Mainz 2007 – Aronian wins Chess960 world championship

by ChessBase
8/17/2007 – It was an exciting day, which ended a few minutes before midnight: Vishy Anand and Levon Aronian went all the way to the finish line, with the regular Chess960 Rapid games ending in a 2:2 draw. In the blitz tiebreak it was the Armenian GM who won. In the morning the FiNet Chess960 Open started, with a sterling array of world-class GMs. Big pictorial report.
Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

Chess Classic Mainz 2007

The event takes place from August 13 to 19 in the Rheingoldhalle of the Congress Centre, Hilton Hotel in Mainz, Germany. It includes matches and Opens in traditional and Random Chess, with stars like the current world's number one Anand, who will play in Chess960 (Fischer Random) and in rapid chess tournaments together with Levon Aronian, Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Etienne Bacrot.

Aronian wins FiNet Chess960 World Championship

It was an exciting day in Mainz: Anand and Aronian played the four-game Chess960 match at the Chess Classic for the title of FiNet Chess960 Rapid World Champion. The final started at 8:30 p.m. and ended just a few minutes before midnight.


The final of the FiNet Chess960 World Championship

The match was drawn after four exciting games, with Aronian winning the first and Anand equalising in the fourth. Now a two-game blitz tiebreak had to be played, and it was Aronian who won the first and drew the second. He now has the title of Chess960 World Champion.


The winner: Levon Aronian or Armenia


Came very close in his first Chess960 match: Vishy Anand


The match for third place between Etienne Bacrot was dominated by Bacrot, who won 3:1.

Full standings

Qualifier

Finals

Replaying the games

Due mainly to the specially castling rules (see below) Chess960 games recorded in PGN cannot be easily replayed with regular chess programs or applications. However Fritz 10 can handle these files, in PGN or ChessBase formats. ChessBase 9 or ChessBase Light can also do the same, using the games in ChessBase format.


How about a nice game of Chess960?

Note that with Fritz 10 you can also play Chess960 against the or on the Playchess server. With ChessBase Light you can do the latter.

To do this you should enter the special rooms reserved for Chess960. You can go there to watch the broadcasts of the games being played at the Mainz Chess Classic, or you can play games against other users yourself.

You can also stage tournaments, for humans or for chess engines which know the game.

Picture gallery: 6th FiNet Open

World's biggest Chess960 Rapid Chess Tournament

The 6th FiNet Open, also played with shuffled pieces, started on August 16 and will be concluded on August 17. There is a large number of sterling players participating, as our picture report shows.

Standings after five rounds

Rnk Player Rtn Pts
1. GM Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar 2755 5.0
1. GM Kamsky,Gata 2717 5.0
3. GM Almasi,Zoltan 2682 5.0
4. GM Gashimov,Vugar 2655 4.5
5. GM Volokitin,Andrej 2698 4.5
6. GM Shirov,Alexey 2735 4.5
7. GM Sargissian,Gabriel 2667 4.5
8. GM Lysyj,Igor 2578 4.5
9. GM Sasikiran,Krishnan 2674 4.5
10. GM Bacrot,Etienne 2703 4.5
11. GM Grischuk,Alexander 2726 4.5
12. GM Bologan,Victor 2650 4.5
13. GM Naiditsch,Arkadij 2644 4.0
14. GM Karjakin,Sergey 2678 4.0
15. GM Balogh,Csaba 2567 4.0
16. GM Pentala,Harikrishna 2664 4.0
 
Rnk Player Rtn Pts
17. GM Ivantschuk,Vassili 2766 4.0
18. GM Czebe,Attila 2519 4.0
19. GM Moiseenko,Alexander 2641 4.0
19. GM Petrosian,Tigran L. 2613 4.0
21. GM Bischoff,Klaus 2535 4.0
22. GM Iljin,Artem 2569 4.0
23. IM Al-Sayed,Mohammed 2469 4.0
24. GM Döttling,Fabian 2537 4.0
24. IM Leon Hoyos,Manuel 2484 4.0
26. GM Meier,Georg 2552 4.0
26. GM Horvath,Peter 2445 4.0
28. GM Horvath,Adam 2491 4.0
28. GM Akesson,Ralf 2477 4.0
30. WGM Zhukova,Natalia 2452 4.0
31. GM Gutman,Lev 2408 4.0
31. FM Meinhardt,Maximilian 2378 4.0

Game links are given above


You think this is funny? Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Sergey Karjakin (Shakh won)


The one who does not (boo!) get to play in Mexico: Vassily Ivanchuk


As ever intense: Indian GM Krishnan ("Shashi") Sasikiran


Young Indian GM (and GM killer) Parimarjan Negi


Parimarjan Negi, India, vs Andrej Volokitin, Ukraine (0-1)


Top US GM Gata Kamsky (second from right), posing with the tournament mascots


GM Mohamad Al-Modiahki of Qatar


... and his wife, former women's world champion Zhu Chen
(get her a new, leak-proof pen, Modiakhi!)


Former junior world champion Elisabeth Pähtz, Germany


Indeed you can't, Viktorija Cmilyte, as you showed in Predeal


Top Czech GM David Navara


Veteran GM Vlastimil Hort (in red) facing the daughter Ekaterina of veteran GM Artur Jussupow


Due for a Medal of Bravery: Mainz Lord Mayor Jens Beutel, right, faces Shakh Mamedyarov


And the little ones are calle "pawns" – just kidding, Jens Beutel is a strong tournament player and is discussing the technicalities of the ceremonious first move with chief organiser Hans-Walter Schmitt

All pictures by Carsten Straub


Links
Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.