They’re coming

They’re coming. The new generation of chess players. In the last few days, three open tournaments were won by three chess players at an average age of just thirteen years old. full story »

Australia has a 3rd GM

He did it. Today Zong-Yuan Zhao became the third grandmaster of his continent. The 21-year-old Australian only needed one and a half month to do so. An interview, taken right after today’s game. full story »

Catching up

Because of the World Cup, we haven’t had much time and space to cover other chess news and events for a while (except for the Bundesliga of course). At this first (and only) rest day in Khanty-Mansiysk, we take the opportunity to do some catching up with a list of short news items. Something we’re considering to do more often. full story »

Viswanathan Anand World Champion

Simutowe scores 3rd GM-norm in Euwe Stimulans

Yesterday Zambia-born IM Amon Simutowe scored his 3rd GM norm by drawing his 8th round game of the Euwe Stimulans Tournament in Arnhem, The Netherlands. If I counted correctly, when he gets his rating over 2500 he will become Africa’s 6th grandmaster, after Hichem Hamdouchi (Morocco), Ahmed Adly, Bassem Amin (both Egypt), Slim Belkhodja and Slim Boaziz (both Tunisia). Simutowe’s success is a nice bonus for an already great tournament; for their first edition the organizers of the Euwe Stimulus had managed to bring together a very special group of participants. full story »

Who will stop this little man?

Last night this site has been moved to a faster server. However, the hosting provider somehow managed to delete the last article. I’ve tried to rewrite it by heart.

True, he didn’t yet play against cracks like Kasimdzhanov, Krasenkow or Tiviakov, but still the question rises who will stop Fabiano Caruanua. Just three weeks ago, at the First Saturday July Tournament in Budapest, he became the youngest GM on earth, and then he simply decided to continue winning his chess games. Six times in a row, at the Hogeschool Zeeland Tournament, which got him on a point clear from his competitors, who dropped some half and full points here and there. full story »

Rybka’s Immortal Game (Part 2)

Today an article by a guest author: Jeroen Noomen, writer of the opening book of the computer world champion, Rybka.

Some time ago ChessVibes published the “immortal game” of the chess computer program Rybka, currently the strongest engine in the world. Although this game was quite beautiful, I think we have a new candidate that fits this description better. It was played in the WCCC (world computer chess championship) 2007 in Amsterdam. Rybka beat the dutch program Diep in an amazing game, full of spectacular tactics and difficult-to-find moves. After 29 moves the game was over, something that is very rare in computer games these days. Especially for ChessVibes I have analysed the new Rybka immortal game and a few other Rybka games from the WCCC. full story »

Babula wins Czech Open, 3rd GM norm for Smerdon

As promised we’re now returning once more to the Czech Republic to do a final report on the 18th Czech Open Festival held in the CEZ Arena in the town of Pardubice. The chess part of this huge festival is probably the biggest annual event in the world, with besides several open groups a lot of side tournaments (e.g. in blitz and ‘active chess’ or rapid). The big open was won on tiebreak by Czech GM Vlastimil Babula, who finished together with his compatriot Viktor Laznicka on 7,5 out of 9. 26 norms were scored in Pardubice, of which 4 were GM norms, one won by David Smerdon. It was his third, and he now needs some 20 more rating points to become the third Australian grandmaster in history. full story »

Beach boy Smerdon wins Bangkok Open and scores his second GM-norm

The Australian IM David Smerdon, who appeared on this site a couple of times before (e.g. here and here), started playing many tournaments as from January with the aim to score another GM result (he already had one). In Gibraltar, Moscow and Cappelle la Grande he didn’t succeed but last week he was very succesful at the Bangkok Chess Club Open. He finished clear first and grabbed his second GM norm with a half point to spare. For ChessVibes David analysed his crucial game against Philippine GM Antonio and reveals the secret of his success. full story »

Roeland Pruijssers International Master

Seventeen-year-old Roeland Pruijssers made his third IM norm in Groningen with a full point overscore, passing the 2400 mark in the process and thereby becoming International Master! Sipke Ernst won the Harmonie Chess Tournament with an impressive 7 out of 9, directly followed by Roeland with 6,5 out of 9. full story »

Thomas Willemze qualifies for Corus C

With a quick draw in the eighth round against Bianca Muhren, Thomas Willemze secured his sole victory at the Cultural Village Tournament today. By doing so, already before the last round he qualified for the C group of the Corus Chess Tournament. Jan Willem de Jong needs a draw against Michiel Abeln tomorrow for his second IM-norm, which will be no problem won’t be that easy, because Abeln declined the pre-game draw offer by De Jong! full story »

Impressive chess by Willemze

Thomas Willemze is showing impressive chess at the Cultural Village Tournament that’s being held in Wijk aan Zee this week. Willemze, who recently became an IM, is making clear that this was fully justified: a 3 out of 3 you can’t haggle. Not unimportant for this tournament is Muhren’s play (2 out of 3), still without a norm but if you ask me she’s heading to her first one. full story »

What are IM and GM titles worth these days?

This week Nigel Short expressed the opinion that we can do away with the IM and IGM titles. Today Susan Polgar asked questions about the FIDE titles too. It’s good to have this discussion, because isn’t it about time that FIDE does something about the serious devaluation of both its rating and its titel system? full story »

Thirteen year old Filippinos can also play chess

The Greek Stelios Halkias and the American Alex Shabalov ended shared first at last week’s strong open tournament in Bad Wiessee. All right, that’s clear, so what’s next. Well, not so quick please. There actually happened a bit more there in Germany. Not one but two thirteen year old Filippine boysTwo Filippines, of whom one is only thirteen years old, earned a… grandmaster norm! We’re talking about Wesley So and Darwin Laylo. (Who? Well, look them up with my new feature: the empty box in the grey side column for finding FIDE-ratings!) full story »

20-29 november: Cultural Village Chess Tournament

An old autumn tradition will be continued this year in Wijk aan Zee. The eleventh Cultural Village Chess Tournament (the old name was Sonnevanck Chess Tournament) will take place from Monday 20 till Wednesday 29 November in Cafe De Zon. The intenion and setup of this nice little tournament is still to offer (young) Dutch chess players the opportunity to score an IM-norm. full story »

Three IM-norms in Hoogeveen

Besides the crown group the Essent Tournament had a very strong open group this year, with about fifteen grandmasters and several international masters at the participants list. This meant a perfect field for scoring norms and three players did take an IM-norm home: Dutchies Alexander van Beek and Ali Bitalzadeh and Moulthun Ly from Australia. (Robert Ris also scored a norm but he had already enough of those.) full story »

Brandenburg makes third fourth IM-norm

If I calculated everything as I should, Daan Brandenburg can’t miss out on his third fourth IM-norm. He already scored 5,5/8 and will play Medvegy (2518) tomorrow. As this brings his average rating of opponents to 2376, he can even loose in the last round. Ofcourse Medvegy still has to show up.
full story »

Robert Ris haalt 3e IM-norm

Robert Ris heeft op Curaçao zijn 3e IM-norm behaald. Op dit eiland werd van 22 tot en met 30 juli het jaarlijkse Curaçao Chess Festival gehouden. Op de toernooisite kunnen we lezen dat er ook dit jaar weer een aardige Nederlandse afvaardiging was.

Op de foto zien we v.l.n.r. Robert Ris, Jaan Elhvest en Anna Zatonskih. Robert stuurde ons deze foto tezamen met een analyse van zijn partij uit de slotronde tegen de Amerikaan Emory Tate. Hartelijk dank daarvoor!