Shubham Kumthekar

Barcelona Chess 03: Morozevich dominant

GM Alexander Morozevich scored his second win of the Magistral Ciutat de Barcelona Chess Tournament 2015 by outclassing GM Narciso Dublan in the third round. The remaining two games – GM Bachmann vs IM Asis Gargatagli and GM Balogh vs GM Karen Grigoryan – were drawn.

The Narciso Dublan – Morozevich encounter took off with the latter wheeling out the Sicilian Defence in reply to Narciso’s 1.e4. The Spanish Grandmaster’s opening turned out to be a failure as Morozevich managed to secure a pleasant position right out of the opening. Morozevich never really allowed his opponent to get back into the game and in the end, won the game convincingly.

After 3 rounds, Morozevich has notched up a total of 2.5 points and is leading his nearest competitors by a full point margin.

Barcelona 02: All Draws

The second round of the Magistral Ciutat de Barcelona Tournament 2015 saw all the three games end in draws. However, the games were not devoid of some interesting chess.

The most exciting game of the day was top-seed GM Alexander Morozevich’s draw against GM Balogh Csaba. Having commenced the game with 1.b3, Morozevich secured a pleasant advantage out of the opening, which he held right through to the endgame. However, a couple of errors on moves 35 and 36 not only saw the Russian GM lose his advantage but also end up much worse. Balogh, on his part, was unable to take advantage of his opponents errors and the game finally ended peacefully.

After two rounds, Morozevich is leading the field solely with a total of 1.5 points.

Barcelona 01: Sole winner Morozevich

The Magistral Ciutat de Barcelona Tournament 2015 commenced yesterday in Barcelona, Spain. The tournament features a total of 6 players, who will fight it out over the course of five rounds in the round-robin format. World No. 44 Alexander Morozevich, who currently boasts a FIDE rating of 2695, is the top-seeded player in the event.

The first round saw only one decisive result as GM Morozevich, playing the black side of a Sicilian Najdorf, overcame IM Asis Gargatagli. This came as a bit of a surprise as it was the latter who held the advantage for the major part of the game. However, Morozevich, putting all his experience into play, outplayed the Spanish IM in the endgame. Asis Gargatagli resigned on move 46.

Meanwhile, the other two battles – GM Bachmann vs GM Balogh and GM Narciso Dublan vs GM Karen Grigoryan – ended in draws. This allowed Morozevich to take an early lead in the tournament.

Kings Final: Germany wins the match

A 3-2 victory in the fifth and final round of their match against Romania helped Germany win the Kings Tournament 2015. The German team dominated the major part of the match, notching up a total of 14 points over the course of 5 rounds, as opposed to Romania’s 11 points.

For the Germans, GMs Buhmann Rainer and Wagner Dennis starred in the event, scoring a total of 3.5 points each. On the Romanian side, only IM Deac Bogdan-Daniel could score more than 50% as he finished with 3.5 points as well.

Kings 03: Exciting Wins!

The third round of the match between Germany and Romania turned out to be the most interesting one so far, with the three decisive games witnessing some exciting chess on the part of the winners. Amidst all the excitement, Romania overcame Germany 3-2.

Romania’s victory was anchored by GMs Marin and Parligras, with both of them winning in brilliant fashion against GMs Donchenko and Bluebaum respectively. For the Germans, GM Wagner was the lone scorer as he overcame GM Lupulescu convincingly. The remaining games were drawn.

Round 3 Results:

Germany	Result	Romania
GM Wagner	1-0	GM Lupulescu
GM Bluebaum	0-1	GM Parligras
GM Donchenko	0-1	GM Marin
GM Buhmann	½-½	IM Deac
GM Fridman	½-½	GM Nevednichy
	2-3

Karpov Trophy Rapid Final: Fressinet Triumphs!

Keeping up with his good run in the tournament, GM Laurent Fressinet of France overcame GM Anatoly Karpov in the Finals to clinch the title in the 4th edition of the Karpov Trophy.

The win however, didn’t come too easy for the Frenchman as both the games of the ’25+10′ rapid round ended in draws. As a result, the match entered the ‘3+2’ blitz phase wherein he defeated the former World Champion on both occasions. Fressinet was, thus, crowned the champion of the tournament.

Karpov Trophy Rapid 14: Fressinet, Karpov, Edouard, Gharamian reach semis

The fourteenth and final round of the initial stage of the Karpov Trophy Rapid 2015 witnessed as many as 3 decisive results, with GM Sebag scoring a surprise victory over GM Fressinet. In the remaining decisive games, GM Karpov and GM Edouard overcame GM Anna Muzychuk and GM Mariya Muzychuk respectively. The only game to end peacefully was Abdumalik-Gharamian.

At the end of the qualifying stage, Fressinet and Karpov finished with 9.5 points each, followed by Edouard on 9 points and Gharamian on 7 points. The aforementioned four players have made it to the semi-finals, which will be played as a mini-match of two games.

Pairings for the Semi-Finals:

Fressinet vs Gharamian

Karpov vs Edouard

Karpov Trophy Rapid 12: Fressinet in sole lead

The twelfth round of the Karpov Trophy Rapid 2015 witnessed two black wins as GM Fressinet and GM Mariya Muzychuk overcame GM Karpov and WGM Abdumalik respectively. The remaining two battles, namely Anna Muzychuk – Gharamian and Edouard – Sebag, ended peacefully.

With just two more rounds remaining to be played in the qualifiers, Fressinet is leading the field solely with a tally of 8.5 points. Edouard and Karpov are right on Fressinet’s heels with 8 points each.

Results and Standings: Here

Karpov Trophy Rapid 10: Edouard, Fressinet, Karpov in lead

The 4th Karpov Trophy Rapid is being played in Cap d’Agde, France with 8 players – four men and four women – forming the field of this event. The star attraction of the tournament is the participation of Anatoly Karpov himself. The tournament will initially be played on a double round-robin basis followed by the selection of the top four players to the Semi-Finals and then ultimately, the Final.

The 10th round of the tournament saw two decisive results as GMs Karpov and Edouard overcame GM Sebag and WGM Abdumalik respectively. This allowed Karpov and Edouard to catch up with GM Fressinet at the top of the table. The leading trio has notched up a total of 7 points each and are well ahead of their nearest competitor GM Gharamian, who has scored a total of 5 points.

Results and Standings: Here

European Club Cup Final: Siberia and Nona clinch titles

Open Section

A 3-3 draw against ‘O. R. Padova’ proved sufficient for ‘Siberia’ to emerge victorious in the European Club Cup 2015. ‘Siberia’, which started as the 2nd-seeded team, won six matches and drew one en route to the coveted title. Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik starred in Siberia’s triumph as he scored 4.5/5 with a massive rating performance of 3102.

Meanwhile, 5th-seeded ‘Mednyi Vsadnik’ held top-seeded ‘SOCAR’ to a crucial 3-3 draw. ‘SOCAR’ still managed to finish second while ‘Mednyi Vsadnik’ secured the third place.

Final Rankings: Here

Women’s Section

Top-seeded ‘Nona’ defeated ‘Bossa Nova’ with a 3-1 scoreline, thus notching up their seventh consecutive victory of the tournament. As a result, ‘Nona’ won the women’s section of the European Club Cup 2015 in a convincing manner. They were followed by ‘Gambit Asseko SEE’ and ‘Ugra’ on the second and third spots respectively.

Final Rankings: Here