Aronian swamps Kramnik, 4-2

By Frank "Boy" Pestaño
Chessmoso

FOR the first time in his career, world champion Vladimir Kramnik has lost a one-on-one match, against the young grandmaster from Armenia, Levon Aronian. To recall, Kramnik has defeated Kasparov, Leko and lately Veselin Topalov and has held his ground against computer programs.

“Levon is in good form. He played confidently. He was fresher and acted more precisely in decisive games. Levon is known for his ability to play very fast,” Kramnik was quoted after the match.

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Kramnik further said his just concluded win over Peter Leko in Miskolc, Hungary was tough and he was tired for this match.

“Even though I have won three active chess matches, I have not shown my best qualities this time,” Kramnik said. This was the eighth time they played against each other and the first time that Aronian won.

Here are the scores:

The MTel Masters is one of the “major” tournaments in the chess calendar and has just started in Sofia, Bulgaria and will conclude on May 20. The field for the 10-round, double-round robin event is composed of Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria, 2772), Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu (Romania, 2693), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan, 2757) , Gata Kamsky (US, 2705), Michael Adams (England, 2734) and Krishnan Sasikiran (India, 2690).

According to chessbase.com, one rule in place at this tournament says: “The players should not talk during the games; additionally they should not offer draws directly to their opponents. Draw offers will be allowed only through the Chief Arbiter in three cases: a triple-repetition of the position, a perpetual check and in theoretically drawn positions. The Chief-Arbiter is the only authority who can acknowledge the final result of the game in these cases.

He will be advised in his decisions throughout the tournament by GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili, Fide vice president.” In short: You are not allowed to offer or accept draws and must play on until the game is technically over. The arbiter will see to it that you do so.

SCRABBLE. Teodoro Martus Jr., of the University of the Visayas (UV) followed up his Last Leg Candidates Match win with another impressive performance in local grounds last Sunday to rule the first Cebu Rated Scrabble tournament with a 7-2 win-loss card and a +731 net spread.

Hosted by the UV Green Wizards, the one-day nine-round tourney used the straight King-of-the-Hill format.

In second place was Reynante dela Cerna with six wins and a +439 net spread, while Joel Toroy, also with 6 wins but with an inferior net spread of +132, salvaged the third spot.

The rest of the top seven are Ursie Aparre (5W, +226), Gerson Anticamura (5W -14) and Michael Laput.

CEPCA NEWS. The May tournament of the club will be on the 13th at Stella Maris together with the Kiddies and the Juniors event at 1 p.m.

I was just informed of the sad news yesterday that the 10th president of the club (2002-03), Tito S. Villaluna, passed away after a long and lingering illness. He will be missed by all of us and we would like to express our condolence to his wife, Mayen, and children.

He is now resting at Rolling Hills in Bacolod City.