Euro Team 09 - Russian Girl go Gold Men go Silver

In a dramatic last round of European Team Championship, Azerbaijan secured a gold medal while the Russian take on Silver, while a bronze went to Ukraine. Facing Spain, Russian's Alexander Morozevich sealed an imaginative victory over Fransisco Vallejo Pons in Black side of Sicilian. Svidler and Jakovenko on draw with Shirov and Miguel Cordoba. But Ivan Salgado success in equalizing by beating higher rated Evgenij Alekseev. Russian ended with 14 match point.

On other table, three Azeris draw to the Dutch , but in most dramatic moment Daniel Stellwagen blunder a drawish position to Vugar Gashimov. Thus Azerbaijan is on clear lead with 15 match point.

Ukraine came third with 13 the match point , same with Armenia but Ukraine is on superior game points tie break.

On Women side, Russia get the gold with better game points to Georgia (Silver), both with 16 match point. Ukraine again to get the bronze with 12 match point superior to Azerbaijan girls in game point tie break.

Jon Ludvig Hammer is the best player in men and Nadezhda Kosintseva in women.

Vallejo Pons,F (2696) - A Morozevich (2750)17th European Team Championship, Novi Sad SRB2009.10.30, Round: 9, ECO: B90
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Men full result here
Women full result here.

Chigorin Memorial and European Team Champ 2009

Been busy this week and here some updates to current world news. The less informed M.Chigorian Memorial 2009 finished earlier this week. Five players shared first :

1.GM Volkov, Sergey 7.0
2. GM Zhou, Weiqi 7.0
3. GM Rychagov, Andrey 7.0
4. GM Deviatkin, Andrei 7.0
5. GM Melkumyan, Hrant 7.0

Full result click here and games here.

In females category, the newly crowned WGM Ju Wenjun is top finisher with 5.5 points.

Last round victory by GM Zhou Weiqi against Andriasian, Zaven (2612). Zhou Weiqi is soon to be another 2600 rated Chinese player.

Zhou Weiqi - Andriasin, Zaven :
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Meanwhile the Europe had setup a tag team chess battle. A total of 38 clans, I mean federations, take part of it. After round 6 Azerbaijan is leading followed by Russia, Armenia and Georgia. Norwegia's GM Jon Ludvig Hammer is the top individual with 5 out of 6 round.

Ivan Cheparinov (2667) lost to V.Laznicka (2634) in a Sicilian games. Cheparinov is not in his lucky week as he also lost to Caruana earlier, in also a less than 30 moves game.
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See TWIC report here. Offical site www.eurons2009.com

Battle of World Junior 2009

Before we concluded 2009 with a new World Cup Champion to be crowned in Khanty-Mansiysk, we will first get the Junior version of its. Starts at 21st October to 4th November 2009 in Puerto Madrin Argentina is the 48th World Junior Championship. This is the U20 events with the fame of Spassky, Karpov, Seirawan, Kasparov, Anand and Aronian as past winners. This year will be quite a prestigious battle of these young and dangerous lions as some notable names are present there.

Top seed is GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2718 who won this year Biel ahead of Morozevich and Ivanchuck. Hopefully this is not his embarrassing tournament here as in rating term this is should be his playground tournament. Next to him are Dmitry Andreikin of Russian and less known Sergei Zhigalko of Bulgaria. And then we arrive at GM Wesley So in fourth seed, fans from chessgames.com suggest the conflict schedule with his SAT exam, so So participation is still in doubt. But if he is in then this will be a great event to watch So in battling his contemporaries rival.

Famous names next are Ray Robson and Alex Lenderman of US delegations. Ray will have the opportunity to stop IM Jorge Cori to joint the youngest GM race. GM David Howell is also present to defend some British pride. Of China delegation only "two" juniors present, GM Li Chao and untitled yet (hey, the China surely not interesting in getting their player a title. UPDATE- FIDE just award him a GM! Is he the only one got a GM title without FM and IM ?) Yu Yangyi. India fame will be on Ashwin Jayaram shoulder.

And now for notable names that are missing :
Magnus Carlsen, still U20 at the moment, but perhaps being banned by the organizer because he skip the Junior and just go ahead with the "adult" Chess Champion version.
Anish Giri, enjoy starring at Judith Polgar at the moment in 13th Unive Tournament 2009.
Fabiano Caruana, not sure what is the reason here.
Parimarjan Negi

and the SE Asian missed this event also,only the Phillipine being present:
the Vietnamese, GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and Le Quang Liem
the Singaporean , FM Daniel Chan Yi Ren and FM Timothy Chan Wei Xuan
the Indonesian, Susanto Megaranto is over 20 but closest names should be Farid Firmansyah.
There will be an Asian Indoor Games to be held on 31 Oct in Vietname and some of those names will be playing there.

The Girl Junior section also starts simultaneous , Mary Ann Gomez from India is top seed here. The Chinese send only FM ZHANG, Xiaowen and many of its Junior stay at home such as Ju Wenjun etc.

Let see how the battle begin.
Full list of participants at Chessdom.

America's Strongest Women and Youngest GM

A bit too late but here the stories to fill up my blog. The U.S. Women’s Chess championship 2009 ended this week with excellent victory by IM Anna Zatonskih. Anna scored 8.5/9 and secured the title in spare of a round. In her last round she dully defeated a young talent , singers and enterpreneur NM Yun Fan. This is then a second in a row for Anna to win US no.1 title. She was also the winner of the 2008 edition, remembered for its notorious last round armageddon games between Anna and Irina Krush.

Final Standing US Women's Chess Champ. 2009 :

1. Anna Zatonskih 8½

2. Camilla Baginskaite 6½

3. Alisa Melekhina 5½

4. Irina Krush 5½

5. Tatev Abrahamyan 4

6. Sabina Foisor 3½

7. Rusudan Goletiani 3½

8. Iryna Zenyuk 3

9. Battsetseg Tsagaan 2½

10. Yun Fan 2½

NM Yun Fan scored two victories over R.Goletiani and T.Abrahamyan, she is a new chess celebs for real. And she is also a singer, check it here.

Complete games with annotation here.

Meanwhile, the long waited IM Ray Robson now also officially GM Ray Robson. Robson scored a fantastic 8/9 in his latest tournament, the PanAmp Junior Championship. After defeated all 7 opponents, in round 8 Ray take a draw in a winning position to secured the prize and his last GM norm. He also draw his last round to FM Bryan Macias. Ray officially the youngest GM in the world now, he is 14 years and 11 months this week. Formerly the youngest GM is Anish Giri, now Anish is 15 years old. And also not confused with the term 'the youngest to achieved GM', which is by Sergey Karjakin on 12 years and 7 months old. Stories Chessvibes and Susan Polgar.

This year US baptismed four new GMs, Robert Hess, Alex Lenderman, Ben Finegold and Ray Robson.

But wait! Susan Polgar also posted interesting fact from Latin America. The Peruvian FM Jorge Cori also has a buzz for being (even more) youngest living GM , he is on 14 years and 2 months now. He is believed to got his latest GM norm in International Marcel Duchamp Championship in Argentina. Story here. So let's wait and see on how the story developed later.

Nanjing Pearl 2009 - Magnus at 2800

Nanjing Pearl Spring 2009 finished hours ago but the winner actually already settled yesterday. Magnus Carlsen drew with Teimour Radjabov yesterday and secured the tittle, but then it is Russian Jakovenko to be the victim of Carlsen's next target, the 2800 elo rating break. In a Semi-Slav game, Jakovenko as black hesitated to defend the complicated position after 25..Ne4. Carlsen then continued in exchanging the pieces to make his advanced e pawn made the most, supported by his kingside pawn majority. So then Carlsen now is the fifth 2800 chess player, after Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik and Topalov, and he is clearly the youngest one. A great tournament that will be remembered for a long time by me.

Nanjing Pearl Spring 2009 Final Standing:
1. Magnus Carlsen 8
2. Veselin Topalov 5.5
3. Wang Yue 4.5
4. Teimour Radjabov 4
5. Peter Leko 4
6. Dmitry Jakovenko 4

In Women Grand Prix Nanjing, ex world champion Xu Yuhua managed to climbed the top position despite drew with Marie Sebag, this is because Nana Dzagnidze failed to converted her two pawns + Knight against 1 pawn + Bishop against Zhao Xue. Nana finished number two while Zhao Xue is rank number three.

FIDE Women's Grand Prix Nanjing 2009 Final Standing:
1. Xu Yuhua 8
2. Dzagnidze, Nana 7½
3. Zhao Xue 7
4. Sebag, Marie 6½
5. Mkrtchian, Lilit 6½
6. Ju Wenjun 6½
7. Shen Yang 6
8. Munguntuul, Batkhuyag 5½
9. Kovanova, Baira 5
10. Zhu Chen 4½
11. Fierro Baquero, Martha 2
12. Yildiz, Betul Cemre 1

Magnus Carlsen menyudahi turnamen Nanjing Pearl Spring 2009 dengan mengalahkan pecatur Rusia Dmitry Jakovenko di babak terakhir. Setelah selesai menjamin gelar juara dengan hasil remis kemarin, hasil menang di ronde ini menjamin Carlsen menjadi pecatur ke lima sepanjang sejarah yang berhasil mencapai elo rating 2800. Empat pecatur lain adalah Garry Kasparov, Vishy Anand, Vladimir Kramnik dan Veselin Topalov.

Di grand prix wanita, mantan juara dunia Xu Yuhua (baca Sii Yiihua), sukses mendaki ke puncak pimpinan klasemen. Xu remis melawan pecatur Prancis Marie Sebag namun pesaing terdekat Nana Dzagnidze juga remis melawan Zhao Xue di mana di permainan akhir dengan dua bidak dan satu kuda nya gagal dibawa menuju garis finis melawan satu bidak satu gajah musuh.

Carlsen - Jakovenko , 1-0, from chessdom
Official website

5th Prospero Pichay Cup - Final Standing

For full article refer to chessheroes blog. GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili wins 5th Prospero Pichay Cup Phillipine, after the superior tie break with Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaemmaghami, both with 7 points. For Mchedlishvili he should be the first European player to win this event , according to Chessheroes. For Ehsan this is another succesfull campaign for this year, Ehsan had been playing in almost every major tournament in SE Asia.

GM Zhang Zhong is also doing a success comeback with half point between the leaders (6.5 points). He only had one unlucky round, a defeated by Phillipine's David Elorta in round 1, Elorta is untitled 2326 player. In round 9 Zhang beat the legendary Eugenio Torre.

IM Tirto of Indonesia again finished middle board with 5 point. Playing six GM he draw four of them and lost the rest, to Ehsan dan Tigran Kotanjian.

Partially Final standing :
1 GM MCHEDLISHVILI Mikheil GEO 2613 - 7,0
2 GM GHAEMMAGHAMI Ehsan IRI 2579 - 7,0
3 GM ANTONIO Rogelio Jr PHI 2557 - 6,5
4 GM NGUYEN Ngoc Truong Son VIE 2589 - 6,5
5 GM ZHANG Zhong SIN 2606 - 6,5
6 GM LAYLO Darwin PHI 2537 - 6,0
7 GM DAO Thien Hai VIE 2542 - 6,0
8 GM DAS Neelotpal IND 2471 - 6,0
9 GM KOTANJIAN Tigran ARM 2553 - 5,5
10 GM GUPTA Abhijeet IND 2584 - 5,5
11 GM PARAGUA Mark PHI 2501 - 5,5
12 GM FILIPPOV Anton UZB 2595 - 5,5
13 GM GAGUNASHVILI Merab GEO 2564 - 5,5
14 GM LI Shilong CHN 2531 - 5,5
15 GM TORRE Eugenio PHI 2535 - 5,5
16 IM DABLEO Ronald PHI 2417 - 5,5
17 GM ISMAGAMBETOV Anuar KAZ 2528 - 5,5
18 IM NOLTE Rolando PHI 2424 - 5,5
19 GM KOSTENKO Pyotr KAZ 2491 - 5,5
20 IM DIMAKILING Oliver PHI 2434 - 5,5
21 FM DONGUINES Fernie PHI 2373 - 5,5
22 TIRTO INA 2407 - 5,0
23 ANDADOR Rolando PHI 2260 - 5,0
24 IM GARMA Chito PHI 2331 - 5,0
25 IM SENADOR Emmanuel PHI 2367 - 5,0
26 LUMANCAS Lyndon PHI 0 - 5,0
27 GM VILLAMAYOR Buenaventura PHI 2426 - 5,0

Nanjing, European Club and US Women 2009

In Asia, Nanjing 2009, 8 is the lucky number yesterday. Its represent a great round where we had three decisive wins, Topalov beat Leko with black, Jakovenko score the first win against Radjabov and of course the game of the round still belong to Carlsen , who beat Wang Yue in a wild fighting game. Carlsen play b4 against Wang’s Slav defence, then looks like a sacrificied a bishop Bxc6. Wang was on good opening advantage but the position is too wild and Wang’s instinct put him on defensive mode. The endgame with R+N+N vs R+N+pawns went wrong for Wang and he must resign the game.

Carslsen – Wang Yue, 1-0, Slav from Chessdom commentary page.
Marie Sebag is replacing Nana Dzagnidze as top woman in Nanjing Women Fide Grand Prix. Marie is winning her last five games in a row, while Nana is slowed down with a draw in round 8 with Lilit Mkrtchian (yes I copy paste the name). Chessbase report.

In Europe, in YROM or Macedonia, a massive chess battles begin. European Club Cup 2009 is a 55 teams with many of top player in playing. Players include Ivanchuk, Aronian, Svidler, Gelfand, Nakamura, Shirov, Adams, Kamsky , Kosteniuk, and many more. See Chessdom preview.

Sargissian-Caruana, 1-0, Benko Gambit
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In America, US Women Chess Championship also begin with Anna Zatonskih in a great chance to defend her title. Anna now on +3/3 , she beat the strongest rival Irina Krush in round 3. Live mon roi page here.

Baginskaite, Camilla- Abrahamyan, Tatev,1-0,Benko Gambit
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Magnus Carlsen masih mendominasi turnamen super kuat di Nanjing dengan mengalahkan si pendekar (remis) Wang Yue. Carlsen bermain tajam dengan korban bidak b4 dan gajah di petak C. Tapi kondisi yang tajam dan tak mudah dimainkan hitam ini tak berhasil dipertahankan Wang dengan baik, permainan akhir Benteng + 2 kuda vs Benteng + Kuda + Bidak-bidak gagal dimainkan Wang. Wang adalah satu-satunya pemain yang “berhasil” selamat dari amukan Carlsen di putaran pertama. Topalov ikutan menang (lagi) lawan Leko dan Jakovenko juga menang lawan Radjabov. Game Carlsen bisa dilihat di atas.
Di Eropa telah dimulai kejuaraan beregu Eropa. Berlainan dengan Olimpiade catur turnamen beregu ini kelihatan jauh lebih seru. Ini karena di Olimpiade Negara kuat seperti Rusia hanya bisa kirim 5-6 pemain tetapi di kejuaraan per klub ini bertaburan pemain-pemain kuat dari berbagai Negara. Bisa dilihat website resmi di atas.

Di Amerika, si Anna Zatonskih memulai kejuaraan wanita Amerika 2009 dengan tiga kali menang. Lawan terdekat si Irina Krush terkena “krush” ama Anna di ronde ketiga. Juga bisa dilhat siaran langsung di atas.

Nanjing Pearl 2009 - Mighty Magnus

At this point we must review again why Kasparov openly made an announcement about his collaboration with Magnus Carlsen,that is so Carlsen will not face a cheating acusses from his opponents at Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess 2009! Leko, Topalov, Jakovenko and Radjabov are the unlucky losers to Magnus, while Wang Yue can be considered the most lucky one. Standing after first cycle (round 5) :


Magnus Carlsen 4.5/5
Wang Yue 2.5/5
Topalov,V 2.0/5
Leko,P 2.0/5
Radjabov 2.0/5
Jakovenko 2.0/5


It will be exciting to see the what will happen in the second cycle , to be happen on Sunday as tomorrow will be resting day.


Meanwhile the Women Grand Prix is a typical ladies event with more than 50% decisive games. After 5 rounds the number of draw games is about 11 out of 30. Nana Dzagnidze was leading with 4.0/4 before slowed down by Marie Sebag at round 5, but her nearest rival Xu Yuhua was also not lucky on the hand of Mongolian Batkhuyag Munguntuul. So Nana is still leading with 4/5, while the only perfect score is temporary on Betul Yildiz of Turkey with 0/5, Zhu Chen is the latest lucky lady to played her.


Beberapa minggu lalu sebelum Gary Kasparov bertanding dengan Karpov dia mengungkapkan bahwa si Magnus Carlsen telah diangkat sebagai muridnya. Hal ini mungkin langkah yang tepat karena saat ini si Magnus ini lagi menggila dengan 4 kali menang dan 1 kali remis di turnamen super kuat Nanjing Pearl Chess 2009.


Carlsen mengalahkan Leko di babak pertama melalui pembukaan Skotlandia, pembukaan yang dikenal masyarakat catur sebagai senjata Carlsen. Partai kedua Carlsen memakai mengalahkan pembelaan Hindia Raja pecatur nomor 1 Topalov. Babak ketiga Carlsen memakai pembelaan Gruenfeld dengan 6..Be6!? mungkin juga pengaruh Kasparov kali ini musuhnya Wang Yue walau sangat terjepit tetapi lolos karena blunder Carlsen di saat-saat time crisis, Wang Yue lolos dengan hasil remis. Babak empat si Jakovenko nggak beruntung menghadapi Sisilia Carlsen dan babak terakhir melawan musuh sebayanya Teimor Radjabov, Carlsen mengalahkan pembelaan Sisilia Radjabov hanya melalui 25 langkah! Langkah 15..Nf4 Radjabov kurang mengigit dan mengakibatkan perebutan bidak tengah d dimenangkan putih dan hitam pun tak pernah berhasil merebut inisiatif dan kalah materi di beberapa langkah berikutnya.

Partai-partai Carlsen bisa dilihat di sini:

Carlsen Games analysis by GM Dennis Monokroussos
Carlsen-Radjabov 1-0 from Chessdom
Women Grand Prix with annotated games in Chessbase

And official site with LIVE transmission , GM Li Shilong and GuXiaobing is doing live commentary there.