'Rising Stars'
maintain two-point lead after round six
The
NH Chess
Tournament takes place in Amsterdam (Netherlands)
from August 19th to 29th. The event is a confrontation between a team of five
young ‘Rising Stars’ and a team of five ‘Experienced’
grandmasters who can look back on impressive and glorious careers. They play a
‘Scheveningen’ tournament, which means that each player of one team
plays against each of the players of the other team.
The 'Rising Stars' continue to lead the 'Experienced' team by two points in the
NH Chess Tournament. In Round 6 both teams scored one victory, while the other
three games were drawn. The standings with four rounds to go: 16-14 in favor of
the 'Rising Stars'.

The 'Wonderful Boy' won with black against Dr. Nunn in R-2 (Photo: NH
site)
In the fight between the youngsters to obtain an invitation for next year's
Amber tournament in Monaco, Magnus Carlsen is leading with 3 points out of 5,
half a point ahead of Sergey Karjakin.
STANDINGS
after Round 6 |
| R. Stars |
16 |
Experience |
14 |
| Carlsen |
3½ |
Beliavsky |
4 |
| Karjakin |
3 |
Jussupow |
3 |
| Wang Hao |
2½ |
Nunn |
2½ |
| Stellwagen |
2½ |
Andersson |
2½ |
| Smeets |
2 |
Ljubojevic |
2 |
|
Saturday,
August 26 Round 7 |
| Experience |
Res |
Rising Stars |
| Karjakin |
- |
Ljubojevic |
| Carlsen |
- |
Nunn |
| Wang Hao |
- |
Jussupow |
| Stellwagen |
- |
Beliavsky |
| Smeets |
- |
Andersson |
|
More details available on the ICC tournament page.
Download the PGN
file.
Mainz
2006: On site illustrated reports by John Henderson
It
was seventh heaven for Vishy “Speedy” Anand at the Grenkeleasing Rapid
World Championship in Mainz, as the Indian ace secured his seventh successive
title and ninth overall as he overpowered his young challenger Teimour Radjabov
on the final day. Anand turned on the style with two classy wins to take the match
and title by a score of 5-3. In game seven, Radjabov fell into an opening trap
that left him clinging to the wreckage as Anand, whose reputed to be the world’s
best rapid player, sacrificed a piece in return for a clutch of pawns and an active
position. The pawn phalanx soon had Radjabov in trouble though, and despite finding
a clever escape of sorts, his position was doomed being unable to hold the rook
vs. knight ending.
With
the Beast from Baku II needing to go all out to win with black to try to take
the match into a playoff, he again found himself struggling by move ten as he
mixed his opening lines, allowing Anand to sacrifice a piece on f5 that netted
five pawns for the piece. Radjabov’s big drawback this time was that he
was also hampered by the bad bishop on b6 and couldn’t make use of his pieces.
As tradition has it in this event, Anand, apart from the winners check, also donned
another black jacket to go with the other eight he already has in his wardrobe!
Meanwhile, there was a more traditional offering of a trophy
for Armenia’s Levon Aronian, as he routed defending champion Peter Svidler
5-3 to take the Clerical Medical Chess960 World Championship. During the post-match
press conference, Peter admitted that he went wrong on move one. “When I
opted to play 1 c4, it just allowed a transposition into a bad Exchange Slav of
sorts for white.” From there, Svidler tried to complicate the game but it
all backfired in dramatic fashion as Aronian went on to win the game. Things then
went from bad to worse for a dejected Svidler – who remember yesterday warned
us that you have to be doubly careful in the opening to avoid losing in three
moves? – as he blundered in the opening, was lost by move two and then was
forced to resign by move 12! Not a good day at the office for Peter.
Meanwhile, back in the real world of standard chess, the Ordix
Open ended in a tie between Rustam Kasimzdhanov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who
both finished on 9.5/11 – however the bragging rights to the title and a
match-up next year with Anand went to the Uzbek GM who had a slightly better tiebreak
score ahead of the young Azbai.
Anand vs Radjabov rapids (5-3) final
Aronian vs Svidler Chess960 (5-3) final
Read the
full illustrated report on the ICC tournament page.
Download the PGN
file.
Canadian
Closed & Zonal Chess Championships
LIVE
COVERAGE on ICC of the Belzberg
Invitational Canadian Championship. Takes place in Toronto (Canada) with the
participation of GMs: Bluvshtein and Charbonneau. $20,000 Prize Fund.
Format: 9 Round Swiss. 1 Game per day, starting Friday,
August 18th, with rest day, Friday, 25 August. Playoffs on Monday August 28th
if required. More information at MonRoi
website.
| TOP-10
STANDINGS after Round 7 |
| # |
Name |
Rtng |
Rd 1 |
Rd 2 |
Rd 3 |
Rd 4 |
Rd 5 |
Rd 6 |
Rd 7 |
Tot |
| 1 |
IM Zugic |
2524 |
W36 |
D18 |
W19 |
W10 |
W2 |
D4 |
W9 |
6.0 |
| 2 |
IM Krnan |
2477 |
W38 |
W42 |
W7 |
D9 |
L1 |
W8 |
W11 |
5.5 |
| 3 |
IM Gerzhoy |
2400 |
W25 |
W22 |
D49 |
D11 |
D26 |
W28 |
W12 |
5.5 |
| 4 |
GM Bluvshtein |
2512 |
W37 |
D41 |
W32 |
W49 |
D9 |
D1 |
D7 |
5.0 |
| 5 |
GM Charbonneau |
2512 |
W15 |
D34 |
W35 |
D18 |
L12 |
W21 |
W16 |
5.0 |
| 6 |
Noritsyn |
2430 |
L16 |
D40 |
W61 |
W37 |
D27 |
W22 |
W20 |
5.0 |
| 7 |
IM Lawson |
2363 |
W51 |
W24 |
L2 |
W22 |
W18 |
D12 |
D4 |
5.0 |
| 8 |
IM Schleifer |
2351 |
W61 |
D35 |
D34 |
W43 |
W17 |
L2 |
W26 |
5.0 |
| 9 |
IM Roussel |
2412 |
W65 |
W21 |
W12 |
D2 |
D4 |
D11 |
L1 |
4.5 |
| 10 |
FM Hamilton |
2370 |
W57 |
W23 |
W47 |
L1 |
L11 |
D35 |
W38 |
4.5 |
|