Chess

Official website: http://thessaloniki2013.fide.comChess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013Hi everyone, The 4th Danzhou Grand Master Chess Tournament is taking place in Danzhou, Hainan, from 20 May to 29 May 2013. Ten Chinese Grandmasters compete in the round robin tournament. Ni Hua is leading the field as the only player that maintained a perfect score after three rounds. Two of these victories were achieved with the black pieces.The first victim of the fourth seeded player was Xiu Deshun. A very long and hard-fought battle finished with Ni Hua getting the faster passed pawns on the queenside.In the second round the leader had to face the Dutch put up by Lu Shanglei. After a series of simplifications the players went into a queens and rooks endgame where white’s initiative was enough to get ahead. Shanglei resigned on move 41 when he is about to lose his rook. Young GM Wei Yi was the last one to fall. He played white and agreed to get in a sharp Ruy Lopez. A tactical sequence around move 22 left him a piece down and he decided to resign instead of suffering any longer. Rating favorites Bu Xiangzhi and Ding Liren are sharing second place with 2.5/3. (Chessdom.com)Standings after 3 rounds:1 GM Ni Hua 2646 32 GM Bu Xiangzhi 2662 2.53 GM Ding Liren 2707 2.54 GM Zhou Weiqi 2590 1.55 GM Yu Yangyi 2675 1.56 GM Zhou Jianchao 2607 17 GM Xiu Deshun 2534 18 GM Wen Yang 2618 19 GM Wei Yi 2530 0.510 GM Lu Shanglei 2551 0.5From Alexandra Kosteniuk'swww.chessblog.comAlso see her personal blog atwww.chessqueen.comDon't miss Chess Queen™YouTube Channel

The second round of the FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Thessaloniki produced more decisive results and now we have as many as five players sharing the lead with 1,5 points each.Alexander Morozevich, Fabiano Caruana and Alexander Grischuk took advantage of the white pieces and signed important victories. The other three games were drawn.Hikaru Nakamura, arriving directly from Norway Chess tournament, has a difficult start with two losses in two consecutive games with black pieces.Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated.The Grand Prix tournament is attracting huge attention in Thessaloniki, the chess capitol of Greece. Even on the working days, around 100 people join the commentator GM Ioannis Papaioannou in the Salonika bar of Makedonia Palace.In addition, GM Stelios Halkias and FM Sotiris Logothetis are providing live English commentary for the official website. Guests are commonly joining in to share their thoughts on the games. Today we had an honour to welcome the reigning Greek champion Antonios Pavlidis in the commentary room.Nelly Serefidou, reigning Greek U18 Girls champion, and Elisavet Papathanasiou, two-times Greek U18 Girls champion, also analysed with the commentators.Leinier Dominguez - Ruslan Ponomariov 1/2-1/2Ponomariov aimed to play the popular Marshall Attack in the Ruy Lopez, but Dominguez deviated with the quiet 8.h3 and 9.d3.Black prepared the d5-push and comfortably equalised. White released the tension on the a-file and exchanged a couple of pieces. Immediately after that the players silently agreed to a draw with the three-fold repetition.Dominguez said that he was surprised by the black's opening choice and decided to play solid. Ponomariov based his preparation on the game that Leinier played with white against Kasimdzhanov in Tashkent. He also analysed some games from the recent European Championship in Poland.Etienne Bacrot - Rustam Kasimdzhanov 1/2-1/2Bacrot revived the old main line against the Gruenfeld Indian defence that is occasionally springing into popularity thanks to the efforts of Gelfand and Kramnik. He however played the direct 13.Rxb7 instead of the more popular Bg5 or Be3.This system allowed black to take down the central d4-pawn, which is often white's main trump in the resulting endgames. Here white relied on the Rook on the 7th rank and pressure against the f7-pawn.Black was on time to activate his pieces and contest the 7th rank. After the massive exchanges of heavy pieces, draw was singed on move 35.Alexander Morozevich - Peter Svidler 1-0The match started as a Four Knights Game and Svidler opted for the active Rubinstein variation. Black sacrifices a pawn but gets good compensation as white pieces are a little bit clumsy.Black challenged white's foremost pawn on e5, but Morozevich didn't want to dig in with 13.Bc2 and 14.f4, but instead went for the inspiring b4-b5 advance.Later we learned from Morozevich that this was his attempt to activate the pieces on the queenside. He was aware that black might have obtained a strong attack on the white King, but he decided to take the risk.White pressed the opponent's c6 and d5-pawns, when black erred with the unfortunate e5-e4 push. This move was a logical attempt to grab the space and liberate e5-square for the pieces, but unfortunately for Svidler it had a tactical flow.The point is that after 17...bxc6 18. Bxc6 Rxc6 black expected only 19. Nxf5 and then 20. Nxd5, but he missed that the immediate 19. Nbxd5 is coming in with crushing effect.Svidler tried to cause some trouble on the kingside, but this was too slow as white simply captured everything on his way and promoted a new Queen on a8.Morozevich said in the press conference that his computer broke down last night and he couldn't access his database. The only files that were available were on the Four Knights Game, so he was forced to go with this opening.Veselin Topalov - Gata Kamsky 1/2-1/2This was another Gruenfeld Indian defence, but here Topalov employed Kram

Official website: http://thessaloniki2013.fide.comChess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013Hi everyone, Here's some cool chess news about Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk: While she was playing in the Geneva Grand Prix last week (see her report for the moment in Russian and in English thanks to Google Translate), the French-Swiss magazine Echo came out with an article about chess, and the 12th Women's World Chess Champion was on the cover! Read all about it at ChessQueen.com - GM Alexandra Kosteniuk's personal chess blog.From Alexandra Kosteniuk'swww.chessblog.comAlso see her personal blog atwww.chessqueen.comDon't miss Chess Queen™YouTube Channel

More standings here: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr101373.aspxChess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Webster University Presents, Hosts, and Welcomes International Educators to St. Louis Webster representatives will present throughout the conference, with faculty and staff presenting on topics such as the Global Citizenship Program, internationalizing the curriculum, models of success in transnational education, using technology and social media, and emerging countries in international education. Webster will host visitors at its exhibit #813-815 throughout the week, with performers on each day including the Gorlok (Tuesday), the calligraphy of Jimmy Liu through the Webster University Confucius Institute and the Lion Dance from the Nine Dragon Academy (Wednesday), and chess exhibitions for international visitors by Webster chess head coach Susan Polgar and some of her national champion players. Webster also will be hosting events at the Old Post Office downtown campus location for NAFSA attendees in conjunction with Maryville University on May 30. It will host international university presidents and other VIPs at a St. Louis Cardinals-Kansas City Royals game during the week. And on Tuesday morning, special conference guests will be on the home campus in Webster Groves for a campus tour and visits with various Webster personnel. Scheduled keynote speakers are: * Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General and Nobel Peace Laureate, May 28, 4:00 – 5:30 pm. * Oscar Arias, two-time Costa Rica President and Nobel Peace Laureate, May 31, 12:00 – 1:30 pm. * Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, world renowned brain surgeon and former migrant farm worker, May 29, 4:00 – 5:30 pm. * Rye Barcott, founder of Carolina for Kibera, peace activist, and former marine, May 30, 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Read more about Webster’s participation at webster.edu, and look for stories from the conference throughout the week there and in Webster Today. For more information about the keynote and other speakers, click on www.nafsa.org/ac13guestspeakers.Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

If you have any knowledge of chess history, you have probably heard of the theoretical dispute - and antagonism - between Siegbert Tarrasch and Aron Nimzowitsch, the leaders of the classical and hypermodern schools (respectively). It appears that ...

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013Hi everyone, The first round of the fourth stage of FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Thessaloniki got under way on 22nd May, with the Greek-Russian businessman Ivan Savvidis, main sponsor of the event, making the first symbolic move in the game Kamsky - Dominguez.After playing 1.e2-e4, Savvidis told Kamsky "now you have no right to lose this game". The American champion lived up to the expectations and went on to defeat Leinier Dominguez.To complete the fortunate day for Mr Savvidis, his club PAOK Saloniki beat Asteras Tripolis 2-1 in the Greek Football Super-Liga play-off. Peter Svidler and Rustam Kasimdzhanov also started with victories, while the other three games were drawn. Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated.Ponomariov - Caruana 1/2-1/2The first game to finish was the match between Ruslan Ponomariov and Fabiano Caruana. The players opened with Ruy Lopez and Caruana pointed that 9...Na5 was in important move to hold the setup. Ponomariov noted that none of the pieces or pawns were exchanged before move 16. Caruana then released tension in center and moved his Knight to f4 because there was no other way to defend the e5-pawn. Within the next dozen of moves a large number of pieces were exchanged. After the Queens also went off, a draw was signed according to Sofia rules.Ponomariov was happy with the result as "it is important to properly adjust to the new setting, and the new tournament." He also added that he is playing similar setups with black, he is familiar with many opening ideas, and that is why he took some time to find the most appropriate plan. He played all the logical moves, but black also played well and the draw is a fair result.Caruana reminded that most of the players competing in Thessaloniki also played last month in Zug Grand Prix and that he has the feeling "of playing the same tournament again".Ponomariov finally said that he is happy that the tournament is receiving a lot of attention from media and local chess fans.Svidler - Bacrot 1-0Peter Svidler was the first to score a victory in Thessaloniki. His game with Etienne Bacrot started as Semi-Tarrasch and for awhile it looked like black is doing fine. But later he started to err and Svidler used the opportunity to invade the seventh rank with the rooks. Replay the full game with Chess King.Svidler feels greater pressure in Thessaloniki than he had in Norway Chess tournament because this event is a part of the World Championship cycle. He's been playing continuously in many tournaments, but after the Thessaloniki Grand Prix he will probably take a break until the World Cup in Tromso. He added that he might do live commentary for the Tal Chess Memorial.Bacrot said he had some time to work on the openings, but he still didn't get into the proper competitive shape. He hopes to play better as the tournament progresses.Kamsky - Dominguez 1-0Gata Kamsky and Leinier Dominguez engaged in the Sicilian Naidorf defence. But, the just-crowned US Chess Champion 2013 played steadily and was quick to capitalise on the latter's mistakes to begin the tournament with a win. Replay the full game with Chess King. Ivanchuk - Morozevich 1/2-1/2Vassily Ivanchuk and Alexander Morozevich played the King's Indian defence where white revived the old main line with 9. Nd2. He proceeded in the straightforward manner with a3, Rb1 and b4. Black tried to contain white's action on the queenside with 14...Ba4. Morozevich pointed that he waited for the opponent to take on a4, rather than himself exchanging on b3. His reasoning was that Nc3 is more useful to white than Nb3. Morozevich noted that 17...Qa8 was a blank shot and that 17...Kh8 with idea Ng8-Bh6 would have been better try. He conceded that white obtained significant advantage after pushing a3-a4-a5. Ivanchuk agreed with this estimation and said that the rest of the game was simply a matter of good technique.However, black put up

@Birafun Livestream keeps removing our content, so we make all the death matches available here: