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Photo from Dmitry's account at a Russian
social network VKontakte.ru
GM Dmitry Andreikin, the reigning World Junior Chess Champion born in 1990, is rated 2687 and also known as one of the best blitz chess players in the world - the current Russian Blitz Champion & finalist of the 2011 World Blitz Chess Championship. On April, 30th he married WFM Svetlana Malchikova (now Andreikina).
Our congratulations to the lovely chess couple and best wishes for a happy married life together!
Goal: determine the challenger - a grandmaster who would face Viswanathan Anand in a World Chess Championship match in 2012 Venue and schedule: Russia, Kazan. May 3-27. Games start at 15 local time (7 a.m. EST) Rules: knock-out system. 4 classical games in the 1/4 and 1/2-finals, 6 classical games in the final. Tie-breaks: 4 rapid games, then up to 5 pairs of blitz games, then Armageddon Prizes: 30,000 for reaching 1/4; 60,000 for reaching 1/2; 90,000 for the finalists. Naturally, the winner of the event will be eligible for a World Championship match (expected pay-cheque of about 500,000 - 1,000,000)
Participants & pairings:
vs
Levon Aronian, Armenia, 2808 Alexander Grischuk, Russia, 2747
vs
Vladimir Kramnik, Russia, 2785 Teimour Radjabov, Azerbaijan, 2744
vs
Veselin Topalov, Bulgaria, 2775 Gata Kamsky, USA, 2732
vs
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Boris Gelfand, Israel, 2733
Azerbaijan, 2772
Semi-finals:
Aronian or Grischuk vs Kramnik or Radjabov
Topalov or Kamsky vs Mamedyarov or Gelfand
Who will become The One? Public opinion is quite predictable in this respect. Aronian (#3 in the world rankings), Kramnik (#4) and Topalov (#7) tend to be the leaders no matter where and how you run the poll.
Here are a few examples:
Chess.com: Aronian (38%), Kramnik (25%), Topalov (20%). Combined: 83%. Votes: 3909 Pogonina.com: Aronian, Kramnik, Topalov (the poll had Carlsen instead of Grischuk, so we had to disregard Magnus' result to obtain a more or less accurate prediction). Votes: 447 RussiaChess.org: Aronian (51.7%), Kramnik (27.5%), Topalov (9.1%). Combined: 88.3%. Votes: 298
Greatest losses: Navara and Wang Yue (-20), Nepomniatchi (-18), Bacrot (-13), Eljanov (-12), Movsesian (-11), Malakhov (-10)
Main trend: most top-10 players took part in Amber and haven't played any rated games
Anna Zatonskih won the US Women's Chess Championship and gained an amazing 38 rating points to appear in the women's 2500+ club for the first time in her life on the 18th place
The US Chess Championships took place in the Saint Louis Chess Club from April 13th to April 29th. Exciting commentary from GM Mourice Ashley and WGM Jennifer Shahade, as well as gorgeous daily press reports by FM Mike Klein made this tournament nice & easy to follow.
Anyway, here is a brief recap of what happened. Men were divided into two groups - A and B. Two players were to qualify for the semi-final from each section. Here are the results:
As you can see, Gata Kamsky and Yuri Shulman (group A) & Robert Hess and Samuel Shankland (who defeated Alexander Onischuk on tie-breaks) proceeded to the semis.
Semi-finals
Gata Kamsky - Samuel Shankland: 0.5-0.5, 1-0, 0.5-0.5
Yuri Shulman - Robert Hess: 0.5-0.5, 0.5-0.5, 1-0
In the finals Gata Kamsky won the first game and drew the second vs Yuri Shulman to keep the US Chess Championship title he earned last year. Young GM-elect Samuel Shankland went on to beat Robert Hess in the match for the bronze medal: 2-1. Congratulations!
Main prizes: Gata Kamsky: $40,000 for 1st + $2,000 for winning group A; Yuri Shulman: $30,000 for second; Samuel Shankland: $20,000 for bronze
Anna Zatonskih had a poor start and had to play a tie-break match with Sabina-Francesca Foisor to qualify for the semi-final. There she met her arch-rival Irina Krush. After an even score (1-1) in the main games, they had to play a tie-break to decide who will play in the finals. Anna prevailed: 2-1. Meanwhile, at another tie-break between Camilla Baginskaite and Abrahamyan Tatev, the latter dominated: 2-0.
The final was rather dramatic: 1-1 in the main time, then 1-1 in rapid, and only a draw with Black in Armageddon brought the 4th title in her career to Anna Zatonskih! Congratulations!
Main prizes: Anna Zatonskih - $18,000 for 1st; Tatev Abrahamyan - $12,000 for 2nd; Irina Krush - $9,500 for 3rd + $1000 for winning the round robin
If you like chess and/or Math and/or puzzles, here is a brain-teaser for you:
Imagine a 3X3 chess board with three White pawns on the first rank and three Black pawns on the last. White goes first. The player who can't make a move loses; the one who promotes a pawn wins. Who has a winning strategy in this game?
In this position Black played Qb4, a move that is sufficient for a win. However, there was an even stronger and more spectacular continuation. Can you find it?
