News - Page 2

28th January 2007

Corus 2007

The annual Corus GMA, B and C tournaments in Wijk aan Zee Holland have ended. The GMA event finished in a three way tie for first place between GM Levon Aronian (ARM), GM Teimour Radjabov (AZE) and GM Veselin Topalov (BUL). Radjabov and Topalov drew their game in a rather unusual and cautious way and Aronian beat Tiviakov. Kramnik the current World Champion finished with 8 only half a point behind the leaders. He beat Van Wely in fine style in the last round whilst Svidler lost to Karjakin.

CORUS A Wijk ann Zee NED 2007

Final standings

CORUS B Wijk ann Zee NED 2007

Final standings

CORUS C Wijk ann Zee NED 2007

Final standings

View games (all sections)  Download games (PGN, all sections) Official website: www.coruschess.com Video Reports: www.chessvibes.com Additional info. on the BCM website, Chessbase and TWIC.

29th December 2006

Nigel Short joins our Forum

GM Nigel Short MBE, Commonwealth Chess Champion, President of the Commonwealth Chess Association, winner of the EU Championships 2006 (Liverpool) and English Champion has just joined our Forum.
 

Nigel is a noted chess writer. He has written columns and book reviews for the British newspapers The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and The Spectator. He wrote The Sunday Telegraph chess column for a decade. He most recently wrote for The Guardian. His final column appeared on October 19, 2006. He also reported on the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 in San Luis, Argentina, for ChessBase.

Nigel has individually coached young prodigies Pentala Harikrishna, Sergey Karjakin, David Howell and Parimarjan Negi. His first team assignment, with the Islamic Republic of Iran, led to them taking bronze medal at the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, in 2006. He has enjoyed considerable success as a match player too, crushing the US Champion Lev Alburt in Foxboro 1985 by the score of 7-1 (+6,=2). He has also defeated Utut Adianto (+3,=3) in Jakarta 1995, Etienne Bacrot in Albert 2000 (+3,=2,-1), Hannes Stefansson in Reykjavík 2002 (+4,=1,-1) and Ehsan Ghaem Maghami in Tehran 2003 (+2,=4) [read more]

6th December 2006

David Ionovich Bronstein, February 19, 1924 - December 5, 2006

Bronstein at 77

Widely considered to be one of the greatest post-war players not to have won the world championship (an accolade he shares with the likes of Paul Keres, Victor Korchnoi and Bent Larsen), he came agonizingly close to his goal when he drew the Moscow challenge match for the title of world champion by a score of 12-12 with Mikhail Botvinnik, the reigning champion. Bronstein led by one point with two games to go, but lost the 23rd game and drew the 24th and final game. Under FIDE rules, the title remained with the holder, and Bronstein was never to come so close again.

Bronstein learned chess at age six from his grandfather. As a youth in Kiev, he was trained by the renowned International Master Alexander Konstantinopolsky. He achieved the Master title at age 16 for his second-place result in the 1940 Ukrainian Championship, behind Isaac Boleslavsky, who became a very close friend and chess companion. His first international tournament success occurred at the Saltsjöbaden Interzonal of 1948, which he won. He qualified for the Candidates Tournament of 1950 in Budapest, becoming the eventual winner over Boleslavsky in a (Moscow) 1950 play-off. The period 1945-50 saw a meteoric rise in Bronstein's development, as he prepared for the world title challenge match, in 1951 ... more

More tributes on Chessbase, TWIC and our forum. And also more links from John Saunder's BCM site: The Guardian (Leonard Barden), ECF (Stewart Reuben), Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Independent (Bill Hartston) and Google News.

5th December 2006 .        . Vladimir Kramnik lost his 6 game match against Deep Fritz 10. He never seemed to recover from his 2nd round careless mate in one, defeat. To be fair he did demonstrate ways to combat the computer with splendid endgame play but it appears he was simply out-gunned overall. He won't feel too bad however now that he's tucked away another £250,000 or thereabouts. Not bad for 10 or 11 days 'work'. Kramnik played a very spirited final game and it was a very double-edged encounter, with the computer playing some unusual and deep ideas to gain the upper hand and win the game on move 47. The event was staged from November 25th until December 5th in the National Art Gallery in Bonn. It was sponsored by RAG AG, one of Europe's largest energy companies. If Kramnik had won the match he would have taken home a hefty prize of one million US dollars (£505,204) but got half of that even though he lost. Full reports of each round with excellent photos and analysis and downloads on Chessbase. More reports and details also available on the Official website.   . Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 . Deep Fritz 10 - ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 4 Vladimir Kramnik 2760 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 2

26th November 2006

MCA Direct Membership scheme for the ECF

Merseyside Chess Association is today pleased to announce the launch of its new Direct Membership scheme for membership of the English Chess Federation.

For only £10 for adults, £5 for juniors, members will receive

- Direct membership of the ECF
- Eligibility to participate in ECF member only events
- Direct members discounts at congresses
- Downloaded copies of 'Chess moves'
- Exemption from ECF Game Fee
- Inclusion on ECF & FIDE Grading lists as appropriate
- Voting rights for ECF elections for Direct members representatives

Please find attached a letter from MCA President Jim Wiseman which explains the background to the MCA scheme in more detail, the sign-up process, and the impact on MCA Competition rules for club members, including those who have already joined ECF or an alternative membership scheme.

Also attached is a copy of the sign-up form that each member should complete, sign and forward to their club secretary with their membership fee (£10 Adult, £5 Junior).

Club Secretaries will be receiving a separate communication by post and/or email, which includes a copy of the formal agreement between MCA and ECF, also further copies of the individual membership forms and a club summary membership form, which should be returned by post to MCA President Jim Wiseman with ECF fee payment.

Invoices for League Fees (which should be sent to me as MCA Treasurer) will also be included. In accordance with my proposal at the AGM, as an ECF membership scheme is now in place, League fees have been reduced to £6 per board.

If you have any queries or comments on the MCA Direct member scheme, please contact Jim Wiseman at jim-wiseman@blueyonder.co.uk or any of the other MCA sub-committee members detailed in Jim's letter.

If you have difficulty opening the attachments, please contact me at RalphStuttard@compuserve.com

For any other Merseyside Chess Association query, please contact the Secretary John Davis at johndavis@beziers.freeserve.co.uk

Ralph Stuttard
MCA Treasurer

Jim's letter (address withheld from website only)

ECF MEMBERSHIP UPDATE AND GUIDELINES

After some considerable deliberation, delay and uncertainty, Merseyside Chess Association (MCA) are pleased to announce that we have received confirmation from the English Chess Federation (ECF) that we are now registered as a Membership Organisation (MO), so that Chess players in Merseyside may become Direct Basic members of the ECF through our membership scheme.

1. BACKGROUND

The MCA Committee agreed at its last committee meeting to establish a Direct MO Registration Scheme once it became clear that the Northern Counties Chess Union NMS scheme would no longer provide ECF affiliation.

MCA Competition rules require that all players (other than those occasional players who will play four games or less in a season) have ECF affiliation though a membership scheme or through Direct membership.  Now that we have achieved MO registration, this enables all MCA club members to join the ECF through the MCA scheme, and the MCA Committee hope that all players will now register for it..

However, due to the protracted delays we recognise that some members have already joined the NMS scheme.  The Committee have decided that for this year only, in view of the delays, it would be unreasonable to now insist that those members who have already joined the NMS should pay the ECF registration fee of £10.00 on top of the NMS fee.  Those members who have registered with the NMS will be expected to ensure that their ECF Game Fee is paid for all MCA games.  We understand that it is the intention of the NMS to pay this directly to the ECF for all games (including those played under the MCA umbrella).

Unless you are already a NMS member, or already have ECF membership, all other club members should pay the £10.00 ECF registration fee for 2006/07 at their very earliest convenience.

2. MCA RULES

In respect of the MCA rule which states that all club members must have paid their registration fee before they have played 5 MCA games, ordinarily, once a player has competed in 4 games then s/he would be barred from playing any more until ECF registration was confirmed.

Clearly, that is unworkable for this season again due to the untimely delay.

Consequently, and again for season 2006/07 only, the MCA Committee is allowing club members to continue to play beyond 4 games on the understanding that they both intend to and will so register with the ECF in accordance with the process outlined below. Clearly, this is an act of good faith on the part of the Committee and is dependent upon the good cooperation of the MCA membership.

3. ECF MEMBERSHIP PROCESS

The secretary of each club will receive the following:-

1. A copy of the agreement between the MCA and the ECF

2. An application form that each club member must complete and sign (NMS registered players and club members who have already joined the ECF as Direct Members are exempted).

3. A print-out extract from the ECF grading web-site listing those members with a current grade
who have previously played for the club.

4. A Club Summary Membership form to identify all its members and provide evidence of each member either having:-

a. Completed the ECF Application Form

b. a NMS registration No. for 2006/07

c.  an ECF direct membership No. for 2006/07

5.  The MCA Treasurer (Ralph Stuttard) will also provide each club secretary with their MCA League fees invoice in the usual way.  Fees have been set at the level of £6 per board.

The secretary of each club should collect the completed signed ECF application forms from each of its members, and send these together with the completed club summary form and a cheque made out to the MCA to cover ECF registration (eg 30 Adult applicants @ £10  = £300) to myself at her/his earliest convenience but in any event by no later than Monday 11^th December 2006.

On receipt of the forms and the registration fees the MCA will pass all processed forms to the ECF together with a cheque from the MCA Treasurer to the ECF for the full total collected.

4. JOINING THE ECF MEMBERSHIP SCHEME AFTER THE INITIAL SIGN-UP PERIOD

Sign up forms for any player who subsequently joins a club should be processed and forwarded with payment to myself at that stage. .

A sub-committee comprising of myself, Dave Farley, Jim Moran and Dave Pearcey has been set up to consider proposals for 2007/08 and beyond.

If you wish to discuss any aspect of the MCA membership scheme, please contact myself or one of the other sub-committee members.

Yours faithfully

Jim Wiseman

MCA President

email: jim-wiseman@blueyonder.co.uk

download Jim's letter (Word 32kb)

download an application form (Word 270 kb)

18th October 2006

Parliament & City Council welcome chess triumph by Prof. David Robertson
The recent EU Individual Open tournament, held this September in Liverpool, has already attracted widespread favourable coverage in the national Press. Now the politicians are joining in. Last night (Oct 17) at Westminster, chess-playing MP, Angela Eagle sponsored an Early Day Motion (EDM) in the House of Commons:

An EDM is a technical device by which backbench MPs can propose matters of national importance to be debated by Parliament. In practice, none ever reach that point because Government business takes up all the available time. So an EDM has become a means by which substantial matters can be tabled to which MPs add their signature if they support the motion. Most EDMs attract maybe twenty signatures. The fact that this EDM has already attracted 45 on its first day is well above par. For the details so far, see here:

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=31401&SESSION=875

Most of the signatures so far are Labour MPs, no doubt reflecting Angela Eagle's lobby on our behalf. But it needn't stay that way, and probably won't. If you would like your own MP to sign, send him/her an email drawing the EDM to their attention. It all helps.

So does the motion being debated tonight (Oct 18 ) by Liverpool City Council. This says:

All of this interest and support needs to be followed up skilfully and with political adroitness. I'm doing my best of course. But we have much more to do. So far, so good though.

UPDATE
As of this morning (Oct 19), 58 MPs have now signed the Early Day Motion, including members of all main political parties and some minor parties too. And last night, Liverpool City Council unanimously approved the motion on chess development in the city.

13th October 2006

Vladimir Kramnik undisputed World Champion

In a dramatic fourth game of the rapidplay tiebreak match Vladimir Kramnik defeated Veselin Topalov to win the World Chess Championship. The first game had ended drawn after 47 moves. They then both won a game, Kramnik game 2 in 45 moves and then Topalov game 3 in 50 moves. In the final game Kramnik gradually outplayed Topalov and with two passed pawns the win looked almost inevitable. Topalov although slightly better on the clock miscalculated and overlooked the loss of a rook. He was forced to resign. Kramnik therefore becomes the 14th undisputed World Chess Champion, the first time this has occurred in 13 years. All the analysis, reports and photos can be seen on Chessbase, TWIC and ICC. In the face of great psychological pressure many believe justice has at last been done. Kramnik has come through the greatest test of his career and prevailed but what now for Topalov? Veselin Topalov website • Vladimir Kramnik website

.

The Unification world title match between Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik started on Saturday September 23rd 2006 in Elista. Interestingly Kasparov has predicted a narrow win for Topalov but he got off to the worst possible start losing with the black pieces in 75 moves.

The $1million prize fund will be split evenly between the players regardless of the outcome.

Both players can use their attacking flair to the full, possibly Topalov having the edge but despite the jibes at Kramnik's rather dull style he is a dangerous rival for Topalov. Their current FIDE ratings are Kramnik 2743 and Topalov 2813 (source: FIDE July 2006 ratings).

Kramnik returned to playing only six months ago after a serious illness, but said he was happy to contest the title. He said: “The whole world of chess has been waiting for this unification match for a long time. It is a big event for both of us. “I was happy when the President decided to arrange it here. Elista is a good place for a chess match because it is rather quiet and you need concentration. I prefer it to playing in cities like London or New York, where there are many things that can distract you.”

Topalov said that he considered himself the only true champion as holder of Fide’s title. “But the world champion should be ready to show that he is the best at all times and this is why I accepted the match. There was a lot of interest and there was money, so I thought ‘why not?’ “Things should be decided on a chess board and if you try to hide it doesn’t work. The point is not only the title but to show everyone that you are the best.”

Wikipedia has Kramnik and Topalov biographies with information about the town of Elista and the Kalmykia region.

Official website

*Kramnik forfeited game 5

Overall match score: 8½ - 7½ to Kramnik.