May 2008 Archives

If you missed the first day of this four-day, eight-game rapid match in Hungary you didn't miss too much. Carlsen drew the first game with black using the Dragon he played against Karjakin in the recent Baku Grand Prix. Can anyone remember who said, apropos its Anand-Kasparov appearance, I believe, that "you can't play for a win against the Dragon without playing g4"? Something like that. Leko made a little progress, winning a pawn, but couldn't get further against Black's superior activity. In the second game Carlsen played the offbeat 5.Nc5 against Leko's Caro-Kann. He'd played this last year against Pedersen. Fischer played this move a few times in simuls (as have Kasparov and Kramnik) while the ever-creative David Bronstein tried it against Petrosian and Beliavsky. Carlsen didn't seem to get much against Leko, but allowing a threefold repetition on move 18 was pretty limp.

Leko's record in these matches is even. He drew with Adams in 2005, beat Karpov 4.5-3.5 in 2006, and lost to Kramnik by the same score last year. The player pages on the official site include a "best game of his career" annotated by each player. It doesn't say if these were personally selected by the players as the best game they've ever played as is implied. If so, it's a curious choice from Leko, who gives his one-sided crush of Grischuk from last year's Mexico WCh tournament. I can think of quite a few better ones just off the top of my head. Carlsen goes with his black win over Kramnik from this year's Corus tournament. Maybe Leko just didn't want to copycat by picking one of his own several spectacular wins over Kramnik with black. Tilburg 1998 is wild, an amazing defensive and counterattacking effort. Leko brilliantly busting Kramnik's Marshall prep in game 8 of their WCh match is more familiar.

Update: Carlsen drew game three in a save that Kasparov, checking in after a speech in Athens, called "Incredible! Ridiculous!" Carlsen then went on to beat Leko's Caro-Kann in game four, at last breaking through for what I think is his first win versus Leko at any time control against three classical losses.

Alexei Shirov is every chess fan's favorite world championship martyr after beating Kramnik in a 1998 candidates match and then watching Kasparov lose the title to Kramnik in 2000. Now he's the one waiting the wings as FIDE continues to maintain radio silence well past its own deadlines and extensions for the Kamsky-Topalov candidates match. Shirov lost to Kamsky in the final of the 2007 World Cup, the qualifier for this match, and so is the first reserve. Here is his press release:

1. In spite of having passed all the possible deadlines, FIDE still has not announced the venue of the match Topalov-Kamsky. That means that the match should normally take place in Bulgaria because the Lvov offer seems not to have been materialized.

2. Mr. Gata Kamsky has declared that he does not wish to play in Bulgaria. According to the match regulations he should be replaced by me in this case.

3. It is absolutely clear that the silence and uncertainty should end and the firm decision about the forthcoming match should be taken. Nobody can wait forever and this concerns the reserve players as well.

Alexei Shirov, Tarragona, 29.05.2008

Update: GM Shirov adds in the comments below: "There have been many cases of matches played on a home ground of one of the players. Timman-Speelman, Yusupov-Spraggett, Gelfand-Nikolic, Karpov-Timman, Kasparov-Short etc. And this is just what comes to mind in a second. The Sofia offer might be financially little attractive but otherwise Kamsky's position seems wrong to me. Therefore, the saga should end in my opinion with whatever outcome." Not sure if it's a coincidence or Alexei making a subtle point, but unless memory fails the "visitor" won every one of those matches! (Timman in London, Jussupow in Quebec, Gelfand in Sarajevo, Karpov in the Netherlands (also Jakarta), Kasparov in London.) My saying "unfair" below was therefore too strong. But you never want to play on your opponent's home turf. And in today's cheating-obsessed environment, even less so.

It's certainly the case that the Lvov/Lviv match has looked and sounded like vaporware from the start. "The money has been transferred" is a modern twist on "the check is in the mail," but it doesn't take two weeks to verify a transfer unless it's being carried in bullion by yak. This is most unfortunate, because having to play on Topalov's home turf is hardly fair to Kamsky. So I hope I'm wrong. But if Sofia is the only bid with the cash on the table when the deadline passes, what's the alternative? Oddly, in a May 20 interview Danailov said Topalov would play "anywhere except for Russia," obviously because of what they view as, ironically, shenanigans against them in the Elista match with Kramnik. But if, say, Russia came up with a bid larger than that of the Bulgarian bid, FIDE would be obliged to accept and Topalov obliged to play, no? If Kamsky doesn't play he is replaced by Shirov. What happens if Topalov doesn't play, seeing as he was parachuted into this match with no rhyme or reason whatsoever? Anyway, that is incredibly unlikely.

This is a serious match, one with a world championship shot as the trophy. They need to make sure they have enough time to organize it properly. (It's scheduled for November 26.) The mysterious bid from Ukraine should be heard out, obviously, and since it's FIDE I have no doubt any real negotiations are taking place behind the scenes and involving bank accounts that don't appear on FIDE stationery. But if it doesn't materialize, the show must go on. If things get going on the Bulgarian site it would give Kamsky and his team time to participate in the organization process and, I hope, insure that it is to their satisfaction a shenanigan-free zone. He and/or his representatives should be guaranteed that right by FIDE and the organizers before he (or anyone else) accepts to play, especially in an opponent's home town.

Perhaps inspired by Ivanchuk's amazing result at the MTel, or at least by the Ukrainian's resulting hike back up the rating list, current world #3 Alexander Morozevich is putting up a 2900+ result after five rounds of the Bosna tournament in Sarajevo. At the halfway point of this six-player all-play-all, Moro is a full point up with 4/5. Dominguez follows, then Sokolov on an even score after five draws. Movesevian and Timofeev are on -1 and winless. Underdog local hope Prodjevic, who surprised here last year with a second-place finish, is higher rated this year but in the cellar on -2. There are photos and more on the official site. The live games are here.

Morozevich has employed his usual confounding magic on several occasions. He played a tricky bishop endgame against countryman Timofeev in the fifth round, turning a small plus into a win. There were some very odd moves from both sides during what I'm assuming was zeitnot. (Again allow me to register my constant lamentation over how we routinely throw away vital game data like time used per move and draw offers in digital gamescores.) It looks like Morozevich may have pressed to hard, however, and that Black could have turned the tables with 66..Ke4! The white bishop is pressured by the black king and costs several tempi. I spent a bit on it and couldn't find a draw for White. Morozevich could have kept it clean by skipping the "brilliant" 65.d5? and going with 65.Kb4 directly. Black still has to take time to deal with the d-pawn. In the 3rd Morozevich took out last year's winner Movsesian with a surprising knight leap. Most players would have increased White's sizable advantage with a rook lift on the e-file. Morozevich sacrificed a knight with 25.Ndf5!? and his speculative attack carried the day. Great stuff. The computer tries to rain on White's parade with 30..Rd5 31.Rg4+ Kf8 32.Bxd5 Nxg4 33.Qxd5. (28.Qe3 was the killer.) But as ever, Morozevich is more interested in what you can come up with at the board than in analysis.

The Bosna tournament starts in Sarajevo today with Mr. Excitement, Alexander Morozevich, leading the field. The other participants are Sergei Movsesian, Lenier Dominguez, Ivan Sokolov, Artyom Timofeev, and Borki Predojevic. It's a double round-robin. Somewhat oddly the field is almost identical to last year's. Dominguez replacing Nigel Short is the only change. Movsesian won last year while Moro finished even after winning three blacks and losing three whites. TWIC gives this link as the official site but I can't find anything about the tournament yet.

I guess this format, launched to prominence by Linares and then picked up by MTel and elsewhere, is mostly popular due to the thrift of having to pay expenses for fewer players. With Linares there was the feeling that since these were the best players in the world, a double round-robin added rigor (no color imbalance) to what was almost a tournament world championship. But in lesser events I'd rather see nine rounds with ten players and ten rounds with six. Variety is the spice of life and all that.

Yury Shulman won his first US Championship title today, clinching it with an 11-move non-game against Josh Friedel to give him an unassailable 7/9 score. Friedel had his own reasons for being happy with a draw, clinching his final GM norm. More importantly, behold the birth of the Friedel tag! He started the round with five points, so he couldn't have caught Shulman even with a win, though of course it would have been nice to see a real game.

UPDATE: I'm told that before the final round the TDs announced that the no-short-draw rules that had been in effect were being suspended for the final round so Friedel and Shulman could play their non-game for the GM norm and title. A minute later, draw. Bizarre and pointless favoritism. It's a little surprising that changing the rules like that is even allowed. I'm sure the players trailing Shulman by a point would have appreciated a real game by the leader, who had black against a dangerous opponent. I know you can never force players to play to win, and 30 moves of swapping wouldn't have entertained or fooled anyone, but announcing the suspension of the rules before the round, followed by the draw a minute later, is a little too cynical for me. This is the US championship, not a First Saturday tourney. As I explain more in the comments (and have said many times), this isn't a criticism of the players, who are only exploiting the rules and acting in their best interests.

[The admirably prompt news item on the result at Chess Live Online includes the line "In the final round, it was obvious that Yury would clinch the title after Josh played the Exchange French." Clearly someone isn't old enough to remember Gurevich-Short, 1990 Manila Interzonal. Mikhail Gurevich had been leading much of the way but lost in the 12th round against Anand. In the 13th and final round he just needed a draw with white to qualify for the candidates. Short played the French and Gurevich of course played the Exchange. Short went on to win and knock Gurevich out of the qualifiers' circle. Some say the Soviet/Belgian/Turkish GM was never the same after that. Short, of course, went from there all the way to get wiped out by Kasparov after helping split the chess world.]

Some other final-round games are still in progress. Onischuk and Kudrin started the final round a point back of Shulman. The women's title is still up for grabs. Irina Krush started the last round with 7/8, a half point ahead of Anna Zatonskih. Krush and Zatonskih outrated a third of the "men's" field, providing another fine example of my usual gripe about how separate femme events might be good for keeping them in the game by providing income but work against playing strength. I'm not going to let that get in they way of cheering for my Brooklyn neighbor Irina, who is trying to repeat her title of last year.

Shulman has been a consistent high achiever in US chess for years, but has never been able to get over the top until now. In 2006 he lost the playoff final against Onischuk. He came one move (several times, argh) from eliminating Alexei Shirov at the World Cup last December in the final rapid game. At the 2005 World Cup he knocked out Zvjaginsev and Khalifman before falling to Grischuk. Other than that he rarely plays outside the US, which is true of just about every American GM excepting Kamsky, Nakamura, and Onischuk -- and Olympiads.

Speaking of Kamsky and Nakamura, they, along with US Hall of Fame GMs Christiansen, de Firmian, and Benjamin, declined to play in Tulsa. Shulman lamented Kamsky's absence in the item above. I'm usually very much in favor of top players playing for their countries, although a national championship isn't really doing this I suppose. Olympiads really do deserve the top players' participation even if the conditions aren't great. It would be nice if all the big guns played in national championships, but they rarely do. With some it's easier to understand. It's hard to imagine Anand slogging through the Indian championship with some 13 rounds of players mostly rated under 2500. (Bonus fact: Ganguly has won five Indian Championships in a row.) The recent creation of the Russian superfinal has brought many of the top players back there.

I don't think Kamsky's participation would have brought much more attention (from whom?) to the Tulsa event as Shulman suggests, but it would have been nice. The USCF has been running a "support Kamsky's world championship bid" campaign for a while now. A great idea, and his playing in Tulsa could have been considered quid pro quo. But the bottom line is, as ever, putting food on the table. And if the honor of playing for the title held by Marshall and Fischer isn't enough, a hard fight with the majority of the players only getting their expenses back isn't going to tempt pros used to more. Regardless, kudos to Frank K. Berry and the other organizers for sponsoring and putting together the event. Being lucky to have a championship at all doesn't mean you can't complain, but it does mean you should be a thankful. I'm sure Yury Shulman is! Congrats, Yury!

Lenier Dominguez won the Capablanca Memorial in Havana. The 25-year-old Cuban was the top seed this year with no heavyweight foreigners like multiple winner Ivanchuk in the field. Dominguez beat Arencibia in the final round to take clear first ahead of Tajikistan's Farrukh Amonatov and Germany's Igor Khenkin. This should push him over the 2700 mark for the first time. His long-time peer, Lazaro Bruzon, finished last and seems to be at risk of falling under 2600. I wonder what's going on. Bruzon failed to show up for his last game against Radoslaw Wojtaszek, giving the Pole his only win of the event. Bruzon did the exact same thing last year after a similarly poor performance. In 07 he gave the free point to Miton, Wojtaszek's countryman. Maybe Bruzon is just allergic to the smell of kielbasa? You don't see many no-shows at strong invitationals, especially when you're one of the home-town favorites. Obviously last year's disappearing act didn't cost him the invite to this year's event though.

Speaking of Amonatov, as we so often don't, he turned in a great performance at the Russian Team Ch last month in Dagomys. He beat Timofeev, Dreev, and won this spectacular sacrificial battle against Bareev to complete a rare Eev Trifecta. Some real old-skool KID action here. Shouldn't let this one fall through the cracks. One for the interference tactic hall of fame on the last move. Game after the jump.

The MTel Masters turned out to be closer than we thought after Ivanchuk rocketed out of the box with 5/5 in the first half. Topalov made his inevitable run and came within a half point before even his formidable endurance faded in a spectacularly exciting 9th round loss to Bu Xiangzhi. Even after that Topalov had a chance to win the event headed into Sunday's final round. He would have had the better "most wins" first tiebreak over Ivanchuk had Team Bulgaria gone 2-0 in the 10th round. That would have required Topalov beating Radjabov and Cheparinov taking out Ivanchuk. Instead they got 0.5-1.5 when Radjabov's known (but apparently not to him or Topalov according to their post-game comments) queen sacrifice in the Sveshnikov held Topalov to a draw and Cheparinov continued his (self) destructive play and lost rather lamely to Ivanchuk.

That was Ivanchuk's first win of the second half and it moved him up to a remarkable +6 8/10 score. Even before the game was over -- actually by the time he was at 4/5 -- chatter was already rampant about the chance that Ivanchuk's performance would be one for the ages. More on that in a bit. For the first time, Topalov had to settle for a position other than first at this hometown tournament he helped create. His incredible fighting spirit provided entertaining games and a narrative for the second half after Ivanchuk's streak dominated the first. Topalov's 6.5 was enough to win for him in 2005 and 2006. This time he finished 1.5 points back with the same score.

Radjabov's inspired defense against Topalov earned him a +1 finish, a scenario that looked very unlikely after his turgid start. He'll even gain a few rating points. Radjabov's two wins, against Bu and Aronian, highlighted the unbalanced nature of the crosstable. Bu Xiangzhi and Aronian battled to the bottom, both finishing with -4. Cheparinov wasn't much better; in Bu he just managed to find someone playing even worse. His four losses to Ivanchuk and Topalov were as poor as anything Aronian and Bu managed to put together, if not worse. He was demolished by Topalov in the 8th round. Cheparinov's other three losses were all of a piece, over-optimistic attacking play he couldn't back up at all. Sunday against Ivanchuk was another example of this sac, sac, sac, resign formula.

There were exciting games in just about every round, though the quality was occasionally dubious thanks to the poor form of the aforementioned trio and the odd 40/90" first time control. Still, watching it day to day on Chess.FM it gave an exciting impression thanks to the energy of Ivanchuk and Topalov. We spoke on the air with the ICC's Macauley Peterson and Ivanchuk after the tournament. Chucky was as airily affected as ever, responding mildly positively to my question whether or not this success equaled his 1991 Linares win back in his early glory days. I honestly never imagined Ivanchuk would win another supertournament with guys like Topalov and Aronian in the field, but I'm happy to be proven wrong. Especially since we're the same age. Ivanchuk now joins Aronian and Anand as qualifiers for the Grand Slam final in Bilbao in the fall.

The discussion about whether or not Ivanchuk's 2977 TPR deserves a spot on the all-time great tourney performance list is largely an academic one. That argument is about ratings and inflation, not Ivanchuk's performance. Compare this win to that Linares 91 triumph, one of his three Linares wins. There he scored 9/13, an undefeated +6. His tournament performance rating was 2828 for clear first. He finished a half-point ahead of Kasparov and defeated him in their game. Also in the field: Beliavsky, Jussupow, Speelman, Salov, Timman, Karpov, Ljubojevic, Anand, Gurevich, Gelfand, Ehlvest, and Kamsky. That was a fair snapshot of the top 20 at the time. (Only Bareev, Short, Andersson, and Yudasin could have strengthened the field noticeably.) There were three players in the world rated 2700+ and Ivanchuk, not quite 22 at the time, wasn't one of them. (Kasparov 2800, Karpov 2725, Gelfand 2700.) Only 34 players were 2600+.

Now, I won't even get into whether or not Bu Xiangzhi 2008 is nearly as strong as Anatoly Karpov 1991 as non-adjusted for inflation ratings would indicate. Again, his current 2708 rating would make Bu #3 in the world in 1991, just 17 years ago. While chessplayers are getting stronger over the decades, such facile comparisons produce little more than frustration. (Although in this case I would ask who would favor Bu over Karpov in a set match now with a few months to prepare.) We know inflation exists. It's more relevant to compare the relative strengths of the fields for the period in question instead of the numbers. Having 4/10 games against players outside of the top 20 takes this MTel event out of contention for historical placement, though obviously it was a great showing from Ivanchuk. Topalov, Radjabov, and Aronian are all fellow top-tenners, even if Aronian played what he must hope will be remembered as the worst tournament of his life.

Nick de Firmian and I talked a lot with the Chess.FM audience about the various greatest ever tournament performances. Morozevich appears often on the lists thanks to his mind-boggling scores in relatively minor events. 8.5/9 in Kishinev 98 (category 12) stands out, and he put up similar scores in Russian Club Cup events around the same time and Pamplona. As TWIC's Mark Crowther said to me as we discussed Ivanchuk's win, despite the relatively weak opposition Moro faced, few elite players, if any, are capable of such overwhelming streaks. So it's hard to draw lines. We also have amazing open performances such as Sofi Polgar's famous Sacking of Rome in 1989, 8.5/9 and the highest open tournament TPR ever at the time. The teenage Morozevich scored 9.5/10 at his Lloyds Bank Open coming out party in 1994. And how about team events? Kramnik scored 8.5/9 in his first big international showing at the 1992 Manila Olympiad, a 2959 TPR.

Once you go beyond the numbers you can dig even deeper and get into the games, which is how the top players usually judge these things themselves. This is why you hear GM's talking about someone being lucky; they can tell the difference between great form and helpful opponents. They talk about great games, not numbers. Karpov's 1994 Linares, for example, is justly called one of the greatest tournament results of all time. 11/13 against the world's best, 2.5 points (!) ahead of Kasparov and Shirov. It's still hard to believe. But what to make of Bareev hanging a rook and mate in one in an even endgame? Of Ivanchuk absurdly dropping a pawn to a beginner's tactic and resigning? Beliavsky (who finished with 2/13) blundering repeatedly in the early moves of a Catalan and losing in 20 moves in the final round? To be fair, Karpov had a spot of poor luck himself, missing a strong winning attempt against Kasparov. Probably only the very pretty tactical demolition of Topalov (and maybe the smooth grind of Kramnik) would make a Karpov game collection. Anyway, this is probably the wrong example since I work with Kasparov and am always slagged whenever I mention anything critical of his top rivals, but it's only to prove the point about looking beyond the numbers, and that tournament has been analyzed to death. I don't doubt similar could be done to some of Kasparov's great performances, which is why we have the phrase "winner's luck" in the first place.

So what's next?

A couple of rapid events begin next week. The Carlsen-Leko match [Link fixed.] begins on the 28th. Leon starts on the 29th with Anand, Ivanchuk, Shirov, and Vallejo. On May 30, the Pivdenny Bank Cup stars Gelfand, Ponomariov, and Karpov. And Dirt favorite Mikhail Golubev, of course! The next classical biggie is the Aerosvit in Crimea on June 7. Carlsen, Svidler, Ivanchuk, Shirov, and Karjakin are the top seeds. Plus Onischuk, who will surely outperform his bottom seeding. Then Dortmund on June 28, where we'll finally see Kramnik in action again. Speaking of Onischuk, he's in the hunt for the US Championship, currently in progress in Tulsa. Yuri Shulman leads with 5/6, three rounds to go.

You say Lviv, I say Lvov, let's not call the whole thing off. Can we leave the question mark off the title now? Chessbase is saying Yuri Vasiliev is saying that Kamsky's manager Alexander Chernenko is saying that the FIDE bank in Lausanne is saying that the money from the Ukrainian organizers for the Kamsky-Topalov candidates match has arrived. The prize fund is stated as $750,000, five times more than the original $150,000 (the minimum) offer from Sofia, Bulgaria. And of course not playing on Topalov's home turf is a huge difference for Kamsky. The given schedule of the eight-game match is Nov. 26 - Dec 11. Bid details here (pdf).

Another event begins today, with Czech #1 David Navara taking on Vladimir Kramnik in an eight-game rapid match. Official site. This seems to be the live link. Cool event poster of Kramnik, larger on this page. This would appear to be a major mismatch, but Navara has shown his mettle in rapid events such as the Ordix Open before. Still, losing 3-5 would probably be a good result for the hometown hero against Big Vlad. Maybe home cooking will help keep things balanced. Kramnik hasn't played since Amber in March, where he turned in an even score in the rapid event.

Apparently this started yesterday somewhere between here and California. Defending champ is Alexander Shabalov and the top seed is Alexander Onischuk. First prize is $8000. 19 of the 24 players will earn $2500 or less. Joel Benjamin and a few other American classics have declined to participate again, but it's still a very strong event. I don't see any rules posted but I guess it's a 9-round swiss. Time control? Also a women's championship event with my Brooklyn homegirl Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih as the favorites. Both are sponsored by Frank K. Berry. The official site is being run by the litigious elves of Montreal. So if you have anything to say about the event or site, make sure you have a lawyer present. The games link is requesting some sort of registration with no privacy statement and 867 words of terms of service, which I haven't tried yet. The USCF site is also covering it in depth, which is good news.

Photo by John Henderson for Chess.FM. / Larger versions here (800) and here (1200).

Official site.

Everyone knows Vassily Ivanchuk is a chess genius. He's also near the top of the "world champion but" lists so popular with every chess fan. The man himself has often talked about his need to work on his psychological stability, the lack of which has led to many memorable blunders and meltdowns. Despite these demons, Ivanchuk has been a consistent top-10 contender for nearly 20 years. He has three Linares wins to his name, though the last one was in 1995. Despite (or perhaps because) turning 39 last March, Ivanchuk has been having some great results lately. He shot up the rating list last year after putting up huge scores in second-tier events, although his supertournament performances were still inconsistent at best. But this week at the MTel his form and the usual bit of required luck have come together. He has won his four first games, beating Radjabov, Topalov, Bu Xiangzhi, and Cheparinov. He'll complete the first half of the event with black against Aronian on Monday.

We won't start the ancient "luck in chess?" arguments again. But there's no doubt you need some fortune to score 4/4 against such opposition. Radjabov played for a win instead of a draw and tricked himself into a loss. Ivanchuk was down to just a few seconds for the last six moves of the first time control against Topalov but managed to hold it together to complete a very nice win. Bu Xiangzhi played a horrible blunder in the opening and could have resigned in good conscience on move nine. He played the "keep it out of the papers gambit" and slogged on down an exchange and two pawns to move 32. Poor Larry Christiansen could barely stomach looking at the game as it dragged on during our live ICC Chess.FM coverage. This led to a brief online contest to come up with a nickname for this anti-immortal game. The obvious "Bu boo-boo"?

Ivanchuk is leaving the rest of the field behind in a big way. Topalov's the only other player with an even score or better. The winner of every edition of this event since its inception in 2005, Topalov is still in striking distance with 2.5. Of the other four players Cheparinov is the only one with a win to his credit.
Cheparinov has lost two in a row in much the same way. Against his boss, Topalov, for whom he has served as second for several years, he overpressed and couldn't back up his pawn sacrifices. He went all-in against Ivanchuk as well on the black side of a classic King's Indian. Once again he failed to find his way through the complications he brought on. Credit for gumption, but his judgment just hasn't been good and at this level these guys just take the material and make you pay.

So will Ivanchuk manage to hold it together for six more rounds or is a meltdown inevitable? If he can at least stay out of insane time trouble he should win the event, although Topalov has shown many times he can put together hot streaks of his own. There are various releases about the Grand Slam up on the MTel site. This one tips the Seattle event I heard rumored months ago (Erik Anderson of AF4C is involved) and mentions their desire to hold another in China as well. As ever, sponsorship is what isn't in place yet. That wasn't the best press release to come out of MTel, however. Monday night they are hosting a "Black & White Party" and the host is a well-known Bulgarian tv personality. The release included a picture of her from a recent Maxim magazine shoot, and it isn't quite SFW. It's enough to make you look forward to receiving chess press releases.

Actually it started a little slowly on all three boards in the first round of the 4th edition of the MTel Masters in Sofia, Bulgaria. But eventually all three games heated up and finished decisively. An exciting start to this category 20 (2737) double round-robin. Four of the six players currently inhabit the top ten: Topalov, Aronian, Ivanchuk, and Radjabov. Relative outsiders Cheparinov and Bu Xiangzhi round out the field and faced each other in the first round, a win for the Bulgarian. Cheparinov and Radjabov hustled to this event directly from the FIDE Grand Prix in Baku.

Radjabov lost rather horribly with white against Ivanchuk in the first round. An inspired defensive exchange sac by Ivanchuk looked good enough to draw until Radjabov went hard for the win by giving back the exchange. This quickly led to a winning endgame for Black. If you count his last few games from Baku, Radjabov has now lost three whites in a row. Topalov took a big step toward winning his fourth MTel tournament by beating 2nd seed Aronian with the black pieces. It was classic Topalov, finding dynamic attacking chances from a calm position. He got a little excited and nearly flubbed the finish, but by then Aronian was in terrible time trouble -- 32 seconds for six moves -- and the Armenian had no time to find 37.Qxd5! Topalov could have avoided that miracle save with 36..Qf4+ 37.Kh1 Ne3 38.Qe2 Nxd1 39.Qxe8+ Kh7 with a winning queen and pawn endgame.

The other hometown player, Topalov's second Cheparinov, also started out with a win. On Chess.FM, my co-pilot GM Joel Benjamin thought that Bu Xiangzhi came out of the Najdorf quite well. But after exchanges the Chinese player drifted into a totally passive endgame and Cheparinov ground him down convincingly. Going for counterplay with 32..Rg8 is one of the last chances to keep at least one piece active. The horrible black bishop stayed locked behind the "Najdorf Pawn" on d6 for all 55 moves of the game despite shuffling between d8 and f8.

This year's time control is 40/90' + g/60', no increment. The players are inside a soundproof double-paned glass cage on the stage. The 1995 Kasparov-Anand WCh match used something similar with mediocre results in both the sound and temperature departments. According to Macauley Peterson, there on the scene for the ICC, the players are sitting on 16th century chairs (oddly not visible in the photo), which will be auctioned off later. This reminded me of my favorite chess chair ever, Karpov's in the 1997 FIDE WCh mini-match against Anand. Vishy was in a regular office chair and Karpov shows up with something from the Wizard of Oz meets Captain Kirk. I couldn't find a pic online but apparently I scanned that one from an Argentine paper 11 years ago. My archives are scary.

Round 2 (8am EDT, 1200 UTC; 1500 local): Topalov-Ivanchuk, Bu Xiangzhi-Radjabov, Aronian-Cheparinov.

Wang Yue and Vugar Gashimov wouldn't have made many pre-event lists to pick the winners of the first FIDE Grand Prix in Baku. Well, unless you count the millions of increasingly patriotic Chinese sports fans who might have put their man on top. Gashimov was only the third-highest-rated player from Azerbaijan in the event and has long played in the shadow of top-tenners Radjabov and Mamedyarov. Of the 14 players, Gashimov was rated 12th and Wang Yue 11th. (Inarkiev (13th) and Navara (14th) better fulfilled Elo's command to finish at the bottom.) Gashimov is ranked 42nd in the world. They both drew in the final round to share first with +3 scores. They were joined by the top seed, Magnus Carlsen, who handed the imploding Bacrot his third loss in a row to finish the event. Gashimov and Wang Yue were the only undefeated players, quite an accomplishment in this very tough event.

Nice work by Carlsen, who won his last two games to leap up the dense crosstable. He didn't seem comfortable with his first big top-seed role but lived up to it in the end. I hereby open the betting pool for which FIDE rating list will be the first to have Magnus Carlsen as #1. Is April 2010 too pessimistic? (Pick Jan, Apr, Jul, or Oct plus a year to participate.) Most will go with 2009 but he's still just 17 and will likely still have a few downs to go with the ups. Vishy is looking ageless, but he has at least one tough match coming up...

Mamedyarov and early leader Grischuk finished a half-point behind with 7.5/13. This is a relatively impressive showing for Mamedyarov, who has a history of disappearing in big events despite his lofty rating. It was a return to form for Grischuk, who looked set to become a top-10 staple a few years ago. Apparently distracted by poker and trichology for a while, the still-young Russian (24) has shown improved preparation of late. A late loss to Gashimov cost him a share of first here. Note he took clear second in the Russian superfinal in December. Veterans Adams and Svidler, the only players other than Kamsky over 25 (!), finished on even scores after very uneven performances. Svidler won his last two games to salvage what was looking like a disaster. Don't miss his spectacular win against Inarkiev in today's final round.

Kamsky was looking good and had a share of the lead on +2 after six rounds. Then he lost to Gashimov and couldn't get his feet under him after that, losing twice more to finish on -1. He was met there by Radjabov and Karjakin, who had very different routes to six points. Radjabov lost three games with white but was in the fight for the lead for much of the way. He was unlucky and/or overoptimistic several times, turning very good positions into losses. Hard to say what was up with Karjakin. He beat Adams in the third round but played some very bad chess in spots. He finished with five straight draws to complete the lackluster impression of his time in Baku.

Everyone except Bacrot scored at least two victories. Inarkiev, who finished equal last with Bacrot on a -3, 5/13, won three games! Navara looked overmatched and off his game most of the way but he got a consolation win against Cheparinov in the final round. (His win against Radjabov should have been a loss, but he did find a cute save.) Topalov's second Cheparinov lost his first four games but showed impressive moxie by winning three before losing again today.

I don't know if this signals a new contender for the King of Baku crown in Gashimov, but he won't surprise anyone after this. What a team the Azerbaijanis have. Mamedyarov, Radjabov, and Gashimov are all under 24 years old. This also seems to be the biggest-ever tournament win by a Chinese player, not including their long list of achievements in women-only events. China has been impressive in team events for years, and Wang Yue (21) and others have put up some impressive numbers in open events. But +3 undefeated in a cat. 19 with a 2800 TPR is another kettle of sweet and sour fish balls. Fluke or new star? Is he now the leading contender to be the first Chinese player in the top 10? With Ni Hua (24), Bu Xiangzhi (22) and Wang Hao (18) also showing signs of increasing maturity they may all bum rush the show at once! (NB Wang Yue eliminated Bu Xiangzhi at the last World Cup.) It seems the top Chinese players are being allowed to play in leagues more now, which can only help their comfort level and ambition. The many special "China vs" matches are the envy of any chess nation, but it's nice to see more mixing. The Chinese players are still largely viewed as aliens and they've tended to hold themselves/be held apart.

All in all, a rousing start to the new Grand Prix. Kudos to the players and the organizers. Nice job on the website as well. It incorporated several of the things we've been whining about for years. The ridiculously low average age of the Baku event can only presage good things for the chess world. Are these young fireballs ready to take out Topalov, Kramnik, and Anand? The next GP event is scheduled for Sochi on July 30.

The rocking MTel tournament starts on May 8 with Topalov, Ivanchuk, Aronian, Radjabov, Bu Xiangzhi, and Cheparinov.

Well, a long walk around the gorgeous Jardin du Luxembourg here in Paris turned up all of two pairs of chessplayers with one spectator each. Neither board was using a clock and in both games in progress one player was down at least a rook in an irrational position and looking entirely unconcerned, insouciant even, about the state of things. I can only assume the chessplayers of Paris have run before me like a warm reblochon. It's also a four-day weekend for many here thanks to the May 1 holiday, and this seems to have cut down on the park population despite the spectacular weather after a rainy week. We took a walk here last weekend -- it's a block or so from our hotel -- and there were far more people.

That isn't to insult French cheese, of course, which is one of life's true pleasures. A great quote from our guidebook refers to someone saying a local cheese shop "smells like zee feet of angels." Perfect. Speaking of French things that stink (now there's a segue), former guillo-teen wonder Etienne Bacrot has a promising position against Inarkiev in the 11th round in Baku, underway here. It's a good time for Bacrot to get something going because he finishes against contenders Mamedyarov and Carlsen, who will try to shake the Frenchman out of his +1 -1 =8 malaise the hard way.

Update: Just when I was feeling bad about the stink joke, Bacrot first fritters his good position and then proceeds to hang his queen to a simple capture those guys at the Jardin would have noticed. A horrible moment of chess blindness. An instant hall of shame worst move ever candidate. Poor guy. Wang Yue beat the sloughing Svidler to join Grischuk at +3 with two rounds to play. Best individual tourney result ever for China if he holds on?

Several days of tense fighting haven't done much to the top of the crosstable in the Baku Grand Prix. Grischuk eventually outmaneuvered Inarkiev to move into clear first place in the 9th round. He's the only player to reach +3 in this very even event. The excellent Scrabble score pair of Vugar Gashimov and Wang Yue are still in an unlikely tie for 2-3 at +2. Mamedyarov has won two of his last three to move up to the +1 group. There he joins Carlsen and Mickey Adams, who beat fellow veteran Svidler in the 9th round in typically arachnid fashion. Kamsky continued to fall from his early state of grace with a loss to Radjabov in the 9th to land at an even score. Cheparinov deserves some credit for battling back to a -1 score after starting the event with four straight losses. True grit.

The games have been unusually long and hard-fought, with many positions you would expect to be drawn played out. This has been both instructive and entertaining and credit goes to the Grand Prix rules, section 4.4 to be precise.

4.4 The players are not permitted to speak to their opponents during the games. Appropriate sporting behaviour is expected from all participants and FIDE rules of conduct are to be strictly followed at all times.

Players will not be allowed to offer draws directly to their opponents. Any draw claim will be permitted only through the Chief Arbiter in the following cases:

* a triple-repetition of the position,
* a perpetual check,
* in theoretically drawn position and
* Applying the rule of 50 moves

The Chief Arbiter may consult with the Technical Adviser before accepting any claim by players for a draw. The Chief Arbiter is the only authority who can acknowledge the final result of the game in these cases.

4.5 The Technical Adviser must be a Grandmaster, rated at least 2500, who has held the title of Grandmaster for at least ten years and is an active player as defined by the rating system.

Allow me a hearty Boo-Yah. The draw offer, that bane of sporting professionalism and common sense (and symbol of opportunistic unprofessionalism), does not exist in the Grand Prix. Let's hope this continues to catch on. Thanks and congrats to Global Chess and FIDE for insisting on this. And a shout-out to the organizers in Corsica and Sofia (MTel) who pioneered anti-short-draw rules at the elite level. (By the way, MTel starts in a few days and they've done all sorts of interesting things to promote the event at the official website. Nice job.)

Another interesting rule is 4.1, which states: "A individual player's visits to the restroom are limited to 12 while his or her game is in progress. A 13th visit will result in the automatic destruction of the bathroom's ceiling."

The final three rounds in Baku contain a few key match-ups. Gashimov-Grischuk in the 12th should be relevant, especially since Grischuk has white against Carlsen and Radjabov in his other games. Wang Yue also has two whites. Adams has the chance to make a move, or at least be a spoiler, which his last three games against Mamedyarov, Carlsen, and Gashimov.