|
| 
|
Marilyn and Jinky visit Fischer's tomb
05.12.2009
– As we reported
some weeks ago, Marilyn young, Bobby Fischer's "Filipina live-in partner",
is claiming rights to the late champion's estate for their common daughter Jinky.
The claim has been filed with Icelandic courts, and during their visit
a blood sample was drawn from Jinky and submitted for DNA ananlysis. Marilyn's
lawyer Samuel Estimo sent us the following
report from Reykjavik.
|
| 
|
World Cup R5: Malakhov and Karjakin in the semifinals
04.12.2009
– In two games the players were obviously quite content to leave everything to the tiebreaks: Jakovenko-Gelfand and Gashimov-Ponomariov were both drawn in 15 moves. Peter Svidler tried a King's Indian against Vladimir Malakhov but got nowhere; Shakhriyar Mamedyarov missed a clear chance against Sergey Karjakin, so he and Svidler were eliminated.
Illustrated report.
|
| 
|
A knight on a weakened central square...
04.12.2009
– ... usually means a strong positional trump. However, sometimes this alone is not enough to win the game. Here Black was facing the question whether closing the queenside with
20...b3 21.a3 (diagram) would be beneficial for him. What do you think? A) this enhances Black's spacial superiority, but doesn't yield anything concrete; B) it is a powerful continuation, considerably increasing his positional advantage; C) it's not good, White has one worry less and will be able to successfully defend himself in the centre and on the
kingside.
The solution is here,
but first ponder over it with a
larger version of the diagram.
|
| 
|
World Cup R5: Malakhov and Karjakin take the lead
03.12.2009
– Gelfand vs Jakovenko was a wholly uneventful 18-move draw; Ponomariov played well against Gashimov but was not able to clinch it when the opportunity came around; Shakh Mamediarov survived some shaky moments against Sergey Karjakin, only to blow it in the end; and Peter Svidler had a brilliant win against Vald Malakhov that was marred by a little point in the end.
Full illustrated report.
|
| 
|
World Cup R4: Youngsters out, experience rules
02.12.2009
– The three youngest players – the darlings of chess fans – were knocked out in the tiebreaks in Khanty-Mansiysk. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 19, lost to Boris Gelfand, 41; Fabiano Caruana, 17, was eliminated by Vugar Gashimov, 23; and Wesley So, 15, lost all three games to Vladimir Malakhov, 29. Jakovenko knocked out Grischuk, and Ponomariov Bacrot.
Interviews with Grischuk and Shirov.
|
| 
|
Wednesday night training on Playchess
02.12.2009
– Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841-1924), nicknamed “the Black Death”, learned
the game late, at the age of 19, but just two years later defeated Wilhelm Steinitz
in a tournament game! In this week's Playchess
lecture by FM Dennis Monokroussos looks at a classical win against Emanuel
Lasker. Before that IM Merijn van Delft discusses current games.
Be there and watch.
|
| 
|
World Cup: Interviews with Fressinet and Onischuk
02.12.2009
– The organisers in Khanty Mansiysk, FIDE, are providing us with great material. Apart from live coverage, prompt delivery of results and games, they are also doing regular interviews with the players. Today Laurent Fressinet tells us that his wife Almira Skripchenko is the main breadwinner in the family; and Alexander Onischuk has a solution for punctual appearance at the game.
Interesting ideas.
|
| 
|
World Cup R4: Svidler, Mamedyarov and Karjakin through
01.12.2009
– Peter Svidler and Shak Mamedyarov drew their games and went through against Alexei Shirov and Viktor Laznicka after yesterday's victories. Sergey Karjakin, who (would you believe it?) at 19 has been a grandmaster for seven years, defeated Nikita Vitiugov with black to join the two in round five. The other boards finished without decisions, so that tomorrow will see
five tiebreak pairings.
|
| 
|
Great 2009 finish: ChessBase Magazine 133
01.12.2009
– ChessBase Magazine ends the year with a remarkable issue. The strongest and the most spectacular tournament are covered: Kramnik's convincing victory
in Moscow, and Carlsen's triumph in Nanjing. Two EU Championships add over 1800 high-class games, many
annotated by top scorers and winners (Eljanov, Gashimov, Radjabov, Vitiguov, etc.).
Order
CBM 133 now, or read this
preview.
|
| 
|
Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (31)
01.12.2009
– The Editor of Chess
Notes reports on a stunning new book about Emanuel Lasker – a 1,079-page hardback whose contributors include Robert Hübner and Victor Korchnoi.
The editors, Richard Forster, Stefan Hansen and Michael Negele, have kindly allowed a selection of rare illustrations to be presented here, and we now whet readers’
appetite for one of the
great chess books of all time.
|
| 
|
Quiz: where will the sixth Grand Prix be held?
30.11.2009
– The FIDE Grand Prix was envisioned as "a series of six tournaments in leading world cities." Many experts predicted its imminent collapse, but the first five were successfully staged, with some difficulty and change of venues. It was just the "leading world cities" bit that did not quite work. Maybe for the sixth edition? You are invited to go on a
seek and find mission for the host city.
|
| 
|
Ivanchuk: Sorry, I am not quitting chess
30.11.2009
– In a recent FIDE
interview in Khanty-Mansiysk Vassily Ivanchuk, devastated by a loss to 16-year-old
Filipino GM Wesley So, announced that he was giving up professional
chess. We received a lot of feedback on this decision, some urging the great
chess player to reconsider, other calling him a sore loser. Now
Ivanchuk has acted, and it will please the first set.
Feedback and retraction.
|
|
|
