Sao Paolo-Bilbao Masters 2012 Update: Caruana Leads at the End of First Leg

[caption id="attachment_1128" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Photo credit: www.bilbaomastersfinal.com[/caption]

With 3 wins and 2 draws, [player]Fabiano Caruana[/player] leads the pack of 6 top players in the [event]Sao Paolo-Bilbao Grand Slam Final 2012[/event]. He started the campaign with a win in Round 1 against [player]Magnus Carlsen[/player] (replay game here), followed by two more wins against [player]Sergey Karjakin[/player] and [player]Francisco Vallejo Pons[/player] in Rounds 2 and 4, respectively.

Grandmasters can play ball

Photo by Albert Silver, Chessbase

It is but on rare occasions we get to see Grandmasters playing sports other than chess.

Participants of the [event]Sao Paolo-Bilbao Grand Slam Final 2012[/event] dressed up in rubber shoes and jerseys to play basketball the day before the opening ceremony. In the picture above you'll see [player]Levon Aronian[/player] tries to get past the defense of [player]Sergey Karjakin[/player] while [player]Magnus Carlsen[/player] waits in the background.

More photos in the Chessbase website.

A FIDE Master Title for Elite GM's

William of OnlineChessLessons.net offered a strong argument why FIDE should introduce an official Super-GM title for 2700+ rated chess players.

In 1972 there were 88 GMs and in 2012 there are now over 1200 GMs! However the vast majority (around 95%) of Grandmasters are rated between 2400 and 2699 FIDE. After the recent Chess Olympiad 2012 in Istanbul, there are now a total of 50 Super-GMs rated over 2700 FIDE.

Read more about Should FIDE have a Super-GM title for 2700+ GMs?

Personally, I'm in favor of his proposal of an official distinct FIDE title awarded to "elite" GM's in order to separate them from, well, the not-so-elite ones. FIDE may not necessarily use a 2700 ELO rating cut-off, but they could devise certain criteria for eligibility.

However, I advise against the use of the "Super-GM" name. It's kind of hyperbole -- it's super and it's grand. Besides, what if in the future another higher title is warranted, what will it be called, a Hyper-Super-GM?

Instead, I suggest they take out the "Grand" prefix and change it to a higher comparative status. They could use, for example, Prime Master -- PM for short. Grab a thesaurus and take your pick. This way, they can be flexible in the future to add a higher title, or even interim titles -- e.g., higher than the Grandmaster but below the highest title whatever they choose to call.

The SPICE Cup Invitational 2012

The SPICE Cup Invitational is happening in St. Louis, Missouri from October 16 to 20, 2012. It is expected to be a Category 18 tournament, just four notches below the highest FIDE tournament category.

The participants for this event (Invitational category) are six members of the Top 100 FIDE Ratings List (with their respective September 2012 ELO ratings and countries):

• [player]Maxime Vachier-Lagrave[/player], 2697, [country]France[/country];


• [player]Ding Liren[/player], 2694, [country]China[/country];


• [player]Le Quang Liem[/player], 2693, [country]Vietnam[/country];


• [player]Csaba Balogh[/player], 2668, [country]Hungary[/country];


• [player]Wesley So[/player], 2667, [country]Philippines[/country];


• [player]Georg Meier[/player], 2656, [country]Germany[/country].

We at ChessHive, being fans of [player]Wesley So[/player] and [country]Philippines[/country] chess, will certainly bring the updates as they unfold. So stay tuned!

Sao Paolo - Bilbao Grand Slam Final 2012

The Grand Slam this year will be held again in Sao Paolo in [country]Brazil[/country] and Bilbao in [country]Spain[/country]. It won't be a grand slam if it were not participated by the heavy weights in the world of chess:

• [player]Viswanathan Anand[/player], [country]India[/country], current World Champiion;


• [player]Magnus Carlsen[/player], [country]Norway[/country], currently the world's No. 1 in ELO Rating;


• [player]Levon Aronian[/player], [country]Armenia[/country], world's No. 2 and member of the champion team in the Istanbul 2012 Chess Olympiad;


• [player]Sergey Karjakin[/player], [country]Russia[/country], world's No. 7;


• [player]Fabiano Caruana[/player], [country]Italy[/country], world's No. 8; and


• [player]Francisco Vallejo Pons[/player], [country]Spain[/country], the pride of one of the host countries of this tournament.

The first round-robin matches will happen in Sao Paolo from September 24 to 29, while the final rounds in Bilbao from October 8 to 13, 2012. Check out the website.

ChessHive will bring you the updates about this grand event, so stay tuned.

Hiarcs Chess Explorer for Mac -- First Impressions

So I finally took the plunge and purchased my own copy of Hiarcs Chess Explorer for Mac, because no one wants to sponsor one for me.



And here are my first impressions:

• I've tried game analysis, the feature that I'm always looking forward to when trying out a chess software. It's working great, at least as far as with the UCI engines that I was able to use the software with.


• There's a limited number of UCI engines that are compatible only for Mac, especially free engines, as there are available for Windows. So far what I have are the stock Houdini 14, Stockfish 2.2.2 and Fruit (05/11/03).


• With the three UCI engines available for my Mac, I can't really test their playing strengths against each other because there's no engine match feature in the Hiarcs Chess Explorer software. (See update below).

This list will be updated for further impressions.

What about you? How do you find Hiarcs Chess Explorer, for Mac or even Windows?

UPDATE (September 16, 2012):

I have the following UCI engines (besides Hiarcs 14, which comes with the purchase) successfully running on Hiarcs Mac Chess Explorer:

• Critter 1.6a 64-bit;


• Fruit 05/11/03;


• Komodo64 3;


• Stockfish 2.3 64-bit;

If I missed a strong UCI engine that you think I should try out, please let me know in the comments below.

Tromso 2014 World Chess Olympiad

Following the end of the [event]Istanbul 2012 World Chess Olympiad[/event], everyone is looking forward to the next biennial Chess Olympiad, to be held at the City of Tromso in [country]Norway[/country], the home country of [player]Magnus Carlsen[/player].

Here's Magnus promoting Tromso when they were yet campaigning last year:



For sure, ChessHive.com will still be around to cover the event two years from now, to bring you the latest, especially about Team [country]Philippines[/country].