Anand vs. Carlsen: World Championship 2013

So it's gonna be [player]Magnus Carlsen[/player] challenging [player]Viswanathan Anand[/player] for the World title come November 2013. Who are you rooting for?

I'll go for the youth, of course.

Hiarcs Chess Explorer Video Quick Tour

The Hiarcs team recently posted two videos (one for Mac and another for Windows) to give a quick tour of their products. The Hiarcs Chess Explorer applications for both platforms virtually look the same and share the same functionalities.

I have a Mac and purchased the Mac version, and here's the quick tour:



Yet, I have to reiterate my feature requests I hope we get in the next version:

• Engine match and engine tournaments;


• Ability to publish PGN games to be replayable in HTML through javascript;

See also Hiarcs Chess Explorer for PC video tour.

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.