Philippine GM Wesley So, 16, with five drawn games in eighth place
A fifth consecutive win, with the black pieces against Loek van Wely, put Alexei Shirov a point and a half ahead of the field. Vladimir Kramnik scored his first victory in this tournament, while World Champion Vishy Anand is stuck at 50%. In Group B 15-year-old GM Anish Giri leads, as does 15-year-old GM Ray Robson in Group C.
GROUP A - Round 5
P. Leko - V. Anand ½-½
F. Caruana - L. Dominguez ½-½
S. Tiviakov - S. Karjakin ½-½
J. Smeets - V. Kramnik 0-1
L. van Wely - A. Shirov 0-1
N. Short - V. Ivanchuk ½-½
H. Nakamura - M. Carlsen ½-½
GROUP B - Round 5
T. Nyback - E. l'Ami ½-½
A. Giri - E. Sutovsky 1-0
D. Howell - H. Ni 1-0
A. Muzychuk - D. Reinderman ½-½
A. Naiditsch - L. Nisipeanu 1-0
W. So - P. Harikrishna ½-½
V. Akobian - P. Negi 0-1
GROUP C - Round 5
M. Muzychuk - S. Swaminathan 1-0
S. Kuipers - R. Swinkels ½-½
Z. Peng - R. Robson 0-1
B. Bok - A. Gupta ½-½
D. Vocaturo - N. Grandelius 1-0
S. Plukkel - K. Lie ½-½
L. Chao - R. van Kampen ½-½
CORUS 2010: Round 5 Results
Another chess prodigy (Part 3): Sergey Karjakin
Who doesn't know him?
Everyone knows that...
He was a chess prodigy and holds the record for the youngest grandmaster in history, achieving the title at the age of twelve years and seven months.
Born on January 12th, 1990 in Simferopol, Ukraine, but on July 25th 2009, Karjakin adopted Russian citizenship. In the January FIDE rating list, he appeared as a Russian and has been living in Moscow lately. Karjakin learned to play chess when he was five years old and became an IM at age eleven. In 2001, he won the World Chess U12 championship. Sergey’s name became known when in 2002, before he was 12 years old, and before he made his GM title, when Ponomariov appointed him as his second for the FIDE world championships match with Ivanchuk. At age fourteen he defeated the reigning world champion, Vladimir Kramnik, during the 2004 Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, in a blitz game (ten minutes for the entire game, plus five seconds per move). Karjakin entered the world's top 100 in the April 2005 FIDE list, where he was number 64 in the world with an Elo rating of 2635. During the Chess World Cup 2007, which served as a qualification tournament for the World Chess Championship 2009, Karjakin reached the semi-finals, in which he lost to Alexei Shirov. On the January 2008 FIDE rating list, published just before Karjakin's eighteenth birthday, he passed for the first time the 2700 mark, often seen as the line that separates "elite" players from other grandmasters, with a new rating of 2732 and a world rank of 13. In the world cup in Khanty Mansisyk, December 2009, Karjakin made his way till the semi final games, but as it was in 2007, he was knocked out at this very point: this time he lost to Boris Gelfand from Israel: 0-2. And right at this moment, he is struggling to defend his title as the champion of the Group A of Corus Wijk aan Zee that he won in 2009. His current rating is 2720.
A little about his personal life: On July 24th he married twenty-year-old Ukrainian WIM Kateryna Dolzhikova, rated 2272, at the Central Registry in Kiev. This was followed by a ceremony at the St. George Church in Kiev, with two dozen members of their family and closest friends were present.
Mr. Explosive: Alexei Shirov
The leader by a full point: Alexei Shirov with 4.0/4 and a performance so far of 3483 (photo by: Fred Lucas)
There’s no stopping Alexei Shirov in the 2010 edition of the annual Corus Chess Tournament. So far, he crushed every opponent he came across on his way to the top of the standings in the FIDE-category-XIX main event at the “De Moriaan” community centre in this wind- and rain-swept resort village on the Dutch North Sea coast. His latest victim was Holland’s Jan Smeets, who went down in 37 moves with black from what started as a rather boring Petroff in Tuesday’s fourth round.
“Somehow, I usually lose when I play the Petroff,” Shirov told a packed news conference after picking up yet another full point, “regardless of whether I’m black or white.” This Petroff went the way of most Petroffs, remaining well or almost balanced -even after Shirov sacrificed a bishop for two pawns- until he decided “to kind of bluff.”
Smeets said he felt “bamboozled.” After being “quite satisfied with myself as late as six moves before the end. One move on, I messed up things and after one more I guess I’d blotted my book beyond repair.”
GM Ivan Sokolov declared Shirov’s performance “the best game of the day,” awarding the naturalized Spaniard from Latvia his third ‘IJmond Veelzijdig’ (‘Ymouth Versatile’) prize of € 500.
See full article
CORUS 2010: Round 5 Pairings
Viswanathan Anand scored his fourth consecutive draw (photo by: Fred Lucas)
The 5th round will be played on Thursday 21st.
GROUP A - Round 5
P. Leko - V. Anand
F. Caruana - L. Dominguez
S. Tiviakov - S. Karjakin
J. Smeets - V. Kramnik
L. van Wely - A. Shirov
N. Short - V. Ivanchuk
H. Nakamura - M. Carlsen
GROUP B - Round 5
T. Nyback - E. l'Ami
A. Giri - E. Sutovsky
D. Howell - H. Ni
A. Muzychuk - D. Reinderman
A. Naiditsch - L. Nisipeanu
W. So - P. Harikrishna
V. Akobian - P. Negi
GROUP C - Round 5
M. Muzychuk - S. Swaminathan
S. Kuipers - R. Swinkels
Z. Peng - R. Robson
B. Bok - A. Gupta
D. Vocaturo - N. Grandelius
S. Plukkel - K. Lie
L. Chao - R. van Kampen
CORUS 2010: Round 4 Results
US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura (photo by: Fred Lucas)
GROUP A - Round 4
V. Anand - H. Nakamura ½-½
M. Carlsen - N. Short ½-½
V. Ivanchuk - L. van Wely 1-0
A. Shirov - J. Smeets 1-0
V. Kramnik - S. Tiviakov ½-½
S. Karjakin - F. Caruana ½-½
L. Dominguez - P. Leko ½-½
GROUP B - Round 4
E. l'Ami - V. Akobian 1-0
P. Negi - W. So ½-½
P. Harikrishna - A. Naiditsch 1-0
L. Nisipeanu - A. Muzychuk ½-½
D. Reinderman - D. Howell 0-1
H. Ni - A. Giri ½-½
E. Sutovsky - T. Nyback 0-1
GROUP C - Round 4
S. Swaminathan - L. Chao 0-1
R. van Kampen - S. Plukkel 1-0
K. Lie - D. Vocaturo 1-0
N. Grandelius - B. Bok 0-1
A. Gupta - Z. Peng ½-½
R. Robson - S. Kuipers 1-0
R. Swinkels - M. Muzychuk 1-0
CORUS 2010: Round 4 Pairings
Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk scored his first full point in round three (photo by: Fred Lucas)
GROUP A - Round 4
V. Anand - H. Nakamura
M. Carlsen - N. Short
V. Ivanchuk - L. van Wely
A. Shirov - J. Smeets
V. Kramnik - S. Tiviakov
S. Karjakin - F. Caruana
L. Dominguez - P. Leko
GROUP B - Round 4
E. l'Ami - V. Akobian
P. Negi - W. So
P. Harikrishna - A. Naiditsch
L. Nisipeanu - A. Muzychuk
D. Reinderman - D. Howell
H. Ni - A. Giri
E. Sutovsky - T. Nyback
GROUP C - Round 4
S. Swaminathan - L. Chao
R. van Kampen - S. Plukkel
K. Lie - D. Vocaturo
N. Grandelius - B. Bok
A. Gupta - Z. Peng
R. Robson - S. Kuipers
R. Swinkels - M. Muzychuk
CORUS 2010: Round 3 Results
Shirov strikes again (photo by: Fred Lucas)
GROUP A - Round 3
L. Dominguez - V. Anand ½-½
P. Leko - S. Karjakin ½-½
F. Caruana - V. Kramnik ½-½
S. Tiviakov - A. Shirov 0-1
J. Smeets - V. Ivanchuk 0-1
L. van Wely - M. Carlsen 0-1
N. Short - H. Nakamura 0-1
GROUP B - Round 3
E. Sutovsky - E. l'Ami ½-½
T. Nyback - H. Ni 0-1
A. Giri - D. Reinderman ½-½
D. Howell - L. Nisipeanu ½-½
A. Muzychuk - P. Harikrishna 0-1
A. Naiditsch - P. Negi ½-½
W. So - V. Akobian ½-½
GROUP C - Round 3
R. Swinkels - S. Swaminathan 1-0
M. Muzychuk - R. Robson ½-½
S. Kuipers - A. Gupta 0-1
Z. Peng - N. Grandelius ½-½
B. Bok - K. Lie 0-1
D. Vocaturo - R. van Kampen 1-0
S. Plukkel - L. Chao 0-1
Another chess prodigy (Part 2): Ray Robson
If in Group B there is Anish Giri, in Group C we have Ray Robson (born October 28, 1994), the latest Grandmaster from the United States. He earned his third and final GM norm in October 2009 by winning the Pan-American Junior Championship in Montevideo, Uruguay, making him a GM-elect. He was formally awarded the title in January 2010. Other norms were gained in August 2009 where Robson tied for first at the Arctic Chess Challenge in Tromso, Norway, garnering his first GM norm in the process. Later that same month, Robson then went on to earn his second GM norm by winning the 23rd North American FIDE Invitational in Skokie, Illinois.
With winning the final GM norm Robson becomes one of the youngest GMs in the history of chess. Here is the records list for the whole world.
1. Sergey Karjakin 12 years, 7 months, 0 days
2. Parimarjan Negi 13 years, 4 months, 22 days
3. Magnus Carlsen 13 years, 4 months, 27 days
4. Bu Xiangzhi 13 years, 10 months, 13 days
5. Teimour Radjabov 14 years, 0 months, 14 days
6. Ruslan Ponomariov 14 years, 0 months, 17 days
7. Wesley So 14 years, 1 month, 28 days
8. Etienne Bacrot 14 years, 2 months, 0 days
9. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 14 years, 4 months
10. Péter Lékó 14 years, 4 months, 22 days
11. Hou Yifan 14 years, 6 months, 16 days
12. Anish Giri 14 years, 7 months, 2 days
13. Yuriy Kuzubov 14 years, 7 months, 12 days
14. Dariusz Swiercz 14 years, 7 months, 29 days
15. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son 14 years, 10 months, 0 days
16. Fabiano Caruana 14 years, 11 months, 15 days
17. Ray Robson 14 years, 11 months, 16 days
18. Koneru Humpy 15 years, 1 month, 27 days
19. Hikaru Nakamura 15 years, 2 months, 19 days
20. Pentala Harikrishna 15 years, 3 months, 5 days
So far in the Corus 2010, he scored 2 points out of 2 and led alone in Group C with a difference half a point. In the second round, he defeated the host player, Robin Swinkels, and won the 100-euro daily prize as the best game in Group C.
CORUS 2010: Round 3 Pairings
(photo by: Fred Lucas)
GROUP A - Round 3
L. Dominguez - V. Anand
P. Leko - S. Karjakin
F. Caruana - V. Kramnik
S. Tiviakov - A. Shirov
J. Smeets - V. Ivanchuk
L. van Wely - M. Carlsen
N. Short - H. Nakamura
GROUP B - Round 3
E. Sutovsky - E. l'Ami
T. Nyback - H. Ni
A. Giri - D. Reinderman
D. Howell - L. Nisipeanu
A. Muzychuk - P. Harikrishna
A. Naiditsch - P. Negi
W. So - V. Akobian
GROUP C - Round 3
R. Swinkels - S. Swaminathan
M. Muzychuk - R. Robson
S. Kuipers - A. Gupta
Z. Peng - N. Grandelius
B. Bok - K. Lie
D. Vocaturo - R. van Kampen
S. Plukkel - L. Chao
CORUS 2010: Round 2 Results
Shirov has won again and is now leading the A Group (photo by: Fred Lucas)
GROUP A - Round 2
V. Anand - N. Short ½-½
H. Nakamura - L. van Wely 1-0
M. Carlsen - J. Smeets 1-0
V. Ivanchuk - S. Tiviakov ½-½
A. Shirov - F. Caruana 1-0
V. Kramnik - P. Leko ½-½
S. Karjakin - L. Dominguez ½-½
GROUP B - Round 2
E. l'Ami - W. So ½-½
V. Akobian - A. Naiditsch 0-1
P. Negi - A. Muzychuk ½-½
P. Harikrishna - D. Howell ½-½
L. Nisipeanu - A. Giri 0-1
D. Reinderman - T. Nyback= 0-1
H. Ni - E. Sutovsky 1-0
GROUP C - Round 2
S. Swaminathan - S. Plukkel ½-½
L. Chao - D. Vocaturo ½-½
R. van Kampen - B. Bok ½-½
K. Lie - Z. Peng 0-1
N. Grandelius - S. Kuipers 0-1
A. Gupta - M. Muzychuk ½-½
R. Robson - R. Swinkels 1-0
CORUS 2010: Round 2 Pairings
Round 1: Leko vs Shirov 0-1 (photo by: Fred Lucas)
GROUP A - Round 2
V. Anand - N. Short
H. Nakamura - L. van Wely
M. Carlsen - J. Smeets
V. Ivanchuk - S. Tiviakov
A. Shirov - F. Caruana
V. Kramnik - P. Leko
S. Karjakin - L. Dominguez
GROUP B - Round 2
E. l'Ami - W. So
V. Akobian - A. Naiditsch
P. Negi - A. Muzychuk
P. Harikrishna - D. Howell
L. Nisipeanu - A. Giri
D. Reinderman - T. Nyback
H. Ni - E. Sutovsky
GROUP C - Round 2
S. Swaminathan - S. Plukkel
L. Chao - D. Vocaturo
R. van Kampen - B. Bok
K. Lie - Z. Peng
N. Grandelius - S. Kuipers
A. Gupta - M. Muzychuk
R. Robson - R. Swinkels
Another chess prodigy: Anish Giri
Who is Anish Giri?
He is one of the chess prodigies and world's youngest Grandmaster as of February 2009. At the age of 14, 7 months, and 2 days he completed his final GM norm in Corus C 2009, Wijk aan Zee, after beating Venezuelan GM Eduardo Iturrizaga. He is the youngest ever Grandmaster in the chess history of Soviet Union/Russia and Netherlands (when he achieved his third GM norm, he was affiliated with Russian Chess Federation; currently he is affiliated with Dutch Chess Federation). His current rating now is 2588.
He was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 28 June 1994. Son of a Nepalese father (Dr. Sanjay Giri) and a Russian mother (Olga Giri). He moved to Japan in 2002 with his parents. He was a member of Japan Chess Association and Sapporo Chess Club during his stay in Japan. He became Russian champion (U12) while he was living in Japan. In August 2007, he returned to St. Petersburg with his family. Since February 2008, Anish and his family have been residing in Netherlands.
Now he is playing in Group B in Corus 2010. In the first round he defeated GM Pentala Harikrishna of India (2672) in 55 moves with the white pieces in the Slav opening which is also the best game in group B, therefore Anish Giri awarded 250 euros. While the 500-euro prize in Group A was awarded to Alexey Shirov from Spain for his victory over Peter Leko. And in Group C, the 100-euro prize was given to Li Chao of China who won against the host Benjamin Bok.
CORUS 2010 : First Round Results
GM Loek Van Wely ----- GM Emil Sutovsky ------ GM Ray Robson
GROUP A - Round 1
S. Karjakin - V. Anand ½-½
L. Dominguez - V. Kramnik ½-½
P. Leko - A. Shirov 0-1
F. Caruana - V. Ivanchuk ½-½
S. Tiviakov - M. Carlsen ½-½
J. Smeets - H. Nakamura ½-½
L. van Wely - N. Short 1-0
GROUP B - Round 1
H. Ni - E. l'Ami ½-½
E. Sutovsky - D. Reinderman 1-0
T. Nyback - L. Nisipeanu 0-1
A. Giri - P. Harikrishna 1-0
D. Howell - P. Negi ½-½
A. Muzychuk - V. Akobian ½-½
A. Naiditsch - W. So ½-½
GROUP C - Round 1
R. Robson - S. Swaminathan 1-0
R. Swinkels - A. Gupta ½-½
M. Muzychuk - N. Grandelius 0-1
S. Kuipers - K. Lie ½-½
Z. Peng - R. van Kampen ½-½
B. Bok - L. Chao 0-1
D. Vocaturo - S. Plukkel 1-0
All games in PGN: GROUP A - GROUP B - GROUP C
http://www.chessbase.com/
CORUS 2010: Round 1 Pairings
Magnus Carlsen, the world #1, is top seeded in Corus 2010 (photo by: Fred Lucas)
Group A - Round 1
S. Karjakin - V. Anand
L. Dominguez - V. Kramnik
P. Leko - A. Shirov
F. Caruana - V. Ivanchuk
S. Tiviakov - M. Carlsen
J. Smeets - H. Nakamura
L. van Wely - N. Short
Group B - Round 1
H. Ni - E. l'Ami
E. Sutovsky - D. Reinderman
T. Nyback - L. Nisipeanu
A. Giri - P. Harikrishna
D. Howell - P. Negi
A. Muzychuk - V. Akobian
A. Naiditsch - W. So
Group C - Round 1
R. Robson - S. Swaminathan
R. Swinkels - A. Gupta
M. Muzychuk - N. Grandelius
S. Kuipers - K. Lie
Z. Peng - R. van Kampen
B. Bok - L. Chao
D. Vocaturo - S. Plukkel
The games start on Saturday 16th at 13:30 Royal Dutch time (you can translate this to your own time zone here).
Rate of play
For all three groups the rate of play is 40 moves in two hours, then 20 moves in one hour, followed by 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30 second increment per move.
CORUS WIJK AAN ZEE 2010
The 72nd Corus Chess tournament will be held from 15 January - 31 January 2010 in Wijk aan Zee, The Nederlands. The Corus Chess Tournament has three main tournaments. They are played according to the 'round robin' system, whereby each competitor plays in turn against every other during the tournament. All three Grandmaster groups have 14 players and start on January 16th. All rounds begin at 13.30 hours, except for the last round on January 31st, which begins at 12.30 hours. There are rest days: on January 20th, 25th, and 28th.
Participants Grandmaster group A:
GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR) 2810
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND) 2790
GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS) 2788
GM Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR) 2749
GM Peter Leko (HUN) 2739
GM Alexei Shirov (SPA) 2723
GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS) 2720
GM Leinier Dominguez (CUB) 2712
GM Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2708
GM Nigel Short (ENG) 2696
GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA) 2675
GM Sergey Tiviakov (NED) 2662
GM Jan Smeets (NED) 2657
GM Loek van Wely (NED) 2641
Average rating : 2719
Category : 19
FIDE-ratings of January 2010
Participants Grandmaster group B:
GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER) 2687
GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (ROM) 2681
GM Pentala Harikrishna (IND) 2672
GM Hua Ni (CHN) 2657
GM Emil Sutovsky (ISR) 2657
GM Wesley So (PHI) 2656
GM Tomi Nyback (FIN) 2643
GM Varuzhan Akobian (USA) 2628
GM Parimarjan Negi (IND) 2621
GM Erwin l'Ami (NED) 2615
GM David Howell (ENG) 2606
GM Anish Giri (NED) 2588
GM Dimitri Reinderman (NED) 2573
IM Anna Muzychuk (SLO) 2523
Average rating : 2629
Category : 16
FIDE-ratings of January 2010
Participants Grandmaster group C:
GM Li Chao (CHN) 2604
GM Abhijeet Gupta (IND) 2577
GM Ray Robson (USA) 2570
GM Kjetil Lie (NOR) 2547
IM Nils Grandelius (SWE) 2515
GM Robin Swinkels (NED) 2495
GM Daniele Vocaturo (ITA) 2495
IM Robin van Kampen (NED) 2456
IM Mariya Muzychuk (UKR) 2447
GM Zhaoqin Peng (NED) 2402
FM Stefan Kuipers (NED) 2340
WGM Soumya Swaminathan (IND) 2323
FM Benjamin Bok (NED) 2322
Sjoerd Plukkel (NED) 2279
Average rating : 2455
Category : 9
FIDE-ratings of January 2010
Official site : http://www.coruschess.com/
Kamsky wins Reggio Emilia 2010
Almasi who had led until the eighth round, was forced to occupy the second position, after the defeat by Gata Kamsky in the 9th round (final round), who eventually became the champion in this tournament. Meanwhile, Fabiano Caruana confirmed to be the third after beating German Grandmaster Landa Konstantin.
Kamsky receiving a trophy for his first place
Of the 45 games played in Reggio Emilia 21 were drawn = 47%. White won 14 games (= 31%) and Black nine games (= 22%).
It's official: Magnus Carlsen is number one!
31.12.2009 – FIDE has just released its January 1st 2010 rating list, and it has the 19-year-old Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen with 2810 in the number one slot, five points ahead of number two Veselin Topalov, and twenty points above World Champion Viswanathan Anand. Magnus is the youngest player to cross the 2800 mark and to top the world rankings. Congratulations!
FIDE January 2010 Rating List
Magnus Carlsen gained nine rating points in his last sixteen games to come in at 2810 Elo points and to occupy the number one slot in the world rankings. Below is this prodigy's rating progress in the last nine years.
In second place is Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov, who lost five points in four games (at the European Team Championships in Novi Sad), followed by World Champion Viswanathan Anand, who lost two points in nine games. Vladimir Kramnik is number four, having won a whopping sixteen points in sixteen games. Kramnik displaced Levon Aronian, who lost five points and is now in place five in the world rankings.
See full article : click here
www.chessbase.com
WISH YOU HAVE A GREAT 2010
If it didn't bring you joy
just leave it behind
Let's ring in the New Year
with good things in mind
Let every bad memory
that brought heartache and pain
And let's turn a new leaf
with the smell of new rain
Let's forget past mistakes
making amends for this year
Sending you these greetings
to bring you hope and cheer
Happy New Year!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Love, Peace and Joy came down on earth on Christmas day to make you happy and cheerful.
May Christmas spread cheer in your lives!
