Zhigalko wins Baku Open

Belarus Sergey Zhigalko wins Baku Open chess contest

Mon 15 August 2011 05:59 GMT | 0:59 Local Time

The ninth round of the international chess contest Baku Open was held at the Novkhany AF Hotel yesterday.

Belarus Sergey Zhigalko won the tournament. He scored 7 points and received the main prize-EUR 10,000. The prize winners were also Russia’s Dmitriy Andreyik and Israeli Emil Sutovskiy, who gained 6.5 points each.



Sarkhan Guliyev unexpectedly turned out the best among Azerbaijani chess players. He is seventh with six points. Shahriyar Mammadyarov and Rauf Mammadov also scored six points. They are eights and 11th respectively.



Elmir Aliyev

News.Az

Baku Open 2011 LIVE games

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Cheparinov leads Baku Open

Bulgarian chess player Ivan Cheparinov leading in Baku Open

Tue 09 August 2011 04:07 GMT | -1:07 Local Time

The third round of the international chess tournament Baku Open was played at AF Hotel in Novkhany.

Five chess players have no losses in three rounds, though unfortunately there are no Azerbaijani representatives among them. The top five include Bulgarian Ivan Cheparinov, who beat Spain’s Francisco Vallejo in the third round, Lazaro Bruzon of Cuba, who upset Sergey Volkov of Russia, Russian chess player Eugeniy Romanov, who beat his countryman Alexei Dreyev, Belarus Sergey Zhigalko who frustrated Anar Allahverdiyev and Georgia’s Mikhail Mkhedlishvili who made Israel’s Emil Sutovskiy capitulate.



The best among ours are members of the Azerbaijani national team Eltaj Safarli, Rauf Mammadov and Shahriyar Mammadyarov who took from 8 to 10th places. All three have 2.5 points. Eltaj played a draw with Russian Dmitriy Andreikin, Rauf beat Gaoza Nigalidze of Georgia and Shahriyar upset Sarkhan Guliyev in this round.



The overall price fund of the tournament equals EUR 50,000 and the winner gets 10,000. The contest will be held in Swiss system in nine rounds and end on 14 August.



Source: Elmir Aliyev

News.Az

Baku Open 2011

Baku Open 2011
Yet another Super Open in Azerbaijan

Baku Open 2011 will take place 5-14 August in Azerbaijan. The tournament will be in “AF HOTEL” (near Caspian Sea, Novkhani), and will feature a prize fund of 50 000 EUR.

Baku Open will be categorized as a Super Open. These events, which get more and more abundant in the calendar, are with over 30000 EUR prize fund and are open festivals for everyone. Aeroflot 2011 (125 000 eur), Cappelle La Grande 2011 (30 000 eur), Dubai Chess Open (45,000 USD), Nakhchivan Open (66,500 USD), and Albena Open 2011 (40 000 eur) are just some of the events that have been going on for the first months of this year.

Baku Open 2011 is following a similar model to Nakhchivan Open, where players enjoyed a high prize fund, while strong young talents as Alexander Ipatov managed to complete Grandmaster norms.

73 players will compete in the Open A tournament, among them 17 Grandmasters rated above 2600 elo. Azerbaijan's top rated player Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is the first seed in the starting list.

GM Francisco Vallejo Pons returns to Azerbaijan after having participated in the Super Chess Open Nakhchivan, while Cuban stars Leinier Dominguez Perez and Lazaro Bruzon are making a debut. Cento Open winner Alexei Dreev is participating, as well as the reigning World U20 champion Dmitry Andreikin.

Last year winner was GM Gata Kamsky. 133 players are signed for the Open B tournament.

Baku 2011 prize fund distribution

1 place - 10000 € + cup
2 – place - 6000 €
3 – place - 4000 €
4 – place - 2000 €
5 – place - 1500 €
6 – place - 1400 €
7 – place - 1300 €
8 – place - 1200 €
9 – place - 1100 €

Places 10th to 25th ranging from 1000 eur to 300 eur.

Women prizes:

1 place - 600 €, 2 place - 400 €, 3 place - 200 €

Prize for the best senior player :

1 place - 500 AZN, 2 place - 300 AZN, 3 place - 200 AZN

Valuable prize for the young player (under 18) who show the best result.

Prizes for the best 3 (three) players from Azerbaijan: 1 place - 2000 AZN, 2 place - 1500 AZN, 3 place - 1000 AZN

Official websites: www.chess.az and www.azerichess.az

Open A starting top 22 list:

1 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2765
2 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco ESP 2724
3 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier CUB 2719
4 GM Dreev Aleksey RUS 2711
5 GM Sutovsky Emil ISR 2700
6 GM Andreikin Dmitry RUS 2696
7 GM Zhigalko Sergei BLR 2689
8 GM Mamedov Rauf AZE 2679
9 GM Smirin Ilia ISR 2676
10 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro CUB 2673
11 GM Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2669
12 GM Iordachescu Viorel MDA 2646
13 GM Najer Evgeniy RUS 2643
14 GM Romanov Evgeny RUS 2624
15 GM Safarli Eltaj AZE 2622
16 GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil GEO 2618
17 GM Volkov Sergey RUS 2607
18 GM Gagunashvili Merab GEO 2588
19 GM Ibrahimov Rasul AZE 2547
20 GM Abbasov Farid AZE 2529
21 GM Guliev Sarhan AZE 2500
22 GM Abasov Nijat Azad Oglu AZE 2481

World Team Chess Championship - Round 4

By Chess Coach William Stewart

Original article along with with interactive PGN's on Round 4 of the World Team Chess Championship available on William's site.

Azerbaijan Beats Russia Convincingly

Grischuk's opening preparation was clearly insufficient as he emerged from the opening down a pawn and in a clearly worse position on the black side of Ruy Lopez. Gashimov continued to actively press, won another pawn, and forced Grischuk's resignation on move 39. Guseinov ensured his team's success with a solid tactical win over Svidler on board 4. Svidler chose an interesting variation of the Sicilian Kan, similar to a Hedgehog formation - however he was unable to achieve any counterplay on the queenside and Guseinov was essentially left a free hand to force through in the center. Svidler's passivity and lack of coordination allowed Guseinov to spectacularly break the black position open with 26. f5!? and 28. Nf5! - leading to a decisive win of material for white.

Guseinov Vs Svidler - Position after 28. Nf5!

Hungary Topples Strong Ukrainian Team

Peter Leko made the difference with the black pieces against Vassily Ivanchuk on board 1 today, as every other game was drawn. Ivanchuk is viable to play any opening, making it extremely difficult for opponents to prepare against him. However, a downside is that sometimes he doesn't know his own opening thoroughly enough. This seemed to happen today, as Leko rapidly achieved a crushing position with the Marshall Attack against Ivanchuk's Ruy Lopez. The idea of sacrificing a piece with 18. ...f4! was not new to Leko as he played very quickly at this point - however Ivanchuk was not prepared and spent 62 minutes on moves 18, 19, and 20. Not only did this hurt the Ukranian #1 on the clock, it landed him in an extremely difficult position due to the complicated imbalances of material and coordination. Ivanchuk tried to put up a defense, however Leko had more than ample time to accurately find and execute the win.

Ivanchuk Vs Leko - Position after 18. ...f4!

Original article along with with interactive PGN's on Round 4 of the World Team Chess Championship available on William's site. Game PGNs and Results at the Official Site

World Team Chess Championship - Round 4

By Chess Coach William Stewart

Original article along with with interactive PGN's on Round 4 of the World Team Chess Championship available on William's site.

Azerbaijan Beats Russia Convincingly

Grischuk's opening preparation was clearly insufficient as he emerged from the opening down a pawn and in a clearly worse position on the black side of Ruy Lopez. Gashimov continued to actively press, won another pawn, and forced Grischuk's resignation on move 39. Guseinov ensured his team's success with a solid tactical win over Svidler on board 4. Svidler chose an interesting variation of the Sicilian Kan, similar to a Hedgehog formation - however he was unable to achieve any counterplay on the queenside and Guseinov was essentially left a free hand to force through in the center. Svidler's passivity and lack of coordination allowed Guseinov to spectacularly break the black position open with 26. f5!? and 28. Nf5! - leading to a decisive win of material for white.

Guseinov Vs Svidler - Position after 28. Nf5!

Hungary Topples Strong Ukrainian Team

Peter Leko made the difference with the black pieces against Vassily Ivanchuk on board 1 today, as every other game was drawn. Ivanchuk is viable to play any opening, making it extremely difficult for opponents to prepare against him. However, a downside is that sometimes he doesn't know his own opening thoroughly enough. This seemed to happen today, as Leko rapidly achieved a crushing position with the Marshall Attack against Ivanchuk's Ruy Lopez. The idea of sacrificing a piece with 18. ...f4! was not new to Leko as he played very quickly at this point - however Ivanchuk was not prepared and spent 62 minutes on moves 18, 19, and 20. Not only did this hurt the Ukranian #1 on the clock, it landed him in an extremely difficult position due to the complicated imbalances of material and coordination. Ivanchuk tried to put up a defense, however Leko had more than ample time to accurately find and execute the win.

Ivanchuk Vs Leko - Position after 18. ...f4!

Original article along with with interactive PGN's on Round 4 of the World Team Chess Championship available on William's site. Game PGNs and Results at the Official Site

Armenia back on top, Azerbaijan, China, Russian & Hungary tie for 2nd

Armenia is still the only country which is undefeated so far after 4 rounds. Azerbaijan and China are tied for 2nd on tiebreaks while Russia and Hungary are a little further behind in tiebreak points.

Standings after 4 rounds

Rk.	SNo	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	2	Armenia	4	2	2	0	6	11.0	0
2	7	Azerbaijan	4	2	1	1	5	9.5	1
3	4	China	4	2	1	1	5	9.5	1
4	10	Russia	4	2	1	1	5	9.0	0
5	6	Hungary	4	2	1	1	5	8.0	0
6	8	Ukraine	4	2	0	2	4	8.0	0
7	9	Israel	4	2	0	2	4	7.5	0
8	5	India	4	1	1	2	3	7.0	0
9	1	USA	4	1	1	2	3	7.0	0
10	3	Egypt	4	0	0	4	0	3.5	0

http://chess-results.com/tnr53136.aspx?art=46&lan=1

Azerbaijan’s national chess team in China

Azerbaijan’s national chess team arrives in China
Thu 14 July 2011 09:22 GMT | 4:22 Local Time

Azerbaijan’s national chess team reached the Ningbo city at about 11.00 Baku time.
The city will be hosting the team championship of the world from 17 July.

Our team spent over 16 hours on the way from Baku via Moscow and Shanghai to Ningbo. Meanwhile, from Shanghai the team captain Vladimir Tukmakov, chess players Shahriyar Mamedyarov, Vugar Gashimov, Teimur Radjabov, Rauf Mamedov and Gadir Guisenov, as well as your author were going by bus.

The way passed via the bridge through Hanchjoivan gulf. It extends to 36 km. The team is staying at the New Century Grand where the contests are to be held.

Elmir Aliyev
News.Az

Azerbaijan team heads to China for WTC

Individual contracts signed with members of Azerbaijani chess team
Tue 12 July 2011 07:02 GMT | 2:02 Local Time

Azerbaijan’s chess team will leave for world team championship in the Chinese city of Ningbo on 13 July.

The team held the second training in Gabala from 5 to 10 July, during which the captain of the team Vladimir Tukmakov was to determine the placement of players on the boards.

"Me and chess players already know on what boards they will play in Ningbo,” Tukmakov said. “Buat we will announce this just before the World Cup, which starts on 17 July. My decision caused no differences. All chess players agreed with it. "

President of National Chess Federation of Azerbaijan Elman Rustamov met with players of the national team in the Central Bank of Azerbaijan on Monday.

"For his part, Azerbaijan Chess Federation has done everything that depended on it. It organized by two beautiful training camps, individual contracts were signed with all chess players of the national team, including the first reservists. Rustamov wished the team a good luck. We will try to justify this confidence,” the captain of the team said.

“Summing up the training, I can say that we have fulfilled the task. The team is in good condition and is ready for start of the World Cup. However, no matter how I evaluated the past training, the main indicator of their usefulness will be the result, which we will achieve in China.

“Is it too late or us to go to Ningbo, given that the main favorites - the Russians - flew to China on 10 July to acclimatize? I do not consider myself a big expert on this issue, but I have a great experience.”

“I think that we have chosen suitable time. When athletes are together for too long, even in spite of an excellent relationship within the team, there may be some tension.

“We will be in China at morning on 14 July. I think that three days will be enough for acclimatization,” Tumakov said.

Members of the Azerbaijani team are Shahriyar Mammedyarov (2765), Vugar Gashimov (2760), Teimur Rajabov (2744), Rauf Mammedov (2679), Gadir Guseinov (2625).

Elmir Aliyev
News.Az

What is that accordion song played like once an hour on canned music stations like HOT 99.5 FM (USA)? It's "Stereo Love", the longest charting song in the history of European top Hot 100, accumulating 52 weeks. Sung by Edward Maya ( Ilie Eduard Marian, Romania) and Vika Jigulina (Victoria Corneva, Russia/Romania)

The mastermind, Edward Maya: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Maya
Featuring Vika Jigulina: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vika_Jigulina

The basic refrain of the song was inspired, and eventually settled from the copyright standpoint, from "Bayatılar"  "an Azerbaijani 1989 composition by Eldar Mansurov." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayat%C4%B1lar

I like very much Edward Maya & Co, but "truth be told":
I would have emailed and snail-mailed a Registered Mail letter with Signature Confirmation to the Azerbaijan Composers Union about my unsuccessful attempts to contact Mr.Mansurov, the Azeri composer, about the copyright for the song. 
Even post it online, in a dated blog, or something.


If no answer, THEN and ONLY THEN I would have gone ahead with releasing "Stereo Love", in the idea that eventually the matter will be solved properly.
But at least I have written and dated proof that I have exhausted all the chances I could think of to contact Mr.Mansurov in due time.


Same thing for whoever the CIMPOI (Romanian bagpipes) virtuoso from Romania (Ion Laceanu? Dumitru Zamfira?) is the inspiration for "Desert Rain", which I also like very much.

Warning! Watch "Stereo Love" once, and it will become like an itch on your brain - you'll want to hear it again...and again...and again...:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Z3YrHJ1sU

While we are at it, why don't you "beat your American music station/channel to the punch" and watch/listen the new videoclip "Desert Rain" - get a haunting taste of the CIMPOI, The Romanian bagpipes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY49R8nz01Q

You agree, right, that some songs are not just songs - they are a symbol of good times, when you were (maybe) in a dance club or something, and the whole crowd, including you, were dancing, clapping, feeling good and worry-free, at least for some precious few moments...

Placeholder: I have to dig up from somewhere in the house some stamps and postcard with ACCORDION, as if you can't just google or wikipedia yourself and see what's all the fuss...:)

This image shows just one of the many types of accordions, and not necessarily the one used for this song.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PianoAccordeon.jpg

Read more about accordions here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accordion

UPDATE 13 FEB 2011: my postcard showing a group of accordion enthusiasts from the Netherlands.

I have a superb, fabulous, magnificent collection of accordions on stamps - but it consists of...only these two stamps: