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British Chess Magazine - News Archive for 2004Archive Keyword Search FacilityYear: 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 20082004Kasparov wins the 57th Russian Championship Superfinal [27/11/04]The 57th Russian Championship Superfinal began in Moscow on 15 November
and runs until 27 November. The tournament was originally to have 14 players
but world champion Vladimir Kramnik withdrew citing ill health (read
his statement here) some days before the tournament was due to begin.
At this point Alexander Khalifman was left out of the tournament in order
to make an even number of competitors. Then, at the last minute and despite
attending the pre-tournament press conference, ex-world champion Anatoly
Karpov withdrew citing business reasons. An attempt to restore Khalifman
was turned down by the former FIDE champion as he had in the meantime
undertaken to play in a rapidplay tournament in Estonia. So the tournament
came down to 11 players: Garry Kasparov, Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler,
Evgeny Bareev, Alexander Grischuk and six other very strong grandmasters.
Kasparov is hot favourite, especially since he plays White against three
of the other four 2700+ players. Official coverage on www.russiachess.ru.
Time control: 40/100m, 20/50m, all/10m, with 30 second increments throughout. Azmaiparashvili Under Arrest [01/11/04]The closing ceremony of the 36th Olympiad was marred by a disgraceful
incident, the facts of which are hotly disputed by FIDE, on one side,
and the Olympiad organisers and Spanish Chess Federation (FEDA), on the
other. What we do know for definite is that, as of today, GM Zurab
Azmaiparashvili, Georgian federation president and FIDE vice-president,
is locked up in a Spanish prison cell awaiting trial for assaulting a
Spanish security policeman. For FIDE's version of the story, click
here, and for the Spanish organisers' version, click
here. At the closing ceremony Azmaiparashvili was sitting near the
front of the auditorium. At one point he tried to get an important message
through to the officials on stage. His way through was barred by security
officials. At this point there is a vast disparity between the two versions
of the story. The Spanish organisers/federation allege that Azmai head-butted
a security policeman's mouth without provocation. FIDE alleges that Azmai
was set upon without provocation and that he was 'heavily beaten up'.
The Spanish press release, issued after the FIDE press release, alleges
'lies and distortions' in FIDE's account of what happened. Chess Olympiad, Calvia, Mallorca 14-31 Oct [01/11/04]The 36th Chess Olympiad took place in Calvia, Mallorca, Spain. Official
website: http://www.36chessolympiad-daily.com.
And a detailed
statistical breakdown is available here. Latest: Last round
- Ukraine took the gold medals with a 3-1 last round win - their first
ever Olympiad gold medal. Russia were caught by Armenia on game points
but Russia still took the silver medals on tie-break. Armenia were third.
China had already secured the gold medals in the women's competition but
there was a good scrap for the silver - it looks like USA will just pip
Russia to second place. England had a modest win against Macedonia so
finished in their lowest place ever (30th - despite Adams' excellent 10/13
- giving him the bronze medal for board one), Scotland were heavily beaten
by Serbia and Ireland beat Belgium so, not only did Scotland not overhaul
England, they finished below Ireland. Wales fielded a team designed to
give Richard Jones a norm chance against the strongest possible opposition
- a perfectly reasonable plan but it didn't work and they lost heavily. Rd 1 - England 2½-1½ Turkey, Bulgaria
3½-½ Wales, Scotland 4-0 Hong Kong, Ireland 3½-½
Panama - Women: Puerto Rico 0-3 England, Wales ½-2½
Czech Rep, Ireland 0-3 Moldova.
Kramnik still the Champ [18/10/04]Vladimir Kramnik (RUS) successfully defended his world championship title
in Brissago, Switzerland, by winning his final game against Peter Leko
of Hungary. They played 14 games, with Kramnik retaining his title as
the match ended a 7-7 draw. The final game (Monday) saw Leko exchange
queens at an early stage to try to grovel his way to a draw. Online pundits
were very sceptical of his chances after this and they were proved right
when Kramnik broke through with a few powerful positional thrusts. Thus
Leko's chance of the championship was cruelly snatched away at the last.
Kramnik left it very, very late but we finally saw the sort of chess of
which he is capable. Tim Krabbe makes a mordant pictorial comment on the
play in this match in his chess
diary web page - that said, the last couple of games brought the match
to life.. Kramnik won games 1 and 14 and Leko won games 5 and 8. Score:
Leko 7, Kramnik 6. Download
games • Games
Viewer • Official
Website World Senior Team Championship, 5-12 Oct [13/10/04]The inaugural World Senior Team Championship is taking place at
the Ocean Castle Hotel, Port Erin, Isle of Man (5-12 October). 12 teams
are competing and Viktor Korchnoi is on board one for Switzerland.
Final: Round 8 results and games (PGN/viewer). Israel and Germany
shared the gold medals while Switzerland took bronze.
FIDE World Championship - Kasimdzhanov vs Kasparov [13/10/04]FIDE (World Chess Federation) President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has announced
that the match between FIDE world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov and his
challenger, former champion and world no.1 rated player Garry Kasparov,
will take place in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) in January 2005. The prize
fund is US$1.2m. The match will be played over 12 games. The time control
to be used is to be 40/2hrs, 20/1hr, 15m/all with 30 seconds increment
in the last period. In the event of a 6-6 tie, rapidplay/blitz play-offs
will be employed as per the FIDE knock-out world championship. In accordance
with an agreement drawn up in Prague in 2002, the winner of the Dubai
match can look forward to challenging the winner of the current Kramnik-Leko
match in a world championship reunification match. European Club Cup, 2-9 Oct [11/10/04]The European Club Cup took place in Cesme, Turkey from 2-9 October. Top
seeds NAO (Adams, Grischuk, Bacrot, Vallejo Pons, Lautier, Radjabov) retained
their title of last year with 12 mps/14 (7 rounds, 6 board matches). Kasparov
played on top board for Ekaterinburg but had an indifferent result: 3/6
with a win against Shirov and a loss against Rublevsky. Nigel Short achieved
a 2761 TPR with 5½/7 for second-placed Bosna Sarajevo. Two teams
from Wales (Cardiff and Nidum Liberals) and one from Ireland (Dublin)
took part. Official website: http://www.tsf.org.tr/ecup2004/ecupmain.htm Gausdal Classics, 23 Sept - 1 Oct [26/09/04]The Gausdal Classics tournament is current in progress. There are several
events including a GM tournament, two IM events and a FIDE-rated tournament.
There are four GMs in the top section, including Magnus Carlsen. Harriet
Hunt, Sam Collins and Ian Thompson are playing in the IM-A tournament
while Neil Berry is in the IM-B competition. Official
Website. 36th Olympiad, Calvià, Mallorca (ESP), 14-31 Oct [21/09/04]Click
here to visit the official Olympiad website. We've previously listed
the British team line-ups in the British
Chess News Round-Up: Aug/Sept 2004 - a reminder that the English team
is 1 Adams, 2 Short, 3 McShane, 4 Speelman, 5 Hebden, 6 Wells, with sponsorship
from Deloitte. This has since been confirmed via a BCF
press release. However, though the press release makes no mention
of the fact, it transpires that Nigel Short won't be available until the
latter stages of the competition. He is in the line-up for the Essent
Hoogeveen tournament in the Netherlands which runs from 17-23 October,
which presumably means that he will not be able to join the England team
until 24 October - the day of the 9th (of 14) rounds in Mallorca. Fischer vs Deportation: Into the Endgame? [26/08/04]On 24 August Japanese Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa served a deportation
order on former world champion Bobby Fischer, but Fischer's lawyers have
sought to counter this by claiming that a deportation would be a flagrant
violation of Bobby Fischer's right to full legal recourse and protection
under Japanese law. Latest
on the Fischer deportation saga (and links to previous episodes).
Earlier... Bobby Fischer to marry Miyoko Watai, acting head of the Japan
Chess Association, according to a Reuters
report... Boris Spassky has written to President Bush, asking if he
can share a cell with Bobby Fischer... click
here... Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer was detained by
the Japanese Immigration Bureau at Tokyo's Narita Airport on 13 July for
failing to possess valid travel documents. There is a long-standing US
federal warrant out against him for taking part in the 1992 Spassky match
in Yugoslavia in violation of a US ban. Search
for latest news on Bobby Fischer on BT Yahoo • www.freebobby.org What's In a Name? [10/08/04]Steve Giddins picked up on our suggested soubriquet for 'people's champion'
Vishy Anand, and has come up with a few more ideas of his own... "I
notice on your website that you have christened Anand 'Carlsberg', on
the grounds that he is 'probably the best chessplayer in the world'. I
have been thinking of the implications of this for other players. We could
have Vladimir 'Night Nurse' Kramnik, a selection of whose games will undoubtedly
aid a restful night's sleep. Then there's Alexander 'Heineken' Morozevich,
who refreshes the tournaments other GMs don't reach. Amongst our organisers
we have Kirsan 'Remington' Ilyumzhinov - 'I liked chess so much, I bought
the federation'. Gazza's mastery of using chess computers to maximum effect
suggests 'Zanussi' Kasparov - 'the appliance of science', although his
willingness to switch allegiance from FIDE and back again with such regularity
also makes him a candidate for 'Access, your flexible friend'. As for
Shirov, I should imagine that when he played Bh3 against Topalov in that
opposite-coloured bishop ending, someone in the audience must have turned
to a friend and said 'I bet he drinks Carling Black Label!' The possibilities
are endless..." "Falsify Like A Grandmaster" [09/08/04]Some Irish cognitive scientists (and chess players) have been taking
a look at what chess players do when they think about what moves to make.
They have come to the following interesting conclusion: "Grandmasters
think about what their opponents will do much more [than weaker players].
They tend to falsify their own hypotheses." Not quite as devious
as it sounds to us non-scientific types. Read the
whole article at the news@nature.com website. Chess Classic Mainz, 4-8 Aug [07/08/04]The annual German event features various brands of 'sideshow chess'.
Vishy 'Carlsberg' Anand*, plays an eight-game rapidplay match with Alexei
Shirov; Peter Svidler is playing Levon Aronian for the Gerling Chess960
[shuffle/Fischerrandom chess] world championship; while a 10-round 'shuffle
chess' open (FiNet-Chess960, 5-6 Aug) features many world stars; the 11th
Ordix Open (7-8 Aug) is a strong open tournament. There are other computer/simul
events. Official website: http://www.chesstigers.de/cc/2004/e/default.htm
[* the BCM editor has decided to bestow this soubriquet on the great Indian
player because he is ''probably the best chess player in the world"
- just my opinion, you understand] Current Major Tournaments [02/08/04] Dortmund Sparkassen (22 Jul - 1 Aug).
Vishy Anand won the tournament. He beat Kramnik in the second rapidplay
play-off game after both regulation games and the 1st rapidplay game had
been drawn. Both semi-finals came down to pairs of games at a blitz time
limit of 5mins+3secs. Anand beat Leko 2-0, while Kramnik lost his first
game to Svidler before winning the next three to qualify. Other finals:
3/4th place: Leko v Svidler - 5/6th place: Naiditsch v Rublevsky -
7/8th place: Bologan v Karyakin. Preliminary Groups - Grp A: 1
Anand 4/6, 2 Svidler 3½ qualify for the next phase. Grp B: every
game was drawn - Kramnik and Leko qualified after a rapidplay play-off.
Website: http://www.chessgate.de/
Bobby Fischer Detained in Japan [16/07/04]Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer was detained by the Japanese Immigration Bureau at Tokyo's Narita Airport on 13 July for failing to possess valid travel documents. There is a long-standing US federal warrant out against him for taking part in the 1992 Spassky match in Yugoslavia in violation of a US ban. The US authorities have recently stepped up their action against him and cancelled his US passport. It appears likely that further steps are under way to secure his deportation to the USA where he could face federal charges. Via a website which is friendly to him [beware: some content may be offensive], the 61-year-old former champion is appealing for political asylum elsewhere. There is a good summary of the story and links to various news reports here on the ChessBase website. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the case, we can all agree that this is a desperately sad state of affairs. The utter brilliance of Fischer's chess was one of the principal reasons I took up chess and thousands of chess players of my age group will tell the same story. As a chess player he was an inspiration to a generation. For that reason alone, and on behalf of his countless well-wishers in the chess world, I urge the Japanese and US authorities to treat him with the utmost sympathy and fairness. He needs help, not punishment. JS FIDE World Championship, Tripoli, 19 June - 13 July [13/07/04]The FIDE knock-out world championship is now under way in Tripoli, Libya.
Many of the world's top players are missing for various reasons. Top seeds
are Topalov, Adams, Grischuk, Ivanchuk and Short. Official website:
http://wcclibya2004.com
• Live
Games • Round
1 Results • Round
2 Results • Round
3 results • Round
4 results • Round
5 results • Semi-Final
results. Fischer vs Spassky 1972: The Play [11/07/04]BBC Radio 4 broadcast a play about the great Fischer-Spassky match of
1972 on Friday 9 July. It can be listened to online for the next few days
at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/friday_play.shtml?focuswin FIDE Rating List, July 2004 [02/07/04]FIDE (World Chess Federation) issued its July rating list promptly on
30 June, though the original downloadable
list lacked the names of players from 19 countries - including Russia
- presumably because they owe money to FIDE. But a new download on 2 July
shows that the Russians have been restored to the full list. All the big
name Russians appeared on the separate lists of top players as normal.
The top three are still Kasparov, Anand and Kramnik, but Morozevich has
taken over at no. 4. Michael Adams has moved up to 6th and is now just
ahead of Topalov, his main rival in Tripoli. Nigel Short has lost 26 rating
points after his poor tournament in Sarajevo while 21-year-old Frenchman
Etienne Bacrot has gained 37 points and moved to no.14 in the list. Top
100 • Top
Women •
Top Under 20s • Top
Women Under 20s • Top
English • Top
Scottish • Top
Irish • Top
Welsh. Petrosian Team vs Rest of the World, 10-15 Jun [15/06/04]The 75th anniversary of the birth of world champion Tigran Petrosian
(1929-1984) is being celebrated in Moscow with a match between 'the Petrosian
Team' (loosely representing Armenia) and the World. The Petrosian team
has non-Armenians Garry Kasparov (ethnic Armenian), Peter Leko (married
to an Armenian) and Boris Gelfand (Petrosian's star pupil). Also in the
Petrosian team: Vladimir Akopian, Rafael Vaganian and Smbat Lputian, .
Representing the World are Vishy Anand, Peter Svidler, Mickey Adams, Etienne
Bacrot, Paco Vallejo Pons and Loek Van Wely. The match is a 'Scheveningen'
tournament where players meet each of the opposing team in turn. Latest:
Rd 6 was won by the Petrosian Team by 3½-2½ but that was
still not enough to stop the World team winning the match by 18½-17½.
One decisive result in round 6: Vaganian 1-0 Adams. Gelfand tried to win
with R+B v R to square the overall match but Bacrot kept him at bay. Official
website: http://www.cigarclan.com/chess_eng.php
• Crosstable
• Game
Viewer • Download
games. Women's World Championship, Elista, 22 May - 7 Jun [06/06/04]Congratulations to 25-year-old Bulgarian grandmaster Antoaneta Stefanova who yesterday won the FIDE women's world championship in Elista, Kalmykia, beating Ekaterina Kovalevskaya 2½-½ in the four-game final. Official website: http://wwcc2004.fide.com. Happy Birthday, BCF... [07/05/04]You know how sometimes things seem to lurk in your in-tray for ages and
you never get round to dealing with them? Well, I found this the other
day: "To The Editor of the B.C.M., March 18th 1904. Dear Sir,
May we invite your valuable assistance in giving publicity to the Amended
Draft of Rules of Constitution of British Chess Federation. Yours faithfully,
A. G. Gordon Ross, Chairman. (St. Mark's Vicarage, Swindon, Wilts.)"
Things have moved on a bit since then, but we are happy to oblige. Today,
7 May, is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the British Chess Federation,
at a meeting at the Holborn Restaurant on 7 May 1904. As one (even more
venerable) centenarian to another, BCM wishes BCF a happy birthday. Click
here to check out how they are celebrating. Vishy Anand - 2003 Chess Oscar [01/05/04]Russian chess magazine '64'
has announced the results of the 2003 'Chess Oscars', voted for by 358
chess journalists from 65 countries, who were asked to put their ten nominees
in descending order. The winner (for the third time) is Vishy Anand
with 4150 points. Anand was the runaway winner: 232 voters put him in
first place, with the next most first-places going to Kasparov with only
38. In second place on the overall vote was Peter Svidler (2575), 3 Vladimir
Kramnik (2518), 4 Garry Kasparov (2262), 5 Peter Leko (1867), 6 Judit
Polgar (1528), 7 Alexander Morozevich (1381), 8 Viorel Bologan (1359),
9 Nigel Short (539), 10 Evgeny Bareev (535). The yardstick for selection
is performance and achievement in the given year rather than the voter's
view of who is currently best in the world. Hence Kasparov, with only
a handful of long-play chess games played, figures relatively low, while
Peter Svidler, a popular and easy-going figure with an excellent Russian
championship win to his credit, gets in amongst the 'big three' of Kasparov,
Anand and Kasparov. Other places: 11 Shirov 485, 12 Topalov 392, 13 Grischuk
311, 14 Radjabov 278, 15 Malakhov 238, 16 Ivanchuk 189, 17 Adams 122,
18 Ponomariov 110, 19 Gelfand 98, 20 McShane 89. FIDE World Championship, Tripoli 2004 [30/04/04]FIDE have announced the list of players who have signed and returned
their contracts to take part in the 2004 world championship in Tripoli
(18 June - 13 July). 115 of the original 128 invitees have agreed to take
part. In terms of quantity, this looks like a success for the World Chess
Federation, but on closer inspection most of the biggest names will be
missing from the line-up. It was hardly any surprise that Kramnik and
Leko should refuse to play as they will be playing their own (unofficial
but sensible) version of the world championship later in the year in Switzerland.
But the credibility of the (official but silly) FIDE competition is badly
dented by the absence of Vishy Anand. Other big names missing are Ruslan
Ponomariov, Peter Svidler, Evgeny Bareev, Alexei Shirov, Boris Gelfand,
Alexander Khalifman, Judit Polgar and Anatoly Karpov. That means that
not one of the last four FIDE title-holders is in the field - so a brand-new
champion will be crowned in Tripoli.
4NCL Controversy [30/04/04]The doyen of UK chess columnists, Leonard Barden, has spoken out in his
Guardian column against the 4NCL rule which allows two teams from
the same club to play in the same division. He writes: "... the
match Wood Green B v Betsson, which the London club's second team won
6-2, diminishes the league's sporting credibility. Wood Green B, which
had not previously fielded a 2430+ player all season, strengthened its
squad for the occasion with three 2500+ GMs on the top boards. Such tactical
ploys have occurred before in the 4NCL, and Wood Green could do it under
the rules because its first team (apart from the mandatory women's board)
consisted exclusively of 2500s. What makes for manifest unfairness is
that neither Guildford nor Betsson have a second team in the top division,
so the ploy is available to only one of the three title contenders. Imagine
the outcry if [Chelsea] Reserves competed in the [English Football] Premiership
and defeated Arsenal! That's what has happened in the 4NCL, and the rules
need revision." Personally I have considerable sympathy for Leonard's
argument. Should the rules be changed? Bear in mind that a blanket ban
on second teams in the top division would adversely affect the Barbican
club, who field two middling-ranking sides in the top division. Maybe
they would have to split themselves into separate teams (called 'Barb'
and 'Ican'?!). Do you agree with Leonard Barden? Any other thoughts? Email
me -
. Further feedback posted
here on 30 April. Chess Stories in the Press [06/04/04]The Guardian of 6 April has two different chess stories on successive
pages in its G2 section. The first was a humorous(?) piece about the ending
of compulsory chess classes at the Dr. Emanuel Lasker High School in Ströbeck,
Germany, where they have a chess tradition going back many moons - click
here - and the second was a piece about 'chess boxing', wedged between
stories about David Beckham and Bill Clinton (but nevertheless suitable
for family reading) - click
here for story no.2. FIDE Ratings, April 2004 [01/04/04]The FIDE (World Chess Federation) quarterly ratings were published on
1 April. Garry Kasparov is still in first place, but Vishy Anand has regained
2nd place from Vladimir Kramnik. Peter Leko has moved back up to 4th spot.
As regards British players, Michael has gained 19 points and 3 places,
while Nigel Short has gained 18 points and 2 places. Luke McShane has
moved up one place to no. 42 in the world. However, the top of world chess
seems fairly static. If you look back at the top players six years ago,
on the July 1998 list, not too much has changed. At that time the positions
were 1 Kasparov, 2 Anand, 3 Kramnik... 8 Adams... 15 Short - in fact,
exactly the same positions that they occupy in April 2004. Of the players
of 1998, Kamsky, Salov and (to a lesser extent) Sadler have become inactive,
while Karpov has lost some ground, but most of the other big names of
1998 are still there or thereabouts in 2004. Grischuk and Ponomariov are
the only 'new boys' in that time. Has world chess become ossified? List
of Top Ratings, World/UK Countries • FIDE
Web Site
Chess on the TV [22/04/04]This Friday (23 April at 22:10 on Channel Four, UK TV) there is a TV
programme called Derren Brown:Trick of the Mind featuring the well-known
illusionist, magician and hypnotist, in which he plays chess simultaneously
with nine of Britain's leading chess masters. A trailer for the programme
shows GM Julian Hodgson and FM Graham Lee amongst them. The second link
below has a photo in which can be identified some other well-known players
such as GM John Emms and IM Paul Littlewood. Apparently Brown achieves
his objective of beating/drawing with the majority of them, and then reveals
how he did it. This is not the first time that an illusionist/hypnotist
has challenged the chess world: in 1972 Romark challenged Fischer and
Spassky to a simultaneous match. Most chess players will be aware of one
way this sort of stunt can be made to work, whereby the person giving
the so-called simul plays one game with white and one with black. He then
simply waits for the player playing white to move, and plays the same
move against Black. But how can this be done with an odd number of opponents?
Secretly match the weakest of the nine against a secret super-grandmaster
playing offstage, and use the GM's moves? Maybe it's more ingenious than
that. We'll see tomorrow... Links: C4
Listings • BlueYonder
TV Listing Melody Amber, Monte Carlo, 20 Mar - 1 Apr [01/04/04]The 13th Melody Amber tournament is in progress in Monte Carlo. 12 top
players play one rapid and one blindfold rapid game against each other.
Final: Kramnik and Morozevich finished first on 14½/22,
ahead of Anand 13½, Ivanchuk 13, Bareev, Leko 12½, Svidler
11½, Shirov 10½, Topalov 10, Gelfand 8½, Van Wely
7½ and Vallejo Pons 3½. In the rapid Anand was first with
7½/11 ahead of Bareev 7, Kramnik 6½, while in the blindfold
Morozevcih scored 8½/11 ahead of Kramnik 8, Ivanchuk 7. Official
website: http://www.alldata.nl/amber European Women's Championship, Dresden, 21 Mar - 3 Apr [03/04/04]The continental women's championship is currently in progress. There
are 12 rounds. Latest: Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS) won a tie-break
rapidplay match with Peng Zhaoqin (NED) to take the title after both scored
9½/12. 3rd was Stefanova (BUL) after a tie-break, and 4-6th Slavina
(RUS), Zhukova (UKR), Dzagnidze (GEO) on 8½. Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant
(GEO) and Jovanka Houska (ENG) were amongst those who tied for 7-14th
place with 8, an excellent result for both of them - they both qualify
for the next women's world championship competition (Jovanka after a rapidplay
tie-break with Olga Zimina of Russia). Heather Richards (ENG) also did
extremely well to score 7½ for 22nd place on tie-break. Ingrid
Lauterbach (ENG) scored 4½, and Siegrun MacGilchrist (SCO) 2. Official
Website Reykjavik Rapidplay, 17-21 Mar [21/03/04]Today (21 March) all eyes were on Reykjavik where Garry Kasparov and
Nigel Short contested the final of the knock-out rapidplay event that
took place there over five days. It was a reprise of the controversial
1993 world championship match which had ended in a comfortable victory
for Kasparov. Final: Kasparov beat Short by 1½-½
to win the competition. The first game was well contested and entertaining:
Short gave up the exchange for a pawn and an attack, and perhaps might
have done better before subsiding. The second encounter did not reflect
well on either player. Short blundered into a lost position in the opening
but Kasparov failed to win despite a three pawn advantage for much of
the game. This was a good example of rapidplay chess being a vastly inferior
product to the real thing. Official Website: http://www.chess.is/reykjavikrapid/english.html
• Follow
the action at the Internet Chess Club . Paths to the final: Kasparov:
½-½, 1-0 v Magnus Carlsen (a close run thing against the
youngster); ½-½, 1-0 vs Timman; ½-½, ½-½
(tie-break 1-0) vs PH Nielsen. Short: ½-½, 1-0 vs
Kristjansson, ½-½, 1-0 vs Aronian, ½-½, 1-0
vs Dreev. Games
Viewer • Download
PGN 2004 U.S. Chess Championships, 25 Nov - 5 Dec [21/03/04]Click on the above link for the official press release announcing the
2004 US Championships, which are to be held in La Jolla, California, later
this year. The 64-player event will be hosted for the fourth time by America's
Foundation for Chess (AF4C), this time with the NTC Foundation as co-sponsors,
plus corporate sponsors Chessmaster®. The 12-day competition is likely
to have a $250,000 prize fund. Linares Super-Tournament, 19 Feb - 5 Mar [05/03/04]The 21st 'City of Linares' tournament has just finished. Vladimir Kramnik
will have been pleased to have won the tournament and reassert his place
at the top of the game, but overall it was a disappointing tournament,
particularly for the spectators, with only 9 decisive games out of 42.
It was Garry Kasparov's first real tournament since last year's Linares
and the rust is starting to show. He still plays well but he now gets
into serious time trouble and has problems delivering the coup de grace
when his opponents are at his mercy. Perhaps his mind is more on his memoirs
and politicking; and there is a suspicion that he plays merely to maintain
his rating. Peter Leko has established himself as one of the big players
now, and was more than a little unlucky to have lost a game to Kramnik.
With a bit of luck he might have won that game and we would now be saluting
his second Linares title in a row. Of the other players, Radjabov's 6/12
was a remarkable achievement for one so young (he's a few days away from
his 17th birthday). Final: All the last round games were drawn.
Kramnik took a quick draw to be sure of at least a share of first place.
Leko had the toughest pairing and never looked like getting an advantage.
That left Kasparov to try and beat Vallejo Pons. He made an effort but
the young Spaniard kept him at bay. Scores: Kramnik 7/12, Kasparov,
Leko 6½, Radjabov, Topalov 6, Shirov, Vallejo Pons 5. Final
Crosstable • Results
• Download
PGN • Game
Viewer • Official Site: http://www.marca.com/linares/ Cappelle-la-Grande, 28 Feb - 6 Mar [01/03/04]The annual Cappelle tournament has 572 competitors, led by eight 2600+
players. There do not appear to be any English GMs in the field - or at
least I didn't think so until Mick Norris pointed out that Mark Hebden
is in the field - thanks for pointing that out to me, Mick. Scots titled
players Colin McNab and John Shaw are competing, as are a number of English
amateurs and younger players. McNab has started with 3/3. Ten games
are being broadcast live every day. Official Site: http://www.cappelle-chess.com/ 7th Malaga Open, 21-28 Feb [29/02/04]As an antidote to the coma-inducing chess in progress elsewhere in Andalucia,
readers might like to check out the 7th Malaga International - click
here for website - to remind themselves what decisive games look like.
Pia Cramling, having won the 2003 European Women's Championship at the
notorious FIDE time control (90 mins + 30 second add-ons), fell victim
to its vicissitudes when she lost two games on time on the same day to
players rated in the low 2200s. One of them, Wessex stalwart Mike Yeo,
seemed slightly ashamed to have won his game against Cramling (because
his board position was lost) - but they all count. Final: The winner
was 21-year-old IM Ibrahim Khamrakulov (UZB) on 7/9, ahead of Cifuentes
Prada (ESP), Korneev (RUS), Rodriguez Guerrero (ESP) and Del Rio Angelis
(ESP) on 6½. European Senior Team Championship, Dresden, 20-28 Feb [29/02/04]The European Senior (Over 60) Team Championship is currently in progress
in Dresden. Some teams represent nations and others clubs and regions
in this four-board, seven-round competition. German teams dominate, though
there is a very strong squad from the Russian Chess Academy (led by Vasyukov),
and Viktor Korchnoi is playing on board one for Switzerland. There are
three Great Britain teams in the field. Official site/results (in German)
- click
here. Final positions: 1 Germany (Uhlmann, Hecht, Klundt, Malich)
12MP(19GP); 2 Switzerland (Korchnoi, Karl, Vucenovic, Bhend, Hohler) 12(18);
3 Russian Chess Academy (Vasyukov, Shabanov, Chernikov, Kremenietsky,
Bebchuk) 11(19). GB-A finished in 10th place on 8(16) (John Wheeler scored
a very creditable 6/7), GB-B were 26th on 6(12½), while GB-C were
34th on 3(11½). Bobby Fischer Goes to War... [25/02/04]This new book, about the 1972 Fischer-Spassky match and its aftermath,
by BBC journalists David Edmonds and John Eidinow, has been out for a
while now and has won some good reviews from the British national press
as well as from BCM. Click
here to find out about the book and/or buy a copy. Now there is a
chance to spend an evening with the authors, who will be giving a talk
about it at Daunt Books, 83 Marylebone High Street, London W1, on Tuesday
16 March at 7.00pm. Tickets cost £3 and include the price of a glass
of wine. Tickets are available from BCM - click
here if you are interested. FIDE World Championships? [12/02/04]Daily chess newspaper Chess
Today carries the story that FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has
met with Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafy near Tripoli to discuss the possibility
of the FIDE world knock-out championship being held in Libya in May-June.
The story emanates from the Russian news agency Interfax. But the
FIDE website has nothing on the story. Gibtelecom Masters, 27 Jan - 5 Feb [05/02/04]The Gibtelecom Masters was a 10-round swiss tournament, run under the
auspices of the BCF by Stewart Reuben and played at La Caleta Hotel in
Gibraltar. 37 GMs were in the field, headed by Short, Dreev, Epishin,
Speelman, etc. Latest: Round 10 - Short beat Inarkiev to take sole
first place. Other top board games ended in draws. 1 Short 8/10, 2 Ganguly
7½, 3-5 Dreev, Harikrishna, Wells 7, etc. Norms: GM for Bakre (IND),
IM for Howell (ENG), Seel (GER) and Wippermann (GER), WGM for Ghate Swathi.
Download
games (Rds 1-9) • Tournament
table (final) • Official website: http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/ What They Say About Us... [01/02/04]It's often amusing, and occasionally infuriating, to read what non-players
have to say about chess. Did anyone else see a recent BBC programme about
estate agents called Property People? One young estate agent described
the house-buying process thus: "It's like a game of chess. [Pause]
I don't play chess, but I think it's got a lot of similarities."
A refreshing variation on the football commentator's cliche - whoever
said estate agents were dishonest? By contrast, last Sunday's (25 Jan)
Mail on Sunday had this review(?) of the Kasparov movie now showing
in London: "As two of my least favourite words are 'chess' and 'computer',
I hardly relished the prospect of Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine
- a documentary about Garry Kasparov's defeat by an IBM machine called
Deep Blue. Despite Kasparov's affable if brattish presence and plenty
of brisk editing, Vikram Jayanti's film failed to cure me of my pet hates.
It really is about as exciting as, well, chess." The reviewer, Jason
Solomons, gave the film a miserly two stars, but we are inclined to award
his review a zero-star rating for mindless prejudice. If you'd like to
give the Mail on Sunday some feedback on this, email them on letters@mailonsunday.co.uk Kramnik v Leko: Game On? [29/01/04]The world has been waiting for this match since the summer of 2002, when
Peter Leko won a qualifying competition to challenge Vladimir Kramnik's
world championship title. But now we have news that a Swiss tobacco company
is putting up the money for a 14-game match, to be played from 25 September
to 18 October at a location yet to be decided. Corus Wijk aan Zee, 10-25 Jan [25/01/04]The Corus Wijk aan Zee ended, not with a bang but a whimper, as Vishy
Anand drew a quick game in the last round and his two pursuers were unable
to score the wins they needed to finish level with him. England's Michael
Adams came closest, with the faintest of edges for a while, playing Black
against Peter Svidler. Peter Leko had to fight to get a draw against Vladimir
Kramnik. For Anand this was his fourth Wijk success. Final positions:
Anand 8½/12, Adams, Leko 8, Bologan, Topalov 7½, Bareev,
Kramnik, Van Wely 6½, etc. PGN
File • Games
Viewer • Live
Games • Tournament
Crosstable • Official website: http://www.coruschess.com/ Commonwealth Championship, Mumbai, 9-19 Jan [19/01/04]English grandmaster Nigel Short is the new Commonwealth Champion, having
scored 7½/9 in the tournament held in Mumbai, India. Pavel Smirnov
(RUS) finished on the same score, and had the better tie-break score;
he was adjudged to have won the international tournament but was not eligible
for the Commonwealth title. Humpy Koneru won the Commonwealth Women's
Championship on tie-break from Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi after both scored
6/9. Other scores were Dzhumaev, Niaz Murshed 7, P.Thipsay, Sasikiran
6½, while Stuart Conquest was among those on 5½. Official
website: http://www.venuschessacademy.org/ Australian Championship, 29 Dec - 10 Jan [13/01/04]Q. What's the best way for an English chess player to win a national
championship? Freddie Flintoff - Chess Player? [28/11/04]One thing in particular that caught the BCM editor's eye in the recent
Guardian 'rook'n'roll' article on chess was the fact that top English
test cricketer Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff was a chess player. Apparently
this is true - he played a bit of junior chess in Lancashire when 'nobbut
a lad'. Given his iconic status in English cricket, he would seem to be
a trump card in chess's never-ending (and slightly desperate) attempts
to demonstrate how 'cool' we are to children and the media. After a bit
of 'googling', I found this
reference to him in Manchester Online as a 'chess champion' (media-speak
for anyone who has ever pushed a pawn). Also this
one, where Flintoff's chess abilities are cited as one of the reasons
why he would make a good England captain: "A top chess player at
school, he enjoys tactics and has a sharp cricketing brain." Today's
Observer Sports Monthly has a
big article on Freddie Flintoff - coincidentally by the same journalist
who wrote the 'rook'n'roll' story, Stephen Moss - in which it mentions
that Freddie's 'more academic' brother Chris has 'played chess for England'
- anyone know anything about that? If you do,
Chess: The New Rook'n'Roll? [28/11/04]Click on the above link to read an interesting article by Stephen
Moss on chess and its UK image which appears in today's Guardian.
This was inspired by a recent report from major UK supermarket Tescos
that there had been an unexpected surge in the sale of chess sets and
that they expected to sell 35,000 of them in the run-up to Xmas. Tescos
attributed it to the influence of Madonna and Lennox Lewis. This could
of course be a clever sales pitch rather than a hard news story. Any views?
• Read
the Tescos story here • Latest: Brian Gosling and
Charlie Linford add comments in response to points made by well-known
chess teacher and author Richard James. Click
here. Alexey's Angels [26/11/04]One of the more remarkable British chess publicity stunts was pulled
off at the weekend's 4NCL (British Team League) in West Bromwich. Wood
Green team manager Brian Smith rested his usual grandmaster-filled squad
and instead fielded seven of the world's top female players for league
leaders Wood Green 1 in their matches against North West Eagles and Betsson.
The magnificent seven were Pia Cramling (SWE), Viktorija Cmilyte (LTU),
Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (RUS), Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (GEO), Elena Sedina
(ITA), Harriet Hunt (ENG) and Yelena Dembo (GRE). As well as breaking
the record for the most women in a 4NCL team, there were eight different
nationalities represented. It scarcely needs saying that this was the
strongest female chess line-up ever seen on British soil and, if divided
in half, would produce two teams capable of challenging for Olympiad medals.
Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention... 4NCL rules demand that at least
one male player play in a top division 4NCL match. So one of the women
players' husbands helped out and played a couple of games. You may have
heard his name before: Alexey Shirov (ESP), husband of Viktorija Cmilyte
and rated 2726. British Rapidplay Championship, 13-14 Nov [13/11/04]The Britih Rapidplay Championship is running over the weekend of 13-14
November in Halifax. There is a website showing the top six games from
the tournament live - www.bcfservices.org.uk/rapid2004/ Where are They Now? [07/11/04]The last time I checked, there were something like 33 English chess grandmasters
and 45 IMs. Given that opportunities to play professional chess in the
UK are now about as plentiful as jobs for snow plough mechanics in the
Sahara Desert, fewer and fewer titled players make their money from playing
chess, or even around the fringes of the game. So what do they do? One
escape route that is becoming increasingly popular is professional poker.
The grandmaster skill set fits well with this activity: the ability to
calculate, remember, visualise, stay cool and retain focus over long periods
of time... all these qualities are common to both games. Poker is enjoying
a major vogue as more and more people play on the internet from the comfort
of their own home, and some talented chess players are trading their chess
sets for card packs. One such is Yorkshire IM Angus Dunnington. Angus
hasn't entirely turned his back on chess, but he is beginning to make
a name for himself at the virtual poker table. He is already an author
of a book on internet gambling and is now writing a poker diary at the
32Red Poker Room.
Worth a read... Thomas Rendle: 1st in Rosny-sous-Bois [01/11/04]British players don't win too many international tournaments these days,
so it is nice to be able to report something positive for a change. Thomas
Rendle (rated 2303), who plays for the Hastings & St Leonards club
and who turned 18 during the Monarch Assurance, has won the 3rd Rosny-sous-Bois
tournament, held last week. It was a category 5 all-play-all (with two
GMs in the field) and Thomas scored 7/9 for his first IM norm and a 2571
TPR. Hint to the England selectors: of the English players who played
in the Olympiad, only Adams made a TPR higher than this. Official website:
http://www.ecole-rosny-echecs.org/ Guernsey International, 3-9 Oct [13/10/04]The annual Guernsey tournament has just finished. There are results of
both sections at http://www.logiclines.nl/chess
- thanks to Marc Jongerius. Final: IM Robert Bellin (ENG)
won the Open with 6½/7 ahead of GM Tiger Hillarp Persson (SWE)
on 6. P Carlucci won the Holiday tournament with 6/7. My thanks to Arthur
Brameld for sending all the games. Download
zipped PGN file • Games
Viewer • Tournament
Crosstable. Hastings 2004/5 - A New Format and Time Control [07/10/04]The Hastings Congress has always been one of the most traditional in
the chess calendar. However, because it is as ever strapped for cash,
the 80th in the series is going to feature one of the most boldly avant
garde formats yet tried anywhere. It is to be a knock-out (with losers
going into a swiss event), and Black will be allocated more thinking time
than White. Not surprisingly, this radical change has caused controversy.
Any views? Email
if you have any views. 13th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International 2004 [04/10/04]The 2004 Monarch Assurance Isle of Man Masters is being held from 25
September to 3 October. This year's tournament is dedicated to the
memory of Richard Furness who was the tournament's chief controller for
11 years. The total prize fund is an impressive £16,500. Top seeds:
Milov, Smirin, Iordachescu, Volkov, also in the field: Korchnoi, Speelman,
Rowson, etc. It is one of the strongest tournaments ever held in the British
Isles (possibly the strongest). Latest: Final scores
- 1-2 Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (Iran, winner on tie-break), Petr Kiriakov (Russia)
7/9; 3-6 Murray Chandler (England), Vasilios Kotronias (Greece), Jonathan
Rowson (Scotland), Zhang Zhong (China) 6½, etc.
Gawain Jones, IM and British Under 21 Champion [15/09/04]So the Scots scooped all the prizes at the Smith and Williamson British
Championship, then? Wrong. In fact the English teenager Gawain Jones won
the British Under 21 Championship with an excellent score of 6½/11
- and at the tender age of 16, too. In the process he chalked up his third
and final IM norm, becoming one of the youngest Britons to qualify for
the IM title. Back in July Gawain finished 1st= in the Irish Open Championship,
although he was not eligible to take the title. He is a remarkable young
talent. Read more on
Gawain's own website. 2nd Staunton Memorial, Simpsons, 23-29 Aug [29/08/04]As last year, a four-player double-cycle tournament was held at the famous
19th century chess venue, Simpsons
in the Strand in London, to commemorate Britain's greatest player
of that era, Howard Staunton. The four participants were Jonathan Speelman
(2555g), Daniel King (2512g), Jonathan Levitt (2432g) and Jovanka Houska
(2375wg). Final: 1-2nd Daniel King, Jon Speelman 4/6, 3rd Jon Levitt
3½, 4th Jovanka Houska ½. Crosstable
• Game
Viewer • Download
Games • Official
website • 1st Staunton Memorial
(2003) Welsh Championship, 9-12 Apr [25/08/04]This year's Welsh Championship, held at the Cardiff Moat House Hotel
over Easter, was won by 42-year-old Suan-Shiau Evans-Quek, originally
from Singapore but now qualified for Wales and married to Welsh women's
international Debbie Evans-Quek. Scores: 1st Suan Evans-Quek 6/7,
2nd Howard Williams 5½, 3-6th Leighton Williams (Nidum), Iolo Jones
(Cardigan), Ioan Rees (Caerphilly) & Tim Kett (Cardiff) 5, etc, in
a field of 30 players. Crosstable
• Game
Viewer (all games now available) • Download
PGN. Thanks to Jon Gilbert for the games. Triple Scotch at the Smith & Williamson British Championship, 1-14 Aug [20/08/04]Triple scotches all round in Scarborough - firstly, congratulations to
Jonathan Rowson, who has become the first Scottish player to win
the British Championship since 1946. He looked to be winning most of the
way against Andrew Greet, but eventually agreed a draw when it was enough
for victory, Wells having drawn with Motwani and Williams unlikely to
do better than draw with Hebden. Rowson's post-victory quote: "it's
nice to dispel the myth that Scots are not quite champions".
Secondly, Joe Redpath, 18, of the Hamilton club has won the FIDE
World Major with 9/11. Joe will be 19 next Monday. The new British champion
has already predicted that Redpath will be Scotland's next GM. Thirdly,
Edinburgh resident and Scotland's player of the year Kete Arakhamia
retained her British Women's title. Final Scores: 1 J Rowson 8½/11,
2-3 P Wells, S Williams 8, 4-7 J Emms, A Greet, R Gwaze, P Motwani 7½,
8-9 M Hebden, S Knott 7, etc. Games downloads/viewers: names and header
information standardised, and ratings added. Corrections made to Rowson-Arakhamia
(Rd 3, date), Briscoe-P.Hutchinson (Rd 2, colours). Latest: All
games now available (20/08/04) Civil Service Championship, Leeds, 28-30 Jul [01/08/04]Kevin Thurlow reports: Peter Jowett won the Civil Service
Championship, a five-round swiss held at Devonshire Hall, Leeds University
earlier in the week. 1 P Jowett 4/5, 2 AW Brusey 3½, 3-6 DI Calvert,
JG Cooper (ENG, not WLS), A Maxwell, A Pickersgill 3, etc. Game
Viewer • Download
games. Glorney & Faber Cups, Aberdeen, 26-29 July [31/07/04]The two annual boys and girls international competitions were played
at Elphinstone Hall in Aberdeen, with teams from home nations plus Belgium
and the Czech Republic. Final Results: England won both cups for
the first time since 1997. Glorney: 1 England 17½/25, 2 Czech Republic
15, 3 Belgium 13, 4 Scotland 11, 5 Ireland 10, 6 Wales 8½. Faber:
England 12½/15, 2 Wales 9½, 3 Czech Republic 7½,
4 Belgium 7½, 5 Scotland 6, 6 Ireland 2. Official website:
http://www.glorneyfaber.co.uk/
• Results
& Games Irish Open Championship, 10-18 Jul [29/07/04]This year's Irish Championship was held as an open tournament, with entrants
from England, Scotland, France and the Czech Republic competing in the
nine-round event, held in Limerick, although only Irish-registered players
were eligible for the national title. Top seed was 16-year-old Gawain
Jones, who is now resident in Ireland. Results: 1-2 Gawain Jones, Joe
Ryan 6½/9, with each of them winning €1,250 and Joe Ryan becoming
Irish champion. Website: http://members.fortunecity.com/irishchess/irish2004/irish_championship_2004.htm SpecSavers Young Masters, Millfield School, 19-25 Jul [28/07/04]The annual Young Masters tournament, this year sponsored by SpecSavers
Opticians, has been won by FM Craig Hanley of England. 1 FM Craig Hanley
(2356, ENG) 7½/10, 2-3 IM Gergely Antal (2478, HUN) & FM Stanislav
Jasny (CZE, 2311) 7, 4-7 CM Gawain Jones (2453, ENG), WGM Jana Jackova
(2403, CZE), IM Gabor Pinter (2356, HUN) & Rafe Martyn (2322, ENG)
6½. Best Untitled: Jones, Jackova & Martyn 6½; Best
2151-2300: Thomas Rendle (2258, ENG) & Michael White (2154, ENG) 6;
Best 2000-2150: Peter Roberson (2111, ENG) & William Bennet (2084,
ENG) 5½; Best Unrated: Balvinder Grewal (ENG) 6. Latest (28
July): all the games now available (full names, round numbers corrected):
Game
Viewer • Download
games • Link
to Official Site 111th Scottish Championship, Hamilton, 10-18 Jul [26/07/04]Scottish no.1 Jonathan Rowson recovered from being a point behind to
win the Scottish Championship, held at New Douglas Park, the home of Hamilton
Academicals football club. He scored 7½/9. Danish IM Jacob Aagaard,
resident in Scotland but ineligible for the national title, finished second
with 7, a point clear of the field which included GMs Motwani and McNab.
Aagaard thus secured his second GM norm. Final
Crosstable • Game
Viewer • Download
games • Link
to Official Site BCF National Club Championship Finals, 4 July [08/07/04]John Philpott reports: Wood Green won this year's BCF National
Club Championship, beating Bedford 4½-1½ in the final. For
full report and results, games viewer and downloadable
PGN, click on the above link. 1st Coventry International, 16-18 Apr [27/04/04]Jonathan Wilson reports: The 1st Coventry International
attracted 100 entries from 11 countries, including 3 GMs and 6 IMs. 70-year-old
US IM James Sherwin led with 4/4 but was overhauled in the last round.
Final scores: 1-3rd IM Roland Berzinsh (LAT), IM Colin Crouch (ENG), GM
Mark Hebden (ENG) 4½/5. Click on the above link for full results.
All games now downloadable. Monarch Assurance Isle of Man 2004 - Entry Details [02/02/04]Click on the above link for full details of how to enter the 2004 Monarch
Assurance Isle of Man event, which will be held from 25 September to 3
October. The total prize fund is an impressive £16,500. There are
a number of changes this year, and the tournament is immediately followed
by the inaugural World Senior Team Championship at the same venue (5-12
October). Further into the future, the Smith & Williamson British
Championship will be travelling to Douglas, Isle of Man, in 2005. West of England Congress, 9-12 Apr [22/04/04]GM Matthew Turner retained his West of England Championship, though without
a 7/7 score this year. The tournament was played at the Royal Beacon Hotel,
Exmouth. Final Scores: 1 Matthew Turner 6/7, 2-3 Jack Rudd, James
Sherwin 5, 4 Ian Ponter 4½. 21 players took part. Complete
crosstables of Open, Major and Minor • Game
Viewer of all Open Games • Download
all Open games. Thanks to Bill Frost for sending the games. Obituary: Richard A Furness (1937-2004) [20/04/04]His many chess friends will be saddened to learn that Richard Furness,
one of Britain's leading chess organizers, arbiters and administrators,
died on 15 April 2004 after a long illness. Richard Furness will be sorely
missed on the British chess scene, for which he did so much over so many
years. I know I am just one of his many chess friends who have been privileged
to know him and will miss him personally. On behalf of British Chess
Magazine and its readers, I send our deepest condolences to his wife
Judy and his children Robert and Clare. Click on the link above for a
full obituary. JS Welsh Championship, 9-12 Apr [13/04/04]This year's Welsh Championship, held at the Cardiff Moat House Hotel
over Easter, was an unusually strong competition, with many previous champions
turning up to try to regain the title. Perhaps the most notable of these
was 17 times champion Howard Williams who occupies an almost legendary
place in Welsh chess but who has been semi-retired from major tournament
chess for a long time. It was a great come-back for 'AH Wales' (as he
was known in his university days) - he scored 5½/7 - but he had
to cede first place to 42-year-old Suan-Shiau Evans-Quek, originally from
Singapore but now qualified for Wales and married to Welsh women's international
Debbie Evans-Quek. The key to Suan's success was his defeat of reigning
champion Richard Jones in round four which took him to 4/4. Scores: 1st
Suan Evans-Quek 6/7, 2nd Howard Williams 5½, 3-6th Leighton Williams
(Nidum), Iolo Jones (Cardigan), Ioan Rees (Caerphilly) & Tim Kett
(Cardiff) 5, etc, in a field of 30 players. Game
Viewer (four games - more to follow) • Download
PGN • Full results, plus some photos, are available at Jon
Gilbert's website. British Blitz Championship, 4 Apr [07/04/04]Irish-registered IM Gavin Wall is the new British Blitz Champion, having
scored 16/20 in the ten double-round swiss event held at Brunel University,
Uxbridge, on 4 April. He took the first prize of £400. 2nd IM Robert
Gwaze (ZIM) 14½, 3-4th Thomas Rendle (U18 title), GM Keith Arkell
(both ENG) 14, 5th IM Richard Bates (ENG) 13½. Meri Grigoryan won the
British Women's Blitz title with 12/20. 68 players took part. Official
website: http://www.britishblitz.co.uk/
Jersey Festival of Chess, 22-28 Feb [01/04/04]Three GMs entered the annual Jersey International this year, and, predictably,
finished in the top three places. Perhaps even more predictable was the
winner - Tiger Hillarp Persson of Sweden. This is the third time he has
won the tournament (his other wins were in 1999 and 2000). Alon Greenfeld
(ISR) was second and Chris Ward (ENG) third. Results and Prizewinners:
Open
• Major
• Minor.
The best game prize went to Nick McBride for his win against Nigel Dennis
in the Major. Download
All Games of Jersey Open, Major, Minor.
Oxford University vs Wales, 15 Feb [29/03/04]Played some time ago, as a warm-up match for the Varsity match, this
match was won 6-2 by Oxford University. It was hosted by Keble College,
Oxford. It is the second match to take place between the two teams, and
Oxford also won the first match in 2002. My thanks to Daniel Gunlycke
for sending the games. Individual
Results • Game
Viewer • Download
PGN • Report
on OUCC website • Report
on WCU website. Varsity Match, Oxford v Cambridge, 13 Mar [13/03/04]The 122nd Varsity match between Oxford and Cambridge Universities - the
world's longest standing regular chess fixture - took place at the RAC
Club, Pall Mall, London, on 13 March and was sponsored by Henry Mutkin
and Barry Martin. With world-class grandmaster Luke McShane on top board
and two IMs, Oxford were always firm favourites to win this year, and
so it proved. Oxford won by a comfortable 6-2, their 50th win and first
success since 1998. The overall match score since its inception in 1873
now stands at +54, = 18, - 50 in Cambridge's favour. Individual
Results • Game
Viewer • Download
PGN. Portsmouth Congress, 20-22 Feb [29/02/04]GM Mark Hebden was the runaway winner of the 2004 Portsmouth Premier,
ahead of a strong but rather small field including GM Peter Wells, IMs
Harriet Hunt, Adam Hunt, Colin Crouch, Simon Williams, Lawrence Cooper,
etc. Report
• Crosstable
• Download
PGN • Games
Viewer. Thanks to Pat McEvoy and Arthur Brameld. Bunratty Masters, 20-22 Feb [24/02/04]The annual Bunratty Masters tournament took place last weekend. Tournament
favourites were the three GMs, Nunn, Baburin and Greenfeld (ISR), besides
whom there were 7 IMs in contention. But none of the above won the tournament.
Instead, undisputed first place and the 1,000 euros prize went to the
19-year-old English FM Lorin D'Costa, who must be congratulated on a famous
victory. He scored 5/6, with draws against Gawain Jones and Mark Quinn
and wins against (among others) Greenfeld and Brian Kelly. An even bigger
surprise was John Nunn's loss to 2271-rated John Joyce of Wicklow in round
one. The English GM recovered to finish second equal with Alex Baburin
(RUS), Mark Quinn (IRL) and Steve Mannion (SCO) on 4½. Official
site results - click
here. IM Andrew Martin - Simultaneous World Record, 21-22 Feb [24/02/04]Congratulations to English IM Andrew Martin who has broken the record
for number of opponents played in a concurrent simultaneous display. He
took on 321 opponents on 21-22 February at Wellington College, scoring
+294, =26, -1. The display lasted 16 hours 51 minutes, having started
at 9.27am and running through into the wee small hours of Sunday morning.
Congratulations also to his longer-lasting opponents for whom the display
was equally long! Gibtelecom Masters, 27 Jan - 5 Feb [06/02/04]The Gibtelecom Masters was a 10-round swiss tournament, run under the
auspices of the BCF by Stewart Reuben and played at La Caleta Hotel in
Gibraltar. 37 GMs were in the field, headed by Short, Dreev, Epishin,
Speelman, etc. Final: Short beat Inarkiev to take sole first place.
Other top board games ended in draws. 1 Short 8/10, 2 Ganguly 7½,
3-5 Dreev, Harikrishna, Wells 7, etc. Norms: GM for Bakre (IND), IM for
Howell (ENG), Seel (GER) and Wippermann (GER), WGM for Ghate Swathi. Download
games (complete) • Tournament
table (final) • Official website: http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/
Hastings Challengers, 28 Dec - 5 Jan [26/01/04]It's one of the top tournaments played in Britain every year, but the
Hastings Challengers tends to get overshadowed by its big brother, the
Premier. To date, only about half a dozen of the games played in the 2003/4
Challengers competition have seen the light of day. This is no criticism
of the organisers, who do a superb job keeping this famous congress running
and currently have the more pressing task of ensuring its survival for
another year. Anyway, Bernard Cafferty managed to commandeer the scoresheets
and the BCM editor motored down to Hastings yesterday to help him key
in a selection of the best games of this event. We managed to amass 102
of them for your delectation, including all the games of the top four
players. A reminder that the tournament was won by Zahar Efimenko (UKR)
7½, followed by B.Lalic (ENG), McNab (SCO), B.Socko (POL) 7, Crouch
(ENG), Williams (ENG), Gwaze (ZIM), Dworakowska (POL) 6½, in a
field of 111 players. Latest - file amended 26/01/04, with 2 corrections
and 9 additional games. Games corrected: Rudd-Dworakowska (rd 1) - result
corrected to 0-1; Kuzmin-Lyell (rd 9) - additional moves now appended;
and 9 games played by Roger de Coverly appended (thanks, Roger!). Download
PGN File • Games
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Crosstable. Incidentally, if anyone would like to send in their own
games to be added to this database, please feel free to send them (in
PGN or ChessBase format) to me -
2004 Welsh International Congress, 7-15 Jan [16/01/04]The 2004 Welsh International Congress was held at the Hilton Hotel, Newport,
Gwent. It was won by English GM Mark Hebden with 7½/9, 2nd GM Normunds
Miezis (LAT) on 7, 3-4th GM V.Georgiev (MKD), IM Gormally 6½, and
then a big gap to a group of 7 players on 5. Unfortunately Daniel Gormally
failed to achieve a GM norm, and Charles Cobb just missed out on an IM
norm. Wales' two young players Richard Jones and Ioan Rees both scored
2300 performances.
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Table • Official website: www.mark-adams-home.com/welsh/index.html Fulprint 17th York Congress, 9-11 Jan [15/01/04]Jon Griffiths reports: 235 players competed at this established
and popular New Year congress. Joint winners of the Open were Bret Addison
(Hartlepool) and Alan Walton (Oldham), who both scored 4½/5 after
drawing with each other in round three. For the first four rounds the
leader was IM Andrew Ledger from Sheffield, who was beaten by Addison
in the final round. The British Championship qualifying place was awarded
to Alan Walton on tie-break. Download
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Results • † Frank Parr (1918-2003) [13/01/04]Frank Parr, veteran English chess player and former winner of
the Hastings Premier, died on 28 December at the age of 85. Click above
for the full obituary. Later Note: the funeral
is to be held on Friday 23 January at 3.30pm at Randalls Crematorium in
Leatherhead, Surrey. 79th Hastings International Congress, 28 Dec - 5 Jan [06/01/04]Stewart Reuben reports: The 79th Hastings International
Congress takes place at the Horntye Sports Centre, Hastings, from 28 December
to 5 January. The line-up for the Hastings Premier, the world's longest-running
international event is as follows: Alexander Cherniaev (RUS), Vladimir
Epishin (RUS); Stuart Conquest, Danny Gormally, Mark
Hebden (ENG); Vasilios Kotronias (CYP); Abhijit Kunte
(IND); Kateryna Lahno (UKR) (who celebrated her 14th birthday at
the drawing of lots ceremony on 27 December 2003); Peter Heine Nielsen
(DEN) and Jonathan Rowson (SCO). Final: Scottish
GM Jonathan Rowson beat top seed Vladimir Epishin in the last round to
tie for first place. He becomes the first Scottish player to win the Hastings
Premier, in conjunction with Vasilios Kotronias of Cyprus who drew a short
game with Kunte to finish 1st=. Scores: Rowson, Kotronias 6/9, Epishin
5½, Kunte 5. Download
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