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Bauer (2641) - Nepomniatchi (2730), 2011
White to move
How would you treat this position as White? Hint: do not be necessarily looking for a forced win (i.e. a +- engine evaluation), but consider practical chances.
Women's World Chess Championship-2011 to Start Tomorrow
Written by Administrator
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Venue: Tirana, Albania
Date: November 13-30
Format: match, 10 rounds & tie-break (if needed)
Prize fund: 200,000 (less than 8% of the upcoming Anand-Gelfand WCC match) Regulations
Meet the players:
Name: Hou Yifan
Name: Koneru Humpy
Age: 17
Age: 24
Federation: Chinese
Federation: Indian
FIDE rating (top rating): 2578 (2613), #3 among women
FIDE rating (top rating): 2600 (2623), #2 among women
Age of becoming GM: 14 years 6 months 2 days
(the best result in history among women)
Age of becoming GM: 15 years 1 month 27 days (second best in history among women)
Best Womens World Championship result: Champion (2010)
Best Womens World Championship result: Challenger (2011)
Forecasts
According to ChessGames.com's database, the historical score between Hou Yifan and Koneru Humpy is +8 -2 =6 in the Chinese player's favor.
A poll at Pogonina.com has produced the following results:
Natalia Pogonina's opinion: "A lot of exciting and fighting chess can be expected. However, both the historical results and the latest chess performances show that Hou Yifan will probably keep the crown. She seems to be stronger in terms of psychology and has more experience in playing for the supreme women's chess title".
Germany Wins European Team Chess Championship-2011
Written by Administrator
Sunday, 13 November 2011
The German team & its captains
Photo by Vladimir Barsky, russiachess.org
The Open section ended with a sensational result: the German team (10th seed) defeated Armenia in the final round and won the gold medal! Azerbaijan crushed Romania 3-1 to secure silver, while Hungary heroically wiped out Bulgaria 4-0 to barely clinch bronze from the Armenian players.
Right now I am taking part in the Russian Chess Teams (both men and women) training session for the European Team Championship. Generally speaking, such events last from 7 to 10 days and are held at a special boarding house. The idea is to change the environment and make sure nothing distracts you from studying chess. You can devote yourself to this process and have the entire day planned accordingly. As a result, you will probably increase your chess mastery, get rid of some of weak spots, prepare new lines, etc., depending on the goals of the session. When you are studying not alone, but with a partner, it is easier to find new ideas and learn together.
The most popular option is to travel to some suburban resort with your coach or friend. Staying at home is also an option, but you will need someone to help you with non-chess related activities to avoid distraction. It is also important to pay attention to fitness. Therefore, special well-equipped venues located far from the city are the perfect choice.
So, before starting a training session, you have to decide a) what the goal is going to be b) whom you want to train with c) where d) for how many days. It is important to have good working relationships with your partner. As to goals: it can be either studying a certain stage of the game (opening, middlegame, endgame), or it can be positional/tactical training. The optimal schedule will probably be mixed. Make sure in advance that the place you will be staying is comfortable enough and suits your needs. Find the right balance between too short or too long: training for over 2 weeks can be exhausting and too much of a luxury even for a pro, as we all have other matters to attend to. By training for just a couple of days you wont achieve much. I believe the optimal duration is about 7-10 days.
Lets say you have done all that and have arrived at the training camp. The second essential step to take is to create a schedule. By the way, this can also be done in advance, but sometimes it is easier to do it on the spot. There is no universal recipe, but some recommendations can be suggested: drilling tactics or solving chess studies; playing training games. Dont forget about sports. Chess players have to be fit and full of energy, so such sessions present a great opportunity for improving ones well-being. You can try swimming, jogging, working out at the gym, tennis, soccer, basketball and many other physical activities. Just make sure you do not hurt yourself.
Here is what a typical training schedule can look like:
1. Wake up in the morning; eat your breakfast; study. Start with chess tactics or solving studies to warm up.
2. Lunch; take a walk; rest for some time and then study again. Do some sports.
3. Eat dinner; study for the third time. Make sure you have some spare time before going to sleep to take a walk or take a rest from your work (socialize, watch a movie, etc.). Otherwise you will get burned out quickly and not be able to sleep well.
Therefore, chess training sessions offer a unique opportunity for a dedicated training up to 8 hours per day, or even more. Just try to make sure you are after quality (working productively), not quantity. My personal preference is to study chess theory in the morning/daytime, and spend the evening informally, e.g. playing blitz.
A good idea is to finish the training session a few days before the start of the tournament. Otherwise there is a chance of being too tired and bored with chess to play well.
Continuing to show you my games from the recent European Club Cup, I would like to share the annotations to my game vs IM Lilit Mkrtchian from the 6th round. It was a complicated and intense struggle.
In the middlegame a more or less equal position with good chances for Black occurred. However, I was playing rather unconfidently. Especially dubious was the move 15...g6. Later on my position became dangerous, but I correctly gave up a pawn to activate my pieces and traded into a rook endgame with good drawing chances. Nonetheless, I nearly lost it; more precision was called for.
Russia Wins the Women's European Team Chess Championship-2011
Written by Administrator
Friday, 11 November 2011
Yuri Dokhoyan (team captain), Natalia Pogonina, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Tatiana Kosintseva, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Valentina Gunina Photo by Vladimir Barsky, russiachess.org
The Russian women's team was out of competition at the ETCC: they won 8 matches and drew only one (against Poland). This is the third consecutive victory for Russia at the continental team chess championship.
In round 8 Azerbajian sensationally lost to Germany. Romania-Hungary was a tie. Armenia won convincingly against Netherland: 3-1, just like Bulgaria over Italy. Russia prevailed over France: 2.5-1.5.
With a round to go Armenia and Germany are leading at 13/16. Azerbaijan and Bulgaria have 12/16. Hungary, Romania and Russia - 11/16.
In the women's championship Russia defeated France 3-1. The same score occurred in Georgia-Bulgaria and Ukraine-Hungary. Poland and Armenia narrowly won their matches against Czech Republic and Serbia.
Unless some spectacular upset happens in the last round, Russia should take gold, as the team has 15 MPs out of 16. Poland is at 13/16, while Ukraine and Georgia have 12/16. Surprisingly enough, the standings in the women's section are much more predictable than in the men's.
In round 7 Azerbaijan demolished Bulgaria 3.5-0.5. Germany, Armenia and Netherlands prevailed over Romania, France and Greece correspondingly with a minimal advantage - 2.5:1.5. Hungary defeated Slovenia 3-1. So did Russia vs Spain. The shock of the day was mighty Ukraine's loss to the modest national team of Switzerland, when 2400+-rated players overcame top grandmasters: 3-1.
After 7 rounds Azerbaijan is in clear lead with 12 MPs out of 14. Armenia and Germany have 11. Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Netherlands - 10.
In the women's section Russia won a critical match against Armenia - kudos to Natalia Pogonina, who was the only one to win her game. Ukraine succumbed to Poland. Georgia defeated Slovenia 3.5-0.5, and France scored 3 points against Serbia. Bulgaria came on top of Germany with a minimal advantage.
After 7 rounds Russia is in clear lead with 13 MPs out of 14. Poland is in second place with 11 points. Ukraine, Georgia and France are at 10/14.
In round 6 France drew Bulgaria on board 1. Romania and Armenia achieved 2.5-1.5 victories against Greece and Spain correspondingly. Russia failed to recover from the previous upsets and lost to Azerbaijan, thus basically falling out of contention for the medals. Germany dominated Italy 3-1.
After 6 rounds three teams are leading with 10 match poins out of 12: Romania, Azerbaijan and Bulgaria.
In the women's section Russia's winning streak (11 matches during the Olympiad + 5 at the ETCC) came to an end. Poland managed to draw the leader of the tournament. Other top matches ended with a minimal advantage for one of the sides, i.e. 2.5-1.5. Ukraine defeated Georgia, Czech Republic succubmed to France, Slovenia came on top of Hungary, Serbia prevailed over the Netherlands.
The competition for the medals became more intense. Russia is still in the lead with 11 MPs out of 12. Ukraine has 10 and Poland - 9.
The result of the France-Azerbaijan duel was, unfortunately, decided by Vugar Gashimov's health problems during the match associated with a high blood pressure. The team captains agreed to a draw - good sportsmanship! Bulgaria (#7) dominated Germany (#10); Greece (#19) overcame Spain (#13) and Romania (#17) defeated Netherlands (#9). The clash of the titans between Russia and Ukraine ended in the rating favorite's favor, thus leaving the 2nd seed of the tournament basically out of contention for the medals.
After 5 rounds Bulgaria is leading with 9/10; Romania, Azerbaijan, France and Greece are in pursuit at 8/10.
In the women's section Russia is continuing its brilliant winning streak. The match against Georgia (#3) was rather dramatic: Dzagnidze defeated Kosintseva N, then Kosteniuk stroke back vs Paikidze. Kosintseva T drew Javakhishvili, and Pogonina managed to clinch the decisive point vs Melia for Team Russia! Ukraine and Poland also won their matches, while Armenia (#4) lost another match point by tying with Slovenia (#11). Likewise, Hungary (#6) was held to a draw by Serbia (#14).
After 5 rounds Russia is leading with 10/10. Poland, Ukraine and Georgia are 2 match points behind (8/10).
