The JR Chess Report (August 16): Jermuk, London, Zürich, St. Petersburg and Athens

[Jack Rabbit]

Leko Leads Jermuk Grand Prix after 7 Rounds



Hungarian grandmaster Peter Leko leads the latest installment of the FIDE Grand Prix with 5 points in seven rounds in the Armenian health resort Mecca of Jermuk.

Tied for second place with 4½ points each are Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk and Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan.

Leko took the lead earlier today when he defeated Bulgarin GM Ivan Cheparinov in 58 moves with Black while Ivanchuk and Kasimdzhanov played each other to a short draw. The three started the day tied for first.

Play resumes tomorrow with the eighth round at 15:00 local time (4 am PDT). Leko will have White against Russian GM Dmitry Jakovenko, Ivanchuk plays White against Israel's Boris Gelfand and Kasimdzhanov has Black against former Russian national champion Evgeny Alekseev.

The tournament in a thirteen game single round robin among 14 players and runs through August 24.


Staunton Memorial Proves to Be a Place for Old Men



The seventh annual Howard Staunton Memorial Tournament at Simpson's Divan in London is proving to be a tournament for old men.

This year's edition of the Stuanton is divided into two groups: a Scheveningen team tournament between Britain and Holland and the traditional round robin among ten players.

In the Scheveningen Match, British grandmaster Nigel Short, 44, has scored 6 points while former multi-time Dutch national champion Loek van Wely has scored 5 points as the British and Dutch teams are deadlocked after eight rounds with 20 points each.

In the round robin, 57-year-old Jan Timman, once a serious world title contender, is tied for first place with 5 points after seven rounds with Russian GM Alexander Cherniaev. Timman held the lead in the rond robin group until Friday's seventh round, when he was beaten by Viktor Korchnoi, now 77 years young. Korchnoi, who came within a hair of winning the world championship from Anatoly Karpov in 1978, has 4 points.

Simpson's Divan in London was a Mecca for chess enthusiasts in the middle and late nineteenth century. In addition to Howard Staunton, who was recognized as the world's strongest player in the 1840s, Paul Morphy, Adolf Anderssen and Wilhelm Steinitz, the fist official world champion, played chess at Simpson's. The Immortal Game between Anderssen and Franco-Polish master Lionel Kieseritzky was player there in 1851.

The event ends tomorrow.


Avrukh, Areshchenko Share First in Zürich CC Jubilee



Boris Avrukh of Israel and Alexander Areschenko of Ukraine shared first place with 7½ points each ahead of heavily favored Russian grandmaster Alexander Morozevich in an open tournament celebrating the 200th anniversary of the founding of the world's oldest chess club still in operation, the Schachgesellschaft Zürich in Switzerland.

In the final round, Avrukh defeated Morozevich and Areschenko bested fellow Ukrainian Yuriy Kuzubov.

Russian GM Alexey Dreev and Victor Mikhalevsky of Israel tied for third with 7 points. Morozevich finished in a 20-way tied for fifth with 6½ points along with the newly minted 17-year-old American grandmaster Robert Hess and 15-year-old Hou Yifan of China.

There were 272 participants in Zürich.


Baltic Queen Tournament Opens in St. Petersburg; Pia Cramling and Mrs. Atalik Lead



The Baltic Queen Tournament began Tuesday in St. Petersburg with ten of the top women players in world.

Today is a rest day for the lasdies. After five rounds, Swedish grandmastr Pia Cramling and Ekaterina Alalik of Turkey, the wife of Turkish GM Saut Alalik, lead with 4 points each.

Tied for third place at 2½ points each are Scottish GM Kevevan Arakhamia-Grant, Lithuanian IM Viktorija Cmilyte and IM Elisabeth Pähtz of Germany.

Round Six takes place tomorrow with Pia playing Black Russia's Anatasia Bodnaruk and Mrs. Atalik, also with Black, against Natalia Zhukova of Ukraine.

The event concludes Thursday.


Acropolis Open underway in Greece



The Acropolis Open began in Athens Monday in Chalkida, about 30 miles from Athens, with 100 participants.

After seven rounds, Bosnia GM Borki Predojevic and Ioannis Papaioannou of Greece are in firsst place with 5½ points each.

The tournament got off to a tragic start when Greek master Nikolaos Karapanos suffered a heart attack while planning his final moves against Dan Zoler of Israel in the first round. Zoler, a doctor, immediately jumped into action in an attempt to revive Karapanos, but to no avail. Karapanos was taken to a hospital where he was pronouced dead.

Dr. Zoler, who was in a completely lost position, resigned the game and, understandably shaken, withdrew from the tournament.

The evnets condludes Tuesday.




Calendar

International Festival d'échecs, Montreal 27 August-7 September. Grandmaster Tournament will include Bacrot, Onischuk, Shulman, Naiditsch and Maze; more to be added.

Grand Slam Final, Bilbao 2-15 September. Topalov, Karjakin, Grischuk and Shirov qualify. Topalov dropped and will be replaced by Aronian.

Second Pearl Spring Tournament, Nanjing 27 September-9 October. Topalov, Anand, Carlsen, Radjabov, Jakovenko and Wang Yue.

World Junior Championship, Mar del Plata (Argentina) 16-29 October.

European Club Cup (Team Championship), Novi Sad (Serbia) 21-31 October.

World Cup, Khanty Mansiysk 28 November-15 December.

London Chess Classic 7-16 December.

Corus Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee 15-31 January 2010. Nakamura has been invited to play in group A.

Anand-Topalov Match for the World Title, Site TBA c. April 2010.