EnterCard Chess Qualifier Round 2: 3 players in lead

Lone Winner of Round 2: GM Nils Grandelius. (Pic Source: http://www.sjakkbloggen.no/)
Lone Winner of Round 2: GM Nils Grandelius. (Pic Source: http://www.sjakkbloggen.no/)

The second round of the EnterCard Scandinavian Masters Chess Tournament saw only one decisive game as GM Nils Grandelius overcame GM Curt Hansen with the black pieces. Although the game was about equal out of the opening, Hansen went astray in the later part of the Middlegame. Grandelius, thus, secured a nice advantage, which he duly converted. This was Hansen’s second consecutive loss.

In the encounter between the 2 overnight leaders, GM Hammer and GM Fressinet split points and maintained their top position. The remaining game – IM Tari vs GM Agdestein – also ended in a draw, albeit an interesting one.

After 2 rounds, GMs Hammer, Fressinet and Grandelius lead the pack with 1.5/2. The winner of this tournament will qualify for the super tournament ‘Norway Chess 2015’.

Spain International Open: Two Indians in fray

The IVth Llucmajor International Chess Open took off to a roaring start with 22 Grandmasters and 25 International Masters competing. French GM Romain Edouard is the top seed of the event.

Two Indian Grandmasters – GM Vishnu Prasanna and GM Sundararajan Kidambi – are in the fray and are tied amongst the leaders at 2.0/2.

Check the pairings for Round 3 here.

EnterCard Chess Qualifier 01: Fressinet, Hammer start with a win

The two victors of Round 1: GM Hammer (L) and GM Fressinet (R). (Pic Source: http://www.sjakkbloggen.no/)
The two victors of Round 1: GM Hammer (L) and GM Fressinet (R).
(Pic Source: http://www.sjakkbloggen.no/)

The opening round of the EnterCard Chess Qualifier 2015 was nothing short of exciting with 2 games ending decisively and the 3rd game proving to be an interesting draw. GM Fressinet and GM Jon Ludvig Hammer commenced their campaign in this 5 round tournament with victories over IM Tari and GM Curt Hansen respectively and as a result, took the lead after Round 1.

Meanwhile, the Agdestein vs Grandelius encounter turned out to be dramatic with the advantage changing hands quite often. Although the ending was slightly better for Grandelius, he was unsuccessful in nurturing this advantage. The game, thus, ended in a draw.

Nakhchivan Chess: GM Safarli & GM Guseinov tie for first place

The Nakhchivan Chess Tournament at Azerbaijan witnessed a thrilling finish at the top boards. GM Gadir Guseinov (2612) and GM Eltaj Safarali (2640), both of Azerbaijan, won their respective games at the top boards to tie for first place at 7.0/9.

Among the Indians, GM Abhijeet Gupta (2603) settled for a draw to move to 6.0/9. Remarkably, GM Adhiban (2636), despite a bad start, won his final round game to tie for third place with GM Gupta and seven others at 6.0/9.

Check the final rankings here.

EnterCard Chess tourney from May 10 to 15

The EnterCard Chess tourney starts in Norway from May 10 to 15, 2015. Its a single round robin tourney with 5 rounds (6 players).

The tourney serves as a Qualifer for the 10th spot of the Norway Chess 2015 tourney, which is now part of the Grand Chess tour.

The 6 players in the Qualifier

Fressinet, Laurent 2712
Hammer, Jon Ludvig 2665
Grandelius, Nils 2623
Hansen, Curt 2621
Agdestein, Simen 2620
Tari, Aryan 2520

Schedule

Round 1 : 17: 00 (UTC+2), 20:30 IST

Round 2-5 : 20:00 (UTC+2), 23:30 IST

Official site : http://www.sjakkbloggen.no/chess-qualifier/

Nakhchivan Chess 08: Five leaders after the penultimate round

The Nakhchivan Chess Tournament in Azerbaijan is headed off to an exciting finish in the last round with five players tied for lead at 6.0/8.

Among the Indians, GM Abhijeet Gupta (2603) is in close contention with 5.5/6. He will be playing one of the leaders GM Levan Pantsulaia (2603) in the final round. GM Adhiban had been staging a remarkable comeback after a bad start with four consecutive wins. He however settled for a draw in the eighth round to stand at 5.0/8.

Check the final round pairings here.

Russian Team Chess Final: Siberia, Our Heritage clinch titles!

Open Section:

With an easy 4.5-1.5 victory over ‘Yamal’, the Siberian team won the Russian Team Chess Championship 2015 in a dominating fashion as they notched up a perfect score of 14 Match-Points, 3 match-points ahead of its nearest rival ‘University’. The ‘Bronze Horsemen’ team finished a couple of match-points behind ‘University’ to secure the third place in this super-strong team tournament.

Final Rankings: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr171712.aspx?lan=1&art=3&rd=7&wi=821


Women’s Section:

In an interesting turn of events, ‘SDYSSHOR SHSH’, who were leading the pack for most of the time in this tournament, could only finish second as they were held to a surprise 2-2 draw in the last round by ‘Donchanka’ while ‘SHSM – Our Heritage’ grabbed their opportunity as they clinched the title with a convincing 3.5-0.5 victory against ‘University’. Yugra, meanwhile, finished third.

Final Rankings: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr171723.aspx?lan=1&art=63&wi=821

Nakhchivan Chess 06: GM Pantsulaia and GM Safarli lead; GM Gupta close second

The seemingly unstoppable GM Levan Pantsulaia (2603) of Georgia finally met his match in GM Eltaj Safarli (2640) of Azerbaijan who won their encounter to join Pantsulaia in the lead with 5.0/6.

Indian GM Abhijeet Gupta (2603) is in the race for the top spots with 4.5/6. GM Adhiban (2636) meanwhile is staging a comeback of sorts with his third straight victory to move to 3.5/6.

Check the pairings for Round 7 here.

Russian Team Chess 06: Siberia still on top!

Open Section:

A convincing 4.5-1.5 victory over ‘Rook’ saw the overnight leader ‘Siberia’ maintain its lead ahead of the last round at the Russian Team Chess Championship 2015.

Meanwhile, team ‘University’ continued its chase for the top spot with a comfortable 4.5-1.5 win over ‘Yamal’ whilst ‘Bronze Horsemen’ is on the 3rd spot going into the final round.

Full Round 6 Results (Team Names in Russian) : http://www.chess-results.com/tnr171712.aspx?lan=1&art=3&rd=6&wi=821


Women’s Section:

The race for the First Place, however, is much more intense in the Women’s section. Although ‘SDYUSSHOR SHSH’ retained its top spot with a nice 3-1 win against ‘Rook’ and a total of 10 match-points, ‘SHSM – Our Heritage’ is right on its heels with 9 Match-Points while a couple more teams are just a point behind ‘SHSM’.

Full Round 6 Results (Team Names in Russian) : http://www.chess-results.com/tnr171723.aspx?lan=1&art=3&rd=6&wi=821

Nakhchivan Chess 05: GM Pantsulaia wins again, leads with 5.0/5.

GM Levan Pantsulaia (2603) of Gerogia won his fifth straight game at the Nakhchivan Chess Open 2015 to maintain his sole lead.

Among the Indians, GM Abhijeet Gupta (2603) settled for a draw to move to 3.5/5. After a disastrous start, GM Adhiban (2636) won his second game in a row to move to fifty percent with 2.5/5.

Check the pairings for Round 6.