Players to watch at Wijk aan Zee (The Netherlands) in 2008

This is my favorite list of players to watch at this year's Corus Chess tournament. What's yours, any suggestions ? I'll soon be adding the reasons to the players names.

GM Group A

Anand vs Kramnik - a preview of the titanic struggle later in the year !
Magnus Carlsen - can he start this year like he ended the last one ?
Veselin Topalov - a bit forgotten last year. This is his chance, right ?

GM Group B

Ivan Cheparinov - How about Topalov winning the A Group and Cheparinov the B ?
Nigel Short - His first real chance to start climbing up. Come on, Short.
Koneru Humpy - Her chance to make an impression in an elite men's tournament.
Hou Yifan - Can she hold her own against such a strong field ?
Stellwagen (for locals) - Time to move up and take the place of veterans in Holland.

GM Group C

Fabiano Caruana - Top favorite to win the C and try for the B next year.
Parimarjan Negi - Other prodigies have left you behind. Wake up, you can do it !
John van der Wiel - Show the kids real chess !

Honorary

Ljubomir Ljubojevic - Pure pleasure to see the old fire burn strong.

Corus GM Group C

The Group C has some fresh new faces, none fresher than Caruana, who should already be a strong contender for the title. Negi did not have a great year last year, but what the heck when you are 15 and the world at your board ?

Van der Weil will be interesting to watch here. Ushenina, Krush and Zhaoqin bring in the ladies charm and agression at the board.

GM Group C

GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko UKR 2651
GM Fabiano Caruana ITA 2594
GM Friso Nijboer NED 2559
IM Arik Braun GER 2541
GM Parimarjan Negi IND 2514
GM Dimitri Reinderman NED 2510
GM Efstratios Grivas GRE 2509
GM John van der Wiel NED 2496
WGM Anna Ushenina UKR 2486
GM Pontus Carlsson SWE 2481
WGM Irina Krush USA 2475
GM Zhaoqin Peng NED 2419
IM Mark van der Werf NED 2389
Dennis Ruijgrok NED 2330

2007 Asian Junior Chess Final Results

India dominated the Asian Junior Chess Championship 2007. In a tournament without the Chinese, it was a cakewalk for the Indian players. In the boys section it was 10/10 for India and in the Girls section only Pourkashiyan and Shamima Akter managed minor placings.

P Karthikeyan was placed first on tie-break while Mary Ann Gomes dominated the girls section right from the start. The only GrandMaster in the field, Parimarjan Negi could only finish fourth.

Final Standings of the Asian Junior Chess:

Boys:

1 Karthikeyan P 2340 IND 7 36
2 Ashwin Jayaram 2478 IND 7 34
3 IM Shyam Sundar M 2241 IND 6½ 34
4 GM Negi Parimarjan 2514 IND 6½ 33½
5 Lalith Babu M R 2350 IND 6½ 33
6 Purushothaman T 2252 IND 6½ 32½
7 Vishnu Prasanna 2297 IND 6 37½
8 Saravana Krishnan P 2261 IND 6 29
9 IM Sethuraman S P 2427 IND 6 29 10
10 Udeshi Aditya 2355 IND 5½ 30½

Girls:

1 WIM Gomes Mary Ann 2262 IND 8½ 43½
2 Padmini Rout 2226 IND 7 35
3 WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty 2263 IND 6 30½
4 Priya P 2129 IND 5½ 27
5 WIM Soumya Swaminathan 2244 IND 5 27½
6 Sivasankari P 2114 IND 5 26
7 WIM Pourkashiyan Atousa 2308 IRI 5 25½
8 WFM Pon N Krithika 2140 IND 5 24
9 WFM Shamima Akter Liza 2107 BAN 5 24
10 Uthra P 2055 IND 5 22

2007 Asian Junior Chess Championship

The 2007 edition of the Asian Junior Chess Championship is underway and the half way stage has been crossed. While the Boy's section is close and GM Parimarjan Negi is among the leaders, Mary Ann Gomes is threatening to become the runaway winner of the Girls section.

For more details on Results, Parings and Reports, see the Venus Chess Academy website - http://www.venuschessacademy.org/

2007 Parsvanath Commonwealth Chess Championships, New Delhi

The Commonwealth Chess Championships 2007 have reached the half way stage with a chaotic start. None of the top 3 seeds are among the leaders. Himanshu Sharma leads with a 100 % win record. Earlier Jones Gawain was shocked by S Arun Prasad in the 5th round.

Several youngsters with recent international exposure have scored wins or draws against fancied opponents. The top seed Surya Shekar Ganguly and 3rd seed Abhijit Kunte trail the leader by a point. Last year's winner, Nigel Short is not playing this year.

India's leading chess prodigy and the second youngest grandmaster ever, Parimarjan Negi has shown impressive form dropping just a draw so far.

Leading sixth pairings :

IM Arun Prasad S 2423 IND 4½ 5 IM Himanshu Sharma 2408 IND
IM Kamble Vikramaditya 2374 IND 4½ 4½ GM Negi Parimarjan 2514 IND
GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2585 IND 4 4½ GM Reefat Bin-Sattar 2482 BAN
GM Kunte Abhijit 2547 IND 4 4 IM Wohl Aleksandar H 2415 AUS

The sixth rounds are on right now. Live games can be followed at : http://www.delhichess.com/Commonwealth07_LiveGames6.asp

The official site for the 2007 commonwealth games: http://www.delhichess.com/Commonwealth07.asp