Carlsen and Ivanchuk tie
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday March 29, 2010
Magnus Carlsen (World no. 1)and Vassily Ivanchuk tied for first place in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament in Nice, France. Each player scored 6.5/11 in the blindfold and 8/11 in the rapid. Rapid €“ V. Kramnik 2790 v B. Gelfand 2750 E15 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 c6 8.Bc3 d5 9. Nbd2 Nbd7 10. Qc2 c5 11. dxc5 bxc5 12. O-O O-O 13. Bb2 Qb6 14. Rfe1 Bb7 15. cxd5 exd5 16. Rad1 Rad8 17. Bh3 Qc6 18. Rc1 Ne4 19. Bg2 f5 20. b4 c4 21.a3 Bf6 22. Nd4 Qb6 23. N2f3 g5 24. e3 g4 25. Nd2 Ne5 26. Re2 Bg7 27. Rd1 Rc8 28. Nf1 Nd3 29. Ba1 Qa6 30. Qa2 Qa4 31. Rc2 Ndxf2 32. Bxe4 fxe4 33.Ne6 Nxd1 34. Bxg7 Rxf1+ ! 0-1. Leading final scores (12 players, 2746 average rating, 22 rounds) M. Carlsen (NOR 2813 13+ 3= 6-), V. Ivanchuk (UKR 2748 7+ 15=) 14.5, V. Kramnik (RUS 2790) 13, A. Grischuk (RUS 2756) 12.5, S. Karjakin (UKR 2756) 12.Vassily Smyslov (World Champion 1957/8) died in Moscow on Saturday evening at the age of 89. Smyslov played three matches for the World Title against Mikhail Botvinnik. 12-12 in 1954, won 12.5-9.5 in 1957 and lost 10.5-12.5 in 1958.Gary McNamara has won the City of Sydney Championship at Burwood scoring five wins and two draws. Nine-year-old Anton Smirnov nearly became by far the youngest Sydney champion in history.Smirnov on 4.5/6 would have finished outright first if he had beaten McNamara in the final round but lost. Leading final scores (28 players, seven rounds): G.McNamara (1993) 6: J. Bolens (2029), G.Charles (2049), FM T. Rej (2325), K.Thapa (1977) 5. Leading scores after seven rounds of the Norths World Rated Club Championship €“ A.Chek (2095), G.Charles (2175), FM V. Smirnov (2392) all 5/7, M. Morris (2016)4.5. There are seven other supporting round robin tournaments.The tenth Dubbo Open Grand Prix weekender resulted in a tie for first place between Australian Champion Grandmaster Zong-Yuan Zhao (winner on countback) and International Master George Xie. They drew their individual game in round five and won their other five games in the 48 player event. Three players tied for third place on 4.5/6 €“ N.Dean-Cowell (1662), FM V. Smirnov (2316) and A. Chibnall (1513). Fritz Van Der Wal (Orange) on four points became the NSW Country Champion for the fourth time.Kevin Sheldrick has won the South Australian Championship in Adelaide with a round to space. He has scored 7.5/8 and is a full two points clear of the field with one game to play. Sheldrick also won the title in 1999.The four divisions of the 48th annual Doeberl Cup Easter weekend tournament on April 1-5 at the Hellenic Club, Wooden, Canberra has so far attracted 223 entrants. There are 32 titled players (10 grandmasters, 11 international masters, 1 WIM, 8 FM, 2 WFM). The top seeds in the 78 player premier division are GM Chao Li (CHN 2613 €“ age 20 from Beijing €“ 2767 rating performance in Russia-China Match in Ningbo Sep 2008), GM Z. Zhao (AUS 2592), GM V. Malaniuk (UKR 2582), GM G. Jones (ENG 2556), GM M. Panchanathan (IND 2543), GM D. Smerdon (AUS 2530), GM A. Kunte (IND 2528), GM D. Bojkov (BUL 2505). Grandmaster Ian Rogers of Sydney will be commentating on the games daily in an adjoining room at the venue.International Master George Xie (AUS 2470) of Sydney will need to perform at 2600+ to secure his third and final norm for a grandmaster title either in Canberra or in Sydney at the SIO. The Sydney International Open (10 GM, 7 IM, 2 FM, 2 CM, 1 WIM 1 WFM) and Challengers event follows the Doeberl Cup and is held at the historic Parramatta Town Hall (7-11 April) over 9 rounds.The top seeds are the same as at the Doeberl Cup. There are 65 early entries in the SIO and 36 in the Challengers (Under 2000). 31 of the 101 entries are from overseas, 27 from interstate and 43 from NSW.
© 2010 Sydney Morning Herald
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