And go cat, go. Three events start tomorrow, something for every taste. Elite rapids in Miskolc, Hungary, where Peter Leko plays his annual match. This year he faces none other than world champ Vishy Anand. A pretty brave pick by Leko, who has lost the last two editions of this match -- 4.5-3.5 to Kramnik in 2007 and 5-3 to Carlsen last year, when the Hungarian failed to win a game. But Leko has been playing well of late and is hardly a pushover. He has beaten Anand in the last two Amber rapid sections, for example. And despite continuing his tradition of final-round catastrophes by losing to Aronian at the Nalchik Grand Prix last April, Leko had a fine result and showed great preparation. One of the reasons for that, new second Jan Gustafsson, is with him again in Miskolc. A good pic of Gusti in action in this ChessBase photo report.
The 10th Karpov tournament in Poikovsky, Russia, kicks off tomorrow as well. This event depends largely on the same players year after year, which is sort of fun as long as they have some fresh blood coming in. Rublevsky, Shirov, Gashimov, and Jakovenko all shared first on +2 last year and the first three are back this time. Sutovsky, Onischuk, Inarkiev, and Bologan also return. The three "outsiders" are Efimenko, Motylev, and Naiditsch, for an impressive average strength of nearly 2700. Not sure about the live link yet.
Wang Hao isn't back in Poikovsky this year because he's busy demolishing the Chinese championship in a blinding show of form. 6.5/7 so far! He's young and rather inconsistent, but can't we swap him for Wang Yue in some of these elite events? Exciting stuff. And who the heck is Ding Liren? The untitled player is in clear second place on +4. The next Chinese star? He looks very young in the photos here. Info anyone?
Of lower wattage is the 17th annual Sigeman & Co event in Sweden. The peripatetic Nigel Short, fresh from the wilds of Central America, is the top seed, followed by his fellow journeyman veteran Ivan Sokolov. Endurance certainly won't be a factor with the new format. It's just six players and five rounds, so don't blink.
Mig "And who the heck is Ding Liren? The untitled player is in clear second place on +4. The next Chinese star? He looks very young in the photos here. Info anyone?"
FIDE has his name as Liren Ding so I don't know which way is correct. I have no info, but he's only the 25th best active Chinese player according to FIDE and his expected rating change will only put him at 2466 so he's not that hot IMHO.
http://ratings.fide.com/tournament_report.phtml?event16=29533
Ding Liren was playing in under-12 WC in 2004, so he must be about 16 now.
Looking forward to seeing how Nils Grandelius does at Sigeman.
There are many untitled chinese player slaying a GMs in Asia lately. You can see it clearly in Asian Intercontinental a week ago in Subic. Btw,for infos on china champ please visit :
http://red-white-chess.blogspot.com/2009/06/chinese-chess-championship-2009-round-7.html
Yes Grandelius is always interesting. Remember for instance last year in Reykjavik, when he was only 14, he held Wang Hao to a draw. The same Wang Hao who is now leading the Chinese Championship. Grandelius was in that game playing black and he even had the better position when Wang Hao proposed draw. The most promising Swedish player since the days of Ferdinand Hellers and Ulf Andersson.
Anand said recently that he is the best e4 player of the world ..., i hope this match puts that statement to the test .
We might see a match of Moscow Variations of the Semi-Slavs, and Najdorfs, which would be cool, (those Anand-Polgar battles were always a treat, bloodthirsty stuff) but then again Anand is quite good with the Petroff himself! (See, it's not all Kramnik's fault!)And both have been using the Caro-Kann. In any case of course they will pull out some surprises, maybe completely new openings.
According to http://blog.sina.com.cn/chessnews , Hou Yifan lost by forfeit against Liang Chong in round 8 for being (5 seconds?) late to the game. Brutal.
John, Chinese family names are always one syllable, and in Chinese the family name is written first. So, in Chinese order, his name would be Ding Liren, and in English order, Liren Ding.
After 15 moves Leko's position looks difficult, I can't imagine that he aimed for this. Any Grünfeld experts there who can hint as to what went wrong in his prep?
Manu:
Can you give some attribution as to where Anand said he is the best e4 player in the world ?
He said it in an interview after the Kramnik match, when discussing why he went for 1. e4 in the crucial game that K had to win.
Mig, NEW TOPIC proposal:
Regarding the "candidate event" to decide the challenger to the winner of the Anand-Topalov world championship match, there has been one important piece of information missing so far.
We know that 2 of Anand/Kamsky/Topalov are in
We know the WCC 2009 winner is in
We know the top 2 from the Grand Prix are in
We know that an organizer nominee is in
We know that the nominee must be 2700+
We know 2700+ here refers to the January 2010 list
We know 2 players qualify based on rating
But we DON'T KNOW which rating list(s) will be used to decide which players qualify based on rating.
From a reliable and trustworthy source, I've learnt that one of the (many) FIDE Presidents has communicated to a limited audience that the two lists in question are _the July 2009 and the January 2010 lists_.
I don't know any specifics about how things will be weighted, if there will be any activity demands (say, what if you stay inactive from July 2009 to January 2010?), how potential ties will be broken, and so on.
However, IF this indeed will be the outcome of the rating qualification criteria, then I strongly believe that ALL potentially affected players should be officially informed by FIDE.
Both which list(s) and other specifics about the criteria should be decided well in advance, _documented_ and made public, so that no foul play around this would be possible. In case FIDE wants to keep which list(s) and detailed rules a secret, then it still should be _decided_ and documented well _in advance_ of any relevant list publication, to reduce the possibility for fitting rules to a certain reality. And obviously: no player(s) should be given information that are unavailable to others.
In fact, even communicating such information to a limited number of players is wrong regardless, whether the info is correct or not. Giving incorrect info to someone is also a way of influencing matters in an undesirable and questionable way.
I wonder when we will hear any "official news" from FIDE about this.
A very nice interview with Shirov at Chessvibes http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/alexei-shirov-somewhere-deep-inside-i-felt-that-i-could-win-the-tournament/#more-12152 talking about many things. What strikes me more is the things related to his personal life. I think he's had a particularly hard personal life, which makes him even more admirable to my eyes. Even if he is extremely strong, and very respected amongs his pairs (his pairs going to the very top) many thought he was somehow underachieving after his promising youth. While that may even be true (gosh, have to see how he, Kramnik and Kamsky played in their youth) I consider him really outstanding, both as a player and as a person.
"He said it in an interview after the Kramnik match, when discussing why he went for 1. e4 in the crucial game that K had to win."
Did he...?
I think he said more like "I do my best in e4, and it's the kind of setup I'm most conversant with to rely upon in a crucial game."
Makes a whole lot of difference.
It'd look very uncharacteristic of Anand to say that he is the best e4 player in the world.
Poikovsky looks like a USSR championship. Wasn't Shirov the last Soviet champion?
I second Proloy's opinion. A statement like that from Anand is uncharacteristic, if he did say it.
"but then again Anand is quite good with the Petroff himself!"
Yep, to say the least. According to Fischl's site, Anand's performance rating with the Petroff in 2000-2008 is an amazing 2784. Kramnik's is almost 100 points lower. I haven't double-checked this myself, but I'm sure it is at least approximately correct.
In this period, counting classical games, Anand has lost one (against Lékó) - won three (against Lékó, Adams and Topalov). He has been under considerable pressure in some of the draws though. For some reason he has only played it once after 2005.
"A statement like that from Anand is uncharacteristic, if he did say it."
He naturally didn't say it, just another made up quote.
"one of the (many) FIDE Presidents has communicated to a limited audience that the two lists in question are _the July 2009 and the January 2010 lists_."
"IF this indeed will be the outcome of the rating qualification criteria, then I strongly believe that ALL potentially affected players should be officially informed by FIDE"
FIDE's scandalous behaviour making up rules as they go and then changing them whenever they feel like it has made it impossible to take the cycle seriously.
Mig, while your pleas to invite Wang Hao to more super-tournaments are justified, it is becoming a bit of a broken record....
As you know, Wang Hao played in Bosnia which is not quite a super-tournament (but fairly close) and only scored 5.5/10 after a strong finish. While he deserves a chance, I don't think he is quite ready to battle Topalov and Carlsen (unlike say Gelfand/Shirov/Ponomariov whom we don't see very often either).
He said something very similar, or maybe he was paraphrasing one of his seconds. He did not say it as a boast, nor did it sound as such, someone can dig up the exact quote, I'm a bit hazy.
The point which Anand mentions in the interviews is his familiarity and experience with the e4 openings. Never has he mentioned that he is the best e4 player in the world.
Q>Then the amazing final game. You are a lifelong e4 player. How do you feel that e4 was finally used as a drawing weapon?
A>It wasn’t a drawing weapon as such. I would say in the last game I was dealing with a kamikaze. I mean a guy who could do anything because his situation was so desperate. I had prepared for all his favourite systems, but now he could do anything. He was a loose cannon. I thought it is better to be in familiar territory when he is in such a state. The idea was not to play for a draw. Of course even in a winning position, if he had offered a draw I might have taken it, but the idea was not to play for a draw. It is another thing to accept the draw when it comes, but not play for it.
It was a video, no transcript, not that interview. But never mind.
With reference to Anand, and whether he would or would not claim to be "the best 1. e4 player in the world," I couldn't help but laugh at the scene in my head. The supposition is that professional poker player Phil Hellmuth was being channeled through Anand:
"J&#^$ C(#*@^, he played the Marshall! The Marshall!! These amateurs think they can beat me with any bull@#$% they can think of, without taking into consideration that I am the best player in the world. What the !@#$ are they thinking? I set my traps, I play perfectly, and these a$$&^@#s try to make me look silly. They just don't realize how strong I really am. I'm the best 1. e4 player in the world! I've proved it time after time, yet they still act like idiots. Idiots! Why must I lose to such idiots?"
(Oh, wait, someone else got channeled in there somehow)
CO :)
"I can dodge Berlins, baby!"
CO (lol)
I gotta wonder... How many more years will the sponsers keep backing Leko while he loses? He hasn't beaten anyone except an aging Karpov back in 2006. Not exactly riveting stuff.
Nice one CO.
You should add
"They cannot even spell chess!"
somewhere.
Can you post a link to the video then? For all the print and video interviews that all the chess enthuasists have watched after the Bonn match , no one has ever read/heard the alleged quote. Will help if you can substantiate .
Maybe I hallucinated it, can't find the video, anyway.
In any case, whether I am going senile or not, (Anand hallucinations are a rather ominous sign)I don't know why people are so interested. He IS the best e4 player in the world, and a very modest guy to boot. I liked when Capablanca told it like it was. Sherlock Holmes said he was the best at times, and regarded it as fact, not boasting. And he was right! Why force modesty? You've earned the right to tell it like it is when you're at the top (don't ask for a video link, it's locked in a vault in a tin box with Watson's other papers).
He did say that , and as you said it he did not meant it as a boast.
The comment was something like :¨ im suposed to be the best e4 player in the world i should be able to draw this game¨
I cant remember in which interview was that , but eventually it will appear somewhere.
Thx, cat , you are not senile yet.
Yes it is most likely thay you hallucinated it, as you can't find the video, anyway.
Tnx, Manu, I knew I heard it, it's something like you said, yes. I too have no idea what video though. But I hardly think BOTH of us are hallucinating.
Stop sucking those peyote buttons, myfriend , you start seeing estrange things and the air gets filled with hideous insects.
Relax Chesshire cat , I was only having some harmless fun. I think Fisher and Kasparov played e4 better than Anand but if you put a Kramnik with a Berlin and a Petroff before Anand , Kasparov or Fischer (now this is a hypothesis) all of them would be equal players - same degree of "e4" greatness or lack of it.
Don't worry ksr, I was at no stage indignant, that is the disadvantage of textual communication, tone can be misconstrued. I can only remember one game of Fischer's against the Berlin, quick draw-he was young. His record against the Petroff was not shattering, someone once opined that Petrosian shoulda used it against him more often in the Candidates. Like in the match against Spassky, Petrosian resorted to the Sicilian, didn't turn out too well! The Petroff mighta helped push Bobby outta the contest...maybe then it would be even more hated than now :)
This just in (from the Sigeman tournament): Grandelius (IM 2491) - Ivan Sokolov (GM 2669) 1-0!!
Great game from the new Swedish hope...
//Ding is 16.5 now,born in 1992.He is now a highschool-boy only.
//In fact,Ding Liren was 7th in 2008 Chinese Championship Group A,so he remains in Group A 2009.
//By the way,A lot of Chinese juniors(under 2500) and girls(under 2350)players are most underrated in the world,because they are lack of opportunites to participate the opens or tournaments like Russian and European players.If Ding have the same opportunites as Carlson,He will absolutely be as strong as Carlson.
//In China,chess is not popular in all,the reason is that people usually play Chinese chess(XiangQi）and Go.Believe it or not, almost every little boy can play Chinese chess but not chess.
Believe it or not, almost every little boy can play Chinese chess but not chess.
//As you know or not,China has 1.4 billion peoples,that means more than 1 billion peoples can play Chinese chess.
What is happening to Shirov at the Karpov International Tourney in Poikovsky, Russia? He's lost his first three games in shocking fashion. His third round loss from today was particularly ugly. So far in this tourney, Shirov appears to have lost all sense of danger and seems to have forgotten that his opponents are strong players who are very able to fend off what have been so far his overly optimistic (to be kind) attacks.
"What is happening to Shirov at the Karpov International Tourney in Poikovsky, Russia? He's lost his first three games in shocking fashion"
Sofia was one of those tournaments that happen once in a decade when everything goes his way so maybe he has to "pay back" now, as Ivanchuk has done after last year's Sofia.
Wrong concept , this year at Sofia was more like an exception on Chucky´s performance in the last few years.
Yes, Chucky's performance at Sofia was an aberration on his usual results.
However, I was specifically asking about Shirov's performance at the Karpov tourney in Poikovsky, Russia, which has so far been exemplified by horrendous blunders in each of his game, which have led to his defeats:
30...f3?? (round 1)
37.g5+?? (round 2)
21...d4?? (round 3)
Normally, Shirov is outstanding in his tactical vision, but these three blunders tell a different story.
So, there are either a lot more boys than girls, or some little girls can also play Chinese chess:
"Believe it or not, almost every little boy can play Chinese chess but not chess.
//As you know or not,China has 1.4 billion peoples,that means more than 1 billion peoples can play Chinese chess."
"this year at Sofia was more like an exception on Chucky´s performance in the last few years"
In a six month period he finished last in Nanjing, Wijk, Nalchik and Sofia (apart from having a great Linares), before that he played extremely well though.
"Shirov's performance at the Karpov tourney in Poikovsky, Russia, which has so far been exemplified by horrendous blunders in each of his game"
That is true, I still think he somehow played much over his usual standard in Sofia (in Linares he has finished last five times in a row) and had a really bad event coming as a reaction, still a mystery how he can make losing blunders in every game this far.