Rapid match Karjakin-Short

From July 3 till 7, in the Ukrainian city of Kiev, a rapid match will take place between Sergei Karjakin and Nigel Short. The rate of play is 25 minutes plus ten seconds a move. More information can be found at the official website.

Two top events start today

After a quiet week, today two top events start. In Foros (Ukraine) it’s time for the annual Aerosvit tournament and in Yerevan (Armenia) a strong rapid tourney takes place. full story »

Ivanchuk also wins in León

After winning the M-Tel Masters, Vassily Ivanchuk added another trophy to his big collection: yesterday he beat world champion and rapid specialist Viswanathan Anand in the León final. full story »

Carlsen beats Leko 5-3

Just like in the first half, in the second four games Carlsen won one and drew three with Leko, The Norwegian won the match in Hungary 5-3. full story »

Anand & Ivanchuk in today’s final León

Today Viswanathan Anand and Vassily Ivanchuk will play the final of the Advanced Chess tournament in León, Spain. Anand beat Vallejo on Friday, and yesterday Ivanchuk defeated Shirov. full story »

Leko-Carlsen half-way: 1½-2½

Carlsen took a small lead in Miskolc yesterday in his match against Leko, by winning the fourth rapid game, after a narrow escape in game three. full story »

Leko-Carlsen begins today

Today, in one hour to be exact, a rapid match between Peter Leko and Magnus Carlsen starts in Miskolc (Hungary). full story »

Navara-Kramnik 2.5-5.5

It was clear Kramnik was going to win this match against Navara, and with a big score. By winning the last game, Navara managed to finish with a decent result. full story »

Kramnik tough match for Navara

This week David Navara and Vladimir Kramnik are playing a rapid match in Prague. It’s clear that Navara is facing an opponent who’s very strong - perhaps a bit too strong? full story »

Topalov wins in Dos Hermanas

After Shirov was knocked out by Vallejo, it was Topalov time. First he defeated Polgar 2.5-1.5 on Saturday, and then he was too strong for Vallejo in the final on Sunday: also 2.5-1.5 full story »

Slight logistical problem for Vallejo

In the first round of Dos Hermans, Paco Vallejo surprisingly defeated Alexei Shirov, and now he has a slight logistical problem. He qualified for the final on Sunday, but the next day he’s expected to play the first round of the European Ch in Bulgaria. full story »

This weekend: Dos Hermanas

This weekend, the famous 4-player rapid tournament in Dos Hermanas takes place. In this year’s edition, Veselin Topalov, Alexei Shirov, Judit Polgar and Francisco Vallejo Pons will play. A nice event to follow live. full story »

R11: 4 share 1st prize blindfold

Aronian has won Amber 2008 but we knew that already. Kramnik ended second on tiebreak and Leko third. Aronian also won the rapid tournament of course (a major part of his combined success) and together with Kramnik, Morozevich and Topalov he also ended shared first in the blindfold section. Lots of draws on the final day of course, but Topalov-Ivanchuk and Gelfand-Mamedyarov were attractive final matches. full story »

R10: Aronian wins indeed, already

Thanks to two quick draws against Kramnik, Aronian today secured clear first place at the Amber Tournament with a round to spare, because main competitors Carlsen and Leko also drew twice. full story »

R9: Aronian is going to win this one

After he beat Morozevich 2-0 today, Aronian is almost sure of winning Amber 2008. Carlsen lost 1½-½ to Kramnik, and Anand also went down, against Ivanchuk. full story »

R8: Aronian & Carlsen score again

Only twice a 2-0 score was seen at this Amber tournament so far, and both times it was Magnus Carlsen who did it. Today Mamedyarov was his victim. Aronian is clear favorite now, after beating Anand 1½-½ today. full story »

R7: Aronian increases lead

The top match Aronian-Topalov was won by the Armenian, who thus increased his lead to a full point again at the Amber tournament. Kramnik was held 1-1 by (former?) second Van Wely and Carlsen did the same against Anand. full story »

R6: day of draws

And suddenly the Amber tournament saw a bit of a boring day. From a total of twelve games, no less than ten ended in a draw. In the blindfold session, Anand beat Karjakin with Black and Morozevich defeated Van Wely, also with Black. full story »

R5: Aronian leads by a point

What a tournament so far, this Amber 2008, wow. Round 5 saw Morozevich crushing Anand, Carlsen doing the same to Gelfand (both blindfold!), Kramnik defeating Topalov with a queen sacrifice (1½-½)… Another great round. full story »

R4: Leko beats Anand (update)

In a slightly chaotic fourth round of the Amber tournament, the most notable result was Anand-Leko ½-1½. Van Wely won again, this time against Gelfand, after irregularities in both their blindfold and rapid games. full story »

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