[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: The Daily Update: Tiviakov is the European Champ; Cheparinov Continues to Climb

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
The Daily Update: Tiviakov is the European Champ; Cheparinov Continues to Climb
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1209778015.shtml


   Emil Sutovsky had been in first in every round, sometimes alone,
   sometimes in company, but the last round was his Waterloo. Going into
   the last round of the [1]European Individual Chess Championship, eight
   players were tied for first. In three of the four games, a draw was
   agreed in fewer than 12 moves. In the Tiviakov-Sutovsky game, however,
   White went for the gusto, and he won. Tiviakov has occasionally been
   in the elite (he was a Candidate in the 1990s), but this is his best
   result in several years. Congratulations to him, and to all the
   players who have qualified for the World Cup - or rather, will
   qualify. There are ties for some of the spots, and these will be
   determined by playoffs tomorrow. So here are the not-quite-final
   standings - only #1 is in fact #1; the other places (not just those
   for the World Cup) will also be settled tomorrow.
   1. Tiviakov 8.5 (of 11)
   2-10. Volkov, Tregubov, Movsesian, L'Ami, Vachier-Lagrave, Grachev,
   Baklan, Kryvoruchko, Nyback 8
   11-34. Sutovsky, Laznicka, Pavasovic, Efimenko, Papaioannu, Khalifman,
   Najer, Rauf Mamedov, Akopian, Areshchenko, Fressinet, Smirin,
   Lupulescu, Bologan, Khismatullin, Galkin, Gustafsson, Sargissian,
   Andreikin, Hracek, Roiz, Vajda, Markowski, M. Gurevich 7.5
   There was a concurrent women's event; clear first went to Kateryna
   Lahno with 8.5/11, half a point ahead of Ushenina, Zhukova, Cmilyte,
   Mkrtchian, Skripchenko and Dembo.
   In the [2]FIDE Grand Prix, no game was shorter than 42 moves, but 6 of
   the 7 contests were drawn anyway. Only Cheparinov won, defeating
   Radjabov on the black side of a Caro-Kann. The standings at the top
   are therefore unchanged, but Cheparinov can take solace that he has
   recovered from his 0-4 start to reach a 4.5-5.5 score and a TPR almost
   equal to his rating. Maybe all those years working with Topalov have
   led him to resemble him as a streaky player too.
   Standings after Round 10:
   1. Grischuk 6.5
   2-3. Wang Yue, Gashimov 6
   4-6. Mamedyarov, Carlsen, Adams 5.5
   7-9. Radjabov, Bacrot, Kamsky 5
   10-12. Svidler, Karjakin, Cheparinov 4.5
   13. Inarkiev 3.5
   14. Navara 3
   N.B. On the tournament site, there's a reasonably substantial [3]video
   interview with Gata Kamsky. I'll draw your attention to one of his
   comments, as it piggybacks on a [4]recent post. When discussing how
   kids should study the game, he says they should begin with the ending,
   as the foundation of everything. Then they should turn to the
   middlegame, and only afterward proceed to studying openings. Very good
   advice, even if book publishers don't want to believe it.
   Finally, [5]here's the Tiviakov-Sutovsky game that gave the winner the
   prestigious title of European champion.

References

   1. http://www.eicc2008.com/en/
   2. http://baku2008.fide.com/
   3. http://baku2008.fide.com/video-interview-of-gm-gata-kamsky.html
   4. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1209528464.shtml
   5. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/tiviakov_sutovsky_eu_ch_2008.htm