Archive for June 19th, 2009

When you think of international chess it is unlikely that Scotland springs to mind. Steinitz, the future first World Champion, participated in an international tournament in Dundee 1867. After this promising start Scotland has rarely featured on the map for strong players. However this year’s Scottish Championship is a step in the right direction. Jonathan Grant, Director of Chess Scotland, explains how.

Top-class training for ambitious chess players – that is the recipe for
success of ChessBase Magazine. Star annotators like Anand, Aronian and Gelfand
explain their games,
leading experts present new opening ideas, and test your skill in
tactics, strategy and endgame.
Read about and order
CBM 130 or order the
CBM
taster + Anand DVD, or watch GM Karsten Müller’s
CBM 130 introduction.

At half-time in this double round robin the two oldest players are leading: Boris Gelfand, who defeated Alexei Shirov, when the latter blundered a pawn; and Vassily Ivanchuk, who profited from an error by his opponent Gata Kamsky. Ivanchuk and Shirov are leading at half-way time and have 3.5/5 points. Friday is a free day. GM commentary by Dorian Rogozenco.