Paco Vallejo takes the lead, Sergei Movsesian moves back to his fatherland

The games between Fabiano Caruana and Nigel Short are already becoming a classic in tournaments, we all still remember their dramatic clash in the last round of the 2009 Corus B 2009, after which Caruana qualified to play in the main group in 2010. Before today Short was the leader in Reggio Emilia, with two victories in the first two rounds.

The opening was a quiet French Tarrasch variation, but black’s move f5 later brought some life into the position. After some exchanges, Caruana takes the game into a promising Queens’ endgame, where eventually he was able to collect a full point.

Sergei Movsesian – Michele Godena was a theoretic encounter in Michele’s “pet line”. The Armenian Grandmaster (from today he returns to represent Armenia, more bellow) decided to play 15. Na3 instead of 15. Qg3. It was a very complicated game but during the time pressure many pieces were exchanged and in the end Godena was a pawn up, however he couldn’t convert it into a victory.

Paco Vallejo is inspired! In the opening his Queen took the poisonous-looking b7-pawn, but a brilliant exchange sacrifice gave him the possibility to attack and finally force David Navara into a very inferior endgame. In analysis room both players gave great commentary. Vallejo now leads with 2.5 out of 3.

Alexander Morozevich and Vugar Gashimov were involved in a very long game where white stood slightly better but couldn’t break through. A draw was agreed after the six-hours long combat.

Round 3 standings:

1. Francisco Vallejo Pons ESP 2698 – 2.5

2. Nigel Short ENG 2680 – 2.0

3-6. Fabiano Caruana ITA 2709, Sergei Movsesian SVK 2721, Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2764 and Alexander Onischuk USA 2683 – 1.5

7-9. Michele Godena ITA 2549, Vugar Gashimov AZE 2733 and David Navara CZE 2708 (-1) – 1.0

10. Alexander Morozevich RUS 2700 – 0.5 (-1)

Live/replay games with computer analysis

Official website / Interview with Caruana and Ivanchuk

53rd Reggio Emilia index page

Sergei Movsesian becomes member of the Armenian Chess Federation from today. He wrote an official letter to the Board of the Slovakian Chess Federation and said that he is coming back to his fatherland. He hesitated for a while and waited for a move from the new Slovakian Board, but finally realised that no big changes will happen. Armenia on the contrary has a great program for its best players and offers ideal conditions for the individual improvement.

Source: Šachový týdeník (Chess weekly), thanks to Viktor Novotny. Armenian Chess Federation and FIDE transfers page confirm the information.

Schaaksite.nl with a predictions contest

Schaaksite.nl, a Dutch site for chesslovers, announces a competition connected with the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in January 2011 to win three Rotterdam Chess Sets. Predict the winners of the three groups A, B and C (name and number of points, to be given for each group A, B and C), closing date is 13th of January 2011.

Teun Koorevaar announces the competition: “Among the best predictors we have a lottery to give away three sets of the new Rotterdam Chessgame. Announcement of the winners will be on the last day of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. The chess pieces represent striking buildings of Rotterdam architecture.”

King: Euromast, observation tower

Queen: Erasmusbridge, with swanlike curve

Rook: The Maas building, called after the river Maas

Bishop: World Trade Center

Knight: Shipping and Transport College

Pawn: Cube houses

The set has just arrived on the Rotterdam market and is a collectors item. Everyone is welcome to join the contest (free of charge). Send your predictions to: Tataschaaksite@gmail.com

Report by IM Martha Fierro, analysis by GM Miso Cebalo

The first game to end was Ivanchuk – Vallejo Pons, few moves but very intense. With white Vassily choose a strange setup, placing the Bishop on e2 and combining it with pawn move g3. This system gave black the possibility to sacrifice a piece for two pawns and an exchange.

Perhaps Vassily overlooked that after 10.Nxe4 (instead of 10.f3) dxe4 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.f3 black has the hidden 12…Rxh2. The Ukrainian was not convinced of his position and offered a draw, which the Spanish Grandmaster accepted. The analisys didn’t prove who was better. Paco seems satisfied, after yesterday having some fortune and today draw with black against the top seeded player. Who knows, maybe this will be his tournament?

Also today Short gave us a brilliant game against the “rested” Morozevich. Opposite castles were the sign of a great fight ahead. In this game we could see Nigel’s king walking around the board again. In the analysis room, full of spectators, many moves were suggested for black but there is no clear path. And the full point went to the English Grandmaster. Maybe the blunder was 29…d4, better-looking was 29…Rh4. Scroll down for the analysis by GM Miso Cebalo.

Gashimov-Movsesian was another dynamic position with equal chances and it finished in a draw. Fabiano Caruana choose the Lasker Pelikan defence against David Navara. The game was a strategical battle, were both players had to be very careful. Fabiano entered into the time pressure, then the white squares slowly became weaker and weaker and his position finally collapsed.

Live games with computer analysis

Official website

53rd Reggio Emilia index page

Round 2 results:

Nigel Short – Alexander Morozevich 1-0

David Navara – Fabiano Caruana 1-0

Vassily Ivanchuk – Francisco Vallejo Pons draw

Vugar Gashimov – Sergei Movsesian draw

Michele Godena – Alexander Onischuk draw

Round 2 standings:

1. Nigel Short ENG 2680 – 2.0

2. Francisco Vallejo Pons ESP 2698 – 1.5

3-6. David Navara CZE 2708 (-1), Sergei Movsesian SVK 2721, Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2764 and Alexander Onischuk USA 2683 – 1.0

7-9. Michele Godena ITA 2549, Vugar Gashimov AZE 2733 and Fabiano Caruana ITA 2709 – 0.5

10. Alexander Morozevich RUS 2700 – 0 (-1)

Round 3 pairings:

Alexander Morozevich – Vugar Gashimov

Fabiano Caruana – Nigel Short

Francisco Vallejo Pons – David Navara

Sergei Movsesian – Michele Godena

Alexander Onischuk – Vassily Ivanchuk

Round 6 report by Tournament Director Philip Chan

After 6 rounds, the big names in the ASEAN Chess Championship now taking place in Singapore at the 7th Singapore International Chess Festival 2010 continued their winning form.

GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili, now a Singapore Permanent Resident and donning Singapore colours and who originally hails from Georgia continue to front the tournament despite the no show of GM Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Troung Son from Vietnam. He leads the table into the tournament with 5.0 points after dropping half a point each to FM Nguyen Duc Hua from Vietnam in Round 2 and Indonesian GM Megaranto in the 5th round.

Out of big time action for a while, you can bet he will deliver the results in due course. Just half a point away sits ‘Pinoy’ IM Oliver Barbosa and 4 others chasing the front pack. These include Vietnam’s IM Nguyen Van Hai and GM Dao Thien Hai and also Filipinos IMs Steven Yap and Richard Bitoon.

The ASEAN Women Championships has the Vietnamese women in the driving seats with WGM Nguyen Thi Than An leading with 5 points and half a point behind are WGM Le Thanh Tu and WIM Nguyen Thi Mai Hung. Indonesian’s darling WGM Irine Sukandar Kharis looks jaded after a long season dropping points to WGM Nguyen Thi Thanh An and Vietnam champion WIM Nguyen Thi Mai Hung.

Singapore’s best bet WFM Jeslin Tay is finding it tough keeping up with the ‘professionals’ and she is 2 points away from the lead in ninth position.

White knight in shining armour, GM Wen Yang from China is unstoppable in the Singapore Open winning all his games and is expected to continue his winning run. The very experienced and seasoned IM Gokhale Chandrashekar from India is one point behind in second place and just marginally half a point ahead of 8 other players including Andre Jerome Eng from Singapore and GM Villamayor Buenaventura from the Philippines who is a trainer with a local company.

Possibly one of the richest youth age group tournament (in term of cash awards) around the region, the inaugural Singapore International Youth Championships have foreign participants threatening to run away with all the age group titles. In the Open Under 8, Singaporean Alfred Chua and Cyrus Low Zhen Yu are just half a point behind leader Wong Yinn Long from Malaysia.

Krystal Valerie Soh and Steffi Lim Yan Yu are currently the only Singaporeans helming the top 2 position in the Girls Under 8 section whilst FM Tin Jinyao has maximum points from the first six rounds in the Open Under 11 and like GM Wen Yang in the Singapore Open looks unstoppable. In the Girls’ Under 14, Yuan Wei Ting and WFM Raja Jawahar Monisha are hoping to prevent the foreign field from having a free run.

Report by Tournament Director Philip Chan

Paco Vallejo and Nigel Short starting with victories

Report by GM Miso Cebalo

The most important news of the day is that Alexander Morozevich finally arrived in Reggio Emilia after two days of traveling. Our most sincere compliments for his tenacity!

It is quite logical that his game against Navara has been postponed for the rest day (the 1st of January), which means that they will meet each other only next year!

Considering what was going on today in the tournament hall, we could say that it was like the beginning of a wonderful friendship, sorry I mean a wonderful tournament. Those who have seen “Casablanca” know what I mean. Our compliments to the remaining 8 players for their fighting spirit.

The first game to finish was a fighting draw between Onischuk and Movsesian. Then a great disappointment for Italian chess fans, Michele Godena in his usual time trouble blundered a piece against Vallejo Pons in a slightly worse position.

After 4 hours of play, a second Italian hope, Fabiano Caruana, made draw against Ivanchuk in an interesting, very positional game, where the former was slightly better during some time. In the endgame both players refused to repeat the moves, but in the end they accepted such an outcome when all other possibilities were exhausted.

However, the beauty of the day was the game Short-Gashimov, where the young Azeri sacrificed first the exchange and then the knight in order to bring White’s king in the open air. Being a whole rook down he suddenly started to play in a positional way and somewhere on the road he refused to look for an eventual perpetual, continued to play for a win at all costs and at the end we witnessed the triumph of the material over a brave idea.

Nigel Short – Vugar Gashimov 1-0

Alexander Morozevich – David Navara (postponed to 1st January)

Fabiano Caruana – Vassily Ivanchuk 1/2

Francisco Vallejo Pons – Michele Godena 1-0

Alexander Onischuk – Sergei Movsesian 1/2

Live games with computer analysis

Official website

53rd Reggio Emilia index page

26-30th December, during the International Chess Festival

The 7th Singapore FIDE (World Chess Federation) Arbiters’ Seminar [26-30 Dec 2010] offers training and international certification of chess arbiters. Lecturers are International Arbiters, with highest world-level expertise. The 6 participants hail from Macau, India, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The 7th Singapore FIDE Trainer’s Seminar [26-30 Dec 2010] offers training and international certification of chess coaches. Lecturers/Seminar Leaders are FIDE Senior Trainers, with highest world-level expertise. There are 9 participants from eight countries.

Alexander Morozevich’s arrival delayed by snow in Moscow

The 53th edition of “Torneo di Capodanno di Reggio Emilia” is now open, by the organization staff led by Silvano Ferraroni, president of “Circolo Scacchi Ippogrifo” of Reggio Emilia, director Roberto Mogranzini and Martha Fierro, who is responsible for the players.

Great chess celebrities are participating, composing an average elo of almost 2700, which proves to be the highest rated Reggio Emilia in the history, perhaps possible to compare only with the memorable 1991-92 edition with the presence of Karpov, Kasparov, Anand, which was one of the strongest tournament of all times.

Back to today: great emotion (great expectations) by Alexander Morozevich who was blocked by the snow on the Moscow airport and his participation was put at risk. The super Grand Master has done everything possible to reach Reggio Emilia, traveling all night by train to St.Petersburg and from there taking a flight to Milan, where he arrived in the afternoon. The organization and the players have agreed to allow Morozevich not to play the first round today (the game is adjourned for 1st January 2011 at 4 pm – rest day).

Special thanks to David Navara, Morozevich’s opponent, who arrived yesterday very late after a long travel. Due to the high level of players there will be very interesting games from the first round, we should mention the match between living legend Vassily Ivanchuk, highest elo of tournament, and the reigning Italian champion Fabiano Caruana – the Italian star will have white pieces. Follow the games live with computer analysis.

Arbiters: Chief Arbiter IA Cristina Rigo with NA Angelo Mancini and NA Antonio Sfera. In the analysis room is GM Miso Cebalo.

27th December 2010 to 5th January 2011 in Stockholm, Sweden

The 40th Rilton Cup, managed by the Stockholm Chess Federation, launched today at the Mälarsalen in Stockholm, Sweden. 70 players, led by the Super-Grandmasters Arkadij Naiditsch, Ivan Sokolov, Bartlomiej Macieja and Emanuel Berg are competing in the main Rilton Cup. In addition, 82 lower rated people entered the Rilton Elo event.

The earlier winners Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Eduardas Rozentalis are not in the starting list. The tournament finishes on 5th January 2011.

Rilton Cup participants:

1 GM Naiditsch Arkadij GER 2685

2 GM Sokolov Ivan NED 2642

3 GM Macieja Bartlomiej POL 2636

4 GM Berg Emanuel SWE 2627

5 GM Volkov Sergey RUS 2594

6 GM Gleizerov Evgeny RUS 2572

7 GM Ulibin Mikhail RUS 2552

8 GM Tikkanen Hans SWE 2550

9 GM Ivanov Sergey RUS 2536

10 GM Hillarp Persson Tiger SWE 2528

11 GM Berczes David HUN 2526

12 GM Cramling Pia SWE 2526

13 GM Grandelius Nils SWE 2525

14 GM Shimanov Aleksandr RUS 2516

15 GM Brynell Stellan SWE 2492

16 GM Karlsson Lars SWE 2466

17 IM Blomqvist Erik SWE 2449

18 IM Semcesen Daniel SWE 2449

19 IM Smith Axel SWE 2448

20 FM Urkedal Frode NOR 2438

21 GM Åkesson Ralf SWE 2434

22 IM Souleidis Georgios GER 2411

23 FM Sagit Rauan SWE 2406

24 Lindberg Bo SWE 2404

25 GM Bellon Juan ESP 2394

26 IM Holmsten Aleksei FIN 2381

27 IM Furhoff Johan SWE 2365

28 IM Leer-Salvesen Bjarte NOR 2360

29 Bazeev German RUS 2334

30 FM Straeter Timo GER 2325

31 FM Getz Nicolai NOR 2317

32 Jacobsen Bo DEN 2317

33 IM Groetz Harald AUT 2314

34 FM Luukkonen Tommi FIN 2309

35 Arman Deniz TUR 2297

36 Winge Stefan SWE 2290

37 Astrup Kim NOR 2274

38 FM Thompson Ian D ENG 2264

39 FM Byklum Björnar NOR 2263

40 Sipila Vilka FIN 2262

41 FM Lögdahl Harald SWE 2257

42 Forsberg Viktor SWE 2255

43 Kudzma Laimonas LTU 2232

44 WIM Czarnota Dorota POL 2229

45 Bouaraba Max GER 2219

46 Holving Rasmus SWE 2211

47 Östling Håkan SWE 2206

48 Ask Josef SWE 2205

49 Eriksson Jörgen SWE 2202

50 Kopasov Alexander RUS 2198

51 Hobber Anders NOR 2196

52 Markevich Ilya RUS 2175

53 Jansson Anders Owen SWE 2171

54 Wiander Michael SWE 2158

55 Palmblad Jan Peter SWE 2142

56 Azizi Haroon SWE 2140

57 Bryntze Stefan SWE 2135

58 Pettersson Anders SWE 2127

59 WFM Frisk Ellinor SWE 2126

60 Egilstoft Nielsen Rógvi FAI 2116

61 Lindgren Philip SWE 2091

62 Wenzel Birger GER 2060

63 Hedström Johan SWE 2043

64 Ölund Joar SWE 2035

65 Cederstam Barsk Carl SWE 2020

66 Thiborg Jesper SWE 2020

67 Olander Aleksi FIN 1990

68 Lokander Martin SWE 1982

69 Johansson Linus SWE 1966

70 Wihlborn Bengt SWE 1895

More than 200 players in the different age groups

The Thessaloniki Youth Chess Championship is taking place 26th-31st December in Grand Hotel Palace, Thessaloniki. More than 200 players compete in the different age categories in the qualifiers for the national finals in 2011.

Here are the participants in the event and photos from the first rounds, for more information visit the official website.

Under 16

Papadopoulos Panayotis 1820

Papakonstantinou Dimitrios 1825

Metaxas Efstathios 1615

Tompros Andreas-Hristos 1605

Giannakos Georgios 1490

Palaskos Ahileas 1480

Agorastoudis-Vlahos Ioakim 1345

Mihalopoulos Apostolos 1370

Palaskos Marios 1370

Mitrou Andreas 1300

Kipreos Ioannis 1065

Papadopoulos-Siskopoulos Ahile 1130

Peskelidis Petros 1380

Xanthopoulos Dimitrios 1000

Koumtzis Argirios 1215

Pagonis Leonidas 1055

Nasioudis Haralampos-Marios 1005

Gakis Dimitris 1000

Under 14

Gouloutis Nikolaos

Sahinidis Evagelos

Themelis Georgios

Batzolis Georgios

Hatzigrigoriou Georgios

Tetepoulidis Ioannis

Kotsalis Evagelos

Kalantzis Ioannis

Betsakos Hrisanthos

Nikolaidis Haralampos

Karzias Christos

Orologas Panagiotis

Gakis Ioannis

Kanavouras Konstantinos

Kohliaridis Vasilios

Botsas Konstantinos

Triantafilidis Vasilios

Ermidis Giorgos

Isaakidis Polikarpos

Panagiotidis Andreas-Polykarpo

Samakas Stavros

Karagogos Mihail

Maltezos Apostolos

Mastaggas Hristos

Papadopoulos Nikolaos-Rigas

Under 12

Ballas Athanasios-Panagiotis 1669

Kokkalis Haralabos 1611

Kalantzis Konstantinos 1595

Doudoulakakis Ioannis 1594

Tsaknakis Zisis 1585

Peskelidis Marios 1564

Dalipis Nikolaos 1551

Tsiamis Rafail 1427

Paterakis Emmanouil 1343

Sideris Hristos 1323

Idragogos Viron-Vasilios 1150

Romanos Georgios 1125

Margaritis Filippos 1090

Efopoulos Panagiotis 1080

Mastrakoulis Simeon 1075

Miliotis Evagelos 1035

Porfiropoulos Damianos 1020

Tobazis Anestis 1015

Samakas Anastasios 1010

Daskalakis Evagelos 1005

Emmanouilidis Andronikos 1005

Fahantidis Leonidas 1005

Georgakakis-Haldaiopoulos Emma 1005

Giannakaras Konstantinos 1005

Koutsouras Georgios 1005

Koutsouras Nikolaos 1005

Moralis Athanasios 1005

Sirgiannis Georgios-Antonios 1005

Striagas Georgios 1005

Triantafilidis Hristos 1005

Zevgolis Nikolaos 1005

Hatziiliadis Efstathios 1000

Koukoulas Sotirios 1000

Litos Andreas 1000

Manousaridis Panagiotis 1000

Platidis Thomas 1000

Theodosiadis Pavlos 1000

Stefanidis Ioannis 0

Under 10

Giannoulakis Labros 1514

Doudoulakakis Athanasios 1421

Pavlidis Pavlos 1411

Papadopoulos Haralabos 1180

Kyriakidis Eleftherios 1015

Betsakos Konstantinos 1010

Kanavouras Nikoalos 1010

Manassis Theoharis 1010

Nikolaou Alexandros 1010

Papadopoulos Konstantinos D 1010

Tsinaris Konstantinos 1010

Vlassis Hristos 1010

Ganos Klearhos 1005

Georgakakis-Haldeopoulos Ioann 1005

Giannakopoulos Eleftherios 1005

Hatziadamidis Eleftherios 1005

Iatrou Konstantinos 1005

Kokorotsikos Stergios 1005

Konstantinidis Konstantinos 1005

Kourelarou Spiridon 1005

Milonas Nikolaos 1005

Nikolakis Panagiotis Marios 1005

Papaignatiou Dimitiros-Theodor 1005

Papilias Panagiotis 1005

Sonis Hristos 1005

Billas Thomas Achilleas 1000

Fotiadis Polivios 1000

Fragkou Iosif 1000

Larentzakis-Adamidis Ioannis 1000

Malandris Miltiadis 1000

Naidos Alexandros 1000

Natsis Leonidas 1000

Papagiannakis Ioannis 1000

Perros Komstantinos 1000

Platidis-Kanakis Thomas 1000

Karapappas Haralampos 0

Keskinis Ilias 0

Naziropoulos Evagelos 0

Papadopoulos Konstantinos 0

Shoinas Ioannis 0

Stefanidis Evgenios 0

Theodosiou Thomas 0

Tzimoulias Konstantinos 0

Under 8

Ioannou Ioannis Nik 1005

Nikolaidis Anestis 1005

Sonis Nikitas 1005

Vlassis Miltiadis 1005

Grossos Dimitrios 1000

Kokkalis Grigorios 1000

Kontovas Dimitrios 1000

Lefkidis Hristos – Pavlos 1000

Vasiliadis Athinodoros 1000

Alexandridis Mihail 0

Arapis Theodoros 0

Ioannidis Georgios 0

Katsigris Antonios 0

Triantafillidis Mihalis 0

Zarpis Stefanos 0

Zavounis Pashalis 0

Zografos Alexandros 0

Girls under 16

Papathanasiou Ageliki 1878

Amiridou Dimitra 1661

Vafiadou Asimenia 1619

Fahantidou Athina-Mikaela 1471

Gountinta Dimitra 1060

Fahantidou Evagelia 1005

Girls under 14

Papathanasiou Elisavet 1788

Tsolaki Eleni 1744

Peskelidou Emanouela 1640

Agorastoudi-Vlahou Fotini 1432

Boutsiouki Konstantina-Tarsi 1412

Stamouli Ioanna 1050

Satsli Anthousa 1010

Haralabidou Maria 1005

Malandri Maria 1005

Kipreou Evgenia 1000

Girls under 12

Avramidou Anastasia 1636

Pasoglou Ekaterini 1562

Koutsoura Georgia 1352

Nikolaidou Maria 1308

Papagiannaki Martha 1150

Koltsaki Marianthi 1085

Tananaki Irini 1070

Mastrakouli Evagelia 1045

Stamouli Konstantina 1040

Houhouli Hristina 1010

Theodoridou Argyro 1010

Tsibani Maria Eleni 1010

Nigritinou Fotini 1005

Papapostolou Georgia 1005

Tsakalidou Hristina 1005

Xanthopoulou Anna 1005

Galani Anna 1000

Girls under 10

Papaefstratiou Despina 1110

Koltsaki Evridiki 1010

Kyriazakou Maria-Eleni 1010

Tsibani Georgia 1010

Halvatzi Ekaterini 1005

Mihalopoulou Alkistis 1005

Avraam Ekaterini 0

Theodosiou Vasilia 0

Girls under 8

Bamniatzi Irini 1000

Pasoglou Nikoleta 1000

Vlassi Anna 1000

Beradze Anastasia 0

Karagogou Marina 0

Karagogou Markella 0

Naziropoulou Elefteria – Irini 0

Pateraki Kleopatra 0

13-round blitz event on 26th December in Cuprija, Serbia

The 6th Bone Blitz tournament was played over 13 rounds on 26th December in Cuprija, Serbia. The tournament was organized to honour Miroslav Milenkovic Bone, the Serbian chess legend, who won many competitions in France, Italy and Bulgaria, including twice the Championship of Paris in the mid 50′s. At the age of 77, Bone is still actively playing for the local club Radnicki in the Central Serbia League.

IM Zoran Novoselski from Kragujevac won the event by collecting 10.5 points, finishing full point ahead of the opposition. Novoselski obviously enjoys playing in Cuprija, as he already won two very strong tournaments here – the 2nd Bone Blitz in 2006 and Mirko Kolar Memorial in 2009.

FM Dejan Brankovic and FM Boroljub Zlatanovic are sharing the second place with 9.5 points each. IM Miodrag Perunovic, who had a crushing start but later slipped with two consecutive defeats, and FM Aleksandar Milosevic are joint 4th with 9 points each. These FIDE Masters were all Bone’s team-mates in Radnicki at some point in time.

IM Branimir Maksimovic finished sixth after the unfortunate loss in the final round. IM Mladen Milenkovic, GM Slobodan Martinovic and FM Dragan Dinic, shared 7th with eight points each, are closing the list of money awards. 41 people competed in the tournament, with many local players opting out to make room for the guests from other cities.