4/17/2011 – Friday was a free day, but there was a blitz tournament, won in a tie-break sudden death blitz game by Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami. In the Open Parimarjan Negi, 18, and Jon Ludvig Hammer, 20, lead with 6.0/7 points. Our attention was, however, caught by a player in place 47. Vahap Sanal is from Turkey and just twelve years old. His performance: 2524. Portrait of a young talent.
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13th Dubai Open Chess Championship
The Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup is taking place from April
9th to 19th, 2011 in the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. It is a nine round
Swiss, with time controls of one hour and 30 minutes for the whole game,
with an increment of 30 seconds per move.
The games start at 17:30h local time. There is a rest day with a blitz
tournament on Friday, April 15, and two rounds to be played on Saturday,
April 16, starting at 10:00 a.m. and 06:00 p.m. local time. The closing
ceremony takes place on Tuesday, April 19, one day after the final (ninth)
round, at 19:00h.
The tie-break sudden death blitz game to break the tie between the two leaders:
Armenian GM Zaven Andianisian faces GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami from Iran. Maghami
won and took home the ENOC Dubai Blitz 2011 Cup. In the background Saleh Mohammed
al-Husseini, Executive Director of Dubai Chess Club, Casto Abundo, Chief Arbiter,
and Mahdi Abdulrahim, Deputy Chief Arbiter.
Top rankings after seven rounds
In the main event after two rounds on Saturday we see GM Parimarjan Negi from
India tied for first with Norwegian GM Jon Ludvig Hammer. Their performance:
2805 for Negi and 2646 for Hammer. There are seven GMs in striking distance
of the pair.
Equal first with 6.0/7: GM Parimarjan Negi, 18, from India, rated 2618
Norwegian GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, 20, shares first with Parimarjan
CM Vahap Şanal
In the Dubai Open our attention is directed towards a player who is currently
47th on the score table. Vahap Şanal (pronounced Shaanal) in just twelve
years old. He was born on 26 May 1998 in Izmir, Turkey and started to play chess
in connection with the Chess in School Project of Turkish Chess Federation.
He was the first and youngest chess player in Turkish National Team when he
was eight years old. His first official tournament was the 2006 World Youth
Chess Championship in Batumi, Georgia. He finished this event in fourth place
in the under-eight category.
Today Vahap has the opportunity to train with the best coaches in the world,
with the support of TCF. After successful results, he gets a bonus from the
federation. He believes that young Turkish players have plenty of opportunities,
especially in the national teams, so that the number of GMs is going to increase
soon.
In round one in the Dubai Open the 12-year-old, rated 2200, faced GM Jon Ludvig
Hammer, rated 400 points higher than him, with the black pieces – and
simply outplayed the current tournament leader:
26...Rxe3! 27.Rxe3 Bc5 28.Rae1 Rxf4 29.Qd1 Qe4 [29...h3 would
have finished the game more quickly] 30.Qd2 Rf7 31.Qf2 Qc4 32.b3 Rxf2
33.bxc4 Rxa2 34.cxb5 axb5 35.Kf1 Bxe3 36.Rxe3 c5 37.Re5 b4 38.Rxc5? Rb2?
Both players in time trouble – Black had the devastating 38...b3,
39.Rb5 Kg6 40.h3 b3 41.Kg1 Kf6 42.Kf1 Ke6 43.Kg1 Kd6 44.Kh2 Rc2 45.Rh5?
and because of 45...b2–+ White resigned. 0-1.
After seven rounds in Dubai Vahap has scored 4.0 points and achieved a performance
of 2524, 324 more than his current FIDE rating. This kid is on track for a GM
norm.
Important previous achievements:
2007 World School Chess Championship – U9 Bronze Medal
2008 World School Chess Champion – U11
2008 Turkish Youth Chess Champion (U10)
2008 Dubai Juniors Championship – U14 Bronze Medal
2009 Turkish Youth Chess Champion – U12
2009 Mediterranean Championship – Best Performance
2009 Dubai Juniors Championship – U14 Silver Medal
2010 European School Chess Championship – 13 Silver Medal
2010 World School Chess Championship – 13 Silver Medal
2009 Dubai Juniors Championship – U14 Bronze Medal
2009 World Under 16 Olympiad – bronze medal for board
2010 Turkish Youth Chess Champion – U12
2011 Turkish Chess
Championship – 12th place
Interests: After English and French, Vahap has started to learn Russian –
at the advice of National team coach GM Mikhail Gurevich, "in order to
read Russian chess books". He likes to play basketball and gocart. Vahap
is attending the MEV Izmir Private College, in the seventh grade.
There are two of them! Vahap's buddy FM Cemil Can Ali Marandi is just
four months and is rated 2213 and was awarded the “sportperson of the
year 2011“ title. His main goal is to be a grandmaster before the age
of fifteen. We will be watching both these boys.
Top games are being broadcast
live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com.
If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase
Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program
to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!
In this video course, Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov explores the fascinating world of King’s Indian and Pirc structures with colours reversed, often arising from the French or Sicilian.
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