Game from Biel Grandmaster Tournament

There is a strong Grandmaster Tournament going on currently in Biel, Switzerland. The tournament includes the world's highest ranked player, Magnus Carlsen, and current U.S. Champion Hikaru Nakamura.

As of slightly over the halfway mark of the tournament, the tournament is led by Wang Hao from China. He has won all of his games except for one (see below). You can see the current standings and live games on the tournament site:

www.bielchessfestival.ch

Besides the Grandmaster Tournament, there is also a Masters Tournament going on along side it. Grandmaster Sam Shankland, originally from Orinda, is playing in it and after 6 rounds is on 4.5 points, a half point behind the leaders.

The below video is a game from the Grandmaster tournament. It is between the world's highest rated player Magnus Carlsen and the tournament leader Wang Hao. It is a unique opportunity to see the analysis and thinking of the world's top player. Enjoy!

UPDATE: The Grandmaster Tournament was ultimately won by Want Hao from China, just barely edging out Magnus Carlsen by one point.  Carlsen did manage to beat Hao in both the games they played against each other.

In the Master Tournament, which included 30 Grandmasters in a field of 111 participants, Sam Shankland ended with 7.5/11, a half point behind the winners group (tying for 4th-12th).  The winner was Igor Kurnosov from Russia.

Kevin K. does well at People's Tournament

Congratulations to Kevin K. for his great result at the recent People's Tournament playing in Pleasanton. Kevin scored three points out of five rounds which put him in a tie for 6th to 8th place in the overall tournament. For his efforts, Kevin picked up 13 rating points moving his rating to 2119!

Great job Kevin!

King's Gambit Game

Hi all,

One of our members, Dave W. that runs the Pink Elephant Chess Podcast, won a battle against the Internet Chess Club's 3000+ rated computer. He made a chess video of the game with his notes.

Here is the link to watch the chess video of the game. Just click on the image to watch it.

http://pechesscast.blogspot.com/2010/02/chess-terminators.html

Robert H. wins recent Berkeley Chess School Friday Night Marathon

Congratulations to Robert H., who won the most recently concluded Friday Night Marathon at the Berkeley Chess School. For those that are not familiar with it, the Berkeley Chess School (located a few blocks north of UC Berkeley) runs a rated event with one round each Friday night. A full tournament is 6 rounds. Robert scored 5.5 out of 6 to win the event by a full point. His only draw was against Master Robin Cunningham.

Robert regularly shows up at both the Clayton and Walnut Creek clubs and usually trounces all comers. Here is what he felt was one of his best games from the Berkeley event with some notes he provided.

Game from Philadelphia International

At the club this last Thursday, a few of us went over a game from the recently concluded Philadelphia International. This tournament runs just prior to the World Open and give some of America's up and coming players a chance to try for norms towards the International Master and Grandmaster titles.

This game is the final round game by the tournament winner, GM Abhijeet Gupta from India. In it his opponent, IM Dean Ippolito from New Jersey has a tough time in the main line Queens Gambit. One of the main challenges for Black in the Queens Gambit is solving the problem of his queens bishop. It typically, as in this game, gets trapped behind its own pawns and hampers development of the queen rook as well. If your opponent gets all his pieces into play, it is almost like playing a piece or two down.

Enjoy the game!

Contra Costa Members do well at Berkeley Open

It was a good weekend for a few of our members that played in the Berkeley Open over the weekend. The tournament was held at the Berkeley Chess School a few blocks north of the US Berkeley campus. It was 4 rounds over Saturday and Sunday with about 70 players competing in 3 sections.

Scott M. went 4-0 to win the A-B player section and win $240. This pushed his rating over the 2000 mark! (see one of his games below)

Pete K. went 3-1 in the A-B section and tied with one other person for the top under 1800 prize. He won $147.50 and picked up 64 rating points!

Robert H. played in the Open section and scored 50%. It should be noted that he played at the Bay Area Chess Summer Open in Milpitas a few weeks back and took clear 2nd in that tournament!

Great job guys!

Here is one of Scott's games from the event: