News from Chess Vibes

© 2013, José Diaz

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Grandmaster, arbiter of several World Championship matches and world renowned chess collector Lothar Schmid passed away on Saturday at the age of 85. Schmid died in his home town Bamberg "of age-related illness", reports Chessbase.

Every week we present you an endgame study selected by IM Yochanan Afek: player, trainer, endgame study composer and writer. A week later the solution is published. Good luck solving!

--> IM Yochanan Afek's Official Website

A. Sochnev 2012

Sergey Karjakin won the Norway Chess tournament on Saturday. The Russian grandmaster was the only player to finish on 6/9 after a draw with Veselin Topalov in the final round. Magnus Carlsen drew his black game with Levon Aronian quickly to end on shared second place with Hikaru Nakamura, who beat Jon Ludvig Hammer. Just like in Wijk aan Zee this year, Wang Hao defeated Vishy Anand in the last round.

The top 3 at the prize giving: Karjakin, Carlsen and Nakamura

In a dramatic penultimate round Sergey Karjakin kept his half point lead despite losing his game to Peter Svidler because Magnus Carlsen also lost, to Wang Hao. There were two more decisive games: Vishy Anand defeated Jon Ludvig Hammer and Hikaru Nakamura beat Teimour Radjabov.

New: The Scandinavian, Move by Move.

With the first open Icelandic Championship two weeks away, registered players have already reached fifty. This is the first time in the 100 years history of the tournament that it's open to foreign players. The Championship, which starts on the 31st of May, already features GMs Hannes Stefansson and Stefan Kristjansson along with IM's Gudmundur Kjartansson, Bjorn Thorfinnsson, Saevar Bjarnason and Norway's Nicolay Getz. WGM women's favourite Lenka Ptacnikova is also in the field.

Despite a loss in the final round to Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alexander Moiseenko won the European Championship in Legnica, Poland. The Ukrainian grandmaster was leading for most of the tournament and eventually scored 8/11, edging out nine other grandmasters on tiebreak. Among them was 59-year-old chess legend Alexander Beliavsky, who thus qualified for the World Cup in Tromsø together with 22 other players.

Sergey Karjakin kept his half point lead at the Norway Chess tournament on Wednesday. The tournament leader defeated Hikarua Nakamura and his main rival Magnus Carlsen also won, against Jon Ludvig Hammer. Teimour Radjabov again wasn't a shadow of the player he used to be and lost without a real fight to Vishy Anand. Thursday is a rest day.

Flor & Fjære | All photos courtesy of Norway Chess

Bela Khotenashvili scored an upset victory at the FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Geneva. In what was the tournament of her life (at least until now!) the International Master from Georgia finished clear first, with 8.0/11, a 2681 performance and her final GM norm. Half a point behind came Anna Muzychuk (Slovenia), while Tatiana Kosintseva (Russia) and Nana Dzagnidze (also Georgia) tied for third place.