The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid starts!

The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid starts today at Palais de la Mediterranée, in Nice, France.

This year's field is as strong as ever, and includes (in rating order): Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Alexander Grischuk (Russia - a late replacement for Alexander Morozevich), Peter Svidler (Russia), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine), Sergey Karjakin (Russia), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba), and Jan Smeets (The Netherlands).

If only Anand and Topalov were in this. But those two will be in deep preparations for their forthcoming World Championship match

The blindford sessions have started, refresh your browser to see latest moves



Dominguez (2713) - Gashimov (2740) [A32]
19th Amber Blindfold&Rapid *Blindfold* Nice/France (1.3), 2010
[Robot 3]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 4.Nf3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 Nc6 8.Bf4 0-0 9.Nc3 e5 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bxe5 Qa5 12.Bd6 Bxd6 13.Qxd6 Ba6 14.Qd4 Rab8 15.0-0 c5 16.Qd2 Bxc4 17.Rfd1 Be6 18.b3 Rfc8 19.Nd5 Qxd2 20.Rxd2 Kf8 21.Rc1 Nxd5 22.Bxd5 Ke7 23.Rc4 Rb4 24.Rxb4 cxb4 25.Bxe6 fxe6 26.f4 d5 27.Kf2 Rc3 28.e3 Kf6 29.Kf3 h6 30.h3 a5 31.Kf2 g5 32.Kf3 Kf5 33.Kf2 g4 34.hxg4+ Kxg4 35.Re2 h5 36.Kg2 Kf5 37.Kf3 d4 38.Re1 e5 39.fxe5 Kxe5 40.Kf2 Rc2+ 41.Kf3 d3 42.Rh1 Rxa2 43.Rxh5+ Ke6 44.e4 a4 45.bxa4 b3 46.Rh1 b2 47.Rb1 d2 48.Ke2 Ra1 0-1

Ponomariov (2737) - Gelfand (2750)
19th Amber Blindfold&Rapid *Blindfold* Nice/France (1.1), 2010
[Robot 3]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bd3 Bg4 5.Ne2 e6 6.Qb3 Qc7 7.Ng3 Nh5 8.Nc3 Nd7 9.Bd2 Nb6 10.c5 Nd7 11.e4 Nxg3 12.hxg3 dxe4 13.Nxe4 Bf5 14.Bf4 e5 15.Ng5 Nxc5 16.dxc5 Bxd3 17.0-0-0 0-0-0 18.Nxf7 Rd5 19.Rxd3 Qxf7 20.Rxd5 cxd5 21.Bxe5 Bxc5 22.f4 b6 23.Qc2 Kb7 24.Rxh7 Rg8 25.Kb1 a5 26.a3 d4 27.Qe4+ Ka7 28.Qd3 Qb7 29.Ka2 Qd5+ 30.Qb3 Rd8 31.Qxd5 Rxd5 32.Rxg7+ Ka6 33.Rh7 d3 34.Rh1 Bf2 35.g4 d2 36.Rd1 Be3 37.g3 Bf2 38.g5 Bxg3 39.g6 Rd8 40. g7 a4 41. Rxd2 1-0




Grischuk (2756) - Kramnik (2790)
19th Amber Blindfold&Rapid *Blindfold* Nice/France (1.2), 2010
[Robot 3]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.Qc2 0-0 8.a3 Bxc3+ 9.Qxc3 h6 10.Bh4 c5 11.Nd2 c4 12.g4 b5 13.Bg2 Nb6 14.h3 Re8 15.e3 a5 16.0-0 Qd6 17.Qc2 Bd7 18.Rfe1 Rac8 19.Bg3 Qc6 20.Be5 b4 21.axb4 axb4 22.e4 c3 23.exd5 Nfxd5 24.bxc3 bxc3 25.Ne4 Qg6 26.Qb3 c2 27.Nc5 Rxe5 28.Rxe5 Nf4 29.Rc1 Bc6 30.Qxb6 Nxg2 31.Qa6 Ra8 32.Qd3 Nh4 33.Re3 Qg5 34.Ne4 Nf3+ 35.Kg2 Qf4 36.d5 Ne5 37.Qxc2 Bxd5 38.Rd1 Nxg4 39.hxg4 Qxg4+ 40.Kf1 Ra2 41. Qd3 Qh4 42. Nf6+ gxf6 43. Rg3+ 1-0