Publisher: New In Chess, 2008
Edition: Magazine ISBN: 978-90-5691-217-8 Pages: 106 Language: English
Khanty-Mansiysk - The Return of the Jedi
Moscow: Russian Super Final
Ivanchuk's Third Win in Merida
Vallejo Consolidates in Pamplona
Rowson’s Reviews
Heaven and Hell in Hastings
Jan Timman on World Cup finalists
Kasparov's column
NIC’S Café
Your Move
The Return of the Jedi For the second time the town of Khanty-Mansiysk in what was once Russia’s Wild East hosted the World Cup. A total of 128 players were welcomed with warm Siberian hospitality, although they may also have wondered why they were once again competing in this distant out-of-the-way place where there’s hardly any interest in chess. At the end of seven gruelling rounds none other than Gata Kamsky defeated Alexey Shirov in the final to win the 120,000 dollar first prize and to gain the right to play a match against Veselin Topalov. Misha Savinov watched the action from the bustling first rounds right through to the lonely final and gives a blow-by-blow account of a survival race that ended with an epic comeback.
An Unpredictable Genius Thanks to six wins in a row (an unprecedented record) Alexander Morozevich won the Super Final of the Russian Championship, another prominent event to be held at the Central Chess Club in Moscow. What epithet befits the new champion, Evgeny Atarov wonders. Brilliant, explosive, talented, erratic? All apply, but more than anything else Morozevich is unpredictable.
Ivanchuk Third Win in Merida Once again Vasily Ivanchuk triumphed in the Torre Memorial, the Mexican ‘Wimbledon of chess’ in honour of the country’s greatest player ever.
Fertile Training Ground Last December Mark Dvoretsky celebrated his 60th birthday. To honour the world-famous Russian trainer we bring you a special article by the master himself.
Vallejo Consolidates in Pamplona For the 17th time the city of Pamplona in the Province of Navarra in the North of Spain organized an international tournament in the final week of the year. Quite aptly, the main event, which was won by local favourite Paco Vallejo, was a category 17 round-robin. As always our reporter Alexander Beliavsky contributed his share of fighting chess.
Zhenya’s Legs As Jonathan Rowson keeps on reading there’s every reason to keep on reading him!
Heaven and Hell in Hastings One point behind the three winners of the 83rd Hastings Congress, Danny Gormally finished in shared tenth place. In a highly personal account the English grandmaster blames the high number of draws he played on his ‘zero preparation’ policy and his indolence. ‘Botvinnik would be spinning in his dacha if he glimpsed the total extent of my laziness.’
Young Heroes Bow to Experience Jan Timman takes a closer look at the route that Gata Kamsky and Alexey Shirov took to the final of the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk.
Progressive Paranoia From London to Elista, Evgeny Bareev’s and Ilya Levitov’s inside account of Kramnik’s three world championship matches, made Hans Ree realize that his own time as a second was bliss. Now that perfection has become the norm, the seconds go through hell.
Old and New Trends We’re delighted that Garry Kasparov is back to present his view on recent events and developments! ‘Perhaps I am biased, but we should also allocate time to appreciating the veterans who are still playing great chess despite growing a little soft in the middle.’
Just Checking Guess what’s Danny Gormally’s greatest fear?
Did they play your opening?
In this issue games with the following openings were annotated by world class players:
Sicilian Carlsen-Dominguez, by Carlsen Karjakin-Alekseev, by Karjakin Svidler-Morozevich, by Kuzmin Amonatov-Timofeev, by Amonatov Kamsky-Shirov, by Shipov Kamsky-Adly, by Timman Shirov-Karjakin, by Timman Kamsky-Ponomariov, by Shipov
French Shirov-Shulman, by Timman
Petroff Kamsky-Carlsen, by Timman Ivanchuk-Harikrishna, by Ivanchuk
Ruy Lopez Shirov-Yakovenko, by Timman Macieja-Radjabov, by Macieja
Italian Game Khamrakulov-Vallejo, by Vallejo
Slav Onischuk-Shirov, by Shipov Beliavsky-Rodshtein, by Beliavsky
Nimzo-Indian Carlsen-Adams, by Carlsen Wang Yue-Movsesian, by Beliavsky
King's Indian Wang Yue-Cheparinov, by Cheparinov
Queen's Pawn Harikrishna-Ivanchuk, by Harikrishna
English Opening Tomashevsky-Svidler, by Tomashevsky
