Nijboer still a winner

The international chess summer is sort of over now and the Circuit Catalan, the big annual Catalan circuit of open tournaments is in its last phase. The last week of the Dutch summer holiday coincided with the open tournament in Barcelona, or better: that of the Sants area. This strong “holiday tourney” was won by Dutch GM Friso Nijboer. full story »

Mexico here we come

It’s about time we bring you the news that’s been whispered many times here at the office. ChessVibes is going to Mexico! Yes, the editor-in-chief does consider himself a lucky bastard to be able to attend the tournament that is officially openened in 5 days and 15 minutes from now but hey, wouldn’t it be shere poverty, such a world championship without the ChessVibes camera around? Stay tuned for more news and surprises.

New In Chess # 6: “I thought I was Tal, but …”

“I thought I was playing like Tal, but I was really gambling.” Sounds familiar? WGM Zhu Chen said this to her coach Victor Bologan, who almost had a heart attack watching Zhu burn a Bishop on f7.

In other words: New In Chess 2007/06 is out, a bumper issue full of amazing stuff:

• Magnus Carlsen on his great run of “missing all possible subtle and unsubtle points” in Biel (which he won)
• Garry Kasparov on Victor Hugo, Bobby Fischer and FIDE’s flagrant favouritism
• an interview with Alexander Grischuk: will he abolish classical chess if he wins in Mexico?
• on the spot tournament reports from Biel, Ottawa, Montreal, Cali, Luxembourg, Philadelphia, Krasnotoursk, Copenhagen and San Fransisco
• top GM’s analysing their own games: Ivanchuk, Van Wely, Carlsen, Bu Xiangzhi, Granda, Humpy Koneru, Peter Heine Nielsen, Onischuk, Pelletier, and many others
• an 8 page very personal essay by Vesilin Topalov on the toilet wars in Elista: is he sorry?

And if you doubted Sergey Tiviakov’s ability to write straightforwardly, stop worrying. Look what he says about a recent win: “It doesn’t happen so often that a very strong opponent like Nigel Short is being demolished so convincingly”. Boink!

And all this is really only the tip of the iceberg. Please have a look at this extraordinary issue.

Kasparov: “Kremlin obstructs book publication”

How is Kasparov doing these days? Busy with his crusade against Putin and co, of course, but he hasn’t made the headlines for a while. Which isn’t really helping. He still hasn’t left the chess scene completely; I saw he’ll be doing a simultaneous display at the Wch for pensioners, where he might feel at home in a strange way. But now there’s something rotten in Russia again; Kasparov accuses the Kremlin of obstructing the publication of the Russian translation of How Life Imitates Chess. full story »

Earn study points during Corus

Attention students! The psychology department of the University of Amsterdam is looking for enthusiastic students willing to join a large research project which takes place among chessplayers at the Corus Chess Tournament in January 2008. Students from all universities with a background in psychology or computer science, or simply with a passion for chess, are welcome to join. full story »

Coming up: ROC Aventus Weekender

Time flies, this weekend SBSA organises for the eleventh time the ROC Aventus weekender to decide who will be the new Open Apeldoorn Champion. You might remember from Peter’s report last year that the tournament is warmly recommended. full story »

Karjakin to Monaco

The NH Tournament here in Amsterdam is already over again. For a long time it was quite exciting, the Rising Stars leading by just one point, but thanks to a strong last round the talents beat the Experience with a three-point margin at the end: with 26.5-23.5. Karjakin became first in the ‘internal competition’ of the Rising Stars and received the desired ticket for the next Melody Amber Tournament in Monaco, March next year. (Jan Smeets told me he might have preferred winning this one instead of the Dutch Ch!) full story »

Navara and Timman the strongest in Prague

Update: an analysis by GM Sergei Movsesian has been added.

In Prague David Navara and Jan Timman both won their rapid matches against Nigel Short and Jana Jacková respectively. Navara beat Short convincingly: 7-3. Short managed to beat the young Czech, who was so succesful in Mainz, only once. Timman’s victory was even bigger, 7,5-2,5, though he lost twice. full story »

Weekly Endgame Study (35)

Every Saturday an endgame study is published at ChessVibes, selected by Yochanan Afek: player, trainer, endgame study composer and writer. A week later the solution is published. full story »

Judgements FIDE Ethics Commission published

On the FIDE website the rulings of the FIDE Ethics Commission concerning five cases have been published. Four can in a way be called minor cases (because of the fifth one): a penalty for the President of the Moroccan Chess Federation, a reprimand for journalist Dimitrije Bjelica, a ban for South-African organizer Jackie Ngubeni and a reprimand for Nigel Short (who called Azmaiparashvili a “dunderhead“). The fifth was what everybody was waiting for: the Ethics Commission’s judgement of Kramnik & Hensel’s complaint against Veselin Topalov and Silvio Danailov regarding their public accusation during the 2006 World Championship match in Elista that Kramnik had been cheating. To cut a long story short, FIDE tells Topalov & Danailov “don’t do it again”. full story »

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