Hannibal only joined the Box Hill Chess Club less than a year ago. He was a very shy person but was a very keen chess player and willing to learn. He did not have a rating but wanted to receive one as soon as possible. He entered as many of the Box Hill tournaments as he could and always was one of the first to arrive at the club and sat at the chess board studying various chess books. He practice as much as he could before the commencement of the tournament. He always asked me when is the next tournament and what time should he arrive. He was a student at the University of Melbourne and played for Melbourne University in one of the Interclub matches last year. His enthusiasm will sorely be missed by the chess scene, especially at Box Hill.

Peter Tsai
President Box Hill Chess Club

Dmitri has had two operations and is likely to make a full recovery.

James can wiggle his toes and fingers so there is no spine damage. Apparently he has not suffered serious head injuries. However the concern is damage to his lungs and the fear of infection. James is not yet out of the wood.

David Flude

Rd 12 2013/03/29
Carlsen 0-1 Ivanchuck (90 moves, 7 hours)

Post-match press conference
An upset Carlsen blurted out “I think I played absolutely disgracefully from move 1″. Magnus’s “disgraceful” e4 began a battle that ebbed and flowed for 90 moves over 7 hours, till Ivanchuck emerged the victor.

Rd 13 2013/03/31
Radjabov 0-1 Carlsen (89 moves, 7 hours)

Post-match press conference
Radjabov
“Normally I lose 2 or 3 games per year. Here I lose 6 games … and still it’s not finished yet … It’s very unpleasant to be in such an awful form, especially in such a tournament where you are in a swimming pool with sharks.”

Carlsen
“I was really upset after the last game (loss to Ivanchuk). I couldn’t sleep and I was not feeling so great today. … We got this endgame which is basically equal, but I felt because of the tournament situation I have to take whatever little chance I might have. … As long as I couldn’t lose I had to keep playing.”

Standings after Rd 12

1 Vladimir Kramnik 8
2 Magnus Carlsen 7.5
3 Levon Aronian 6.5
4 Peter Svidler 6
5 Alexander Grischuk 5.5
Boris Gelfand 5.5
7 Vassily Ivanchuk 5
8 Teimour Radjabov 4

Rest Day on 2013/03/30

Rd 13 on 2013/03/31
Radjabov vs Carlsen
Kramnik vs Gelfand

Rd 14 on 2013/04/01
Carlsen vs Svidler
Ivanchuk vs Kramnik

Tie-breaks priority:
1) results against each other: 2 draws
2) wins: both presently have 4 wins
3) Sonneborn-Berger system which allocates points for wins and draws according to rank of opponents: Kramnik 45.75 leads Carlsen 44.25
4) tie-break games: 2 x 25 min (+ 10 sec increments); 2 x 5min (+3 sec); sudden death, White 5 min, Black 4 min (draw = black wins)
Source: http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/regscandidates2012.pdf

Predictions anyone?

Cheers!

FIDE Laws of Chess Rule 9.2
The game is drawn upon a correct claim by the player having the move, when the same position, for at least the third time (not necessarily by a repetition of moves):
a. is about to appear, if he first writes his move on his scoresheet and declares to the arbiter his intention to make this move, or
b. has just appeared, and the player claiming the draw has the move.

Yes, it gets a little complicated when you aren’t recording, but in theory you are supposed to write Kd6 on the scoresheet, stop the clocks & call the arbiter to make the claim.

Interesting game though … good to see you playing a bit of chess still these days!