Publisher: New In Chess, 2008
Edition: Magazine ISBN: 978-90-5691-231-4 Language: English
Mainz Chess Classic
Biel Chess Festival
The Tiger and the Singer
Poikovsky
SOS: The Lewis Gambit
Parimarjan Negi in Philadelphia Opens
Helsingor Politiken Cup
Greek Team Championship
Oleg Pervakov
Jonathan Rowson
Jan Timman analyses Ivanchuk
Just checking Viktorija Cmilyte
NIC’s Café
Fast and Brilliant as in Vishy Anand On the final night of the Chess Classic the Rheingoldhalle is seething with silence. On the brightly lit stage Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen are bent over the board in total concentration. To the side stands Hans Walter Schmitt watching his brainchild. With my eyes I point at the audience in Mainz. Schmitt answers my smile with a broad grin and whispers: ‘Tonight we have more than six hundred visitors, about the same as last night. I must confess that I feel proud.’ Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam reports from Mainz.
Dramatic Blitz Game Decides Biel Pundits all around the world knew well in advance who was going to win the 41st Biel Chess Festival. But Magnus Carlsen didn’t win at all. Forcing his luck in a direct confrontation with one of his rivals the Norwegian top-seed lost a comfortable lead and lacked the strength to fight back. Suddenly Leinier Dominguez seemed all set to come first, but in a painful reversal of fortune the Cuban first saw Evgeny Alekseev catch up with him and next he lost a dramatic tie-break to the young Russian.
The Tiger and the Singer Genna Sosonko sheds light on an intriguing photograph.
Four-Way Tie for First in Poikovsky Contrary to previous years, when the players were welcomed by mild frost and snow that allowed cross-country skiing, the ‘Linares in the taiga’ was moved to the Siberian summer that comes with heat, humidity and mosquitoes. Four players scored +2, Sergey Rublevsky, Dmitry Yakovenko, Vugar Gashimov and Alexey Shirov, who was our man on the spot.
S.O.S.: The Lewis Gambit ‘There goes a valuable central pawn, you might think.’ Jeroen Bosch explains the ideas behind a seemingly silly pawn push on move 3.
Parimarjan’s Dashing US Debut India’s most promising junior, 15-year-old Parimarjan Negi, travelled to the United States for the first time and kindly accepted our invitation to write about his experiences (and successes!) in Philadelphia.
Almost Ideal! The Politiken Cup in Helsingor, north of Copenhagen, is one of the most popular summer Opens. An impression by top-seed Pavel Eljanov, who had a great time even if he was only mildly satisfied about his play.
Sun, Sea and Chess in Greece The Greek team competition is by no means the strongest in Europe, but possibly tempted by the prospect of combining chess with sunbathing on the beach and a dive in the Mediterranean, a fair number of strong foreign players are always happy to take part.
Superfluous Pieces... And how to jettison them! In a first of two articles Oleg Pervakov presents a delightful selection of studies that centre on this team.
Once Again, the End of Chess? Although chess still flourishes, there remains a nagging fear that eventually computers will spoil the fun of it. Hans Ree learned that this doesn’t only go for over-the-board players.
On Wisdom Jonathan Rowson reviews Andrew Soltis’ latest effort The Wisest Things Ever Said about Chess, a book that immediately appealed to him, as ‘wisdom’ is the subject of the doctoral thesis he is currently writing.
Ivanchuk’s Dynamism Jan Timman takes a closer look at two recent games of the indefatigable number 4 in the world rankings.
Just Checking Any idea who is Victoria Cmilyte’s favourite female chess player?
Did they play your opening?
In this issue games with the following openings were annotated by world class players:
Sicilian Gopal-Negi, by Negi Alekseev-Dominguez, by Dominguez Rublevsky-Gashimov, by Rublevsky Volokitin-Shirov, by Shirov Nepomniachtchi-Horvath, by Nepomniachtchi
French Negi-Shabalov, by Negi
Petroff Ivanchuk-Kramnik, by Timman
Ruy Lopez Sutovsky-Shirov, by Shirov Carlsen-Alekseev, by Alekseev Dominguez-Alekseev, by Pelletier
Italian Game Cochrane-Staunton, by Bosch
Queen's Gambit Declined Carlsen-Bacrot, by Pelletier
Slav Eljanov-Movsesian, by Eljanov Yakovenko-Bologan, by Yakovenko
Catalan Carlsen-Anand, by Anand
Queen's Indian Bacrot-Alekseev, by Pelletier Pelletier-Carlsen, by Carlsen Kogan-Tiviakov, by Tiviakov
King's Indian Ivanchuk-Cheparinov, by Timman Harikrishna-Ivanisevic, by Harikrishna Nielsen-Socko, by Nielsen Wang Hao-Inarkiev, by Wang Hao
