English Chess Forum

So, Kramnik, Karjakin, Mamedyarov, Radjabov, Adams, Harikrishna, Eljanov, Wojtaszek, Topalov

Mick Norris wrote:So, Kramnik, Karjakin, Mamedyarov, Radjabov, Adams, Harikrishna, Eljanov, Wojtaszek, Topalov

That isn't part of any circuit presumably. After a rocky period a few years back where his rating briefly dropped below Nigel's and he played in a British Championship that wasn't sponsored, Mickey is back on the elite invitation list.

wikipedia wrote:Şəmkir is a city in and the capital of Shamkir District in western Azerbaijan,

Roger de Coverly wrote:]Şəmkir is a city in and the capital of Shamkir District in western Azerbaijan,

Twenty years ago, I doubt that Shamkir would have passed Mickey's basic test of a venue in having toilets you can sit on, but in terms of what Westerners call civilisation Azerbaijan has come a long way. This looks like a really nice place, and the spring climate should be quite tolerable.

I am impressed that Michael Adams is now as high as 12th on the March FIDE list; hence the invitation no doubt.

Shamkir (the Gashimov Memorial) is on at almost exactly the same time as the Reykjavik open (19-27 April) where the top names are Anish Giri and Andreikin, Jobava, Shirov, Movsesian, Gawain Jones, Vidit, Kamsky and last year's winner Gupta. 29 GMs at the last count.

There are 230 entries at present, but there's a long tail going down to 1004 elo, because unlike Gibraltar everyone plays in the same tournament.

It appears that several big guns (Carlsen, Caruana, Nakamura, MVL, Anand, Nakamura and Aronian from the top 10) are taking some time off in April to recharge batteries and prepare for battles to come.

Tim Harding wrote:I am impressed that Michael Adams is now as high as 12th on the March FIDE list; hence the invitation no doubt.

Shamkir (the Gashimov Memorial) is on at almost exactly the same time as the Reykjavik open (19-27 April) where the top names are Anish Giri and Andreikin, Jobava, Shirov, Movsesian, Gawain Jones, Vidit, Kamsky and last year's winner Gupta. 29 GMs at the last count.

There are 230 entries at present, but there's a long tail going down to 1004 elo, because unlike Gibraltar everyone plays in the same tournament.

It appears that several big guns (Carlsen, Caruana, Nakamura, MVL, Anand, Nakamura and Aronian from the top 10) are taking some time off in April to recharge batteries and prepare for battles to come.

Why hasn't the media picked up on the astounding story of a 45 year old competing with the world's elite and still improving at his age?

Joshua Gibbs wrote: Why hasn't the media picked up on the astounding story of a 45 year old competing with the world's elite and still improving at his age?

Historically it's not unprecedented. Both Botvinnik and Alekhine were still world champions at that age.

Roger de Coverly wrote: Historically it's not unprecedented. Both Botvinnik and Alekhine were still world champions at that age.

More recently, Boris Gelfand attained his highest rating, arguably playing his best chess, at the age of 45.

Tim Harding wrote:It appears that several big guns (Carlsen, Caruana, Nakamura, MVL, Anand, Nakamura and Aronian from the top 10) are taking some time off in April to recharge batteries and prepare for battles to come.

That's not correct, except possibly for Anand.

http://www.uschesschamps.com/2017-us-ch ... p/overview

http://www.grenkechessclassic.de/de/

A good way to see what is coming up is to go to http://2700chess.com/ and scroll down to Future Events.

There's also speed chess

NickFaulks wrote:

Roger de Coverly wrote: Historically it's not unprecedented. Both Botvinnik and Alekhine were still world champions at that age.

More recently, Boris Gelfand attained his highest rating, arguably playing his best chess, at the age of 45.

And lets not forget Korchnoi......

Matt Mackenzie wrote:

NickFaulks wrote:

Roger de Coverly wrote: Historically it's not unprecedented. Both Botvinnik and Alekhine were still world champions at that age.

More recently, Boris Gelfand attained his highest rating, arguably playing his best chess, at the age of 45.

And lets not forget Korchnoi......

...and Arkell!!

Nick Burrows wrote:

Matt Mackenzie wrote:

NickFaulks wrote: More recently, Boris Gelfand attained his highest rating, arguably playing his best chess, at the age of 45.

And lets not forget Korchnoi......

...and Arkell!!

OK, OK, apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?