Archive for June 9th, 2009

The sixteen-year-old winner of the 2009 Championship, with 8½/11 and
a near-2800 TPR, was undefeated and beat three of the four highest-rated players
in the tournament. In this week’s Playchess
lecture Dennis Monokroussos takes a first look at Ding’s chess, specifically
that the game that decided the championship: his win over Wang Hao. Be there to watch at 9 p.m. ET.

In a week the new issue of ChessBase Magazine will be shipping. The DVD includes
multimedia commentary by Vishy Anand and analyses by top players (Aronian, Gelfand,
Humpy). The 12 classical opening articles cover many surprise weapons, for instance
5.Nc5 against the Caro-Kann, or 4…Bb4 in the Scotch Game. Oder
CBM 130 now, or the CBM taster
with an Anand DVD, or read this preview.

The 2009 Chinese Championship was won by Ding Liren, an untitled 16-year-old, rated 2458, the youngest national champion ever. But Ding’s victory was overshadowed by the last-round default of his opponent, who was not seated at the board when the clocks were started. The only female contender, 15-year-old GM Hou Yifan, also lost a game by default when she arrived five seconds late for the start.