Varuzhan Akobian vs Yury Shulman Heavyweight Chess Match

Bahasa Indonesia ada di bawah.

America is also a land where chess being played. It was an arena where Paul Morphy, Harry Pillsbury and Frank Marshall unleashed their martial art in pre law era. It was the opposition block against USSR chess dominated world captained by Bobby Fischer, Larry Evans, Pal Benko & Walter Browne in James Bond times. The land where Alexander Shabalov, Alexander Yermolinsky, Aleksander Wojtkiewicz, Anjelina Belakovskaia and many other Alex'es flee from USSR to seeks new hope, along with them, in this post Cold War era are giants like Yasser Seirawan and Gata Kamsky. In this modern age (or internet age) top names like Susan Polgar, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Alexander Onischuk still continue to become part of American chess. And finally we have latest wave of players made up by rojak* generation like Hikaru Nakamura (Japanese descendent), Fabiano Caruana (Italian, and play for Italy now), Irina Krush (Ukraine blood) and two chess names Varuzhan Akobian, who have something related to Mongolia, and Yury Shulman of Belarus bloodline.

(rojak = indonesian salad made up by many many fruits and ingredients..)

Still with this rich chess activities, hard to believe that this continent looks ignored by top chess celebrity like Anand, Kramnik, Topalov and friends. They can travel to anywhere in Europe even to some remotest city where Chessbase usually needs to put a google map into their preview (Nalchik what? Elista where? :) ). I think issue like lack of reputation, money and international lobbying are reason for this. I can't remember reputable chess event happen in USA similar to Wijk aan Zee, or Linares. So good news is mean plenty room to improve from Americans!

Back to story, this week the two Americans, Var Akobian and Yuri Shulman are going to do a duel for four days in eight rapid matches. The first impression when I saw the poster is this looks like a heavyweight boxing events where the two boxers posed for their bout.So far results in my hand are 2.5 vs 1.5 in Akobian favor. So here today preview, the California no.1 vs US Champion.

Di Amerika catur juga dimainkan. Ini adalah tanah dimana Paul Morphy, Harry Pillsbury dan Frank Marshall sama-sama main catur di warung kopi di jaman hukum rimba. Waktu Uni Soviet menjajah dunia catur Amerika tampil jadi oposisi dikapten oleh Bobby Fischer dan kawan-kawan seperti Larry Evans, Pal Benko dan Walter Browne. Lalu setelah lewat masa James Bond (perang dingin) orang-orang bernama depan Alex seperti Alexander Shabalov, Alexander Yermolinsky, Aleksander Wojtkiewicz, dan Anjelina Belakovskaia ramai-ramai hijrah ke Amerika. Di samping juga ada nama-nama kesohor seperti Yasser Seirawan dan Gata Kamsky. Di abad lebih modern si Susan Polgar, Alexandra Kosteniuk dan Alexander Onischuk cukup berhasil bermain catur di sini dan menjadi bagian dari dunia percaturan Amerika. Lalu paling mutakhir adalah pemain-pemain yang berdarah campuran seperti Hikaru Nakamura (Jepang), Fabiano Caruana (orang Italia dan main di Serie A sekarang), Irina Krush (cewek Ukraina) dan dua lagi nama beken Varuzhan Akobian (orang Mongolia) dan Yuri Shulman (pendekar dari Belarus).

Tapi walaupun banyak hal-hal menarik terjadi di sini, pendekar catur dunia kayak Anand, Kramnik, Topalov dan kawan-kawan jarang mau mampir ke Amerika. Mereka bela belain mampir di kota di antah berantah kayak Nalchik (ayo ada di mana?? atau Elista ?? ) tapi nggak mau main ke Texas.

Dah, ujung cerita, hari ini berita caturnya adalah dari dua nama itu, si Akobian duel lawan Shulman. Publikasi pertandingannya mirip di tinju, Heavyweight Chess Match. Hasil terakhir si Akobian unggul 2.5 - 1.5, partainya bisa diliat di bawah, cuma ronde 1 dan 4 yang saya tampilkan sementara. Enjoyyyy...

Round 1:

Akobian - Shulman 1-0
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 c5 7. e3 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nc6 9. Be2 d6 10. O-O Bd7 11. Rc1 Rc8 12. a3 Ne5 13. Qb3 Bc6 14. Rfd1 Qa5 15. Qa2 Qb6 16. b4 Rfe8 17. Bxf6 exf6 18. Nb3 Qc7 19. Qd2 b6 20. Qxd6 Qb7 21. Bf1 Re6 22. Qd2 Bf3 23. Re1 f5 24. c5 Ree8 25. Nd4 Rcd8 26. Qc2 Be4 27. Nxe4 fxe4 28. c6 Qc8 29. c7 Rd7 30. Bb5 *

Round 4 :

Shulman - Akobian 1 - 0
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. Qb3 Qb6 6. Nc3 Bxf3 7. gxf3 e6 8. e4 Nbd7 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Bb5 dxe4 11. Nxe4 Nd5 12. Nc3 Bb4 13. Bd2 Qxd4 14. O-O-O Bxc3 15. Bxc3 Qf4+ 16. Kb1 O-O-O 17. Bxg7 Rhg8 18. Bd4 Kb8 19. Rhe1 Qd6 20. f4 a6 21. Bc4 Ka8 22. Bxd5 exd5 23. Bc3 Nc5 24. Qb4 Qg6+ 25. Ka1 Nd3 26. Rxd3 Qxd3 27. Bd4 Rge8 28. Rg1 Qb5 29. Qxb5 axb5 30. a3 Re4 31. Bb6 Rde8 32. Rg5 R4e6 33. Bd4 b6

http://www.chessmastered.com/

last editted : wrong result