Shubham Kumthekar

Norway Chess Blitz: MVL triumphs!

With Maxime Vachier-Lagrave having lost more than 30 classical rating points in the last month, hardly anybody would have fancied his chances at the ‘Norway Chess Super-Tournament’ before yesterday’s blitz began. However, MVL made a strong statement before the start of the main event as he won the blitz section quite impressively.

MVL scored a total of 6.5/9, half a point clear of second-placed Nakamura. The third place was shared by Carlsen, Giri and Anand with a total of 5.5 points each.

Final Standings:

Rank	Players	Rating (Blitz)	Pts.
1	Vachier-Lagrave	2826	6.5
2	Nakamura	2883	6
3	Carlsen	2933	5.5
3	Giri	2771	5.5
3	Anand	2767	5.5
6	Aronian	2816	5
7	Grischuk	2839	4
8	Topalov	2641	3
9	Caruana	2679	2.5
10	Hammer	2648	1.5

Norway Chess 2015 to commence today!

The 3rd edition of the annual Norway Chess Super-Tournament is all set to commence from today onwards. The tournament will begin with a blitz event which will be played today and its standings will determine the pairings for the main event to be played from tomorrow onwards. Both the events – Blitz and Classical – will be contested by 10 players over 9 rounds in an all-play-all format.

List of Players:

#	PLAYERS	RATING
1	Carlsen	2876
2	Caruana	2805
3	Anand	2804
4	Nakamura	2802
5	Topalov	2798
6	Grischuk	2781
7	Aronian	2780
8	Giri	2773
9	Vachier-Lagrave	2723
10	Hammer	2677

Official Website: http://2015.norwaychess.com/

Bosna International Round 7: GM Hrvoje in sole lead

The top-board clash in the 7th round of the Bosna International Open 2015 saw GMs Hrvoje and Antipov split points. With this draw, the former maintains his sole-lead over his nearest rivals. Seven players, including 6 GMs and an IM, are joint-second.

The 8th and the penultimate round of the tournament will witness GM Nikolic taking on the leader GM Hrvoje on the first board. With the former being vastly experienced and the latter in a very good form, this encounter promises to be a cracking one.

Complete Results of Round 7: http://chess-results.com/tnr168569.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=8&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=984

Bosna Open Round 3: 7 GMs in joint lead

The 3rd round of the Bosna International Open 2015 saw 3 GMs – Robert Markus, Predojevic and Antipov Mikhail – being held to draws by FM Gazik, GM Drazic and FM Burkovic respectively. However, the rest of the results on the top boards went in the favour of the higher-rated players.

Thus, at the end of the 3rd round, 7 Grandmasters lead the pack with a perfect score of 3/3. With GM vs GM encounters on all of the top 4 boards in the next round, the 4th round of this 9-round open promises to be quite an interesting one.

Complete Round 3 Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr168569.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=3&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=984

45th Bosna International Tournament starts today!

The 45th edition of the Bosna International Tournament is all set to commence today with a total of 142 players participating. The field of this 9 round event is quite strong with as many as 19 Grandmasters in the fray.

The tournament will be played over a period of 7 days starting from 30th May to 5th June. Some of the strong players participating are:

1) GM Markus (2628)

2) GM Predojevic (2623)

3) GM Kozul (2620)

4) GM Nikolic (2618)

5) GM Stevic (2596)

Complete Starting List: http://chess-results.com/tnr168569.aspx?lan=1&art=0&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=984

Khanty FIDE GP Final: Caruana & Nakamura qualify for the Candidates!

The 11th and Final round of the Khanty-Mansiysk FIDE Grand Prix 2015 saw just one decisive game as Svidler overcame Jobava with the White pieces in a French Defence game.

The above result, however, had no impact on the top standings as Jakovenko, Nakamura and Caruana jointly won the tournament. But the jackpot was bagged by the latter two who made it to the next Candidates Tournament courtesy of their superior scores at the end of the 2014-15 Grand Prix cycle. The winner of the Candidates Tournament will gain the right to challenge World Champion Magnus Carlsen for a World Championship Match.

Complete Round 11 Results:

Karjakin	2753	½-½	Gelfand	2744
Nakamura	2799	½-½	Jakovenko	2738
Giri	2776	½-½	Caruana	2803
Dominguez	2734	½-½	Grischuk	2780
Svidler	2734	1-0	Jobava	2699
Tomashevsky	2749	½-½	Vachier-Lagrave	2754

Final Standings:

RANK	NAME	RTG	PTS
1	Jakovenko Dmitry	2738	6½
2	Nakamura Hikaru	2799	6½
3	Caruana Fabiano	2803	6½
4	Dominguez Perez Leinier	2734	6
5	Gelfand Boris	2744	6
6	Svidler Peter	2734	5½
7	Grischuk Alexander	2780	5½
8	Giri Anish	2776	5½
9	Karjakin Sergey	2753	5½
10	Tomashevsky Evgeny	2749	5
11	Jobava Baadur	2699	4
12	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2754	3½

Khanty FIDE GP Rd10: Set for an Exciting Finish!

The 10th round of the Khanty Mansiysk FIDE GP 2015 saw some interesting twists as Jobava defeated overnight joint leader Dominguez while Jakovenko patiently overcame Karjakin to join Nakamura and Caruana at the top of the table. The rest of the games were drawn.

With one round to go, the trio of Jakovenko, Nakamura and Caruana are being closely followed by Dominguez and Gelfand with 5.5 points each.

Interestingly, Nakamura and Jakovenko are scheduled to clash in the last round of the tournament which makes the upcoming final round all the more exciting.

Complete Round 10 Results:

NAME	RTG	RES.	NAME	RTG
Gelfand	2744	½ – ½	Tomashevsky	2749
Vachier-Lagrave	2754	½ – ½	Svidler	2734
Jobava	2699	1 – 0	Dominguez	2734
Grischuk	2780	½ – ½	Giri	2776
Caruana	2803	½ – ½	Nakamura	2799
Jakovenko	2738	1 – 0	Karjakin	2753

Khanty FIDE GP 09: Leaders Maintain

One of the winners of Round 9: Anish Giri (Pic Source: khantymansiysk2015.fide.com)

The 9th round of the Khanty-Mansiysk FIDE GP 2015 witnessed two decisive games as Giri overcame Jobava while Tomashevsky beat Svidler. The rest of the games ended in draws. However, the draw between Jakovenko and Gelfand saw a pretty finish with Gelfand leaving his Queen en-prise to force a nice stalemate.

After 9 rounds, Dominguez, Caruana and Nakamura lead the pack with 5.5/9 each. Three others – Gelfand, Jakovenko and Karjakin – are on the second spot with 5 points each. This leaves the field wide open with just two rounds to go.

Round 9 Results:

Jakovenko	2738	½-½	Gelfand	2744
Karjakin	2753	½-½	Caruana	2803
Nakamura	2799	½-½	Grischuk	2780
Giri	2776	1-0	Jobava	2699
Dominguez	2734	½-½	Vachier-Lagrave	2754
Svidler	2734	0-1	Tomashevsky	2749

Zalakaros Open Final: GM Kovalenko victorious!

After 9 rounds of gruelling chess at the Zalakaros Open 2015, GM Igor Kovalenko of Latvia came out on top with a total score of 7/9. Kovalenko had a terrible start to the tournament as he lost to IM Kantor Gergely in the very first round. However, he made a superb comeback as he won this strong open half a point ahead of his nearest rivals.

Meanwhile, 4 players tied for the second spot with 6.5/9, including India’s GM B. Adhiban.

Final Standings: http://chess-results.com/tnr164932.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&wi=821

Khanty FIDE GP 08: Caruana loses, still leads jointly

Caruana lost his first game of the tournament - against Jakovenko. (Pic Source: khantymansiysk2015.fide.com) — Caruana lost his first game of the tournament – against Jakovenko. (Pic Source: khantymansiysk2015.fide.com)

The 8th round of the on-going Khanty Mansiysk FIDE Grand Prix 2015 proved to be a dramatic one. Nakamura and Dominguez caught up overnight sole-leader Caruana at the top of the table as Jakovenko beat Caruana with the black pieces.

Amongst the other decisive results, Nakamura defeated Jobava in a game which was marred with mutual mistakes, despite the former dominating for the major part of the game. Also, Grischuk overcame Karjakin while Gelfand beat Svidler. This was Gelfand’s first win of the tournament after registering a rally of 7 consecutive draws.

Complete Round 8 Results:

Gelfand	2744	1-0	Svidler	2734
Tomashevsky	2749	½-½	Dominguez	2734
Vachier-Lagrave	2754	½-½	Giri	2776
Jobava	2699	0-1	Nakamura	2799
Grischuk	2780	1-0	Karjakin	2753
Caruana	2803	0-1	Jakovenko	2738