Events for every taste underway right now. The super-elite have come together in Monaco to play less-than-super chess in this annual blindfold and rapid traditional event. Pieces fly and pieces hang with no rating points on the line and the players like to put on a show. I'll never get the blindfold part – if you aren't watching them do it the gee-whiz factor is gone and all have are some less-than games and the occasional bizarre blunder. But the rapid games are often a glory. The first two rounds have been no exception, with lots of great action for your viewing pleasure. Radjabov-Anand was a wild one. Radjabov-Kramnik saw the youngster go bonkers in the opening -- can 10.Nb5 be for real? The kid's got chutzpah! Carlsen is new to Amber but not to blindfold. I don't think Gelfand has reached a total of 100 moves with his four draws so far. I believe my main man Dirk Jan is on the scene writing round reports on the official site.
Pieces move at a slower pace at the Poikovsky Karpov tournament in Siberia. This is the eighth edition and it's practically an annual reunion, with many of the same players there every year. Founder Bologan and Onischuk and Rublevsky are back. It's a very tight field with four players tied with 2.5/4. Bologan, combative as ever and without a draw, scored his only win in R+B vs R against Rublevsky. The 50-move rule would have kicked in on move 126 and Rublevsky resigned on move 124 with mate in two on the board (but the first move of it was a capture). The first edition of this event, in 2000, seems to have fallen down a memory hole. NIC 7/2000 has a report by the winner, Bologan, but no games in TWIC or the MegaBase?!
The seven-round masters event at the Ruy Lopez Festival is two rounds gone in Zafra, the birthplace of the eponymous Spaniard. This is the third edition according to the nice official website (Spanish). It's an interesting field that includes Ponomariov, Sasikiran, Sargissian, Granda Zuñiga, and Hou Yifan. Local player IM Manuel Pérez Candelario is the surprising co-leader with Sargissian after two rounds. Next there will be a thematic rapid event, all games in the Lopez.
The oldest published court decision which mentions the game of chess which I could find in the law library is State v. Gupton, either volume 30 or volume 31 of the North Carolina Reports, dated around 1848, wherein the court addressed chess as being a predominantly a game of skill even though White makes the first move in the game. The North Carolina appellate court reverses the conviction of gambling in a game of "ten pins."
Off-topic but for rdh and anyone else London based, I recommend the Mihail Marin lecture at the London Chess Centre on Thursday. He's been lecturing here in Edinburgh over the weekend and the lectures are excellent - clear, well thought out and witty.
Al - good call, thank you.
It's good to see you remembered the Poikovsky, Mig. With this being the week of minor hoopla it's good to see that the tournament of regular chess did not get crowded out by the fantasy of Amber, which is also where most of my attention is.
Anybody notice Gijssen is arbiter for Amber Monaco? Wonder if it's possible to go the bathroom during a blindfold game.
Long live the Ruy Lopez opening! But why do we not see any Ruy Lopez, exchange variations at the top level anymore? There are no chances for white to press for an edge with it?
We saw one last year in Leko-someone (Aronian?). White won.
I expect we'll see a whole lot more if this anti-Marshall riddle isn't solved, mind.
Since Spassky tal match 1966 no way for white to get an edge has been discovered (kramnik never managed against Leko and GK never even tried again short)Logically how can anti marshall give white any opening advantage. Its a mystery to me why Carlsen doesnt play the marshall.
Tsk tsk, Matt. Amber Rapid today saw a Ruy Exchange by Vallejo against Leko, who chose the unclear 5...Ne7 variation. Nevertheless, draw in 23.
Perez made a good showing at last year's Spanish Championship. He's underrated.
There's currently a Spanish tournament celebrating the Ruy, held in his home town. I found the description on TWIC somewhat confusing, but if I understand it correctly, there's a Category XV round-robin and two thematic opens.
http://ruylopez.juntaextremadura.net/modules/news/
Mr. Zuckerman: back in 1992 I was barred from playing chess in the library at La Jolla High School because--I'm not making this up--they figured that as long as there was a chance my friends and I were playing for money then we were forbidden from doing it.
Mind you, roughly the same group of friends and I had played nickel-ante poker in the library before so perhaps the librarian thought we weren't the sort _not_ to be hustling games for money.
The Ruy Lopez event is indeed interesting--A nice mix of players are there. Hou Yifan is receiving the Chess Lessons that some of the GMs at the Aeroflot Open neglect to give to her. Sasiskiran continues his awful form--he'll have a long tough slog to regain his 2700 rating. Granda Zuniga is, as usual, playing some fascinating middlegames, along with some suspicious opening prep. He had a nice win over Pono. In turn, Pono beat Perez Candelario, who has dropped back to +1. Haven't seen many recent successes from Ivan Sokolov, so I hope that he racks up a few wins in the last 3 games of the event. Sargissian still has yet to play Pono and Granda, so he's not over the hump yet. 2 of his wins came against Hou Yifan and Stefanova, although he did beat Sasikiran too...