Last Update: Monday 5th January 2009. 23:20 GMT

Ivanchuk - Leko Match

Vassily Ivanchuk and Peter Leko played a 6 game rapid match in Mukachevo , Ukraine 3rd-5th January 2009. Time control: (6 rounds, 25 min + 10 sec per move).

Games in PGN

Offical site: http://www.ivanchukleko2009.com and http://chess32x64.org/ (Ukrainian language) The site is blocked for me but the organisers tell me the problem with trojans has been fixed now but google still don't like the site.

Live Games

Live Games in PGN

Rapid Rematch Mukachevo UKR Results
Ivanchuk, Vassily	-	Leko, Peter	½-½	79	A46	Queen's Pawn Opening
Leko, Peter	-	Ivanchuk, Vassily	½-½	16	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Ivanchuk, Vassily	-	Leko, Peter	½-½	85	E04	Catalan
Leko, Peter	-	Ivanchuk, Vassily	½-½	62	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Ivanchuk, Vassily	-	Leko, Peter	1-0	77	A32	English Symmetrical
Leko, Peter	-	Ivanchuk, Vassily	½-½	35	B01	Centre Counter

Rapid Rematch Mukachevo (UKR), 3-5 xii 2009
Name	Ti	NAT	Rtng	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Perf
Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2779	½	½	½	½	1	½	3½	2808
Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2751	½	½	½	½	0	½	2½	2722

January 2009 FIDE Rating List

The January 2009 FIDE Rating list sees Veselin Topalov consolidate his hold on the number one slot.

Details of the top 100 players

Aker Chess Challenge and the Gjovik International Festival 2008-9

Aker Chess Challenge Blitz Playoff between Carlsen and Svidler. Photo © Official site

The Gjovik International Chess Festival 2008-9 takes place 29th December - 7th January 2009.

Games in PGN - Blitz Playoff Games in PGN - Final Games in PGN

The main event was the Aker Chess Challenge with Magnus Carlsen, Peter Svidler, Hikaru Nakamura (USA) and Kjetil Lie played in a Super rapid tournament with similar format to the Mainz Classic, January 2nd-5th 2009. Peter Svidler defeated Magnus Carlsen in the final when he won with black in the second game. Hikaru Nakamura beat Lie to take 3rd place.

The rapid contest is part of a chess festival with a big and varied program, held on occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Gjovik chess club. The festival starts on December 29th, and the main tournament is a 9 round GM-Swiss open to players with a rating abov 2100. Reigning European champion Sergei Tiviakov (NL) 2686 is the highest rated player of the preliminary list of participants. There is also a parallell group open for all players rated below 2100.

Official site: http://www.gjovikfestival.sjakkweb.no

Live Games

Live Games in PGN

Aker Chess Club Rapid Final Gjovik (NOR), 5 i 2009
Round 1 (January 5, 2009)
Svidler, Peter	-	Carlsen, Magnus	1/2	20	C65	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Round 2 (January 5, 2009)
Carlsen, Magnus	-	Svidler, Peter	0-1	52	C84	Ruy Lopez Centre Attack

Aker Chess Club Rapid Final Gjovik (NOR), 5 i 2009
Name	Ti	NAT	Rtng	1	2	Total	Perf
Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2723	½	1	1½	2969
Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2776	½	0	½	2530

Aker Chess Club Rapid Bronze Gjovik (NOR), 5 i 2009
Round 1 (January 5, 2009)
Nakamura, Hikaru	-	Lie, Kjetil A	1-0	36	A45	Trompowsky
Round 2 (January 5, 2009)
Lie, Kjetil A	-	Nakamura, Hikaru	1/2	35	B00	Owen or Nimzowitsch Defence

Aker Chess Club Rapid Bronze Gjovik (NOR), 5 i 2009
Name	Ti	NAT	Rtng	1	2	Total	Perf
Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2699	1	½	1½	2732
Lie, Kjetil A	g	NOR	2539	0	½	½	2506

Aker CC Rapid Gjovik (NOR), 2-4 i 2009									cat. XVIII (2684)
					1		2		3		4
1.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2776	*	*	0	½	½	1	1	1	4	2778
2.	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2699	1	½	*	*	0	½	1	1	4	2804
3.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2723	½	0	1	½	*	*	1	1	4	2796
4.	Lie, Kjetil A	g	NOR	2539	0	0	0	0	0	0	*	*	0

Round 1 (January 2, 2009)
Carlsen, Magnus	- Lie, Kjetil A	1-0	48	B38	Sicilian Maroczy Bind
Svidler, Peter	- Nakamura, Hikaru	1-0	45	B12	Caro Kann Advanced
Round 2 (January 2, 2009)
Nakamura, Hikaru	- Lie, Kjetil A	1-0	34	A36	English Botvinnik
Svidler, Peter	- Carlsen, Magnus	½-½	29	A30	English Symmetrical
Round 3 (January 3, 2009)
Carlsen, Magnus	- Nakamura, Hikaru	0-1	45	E92	King's Indian Classical
Lie, Kjetil A	- Svidler, Peter	0-1	37	A00	Irregular Openings
Round 4 (January 3, 2009)
Nakamura, Hikaru	- Svidler, Peter	½-½	34	D15	Slav Defence
Lie, Kjetil A	- Carlsen, Magnus	0-1	28	A11	Reti Opening
Round 5 (January 4, 2009)
Carlsen, Magnus	- Svidler, Peter	1-0	35	C88	Ruy Lopez Closed
Lie, Kjetil A	- Nakamura, Hikaru	0-1	35	B00	Owen or Nimzowitsch Defence
Round 6 (January 4, 2009)
Nakamura, Hikaru	- Carlsen, Magnus	½-½	12	D14	Slav Exchange
Svidler, Peter	- Lie, Kjetil A	1-0	58	B37	Sicilian Maroczy Bind

Aker CC Blitz Gjovik (NOR), 4 i 2009								cat. XX (2733)
					1	2	3
1.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2776	*	1	1	2
2.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2723	0	*	1	1	2737
3.	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2699	0	0	*	0

Round 1 (January 4, 2009)
Svidler, Peter	- Nakamura, Hikaru	1-0	39	B92	Sicilian
Round 2 (January 4, 2009)
Carlsen, Magnus	- Svidler, Peter	1-0	42	C76	Ruy Lopez Modern Steinitz
Round 3 (January 4, 2009)
Nakamura, Hikaru	- Carlsen, Magnus	0-1	53	D15	Slav Defence

Hastings Chess Congress

Hastings Round 9 Valeriy Neverov against Igor Kurnosov in the final round. Photo © Dave Clayton.

The Hastings Chess Congress took place 28th December 2008 - 5th January 2009.

Hastings Masters: 1st Kurnosov, 7.5, 2nd-3rd. Neverov and Berg 7, and 4th-5th Hebden and Williams.

Games in PGN

Steve Giddins Reports

Round 9 Report - Round 8 Report - Round 7 Report - Round 6 Report - Round 5 Report - Round 4 Report - Round 3 Report - Round 2 Report - Round 1 Report

Further details: http://www.hastingschess.org.uk

Round 9 Games

Live Games in PGN

Hastings Masters 2008-9 (ENG), 28 xii 2008 - 5 i 2009 Leading Final Round 9 Standings:
1	GM	Kurnosov, Igor	2606	RUS	7.5	2761	2488	7.5	1.69
2	GM	Berg, Emanuel	2623	SWE	7	2678	2458	7	0.64
3	GM	Neverov, Valeriy	2571	UKR	7	2687	2467	7	1.32
4	GM	Howell, David W L	2593	ENG	6.5	2573	2407	6.5	-0.07
5	GM	Conquest, Stuart C	2526	ENG	6.5	2625	2459	6.5	1.21
6	GM	Hebden, Mark L	2515	ENG	6.5	2500	2334	6.5	0.04
7	GM	Williams, Simon K	2494	ENG	6.5	2521	2355	6.5	0.46
8	GM	Jones, Gawain C B	2548	ENG	6	2580	2455	6	0.41
9	GM	Pavlovic, Milos	2524	SCG	6	2477	2352	6	-0.46
10	GM	Haslinger, Stewart G	2506	ENG	6	2415	2274	5.5	-0.77
11	IM	Houska, Jovanka	2399	ENG	6	2447	2322	6	0.63
12	IM	Bates, Richard A	2387	ENG	6	2460	2335	6	0.92
13	IM	Bergez, Luc	2356	FRA	6	2432	2307	6	0.96
14		Green, Andrew D	2102	SCO	6	2390	2265	6	3.36
15	IM	Gordon, Stephen J	2521	ENG	5.5	2454	2374	5.5	-0.6
16	GM	Gormally, Daniel W	2514	ENG	5.5	2315	2235	5.5	-1.93
17	GM	Summerscale, Aaron P	2467	ENG	5.5	2348	2253	5	-1.11
18	IM	Bernal Moro, Luis Javier	2451	ESP	5.5	2404	2324	5.5	-0.47
19	IM	Greet, Andrew N	2440	ENG	5.5	2323	2243	5.5	-1.17
20	GM	Cherniaev, Alexander	2438	RUS	5.5	2329	2249	5.5	-1.12
21	IM	Hunt, Adam C	2431	ENG	5.5	2395	2315	5.5	-0.32
22	IM	Ansell, Simon T	2410	ENG	5.5	2410	2330	5.5	0.12
23	IM	Knott, Simon J B	2348	ENG	5.5	2368	2288	5.5	0.35
24	IM	Capo Vidal, Uriel	2339	MEX	5.5	2317	2237	5.5	-0.21
25	IM	Leroy, Didier	2286	FRA	5.5	2458	2378	5.5	2.02
26	FM	Kjartansson, Gudmundur	2284	ISL	5.5	2369	2289	5.5	1.03
27	FM	White, Michael J R	2242	ENG	5.5	2296	2216	5.5	0.67
28		Roelvaag, Mikael	2199	NOR	5.5	2301	2221	5.5	1.22
29		Sugden, John N	2173	ENG	5.5	2421	2341	5.5	2.84
30	IM	Hendriks, Willy	2447	NED	5	2368	2325	5	-0.8
31	IM	Rendle, Thomas E	2385	ENG	5	2346	2303	5	-0.4
32	FM	Rudd, Jack	2344	ENG	5	2427	2384	5	1.02
33	FM	Eames, Robert S	2329	ENG	5	2260	2217	5	-0.77
34	IM	Marusenko, Petr	2320	UKR	5	2282	2239	5	-0.48
35	FM	Grover, Sahaj	2314	IND	5	2239	2196	5	-0.91
36	FM	Mohammed Abdul, Malek	2264	BAN	5	2188	2145	4.5	-0.77
37		Anderton, Matthew N	2232	ENG	5	2229	2186	5	-0.03
38		Kwiatkowski, Feliks J	2219	ENG	5	2255	2212	5	0.39
39		Anderson, John	2213	ENG	5	2418	2375	5	2.35
40		Chkhaidze, Nikoloz	2203	GEO	5	2302	2259	5	1.15
41		Dickson, George	2135	ENG	5	2173	2130	5	0.46
42		Griffiths, Ryan Rhys	2107	IRL	5	2265	2222	5	1.87
43	WIM	Flear, Christine	2092	FRA	5	2269	2269	4	1.82
44	WFM	Norinkeviciute, Rasa	2005	LTU	5	2230	2187	5	2.63
45	IM	Prosviriakov, Vladimir	2327	USA	4.5	2199	2199	4.5	-1.5
104 players

51st Reggio Emilia Tournament

Winner of the 51st Reggio Emilia tournament Ni Hua. Photo © Giorgio Gozzi

The 51st Reggio Emilia Tournament took place 27th December 2008 - 4th January 2009. Top seed Ni Hua won the tournament comfortably with 7.5/9 a point and a half clear of last year's winner Zoltan Almasi.

Games in PGN

Official site: http://www.ippogrifoscacchi.it/

Live Games

Live Games in PGN

51st It Reggio Emilia (ITA), 27 xii-4 i 2008											cat. XIV (2576)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Ni Hua	g	CHN	2710	*	1	½	½	1	½	1	1	1	1	7½	2834
2.	Almasi, Zoltan	g	HUN	2663	0	*	1	½	1	0	½	1	1	1	6	2691
3.	Landa, Konstantin	g	RUS	2613	½	0	*	½	1	1	0	1	½	½	5	2614
4.	Gustafsson, Jan	g	GER	2634	½	½	½	*	0	½	½	1	½	1	5	2612
5.	Marin, Mihail	g	ROU	2556	0	0	0	1	*	1	½	½	1	1	5	2621
6.	Dreev, Alexey	g	RUS	2670	½	1	0	½	0	*	1	½	½	½	4½	2565
7.	Leon Hoyos, Manuel	g	MEX	2535	0	½	1	½	½	0	*	½	1	½	4½	2580
8.	Ronchetti, Niccolo	m	ITA	2414	0	0	0	0	½	½	½	*	½	1	3	2469
9.	Shytaj, Luca	m	ITA	2472	0	0	½	½	0	½	0	½	*	½	2½	2421
10.	Cebalo, Miso	g	CRO	2493	0	0	½	0	0	½	½	0	½	*	2	2365

Round 1 (December 27, 2008)
Almasi, Zoltan	- Landa, Konstantin	1-0	41	C43	Petroff's Defence
Marin, Mihail	- Shytaj, Luca	1-0	43	A25	English Sicilian Attack
Dreev, Alexey	- Leon Hoyos, Manuel	1-0	50	D85	Gruenfeld Defence
Ronchetti, Niccolo	- Gustafsson, Jan	0-1	81	C45	Scotch Game
Cebalo, Miso	- Ni Hua	0-1	45	D17	Slav Defence
Round 2 (December 28, 2008)
Ni Hua	- Ronchetti, Niccolo	1-0	45	B30	Sicilian Rossolimo
Almasi, Zoltan	- Marin, Mihail	1-0	43	B07	Pirc Defence
Landa, Konstantin	- Leon Hoyos, Manuel	0-1	46	B47	Sicilian Paulsen
Gustafsson, Jan	- Dreev, Alexey	½-½	17	D13	Slav Exchange
Shytaj, Luca	- Cebalo, Miso	½-½	30	B36	Sicilian Maroczy Bind
Round 3 (December 29, 2008)
Marin, Mihail	- Landa, Konstantin	0-1	30	A13	Reti Opening
Dreev, Alexey	- Ni Hua	½-½	15	D11	Slav Defence
Leon Hoyos, Manuel	- Gustafsson, Jan	½-½	36	C51	Evans Gambit
Ronchetti, Niccolo	- Shytaj, Luca	½-½	18	B29	Sicilian Defence
Cebalo, Miso	- Almasi, Zoltan	0-1	42	A45	Trompowsky
Round 4 (December 30, 2008)
Ni Hua	- Leon Hoyos, Manuel	1-0	45	C92	Ruy Lopez Chigorin
Almasi, Zoltan	- Ronchetti, Niccolo	1-0	26	B30	Sicilian Rossolimo
Landa, Konstantin	- Gustafsson, Jan	½-½	16	D11	Slav Defence
Marin, Mihail	- Cebalo, Miso	1-0	78	A29	English Four Knights
Shytaj, Luca	- Dreev, Alexey	½-½	28	B56	Sicilian Defence
Round 5 (December 31, 2008)
Gustafsson, Jan	- Ni Hua	½-½	19	D11	Slav Defence
Dreev, Alexey	- Almasi, Zoltan	1-0	96	E32	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Leon Hoyos, Manuel	- Shytaj, Luca	1-0	41	B52	Sicilian Rossolimo
Ronchetti, Niccolo	- Marin, Mihail	½-½	26	B09	Pirc Defence
Cebalo, Miso	- Landa, Konstantin	½-½	53	E21	Nimzo Indian 4.Nf3
Round 6 (January 1, 2009)
Almasi, Zoltan	- Leon Hoyos, Manuel	½-½	45	B36	Sicilian Maroczy Bind
Landa, Konstantin	- Ni Hua	½-½	22	D11	Slav Defence
Marin, Mihail	- Dreev, Alexey	1-0	62	A11	Reti Opening
Shytaj, Luca	- Gustafsson, Jan	½-½	48	C22	Centre Gambit
Cebalo, Miso	- Ronchetti, Niccolo	0-1	31	D27	QGA
Round 7 (January 2, 2009)
Ni Hua	- Shytaj, Luca	1-0	33	B29	Sicilian Defence
Gustafsson, Jan	- Almasi, Zoltan	½-½	22	A17	English Opening
Dreev, Alexey	- Cebalo, Miso	½-½	48	A65	Benoni
Leon Hoyos, Manuel	- Marin, Mihail	½-½	75	E91	King's Indian Classical
Ronchetti, Niccolo	- Landa, Konstantin	0-1	59	B13	Caro Kann Exchange
Round 8 (January 3, 2009)
Almasi, Zoltan	- Ni Hua	0-1	41	B33	Sicilian Sveshnikov
Landa, Konstantin	- Shytaj, Luca	½-½	84	A37	English Symmetrical
Marin, Mihail	- Gustafsson, Jan	1-0	40	A07	Barcza System
Ronchetti, Niccolo	- Dreev, Alexey	½-½	24	B30	Sicilian Rossolimo
Cebalo, Miso	- Leon Hoyos, Manuel	½-½	42	E25	Nimzo Indian Saemisch
Round 9 (January 4, 2009)
Ni Hua	- Marin, Mihail	1-0	42	C80	Ruy Lopez Open
Gustafsson, Jan	- Cebalo, Miso	1-0	46	E11	Bogo Indian Defence
Dreev, Alexey	- Landa, Konstantin	0-1	61	E35	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Leon Hoyos, Manuel	- Ronchetti, Niccolo	½-½	46	A35	English Symmetrical
Shytaj, Luca	- Almasi, Zoltan	0-1	24	C34	Kings Knight Gambit

51st It B Reggio Emilia (ITA), 27 xii-4 i 2008											cat. V (2351)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Thorfinnsson, Bjorn	f	ISL	2399	*	½	½	1	1	1	1	0	1	½	6½	2512
2.	Gunnarsson, Jon Viktor	m	ISL	2430	½	*	½	½	1	1	0	1	1	1	6½	2508
3.	Galyas, Miklos	m	HUN	2454	½	½	*	½	½	½	½	1	1	1	6	2464
4.	Kovacevic, Blazimir	m	CRO	2472	0	½	½	*	½	0	1	1	½	1	5	2380
5.	Pomaro, Alberto		ITA	2254	0	0	½	½	*	1	½	½	1	1	5	2405
6.	Rombaldoni, Axel	f	ITA	2334	0	0	½	1	0	*	½	1	1	1	5	2396
7.	Cocchi, Andrea	f	ITA	2305	0	1	½	0	½	½	*	½	½	1	4½	2356
8.	Corvi, Marco	f	ITA	2343	1	0	0	0	½	0	½	*	½	½	3	2227
9.	Lucaroni, Massimiliano	f	ITA	2320	0	0	0	½	0	0	½	½	*	½	2	2134
10.	Barillaro, Luca		ITA	2202	½	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	½	*	1½	2094

18th Pamplona International

18th Pamplona International consisted of a invitational Grandmaster tournament, and an open 9 round tournament. Both tournaments take place from 22nd December - 29th December 2008.

Krishnan Sasikiran won the event.

Games in PGN

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

Magistral Pamplona (ESP), 22-29 xii 2008											cat. XVI (2644)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1.	Sasikiran, Krishnan	g	IND	2694	*	½	1	1	½	1	½	½	5	2795
2.	Malakhov, Vladimir	g	RUS	2675	½	*	½	½	½	½	½	1	4	2689
3.	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	g	ESP	2664	0	½	*	0	1	½	1	1	4	2691
4.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2640	0	½	1	*	½	½	½	½	3½	2644
5.	Delchev, Aleksander	g	BUL	2632	½	½	0	½	*	½	1	½	3½	2646
6.	Roiz, Michael	g	ISR	2677	0	½	½	½	½	*	½	½	3	2589
7.	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	g	RUS	2616	½	½	0	½	0	½	*	1	3	2598
8.	Salgado Lopez, Ivan	g	ESP	2556	½	0	0	½	½	½	0	*	2	2498

Round 1 (December 22, 2008)
Sasikiran, Krishnan	- Malakhov, Vladimir	½-½	22	D45	Anti-Meran Variations
Caruana, Fabiano	- Nepomniachtchi, Ian	½-½	52	D43	Anti-Meran Gambit
Roiz, Michael	- Delchev, Aleksander	½-½	15	D76	Gruenfeld 3.g3
Salgado Lopez, Ivan	- Vallejo Pons, Francisco	0-1	37	C65	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Round 2 (December 23, 2008)
Malakhov, Vladimir	- Roiz, Michael	½-½	58	A16	English Opening
Vallejo Pons, Francisco	- Delchev, Aleksander	1-0	46	D37	QGD 5.Bf4
Nepomniachtchi, Ian	- Sasikiran, Krishnan	½-½	39	B14	Caro Kann Panov
Salgado Lopez, Ivan	- Caruana, Fabiano	½-½	35	B42	Sicilian Paulsen
Round 3 (December 24, 2008)
Sasikiran, Krishnan	- Salgado Lopez, Ivan	½-½	21	D30	Queen's Gambit (without Nc3)
Caruana, Fabiano	- Vallejo Pons, Francisco	1-0	40	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Delchev, Aleksander	- Malakhov, Vladimir	½-½	19	D52	Queens Gambit Cambridge Springs
Roiz, Michael	- Nepomniachtchi, Ian	½-½	18	A29	English Four Knights
Round 4 (December 26, 2008)
Vallejo Pons, Francisco	- Malakhov, Vladimir	½-½	50	D15	Slav Defence
Caruana, Fabiano	- Sasikiran, Krishnan	0-1	33	B80	Sicilian Scheveningen
Nepomniachtchi, Ian	- Delchev, Aleksander	0-1	58	C78	Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence
Salgado Lopez, Ivan	- Roiz, Michael	½-½	33	C68	Ruy Lopez Exchange
Round 5 (December 27, 2008)
Sasikiran, Krishnan	- Vallejo Pons, Francisco	1-0	47	D46	Semi-Slav Defence
Malakhov, Vladimir	- Nepomniachtchi, Ian	½-½	27	D76	Gruenfeld 3.g3
Delchev, Aleksander	- Salgado Lopez, Ivan	½-½	24	D47	Queens Gambit Meran
Roiz, Michael	- Caruana, Fabiano	½-½	31	D12	Slav Defence
Round 6 (December 28, 2008)
Sasikiran, Krishnan	- Roiz, Michael	1-0	33	D45	Anti-Meran Variations
Vallejo Pons, Francisco	- Nepomniachtchi, Ian	1-0	25	B23	Sicilian Closed
Caruana, Fabiano	- Delchev, Aleksander	½-½	26	C43	Petroff's Defence
Salgado Lopez, Ivan	- Malakhov, Vladimir	0-1	60	B66	Sicilian Rauzer
Round 7 (December 29, 2008)
Malakhov, Vladimir	- Caruana, Fabiano	½-½	52	D12	Slav Defence
Delchev, Aleksander	- Sasikiran, Krishnan	½-½	46	D12	Slav Defence
Roiz, Michael	- Vallejo Pons, Francisco	½-½	20	D30	Queen's Gambit (without Nc3)
Nepomniachtchi, Ian	- Salgado Lopez, Ivan	1-0	45	C10	French Rubinstein

Rilton Cup

The XXXVIII Rilton Cup takes place 27th December 2008 - 5th January 2009.

http://www.rilton.se/

Elista Grand Prix

The latest Grand Prix tournament took place in Elista 13th-29th December 2008. Teimour Radjabov, Dmitry Javkovenko and Alexander Grischuk finished on 8/13.

2nd Association of Chess Professionals press release on the changes to the cycle: ACP Press Release

The Association of Chess Professionals have a press release on the changes to the cycle: ACP Press Release

Games in PGN

Official site: http://elista2008.fide.com/

Live games in PGN

FIDE Grand Prix Elista (RUS), 14-28 xii 2008														cat. XIX (2713)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1.	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2751	*	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	1	½	1	1	½	0	8	2796
2.	Jakovenko, Dmitry	g	RUS	2737	½	*	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	½	½	½	½	1	8	2798
3.	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2719	½	½	*	0	1	½	½	1	½	½	1	1	½	½	8	2799
4.	Gashimov, Vugar	g	AZE	2703	½	½	1	*	0	½	1	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	7½	2770
5.	Lékó, Peter	g	HUN	2747	½	½	0	1	*	0	½	½	½	1	½	½	½	½	6½	2710
6.	Bacrot, Etienne	g	FRA	2705	0	½	½	½	1	*	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	6½	2713
7.	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2731	½	½	½	0	½	½	*	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	6½	2711
8.	Wang Yue	g	CHN	2736	½	0	0	½	½	½	½	*	½	1	½	1	½	½	6½	2711
9.	Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	g	UZB	2672	0	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	*	1	0	½	1	1	6½	2716
10.	Cheparinov, Ivan	g	BUL	2696	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	0	0	*	1	0	1	1	6	2685
11.	Alekseev, Evgeny	g	RUS	2715	0	½	0	½	½	½	½	½	1	0	*	0	1	½	5½	2655
12.	Eljanov, Pavel	g	UKR	2720	0	½	0	0	½	½	0	0	½	1	1	*	½	1	5½	2655
13.	Akopian, Vladimir	g	ARM	2679	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	0	0	½	*	½	5	2628
14.	Inarkiev, Ernesto	g	RUS	2669	1	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	0	½	0	½	*	5	2629

Round 13 (December 28, 2008)
Grischuk, Alexander	- Radjabov, Teimour	½-½	97	E97	King's Indian Classical
Gashimov, Vugar	- Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	½-½	33	C92	Ruy Lopez Chigorin
Wang Yue	- Lékó, Peter	½-½	29	E15	Queens Indian
Cheparinov, Ivan	- Bacrot, Etienne	½-½	61	D15	Slav Defence
Alekseev, Evgeny	- Jakovenko, Dmitry	½-½	31	C43	Petroff's Defence
Eljanov, Pavel	- Inarkiev, Ernesto	1-0	61	D17	Slav Defence
Akopian, Vladimir	- Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	½-½	25	C42	Petroff's Defence

Mark Diesen 1957-2008

Former World Junior Champion Mark Carl Diesen has died at the age of 51 (16th September 1957 - 10th December 2008). Having dropped out of the chess world the news seems to have escaped the chess media. Below is a listing from an unidentified Knoxville newspaper sourced via his family. I couldn't find anything online.

Mark Carl Diesen DIESEN, MARK CARL - age 51 of Conroe, Texas native of Buffalo New York, passed away suddenly December 9, 2008 in Conroe, Texas. He was a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a degree in Chemical Engineering. He worked as a reservoir engineer for Shell Oil, Pennzoil and Noble Energy. Mark was a World Junior Chess Champion in 1976, the US Junior Co-Champion, the Louisiana State Champion in 1986, 1987, 1988, Texas State Champion, Southwestern Open Champion, and an active chess coach in Houston, Texas and online. He is survived by his wife, Melinda Diesen of Conroe, Texas; daughters and sons-in-law, Gina and Travis Perkins of Knoxville, Amy and Daniel Smith of Houston, TX, and Sarah Diesen of Conroe, TX; mother, Marjorie Diesen; sister and brother-in-law, Laura and J.C Butler all of Bristow, VA; father-in-law and mother-in-law, Paul and Joyce McGlothin of Knoxville; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Paul and Meredith Averill-McGlothin of Ossining, NY; several nieces and nephews. Funeral service will be 1:00 P.M. Saturday at The Episcopal Church of the Ascension with Rev. Dr. Howard J. Hess officiating. Interment to follow at Highland Memorial Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the U.S. Chess Trust, PO Box 838, Wallkill, NY 12589, 800-388-5464. Friends may call at their convenience at Rose Mortuary Mann Heritage Chapel. www.rosemortuary.com

Leon Open

The city of Leon open takes place 26th-28th December 2008. I couldn't find any games or make the live coverage work.

Games: 40 minutes per player + 3 additional seconds. Chess great legends as Jussupow, Korchnoi, Andersson, Beliavsky, Portisch, Timman will be the players invited by the Organisation. Also spaniard number one and top ten Alexei Shirov will be especially invited by the organization.

Details: http://www.openmundialdeleon.com

Hugh Myers 1930-2008

According to Wikipedia Hugh Myers has died. Born 23rd January 1930 - December 24th 2008. Most famous for his writing both theoretical (Meyer's Openings Bulletin) and factual (his autobiography) and in general his inventive play. He will be missed. ChessBase Obituary

XXI Carlos Torre Memorial

The XXI Carlos Torre Memorial took place in Merida, Yucutan, Mexico 13th-22nd December 2008. The event consists of a Swiss system event which then split off to a knockout with those leading the swiss after 6 rounds going on to play the stars starting on December 17th. Alexander Onischuk won the event by defeating Yuniesky Quezada Perez 1.5-0,5 in the final. The documentation went a bit flakey towards the end so I don't know who won the open section.

Knockout Section Games in PGN

Official site: http://www.carlostorre.org.mx/inicio2008.htm

XXI Carlos Torre KO Merida (MEX), 17-21 xii 2008
Final 21st December 2008
Quezada Perez,Y	0.5	1.5	Onischuk,Al
Semi-final 20th December 2008
Quezada Perez,Y	1.5	0.5	Ehlvest,J
Akobian,V	2	3	Onischuk,Al
Quarter-final 19th December 2008
Quezada Perez,Y	3	1	Tregubov,P
Harikrishna,P	2	3	Ehlvest,J
Akobian,V	2.5	1.5	Moiseenko,A1
Sadvakasov,D	0.5	1.5	Onischuk,Al
Round 2 18th December 2008
Quezada Perez,Y	1.5	0.5	Gonzalez Zamora,J
Tregubov,P	2	0	Leon Hoyos,M
Harikrishna,P	1.5	0.5	Delgado Ramirez,N
Ehlvest,J	3	2	Bruzon Batista,L
Akobian,V	1.5	0.5	Shulman,Y
Hernandez Carmenates,Hold	0.5	1.5	Moiseenko,A1
Hernandez Guerrero,G	0.5	1.5	Sadvakasov,D
Geetha Narayanan,G	0.5	1.5	Onischuk,Al
Round 1 17th December 2008
Graf,A	0.5	1.5	Quezada Perez,Y
Gonzalez Zamora,J	1.5	0.5	Zapata,Alo
Gomez Garrido,C	0.5	1.5	Tregubov,P
Meier,Geo	2	3	Leon Hoyos,M
Capo Vidal,U	0	2	Harikrishna,P
Gonzalez Garcia,J2	1.5	2.5	Delgado Ramirez,N
Ehlvest,J	2	0	Garcia,Gild
Bruzon Batista,L	1.5	0.5	Mitkov,N1
Ibarra Chami,L	0.5	1.5	Akobian,V
Cordova,Em	2	3	Shulman,Y
Hernandez Carmenates,Hold	1.5	0.5	Zatonskih,A
Moiseenko,A1	1.5	0.5	Nogueiras Santiago,J
Martinez,Lel	1	3	Hernandez Guerrero,G
Borges Mateos,J	0.5	1.5	Sadvakasov,D
Almeida Quintana,O	1	3	Geetha Narayanan,G
Matnadze,A	0	2	Onischuk,Al

Pearl Spring Super GM

The Pearl Spring Super GM Tournament took place 10th - 22nd December 2008 in Nanjing, China. Six-player double round robin event. Veselin Topalov had a big victory with a score of 7/10 a point and a half clear of Levon Aronian. Bu Xiangzhi was in contention for a long time but fell away with losses to Svidler and Ivanchuk in the final three rounds and finished in 3rd with 5/10.

Games in PGN

Further info: http://www.64ge.net/ and Gujuan Tzu's Chessnews Blog: http://blog.sina.com.cn/chessnews

Official site: http://www.chess-pearlspring.com/yindex.htm

Pearl Spring Final Round 10 from 7am GMT on Sunday

Pearl Spring Nanjing (CHN), 11-21 xii 2008										cat. XXI (2751)
					1		2		3		4		5		6
1.	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2791	*	*	½	1	½	½	1	1	½	½	½	1	7	2892
2.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2757	½	0	*	*	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	5½	2786
3.	Bu Xiangzhi	g	CHN	2714	½	½	½	½	*	*	½	0	1	1	½	0	5	2758
4.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2727	0	0	½	½	½	1	*	*	0	1	½	½	4½	2720
5.	Movsesian, Sergei	g	SVK	2732	½	½	½	½	0	0	1	0	*	*	½	½	4	2683
6.	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2786	½	0	0	0	½	1	½	½	½	½	*	*	4	2672

Round 1 (December 11, 2008)
Aronian, Levon	- Topalov, Veselin	½-½	39	D12	Slav Defence
Movsesian, Sergei	- Bu Xiangzhi	0-1	58	C24	Bishop's Opening
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Svidler, Peter	½-½	37	C99	Ruy Lopez Chigorin
Round 2 (December 12, 2008)
Topalov, Veselin	- Bu Xiangzhi	½-½	49	D19	Slav Defence
Aronian, Levon	- Ivanchuk, Vassily	1-0	33	B36	Sicilian Maroczy Bind
Svidler, Peter	- Movsesian, Sergei	0-1	47	B83	Sicilian Scheveningen
Round 3 (December 13, 2008)
Bu Xiangzhi	- Svidler, Peter	½-½	26	A15	English counter King's Fianchetto
Movsesian, Sergei	- Aronian, Levon	½-½	32	C55	Two Knights Defence
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Topalov, Veselin	½-½	22	B10	Caro Kann
Round 4 (December 14, 2008)
Bu Xiangzhi	- Ivanchuk, Vassily	½-½	30	D73	Gruenfeld 3.g3
Svidler, Peter	- Aronian, Levon	½-½	48	C86	Ruy Lopez Worrall Attack
Movsesian, Sergei	- Topalov, Veselin	½-½	28	B52	Sicilian Rossolimo
Round 5 (December 15, 2008)
Topalov, Veselin	- Svidler, Peter	1-0	29	D86	Gruenfeld Simagin
Aronian, Levon	- Bu Xiangzhi	½-½	46	D17	Slav Defence
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Movsesian, Sergei	½-½	35	B80	Sicilian Scheveningen
Round 6 (December 17, 2008)
Topalov, Veselin	- Aronian, Levon	1-0	72	D47	Queens Gambit Meran
Bu Xiangzhi	- Movsesian, Sergei	1-0	62	D15	Slav Defence
Svidler, Peter	- Ivanchuk, Vassily	½-½	38	B30	Sicilian Rossolimo
Round 7 (December 18, 2008)
Bu Xiangzhi	- Topalov, Veselin	½-½	70	D43	Anti-Meran Gambit
Movsesian, Sergei	- Svidler, Peter	0-1	64	B12	Caro Kann Advanced
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Aronian, Levon	0-1	39	A20	English Opening
Round 8 (December 19, 2008)
Topalov, Veselin	- Ivanchuk, Vassily	1-0	58	B45	Sicilian Classical
Aronian, Levon	- Movsesian, Sergei	½-½	49	D15	Slav Defence
Svidler, Peter	- Bu Xiangzhi	1-0	54	D45	Anti-Meran Variations
Round 9 (December 20, 2008)
Bu Xiangzhi	- Aronian, Levon	½-½	29	D11	Slav Defence
Svidler, Peter	- Topalov, Veselin	0-1	36	B12	Caro Kann Advanced
Movsesian, Sergei	- Ivanchuk, Vassily	½-½	33	B51	Sicilian Rossolimo
Round 10 (December 21, 2008)
Topalov, Veselin	- Movsesian, Sergei	½-½	32	D15	Slav Defence
Aronian, Levon	- Svidler, Peter	½-½	45	A29	English Four Knights
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Bu Xiangzhi	1-0	34	C26	Vienna Game

Round 10. Veselin Topalov confirmed his tournament win with a fairly dull draw in an Exchange Slav against Sergei Movsesian in the final round. Levon Aronian seemed to get quite a bit of pressure from an English Four Knights against Peter Svidler. This may have been something of an illusion as pieces and pawns disappeared for a sterile position in the end. Vassily Ivanchuk bamboozled Bu Xiangzhi in a Petroff Defence and emerged with a great position from the opening. Ivanchuk made the best of a good situation and quickly carved open Bu's king in a heavy piece middle game.

Round 9. Veselin Topalov won with black against Peter Svidler to win the tournament. The opening was a Caro-Kann Advanced vatiation in which black got an early initiative and Svidler just couldn't hold on. Sergei Movsesian bailed out into perpetual check against Vassily Ivanchuk after an interesting Bb5+ Ruy Lopez. Bu Xiangzhi vs Levon Aronian was a Slav that also ended in perpetual.

Round 8. Veselin Topalov got a big advantage from the Sicilian Four Knights opening against Vassily Ivanchuk. Ivanchuk bailed into an ending a pawn down and a really hopeless position. Peter Svidler played d4 against Bu Xiangzhi and got a small advantage which he nursed through to a decisive endgame advantage. Levon Aronian got nothing from the opening against Sergei Movsesian and a draw resulted.

Round 7. Bu Xiangzhi and Veselin Topalov drew their round 7 clash in a Semi-Slav. The game was level even after Bu Xiangzhi netted the exchange but this changed and Topalov was under real pressure for some time before the game equalised. My feeling is that Bu missed a chance somewhere. Levon Aronian defeated Vassily Ivanchuk with black in an English Opening. The major piece ending offered black some possibilities to draw a pawn down but Aronian outplayed Ivanchuk. Peter Svidler won his first game of the event playing the Caro Kann as black against Sergei Movsesian. A very tricky game followed with Movsesian having a rook against Svidler's bishop and running pawn. Tactics turned out to be on Svidler's side and the passed b-pawn remained to the end of the game when it proved to be decisive.

Round 6. Veselin Topalov beat Levon Aronian after a lively semi-slav where he obtained a winning advantage, blew most, if not all of it and then had to win it all over again. Peter Svidler and Vassily Ivanchuk drew a dynamic Sicilian. Bu Xiangzhi defeated Sergei Movsesian in a Slav Defence after a decisive breakthrough on the 7th rank.

Round 5. Veselin Topalov defeated Peter Svidler in the only decisive game of the round. Topalov offered the sacrifice of the exchange on move 20 which Svidler accepted. Possibly this wasn't wise as Svidler's position tumbled down hill almost straight away, 26... Bf6? meant that the game didn't reach move 30. Vassily Ivanchuk vs Sergei Movsesian was a dynamic draw in a Siciian Scheveningen. Ivanchuk sacrificed a pawn just out of the opening but the game never went from balanced equality and finished in perpetual check. Levon Aronian against Bu Xiangzhi was a dynamic Slav Defence where Aronian obtained something of an advantage but exploiting his extra kingside pawns and defending his king at the same time proved beyond him and the game finished with black giving perpetual check.

Round 4. Sergei Movsesian played the Bb5 Sicilian against Veselin Topalov and played for a slight space advantage. The game finished in a draw by repetition. Bu Xiangzhi against Vassily Ivanchuk was a very odd variation (Fiachetto Gruenfeld according to ChessBase but it ended up in a Benoni style structure briefly also before going very weird). The game then saw some dynamic exchanges that left a totally drawn rook and pawn ending. Peter Svidler tried the Worrall Attack of the Ruy Lopez against Levon Aronian but didn't obtain any advantage, in fact might have stood worse but eventually they found a position where repetition was pretty much forced.

Round 3. Vassily Ivanchuk and Veselin Topalov blasted out 22 moves of Caro Kann and finished with a drawn bishops of opposite colours endings. Sergei Movsesian and Levon Aronian also reached a drawn bishop of opposite colours ending from a bishops opening. Bu Xiangzhi and Peter Svidler also drew from an English Opening.

Levon Aronian beat Vassily Ivanchuk in round 2. The opening was a Sicilian Maroczy Bind of tremendous complexity. Black seemed to be doing fine but after 23.b4! black was pushed back and his position collapsed quite quickly. Sergei Movsesian beat Peter Svidler on the black side of a Sicilian Scheveningen. It's hard to be sure where Svidler went wrong but he was gradually pushed back after sacrificing rook for bishop and pawn in order to weaken the enemy king. White had more than enough compensation at first. Topalov vs Bu Xiangzhi was a well played Slav which ended in perpetual.

In round 1 home player Bu Xiangzhi took the lead on his own after gradually outplaying Sergei Movsesian on the black side of a Bishop's opening. Peter Svidler should have joined him after obtaining a decisive advantage on the black side of a Ruy Lopez Chigorin's Defence. Just when it seemed he had a win, he failed to see it and agreed to a draw by perpetual check after a long thought. 34...Rh5!! winning a piece or queen for rook and probably 34...Rf6 would have won. Levon Aronian and Veselin Topalov gradually traded into a drawn bishops of opposite colour ending from a Slav Defence.

Bundesliga

The 8th and 9th rounds the last two encounters of the seventh round took place over the weekend of 12th-14th December 2008. 144 games were covered live in the internet. Baden-Baden played in Eppingen and beat Kreuzberg (a district of Berlin) and Dresden. Tegernsee lost to Bremen at home. The closest competitor to Baden-Baden is Muelheim who beat Katernberg (a district of Essen), drew with Hamburg and beat Berlin. Muelheim has the most successful player in his squad so far was Russian grandmaster Konstantin Landa with 5,5 out of 6 and a performance of 2985, he added 2/3 with a win and two draws. The Schachbundesliga takes a winter break until the end of January 2009 now.

Official site: http://www.schachbundesliga.de/index.aspx

Official site: http://www.schachbundesliga.de/index.aspx

Round 9 Games in PGN

Round 8 Games in PGN

Final two matches from round 7 in PGN

3rd Weekend's Games in PGN

Israeli Championships

34th Israel Chess Championship took place November 30th - December 12th, 2008 at the MadaTech chess club in Haifa, Israel. PlayE4 a new online site sponsors and contributed the 1st prize 10,000 ILS (about $2,570). Website: http://www.playe4.com/. Boris Avrukh won the title on tie-break.

Final Round 9 Standings: 1-4 Avrukh, Boris 2657 6.5 Smirin, Ilia 2649 6.5 Mikhalevski, Victor 2602 6.5 Rodshtein, Maxim 2609 6.5 5-7 Huzman, Alexander 2590 6 Bykhovsky, Anatoly 2447 6 Lerner, Konstantin 2542 6 8-11 Postny, Evgeny 2674 5.5 Vydeslaver, Alik 2399 5.5 Nabaty, Tamir 2456 5.5 Klenburg, Mikhail 2403 5.5 40 players.

Games in PGN

Benidorm

The VII Festival Internacional de Ajedrez took place in Benidorm, Spain 28th November - 8th December 2008. Vassily Ivanchuk took first place by half a point from Alexei Shirov who beat him in one of their individual games.

Official site: http://www.ajedrezbali.com/ - Videos: http://www.europe-echecs.com

Games in PGN

VII Stars Benidorm (ESP), 5-8 xii 2008				cat. XIII (2564)
1.	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2786	8	2760
2.	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2726	7½	2725
3.	Tiviakov, Sergei	g	NED	2686	5½	2576
4.	Lahno, Kateryna	g	UKR	2488	4	2507
5.	Vila Gazquez, Xavier	m	ESP	2422	3	2443
6.	Vega Gutierrez, Sabrina	wg	ESP	2278	2	2381

Corus Fields all settled 2009

The 71st Corus Chess tournament takes place Friday, January 16th to Sunday, February 1st, 2009 in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. Alexander Morozevich, Vassily Ivanchuk, Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian and Teimour Radjabov are the favourites for the event in the absence of world champion Viswanathan Anand, challenger Vladimir Kramnik and World Number one Veselin Topalov. This shake up of the field with these three regular missing has really freshened things up and should make for exciting chess, in the usual way they do things they'll probably be all back next year.

Five players will make their debut in the A-group: the young Dutch grandmasters Jan Smeets and Daniel Stellwagen, the sensational Wang Yue from China, who climbed up to the 11th place on the latest world ranking list, the winner of Grandmastergroup B in 2008, Sergei Movsesian, and Leinier Dominguez from Cuba (ranked 21st on the FIDE October rating list).

Grandmastergroup B is stronger than ever, with an average rating of 2631. Remarkable names in this group include former World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan) former world championship challenger Nigel Short and former World Championship Candidate Henrique Mecking (Brazil).

In Grandmastergroup C former top player Oleg Romanishin (Ukraine) is one of the 14 participants. Romanishin won the recently held Cultural Village Tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Young GM Eduardo Iturrizaga (Venezuela) qualified early November by winning the ICC Online Qualifier, while Manuel Bosboom (The Netherlands) and Frank Holzke (Germany) gained their places in the C-group by winning the two highest amateur events (nine-rounds-all-play-all) in January 2008. Besides, two more names are remarkable: the two Junior World Champions Abhijeet Gupta (boys under 20) and Dronavalli Harika (girls under 20) will participate. Harika and Gupta both represent India.

As from January 2009, the rate of play in Grandmaster groups A, B and C will change. The rate of play will be: 40 moves in 2 hours, then 20 moves in 1 hour, followed by 15 minutes with 30 seconds per move increment to finish the game.

Official site: http://www.coruschess.com/

71st Corus Wijk aan Zee A-Group (NED), 16 i - 1 ii 2009
No.	Name	Country	WRank	Rating	Born
1	Alexander Morozevich	RUS	2	2787	1977
2	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	3	2786	1969
3	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	4	2786	1990
4	Levon Aronian	ARM	7	2757	1982
5	Teimour Radjabov	AZE	8	2751	1987
6	Wang Yue	CHN	11	2736	1987
7	Michael Adams	ENG	12	2734	1971
8	Sergei Movsesian	SLW	13	2732	1978
9	Sergei Karjakin	UKR	15	2730	1990
10	Gata Kamsky	USA	16	2729	1974
11	Leinier Dominguez	CUB	21	2719	1983
12	Loek van Wely	NED		2618	1972
13	Daniel Stellwagen	NED		2605	1987
14	Jan Smeets	NED		2604	1985

71st Corus Wijk aan Zee B-Group (NED), 16 i - 1 ii 2009 Average rating: 2631 Category: 16
No.	Ti	Name	Country	Rating	Born
1	GM	Krishnan Sasikiran	IND	2694	1981
2	GM	Zahar Efimenko	UKR	2680	1985
3	GM	Rustam Kasimdzhanov	UZB	2672	1979
4	GM	Alexander Motylev	RUS	2672	1979
5	GM	Francisco Vallejo Pons	ESP	2664	1982
6	GM	Andrei Volokitin	UKR	2659	1986
7	GM	Nigel Short	ENG	2642	1965
8	GM	Fabiano Caruana	ITA	2640	1992
9	GM	David Navara	CZE	2633	1985
10	GM	Erwin L'Ami	NED	2610	1985
11	GM	Jan Werle	NED	2582	1984
12	WGM	Hou Yifan	CHN	2578	1994
13	GM	Henrique Mecking	BRA	2567	1952
14	GM	Dimitri Reinderman	NED	2543	1972

71st Corus Wijk aan Zee C-Group (NED), 16 i - 1 ii 2009 Average rating: 2512 Category: 11
No.	Ti	Name	Country	Rating	Born
1	GM	Wesley So	PHI	2610	1993
2	GM	David Howell	ENG	2593	1990
3	GM	Abhijeet Gupta	IND	2580	1989
4	GM	Tiger Hillarp Persson	SWE	2543	1970
5	GM	Friso Nijboer	NED	2540	1965
6	GM	Eduardo Iturrizaga	VEN	2538	1989
7	IM	Manuel Leon Hoyos	MEX	2535	1989
8	GM	Oleg Romanishin	UKR	2532	1952
9	GM	Frank Holzke	GER	2524	1971
10	FM	Anish Giri	RUS	2466	1994
11	WGM	Dronavalli Harika	IND	2462	1991
12	IM	Roeland Pruijssers	NED	2458	1989
13	IM	Manuel Bosboom	NED	2416	1963
14	FM	Ali Bitalzadeh	NED	2370	1989

Robert Graham Wade 1921-2008

Remco Heite

The Remco Heite tournament took place Friday 28th - Sunday 30th November 2008 in the Dutch city of Wolvega. Loek van Wely and Bartlomiej Macieja finished on 3.5/5. Erwin L'Ami won the Open A tournament but I couldn't find a full game file.

On Saturday and Sunday an Open also took place in Wolvega, featuring grandmasters Erwin L'Ami, Sipke Ernst, Friso Nijboer, John van der Wiel and Zhaoqin Peng. In this 9-round open the players will have 45 minutes each for the entire game.

Games, reports (in Dutch) and photos: http://www.heiteschaaktoernooi.nl

Remco Heite Wolvega (NED), 28-30 xi 2008										cat. XV (2605)
					1	2	3	4	5	6
1.	Van Wely, Loek	g	NED	2618	*	0	1	1	½	1	3½	2751
2.	Macieja, Bartlomiej	g	POL	2600	1	*	0	½	1	1	3½	2755
3.	Tiviakov, Sergei	g	NED	2686	0	1	*	½	½	1	3	2661
4.	Jussupow, Artur	g	GER	2570	0	½	½	*	1	1	3	2684
5.	Agdestein, Simen	g	NOR	2588	½	0	½	0	*	0	1	2368
6.	Van den Doel, Erik	g	NED	2570	0	0	0	0	1	*	1	2372

Dresden Olympiad

Games in PGN

38th Olympiad Dresden (GER), 13-25 xi 2008 Games in PGN
Rd	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	All
Men	Rd1	Rd2	Rd3	Rd4	Rd5	Rd6	Rd7	Rd8	Rd9	Rd10	Rd11	Rd1-11
Women	Rd1	Rd2	Rd3	Rd4	Rd5	Rd6	Rd7	Rd8	Rd9	Rd10	Rd11	Rd1-11

I continue to make corrections when I find them. I am somewhat defeated by a couple of fixtures in Rd10 where the players don't match those given on chessresults.com so I changed them to their results. Including Bolivia - Puerto Rico.

Malcolm Pein Reports with additional comments by Mark Crowther

Round 10 - Round 9 - Round 8 - Round 7 - Round 6 - Round 5 - Round 4 - Round 2 - Round 1

Round 11 News by Mark Crowther

• Final Round 11.
• In the top match Wang Yue and Aronian drew early. Tigran L Petrosian beat Li Chao B and this allowed Armenia to retain their title.
• The US beat the Ukraine comfortably and might even have won 4-0 if Nakamura had converted a winning position. Gata Kamsky beating Vassily Ivanchuk on top board. This gave the US Bronze.
• Boris Gelfand missed out on gold for best board one performance after a draw against Van Wely he was pipped by a single point by Peter Leko after he beat Sergei Zhigalko in one of the final games to finish. However he did lead Israel to Silver after they beat the Netherlands in the final round.
• Nigel Short lost against Zdenko Kozul. I used to see a lot of Kozul's games when I read Serbian newspapers for chess information about 15 years ago. Very hit and miss but on his day very exciting. The match was drawn when Howell beat Stevic.

38th Olympiad Dresden (GER), 13-25 xi 2008 Leading Final Round 11 Results 25th Nov 2008. 9am GMT start.
Br.	3	CHN China (CHN)	Elo	1½:2½	9	ARM Armenia (ARM)	Elo
1.1	GM	Wang Yue	2736	½-½	GM	Aronian Levon	2757
1.2	GM	Bu Xiangzhi	2714	½-½	GM	Akopian Vladimir	2679
1.3	GM	Ni Hua	2710	½-½	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2642
1.4	GM	Li Chao B	2622	0-1	GM	Petrosian Tigran L	2629
Br.	35	LTU Lithuania (LTU)	Elo	1½:2½	11	GER Germany 1 (GER1)	Elo
2.1	GM	Kveinys Aloyzas	2533	½-½	GM	Khenkin Igor	2647
2.2	GM	Rozentalis Eduardas	2577	½-½	GM	Gustafsson Jan	2634
2.3	GM	Sulskis Sarunas	2572	½-½	GM	Fridman Daniel	2630
2.4	IM	Zagorskis Darius	2509	0-1	GM	Baramidze David	2557
Br.	10	USA United States of America (USA)	Elo	3½: ½	2	UKR Ukraine (UKR)	Elo
3.1	GM	Kamsky Gata	2729	1-0	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2786
3.2	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2704	½-½	GM	Karjakin Sergey	2730
3.3	GM	Onischuk Alexander	2644	1-0	GM	Eljanov Pavel	2720
3.4	GM	Shulman Yuri	2616	1-0	GM	Efimenko Zahar	2680
Br.	8	ISR Israel (ISR)	Elo	2½:1½	20	NED Netherlands (NED)	Elo
4.1	GM	Gelfand Boris	2719	½-½	GM	Van Wely Loek	2618
4.2	GM	Roiz Michael	2677	1-0	GM	Smeets Jan	2604
4.3	GM	Avrukh Boris	2657	½-½	GM	Stellwagen Daniel	2605
4.4	GM	Rodshtein Maxim	2609	½-½	GM	L'Ami Erwin	2610
Br.	1	RUS Russia (RUS)	Elo	2 : 2	12	ESP Spain (ESP)	Elo
5.1	GM	Kramnik Vladimir	2772	½-½	GM	Shirov Alexei	2726
5.2	GM	Svidler Peter	2727	½-½	GM	Vallejo Pons Francisco	2664
5.3	GM	Grischuk Alexander	2719	½-½	GM	Illescas Cordoba Miguel	2604
5.4	GM	Jakovenko Dmitry	2737	½-½	GM	San Segundo Carrillo Pablo	2564
Br.	7	FRA France (FRA)	Elo	1½:2½	4	AZE Azerbaijan (AZE)	Elo
6.1	GM	Bacrot Etienne	2705	½-½	GM	Radjabov Teimour	2752
6.2	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2716	½-½	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2731
6.3	GM	Fressinet Laurent	2676	½-½	GM	Gashimov Vugar	2703
6.4	GM	Tkachiev Vladislav	2664	--+	GM	Huseynov Gadir	2650
Br.	37	VIE Vietnam (VIE)	Elo	2½:1½	22	SRB Serbia (SRB)	Elo
7.1	GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	2567	½-½	GM	Solak Dragan	2595
7.2	GM	Le Quang Liem	2583	½-½	GM	Kovacevic Aleksandar	2581
7.3	GM	Dao Thien Hai	2510	1-0	GM	Perunovic Milos	2580
7.4	GM	Tu Hoang Thong	2496	½-½	GM	Vuckovic Bojan	2561
Br.	5	HUN Hungary (HUN)	Elo	2½:1½	23	BLR Belarus (BLR)	Elo
8.1	GM	Leko Peter	2747	1-0	GM	Zhigalko Sergei	2592
8.2	GM	Polgar Judit	2711	1-0	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	2617
8.3	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2663	0-1	GM	Fedorov Alexei	2584
8.4	GM	Berkes Ferenc	2645	½-½	GM	Zhigalko Andrey	2568
Br.	17	GEO Georgia (GEO)	Elo	2½:1½	14	ROU Romania (ROU)	Elo
9.1	GM	Jobava Baadur	2664	½-½	GM	Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter	2684
9.2	GM	Mchedlishvili Mikheil	2615	½-½	GM	Parligras Mircea	2611
9.3	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	2580	½-½	GM	Lupulescu Constantin	2594
9.4	GM	Arutinian David	2584	1-0	GM	Vajda Levente	2582
Br.	24	CRO Croatia (CRO)	Elo	2 : 2	15	ENG England (ENG)	Elo
10.1	GM	Palac Mladen	2583	½-½	GM	Adams Michael	2734
10.2	GM	Kozul Zdenko	2593	1-0	GM	Short Nigel D	2642
10.3	GM	Stevic Hrvoje	2588	0-1	GM	Howell David W L	2593
10.4	GM	Jovanovic Zoran	2564	½-½	GM	Jones Gawain C B	2548
Br.	6	BUL Bulgaria (BUL)	Elo	3 : 1	34	KAZ Kazakhstan (KAZ)	Elo
11.1	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2696	1-0	GM	Kazhgaleyev Murtas	2640
11.2	GM	Georgiev Kiril	2645	½-½	GM	Kotsur Pavel	2563
11.3	GM	Delchev Aleksander	2632	1-0	GM	Ibrayev Nurlan	2448
11.4	GM	Iotov Valentin	2532	½-½	IM	Zhumabayev Rinat	2490
Br.	21	POL Poland (POL)	Elo	1½:2½	28	SLO Slovenia (SLO)	Elo
12.1	GM	Socko Bartosz	2631	½-½	GM	Beliavsky Alexander G	2619
12.2	GM	Wojtaszek Radoslaw	2599	0-1	GM	Pavasovic Dusko	2597
12.3	GM	Gajewski Grzegorz	2577	½-½	GM	Lenic Luka	2569
12.4	GM	Bartel Mateusz	2602	½-½	IM	Borisek Jure	2548
Br.	13	IND India (IND)	Elo	3 : 1	25	SVK Slovakia (SVK)	Elo
13.1	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2694	½-½	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2732
13.2	GM	Harikrishna P	2659	1-0	GM	Ftacnik Lubomir	2571
13.3	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2603	1-0	GM	Petrik Tomas	2487
13.4	GM	Geetha Narayanan Gopal	2548	½-½	IM	Vavrak Peter	2478
Br.	53	AUS Australia (AUS)	Elo	1 : 3	16	CUB Cuba (CUB)	Elo
14.1	GM	Zhao Zong-Yuan	2567	1-0	GM	Bruzon Batista Lazaro	2623
14.2	IM	Smerdon David	2470	0-1	GM	Quezada Perez Yuniesky	2580
14.3	GM	Johansen Darryl K	2446	0-1	GM	Hernandez Carmenates Holden	2580
14.4	IM	Xie George Wendi	2403	0-1	GM	Nogueiras Santiago Jesus	2574
Br.	49	EGY Egypt (EGY)	Elo	1½:2½	19	NOR Norway (NOR)	Elo
15.1	GM	Adly Ahmed	2586	0-1	GM	Carlsen Magnus	2786
15.2	GM	Amin Bassem	2560	½-½	GM	Lie Kjetil A	2526
15.3	IM	Frhat Ali	2418	½-½	GM	Johannessen Leif Erlend	2545
15.4	FM	Abdel Razik Khaled	2406	½-½	IM	Hammer Jon Ludvig	2522
Br.	41	GER Germany 2 (GER2)	Elo	2 : 2	50	TUR Turkey (TUR)	Elo
16.1	IM	Braun Arik	2567	0-1	GM	Gurevich Mikhail	2634
16.2	GM	Bindrich Falko	2517	½-½	IM	Can Emre	2464
16.3	IM	Bogner Sebastian	2448	½-½	IM	Erdogdu Mert	2449
16.4	IM	Huschenbeth Niclas	2417	1-0	IM	Haznedaroglu Kivanc	2436

38th Olympiad Dresden (GER), 13-25 xi 2008 Leading Final Round 11 Standings
Rg.	Snr	Team	Team	Anz	+	=	-	Wtg1	Wtg2	Wtg3	Wtg4
1	9	Armenia	ARM	11	9	1	1	19	400.5	152	31
2	8	Israel	ISR	11	8	2	1	18	377.5	149	28
3	10	United States of America	USA	11	8	1	2	17	362	146	29
4	2	Ukraine	UKR	11	7	3	1	17	348.5	163	25.5
5	1	Russia	RUS	11	7	2	2	16	375	156	27
6	4	Azerbaijan	AZE	11	7	2	2	16	359.5	147	29
7	3	China	CHN	11	7	2	2	16	357.5	150	27
8	5	Hungary	HUN	11	7	2	2	16	341.5	140	27.5
9	37	Vietnam	VIE	11	7	2	2	16	340	137	29
10	12	Spain	ESP	11	7	2	2	16	337.5	142	27.5
11	17	Georgia	GEO	11	8	0	3	16	321	138	28
12	20	Netherlands	NED	11	7	1	3	15	343	146	27.5
13	11	Germany 1	GER1	11	6	3	2	15	339	151	26.5
14	6	Bulgaria	BUL	11	7	1	3	15	327.5	132	29.5
15	15	England	ENG	11	6	3	2	15	320	147	26
16	13	India	IND	11	7	1	3	15	310	142	26
17	28	Slovenia	SLO	11	7	1	3	15	288	134	26
18	23	Belarus	BLR	11	5	4	2	14	307	137	26.5
19	14	Romania	ROU	11	7	0	4	14	306.5	138	25.5
20	22	Serbia	SRB	11	7	0	4	14	302	144	25
21	19	Norway	NOR	11	5	4	2	14	300	139	24
22	7	France	FRA	11	6	2	3	14	295	147	25
23	16	Cuba	CUB	11	6	2	3	14	294.5	142	25.5
24	27	Greece	GRE	11	5	4	2	14	292.5	137	25.5
25	30	Sweden	SWE	11	6	2	3	14	286	133	25.5
26	42	Montenegro	MNE	11	6	2	3	14	279	129	25.5
27	24	Croatia	CRO	11	6	2	3	14	275.5	130	24.5
28	48	Canada	CAN	11	6	2	3	14	272.5	109	30
29	21	Poland	POL	11	6	1	4	13	301	134	27
30	29	Bosnia & Herzegovina	BIH	11	6	1	4	13	294	126	25.5
31	25	Slovakia	SVK	11	6	1	4	13	290	134	27
32	52	Finland	FIN	11	5	3	3	13	287.5	126	27.5
33	51	Estonia	EST	11	5	3	3	13	282	115	28
34	35	Lithuania	LTU	11	5	3	3	13	278	134	24.5
35	47	Germany 3	GER3	11	5	3	3	13	276.5	122	27
36	50	Turkey	TUR	11	5	3	3	13	276.5	121	27.5
37	34	Kazakhstan	KAZ	11	6	1	4	13	272.5	132	25.5
38	18	Czech Republic	CZE	11	6	1	4	13	270.5	130	26
39	32	Denmark	DEN	11	6	1	4	13	268.5	131	25
40	40	Iran	IRI	11	6	1	4	13	265	123	26.5
41	44	Italy	ITA	11	6	1	4	13	261	134	25.5
42	41	Germany 2	GER2	11	5	3	3	13	259	130	23
43	26	Moldova	MDA	11	4	5	2	13	258.5	133	23.5
44	43	Latvia	LAT	11	5	3	3	13	257.5	126	25.5
45	54	Austria	AUT	11	5	3	3	13	252.5	128	24.5
46	38	Philippines	PHI	11	6	1	4	13	250	128	23.5
47	55	Bangladesh	BAN	11	6	1	4	13	249	121	25.5
48	64	Paraguay	PAR	11	6	1	4	13	220.5	116	24
154 teams

38th Olympiad Dresden Women (GER), 13-25 xi 2008 Leading Final Round 11 Standings
Rg.	Snr	Team	Team	Anz	+	=	-	Wtg1	Wtg2	Wtg3	Wtg4
1	4	Georgia	GEO	11	8	2	1	18	411.5	148	31
2	2	Ukraine	UKR	11	7	4	0	18	406.5	146	30
3	7	United States of America	USA	11	8	1	2	17	390.5	145	30.5
4	1	Russia	RUS	11	7	3	1	17	367	144	29.5
5	9	Poland	POL	11	8	1	2	17	364.5	157	27.5
6	6	Armenia	ARM	11	8	0	3	16	353	145	28
7	10	Serbia	SRB	11	7	2	2	16	318.5	146	26.5
8	3	China	CHN	11	6	3	2	15	392.5	159	27.5
9	21	Israel	ISR	11	6	3	2	15	325	137	27.5
10	26	Belarus	BLR	11	6	3	2	15	317.5	119	29.5
11	16	Romania	ROU	11	7	1	3	15	306.5	146	26.5
12	33	Italy	ITA	11	6	3	2	15	280	130	26.5
13	5	France	FRA	11	6	2	3	14	336.5	137	29.5
14	8	Hungary	HUN	11	6	2	3	14	321	148	26.5
15	11	India	IND	11	6	2	3	14	320.5	145	25
16	15	Slovakia	SVK	11	7	0	4	14	299.5	134	26
17	47	Mongolia	MGL	11	6	2	3	14	289	140	23.5
18	17	Netherlands	NED	11	7	0	4	14	286	143	24
19	13	Bulgaria	BUL	11	6	2	3	14	282	127	26.5
20	30	Croatia	CRO	11	7	0	4	14	281.5	123	27.5
21	12	Germany 1	GER1	11	5	4	2	14	279	132	24.5
22	43	Uzbekistan	UZB	11	6	2	3	14	267	137	24
23	22	Spain	ESP	11	7	0	4	14	266.5	135	24.5
24	19	Greece	GRE	11	6	1	4	13	307.5	124	29.5
25	25	Cuba	CUB	11	6	1	4	13	288	125	28
26	24	Vietnam	VIE	11	6	1	4	13	272.5	133	25
27	36	Austria	AUT	11	6	1	4	13	269.5	135	24.5
28	27	Latvia	LAT	11	5	3	3	13	266.5	124	26
29	29	Argentina	ARG	11	6	1	4	13	262	125	27
30	42	Turkey	TUR	11	6	1	4	13	249.5	121	25.5
31	28	Azerbaijan	AZE	11	5	3	3	13	246.5	141	21.5
32	46	Estonia	EST	11	6	1	4	13	245.5	118	26
33	32	Moldova	MDA	11	6	1	4	13	238	132	23
34	48	Germany 2	GER2	11	6	1	4	13	236	131	23
35	34	Montenegro	MNE	11	6	1	4	13	227.5	119	24.5
114 teams

38th Olympiad Dresden (GER), 13-25 xi 2008 Top Board Performances
Board 1
Rg.		Name	Elo	Team	Rp	Anz	Pkt.
1	GM	Leko Peter	2747	Hungary	2834	10	7.5
2	GM	Gelfand Boris	2719	Israel	2833	10	7.5
3	GM	Topalov Veselin	2791	Bulgaria	2821	8	6.5
4	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2732	Slovakia	2794	9	7
5	GM	Meier Georg	2558	Germany 2	2779	9	7
6	GM	Wang Yue	2736	China	2773	10	6.5
7	GM	Kamsky Gata	2729	United States of America	2768	10	6.5
8	GM	Bacrot Etienne	2705	France	2766	10	6.5
9	GM	Jobava Baadur	2664	Georgia	2758	10	6.5
10	GM	Carlsen Magnus	2786	Norway	2757	11	7.5
11	GM	Shirov Alexei	2726	Spain	2755	10	7
12	GM	Beliavsky Alexander G	2619	Slovenia	2744	10	6.5
13	GM	Aronian Levon	2757	Armenia	2743	10	5.5
14	GM	Kramnik Vladimir	2772	Russia	2735	9	5
15	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2786	Ukraine	2722	11	6
16	GM	Kasimdzhanov Rustam	2672	Uzbekistan	2721	9	6.5
17	GM	Radjabov Teimour	2752	Azerbaijan	2713	9	5
18	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2694	I