Gibraltar Chess Festival main pairings Round 4 and results

It's my bedtime, will post major pairings for Gibraltar tomorrow, Friday, Jan 30.


1 GM Dzagnidze, Nana w GEO 2518 ½-½ GM Socko, Bartosz POL 2631
2 GM Harikrishna, Pentala IND 2673 0-1 GM Kotronias, Vasilios GRE 2603
3 GM Gashimov, Vugar AZE 2723 1-0 GM Akobian, Varuzhan USA 2619
4 GM Lopez Martinez, Josep Manu ESP 2540 ½-½ GM Svidler, Peter RUS 2723
5 GM Ganguly, Surya Shekhar IND 2614 ½-½ GM Milov, Vadim SUI 2669
6 GM Sokolov, Ivan NED 2657 0-1 GM Golod, Vitali ISR 2575
7 IM Gordon, Stephen J ENG 2524 ½-½ GM Berkes, Ferenc HUN 2651
8 GM Roiz, Michael ISR 2647 1-0 GM Sandipan, Chanda IND 2568
9 IM Szabo, Krisztian HUN 2508 0-1 GM Beliavsky, Alexander G SLO 2646
10 GM Avrukh, Boris ISR 2645 1-0 IM Papp, Gabor HUN 2517
11 GM Gurevich, Mikhail TUR 2624 1-0 IM Cmilyte, Viktorija w LTU 2497
12 Quillan, Gary ENG 2357 0-1 GM Berg, Emanuel SWE 2606
13 GM Nakamura, Hikaru USA 2699 1-0 IM Capo Vidal, Uriel MEX 2336
15 GM Stefanova, Antoaneta w BUL 2557 1-0 FM Miedema, Roi NED 2325

Corus Round 11 Pairings and Results updated as games finish

Here are the round 11 pairings and I will try to update them as the games finish. I should be watching on ICC. Not sure which game I will watch yet, but doubt I will post evals.....just too many remarks, I will let someone else take the heat for trying to help. Sorry for the late updates, I was ill..ugh.


Round 11 - Friday the 30th
Group GM A

L. van Wely 0-1 S. Movsesian
G. Kamsky 1-0 S. Karjakin
M. Adams ½-½ V. Ivanchuk
L. Dominguez 1-0 L. Aronian
A. Morozevich ½-½ M. Carlsen
J. Smeets ½-½ D. Stellwagen
Y. Wang 0-1 T. Radjabov


Round 11 - Friday the 30th
Group GM B

H. Mecking 0-1 R. Kasimdzhanov
A. Motylev ½-½ A. Volokitin
D. Navara 0-1 N. Short
Z. Efimenko 0-1 D. Reinderman
F. Caruana 1-0 K. Sasikiran
J. Werle ½-½ Y. Hou
F. Vallejo Pons 1-0 E. l'Ami


Round 11 - Friday the 30th
Group GM C

A. Gupta 0-1 R. Pruijssers
E. Iturrizaga 0-1 A. Giri
M. Leon Hoyos 1-0 O. Romanishin
D. Harika 0-1 F. Nijboer
F. Holzke ½-½ D. Howell
A. Bitalzadeh 1-0 T. Hillarp Persson
W. So 1-0 M. Bosboom

Maybe I will watch the Wesley So game. He's on the heels of Tiger Hillarp Persson, the leader after 10 rounds of Group C.

Round 3 Key Match-Ups at Gibraltar 2009

Some key matches in Today's Master section in Gibraltar's 2009 chess festival, I cannot post all of them, much too many games in the tournament.

Table (games with player scores of 1.5 and above) *w = woman.

1 GM Svidler 2.0 RUS 2723 ½-½ GM Ganguly 2.0 IND 2614
2 GM Kotronias 2.0 GRE 2603 1-0 GM Nakamura 2.0 USA 2699
3 GM Golod 2.0 ISR 2575 ½-½ GM Harikrishna 2.0 IND 2673
4 GM Sandipan 2.0 IND 2568 ½-½ GM Avrukh 2.0 ISR 2645
5 GM Socko 2.0 POL 2631 1-0 GM Stefanova w 2.0 BUL 2557
6 IM Papp 2.0 HUN 2517 ½-½ GM Gurevich 2.0 TUR 2624
7 GM Akobian 2.0 USA 2619 ½-½ IM Gordon 2.0 ENG 2524
8 GM Vachier-Lagrave 1.5 FRA 2696 0-1 GM Dzagnidze w 2.0 GEO 2518
9 Collier 2.0 ENG 2083 0-1 GM Gashimov 1.5 AZE 2723
10 GM Milov 1.5 SUI 2669 1-0 IM Nemeth 1.5 HUN 2472
11 IM Karim 1.5 MAR 2407 0-1 GM Sokolov 1.5 NED 2657
12 GM Berkes 1.5 HUN 2651 1-0 IM Krush w 1.5 USA 2457
13 IM Trent 1.5 ENG 2487 0-1 GM Roiz 1.5 ISR 2647
14 GM Beliavsky 1.5 SLO 2646 1-0 IM D`Costa 1.5 ENG 2445
15 GM Berg 1.5 SWE 2606 ½-½ IM Houska w 1.5 ENG 2392
16 IM Vernay 1.5 FRA 2338 0-1 GM Lopez Martinez 1.5 ESP 2540
17 IM Hammer 1.5 NOR 2532 ½-½ FM Nithander 1.5 SWE 2369
18 GM Pavlovic 1.5 SRB 2520 0-1 Quillan 1.5 ENG 2357
19 IM Szabo 1.5 HUN 2508 1-0 FM Fruebing 1.5 GER 2307
20 IM Cmilyte w 1.5 LTU 2497 1-0 FM Csonka 1.5 HUN 2289
21 Bok 1.5 NED 2277 ½-½ IM Al Sayed 1.5 QAT 2488
22 FM Hartvig 1.5 DEN 2237 0-1 GM Del Rio De Angelis 1.0 ESP 2532

Corus 2009 Round 11 Pairings

Today's another rest day for the players at Corus, trying to give them strength going into the final 3 games of Round 11, 12 & 13. Also will post the standings after round 10 at the end of the article.

Round 11 - Friday the 30th
Group GM-A

L. van Wely - S. Movsesian
G. Kamsky - S. Karjakin
M. Adams - V. Ivanchuk
L. Dominguez - L. Aronian
A. Morozevich - M. Carlsen
J. Smeets - D. Stellwagen
Y. Wang - T. Radjabov


Round 11 - Friday the 30th
Group GM-B

H. Mecking - R. Kasimdzhanov
A. Motylev - A. Volokitin
D. Navara - N. Short
Z. Efimenko - D. Reinderman
F. Caruana - K. Sasikiran
J. Werle - Y. Hou
F. Vallejo Pons - E. l'Ami


Round 11 - Friday the 30th
Group GM-C

A. Gupta - R. Pruijssers
E. Iturrizaga - A. Giri
M. Leon Hoyos - O. Romanishin
D. Harika - F. Nijboer
F. Holzke - D. Howell
A. Bitalzadeh - T. Hillarp Persson
W. So - M. Bosboom




Round 10 Standings:

Group GM A

1 6.5 GM Levon Aronian ARM 2750

2 6.0 GM Sergei Karjakin UKR 2706

3-6 5.5 GM Magnus Carlsen NOR 2776
GM Teimour Radjabov AZE 2761
GM Leinier Dominguez CUB 2717
GM Sergei Movsesian SVK 2751

7-8 5.0 GM Loek van Wely NED 2625
GM Jan Smeets NED 2601

9-12 4.5 GM Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2779
GM Wang Yue CHN 2739
GM Michael Adams ENG 2712
GM Gata Kamsky USA 2725

13 4.0 GM Daniel Stellwagen NED 2612

14 3.5 GM Alexander Morozevich RUS 2771


Group GM B

1 6.5 GM Nigel Short ENG 2663

2-6 6.0 GM David Navara CZE 2638
GM Fabiano Caruana ITA 2646
GM Andrei Volokitin UKR 2671
GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov UZB 2687
GM Alexander Motylev RUS 2676

7-8 5.5 GM Francisco Vallejo Pons ESP 2702
GM Zahar Efimenko UKR 2688

9 5.0 GM Erwin l'Ami NED 2603

10-11 4.0 WGM Hou Yifan CHN 2571
GM Dimitri Reinderman NED 2549

12 3.5 GM Henrique Mecking BRA 2567

13-14 3.0 GM Jan Werle NED 2607
GM Krishnan Sasikiran IND 2711


Group GM C

1 7.5 GM Tiger Hillarp Persson SWE 2586

2 7.0 GM Wesley So PHI 2627

3 6.0 FM Anish Giri RUS 2469

3-7 5.5 GM Abhijeet Gupta IND 2569
WGM Dronavalli Harika IND 2473
GM Frank Holzke GER 2524
IM Manuel Bosboom NED 2418
GM David Howell ENG 2622

9 4.5 GM Eduardo Iturrizaga VEN 25282

10 4.0 GM Manuel Leon Hoyos MEX 2542

11-13 3.5 IM Ali Bitalzadeh NED 2400
GM Friso Nijboer NED 2560
IM Roeland Pruijssers NED 2444

14 3.0 GM Oleg Romanishin UKR 2533

Gibraltar 2009 Chess Festival Round 2 results

Here are the results of Round 2 of the 2009 Gibraltar Chess Festival, Just some of the top boards as it is a rather large swiss style tournament.

GM Berczes(2513) 0-1 GM Svidler(2727)
GM Nzkzmufz(2699) 1-0 GM Carlsson, P(2509)
IM Al Sayed(2488) 1/2-1/2 GM Vachier-Legrave(2696)
GM Harikrishna(2673) 1-0 IM Arakhamia-Grant(2500)
GM Sokolov(2657) 1/2-1/2 IM Trent(2487)
GM Hauchard(2497)1/2-1/2 GM Berkes(2651)
IM Nemeth(2472) 1/2-1/2 GM Beliavsky(2646)
GM Avrukh(2645) 1-0 IM Kiik(2466)
IM Zatonskih, Anna(2462) 1-0 GM Socko(2641)

Corus 2009 Round 10 Pairings & Results & Gibraltar Chess Festival Round 1 results

Here's tomorrow's pairings for Corus 2009, followed by results of Round 1 of the 2009 Gibraltar Chess Festival (Some players there: GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Gadir Guseinov, GM Peter Svidler, GM Viktor Bologan, GM Hao Wang, GM Alexey Dreev, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, GM Pentala Harikrishna and GM Ivan Sokolov.)

Corus 2009 Round 10 pairings for today:

Round 10 - Wednesday the 28th
Group GM-A

S. Movsesian ½-½ Y. Wang
T. Radjabov ½-½ J. Smeets
D. Stellwagen ½-½ A. Morozevich
M. Carlsen 1-0 L. Dominguez
L. Aronian 1-0 M. Adams
V. Ivanchuk ½-½ G. Kamsky
S. Karjakin ½-½ L. van Wely



Round 10 - Wednesday the 28th
Group GM-B

R. Kasimdzhanov 1-0 F. Vallejo Pons
E. l'Ami 1-0 J. Werle
Y. Hou ½-½ F. Caruana
K. Sasikiran 0-1 Z. Efimenko
D. Reinderman ½-½ D. Navara
N. Short ½-½ A. Motylev
A. Volokitin ½-½ H. Mecking



Round 10 - Wednesday the 28th
Group GM-C

R. Pruijssers 0-1 W. So
M. Bosboom 1-0 A. Bitalzadeh
T. Hillarp Persson - F. Holzke
D. Howell 0-1 D. Harika
F. Nijboer 0-1 M. Leon Hoyos
O. Romanishin 0-1 E. Iturrizaga
A. Giri 1-0 A. Gupta

Corues 2009 Standings after 9 Rounds:

Group GM A

Standings after Round 9 (Average rating: 2716)
1-3 5.5 GM Levon Aronian ARM 2750
GM Sergei Karjakin UKR 2706
GM Leinier Dominguez CUB 2717

4-5 5.0 GM Teimour Radjabov AZE 2761
GM Sergei Movsesian SVK 2751

6-9 4.5 GM Magnus Carlsen NOR 2776
GM Loek van Wely NED 2625
GM Jan Smeets NED 2601
GM Michael Adams ENG 2712

10-12 4.0 GM Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2779
GM Wang Yue CHN 2739
GM Gata Kamsky USA 2725

13 3.5 GM Daniel Stellwagen NED 2612

14 3.0 GM Alexander Morozevich RUS 2771


Group GM B

Standings after Round 9 (Average rating: 2641)

1 6.0 GM Nigel Short ENG 2663

2-6 5.5 GM David Navara CZE 2638
GM Fabiano Caruana ITA 2646
GM Andrei Volokitin UKR 2671
GM Francisco Vallejo Pons ESP 2702
GM Alexander Motylev RUS 2676

7 5.0 GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov UZB 2687

8 4.5 GM Zahar Efimenko UKR 2688

9 4.0 GM Erwin l'Ami NED 2603

10-11 3.5 WGM Hou Yifan CHN 2571
GM Dimitri Reinderman NED 2549

12-14 3.0 GM Krishnan Sasikiran IND 2711
GM Jan Werle NED 2607
GM Henrique Mecking BRA 2567


Corus Group GM C

Standings after Round 9 (Average rating: 2521)
Group GM-C

1 6.5 GM Tiger Hillarp Persson SWE 2586

2 6.0 GM Wesley So PHI 2627

3-5 5.5 GM Abhijeet Gupta IND 2569
GM Frank Holzke GER 2524
GM David Howell ENG 2622

6 5.0 FM Anish Giri RUS 2469

7-8 4.5 WGM Dronavalli Harika IND 2473
IM Manuel Bosboom NED 2418

9-12 3.5 IM Ali Bitalzadeh NED 2400
GM Friso Nijboer NED 2560
GM Eduardo Iturrizaga VEN 2528
IM Roeland Pruijssers NED 2444

13-14 3.0 GM Oleg Romanishin UKR 2533
GM Manuel Leon Hoyos MEX 2542


It looks like the two new wünderkind, GM's Caruana and So are showing that they belong with the big boys. GM Wesley So is close to catching GM Tiger Hillarp Persson and GM Fabiano Caruana is tied for 2nd behind leader GM Nigel Short, who is playing very well, by the way, in Group B. These are definately two to watch in the future, with GM Magnus Carlsen where he is already, the future looks to be bright.




Now, Round 1 in the 2009 Gibraltar Chess Festival has started and results are in, it was won last year by GM Hikaru Nakamura I believe, who's among the players this year as well along with many top GMs.

GM Peter Svidler RUS 2723
GM Hikaru Nakamura USA 2699
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2696
GM Hao Wang CHN 2691
GM Alexey Dreev RUS 2688
GM Viktor Bologan MDA 2687
GM Pentala Harikrishna IND 2673
GM Gadir Guseinov AZE 2661
GM Ivan Sokolov NED 2657

Round 1 results:

Quillan(2357) 1/2-1/2 GM Gashimov(2723)
GM Vachier Lagrave(2696) 1-0 IM Khaorus(2400)
FM Perez Ponsa(2390) 0-1 GM Harikrishna(2673)
GM Svidler(2727) 1-0 FM Van Eijk(2355)
FM Leniart(2360) 0-1 GM Nakamura(2699)

As this is a large Swiss style tournament, I will just show results I see on the Internet Chess Club or the Official Site as the later rounds go on or this will be way too long.

Corus 2009 Round 9 Pairings

Later today, the players will be back at it again, hopefully with a good rest from today. I will post the results of the games asap. Hopefully, I haven't wore myself out with all the work tonight. But needed to do something to get back to sleep.

Round 9 - Tuesday the 27th
Group GM-A

S. Karjakin 1-0 S. Movsesian
L. van Wely ½-½ V. Ivanchuk
G. Kamsky 0-1 L. Aronian
M. Adams ½-½ M. Carlsen
L. Dominguez 1-0 D. Stellwagen
A. Morozevich ½-½ T. Radjabov
J. Smeets ½-½ Y. Wang


Round 9 - Tuesday the 27th
Group GM-B

A. Volokitin ½-½ R. Kasimdzhanov
H. Mecking ½-½ N. Short
A. Motylev ½-½ D. Reinderman
D. Navara 1-0 K. Sasikiran
Z. Efimenko ½-½ Y. Hou
F. Caruana 1-0 E. l'Ami
J. Werle 0-1 F. Vallejo Pons


Round 9 - Tuesday the 27th
Group GM-C

A. Giri 1-0 R. Pruijssers
A. Gupta 1-0 O. Romanishin
E. Iturrizaga 1-0 F. Nijboer
M. Leon Hoyos 0-1 D. Howell
D. Harika ½-½ T. Hillarp Persson
F. Holzke 1-0 M. Bosboom
A. Bitalzadeh 0-1 W. So




Standings after Round 8 (Average rating: 2716)
Group A

1 5.0 GM Sergei Movsesian SVK 2751

2-5 4.5 GM Levon Aronian ARM 2750
GM Teimour Radjabov AZE 2761
GM Leinier Dominguez CUB 2717
GM Sergei Karjakin UKR 2706

6-10 4.0 GM Magnus Carlsen NOR 2776
GM Jan Smeets NED 2601
GM Loek van Wely NED 2625
GM Michael Adams ENG 2712
GM Gata Kamsky USA 2725

11-14 3.5 GM Daniel Stellwagen NED 2612
GM Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2779
GM Wang Yue CHN 2739

14 2.5 GM Alexander Morozevich RUS 2771


Standings after Round 8 (Average rating: 2641)
Group B

1 5.5 GM Nigel Short ENG 2663

2-3 5.0 GM Andrei Volokitin UKR 2671
GM Alexander Motylev RUS 2676

4-7 4.5 GM David Navara CZE 2638
GM Fabiano Caruana ITA 2646
GM Francisco Vallejo Pons ESP 2702
GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov UZB 2687

8-9 4.0 GM Zahar Efimenko UKR 2688
GM Erwin l'Ami NED 2603

10-13 3.0 GM Krishnan Sasikiran IND 2711
GM Jan Werle NED 2607
WGM Hou Yifan CHN 2571
GM Dimitri Reinderman NED 2549

14 2.5 GM Henrique Mecking BRA 2567



Standings after Round 8 (Average rating: 2521)
Group C

1 6.0 GM Tiger Hillarp Persson SWE 2586

2 5.0 GM Wesley So PHI 2627

3-6 4.5 GM Abhijeet Gupta IND 2569
GM Frank Holzke GER 2524
IM Manuel Bosboom NED 2418
GM David Howell ENG 2622

7-8 4.0 WGM Dronavalli Harika IND 2473
FM Anish Giri RUS 2469

9-11 3.5 GM Friso Nijboer NED 2560
IM Ali Bitalzadeh NED 2400
IM Roeland Pruijssers NED 2444

12-13 3.0 GM Manuel Leon Hoyos MEX 2542
GM Oleg Romanishin UKR 2533

14 2.5 GM Eduardo Iturrizaga VEN 2528

Corus 2009 Round 8 Pairings and Results

Finally caught up to the pack, only to have them off and running again in about 6 hours! Today was a rest day for the players, who no doubt needed it, I know I would!
Here are the results of yesterday's games.


Round 8 - Sunday the 25th
Group GM-A

S. Movsesian ½-½ J. Smeets
Y. Wang 1-0 A. Morozevich
T. Radjabov ½-½ L. Dominguez
D. Stellwagen ½-½ M. Adams
M. Carlsen ½-½ G. Kamsky
L. Aronian ½-½- L. van Wely
V. Ivanchuk 1-0 S. Karjakin



Round 8 - Sunday the 25th
Group GM-B

R. Kasimdzhanov ½-½ J. Werle
F. Vallejo Pons 1-0 F. Caruana
E. l'Ami 1-0 Z. Efimenko
Y. Hou ½-½ D. Navara
K. Sasikiran ½-½ A. Motylev
D. Reinderman ½-½ H. Mecking
N. Short ½-½ A. Volokitin



Round 8 - Sunday the 25th
Group GM-C

R. Pruijssers 1-0 A. Bitalzadeh
W. So 0-1 F. Holzke
M. Bosboom ½-½ D. Harika
T. Hillarp Persson 1-0 M. Leon Hoyos
D. Howell 1-0 E. Iturrizaga
F. Nijboer 1-0 A. Gupta
O. Romanishin 0-1 A. Giri

Corus 2009 Round 7 pairings and results

I really did get behind on these games, but I did observe the Kamsky-Stellwagon game on ICC, sadly Gata missed a mating net, but hey, it was a mate in 27, I messed up on Susan Polgar's site when I quoted the idea was to get to the c8 square and avoid further checks, it was the c8 square. I had looked at the Queen move by Black and saw Qe7 after Kc8, when the game is lost for black. This was a very interesting game with advantages going back and forth, but when Deep Rybka 3 Human found 64. Kd4 with mate in 27, players observing the game along with me were surprised, most GM's were calling the game a draw, obviously a computer had a large advantage, with no pressure on them to find the right move in a certain amount of time, and this endgame was very complicated with Stellwagon making a sacrifice to free his Queen to go for the perpetual check. A great move by Stellwagon to take this chance and also lucky that GM Kamsky didn't find the right moves to win the game. Maybe Gata should have passed on this tournament to continue to work on the match preparation vs GM Topalov for the right to challenge World Champion GM Viswanathan Anand. The results of this tournament could be discouraging for GM Kamsky, but it isn't over yet, he could make a comeback, but his results so far don't seem to be in the same league as Topalov, much less Anand. But Gata DID earn this chance, we can't put it behind Topalov to have a bad match, he has played spotty at times. Kamsky could take advantage of this. Now, the Corus Round 7 results and the Kamsky-Stellwagon game.

Round 7 - Saturday the 24th
Group GM-A

V. Ivanchuk 0-1 S. Movsesian
S. Karjakin ½-½ L. Aronian
L. van Wely ½-½- M. Carlsen
G. Kamsky ½-½ D. Stellwagen
M. Adams ½-½ T. Radjabov
L. Dominguez ½-½ Y. Wang
A. Morozevich 1-0 J. Smeets

GM Daniel Stellwagon
GM Gata Kamsky Photos Courtesy of CorusChess 2009 Copyright CorusChess

Round pairings courtesy of Corus Chess 2009

GM Gata Kamsky(2725) vs GM Daniel Stellwagon(2612)



Here is the critical position



Gata played 64. Kc3 but (64. Kd4 Qa4+ 65. Ke3 Qa7+ 66. Ke2 Qa2+ 67. Kf1 Qc4+ 68. Kf2 Qh4+ 69. Ke3 Qe1+ 70. Kd4 Qd2+ 71. Rd3 Qf2+ 72. Kc4 Qc2+ *Rook is poison 73. Kb4 Qb2+ 74. Ka5 Qe5+



The King is close to safety..75. Kb6 Qb2+ 76. Kc6 Qf6+ 77. Kc7 Qe5+ 78. Qd6 Qa5+ 79. Qb6 Qe5+ 80. Kc8 and black can resign, the rest is just mop up work to mate. Qe7 81. Rd8 Qxf7 82. Rd7 Kg8 83. Rxf7 Kxf7 84. Kd7 Kg7 85. Ke7 g5
86. Qf6+ Kg8 87. Qxg5+ Kh8 88. Kf7 Kh7 89. Qh4# one of 3 possible mates. )



Overall, a great game to watch, but remember that computers don't feel the pressure of the game, don't get tired, etc. Just because Gata missed this win in a complicated position which other GM's were calling draws as well shows that computers are not bound by human emotion and in endgames are getting better.



Round 7 - Saturday the 24th
Group GM-B

N. Short 1-0 R. Kasimdzhanov
A. Volokitin 1-0 D. Reinderman
H. Mecking 1-0 K. Sasikiran
A. Motylev 1-0 Y. Hou
D. Navara 0-1 E. l'Ami
Z. Efimenko ½-½ F. Vallejo Pons
F. Caruana 1-0 J. Werle

Fighting chess in this round for Group GM-B!

Round 7 - Saturday the 24th
Group GM-C

O. Romanishin ½-½ R. Pruijssers
A. Giri ½-½ F. Nijboer
A. Gupta 1-0- D. Howell
E. Iturrizaga 0-1 T. Hillarp Persson
M. Leon Hoyos 1-0 M. Bosboom
D. Harika ½-½ W. So
F. Holzke ½-½ A. Bitalzadeh

Corus 2009 Round 6 pairings and results

Catching up with the Corus games after a couple days of illness, but thanks to the drug Zithromax, I seem to be throwing it off..thank goodness! Also, I would like to thanks Akademik (GM Vladimir Malakhov) and Oldumbrella (anonymous) for playing TransWarp during this time.


Round 6 - Friday the 23rd
Group GM-A

S. Movsesian 1-0 A. Morozevich
J. Smeets ½-½ L. Dominguez
Y. Wang 0-1 M. Adams
T. Radjabov 1-0 G. Kamsky
D. Stellwagen ½-½ L. van Wely
M. Carlsen ½-½ S. Karjakin
L. Aronian ½-½ V. Ivanchuk



Round 6 - Friday the 23rd
Group GM-B

R. Kasimdzhanov ½-½ F. Caruana
J. Werle ½-½ Z. Efimenko
F. Vallejo Pons 0-1 D. Navara
E. l'Ami 0-1 A. Motylev
Y. Hou 1-0 H. Mecking
K. Sasikiran ½-½ A. Volokitin
D. Reinderman 0-1 N. Short



Round 6 - Friday the 23rd
Group GM-C

R. Pruijssers 0-1 F. Holzke
A. Bitalzadeh ½-½ D. Harika
W. So 1-0 M. Leon Hoyos
M. Bosboom 1-0 E. Iturrizaga
T. Hillarp Persson 0-1 A. Gupta
D. Howell ½-½ A. Giri
F. Nijboer ½-½ O. Romanishin

Corus 2009 Round 5 Pairings

Since today is a rest day for the players in the Corus 2009 Tournament, I will take a rest day as well, since I have a doc's appt anyway. But I thought I would post the pairings for tomorrow's next round. I will just make a new post for the results, instead of editing this post, it's possible I might post agaain.
I did have 2 games played by GM Rauf Mamedov, one of my favorite "Azeri Assassins". There are players who play a bit more than others, except for Smallville who holds the record for most games total played vs TransWarp, they are all from Azerbaijan. GM Rauf Mamedov, GM Shakhriyar Mamadyarov and GM Gadir Guseinov, who are all very dangerous. But today's attack by GeneraLisimus (GM Mamedov) was held off. Hopefully they will all try again soon.



Round 5 - Thursday the 22nd
Group GM-A

L. Aronian 1-0 S. Movsesian
V. Ivanchuk ½-½ M. Carlsen
S. Karjakin 1-0 D. Stellwagen
L. van Wely 1-0 T. Radjabov
G. Kamsky ½-½ Y. Wang
M. Adams ½-½- J. Smeets
L. Dominguez 1-0 A. Morozevich


Round 5 - Thursday the 22nd
Group GM-B

D. Reinderman ½-½ R. Kasimdzhanov
N. Short 0-1 K. Sasikiran
A. Volokitin 1-0 Y. Hou
H. Mecking ½-½ E. l'Ami
A. Motylev ½-½ F. Vallejo Pons
D. Navara ½-½ J. Werle
Z. Efimenko 1-0 F. Caruana


Round 5 - Thursday the 22nd
Group GM-C

F. Nijboer 1-0 R. Pruijssers
O. Romanishin 0-1 D. Howell
A. Giri 0-1 T. Hillarp Persson
A. Gupta 1-0 M. Bosboom
E. Iturrizaga 0-1 W. So
M. Leon Hoyos 1-0 A. Bitalzadeh
D. Harika ½-½ F. Holzke

Corus 2009 Round 4 Pairings+Results

Today is the day before the first rest day in Corus, and in Group A, it looks like players are having peaceful results going into tomorrow's rest time. Or perhaps they wanted to watch the inauguration of the new President of the US, Barack Obama? I doubt it, but it would there would be unique draw offers! ;-)

Round 4 - Tuesday the 20th
Group GM-A

S. Movsesian ½-½ L. Dominguez
A. Morozevich ½-½ M. Adams
J. Smeets ½-½ G. Kamsky
Y. Wang ½-½ L. van Wely
T. Radjabov ½-½ S. Karjakin
D. Stellwagen ½-½ V. Ivanchuk
M. Carlsen ½-½ L. Aronian


Standings Group GM-A

1-5 2.5 GM Sergei Karjakin UKR 2706
GM Sergei Movsesian SVK 2751
GM Teimour Radjabov AZE 2761
GM Jan Smeets NED 2601
GM Gata Kamsky USA 2725

6-9 2.0 GM Magnus Carlsen NOR 2776
GM Daniel Stellwagen NED 2612
GM Levon Aronian ARM 2750
GM Leinier Dominguez CUB 2717

10-14 1.5 GM Michael Adams ENG 2712
GM Loek van Wely NED 2625
GM Wang Yue CHN 2739
GM Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2779
GM Alexander Morozevich RUS 2771


------------------------------------------


Round 4 - Tuesday the 20th
Group GM-B

R. Kasimdzhanov ½-½ Z. Efimenko
F. Caruana 1-0 D. Navara
J. Werle 0-1 A. Motylev
F. Vallejo Pons 1-0 H. Mecking
E. l'Ami ½-½ A. Volokitin
Y. Hou ½-½ N. Short
K. Sasikiran ½-½ D. Reinderman

--------------------------------------------
Round 4 - Tuesday the 20th
Group GM-C

R. Pruijssers ½-½ D. Harika
F. Holzke 1-0 M. Leon Hoyos
A. Bitalzadeh 1-0 E. Iturrizaga
W. So ½-½ A. Gupta
M. Bosboom ½-½ A. Giri
T. Hillarp Persson 1-0 O. Romanishin
D. Howell 1-0 F. Nijboer

TransWarp takes loss from GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

I apologize to GM Mamedyarov for forgetting to post his win vs TransWarp the other day. As I said, I wasn't feeling too well, today's another bad day, fought with my cpsp machine all night, supposed to help sleep apnea, but it takes getting sometime to get used to it, even after several years. The disabled deal with different things every day, not just their disability, but things that are related to the disability or conditions as a result of meds to take care of things.. not complaining, I'm happy to be here! But on a happy note, here's azerichess' win vs TransWarp, a true thrashing like the old days when a parent could whip out a spanking on you when you were really bad!


Photo Courtesy of Corus Chess (from Corus 2006) copyright CorusChess 2006

TransWarp vs azerichess (GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov)



A very nice win by GM Mamedyarov!

I will now start updating results on Corus 2009 Round 4.

Corus 2009 Round 4 Pairings, Smallville plays Again!

Well, this evening I was glad to see that Smallville played a few more games, drawing the first one right off the bat, but then losing the next 7 (out of 8 total played, the Deep Rybka 3 Human starting off 22 wins and 1 draw vs GM Nakamura.) This is just for those curious about how he's doing against the new program, not to gloat, because sure enough, I will get tells asking how he's doing. Heck, I got a tell asking why B-Amin's name was mentioned so much in my notes, when it was obvious that he had been the last one playing and getting my usual thanks, just as Smallville will for blitz again. I will post the pairings for tomorrow's games in the tournament at Wijk aan Zee. The Netherlands, Corus 2009. I will put in the results tomorrow as an edit to this post and post the pairings for Thursday, Wednesday being the first rest day of the tournament after round 4 which plays tomorrow.

Round 4 - Tuesday the 20th
Group GM-A

S. Movsesian - L. Dominguez
A. Morozevich - M. Adams
J. Smeets - G. Kamsky
Y. Wang - L. van Wely
T. Radjabov - S. Karjakin
D. Stellwagen - V. Ivanchuk
M. Carlsen - L. Aronian



Round 4 - Tuesday the 20th
Group GM-B

R. Kasimdzhanov - Z. Efimenko
F. Caruana - D. Navara
J. Werle - A. Motylev
F. Vallejo Pons - H. Mecking
E. l'Ami - A. Volokitin
Y. Hou - N. Short
K. Sasikiran - D. Reinderman


Round 4 - Tuesday the 20th
Group GM-C

R. Pruijssers - D. Harika
F. Holzke - M. Leon Hoyos
A. Bitalzadeh - E. Iturrizaga
W. So - A. Gupta
M. Bosboom - A. Giri
T. Hillarp Persson - O. Romanishin
D. Howell - F. Nijboer




Now I will post Smallville's draw, he had to work over 100 moves to get it, someday, soon I hope, computer's will recognize drawn positions. But in some cases, it doesn't know the intent of the other player, will they try for a breakthrough later?, is there a trap in the making?, can the computer break through maybe later with a piece sacrifice...so many things yet that prevent an unattended computer from making it's own decision on it's part. Thus the tedious play at times for the Titled Players...and sadly, I did miss these games, I thought I heard the comp power up a bit more, but didn't check and missed a good series of games. Now, the draw! I missed posting the win by azerichess I believe (GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov) if so, I will post it tomorrow in a new post, eep, I think I was going to be doing it at this time, but got surprised by the GM Nakamura games showing up, anywsy a win will get a post of it's own when I get up and about watching the games tomorrow, wasn't feeling up to it today.

Smallville vs TransWarp

Corus 2009 Round 3 Pairings & Results

Round 3 Pairings and Results for today:

Group GM-A

Round 3 - Monday the 19th
M. Carlsen ½-½ S. Movsesian
L. Aronian ½-½ D. Stellwagen
V. Ivanchuk 0-1 T. Radjabov
S. Karjakin ½-½ Y. Wang
L. van Wely ½-½ J. Smeets
G. Kamsky 1-0 A. Morozevich
M. Adams ½-½ L. Dominguez

Standings Group GM-A

1-5 2.0 GM Sergei Karjakin UKR 2706
GM Sergei Movsesian SVK 2751
GM Teimour Radjabov AZE 2761
GM Jan Smeets NED 2601
GM Gata Kamsky USA 2725

6-9 1.5 GM Magnus Carlsen NOR 2776
GM Daniel Stellwagen NED 2612
GM Levon Aronian ARM 2750
GM Leinier Dominguez CUB 2717

10-14 1.0 GM Michael Adams ENG 2712
GM Loek van Wely NED 2625
GM Wang Yue CHN 2739
GM Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2779
GM Alexander Morozevich RUS 2771




Group GM-B

Round 3 - Monday the 19th
K. Sasikiran 0-1 R. Kasimdzhanov
D. Reinderman 1-0 Y. Hou
N. Short 1-0 E. l'Ami
A. Volokitin ½-½ F. Vallejo Pons
H. Mecking ½-½ J. Werle
A. Motylev ½-½ F. Caruana
D. Navara 1-0 Z. Efimenko


Group GM-C

Round 3 - Monday the 19th

D. Howell 1-0 R. Pruijssers
F. Nijboer ½-½ T. Hillarp Persson
O. Romanishin ½-½ M. Bosboom
A. Giri ½-½ W. So
A. Gupta 0-1 A. Bitalzadeh
E. Iturrizaga 1-0 F. Holzke
M. Leon Hoyos 1-0 D. Harika

Grandmaster Bassem Amin plays bullet marathon!

Just when I was about out of hope that anyone would play bullet vs TransWarp, GM Bassem Amin came to the rescue, playing 35 bullet games, then 2 standard games. It was a lot of fun to watch, although because of the Corus Tournament, we didn't have very many viewers, but I eute had fund watching them! GM Amin did get a draw in a bullet game, which I will post now, thanks again GM Amin!



I will fill in as many results from the Corus tournament in the post below, I will fix the standings later, not really BIG news just yet, a little later in the tournament it's more important.

Corus 2009 Round 2 Pairings and Results

Here are the pairings for round 2 of the Group A, B & C later today. I will put an * by the games I'm interested in watching, but chesspartner 6 doesn't allow multiple game windows, so I will probably watch some on my human account.

Round 2 Group A Pairings:

S. Movsesian 1-0 M. Adams
L. Dominguez ½-½ G. Kamsky *
A. Morozevich 1-0 L. van Wely
J. Smeets ½-½ S. Karjakin
W. Yue 0-1 V. Ivanchuk
T. Radjabov ½-½ L. Aronian
D. Stellwagen ½-½ M. Carlsen *

Round 2 Group B Pairings:

R. Kasimdzhanov ½-½ D. Navara
Z. Efimenko ½-½ A. Motylev
F. Caruana 1-0 H. Mecking *
J. Werle ½-½ A. Volokitin
F. Vallejo Pons 0-1 N. Short
E. l'Ami ½-½ D. Reinderman
H. Yifan 1-0 K. Sasikiran

Round 2 Group C Pairings:

R. Pruijssers 1-0 M. Leon Hoyos
D. Harika ½-½ E. Iturrizaga * (Black was last person to play Bullet vs TW.)
F. Holzke 0-1 A. Gupta
A. Bitalzadeh ½-½ A. Giri
W. So ½-½ O. Romanishin * The Prodigy from The Philippines (GM Wesley So)
M. Bosboom 1-0 F. Nijboer
T. Hillarp Persson 1-0 D. Howell

Can I just say again, I love the Corus Tournament! Pairings courtesy of CorusChess.Com.

Corus 2009-Round 1

Well, day 1 of the Group A particpants is over, with Dominguez snd Van Wely finishing up with a drsw. I watched Carlsen vs Radjabov mostly, with the game pretty even, but some wild positions. GM Sergei Karjakin surprised GM Alexander Morozevich and won with the white pieces, but GM Jan Smeets over GM Vassily Ivanchuk had to be the upset of the day.



Round 1 - Saturday the 17th

D. Stellwagen ½-½ S. Movsesian
M. Carlsen ½-½ T. Radjabov
L. Aronian ½-½ W. Yue
V. Ivanchuk 0-1 J. Smeets
S. Karjakin 1-0 A. Morozevich
L. van Wely ½-½ L. Dominguez
G. Kamsky ½-½ M. Adams

Standings after Round 1

1-2. GM Karjakin, GM Smeets
3-12 GM Stellwagon, GM Movsesian, GM Carlsen, GM Radjabov, GM Aronian,
GM Yue, GM Van Wely, GM Dominguez, GM Kamsky and GM Adams
13-14 GM Ivanchuk, GM Morozevich


GM Magnus Carlaen vs GM Teimour Radjabov



GM Teimour Radjabov
GM Magnus Carlsen





GM S. Karjakin vs GM A. Morozevich



GM Alexander Morozevich
GM Sergei Karjakin


All photographs courtesy of Coruschess.com A hearty Thank You!

Latest Games vs TransWarp by GM Dreev and GM Amin

I also forgot to mention one game by GM Gadir Guseinov, since there are about 6 or so games, will get right to it, then work on Corus 2009 tomorrow, I have permission to use pictures and quotes as long as Corus website is mentioned, which of course I will do!

GM Bassem Amin (B-Amin) vs TransWarp (I could only hope for a stalemate at the end!)



Then GM Gadir Guseinov gave it a go with the white pieces

GGuseinov vs TransWarp






We have here GM Bassem Amin's draws vs TransWarp (1 Blitz/1 standard)

B-Amin vs TransWarp (Over 200 moves, might not replay to move 209 where drawn by repetition)



Here is GM Bassem Amin's draw at 15 + 1 standard chess game. Much tougher to draw Deep Rybka 3.0 at longer time limits, so a shout out to GM Amin on this game!



Noticing a trend, it seems the best games played vs TransWarp lately, have been with the white pieces, of course there is a very slight advantage to white because of the first move, but I will post a game of TransWarp's as white vs GM Dreev next.

TransWarp vs GM Alexey Dreev (Dreev)



I do hope that GM Nakamura would continue playing TW, it has always drawn a lot of viewers whenever the program and Smallville would tussle. However, we do have Corus going on and detracting from those games probably wouldn't be ideal in ICC's opinion, but who knows, maybe the Smallville-TransWarp viewers aren't the same as the long chess game viewers. But whenever/if ever they tangle again. There's sure to be about 150 viewers, we'll see I guess.



Alaska-See One of Most Beautiful Frontiers

GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov games

These games were on January 9, to show how far behind I am due to the foolish walk attempt. But hey, I had to try, just have to start slower, rather than take on a longer walk, you live, you learn, but sometimes you just can't teach an old dog new tricks.

First was GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to play, he, GM Rauf Mamedov and GM Gadir Guseinov, I respectfully call "TransWarp's Azeri Assassins" Always trying to shoot her down! They are all nice guys and I appreciate their play.

azerichess vs TransWarp





Note: TuneClub is a monthly recurring subscription service, costing $9.99 per month and get 30 credits as well as a bonus ringtone for joining. These credits may be used for TuneClub games, ringtones and graphics. To discontinue service text STOP to service.
TransWarp's privacy policy is at the bottom of the page

And here are two games by Smallville trying his old style vs Rybka 2.3.2a, which worked very well, but not against Deep Rybka 3.0 so far. But I kind of doubt he will play again after his games got limited when he was playing for 0pts. His rating is high enough where he could play 100 games now, but maybe making a run for the Human Record again.

Smallville vs TransWarp



Smallville vs TransWarp



Now to some games by GM Alexey Dreev and GM Bassem Amin in the next post, with GM Amin's win at blitz and draw in standard 15 minutes + 1 second increment.

Really Late Update...

I'm sorry for the lack of news lately, not that there hasn't been any. Smallville, GM Hikaru Nakamura played some blitz games some days back. He had been taken off my noplay list since Aug 9, 2008, when the new Rybka Engine came out. Also that same day, GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (azerichess) had played a few games as well. Recently GM Alexey Dreev and GM Bassem Amin played a few games, with GM Amin even playing some standard! GM Amin also collected a blitz win against TransWarp, one thing about reloading an engine after it crashes in the Chesspartner interface, you have to reset your books and settings sometimes. This was the case when TransWarp played 1....a6?! as a defense. You will see this game below, as well as GM Amin's standard draw. I'm trying to get fired up for Corus! But last week, I tried walking to the store, totally messed me up for some days...only thing I had to look forward to was some new games to look at by TransWarp. So Congrats to GM Bassem Amin for his blitz win and standard draw! I will post the earlier games in another post and the later games in a post after that.

Smallville plays again

GM Hikaru Nakamura ICC Handle: Smallville played TransWarp again, but sadly he tried to keep playing beyond the formula parameters, there's a bug in the system where you can bypass ICC Player Formula Minimum rating to play parameter, I'm not saying GM Nakamura is a bad player, don't get me wrong, but his rating was below 700 pts of TransWarp's, this is usually not the case, I would have loved him to be able to play more games.
But after a person is 716-17 pts below another person's/computer's rating, you play risking 0 rating pts. So in essence GM Nakamura could have played forever and TW would gain nothing but only stand to lose pts..it's only fair.

More details tomorrow and games from Smallville and GM Mamedyarov who also played today, I just don't feel well after trying to walk to the store...very sore and can barely move.