Question and Answer at the Sigeman Chess

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  • Question and Answer at the Sigeman Chess

    Question and Answer at the Sigeman Chess

    May 3, 2017

    Pavel Eljanov, Nigel Short, Baadur Jobava, Nils Grandelius, Erik Blomqvist and Harika Dronavalli are the grandmasters that will fight for first prize in the new edition of the Sigeman Chess Tournament. As before, the 5-round tournament will be held at the Hipp Theater in central Malmo, Sweden 10-14th May.

    A small tournament at an out-of-the-way place but not without its charm.

    The participants answered a series of questions about where they live now, how they learned chess and what occupation they would have followed if they had not become chess professionals:

    http://tepesigemanchess.com/en/participants

    When you have Nigel Short answering then you get some very interesting replies. A few extracts from the bios:

    Baadur Jobava

    Lives:
    -Tbilisi, Georgia.

    How I learned to play chess:
    -My father taught me chess.

    If I hadn’t been a chess player I would be…
    -An ice hockey player. It’s still not too late!

    Nigel Short

    Lives:
    -Athens, Greece.

    How I learned to play chess:
    -My father taught me during a rainy weekend in England. You know, we have an expression in England: ”It always rains in Manchester”. We were nearby Manchester that weekend, so it´s almost true!

    If I hadn´t been a chess player I would be…
    -A lawyer, like my brother.

    My personal hero in the history of chess:
    -Almost too many to name. Of course I was influenced by Bobby Fischer in my childhood. I started to play chess during the ”Fischer boom.” But then he stopped playing. I never liked Bobby Fischer´s behaviour afterwards.
    I also like Karpov, and I remember his book of his collected games. I am also a big fan of Paul Morphy and Alekhine.

    Nimzowitsch is also a hero of mine, not because of his book ”My system” – it´s quite boring actually. But Raymond Keene introduced Nimzowitsch in an excellent book. Capablanca is another hero despite that he surprisingly lost his world champion title against Aljekhine. As they say: ”If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail”.

    What I think of playing in Malmö:
    -It´s good to be back. I have always liked the Sigeman Tournament. A friendly event with nice atmosphere.

    My best achievement in my chess career:
    -My highlight was beating Karpov in the candidate’s semifinals with 6 to 4 in 1992.
    And I claim that I have a world record – to be the only player to have won chess tournaments on six continents. Only Antarctica is left...

    Tell me about your experiences in the Sigeman Tournament?
    -It’s a small tournament with only six players and five rounds. It’s a sprint. You have to be on your toes right from the start. I tend to be sluggish in the start. The good thing is that I will play two tournaments before Malmö. I should be in good shape.

    During a lecture about your world championships match vs Garry Kasparov you told that it took nearly 20 years until you played through the games again. Is that really true?
    -Yes, that´s true.

    Why did it take so long?
    -I have negative associations with the match. It was a difficult one and an important moment in my chess career.

    How do you view your match against Kasparov today?
    -I failed to take a number of opportunities in the match. So be it. I did not disgrace myself, and I am proud that I reached the final. The amount of pressure and tension was much higher than something else. You have to experience it to know the feeling. I still regret my preparation for the match, I thought that my real problem was that Garry Kasparov´s openings were far better than my mine. I tried to neutralize that advantage, and did a good job. I should have paid more attention to the practical way to play the match, like pacing my moves and handling the pressure. I was too nervous and I got in time trouble.

    Did you relive your experiences when you followed the world championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergej Karjakin?
    -Yes, that match brought a lot back to me. I watched the encounter with big interest. Magnus was not on his best. It was interesting to see how things went in a strange way. Karjakin did nothing in the openings, Magnus neutralized them and dictated the things. But Magnus got frustrated and lost a reckless game. He pushed too far in positions where I would have been happy with a draw. Magnus won in the end, but my prediction before the match was that Karjakin had a 33 percent of a chance to win.

    Nowadays you still are a celebrity – also on twitter!
    -Yes, twitter is indeed quite interesting! I joined twitter not that long ago, say about four years ago. Twitter gives you a huge opportunity to speak out about chess. I have 22 800 followers, and I am in the news much more thanks to Twitter. Everything can happen on the Internet. During my stay in South Africa I decided to visit Victoria Falls. Oddly enough I was the only passenger on the plane and I asked the staff to take a picture of me in the empty plane. That picture went all around the world.

    You supported Kasparov in the FIDE president election in 2014. Kasparov lost badly. What have happened since then?
    -Well, I have quit all this and I am now happier as a human being. The less I invest my emotions regarding FIDE the better I feel!

    How many tweets do you write per week?
    I tweet very often! But not as work. I write tweets when I feel like it. Twitter is a good way to put chess news in the limelight. I am not impressed with chess journalists. They can do better! My latest tweet as we speak was about the 30 000 dollars the host of women´s world championship in Iran spent on the (mostly absent) Appeals Committee, which did nothing.

    Do you regret any tweet you have written?
    -No, not really. I do delete a few of my tweets, but that´s because of spelling mistakes.

    You have worked hard to change the world of chess. What does your Chess Utopia look like?
    -We are so far from Utopia, more than you ever can imagine. But one thing is crucial. You have to find large corporate sponsorships for events. I am in all in favour of Grand Chess Tour, but I don’t like their new rating system. A complete mistake.

    How much do you train and play chess nowadays?
    -I don’t train at all. I work on chess during tournaments, I have become lazy. When you only work during tournaments, then you need to play more!

    What is your main goal as a chess player – and a human being?
    -Chesswise: I want to win a tournament in Antarctica! I still like to win chess events. I get a thrill from that. I also enjoy beating today´s chess stars. When I beat Caruana I reminded people that I am not dead! And as a human being... Well, enjoying myself. The big point of being a chess player, is that you realize that life is pretty pointless. It doesn’t have a purpose.

    Nils Grandelius

    Lives (city):
    -Malmö, Sweden.

    How I learned to play chess:
    -My grandfather taught me at the age of six.

    You were part of team Carlsen during the New York world championship games. What did a normal day look like during these weeks?
    -Get up around 8-9 o’clock, analyze openings until the evening, then a couple of hours of free time, and then follow the games. Bed time somewhere after time trouble, and then same again, next day.

  • #2
    Re: Question and Answer at the Sigeman Chess

    Question and Answer at the Sigeman Chess

    May 10, 2017

    Schedule

    Round 1, May 10, 2017
    Jobava-Grandelius
    Short-Blomqvist
    Eljanov-Harika

    Round 2, May 11, 2017
    Grandelius-Harika
    Blomqvist-Eljanov
    Jobava-Short

    Round 3, May 12, 2017
    Short-Grandelius
    Eljanov-Jobava
    Harika-Blomvist

    Round 4, May 13, 2017
    Grandelius-Blomqvist
    Jobava-Harika
    Short-Eljanov

    Round 5, May 14, 2017
    Eljanov-Grandelius
    Harika-Short
    Blomqvist-Jobava

    Games start at 14:00 Malmo time which is 8:00 a.m. Toronto/Montreal time

    Short’s ELO is 2688. I suppose he would have to do well against Eljanov and Jobava to get above 2700 again.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Question and Answer at the Sigeman Chess

      Sigeman Chess

      May 11, 2017

      I am impressed by the number of tournaments that chess24 covers. It seems possible to follow a tournament somewhere, every day. The Sigeman is coming from Malmo and the commentator is Stellan Brynell. He is a Swedish grandmaster, born in 1962.

      The main interest was seeing if the 51-year-old Short would reach 2700. He needed a draw with Jobava but lost. His live rating right now is 2694.6

      Jobava had a good game and then faltered in time trouble and finally went on to win the game, Nigel allowing mate.

      TePe Sigeman Chess
      Malmo, Sweden
      Round 2, May. 11, 2017
      Jobava, Baadur – Short, Nigel
      A45 Trompovsky Attack

      1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.Nd2 h6 4.Bh4 c5 5.c3 cxd4 6.cxd4 Nc6 7.Ngf3 g5 8.Bg3 Nh5 9.e3 Nxg3 10.hxg3 Bg7 11.Bb5 O-O 12.Rc1 f5 13.Bxc6 bxc6 14.O-O Bb7 15.Re1 d6 16.Qb3 Qd7 17.Qa4 Rf7 18.b4 g4 19.Nh4 Bf6 20.Qb3 Kh7 21.Nc4 Raf8 22.Na5 Ba8 23.Qd3 Rg7 24.e4 Bg5 25.Rc2 c5 26.exf5 exf5 27.bxc5 Bxh4 28.gxh4 Qd8 29.Nb3 Be4 30.Rxe4 fxe4 31.Qxe4+ Kh8 32.g3 Re8 33.Qf4 dxc5 34.Rxc5 Qb6 35.Rf5 Kg8 36.d5 Qb5 37.Kg2 Kh7 38.Nd4 Qc4 39.Ne6 Qxf4 40.Rxf4 Rgg8 41.Rf7+ Kg6 42.Rxa7 Ra8 43.Rc7 Rxa2 44.Nf4+ Kf5 45.Rf7+ Ke5 46.Re7+ Kf5 47.Re6 Rd2 48.Rxh6 Ra8 49.Nh5 Ra1 50.Rf6+ Ke5 51.Re6+ Kxd5 52.Rg6 Rdd1 53.Nf6+ Ke6 54.Nxg4+ Kf7 55.Ne5+ Ke7 56.Kh3 Ra2 57.f4 Ra3 58.h5 Rh1+ 59.Kg4 Rg1 60.Nf3 Rd1 61.Nh4 Kf7 62.Nf5 Rdd3 63.Kh4 Rf3 64.Nd6+ Kf8 65.f5 Rad3 66.g4 Rh3+ 67.Kg5 Rd4 68.Re6 Rg3 69.Kf6 Rxd6 70.Rxd6 Rxg4 71.Rd8# 1-0

      Standing after Round Two

      1 Jobava 1.5
      2-5 Short, Gradelius, Blomqvist, Harika 1.0
      6 Eljanov 0.5
      Last edited by Wayne Komer; Thursday, 11th May, 2017, 07:24 PM.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Question and Answer at the Sigeman Chess

        Sigeman Chess

        May 12, 2017

        Round Three

        Nigel draws with Grandelius. His live rating goes to 2694.3

        But is it a drawn position? It looks like Grandelius had a winning line at the end.

        Sigeman Chess 2017
        Malmo, Sweden
        Round 3, May 12, 2017
        Short, Nigel – Grandelius, Nils
        C89 Ruy Lopez, Marshall, main line

        1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d4 Bd6 13. Re1 Qh4 14. g3 Qh3 15. Re4 g5 16. Qf1 Qh5 17. Nd2 Bf5 18. f3 Rae8 19. Qf2 Nf6 20. Rxe8 Rxe8 21. Nf1 g4 22. Bd1 gxf3 23. Bxf3 Ng4 24. Bd2 Be4 25. Bxg4 Qxg4 26. Re1 Re6 27. Bf4 Bf8 28. b3 Qg6 29. Ne3 Bg7 30. Qd2 Qh5 31. Rf1 Bg6 32. h4 Be4 33. Qd1 Qxd1 34. Rxd1 Re8 35. Kf2 h5 36. c4 bxc4 37. bxc4 Bf8 38. g4 Be7 39. gxh5 Bxh4+ 40. Ke2 Bf6 41. d5 cxd5 42. cxd5 Bf5 43. Kf3 Be4+ 44. Kg3 Kh7 45. d6 Rg8+ 46. Kf2 Bh4+ 47. Ke2 Bc6 48. Rc1 Bd7 49. Kf3 Rb8 50. Ng4 Be6 51. Ne5 Bf6 52. Rc7 Bxe5 53. Bxe5 Rb5 54. Kf4 Rd5 55. Ra7 Kh6 56. Rxa6 Kxh5 57. a4 Rd1 58. a5 Rf1+ 59. Kg3 Kg5 60. Rc6 Kf5 61. Rc5 Ke4 62. Bc3 Rd1 63. Re5+ Kd3 64. Bb4 Kc4 65. Re4+ Kb5 66. Kf2 Rd3 67. Ke2 Rd5 68. Rh4 Bd7 69. Ke3 Be6 70. Ke4 ½-½

        (70... Kxb4 71. a6 Ra5 72. Rh8 Kc5 73. Rd8 Kc6 74. Kf4 f5 75. Kg5 Bd7 76. Ra8 Kxd6 77. a7 Ra4 78. Kg6 Kc5 79. Kg5 Kc6 80. Kf6 Ra5)

        But see note from Sam Sharpe below!
        Last edited by Wayne Komer; Friday, 12th May, 2017, 04:47 PM.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Question and Answer at the Sigeman Chess

          I think Ke4 wasn't played but was part of moving the Ks to the center squares to signify a draw.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Question and Answer at the Sigeman Chess

            Sigeman Chess

            May 15, 2017

            Final Results

            1. Jobava 3.0
            2. Grandelius 3.0
            3. Blomqvist 2.5
            4. Eljanov 2.5
            5. Short 2.0
            6. Harika 2.0

            Final Live Rating for Nigel Short 2688.1

            A telling tweet from Nigel:

            Such a patzer! After 6 hours of play, I missed a force mate in 16 against GM Grandelius.

            Jobava and Gradelius shared first place in the final result.

            After his game against Blomqvist, everyone wondered if Short would be the first player over 50 to break 2700. That talk was short-lived, as he would score only two more draws in the remainder of the tournament. He tied for last place with Harika, the only player who did not score a win in Malmo.

            Peter Doggers at

            https://www.chess.com/news/view/gran...ournament-9777

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