Saturday, November 22, 2014

Chess960: Compilation Database Update for the Frankfurt City Championships

Right at the climax of the Chess World Championship at Sochi, there is also a Chess960 tournament unfolding!

The Frankfurt City Chess960 Championships have become an annual event which I only just realised has been going since 2010. Here is the link. The good news is that it looks like it is scheduled to continue until 2020! Perhaps it is the spiritual successor for the Mainz Chess960 event that ended in 2009?

The 2014 Frankfurt City competition is still unfolding with a few rounds to go.......

In the mean time, I have updated the compilation database for Chess960 that I host on this blog for another 216 games! The additional games are from the Frankfurt Championships 2010-2013 for games where at least one of the players is 2000+ rating.

Once the dust has settled on 2014 championships, I'll add them to the database as well.

Thank you to the organizers for uploading the PGNs for all the Chess960 games!

Chess960: Two steps forward one step back at Saint Louis

Disappointing news today that the two Chess960 greats Hikaru Nakamura and Levon Aronian are back for another Chess showdown at Saint Louis Chess Club but there will be no Chess960.

The questions I ask are:
  • Why is this exhibition being hosted right at the climax of the 2014 Chess world championship at Sochi?
  • Perhaps it is because the promoters hope that the internet exposure will be larger?
  • Perhaps this exhibition is trying to display an alternative more innovative format for a future chess world championship?
  • Why no Chess960 between the two great 960 players? 

A few months ago the Saint Louis Chess hosted a Chess960 match between Nakamura and Aronian at the Sinquefield cup 2014 called "Ultimate Moves" but it was botched. There was no live stream, no commentary of the match and it was tacked onto the end of the tournament when most commentators and journalists had left the venue.

So this new Chess showdown could have fixed all that damage and promoted Chess960 with a properly organised Chess960 showdown.

But no! Really disappointing. Such an opportunity wasted.