International Round Up 16/12/09

[LozCooper]

International Round Up 16/12/09

London Chess Classic:
http://www.londonchessclassic.com/index.htm

The London Chess Classic was held from 8th-15th December and the three international events were the Classic, the open and the Womens Invitational.

Results were as follows:

London Chess Classic:

1 GM Carlsen, Magnus 2801 NOR 13 3 4 0 2839
2 GM Kramnik, Vladimir 2772 RUS 12 3 3 1 2787
3 GM Howell, David W L 2597 ENG 9 1 6 0 2760 Win with black
4 GM Adams, Michael 2698 ENG 9 1 6 0 2746 Win with white
5 GM McShane, Luke J 2615 ENG 7 2 1 4 2606
6 GM Ni, Hua 2665 CHN 6 1 3 3 2599 One game won
7 GM Nakamura, Hikaru 2715 USA 6 0 6 1 2644 No games won
8 GM Short, Nigel D 2707 ENG 5 0 5 2 2593

This event has already been covered in great detail, both in the written press and on the internet. I would like to extend my thanks to Malcolm Pein and his very generous sponsor for creating the event and was especially pleased with David Howell's performance. To remain undefeated and finish on a plus score in his first event at this level was a magnificant achievement. It was also pleasing to see Michael, Luke and Nigel play a full part in making this event a huge success. If we are able to field these four players in the future for England then a medal is a realistic aim and at the very least a top ten finish is very obtainable.

Open:
http://www.londonchessclassic.com/festi ... d_open.htm

Congratulations to GM Jon Ludvig Hammer (Norway) who was a deserved winner on 8/9 ahead of GMs Mark Hebden, Simon Williams and IM Jovanka Houska on 7 and English GMs Keith Arkell, Neil McDonald and Peter Wells amongst those who finished on 6.5.

Womens Invitational:
http://www.londonchessclassic.com/festi ... tional.htm

1st WIM Arianne Caoili (Australia) 8/9
2nd IM Susan Lalic (England) 6/9
3rd WIM Arlette van Weersel (Netherlands) 5.5/9
4th Maria Ikonomopoulou (Greece) 5/9
5th Camille de Seroux (Switzerland) 4.5/9
6th Elena Winkelmann (Germany) 4/9
7th WFM Maria Yurenok (England) 3.5/9
8th= WFMs Sabrina Chevannes (England) & Olivia Smith (Wales) 3/9
10th WIM Denise Frick (South Africa) 2.5/9

Congratulations to Arianne Caoili who won the event with 8/9, losing to Susan in round 3 but winning her other eight games. The tournament was hard fought throughout and there were only 9 draws out of the 45 games. I would like to thank all the players for their conduct throughout and hope to welcome many of them back to future events. From an English perspective both Susan and Sabrina could have finished on a higher score had they been able to convert their winning postions, most notably Susan against de Seroux and van Weersel and Sabrina against Winkelmann and Caoili.

Schachbundesliga 2009-10
http://www.schachbundesliga.de/
http://www.schachbund.de/SchachBL/

Stewart Haslinger represented Trier in the Bundesliga last weekend. Sadly travel problems due to severe fog prevented him from playing on the Saturday and he was denied the chance to play GM Naiditsch. He did, however, play on the Sunday and defeated GM Vladimir Gurevich rated 2471. His team lost 6-2 on Saturday to Baden-Baden but bounced back to win 6.5-1.5 against Heidelberg on Sunday.

After seven rounds Stewart (and Stephen Gordon's team) have 6 match points from a possible 14. Stewart has 1/2 (see above) and Stephen has 2/5. Michael Adams has 1.5/2 for Baden-Baden who lead with 14/14, Luke McShane has 1/2 for Bremen who are second with 13.

BATTLE OF THE GIANTS 2009
http://www.sussexjuniorchess.org/Result ... Battle.htm

Thanks to Chris Howell who also sent me an e-mail. Sussex beat a strong Russian (St. Petersburg) team to win the International junior team event in Holland which also included Holland, France and Germany. Players were George Salimbeni, Grant Bucher, David Grant, Rhys Cumming, Chris Yates, Amy Hoare, Ram Mohan, Shyam Mohan, Robert Fitzgerald, Felix Haxby, Sambhav Aggarwal, Toby Harris, Otto Pyper, Billy Twigge Molecey, Cosima Keen, David Liu. Congratulations to the team on their success. For full details please click on the link above.

In addition to the individual websites the latest international chess news can be found at the following link:
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic788.html

Lawrence Cooper
Director of International Chess
English Chess Federation 16/12/09