Archive for May 15th, 2009

Magnus Carlsen drew a pawn-up ending against Vassily Ivanchuk after 54 moves; Wang Yue and Alexei Shirov drew their game in 39 moves; and Leinier Dominguez survived a fierce attack by Veselin Topalov to draw for a third time, with the black pieces. Carlsen, Shirov and Wang lead with 2.0/3 point, followed by Dominguez with 1.5. Games and standings.

Musical chairs: the two round six leaders, Yury Shulman and Varuzhan Akobian, lost their games (to Alexander Onischuk and Hikaru Nakamura). Gata Kamsky beat three-time US champion Joel Benjamin, to join Onischuk and Nakamura at the top of the table. But wait: 17-year-old Robert Hess defeated Josh Friedel to join them at 5.0/7 points. Report with great pictures by Betsy Dynako.

It is larger than Hamburg and richer than Bill Gates. The Adriatic country that is now Slovenia was at various times part of a dozen empires and states. Today it is a fully integrated European country. And the gracious host of the Mitropacup invitational team championship 2009, where the Hungarian men are in the lead, and both Slovenian teams dominating the women’s section. Illustrated report.

Six months ago the Indian financial metropolis was hit by a brutal terror attack, which accounted for nearly 200 casualties. It is very difficult to overcome such a trauma, but the city of Mumbai has a unique “Never-Say-Die” spirit to bounce back. And so it hosted the second editon of the Mumbai Mayor’s International Chess Tournament, with a record 18,500 Euros prize fund. Slumdog report.