Rank	Old Rank	Name	Country	Title	Rating	Old Rating	Games
1	1	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	GM	2843	2843	0
2	2	Aronian, Levon	ARM	GM	2821 +5	2816	10
3	3	Kramnik, Vladimir	RUS	GM	2795 -2	2797	9
4	4	Radjabov, Teimour	AZE	GM	2792 +4	2788	9
5	5	Nakamura, Hikaru	USA	GM	2786 +3	2783	9
6	7	Karjakin, Sergey	RUS	GM	2780 +2	2778	10
7	6	Anand, Viswanathan	IND	GM	2780	2780	0
8	8	Caruana, Fabiano	ITA	GM	2772 -1	2773	9
9	9	Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR	GM	2771 +2	2769	10
10	10	Morozevich, Alexander	RUS	GM	2758	2758	0
11	14	Kamsky, Gata	USA	GM	2755 +9	2746	11
12	11	Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	GM	2752 -2	2754	11
13	12	Topalov, Veselin	BUL	GM	2751 -1	2752	10
14	23	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	GM	2748 +19	2729	10
15	15	Wang, Hao	CHN	GM	2748 +6	2742	10
16	13	Svidler, Peter	RUS	GM	2747	2747	0
17	17	Gashimov, Vugar	AZE	GM	2737	2737	0
18	16	Gelfand, Boris	ISR	GM	2736 -2	2738	8
19	22	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	GM	2735 +6	2729	10
20	24	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	CUB	GM	2734 +9	2725	10
21	18	Leko, Peter	HUN	GM	2734 -3	2737	10
22	32	Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	POL	GM	2733 +20	2713	13
23	25	Jakovenko, Dmitry	RUS	GM	2732 +8	2724	9
24	20	Giri, Anish	NED	GM	2730	2730	7
25	27	Volokitin, Andrei	UKR	GM	2724 +6	2718	9
26	57	Navara, David	CZE	GM	2722 +31	2691	14
27	26	Adams, Michael	ENG	GM	2720 -2	2722	10
28	21	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	RUS	GM	2720 -10	2730	5
29	30	Shirov, Alexei	LAT	GM	2718 +4	2714	10
30	28	Andreikin, Dmitry	RUS	GM	2718	2718	0
31	31	Bruzon Batista, Lazaro	CUB	GM	2717 +4	2713	21
32	44	Malakhov, Vladimir	RUS	GM	2713 +13	2700	14
33	34	McShane, Luke J	ENG	GM	2713	2713	0
34	37	Riazantsev, Alexander	RUS	GM	2712	2712	0
35	61	Cheparinov, Ivan	BUL	GM	2710 +21	2689	24
36	43	Areshchenko, Alexander	UKR	GM	2710 +8	2702	19
37	19	Jobava, Baadur	GEO	GM	2710 -24	2734	10
38	33	Almasi, Zoltan	HUN	GM	2707 -6	2713	10
39	49	Short, Nigel D	ENG	GM	2707 +9	2698	10
40	48	Polgar, Judit	HUN	GM	2705 +7	2698	10
41	50	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	FRA	GM	2705 +8	2697	10
42	39	Bacrot, Etienne	FRA	GM	2705	2705	0
43	40	Korobov, Anton	UKR	GM	2705	2705	0
44	36	Naiditsch, Arkadij	GER	GM	2704 -8	2712	10
45	42	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	RUS	GM	2704	2704	0
46	53	Le, Quang Liem	VIE	GM	2703 +10	2693	14
47	63	Akopian, Vladimir	ARM	GM	2703 +16	2687	10
48	52	Ding, Liren	CHN	GM	2702 +8	2694	14
49	29	Fressinet, Laurent	FRA	GM	2702 -12	2714	10
50	51	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	ESP	GM	2700 +3	2697	11
51	45	Moiseenko, Alexander	UKR	GM	2700 +1	2699	7

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Grandmaster Pavel Maletin
Highest FIDE rating: 2636, current - 2587

Editor’s note: GM Pavel Maletin kindly agreed to publish the analyses of his games at Pogonina.com. This way he is following Mikhail Botvinnik’s advice to masters – comment on your games in public and accept critique in order to improve. The author hopes that his notes will be interesting to you. Any chess feedback is welcome!

I would like to begin with a tournament that I have recently played in Vladivostok, Russia (one of the stages of the Russian Cup in classical chess - Pogonina.com). Overall, my play there was so-so. However, when I was going through some of the game fragments during the flight, strangely enough, I came to a conclusion that there are some things worth boasting about. For example, I have played a rather high-quality game with IM Semeniuk. It will be the subject of today’s article. By the way, one (especially me) rarely can’t beat a 2400+ by playing nearly exclusively first and second-line (in unforced situations) moves according to the engine. Maybe the Soviet chess school actually counts for something 

Click here to view the game analysis

A nice game, although not rich in content – after all, starting from a certain point all the moves were forced. Nevertheless, the tactical fight looks rather refreshing to me. Also, imho, I performed well after the opening. Overall, this is definitely the best game I have played in the tournament in terms of quality.

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Originally published at ChessBase

Women’s chess is relatively neglected as compared to men’s. If you ask a typical chess fan what the Women’s Grand Prix is and who qualifies for it, the answer will usually be silence.
 

As of now, the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix is a series of round robin tournaments with nice cash prizes and opportunities to increase one’s mastery by facing other strong grandmasters. One of the main goals of holding these events is to determine the Challenger, i.e., a female player who will face the winner of the Women’s World Cup for the Women’s World Chess Champion title. Therefore, in some sense the Grand Prix is the semi-final of the World Championship, because winning it entitles one to play the final match for the crown.
 

It is hard to follow the Women’s World Chess Championship Cycle, so here is a quick reminder:
 

1. The current champion is Hou Yifan from China. She has also secured the first place in the Women’s Grand Prix series.

2. The Women’s World Chess Championship will take place in November 2012 in Khanty-Mansyisk, Russia. If Hou Yifan defends her title there, she will play in 2013 a match against the lady (Challenger) who finishes second in the Women’s Grand Prix series. If Hou loses her title in November, she will challenge the new champion, because she has qualified for the match via the Grand Prix series.

Naturally, one would expect only the best of the best players to qualify for the Grand Prix circuit – on the basis of their career achievements and playing strength. However, let’s take a look at the list of the participants and indicate on what grounds the players have been invited:

 

Comments (5)

The Association of Chess Professionals has recently conducted a survey (composed of 4 questions) among Top 30 players in the world (as of 1 July 2012) about the time control in World Championships.

We have received 28 answers from:
 

Adams Michael, Anand Viswanathan, Aronian Levon, Bologan Viktor, Carlsen Magnus, Caruana Fabiano, Dominguez Perez Leinier, Fressinet Laurent, Gashimov Vugar, Gelfand Boris, Grischuk Alexander, Ivanchuk Vassily, Jakovenko Dmitry, Jobava Baadur, Kamsky Gata, Karjakin Sergey, Kramnik Vladimir, Leko Peter, Mamedyarov Shakhriyar, Nakamura Hikaru, Nepomniachtchi Ian, Ponomariov Ruslan, Radjabov Teimour, Riazantsev Alexander, Svidler Peter, Tomashevsky Evgeny, Wang Hao, Wojtaszek Radoslaw.

Question 1:

Which of the following 2 time controls should be used in final stages of World Championship Cycles?

a) 120'/40+60'/20+(15'/SD+30") - 120 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 60 minutes for 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes, with an increment of 30 seconds starting from move 61

b) (100'/40+50'/20+15'/SD)+30" - 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes, with an increment of 30 seconds starting from move 1

Results:
9 voted for A
17 voted for B
1 player equally liked both proposals
---

1 player was against both proposals

Question 2:

The following 2 rapid time controls are widely used. Which of them should be used in World Rapid Championships?

a) 15'+10" - 15 minutes for a game with 10 seconds increment
b) 25'+10" - 25 minutes for a game with 10 seconds increment

Results:
8 voted for A
19 voted for B

---

1 player was against both proposals

Question3:

The following 3 blitz time controls are widely used. Which of them should be used in World Blitz Championships? Please sort the possibilities from best to worst.
a) 5'
b) 3'+2"

c) 4'+2"

Results:
Answer A: 2 first places; 2,5 second places; 23,5 third places
Answer B: 16 first places; 9,5 second places; 2,5 third places
Answer C: 10 first places; 16 second places; 2 third places

Remark:

0,5 arises when a player doesn't give a preference between 2 possibilities.

Question 4:

The following 5 time controls are widely used for sudden death games. Please sort them from best to worst.

a) 5'-4' (white has 5 minutes, black has 4 minutes; white has to win)
b) 6'-5' (white has 6 minutes, black has 5 minutes; white has to win)

c) (4'-3')+1" (white has 4 minutes, black has 3 minutes, an increment of 1 second is added starting from move 1; white has to win)

d) (5'-4')+1" (white has 5 minutes, black has 4 minutes, an increment of 1 second is added starting from move 1; white has to win)

e) (5'/60-4'/60) + (0'/SD+3") (white has 5 minutes, black has 4 minutes, an increment of 3 seconds is added starting from move 61; white has to win)

Results:
Not all out of 28 players answered that question.

The opinions were widely spread, however it is still possible to take a conclusion, that the option 5'-4' (white has 5 minutes, black has 4 minutes; white has to win) was clearly preferable, whereas all other 4 options were at more or less the same level of support.

Recommendations:

Based on the obtained results the ACP recommends:

1) to change the official time control used in the World Championship match/tournament, Candidates matches, Grand Prix to:
(100'/40+50'/20+15'/SD)+30" - 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes, with an increment of 30 seconds starting from move 1

2) to use in the World Rapid Championship:
25'+10" - 25 minutes for a game with 10 seconds increment

3) to use in World Blitz Championship:
3'+2" - 3 minutes for a game with 2 seconds increment

4) to use 5'-4' (white has 5 minutes, black has 4 minutes; white has to win) for sudden death games

Acknowledgements:

The ACP would like to thank all the top players for taking part in the survey and for all additional comments that we have received.

Bartlomiej Macieja

ACP General Secretary



 

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In a good mood before the match

The Chinese team convincingly beat India 3.5-0.5. Another good time to remind you that Humpy Koneru wasn’t participating in the Olympiad.

 

Every day there was press conferences with players, coaches and other interesting people. This time all the three Polgar sisters reunited:

At the Istanbul Olympiad there was a video broadcast from the playing hall with audio commentary. Additionally, many websites used to have their own online commentary. We also had a very detailed live report on both the Open and Women’s sections each day with pics and game updates. Check out Pogonina.com if you are interested in re-living those moments.
 

We decided to spend the rest day before a critical match vs. China by visiting the downtown of Istanbul – Sultanakhmet square. Valentina Gunina preferred to stay at the hotel, but we were joined by the captain of the men’s team Yuri Dokhoian. To become more familiar with the place, we didn’t take a taxi and traveled by subway and tram.

On our way

We had a nice meal at a local restaurant and went sight-seeing:

Can you guess the average rating of the people on the picture? :)

Then we took a walk on the wharf and returned home by about 5 p.m. Time to prepare for our match with the Chinese ladies!

The rest day flew by quickly and entertainingly. We had a one match point advantage over China, so we weren’t in a must-win situation. At the previous Olympiad we barely won the match, but at the World Championship’11 the powerful Chinese girls crushed our team 4-0. Naturally, we were rather motivated to do well this time.

The confrontation went tough for us. Tatiana Kosintseva quickly lost an opening duel against Hou Yifan. I messed up the moves and got an unclear position instead of a better one. The game ended in a draw. Sasha Kosteniuk had a slightly worse endgame, but managed to hold. Nadya won a piece, but it was not so easy to convert it. Kudos to her for winning the game. The match ended in a tie: 2-2.

Sergey Rublevsky is cunningly looking at the Chinese players

The Chinese ladies are having a friendly chat

Poland defeated Serbia and caught up with us on match points. An interesting endgame occurred on board 4:

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