Canadian Chess Newsfeed

Carlsen v Nakamura: Fischer Random Match

February 9-13, 2018

World Champion Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura play a 16-game match at rapid and blitz time controls at Fischer Random/Chess960. For the first three days, 2 games per day at 40 moves/ 45 min + G/15 (no increment). Final day: 8 games at 10 min + 5 sec per game. The match will be in an Art Center outside Oslo, Norway. Total prize fund: just under $200,000 US.

Carlsen would normally be the prohibitive favourite in any match, but Nakamura actually has a winning record against him in their Fischer Random games.

Chess 960/Fischer Random is a form of "shuffle" chess where the pieces start on one of 960 semi-random configurations on the back rows. The arrangement is not completely random since: 1) the two Bishops always start on opposite colours; 2) the King always starts somewhere between the two Rooks; 3) Black's pieces are a mirror image to White's. All rules of chess are the same as regular chess. It is known as "Fischer Random" because it is a form of chess promoted by Bobby Fischer in the 1990's, when he believed "old" chess had become too much a matter of memorized opening preparation.

Homepage
http://www.frchess.com/

Live Video (commentary by Yasser Seirawan and Anna Rudolph)
https://www.chess.com/tv

Chess 960/Fischer Random
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess960

Stockfish 9

The latest version of the world's strongest chess engine -- open source, multi-platform, freeware! -- was released at the beginning of the month. Stockfish 9 can be downloaded from the developers' site:

https://stockfishchess.org/download/

Stockfish is in continual development, with new releases almost daily. Fanatics can get these "development builds" here:

http://abrok.eu/stockfish/

2018 Saint Louis Norm Congress

February 8-13, 2018

Two 10-player RRs, in groups designed to enable GM and IM Norms, at the Saint Louis Chess Club. Canadian WGM Qiyu Zhou is playing in the IM group. She lost her first game to the top seed IM Sergei Matsenko (RUS, 2557). Games start at 11am and 5pm Central (noon and 6pm EST) and can be followed live online.

Homepage
https://www.uschesschamps.com/2018-saint-louis-norm-congress/overview

Category:

Our Canadian Game of the Week comes from the final round of the Canadian University Chess Championship, between Ottawa U's Zach Dukic and Waterloo's Joey Qin. The game is a very complicated Bg5 Najdorf, where White follows a line in the well-regarded repertoire books by Indian GM Parimarjan Negi, and gets an excellent attack...

To add drama off the board:

a win by White could have knocked Waterloo out of first overall.
Joey Qin was playing in his first event in a year -- his first since he had the best TPR in the previous CUCC!
Zach Dukic was both Ottawa board 2, and the lead organizer of the event.

The Canadian University Chess Championship took place at the University of Ottawa, January 12-14, 2018. It had the highest-ever turnout with 109 players. Congratulations and thanks to organizer Zach Dukic.

Waterloo A, with the highest-ever average rating (2400), won. Congratulations to IM Michael Song, Joey Qin, Diwen Shi, Tony Lin, and Yinshi Li.

McGill A and U of T A tied for second, with McGill taking the medals thanks to a blitz tie-break win by Maroun Tomb.

Western B won the B group.

Links

Crosstable
http://chess.ca/crosstable?tournament_check_number=201801042

photos (on Chess Canada facebook page)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1563855673699697.1073741864.731717656913507&type=1&l=bc6a356dc0

photo above: U of O vs Waterloo. L2R: Mihnea Voloaca, Zach Dukic, Joey Qin, IM Michael Song.

() - ()

Round: Result:

[Event "CUCC"]
[Site "UofO"]
[Date "2018.01.14"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Dukic, Zach"]
[Black "Qin, Joey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B99"]
[WhiteElo "2222"]
[BlackElo "2502"]
[Annotator "John Upper"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2018.01.??"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7.
f4 Be7 8. Qf3 Qc7 9. O-O-O Nbd7 10. f5 $5 {The sixth most popular move in
this position -- WAY behind 10.g4 -- but recommended as a good alternative to
10.g4 in Negi's very well-received "GM Repertoire 1.e4 vs The Sicilian" vol.1,
(Quality Chess, 2015).} Ne5 (10... h6 {hoping to transpose into 8...h6 lines,
but here White has} 11. fxe6 $1 {with initiative - see Negi.}) (10... e5 11.
Nde2 b5 12. Bxf6 $1 Nxf6 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 {Here is what Negi says: "A
very interesting strategic situation. The computer assesses it as comfortable
for Black, with an evaluation veering towards the dreaded "=/+", but that is
incomprehensible to me. Black's king lacks a safe haven, and he has virtually
no counterplay on the queenside; or at least it will be extremely slow to
materialize. If he ever opts for kingside castling, as the computer so
cheerfully does in many lines, White will just plonk his bishop on e4 to
secure the d5- and c2-pawns, then put his knight on h5 before starting a
terrifying kingside pawn assault. Even in the centre, the black king cannot
feel too comfortable, since White can either advance on the kingside in the
same way, or perhaps even play Kb1 followed by opening the c-file."...
followed by nearly a page of variations and explanations. This is the sort of
analysis which has made Negi's book so popular: a strong GM takes issue with a
computer eval and explains clearly why he trusts his judgment.}) 11. Qh3 Nfg4
12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Qg3 O-O 14. Qf4 ({Negi continues:} 14. Be2 Nf6 15. Qf4 $1 {
protecting e4 and preparing g4-g5.} b5 16. a3 $146 {"Holding up the queenside
play, and forcing Black to come up with a good counter to the g4-g5 plan." -
Negi.}) 14... Nf6 {Voluntarily retreating the Ng4 means White doesn't have to
spend a tempo on Bf1-e2.} (14... b5 $5) 15. Rg1 $1 b5 16. g4 b4 17. Nce2
$1 (17. Na4 $2 Qc7 $1 (17... Bd7 $2 18. Nb6 Rab8 19. Nxd7 Nfxd7 20. g5 {
and f5-f6 lands first.}) 18. g5 d5 $1 {the threat to win the Q with ...Nd3+
gives Black time to save the Nf6 with ...Nxe4.} 19. Kb1 {Only move.} Nxe4 20. Nf3 (20. f6
Bd7 $15) 20... Bd7 $1 {the tempo on the Na5, as well as play against c2 gives
Black enough time to save the pinned Ne5.}) 17... Bb7 18. Ng3 Rfc8 19. g5
Ne8 $2 (19... Nfd7 20. Kb1 Kh8 21. Bh3 Nc5 {defending e6 shows one advantage
of keeping the N more centralized.}) 20. Bh3 $5 {Keeps the advantage, but not
the best. Both h4 and Kb1 are better.} (20. Kb1 Nc4 {threatening ...e5} 21. Qf2
(21. f6 Qc7) 21... Kh8 (21... e5 22. f6 $18) 22. Bxc4 Rxc4 23. fxe6 fxe6 24.
Rd3 $1 $18 {and tripling on the f-file.}) 20... Nc7 $6 (20... exf5 $5 {removes
the pressure on e6, but concedes d5 and leaves the Bh3 hitting c8, the base of
Black's counterplay.} 21. Ngxf5 (21. exf5 f6 $1) 21... Qc7 22. Ne3 (22. Rdf1 $4
Nd3+ $19) 22... Ng6 23. Qf3 {keeps the e-pawn} (23. Qg3 $5 Rd8 24. Rgf1 Bxe4
25. Rxf7 $3 $18) 23... Ne5 24. Qg2 $16 {Black has the e5 square for a N, but
White has two good squares for both his Ns, and the Bh3 will make c-file
play expensive or time-consuming for Black.}) 21. Nh5 (21. f6 $1 $18 Ng6 22.
Qe3 gxf6 23. gxf6 Qxf6 $2 {helps White, and allows some pretty finishes; for
instance:} 24. Nh5 $1 Qe5 25. Rg5 Nd5 26. Qd2 Qxe4 27. Rxd5 $1 Qh4 28. Qh6 $18)
21... Qf8 $2 (21... Nb5 $1 {and White's best is a standard combo, with a
very-hard-to-see finish:} 22. Nf6+ $1 (22. fxe6 $6 Nxd4 23. exf7+ Kh8 24. Rxd4
(24. Bxc8 $4 Ne2+ $19) 24... Rf8 $14) 22... Kh8 23. Qh4 h6 {Only move.} (23... gxf6 24.
gxf6 Qf8 25. Rg7 $18) 24. gxh6 gxf6 {and it looks like Black is safe,
but now} 25. h7 $3 {and there's no good defence to Rg8+, which opens both the
h- and g-files for White's majors.}) 22. Qh4 $1 Kh8 {Critical
Position White has a colossal attack, but has to find the right move, and
clichees are not sufficient to find it.   If you do the analysis you'll know
which cliche applies: a) invite everyone to the party (with Rdf1); b) strike
while the iron is hot (with f6); c) make him an offer he can't refuse (with g6
or Nf6).} 23. Rdf1 $4 {This looks like it builds the pressure past bearable
levels, and soon any move will win, but it actually gives away all of White's
attack.} (23. Nxg7 $4 {is an offer Black is happy to accept,} Qxg7 $17 {
and now what...?}) (23. f6 $2 g6 $1 {and White's attack stalls until he can
open the h-file.}) ({Instead, White has two thematic and brutal ways to win:
g6 and Nf6:} 23. g6 $1 fxg6 24. fxg6 h6 25. Rdf1 Qg8 26. Rf7 Nxf7 27. gxf7 Qxf7
28. Nxg7 $18 {material will be nominally equal, but White is attacking with
all his pieces while Black's RRBN are cowering in the queenside corner.}) (23.
Nf6 $1 gxf6 24. gxf6 {Threatening Rg7.} Ne8 (24... Ng6 25. Rxg6 $1 fxg6 26.
fxg6 $18) 25. fxe6 {threatening e7, trapping the Q.} fxe6 26. Nxe6 (26. Rdf1 $1
{wins.}) 26... Qxf6 27. Ng5 {White can keep brining pieces into the attack
with Rdf1 and Bf5.}) 23... Nb5 {Only move.} 24. Ne2 Rc4 $1 25. Rf4 $2 (25. g6 {Only move.}
Bxe4 (25... Rxe4 $2 26. Nef4 fxg6 27. Rxg6 $3 Nxg6 (27... hxg6 $2 28. Nf6#) 28.
Nxg6+ hxg6 29. Nf4+ {Only move.} Kg8 30. fxg6 $18) 26. Nhg3 (26. Nf6 Rxc2+ 27. Kd1 h6 28.
Nxe4 Rxb2 $13) 26... fxg6 27. fxg6 Bxg6 28. Rxf8+ Rxf8 29. Qe7 {the only safe
square!} Re8 $1 (29... Rxc2+ $2 30. Kd1 Rfc8 31. Rf1 $18) 30. Rf1 $1 (30. Qb7
Rxc2+ $19) 30... Rcc8 $1 $13 {materially, Black has only Rpp for the Q, but
the attack on the Q and on c2 leaves White no good way to keep the material.} (
30... h6 $4 31. Rf8+ Rxf8 32. Qxf8+ Kh7 33. Bxe6 $18)) 25... Nd3+ (25... Rac8
$1 26. Kb1 Rxe4 $3 27. Rxe4 $2 Nf3 $19 {destroys White's center while the Ne5
wins the exchange on g1 instead.}) 26. Kb1 Nxf4 27. Nexf4 (27. Nhxf4 {
Looks crushing, since it threatens 28.g6 h6 29.f6!, which would be crushing.
But Black has the absurd-looking...} g6 $3 {(Not only stopping White from
playing to g6, but...)} 28. fxg6 (28. Ng3 Qg7 29. fxg6 (29. f6 Qg8 {White's
attack is finished and Black can go back to attacking c2 and e4.}) 29... fxg6
30. Bxe6 Rxc2 31. Kxc2 Nd4+ 32. Kb1 Nf3 {forking the Q and R.}) 28... Qg7 $19 {
bringing the Q to the long diagonal defends h7 and attacks b2.} 29. gxf7 (29.
Qxh7+ Qxh7 30. gxh7 Bxe4 {Black is up an exchange with the attack.}) 29... Bxe4
{and Black's counterattack wins!} 30. Rc1 (30. Nd3 $2 Bxd3 {with discovery on
Qh4.}) 30... Na3+ $1 31. bxa3 bxa3 {and White gets mated.}) 27... Bxe4 28. Nf6
gxf6 29. gxf6 Bxc2+ 30. Ka1 {Threatening Rg7+-.} Be4 {Exposing the attack
on c1 keeps White's R busy guarding the back rank.} (30... Bxf5 {is fine too:}
31. Bxf5 exf5 32. Qg5 (32. Rg7 $2 Rc1#) (32. Ng6+ fxg6 33. Qxc4 Qxf6 $19 {
is hopeless.}) 32... Rac8 33. Nh5 Rg4 $1 $19) 31. Nh5 Qh6 $1 {Hitting c1 and
pinning the N and keeping an eye on g7. White has no useful moves.} 0-1

Category:

Tournaments

2018 Candidates Tournament

8-player double RR to determine the Challenger for Magnus Carlsen in the next World Championship match runs March 10-28, 2018 in Berlin.

Name	Country	FIDE	Rank
Shahkriyar Mamedyarov	Azerbaijan	2809	2
Vladimir Kramnik	Russia	2800	3
Wesley So	USA	2799	4
Levon Aronian	Armenia	2794	5
Fabiano Caruana	USA	2784	7
Ding Liren	China	2769	11
Alexander Grischuk	Russia	2767	12
Sergey Karjakin	Russia	2763	13

Tie-break is most wins (a.k.a.: most losses).

Pairing note: the three Russians are scheduled to play each other in the first three rounds, as are the two Americans, thus reducing the opportunity for a "friendly loss" to a countryman in the last rounds.

Live Games (Rounds start at 3pm local, 9am EST. Schedule is: 1 game per day, 3 days on, one day off. )

ChessBrahs free twich channel features GM Eric Hansen& guests, including Yasser Seirawan on day 1.
https://www.twitch.tv/chessbrah

Chess24 has free live commentary in English by GM Jan Gustafsson & IM Sopiko Guramishvili, as well as Spanish and German commentary by other titled players.
https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/fide-berlin-candidates-2018/1/1/1

ChessBase has live commentary for PlayChess members, as well as computer annotated live games for everyone:
https://live.chessbase.com/watch/world-chess-candidates-2018/

Homepage
If you want to see live video of the players (including any post-mortem interviews), your only choice is the event homepage, which offers PPV video, and live games with commentary by GM Judit Polgar. It is not a good sign that less than one day before the first round their site's links to "pairings" and "news" do not work. OTOH, during the 2016 World Championship match they made part of their round 1 coverage free, and they have said they will make the first three rounds available free to everyone, You can find it here: https://worldchess.com/berlin/

For the first three rounds, alternate video options will be available on the World Chess facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/theworldchess/

Even more on the Candidates...

Free Candidates issue of NiC

New in Chess has a free 46 page PDF preview of the Candidates, featuring articles by Timman and Giri, and one game played and annotated by each of the Candidates. A nice freebie and a good introduction to the style and content of the world's best chess magazine. You can download the PDF here.

MVL on the Candidates

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave nearly qualified for the Candidates, and many think his recent results were more deserving of the wild-card entry than Kramnik's. He gives his thoughts on each of the players on his site: http://www.mvlchess.com/en/2018/03/08/candidates-2018/

Category:

The McGill Rapid is back in 2018 for its second edition ! It will be held on Saturday May 5 in a new, calmer and more appropriate venue at the McGill New Residence Hall. Venue: New Residence Hall, 3625 Park. 10 min from metro Place-des-Arts, buses : 80,129,144.Format : 5-round two sections Swiss tournament. Please bring your own clocks. Time Control : 25 minutes to mate, plus 5 seconds per move. This tournament is partially sponsored by the Student Society of McGill University (SSMU). Horaire:On-site registration : 9-9:30 AM. 5$ on-site fee.

Round 1	10:00
Round 2	11:20
Round 3	13:00
Round 4	14:20
Round 5	15:40

Prize Fund : 1200$ !

Prizes are based on 80 registrations (83 players last year). $15 per registration are guaranteed to go towards the prize fund. This would represent a 200$ increase compared to last year for the same participation. If the participation is higher than last year, the prize pool will be increased in consequence. Championship section : $700

Registration: $35
U18 and McGill students/employees : 25$
Masters: 20$
FIDE masters + : Free before April 1st.

Section B (-1800) : 500$

Registration : 30$
U18 and McGill students/employees : 20$

How to register:

-By cheque: address to "McGill Chess Club" 4545 Pierre-de-Coubertin Montréal, QC H1V 0B2 - Cash, in person Trottier Building at McGill, 3630 University, first floor cafeteria on Thursdays between 5:30 and 7:30 (club meetings), or on week days by appointment. - E-Transfer Interac e-transfer mcgill.chess@gmail.com with your payment. Set password to mcgillopen2018 Fees in the dropdown menu below. - Online on this page. Please note that a charge of $1.50 is applicable for online payment to contribute to the Paypal charges (we also contribute).

A CFC or FQE membership is required. You can obtain a tournament passport on site for $10.

Refunds are possible until May 4. $10 in administrative fees will be applied.

More information:

Roman Sarrazin Gendron roman.sarrazingendron@mail.mcgill.ca

Category:

Tournaments

Our Canadian Tactic comes from IM Shiyam Thavandiran's round 4 game at the 2018 Reykjavik Open. In the diagram, Shiyam is threatening Qxg7#; what happens after 18...g6 19.Rae1 ...?

Solution, and complete game with notes below.

2018 Reykjavik Open

The 2018 Reykjavik Open ran March 6-14, 2018. It was won by Indian GM Baskaran Adhiban with 7.5/9, 1/2 a point ahead of Maxime Lagarde (FRA) and Mustafa Yilmaz (EGY).

Still one of the strongest open events in the world, Reykjavik was noticeably weaker this year, with only two 2700+ players and only 12 2600+ entered -- by comparison, Gibraltar had 35 players over 2600 and 12 over 2700, including three of the world's top 10: Aronian, MVL and Nakamura.

To mark the 75th anniversary of Bobby Fischer's birth, a Fischer Random event was held on March 9th. Three GMs from the US federaion took top spots: Alex Lenderman won, ahead of Elshan Moradiabadi (on TB) and Josh Friedel (1/2 a point back). Elshan was born in Iran, but has been studying in Texas for years and recently changed federations.

Six Canadians played in the Open. None scored Norms, but 5 of the 6 outperformed their ratings, and collectively they brought back 208 FIDE rating points.

Start		Name	FIDE	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Pts.	Rk.	TPR	rtg+/-
42	IM	Thavandiran Shiyam	2399	1	0	1	1	0	1	½	1	½	6	27	2461	17.8
51	IM	Cummings David H.	2322	1	½	0	1	1	½	½	½	1	6	33	2423	13.5
106		Buscar Michael	2099	0	1	½	1	0	1	0	1	0	4.5	107	2111	4
135		Zhou Aiden	1977	1	½	1	½	0	0	½	½	0	4	172	2106	51.2
138		Murray Michael	1975	1	½	0	0	½	1	0	½	1	4.5	127	1933	-7.6
182	CM	Atanasov Anthony	1767	1	1	0	0	1	½	½	0	0	4	158	1996	90
227	AFM	Tsanaclis Albert	1429	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	3	206	1457	38.8

One difficulty of earning Norms in an event like this is the yo-yo-ing in the pairings: a single loss can result in getting several pairings against much lower-rated opponents. This year, Shiyam lost only two games, to podium finishers Yilmaz (2619) and Lagarde (2587), and each time got paired against experts in the next round. Similarly, after losing to L'Ami (2634) in round 3, David Cummings was paired against 1900 players in the next two rounds.

Homepage
http://www.reykjavikopen.com/

Our Canadian Tactic comes from Shiyam's round 4 game against an Icelandic expert.

From the diagram, Shiyam is threatening Qxg7#; what happens after 18...g6 19.Rae1?

() - ()

Round: Result:

[Event "GAMMA Reykjavik Open 2018"]
[Site "Reykjavik, "]
[Date "2018.03.08"]
[Round "4.26"]
[White "Thavandiran, Shiyam"]
[Black "Kristjansson, Atli Freyr"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C28"]
[WhiteElo "2399"]
[BlackElo "2123"]
[Annotator "John Upper"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2018.03.06"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Nc3 {A Bishop's Opening has transposed into a Vienna.
There is a good discussion of Bent Larsen's handling of the arising
middlegames in "Great Chess Romantics" by Craig Pritchett.} Nf6 (3... Na5 $2 4.
Bxf7+ $1 $18) 4. d3 (4. Nf3 $6 Nxe4 $11) 4... Na5 5. Nge2 (5. Bb3 Nxb3 6. axb3
d5 7. exd5 Bb4 8. Bd2 O-O 9. Nge2 Be7 10. Bg5 Nxd5 11. Bxe7 Nxe7 $11 {(½-½,
31) Sveshnikov,E (2493)-Hansen,E (2616) Jurmala, 2017.}) 5... Nxc4 (5... c6 $5
6. O-O b5 7. Bb3 b4 8. Na4 {Black has made a lot of pawn moves, but White's
queenside pieces are nothing to brag about.} d6 (8... d5 9. d4 $1) 9. f4 exf4
10. Bxf4 Be7 {0-1 (48) Mitkov,N (2450)-Chirila,I (2526) Atlantic City 2016}) 6.
dxc4 d6 (6... Bc5 $5 {has been played by Adams and Karpov, and once by Carlsen
(in a bullet game) and is recommended by Lysyj and Ovetchkin in "The Open
Games for Black" (Chess Stars), and Martin Lokander in "Opening Repertoire:
Open Games" (Everyman).}) 7. O-O Be7 8. b3 (8. a4 O-O 9. a5 Be6 10. b3 c6 11.
f4 exf4 12. Nxf4 Nd7 13. Bb2 Ne5 $11 {(1-0, 89) Karjakin,S (2727)-Al Modiahki,
M (2556) Sochi, 2008.}) 8... Be6 9. f4 exf4 10. Nxf4 O-O 11. Bb2 Qd7 (11... c6
12. Qf3 Qb6+ 13. Kh1 Rae8 14. a4 $11 {0-1 (38) Smith,B (2478)-Rosen,E (2312)
Philadelphia 2015}) 12. h3 Rad8 13. Qf3 Qc6 $2 {A serious mistake. Shiyam's
play for the rest of the game shows why Black must control d5 with ...c6, as
in the games embedded above.} 14. Ncd5 $1 $16 {Trades a N that was blocking
the Bb2 for a piece that is defending the black K.} Bxd5 15. exd5 Qc5+ 16. Kh1
$16 {White has four pieces pointing at Black's kingside, and can eliminate one
of the defenders with Rae1xe7. Black may already be lost.} Nd7 (16... a5 $2 {
allows White a simple winning attack after} 17. Rae1 Rfe8 18. Rxe7 $1 Rxe7 19.
Bxf6 gxf6 20. Nh5 $18) ({The computer gives this grovelling line as Black's
best:} 16... Rde8 17. Rae1 Bd8 18. Rxe8 Rxe8 19. Nh5 Qe3 {Only move.} 20. Qf5 {Only move.} Qh6 {Only move.}
21. Nxf6+ Bxf6 22. Qd7 $18) 17. Nd3 (17. Qg3 Bf6 $2 18. Nd3 $18 {and the Bf6
is lost.}) 17... Qb6 18. Qg4 g6 ({Giving a pawn with} 18... Ne5 19. Nxe5 dxe5
20. Bxe5 {stops the immanent carnage, but gives no compensation and is not
much better than resigning.}) 19. Rae1 {Attacking the B, which has no safe
squares. Black can block, defend or counter attack.} f5 {Black counterattacks
and makes a place for the B on f6.} (19... Ne5 {blocking now is similar to
blocking on the previous move:} 20. Nxe5 dxe5 21. Bxe5 {wins a pawn and keeps
a better position.}) (19... Rde8 $2 {defends the B but undefends the N} 20.
Qxd7 $18) (19... Rfe8 {defends the B, but loses to a simple combo:} 20. Rxf7 (
20. Re6 $1 {threatening Rfe1 and allowing fxe6 is a fancier way to execute the
same threat.}) 20... Kxf7 21. Qe6+ Kf8 22. Rf1+ {mates}) 20. Rxe7 $1 (20. Rxf5
Rxf5 21. Rxe7 {is also winning, but the game line is both stronger and
prettier.}) 20... fxg4 21. Rg7+ Kh8 22. Rxd7+ {not so much to win the N as to
prevent Black from blocking the long diagonal.} Kg8 (22... Rf6 {prolongs the
suffering, since} 23. Bxf6+ {leaves White with an obviously winning material
advantage, as well as a mating attack.}) 23. Rg7+ Kh8 24. Rxg6+ {Black can
interpose, but not stop the mate.} 1-0

Category:

IM Leon Piasetski annotates his topsy-turvy round 5 game against German GM Lothar Vogt from the 2018 HD Bank Cup Open in Vietnam...

8th HDBank Cup International Open

The 8th HDBank Cup International Open took place March 10-15, 2018 in Saigon. The 9-round Swiss attracted 29 GMs, including the two 2700+ top seeds: Le Quang Liem and Wang Hao. It was won by Argentine GM Sandro Mareco with 7.5/9, 1/2 a point ahead of GM Karthikeyan Murali (IND), GM Alan Pichot (ARG) and Minh Le Tuan (VIE).

Two Canadians played:

FM Yaaqov Vaingorten, who hasn't played a Canadian event since 2011, finished with 2/9.
IM Leon Piasetski scored 2/5 against the five GMs he played -- including a win over #3 seed GM S.P. Sethuraman (2649) in round 2 -- and finished with 4/9.

Leon annotated his topsy-turvy round 5 game against German GM Lothar Vogt for the CFC Newsfeed (below).

photo: IM Leon Piasetski at the 2017 World Senior.

Results
http://chess-results.com/tnr326368.aspx?lan=1

Homepage
http://vietnamchess.vn/index.php/en/

() - ()

Round: Result:

[Event "HD Bank Cup"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.03.12"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Vogt, Lothar"]
[Black "Piasetski, Leon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2402"]
[BlackElo "2258"]
[Annotator "Leon Piasetski"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[EventCountry "VIE"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Qb6 {This is the Grivas variation which
has a solid reputation.} 5. Nb3 Nf6 6. Nc3 e6 7. Qe2 {And this is one of the
most aggressive setups for White.} Bb4 8. Bd2 O-O 9. a3 Be7 10. O-O-O {[#]} Qc7
{Normally Black plays 10 ... d5 and accepts a weak d-pawn in exchange for easy
development and active piece play. However, I wasn't as sure about 11. e5:} (
10... d5 11. e5 Nd7 (11... Ne8 12. f4 f6 13. exf6 Bxf6 14. g3 Nd6 $14) 12. f4
Qc7 13. Kb1 a6 14. g4 b5 15. h4 {looks unclear.}) 11. g4 {I was expecting f4.}
d5 12. g5 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Bg2 {White wisely avoids 14.Qxe4 b6 when
Black targets the queen. But now 14 ...b6 15.Be4 Bb7 16.h4 looks dangerous for
Black.} e5 15. Bxe4 Be6 16. Kb1 Rad8 17. h4 Nd4 $2 {My original plan was to
double rooks when the position is close to equal. Unfortunately, after 17 ...
Nd4 White is close to winning ...} 18. Nxd4 Rxd4 19. Bc3 Rxd1+ 20. Rxd1 {
White threatens Bxe5 followed by Bxh7+.} f5 ({Defending e5 with} 20... f6 {
runs into} 21. gxf6 Bxf6 {which leaves Black in misery: White will play h5,
Rg1 and Qe4.} ({Not} 21... gxf6 $2 22. Bxh7+ Kxh7 23. Qh5+ Kg8 24. Rg1+ {
and mate.})) 21. Bxb7 $1 {White can still play 21 gxf6 en passant, but this is
even better.} e4 {Black can't take the piece ...} (21... Qxb7 22. Qxe5 Kf7 23.
Qxg7+ Ke8 24. Bf6 $1 {and White is winning, for example} Rf7 25. Qg8+ Rf8 (
25... Bf8 $2 26. Rd8#) 26. Qxe6 $18) 22. Qa6 Bf7 23. Bd5 Bc5 24. Qc4 $1 Bb6 25.
Qxc7 Bxc7 {Now White should play 26. Bf7+ Rf7 27. Bd4 to restrict Black's
activity and eventually the extra queenside pawn will win easily enough.
Instead, my opponent wanted to eliminate the rooks, but missed the counterplay
lurking in the bishop ending.} 26. Bb4 $6 Rd8 27. Bxf7+ Kxf7 28. Rxd8 Bxd8 29.
Bc5 Kg6 30. Bxa7 Kh5 31. c4 {White would have won more easily with:} (31. b4
Kxh4 32. a4 Be7 33. c3 f4 34. Bd4 $18) 31... Kxh4 32. c5 f4 {With little time
on my clock it was impossible to figure out this ending, but it seems my
choice was correct since the alternative clearly loses after:} (32... Bxg5 33.
Kc2 Bf4 34. c6 h5 35. b4 Kg4 36. Be3 Bc7 37. b5 h4 38. b6 Bxb6 39. Bxb6 h3 40.
c7 h2 41. c8=Q h1=Q 42. Qd7 $18) 33. Kc2 Kg4 {Imagine being short of time and
trying to work out the following variations:} (33... e3 34. Kd3 Kh3 35. c6 (35.
f3 $2 Kg2 36. Ke2 h5 37. gxh6 g5 38. h7 Bf6 39. c6 (39. Bb8 g4 $19) 39... g4
40. fxg4 f3+ 41. Kxe3 f2 42. h8=Q Bxh8 43. c7 f1=Q 44. c8=Q $11 Qe1+ 45. Kd3
Qd1+ {with a perpetual: the white K cannot cross the c-file without dropping
his Q and} 46. Ke4 Qf3# {is even worse.}) 35... Kg2 36. fxe3 f3 37. e4 Bc7 38.
Kc4 Bb8 $5 (38... h5 39. gxh6 gxh6 40. Kd5 {Only move.} h5 41. e5 $1 h4 42. e6 h3 43. e7
h2 44. e8=Q h1=Q 45. Qg6+ Bg3 46. Qc2+ f2 47. Qe4+ $18) 39. Bd4 Be5 40. Kd5
Bxd4 41. c7 $1 f2 42. c8=Q f1=Q 43. Qg4+ $1 Kh1 44. Kxd4 $18) 34. Bb6 e3 35.
Kd1 {Another win was:} (35. f3+ Kxf3 36. Bxd8 Kg2 37. c6 e2 38. Ba5 f3 39. c7
f2 40. c8=Q f1=Q 41. Qg4+ Kh1 42. Qe4+ {since White controls e1.}) ({The third
option was also tempting:} 35. Kd3 $6 Bxb6 36. cxb6 Kf3 37. fxe3 fxe3 38. b7 e2
39. b8=Q e1=Q 40. Qf8+ {which also wins, but queen endings can get tricky.})
35... Bxg5 36. fxe3 $2 {It was fortunate that the previous decisions had eaten
up all my opponent's time and we were both playing on increment. Here White
missed a much simpler win with:} (36. c6 exf2 37. Ke2 {But not 37.Bf2 after
which 37 ... Bd8 results in an equal pawn ending!!  Although White is still
much better Black can fight on. However, after 37.Ke2 Black has no way to
disturb white since the king is safe on f1 and the bishop stops all
counterplay with the h-pawn.} f3+ 38. Kf1 Bf4 39. c7 Bxc7 40. Bxc7 $18) 36...
f3 37. c6 Kg3 38. e4 Bf4 39. c7 Bxc7 40. Bxc7+ Kg2 {Now it's a race !} 41. Bb6
g5 $1 42. e5 g4 43. e6 g3 44. e7 f2 45. e8=Q f1=Q+ 46. Kd2 {Objectively Black
is losing but with little time it's easy to go wrong. Here I should play ...
Qf5, and I did consider it, but the move I played seemed better. It turns out
46 ... Qf3 loses immediately after 47. Qe2+ since white queens the a-pawn with
check !} Qf3 $2 47. Be3 $4 {Incredibly this move already allows a draw! Of
course, White was still winning after even 47.a4 but the easy win was:} (47.
Qe2+ $1 Qxe2+ 48. Kxe2 h5 49. a4 h4 50. a5 h3 51. a6 h2 52. a7 h1=Q 53. a8=Q+
$18) 47... Qd5+ 48. Ke2 Qc4+ $2 ({My original intention was} 48... h5 {which
draws; and even easier is 48 ...Qf3+ but the move played loses!}) 49. Ke1 Kf3 {
I couldn't resist threatening mate in one!!} ({I should have played} 49... Qf1+
50. Kd2 Qf3 {but then} 51. Bh6 {is strong} ({and} 51. Qe5 {also wins.})) 50.
Bd2 g2 51. Qe3+ Kg4 {[#]} 52. Qg1 $4 {Here I expected 52.Qg5+ which wins but
nothing else works! For example, 52.Qf2 to stop ...Qf1 mate allows perpetual
check starting with ...Qe4+.} (52. Qg5+ {Only move.} $18 Kh3 (52... Kf3 53. Qf5+ Kg3 54.
Qf2+ Kh3 55. Qf3+) 53. Qf5+ Kh4 54. Qf2+ $18) 52... Qe4+ 53. Kd1 $4 {Now White
even allows Black to win!!} Qf3+ $4 (53... Kf3 {Only move.} $19 54. Qc5 Qb1+ 55. Bc1 Qd3+
56. Bd2 Qf1+ 57. Kc2 g1=Q {What a turnaround !}) 54. Kc2 Qe4+ 55. Kc3 Qc6+ 56.
Kd3 Qb5+ 57. Kc2 Qc4+ 58. Bc3 {Forced. King retreats lose because of ..Qf1+.}
Qe2+ 59. Kb3 Qb5+ 60. Bb4 (60. Ka2 Qc4+ 61. b3 Qe2+ 62. Bb2 h5 {is also
completely equal because Black's threats are enough to force White to give
perpetual or expose his own king to the same fate.}) 60... Qd3+ 61. Bc3 Qb5+
62. Bb4 {I hope you enjoyed this game as much as we both did!} 1/2-1/2

Category:

The 2018 Candidates tournament finished in Berlin this week, with Fabiano Caruana winning his last two games to top the field with +5 = 8 -1 and earn a match with World Champion Magnus Carlsen in November in London.

This year's Candidates may well have been the most exciting ever: with very combative play from most of the players (especially Kramnik), few short draws, 20 of the 56 games being decisive, and four players in the running for 1st place going into the last round.

While all eyes ended up on Caruana, it's also worth looking at those who did not earn a World Championship match this week. At the top (bottom) of that list is Lev Aronian, who finished last with +1 = 7 - 6, and lost 30 FIDE rating points to drop from 5th to 13th in the world. While this may not be the end of Aronian's title hopes, it is another missed opporunity for the 35-year old, and another Candidate's failure on his resume:

2007 - Mexico: 6/14, 2nd last place in Championship tournament.
2011 - Kazan: lost to Grischuk in the 1/4 finals (rapid TB games)
2013 - London: 8/14, =3rd-4th.
2014 - Khanty-Mansiysk: 6.5 /14, 2nd last place
2015 - Baku: eliminated in round 2 of World Cup qualifier by Alex Areschenko, but...
2016 - Moscow: ...gets into Candidates as sponsor's wildcard; finishes =4th-7th of 8.
2018 - Berlin: 4.5/14, last place.

Our Best of the Web this week focuses on two great players who, despite their best efforts, never got to play a match against the world's best player....

Paul Morphy (1837-1884)

Admittedly, there was no official World Championship in Morphy's day, but everyone knew who the best players were and where to find them. So, after winning the US Championship in 1857, and unable to practice law in Louisanna until he was over 23, Morphy sailed to Europe to challenge the world's best.

The one player Morphy didn't get to play was the one he crossed the Atlantic for: Howard Staunton. Staunton had been considered Europe's best player since winning a match in 1843 against France's leading player (Saint-Amant) and winning several matches after that. But Staunton avoided playing Morphy, and blamed their failure to meet on Morphy.

So Morphy played other European masters and defeated everyone who dared play him: Löwenthal (+9 =2 -3), Harrwitz (+5 =1 -2), de Riviere (+9 =0 -3). Most importantly, he beat Adolf Anderssen (+7 =2 -2), who had been recognzed as Europe's top player since winning the first international tournament in London in 1851, beating Staunton +4 =0 -1 in the semi-final along the way.

The Staunton-Morphy affair has long been a sour-tasting "what if" for chess fans, but from a modern perspective it is hard to understand the fuss. In 1858 Staunton was famous as a chess writer and for the piece design that still bears his name, but his major playing success was 15 years in the past, he was crushed by Anderssen in 1851, he hadn't played a serious match in 5 years, and his only recent tournament (Birmingham 1858) was a flop (eliminated 2-0 in the 2nd round by the runner-up). With such a record, it is strange to modern eyes that anyone would think the 48-year-old Staunton would be a worthy adversay for Morphy, and not vice-versa, as Staunton had tried to make it seem.

Morphy's trip to Europe, the matches, and the Staunton affair are chronicled -- not wholly without admiraing bias -- in "The Exploits and Triumphs, in Europe, of Paul Morphy, the Chess Champion" by Morphy's secretary and travelling companion, Frederick Milnes Edge.

The book is in the public domain, and can be downloaded and listened to thanks to LibreVox, a site which collects and encourages the recording of public domain audio books.

Like all LibreVox recordings, the mp3s are free, but they vary in quality: the readers are not professional, but are devoted fans. In this case, you can expect a few appalling mispronunciations of French towns and names, but the story comes through unscathed, and you can enjoy it while driving to a tournament this summer. Time: 5 hrs 38 min.

https://librivox.org/paul-morphy-the-chess-champion-by-frederick-milnes-edge/

Suggestion: unless you are an extreme chess junkie, follow the author's invitation to "skip" chapters 4 and 5 on "Chess in England": long-time club players may recognize a theme in the moveable feast that is the history of London chess clubs, but the rest of the story is more enjoyable.

Paul Keres (1916-75)

For the 100th anniversary of Paul Keres's birth, Chess24.com published an 8-part biography and games collection of the great Estonian. The last part appeared in January 2018, and the whole series is now available online (link below). The series is by Joosep Grents, a History BA from Charles University. It has plenty of high-quality photos, clickable games, and lots of chess history.

Paul Keres was a three-time Soviet Champion, one of the very best players in the world from the late 1930s through late 1960s, but never got a match for the World Championship.

Keres won the 1938 AVRO tournament (=1st with Reuben Fine, but ahead on TB), and was in negotiaitons for a match with World Champion Alexander Alekhine when WW2 started. Alekhine died in 1946 while still Champion, and Keres finished 3rd at the 1948 World Championship tournament in the Hague and Moscow, which Botvinnik won to take over the vacant title.

Keres finished 2nd at the next four Candidates Tournaments: Zeurich '53; Amsterdam 1956; Bled 1959; and Curacao 1962. The winners of each of the last three went on to defeat the World Champion, Mikhail Botvinnik. At the 1959 Candidates Tournament, Keres scored 18½/28 but still finished 1½ points behind Tal, despite beating Tal +3 =0-1 in their four games. Tal, of course, went on to beat Botvinnik in 1960, becoming the youngest World Champion.

Keres died at the age of 59 while on his way home after winning a tournament in Vancouver, now the "Keres Memorial".

The Best link to the 8-part series is to the last article in the series, as it has links to all seven earlier parts:

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/paul-keres-viii-gulliver-among-the-lilliputians

PS: Keres was also an exceptional annotator. If you can find it, check out "Power Chess: Great Grandmaster Battles from Russia", a collection of 21 games (+1 study) he annotated for Chess Life between 1968-75, or the recently translated and published "World Chess Championship 1948" which Kasparov praised highly, (review here).

2018 Grenke Chess Classic
March 31-April 9, 2018

The Grenke Chess Classic hosts two major events starting this weekend: an Open Swiss with over 1560 players (and counting), and a 10-player RR featuring Carlsen, Caruana, Aronian, Anand and MVL. While the RR can't hope to be as thrilling as the 2018 Candidates, it has the first (and only?) match up between World Champion Magnus Carlsen and Challenger Fabiano Caruana before their World Championship match in London in November. It also gives perennial also-ran Lev Aronian a chance to rebound...

http://www.grenkechessclassic.de/en/

Category:

Our Canadian Game of the Week is GM Eric Hansen's round 4 win over NM Keith MacKinnon at the 2018 Nanaimo Spring Open.
White plays the Flohr-Mikenas attack, and turns a development advantage into a crushing and thematic attack on the light squares...

The Nanaimo Spring Open took place March 3-4, 2018.

It exceeded their announced maximum number of players, possibly due to the participation of GM Eric Hansen, who was making a rare IRL -- In Real Life -- chess appearance. Eric won with 5/5. Jiri Blaha was second with 4/5; with Zulfikar Sali, Keith MacKinnon and Brandon Zhu tied for 3-5th with 3.5/5.

photo: Hansen - MacKinnon, before White's 16th move.

photos
https://nanaimo-open.ca/gallery

results
http://chess.ca/crosstable?tournament_check_number=201803009

non-IRL Eric:
You can frequently watch Eric playing online on the Chessbrah Twitch channel:
https://www.twitch.tv/chessbrah

Our Canadian Game of the Week is Eric's round 4 win over NM Keith MacKinnon. White plays the Flohr-Mikenas attack, and turns a development advantage into a crushing and thematic attack on the light squares.

() - ()

Round: Result:

[Event "Nanaimo Spring Open 2018"]
[Site "Nanaimo"]
[Date "2018.03.04"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Hansen, Eric"]
[Black "MacKinnon, Keith"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A18"]
[WhiteElo "2621"]
[BlackElo "2280"]
[Annotator "John Upper"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2018.03.13"]
[SourceTitle "CFC Newsfeed"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 {The Flohr-Mikenas Attack -- White's most aggressive way to cross Black's hopes to transpose to a safe QGD with 3...d5.} d5 ({The other main
option is} 3... c5 4. e5 Ng8 {when White gets a development advantage while
Black surrounds and wins the e5 pawn.}) 4. e5 d4 (4... Ne4 {is a playable pawn
sacrifice, hoping for} 5. Nxe4 dxe4 6. Qg4 Nc6 7. Qxe4 Qd4 $1 {with lots of
play.}) ({Instead, after} 4... Ne4 {White gets a good game just by developing
with} 5. Nf3 $14 {as Black's Ne4 will almost always eventually have to take on
c3, leaving White with more space and freer development.}) 5. exf6 dxc3 6. bxc3
Qxf6 {[#]} 7. Nf3 (7. d4 e5 8. Nf3 Nc6 (8... exd4 {used to be the main line,
but has fallen out of fashion after} 9. Bg5 Qe6+ 10. Be2 f6 11. Nxd4 Qf7 12.
Bh6 $3 $16 {a positional bombshell from Simon Williams. The crude point is
that taking the Bh6 loses the Q to Bh5. The subtle point is that Black will
have trouble finding a safe place for his K. White has a huge score from here:
96% and Elo +460!} gxh6 13. Bh5) 9. Bg5 Qg6 10. d5 Nb8 11. h4 h6 12. h5 Qa6 13.
Be3 Nd7 14. Bd3 Ba3 15. O-O Qd6 16. Nh4 O-O 17. Nf5 Qf6 18. Ng3 Qh4 19. Nf5 Qf6
20. Ng3 Qh4 {Black has made eight moves with his Q and hasn't developed his
queenside, but the threat of ...Nf6 and taking the h5-pawn is so serious that..
. ½-½ in Anand,V (2782)-Karjakin,S (2760) London, 2017.}) 7... Nd7 8. d4 Qd8
$5 {It looks wrong to give up a tempo to retreat the Q, but White's threat to
trap the Q with Bg5 and Bd3 requires a response, and Black may have thought
that ...h6 would be a long term weakness and would leave him without good
squares for his minors.} (8... h6 9. Bd3 c5 10. O-O Qd8 $2 11. Bf4 $1 {Look at
White's lead in development.} Nf6 12. Re1 Be7 13. Qd2 Bd7 (13... O-O $2 14.
Bxh6 $18 {shows one problem with ...h6.}) 14. Ne5 Bc6 15. Rad1 (15. Qe3 $1 O-O
$2 16. Bxh6 $18) 15... Ba4 16. Rb1 b6 17. Qe3 Nh5 18. Nxf7 $1 Kxf7 19. Qxe6+
Kf8 20. Bg6 Be8 21. Bxe8 Qxe8 22. Bd6 $18 {(1-0, 32) Grachev,B (2657)-Golubov,
S (2488) Khanty-Mansiysk, 2017.}) 9. Bd3 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. Bf4 b6 12. Bc2 (
12. Be4 {looks like a obviously good finesse -- luring the R to a square where
the c7 pawn is pinned -- but the computer is unimpressed by my cleverness, and
rates the two moves almost the same.}) 12... Bb7 (12... Bd6 13. Qd3 g6 14. Bg5)
13. Qd3 g6 14. Rfe1 Bf6 15. Rad1 {[#]White has excellent attacking chances,
and can follow the familiar attacking patterns of a standard IQP middlegame,
but without Black having use of d5.} Qc8 $4 {Allowing White's next is
positional suicide.} (15... c5 {was better} 16. Bd6 (16. dxc5 Nxc5 $11) 16... Re8 $14)
(15... Re8 {was also better} 16. Ne5 Nxe5 17. Bxe5 Bxe5 18. Rxe5 Qe7 19. Rde1
$14) 16. Ng5 $1 $16 {After this White will almost inevitably have a winning
sac on the light squares.} Bg7 $6 17. Qh3 $18 Nf6 (17... h6 18. Nxe6 (18. Bxg6
{also wins.}) 18... fxe6 19. Qxe6+ $18) 18. Be5 h5 19. Qg3 $1 ({Just to
demonstrate White's attacking possibilities,} 19. Nxf7 {also wins} Kxf7 (19...
Rxf7 20. Bxg6 Re7 21. Rd3 $18 {and Rg3}) 20. Qg3 Ng4 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. f3 $18 {
and Black collapses on the light squares.}) 19... c6 20. Bxf6 Bxf6 {[#]} 21.
Nxe6 $1 fxe6 22. Qxg6+ Bg7 23. Qh7+ Kf7 24. Bg6+ Kf6 25. Bxh5 ({The PGN from
the Nanaimo Open points out that Eric's human move misses a mate in 13:} 25.
Re3 Ke7 26. Qxg7+ Kd8 27. Qxf8+ Kc7 28. Qf4+ Kd8 29. d5 cxd5 30. cxd5 Qd7 31.
Rxe6 h4 32. Rf6 Qe7 33. Rf8+ Qxf8 34. Qxf8+ Kc7 35. Qe7+ Kc8 36. Qe8+ Kc7 37.
d6#) 1-0

Category:

Canadians were awarded three titles at the 1st quarter meeting of the Presidential Board of the FIDE, which was held in Minsk, Belarus, on April 06-09, 2018:

Grand Master: Aman Hambleton
International Arbiter: Bernard Ouimet
International Organizer: Vadim Tsypin

Congratulations to all three!

Bernard Ouimet writes:

Dear friends,

I am extremely happy to-day to tell you that FIDE, the world chess federation, has approved my certification as Intenational arbiter at the Minsk congress in Belarus.

I am grateful to the Fédération québécoise des échecs and to Chess'n Math Association for hiring me as arbiter at qualified events in order to obtain the title.

I strongly appreciate my colleague arbiters who shared their knowledge with me and on occasion provided their advice. In alphabetical order, they are Alexandre Ber, Richard Bérubé, Larry Bevand, Hal Bond, Larry Bevand, Jean-Roger Boutin, Yves Casaubon (deceased), Jean-Dominique Coquereau (Italy), Pierre Denommée, Danny Goldenberg, Alex Relya (USA) and Vadim Tsypin.

Thank you heartily all, let’s continue working together for the good of chess !

Bernard Ouimet

Gens Una Sumus

Vadim Tsypin writes:

I am humbled to join the fraternity of seven distinguished Canadian IOs and to become the first person in this country to earn this title after 2012, when new strict formal rules came into effect.

I would like to thank all the leaders of the Fédération québécoise des échecs (FQE) and the Chess Federation of Canada (CFC) who selflessly guided and supported me. My profound gratitude goes to the Director General of the FQE Richard Bérubé and the FIDE Zone 2.2 President and Delegate IA/IO Hal Bond. Richard and Hal, nothing would be possible without you!

Thanks so much to all of you, and let’s conquer new challenges together.

Vadim I. Tsypin

Links

FIDE Titles Approved at 2018.04 Meeting
http://fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/10817-list-of-titles-approved-by-the-2018-1st-quarter-pb-in-minsk-belarus.html

FIDE Cards

Hambleton
https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=2606577

Ouimet
https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=2615371

Tsypin
https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=2623463

For more on Aman's final norm, including links to more of his annotated games, see: http://chess.ca/newsfeed/node/1028

To watch Aman streaming online, subscribe to the ChessBrah stream: https://www.twitch.tv/chessbrah

Category:

International

Eight of the world's top 10 players compete this week in two tournaments in St.Louis and Shamkir, Azerbaijan, on this week's Best of the Web...

US Chess Championship

Two 12-player round robins to decide the US and US Women's Championship April 18-30, 2018, at the newly renamed St, Louis Chess Club.

Top players include the complete 2016 Olympiad winning team: Caruana, Nakamura, So, Robson, and Shankland. Juniors GM Jeffery Xiong and GM Awonder Laing will also compete.

In the Women's competition, 7-time US Champion GM Irina Krush and 4-time Champion Anna Zatonskih, and the two previous Champons -- Sabina Foisor and Nazi Paikidze -- all play. WGM Jennifer Yu, the top rated U16 female, also plays.

Live Games and Commentary
April 18-30, 2018. 1pm local, 2pm EST

https://uschesschamps.com/2018-us-championships/live

Note: GM Eric Hansen is in St.Louis to do live on-site commentary for fans at the event, and is not part of the regular on-line team of Seirawan, Shahade, and Ashley.

Gashimov Memorial

The 5th Gashimov Memorial, honouring the memory of Azerbaijani GM Vugar Gashimov (who died at 27), takes place April 19-28, 2018 in Shamkir, Azerbaijan.

The field includes World Champion Magnus Carlsen, and three of the recent Candidates finalists:

Name	FED	Rating	Rank
Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2843	1
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	2814	2
Ding, Liren	CHN	2778	8
Karjakin, Sergey	RUS	2778	9
Giri, Anish	NED	2777	10
Topalov, Veselin	BUL	2749	17
Radjabov, Teimour	AZE	2748	18
Navara, David	CZR	2745	19
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	POL	2744	20
Mamedov, Rauf	AZE	2704	38

Live Games
Start 3pm local, 7am EST.

http://shamkirchess.com/

Category:

The Trois-Rivières Open is not the mega-event it used to be, but it still attracts an exceptionally large and strong field for a weekend event. This year's event was held March 16-18, 2018, and the $11,000+ prize fund attracted three GMs: Victor Mikhalevski from Israel, and Quebec's Bator Sambuev and Alexandre Le Siege. Alexandre beat Sambuev in round 4, and had a perfunctory draw with Mikhalevski -- complete score: 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 1/2-1/2 -- to split first with 4.5/5.

Most notable were the performances of young players: WIM (and current Canadian Women's Champion) Maili-Jade Ouellet and FM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux both lost to Mikhalevski, but won all their other games to finish tied with IM Thanh Nha Duong for =3rd-5th with 4/5. MJ will be 16 this year, and SRL turns 14.

Perhaps more remarkable was the performance of Daniel Xu, who lost to Sambuev in the last round, but still scored - +1 =3 -1 for a performance rating of 2353. Daniel turns 10 this year.

Our Game of the Week is actually two of Daniel's games from Trois-Rivières: his first round win over a Master, and his last round loss against GM Sambuev.... from a position where Daniel had a forced draw one move from the end, but missed it while playing on increment!

Link to Trois-Rivières Homepage:

https://oe3r.org/en/

() - ()

Round: Result:

[Event "Trois-Rivieres op"]
[Site "Trois-Rivieres CAN"]
[Date "2018.03.16"]
[Round "1.9"]
[White "Xu, Daniel"]
[Black "Beaulieu, Eric"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D58"]
[WhiteElo "2006"]
[BlackElo "2307"]
[Annotator "John Upper"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2018.03.16"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "CAN"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nc3 h6 7. Bh4 b6 8. Bd3
Bb7 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Qe2 c5 {[#]A standard Tartakower QGD position. Both sides
have to be ready for pawn exchanges leading to an IQP for White or hanging
pawns for Black.} 11. cxd5 (11. Rfd1 Ne4 12. Bg3 cxd4 13. exd4 Ndf6 14. Rac1
Rc8 15. Bxe4 Nxe4 16. Nxe4 dxe4 17. Ne5 Qe8 $1 {guarding g6 to threatening to
win a piece with ...f6-f5-f4.} 18. f4 exf3 19. Nxf3 Bf6 20. Bd6 Be7 21. Bg3 Bf6
22. Bd6 Be7 23. Bg3 {½-½ Short,N (2675)-Adams,M (2751) Gibraltar, 2017.})
11... exd5 12. Rac1 c4 $6 {I'm reluctant to call this move "principled", but
it does shut down the Rc1 and cut across White's play against d5 via dxc5 and
Ba6.} (12... Ne4 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Ba6 Ndf6 15. Bxb7 Qxb7 16. dxc5 bxc5 17.
Nxe4 Nxe4 {The kind of position I'd expect Seirawan would like: his king is
safe and he has Black's hanging pawns to "gnaw on". But watch how quickly
Black turns those pawns into a winning advantage after only a few slow moves
by White.} 18. Rc2 Rfe8 19. Qd3 Rad8 20. h3 Qb6 21. Nd2 c4 $1 22. Qe2 (22. Qd4
Qxd4 23. exd4 Nxd2 24. Rxd2 Rb8 $15) 22... d4 $1 23. Nxc4 d3 $19 24. Qf3 Ng5
25. Qf5 g6 26. Nxb6 {White has two pieces hanging after Black recaptures the Q,
so 0-1 Seirawan,Y (2620)-Bacrot,E (2697) Berlin (World Rapid), 2015.}) 13. Bb1
a6 14. Qc2 b5 15. Ne5 {[#]Critical Position White threatens to remove the
defender of h7 with Nxd7 then Bxf6.} Nxe5 $2 (15... g6 $4 {and White can play
the rest "by hand"} 16. Nxg6 $18 {wins a pawn or at least three pawns for the
N with a huge attack.}) (15... Re8 $5 {concedes h7 but makes a space for the K}
16. Nxd7 Qxd7 17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. Qh7+ Kf8 19. e4 $6 (19. Rfe1 $1 {N}) 19... g6
$2 (19... dxe4 $15) 20. e5 Bg7 21. f4 $18 {1-0 (34) Bocharov,D (2526)-Bragin,A
(2255) Tomsk, 2003.}) (15... Ne4 $1 {is the computer's choice, leading to a
complex position} 16. Nxd7 $1 Qxd7 (16... Bxh4 $2 {puts the B off-side} 17. Nc5
$1 Qe7 18. f3 Nf6 19. Nxb7 Qxb7 20. g3 $18 {and f4 traps the B}) 17. Bxe7 Qxe7
18. f3 Nf6 19. e4 b4 20. e5 (20. Nxd5 $2 Bxd5 $1 $15) 20... bxc3 21. exf6 (21.
bxc3 g6 $11) 21... Qe3+ 22. Kh1 g6 $13) 16. dxe5 Ne4 {Only move.} 17. Bxe7 Qxe7 18. f3 $1
$16 Qxe5 $2 (18... Ng5 19. h4 Qxe5 20. hxg5 Qxe3+ 21. Rf2 g6 22. Qd2 $1 Qxg5 {
Black has some pawns for the N, but his d5 pawn is doomed.}) 19. fxe4 dxe4 20.
Nxe4 f5 21. Qc3 $1 Qd5 22. Rcd1 $1 b4 {Desperation.} (22... Qc6 23. Rd6 {Only move.} $18
{breaks the battery on g2 before moving the N.}) 23. Qxb4 Qc6 24. Rd6 Qc7 25.
Ng3 1-0


[Event "Trois-Rivieres op"]
[Site "Trois-Rivieres CAN"]
[Date "2018.03.18"]
[Round "5.5"]
[White "Sambuev, Bator"]
[Black "Xu, Daniel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2518"]
[BlackElo "2006"]
[Annotator "John Upper"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2018.03.16"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "CAN"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nbd2 Be7 (5... c5 $1 {taking
advantage of the absence of Nc3 is popular, and the best-scoring for Black.})
6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. O-O O-O 8. b3 b6 9. Bb2 Bb7 10. Qe2 Qc7 (10... c5 11. Rfd1 cxd4
12. exd4 dxc4 13. bxc4 Re8 14. Ne5 Nxe5 15. dxe5 Nd7 16. Ne4 Qc7 17. Nd6 Bxd6
18. exd6 Qc6 19. Qg4 e5 $13 {(½-½, 55) Alekhine,A-Bogoljubow,E W Ch g25,
1929.}) 11. Rac1 Rac8 12. cxd5 exd5 (12... Nxd5 $5 13. g3 {and Black has some
tough decisions about how to cope with e3-e4.}) 13. Ne5 c5 14. Bf5 Rcd8 15. f4
$5 Rfe8 16. Rf3 g6 17. Rg3 Bf8 18. Ndf3 {[#]White has massed his pieces for a
kingside attack, but Black keeps cool.} Bg7 (18... Nxe5 19. fxe5 (19. Nxe5 Bc8
$11) 19... Nh5 20. Rg4 Ng7 $13) 19. Ng5 Nxe5 20. dxe5 $6 {A surprising
recapture. I don't know why White rejected the more natural fxe5.} (20. fxe5
Ne4 21. Nxe4 dxe4 22. Qg4 $14 {attacking e4 and keeping pressure on the
kingside; for example,} Qc6 23. h4 Kf8 24. h5 Bh6 {trying to trap the B} 25.
hxg6 hxg6 26. e6 $1 (26. Rf1 $5) 26... gxf5 27. Qg8+ Ke7 28. Qxf7+ Kd6 29.
dxc5+ {will win the Q at least.}) 20... Ne4 21. Nxe4 dxe4 22. h4 Kf8 $1 {
Unpinning the g6 pawn and asking the Bf5 its intentions.} 23. Bh3 {White
doesn't have to retreat the Bf5.} (23. b4 $5 gxf5 24. Qh5 {threatening Rxg7
then e6.} Re6 $1 (24... a6 25. Rxg7 Kxg7 26. e6+) 25. Qxh7 Rg6 26. Rxg6 fxg6
27. Qxg6 $14 {White has two pawns for the piece, and with Black's Bs blocked
and K exposed, good chances to get a third.}) 23... Bc8 24. h5 Bxh3 25. Rxh3 {
[#]} Qd7 $4 {This should lose a piece.} (25... Rd3 $142 $11) 26. hxg6 $2 (26.
h6 $1 Bh8 27. e6 $18 {with a double attack on d7 and h8.}) 26... hxg6 27. Bc3
Qe6 28. Qc4 $5 {Very uncharacteristic for Sambuev, who usually tries to keep
balanced positions complex.} Qxc4 29. bxc4 Rd3 30. Kf2 Red8 31. Ke2 Ke7 32. Rh7
Rg8 (32... Rh8 $2 {will not trap the R} 33. Rxg7 Kf8 34. e6 (34. Rxf7+ {
also works.}) 34... Rxc3 35. Rxf7+ $18) 33. Bb2 Rgd8 34. Rc2 Bf8 35. Rh1 Bg7
36. Rh7 Bf8 37. Bc3 Rd1 38. Be1 Ke6 39. g4 Rb1 (39... R8d7 $1 {defending f7 so
the K can restrict the center pawns.}) 40. Bh4 {[#]Critical Position Black's K
is in a small box, but (surprisingly) so is White's! Can you see how Black can
hold?} Rdd1 $4 (40... Rh1 $1 41. Bxd8 Rxh7 $11) (40... Rd7 $1 41. Rh8 Be7 (
41... Rh1 $1) 42. Re8 Rh1 43. f5+ gxf5 44. gxf5+ Kxf5 45. Rxe7 Rh2+ $1 46. Ke1
(46. Kf1 $4 Rd1+ 47. Be1 Rxc2) 46... Rh1+ $11) 41. f5+ $1 $18 gxf5 42. gxf5+
Kxf5 (42... Kxe5 43. Rxf7 Bd6 44. Bg3#) 43. Rxf7+ Kg4 44. Rf4+ Kh5 45. e6 Rh1 {
[#]} 46. Rxf8 $4 (46. Rd2 $1 $18 Rxh4 47. Rd5+ {Only move.} $18) (46. e7 {also wins} Rh2+
47. Rf2 $18) 46... Kxh4 $1 $11 47. e7 (47. Rh8+ Kg5 $11) 47... Kg3 $4 {There's
no reason to bring the K in to close the exits since White's K already has no
exit:} (47... Rhe1+ {Only move.} $11 48. Kd2 Red1+ 49. Ke2 (49. Kc3 $4 Rd3#) 49... Re1+
50. Kf2 Rf1+ 51. Kg2 Rg1+ $11) 48. Rg8+ {Only move.} {White ends the perpetual by
forcing off a pair of Rs with Rh8+ and then promote.} 1-0

Category:

Canadian Game of the Week

The players for both the Canadian men's and women's Olympiad teams have been announced:

Men's Team

GM Aman Hambleton
GM Eric Hansen
GM Alexandre LeSiege
IM Nikolay Noritsyn
GM Razvan Preotu

Women’s Team

Lali Agbabishvili
WFM Svitlana Demchenko
WIM Agnieszka Matras-Clement
WIM Maili-Jade Ouellet
WGM Qiyu Zhou

Notes:

Names above are listed in alphabetical order. Actual board order will be determined by the Captains, who will be selected by the players.
Preotu, Demchenko and Matras-Clement will be playing in their first Olympiads.
All five of the top-rated women accepted their invitations. Two of the men -- 2016 Olympiad board 2 silver medalist GM Anton Kovalyov, and current Canadian Champion GM Bator Sambuev -- both declined.
Yuanling Yuan, Canada's top-performing woman at the previous two Olympiads, was not eligible due to an insufficient number of rated games.

2018 Chess Olympiad

The Chess Olympiad is an 11 round Swiss-system 4-player team tournaments, held in two sections: women and open. It is held every two years and is the largest elite level tournament on the chess calendar. In 2016 a total of 304 teams were entered in the two sections, with the USA taking the open and China winning the women's.

The 43rd Chess Olympiad will be held in Batumi, Georgia -- on the east coast of the Black Sea, just north of Turkey -- September 23 - October 7, 2018.

Olympiad Homepage
https://batumi2018.fide.com/en

Category:

Our Canadian Game of the Week is Adam Dorrance vs Eric Hansen, from the 2018 Bluenose Open in Halifax, annotated by Adam Dorrance.

(photo: after chess fun with GM Eric Hansen, David Zhou & Adam Dorrance)

Bluenose Open
February 23-25, 2018
Saint Mary’s University, Halifax

Was a 5 round swiss with the relatively more civilized time control of G/120 + 30.

46 players competed.
Adam Dorrance won with 4.5/5.
GM Eric Hansen, David Zhou, Jose Gonzalez-Cueto were =2nd-4th with 4/5.
As Adam mentions in his notes, Eric took a bye in round 3 to play for his Chessbrah team in the chess.com PRO League.
Special mention for Cynthia Cui, who was tied for the lead going into the last round, but lost to a visiting GM.

() - ()

Round: Result:

[Event "Bluenose Open 2018"]
[Site "Halifax"]
[Date "2018.02.25"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Dorrance, Adam"]
[Black "Hansen, Eric"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D90"]
[WhiteElo "2297"]
[BlackElo "2627"]
[Annotator "Adam Dorrance"]
[PlyCount "198"]
[EventDate "2018.05.11"]
[EventCountry "CAN"]

{When I heard a GM (Eric Hansen) was coming to play in tournament in Nova
Scotia for the first time ever, I knew I had to go up to the city for the
weekend, even though I had been playing next to no chess the past couple of
years (because of University, work, sports, etc.). This is because for players
living in the Maritimes, it is a very rare occurrence to have a good chance
play any titiled player in a tournament, let alone a GM! Even though people
found out about his participation on late notice (only several days before the
first round), not surprisingly, this tournament turned out to be one of, if
not the, biggest tournaments on Nova Scotian soil with an attendance of 46
players. Fortunately I did get paired up with him, which meant my trip up
wasn't a waste (since in a five round tournament with many players there was a
chance I might not have been paired with him at all). My game with Eric
occurred in the fourth of five rounds during then 2018 Bluenose Open in
Halifax. After the first three rounds, I was the sole leader with 3/3 since
Eric (2.5/3) had to take a half point bye in the third round to play a PRO
Chess League match. That meant that Eric wanted to beat me to try and win the
tournament outright, along with the large (for Maritime tournaments) cash
prize.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. Nc3 d5 5. h4 {[#] The minimal
preparation I did for the tournament revolved almost exclusively along this
one line in the Grunfeld. I had noticed that Eric had previously encountered
the 5.h4 line a couple of times in the past, and it seemed like it was a
tricky line that gave him a bit of trouble. Plus, my thought process was the
more I play solid, non main line theory, the better of a chance I would have
against an opponent obviously out of my league.} dxc4 6. e4 c5 ({His only two
games I could find in the h4 Grunfeld continued} 6... O-O 7. Bxc4 (7. e5 Nh5 8.
Bxc4 c5 $11 {Al-Sayed-Hansen, FIDE World Rapid 2014, 0-1}) 7... Bg4 8. e5 Nfd7
9. h5 $14 {Fridman-Hansen, 5th Blitz Marathon 2014, 1-0}) 7. d5 {[#]} e6 $6 {
Eric spent quite a bit of time on this move (I can't remember the exact amount,
but I think it was at least two-thirds (around an hour) of his remaining time).
I assume that he wanted to escape the tricky theory that accompanies this line,
especially if he did not remeber it too well. I think this moves gives me a
Benoni-type of structure and a bit of an advantage out of the opening, but it
makes sense he wants to get me out of my preparation and try to prove he is a
stronger player (even with a small disadvantage).} ({There are many tricky
variations in this opening, but just to give readers a taste here is one
sample of a main line} 7... b5 8. h5 O-O 9. hxg6 fxg6 10. e5 Ng4 11. d6 e6 12.
Nxb5 Qa5+ 13. Nc3 Nd7 14. Rxh7 $5 {where the position is very tactical and
unclear (if either side makes a little mistake, their position can crumble
very quickly).}) 8. Bxc4 exd5 9. exd5 O-O 10. O-O Bg4 11. Bf4 Nbd7 12. Qd3 Nb6
13. Nd2 Bf5 14. Qf3 Ng4 15. Qg3 Re8 16. Rad1 Nxc4 17. Nxc4 Nf6 {[#] I had
calculated the last several moves that were played (or similar variations) and
arrived at a position (or similar position) to this one. I was very happy with
my position because I consider getting a middle game position like this one
where I thought my pieces were very well placed against a 2600 GM, a success.
As well, I had a very sizeable time advantage on my opponent. With my next
move, I threw away my advantage and almost (probably should have) cost myself
the game.} 18. Nd6 $2 {I tried being too cheeky and missed a relatively simple
variation that would have forced me to make inferior exchanges (worse than
what happened in the game).} Nh5 19. Qf3 Qxh4 ({The move I had missed, which
he may have as well was after} 19... Nxf4 {I had intended to play} 20. Nxf5 $2
{but missed the relatively obvious move} Bxc3 {and after} 21. Qxf4 Be5 22. Nh6+
Kg7 23. Qg5 {I am basically lost. To salvage any chances I would have had to
play 20. Nxe8 instead, but after 20... Be5, my position again is not looking
very good, to be optimistic.}) 20. Nxe8 Rxe8 21. Bg3 Nxg3 22. Qxg3 Qxg3 23.
fxg3 {[#] This was a position I had calculated in my head, but mistakenly
underevaluated the strength of his bishop pair and pawn structure. I knew,
even up the exchange (R vs B and P), I would have to fight most likely for a
draw in an awkward and slightly inferior position for the rest of the game,
which I assumed would be very long and depressing, as he needed to grind me
down and win the game because of the aforementioned tournament standings.} Bd4+
24. Kh2 Rd8 25. Rf4 Be5 26. Rc4 b6 27. Rd2 h5 28. Ne2 Bd6 29. a4 Kg7 30. Kg1 a6
31. Kf2 b5 32. Rc1 {I probably played too passively the previous several moves,
but it is hard to see a plan to break through against his very well placed, and
very well coordinated pieces.} c4 33. axb5 axb5 {It appears that I am a couple
moves from being steamrolled by his bishops and pawns, but I had seen one move
that we both agreed afterwards was "in time" and gave me a fighting chance.}
34. b3 Bb4 (34... Bc5+ 35. Ke1 Be3 36. bxc4 bxc4 37. Rxc4 Bxd2+ 38. Kxd2 Rxd5+
{leads to a similar position that was arrived at in the game.}) 35. Rd4 Bc5 36.
bxc4 bxc4 37. Rcxc4 Rxd5 38. Rxc5 Rxc5 {Considering the previous positions, I
was rather happy to have a fighting chance for a draw, even though I
knew it would be very tough to hold, especially with our remaining times being
very similar (around 15 mins each).} 39. Rd2 Be4 40. Kg1 Kf6 41. Kh2 {[#] My
main plan was to create a bit of a fortress with my king on h2 and pawns on g2
and g3. My knight could defend on f4 and g1 if need be and my rook would stay
on the second rank to guard my weakness on g2. Again, I knew I still did not
have great position, but I figured there was a chance that this fortress type
set-up might be holdable. As well, I knew if I either traded off the rooks or
the knight for bishop, the game would end in a draw so that was my only other
real goal.} Bf5 42. Rb2 Kg5 43. Ng1 Rc3 44. Nf3+ Kf6 45. Rb6+ Kg7 46. Rb2 Be4
47. Ng5 Bd5 48. Rd2 Bc6 49. Rf2 Bd5 50. Rd2 Rc5 51. Nh3 Be6 52. Nf4 Bg4 53. Rb2
g5 54. Nd3 Rd5 55. Nf2 Bf5 56. Ra2 Rc5 57. Rd2 Rc3 58. Rb2 Kg6 59. Re2 g4 60.
Rb2 f6 61. Ra2 Be6 62. Re2 Bf5 63. Ra2 Re3 64. Nd1 Re1 65. Nf2 Rc1 66. Rb2 Bc2
67. Ra2 Kg5 $2 {Here, Eric made the mistake of losing all of his advantage.} ({
He can keep maneuvering after} 67... Bf5) 68. Ra5+ $1 Kg6 69. Rc5 Kh6 {[#]} 70.
Nd3 {This may have been a slightly longer way of drawing and may have let Eric
"off of the hook" as I could have kept the pressure on the c-file by playing
70. Rc7 and he would have had to be careful where he placed his King. I was in
a bit of time trouble though as making that many careful moves in long endgame
is not always obvious and needs some thinking time to make sure I don't
blunder. Therefore, I was relieved to see 70. Nd3 after a very long endgame
and was happy to take a draw any way I could.} Rd1 71. Rxc2 Rxd3 {This endgame
is a fairly easy draw as it is hard for him to make any progress with my rook
harassing his King and pawns.} 72. Rc5 Kg6 73. Ra5 Rd7 74. Rb5 Rg7 75. Ra5 Re7
76. Rb5 Re5 77. Rb8 Kf5 78. Rf8 Ra5 79. Re8 Re5 80. Rf8 Kg6 81. Rg8+ Kf7 82.
Rh8 Kg7 83. Rb8 Kf7 84. Rb6 Rd5 85. Ra6 Rd2 86. Rb6 Kg6 87. Rb5 Rd6 88. Ra5 Rd7
89. Rb5 Rh7 90. Rb8 Kg5 91. Rb5+ f5 92. Rb8 h4 93. Rg8+ Kf6 94. gxh4 Rxh4+ 95.
Kg3 Rh1 96. Rf8+ Ke6 97. Re8+ Kf7 98. Ra8 Re1 99. Kf4 Rf1+ {I think he was
satisfied enough that I proved I could draw the game after a 6+ hour grudge
match. I know neither side played perfectly, but it was my first ever result
in a classical over-the-board game with a GM (after two losses when I was
younger), and one that I will definitely remember.  Eric and I went on to win
our last round games, so I won the tournament outright with 4.5/5 and he tied
for second with 4/5 (one bye) with his friend David Zhou and Jose
Gonzalez-Cueto.  As a closing, I was fortunate to hang out with Eric (and
David) throughout the weekend and was very impressed with how nice and
respectful they were to everyone at the tournament and how they shared their
knowledge of chess with everyone. As I stated above, it is once in a blue moon
that a titled player (let alone a GM) comes to little Nova Scotia (and the
rest of the Maritimes) to play chess, so I wanted to thank them on behalf of
all the participants for coming out and creating a turnout and buzz in Nova
Scotia chess that has not been seen in quite some time.} 1/2-1/2

Category:

Not the Best of the Web features two competitions which ought to create some buzz, but bad internet presence makes them both evidence for the prosecution...

53rd Capablanca Memorial

May 9-19, 2018.
Havana, Cuba

The Elite tournament is a six-player double round robin. After 8 of 12 rounds the field, with the exception of the tail-ender, is in precise order of rating:

Samuel Shankland: (2701) 6
Aleksey Dreev: (2653) 5
David Anton Guijarro: (2646) 4.5
Aleksandr Rakhmanov: (2635) 3
Yusnel Alonso Bacallao: (2594) 3
Lazaro Bruzon: (2664) 2.5

Three Canadians are playing in the "Abierto" (Open) section:

GM Bator Sambuev: lost his first two games but has rolled back to 6/8.
IM Thanh Nha Duong: 4/8
Halldor Palsson: 2/8.

Unfortunately, Cuban internet is unreliable at best, and this makes it almost impossible to use the official site. Games can be followed elsewhere.

Homepage
http://torneocapablanca.inder.cu

Live Games
http://www.chessdom.com/53rd-capablanca-memorial/

Results
http://chess-results.com/fed.aspx?lan=1&fed=CUB

Women's World Championship Match

May 3-19, 2018.
Shanghai & Chongqing, China

The Women's World Championship is now contested annually, alternating between a knock-out tournament and a match between the knock-out winner and a Grand Prix-style qualifier. Current Champion Tan Zhongyi, who won the title at the 2017 Women's World Cup knock-out in Tehran, defends her title in a 10 game match against World #2 Ju Wenjun, who won the 2016-17 Grand Prix. After 9 games, Ju leads 5:4. The final round is May 18, with Tan needing to win with the Black pieces to force a playoff.

Unfortunately:

World #1 Hou Yifan refused to play in the women's Championship cycle due to the unpredictably changing schedule.
The original website for the event was 100% Chinese.

FIDE Site
http://china2018.fide.com/

Live Games (3am EST)
http://www.chessdom.com/womens-world-championship-match-2018/

Category:

You know it's going to be a monstrously strong tournament when five-time World Champion Vishy Anand is the bottom seed! Altibox Norway and Karpov Poikovsky are this week's Best of the Web...

Altibox Norway
May 27-June 4, 2018

A 10-player round-robin featuring 8 of the world's top 10:

Name	FIDE	Live Rank
Carlsen, Magnus	2843	1
Caruana, Fabiano	2822	2
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	2808	3
Ding, Liren	2791	4
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	2789	6
Karjakin, Sergey	2782	7
So, Wesley	2778	9
Nakamura, Hikaru	2769	10
Aronian, Levon	2764	12
Anand, Viswanathan	2760	15

Schedule

Blitz Tounament: May 27.
Round 1: May 28.
Rest days May 31, June 4.
Games start at 10:30am EST.

Homepage
http://norwaychess.no/en

Live Games

Homepage features free commentary by GM Simen Agdestein & Knut Skeie Solberg:
http://live.norwaychess.com/

Chessbrah'sGM Aman Hambleton, GM Eric Hansen, and special guest GM Yasser Seirawan provide commentary on their twich channel:
https://www.twitch.tv/chessbrah

chess24 has live commentary -- for premium members only -- GMs Jan Gustafsson & Peter Svidler:
https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/altibox-norway-chess-2018/1/1/1

19th Karpov Poikovsky International

May 27 - June 5, 2018

This 10-player single round-robin is put somewhat in the shade by the stars in Norway, but it also features some very strong players:

Name	FIDE	FED
Ian Nepomniachtchi	2751	RUS
Dmitry Jakovenko	2735	RUS
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	2707	IND
Vladimir Fedoseev	2706	RUS
Vladislav Artemiev	2704	RUS
Boris Gelfand	2695	ISR
Anton Korobov	2678	UKR
Vladislav Kovalev	2650	BLR
Emil Sutovsky	2647	ISR
Victor Bologan	2610	MOL

Amazingly, round 1 began with 100% decisive games.

Poikovsky is 100 km East of Khanty-Mansiysk -- almost 1/2 way across Russia and its 9 time zones, so games start at 6:00am EST.

Live Games (no commentary)
https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/poikovsky-2018

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Prize Fund : 1200$ !

How to register:

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