Hi all,
The rapid match between Karpov and Kasparov in Valencia has come to an end. Kasparov has won it 3-1. Even though Karpov won the arguably best third game of the match, he suffered from a serious lack of proper time management in the other games. At times it seemed as if he was approaching it like a crapshoot in a casino, giving Kasparov two relatively easy wins and one good one.
In this episode of Chess News I do a quick round up of all 4 games.
Enjoy!
During the recent Super GM Tournament in Sofia – Bulgaria, Magnus Carlsen was on the verge of winning it. In the last round however he played to sharply against Alexei Shirov who beat him after tremendous complications in a Sveshnikov. This meant that Shirov won the tournament and that Magnus came second.
Below Carlsen’s game from the first cycle against Veselin Topalov who was also doing very well on his home turf and eventually ended up in third place.
The game was a Moscow variation in which it was difficult for Topalov to get counterplay. When Carlsen initiated some activity Topalov lost the thread in the ensuing complications after which he was fighting an uphill battle. Carlsen decided matters with some nice strokes.
Enjoy!
Waldemar
In a 3.Bb5+ Sicilian, Ivanchuk aimed for a Maroczy Bind. Shirov obliged and fianchettoed his dragon bishop. Shirov aimed for the freeing d6-d5 break and achieved it. Probably in trying to prevent a simplification of the position Ivanchuk pushed his luck a little bit too far. After a nice tactical intermezzo by Shirov he soon found himself at a disadvantage. Ivanchuk could have defended more stubbornly, but after another mistake Shirov showed impressive technique to win the game.
Enjoy the video!
Hi all,
Yesterday Sergey Karjakin managed to win an interesting game against big gun Levon Aronian.
Normally Aronian is very solid, but this time he was a bit too vulnerable and must have been baffled by the young Ukrainian’s play.
Download PGN-file.
Yesterday Carlsen beat Anand for the first time in his life. It was an interesting game with ups and downs. In the end it was Anand who made the last mistake in an endgame where he had been under pressure for most of the time.
Enjoy the video!
An instructive game fragment between two of the strongest Russian chessplayers.
This time it is Svidler who pulls rank on Morozevich by equalizing from an English opening, optimizing the activity of his pieces and litting the fire with a nice sparky pawn-sacrifice.
Hi all, apologies for being away a bit longer. I have accepted a new position as a student coach and that has taken up some of my time. But don’t worry I will also remain chess coach! Back to chess now. Bilbao has provided us with a number of interesting games and this time I’m taking a closer look at the Sicilian Dragon from Topalov – Carlsen. Enjoy!
Yesterday was the first round of the new Grand Slam Chess Final. it is being held in Bilbao, Spain. Magnus Carlsen got of to a great start as he defeated Levon Aronian with black. It reminded me of the candidates matches they played in Elista earlier. There Carlsen put up a tremendous fight to constantly get back into the match.
It could have been quite a vote yesterday, for playing with the black pieces, had Ivanchuk seized his opportunity to capitalize on a promising position against Anand. It is this game that I am taking a look at in the video:
Only the day before yesterday the enigmatic Alexander Morozevich was the virtual no. 1 in the world. Yesterday he lost a somewhat silly game against Ivanchuk, taking too much risks and never seeing back his sacrificed pawns. Today he fought a fierce battle with the American revival Gata Kamsky and lost again after an interesting fight. The video analysis of this last game takes approximately 54 minutes. Yes, I’ve gone crazy… So get your coffee and donuts, sit back and enjoy the ride!
During the sixth round of the Tal Memorial Tournament in Moscow, Alexander Morozevich managed to beat Ruslan Ponomariov in a Nimzo-Indian game. The Muscovite played the surprising 7.c6!? and from there on both players were on their own. Not long thereafter Ponomariov played carelessly, allowing his knights to be bottled up and losing one of them. Even though Morozevich’s technique seemed to waver, the win was never in doubt. In the process Morozevich became virtually the new #1 in the FIDE rankings! Congrats, Moro!