The Week in Chess

Ankara FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2012 - Games and Results

Mark Crowther — Mon Oct 1 12:08:00 2012

Anna Muzychuk and Humpy Koneru are the top seeds in the Ankara FIDE Women's Grand Prix 16th-29th September 2012. Muzychuk has just overtaken World Champion Hou Yifan in the women's rating list and is now 2nd behind Judit Polgar. Updates have moved to: http://www.theweekinchess.com.

FIDE Grand Prix London 2012 - Games and Results

Mark Crowther — Mon Oct 1 12:07:00 2012

The 1st FIDE Grand Prix takes place in Simpson’s-in-the-Strand in London 20th September (Opening Ceremony) to 3rd October 2012. Play starts at 2pm each day. The field has undergone a number of changes. Nakamura, Ivanchuk, Grischuk, Topalov, Wang Hao, Gelfand, Leko, Giri, Mamedyarov, Dominguez Perez, Adams and Kasimdzhanov. Updates have moved to: http://www.theweekinchess.com.

The Week in Chess has moved to theweekinchess.com - Moving Web Addresses

Mark Crowther — Thu Sep 20 17:55:00 2012

The Week in Chess has moved to theweekinchess.com. Please alter your booksmarks. There is still plenty of work to do but the switch has been made and only minimal updates are being made at this chess.co.uk address for TWIC which will soon be replaced . My thanks once again to Malcolm Pein for his long sponsorship and help. These http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/ pages here will remain for a little while until the full switch over is achieved.

Black Sea Countries Final 2012 - Games and Results

Mark Crowther — Wed Sep 12 16:37:00 2012

The Black Sea Countries final tournament takes place in Burgas , Bulgaria 12th-19th September 2012. Baadur Jobava, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Vladimir Malakhov, Ivan Cheparinov, Alexander Areshchenko and Suat Atalik play in this 6 player 10 round event. Updates have moved to: http://www.theweekinchess.com.

40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul 2012 - Games and Results

Mark Crowther — Sun Sep 9 16:10:00 2012

The 40th Chess Olympiad took place in Istanbul, Turkey 27th August (Opening 28th R1) to 9th September 2012. Armenia won the title for the 3rd time in 4 attempts after defeating Hungary in the final round. They were helped by Ukraine who beat the leaders China in the final round to secure Bronze for themselves. Elo favourites Russia were tied with Armenia on 19 points. Their loss to the USA proved to be the decisive result. Russia did capture the women's crown on tie-break ahead of China who will surely be extremely disappointed.

40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 11 2012 - 11

Mark Crowther — Sun Sep 9 16:07:00 2012

The 40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Final Round 11 took place on Sunday 9th September 2012.

Armenia captured their third title in their last four attempts after defeating Hungary 2.5-1.5 in the final round thanks to a win from Sergei Movsesian. Their leader Levon Aronian also captured gold on board 1. The round 10 leaders China were defeated 3-1 by Ukraine where Vassily Ivanchuk destroyed Wang Hao on top board. Russia were level with Armenia on 19 points but had a worse tie-break even after beating Germany 3-1. Ukraine took bronze.

Gold Medal Board Prizes Bd1: Levon Aronian Bd2 David Navara Bd3 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Bd4 Vlad Tkachiev Bd5 Dmitry Jakovenko.

In the women's Olympiad Russia destroyed Kazakhstan 4-0 in the final round and took the title on tie-break from China who only just struggled past Bulgaria 2.5-1.5. Russia did what China failed to do in Round 10, beat a Kazakhstan who did really well but were vastly outrated on every board.

Live Video - Pairings - Live Games Official.

Leading Open Pairings

UKR 3-1 CHN (Ivanchuk 1-0 Wang Hao was a real brilliancy win. Wang Yue 1/2 Ponomariov, Volokitin 1/2 Ding, Bu 0-1 Eljanov), HUN 1.5-2.5 ARM (Leko 1/2 Aronian, Movsesian 1-0 Almasi (this was the game that settled who won gold), Akopian 1/2 Polgar, Sargissian 1/2 Berkes), RUS 3-1 GER (Kramnik 1-0 Naiditsch, Khenkin 1/2 Grischuk, Karjakin 1-0 Fridman, Gustafsson 1/2 Jakovenko), POL 1.5-2.5 USA (Wojtaszek 1-0 Nakamura, Kamsky 1-0 Bartel), ARG 1-3 NED (Peralta 0-1 Giri, Van Wely 1-0 Flores), VIE 3-1 UZB (Le 1/2 Kasimdzhanov), ROU 3-1 PHI (Lupulescu 1/2 So), CUB 2.5-1.5 SLO (Dominguez 1-0 Lenic), AZE 2.5-1.5 IND (Safarki 1/2 Sasikiran), ENG 2.5-1.5 CZE (Adams 1/2 Laznicka, Navara 1-0 Jones, Short 1-0 Babula. A final quick win for Short who played really well in the event with only one bad game and a lot of wins. Stocek 0-1 Howell), ISR 2-2 BLR (Sutovsky 1-0 Sergei Zhigalko), GEO 1-3 DEN (Mchedlishvili 1/2 Sune Berh Hansen), ITA 3.5-0.5 GRE (Caruana 1-0 Papaioannou), BUL 4-0 VEN (Topalov 1-0 Iturrizaga) PER 1.5-2.5 LAT (Cori 1/2 Shirov)

Leading Women's Pairings

RUS 4-0 KAZ (Tatiana Kosintseva 1-0 Nakhbayeva), BUL 1.5-2.5 CHN (Stefanova 1/2 Hou Yifan), UKR 3.5-0.5 GER (Lahno 1-0 Paehtz), FRA 1.5-2.5 IND (Skripchenko 0-1 Dronavalli), POL 1.5-2.5 ARM (Socko 0-1 Danielian),

Games from the top 21 men's boards are now available for viewing and download.

40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 10 2012 - 10

Mark Crowther — Fri Sep 7 19:32:00 2012

The 40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 10 took place on Friday 7th September 2012.

After 10 rounds 1st China, 2nd Armenia and 3rd Russia are all tied on 17 points. In the final round UKR-CHN, HUN-ARM, RUS-GER, POL-USA. England play the Czech Republic. Ukraine is a very tough assignment for the leaders so it is all to play for in these pairings. I don't understand the tie-breaks and I'm sure I'm not alone but they will be key. The official site needs to provide a guide in the light of Sunday's final round pairings..

China beat the USA 2.5-1.5 but only after Liren Ding beat Alexander Onischuk in a drawn Rook and Pawn ending. Russia had to sweat on their win against Argentina as their heavy scorer Dmitry Jakovenko had to defend a worse position for a long time against Sandro Mareco. Armenia were comfortable 3-1 winners against Netherlands where they were better on every board and Aronian beat Giri on Board 1.

The Chinese women still lead after 10 rounds but it is almost unbelievable they didn't beat a Kazakhstan team whose highest rated player was 2291, Ding Yixin on bottom board (2424) was beaten by Madina Davletbayeva (2165). The match finished 2-2. Russia share the lead but have a worse tie-break, or at least I think so somehow they're number 1 in the pairing list. Final Round RUS-KAZ and BUL-CHN. 5th seeds USA are 17th but Irina Krush has scored 8/9.

Live Video - Pairings - Live Games Official.

Leading Round 10 Pairings Men: CHN 2.5-1.5 USA (Wang Hao 1/2 Nakamura, Kamsky 1/2 Wang Yue, Ding 1-0 Onischuk, Akobian 1/2 Bu), ARG 1.5-2.5 RUS (Peralta 1/2 Grischuk, Karjakin 1-0 Flores, Tomeshevsky 1/2 Felgaer, Jakovenko 1/2 Mareco), NED 1-3 ARM (Giri 0-1 Aronian, Movsesian 1/2 Van Wely, Sokolov 0-1 Akopian, Sargissian 1/2 Smeets), AZE 1.5-2.5 UKR (Radjabov 1/2 Ivanchuk, Ponomariov 1-0 Sufarli), CZE 1-3 POL (Laznicka 0-1 Wojtaszek, Socko 0-1 Navara), DEN 0-4 HUN (Sune-Berg Hansen 0-1 Leko, Rasmussen 0-1 Polgar), BLR 1.5-2.5 GER (Sergei Zhigalko 1/2 Naiditsch), PHI 2-2 VIE (So 1/2 Le), IND 2-2 CUB (Sasikiran 0-1 Dominguez), ISR 2-2 GEO (Gelfand 1/2 Mchedlishvili), UZB 3-1 BUL (Kasimdzhanov 1-0 Topalov. Kasimdzhanov crushed Topalov perhaps using preparation initially planned for use by Anand), ROU 2.5-1.5 FRA (Lupulescu 1/2 Vachier), ENG 4-0 URU (Adams 1-0 Rodriguez, Crosa 0-1 Jones, Howell 1-0 Roselli, Ulaneo 0-1 Pert),

Leading Round 10 Pairings Women: CHN 2-2 KAZ (Hou Yifan 1/2 Nakhbayeva), ARM 0.5-3.5 RUS (Danielian 0-1 Tatiana Kosintseva), UKR 2.5-1.5 POL (Lahno 1/2 Socko), AZE 1.5-2.5 FRA (Mamedjarova 0-1 Skripchenko), IND 3.5-0.5 ISR (Dronavalli 1-0 Porat),

Games from the top 22 boards of the men's section now available for viewing and download.

40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 9 2012 - 9

Mark Crowther — Thu Sep 6 19:17:00 2012

The 40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 9 took place on Thursday 6th September 2012. Russia may still win the Olympiad but they could have almost made sure already by drawing or winning against a USA side the out-rated on every board. Instead USA scored a sensational victory. Hikaru Nakamura turned down a repetition, got a winning position against Vladimir Kramnik, messed it up a bit got over the line in the end and overtook his opponent for world number 4 as well. Gata Kamsky played a very provocative Alekhine's Defence against Alexander Grischuk and was rewarded with a better position and finally a win deep in the ending. Sergey Karjakin drew easily with black against Alexander Onischuk but surely his job was to at least play on for a long time against a player he out-rated by over 100 points. Dmitry Jakovenko moved to 6/7 with another win. A sensational match. The USA is in for a tough finish in the final two rounds but are definitely in the hunt for the medals. China took the lead on tie-break but have to play the USA (now 4th) in Round 10. 2nd place Russia have run out of top teams and face Argentina. 3rd placed Armenia play the Netherlands now strengthened by Anish Giri who didn't play the first half because he sent his passport to get a Visa for the Grand Prix in London (he still has a Russian passport) and then had to wait for its return.

Olympiad Round 10 Pairings: CHN (15pts) - USA (15), ARG (14) - RUS (15), NED (14) - ARM (15), AZE (13) - UKR (14), CZE-POL, DEN-HUN, BLR-GER, PHI-VIE (all on 13), IND-CUB, ISR-GEO, UZB-BUL, ROU-FRA, GRE-ESP, SLO-CRO, VEN-MDA, SRB-SUI, ENG-URU etc

China have a one point lead over Russia in the women's event and I just don't see them dropping any points in the final two rounds.

Leading Round 9 Results Open:

USA 2.5-1.5 RUS (Nakamura 1-0 Kramnik, Grischuk 0-1 Kamsky, Karjakin 1/2 Onischuk, Jakovenko 1-0 Robson), PHI 0.5-3.5 CHN (S 1/2 Wang Hao, Ding 0-1 Barbosa, Torre 0-1 Bu, Li 1-0 Paragua), ARM 2.5-1.5 GER (Aronian 1-0 Naidtisch, Khenkin 1/2 Movsesian, Meier dropped his queen in 1 move in losing to Akopian, Fridman 1-0 Sargissian), POL 2-2 AZE (Wojtaszek 1-0 Radjabov, Socko 1-0 Mamedyarov), UKR 3-1 FRA (Ivanchuk sacrificed a piece soundly against Vachier and won when his opponent cracked, Fressinet 1/2 Ponomariov), NED 3-1 ISR (Giri 1/2 Gelfand, Sutovsky 0-1 Van Wely in only 18 moves), SRB 1.5-2.5 ARG (Ivanisevic 0-1 Peralta), HUN 3-2 ITA (Leko 1/2 Caruana), GEO 2-2 IND (Mchedlishvili 1/2 Sasikiran), VIE 3-1 ENG (Le 1-0 Adams, Short 1/2 Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Howell 0-1 Nguyen Van Huy, Nguyen Doc Hoa 1/2 Pert), UZB 2-2 SLO (Kasimdzhanov 1/2 Beliavsky), AUT 0-4 CZE (Ragger 0-1 Laznicka) CUB 3.5-0.5 LAT (Dominguez 1-0 Shirov) BUL 3-1 RSA (Topalov 1-0 Solomon)

Leading Round 9 Results Women:

CHN 3-1 FRA (Hou Yifan 1-0 Skripchenko), IND 1-3 RUS (Dronavalli 1/2 Kosintseva), KAZ 2.5-1.5 UZB (Nakhbayeva 1/2 Muminova), USA 1-3 UKR (Zatonskih 0-1 Lahno, Krush 1/2 Muzychuk), BUL 1.5-2.5 POL (Stefanova 1/2 Socko)

Games from the top 22 matches in the men's section available.

40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 8 2012 - 8

Mark Crowther — Wed Sep 5 18:59:00 2012

The 40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 8 took place on Wednesday 5th September 2012.

After the 8th Round Russia extended their lead to 2 points after defeating the defending champions Ukraine and moving to 15/16 points. Sergey Karjakin scored the decisive result in beatin Andrei Volokitin thus far he hasn't scored enough wins but this one was really important. China, Armenia, USA, Germany and Philippines are all on 13 points.

China beat Poland 3-1 in Round 8 of the women's competition and have a one point lead over Russia who were held by Ukraine..

Live Video - Pairings - Live Games Official.

Leading Men's Round 8 Results:

RUS 2.5-1.5 UKR (Kramnik 1/2 Ivanchuk, Ponomariov 1/2 Grischuk, Karjkain 1-0 Volokitin, Moiseenko 1/2 Tomashevsky), CHN 2-2 AZE (Wang Hao 1/2 Radjabov, Mamedyarov 1-0 Wang Yue, Ding 1-0 Mamedov, Guseinov 1/2 Bu), ARM 3-1 UZB (Aronian 1/2 Kasimdzhanov, Filippov 1/2 Movsesian, Akopian 1-0 Dzhumaev, Kvon 0-1 Sargissian), MKD 1-3 USA (Vlad Georgiev 0-1 Kamsky), GER 2.5-1.5 HUN (Naiditsch 1-0 Leko was decisive with black blundering in the ending, Almasi 1/2 Khenkin. ), ENG 1-3 PHI (Adams 1/2 So, Barbosa 1-0 Jones, Short 0-1 Torre, Paragua 1/2 Pert) Jones was in trouble early on but it took 102 moves for Barbosa to finish him off. Short went wrong coming up to first time control against Eugenio Torre and paid the price, FRA 2.5-1.5 CUB (Vachier 1/2 Dominguez), IND 2-2 SRB (Sasikiran 0-1 Ivanisevic), ESP 0.5-3.5 ISR (Vallejo 1/2 Gelfand, Sutovsky 1-0 Salgado), LAT 1-3 NED (Shirov 1/2 Giri, Van Wely 1/2 Miezis), ROU 1-3 ARG (Lupulescu 0-1 Peralta), CRO 1.5-2.5 POL (Saric 1/2 Wojtaszek), GRE 2-2 SLO (Papaioannou 1/2 Beliavsky), CZE 2.5-1.5 MDA (Laznicka-Bologan),

Leading Women's Round 8 Results:

POL 1-3 CHN (Socko 0-1 Hou-Yifan), RUS 2-2 UKR (Kosintseva 1/2 Lahno), FRA 3-1 ESP (Skripchenko 1-0 Matnadze), UZB 2.5-1.5 HUN (Muminova 1/2 Hoang), VIE1.5-2.5 IND (Le 1/2 Dronavalli),

Top boards from the men's event now available.

40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 7 2012 - 7

Mark Crowther — Tue Sep 4 18:39:00 2012

The 40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 7 took place on Tuesday 4th September 15:00 local time 13:00 BST. Russia take control of the men's event and having faced down most of their rivals it's theirs to lose as they have a 1 point lead. Grischuk's win took them to a win vs Azerbaijan. Armenia's sights may have to be on the bronze after losing to China who they out rated. China catch Russia and Poland in the women's event.

Live Video - Pairings - Live Games Official.

Leading Men's Results Round 7: AZE 1.5-2.5 RUS (Radjabov 1/2 Kramnik, Grischuk 1-0 Safarli, Mamedyarov 1/2 Karjakin, Jakovenko 1/2 Mamedov) Grischuk slow conversion of an extra pawn puts Russia in a very strong position, CHN 2.5-1.5 ARM (Wang Hao 1/2 Aronian, Movsesian 0-1 Wang Yue, Ding 1/2 Akopian, Sargissian 1/2 Bu. Movsesian's over-aggression just got him into trouble and a massive counter-attack proved decisive) China in good shape for a push for the title, PHI 2-2 HUN (So 1/2 Leko. Wesley So apparently missed a win and in the end the veteran Eugenio Torre had to use all his experience to beat Ferenc Berkes and save the match for PHI), UKR 1-0 ESP (Ivanchuk 1-0 Vallejo was the decisive result. One wonders what would have happened if Ivanchuk had won in round 1. He's struggled a bit since but gets back to a 50% score with this win, Illescas 1/2 Ponomariov), MDA1.5-2.5 GER (Bologan 1/2 Naiditsch) wins for Khankin and Gustafsson win the match for Germany, ARG 2-2 IND (Peralta 1/2 Sasikiran, Ruben Felgaer's win on board 3 was matched by Gupta's on board 4), USA 3.5-0.5 TUR (Nakamura 1-0 Solak, Ipatov 0-1 Kamsky, The US team finally deliver a big win having become becalmed with three drawn matches), ISR 2-2 FRA (Gelfand 1/2 Vachier, Fressinet 0-1 Sutovsky. Sutovsky's win matches for France by Tkachiev's win vs Avrukh), GEO 1.5-2.5 ENG (Mchedlishvili 1/2 Adams, Jones 1/2 Gagunashvili, Pantsulaia 0-1 Short, Howell 1/2 Shanava) Short is in my fantasy team on board 3 exactly because he had the potential to score like this 6/7 undefeated now, MEX 1-3 UZB (Leon Hoyos 1/2 Kasimdzhanov), ITA 1.5-2.5 MKD (Caruana 1-0 Vlad Georgiev but in the end the Italian team is defeated by lower rated Macedonians), BUL 1.5-2.5 NED (Veselin Topalov beat Anish Giri in a fine result for him having struggled for much of the year. Sharp game settled on the run up to first time control. Van Wely 1/2 Cheparinov, Delchev 0-1 Smeets, Stellwagen 1-0 Nikolov),

Leading Women's Results Round 7: RUS 2-2 POL (Gunina 1/2 Socko), GEO 1.5-2.5 CHN (Dzagnidze 1/2 Hou Yifan) If I worked this out right the favourites China take the lead, UKR 2-2 FRA (Lahno 1/2 Skripchenko. All games drawn, Maria Muzychuk dropped a piece but was allowed to give perpetual check by Sophie Milliet), SRB 2-2 VIE (Bojkovic 1/2 Thi), HUN 2.5-1.5 MNE (Hoang 1/2 Vojinovic).

Games from the top 20 men's matches available for viewing and download below.

40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 6 2012 - 6

Mark Crowther — Mon Sep 3 18:18:00 2012

The 40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 6 took place on Monday 3rd September. The leading teams Russia (10pts) and Armenia (10pts) in the men's competition and Russia (10pt) and China (9pts) both drew their matches 2-2.

Live Video - Pairings - Live Games Official.

Leading Men's Round 6 Results: RUS 2-2 ARM (Kramnik beat Aronian in an exchange Slav where black had an uncomfortable position but 21... Rc7? was a losing error allowing a decisive knight sacrifice maybe Aronian missed 26.Qb6! Movsesian 1-0 Grischuk time trouble put the Russian in trouble and he eventually resigned on move 51, Karjakin 1/2 Akopian, Sargissian 1/2 Jakovenko), AZE 3-1 CRO (Radjabov 1-0 Saric), GER 2-2 USA (Naiditsch 1/2 Nakamura, Kamsky 1/2 Khenkin), CZE 1.5-2.5 ESP (Laznicka 0-1 Vallejo), PHI 2.5-0.5 BUL (So 1/2 Topalov), BIH 0.5-3.5 CHN (Kurajica 1/2 Wang Hao), HUN 3-1 POL (Leko 1/2 Wojtaszek), ENG 2-2 ITA (Adams 1/2 Caruana, Godena 1-0 Jones (who lost the exchange and couldn't save the position), Short-Brunello (Short somehow got a win late on but finding 25.d5 would have saved him a lot of work)), MNE 1-3 UKR (Djukic 1/2 Ivanchuk), IND 2-2 ISR (Sasikiran 1/2 Gelfand), MDA 3.5-0.5 SLO (Bologan 1/2 Beliavsky), VIE 2-2 EGY (Le 1/2 Amin), COL 0.5-3.5 GEO (Cuartas 1/2 Gagunashvili), FRA 2.5-1.5 FIN (Fressinet 1-0 Karttunen), NED 3-1 BEL (Giri 1-0 Dgebuadze)

Leading Women's Round 6 Pairings: CHN 2-2 RUS (Hou Yifan 1-0 Tatiana Kosintseva), POL 3.5-0.5 SRB (Socko 1-0 Bojkovic), SVK 1.5-2.5 GEO (Borosova 1/2 Dzagnidze), HUN 2-2 ESP (Hoang 1-0 Matnadze).

Games from the top 22 men's matches for viewing and download available.

40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 5 2012 - 5

Mark Crowther — Sat Sep 1 18:28:00 2012

The 40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 5 took place on Saturday 1st September. Live Video - Pairings - Live Games Official.

Olympiad Round 5, The battle of the four leaders saw one decisive game in each match. Aronian made light work of Ivanchuk in Armenia's 2.5-1.5 defeat of Ukraine. Alexander Grischuk needed no second invitation to launch a decisive king-side attack after Almasi's queen became completely misplaced on the queen-side. This win saw Russia beat Hungary 2.5-1.5. Leko and Kramnik drew on top board. So it will be Russia against Armenia on Monday. Rest day Sunday.

Other top pairings: GER 2-2 MNE, CRO 2.5-1.5 FRA, USA 2-2 CZE, CAN 0.5-3.5 AZE, IND 2-2 ENG (all 7 pts), POL (6pts) 2.5-1.5 ARG (7).

Women's Olympiad: RUS 2.5-1.5 FRA was the only match with teams on 100% so Russia lead alone now. SRB 2.5-1.5 BUL, GRE 1.5-2.5 POL, GEO 2-2 UKR, LAT 1.5-2.5 SVK, CHN 3.5-0.5 IND all on 7pts.

Leading player highlights: Saric drew with Vachier on top board and Kozul beat Bauer on bottom board to win the match for Croatia against France. All the games in the USA vs Czech Republic match were drawn including Nakamura-Laznicak and Kamsky-Navara. Canada were heavily outrated and lost 3.5-0.5 to Azerbaijan including a win for Radjabov against Sambuev. Sasikiran drew with Adams, Nigel Short played very riskily against Negi. This and Jones-Harikrishna saw favourable Rook endings for the Indians eventually finish in draws. Wang Hao beat Ghaem Maghami as part of China's win against Iran. Topalov beat Cori and Caruana beat Maznitsin as part of Bulgaria and Italy's comfortable wins vs Peru and Kyrgystan. Games now available for viewing and download for the top 20 boards of the men's event.

40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 4 2012 - 4

Mark Crowther — Fri Aug 31 19:22:00 2012

The 40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 4 took place on Friday 31st August. Live Video - Pairings - Live Games Official.

Leading Round 4 Results Men for Friday: USA 2-2 IND, RUS 3-1 CHN, AZE 2-2 GER, FRA 2-2 ENG, PHI 1.5-2.5 ARM, UKR 3-1 POL, SVK 1-3 HUN, CZE 4-0 NOR, CAN 2.5-1.5 MGL, ARG 2.5-1.5 MEX.

Games by leading players to look out for in Round 4. Nakamura 1-0 Sasikiran, Harikrishna 1-0 Kamsky as USA and India drew 2-2. Wang Hao hung on as black to draw using a fortress against Kramnik, Grischuk beat Wang Yue and the heavy scoring Dmitry Jakovenko (now 4/4) took Russia to a 3-1 win. Radjabov beat Naiditsch but Fridman's win against Guseinov saw Azerbaijan and Germany draw 2-2. Vachier-Adams and Edouard-Short were two of the four draws in England 2-2 France. Wesley So drew with Aronian but Armenia beat Philippines in the match thanks to a Sargissian's win on board 4. Ivanchuk 1-0 Wojtaszek was a top board win for Ukraine who beat Poland 3-1 with only a win for Dariusz Swiercz vs Moiseienko as compensation. Eid 0-1 Topalov in Bulgaria's 3.5-0.5 win against Lebanon. Gelfand drew with Kazhgaleyev in Israel's 2.5-1.5 win against Kazakhstan where the bottom 2 boards won it for Isreal after Sutovsky's loss to Jumabayev. Vladimir Georgiev drew with Shirov as Macedonia beat Latvia. Ivan Morovic drew on top board against Caruana in Italy's narrow 2.5-1.5 win against Chile.

Olympiad Round 5 on Saturday: See the battle of the 4 remaining teams on 4 wins from 4. ARM-UKR, HUN-RUS.

Other top pairings: GER-MNE, CRO-FRA, USA-CZE, CAN-AZE, IND-ENG (all 7 pts), POL (6pts) vs ARG (7).

Women's Olympiad: RUS-FRA is the only match with teams on 100%. SRB-BUL, GRE-POL, GEO-UKR, LAT-SVK, CHN-IND all on 7pts.

A selection of games now available.

40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 3 2012 - 3

Mark Crowther — Thu Aug 30 23:29:00 2012

The 40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 3 started at 1pm local time on Thursday 30th August. Live Video - Pairings - Live Games Official.

Some key games Vachier beat Topalov which won France the match against Bulgaria, Aronian beat Vallejo in the only decisive game of the Armenian win over Spain, Kramnik drew with Shirov in Russia's narrow win against Latvia and Ivanchuk drew with Gelfand in Ukraine's narrow win against Israel which turned completely turned around late on after Ponomariov came back to win from a lost position.

Leading results: Round 3 Men: SVK 2-2 BIH, VEN ½-3½ USA, FAI ½-3½ AZE, FRA 2½-1½ BUL, ENG 3-1 CUB, UKR 2½-1½ ISR, ARM 2½-1½ ESP, SLO 1-3 IND, IRI 0-4 GER, ROU 1-3 CHN, KAZ 0-4 PHI, ARG 2-2 CAN, RUS 2½-1½ LAT, HUN 3-1 SUI, MEX 2-2 MNE, POL 3-1 CHI

Leading Round 4 Pairings Men for Friday: USA vs IND, RUS vs CHN, AZE vs GER, FRA vs ENG, PHI vs ARM, UKR vs POL, SVK vs HUN, CZE vs NOR, CAN vs MGL, ARG vs MEX.

Initial file of top 14 matches from men's round 3 available for viewing and download below.

The Week in Chess and the London Chess Centre end their 14 year sponsorship agreement - Announcement

Mark Crowther — Wed Aug 29 21:28:00 2012

The Week in Chess website and weekly on-line magazine and game file collecting together the leading games and results is created and edited by Mark Crowther. The London Chess Centre particularly through Malcolm Pein has sponsored and encouraged its production since 1998. This agreement has now come to an end although both sides will continue to cooperate for some time.

"14 years is a very long time in the life of the internet and chess has seen many positive changes. I have been working incredibly hard on the TWIC website and updating the way that the magazine has been compiled since 2009. Whilst I've very much enjoyed increasing the amount of reporting on chess I've been doing, the additional work has also become unsustainable in the long term. I've managed to keep the weekly TWIC magazine games service free for all these years but in this economic climate I've got to look to make the best living I can. I think perhaps there has been the perception that TWIC was a bigger and better financed website than it actually was. A few thousand subscribers would enable TWIC to continue and become better, I will no doubt soon see if there is an appetite for that. It has been frustrating to see the London Chess Centre and myself get relatively little benefit from the production of the magazine while various commercial services have used it as a starting point for their paid for products.

In the end I decided that I needed to take stock and see what direction my working life should take which could even be away from chess and more towards other types of internet site. It could be that I work on many different smaller projects. TWIC will continue in some form at a new address www.theweekinchess.com shortly. I must place on record my gratitude to Malcolm Pein for his support over the years and I think I learned quite a bit from him too."

Mark Crowther 29th August 2012

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40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 2 2012 - 2

Mark Crowther — Wed Aug 29 15:50:00 2012

The 40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 2 started at 2pm local time on Wednesday 29th August. Live Video - Pairings - Live Games Official.

Sorry for the lack of updates this afternoon. Been working on the round 1 games. Men's and women's both done. Added top 20 matches from the round 2 Men's section now.

Men's Pairings: QAT 0-4 UKR, USA 3.5-0.5 LTU, AZE3.5-0.5 IRL, PER 0.5-3.5 FRA, IND 3-1 TUR16, CUB 3.5-0.5 ICSC, CRC 0-4 POL, GRE 1-3 RUS, CHN 3.5-0.5 ITA, ENG 2.5-1.5 BRA, GER 2.5-1.5 GEO, TUR 2-2 CZE, ESP 2.5-1.5 BLR, UZB 2-2 CRO, SRB 2-2 SWE. The main stories of the day were that Ukraine won 3-1 against Qatar but Vassily Ivanchuk blundered to lose on top board which could be important for the rest of the event. The USA battered Lithuania 3.5-0.5 with Nakamura grinding out a marathon win against Malisauskas on top board. Azerbaijan, India, France, Cuba, Poland all won. Russia already down the standings beat Greece only 3-1. I'm not sure Karjakin impressed anyone with his extremely short draw with black against a player he outrated by over 160 points. Indeed I don't think this draw with black, win with white approach will be enough to get them gold. China smashed Italy 3.5-0.5 with even their star Fabiano Caruana getting beaten on top board. England beat Brazil thanks to a win for Short over Fier. A Naiditsch win for Germany and Illescas win for Spain got them narrow victories today. I'll see if I can get some games at some point.

40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 1 2012 - 1

Mark Crowther — Tue Aug 28 23:37:00 2012

The 40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Round 1 started at 3:22 local time. Some updates below. Live Video - Pairings - Live Games Official. Surprises Tomashevsky held by William Puntier. Sergei Movsesian beaten by Oswaldo Zambrana. Looking through the results I see Tze Meng Mok beat Loek van Wely. I've produced a file of the top 52 games in the round 1 draw the remaining games should appear tomorrow. FIDE have got good broadcasts going in the last few Olympiads but they haven't cracked the biennial round 1 problems. Men's Olympiad top results: DOM 0.5- 3.5 RUS, UKR 4-0 IRQ, BOL 1-3 ARM, HUN 3-1 KGZ, JOR 0-4 USA, CHN 3.5-0.5 ZAM, LUX 0-4 AZE, FRA 4-0 ZIM, MAS 1.5-2.5 NED, AND 0.5 -3.5 ENG, WLS 0-4 IND.

40th Chess Olympiad Opens in Istanbul - Opening Ceremony

Mark Crowther — Mon Aug 27 22:12:00 2012

The Opening Ceremony for the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul took place on Monday 27th August 2012. Turkish music and dance was celebrated. The flags of the nations were brought in. The head of the Turkish Chess Federation Ali Nizhat Yazici highlighted the progress in Turkish Junior Chess since 2000 when they last hosted the Olympiad. He thanked the Turkish Ministry of Youth and Sport who he said supplied 90% of the budget and supported Turkey's bid for the 2020 Olympics. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov speaking mostly in English praised Yazici's leadership. Suat Kilic the Youth and Sport minister condemned killing and terrorism in the wake of a recent attack a point probably lost on most of the international audience. There was an athletes oath sworn, standard in the Olympics but maybe new to chess. There was a final draw for colours before the large audience filed out. Links: Official site, Facebook Page, http://www.chesstv.com/ have Russian and English commentary by the team that brought the excellent Tal Memorial and World Championship coverage. ChessDom are a media partner. Chess Results have the pairings. A reminder that my local chess Federation Yorkshire has a Fantasy Olympiad Team competition.

87th French Chess Championship 2012 - Games and Results

Mark Crowther — Sat Aug 25 05:29:00 2012

The French Chess Championships for men and women took place in Pau 13th to 25th August 2012. Romain Edouard, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Etienne Bacrot and Christian Bauer all had 7/10 going into the final round. However then there was the shock news of the death of Christian Bauer's 4 month old child. On the proposal of the players the 11th and final round was cancelled. Edouard, Vachier and Bacrot were to play off for the title on Saturday but on further reflection it was decided that all 4 players should share the title.

Garry Kasparov found not guilty of unlawful protest - Not Guilty

Mark Crowther — Fri Aug 24 17:01:00 2012

Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov has been found not guilty of "unlawful protest" in a court appearance on 24th August just a week after his arrest whilst being interviewed outside the Pussy Riot trial on Friday 17th August, Ilya Mouzykantskii @ilyamuz Summer Contributing Reporter with @nytimes in Moscow was in court tweeting during the verdict. He initially reported a guilty verdict as the judge was hard to hear but then it became clear that the judge was highly critical of the prosecution case. In particular the police testimony on the timeline was directly contradicted by video evidence. Mig Greengard was also tweeting and was obviously pleased however he said that the "Bigger issue is whether or not prosecutors will go forward with absurd 'biting' case against Kasparov, which is a serious criminal charge." Kasparov will comment shortly on his Facebook page.