The Candidates Chess 2013

Kramnik overtakes Carlsen in the
 lead after dramatic 12th round FIDE Candidates. Follow the link to read the complete report on round 12.

Round 13

Round 13
Round 14
Round 14
Round 14 – Final moves

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Aerosvit 2008 International Chess Tournament

Magnus Carlsen winner with a total of 8 and Ivanchuk in 2nd place with a total of 7 games.

 Image: http://ukrchess.org.ua/aerosvit2008/foto_e.htm

 

 

The final standings:
1	Carlsen	2765	*	1	½	1	½	½	1	½	½	1	1	½	8
2	Ivanchuk	2740	0	*	½	1	½	½	1	1	½	½	1	½	7
3	Karjakin	2732	½	½	*	½	0	1	½	½	½	1	½	½	6
4	Eljanov	2687	0	0	½	*	1	½	1	½	½	½	½	1	6
5	Volokitin	2684	½	½	1	0	*	0	½	1	½	½	0	1	5½
6	Jakovenko	2711	½	½	0	½	1	*	0	½	½	½	1	½	5½
7	Shirov	2740	0	0	½	0	½	1	*	½	1	0	1	1	5½
8	Alekseev	2711	½	0	½	½	0	½	½	*	1	1	0	½	5
9	Svidler	2746	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	0	*	½	½	1	5
10	Nisipeanu	2684	0	½	0	½	½	½	1	0	½	*	1	½	5
11	Van Wely	2677	0	0	½	½	1	0	0	1	½	0	*	½	4
12	Onischuk	2664	½	½	½	0	0	½	0	½	0	½	½	*	3½

Standings after round 7…source: Chessgames

Please click Chessgames here to follow the results of games and to play through games played on any particular day!

If you click on the link of CHESSCLUB you can watch the “game of the day” on a movie!

Round 11 : Final round…results

Svidler, Peter ½ – ½ Van Wely, Loek
Ivanchuk, Vassily 1-0 Eljanov, Pavel
Karjakin, Sergey ½ – ½ Carlsen, Magnus
Volokitin, Andrei 1 – 0 Alekseev, Evgeny
Jakovenko, Dmitry ½ – ½ Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter
Onischuk, Alexander 0 – 1 Shirov, Alexei

Carlsen still leading!

Round 10 : Results

Van Wely, Loek 0 – 1 Ivanchuk, Vassily
Eljanov, Pavel ½ – ½ Karjakin, Sergey
Carlsen, Magnus ½ – ½  Volokitin, Andrei
Alekseev, Evgeny ½ – ½ Jakovenko, Dmitry
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter ½ – ½ Onischuk, Alexander
Shirov, Alexei 1 – 0 Svidler, Peter

Round 9 results:

Karjakin, Sergey ½ – ½ Van Wely, Loek
Volokitin, Andrei 0 – 1 Eljanov, Pavel
Jakovenko, Dmitry ½ – ½ Carlsen, Magnus
Onischuk, Alexander ½ – ½ Alekseev, Evgeny
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 1 – 0 Shirov, Alexei
Ivanchuk, Vassily ½ – ½ Svidler, Peter

Results: Round 8

Van Wely, Loek 1 – 0 Volokitin, Andrei
Eljanov, Pavel ½ – ½ Jakovenko, Dmitry
Carlsen, Magnus ½ – ½ Onischuk, Alexander
Alekseev, Evgeny 1 – 0 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter
Svidler, Peter ½ – ½ Karjakin, Sergey
Shirov, Alexei 0 – 1 Ivanchuk, Vassily

Round 7  results:

Jakovenko, Dmitry 1 – 0 Van Wely, Loek
Onischuk, Alexander 0 – 1 Eljanov, Pavel
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 0 – 1 Carlsen, Magnus
Alekseev, Evgeny ½ – ½ Shirov, Alexei
Volokitin, Andrei ½ – ½ Svidler, Peter
Karjakin, Sergey ½ – ½ Ivanchuk, Vassily

Please click HERE to play through games of round 7.

Magical Magnus conjures win over Shirov

Round 5 at Foros and yet another elite Grandmaster crumbles in the face of Magnus Carlsen’s relentless pressure.  Alexei Shirov is a formidable player and has himself come close to the World Championship crown, but today he became Carlsen’s latest victim.

Shirov answered 1.d4 with the Slav defence and Magnus chose the popular ‘Moscow’ variation in reply.  A balanced opening developed into an even middlegame, but as in previous games, Magnus kept creating tricky problems for his opponent to solve and soon Shirov fell into time trouble as he sought to find the best answers.

It was on the 61st move that Shirov finally cracked, allowing Magnus to catch his King in a mating net.

Elsewhere on another exciting day, the closest challenger to Magnus failed to keep up the pace as Sergey Karjakin lost with the Black pieces against Andrei Volokitin.   The other decisive games saw Nisipeanu put Van Wely to the sword in a Najdorf Sicilian and Svidler employed his favourite Grunfeld defence to good effect against Onischuk.

Vassily Ivanchuk fought hard against Dmitry Jakovenko, but an extra pawn in a Knight ending was not enough and the game ended all-square after 72 moves.

Magnus Carlsen now leads by a clear 1.5 points with a very impressive score of 4.5/5.  If the world rankings were published today then Carlsen would be ranked second in the world, with only World Champion Vishy Anand ahead of him.
Please click HERE to play through the games of round 5…played on the 12th June.

 Source of article….about round 5: http://www.chess.com

Round 6  results!

Van Wely, Loek ½ – ½ Onischuk, Alexander
Eljanov, Pavel ½ – ½ Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter
Carlsen, Magnus ½ – ½ Alekseev, Evgeny
Svidler, Peter ½ – ½ Jakovenko, Dmitry
Ivanchuk, Vassily ½ – ½ Volokitin, Andrei
Shirov, Alexei ½ – ½ Karjakin, Sergey

Ukrainian Chess Federation
International Chess Tournament from 7-20 June 2008
Please click
HERE to play through the games of round 1 and on THIS LINK you can see the results of rounds 2 and 3.
On THIS LINK you can play through games played in round 2.

Results Round 3

Carlsen, Magnus 1 – 0 Van Wely, Loek
Eljanov, Pavel 1 – 0 Shirov, Alexei
Alekseev, Evgeny 1 – 0 Svidler, Peter
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter ½ – ½ Ivanchuk, Vassily
Onischuk, Alexander ½ – ½ Karjakin, Sergey
Jakovenko, Dmitry 1 – 0 Volokitin, Andrei

Standings …Round 4

Van Wely, Loek vs Alekseev, Evgeny
Eljanov, Pavel vs Carlsen, Magnus
Svidler, Peter vs Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter
Ivanchuk, Vassily vs Onischuk, Alexander
Karjakin, Sergey vs Jakovenko, Dmitry
Shirov, Alexei vs Volokitin, Andrei

 

Day of Rest…Balaklava…

~Day of Rest…Balaklava…Images: Official site of Aerosvit

Magnus Carlsen, Norway, 2765

Peter Svidler, Russia, 2746

Vasiliy Ivanchuk, Ukraine, 2740

Alexei Shirov, Spain, 2740

Sergey Karjakin, Ukraine, 2732

Dmitry Jakovenko, Russia, 2711

Evgeny Alekseev, Russia, 2711

Pavel Eljanov, Ukraine, 2687
See 4 more players’ photos HERE with more information on all players.The list of participants:

1. Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2765

2. Svidler, Peter RUS 2746

3. Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR 2740

4. Shirov, Alexei ESP 2740

5. Karjakin, Sergey UKR 2732

6. Jakovenko, Dmitry RUS 2711

7. Alekseev, Evgeny RUS 2711

8. Eljanov, Pavel UKR 2687

9. Volokitin, Andrei UKR 2684

10. Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter ROU 2684

11. Van Wely, Loek NED 2676

12. Onischuk, Alexander USA 2664

June 8th, 2008, Round 1, Time 15:00…ALL rounds start at 15:00 —every day!
June 9th, Round 2
June 10th, Round 3
June 11th, Round 4
June 12th, Round 5
June 13th, Round 6
June 14th, REST DAY
June 15th, Round 7
June 16th, Round 8
June 17th, Round 9
June 18th, Round 10
June 19th, Round 11

Round 2 Magnus Carlsen

 

Image: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/31/55750874_ac414c2849.jpg

Church on the Rock…Foros…

Foros, Crimea is the settlement in the Ukraine where this tournament is taking place…

 

The region is also known as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and lies on the northern coast of the Black Sea. The population is two million inhabitants, the capital is the city of Simferopol.

Foros, where the AeroSvit tournament is held, is a small village situated about 40 km from Yalta, in the southern part of Crimea. The climate conditions are gorgeous. Foros is the place were the dacha (summer-house) of the President of Ukraine is situated. The Russian writer Maxim Gorkiy lived and worked for some time in Foros. Today Ukrainian politicians and businessmen own summer houses there. Students spend their summers in Foros. There is the orthodox Foros Church and a beautiful national park. What is also good in Foros – you spell the name of the village exactly the way you pronounce it – F-o-r-o-s.

Source: chessbase

Last 2 Images: chessbase

In Foros, you will get this monument about Yuri Gagarin, the first man in Space!
Click HERE to read more about him.

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M-Tel Masters Chess 2008

Results round 5: Please click HERE to play through the games of round 5….and it seems to me that…Ivanchuk is on his way to fame!
The results in round 5:

Veselin Topalov 1-0 Bu Xiangzhi
Levon Aronian 0-1 Vassily Ivanchuk
Ivan Cheparinov ½-½ Teimour Radjabov
Click on THIS LINK to play through a few games from the first 3 rounds and also, see 2 videos of Ivanchuck’s games in rounds 4 and 5….

 Results of rounds 2-4

Please click HERE to play through the games of round 2 and to see the standings after round 2! The games take a few seconds to load.
If you click HERE you can view the games of round 3 and the standings after round 3…the games take a few seconds to load…

Results of round 4:
On THIS LINK you can play through the games of round 4 and see the results.

The positions after round 4:
Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR 2740 4
Topalov, Veselin BUL 2767 2½
Radjabov, Teimour AZE 2751 1½
Aronian, Levon ARM 2763 1½
Cheparinov, Ivan BUL 2696 1½
Bu Xiangzhi CHN 2708 1

 
Please click HERE for the MTEL site and live games…on the side bar of my blog you will find the MTEL-link to live links too.
The M-Tel Masters tournament will take place between the 8th and the 18th May in Sofia, Bulgaria. The competitors in this ultra-strong double round-robin tournament are:

Veselin Topalov Bulgaria ELO 2767
Vassily Ivanchuk Ukraine ELO 2740
Levon Aronian Armenia ELO 2763
Teimour Radjabov Azerbaijan ELO 2751
Ivan Cheparinov Bulgaria ELO 2695
Bu Xiangzhi China ELO 2708

This event forms part of the ‘Grand Slam’ circuit which also includes the tournaments at Wijk Aan Zee, Moreila/Linares and Mexico City. The four winners of these tournaments will play against one another in a final tournament in Bilbao in September. Info…chess.com

Schedule

Blindfold: Topalov vs Juett (winner in the game Play like Topalov 2007): May 06, 19.00 EEST (16.00 UTC))
Press conference: May 07, 12.00 EEST (09.00 UTC)
Official opening: May 07, 18.00 EEST (15.00 UTC)
Cocktail party: May 07, 19.00 EEST (16.00 UTC)

Round 1: May 08, 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)
Round 2: May 09, 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)
Round 3: May 10, 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)
Round 4: May 11, 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC) 
Round 5: May 12, 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)

Rest Day: May 13
Football: FC Levski vs Chess United
May 13, 12.00 EEST (09.00 UTC)

Round 6: May 14, 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC) 
Round 7: May 15, 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC) 
Round 8: May 16, 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC) 
Round 9: May 17, 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC) 
Round 10: May 18, 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)

Tie breaks: 19.00 EEST (16.00 UTC)
Closing ceremony: 20.00 EEST (17.00 UTC)
Cocktail party: 21.00 EEST (18.00 UTC)

 

Image:chessbase

 

 

Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria

Five things to see in Sofia

Bulgaria joined the EU in January and Sofia, its capital, is ready for visitors. It may not be as glamorous as those favorite eastern European capitals, Prague and Budapest, but this city of just over a million, surrounded by snow-covered peaks, is a pleasant surprise.

Start at the statue
Almost everything is in the center of town and can be visited on foot. Start a tour at the statue of St. Sofia, the city’s patron whose golden statue was erected atop a tall pedestal five years ago. The citizens of Sofia are said to love the statue but the church condemns it, contending that it is not a religious rendition of a saint. They may have a point: The golden saint, wearing a form-fitting gown with a plunging neckline, looks more like a Greek goddess.

Roman remains by the rotunda
Head over to the Sheraton hotel, which was built in front of the oldest and best preserved building in Sofia, the 4th-century St. George Rotunda. This ancient church is surrounded by ruins of the Roman town of Serdica. Within the structure, three layers of frescoes were discovered, the oldest dating to the 10th century.
Battenburg Square
Walk through Alexander Battenburg Square, named after the man who became the country’s first prince in 1879 when the country was liberated from 400 years of occupation by the Turks. Pass the National Art Gallery, a yellow building which was the former royal palace, and continue down Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard past the Russian Church of St. Nicholas. This is Sofia’s prettiest church with a bright yellow-tiled exterior, gilded domes, and an emerald green spire, all sparkling in the sun-a delightful jewel in the midst of the busy city. It was built in 1913 in the traditional Moscow decorative style as the project of a Russian architect.

St. Alexander Nevski
The golden dome of St. Alexander Nevski Cathedral, the city’s largest place of worship, dominates the skyline. Built between 1908 and 1912, it commemorates the 200,000 Russian soldiers who perished in the Bulgarian War of Liberation.

The majority of Bulgarians are Christian Orthodox and their churches are lavishly decorated with frescoes, icons, chandeliers-and candles. Some are dark and mysterious places with just the flickering of candles casting a soft glow on the silver that covers many of the icons. Thanks to large clear windows, St. Alexander Nevski is brighter than most orthodox churches.

Markets
There’s a lively and colorful street market near the church. Everything from Russian fur hats and lacquered boxes to icons, embroidery, and flea market bric-a-brac is for sale. And on Vitosha Boulevard, the city’s main shopping thoroughfare, pedestrians saunter down the middle of the street, which is closed to all traffic except trams, and is as busy as the city’s covered market. In the middle of the market hall, surrounded by shops-bakeries, butchers, vegetable stands, and souvenir boutiques-are a fountain and two popular restaurant/bar complexes.

Source: Internationalliving.com

 

Sofia is the capital of Bulgaria. The city was founded around 7 000 years ago in a close proximity to the Vitosha Mountain and has now turned into a real cosmopolitan city. As it is with other capitals, Sofia is the centre of the political, cultural and business life in Bulgaria. The city offers many international events, as well as theatres, operas, concert halls, museums and galleries. The place is also suitable for congresses, symposia, meetings and conferences because its business centre and hotels are very near the centre of the city. For the comfort-lovers there are many luxurious five, four and three-stars hotels. And for those who want comfort, rest and tranquility, there are many small private hotels in Sofia’s surroundings.

Read more: bulgaria-trips.info/Sofia/sofia.html

image:bghouses.com

The Mtel Chess Masters Round 2- Images: Mtel Official site

 

Shirov vs Topalov Round 2 move 7

Ivanchuk vs Wang round 2 move 7

Dominguez vs Carlsen round 2 move 7

Dominguez vs Carlsen round 2 end position 1/2

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