Meanwhile, elsewhere...

While the whole chess world is following the developments in Kazan, obviously there's more in chess than the Candidates matches. Baadur Jobava finished first at the strong Bosna open, and Pentala Harikrishna won the Asian Individual on tie-break. Biel announced its full line-up (including Morozevich!), the European Women's Championship is ongoing, the Capablanca Memorial and the Bahía Feliz tournament (with a very interesting players field) have also started and the St. Louis matches will soon begin.

Bosna open

Baadur Jobava won the 10,000 EUR first prize at the 41st Bosna open. The tournament was held May 3-12, 2011 in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Hercegovina. The tournament was one of the first, if not the first that used the football scoring system (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss) in a Swiss event. Georgia's number one grandmaster finished on 21 points, followed by Hrant Melkumyan (Armenia), Borki Predojevic (Bosnia & Hercegovina) and Mircea-Emilian Parligras (Romania) who scored 20 points. It wouldn't have been much different in the classical scoring system, where Jobava would have been the only player with 7.5 points and Melkumyan, Predojevic, and Parligras would have been joined by Constantin Lupulescu at 7/9.



Bosna open 2011 | Final standings (top 30)

Rk	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	Pts	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	Jobava Baadur	GM	GEO	2704	21.0	0	111.0	143.0
2	Melkumyan Hrant	GM	ARM	2580	20.0	2	116.0	150.0
3	Predojevic Borki	GM	BIH	2617	20.0	3	111.0	142.0
4	Parligras Mircea-Emilian	GM	ROU	2626	20.0	4	118.0	150.0
5	Lupulescu Constantin	GM	ROU	2638	19.0	5	102.0	132.0
6	Naiditsch Arkadij	GM	GER	2716	19.0	6	119.0	152.0
7	Yilmaz Mustafa	IM	TUR	2489	18.0	0	106.0	135.0
8	Solak Dragan	GM	SRB	2588	18.0	0	105.0	126.0
9	Saric Ibro	GM	BIH	2549	18.0	0	104.0	131.0
10	Popovic Dusan	GM	SRB	2553	18.0	0	100.0	131.0
11	Trkulja Goran	FM	BIH	2379	18.0	0	94.0	123.0
12	Saric Ivan	GM	CRO	2637	17.0	12	127.0	158.0
13	Szabo Krisztian	GM	HUN	2512	17.0	13	112.0	146.0
14	Al-Sayed Mohammed	GM	QAT	2485	17.0	14	106.0	135.0
15	Grandelius Nils	GM	SWE	2541	17.0	15	93.0	117.0
16	Lenic Luka	GM	SLO	2637	16.0	16	115.0	150.0
17	Berczes David	GM	HUN	2531	16.0	17	101.0	129.0
18	Kovacevic Aleksandar	GM	SRB	2575	16.0	18	111.0	143.0
19	Abergel Thal	GM	FRA	2506	16.0	19	97.0	126.0
20	Bogut Zeljko	IM	BIH	2433	16.0	20	96.0	125.0
21	Lafuente Pablo	GM	ARG	2555	16.0	21	98.0	128.0
22	Djukic Nikola	GM	MNE	2486	16.0	22	103.0	131.0
23	Fauland Alexander	IM	AUT	2478	16.0	23	97.0	128.0
24	Nestorovic Lazar		SRB	2419	16.0	24	86.0	111.0
25	Can Emre	GM	TUR	2487	15.0	0	109.0	140.0
26	Sebenik Matej	IM	SLO	2524	15.0	0	109.0	139.0
27	Prohaszka Peter	GM	HUN	2547	15.0	0	105.0	135.0
28	Georgiev Kiril	GM	BUL	2656	15.0	0	105.0	133.0
29	Erdos Viktor	GM	HUN	2609	15.0	0	104.0	127.0
30	Milanovic Danilo	GM	SRB	2494	15.0	0	103.0	133.0

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Asian Individual Championship

The 10th Asian Individual Championships took place May 2-10, 2011 in Mashhad, Iran. Pentala Harikrishna of India finished first on tie-break, followed by Yu Yangyi (China) on second place and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Vietnam) on third place. All scored 6.5/9. Harikrishna's compatriot Harika Dronavalli was the strongest in the women's section.



Asian Individual Championship 2011 | Final standings (top 40)

Rk	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	Pts	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	Harikrishna P	GM	IND	2666	6.5	0.0	2615	44.5
2	Yu Yangyi	GM	CHN	2646	6.5	0.0	2607	45.5
3	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	GM	VIE	2635	6.5	0.0	2547	42.5
4	Jumabayev Rinat	GM	KAZ	2558	6.0	0.0	2640	43.0
5	Bu Xiangzhi	GM	CHN	2662	6.0	0.0	2636	48.5
6	Sasikiran Krishnan	GM	IND	2676	6.0	0.0	2613	46.0
7	Lu Shanglei		CHN	2473	6.0	0.0	2601	40.0
8	Moradiabadi Elshan	GM	IRI	2536	6.0	0.0	2588	40.5
9	Negi Parimarjan	GM	IND	2622	5.5	0.0	2616	43.0
10	Zhao Jun	GM	CHN	2574	5.5	0.0	2565	40.0
11	Zhou Weiqi	GM	CHN	2610	5.5	0.0	2556	39.5
12	So Wesley	GM	PHI	2667	5.5	0.0	2553	38.5
13	Barbosa Oliver	IM	PHI	2506	5.0	0.0	2606	41.0
14	Ismagambetov Anuar	GM	KAZ	2500	5.0	0.0	2584	38.5
15	Wen Yang	GM	CHN	2545	5.0	0.0	2582	41.5
16	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	GM	IND	2643	5.0	0.0	2562	42.0
17	Kunte Abhijit	GM	IND	2526	5.0	0.0	2548	39.0
18	Sethuraman S P	GM	IND	2527	5.0	0.0	2543	35.0
19	Kasimdzhanov Rustam	GM	UZB	2685	5.0	0.0	2534	40.0
20	Gomez John Paul	GM	PHI	2538	5.0	0.0	2471	34.5
21	Cao Sang	GM	VIE	2547	5.0	0.0	2439	34.0
22	Laylo Darwin	GM	PHI	2516	4.5	0.0	2586	38.0
23	Adhiban B	GM	IND	2543	4.5	0.0	2582	41.5
24	Wang Chen		CHN	2436	4.5	0.0	2571	41.5
25	Lou Yiping	IM	CHN	2435	4.5	0.0	2553	39.0
26	Megaranto Susanto	GM	INA	2529	4.5	0.0	2534	39.5
27	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	IM	IND	2495	4.5	0.0	2525	33.5
28	Ahmadinia E	FM	IRI	2429	4.5	0.0	2515	34.5
29	Paragua Mark	GM	PHI	2542	4.5	0.0	2497	34.5
30	Ghaem Maghami Ehsan	GM	IRI	2606	4.5	0.0	2484	38.5
31	Gopal G N	GM	IND	2592	4.5	0.0	2480	36.5
32	Vaibhav Suri	IM	IND	2430	4.5	0.0	2473	32.5
33	Hou Yifan	GM	CHN	2612	4.5	0.0	2420	30.5
34	Alavi Sayed Javad	IM	IRI	2428	4.0	0.0	2579	37.5
35	Yang Kaiqi	IM	CHN	2409	4.0	0.0	2550	37.5
36	Shyam Sundar M	IM	IND	2457	4.0	0.0	2526	33.5
37	Gao Rui	IM	CHN	2419	4.0	0.0	2521	34.5
38	Noroozi Omid		IRI	2340	4.0	0.0	2507	38.0
39	Darini Pouria	IM	IRI	2471	4.0	0.0	2493	34.5
40	Pourramezanali Amirreza	FM	IRI	2330	3.5	0.0	2562	39.5

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Biel Chess Festival

We recently mentioned that the Biel Chess Festival had contracted Magnus Carlsen for their GM group this year. Besides the Norwegian, back then also the names of Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan) and Yannick Pelletier (Switzerland) were known. The other three players have now been confirmed as well: Fabiano Caruana (Italy), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) and... Alexander Morozevich (Russia).

The former world's number two player isn't very active any more (his last tournament was Reggio Emilia in December/January), but everyone remembers his attractive playing style and the chess fans will be excited to see him behind the board again. In fact Morozevich is the only player, besides Anatoly Karpov, who won the tournament in Biel three times (2003, 2004 and 2006).

The organizers have also copied two things from the London Chess Classic this year. Biel will see the football score (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss) and there will be a live commentary show with the players every round, which can be followed at the official website.

Capablanca Memorial

The 46th Capablanca Memorial has started in Havana, Cuba and runs until May 24th, 2011. The main event is a strong, 6-player, double round robin with Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba), David Navara (Czech Republic), Lazaro Bruzon (Cuba), Dmitry Andreikin (Russia) and Le Quang Liem (Vietnam). There were only two decisive games in the first two rounds; Bruzon lost twice with Black against Andreikin and Navara.

European Women's Championship

Six rounds have been played already at the European Women's Championship in Tbilisi, Georgia. Viktorija Cmilyte of Lithuania started with 5/5 but in yesterday's round she lost to former World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria. The two share the lead with Kateryna Lahno (Ukraine), Bela Khotenashvili (Georgia), Pia Cramling (Sweden), Lea Javakhishvili (Georgia) and Marina Romanko (Russia).

Bahía Feliz 2011

It's always nice to a new, promising tournament popping up in the calendar. The first Bahía Feliz GM tournament is a 10-player, single round robin with Francisco Vallejo Pons (Spain), Julio Granda Zuniga (Peru), Markus Ragger (Austria), Henrique Mecking (Brazil), Ilya Nyzhnyk (Ukraine), Gerald Hertneck (Germany), Stefan Bromberger (Germany), Stefan Kindermann (Germany), Ramon Mateo (Dominican Republic) and Sabrina Vega Gutierrez (Spain). It started yesterday.



Where does such an event, with among others the legendary Mecking and the youngest GM in the world Nyzhnyk, come from? It's sponsored by Roman Krulich, a chess player himself but also partner of the Munich Academy of Chess and the founder of the Munich Chess Foundation. This way Krulich has helped stimulating chess among children in the Munich region together with GMs like Hertneck and Kindermann, and now he decided it was time to make a contribution to the chess scene with a serious tournament. "Chess masters are top experts in their field and I think it's important to create platforms where all chess lovers can admire their skills," Krulich said in an interview with Hertneck. Applause!

Saint Louis matches

The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, USA will host two 10-game matches (six classical, four rapid) from May 16th till 25th, 2011. One will be between Saint Louis Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, ranked No. 7 in the world, and GM Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine, ranked No. 11 in the world. The other will be a match between GMs Ben Finegold and 16-year-old Ray Robson.

In the second match, Finegold would originally play against 80-year-old GM Viktor Korchnoi of Switzerland, but the legendary player has been forced to withdraw due to health concerns. The organizers said the ailment was not serious in nature, but that it impaired Korchnoi's ability to travel internationally. "My opponent just got 65 years younger!" joked Finegold.

Robson became the youngest grandmaster in U.S. history in 2009 when he was just 14. He had a solid performance at this year's U.S. Championship finishing third in his round-robin field of eight, just a half point shy of qualifying for the finals.



The players will take part in a live, virtual press conference at 10 a.m. CDT on May 16. Journalists and fans from all over the world can log onto livestream.com/uschess to submit questions to the players and watch their answers streamed live online.

Round one of the 10-game matches will take place at 1 p.m. CDT on May 17. Commentary for the live games will be provided by IM John Donaldson and WGM Jennifer Shahade. Online spectators can watch the action live at saintlouischessclub.org/live.