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Anand: Every year I keep my fingers crossed
03.05.2009 – The yearly Chess Classic in Mainz, Germany, will be held from July 27th to Sunday, August 2nd 2009, with World Champion Vishy Anand defending his Rapid Chess title against Levon Aronian, Arkadij Naiditsch and Ian Nepomniachtchi. Anand has won the main event eleven times and feels the pressure every time he plays. Read all about this and his recent chess life in this indepth interview. |
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Mainz 2009: We are not looking for short term commitments
17.07.2009 – Just ten days, three hours and 54 minutes (at the time of writing) until the Chess Classic Mainz 2009 begins. This year will see World Champion Vishy Anand defend his series of titles in the Rapid World Championship against Levon Aronian, Arkadij Naiditsch and Ian Nepomniachtchi. There are many other events, including the world's biggest Rapid Chess Open.
Interview with the sponsor. |
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Mainz 2009 Schmitt: 'I suffer vicariously with Anand'
20.07.2009 – The organiser of the Chess Classic, which begins on July 27 in Mainz, Germany, is a self-professed "dinosaur". Hans-Walter Schmitt has been staging the massive event since 1994. In that year he met a young chess star from India, Vishy Anand, from which grew a deep and warm friendship. The following interview with "HWS" contains some rare insights and startling revelations. Must read. |
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Aronian on Mainz: I wish chess could always be like this
26.07.2009 – The 2007 Chess Classic starts on Monday, with a simul on 40 boards by GM Levon Aronian. The Armenian Olympic Champion and world number four goes on to defend his Chess960 title and then play in the Rapid World Championship against World Champion Vishy Anand. What does he think about the Mainz event? Levon clearly thinks it is great fun. Light-hearted interview. |
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Chess Classic: Aronian dominates in Chess960
29.07.2009 – It is a form of chess, originally proposed by Bobby Fischer, in which the position of the pieces not the pawns is shuffled randomly before the start of each game. This eliminates deep opening preparation and fosters a new form of creativity. Armenia's top GM appears to have plenty of that. After the first day he leads with 3.0/3 after a 40-board simultaneous display. Illustrated report. |
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Chess Classic: Nakamura's comeback
30.07.2009 – On the first day of the Chess960 World Championship in Mainz a somewhat jet-lagged Hikaru Nakamura had scored a disappointing 1.0/3 points. On the second day the American GM fought back, winning all three games and bringing Levon Aronian into the danger zone of not qualifying for the final. But the Armenian did and Thursday will bring a clash between the two. |
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Chess Classic: Nakamura wins 960 World Championship
31.07.2009 – On the first day of the Chess960 World Rapid Chess Championship in Mainz Levon Aronian had dominated, winning all three of his games. On the second day US GM Hikaru Nakamura had won all of his to get into the finals. And there he beat Aronian in the first three of four games to take the 2009 title of 960 World Championship. Illustrated report. with video. |
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Chess Classic: Grischuk wins FiNet Chess 960 Open
01.08.2009 – In Chess960 the pieces are shuffled before the start of each game to eliminate all opening preparation. But does that render top GMs helpless? It does not. For a long stretch Gata Kamsky, was leading. He lost to former world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov in the final round, so that the winner in the end was top seed Alexander Grischuk. Report with lovely pictures by Christian Bossert. |
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Chess Classic: Bad start for the World Champion
01.08.2009 – The first day of the Rapid Chess World Championship in Mainz brought a nasty shock for the eleven-fold Chess Classic winner Vishy Anand, who lost his first two games, both with white, to Levon Aronian and newcomer Ian Nepomniachtchi. Anand retained chances to enter the final on Sunday by beating Arkadij Naiditsch in the third game. Aronian and Nepomniachtchi lead with 2.5/3. Illustrated report. |
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Chess Classic: Aronian wins final in smooth style
02.08.2009 – After World Champion Vishy Anand failed to qualify for the final of the GrenkeLeasing Rapid World Championship, Levon Aronian was clear favorite to win the title against Ian Nepomniachtchi. And indeed, the Armenian had no trouble beating his young opponent 3-1. The only surprise was how easily he seemed to do it. Anand drew his match for third place with Arkadij Naiditsch. Final report. |
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Ordix Open: eight players lead with 5-0
02.08.2009 – The ORDIX Open is a fixed date in the chess calendar for many rapid chess lovers and, this year no fewer than 694 participants made the pilgrimage to the Mainz Chess Classic. After the first five rounds, there are still eight players with a clean sheet: Grischuk, Sargissian, Meier, Mamedyarov, Naiditsch, Navara, Landa and Nielsen. Six more rounds are being played on Sunday. Illustrated report. |
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Chess Classic: Rybka wins Chess960 Computer World Championship
02.08.2009 – Remember Bobby Fischer winning US Championships and Candidates matches with incredible "to zero" scores? The American computer program Rybka reminded everyone of her (Rybka is female) famous human compatriot by winning the Chess960 World Championship qualifier 11.5/12. In the final Rybka beat her main rival Shredder 3:1. Congratulations to author Vasik Rajlich. |
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Chess Classic: 'Thats life: if you play badly you get punished'
02.08.2009 – These words come from the eleven-time Chess Classic winner Vishy Anand, who failed to qualify this time for the final on Sunday. Anand had a good position in his must-win game against Ian Nepomniachtchi Q+2P vs Q but only managed a draw. Levon Aronian, on the other hand, beat Naiditsch to secure his place one round before the end. Aronian plays Nepomniachtchi in the final. |
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Chess Classic: Mamedyarov wins Ordix Open
04.08.2009 – As always, the ORDIX Open at the Chess Classic in Mainz was decided in the final rounds, with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov beating Hikaru Nakamura, USA, in a critical penultimate game. The Azeri grandmaster won the event with a record-breaking ten points from eleven games. Vugar Gashimov, Vladimir Akopian and Arkadij Naiditsch followed with 9.5 points. Illustrated report. |
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Djaja study: how humans and computers solved it
19.08.2009 – Remember the study we showed you in one of our Chess Classic reports? The one which top grandmasters failed to solve, while the program Rybka succeeded in just over a minute? We promised to give you the astonishing solution, which we now do, together with a number of interesting and sometimes delicate anecdotes describing how the humans fared. 1-0 for the computers on this one. |
