Crestbook

GM Sergey Shipov's article initially published in Crestbook's Russian section is now available in English at the premier chess site ChessBase:

Chess as a sport and the three-point system

In this article Crestbook's editor-in-chief analyses Rustam Kasimdzhanov's recent idea for getting rid of the drawn result in chess and discusses a new scoring system allowing for increasing the number of decisive games in tournaments and stimulating fighting play.

Armenian super-GM Levon Aronian is one of a kind – not only a phenomenally gifted chess player, but also a colourful and quirky character. He is ready to answer chess fans' questions as part of the Crestbook KC-Conferences project. You can ask the World No. 3 about virtually anything!

Your questions for GM Levon Aronian can be submitted in English at a special post at Chess in Translation. Of course, it is also possible to submit your questions in Russian at the KasparovChess forum. The deadline is 2 February.

Now published!
KC - Conference with Levon Aronian: Part 2

KC - Conference with Levon Aronian: Part 1

From 3 to 27 May 2011 the FIDE Candidates Matches take place in Kazan, Russia. The winner will qualify to challenge the World Champion GM Vishy Anand in a 12-game match during the first half of 2012.

Quarterfinals (best of four): 5 May - 9 May:

V. Topalov (Bulgaria, 2775) - G. Kamsky (USA, 2733)
V. Kramnik (Russia, 2785) - T. Radjabov (Azerbaijan, 2746)
L. Aronian (Armenia, 2808) - A. Grischuk (Russia, 2747)
B. Gelfand (Israel, 2733) - S. Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan, 2772)

Semifinals (best of four): 12 May - 16 May:

B. Gelfand (Israel, 2733) - G. Kamsky (USA, 2733)
V. Kramnik (Russia, 2785) - A. Grischuk (Russia, 2747)

Final (best of six): 19 May - 26 May:

B. Gelfand - A. Grischuk

Time control:120 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds increment per move, starting from move 61.

Tiebreaks: four games of 25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment, two blitz games (five minutes plus three seconds) and one sudden death game (five against four, with three seconds increment from move 61, and draw odds for Black).

Games begin: 3:00pm Moscow time / 12:00pm GMT

Live commentaries by GM Sergey Shipov:

Colin McGourty’s translations first appear (most days) in real time at the special “live games” page of his site “Chess in Translation” and then, after some editing, can be found at their permanent locations.

QF, Day 1: Aronian - Grischuk 1/2 - 1/2 
QF, Day 2: Kramnik - Radjabov 1/2 - 1/2
QF, Day 3: Kamsky - Topalov 1/2 - 1/2
QF, Day 4: Topalov - Kamsky 1/2 - 1/2
SF, Day 1: Grischuk - Kramnik 1/2 - 1/2
SF: Day 2: Gelfand - Kamsky 1/2 - 1/2 
SF: Day 3: Kamsky - Gelfand 1/2 - 1/2
SF: Day 4: Kramnik - Grischuk 1/2 - 1/2

F: Day 1: Grischuk - Gelfand 1/2 - 1/2
F: Day 2: Gelfand - Grischuk 1/2 - 1/2
F: Day 3: Grischuk - Gelfand 1/2 - 1/2
F: Day 4: Gelfand - Grischuk 1/2 - 1/2
F: Day 5: Grischuk - Gelfand 1/2 - 1/2
F: Day 6: Gelfand - Grischuk: 1 - 0


Oficial site

Live translation
 

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament (known before as Corus Chess Tournament) takes place in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. The three Grandmaster tournaments have 14 players each.

Participants (Group A - Average rating: 2740; Category: 20): Magnus Carlsen (2814), Viswanathan Anand (2810), Levon Aronian (2805), Vladimir Kramnik (2784), Alexander Grischuk (2773), Hikaru Nakamura (2751), Ruslan Ponomariov (2744), Ian Nepomniachtchi (2733), Wang Hao (2731), Alexei Shirov (2722), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2715), Anish Giri (2686), Jan Smeets (2662), Erwin l'Ami (2628)

Format: single round-robin of 13 rounds.
Time control: 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from the first move.
Playing days: 15-18, 20-23, 25-26 and 28-30 January 2011.
Games begin: 1:30 PM  (12PM on 30 Jun) GMT+1 / 3:30 PM (2 PM on 30 Jun) Moscow time.

Live commentaries by GM Sergey Shipov:

Colin McGourty’s translations first appear in real time at the special “live games” page of his site “Chess in Translation” and then, after some editing, can be found at their permanent locations.

Sergey Shipov commentating live on Tata Steel Chess 2011
Rd 1: Carlsen - Aronian 1/2 - 1/2
Rd 2: Anand - Kramnik 1/2 - 1/2
Rd 3: Nakamura - Shirov 1 - 0
Rd 4: Aronian - Nepomniachtchi 1 - 0
Rd 5: Kramnik - Aronian 1/2 - 1/2
Rd 6: Giri - Nepomniachtchi 0 - 1 
Rd 7: Carlsen - Anand 1/2 - 1/2
Rd 8: Carlsen - Nakamura 1 - 0
Rd 9: Nakamura - Anand 1/2 - 1/2
Rd 10: Carlsen - Nepomniachtchi 0 - 1
Rd 11: Nepomniachtchi - Nakamura 0 - 1
Rd 12: Anand - Giri 1/2 - 1/2
Rd 13: Nepomniachtchi - Anand 1/2 - 1/2

Official site
Live transmission

The 2nd  London Chess Classic  takes place in the Olympia Conference Center, Kensington, London, UK. The event is Category 20.

Participants: Viswanathan Anand (2804), Magnus Carlsen (2802), Vladimir Kramnik (2791), Hikaru Nakamura (2741), Michael Adams(2723), Nigel Short (2680), Luke McShane (2645) and David Howell (2611).

Prize fund: 145,000 Euros. Six main prizes: 1st 50,000 Euros, 2nd 25,000 Euros, 3rd 15,000 Euros, 4th 10,000 Euros, 5th 10,000 Euros, 6th 8,000 Euros. Plus 7 Daily Best Game prizes of 1,000 Euros (voted on by the public) and a winners’ pool of 20,000 Euros for each game won.

Format: single round-robin of seven rounds.
Score system: 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw.

Time control: 40 moves in 2 hours, then 20 moves in 1 hour and then 15 minutes to finish the game with 30 seconds increment from move 61. Sofia Rules.
Playing days: 7-12 and 14-15 December.
Games begin: 2:00 PM  (4.00 PM on 9 Dec, 12PM on 15 Dec) GMT / 5:00 PM (7 PM on 9 Dec, 3 PM on 15 Dec) Moscow time.

Live commentaries by GM Sergey Shipov:

Colin McGourty’s translations first appear in real time at the special “live games” page of his site “Chess in Translation” and then, after some editing, can be found at their permanent locations:

Anand – Nakamura 1/2 - 1/2
Kramnik - Nakamura 0 - 1
Anand - Carlsen 1 - 0
Carlsen - Nakamura 1 - 0
Anand - McShane 1/2 - 1/2
Kramnik - Carlsen 1/2 - 1/2
Anand - Kramnik 1/2 - 1/2

 
Official site
Live transmission