Corus Tournament:Section B:Round 12 results, round 13 pairings,crosstable

Here are the results from round 12 of the "B" event at the Corus Chess Tournament:

Group B: Round 12 - Sat. Jan. 31st
R. Kasimdzhanov - Erwin l'Ami	1-0
Hou Yifan - Francisco Vallejo	1-0
Krishnan Sasikiran - Jan Werle	1-0
Dimitri Reinderman - Fabiano Caruana	½-½
Nigel Short - Zahar Efimenko	½-½
Andrei Volokitin - David Navara	1.0
Henrique Mecking - Alexander Motylev	½-½

These results mean the standings in this section are as following entering the last round of play:
(click on the crosstable to enlarge it):


Here are the pairings for the last round of play in this section:

Group B: Round 13 - Sun. Feb. 1st
Alexander Motylev - R. Kasimdzhanov
David Navara - Henrique Mecking
Zahar Efimenko - Andrei Volokitin
Fabiano Caruana - Nigel Short
Jan Werle - Dimitri Reinderman
Francisco Vallejo - Krishnan Sasikiran
Erwin l'Ami - Hou Yifan

Corus Tournament ends Sunday

The 2009 edition of the Corus Chess Tournament concludes on Sunday. In Group A, GM's Carlsen, Radjabov,Aronian,Movsesian, Dominiquez Perez and Karjakin all enter the last round the tournament tied with scores of 7/12.

Here are the results from the twelfth round of play in this section:

Round 12 (January 31, 2009)
Carlsen, Magnus	- Smeets, Jan	1-0	29	B10	Caro Kann
Aronian, Levon	- Morozevich, Alexander	½-½	44	D98	Gruenfeld Smyslov
Karjakin, Sergey	- Adams, Michael	1-0	35	C92	Ruy Lopez Chigorin
Movsesian, Sergei	- Radjabov, Teimour	½-½	27	B30	Sicilian Rossolimo
Van Wely, Loek	- Kamsky, Gata	½-½	17	D15	Slav Defence
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Dominguez Perez, Leinier	½-½	22	B54	Sicilian Rauzer
Stellwagen, Daniël	- Wang Yue	½-½	32	C67	Ruy Lopez Berlin

Here is a crosstable of the results from this section after 12 rounds of play:click on it to enlarge it):


Here are the pairings for round 13:
Which GM will win and adopt 13 as his new "lucky" number? :)

Group A: Round 13 - Sun. Feb. 1st
Gata Kamsky - Sergei Movsesian
Michael Adams - Loek van Wely
Leinier Dominguez - Sergei Karjakin
Alex. Morozevich - Vassily Ivanchuk
Jan Smeets - Levon Aronian
Wang Yue - Magnus Carlsen
Teymour Radjabov - Daniël Stellwagen

Distant planet has extreme global warming

According to a study published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, Astronomers have found a planet which is exhibiting severe global warming.

"In just six hours, this planet four times the size of Jupiter heats up by more than 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a study published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

"It's the first observation of changing weather" on a planet outside our solar system, said study author Gregory Laughlin, an astronomy professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He used NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to study the planet.Normally, the planet is a toasty 980 degrees or so. But in the few hours it whips around its sun the planet gets zapped with mega-heat, pushing the thermometer closer to 2,240 degrees.

The star is visible from Earth near the Big Dipper. On Feb. 14, HD80606b will travel between the Earth and its star. There's a 15% chance that amateur astronomers using small telescopes could see it swing by, obscuring a tiny part of the star, Laughlin said.

"This is indeed an oddball planet, where the temperature range of the season changes from hellish to super-hellish," said Carnegie Institution astronomer Alan Boss. "This place makes Venus look like a nice place to live, and that is saying something."

Living near a dam.........hazardous to your health?

A new report in "Science" magazine blames China's deadly 2008 earthquake on the " rapid damming of the Zipingpu river. The report states, that stresses from water piled behind the new Zipingpu Dam may have triggered the failure of the nearby fault". The may earthquake killed nearly 80,000 people. Interviewed geophysical hazards researcher Christian Klose of Columbia University, also states in the article that a dam is now blamed for causing a 1967 earthquake in India. source:http://blogs.usatoday.com/sciencefair/2009/01/dam-may-have-ca.html A photo of the Zipingpu river dam can be viewed at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/taylormiles/2495597793/

Seratonin and the "plague of locusts"?

Some humans must take medicine with seratonin in it every day of their lives to control their mood. New research now shows that another life form on the planet is dramatically affected by the chemical seratonin.

The new research published in this past Friday's edition of the journal "Science" discusses this phenomenon. According to an article in USA Today:

"A chemical that affects people's moods also can transform easygoing desert locusts into terrifying swarms that ravage the countryside, scientists report. "Here we have a solitary and lonely creature, the desert locust. But just give them a little serotonin, and they go and join a gang," observed Malcolm Burrows of the University of Cambridge in England.

The brain chemical serotonin has been linked to mood in people. It plays a role in sexual desire, appetite, sleep, memory and learning, too.

Under certain conditions, locusts triple the amount of serotonin in their systems, changing the insects from loners to pack animals, Burrows and his co-authors report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

These packs can be devastating. They affect 20% of the Earth's land. Last year a swarm nearly four miles long plagued Australia. They also occur in Africa and Asia and have affected the western U.S.

Serotonin profoundly influences how we humans behave and interact, said co-author Swidbert Ott of Cambridge, "so to find that the same chemical in the brain is what causes a normally shy anti-social insect to gang up in huge groups is amazing."

Researchers led by Michael L. Anstey of Oxford were studying the changes in locust behavior and tested them for a variety of chemicals. The only change they found was that when the insects were swarming, they had about three times more serotonin in their systems than when they were living as solitary creatures.

So the scientists took some solitary locusts and injected serotonin into them. Sure enough they changed in appearance and flocked together.

The Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde transformation took only a few hours.

It turns out that locusts produce more serotonin when circumstances force them together and they are stimulated by the sight, smell and touch of many other locusts. This can happen, for example, when drought reduces their food supply and causes locusts to gather at a few remaining sources of food.

Indeed, the scientists found that tickling the insects' back legs for a couple hours could induce the locusts to make more serotonin.

Once researchers determined that serotonin causes the change, they gave locusts drugs that blocked serotonin and then exposed them to situations that normally cause swarming. But the change didn't occur.

"To actually be able to stop it from happening, that was very exciting," Anstey said.

Now the question is how to target locusts without affecting humans or other animals.

Source:http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2009-01-29-locust-swarm_N.htm

Corus Chess Tournament:Round 11:Group C

Here are the results from round 11 of the "C" group at the Corus Chess Tournament:

Group C: Round 11 - Fri. Jan. 30th
Abhijeet Gupta - Roeland Pruijssers	0-1
Eduardo Iturrizaga - Anish Giri	0-1
M. Leon Hoyos - Oleg Romanishin	1-0
Dronavalli Harika - Friso Nijboer	0-1
Frank Holzke - David Howell	½-½
Ali Bitalzadeh - T. Hillarp Persson	1-0
Wesley So - Manuel Bosboom	1-0

Crosstable:

GM Group C

Corus Chess Tournament:Round 11:Group B

In the "B" group at the Corus Chess tournament, the following games were played in round 11:

Group B: Round 11 - Fri. Jan. 30th Result
Henrique Mecking - R. Kasimdzhanov	0-1
Alexander Motylev - Andrei Volokitin	½-½
David Navara - Nigel Short	0-1
Zahar Efimenko - Dimitri Reinderman	0-1
Fabiano Caruana - Krishnan Sasikiran	1-0
Jan Werle - Hou Yifan	½-½
Francisco Vallejo - Erwin l'Ami	1-0

Wow, 5 decisive games out of the seven played!

Here is the crosstable for Group B after eleven rounds of play:

GM Group B

Corus Chess Tournament:Round 11:Group A

Here are the results from round 11 for Group A:

Round 11 (January 30, 2009) Dominguez Perez, Leinier - Aronian, Levon 1-0 36 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed Smeets, Jan - Stellwagen, Daniël ½-½ 35 B48 Sicilian Paulsen Kamsky, Gata - Karjakin, Sergey 1-0 41 D02 Queen's Pawn Game Van Wely, Loek - Movsesian, Sergei 0-1 44 A27 English Dutch System Adams, Michael - Ivanchuk, Vassily ½-½ 37 B14 Caro Kann Panov Wang Yue - Radjabov, Teimour 0-1 64 E92 King's Indian Classical Morozevich, Alexander - Carlsen, Magnus ½-½ 41 E37 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2

In the Van Wely-Movsesian game, Van Wely played the English Opening, and GM Movsesian decided to play a setup which resembles the Dutch Defense for Black (with Black pawns on g6,f5,e5, and d6). The two players followed the moves played in the game Paunovic (2511)-Fernando Gros (2081) from the 2004 Ortigueira op 3rd, until move 17, when Van Wely played a theoretical novelty with 17.Rc1. On move 22, the chess program Deep Rybka 3 preferred to play more aggressively for White by suggesting the move 22.Ra7 (22.Ra7 Ng6 23.Qc6 h4 24. Qxd7 Rxd7 25.Be6 Re7,) which would have given White a bind on the queenside).
On move 23 Movsesian offered a pawn sacrifice 22...h4!? which Van Wely declined to accept (If he had play might have continued: (23. gxh4 d5 (23... Ng6 24. h5 Nh4 25. Bc6 Qe7 26. Ne2 Rf8+= ) 24. c5 bxc5 25. Na4 Qd6 26. Ba3 d4 27. Bxc5 Qd7 28. Ra7 Nc8 29. Ra6 dxe3 30. Bxe3 +/=). By not capturing the h-pawn, Van Wely was forced to enter into a position in which GM Movsesian gained a great deal of space on the kingside (like in the King's Indian Defense, where black attacks on the kingside). A key moment in the game was when GM Movsesian was able to play 24...f4. Again this lead to him offering a pawn sacrifice , which GM Van Wely accepted.

On move 27, Van Wely played 27.gxf4 winning a pawn. However, the chess program Deep Hiarcs evaluated that the move 27.d5 was a better idea (with a possible continuation being: 27.d5 Bf5 28.Qa6 fxg3 29.Nxg3 Re7 30.Qe1 Qa1 30.Ne5= with an equal game) A key moment in this game occurred on move 31, when GM Van Wely had to recapture a pawn on his c4-square. Van Wely chose to play 31.Bxc4 (which was also an offer to exchange bishops on the c4-square). Instead of 31.Bxc4 (which Deep Rybka 3 gave a poor evaluation to), the program suggested that recapturing with his knight was a better idea: 31.Nxc4 could have lead to this continuation: 31...Bd5 32.Qxd7 Rxd7 33.Rc8 Ne4 24.Ne3 Nd2=)

When evaluating the position after move GM Movsesian's 32....Nd5, Deep Rybka 3 considers it to be in GM Movsesian's favor (=+). A key moment in the game occurred on move 36, when Van Wely erred with 36.Ra7? (Instead Deep Rybka 3 evaluated that a better idea was 36.Ng3 with this continuation possible: 36. Ng3 Nb4 37.Ra3 Nc2 38.Rd3 Rd7 =+). However, GM Movsesian missed playing the move 36...Nh4! after which 37.Nce3 Nxe3 38.Nxe3 Bxd4! 39.Bxd4 g3!? 40.Ke2 Rxh2 41.Ra1 Nf3 42.Rh1 Nxd4 is winning for black. Probably both players where in time pressure at the end of the game, and this may have been one factor to explain why Van Wely made an error, which cost him the game on 39. The move 39.Ne5? blundered a pawn. (Instead he should have played 39.Ba3 Rf7 40.Bd6 Kh6 41.Bxf4 Rxf4 is =/+). On move 42 Van Wely played 42.Rd4?? blundering another pawn. Van Wely resigned on move 44 because after 45. Rd1 Bxb2 46. Rh1 Be5 47. Kd3 g3 48. Nxg3 Bxg3 has a decisive advantage.

Here are the Group A standings after 11 rounds:

GM Group A

Crosstables from round 10 of Corus:Group C

Crosstables from round 10 of Corus:Group B

Crosstables from round 10 of Corus:Group A

Corus Chess Tournament:Group C:Round 10 results

Here are the results from group C for round 10 of the tournament:

Round 10 (January 28, 2009)
Hillarp Persson, Tiger	- Holzke, Frank	1-0	49	C53	Giuoco Piano
Giri, Anish	- Gupta, Abhijeet	1-0	33	D85	Gruenfeld Defence
Bosboom, Manuel	- Bitalzadeh, Ali	1-0	31	B57	Sicilian Sozin Attack
Howell, David W L	- Harika, Dronavalli	0-1	48	C65	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Nijboer, Friso	- Leon Hoyos, Manuel	0-1	62	B35	Sicilian Defence
Pruijssers, Roeland	- So, Wesley	0-1	47	B48	Sicilian Paulsen
Romanishin, Oleg M	- Iturrizaga, Eduardo	0-1	31	A04	Dutch System

Corus Chess Tournament:Group B:Round 10 results

Here are the results from round 10 of the B group at the Corus Chess Tournament:

Round 10 (January 28, 2009)
Short, Nigel D	- Motylev, Alexander	½-½	48	B73	Sicilian Dragon
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	- Vallejo Pons, Francisco	1-0	46	D80	Gruenfeld 4.Bg5
Volokitin, Andrei	- Mecking, Henrique	½-½	25	C96	Ruy Lopez
L'Ami, Erwin	- Werle, Jan	1-0	28	E12	Queens Indian Petrosian
Reinderman, Dimitri	- Navara, David	½-½	29	B80	Sicilian Scheveningen
Hou Yifan	- Caruana, Fabiano	½-½	56	B42	Sicilian Paulsen
Sasikiran, Krishnan	- Efimenko, Zahar	0-1	41	E59	Nimzo Indian

Corus Chess Tournament:Group A:Round 10 results

Here are the results from round 10 of the "A" Group at the Corus Chess Tournament:

Round 10 (January 28, 2009)
Aronian, Levon	- Adams, Michael	1-0	45	E04	Catalan
Karjakin, Sergey	- Van Wely, Loek	½-½	42	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Carlsen, Magnus	- Dominguez Perez, Leinier	1-0	39	D81	Gruenfeld Botvinnik
Radjabov, Teimour	- Smeets, Jan	½-½	39	A07	Barcza System
Movsesian, Sergei	- Wang Yue	½-½	22	C42	Petroff's Defence
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Kamsky, Gata	½-½	57	D94	Gruenfeld Closed
Stellwagen, Daniël	- Morozevich, Alexander	½-½	31	C92	Ruy Lopez Chigorin

Thank you Gameknot chess

Thanks to http://gameknot.com/ I am now able to place games I have analyzed on my blog.I would like to express my gratitude to the owners of gameknot.com for providing bloggers with free tools enabling us to place our annotated chess games on our blogs :)

Women are just as good at chess as men

Take this all of you male chauvinists!

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Women are just as good at chess as men - but they just don't like game, says Oxford study

Men do not dominate chess competitions because they are better at the game but simply because women do not like it, according to an Oxford University study.

By Stephen Adams
Last Updated: 2:36PM GMT
27 Jan 2009

The lack of women who have broken into the top ranks of chess players is almost purely because so few of them play, academics found.

Researchers at the university's Department of Experimental Psychology discovered that 96 per cent of the difference in performance can be accounted for by the vastly greater numbers of men who play.

They made their conclusions after analysing results from just over 120,000 members of the German Chess Federation, in which men outnumber women by 16:1.

Using a points-based scoring system, they found that men only slightly outperformed women.

Research team member Merim Bilalic, author of 'Does Chess Need Intelligence?', said: "Although the performance of the 100 best German male chess players is better than that of the 100 best German women, we show that 96 percent of the observed difference is down to the fact a greater number of men play chess. There is little left for biological or cultural explanations to account for."

Gerry Wade, president of the English Chess Federation, thought the conclusions were "absolutely right".

He said: "At primary school level, when there are an equal number of boys and girls playing, there's a level playing field."

Britain's top ranked women's player Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant only missed out on last year's British Open titled by a single game, he said.

There has never been a female open world chess champion, nor a female British Open champion.

Source:http://www.telegraph.co.uk