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Viswanathan Anand, Carlsen, and Kramnik are Chesshousehold names. But how many of the others invited to this years Corus Chess tournament do we know? We present these talented but relatively lesser known players in a different, interesting way. Be aware that most of them are super stars in their own country/region. Pentala Harikrishna Look at this www.chessmetrics.com list. 1 Kramnik, Vladimir 2541 2 Bu Xiangzhi 2520 3 Kundin, Alexander 2494 4 Radjabov, Teimour 2474 5 Leko, Peter 2466 6 Kamsky, Gata 2462 7 Polgar, Judit 2458 8 Ponomariov, Ruslan 2452 9 Bacrot, Etienne 2432 10 Harikrishna, Pentala 2381 According to Jeff Sonas, this is the list of the highest ratings of 14 year olds, ever! Sure, No. 3 Kundin is not popular, but No. 10 is not a bad ranking to have, especially if you go down the list and find Jakovenko, Aronian, Naiditsch, Short, Kasimdzhanov, and last but not the least Topalov at Nos 12, 13, 17, 30, 44 and 50! i warned you No. 10 is not bad! (Probably No. 11 now...

The relentless march of the Chinese chess players cannot go unnoticed any longer. They were always climbing up in Fide's top nations charts. Just imagine, 4 players at or above 2700 and an amazingly talented girl. When did we last see this kind of a rise by any country ? China is now No. 3 when you count the top 10. How far will they go ? In the April list, the top Chinese were: Open Bu Xiangzhi 2708 Ni Hua 2703 Wang Yue 2689 (Definitely above 2700 in the next list) Wang Hao 2684 Women Xie Jun 2574 Hou Yifan 2549 (and still climbing fast) Zhao Xue 2523

Zoltan Almasi of Hungary won the Reggio Emilia tournament of 2008. He finished half a point clear of three others who were tied at 5.5 points. Almasi garnered 6 points out of a possible 9. The local favorite, Godena, finished at the bottom with 3 points. Final standings after round 9: Almasi - 6 Gashimov, Ni Hua, Harikrishna - 5.5 Landa - 4.5 Korchnoi, Navara - 4 Tiviakov, Marin - 3.5 Godena - 3

Breaking news. Details to follow soon. Navara beat Korchnoi in a French Defence game. Almasi beat Marin - Ruy Lopez game. Ni Hua beat Tiviakov in a Center Counter game (Scandinavian). Godena drew Landa in a Sicilian Alapin game. Results of Round 5 at Reggio Emilia Godena - Landa 0.5 - 0.5 Navara - Korchnoi 1 - 0 Almasi - Marin 1 - 0 Ni Hua - Tiviakov 1 - 0 Gashimov - Harikrishna 0.5 - 0.5 Standings after Round 5: Almasi - 3.5 pts Gashimov, Harikrishna, Landa, Ni Hua - 3 pts Marin, Tiviakov, Navara, Korchnoi - 2 points Godena - 1.5 pts

There are four leaders now at the top at the Reggio Emilia chess tournament 2007 - 2008. Harikrishna beat everybody's favorite whipping boy in this tournament, Navara. One suspects Navara is a bit lacking in confidence in this tournament. Hope he soon starts fighting back as he is capable of. Harikrisha's comeback after his first round loss to Almasi is already impressive. It bodes well for him for the near future where he will play in the GM Group B section of the Corus Chess Championship at Wijk aan Zee, which starts after Reggio Emilia. Tiviakov beat another favorite whipping boy, Godena while Ni Hua held Korchnoi to a draw. Godena obviously walked into Tiviakov's preparation in a French Defence game. He was slowly ground to his defeat. Standings after Round 4: Zoltan Almasi, Vugar Gashimov, Konstantin Landa, P Harikrishna - 2.5 Ni Hua, Mihail Marin, Sergei Tiviakov, Godena, David Navara - 2

Konstantin Landa and Vugar Gashimov joined overnight leader, Zoltan Almasi at the Reggio Emilia chess tournament. They have collected 2 points each out of the possible 3. The tournament is a very strong one and even Navara, who was recently above 2700 is in the last place with just one point. Landa beat Marin and Gashimov beat Navara (with black pieces). The remaining games were drawn. Standings after round 3: Almasi, Landa, Gashimov - 2 Korchnoi, Ni Hua, Harikrishna, Marin - 1.5 Tiviakov, Godena, Navara - 1

Harikrishna beat in form Godena in the second round of the Reggio Emilia tournament. All the other games were drawn. Results of second round: Gashimov vs Ni Hua 0.5 - 0.5 Korchnoi vs Almasi 0.5 - 0.5 Marin vs Navara 0.5 - 0.5 P Harikrishna vs Godena 1-0 Tiviakov vs Landa 0.5 - 0.5

The strong Reggio Emilia tournament has started. There were two winners today: Mihail Marin beat Sergei Tiviakov and Zoltan Almasi beat Pentala Harikrishna. Gashimov vs Godena, Korchnoi vs Landa, Navara vs Ni Hua were drawn.

Tournaments to be held in the near future: Hastings Chess Congress - 28 December 2007 to 6 January 2008 (David Howell,Stuart Conquest, Glenn Flear, Danny Gormally, Valeriy Neverov, Mark Hebden, Nicholas Pert,Safarli Eltaj Nidjat, Mamedov, others ). Contact Stuart Reuben. 50th Torneo di Capodanno Reggio Emilia - December 29th 2007 - January 6th 2008 (Almasi Zoltan, Landa Konstantin, Harikrishna Pentala, Gashimov Vugar, Navara David, Tivjakov Sergej, Ni Hua, Korchnoi Viktor, Marin Mihail, Godena Michele) 6th Parsvnath International Open Chess Tournament New Delhi, 12-20 January 2008 http://www.delhichess.com/