BOTW: 2017.06.17

John Upper's picture
Submitted by John Upper on Sat, 06/17/2017 - 14:15

The regular appearance of well-sponsored events may have spoiled chess fans for anything less than the best. The Sinquefield Cup and the just-concluded Alitbox Norway event, both of which feature only players from the world's top 20 and have live games, video, and GM commentary, give chess fans what they couldn't even hope for in a World Championship match only 25 years ago.

That kind of production requires money, and not all events have it. But even those which don't can still do a lot with social media (photos and video) and chess software (game posts). Or not...

2017 Continental Championship
June 10-18, 2017. Medellin, Colombia

An 11-round Swiss, open to players from North and South America, which qualifies the top finishers for the next round of the World Cup. 

After 9 rounds, Peruvian GM Jorge Cori is in clear first with 8.5, with a 2841 TPR. Four Canadians are playing:   

  • GM Anton Kovalyov (7/9)
  • IM Raja Panjwani (5/9)
  • FM Shiyam Thavandiran (5.5/9)
  • Elias Oussedik (4.5/9)

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That's what you get when you try to visit the 2017 Continental Championship homepage. Thankfully, other sites have stepped in to cover the gap: 

Canadian Results
http://www.chess-results.com/tnr286140.aspx?lan=1&art=25&fedb=CAN&flag=30&wi=821

Photos from the Federación Colombiana de Ajedrez facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/fedcolombiana.deajedrez/

Games
There are no live games, but a PGN can be downloaded from the chess-results link above.

Notes
You can find one of Anton's games, with notes, on the CFC Newsfeed:
http://chess.ca/newsfeed/node/965

  

Wisconsin International Chess Festival
June 13-18, 2017. Madison, WI

A 9 round Swiss with IM and GM Norm opportunities. After 8 rounds, Russian GMs Andrey Stukopin (2577) and Vladimir Belous (2567) lead with 7/8. 

Three Canadians are playing:

  • IM Aman Hambleton is going after his final GM Norm. He had 4.5/5, but lost to Stukopin in round 6, and now has 6/8.
  • FM Dale Haessel has 5/8.
  • Zhanhe Liu has 4.5/8.

There are no live games, but a PGN of games can be downloaded from the event homepage: 

http://www.wisconsinchessfestival.com/games 

 World Team Championship
June 16-26, 2017. Khanty-Mansysk, RUS

Two 10-team Round Robins compete in the Open Section and Women's Section. Top seeds in the Open section are China, Russia, Ukraine and India, with China and Russia both able to field four-2700+ players in any round. The USA is missing its top three players, who were all competing in Norway until yesterday, and are ranked 6th with Sam Shankland on board 1. With no players over 2430, tail-ender Egypt is the odd entry.

In round 1, the top two teams in the Women's event -- China and Russia -- were paired, with Russia getting revenge for their last-round loss at the Baku Olympiad by winning 3-1. 

All 40 games are being played on DGT boards and can be followed live on various websites, including the event homepage, which also has free live video and commentary by GM Evgeny Miroshnichenko and IM Anna Rudolf in English and GM Sergei Shipov in Russian.

Rounds start at 3pm local, 6am EST, except the final round (June 26) which begins two hours earlier.

homepage
http://ugra2017.fide.com/

facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ugrachess/

twitter
https://twitter.com/ugrachess


 

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