17th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament, Round 3, Upsets Galore!!!

17th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament

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Each round has 2 games
Blindfold game (say, BG) - a normal game
Rapid game (say, RG) - a fast game, moves are to be played faster than in normal game
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Round 3

Results!!
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BG
RG
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Mamedyarov-Kramnik 1/2-1/2 
Kramnik-Mamedyarov 0-1 

Topalov-Anand 1/2-1/2 
Anand - Topalov 1/2-1/2 

Leko-Morozevich 1/2-1/2 
Morozevich-Leko 0-1 

Aronian-Gelfand 1/2-1/2 
Gelfand-Aronian 1-0 

Carlsen-Karjakin 1-0 
Karjakin-Carlsen 1-0 

Van Wely-Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2
Ivanchuk-Van Wely 0-1
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Great upset was Kramnik losing to Mamedyarov!!!

Until move 20, in what looked like a dead equal game,
is thown away (???) by Kramnik, sacrificing his Bishop, assuming he can win back.
This proved to be severe overconfidence on Kramnik's part,
as Mamedyarov crushed him in 20 more moves, slowly but surely!
What a game it was!!!

Here is the game!!


Anand couldn't force a win on Topalov!, both Blindfold & Rapid ended with draws.
In Rapid game, felt Anand could have played 29th move as Rd4 (Rook to d4 sqaure), but we can't assume Anand didn't get it, he is genious, and suggestion may be an obvious one!

Here is the game!!


Ok! another upset (not really) was Morozevich losing to Leko!. Not really because Leko is a solid player, only these days he isnt playing at his peak!
You can't really win on the Mighty Moro, but Leko's solid play became very heavy on dynamic play of Moro, this time.

Here is the game!!


Seeing his extraordinary performances this year and his rating, Carlsen shud win on Karjakin, he did in the 1st game!
However, it was Karjakin who won on Carlsen in the Rapid game, yes, this is an upset.

Here is the game!!


Lastly Ivanchuk, most experienced in Top 10 (may be Top 100?), has lost to much low rated, but very cunning (in chess), Van Wely!
Van Wely! slowly gained a pawn in the middle, gave it back for strong attack against Ivanchuk, later slowly gripped on the game, and took 2 pawns!
With not much counter play left, and 2 pawns down, one passed pawn to become Queen with certainity, Ivanchuk resigned, Van Wely won!!

Here is the game!!


Link:
http://www.amberchess2008.com/2008Round03.html

Ataturk Women Masters Chess, Round 6 & 7, Cramling Pia & Yifan Hou lead!! Atalik Ekaterina follow!

Ataturk Women Masters Chess

(Not surprisingly, this tournament is overlooked as another Super tournament, 17th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament, has started, where great guns like Anand, Moro, Topalov are playing, ofcourse it's difficult to say Kramnik is doing great, with 2 loses already ??)

Ok Round 6!

Chen Zhu (2548), after a series of losses, slowly got her confidence back, and won on Xue Zhao (2517), in the Round 6! It's a good sign, but can she reach to Top? All depends on how others perform!

Round 7

After Round 7, Cramling Pia with her huge experience & Yifan Hou with her extraordinary talent, are leading the tournament now.

Also, these are the only un-beaten players till now!

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Rank Title Name Rating Place Points
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1 GM CRAMLING Pia 2524 SWE 5½
2 WGM YIFAN Hou 2527 CHN 5½
3 IM ATALIK Ekaterina 2408 TUR 5
4 WGM XUE Zhao 2517 CHN 3½
5 IM DRONAVALLI Harika 2455 IND 3½
6 IM KRUSH Irina 2473 USA 3
7 IM JAVAKHISHVILI Lela 2470 GEO 3
8 WIM YILDIZ Betul Cemre 2207 TUR 2½
9 GM CHEN Zhu 2548 QAT 2
10 IM USHENINA Anna 2484 UKR 1½
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