Posts tagged Tournament
Russian Super Finals Rd 1
Nov 15th
I was on a long vacation last week, enjoying not only playing with my brother’s daughter, but also preparing to watch Russian Super finals 
How can anyone miss this one (even if that means missing a 2 yrs cutie’s smile)!?
Russian heavy weights, Kasparov, Kramnik & Karpov usually do not play in their national championship, which, by the way, is one of the strongest events! In Russia, literally, you can find an IM-strength player in every house. It is a known thing that a Russian Candidate master is as strong as a FIDE IM. With its abundant Chess talent and more importantly, the excellent ambience which nurtures this Chess talent, it should not come as a surprise that Russia is the dominant Chess playing country. Russian Chess Federation head, Zhukov, announced last year that the winners of the 57th Russian championship @ St.Petersburg and Tomsk , along with top 7 Russian GMs (Kasparov, Kramnik, Svidler, Morozevich, Bareev, Karpov & Grischuk) would play in a super-final, finding a single Russian champion!
Kramnik & Karpov pulled out. The former producing a Doctor’s letter saying he needs 2-3 months rest before any serious play and why the latter pulled out is still a mystery. To make a guess, I’d say Karpov would be at the bottom of the points table in this strong tournament if he played and he knew that If you think Kramnik’s producing a doctor certificate reminds you of how we used to produce a proof for taking sick leave, back in the school, you are not alone! 
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A look @ Chess Olympiad 2004
Nov 3rd
Whew, what a month October has been! With the heavy weights Kramnik & Leko fighting it out for the Dannemann World Championship title, I have to admit, I didn’t pay that much attention to the first 3 – 5 rounds of this year’s olympiad. Of course, there were so many elite players playing including my favorite Chucky. But, more than Kramnik, I needed a break after those nerve-wrecking final 2 games of the WCh
When I finally caught up with it, 5 rounds had finished. Russians have won the gold since time immemorial, so, naturally they were the favorites for the Gold again. There were other strong teams to look for too, like Ukraine, Israel, USA (with Russian GMs in all boards), India, Armenia et al. India, with Vishy (Vishawanathan Anand) in board 1, was the strongest of all the Indian olympiad teams ever. India had 14 points and was placed 6th, after 5 rounds. Not bad! That too, when you have someone like Anand in the team, we already have got a psychological edge over all our opponents. But India started with an unimpressive score of 2.5 – 1.5 over Uruguay. Anand rested that day (why do you need rest in the first round?!). At the end of 5th round, Ukraine was at the top with 14.5 points and they had already played Russia! So, unless they blundered against some low-rated team, they had a chance to be in the top-3. More >
Kramnik hangs on to the World Championship title
Oct 18th
Kramnik retained his World Championship title by drawing the match 7-7 with Leko. He was trailing Leko by one point at the end of 13th game. He had to win the last game lest lose the title to Leko. Kramnik rose to the occasion and outplayed Leko soundly. An impressive display, in deed. Before Kramnik, only Lasker, Botvinnik and Kasparov have done this feat of beating the challenger in the last round to retain the title.
Leko chose to go for a Caro Kann 5)…Bd7 variation. Click here for some games on Caro Kann. Kramnik got a space advantage and pushed Leko in to passive defense, before blowing him off the board. This game will surely go down in the Chess history/tutor books as an example of how to play on both sides of the board. Kramnik’s 21) b4 is really instructive. After this, Kramnik got a chance to create a Knight outpost in d6. Kasparov once said that if only White could get a Knight outpost in the enemy territory and a rook in the 7th rank, Black could safely resign. Kramnik – Leko (14th game) is an example for that.
Kramnik,V (2770) – Leko,P (2741) [B12]
WCh Brissago SUI (14), 18.10.2004
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h6 5.g4 Bd7 6.Nd2 c5 7.dxc5 e6 8.Nb3 Bxc5
9.Nxc5 Qa5+ 10.c3 Qxc5 11.Nf3 Ne7 12.Bd3 Nbc6 13.Be3 Qa5 14.Qd2 Ng6 15.Bd4 Nxd4 16.cxd4 Qxd2+ 17.Kxd2 Nf4 18.Rac1 h5 19.Rhg1 Bc6 20.gxh5 Nxh5 21.b4 a6 22.a4 Kd8 23.Ng5 Be8 24.b5 Nf4 25.b6 Nxd3 26.Kxd3 Rc8 27.Rxc8+ Kxc8 28.Rc1+ Bc6 29.Nxf7 Rxh4 30.Nd6+ Kd8 31.Rg1 Rh3+ 32.Ke2 Ra3 33.Rxg7 Rxa4 34.f4 Ra2+ 35.Kf3 Ra3+ 36.Kg4 Rd3 37.f5 Rxd4+ 38.Kg5 exf5 39.Kf6 Rg4 40.Rc7 Rh4 41.Nf7+ {Leko resigned} 1-0
Now, the unified match is fast becoming a distant-dream. If Kasparov beats Kasim in their upcoming match, I am not sure whether Kramnik will agree to play Kasparov for the title. In fact, he doesn’t have to. There is no binding agreement that the winner of this Dannemann World Championship has to play the winner of Kasparov-Kasim. So, having an unified champion may not happen at all. Anyway, what is a Unified championship with out involving World #2 player, Anand?
Leko on hyperdrive!
Oct 8th
Peter Leko won yesterday’s game as Black against Kramnik, in the Dannemann World Chess Championship. Kramnik allowed a Marshall Gambit & was soundly beaten. Peter Svidler, who is one of Kramniks seconds, is a big fan of this line and should have looked it up for Kramnik. But, alas, Svidler seems to have overlooked something Leko’s seconds didnt! I wonder which one of Leko’s seconds specializes in Spanish lines..Is it Tkachiev or Akopian? BTW, Chessbase has a report on round 8 here.
I have to admit that Leko didn’t look that formidable as compared to Kramnik, at the start of this championship. Of course, he was a child prodigy and all those things, but still Kramnik is K R A M N I K, right? It seems now Leko has a good chance of winning this and getting a shot at playing Kasparov (provided Kaspy wins against Kazimdzhanov, which many have started doubting!) for the Unified World Chess Champion title…One thing is for sure: Whoever wins that unified title will be crushed by Anand, if he can maintain his current form till that time ! Also, the way Leko came back from his first round defeat is really commendable! Go Leko, go!!!
Rusty baby
Oct 7th
I have a poster of Kasparov in my cube. He always has been a “King of Kings” for me. But, nowadays, he is not even acting like a king, leave out “King of Kings”…
If you are wondering what I am rambling about, see this Chessbase report. Kasparov lost to Rublevsky. Last year in European Club Championships, Kasparov was showing a performance of 3000+ in the first 4 games, but lost in the final round to Huzman. That was a simple tactical shot overlooked. This time, Rublevsky soundly overplayed Kasparov in the endgame (Rook Pawn ending). Though there are valid reasons for Kasparov losing (age 40+, rusty, blah blah), obvioulsy Kasparov is past his peak. It is really sad to see that there is no one to replace Kasparv; Kramnik & Anand are very strong players, but they *cannot* replace Kaspy!! If only Kasparov can shake off the rust and concentrate more on Chess (He is going for the presidentship, btw ), I am sure we will see the old lion roar & reign the jungle for atleast a couple of years to come.
Pune GM Tournament
Sep 17th
This is the first ever category-16 tournament in India. It finished yesterday; Nisipeanu taking the title after beating Kasimdzhanov in the tiebreaks. Chessbase has a report on it here. When I first read about this tournament, I was literally drooling. So many well known GMs playing against our Indian talents….I was hoping Sasikiran would take, at least, a shared first with Sutovsky (my favorite). Alas! Sasi seems to have run out of steam, after his brilliant performance in Biel 2004 & in Vlissingen Open. He finished with a below-average score of 4.0 out of 9 games. Is it because of fatigue? Or is it because of the pressure of playing in the home grounds as one of the favorites? (BTW, he is the second highest rated player in the Indian list; Anand is in the first position, of course.) I read he lost 10 points in this tournament. He needs to get back in to form, if he ever wants to cross that 2700 mark!
