Reply #1: News for the week ending May 27

[Jack Rabbit]

Shabalbov Runs Deep in Stillwater



Latvian-born grandmaster Alex Shabalov, a popular swashbuckler who cut his teeth on the late Mikhail Tal, won the US National Championship in Stillwater, Oklahoma last week by a half point over his nearest rivals.

Shabalov, called Shaba by his fans, began the 36-player, nine round Swiss system event with five consecutive victories over some of the strongest chess masters in the United States to take a point a a half lead over the field. In round six last Sunday, Shabalov lost to the defending champion and his fellow Soviet expatriot, Alex Onischuk, to cut his lead to a half point. Onischuk drew even the following in round seven when he defeated Hikaru Nakamura while Onischuck drew with Jaan Ehlvest. Both players drew their eighth round games on Tuesday. In the final round on Wednesday, Onischuk drew his game with Boris Gulko, the only man to win both the Soviet and US Championships, while Shaba defeated another immigrant from the former Soviet Union, Sergey Kudrin, to take a clear first prize.

It is the second time Shaba has won the US Championship outright. He last won the event in 2003. He shared first prize on two other occasions: in 2000, when his finished in a three-way tie with Joel Benjamin and Yasser Seirawan and in 1993 when he shared first with Alex Yermolinsky.


Movsesian Wraps up Sarajevo early



Armenian native Sergei Movsesian wrapped up a clear first place in the SK Bosna 2007 tournamet in Sarajevo a round early today when he drew his game against pre-tournament favorite Alexander Morozevich of Russia.

The draw gave Movsesian a two point-lead over Morozevich, British grandmaster Nigel Short and the young GM from Bosnia, Borki Predojevic.

Unofficial Cross Table
SK Bosna 2007
Sarajevo

------------------------- 1- 2- 3- 4- 5- 6- T- (W)
1 Sergei Movsesian . . . .-- 1* 1½ 1½ ½½ ½½ 6½ (3)
2 Nigel Short. . . . . . .0* -- 01 01 1½ ½½ 4½ (3)
3 Alexander Morozevich . .0½ 10 -- ½* 01 1½ 4½ (3)
4 Borki Predojevic . . . .0½ 10 ½* -- ½½ 1* 4½ (2)
5 Ivan Sokolov . . . . . .½½ 0½ 10 ½½ -- ½½ 3½ (1)
6 Artyom Timofeev. . . . .½½ ½½ 0½ 0* ½½ -- 3½ (0)

The Jack Rabbit Unofficial Cross Table uses games won as first tie break

The last round will be played tomorrow.


Chisese Women Kicking Ass and Taking Names in Ekaterinburg



The team from China is dominating the Women's World Team Championship in Ekaterinburg after sevem rounds.

In terms of match points, the Chinese team leads Russia by two, 13-11, but the real story of China's dominance in the event is told by the fact that the team has scored 24 out of a possible 28 inidividual points.



The Chinese Team in Ekaterinburg
Reservist Huang Qian, Top board player Zhao Xue, Hou Yifan, Shen Yang and Ruan Lufei
Photo: ChessBase.com

The only blemish against China's team record is a drawn match against Georgia in the fourth round. In rounds two and three, they whitewashed Russia and Poland respectively, 4-0. China was won each of their four other matches by scores of 3½-½.

The Chinese team is made up of Zhao Xue, who has five wins and two draws for 6 points; 13-year-old Hou Yifan who leads the team with six victories; Ruan Lufei; junior world champion Shen Yang; and reserve player Huang Qian, who has won both games that she has played.


Candidates' Matches Begin in Elista



The cnadidates' matches to fill the four unseeded spots in Spetember's world championship tournament began today in Elista, the capital of the Russian autonomous republic of Kalmykia.

The sixteen players are divided into four groups. Within each group, two six game semi-final matches are held ending with any necessary playoffs on June 3; this will be followed by a final match between the semi-final match winners in each group from June 6-14.

The winners of each final match will go in September to Mexico City, where they will join world champion Vladimir Kramnik and three other seeded players, Vishy Anand of India and Russian Alexander Morozevich and Peter Svidler, for a tournament to determine a new world champion.

The winner of that tournament will play Kramnik in a world championship match or, should Kramnik win the tournament, he will play Bulgarian grandmaster Veselin Topalov, the last FIDE world champion.

The semi-final groups and pairing are:

• Group A
• Magnus Carlsen vs. Levon Aronian
• Peter Leko vs. Mikhail Gurevich
• Group B
• Mickey Adams vs. Alexey Shirov
• Judit Polgar vs. Evgeny Bareev
• Group C
• Boris Gelfand vs. Rustam Kasidzhanov
• Ruslan Ponomariov vs. Sergey Rublevsky
• Group D
• Gata Kamsky vs. Etienne Bacrot
• Alexander Grischuk vs. Vladimir Malakhov

In today's action, Aronian defeated Magnus and Grischuk won his game with Malakov. All other games were drawn.



Hungarian grandmaster Judit Polgar drawing for colors
The white sheep means she plays White in her first game against Evgeny Bareev
Photo: from the website of FIDE

As has come to be expected, the opening ceremony last night in Kalmykia was extremely colorful. One player from each pairing, chosen by lot, choose between two boxes, each containing a Black or White sheep, with that player have the color of the sheep in the first game. The sheep were given to the players as gifts.