Linares, Melody Amber and battle of GMs

LINARES, considered the “Wimbledon” of chess, has ended .

Alexander Grischuk (2733, Russia) took first place due to having more wins than Vassily Ivanchuk (2779, Ukraine) after both finished with 8/14. The tournament took place from Feb. 18 to March 8. The winner took 100,000 Euros and the second and third placers earned 75,000 and 50,000 Euros, respectively.



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The other participants, all belonging to the 2700 club, were Magnus Carlsen (2776, Norway), Viswanathan Anand (2791, India), Teimour Radjabov (2761, Azerbaijan), Wang Yue ( 2739, China), Levon Aronian (2750, Armenia) and Leinier Dominguez Perez (2717, Cuba).

The 18th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament is being played March 14 to 26 in Nice, France. The legendary sponsor is billionaire Joop Von Oosteroom in honor of his daughter Melody Amber .The total prize fund is 216,000 Euros.

This year’s field is stronger than ever with all the world’s best players taking part. The 12 participants are (in alphabetical order): World Champion Anand (India), Aronian (Armenia), Carlsen (Norway), Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Gata Kamsky (United States), Sergey Karjakin (Ukraine), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Peter Leko (Hungary), Alexander Morozevich (Russia), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) and Yue (China).

The Turkish Chess Federation is organizing the first event of the new Women Grand Prix series 2009/2010 in Istanbul starting March 6.

The Fide Women Grand Prix is a new series of six elite tournaments over two years in various countries with three tournaments every year. The next tournament is planned in Nanjing, China at the end of September.

The top placer of the Grand Prix will challenge the 2010 World Cup winner to be the undisputed women world champion.
The players are Koneru Humpy (India, 2621), Hou Yifan (China 2571), Antoanetta Stefanova (Bulgaria, 2557), Pia Cramling (Sweden, 2548), Marie Sebag (France, 2529), Maia Chiburddanidze (Georgia, 2516), Zhao Xue (China,2508), Elina Danielian (Armenia, 2496), Shen Yang (China, 2448), Martha Fierro (Ecuador, 2403), Zeinab Mamedjarova (Azerbaijan, 2363) and Betul Cemre Yildiz (Turkey, 2214).

In eight rounds, Zhao Xue has seven points after defeating Hou Yifan to take the lead. Fifteen-year-old Hou has 6.5 points, and at third place is the top seed Koneru Humpy with 6.

In the national level, the Battle of GMs 2009 will be from March 24 to 31 in Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte.

A total of 24 players—12 each in the men’s and women’s divisions—are seeing action in the week-long competition which offers a total cash prize of nearly P1 million.

The players entered in the men’s division are GMs Wesley So, John Paul Gomez, Eugene Torre, Joey Antonio, Mark Paragua, Darwin Laylo, Buenaventura “Bong” Villamayor and Jayson Gonzales and GM-candidates Richard Bitoon, Julio Catalino Sadorra, Rolando Nolte and Ronald Dableo.

In the women’s division, the participants are Dresden Olympiad veterans Catherine Perena, Chardine Cheradee Camacho, Shercila Cua, Daisy Rivera, Christy Bernales and Sherily Cua. Also in the event are Rulp Ylen Jose, Beverly Mendoza, Jedara Docena, Kimberly Jane Cunanan, Jan Jodiyln Fronda and Rida Jane Young.

In the local scene, the Second Pakigne Open tournament will start tomorrow at the Garces Apartment in Pakigne, Minglanilla. Format is seven rounds Swiss and time control is 25 minutes per player, play to finish.

Games starts at 9 a.m. and registration is P200. The champion will get P6,000 and prize money will be given up to 10th placer.

The top kiddies and woman players will take home P700. You can get in touch with the organizer, Bernard Garces, at 269-0161 or 0920-901-6499.