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By candidate master Peter Zhdanov, editor of Pogonina.com
In this special weekly column we will be looking at the most unexpected upsets that happened last week. Players usually face opponents of a comparable level. Considerably less frequent are situations when a significantly lower-rated player succeeds in beating a much stronger adversary.
If you have ever won a game against someone rated 300 points or above of yourself, please send it to us for publication. Any additional information (a photo, annotations, etc.) will be appreciated.
Russia and China won their matches against Turkey and USA respectively and are still leading the tournament. Prepare for an epic showdown between the Olympic (Russia) and World (China) champions tomorrow!
3.1
2
ROMANIA
2 - 2
10
INDIA
1
IM
Foisor Cristina Adela
2401
½ : ½
IM
Karavade Eesha Sanjay
2387
2
WGM
Bulmaga Irina
2354
1 : 0
IM
Mohota Nisha
2325
3
WGM
Cosma Elena Luminita
2336
½ : ½
WGM
Gomes Mary Ann
2387
4
WGM
Lami Alina
2353
0 : 1
WGM
Swaminathan Soumya
2283
3.2
3
KAZAKHSTAN
1½ - 2½
1
UKRAINE
1
WGM
Nakhbayeva Guliskhan
2344
0 : 1
GM
Lagno Kateryna
2547
2
WIM
Dauletova Gulmira
2265
½ : ½
GM
Ushenina Anna
2477
3
WIM
Davletbayeva Madina
2272
0 : 1
GM
Zhukova Natalia
2471
4
WIM
Abdumalik Zansaya
2187
1 : 0
IM
Yanovska-Gaponenko Inna
2421
3.3
4
TURKEY
0 - 4
9
RUSSIA
1
WGM
Yildiz Betul Cemre
2341
0 : 1
GM
Kosteniuk Alexandra
2495
2
WGM
Ozturk Kubra
2252
0 : 1
WGM
Pogonina Natalija
2475
3
WCM
Cemhan Kardelen
2025
0 : 1
IM
Galliamova Alisa
2459
4
WCM
Kaya Emel
1995
0 : 1
WGM
Girya Olga
2440
3.4
5
CHINA
3½ - ½
8
USA
1
WGM
Ju Wenjun
2505
1 : 0
IM
Zatonskih Anna
2474
2
WGM
Huang Qian
2476
½ : ½
IM
Krush Irina
2448
3
WGM
Tan Zhongyi
2471
1 : 0
WGM
Abrahamyan Tatev
2300
4
IM
Shen Yang
2415
1 : 0
WGM
Foisor Sabina
2323
3.5
6
FRANCE
½ - 3½
7
GEORGIA
1
IM
Millet Sophie
2401
0 : 1
GM
Dzagnidze Nana
2554
2
WGM
Maisurasze Nino
2330
0 : 1
IM
JavaKhishvilli Lela
2464
3
IM
Collas Silvia
2282
½ : ½
IM
Khurtsidze Nino
2437
4
WIM
Benmesbah Natacha
2266
0 : 1
IM
Melia Salome
2419
Standings after three rounds:
1-2. Russia, China - 6 MPs
3. Ukraine - 5
4. Georgia - 4
5-6. India, USA - 3
7. Romania - 2
8. Kazakhstan - 1
9-10. Turkey, France - 0
Winners of Reykjavik Open (left to right: Bassem Amin, Pavel Eljanov, Wesley So)
I know better than FIDE or anyone else when the position is a draw.
Attributed to Bobby Fischer
Chess players are usually severly criticized for making short draws, because it is widely regarded to be a sign of lack of fighting spirit and carelessness about keeping the public entertained. Unsurprisingly, the final game from the recent Reykjavik Open between Pavel Eljanov (White) and Wesley So (Black) has received a lot of negative sentiments. It lasted only three moves:
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 1/2-1/2
Many people have expressed their disappointment in this course of events. ECU President Silvio Danailov snapped at this opportunity to remind everyone about his favorite Sofia rules:
Both Pavel Eljanov and Wesley So have commented on the game on Facebook. Their posts have received a high number of "likes":
I do not understand what is wrong with taking a quick draw on the last round to secure a 2700 elo.... Havent I given the spectators 9 games of fighting chess already?
Pavel Eljanov was more verbose and posted the first of the following messages on Wesley's wall and the second - on his own:
1) Dear Wesley So, my sincere congrats to you with already official ELO 2701! It`s great that you became a hero in homeland! Please don`t pay attention to some cheap accusations of people who don`t respect our job and chess at all. We played 18(!) spectacular games for two and we don`t need to explain why game #19 was in 3 moves but not in 15 or something!
2) My final point about draw against Wesley So.
First of all I hope that`s clear for everyone that our game was not pre-arranged. Otherwise there could be much more moves and maybe some interesting stuff. I know a few simply brilliant pre-arranged draws between top grandmasters where no one from spectators even the thought that it was pre-arranged. In that case it might be a lot of praise to me and Wesley after such a finish but in fact from moral point of view it`s much worse. I`m totally sure that if in our game was 10 or 12 moves there would be no so enormous criticism. Probably we were wrong when he offered a draw and I accepted on move 3. We're not proud of it. But first of all I don`t see a big crime here anyway and nobody still didn`t prove me that 10-15 moves grandmaster draw any better in fact that 3 moves draw. Of course it looks more challenging to chess fans but this is more about emotions. I would like to point that other 18 games played by Wesley and myself was spectacular and two of them where awarded as the best in respective rounds: my game vs Cheparinov in round 5 and Wesley for the game vs Dziuba in round 9.
Now I would like to discuss the problem of short draws in general. Mr. Rogers writes that "short draws ruin tournaments" and "damage chess". I can`t fully agree with it. This is the same as to claim that diving ruin football tournaments. But somehow hundred millions of people still are fans of this sport. This is just the side of sport. Not the best one of course but our world is not ideal at all. In both case you can try to fight but you still never prevent it. In chess the problem is as follow: if two is happy with a draw so it will be a short draw in 90% of such a games. This is absolutely natural. This situation is not common in open tournaments but in qualification tournaments it`s very common. And it was just the case in our game in last round. I don`t know any active top player who never made such a short draw to secure some important achievement. I would like to bring some examples but first I would like to quote from the site chessvibes.com from the comment made by user Thomas Oliver:
"Even if it's bad for chess, the two players had done plenty of good things in the previous rounds. It's a bit like a football game where one or both teams tried hard for 80 minutes and not much happens in the last 10 minutes - because they are exhausted or because they don't want to run any more risks. Would a newspaper report focus on these last 10 minutes?
At least, all players should be treated equally under such circumstances. In the penultimate round of Wijk aan Zee 2011, Hikaru "always a fighter" Nakamura played a non-game against Kramnik (5.Re1 against the Berlin) to secure a quick draw. He was praised by a journalist fan (Mark Crowther) for "a very professional decision", and others blamed Kramnik for his opening choice. Nakamura had shown enough already in the tournament, but so have Eljanov and So in Reykjavik".
I sign under almost every word.
I remember from the same tournament but next year 2012 a 12 moves draw by threefold repetition in last round game Aronian vs Radjabov. Levon also played brilliant chess in previous 12 rounds and secured clear first after "sleepless night" as I remember he admitted.
I remember the game of my compatriot the great improviser Vassily Ivanchuk from Gibraltar this year who made a draw in Exchange Slav 14 moves draw vs Le Quang. There where even rules 30 moves without draw offer they violated. But organizers decided wisely not to punish players and reach a compromise - agreed with Vassily about interview and lecture. As far as I can see from reviews the chess fans where happy after all.
We are all humans and our forces are not unlimited.
After the tournament I talked about our draw with main organizer of Reykjavik Open Mr. Gunnar Bjornsson who is also the president of Icelandic chess federation. He told me that he didn`t mind, has no claims for me and Wesley and satisfied with our performances during the whole tournament. Also he has no plans to invent Sofia rules. I agree with him as in open tournaments (unlike closed tournaments where Sofia rules fit perfectly) I don`t see a big reason to do it as there is always plenty of games to watch and usually fight is tough as this is kind of natural selection as financial conditions not so sweet like in super-tournaments and prizes are not so high. So after all I think that all accusations that we have not fulfilled our obligations to the organizers are far-fetched. Now I want to give a full quote from an article of Mr. Rogers:
"One leading chess journalist was ropable after the Reykjavik finish and declared that neither So nor Eljanov should be invited back to the tournament or other top tournaments - if they held the organizers and their fans in such contempt. Appeals that Eljanov and So were really nice guys cut no ice players had to be taught that their actions which damage chess, even though perfectly legal, can have consequences."
I would like just look into the eyes of this Mister X who believes that we deserved that our careers have been destroyed after one of the best for both of us tournament ever. My personal opinion that it`s very much in the spirit of repression in 1930s of the twentieth century in USSR.
I`m grateful to Mr. Ralph Stoever from Montreal who found in database an interesting information that Mr. Rogers - a very strong grandmaster in the past made two 5 and 6 moves draws in 1983 (year I was born) and 1985 against D.Johansen and J.Speelman in last rounds both. I checked and found also more then a dozen of games of GM Rogers in 10 moves and less that of course ended in a draw.
I propose to respect the work of each other and to focus more on the positive things in the chess world and beyond.
What is your opinion? Are short draws ok, or should this field be regulated somehow (Sofia rules, etc.)?
Women's World Team Chess Championship-2013, Round 2
Written by Administrator
Monday, 04 March 2013
Russia and China are leading the championship after two rounds: 4/4 match points, 6.5/8 board points.
2.1
10
INDIA
2.5-1.5
6
FRANCE
1
IM
Karavade Eesha Sanjay
2387
0.5-0.5
IM
Millet Sophie
2401
2
IM
Mohota Nisha
2325
0.5-0.5
WGM
Maisurasze Nino
2330
3
WGM
Gomes Mary Ann
2387
0.5-0.5
WGM
Safranska Anda
2328
4
WGM
Swaminathan Soumya
2283
1-0
WIM
Benmesbah Natacha
2266
2.2
7
GEORGIA
1-3
5
CHINA
1
GM
Dzagnidze Nana
2554
0-1
WGM
Ju Wenjun
2505
2
IM
Khotenashvili Bela
2499
0-1
WGM
Huang Qian
2476
3
IM
JavaKhishvilli Lela
2464
0.5-0.5
WGM
Tan Zhongyi
2471
4
IM
Melia Salome
2419
0.5-0.5
WGM
Guo Qi
2435
2.3
8
USA
2.5-1.5
4
TURKEY
1
IM
Zatonskih Anna
2474
0.5-0.5
WGM
Yildiz Betul Cemre
2341
2
IM
Krush Irina
2448
0.5-0.5
WGM
Ozturk Kubra
2252
3
WGM
Abrahamyan Tatev
2300
0.5-0.5
WCM
Cemhan Kardelen
2025
4
WIM
Ni Viktorija
2263
1-0
WCM
Kaya Emel
1995
2.4
9
RUSSIA
3-1
3
KAZAKHSTAN
1
IM
Gunina Valentina
2505
0-1
WGM
Nakhbayeva Guliskhan
2344
2
GM
Kosteniuk Alexandra
2495
1-0
WGM
Saduakassova Dinara
2353
3
WGM
Pogonina Natalija
2475
1-0
WIM
Davletbayeva Madina
2272
4
WGM
Girya Olga
2440
1-0
WIM
Abdumalik Zansaya
2187
2.5
1
UKRAINE
2-2
2
ROMANIA
1
GM
Lagno Kateryna
2547
0.5-0.5
IM
Foisor Cristina Adela
2401
2
IM
Muzychuk Mariya
2479
0.5-0.5
WGM
Bulmaga Irina
2354
3
GM
Zhukova Natalia
2471
0.5-0.5
WGM
Cosma Elena Luminita
2336
4
IM
Yanovska-Gaponenko Inna
2421
0.5-0.5
WGM
Lami Alina
2353
Standings after two rounds:
1-2. Russia, China - 4 MPs
3-4. Ukraine, USA - 3
5-6. Georgia, India - 2
7-9. Kazakhstan, Turkey, Romania - 1
10. France - 0
Pogonina.com offers you a selection of some of the most informative chess tweets from last week. All the fresh chess news in one short post:
Congrats to Sanan Sjugirov! All eyes on the 10 women's teams An interesting interview with Alexander Grischuk
ChessPro: Alexander Grischuk: "For me chess is not about the money"
Fabiano Caruana won Zurich Classic, Anand came second, Kramnik and Gelfand shared last place In memoriam The debate between FIDE and ECU continues
Berik Balgabaev: @SilvioDanailov Silvio, if you have questions regarding that man, just call me instead of writing this rubbish, and I will explain everything to you. You will be embarassed.
March FIDE rating list And Tal used to watch football matches while analyzing, right? Public poll: name the best chess tournament of 2012 Eljanov, So and Amin shared first at Reykjavik Open
Have we missed some of the best tweets? You can contribute to our next top-10 stories chart by retweeting the post you like and adding @Pogonina to the message so that we can see it.
52 players in the world have FIDE ratings of 2700+ as of March 2013. Wesley So has entered the elite club for the first time in his life. Andrei Volokitin has improved his personal record from 2724 to 2725.
Nikita Vitiugov is back on form: he won Gibraltar Open and earned 18 rating points
Pavel Eljanov (pictured above), Wesley So and Amin Bassem were declared winners of Reykjavik Open. According to the official website, "Eljanov has the best Bucholz and therefore receives slightly more prize money."
1-3. Pavel Eljanov (2678), UKR, 8
1-3. Wesley So (2684), PHI, 8
1-3. Bassem Amin (2631), EGY, 8
4-11. Anish Giri (2722), NED, 7.5
4-11. Ivan Cheparinov (2709), BUL, 7.5
4-11. Wei Yi (2501), CHN, 7.5 - youngest GM-elect, 13 years 8 months
4-11. Marcin Dziuba (2602), POL, 7.5
4-11. Ding Liren (2709), CHN, 7.5
4-11. Yaacov Norowitz (2432), USA, 7.5
4-11. Gawain Jones (2637), ENG, 7.5
4-11. Ivan Sokolov (2644), NED, 7.5
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