Bulletin 2 World Cities Chess Team Championship For the Sheikh Zayed Cup FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov visited the second round of the World Cities Chess Team Championship. At the start of the game between GM Grandelius of Lund (SWE) and GM Saleh of Al Ain (UAE) are, from left, FIDE VP Ali Nihat Yazici of Turkey, FIDE Zone President Luxman Wijesuriya of Sri Lanka, Kirsan, Asian Chess Federation president Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifah Al Nahyan, Haroon or Rashid of Bangladesh and FIDE Vice President Mohammed Kambouzia of Iran. After the second round, there are clear leaders and clear Teams are jockeying for the second qualifying slot or the tail-enders in most groups. This is the result of the system of “best third place”. The top two of each group advance to the the draw which grouped four teams of different rating Round-of-16. So from 6 groups, we get 12 qualifiers. That categories. Now the focus shifts to the race for second and means four more teams will come from the six 3rd placed third place in each group. teams. The leaders of the various groups are Lund, Sweden in Ranking and ties are resolved as follows: Match points, group A; Saratov, Russia in group B; Riga, Latvia in group C Game points, direct encounter (by match points then game and Hoogeven, Netherlands in group F. There are ties for the points) , by two SB systems, by the Berlin System board lead in the other groups between Baku, Azerbaijan and count and as a last resort by playoff. Astana, Kazakhstan in group D and between Paris, France and Read the interesting interview of GMs Anish Giri of The Chicago, USA in group E. Netherlands by Kema Goryeva. 1 In the penultimate round of the Preliminaries, it is clear in Rank Group A 1 2 3 4 MP Pts. most groups who are first and last. Teams are jockeying for 1 Lund - SWE * 2½ 2½ 4 5 the second qualifying slot and the “best third place”. The top 2 London - UK 1½ * 3 2 4½ two of each group advance to the Round-of-16. So from 6 3 Dhaka - BAN 1 * 3 2 4 groups, we get 12 qualifiers. That means four more teams 4 Al Ain - UAE 1½ 1 * 0 2½ will come from the six 3rd placed teams. Ranking and ties are resolved as follows: Rank Group B 1 2 3 4 MP Pts. A. By total match points. 1 Saratov - RUS * 2½ 3 4 5½ 2 Tashkent - UZB * 1½ 3½ 2 5 B. By total game points. 3 Ptuj - SLO 1½ 2½ * 2 4 4 Chennai - IND 1 ½ * 0 1½ C. If a tie again results, the scores obtained by the tying teams against each other will decide, first by match points Rank Group C 1 2 3 4 MP Pts. then by game points. 1 Riga - LAT * 2½ 3½ 4 6 D. If a tie again results, apply Sonnenborn Berger systems: 2 Lviv - UKR * 1 4 2 5 3 Athens - GRE 1½ 3 * 2 4½ - sum of all rounds (weight 1, ½, 0) * total GP of opponent. 4 Canberra - AUS ½ 0 * 0 ½ - sum of all rounds (GP result of round * total GP of Rank Group D 1 2 3 4 MP Pts. opponent). 1 Baku - AZE * 2 3 3 5 2 Astana - KAZ 2 * 2½ 3 4½ E. If a tie again results, it shall be decided by board count (Berlin System) as follows: 3 Istanbul - TUR 1 * 3 2 4 4 Timisoara - ROU 1½ 1 * 0 2½ O win on Board 1 is 4 points o win on Board 2 is 3 points Rank Group E 1 2 3 4 MP Pts. o win on Board 3 is 2 points 1 Paris - FRA * 3 4 4 7 o win on Board 4 is 1 point 2 Chicago - USA * 3 3½ 4 6½ 3 Teheran - IRI 1 1 * 0 2 In case of drawn games these points are shared. 4 Kampala - UGA 0 ½ * 0 ½ If the board-count results in no victory for either side then the board points of Board 4 are cancelled and so on upwards until the tie is Rank Group F 1 2 3 4 MP Pts. broken. 1 Hoogeveen - NED * 2½ 4 4 6½ F. If the tie still results between teams, one player from each 2 Novi Sad - SRB 1½ * 2½ 2 4 team shall play a sudden-death knock out of 6 minutes for 3 Wu Xi - CHN 1½ * 2 1 3½ white and 5 minutes for black. 4 Cairo - EGY 0 2 * 1 2 Monitors are installed for all boards and adorned with the sponsor’s logos. Flags and names of players hang behind from the control tower housing the computer center for live broadcast of moves. (Clockwise from left) GM Nigel Short vs. GM Niaz Murshed in the match between London, England and Dhaka, Bangladesh; Timisoara, Romania vs. Istanbul, Turkey; GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami vs. GM Varuzhan Akobian in the Tehran, Iran match with Chicago, USA. And Paris, France vs. Kampala, Uganda. RR2 2.1 4 Dhaka - Bangladesh 1 - 3 3 London - UK 1 GM Murshed Niaz 2464 0 : 1 GM Short Nigel D 2692 2 GM Rahman Ziaur 2518 ½ : ½ GM Howell David W L 2634 3 IM Minhazuddin Ahmed 2401 ½ : ½ GM Williams Simon K 2515 4 IM Abu Sufian Shakil 2364 0 : 1 IM Zhou Yang-Fan 2419 2.2 1 Al Ain - UAE 1½ 2½ 2 Lund - Sweden 1 GM Salem A.R. Saleh 2536 1 : 0 GM Grandelius Nils 2583 2 IM Hassan Abdullah 2378 0 : 1 GM Tikkanen Hans 2575 Group A Group 3 IM Omar Noaman 2316 0 : 1 GM Carlsson Pontus 2518 4 FM Khouri Ibrahim Mohamed 2252 ½ : ½ IM Smith Axel 2484 2.1 4 Tashkent - UZB 1½ 2½ 3 Ptuj - SLO 1 GM Dzhumaev Marat 2530 - : + GM Lenic Luka 2637 2 IM Kvon Andrey 2501 0 : 1 GM Beliavsky Alexander G 2630 3 GM Barsov Alexei 2510 1 : 0 GM Borisek Jure 2560 4 GM Iuldachev Saidali 2455 ½ : ½ GM Skoberne Jure 2549 2.2 1 Chennai - IND 1 - 3 2 Saratov - RUS 1 IM Shyam Nikil P. 2431 0 : 1 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2725 2 FM Rajesh V A V 2370 0 : 1 GM Lysyj Igor 2617 Group B Group 3 Navalgund Niranjan 2169 ½ : ½ GM Shaposhnikov Evgeny 2544 4 Karthikeyan Murali 2315 ½ : ½ GM Iljushin Alexei 2505 2.1 4 Riga - LAT 3½ ½ 3 Canberra - AUS 1 GM Miezis Normunds 2596 1 : 0 FM Wallis Christopher 2283 2 GM Neiksans Arturs 2534 ½ : ½ IM Feldman Vladimir 2230 3 GM Sveshnikov Evgeny 2514 1 : 0 Zelesco Karl 2154 4 GM Starostits Ilmars 2468 1 : 0 IM Berezina Irina 2190 2.2 1 Athens - GRE 3 - 1 2 Lviv - UKR 1 GM Papaioannou Ioannis 2618 1 : 0 GM Moiseenko Alexander 2710 2 GM Banikas Hristos 2620 0 : 1 GM Kryvoruchko Yuriy 2671 3 GM Halkias Stelios 2561 1 : 0 GM Fedorchuk Sergey A. 2661 Group C Group 4 IM Tzermiadianos Andreas 2434 1 : 0 GM Kravtsiv Martyn 2593 2.1 4 Istanbul - TUR 3 - 1 3 Timisoara - ROM 1 GM Esen Baris 2576 1 : 0 GM Lupulescu Constantin 2618 2 GM Can Emre 2448 ½ : ½ GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian 2628 3 FM Sanal Vahap 2382 1 : 0 GM Marin Mihail 2564 4 FM Ali Marandi Cemil Can 2354 ½ : ½ GM Manolache Marius 2541 2.2 1 Baku - AZE 2 - 2 2 Astana - KAZ 1 GM Safarli Eltaj 2626 ½ : ½ GM Kazhgaleyev Murtas 2596 2 GM Mamedov Rauf 2647 ½ : ½ GM Jumabayev Rinat 2567 Group D Group 3 GM Mamedov Nidjat 2602 ½ : ½ GM Kotsur Pavel 2550 4 GM Durarbayli Vasif 2587 ½ : ½ GM Ismagambetov Anuar 2463 2.1 4 Kampala - UGA 0 - 4 3 Paris - FRA 1 Ssegwanyi Arthur 2222 0 : 1 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2711 2 CM Kawuma Patrick 2245 0 : 1 GM Fressinet Laurent 2700 3 FM Wanyama Harold 2252 0 : 1 GM Edouard Romain 2686 4 CM Bibasa Bob 2218 0 : 1 GM Hamdouchi Hicham 2610 2.2 1 Chicago - USA 3 - 1 2 Teheran - IRI 1 GM Akobian Varuzhan 2622 ½ : ½ GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan 2572 2 GM Ehlvest Jaan 2603 1 : 0 IM Darini Pouria 2522 3 IM Hungaski Robert Andrew 2469 1 : 0 GM Golizadeh Asghar 2476 Group E Group 4 GM Finegold Benjamin 2498 ½ : ½ GM Mahjoob Morteza 2426 2.1 4 Wu Xi - CHN 2 - 2 3 Cairo - EGY 1 GM Wang Yue 2696 1 : 0 IM Shoker Samy 2490 2 Ji Dan 2341 0 : 1 IM Ezat Mohamed 2450 3 IM Li Wenliang 2424 0 : 1 IM Labib Ibrahim Hasan 2432 4 Fang Yuxiang 2103 1 : 0 IM Elgabry Mohsen 2365 2.2 1 Novi Sad - SRB 1½ 2½ 2 Hoogeveen _ NED 1 GM Ivanisevic Ivan 2633 ½ : ½ GM Giri Anish 2720 2 GM Perunovic Milos 2614 0 : 1 GM Sokolov Ivan 2667 Group F Group 3 GM Sedlak Nikola 2572 ½ : ½ GM Tiviakov Sergei 2663 4 GM Popovic Dusan 2579 ½ : ½ GM Smeets Jan 2614 Interview of Anish Giri "The weather conditions make this tournament a partial vacation" The first board of the national team of the Netherlands, - What goals does your team have for this championship? Anish Giri (representing the city of Hoogeveen), answered a Did you somehow dispose yourself to get a place here? few questions after a considerably quick draw against GM Ivanisevic Ivan of Serbia in Round 2 of the World Cities - Of course we are trying to do our best to win the Chess Team Championship in Al Ain, UAE. He looked tournament. But as I said before the knock out format can happy and relaxed. produce hidden surprises and upsets as we are competing against strong opponents.