Front Page

Special:
Tournament Life Announcements

National News:
FM Joseph Mark Bradford of Texas Takes Title of 2006 U.S. Senior Open Chess Champion

By Presidential Proclamation - October 9th - National Chess Day in America

World News:
Anand, Aronian Winners in Mainz

Kasparov and Karpov Share First in Blitz Exhibition

Chess In the Media: Chess Stories Across the USA and Around the World

Index to Newsletters

Chess Around the World

Anand, Aronian Winners in Mainz

Viswanathan Anand and Levon Aronian emerged as winners at the 2006 Mainz Chess Classic. Anand successfully defended his crown as Rapid World Champion, while Aronian unseated Peter Svidler for the Chess960 title.

Mainz, Germany, is the host to one of the world's largest chess festivals - the Mainz Chess Classic. It features a variety of events - open tournaments, computer chess, and matches in both traditional and "Chess960", also known as Random or Fischerandom chess.

Among all of the chess action, two matches stand out - the Grenke Leasing Rapid World Championship, and the Clerical Medical Chess960 Rapid World Championship. Both matches are eight games long, taking place over four days.

In the traditional rapid event, defending champion Viswanathan Anand took on Teimour Radjabov. In recent years, Anand has been virtually untouchable in rapid chess, and came into the match as a heavy favorite. However, after a draw in the first game, Radjabov broke through to take an early 1.5-0.5 lead.

Anand struck back on Day Two, winning in the third round to even the score at 1.5 each. After a draw in round four, the two players traded wins on Day Three, leaving the score 3-3 with just two rounds to play.

Anand, coming off a win in round six, won again in round seven to take a 4-3 lead. Needing only a draw for a decisive win in the match, Anand won again in the final round to leave the final score at 5-3.

The Chess960 event was a hotly contested battle, without a single drawn game in the match. Peter Svidler had a rough start defending his crown, losing both games to Levon Aronian on Day One. In both games, it appeared Svidler had an edge, but Aronian was able to take advantage of tactical mistakes and gain a commanding lead.

Svidler struck back on Day Two. Needing a strong performance to get back into the match, he delivered by winning both games, evening the score at 2-2. Day three saw Aronian take the first game, but Svidler taking the second, evening the score yet again at 3-3.

On the final day, Aronian took the first game to give himself a 4-3 lead, placing him on the verge of the championship with just one game left to play. Svidler pressed for the win he needed in the final game, but came up short, as Aronian took the game and the match by the final score of 5-3.

Earlier in the festival, three other Chess960 world champions were crowned - Junior Champion Pentala Harikrishna, Women's Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, and Senior Champion Vlastimil Hort.

Harikrishna's victory was especially noteworthy. On the first day of play, Jarikrishna only managed to score a single draw in four games again German GM Arkadij Naiditsch. Trailing 3.5-0.5, Harikrisha staged an incredible comeback on the second day of play, winning all four games to take the title 4.5-3.5.

One other match of note was a Man vs. Machine clash in Chess960. The rapid event pitted Svidler and Radjabov against computer programs Shredder and Spike. Svidler lost his first game when he tried to press for a win instead of taking a forced draw, then drew the second game. Radjabov lost both games against Shredder.

Kasparov and Karpov Share First in Blitz Exhibition

Garry Kasparov showed little rust in his first chess competition since retiring, sharing first place with Anatoly Karpov at the Credit Suisse Blitz tournament in Zurich. Kasparov and Karpov each finished with 4.5/6, two points ahead of Judit Polgar in 3rd.

The tournament featured a field of four grandmasters - Kasparov, Karpov, Polgar and Victor Korchnoi. Kasparov and Karpov feasted on the other two GMs, each only conceding one draw against the bottom half of the field. Kasparov and Karpov drew both of their games.

Korchnoi finished last, scoring just a half-point for one draw against Kasparov.

The event celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Swiss bank, Credit Suisse. After the blitz tournament, the players each gave 20-board simultaneous displays.