Gold for Socar and Batumi at ECC, Anand wins Bilbao Masters
Posted by Webmaster on 29 September 2014

European Club CupBig favourite Socar from Azerbaijan confirmed this evening all the predictions, getting the overall European title this evening on the last day of Bilbao Chess 2014. Batumi from Georgia surprised those present by winning the women’s European title, even if they were not initially regarded as strong candidates.

Socar started out as favourite owing to the strong lineup with which they were participating in this year’s European Club Cup, including Topalov and Mamedyarov, two of the world’s top 10 players.

The Bilbao Chess 2014 honour roll was completed at the Grand Slam Masters Final with five-times world champion Viswanathan Anand’s victory. As well as getting the title, the Indian player did his personal best ever in the five times he took part in the Bilbao competition. However, he lost his last game against Aronian, the reigning champion until this evening. With this victory at the Masters Final, Anand, who is also preparing for the World Championship rematch against Magnus Carlsen, who took the title away from him a few months ago, adds to his résumé the one title that was missing so far. The Bilbao Grand Slam Masters Final is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world, as well as one of the few in reaching level 22, the highest in terms of competitive quality in the chess sphere. Vallejo got his first victory today, this time over Ponomariov.

During the Bilbao Chess 2014 closing ceremony, Bilbao mayor Ibon Areso handed over the trophy and medals to the new European champion. Socar thus replaces Czech G-Team Novy Bor, who surprisingly won the title last year in Rhodess. Gabino Martínez de Arenaza, Provincial Director of Tourism and Foreign Trade, proclaimed Anand winner of the Bilbao Masters Final 2014.

The Indian Grandmaster succeeds his opponent today, Levon Aronian, in the Masters Final title. Aronian has won the title twice, the last one in 2013, just like number 1 in the world ranking and reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen. The list of winners includes Veselin Topalov from Bulgary, who won the first edition back in 2008 (and was also proclaimed winner with Socar in the teams tournament), and his great rival and “worst enemy” Vladimir Kramnik from Russia, who won in 2010.

Players with the best performances on individual boards were also awarded. In the women’s section, the prizes went to Hou Yifan (board 1), Alexandra Kosteniuk (board 2), Anastasia Savina (board 3) and Marina Guseva (board 4). In the Open section, the prizes went to Fabiano Caruana (board 1), Veselin Topalov (board 2), Harikrishna Pentala (board 3), Anish Giri (board 4), Teimour Radjabov (board 5) and Mateusz Bartel (board 6).

The Bilbao Chess 2014 gathered the world chess elite in Bilbao between 14 and 20 September. Participating were 9 of today’s top 10 players in the world and most of the world’s best grandmasters, divided in 60 teams coming from 30 European countries.

/ taken from www.ecuonline.net /

See detailed results of 2014 European Club Cup: men and women

See all-time statistics: men and women

 
 

 

 






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Czech Team Championship
Posted by Webmaster on 3 September 2014
Czech Rep. Chess UnionChess life in Czechoslovakia was substantial to the development of the game in Central Europe from the very beginning. During the Mid-War period (1919-1939) the Czechoslovak team was one of World's strongest to win no less than two Olympiad medals, led by phenomenal Salo Flohr, who later sought asylum in the Soviet Union. There was no national team championship and the Czechoslovak series commenced only in 1947. Vítkovické železárny (Vitkovice Steel Factory) won the 8 team round robin. There were 46 editions all in all until the ultimate disintegration of the state in 1993. Most wins were recorded by Slavoj Vyšehrad (7x) and Dynamo Prague (6x). Only three titles of 46 were taken by Slovak sides (Slovan Bratislava in 1963 and 1970; Lokomotiva Trnava in 1986). Major successes in team competitions include bronze medal at the European Team Championship in 1957 and silver medal at the Chess Olympiad in Lucerne in 1982.

Once the country split into Czech Republic and Slovakia the leagues part their was too. Of 14 sides from last Czechoslovak league the Czech teams were dominant at 10 to 4. The newly created Czech Extraliga (Česká šachová extraliga) was a 10-team round robin and this format has been kept until today (in 1995 the league was enlarged to 12 teams). The league is usually played in six weekend sessions from late autumn until April. Two bottom teams are relegated to respective second level divisions. Interestingly, much weaker women's league is open for Czech and Slovak teams.

This strong competition saw variety of top players, including grandmasters Dreev, Harikrishna, Wojtaszek, Ponomariov, Rogers, Sasikiran, Shirov and more. Most successful teams are Rapid Pardubice, Lokomotiva Brno, earlier DA Prague and A64 Grygov. Least but not last, Novy Bor team, scoring six league wins to have dominated the league from 2007. Under the flag of their sponsor, the G-Team company, they won bronze medal at the 2011 European Club Cup and finally rallied to a sensational win in Greece in 2013, ahead of a peleton of extremaly strong Russian teams.

Statistics 1992-2013:

  • most individual appearances: 22 (all) - GM Babula, IM Biolek, IM Čech, GM Hráček, GM Jansa, GM Jirovský, IM Konopka, IM Neděla, IM Rašík, GM Velička, GM Votava
  • most individual medals: GM Hráček (11-7-3), GM Cvek (10-6-1), GM Kalod (9-4-2), GM Láznička (8-1-0)
  • most individual points: GM Votava 135.5
  • most individual games: IM Rašík 224 (of 236 theoretically possible)
  • best percentage (min.30 games): GM Bartel 23.5/32 = 73.4%


See Czech Extraliga summary 1992-2013

See all-time Czech Extraliga statistics





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Tromsø Chess Olympiad: China and Russia claim gold!
Posted by Webmaster on 15 August 2014
Tromsø Chess Olympiad logoThe leaders in both divisions turned up looking confident, the Russian women in particular, who were dressed for success, giving off a celebratory air.

The Chinese men's team was energetic on the board, and they looked intent on guaranteeing themselves the long coveted gold medal, Liren Ding and Yangyi Yu hitting fast and hard on boards two and three. Ding put China ahead in the third hour, and a 3-1 win and Olympiad gold at last seemed just a matter of time.
And so it proved! China could settle their nerves as Ding Liren's board two win over Grzegorz Gajewski was followed by draws on top and bottom boards. The one remaining game was an absolutely unloseable bishops of opposite colors ending where hot man Yangyi Yu had all the chances and eventually brought home the bacon to give the majestic Chinese men's team a first Olympiad gold.

'Blocker' Yue Wang neutralized every tough first board player he met but Peter Leko - and this was the team's only individual loss of the event. The rest of the team was in magnificent form. Rumor had it that a win by Yu in the last round would put him over the magic 2700 barrier - after 10 rounds he had 8.5/10 and a 2902 performance.

Hungary's hopes for silver looked to be dimming, after drawing both White games - they had uphill battles against the Ukraine on the remaining two boards.
All of the matches between medal candidates were open, but the USA had some setbacks - first board Nakamura appeared to be losing against Azerbaijan, and their 'bottom gun', Sam Shankland, could not convert an advantage against Eltaj Safarli on board four - this result means that the US GM had to 'settle' for a final personal score of 9/10.


India supporters noted that the not completely outlandish combination of a China win, draws in the Russia-France and Azerbaijan-USA matches, and an Indian win over Uzbekistan would bring them a medal. The first part quickly looked plausible, and the other matches were predictably close and tense.
Armenia-Czech Republic was a tough last round match with a heavyweight battle on first board. Both teams had hopes for a better result in Tromsø, and although Levon Aronian ended the event with a powerful win over David Navara he was far from satisfied.

The Russian women did not open as strongly as the Chinese men, and the matches in the women's section were still up for grabs in the third hour of play, with Bulgaria definitely having chances to produce the most dramatic of last round upsets against the leaders.


Alexandra Kosteniuk always looked like delivering a full point for the leaders, but the Bulgarians had good winning chances on the top two boards. GM Valentina Gunina conjured up a winning attack from a not completely convincing position on board two to seize control of the match for Russia, and when the bottom board was drawn the first official team medals of the event were recorded.

The chasing Chinese had their hands full with the third seeds, Ukraine, but gradually took over the initiative on the middle boards in a match that’s still too close to call.


Elsewhere the Germans were locked in a sharp battle with 4th seeds Georgia, but their chances to leap into the medals list looked grim as they had uphill climbs on several boards, and Georgia drew first blood with a win on second board from IM Lela Javakhishvili.

Chess Olympiad official Website

Photo gallery

Full OlimpBase data and stats coming soon...





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33rd Mitropa Cup in Slovakia
Posted by Webmaster on 2 June 2014
Mitropa Cup 2014Ružomberok, the city in central Slovakia, hosted the 33rd games of the annual Mitropa Cup: the chess tournament for Central European nations. While most federations decided to focus on promoting promising young players, the tournament enjoys wide interest and participation of many strong GMs. The permanent member of the cycle are Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland. Poland are reserves and receive invitation in case somebody is missing.

In Open division Hungary, top seeds, took final win beating Germany by 2.5 to 1.5 in the decisive match of last round. GM Acs sealed his team's win in a nice ending vs IM Heimann to conclude with excellent 8/9. While Germany took silver, the home side Slovakia came in third (GM Michalik 7.5/9). Newcomers Poland led by 16-year old prodigy GM Duda finished in 7th.

Italy comfortably won (as usual) women's contest even though they lost to runners-up Germany 0.5-1.5 in round 8. While Austria were third, Hungary's 4th place was taken with 7 draws out of 9 rounds! Hungary's second board Melinda Varga scored 7.5/9 only to see her team-mate struggling at 1.5/9.

WIM Osmandoja of Germany in Women's tournament and GM Acs of Hungary scored 8/9 - top individual results.

See tournament website: http://mitropa.sachrbk.sk

Detailed results of 2014 Mitropa Cup: open and women
Mitropa Cup all-time summary: open and women
Mitropa Cup all-time statistics: open and women





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China grabs Asian Nations double
Posted by Webmaster on 1 June 2014
Irani Chess FederationThe Asian Nations Cup for men and women took place from 20th to 30th May, 2014 in the city of Tabriz, Iran. The event was open to all chess federations in FIDE zones 3.1 to 3.7.

The Asian Nations Cup for men was a 10 team round-robin Team Championship, where each team consisted of 4 players plus 1 reserve. China and India shared first place with 16 points each, but China emerged winner on superior tie-break score. Vietnam, with the 2013 World blitz champion GM Le Quang Liem at the head, took the bronze with 14 points, leaving the nearest contender Kazakhstan 2 points behind.

The Asian Nations Cup for women was played in 5 rounds. The teams consisted of the same number of players (4+1), as the Men’s Section. The last round of the event was crucial. The top seeded team of China crushed Kazakhstan 4:0 to claim the gold with total 15 points. Meanwhile, India couldn’t overplay the local team of Iran and finished equal 2:2 after the more experienced IM Eesha Karavade lost against the young talented Iranian WIM Mitra Hejazipour. Thus India remained second with 13 points, while the team of Iran deservedly grabbed the bronze with 10.5 points.

As blitz championship was introduced back in 2012, this time six sets of medals were prepare: 2 for standard time control, 2 for rapid (new!) and two for blitz. In open section Kazakshtan beat China in the final (!) while China grabbed blitz honours ahead of India. Mighty Chinese female squad easily took gold medals in rapid competition, yet were eliminated in the semifinal of the blitz. India then beat Vietnam in the final.

See tournament website: http://an2014.ircf.ir

Detailed results of 2014 Asian Team Championship: open and women
Asian Team Chess Championship all-time summary: open and women
Asian Team Chess Championship all-time statistics: open and women

Details from rapid and blitz competition taken from chess-results.com
Open - rapid: preliminaries and play-offs
Open - blitz: preliminaries and play-offs
Women - rapid: preliminaries and play-offs
Women - blitz: preliminaries and play-offs

Asian Team Championship 2014 medal table:
1. China        4 gold - 1 silver - 1 bronze
2. India 1 gold - 4 silver - 0 bronze
3. Kazakhstan 1 gold - 0 silver - 1 bronze
4. Vietnam 0 gold - 1 silver - 4 bronze
5. Iran A 0 gold - 0 silver - 3 bronze
6. Iran B 0 gold - 0 silver - 1 bronze


/ based on news from chessdom.com /





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Chinese Chess League (中国国际象棋联赛)
Posted by Webmaster on 24 February 2014
Chinese Chess League European variant of chess (国际象棋 in Chinese) has never been as popular in China as xiangqi, the chess-related game derived from ancient chaturanga. Even though Chinese players had international contacts as early as in 1950s (see "Four unknown international matches China-USSR" for details), the game was banned during the first eight years of the Cultural Revolution. The political thaw allowed chess be played freely in late 1970s. China participated in the 1978 Olympiad and finished in impressive 20th. A memorable Chinese immortal was played then, when obscure Chinese player Liu Wenzhe steamrolled over GM Donner in 20 moves. Chess in China became more and more popular since then, a lot of extremely players appeared, and China women's team won gold Olympic medal as much as four times, while men's selection took silver in 2006. Four Chinese became women's World Champions: Xie Jun, Zhu Chen, Xu Yuhua and Hou Yifan. Ye Rongguang became China's first grandmaster in 1990, and Bu Xiangzhi became World's youngest GM at 13 years back in 1999.

The all-China team competition was established in 2005 and is played on yearly basis. It is called the National Chess League (中国国际象棋联赛) administered by Chinese Chess Association. The format is simple yet powerful: 12 (formerly 10) city/province teams compete in the double round robin tournament. Each match is played on five boards, of which two are women's duels. One selected game per match is rapid. The league usually takes off in late March and lasts until December. Teams are usually named after their primary commercial sponsors.

Though little attention is paid to the ChCL in Europe, it is actually extremely strong and fascinating event. It features many 2700+ grandmasters on regular basis including domestic stars Wang Hao, Wang Yue, Ding Liren, Bu Xiangzhi as well as a bunch of foreign players: Ivanchuk, Ponomariov, Malakhov, Short, Jobava, Motylev, Humpy, Yakovenko, Bologan and many, many more. Strongest teams come from Beijing, Shanghai and Shandong. ChCL is broadly covered live by its governing body, unfortunately only in Chinese: http://www.qipai.org.cn. Badly enough, ChCL managers have not yet discovered that putting together PGN files helps the games be saved for future generations, so ca. 45% games are missing, even from recent years.

Please note: We did our best to provide best quality data and struggled to finally recover every game, every match from the very beginning. However, since there are virtually no credible non-Chinese sources, there may be minor discrepancies; some translations may be awkward or even nonsence. If you are familiar with Chinese chess or you are native Chinese speaker please consider supporting our project. Thank you.

Chinese Chess League 2013 results

Chinese Chess League 2005-2013 summary

Chinese Chess League all-time statistics





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