Corus Chess update

Update

Kramnik - Van Wely (Draw)
Ivanchuk - Polgar (Draw)
Adams - Gelfand (Draw, what else)

In other interesting games in the other groups, Harikrishna was winning against Short but he seems to have messed up his winning chances. Same with Stellwagen and Li Chao, they both lost significant winning edges against Humpy and Irina Krush respectively.
Hou Yifan is putting up a good show against the 2700 Bacrot. A draw is still possible although Bacrot is piling on the pressure now.
The other prodigy Negi is almost equal against Sweden's Pontus Carlsson.

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

North American Open 2007 Las Vegas, Nevada

Six rounds of the North American open have been completed. GM Alexander Shabalov is leading the strong field with 5.5 points. He has won all his games except one. GM Hiraku Nakamura and GM Varuzhan Akobian along with IM David Pruess.

FMs Alex Kretchetov and Jake Kleiman are ranked high in a strong field.

Nakamura was held to two draws by IM Joshua Friedel and GM Jesse Kraai.

No results of a few rounds of Irina Krush have been published.

The top 20 after round 6:

1 GM Alexander Shabalov 5½
2 GM Hikaru Nakamura 5
3 GM Varuzhan Akobian 5
4 IM David Pruess 5
5 GM Ildar Ibragimov 4½
6 GM Julio J Becerra 4½
7 FM Alex Kretchetov 4½
8 FM Jake Kleiman 4½
9 GM Nikola Mitkov 4
10 GM Jesse Kraai 4
11 GM Gildardo J Garcia 4
12 GM Dashze Sharavdorj 4
13 IM Vladimi Mezentsev 4
14 FM Slava Mikhailuk 4
15 Denys K Shmelov 4
16 FM Robby Adamson 4
17 Dennis Monokroussos 4
18 GM Anatoly Y Lein 4
19 FM Matthew Beelby 4
20 Rodelay Medina 4

İş Bankası - Atatürk International Women Masters Chess Tournament

The Turkish Chess Federation, following the example of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, wants to give Women's chess a bold face. They attempt this by organizing the first Women's super tournament sponsored by İş Bankası. The total prize money is $ 16, 000.

The Turkish Chess Federation is also making an attempt at bringing up a Women dream team for the future and aim to win medals at future olympiads.

The tournament will be a round robin and starts on the 10th of March 2008 (arrival) and will finish on 20th March 2008 (departure). There will be eight invited players and the best two Turkish women player, according to the FIDE ElO List.

Notable absentees this year are
Judit Polgar - does not play in Women events.
Koneru Humpy - Second strongest female ever
Alexandra Kosteniuk - Pregnancy and children.

The event will still be a pretty strong one.

The following players are confirmed for the 2008 edition:

1 Cramling, Pia GM SWE 2531
2 Zhu Chen GM QAT 2531
3 Zhao Xue WGM CHN 2530
4 Hou Yifan WGM CHN 2502
5 Chiburdanidze, Maia GM GEO 2500
6 Ushenina, Anna IM UKR 2486
7 Harika, Dronavalli WGM IND 2480
8 Krush, Irina IM USA 2475
9 Atalık, Katerina IM TUR 2404
10 Betul Cemre Yildiz WIM TUR 2220

Reserve players

14 Javakhishvili, Lela IM GEO 2474
15 Socko, Monika IM POL 2473

For more details, see the official site - http://www.tsf.org.tr/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=19&Itemid=27