"Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you." - Arnold Palmer

Tuesday 31 January 2012

Boris Vassilievich Spassky Celebrates His Jubilee

One cannot believe it!
Yesterday, Boris Vassilievich Spassky, the 10th World Chess Champion, a legendary master of initiative, celebrated 75th birthday!
Spassky was born January 30, 1937, in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the former USSR. 
He won the Soviet Chess Championship twice outright (1961, 1973), and twice more lost in playoffs (1956, 1963), after tying for first during the event proper. He was a World Chess Championship candidate on seven occasions (1956, 1965, 1968, 1974, 1977, 1980, and 1985).
Spassky defeated Tigran Petrosian in 1969 to become World Champion, and then lost the title in the Fischer–Spassky match in 1972, one of the most famous chess matches in history.
Never a true openings maven, at least when compared to contemporaries such as Geller and Fischer, he excelled in the middle game with highly imaginative yet usually sound and deeply planned play, which could erupt into tactical violence as needed.
Spassky succeeded with a wide variety of openings, including the King's Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.f4, an aggressive and risky line rarely seen at the top level. Indeed, his record of sixteen wins (including victories against Fischer, Bronstein, and Karpov), no losses, and a few draws with the King's Gambit is unmatched.
His contributions to opening theory extend to reviving the Marshall Attack for Black in the Ruy Lopez, developing the Leningrad Variation for White in the Nimzo-Indian Defence, the Spassky Variation on the Black side of the Nimzo-Indian, and the Closed Variation of the Sicilian Defence for White. Another rare line in the King's Indian Attack bears his name: 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 b5!?
Spassky is respected as a universal player, a great storyteller, a bon vivant on occasion, and someone who is rarely afraid to speak his mind on controversial chess issues, and who usually has something important to relate.

Monday 30 January 2012

Tata Steel 2012 in Wijk aan Zee: Loek Van Wely vers Magnus Carlsen ½:½


Today, I want to present one of the most important games of last the last round of Tata Steel 2012 in Wijk aan Zee, the game Loek Van Wely vers Magnus Carlsen. Winning a full point, Carlsen would have gained 8½ point which would have been enough to secure second place in the tournament.

Carlsen came to win. It was quite obvious right from the outset and from his choice of an opening. He opted for the Dutch Defence and Stonewall set-up.
Carlsen very likely missed his chance playing 25...Qe6. Russian grandmaster Sergey Zagrebelny, who commented this game “live” on ChessPro.ru recommended 25...d4!? and wrote:  “...I do not insist that in this case “The Iron” Loek would have capitulated unconditionally but the move in the game just forced the draw...” 
And definitely, if you have a look at the position resulting from the move 25...d4 then you have to admit that there was some chance for Black to play for win.
Let’s have a look at the game with the commentaries of GM Sergey Zagrebelny.



















And what Carlsen says for Tata Steel Chess about his performance in this tournament: “I played really well in the first three rounds and all went okay until the seventh round. After that, it was a total mess. In the end, I was even lucky to finish at plus 3.” 
He added that he hoped to be invited for next year’s jubilee tournament. 
“We’ll have to see, of course … but I’ve been here nine times in a row, so it would be a shame to miss out next year,” Carlsen said. 

Sunday 29 January 2012

Tata Steel 2012, Final Round! Aronian the Winner!










In the final round of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2012 in Wijk aan Zee there were some surprises. 

White
Result
Black
Kamsky G
1 - 0
Topalov V
Gashimov V
½ - ½
Nakamura H
Van Wely L
½ - ½
Carlsen M
Ivanchuk V
½ - ½
Karajakin S
Aronian L
½ - ½
Radjabov T
Caruana F
1 - 0
Gelfand B
Giri A
½ - ½
Navara D

The leader of the tournament, Levon Aronian quickly shook the hand with Teymour Radjabov (in 12 moves) and secured his victory in this tournament.
Magnus Carlsen defended himself with the Dutch Defence against Loek Van Wely, but he was not able to manage more than half a point and it did not get a single chance to be a threat to Aronian this time.
Kamsky beat Topalov and Caruana beat Boris Gelfand which put the Italian behind the winner and eventually he shares 2. - 4. place together with Carlsen and Radjabov.
And here is the game Fabiano Caruana vers Boris Gelfand:
 

The final cross-table looks like that:



Standings after round 13 in all groups:


Grandmaster group A
1.
Aronian, L.
9
2.
Carlsen, M.
Caruana, F.
Radjabov, T.
8
5.
Ivanchuk, V.
Nakamura, H.
7.
Kamsky, G.
7
8.
Karjakin, S.
9.
Van Wely, L.
10.
Gashimov, V.
Gelfand, B.
Topalov, V.
5
13.
Giri, A.
Navara, D.

Grandmaster group B
1.
Harikrishna, P.
9
2.
Bruzon, L.
Motylev, A.
4.
L'Ami, E.
Tiviakov, S.
8
6.
Nyzhnik, I.
Reinderman, D.
8.
Potkin, V.
9.
Timman, J.
6
10.
Ernst, S.
5
11.
Lahno, K.
Vocaturo, D.
13.
Cmilyte, V.
4
14.
Harika, D.



Grandmaster group C
1.
Turov, M.
10½
2.
Tikkanen, H.
10
3.
Adhiban, B.
Brandenburg, D.
5.
Grover, S.
Paehtz, E.
Sadler, M.
7
8.
Tania, S.
6
9.
Danielian, E.
10.
Goudriaan, E.
5
11.
Ootes, L.
12.
Hopman, P.
Schut, L.
4
14.
Haast, A.

 

Minor Counties League: Lincolnshire vers Shropshire 14:2

Lincolnshire
Shropshire
Minor Counties League continued yesterday. Lincolnshire met Shropshire in District social club at Syston.
At the beginning of the match Shropshire was already two points down; because of shortage of player the had to concede matches on the bottom boards.



Midland Counties Chess Union COUNTY MATCH RESULT FORM

Section: Minor Counties

Home Team: Lincolnshire
Away Team: Shropshire
Venue:   Syston
Date:  28th January 2012
Team having white on odd boards:  Shropshire
Result reported by:  Nigel Birtwistle
Board
ECF Code
Grade
Home team players’ names
Score
Score
Away Team players’ names
Grade
ECF Code
1
106801F
192
Nigel Birtwistle
   ½
    ½
Nick Rutter
205
118639C
2
280480H
192
Claudio Mangione
   ½
    ½
Nigel Ferrington
190
110539F
3
103734B
190
Paul Cumbers
   1
    0
Gavin Cooper
188
240985K
4
119629H
187
Nick Stead
   ½
    ½
Francis Best
170
185333J
5
243736J
186
Samuel Milson
   1
    0
Toby Neal
168
129064C
6
222105G
183
David Coates
   1
    0
Glyn Pugh
159
117515E
7
116655E
177
Keith Palmer
   1
    0
John Bashall
159
106353E
8
216825L
175
Harry Russell
   1
    0
John Whittaker
146
240291K
9
158511D
171
Joe Kilshaw
   1
    0
Richard Gillespie
143
260569H
10
111157H
169
Denis Georgiou
   ½
   ½
Graham Shepherd
136
118873C
11
263507A
169
Steven Prior
   1
    0
Marvin Carbin
134
245105E
12
277281E
164
Ivan David
   1
    0
Steve Tarr
134
166164E
13
160353L
152
Geoff Collyer
   1
    0
Windsor Peck
130
116900C
14
222114H
151
Ian McDonald
   1
    0
John Westhead
120
157397E
15
277271G
158
Stuart MacDonald
   1
    0
                      DEFAULT


16
113979E
149
Graham Ladds
   1
    0
                      DEFAULT     






  14
    2





The final result was 14 : 2 for Lincolnshire and it is very encouraging result before the last match in the group against Worcestershire.