Chess training flourishing in Vietnam

‘Human chess’ in Hanoi, played during celebrations

of Lunar New Year in February

Hello Everyone!

It is always nice to know when chess is popularized in a country. Vietnam has taken up chess teaching and is preparing youngsters for international competitions in a big way. The Vietnamese Government even pays 'salary' to chess players as young as four years old! We found this interesting article on chess in Vietnam.

In fact, 19-year-old Le Quang Liem of Vietnam won this year's prestigious Aeroflot Tournament in Moscow ahead of several titled players.

Here is an interesting game from Aeroflot-2010 between Liem and Ian Nepomniachtchi.

You can run it in our pgnplayer or watch it in flash below.

PGN: 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Qb6 6. Nb3 e6 7. e4 Bb4 8. Bd3 Ne5 9. O-O Qd6 10. Bf4 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Qxd3 12. Bxe5 Qxc4 13. Re1 b6 14. Qf3 Bb7 15. Nd4 O-O-O 16. a4 Qc5 17. Bg3 e5 18. a5 Rhe8 19. axb6 axb6 20. Nf5 g6 21. Ng7 Nxe4 22. Nxe8 Rxe8 23. Qxf7 Rf8 24. Qa2 Qc6 25. f3 Qc5+ 26. Bf2 Nxf2 27. Qxf2 Qxf2+ 28. Kxf2 e4 29. Re3 Kc7 30. Kg3 exf3 31. gxf3 Bd5 32. Ra4 Be6 33. Rh4 h5 34. Rf4 Ra8 35. h4 Ra5 36. Rf6 Bf5 37. Kf4 Rc5 38. Kg5 Bc2+ 39. Kh6 Rc4 40. f4 b5 41. Re5 Rc6 42. Rf7 Kb6 43. Rxd7 Rxc3 44. Rd8 Ka5 45. Rb8 Rb3 46. Rc8 Bb1 47. Rb8 Ka4 48. Rb6 Rb4 49. Ra6+ Kb3 50. Rxg6 Bxg6 51. Kxg6 Rxf4 52. Rxb5+ Kc4 53. Rxh5 Rg4+ 54. Kf5 Rg8 55. Rg5 Rh8 56. h5 Kd5 57. Kg6+ Ke6 58. Kg7 Re8 59. h6 Re7+ 60. Kg6 1-0

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also read her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com

Photo Finish in Aeroflot Chess Open 2010

Nadezhda Kosintseva, courtesy of the Aeroflot open 2010

Hello everybody!

Every chess tournament, even the most exciting one has its end. And often only a photo finish or some kind of tie-breaks can name the winners of an event. The A1 Aeroflot chess tournament had an only winner - the vietnamese GM Le, Quang Liem, who finished in clear first place with 7 out of 9.

However, there was a tie between the best ladies players. Hou Yifan, Tatiana and Nadezhda Kosintseva all finished with 4 out of 9, which is a very respectful result in this strong tournament.

The full standings of the A1 tournament can be found here. Below is an example of the Hou Yifan win over the russian GM Stanislav Novikov. Hou Yifan is playing Black and it's her turn to move. White was doing OK until the last move where Novikov played 35. Bb2??, trying to exchange the strong dark-squared bishop on d4

Hou Yifan continued the game with 35. ... Re5! and White realised that there is no way to keep this bishop on b2 protected. The game continued for a few more moves 36.Qd3 Qd5+ 37.Kh3 Bxb2 38.Qc2 Ba3 39.f6+ Qe4 40.Qxe4+ and White resigned.

Rxe4 41.Ra1 Bb4 42.f7 Re5 0-1

In the A2 tournament Evgenia Ovod and Ekaterina Kovalevskaya finished the tournament with 5 out of 9, the results can be seen here.

In the B tournament Gulnar Mammadova shared the first place overall with 7 out of 9. The full standings can be found here.

In the C tournament, Alexandra Nikolaeva took bronze overall with 7 out of 9. The full table is here.

Melia Salome continued her nice tournament stroke. After winning the Women's Georgian Championship and sharing the first place in the Moscow open, she now won another strong women's tournament in Romania. She took 6 points out of 9 and was followed by Maria Muzychuk with 5,5 and Corina Peptan with 5 points. The full table can be found here.

In 2 weeks the European Championships 2010 for men and women will start in Rijeka, Croatia. I'm sure we will witness for exciting chess over there. So stay tuned!

Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com

Women at Aeroflot Chess Open

Shayesteh Ghader Pour from Iran

Hello everybody!

From February 9 to February 18, 2010 the very strong Aeroflot-open is taking place. In the A1 tournament, where the rating floor for participation is 2550, there are 5 strong chess ladies playing.

After 6 rounds, the standings for the women players are as follows (current rank; name; country; points; rating; perfomance):

49. Kosintseva, Tatiana RUS 2,5 2515 2635

59. Hou Yifan CHN 2,0 2590 2534

64. Kosintseva, Nadezhda RUS 2,0 2533 2580

66. Sebag, Marie FRA 2,0 2510 2540

67. Javakhishvili, Lela GEO 2,0 2493 2538

In the A2 tournament, where the rating floor is 2399, there are 8 ladies chess players:

21. Harika, Dronavalli IND 3,0 2471 2505

40. Ovod, Evgenija RUS 2,5 2415 2477

41. Savina Anastasia RUS 2,5 2407 25o3

47. Romanko Maria RUS 2,0 2433 2392

48. Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina RUS 2,0 2428 2386

58. Bodnaruk, Anastasia RUS 1,5 2372 2306

65. Pourkashiyan, Atousa IRI 1,0 2306 2193

66. Karavade, Eesha IND 0,5 2405 2061

In the B tournament, which is for chess players with a rating less than 2400 but higher than 2199, there are 6 ladies playing. Mammadova, Gulnar from Azerbaijan (2221) has 5 points out of 6, sharing the first place in the group and is showing a performance of 2600.

In the C tournament which is for players with a rating of 2200 or lower, there are 3 ladies playing and all of them have 4 out of 6 at the moment.

I wish all ladies success in these strong mixed tournaments, let us show that women's chess is exciting, and getting stronger every day!

Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com