2018-07-29

The VIII IBCA World Team Chess Championship 2018 - second part overview

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by GM Alexandar Delchev

Saturday was the rest day of the VIII IBCA World Team Chess Championship 2018. All participants enjoyed the excursion to the Vitosha mountain, situated only 20 minutes by car from the city center. They were warmly welcomed by Snezana Petrova - the director of the national park Vitosha.


The special route was an alley in the Dendrarium area, with descriptions of more than 450 different plants, typical for the natural park, written on Braile alphabet.



 The other entertainment was a chess play in the heart of the forest on six tactile marble chess boards for visualy impaired people on a special wooden tables. The forest chess play continued 2,5 hours and finished with 4 wins and 2 draws in favor of the Bulgarian GM Delchev.



The beautiful nature of the park helped to the players to recover their energy for the decisive last rounds.
 After the first stage - the winner of group B - and the only team with the full score was Poland with an amazing first board - GM Tazbir scoring 6/6.   Will they manage to continue their winning serie in the semifinal against Germany?
The German team with the vice world champion Oliver Mueler on the first board scoring so far 4,5 /7 and Rene Adyaman the best performing German player - 5/6 on board 3 confidently got second place in the group. The captain Wilfer Bode is optimist about the chance to reach the top table which will be the historical success for the team.
The only interference in the group stage for the Russian team happened in the match against Serbia. On board 1 Smirnov and board 3 Meshkov somehow slipped away from the lost positions they got against Pavle Dimic and Peter Jandric bailing out to 2-2. The Russian players, current World team and Olimpic champions, are undefeated from the last 28 games - with board 3 Evgenyi Suslov scoring 6/6 Alexej Smirnov on board 1 with 5,5 out of 6 and board 2 Babarukin - 5,5 out of 6 - are the  favorite in the second semifinal match against Ukraine.
For the distribution of 5-8 places - Venezuela will meet India - and Serbia - Romania. Venezuela had an extremely unfortunate start - missing the first round, then followed by defeats against Germany and Russia. But they manage to win all the remaining matches and to share 3rd and 4th place in the group with Serbia. The match against India will be a very tense clash as the Indian players are very well prepared and confident. Their best performance represeted Kishan Gangolli and Aryan Joshy both with 4,5 /7.
In group B Romania got the 4th place thanks to the important wins over Spain and Bulgaria and already beat its best achievement (15 at the Olympiad in Skopie and 10 at the last WCC 2013).
Serbia also has very good achievements here. Though they missed two golden chances to qualify 4th for the final four against Russia and Germany. Their best achievement - the 4th place at the Olympiad in Skopie and 6th place in 2013 World team gives hopes that they will be favorites in their last match.


Explore the detailed results on http://chess-results.com/tnr364856.aspx?lan=24

Watch the games of the VIII IBCA World Team Chess Championship 2018 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb. 

Watch live the commentary studio of GM's Alexander Delchev at the VIII World Chess Championship for Visually Impaired People 2018.

 Interesting reviews and comentaries are offered from of our guests from ChessBase India.




2018-07-27

The VIII IBCA World Team Chess Championship 2018 - first part overview

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by GM Alexandar Delchev

 If you hear "Damme bella 1 und Leufer Gustav 5" you may think its a line in a story in some fairytale. Yes, it is a story, but a chess one. Its the 6th day of the World Team Chess Championship for Blind and Visually Impaired and the air is full of chess. The talk in the hall is allowed only with the special code for announcement of every move. The crossing point of all different people from 16 different countries collected here is chess and its a meeting of minds and intellects. The battles are spectacular and legendary. The air is full of tension as the end of the competition is coming nearer.
In Group B the most interesting was the race between the two superb teams - Poland and Ukrajne. In the first 5 rounds they both reached the full score of 10 match points. The leader of the Polish team - GM Tazbir and the board 3 IM Dukaczewski both led with 4/4. 
The Bulgarian team in group A made a pleasant surprise taking the third place with 6 mp.


The most unbelievable turnover happened in round 5 in the match Bulgaria - vs India. Scoring quick victory on board 4 and leading with a big figure advantage on board 2 and board 3 the Indian team was already feeling the win. Then all of a sudden - Soundarya and Aryan both made crusial blunders, so Rasim Nizam on board 1 made a draw and took the important victory for the Bulgarian team.
India and Slovenia are sharing 4th and 5th place with 4 mp.

In group A, after 4 rounds, the current Olympic and World team champion - Russia was leading with the impressive score 15,5 ot of 16 games.


The best players of the group A - Russia were on board 4 Evgeniy Suslov  4/4 and on board 2 Stanislav Babarykin 4.5 /5.


In round 5  was the most exiting match in this group Russia vs. Serbia. It started with a quick draw on board 4 in only 9 moves, followed by another draw on board 2. But on board 1 - Alexey Smirnov  in a very complicated position decided to sacrifice a piece for an attack which soon appeared to be incorrect. Yuri  Meshkov  was in big trouble dealing with the  awkward positions of his rooks. Only by a miracle Russia managed to save the day when Pavle Dimic with a piece up missed a  simple winning plan and Stefan Janic -greed  to a  draw in much better position.


The main pretenders for the second place in A group were Germany with 8 match points and Serbia with 6 mp, so 6th round was the decisive match.

5 match points for Turkey; 4 points for - Great Britain, Venezuela and Macedonia.



Explore the detailed results on http://chess-results.com/tnr364856.aspx?lan=24

Watch the games of the VIII IBCA World Team Chess Championship 2018 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb. 

Watch live the commentary studio of GM's Alexander Delchev at the VIII World Chess Championship for Visually Impaired People 2018.

 Interesting reviews and comentaries are offered from of our guests from ChessBase India.



2018-07-24

Satu Mare Open 2018

The international festival Satu Mare Open 2018 is held between 24 and 31 July 2018 is held in Romania.

Official site

Schedule: (UTC)
Round 1    2018/07/24    13.30
Round 2    2018/07/25    06.00
Round 3    2018/07/25    13.30
Round 4    2018/07/26    13.00
Round 5    2018/07/27    13.00
Round 6    2018/07/28    06.00
Round 7    2018/07/28    13.00
Round 8    2018/07/29    13.30
Round 9    2018/07/30    06.00

Watch the games of the Satu Mare Open 2018 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.


Condigne Dutch Open 2018

The Condigne Dutch Open is a 9-round Swiss open tournament taking place from 24 July – 2 August 2018 in Dieren, Netherlands. The first prize is €3,000. Players receive 90 minutes for 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game plus 30 seconds per move starting from move 1

Official site

Schedule: (UTC)
Round 1    Jul 24, 2018    11:00 
Round 2    Jul 25, 2018    11:00 
Round 3    Jul 26, 2018    11:00 
Round 4    Jul 27, 2018    11:00 
Round 5    Jul 28, 2018    11:00 
Round 6    Jul 30, 2018    11:00 
Round 7    Jul 31, 2018    11:00 
Round 8    Aug 1, 2018    11:00 
Round 9    Aug 2, 2018    10:00



Watch the games of the Condigne Dutch Open 2018 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.


2018-07-23

U.S. Junior Championships - Round 9 Recap



by Vanessa West

Awonder Liang and Carissa Yip entered the day only needing a draws to clinch their respective championships. Conversely, Advait Patel and Jennifer Yu, the only players within a point of the leaders, faced must-win games with everything on the line. 

Read the full recap >
U.S. Junior Championship

Awonder Liang gained a comfortable advantage from the opening against Akshat Chandra, which he used to gain a pawn and trade into an ending. The players agreed to a draw on move 30, giving Liang his second U.S. Junior Championship title in a row. 

In his post-game interview, Awonder said that after this event he’ll be taking some time to reflect on his play, “I think it’s part of every chess player, after every time you play, you improve yourself.”
Despite now being out of the running for 1st, Advait Patel continued to play for a win in a double-edged Sicilian Dragon against Ruifeng Li. He soon won, securing clear 2nd place. This is an incredible result for Advait Patel, who entered the tournament ranked in the lower half of the field and performed at a U.S. Chess rating of 2675, over 100 points above his rating entering the championship.
There was a three-way tie for 3rd between John Burke, Akshat Chandra, and Alex Bian. 

Bian won an attacking miniature against Praveen Balakrishnan. The players castled their kings to opposite sides, and the game quickly turned into a race to attack with Bian having a head start due to his half open g-file. After he broke through with 18. Rxg7+!, Bian quickly checkmated. 

Burke drew against Annie Wang. After a dynamic middlegame, the players agreed to a draw in an equal endgame. 

Andrew Tang won his second game in a row against Mika Brattain in an advantageous rook and bishop vs. rook and knight endgame.

U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship
Carissa Yip drew against Jennifer Yu as the first game to finish, sealing clear 1st. Although Yu attempted to create checkmate threats against Yip’s king, Yip defended calmly and traded queens into a slightly better ending. This gave the new U.S. Girls’ Junior Champion an impressive 7 point score and a 2481 U.S. Chess performance rating.
In Emily Nguyen vs. Nastassja Matus, Nguyen broke through on the queenside on the 33rd move and soon gained significant material. This victory ties Nguyen with Yu for 2nd place, each with 6 points out of 9. 

Maggie Feng played a back-and-forth battle against Thalia Cervantes. Feng eventually held the upper hand when she advanced her passed e-pawn up the board and then trapped Cervantes’s rook with her knight, gaining the exchange. 
Sophie Morris-Suzuki won yet another game. She stormed her pawns up the center against Sanjana Vittal. Her protected passed e-pawn significantly cramped Vittal’s position, and she won the endgame convincingly. Morris-Suzuki had a stunning second half of the tournament, scoring 3 points out of 4 rounds. 

In Martha Samadashvili vs. Rochelle Wu, both players had an edge at different points but didn’t quite convert. They drew in 82 moves.

Photos courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Austin Fuller. 


Saint Louis Chess Club  |  Building Champions

The Saint Louis Chess Club acknowledges Dr. Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield, whose generous support makes our tournaments possible.

The STLCC and WCHOF admit students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.
Copyright © 2018 Saint Louis Chess Campus, All rights reserved.

Watch the games of the U.S. Junior Championship and U.S. Girls Championship with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.

2018-07-22

It was a great start of the VIII IBCA World Team Chess Championship 2018

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   On July 21st 2018 started the 8th IBCA World Team Chess Championship for Blind and Visually Impaired people in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. The opening ceremony was in the hostile and chess styled atmosphere of the Efe hall of hotel Marinela in the capital of Bulgaria.  The organizers are the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA) and the Bulgarian Federation “Sports for Visually Impaired”.




The Chairman of the Bulgarian Sports Federation Sport for the Visually Impaired People, Ivan Yanev  greeted the guests and expressed his satisfaction with the fulfillment of the federation idea to host the World Team Chess Championship for Blind and Visually Impaired.


   
   This is the first world chess championship for people with visual disabilities in the history of Bulgarian sport and one of the biggest sport events for visually disabled people since 1983 when Bulgaria hosted the European athletics championship for visually impaired people. The efforts to provide resources and support for the organization of the large chess forum started in 2015. The federation got the cooperation of the Union of the Blind in Bulgaria, the Sofia Municipality and the Ministry of Youth and Sports.



Мany popular persons stand behind the championship`s organization - the minister of Bulgarian sports Krasen Kralev, the major of Sofia - Yordanka Fadakova, Angelina Angelova, PR director of Victoria group and administrative director of Marinela group as well as many world famous Bulgarian champions - Rumyana Neykova, Maria Grozdeva, Mirela Demireva, Teresa Marinova, Plamen Markov and Dinko Agelov, paraolympic medalist as well as many others gave their support to the event which is part of the calendar of  Sofia as an European capital of sports in 2018.

   Greeting speeches gave: Vasil Dolapchiev - the chairman of the Bulgarian union of the blind; the chairman of the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA) Charudatta, Jadhav from India; Kristiyan Vigenin the chair of the Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds. 
    The first moves in the tournament were made by Krasen Kralev, the Bulgarian minister of the youth and sports and IM Nizam Rasim.
    The promising visually impaired singers - Katrin Vitali and Virginiya Sabeva gave all the guests and participants the expected rest from the official part.
   In the championship take part the top 16 teams from the 15th IBCA Olympics, held in Macedonia in 2017. The teams come from 16 countries all over the world - Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Germany, Spain, Azerbaijan, India, Venezuela, Italy, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Macedonia, Slovenia,  Romania and Turkey. 2 groups consisting of 8 teams each contest in a 7 rounds league. Each team has 4 players.
 The media partner of the event ChessBomb is streaming the championship live and offers computer analyses of each move. A live streaming and a commentary studio is represented from the famous Bulgarian chess player and coach - Gm Alexander Delchev.


The rules in blind chess are same as those in normal chess. There are only a few modifications to the equipment aiding blind and visually impaired players. A special tactile boards and speaking chess clocks are used.


The squares on the tactile chessboard are a little raised above the white squares on the chessboard. By touching the squares, the player is able to determine whether the square is black or a white one. Each of the squares on the board has a hole in the center so that the chess pieces can be fixed in these holes with a downward projection (nail). It fits into the hole in the squares on the board. The black pieces are marked on their heads helping the player distinguish between a white and a piece.
After making every move, each player is required to announce their move to their opponent. Instead of writing the moves on a chess score sheet, the visually impaired player writes the moves in Braille or records the moves on a tape recorder. The online streaming on electronic chessboards is additionally assisted.
   On the first day 4 pairs of teams competed their chess strength -  Macedonia and Germany; Great Britain and Serbia; Bulgaria and Russia and Turkey and Venezuela.


   
   The pride and hope of the host team is the Bulgarian chess star Rasim Nizam. He is the first Bulgarian International Master of Sports with visual disability, holder of many Republican and Balkan chess titles. In 2015 he earned bronze medal at the World Team Chess Championship for Blind and Visually-Impaired in Seoul. In 2017 Nizam ranked 6th at the World Chess Championship for Disabled People in Dresden.





The results of group A after the first rounds in the first day of the competition.

  1. MACEDONIA (ACO: 1980 / TB1: 2 / TB2: 3.5) Captain: Nedev, Trajko
TableNameRtgFEDFideIDT.Parties
1Atanasov Sande1829MKD150015390.52.0
2Trkaljanov Vladimir2127MKD150004511.52.0
3Selkovski Zarko1900MKD150014900.52.0
4Kostadinovski Zoran1848MKD150023730.01.0
5Bajrami Zejno2044MKD150031321.01.0
  2. GREAT BRITAIN (Air: 1957 / TB1: 0 / TB2: 2.5) Captain: Armstrong, W
TableNameRtgFEDFideIDT.Parties
1CMRoss Chris N2214ENG4104111.52.0
2Hilton Stephen H1874SCO4150300.52.0
3Benson Paul J1928ENG4066780.52.0
4Armstrong William G1812ENG4137120.01.0
5Pennington Graham1701ENG4600010.01.0
  3. BULGARIA - 2 (Average: 1217 / TB1: 0 / TB2: 0.5) Captain: Patev, Petko
TableNameRtgFEDFideIDT.Parties
1Patev Petko1869FID29220610.02.0
2Atanassov Venko G.0BUL29389280.02.0
3Stoykov Stoyan0FID29239200.02.0
4Ganev Boyan P.0BUL29389100.52.0
  4. TURKEY (Caption: 1735 / TB1: 2 / TB2: 4) Captain: Yilmaz, Fatma
TableNameRtgFEDFideIDT.Parties
1Donmez Unal1871TUR63680771.02.0
2Deniz Ugur1820TUR63055981.02.0
3Solak Yusuf1627TUR63502321.02.0
4He gave Ibrahim1621TUR63521201.02.0
5Ev Emre1549TUR345013120.00.0
  5. VENEZUELA (Captain: 2029 / TB1: 0 / TB2: 1) Captain: Gamboa, Anibal
TableNameRtgFEDFideIDT.Parties
1IMGamboa Gonzalez Anibal2005VEN39001850.00.0
2Otero Munelo Harlen Jose2124VEN39020050.02.0
3Rivas Cabrera Edgar2041VEN39063290.52.0
4Abiad Parra Victor1945VEN39094680.02.0
5Munoz Gonzalez Aaron Adonai1687VEN39095570.52.0
  6. RUSSIA (AE: 2359 / TB1: 4 / TB2: 7,5) Captain: Meshkov, Yuri
TableNameRtgFEDFideIDT.Parties
1Smirnov Alexey2440RUS41684372.02.0
2FMBabarykin Stanislav2379RUS41018982.02.0
3IMMeshkov Yuri A.2322RUS41071010.00.0
4FMSuslov Evgeniy2294RUS241494112.02.0
5FMDraganov Ruslan2149RUS41087361.52.0
  7. SERBIA (Ar: 2202 / CB1: 4 / CB2: 7) Captain: Ivanovic, Nikola
MassNameRtgFEDFideIDT.Parties
1FMDimic Pavle2358SRB9374281.52.0
2CMJandric Damjan2197SRB9214751.52.0
3Janjic Stefan2125SRB9232652.02.0
4Markov Ziva2094SRB9182532.02.0
5FMAvram Sretko2126SRB9253140.00.0
  8. GERMANY (Cap: 2156 / TB1: 4 / TB2: 6) Captain: Bode, Wilfried
TableNameRtgFEDFideIDT.Parties
1IMMueller Oliver2291GER46333851.52.0
2CMEichstaedt Mirko2190GER246923101.02.0
3Adiyaman Rene2097GER129104141.01.0
4CMSchellmann Frank2046GER46699161.52.0
5Schulz Gert2005GER46223911.01.0

The results of group B after the first rounds in the first day of the competition.
 1. INDIA (Cap: 1799 / TB1: 2 / TB2: 4.5) Captain: Sagar Shah
MassNameRtgFEDFideIDT.Parties
1Gangolli Kishan1973IND50493501.02.0
2Soundarya Kumar Pradhan1808IND250518220.52.0
3Aryan B Joshi1623IND350559332.02.0
4Patra Subhendu Kumar1666IND466046340.00.0
5Makwana Ashvin K1749IND50819121.02.0
  2. ROMANIA (2001: TB1: 1 / TB2: 2.5) Captain: Pribeani Dacian
MassNameRtgFEDFideIDT.Parties
1AIMWidow Emil-Peter1940ROU12180690.02.0
2FMPribean Mihail-Dacian2141ROU12090941.52.0
3Marchidan Costica1805ROU12224810.01.0
4Dima Mihai1966ROU12173990.01.0
5Pirosca Alexandru1956ROU12111101.02.0
  3. SPAIN (HELP: 2150 / TB1: 3 / TB2: 5,5) Captain: Kogan, Artur
MassNameRtgFEDFideIDT.Parties
1Palacios Perez Manuel2196ESP22055051.52.0
2Clemente Llamero Roberto2140ESP22576961.02.0
3Fernandez Manrique Agustin2160ESP22310001.52.0
4Aguilar Sevilla Diego2102ESP22179451.01.0
5Draghici Flutur Gavril1989ESP12065080.51.0
  4. POLAND (Captain: 2309 / TB1: 4 / TB2: 8) Captain: Tazbir, M
MassNameRtgFEDFideIDT.Parties
1GMTazbir Marcin2525POL11224521.01.0
2Czajkowski Adam2232POL11519322.02.0
3IMDukaczewski Piotr2254POL11035202.02.0
4IMStachanczyk Jacek2223POL11166572.02.0
5Suder Ryszard2054POL11026991.01.0
  5. BULGARIA - I (1965 / TB1: 0 / TB2: 1) Captain: Razim, Nizam
MassNameRtgFEDFideIDT.Parties
1IMNizam Rasim2172FID29067081.02.0
2Todorov Aleksandar1945FID29018700.02.0
3Ivanov Ljubomir1796FID29037760.02.0
4Stoyanov Stojan Slavov1946FID29109180.02.0
  6. ITALY (Score: 1818 / TB1: 0 / TB2: 0.5) Captain: Gori, Andrea
MassNameRtgFEDFideIDT.Parties
1Vrioni Bersan1933ITA8053510.52.0
2Casadei Marco1881ITA8475420.02.0
3Gasperoni Claudio1789ITA8254500.02.0
4Murgia Stefano1667ITA8760110.02.0
5Laura Laura1515ITA28407700.00.0
  7. SLOVENIA (1972 / CB1: 2 / CB2: 4) Captain: Kasmac, Blaz
MassNameRtgFEDFideIDT.Parties
1Mlacnik Franc2035SLO146019231.02.0
2Matej was astonished1918SLO146043371.02.0
3Turicnik Vlado2001SLO146049301.52.0
4Muri Emil1836SLO146013540.51.0
5Ursic Aleksander1932SLO146056350.01.0
  8. UKRAINE (AE: 2276 / TB1: 4 / TB2: 6) Captain: Zsiltzova, L
MassNameRtgFEDFideIDT.Parties
1IMTuka Oleg2386UKR141144531.02.0
2CMGrigorchuk Sergey2292UKR141148792.02.0
3Kolpakov Vladyslav2121UKR141369960.01.0
4FMWassin Sergej2303UKR141034941.01.0
5Shepelev Igor2102UKR141149092.02.0
The championship arbiter's team is headed by Dr Radislav Atanasov, chess lecturer at the National Sports Academy. Among arbiters are the famous GM Emilia Djingirova and GM Rujka Geova. 
Explore the detailed results on http://chess-results.com/tnr364856.aspx?lan=24

Watch the games of the VIII IBCA World Team Chess Championship 2018 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb. 

Watch live the commentary studio of GM's Alexander Delchev at the VIII World Chess Championship for Visually Impaired People 2018.

 Interesting reviews and comentaries are offered from of our guests from ChessBase India - Round 1 commentary.