Chess thread

[curnow]

Meanwhile, in Zug, Topalov won the Grand Prix tournament with a round to spare, putting away the chap in second, Fabiano Caruana.

http://en.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009659/zug-gp-r10-four-wins-three-with-black-300413.aspx

Nakamura is now in second place, but would lose out to the head to head defeat he suffered against the Bulgarian, even were he to close the full point gap today.

The report in link above seems to be written by a ladies' man, rather cheekily asking which of the competitors this person is married to:



he beat M.Adams in the final of 2004 world championship on tie-break , he looks a lot older than she does now

[Tal]

Yep. That lady is the wife of former FIDE World Champ and renowned trainer, Ruslan Kasimdzhanov:



I've seen more flattering pictures. I suspect the Chessbase journo was being a little cheeky.

[Tal]

Over in St Petersburg, we have one more round and by 'eck it is going to be a belter. Today was all draws with the exception of Vitiugov, who hasn't looked threatening enough, so beat the joint leader, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. With Black. Obviously.

Going into Round Nine, the table looks like this:

Click to see full-size image.

Svidler v Fressinet
Gelfand v Anand
Adams v Kramnik
Vitiugov v Loren
Aronian v Vachier-Lagrave


So, who's your money on?

[Tal]

Here are the odds, sports fans:

http://www.marathonbet.com/en/betting/Chess

[Tal]

So then, here are the results from the final round in St Petersburg:

Peter Svidler   ½-½ Laurent Fressinet
Boris Gelfand ½-½ Viswanathan Anand
Michael Adams 0-1 Vladimir Kramnik
Nikita Vitiugov ½-½ Ding Liren
Levon Aronian 1-0 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

http://en.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009694/aronian-and-gelfand-win-alekhine-memorial-2013-010513.aspx

Click to see full-size image.

All of which means the final table looks awfully like this ↑

[Tal]

The winner by virtue of tiebreak was Levon Aronian:



Shirt and tie combo last seen in the days of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink

[Tal]

It is the US Championship and the event was started by an exhibition, which is pretty standard.

A grandmaster is playing these 33 guys:



So, what of Timur Gareev, the GM? What does he look like?



Oh yeah. He's blindfolded.

Results:

Gareev 29 wins
Challengers 0 wins
Draws: 4

[Tal]

Full report:

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009720/33-board-blindfold-simul-at-us-championship-040513.aspx

[MintTrav]

Maybe the Saint Louis Chess Club players just aren't very good.

By the look of them, I reckon my youngest daughter could beat most of them.

[Tal]

Anyone else think the guy in middle of the second row should be covering his ears?

[MintTrav]

Like this, you mean?




The one in front is never going to win, starting with g3 and facing his horses the wrong way.

[Tal]

Brilliant spot!!

(Double spring onion for you)

The three monkey defence is complete.


As to your other observation, FWIW, I like to have my knights pointing towards the centre at all times.

[Tal]

Click to see full-size image.

Above is a letter from the French Chess Federation. Its capital, Paris, is mounting a late bid for the World Chess Championship.

But Chennai has already signed for it?

Hmmm...

The Norwegian Chess Federation has written to protest that the event was unilaterally awarded to the Indian Federation, when the rules say it should be put up for bid.

We will have to wait for further developments, but this is one to follow closely.



http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009711/norway-sends-complaint-paris-ready-to-bid-040513.aspx

[Tal]

FIDE (the International Chess Federation) quick to respond by signing the papers officially with Chennai.

You wonder why people moan about the politics in chess...

[Tal]

A nice article on art in chess, which features in Chess magazine:

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009630/chess-magazine-the-art-of-chess-060513.aspx



Tal v Benko. I think this might be the inspiration: