Boris Vassilievich Spassky Celebrates His Jubilee

One cannot believe it!

Yesterday, Boris Vassilievich Spassky, the 10^th World Chess Champion, a legendary master of initiative, celebrated 75^th birthday!

Spassky was born January 30, 1937, in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the former USSR. 
He won the Soviet Chess Championship twice outright (1961, 1973), and twice more lost in playoffs (1956, 1963), after tying for first during the event proper. He was a World Chess Championship candidate on seven occasions (1956, 1965, 1968, 1974, 1977, 1980, and 1985).

Spassky defeated Tigran Petrosian in 1969 to become World Champion, and then lost the title in the Fischer–Spassky match in 1972, one of the most famous chess matches in history.

Never a true openings maven, at least when compared to contemporaries such as Geller and Fischer, he excelled in the middle game with highly imaginative yet usually sound and deeply planned play, which could erupt into tactical violence as needed.

Spassky succeeded with a wide variety of openings, including the King's Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.f4, an aggressive and risky line rarely seen at the top level. Indeed, his record of sixteen wins (including victories against Fischer, Bronstein, and Karpov), no losses, and a few draws with the King's Gambit is unmatched.

His contributions to opening theory extend to reviving the Marshall Attack for Black in the Ruy Lopez, developing the Leningrad Variation for White in the Nimzo-Indian Defence, the Spassky Variation on the Black side of the Nimzo-Indian, and the Closed Variation of the Sicilian Defence for White. Another rare line in the King's Indian Attack bears his name: 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 b5!?

Spassky is respected as a universal player, a great storyteller, a bon vivant on occasion, and someone who is rarely afraid to speak his mind on controversial chess issues, and who usually has something important to relate.

Tata Steel 2012 in Wijk aan Zee: Loek Van Wely vers Magnus Carlsen ½:½

Today, I want to present one of the most important games of last the last round of Tata Steel 2012 in Wijk aan Zee, the game Loek Van Wely vers Magnus Carlsen. Winning a full point, Carlsen would have gained 8½ point which would have been enough to secure second place in the tournament.

Carlsen came to win. It was quite obvious right from the outset and from his choice of an opening. He opted for the Dutch Defence and Stonewall set-up.

Carlsen very likely missed his chance playing 25...Qe6. Russian grandmaster Sergey Zagrebelny, who commented this game “live” on ChessPro.ru recommended 25...d4!? and wrote:  “...I do not insist that in this case “The Iron” Loek would have capitulated unconditionally but the move in the game just forced the draw...” 
And definitely, if you have a look at the position resulting from the move 25...d4 then you have to admit that there was some chance for Black to play for win.

Let’s have a look at the game with the commentaries of GM Sergey Zagrebelny.

And what Carlsen says for Tata Steel Chess about his performance in this tournament: “I played really well in the first three rounds and all went okay until the seventh round. After that, it was a total mess. In the end, I was even lucky to finish at plus 3.” 
He added that he hoped to be invited for next year’s jubilee tournament. 
“We’ll have to see, of course … but I’ve been here nine times in a row, so it would be a shame to miss out next year,” Carlsen said. 

Tata Steel 2012, Final Round! Aronian the Winner!

In the final round of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2012 in Wijk aan Zee there were some surprises. 

White	Result	Black
Kamsky G	1 - 0	Topalov V
Gashimov V	½ - ½	Nakamura H
Van Wely L	½ - ½	Carlsen M
Ivanchuk V	½ - ½	Karajakin S
Aronian L	½ - ½	Radjabov T
Caruana F	1 - 0	Gelfand B
Giri A	½ - ½	Navara D

The leader of the tournament, Levon Aronian quickly shook the hand with Teymour Radjabov (in 12 moves) and secured his victory in this tournament.
Magnus Carlsen defended himself with the Dutch Defence against Loek Van Wely, but he was not able to manage more than half a point and it did not get a single chance to be a threat to Aronian this time.
Kamsky beat Topalov and Caruana beat Boris Gelfand which put the Italian behind the winner and eventually he shares 2. - 4. place together with Carlsen and Radjabov.
And here is the game Fabiano Caruana vers Boris Gelfand:
 

The final cross-table looks like that:

Standings after round 13 in all groups:

Grandmaster group A 1. Aronian, L. 9 2. Carlsen, M. Caruana, F. Radjabov, T. 8 5. Ivanchuk, V. Nakamura, H. 7½ 7. Kamsky, G. 7 8. Karjakin, S. 6½ 9. Van Wely, L. 5½ 10. Gashimov, V. Gelfand, B. Topalov, V. 5 13. Giri, A. Navara, D. 4½

Grandmaster group B 1. Harikrishna, P. 9 2. Bruzon, L. Motylev, A. 8½ 4. L'Ami, E. Tiviakov, S. 8 6. Nyzhnik, I. Reinderman, D. 7½ 8. Potkin, V. 6½ 9. Timman, J. 6 10. Ernst, S. 5 11. Lahno, K. Vocaturo, D. 4½ 13. Cmilyte, V. 4 14. Harika, D. 3½

Grandmaster group C 1. Turov, M. 10½ 2. Tikkanen, H. 10 3. Adhiban, B. Brandenburg, D. 8½ 5. Grover, S. Paehtz, E. Sadler, M. 7 8. Tania, S. 6 9. Danielian, E. 5½ 10. Goudriaan, E. 5 11. Ootes, L. 4½ 12. Hopman, P. Schut, L. 4 14. Haast, A. 3½

 

Minor Counties League: Lincolnshire vers Shropshire 14:2

Lincolnshire

Shropshire

Minor Counties League continued yesterday. Lincolnshire met Shropshire in District social club at Syston.

At the beginning of the match Shropshire was already two points down; because of shortage of player the had to concede matches on the bottom boards.

Midland Counties Chess Union COUNTY MATCH RESULT FORM

Section: Minor Counties
Home Team: Lincolnshire					Away Team: Shropshire
Venue:   Syston					Date:  28th January 2012
Team having white on odd boards:  Shropshire					Result reported by:  Nigel Birtwistle
Board	ECF Code	Grade	Home team players’ names	Score	Score	Away Team players’ names	Grade	ECF Code
1	106801F	192	Nigel Birtwistle	½	½	Nick Rutter	205	118639C
2	280480H	192	Claudio Mangione	½	½	Nigel Ferrington	190	110539F
3	103734B	190	Paul Cumbers	1	0	Gavin Cooper	188	240985K
4	119629H	187	Nick Stead	½	½	Francis Best	170	185333J
5	243736J	186	Samuel Milson	1	0	Toby Neal	168	129064C
6	222105G	183	David Coates	1	0	Glyn Pugh	159	117515E
7	116655E	177	Keith Palmer	1	0	John Bashall	159	106353E
8	216825L	175	Harry Russell	1	0	John Whittaker	146	240291K
9	158511D	171	Joe Kilshaw	1	0	Richard Gillespie	143	260569H
10	111157H	169	Denis Georgiou	½	½	Graham Shepherd	136	118873C
11	263507A	169	Steven Prior	1	0	Marvin Carbin	134	245105E
12	277281E	164	Ivan David	1	0	Steve Tarr	134	166164E
13	160353L	152	Geoff Collyer	1	0	Windsor Peck	130	116900C
14	222114H	151	Ian McDonald	1	0	John Westhead	120	157397E
15	277271G	158	Stuart MacDonald	1	0	DEFAULT
16	113979E	149	Graham Ladds	1	0	DEFAULT
				14	2

The final result was 14 : 2 for Lincolnshire and it is very encouraging result before the last match in the group against Worcestershire.