NEWSLETTER 57 (January 02, 2012) TOP 50 PLAYERS JANUARY 2012 – FIDE RATINGS Rank Name Title Country Rating Games B-Year 1 Carlsen, Magnus G NOR 2835 17 1990 2 Aronian, Levon G ARM 2805 25 1982 3 Kramnik, Vladimir G RUS 2801 17 1975 4 Anand, Viswanathan G IND 2799 17 1969 5 Radjabov, Teimour G AZE 2773 9 1987 6 Topalov, Veselin G BUL 2770 9 1975 7 Karjakin, Sergey G RUS 2769 16 1990 8 Ivanchuk, Vassily G UKR 2766 16 1969 9 Morozevich, Alexander G RUS 2763 6 1977 10 Gashimov, Vugar G AZE 2761 9 1986 11 Grischuk, Alexander G RUS 2761 8 1983 12 Nakamura, Hikaru G USA 2759 17 1987 13 Svidler, Peter G RUS 2749 17 1976 14 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar G AZE 2747 9 1985 15 Tomashevsky, Evgeny G RUS 2740 0 1987 16 Gelfand, Boris G ISR 2739 9 1968 17 Caruana, Fabiano G ITA 2736 19 1992 18 Nepomniachtchi, Ian G RUS 2735 16 1990 19 Wang, Hao G CHN 2733 6 1989 20 Kamsky, Gata G USA 2732 0 1974 21 Dominguez Perez, Leinier G CUB 2730 6 1983 © Europechess.net Page 1 22 Jakovenko, Dmitry G RUS 2729 0 1983 23 Ponomariov, Ruslan G UKR 2727 13 1983 24 Vitiugov, Nikita G RUS 2726 1 1987 25 Adams, Michael G ENG 2724 17 1971 26 Leko, Peter G HUN 2720 9 1979 27 Almasi, Zoltan G HUN 2717 8 1976 28 Giri, Anish G NED 2714 15 1994 29 Le, Quang Liem G VIE 2714 0 1991 30 Navara, David G CZE 2712 8 1985 31 Shirov, Alexei G LAT 2710 13 1972 32 Polgar, Judit G HUN 2710 0 1976 33 Riazantsev, Alexander G RUS 2710 0 1985 34 Wojtaszek, Radoslaw G POL 2706 8 1987 35 Moiseenko, Alexander G UKR 2706 7 1980 36 Vallejo Pons, Francisco G ESP 2705 15 1982 37 Malakhov, Vladimir G RUS 2705 0 1980 38 Jobava, Baadur G GEO 2704 23 1983 39 Bacrot, Etienne G FRA 2704 14 1983 40 Laznicka, Viktor G CZE 2704 8 1988 41 Sutovsky, Emil G ISR 2703 8 1977 42 Naiditsch, Arkadij G GER 2702 14 1985 43 Movsesian, Sergei G ARM 2700 9 1978 44 Sasikiran, Krishnan G IND 2700 9 1981 45 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime G FRA 2699 13 1990 46 Dreev, Aleksey G RUS 2698 6 1969 47 Efimenko, Zahar G UKR 2695 8 1985 48 Volokitin, Andrei G UKR 2695 0 1986 49 Wang, Yue G CHN 2694 6 1987 50 Fressinet, Laurent G FRA 2693 17 1981 © Europechess.net Page 2 TOP 50 WOMEN Rank Name Title Country Rating Games B-Year 1 Polgar, Judit G HUN 2710 0 1976 2 Hou, Yifan G CHN 2605 20 1994 3 Koneru, Humpy G IND 2589 16 1987 4 Muzychuk, Anna M SLO 2580 9 1990 5 Lahno, Kateryna G UKR 2557 7 1989 6 Ju, Wenjun Wg CHN 2552 15 1991 7 Zhao, Xue G CHN 2551 15 1985 8 Kosintseva, Nadezhda G RUS 2537 17 1985 9 Dzagnidze, Nana G GEO 2535 16 1987 10 Stefanova, Antoaneta G BUL 2523 7 1979 11 Harika, Dronavalli G IND 2516 8 1991 12 Kosintseva, Tatiana G RUS 2513 16 1986 13 Sebag, Marie G FRA 2512 0 1986 14 Gunina, Valentina M RUS 2510 15 1989 15 Zatonskih, Anna M USA 2506 0 1978 16 Cmilyte, Viktorija G LTU 2503 0 1983 17 Chiburdanidze, Maia G GEO 2500 0 1961 18 Socko, Monika G POL 2499 20 1978 19 Cramling, Pia G SWE 2491 6 1963 20 Danielian, Elina G ARM 2490 23 1978 21 Khotenashvili, Bela M GEO 2490 9 1988 22 Galliamova, Alisa M RUS 2490 0 1972 23 Muzychuk, Mariya M UKR 2483 24 1992 24 Ruan, Lufei Wg CHN 2483 0 1987 25 Atalik, Ekaterina M TUR 2481 0 1982 26 Zhu, Chen G QAT 2472 7 1976 27 Skripchenko, Almira M FRA 2468 0 1976 28 Krush, Irina M USA 2467 15 1983 © Europechess.net Page 3 29 Xu, Yuhua G CHN 2465 1 1976 30 Dembo, Yelena M GRE 2460 17 1983 31 Mkrtchian, Lilit M ARM 2458 18 1982 32 Ushenina, Anna M UKR 2458 14 1985 33 Javakhishvili, Lela M GEO 2454 15 1984 34 Paehtz, Elisabeth M GER 2454 7 1985 35 Munguntuul, Batkhuyag M MGL 2452 9 1987 36 Pogonina, Natalija Wg RUS 2449 18 1985 37 Kosteniuk, Alexandra G RUS 2448 14 1984 38 Matnadze, Ana M GEO 2447 9 1983 39 Shen, Yang Wg CHN 2447 6 1989 40 Moser, Eva M AUT 2446 8 1982 41 Zaiatz, Elena M RUS 2446 0 1969 42 Khurtsidze, Nino M GEO 2444 15 1975 43 Tan, Zhongyi Wg CHN 2438 15 1991 44 Hoang, Thanh Trang G HUN 2435 8 1980 45 Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina M RUS 2435 0 1974 46 Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan G SCO 2434 6 1968 47 Rajlich, Iweta M POL 2428 0 1981 48 Zhukova, Natalia G UKR 2426 15 1979 49 Batsiashvili, Nino Wg GEO 2426 9 1987 50 Peptan, Corina-Isabela M ROU 2425 0 1978 Official web site: www.fide.com © Europechess.net Page 4 GM EVGENY POSTNY WON THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP OF ISRAEL GM Evgeny Postny won the Open Championship of Israel with final score of 7.5 from possible 9. Second finished Ilya Smirin with 7 points. 8 players finished the tournament with score of 6.5- Avigdor Bykhovsky, Gil Popilski, Viktor Mikhalevski, Alon Greenfeld, Evgeny Sveshnikov, Tal Baron, Ram Soffer and Mikhail Zaslavsky. GM Evgeny Postny Source of the photo: Chessvibes Official web site: www.chess.org.il HIKARU NAKAMURA AND SOPIKO GURAMISHVILI LEAD IN REGGIO EMILIA After 6 rounds in Reggio Emilia the name of the leader in the ranking is Hikaru Nakamura. Second is Alexander Morozevich, third - Vassily Ivanchuk. 54th Reggio Emilia started on December 27th, 2011 and will end on January 6th, 2012. The location of the tournament is Reggio Emilia, Italy. Participants in the tournament are: Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR), Alexander Morozevich (RUS), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Nikita Vitiugov (RUS), Fabiano Caruana (ITA) and Anish Giri (NED). © Europechess.net Page 5 Ranking after 6 rounds-MEN Rk. Name FED Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4 1 Nakamura Hikaru USA 2758 5 14 11 0 4 2 Morozevich Alexander RUS 2762 3,5 10 9 0 3 3 Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2775 3 8 8 0 2 4 Giri Anish NED 2714 3 8 7,5 0 2 5 Caruana Fabiano ITA 2727 2,5 7 7 0 2 6 Vitiugov Nikita RUS 2729 1 2 3 0 0 In the women’s section leads Sopiko Guramishvili, second is Anna Sharevich, third- Marina Brunello. In this section participants are: Mariagrazia De Rosa (ITA), Sopiko Guramishvili (GEO), Iva Videnova (BUL), Anna Sharevich (BLR), Marina Brunello (ITA) and Marianna Chierici (ITA). Ranking after 6 rounds-WOMEN Rk. Name FED Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 Guramishvili Sopiko GEO 2374 5 12 0 5 2 Sharevich Anna BLR 2267 4 10,3 0 3 3 Brunello Marina ITA 2221 3 7,75 0 2 4 De Rosa Mariagrazia ITA 2122 3 6,5 0 1 5 Videnova Iva BUL 2297 1,5 5 0 0 6 Chierici Marianna ITA 2048 1,5 3 0 1 The system and rate of play is: 6-player double round robin; 100 minutes for the first 40 moves+50 minutes to the end of the game+30 seconds increment, starting from move one. Chief-Arbiter of the tournament is IA Rigo Cristina. Official web site: www.ippogrifoscacchi.it © Europechess.net Page 6 8 PARTICIPANTS IN GROUP A CONTINUE TO PLAY AFTER THE 4TH ROUND OF DONOSTIA CHESS FESTIVAL 8 participants in Group A continue to play after the 4th round of Donostia Chess Festival. Only three matches were decided in classical games - Julia Granda Zuniga defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with 2:0, Alexander Moiseenko won against Kamil Miton with 1.5:0,5 and Etienne Bacrot won against Sebastian Maze. In the other matches: Andrey Volokitin won against Arkadij Naiditsch, Viktor Laznicka defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Dominguez won against Fressinet, Gashimov won against Landa and Ponomariov defeated Feller. Donostia Chess Festival started on December 28th, 2011 and will end on January 6th , 2012. Location of the tournament is Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain. Prize fund of the festival is 100.000 EURO. The system and rate of play of A Tournament is matches of two games played simultaneously in 7 rounds with 120 minutes for the entire game+30 seconds increment per move. © Europechess.net Page 7 In case of draw, a tie-break match has to be played, also with 2 simultaneous games at rapid rate of play (15 mins + 10 sec/move). In case of draw, an Armaggedon game has to be played. Official web site: www.donostiachess.com GM IGOR KURNOSOV WON THE 35TH ZURICH CHRISTMAS OPEN GM Igor Kurnosov won the 35th Zurich Christmas Open with final result of 5.5 points. Second, with the same score, is GM Boris Grachev, bronze is for GM Evgeny Alekseev, who finished on a half point distance after the winner. The tournament was held on December 26-30, 2011 in Zurich, Switzerland. Total prize fund was 24200 GM Igor Kurnosov EURO. Final ranking-first 10 positions Rk. Name FED Pts. Buchh BuSumm 1. Kurnosov Igor RUS 5.5 33.5 205.0 2. Grachev Boris RUS 5.5 32.0 208.5 3. Alekseev Evgeny RUS 5.0 32.0 199.5 4. Prohaszka Peter HUN 5.0 31.5 198.5 5. Vorobiov Evgeny RUS 5.0 31.0 200.5 6.