International Chess News 2013

The London Chess Classic was held and most of the worlds top players were there including all the leading British players. The only person missing from the top players in the world was Magnus Carlsen although the defeated champion Vishy Anand managed to make it. It was called the Super 16 as 16 players were invited including the two leaders of the Fide Open after the 4th round were promoted to the main event which although they were outplayed and finished last, it was great to see.

the full line up was:

They played rapidplay (ie less than 1 hour games but greater than 15 minute) in this case non-tie break games were 25 minutes plus 10 seconds added after every move. Michael Adams and Nigel Short both made it to the knock out stages while Adams made it even into the semi-final, a possible future world champion or at the very least challenger for the title in Hikaru Nakamura won the overall event.

British player, Michael Adams continues to impress, he came second in a tournament in Bilbao recently, he is set to go to 12th in the world with a rating of 2761.

Fabiano Caruana just failed in his attempt to reach the candidates 2014 through the fide Grand Prix, the first two who are the qualifiers for the candidates 2014 were Veselin Topalov from Bulgaria and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan. Hikaru Nakamura featured highly in the last Grand Prix in Paris.

The World Chess Championship 2013 was a match between the World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand (winner of the World Chess Championship 2012) and Magnus Carlsen, to determine the 2013 World Chess Champion. It will be held under the auspices of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 6 to 26 November 2013 in Chennai, India.

World Chess Championship 2013

	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Points
Viswanathan Anand (India)	2775	½	½	½	½	0	0	½	½	0	½	--	--	3½
Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	2862	½	½	½	½	1	1	½	½	1	½	--	--	6½

It looks like we have a new World Champion but Magnus has to pass the finishing line yet. (update) as of 22/11/2013 we now do have a new World Chess Champion = Magnus Carlsen. Note-the remaining games, ie 11 and 12, remained unplayed as the result was already decided by game 10.

		Games from World Championship 2013, Chennai, India.
		9/11/2013	game 1
		10/11/2013	game 2
		12/11/2013	game 3
		13/11/2013	game 4
		15/11/2013	game 5
		16/11/2013	game 6
18/11/2013	game 7
19/11/2013	game 8
21/11/2013	game 9
22/11/2013	game 10

Sorry for the break from the chess news but some news I didnt immediately report was English player Michael Adams winning a Top International Tournament in Dortmund ahead of some of the worlds top players it must be his greatest result. Also David Howell beat a strong British group of grandmasters at the British Championships in Torquay by a clear point which is rare at the top level because standards are evenly spread and close together so results usually follow that.

I dont know if this pert olds of great things for David in the future but I am sure if he keeps at chess he will be in top international tournaments regularly eventually following the likes of Miles, Hebden, Short, Nunn, King, Keene, Basman, Sadler, Mcshane, Adams, Plaskett, Summerscale, McNab, Botterill etc. (sorry how could I leave out the great Speelman and Hodgson) as great names of British Chess when I was young. Note-the same applies to Gawain Jones who despite being slight favourite (for the British Championships this year,) drew too many games against the lower rated opponents.

the latest round of the FIDE Grand Prix was held in July in Beijing -Mamedyarov won which takes him to second place in the overall standings given below. As I said before it looks like Veselin Topalov has made it into the next candidates cycle but Mamedyarov might be caught by the American Italian Caruana or the Russian Grischuk, only these two can pass him. The last Fide round is in Paris but if sponsors can be found elsewhere it will be moved as is the way with modern FIDE events. Note-only best 3 results out of maxinum 4 grand prix events you can enter count. You get points according to your score in the event.

	Player	FIDE rating Aug 2012	London	Tashkent	Zug	Thessaloniki	Beijing	(Paris)	Played	Best 3
1	Veselin Topalov (BUL)	2752	140	–	170	(45)	100	–	4	410
2	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	2729	140	80	(20)	–	170	–	4	390
3	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	2763	90	–	–	85	140	x	3	315
4	Fabiano Caruana (ITA)	2773	–	80	100	125	–	x	3	305
5	Alexander Morozevich (RUS)	2770	–	140	75	(25)	65	–	4	280
6	Sergey Karjakin (RUS)	2785	–	140	50	–	65	x	3	255
7	Wang Hao (CHN)	2726	70	140	–	–	30	x	3	240
8	Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR)	2734	–	50	100	85	–	x	3	235
9	Peter Leko (HUN)	2737	80	50	(50)	–	100	–	4	230
10	Leinier Domínguez (CUB)	2725	35	20	–	170	–	x	3	225
11	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	2778	15	–	140	60	–	x	3	215
12	Gata Kamsky (USA)[2]	2746	–	10	75	125	(10)	–	4	210
13	Boris Gelfand (ISR)	2738	140	30	–	–	30	x	3	200
14	Rustam Kasimdzhanov (UZB)	2684	35	80	(20)	70	–	–	4	185
15	Anish Giri (NED)	2711	15	–	50	–	65	x	3	130
16	Peter Svidler (RUS)[1]	2749	–	50	–	45	–	x	2	95
17	Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR)	2769	55	–	–	10	30	x	3	95
18	Wang Yue (CHN)[4]	2685	–	–	–	–	65	–	1	65
19	Michael Adams (ENG)[1]	2722	55	–	–	–	–	–	1	55
20	Étienne Bacrot (FRA)[3]	2713	–	–	–	25	–	–	1	25
21	Teimour Radjabov (AZE)[3][4]	2788	–	–	20	–	–	x	1	20
–	Vugar Gashimov (AZE)[2]	2737	–	–		withdrew			–	–

The FIDE Grand Prix continues from Thessaloniki in Greece (note-instead of Madrid as planned) to find two places for the Candidates Tournament in 2014, Vaselin Topalov the Bulgarian has almost booked his place already with 2 first places. He is in this tournament, the current standings in the Grand Prix are below this article.  The competition finished on the 4th June.  The cuban Leiner Dominguez Perez won the tournament with all the top western players like the Italian American Caurana and Gata Kamsky from USA doing well.

4th FIDE Grand Prix, Thessaloniki, Greece

current standings in grand prix:- top 2 at the end of the 6 tournaments will qualify for next candidates

The US Championships was held in the beginning of May, Hikaru Nakamura wasn't there because he was at a competition in Norway which had the world number 1 Magnus Carlsen and World Champion Vishy Anand plus many other top players, Sergei Karjakin won in a surprise result with a superb 6/9 and Carlsen and Nakamura were joint second on 5.5/9

Anyway in the US Championships Gata Kamsky entered as favourite and duly won but Alejandro Ramirez took him to a tie break and I watched the chess with much excitement as it was of a very high standard.

Around the same time as the Alekhine memorial is the next round of the Grand Prix to decide who plays in the next Candidates the full list of those playing is:-

It is held in Zug, Switzerland on the 18th April and is an 11 round, round robin event. A round by round synopsis will be given here.

round one synopsis: Fabiano Caruana and Alexander Morozevich both win.

round two synopsis: Veselin Topalov, and two ex-FIDE World Champions (when Gary Kasparov broke away from FIDE) both won namely, Ruslan Ponomariov and Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Ruslan beat the American Italian Caruana while Rustam beat another American Gata Kamsky. 

round three synopsis: easy today to sum up-they all drew all six games.

round four synopsis: easy again they all drew but the news of the day was in the other tournament the Alekhine Memorial where the World Champion Vishy Anand was beaten by the top British player -Michael adams, I have included the game in the section on the Alekhine Memorial a little underneath this one on the Grand Prix in Zug.

round five synopsis: many wins this round, Alexander Morozevich and Veselin Topalov hold a slim lead,

22nd is a rest day: today 22nd monday in the other tournament Michael Adams got another win and is leading the tournament after 2nd round but a long way to go yet. I don't want to follow the tournament else I jinx him.

round six synopsis: Wins for Ponomariov against Kamsky and Nakamura against Kasimdzhanov, rest were draws-this leaves Ponomariov, Morozevich and Topalov on top but only just.

round seven synopsis:  a Win for Kamsky over Morozevich the rest were draws sees Morozevich lose his share of the lead.

round eight synopsis: a win for Topalov over Morozevich and draws in the rest of the games means Topalov goes into the lead by himself-only 3 rounds left.

Not-Saturday 27th is a rest day in the Tournament so no play until Sunday 28th.

round nine synopsis: Topalov looks likely to pick up maximum points in this grand prix tournament for coming first which will go towards securing him a candidates place probably. Ponomariov lost and Caruana won while Topalov drew but remained top. 

round ten synopsis: Topalov wins against second place Caruana and Nakamura thus goes into second- a full point behind, Topalov is playing Karjakin and Nakamura is playing Caruana both have the advantage of White-White moves first and at the top level a Black win is rarer than a White. The best Hikaru can achieve is joint top with Topalov if he wins and Topalov loses.

Final round synopsis: Topalov (the Bulgarian) wins in his game and secures first place in the rankings, Nakamura the Japenese born but brought up in America, came second. All the games except Topalovs win against Karjakin were drawn. The Grand prix standings table has been updated a little below.

	Player	Aug 2012 Rating	London	Tashkent	Zug	Thessaloniki	Berlin	Paris		Best 3
1	Veselin Topalov (BUL)	2752	140	–	170	x	x	–	2	310
2	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	2729	140	80	20	–	x	–	3	240
3	Alexander Morozevich (RUS)	2770	–	140	75	x	x	–	2	215
4	Wang Hao (CHN)	2726	70	140	–	–	x	x	2	210
5	Sergey Karjakin (RUS)	2785	–	140	50	–	x	x	2	190
6	Fabiano Caruana (ITA)	2773	–	80	100	x	–	x	2	180
7	Peter Leko (HUN)	2737	80	50	50	–	x	–	3	180
8	Boris Gelfand (ISR)	2738	140	30	–	–	x	x	2	170
9	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	2778	15	–	140	x	–	x	2	155
10	Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR)	2734	–	50	100	x	–	x	2	150
11	Rustam Kasimdjanov (UZB)	2684	35	80	20	x	–	–	3	135
12	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	2763	90	–	–	x	x	x	1	90
13	Gata Kamsky (USA)[2]	2746	–	10	75	x	x	–	2	85
14	Anish Giri (NED)	2711	15	–	50	–	x	x	2	65
15	Michael Adams (ENG)[1]	2722	55	–	–	–	–	–	1	55
16	Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR)	2769	55	–	–	x	x	x	1	55
17	Leinier Domínguez (CUB)	2725	35	20	–	x	–	x	2	55
18	Peter Svidler (RUS)	2749	–	50	–	x	–	x	1	50
19	Teimour Radjabov (AZE)	2788	–	–	20	x	x	x	1	20
20	Vugar Gashimov (AZE)[2]	2737	withdrew						–	–

Yes a new tournament is coming held in both Paris then St. Petersburg, it is called the Alekhine Memorial in memory of Alexander Alekhine who died just after the Second World War finished when he was preparing for a World Championship Match with Mikhail Botvinnik.

A British player is included in the tournament namely our top player Michael Adams although with the World Champion and worlds number 2 and 3 (world number 1 isn't playing- Magnus Carlsen) it will be tough for Adams.

news-Levon Aronian won the tournament and Michael Adams was joint 4th- a great result with 4.5/9.

Top British player- Michael Adams defeat of the World Champion Vishy Anand in round 1:- Vishy Anand vs Michael Adams

The Candidates Tournament has been played  to decide who plays Vishy Anand (India) for the World Championship in the next match. Its a all-play-all with both colours (ie 2 games against each player), participants were:-

Magnus Carlsen     Norway        proved to be top player in world as world number 1 but still very young aged 22
Vladimir Kramnik   Russia	 ex-world champion who unseated Gary Kasparov
Levon Aronian      Armenia	 past world championship contender and past world no 1
Teimour Radjabov   Azerbaijan    one of the top youngsters around ie aged 26
Alexander Grischuk Russia	 a top russian player for many years and past world ch contender
Vassily Ivanchuk   Ukraine	 been around since the 1980's a great player
Peter Svidler      Russia	 a top russian player for many years and past world ch contender
Boris Gelfand	   Isreal	 past world championship contender against current champion

Standings after Round 14 (Final)           TB1  TB2  TB3
 1   8.5  GM Magnus Carlsen     NOR 2872   1.0   5   56.25
 2        GM Vladimir Kramnik   RUS 2810   1.0   4   57.75
 3   8.0  GM Peter Svidler      RUS 2747   1.5   4   52.75
 4        GM Levon Aronian      ARM 2809   0.5   5   49.75
 5   6.5  GM Boris Gelfand      ISR 2740   1.0   2   43.00
 6        GM Alexander Grischuk RUS 2764   1.0   1   44.00
 7   6.0  GM Vassily Ivanchuk   UKR 2757   0.0   3   43.25
 8   4.0  GM Teimour Radjabov   AZE 2793   0.0   1   28.25

 Tie-Break 1) Direct Encounter (in the same point group)
 Tie-Break 2) The greater number of victories
 Tie-Break 3) Sonneborn-Berger-Tie-Break variable

Note Vladimir Kramnik and Magnus Carlsen both finished joint

 top with 8.5 points but on first tie break the sum of points

 scored against each other they both scored 1 vs 1 so it went

 to second tie break system ie number of wins and Magnus had

 5 to Vladimir's 4 so tough as it is on Kramnik, Magnus wins.

The Reykjavik Open 2013: A strong tournament in which my old chess trainer played, National Master Yaacov Norowitz and he finished high up in the tournament despite playing with grandmasters.

Leaderboard after Round 10 (Final)
1-3  8.0  GM Pavel Eljanov          UKR 2678
          GM Wesley So              PHI 2684
          GM Bassem Amin            EGY 2631
4-8  7.5  GM Anish Giri             NED 2722
          IM Yi Wei                 CHN 2501
          GM Marcin Dziuba          POL 2602
          GM Ivan Cheparinov        BUL 2709
          NM Yaacov Norowitz        USA 2432

Also note on the new rankings Magnus Carlsen has surpassed Gary Kasparovs old record in rating points he has a new record of 2861 the old record set in the nineties of 2851. And Michael Adams is back as British number 1 with a highly respectable position of 25th in the World.

TradeWise Gibraltar 2013 Standings after final round:- Nikita Vitiugov wins the play-off

Gibraltar 2013

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament also has a fine history and some of the strongest players in the world are playing, it was previously known as Wijk aan Zee.

(note Wijk Aan Zee is in the Netherlands in case you didn't know) :- Magnus won this really strong tournament fairly easily by a clear margin of 1.5 points which in chess terms is a walk over. Vishy (the World Champion) showed better form than he has shown lately, atleast in tournaments, and must take heart from an encouraging series of games even though he lost the final game (to Hao Wang from China) and with it 2nd spot to Levon Aronian. Many had a good tournament including the young Chinese Woman Yifan Hou, she will surely be competing with the men on atleast even terms or could even be the first Female 'Mens' World Champion!!!!

Standings after Final Round (13 out of 13) 

Hastings 2012/2013

The British Champion has entered the Hastings International, namely, Gawain Jones, he is the top seed and he opened with a win in the first round against English, Fide Master David Haydon. David was up a pawn at one stage but deft play saw Gawain out of any trouble. 

Other notable players at the tournament are Mark Hebden who slipped up with draws in the first two rounds, Simon Williams, Glenn Flear, Keith Arkell, Nicholas Pert, (all top English Grandmasters) and (International Masters) Jonathan Hawkins and Thomas Rendle. They're are a number of strong players from abroad Including Andrey Sumets from Ukraine, Andrey Vovk also from the Ukraine, Sarunas Sulskis from Lithuania and Kaido Kulaots from Estonia.

And the winner is... ...our very own(in Britain) Gawain Jones, going into the final round he needed just a draw to secure victory and a quick draw ensued and none of his adversaries wanted to risk anything as well, they all got draws so they're eight people in joint second, Mr Jones must be very happy with himself.

Hastings 2012/2013 has a fine tradition of the strongest chess players in the world playing in its tournament, the previous winners list reads like a history of chess:-

Summer Congresses