Snowdrops and United Coal Chess Match 2010-Youngsters take lead after first round

Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010

Hello Everyone,

From November 20-27 a quaintly-named traditional chess tournament is taking place in Hotel Villa Butterfly in Marianske Lazne in Czechoslovakia. The Prague Chess Society organises this Snowdrops (young women) vs Veterans Chess event between a team of senior and young chess players.

This year, Grandmasters Lajos Portisch, Dragoljub Velimirovic, Wolfgang Uhlmann and Vlastimil Hort are competing against the young team of Humpy Koneru, Viktorija Cmilyte, Arianne Caoili and Tereza Olšarová.

The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 minutes to the end of the game with a 30 second increment for each move.

The first round results saw Humpy beat Uhlmann, Cmilyte 1-0 Velimirovic, Caoili split the point with Hort and Olšarová draw with Portisch.

Here is a nice game played by Koneru Humpy. You can play the moves in our pgnplayer or watch in flash below.

PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 c5 4. Nf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Bg2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. Nc3 Ng4 9. e3 d6 10. b3 Bd7 11. Bb2 Nxd4 12. exd4 Rb8 13. Re1 Re8 14. Qd2 Qa5 15. h3 Nf6 16. Rad1 b5 17. Nxb5 Qxd2 18. Rxd2 Bxb5 19. cxb5 d5 20. a4 a6 21. Bf1 Ne4 22. Rc2 axb5 23. Bxb5 Red8 24. Re3 e6 25. g4 Rb6 26. Be2 Ra8 27. Kg2 Bf8 28. f3 Nd6 29. Rec3 Rab8 30. a5 Rxb3 31. Rxb3 Rxb3 32. a6 Rb8 33. Bc1 Ra8 34. Bf4 Nc4 35. Bxc4 dxc4 36. Rxc4 Rxa6 37. Rc8 Kg7 38. Be5+ f6 39. Rc7+ Kg8 40. Bxf6 Ra2+ 41. Kf1 h6 42. Be5 g5 43. Rd7 Rc2 44. Ra7 Rb2 45. Rd7 Ra2 46. Bf6 Ra1+ 47. Kf2 Ra2+ 48. Ke3 Ra3+ 49. Ke4 Ra1 50. h4 gxh4 51. Bxh4 Bg7 52. Bg3 Bf6 53. Be5 Re1+ 54. Kf4 Bh4 55. Rg7+ Kf8 56. Rg6 Bg5+ 57. Kg3 Kf7 58. Rg7+ Kf8 59. Rh7 Be3 60. f4 Rd1 61. Rxh6 Ke7 62. Rh7+ Ke8 63. Kf3 Bxd4 64. Ke2 Bxe5 65. Kxd1 Bxf4 66. Ke2 Kf8 67. Kf3 Bg5 68. Ke4 Kg8 69. Rb7 Bf6 70. Kf4 Kf8 71. g5 Bc3 72. Kg4 Bd4 73. Kh5 Bc3 74. Kg6 1-0

Oh! And, here's a nice video of the Hotel Villa Butterfly. The music is soothing. Guess chess would be balm for the soul in such a picturesque city and hotel.

And, a video of the musical fountain in Marianske Lazne.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com