Σκακιστικά νέα

In round 8 of the FIDE Candidates Tournament Levon Aronian stunned the co-leader Viswanathan Anand with an enterprising novelty as early as move 3.

Anand appreciated the strength of Qb3 in various transpositions as it was not easy for him to reach a convenient Catalan or Gruenfeld structure. He finally went for the reversed Benoni even if it included a pawn sacrifice. Black did achieve quick development as compensation.

Stockfish (3133 ELO) and Fire (2984 ELO) lead the second stage of the world’s strongest computer chess championship TCEC. The two engines have 2,5/3, half a point more than Komodo, Hannibal, and Rybka.

An interesting interview with World Champion Magnus Carlsen was posted today on NRK website.

Levon Aronian defeated Sergey Karjakin in round 7 of FIDE World Candidates Tournament to join Viswanathan Anand on the top of the crosstable.

Anand had some advantage with black against Peter Svidler but he couldn’t achieve more than a draw.

Vladimir Kramnik surged ahead by winning a wild game against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Dmitry Andreikin escaped from the bottom by punishing Veselin Topalov’s over-ambitious play.

For the 37th consecutive year “Ikaros” renews its annual appointment with Greek and foreign players at the beautiful island of Ikaria for the traditional international chess tournament that this year will take place at Aghios Kirykos, the capital of the island, from 12th till 20th of July.

The 37th Ikaros International Chess Tournament 2014 incorporates the Aegean Open Championship 2014

GM Erwin L’Ami is blogging daily on the Candidates at Chessity. He is analyzing the most effective lines and also providing a video of the round. See more at Chessity.com

The 8th Annual Long Island Open will be held from March 28-30, 2014, at the Ramada Plaza Long Island MacArthur Airport Hotel, 1730 N.

The 18th Annual Mid-America Open was held from March 14-16, 2014, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel St. Louis-Clayton, 7750 Carondelet Ave., St. Louis, Missouri.

The event had 7 sections: Open, Under 2100, Under 1900, Under 1700, Under 1500, Under 1300 and Under 1000.

Three Indians J Deepan Chakkravarthy of Tamil Nadu, Abhijit Kunte of PSPB and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi of Maharashtra and one Bangladesh grandmaster Abdulla Al-Rakib share the lead with three points each at the end of third round of the 19th International Open Grandmasters

The International Chess Festival Nakhchivan Open 2014, dedicated to the memory of Heydar Aliyev, is scheduled to take place from 4th to 12th May at the Nakhchivan Chess Center in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan.

The Festival is organized by the Azerbaijan Youth & Sport Ministry, Azerbaijan Chess Federation and Nakhchivan AR Chess Federation.

Last year the winner was the late GM Igor Kurnosov.