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 »

Navara-Short & Jacková-Timman

Today two rapid chess matches start in Prague, between the two strongest Czech players and two former world championship contenders. Nigel Short plays Ordix Open winner David Navara (hopefully Short recovered from his illness that forced him to withdraw, after round 6, from the Banyoles Chess Festival last week.) WGM Jana Jacková, the best Czech female chess player, will play against Jan Timman.

Update 12.38 CET: it is confirmed that Nigel will play this afternoon, despite the fact that he still suffers from back problems. full story »

Action movies from Mainz

Everything has been cleaned up already in the Congres Center in Mainz but not yet here at ChessVibes. There are still some videos left from the rapid tournaments. I have shot some timescrambles of well-known grandmasters, and so it looks like you’re standing next to the boards of gentlemen such as Grischuk, Karjakin or Mamedyarov. Similar in all these action movies: endgame technique. The big guys usually seem to beat the slightly smaller guys with accurately played little endgames. Instructive! full story »

Impressie of the FiNet Chess960 Tournament

So much is happening here in the Congress Center in Mainz that the journalists can barely keep up with the pace of events. In the morning the games of the big open rapid tournaments start and quite quickly, thanks to the Gründlichkeit amongst the arbiters, the rounds are being played after each other. Though yesterday there was a small delay, and therefore just ten minutes after the fifth round the four top GM’s appeared on the stage already to entertain the audience for the rest of the evening. The amount of video material I now have is probably too big to publish all, but I’ll just try to pick the best parts. For now an impression of the open Chess960 tournament which was won by Bologan. full story »

Bologan wins FiNet Open Chess960

Although the previous article might have suggested otherwise, you haven’t seen the last Chess960 yet. Yesterday and the day before many more top grandmasters played each other in the FiNex Open Chess960 and the eventual winner was Viktor Bologan, who in the last round beat Vassily Ivanchuk in a very positional game. Ivanchuk had been playing board one almost all day after Mamedyarov, the leader after five rounds, lost three times, one game against Kamsky in just eight moves! Later lots of spectacular videos will follow of this tournament, but first an interview with the winner, taken a couple of minutes after he beat Ivanchuk. full story »

Aronian world champion Chess960

In a very exciting final Levon Aronian from Armenia last night became the rapid world champion Chess960. He defeated Viswanathan Anand 3,5-2,5. The four rapid games, with 20 minutes on the clock and 5 seconds increment a move, were ended in 2-2 after Anand had equaled the score in the fourth game. Then two blitz games followed (5 minutes plus 5 seconds increment) which were won by Aronian 1,5-0,5. Aronian received the throphy and complimented his opponent: “Also in Chess960 Vishy is a very srtrong rapid player.” full story »

Aronian and Anand qualify - we’re in Mainz!

After a smooth trip I’ve now arrived in Mainz. The tournament is taking place in the big Congres Centre of the town (that also listens to the name Rheingoldhalle), along the river Rhine. One of the first you meet when you enter is Artur Jussupow, giving live commentary next to two television screens showing the games. Then you walk by what is the largest book stall I’ve ever seen, that of Schach Niggemann, a famous chess shop in Germany. full story »

Aronian strong starter in Mainz

The big spectacle in Mainz is now fully going on and the four top players, Anand, Aronian, Bacrot and Kasimdzhanov, played their first three rounds of Chess960 yesterday. Aronian started very well with victories over Bacrot and Kasimdzhanov. Anand and Kasim are on 1,5 out of 3 and Bacrot has 0,5 point. As from tonight ChessVibes will be making on-the-spot videos! full story »

The Mainz Attraction on the ICC

(This is an ICC advertisement)

The Internet Chess Club, in conjunction with Chess Tigers, organizers of the popular annual Mainz Chess Classic in Germany, are offering a unique chance to play in a free online qualifier to win a round trip ticket, 600 Euro ($811) cash, hotel room and breakfast at the Hilton Mainz Hotel, by the banks of the Rhine, just 1 block from the picturesque Old Town, from August 15 to 20 (5 nights and 6 days!). full story »

Shirov wins Villa de Cañada de Calatrava

At the Festival Villa de Cañada de Calatrava Alexei Shirov has won the rapid tournament. The first prize was for him because his tiebreak was better than Daniel Fridman’s, Ivan Sokolov’s and Boris Gelfand’s, who also finished on 7,5 out of 9. So it was a very exciting tournament, where people like Polgar, Mamedyarov and Anand ended shared fifth. Shirov deserved the title considering his magnificently artful play, which reaffirmed his claim to the title Fire on Board. full story »

The top players live again

Nothing to do during this Easter Weekend? Then I have good news for you. At this very moment many top chess players are playing a rapid tournament in Spain, and the games can be followed live. I’m talking about the Festival Villa de Cañada de Calatrava. On the participants list we see names such as Anand (he’s quite high on the new FIDE list), Mamedyarov (how good would he be in rapid?), Gelfand (who’s openings are still top-notch as we saw in Monaco), Ivanchuk (his play is still top-notch as we saw in Monaco), J. Polgar (wow, we haven’t seen her play since… Hoogeveen?), Grischuk (wow, we haven’t seen him play for ages) Bacrot (o yes, he’s quite strong too), Shirov (always great to watch) Sasikiran (isn’t he playing Sofia?), Milov (one of those players you always hear winnig opens in far away countries) and… Karpov! (no introduction needed). full story »