Tromso Chess Round 5

Norwegian camera teams may have been swarming around Magnus Carlsen before his meeting with world number two Levon Aronian, but the serious chess spectators had eyes firmly fixed on the start of Kramnik-Topalov, where the feud that began in their acrimonious 2006 world title match has resulted in permanently frosty relations.

by GM Jonathan Tisdall

Some of the games played today round 5. On this link you can follow the live games or play through games already played in previous rounds.

Tromso round 5: Topalov vs Kramnik

Round 5: Kramnik vs Topalov 1-0

Round 5: Ivan Cheparinov vs Peter Svidler 1/2-1/2
Round 5: Aronian vs Carlsen 1/2-1/2

Round 5: Barileng Gaealafshwe vs Kenny Solomon 0-1
On this youtube.com/watch?v=-xABHJdf31o link you can see Kenny as South Africa’s Chess Grandmaster and it’s strange that Fide still has him as an IM on his profile here: ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=14300192 Melissa Greeff is South Africa’s first Women Chess Grandmaster.

Chess art at Tromso

Read Full Post »

First Chess Grandmaster for South Africa!

Kenny Solomon
This is very exciting news for South Africa and South African Chess players. We’ve been waiting for a Chess Grandmaster. We knew it was just a matter of time…and the time has come! Congratulations to Kenny! Proudly South African!

September 11 2012 at 10:01am

Cape Town – A Mitchells Plain father who grew up in the township and played his first game of chess at 13, has become South Africa’s first chess grandmaster.

Kenny Solomon, 32 was in a team of five South Africans at the 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul for two weeks.

When results were announced at the weekend, he was one of eight international contestants awarded grandmaster – a title held for life. It is the highest title a player can attain and had been awarded to greats like Garry Kasparov and the late Bobby Fisher. To become a grandmaster a player must have a performance rating consistently above 2 500.

Solomon could not be reached as he was flying from Turkey to Italy, but Anant Dole, whom he taught chess for five years, said his rating had been around 2 600 over nine rounds at the Olympiad as well as at three other previous tournaments.

“The best rating in the world is 2 880. Kenny has been working very hard for the grandmaster title – even while he trained me he was preparing himself. He deserves it.”

Dole who lives in Constantia said Solomon moved to Italy last year to hone his skills.

“Playing top-class chess in South Africa is very difficult because there are few top-class players. Kenny was number one here, but for him it was not enough,” Dole, 19 said. He said Solomon was married with a daughter.

On his blog, Solomon said he started playing in Mitchells Plain aged 13 after his older brother, Maxwell, was flown to Manila to play in an Olympiad.

He began reading chess books, taught himself and in two years won the national championship. Also on the blog were messages, including one from a Sharon Snell who wrote: “South Africa’s first grandmaster. You are an inspiration to us all.”

Cultural Affairs and Sport MEC Ivan Meyer said: “We await with great excitement for the confirmation of his new status … making him only the second chess player from sub-Saharan Africa and only the eighth in Africa to ever achieve this.”

Please click HERE to read the original article.

Melissa Greeff – South Africa’s first Woman Grandmaster – since 2009

Read about Melissa on this link.

More Titles – source: chessa

More titles… Steel & van den Heever Wednesday 12 September 2012

Congratulations to Henry Steel who was awarded the title of International Master (IM) for his sterling performance at the 2012 FIDE Olympiad.  Henry’s rating also surpassed the 2400 mark.  And congratulations to Donovan van den Heever who is awarded the title of FIDE Master (FM) for his rating breaking the 2300 barrier.  Well done guys!.

Read Full Post »

Dresden Games

If you click on the logo, you will get taken to the official site of Dresden and the “Live” image will take you straight to the “live”-games-link. On this link you can play through games played in round 8. Players from the SA team and also GM’s like Boris Gelfand, Magnus Carlsen, Ivan Cheparinov, Alexei Shirov, Topalov, Yelena Dembo, Nigel Short, Peter Leko, etc. The link will open in a new window. You can now play through two games, I will add more soon when I’ve got more time!
Please click HERE to play through the game of Kamsky and Ivanchuck and a few other players in round 11, the final round on chess.com. The link will open in a new window.
http://chessaleeinlondon.blogspot.com/2008/11/dresden-olympiad-2008.html

On this next link you can play through games of round 6. The SA-team games plus games of Kramnik and Ivanchuk. The link will also open in a new window.

http://chessaleeinlondon.blogspot.com/2008/11/south-africa-dresden-and-round-6.html

See more chess graphics and results of the SA-team on this link which will open in a new window.

https://chessaleeinlondon.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/dresden-chess-olympiad-2008/

GM Eduardo Iturrizaga..Watu Kobese’s opponent in round 9

More games to play through will be added soon, also games of about 15 GM’s. So, keep watching this space!

Statistics of Eduardo

Statistics of Watu

Watu Kobese..image: chessaol

Melissa Greeff Image: chessaol.wordpress.com

Melissa: Statistics…Melissa has a personal score of 6.5 so far at the Olympiad, a score not many other females could equal in this tournament. Well done to Melissa!

Results of the ladies after round 10…you can see Melissa having 7 out of 9…she didn’t play in round 5.

Please click HERE to play through the game of Melissa Greeff in round 9 played on the 22nd November at the Chess Olympiad 2008. Links in this post will all open in new windows.

Please click HERE to play through Watu Kobese’s game played in round 9.

Please click HERE to play through the game of Kenny Solomon played in round 9.

Please click HERE to play through the game of Carmen de Jager in round 9.

Please click HERE to play through the game of Anzel Solomons played in round 9.

Please click HERE to play through the game of Daniel Cawdery played in round 9 vs Jose Sequera Paolini of Venezuela.

Melissa Greeff round 10 move 27

Dresden round 10 Melissa Greeff  end position…1/2

Round 10 move list: Melissa Greeff, see the last move with the chess graphics

Dresden round 10: Results of the ladies – SA vs Scotland

Image: chessaol.wordpress.com

Kenny’s game – 1/2

Dresden round 10: Results of the men’s team

Dresden round 11: Results of the SA Ladies against UAE…3-1..well done ladies!

SA ladies on the left..image: chessaol.wordpress.com

Dresden round 11 Results of the SA men against IPCA (International Chess Organisation for Physically Disabled)…3-1..well done boys!

SA men on the right..image: chessaol.wordpress.com

The Gaprindashvili Cup – click on the image for a clear view, or follow this link: The link will open in a new window.

http://chessforall.co.za/tournaments/tourreps/olympiad_dresden/newsitems.php?page=newsitems/olym_dres_n10.html 

 

Dresden top 10 Africa countries…South Africa is second in the Africa-group image: chessforall.co.za

Dresden: Top 20 countries: Gaprindashvilicup

Dresden rankings: SA ranked in position no 58

Dresden final standings: Top 20 countries after round 11 – click on the image for a clear view. South Africa is in position 56.

Dresden Top 10 Women: Image: chess.com

Countries represented at Dresden

Please click HERE to play through the game of Cheparinov in round 9.

Please click HERE to play through the game of Radjabov in round 9.
more games of the masters to follow a bit later!

Radjabov: Image: Official site of Dresden

Read Full Post »

Dresden-Chess Olympiad 2008

Chess Games of Round 8: South African chess players as well as: Magnus Carlsen, Boris Gelfand, Ivan Cheparinov, Topalov, Radjabov, Yelena Dembo and a few more GrandMaster-games to play through on my blogger-blog, please click on the link here and it will open in a new window.

http://chessaleeinlondon.blogspot.com/2008/11/dresden-olympiad-2008.html

Click on the logo and you will be taken to the Official site and the “live” link will take you straight away to the live-games! Both links will open in a new page.

Please click HERE to see more results of games played in round 1 and round 2. The link will open in a new window. Please click HERE to see lots of South African Chess player-pics and to see the results of rounds 3-6. At the bottom of this post you will find a link to play through games of round 5, where South Africa played Luxembourg.

On this link…see their games of round 6 and you can play through their games interactively. Also, the games of Kramnik and Ivanchuk (my favourite) of round 6 can be found on this link. The page will open in a new link.

http://chessaleeinlondon.blogspot.com/2008/11/south-africa-dresden-and-round-6.html

Schedule: Dresden

From L-R: Anzel Solomons, Melissa Greeff, Jenine Ellappin, Carmen de Jager, Monique Sischy

LtoR: Watu Kobese, Kenny Solomon, Henry Steel, Daniel Cawdery, Johannes Mabusela

Dresden Olympiad 2008 Round 7

Ladies team against Guatemala and the mens team against the Faroe Islands

Results: See the chess graphics

Dresden round 7: Anzel Solomons move 14…0-1

Dresden round 7:  Melissa Greeff move 12…1-0

Dresden round 7 Carmen de Jager  move 18..1-0

Dresden round 7 Monique Sischy move 7…0-1

Dresden round 7 Watu Kobese move 11…1-0

Dresden round 7 Kenny Solomon move 18…1-0

Dresden round 7 Daniel Cawdery move 14…1/2

Dresden round 7 Johannes Mabusela move 17…0-1

Round 8: South Africa vs Cyprus: Mens team

Round 8: South Africa vs Bosnia Herzegovina: Ladies team

Dresden round 8 Watu Kobese…1-0

Dresden round 8 Kenny Solomon…0-1

Dresden round 8 Henry Steel…1-0

Dresden round 8 Johannes Mabusela…1/2

Dresden round 8 Anzel Solomons …0-1

Dresden round 8 Melissa Greeff move 19

Dresden round 8 Melissa Greeff…0-1

Dresden round 8 Jenine Ellappen …0-1

Dresden round 8 Monique Sischy…1-0

Results: rounds 5-9 South African ladies’ team…Round 9 was played today, Saturday 22nd November. Click on the image for a clear view.

 

Results: rounds 5-9 South African men’s team. Round 9 was played today, 22nd November. Click on the image for a clear view.

Read Full Post »

South Africa at Dresden 2008

Please click HERE to see more results of games played in round 1 and round 2. The link will open in a new window. At the bottom of this post you will find a link to play through games of round 5, where South Africa played Luxembourg.

On this link you can play through games played in round 6. The link will open in a new window.

http://chessaleeinlondon.blogspot.com/2008/11/south-africa-dresden-and-round-6.html

 

Click on the top image/logo to access the official site of Dresen 2008, it will open in a new window and on the “live” image for the live games.

 

South African players: Men

South African players: Ladies

Dresden Schedule

The South African women’s team at Dresden

All images in this post: HERE the official chess blog of Chess SA. The link will open in a new window.

Carmen de Jager

Monique Sischy

Melissa Greeff

Jenine Ellappen

Anzel Solomons

Henry Steel

Watu Kobese

Please click HERE to play through a game of Watu Kobese against Jennifer Shahade played in Philadelphia in June 1998. The game was Kobese’s.

Kenny Solomon

Johannes Mabusela

Daniel Cawdery

Some of the round 3 results- click on images for  larger view

Melissa Greeff round 3 move 39 …0-1

Melissa Greeff round 3 move list

 

Daniel Cawdery round 3 end position 1/2

Daniel Cawdery round 3 move list

Monique Sischy round 3 end position 0-1

Monique Sischy round 3 move list

Round 4  16 Nov women’s team against Norway and men’s team against Pakistan

Melissa round 4 move 18

Jenine round 4 move 17

Anzel round 4 move 17

Monique round 4 move 17

Daniel round 4 move 17

Henry round 4 move 14

Kenny round 4 move 12

Johannes round 4 move 12

 

South Africa vs Pakistan Images from players: chesssaol.wordpress.com

South African Ladies’ team vs Latvia

Results of the ladies’ team after round 4

Results of the men’s team after round 4

Round 5 results: South Africa vs Luxembourg 17th November 2008

Henry Steel vs Jeitz Christian Dresden round 5…1-0

Mietek Bakalarz vs Kenny Solomon Dresden round 5 …0-1

Pierre Gengler vs Johannes Mabusela Dresden round 5…1/2

Watu Kobese vs Fred Berend Dresden round 5…1-0

Watu Kobese round 5 move list

Kaydanovich vs Monique Sischy Dresden round 5…0-1

Round 5 Monique Sischy move list

Anzel Solomons vs Gelina Melnik Dresden round 5 …1-0
Please click HERE to play interactively through the games of round 5. The link will open in a new window.

Results: Ladies Round 6 South Africa vs Egypt

Results: Men Round 6 South Africa vs Italy

 

Read Full Post »

International Master in Skaak

Hi Jasper… Hierdie “post” het jy my nou mee geinspireer! Suid-Afrika het nog nie ‘n Grand Master nie! Maar, ons spog darem al met “International Masters!”…. jy sal dalk HIERDIE artikel interessant vind! Ek het….! want ek stem saam, was dit nie vir hom nie, het Watu “Grand Master” status gekry! Op die foto kan jy ook vir Kenny Solomon sien, ‘n SA-IM. Ander name…WIM (Women IM)Solomons Anzel en Melissa Greeff… en ons het Daleen Wiid – WIF , Carmen de Jager -WCM. My kop draai  van al die afkortings! Ek glo ek sal nog spelers met titels kry en die lys aanvul sodra ek meer tyd het! Hierdie lysie is maar baie vinnig opgestel. Van die spelers het ek self nog nie van gehoor nie, bv. Kenny….met die dat ek nie  “tuis” is nie….. Geniet die lees hier!

Click HERE TO play through a game of Jennifer Shahade – GM – and Watu Kobese – IM – (South Africa) in 1998, Philadelphia. This was Watu’s game.

Simen Agdestein, Norwegian Grandmaster toured South Africa during March and said SA has got chess talent, the problem South Africans face…is the fact that they are far from Europe to play tournaments! If it wasn’t for that….then we would have had many masters in chess…. unfortunaletly, the article is only in Afrikaans and you have to translate it to be able to understand it! Second link here…..

Wat hier gebeur het, is natuurlik uiters skandalig!!
Suid-Afrika het talent…lees HIER wat grootmeesters se wat in die land getoer het!

Hier is ‘n verduideliking van al die afkortings in skaak titels! (al daardie “getalle” is hulle “ratings”…dis nogal hoog! hehe….en dis deur FIDE…die International Skaakfederasie-ratings… as jy op ‘n skaak website skaak speel, soos ek en Bib, kry jy net ‘n “site-rating”…so terloops…wanneer begin jy saam met ons speel…en was dit nie Roer wat ook gese het sy wil speel nie, seker koue voete gekry! Ons moet haar bietjie roer!! lol!

Lees HIER oor die SA Ope wat in Julie 2007 plaasgevind het. Daar kan jy ook ‘n foto van Kobese sien!

GM= grand master= 2500+ (+ 3 GM norms, performances of 2550+ against strong
enough opposition)
IM= international master = 2400+ (+3IM norms, performances of 2450+ against
strong enough opposition)
WGM=woman grand master= 2300+ (+3WGM norms, performances of 2400+ against
strong enough opposition)
FM= fide master = 2300+
WIM=woman international master= 2200+ (+3 WIM norms, performances of 2250+ )
CM= candidate master = 2200+
WFM= woman fide master= 2100+
WCM= woman candidate master= 2000+

News about Kenny Solomon – one of South Africa’s International Masters (Photo)

“Having recently returned from the broils of tournaments such as Capelle Le Grande, in France (Dunkirk), and the famous Gibraltar (The Rock) tournament, Kenny is looking rather relaxed. In France his 5.5 out 9 was in his view average, having achieved draws against GML Tolsky, IM Nasar Firmian (2481), and IM Mateo (2417), and conceding to IM M. Wojiech (2463), and IM E Gasanov (2477). In Gibraltar, a British territory bordering Spain, he lost to defending South African Open Champion, British GM Gewain Jones who was an IM last year in July when he took the SA crown in Port Elizabeth. Solomon later compensated with a solid draw against British GM Chris Ward in a game spanning 82 moves.” (2007)

A few pictures from Chess players with titles… and you can see more if you click on the link at the end of the post.

George Michelakis…International Master

David Gluckman…..International Master

Charles de Villiers …..Fide Master

Nicholas van der Nat…. Fide Master

Heinrich Stander…. International Master

Click HERE FOR MORE Chess players with titles from South Africa registered with FIDE.

SOURCE: Click HERE for Chesscube.

Read Full Post »