September 09 FIDE Rating List - Indonesian Players

Before that here the quick news : Merdeka Rapid Team Chess Open 2009 held in Kuala Lumpur from 29-31 August 2009 is won by Indonesian team. INA - RTCC and Bayangkara Police RI is the respective winner and runner up. INA - RTCC is headed by IM Tirto and Sofyan Jafar. Farid Firmansyah is playing for Bayangkara Police. On fifth position is Jakarta Chess Club. Full list here.

Meanwhile on September 2009 Fide list, Megaranto is still no.1 in Indonesia, Utut is inactive for a while now so he is not count. Sorted list , excluding many inactive players is here :

Peringkat catur FIDE Edisi September telah diterbitkan. Megaranto Susanto masih berada di urutan pertama, selisih terdekat adalah GM Cerdas Barus. Pak Utut untuk sementara tidak kita ikut sertakan dalam perhitungan mengingat beliau untuk beberapa saat dalam status 'inactive'. Berikut pemeringkatan pecatur Indonesia, beberapa pecatur yang 'inactive' juga tidak ditampilkan:

1. Adianto, Utut gm 2548 M
2. Megaranto, Susanto gm 2527 M
3. Barus, Cerdas gm 2458 M
4. Juswanto, Denny im 2451 M
5. Irwanto, Sadikin im 2429 M
6. Gunawan, Ronny im 2420 M
7. Liu, Dede im 2419 M
8. Purnama, Tirta Chandra im 2417 M
9. Tirto im 2407 M
10. Wahono, Awam fm 2393 M
11. Ardiansyah, H gm 2392 M
12. Sitanggang, Salor im 2383 M
13. Mahmud, Syarif fm 2347 M
14. Novita, Anjas fm 2340 M
15. Sukandar, Irine Kharisma wgm 2310 F
16. Simandjuntak, Sebastian fm 2254 M
17. Farid Firmansyah cm 2207 M
18. Sihite, Chelsie Monica wcm 1986 F
19. Medina, Warda Aulia wcm 1950 F
20. Hutapea, Juniel 1948 F
21. Dewi, Aa Citra wfm 1931 F
22. Kadek, Iin Dwijayanti wcm 1894 F

Rising Stars Vs Experience

Experiences team consist of Beliavsky, Svidler, Ljubojevic, van Wely and Nielsen is now enjoying the most success team for this traditional teenage vs GOM (Good Old Men - according to Giddins) event. In 2008 the experience team (Bareev, Korchnoi, Ljubojevic, Jussupow and Agdestein) lost badly with 331/2 - 161/2. A bit better was in 2009 when Beliavsky, Ljubojevic, Khalifman, Nicolic and Jussupow lost by 26½-23½. This year after round 8 the Experience now enjoying 22-18 lead.

This year, the Rising Stars team is Nakamura, Caruana, Smeets, Hou Yifan and Steelwagen. Top scorer of this team will to go thru next year Amber tournament. While Nakamura and Caruana is most predicted to be the qualifier, it is Jan Smeets that now had the highest point and most likely to present in Amber.

Many interesting games can be collected here, Nakamura's win over Beliavsky in Black side of KID is considered a fantastic game by many. But Big Al come back later, in round 7 he win a 25 moves game over Caruana in Shredding Chess Move style.

Alexander Beliavsky - Fabiano Caruana
Rising Stars vs Experience 2009, Round 7

Play chess online

DATMO 2009 - Negi Won Final Round

Dato Arthur Tan Malaysia Open 2009 is happening now and in final round today. Participants are also stronger with alike GM Li Chao , the 2634 rated player is the rating favorite in this tournament. Below him there are GM Ghaem Ehsan Maghami, Parimarjan Negi, Darwin Laylo, three of current most famous name, surely to boost this year event to be the most anticipated in Malayan Peninsula.

After some dramatic take over in top position, the final round saw Phillipine surprise Senador Emmanuel 2372 playing in board 1 against Parimarjan Negi. The later is currently reported as the winner as well as confirmed the highest point by 7/9. But by eight more players with 6 points in final round, let's wait until the official report to confirmed the clear winner. The rest of pairing are :

UPDATED: Finally the official site is given a report of the final round, but only provide the final standing, so here reconstruction of final round result below.

1. Senador, Emmanuel 6½ vs 6 GM Negi, Parimarjan 0-1
2. GM Li, Chao 6 vs 6 GM Iuldachev, Saidali 1/2-1/2
3. GM Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son 6 vs 6 Yu, Yangyi 1/2-1/2
4. GM Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan 6 vs 6 GM Laylo, Darwin 1/2-1/2
5. GM Megaranto, Susanto 6 vs 6 IM Dableo, Ronald 0-1

Indonesian WGM Irene K. Sukandar is paired with Singapore based IM Ashot Nadanian in final round, both with 4 1/2 point. Complete Indonesian pairing :

IM Ashot Nadanian 4 1/2 vs 41/2 WGM Irene K. Sukandar 1-0
Li, Hanbin 5 vs 5 IM Tirto 1-0
Jordan, Dirk, Dr. 4 vs 4 FM Wahono, Awam 0-1
Sano, Tomu 4 vs 4 FM Simanjuntak, Sebastian 0-1
Gates, David 1½ vs 2 WCM Kadek, Iin Dwijayanti 0-1

Official site and blog.

Fide GP Jermuk : Ivanchuck Wins it!

This is probably best yet GP so far. With two players playing for rank 1, and 4 players tailed behind with half point, the final round is perfectly the best climax to the event. And the drama is Vassily Ivanchuck , one of most popular chessman ever, is the main actor here. Outplaying Akopian, Ivanchuck wins with Black after winning the mid game and come out with bishop pair advantage. About an hour later, Leko, the other rank 1 contender, fight his most to catch up with a draw in a B+P vs B ending. But his opponent Gelfand put Leko chances to zero with precious play.

Final Standings :
1. Ivanchuk: 8.5
2-3. Aronian, Gelfand: 8
4-6. Alekseev, Kasim, Leko: 7.5
7. Karjakin: 7
8. Eljanov: 6.5
9-10. Bacrot, Kamsky: 6
11-12. Akopian, Jakovenko: 5
13. Inarkiev: 4.5
14. Cheparinov: 4

Ivanchuck is doing a fantastic year now by winning Bazna, shared first in Linares, and this event. Only in MTel that he came last.

V. Akopian vs V.Ivanchuck
Jermuk,r13

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Vassily Ivanchuck mengakhiri perlawanan Vladimir Akopian di ronder 13, terakhir ajang Grand Prix Fide di Jermuk. Kemenangan ini membuat dia satu satunya pemegang nilai 8.5 alias juara 1. Leko saingan terdekat musti puas di urutan 4-6 akibat kalah dalam ending Gajah+Bidak vs Gajah melawan Gelfand. Ivanchuck tak terkalahkan dan mengantongi 4 kemenangan. Prestasi yang baik buat pecatur popular ini, dia juga juara di Bazna dan Linares tahun ini.


http://jermuk2009.fide.com/13.html

Friday Night Live Chess : Rising Stars vs Experience

Is this the best era for chess? As long as I can recount, almost every day you can find a live chess on net, starting this year. Just like tonight, it is Friday and while I'm checking my facebook, I can also see a bunch of GMs sweating on their seat playing a chess. Tonight menu is, still, seven games from FIDE Jermuk Grand Prix. And if you dislike a draw, see an alternative game of four from the Rising Stars versus Experience, happening in Amsterdam. Last if you like Russian or Chinese lad check the traditional Russian vs Chinese team match. Unfortunately unlike the Women section , they always have better spirit, the Men section also has a big percentage of draw games.

It is round 11 in Jermuk, with as many as three players on tie with 6.5 point things are quite hot. Leko just draw with Kasimdzhanov so they are now at 7. Ivanchuck, the other guy on top, still in middle game with Bacrot. Can't predict what will the outcome now.

On the Rising Star vs Experience the Oldster is taking Black on round 2. Interesting is all 4 games are on Sicilian route and only Caruana - Beliavsky is not. Tonight we also have an audio commentary from icc chess.fm, none other than GM Larry Christiansen is providing comments tonight.

Anyway, most of chess event is coming from Europe continent. With Europe to SE Asia time different, chances is we can only see the opening and then fall to sleep in their middle game. Most of European games can only be enjoy at late afternoon here. A little different when the bout is on America soil. Chances is we can see the late game on early morning here, as happen when the US Champ take time earlier this year. Of course the best timing will be event in Australia and Asia. All the game can be follow in its entirely on this zone, and of course since its take time on working day, you may expect a little bit distraction to your work.

Now, here an idea for chess IT man, why not put all the live chess shattered around and compiled it into one web page, specialist in live chess. That will be a fantastic way to see chess rather than open eight windows in your desktop.

So, enjoy your weekend now.

Short and Timman Memorable Memorial

To experiment with Google Translate from Indonesian to English click here.

Dua pecatur (= pemain catur) "jadul" (= jaman dahulu) mengakhiri turnamen mengenang Howard Staunton Memorial penuh kenangan. Nigel Short memimpin tim Inggris menang atas tim Belanda dengan kemenangan 26.5 - 23.5 point. Nigel Short menjadi pencetak point terbanyak dari tim Inggris dengan angka 8 hasil dari 6 kemenangan. Dari tim Belanda Jan Smeets adalah top score dengan point 6. Nigel Short saat ini berusia 44 tahun, dia adalah salah satu mantan penantang Juara Dunia Catur Gary Kasparov di era 1990 an.

Di ajang yang berbeda, yaitu semua bermain melawan semua, Jan Timman, berusia 57 tahun, juga berhasil menjadi juara. Jan Timman menjadi yang terbanyak mengumpulkan angka dari 10 peserta dengan nilai 7 juga dengan 6 kali kemenangan. Jan Timman adalah pecatur yang dikalahkan Nigel Short sebelum Short menantang Juara Dunia Catur.

Yang menarik salah satu mantan Penantang Juara Dunia Catur lainnya, Viktor Korchnoi juga mengakhiri turnamen dengan patut dibanggakan. Korchnoi ada di peringkat tiga dengan point menang 6. Dengan prestasi seperti ini di usianya yang hampir 80 tahun, Korchnoi membuat prestasi urutan kedua Alexander Cherniev tampak redup.

Hasil lengkap bisa dilihat di sini.

Game yang memenangkan hadiah adalah : Smeets vs Adams, dan Howell vs Sokolov. Sedangkan Timman vs Korchnoi juga cukup menarik dilihat.

Saturday at Jermuk GP and Jubilee Open

Two exciting events provide live chess for fill in my yesterday's Saturday night.

From 2009 Jubilee Open, the game Alexander Morozevich vs Boris Avrukh is kinda upset with sentiment goes to Moro to win the game, but he didn't. Avrukh come out from pressure and counter attack with two to three passed C and D pawn to win the game. Boris Avrukh is tied with Alexander Areshchenko to with 7.5 point up to final round. Areschenko has better tie break. Alexey Dreev and Victor Mikhalevski are respective 3-4 while Moro finished 5th. Full Result http://www.sgzurich2009-live.ch/en/ .

The game, from Queen Gambit Accepted is like always highly entertained with Moro start the pressure from beginning. But did not want to go with materialistic (the Black's g pawn is hanging very long) White failed in tactical battle and allow Black to counter attack :

[Event "Zurich Chess Club 200th Anniversary"]
[Site "Zuerich SUI"]
[Date "2009.08.15"]
[EventDate "2009.08.09"]
[Round "9"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "A Morozevich"]
[Black "B Avrukh"]

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Meanwhile after the rest day, round 6 in Jermuk also provide great live games. All games went to 30+ moves, the highlight is the weird battle between Ivanchuck and Kamsky. Handling White Ivanchuck gives up Queen for extra pieces and pawns. Ivanchuck then goes to time trouble which he survive and then survive the last position by 50 moves draw rule. The final position, after Bxd4 follow by Qg6+, the mate seem very near already.

[Event "FIDE Grand Prix: Tigran Petrosian 80"]
[Site "Jermuk, Armenia"]
[Date "2009/8/15"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Ivanchuk V (UKR) 2703"]
[Black "Kamsky G (USA) 2717"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]


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2009 Asian Zone 3.2 - Asian's Last Ticket

Another Zonal qualification to World Cup happening in Delhi, India. The Asian Zone 3.2 is the last to decide who will qualified for this coming chess World Cup at Khanty-Mansiysk for Asia.

GM Rahman Ziaur 2538 of Bangladesh is highest rate here. But a number of Indian's GMs like GM Deepan Chakkravarthy 2506, GM Neelotpal Das 2474, and GM Thipsay Praveen 2446 are among the 13 players competing. Meanwhile at Women section, seven players playing round robin. IM Tania Sachdev of India is at top standing after round 5.


UPDATED Round 8. Two upset from top board this round. GM Neelotpal Das as Black side is lost to IM Rathnakaran K in Sicilian games. While Sultana Sharmin Shirin from Bangladesh is victory over IM Tania Sachdev who previously on top spot. Tania Sachdev resign after the blunder at move 36 as Black.


[Event "Asian Zone 3.2 Chess Championship 09"]
[Site "New Delhi"]
[Date "2009.08.14"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Sharmin, Sultana"]
[Black "Sachdev, Tania"]
[Result "1-0"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 O-O 5.Bg5 d5 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 Nbd7 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 c5 10.Nge2 cxd4 11.Nxd4 Ne5 12.Bb3 Ng6 13.Bg3 e5 14.Nde2 e4 15.Rd1 Qa5 16.O-O Bg4 17.Bd6 Bxd6 18.Rxd6 Rfd8 19.Rxd8 Rxd8 20.Rd1 Rxd1 21.Qxd1 Nh4 22.h3 Bh5 23.Qd2 Bf3 24.g3 Ng6 25.Nf4 Nxf4 26.exf4 Qf5 27.Kh2 Qh5 28.Qd8 Kh7 29.h4 Qf5 30.Bc2 Qc5 31.Qd2 b5 32.a3 b4 33.axb4 Qc4 34.Kg1 Qa6 35.b5 Qa1 36.Bb1 Qa5?


37.Nxe4!! (Discover attack to the Black's Queen and thread a discover check plus a Knight check!) 1-0

Men standing link.
Women standing link.

Report link here.

Strongly dominated by India, the federation is keen to see one more addition to their line-up. A total of 5 Indians players are confirmed to take part of 2009 World Cup :

Viswanathan Anand, 2788
Sasikiran Krishnan, 2669
Ganguly Surya Shekhar, 2637
Abhijeet Gupta, 2565
Sandipan Chanda, 2585

Jubilee Open 2009 - Colorful Chess

For chess spectator we always want to see unique chess player, never meet before, playing each other. Such a thing can only be happen when there is a tournament that the participants are widely diverse background. This week the 2009 Jubilee Open is such a tournament. It is a colorful event with a mix of many unique chess personalities. There present Alexander Morozevich from the 2700 group, the subscriber to Linares or Biel-like tournament. Also unique is from the group of ‘veteran’ like GM Lajos Portisch and GM Ulf Anderssen. From this extreme we go to other extreme, that is a group of ‘U18’ like GM Anish Giri and how about GM Hou Yifan. Geographical also add in the group of ‘Indian Invaders ‘ , GM Harikrishna, GM Gopal (famous of his banned by Indian federation sometimes ago). From US, GM Robert Hess also comes in to test his new title to European standard. And then there are many ‘European Club’ players from experienced Dreev, Sutovksy, Jussupov to Roiz, Bauer,Areshchenko and many more to make up 45 GMs, 48 IM, 35 FM and total of 272 participants. A great tournament to celebrated the oldest chess club in the world, the Schachgesellschaft Zürich, founded in 1809.

As expected many interesting games are come out.. Round 6 we saw unique pairing where Alexander Morozevich handle a Black of Sicilian and win against Indian new star, GM Chanda Sandipan. Is different elo of almost 200 points encouraged Moro to take this adventurous Sicilian or encouraged Sandipan to put the best attacking moves?

Official website - Jubilee Open, Champions Simul and Rapid.

GM Chanda Sandipan vs GM Alexander Morozevich - Round 6

Yang seru di catur adalah melihat dua pemain yang sebelumnya tidak pernah ketemu saling bertanding. Hal demikian bisa terjadi kalau ada turnamen yang diikuti pemain dari berbagai ragam latar belakang. Sedang berlangsung adalah ajang Terbuka Jubilee 2009. Di sini pemain 2700-an yaitu Alexander Morozevich akan bertemu banyak pemain dari berbagai jenis latar belakang. Dari yang veteran seperti GM Lajos Portisch dan Ulf Anderssen (jaman 70-an) sampai yang masih di ‘bawah umur’ seperti GM Anish Giri (keturunan Nepal warga Negara Belanda) dan GM Hou Yifan (wanita termuda yang meraih gelar GM). Juga secara geographic turnamen ini juga diikuti pemain generasi baru India seperti Chanda Sandipan dan Gopal termasuk senior seperti Harikrishna. Dari Amerika, GM terbaru Robert Hess juga mau mengetes standard GM dari benua Amerika di benua Eropa. Selain itu masih banyak nama-nama ‘klub Eropa’ seperti yang pengalaman kayak Dreev, Sutovsky, Jussupov hingga yang lagi aktif kayak Roiz, Bauer, Areschchenko dan banyak lagi. Sejumlah 45 GM, 48 IM , 35 FM dan total 272 peserta akan mengikuti turnamen ini. Ajang yang seru buat memperingati 200 tahun klub catur tertua di dunia yaitu the Schachgesellschaft Zürich yang berdiri tahun 1809.

Seperti sudah dikemukakan, kombinasi pemain-pemain yang unik dan tak pernah bertemu ini menghasilkan banyak partai seru. Di ronde enam Morozevich berhadapan dengan Chanda Sandipan yang hampir 200 poin di bawah. Melihat perbedaan ini apakah yang membuat Moro bermain begitu berani atau justru Chanda yang tak terbeban bermain super tajam di sini? Mari ikuti sendiri salah satu partai seru di Jubilee Open 2009.

Di hari Minggu nanti juga akan diadakan simul para Juara Catur dari Spassky, Korchnoi, Karpov, Kasparov hingga Anand. Menurut website ajang ini juga bisa diikuti LIVE di internet. Acara siaran langsung catur dari Jubilee Open juga bisa disaksikan langsung kira-kira jam 4 sore minggu ini.

2009 Jermuk - Cheparinov and Leko Win R.1

Ivan Cheparinov and Peter Leko starts the 2009 Fide Grand Prix at Jermuk with a wins. This put their opponent Jakovenko and Inarkiev to temporary zero point. While ten more players in 1/2 points as every other game is a draw. But round 1 did not looks like a boring draw start with all the games went to 30 up moves. The shortest was Kasimdzhanov - Karjakin in 32 moves but the last position of Q+K vs Q+B with less possible move lead to victory for both side. Gelfand - Eljanov is a repetition check by White to compensate because White is R+R vs R+R+K.


See the official website for pairing and result and LIVE games. The live timing is about 6 o'clock Singapore time or 5 o'clock Western Indonesia time.


But, for today let's see what the Armenian's costume is so no surprise on the closing ceremony night.



Seri Grand Prix Fide kembali diadakan di Jermuk Armenia. Diikuti oleh 14 peserta ronde pertama dimenangkan oleh Peter Leko atas Inarkiev dan Ivan Cheparinov atas Jakovenko. Grand Prix terakhir di Nalchik dimenangkan Levon Aronian. Untuk siaran langsung catur bisa diikuti di website resmi Fide (link di atas) dan kira-kira dimulai sekitar jam 5 sore WIB.

UK vs Netherland 2009

For old-ster like me, the term UK vs Netherland is similar to Short vs Timman. But just this week, we learn that there were somebody else playing chess around there. GM David Howell, age 18 by the Guardian , is now the deserve holder of 2009 British Champion title. He finished the tournament of 11 rounds with 9 points. David Howell is the youngest British GM at the moment. Second place are occupied by other Britons GM Simon Williams and GM Mark Hebden. The tournament itself had long time did not see UK super GM like Michael Adams and Nigel Short participating. See final standing here.

Meanwhile in Netherland, unlike Short, Jan Timman is still hanging around in the latest Nederland Open. He is finished quite strong with 7 point, making him one of the two runner ups here. The other runner up is GM Anish Giri who is errgh... age 15. The title holder of this year Netherland Open champion is GM Erwin L'Ami, age 24 now. For complete result of the tournament see here.

To conclude today blog entry, the main show is the chess player from both country will again up each other in 2009 Howard Staunton Memorial. Starting sometime today, the event will start in two way. The Scheveningen Group will see both national player play in team spirit. While All Play All will be a show about UK player against a mix of international player, like Viktor Korchnoi, and playing single round robin. Unfortunely for old time nostalgic, Nigel Short will be at Scheveningen Group while Jan Timman is in All Play All group, so no '90s re-match.

For complete information on 2009 Howard Staunton Memorial see official site here.

Simon's Sicilian - 2009 British Championship

In 2009 British Championship happening this week, many animated games being produced. For example the round 9 game of David Howell versus R Palliser with sacrifice Trompowsky put Black's Queen trapped in 24 moves. See IM Malcolm Pein analysis here.

But among many of British new woodpusher heroes I very much like GM Simon Williams. Simon, together with GM Mark Hebden, is now a point behind top standing David Howell by round 10. For update result of 2009 British Championship please visit here.

By now please see one of Simon's Sicillian. It is a black win in round 6 against non other than IM Gary Lane, famous as a chess writer and monthly contributor of Chesscafe Opening Lane column. This is will be this week Surreal Sicillian game. The game start with a variation called Sozin, not Scheveningen. For brilliant Queen sacrifice mate using this setup see Michael Roiz game here.

[Round "6"]
[White "Lane, Gary W"]
[Black "Williams, Simon K"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B57"]
[Opening "Sicilian"]
[Variation "Sozin, not Scheveningen"]

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2009 Singapore National Rapid Chess

The 21st National Rapid Chess Championship 2009 just finished yesterday in Singapore. This one and a half day event concluded in three sections. In Open section, where you need up to 1800 rating to participate, dominated by IM Enrique Paciencia who finished 7 or 9 round. Followed by FM Timothy Chan Wei-Xuan with 6½ . A total of 22 players take part of this section.

In Women , WFM Liu Yang set the perfect record of 9 points. The runner up is WFM Jeslin Tay Li Jin with 7½ points. For Women section it is a nine round robin setup. A total of 10 players take this section.

Now the last section, called the Challengers, was participated by more than 200 players. Mostly are juniors , adults are minority here. Richard Lean Boon Seng finished number one with 8½ point, he only draw to runner up Jaime R. De Leon in last round. Your truly also take part of this section. After get slaughtered three times good new is I am making new chess friends. They are adult veterans and also the energetic youngsters.

For completed follows this links: Open, Women, Challengers .


The playing hall at Bishan Community Center, Singapore Chess Federation is exactly on second floor in the same building. At the nearest row : the Singapore's WFMs in action.