Top 10 individual chess events of 2011
The past year pleased us with numerous chess events. But before we get to the human competitions, let’s discuss a computer chess topic: the Rybka engine, written by Vasik Rajlich, was disqualified by the International Computer Games Association for copyright infringement and stripped of all its previous titles in June. The author of the engine was obliged to return all trophies and cash prizes. There is a curious interview with the author on YouTube where he doesn’t deny using certain lines of code from other programs — perhaps all commercial engines, in some way, use algorithms invented by other developers. But let’s face the truth: Rybka was 150-200 Elo stronger than its competitors at the time of its appearance, and for us chess fans, that’s the more important fact.
Obviously the main event of 2012 is the upcoming match for the World Champion title. Boris Gelfand won the tournament in Kazan, Russia, beating Alexander Grischuk in the final and becoming the official candidate. Many other great grandmasters played there: Kramnik, Topalov, Aronian, Grischuk, Kamsky, Mamedyarov and Radjabov. A contract with Vishy Anand for the upcoming match in May 2012 was signed promptly afterward. Unlike in previous years, the prize fund was assembled quickly — it now stands at around $2.5 million (just a reminder, 20%, or $500,000, goes to FIDE as an organizational fee). Will the upcoming match attract great interest? Anand tried to hide his opening novelties all through the previous year and didn’t play at full strength. Gelfand scored just 5 out of 13 points at Wijk aan Zee 2012, finishing near the bottom, which suggests there won’t be much of a fight in the upcoming match given the difference in current form between the rivals.
Juri Drozdovskij vs Boris Gelfand, Pivdenny Bank Cup 2008
The traditional chess festival took place in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, from 14 to 30 January 2011. Results of tournament A: 1. H. Nakamura, 2. V. Anand, 3-4. L. Aronian, M. Carlsen. Nakamura deservedly took first place — as we know, Garry Kasparov helped Nakamura’s preparation over the past year.
The traditional double round-robin tournament of six grandmasters took place in Bazna, Romania, from 11 to 22 June. Final standings: 1-2. M. Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin; 3-4. H. Nakamura, T. Radjabov.
Another well-known traditional double round-robin tournament of six grandmasters took place in Dortmund, Germany, from 21 to 31 July. Final standings: 1. V. Kramnik, 2. L. Quang, 3-4. A. Giri, R. Ponomariov. This was the tenth victory for Vladimir Kramnik there — a phenomenal result.
A double round-robin tournament of six grandmasters took place in Biel, Switzerland, from 18 to 29 July. Final standings: 1. M. Carlsen, 2. A. Morozevich, 3-4. A. Shirov, M. Vachier-Lagrave. Alexander Morozevich again began showing excellent results after some time away from chess — a series of good performances returned him to the top ten.
The Russian Championship Super Final took place in Moscow, Russia, from 8 to 15 August. Final standings: 1. P. Svidler, 2. A. Morozevich, 3-5. S. Karjakin, V. Kramnik, A. Grischuk. Peter Svidler became a six-time champion of Russia.
The FIDE World Cup 2011 took place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, in September, with 128 participants competing in a knockout system. Final standings: 1. P. Svidler, 2. A. Grischuk, 3. V. Ivanchuk, 4. R. Ponomariov. The top three finishers became candidates for the World Champion title in the next round. The tournament is also remembered for the gentlemanly behavior of David Navara in a match against Alexander Moiseenko — in a clearly winning position, David offered a draw, which was accepted.
The final Grand Slam event took place in São Paulo and Bilbao, Spain, from 26 September to 11 October. Final standings: 1. M. Carlsen, 2. V. Ivanchuk, 3-5. V. Anand, L. Aronian, H. Nakamura. The relatively weak results of V. Ivanchuk can be explained by a stressful robbery incident near his hotel — before that he had been confidently in the lead.
The traditional Tal Memorial was held in Moscow from 16 to 25 November, with an average rating of 2776 — a record XXII category tournament. Final standings: 1. M. Carlsen, 2. L. Aronian, 3-5. S. Karjakin, J. Nepomniachtchi, V. Ivanchuk.
The third round-robin London Chess Classic took place in the English capital from 3 to 12 December. Final standings: 1. V. Kramnik, 2. H. Nakamura, 3. M. Carlsen, 4. L. McShane, 5-6. V. Anand, L. Aronian. Kramnik showed that it’s too early to write him off, confirming in a recent radio interview that he’s not planning to give up chess for the next 4-5 years.
Published on 1st of February 2012