Chess960 rules in Mainz!


The third day of the Chess Classic Mainz 2009 was a day for Chess960 lovers. In the 3. Mini- FiNet Chess960 Open, 32 youngsters played seven rounds in their tournament which was won by Johannes Carow. The 5. Livingston Chess960 computer chess world championship started today with Rybka, Shredder, DeepSjeng and Ikarus. Rybka dominated the first day and won no less than seven games in a row! Five more rounds in the preliminaries will be played on Thursday.


Mini-FiNet Chess960 Open


On Wednesday the juniors and kids again had a chance to show their skills in the Rheingoldhalle. In the 3. Mini-FiNet Chess960 Open U-16 they fought for rating places and trophies. After seven rounds Johannes Carow scored 6,5 points and won the 3. Mini-FiNet Open. Carlo Pauly and Frederik Eigemann scored 6 points for 2nd and 3rd place.


However, no one went home empty-handed and every participant received a certificate. Not the only reason why all participants will remember the tournament fondly. “This is my favourite tournament”, Hans-Walter Schmitt said in his opening speech. “Spread the word, come to Mainz next year with one or two friends and show them that Chess960 is fun to play”.


Rybka dominates Livingston Chess960 computer preliminaries


Vasik Rajlich had a perfect first day with his chess program Rybka. The number one chess program in the world, which is the defending ICGA world champion and Chess960 world champion showed some really impressive chess in the preliminaries. With an incredible 100% score (7/7) Rybka is the first program to qualify for the final on Friday. Shredder and DeepSjeng still have chances for the second spot in the final. Stefan Meyer-Kahlen, who will release his latest version Shredder 12 after the tournament, has to be content with a mere 50%: 3,5 points. He is closely followed by DeepSjeng with three points. However, the Belgian developer has a psychological advantage tomorrow for the remaing games against Shredder, because he won the first mini match against Shredder 1,5-0,5. But how do you tell you chess program what a psychological advantage is? We’ll find out on Thursday! Internet qualifier Ikarus obviously has problems to keep up with the big boys and only scored one draw on Wednesday.


Standings after round 7


1. Rybka 7,0 pts

2. Shredder 3,0 pts

3. Deep Sjeng 3,5 pts

4. Ikarus 0,5 pts

Report by the organizer

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Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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