In the second round of the Corus Chess Tournament, we can look forward to some very interesting games. In Group A, opening preparation ranges from long-forgotten 19th century gambit lines to the most topical variations. ChessVibes will keep you updated throughout the day.
Update added 17:30We can't help kicking off with Movsesian-Adams, where a true tribute to the great
Adolf Anderssen (1818-1879) seems to take place. White played an extremely obscure gambit line (5.d4) in the Italian Opening, which was played with both White and Black by Anderssen. Indeed, Movsesian and Adams are following Anderssen-Fleissig, Vienna 1873 and Von Mickwitz-Anderssen, Frankfurt 1878! Adams' move 11...Nc6, however, was not played by Anderssen.Another interesting-looking game is Stellwagen-Carlsen, a sharp Berlin Wall. Jan Smeets is taking a quiet approach against Karjakin's Najdorf (no sharp Qd2, g4 lines today) and, as always, Ivanchuk's game looks very entertaining already, too. Over on
Susan Polgar's site you can follow the game Dominguez-Kamsky live, while
Sergey Shipov is liveblogging the duel between Aronian and Radjabov (in Russian). In Group B, keep an eye on Kasimdzhanov-Navara for another sharp Grunfeld, and Werle-Volokitin with similar things happening as in yesterday's game between Ivanchuk-Smeets. And in Group C, we already love Bosboom's (who beat Howell yesterday) setup against his compatriot Nijboer. Stay tuned!
Update 16:05Radjabov and Aronian decided to make it a quickie today. According to Susan Polgar, Kamsky has already more than equalised after move 16 against Dominguez.
Wang Yue-Ivanchuk is a very explosive position, clearly White's knight is in big trouble. The big question is whether Wang Yue has enough couterplay to compensate this. Here in the pressroom, everyone's rather skeptical: according to the experts, Wang can simply resign. Another position about  to erupt is Stellwagen-Carlsen. Here,  too, we'll soon know whether White's attack will be sufficient for the pawn White just sacced on b2. Smeets is defending his a-pawn in a very creative way (it reminds us of the famous first game of the '92 match Fischer-Spassky). [Please note that we've just published his
press conference!]Actually, there are many other interesting middlegame positions today - more than we can mention in this brief update. Movsesian-Adams turned into a strategical manoeuvring game. Morozevich will likely push Van Wely for a long time to come, even though KingLoek looks OK in the queenless middlegame. In Group B, Caruana-Mecking and Hou Yifan-Sasikiran seem to be very principled 1.e4 games. Finally, in Group C Wesley So looks on his way to another good game against Romanishin, but who knows what good ole' Oleg will come up with?
Update 17:30
In the mean time, the two Dutch debutants, Smeets and Stellwagen, made two good draws against Karjakin and Carlsen respectively. Stellwagen may well have been winning at some point - Carlsen made a somewhat relieved impression in the post-mortem. Stellwagen will do the press-conference in half an hour, we'll know more then. Ivanchuk played a great game against Wang Yue - although we must admire Wang's attempt to complicate matters in a position where most kibitzers in the press room predicted a handshake after move 12 already!Kamsky couldn't beat Dominguez and made a draw, and Movsesian has just beaten Adams with his old gambit! The only game left in Group A is Morozevich-Van Wely, which we predicted will be a tough and long game indeed. Hou Yifan seems to have a winning endgame against Sasikiran, but a lot of draws seem to be in the air as well. It's certainly funny that no games of Group C have finished yet, with all games but one finished in Group A.Later today we'll bring you the press conference, of course, and in the Corus Chess News, an interview with Ivanchuk will be included as well.
Update 19 January
In group C, Dutchman Manuel Bosboom is the surprising leader after two rounds. He's the only one who managed to win both of his games, and not against the weakest possible opponents: Howell and Nijboer - who happen to be on 0/2... Pruijssers did well too, by winning Leon Hoyos.In B, Mecking is having a tough tournament so far; this round he lost to Caruana. Nigel Short was one of the happy guests in the restaurant where the ChessVibes editors were having dinner as well - the Englishman had beaten Vallejo, who was briefly occupying a table there as well, together with Jan Smeets' second, Jan Gustafssson. Here are all of today's games for replay:
GM Group A | | GM Group B |
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GM Group C |
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Schedule & results Grandmaster Group A
Round 1 - Saturday 17.01.2009 |
D. Stellwagen - S. Movsesian ¬?-¬? |
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M. Carlsen - T. Radjabov ¬?-¬? |
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L. Aronian - Wang Yue ¬?-¬? |
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V. Ivanchuk - J. Smeets 0-1 |
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S. Karjakin - A. Morozevich 1-0 |
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L. van Wely - L. Dominguez ¬?-¬? |
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G. Kamsky - M. Adams ¬?-¬? |
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Round 2 - Sunday 18.01.2009 |
S. Movsesian - M. Adams 1-0 |
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L. Dominguez - G. Kamsky ¬?-¬? |
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A. Morozevich - L. van Wely 1-0 |
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J. Smeets - S. Karjakin ¬?-¬? |
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Wang Yue - V. Ivanchuk 0-1 |
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T. Radjabov - L. Aronian ¬?-¬? |
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D. Stellwagen - M. Carlsen ¬?-¬? |
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Round 3 - Monday 19.01.2009 |
M. Carlsen - S. Movsesian |
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L. Aronian - D. Stellwagen |
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V. Ivanchuk - T. Radjabov |
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S. Karjakin - Wang Yue |
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L. van Wely - J. Smeets |
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G. Kamsky - A. Morozevich |
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M. Adams - L. Dominguez |
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Round 4 - Tuesday 20.01.2009 |
S. Movsesian - L. Dominguez |
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A. Morozevich - M. Adams |
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J. Smeets - G. Kamsky |
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Wang Yue - L. van Wely |
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T. Radjabov - S. Karjakin |
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D. Stellwagen - V. Ivanchuk |
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M. Carlsen - L. Aronian |
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Round 5 - Thursday 22.01.2009 |
L. Aronian - S. Movsesian |
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V. Ivanchuk - M. Carlsen |
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S. Karjakin - D. Stellwagen |
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L. van Wely - T. Radjabov |
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G. Kamsky - Wang Yue |
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M. Adams - J. Smeets |
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L. Dominguez - A. Morozevich |
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Round 6 - Friday 23.01.2009 |
S. Movsesian - A. Morozevich |
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J. Smeets - L. Dominguez |
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Wang Yue - M. Adams |
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T. Radjabov - G. Kamsky |
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D. Stellwagen - L. van Wely |
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M. Carlsen - S. Karjakin |
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L. Aronian - V. Ivanchuk |
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Round 7 - Saturday 24.01.2009 |
V. Ivanchuk - S. Movsesian |
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S. Karjakin - L. Aronian |
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L. van Wely - M. Carlsen |
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G. Kamsky - D. Stellwagen |
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M. Adams - T. Radjabov |
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L. Dominguez - Wang Yue |
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A. Morozevich - J. Smeets |
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Round 8 - Sunday 25.01.2009 |
S. Movsesian - J. Smeets |
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Wang Yue - A. Morozevich |
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T. Radjabov - L. Dominguez |
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D. Stellwagen - M. Adams |
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M. Carlsen - G. Kamsky |
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L. Aronian - L. van Wely |
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V. Ivanchuk - S. Karjakin |
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Round 9 - Tuesday 27.01.2009 |
S. Karjakin - S. Movsesian |
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L. van Wely - V. Ivanchuk |
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G. Kamsky - L. Aronian |
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M. Adams - M. Carlsen |
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L. Dominguez - D. Stellwagen |
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A. Morozevich - T. Radjabov |
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J. Smeets - Wang Yue |
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Round 10 - Wednesday 28.01.2009 |
S. Movsesian - Wang Yue |
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T. Radjabov - J. Smeets |
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D. Stellwagen - A. Morozevich |
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M. Carlsen - L. Dominguez |
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L. Aronian - M. Adams |
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V. Ivanchuk - G. Kamsky |
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S. Karjakin - L. van Wely |
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Round 11 - Friday 30.01.2009 |
L. van Wely - S. Movsesian |
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G. Kamsky - S. Karjakin |
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M. Adams - V. Ivanchuk |
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L. Dominguez - L. Aronian |
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A. Morozevich - M. Carlsen |
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J. Smeets - D. Stellwagen |
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Wang Yue - T. Radjabov |
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Round 12 - Saturday 31.01.2009 |
S. Movsesian - T. Radjabov |
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D. Stellwagen - Wang Yue |
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M. Carlsen - J. Smeets |
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L. Aronian - A. Morozevich |
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V. Ivanchuk - L. Dominguez |
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S. Karjakin - M. Adams |
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L. van Wely - G. Kamsky |
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Round 13 - Sunday 1.02.2009 |
G. Kamsky - S. Movsesian |
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M. Adams - L. van Wely |
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L. Dominguez - S. Karjakin |
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A. Morozevich - V. Ivanchuk |
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J. Smeets - L. Aronian |
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Wang Yue - M. Carlsen |
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T. Radjabov - D. Stellwagen |
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[TABLE=564]
Schedule & results Grandmaster Group B
Round 1 - Saturday 17.01.2009 |
Hou Yifan - R. Kasimdzhanov 0-1 |
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K. Sasikiran - E. l'Ami ¬?-¬? |
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D. Reinderman - F. Vallejo Pons 0-1 |
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N. Short - J. Werle ¬?-¬? |
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A. Volokitin - F. Caruana ¬?-¬? |
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H. Mecking - Z. Efimenko 0-1 |
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A. Motylev - D. Navara 0-1 |
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Round 2 - Sunday 18.01.2009 |
R. Kasimdzhanov - D. Navara ¬?-¬? |
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Z. Efimenko - A. Motylev ¬?-¬? |
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F. Caruana - H. Mecking 1-0 |
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J. Werle - A. Volokitin ¬?-¬? |
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F. Vallejo Pons - N. Short 0-1 |
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E. l'Ami - D. Reinderman ¬?-¬? |
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Hou Yifan - K. Sasikiran 1-0 |
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Round 3 - Monday 19.01.2009 |
K. Sasikiran - R. Kasimdzhanov |
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D. Reinderman - Hou Yifan |
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N. Short - E. l'Ami |
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A. Volokitin - F. Vallejo Pons |
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H. Mecking - J. Werle |
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A. Motylev - F. Caruana |
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D. Navara - Z. Efimenko |
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Round 4 - Tuesday 20.01.2009 |
R. Kasimdzhanov - Z. Efimenko |
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F. Caruana - D. Navara |
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J. Werle - A. Motylev |
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F. Vallejo Pons - H. Mecking |
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E. l'Ami - A. Volokitin |
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Hou Yifan - N. Short |
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K. Sasikiran - D. Reinderman |
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Round 5 - Thursday 22.01.2009 |
D. Reinderman - R. Kasimdzhanov |
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N. Short - K. Sasikiran |
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A. Volokitin - Hou Yifan |
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H. Mecking - E. l'Ami |
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A. Motylev - F. Vallejo Pons |
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D. Navara - J. Werle |
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Z. Efimenko - F. Caruana |
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Round 6 - Friday 23.01.2009 |
R. Kasimdzhanov - F. Caruana |
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J. Werle - Z. Efimenko |
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F. Vallejo Pons - D. Navara |
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E. l'Ami - A. Motylev |
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Hou Yifan - H. Mecking |
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K. Sasikiran - A. Volokitin |
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D. Reinderman - N. Short |
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Round 7 - Saturday 24.01.2009 |
N. Short - R. Kasimdzhanov |
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A. Volokitin - D. Reinderman |
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H. Mecking - K. Sasikiran |
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A. Motylev - Hou Yifan |
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D. Navara - E. l'Ami |
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Z. Efimenko - F. Vallejo Pons |
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F. Caruana - J. Werle |
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Round 8 - Sunday 25.01.2009 |
R. Kasimdzhanov - J. Werle |
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F. Vallejo Pons - F. Caruana |
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E. l'Ami - Z. Efimenko |
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Hou Yifan - D. Navara |
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K. Sasikiran - A. Motylev |
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D. Reinderman - H. Mecking |
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N. Short - A. Volokitin |
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Round 9 - Tuesday 27.01.2009 |
A. Volokitin - R. Kasimdzhanov |
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H. Mecking - N. Short |
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A. Motylev - D. Reinderman |
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D. Navara - K. Sasikiran |
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Z. Efimenko - Hou Yifan |
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F. Caruana - E. l'Ami |
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J. Werle - F. Vallejo Pons |
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Round 10 - Wednesday 28.01.2009 |
R. Kasimdzhanov - F. Vallejo Pons |
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E. l'Ami - J. Werle |
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Hou Yifan - F. Caruana |
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K. Sasikiran - Z. Efimenko |
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D. Reinderman - D. Navara |
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N. Short - A. Motylev |
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A. Volokitin - H. Mecking |
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Round 11 - Friday 30.01.2009 |
H. Mecking - R. Kasimdzhanov |
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A. Motylev - A. Volokitin |
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D. Navara - N. Short |
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Z. Efimenko - D. Reinderman |
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F. Caruana - K. Sasikiran |
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J. Werle - Hou Yifan |
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F. Vallejo Pons - E. l'Ami |
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Round 12 - Saturday 31.01.2009 |
R. Kasimdzhanov - E. l'Ami |
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Hou Yifan - F. Vallejo Pons |
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K. Sasikiran - J. Werle |
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D. Reinderman - F. Caruana |
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N. Short - Z. Efimenko |
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A. Volokitin - D. Navara |
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H. Mecking - A. Motylev |
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Round 13 - Sunday 1.02.2009 |
A. Motylev - R. Kasimdzhanov |
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D. Navara - H. Mecking |
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Z. Efimenko - A. Volokitin |
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F. Caruana - N. Short |
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J. Werle - D. Reinderman |
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F. Vallejo Pons - K. Sasikiran |
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E. l'Ami - Hou Yifan |
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[TABLE=565]
Schedule & results Grandmaster Group C
Round 1 - Saturday 17.01.2009 |
T. Hillarp Persson - R. Pruijssers ¬?-¬? |
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D. Howell - M. Bosboom 0-1 |
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F. Nijboer - W. So 0-1 |
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O. Romanishin - A. Bitalzadeh 1-0 |
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A. Giri - F. Holzke ¬?-¬? |
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A. Gupta - D. Harika 0-1 |
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E. Iturrizaga - M. Leon Hoyos 1-0 |
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Round 2 - Sunday 18.01.2009 |
R. Pruijssers - M. Leon Hoyos 1-0 |
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D. Harika - E. Iturrizaga ¬?-¬? |
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F. Holzke - A. Gupta ¬?-¬? |
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A. Bitalzadeh - A. Giri ¬?-¬? |
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W. So - O. Romanishin ¬?-¬? |
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M. Bosboom - F. Nijboer 1-0 |
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T. Hillarp Persson - D. Howell 1-0 |
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Round 3 - Monday 19.01.2009 |
D. Howell - R. Pruijssers |
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F. Nijboer - T. Hillarp Persson |
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O. Romanishin - M. Bosboom |
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A. Giri - W. So |
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A. Gupta - A. Bitalzadeh |
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E. Iturrizaga - F. Holzke |
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M. Leon Hoyos - D. Harika |
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Round 4 - Tuesday 20.01.2009 |
R. Pruijssers - D. Harika |
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F. Holzke - M. Leon Hoyos |
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A. Bitalzadeh - E. Iturrizaga |
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W. So - A. Gupta |
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M. Bosboom - A. Giri |
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T. Hillarp Persson - O. Romanishin |
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D. Howell - F. Nijboer |
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Round 5 - Thursday 22.01.2009 |
F. Nijboer - R. Pruijssers |
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O. Romanishin - D. Howell |
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A. Giri - T. Hillarp Persson |
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A. Gupta - M. Bosboom |
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E. Iturrizaga - W. So |
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M. Leon Hoyos - A. Bitalzadeh |
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D. Harika - F. Holzke |
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Round 6 - Friday 23.01.2009 |
R. Pruijssers - F. Holzke |
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A. Bitalzadeh - D. Harika |
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W. So - M. Leon Hoyos |
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M. Bosboom - E. Iturrizaga |
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T. Hillarp Persson - A. Gupta |
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D. Howell - A. Giri |
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F. Nijboer - O. Romanishin |
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Round 7 - Saturday 24.01.2009 |
O. Romanishin - R. Pruijssers |
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A. Giri - F. Nijboer |
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A. Gupta - D. Howell |
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E. Iturrizaga - T. Hillarp Persson |
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M. Leon Hoyos - M. Bosboom |
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D. Harika - W. So |
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F. Holzke - A. Bitalzadeh |
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Round 8 - Sunday 25.01.2009 |
R. Pruijssers - A. Bitalzadeh |
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W. So - F. Holzke |
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M. Bosboom - D. Harika |
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T. Hillarp Persson - M. Leon Hoyos |
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D. Howell - E. Iturrizaga |
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F. Nijboer - A. Gupta |
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O. Romanishin - A. Giri |
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Round 9 - Tuesday 27.01.2009 |
A. Giri - R. Pruijssers |
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A. Gupta - O. Romanishin |
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E. Iturrizaga - F. Nijboer |
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M. Leon Hoyos - D. Howell |
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D. Harika - T. Hillarp Persson |
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F. Holzke - M. Bosboom |
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A. Bitalzadeh - W. So |
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Round 10 - Wednesday 28.01.2009 |
R. Pruijssers - W. So |
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M. Bosboom - A. Bitalzadeh |
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T. Hillarp Persson - F. Holzke |
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D. Howell - D. Harika |
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F. Nijboer - M. Leon Hoyos |
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O. Romanishin - E. Iturrizaga |
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A. Giri - A. Gupta |
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Round 11 - Friday 30.01.2009 |
A. Gupta - R. Pruijssers |
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E. Iturrizaga - A. Giri |
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M. Leon Hoyos - O. Romanishin |
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D. Harika - F. Nijboer |
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F. Holzke - D. Howell |
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A. Bitalzadeh - T. Hillarp Persson |
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W. So - M. Bosboom |
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Round 12 - Saturday 31.01.2009 |
R. Pruijssers - M. Bosboom |
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T. Hillarp Persson - W. So |
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D. Howell - A. Bitalzadeh |
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F. Nijboer - F. Holzke |
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O. Romanishin - D. Harika |
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A. Giri - M. Leon Hoyos |
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A. Gupta - E. Iturrizaga |
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Round 13 - Sunday 1.02.2009 |
E. Iturrizaga - R. Pruijssers |
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M. Leon Hoyos - A. Gupta |
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D. Harika - A. Giri |
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F. Holzke - O. Romanishin |
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A. Bitalzadeh - F. Nijboer |
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W. So - D. Howell |
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M. Bosboom - T. Hillarp Persson |
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[TABLE=566]Links: