CT -311(1460 ) The First Daily Chess Newspaper on the Net CT-311(1460) Saturday, 6 November 2004 Chess Quiz difficult time, since I was playing at the chess Olympiad in Istanbul then. Shabanov – A. Kuzmin Net access was not easy to find and Tashkent, USSR, 1987 the connection was slow, but as I XIIIIIIIIY managed to produce issues every day 8r+-+-+k+0 from there, I knew I could do it 7zppzp-+pzp-0 anywhere! 6-+-zp-+-+0 Over time the Chess Today team grew 5+-+n+q+p0 to include more contributors and 4-+-+R+-+0 editors. We learnt to work together 3+P+-+P+-0 and now have a very capable team. I 2PvLPwQ-+PzP0 used to be a control freak, but 1+-+-+-mK-0} working on Chess Today has taught xabcdefghy me to delegate and trust other people to do their work diligently and creatively. Chess Today is 4 Years Old! I would like Chess Today to become a by GM Alex Baburin main-stream chess publication, even oday our newspaper celebrates though expanding the readership has its 4th anniversary. Some people proved difficult. We are now working have been with us from the first on several projects: T • issue , but for most of our readers a moving to our own mailing list brief recap of the Chess Today history • producing a Chess Today CD might be in order. • offering a weekly digest It all started in the summer of 2000 Finally, I would like to thank you, our when I was flying to Dublin after readers and contributors for all your giving a chess seminar in help and support! I hope Chess Today Copenhagen. After a few drinks (back will live to see its 40th anniversary! then airlines served free drinks!) I began to reflect on the explosion of chess information on the Net. I Chess News realised that there was so much happening in chess every day, that Seniors' World Championships one could easily fill a few pages with by GM Mikhail Golubev chess material. I cannot but apologise again for our Since Mark Crowther was already mistake in CT-1458, where we doing a great job covering chess news wrongly reported on the end of the in TWIC , I decided to focus on seniors' world championship. Later it annotated games and use an e-mail- turned out that the men played not 9 based approach. My idea was that rounds (as we thought) but 11. A instead of searching for chess news on rather unfortunate error, but I certainly various Web sites, readers would get a see chances to make our coverage ready-made digest right in their mail better. Hopefully, in about 10 years boxes. And they would also get each member of the CT team will learn annotated games, daily puzzles, book what the word Abschlußtabelle means. reviews and articles. And in 20-25 years we will be The idea took off in early November reporting from the championships 2000. I could not have picked a more directly! ☺ I already feel the need to This issue is prepared by GM Alex Baburin and GM Mikhail Golubev; technical editor Graham Brown Subscription is 15 euro for 3 months. For further details please refer to http://www.chesstoday.net CT-311(1460) Page 1 of 5 request the organisers of the 2030 blunders after November 2 on Bush Championship to limit the length of and am considering emigration to the event to 7 or 9 rounds. Otherwise I Spain. Caramba!" am not sure if I will play! On a serious note, we would like to 8th Bavarian Open, Bad Wiessee congratulate the winners of this Championship which ended in Halle Round 7 top results: yesterday. The Russian GM Yury Jaracz (5½) – Landa (5½) 1-0 Shabanov has repeated his success Golod (5½) – Kurnosov (5½) ½-½ from last year, winning on tie-break. Latvian GM Janis Klovans was leading In round 8 the leader, GM Pawel most of the tournament, but lost in the Jaracz from Poland, will play with last two rounds. Black against Sergey Volkov (Russia). Jaracz is on 6½/7 now. There are 9 Round 11 top results: players (including Volkov) in the Klundt - Donchenko ½-½ chasing pack on 6 points. L. Spassov - Klovans 1-0 Official website Karasev – V. Bukal ½-½ Bakhmatov – Chernikov 1-0 Shabanov - Kraidman 1-0 Karpov – Sadvakasov Match Final standings: Anatoly Karpov and Darmen Sadvakasov are playing a match from 1. Shabanov GM RUS - 8½ (53.5) 4-10 November in Astana, the capital 2. Klundt IM GER - 8½ (52) of Kazakhstan. There will be four 3. L. Spassov GM BUL - 8½ (51.5) classical and four rapid encounters. 4. Bakhmatov GER - 8½ (51) The winner will get $12,000. The first 5. Donchenko IM GER - 8½ (50.5) game ended in a draw. Sadvakasov 6. V. Bukal IM CRO - 8 (54) won game 2 and now leads 1½-½. 7. Jakobsen IM DEN - 8 (52) Official website 8. Böhnisch FM GER - 8 (50) 9. Karasev IM RUS - 8 (47) Note that Karpov will also play in the 10. Ivanets FM RUS - 8 (45.5) Russian super-championship, starting (205 players) in Moscow on 14th November. I was unable to find any games from the championship at the otherwise Two articles by Dr. Mark Livshits informative official website . If the by GM Mikhail Golubev organisers wanted to keep journalists intrigued, they surely succeeded! The Israeli chess observer Dr Mark Livshits has published two quite Here is a quick note from our reader remarkable articles recently. Both of IM Anthony Saidy from Halle: them will stir up some controversy. "The new champion is Shabanov, on At the Bestsportnews site, Dr. Livshits tie break over 4 others, in a very well- reviews the results of the Olympiad organized event in the pleasant and claims that the last round match cultural town of Halle, which in 2006 between Armenia and Georgia will celebrate its 1200th anniversary. I (Armenia won, 3½-½) was fixed. won as many games as anyone in the Livshits also cites the Israeli team tournament (7) and earned the Bent coach IM Alexander Kaspi who said Larsen Prize for no draws - 11 that the result was "suspicious" and decisive games. Unfortunately, they that the Israeli federation has already forgot to award it. My high point of distributed a protest letter among the the event was seeing Wagner´s participants and the FIDE officials in "Tristan & Isolde," my low point was Calvia. In my (MG) view, similar the US election. I blame all my accusations should always be This issue is prepared by GM Alex Baburin and GM Mikhail Golubev; technical editor Graham Brown Subscription is 15 euro for 3 months. For further details please refer to http://www.chesstoday.net CT-311(1460) Page 2 of 5 supported by strong evidence. But it Alekhine, so here is another game would be interesting to know the from the recent Olympiad. It is opinion of FIDE about all of that. extremely tactical. I don't claim that I FIDE, supposedly, received the official saw all of the lines during the game - letter from the Israelis (the existence many were discovered together with of the Israelis statement is confirmed my 'German' friend! in Ana Matnadze's open letter ), and, therefore, should react in some way. White: Leighton Williams (2355) The site Olimpbase.org , meanwhile, Black: Alex Baburin (2527) says that there is "some claim the 36th Olympiad Calvia (7), 22.10.2004 match had not been fair". So, as I The Alekhine Defence; B05 understand it, FIDE should have enough reasons now to investigate the 1.e4 ¤f6 2.e5 ¤d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 situation. ¤b6 5.exd6 exd6 (D) XIIIIIIIIY In another article, written for the 8rsnlwqkvl-tr0 Israeli Russian language paper Vesti , 7zppzp-+pzpp0 which was consequently republished 6-sn-zp-+-+0 at chesspage.kiev.ua, Dr. Livshits expressed the opinion that non other 5+-+-+-+-0 than the Russian president Putin was 4-+PzP-+-+0 responsible for cancellation of the 3+-+-+-+-0 Ponomariov-Kasparov match in 2003. 2PzP-+-zPPzP0 Well, it is very likely that Putin has 1tRNvLQmKLsNR0} enough power to have influence on xabcdefghy any of Ilyumzhinov's decisions. The probable anger of Putin with The Exchange Variation is currently Kasparov's statements should be very popular vs. the Alekhine expected by anyone who knows at Defence. White hopes to get a small, least a little about Russian politics. but stable advantage. 5...cxd6 is more Still, the article of Dr. Livshits does not interesting, but more risky from a contain any firm proof of his theory. strategic (structural) point of view - after the eventual d4-d5 the e7-pawn Remark: can become a backward one. And it is Dr. Mark Livshits, who is more known because White started to do well after to Russian speaking readers, has a 5...cxd6, that the Exchange variation reputation of being a serious and became fashionable. well-informed chess observer. 6.¤c3 ¤c6 7.¥e2 7.h3 is another way to play this line, Comment from GM Alex Baburin: but then the Black bishop might be As long as there are big upsets in the happy enough on f5. round, there will always be some 7...¥e7 8.¤f3 0–0 9.0–0 ¥g4 10.b3 parties not happy about it. But I recall ¥f6 (D) that in Bled 2002 Armenia beat XIIIIIIIIY Georgia 3-1 in the last round and 8r+-wq-trk+0 nobody protested. If I remember 7zppzp-+pzpp0 correctly, then Georgians were ahead before the match, so no foul play 6-snnzp-vl-+0 could be suspected.