JANE AUSTEN



Jane Austen is a well known and much-loved English author. Her fans today number in the millions (me included) and since the advent of motion pictures, her novels have been turned into film at an almost regular pace. Though just having publish a mere six novels, those few works have become the basis for the true romance story since their appearance on the literary scene in the early 1800's.

Today, Jane Austen is as popular as ever and revered as much as any literary figure in history.

PARENTS:

Father: Reverend Mr. George Austen
Mother: Cassandra (Leigh) Austen


SIBLINGS:

James (1765-1819) - became the vicar of Sherborne St. John
George (1766-1838) - thought to be epileptic, deaf and mute; sent away to live with care-taking family
Edward (1767-1852) - inherited wealth from uncle and aunt, toured Europe for four years
Henry (1771-1850) - acted as literary agent to Jane; served in the Oxfordshire militia
Cassandra (1773-1845) - only other daughter in family; Jane's confidant
Francis (1774-1865) - opened up Chawton cottage to the Austen girls; served in the Royal Navy
Charles (1779-1852) - served in the Royal Navy


NOTABLE EXTENDED FAMILY:


Aunt (father’s sister): Philadelphia (Austen) Hancock
Cousin (later sister-in-law): Elizabeth (Hancock) Capot, Comtesse de Feuillide.



When was Jane Austen Born?

On Saturday, December 16, 1775

Where was Jane Austen Born?

In Hampshire, England at the Steventon rectory

When Did Jane Austen Die?

On Friday, July 18, 1817

Where Did Jane Austen Die?
In Winchester, England

Where is Jane Austen Buried?
At Winchester Cathedral in Winchester, England

How Did Jane Austen Die?

Though historically, many have accepted Addison's Disease or Hodgkin's Lymphoma as the primary cause of her death, new research suggests it may have been disseminated tuberculosis passed through exposure to cattle or unpasteurized milk - more common in Austen's time.


A watercolour and pencil sketch of Jane Austen, believed to be drawn from life by her sister Cassandra (c. 1810)



Love Revealed, Love Enduring... a biography of the Great Jane Austen

Though it has only been relatively recent that her work has become mainstream - thanks in part to required readings in school, reproductions of her classical works at the bookstores and television and cinema productions covering her novels- the lure of the romantic period that Jane Austen created in the minds of men and women alike has resonated for decades. Her careful selection of characters placed in ordinary positions of their time, only to develop into a more dramatic situation by the turn of the last page, has kept readers revisiting these ageless classics time and again. Having read her works, one is left wondering who Jane Austen really was - how close were the predicaments in these works to her real life? What kind of woman was she in the world that she lived in? Did she ever find the love so elusive in her own novels?

Jane Austen came into the world on December 16th, 1775. Born to Reverend George Austen of the Steventon rectory and Cassandra Austen of the Leigh family. She was to be their seventh child and only the second daughter to the couple. Her siblings were made up largely of brothers, which in some ways forced a close relationship with her elder sister, Cassandra (not to be confused with the mother whom also carried the name Cassandra - but further referred to as Mrs. Austen). In order of birth, the Austen children were as follows: James, Edward, Henry, Cassandra, Francis, Jane, George and Charles. Of all the brothers, it would be Henry to which Jane would form the closest bond with, playing the part of Jane's literary agent in the later stages of her writing.

Growing up, the Austen children lived in an environment of open learning, creativity and dialogue. Mr. Austen worked away in the rectory and also tried his hand at farming on the side to earn more money for the growing family. Additionally, he would take on teaching roles within the home to outside children for additional funds. The Austen children would all grow within this close-knit family with Jane herself forming an exceptional bond with her father.

In 1783, at the age of 8, Jane and her sister Cassandra were sent off to boarding school for their formal educations. Education would consist of the appropriate teachings of the time, which included foreign language (mainly French), music and dancing. Returning home, the rest of Jane's education centered mainly around what her father and brothers could teach her and, of course, what she could learn from her own reading. As Mr. Austen was part of the church, he kept a large collection of literature in his home library. This library was open to Jane and Cassandra as well and the two made extensive use of it in both reading and writing endeavors, with Jane taking the lead in both. Mr. Austen fed Jane's interest in writing by supplying his books, paper and writing tools to allow her to explore her creative side. By all accounts, life inside the Austen homestead was a casual environment where many an attempt at humor was made with some very good debating going on on the side.

It became quite common for the family to invest time and energy into making home-based productions of existing plays or writing and acting out their own creations. One can only assume that it was in these exercises that the true talent of Jane Austen was being nurtured - through observation, improvisation, acting and participation.

1787 rolled along in time to see Jane start taking more of an interest in generating her own works and keeping them in notebooks for future reference. These collections consisted of stories and poems that allowed Jane to touch upon topics of interest and reflect the times. Collectively, these works became the Juvenilia and made up three whole notebooks. By 1789, Jane penned the dark, satirical comedy Love and Friendship, and began to lean towards writing seriously. Four years time would see her delve into play writing in the form of Sir Charles Garandison or the Happy Man, a comedy centered around the works she was forced to read in schools and consisted of six full acts. Unfortunately, the idea fell to naught and was abandoned for another idea that later became Susan, a novel told in the epistolary format - that is, a story told as a series of letters. Sometime before 1796, members of the Austen family recalled Jane completing the work entitled Elinor and Marianne to which she would then read aloud for the amusement of the Austen family.

In December of 1795, a nephew of nearby neighbors began placing several visits to Steventon. His name was Tom Lefroy, a student studying in London to be a barrister. Jane and Tom began spending much time with one another and it was noticed by both families. This marks the one documented instance of Jane Austen admitting to falling in love and spent a great deal of energy in writing to her sister Cassandra about their relationship. Unfortunately for the pair, the family of Tom Lefroy reviewed any forthcoming engagement as highly impractical as Tom was being supported externally by family members whilst he was in school and planning for his own practice. Jane herself, and her family for that matter, had no more to offer in the pairing. As such, Lefroy's family intervened and sent Tom away. Even when in town again, every effort to keep Tom from Jane was made and Jane was never to see her love again for the rest of her life.

With their formal educations completed at the boarding school, Jane and Cassandra return home permanently and Jane sets out to pen the work First Impressions. Little did she know at the time that this single work would become her most popular and enduring piece, becoming the story we now know as Pride & Prejudice. The first draft was completed sometime in 1799.

Always the supportive father, Mr. Austen takes a serious step to help his talented daughter succeed. With one of her works, he attempted to have the piece published through Thomas Cadell, a publisher based in London. The attempt fell flat as Cadell was quick to reject the work, not even bothering to open the package. It remains unknown if Jane knew of her father's attempt at assisting her in her career.

Jane returned to work on Elinor and Marianne, completing all revisions to the story by 1798. The revisions are quite substantial in that she removed the epistolary point of view of the storytelling and instituted a more traditional 3rd person. With the work up to her new standard now, she began serious work on Susan. Susan is the work that would go on to become Northanger Abbey. But before work on Susan was completed, Jane decided to revisit the short play she had attempted all those years before - Sir Charles Grandison or the Happy Man. In this go-round, Jane saw her first play to completion all while finding time to finish Susan.

As with most Decembers in the Austen family history, the December of 1800 brought about some great news. Jane's father George announced that he was retiring from the clergy, an announcement that seems to take the Austen family by complete surprise. This meant that their stay in Steventon was all but over, much to the dismay of Jane, whom had formed an attachment to the one and only home she has known her entire life. Now at age 27, she and the entire Austen family moved to the town of Bath for the Austen parent's retirement life.

Now we come to the part of the story where Jane's novels meet real life. Enter the real life character in the form of Harris Bigg-Wither, a childhood friend of the family and of Jane's. Once again in the month of December - this time in 1802 - Jane receives her one and only known proposal of marriage from Mr. Bigg-Wither. Sensing the practical measure of both their situations, Jane agrees to the marriage. Bigg-Withers is due to inherit a sizeable amount of real estate and is well off. His one negative seems to be Jane's indifference to the man as a whole. She expressed no true love for him, no affection whatsoever, but the convenience of being provided for and for her family's future as well seemed to have dictated her acceptance of the proposal. In a turn very much like one of her penned characters, however, Jane revoked her acceptance the next day. In a letter to her niece some years later, a family member seeking relationship advice from Jane, Jane makes a pivotal comment in her writing that is a summary of many of her stories - her advice to the niece is simply not to wed if the affection is not there. This revelation is a shining insight into the mind of Ms. Austen, seemingly taken out of the very pages of one of her novels, where her heroines did not to marry for money or power, but for love.

In 1803, brother Henry visited a London publisher by the name of Benjamin Crosby to help push the Susan novel into publication. The copyright for the work is sold for 10 pounds to Crosby with the promise that the piece will be published. Unfortunately, Crosby never fulfilled his end of the bargain in any acceptable timeframe and a tug of war over control of the copyright will go on for some time. Nevertheless, Jane continues work, this time on a piece entitled The Watsons.

January 21st of 1805 brought about startling changes to the landscape of the Austen world. Beloved father George Austen - already falling quickly ill - died to the shock of the family. This period of time forced Jane to put off work on The Watsons indefinitely as the Austen family is thrown into a kind of crisis. The Austen brothers all agree to help support Mrs. Austen and her two daughters though the girls are forced to live an unsettled life of constant moving and renting out their living quarters. Eventually, the women move in with brother Frank who later offers up a cottage on a nearby property to the girls. This cottage - known as Chawton cottage - would rejuvenate the 33 year-old Austen into a period which she will made great strides in her work, nearly as great as her younger years.

To begin with, Jane penned an angry letter to Benjamin Crosby, the publisher in London with a hold on the Susan copyright. Since the work had yet to be published by Mr. Crosby, Jane submits a new revised version of the novel to force Crosby's hand to either publish the work or return the copyright to her so she may find another, more willing, publisher. Crosby agrees to Jane's demand, though in a shrewd business move, allows Jane access to the copyright of Susan only if she can pay the equal 10 pounds back to him for it. With the Austen family financial future severely in doubt at this point, Jane was forced to decline the offer for the time being, leaving Susan out of her control for still more time.

Life in Chawton cottage proved to be a godsend for the women. Now fully settled in a quiet environment, Jane saw it fit to continue her work. Her sister and mother even acknowledged her talent and took away some of her required chores to allow her to work unfettered. This she did in a very private way, but still more productively than ever before.

Henry Austen, working on a burgeoning banking career on his own with help from his brother's investing, doubled as Jane's literary agent and approached London publisher Thomas Egerton with the manuscript for Sense & Sensibility. Egerton agreed to publish the piece and fulfilled his end of the deal. The novel is published in October of 1811 and comes out to favorable reviews. The piece is a financial success for the family, the first edition selling out completely by1813.

Egerton then took the manuscript of Pride & Prejudice and published this second work for public consumption in January of 1813. This time around, Egerton put a fair amount of time and money into marketing Jane's work and the novel was an instant success with the public and critics alike. The success is so great that a second edition of printing is quickly ordered by October.

Mansfield Park quickly followed, Egerton striking while the iron was hot. The piece was received in luke warm fashion by reviewers, but the public could not get enough of Jane Austen. Another modest monetary success greeted the Austen family. In fact, Mansfield Park, with all copies sold, became the best selling and most profitable of Ms. Austen's works at that time. In an effort to bring even more success to her novels, Jane left the services of Egerton in favor of a more well known London publisher, John Murray. Murray would be the final publisher to work with Austen before her untimely death.

Under Murray's watch, Emma, a second edition of Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published. Emma arrived with critical success, but the second edition printing of Mansfield Park is not so successful, basically negating the earnings Jane received from the former. At this time, the banking venture pursued by brother Henry failed, and along with it, the fortunes of brothers Edward, James and Frank. This left the Austen girls - and family for that matter - in a precarious financial position. Jane continued writing, even more dedicated to complete a working first draft of The Elliots, though this work would later be more recognized as Persuasion. It is at this time that Henry takes it upon himself to repurchase the copyright of Susan from Crosby & Company and does so for the 10 pounds originally paid. The title of the work, however, is now changed to Catherine which led some historians to believe that there may have been another novel out in print at the time with the same title of Susan.

At the beginning 1816, Jane noticed a decline in her health, but disregarded it in favor of continuing the works she started. With so much happening, Jane's health declined quickly with each passing day. Her family began to take note. Though progressively unwell, Jane maintained an upbeat attitude and played off her illness to family and friends, all the while rewriting the final two chapters of The Elliots to her liking. The piece is eventually finished and, by January 1817, Jane is hard at work on a new project entitled The Brothers. Twelve chapters of the work are completed before her illness takes a more serious toll on Jane. The simple act of walking at age 42 became a chore and energy was greatly exhausted performing the simple tasks of a given day. By April, Jane was confined to her bed and her work suffered as well.

In May of 1817, brother Henry and sister Cassandra looked to get medical help for their ailing sister. They escorted Jane to Winchester to seek medical treatment for an illness that - at that time - could not possibly have had a cure. On July 18th, 1817, Jane Austen died in Winchester and with her, she took the conclusions of her unfinished works. With his connections, Henry worked to have his sister buried at the Winchester Cathedral.

Not content with seeing her final completed works go unpublished, Henry and Cassandra worked at getting Northanger Abbey and Persuasion published through Murray as a set collection. Within this work, however, Henry penned a most endearing account of the author of the works - who at this point was still nameless to the world. He unveiled her as Jane Austen, connecting her to her work for the first time in her career.

In many ways, Jane Austen embodied the very strong-natured, head-strong women that were her stories. They came from different circumstances with different backgrounds, yet all sought the same thing in true love. It is an irony that such a thing eluded the great Ms. Austen herself, but perhaps to the betterment of her stories and ours. In the end, we are left with what are truly timeless pieces of art. Despite penning just six completed works, she has spawned a legion of followers that devour every word she wrote. In her life, and even after her death, but most importantly through her works, she has left all readers with the fanciful notion of love revealed, love enduring...


List of works:

Novels

* Sense and Sensibility (1811)
* Pride and Prejudice (1813)
* Mansfield Park (1814)
* Emma (1815)
* Northanger Abbey (1817) (posthumous)
* Persuasion (1817) (posthumous)

Juvenilia – Volume the First[121]

* Frederic & Elfrida
* Jack & Alice
* Edgar & Emma
* Henry and Eliza
* The Adventures of Mr. Harley
* Sir William Mountague
* Memoirs of Mr. Clifford
* The Beautifull Cassandra
* Amelia Webster
* The Visit
* The Mystery
* The Three Sisters
* A beautiful description
* The generous Curate
* Ode to Pity

Juvenilia – Volume the Second

* Love and Freindship
* Lesley Castle
* The History of England
* A Collection of Letters
* The female philosopher
* The first Act of a Comedy
* A Letter from a Young Lady
* A Tour through Wales
* A Tale

Juvenilia – Volume the Third

* Evelyn
* Catharine, or the Bower

Short fiction

* Lady Susan (1794, 1805)

Unfinished fiction

* The Watsons (1804)
* Sanditon (1817)

Other works

* Sir Charles Grandison (1793, 1800)[120]
* Plan of a Novel (1815)
* Poems
* Prayers
* Letters

Source:
http://www.janeausten.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Austen

Yaroslav Zherebukh wins Cappelle



Ukrainian player Yaroslav Zherebukh took clear first place with 7.5/9 in the 26th Cappelle-la Grande Open, France, took place 13th-20th February 2010.

Pl Nom Elo Cat. Fede Ligue Pts Tr. Perf.
1 g ZHEREBUKH Yaroslav 2527 CadM UKR 7,5 43 2734
2 g KRYVORUCHKO Yuriy 2602 SenM UKR 7 43 2695
3 g RADULSKI Julian 2577 SenM BUL 7 43 2683
4 g NEGI Parimarjan 2621 CadM IND 7 43 2663
5 g GUREVICH Mikhail 2597 SenM TUR 7 42,5 2743
6 g AMIN Bassem 2544 SenM EGY 7 42,5 2724
7 g EDOUARD Romain 2608 JunM FRA 7 41,5 2705
8 g ARUTINIAN David 2566 SenM GEO 7 40,5 2589
9 g DZIUBA Marcin 2587 SenM POL 7 40 2686
10 g KRAVTSIV Martyn 2543 JunM UKR 7 38 2556

See full standings
here

Le Quang Liem wins Aeroflot, qualifies for Dortmund



Le Quang Liem Wednesday won the Aeroflot Open in Moscow. Like at the Moscow Open, the grandmaster from Vietnam finished on an undefeated 7/9, which this time was enough for clear first and qualification for the Dortmund tournament later this year. The 9th Aeroflot Open took place February 9-17 2010 in Moscow, Russia. It’s one of the biggest tournaments (and certainly the strongest) of the calendar, and as always sponsored by airline company Aeroflot and organized by the Russian Chess Federation in cooperation with the Committee on Tourism of the Municipality of Moscow. The festival had the same prize fund as in 2009 amounting a total of 180,000 EUR (which includes the prizes for the World Blitz Qualification Tournament which will be held afterwards).

See full article

Chernyshov wins Moscow Open 2010

The Moscow Open took place from January 30th to February 7th 2010, just before the 9th Aeroflot Open (February 8–19), which meant that many strong players had travelled to the Russian capital to participate in both tournaments. The Moscow tournament was won by four players who shared 7.0/9 points. First prize went to Konstantin Chernyshov on tie-break, with the decisive factor being that he had the most wins.


In the final round Chernyshov Konstantin won first by playing a 40-move draw against GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, who finished third on tiebreak.


Full report

Michael Adams Wins the 8th Gibtelecom Masters

John Saunders reports: The photo below shows the winner of the 8th Gibtelecom Masters, Michael Adams of England, being congratulated by master of ceremonies and tournament commentator GM Stuart Conquest. Also in the photo are the women's prize-winner Natalia Zhukova (who also achieved a GM norm, surpassing the required TPR by a huge margin) and CEO of Gibtelecom, Tim Bristow.




Adams Wins The Final

John Saunders reports: English grandmaster Mickey Adams has won the 8th Gibtelecom Masters after a four-player play-off. He did it the hard way, losing the first game of his semi-final against German GM Jan Gustafsson and having much the worst of the second game before Gustafsson blundered a piece. There followed an Armageddon game, with Adams obliged to win, which he did in some style. In the other semi-final Paco Vallejo Pons of Spain won his first game quite comfortably against Chand Sandipan of India. He was comfortable in the second game but Sandipan fought back to the point where he should have won, only the make a terrible blunder which cost him the win. The final saw Adams in his best form, soon securing a strong advantage which he carried through to victory. In the return, Vallejo Pons got a bad position but his attempt to mix the game up cost him a piece and he could only draw. The two-game mini-matches were played at a time control of 10 minutes with 10 second increments and the Armageddon game at 5 minutes to 4.

CORUS 2010: Final Standings

Carlsen Wins Corus 2010

After a thrilling final round, the world's #1 ranked player Magnus Carlsen (pictured) won the 72nd Corus tournament in Wijk Aan Zee.

Going into the final round, Carlsen could only be caught by Kramnik, Shirov and Anand. Kramnik made no impression on Karjakin and soon agreed a draw. Anand had some chances against Van Wely, but also offered a draw after 39 moves.

Shirov came the closest to achieving a win, using up a lot of time in the early stages of his game against Dominguez trying to build a kingside attack.

However, Shirov's cogitations left him perilously short of time, and he eventually agreed a draw with just a few seconds remaining on his clock. Although the tournament features a 30 second increment, playing accurately with just this allowance is not easy even for GMs!

That left Carlsen only needing a draw against Caruana to win the tournament, but after an early oversight it was a tense struggle for the Norwegian to hang on in a tricky knight ending. But hang on he did, to win the Corus 2010 title, a berth at the Bilbao Grand Slam Final later this year, and a cheque for 10,000 euros.

The most extraordinary game of the final round saw Nigel Short choose a rare sacrificial line against Smeet's choice of the Petroff Defence. Both players used huge amounts of time on the early moves, and by move nine Smeet's king was on the g5 square! However, with clocks running low, both players backed away from a rapid-fire finish to share the spoils with a repetition.

The only decisive game of the last round came from Hikaru Nakamura who ground out an endgame win against Sergei Tiviakov in the last game to finish in any of the groups.

In the 'B' Group 15 year old Anish Giri (pictured left) wrapped up the tournament with a comfortable draw against Negi to earn an invite to the 'A' Group in 2010.

In the 'C' Group Li Chao (pictured right) had already assured himself of first place, but he won again to finish on an amazing 10/13.







To see full article: click here


GROUP A



GROUP B



GROUP C

CORUS 2010: Round 13 Results


The B and A-Group winners, Anish Giri and Magnus Carlsen.


Magnus Carlsen wins Wijk aan Zee 2010

The top seed and long-time leader of the A-Group, Magnus Carlsen, drew his final game, as did his main contenders, which left the 19-year-old Norwegian the sole winner of the tournament. His FIDE ranking in the next list will be the second highest in history. Kramnik and Shirov share 2nd-3rd. In the B-Group Anish Giri was first, ahead of top seed Naiditsch.


GROUP A - Round 13
L. van Wely - V. Anand ½-½
N. Short - J. Smeets ½-½
H. Nakamura - S. Tiviakov 1-0
M. Carlsen - F. Caruana ½-½
V. Ivanchuk - P. Leko ½-½
A. Shirov - L. Dominguez ½-½
V. Kramnik - S. Karjakin ½-½


GROUP B - Round 13
A. Naiditsch - E. l'Ami 1-0
W. So - A. Muzychuk ½-½
V. Akobian - D. Howell 1-0
P. Negi - A. Giri ½-½
P. Harikrishna - T. Nyback ½-½
L. Nisipeanu - E. Sutovsky ½-½
D. Reinderman - Ni ½-½


GROUP C - Round 13
D. Vocaturo - S. Swaminathan 1-0
S. Plukkel - B. Bok ½-½
L. Chao - Z. Peng 1-0
R. van Kampen - S. Kuipers 1-0
K. Lie - M. Muzychuk 0-1
N. Grandelius - R. Swinkels 0-1
A. Gupta - R. Robson 1-0

CORUS 2010: Round 13 Pairings


Wijk aan Zee in January – the sea, the beach, the ice, the dunes.(photo by: Nadja Woisin)



The 13th or LAST ROUND starts on Sunday 31st at 12:30 Royal Dutch time, an hour earlier than usual (you can translate this to your own time zone here). And you can watch the live games here.


GROUP A - Round 13
L. van Wely - V. Anand
N. Short - J. Smeets
H. Nakamura - S. Tiviakov
M. Carlsen - F. Caruana
V. Ivanchuk - P. Leko
A. Shirov - L. Dominguez
V. Kramnik - S. Karjakin


GROUP B - Round 13
A. Naiditsch - E. l'Ami
W. So - A. Muzychuk
V. Akobian - D. Howell
P. Negi - A. Giri
P. Harikrishna - T. Nyback
L. Nisipeanu - E. Sutovsky
D. Reinderman - H. Ni


GROUP C - Round 13
D. Vocaturo - S. Swaminathan
S. Plukkel - B. Bok
L. Chao - Z. Peng
R. van Kampen - S. Kuipers
K. Lie - M. Muzychuk
N. Grandelius - R. Swinkels
A. Gupta - R. Robson

CORUS 2010: Standings after Round 12

GROUP A



GROUP B




GROUP C

CORUS 2010: Round 12 Results


The A Group leader and world #1, GM Magnus Carlsen, with 8.0/12 (photo by: Nadja Woisin)



Anand beats Kramnik, Carlsen leads

Vishy Anand drew the first nine games of this event, and was to be found in the bottom half of the field. Today the World Champion beat his 2008 challenger Vladimir Kramnik, and after a win in round ten he is now in place four. After a draw against Peter Leko Magnus Carlsen lead alone, half a point ahead of Kramnik and Shirov. The final round games begin an hour earlier today.


GROUP A - Round 12
V. Anand - V. Kramnik 1-0
S. Karjakin - A. Shirov ½-½
L. Dominguez - V. Ivanchuk ½-½
P. Leko - M. Carlsen ½-½
F. Caruana - H. Nakamura ½-½
S. Tiviakov - N. Short ½-½
J. Smeets - L. van Wely 1-0


GROUP B - Round 12
E. l'Ami - D. Reinderman ½-½
Ni - L. Nisipeanu ½-½
E. Sutovsky - P. Harikrishna ½-½
T. Nyback - P. Negi 1-0
A. Giri - V. Akobian ½-½
D. Howell - W. So ½-½
A. Muzychuk - A. Naiditsch 0-1


GROUP C - Round 12
S. Swaminathan - A. Gupta 0-1
R. Robson - N. Grandelius ½-½
R. Swinkels - K. Lie ½-½
M. Muzychuk - R. van Kampen 1-0
S. Kuipers - L. Chao ½-½
Z. Peng - S. Plukkel 0-1
B. Bok - D. Vocaturo 1-0

CORUS 2010: Round 12 Pairings


British Champion David Howell with 5.5/11, 8th position in Group B (photo by: Nadja Woisin)


GROUP A - Round 12
V. Anand - V. Kramnik
S. Karjakin - A. Shirov
L. Dominguez - V. Ivanchuk
P. Leko - M. Carlsen
F. Caruana - H. Nakamura
S. Tiviakov - N. Short
J. Smeets - L. van Wely


GROUP B - Round 12
E. l'Ami - D. Reinderman
H. Ni - L. Nisipeanu
E. Sutovsky - P. Harikrishna
T. Nyback - P. Negi
A. Giri - V. Akobian
D. Howell - W. So
A. Muzychuk - A. Naiditsch


GROUP C - Round 12
S. Swaminathan - A. Gupta
R. Robson - N. Grandelius
R. Swinkels - K. Lie
M. Muzychuk - R. van Kampen
S. Kuipers - L. Chao
Z. Peng - S. Plukkel
B. Bok - D. Vocaturo

CORUS 2010: Standings after Round 11

GROUP A



GROUP B




GROUP C

CORUS 2010: Round 11 Results


GM Li Chao, CHN, 2604, 8.5/11 is now in the sole lead in Group C


Carlsen wins again, catches Kramnik

Vladimir Kramnik was in a bit of trouble with his Petroff against Alexei Shirov, but his defences held. Meanwhile his main rival in this tournament, Magnus Carlsen, kept up the pressure and his opponent Leinier Dominguez cracked in time trouble. With that he caught up with Kramnik on the scoreboard. Carlsen's trainer Garry Kasparov showed us some lines in a previous game.


GROUP A - Round 11
J. Smeets - V. Anand ½-½
L. van Wely - S. Tiviakov 1-0
N. Short - F. Caruana ½-½
H. Nakamura - P. Leko ½-½
M. Carlsen - L. Dominguez 1-0
V. Ivanchuk - S. Karjakin ½-½
A. Shirov - V. Kramnik ½-½


GROUP B - Round 11
A. Muzychuk - E. l'Ami ½-½
A. Naiditsch - D. Howell ½-½
W. So - A. Giri 0-1
V. Akobian - T. Nyback ½-½
P. Negi - E. Sutovsky ½-½
P. Harikrishna - Ni ½-½
L. Nisipeanu - D. Reinderman ½-½


GROUP C - Round 11
B. Bok - S. Swaminathan 1-0
D. Vocaturo - Z. Peng 1-0
S. Plukkel - S. Kuipers 0-1
L. Chao - M. Muzychuk 1-0
R. van Kampen - R. Swinkels 1-0
K. Lie - R. Robson 0-1
N. Grandelius - A. Gupta 0-1

Another chess prodigy (Part 6): Parimarjan Negi




Parimarjan Negi, one of the well-known prodigies, at the age of 13 years, 4 months, and 22 days became the youngest Indian to earn the Grandmaster title. He broke the previous record of Pentala Harikrishna (GM at 15), who broke Viswanathan Anand's (GM at 18). And he is also the second youngest Grandmaster ever (second only to Sergey Karjakin, who achieved this feat at the age of 12 years and 7 months, however, holds the World's Youngest GM title), beat Magnus Carlsen record by becoming the second-youngest person in history to complete all the requirements for the grandmaster title by a five-day margin. In a mere six months span, he made three GM norms. The first one in Hastings, January 2006; the second just a couple of weeks later in the same month at the Parsvnath International Open in his hometown, Delhi; and the final norm in July the same year at the Chelyabinsk Region Superfinal Championship at Satka in Russia. And as per January 2010, he is at his rating peak, 2621.

Personal life
Born on 9 February 1993, in Uttaranchal. At a very early age, the family shifted its base to Delhi. His father is an Air Traffic Controller while his mom is an executive in Life Insurance Corporation of India. Parimarjan Negi started learning chess before he was 5 years of age when his father's friend taught him the basics of chess. Parimarjan is a student at the Amity International School (Saket) in Delhi. He is one of the toppers in his class and in spite of his long absences, he passes his exams with excellent results and is able to strike a balance between chess and studies.

Achievements
In 2002, Negi registered his maiden international success, when he won the Asian championship at Tehran and Commonwealth Championship 2003, both in the under-10 category. He awarded as "Best Sub Junior Award" in 37th Biel International Chess Festival 2004. In July 2005, he scored his third and final IM norm at the international Open in Sort, Spain, which made him the world's youngest International Master in chess. While in 2006, he made his biggest achievement by becoming a second-youngest Grandmaster in the world. Joint champion in the ‘World Youth Stars’ tournament held at Kirishi, Russia and ranked fourth in Corus Grandmaster group ‘C’ tournament in Netherlands in 2007. In January 2008 he got second position in Corus Chess Tournament “Grandmaster Group C”. In the same year, Negi marked his improvement with joint first place at the Kaupthing Open in Luxembourg and clear first at the Philadelphia Open. He was runner-up behind Abhijeet Gupta in the World Junior Championship 2008 in Turkey with 9.5/13. In year 2009, he won the Malaysian Open Chess Championship Malaysia and Politiken Cup in Copenhegan, Denmark. He was qualified for the 2009 World Cup in Khanty Mansisyk, Russia from “Asian Continental Chess Championship 2009” but knocked out at round 1 by Swiss Vadim Milov 1½-3½. In the recent Asian Team Chess Championship which held in Kolkata, India, December 2009, he got the best 4th board prize while his team won the tournament. And now Parimarjan is struggling in Corus Group B and is at 6th placed with 5,5/10 from 13 games will be played.

CORUS 2010: Round 11 Pairings


Sergey Tiviakov, who at 4.0/10 is playing approximately in sync with his rating


The 11th round will be played at Friday the 29th

GROUP A - Round 11
J. Smeets - V. Anand
L. van Wely - S. Tiviakov
N. Short - F. Caruana
H. Nakamura - P. Leko
M. Carlsen - L. Dominguez
V. Ivanchuk - S. Karjakin
A. Shirov - V. Kramnik


GROUP B - Round 11
A. Muzychuk - E. l'Ami
A. Naiditsch - D. Howell
W. So - A. Giri
V. Akobian - T. Nyback
P. Negi - E. Sutovsky
P. Harikrishna - H. Ni
L. Nisipeanu - D. Reinderman


GROUP C - Round 11
B. Bok - S. Swaminathan
D. Vocaturo - Z. Peng
S. Plukkel - S. Kuipers
L. Chao - M. Muzychuk
R. van Kampen - R. Swinkels
K. Lie - R. Robson
N. Grandelius - A. Gupta

CORUS 2010: Standings after Round 10

GROUP A



GROUP B



GROUP C

CORUS 2010: Round 10 Results


In Group C Ray Robson lost for a second time in a row, in a round where all games were decided (and Black won four games)


Anand and Carlsen win, Kramnik leads

We had to wait ten rounds for this: World Champion Vishy Anand won his first game, with a little help from opponent Alexei Shirov. Magnus Carlsen surprised everyone in the world by playing the French Defence for the first time in a tournament game – and won it against his permanent rival Sergey Karjakin. Vladimir Kramnik drew and is in the sole lead



GROUP A - Round 10
V. Anand - A. Shirov 1-0
V. Kramnik - V. Ivanchuk ½-½
S. Karjakin - M. Carlsen 0-1
L. Dominguez - H. Nakamura ½-½
P. Leko - N. Short ½-½
F. Caruana - L. van Wely ½-½
S. Tiviakov - J. Smeets 1-0


GROUP B - Round 10
E. l'Ami - L. Nisipeanu ½-½
D. Reinderman - P. Harikrishna 1-0
H. Ni - P. Negi ½-½
E. Sutovsky - V. Akobian ½-½
T. Nyback - W. So 0-1
A. Giri - A. Naiditsch ½-½
D. Howell - A. Muzychuk ½-½


GROUP C - Round 10
S. Swaminathan - N. Grandelius ½-½
A. Gupta - K. Lie 1-0
R. Robson - R. van Kampen 1-0
R. Swinkels - L. Chao 0-1
M. Muzychuk - S. Plukkel 1-0
S. Kuipers - D. Vocaturo 1-0
Z. Peng - B. Bok 0-1

CORUS 2010: Round 10 Pairings


Hikaru Nakamura has slipped to fifth place, with 5.0/9 (photo by: Nadja Woisin)


GROUP A - Round 10
V. Anand - A. Shirov
V. Kramnik - V. Ivanchuk
S. Karjakin - M. Carlsen
L. Dominguez - H. Nakamura
P. Leko - N. Short
F. Caruana - L. van Wely
S. Tiviakov - J. Smeets


GROUP B - Round 10
E. l'Ami - L. Nisipeanu
D. Reinderman - P. Harikrishna
H. Ni - P. Negi
E. Sutovsky - V. Akobian
T. Nyback - W. So
A. Giri - A. Naiditsch
D. Howell - A. Muzychuk


GROUP C - Round 10
S. Swaminathan - N. Grandelius
A. Gupta - K. Lie
R. Robson - R. van Kampen
R. Swinkels - L. Chao
M. Muzychuk - S. Plukkel
S. Kuipers - D. Vocaturo
Z. Peng - B. Bok

CORUS 2010: Standings after Round 9

GROUP A



GROUP B



GROUP C

CORUS 2010: Round 9 Results


Top seed Magnus Carlsen, 19, in third place with 5.5/9 (photo by: Nadja Woisin)


Kramnik beats Carlsen, leads with Shirov


It was a fateful day – in all three groups. Vladimir Kramnik beat Magnus Carlsen after the latter blundered in terrible time trouble. Smeets, van Wely and Karjakin won their games, against Caruana, Leko and Short. In Group B Anish Giri suffered his first loss against Anna Muzychuk, while Ray Robson also dropped the full point against his main rival Li Chao.


GROUP A - Round 9
S. Tiviakov - V. Anand ½-½
J. Smeets - F. Caruana 1-0
L. van Wely - P. Leko 1-0
N. Short - L. Dominguez ½-½
H. Nakamura - S. Karjakin 0-1
M. Carlsen - V. Kramnik 0-1
V. Ivanchuk - A. Shirov ½-½


GROUP B - Round 9
D. Howell - E. l'Ami 0-1
A. Muzychuk - A. Giri 1-0
A. Naiditsch - T. Nyback 1-0
W. So - E. Sutovsky ½-½
V. Akobian - H. Ni 0-1
P. Negi - D. Reinderman 1-0
P. Harikrishna - L. Nisipeanu ½-½


GROUP C - Round 9
Z. Peng - S. Swaminathan ½-½
B. Bok - S. Kuipers 1-0
D. Vocaturo - M. Muzychuk 1-0
S. Plukkel - R. Swinkels 0-1
L. Chao - R. Robson 1-0
R. van Kampen - A. Gupta 1-0
K. Lie - N. Grandelius 0-1

Another chess prodigy (Part 5): Wesley So




Wesley So is a Filipino chess grandmaster. He achieved the GM title at the age of 14 years, 1 month and 28 days, making him the 7th youngest person to achieve the Grandmaster title in the history of chess.

Wesley So was born in Bacoor, Cavite on October 9, 1993. He was aged 6 when his father taught him to play chess and was 9 when he started to compete in junior active chess tournaments. In 2006, Wesley So became the youngest member of the national men's team to participate at the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy at the age of 12. In December of the same year, he also became the youngest National Open Chess Champion. In May 2007, he went on to become the youngest National Junior Open Chess Champion. Wesley won the gold medal on board one at the 2007 World Under 16 Team Championship with a score of 9½/10. He achieved his third and final Grandmaster norm on December 8, 2007 at the third Pichay Cup International Open (Manila, Philippines), thus becoming the youngest Filipino Grandmaster at the age of 14. He also became the seventh youngest to achieve the Grandmaster title in the history of chess, edging out French GM Etienne Bacrot from that spot by a few days. So got his first GM norm in the Offene Internationale Bayerische Schach Meisterschaft in Bad Wiessee, Germany and his second GM norm in the 2007 U-20 World Junior Chess Championship in Yerevan, Armenia. Since December 2007, Wesley So has been considered to be the world's youngest Grandmaster at the age of fourteen. On the January 2009 FIDE rating list, GM So's ELO rating is 2627 making him the highest ranked chess player in the Philippines ahead of other notable Filipino Grandmasters such as Mark Paragua, Rogelio Antonio, Jr. and Eugenio Torre (who is second with 2560 ELO rating). The latest ratings put Wesley So on the 9th spot of the world top 20 juniors list. He won and is currently the Corus Group C 2009 champion besting his nearest rival by 1 point. Clinched his ticket to the prestigious World Cup by placing 2nd during Zone 3.3 Chess Championship which was held on 23-29th July 2009 in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. In November-December at the 2009 Chess World Cup he defeated Gadir Guseinov and had shocking victories over former world championship contenders Vassily Ivanchuk (ELO 2739) and Gata Kamsky (ELO 2695) before being knocked out by Vladimir Malakhov in Round Four.

He is now playing in Corus B and scored 5 out of 8 with 2 wins and 6 draws. There are still 5 more rounds to play, we wait for good news from The Whizkid

CORUS 2010: Round 9 Pairings


Vladimir Kramnik now in second-third place, with 5.5/8 and a 2823 performance (photo by: Nadja Woisin)

The 9th round will be played at Tuesday the 26th

GROUP A - Round 9
S. Tiviakov - V. Anand
J. Smeets - F. Caruana
L. van Wely - P. Leko
N. Short - L. Dominguez
H. Nakamura - S. Karjakin
M. Carlsen - V. Kramnik
V. Ivanchuk - A. Shirov


GROUP B - Round 9
D. Howell - E. l'Ami
A. Muzychuk - A. Giri
A. Naiditsch - T. Nyback
W. So - E. Sutovsky
V. Akobian - H. Ni
P. Negi - D. Reinderman
P. Harikrishna - L. Nisipeanu


GROUP C - Round 9
Z. Peng - S. Swaminathan
B. Bok - S. Kuipers
D. Vocaturo - M. Muzychuk
S. Plukkel - R. Swinkels
L. Chao - R. Robson
R. van Kampen - A. Gupta
K. Lie - N. Grandelius

CORUS 2010: Standings after Round 8

GROUP A



GROUP B



GROUP C

CORUS 2010: Round 8 Results


Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez Perez, with 4.5/8 points and a 2752 performance (photo by: Nadja Woisin)


GROUP A - Round 8
V. Anand - V. Ivanchuk ½-½
A. Shirov - M. Carlsen ½-½
V. Kramnik - H. Nakamura 1-0
S. Karjakin - N. Short 1-0
L. Dominguez - L. van Wely ½-½
P. Leko - J. Smeets 1-0
F. Caruana - S. Tiviakov 1-0


GROUP B - Round 8
E. l'Ami - P. Harikrishna ½-½
L. Nisipeanu - P. Negi ½-½
D. Reinderman - V. Akobian 1-0
H. Ni - W. So ½-½
E. Sutovsky - A. Naiditsch ½-½
T. Nyback - A. Muzychuk ½-½
A. Giri - D. Howell 1-0


GROUP C - Round 8
S. Swaminathan - K. Lie ½-½
N. Grandelius - R. van Kampen 1-0
A. Gupta - L. Chao ½-½
R. Robson - S. Plukkel ½-½
R. Swinkels - D. Vocaturo ½-½
M. Muzychuk - B. Bok ½-½
S. Kuipers - Z. Peng 0-1

CORUS 2010: Round 8 Pairings


Sergey Karjakin, like World Champion Anand, has drawn all seven games so far (photo by: Nadja Woisin)


GROUP A - Round 8
V. Anand - V. Ivanchuk
A. Shirov - M. Carlsen
V. Kramnik - H. Nakamura
S. Karjakin - N. Short
L. Dominguez - L. van Wely
P. Leko - J. Smeets
F. Caruana - S. Tiviakov


GROUP B - Round 8
E. l'Ami - P. Harikrishna
L. Nisipeanu - P. Negi
D. Reinderman - V. Akobian
H. Ni - W. So
E. Sutovsky - A. Naiditsch
T. Nyback - A. Muzychuk
A. Giri - D. Howell


GROUP C - Round 8
S. Swaminathan - K. Lie
N. Grandelius - R. van Kampen
A. Gupta - L. Chao
R. Robson - S. Plukkel
R. Swinkels - D. Vocaturo
M. Muzychuk - B. Bok
S. Kuipers - Z. Peng

CORUS 2010: Standings after Round 7

GROUP A



GROUP B



GROUP C

CORUS 2010: Round 7 Results


(photo by: Nadja Woisin)


Nakamura beats Shirov, Carlsen beats Ivanchuk

Detractors had pointed out that Alexei Shirov's blistering 5.0/5 start was achieved without playing any of the tournament favourites. Today the Latvian GM encountered one, Hikaru Nakamura – and dropped the full point. Magnus Carlsen scored his third win, against Vassily Ivanchuk, who self-destructed on move eight. Nigel Short came tantalizing close to beating Vladimir Kramnik.


GROUP A - Round 7
F. Caruana - V. Anand ½-½
S. Tiviakov - P. Leko ½-½
J. Smeets - L. Dominguez ½-½
L. van Wely - S. Karjakin ½-½
N. Short - V. Kramnik ½-½
H. Nakamura - A. Shirov 1-0
M. Carlsen - V. Ivanchuk 1-0


GROUP B - Round 7
A. Giri - E. l'Ami ½-½
D. Howell - T. Nyback 1-0
A. Muzychuk - E. Sutovsky ½-½
A. Naiditsch - Ni ½-½
W. So - D. Reinderman 1-0
V. Akobian - L. Nisipeanu ½-½
P. Negi - P. Harikrishna ½-½


GROUP A - Round 7
S. Kuipers - S. Swaminathan ½-½
Z. Peng - M. Muzychuk ½-½
B. Bok - R. Swinkels 0-1
D. Vocaturo - R. Robson 1-0
S. Plukkel - A. Gupta 0-1
L. Chao - N. Grandelius 0-1
R. van Kampen - K. Lie ½-½



Another chess prodigy (Part 4): Fabiano Caruana


(photo by: Fred Lucas)


Fabiano Caruana is an American-Italien chess grandmaster and achieved his first and second GM-Norms in March and April 2007 and his last GM Norm in July 2007 at the First Saturday-Tournament in Budapest aged just 14 years, 11 months and 20 days and became one of the youngest grandmasters of all times. He is now at his rating peak, with even more points to arrive from events yet to register. His rating rose over 600 ELO points in a span of 6 years or so!

Caruana was born in Miami, Florida on 30th July 1992. His family moved to Brooklyn, New York on 1996 and his parents signed him at chess club because young first-grader just couldn't sit still. Up to the age of twelve, he lived and played in the United States, with occasional travel to European and South American tournaments and at age 12 he relocated with his family from Park Slope, Brooklyn to Madrid, Spain to pursue chess in a more serious manner. He trained first with International Master Boris Zlotnik in Madrid, and later with Grandmaster Alexander Chernin (his current trainer) in Budapest.

Caruana, possessing dual citizenship of both the United States and Italy, has the option of FIDE affiliation with either country. On 11 October 2005, after living in Europe for 10 months, he transferred his affiliation from the United States (USA) to Italy (ITA). At the end of 2007 he participated in the Italian Championship. The prior year he became sub-championship of Italy by tieing with Michele Godena but losing the 5th rapid play-off game. This year he won with a score of +8 (9.5/11) to become the youngest ever Italian champion. In year 2008 was his first experience at Corus and throughout much of the tournament he was the clear leader. His last round opponent was Parimarjan Negi, and Caruana needed 1/2 point to win the tournament. Caruana won the game and the tournament with a final score of +7 (10/13) and performance of 2696. In the same year in Italian Championship, Caruana successfully defended his title winning the title for the second consecutive year with a score of +5 (8/11). Having won Corus C 2008, Caruana received and accepted invitation to Corus B 2009 which was of category 16 with average Elo of 2641. Throughout the tournament his standings ranged from first to third place. Going into the last round he was tied for second and his opponent was Nigel Short who was in clear first. Caruana won the game and performance of 2751. Caruana is the first player ever to win both Corus C and Corus B in consecutive years placing clear first in both. This year's Corus, he moves up to the strongest group. Shall he win the Corus A 2010 in order to continue his triumph streak? We'll see....

CORUS 2010: Round 7 Pairings


Anish Giri discusses his game in the press center


GROUP A - Round 7
F. Caruana - V. Anand
S. Tiviakov - P. Leko
J. Smeets - L. Dominguez
L. van Wely - S. Karjakin
N. Short - V. Kramnik
H. Nakamura - A. Shirov
M. Carlsen - V. Ivanchuk


GROUP B - Round 7
A. Giri - E. l'Ami
D. Howell - T. Nyback
A. Muzychuk - E. Sutovsky
A. Naiditsch - H. Ni
W. So - D. Reinderman
V. Akobian - L. Nisipeanu
P. Negi - P. Harikrishna


GROUP C - Round 7
S. Kuipers - S. Swaminathan
Z. Peng - M. Muzychuk
B. Bok - R. Swinkels
D. Vocaturo - R. Robson
S. Plukkel - A. Gupta
L. Chao - N. Grandelius
R. van Kampen - K. Lie

CORUS 2010: Standings after Round 6

GROUP A



GROUP B



GROUP C