Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush were tied at the end of the U.S. Women’s Championship round-robin, so today they played a tiebreaker. It would go to an Armageddon game if necessary, but first they played a pair of G/25 (plus 5 second increments per move) rapid games. In the first, Zatonskih got nothing with White, pressed anyway, and lost. In the rematch, however, she played very well and obtained a winning attack. To break the attack, Krush offered an exchange, but Zatonskih went for more. Krush’s reply was a blunder, and with a simple two-mover her opponent would win a rook, equalize the scores, and go on to the Armageddon game.

Instead, after thinking for three minutes, Zatonskih missed it. By this point Krush had seen it and could be seen exhaling in relief, though even after this her position was awful. Zatonskih didn’t handle the technical task to perfection, but was slowly but surely getting the job done. And then…she simply hung a rook. Maybe it was the sort of OTB equivalent of “pre-move”: she expected that Krush was going to do something else, and simply carried out her intended move anyway, not noticing before reflexively executing what was now a blunder.

A horrific reminder, in case anyone needed it, that errare humanum est.

White to move. How should white proceed?

Source: ChessToday.net

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

After losing the first game with white against Krush, Zatonskih came back strong and obtained a near winning position against Krush with black in the 2nd game. Just as the game was about to go in Zatonskih’s favor, she dropped a rook and promptly resigned to give Krush the title.

Congratulations to Irina. I feel bad for Anna for losing this way, especially when both performed so well in the championship.

White: Irina Krush
Black: Anna Zatonskih
Date: Sun May 20 2012
Result: 1-0

1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. b3 O-O 8. Be2 dxc4 9. bxc4 e5 10. O-O Re8 11. a4 Qe7 12. Qb3 e4 13. Nd2 c5 14. Nb5 Bb8 15. Ba3 a6 16. Nc3 Qd6 17. g3 Qe6 18. d5 Qh3 19. Qc2 Ne5 20. Ndxe4 Nfg4 21. Bxg4 Nxg4 22. f4 Bf5 23. Ng5 Bxc2 24. Nxh3 Nxe3 25. Rfe1 Ba7 26. Rac1 Bf5 27. Rxe3 Rxe3 28. Nf2 Rae8 29. Kg2 Bd7 30. a5 h5 31. Bb2 Bb8 32. Ncd1 Rb3 33. Bc3 Bf5 34. Kf3 Rb1 35. Rxb1 Bxb1 36. Nb2 Bd6 37. Nbd3 Bf8 38. Bd2 Ba2 39. Nb2 Rb8 40. Nfd3 b5 41. axb6 Rxb6 42. Na4 Rb3 43. Ke2 Ra3 44. Nab2 Bb1 45. Be3 Bxd3+ 46. Nxd3 Rc3 47. Ne5 Rxc4 48. Nxc4 1-0

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

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Can you name this strong player? Hint: Her sister is also a very strong.

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

Top seeds China 1, India draw in Asian Nations Cup

The top two seeds China 1 and India played to a 2:2 draw to set the pace after 3 rounds of the Asian Nations Cup in Zao Zhuang, China. Tied for the lead are Iran and China 2 men. In the Women’s China 1 beat China 2 by 3:1 to grab solo lead of the round robin tournament.

In an all-GM battle, Wang Hao beat Sasikiran and Ding Liren beat Negi to score for China. But Hari Krishna beat GM Wang Yue and Gupta beat Yu Yangyi to even the score for India.

Visit chess-results.com for pairings and standings. Watch live games for the Open and the Women’s. Please look at the video report from the Opening Ceremony & Round 1 of the Asian Nations Cup 2012 in Zaozhuang, China: http://player.youku.com/player.php/sid/XMzk5MTQwMzk2/v.swf

China 2 edged Vietnam 2½-1½. Games were drawn on boards 1 to 3 but GM Wen Yang scored the winning point against IM Nguyen Van Huy.

More here: http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/4-tournaments/6163-top-seeds-china-1-india-draw-in-asian-nations-cup.html

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

After six less than scintillating draws, the 2012 World Chess Championship finally saw its first decisive result. Boris Gelfand defeated the champion, Viswanathan Anand, for the first time in a classical game since 1993(!), and has a 4-3 lead with five games to go.

Gelfand varied from his earlier games with 6.c5, as expected by this commentator, and at least as importantly, met 6…Nbd7 with the rare 7.Qc2. Anand did not seem well-prepared for this line, and burned plenty of time trying to solve the problem of his bad light-squared bishop. He never managed to do this, and already felt quite frustrated by his position when he lashed out with 23…g5. This was a clear error, and soon Gelfand’s position wasn’t just comfortable; it was winning. Anand found some neat tricks at the very end to make it exciting, but Gelfand was up to the challenge and created his own mating net before Black could finish weaving his.

Now the time for dull, bloodless draws is over. Will Anand manage to bounce back, as Garry Kasparov did against Anand himself back in 1995? There, in a 20-game title match, there were eight draws before Anand opened the first lead with a win in game 9. Kasparov promptly won games 10, 11, 13 and 14 on his way to a three point victory. So perhaps this loss will give Anand a feeling of freedom and a sense of increased motivation, and the match will come alive. Let’s hope so!

(Subscribers can expect my analysis and supplementary video later today. Those who would like to subscribe can do so, and will still receive the earlier materials, videos included.)

The 9th edition of Deltalift Open was held on 17-19th May in Halmstad, Sweden. The tournament was organzied by the Harplinge Schacksällskap and offered 4100 EUR in prizes.

130 players competed in the Swiss event with 8 rounds. First four rounds were quickplay with 45 minutes per player, while the remaining four were played with 2 hours / 40 moves + 30 minutes for rest of game.

Grandmaster Emanuel Berg took a clear first place with 7/8 points, half a point ahead of the chasing pack. Hans Tikkanen and Jonny Hector also arrived directly from the Sigeman & Co tournament.

Final standings (Swedish elo) – top finishers:

1 GM Berg Emanuell SWE 2627 – 7
2 GM Tikkanen Hans SWE 2636 – 6.5
3 GM Hillarp-Persson Tiger SWE 2663 – 6.5
4 GM Brynell Stellan SWE 2555 – 6.5
5 IM Ziegler Ari SWE 2418 – 6.5
6 Mohammadi Amir SWE 2324 – 6.5
7 GM Hector Jonny SWE 2630 – 6
8 Lundstedt Peter SWE 2200 – 6
9 Östling Håkan SWE 2269 – 6
10 Lindgren Philip SWE 2304 – 6
11 Åberg Anton SWE 2403 – 6
12 Arnelind Mikael SWE 2256 – 5.5
13 Lind Jan-Olov SWE 2238 – 5.5
14 Rosell Tomas SWE 2200 – 5.5
15 FM Frisk Kockum Anton SWE 2410 – 5.5
16 Fransson Peter SWE 2312 – 5.5
17 Nilsson Patrik SWE 2113 – 5.5
18 Lindh Fredrik SWE 2290 – 5.5
19 Lindborg Patrik SWE 2230 – 5.5
20 Madebrink Lars SWE 2271 – 5.5
21 Kumar Rahul SWE 2252 – 5.5
22 Jönsson Krister SWE 2133 – 5.5

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

Watch a recap video of the 2012 US Chess Championships and a preview for the 2012 US Women’s Chess Championship playoff, set for 1 EST, Noon local time.