ChessFlash

Hari, youngest rated chess player at 7 years & 3 months
6 Jan 2009, 0128 hrs IST, Hari Hara Nandanan,TNN

CHENNAI: There are some records in chess which are beyond the scope of verification. The most glaring of them is the record for the youngest rated player in the world.

This is simply because the World federation (FIDE) has not acknowledged it as something significant. But in India, this record seems to have got the official seal as the Tamil Nadu Chess Association on Monday claimed that R. Harikrishnan of Chennai - a seven-years, three-month old second standard student - has become the youngest rated player in the country.

Harikrishnan, a student of Sethu Bhaskara Matriculation School, Ambattur (Chennai) has an Elo rating of 1519 in the January 2009 list, according to a Tamil Nadu Chess Association release.

Here is the full article.Chess news from Susan Polgar

The January 2009 edition of the Chess Blog Carnival is now activated. The link is:

http://www.jacklemoine.com/2009/01/chess-blog-carnival-109.htmlChess news from Susan Polgar

Description

After Peter Svidler (ICC: P-Svidler) lost to Magnus Carlsen (ICC: Magnus) in the second game of the tiebreak, the Norwegian needed only a draw with Hikaru Nakamura (ICC: Smallville) to secure his spot in the Final.

Nakamura went for complications, relying on his blitz acumen in a desperate situation.

Both players comment this exciting finale to the Aker Chess Challenge preliminaries.

https://webcast.chessclub.com/blog/2009/01/05/blitz-playoff-nakamura-carlsen/

This video (run time: 8:32) is available for cross-posting under a Creative Commons ("BY-NC-ND") license.Chess news from Susan Polgar

Rk.
Name Rtg FED 1.Rd 2.Rd 3.Rd 4.Rd 5.Rd 6.Rd 7.Rd 8.Rd 9.Rd Pts. TB1 TB2 1 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2599 POL 66w1 22s1 9w½ 24s1 8w1 3s½ 7w½ 5s½ 14w1 7,0 37,0 0,0 2 IM Bogner Sebastian 2448 GER 31s1 25w½ 24s½ 12w½ 17s1 15w½ 16s1 3s1 7w1 7,0 32,5 0,0 3 GM Kuzubov Yuriy 2622 UKR 57s1 32w1 4s½ 13w1 7s½ 1w½ 8s1 2w0 12s1 6,5 35,0 0,0 4 GM Berczes David 2514 HUN 39w1 34s1 3w½ 9s0 25w1 27s1 19w1 7s½ 5w½ 6,5 34,0 0,0 5 GM Gleizerov Evgeny 2545 RUS 50s½ 44w½ 70s1 25w1 21s½ 13w1 32s1 1w½ 4s½ 6,5 32,5 0,0 6 GM Cramling Pia 2550 SWE 70s½ 37w1 15s½ 16w1 9s½ 21w½ 12w½ 22s1 19w1 6,5 31,0 0,0 7 GM Ivanov Sergej 2547 RUS 60w1 16s1 20w1 8s½ 3w½ 9w1 1s½ 4w½ 2s0 6,0 36,0 0,0 8 GM Hillarp-Persson Tiger 2543 SWE 61w1 42s1 35w1 7w½ 1s0 20s1 3w0 26s1 9w½ 6,0 33,5 0,0 9 IM Grandelius Nils 2464 SWE 67w1 18s1 1s½ 4w1 6w½ 7s0 15s½ 32w1 8s½ 6,0 33,0 0,0 10 GM Brynell Stellan 2447 SWE 72w½ 30s½ 48w1 35s½ 18w1 12s0 42w½ 15w1 20s1 6,0 28,0 0,0 11
Blomqvist Erik 2418 SWE 62s½ 53w1 13s0 44w1 12s0 45w1 24s½ 28w1 23s1 6,0 27,0 0,0
Full crosstable is available here: http://www.rilton.se/results.asp
Chess news from Susan Polgar

WHO: Touch Move Chess Center

WHAT: Chess Lecture

WHEN: January 8,2009 (every Thursday 7pm -8:30pm)

TOPIC: Opening theories + sample games+ Q & A

WHERE : 5639 N. Ashland ave. Chicago IL. 60660

PHONE: 773-627-2759

FORMAT: 1:30 hrs

Limit to the first 30 participantFee: $10 and $ 5 TMCC Members.

OPEN TO ALL!

Lecturer : IM Angelo Young 7x Illinois State Champion

FREE SNACKS & DRINKS!

Please be there on time.Chess news from Susan Polgar

Gold medal match:

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Svidler, Peter - Gold

g

RUS

2723

½

1

Total: 1½

Carlsen, Magnus - Silver

g

NOR

2776

½

0

Total: ½

Bronze medal match:

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Nakamura, Hikaru - Bronze

g

USA

2699

1

½

Total: 1½

Lie, Kjetil

g

NOR

2539

0

½

Total: ½

Official website: http://www.gjovikfestival.sjakkweb.no
Chess news from Susan Polgar

Ivanchuk beats Leko in a six-game match. Svidler beats Carlsen in the Aker rapid final. Nakamura third. Mig

No computer please. See if you can figure it out.

Source: ChessToday.netChess news from Susan Polgar

GM Leko (2751) - GM Ivanchuk (2779) [B01]
Chess match, 05.01.2009 - Game 6

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.Be2 Nc6 5.d4 0–0–0 6.Be3 e5 7.c4 Qa5+ 8.Bd2 Bb4 9.d5 Bxf3 10.Bxf3 Nd4 11.Nc3 Qa6 12.b3 Qa5 13.Rc1 f5 14.0–0 Nf6 15.g3 Kb8 16.Bg2 Rhe8 17.Re1 h6 18.Re3 a6 19.h3 Nd7 20.Be1 Nc5 21.Kh1 g5 22.f4 exf4 23.Rxe8 Rxe8 24.Qxd4 Rxe1+ 25.Rxe1 Bxc3 26.Re8+ Ka7 27.Qf2 fxg3 28.Qxg3 Bd4 29.d6 cxd6 30.Qxd6 Qc3 31.Kh2 Qa1 32.Qb8+ Kb6 33.Qd8+ Ka7 34.Qb8+ Kb6 35.Qd8+ Ka7 Game drawn ½–½

Click here to replay the game.

The match is now 3.5 - 2.5 in favor of Ivanchuk.Chess news from Susan Polgar

Our friends at ChessBase just reported that Vladimir Kramnik and his wife Marie had a baby girl in the early morning of December 28, 2008. She is named Daria (Dasha). Congratulations to Vladimir and Marie!

Vladimir also spoke about the totally unfair new World Championship cycle.

Here is one of the quotes:

I can only speculate. It is pretty clear that in the new system there are two people who are gaining a lot of advantages. They are Topalov and Kamsky. First of all there is this match between the two of them, which actually should never have happened – it was basically created out of nothing. Now the loser of this match is getting a chance to play, without qualification, in the final stage of the next world championship. That is quite a serious privilege. You can speculate yourself why this was done. I really don’t know.

The only thing which I can personally say – I mean it is concerning my personal position in the cycle – is that I am very unhappy, to put it mildly, with the situation that the loser of the Topalov-Kamsky match is inside the final stage of the qualification, and I, as the loser of my parallel match with Anand, am not. I believe that is totally unfair. I would like you not to misunderstand: I am not asking for any privileges. The only thing I am asking for and insisting on is that I must have exactly the same rights as the loser of that match. If the winners have the same rights I do not understand why one loser has much less rights than the other. This is something that has absolutely no logical explanation. The only thing I can understand is that there are certain powers inside FIDE who simply do not want to see me in the cycle. Unfortunately I have to draw this conclusion, because I do not have any other explanation.

The rest can be read here.Chess news from Susan Polgar

After drawing the first 4 games, Ivanchuk drew first blood by defeating Leko in game 5 of their match.

GM Ivanchuk (2779) - GM Leko (2751) [A32]
Chess match, 05.01.2009 - Game 5

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.g3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Bc5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Bg2 Nc6 9.Nc3 0–0 10.Rc1 b6 11.Nd5 exd5 12.cxd5 Bb7 13.dxc6 dxc6 14.0–0 Qc8 15.Nd4 c5 16.Bxb7 Qxb7 17.Nf5 Rfe8 18.Bc3 Qe4 19.Qc2 Qe6 20.b3 Bf8 21.Bxf6 Qxf6 22.Ne3 Rad8 23.Rfd1 Qe6 24.Qc4 Qe5 25.Qa6 Qb8 26.Nd5 h5 27.e3 Rd6 28.Nc3 Red8 29.Rxd6 Rxd6 30.h4 g6 31.Ne4 Rd8 32.a4 Qa8 33.Qc4 Bg7 34.b4 cxb4 35.Qxb4 Qd5 36.Qe7 Qd7 37.Rc7 Qxe7 38.Rxe7 a5 39.Kg2 Rd1 40.Re8+ Bf8 41.Rb8 Ra1 42.Rxb6 Rxa4 43.Nf6+ Kg7 44.Ra6 Ra1 45.Ne8+ Kg8 46.Ra7 a4 47.Nf6+ Kg7 48.Ne4 Kg8 49.Ng5 f6 50.Ne6 Bh6 51.Nd4 Bf8 52.Ne2 Bh6 53.Nc3 a3 54.Nd5 Bg7 55.Nf4 Bf8 56.Nxg6 Bc5 57.Ra8+ Kf7 58.Nf4 Rb1 59.Kf3 Rb3 60.Ra5 Bb6 61.Ra6 Bc5 62.Nd5 f5 63.Ra5 Bd6 64.Nf4 Rb2 65.Rxf5+ Ke8 66.Rxh5 Kd7 67.Ra5 Kc6 68.Ne2 Kb6 69.Ra4 Bb4 70.h5 Kb5 71.Ra8 a2 72.h6 Rxe2 73.Kxe2 Ba5 74.Rb8+ Bb6 75.h7 a1Q 76.h8Q Qa2+ 77.Kf1 White wins 1–0

Click here to replay the game.Chess news from Susan Polgar

After losing to Carlsen twice in the preliminary round and blitz playoff, Svidler got his revenge winning the 2nd game of the final with the black pieces to clinch the Aker Chess Challenge title.

GM Carlsen (2776) - GM Svidler (2723) [C84]
Aker Chess Challenge, 05.01.2009 - Final game 2

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Bd2 b4 10.c3 Rb8 11.Bc4 Qc8 12.Re1 0–0 13.d4 Bg4 14.Be3 Na5 15.Bd3 Bxf3 16.Qxf3 Nb3 17.Ra2 Ng4 18.Nd2 bxc3 19.bxc3 Nxe3 20.Qxe3 Bf6 21.Nf3 Re8 22.Rb1 c5 23.dxe5 dxe5 24.Bf1 c4 25.Nd2 Nxd2 26.Rxb8 Qxb8 27.Rxd2 Qb3 28.a5 h6 29.Rd5 Rd8 30.g3 Bg5 31.Qf3 Bf6 32.h4 Qa2 33.Rxd8+ Bxd8 34.Qd1 Bxa5 35.Qd5 Bb6 36.Kh2 Qxf2+ 37.Bg2 a5 38.Qxc4 Qc5 39.Qa4 g6 40.Qb3 h5 41.c4 Kg7 42.Kh3 Qc6 43.Qc3 Qe6+ 44.Kh2 Qe7 45.Qb3 Qb4 46.Qd3 Bd4 47.Qe2 a4 48.g4 a3 49.gxh5 Qb2 50.Qg4 Qd2 51.Kh3 Qe3+ 52.Bf3 Qf4 Black wins 0–1

Click here to replay the game.Chess news from Susan Polgar

GM Nakamura (2699) - GM Lie (2539) [A45]
05.01.2009, Aker Chess Challenge, Bronze medal game

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 c5 4.f3 Qa5+ 5.c3 Nf6 6.d5 Qb6 7.Bc1 g6 8.e4 d6 9.c4 e6 10.Ne2 exd5 11.cxd5 Bg7 12.Nec3 0–0 13.Be2 a6 14.a4 Nbd7 15.Na3 Qd8 16.0–0 Rb8 17.Be3 Ne8 18.Qd2 Nc7 19.Rab1 Qe7 20.b4 Re8 21.Bf2 b6 22.Nc4 b5 23.axb5 axb5 24.Na5 Qf6 25.Rfc1 Ra8 26.Nxb5 Nxb5 27.Bxb5 cxb4 28.Qxb4 Rd8 29.Nc6 Rf8 30.Bd4 Qg5 31.Bxg7 Kxg7 32.Qxd6 Ra2 33.Qg3 Qe3+ 34.Kh1 Nf6 35.Re1 Qd2 36.Re2 White wins 1–0

Click here to replay the game.Chess news from Susan Polgar

GM Svidler (2723) - GM Carlsen (2776) [C65]
05.01.2009, Aker Chess Challenge, Final game 1

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 0–0 6.h3 d6 7.Nbd2 Ne7 8.d4 exd4 9.cxd4 Bb6 10.0–0 d5 11.e5 Ne4 12.Bd3 Bf5 13.Qe2 Nc6 14.Rd1 Nxd4 15.Nxd4 Bxd4 16.Bxe4 dxe4 17.Nb3 c5 18.Be3 Qe7 19.Nxd4 cxd4 20.Bxd4 Game drawn ½–½

Click here to replay the game.Chess news from Susan Polgar

HASTINGS INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS 2008/09

Date of congress: 28/12/2008 to 05/01/2009

Anderson needs draw for IM norm
Kjartansson needs win for IM norm

Round 9

1 NEVEROV,Valerij 2571 (6ø) - KURNOSOV,Igor 2606 (7) 4 2
2 HOWELL,David 2593 (6) - CONQUEST,Stuart 2526 (6) 3 6
3 BERG,Emanuel 2623 (6) - GREET,Andrew 2440 (5ø) 1 16
4 WILLIAMS,Simon 2494 (5ø) - GORDON,Stephen 2521 (5ø) 12 8
5 HEBDEN,Mark 2515 (5ø) - KJARTANSSON,Gudm 2284 (5ø) 9 34
6 ANSELL,Simon 2410 (5) - BERGEZ,Luc 2356 (5ø) 19 24
7 JONES,Gawain 2548 (5) - RUDD,Jack 2344 (5) 5 26
8 PAVLOVIC,Milos 2524 (5) - EAMES,Robert 2329 (5) 7 28
9 ANDERSON,John 2213 (5) - HASLINGER,Stewar 2506 (5) 50 11
10 SUMMERSCALE,Aaro 2467 (5) - ROLVAG,Mikael 2199 (5) 13 53
11 CAPO VIDAL,Uriel 2339 (5) - BERNAL MORO,Luis 2451 (5) 27 14
12 HENDRIKS,Willy 2447 (5) - GREEN,Andrew 2102 (5) 15 73
13 KNOTT,Simon 2348 (5) - HUNT,Adam 2431 (5) 25 18
14 CHKHAIDZE,Nikolo 2203 (5) - HOUSKA,Jovanka 2399 (5) 51 20
15 BATES,Richard 2387 (5) - LOCK,Gavin 2252 (4ø) 21 42

Official website: http://www.hastingschess.org.uk/2009/masters.htmChess news from Susan Polgar

Final round results:

Ni Hua - Marin, Mihail 1-0
Gustafsson, Jan - Cebalo, Miso 1-0
Dreev, Alexey - Landa, Konstantin 0-1
Shytaj, Luca - Almasi, Zoltan 0-1
Leon Hoyos, Manuel - Ronchetti, Niccolo ½-½

Final standings:

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1.

Ni Hua

g

CHN

2710

7½

2.

Almasi, Zoltan

g

HUN

2663

6

3.

Landa, Konstantin

g

RUS

2613

5

4.

Gustafsson, Jan

g

GER

2634

5

5.

Marin, Mihail

g

ROU

2556

5

6.

Dreev, Alexey

g

RUS

2670

4½

7.

Leon Hoyos, Manuel

g

MEX

2535

4½

8.

Ronchetti, Niccolo

m

ITA

2414

3

9.

Shytaj, Luca

m

ITA

2472

2½

10.

Cebalo, Miso

g

CRO

2493

2

Official website: http://www.ippogrifoscacchi.it/Chess news from Susan Polgar

At the Aker Challenge in Norway, Svidler won his final match against Carlsen while Nakamura won the bronze medal match against Lie. Read full story for a tactics quiz from the event.

White to move. How should White proceed?

b2r2rk/2Rn2pp/5p2/4pP1N/4P1RQ/pp1q3P/6PK/8 w - - 0 1Chess news from Susan Polgar

GM Nakamura (2699) - GM Carlsen (2776) [D15]
04.01.2009, Aker Chess Challenge Blitz playoff

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.d4 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 b5 6.e5 Nd5 7.a4 e6 8.axb5 Nxc3 9.bxc3 cxb5 10.Ng5 Bb7 11.Qh5 g6 12.Qg4 Bd5 13.h4 h6 14.Ne4 Nd7 15.h5 g5 16.Be2 a5 17.0–0 b4 18.Nd2 Nb6 19.f4 bxc3 20.Nf3 gxf4 21.Bxf4 Kd7 22.Ne1 Kc6 23.Nc2 Bb4 24.Rf2 Qe7 25.Qh3 Rag8 26.Bf1 Rg7 27.Ne3 Kb7 28.Ng4 Nd7 29.Bc1 Kc6 30.Ne3 Nb6 31.Nxd5 Nxd5 32.Bxc4 Rhg8 33.Bxd5+ exd5 34.Bxh6 Rg3 35.Qf5 Qe6 36.Qxe6+ fxe6 37.Bf4 R3g4 38.Be3 Kb5 39.h6 Kc4 40.Kf1 Kd3 41.Rf3 Kc4 42.Rh3 Rf8+ 43.Kg1 Rfg8 44.Kh1 Kb3 45.Rf1 a4 46.Bd2 Rxd4 47.Bxc3 Bxc3 48.Rc1 Rc4 49.h7 Rh8 50.g4 a3 51.g5 Kb2 52.Rg1 Bxe5 53.Rg2+ Rc2 Black wins a few moves later 0–1

Final blitz playoff results:

1. Carlsen 2.0
2. Svidler 1.0
3. Nakamura 0.0

Click here to replay the game.Chess news from Susan Polgar

Just as in the rapid RR phase, Carlsen defeats Svidler while Svidler defeats Nakamura. Now Nakamura has to bear Carlsen to tie things up.

GM Carlsen (2776) - GM Svidler (2723) [C76]
04.01.2009 - Aker Chess Challenge Blitz Playoff

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 g6 5.c3 d6 6.d4 Bd7 7.0–0 Bg7 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Be3 Nf6 10.Nbd2 0–0 11.Re1 Re8 12.h3 Qc8 13.Qe2 Nd8 14.Bxd7 Nxd7 15.Red1 Ne6 16.a4 Nb8 17.Qc4 Nc6 18.b4 Rd8 19.Nb3 Rxd1+ 20.Rxd1 Qe8 21.Ng5 Rd8 22.Rxd8 Ncxd8 23.Nxe6 Nxe6 24.Na5 b5 25.axb5 axb5 26.Qd5 Nf4 27.Qd2 h5 28.h4 Ne6 29.g3 Qa8 30.Qd5 Qxd5 31.exd5 Nd8 32.c4 bxc4 33.Nxc4 f6 34.b5 Bf8 35.Ba7 Kf7 36.Bb8 Ke7 37.Bxc7 Nb7 38.Kf1 Kd7 39.b6 e4 40.Ke2 Bc5 41.Nd2 f5 42.Nc4 White wins 1–0

Click here to replay the game.Chess news from Susan Polgar