Lothar Schmid: 1928–2013

Lothar Maximilian Lorenz Schmid was born on May 10th 1928, heir to the Karl Mai adventure series. He became one of Germany's strongest grandmasters, winner of countless medals at Olympiads and team championships. Internationally he was known as the arbiter in great matches, and a one of the world's leading collectors of chess books. Lothar Schmid died on Saturday at the age of 85. Read our report here.

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Click to read the NYT obiturary

Schmid earned his living helping his brothers to run the family’s publishing house, and as a player never reached the pinnacle; but his collection of books ran to many thousands of volumes, and included some great rarities. He owned, for example, one of only ten surviving copies of the first printed book about chess, Luis Lucena’s Repetition of Love and the Art of Playing Chess (Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez), published in Salamanca in 1497. He also possessed all eight editions of Questo libro e da imparare giocare a scachi, published in Rome in 1512 by the Portuguese apothecary Pedro Damiano (1470-1544). The first bestselling chess manual of the modern game (it ran to eight editions in 50 years), it offered advice on how to play and introduced readers to the “smothered mate” (in which checkmate is delivered by a knight when the opposing king is unable to move because he is completely hemmed in by his own pieces). Damiano suggested that chess was invented by Xerxes the Great, King of Persia from 519 to 465 BC.

Read the full article in The Telegraph

Checkmating Alzheimer’s Disease

Could Mind Sports help older adults improve cognitive performance and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s

By Michael Ciamarra

You’ve read the headline of this article. Interesting you think. You nod and move on. What if you notice that you forgot what you just had read a moment ago?

It’s those little things that begin to make you concerned – misplaced keys, forgetting to shut the refrigerator door, driving home forgetting which way you turn to get there. What happens when you cannot remember the person sitting across from you who happens to also be your spouse?

Many know this reality all too well – especially if you are a caregiver or have seen the devastation of Alzheimer’s in your immediate family. The never ending data is alarming and staggering.

Comparison of a normal aged brain and one of a person with Alzheimer's [Wiki]

Every 68 seconds, someone in the U.S. develops Alzheimer’s disease. One in three seniors dies with Alzheimer’s disease. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that in 2013, 450,000 Americans will die with Alzheimer’s disease. Estimates are that 7 million Americans will have Alzheimer’s by 2025 – a 40 percent increase.

By 2050, cost of care for Alzheimer’s is projected to balloon from $203 billion in 2013 to $1.2 trillion, 70 percent of which will be covered by Medicare and Medicaid. Nearly 14.5 million caregivers provided more than 17.5 billion hours of unpaid care. Those numbers will rise over the next decade as well.

Age is the greatest risk factor for Alzheimer’s or dementia, so as our population continues to age the prevalence of the disease will continue to grow. Closer to home, almost 53,000 Alabama citizens are living with Alzheimer’s. In Alabama, by 2025 there will be a 31 percent increase in the disease.

The latest data underscore the need for an urgent global response, including a strong investment in research, to stop the emerging Alzheimer’s crisis. Fortunately, policy makers are recognizing this urgency about investment, research and education. The White House recently unveiled a $100 million dollar BRAIN Initiative and that will take a very important step toward the most dramatic breakthroughs in human health. Brain research is vital for Autism, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, Parkinson’s, traumatic brain injury, mental health, and a host of other concerns.

Chess vs Alzheimer

What can be done to stop the disease or slow it down in the meantime? There exists an intriguing activity that could, indeed, slow or stop the disease. A recent National Institute of Health – National Institute on Aging publication, Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease: What Do We Know? is fascinating. The front cover of the document featured two seniors playing chess! The document affirms that, “Staying cognitively active … through mentally stimulating activities … such as playing games are linked to keeping the mind sharp.”

Further, it suggests that the reasons why an active brain prevents Alzheimer’s may be, “Such activities may protect the brain by establishing ‘cognitive reserve,’ the brain’s ability to operate effectively even when it is damaged or some brain function is disrupted.” Harvard Medical School last month noted, “...exposing the brain to novel activities in particular provided greater protection against Alzheimer’s disease than just aerobic exercise.”

"Chess-Players" by Honoré Daumier, 1867 [source: Wikipaintings]

Does playing chess or any mind sport prevent Alzheimer’s? Could this nearly 1800 year-old game hold a key to keeping your thinking healthy and engaged? Could chess or other mind sports be one of the “preventions” to ward off the 6th largest killer disease in the US?

Chess is in fact a particularly good brain builder! It is a fairly easy game to learn. It takes a little practice but you can play it very quickly and the possibilities of play are endless. Playing games like chess can stimulate our minds, increase our social interactions with others and possibly reduce stress, but when it comes to reducing risk of Alzheimer’s, the type, variety and frequency of the games we play is key.

I am going to suggest, based on my long experience and observations, that any game that is challenging and stimulating will be beneficial to an older adult. Mind sports lends itself to a variety of complexities from various patterns to calculations that stimulate players' brains. Research says that people who don't exercise their gray matter stand a chance of losing brain power when they age.

A “mind sport” doesn’t leave the game outcome to dice or chance or bluff. Although those games are fun and recreational – they do not confer to an individual the same lasting values as a mind sport.

Chess seems like a treatment that works. In fact, people over the age of 75 that partake in leisure activities that stimulate the brain were less likely to develop signs of dementia. Research shows that chess affects specific areas of the brain and the stimulation will shift with the problems that a chess player faces during the game.

We all know that games can be fun and challenging, but if we are interested in actually maintaining brain fitness, then mind sports stimulate all six cognitive areas of the brain at the same time and are the most beneficial.

Those six cognitive areas:

• Short-term memory, used when we remember information shortly after it’s been understood.
• Long-term memory, used when we recall something from the vast store of information that’s in our brain.
• Language, the use and form of words.
• Calculation has two definitions. First, calculation is the use of numbers. The other form of calculation involves assessing the risks, possibilities or effects of a course of action. Playing chess is another way to exercise calculation skills.
• Visual-spatial, referring to our visual perception of objects.
• Critical thinking, our ability to analyze and evaluate situations.

The emergence of mind sports as a tool to reduce our risk of Alzheimer’s is based on using and exercising all six cognitive areas of the brain and continuing the program over a period of time. Chess touches every one of those areas.

It can’t hurt to learn chess, checkers (there are dozens of different ways to play this very beautiful game), Bridge or another mind sport. Those games are easy to learn and are endlessly fascinating. The day may not be far off when doctors recommend a game of chess along with the physical exercise and a healthy diet for older adults! The recreational value will make for a memorable experience and a better life in the future – one you will want to remember.

Michael Ciamarra is a World Chess Federation (FIDE) certified Chess Instructor and a US Chess Federation certified Advanced Chess Coach. He is a member of the American Checker Federation. He coaches mind sports (chess, checkers, etc) to older veterans, and blind and low-vision veterans at the Birmingham and Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center. He speaks to senior groups about the value of Mind Sports as a way to improve cognitive performance and teaches chess and Mind Sports to older adults. He can reached through alabamachess at gmail.com.

You can also visit Michael's Facebook page, which has the above historical 3D chess photograph in its header. It can be views by gazing into the background and bringing the two images together; or if you are not able to use that technique you can use cross-eyed viewing using this image (in which we have reversed the plates).

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Veterans from Tuscaloosa’s VA Medical Center are playing mind games. Actually, they are playing a game that will hopefully strengthen their minds. Chess. There has been some research to indicate that games like chess, which require a lot of brain power, can improve a person’s memory. It could also help to slow Alzheimer’s symptoms. Experts describe these “mind sports” has being like a Stairmaster for your brain. The idea is that when you stay cognitively active, your mind stays in shape.

Experts will be coming to the VA once a week to coach the veterans on how to play chess. For many, it’s their first trying the game. Instructors say they should be ready to play a full game on their own in four weeks. At that point, there has been some discussion about arranging for tournament play with the Birmingham-area VA Medical Center.

Source: CBS42.com

The American Continental Championship took place in Cochabamba, Bolivia from May 06th to May 15th. The tournament was especially important not only because of the presence of almost every top Latin American grandmaster, but also because the top four places qualified for the upcoming World Cup in Tromso, Norway that will start in August.

Lothar Schmid: 1928–2013

Lothar Schmid was born on May 10th 1928 in Dresden, Germany. In 1941, at the age of 13 and at the beginning of his career, he won the Dresden Championship. In 1943, he took second in Vienna (German Junior Championship). In September 1948, at the age of 20, he tied for fourth/fifth place at the full German Chess Championship (12th GER-ch) in Essen. In May 1949 he took third in Bad Pyrmont (13th GER-ch, which was won by Efim Bogoljubow). In 1956 he won in Göteborg, in 1957 he took fourth in the Dublin Zonal. In 1964 he won in Wilderness and tied for fourth/fifth in Zürich. In 1968 he tied for second/third with Tigran Petrosian, behind Paul Keres, in Bamberg. In 1970 he won in Mar del Plata. These are only a few of the successes in a long chess career.

Lothar Schmid played for West Germany at eleven Chess Olympiads:

Year	Board	Olympiad	Score
1950	2	9th Olympiad in Dubrovni	+7 –1 =4
1952	2	10th Olympiad in Helsinki	+7 –1 =4
1954	2	11th Olympiad in Amsterdam	+6 –4 =3
1956	2	12th Olympiad in Moscow	+4 –2 =7
1958	3	13th Olympiad in Munich	+6 –3 =4
1960	2	14th Olympiad in Leipzig	+7 –2 =5
1962	3	15th Olympiad in Varn	+4 –2 =2
1964	3	16th Olympiad Tel Aviv	+7 –2 =5
1968	2	18th Olympiad Lugano	+6 –0 =6
1970	2	19th Olympiad Siegen	+7 –1 =4
1974	1	21st Olympiad Nice	+5 –3 =7

Schmid won four individual silver medals (1950, 1952, 1968, 1970) and two team bronze medals (1950, 1964). He played for German team at twelve Clare Benedict Cups, winning nine gold, one silver, and two bronze medals in 1957–1973. He won first German Correspondence Championship (1950–1952), the first Eduard Dyckhoff Memorial (1954–1956), and came second with in the second World Correspondence Championship in (1956–1959). Schmid was awarded the IM title in 1951, and the GM and GMC titles in 1959.

Lothar Schmid at the Chess Olympiad in Dresden 2008 – photo Frank Hoppe

Lothar Schmid died in Bamberg on May 18, 2013, of age-related illness.

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In 2008, on his 80th birthday, we published a story by Elmer Dumlao Sangalang, a long-standing friend of Lothar. We reproduce this article here.

Lothar Schmid – the Complete Chess Authority

By Elmer Dumlao Sangalang

Lucena's book, which appeared in 1497

I love books. I love to read them. I love to have them. As a result, I have a growing library. And because chess ranks top among my few absorbing hobbies, most of my books are on chess. It is a genuine source of delight for an aficionado like me, that chess possesses an extensive literature which in content probably exceeds that of all other games combined. Each year I have some interesting new book to look forward to. 

Whenever I sit back to relax and appreciate my modest chess book collection, I never fail to think fondly, specially on the occasion of his 80th birthday, of a friend elsewhere in the world who must be two-hundred times as joyous about his – for he is in possession and has direct access to any one of a vast collection of more than 50,000 chess books!

He is International Grandmaster Lothar Schmid, the celebrated bibliophile owner of the largest private chess library in the world. Born Lothar Maximilian Lorenz Schmid in Dresden, West Germany, on May 10, 1928, his love for books must have been enkindled by the fact that his family owned the large publishing firm, the Karl May Verlag, whose management passed on to him when his father died. It is not just the sheer number, but also the quality of his collection that is remarkable. For example, he owns one of only ten extant copies of the first printed chess book by Luis Lucena, entitled Discourse on Love and the Art of Chess with 150 Endings (in English translation), which appeared in 1497.

He also has all eight editions of Pedro Damiano’s book, Questo libro e da imparare giocare a scachi et de la  partite (1512-64). About six feet of shelf-space in his library is taken up by all editions published in more than a century of Jean Dufresne’s famous little primer, Kleines Lehrbuch des Schachspiels (1881). These and many other fascinating features of GM Schmid’s legendary collection have been written about frequently. But does anybody know that it even has a Philippine section?

GM Schmid spent two and a half months of 1978 in Baguio City, the Philippines, as chief arbiter of the Karpov-Korchnoi match. He got to love the City of Pines and the famed Filipino hospitality. His stay, however, was abbreviated by pressing business concerns that required his physical presence in West Germany, so he was not in attendance at the match’s conclusion.

Schmid returned to our country fourteen years later to participate in the 1992 FIDE Congress held in Manila as member of the Commission on Chess Art and the Rules Commission. In the meantime, we became friends through correspondence that I had initiated with my request for an autographed picture in 1982. Along with it, GM Schmid sent me a souvenir booklet/program of the 100th Anniversary Celebration of the Bamberg Chess Club. 

In genuine appreciation of his extraordinary thoughtfulness that I felt I had not deserved, I reciprocated by sending him several of our locally published chess booklets. I was gratified to learn from his response that he valued them even if, in my personal assessment, they were obviously inferior to most of the countless publications he was accustomed to. I was so impressed by such humility from a chess personality of his stature that I earnestly sought out all extant Philippine chess publications and sent them to him to augment his collection. Every time a new book of Philippine origin appeared, I made sure that GM Schmid promptly got his copy in mint condition. In due time his compilation grew in size to develop, according to him, into a noteworthy part of his library that he now refers to as the beloved “Philippine Section”.

Lothar Schmid (right) during the Spassky-Fischer match in 1972

Not to be outdone in generosity, GM Schmid has gifted me with some rare and precious titles such as Das Konigliche Spiel by Petzold and Schachspiel und Trictrac by Kluge Pinsker (Hg.). When he came to our country in 1992, he brought me a couple of limited-reprint vintage tournament booklets as souvenirs of his visit. I treasure and take great pride in them, together with all the letters and chess-inspired cards I have received from him through the years of our friendship.  In mutual admiration, I call them my “Schmid Collection”.

Officiating at the Petrosian-Fischer Candidates Final in 1971

GM Schmid was consistently among the best three players of West Germany in the three decades following the Second World War. As an over-the-board (OTB) player, he represented West Germany in the Olympiads eleven times from 1950 to 1974, winning the silver medal on second board in Lugano 1968. He should have also won two more silver medals for his excellent debut performances on board two, in Dubrovnik 1950 and in Helsinki 1952, but medal honors, besides the gold, were not being awarded in the early years of the post-war Olympiads.

At the Fischer-Spassky Belgrade rematch in 1992

His most notable OTB achievement was shared second place with former World Champion Tigran Petrosian, half a point behind GM Paul Keres, but ahead of prominent contemporary GMs Wolfgang Unzicker, Borislav Ivkov, Jan Donner and Laszlo Szabo in the tournament held in his hometown Bamberg in 1968, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Bamberg Chess Club.

A man of great chess talent, Lothar Schmid also excelled in postal chess, where he holds the title of International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster.  He won the great Dyckhoff Memorial Correspondence Chess tourney in 1956 and subsequently took second place equal with ICCGM Lucius Endzelins, half a point after ICCGM Viacheslav Ragozin, in the 2nd World Correspondence Chess Championship, 1956-58. 

But his most famous chess-related activity involved chess organization. GM Schmid was the chief arbiter of several world championship matches.  With great tack and patience, IA Schmid refereed the 1972 Fischer-Spassky in Reykjavik, 1978 Karpov-Korchnoi in Baguio, 1986 Kasparov-Karpov in London-Leningrad and 1992 Fischer-Spassky in Sveti Stefan-Belgrade.  His study of and training in law found relevant application in the officiation at the highest levels of chess competitions.

As my way of congratulating GM Schmid for having lived life to the full for eight decades of a century, I am presenting his favorite game.  It is not one of his big wins against the world-class players GMs Paul Keres and Efim Bogolyubov and former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik.  What he relishes most is this game against his old friend and fellow Olympic Team member GM Klaus Darga in Frankfurt 1966, given with his light annotations.

GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, 15

Jan-Krzysztof Duda, born on April 26, 1998, in Krakow, Poland, learnt to play chess at the age of five. In a short time he began to achieve significant success in national and international arenas. He won tens of medals in Polish Junior Championships, in different age categories.

In 2005 he won the title of International Champion of Germany in the Under 8 section, in 2008 the gold medal in World Junior Championship Under 10 in Vung Tau. In 2009 he won a silver medal in World Junior Championship Under 12 in Antalya and was awarded the title of FIDE Master. In 2010 he won the bronze medal in World Junior Championship Under 12 in Porto Carras. In 2011 he won silver medal in European Junior Championship Under 14 in Albena.

In 2012 he won the Olomouc Chess Summer 2012 – Valoz Cup GM tournament in Olomouc an 8.5/11 score and with this his first GM norm. In 2012 he also won gold medal in European Junior Championship Under 14 in Prague and was awarded the title of International Master. In March 2013 he won the First Saturday tournament in Budapest with a score of 8.0/9 and with this his second GM norm. In April 2013 he was tenth in the Polish Chess Championship in Chorzów. In May 2013 he earned his third GM norm during the European Individual Chess Championship in Legnica, Poland.

The latest progress chart of Jan-Krzysztof Duda

This makes Jan-Krzysztof Duda the second-youngest GM in the world today

The youngest is Chinese GM Wei Yi, who is sill 13 and earned the title in March this year

Jan-Krzysztof Duda is the member of the professional chess team "Wojtaszek Comarch Team", together with GMs Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Dariusz Swiercz. The Wojtaszek Comarch Team is a project which aims to support the development of the most talented Polish chess players.

Information from Przemek Jahr, photos by Winicjusz Drozdowski

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Chess Prodigies and Mini-Grandmasters

By Frederic Friedel

Child prodigies are a well-known phenomenon in chess, which is one of the few sports or intellectual activities where children can compete with adults on equal ground (another is computer games). The great Capablanca learned the game at four, and was one of the strongest players in Cuba in his early teens. Samuel Reshevsky also started at four and was giving simultaneous exhibitions at six.

Four-year-old Capablanca playing against his
father, soon after learning the moves in 1892

Sammy Reshevsky playing Charles Jaffe at 11.
He tied for third with Janowski, Bigelow and Bernstein.

Youngest Grandmasters

Sergey Karjakin, grandmaster at 12

In recent times we have seen the record for youngest grandmaster in the history of the game topple repeatedly. In 1991 Judit Polgar, a female at that, broke Bobby Fischer's 33-year-old mark by becoming a grandmaster a month earlier than he had done. In 1994 her record was broken by fellow-Hungarian Peter Leko, who a short time later was overtaken by Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov. The latter went on to become FIDE world champion. In 2001 14-year-old prodigy Teimour Radjabov, who hails from the same town as Garry Kasparov (Baku), became the second-youngest grandmaster in history.

But all these records were shattered on August 20, 2002, when Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine fulfilled his final grandmaster norm at the age of 12 years and seven months. He did so at the international chess tournament in Sudak, a town on the Crimea Peninsula. His FIDE rating at the time was 2523.

In the same year Sergey became one of the seconds of world champion Ruslan Ponomariov. This was another record he achieved before he had reached his teens. Although we must be cautious with such statements one must assume that his records will not be broken.

One extraordinary chess prodigy came close. In 2004 Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who is nine months younger than Karjakin, completed his GM norms eight months later than his rival had done. Carlsen, who at 18 trained for a while with Garry Kasparov, went on to become the top-ranked player in the world, crossing the magic 2800 mark as the youngest player by far to achieve both these feats.  

Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen

In January 2011 the youngest grandmaster in the world was Illya Nyzhnyk,
who completed his title at the age of 14 years 3 months and 2 days.

Below we have compiled a list of the youngest grandmasters in history. In the future we may be updating this list, as new GMs under 15 years of age emerge.

Youngest grandmasters in history

No.	Player	Nat.	years	mths	days	born	GM	FIDE
1	Sergey Karjakin	UKR	12	7	0	1990	2002	chart
2	Parimarjan Negi	IND	13	4	22	1993	2006	chart
3	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	13	4	27	1990	2004	chart
4	Wei Yi	CHN	13	8	23	1999	2013	chart
5	Bu Xiangzhi	CHN	13	10	13	1985	1999	chart
6	Richard Rapport	HUN	13	11	15	1996	2010	chart
7	Teimour Radjabov	AZE	14	0	14	1987	2001	chart
8	Ruslan Ponomariov	UKR	14	0	17	1983	1997	chart
9	Wesley So	PHI	14	1	28	1993	2007	chart
10	Etienne Bacrot	FRA	14	2	0	1983	1997	chart
11	Jorge Cori	PER	14	2	0	1995	2009	chart
12	Illya Nyzhnyk	UKR	14	3	2	1996	2010	chart
13	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	FRA	14	4	0	1990	2005	chart
14	Peter Leko	HUN	14	4	22	1979	1994	chart
15	Hou Yifan	CHN	14	6	2	1994	2008	chart
16	Anish Giri	RUS	14	7	2	1994	2009	chart
17	Yuri Kuzubov	UKR	14	7	12	1990	2004	chart
18	Dariusz Swiercz	POL	14	7	29	1994	2009	chart
19	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	14	10	0	1990	2004	chart
20	Daniil Dubov	RUS	14	11	14	1996	2011	chart
21	Ray Robson	USA	14	11	16	1994	2009	chart
22	Fabiano Caruana	ITA	14	11	20	1992	2007	chart
23	Samvel Ter-Sahakyan	ARM	14	11	?	1993	2008	chart
24	Jan-Krzysztof Duda	POL	15	0	21	1998	2013	chart
25	Andrei Volokitin	UKR	15	0	22	1986	2001	chart
26	Yangyi Yu	CHN	15	0	23	1994	2009	chart
27	Koneru Humpy	IND	15	1	27	1987	2002	chart
28	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	15	2	19	1987	2003	chart
29	Suri Vaibhav	IND	15	2	21	1997	2012	chart
30	Pentala Harikrishna	IND	15	3	5	1986	2001	chart
31	Le Quang Liem	VIE	15	3	17	1991	2006	chart
32	Yaroslav Zherebukh	UKR	15	3	?	1993	2008	chart
33	Judit Polgar	HUN	15	4	28	1976	1991	chart
34	Alejandro Ramirez	CRI	15	5	14	1988	2003	chart
35	Arkadij Naiditsch	GER	15	5	?	1985	2001	chart
36	Bobby Fischer	USA	15	6	1	1943	1958	-

Top Juniors

Apart from the age at which they became grandmasters we are also interested in the question or how strong the juniors were at different ages. Garrett Kingman, who is an undergraduate at Harvard University studying and regenerative biology, prepared the following illuminating graph for us:

As we can see Magnus Carlsen was the highest ever rated starting from the age of fifteen. Anish Giri is the second-strongest sixteen-year-old in history, Sergey Karjakin the third strongest. From then on it is Karjakin, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Fabiano Caruana battling for the rank of second, third and fourth strongest 17- and 18-year-olds.

It is worth mentioning that although Judit Polgar only became an official GM at 15+, she was rated a whopping 2555 at the tender age of twelve (after her unbelievable 2694 performance at the Olympiad). We also believe that she was the youngest top 100 player in history.

Judit Polgar's dominance of women's chess back in 2006

Other famous chess prodigies and records

• Paul Morphy, 1837-1884, beat Johann Löwenthal 3-0 at age 12.

• José Raúl Capablanca, 1888-1942, learned chess at the age of four, beat his country's chess champion in a match when he was 13, and eventually became world champion (see above).

• Samuel Reshevsky, learned the rules at the age of 4, and gave simultaneous exhibitions at the age of six (see above).

• Arturo Pomar played in the Spanish Championship at age 10 and became a master at age 13. He drew Alekhine in Gijon in 1944 at the age of 13.

• Boris Spassky became an International Grandmaster at 18 and went on to become world champion.

• Bobby Fischer became US Champion at the age of 14 and a world championship candidate at 15. He went on to become world champion.

• Henrique Mecking of Brazil learned the game at 6, gave some simultaneous displays at 9, won the Brazilian championship at 13, and South American Zonal at 14, and became an IM at 15. He won two Interzonal Tournaments in a row, at 21 and 24.

• Anatoly Karpov became a grandmaster at 18 and went on to become world champion.

• Garry Kasparov became a grandmaster at 17 and went on to become the youngest ever world champion (at 22).

• Nigel Short finished joint first in the British Championship at the age of 14.

• Viswanathan Anand became India's first International Grandmaster at 18 and went on to become the FIDE knockout world champion.

• Michael Adams became an International Master at 15 and a grandmaster at 17.

• Pentala Harikrishna became India's youngest grandmaster at 15.

• Gata Kamsky had an Elo rating of 2650 at the age of 16.

• Luke McShane won the World Under-10 Championship at the age of eight.

• Ruslan Ponomariov became the youngest ever FIDE knockout world champion at the age of 18.

• Alejandro Ramirez became a grandmaster at 15, a month earlier than Fischer. He is the first grandmaster ever in Central America.

• Magnus Carlsen became the second-youngest grandmaster in history at 13, and broke Fischer's record by becoming a world championship candidate at 15 years and one month.

• As of this writing (January 2006) Parimarjan Negi has achieved five IM norms and one GM norm. He is twelve years old.

• Mona Khaled achieved the WIM title and two WGM norms in 2005, when she was eleven years old. At the same time she won both the Arabian and the African Girls Junior Championship in the under 20 group in 2005, although she was the youngest player in both tournments.

• In July 2006 Parimarjan Negi of India completed his final GM norm to become the second-youngest grandmaster in the history of the game.

• In January 2007 David Howell became the youngest grandmaster in UK history, at sixteen years and one month, breaking Luke McShane's previous record set in 2000 by six months.

• On December 7th 2007 Wesley So of the Philippines made his final grandmaster norm at the age of 14 years, one month and 28 days to become the seventh youngest GM in history.

• In 2008 Hou Yifan, born February 27, 1994, in Xinghua, China, became the youngest ever female in history (at the age of 14 years 6 months 2 days) to qualify for the title of grandmaster.

• Judit Polgar earned her GM title at age 15 years and five months, but was already clearly of GM strength at 12. At the 1988 Olympiads she scored 12.5/13 for the Hungarian team, with a 2692 performance. Judit was the youngest player to ever rank amongst the world's top 100, at the age of 12, with a rating of 2555 in 57th place.

• At the Wijk aan Zee tournament on January 30, 2009 the Russian/Nepalese/Dutch player Anish Giri, born on June 28, 1994, completed his third and final GM norm, at the age of 14 years, 7 months and 2 days.

• In October 2009 Ray Robson made his final GM norm, becoming the youngest US player ever to achieve this. He was 14 years, 11 months and 16 days old at the time. Ray was formally awarded the title in January 2010.

• In April 2009 Dariusz Swiercz (born 31 May 1994), became a grandmaster, just days before his fifteenth birthday.

• In March 2010 Hungarian prodigy Richard Rapport made his final GM norm at the Gotth' Art Cup, three weeks before his fourteenth birthday.

• On December 29th 2010, three months after his 14th birthday, Ukrainian prodigy Illya Nyzhnyk drew his penultimate game at the Schaakfestival Open in Groningen to complete his final GM norm. His performance in the whole event was 2670.

• James Satrapa of Canberra, Australia, provided us with the data of four additional players we had missed: Yangyi Yu of China, Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, Yaroslav Zherebukh of Ukraine and Samvel Ter-Sahakyan of Armenia. All have been duly added to our list. We welcome additions and corrections by our readers. James Satrapa sent us data which allowed us to insert Andrei Volokitin and Arkadij Naiditsch into the list. He also introduced us to the currently (July 2011) second youngest GM in the world: Daniil Dubov of Russia.

• Suri Vaibhav, born 8 Feb 1997, became India’s latest grandmaster when he won the Luc Open in Lille, France on April 29, 2012. With this feat he now becomes the 27th youngest grandmaster at 15 years 2 months and 21 days.

• On February 25, 2013, Chinese IM Wei Yi completed his third and final GM norm at the Reykjavik Open at the age of 13 years 8 months and 23 days. This makes him the fourth-youngest grandmaster in history (after Karjakin, Negi and Carlsen).

• See also Chess Prodigies by Edward Winter

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Norway Chess 2013

The Norway Chess 2013 Super Tournament was one of the strongest super tournaments ever and was held from May 7th to 18th 2013 in several different locations in the Stavanger-region of Norway: Quality Residence Hotel, Sandnes (six rounds); Stavanger Konserthus, Stavanger (one round); Fabrikkhallen til Aarbakke AS, Bryne (one round); Flor & Fjære, Sør-Hidle (one round).

Tourney structure: nine-round round robin Time control: 100 minutes/40 moves + 50 minutes/20 moves + 15 minutes + 30 seconds/move starting with the first move Game start: daily 15:00 (server time), last round 12:00 Rest day: 11th May and 16th May Rules & Tiebreak Rules: The “Sofia rules” will apply. A tie for first place will be decided by a blitz match.

Round nine

Round 9: Saturday, May 18, 2013 in Stavanger
Levon Aronian	½-½	Magnus Carlsen
Wang Hao	1-0	Viswanathan Anand
Jon Ludvig Hammer	0-1	Hikaru Nakamura
Teimour Radjabov	½-½	Peter Svidler
Sergey Karjakin	½-½	Veselin Topalov

The fleet of chessmobiles reserved and painted especially for the tournament

The auditorium where the games were played

With the build up that had been accumulating over the last rounds, to report that Sergey Karjakin won the Norway Chess tournament seems almost the surprise, even though he led the tournament through and through. The reason is not a lack of confidence in Karjakin’s undeniable talent, which led him to not only become the youngest grandmaster in history, but probably also the youngest world championship second. No, the reason is that by the last round, no fewer than three other players could hope to steal first either straight out, or by taking it to the blitz playoffs in case of a tie: Magnus Carlsen, Vishy Anand, and Hikaru Nakamura. At the very least, this all promised great fighting chess for the last round, and not an epidemic of short draws as is common in large swiss tournaments.

For those who prefer the more relaxed atmosphere of the live commentary...

... there was a large spacious area with a great view from all angles.

The technical crew responsible for the filming and the broadcasts

The first game to end was Radjabov-Svidler, who played a Gruenfeld Exchange, and very little took place as both seemed content to play it out and draw. The next was a curious one: Aronian-Carlsen. The two played a Queens Gambit Declined in which the pieces came off quite quickly, and ended up in an endgame with rooks and opposite-colored bishops. A draw was agreed by repetition. For Carlsen it meant having to wait and see whether Karjakin lost, in which case there would be a tiebreak, otherwise he would need to be content with second place.

Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian comment on their game

That was the end of the quieter games. With Carlsen drawing, and Karjakin’s game undefined still, Vishy Anand had to believe he could pull out a surprise from behind by beating Wang Hao. Sadly for him, the day of surprises was not over, and an ugly blunder on move 14 due to an oversight sealed his fate on move 16. He tried to find some creative way to salvage the draw, but the Chinese player held fast and went on to win.

GM Daniel King analyzes Wang Hao-Anand 

This still left a chance for Hikaru Nakamura, though his was the most remote as he not only needed to win, but needed Karjakin to lose as well. Winning was the easier part of the equation as he played Jon Hammer, a player rated 150 Elo below him, but accidents can happen. The American made sure there were none, and he beat the Norwegian in a very high quality game, playing razor sharp from beginning to end.

Hikaru Nakamura came in third with 5.5/9

This left the last game still going, and the most important, Sergey Karjakin against Veselin Topalov. The two played a Sicilian Najdorf with Black’s kingside shattered, though not easily penetrated, and White’s advantage in space, also with little room to articulate anything. It seemed as if Karjakin was happy with the draw, which he made clear by shuffling his pieces as he waited for the Bulgarian to show something. Topalov should probably have not insisted as he began a dubious maneuver bringing his king to the queenside allowing White to start hoping for something. It was precisely when Sergey really had killer blows that he chose to repeat the position and accept the draw. One can perfectly well argue that he only needed a draw, and while true, the win was still there with little risk to him.

Sergey Karjakin drew Veselin Topalov for the biggest win of his career

Nevertheless, it concluded what was the greatest tournament result in Sergey Karjakin’s career, taking sole first ahead of the world number one, the world number two, and the world champion all at the same time. Fantastic.

For the organizers and home fans, it was a small disappointment to not have their star holding the trophy, but by all means the tournament was a great success and was well used to develop chess and visibility for the country.  

The venue made sure visitors had the opportunity to indulge in some chess

On the first rest day, the players visited a school to help promote the game
among the children.

Magnus Carlsen dressed the role

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Pictures by the official site

Final standings

Statistics Of the 45 games played in the nine rounds of the Norwegian Super-GM 2013 16 games = 35.6% were won by White 21 games = 46.6% were drawn 8 games = 17.8% were won by Black

Number of decisive games:

• eight: by Hammer (+1 –7 =1)
• seven: by Karjakin (+5 –2 =2)
• six: by Nakamura (+4 –2 =3); Wang Hao (+ 3 – 3 =3)
• five: by Anand (+3 –2 =4); Radjabov (+1 – 4 =4)
• four: by Carlsen (+3 –1 =5)
• three: by Svidler (+2 –1 =6); Aronian (+2 –1 =6)
• one: by Topalov (–1 =8)

Pairings and results of Norway Chess 2013

Round 1: Wednesday May 8, 2013 in Sandnes
Magnus Carlsen	½-½	Veselin Topalov
Viswanathan Anand	½-½	Levon Aronian
Hikaru Nakamura	1-0	Wang Hao
Peter Svidler	1-0	Jon Ludvig Hammer
Sergey Karjakin	1-0	Teimour Radjabov
Round 2: Thursday, May 9, 2013 in Sandnes
Magnus Carlsen	½-½	Viswanathan Anand
Veselin Topalov	½-½	Teimour Radjabov
Levon Aronian	1-0	Hikaru Nakamura
Wang Hao	1-0	Peter Svidler
Jon Ludvig Hammer	0-1	Sergey Karjakin
Round 3: Friday, May 10, 2013 in Sandnes
Viswanathan Anand	1-0	Veselin Topalov
Hikaru Nakamura	½-½	Magnus Carlsen
Peter Svidler	½-½	Levon Aronian
Teimour Radjabov	1-0	Jon Ludvig Hammer
Sergey Karjakin	1-0	Wang Hao
Round 4: Sunday, May 12, 2013 in Bryne
Magnus Carlsen	½-½	Peter Svidler
Veselin Topalov	½-½	Jon Ludvig Hammer
Viswanathan Anand	0-1	Hikaru Nakamura
Levon Aronian	0-1	Sergey Karjakin
Wang Hao	½-½	Teimour Radjabov
Round 5: Monday, May 13, 2013 in Sandnes
Hikaru Nakamura	½-½	Veselin Topalov
Jon Ludvig Hammer	1-0	Wang Hao
Peter Svidler	½-½	Viswanathan Anand
Teimour Radjabov	½-½	Levon Aronian
Sergey Karjakin	0-1	Magnus Carlsen
Round 6: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 in Sandnes
Magnus Carlsen	1-0	Teimour Radjabov
Veselin Topalov	½-½	Wang Hao
Viswanathan Anand	½-½	Sergey Karjakin
Levon Aronian	1-0	Jon Ludvig Hammer
Hikaru Nakamura	½-½	Peter Svidler
Round 7: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 in Sør Hidle
Wang Hao	½-½	Levon Aronian
Jon Ludvig Hammer	0-1	Magnus Carlsen
Peter Svidler	½-½	Veselin Topalov
Teimour Radjabov	0-1	Viswanathan Anand
Sergey Karjakin	1-0	Hikaru Nakamura
Round 8: Friday, May 17, 2013 in Sandnes
Magnus Carlsen	0-1	Wang Hao
Veselin Topalov	½-½	Levon Aronian
Viswanathan Anand	1-0	Jon Ludvig Hammer
Hikaru Nakamura	1-0	Teimour Radjabov
Peter Svidler	1-0	Sergey Karjakin
Round 9: Saturday, May 18, 2013 in Stavanger
Levon Aronian	½-½	Magnus Carlsen
Wang Hao	1-0	Viswanathan Anand
Jon Ludvig Hammer	0-1	Hikaru Nakamura
Teimour Radjabov	½-½	Peter Svidler
Sergey Karjakin	½-½	Veselin Topalov

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

Norway Chess 2013

The Norway Chess 2013 Super Tournament is one of the strongest super tournaments ever and is held from May 7th to 18th 2013 in several different locations in the Stavanger-region of Norway: Quality Residence Hotel, Sandnes (six rounds); Stavanger Konserthus, Stavanger (one round); Fabrikkhallen til Aarbakke AS, Bryne (one round); Flor & Fjære, Sør-Hidle (one round).

Tourney structure: nine-round round robin Time control: 100 minutes/40 moves + 50 minutes/20 moves + 15 minutes + 30 seconds/move starting with the first move Game start: daily 15:00 (server time), last round 12:00 Rest day: 11th May and 16th May Rules & Tiebreak Rules: The “Sofia rules” will apply. A tie for first place will be decided by a blitz match.

Round eight

Round 8: Friday, May 17, 2013 in Sandnes
Magnus Carlsen	0-1	Wang Hao
Veselin Topalov	½-½	Levon Aronian
Viswanathan Anand	1-0	Jon Ludvig Hammer
Hikaru Nakamura	1-0	Teimour Radjabov
Peter Svidler	1-0	Sergey Karjakin

What a round it was, and no one could possibly have predicted its results unless they were oracles or madmen. Anyone hoping to have the tournament defined by now will have to wait until tomorrow for the grand finale where you can be assured of exciting chess.

The start of the day was understandably quiet, but those watching the live video feed from the official site were rewarded with some wonderful insights into Norwegian culture as today was May 17th. For non-Norwegians, this is a meaningless statement other than the date itself, but for Norwegians it is their National Day, to celebrate the creation of their constitution 199 years ago on May 17, 1814. Just as in many other countries, people from around the nation celebrate it by wearing clothes to honor their country. In the US for example, aside from festivities, the red, white, and blue colors and the flag itself are found everywhere, whereas in Norway, people and youths wear traditional Norwegian garb.

Norwegian girls show their support of the National Day by wearing traditional clothes. When asked they said that all their friends would be similarly dressed.

Even the tournament director wore traditonal clothing

That is, youths up to seventeen years old. Why not eighteen? That particular lot is getting ready to face their final high school exams to enter college and are part of a very different and quite unique Norwegian tradition: the Russ. The Russ prepare their exams the way all wild teenagers in the world would like to: an endless three-week party. From April 26 to May 17, the National Day, participants wear colored overalls, drive matching cars, vans, or buses, and celebrate almost continually during this period. Drunkenness, and public disturbances are regularly linked to the celebration. Several Russ came to visit the tournament, displaying their clothes, and even singing some choice songs such as … The Spice Girls. A lot of fun, and incredibly charming.

This group of Russ sung Spice Girls for the audience without even a soundtrack

The pants bore all manner of decoration, including patches of events, things they support, and signatures and messages by friends.

The string she is holding bore knots along its length, each from events and places they had been to.

It bears mentioning that if the Chess Olympiad next year in Norway is held during any period other than Russfeiring, protests and boycotts can be expected.

The first game to end was also the only lackluster bout of the day. Veselin Topalov and Levon Aronian played the Rubinstein variation of the Nimzo-Indian and followed the game Grischuk-Leko played just a month ago. By the time they stopped following their example, eighteen moves had been played and the endgame left was as lifeless as in the reference. They repeated moves a dozen moves later and that was that.

The next game to end was Vishy Anand against Jon Hammer. Contrary to Magnus Carlsen who had been more or less forced to depend on an error by his compatriot, the world champion chose a very different road. Although the opening can be classified as a Gruenfeld, there was not much about the game that warranted being called that, and even Jon Hammer after the game said he preferred to just call it a fight. Vishy began by sacrificing one pawn, then a second and went all out on the attack. It was a very positive approach to the fight that warmed one’s heart. He admitted after that despite tremendous amounts of calculations, at some point he thought he might be losing control of the game, and the variations that had seemed great at first were now seeming like draws. It was beginning to seem a bit strained when an opportunity came up, rewarding him for his vivacious play, and a Nxf7 came down like a bolt of lightning, defining the game for good. He kept it simple and brought home the bacon for a sensational win bringing him to 5.0/8.

It is worth mentioning that this morning, before the game, Jon had posted in his Twitter that in honor of the Norwegian National Day, it would be nice to beat the world champion. Sadly for him, this post did not have the effect desired, and instead of causing Anand to tremble in fear, it brought down the wrath of Siddhartha on the board.

GM Daniel King provides video analysis of Anand vs Hammer 

The next game was the wonderfully complicated struggle between Hikaru Nakamura and Teimour Radjabov. With Radjabov’s run of terrible form, it was not exactly a shock to find Nakamura on the winning side, but it was not as simple as that, and the Sicilian Kalashnikov they played was full of dynamic twists and turns that enthralled. Though the American missed the spectacular win 34.Nf5!! it did not change the outcome and Nakamura scored the point.

Hikaru Nakamura is on +1 so far, a respectable result in such a field

By the time all this had taken place, two games were left, Svidler-Karjakin and Carlsen-Hao, and both seemed destined for a draw. They say lightning never strikes the same place twice, but today it did.

In the popular Berlin variation of the Ruy Lopez, Peter Svidler played some last minute preparation that he came up with a half hour before the round began. Needless to say, one can only imagine the wonders he could produce with 45 minutes. As it was, the move he found for black (he was white) was precisely what Sergey Karjakin played, and the game was pretty much equal by move ten. Perhaps this was what Svidler needed as he punched back with creativity and came up with the strong idea 14.a4. Sergey was not easily taken down, and the fight swung back and forth with both players holding the advantage at different moments as Karjakin held queen, rook and two passed pawns against Svidler’s queen and two bishops.

It was a tough day for Sergey Karjakin, but he still retains his lead going into the last round.

The decisive mistake came with 47...Rc3? which sealed the fate of Karjakin after which Svidler found all the right moves. The game had been so stressful and complicated, that when Svidler appeared in the pres conference, Simen Agdestein asked him if he wanted anything, such as coffee perhaps. Peter replied, “A new head would do.” This loss left Karjakin on 5.5/8, leaving Carlsen a chance to catch up with him for the last round.

At this juncture, with both Magnus Carlsen and Wang Hao deep in thought, another guest was brought to the table, and quite an unexpected one: Lars Monsen. For those who do not know who he is, Lars Monsen is a famous adventurer and journalist who has not only made many extreme hiking expeditions, such as crossing Canada through to Alaska on foot, much of which he documented both in book and film, later edited in documentaries. He regaled the audience with his stories involving his extensive experience with bears, from grizzly bears, black bears, and even polar bears, as well as what to do. He even has a book detailing this. More importantly to all this, was not simply a talk show with a fascinating personality, but the fact that he is a genuine chess buff who plays online every day, and during his expeditions always carries a set and book to peruse in his tent at night or during storms.

Lars Monsen: famous adventurer, journalist, author, and true chess buff

When asked about his opinion of the royal game, and the rekindled debate in Norway on whether it is a sport or not, he showed a perfect understanding of the reality of professional play, and said that even from a purely physical perspective, it was clear that the player with the best physical shape would be best prepared to face the toils of long events and the inevitable exhaustion that would sink in at the end. As he left, the game between Carlsen and Hao was reaching its crux.

Magnus Carlsen wrote on Twitter: Tough loss in @NorwayChess, now sharing 2.place with Anand before last round. Too many bad decisions today, got what I deserved in the end.

The game between Magnus Carlsen and Wang Hao seemed to be a typical game by the Norwegian. The opening was nothing unusual as they played a Symmetrical English with neither side getting anything special. It was fairly balanced and went into an endgame where Carlsen hoped to outplay his opponent as he has done to so many others. Somehow, that is not at all what happened, and Magnus went deeply astray as he lost a pawn, but even so the general feeling was that Carlsen would suffer but draw. Most grandmasters were not especially interested in the foregone conclusion and merely awaited the expected result to be announced. Instead, Magnus went on to badly misplay the ending and found himself in a very iffy position. His final and deciding mistake was 64.Kg2? which left the Chinese player with a  choice between two winning moves, and the rest he was able to calculate to the end.

This astonishing turn of events left the podium wide open with Sergey Karjakin on 5.5/8 and both Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand on 5.0/8. In the event of a tie for first, the top finishers will play a blitz match, or tournament if three tie for first, to decide the winner. Don’t miss it.

Replay all games

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Pictures by the official site

Standings after eight rounds

Playchess commentary schedule

Date	Round	English	German
May 18	Round 9	Maurice Ashley	Klaus Bischoff

Pairings and results of Norway Chess 2013

Round 1: Wednesday May 8, 2013 in Sandnes
Magnus Carlsen	½-½	Veselin Topalov
Viswanathan Anand	½-½	Levon Aronian
Hikaru Nakamura	1-0	Wang Hao
Peter Svidler	1-0	Jon Ludvig Hammer
Sergey Karjakin	1-0	Teimour Radjabov
Round 2: Thursday, May 9, 2013 in Sandnes
Magnus Carlsen	½-½	Viswanathan Anand
Veselin Topalov	½-½	Teimour Radjabov
Levon Aronian	1-0	Hikaru Nakamura
Wang Hao	1-0	Peter Svidler
Jon Ludvig Hammer	0-1	Sergey Karjakin
Round 3: Friday, May 10, 2013 in Sandnes
Viswanathan Anand	1-0	Veselin Topalov
Hikaru Nakamura	½-½	Magnus Carlsen
Peter Svidler	½-½	Levon Aronian
Teimour Radjabov	1-0	Jon Ludvig Hammer
Sergey Karjakin	1-0	Wang Hao
Round 4: Sunday, May 12, 2013 in Bryne
Magnus Carlsen	½-½	Peter Svidler
Veselin Topalov	½-½	Jon Ludvig Hammer
Viswanathan Anand	0-1	Hikaru Nakamura
Levon Aronian	0-1	Sergey Karjakin
Wang Hao	½-½	Teimour Radjabov
Round 5: Monday, May 13, 2013 in Sandnes
Hikaru Nakamura	½-½	Veselin Topalov
Jon Ludvig Hammer	1-0	Wang Hao
Peter Svidler	½-½	Viswanathan Anand
Teimour Radjabov	½-½	Levon Aronian
Sergey Karjakin	0-1	Magnus Carlsen
Round 6: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 in Sandnes
Magnus Carlsen	1-0	Teimour Radjabov
Veselin Topalov	½-½	Wang Hao
Viswanathan Anand	½-½	Sergey Karjakin
Levon Aronian	1-0	Jon Ludvig Hammer
Hikaru Nakamura	½-½	Peter Svidler
Round 7: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 in Sør Hidle
Wang Hao	½-½	Levon Aronian
Jon Ludvig Hammer	0-1	Magnus Carlsen
Peter Svidler	½-½	Veselin Topalov
Teimour Radjabov	0-1	Viswanathan Anand
Sergey Karjakin	1-0	Hikaru Nakamura
Round 8: Friday, May 17, 2013 in Sandnes
Magnus Carlsen	0-1	Wang Hao
Veselin Topalov	½-½	Levon Aronian
Viswanathan Anand	1-0	Jon Ludvig Hammer
Hikaru Nakamura	1-0	Teimour Radjabov
Peter Svidler	1-0	Sergey Karjakin
Round 9: Saturday, May 18, 2013 in Stavanger
Levon Aronian		Magnus Carlsen
Wang Hao		Viswanathan Anand
Jon Ludvig Hammer		Hikaru Nakamura
Teimour Radjabov		Peter Svidler
Sergey Karjakin		Veselin Topalov

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

US Championships: The Playoff against Gata Kamsky

As reported Gata Kamsky and Alejandro Ramirez tied for first in the 2013 US Championship, each scoring 6.5/9 points. Both players had drawn their face-to-face battle in round eight; Kamksy was undefeated with four wins and five draws, while Ramirez had a loss but also one more win. All this necessitated a playoff for the title.

The playoff took place on Monday, May 13. In all three hours of competition, and for more than 150 moves, Gata Kamsky (above) was the aggressor, but he found himself unable to break through the stalwart and creative endgame defense of Ramirez – until the waning moments. “It feels a bit awkward,” Kamsky said. “I consider us equals. Someone just got luckier than the other.”

The suprise challenger to Kamsky's supreme dominance in the 2013 US Championship was Alejandro Tadeo Ramírez Álvarez. Ramirez was born in San José, Costa Rica, June 21, 1988 and at the age of 15, he became the first Centro-American to achieve the Grandmaster chess title, and at the time also became the second youngest chess grandmaster in the world. Alej started playing chess at the age of four after watching the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer", and with the guidance of his father and mentor Jorge Ramírez, made rapid progress. At the age of 13 he earned a notable draw against Russian super grandmaster Alexander Morozevich during the Chess Olympiad 2002 in Bled.

The first grandmaster norm was obtained at the age of 14 by scoring 7.0/9 at the Capablanca in Memoriam Tournament in La Habana in May 2003. The second norm was obtained at the age of 15, when he tied for first place in the Zonal Tournament in Guayaquil, Ecuador. In this tournament Alejandro also got the right to participate in the World Chess Championship 2004, becoming the only centro-American ever to participate in such a magnum event, which was held in Libya. He obtained his third norm at the age of 15, gaining seven points in the Los Inmortales Tournament at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in November 2003.

Ramírez won first place in the Morelia Open 2008 and first place in the US Chess Open 2010 held in Irvine, California. In January 2011 he stopped representing Costa Rica, and is now listed as a US Chess player. He lives in Dallas, Texas, where he graduated from the University of Texas with a Masters Degree in Arts & Technology / Design and Production of Videogames. He is now a co-editor of the ChessBase news site, where his technical expertise, quick-witted personality and entertaining writing style are greatly appreciated. He has recorded three training DVDs so far – the first was published at the beginning of this year, the other two will follow in the coming weeks.

The playoff – summaries by FM Mike Klein

Games one and two of the playoff for the 2013 US Championship were played at a time control of 25 minutes per player with a five second increment per move. Ramirez seemed determined not to get behind on the clock, but an early misstep allowed Kamsky to embed a knight on d5. Shortly after, Black’s pawns were crippled, but Ramirez found all the necessary countermeasures to prevent any white pawn from reaching paydirt. Of the many players who were spectating, GM Robert Hess said Kamsky did not need to be so quick to exchange his best piece.

Things getting really tense – Kamsky attacking, Ramirez defending precisely

Draw agreed in game one

Game two

After a short break, the players switched colors and resumed the rapid play. This time Kamsky broke through on the queenside, and probed Ramirez’s position with his rook. The minor pieces traded and another rook-and-pawn ending was reached, with Kamsky having all the chances.

Onec again Ramirez was up to the task, using a stalemate tactic to extend the tiebreak

The rare ending to a grandmaster game caused the supremely focused Kamsky to look at the crowd and laugh. Later, he said he had almost the same ending at the World Cup in 2011 against GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, but was able to win that game.

The Armageddon

The rules dictated that in case of a 1-1 tie, the playoff would end in an Armageddon match, where players bid for time and color. In sealed envelopes, Ramirez wrote the time 19:45, while Kamsky’s envelope read 20 minutes even. Ramirez thus got 19:45 to Kamsky’s 45 minutes, while Ramirez had black and draw odds.

The two reprised the opening from their first rapid game. Kamsky, needing to win, decided to keep all the minor pieces on the board this time. He slowly increased his square domination while Ramirez listlessly shuffled pieces round the last two ranks. Eventually Kamsky pushed forward, and Ramirez, getting low on time, decided to take his chances in an opposite-colored bishop endgame.

With Ramirez playing only on increment, he could not defend once Kamsky got his third passed pawn. Ramirez resigned after Kamsky denuded black’s best defenders. After the game, Kamsky told Ramirez that 37…e5 was the critical mistake, without which Black should hold. Ramirez agreed, explaining that he did not see 39…g4 in his calculations. “I was starting to get really nervous,” Kamsky said. “It wasn’t clear until the last move.”

Ramirez said the experience of playing worse positions was “torture”, then he was reminded that he still pockets $20,000. “I’ve never won that much in chess, ever,” he said.

Photos by Tony Rich, Saint Louis Chess Club

Official tournament site All games in PGN: Open section + Playoff + Women Reports on the rounds + analysis The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.