Month: June 2015

Capablanca 07: Nepomniachtchi wins, Yangyi maintains lead

Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2720) was the sole winner in the seventh round. Nepomniachtchi, who was having a luckless tournament so far, managed to beat GM Dominguez (2746) of Cuba with the black pieces to move to 2.0/7.

The leader GM Yu Yangyi played out a fighting draw with GM Pavel Eljanov (2718) of Ukraine.

Rank Name Score Elo
1 Yu, Yangyi 5.0/7 2715
2 Andreikin, Dmitry 4.0/7 2718
3 Eljanov, Pavel 4.0/7 2718
4 Bruzon Batista, Lazaro 3.0/7 2677
5 Dominguez Perez, Leinier 3.0/7 2746
6 Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2.0/7 2720

Norway Chess 05: Topalov in a massive lead!

With a lucky victory over Hammer in the fifth round of the Norway Chess 2015, Topalov moved on to 4.5/5 to take up a commanding 1 point lead over his nearest rivals. In a drawn position, Hammer blundered horribly to grant Topalov a full point.

Amongst the other decisive results, Aronian overcame Caruana whereas Carlsen finally scored his first win by beating Grischuk.

Meanwhile, Nakamura drew Anand and now, is on the second spot with 3.5/5.

Round 5 Results:

Name

 Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Carlsen 2876 1-0 Grischuk

2781

Nakamura

 2802 ½-½ Anand 2804
Vachier-Lagrave 2723 ½-½ Giri

2773

Aronian

 2780 1-0 Caruana 2805
Hammer 2677 0-1 Topalov

2798

Edmonton 02: GM Harikrishna in sole lead

Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna (2733) raced into sole lead as early as the second round itself with a victory over GM Samuel Shankland (2656) of USA in Round 1.

Legendary Ukranian GM Vassily Ivanchuk (2733) meanwhile drew his first round game against Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2625) and won the second to stand at 1.5/2.  GM Ganguly meanwhile drew his second round game as well to stand at 1.0/2.

Check the final standings and Pairings here: http://edmonton-international.com/Pairings.html

Capablanca 06: Yu Yangyi loses, still maintains lead

GM Yu Yangyi (2715) playing the black pieces could not hold Russian GM Dmitry Andreikin (2718) to suffer his first defeat in the tournament. Nevertheless, hr still maintains a lead of a full point over the rest of the field.

With this victory, GM Andreikin moved to tied second spot with GM Pavel Eljanov (2718) of Ukraine who dispatched a luckless GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2720) of Russia who languishes at the bottom of the table with 1.0/6.

Standings after Round :

Rank Name Score Elo
1 Yu Yangyi 4.5/6 2715
2 Dmitry Andreikin 3.5/6 2718
3 Pavel Eljanov 3.5/6 2718
4 Leinier Dominguez 3.0/6 2746
5 Lazaro Batista 2.5/6 2677
6 Ian Nepomniachtchi 1.0/6 2720

Norway Chess Round 4: Anand beats Carlsen!

A nightmare tournament for the World Champion Magnus Carlsen continued as he lost his 4th round game to arch-rival Viswananthan Anand. Anand, playing with the White pieces, swiftly outplayed the World Numero Uno in a Ruy lopez middlegame. The exchange-up ending was more than easy for someone of Anand’s calibre, and as such, Carlsen resigned on move 47.

There were a couple more decisive games, both won by White. Grischuk punished Hammer’s over-ambitious opening play and duly won the game while Topalov convincingly overcame Levon Aronian. The remaining games – Caruana vs MVL & Giri vs Nakamura – resulted in draws.

After 4 rounds, Topalov leads the pack with 3.5/4, closely followed by Nakamura on 3/4. Meanwhile Carlsen has only managed a draw from the four games played so far.

Capablanca 05: Yu Yangyi wins again, leads by two points

Chinese GM Yu Yangyi (2715) won yet again, this time with the black pieces against Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2720), to increase his lead by two full points. He now stands at a towering 4.5/5.

GM Pavel Eljanov (2718) who earlier held the tied second spot slipped to a defeat against Cuban GM Bruzon Batista (2677).

Standings after Round 5:

Rank Name                                Score       Elo
1 Yu, Yangyi                              4.5/5        2715

2 Eljanov, Pavel                       2.5/5         2718

3 Andreikin, Dmitry               2.5/5         2718

4 Dominguez Leinier              2.5/5        2746

5 Bruzon Batista, Lazaro       2.0/5        2677

6 Nepomniachtchi, Ian          1.0/5        2720

Norway Chess Round 3: Exciting Round!

Although the 3rd round of the Norway Chess Super-Tournament 2015 witnessed only a couple of decisive results, it was by and large an exciting round. Only Aronian and Hammer played out a sedate draw while the rest of the games generated a lot of interest.

First and foremost, it was Carlsen’s draw against Giri that kept the audience right on their toes. Carlsen had slowly built up the pressure in the early part of the middlegame to obtain a convincing position. But when the crucial moment arrived, Carlsen failed to find the beautiful sacrifice 38.Bf7!! The game later petered out into an ending with 3 pawns vs 1 Knight which was easily held by the young Dutch GM.

Meanwhile, Anand played out another draw, this time against Grischuk. But in hindsight, it was quite an interesting and well-played game. Amongst the decisive results, Nakamura and Topalov won their respective games against Caruana and Vachier-Lagrave relatively easily.

After 3 rounds, Nakamura and Topalov lead the pack with 2.5/3. Meanwhile, the World Champion is still on the last spot with only half a point against his name.

Round 3 Results:

Name

 Rtg. Res. Name Rtg.
Anand 2804 ½-½ Grischuk

2781

Carlsen

 2876 ½-½ Giri 2773
Nakamura 2802 1-0 Caruana

2805

Vachier-Lagrave

 2723 0-1 Topalov 2798
Aronian 2780 ½-½ Hammer

2677

Capablanca 04: Yu Yangyi wins again, leads by a point

Young Chinese GM Yu Yangyi (2715) defeated GM Bruzon Batista (2677) of Cuba with the white pieces to to increase his lead by a full point with 3.5/4..

Ukranian GM Pavel Eljanov (2718) is placed sole second with 2.5/4 as he could only draw with the top seed Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez (2746).

Standings after Round 4:

Rank Name                                Score       Elo
1 Yu, Yangyi                              3.5/4        2715

2 Eljanov, Pavel                       2.5/4         2718

3 Andreikin, Dmitry               2.0/4         2718

4 Dominguez Leinier              2.0/4        2746

5 Bruzon Batista, Lazaro       1.5/4        2677

6 Nepomniachtchi, Ian          1.0/4        2720

Norway Chess Round 02: Caruana beats Carlsen

The second round of the Norway Chess Super-Tournament 2015 produced a solitary decisive result as Fabiano Caruana overcame the defenses of World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the latter’s favorite Berlin Ruy Lopez. This puts the World Champion in the last place with no points from the first two rounds of this 9-round event.

The rest of the games ended in draws, although they weren’t short of excitement.

After 2 rounds, as many as 5 (!) players lead the table with 1.5 points each. Indian hope Vishy Anand is on the sole second spot with 2 draws in as many games.

Round 2 Results:

Name

 Rtg Res. Name

Rtg

Grischuk

 2781 ½-½ Aronian

2780

Hammer

 2677 ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave 2723
Topalov 2798 ½-½ Nakamura

2802

Caruana

 2805 1-0 Carlsen 2876

Giri

 2773 ½-½ Anand

2804

Capablanca 03: Yu Yangyi beats Dominguez with black, leads

The 50th edition of the traditional Capablanca Memorial Tournament, 2015 is the strongest event in the tournament’s long history. Five of the six participants have their elos above 2700, with the average elo being 2716.

China’s Yu Yangyi (2715) played a splendid technical game to register a fine win with the black pieces over the local hero Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez (2746). The other boards settled for a draw to leave Yangyi in sole lead with 2.5/3.

Rank Name                                Score       Elo
1 Yu, Yangyi                              2.5/3        2715

2 Eljanov, Pavel                       2.0/3         2718

3 Andreikin, Dmitry               1.5/3         2718

4 Dominguez Leinier              1.5/3        2746

5 Bruzon Batista, Lazaro       1.0/3        2677

6 Nepomniachtchi, Ian          0.5/3        2720