Corus Chess at Wijk aan Zee

Come on in. Everyday we will put up live analysis and post-mortem !

Here is the list of players that we consider masters at winning and masters at drawing. Its interesting to see some players who belong to these groups by character :)

Winning masters:

1. Garry Kasparov (73.08%)
2. Paul Keres (71.67%)
3. Max Euwe (71.43)
4. Lajos Portisch (66.14%)
5. Efim Geller (66.07%)

Drawing masters:

1. Gyula Sax (76.32%)
2. Peter Leko (75.96%)
3. Andras Adorjan (72.09%)
4. Gennadi Sosonko (71.52%)
5. Ulf Andersson (67.86%)

Wijk aan Zee Chess records

Vishwanathan Anand holds the record for most wins at Corus, formerly Hoogovens. He's won 5 titles so far. Max Euwe, Viktor Korchnoi, and Lajos Portisch are next with 4 tournament wins each. Kasparov won it three times and Karpov twice.

Here's the leading list.

Tournament wins, Name

5 Anand, Viswanathan
4 Euwe, Max
4 Korchnoi, Viktor
4 Portisch, Lajos
3 Garry Kasparov
3 Donner, Johannes
3 Geller, Efim
3 Nunn, John D.M.
2 Karpov, Anatoly
2 Larsen, Bent
2 Nigel Sort
2 Nikolic, Predrag
2 Olafsson, Fridrik
2 Polugaevsky, Lev
2 Salov, Valery
2 Jan Timman
2 Veselin Topalov
2 Sosonko, Gennadi, others

Garry Kasparov interview on Chessvibes.com

Chessvibes.com has published a two part interview with Garry Kasparov, arguably the greatest chess player of all time.

In the first part, he talks about politics and his views on Vladimir Putin. In the second part, he discusses his chess career and how chess is a small issue compared to the situations he faces taking on Putin.

For more details, check www.chessvibes.com

Roustam Kamsky resurfaces

Roustam (Rustam?) Kamsky, the father of the World Cup Champion 2007, Gata Kamsky has reappeared on the chess scene. In a letter appealing for "moral and financial support" from the US federation and the mayor of New York, Bloomberg, Kamsky has written a long letter justifying the actions that the Kamskys took right from the days of the Soviet Union to his defection, quitting chess and playing again. This appeal is apparently to garner support for Gata to prepare to win the World Chess Championship of chess.

In the letter, the senior Kamsky accuses Kasparov and Karpov of trying to sabotage his son's career.

The letter is available on the chess blog of Fernando Arrabal here :
http://chessarrabal.blogspot.com/

Kasparov invites Putin to a Russian Challenge !

Garry Kasparov, the retired chess genius turned politician, gave his views on Putin winning Time Magazine's Person of the year on the official "The other Russia" website.

He also invited the Russian leader to a duel in speaking or writing in Russian. Putin had earlier criticized Kasparov for speaking in English to reporters after being arrested. Kasparov claims that Putin blocks all the Russian that he speaks or writes.

More on this on the official site : http://www.theotherrussia.org/2007/12/19/kasparov-on-the-time-person-of-the-year-award-for-vladimir-putin/

Announcement of Person of the Year by Time Magazine : http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/

Anand thirsts for a game with Kasparov

V Anand, the recently crowned world champion, is craving for another chance to play Kasparov. Anand, who is preparing for the Corus chess at Wijk Aan Zee (Netherlands) tournament to be held in January considers playing a match against Kasparov as one of his dreams.

More about this on the Rediff site - http://www.rediff.com/sports/2007/dec/19chess.htm

And to put your memories to a jog, here is the Game 10 of the World Championship match at the World Trade Center in 1995. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e96IovA3WbU

Anand never really got another shot at Kasparov in a match. He was pretty young in 1995 and combined with Kasparov's vicious tactics, he never really had any chance.

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.