Karjakin's Early Corus Encounters with Carlsen

In the previous episode, Karjakin's First Encounters with Carlsen, we saw that the two young stars played in tournaments without meeting each other over the board, then first played in Corus 2005. Their early careers can be tracked in the Corus (Wijk aan Zee NED) events.

Karjakin's first appearance at Corus was the GMB (the GM 'B' round robin) 2003 event, where he finished fifth with +3-2=8. He did not play the following year, when Carlsen won the GMC Corus 2004 section with +9-1=3, giving him promotion to the next GMB event.

The crosstable for GMB Corus 2005 is shown below. Karjakin won with +7-1=5, while Carlsen finished in the middle of the pack with +3-2=8. Their individual game was a draw.

In Corus 2006, Karjakin finished the GMA section with +4-3=6, losing to both co-winners Anand and Topalov. After Carlsen tied for first with Motylev in the GMB section with +6-1=6, both players were promoted to next year's GMA, setting up another direct encounter with Karjakin.

In GMA Corus 2007 (shown above), Karjakin finished on 50% with +3-3=7, while Carlsen tied for last place with +0-4=9. Their individual game, Sergey Karjakin vs Magnus Carlsen; Corus (2007), was another draw.

The following year, GMA Corus 2008, Karjakin did not play, while Carlsen finished +5-2=6 to tie for first with Aronian. in the Karjakin - Carlsen rivalry, the Norwegian thus reached a significant milestone first.

[Crosstables taken from Mark Crowther's The Week In Chess (TWIC), the chess world's premier news service.]

Chess Builders

You might expect this fortnightly Sunday series on Top eBay Chess Items by Price to fall on Mother's Day once every two years. You might also expect that it's not always easy to locate a suitable gift for Mom, as in Capablanca Letters++ (May 2014).

On my short list this year I had the choice between two chess sets: '1984 $4500 Igor Carl Faberge Chess Sterling Silver Rubies Emeralds' (US $1995.95) and 'Giant Plastic Chess Set with a 37" King' (US $789.00). The first set was damaged and the second set...well...I just couldn't picture Mom playing chess outside in her garden. That left me with the item shown below.

Titled 'Jacob Lawrence (American, 1917-2000) "Two Builders Playing Chess"', the print sold at live auction for US $2800 after five bids. The previous 'Top eBay Items' featuring a live auction was The Kitten Theme (January 2016).

The description mentioned, 'Seller's Estimate: USD 3000 - 5000', and added,

1996, soft ground/aquatint etching, from an edition of 65, signed, numbered and dated. Size: 32 x 44 cm (sight); 53 x 67 cm (frame).

The artist's Wikipedia page, Jacob Lawrence informs,

An African-American painter known for his portrayal of African-American life. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism," though by his own account the primary influence was not so much French art as the shapes and colors of Harlem. Among the best-known 20th-century African-American painters, he was 23 years old when he gained national recognition with his 60-panel Migration Series, painted on cardboard.

In the same live auction, four other 'Builders' prints by Lawrence also sold for four figures. Another page on the artist, Jacob Lawrence - DC Moore Gallery, explains,

Thematically, he concentrated on the topic of Builders. Within the wide field of development offered by the Builders subject, Lawrence underscored a life-long vision of man’s labor and struggle as his major theme.

While this isn't the sort of gift I would normally give Mom, I'm sure she would like it.

Chess Kids (2011)

Besides the obvious, what do Judit Polgar and Josh Waitzkin have in common? They both appeared in Chess Kids (1996; imdb.com). Fifteen years later there was a follow-up film.

Chess Kids: Special Edition - Full Movie | Snagfilms (1:20:09) • 'They were prodigies then. See where they are now. Here is Lynn Hamrick's (2011) special edition film.'

The description continued,

The original version of CHESS KIDS, go behind the scenes at the World Youth Chess Tournament - the largest ever held in the United States. Meet Josh Waitzkin, the real-life subject of Searching For Bobby Fischer, and Judit Polgar, the best female player of all time. Hear children as young as seven reveal how they ace the world's oldest game.

In CHESS KIDS - SPECIAL EDITION, Lynn returns after nearly two decades to pick up where she left off. Revisit Josh Waitzkin, Judit Polgar, and others who reflect on their chess lives past and present. Morgan Pehme, Bruce Pandolfini and Josh speak candidly about their fictionalized portrayals in the movie Searching For Bobby Fischer.

I'd never seen the film before and was always curious about its message. Now I know. See also the Facebook page: Chess Kids.

Chess @ Yahoo Finance

Not too long ago, in a post titled No More Yahoos? (February 2016), I noted that Yahoo had shut down its comic section, its news carrousel, and its game section (in descending order of importance to me!). It's good to see that chess is still being featured in the news section from time to time, and the other day was one of those times.

'Inside the high-stress world of pro chess'

That 'Inside' headline was subtitled,

Players have built their lives around chess, are extremely skilled, and still struggle to make much of a living. Competing for six hours straight »

and beat out four other stories for top billing:-

'Woj: Ewing to interview for Kings job'
'Photos: White House Correspondents’ Dinner'
'Obama out: Best zingers from his final WHCD'
'Can Fiorina help Cruz in California?'

Making this even more noteworthy is that the four other stories are mainly of interest to American readers. Does this mean that the 'high-stress world of pro chess' is also of interest to American readers? If so, the world's third most populous country might be picking up where the Fischer story left off in the 1970s.

The Yahoo headline led to a story Inside the ultra-competitive world of professional chess by Daniel Roberts. If you look at the URL buried under that title, you'll see

'world chess championship, inside the business of chess, magnus carlsen, maurice ashley, hikaru nakamura'

and if you look at the Daniel Roberts article ('a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering sports business and technology'), you'll see two videos featuring Maurice Ashley. The first is an interview and the second is the clip behind my post And the Award for Best Chess Actor Goes to... (February 2016). There's more to be said here -- including a look at the >100 comments attached to the article -- but I'll save that for another time.

May 1966 'On the Cover'

Fifty years ago the chess world witnessed a defense of the World Championship title by Tigran Petrosian. In those days a title match lasted for two months.

Left: 'Petrosian Keeps Title'
Right: 'World Champion (Photo by Cantwell at Curacao 1962)'

Chess Life

Tigran Petrosian retained the world chess title by defeating challenger Boris Spassky in the 22nd game of their match. Petrosian's victory gave him a 12-10 edge and made it impossible for Spassky to achieve a plus score in the 24-game contest.

Chess Review

World Champion Tigran Petrosyan of the USSR, specifically of Armenia, is currently defending his title. The Challenger, Boris Spassky, also of the USSR (Leningrad), is meeting him in the Variety Theater in Moscow, three games per week. Spassky is 29, Petrosyan 33. Spassky had White in the first game, a Caro-Kann Defense, and in the five games finished as we go to press, Petrosyan had put up three Caro-Kanns.

CL reported through game 22, CR through game 5. Curious about the publication schedules, I looked for the dates of those games. Although I have a half-dozen references at hand for the match, only one gave the dates on which the individual games were played. Gelo's 'Chess World Championships, 1834-1984' lists 20-21 April 1966 for game 5, and 3 June for game 22.

In the April 1966 'On the Cover', CL said, 'The Match Begins • First Six Games Drawn'. Although the cover dates of the two chess publications are the same, there is a one month difference in the content they reported.

Karjakin's First Encounters with Carlsen

Let's continue to look at GM Karjakin's early career, like his GM Title and Early Games. The Chessgames.com page for Karjakin vs. Carlsen lists their first game as Magnus Carlsen vs Sergey Karjakin; Corus Tournament: Group B (2005).

In fact, they had already played in events without having to play each other. Here are two examples from TWIC (TheWeekInChess.com).

For more about the Tripoli event, see my page on the 2004 FIDE Knockout Matches. The TWIC report mentions that Carlsen was eliminated in the first round of the event, but says nothing about Karjakin. For years there has been a media bias in the West favoring the Norwegian over the Russian. Is the opposite true of Russian media?

Tenth Anniversary!

Blogging, that is. The first post on this blog was Another head? (1 May 2006), and the second, Why 'Chess for All Ages'? (2 May 2006), established the routine for daily blogging. The post for the first anniversary was M'aidez, M'aidez (1 May 2007). I don't remember if I picked May Day on purpose or if it just worked out that way.

Google image search on 'May Day'

Blogger.com, which is the Blogspot.com tool for managing the blog, says there have been 2188 posts before this one. I doubt there will be a 20th anniversary, but who really knows? It's always one day at a time.