Nigel Comes Up Short

Nigel Short broke his 5 game winning streak yesterday with a loss against Vassily Ivanchuk. The result leaves Nigel 1/2 point off the pace set by Ivanchuk at 5.5/6. In today's 7th round, both players earned draws leaving Ivanchuck in the lead, but putting Short just behind in the pack for second with 5 other players. The 2011 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival will go 3 more rounds, ending on Thursday.





Ten American players are making a showing at the tournament. Ray Robson turned in this win for the USA in round 6.

Winning Interviews

Thanks to Chess Vibes and EuropeEchecs for these post-tournament interviews with Hikaru Nakamura and others.

Nakamura Excels

Hikaru Nakamura cruised to a draw against Wang Hao and achieved an impressive win at Wijk ann Zee. This is no doubt a peak of his career to this point. Surely he must be accepted as a real competitor among the best of the players on the world stage today. What an honor for me to have seen Hikaru in Indianapolis and then to have met him in St. Louis.

Post Mortem Please

Coaches such as Dan Heisman recommend analyzing your own games as a critical technique for improving your game. Though you can usually learn more from your losses, I've decided to spare myself the embarassment today by posting my best effort at analyzing one of my recent wins.

Nakamura Puts It in Neutral and Retains a 1/2 Point Lead

Hikaru Nakamura needed just 20 moves to convince Vladimir Kramnik to shake hands, staying 1/2 point ahead of Anand.



Vishy Anand had to work a bit harder to earn his draw with Giri.



Carlsen took advantage of the white pieces and handed a loss to Wang Hao, keeping within a point of the leader along with Lev Aronian.

Nakamura Puts It in Overdrive

Hikaru Nakamura grabbed a win with the black pieces and took clear first at Wijk aan Zee after 11 rounds. Thanks to Chess Vibes for this video of Hikaru showing this go-ahead win. The full gamescore follows.

Nakamura and Anand Rise to the Top

Hikaru and Vishy both won their games today to tighten their grip on the tournament lead at Wijk aan Zee. Lev Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik were held to draws with the black pieces and fell back 1/2 point. Carlsen dropped a point with the white pieces against Nepomniachtchi to fall back into the pack.

Nepomniachtchi Knocks Out Carlsen in the 10th Round

Four Share the Lead at Wijk aan Zee

Hikaru Nakamura and Vishy Anand drew to allow Lev Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik to join them at the top after winning their games. Magnus Carlsen is now just 1/2 point off the lead after he drew with a Berlin Defense of the Ruy Lopez against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Here's the score:

Knights of Ni

Ok, I'll admit it. When I got an invitation to play chess for a team named Knights of Ni I had to google it. My only excuse for not knowing this trivia is that I must not have had a sufficiently misspent youth. But from now on you can just call me 'Board 4'. I'm about to get my chance to try Team 4545 league play on the ICC.

The idea of the league is appealing. Firstly, it's team play, so you aren't out there by yourself. Secondly, the time controls are G/45 with a 45 second increment: real actual chess. And thirdy, games are arranged to try to suit the schedules of each player. And playing the games on ICC means no traveling to play, no need to keep a scoresheet, and no need to slam a clock.

OK fine. So I'm not playing in the USCL with Nakamura, Shulman, and Finegold for the St. Louis Archbishops. But a guy's gotta start somewhere, right?

The Berlin Wall: Before and After

Here are two interesting game scores for fans of the Berlin Defense in the Ruy Lopez which I found on The Bishop's Bounty, a great resource even though no longer active. The first features Kentucky's own Jackson Showalter against Harry Nelson Pillsbury and is annotated here. The second is particularly timely in that it features a performance by thirteen year old Hou Yifan, who has recently become the Women's World Champion at sixteen. In this game, she defeats a previous challenger for the (Men's, so far) World Championship, Nigel Short. It was featured with full annotations in a column for the Washington Post by Lubomir Kavalek.





It seems fitting that the earliest game at Chessgames.com for this opening was played in Berlin. Look here for a further bibliography on this opening.

Carlsen Beats Nakamura, Hikaru and Vishy Tied

Thanks to Chessbase for video analysis by Daniel King.

Capablanca and Euwe

How very cool that SonofPearl (Ryan Emmet) at  Chess.com pointed me to this great video featuring both Jose Raul Capablanca and Dr. Max Euwe! I believe they are discussing the Alekhine vs. Euwe match for the world championship. October is mentioned, but both the 1935 and 1937 matches began in October, so I'm not sure which match. I'd have to guess the 1935 match (presumably upcoming at the time of the videeo) since I didn't hear Euwe referred to as the world champion.