church in Iceland during a Catholic funeral service. Though the service itself may have been peaceful, the legal wrangling over Fischer’s million dollar fortune may be about to turn nasty. Russel Targ, Fischer’s brother-in-law, has flown to Iceland in order to pursue legal investigations into the matter of inheritance which he feels should belong to his two sons. Another possible beneficiary is a seven year old girl, said to be Fischer’s daughter from a country club romance in the Philippines.

Fischer on the Big Screen

Variety: Macdonald to direct 'Bobby Fischer'
Universal and Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner have tapped Kevin Macdonald to direct "Bobby Fischer Goes to War." The drama about the upstart chess whiz's triumph over Boris Spassky in the World Chess Championship in 1972 is scripted by Shawn Slovo, based on the book by David Edmonds and John Eidinow. Bevan and Fellner will produce. Macdonald won an Oscar for the documentary "One Day in September" before making his scripted directing debut on "The Last King of Scotland."

Cinema Blend: Bobby Fischer Heading Back To The Big Screen
Variety is reporting that Kevin Macdonald will direct Bobby Fischer Goes to War, a drama about the American chess champion. Fischer was a teenage sensation when he became a chess grandmaster at the age of 15. His huge accomplishment though, came in 1972 when he defeated Russian chess champion Boris Spassky. Of course, later in life Fischer became known as an eccentric and an anti-Semite. Macdonald's movie will apparently focus only on the match against Spassky. Fischer is a fascinating American figure, a hero for many years who later completely shunned his country. Given that the main character in Macdonald's Last King of Scotland was a murderous dictator, he's proven he can take on controversial but fascinating figures. I'm excited to see what he can do with this highly unusual story.

General articles

Daily Star: Talking about Lebanon with Bobby Fischer
Julie Flint remembers the Match of the Century: "Reykjavik in 1972 was my first big reporting assignment, for The Associated Press. I went for three days and stayed for three months". In 1992 she went to Belgrade to meet Fischer (with the help of Svetozar Gligoric), at 2 a.m., and was grilled about her reporting from Lebanon. "In the 1980s and early 1990s, I had been reporting from Beirut for ABC radio – and Bobby had been listening. He quoted myself to me. Why had I said this? What did I mean by that? Why was I out of breath when I said such-and-such (because I was recording, live, as I ran down a street in Mar Mikhael under Lebanese Army tank-fire in February 1984). Why were the Israelis so 'bloodthirsty'? 'Israelis' was not the word he used."

Bobby Fischer was my childhood hero.

2008-01-24T22:59:00.001+05:30

In my office, I have a framed black-and-white photograph of a young Bobby Fischer, dressed impeccably in a suit, engrossed in a chess game.

Bobby Fischer was my childhood hero. He was U.S. chess champion at 14 and a year later became the youngest grandmaster in history. He took on the Soviets at their favorite game and beat them all, breaking the decades-long string of Soviet champions. When he defeated Boris Spassky for the world championship in 1972, I was 7 years old.

It was the height of the Cold War. Public television covered each move of the 21-game match. One evening, a New York City reporter visited 21 Manhattan bars and discovered that 18 had the Fischer match on television instead of the Mets game. That epic event was my first exposure to chess.

There was something intriguing about Fischer's intensity and those mysterious wooden pieces, so I asked Santa Claus for a chess set. Santa delivered.

As I began to study chess, I reveled in sharing Fischer's initials. I signed everything "Bobby F." When my dad came home with a copy of Fischer's classic book, "My 60 Memorable Games," I devoured every word. By the third reading, the binding was destroyed, and I kept the book together with a thick rubber band. When I read that Fischer subscribed to Russian chess magazines to learn the secrets of the Soviet masters, I got my hands on similar publications and taught myself the rudiments of the Russian alphabet so I could follow the moves.

Fischer possessed a relentless will to win. His great rival Spassky said, "When you play Bobby, it is not a question of whether you win or lose. It is a question of whether you survive." Unlike other grandmasters, Fischer didn't believe in occasionally taking short draws to conserve his energy in long, draining tournaments.

In the world championship qualifying matches, Fischer won 19 games in a row without conceding a single draw (the majority of grandmaster games are draws). It would be as if the New England Patriots didn't just win every football game they played this year, but didn't even allow their opponents to score. One Fischer opponent observed, "It began to feel as though you were playing against chess itself."

But after winning the world championship at age 29, the man who once said, "All I want to do, ever, is play chess," stopped playing. He didn't bother to defend his world championship in 1975 and went into seclusion.

I couldn't believe it. My own chess skills were improving, and I grew impatient for Bobby to provide new brilliancies. But as I entered high school and gradually mastered the game, Bobby Fischer was letting me down.

He quit chess and wrote a pamphlet titled "I Was Tortured in the Pasadena Jailhouse!" I didn't read it. The son of a Jewish mother, Fischer began to spew anti-Semitic invective. An American hero, Fischer cheered the Sept. 11 attacks. It appeared that chess had kept him sane. Once he lost touch with the game, he lost touch with his sanity.

The romanticized view of Fischer that I held as a boy needed to adjust to a more complex reality. Aristotle said, "There was never a genius without a tincture of madness." That may be true, but Fischer's madness provoked tirades that were hard to forgive.

How was I to reconcile the boy who played the "game of the century" at 13 with the man who held such ugly views? I nodded my head when, in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer," Ben Kingsley's character said, "I want back what Bobby Fischer took with him when he disappeared."

Why couldn't Fischer be like Garry Kasparov? Kasparov dominated chess for the past 20 years and recently entered Russian politics to challenge Vladimir Putin, at tremendous personal risk, and lead the pro-democracy movement. From my perspective as a local politician and chess master, this was a man I could admire.

When I learned of Fischer's death, I reflected on the hundreds of hours I spent studying his games while my schoolwork went unattended. Bobby Fischer was a big part of my youth, and I wondered how best to remember him.

A few years ago, I taught chess to a class of second- graders and regaled them with stories of a kid from Brooklyn who dreamed of becoming world champion, studied hard and then reached his dream.

I showed the students my framed photograph of the young Bobby Fischer, told them that it possessed secret powers and that I always won whenever I played with it next to me. I promised that the best-behaved student could borrow the picture when the second- graders paired up to play chess. That got their attention.

Later, as I walked amongst their games, quietly offering advice, I passed the boy who had earned the Fischer photograph, which he held tightly in his little hands. He leaned over to the girl sitting next to him and whispered "the Bobby Fischer picture really works!"

That's the Bobby Fischer I will remember.

http://chesscool.blogspot.com/2007/11/bobby-fischer.html

Courtesy @http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2004141350_bobbyfischer24.html

King County Councilmember Bob Ferguson is an internationally rated chess master and two-time Washington State Chess Champion. He can be contacted at bob.ferguson@kingcounty.gov.

Radjabov wins ACP World Rapid Cup in Odessa

2008-01-10T17:33:00.000+05:30

Without doubt the knockout rapid chess format in this ACP tournament brought some heart-stopping action. In the end it was GM Teimour Radjabov, 20 years old and from Baku, Azerbaijan, who took the cup, beating Alexander Grischuk in the final. Meanwhile the Chairman of the sponsoring Pivdenny Bank was elected new President of the ACP. Big illustrated report by Misha Savinov.

Quarterfinals

Before the quarterfinal day we had a brief discussion at the press center on who could be considered the favorite. This is obviously a matter of opinion, as all the remaining players had the skill and had experienced the luck required to succeed. Most local observers were inclined towards Ivanchuk, whi

le I voted for the winner of Grischuk-Svidler match. This is how narrow our thinking is – I guess people from Baku would elect Radjabov, and Israelis prefer Gelfand.

Anyway, after the quarterfinals the hopes of Ukrainians were pinned on the youngest participant of this World Cup, Sergey Karjakin. The promising 17-year-old eliminated Gelfand, the oldest player of those survived the first couple of days. In blitz, naturally – for longer games the Petroff is really tough to beat.

Ivanchuk, the best-loved player of the Odessa public (okay, maybe the second – after Karpov) was knocked out by Radjabov. Teimour is as anxious as ever; he looks very motivated, and it must be really uncomfortable to sit in front of his drilling eyes. He is definitely a tough cookie, and Ivanchuk, dressed in Real Madrid uniform, could sense it today. The public saw everything: long-range fights in the first two games; blunder exchange in the blitz tie-break; wild server-style piece-dropping in the Armageddon, which ended in Ivanchuk losing on time after regaining 57 seconds of the initial minute handicap...

Semifinals and final

Please excurse briefness of my notes: it is about one a.m. in Odessa, and it feels weird to be working when players and colleagues around me are celebrating.

The first semifinal, Radjabov-Jakovenko, ended with a perfect score. It is kind of strange, because before the match such respectable people as Ivanchuk predicted even chances (presuming the encounter would go on until the Armageddon). However, Jakovenko was not in a playing mood and did not put up enough resistance. Highly motivated Radjabov advanced to the final, and at the press-conference bombarded general media journalists with lengthy chess lines. He is definitely more at home discussing chess than anything else.

Someone spilled gasoline on board before the second semifinal. Don’t give matches to these kids! Karjakin and Grischuk could have caused many heart attacks tonight – hopefully their true supporters were not watching the games live. Grischuk came back twice from behind and won the Armageddon in nice attacking style.

DGT presents: new clocks, technology – and Vladimir Kramnik

2008-01-10T17:30:00.000+05:30

World première at opening of new office DGT

On Wednesday 9 January we celebrate the opening of the new multifunctional facility of DGT on the Hengelosestraat 66 in Enschede. DGT stands for Digital Game Technology; the company is producer of digital chess clocks and electronic chess boards which are sold all over the world. At the opening the municipal authorities of Enschede are represented by Mr Roelof Bleker, alderman of urban development and culture.

World première
The biggest surprise during the opening will be the world première of Foidos; a new system to follow chess games, developed by Chess Dimension, a joint venture of DGT and Share Dimension. With Foidos chess lovers can watch live chess game coverage on the internet from multiple angles. One can simultaneously follow the game on the board, walk through the moves, and access video streams of the players from several angles at the same time. Concurrently he can hear the comment of a Grand master on the game.

World champion Kramnik
Special guest of honour at the opening is Mr Vladimir Kramnik. He is the 14th world champion in chess and is available for the press. Kramnik became world champion in a match against Kasparov in the year 2000. He defended his title several times but had to give it up during the World Championship tournament in Mexico in 2007. Kramnik is number 1 on the latest rating list of the Fide (World chess federation) with 2799 rating points, as many as Anand against whom he will play a match for the title in October 2008.

New developments
At the upcoming International Toy Fair in Nürnberg DGT will present a new chess box under the motto : “The new way to play” this box holds a brilliant foldable chess clock.

Multipurpose building
In the new building the Chess Lab is situated on the ground floor. Several test set-ups have been placed here. You can also find a vast international chess library and a permanent exhibition of chess clocks that have been categorised. In a few months a chess training and education centre will be started. The warehouse and forwarding are also located on the ground floor. The offices are positioned on the first floor as is the multifunctional room where in the near future top chess players can play their games closely followed by the public without being bothered.

Simul
Some of the guests can play a chess game during the opening party. Grand master Tea Lanchava, one of the strongest lady chess players of our country, will play a simul against them in the Chess Lab. In this demonstration room the games are played on electronic chess boards so that they can be followed “live” via the internet site www.dgtprojects.com/opening/tfd.htm from 17.30 hours on.

Art
At the opening there is an exhibition of paintings from Bianca Leusink. She is a former employee of DGT and now a professional artist. She has developed her own style, as a result of which her colourful modern artwork and paintings are very recognizable.

History
DGT was founded by Ben Bulsink, Albert Vasse and Paul Arentz in 1992. They started with the production of digital chess clocks, which got official approval of the World Chess Federation FIDE. It proved to be a revolutionary step in the world of chess. Initially they worked from home. After several smaller locations the company moved to a 400m2 office at Hengelosestraat 298 in Enschede. The assortment rapidly extended with digital chess-boards, accessories and software. In 2007 the office became too small and DGT had to look for a new suitable location that was found at Hengelosestraat 66, at walking distance of the central bus and railway station.

Worldwide
DGT, based in Enschede The Netherlands has more than 300 agents worldwide. At nearly all chess tournaments in the world, from Mexico to Australia DGT clocks keep track of game time. Since 1994 the assortment has been considerably extended, and now consists of 4 digital clock models, complete chess boxes, digital chess boards, tournament software, chess sets and accessories.

DGT– Digital Game Technology
Hengelosestraat 66
7514 AJ Enschede, Holland
Phone: +31(0)53-4305195
E-mail: info@dgtprojects.com

Cheboygan hosts invitational chess tourney Saturday

2008-01-09T20:42:00.000+05:30

CHEBOYGAN - Chess players will have the chance to put their skills to the test on Saturday in the Cheboygan Area High School cafeteria during the ninth annual Cheboygan Invitational Chess Tournament.

The invitational will run from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. with each participant guaranteed to play in at least four games. There will be 16 prizes spread over four competition categories.

“This tournament is the primary fund-raiser for the Cheboygan High School chess team,” said Jess Miller, tournament organizer and CHS chess coach. “This raises the money that allows us to participate in the state tournament each year.”

The invitational tournament offers an opportunity to chess players of all ages by using age-based divisions including, adult, high school, middle school and upper elementary.

Miller said he expects another good turnout this year - as long and the weather cooperates.

“We usually have a good number of participants and I think that will be that case again this year,” he noted. “Our number of participants usually falls between 50 and 80, and I think that's pretty good considering the weather this time of year.”

To get the word out about the invitational, Miller said he put flyers up in several Northern Michigan towns and issued invites to many known chess players.

For the past 10 years the CHS chess team has been traveling downstate to participate in the state tourney and for six of those years they have returned with a trophy, said Miller.

Miller also emphasized the value of chess even when players are away from the chess board.

“This game really helps kids with their decision making and forces them to evaluate the consequences of their decisions,” he explained.

Registration is $12 until today, and will be $15 at the door, which includes their lunch.

For more information contact Jess Miller at 231-238-4492.

Mangalore student wins silver medal in Asian School Chess Championship

2008-01-09T20:39:00.000+05:30

Mangalore Jan 9: Nihal Manjunath student of Derik's Chess School has won the Silver medal in the Under 13 category in the Asian School Chess Championship organised by The Chess Federation of Sri Lanka from 3rd to 9th January 2008 at Kandy. Nihal Manjunath scored 6.5 points in 9 rounds and was placed Runner Up.

Nihal Manjunath was accompanied by his traner Deric Pinto at Kandy.

Nihal Manjunath is studying in 8th standard in Lourdes Central School, Mangalore and is son of Dr. Manjunath Shetty and Dr.Veena Manjunath.

It can be recalled that DCS students Ankitha R and Adith Jagadish had taken part in the Asian School Chess Championship in 2006 at Singapore and won laurels for India.

Taking on chess champs in India

2008-01-09T14:53:00.000+05:30

The shrewd moves and cool head of an eight-year-old Elstree boy have earned him a medal at an international chess championship in India.

Ravi Haria, of Deacons Hill Road, came home with a bronze medal after competing as part of the England squad sent by the English Chess Federation to compete in the Commonwealth Chess Championship in New Delhi.

The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School pupil started playing chess at the age of six when he was attending Lionsdale School in Barnet.

Ravi, who competed in December, said: "The other children were really good. We had to play chess every day and for two days we played two rounds, some of which were four hours long and we got really tired."

Ravi is a regular member of Barnet Knights Chess Club, at the Finchley and Borehamwood Chess Club.

Harikrishna crushes David Navara

2008-01-02T23:27:00.000+05:30

Reggio Emilia (Italy), (PTI): Grandmaster P Harikrishna got the better of David Navara's defence and tamed the Czech to leapfrog to the lead after the fourth round of the 50th Reggio Emilia Chess tournament here.

After his first round loss against Zoltan Almasi of Hungary, this was Harikrishna's second victory in the 10-player round robin event and the Indian now leads the tables along with Konstantin Landa of Russia, Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan and Almasi with 2.5 points each.

Dutch Grandmaster, Sergei Tiviakov, came back strongly in the event, making good use of the clock against Michele Godena of Italy to jump to joint fourth spot on two points along side Viktor Korchnoi of Switzerland, Chinese Ni Hua and Mihail Marin of Romania.

Languishing at the bottom are Godena and Navara, both of whom have just one point each with five rounds still remaining in this category-16 tournament.

In other fourth round games, Ni Hua held Viktor Korchnoi, Landa played out a draw with Almasi while Mihail Marin and Gashimov too signed truce.

In the fourth round, Harikrishna displayed originality once again and outwitted Navara.

Chess - Judit Polgar tops women's world rankings for 30th time

2008-01-02T23:14:00.000+05:30

Budapest, January 2 (MTI) - Hungarian grandmaster Judit Polgar continues to lead the women's world rankings, finishing at the top of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) list for the 30th time.

With 2707 Elo points, Polgar is placed 22nd in the men's global rankings. She is the first woman to surpass the 2,700-point mark, the lower limit for the category of men's super grandmasters.

Polgar has been the world's top female chess player since 1988.

Born in 1976, Judit is the youngest of the three chess-playing sisters, the Polgar sisters.

At the age of 13 she became the youngest ever international grandmaster in the world, breaking Bobby Fischer's record.

Along with her sisters Zsuzsa and Zsofia, and Ildiko Madl, she was a member of the Hungarian team that triumphed in the chess Olympics in Thessalonika in 1988, the first non-Soviet team to win the title. Hungary repeated that feat two years later in Novi Sad.

Chess Book: From London to Elista by Evgeny Bareev and Ilya Levitov

2008-01-02T23:10:00.000+05:30

The reviewer knew he was going to like this book when reading the following in the foreword: “the genuine World Champion, acknowledged by everyone, is the one who takes the title from the previous king in a one-on-one duel. Why is that? Because it just can’t be any other way in this game.” Exactly: no more needs to be said on the subject. The book is the behind-the scenes tale of Kramnik’s three world title matches as told by one of his chief seconds and supporters, Evgeny Bareev and PR man Ilya Levitov. Bareev tells the story in response to questions from Levitov in a sort of Socratic dialogue. Bareev, of course, has a reputation for dry humour and it is beautifully exemplified here, with extracts from the diary which Bareev kept during the course of Kramnik’s 2000 match victory over Kasparov. The first 170 pages of the book are on the London 2000 match and they are absolutely riveting. The candour with which Bareev (and others such as Lautier) tell the story, interspersed with annotations of all the games, is very engaging.

From the reviewer’s personal memory, the Kramnik camp in 2000 seemed very friendly and approachable in stark contrast to the Kasparov camp, but it is clear from the text that they were undergoing the tortures of the damned in private; not because of any animosity between the members of the team but because of the sheer weight of their workload as they sought to patch up the Berlin Wall as the world’s greatest ever player tried to smash it down. The end of the match was more a relief than a triumph – but with Kasparov defeated, they can now look back on that achievement as one of the greatest in chess history. There have been books before on all the sensational nonsense that goes on behind the scenes at various matches but it is rare for anybody to have taken the lid off the day-to-day work that seconds do and still rarer for them to have made it so interesting. It’s a bit like reading the military memoirs of Wellington’s staff as they describe how they helped their commander defeat Napoleon at Waterloo. But with more jokes.
The book could have ended happily at that point for this reviewer and be hailed as a masterpiece, but it continues with the 2004 Leko match. This was far from a triumph for Kramnik, as his health and form had subsided since the heady days of 2000. But the book is still very revealing as it tells how Kramnik’s seconds struggled to help the anxious shadow of the 2000 man to retain his crown.

he final 95 pages or so of the match are on the notorious match with Topalov in Elista in 2006. This time Bareev was looking at it from the outside as he was no longer one of Kramnik’s seconds. Though still entertaining and worth reading, it is less definitive and riveting than what goes before. It is not long before Topalov’s manager Silvio Danailov gets it in the neck: “Externally Danailov resembles a character from a Balkan film – the noisy Mafioso in garish clothes with a loud voice and bad manners,,, in life this scandalous man has become practically the most famous chess manager... and you can be certain that nothing and no-one will stop him from striving for the big money and power.” Topalov by contrast is judged to be “a shadow following his mentor” who has changed from being a pleasant and sociable teenager into somebody who is more hardened and cynical. However, though he’s prepared to be fairly harsh on Danailov (without giving much by way of examples), Bareev is initially fairer towards Topalov himself, batting aside any accusations of cheating that have been levelled against him. Later, however, Topalov is roundly damned for what is seen as his craven behaviour during the ‘toiletgate’ saga: “trusting Danailov with control over his whole life... Topalov destroyed himself as a personality,” says Levitov, to which Bareev adds in italics “there was never any personality”.

Overall this is an extremely good, if somewhat uneven, book. The dialogue format adds to the humour but is rather overdone. It is sometimes not easy to work out which of the two co-authors is talking. Perhaps it could have been better edited and is a bit longer than it needed to be. But it emphasises, as few books have done before, just how much hard work goes into opening preparation during world championship matches, and makes one realise that modern matchplay chess is actually team chess in which everyone participates but only one person moves the pieces on the board. After reading this, the book I want to read next is Yuri Dokhoian on Garry Kasparov. Review by John Saunders.

Courtesy @ http://www.bcmchess.co.uk/reviews/bcmrev0801.html

Best Chess Player 2007

2008-01-01T22:59:00.000+05:30

Hi readers,
As we r celebrating new year, letz decide who is the best chess player of 2007??

Canany 1 comment on these categories???

1.Best Chess Player (Men Section)
2.Best Chess Player (Female section)
3.Best Chess Player (Junior Section)
4.Best Chess Player (Gils Section)

KINDLY GIVE ME UR COMMENTS........Thanq readers....

Viswanathan Anand was voted DNA sportsperson of 2007

2008-01-01T19:51:00.001+05:30

A day after Viswanathan Anand was voted DNA sportsperson of 2007, the world chess champion says he wants to win the honour in 2008 again. Here is a tete-e-tete:

Q:You have been chosen DNA sportsperson ahead of players like MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Sania Mirza, Jeev Milkha Singh, Narain Karthikeyan...
A:It feels very nice to win a poll where people support you. I would like to thank your readers and wish them all the best in 2008.

Q:What is your chosen moment of Indian sport in 2007?
A:Winning Mexico.

Q:How do you look forward to 2008?
A:It will be a tough year. Some tournaments in the first half and the match with Vladimir Kramnik in the second half.

Q:It will be yet another World championship year. Your thoughts?
A:Yes. I will first concentrate on my events till March and then start work on Kramnik.

Q:Finally, any thing you think you need to conquer?
A:To win DNA sportsperson of the year in 2008 by winning in October would be nice.

chess puzzle

2008-01-01T19:47:00.001+05:30

Our chess puzzle this week sees Alexei Shirov on the wrong end of a super move. It's from Lukin - Shirov, Daugavpils 1989. White can gain a clear advantage by 1 hg, but instead Lukin played an even stronger move that forces a much greater advantage, can you spot it?

Sunday Fun : chess puzzle

2008-01-01T19:39:00.000+05:30

White to move and win.....

Chess puzzle video

2008-01-01T19:34:00.000+05:30

Move to host five-nation chess tournament in Kolkata

2008-01-01T19:21:00.000+05:30

Kolkata, Dec 31 (IANS): Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy and Kolkata Municipal Corporation could jointly hold the first four-continent Mayor's Invitational Chess Tournament in 2008.

Announcing this here Monday, Mayor Bikash Bhattacharya said, "A five-member team consisting of Grandmasters Dibyendu Barua, Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Sandipan Chanda, Atananu Lahiri and Saptarshi Roychowdhury has just won the Warsaw Invitational Mayor's Trophy, a meet held from Dec 11-13."

"This gave Dibyendu Barua the idea to hold the tournament here also that will feature the three teams that participated in Warsaw. He came to me with the idea and I found it interesting. He also presented the Corporation with the trophy they won," he said.

The teams are from Warsaw (Poland), Buenos Aries (Argentina) and Kolkata. In addition Barua would like to get two teams from Australia and Africa making it a five-nation affair.

Barua told IANS that his team won all their matches there and came back with Mayor's Trophy, a crystal cup exquisitely designed with a brass brocade of a mermaid. "We approached the Kolkata Municipal Corporation if a similar project could be organized here. Mayor Bhattacharya has been very responsive."

Bhattacharya said: "A proposal has been given to us. We will talk with the sports department on the matter and hopefully we will do something."

Barua said the cost for holding the invitational tournament would be around Rs 20 lakhs and so he needed government help. He sounded very positive with the kind of help promised by the Mayor.

Ganguly said: "The idea is to invite Melbourne or Sydney and Cairo if the tournament come through."

Courtesy @ http://www.kalingatimes.com

Asian team chess meet from Wednesday

2008-01-01T19:19:00.000+05:30

Sasikiran and Neelotpal Das will head the India-A and India-B men’s teams respectively for the 15th Asian Team Chess Championship-2007 to be held at Swarnabharati Indoor Stadium from Jan 2 to 10.

Dronavalli Harika and Swati Ghate will lead the Indian-A and India-B women’s teams respectively.

While 15 teams from seven countries are taking part in the event, Wang Yue from China holds the highest rating with 2,703. The winners of the men’s championship will qualify for the the World Team Chess Championship conducted by the World Chess Federation. The event will be organised by East Coast Chess Association, All Vizag District Chess Association and Andhra Pradesh Chess Association. State Bank of India, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation are the sponsors.

The video footage and images of these tournaments can be watched over the websites: www.vizagchess.net or www.apchess.net

Hastings Congress chess: Deep Sen Guptha lies joint second

2008-01-01T19:17:00.001+05:30

Hastings, Jan 1 - Saptarishi Roy Chowdhury and S. Satyapragyan scored facile wins, while Deep Sengupta played out a draw in the fourth round of the Hastings Congress chess tournament in this town in Britain.Deep drew with Farhad Tahirov of Azerbaijan Monday and moved to three points, which places him in the joint second place with 20 others.Mark Hebden of England's fourth round victory over compatriot Simon Williams made him the sole leader with 3.5 points.Saptarishi beat Vincent Heinis of France and Satyapragyan defeated Bernard Cafferty of England. Both are tied at 26th place with 2.5 points

Reggio Emilia chess: Hari Krishna settles for third round draw

2008-01-01T19:09:00.000+05:30

Reggio Emilia (Italy), Jan 1 - Indian Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna settled down with a steady draw against Chinese counterpart Ni Hua in the third round of the 50th edition of Reggio Emilia International Chess tournament here.Harikrishna, rated 2668, played a 30-move draw Monday with Ni Hua (2641) to take his tally to 1.5 points from three games.Harikrishna, who had lost the opening game to top seed Hungarian Zoltan Almasi (2691), is half a point behind the leading trio of Almasi, Landa Konstantin of Russia and Azerbaijani Grandmaster Vugar Gashimov (2664).In the other matches, Almasi drew with Sergei Tiviakov of Netherlands, while Viktor Korchnoi of Switzerland drew with Italian Michele Godena, Landa drew with Mihail Marin of Romania and in the only decision of the day David Navarra of Czech Republic beat Vugar Gashimov.

Chess Puzzles : White to Play and Mate in two

2008-01-01T08:02:00.000+05:30

Hi readers. Here is the another puzzlefor you....
White to play and mate in two....Nice to watch black pawn proceeded to a2....;)

Give me ur comments.....

Chess Puzzles : White to Play and Mate

2008-01-01T07:54:00.001+05:30

Happy New Year Reader....Here is a simple puzzle.... Try to solve it.... Give us ur comments...

Position : White: Nh5,Kf2 Black:Kh2,Ph3

Chess: Crafty Kamsky

2008-01-01T07:45:00.000+05:30

GKamsky vs. Shirov

ata Kamsky won the FIDE 2007 World Cup in December. This earned him the right to compete against Vesslin Topalov, Vladimir Kramnik, and Vishy Anand for the next world chess championship.

Kamsky emigrated to the United States from Russia as a teenager with his family. He was already a chess prodigy. In the mid-90s he was ranked third in the world and was a candidate for the world championship. Unexpectedly, he retired from professional chess and attended law school and then medical school. A few years ago he returned to professional chess.

In the World Cup finals Kamsky faced Alexi Shirov. This week’s position is the final position of game 2, which was the decisive match game. Kamsky, who is white, has just moved his knight from g5 to f7, checking black. Here, Shirov resigned. Please try and find out why before the reading the answer.

In chess notation, the board is a grid: the vertical columns are numbered “1” through “8;” the horizontal rows, “a” through “h.” Each square on the board is identified by a specific letter and number. For example, if the black rook at f6 were to move to c6 the notation would be rc6 (r=rook, q=queen, b=bishop, n=knight, x=takes, etc.).

Black must either capture the knight at f7 or move its king to h7. If the king moves to h7, white's rook at d8 captures the knight with the support of the rook at g1. White now threatens to move its g1 rook to g7, mating black. Black can only stop mate by losing several pieces, and hence the game.

Alternatively, black can take the knight with either its rook or bishop. Taking the knight with the rook results in mate after the d8 rook captures black's knight at g8 with check. After kh7, white plays nxf7, allowing the rooks to mate.

Black’s best move is taking the knight with its bishop. After bxf7, white’s remaining knight takes the bishop, checking black again. Black's rook then captures the knight. White’s rook at g1 now captures the black knight at g8, forcing the black king to retreat to h7.

From here, white’s advanced pawns work in tandem with the rooks to win. White's rook at g8 checks the king from h8, pushing the king over to g7. White’s d8 rook strikes by checking from g8. This pushes the king onto f6.

White continues checking black by advancing the e4 pawn to e5. After the king retreats to e7, white’s g8 rook slides over and checks black from e8. Once again the black king is forced to a specific square, namely d7. This sets up the final blow. The e5 pawn checks black from e6 and forks the king and rook.

Kamsky crafted a long, forced winning line. Such craftsmanship along with his victory at the World Cup show that Kamsky has regained his world championship form.

Courtesy @ http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/

Many chess events in 2008

2007-12-31T16:36:00.000+05:30

Happy New Year to all chess fans around the world! The team of Chessdom.com wishes you all the best in 2008, lot's of health, happiness, and wishes that come true. We also wish all active players reading Chessdom to rise their ELO with at least 100 points in 2008 :)

It may be New Year's Eve, but chess events are going all around the world. Besides, many tournaments start as soon as January 2nd. Here is a quick report on ongoing events and a preview of the first chess tournaments in 2008.

Francisco Vallejo Pons wins Ciudad de Pamplona

Francisco Vallejo Pons routinely drew with white against Wang Yue in the last round to claim clear first place at the Internacional Ciudad de Pamplona. Two wins at the start were good enough to keep him on the poll position. Combative Baadur Jobava and solid Wang Yue are tied on the 2nd place with four points each.

More info and replayable games

Morozevich wins the Russian Championship

Alexander Morozevich won the Russian Championship with 8,0/11, a full point ahead of the second Alexander Grischuk. Third place is for Tomashevsky with 6,5. Places 4-8 are shared by Inarkiev, Dreev, Jakovenko, Vitiugov, and Sakaev with 5,5/11. Svidler completed his fantastic end of 2008 with a poor score of 5,0/11 to take the ninth place. Amonatov is with 4,5,Rychagov is with 4, and Timofeev with 3,5.

In the women section there was a four way tie between Tairova, Korbut, T. Kosintseva, and Ovod with 7,0/11.

Hastings Chess Congress 2008

Three rounds have been played of the Hastings Chess Festival 2008. In the Masters tournament there are 13 players with 2,5/3 on top. These are Bindrich, Chatalbashev, Haslinger, V. Georgiev, Neverov, Flear, Hebden, Williams, Gormally, Conquest, Tahirov, Sengupta, and Pert. Many surprises with rating down to 1900 follow with 2,0/3. Most of the upsets happened in round 1, where the underdogs surprised all the top boards.

Hastings Chess round 1 report

Hastings Chess preview

Chess festival Groningen

Greek chess players conquered the Groningen chess festival. GM Stelios Halkias finished on top with 6,5, same points as his countrymate GM Mastrovasilis, but better tiebreak. Third, fourth, and fifth places are for GM Ernst and GM Adly with 6,5 points. Sixth place is for another Greek player, GM Banikas with 6,0.

January FIDE rating list

The January FIDE rating list has been released. Vladimir Kramnik is on top with 2799, the same points as the second Viswanathan Anand. However, Kramnik has played more games and this brings him the first place. Third is Veselin Topalov with 2780. Morozevich, Svidler, Mamedyarov, Shirov, Leko, Ivanchuk and Aronian complete the top 10. You can see all standings (men, women, juniors, and girls) at the FIDE rating report

January 2008 Chess Calendar

January 2008 is a month full of interesting chess events. Top picks for sure are Corus Chess Wijk aan Zee 2008 and Gibtelecom Chess festival. However many chess events start as soon as January 2 and will be full of quality chess players and interesting games

Australian Chess Championship 2008

The Australian Chess Championship will take place from the 2nd January 2008 to 11th January 2008. Entriesuntil now include GM Dejan Antic, IM Stephen Solomon, GM Darryl Johansen, IM George Xie, IM Gary Lane, FM Igor Goldenberg, IM Herman Van Riemsdijk, FM Igor Bjelobrk, FM Greg Canfell, FM Jesse Noel Sales, FM Douglas Hamilton, Tomek Rej, Vincent Suttor, etc.

Alongside the Australian Championship will be a number of other chess tournaments. These are the Australian Major (Under 2100), Australian Minor (Under 1600) and Australian Lightning Championship.

The Australian Championship, Major and Minor tournaments are all to be 11 rounds, with time control 90 minutes plus 30 seconds a move from the start.

Official website

25 Open Untergrombach

The 25th Open Untergrombach chess tournament will take place January 2-6 2008 in Germany. It will be a 7 round Swiss system with solid international field. The prize of the open is 3500 eur.

Official website

Memorial Salvatore Nobile

Accademia Scacchistica features several events in January 2008. They start with Memorial Salvatore Nobile with a nice prize of 18 bottles of top notch Italian wine for the winner. It is a 7 rounds event fron January 10 to January 21. Besides, the club organizes two blitz tournaments, on January 5th and January 19th.

Official website

Prague Open 2008

The Prague Open 2008 will take place 11.-18.1. 2008 in Prague, Czech Republic. It is a part of the Czech tour series and is a Swiss system of 9 rounds, 2 x 1,5h + 30s/move. Until now 100+ players have registered. Top rated is IM Nikolay Ninov (ELO 2518), followed by IM Vigen Mirumian, GM Evgeni Sveshnikov, GM Viesturs Meijers, IM Spas Kozhuharov, GM Mikhail Ivanov, IM Peter Vavrak, GM Eduard Meduna, etc.

Official website

Courtesy @ www.chessdom.com

UT Dallas Keeps Grip on Pan-American Chess Title

2007-12-31T16:33:00.000+05:30

The UT Dallas “A” team reeled off five consecutive match victories, hesitating only in the final round when it played to a draw, to clinch first place in the 2007 Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship.

The victory in Miami Sunday, after six rounds of play over four days, means UT Dallas will keep the title it won in last year's competition.

Known as the “World Series of College Chess,” the Pan American championship is the most prestigious tournament of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.

UT Dallas chess coach Rade Milovanovic said the turning point was the fifth-round match between the A teams of UT Dallas and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). The two teams – with two grandmasters each – were the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the tournament.


Salvijus Bercys

“The match was even until our board 4, freshman Salvijus Bercys, finally won, and that gave us a victory of 2.5-1.5,” Milovanovic said.

“Sal was winning, but his clock got down to 18 seconds at one point,” said Jim Stallings, director of the UT Dallas chess program. “The entire championship was riding on one last play. You scored and won the game; or you lost everything.”

“The time scramble had a large crowd silently frozen as they watched,” Stallings said.

UTD’s B team racked up scores of 4.5-1.5 to finish in a three-way tie for second place with teams from UMBC and New York University.

The tournament, held this year at the Miami Dade College campus, is more than 60 years old. About 150 players on 28 teams from colleges in the U.S., Canada and the West Indies took part in the event.


Wearing UT Dallas' green competition shirts, the all-woman "C" team won the tournament's Division IV title.

Stallings praised UT Dallas' new “C” team, which won the all-female award and the Division IV title. “The C team’s performance, matching veteran teams such as Stanford and Dartmouth, was outstanding and reflects a great deal of hard work in preparing,” he said.

This is the sixth time UT Dallas has won or tied for first in the Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Team Championship. UT Dallas, UMBC, NYU and Miami Dade now qualify to play in the Final Four in April.

UT Dallas and UMBC have emerged as the two best college chess teams in the nation. One or the other has won the Pan Am eight years in a row.

In the Final Four of Chess, another major annual college chess competition, no team other than UT Dallas and UMBC has won the event in its six-year history.

FEU Team A, Nava, Palomo sweep Asean varsity chess

2007-12-31T16:31:00.000+05:30

MANILA, Philippines -- FIDE Master Roderick Nava and Jenny Rose Palomo swept the individual titles while leading Far Eastern University Team A to the championship in the recent 12th Rakan Muda GACC (Grand Asean Chess Challenge) World Inter-Varsity Chess Championships at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur.

Final standings:
27.5 points -- FEU Team A (RP); 25.5 -- National Univ. of Singapore (SIN), FEU Team B (RP); 24.0 -- Univ. of Colombo Team A (SRI); 23.0 -- Univ. of Malaya, Team A (MAL); 22.5 -- PTVA (IND); 22.0 -- Nanyang Tech. Univ. Team A (SIN); 21.5 -- Azad Islamic Univ. (IRN); 20.0 -- Univ. of Malaya, Team B (MAL), Univ. Pendidikan Sultan Idris Team A (MAL), Univ. Islam Antarabangsa Team A (MAL).

Nava, a member of the national training pool, split the point with International Master Shojaat Gharehgardeh of Iran’s Azad Islamic University to top the men’s division.

Palomo settled for a draw with compatriot Ronna Reigner Senora of FEU Team B to rule the women’s side.

Nava and Palomo wound up with seven wins, a loss and a draw each for 7.5 points. They won 1,000 ringgit (P12,000) and a gold medal each.

FEU Team A, which also had Luffe Magdalaga and John Ranel Morazo, amassed 27.5 combined points to pocket the team title and the top purse of 2,000 ringgit.

Nava’s only loss was dealt by fellow FIDE Master Hong Nguyen Ly of Singapore in the fourth round while Palomo bowed to Dawn Hui Sau Mun of NTA in the opening round.

Courtesy @ http://sports.inquirer.net

chess Technique

2007-12-31T09:19:00.000+05:30

Look at this video for chess tchnique

Chess improvement v Chess enjoyment

2007-12-31T09:15:00.000+05:30

Are chess improvement and chess enjoyment mutually exclusive? Improving one's ability at any game of skill takes dedication, study, practice and application. Where's the fun in that? I'm half joking here of course - I recognize that if I enjoy chess (which I do) then learning to play it better should also be enjoyable and motivation shouldn't be a problem.

So why is it a problem?

I believe that improving your chess ability requires much harder work than most patzers (myself included) realise, and are prepared to undertake. I don't think I'm lazy (not more than average, anyway) and I'm prepared to work hard at something if I feel it is worthwhile. The question is - is studying chess worthwhile? It is after all just a game - a beautiful, beguiling, compelling frustrating, uplifting game. Life is short and chess study takes a lot of time.

If the aim of life is to be happy, is there really any point in spending so much time on a game which can produce as much frustration and disappointment as happiness?

It may sound like I'm writing this on the back of a bad loss, but I'm on a winning streak at the moment (I'm playing correspondence games at chess.com). No, this post has been prompted by the impending new year and thoughts of resolutions.

I've decided not to make any resolutions, about chess or anything else. I will continue to try to balance enjoyment and study of chess in my leisure time and hope to end 2008 understanding chess a bit better than I do now.

My blogging friend Dan Scoones has suggested I finish reading 'The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played' by Chernev (one of the many books I haven't finished). So that's what I'm going to do - and continue playing as much as possible - given the time available!

Courtesy @ http://sonofpearl.blogspot.com

Chess And BOXING

2007-12-31T09:12:00.000+05:30

Look and enjoy the video :

Maker of the best moves

2007-12-31T09:05:00.001+05:30

Winning the World championship in Mexico ahead of Russia's Vladimir Kramnik has been a crowning glory in chess wizard V Anand's career. But that's not the only qualification for being Times Sport's Sportsperson of the Year.

It has been a stunning year for the 38-year-old. After an utterly forgettable Olympiad last year, Anand has bounced back in superb fashion. He began by winning the Wimbledon of chess - Linares. The Super GM event is not known for strawberry and cream but for the creamy layer of players it provides on the chess board. That performance took Anand to World No 1 for the first time in his career.

This was followed by superb wins over former World champion Veselin Topalov and the ever-improving Levon Aronian in Leon and Mainz, respectively. And then an unbeaten run in Mexico which gave him the undisputed World title.

Along the way, he didn't forget the contributions made by National champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Sandipan Chanda and V Saravanan in his preparation. That adds to his greatness because he understands unsung heroes and significance of small contributions.

With the advent of internet, chess is now a game for youngsters. So, what makes Anand tick after all these years - nearly two decades at top-level competition? It's his adaptability to various formats, his feel for the game, the great mix of a genius and hard worker in him and his endeavour to enjoy the struggle and ambition of finding ideas to succeed.

An achievement in the game of chess, which will remain a non-spectator sport, should get a bit more weightage for a variety of reasons.

First of all, in an individual sport there is no place to hide. Moreover, a great performance is not possible in a losing cause. Then, the luck element is at its minimum. In all super tournaments, chess players get equal number of blacks and whites. So advantage of the toss is thrown out of the window. Weather, playing surface, umpiring decisions don't influence the game of chess.

One mistake costs you a game in this 64-square sport. The chance to regroup and comeback is minimum because one game is one process (not a series of the same process like tennis, cricket or other sports).

In other words, no bluff (positive body language and aura) will give you results in chess as this is a complete knowledge sport where the emphasis is more on chess pieces than physical action of the players. The intent and results in other sports can vary. Being a square-specific sport, intent matches with results for almost 100 per cent.

The most demanding aspect of other sports is that you have to take the decision in split second (for example, whether to race the car in the same gear, whether to make bowling changes). The classical variety of chess (three and a half hours per player) don't force you to take split decisions. Rather it encourages you to give off your best. A player can take his own good time, study the position deeply, before making his move.

Anand has found the best possible moves for the large part of year. And that makes him, simply put, a cut above the rest.

The next year would start with a bit of bad news for Anand. For, Kramnik is likely to grab the World No 1 spot in the latest rankings on New Year's Day. But Anand will get plenty of chances to set the record straight when he meets the Russian at Wijk aan Zee and the World Championship return match in Bonn, Germany, this November.

And if Anand manages to retain his title, it would need a miracle to stop him from becoming Times Sport's Sportsperson of the Year for the second year in a row.

Courtesy - indiatimes.com @
http://sports.indiatimes.com/Sections/2007_The_Year_of_Young_Turks/Maker_of_the_best_moves/articleshow/2663093.cms

INDIA - Year End Chess 2007 profile

2007-12-30T12:58:00.001+05:30

Mixed bag For Indian Chess

Even as Viswanathan Anand continued to strive harder to take his game to the next level, most of the other Indian names did not have a great year.

Twenty years ago, a teenager by the name of Viswanathan Anand redefined excellence for Indian chess players. He combined speed with skill, imaginative ideas with intuition and reeled off results that did not go unnoticed by some of the best brains in the game. With the passage of time, his phenomenally consistent performances put him among the elite of this cerebral sport. His tireless work paid off this year and realised two of his long cherished goals. He captured the Wo rld number spot in April and went on to regain the World title, which he won in 2000.

Seldom has an individual made such a lasting impact on the future of any sporting discipline in India. His talent apart, what caught the nation’s imagination was his pleasing ways. His smile, wit and the ability to simplify the complexities of the game made him an instant hit. From becoming the World junior champion in August 1987 to becoming the game’s latest World Champion in September 2007, Anand has contributed more than any other Indian sportsperson for his or her chosen discipline.

He became the country’s first Grandmaster in December 1987 and since then only 16 more have joined the list, including two in the last two months. Interestingly, the last three Grandmasters — Parimarjan Negi, G. N. Gopal and Abhijeet Gupta — were born after Anand founded the country’s ‘GM Club’.

“I don’t want to leave behind some kind of legacy. I don’t think about it. I still have some more chess left in me,” is the reply from Anand when one touches the subject of his contribution to Indian chess or how he would like to be remembered. Indeed, Anand has kept his sights firmly on his goals and achieved them like few others in the world of sports. Delightfully, he has not finished yet.

Anand did have a glorious year during which he added the prestigious Moralia-Linares title in March and the rapid title in Monaco. He went on to retain rapid titles at Leon and Mainz. He has won the Chess Classic title 10 times including all the seven occasions since the event moved from Frankfurt to Mainz. In November, Anand braved indifferent health to finish runner-up to champion Vassily Ivanchuk in the World blitz championship in Moscow. Interestingly, Ivanchuk was considered the favourite when Anand won the world junior title in 1987. What more, Anand and Ivanchuk finished the year 2007 as the top two ranked players in the game. Surely, the duo, along with World Cup champion Gata Kamsky, showed that experience still was a handy weapon against the exuberance of youth.

Even as Anand continued to strive harder to take his game to the next level, most of the other Indian names did not have a great year. K. Sasikiran had his moments in the premier Mtel Masters where he let go of a golden opportunity to win the title ahead of the eventual winner, the 2005 World Champion, Veselin Topalov. Again, in the World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk, in Russia, Sasikiran moved to the last-16 stage. He did pick up three gold medals from the Asian Indoor Games where the Indians gave an impressive performance.

Surya Shekhar Ganguly won the Asian zonal title where the Indian entries formed a major part of the field. Otherwise, it wasn’t a happy year for Ganguly who again failed to breach the 2600-point mark. For P. Hari Krishna, it was a forgettable year during which he could take heart from his third place finish in the Montreal International. Even the Arjuna Award did not please him much since it came a wee bit late considering his consistent showings in the past years. His Andhra-mate K. Humpy did well to win two back-to-back events in the middle of the year and went on to cross the 2600-point mark in ratings. She also added an individual blitz gold from Macau.

Another Andhra girl, D. Harika won the Asian zonal title, collected five medals, including two gold, in Macau and went on to retain her Commonwealth title. R. B. Ramesh became the Commonwealth champion as the Indians expectedly dominated the event in New Delhi. Earlier in the year, S. Vijayalakshmi attained her third and final GM norm on way to the Curto Open title.

One of the finest moments for Indian chess this year came when National champion Tania Sachdev won the Asian ladies title in Teheran. Since she had picked up a GM norm earlier in the year, she was eligible to become an International Master from the 20-game IM norm that came her way on winning the Asian title. What more, she returned from Macau and retained her National title before picking up the silver medal for the ladies in the Commonwealth championship.

Among the men, Abhijit Kunte came third in the Asian championship while Gopal finished in the top-10 to qualify for the World Cup. Gopal gave an excellent account of himself by holding the former World champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov four times before surrendering in the blitz games in the World Cup opener.

Usually, the Indian age-group challenge is considered a formidable one at the World and Asian levels. The trend continued this year but not in the same way as last year. Ivana Furtado retained her World under-8 title but the Indians failed to hold on to four other world titles won in 2006. B. Adhiban won the Asian under-16 title to become the nation’s youngest International Master in July. The Indian boys claimed the World Youth (under-16) Olympiad in Singapore where leading nations like Russia, Armenia, Ukraine and China were missing from the line-up. In the Asian youth championship, India won 10 medals including five titles. The winners were Ivana Furtado (girls’ under-8), G. V. Revanth Reddy (boys’ under-8), Shardul Gagare (boys’ under-10), B. Pratyusha (girls’ under-10) and Priyanka Kumari (girls’ under-12).

Looking back, Anand and Ivana ended the year as world champions at the highest and the youngest levels of the game. The number of GMs increased but most members of this select group failed to show much motivation to move to the next level. The youngsters looked good but unless there is organised coaching in place in the country, they will not be able to reach their goals. With Anand atop the world rankings, it remains to be seen how the All India Chess Federation manages to bring in the much needed corporate patronage for the game in the country. Sadly, the Indians got only two norm-making opportunities this year in New Delhi. The need of the hour is to provide systematic and quality training for the talented youngsters besides many more opportunities at home to attain norms leading to the GM, IM, Woman GM and Woman IM titles.

Most chess champions in India remain products of the sacrifices made by their parents and individual coaches. Sadly, in that respect, not much has changed since Anand put India on the world chess map 20 years ago.

Courtesy Hindu @ http://www.sportstaronnet.com/stories/20071229500600700.htm

FIDE RATINGS: Kramnik, Anand Tie for Top Spot in Jan 2008

2007-12-30T08:37:00.001+05:30

Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik caught up with World Champion Viswanathan Anand to tie for the top position both with ratings of 2799 in the January 2008 FIDE Rating List. In the juniors, Magnus Carlsen edged out Sergey Karjakin for the top spot.

See calculations of Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand, and of Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin.

The tie between Anand and Kramnik is a precursor to their exciting World Championship Match this October in Bonn, Germany.

Another interesting points in FIDE rating list jan 2008 are

Alexei Shirov gained 16 points to move from 10th to 7th;
Magnus Carlsen gained 19 points to move from 16 to place 13;
Sergey Karjakin gained 38 points to move from 24 to 14;
Gata Kamsky gained 12 to move from 17 to 15;
Ivan Cheparinov gained 43 (!) to move from place 42 to place 19.

Fide rankings : http://www.fide.com/ratings/toplist.phtml

Courtesy: Fide Article @ http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=1556