Shubham Kumthekar

ACP Masters Day 1: Nepomniachtchi and Ivanchuk in lead

The ACP Masters Cup Rapid 2015 commenced yesterday in Ashdod, Israel. A total of 12 Grandmasters have been divided in groups of 6 each. The top two players from each group will qualify for the Semi-Finals, with the winners advancing to the Finals.

Group A

The proceedings on the first day of Group A were dominated by the Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi. Ian managed to notch up 2.5/3, followed by GMs Boris Gelfand and Samuel Sevian on 2/3. GM Kirill Georgiev, coming in as a last-minute replacement for GM B. Adhiban, had a tough day as he suffered three straight losses.

Results and Standings: Here

Group B

Group B, just like Group A, saw a sole leader emerge at the end of Day One. Amongst some strong competition, GM Vassily Ivanchuk managed to emerge as the front-runner, scoring 2/3. He is being followed closely on 1.5/3 by as many as four GMs – Eljanov, Bacrot, Rapport and Smirin.

Results and Standings: Here

Ugra Governor Cup Final: Bukavshin wins the tournament!

The 9th and final round of the Ugra Governor Cup 2015 saw overnight leader GM Sanan Sjugirov losing to GM Yuri Eliseev while GM Alexander Rakhmanov, another leader going into the final round, being held to a draw by GM Dmitry Bocharov. These results helped GM Ivan Bukavshin to win the tournament on tie-break after overcoming GM Aleksey Goganov in the final round of the tournament.

Bukavshin notched up a total of 6 points, winning 3 games, drawing 6 and remaining undefeated throughout the course of the event.

Despite scoring the same points as Bukavshin, Rakhmanov and Eliseev, on account of their inferior tie-break scores, had to content themselves with finishing second and third respectively.

Ugra Governor Cup 06: Four GMs in joint lead

Four Grandmasters – Artemiev, Rakhmanov, Aleksandrov and Sjugirov – are in joint lead after the 6th round of the Ugra Governor Cup 2015. The aforementioned GMs have all notched up 4 points each.

In the 6th round of the tournament, the top-board clash between Sjugirov and Rakhmanov ended peacefully while Artemiev was held to a draw by Timofeev on the second board.

Meanwhile, as many as 10 players are currently on the second spot and are trailing the leaders by only a half point.

National Women Premier Final: Padmini Rout Victorious!

Despite shockingly losing her last round game to Priyanka K, IM Padmini Rout managed to finish first in the Ramratna 42nd Indian National Women Premier Chess Championship 2015. Padmini amassed a total of 8.5 points over the course of 11 rounds, winning as many as 8 games on her way to this coveted title.

Meanwhile, a three-way tie was witnessed for the second place with WGMs Soumya Swaminathan, Bhakti Kulkarni and Swati Ghate notching up a total of 7.5 points each. However, on account of their better tie-break scores, Soumya and Bhakti finished ahead of Swati Ghate, securing the second and third spots respectively.

Final Standings: Here

European Teams Final: Russia’s Golden Double!

The European Team Championship 2015 witnessed fantastic performance by the Russians as they bagged gold in both the sections of the tournament.

Open Section

The Hungary – Russia match-up in the last round saw all the four games ending in draws, thus helping the Russians clinch gold without any fuss. The Russian team remained unbeaten throughout the event to finish with a total of 15 points, 2 points clear of their nearest competitors.

Meanwhile, Armenia’s convincing 3-1 victory over the in-form Georgians helped them secure silver whilst Hungary bagged bronze.

Final Standings: Here

Women’s Section

Just as in the open section, the women’s section was dominated by the Russians. In the 9th and final round of the tournament, Russia overcame Germany 3-1 to finish first with a total of 17 points, 2 points ahead of silver-medallists Ukraine. The top seeded Georgians, however, could only finish third.

Final Standings: Here

European Team Chess 04: Russia’s double domination!

Open Section

Top seeded Russia scored a crucial 3-1 victory over second seeded Ukraine in the 4th round of the European Team Chess Championship 2015. GMs Svidler and Nepomniachtchi scored full points for Russia against GMs Ivanchuk and Areshchenko respectively while the remaining games ended in draws. With this result, the Russians have moved into sole lead at the end of Round 4.

Meanwhile, 15th seeded Serbia continued its fantastic string of results in the tournament with a 2-2 draw against 4th-seeded France. In other top battles, Spain defeated Switzerland while Azerbaijan showed no mercy in overcoming Turkey.

Complete Round 4 Results: Here

Women’s Section

Round 4 not only saw the Russian men take up the sole lead but also the Russian women. Facing top-seeded Georgia, 2nd-seeded Russia recorded a resounding 3.5-0.5 victory. Only GM Dzagnidze could salvage a draw for the Georgians.

Close on Russia’s heels are France and Romania, thanks to their wins over Hungary and Germany respectively.

Complete Round 4 Results: Here

European Team Chess 03: Russia, Ukraine in lead

World Champion Magnus Carlsen, playing his first game of the tournament, suffered a loss against arch-rival Levon Aronian (not in the picture). [Picture Source: etcc2015.com]

Open Section:

Top seeded Russia and second seeded Ukraine pipped Azerbaijan and Spain respectively to emerge as the joint leaders after round 3 of the European Team Chess Championship 2015. Both the match-ups followed a similar course as sole wins by GM Nepomniachtchi (Russia) and GM Eljanov (Ukraine) helped their respective teams clinch the match.

Meanwhile, 15th seeded Serbia created a minor upset as they overcame 9th seeded Netherlands with a convincing 3-1 scoreline.

Complete Round 3 Results: Here

Women’s Section

Just as in the open section, women’s section has been dominated so far by the top two teams – Georgia and Russia. In the 3rd round, Russia comfortably defeated Italy while the Georgians were successful in overcoming the strong Ukrainian team. As such, Russia and Georgia are leading the table with perfect scores.

Complete Round 3 Results: Here

European Team Chess 02: France beats Armenia

The second round of the European Team Chess Championship 2015 saw two heavyweights – Armenia and France – clash against each other on the top board. In this exciting match-up, France came out on top courtesy of GM Vachier-Lagrave’s crucial victory over GM Aronian with the black pieces.

Meanwhile, strong teams like England, Netherlands and Czech Republic were held to draws by Georgia, Croatia and Sweden respectively.

After two rounds, five teams – Azerbaijan, Russia, Ukraine, Spain and France – are leading the field with perfect scores.

Complete Round 2 Results: Here

European Team Chess 01: Tough start for higher seeds

The first round of the European Team Chess Championship 2015 turned out to be anything but easy for the stronger teams. Higher ranked teams like Norway (who rested Carlsen for Round 1), Czech Republic and Latvia were shocked by Montenegro, Denmark and Finland respectively.

Plenty of good teams were held to draws as well. Of note were draws by Moldova and Austria against Hungary and Poland respectively. Although most teams shed a few board points, Armenia and Georgia managed to record 4-0 victories over their respective opponents.

Complete Round 1 Results: Here

Magistral Ciutat de Barcelona Final: Morozevich triumphs!

Despite suffering a last round loss to GM Axel Bachmann, Russian GM Alexander Morozevich won the Magistral Ciutat de Barcelona Tournament 2015. Morozevich, scored a total of 3 points, the same as Bachmann. However, Morozevich’s superior tie-break helped him clinch the title, with Bachmann securing the second spot.

The last round of the tournament also featured an upset as IM Asis Gargatagli scored an upset win over GM Karen Grigoryan with the black pieces. This enabled the Spanish IM to finish tied for the 3rd-4th places along with GM Balogh Csaba. The latter had a pretty sedate tournament with all his games ending in draws.