Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
What a beautiful concept for a chess exhibition!
Titled 'Moving pieces' the special exhibition coincides with the Bilbao Chess Grand Slam Masters celebrations. The first leg is taking place in Sao Paulo but come October 6 and the event moves to Bilbao Spain. That's where - from October 6 to 11 - metro commuters can catch this exhibition. The display includes 12 large panels of 2.31 meters by 1.30 meters beginning from the metro station at Indautxu leading to Urquijo and Ercilla.
The exhibition covers the evolution of the tournament since 1999-when it was originally a modest competition organised by a group of chess enthusiasts until 2010, when it became definitely one of the chess events of year worldwide. The exhibition Club Deportivo de Bilbao E4 into the Grand Slam Final in 2008 and strengthen its further expansion and international franchise up to Shanghai in 2010.
In the 36 photographs that make up the exhibition portrayed are the chess match between Veselin Topalov and Judit Polgar, the historic battle between world champion Viswanathan Anand and the first player in the world rankings, Magnus Carlsen (duel that will occur again in this fourth edition), or the visit of legendary former world champion Anatoly Karpov and Boris Spassky and more.
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
Continuing our series of cool and funny chess videos, here's another sent to us on twitter accounts of @kosteniuk and @chessqueen.
This chess clip appears in "Jerry Robinson Crusoe" (Season 3, Episode 13) from The Bob Newhart Show (12/7/1974).
The Bob Newhart Show is an American situation comedy produced by MTM Enterprises, which aired 142 original episodes on CBS from September 16, 1972, to April 1, 1978. Comedian Bob Newhart portrayed a psychologist having to deal with his patients and fellow office workers. The show was filmed before a live audience.
Don't forget to send us your favourite chess videos.
37th Guernsey International Chess Festival from Oct 16
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
The chess news about upcoming tournaments from Fide is that the 37th Guernsey International Chess Festival will be held from October 16-22 at the Peninsula Hotel, Guernsey. The highest placed eligible player in the Open tournament will receive entry straight into the British Chess Championship 2012.
The Open Tournament – Sponsored by Intertrust Guernsey
A Seven Round, FIDE rated, Swiss Competition, open to players of any grade Time limit: 40 moves in 100 minutes and then 40 minutes to finish with a 30 second increment per move from move 1 Entry fee: £40 (includes prize-giving dinner: juniors £30 entry fee) Main Prizes: £1,200 : £600 : £300 : £200 : £150
Currently top rated players are GM Sulskis Sarunas (Lithuania 2577), GM Pert Nick (England 2557), GM Hillarp-Persson Tiger (Sweden 2535) and GM Hebden Mark (England 2506).
The Holiday Tournament – Sponsored by the Peninsula Hotel
A Seven Round, Swiss Competition (with a bye possible in any of the first four rounds) open to players graded bellow 1800 FIDE (150 ECF) FIDE rated players with a FIDE rating above 1800 may enter as long as they can demonstrate their national grade is below the required cut-off. This rule is applied at the organisers’ discretion. Time limit: 40 moves in 2 hours and then 1 hour to finish Entry fee: £40 (includes prize-giving dinner: juniors £30 entry fee) Main Prizes: £400 : £200 : £100 : £75
Peninsula Hotel Guernsey
Rounds 1 – 6 commence at 2.00 pm each day. The final round commences at 9.30 am on Saturday. New ECF grades and ECF / Elo conversion formula are being used. All games will be ECF graded. The default time will continue to be one hour
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
The chess news about tournaments from www.chessdom.com is about an interesting tournament that was held with a modified Swiss system over eight rounds!
The Västerås Open 2011 took place on 23rd-25th September at the Växhuset, Viktor Larssons plats, in Västerås, Sweden. The tournament was held under the 8-rounds modified Swiss system. First four games were played on Friday with the rapid time control of 20 minutes per player. The remaining four rounds were played at the regular 90min + 30sec time control and submitted for FIDE rating. Top five prizes were 1100 EUR, 660 EUR, 440 EUR, 220 EUR and 110 EUR, respectively.
Latvian Grandmaster Normunds Miezes conceded only one draw in the course of the tournament and took a clear first place with 7.5 points. Local GM Lars Karlsson is second with 7 points. 225 players participated, full standings bellow.
Final top-10 standings:1. GM Miezis Normunds 2534 – 7.5 2. GM Karlsson Lars 2485 – 7 3. FM Westerberg Jonathan 2318 – 6.5 4. IM Blomqvist Erik 2469 – 6.5 5. GM Åkesson Ralf 2421 – 6.5 6. GM Brynell Stellan 2491 – 6.5 7. Krantz Christopher 2248 – 6.5 8. Nygren Kim 2224 – 6.5 9. Isetoft Bengt-Ola 0 – 6 10. Henriksson Johan 2289 – 6
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
The Singapore Chess Federation is celebrating their 50th anniversary with a host of events this December. Good news for all chess lovers in the region. Here is the chess news about the various events from Fide.
8th Singapore International Chess Festival 2011
In the frameworks of the 8th Singapore International Chess Festival 2011 the following events are going to be organised:
1. The 2nd ASEAN Chess Championships 2011 - Campomanes Cup 2. The 2nd Singapore International Youth Championships 2011 - Under-8, Under-11, Under-14, Under-17 (Open and Girls) 3. Singapore Open 2011 4. FIDE Arbiters' Seminar 5. FIDE Trainers' Seminar
Top chess interview: Why Grischuk likes the knockout format over round-robins!
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
We would like to share excerpts from Alexander Grischuk's interview with the Russian Chess Federation website. As you would remember, he recently made it to the finals of the World Chess Cup which was eventually won by Russian compatriot Peter Svidler. Enjoy. He gave this interview to Maria Fominykh. You can also find a nice translation in English at the website WhyChess.org.
Q. Do you compare your success in Khanty-Mansiysk with other performances till this point in your career? A. You can, of course. I attribute this to the World Cup among my biggest successes. It can be compared with the semi-finals of the FIDE World Championships in India in 2000, winning Linares, winning the World Blitz Championship.
Q. Did you like the format of the World Cup? A. Yes, I love the knockout. The extra rest days after the second and fourth rounds would be good. In round-robin tournaments you sometimes lose any chance of finishing in a top position, and the end of the tournament turns into torture. But here you’re always fighting to win.
Q. The finals were held separately in 2002. What do you think such a system? You were quite tired by the end. A. Fatigue, of course. But in 2002, it was the World Championship. If we added two more extra rest days, like I said, it would be easy on the players. By the way, I was most tired before the match with Navara than the final.
Q. The match with Vladimir Potkin took all your energy? A. Yes, I prepared right up till breakfast which started at our hotel at 6 am and then went to sleep.
Q.And what went wrong in the final? You played too sharply in the first game? A.No, in the first game we got a position where you had to play aggressively. In general, as in the match against Potkin, I was too relaxed before the first game. It’s very hard for me to play against friends. In the final I had chances to win in the third and fourth games, but not super realistic ones. It wasn’t a case of needing to make a few accurate moves and I’d have won.
Q.Do you think Peter was in mega-form? A.Yes, unquestionably. He played better than everyone at the World Cup.
Grand Slam Chess Masters R3: Anand loses to Ivanchuk, Carlsen loses to Vallejo; Ivanchuk leads
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
There was thunder and lightning in the third round at the Grand Slam Chess Masters in Sao Paulo as Viswanathan Anand lost to Vassily Ivanchuk and Magnus Carlsen lost to Francisco Vallejo. Hikaru Makamura and Levon Aronian decided to draw their game.
You can access the official website at this link and enjoy the games in the special game player below.
Grand Slam Masters Final 2011 | Round 3 Standings (football)
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
What is chess? So much that we cannot define it. It's not just a game. We have a very nice video advert from the Chess Institute of Canada. Works for everyone.
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
A chess news press release says the Hungarian Women's Chess Championship 2012 has begun. It is taking place from September 26 to october 5 at the Hunguest Hotel Forrás in Szeged.
Live games can be followed every day from 15:00 CET at the official website. Ten players compete in the round robin tournament. WGM Anna Rudolf is the defending champion.
List of participants:
Gara Tícia WGM 2375 Rudolf Anna WGM 2359 Gara Anita IM 2340 Schneider Veronika WGM 2297 Papp Petra WIM 2256 Tóth Lili Dr WIM 2216 Domány Zsófia WIM 2215 Dudás Eszter WFM 2212 Göczõ Melinda WIM 2204 Varga Melinda 2139
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
The chess news from Fide is that a match on 100 boards with MSU (Moscow State University) against RSSU (Russian State Social University) was played in the main library of the Moscow State University. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov delivered a welcome speech before the match. Mr. Vasily Zhukov, Rector of the Russian State Sosial University and President of Moscow chess federation and Mr. Alexey Reymers, MSU Vice Rector were also present at the match.
Grand Slam Chess Masters Final Sao Paulo R2: Ivanchuk beats Vallejo, others draw
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
We had one decisive game in the second round - like in the first - at the Grand Slam Chess Maters Final in Sao Paulo. There was fighting chess all around though. Magnus Carlsen-Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura-Viswanathan Anand were drawn but Vassily Ivanchuk beat Francisco Vallejo. You can access the official website for more info.
Here are the games. Use the pop-down menu to check the games.
Grand Slam Masters Final 2011 | Round 2 Standings (football)
European Chess Club Cup: Big matches coming up after quiet first two rounds
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
We have a nice report from www.chessvibes.com for the European Chess Club Cup championships in the open and women's sections. Only two rounds have taken place so far and big clashes are still to come.
Legendary Viktor Korchnoi at the event for Zurich team.
After two rounds at the European Club Cup in Slovenia the strongest teams haven't faced each other yet. In the men's section the favourites haven't dropped points so far, but the reigning champions in the women's tournament surprisingly lost in the first round. Teams consist of six players with the first team prize in the men's section being €12,400 and in the women's €4,000.
We have some great names playing in Slovenia, such as Ponomariov, Grischuk, Radjabov, Gelfand, Mamedyarov, Svidler, Adams, Wang Hao, Vitiugov, Moiseenko, Giri and Nepomniachtchi. The legendary Viktor Korchnoi plays on board 2 for the Zurich team, behind Yannick Pelletier.
The first rounds of a team tournament are usually not too interesting and this year's European Club Cup is not an exception. With no less than 62 teams in the men's section, obviously the Swiss system resulted in strong teams facing much weaker teams. There were lots of 6-0's, 5½-½'s and 5-1's in both the first and the second round! The big exception was the 1.5-2.5 loss of reigning champ Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo against Giprorechtrans on the first day.
Play chess like GM Peter Svidler - all games from World Cup of Chess 2011
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
Want to play chess like Peter Svidler? Check out all these games played by the Russian champion at the World Cup of Chess that concluded recently in Khanty-Mansiysk. A lot of 21 games for you to enjoy and learn from!
First Arab Elite Chess Championship begins in Dubai
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
The Arab world is beginning to hold chess tournaments and it is heartening to see chess spread peace and joy in more parts of the world. So here is the chess news from Fide that the first ever Arab Elite Chess Championship has begun in Dubai. Dubai has fast developed as a beautiful chess centre in the region.
The 1st Arab Elite Chess Championship started at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club in Dubai, UAE. Fourteen players from as many countries are vyiing for the Kirsan Ilyumzhinov Cup and $20,000 in cash prizes. Visit the Dubai Chess Club official site in Arabic or English to watch online games. See results and standings in chess-results.com of the Swiss system tournament.
In photo above, FIDE General Secretary Ignatius Leong (in suit) and UAE Chess Federation president Sheikh Saud Bin Abdulaziz Al Mualla start the clock on top board. Looking on are, from left, Abdul Mohsen Al Dasari, Assistant General Secretary of Youth and Sports, Dr. Ahmad Sharif, General Secretary of the Dubai Sports Council, and Arab Chess Federation president Ibrahim Al Bannai, also president of the Dubai Chess Club.
The starting list includes three grandmasters (GMAdly AhmedEGY 2605, GM Al-Modiahki Mohamad QAT 2564, GM Salem A R Saleh UAE 2489) and four International Masters. Good promotion for chess in the region.
Your chess class this Tuesday: White to play and win
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
Your Wednesday chess class is here. Simple enough - White to play and win. You can run the solution in the gameplayer. Stay focused and look for a plan - as we always say - before getting down to the brass tacks of sheer calculations.
This puzzle was sent in by www.chessblog.com friend swakilki via our twitter @kosteniuk and @chessqueen. Do send us your favourite chess puzzles too.
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
Here's a funny advertisement video with chess in it. Works great for our series of special videos from around the world. And, works well to make us smile this Sunday.
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Best chess wishes to you! Alexandra Kosteniuk
12th Women's World Chess Champion
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