China leads in the Taiyuan Scheveningen

by ChessBase
7/21/2006 – There is a very strong tournament under way in Taiyuan, China. Two teams of six players each are facing each other in a double round Scheveningen. After ten rounds the Chinese team (average Elo 2628) is leading the "rest of the world" (2638) by 32.5 points to 27.5. In spite of our thumbnail: the game they're playing is chess. Big pictorial report.

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The Taiyuan Scheveningen is being staged from July 10th to 22nd 2006, with a prize fund of US $18,000. The tournament is a double round Scheveningen, with two teams of six players each. One team consists of Chinese players, the other is a "Rest of the World" team consisting of two Russians, a Georgian, an Armenian, a Hungarian and a Brazilian.

Taiyuan, the "Dragon City", is an ancient capital, originally constructed in 500 BC, and rebiilt in 562 AD. It has a long history and in ancient times was an important military town. The oldest existing building is the Temple of Goddess, which was originally built in the 11th century. Taiyuan is a city bounded on three sides by mountains, and the Fen River, a tributary of the Yellow River, flows from north to south through the city. The population is about 2.93 million people. At present, Taiyuan is one of China's heavy industrial cities and account for more than half the national coal mining output. China's launch site for launch of polar orbiting satellites, Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC), is situated 280 km from Taiyuan City (the head office of the launch center is located in the city itself).

The tournament

After ten of a total of 12 rounds China leads in this tournament by 32.5 points to 27.5. The top scorers are Baadur Jobava of Georgia, with 6.5/10 and a 2732 performance, and Bu Xiangzhi of China with the same score and a 2742 performance. Ni Hua, Zhang Pengxiang and Wang Yue all have 2700+ performances so far (2714, 2706 and 2704 respectively). At the bottom of the table we find Zhang Zhong of China and Giovanni Vescovi of Brazil, with 2.5/10 each and performances of 2452 and 2442.

Current standings (after ten rounds)

Team A [Elo Ø 2638]

1

Jobava,Ba

GEO

2651

6.5

2

Timofeev,Arty

RUS

2657

5.5

3

Asrian,K

ARM

2635

5.5

4

Jakovenko,D

RUS

2667

4.5

5

Berkes,F

HUN

2601

3.0

6

Vescovi,G

BRA

2619

2.5

Score after 10 rounds
27.5
 
Team B [Elo Ø 2628]

1

Bu Xiangzhi

CHN

2664

6.5

2

Ni Hua

CHN

2607

6.0

3

Zhang Pengxiang

CHN

2622

6.0

4

Wang Yue

CHN

2626

6.0

5

Wang Hao

CHN

2610

5.5

6

Zhang Zhong

CHN

2639

2.5

Score after 10 rounds 
32.5

Picture gallery


Bu Xiangzhi, 20, 2664, China, vs Dmitrij Jakovenko, 23, 2667, Russia


Ni Hua, 23, 2607, China, vs Baadur Jobava, 22, 2651, Georgia


Wang Hao, 16, 2610, China vs Ferenc Berkes, 20, 2601, Hungary


Zhang Zhong, 27, 2639, China vs Giovanni Vescovi, 28, 2619, Brazil


GM Karen Asrian, 26, 2635, from Armenia


GM Bu Xiangzhi, 20, 2664, China


GM Ni Hua, 23, 2607, China


GM Artyom Timofeev, 21, 2657, Russia


GM Wang Hao, 16, 2610, China

Mass simultaneous exhibition


The players prepare to meet the Chinese youth in a mass simul


GM Bu against the youngest and strongest Chinas has to offer


Dmitrij Jakovenko and a pre-teen opponent


Zhang Zhao at work


Wang Hao, not very much older than his opponents


Ni Hua has to work hard in some of his games

Soccer match


Posing in front of an appropriately named club before an international soccer match


Chess players tend to love football and play it with zest and vigor


No head butting in this game, and no name calling either

All pictures by courtesy of the official web site

Previous pictorial reports on Taiyuan tournament


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