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Italian Team Chess 2015: O.R.Padova in sole lead

GM Sabino Brunello held World #5 GM Nakamura (not in the picture) to a draw. — GM Sabino Brunello held World #5 GM Nakamura (not in the picture) to a draw, albeit in a losing cause. (Pic Source: http://www.chess.com/)

After 3 rounds of the CIS Master Italian Team Championship 2015, top seeds ‘Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova’, boasting of such players as Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave and Bacrot, took the sole lead with a perfect score of 6 match-points. This became possible courtesy of a comfortable 3-1 victory over 2nd seeds ‘WorldTradingLab Club 64 Modena’ in Round 3. Although Padova’s star-player GM Nakamura could only manage a draw against GM Brunello, their young Italian GMs Vocaturo and Dvirnyy came to the party with wins over IM D’Amore and IM Caprio respectively.

The battle between the 3rd and the 4th seeds – A.S.D. Circolo Scacchi vs P.W. Napoli – ended in a well-fought 2-2 draw with FM Bonafede scoring for A.S.D. Circolo Scacchi and IM Collutiis equalizing for Napoli. The other two games finished in draws, thus ensuring 1 match-point each for both the teams.

Rankings after 3 Rounds:

1) Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova – 6 Points

2) Il Grifone d’Arzignano – 4 Points

3) WorldTradingLab Club 64 Modena – 4 Points … (18 Teams)

Complete Round 3 Results: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr166264.aspx?lan=1&art=3&rd=3&wi=821

Women’s Section:

In the Women’s Section, A.S.D. Circolo Scacchi and S.S. Lazio Scacchi won their respective matches 3-0, and as such, have taken up the joint lead after Round 1 in this 5 round tournament.

Complete Round 1 Results: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr166271.aspx?lan=1&art=3&rd=1&wi=821

World Team Chess Final: China clinches Gold!

Team China: The Champions! (Pic Source: http://wtcc2015.am/)

With a massive lead of 3 match-points over its nearest competitor Ukraine, Team China clinched the Gold medal in a dominant fashion at the World Team Chess Championship 2015. The last round saw the Chinese GMs record a comfortable 3-1 victory over India, with GM Yu Yangyi and GM Wei Yi winning their respective games. The Ukrainians had to settle for the Silver while the Armenians took Bronze.

The surprise package of the tournament proved to be Team USA as they secured a creditable 5th place with a total of 10 match-points. A comprehensive 3-1 victory over Cuba in the last round saw the Americans finish far ahead of their starting rank of 9. India, however, could only manage 7 match-points and finished 9th in the final standings.

Round 9 Results:

Team	Team	Res.	:	Res.
China	India	3	:	1
USA	Cuba	3	:	1
Hungary	Ukraine	2	:	2
Russia	Israel	2½	:	1½
Armenia	Egypt	2½	:	1½

The final rankings can be checked here: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr170346.aspx?lan=1&art=0&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=984

European Senior Chess championship 2015

The European Senior Chess championship 2015 takes place from Apr 29 – May 7 in Greece.

The tourney is being played in two categories ; viz 50+ and 65+ with 9 rounds in swiss format.

Dr John Nunn (2601) is the highest rated participant.

Top Players 50+

GM	Nunn John D M	ENG	2601
GM	Sturua Zurab	GEO	2536
GM	Arkell Keith C	ENG	2493
IM	Kalegin Evgenij	RUS	2457
IM	Bellia Fabrizio	ITA	2433

Top Players 65+

GM	Vasiukov Evgeni	RUS	2416
GM	Kupreichik Viktor D	BLR	2373
GM	Pushkov Nikolai	RUS	2313
GM (w)	Gaprindashvili Nona	GEO	2302
IM	Rooze Jan	BEL	2281

Pairings & Results

50 – http://www.chess-results.com/tnr171508.aspx

65 – http://www.chess-results.com/tnr171509.aspx

The live games are available in Follow Chess app!

CIS Master 2015 from Apr 29 – May 3

The 47th CIS Master (Italian Team Chess championship) takes place from Apr 29 – May 3. Its a 7 round swiss tourney featuring top 18 teams on the Italian circuit.

The league has attracted top players like Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Eitenne Bacrot (FRA), Maxime-Vachier Lagrave (FRA) and several other GMs. All these top players are playing for ‘Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova’.

Official site : www.cismaster2015.it

Results & Standings : http://chess-results.com/tnr166264.aspx

The live games can also be followed in Follow Chess App

World Women’s Team Final: Georgia Triumphs!

A happy unit: The Georgian women! (Pic Source: chengdu2015.fide.com)

With a close victory over China in the final round, the Georgian women clinched Gold at the World Team Chess Championship 2015 with a comprehensive margin of 2 match-points over the second placed Russia. IM Meri Arabidze, again, scored a crucial victory for Georgia, this time over IM Shen Yang. Meanwhile, the Russian women came up with a fantastic 3.5-0.5 victory over U.S.A. to clinch the Silver while Team China secured the Bronze.

The Indian women, despite being out of contention for any medal, did not show any signs of complacency as they scored a resounding 3-1 victory over Armenia to finish fourth in the final rankings. Although GM Koneru Humpy (IND) suffered a shock defeat at the hands of IM Mkrtchian Lilit (ARM), the rest of the Indian women won their respective games and ensured a nice finishing victory for their team.

Round 9 Results:

Team	Result	Team
Armenia	1-3	India
China	1.5-2.5	Georgia
Russia	3.5-1.5	U.S.A.
Egypt	0.5-3.5	Ukraine
Poland	2-2	Kazakhstan

Final Standings:

Rank	Team	Match Points	Board Points
1	GEORGIA	17	25
2	RUSSIA	15	25
3	CHINA	11	22
4	INDIA	10	22
5	UKRAINE	10	20
6	KAZAKHSTAN	9	17½
7	ARMENIA	7	16
8	POLAND	6	15½
9	U.S.A.	5	13
10	EGYPT	0	4

Board Prizes:

Board 1:

Rank	Name	Rtg	Team	%	Pts	Games
1	Khotenashvili Bela	2513	GEORGIA	83.3	7.5	9
2	Gunina Valentina	2532	RUSSIA	62.5	5.0	8
3	Koneru Humpy	2581	INDIA	61.1	5.5	9

Board 2:

Rank	Name	Rtg	Team	%	Pts	Games
1	Mkrtchian Lilit	2442	ARMENIA	72.2	6.5	9
2	Harika Dronavalli	2492	INDIA	68.8	5.5	8
3	Muzychuk Mariya	2526	UKRAINE	68.8	5.5	8

Board 3:

Rank	Name	Rtg	Team	%	Pts.	Games
1	Arabidze Meri	2374	GEORGIA	85.7	6.0	7
2	Lei Tingjie	2444	CHINA	72.2	6.5	9
3	Goryachkina A.	2473	RUSSIA	71.4	5.0	7

Board 4:

Rank	Name	Rtg	Team	%	Pts	Games
1	Girya Olga	2464	RUSSIA	92.9	6.5	7
2	Ding Yixin	2434	CHINA	75.0	4.5	6
3	Batsiashvili Nino	2473	GEORGIA	64.3	4.5	7

Torneo Zonal absoluto – Zone 2.5 has begun!

Games in progress (pic via official site)

The 2015 Zonal Tournament (Zone 2.5) will take place from April 27 – May 3 in Asuncion, the captial of Paraguay.

Its a 9 swiss league tournament and the top seed is GM Axel Bachmann of Paraguay.

The average ELO rating is 2190.

Top players are:

1	Bachmann, Axel	PAR	2630
2	Delgado, Neuris	PAR	2592
3	Felgaer, Ruben	ARG	2582
4	Mareco, Sandro	ARG	2581
5	Flores, Diego	ARG	2567

Official website : http://www.feparaj.org.py/zonal2015/

Results & Pairings : http://www.chess-results.com/tnr169222.aspx

World Team Chess 08: USA upsets Ukraine, China in sole lead

The 8th round of the World Team Chess Championship 2015 turned out to be quite eventful with U.S.A. surprising overnight joint-leaders Ukraine 2.5-1.5, thanks to GM Lenderman’s crucial win over GM Ivanchuk. The other overnight leader – China – took full advantage of this unexpected result as a 3-1 victory over the Cubans propelled the Chinese into sole lead ahead of the final round.

Meanwhile, the Indians had a tough day as they went down to Armenia 1.5-2.5, with yesterday’s hero GM Vidit (IND) losing to GM Melkumyan (ARM) in the decisive encounter. With this loss, India’s Bronze hopes have vanished.

Going into the last round, only China and Ukraine have a chance at Gold, while as many as 5 (!) teams are in a race for the Bronze. The Final round starts at 11 am local time (i.e. 12:30 pm IST or 7 am GMT).

Round 8 Results:

Team	Team	Res.	:	Res.
India	Armenia	1½	:	2½
Egypt	Russia	½	:	3½
Israel	Hungary	2	:	2
Ukraine	USA	1½	:	2½
Cuba	China	1	:	3

The full pairings and results can be checked here: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr170346.aspx?lan=1&art=2&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=984

World Women’s Team 08: Russia beats Ukraine, Georgia unstoppable!

WGM Pogonina scored one of the 2 wins for the Russians as they beat Ukraine 2.5-1.5. — WGM Pogonina scored one of the 2 individual wins for the Russians as they beat Ukraine 2.5-1.5. (Pic Source: http://chengdu2015.fide.com/)

The World Women’s Team Championship 2015 continued to be a fairy-tale for the Georgian women as they beat Armenia 3-1 in the 8th round of this 9-round event. The Georgians still lead with a margin of 2 match-points over the second-placed Russians, who overcame arch-rivals Ukraine with a close 2.5-1.5 scoreline. GM Anna Muzychuk’s (UKR) victory against GM Gunina (RUS) went in vain with WGMs Pogonina and Girya Olga scoring two crucial points for the Russians and GM Kosteniuk (RUS) holding the newly crowned women’s world champion IM Mariya Muzychuk (UKR) to a draw.

The Indian women, although out of contention for a medal, showcased immense determination as they routed 6th-seeds Poland 3.5-0.5. GM Koneru, WGM Soumya and WGM Mary Ann Gomes won their respective games while GM Harika held WGM Zawadzka with the black pieces.

With the 3rd-placed Chinese team taking on Georgia and the Russians facing a struggling American team in the final round, the fight for the top spot promises to be an exciting one as either Georgia or Russia have a chance at fame. The 9th round commences at 11:30 am Local Time and 10 am IST.

Round 8 Results:

Team	Team	Res.	:	Res.
INDIA	POLAND	3½	:	½
KAZAKHSTAN	EGYPT	3½	:	½
UKRAINE	RUSSIA	1½	:	2½
U.S.A.	CHINA	½	:	3½
GEORGIA	ARMENIA	3	:	1

The full pairings and results can be checked here: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr170190.aspx?lan=1&art=2&wi=821

World Team Chess Round 7: Close Contests!

Russian GMs Grischuk and Karjakin in action during their match against Armenia. Armenia beat Russia 2.5-1.5. (Pic Source: http://wtcc2015.am/?lang=en)

The seventh round of the World Team Chess Championship 2015 proved to be the most exciting round of the tournament so far, with as many as four matches resulting in 2.5-1.5 while the clash of the leaders – China vs Ukraine – finishing in a 2-2 draw.

In the match of the leaders, GM Ivanchuk (UKR) scored a win over GM Yu Yangyi (CHN) but GM Bu Xiangzhi (CHN) struck back with a victory over GM Eljanov (UKR). With the other two games ending in draws, the match was drawn 2-2.

The battle of the heavyweights – Russia vs Armenia – ended in a narrow victory for the 3rd-seeded Armenians, thanks to GM Sargissian’s crucial win against GM Sergey Karjakin. This loss has pushed the Russians to the 8th spot in the ranking crosstable.

Indians, meanwhile, overcame a strong challenge as they beat the in-form Cubans 2.5-1.5, courtesy of GM Vidit’s important victory over GM Ortiz Suarez. The Americans also achieved quite a similar feat with a narrow 2.5-1.5 win over Israel. On the other hand, Hungary finally reversed its fortunes with a rather close victory against the inspired Egyptian team.

After 7 rounds, Ukraine and China lead jointly with 11 points while 5 teams (!) are tied for the second spot with 7 points each.

The full pairings and results can be checked here: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr170346.aspx?lan=1&art=2&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=984

Magnus Carlsen wins Shamkir Chess, Anand clear 2nd

Magnus Carlsen, the winner of Shamkir Chess 2015 (pic: official site)

Top seed and World Chess champion Magnus Carlsen won the Shamkir Chess 2015 (in memory of Vugar Gashimov) with 7 out of 9 points! The world champion defeated Rauf Mamedov in the last round.

India’s Vishy Anand held Fabiano Caruana to a draw and finished clear 2nd with 6/9 points. Anand had a very good tournament and was the only other player to remain undefeated! (apart from Carlsen)

Points after final round 9:

Carlsen 7

Anand 6

Wesley, Caruana 5

Mamedyarov, Kramnik 4

Adams, Mamedov, Giri, Vachier-Lagrave 3.5