3rd HMC Calder Cup gets creative

The HMC Calder Cup is so named as a result of its sponsor, the Alexander Calder company in Holland. The company is named after the prestigious American sculptor Alexander Calder (1898-1976), who was behind the concept of mobiles, and whose work can be seen all over the world.

Nubes flotantes (Floating clouds) (1953), Aula Magna, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela

If you now expect the company to have been founded by the artist, or that it deals with art, think again. The corporate website explains the name: "Alexander Calder's mobile is a metaphor for our way of working as a company. Looking at the various options for job seekers provides new approaches, points of view and perspectives for our customers."

Naming a company after an artist based on a metaphor of their work: chapeau. (NdT: hat's off)

The grandmaster tournament was designed to allow Dutch talents an opportunity to close the deal for norms or titles, and the pre-tournament favorite for this was IM Twan Burg (2506). While the Dutch player did indeed score the best among his compatriots, his third place 5.0/9 was short of the mark.

Alon Greenfeld analyzes with Daniel Fridman after their game

Alon Greenfeld scored a win over Willy Hendriks in an entertaining game

The trophy

Sopiko Guramishvili posted a solid result with 4.0/9, performing over her rating

Tournament winner Konstantin Landa greets IM Jeroen Bosch with a hearty smile

Both Daniel Fridman and Konstantin Landa had a superb tournament with 7.5/9 each and
played a two-game blitz tiebreak to decide gold. Landa won 2-0.

Landa receives his first prize from the tournament director René Olthof: a bottle of wine and a shoe

Final standings of GM tournament

There was also a small rapid tournament organized with Anish Giri, Rustam Kasimdzhanov,
Daniel Fridman, and Benjamin Bok. Games were played at 10m + 3s with each player facing
the other four times, alternating colors.

Giri was the obvious favorite and he lived up to it as he won with 8.5/12

In second was Benjamin Bok who turned in an excellent result with
6.5/12 and a 2722 performance

Standings of Rapid tournament

While chessboxing challenges the athletes to play a game of chess and then a couple of rounds in the ring, with both scores counting equally, here they swapped the boxing for table tennis. The players played two five-minute blitz games and then a set of table tennis to 20.

A final group shot with everyone

Pictures from official site

Links Official tournament site All GM games in PGN All blitz tiebreak games All Rapid 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.