2008-2009 Grand Prix, Astrakhan

I added the crosstable and PGN for Astrakhan 2010 (official site) to my page on the 2008-2009 Grand Prix. Although the overall results for the six events haven't been posted to the FIDE page -- FIDE Grand Prix 2008-2009 - Standings -- tentative results are available on the Wikipedia page, FIDE Grand Prix 2008-2010.

I'll add the players to my Index of Players as soon as I get a chance. Because of the many changes that occurred during the two years it took to play the event, I have to do a little research first.

2009-2010 Women's Grand Prix, Nalchik

I added a crosstable for Nalchik 2010 to my page on the 2009-2010 FIDE Women's Grand Prix. The official site of the event, the third of six in the Women's Grand Prix series, is Women GP - Nalchik.

What a Match!

I added the crosstable and PGN game scores to my page on the 2010 Anand - Topalov title match. What a fantastic match it was! Everyone associated with it in any way -- the organizers, the officials, the commentators, the journalists / bloggers, and, especially, the players and their teams -- deserves a warm congratulations and a hearty handshake.

Special congratulations to World Champion Viswanathan Anand! To overcome such an incredibly strong player as Topalov is no small achievement. And a special handshake to GM Veselin Topalov who showed that he is a superb fighter and one of the great champions.

My only regret about this match is that it did not reach the tiebreak phase. It would have been a special treat to watch these two masters of the chess struggle go head to head at increasingly faster time controls. Now we have to wait at least two years for the next match, Anand vs. ???, to see more chess at this rarefied level.

FIDE Ethics Commission Judgement 04/06

I added the July 2007 statement of the FIDE Ethics Commission to my page on the 2006 Kramnik - Topalov Unification Match. The section titled 'CHRONOLOGY OF THE FACTS' is an excellent, objective, third-party account of the events that came to be known as Toiletgate.

The original document published by the Ethics Commission can be found on Fide.com's Judgements by the FIDE Ethics Commission (29 August 2007) under the link 'Judgement 04/06'. A translation of Topalov's interview with a Spanish newspaper, the source of one of Kramnik's two complaints, is on Chessbase.com's Topalov: Kramnik will never admit that he cheated... (19 December 2006).