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1) Introduction
2) Linares 1998
3) Goodricke International Open by Aniek Paul
4) First Saturday Kluger Memorial
5) Deloitte & Touche Jersey Festival
6) The 1st Veacheslav Chebanenco Memorial
7) Brazilian Championships
8) French Team Championships
9) 1st "Novak Nikolic" Memorial - Belgrade
10) 7th Aurec Rapid Tournament
11) Torre v Antonio Match
12) Malaga Open
13) Upcoming Events
Games section
Linares GM Tournament 6 games Goodricke Int. 2 games 1st Kruger mem 42 games FSIM Feb 42 games Jersey Open 19 games 1st Chebanenco Mem 10 games Brazilian Championships 1 game French Team Championships 103 games 1st Novak Mem 66 games Match 6 games Malaga Open 133 games
My thanks to James Eade, Aniek Paul, Laszlo Nagy, Sinisa Joksic, Mark Schepers, Net64, Mig, John Henderson, Francisco Javier Rubio Doblas, Herman Van Riemsdijk, Bobby Ang, Olivier Deville, Europe Echecs, and all those who helped with this issue.
The Linares tournament in Spain started brightly and promises much, 4/6 games have been decisive and all have been fought out. Kasparov's proposals for a match between Kramnik and Anand, the winner to meet him in a match if it comes off will make the chess year. The politics of chess is tiresome and if it gets in the way of these events it is the game that will lose. Whilst organisations are important, its the sporting contest itself that counts, if they act against events taking place then they attack the sport itself.
Hope you enjoy this issue
Mark
Bright start to the Linares Tournament
This years Linares SuperGrandmaster tournament is a 7 player Category 21 event with an ELO average of 2752. After two rounds Viswanathan Anand leads with 2/2 but the first major clash occurs tomorrow when Kasparov has white against Anand.
Prelude
The interest in the tournament started at the opening ceremony when organiser Luis Rentero and Garry Kasparov made a number of announcements.
Both announced the formation of a new organisation, the World Chess Counsel (WCC) run by Luis Rentero and Garry Kasparov. An offer has been made to hold a match between Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand in Cazorla beginning on May 20. It will be a 10 game match with a rapid game playoff in the case of a tie.
The winner will face Kasparov on October 16 in a match split between Seville and Linares. The prize fund for that match will be 200 million pesetas, guaranteed by the Andalusian Junta (a regional body).
According to the press conference there are some legal problems with this scenario. Although I haven't managed to see a copy of the relevant part of the FIDE World Championships regulations which Anand signed are reported to have a clause forbidding players from playing in other organisation's championships. So Anand has to weigh up the potential for legal action if he wishes to take part in these matches. He hasn't given his acceptance of the idea. It isn't clear what sanction FIDE would seek, although punishment through areas they do control such as their own championship regulations or the rating list would be open to them also.
Kasparov and Rentero dismissed these problems saying that the contract is rubbish and any good lawyer will take it apart. Kasparov claimed that because no one disputes the superiority of Kramnik and Anand over his other rivals there is no reason to waste time with a long cycle. He also said that while FIDE has several aces up their sleeve they lack the support of the best players. He criticised Iliumyinov for not being able to write a decent contract and from coming from a place (and admitting it is his own) where things are done by brute force. The WC match will be 18 games, with Kasparov retaining his title in case of a 9-9 tie (but the money will be split 50-50). In a comment most likely directed toward the recent activities of Samaranch, Kasparov said he recognized that it would be preferable to reunite the chess title, but the FIDE system is unacceptable. It ignores 112 years of chess history and the champeon has always been the best player of his era.
Certainly if these matches go ahead they should produce some great chess and surely that is the point.
The players have certainly come prepared for serious chess. Kasparov has brought his normal second Yuri Dokhoian. Kramnik has brought Sergey Dolmatov as second and in addition someone to look after his back which is giving him problems. Anand's second is Elizbar Ubilava. Shirov has brought Emil Sutovsky. Ivanchuk has a couple of Ukranian seconds. Peter Svidler has brought Nigel Short. Veselin Topalov has Silvio Danailov.
The first round was hard fought and promises much for the event. Anand surprised Shirov by adopting the Caro-Kann. He obtained significant pressure which converted to a superiority in a two rooks vs queen ending. After rounding up Shirov's pawns he forced resignation. Vassily Ivanchuk surprised his opponent Vladimir Kramnik by adopting the Chigorins defence against his 1. Nf3. By committing himself to Nf3 so early Kramnik was denied some of the most effective lines against this opening. An interesting struggle developed which ended in a draw. Peter Svidler and Garry Kasparov contested an interesting and well played Sicilian which ended in a draw.
The second round produced three decisive games. Viswanathan Anand took an early clear lead in the event by scoring his second win. He beat Peter Svidler's Modern Defence. I'm not sure this defence is appropriate in such a strong event. Ivanchuk and Shirov contested a Giuoco Piano with some complex play. Shirov brought about Ivanchuk's demise over only a few moves. Kramnik was the last to finish when he played the Tartakower variation of the Queen's Gambit as black against Topalov. At a first glance Topalov's 40. e4 seemed to be the decisive error.
Participants
Kasparov, Gary (g RUS 2825)
Kramnik, Vladimir (g RUS 2790)
Anand, Viswanathan (g IND 2770)
Ivanchuk, Vassily (g UKR 2740)
Topalov, Veselin (g BUL 2740)
Shirov, Alexei (g ESP 2710)
Svidler, Peter (g RUS 2690)
The dates of the event are: 21st Feb - Opening Ceremony, 22nd Feb.
Round 1. Rest days 27th Feb and 5th March. Final round March 9th, closing
ceremony March 10th.
Aniek Paul reports on the Goodricke International Open which started in Calcutta on February 2nd. It is India's main annual international open. The event was won by Alexander Nenashev.
Round 11 16/2/98
Uzbekh Grandmaster Alexander Nenashev completed his brilliant defence of his Goodricke International Chess title with a draw against top seed Nigel Short which also earned him the undisputed title worth Rs.100,000 (=US $2,500) of the 9th edition of this annual meet. Nenashev with 8/11 won the tournament by a margin of half a point over seven Grandmasters, Yurtaev, Ehlvest, Speelman, Short, Schlosser, Dao and Dibyendu Barua tying for the 2-8 spots with 7.5 points apiece. For Nenashev it was an outst anding performance, having begun with a half point bye of the first round due to late arrival.
Today's last round produced a lot of entertainment to the spectators as most of the top board games were fought with extreme earnestness, including one on which the championship depended running for the full session of seven hours. While Nenashev managed to escape with a draw from an inferior position and Speelman and Ehlvest split points without contest, young D.K.Sharma did extremely well to hold Grandmaster Leonid Yurtaev to a draw.
Short felt he blew up an opportunity to win today's game. He said he didn't do anything "grossly stupid" though, he squandered what looked quite a big advantage due to insipid play towards the end of the four hour game. Playing the Spanish Opening with w hite, Short secured some advantage in the middlegame by virtue of his forceful play, but in the end allowed Nenashev to restore parity.
Dinesh Sharma produced an outstanding game to force Yurtaev, who at one stage was clearly better, to a draw. In the game running for the whole session of seven hours, Yurtaev had some chances of winning in a complicated endgame on account of his material advantage of a rook to a bishop. The draw cost Yurtaev some Rs.55,000 (=$1,500 approx).
While, Schlosser dispatched untitled Abdullah Al-Rakib, Dao was fortunate to survive a rotten position against Berelovich, who emerged a pawn up from the wild Sicilian Najdorf, but in time trouble blundered a full piece for virtually no compensation at all.
In spite of a dismal start, Grandmaster Dibby Barua finished the tournament commendably with a deserved victory over Grandmaster Csaba Horvath. Playing against the Sicilian Paulsen with white, Barua played the middlegame aggressively and emerged with a hu ge advantage which he translated into a winning endgame. Horvath survived no more than just 29 moves. Barua finishing with 7.5/11, scored 2.5/3 against Grandmasters Lastin, Yurtaev and Horvath, in the last three rounds, which by any standards is exception ally good.
Surya Sekhar Ganguly's late recovery from an indifferent start had brought him very close to an IM-norm. He went into today's game against IM Reefat bin Sattar needing to win it, and had come close to achieving it as in the endgame the material imbalance seemed to favour him. But in the end he, however, could not convert the advantage into a win. He had to settle for a draw, and finish the tournament with a score of 6.5/11.
India's strongest women, WIM Vijayalaksmi Subranam was also in a similar must win situation. She played black against Grandmaster Alexander Lastin whose insipid opening had allowed her a stupendous advantaged but she was somehow hallucinated to lose and remain with 4.5 points.
Roundup
There is no denying that sponsorship to chess has declined in this country, though the sport itself is more popular today than ever before. The Goodricke International is the only tournament of its kind held regularly in India, and its success over the y ears inspired the organisers to extend their involvement to financing a chess academy too, in Calcutta. Running for about the last four years or so, the Goodricke Chess Academy is doing well, in the sense that it has managed to turn quite a few beginners into 2300+ youngsters, namely Neelotpal Das and Surya Sekhar Ganguly, who will now have to run the rest of the race on themselves. There is indeed a great amount of talent in India. Take for instance GM Dibby Barua himself, who as a youngster was considered to be immensely talented, but in the end achieved nothing more than a GM-title and 2500+ rating. Well, that does not reveal his talents very truly: for one who supposedly became a Grandmaster playing only the Philidor's and the Petroff's with black (he played the Petroff's even in Knock-outs in Groningen), ought to have achieved more.
A group of very talented youngsters are coming up in India - some of them already recognised the world over as very very promising like Krishnan Sasikiran, Surya Sekhar Ganguly (the latter a student of Eduard Gufeld for a fairly long time) - some new fac es added to the group and some dropped regularly, and the Goodricke is where we get to meet them all. It is a tournament made for the youngsters; the importance given to the Grandmasters is basically a pretension: no body, including the press, cares very much about how they play; what matters really is how the youngsters do. If they do well, there is spa ce for it in the sports-pages, and if exceptionally well, even in the front-page, and it is their extra-ordinary performance year after year that has held the sposnsorship in good stead.
In the last week, I was asked by mostly all who knew me as a chess journalist, how Neelotpal's chances are in the long run, particularly of the kind 'How quickly can he become an IM?', 'How far will he possibly get?', and most of them asked at the end, 'Who won the tournament by the way?'. Earlier editions of the Goodricke had shown that to offer the most of norm opportunities some adjustments were needed in pairings, at least in the later rounds. So this time the arbiters had obtained some latitude through consensus with the players thems elves, to pair people having norm chances artificially to suit their needs. This was common to the Lloyds Bank, I remember, where Stewart Reuben kept an eye on even the rating qualification of unrated players. So towards the end of this year's Goodricke we saw pairings even with score disparity of 1.5 points. It produced no less than half a dozen IM-norms, but as a matter of fact, none of those who had been paired arbitarily to favour their chances made any. It might in a way, be very striking that as many as 13 Grandmasters, including four rated 2600+ participated in a tournament which is organised primarily to offer norm chances, and not as big as the Lloyds Bank, where there used to be basically two halves in an undivided field, and the people in the upper half not at all threatened in terms of rating, by the people at the bottom.
In fact, the Goodricke too has a similar re-assuring nature: the weaker players pre-oocupied with making norms and improving their ratings do not inflict any significant damage to the stronger players' ratings. Even Short, who was clearly displeased about his large number of draws with white to the most insignificant adversaries, dropped just 5 rating points, while Nenashev raised his rating by about 10 points. Even Barua who got off to the most dismal start (1/3) managed to defend his rating of 2525 with his late recovery. With the sole exception of Horvath Csaba (rated 2535) who dropped some staggering 20 points, none of the Grandmasters suffered any significant loss; rather most of them managed marginal increments. That and the good conditions offered by the organisers are basically what brings the Grandmasters back. Short was all praise for the tournament; even Speelman and Schlosser joined him in appreciating the tournament. The sponsorship is in no way threatene d, though in recent times the authorities have come down heavily on tax realisation and the enforcement of the norms and the stock prices are not very encouraging, and as long as the tournament offers the re-assuring protection to the ratings of the Grand masters, this event should not have any difficulty in running at all. In turn it is very re-assuring for Indian chess of course, for its disappearance will mean disaster for the young chess players of the country.
Round 11 Short, Nigel D. (g ENG 2660) 1/2 Nenashev, Alexander (g UZB 2625) Speelman, Jonathan S. (g ENG 2605) 1/2 Ehlvest, Jaan (g EST 2610) Yurtaev, Leonid (g KGZ 2520) 1/2 Sharma, Dinesh K. (IND 2320) Berelovich, Aleksandar (g UKR 2515) 0-1 Dao, Thien Hai (g VIE 2530) Schlosser, Philipp (g GER 2515) 1-0 Abdulla, Al-Rakib (BAN 2285) Barua, Dibyendu (g IND 2520) 1-0 Horvath, Csaba (g HUN 2535) Stefanova, Antoaneta (IM)(wg BUL 2480) 0-1 Rahman, Ziaur (m BAN 2485) Sashikiran, Krishnan (f IND 2470) 1-0 Neelotpal, Das (IND 2370) Komliakov, Viktor (g MDA 2510) 1-0 Ranola, Yves (PHI 2340) Reefat, Bin-Sattar (m BAN 2350) 1/2 Ganguly, Surya Shekhar (IND 2300) Lastin, Alexander (g RUS 2535) 1-0 Subbaraman, Vijayalakshmi (wm IND 2325) Nguyen, Anh Dung (m VIE 2500) 1-0 Saravanan, V. (IND 2375) Kunte, Abhijit (m IND 2460) 1-0 Sareen, Vishal (IND 2320) Girinath, P.D.S. (IND 2340) 1/2 Shankar, Roy (IND 2400) Yogesh, Gore (IND 2300) 1/2 Sriram, Jha (IND 2360) Mithrakanth, Poorna Sharma (m IND 2370) 1-0 Thipsay, Praveen M (g IND 2515) Joshi, G B (IND 2355) 1/2 Konguvel, Ponnuswamy (m IND 2430) Levitt, Jonathan (g ENG 2425) 1/2 Tilak, Sharad S (m IND 2315) Bancod, Ronald (m PHI 2400) 1-0 Shetty, Rahul (IND 2315) Standings 1. Nenashev, Alexander (g UZB 2625) 8.0 2. Yurtaev, Leonid (g KGZ 2520) 7.5 Ehlvest, Jaan (g EST 2610) 7.5 Speelman, Jonathan S. (g ENG 2605) 7.5 Short, Nigel D. (g ENG 2660) 7.5 Schlosser, Philipp (g GER 2515) 7.5 Dao, Thien Hai (g VIE 2530) 7.5 Barua, Dibyendu (g IND 2520) 7.5 9 Lastin, Alexander (g RUS 2535) 7.0 Rahman, Ziaur (m BAN 2485) 7.0 Sashikiran, Krishnan (f IND 2470) 7.0 Sharma, Dinesh K. (IND 2320) 7.0
Laszlo Nagy reports on the First Saturday tournaments of February. These events were organised as the 1st Kluger Memorial events. There were 58 players from 10 countries playing including the Scheveningen ELO groups. There were 14 players in the GM group making it a Category 8 event. The winners of the GM group were Igor Glek and Suat Atalik. In the IM group Sandor Farago took the event by half a point. 12 year old Arkadjis Naiditsch who was playing in the event with his coach Igor Glek scored an IM norm.
GM Event
Round 9 (1998.02.15)
Atalik, Suat - Hoang Thang Trang 1-0 13 A80 Dutch defence
Keitlinghaus, Ludger - Mikhaletz, Lubomir 1/2 31 B22 Sicilian; Alapin (2.c3)
Naiditsch, Arkadjis - Varga, Zoltan 1-0 39 B04 Alekhine defence
Fogarasi, Tibor - Czebe, Attila 1/2 18 B64 Sicilian
Hodjko, Vjaceslav - Borocz, Istvan 1-0 26 B42 Sicilian
Blauert, Joerg - Glek, Igor V 0-1 39 B22 Sicilian; Alapin (2.c3)
Vegh, Endre - Acs, Peter 0-1 31 A45 Queen's pawn
Round 10 (1998.02.16)
Atalik, Suat - Naiditsch, Arkadjis 1/2 48 E91 Kings indian; Classical
Glek, Igor V - Vegh, Endre 1-0 38 B85 Sicilian
Mikhaletz, Lubomir - Hodjko, Vjaceslav 1-0 27 B01 Scandinavian
Acs, Peter - Keitlinghaus, Ludger 1-0 36 C67 Ruy Lopez
Varga, Zoltan - Blauert, Joerg 1-0 40 C14 French; Classical
Borocz, Istvan - Fogarasi, Tibor 0-1 75 B42 Sicilian
Hoang Thang Trang - Czebe, Attila 1/2 52 A40 Queen's pawn
Round 11 (1998.02.17)
Keitlinghaus, Ludger - Glek, Igor V 1/2 33 C02 French; Advance
Czebe, Attila - Borocz, Istvan 1-0 46 C04 French; Tarrasch
Naiditsch, Arkadjis - Hoang Thang Trang 1-0 23 C14 French; Classical
Fogarasi, Tibor - Mikhaletz, Lubomir 0-1 62 B33 Sicilian; Sveshnikov
Hodjko, Vjaceslav - Acs, Peter 0-1 33 C45 Scottish
Blauert, Joerg - Atalik, Suat 0-1 55 B14 Caro-Kann
Vegh, Endre - Varga, Zoltan 0-1 40 A43 Queen's pawn
Round 12 (1998.02.18)
Atalik, Suat - Vegh, Endre 1-0 37 D15 Slav defence
Glek, Igor V - Hodjko, Vjaceslav 1-0 31 B58 Sicilian
Mikhaletz, Lubomir - Czebe, Attila 1-0 41 B33 Sicilian; Sveshnikov
Acs, Peter - Fogarasi, Tibor 1/2 30 B42 Sicilian
Naiditsch, Arkadjis - Blauert, Joerg 1-0 54 C14 French; Classical
Varga, Zoltan - Keitlinghaus, Ludger 1/2 25 D15 Slav defence
Hoang Thang Trang - Borocz, Istvan 0-1 40 A43 Queen's pawn
Round 13 (1998.02.19)
Keitlinghaus, Ludger - Atalik, Suat 1/2 37 B20 Sicilian
Czebe, Attila - Acs, Peter 1/2 48 A07 Reti (1.Nf3)
Fogarasi, Tibor - Glek, Igor V 1/2 11 C92 Ruy Lopez
Hodjko, Vjaceslav - Varga, Zoltan 1/2 30 C45 Scottish
Borocz, Istvan - Mikhaletz, Lubomir 1-0 42 B33 Sicilian; Sveshnikov
Blauert, Joerg - Hoang Thang Trang 1/2 95 C06 French; Tarrasch
Vegh, Endre - Naiditsch, Arkadjis 1/2 9 E81 Kings indian; Saemisch
Budapest (HUN), II 1998 cat. VIII (2438)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Atalik, Suat g TUR 2595 * = 1 1 = = = = 1 = 1 1 1 1 10.0 2636
2 Glek, Igor V g RUS 2550 = * 1 = = 1 = = = 1 1 1 1 1 10.0 2639
3 Mikhaletz, Lubomir m UKR 2435 0 0 * 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 = 1 9.0 2578
4 Acs, Peter f HUN 2450 0 = 0 * 1 = 1 = = 1 1 1 1 1 9.0 2577
5 Keitlinghaus, Ludger m GER 2500 = = = 0 * = = = = 1 = = 1 = 7.0 2461
6 Czebe, Attila m HUN 2475 = 0 0 = = * 1 1 = 0 1 = = 1 7.0 2463
7 Naiditsch, Arkadjis f GER 2255 = = 0 0 = 0 * 1 1 0 1 1 1 = 7.0 2480
8 Varga, Zoltan g HUN 2520 = = 0 = = 0 0 * 1 = 1 = 1 1 7.0 2460
9 Fogarasi, Tibor m HUN 2440 0 = 0 = = = 0 0 * 1 1 = 1 1 6.5 2437
10 Hodjko, Vjaceslav m RUS 2380 = 0 0 0 0 1 1 = 0 * 1 = = 1 6.0 2412
11 Borocz, Istvan m HUN 2430 0 0 1 0 = 0 0 0 0 0 * 1 = 1 4.0 2297
12 Hoang Thang Trang m VIE 2350 0 0 0 0 = = 0 = = = 0 * = = 3.5 2269
13 Blauert, Joerg m GER 2395 0 0 = 0 0 = 0 0 0 = = = * 1 3.5 2265
14 Vegh, Endre m HUN 2350 0 0 0 0 = 0 = 0 0 0 0 = 0 * 1.5 2108
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
IM Event
Round 9 (1998.02.15)
Farago, Sandor - Antal, Sebestyen jr 1-0 54 B76 Sicilian; Dragon
Kerek, Csaba - Kalousek, Vladimir 1-0 25 D02 Queen's pawn
Eperjesi, Laszlo - Gara, Anita 0-1 32 A05 Reti (1.Nf3)
Dudas, Janos - Toth, Andras 1-0 21 B07 Pirc
Dolgener, Tobias - Karatorossian, David 1-0 39 C06 French; Tarrasch
Franchini, Gabriele - Brustkern, Juergen 1/2 18 B41 Sicilian
Gara, Ticia - Antal, Gergely 0-1 60 B85 Sicilian
Round 10 (1998.02.16)
Kerek, Csaba - Eperjesi, Laszlo 1/2 16 A37 English; 1.c4 c5
Karatorossian, David - Farago, Sandor 1/2 42 C92 Ruy Lopez
Brustkern, Juergen - Dudas, Janos 1/2 15 B33 Sicilian; Sveshnikov
Gara, Anita - Dolgener, Tobias 0-1 41 B32 Sicilian
Antal, Gergely - Franchini, Gabriele 0-1 30 C15 French; Winawer
Antal, Sebestyen jr - Gara, Ticia 1/2 15 A15 English; 1.c4
Kalousek, Vladimir - Toth, Andras 0-1 18 A68 Modern Benoni
Round 11 (1998.02.17)
Farago, Sandor - Gara, Anita 1-0 41 B78 Sicilian; Dragon
Eperjesi, Laszlo - Kalousek, Vladimir 1-0 31 D32 Queen's gambit
Dudas, Janos - Antal, Gergely 1-0 38 A00 Irregular
Dolgener, Tobias - Kerek, Csaba 0-1 39 B01 Scandinavian
Toth, Andras - Brustkern, Juergen 1/2 24 B42 Sicilian
Franchini, Gabriele - Antal, Sebestyen jr 0-1 22 B53 Sicilian
Gara, Ticia - Karatorossian, David 1-0 40 C06 French; Tarrasch
Round 12 (1998.02.18)
Kerek, Csaba - Farago, Sandor 1/2 56 D79 1.d4 d5 2.c4 g6
Eperjesi, Laszlo - Dolgener, Tobias 1/2 13 C92 Ruy Lopez
Karatorossian, David - Franchini, Gabriele 1-0 19 A10 English; 1.c4
Gara, Anita - Gara, Ticia 1/2 13 D14 Slav defence
Antal, Gergely - Toth, Andras 0-1 41 B68 Sicilian
Antal, Sebestyen jr - Dudas, Janos 1/2 8 A24 English; 1.c4 e5
Kalousek, Vladimir - Brustkern, Juergen 1-0 39 A57 Benko gambit
Round 13 (1998.02.19)
Farago, Sandor - Eperjesi, Laszlo 1/2 11 E68 Kings indian
Dudas, Janos - Karatorossian, David 1/2 9 E92 Kings indian; Classical
Dolgener, Tobias - Kalousek, Vladimir 1-0 42 B76 Sicilian; Dragon
Toth, Andras - Antal, Sebestyen jr 1/2 49 B76 Sicilian; Dragon
Franchini, Gabriele - Gara, Anita 0-1 76 B22 Sicilian; Alapin (2.c3)
Brustkern, Juergen - Antal, Gergely 1-0 44 B40 Sicilian
Gara, Ticia - Kerek, Csaba 1/2 85 B33 Sicilian; Sveshnikov
Budapest HUN (HUN), II 1998 cat. II (2284)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Farago, Sandor m HUN 2285 * = = = 1 1 0 = 1 1 1 1 1 = 9.5 2459
2 Kerek, Csaba HUN 2380 = * = 1 = 1 = = = = = 1 1 1 9.0 2417
3 Eperjesi, Laszlo m HUN 2365 = = * = = = = = 1 0 1 1 1 1 8.5 2388
4 Karatorossian, David ARM 2375 = 0 = * = 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 8.5 2387
5 Dudas, Janos m HUN 2405 0 = = = * = 1 = = = = 1 = 1 7.5 2332
6 Dolgener, Tobias GER 2270 0 0 = 1 = * = = = 1 1 0 1 1 7.5 2342
7 Toth, Andras HUN 2325 1 = = 0 0 = * = = 1 0 1 = 1 7.0 2310
8 Franchini, Gabriele ITA 2155 = = = 0 = = = * = 0 = 1 0 = 5.5 2237
9 Brustkern, Juergen GER 2230 0 = 0 0 = = = = * 0 1 1 1 0 5.5 2231
10 Gara, Anita wm HUN 2285 0 = 1 0 = 0 0 1 1 * = 0 0 1 5.5 2227
11 Gara, Ticia HUN 2235 0 = 0 1 = 0 1 = 0 = * 0 = = 5.0 2201
12 Antal, Gergely HUN 2220 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 * 1 1 5.0 2202
13 Antal, Sebestyen jr HUN 2330 0 0 0 0 = 0 = 1 0 1 = 0 * 1 4.5 2170
14 Kalousek, Vladimir CZE 2120 = 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 1 0 = 0 0 * 2.5 2045
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Deloitte & Touche Jersey Chess Festival is taking place 22-28 Feb
First round results:
1 GM C Ward 1-0 M Goldberg; 2 P Sharp 0-1 IM A Cherniaev; 3 GM J Plaskett 1-0 E Campbell; 4 A James draw A Corkett; 5 J Vigus draw P Kemp; 6 C Purdon 0-1 D Farndon; 7 G Ballon draw J Vickery; 8 P Gregory 1-0 M Yeo; 9 T Farrand 1-0 P Patience; 10 C Russ 0-1 A Fulton; 11 P Pahkla draw G Keeling; 12 J Hickman 1-0 P Wojciechowski; 13 S Peters 1-0 A Crompton; 14 M White 0-1 S Jackson; 15 M Simons 1-0 R Kirkwood; 16 S Queree 0-1 J Bennett; 17 J Dodgson draw L Jouault; 18 T Thiruchelvam draw A Goris; 19 I Clark 1-0 P Smith; 20 J Coleman draw M Khan.
The Association for the development of chess in Moldova and Dezvoltarea Sahului put together the 1st Veacheslav Chebanenco Memorial. Chebanenco who died in August 1997 was an eminant coach and theoretician. The event took place in Kishinev (Moldova) 9-17 February 1998 and was Category 12. The event was a triumph for Alexander Morozevich who scored 8.5/9. He drew in the second round. I would be more doubtful about this being a return to form. Morozevich's opening play has always been his weak point, if anything his opening repertoire in this event was more dubious than when I last saw some of his games. Nevertheless he is one of the most tactically resourceful chess players in the World and still has the potential to be a far stronger player than he is now.
Internet coverage at: http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/8081/tour.html
Final Standings
Round 8 (1998.02.16)
Morozevich, Alexander - Itkis, Boris 1-0 32 C00 French
Bologan, Viktor - Rogozenko, Dorian 1-0 61 B76 Sicilian; Dragon
Fedorov, Alexei - Iordachescu, Viorel 1/2 42 B07 Pirc
Chernov, Vadim - Sakaev, Konstantin 0-1 54 A08 Reti (1.Nf3)
Aleksandrov, Aleksej - Lanka, Zigurds 1/2 52 E93 Kings indian; Classical
Round 9 (1998.02.17)
Sakaev, Konstantin - Fedorov, Alexei 1/2 9 A48 Queen's pawn
Iordachescu, Viorel - Bologan, Viktor 1/2 62 B92 Sicilian; Najdorf
Lanka, Zigurds - Morozevich, Alexander 0-1 50 C12 French; Macutcheon
Itkis, Boris - Chernov, Vadim 1/2 54 A81 Dutch defence
Rogozenko, Dorian - Aleksandrov, Aleksej 1/2 64 D38 Queen's gambit
Kishinev MDA (MDA), II 1998 cat. XII (2541)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2590 * 1 1 1 1 = 1 1 1 1 8.5 2979
2 Bologan, Viktor g MDA 2580 0 * = 1 = = 1 = = 1 5.5 2616
3 Sakaev, Konstantin g RUS 2620 0 = * = 0 1 1 = 1 1 5.5 2611
4 Fedorov, Alexei g BLR 2595 0 0 = * = 1 = 1 1 = 5.0 2577
5 Iordachescu, Viorel m MDA 2520 0 = 1 = * 0 = = = 1 4.5 2542
6 Chernov, Vadim m MDA 2405 = = 0 0 1 * 0 1 = = 4.0 2512
7 Aleksandrov, Aleksej g BLR 2615 0 0 0 = = 1 * = = = 3.5 2452
8 Lanka, Zigurds g LAT 2525 0 = = 0 = 0 = * = 1 3.5 2462
9 Itkis, Boris m ROM 2460 0 = 0 0 = = = = * = 3.0 2424
10 Rogozenko, Dorian g MDA 2495 0 0 0 = 0 = = 0 = * 2.0 2325
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Albert Silver reported last week on the finish of the Brazilian Championships in Rio de Janeiro. The event ended on February 16th with Rafael Leitao taking his 2nd national title by half a point from Giovanni Vescovi. However Herman Van Riemsdijk takes issue with a number of the points raised last week in his article. There is also one corrected gamescore.
I would like to make some comments to make about Albert Silver's report (TWIC171) concerning the 64th Brazilian Championship. First about the 'agressive bid' from the São Paulo State Chess Federation. Things were totally different. The finals of the Brazilian Championship were originally scheduled (without venue) for September. Then it was changed to Rio de Janeiro in December. A couple of days before it's start, the tournament was moved to January 8, still in Rio, and some of the players weren't even informed. This two changes were very harmful for both chess profs and amateurs (who had to move again their vacations). Until now no bid of the São Paulo State CF. On January 5, just after I had turned down an invitation to play a tournament abroad because of a date conflict, again the tournament was postponed to February with the prize fund cut to half! Again, at least two of the 12 finalists weren't informed. Only at this moment and on the same day, the São Paulo State Chess Federation, after a lot of phone meetings by it's directory body, made the 'agressive' bid. The city of Americana was proposed to be the venue keeping the same dates (from January 8 on), keeping the original prize fund (8,000 reais - about US$ 7,000) and giving a single room to all the participants. Note that 10 of the 12 finalists are affiliated to the São Paulo State CF. This proposal was turned down next day without any consultation norAI played myself because one of my brothers live at a two block distance from the playing hall, so I didn't have to share a room and because (as Silver pointed out in his report) I'm trying to break Souza Mendes' record of participation in the Brazilian Finals. It has now been 26 times (3 x 1st, 4 x 2nd, 5 x 3rd, 5 x 4th, 5 x 5th, 2 x 6th and 2 x 7th). Second point is about Lima's title. Darcy Lima is a very strong player and in last Fide Congress his GM title was approved conditionally to the 2500 rating limit. This means that as soon as he reaches this limit he'll become automatically a GM without need of the General Assembly approval. But until this happens (and I hope that it happens soon because it will crown a very nice chess career) he's still an IM. It doesn't matter that he calls himself a GM (as he does) but it's wrong politics for the Brazil - he speaks of a 'turnaround' in my game against Lima. I refused a draw after 27 ... fxg3. With 29 g4 white's position would have been clearly better but I went for 29 Nc6? and had planned 30 Qe7 but only after I saw 30 ... Nd7 which makes things very unclear. So I picked up the exchange but that allowed my opponent a to big counterplay. Lima got optimistic and didn't go twice for square d3 (33 ... Qd3 and 35 ... Qd3) but 36 Rxe5 gives white good chances for equality. But his big mistake was 40 ... f5? Finally I want to state that the organization was ok. Taken out our frustration of playing for less money, the organizers did their best to please the players.
Herman Claudius van Riemsdijk São Paulo, February 22
Rio de Janeiro BRA (BRA), II 1998 cat. V (2366)
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
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1 Leitao, Rafael m BRA 2515 * = = 1 = 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 9.0 2614
2 Vescovi, Giovanni m BRA 2480 = * = = 1 = 1 = 1 1 1 1 8.5 2566
3 Van Riemsdijk, Herman C m BRA 2375 = = * 1 = = 1 1 = 1 = = 7.5 2498
4 Lima, Darcy m BRA 2475 0 = 0 * = 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 7.0 2457
5 Tsuboi, Edson Kenji f BRA 2345 = 0 = = * = = 0 0 1 1 1 5.5 2367
6 Limp, Eduardo BRA 2415 0 = = 0 = * = 1 0 = 1 1 5.5 2361
7 Matsuura, Everaldo m BRA 2405 = 0 0 0 = = * 1 1 = = 1 5.5 2362
8 Martins, Carlos BRA 2295 0 = 0 0 1 0 0 * 1 = 1 1 5.0 2336
9 Rocha, Wellington Carlos BRA 2325 0 0 = 1 1 1 0 0 * 0 = = 4.5 2304
10 De Souza Haro, Paulo Cezar BRA 2315 0 0 0 0 0 = = = 1 * 1 = 4.0 2268
11 Guimaraes, Wagner P BRA 2260 0 0 = 0 0 0 = 0 = 0 * = 2.0 2113
12 Dos Santos, Francisco Jose BRA 2185 0 0 = 0 0 0 0 0 = = = * 2.0 2120
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Montpellier, Cannes and Auxerre took the lead with 3 wins after 3 of the 11 rounds in the French League championship. The tournament consists of 16 teams divided into 2 groups. After 7 rounds, the best 4 of each group play the upper group, all previous results being preserved. The 4 "weaker" teams of each group play in the lower group. 4 more rounds are played by each team. The French champion is the first of the upper group the last 4 of the lower group go in "Nationale 2", for the next year. The French champions Clichy (Bauer, Degreave, Relange, Renet etc.) is the only team of the top teams whose got only one foreigner player (S. Conquest). During the first round there was one incident between Clichy and Gonfreville. The French champions Clichy conceded a draw against Shirov's and M. Gurevic's team (but both were playing).
In the game Nataf-Gouret, Black lost on time but both players and the arbiter could not agree on the number of moves played. Nataf was a rook down and the arbiter asked to continue the game. Nataf refused to continue that game and lost on time after one hour. The appeals committee should decide soon. The most impressive team is Auxerre: 10 GM's are on the list: Lautier, Van Wely, Khalifman, Vaisser, Hebden, Cramling, Solojenkine Miralles and Bellon. Michael Adams is the strongest player of this championship and he may play some games for Clermont Ferrand (Kosten, Chabanon, Forintos, Collas).
The venues were Toulouse, Noyon, Drancy & Clermont-Ferrand over 6, 7, 8th Feb 1998.
Details from Christophe Bouton and the French Europe Echecs magazine.
Sinisa Joksic reports on a Category VII event (2435) that took place in Belgrade. Andrey Zontakh a 28 year old Ukranian GM won easily. He was only player who reached the GM-norm of 8 points. Natalia Zhukova from Ukraine made the IM norm at 6 points. She already has a women's GM-title. Unfortunately there were a lot of short games. (More than 65% percent). GM Simic played 9 short games with average of 10,5 moves!
Belgrade YUG (YUG), II 1998 cat. VIII (2435)
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
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1 Zontakh, Andrey g UKR 2545 * 1 1 = = = = = 1 = 1 1 8.0 2599
2 Shulman, Yuri g BLR 2480 0 * 0 = = 1 1 1 1 = = 1 7.0 2532
3 Cvetkovic, Srdjan m YUG 2430 0 1 * = = = = = = 1 = 1 6.5 2500
4 Cabrilo, Goran g YUG 2490 = = = * = = = = 1 = = = 6.0 2465
5 Zhukova, Natalia wg UKR 2395 = = = = * = 0 = 1 = 1 = 6.0 2474
6 Popchev, Milko m BUL 2455 = 0 = = = * = = = 1 = 1 6.0 2468
7 Martinovic, Slobodan g YUG 2470 = 0 = = 1 = * = 0 = = = 5.0 2395
8 Simic, Radoslav g YUG 2435 = 0 = = = = = * = = = = 5.0 2398
9 Milanovic, Danilo YUG 2420 0 0 = 0 0 = 1 = * = 1 1 5.0 2399
10 Mitrovic, Petar YUG 2390 = = 0 = = 0 = = = * = 0 4.0 2336
11 Mirkovic, Slobodan m YUG 2380 0 = = = 0 = = = 0 = * = 4.0 2337
12 Maric, Dragan f YUG 2325 0 0 0 = = 0 = = 0 1 = * 3.5 2311
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The 7th Aurec Rapid Tournament took place Feb 14th, 15th with two seperate rapidplay events one each day. 13 GMs and 10 IMs took part. My thanks to Olivier Deville for the results.
Saturday tournament : 01 GM Andrei SHCHEKACHEV (Russia, 2565) 6/7 02 GM Nebojsa NIKCEVIC (Yugoslavia, 2505) 6 03 GM Dimitri KOMAROV (Ukraine, 2580) 6 04 GM Glenn FLEAR (England, 2445) 6 05 GM Nikolai LEGKY (Ukraine, 2480) 5.5 06 GM Mladen PALAC (Croatia, 2545) 5.5 07 IM Jordan IVANOV (Bulgaria, 2410) 5.5 08 GM Joe GALLAGHER (Switzerland, 2490) 5.5 09 GM Andrei SOKOLOV (Russia, 2580) 5.5 10 GM Davor KOMLJENOVIC (Croatia, 2425) 5.5 11 IM Milan MRDJA (Croatia, 2380) 5.5 12 Christophe CLAVERIE (France, 2275) 5.5 13 IM Ognjan TODOROV (Bulgaria, 2335) 5.5 Sunday tournament : 01 GM Nikolai LEGKY (Ukraine, 2480) 6.5/7 02 IM Artur KOGAN (Israel, 2505) 6 03 GM Dimitri KOMAROV (Ukraine, 2580) 6 04 GM Andrei SHCHEKACHEV (Russia, 2565) 6 05 GM Glenn FLEAR (England, 2445) 6 06 GM Nebojsa NIKCEVIC (Yugoslavia, 2505) 6 07 GM Andrei SOKOLOV (Russia, 2580) 5.5 08 IM Jean-Luc CHABANON (France, 2465) 5.5 09 GM Aleksander WOJTKIEWICZ (Poland, 2535) 5.5 10 IM Jordan IVANOV (Bulgaria, 2410) 5.5 11 GM Davor KOMLJENOVIC (Croatia, 2425) 5.5 12 IM Jean-Pierre BOUDRE (France, 2380) 5.5 13 Salvador ALONSO (Argentina, 2390) 5.5 14 Ante JURKOVIC (Croatia, 2320) 5.5
Bobby Ang is covering the match between Eugene Torre vs. Rogelio Antonio,Jr. The "Centennial Duel" is a battle for supremacy in Philippine Chess over12 games. After 6 games the standings are;
Manilla PHI (PHI), II-III 1998
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
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Antonio, Rogelio jr g PHI 2520 = 1 = = = = . . . . . . 3.5 2617
Torre, Eugenio g PHI 2560 = 0 = = = = . . . . . . 2.5 2463
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Internet coverage at; http://freeweb.webquest.com/~bobbype
The international open which started on Friday 13th February in Malaga was won by Oleg Korneev. 89 players.My thanks to Francisco javier Rubio Doblas for the games and results.
Information on the internet at: http://www.redestb.es/personal/fjrd/index.html
89 players 1.- 1 KORNEEV Oleg Rusia GM 2560 2600 7.5 2.- 4 KOLEV Atanas Bulgaria GM 2540 2565 7.0 3.- 3 KURAJICA Bojan Bosnia GM 2580 2580 7.0 4.- 2 CIFUENTES PARADA Roberto Holanda GM 2540 2555 6.5 5.- 8 ROMERO HOLMES Alfonso Galicia GM 2490 2515 6.5 6.- 5 CRAMLING Pia Suecia GM 2535 2525 6.5 7.- 9 BELLON LOPEZ Juan Man. Catalunya GM 2455 2510 6.5 8.- 6 HAMDOUCHI Hichem Marruecos GM 2535 2535 6.5 9.- 7 DGEBUADZE Alexander Georgia MI 2470 2470 6.0 10.- 12 VASALLO Mauricio Argentina 2410 2385 6.0 11.- 18 PAZ L. DE GUEVARA Daniel Malaga 2265 2300 6.0 12.- 43 LIÑAN BAENA Jeronimo Malaga 0 2130 6.0 13.- 37 ROJAS SOLA Pedro Malaga 0 2200 6.0 14.- 14 MUÑOZ MORENO F.Javier Malaga MF 2320 2320 6.0 15.- 20 MARTINEZ RODRIGUEZ Pablo Valencia 2245 2340 6.0 16.- 39 GARCIA SANTOS Eugenio L. Malaga 0 2150 6.0 17.- 17 GARCIA MUÑOZ Juan Jose Malaga 2285 2280 6.0 18.- 13 DEL REY Diego Argentina MF 2350 2395 5.5 19.- 10 WOHL Alexander Australia MI 2440 2440 5.5 20.- 23 TRABERT Bettina Alemania MI 2200 2200 5.5 21.- 21 GUERRERO ALVAREZ Rafael Granada 2245 2210 5.5 22.- 19 GARCIA VICENTE Nieves Madrid MI 2255 2270 5.5 23.- 29 GONZALEZ AGUIRRE Luis Madrid -- 2135 2195 5.5 89 players
Budapester Sommer Festival Hotel Agro 4. - 12. July 1998 (Organisator: IM Janos Rigo)
A Category IX tournament, two IM Category III - V events and two opens.
Entry GM tournament: Elo 2350 - 2400 DM 300,-- Elo 2405 - 2450 DM 250,-- Elo über 2455 DM 200
Entry IM tournament: Elo 2200 - 2250 DM 300,-- Elo 2255 - 2300 DM 250,-- Elo über 2305 DM 200
Open A und B Ort: Hotel AGRO, Budapest 9 Round Swiss System FIDE-Regulation event.
Time rate 40/2 20/1 30 to finish.
Entry Open A: DM 80,-- for ELO rated players DM 100,-- without a rating. IMs and GMs free
Open B: DM 50,
Saturday 4. July 1998, 12:30
Prizes OPEN A 1. DM 2.000,-- 2. DM 1.400, 3. Rang DM 1.000 4. Rang DM 500 etc
Prizes OPEN B 1. DM 500, 2. DM 300,- 3. DM 250 etc
Contact: IM János Rigó Ungarischer Schachverband H-1182 Budapest, Véménd u. 3. Mobiltelefon (0036) 30 33 25 33 Telefax (0036) 12 90 28 04
Harald Obran A-4020 Linz, Glimpfingerstraße 27 Telefon und Fax (0043 732) 33 04 33 Mobiltelefon (0043 664) 42 33 803