Tromso Chess 2014

Tromso 2014 starts Friday 1st August – Thursday 14th August

Click HERE for the schedule. These are some of the open teams that take part in this chess olympiad.

South Africa
Captain: CM Lyndon Bouah
Average Rating: 2327
1. IM Steel Henry Robert – 2399
2. IM Solomon Kenny – 2376
3. IM Kobese Watu – 2341
4. FM Van den Heever Donovan – 2277
5. IM Gluckman David – 2241

Azerbaijan
Captain: GM Alexander Khalifman
Average Rating: 2678
1. GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar – 2743
2. GM Radjabov Teimour – 2724
3. GM Mamedov Rauf – 2659
4. GM Safarli Eltaj – 2649
5. GM Guseinov Gadir – 2613

Norway 1
Captain: Ole Christian Moen
Average Rating: 2639
1. GM Carlsen Magnus – 2881
2. GM Agdestein Simen – 2628
3. GM Hammer Jon Ludvig – 2628
4. GM Johannessen Leif Erlend – 2528
5. GM Lie Kjetil A. – 2528

Netherlands
Captain: GM Vladimir B. Tukmakov
Average Rating: 2668
1. GM Giri Anish – 2752
2. GM Tiviakov Sergei – 2656
3. GM Van Wely Loek – 2654
4. GM L’Ami Erwin – 2647
5. GM Van Kampen Robin – 2631
Israel
Captain: IM Alexander Kaspi
Average Rating: 2670
1. GM Gelfand Boris – 2753
2. GM Rodshtein Maxim – 2672
3. GM Smirin Ilia – 2660
4. GM Postny Evgeny – 2641
5. GM Sutovsky Emil – 2625

England
Captain: GM Peter K Wells
Average Rating: 2673
1. GM Adams Michael – 2743
2. GM Short Nigel D – 2665
3. GM Jones Gawain – 2654
4. GM Sadler Matthew – 2653
5. GM Howell David – 2650

China
Captain: GM Jun Xu
Average Rating: 2679
1. GM Ding Liren – 2714
2. GM Wang Yue – 2713
3. GM Yu Yangyi – 2675
4. GM Ni Hua – 2653
5. GM Wei Yi – 2634

United States of America
Captain: IM John W. Donaldson
Average Rating: 2686
1. GM Nakamura Hikaru – 2775
2. GM Kamsky Gata – 2712
3. GM Onischuk Alexander – 2659
4. GM Akobian Varuzhan – 2653
5. GM Shankland Samuel L – 2632

Hungary
Captain: IM Tamas Horvath
Average Rating: 2693
1. GM Leko Peter – 2737
2. GM Rapport Richard – 2701
3. GM Almasi Zoltan – 2692
4. GM Polgar Judit – 2685
5. GM Balogh Csaba – 2648

France
Captain: GM Sebastien Maze
Average Rating: 2705
1. GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime – 2762
2. GM Bacrot Etienne – 2720
3. GM Fressinet Laurent – 2717
4. GM Edouard Romain – 2702
5. GM Tkachiev Vladislav – 2625

Russia
Captain: GM Yury Dokhoian
Average Rating: 2767
1. GM Grischuk Alexander – 2792
2. GM Kramnik Vladimir – 2783
3. GM Karjakin Sergey – 2771
4. GM Svidler Peter – 2753
5. GM Jakovenko Dmitry – 2736

Ukraine
Captain: GM Oleksandr Sulypa
Average Rating: 2714
1. GM Ivanchuk Vassily – 2738
2. GM Eljanov Pavel – 2723
3. GM Ponomariov Ruslan – 2723
4. GM Moiseenko Alexander – 2707
5. GM Korobov Anton – 2680

Click on THIS LINK to view more players and their profiles.

 

Picture:Chess News Agency

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At the Classics

Results: Round 4 – Saturday 12th December

On the way to the Olympia Centre – where the London Chess Classic is being held

Black bird in a tree

Hammersmith-area – traffic and weather

The players…

Kramnik looked away shyly when I winked at him [hehe] and Nigel suddenly said to Michael Adams…you know what, she’s the only woman around here![NOT – there were many others]

aha! got him smiling!

The stage

And everyone wants the best shot

And I got mine too

Kramnik watching the electronic board

The electronic board, we were allowed to click-click only the first 5 min into the games

A Semi-giant set in the foyer – a lovely set

Art in the foyer, do I see a pawn’s head in this piece of art – or is it my chess-brain working overtime?[hehe]

bikes outside

Headless London pawns lined-up – standing vigilant – for McShane’s and Howell’s game?

Into the night

My impression/opinion of the London Chess Classic

It was great to see these GM’s in real life, they are all great people and great players. It was great to see them playing  live on the stage, to see how they respond and their reactions during a tournament. I was very excited to see them as Kramnik is one of my favourite players. Carlsen too, as he’s young and many students can associate with him and he can be of an inspiration to many young players wanting to reach their goal of becoming a GM too?

The venue was great, it wasn’t my first time at the Olympia. If I can have a moan about a few things and maybe, just maybe someone will pick it up and do something about it. Firstly, the Ladies’ toilet near the auditorium was changed into a Gents room. The nearest Ladies was in the East Hall in a maze of corridors with doors enough to take 6mil people to heaven at any one time. I waited for an old lady as I knew she wasn’t going to find her way back. She was already stressed out when she saw me, saying she found it hard to find it – despite the little arrows you could follow. Secondly, the T-shirts were all in sizes Large -and up and then in a small, but no medium-sized-shirts. I was told by Philippa – the wife of Malcolm Pein [organiser of the tournament] – she’s an ex Saffa and spoke to me in Afrikaans, how nice! – that these shirts were not available in a medium-size- as they reasoned that females were not really going to buy it – duh! Was I going to be the only female wanting a shirt? Then I must be of a very rare specie! I did buy a large though, a mug and a pen. I think I will sleep in this large, baggy shirt.[lol]

The games. The chess games were great – sort of. I was very annoyed with Howell and McShane’s game. They didn’t have a good game, it was a boring game, right from the start. Later on I didn’t even follow their game on the board. Magnus played a good game up to a point and I lost interest. Kramnik’s game wasn’t up to the standard I expected from him and I didn’t follow his game – they finished first and quite early too. I was still thinking how to go about to get some autographs when Kramnik disappeared from the stage. One guy was lucky, he was near the exit on Kramnik’s side. You would think they would go to the foyer to mingle with the common chess players and where you can grab them for an autograph. I lost interest in all the games that were left and we left about 6pm. Our parking ticket was £25, all worth it, but will I do it again to see my favourite players in action? I don’t know, maybe. Maybe if us women don’t have to walk two miles for a ladies room, the chess games worth it and t-shirts in medium size [lol] [I must add, the first time I did use the toilet for disabled people, but I was given the look when I wanted to use it again]

On this photo I’m sitting on the right at the far end – you can’t see me! but you can see hubby on the left. The photo is from the official site. We played three games. We arrived at about 12:15-ish and played till about 13:40.

Denise Frick – South African-player taking part in the Women’s Invitational – image: Official site

Plippa – at the bookstall – image: Official site

The games

[Event “London Chess Classic”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2009.12.12”]
[Round “4”]
[White “Carlsen, Magnus “]
[Black “Nakamura, Hikaru “]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ChessCat “CHESSCAT 1.0”]
[ECO “D17”]
[Opening “QGD Slav”]
[PlyCount “90”]
[Variation “Czech defence”]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Nh4 Bc8 7.e3 e5 8.Bxc4 exd4 9.exd4 Be7 10.O-O O-O 11.Re1 Nd5 12.Nf3 Be6 13.Qb3 Na6 14.Bd2 Nab4 15.Ne4 Bf5 16.Ne5 a5 17.Nc5 Bxc5 18.dxc5 Qc7 19.Bxb4 Nxb4 20.Qf3 Be6 21.Bxe6 fxe6 22.Qb3 Qe7 23.Nf3 Nd5 24.Rac1 Rf4 25.Ne5 Raf8 26.Nd3 Rd4 27.Rc4 Rxc4 28.Qxc4 Qf6 29.g3 Rd8 30.Kg2 Qf5 31.Nc1 Rf8 32.Qe2 Nc7 33.Nd3 Rd8 34.Ne5 Rd5 35.Kg1 Rxc5 36.Nc4 Qf8 37.Rd1 Rd5 38.Rxd5 exd5 39.Qe5 dxc4 40.Qxc7 Qb4 41.Qc8+ Kf7 42.Qf5+ Ke7 43.Qe5+ Kf7 44.Qf5+ Ke7 45.Qe5+ Kf7
1/2-1/2

[Event “London Chess Classic”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2009.12.12”]
[Round “4”]
[White “Kramnik, Vladimir “]
[Black “Adams, Michael”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ChessCat “CHESSCAT 1.0”]
[ECO “D37”]
[Opening “QGD”]
[PlyCount “92”]
[Variation “classical variation (5.Bf4)”]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 Nbd7 7.a3 c5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.dxc5 Nxc5 11.Be5 Bg4 12.Be2 Ne6 13.h3 Bxf3 14.Bxf3 d4 15.Bxd4 Nxd4 16.Qxd4 Qxd4 17.exd4 Rac8 18.O-O Rc7 19.Rad1 Rd8 20.Rfe1 Kf8 21.Re2 g6 22.g3 Bf6 23.d5 Be7 24.Kg2 Bd6 25.Rde1 Rc5 26.Be4 Rdc8 27.f4 Rc1 28.Kf3 Rxe1 29.Rxe1 Rc5 30.g4 a5 31.a4 Rc4 32.b3 Rc3+ 33.Re3 Rxe3+ 34.Kxe3 h6 35.f5 gxf5 36.Bxf5 Ke7 37.h4 f6 38.Bc8 b6 39.Ke4 Bg3 40.h5 Bh4 41.Kf5 Bg5 42.Kg6 Kd6 43.Be6 Ke7 44.Bc8 Kd6 45.Be6 Ke7 46.Bc8 Kd6
1/2-1/2

[Event “London Chess Classic”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2009.12.12”]
[Round “4”]
[White “Short, Nigel”]
[Black “Ni Hua “]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ChessCat “CHESSCAT 1.0”]
[ECO “C11”]
[Opening “French”]
[PlyCount “127”]
[Variation “Burn variation”]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Nbd7 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.c3 h6 8.Bh4 c5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Qf3 cxd4 11.Bb5+ Ke7 12.Ne2 Qd5 13.Qxd5 exd5 14.Nxd4 f5 15.O-O-O Kf6 16.Ne2 Be6 17.Nf4 Rd8 18.Bc4 d4 19.Bxe6 fxe6 20.Rxd4 Bc5 21.Rxd8 Rxd8 22.Nh3 h5 23.Re1 e5 24.Re2 e4 25.Kc2 h4 26.f3 Re8 27.fxe4 fxe4 28.b4 Bd6 29.Rf2+ Ke5 30.Ng1 Rg8 31.g3 hxg3 32.hxg3 Rxg3 33.Ne2 Rf3 34.Rg2 Kd5 35.Nd4 Rh3 36.Nb5 Be5 37.Rd2+ Ke6 38.Nd4+ Bxd4 39.Rxd4 Rh2+ 40.Kb3 Re2 41.a4 e3 42.Kc4 Ra2 43.a5 e2 44.Re4+ Kd6 45.Kd3 b6 46.axb6 axb6 47.Rxe2 Rxe2 48.Kxe2 b5 49.Kd2 Ke6 50.Kd1 Kd5 51.Kc2 Kd6 52.Kd2 Ke6 53.Ke3 Ke5 54.Kd3 Kd5 55.c4+ bxc4+ 56.Kc3 Kc6 57.Kxc4 Kb6 58.b5 Kb7 59.Kc5 Kc7 60.b6+ Kb7 61.Kb5 Kb8 62.Kc6 Kc8 63.b7+ Kb8 64.Kb6
1/2-1/2

[Event “London Chess Classic”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2009.12.12”]
[Round “4”]
[White “McShane, Luke “]
[Black “Howell, David “]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ChessCat “CHESSCAT 1.0”]
[ECO “A15”]
[Opening “English opening”]
[PlyCount “79”]

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.Ne5 Qd6 7.Nxc6 Qxc6 8.Qxc6+ bxc6 9.g3 Bg7 10.Bg2 Rb8 11.b3 O-O 12.Bb2 Nxc3 13.Bxc3 Bxc3 14.dxc3 c5 15.O-O-O Rb6 16.c4 Rd6 17.Rd5 Bb7 18.Rxd6 Bxg2 19.Rdd1 Bxh1 20.Rxh1 Rd8 21.Rd1 Rxd1+ 22.Kxd1 Kf8 23.Kd2 Ke8 24.Ke3 Kd7 25.g4 f6 26.Ke4 Ke6 27.h3 f5+ 28.Kf4 Kf6 29.g5+ Ke6 30.e4 fxe4 31.Kxe4 Kd6 32.f4 e6 33.h4 a6 34.a3 a5 35.Kf3 e5 36.Ke4 exf4 37.Kxf4 Ke6 38.Ke4 Kd6 39.Kf4 Ke6 40.Ke4
1/2-1/2

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Opus 8 at the Classics

Magnus Carlsen from Norway – is he the Mozart of Chess?

The Big Eight

and…this is my ticket for Saturday!

Click HERE for the Official site. The link will open in a new window.

Standings after round 3

Enjoy the Music of Mozart – Piano Concerto no 20 in D Minor

Pairings for round 4 – Saturday 12th December – I was hoping to see Carlsen vs Kramnik in action, but…you can’t have your bread on both sides buttered…

Howell vs Carlsen – round 3

Womens Invitational-section

Denise Frick –  South African WIM is taking part in this section

David Howell and Magnus Carlsen round 3 – draw

Howell vs Carlsen – move 48  round 3

Howell vs Carlsen move 60 round 3

Howell vs Carlsen – move 79 – 1/2 round 3

Magnus Carlsen: the rise and rise of chess’s answer to Mozart

If Magnus Carlsen had not had an elder sister, he would never have been gnawed by sibling rivalry, and if he had not been gnawed by sibling rivalry, he might never have become a world-famous chess-player. On such accidents of birth, genius can depend.

“I first tried interesting Magnus in the game when he was four or five,” says Henrik Carlsen, father of the precocious Norwegian teenager, just turned 19, who has been called the Mozart of chess. “But he was too young. It was only when he was eight, watching me play chess with his elder sister, Ellen, that he caught the chess bug in earnest. By the age of nine, he was able to beat me. By the age of 13, he was an international grandmaster.”
Not just a grandmaster, one of the elite of world chess, but at 13 years, four months and 27 days, one of the youngest Grandmasters in the history of the game. That turbulent American genius Bobby Fischer did not become a grandmaster until he was 15 and a half, middle-aged in comparison, while Russia’s Garry Kasparov, often regarded as the greatest chess-player of all time, was 17, practically senile, before he reached the same mark.

It is the sheer precociousness of the young Norwegian – Carlsen is now ranked number one in the world – that has captured the imagination of chess lovers, who will be able to see him in action at the London Chess Classic next week. The comparisons with Mozart are inescapable. Kasparov has now retired from top-flight chess, but is so fascinated by the prospects of this Scandinavian wunderkind that he has signed up as his coach. Imagine being a fly on the wall at their training sessions. The intellectual voltage would kill you.

Carlsen sounds mildly irritated when the Mozart comparison is wheeled out. “I’m not sure why people have to talk like that. It’s not something I ever think about.” But he concedes that the life of a chess prodigy can sometimes be lonely. “I think that’s the price of success in many walks of life. If you want to get to the top, there’s always the risk that it will isolate you from other people.”

Ultimately, it is a love of the game, the Norwegian insists, not some stern work ethic, that drives him on. “I spend hours playing chess because I find it so much fun. The day it stops being fun is the day I give up. Without the element of enjoyment, it is not worth trying to excel at anything.”

As for Carlsen’s genius – and one can hardly avoid the word – there were clues long before he started showing his paces at chess. Before he was two, he could solve jigsaw puzzles with more than 50 pieces. From jigsaws he graduated to Lego, constructing models that would have challenged teenagers. Feats of memory came easily to him. By the age of five, scarily, he knew the area, population, flag and capital of every country in the world.

“Boys are very good at focusing their attention on one thing at a time,” reflects his father. “Girls are better at multitasking. I would not say Magnus is naturally hard-working. In fact, he can be quite lazy at times. But when he is following his intuition and curiosity, there is no stopping him.”

If the life of a child chess prodigy can be quite intense, Carlsen has not been put under relentless pressure by ambitious parents. Instead he has enjoyed a normal, even outgoing, childhood. In 2003, when he was still 12, his parents took him and his sisters out of school for a year, packed them into a minibus and, in the adventure of a lifetime, embarked on a tour of Europe.

The itinerary was partly dictated by the international chess tournaments in which Carlsen was due to play. But there was also time for sightseeing, museum visits, even three weeks on a beach in Crete. What an exhilarating contrast to normal schooling.

You could never call Magnus Carlsen normal, not with his extraordinary talents. But if his natural milieu is the chessboard, there is a part of him that loves the great outdoors, fresh air and physical exercise. Ask him if he would rather have been a world-famous footballer than a chess-player, and his answer might surprise chess fans.

“I would probably have to say yes. Who could resist being a famous footballer? Chess only appeals to quite a small minority. It does not have the cachet of a mainstream popular sport.”

What lessons from his childhood would he want to pass on to his own children, if and when he has them? “I can’t say I’ve given that much thought. I guess what my parents taught me is that, as a parent, you need to be supportive without being pushy. They were very happy to let me play in tournaments and made sacrifices so that I could, but they didn’t force their own agenda on me. They let me follow my own enthusiasms.”

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