THE WEEK IN CHESS 715 21st July 2008 by Mark Crowther

Sponsored by the London Chess Centre

TWIC Home| The London Chess Centre| Online-Shop

1) Introduction

My thanks to Igor-Alexandre Nataf, Adolivio Capece, Bobby Ang, Frits Agterdenbos, Luis Scalise, Luiz Roberto Da Costa Jr, Gerard Demuydt, Manfred Mussnig, Yuri Zimmerman, Jan Lagrain, Peter Boel, Jan Kalensky, Harry Schaack, Philip Feeley, Subru Bhat, Bela Lengyel, Emmanuel Variniac, Jan Bey, Alex McFarlane, Carl-Christian Buhr, Ivan Kocovski, Mikail Golubev, Alcides Diaz, Roger Inglis, Rodolfo Arias, Jakub Fuksik and everyone else who helped with the issue.

Another huge week of chess. The top event is the Biel International Chess Festival. The favourite Magnus Carlsen shares the lead after two rounds with Evgeny Alekseev. The Poikovsky tournament finished in a four way tie between Rublevsky, Jakovenko, Gashimov and Shirov. The summer has definitely arrived with festivals all over the world and the huge number of games to go with it.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) Biel Tournament

The 41st Biel International Chess Festival takes place 19th July - 1st August 2008.

Official site: http://www.bielchessfestival.ch/

3) Poikovsky

The Poikovsky tournament took place 8th-17th July 2008. There was a four way tie on 5.5/9 between Rublevsky, Jakovenko, Gashimov and Shirov.

Official site: http://russiachess.org/

Round 7 (July 15, 2008)
Wang Hao	- Jakovenko, Dmitry	½-½	46	E36	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Bologan, Viktor	- Gashimov, Vugar	½-½	47	C42	Petroff's Defence
Inarkiev, Ernesto	- Sutovsky, Emil	1-0	52	B48	Sicilian Paulsen
Onischuk, Alexander	- Rublevsky, Sergei	½-½	55	D20	QGA
Volokitin, Andrei	- Shirov, Alexei	0-1	38	B33	Sicilian Sveshnikov
Round 8 (July 16, 2008)
Rublevsky, Sergei	- Volokitin, Andrei	½-½	41	C43	Petroff's Defence
Jakovenko, Dmitry	- Inarkiev, Ernesto	½-½	19	E97	King's Indian Classical
Gashimov, Vugar	- Shirov, Alexei	1-0	67	C89	Ruy Lopez Marshall
Bologan, Viktor	- Wang Hao	½-½	41	B51	Sicilian Rossolimo
Sutovsky, Emil	- Onischuk, Alexander	½-½	41	C67	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Round 9 (July 17, 2008)
Shirov, Alexei	- Rublevsky, Sergei	½-½	28	B46	Sicilian Paulsen
Wang Hao	- Gashimov, Vugar	½-½	15	C42	Petroff's Defence
Inarkiev, Ernesto	- Bologan, Viktor	½-½	17	C67	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Onischuk, Alexander	- Jakovenko, Dmitry	½-½	43	E15	Queens Indian
Volokitin, Andrei	- Sutovsky, Emil	½-½	37	C80	Ruy Lopez Open

4) Lake Sevan

The "Lake Sevan 2008" International tournament took place 10th-20th July, 2008, in Martuni, Armenia. Arman Pashikian won the event with 6.5/9.

Official site: http://www.sevan.chessacademy.am/

Lake Sevan Martuni (ARM), 11-19 vii 2008												cat. XIII (2553)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Pashikian, Arman	g	ARM	2564	*	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	1	1	6½	2718
2.	Zhou Jianchao	g	CHN	2604	½	*	½	½	0	1	½	1	1	1	6	2672
3.	Zhigalko, Sergei	g	BLR	2583	½	½	*	½	½	1	0	1	½	1	5½	2629
4.	Andriasian, Zaven	g	ARM	2533	½	½	½	*	½	½	½	½	½	1	5	2598
5.	Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel	f	ARM	2480	½	1	½	½	*	½	½	0	½	½	4½	2561
6.	Melkumyan, Hrant	m	ARM	2507	½	0	0	½	½	*	1	½	1	½	4½	2558
7.	Meier, Georg	g	GER	2556	0	½	1	½	½	0	*	½	1	0	4	2509
8.	Grigoryan, Avetik	m	ARM	2537	0	0	0	½	1	½	½	*	0	1	3½	2475
9.	Pantsulaia, Levan	g	GEO	2607	0	0	½	½	½	0	0	1	*	½	3	2422
10.	Amin, Bassem	g	EGY	2561	0	0	0	0	½	½	1	0	½	*	2½	2386

Round 5 (July 15, 2008)
Zhou Jianchao	- Pashikian, Arman	½-½	25	D11	Slav Defence
Andriasian, Zaven	- Pantsulaia, Levan	½-½	69	B10	Caro Kann
Melkumyan, Hrant	- Amin, Bassem	½-½	45	A97	Dutch Defence
Meier, Georg	- Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel	½-½	60	C42	Petroff's Defence
Grigoryan, Avetik	- Zhigalko, Sergei	0-1	43	B33	Sicilian Sveshnikov
Round 6 (July 16, 2008)
Pashikian, Arman	- Pantsulaia, Levan	1-0	43	A61	Benoni
Zhou Jianchao	- Grigoryan, Avetik	1-0	36	E81	King's Indian Saemisch
Zhigalko, Sergei	- Melkumyan, Hrant	1-0	41	C67	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel	- Andriasian, Zaven	½-½	47	B07	Pirc Defence
Amin, Bassem	- Meier, Georg	1-0	63	C00	French Defence
Round 7 (July 17, 2008)
Andriasian, Zaven	- Amin, Bassem	1-0	69	C53	Giuoco Piano
Melkumyan, Hrant	- Zhou Jianchao	0-1	86	D72	Gruenfeld 3.g3
Meier, Georg	- Zhigalko, Sergei	1-0	37	E06	Catalan
Grigoryan, Avetik	- Pashikian, Arman	0-1	38	D47	Queens Gambit Meran
Pantsulaia, Levan	- Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel	½-½	70	A14	Reti Opening
Round 8 (July 18, 2008)
Pashikian, Arman	- Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel	½-½	91	D43	Anti-Meran Gambit
Zhou Jianchao	- Meier, Georg	½-½	25	E32	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Zhigalko, Sergei	- Andriasian, Zaven	½-½	16	B22	Sicilian Alapin
Grigoryan, Avetik	- Melkumyan, Hrant	½-½	53	E15	Queens Indian
Amin, Bassem	- Pantsulaia, Levan	½-½	11	B19	Caro Kann
Round 9 (July 19, 2008)
Andriasian, Zaven	- Zhou Jianchao	½-½	10	C67	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel	- Amin, Bassem	½-½	57	C53	Giuoco Piano
Melkumyan, Hrant	- Pashikian, Arman	½-½	38	E06	Catalan
Meier, Georg	- Grigoryan, Avetik	½-½	36	A41	Modern Defence
Pantsulaia, Levan	- Zhigalko, Sergei	½-½	11	D11	Slav Defence

5) Politiken Cup

The Politiken Cup takes place 20th-27th July 2008.

Official site: http://www.politikencup.dk/

6) 19th Czech Open

The 19th Czech Open takes place 10th-27th July 2008 in Pardubice, Czech Open.

Official site: http://www.czechopen.net

7) Canadian Open

The Canadian Open takes place in Montreal July 19th-27th 2008.

Further details: Fédération québécoise des échecs and live coverage at: http://monroi.com/the-2008-canadian-and-quebec-open-chess-tournament-home.html

8) XXVI International Chess Open of Andorra

The XXVI International Chess Open of Andorra takes place 19th-27th July 2008.

Further details: http://www.escacsandorra.com

9) Bent Larsen vs Ivan Morovic Match

There is a four game match between chess legend Bent Larsen and Ivan Morovic Fernandez in Buenos Aires 18th-21st July 2008.

Official site: http://scalise.maddsites.com/larsenmorovic.htm

10) Leiden Chess Tournament

The 2nd Leiden Chess Tournament took place 11th-20th July 2008. Roeland Pruijssers took first place from Erik Van Den Doel on Buchholz tie-break after both finished on 7/9.

Official site: http://www.leidenchess.nl/ also a photo report at: chessvista.com

11) Austrian Championship

Austrian individual championship takes place in Leoben (near Graz) 19th-27th July 2008. The games are live on the Austrian Chess Federation website: http://www.chess.at

Official site: http://www.chess.at and results at: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr12144.aspx?lan=0

12) First Saturday July

The First Saturday GM, IM and FM tournaments for July took place in Budapest, 5th-17th 2008.

Official site: http://www.firstsaturday.hu

13) 2nd New Jersey Futurity International

The 2nd New Jersey Futurity International took place 7th-11th July 2008. Sergey Erenburg took clear first in retaining his title with 7½/9.

14) Villa Martelli

There are tournaments in Villa Martelli 8th July - 19th August 2008.

The 1st ITT event saw a three way tie on 8 points between Goldwaser, Iermito and Filgueira. The games Delai-Rodriguez Vila (10) and Guerro-Delai (11) don't seem to have been played nor count towards the final score, I'm unclear if they are yet to be played. Willyam Espinoza Palomino won the first IRT event.

A second set of ITT and IRT events are already underway and they take place 17th-24th July 2008.

Official site: http://www.ajedrezmartelli.org.ar/

15) 7th La Fere Open

142 players competed in the 7th La Fere Open (north of France) 5th-12th July 2008. GM Farid Abbasov (AZE) won on tie-break from GM Andrey Sumets (UKR). One IM norm for young belgian player Nils Nijs. News: Emmanuel Variniac.

Official website : http://laferect.free.fr/Open2008/Sommaire.htm

Finals standings : http://laferect.free.fr/Open2008/Papi/open-lafere-2008Ga.htm

16) Belgian Championship

The Belgian Championships took place in Eupen 5th-13th July 2008. IM Bruno Laurent quite surprisingly won the Belgian Championships, ahead of the favourite, GM Alexandre Dgebuadze, and norm-scoring youngster Robin Leenaerts (only 2161 rating, but played magnificent and sacrificing chess).

News: Jan Lagrain http://www.schaakfabriek.be/ (plenty of photos on his site).

17) Kings Gambit Lipetsk

There were two "King's Gambit" tournament 11 player all-play-alls in Lipetsk, Russia, July 8th-19th 2008. Andrey Zontakh and Alexei Gavrilov both finished on 6½/10 in the A-Group, Igor Kovalenko won with 8/10 in the B-Group. Festival director: Yuri Zimmerman.

Official site: http://www.obninskchess.ru/alltur/alltur08/lip08/

18) Porto Carras, Greece

3rd International Open Chess Tournament "Summer Cup 2008", took place in Porto Carras, Greece 12th-19th July 2008. Alexander Zubarev from the Ukraine (as opposed to the two in the rating list from Russia) took clear first place with 8/9.

Further details: http://www.greekchess.com/cup2008

19) Ikaros Chess Festival

The main event of the Ikaros Chess Festival, the International Aegean Open Championship took place 12th-20th July 2008 in Aghios Kirykos on Ikaria Island. Hristos Banikas took first place from Robert Markus on tie-break after both finished on 7½/9. Final round games not yet available.

Official site: http://www.chess.gr/ikaros .

20) Montenegran Championship

The Montenegran Championship took place in Cetinje, 7th-18th July 2008. Milan Drasko won the men's event with 7½/11. The youth event was won by Jurica Srbis with 8/9 and the women's event by Marija Stojanovic.

Official site: http://www.cgsah.org/

21) Chelyabinsk Oblast Superfinal

The Superfinal of the Chelyabinsk Oblast took place in Satka (250 Years of Satka) 6th-18th July 2008. Alexander Riazantsev took clear first with 9/12.

Official site: http://250.satkachess.ru/

22) Philippines Grand Finals

Bobby Ang reports: The Philippines Grand Finals took place in Mandaluyong (in Metro Manila) 1st-13th July 2008. After three months of eliminations involving thousands of players nationwide, the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) concluded the cycle with an 18 player all-play-all (open division) and a 12 player all-play-all (women's division) held from July 1-13, 2008.  I attach the crosstable and the games.

Three-time National Junior Champion IM John Paul Gomez stormed out of the starting blocks with a mind-numbing 9.5/10, earned for himself a GM norm by the 13th round, and coasted home the rest of the way to crown himself champion of this chess-crazy country.

Currently the youngest grandmaster in the world, 14-year old Wesley So finished half a point back and a further point back was comebacking (for the 4th time!) GM Bong Villamayor who left his teaching position in Singapore to try his luck as a player.

The story behind his latest retirement makes interesting reading.  Bong had been teaching in Singapore since 2002 and timed his vacation in 2004 to return to the Philippines and participate in the selection tournament for the Calvia Olympiad-bound squad.   Strangely, two GMs, both of whom had confirmed participation, were absent at the start of play without explanation.  After two rounds they arrived from abroad and demanded (a'la Bobby Fischer) that the forfeits against them be nullified and the games replayed.  This created a ruckus when the Federation approved the request, especially when it was pointed out that the two GMs were in a group of 4 players campaigning in the States, and their companions were both able to return home a day before tournament play began.

The Federation cancelled the tournament, and re-scheduled another selection tournament to start 10 days later.  By this time GM Bong's vacation leave time had expired and he had to go back to Singapore.  Understandably bitter about the whole thing, he announced his retirement.  Good that the current NCFP leadership went out of their way to woo him back, as he is a genuinely nice guy and now seems to be getting stronger with every tournament.

The NCFP President, Congressman Prospero Pichay announced the composition of the national squad to the 2008 Dresden Chess Olympiad:

IM John Paul Gomez, GM Wesley So, GM Buenaventura Villamayor, GM Jayson Gonzales and GM Darwin Laylo

In addition to that the Philippine team to the Beijing Mind Games to be held later this year was also announced:

GM Mark Paragua, IM Chito Garma, Leonardo Carlos, IM Rolando Nolte and IM Julio Catalino Sadorra.

This breaks the consecutive-Olympiad streak of GM Eugene Torre, who did not participate in the Grand Finals.  He was both Junior and Adult Champion in the Philippines in 1970 but gave way to the Asian Zone Champion Renato Naranja as top board player in the Siegen Olympiad.  Eugene