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Chess Federation Says E-Mail Was Filched
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The nation’s governing body for the game sued one of its board members claiming she unlawfully accessed e-mail between the board and a lawyer hired to investigate her and her husband.
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A Chess Master From Brooklyn Seeks World Poker Immortality
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Ylon Schwartz is one of nine finalists in the World Series of Poker Main Event, which is considered the unofficial world championship.
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Americans Break Through at World Youth Tournament
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The United States team had 28 members at the World Youth Chess Championship in Vietnam, and quite a few of them did well.
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How Anand took the title
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Anand-Kramnik, World Championship 2008, game 11. White to play. Anand just needs a draw to retain his title. How did he damp down Black's play?
RB The first thing that comes into my amateur head when asked how to damp down a position is to think of swapping off material. Here, this looks easily achievable with 20 Qd6. The black queen is pinned to the king so either he'll take on the next turn or White will capture on e7. Does Black have any nasty tricks up his sleeve? How about 20...Nb4, with the twin threats of ...Nxa2+ and ...Rxc2+? This looks a little annoying, but how annoying really? 21 Qxe7+ Kxe7 22 Rd2 Nxa2+ 23 Kb1 Nb4 would leave Black a pawn up, but is that any kind of advantage given his broken kingside pawns? After 24 c3 Nc6 25 Bd3 White looks to me quite good and it's not easy to see how Black will make headway.
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Cold War in Reykjavik as Fischer breaks Soviet defender Spassky
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Boris Spassky v Bobby Fischer: 64 alternately black and white squares became the unlikely battleground in 1972 as the champion, from Russia, defended his title against a brilliant but eccentric American, writes Damian Cullen
SO, WHICH rivalry had the biggest influence on the world? The impact of the most high-profile and enduring sporting rivalries is always loud, but usually localised. And, almost universally, they lack non-sporting significance.
Certainly few have been used as an alternative battleground for two nations at war.
First, there was chess. Then, there were four million competitive players in communist USSR. And, in the middle of the Cold War, came a challenger to Soviet dominance of the sport, from, of all places, the US.
Bobby Fischer was born to be the world chess champion. In July, 1956, at just 13 years of age, he became the youngest ever US Junior champion and the following year the Chicago native was the youngest US champion (both records still stand).
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Chess with Luke McShane
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Viswanathan Anand has successfully defended his World Chess Championship title by defeating Vladimir Kramnik in their chess match by 6.5-4.5. When Anand went three wins up last week his victory looked almost assured, but it was good to see Kramnik fight back by winning the tenth game, below. Although it wasn't much in evidence in Bonn due to Anand's own excellent chess form, Kramnik is a formidable chess player. When he got a position which suited him, it only took him a few precise moves and Anand's position fell apart. Still, Anand achieved a comfortable draw with White in the next game to wrap up the match. Vladimir Kramnik - Vishy Anand (Bonn, 2008): 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 ...
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With Draw, Anand Keeps World Chess Title
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A world championship match in Bonn, Germany, Viswanathan Anand successfully defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, a former champion.
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Viswanathan Anand keeps his tryst with history
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Viswanathan Anand has kept his tryst with history here on Wednesday. The much-needed draw against challenger Vladimir Kramnik in the eleventh game gave Anand a historic win (6.5-4.5) with white pieces in the most-widely followed World chess title match.
Anand, winner of all the major titles in the game at least once in his illustrious international career spanning 25 years, now holds what appears to be an unbeatable record of having claimed the World title in three different formats.
Anand won the title in 2000 in the now-discontinued 128-player knockout format. Last year, it was in the eight-player double round-robin format. Now Anand has regained the title in the most accepted and traditional matchplay format. Known for his versatility in all time-formats — classical, rapid and blitz — Anand has now widened his reputation in the chess world like never before.
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Kramnik fights back
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The trophy had been polished, the tablecloths at the Bonn Hilton had been starched ready for the closing banquet and journalists were jostling for Tuesday interview slots with the soon-to-be new World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand.
The television cameramen had turned up in droves, many fresh off the plane from India. The Hindu, the dominant English-language newspaper in Anand’s home town of Chennai, had its front page story and photo ready to go as soon the formality known as the tenth game was concluded.
Only one person seemed unaware that the World Chess Championship was supposed to be all over -- Vladimir Kramnik.
The 33-year-old Russian had come from behind in his two previous world title matches but trailing by three points with three games to play was surely too much. Not having won a game so far in the 2008 contest, Kramnik could not hold off the Indian challenge to his world match title any longer.
Russian or Soviet born players have held the top chess title for all but three years of the past 70 -- Bobby Fischer interrupting the sequence -- but that era seemed to be coming to an end.
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Anand, Kramnik draw in 9th chess game
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World chess champion Viswanathan Anand of India survived a scare and moved to within a half point of retaining his title with a hard-fought draw against his Russian challenger Vladimir Kramnik in game nine here on Sunday.
This gives Anand a 6-3 advantage in the 12-game match. He now only needs one draw out of the last three games to keep his title.
After the game, Anand acknowledged that his situation was at times dire.
"I had the worst position I've had so far. There were quite a few moments when I thought I was lost," he said.
Kramnik chose to defend the Semi-Slav Defense as Black.
"I must have done something wrong in the opening and sort of messed it up," Anand said.
He pointed to his 18th move as one possible mistake. Kramnik had the bishop pair and open lines for which Anand had scant compensation.
"My position was just better, but it was not so easy," Kramnik said.
Anand spent 23 minutes on his 20th move, leaving himself with only 27 minutes for the next 20 moves. Each player gets two hours for his first 40 moves.
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Trivia break
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The World Chess Championship match between Viswanathan Anand (India) and Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) in Bonn, Germany, started last Oct. 14. Here in brief are the match conditions:
Match will be from Oct. 14 to Nov. 2, 2008 and will consist of twelve games, played under classical time controls: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61. You will note that this is longer than the usual FIDE time control, which is 90 minutes plus 30 second increments starting move 1, which is the one used in chess Olympiads and most tournaments. For the candidates’ matches and world championships, though, where they want to preserve the quality aspect of the game, the longer so-called "classical" time controls prevail.
Trivia Break: The last Olympiad which used the classical time control was the one held in 2000 Istanbul. This is also the same Olympiad where the players were cautioned on their caffeine intake due to compulsory drug testing (in particular, coffee and coca-cola). However, they were also told that since alcohol is not a banned substance they may drink as much vodka as they want! Contemplate on that for a while.
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Defending Champ Is Turning World Title Match Into a Rout
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Through Friday, Viswanathan Anand of India, the champion, was leading Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, 5.5 to 2.5 points, with 6.5 points needed to clinch the title.
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Long a Player, Howard Stern Gets Serious About His Game
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In a phone interview, Stern said that he plays every day and prefers playing chess to doing just about anything else.
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Game 7 of Title Match Is Drawn
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The world championship match in Bonn, Germany, resumed today with a relatively uneventful draw in Game 7. If the score in the best-of-12 match was closer, the game would technically have been the start of the second half of the match. But with Viswanathan Anand of India, the champion, now holding a 5 to 2 advantage over Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, the former champion, the match seems likely to end prematurely. More information about the match and the players is on the match Web site.
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Anand wraps up the sixth game
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For Anatoly Karpov, the battle for the world title is virtually over. With Viswanathan Anand wrapping up the sixth game of the series against Vladimir Kramnik on Tuesday, this World chess championship match is fast threatening to be one of the most one-sided in history.
And Karpov has no doubt about the final result.
“I don’t think Kramnik has a way of coming back into the match. Only a miracle can save him. Anand is playing very good chess. Today, he was simply fantastic,” declared the 51-year-old who opened the 46-move game for Anand and stayed right through.
With a favourable 4.5-1.5 score at the halfway stage of the 12-game match, Anand is way ahead in what started as a battle among equals.
Kramnik’s state of mind is not difficult to gauge. If it were a boxing bout, Kramnik’s corner would have thrown in the towel. But they are helpless. And Anand is not yet through with Kramnik.
The words Karpov shared exclusively with The Hindu summed up what the former great thought of his countryman against an inspired Indian.
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Anand takes 3-point lead over Kramnik in chess
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For The Associated Press= BONN, Germany (AP) - India's Viswanathan Anand beat challenger Vladimir Kramnik again on Tuesday to put another nail in the coffin of the Russian challenger's fast-disappearing hopes of reclaiming the chess world championship.
The win a?? Anand's third in four games a?? gave the defending champion a 4.5-1.5 lead in their 12-game match. Such a streak is virtually unheard of in world championship match play, where the vast majority of games are drawn.
When Kramnik defeated then-world champion Garry Kasparov in 2000, for example, he won two games, while the other 13 were drawn. Kramnik lost the world championship to Anand last year.
Kramnik, who has never before lost three games out of four, has slim chances of digging himself out of his hole with only six games to go a?? three of them with the white pieces. That means Anand can afford to keep drawing in the remaining games.
Anand's ninth move, in a Classical Nimzo-Indian, was a prepared novelty that he later called "interesting because it forces him to start thinking very early."
Former world champion Anatoly Karpov of Russia said that "Kramnik's reaction was not good."
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Anand wins to take 2-point lead over Kramnik
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BONN, Germany: World chess champion Viswanathan Anand took a commanding two-point lead over challenger Vladimir Kramnik on Monday when the Russian handed him a victory by making a horrible blunder under time pressure.
The win gave Anand, of India, a 3.5-1.5 lead after five games in their 12-game match. It was Anand's second victory with the black pieces; the other three games have been drawn.
Kramnik called his situation "difficult but not completely hopeless."
Anand repeated the same line of the Meran Variation that brought him spectacular success in game three but varied from that game on move 15, thus sidestepping anything that Kramnik and his team might have come up with in the meantime.
Still, the outlines of the position were similar to the previous game.
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Anand, Kramnik draw in 4th game of chess match
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BONN, Germany (AP) — Defending champion Viswanathan Anand of India played to a 29-move draw with Russian challenger Vladimir Kramnik on Saturday in the fourth game of their world chess championship match.
Anand leads the 12-game match 2.5-1.5. He won the third game in spectacular style on Friday after the two men drew their opening games.
Saturday's draw was a tame affair in comparison with the previous day's game.
Anand had the white pieces and the opening was the solid Queen's Gambit Declined. As often happens in this opening, Black wound up with an isolated d-pawn and White had only the slightest chance of an advantage.
Kramnik summed the opening up after the game by saying that "White has to be very precise" to have an advantage. "One inaccurate move and it's a draw."
Indeed, Anand said that "Black was fairly comfortable" coming out of the opening.
The position seemed to be headed for a draw almost from the beginning. There was the usual maneuvering around the isolated pawn as White tried to prove that it was a weakness and Black tried to liquidate it.
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Just a Friendly Game, for the World Title
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A world championship chess match in Bonn, Germany, on Tuesday pairs Viswanathan Anand of India, the title holder, against Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, a former champion.
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Kramnik holds Anand to second draw in chess
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BONN, Germany (AP) — World chess champion Viswanathan Anand of India started the second game of his championship match against Russian challenger Vladimir Kramnik with a definite advantage Wednesday, but had to settle for a draw.
Still, it was a much more exciting game than the unspectacular opener to the match on Tuesday, which also ended in an draw.
Anand, playing with White, led with the Saemisch variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defense. His first move, 1. d4, was a minor surprise because he almost always leads with 1. e4 and it gave him a slight edge over Kramnik.
"At a certain point in the opening, the position became very sharp," Anand said.
Kramnik, of Russia, called the position "very complicated."
"Such a strange position is difficult to assess," he said.
Anand had a definite advantage, with the two bishops and some space.
"There was a brief moment when I thought it was going my way," Anand said.
He was unable, however, to find concrete plan to realize his advantage.
Both players criticized Kramnik's 21st move as overly optimistic — Kramnik, playing with Black, ceded control of e5 and was forced to sacrifice a pawn to regain control of that key central square.
Kramnik's compensation was that Anand's pieces were not well coordinated and his light-square bishop was poorly placed.
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Let battle commence
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The World Championship match between the title holder Vishy Anand of India and former champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia begins tomorrow at the Art and Exhibition Hall of Germany in Bonn. The contest will be the best of twelve games with speed chess tie breaks if the final score is 6-6. Although sanctioned by Fide, the match has been organised by Universal Event Promotion who also ran Kramnik’s battle with the computer program Deep Fritz in 2006. The main sponsor is Evonik Industries, a German chemical, energy and real estate conglomerate who have put up a one and half million Euro (1.2 million pounds) prize fund.
Anand took the undisputed title from Kramnik a year ago at a tournament in Mexico City after Kramnik had unified the titles by defeating Veselin Topalov in the infamous scandal-ridden ‘Toiletgate’ contest at Elista in 2006. This time there should be no nonsense as the players are quite good friends and the organisation is highly professional. Indeed it is a joy to see a world title match with proper commercial sponsorship. In addition to Evonik Industries there is additional support from the Russian energy giant Gazprom. The winner of this contest is scheduled to play the winner of a match between Topalov and Gata Kamsky but that is being organised, if that is the right word, by Fide and the details are still unclear.
Game one starts tomorrow at 2pm UK time and the schedule is two games every three days until game eleven after which there is an extra rest day. The Classical Chess time limit will be 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61.
online chess
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In Harlem, Kasparov Takes on 19 Opponents, Simultaneously
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Former world champion Garry Kasparov retired in 2005 to pursue politics in Russia, but he still gives simultaneous chess displays.
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'Little fish' nets a big win
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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