Round 2 World Cup Chess tie-break day

The tie-break day saw most of the favorites advancing. The winner of the World Cup will be challenged by Veselin Topalov for a right to challenge the winner of the Vishwanathan Anand - Vladimir Kramnik match.

The newly crowned blitz world champ, Vassily Ivanchuk scraped past Alexander Galkin of Russia.
Magnus Carlsen thrashed Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany 2-0 in the rapid games to advance.
Other big stars to advance on the tie-break day were Ruslan Ponomariov, Krishnan Sasikiran of India and Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria. However, another favorite, Rustam Kasimdzhanov was knocked out by Kiril Georgiev of Bulgaria.

Official results are available here : http://cup2007.fide.com/results.asp
Live games can be followed here: http://cup2007.fide.com/round.asp

Garry Kasparov released from jail

Garry Kasparov the energetic chess champion (is still a force on the chess servers), was released today from jail.

Hordes of reporters have been thronging his residence and we can expect another set of interviews, press releases, press conferences. Kasparov has chosen the United States media as his chosen voice, and it remains to be seen if he uses that weapon yet again.

Earlier, Kasparov refused food and water fearing that it may be poisoned. So, it was a two-in-one. Hunger strike and safety from poison ! Kasparov used his knight fork yet again.

November 29 Khanty Mansiysk

The rapid games will be fought today. Today's games are no less interesting. Witness the prominent names involved today - Vassily Ivanchuk, Magnus Carlsen, Arkadij Naiditsch, Ruslan Ponomariov and Rustam Kasimdzhanov.

In some ways, its interesting to watch these games live on say, playchess.com. One reason is that the games are faster and pretty accurate from a patzer's point of view. The second reason is that the confusion of having to follow several games does not exist.

Susan Polgar in India

Susan Polgar is in India to promote the documentary "My Brilliant Brain".

The National Geographic Documentary "My Brilliant Brain" is being aired worldwide except in the United States. Susan has made several appearances in her tour to India and gave many interviews.

One wonders if she could also present her more talented sister, Judit Polgar's brain :-)

Susan Polgar is doing a lot to promote chess in the United States. Have the results at the World Youth Chess 2007 got anything to do with this ? In any case, there are pointers to a revival in interest in the US. Also, the performances by the younger generation is getting better. One of the girls won the first ever age group medal at the Youth chess championships.

Karpov denied a visit to Kasparov in jail

Anatoly Karpov was today denied a chance to visit Garry Kasparov in jail. Kasparov will be released on Thursday but it was a noble gesture by one ex-world champion towards another.

Karpov openly agreed that he does not believe in Kasparov's political ideology, but that doesn't mean he can't be human enough. It is nice to see Karpov in the limelight these days. He is playing again and also doing something for social causes.
Using one's clout never harmed anyone. Especially if it can benefit another by at least getting attention. Wonder what would have transpired between them if they had really met ! Gruenfeld or the Slav ? :-)

Round 2 - Fresh news from Khanty Mansiysk World Cup Chess 2007

The normal time games have been completed. The shock of the tournament is that Teimour Radjabov has been knocked out in amazing fashion by the lower-rated Bartolomiej Macieja of Poland. 2-0 !

Ivanchuk has been held 1-1 by Alexander Galkin. This performance is nothing short of an upset already. The rapid games are next and anything can happen. But Ivanchuk is a seasoned player at the shorter versions. If you want evidence, you just have to go back to last week when he won the World Blitz championship, edging out India's V Anand.

Other favorites such as Shakriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, Levon Aronian of Armenia, Alexei Shirov of Russia, Peter Svidler of Russia and Michael Adams of England also advanced to the round of 32.

Chess World Rankings - Open Category

Chess World Rankings

Open

Rank Name Title Country Rating Games B-Year
1 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2801 21 1969
2 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2787 20 1969
3 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2785 21 1975
4 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2769 0 1975
5 Leko, Peter g HUN 2755 21 1979
6 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2755 19 1977
7 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2752 11 1985
8 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2742 9 1987
9 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2741 14 1982
10 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2739 11 1972
11 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2736 21 1968
12 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2732 25 1976
13 Adams, Michael g ENG 2729 16 1971
14 Alekseev, Evgeny g RUS 2716 17 1985
15 Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2715 23 1983
16 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2714 25 1990
17 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2714 9 1974
18 Akopian, Vladimir g ARM 2713 5 1971
19 Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2710 23 1983
20 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2708 9 1976
21 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2705 5 1983
22 Wang, Yue g CHN 2703 27 1987
23 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2695 7 1983
24 Karjakin, Sergey g UKR 2694 11 1990
25 Bu, Xiangzhi g CHN 2692 38 1985
26 Eljanov, Pavel g UKR 2691 20 1983
27 Almasi, Zoltan g HUN 2691 14 1976
28 Malakhov, Vladimir g RUS 2690 15 1980
29 Kasimdzhanov, Rustam g UZB 2690 14 1979
30 Dominguez Perez, Lenier g CUB 2683 11 1983
31 Van Wely, Loek g NED 2679 31 1972
32 Landa, Konstantin g RUS 2678 15 1972
33 Volokitin, Andrei g UKR 2678 5 1986
34 Milov, Vadim g SUI 2676 33 1972
35 Rublevsky, Sergei g RUS 2676 11 1974
36 Onischuk, Alexander g USA 2674 20 1975
37 Inarkiev, Ernesto g RUS 2674 15 1985
38 Zvjaginsev, Vadim g RUS 2674 8 1976
39 Sokolov, Ivan g NED 2673 31 1968
40 Sargissian, Gabriel g ARM 2673 24 1983
41 Movsesian, Sergei g SVK 2670 20 1978
42 Cheparinov, Ivan g BUL 2670 17 1986
43 Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2670 9 1951
44 Krasenkow, Michal g POL 2668 33 1963
45 Harikrishna, P. g IND 2668 24 1986
46 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter g ROU 2668 11 1976
47 Gashimov, Vugar g AZE 2663 23 1986
48 Tkachiev, Vladislav g FRA 2661 19 1973
49 Sasikiran, Krishnan g IND 2661 11 1981
50 Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2660 5 1982
51 Nikolic, Predrag g BIH 2657 18 1960
52 Bologan, Viktor g MDA 2657 4 1971
53 Lautier, Joel g FRA 2657 4 1973
54 Navara, David g CZE 2656 0 1985
55 Sutovsky, Emil g ISR 2655 18 1977
56 Fressinet, Laurent g FRA 2654 26 1981
57 Bareev, Evgeny g RUS 2653 0 1966
58 Miroshnichenko, Evgenij g UKR 2651 40 1978
59 Short, Nigel D g ENG 2649 27 1965
60 Georgiev, Kiril g BUL 2649 21 1965
61 Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2648 21 1987
62 Volkov, Sergey g RUS 2648 11 1974
63 Socko, Bartosz g POL 2646 34 1978
64 Tomashevsky, Evgeny g RUS 2646 19 1987
65 Moiseenko, Alexander g UKR 2646 18 1980
66 Afromeev, Vladimir f RUS 2646 12 1954
67 Beliavsky, Alexander G g SLO 2646 10 1953
68 Fedorchuk, Sergey A. g UKR 2645 59 1981
69 Predojevic, Borki g BIH 2645 18 1987
70 Motylev, Alexander g RUS 2645 14 1979
71 Zhang, Pengxiang g CHN 2644 38 1980
72 Jobava, Baadur g GEO 2644 24 1983
73 Roiz, Michael g ISR 2644 20 1983
74 Tiviakov, Sergei g NED 2643 53 1973
75 Wang, Hao g CHN 2643 47 1989
76 Khalifman, Alexander g RUS 2643 10 1966
77 Izoria, Zviad g GEO 2643 9 1984
78 Ni, Hua g CHN 2641 29 1983
79 Avrukh, Boris g ISR 2641 15 1978
80 Baklan, Vladimir g UKR 2639 42 1978
81 Stellwagen, Daniel g NED 2639 19 1987
82 Smirin, Ilia g ISR 2639 17 1968
83 Naiditsch, Arkadij g GER 2639 11 1985
84 Areshchenko, Alexander g UKR 2638 5 1986
85 Amonatov, Farrukh g TJK 2637 46 1978
86 Timofeev, Artyom g RUS 2637 10 1985
87 Smirnov, Pavel g RUS 2636 0 1982
88 Wojtaszek, Radoslaw g POL 2635 11 1987
89 Najer, Evgeniy g RUS 2635 9 1977
90 Bauer, Christian g FRA 2634 30 1977
91 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime g FRA 2634 24 1990
92 Sakaev, Konstantin g RUS 2634 0 1974
93 Zhang, Zhong g SIN 2634 0 1978
94 Lputian, Smbat G g ARM 2633 0 1958
95 Ye, Jiangchuan g CHN 2632 0 1960
96 Istratescu, Andrei g ROU 2631 9 1975
97 Mchedlishvili, Mikheil g GEO 2631 9 1979
98 Kobalia, Mikhail g RUS 2631 4 1978
99 Miton, Kamil g POL 2628 28 1984
100 Gurevich, Mikhail g TUR 2627 14 1959
101 Vladimirov, Evgeny g KAZ 2627 0 1957

Round 9 World Youth Chess Cup 2007

After Round 9 of the World Youth Chess Cup 2007, Ivan Popov leads in the blue-riband Under 18 open event with 7.5 points. Katerina Nemcova is leading the girls under 18 by a point with 8 points.

CHIRILA Ioan Cristian and TSATSALASHVILI Keti lead the Under 16 sections of the open and the girls sections respectively.

You can view the results for all sections on the following link on chess results:

http://chess-results.com/tnr8920.aspx?art=0&lan=1&flag=30&datatyp=2&mm=-1&m=-1

Khanty Mansiysk World Cup Chess Round 2

The second rounds have started in earnest. Ruslan Ponomariov and Teimour Radjabov have lost thier first rounds. Ruslan of Ukraine lost to Wang Hao of China and Radjabov lost to Bartlomiej Macieja of Poland.

Radjabov played the controversial 3 ... f5 in the Jaenisch Variation of the Ruy Lopez. He probably prepared it specially for this event, but trying it against an established grandmaster is an altogether differerent story. The opening may not have been the main reason for the defeat as the neat combination that Hao uncorked in the middle game.

Other notable results were Evgeny Bareev beating Loek Van Wely and Alexander Galkin holding Vassily Ivanchuck to a draw.

Chessy !

More information here on the official web site with the blessings of FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov:
http://www.ugra-chess.ru/eng/main_e.htm

World Youth Chess Cup 2007

The World Youth Chess Cup 2007 is heading towards the crucial last rounds. Every version of the World Youth Chess seems to be losing its strongest players. The reason for this is that many of the teenagers are already top players in the World. Examples are Magnus Carlsen, Teimour Radjabov and others.

It is debatable if the parents of such stars should allow them to continue at their age level before letting them swim among the sharks such as Vishwanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik. But players like Carlsen and Radjabov have proved that they can handle the stress of the topmost level of chess. Some have struggled, the most recent case being that of Zaven Adriasian scoring a zero in a field that was not even the best. Ironically, Zaven had recently won the World Junior Championships. One hopes that this is just an isolated case. One other junior star and a former World Junior champion Shakriyar Mamedyarov. Shak is already a star at the world level and has proved that he is more than a match for just about any chess star.

Official Website - http://wycc2007.tsf.org.tr/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/lang,en/

Results Page - http://chess-results.com/Tnr8920.aspx?lan=1

Second round at Khanty Mansiysk

Some interesting matchups in the second round at the World Cup Chess at Khanty Mansiysk.

Bareev, Evgeny vs Van Wely, Loek
Jakovenko, Dmitry - Khalifman, Alexander
Carlsen, Magnus - Naiditsch, Arkadij
Rublevsky, Sergei - Navara, David
Georgiev, Kiril - Kasimdzhanov, Rustam

These games should be well fought. All of the above players have some significant achievements and some of them are already big stars.

World Cup at Khanty Mansiysk

The World Cup took off with a few surprises in the first round. Nigel Short was soundly beaten by the teenaged David Baramidze. The other big seed to bite the dust was Pavel Eljanov. A few prominent names struggled against lower rated players. Rustam Kasimdzhanov was taken to the edge by a teenager in a hurry to climb the ELO stairs. Rustam finally beat G. N. Gopal in rapid games after overcoming the amazing resistance that Gopal put up.

Offical Website - http://www.ugra-chess.ru/eng/main_e.htm