The JR Chess Report (August 2): Vachier wins Biel; Anand falls in Mainz; Shaba ties for 1st in PanAm

[Jack Rabbit]

Ivanchuk Leads in Biel after Six Rounds



French national champion Maxime Vachier Lagrave, 18 years old, won the grandmaster tournament at the 42nd Biel Chess Festival in Switzerland with 6 points in ten rounds.

M. Vachier Lagrave won only two games, but it was enough in a tournament in which the players, with the exception of Russian GM Alexander Morozevich, found decisive games hard to come by. Vachier Lagrave started the tournament by drawing six games in a row before winning two consecutive games against Italian national champion Fabiano Caruana and Morozevich.

Morozevich, who won 4 and lost 3 for 6½ points, tied for second place with Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk, who won two and lost one.


Anand's reign as world rapid champ ends in Mainz; Aronian takes title



GM Levon Aronian of Armenia defeated Russian GM Ian Napomniachtchi in a four game match for the world rapid chess championship at the annual Mainz Chess Festival, ending the ten year long reign of Indian GM Vishy Anand.

Anand failed to qualify in the prelimanry rounds, scoring only 2½ points out of six to finish behind Aronian and Napomniachtchi.

The time control for rapid chess in Mainz is 20 minutes plus five seconds per move.

In the Ordix Open, the rapid open tournament at the Mainz Festival, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan took the event and qualifies for next year's world rapid championship when Aronian will defend his title. Almost 700 players participated in the Ordix Open.

Earlier in the festival, Aronian was also the runner up to US national champion Hikaru Nakamura in the chess960 championship. Chess960, also called FischeRandom ehess, is a chess variant developed by the late former world champion Bobby Fischer in which the pieces are placed in a random order at the beginning of the game rather than the traditional chess starting position.

The chess960 open tournament in Mainz, sponsored by FiNet, a German financial services firm, was won by Russian grandmaster Alexander Grischuk.


Yank Shabalov, Cuban Corrales tie for first in Pan-Am Championship



Former US national champion Alex Shabalov and Cuban grandmaster Fidel Corrales tied for first place with 9 points each in eleven rounds in the Pan American Championship in the tournament completed just a few minutes ago in São Paulo.

Mr. Shabalov and el señor Corrales began the day tied for first and faced each other over the board, but the game ended quickly in a short draw. Both players qualify for the World Cup to be held in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia, November 28 thru December 15.

The only other players with a shot at tying for first today were Julio Granda of Peru and Argentina's Diego Flores. The two played each other for a draw and finish in a tied for third place.



Calendar

US Open, Indianapolis 1-9 August.

FIDE Grand Prix, Yerevan 8-24 August.

Howard Staunton Memorial, London 8-17 August. Played at historic Simpson's Divan.

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.

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.


This Week's Games will be posted later today.