The week in review
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
The 46th edition of Cuba’s most prestigeous tournament came to an end just the other day and saw Ukraine superstar Ivanchuk edge out on tie-break Vietnam’s Le , thanks to a last round victory of this latter.
The 46th edition of Cuba’s most prestigeous tournament came to an end just the other day and saw Ukraine superstar Ivanchuk edge out on tie-break Vietnam’s Le , thanks to a last round victory of this latter.
Ivanchuk was a bit lucky to win against Le (who could have drawn at several points), but by doing so he managed to win the tournament on tie-break.
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Meanwhile, in the ‘premier’ section, Toronto’s Mark Bluvshtein and Peru’s Emilio Cordova tied for first place with 6 points each (out of 9 games), with Cordova narrowly edging out Mark in tie-break. Congrats to both players! Mark was top rated in the event.
This tournament is the second excellent result in as many events in recent months for the Canadian. Mark qualified for the World Cup in Mexico last month, also tieing for first place. These results should push his FIDE elo above 2600, becoming only the 2nd Canadian to have achieved this.
Mark Bluvshtein (born 20 April 1988, in Yaroslavl, Russia) is a Russian-born Canadian chess player, a Grandmaster, who resides in Canada. He became the youngest Canadian International Grandmaster (GM) ever in 2004, at the age of 16, having become an International Master (IM) at the age of 13. (wiki)
Mark has a solid position, typical of the Berlin defence, but no more. The question is how to beat a weaker player starting from this position. Mark answers this question by advancing his h-pawn, creating some problems that his opponent tripped over. A nice win!
POSITION AFTER 23 MOVES(23…h5!?)
BLUVSHTEIN
ESPINOSA
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Our man in Kazan
www.calgarychess.com
4th Calgary International Chess Classic
A FLASH FROM THE PAST
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Our man in Kazan
The finals of the Candidates began last Thursday between Grischuk and Gelfand. The best of 6 regulation tme games to decide who will play against Anand next summer for the World Title. Neither player was a favourite to have gotten this far, but what do the fans really know about chess? In football–a much more serious game than chess–the fans are always right, even when they are wrong.
The reader already knows my opinion on this match. Both players are great players and have chances. I believe who ever wins this match will win against Anand (but not without a tough fight!), but that the Russian born Alexander Grischuk is the favourite to win in Kazan.
After some boring and listless chess in the matches against Aronian and Kramnik, it appears that Grischuk has finally found his confidence and is starting to get ambitious. No doubt just beginning to realize what he had achieved by beating both Aronian and Kramnik, how can this man not believe he is the strongest player in the world at this moment in time? In the first 2 games against Gelfand, Grischuk had some serious winning chances. It rests to see what happens today (Grischuk has Black), and whether Gelfand will be able to reduce the growing momentum of the Russian superstar.
The official match website contains a lot of interesting material, and you can find great analysis at Chess In Translation. As well , LIVE coverage is available here
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4th Calgary International Chess Classic
From May 19th through May 23rd, the Calgary Chess Club will be hosting the Calgary International Chess Classic. Now in it’s 4th year, the Calgary International provides a unique opportunity for Alberta’s strongest players to meet high caliber competition from around the world and compete for prize money and perhaps an IM norm. In 2009 and 2010, Calgary’s Eric Hansen–2011 co-Canadian Champion– performed very well and earned IM norms in both events. His norm in 2010 earned him the IM title.
It is nice to see how active Alberta chess has become in recent times. While the CFC is always crying buckets of tears while making all sorts of excuses for not doing anything for elite chess in Canada, the Calgary Chess Association and the Alberta Chess Association are showing that all it takes is dedicated people to get the job done! Congrats to everyone involved!
The games can be followed LIVE at this link
______________________________________________________________________A FLASH FROM THE PAST
Cory Evans – Chess Master • The United States kindergarten chess champion said, ‘There was over five thousand million kids in the tournament.’ The son of IM Larry D. Evans, Cory became famous in 1992 and appeared on Leno’s TV program. The original news article no doubt got the ball rolling, but the video is great entertainment!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q73Tiwl7m24]
MEANWHILE, CORY GREW UP AND AWAY FROM CHESS…
MEANWHILE, CORY GREW UP AND AWAY FROM CHESS…
Cory ,like many children of famous chess-dads, never really took to the game as he matured. He achieved a 2140 FIDE rating (link) and gave up competiton for many years. He has only recently started to play again…Cory is today a well adjusted adult with a FACEBOOK page worth exploring