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Chess Classic Mainz 2009
The 2009 Chess Classic will take place from July 27 to August 2 in the
Rheingoldhalle of the Congress Centre, Hilton Hotel in Mainz, Germany.
The event includes tournaments and Opens in traditional and Random Chess,
with stars like the current World Champion Vishy Anand, Levon Aronian
of Armenia, strong Russian junior GM Ian Nepomniachtchi and top German
GM Arkadij Naiditsch. Schedule below. |
Draws Don’t Count: Exciting Day 2 at Chess960 World Championship
By Johannes Fischer
The second day of the Chess960 World Championship promised exciting chess:
While Levon Aronian with 3 out of 3 seemed to be almost certain to play in the
final, Hikaru Nakamura, Victor Bologan and Sergei Movsesian all had 1 point
and could still cherish hopes for a spot in the final – provided things
went right. Things became exciting indeed, but differently than expected.

Grim determination: Hikaru Nakamura on the second day of the Chess960 championship
Nakamura in particular was determined not to repeat the events from the previous
day. As a result he invested much more time in the opening, which proved to
be a good approach. Aronian was the first to suffer from the “new”
Nakamura. The Armenian got nothing out of the opening and made life really difficult
for himself when blundering a pawn. Nakamura seized the opportunity, grabbed
the pawn and steered the game safely into a won endgame.

Aronian struggling against Nakamura in round four
Meanwhile Bologan suffered from a miscalculation in the opening, which gave
his opponent Movsesian a clear advantage. Though Movsesian let some of this
advantage slip and gave Bologan more chances than he might have hoped for, Bologan
returned the compliment in mutual time trouble, by missing the most stubborn
defense and allowing Movsesian to score.

Viktor Bologan of Moldova
With 1 out of 4 Bologan really had to get going. And that’s exactly what
he did by defeating Levon Aronian in a well played game. Meanwhile, Nakamura
and Movsesian continued the strange gambit they like to employ in their games.
As Nakamura said in the press conference: “Every time we play, the player
who has an advantage after the opening, seems to lose.” Which led Movsesisan
to remark: “next time I know what I have to do. I will give him the better
position.” In Mainz, however, Movsesian lacked this wisdom. He was clearly
better after the opening but suddenly Nakamura’s pieces came into play
and in an attempt to bail out Movsesian sacrificed a piece to achieve a perpetual.
But Nakamura’s king found a way to escape the checks and secured his boss
the second win of the day.

GM Sergei Movsesian of Slovakia, rated 2734
Thus, with one round to go, Movsesian and Bologan had 2 out of 5 while Aronian
and Nakamura had 3 out of 5. But because Bologan had to play against Nakamura
and Movsesian had to play Aronian all four players still had a chance to qualify
for the final.
Probably Aronian needs a rush of adrenaline to play his best. At any rate,
when his place in the final seemed to be in danger, he suddenly rediscovered
the form he had shown on day 1 and scored a fine win against Movsesian. Going
back to the form he had shown on day 1 was exactly what Nakamura did not want
to do. So he continued to play in the same determined fashion he had shown in
the two previous games and won quickly against an overly aggressive Bologan
– and “got the job done” as he put it in the press conference.

The two finalists, Aronian and Nakamura, at the press conference
Thus Aronian and Nakamura both finished with 4 out of 6 to qualify for the
final while Bologan and Movsesian will fight for place three.
Today, the players did their best to make it difficult to name a clear favorite
for the matches. While Aronian dominated day 1 by scoring 3 out of 3 Nakamura
did the same on day 2. But if the preliminaries are anything to go by, we can
expect a wonderful and exciting final. Twelve games were played in the preliminaries,
none ended with a draw. Not to mention the many interesting motifs and fine
combinations the spectators saw.

The setup for Chess960 in the Rheingoldhalle in Mainz
The final will begin tomorrow, Thursday, 30th July, 18:30. Games will be transmitted
live on the Internet – and should not be missed.
All pictures by Christian Bossert for Chess
Tigers/Chess Classic
Schedule of remaining events
GRENKELEASING Rapid World Championship – July
31 to August 2nd, 2009
Rapid Chess, 20min/game + 5s/move. Course of events: Fri, 31 July: first
rounds 1, 2 and 3; Sat, 1 Aug.: second rounds 4, 5 and 6, possible tiebreak;
Sun, 2 Aug: four-game matches, big and small final, possible tiebreak,
award ceremony. Start time of rounds: 18:30h, 19:30h, 20:30h, final additionally:
21:30h. Participants:
Player |
Nation |
Title |
Rating |
WRnk |
Viswanathan Anand |
India |
GM |
2783 |
2 |
Levon Aronian |
Armenia |
GM |
2754 |
6 |
Arkadij Naiditsch |
Germany |
GM |
2710 |
26 |
Ian Nepomniachtchi |
Russia |
GM |
2628 |
113 |
Full
details
|
16th ORDIX Open – August 1-2, 2009
Eleven rounds Rapid Chess Open, 20min/game + 5s/move. Registration until
Sat 1 Aug, 11:30h. Sat 1 August: rounds 1-5; Sun 2 August: rounds 6-11.
Start of rounds: Sat 12:00h, Sun 10:00h. Award ceremony Sun 17:30h. Details. |
FiNet Chess960 Open – July 30-31, 2009
Eleven rounds Chess960 Rapid Chess, 20min/game + 5s/move. Thu 30 July:
rounds 1-5; Fri 31 July: rounds 6-11. Start of rounds: Thu 12:00h and
Fri 10:00h. Award Ceremony Fri 17:30h. Details. |
3rd Mini-ORDIX (28th July) and the 3rd Mini-FiNet (29th July)
3rd Mini-ORDIX Open: Rapid Chess Open for Children and
Talents U14, 20min/game + 5s/move. Registration
until Tue, July 28, 10:30h. Seven rounds: 11:00h, 12:00h, 13:00h, 14:00h,
15:00h, 16:00h, 17:00h. Award ceremony: 18:00h. Details.
3rd Mini-FiNet Open: Rapid Chess960 Open for Children
and Talents U14, 20min/game + 5s/move. Registration
until Wed, July 29, 10:30h. Seven rounds: 11:00h, 12:00h, 13:00h, 14:00h,
15:00h, 16:00h, 17:00h. Award ceremony: 18:00h. Details. |
5th Livingston Chess960 Computer World Championship– 29-31 July
2009
Rapid Chess, 20min/game + 5s/move. Course of events: Wed 30 July: first
set of three rounds; Thurs 31 July: second set of three rounds; Fri 1
Aug.: four-game matches, big and small final possle tiebreak (5min/game
+ 5s/move). Start time of rounds: 11:00h, 12:30h, 14:00h, final additionally:
15:30 h, tiebreak: 17:00h. Participants: Rybka, Deep Shredder, plus two
qualifiers. Details. |