Weekend edition 10-11 March
Kotsur clear winner of Geller Memorial
Moscow, Russia - Second seeded GM Pavel Kotsur of Kazakhstan managed to outdistance 187 entrants and 21 grandmasterly colleagues to take the first leg of the gruelling Russian Cup. He was the only one of the four leaders who managed to win, overcoming veteran GM and third seed Yuri Balashov with the black pieces to finish on a very fine 7½/9.
The second stage has already begun (March 10!), in Tula.
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Star-studded field in National Open
Las Vegas, USA - This traditional top American open tournament must be enjoying a golden edition this year. Not only have the players from the recently concluded Charles Linklater Memorial in San Francisco made the trip, but also the entire Chinese squad in the USA to play a summit match in Seattle next week. This includes the youngest GM in the world, 15-year-old Xiangzhi Bu.
After two rounds the 253-player field has hardly been whittled down, and the most newsworthy tidbits are those players who have not managed to make it so far with a perfect score (life in big Swiss Opens is tough).
Nicked with draws and lying on 1½/2 are well-known GMs Jiangchuan Ye, (CHN), Igor Novikov (UKR) and Alex Yermolinsky (USA). The biggest surprise so far is the 50% score of China's ace Jun Xu, rated 2655 by FIDE. Xu was upended by IM Nikolai Andrianov in the second round.
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Vets know best in Pinamar
Buenos Aires, Argentina - The second round of this invitational was extremely peaceful, with only one game ending in a decision. This was the textbook win of Great Dane Bent Larsen who moved up to +1, joining colleagues Oscar Panno, Ulf Andersson, Carlos Garcia Palermos, and Alejandro Hoffman.
When Larsen was the top Western player in the world he was noted for his originality and wonderful endgame technique. In this game, he only needed to show that the finishing touch is still in good order.
 B. Roselli Mailhe (2400) - B. Larsen (2500)
1st Masters Pinamar ARG (2)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Nb3 d6 7.Be2 Nf6 8.0-0 0-0 9.Bg5 Be6 10.Kh1 Rc8 11.f4 a6 12.Rb1 Na5 13.e5? This weakening of the white pawn structure proves to be fatal. 13...Nxb3 14.axb3 dxe5 15.fxe5 Nd7 16.Bf3 b6 17.Bd5 Nxe5 18.Bxe6 Qxd1 19.Rbxd1 fxe6 20.Bxe7 Rxf1+ 21.Rxf1 [see diagram] Black now makes use of the thematic Sicilian pressure on the c-file to win a pawn. 21...Nc6 22.Bh4?! Nd4 23.Rf2 b5 24.b4 Rc4 25.Be7 Nc6 26.Bd6 Nxb4 27.b3 Rc6 28.Bxb4 Bxc3 29.Bxc3 Rxc3 30.Kg1 a5 31.Kf1 a4 32.bxa4 bxa4 33.Ke1 a3 34.Kd2 a2 35.Rf1 Ra3 36.Ra1 e5 37.Kc1 e4 38.Kb2 Ra7 39.Kc3 Kf7 40.Kd4 Ra4+ 41.c4 Ke6 42.Kxe4 Rxc4+ 43.Kd3 Ra4 44.Kc3 Kf5 45.Kb3 Ra7 46.Kb2 Kg4 47.Kc3 h5 48.Kd3 h4 49.Ke3 h3 50.g3 Ra3+ 0-1
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Kramnik Overkill
Besançon, France - The BGN World champion Vladimir Kramnik made a trip to France to face 11-year-old prodigy Edouard Bonnet in a quick four-game exhibition match. While it was not taking candy from a baby, it seems a little (meaning a lot) over the top asking an obviously talented youngster to get some sparring practice with a/the champ.
The 4-0 result to Kramnik was predictably gruesome, though the prodigy played quite well in game one until a rather embarrassing oversight. The event seems a little too high-stakes to me, but nowadays I guess kids are tougher, and maybe this won't dent his confidence a bit.
 V. Kramnik - E. Bonnet
Besançon 2001 (1)
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.e3 e6 5.Bd3 Nbd7 6.0-0 Bd6 7.Nc3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 b5 9.Bd3 Bb7 10.Qe2 0-0 11.Rd1 Qc7 12.Bd2 a6 13.Rac1 Rfe8 14.a4 Qb6 15.axb5 cxb5 16.e4 e5 17.Be3 exd4 18.Bxd4 Bc5 19.Bb1 Rad8 20.Bxc5 Nxc5 21.Rxd8 Qxd8 22.e5 Bxf3 23.gxf3 Nfd7 24.f4 Qh4 [See diagram - The kid has a very promising position.] 25.Qe3 Qg4+?! [25...g5!? was the critical move.] 26.Qg3 Qxg3+ 27.hxg3 f6?! 28.b4 Nb3?? 29.Ba2 1-0
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Political punches - Pakistan style
I recently mentioned the Pakistan Chess Player as an interesting new site, particularly for its refreshingly straightforward coverage of local issues. The site has recently published a scathing open letter to the Chess Federation of Pakistan that makes eyebrow-raising reading, and claims of incompetence that impress even a jaded reporter.
Besides rather familiar charges of ineffectivity, including the lack of a national championship in 2000, more amazing are the submission of the wrong area code for the federation in the FIDE (International Chess Federation) directory and the inclusion of two long-dead players in the rating list: "Mr. Abdul Sattar (deceased over a decade) and Shaikh Mazhar Hussain (deceased 3 years ago) have been listed in January 1, 2001."
The letter writers, Ishtiaq Ahmed and Nisar Khan of Hyderabad, have sent a copy to the FIDE secretariat in an attempt to get their complaints heard, and these errors corrected. They close with a plea for peace and improvement.
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News from 9 March
Shulman caught at wire
San Francisco, USA - GM Yuri Shulman led the event throughout but was caught from behind when he drew with top seed Alex Baburin in the 11th and final round. This result allowed second rated GM Al Wojtkiewicz to pull level on 7/10 by beating Levon Altounian who needed a win to notch up an IM-norm.
The only player successful in his quest for a title norm was Michael Mulyar, who achieved the International Master result of 5½/10 with a last round win vs. Krechetov. The top three had solid undefeated results while Baburin had too many adventures and two losses.
Final Standings: 1-2 Shulman (BLR), Wojtkiewicz (POL) 7/10, 3-4 Greg Shahade (USA), Baburin (IRE) 6½, 5-6 Mulyar, Mladen Vucic 5½, 7 Cyrus Lakdawala 5, 8 Levon Altounian (all USA) 4½, 9. Alex Krechetov (RUS), 10 Camilla Baginskaite 3½, 11 Aaron Stearns 0 (both USA)
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Kolev catches wild card
Badalona, Spain - Top-rated Bulgarian GM Atanas Kolev has caught up with surprising FM Manuel Granados on 3/4 after a wild start in a slugfest of a contest. Lower category tournaments may not produce the correct chess of loftier super-events, but they make up for this in violent entertainment.
Spanish IM Josep Manuel Lopez Martinez is doing well with 2½ and only one of the GMs left to play. Israeli GM Artur Kogan has been shell-shocked after his opening loss to Martinez and has gone down to Granados as well.
Standings after four rounds: 1-2 Kolev, Granados 3/4, 3-5 Lopez Martinez, Fluvia Poyatos, GM Moskalenko 2½, 6 IM Narciso Dublan 2, 7-8 GM Kogan, José 1½, 9 Gual Pascal 1, 10 IM Vidarte ½.
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Favorites show muscle in Pinamar
Buenos Aires, Argentina - There were no surprises in the opening round of the Pinamar International as four of the favorites started with convincing wins and the tight pairing Larsen-Ricardi ended in a draw. One of the games was postponed.
1-4 GM Oscar Panno, GM Ulf Andersson, GM Carlos Garcia Palermos, GM Alejandro Hoffman 1/1, 5-6 GM Bent Larsen, GM Pablo Ricardi ½, 7-10 Pablo Hobaica, Luis Rodi, Bernardo Roselli, Herman van Riesmdijk 0/1. Sergio Giardelli, Jorge Szmetan 0/0.
Oscar Panno may no longer be a household name but he was one of the world's brightest talents in the 1950's and has a clean, logical style that still packs a punch:
P. Hobaica (2306) - O. Panno (2458)
Pinamar(1), 08.03.2001
1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 c5 3.g3 b5 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.0-0 Nf6 6.a4 b4 7.c4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bxg2 9.Kxg2 Qc8 10.Nd2 Nc6 11.N2f3 Be7 12.Qc2 Na5 13.b3 d5 Creating a weakness on c4 that will torment white for the rest of the game. 14.Nd2 dxc4 15.Nxc4 Nxc4 16.bxc4 0-0 17.Bb2 Qb7+ 18.Kg1 Rac8 19.Rac1 Ne4 20.Nb3 Nc5 21.Nxc5 Bxc5 22.Rfd1 f6 23.Rd3 Rfd8 24.Rcd1 Rxd3 25.Rxd3?! [The rook is poorly placed here. 25.Qxd3 is better.] 25...Qc6 26.e3 Bf8 27.Rd4 This is illusory activity as the rook is really about to be sent out of play. 27...e5 28.Rh4 g6 29.Qb3 Qe6 30.Qd3 Rc7 31.Re4 Rd7 32.Qb3 Bc5 The control of the only open file, and white's harried rook on e4 give black a winning advantage. 33.Kg2 Qc6 34.f3 f5 0-1 ...Rd2+ and ...Qxf3 will follow.
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Deep Fritz now number one
The regular rating list published by the Swedish chess computer testing group SSDF is now available at their site. Frans Morschs Deep Fritz K6-2 450 MHz has achieved a rating of 2650 against its peers. According to the SSDF Deep Fritz is primarily a multiprocessing-version, but also appears to be stronger for single processor play.
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News from 8 March
Hungarians take Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv, Israel - Hungarian GM Zoltan Gyimesi took clear first in a rather peaceful Category IX event with 6/9, on the strength of a last round win while his rivals couldn't muster the energy to fight as hard.
Top final scores: 1. Gyimesi 6, 2. GM Andrei Kovalev (BLR) 5½, 3-4 IMs Fabien Döttling (GER), Johannes van Mil (NED) 5, 5-6 GM Alon Greenfeld (ISR), IM Evgeny Postny (ISR) 4½. Van Mil deserved a special award for pugilism, drawing only twice.
Hungarian Women's GM Ildiko Madl was the convincing winner of the first ever international women's event in Israel with a fine undefeated score of 7/9. Countrywoman WGM Nikoletta Lakos was second with 6. The other top places were taken by the remaining WGMs, Ella Pitam, Angela Borsuk (both ISR) and Genrieta Lagvilava (BLR) who shared 3-5 places with 5½.
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Steady leaders in Geller Memorial
Moscow, Russia - There is still not much more than results to report from the Geller Memorial. Evgeny Pigusov has managed to stay in front, but his explosive 5/5 start has not allowed him to do more than a four-way tie with Loginov, Kotsur, and impressive IM Ilyushin on 6½/8.
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Tournament of generations in Argentina
Buenos Aires, Argentina - A category VIII international in Pinamar County
pits an interesting field of esteemed veterans like Danish GM Bent Larsen and local GM Oscar Panno against younger bucks like GM Pablo Ricardi and GM Alejandro Hoffman (both Argentina). Swedish titan Ulf Andersson is the favorite in the 12-man invitational which runs from 8-18 March.
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San Francisco Showdown
San Francisco, USA - One round remains and there is considerable excitement in the Charles Linklater Memorial. Leader Yuri Shulman had the bye in the 11-man event and both of his nearest rivals Baburin and Wojtkiewicz won to close the gap to half a point. Shulman faces Baburin in the final round, so drama should be assured.
Three players need to win in the final round to secure an IM result: Altounian, Lakdawala and Mulyar. Wojtkiewicz will meet Altounian so that game is probably the most likely to produce a decisive result.
The event's premier GM-norm candidate Gregory Shahade is already finished and came up a point short, but with an undefeated tournament and the favorite's scalp in his possession he has no other reason to be disappointed with his performance.
Top scores going into the final day: 1. Shulman 6½/9, 2. Shahade 6½/10, 3-4. Wojtkiewicz and Baburin 6/9, 5. Vucic 5/9, 6-8 Lakdawala, Mulyar and Altounian 4½/9.
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Luzhin's Defense to record-breaking audience
Miami, USA - The Luzhin Defense, a John Turturro film based on a Nabokov novel, was one of the attractions at the recent 18th Miami Film Festival, which featured 26 films from 16 nations. For more information on the movie, visit the production company's site.
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News from 7 March
FIDE rebuffed
The International Chess Federation's (FIDE) restructuring of elite chess for commercial purposes received a major blow, to at least its prestige, when the organizers of classic events in Wijk an Zee, Dortmund and Linares rejected FIDE plans to incorporate these tournaments into its planned Grand Prix.
FIDE COMMERCE had earlier announced that Linares had agreed to fall in with plans to reorganize top tournament and championship events, including a highly controversial speeding up of the rate of play.
The united organizers said the could not accept the plan as it did not preserve the character and tradition of their events, but they did hold the door open for future negotiations, saying they "are ready to study all possible future proposals by FIDE when aimed to promote traditional chess tournaments and Chess in general."
Of course this statement is somewhat barbed, as the reference to 'traditional tournaments' flies in the face of FIDE's heavy-handed campaign to turn all events and titles into types of rapid chess. International petitions and protests have been sparked by FIDE's spurning of the game's classical pace, but this is the first clear stance from organizers, who might have been more tempted by FIDE's commercial plans.
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Remembering Geller
While the strong Swiss event being held in Moscow in honor of the late, great, Efim Geller is not quite getting high-profile coverage, you can get a better idea of the reason for the event by visiting the chief website for Ukrainian chess and reading the feature on the life and times and the man.
The hunt continues for a site with details and games of the memorial - hopefully even in English - but in the meantime this article makes a fascinating read, though the translation is occasionally slightly cryptic.
Most people remember Geller for brilliant opening ideas and penchant for beating Bobby Fischer. One of the most amazing things I can remember reading as a kid was an article listing Geller's hobby as basketball - an astonishing choice for a short, burly man whose real passion seemed to be good living and second helpings.
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Early surprises in Spain
Badalona, Spain - The sole leader of the Badalona International is FIDE Master Manuel Granados who started off the event with a win over colleague Ramon Jose, and then kept a perfect score at the expense of IM Josep Manuel Lopez Martinez. This gives Granados a flying start on the IM-norm which should be a 50% score.
The result was a hard, fast return to Earth for Martinez who started the tournament, and his quest for a grandmaster result, by beating Israeli GM Artur Kogan.
Top seed GM Atanas Kolev drew with high-rated Spanish IM Marc Narciso Dublan to stay close with 1½/2, while the other grandmasters, Moskalenko and Kogan have yet to win a game.
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Shulman stumbles but leads
San Francisco, USA - Belorussian but Dallas-based GM Yuri Shulman stayed a full point in front of the field in the Charles Linklater Memorial with a win over Alex Kretchetov in round eight. Shulman blundered a piece while trying to rush the time-troubled Kretchetov but won the game anyway. According to IM John Donaldson's excellent daily reports, Shulman's position was so good that the piece blunder should only have cost him half a point hints that he might not have been so lucky after all.
But Shulman cannot rest easy - as there are an uneven number of players in the 11-man invitational, not only has he played a game more than his nearest rival - top seed GM Alex Baburin of Ireland via Russia - he still must face him.
American Levon Altounian may have the decisive role in the race for first as he meets both of the leaders, and is still in the hunt for an International Master result(5½/10). Otherwise the human interest story has to be the torment of Aaron Stearns who came within an inch of drawing Baburin in the middle of this nightmare result.
Standings after 8 rounds: 1. Shulman 6/8 2. Baburin 5/7 3. Shahade 5/8 4. Wojtkiewicz 4.5/7 5-6. Vucic and Altounian 4/7 7. Lakdawala 3.5/7 8-9. Kretchetov and Mulyar 3/7 10. Baginskaite 2/8 11. Stearns 0/7
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News from 6 March
King Kasparov without peer
Linares, Spain - Kasparov may not have a crown of any type any more, but he continues to provide powerful evidence that he is still the boss. He will have a chance to try and extend his already frightening two-point margin against young Grischuk today.
The 17-year-old prodigy has already shown beyond a doubt that he belongs in super-company, and with his aggression and confidence he would make a very unsurprising future world champion of any of the titles going.
On the other boards: the fur always flies when Shirov and Polgar meet, and both would like to improve their standing. The remaining game is odds-on to popularize paint-drying as a spectator sport, but winless Leko might decide to try to change his spots.
Round 10
Garry Kasparov - Alexander Grischuk
Peter Leko - Anatoly Karpov
Alexei Shirov - Judit Polgar
We will post results and a wrap-up of the day's play here.
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Ehlvest storms to first in Dhaka
Dhaka, Bangladesh - While nearly everyone else was dozing off with handshakes in under ten moves, favorite Jaan Ehlvest of Estonia completed a fine comeback to win his last two games and take the title of winner (on tie-break) of the 5th United Insurance GrandMasters Chess Tournament with 8½/13 with Alexander Volzhin (RUS).
Volzhin raced out to 5/6 while Ehlvest stumbled to half of that. Ehlvest continued to play during the last seven rounds however, while Volzhin spent the final week smiling and shaking hands.
Credit for fighting should also go to Latvian GM Normuds Miezis who won his last three games to take clear third place with 8 points. Bangladeshi talent GM Niaz Murshed took sole fourth with 7-½, helped by a very lucky win in the last round, but a nice comeback nevertheless.
Here is Ehlvest's tooth-rattling performance from the final round:
T Vakhidov (2482) - J Ehlvest (2638) [A40]
Round 13, Dhaka
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 b6 3.d4 Bb4 4.Qc2 Bb7 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 Nf6 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Ne4 10.Qc2 c5 Black has very comfortable play - he plans quick pressure against c4 and capturing on c5 allows quick threats with ...Qa5. 11.Be5 f6 12.Bxb8 Rxb8 13.e3 cxd4 14.exd4 Rc8 15.f3?! Nd6 16.Bd3 [16.Qg6+ Nf7 17.Bd3 leaves white's queen misplaced.] 16...f5 17.Ne2 g4! 18.fxg4 Bxg2 19.Rg1 Qh4+ 20.Ng3 Be4 21.gxf5?! [see diagram - 21.Bxe4 Rxc4 was the lesser evil.] 21...Rxc4! 22.Qe2 Bxd3 23.Qxd3 Rxd4 24.Qc3 Rf8 25.Rd1 Re4+ 26.Kf1 Rxf5+! 27.Nxf5 Qf4+ 0-1
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A few surprises in San Francisco
San Francisco, USA - The Charles Linklater Memorial saw its first major upset when favorite Alex Baburin went down to Gregory Shahade in game six. IM Shahade is the current holder of the Samford scholarship, a stipend to help talents sharpen their skills. Shahade took his first GM-norm in Bermuda recently, but despite a good result so far he needs 3/3 here to make the tough requirements (7½/10).
In his daily summaries of the action, IM John Donaldson makes some interesting observations about the effects of the new FIDE time control - the Linklater is the first event in the Americas to adopt the controversial (40 moves/75 minutes + rest of the game in 15 minutes with 30 second increments per move from move one) rate of play.
Spectators have been intrigued by the course of play which is often characterized by prolonged periods of mild time pressure rather than a major climax where the entire game can be decided suddenly. Perhaps the public will be won over by FIDE's attempts to speed up the game after all?
Leaders after 7 rounds: Shulman 5/7, 2. Shahade 4˝/7 3-4 Vucic and Baburin 4/6.
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Badalona begins
Badalona, Spain - A 10-man category 9 invitational has begun by an ambitious group of organizers who want to raise their local profile in chess-mad Spain. The tournament is backed by the local sport and tourism boards as well as the chess federations of Catalan and Spain.
The event will take place from 5-15 March with a rest weekend on the 10-11th. Rating favorite Atanas Kolev (BUL, 2582) started the tournament with a win, but he was the only one of the GMs to do so.
Spanish IM Josep Manuel Lopez Martinez gladdened local hearts by downing Israeli GM Artur Kogan. Other first round winners were IM Marc Narciso Dublan and FM Manuel Granados.
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Plot thickens in Geller Memorial
Moscow, Russia - Highly ranked Kazakh GM Pavel Kotsur will face early leader Evgeny Pigusov in round 8, both players are on 6/7. Pigusov has drawn twice after opening with the rocket-like 5/5.
The surprising IM Alexei Ilyushin, seeded 16th, has managed to keep up with the leaders and is paired 'down' to face veteran GM Yuri Balashov, who is rated third, and is the top player on 5½.
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