The Quick and the Blind
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The Quick and the Blind

One of the most interesting annual competitions on the calendar is unquestionably the Amber Tournament in Monaco, sponsored by Joop van Oosterom, a Dutch billionaire who is also a former two-time world champion and current #1 of correspondence chess. He names his yearly extravaganza after his daughter, Melody Amber.

Sadly, this blindfold/rapid tournament is the last in the long series that stretches back to 1992 - but the cream of the world's elite GMs are certainly having it go out with a bang with some truly remarkable games, such as Levon Aronian finding an amazing fortress in his Rook vs Queen blindfold encounter with Vassily Ivanchuk in round 4!

That save allowed Aronian to stay in the joint lead in the overall standings alongside Magnus Carlsen, with both on 6/8, a half point ahead of World champion Vishy Anand. In the blindfold tournament, Aronian and Alexander Grischuk share the lead on 3/4, a half point ahead of Carlsen, Anand and Vugar Gashimov; whilst in the rapid tournament, Carlsen leads on his own on 3.5/4, a half point ahead of Anand, Aronian and Veselin Topalov.

For all the standings and daily reports, go to the official site at http://www.amberchess20.com.

And to bid a fond farewell to the Amber Tournaments, each day here at ICC, the Chess.FM team are in action to cover every round. GMs Yasser Seirawan & co-host Ronen Har-Zvi will be joined by GMs Peter Svidler, Jan Smeets, Larry Christiansen, Joel Benjamin, Alex Yermolinsky, Nick De Firmian, Gregory Kaidanov and Miguel Illescas - all of whom will also be providing a free(!) daily GOTD service. There will also be a daily trivia contest to win a one-year subscription to New In Chess magazine (only open to ICC members).

Live coverage start from 9:30am ICC every day (last round starting at 7:30am ICC). Join ICC by clicking here to take part in all the activities and get the chance to win major prizes!

Game of the day

Rd	Date	Commentator	Event	FREE TO ALL
4	Tues, Mar 15	GM Jan Smeets	Day 4 highlights
3	Mon, Mar 14	GM Yasser Seirawan	Day 3 highlights
2	Sun, Mar 13	GM Yasser Seirawan	Day 2 highlights
1	Sat, Mar 12	GM Ronen Har-Zvi	Day 1 highlights

Standings after round R4

N	Name	FIDE	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		PTS	TPR
1	Carlsen	2815	.	.	½	½	.	.	.	.	½	1	.	.	.	.	1	1	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	1	6	2947
2	Aronian	2808	½	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	1	1	1	6	2957
3	Anand	2817	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	1	.	.	1	½	.	.	.	.	½	1	½	½	.	.	.	.	5½	2901
4	Grischuk	2747	.	.	.	.	½	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	0	.	.	1	½	1	1	.	.	.	.	4½	2820
5	Nakamura	2774	½	0	0	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	1	.	.	.	.	1	½	.	.	4	2787
6	Topalov	2775	.	.	.	.	0	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	½	.	.	½	1	0	1	.	.	.	.	4	2777
7	Karjakin	2776	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	1	.	.	½	½	.	.	.	.	0	0	1	½	.	.	.	.	4	2760
8	Gashimov	2746	0	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	1	1	½	4	2764
9	Gelfand	2733	.	.	.	.	½	0	0	½	.	.	½	0	1	1	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	3½	2735
10	Kramnik	2785	.	.	.	.	½	½	0	0	.	.	1	0	0	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	2½	2637
11	Ivanchuk	2779	.	.	½	0	.	.	.	.	0	½	.	.	.	.	0	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	½	2	2561
12	Giri	2690	½	0	0	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	0	½	.	.	.	.	½	½	.	.	2	2594

Chess.FM commentary Schedule


Rd	Date	Host	Analyst
5	03/17	GM Yasser Seirawan	GM Jan Smeets
6	03/18	GM Ronen Har-Zvi	GM Larry Christiansen
7	03/19	GM Yasser Seirawan	GM Gregory Kaidanov
8	03/20	GM Yasser Seirawan	GM Joel Benjamin
	03/21	Rest Day
9	03/22	GM Ronen Har-Zvi	GM Joel Benjamin
10	03/23	GM Yasser Seirawan	GM Miguel Illescas
11	04/24	GM Yasser Seirawan	GM Larry Christiansen

Featuring Chess.FM

One of the great benefits of ICC (apart from all the top-notch online play and tournaments) in recent years has been the upgrade in our Chess.FM service - many members agree that the live Chess.FM commentary and GOTDs from our elite tournament coverage alone is worthy of their membership fee. As a member you also have access all through the year to our regular weekly shows: Ronens Opening Survey (Mondays), Chess Talk and Beyond the Opening (Tuesdays), Attack With LarryC (Wednesdays), Boris Altermans Gambit Guide (Thursdays), Joel Benjamins Game of the Week (Fridays), and Dan Heisman's Improve Your Chess (Saturdays).

Join ICC today by clicking here to view all the regular Chess.FM show - and not forgetting the hundreds of archived shows!

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