As we’re halfway through the month, and considering I really doubt I’ll manage a GOTM from June what with getting married and all, I decided to combine the two. In the past month we’ve had two big matches. First there was the Kramnik-Aronian friendly match. As they weren’t playing for a title they both played enterprising chess and tried out some different openings from their usual repertoire. An interesting feature was that, should the game finish in less than three hours, the players would then play a rapid game. The match ended 3-3 with one win each and I’ve annotated Kramnik’s win below.

The other big match is of course the World Championships in Moscow between Vishy Anand and Boris Gelfand. After five games we’ve had five draws and people are starting to get restless. I’ve commentated on two games, round four where Gelfand never really got anywhere against Anand in a Chebanenko Slav, while today he drew easily with Black in a Sveshnikov Sicilian. It seems Boris is very well prepared and we’ll have to see something special from Vishy to draw blood.

After conferring with his fellow grandmasters this was the winner this year but there are many summer tournaments this year including Leiden in the Netherlands and Rethymos in Crete, Greece,

Benasque is famed for its mountainous surroundings and it’s lovely weather. Hopefully there will also be fantastic food and of course spanish wine.

Here is us playing in the last round, last year where Gawain held me to a draw…

Firstly we should congratulate 3 players who made norms this weekend. Richard Palliser from White Rose made an 11 Round GM norm, Sam Franklin made an 11 Round IM norm and FM Michael White made an 10 Round IM norm.  IM Jonathan Hawkins just missed out but drawing in the last round against GM Stuart Conquest. This would have been his 3rd and final norm. One thing to note is that we don’t think Jonathan has played abroad and wondered if it was possible to become a GM by gaining all your norms in your home country but GM Stephen Gordon achieved his title by playing in England!

The 1st Division was won by Wood Green Hilsmark quite comfortably with an 100% score. They have two teams in the top division and had to strengthen their second team to make sure they didn’t get relegated. Their line up this weekend included “the top amateur in the world” Luke McShane as well as Mickey Adams and their top team fielded 8 GMs! and their second team’s bottom player was IM Malcolm Pein. White Rose (Gawain’s team) managed to recover and finish in 3rd place after losing 3 in a row.

You can see the top division demotion pool above, 5-8 go down to division 2 and the top 4 of division 2 come up.

Here is one of Gawain’s win from the weekend, he lost to Nigel in a long endgame then managed a very quick win which is shown here against the Number 3 player in Africa!

Check out the 4ncl website for more information!

TWIC is very good at keeping up to date with the latest tournaments on calendars, but there are some that are still missed. From now on, at the beginning of each month, I’ll include a list of up and coming tournaments that you should keep an eye out on. This will be mainly Top GM games but occasionally will be interesting tournaments.

May 3-14 Capablanca Memorial, Cuba

In Havana the Capablanca Memorial starts today. Of most interest to fans, as always, will be the games of Vassily ‘Chucky’ Ivanchuk. This is his first tournament since February, an unusually long break for a player who simply loves chess. Chucky is perhaps the most talented chess player ever but suffers from terrible nerves. Joining him in this double round robin are local GMs Lenier Dominguez Perez (2725) and Yuniesky Quesada Perez (2625). Young GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi (2716) and Viktor Laznicka (2693) are also competing, while the line-up is completed by last year’s European Champion Vladimir Potkin (2645). He hasn’t had a great year since then but he proved he can play very well and has a deep theoretical knowledge – no doubt enhanced by seconding Nepomniachtchi.

May 5-7 4NCL Rounds 9,10,11 Hinckley Island 

The final rounds of the English Chess League. Last year Pride and Prejudice managed to win the title with 7GMs and 1 IM in the final round they beat their closest rivals Wood Green Hilsmark (8GMs) 6-2.

How the league works is that there are 3 Divisions (although the third is split into North and South) of which are each divided into two groups. The top four in each group go into the promotion pool while the bottom four of each fight to avoid relegation.

Here is the Championship Pool, the final 3 rounds are being played over this May Bank Holiday weekend.

May 9-16 Sigeman & Co Chess, Sweden

The 20^th edition of the Siegeman and Co chess tournament features the strongest line up in it’s history.  Fabiano Caruana, Peter Leko, Li Chao, Anish Giri, Emanuel Berg, Hans Tikkannes and Jonny Hector will play in a round robin event. Featuring 3 2700+ as well as Giri who is 2693 . There is also live commentary by Ulf Andersson (Berta on ICC and the only Grandmaster I have ever beaten and only at 1 minute) from rounds 1-3 and Stellan Brynell will take over for the remaining 4 games.

May 8-20 US Championships, Saint Louis.

The patron of US Chess Rex Sinquefield has once again organised a very strong event. This year the Championships is being played as a round robin with all of America’s top GMs participating. There’s an impressive prize fund with a bonus of $64000 going to anyone who can replicate Fischer’s 100 percent score in the 1963-64 Championships. The big favourites are Hikaru Nakamura and Gata Kamsky.

May 10-31 World Championship Match, Moscow

The match up between the World Champion and his experienced challenger must be the highlight of the year for chess fans. Anand must be heavy favourite to hang onto his title despite disappointing results for the past year. However Gelfand is sure to fight hard. 12 games is nowhere near enough games for a World Championship match and one slip up by either player will be very costly. Gawain will be commentating on ChessFM on ICC together with Dave Smerdon  on May 15^th and May 17^thfor rounds four and five. Let’s hope for two interesting games!

May 24-28 21st Annual Chicago Open

This American Open offers a pretty impressive prize fund and I’ve heard some strange things about the playing conditions

You can listen to your iPod (or equivalent) whilst playing
Players in one tournament, can be playing at different times, different rounds and play different numbers of rounds
You can enter the tournament, then drop out, then re-enter again.

Don’t worry the game of the month is on its way, but for now I’ll give a brief recap of my most recent tournament – the Italian Club Championships in Arvier, Val d’Aosta. This was my first time playing in the top division, Serie Master, and I made my debut for Chieti. The rules allow each team one foreigner and so the rest of the team was composed of Italians: Carlo d’Amore, Carlos Garcia Palermo (half Italian and half Argentine) Roberto Mograzini, Andrea Stella and Giulio Borgo, who was also our captain. Chieti also had two female teams competing in the Women’s Championships, while Andrea Rebeggiani was captain of one of the female teams and general manager of the whole squad and organised the players in the first place.

View from my hotel window of Arvier

Apparently the schedule had improved this year, last time they squeezed 7 games into 4 days but an extra day still made it a tiring event and not much time for sightseeing, not that that was so much of an issue; Arvier is a pretty place but very small. We were seeded third, behind the mighty Padova with two of the top ten players in the world: Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana and Scavolini, a team with many of Italy’s top young players and spearheaded by Emil Sutovsky.

The first round we played the team from Genova (Genoa in English I believe). Unfortunately for them their top player had not yet arrived and so they had to forfeit the bottom board. I won a wild game against FM Raffaele di Paolo on top board and we ran out comfortable 3-1 winners. The second game was played at an unpleasant 8:45am. With the time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 15 minutes +30 seconds a move the organisers felt that such an early start was necessary. We played the Trieste team and again managed a comfortable 3-1 victory despite me being ground down on top board by Luka Lenic.

The view into a valley about 200metres from the hotel. In the foreground you can see the vineyards.

The double round day didn’t go well for me. After a long game in the morning I had White against Alberto David playing for a Milan team. I think I had a pleasant position out of the opening but couldn’t really find a way to make progress and ended up blundering a pawn and with it the game. While both my opponents were strong GMs, getting 0/2 from the day was a bit depressing. The team made up somewhat for my poor result again and we drew 2-2.

Thankfully the next day we had only one afternoon round and so I rested as much as I could. We needed it as we were on top board and Padova had brought out their strongest team: Nakamura, Caruana, Michele Godena and Bellini. After my two losses I didn’t want to castle queenside (notated as 0-0-0 if you’re not a chess player) and so vowed just to play my normal stuff. Hikaru surprised me with the O’Kelly Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2..Nf3 a6) and the position soon resembled either a c3 Sicilian or a French Tarrasch. I felt I was in danger of being worse if I let him get his knight to a great outpost in the centre of the board so sacrificed a pawn to cripple his structure and we soon agreed a draw as it was clear neither of us could make any progress. Carlo and Andrea both did well drawing with their higher rated opponents but unfortunately Carlos blundered early in a Berlin against Caruana and so we lost the match 2.5-1.5.

We expected to lose that match and had at least put up a good fight and now the focus was on getting second and an automatic qualification spot – Scavolini had also lost to the top seeds but had won the rest of their games and so we were going to have to beat them. The next day was another double round day and I had Black against Mladen Palac, another 2600 Grandmaster. As we outrated the rest of their team very comfortably I was under team orders to try and get a quick draw – and therefore accepted his draw offer after ten moves when queens were already off the board. We were right to trust my teammates who all won for a 3.5-0.5 victory.

The "sala multiuso" playing hall.

The afternoon round was the crunch match against Scavolini. They had two foreigners in their squad, Mihail Marin (of the Grandmaster 1.c4 repertoire series) and the very strong Israeli GM and President of the ACP (Association of Chess Professionals) Emil Sutovsky. The fact they had two foreigners meant Sutovsky got a rest in the morning and was fresh for the afternoon. The game was a bit of a nightmare, I missed something basic and already after a dozen moves I was completely lost. I felt obliged to sacrifice my queen and a pawn for rook and bishop and managed to get some activity and was close to holding but Emil converted. The final score of 3.5-0.5 wasn’t really fair – on board two Carlos had an extra rook against Sabino Brunello but Brunello kept it tricky and Carlos blundered into mate.

My score of 0.5/4 on the double round days was a bit of a concern but my teammates reassured me that it wasn’t my fault – it was fate. Despite their team always doing well the top board always suffers, they cited Judit Polgar, Fabiano Caruana and Vallejo-Pons, all of whom had scored badly for them which made me feel a bit better! Our job in the final round was to wrap up third place and this we managed with a 3-1 win, me managing to improve my score a little with a win over GM Petar Genov.

According to the regulations the top two teams automatically qualify for Europe with the third being given a place should there be a total of 20GMs playing in the division.  This year there were 19 and so we’re unsure if we’ll be allowed to go but it’s possible that one of the others won’t take up their place in which case it will automatically be deferred to us. The location of the event is also a bit of a cause of concern to our players: at the moment it’s scheduled to be played in Eliat in Israel where there have been some problems recently. We shall see.

The women’s tournament was composed of six teams playing an all-play-all. Our top team won every game and ran out winners for the third time in a row. Congratulations to them! Our other team was an U16 team and they gained valuable experience and got off the scoreboard with a draw in the last round, quite impressive against the other adult teams.

Our female players and Andrea holding the trophy

To conclude I’d like to thank the coordinator and manager Andrea for inviting me to play for the team and making my stay very comfortable. I really enjoyed myself with all my teammates being very friendly and welcoming and the tournament gave me a good chance to practice my Italian, which has been a bit neglected of late. I hope that next time I can get Chieti a few more wins though!

Chieti in the Italian League is the 3rd highest team with an average team rank of 2517. Gawain leads the team with French GM Marie Sebag on Board 2.

The top team is Padova which contains 2 Top 10 players! Caruana and Nakamura – Do you remember this tweet

Hikaru Nakamura@GMHikaru After seeing people picking up rating points off of beating weaker players, I am convinced chess ratings should be weighted like in tennis.

It’ll be all nice and cosy in the Italian mountains

I can’t seem to find the players list ( I don’t speak any Italian but I’ve seen it so I’ll ask Gawain). This is the official website according to the Italian Federation Website and the games link is a bit confused but I hope I’ll be able to link it tomorrow.

From memory there are 14 teams who play a 7 round swiss. The tournament starts tomorrow and is FIDE rated with 2 rounds on the 29th and 30th of April.

UPDATE: Here is where the list of teams are, just click on the name of the team and you’ll see their players.

This year I made my debut for SC Remagen in the German Bundesliga. The top division is composed of 18 teams with 8 players with no restrictions on either the number of foreigners or gender, and is generally regarded as the strongest league in the world.

I was ranked fifth in the squad and generally played on board three, playing 11 out of the long 15 game season. On paper our team were of about average strength but unfortunately it didn’t go well for either the team or myself. I scored 5/11 with ten draws and one loss against opposition averaging 2573. Rather disappointing but I can take solace my only loss was straight after returning from New Zealand (arriving into London on Friday morning and leaving Friday afternoon) and in that game the team was going to lose 4.5-3.5 had I drawn so I had to go all-in. I also managed to salvage draws from some pretty unpleasant positions.

As for the team, we were pretty much up against it from the first weekend. There we played three games and didn’t manage to come away with any points, losing each match very narrowly. That set the tone for the entire season – our heaviest losses being 2.5-5.5 against Berlin and Werder Bremen and even there we had good chances until the very end. The problem was we failed to put away the weaker teams with three draws and four 3.5-4.5 defeats.

With four teams getting relegated we knew we were going down by the final weekend but still we fought to restore some of our pride and not finish bottom of the table. We defeated Katernberg 5.5-2.5 on the Saturday followed by a 4-4 draw with Mulheim on the Sunday.

On the Saturday, against Ilja Zaragatski, a 2476 IM, I sacrificed a pawn for the initiative but erred and my compensation dried up. By the time control I was probably lost but my opponent didn’t play accurately and let me off with a draw. On the Sunday I had Black against Alexander Berelowitsch, a Ukranian Grandmaster who now plays for Germany. After being slightly worse out of the opening I started to press and even went a pawn up in a rook and pawn endgame but couldn’t convert and we agreed a draw after six hours play.

These games followed a similar pattern for the season; against the lower rated guys I had gone wrong quite early and had to defend to hold the draw (in fact this happened against all 3IMs I played). In the game I lost against the young German GM Sebastian Bogner he equalised out of the opening and then I went for too much. However against the higher rated GMs I got very reasonable positions and never really had any problems – definitely something for me to think about and work on.

In the end our team finished 17^th, although had the table been decided on game points rather than match points (i.e. if you win 8-0 you would get 8 points and if you win 4.5-3.5 you’d get 4.5 points – with match points you simply get 2 points for a win) then we would have been safe in 14^th!

Meanwhile at the other end of the table Baden-Baden won yet another Bundesliga with +13 =1 –1, finishing two points ahead of their perennial rivals Werder Bremen and Solingen doing well to finish in third. You can see the final table here.

Apparently Werder Bremen’s team is not going to be as strong next year so it will be difficult to see who might challenge Werder Bremen’s dominance. I hope that they remain as strong as they have in recent times without so much competition. The final weekend saw World Champion Vishy Anand lead out the team but he suffered a surprising defeat to Dutch GM Sergey Tiviakov. White won this game very easily and, with Tiviakov using the repertoire I recommend in my How to Beat the Sicilian book, I couldn’t very well not show you guys the game!

Although the team is based in Remagen, and we played our home matches there, we normally meet up in Andernach. This is a very pretty old town on the Rhine and when I was there this Friday I took a few photos.

As loyal readers will know, I love walled towns after living in Lucca!

And if you don't know what you're looking at...

then all you have to do is read the signs!

"Ruins of the former archbishoprical castle of the electorate of Cologne...erected in the 12th century"

The Majestic Rhine

The Bastion built in 1659-60 as a Toll house on the river and now also a war memorial for the First World War

I’d like to thank Peter Noras the captain for all the time, effort and money he’s put into the team and apologise that we couldn’t quite deliver this year. I hope the team will bounce back and return to the top flight for the 2013-2014 season.

These questions were asked by Colin Patterson last December and Gawain has now answered his questions! You’ll be pleased to know that we haven’t forgotten about GOTM and it’ll be coming out this week.
Happy reading!

1) I wondered if you felt an obligation to play the FIDE Open this year in order to be considered for the top group next year or was it just a feeling that you ought to defend your title?

GJ: The Kensington Olympia is very close to our flat in London and so it definitely makes sense to play in the tournament. While I’d love to be playing the top section I couldn’t turn down the chance to at least play in the same building and soak up some of the atmosphere, although it is a bit distracting when I find that section is so much more interesting than my own games!

2) Has David acknowledged to you that he considers his place in the Classic under threat? Presumably, Matt Sadler would also be in the reckoning as long as the both of you are gaining Elo at such a rapid rate? I have a theory that Matt’s passion was re-ignited by the first London Classic, so playing there may well appeal.

GJ: David and I haven’t discussed it. I’m just trying to play as well as I possibly can and hope for an invite. I’m not sure Matthew Sadler has enough spare time to play in the tournament but should he come back to chess properly I’m sure he would be considered too. I don’t have any knowledge whether the tournament is even going ahead this year, let alone if it’ll be the same format.

3) With Luke and Matthew poaching from the sidelines as it were, has it occurred to David and yourself that you are now established as England’s long-term successors to Short and Adams? Does this growing expectation that you will make 2700 Elo, put any extra pressure on you or has it always been a pressure that you’d put on yourself anyway?

GJ:  The chess scene at the top of England is a bit depressing at the moment, it’s not clear who’s coming through to challenge the current top six. I don’t think I feel much pressure based on my rating, I’ve always put pressure on myself to do as well as I can, often over pressing trying too hard.

4) When you play through a Carlsen or Aronian game, do any of the elements (such as the depth of calculation, conceptual ideas or technique) strike you as scary, beyond reach? How much confidence do you take from defeating other aspirants like Cheparinov?

GJ: The 2800 players have amazing technique, intuition, calculation and preparation, the whole package! I try to learn as much as I can from watching their games. Even a player like Kramnik who is known for his positional player is an amazing calculator and so it’s very tough to match up. It’s always tough when you play up a level but I was happy that I generally held my own in the recent European Championships against a 2700 field and I feel I am slowly making up some of the gap. Of course beating these guys is great for confidence.

5) Have you ever been invited to the Tata Steel tournament? Would you like to play there?

GJ: No I’ve never been invited to Wijk aan Zee but would love to play if asked. I haven’t really had much experience in strong closed tournaments and I’m hoping if I can get my rating higher that I’ll receive more invites to these kind of interesting tournaments.