Lim Chong has passed away

I just got a call from Hamid informing that Lim Chong has passed away, apparently on a flight back from London. This is very shocking news as he is only in his fifties and looked well when I last met him at this year's DATMO.

We have all lost another friend of chess.

R.I.P. my friend.

Aronian takes World Blitz

Levon Aronian won the 2010 World Blitz Championship, a twenty player double-round robin tournament. He finished just half a point ahead of Teimour Radjabov. Magnus Carlsen was third and trailed Radjabov by just half a point.

No.	Title	Name	Fed.	FIDE	Total
1	GM	Aronian, Levon	ARM	2801	24.5
2	GM	Radjabov, Teimour	AZE	2744	24
3	GM	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2802	23.5
4	GM	Gelfand, Boris	ISR	2741	21.5
5	GM	Nakamura, Hikaru	USA	2741	21.5
6	GM	Karjakin, Sergey	RUS	2760	20.5
7	GM	Kramnik, Vladimir	RUS	2791	20.5
8	GM	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	2763	19.5
9	GM	Svidler, Peter	RUS	2722	19.5
10	GM	Eljanov, Pavel	UKR	2742	19
11	GM	Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	2771	19
12	GM	Mamedov, Rauf	AZE	2660	18
13	GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	RUS	2720	18
14	GM	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	FRA	2703	18
15	GM	Movsesian, Sergei	SVK	2721	17.5
16	GM	Andreikin, Dmitry	RUS	2683	17.5
17	GM	Grachev, Boris	RUS	2654	16.5
18	GM	Savchenko, Boris	RUS	2632	15.6
19	GM	Caruana, Fabiano	ITA	2709	13.5
20	GM	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	2744	12.5

Although the first three positions were very close, I felt Aronian is a worthy winner. His game were generally solid and in blitz where everybody blunders he just did less of that.

Radjabov's second placing came with a seven games win out of the last eight games. Kramnik lost his last two games to stay out of contention for the top placings.

Chess playing robot

Not a robot as we usually think of it. But a robot arm that can move the pieces and even press the clock. It is probably linked to a chess playing software , the mechanical arm is really just programmed to do just that - mechanical action. There is no real intelligence there. My guess is that there is a software that interprets the input from the chess program and sends the appropriate signal to the robotic arm.

Actually this is nothing new, robotic mechanisms like this can be found in any modern factory. The novelty is in introducing it into the chess setting. For some reason I found the movements very amusing especially when the robot presses the clock!

Notice in the video how Kramnik tries to fool the program. He moves his a7 pawn in between a7 and a6. Maybe it is pawn to a6.5. That really froze the program :)

I can imagine the robot reprimanding its opponent somewhere in its circuitry :)

At another point, Kramnik extends his hand and offers a draw only to quickly retract - his hand that is. You do not want to get in the way when that giant arm swings into action.

Watch the video here Kramnik versus robot arm

And if that is not enough to give you the shivers, here is the robot giving a simultaneous display robotic simul

2010 World Blitz Championship

The 2010 World Blitz Championship is now on-going in Moscow. Twenty of the best players in the world have been invited to this annual event. I think the only top players missing are Anand and Ivancuk.

The event will be held over three days from 16th-18th November 2010. This is a double round robin event meaning a mammoth 38 rounds. Yesterday fourteen rounds were played. Another fourteen today and the rest on Thursday 18th November.

Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian are leading after 14 rounds. Standings after 14 rounds:

No.	Title	Name	Fed.	FIDE	Total
1	GM	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2802	10
2	GM	Aronian, Levon	ARM	2801	10
3	GM	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	2763	9.5
4	GM	Kramnik, Vladimir	RUS	2791	8.5
5	GM	Svidler, Peter	RUS	2722	8.5
6	GM	Gelfand, Boris	ISR	2741	8
7	GM	Eljanov, Pavel	UKR	2742	7.5
8	GM	Karjakin, Sergey	RUS	2760	7.5
9	GM	Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	2771	7.5
10	GM	Nakamura, Hikaru	USA	2741	7.5
11	GM	Radjabov, Teimour	AZE	2744	7
12	GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	RUS	2720	6.5
13	GM	Caruana, Fabiano	ITA	2709	6.5
14	GM	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	2744	6.5
15	GM	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	FRA	2703	6
16	GM	Grachev, Boris	RUS	2654	5.5
17	GM	Movsesian, Sergei	SVK	2721	5
18	GM	Andreikin, Dmitry	RUS	2683	5
19	GM	Savchenko, Boris	RUS	2632	4.5
20	GM	Mamedov, Rauf	AZE	2660	3

The time control is three minutes and two seconds increment for every move. You might think it is hard to blunder with such increments but it happens to even the best of them.

Vachier Lagrave - Magnus Carlsen, After 67.Rc8

 Carlsen has an extra pawn though he is about to lose his c3 pawn in exchange for white's h6 pawn. The game should be drawn as Black cannot queen his last pawn in this ending as White will simply sacrifice his knight for the pawn at the right moment leading to a drawn RvR+N ending.

But something possessed Carlsen and he proceeded to lose with 67...Ne4?? allowing white to push his h-pawn. 68. h7 c2 69.Rxc2 Rxc2 70. h8=Q Rc6 71. Qe5+ Kd8 72. Ne6+ Kd7 73. Nd4 Rc5 74. Qe6+ Kc7 75.
Nxf5 1-0

Against Boris Gelfand, Carlsen in a winning position surprisingly lost on time. Despite these two setbacks, he won nine and drew two games to finish at the top.

The surprise is Hikaru Nakamura who is generally acknowledged as one of the best blitz player alive today. He lost six games to position on tenth.


Here is a selection of games: