Chessbase News, Germany
Aug 3 2005

“No scalp is too big” for Lobron’s belt

Chess Classic Mainz: Once again many world class players will play
the FiNet Chess960 and Ordix Open. Chess movies and children’s club.

By Hartmut Metz
(Translation Eric van Reem)

Once again, the Open tournaments during the Chess Classic Mainz (9-14
August) will be the strongest worldwide in their categories. The FiNet
Open in Chess960 (11-12 August) , in which the starting positions of
the pieces will be known only a few minutes before the start of the
game, is the only one of this sort worldwide on this level. One day
later the Ordix Open will start and once again many top players will
play their games in the Rheingoldhalle. The first 32 grandmasters
of the starting list have an average ELO of over 2600! Far more
than 100 FIDE title holders are expected to come to Mainz this
year. Almost all grandmasters who will play the traditional Ordix
Open will participate in the Chess960 Open tournament as well, with
a few exceptions: Ulf Andersson (Sweden) and the German grandmasters
Leonid Kritz and Raj Tischbierek. Two reasons can be found for the
fact that so many top players like to play both Open tournaments:
not only the price fund of 36.000 Euro, with many rating prices for
all classes, is very attractive, but Chess960 has been accepted by
most chess players nowadays.

Is there a player this year who can win both Open tournaments? The
winner would receive no less than 8000 Euro and has the opportunity
to challenge the winner of the Chess960 world championship match
between Zoltan Almasi and Peter Svidler next year. There is a
long list of favourites for both Opens. Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu,
the European Champion, thinks that the highest rated player Levon
Aronian has excellent chances to win one of the tourneys this year:
“He played very well in Warsaw during the European Championship and
I was very impressed about his play in the play-off.” The Armenian,
who is now living in the Eastern part of Germany, is climbing higher
and higher on the rating list and has even entered the top 10 of the
world! Aronian, who does not like to invest too much time in opening
preparation, might therefore have an advantage in the Chess960
tournament and maybe he can repeat his victory of 2003. Last year
he could not defend his title because he played his Chess960 world
championship match against Peter Svidler, which he lost after some
exciting games with the narrowest margin. Two more spectacular players
are expected to play an important role in Mainz: Alexander Morozevich
(Russia) and Alexei Shirov (Spain). Last year, the Russian star almost
won the Ordix Open, while Shirov battled it out in a match against
Indian superstar Vishy Anand.

Some more prominent starters are Alexei Dreev (19), who has played
many times in the Chess Classic tournaments, Ivan Sokolov (20), who
is now living in the Netherlands, Teimur Radjabov (22) and Nisipeanu
(24). The European Champ will probably make a giant leap forward in
the next rating list and Radjabov, the former prodigy from Azerbaijan
who became grandmaster at age 14, is still regarded as a player who
can be the number 1 of the world in the near future. In Warsaw, the
number one of the junior rating list showed his enormous abilities
and ended on second place behind Nisipeanu, but one place ahead of
Aronian. So, the three medal winners from the European Championship
will all be present in Mainz this year!

But there are some more grandmasters that are able to win one of
the Open tournaments. Michael Krasenkov from Poland, a former top 10
player, is always playing well in Mainz, or the rapid chess specialist
Vadim Zvjaginsev from Russia. Not to forget the next Indian star
Penteala Harikrishna or the strong Armenian grandmasters Gabriel
Sargissian and Rafal Vaganjan. Artur Yussupov has another favourite,
a man who has often played in the Rheingoldhalle: ” I think Vadim
Milov has good chances this year”, the always modest European
champion in rapid chess says. Yussupov himself hopes to score +4,
which means that he would score 7,5 points out of 11 rounds in both
Open tournaments. With that score of 15 points he would have a fair
chance to win the combined competition, which is his main goal this
year. Jussupov will also be one of the live commentators during
the evening matches between Vishy Anand and Alexander Grischuk and
also between Peter Svidler and Zoltan Almasi, together with GM Eric
Lobron. They will entertain the audience with their commentary:
Yussupov, the modest and experienced former candidate for the world
title and the optimistic German GM from Wiesbaden, who entertains
his listeners with his comments. Lobron will also play in the Open
tournaments: “There is no clear favourite in Mainz. In the past years
you could see that it is possible for almost everybody to play at
the top, particularly in rapid chess and Chess960. And I am looking
forward to shock some of the higher rated top players, like I often
did in the past: no scalp is too big for my belt”, the self confident
ELO shocker Lobron says. Another German player who will have a good
portion of self confidence must be Arkadi Naiditsch, who unexpectedly
won the renowned chess tournament in Dortmund in July. Of course, the
young German hope for the future will play both tournaments in Mainz.

In Chess960 the advantage for players who do a lot of homework on
openings is reduced to a minimum. “Therefore I think that this variant
has good chances to become a serious alternative in the long run”,
Lobron explains. Therefore, it is not really necessary to train
Chess960 before the tournament. However, Alexandra Kosteniuk has
trained Chess960 positions and is looking forward to play the FiNet
Open. She likes the chess variant and enjoys playing Chess960. And
the prospect, not only for women but also for players in different
age categories to play a Chess960 world championship match next year,
will motivate all players in Mainz. Hans-Walter Schmitt, the chief
organiser of the Chess Classic Mainz, plans more Chess960 world
championship matches next year, to boost Chess960 even further.

Kosteniuk will not be the only beautiful and talented female chess
player in Mainz. World champion Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria) ,
her Russian friend Natalia Zhukova, or the German number two, Ketino
Kachiani-Gersinska are also hot candidates. And let´s not forget
Viktorija Cmilyte (Latvia). Last year, the wife of Alexei Shirov
played two excellent tournaments in the Chess Classic. This year Maja
Chiburdanidze from Georgia, once the youngest world champion ever,
is expected to play an important role. She dominated women´s chess
in the eighties and early nineties.

The FiNet Chess960 Open and the Ordix Open are extremely attractive for
players and audience alike. However, in the evening, after the Opens,
more highlights are planned: the new number one of the rating list,
Vishy Anand faces his challenger Alexander Grischuk from Russia,
number 11 of the world. From August 11-14, every night at 18.30
and 20.00, they will play eight rapid chess games. The 21-year old
Russian earned this match for the Grenke Leasing Championship after
his impressive victories in the Ordix Open tournaments of 2003 and
2004, in which he did not lose a single game. Naturally, the players
involved do not really want to make a prognosis and therefore we have
to ask other players about their expectations. Peter Svidler thinks
that Anand is the clear favourite – “but I am convinced that the two
will play a highly interesting match”. European champion Nisipeanu
thinks that blitz games will bring the decision played after the 4-4
in the regular match. Yussupov expects Anand to win 5-3, and the other
commentator Eric Lobron thinks that Grischuk will have no chance at
all: he expects an clear 6-2 victory for the Indian star.

At the same time the FiNet Chess960 world championship match will
be played between Zoltan Almasi and Peter Svidler and the Russian
expects a tight match. “I have spoken to several players about
Almasi´s results in Chess960 last year and they were all impressed
by his play. Therefore I take my opponent seriously and expect a
difficult battle, in which it is impossible to say who has the best
chances. Some of his grandmaster colleagues think that Svidler has
good chances to defend his title: Lobron thinks that the 29 year old
Russian will win the match 5-3. Yussupov thinks that the from St.
Petersburg will win with a smaller margin: 4,5-3,5. However, Nisipeanu
thinks that the 28 year old Hungarian is able to win the match 4,5-3,5.

One of the highlights in Mainz this year is the Unzicker-Gala.
Schmitt wanted to organise a party for the 80-year old German
grandmaster from Munich and invited the illustrious guests Anatoly
Karpov, Viktor Korchnoi and Boris Spassky. The four legends will play
a double round robin on Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 and 10 August. Other
heroes of the past will also be present at that time to celebrate,
like Lajos Portisch, Wolfgang Uhlmann and Vlastimil Hort. Not to
forget Lothar Schmid, who is not only known as a strong grandmaster,
but came to fame as referee in various matches of Bobby Fischer, like
the world championship in 1972 against Boris Spassky. Only recently
Schmid was elected as the “chess referee of the century”!

There are some more events in Mainz that will attract chess players
and audiences alike: Alexander Grischuk will play a simultaneous
exhibition on 40 boards on 10 August at 15.30. It is still possible
to get one of the boards for at least 50 Euro on
World champion Antoaneta Stefanova will play blitz games and if you are
interested, you can also go to the website to get more information. One
of the most interesting computer chess events of the past 10 years
will be played on 11 and 12 August. The Livingston Chess 960 computer
chess world championship with the best computer chess program of the
world, Shredder by Stefan Meyer-Kahlen, will set new standards. The
organisers Mark Vogelgesang and the Dutch computer chess expert Eric
van Reem expect that about 20 programs from all over the world will
come to Mainz. The tournament is a breakthrough for computerized
Chess960. The renowned Professor Ingo Althofer from the University
of Jena will act as tournament director.

Not only the chess events are important in Mainz, the organisers have
also improved several service facilities for participants and audience
alike. During the tournaments, parents can bring their children to the
Chess Classic Children’s corner, in which trained experts will keep
the kids busy. For sponsors, the “Gourmet Club” is a nice opportunity
to follow the games in an exclusive atmosphere with business partners,
and if people just want to relax a bit between the rounds, they can
watch one of the chess movies or documentaries in the Chess Classic
Cinema. However, watching the games of the Chess Classic Mainz 2005
“live” is definitely most exciting!

–Boundary_(ID_q7i8ioRM5DngNwMLAOKrpA)–