Chess

Standings after 5 rounds1.Nakamura, HikaruUSA2784*.0.½11..13½2.Gelfand, BorisISR2755.*..½1½½1.3½3.Mamedyarov, ShakhriyarAZE27531.*..½½.½½34.Carlsen, MagnusNOR2864...*½0½1.135.Andreikin, DmitryRUS2713½½.½*..½½.2½6.Caruana, FabianoITA277400½1.*.1..2½7.Karjakin, SergeyRUS27820½½½..*..½28.Anand, ViswanathanIND2786.½.0½0.*1.29.Morozevich, AlexanderRUS2760.0½.½..0*½1½10.Kramnik, VladimirRUS28030.½0..½.½*1½Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Official website: http://dilijan2013.fide.comChess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Round 5 resultsNakamura, Hikaru - Andreikin, Dmitry½-½Gelfand, Boris - Morozevich, Alexander1-0Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar - Caruana, Fabiano½-½Carlsen, Magnus - Anand, Viswanathan1-0Kramnik, Vladimir - Karjakin, Sergey½-½Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Official website: http://dilijan2013.fide.comChess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Nobody is safe on top of the 2013 U.S. Junior Closed Championship. After a third round that saw two perfect-score frontrunners fall with the white pieces, Monday at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis was more of the same for the leader. FM Luke Harmon-Vellotti entered atop the standings with 2.5/3 points, but he fell in glorious fashion to FM Samuel Sevian in round 4. The full-point victory was one of four on the day, with only one draw in the round between IM Victor Shen and FM Jeffrey Xiong. Report by Brian Jerauld.The standings remain tight, with seven of the ten players still within one point of each other, entering round 5. California 17-year-old IM Daniel Naroditsky now sits atop the leaderboard on the proverbial hot seat and, with two wins and two draws in four rounds, is the last player in the field without a loss. Four players sit in a tie for second place, a half-point behind Naroditsky with 2.5 points.Not 20 moves into Naroditsky’s game versus FM Atulya Shetty, things looked to be headed into a dead draw, which would have created a six-way tie for first place. Shetty gave fight with the French defense, producing an isolated queen’s pawn. It was one Naroditsky was up to the task of blockading, but unfortunately it was black’s only slight weakness.But Shetty missed 19. … Bxd4 20. Bxd4 f6, which would have ushered in an opposite-colored bishop endgame and left white with no prospects. Naroditsky capitalized, with a powerful 24. Qg3 to set up the winning Re5 on the next move. Shetty blundered his major pieces to a knight fork soon after, and Naroditsky closed the game with some great back-rank tactical work.“I just misevaluated the position,” Shetty said of his drawing chances. “I thought he would be able to keep pushing for awhile, with me suffering. I guess it was an easier draw than I thought it would be.”Harmon-Vellotti had been nothing short of impressive through the first three rounds, including a win over IM Kayden Troff and a draw with Naroditsky, the field’s two highest-rated players. But his fourth-round match on Monday versus Sevian was a quick reminder that there would be no getting comfortable in this field.Boise, Idaho’s 14-year-old pride looked solid through the earlygoings of a Ruy Lopez, prompting Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan and Ben Finegold to comment on Harmon-Vellotti’s polished openings thus far in the tournament. But the middlegame held a different story.If 16. c4 was confusing, then 18. Nfg5 was downright wrong. The former move, in a position that looked primed for white to push b4, greased the wheels for Sevian to come on the attack, and the latter simply sent a minor piece into the barbs of the enemy camp for no compensation.“It was just one of those games where everything I calculated just didn’t work,” Harmon-Vellotti said. “I thought b4 didn’t work, because I was losing material – but I’m not. Then c4 was supposed to start this crazy kingside attack, where I thought I could get d4 and have something – but I don’t. Then Nb6, [Sevian] had several refutations – but I didn’t see any of them.”Troff converted a solid endgame into a full point in his match versus FM Yian Liou. The Utah IM and reigning U-14 World Champion, who turned 15 while playing in his first U.S. Championship in May, came out clean against the Queen’s Gambit-Declined Slav defense and found himself with an early advantage. Liou’s 17. … b6 was suspect, especially without his king castled, and Troff created the first weakness in his opponent’s army with an isolated c-pawn.But he fell a bit flat on his choice of attack, opting for 19. Bb5 which was met by Ra7, and Troff voluntarily traded minor pieces and queens to speed toward the endgame. But Liou missed 23. Bf6, which would have brought the devastating 24. … Bd4+ and paved the way for an easy draw. Instead, Troff cleaned up in an excellent rook-and-pawn endgame. Liou’s choice of 23. a5 was the one he wanted back.“It wasn’t miscalculating as much as i

Swedish Grandmaster Nils Grandelius won the 2nd Golden Sands open tournament that was held on 10-18th June in the Bulgarian sea resort Golden Sands.Grandelius defeated Indian GM Arun Prasad in the last round to complete the tournament with 7,5/9 points. Vladislav Nevednichy and MR Venkatesh were also victorious to catch Zbynek Hracek and Vladimir Georgiev on the shared second place.WGM Mary Ann Gomes was the best placed woman with 6,5 points.Last round videoFinal standings:1 GM Grandelius Nils SWE 2544 – 7.5 2 GM Hracek Zbynek CZE 2625 – 7 3 GM Nevednichy Vladislav ROU 2580 – 7 4 GM Georgiev Vladimir MKD 2532 – 7 5 GM Venkatesh M.R. IND 2506 – 7 6 GM Solak Dragan TUR 2598 – 6.5 7 GM Nabaty Tamir ISR 2579 – 6.5 8 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2554 – 6.5 9 IM Ashwin Jayaram IND 2472 – 6.5 10 GM Arun Prasad S. IND 2522 – 6.5 11 GM Spasov Vasil BUL 2565 – 6.5 12 GM Gupta Abhijeet IND 2600 – 6.5 13 GM Petrosian Tigran L. ARM 2649 – 6.5 14 IM Raznikov Danny ISR 2491 – 6.5 15 GM Rusev Krasimir BUL 2556 – 6.5 16 GM Chatalbashev Boris BUL 2560 – 6.5 17 GM Sengupta Deep IND 2548 – 6.5 18 GM Vajda Levente ROU 2617 – 6.5 19 WGM Gomes Mary Ann IND 2408 – 6.5 20 GM Solodovnichenko Yuri UKR 2565 – 6 21 GM Svetushkin Dmitry MDA 2605 – 6 22 GM Blagojevic Dragisa MNE 2524 – 6 23 GM Mareco Sandro ARG 2557 – 6 24 IM Bernadskiy Vitaliy UKR 2475 – 6 25 FM Bonafede Alessandro ITA 2353 – 6 26 GM Abasov Nijat AZE 2492 – 6 27 GM Grover Sahaj IND 2478 – 6 28 IM Givon Asaf ISR 2415 – 6 29 GM Shyam Sundar M. IND 2502 – 6 30 GM Sveshnikov Evgeny LAT 2512 – 6 31 GM Gopal G.N. IND 2522 – 6 32 GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian ROU 2565 – 6 33 IM Narayanan Srinath IND 2464 – 6 34 GM Drenchev Petar BUL 2485 – 6 35 IM Debashis Das IND 2482 – 6 36 IM Galinsky Timofey UKR 2439 – 6 37 IM Karthikeyan Murali IND 2435 – 6 38 IM Rombaldoni Axel ITA 2484 – 6 39 FM Ali Marandi Cemil Can TUR 2383 – 6Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013Hi everyone, SAINT LOUIS (June 17, 2013) -- For the first time ever, World Championship challenger GM Magnus Carlsen will play a high-profile tournament in the United States. The World’s No. 1 ranked player will take on three other top-ten players in Saint Louis this September when he joins GMs Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura and Gata Kamsky for the Sinquefield Cup, a four-player, double round robin scheduled to be held at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL) September 9-15.In November, Carlsen will challenge GM Viswanathan Anand of India for the World Championship title.CCSCSL Executive Director Tony Rich said this event marks an important milestone for U.S. chess. “We are honored to bring the world’s best to Saint Louis this September,” Rich said. “Hosting an event of this magnitude is yet another sign that the U.S. is becoming a major player in the world chess scene.”Carlsen and Aronian currently sit atop the world rankings at No. 1 and 2, respectively, while Nakamura and Kamsky hold the No. 1 and 2 spots in the U.S. Nakamura is coming off one of the most successful three-game runs of his career having recently defeated GMs Vladimir Kramnik, Sergey Karjakin and Fabiano Caruana at the Tal Memorial, which has vaulted him back into fifth place in the world rankings. Kamsky also is coming off one of his most successful tournament performances in recent years with a second-place finish at the FIDE Grand Prix that recently concluded in Thessaloniki, Greece. Kamsky, who recently won his fourth U.S. Championship title, climbed back into the world’s top 10 for the first time since September 2011.The average FIDE rating for the field is over 2800, making it the strongest tournament in the history of the U.S.The opening ceremony will take place on September 8, and round 1 will begin at 1 p.m. CT on Monday, September 9. The Sinquefield Cup, which will feature a prize fund of $170,000, is named after the founders of the CCSCSL, Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield. The Sinquefields were each honored by the U.S. Chess Federation with a Gold Koltanowski award in 2012, with Rex also earning the distinction in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The award is given to the person or persons who have done the most to promote chess in the U.S. each year. For more information, visit www.uschesschamps.com.From Alexandra Kosteniuk'swww.chessblog.comAlso see her personal blog atwww.chessqueen.comDon't miss Chess Queen™YouTube Channel

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013Hi everyone, SAINT LOUIS (June 18, 2013) -- Nobody is safe on top of the 2013 U.S. Junior Closed Championship. After a third round that saw two perfect-score front-runners fall with the white pieces, Monday at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis was more of the same for the leader. FM Luke Harmon-Vellotti entered atop the standings with 2.5/3 points, but he fell in glorious fashion to FM Samuel Sevian in round 4. The full-point victory was one of four on the day, with only one draw in the round between IM Victor Shen and FM Jeffrey Xiong.The standings remain tight, with seven of the ten players still within one point of each other, entering round 5. Calfornia 17-year-old IM Daniel Naroditsky now sits atop the leaderboard on the proverbial hot seat and, with two wins and two draws in four rounds, is the last player in the field without a loss. Four players sit in a tie for second place, a half-point behind Naroditsky with 2.5 points.Not 20 moves into Naroditsky’s game versus FM Atulya Shetty, things looked to be headed into a dead draw, which would have created a six-way tie for first place. Shetty gave fight with the French defense, producing an isolated queen’s pawn. It was one Naroditsky was up to the task of blockading, but unfortunately it was black’s only slight weakness.But Shetty missed 19. … Bxd4 20. Bxd4 f6, which would have ushered in an opposite-colored bishop endgame and left white with no prospects. Naroditsky capitalized, with a powerful 24. Qg3 to set up the winning Re5 on the next move. Shetty blundered his major pieces to a knight fork soon after, and Naroditsky closed the game with some great back-rank tactical work.“I just misevaluated the position,” Shetty said of his drawing chances. “I thought he would be able to keep pushing for awhile, with me suffering. I guess it was an easier draw than I thought it would be.”Harmon-Vellotti had been nothing short of impressive through the first three rounds, including a win over IM Kayden Troff and a draw with Naroditsky, the field’s two highest-rated players. But his fourth-round match on Monday versus Sevian was a quick reminder that there would be no getting comfortable in this field.Boise, Idaho’s 14-year-old pride looked solid through the earlygoings of a Ruy Lopez, prompting Grandmaster commentators Yasser Seirawan and Ben Finegold to comment on Harmon-Vellotti’s polished openings thus far in the tournament. But the middlegame held a different story.If 16. c4 was confusing, then 18. Nfg5 was downright wrong. The former move, in a position that looked primed for white to push b4, greased the wheels for Sevian to come on the attack, and the latter simply sent a minor piece into the barbs of the enemy camp for no compensation.“It was just one of those games where everything I calculated just didn’t work,” Harmon-Vellotti said. “I thought b4 didn’t work, because I was losing material – but I’m not. Then c4 was supposed to start this crazy kingside attack, where I thought I could get d4 and have something – but I don’t. Then Nb6, [Sevian] had several refutations – but I didn’t see any of them.”Troff converted a solid endgame into a full point in his match versus FM Yian Liou. The Utah IM and reigning U-14 World Champion, who turned 15 while playing in his first U.S. Championship in May, came out clean against the Queen's Gambit-Declined Slav defense and found himself with an early advantage. Liou’s 17. … b6 was suspect, especially without his king castled, and Troff created the first weakness in his opponent’s army with an isolated c-pawn.But he fell a bit flat on his choice of attack, opting for 19. Bb5 which was met by Ra7, and Troff voluntarily traded minor pieces and queens to speed toward the endgame. But Liou missed 23. Bf6, which would have brought the devastating 24. … Bd4+ and paved the way for an easy draw. Instead, Troff cleaned up in an excellent rook-and-pawn

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013Hi everyone, The focus of the fifth round at the 8th Tal Chess Memorial in Moscow, on Tuesday, was the game between Challenger Magnus Carlsen and World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand. Carlsen picked up a rare variation in the Nimzo-Indian and got away by surprising the World Champion who chose to stay passive in the battle. Carlsen's central pawn break broke Black's defenses easily.Speaking about the psychological advantage of the game, Magnus Carlsen said: I think it's good before the World Championship match to remind him that I can outplay him once in a while. [Smiles.] Since obviously between us there have been a lot of draws, recently at least. But I'm not going to go around and think that he's going to have such a bad day every day at the World Championship. I'll have to prepare for the worst, definitely. And to clarify, I don't mean to prepare for the worst, that I'm going to lose necessarily, but that he's going to be at his best and not give away anything [for] free like today.You can replay the Magnus Carlsen - Viswanathan Anand game with Chess King.In other games of the day, tournament leader so far Hikaru Nakamura was held to a well-earned by Dmitry Andreikin. Boris Gelfand and Alexander Morozevich played the Benoni. Black's inaccuracies left Gelfand in control and earned him the full point. The victory allowed the former World Championship challenger to join Hikaru Nakamura in the lead.Vladimir Kramnik and Sergey Karjakin settled for a draw after a long positional struggle. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Fabiano Caruna also drew despite an exciting struggle. The standings after the 5th round:1-2. H. Nakamura, B. Gelfand - 3.5, 3-4. S. Mamedyarov, M. Carlsen - 3, 5-6. F. Caruana, D. Andrejkin - 2.5, 7-8. V. Anand, S. Karjakin - 2, 9-10. Alexander Morozevich, Vladimir Kramnik - by 1.5.Pairings 6th round:Alexander Morozevich - S. KarjakinF. Caruana - V. KramnikD. Andrejkin - S. MamedyarovV. Anand - H. NakamuraB Gelfand - M. CarlsenFrom Alexandra Kosteniuk'swww.chessblog.comAlso see her personal blog atwww.chessqueen.comDon't miss Chess Queen™YouTube Channel

VIDEO: FM Kostya reviews the decisive Kamsky-Ramirez “Armageddon” game from the US Champs!