Qatar Women GP 2011 Elina Danielian Perfect 5/5

Somehow there is no demonstration or riot in Doha, Qatar. Well, unlike his Middle East of North African country who got new hobby in criticizing their king/president, in Qatar thing went normally and they even hosting a chess tournament. About a week after the start of 2011 Women FIDE Grand Prix in Doha, Armenian GM Elina Danielian is smiling wide for her five wins so far. Result from the last round, round 5, is as follow :

Doha 2011 Women GP, Round 5
Chiburdanidze, Maia (GEO) Zhu Chen (QAT) ½-½

Cramling, Pia (SWE) Dzagnidze, Nana (GEO) 1-0
Danielian, Elina (ARM) Xu Yuhua (CHN) 1-0
Munguntuul, Batkhuyag (MGL) Mkrtchian, Lilit (ARM) ½-½
Sebag, Marie (FRA) Koneru, Humpy (IND) ½-½
Stefanova, Antoaneta (BUL) Fierro, Martha (ECU) ½-½

and this put the tentative standing like this:
1. Danielian, Elina 5

2. Cramling, Pia 3
2.  Fierro, Martha 3
2.  Sebag, Marie 3
5. Koneru, Humpy 2,5
5. Chiburdanidze, Maia 2.5
7. Zhu Chen 2
7. Stefanova, Antoaneta 2
7. Dzagnidze, Nana 2
7. Xu Yuhua 2
11. Mkrtchian, Lilit 1.5
11. Munguntuul, Batkhuyag 1.5

Can Danielian win this GP? As the main player in Women Chess is a bit narrow in selection, it will be a delight surprise. Hou Yifan is the overall GP leader but since she is the Woman Chess World Champion now
and the objective of this GP is to win a ticket against WC, then the second place is the main concern here. Currently Nana Dzagnidze is leading, Koneru and Xu Yuhua are also potential for being the runner up of overall GP, if they land first place in Doha. Official Doha website here.

And Overall FIDE Women Chess Grand Prix up to Ulaan Baatar :

Alexandra Kosteniuk Queen of Moscow 2011

It is an ex Chess Queen that re-Queening in Young GM Women, Moscow. Seeing the last standing of this event :

1. Kosteniuk, Alexandra 6.5 age 26
2. Munguntuul, Batkhuyag 6.5  age 23
3. Zhao, Xue 5  age 25
4. Gunina, Valentina 5 age 22
5. Girya, Olga 3.5
6. Zawadzka, Jolanta 3.5
7. Kashlinskaya, Alina 3 
8. Galojan, Lilit 3
9. Ambartsumova, Karina 2
10. Fominykh, Maria 2

Well, this time they are using a more proper timeline for the term "Young". Understandable, GM Hou Yifan age 16 is not qualified for underage ;p
 
And the "male" counterpart was taken place as well. This time it was Boris Grachev standing solely on top, ahead of many Young GM from the other world. That' right, again no underage chess wizards the like of Wesley So, Anish Giri, Caruana, Carlsen, or Nyzhnik. Not all Russian player arounds, GM Robert Hess from USA was participating, but so far he is seriously in trouble with the Sicilian Opening. Losing fours of white games to this opening, and this is one of them:
 
Robert Hess - Sanan Sjugirov
 

 
Lots of D,E,F category also taken place in Moscow, and results are here. After this Moscow is preparing for the more famous Aeroflot Open, where Gata Kamsky is top seeded.

Hou Yifan Chinese TV Interview

About a month ago I accidentally came across an interview of Hou Yifan in Chinese TV Channel. I tried to record but with device nearby me, it was only seconds can be recorded. The interview talked a lot about off-chess-topic such as her hobbies and childhood background.

I can understand small portion of it, since my mandarin is really on class room level, and Hou Yifan spoke with her native slang and dialect. Here some translation on this video:

When asked is playing chess give her anxiety or feeling always in rush, when she was on junior / primary school.....
Hou : "Not very so, I still able to do other thing , other relaxing activities"

Is her parents allowed her to watch television...
Hou : "I like watching cartoon. When I back from the school I do chess practicing, daily. After around 6 o'clock (not sure what time she went back from school) I can watch television, I watched when there is a cartoon..."

How about school lesson? Homeworks?
Hou : "It done after I watched tv, not very worry. The homeworks also not many. About in third year I move to "Jing Nan", I take the third and fourth year in Jing nan.

Around age 7, Hou won first place in Jiangsu province junior tournament. Defeating 11 male opponents out of 14.  To increase her chess skill, her father take her to Sandong.

Hou : "My parents went back earlier and I stayed in house of chess player friend for one week."

Were you feeling worried at that time? How old are you (at that time)?
Hou : "7 years old. I was worried, but my parents need to work. No choice."

So how did you spend your week there?
Hou : "Not very well, because I was too young I always called back home. Everyday trying to find excuses, like my shoe string broke, feeling not well etc. After a week my mother join me, and until now my mother always accompanied me, never leave me."

How can she do it? (as she need to work also)?
Hou : "Her job (also) have some travelling. The local goverment know my requirement (to travel) so that my mother can have some special permit to do it (so the mother most likely worked in goverment)."

When asked it is chess is "ancient" / oldies sport/games?

Hou : "Yes, it is an ancient stuff. (But) When we like something we will feel interesting to do it. Everyday we must practice, a lot of memorizing, something like from Monday to Friday around 4-5 hours. On weekend it can be shorter period. So not everyday our energy spend on chess"

About activities outside chess.....
Hou : "Reading a book, listening to music, and if there is a time, swimming.

When asked about her favorite book, Hou mentioned some book titles, unfortunately I have no idea on what book it is since they are titled in mandarin.

See captured videos, some waiting for translation, or please let me know if you can translated (and better than mine) :

Ivanchuck won Gibraltar Chess 2011

Nigel Short finished the 2011 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess with a lot of wins, eight of them. But really it wasn't enough to win the tournament. Of all ten rounds Short sort of one point to the real tournament winner. He lost to Ivanchuck, which one point higher exactly taken from Nigel Short. Yes, that is Vasily Ivanchuck who didn't really roller coastering in this tournament, a 9/10 point, two draws only with GM Ruben Felgaer (ARG) and GM Victor Mikhalevski.

Nana Dzagnidze is highest woman with 7/9 followed by IM Melia Solome in same score but lesser tie break. Lots of woman playing here, and this is the pictures collection. Fabio Caruana is the highest in standing for youngest GM category, ahead of Richard Rapport and Ray Robson. Viktor Korchnoi is top suspected of highest standing in oldest GM as well. He lost the final round to GM Daniel Fridman, that's all.

Full Standing here.

Game selection: GM Viktor Bologan - GM Alexandr Fier 1-0, E30 Nimzo-Indian Leningrad

Nakamura (and Tata Steel Chess 2011)

Well, here we go, some more glorification for GM Hikaru Nakamura. The last round drama, on paper is absolutely stunning anti climax. Naka drew Wang Hao (surprise....) , Anand draw Nepo in a +1 score for Anand Black's sicilian (my first lost of the Sicilian of the Month...), Carlsen draw Grischuk, Aronian draw Smeets, oh, and is it draw for the rest....? But even with a draw... Nakamura won (his first super) tournament, great and Banzai! It is good to see new (ouch..) face for the tournament,and present now, the USA flagship for chess, though they really still need to invite Kamsky next year!

In group B, was also half boring. Li Chao B pointed full score to Tkachiev for the last Asian pride. Hammer get one of his worst tournament performance by losing again to Fressinet. Then the who join the A club battle, saw some drama (yes), David Navara, who actually belong(ed) to elite press really hard to his competitor, GM Luke McShane, but dunno what happened, after 20. Bb6 Qd7 21. Qa4 Qxa4 22. Nxa4 Bd7 23. Nab2 Nc8 24. Rac1 Rf7 25. Bd8 suddenly the score went to 1/2-1/2 . With this Navara lost to McShane in tie break system, and looks clear it will be the Britton to be presented next year, in A team. But overall McShane is okay also, he had done well against elite in London tournament before. Last note on Group B is Wesley So, who wrapped last round with draw, a spiritful middle tournament with 4+ in a row is probably consolidation prize, for fans and himself. Still there's next year, and if only he really make it to elite, the country, region and continent will once again have more name to cheer. Le Quang Liem finished ahead of So in tie break system, very last note.

Waiit, group C. The last battle for B-ticket, Vocatura vs Illya Nyzhnik (yes, without copy paste) is another lost to awesome-Black-win-in-Sicilian , again. The boy is really almost there!, but 32. Nxd6+ Bxd6? is a draw! 33. Qh5 Nf6 34. Rxf6+ Kxf6 35. Qh6+ Kf5 36. Qh7+ Kf6 37. Qh6+ Kf5 38. Qh7+ Kf6 39. Qh6+ ½-½. It was a Q vs Q+R+R+B draw! Congratulation to Vocatura Daniele, queitly, stealthily, trying to slide Caruana in the future. And the awesome Illya boy is a "pending" star as well.

We hope to see more face, especially younger breed for next year, maybe Jorge Cori (no Latin American presentation this year?), and Richard Rapport to compete officially with Nyzhnik. Also Sjugirov of the Kalmykian is great also. And... bring back Ivanchuck.

Vocatura,Daniele - Nyzhnik, Illya

Turnament tahunan super kuat, Tata Steel Chess (dulu Corus Chess) di kota Wijk Aan Zee Belanda usai dengan kemenangan pecatur US GM Hikaru Nakamura di group B. Si darah Jepang membawa pulang tropi dengan setengah angka lebih baik dari pecatur ber-elo banyakan seperti Anand (juara dunia), Carlsen (ex-no.1 rating), Kramnik (ex-juara) dll. Ronde terakhir cukup seru drawnya, semua draw LOL... Dengan ini era USA dengan Hikaru tampaknya resmi dimulai, Hikaru akan mewakili lagi di turnament kuat hadiah dari memenangkan turnament ini, Bilbao Chess master. Turnament ini adalah bagian dari Grand Slam catur, selain itu adalah Dortmund, Linares, M-Tel dan Pearl Spring di Cina.

Di Group B, pertandingan puncak GM David Navara vs Luke McShane juga berakhir remis, walaupun putih seharusnya menekan cukup kuat ke hitam, tapi Navara, yg konon kabarnya mengalami autisme di masa muda, tak cukup kuat mengalahkan si orang Inggris McShane. Posisi akhir adalah McShane yang akan naik divisi ke grup A taon depan. Wesley So musti puas main lagi di grup B tahun depan, dan pecatur Vietnam Le Quang Liem memperbaiki peringkat dan lebih baik tie breaknya dari saingan Philipin nya.

Di Group C, pecatur 14 tahun (coba bayangkan anak lebay Indonesia usia 14 tahun) yg sudah bergelar GM nyaris naik ke divisi B, blunder di pertandingan kritis melawan pecatur 21 tahun Daniele Vocatura (lihat diagram). Hasilnya si bocah cuma mendapat hasil remis akibat di skak abadi putih dan puas di posisi 2. Vocatura akan join dengan Wesley So (dan mungkin Shirov) di group B tahun depan.

Seusai Tata Chess, masih ada turnament seru di Gibraltar. Ronde terakhir menyaksikan Ivanchuck merebut posisi puncak dari Nigel Short, yang sebelumnya tampil ngetop dengan 5/5. LIVE show di Chessbomb dan web resmi.

Tata Steel Chess, Gibraltar and Oceania Zonal 2011

Tonight round still haven't decide any champions for Tata Steel Chess 2011. Group A saw leading Nakamura achieved another "successful" draw, playing Kramnik. Carlsen give some lesson to Wang Hao with White in Caro Kan game. Grischuk finally score a win playing Smeets... The the group again hanging on its next round 13:

Group A: Round 13 - Sun. Jan. 30st

Ian Nepomniachtchi - Viswanathan Anand
Vladimir Kramnik - Max. Vachier-Lagrave
Wang Hao - Hikaru Nakamura
Alexander Grischuk - Magnus Carlsen
Levon Aronian - Jan Smeets
Alexei Shirov - Erwin l'Ami
Anish Giri - Ruslan Ponomariov

Of all possibility the four players, Naka,Anand,Magni and Levon can win this! With Smeets ready to replace Shirov to provide some hardness to Group B next year.

Talking about Group B, similar conspiracy happened. Wesley So repeated a deja vu, losing the group leading in crucial match to his tailer (similar to last year against Giri), this round to McShane. Bad day for  the Caro Kan, as played by So. David Navara also take advantage and serving himself as main menu for round 13: a game vs McShane for the glory of next year in Group A.

Group B: Round 13 - Sun. Jan. 30th

Jon Ludvig Hammer - Laurent Fressinet
Zahar Efimenko - Gabriel Sargissian
Surya Ganguly - Le Quang Liem
Wesley So - Radek Wojtaszek
David Navara - Luke McShane
Wouter Spoelman - Friso Nijboer
Li Chao - Vlad Tkachiev

No less situation occured in Group C. After 12 round fighting, Vocatura, the leading party of the group, surrendered to Dariusz Swiercz. 14 years old Illya N. fight another epic, defeating van Kempen. So, its easy to select which game to follow from group C tomorrow :
 
Group C: Round 13 - Sun. Jan. 30th

Robin van Kampen - Benjamin Bok
Daniele Vocaturo - Ilya Nyzhnyk
Murtas Kazhgaleyev - Dariusz Swiercz
Jan Willem de Jong - Katherina Lahno
Mark Bluvshtein - Ivan Ivanisevic
Tania Sachdev - Sebastian Siebrecht
Roeland Pruijssers - Mark van der Werf

Conclusion is a total of nine players, will have the opportunity to go home with Holland's delight.
 
Now Gibraltar. The great escape for those who did not invited to Wijk Aan Zee (or refused to go there!). We are not sure if next year Shirov will join in also! But the event looks more colorful. Passing by round saw two Brittons dated a Russian girls with success, that is Adams and Short in fiasco with the Kosintseva sisters!
 
Amazingly, this put mr. Nigel Short in 5/5 result. Another 14 years old GM Richard Rapport stayed as "regular" 14 year by not stayed survive in a game with GM Daniel Fridman, Rapport doing not normally yesterday defeating Spain GM Vallejo Pons! But tonight Game was Vasily Ivanchuck win to his other Vasily, Vasilios Kotronias. Ivanchuck is in 4.5/5 mode. Black is in danger most of time but White blundered give a celebrated Sicilian win for our Surreal Sicilian game collection:
 
Vasilios Kotronias vs Vasily Ivanchuck
 

 
Not very far away, in New Zealand!, the Oceania Zonal started and running, read this blog to see GM Zhao Zongyuan still dominated the region to have a zonal ticket...but to where??  Can find one page result for this event.

Chennai Open and Gibraltar 2011

Apart from the ongoing Tata Chess Steel, there is a massive chess competition on Indian peninsula. Chennai is hosting an annual event that attracted 300+ players, mostly above 2000+ elo as shown in chessresult.com pairing. But up to last phase, round 11 will see a top rank rivalry between foreign aka. non Indian players. The foreigners are Israelite Nabaty Tamir and Alon Greenfeld facing Ukraine GM Alexander Areshchenko and Martyn Kravtsiv, all four with 8.5 points. Closely behind now is China man GM Ni Hua and three locals Sundararajan Kidambi,  Pradeep Kumar and GM Adhiban B. See Chess result and report here.

UPDATE, Martyn Kravtsiv beat Alon Greenfeld in the last round and clinched the title. He was solely on that because the other pairing,Nabaty Tamir vs Alexander Areschchenko, ended up a draw. Last standing top 5:
1. GM Kravtsiv Martyn UKR 2566 9.5
2. IM Nabaty Tamir ISR 2565 9.0
3. GM Ni Hua CHN 2645 9.0
4. GM Areshchenko Alexander UKR 2671 9.0
5. GM Adhiban B IND 2530 IOC 9.0



On Gibraltar, round one started yesterday with 99% decisive result. Ivanchuck, Onischuk, Nisipeanu, Adams, Short, Caruana and Kiril Georgiev are playing. This surely will going to be a nice show for the end of Tata Chess Steel on next week. Interesting game is in Georgiev Kiril vs Natalia Zhukova games, where a time trouble seem take effect in the very last setup. Official site :  http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/
Top player playing http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/gib2011/whois.html



Tata Steel Chess still give space for leader in almost all three groups till round 9. Wesley So lost moments to Li Chao and Liem gained more point defeating Fressinet.On Group A Grischuk and Shirov on last places, Anand, Kramnik , Aronian and Maxime LV still undefeated.