Never a Dull Moment in Chess

Men playing chess in Baku castle.
In Memory of Heydar Aliyev


The name of Baku means "city of winds". The coat of arms of Baku is formed of three torches against the sea waves. Long since Azerbaijan is called "Land of fire" and Baku with its burning springs is a sort of Azerbaijan symbol.
Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan. Modern borders of Baku embrace the main part of Absheron Peninsula. Baku is washed by the Caspian Sea in the East. The city includes health resort areas of Absheron Peninsula, which are well-known far beyond the Republics borders. The territory of Baku is about 2200 square kilometers. The population is 2074, 3 thousands people.
Baku is oil and industry center. In the 30's of the 18th century, the first experiences in oil refining took place in Baku and the first oil was drilled on the Bibi-Eibat fields in 1848. In the beginning of the 20th century Baku produced more than half the world's oil.

The Third President's Cup is took place from May 11th to 21st 2008 in Baku, Azerbaijan. GM Evgeniy Najer wins President's Cup in Baku. There were 180 participants in the Open Tournament, and the prize fund is US $85,000. There was also a Children's U-14 and a Seniors Tournament, it was a great event.
More News from ChessBase
President's Cup 2008 in Baku

All Games in zipped PGN

Invinciple Ivanchuk Wins M-tel

Congratulations to Vasilly Invanchuk for winning the M-tel Grand Prix in Sophia, Bulgaria. My gift to you is a poster dedicated to this special event. GM Ivanchuk has created history and probably will not be stopped in this tournament! We have a very special guest Boris Spassky giving commentary in English! GM T. Radjabov Vs GM Ivanchuk have just finished their game by creating a draw!

Watch GM Vasilly Ivanchuks Stunning final Game of the Day

Watch Game of Yesterday
Watch Game of the Day
Watch other Game Videos of the Day
A Cage of Glass
I know it is only 1/2 a point between GM Veselin Topalov from Bulgaria and Vaselly Ivanchuk, I too am on the edge of my seat looking at the LIVE games at about 9:30 PM here in Australia. fascinating chess, I just love it. Topalov played a game worthy of note against his number two also from Bulgaria. Cheparinov has just come from Baku and ought to be in top form. Alas he was outplayed by the number one in an extraordinary game that must have been well thought over the night before!

I will change the poster and place the winner in the appropriate place if GM Veselin Topalov should win this event! It was a straight forward game by Ivanchuck playing Wu from China who i must say has picked up his game and created a draw leaving Ivanchuk with only 1/2 a point lead! I am looking forward to tonight as I am sure you all are too.
One day to go, and it was two draws and one win The game of the Day. Bu Xiangzhi from China Vs Veselin Topalov from Bulgaria. Bu played QGA and what a game, brilliant in fact, he outplayed Topalv in mighty fashion.

Live games
Host Site

GM Vassily Ivanchuk Leads the Pack!

So far so good for "Big Chucky"

The players say he lives on 'Planet Ivanchuk', One never knows which mood he is going to be in! Some days he will treat you like his long-lost brother. The next day he ignores you completely. I the webmaster personally like his style of chess very much.

I want to include here what I saw in the Ivanchuk vs Bu Xiangzhi's game playing right this minute and I wonder if it went through Ivanchucks thinking, because it could have had tremendous possibilities for winning the game! Let me know what you think! Ok 12.Qc5+ Qd6 13.d4!!


Peak rating 2787 (October 2007) Ivanchuk has been known to one day be the next world Champion, right now he is number 10 in the world! As of November 2007 he was the World Blitz Chess champion.

Notable Game
Vassily Ivanchuk vs Garry Kasparov
Linares 1991 - Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack (B51) · 1-0 A really beautiful game!
Download pgn
View game

Ivanchuk- Bu Xiangzhi
Game of the Day - English

Watch Game of the Day

Watch other Game Videos of the Day
A Cage of Glass

M-tel Masters 2008 8th - 18th May 2008

Central Military Club, Sophia, one of the oldest cities in Europe.

The six-player field includes the Bulgarian duo of Veselin Topalov Bulgaria. ELO 2780 and Ivan Cheparinov, ELO 2713 Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), ELO 2735 Levon Aronian (Armenia), ELO 2739 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) 2751 and Xiangzhi Bu (China) 2691
Both Ivan Cheparinov and Teimour Radjabov have just finished the Fide Grand Prix in Baku, will they play any better here than they did at Baku? Lets wait and see! Also will Xiangzhi Bu play just as good as Yue Wang did at the Fide Grand Prix?
We are about to start and GM Veselin Topalov will be giving ONE blindfold exhibition before the games start and his opponent is not even a strong chess player! Remember the days of the late Pillsbury when he took on 20 or so players blindfold and won the majority of them! Those were the days without computer assistance!

This year the web site of the tournament will again offer the game Play Like Topalov which is already popular among the fans. Traditionally last year’s winner in the game, this time Jason Juett from USA will have the chance to play a game against the 19th World Champion Veselin Topalov. This will happen on 6 May, a day before the official opening of M-Tel Masters in the Military Club in Sofia. Bulgaria’s best GM will play blindfold. With all expenses paid, it's not a bad idea after all because anyone in the world can sign up free and play the next move you think Topalov will make against against his opponants and maybe play him next year!
Past Bulgarian Chess Champions

Live games
Host Site

Today 7th May the blindfold game between Jason Juett was a surprise to the chess fans of Veselin Topalov when he announced a draw! sorry but I am a huge fan of Pillsbury when it comes to blindfold! jason was of course nervous and will stay for the fist round of the games and then make his way back home to the USA triuphant!

Round 1 - 08.05.2008
15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC)

Aronian, Levon Vs Topalov, Veselin 0-1

Cheparinov, Ivan Vs Xiangzhi, Bu 1-0

Radjabov, Teimour Vs Ivanchuk, Vassily 0-1

View Round One Games
Download PGN (zip)

Round Two - 09.05.2008

Topalov, Vs Ivanchuk, V 0-1

Xiangzhi, Bu Vs Radjabov, T 1/2-1/2

Aronian, L Vs Cheparinov, I 1/2-1/2

View Round Two Games
Download PGN (zip)

Live Games

Game of the Day Round One ECO: E00 Catalan
Game of the Day Round Two ECO C11 French Classical

GM Yue Wang, GM Vugar Gashimov or GM Magnus Carlsen to share the Prize Money?

All very young GM's enter the last round of the Baku Fide Grand Prix 2008.
Yue Wang from China and Vugar Gashimov a local from Baku lead with 7 1/2 points, there are several on 7 points including the tournament favorite Magnus Carlsen from Norway. I like all three of them to win and I know they are all determined to win!

Who will win this Grand Prix Tournament? Vote Now!
The WINNER Will Receive "Chess Master 8000" Brand New! Postage paid anywhere in the Chess World! No Ties! No Strings! Just write what you thought about the Fide Grand Prix 2008. Just one paragraph. The winner will be picked by our social chess group that runs every Sunday! Your email and address will be kept confidential! So if you are interested start posting! The winner will be notified and paragraph published in the next posting in regards to this event.

Michael Adams (UK) Vs Vugar Gashimov (AZR) Petroff Defense This game has a very thorough "Live Commentary" in (English) or in(Russian) by GM Sergey Shipov
The next Grand Prix tournament is in Sochi, Russia from 30 July till 15 August 2008. See you then!

Live Games
View Games
Host Site

Yue Wang (CHN) Wins Again & Takes the Lead!

Translation of the Grischuk Vs Carlsen game in English by GM Sergey Shipov who is the commentator in Baku. 3 rounds are left till the end of the tournament, and the leaders are keeping their positions stable. Today, Grischuk will play with Carlsen - favorite of the tournament.

I myself prefered to watch the game won by GM Wang Yue (CHN) Vs GM Peter Svidler (RUS) Grunfeld 1-0 Yue is just improving all the time, way to go Wang! Game of the Day

Another great game was played by GM David Navara Vs GM Vugar Gashimov Sicilian Maroczy Bind Gurgenidze System 1/2-1/2

Live Games
View Games
Host Site
Watch other Game of the Day Videos

Great Day for Chess

Baku at night on the Black Sea!
GM Alexander Grischuk is leading a very strong group of chess players, the host site is doing a fantastic job at presenting up to date news of the event with everything you need to keep you informed and up to date. The pdf files are great to download with some very interesting comments about the games thus far, I highly recommend them. Here is an Interview with GM Wang Yue from China, seeded last but he is up there amongst the top three and surprised many I bet.
During the round of GM Alexander Grischuk vs GM Shakhriyar Mamedjarov, GM Sergey Shipov gives live commentary in Russian .
Alternatively, you can follow it in English.

Live Games
View Games
Host Site

Game of the Day GM Teimour Radjabov Vs GM Ivan Cheparinov 0-1 Caro-Kann
Watch Other Game of the Day Videos

Guess the Move

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Vs Alexander Grischuk Slav Defense 14.Nfg5 ?