Kamsky vs Topalov, Anand vs Kramnik announced

So who will you be watching ? US rooting for Kamsky we know, India for Anand. Topalov and Kramnik have global appeal too of course.

Any predictions ?

Vishy Anand wins Morelia leg

Vishy Anand won the Morelia half of the Morelia-Linares tourney.

First Half standings:

1. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2799 4½
2. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2755 4
3. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2780 4
4. Aronian, Levon g ARM 2739 3½
5. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2733 3½
6. Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2735 3
7. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2751 3
8. Lékó, Peter g HUN 2753 2½

Corus Chess mid day live online commentary

Corus mid day live commentary

Mamedyarov vs Carlsen

Mamedyarov always had a plus and was almost close to a significant plus, but he delayed the f pawn advance. Carlsen then managed to gain equality by move 23.

Ivanchuk vs Polgar

This queen's indian defence game was always balanced and Polgar has a slight edge in the middle game.

Aronian vs Topalov
By far one of the most exciting games on display today. Topalov made some amazing moves to bring the white king into the middle. But he missed a promising continuation and the game is drawish.

Radjabov vs Anand

A Semi-slav game with 5. Bg6 h6
Anand chose to sacrifice his castling rights to gain two pawns but Radjabov gave them back to get a decent edge by the middle game stage. Anand missed the right continuation to achieve balance.

Corus Chess - Amazing Games Kasparov vs Topalov

To get you warmed up for this year's Corus Chess tournament, here's an unbelievable game from two great masters. Kasparov beats Topalov in a brilliant manner at Wijk aan Zee in 1999. Do let us know what you think of this game.

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 Chess GM Group A

The focus will obviously be on the Kramnik - Anand rivarly and now that they are tied for the top spot in the world with exactly the same ELO points, this tournament will more or less serve as a tie-break.

Topalov has lost a lot of the headlines to the top two, so he'll probably grab this chance to try and get some. Carlsen, Mamedyarov, and the ever dangerous Judit Polgar are others to watch.

The Group A of the Corus Chess Tournaments reads like a Who's who in chess.
Here's the list updated with the January 2008 Ratings. Note that Ivanchuk for example, appears second but is ninth in the world because he slipped by the time the Corus tournament was announced and the Ratings list was updated. Same with Leko and Aronian too and so on. Kramnik moved up.

World Rank, Name, Country, Rating

GM Group A

1 GM Viswanathan Anand India 2799
9 GM Vassily Ivanchuk Ukraine 2751
1 GM Vladimir Kramnik Russia 2799
3 GM Veselin Topalov Bulgaria 2780
8 GM Peter Leko Hungary 2753
6 GM Shakryar Mamedyarov Azerbaijan 2760
12 GM Teimour Radjabov Azerbaijan 2735
10 GM Levon Aronian Armenia 2739
11 GM Boris Gelfand Israel 2737
16 GM Michael Adams England 2726
13 GM Magnus Carlsen Norway 2733
22 GM Judit Polgar Hungary 2707
27 GM Pavel Eljanov Ukraine 2692
35 GM Loek Van Wely The Netherlands 2681

Chess Ratings January 2008 preview

A preview of the January ratings and a few observations I made.

I'm not yet sure if the World Cup results will be included. If yes, then a lot of other changes are possible.

Kramnik and Anand will probably be tied for the World No.1 position.
Big loser on points, no marks here for the correct guess, yes, Ivanchuk losing more than 30 pts (has already started to make up for it, though)
Topalov moves to clear third with 2780. Mamedyarov gains smart points and he is likely to be fourth on the list.

Big movers up - Karjakin, Cheparinov, Svidler and Carlsen. Sasikiran moves up a bit.

Among the ladies, Koneru Humpy is inching up on Judit Polgar, even though she is not yet a match in class. She will be at 2612. Polgar loses a couple of points.
Hou Yifan gains impressively.

Anand Kramnik match details announced

World Champion V Anand of India and V Kramnik of Russia battle it out for the world championshiop title in 2008. The details have just been announced.

The winner of this match will play the winner of Kamsky and Topalov in a bid to find a solid world champion.

• When: From October 11 – 30, 2008
• Where: Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn
• Overall Prize fund: 1,5 Million Euro
• Patron: German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück
• Main sponsor: Evonik Industries AG

As per the announcement on the official site , the match will consist of twelve games, played under classical time controls, in the period from October 11 to October 28, 2008. If there is a tie at the end of these games a tiebreak will be played on October 30, 2008. The prize fund, which will be split equally between the players, is 1,5 million Euro (approximately 2,1 million US Dollars) including taxes and FIDE licensee fees.

More details on this link - http://www.uep-worldchess.com/
Click the News link on this site.

Its Kamsky vs Topalov

Gata Kamsky won the World Cup Chess tournament 2007 being played at Khanty Mansiysk. What was expected to be a fiery battle in the end fizzled out into a draw by the 35th move. However, Kamsky was the one bound to break into a smile as he won $ 120 000. Shirov managed $ 80 000 in the end.

Shirov did provoke Kamsky to fight a complicated battle. He offered a knight in the middle game but Kamsky declined it with his customary cool way and went on to sacrifice an exchange and then advance the dangerous e-pawn. The draw was agreed when Shirov could no longer prevent the perpetual thanks to Kamsky's queen.

Kamsky now meets Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria for a chance to meet the winner of Vishwanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik. The eventual winner is to be considered the absolute World Champion.

Kamsky holds on to his lead against Shirov

Gata Kamsky of USA held on to his lead against Alexei Shirov of Spain in the finals of World Cup Chess 2007 being held at Khanty Mansiysk. The final is a four game affair with normal time, then rapid, blitz games to break a tie.

Today's drawn game:

The winner here meets Veselin Topalov for a chance to challenge the winner of Anand and Kramnik.

The results so far are as follows:

Game 1 - Draw after a brief struggle. Shirov cannot break the solid Kamsky's defence.

Game 2- Kamsky wins a thrilling game which could have swung either way. Shirov had chances only if Kamsky made minor errors but Kamsky displayed his strength of will to prevail

Game 3- Is again a draw. Shirov tries for 41 moves before the peace treaty is signed.

Tomorrow, Shirov must win with black pieces to tie the match and move to the tie-breaks. On current form, Kamsky is expected to at least draw and hang to his lead and hence win the title, but with the Alexei "Fire on the board" Shirov, you never can be very sure.