Author Archives: myip2z2
2012 Women’s World Championship Pairings
The CHN-CAN pairing on board 4 is a big mismatch while HUN-RUS on board 22 is much closer.
4 Zhao, Xue CHN g 2565 – Khoudgarian, Natalia CAN wm 2138
22 Hoang, Thanh Trang HUN g 2470 – Ovod, Evgenija RUS m 2384
Name Country Title Rating – Name Country Title Rating
1 Hou, Yifan CHN g 2606 – Ranasinghe, S D SRI wm 1821
2 Koneru, Humpy IND g 2610 – Frick, Denise RSA wm 1871
3 Muzychuk, Anna SLO g 2586 – Mezioud, Amina ALG wm 2055
4 Zhao, Xue CHN g 2565 – Khoudgarian, Natalia CAN wm 2138
5 Lahno, Kateryna UKR g 2553 – Mona, Khaled EGY wg 2155
6 Kosintseva, Nadezhda RUS g 2539 – Castrillon Gomez, Melissa COL wm 2159
7 Cmilyte, Viktorija LTU g 2524 – Aliaga Fernandez, Ingrid Y PER wf 2175
8 Sebag, Marie FRA g 2521 – Berezina, Irina AUS m 2190
9 Gunina, Valentina RUS m 2517 – Gu, Xiaobing CHN wg 2209
10 Cramling, Pia SWE g 2516 – Ghader Pour, Shayesteh IRI wm 2219
11 Kosintseva, Tatiana RUS g 2515 – Davletbayeva, Madina KAZ wm 2220
12 Harika, Dronavalli IND g 2512 – Soumya, Swaminathan IND wg 2251
13 Khotenashvili, Bela GEO m 2504 – Arribas Robaina, Maritza CUB wg 2273
14 Kosteniuk, Alexandra RUS g 2501 – Abrahamyan, Tatev USA wg 2304
15 Ju, Wenjun CHN wg 2501 – Pourkashiyan, Atousa IRI wg 2321
16 Stefanova, Antoaneta BUL g 2491 – Romanko, Marina RUS m 2355
17 Zhu, Chen QAT g 2491 – Ziaziulkina, Nastassia BLR wg 2367
18 Zatonskih, Anna USA m 2489 – Lujan, Carolina ARG m 2369
19 Pogonina, Natalija RUS wg 2478 – Matveeva, Svetlana RUS m 2377
20 Muzychuk, Mariya UKR m 2476 – Foisor, Cristina-Adela ROU m 2383
21 Danielian, Elina ARM g 2476 – Khukhashvili, Sopiko GEO m 2383
22 Hoang, Thanh Trang HUN g 2470 – Ovod, Evgenija RUS m 2384
23 Krush, Irina USA m 2470 – Li, Ruofan SIN m 2394
24 Galliamova, Alisa RUS m 2468 – Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina RUS m 2409
25 Girya, Olga RUS wg 2467 – Rajlich, Iweta POL m 2410
26 Huang, Qian CHN wg 2465 – Shen, Yang CHN wg 2413
27 Mkrtchian, Lilit ARM m 2457 – Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan SCO g 2414
28 Javakhishvili, Lela GEO m 2455 – Bodnaruk, Anastasia RUS m 2415
29 Dembo, Yelena GRE m 2454 – Khurtsidze, Nino GEO m 2428
30 Ushenina, Anna UKR m 2452 – Cori T., Deysi PER wg 2429
31 Zhukova, Natalia UKR g 2451 – Guo, Qi CHN wg 2432
32 Socko, Monika POL g 2445 – Skripchenko, Almira FRA m 2441
Ovod is not to be taken lightly. Here is a recent example of her attacking play earlier this year.
Ovod,E (2410) – Baryshpolets,A (2487) [E71]
Albena Masters Open 2012 Albena BUL (6.13), 31.05.2012
White had earlier sacrificed a knight for two pawns to break open the kingside and is now on the attack.
White to play
Bahamas Int 2012-10 GM Shabalov Clear 1st 6.5/9
‘The Bahamas International & Amateur was held from October 24-28, 2012 at the Wyndham Nassau Resort & Crystal Palace Casino, West Bay Street, Cable Beach, Nassau, Bahamas. GM Alex Shabalov won the International Section, finishing with an undefeated 6.5/9 and taking home the $2000 first prize. Just a half-point behind Shabalov was GM Alexander Goldin who collected $1200 for his efforts over the five days. Yaacov Norowitz and Erik Santarius both scored IM norms. Norowitz had secured his norm before his round 9 game began while Santarius his with a last round draw against Goldin….(and results below)’-Bahamas International
‘Of the Canadians, IM Leonid Gerzhoy had the best tournament with 5.5/9, undefeated. Despite the large number of draws most of them were fighting draws. A direct hit from Hurricane Sandy provided some distraction for the participants, too. 😉 BTW, I found the GMs at the tournament (Shabalov, Goldin, Friedel, Margvelashvili and of course Bator S) very approachable. Any/all would be good additions if you were looking to add a GM to your tournament roster, imo.-IM O’Donnell on Chesstalk Message Board(CANADA)
Bahamas International 2012 Standings – International Section Final Standings
# Name Ratng St Total Prize
1 GM Alexander Shabalov 2570 USA 6.5 $2000.00
2 GM Alexander Goldin 2549 USA 6.0 $1200.00
3 IM Leonid Gerzhoy 2469 CAN 5.5 $700.00
4 Yaacov Norowitz 2420 USA 5.5 $700.00
5 GM Giorgi Margvelashvili 2582 GEO 5.0 *$700.00
6 GM Joshua E Friedel 2495 USA 5.0 *$700.00
7 IM Justin Sarkar 2408 USA 5.0 $300.00
8 Erik F Santarius 2278 USA 5.0 $600.00
9 FM Alex Betaneli 2223 USA 5.0 $600.00
10 GM Bator Sambuev 2524 CAN 4.5 *$700.00
11 IM Tom O’ Donnell 2350 CAN 4.5
12 FM Alberto Pinheiro Mascarenhas 2261 BRA 4.0
13 Giovanni Carreto 2247 MEX 4.0
14 Richard Selzler 2200 USA 3.5
15 FM Michael Dougherty 2149 CAN 3.5
16 Nicholas A Tomlin unr. USA 3.0
17 Matt D Helfst 1965 USA 2.0
18 Gary L Cote unr. USA 1.5
* Minimum prize $700 to GMs who complete all games with no byes (limited to first 6 GMs to enter).
Here is a GM vs GM battle from Rd8
Sambuev,Bator (2524) – Shabalov,Alexander (2570) [D58]
Bahamas International Nassau (8), 28.10.2012
In the diagram positon after 17..Rfd8, white went for it with 18.Bd6? but this idea had a tactical flaw. White was hoping (after ..Rxd6 etc) to exploit the pin on the d-file with e4! but this did not work out.
White to play
22nd Metropolitan IM 2012-10-Matikozian,A Clear 1st 7/9
22nd Metropolitan IM 2012-10 Los Angeles USA
-The 22nd Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational concluded on October 14th. IM Andranik Matikozyan placed first with a score of 7-2. No norms were achieved. In the qualifier that ran concurrently, Alexander Gojich and Michael Cooper placed first and second respectively’-MetropolitanChess
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1 Matikozian,A 2411 +67 * ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 7.0/9
2 Sevian,Samuel 2336 +53 ½ * ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 6.0/9
3 Amanov,Z 2374 -30 ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 5.5/9 23.50
4 Kavutskiy,K 2287 +66 0 1 ½ * ½ 1 0 1 1 ½ 5.5/9 22.00
5 Remlinger,L 2322 -12 0 0 0 ½ * 1 ½ 1 1 1 5.0/9
6 Manukian,G 2260 +17 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 * ½ ½ 1 1 4.5/9
7 Amerkeshev,M 2161 +89 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ * ½ 0 1 4.0/9
8 Akopian,R 2093 +37 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ ½ * 0 0 2.5/9 12.75
9 Duckworth,W 2281 -171 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 * 0 2.5/9 10.00
10 Casella,M 2235 -120 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 1 * 2.5/9 7.75
Here is a game from the winner
Remlinger,L (2322) – Matikozian,A (2411) [A61]
22nd Metropolitan IM Los Angeles USA (8), 14.10.2012
Black just played 22…Bd4 and white was under pressure.
White to play
Lila Futo Open Nov 1-3 2012 Entry List
This is a typical 6-round Open Game/90mins tournament. Usually there are more players in the 2000+ range playing.
Nov 1 is a Hungarian public holiday-Hungarian Public Holidays-Wikipedia
| All Saints Day | Mindenszentek | It is a day to remember the lost ones. On this day people generally visit all their lost relatives’ graves which they decorate with flowers. |
Entry List as of Oct 31-1012
Ssz. Név FIDE ID Szül.idő ÉLŐ
1 Fodré Sándor 702684 1953. 2183
2 dr. Hetényi Géza 703842 1950. 2180
3 Mester Attila 725587 1974. 2125*
4 Bartuszek András 759198 1955. 1924
5 Terbe Julianna 708780 1997 1923
6 Nguyen Thán Do 714038 1960. 1893
7 Nyirkos Péter 753165 1958. 1864
8 Gruz János 703710 1952. 1851
9 Palczert Miklós Dr. 727938 1975. 1841
10 Di Giovanni Vilmos 722235 1948. 1828
11 Kárpáti Gábor 743682 1963. 1826
12 Szentgyörgyi Sándor 738000 1983. 1802
13 Szendeff Miklós 753068 1952 . 1795
14 Polyánszky-Tamási Zoltán 769169 1975. 1793
15 Czimer József 723770 1940. 1792
16 Szurkos András 769185 1941 1787
17 Terbe Zsuzsanna 708801 1997 1776
18 Kárpáti Kende Vajk 740195 1998. 1765
19 Szlenka Attila 770299 1955. 1745
20 Szoukup István Sr. 730920 1948. 1739
21 Truong Duc Huong 714062 1965. 1733
22 Máté Levente 751359 1996. 1725
23 dr. Urbán Péter 714879 1979. 1716
24 Fekete Ágnes 755494 1998. 1689
25 Pap Károly 745979 1940. 1629
26 Tóth Antal 713180 1939. 1601
27 Horváth Zoltán 713139 1938. 1551
28 Czumbel Péter 759708 2002. 1490
29 Sándor László 759430 1948. 1476
30 Kidd Bálint 766402 2003. 1452
31 Markó Csanád 764248 2000. 1443
32 Czipp János 739294 1947. 1435
33 Palczert Botond 769908 2003. 1257
34 Lendvai Olivér 768758 2005. 1201
35 Miklós Tamás 749710 1991. 0
36 Pál István 765090 2004. 0
37 Szoukup István 772283 2004. 0
*Mester Attila just won Josef Varosi 6-0
Horvath,Ad 6.5/9 at Balaton GM
30th Balaton GM 2012-09
Horvath,Ad won with 6.5/9 but narrowly missed the GM norm.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1 Horvath,Ad 2495 +84 * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 6.5/9
2 Ashwin,J 2473 +63 0 * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 6.0/9
3 Bures,J 2381 +123 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 5.5/9
4 Nemeth,Mi1 2454 +2 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 5.0/9
5 Czebe,A 2491 -77 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 4.5/9
6 Varga,Zo 2455 -37 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ 4.5/9
7 Hoelzl,F 2321 +111 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ * 1 ½ 1 4.5/9
8 Vertetics,A 2409 -64 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * 0 1 3.5/9
9 Popovics,A 2423 -121 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 * 0 3.0/9
10 Tate,A 2314 -98 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 1 * 2.0/9
Here is a game by the winner
Horvath,Ad(2495) – Vertetics,A (2409)
Philidor[C41]
30th Balaton GM Heviz HUN (8.2), 30.09.2012
The game starts with the popular Philidor Defence
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.0–0 0–0 7.a4 a6 8.Re1 b6
Critical Position
The game is position in nature. What is white’s plan? Is there a hidden tactic? How do you play?
White to play
Toronto Chess News(new e-zine-Pdf and ChessBase)
Here is a game from the latest issue(1-5) of Toronto Chess News.
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Sharpe,Sam (1970) – Lamb,Bryan (2111) [C02]
Scarborough CC Howard Ridout (>1800) (5), 11.10.2012
Critical Position 1
The position looks equal so do you trade rooks? or is there something better?
White to Play
Critical Position 2
Again the position looks harmless. What is white’s plan? Massage? Gain space on the kingside? Or something else?
White to Play
Critical Position 3
Deep into the endgame, the f-pawn is under attack. What should white do?
White to Play
Huebner on the Huebner 4.e3 c5 Nimzo-Indian(E41)
The featured instructive game features GM Huebner and shows black’s defensive maneuvering potential.
The position under consideration arises from and is known as the Huebner Variation(4…c5)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 c5 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 d6 8.e4 e5 9.d5 Ne7
He served as a second to Nigel Short in his efforts to win the World Chess Championship match against Garry Kasparov in 1993. In 2000 he won, with the German team, a silver medal in the 34th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul. His International Master (IM) title was awarded in 1969 and his Grandmaster (GM) title in 1971.’-Wikipeida
Najdorf,Miguel (2560) – Huebner,Robert (2590) [E41]
Hoogovens Wijk aan Zee (7), 01.1971
Critical Position 1
White has just played 18.Ne3. How do you assess the position? White has more space, the semi-open b-file but who is better? is the position a delicate equality?
What is black’s plan? Is it consistent with the assessment?
What move do you propose for black?
Black to play
Critical Position 2
The strategic race is well underway. What is the next step for black? Is it a hidden combination? Or perhaps something mundane like opening the h-file? Maybe the e-file possibilities catch your attention? Is it something to do with the …e4 break?
Black to play
Trends in the 4.e3-9…b6 Nimzo-Indian(E54)
The rock solid 9…b6 Karpov Variation is a tough nut to crack. The main position arises after
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0–0 5.Bd3 c5 6.Nf3 d5 7.0–0 cxd4 8.exd4 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b6 10.Bg5 Bb7 11.Re1
Sokolov,I examines this position deeply in The Stratgic Nimzo-Indian(NIC 2012). Let us examine a key recent game. to see the impact on published analysis.
Potkin,V (2684) – Harikrishna,P (2665) [E54]
74th Tata Steel GMB Wijk aan Zee NED (7), 21.01.2012
Sokolov considered 18..e5 but black played 18…Qd6 which resulted at least an equal game.
Critical Position 1 The position is tense. The long diagonal has been blocked with f3. The Nh5 looks offside and perhaps deserves a bigger role. Is the time for quiet play or concrete play? Perhaps there is a combination based on the inconvenient lineup of Re8 vs Qe2 on the e-file. What should black do?
Black to play
Vintage Portisch 4.e3-11.Ba2 Nimzo-Indian(E59)
This is the line under consideration.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 c5 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Nf3 d5 7.0–0 0–0 8.a3 Bxc3 9.bxc3 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Qc7 11.Ba2
This old game is still of some relevance in 2012 but the 14.Ne1 idea should not be considered dangerous for black.
Portisch,Lajos (2630) – Sosonko,Gennadi (2575) [E59]
Tilburg (4), 1978
Critical Position 1
White is passively placed after the Ne1/f3 idea. What is the plan for black? How do you play?
Black to play
Critical Position 2
Ne5 and Rd2 are under attack. How do you react?
Black to play
RIP Paul Arvaj(2011)
- ‘Paul Arvaj passed away sometime in 2011 (age 73? – according to his background info in his book) but no one I spoke to knows the month, and also apparently there was no obituary published. I played Paul many games over the span of some 30 years and the first one was also the first game in one of his books “About Chess”. In his last game against me – a celebrity active event at the Germania Club in Hamilton organized by IM Brian Hartman, Paul shocked me by beating me in crushing style – 2003? – maybe. Paul Arvajs last known residence was a nursing home at the corner of Main and Victoria in downtown Hamilton and for many years he enjoyed kibitzing, casual chess, speed chess, and recounting chess memories at the Hamilton Public Library.’-Hans Jung
From Chesstalk.com message board. Chesstalk
Hans Rudolf Jung (2139) – Paul Arvaj [A12]
Hamilton Open Hamilton YMCA (2), 01.05.1976
Black had chances in this game.
Black to play
BudapestChessNews 