Magnus, Giri Jointly Leads In Biel Festival 2012

 

25 July 2012, Kuala Lumpur – In Switzerland, Magnus leads after winning his round 2 game against Wang Hao in an Nimzo Indian Opening. Magnus scored 4 points and Giri also scored 4 points. Nakamura and Giri drew their round 2 game. In the third game of the round, Etienne Bacrot of France beat Alexander Morozevich of Russia.

Carlsen-Wang Hao. The official website reported that this time Magnus started with 1.d4 and the game quickly entered in Nimzoindian waters. White played the opening very agressively, pushing the central pawns and winning space at the cost of being slightly underdeveloped. Black castled short, while White castled long and such positions always offer a lot of suspense as a rule of thumb. In general, the winner is the player who manages to organize the attack quicker against opponent’s king, but this time Black was not able to organize some counter play because all white pieces participated in the attack which was unstoppable. With the nice rook sacrifice White obtained a decisive material advantage and Black resigned in move 35.

Here is the round 2 game between Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Wang Hao of China during the Biel Chess Festival 2012 (source: Internet Chess Club).

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Round 2 Results:

Official website: http://www.bielchessfestival.ch/en/grandmaster-tournament/

(Photos from official Biel Chess Festival website)

Wang Hao, Giri Win First Round, Biel Festival 2012

24 July 2012, Kuala Lumpur – The Biel Chess Festival is currently being held and six grandmasters are playing a double round robin. Carlsen drew against Nakamura, while Wang Hao won against Bacrot (game below) and Giri won against Morozevich. Both Wang Hao and Anish Giri are ahead with 3 points.

The official website reported that the beauty of the day was the King's Indian played in the game Wang Hao - Bacrot. Against the classical Mar del Plata line White has chosen the so called Bayonet Attack, Kramnik's favorite line in this opening. As usually in this line, White sacrificed a pawn for the initiative, but after couple of moves his pressure became so unpleasant that Black decided to give it back, trying to equalize chances by exchanging pieces. Unfortunately, that was not enough to save the game because White had a strong passer on the sixth rank which helped him to organize an attack against black’s king which was crowned with a decisive rook sacrifice.

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Standings after Round 1:

Official website: http://www.bielchessfestival.ch/en/grandmaster-tournament/

(Photos from official website)

Gawain Jones Leads The Charge in British Championships 2012

24 July 2012, Kuala Lumpur – In Newcastle, GM Gawain Jones, GM Stephen Gordon, GM Mathew Turner, GM Daniel Gormally, GM Keith C Arkell and IM Jonathan Hawkins are leading the charge in the British Chess Championships 2012 after round 1. 68 players are participating in this year’s event.

Here is the top favorite for the British Chess Championship 2012, GM Gawain Jones  against FM Poobalasingam of round 1. Black wins in a King’s Indian Defense opening.

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Here is round 1 game between GM Mathew Turner and Charles Storey. White wins.

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Official website: http://britishchesschampionships.co.uk/

99th British Championships 2012 (North Shields ENG)
Sun 22nd Jul 2012 - Sat 4th Aug 2012 - Official Site

99th ch-GBR 2012 (11 Rds Swiss Indiv TC:100:50:15+30spm(1)) - Games in PGN: Games | Games

99th ch-GBR 2012 (11 Rds Swiss Indiv TC: 100:50:15+30spm(1)) - Games in PGN: Games

Newsletter of Asian Chess Federation – 19th July 2012

23 July 2012, Kuala Lumpur – The Asian Chess Federation has circulated the latest newsletter dated 19th July 2012 on the happenings of asian chess. This time it focuses on some selected country specific chess events and KaSUGI Team event in Malaysia was included.

 

	Asian Chess Federation Newsletter    19 July 2012
	Statutes      Zones     Board     Videos        Federations

ACF Site Revitalized with More National News

At the General Assembly of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines are, seated from left, Treasurer Red Dumuk, Mayor Abraham N. Tolentino, Chairman/President Prospero A. Pichay, Jr., POC Representative Corinna B. Mojica and newly elected officials.

Pichay, Tolentino Re-elected Boracay Hosts Battle of GMs Manila Team Wins KaSUGI in KL ASEAN Facebook Site Created New Sri Lanka Site Ramadan Abu Dhabi Tournament FM Wallis wins NZ North Island ANU Chess Open Luke Li wins New Zealand Juniors

Congratulations Pichay, Tolentino - Re-elected to NCFP

Prospero A. Pichay, Jr. and Mayor Abraham Tolentino were re-elected to the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) at its General Assembly on 7th June at the Department of Education Complex in Pasig City, Philippines. The elections were observed by the POC representative. See ACF site for more information, photos.

 

Boracay Hosts Battle of Philippine Grandmasters

The Philippines' top chess players match wits in Boracay island paradise from July 14th to 26th with the staging of the 2012 National Open Chess Championships for men and women. In photo, Malay Councilor Hon. Wilbec Gelito and GM Eugene Torre make the ceremonial moves opening the Battle of Grandmasters. See ACF site for more info.

 

 

Apocalypse-Manila Team wins KaSUGI team championship in Kuala Lumpur

Apocalypse-Manila Chess Team, led by International Master Ronald Bancod proved unstoppable, winning the KaSUGI Chess Team Championship 2012 (Open) over the 14-15 July weekend at the Citi Tel Express Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Visit ACF site for more info.

 

 

ASEAN Chess Confederation Facebook Page Created

See http://www.facebook.com/asean.chess for all ASEAN Chess activities and social networking. ASEAN Secretary Haslindah Ruslan of Malaysia was assigned to monitor and manage the social networking site. Data/information of events/programs will be forwarded to Nguyen Phuoc Trung of Vietnam for editing of an ASEAN web site.

 

 

New Sri Lanka Chess Federation Web Site

The Chess Federation of Sri Lanka announces their new web site www.cfslonline.com. They announce the 5th Mora Kings International Rating Chess Championships organized by the University of Moratuwa, on behalf of CFSL, to be held at the University of Moratuwa from 3rd (arrival) to 9th (departure) of August 2012 with a total cash prize of nearly Rs. 250,000/= worth. Find regulations also on ACF site.

 

 

Ramadan Rapid Tournament in Abu Dhabi

The Armed Forces Officers Club will organize the Ramadan Open Chess tournament from 22 to 25 July 2012, in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Chess & Culture Club, at the Armed Forces Officers Club in Abu Dhabi, UAE with four separate tournaments, an $8,000 Masters tournament, $2,000 Ladies tournament, $2,000 Youth tournament and $1,300 Blitz tournament. Visit ACF site for details.

 

 

Australian FM Christopher Wallis wins NZ North Island

Australian FM Christopher Wallis scored 7/8 to win the New Zealand North Island Championship which was held at the Auckland Chess Centre, 11-14 July 2012. New Zealand Junior Champion and Olympiad player Luke Li finished second with 6.5 points, a full point ahead of third placed FM Robert Smith and FM Michael Steadman. Visit ACF site for more information.

 

 

Australian National University (ANU) Open

The Australian National University (ANU) Chess Open will be held on 28th and 29th of July at the Canberra School of Art, Building 105, ANU, Acton, Canberra ACT. It will be a seven round swiss event, Class 4 in the Myer Tan Australian Grand Prix. Visit ACF site for details.

 

Luke Li wins New Zealand Junior Championship

Luke Li (2332) scored 6.5/7 to win the 2012 New Zealand Junior Championship held 3-6 July 2012 at Waitakere in Auckland. Hans Guo (2218) finished in outright second place with 6/7 in a field of 45 players. Visit ACF site for details.

 

 

Editor: Casto Abundo, Deputy President, Asian Chess Federation, Al Ain, UAE

Email: asianchessfederation@yahoo.com

Caruana Wins Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting 2012

22 July 2012, Kuala Lumpur – At the end of the ninth round of the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, Fabiano Caruana emerged as the Champion after beating Mateusz Bartel of Poland. Caruana scored 6.0 points.

In second place was Sergey Karjakin of Russia with 6.0 points also but a lower tie-break points. Karjakin beat Gustafsson of Germany.

Final Round Results (round 9):

Official website: http://www.sparkassen-chess-meeting.de/2012/tabelle.html

(Photos from official website, Georgios Souleidis)

Kramnik vs Meier, Round 9, Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting 2012

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

22 July 2012, Kuala Lumpur – Here is the live round 9 game between Vladimir Kramnik, Russia and G Meier of Germany in the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting 2012, Germany.

    

Standings after the 8th round indicate that Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine is leading with 5.0 points, though four others comprising of Naiditsch, Karjakin, Caruana and Leko are also at 5.0 points. Tight race and tight finish. Kramnik is in sixth place with 4.5 points.

Official website: http://www.sparkassen-chess-meeting.de/2012/spielplan.html

(source: Susan Polgar’s Daily Chess News blog)

Ivanchuk Leading In ACP Golden Chess Classic 2012

(Photo from official website of tournament – Ivanchuk vs Sasikiran, Round 6, ACP Golden Classic 2012)

21 July 2012, Kuala Lumpur – In Amsterdam, the ACP Golden Chess Classic is on-going and GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine is leading with a score of 4.0 points. Two games of rounds 5 and 6 are shown below:-

Here is the round 5 game between Sasikiran of India and Gata Kamsky of USA which gave black the win.

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Here is the round 6 game between Ivanchuk and Sasikiran of India which gave Ivanchuk a white win during the ACP Golden Classic 2012 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

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Official website: http://www.amsterdamchess.com

Wenjun vs Lufei, Round 4, Jermuk FIDE Women's GP 2012

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20 July 2012, Kuala Lumpur – In Jermuk, WGM Ju Wenjun of China is joint leaders with WGM Ruan Lufei another Chinese player with 2.5 points. In round 4, both of them meet each other. The above game is the live game from Jermuk, Armenia during the Women’s FIDE Grand Prix 2012.

 

Official website: http://jermuk2012.fide.com/tournament-players.html

(source: Susan Polgar’s Daily Chess News blog)

Arthur Tan Chess Festival–Some Changes Announced!

21 July 2012, Kuala Lumpur –The upcoming Arthur Tan Chess Festival in 19-26th August 2012 (renamed 9th IGB Dato’ Arthur Tan Chess Festival) is approaching fast and the organisers have an important announcement regarding some changes to the festival. Below is an email announcement from En. Abdul Hamid Majid about the August Chess Festival in Kuala Lumpur:-

Dear All

Due to Eid ul Fitri (Hari Raya) celebration in Malaysia and many other Muslim countries, and the Istanbul Chess Olympiad being held towards the end of August, the 9^th IGB Dato Arthur Tan Chess Festival 2012 has experienced a less than expected entries for this year’s event. In our effort to continue making this event a reality despite the low turnout, the Organizing Committee at a Meeting held earlier this week has decided to combine all the individual open events – the Dato Arthur Tan Rapid Open, the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng Seniors Open and the AmBank Challenge Open, into a single open event. Despite the merger, the single open event will continue to provide separate prizes for each playing category with slight amendments to the prize structure and the total funds offered. The decision was made to show a respectable response for the event rather than to cancel the event which may damage its continuity and future responses.

As an additional effort to continue attracting more participants for the event, Dato Tan Chin Nam, the adviser of the event, has decided to reduce the individual’s event Entry Fees to RM 50 for any FIDE Rated players wanting to play in the event, and RM 100 for non FIDE Rate players. Other tournament conditions such as event dates, number of rounds, time control, etc. will remain as per the original format. Please find the new Entry Form attached for your kind information and perusals.

For those who have already registered and find the changes not acceptable, the Organizing Committee will refund all monies in full. For others who agree to the changes and have paid the entries in full, the committee will refund the difference for the entry fees.

These changes will only effect the Individual Open events. There will be no changes to the ASTRO Team event and the SWENSEN Age Group event.

We apologise for the changes and any inconveniences caused but the alternative (cancelling the event) is not practical and unacceptable.

 

To download the file for registration of all tournaments, please click here.

To read similar posts on 9th IGB Dato’ Arthur Tan Chess Festival 2012, please click here and here.