Chess (June): Vishy Retains World Championship; Nakamura wins US Title [View all]

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The JR Chess Report and Gloat Free Scores theme music: Merrick, The Look Sharp, Be Sharp March (From a broadcast of The Gillette Cavalcade of Spots).

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[font size="4"]Vishy Anand retains World Title in Rapid Tiebreak[/font]


[font size="1"]Photo by Ygrek (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ygrek) in Wikipedia (Creative Commons License, Attribution/Share Alike)
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Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand of India retained the title of world champion by defeating challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel by way of Belarus in a four game set of rapid games on Wednesday in Moscow.

Sri Anand won the second of the four games in 77 moves while the other three games were drawn. The playoff was made necessary after the title match of twelve games under classical time control ended in a 6-6 tie with each player winning one game and drawing ten.

The rapid playoff was made necessary when the 12-game match under classical time control ended in a tie with each player winning one game from the other with ten draws.

After losing the seventh game of the match to Gelfand, Anand bounced back the following day to defeat Gelfand in just 17 moves, the shortest game in the history of the world chess championship. The old record was held by Wilhelm Steinitz, who took a game from Johannes Herman Zukertort in just 19 moves in the very first world championship match in 1886.

Sri Anand, a native of Chennai, has held the world title since 2007 when he won an elite tournament in Mexico City. He defended his title in matches against both former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in 2008 and former FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in 2010.


[font size="4"]Nakamura, Krush win US Championships in St. Louis[/font]


[font size="1"]Photo by Daniel Schwen (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User schwen) in Wikipedia (Creative Commons License, Attribution/Share Alike)
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Hikaru Nakamura, the highest rated American chess master since Bobby Fischer, won the US Chess Championship on Saturday, May 19, when he defeated veteran GM Yasser Seirawan in the eleventh and final round of the championship tournament in St. Louis.

Mr. Nakamura scored 8½ points out of eleven rounds, a full point ahead of his neaerst, defending champion Gata Kamsky. It is Nakamura's third US title.

The showdown came in the tenth round when Nakamura defeated Kamsky, who was going for his third consectutive US title. Kamsky had a half point over Nakamura going into the tenth round, but Nakamura vitory in that game cantapulted him into first place.

International master Irina Krush won the US women's title by defeating Anna Zatonskih in a two-game rapid playoff on Sunday, May 20.

Both Ms. Krush and Ms. Zatonskih finshed with 7 points out of a possible nine. Ms. Krush won both games, taking advantage of a blunder by Ms. Zatonskih at the end the second game.

It is the seventh consecutive year in which one or the other of these two native Ukrainians have taken the US women's title. The last lady other than Ms. Krush or Ms. Zatonskih to hold the tile was Rusudan Goletiani, who had just arrived in the US from Georgia, in 2005. Ms. Goletiani finished third in this year's event.


[font size="4"]Negi, Sukandar take Asian Championships[/font]


[font size="1"]Photo by rorkhete from Wikipedia (Creative Commons License, Attribution/Share Alike)
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Indian grandmaster Parimarjan Negi and Indonesian WGM Irine Kharisma Sukandar won the 11th Asian Continental Champioships in a tournament ended May 14 held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Sri Negi was awarded the championship on tiebreak points after he and Yu Yangyi of China finished an equal first with 7 points each out of nine. The met in round six, with Yu leading by a half point at the time. Negi, playing Black, won the game and held first place alone until the final round, when he lost to GM Saleh Salem of the United Arab Emirates, who finshed third with 6½ points.

Bu Sukandar lead the tounament with 6 points through seven rounds when she lost to WGM Mary Ann Gomes of India in Round 8, allowing Sushti Gomes to move into first place. However, Bu Sukandar came back and scored a victory in the ninth and final round over Indian IM Eesha Karavade, giving her 7 points, while Sushti Gomes lost to Chinese WGM Tan Zhongyi, who finished in an equal second with Sushti Gomes and two other Chinese ladies, Ding Yixing and Wang Jue, all with 6½ points. Sushti Gomes took second on tiebreaks and Tan Nushi third.


[font size="3"]June Events[/font]

Third Dangzhou Tournament, China 29 May-7 June
French Team Championship, Belfort 31 May-10 June
Seventh Tal Memorial Tournament, Moscow 7-19 June. Aronian, Carlsen, Caruana, Grischuk, Kramnik, McShane, Morozevich, Nakamura, Radjabov and Tomashevsky.
2011/12 Women's Grand Prix, Fourth Leg, Kazan 9-23 June. Cmilyte, Danielian, Galliamova, Hou Yifan, Koneru, N. Kosintseva, T. Kosintseva, Kosteniuk, Lahno, A. Muzychuk, Stefanova and Yildiz.
Sixth King's Tournament, Medias, Romania 23 June-4 July. Anand, Carlsen, Ivanchuk, Karjakin, Nisipeanu and Radjabov.