2nd Nanjing Pearl Spring 2009:Round 3 results and standings,round 4 pairings

Here are the results from the third round of the  2nd Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament:

Round 3:
Wang Yue- Carlsen    result:draw number of moves:58, Opening:Grunfeld Defense 4.Bf4 ECO:D83
Radjabov-Jakovenko result:draw number of moves:32   Opening:Scotch Game                ECO:C45
Topalov-Leko            result:draw number of moves:55   Opening:Ruy Lopez:closed         ECO:C88

I watched the Wang Yue-Carlsen game live on the internet. Carlsen had a winning position several times in the game, however both he and his opponent got into terrible time trouble (under 2 minutes each to complete all the moves at some points in the game) and Carlsen ended up making a couple of blunders which cost him a full point. Wang Yue is quite a magician on the chessboard,saving what was a loss (according to Rybka 3) several times in the game.

These results mean the following standings exist after 3 rounds of play:

2nd Pearl Spring  2009

          
1    Carlsen,M    2772    +1    +1    -½     2.5/3
            6    5    2   
2    Wang Yue    2736    +½    -½    +½     1.5/3
            3    4    1   
3    Radjabov,T    2757    -½    -½    +½     1.5/3
            2    6    4   
4    Jakovenko,D    2742    -½    +½    -½     1.5/3
            5    2    3   
5    Topalov,V    2813    +½    -0    +½     1.0/3
            4    1    6   
6    Leko,P    2762    -0    +½    -½     1.0/3
            1    3    5   
------------------------------------------------------

Here are the pairings for round 4 of the tournament: (the player on the left has the white pieces in the game):

Wang Yue VS Leko
Radjabov VS Topalov
Jakovenko VS Carlsen

2009 FIDE Chess Women's Grand Prix Nanjing China:round 3 results,round 3 standings

Here are the results from round 3 of the Women's Grand Prix Chess tournament in Nanjing,China.The player on the left had the white pieces in the game:

Round 3
Dzagnidze-Zhu Chen                                    Result: 1-0    number of moves:33
Ju Wenjun-Yildiz, Betul Cemre                    Result: 1-0    number of moves:40
Fierro, Baquero, Martha L.-Sebag, Marie   Result:draw   number of moves:58
Munguntuul,Batkhuyag-Kovanova,Baira      Result:draw   number of moves:64
Mkrtchian,Lilith-Xu Yuhua                           Result:0-1    number of moves:38
                Shen Yang-Zhao Xue                  Result:0-1     number of moves:50                




These results meant the following standings exist after 3 rounds of play:

FIDE Women Grand Prix Nanjing  2009

       
1    Dzagnidze,Nana    +1    -1    +1     3.0/3
        3    12    4  
2    Xu Yuhua    +½    +1    -1     2.5/3
        5    11    9  
3    Ju Wenjun    -0    -1    +1     2.0/3
        1    5    12  
4    Zhu Chen    -½    +1    -0     1.5/3
        6    8    1  
5    Zhao Xue    -½    +0    -1     1.5/3
        2    3    13  
6    Fierro Baquero,Martha Lorena    +½    -½    +½     1.5/3
        4    7    10  
7    Kovanova,Baira    -½    +½    -½     1.5/3
        9    6    8  
8    Mungutuul,Bathbuyag K    +1    -0    +½     1.5/3
        12    4    7  
9    Mkrtchian,Lilit    +½    -½    +0     1.0/3
        7    10    2  
10    Sebag,Marie    -0    +½    -½     1.0/3
        11    9    6  
11    Shen Yang    +1    -0     -0     1.0/3
        10    2      
12    Yildiz,Betul Cemre    -0    +0    -0     0.0/3
        8    1    3  

       
. Here are the pairings for round 4 of the tournament (the player on the left has the white pieces in the game): These pairings were obtained from this
website: http://nanjing2009.fide.com/tourview/show-5.html  Best wishes to all the players for round 4!

Round 4 on 2009/10/01 at 15:00
SNo.		Name	Rtg	Res.		Name	Rtg	SNo.
12	GM	Zhao Xue	2542	-	WIM	Yildiz Betul Cemre	2224	8
9	GM	Zhu Chen	2488	-		Ju Wenjun	2443	7
10	WGM	Kovanova Baira	2408	-	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2535	6
11	GM	Sebag Marie	2519	-	WGM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	2418	5
1	GM	Xu Yuhua	2485	-	IM	Fierro Baquero Martha	2386	4
2	WGM	Shen Yang	2453	-	IM	Mkrtchian Lilit	2469	3

2009 FIDE Women's Grand Prix:Nanjing: round 2 game analysis

Game analysis of all of the 2nd round games from the 2009 FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Nanjing, China has been posted at the Chessbase.com website. The analysis done by FIDE Master  Geoffrey Borg. To read the analysis and play through the moves of all of the games from round 2 please click on this link:

http://www.chessbase.com/news/2009/nanjing/games/borg02.htm


Round one game analysis done by FIDE Master Geoffrey Borg can be viewed at this website:
http://www.chessbase.com/news/2009/nanjing/games/borg01.htm

Geoffrey D Borg is a Fide Chess Master who won  a silver medal on Board 1 in the Thessaloniki Olympiad in 1984. His current elo is 2367.

Hubble sees galaxies blowing in the wind

"Newly released images from the Hubble Space Telescope show two galaxies that are moving so fast that gas within the galaxies is being stripped away.

The two galaxies, NGC 4522 and NGC 4402, are located in the Virgo galaxy cluster, about 60 million light years from Earth.

Astronomers estimate that NGC 4522 is moving within the cluster at more than 10 million km/h, or nearly 2,800 kilometres every second.

Because the space within the cluster isn't empty, but filled with a very thin mixture of gases called the intracluster medium, the galaxy's movement is creating drag, in the same way that a rider on a speeding motorcycle will feel wind, even on a calm day.

The drag, or ram pressure, is stripping gases out of the galaxy, leaving a ghostly shadow behind. The Hubble images show new stars forming in bright blue clusters in the cloud of gas being left behind the galaxy."

To read the remainder of this article please ciick on this link:  http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/09/30/tech-space-hubble-galaxies-wind.html

Source of image of image of Galaxy NGC 452: (top image)

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMFOLKIWZF_index_1.html

Source of image of Galaxy 4402 (bottom image):


http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMFOLKIWZF_index_1.html
"GC 4522 is a spectacular example of a spiral galaxy that is currently being stripped of its gas content. Part of the Virgo galaxy cluster, its rapid motion within the cluster results in strong winds across the galaxy as the gas within is left behind. Scientists estimate that the galaxy is moving at more than 10 million kilometres per hour. A number of newly-formed star clusters that developed in the stripped gas can be seen in the Hubble image. The stripped spiral galaxy is located some 60 million light-years away from Earth."


"The second image shows NGC 4402 and highlights some telltale signs of ram pressure stripping such as the curved, or convex, appearance of the disc of gas and dust, a result of the forces exerted by the heated gas. Light being emitted by the disc backlights the swirling dust that is being swept out by the gas. Studying ram pressure stripping helps astronomers better understand the mechanisms that drive the evolution of galaxies, and how the rate of star formation is suppressed in very dense regions of the Universe like clusters."


source of text:http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMFOLKIWZF_index_1.html

In  physics, ram pressure is a pressure exerted on a body which is moving through a fluid medium. It causes a strong  drag force to be exerted on the body.

For example, a meteor traveling through the Earth's atmosphere produces a shock wave generated by the extremely rapid  compression of air in front of the meteoroid. It is primarily this ram pressure (rather than friction) which heats the air which in turn heats the meteoroid as it flows around it.

(source: Plait, Philip (2002), Top 5 Cosmic Myths #4:Meteors are heated by friction as they pass through the atmosphere. Space.com.

In the case of a galaxy moving through the intergalactic gas, the ram pressure is capable of stripping the galaxy of much of its interstellar gas.

The ram pressure increases when the velocity increases. For example, when you are in a windy place, you feel a force on your body from the wind. The stronger (faster) the wind, the greater the force you feel.
(source: Grebel, Gallagher, Harbeck (2003) The Progenitors of Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies ArXiv.org.)

Comments concerning 2nd Nanjing Pearl Spring 2009:Round 2

In round 2, Leko faced Radjabov,with Leko having the white pieces. Leko began the game by playing 1.e4 and Radjabov answered aggressively by playing the Sicilian Defense. The game entered the Sicilian Dragon variation on move 5, and Leko chose the most aggressive variation against the Dragon, that being the Yugoslav attack with 7.f3 8.Qd2 and 9.O-O. The two players played the main line theory of the Dragon until move 12, when Radjabov decided to play the simplifying capture 12...Bxd4 (The most popular continuation is to play 12...e5), and on move 13 he offered to simplify by exchanging queens,   when he played  13...Qb6. On move 15 Radjabov continued by playing the rarely played 15...Qc7. According to my research this move was first played in a correspondence game from 2001.  It was on Leko's response to Radjabov's 15th move ,in which the game took on a whole new character, as his idea of 16.Re1 had never been played before. Radjabov continued by playing the move 16...Nb6 (which offered to exchange knights). However, Leko declined the offer and spent a tempo to avoid the exchange by playing 17. Nc3. On move 15 Leko offered to exchange queens, by playing 18.Qe5. Leko has been critized by some professional chess journalists and fans for his willigness to draw games instead of trying to win them. In this case, according to Deep Rybka 3, the move 18.Qe5 was not the strongest one he could have played. Instead, the program evaluated the move 18.h4 as strongest. However, Deep Rybka then suggested on  move 20, the move 20.Qe5 (offering to exchange queens), so Leko cannot be criticized for offering queens on move 18 can he? The interesting aspect of Deep Rybka's analysis was that for the entire game it analyzed the position as being completely equal (= 0.00) a phenonenom I have never seen before when I used the program to analyze a game!

The Magnus Carlsen-Topalov game was played in the King's Indian Defense opening.  Carlsen played the classical variation using the move Nf3, however he avoided playing the main line on move 6 (which is 6.Be2). Instead he played the move 6.h3 first played in a game in 1855 by Cochrane.  Topalov played a less common idea on move 6...Na6. Carlsen then avoided playing the main line which is 7.Bg5. Instead he chose 7.Be3 however when Topalov played 7...e5 the game went back to the main line. On move 8.Carlsen decided to close the center by playing 8.d5 and Topalov answered by playing the rarely played 8...c6. Carlsen began to play aggressively on move 9, with 9.g4. This move was first played in a game in 1989 between Grivas and Maki (both were over 2400 elo).  On move 11 Carlsen chose to play an idea rarely seen in this variation, that being 11.a3 (I found only two games had been played in this variation in my database). Topalov's 11...Nfd7 is a theoretical novelty for the position. Carlsen then made  key decision when he decided to castle on the queenside on move 14. Topalov was able to find  a way to generate presssure against Carlsen's king when the Bulgarian GM played 15...cxd5 and 16...Rc8. On move 17 Carlsen offered to exchange light-squared bishops when he played 17.Bb5 which Topalov accepted.

It was on move 21 that Topalov seemed to lose the  thread of the position when he played 21...Na8? Deep Rybka 3 gave a poor evaluation to this idea, because it cost Topalov a pawn after 22.Bxc5 Rxc5 23.Qxa4.
Instead of 21...Na8? according to Deep Rybka 3 analysis, the Bulgarian GM could have played 21...Nb3
and play might have continued:

22. Nxb3 axb3 23. Qxb3 Nc4 24. Nb5 Nxe3 25. fxe3 Be7+/=


Topalov was able to infilitrate into Carlsen's kingside with his queen when Topalov played 25...Qh3. However after Carlsen moved his queen on move 26 with 26.Qf3, Topalov, still down a pawn could not afford to exchange queens. On move 30, Carlsen must have found a very promising continuation, because he offered to give back the pawn to Topalov with the move 30.h5. This was due to the fact that Topalov's 28th move of 28...f6?! was not the best according to the analysis of Deep Rybka 3. ( Better was  28...Kg8 which would have allowed Topalov to coordinate his queen and rook via 28...Kg8 29.Rgc1 f6 30.gxf6 Rxf6).

On move 31 Topalov could have chosen to regain material equality by playing 31...hxg6?? however he realized this would have been a mistake after Carlsen played 32.Rxg6+ due to this variation: 32...Kxg6 33.Qg3+ which would have regained his piece and would have  left Carlsen two pawns up. On move 35 Topalov blundered according to Deep Rybka 3. The move 35...Nc4?? . However when Carlsen continued 36.Ne3 he missed the following continuation Deep Rybka 3 found:

37. Qh3 Nd2+ 38. Ka2 Rh8 39. Qxh8+ Kxh8 40. Rh1+ Kg7 41. Rh7+

Topalov resigned the game on move 41 because his  40th move was a blunder. The move 40...Re8 loses to 41.Rc1Qf3 42.Rc7+ Kg8 43.Qh6 Qd1+ 44.Rc1


The other game in round two was between GM Jakovenko and GM Wang Yue.  Jakovenko opened the game with 1.e4 and the game became a Petroff's defense after 1...e5 .Nf3 Nf6. Jakovenko played the less common idea of 3.d4. On move 5 Wang Yue played the less common 5...Nc5 avoiding an exchange of knights via 5...Nxd2 (the main line). On move 6 Wang Yu played the rarely-played 6...Ne6. Javoneko then offered to exchange knights by playing 7.Nbd4 and after Wang Yue played 7...Nxb4 Jakovenko then played a theoretical novelty on move 8 with 8.Qxd4. The players  quickly exchanged off a  a pair of  knights and then a pair of bishops,and this resulted in Wang Yue having to play with an isolated d-pawn. On move 13 Wang Yue played the interesting 13...Be7 which was the sacrifice of a pawn which Jokovenko accepted by playing 14.Qxg7. Jakovenko was left with a position where he was unable to castle and Wang Yue elected to castle on the queenside. On move 19 Wang Yue recovered his pawn, however this allowed Jakovenko to exchange queens on his 20th move, and on move 22 the players exchanged a pair of rooks, making  the position very drawish. The players decided to repeat moves and the game was a draw on move 35.

2nd Nanjing Pearl Spring 2009:Round 2 results and standings,round 3 pairings

Here are the results from round 2: (the player on the left had the white pieces in the game):

2nd Pearl Spring  2009
--------------------------

Round 2 results (September 29, 2009)
Carlsen, Magnus	- Topalov, Veselin	1-0	41	E90	King's Indian Classical
Jakovenko, Dmitry	- Wang Yue	½-½	35	C43	Petroff's Defence
Leko, Peter	- Radjabov, Teimour	½-½	32	B76	Sicilian Modern Dragon

Round 2 standings
------------------
Here are the standings after 2 rounds of play:

2nd Pearl Spring 2009

				1	2
1	Carlsen,M		2772	+ 1/6	+ 1/5	2.0 / 2
2	Wang Yue		2736	+ ½/3	- ½/4	1.0 / 2	2.00
3	Radjabov,T		2757	- ½/2	- ½/6	1.0 / 2	1.50	5.00
4	Jakovenko,D		2742	- ½/5	+ ½/2	1.0 / 2	1.50	5.00
5	Topalov,V		2813	+ ½/4	- 0/1	0.5 / 2	3.00	2.50
6	Leko,P		2762	- 0/1	+ ½/3	0.5 / 2	3.00	2.50

Here are the pairings for round 3: (the player on the left has the white pieces in the game):
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Topalov VS Leko
Wang Yue VS Carlsen
Radjabov VS Jakovenko

Source: http://www.chess-pearlspring.com/www/chess_pk/2009/en/index.htm

2009 FIDE Chess Women's Grand Prix Nanjing China:round 2 results,round 2 standings

Here are the results from round 2 of the 2009 FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Nanjing, China
The player on the left had the white pieces in the game:


Round 2 (September 29, 2009)       Result
--------------------------------------------
Zhu Chen - Munguntuul, Batkhuyag 1-0 37 moves
Xu Yuhua - Shen Yang                   1-0 45 moves
Kovanova, Baira - Fierro , Martha L ½-½ 43 moves
Zhao Xue - Ju Wenjun                     0-1   39 moves
Sebag, Marie - Mkrtchian, Lilit         ½-½ 42 moves
Yildiz, Betul Cemre - Dzagnidze, Nana 0-1 46  moves

These results mean the following standings exist after 2 rounds of play:

1.   Dzagnidze 2 points
2-3.Zhu Chen and
  Xu Yuhua     1.5 points

4-9  Fierro Baquero , Kovanova , Mkrtchian,Shen Yang, Ju Wenjun and
       Munguntuul Batkhuyag, all have 1 point

10-11 Zhao Xue and Sebag,  .5 point
12      Yildiz Betul Cemre        0 points

Here are the pairings for round 3 (the player on the left has the white pieces in the game):

SNo.		Name	Rtg	Res.		Name	Rtg	SNo.
2	WGM	Shen Yang	2453	-	GM	Zhao Xue	2542	12
3	IM	Mkrtchian Lilit	2469	-	GM	Xu Yuhua	2485	1
4	IM	Fierro Baquero Martha	2386	-	GM	Sebag Marie	2519	11
5	WGM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	2418	-	WGM	Kovanova Baira	2408	10
6	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2535	-	GM	Zhu Chen	2488	9
7		Ju Wenjun	2443	-	WIM	Yildiz Betul Cemre	2224	8

VII Marx Gyorgy Memorial Chess Tournament:round 4 and 5 results, and standings

Here is an update on the results from Women's Tournament:two rounds have been played since I last reported on the tournament (the player on the left had the white pieces in the game):
--------------------------------------------------------------
Women's Tournament
------------------

Round 4   Results
----------------------------------
Majdan, J    1-0    Doluhanova, E
Tóth, L    ½-½    Kochetkova, J
Vajda, S    ½-½    Gara, T



Round 5 results
-------------------------------
Doluhanova, E 0-1 Vajda, S
Gara, T ½-½ Tóth, L
Kochetkova, J ½-½ Majdan, J

  These results mean the following standings exist after 5 rounds in the Women's Tournament:
         Round 5 standings
-----------------------------------------
1.Vajda, S                4  points
2-3.Kochetkova, J      2½ points
   Tóth, L                 2 ½ points

4. Majdan, J,           all have
                           2 points
Gara, T
and
Doluhanova, E            



Men's Tournament
------------------
The men have also played two rounds since I reported on their tournament. Here are the results from rounds 4 and 5:
Round 4    results
-----------------------
Meier, G 1-0 Berkes, F
Ács, P   0-1 Ganguly, S
Almási, Z 1-0 Safarli, E

Round 5 results
----------------------
Berkes, F ½-½ Almási, Z
Safarli, E ½-½ Ács, P
Ganguly, S 1-0 Meier, G

These results mean the following standings exist in the Men's tournament after 5 rounds of play:

1. Almási, Z 4
2. Meier, G 3
Ganguly, S 3
4. Berkes, F 2½
5. Safarli, E 2
6. Ács, P           ½





Both of these tournaments have 10 rounds.









Source:http://www.ase.hu/marxgy/2009/

White to play and win

The following position occurred today in the chess game between Xu Yuhua and Zhao Xue at the FIDE Grand Prix Tournament. Xue just made a mistake by playing 27...Kf7?? and Xu Yuhua continued by playing the move 28.Rad1. However, Yuhua missed a much stronger move and continuation, can you find it?







Do not look below this line of text if you do not want to see the solution to this problem.


Answer
Yuhua could have played 28.Bh6! and had a decisive material advantage after:


28. Bh6 Kg8 29. Rxf6 Kh8 30. Rxe6 Rf8 31. Rxe7 Qxe7 32. Bg5 Qe8 33. Bd5 h6 34. Be3 Kh7+-


Now we are still studying the same game as above. The players have reached move Zhao Xue just blundered by playing the move 34...h6?? Can you see a move that wins the game for Xu Yuhua?

The solution is below this line:
---------------------------------






Xu Yuhua could have won the game by playing the move 35.c6! due to this continuation 35...Qc8 36.Rxf6! gxf6 37.Bxh6 . Instead she played 35.Qg6 and had to settle for a draw.


In the same game, it is Xu Yuhua's 40th move. Here is the position:

Xu Yuhua was probably in terrible time trouble at this stage of the game. She played the move 40.d6. However in this position she had a much stronger move.Can you find it?

Solution is below this line:

---------------------------

40.Bxh6 is much stronger due to this continuation:

40... Nxh6 41. Qxh6+ Kg8 42. Qh8+ Kf7 43.Rf3+ Kg6

44. Qxf8 {Threatening 45.Qf6+} Rf7 45. Qg8+ Rg7 46. Qe6+ Kh5 47. Qf5+

Kh4 (47... Kh6 48. Rh3#) 48. Rh3#)

2009 FIDE Chess Women's Grand Prix Nanjing China:round 1 results,round 1 standings,round 2 pairings

The governing body of chess, the FIDE, decided to hold a Women's Grand Prix tournament at the same time as the Pearl Spring Men's event, with the Women's Grand Prix event also being held in
Nanjing, China. Here is a list of the players who earned their way into this Women's Grand Prix event:

Xue, Zhao GM 2544 Ju, Wenjun (local 1t) 2443 Dzagnidze, Nana GM 2536 Sebag Marie GM 2531 Yuhua, Xu GM 2485 Chen, Zhu GM 2473 Mrktchian, Lilit IM 2467 Yang, Shen WG 2453 Batkhuyag, Munguntuul WG 2412 Kovanova, Baira WG 2406 Fierro, Martha IM 2394 Yildiz, Betul WI 2217

This tournament is being held from September 27th-October 10th.The tournament length is eleven rounds (each player plays every other player in the tournament once).

Here are the results from the first two rounds of play: (the player on the left had the white pieces in the game:

Round 1 on 2009/09/28 at 15:00
SNo.		Name	Rtg	Res.		Name	Rtg	SNo.
1	GM	Xu Yuhua	2485	½ - ½	GM	Zhao Xue	2542	12
2	WGM	Shen Yang	2453	1 - 0	GM	Sebag Marie	2519	11
3	IM	Mkrtchian Lilit	2469	½ - ½	WGM	Kovanova Baira	2408	10
4	IM	Fierro Baquero Martha	2386	½ - ½	GM	Zhu Chen	2488	9
5	WGM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	2418	1 - 0	WIM	Yildiz Betul Cemre	2224	8
6	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2535	1 - 0		Ju Wenjun	2443	7

Here are the pairings for round 2 (which will be played on Tuesday,the player on the left has the white pieces in the game):
---------------------------------

SNo.		Name	Rtg	Res.		Name	Rtg	SNo.
12	GM	Zhao Xue	2542	-		Ju Wenjun	2443	7
8	WIM	Yildiz Betul Cemre	2224	-	GM	Dzagnidze Nana	2535	6
9	GM	Zhu Chen	2488	-	WGM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	2418	5
10	WGM	Kovanova Baira	2408	-	IM	Fierro Baquero Martha	2386	4
11	GM	Sebag Marie	2519	-	IM	Mkrtchian Lilit	2469	3
1	GM	Xu Yuhua	2485	-	WGM	Shen Yang

Good luck to all the players in round 2!