Archive for May 23rd, 2009

The YouTube “chess in film” compilation videos of Lucio Etruscas, which have received prominent notice from ChessBase and The New York Times, are definitely worth a look. If nothing else they present a high speed trivia challenge to the chess in film enthusiast — though it would be nice to have a filmography for each, and ChessBase will probably succeed in compiling that. Perhaps Bob Basala, author of Chess in the Movies, could help (see my reviews and discussion here, here and here).

The second stage of the ACP World Rapid saw Peter Svidler knocking out fellow-Russian
Alexander Grischuk with a win and a draw. Israeli GM Boris Gelfand went all
the way against Dmitry Jakovenko, defeating the Russian GM in the final Armageddon
game. The final starts at 12:00h and 18:00h on Sunday and will be broadcast
on Playchess. More lovely pictures in our second pictorial report.

Spanish GM Alexei Shirov defeated leader Magnus Carlsen of Norway in just 30 moves to take sole victory in the Sofia GM tournament. His performance: 2864. Carlsen was second, together with Veselin Topalov, who drew his final game against Chinese GM Wang Yue. Vassily Ivanchuk scored his first victory in this tournament against Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez. Final report.

This rapid chess knockout event, sponsored by the PIVDENNY
Bank and organised by the ACP,
has 16 grandmasters participating. It lasts from May 22 to 24 and is being staged
in the Odessa National Academy of Law. The prize fund is US $57,000. The games
last from 12 noon to 9 p.m. and are being broadcast on Playchess.com. We bring you a
first big pictorial report.

Another great event in the north-eastern Hungarian town of Miskolc. After playing Adams, Karpov, Kramnik and Carlsen in previous editions, this time Hungary’s top GM Peter Leko faces World Champion Vishy Anand in an eight-game rapid chess match in the beautiful National Theater, from June 2nd to 7th. We will bring you pictorial reports from Miskolc and live coverage of all the games.