The Liga de Campeones super tournament will begin in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain from November 1st.
Here is the impressive field of 5 former world champions and my sister Judit:
Veselin Topalov
Ruslan Ponomariov
Judit Polgar
Rustam Kasimdzhanov
Anatoly Karpov
Alexander Khalifman
It will be a double round robin with classical time control.
Here is the official website: http://www.ajedrez-hotelakua.com/maestros.php
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Free advice:
When ahead in material, force exchanges and steer towards the endgame. Simplify!
Open files and diagonals when possible so that you may use them to engage the enemy and force further concessions.
If possible, win material without sacrificing in some other element.
Material is usually more important than other elements, so take it if it is offered — unless you have a really good reason not to.
If you are behind in material, avoid exchanging additional pieces, but do not become passive. You must attack!
Judit is also a former world champion!
So how does this tournament go together with European team championships (namely Topalov and Ponomariov)?
“Judit is also a former world champion!”
Yes, maybe even two times? A headline blunder!? But, where was she champion of the world?
Wikipedia has no mention of it:
Judit has always preferred men’s events, making it clear from the beginning that she wanted to become the true World Champion of Chess.
Trained in her early years by her sister Zsuzsa (who ultimately became Women’s World Champion herself) Judit was a prodigy from an early age. She first defeated an International Master (Dolfi Drimer) at age 10, and a Grandmaster (Vladimir Kovacevic) at age 11.
In 1994 she suffered a controversial defeat at the hands of then-world champion Garry Kasparov, the highest-rated chessplayer of all time. Kasparov changed his mind after making a losing move and then made another move instead. According to chess rules, once a player has released a piece s/he cannot make a different move, so Kasparov should have been made to play his original move. However, Polgár did not challenge this because she says there were no witnesses and an arbiter was not around. She was also unaware at the time that the re-move was caught on tape by a television crew. The tournament director was criticised for not forfeiting Kasparov when the videotape evidence was made available to him. However, she won a rapid chess game against Kasparov in 2002.
On the November 1995 FIDE ratings list, Polgár’s 2676 rating made her the number 10 ranked player in the world,[10] the first woman ever to enter the world’s Top Ten.
In 2003, Judit scored one of her best results: an undefeated clear second place in the Category 19 Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, just a half-point behind Indian star Viswanathan Anand, and a full point ahead of world champion Vladimir Kramnik.
In 2004, Polgár took some time off from chess to give birth to her son, Olivér. She was consequently considered inactive and not listed on the January 2005 FIDE rating list. Her sister Zsuzsa reactivated her playing status during this period, and temporarily became ranked the world’s number one woman player again.
Polgár returned to chess at the prestigious Corus chess tournament on January 15, 2005, scoring 7/13. She was therefore relisted in the April 2005 FIDE rating list, gaining a few rating points for her better-than-par performance at Corus. In May she also had a better-than-par performance at a strong tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria, finishing third. This brought her to her highest ever rating, 2735, in the July 2005 FIDE list and enabled her to retain her spot as the eighth ranked player in the world.
In September 2005, Polgár became the first woman to play for a World Championship, at the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. However, she had a rare disappointing performance, coming last out of the eight competitors. Nigel Short criticised her poor opening repertoire, and some speculated that taking a year off to have a baby may have left her rusty, despite her strong performances in two tournaments earlier in the year.
She did not play at the 2006 Linares tournament because she was pregnant again. On July 6, 2006, she gave birth to a girl, Hanna.
In October 2006, Judit scored another excellent result: tied for first place in the Essent Chess Tournament, Hoogeveen, Holland.[13] She scored 4.5 out of 6 in a double round robin tournament that included two wins against the world’s top-rated player, Veselin Topalov.
In May-June 2007 she played in the Candidates Tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007. She was eliminated in the first round, losing to 3.5-2.5 to Evgeny Bareev.
Judit Polgar became an International Master at the age of 12 – younger than Fischer or Kasparov. At 13 she was the World Under-14 Champion (played against boys) and FIDE’s highest rated woman. She won the U.S. Open in 1998, the only woman to ever win it. In 1999 shw was the first and only woman to be a FIDE World Champion quarterfinalist.
Is the alleged video of Kasparov (touching a piece and then ignoring it) still available?
Interesting that people already think that if a fact is not in Wikipedia, it does not exist: it’s very useful, but not complete, and sometimes wrong.
This will certainly be a tournament to follow.
I hope Susan will comment on Judit’s games ‘live’, as she has a unique insight into how Judit’s very special mind works. I suspect no-one else can do this.
Judit’s ‘World Under-14 Champion’ title was of course a significant achievement.
Is it the only World Title she has? If so, that’s a pity. I do wonder if her reputation will ultimately be enhanced by not bagging at least once what would be for her the easy win of the Women’s World Chess Champion title. Why does she scorn this title?
To ‘Anon 2.54am’ – how many of us are up at that time? – I would say that it is a gross exaggeration to say “Trained in her early years by Zsuzsa”. Of course ZP was an early, positive influence, but others were training her too.
The video of Kasparov letting go of the piece was super well publicized at the time. No questions about it happening. Kasparov basically says that Judit did not protest according to the rules and therefore his move stands.
It caused some controversey but there was nothing Judit could do about it.
Phooey on Gary.
This should be an exciting event. I’m looking forward to it.
Is Danailov accompanying Topalov? Then Judith better watch out! Is there no sportmanship or honour in chess? The demi – god of chess – Kasparov should not have retracted his move against Judith. No use saying that she did not protest. His lustre has dimmed. Also his boorish behaviour vs Anand in their championship match was uncalled for.
I hope that Judit could focus and play at her top form. She’s back!
No, Danailov is not there, as the tournament is held in an isolated “aquarium;” and, btw, Topalov defeated Karpov today.