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.

One 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.

Refuting the refutation

By Prof. Christian Hesse

The reverse also has a reverse – Japanese proverb

In his parable The garden of forking paths the writer Jorge Luis Borges examines the relationship between past, present and future. What has gone before is stored up as facts, the future is a developing and dynamic process in which – in whatever manner – one of the logically possible continuations is selected.

This is a metaphor which quite fits the development of a game of chess over time. In chess it is the players who at each fork in the path take decisions as to what course their journey will take. They make these decisions by following with their imagination some of the possible ramifications to as great a depth as they can, by constructing according to their experience an evaluation of the position which will have been reached, and thus coming to a decision about their next move based on calculation and intuition.

The choice of just about each move is the result of evaluations which take some steps in time into the future of the actual position. Thus it is understandable that a manœuvre can sometimes be refuted by another one which arose on the basis of a more far-reaching vision of the future, and that the latter in its turn can be refuted by even deeper analysis, etc.

Position 202 with all its apparent latent energy is an illustration of this process of successive refutations by ever deeper mining operations. On seeing this landscape on the board, one irresistibly thinks that the end is nigh – but whose end?

N. N.–N. N., 1944

Black to move

Black acutely had to worry at once about the threatened mate on h7 and came up with the multi-purpose move 1...Rc7!!. White spontaneously resigned, since he had hallucinations about losing a rook. He spotted the sad fact that taking the agent provocateur leads to mate: 2.Qxc7 Qf3+ 3.Kg1 Qg2# or, even worse, 2.Rxc7 Qd1#.

The subtle counter to the rook move by 2.b5!! with the threat of 3.Bf8+ and mate did not occur to him. In analysis it was thought that Black would then have nothing better than seeking salvation in a draw with 2...Qd1+! 3.Rxd1 Rxb7. But there are also holes in this drawing idea, because the riposte 2.b5 was in its turn parried with a deeper insight into the microstructure of the position: instead of 2...Qd1+ Black can play for a win with the counter-parry 2...Qe2!!, because after 3.Bf8+ Kh5 4.Rxh7+ Kg4 White is mated in four moves at most. An operation which appears to win the day for Black.

But once again there is a reversal of fate: White does not make use of 3.Bf8+, but refutes Black’s winning attempt with the counter-offensive 3.Rxh7+!! Kung Fu fighting!! If Black now continues with his intended 3...Rxh7, then after 4.Bf8+ Kh5 5.Qxh7+ Kg4 6.Qxg6+ Kf3 7.Qh5+ Ng4 8.Qd5+ Kxf4 9.Bd6+ he has had it this time, because White wins the endgame. One flash of wit meets another!

But even then the last word has not yet been said: you see, Black’s best reply to the rook check 3.Rxh7+!! is 3...Kxh7! 4.Qxc7+ and he finally takes flight with 4...Kg8 into a position where he can expect a perpetual series of checks, because 4...Kh6 5.Bf8+ Kh5 6.Qh7+ Kg4 7.Qxg6+ Kf3 8.Qh5+ Ng4 9.Qd5+ Kxf4 10.Bd6+ would once more be favourable for White. So, all in all, a draw!

Is that the heart of the matter? Or can further deep-mining operations come up with something significantly different? The question remains open. But even as such, the above position is a metaphor for genuine fighting chess, a wild, good-going brawl with an open exchange of blows, in which every tempo demands the greatest of precision in positions loaded with dangers for both sides and where the analysis is marked by a series of delightful about-turns in the evaluation.

Replay the position and variations on our JavaScript board

Christian Hesse holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and was on the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley until 1991. Since then he is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Stuttgart (Germany). Subsequently he has been a visiting researcher and invited lecturer at universities around the world, ranging from the Australian National University, Canberra, to the University of Concepcion, Chile. Recently he authored “Expeditionen in die Schachwelt” (Expeditions into the world of chess, ISBN 3-935748-14-0), a collection of about 100 essays that the Viennese newspaper Der Standard called “one of the most intellectually scintillating and recommendable books on chess ever written.”

Christian Hesse is married, has an eleven-year-old daughter and an eight-year-old son. He lives in Mannheim and likes Voltaire's reply to the complaint: ”Life is hard” – “Compared to what?”.

The Joys of Chess

This is an unforgettable intellectual expedition to the remotest corners of the Royal Game. En route, intriguing thought experiments, strange insights and hilarious jokes will offer vistas you have never seen before. The beauty, the struggle, the culture, the fun, the art and the heroism of chess – you will find them all in this sparkling book that will give you many hours of intense joy.

Christian Hesse is a Harvard-trained professor of Mathematics who has taught at the University of California, Berkeley (USA), and since 1991 at the University of Stuttgart. He has written a textbook called 'Angewandte Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie'. Chess and literature are his main hobbies, and he also likes fitness and boxing. His heroes are the ones who fall to the bottom and rise again, fall and rise again…

From the foreword by World Champion Vishy Anand: "A rich compendium of spectacular highlights and defining moments from chess history: fantastic moves, beautiful combinations, historical blunders, captivating stories, and all this embedded into a plentitude of quick-witted ideas and contemplations as food for thought."

• Order the book from New in Chess
• Download sample pages (contents, introduction) in PDF

Neva Women's Grand Prix in Geneva

The Neva Foundation in partnership with the Internation Chess Federation (FIDE) has organised the first leg of the official Women's Grand Prix series for the first time in Geneva. From May 3 to May 15, twelve of the best women players featuring current Women World Champion Anna Ushenina from Ukraine, will confront each other at the N'vY Manotel. The tournament is an eleven-round all-play-all at classical time controls.

Round eleven report (final)

Georgian IM and GM-to-be Bela Khotenashvili managed to play a draw against Anna Ushenina and won the tournament. Her nearest rival, Anna Muzychuk, had to win the game in order to catch the leader, but the Slovenian player didn’t get anything out of the opening and drew against Alexandra Kosteniuk.

“I’m very happy to win this tournament and consider this result as the best one in my career so far. I would like to thank Georgian chess federation, President of GCF Giya Giorgadze and our coach Davit Jojua for their help”, said Bela Khotenashvili at the final press conference.

It became clear in the final round how tired all players were, as they were making mistakes which don’t normally appear in their games.

Katerina Lagno overlooked the piece blunder of her opponent Batchimeg Tuvshintugs

Hou Yifan missed winning chances in the endgame and lost against Nana Dzagnidze

GM Tatiana Kosintseva (above right) had a very good position after the
opening but spent a lot of time and lost against Chinese IM Ju Wenjun

Full summaries of round 11 games here

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Final standings

Statistics Of the 66 games played in Geneva: 20 games were won by White = 30.3% 31 games were drawn = 47.0% 15 games were won by Black = 22.7%

Information and photos supplied by FIDE Press Officer Anastasiya Karlovich

The awards ceremony took place after the last game was finished and was attended by the Director General of the United Nations Office in Geneva Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the founder of Neva Fondation Elena Timtchenko, FIDE President Kirsan Iljumzhinov, and FIDE CEO Geoffrey Borg.

Bela Khotenashvili receives her trophy from Elena Timtchenko...

... and Anna Muzychuk her second place prize from UN Director in Geneva Tokayev

Schedule and results

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 seven

It is getting to the point where one must ask oneself whether there isn’t some hidden aspect of Norway that lends itself to higher than usual levels of testosterone and a strong inclination to fight. Whatever the case, the Viking spirit continues to reign in the Norway Chess tournament as three of the five games ended in a decisive result. So far more than 50% of the games have ended with only one king standing, to the delight of the spectators.

Though the weather refused to cooperate, this was the view outside

The round today was held on the beautiful island of Flor & Fjaere and the players had to reach it by boat. Unfortunately the weather was cold and rainy, but as can be seen in the pictures, in sunnier conditions it must be breathtaking. Though the players have all expressed understanding of the desire to share the event with more than one locale in the country, they have also noted over the rounds that the constant moving and changes have added an extra strain beyond the usual in such a tournament.

The players had to arrive to the venue by boat

Wang Hao and Levon Aronian played an interesting game as the Armenian took risks in against Hao’s  Reti to provoke chances to fight for a win as black, though this was not without genuine danger to himself. Wang Hao acquired a good advantage, though not decisive, and Aronian fought back and eventually drew.

After yesterday’s missed win, Vishy Anand was able to close the deal this time as he steamrolled Teimour Radjabov with on the black side of a Catalan with an ease only possible due to numerous mistakes by the Azeri. Anand commiserated as he commented alone in the press conference, but be that as it may, it only ended as incisively as it did because of the contrasting precision by the world champion. Whatever it is that ails the Azeri, he has withdrawn from the forthcoming FIDE Grand Prix in Thessaloniki to be replaced by French GM Etienne Bacrot. As a result, Anand moves into third with 4.0/7.

A serene Anand had a very clear-cut win today and moves to third

GM Gilberto Milos annotates Radjabov-Anand:

Peter Svidler and Veselin Topalov played a Sicilian Moscow that has been quite popular of late though it quickly degenerated into an endgame. Svidler had hoped to play for an edge, and was quite critical of himself in the post-mortem, as he explained that his gut had been to play 24.b4 instead of 24.f4 as in the game, but for whatever reason he talked himself out of it, which he was not happy about.

Sergey Karjakin is not about to relinquish his pole position without a fight

Tournament leader Sergey Karjakin played Hikaru Nakamura and after his close call against Anand the day before, his state of mind was unclear. The two played a Sicilian Najdorf, with a Dragon flavor, in which the American started out with good chances, but missed the most precise continuation such as 15…Rac8. Nakamura’s inaccuracies led to a very bad position where he gave up the queen for rook and knight and could only wait to see how long it would take Karjakin to put him out of his misery. The Russian did and secured his lead with an anxious Carlsen breathing down his neck.

GM Gilberto Milos annotates Karjakin-Nakamura:

The Battle of the Vikings begins

Magnus Carlsen supposedly played his easiest opponent today, Jon Hammer, rated over 250 Elo less, but that was not the whole story. He has usually had trouble playing his best against his compatriot, and this was one of the greatest reasons the outcome was not as clear cut as one would expect. Hammer played an Open Catalan and accounted himself quite well as he never let Magnus show so much as the shadow of an advantage. As the time control approached, this changed, and several mistakes by Jon left him with a hopeless endgame and he resigned on move 40.

GM Daniel King provides video analysis of Karjakin vs Nakamura and Hammer vs Carlsen 

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Standings after seven rounds

Playchess commentary schedule

Pairings and results of Norway Chess 2013

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.

Neva Women's Grand Prix in Geneva

The Neva Foundation in partnership with the Internation Chess Federation (FIDE) has organised the first leg of the official Women's Grand Prix series for the first time in Geneva. From May 3 to May 15, twelve of the best women players featuring current Women World Champion Anna Ushenina from Ukraine, will confront each other at the N'vY Manotel. The tournament is an eleven-round all-play-all at classical time controls.

Round ten report

Georgian IM (and soon GM to be) Bela Khotenashvili confidently won her game against Katerina Lagno and is now half a point above Anna Muzychuk, who made a draw against Viktorija Cmilyte. Tatiana Kosintseva drew against Anna Ushenina and remains on the third place before the last round. Nana Dzagnidze defeated Ju Wenjun and shares the fourth place with Anna Ushenina, one point behind of Tatiana Kosintseva. Olga Girya and Tuvshintugs Batchimeg made a relatively quick draw while Alexandra Kosteniuk and Hou Yifan played for six hours to finish their game in a draw too.

Nana Dzagnidze (above) didn’t expect her opponent to choose the Dutch Defence and had prepared mainly for the Kings Indian. However, Ju Wenjun, who won with the Dutch against Anna Ushenina a few rounds ago, chose to play this opening again and got quite a comfortable position with black.

It was not the type of position which Nana enjoys playing, but when Ju Wenjun (above) played 21...b5 and let White’s pieces have more space for maneuvers, the Georgian player found good counterplay and later on managed to transfer the game into a winning endgame with opposite color bishops.

The longest and most complicated game of the round was between two former world champions. After the opening Alexandra Kosteniuk (above right) could not find the right plan and “was choosing strange moves”, as she pointed out during the press conference. She lost a pawn but was hoping to get some counter chances due to the pair of bishops. Chinese GM Hou Yifan missed some opportunities to get huge advantage and later on the players ended up in a very complicated endgame with unbalanced material (two bishops, knight and four pawns against rook, bishop and six pawns). After 95 moves the signed a peace agreement.

Analysis by Adrian Mikhalchishin

The famous chess trainer, who coached a number of participants of the Geneva Grand Prix from their pre-teen years, provides live commentary during the games.

Down to 50%: one of the favourites Kateryna Lahno

A new grandmaster: Bela Khotenashvili, with a 2703 performance in Geneva

Full summaries of other games here

Replay all games of the round

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A full summary of all games is to be found here on the official tournament site.

Current standings

Information and photos supplied by FIDE Press Officer Anastasiya Karlovich

Schedule and results

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 six

The spectators enjoy a very intimate view of the elite event

If the sixth round could be summed up in a word, it would be ‘intense’, but to try and define it with one word, would be a slight of no small proportions to the players who gave it their all. They took risks, poured their inspiration and perspiration on the board, and essentially held nothing back. The poor commentators usually have only a game or two to center their focus on, giving brief highlights of the others as they progress, had no such luck today. GM Daniel King trying to make sense of so many sharp positions quailed jokingly “My brain is hurting.”

The first game to end was not a draw as one might expect, but an explosive Gruenfeld between Levon Aronian and Jon Hammer in which the Norwegian entered a line considered dubious, and paid the price for his temerity. Usually the price in such situations is significant suffering, but the Armenian took it on himself to get an early rest as he brought his d-pawn to the seventh rank by move 23 forcing resignation the move after.

A representative of the sponsor Lyse makes the first move

Veselin Topalov and Wang Hao played the only game that did not require warnings to people with heart conditions and played a main line Queen’s Gambit Accepted that led to nothing for either side. This ended in a draw after they had exhausted their options.

The soft-spoken Veselin Topalov and Wang Hao

Although Hikaru Nakamura and Peter Svidler played a draw that lasted one move less than the aforementioned game, it was an entirely different story. The American sprang the very rare grandmaster guest: the Ponziani, which although he has played before in 2007, and was even essayed by Carlsen this year at Wijk, could not have been the prime focus of Svidler’s preparation.

Hikaru Nakamura shows his support of his football team

As it turned out, the Russian was quite familiar with it, but was alarmed at the way his opponent was blitzing out his moves and kept trying to find a way to break away from theory without actually doing anything suicidal. His choice was 9…Bg4, which looked decidedly odd, but the result was an extremely sharp game that had ‘anything can happen’ written all over it. With both kings highly exposed, it was no shock to see it end in a forced repetition after a sacrifice.

The game by Viswanathan Anand and Sergey Karjakin was one of both beauty and tragedy. After his loss yesterday, a big question mark was how the Russian would respond to the setback. In a sense this seemed to presume he was calling the shots, and ignored his illustrious opponent, but the world champion quickly stamped his authority and who was who. Karjakin played the Ruy Lopez Berlin, usually synonymous of exchanged queens and a lot of maneuvering, but Anand was having none of it, and 4.d3 said the queens were invited to stay at the party.

It was an inspired game by Vishy Anand, who came 'oh so close' to
drubbing Sergey Karjakin

The position was nevertheless quite controlled for the first twenty moves, and Vishy was the first to show his hand with a none-too-subtle 22.g4 followed by 23.Rg1, and the Russian responded well with Kf7 and g5 taking his king out of the line of fire, trying to blockade the belligerent intentions of the Indian. It was an inspired performance by Anand as he worked the position with great verve, and seemed headed towards a small masterpiece. Many of the threatened lines, as well as those supporting the moves played, were of great beauty, but a tragic oversight with 48.Rh1 allowed the one tempo Sergey needed to get his balance and after 48…Qb5 threatening …Qb3, the win was no more. A bittersweet moment for Anand who has been showing his brilliance but was unable to close the deal, and a huge relief for Karjakin who had been staring at a second defeat in a row, which he might not have recovered from.

Magnus Carlsen played a game against Teimour Radjabov that can easily be recognized as Classic Carlsen. He played an opening, a Tarrasch, and middlegame that garnered him little to nothing, and entered an endgame where he had a microscopic pull to work with and from there began to brew his potion. It took him no fewer than 40 moves to squeeze blood from a stone, but in the end he moved forward within just a half-point behind Sergey Karjakin and three rounds to go.

Magnus Carlsen has nearly caught up with Sergey Karjakin

GM Daniel King provides video analysis of Carlsen vs Radjabov

Replay all games

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Standings after six rounds

Playchess commentary schedule

Pairings and results of Norway Chess 2013

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: Kamsky beats Ramirez in playoff

Report from Saint Louis by FM Mike Klein

In all three hours of competition, and for more than 150 moves, Gata Kamsky (above) was the aggressor. Despite the constant pressure, he could not 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 two went into a playoff by virtue of being tied after nine rounds of classical chess. Both players had 6.5/9; they drew their face-to-face battle in round eight. Kamksy was undefeated with four wins and five draws, while Alejandro Ramirez (above) had a loss but also one more win, thus necessitating Monday’s action.

Top final standings (after nine rounds)

The playoff

Games one and two 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.

Live video coverage of the games, with Jennifer Shahade and Yasser Seirawan commenting

Maurice Ashley was providing computer and human brain assisted evaluations

Things getting really tense – Kamsky attacking, Ramirez defending precisely

Draw agreed in game one

After a short break, they 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.

One 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 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.

After the tense playoff, Kamsky (above being interviewed by Maurice Ashley after the playoff) seemed more relieved than elated. He flew in from a tournament in Switzerland just days before the championship, and he has less than one week until he competes against the world’s best in Greece. “I just want to get some sleep,” he said.

All 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.

Neva Women's Grand Prix in Geneva

The Neva Foundation in partnership with the Internation Chess Federation (FIDE) has organised the first leg of the official Women's Grand Prix series for the first time in Geneva. From May 3 to May 15, twelve of the best women players featuring current Women World Champion Anna Ushenina from Ukraine, will confront each other at the N'vY Manotel. The tournament is an eleven-round all-play-all at classical time controls.

Round nine report

Both leaders, Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia) and Bela Khotenashvili (Georgia), won their games in this round and continue to share the first place. The Georgian player defeated Olga Girya to complete her final GM norm. Tatiana Kosintseva (Russia) outplayed Katerina Lahno, while the Chinese derby Hou Yifan-Ju Wenjun finished in a draw, as did the games Ushenina-Dzagnidze and Cmilyte-Kosteniuk.

Bela Khotenashvili knew that draw in the game would give her the last GM norm and tried to play safely. As Black she didn’t face any problem in the opening and the position was about equal after 20 moves. Then her opponent Olga Girya played inaccurately and lost a pawn, after which White was suffering. Bela missed few chances to win, and after 74 moves the endgame knight against rook appeared on the board. After five and a half hours of play both opponents were really tired and didn’t play precisely. Olga Girya made a mistake on the 108th move and lost the game.

Tatiana Kosintseva beat Kateryna Lahno with black to move to third place

Second seed GM Anna Muzychuk in a fighting mood against...

... bottom seed Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, rated almost 300 points below

Analysis by Adrian Mikhalchishin

The famous chess trainer, who coached a number of participants of the Geneva Grand Prix from their pre-teen years, provides live commentary during the games.

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On the free day GMs Alexandra Kosteniuk (above) and...

... Viktorija Cmilyte gave simultaneous exhibitions against youthful players

... an event that was enjoyed by one and all

Information and photos supplied by FIDE Press Officer Anastasiya Karlovich

Schedule and results

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Of late, Vishy Anand has been tense and nervous: Kramnik

By Dhananjay Khadilkar – May 1, 2013

How does one beat Vishy Anand in a world championship match? Since 2007, he has fended off challenges from three different players – Vladimir Kramnik, Veselein Topalov and Boris Gelfand. All the three matches were really close yet Anand managed to emerge on top. But now he has a completely different opponent. At 22, Magnus Carlsen is almost half of Anand’s age, is currently the World No 1 and has achieved the highest Elo rating for any player in the history of the sport.

Kramnik, who himself was a world champion for seven years and had achieved the distinction of beating Garry Kasparov (the only instance that Kasparov had been beaten in a World Championship match), believes that age and motivation are the biggest advantages for Carlsen against Anand.

Kramnik will be backing Anand to win

“Chess is not like football or other sports, but still, when you are much older than your opponent, it works against you. (At 37) I consider myself to be quite old. Vishy is even older than me. So that makes it a bit difficult for him. Magnus has much more energy, more motivation as he hasn’t been a world champion yet. Those are his biggest advantages,” Kramnik told Firstpost at the Alekhine Memorial tournament in Paris. He also added that Magnus was probably the toughest opponent possible.

Kramnik said that in order to retain the title, Anand needs to be more relaxed during the match. “Vishy shouldn’t think about the outcome. He should just play and enjoy and try to show his best. If he is relaxed and doesn’t get too tense, he can win. However, lately, he is a little bit tense and nervous. He should try to be calmer and take it easy,” the Russian world No 3 remarked.

Kramnik predicted that the match would be really close. “A world championship match is always played by players who are very close. It cannot be otherwise. Magnus is very strong but Vishy is incredibly experienced in matches and he is a fantastic player. If he gets in best shape, he is capable of beating Magnus,” he added.

On how Carlsen can beat Anand, Kramnik, who had narrowly lost out to Carlsen at the Candidates Tournament, said that the best way was to deeply analyse the opponent’s recent games and build a strategy. “Quite a lot depends on preparation, not only related to chess but also psychological,” he said. When asked as to pick up his favourite in the match, Kramnik said that it’s too close to call. “I want to see a good match. If both prepare well, it is pretty equal. Generally speaking, I would like a player from my generation to do better. But this is nothing against Carlsen,” Kramnik said.

Source: Firstpost sport

Anand is scared of World No 1 Carlsen, says Kramnik

Vladimir Kramnik, former world chess champion and one of the Candidates who was in race to challenge Viswanathan Anand for the world title, believes the Indian Grandmaster has a chance to beat Magnus Carlsen in the world championship match later this year if he stopped being scarred of the Norwegian challenger. “I believe that Anand definitely has his chances. It is absolutely realistic. The only problem that I think Anand is facing is that he – this is just my opinion – is somewhat intimidated by Carlsen. He is playing unconfidently against him – he's scared of him, I would say,” Kramnik said.

In an interview published recently, the Russian said Anand is afraid of Carlsen just like he used to be afraid of Garry Kasparov. “He was never seriously weaker than Kasparov, but just couldn’t play against him,” Kramnik said. “You know, age is taking its toll, so he (Anand) is playing a little worse than before, but he is still good enough. He loses very rarely, and it is extremely important for matches.” Told by the interviewer that Anand does not win too often these days, Kramnik said he does not have to to retain the world title. “One doesn’t have to win many games in a match. It is enough to win one game and to draw the rest. It is clear that he is now match oriented and not wasting energy on regular tournaments. Maybe he won’t be in his top form. His match against me (in 2008) was probably the pinnacle of his career. He was playing brilliantly back then. Even if he gets back to his normal 'good' form, he can still beat Carlsen, but only if he manages to solve his psychological problems. This is a must-do.”

Kramnik said Anand should not be intimidated by the world No 1. “He should relax and not be afraid of Magnus. One can face Carlsen and actually beat him. If Anand manages to prepare himself this way, then I think the chances will be equal. If not, then his chances will be very low. I would say that if he manages to hold the pressure of Magnus for at least six games (i.e., tie at 3-3), then Anand will become a favourite in my eyes.”

Source: Pune Mirror