"Aeroflot" resumes chess "flights" in 2015

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Previous editions of Aeroflot Chess festival: 2012 | 2011 | 2010

Official website

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Photo: Official website

The International Chess Festival "Aeroflot Open 2015" will be held from March 27 to April 7, 2015, at the Cosmos hotel. During the festival, as before, there will be a Classic chess tournament in three groups - A, B, C, depending on the rating of the participants.

On April 6 there will be a Blitz Cup tournament.

The total prize fund is 140 thousand euros.

The tournament organisers are JSC "Aeroflot Russian Airlines", the Russian Chess Federation and the Association of Chess Federations.

The official announcement will be published on the website no later than RCF January 5, 2015. Registration for the tournament will take place by e-mail after the announcement.

Contact Information
E-mail: aeroflotchess@gmail.com

Phone: + 7-985-763-36-16 Fax: + 7-495-635-56-84.

Source: official website of Russian Chess Federation

After Qatar Masters 2014: interview with GM Mohamed Al-Medaihki

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Review games from Qatar Maters Open tournament 2014: Qatar 2014

Official website

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Award ceremony. Photo: Official website

After the prestigious tournament Qatar Masters 2014, the tournament director GM Mohamed Al-Modiahki gave an interview for ChessBomb.

Qatar Masters 2014 was one of the strongest tournaments of the year, with over 150 participants and average rating of 2515. We also heard wonderful things about the organisation, the venue, etc., and the players are very pleased. Are you pleased with the tournament yourself?

Yes, I am very pleased with the tournament, and we still receive many emails thanking the organisation team! And I am also very happy with the quality of the games and the performance of the players, we didn't face any problems during the tournament and everything went very smoothly, and as a director of the tournament I couldn't wish for more.

What are your most memorable moments from the tournament?

One of the most memorable moments for me was the success of the opening ceremony as it was very important to have a good start. And the second moment was the same day - when I saw Vladimir Kramnik attending the technical meeting, while half of the participants chose to leave to hotel after the ceremony. Vladimir not only showed his respect to the organisers but was also asking questions and taking part in discussing the tournament regulations.

The tournament had a surprise winner - after a very strong start by Giri, followed by Kramnik, we did not expect this course of events. What do you think about that?

Yu Yangi winning the tournament was a surprise for me, but he is young and talented and as all Chinese players he also works very hard. I had a feeling that Kramnik would win the tournament after he won his game against Giri, but the excitement was there and most important I hope that the fans enjoyed such moments in the tournament.

In the past year we saw many prestigious chess events held in Asia and in particular Arab countries - Qatar Masters, the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships, Women Grand Prix in Sharjah, etc. Do these events help popularise chess in the Arab world, and Qatar in particular? How popular is chess in Qatar in general?

Yes, we are witnessing more tournaments in the Middle East, especially in Qatar and U.A.E, and I want Qatar Masters Open to be a tradition, we will try to organise it for many years to come.
Chess is not very popular in Qatar yet, but we are trying to involve the young generation in learning chess. We also need to have the attention of the parents, that's why we may think about having some activities during Qatar Masters Open next year. I believe that combining the tournament with different events and entertainment will help to improve chess culture in Qatar.

Best wishes to GM Mohamed Al-Medaihki, all the organisers and participants, and many more chess successes in 2015! We are looking forward to next year's Qatar Masters Open!

4th International Chess Memorial of Krystyna Holuj-Radzikowska 2014

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Watch LIVE the 4th International Chess Memorial of Krystyna Holuj-Radzikowska 2014 with computer analysis: Holuj-Radzikowska Memorial 2014

Official website

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Watch LIVE 4th International Chess Memorial of Krystyna Holuj-Radzikowska 2014 with great LIVE commentary by GM Dimitrios Mastrovasilis!

KRYSTYNA HOŁUJ-RADZIKOWSKA

Krytyna_RadzikowskaKrystyna Hołuj-Radzikowska (5 February 1931, Lwów – 29 November 2006) was a Polish chess Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She was nine times Polish Champion (1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1966, and 1969). Krystyna tied for 15–16th at the Moscow 1955 Candidates Tournament which was won by Olga Rubtsova. She tied for 7–8th at the Ohrid 1971 Candidates Tournament won by Nana Alexandria.

She played for Poland five times in the Women’s Chess Olympiads:

• in 1957, at 1st board in the 1st WChOlympiad in Emmen (+9 −2 =0);
• in 1963, at 2nd board in the 2nd WChOlympiad in Split (+2 −4 =2);
• in 1966, at 1st board in the 3rd WChOlympiad in Oberhausen (+3 −6 =2);
• in 1969, at 1st board in the 4th WChOlympiad in Lublin (+3 −3 =4);
• in 1972, at 1st board in the 5th WChOlympiad in Skopje (+5 −1 =3).

Krystyna won two individual medals: gold (Emmen 1957) and bronze (Skopje 1972). She was awarded the Woman International Master (WIM) title in 1955 and the WGM title in 1984.
Source: en.wikipedia.org

Players

S.No. Fed. Title Name FIDE 1 POL WIM KULON, Klaudia 2332 2 ARM IM MKRTCHIAN, Lilit 2450 3 ESP IM VEGA GUTIERREZ, Sabrina 2405 4 POL GM SOCKO, Monika 2470 5 ESP IM MATNADZE, Ana 2411 6 POL WGM SZCZEPKOWSKA-HOROWSKA, Karina 2398 7 BLR IM ZIAZIULKINA, Nastassia 2427 8 POL WGM BARTEL, Marta 2366 9 POL WGM ZAWADZKA, Jolanta 2419 10 BUL WGM VIDENOVA, Iva 2379

Schedule

Round 1	10.12.2014	16:00
Round 2	11.12.2014	16:00
Round 3	12.12.2014	16:00
Round 4	13.12.2014	16:00
Round 5	14.12.2014	16:00
Round 6	15.12.2014	16:00
Round 7	16.12.2014	16:00
Round 8	17.12.2014	16:00
Round 9	18.12.2014	10:00

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World Youth Chess Olympiad 2014

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Watch LIVE the World Youth Chess Olympiad 2014: WYCO 2014

Official website

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With a wonderful opening ceremony, the World Youth Chess Olympiad 2014 U16 started on Friday, 12th December 2014.

38 countries from 5 continents entered the Olympiad - this is a record in this event's history!

Teams

No.		Team	Team	RtgAvg	Captain
1		IND	India	2451	Ramesh Ramachandran
2		GER	Germany	2429	Voekler Bernd
3		RUS	Russia	2425	Kobalia Mikhail
4		UKR	Ukraine	2402	Grabinsky Vladimir
5		HUN1	Hungary 1	2386	Csorsz Ferenc
6		IRI	Iran	2372	Sheykh Harandi
7		CAN1	Canada 1	2343	Szabo Gergely Andras
8		ROU	Romania	2320	Pavlov Mircea
9		GRE	Greece	2310	Vragoteris Antoniois
10		HUN2	Hungary 2	2307	Varga Peter
11		TUR	Turkey	2294	Gurevich Mikhail
12		SRB	Serbia	2273	Dekic Josip
13		POL1	Poland 1	2249	Tazbir Marcin
14		BLR	Belarus	2243	Bougrim Georgij
15		SLO	Slovenia	2239	Sebenik Matej
16		GEO	Georgia	2238	Khomeriki Giorgi
17		SVK1	Slovakia 1	2227	Rachela Jozef
18		CHN	China	2213	Zhang Mofen
19		CRO	Croatia	2212	Dizdar Goran
20		MDA	Moldova	2199	Svetushkin Dmitry
21		UZB	Uzbekistan	2196	Khayalayev Mamatkul
22		ISR	Israel	2194	Bitensky Igor
23		HUN3	Hungary 3	2186	Varga Peter
24		CZE	Czech Republic	2161	Berezjuk Sergej
25		DEN	Denmark	2157	Tavs Bjerre
26		POL2	Poland 2	2131	Pedzich Dominik
27		AUS	Australia	2112	Ftacnik Lubomir
28		BUL	Bulgaria	2101	Atanasov Radislav
29		AUT	Austria	2101	Schnider Gert
30		CAN2	Canada 2	2075	Plotkin Victor
31		HUN7	Transdanubium West 2	2071	Kiss Attila
32		SVK4	Slovakia West	2060	Rachela Jozef
33		CAN3	Canada 3	2054	Plotkin Victor
34		HUN6	Transdanubium West	2001	Istvandi Lajos
35		MGL	Mongolia	2000	Sharavdorj Dashzegve
36		FIN	Finland	1982	Tiitta Sauli
37		ISR2	Rehovot Chess School	1977	Mikhalevski Alexander
38		SVK3	Slovakia Middle	1974	Palecek Peter
39		SVK2	Slovakia East	1923	Zambor Norbert
40		HUN4	Hungary (Girls)	1914	Csorsz Ferenc
41		SRI	Sri Lanka	1904	Aviruppola Kumari
42		KGZ	Kyrgyzstan	1835	Kurvanbekov Sherinbek
43		HUN5	Györ (Hungary)	1802	Molnar Zsolt
44		IRQ	Iraq	1776	Al-Sahlanee Hayder
45		IRL	Ireland	1762	Higgins Paul
46		RSA1	South Africa 1	1758	Essop Hishaam
47		SCO	Scotland	1744	Mac Quinn Calum
48		RSA2	South Africa 2	1744	Conradie André
49		JOR	Jordan	1713	Ahmad Saadah
50		KOR1	South Korea 1	1701	Song Jinwoo
51		RSA3	South Africa (Girls)	1565	Oltman Kayla
52		KOR2	South Korea 2	1310	Lee Sanghoon
53		HKG	Hong Kong	1000	Chau Sau Ming

Schedule

Round	Date	Time
1	2014/12/13	14:00
2	2014/12/14	10:00
3	2014/12/14	16:30
4	2014/12/15	14:00
5	2014/12/16	14:00
6	2014/12/18	10:00
7	2014/12/18	16:30
8	2014/12/19	14:00
9	2014/12/20	14:00
10	2014/12/21	10:00

World Mind Games 2014

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Watch LIVE the World Mind Games 2014:
Rapid | Rapid Women | Blitz | Blitz Women | Basque | Basque Women

Official website | WMG 2014 at FIDE

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The prestigious SportAccord World Mind Games, starts on the 11th December 2014, a multi-sport event we all long waited for! In its 4th edition, taking place in the bustling capital of China, our Chess dedicated section is in for intense fights in the rapid, blitz and basque competitions.

In spite of the little time available on the clock and with the additional pressure of high prizes, top grandmasters like Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk or Humpy Koneru and Hou Yifan lined up to grab the coveted titles, while delivering a true feast for the local and worldwide public's eyes.

Players

MEN
Name	Title	Country	Rating	B-Year
Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2828	1983
Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2813	1982
Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2811	1969
Nepomniachtchi, Ian	g	RUS	2801	1990
Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2776	1987
Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2773	1979
Wang, Yue	g	CHN	2765	1987
Dominguez Perez, Leinier	g	CUB	2763	1983
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2739	1985
Ponomariov, Ruslan	g	UKR	2738	1983
Bacrot, Etienne	g	FRA	2731	1983
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2728	1990
Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2719	1968
Wang, Hao	g	CHN	2719	1989
Harikrishna, P.	g	IND	2701	1986
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	g	POL	2684	1987
WOMEN
Name	Title	Country	Rating	B-Year
Koneru, Humpy	g	IND	2611	1987
Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2600	1994
Stefanova, Antoaneta	g	BUL	2578	1979
Kosteniuk, Alexandra	g	RUS	2577	1984
Ju, Wenjun	g	CHN	2555	1991
Gunina, Valentina	g	RUS	2552	1989
Dzagnidze, Nana	g	GEO	2547	1987
Muzychuk, Anna	g	UKR	2546	1990
Kosintseva, Tatiana	g	RUS	2505	1986
Ushenina, Anna	g	UKR	2489	1985
Paehtz, Elisabeth	m	GER	2485	1985
Zhao, Xue	g	CHN	2485	1985
Muzychuk, Mariya	m	UKR	2445	1992
Cramling, Pia	g	SWE	2443	1963
Dronavalli, Harika	g	IND	2421	1991
Khotenashvili, Bella	g	GEO	2407	1988

Schedule

Rapid
Thur, 11 Dec, 14:00 - Rounds 1-4
Fri, 12 Dec, 14:00 - Rounds 5-7


Blitz
Sat, 13 Dec, 14:00 - Rounds 1-10
Sun, 14 Dec, 14:00 - Rounds 11-20
Mon, 15 Dec, 14:00 - Rounds 21-30


Basque
Tue, 16 Dec, 14:00 - Rounds 1-3
Wed, 17 Dec, 14:00 - Rounds 4-5

Happy birthday to Vishy Anand!

Happy birthday to the 5-times World Chess Champion

VISWANATHAN ANAND

who turns 45 today!

Photo by FIDE.

We wish him a long chess career and many more successes in the future!

Other World Chess Champions born in December

Emanuel Lasker (December 24, 1868 - January 11, 1941)

Photo: Wikipedia

Emanuel Lasker, PhD, was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years (from 1894 to 1921). In his prime Lasker was one of the most dominant champions, and he is still generally regarded as one of the strongest players ever.

His contemporaries used to say that Lasker used a "psychological" approach to the game, and even that he sometimes deliberately played inferior moves to confuse opponents. Recent analysis, however, indicates that he was ahead of his time and used a more flexible approach than his contemporaries, which mystified many of them. Lasker knew contemporary analyses of openings well but disagreed with many of them. He published chess magazines and five chess books, but later players and commentators found it difficult to draw lessons from his methods.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov (born December 5, 1979)
Photo: Wikipedia

Rustam Kasimdzhanov is an Uzbekistani chess Grandmaster, best known for winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004. He was born in Tashkent, in the former Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. He is an ethnic Uzbek.

In the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 in Tripoli, Libya, Kasimdzhanov unexpectedly made his way through to the final, winning mini-matches against Alejandro Ramírez, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, Vasily Ivanchuk, Zoltán Almási, Alexander Grischuk and Veselin Topalov to meet Michael Adams to play for the title and the right to face world number one Garry Kasparov in a match.

In the final six-game match of the Championship, both players won two games, making a tie-break of rapid games necessary. Kasimdzhanov won the first game with black, after having been in a difficult position. By drawing the second game he became the new FIDE champion.
Happy birthday and many more great chess achievements!

6th London Chess Classic: 6-14 Dec 2014

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Watch LIVE the 6th London Chess Classic 2014 with computer analysis:
Rapid | Elite Blitz | Elite Classic | Edouard vs. Jones

Official website

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Play a Superstar! Super Rapidplay Open (6-7 December 2014)

This year’s London Chess Classic offers a unique opportunity for a few amateur players to experience what it’s like to face a legend of the game in a genuine one-to-one tournament game.

Before the superstars cross swords with each other (10-14 December), the ‘Super Six’ are going to take part in the ten-round Super Rapidplay Open, over the weekend of 6-7 December, which is open to all to enter. The time limit is 25 minutes for all the moves, with ten-second increments. The first prize is £8,000.

6th London Chess Classic (6-14 December 2014): The Super Six

The 'Super Six' players who will compete in both the ten-round Super Rapidplay Open (6-7 December) and the five-round ‘Super Six’ classical chess tournament (10-14 December; rounds 1-3 start at 16.00 GMT, rounds 4-5 at 14.00 GMT)

There are many other events alongside the main tournament - check them out on the official website.

Elite players

Fabiano Caruana	Vishy Anand	Anish Giri
Hikaru Nakamura	Vladimir Kramnik	Mickey Adams

Schedule

Super Rapidplay

Rounds 1-5: Saturday, 6th December, 12.00 - 19.50
Rounds 6-10: Sunday, 7th December, 12.00 - 19.50

Elite Blitz

Monday, 8th December, 19.00 - 22.30

Elite Classic

Wednesday, 10th December, 16.00
Thursday, 11th December, 16.00
Friday, 12th December, 16.00
Saturday, 13th December, 14.00
Sunday, 14th December, 14.00

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