Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Last bulletin

Bulletin 1 / Bulletin 2 / Bulletin 3 / Bulletin 4 / Bulletin 5 [pdf-files]
Kristiansund Grand Prix, round 1-6 (pgn, 16 games)
Arctic Securities, games (pgn, 16 games)
Video reports by Vijay Kumar: Day 1 / Day 2

Note that the links have changed.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Carlsen wins Arctic Securities Chess Challenge

Results of the finals
Polgar - Hammer 1/2-1/2
Carlsen - Anand 1-0
Hammer - Polgar 1-0
Anand - Carlsen 1/2-1/2

Final standings
1. Magnus Carlsen
2. Viswanathan Anand
3. Jon Ludvig Hammer
4. Judit Polgar

Kristiansund Grand Prix, round 1-6 (pgn, 16 games)
Arctic Securities, games (pgn, 16 games)

In today's bulletin (#4) you can find the annotated games from the second day of Arctic Securities Chess Stars. The games from the last day will be annotated in bulletin 5, which will be out during the tuesday.
Bulletin 1 / Bulletin 2 / Bulletin 3 / Bulletin 4 [pdf-files]

Video reports by Vijay Kumar: Day 1 / Day 2



Carlsen thinking in his game against Anand, which he won.


Carlsen i deep concentration before the game, while Anand just wonders what's happening.


Hammer has a lot of reasons to smile. Here against Polgar in the first game of the bronze final.


Carlsen and Anand explaing their game at a press conference.


All players at another press conference.


The players and Aage Sivertsen at the prize ceremony.


Kamilla made the first move of the tournament.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Arctic Securities Chess Stars, day 2

Round 4
Hammer - Anand 0-1
Carlsen - Polgar ½-½

Round 5
Hammer - Carlsen 1-0
Anand - Polgar 1-0

Round 6
Polgar - Hammer ½-½
Carlsen - Anand ½-½

Final standings:
1. Anand 5 / 6
2. Carlsen 3½ / 6
3. Hammer 2 / 6
4. Polgar 1½ / 6

Tomorrow there will be a final and bronze final. Carlsen starts with white against Anand, and Polgar with white against Hammer. The games start at 14.00 and 15.40.

Live games at http://chessbomb.com/o/2010-arctic/

Games day 1-2

Emanuel Berg wins Kristiansund Grand Prix 2010

Final standings.
It was a close finish, where the first prize changed several times during the last hour. In the end the Swede Emanuel Berg had the best tiebreak. Six of the top nine players came from Sweden.


Vladimir Georgiev (2nd), Emanuel Berg (1st) and Evgeny Romanov (3rd).


Mats Peter Henøen (3rd), Øyvind Hoem Vaseng (1st) and Olav Skjetnemark (2nd).


Last round with Nils Grandelius, Emanuel Berg, Joachim Thomasson, Tiger Hillarp and Tore Kolås.



Johannes Haug was one of the happy prize winners. There were many books and chess boards signed by Polgar, Carlsen, Anand, Hammer and Kosteniuk.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Games

Kristiansund Grand Prix, round 1-5 (14 games)
Arctic Securities, round 1-3 (6 games)

In today's bulletin you can find the games from Arctic Securities Chess Stars annotated.
Bulletin 1 / Bulletin 2 / Bulletin 3 [pdf-files]

Results round 5

Standings
Pairings

GM Evgeny Romanov, who started with a draw, won both games today and is now alone on 5½/6. He is followed by GM Nils Grandelius, GM Emanuel Berg, GM Vladimir Georgiev, FM Joachim Thomassen, Johan Salomon and Nils-Åke Malmdin. In the last round tomorrow 09.30 Romanov-Grandelius is first board.

In the B-group Olav Skjetnemark won again and has secured at least shared first prize.

Aryan Tari, Lars Oskar Hauge, Johan Salomon and Johannes Haug, five young players who surprises round after round.

Arctic Securities Chess Stars, day 1



Standings
1-2. Magnus Carlsen & Viswanathan Anand 2½ / 3
3-4. Jon-Ludvig Hammer & Judit Polgar ½ / 3

Results
Polgar - Carlsen 0-1
Anand - Hammer 1-0
Carlsen - Hammer 1-0
Polgar - Anand 0-1
Anand - Carlsen ½-½
Hammer - Polgar ½-½

All games will be annotated tonight. The bulletin will be published on this blog tomorrow morning.
The event is played in Caroline Kino.
Anand-Hammer
Polgar-Carlsen. The game was "skummelt" according to Carlsen. A translation to english is not really possible.

The first game between Carlsen and Anand ended in a draw. Tomorrow they play with reversed colours, and it's very likely that they play in the final on monday as well.

Results round 4

All games at the podium (top 6) were decisive at today's first round. GM Romanov, GM Berg, GM Grandelius and Kolås shares first place with 3½/4. If both top games are decisive in round five, it will be an clear final in tommorow's last round.
In the B-group Olav Skjetnemark, the player who won in two moves in the first round, is alone at first place with perfect score, 4/4. He is chased by seven players, one point behind.

One of the spectators.


Hillarp (to the right) had a promising position against Grandelius, but miscalculated when he sacrifised a piece and lost.

Arctic Securities Chess Stars, pairings

Saturday
Opening (13.30)
Round 1 (14.30): Polgar-Carlsen, Anand-Hammer
Round 2 (16.00): Polgar-Anand, Carlsen-Hammer
Round 3 (17.30): Anand-Carlsen, Hammer-Polgar
Sunday
Round 4 (14.30): Carlsen-Polgar, Hammer-Anand
Round 5 (16.00): Anand-Polgar, Hammer-Carlsen
Round 6 (17.30): Carlsen-Anand, Polgar-Hammer
Monday
Finals & bronze finals (14.00)

Arctic Securities Chess Stars - Live on web-tv
LIVE FROM SATURDAY: CARLSEN - ANAND - POLGAR - HAMMER

Follow the matches on Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (Norsk Rikskringkasting - NRK) website - Live coverage through several video cameras.
Watch Anand, Carlsen, Polgar and Hammer live on web-tv http://bit.ly/chessnrk
The transmission starts 14:30, Saturday and Sunday. 14.00 the finals on Monday (UTC/GMT +2 hours).
NRK consists of three main TV channels, three main radio channels, several niche channels on the radio, the Internet, podcast and mobile phone. NRK is Norways largest media company.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Results round 3

A lot happened during the second day. FM Joachim Thomasson, who has already qualified for the IM-title, is first with 3/3. In round 4 he plays GM Evgeny Romanov, who is shared second after having won an interesting game against GM Vladimir Georgiev.

GM Alexandra Kosteniuk had a tough game, losing two endgames against swedish players. Both games are annotated in the bulletin.

Standings: Group A / Group B
Pairings: Group A / Group B

Games: Day 1 (7 games) / Day 2 (4 games)

Bulletin: Day 1 / Day 2



Stenersen, Sivertsen & Hillarp on a boat trip to Grip. Photo: TW Hoem
Aage Sivertsen sings (!) for the players.

Results round 2

Standings: Group A / Group B
Pairings: Group A / Group B

Games: Round 1 (7 games)

Viswanathan Anand & Magnus Carlsen have arrived. Today they had some promotional activities, handing out chess boards at the local schools.


Torstein Bae will do commentary on Anand & Carlsen.

Anders Olsen is the strongest player living in Kristiansund. He was lucky to win on time in the second round.


Vegard Simensen is a big talent. In the first round he blundered in the time trouble and lost.


Emanuel Berg playing Alexandra Kosteniuk. Berg was a pawn up in the knight endgame, but had only minutes for the rest of the game. In an amazing finish he managed to win. The game can be seen in tomorrow's bulletin.

Bulletin

Bulletin from day 1 (16 pages)

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Results round 1

Standings: Group A / Group B
Pairings: Group A / Group B

Games: Round 1 (7 games)

Tomorrow we will see GM Emanuel Berg - GM Alexandra Kosteniuk on board 4.


The playing hall in Kristiansund.


Alexandra Kosteniuk played nice chess in round one.
In the background Kurt Magnus Berg (1788), who drew
GM Evgeny Romanov (2590) on board one.


Tiger Hillarp, 5/5 last year



Last years winner, Vladimir Georgiev.




Aryan Tari from Asker won his game.





Local talent Alexei Gorskiy started with a draw.

It may be worth checking www.sjakkhuset.no for text and pictures.

Ready to start


The playing hall is still empty.


The Norweigan Chess Shop "Sjakkhuset" is here.
Why are this books chosen? They will all be here!

In all five world champions will play in Kristiansund. Anand, of course, but also Judit Polgar (U12, U14), Alexandra Kosteniuk (U10 for women), Evgeny Romanov (U14, U16) and Magnus Carlsen (blitz).

Arctic Securities Chess Stars starts on saturday. Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen, Judit Polgar and Jon-Ludvig Hammer will play rapid chess with the time limit 20 minutes + 10 seconds/move. They start with a double round robin with three games on saturday and three games on sunday. The two best advances to the final on monday, while the other two will play bronze final the same day.

The games starts at 14.30 every day. More information.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Kristiansunds GP

Kristiansund Grand Prix 2010 will be held 26-29 of August. There are eight grandmasters playing, Emanuel Berg (2612), Evgeny Romanov (2590), Vladimir Georgiev (2586), Dejan Bojkov (2552), Krasimir Rusev (2543), Tiger Hillarp (2538), Alexandra Kosteniuk (2519) and Nils Grandelius (2505).

Last year Hillarp and Georgiev shared the victory with 5/5. This year the tournament is extended to six rounds and divided into two groups. The invitation can be seen here.

This blog will post news, pictures and some games about the tournament after every round.
Round 1: Thursday 20.00
Round 2: Friday 10.00
Round 3: Friday 16.00
Round 4: Saturday 09.30
Round 5: Saturday 16.00
Round 6: Sunday 09.30

The rating favourite, Emanuel Berg, plays for Oslo SS in the Norweigan League. The last round this season he had an exciting finish against Bjornar Byklum.


Berg has played 1.Qc4! If black takes the queen, 1...Bxc4, there will follow 2.Rd8+ Kf7 3.Nxe5+ Ke6 4.Nxc4 with rook, piece and three pawns for the queen. Byklum played the best, 1...Qe6 and after 2.Qe2 Re8 3.a4 Bb7 4.Rd6 Qg4 5.Qb5 Rb8 6.Nxe5 Qh3 Berg finished the game in style:

7.Qc4+ Kh8 8.Nf7+ Kg8 9.Nxh6+ Kh8 10.Qg8+! with mate to follow.

For all this moves Berg had less than a minute. After the game he said that he needs to start to play more quiet games, to avoid getting heart attack when he's still young.

The video below shows the last two minutes of the game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9i6-wcy6bg