Men's Bundesliga

     I am very fond of "Bundesliga". As you probably already know, I play in the German Women's Club Chess Championship and I enjoy the atmosphere and the process itself. This event has a counterpart in the men's section. I think that the German Men's "Bundesliga" is one of the strongest National Club Chess Championships in the World. This implies many interesting matches and games to follow.
     The Baden-Baden club is leading so far. They won all the matches, as you can see below:

	Mannschaft	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16		Sp	MP	BP
1.	OSG Baden Baden	+				4½			6	6½	5½		5½	0	0		7½		8	12	35½
2.	SG Solingen		+	5½	4½							4	0	5½	6	4½	0		8	11	30
3.	SV Wiesbaden		2½	+		0	4½		5	5	0			6½	6½				8	10	30
4.	SC Eppingen		3½		+	4½	5½		0	0	3½			5	7½				8	8	29½
5.	SV Mülheim Nord	3½		0	3½	+		6				5½	5			0	5½		8	8	29
6.	SV Wattenscheid			3½	2½		+					6	0	5	6	4½	0		8	8	27½
7.	SG Trier					2		+	4½	3	4½		4	0	0		4½		8	7	22½
8.	SK Turm Emsdetten	2		3	0			3½	+			0	5			6½	7½		8	6	27½
9.	Werder Bremen	1½		3	0			5		+		0	2½			5½	7		8	6	24½
10.	SF Katernberg	2½		0	4½			3½			+	4	4			0	5½		8	6	24
11.	SV Hockenheim		4			2½	2		0	0	4	+		4½	7				8	6	24
12.	Hamburger SK	2½	0			3	0	4	3	5½	4		+						8	4	22
13.	Schachfreunde Berlin	0	2½	1½	3		3	0				3½		+		6½			8	2	20
14.	SC Forchheim	0	2	1½	½		2	0				1			+	5½			8	2	12½
15.	SV Griesheim		3½			0	3½		1½	2½	0			1½	2½	+			8	0	15
16.	SK Norderstedt	½	0			2½	0	3½	½	1	2½						+		8	0	10½

     It's no wonder, as they have such outstanding players in the team like:

     This weekend's matches aren't any less interesting, as we can see such encounters as:

There are many other interesting games that you can follow on:  http://bundesliga.liveschach.net/

Mysterious rook moves

     Wijk is such an interesting chess festival! There are too many games worth being followed. The game Giri-Caruana has caught my eye today. I think it deserves to be the game of the day! Here you can see it:


     The sacrifice of the 2 pawns followed by two amazing rook maneuvers were a masterpiece!

Anish Giri

     Ten rounds have been played by now, and Magnus Carlsen is the clear lider, having 8p. Here you can see the standings.

		Score	Rating	TPR	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
1	Carlsen, M.	8.5 / 11	2861	2929		½	½		1	½	1		1	½	½	1	1	1
2	Anand, V.	6.5 / 10	2772	2860	½		1	½	½	½	½	½	1		1			½
3	Aronian, L.	6.5 / 10	2802	2827	½	0			½	1	½		½	1		1	½	1
4	Nakamura, H.	6.5 / 10	2769	2822		½			½	½		½	½	1	1	1	½	½
5	Karjakin, S.	5.5 / 10	2780	2775	0	½	½	½			½	½		1	½	1	½
6	Leko, P.	5.5 / 10	2735	2782	½	½	0	½			½	½		½	1		½	1
7	Harikrishna, P.	5.0 / 10	2698	2741	0	½	½		½	½		1	1		½	0		½
8	Giri, A.	5.0 / 11	2726	2679		½		½	½	½	0		½	½	1	0	½	½
9	van Wely, L.	5.0 / 10	2679	2728	0	0	½	½			0	½		1		½	1	1
10	Wang, H.	4.5 / 11	2752	2665	½		0	0	0	½		½	0		½	1	1	½
11	Caruana, F.	4.5 / 11	2781	2661	½	0		0	½	0	½	0		½		½	1	1
12	Hou, Y.	3.5 / 10	2603	2638	0		0	0	0		1	1	½	0	½		½
13	L'Ami, E.	3.0 / 10	2627	2600	0		½	½	½	½		½	0	0	0	½
14	Sokolov, I.	2.5 / 10	2667	2565	0	½	0	½		0	½	½	0	½	0

Magnus Carlsen- World's Nr.1

     Magnus has had an amazing tournament so far and he's gaining 10 Elo points. I think he might get to 2900 by the end of the year.

     There are 2 more rounds to go, but I don't think that anyone will be able to challenge Carlsen for the 1st place.

Hoogeven wins World Cities Team Championship in Al Ain

From left to right- Ivan Sokolov, Anish Giri, Sergey Tiviakov and Jan Smeets

     The Dutch team composed of  Anish Giri, Ivan Sokolov, Sergey Tiviakov and Jan Smeets won the World Cities Team Championship winning match by match, eliminating in their way: Russia, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan in the final match with a 2,5-1,5 score and winning a 21,000$ prize.
     The decisive point was brought by Sergey Tiviakov who won his game against Nidjat Mamedov yesterday.
      As about the Romanians, unfortunately, they were less successful, not managing to pass their group (Kazahstan, Azerbaijan and Turkey).

The Romania-Azerbaijan match

     They had good chanches along the matches, but there was no luck at all on their side...
     There was an interesting event held in the same time in Al Ain- an open where the players from the knocked-out teams could play, starting with the number of points they got in the team championship by the time they were eliminated. The winner was Edouard Romain (2686), from France, who scored 7p out of 9. The only Romanian player to participate- Parligras Mircea- finished on the 7th place, with a 6,5p score.