Eric Hansen at Qatar tournament

[Jack Maguire]

Re: Eric Hansen at Qatar tournament

Add the 2 Wangs (Yue and Hao) and that's quite the quintet of vicenarians (:

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Eric Hansen at Qatar tournament

Qatar Masters Open 2014

Final Round

December 4, 2014

Sensation! Yu Yangi beats Kramnik and wins the tournament ahead of Giri and him.

Danny King brings an interpreter to interview him since Yu Yangi has virtually no English. The interpreter is the father of a Chinese American playing in the tournament.

King – There was a great team spirit with the Chinese team in the Olympiad, did you all work together?

YY – We are all members of a chess academy in China and we all study together. For the most part we study on our own first and then discuss games among ourselves.

King – Are you a professional chess player?

YY – I am a professional but at the same time a college student, physical education student at Beijing University. I am studying sports economics.

King – There is a women’s world champion, why not a men’s too with the fantastic achievements of the Chinese this year?

YY – There is still a distance between the Chinese and the World elite. I am not thinking about the World Chess Championship now. My next games are in the Chinese League and then Gibraltar and also a tournament in the Netherlands.

- Yu beats Kramnik to win Qatar. Kramnik seemed to be outcalculated after 19...f5?!, leaving pawns weak after 21 Qc3!; didn't get comp

- Disappointed with Kramnik losing, but GM Danny King having a conversation with someone with no English is cheering me up

Qatar Masters Open 2014
Round 9
December 4, 2014
Yu, Yangyi – Kramnik, Vladimir
C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 Be6 7. O-O Nd7 8. Nb3 Bb6 9. Ng5 Bxb3 10. axb3 f6 11. Nf3 Nf8 12. Nd2 Ne6 13. Qh5+ g6 14. Qd1 Bc5 15. Nc4 b5 16. Na5 Qd7 17. Be3 Bb6 18. b4 O-O 19. Qd2 f5 20. exf5 gxf5 21. Qc3 f4 22. Bxb6 cxb6 23. Nxc6 Qd6 24. Rxa7 Rxa7 25. Nxa7 f3 26. Qc6 Qe7 27. Nxb5 Kh8 28. g3 Qf7 29. Ra1 Ng5 30. Ra8 Qe7 31. h4 Nh3+ 32. Kf1 e4 33. Qxe4 1-0

Round 9
December 4, 2014
Akopian, Vladimir – Giri, Anish
Sicilian, Taimanov Variation

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Qd2 Nf6 8. O-O-O Bb4 9. f3 Ne5 10. Nb3 b5 11. Kb1 Be7 12. Qf2 Bb7 13. Bb6 Qb8 14. Bd4 d6 15. g4 b4 16. Na4 Nxf3 17. Qxf3 Bxe4 18. Qh3 Bxh1 19. g5 Ne4 20. g6 f6 21. Qxe6 Ng5 22. Qe3 hxg6 23. Nb6 Ra7 24. Bd3 Rxh2 25. Bxg6+ Kf8 26. Nc5 Bc6 27. Ne6+ Nxe6 28. Qxe6 Be8 29. Bd3 Rc7 30. Re1 Qd8 31. Nd5 Bf7 32. Qe4 Rd7 33. Nf4 d5 34. Ng6+ Bxg6 35. Qxg6 Rh6 36. Qg2 Bd6 37. Rg1 Rh4 38. Qxd5 Be7 39. Qg2 Rdxd4 40. Qxg7+ Ke8 41. Qg6+ Kd7 42. Qf5+ Kc7 43. Qa5+ Kb8 44. Qxa6 Rd6 45. Qa4 Qb6 46. Re1 Rg4 47. b3 Rg1 48. Bf1 Rd8 49. a3 Bf8 50. Ka2 Qc5 51. axb4 Qxb4 52. Qa6 Rg5 53. Kb2 Ra5 0-1

Final Standing

Yu Yangyi 7.5
Giri 7
Kramnik 7
Sjugirov 6.5
Durarbayli 6.5
Efimenko 6.5
Perunovic 6
Shankland 6
Tomashesky 6
Vachier-Lagrave 6
Moiseenko 6

Baadur Jobava got 6 and is listed 22 on the final results table. Eric Hansen scored 4.5 and is listed as 75th

[Jack Maguire]

Re: Eric Hansen at Qatar tournament

One has to feel a little sorry for German IM Markus Lammers and his dismal 0.5/9 performance in Qatar. Nothing close to a record bad performance though. That 'honour' goes to Colonel Moreau who went a 'perfect' 0/26 at the 1903 Monte Carlo Chess Tournament ):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles...arcisse_Moreau

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: Re : Re: Eric Hansen at Qatar tournament

Late in his career, German GM Fritz Saemisch (1896-1975) had a 0-15 result.

Buesum Buesum GER  1969

                           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 
1   Larsen,Bent            * 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1  11.0/15
2   Polugaevsky,Lev        0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1  10.5/15
3   Gerusel,Mathias        0 ½ * 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 0 1 1   9.5/15
4   Gligoric,Svetozar      ½ ½ 1 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 1   9.0/15
5   Ivkov,Borislav         ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1   8.5/15  58.75
6   Zaitsev,Alexander      ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1   8.5/15  58.25
7   Bobotsov,Milko         0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1   8.0/15
8   Mohrlok,Dieter         1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ * 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1   7.5/15  53.75
9   Hecht,Hans Joachim     ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 * ½ ½ 0 0 1 ½ 1   7.5/15  50.50
10  Szily,Jozsef           ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ * ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1   7.5/15  49.50
11  Bilek,Istvan           0 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 1   7.5/15  47.50
12  Huebner,Robert         0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ * ½ 1 ½ 1   7.5/15  47.00
13  Ghitescu,Theodor       ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1   7.0/15
14  Szabo,Laszlo           0 0 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1   6.0/15
15  Kestler,Hans Guenther  0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * 1   4.5/15
16  Saemisch,Fritz         0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 *   0.0/15

[Jack Maguire]

Re: Re : Re: Eric Hansen at Qatar tournament

That same year, 1969, Friedrich (Fritz) Saemisch had another 0/13, Hugh. Apparently, all 28 losses were on time!

Lost all games on time

At the Büsum 1969 tournament, Friedrich Sämisch lost all 15 games by exceeding the time control.[75] He lost all 13 of his games at the Linköping 1969 tournament the same way.[76]

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Eric Hansen at Qatar tournament

That 'honour' goes to Colonel Moreau who went a 'perfect' 0/26 at the 1903 Monte Carlo Chess Tournament ):

There you go. A player whose play neither helped nor hurt any of his opponents.

Let me guess. He probably played the French Winawer defense.

[Jack Maguire]

Re: Eric Hansen at Qatar tournament

Let me guess. He probably played the French Winawer defense.

It doesn't appear so, Gary (:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=31849

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Eric Hansen at Qatar tournament

It doesn't appear so, Gary (:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=31849

I notice he played the Sicilian Taimanov in 1903. Taimanov was born around the middle 1920's so I admire how they knew to call the variation by that name.

Taimanov is the unfortunate player who was paired with Fischer in a Candidates match and knows the feeling of losing in straight games.

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: Re : Re: Eric Hansen at Qatar tournament

I looked at some of the Saemisch games from his 0-15 event, and was wondering many ended in fairly even positions after 20-30 moves. Now I know the rest of the story.

[Louis Morin]

Re : Re: Re : Re: Eric Hansen at Qatar tournament

At the Büsum 1969 tournament, Friedrich Sämisch lost all 15 games by exceeding the time control.[75] He lost all 13 of his games at the Linköping 1969 tournament the same way.[76]

Although Samisch had problems with time pressure all throughout his career, it became a lot worse for him in 1969 when he was 73. He could still play chess and got several promising positions, but in some games did not make the first time control and consequently lost on time. In other games, he made the first time control and his games were adjourned, but somehow he managed to lose on time at second or even third time control (after the game was adjourned twice).

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Eric Hansen at Qatar tournament

Qatar Masters Open 2014 Summary

Chess-news.ru summarizes the tournament, gives notes to the final game Yu Yangyi-Kramnik and all the games of the winner:

http://chess-news.ru/en/node/17538

The tournament could be divided into three parts: first of all, there was the outstanding series of wins by Giri; then Vladimir Kramnik stopped him, and attracted everybody's attention, winning six games in a row in turn. At that point, no one seemed to be able to stop the former World Champion who was going at full speed. However, the end was quite surprising: Chinese GM Yu Yangyi, who had appeared at the top as if out of nowhere, defeated Giri, then Kramnik, and took the clear first place.

Almost immediately after his triumph, Yu Yangyi joined the official commentators Daniel King and Simon Williams. Very soon it appeared that his English isn't too fluent yet. Among a few things he was able to say in English, the spectators could understand that he hadn't considered his chances for the 1st place too high before the game, that he liked his encounter vs Kramnik more than his other games in Qatar, and that the alternative to 8...Bb6 is 8...Be7 which doesn't allow 9.Ng5 but allows 9.Na5!?

In general, putting aside the magic of big names, Yu Yangyi's success is hardly a big sensation. He had already achieved an outstanding success in the Tromso Olympiad earlier this year, winning the 3rd board with 9.5/11 and showing the Elo performance of 2912. It's many thanks to his brilliant play that China won that Olympiad.

Anish Giri has managed to finish on a major note, beating Vladimir Akopian with Black in the long chaotic battle. This has brought him the tie for the 2nd place with Vladimir Kramnik. It's worth mentioning that Giri hasn't drawn a single game, having the revenge for his previous tournament (Tashkent Grand Prix stage) where he had drawn 10 (!) games and lost the remaining one.