'Little fish' nets a big win
2 days 5 hours ago
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As expected Rybka, which is Russian for ‘little fish’ retained the world computer chess title in a competition held alongside the Mindsports Olympiad in Beijing. Rybka is programmed by the American IM Vasik Rajlich. His wife Iweta is also an International Master. England’s Mark Uniacke continues to improve the strength of his Hiarcs program which finished second.
Rybka nearly lost against Junior programmed by Shay Bushinky and Amir Ban of Israel but escaped by forcing a perpetual check well beyond the bounds of calculation of most humans.
Rybka (C) - Jonny (C)
16th World Computer Chess Ch Beijing
Ruy Lopez
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A well-calculated sacrifice
4 days 5 hours ago
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Peter Svidler leads the Russian Championship Superfinal with a perfect score after three rounds. Svidler defeated the favourite Alexander Morozevich in an 87 move game, gradually outplaying the world number two from a position where he held more space. At one stage Svidler was three pawns up but he returned two and reached a technically won rook and pawn endgame.
In round three Svidler’s finely calculated queen sacrifice and king march forced a brilliant win. The position with queen against two rooks and knight was complex but once Black’s runs out of checks White’s mate threats decide.
P Svidler– A Riazantsev
Russian Ch Superfinal Moscow (3)
French Defence
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.
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Rare Invitational Tournament Ends in 4-Way Tie and a Twist
5 days 23 hours ago
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The second Spice Cup, a chess tournament organized by Texas Tech University, ended in a four-way tie for first among an all-grandmaster field.
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Gunning for Guildford
6 days 18 hours ago
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The 2008-09 season of the 4NCL starts today at Sunningdale with the title holders Guildford ADC I facing a new challenge to their recent hegemony with the merger of Hilsmark Kingfisher and Wood Green. Barbican 4NCL 1 will also continue to be a force
After seven rounds two groups of eight will be created. In one the teams will play for the title and the other will be a battle to avoid relegation. Games previously played between teams in the same group from the first seven rounds will be carried forward. Teams will not play each other twice.
Nick Pert had a successful 2007-2008 season for Guildford.
SG Williams – N Pert
4NCL/Division 1
Guildford ADC v Slough Sharks
Slav Defence
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Topalov back on top
8 days 21 hours ago
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Veselin Topalov has regained the top spot on the Fide ranking list after his success at the Grand Slam Final in Bilbao. His fine victory over Ivanchuk in the last round, which we have already seen, was ultimately decisive as Topalov gained five points and Ivanchuk, who is now third, lost five.
Alexander Morozevich remains in second place and the Norwegian teenager Magnus Carlsen is up to fourth. The results at Bilbao and the Tal Memorial mean that the forthcoming world title contest between Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik will be between the fifth ranked and six ranked players.
Both Anand and Kramnik were doubtless distracted by the preparations for the title match and this explains their recent poor form.
Michael Adams is ranked twelve and then the leading English player is Nigel Short ranked 85.
Wang Yue at 11 becomes the highest rated Chinese player ever. Peter Svidler and Alexey Shirov have lost ground after poor results. Judit Polgar remains by far the leading female player at number 27.
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I'm afraid I can't do that
10 days 6 hours ago
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A unique chess match is underway between Earth and Space as International Space Station astronaut Greg Chamitoff challenges all the planet’s inhabitants. Chess players from Earth will take their lead from the Stevenson Elementary School Chess Club in Bellevue, Washington State USA. The children will select up to four possible moves for Earth and an online vote will determine which one is played.
Chamitoff, a flight engineer, brought a chess set with him when he arrived on the STS-124 space shuttle in June. While speeding about 210 miles above the Earth at five miles a second he has defeated all comers from the mission’s base stations and needs some tougher opposition. His chess pieces have been fitted with Velcro to prevent them from floating away in the weightless conditions. The game will progress at a rate of one move per day on weekdays only.
Readers will doubtless recall the first game of chess in space from ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ directed by Stanley Kubrick in 1968. Kubrick was a decent player and I sent him computer chess programs from time to time.
The game in the film is a replay of an actual game; Roesch vs. Schlage, Hamburg 1910. The notes below include an edited transcript of the conversation between HAL and the astronaut.
Roesch - Schlage
Hamburg, 1910
Ruy Lopez
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Beaten but unbowed
12 days 0 hours ago
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The England junior team returned without a medal from the European Youth Championships at Herceg Novi in Montenegro but ended the tournament with a strong showing in the ninth and final round and overall the players were close to a 50% score against strong opposition. Peter Andreev was unfortunate, he fell into an opening trap and lost his final game in the Under 10 but was still the squad’s star performer with 6/9.
The winner of the Under 12, Kiprian Berbatov of Bulgaria is a cousin of the footballer Dimitar Berbatov although it is no known if the latter knows the moves. There is a strong connection between football and chess in Bulgaria. The current world number one Veselin Topalov is a keen footballer and each year leads a team of chess players in a friendly against a local team in Sofia on the rest day at the MTel Masters.
UK Chess organisers have been wary of football matches during chess tournaments ever since Jan Timman broke his leg on the rest day of the Philips and Drew tournament in 1984.
K Berbatov – K Khamidov
EU Ch U12 Herceg Novi
French Defence Advance
online chess
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McCain Economics Adviser Has a Grandmaster’s Rank
13 days 4 hours ago
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Kenneth S. Rogoff, a professor at Harvard, is an economics adviser to the Republican presidential nominee, Senator John McCain, and also a grandmaster.
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