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Kavalek at Huffington: solutions to the puzzles
13.08.2010
– In last week's
column, entitled "French Aristocrat's Folly", GM Lubomir Kavalek
examined the rules of pawn promotion as formulated by French aristocrat Barthelemy
de Basterot and Australian writer Cecil J.S. Purdy, and presented three problems
that followed these rules to the letter – but playfully misunderstood
their intention. Today Kavalek provides the
weird solutions.
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Hou Yifan wins Ulaanbaatar FIDE Grand Prix
12.08.2010
– She took ill after round seven, played her round eight game on a free day, won five games and drew the rest. Chinese super-talent Hou Yifan, 16, scored 8.0/11 points with a performance of 2649 to win the event. Second was GM Antoaneta Stefanova, a former women's world champion, with three players sharing 3-5th places. Final
illustrated report from the closing ceremony.
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7th China-Russia match: Rapid Day 1 Chinese beat Russians
12.08.2010
– After a free day with a friendly football match, the Russians might have hoped to rally and recoup from their tough loss in the slow games, but the gloves were off once more as the Chinese repeated their performance almost verbatim. With fifty games to choose from, we instead bring you the report and some tactical highlights to
test your skills.
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Male chess players show elevated aggressiveness against women
12.08.2010
– Recent research at Stockholm University shows that equally strong male and female chess players employ different opening strategies. The males tend to play aggressive openings against female opponents of the same playing strength, even if it increases the probability of losing the game. That has to be classified as irrational behavior.
Paper by Swedish researcher Patrik Gränsmark.
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Hou Yifan bounces back, ready for final showdown
10.08.2010
– Owing to illness the youngest participant in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix had to play her round eight game on the free day. Hou Yifan won it, drew the next and won in round ten. Meanwhile former women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova won two in succession to come within striking range of tournament victory. The two play each other in the final round.
Report from Ulaanbaatar.
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Chess Classic Mainz – Kamsky wins with 10.0/11 points
10.08.2010
– The final result of this rapid chess world championship was decided in the final rounds, partially on the basis of nerves. The reigning US Champion Gata Kamsky stormed through the field of 700 players with 9.0 in the first nine games, to clinch it with two final draws. Kamsky's secret: a New York cap worn backwards.
Big illustrated final report.
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NYT: India swoons over its chess champ
10.08.2010
– It's every chess player's dream: girls gathered in a school auditorium, beaming with pride and nervous with anticipation, waiting to meet the star of their dreams. Not from Hollywood or Bollywood, but from the chess world: Viswanathan Anand. The World Champion has joined the Olympic Gold Quest movement in his country – and is tweeting on Twitter.
Vishy-news.
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Politiken Cup 2010: Eljanov reels it in
10.08.2010
– The Politiken Cup, held in Denmark, was dominated and won by an unexpected participant, Pavel Eljanov, rated 2755, who was not afraid to put his Elo on the line. The event also served to celebrate Bent Larsen's 75th year, with a rapid match between Svidler (2734) and Heine Nielsen (2700), and two blitz matches, one with the Larsen Opening as theme. Here is the
report with videos.
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Seventh China-Russia match: Chinese beat Russians in slow games
10.08.2010
– The fifth and last round of slow games of the 7th China-Russia match ended in the strong victory for the Chinese. Led by captain Ni Hua, the men won convincingly, never losing a round, with Bu Xiangzhi scoring an incredible 2928 performance. Ju Wenjun led the women with a 2693 performance. Tomorrow comes the rapid games leg of the match. Here is the report for
rounds four and five.
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All his pieces in play...
10.08.2010
– ... Parimarjan Negi had in his first game at the Young Grandmaster Tournament in Biel and here played 26...Rxd4 in order to force the exchange of the white rook d1. How would you assess the situation after that?
A) White perishes of his underdeveloped queenside;
B) he keeps his position together just like that;
C) he wins by force.
The solution is here,
but first ponder over it with a
larger verson or the diagram.
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Karpov Campaign responds to Nigel Freeman
09.08.2010
– As day follows night, a piece from one campaign follows another. In this case,
the the Karpov campaign plays offense and defense in a reply to the interview
with the FIDE treasurer we published several days ago. They are particularly
emphatic in rejecting the accusation that a Karpov administration would do away
with "one nation, one vote," which has been a
hotly debated topic.
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2010 British Chess Championships
09.08.2010
– In an event where he had over 150 Elo on his closest opponent, Michael Adams justified his favoritism with a crushing 9.5/11 score, undefeated and a point and a half over the second place finisher. GM Nicholas Pert came in clear second with a last-round victory. Jovanka Houska is the 2010 British Women's champion. We bring you many pictures in
the pictorial coverage.
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