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ARMENIA TRIUMPHS IN CHESS WORLD
QUAH SENG SUN
The Star
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2011/7/29/lifeliving/9179893&sec=lifeliving
July 28, 2011
Malaysia
Crowded calendar keeps enthusiasts on their toes.
THERE are just too many world-class chess events which have taken
place or are taking place all over the world at the same time. From
Ningbo in China to Dortmund in Germany and Biel in Switzerland,
my attention is being divided by this surfeit of chess activities.
Would I consider this a problem? Yes, but this is a happy problem. I
don't mind the distraction. It only proves that chess can have a
crowded calendar.
So where shall I start? Perhaps, from where I left off last week,
with the world team chess championship that ended in Ningbo on Tuesday
with Armenia deposing Russia to become the new champion.
Poised to win: Vladimir Kramnik is creating waves at the Dortmund
Sparkassen invitational chess tournament.
I thought at first that Russia was going to win this event but the
Russians stumbled badly and lost to China and Azerbaijan, and in the
final round, suffered the ignominy of losing to India.
Russia's setback was the opportunity for Armenia to spring into
the lead. The Armenian team had played so steadily that they hadn't
lost to any other team yet. At their worst, they drew with Russia,
the United States and Azerbaijan.
On Tuesday, Armenia was due to play Ukraine in the final round. A drawn
match was all that they needed to clinch the title but the Ukrainians
themselves were in the chase. If they could score a crushing result
like a 3½-½ win against Armenia, they may even come out tops. Maybe
the Ukrainians saw the unlikelihood of this ever happening because
soon after the start of the round, their match was quickly drawn.
I believe China was disappointed with this outcome because they were
mathematically in contention for the title and they would only need
to win by 2½-1½ against Hungary, which they did, to be the champion
if Ukraine had won by any score line. The only consolation for the
Chinese team was that they actually finished with the same game points
as the Armenians, except that on the more important match points,
they trailed the new champion.
India, Israel and Egypt found themselves out of their depth. Israel
was possibly the biggest disappointment seeing how just a year ago,
they had finished third in the Chess Olympiad.
India came into this event as the Asian champion but they soon
realized that even finishing in the middle of the table would be a
tall order. I thought they could play the role of a spoiler and take
surprising points off the main title contenders but the only problem
was, they could not until the very last round against Russia when
the results did not count any more.
As for Egypt, there is little to be said about this African
representative except that they failed totally.
And so we move on to Germany where the former world champion, Vladimir
Kramnik, is creating waves at the Dortmund Sparkassen invitational
chess tournament. Well, at least he has been in impressive form
right until the mid-way point of this event last Monday. By the way,
the tournament ends on Sunday so there is still time to see whether
Kramnik will carry his advantage right through till the end.
The Dortmund Sparkassen is an elite chess tournament that goes a long
way back. However, it was not until 1973 that it was converted into
a regular annual event. This year's edition is a six-player, double
round-robin tournament that features Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura,
Ruslan Ponomariov, Le Quang Liem, Anish Giri and local German player
Georg Meier.
As mentioned, Kramnik has been showing great form. He couldn't have
been happier. In the first half of the tournament, his victims included
Ponomariov, Giri, Meier and Nakamura, and he has dropped only a draw
to Le. Even if he eases up on the pedal and draws the rest of his
games in the second half, I believe he should coast through easily
to win the top prize.
The last tournament on my list today is the annual Biel Chess Festival.
This chess festival has been around for decades. It started as a
masters open tournament in 1968; the grandmaster tournament was
introduced in 1976, and evolved into one of Europe's showcase events.
Like in Dortmund, this is a double round-robin tournament featuring
six very strong players. Their names speak for themselves: Magnus
Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alexei Shirov, Fabiano Caruana,
Alexander Morozevich and Yannick Pelletier.
I would be very surprised if Carlsen does not win the event which
will end today. On Tuesday as I was writing this story, Carlsen was
leading the field with only Morozevich following hard on his tail. The
rest had been left behind.
Caruana, who had won last year's Biel grandmaster tournament, found
himself trailing everyone this time around. A complete reversal
of form.
Up next
Malaysia Chess Festival: With only a few days remaining until the
official closing date of entries for the main events of this year's
Malaysian Chess Festival, I've been informed by the organisers that
there may be close to a hundred participants in their showcase event,
the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship.
Players from at least 19 countries will be represented. Among them
will be 13 grandmasters, two woman grandmasters and nine international
masters. Presently, there are only a few Malaysian players in the
field but without doubt, we shall see the numbers increase ahead of
the closing date.
According to the organisers, the official closing date for entries for
the main events - the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship,
the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international seniors open championship,
and the AmBank Malaysia chess challenge is on Monday.
Entries will still be accepted after this date but a 25% surcharge
will be imposed. Anyone submitting their entries within 24 hours of
the start of these events will be slapped with a 50% surcharge.
The three events will be held at the Cititel Mid Valley Hotel, Kuala
Lumpur, from Aug 18-25. Nine round Swiss, 90 minutes plus 30-second
increment time control.
As for the complimentary chess events, the closing date remains
unchanged, that is, Aug 15. There is the Swensen's open rapid age
group chess tournament on Aug 21, six rounds, 25 minutes per game;
the Merdeka individual rapid open chess tournament on Aug 26, seven
rounds, 25 minutes per game; and the Astro Merdeka rapid open team
chess tournament, Aug 28-29, nine rounds, 25 minutes per game.
For details visit
datcchess.blogspot.com/2011/06/malaysia-chess-festival-is-on.html.
Raja Nazrin Shah open: Formerly known as the Kuala Lumpur open, the
Raja Nazrin Shah international open chess tournament takes place at
the Swiss Garden Hotel & Residences, Kuala Lumpur, from Sept 4-10.
Nine rounds with time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves
followed by 30 minutes play-to-finish with a 30-second increment from
the first move. For details, contact Peter Long ([email protected]).
QUAH SENG SUN
The Star
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2011/7/29/lifeliving/9179893&sec=lifeliving
July 28, 2011
Malaysia
Crowded calendar keeps enthusiasts on their toes.
THERE are just too many world-class chess events which have taken
place or are taking place all over the world at the same time. From
Ningbo in China to Dortmund in Germany and Biel in Switzerland,
my attention is being divided by this surfeit of chess activities.
Would I consider this a problem? Yes, but this is a happy problem. I
don't mind the distraction. It only proves that chess can have a
crowded calendar.
So where shall I start? Perhaps, from where I left off last week,
with the world team chess championship that ended in Ningbo on Tuesday
with Armenia deposing Russia to become the new champion.
Poised to win: Vladimir Kramnik is creating waves at the Dortmund
Sparkassen invitational chess tournament.
I thought at first that Russia was going to win this event but the
Russians stumbled badly and lost to China and Azerbaijan, and in the
final round, suffered the ignominy of losing to India.
Russia's setback was the opportunity for Armenia to spring into
the lead. The Armenian team had played so steadily that they hadn't
lost to any other team yet. At their worst, they drew with Russia,
the United States and Azerbaijan.
On Tuesday, Armenia was due to play Ukraine in the final round. A drawn
match was all that they needed to clinch the title but the Ukrainians
themselves were in the chase. If they could score a crushing result
like a 3½-½ win against Armenia, they may even come out tops. Maybe
the Ukrainians saw the unlikelihood of this ever happening because
soon after the start of the round, their match was quickly drawn.
I believe China was disappointed with this outcome because they were
mathematically in contention for the title and they would only need
to win by 2½-1½ against Hungary, which they did, to be the champion
if Ukraine had won by any score line. The only consolation for the
Chinese team was that they actually finished with the same game points
as the Armenians, except that on the more important match points,
they trailed the new champion.
India, Israel and Egypt found themselves out of their depth. Israel
was possibly the biggest disappointment seeing how just a year ago,
they had finished third in the Chess Olympiad.
India came into this event as the Asian champion but they soon
realized that even finishing in the middle of the table would be a
tall order. I thought they could play the role of a spoiler and take
surprising points off the main title contenders but the only problem
was, they could not until the very last round against Russia when
the results did not count any more.
As for Egypt, there is little to be said about this African
representative except that they failed totally.
And so we move on to Germany where the former world champion, Vladimir
Kramnik, is creating waves at the Dortmund Sparkassen invitational
chess tournament. Well, at least he has been in impressive form
right until the mid-way point of this event last Monday. By the way,
the tournament ends on Sunday so there is still time to see whether
Kramnik will carry his advantage right through till the end.
The Dortmund Sparkassen is an elite chess tournament that goes a long
way back. However, it was not until 1973 that it was converted into
a regular annual event. This year's edition is a six-player, double
round-robin tournament that features Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura,
Ruslan Ponomariov, Le Quang Liem, Anish Giri and local German player
Georg Meier.
As mentioned, Kramnik has been showing great form. He couldn't have
been happier. In the first half of the tournament, his victims included
Ponomariov, Giri, Meier and Nakamura, and he has dropped only a draw
to Le. Even if he eases up on the pedal and draws the rest of his
games in the second half, I believe he should coast through easily
to win the top prize.
The last tournament on my list today is the annual Biel Chess Festival.
This chess festival has been around for decades. It started as a
masters open tournament in 1968; the grandmaster tournament was
introduced in 1976, and evolved into one of Europe's showcase events.
Like in Dortmund, this is a double round-robin tournament featuring
six very strong players. Their names speak for themselves: Magnus
Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alexei Shirov, Fabiano Caruana,
Alexander Morozevich and Yannick Pelletier.
I would be very surprised if Carlsen does not win the event which
will end today. On Tuesday as I was writing this story, Carlsen was
leading the field with only Morozevich following hard on his tail. The
rest had been left behind.
Caruana, who had won last year's Biel grandmaster tournament, found
himself trailing everyone this time around. A complete reversal
of form.
Up next
Malaysia Chess Festival: With only a few days remaining until the
official closing date of entries for the main events of this year's
Malaysian Chess Festival, I've been informed by the organisers that
there may be close to a hundred participants in their showcase event,
the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship.
Players from at least 19 countries will be represented. Among them
will be 13 grandmasters, two woman grandmasters and nine international
masters. Presently, there are only a few Malaysian players in the
field but without doubt, we shall see the numbers increase ahead of
the closing date.
According to the organisers, the official closing date for entries for
the main events - the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship,
the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international seniors open championship,
and the AmBank Malaysia chess challenge is on Monday.
Entries will still be accepted after this date but a 25% surcharge
will be imposed. Anyone submitting their entries within 24 hours of
the start of these events will be slapped with a 50% surcharge.
The three events will be held at the Cititel Mid Valley Hotel, Kuala
Lumpur, from Aug 18-25. Nine round Swiss, 90 minutes plus 30-second
increment time control.
As for the complimentary chess events, the closing date remains
unchanged, that is, Aug 15. There is the Swensen's open rapid age
group chess tournament on Aug 21, six rounds, 25 minutes per game;
the Merdeka individual rapid open chess tournament on Aug 26, seven
rounds, 25 minutes per game; and the Astro Merdeka rapid open team
chess tournament, Aug 28-29, nine rounds, 25 minutes per game.
For details visit
datcchess.blogspot.com/2011/06/malaysia-chess-festival-is-on.html.
Raja Nazrin Shah open: Formerly known as the Kuala Lumpur open, the
Raja Nazrin Shah international open chess tournament takes place at
the Swiss Garden Hotel & Residences, Kuala Lumpur, from Sept 4-10.
Nine rounds with time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves
followed by 30 minutes play-to-finish with a 30-second increment from
the first move. For details, contact Peter Long ([email protected]).