Hooray, Gata Kamsky!

There'a a dude's Grand Prix going on right now in Thessoliniki, Greece.  I don't normally follow male-only events, but since recently crowned U.S. Chess Champion GM Gata Kamsky is in first place by half a point with one more game to go, I felt it incumbent upon me to give a nod in his direction, one fellow law degree holder to another :)

According to Mark Crowther at The Week in Chess (I used to spoof it as The Weak in Chess at the old International Chessoid):

Gata Kamsky was not forced to work very hard at all for yet another win in the FIDE Grand Prix in Thessaloniki, this time in the 10th round against Alexander Morozevich. Kamsky turned 39 today although he was trying not to make very much of it. For Morozevich this was his fourth loss in a row. He arrived at the board hidden under a baseball cap and played a rather rare variation which he used over a decade ago against Peter Leko. Already 17...Nxb2 loses to a long line in which Kamsky missed a key point at the end: 18. Nd5 Bxd5 19. exd5 Rxc2 20. Rxe7 Rxe7 21. Bxf6 gxf6 22. Qxf6! Re1+ 23. Rxe1 Qxf6 24. Re8# but his 18.Bb3 left him with an easy position to play and after 18...Bd8? (20...Ne5 had to be tried) 19.Nxg7 Morozevich could have resigned. Morozevich just needs the event to end now. Kamsky leads by half a point going into the final round and a draw in the final round against Caruana should take him back into the top 10 in the world.

Imagine, THE USA HAVING TWO CHESSPLAYERS IN THE WORLD TOP 10.  Holy Hathor!  When was the last time that happened?

BTW, Happy Birthday to GM Kamsky.  Thirty-nine was a very good year for moi, and I hope it will be for him, too :)))

Makedonia Palace FIDE GP Thessaloniki GRE (GRE), 22 v-4 vi 2013															cat. XXI (2753)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2
1.	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	2741	*	1	.	½	½	1	1	½	½	1	1	½	7½	2945
2.	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	g	CUB	2723	0	*	1	½	½	1	1	.	½	½	1	1	7	2900
3.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2774	.	0	*	½	½	½	½	1	1	½	1	1	6½	2862
4.	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2779	½	½	½	*	½	.	½	½	½	1	½	½	5½	2791
5.	Ponomariov, Ruslan	g	UKR	2742	½	½	½	½	*	0	½	½	1	½	.	1	5½	2789
6.	Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	g	UZB	2699	0	0	½	.	1	*	½	½	½	1	½	½	5	2755
7.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2769	0	0	½	½	½	½	*	½	1	.	0	1	4½	2713
8.	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2793	½	.	0	½	½	½	½	*	0	0	1	1	4½	2715
9.	Bacrot, Etienne	g	FRA	2725	½	½	0	½	0	½	0	1	*	½	½	.	4	2683
10.	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2775	0	½	½	0	½	0	.	1	½	*	½	½	4	2677
11.	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2760	0	0	0	½	.	½	1	0	½	½	*	½	3½	2643
12.	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2755	½	0	0	½	0	½	0	0	.	½	½	*	2½	2562

2011 FIDE World Cup

R4, G2:  Judit Polgar won with the black pieces to force play-offs tomorrow with Dominguez.  Here is what The Week in Chess said:

Judit Polgar recovered from a loss to Leinier Dominguez Perez in the first game to beat him in 112 moves with black to take the match to a playoff. But this was a fluctuating struggle to say the least.

Polgar will have very decent chances in the rapid where she has major scalps including Topalov last year but the faster the time rates after that will probably favour Dominguez.

There's much more in TWIC's report.  I'm pressed for time tonight, darlings.  I leave for the airport tomorrow a.m. at 5:30 for St. Louis.  GO JUDIT GO.  I will follow her play-offs as I can on my brand new little Acer notebook! 

One note - notice that she was wearing the "leopard print" trimmed black jacket in today game!

Check out the leopard print trim on GM Judit Polgar's black jacket :)

Unfortunately, GM Gata Kamsky for the USA did not fare as well.  He lost again and is going home.  So, the USA has no more representatives playing in the World Cup. 

USCF Shows Some Stones

Well, this is rather ironic given the USCF's own history, I can't stop snickering. But Hooray for the USCF showing some stones in standing up for GM Gata Kamsky's rights in the on-again/off-again match with GM Veselin Topolov of Bulgaria. FIDE made a public declaration on June 1, 2008 published at its official website and at numerous chess websites and blogs that its President guaranteed a $750,000 prize fund for the match to be held in Lvov, Ukraine, which is presently scheduled to start near the end of this month. The organizer failed to come up with the money and FIDE has now requested an offer from the Bulgarian Chess Federation of $300,000 - $250,000 for prize money and $50,000 for FIDE - why FIDE deserves even a penny under the circumstances is unclear and simply outrageous. Fearless Leader Kirsan has publicly reneged on his guarantee of the Lvov prize fund of $750,000!!! Altogether now, can you say S-C-H-M-U-C-K? What part of the concept of guarantee does he not understand? It's clear he doesn't understand anything about honoring his word. Bill Goichberg, President of the USCF, in an open letter to Kirsan, is rightly taking him to task for reneging on his publicly-stated promise. Kirsan should front the money so that the match can go on as scheduled, in Lvov. Shame, shame on Kirsan. How CAN this man be in control of FIDE? He is a walking, talking disaster and embarrassment to the world! No lie is too blatant, no promise is too large or small not to keep, he continues to rape chess for his and his cronies' own personal gain - and he (and they) get away with it, laughing all the way to the bank. Geez.

$750,000 Purse for Kamsky-Topalov Match

Chessbase breaks the following news: 'Lvov awaits Topalov and Kamsky!'15.05.2008 – Breaking news: Russian chess journalists Yuri Vasiliev has now confirmed that the semifinal Candidates Match between Veselin Topalov and Gata Kamsky will take place in Lvov, Ukraine, for a prize fund of US $750,000. The full story, including Yuri's verbatim interview with Chernenko, will appear tomorrow on ChessBase. Here first details. Just over a month ago we reported that FIDE had extended the deadline for bids for the Kamsky-Topalov Candidates Match. The Bulgarian Chess Federation protested vigorously, but then the reason for FIDE's decision became clear: a US $750,000 bid to stage the match in Lvov, western Ukraine, had been announced by Kamsky's manager Alexander Chernenko. There were a lot of doubts if this offer was real. Today Chernenko has stated that the financial guarantees have now been received by FIDE, at their Swiss bank account: “The sum of US $935,000 has appeared on the bank’s computer screen in Lausanne “, Vasiliev quotes Chernenko as saying. Rest of article.

Support Gata Kamsky Going for the Championship

Hola darlings! I usually don't feature chess hommes at this blog or in the Chess Femme News at Goddess chess :) - but this is a special case. the USA's highest rated chess player, GM Gata Kamsky, will be playing a match in late autumn against GM Veslin Topalov. The winner of this match will have the right to a title match for the world chess championship in 2009. Gata has set up a charitable (i.e., donations are tax-deductible) foundation to support his bid for the world chess championship. In the future, the foundation will support promising chess talent. A dedicated team of the highest level chess talent is needed to support Gata in his quest to bring the world chess championship back home to the USA. Contributions to the foundation will help! The endeavor is backed by our eternally cash-strapped U.S. Chess Federation, which can offer our top chess player no help. Geez!

2007 World Cup

Wow! USA's GM Gata Kamsky beat Spain's GM Alexei Shirov 2.5 to 1.5 and takes the World Cup. In defeating Shirov, Kamsky has won the right t0 play - someone - and if he wins, he gets the right to eventually play - someone else - for a future chance at the world championship - at some future time. LOL! Well, that's how I understand it, darlings. Check the official website if you want to review the action going all the way back to the first round of knock-out games. In any event, this is a big WIN for US chess. Too bad the event hasn't been covered by the American press - although there's lots of blog and chess website coverage. Perhaps if Kamsky succeeds in advancing to the world championship match he will get some decent press coverage by non-chess folks! There's great commentary about the Kamsky win at Mig's Daily Dirt.