THE WEEK IN CHESS 170 - 9th February 1998 by Mark Crowther

Sponsored by the London Chess Center

E-Mail          mdcrowth@netcomuk.co.uk
Tel or fax      01274 882143 [Bradford England]
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html

1) Introduction
2) Petrov Memorial, St. Petersburg
3) Mermaid Beach Club
4) Goodricke International Open by Aniek Paul
5) Croatian Championships
6) First Saturday Kluger Memorial
7) Linklater International
8) Aarhus Skakklub Masters
9) Brazilian Championships
10) Belgrade - Moscow match
11) Ubeda Open
12) 14th Tournoi Open international de Genève
13) 14th Portuguese Masters
14) Upcoming Events

Games section

Petrov Memorial            80 games
Mermaid Beach              29 games
Mermaid Beach Rated        30 games
Goodricke Int.              5 games
Croatian Champs            91 games
Croatian Champs (women)    45 games
1st Kruger mem              6 games
FSIM Feb                    6 games
Linlater Int.              24 games
Aarhus Skaakclub           34 games
Brazilian Championships    18 games
Belgrade - Moscow          12 games
Ubeda Open                 57 games

1) Introduction

My thanks to Nigel Freeman, James Eade, Aniek Paul, RISC, Laszlo Nagy, Villy Fink Isaksen, Albert Silver, Sinisa Joksic, Guillermo Baches Garcia, Alessandro Miotto, Luis Santos and all those who helped with this issue.

A variety of international events without any outstanding ones make up this week's issue. As a fully paid up member of the Bradford branch of the Vlatko Kovacevic fan club (well heh he plays the same openings as me and once beat Bobby Fischer) I followed the Croatian Championships with interest. Elsewhere the Goodricke International Open promises some interesting chess, India's premier open always has an attractive mix of players and this year is no exception.

Hope you enjoy this issue

Mark

2) Petrov Memorial, St. Petersburg

This year's addition of the annual Petrov Memorial in St Petersburg is taking place February 7th - 15th. Boris Spassky is the guest of honour. there are 15 GMs and 18 IMs are taking part. Bezgodov, Biriukov, Chehlov, Galkin, Vaulin, Volzhin, Kharlov, Najer, Skatchkov, Vorobiov, and Yemelin all are on 2/2.

Coverage on the internet by RISC. http://www.dux.ru/chess/

Standings after 2 of 9 rounds.

St Petersburg RUS (RUS), II 1998
--------------------------------------------------------------
                                            1   2   TOTAL
--------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Bezgodov, Alexei            m RUS 2520  +44 +43  2.0      
 2 Biriukov, Oleg V              RUS 2390  +40 +56  2.0      
 3 Chehlov, Aleksander           LAT 2290  +49 +34  2.0      
 4 Galkin, Alexander           g RUS 2565  +48 +42  2.0      
 5 Vaulin, Alexander           g RUS 2535  +47 +28  2.0      
 6 Volzhin, Alexander          g RUS 2510  +50 +54  2.0      
 7 Kharlov, Andrei             g RUS 2560  +64 +53  2.0      
 8 Najer, Evgeniy              m RUS 2500  +63 +39  2.0      
 9 Skatchkov, Pavel            m RUS 2415  +74 +32  2.0      
10 Vorobiov, Evgeny E          m RUS 2475  +80 +33  2.0      
11 Yemelin, Vasily             g RUS 2485  +71 +38  2.0      
12 Aseev, Konstantin N         g RUS 2565  +45 =14  1.5  2598
13 Yandemirov, Valeri          g RUS 2545  =25 +41  1.5  2443
14 Gelman, Alexander           m RUS 2440  +69 =12  1.5  2580
15 Yagupov, Igor               m RUS 2450  +70 =22  1.5  2505
16 Yakovich, Yuri              g RUS 2570  +68 =19  1.5  2603
17 Taimanov, Mark E            g RUS 2490  =26 +58  1.5  2500
18 Zagrebelny, Sergey          g UZB 2485  =24 +60  1.5  2448
19 Alavkin, Arseny               RUS 2440  +76 =16  1.5  2580
20 Burmakin, Vladimir          g RUS 2550  =58 +62  1.5  2523
21 Feoktistov, Alexey A          RUS 2395  =59 +57  1.5  2060
22 Murashko, Vyacheslav L      m UKR 2390  +73 =15  1.5  2450
23 Rusanov, Michail              RUS 2410  =57 +61  1.5      
24 Krasnov, Vasiliy G            RUS 2250  =18 =35  1.0  2457
25 Virovlansky, Semen            RUS 2345  =13 =30  1.0  2542
26 Zayac, Elena               wg BLR 2265  =17 =37  1.0  2510
27 Andreev, Vladislav A          RUS 2325  =30 =29  1.0  2535
28 Driamin, D                    RUS 2230  +55 - 5  1.0  2492
29 Ionov, Sergey               g RUS 2530  =31 =27  1.0  2320
30 Lugovoi, Aleksei            m RUS 2540  =27 =25  1.0  2335
31 Milton, Sergei                RUS 2315  =29 =36  1.0  2510
32 Popov, Valerij              m RUS 2505  +46 - 9  1.0  2355
33 Razuvajeva, Juli              RUS 2115  +52 -10  1.0  2442
34 Voitsekhovsky, Stanislav    m RUS 2540  +51 - 3  1.0  2310
35 Kochyev, Alexander          g RUS 2430  =61 =24  1.0  2210
36 Totsky, Leonid              m RUS 2490  =60 =31  1.0  2287
37 Zakharevich, Igor           m RUS 2530  =62 =26  1.0  2287
38 Jobava, Baadur                GEO 2190  +67 -11  1.0  2460
39 Kastanieda, Georgiy         m RUS 2395  +66 - 8  1.0  2410
40 Rustemov, Alexander         m RUS 2575  - 2 +59  1.0  2225
41 Sepman, Yelius                RUS 2155  +65 -13  1.0  2485
42 Chepukaitis, Genrikh          RUS 2420  +79 - 4  1.0  2342
43 Dokutchaev, A                 RUS 2425  +72 - 1  1.0  2322
44 Gerchikov, Alexandr           RUS 2310  - 1 +73  1.0      
45 Karasev, Vladimir I         m RUS 2370  -12 +72  1.0  2345
46 Kashtanov, Ruslan             RUS 2295  -32 +74  1.0      
47 Kirusha, Andrey             f RUS 2315  - 5 +79  1.0  2327
48 Klimov, Sergey                RUS 2365  - 4 +78  1.0  2390
49 Loginov, Valery A           g RUS 2500  - 3 +71  1.0  2270
50 Malyshev, Igor                RUS 2300  - 6 +75  1.0      
51 Nikolaev, Nikita              RUS 2330  -34 +76  1.0  2372
52 Orlov, Andrey                 RUS 2410  -33 +77  1.0  2137
53 Savon, Vladimir A           g UKR 2425  +77 - 7  1.0  2360
54 Sinkevich, P                  RUS 2215  +75 - 6  1.0      
55 Solovjov, Sergey              RUS 2450  -28 +80  1.0  2235
56 Turov, Maxim                m RUS 2445  +78 - 2  1.0  2302
57 Bochkarev,A                       ----  =23 -21  0.5  2209
58 Frolov, Denis               f RUS 2350  =20 -17  0.5  2327
59 Komarov, Anatoly              RUS 2060  =21 -40  0.5  2292
60 Glashev, Yusup                RUS 2260  =36 -18  0.5  2294
61 Moskviitin, Valeri            RUS 2170  =35 -23  0.5  2227
62 Vunder, A                     RUS 2310  =37 -20  0.5  2347
63 Baranov, G                    RUS 2280  - 8 =65  0.5  2269
64 Gladischev, Oleg            m UKR 2355  - 7 =66  0.5  2247
65 Ivanov, Vladimir Ivanovich  m RUS 2425  -41 =63  0.5  2024
66 Kazakov, Vladimir           f RUS 2320  -39 =64  0.5  2182
67 Moiseenko, Alexander          UKR 2435  -38 =69  0.5  2007
68 Panikarovsky, A               RUS 2380  -16 =70  0.5  2209
69 Shour, J                      RUS 2210  -14 =67  0.5  2244
70 Ter-Minasjan, Dmitry          RUS 2235  -15 =68  0.5  2222
71 Karalkin, Maksim              RUS 2250  -11 -49  0.0      
72 Kharitonov, Sergei            RUS 2125  -43 -45  0.0      
73 Lukinov,A                         ----  -22 -44  0.0      
74 Malinin,V                         ----  - 9 -46  0.0      
75 Pogosian,V                        ----  -54 -50  0.0      
76 Polyakov, Dmitriy             RUS 2205  -19 -51  0.0      
77 Rakitskaja, M                 RUS 2160  -53 -52  0.0      
78 Shakhov, Aleksandr E          RUS 2215  -56 -48  0.0      
79 Uchitel, Stas                 RUS 2120  -42 -47  0.0      
80 Zvereva, Marija            wm RUS 2240  -10 -55  0.0      
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3) Mermaid Beach Club

Nigel Freeman sends news of the Mermaid Beach Club events. There was be coverage at: http://www.bermuda.bm/chess which included round by round summaries, and comments by Tony Miles. The main event is a Scheveningen event between European and players from the Americas. The Americas won comfortably by 53.5 to Europe's 46.5. Alexander Shabalov starred with a score of 8/10. Paul Saint-Amand of Canada won the rated event. The event was particularly good for the Brazilians as 18 year-old Rafael Leitao got his third and final GM norm and Giovanni Vescovi his first..

Final results

Americas 53.5 Europe 46.5

Americas 53.5

 1 Shabalov, Alexander  g USA 2615    8.0  2743
 2 Leitao, Rafael       m BRA 2515    7.5  2696
 3 Vescovi, Giovanni    m BRA 2480    7.5  2696
 4 Ashley, Maurice      m USA 2500    5.5  2539
 5 Benjamin, Joel       g USA 2595    5.5  2539
 6 Waitzkin, Joshua     m USA 2465    4.5  2467
 7 Gurevich, Dmitry     g USA 2540    4.0  2431
 8 Lesiege, Alexandre   m CAN 2535    4.0  2431
 9 Zamora, Jorge          USA 2370    3.5  2393
10 Ippolito, Dean       f USA 2435    3.5  2393

Europe 46.5

 1 Baburin, Alexander   g IRL 2600    6.0  2577
 2 Georgiev, Vladimir   m BUL 2565    5.5  2541
 3 Relange, Eloi        m FRA 2490    5.5  2541
 4 Mueller, Karsten     m GER 2515    5.5  2541
 5 Hodgson, Julian M    g ENG 2580    5.0  2505
 6 Fridman, Daniel      m LAT 2520    4.5  2469
 7 Plaskett, Jim        g ENG 2445    4.0  2433
 8 Bezold, Michael      m GER 2490    3.5  2395
 9 Gormally, Daniel     m ENG 2415    3.5  2395
10 Peptan, Corina      wg ROM 2410    3.5  2395

Rated event
Mermaid Beach BER (BER), I-II 1998
------------------------------------------------------------
                                 1  2  3  4  5  6 
------------------------------------------------------------
1 Saint-Amand, Paul    CAN 2200 ** == 0= =1 11 11  7.0  2302
2 Elbilia, Jacques   f MAR 2360 == ** 0= 11 10 11  6.5  2308
3 Manouck, Thierry   m FRA 2250 1= 1= ** =0 11 0=  6.0  2195
4 Resika, Nathan A     USA 2170 =0 00 =1 ** 11 11  6.0  2215
5 Moffat, Andrei       CAN ---- 00 01 00 00 ** 11  3.0  2057
6 Faulks, Nick         BER 2050 00 00 1= 00 00 **  1.5  1994
------------------------------------------------------------

Following the Beach Club event was an international open.

1-3  Daniel Fridman 		(LAT)	IM	2520     4.5
     Joel Benjamin 		(USA)	GM	2595
     Alexander Ivanov       	(USA)	GM	2545
4-8  Anthony Miles 		(ENG)	GM	2595      4.0
     Alexander Shabalov	        (USA)	GM	2615
     Julian Hodgson		(ENG)	GM	2580
     Alexander Baburin	        (IRE)	GM	2600
     John Meyer		        (USA)	FM	2305
9-21 Karsten Mueller		(GER)	IM	2515    3.5
     Daniel Gormally		(ENG)	IM	2415
     Dmitry Gurevich		(USA)	GM	2540
     John Curdo	        	(USA)	FM	2305
     Dean Ippolito		(USA)	FM	2435
     Jorge Zamora		(USA)		2375
     Arthur Bisguier		(USA)	GM	2370
     Vladimir Georgiev	        (BUL)	IM	2565
     Vincent McCambridge	(USA)	IM	2460
     Eugene Meyer		(USA)	IM	2475
     Andrew Soltis		(USA)	GM	2410
     Jerry Simon		(USA)	
     Alexandre Lesiege	        (CAN)	IM	2535
22-32 Jim Plaskett		(ENG)	GM	2445      3.0
    Corina Peptan		(RUM)	WGM	2410
    James Dill		        (BER)		2205
    Joel Salman		        (USA)	FM	2240
    Maurice Ashley		(USA)	IM	2500
    Andrei Moffat		(CAN)		
    Gary McGowan		(USA)
    Charu Robinson		(USA)
    Ron Birnbaum		(USA)
    Denis Strenzwilk	        (USA)		2190
    Paul Saint-Amand Jr	        (CAN)		2200
 82 players

4) Goodricke International Open by Aniek Paul

Aniek Paul reports on the Goodricke International Open which started in Calcutta on February 2nd. It is India's main annual international open.

Round 1 6/2/98

Some ten years ago, there used to be quite a few Grandmaster tournaments in India. But with passage of time, sponsorship has declined and today only one GM tournament is held regularly: the Goodricke International Open held every February in Calcutta. What makes it truly surprising is the fact that chess has gained in popularity in this country primarily due to Anand's phenomenal rise, which has also prompted the union government to put chess in the first category of its priority list, which means more grants for tournaments and more coverage in the national media. Yet there isn't a tournament in this country which is good enough for the country's best to play in; I can't remember exactly when Anand played last in India ... probably the 1991 Goodricke which he played immediately after his match against Dreev in Madras. Dreev too followed him here, supposedly with the vain hope of exacting some consolation revenge. But neither of them won the event, however; a lesser Grandmaster from Bangladesh, Niaz Murshed did.

The Goodricke, however, has had some strong Grandmasters (say a couple of 2600+ GMs) and some average Grandmasters within 2550, totalling say a dozen, every year. So what is the event all about? It is basically tailor made for the youngsters to pick up norms. Every year this tournament produces at least half dozen norms, and being the only such tournament in India, the organisers get reasonable coverage in the local newspapers and the sponsors have been encouraged to hold it with regularity, though these days the taxman's visit to their office is more frequent than ever before, and the share prices are not very encouraging.

Anyway, this edition of the tournament is graced Nigel Short. Being a former challenger and a player who has had at least been within sight of the world title, he is commonly considered to good for this tournament, and the English Grandmaster has had to explain his decision. The following are some of his explanations at the press conference: "I could not resist the temptation of seeing India," "I wanted to oblige Duncan Lawrie by playing here because they are my sponsors," etc. Along with him there are two other 2600+ Grandmasters in the tournament: Speelman and Jaan Ehlvest. Though technically speaking this isn't good enough even for their rating, they haven't had to explain things for they have been here before. There are 13 GMs total, three of them rated 2600+ and the rest between 2510 and 2535, excepting Jonathan Levitt rated rather lowly. That's what makes this meet little dicey for the 2600+ GMs. But anyway, they have their own reasons to play, and they do every year, albeit most of them end up with some points dropped actually.

Though Short with 2660 is outright favourite I for one will not put any money on him, for it is rare for the favourite to win this tournament. The only exception has been Tiviakov who won it twice in 1993 and 94. I guess the top guys get a little worried about saving their ratings later in the tournament and cannot fully concentrate on winning the event. The favourites got off to a good start more or less. Short won easily though had to play four hours, Speelman had it easy and even Ehlvest won, but came very close to losing in the opening. Eventually his opponent lost on time. The most shocking result of the day, however, was local GM Dibyendu Barua's loss to India's strongest WIM Vijayalakshmi, who says she is run for her second WGM-norm. She said Calcutta is always lucky for her and she has never lost the opening round in any tournament here. The Ravi-Ehlvest and Barua-Vijayalakshmi games will give you an idea what early rounds of this tournament is characterised by, upsets, upsets and upsets.

Results

Round 1 selected results

Short, Nigel D.  (g  ENG  2660)         1-0 Ramesh, R.B.   (m  IND  2345)
Ravi, Thandalam Shanmugam (f IND 2345)  0-1 Ehlvest, Jaan (g  EST  2610)
Speelman, Jonathan S.  (g  ENG  2605)   1-0 Girinath, P.D.S.  (IND  2340)
Ranola, Yves (PHI  2340)                1-0 Horvath, Csaba  (g  HUN  2535) 
Lastin, Alexander  (g  RUS  2535)       1/2 Babu, N Sudhakar  (m  IND  2335)
Roktim, Bandyopadhyay (IND  2330)       0-1 Dao, Thien Hai (g  VIE  2530)
Barua, Dibyendu (g  IND  2520)          0-1 Subbaraman, Vijayalakshmi (wm IND 2325)
Sareen, Vishal  (IND  2320)             0-1 Yurtaev, Leonid  (g KGZ 2520)
Berelovich, Aleksandar (g  UKR  2515)   1/2 Sharma, Dinesh K.  (IND  2320)
Soman, Satchidanand  (IND  2320)        1/2 Thipsay, Praveen M (g  IND  2515)
Schlosser, Philipp (g  GER  2515)       1-0 Tilak, Sharad S  (m  IND  2315)
Shetty, Rahul  (IND  2315)              0-1 Komliakov, Viktor (g  MDA  2510)
Nguyen, Anh Dung (m  VIE  2500)         1-0 Sanjay, N. (IND  2310)
Stefanova, Antoaneta (IM)(wg BUL 2480)  1/2 Ganguly, Surya Shekhar  (IND  2300)
Yogesh, Gore  (IND  2300)               0-1 Konguvel, Ponnuswamy  (m  IND  2430)
Karim, Amer  (PAK)                      0-1 Prakash, G B (IND  2425)
Goswami, Vedant  (IND  2215)            1/2 Saravanan, V.  (IND  2375) 
Das, Dipanjan  (IND  2165)              1/2 Mithrakanth, Poorna Sharma (m IND 2370)

Round 2 7/2/98

Day 2 of the Goodricke International Chess produced more unfancied results as is the tradition with early rounds of the event. The most shocking result of the day was fifth seed Grandmaster Csaba Horvath's defeat in the hands of untitled N. Nelakantan, which clearly overcast the impressive performances of norm aspirant youngsters Suvrajit Saha and Neelotpal Das, who drew with Grandmasters Dao Thien Hai and Leonid Yurtaev respectively. The undisputed favourite of the meet, English Grandmaster Nigel Short, however, had no difficulty in beating G.B.Prakash, while compatriot Jonathan Speelman carved out a polished win against Shankar Roy. The second seed Alexander Nenashev of Uzbekistan who did not turn up for the first round arrived today and beat Jayant Gokhale. The third seed, Jan Ehlvest of Estonia on the other hand had to settle for draw after six hours' battle against lowly rated Philipino IM Ronald Bancod. Thus two of the four Super GMs (Short, Nenashev, Ehlvest and Speelman), Short and Speelman have clean sheets along with four others: Grandmasters Victor Kolmiakov, Jonathan Levitt and Phillip Schlosser, and untitled Yves Ranola. Neelakantan proved why inspite of his rather unintimidating rating (2240) he is considered to be a master tactician by displaying some entertaining fireworks. Playing white against the Hungarian GM rated nearly 300 points higher than himself, Neelakantan launched a desperate attack on his opponent's king, but would have met with little success unless if Horvath defended well. Missing a long tactical shot the latter lost in just 27 moves. Young Neelotpal Das seemed to have missed some winning chances and settled for a draw against the Yurtaev, while it was just the converse for Suvrajit Saha who fizzled out of a losing position with one pawn down to hold the GM to a draw. Sriram Jha, however, was most unfortunate to have lost what looked like a winning game right from the opening after he overstepped the time limit making just one move short of the stipulated 40. Barua who seems little tired after his European safari, two tournaments in Groningen (Holland) and Ubeda (Spain) respectively, continued to show poor form as he was held to draw by lowly rated Raqib Abdullah of Bangladesh. WIM Vijayalakshmi, who beat Barua yesterday, suffered defeat to GM Jonathan Levitt. Tomorrow promises to be an interesting round as the top players clash against each other: Short meets Kolmiakov, Speelman meets Levitt and Schlosser the weakest in the pack of leaders, Ranola.

Round 2
Prakash, G B (IND  2425)                0-1 Short, Nigel D.  (g  ENG  2660)
Ehlvest, Jaan (g  EST  2610)            1/2 Bancod, Ronald (m  PHI  2400)
Shankar, Roy  (IND  2400)               0-1 Speelman, Jonathan S.  (g  ENG  2605)
Dao, Thien Hai (g  VIE  2530)           1/2 Suvrajit, Saha (IND  2375)
Yurtaev, Leonid  (g KGZ 2520)           1/2 Neelotpal, Das  (IND  2370)
Sriram, Jha  (IND  2360)                0-1 Schlosser, Philipp (g  GER  2515)
Komliakov, Viktor (g  MDA  2510)        1-0 Joshi, G B (IND  2355) 
Reefat, Bin-Sattar (m  BAN  2350)       1/2 Nguyen, Anh Dung (m  VIE  2500) 
Konguvel, Ponnuswamy  (m  IND  2430)    0-1 Ranola, Yves (PHI  2340) 
Subbaraman, Vijayalakshmi (wm IND 2325) 0-1 Levitt, Jonathan (g  ENG  2425)
Nenashev, Alexander (g  UZB  2625)      1-0 Gokhale, Jayant Suresh (IND  2305)
Sharma, Dinesh K.  (IND  2320)          0-1 Lastin, Alexander  (g  RUS  2535)
Babu, N Sudhakar  (m  IND  2335)        1/2 Berelovich, Aleksandar (g  UKR  2515)
Thipsay, Praveen M (g  IND  2515)       1-0 Sandipan, Chanda (IND  2300)
Singh, Gurpreetpal (IND  2300)          0-1 Stefanova, Antoaneta (IM)(wg BUL 2480) 
Sashikiran, Krishnan (f  IND  2470)     1-0 Soman, Satchidanand (IND  2320)
Ganguly, Surya Shekhar (IND  2300)      0-1 Kunte, Abhijit (m  IND  2460)
Mamedova, Rena (wf  UZB  2185)          1/2 Gokhale, C.S. (IND  2380)
Saravanan, V. (IND  2375)               1-0 Das, Dipanjan  (IND  2165)
Mithrakanth, Poorna Sharma (m IND 2370) 1-0 Goswami, Vedant  (IND  2215)
Abdulla, Al-Rakib  (BAN  2285)          1/2 Barua, Dibyendu (g  IND  2520)
Ramesh, R.B.  (m  IND  2345)            1-0 Karim, Amer  (PAK) 
Singh, Pritam   (IND  2265)             0-1 Ravi, Thandalam Shanmugam  (f  IND  2345)
Harikrishna, P.  (f  IND  2195)         1-0 Roktim, Bandyopadhyay   (IND  2330)
Tilak, Sharad S (m  IND  2315)          1-0 Safira, Shahnaz  (f  IND  2135)

Round 3 8/2/98

After an exciting third round, German Grandmaster Phillip Schlosser emerged as the sole leader with 3/3, leading by a slender margin of half point over a pack of ten others, including Nigel Short, Jan Ehlvest and Jonathan Speelman, with 2.5 points apiece . In today's round, Schlosser beat the weakest of the overnight leaders, Phlipino Yves Ranola, while the others with 2/2 at the beginning of the round split points among themselves. Top seed Nigel Short drew with Moldovan Grandmaster Victor Kolmiakov, and third seed Speelman drew with Grandmaster Jonathan Levitt. The two top board ties, Short-Kolmiakov and Speelman-Levitt were decently fought, the first running for 17 moves and the second 39, but senior IM Manuel Aaron felt otherwise. He said, "I don't believe in their earnestness. They were meant to be draws right from the beginning." Schlosser on the third board, had a very comfortable win. Playing the Modern Defence with black, his opponent Ranola ran out of plan in the middlegame, while the German Grandmaster regrouped his forces in the centre. Ranola probably out of frustration, decided to break open the centre but clearly chose the wrong moment for it. His forces were out-numbered and a simple tactical shot won material and the game for the German GM.

The day's most exciting games were produced yet again by the youngsters. 17-year old Krishnan Sasikiran who is considered widely as the new Anand, played a very imaginative game with white to hold second seed Uzbekh Grandmaster Alexander Nenashev to a draw , while Neelotpal Das, an upcoming youngster from Calcutta, beat Indian GM Pravin Thipsay, and World U-10 Champion P. Harikrishna drew with GM Dibyendu Barua. Playing white against the Nimzo-Indian, Sasikiran built a solid position which probably afforded neither player any winning chances. By move 25, a draw looked obvious: the position was cramped and neither player had any clear plan. But Nenashev was not content and pressed hard to initiate things, resulting in Sasikiran ceasing the edge with a brilliant combinative idea. Pushed against the wall, Nenashev defended well and managed to secure a draw. Sasikiran himself was not pleased; he said, "I think I missed something. It was not clear but looked better for me." Nenashev and Sasikiran have 2 apiece.

Neelotpal and Thipsay followed the Karpov-Kasparov, Moscow, 1985 games in Sicilian Najdorf, throughout the middlegame and looked as if the two had memorised the games. Thipsay with black equalised with the classical central pawn breaks, and in the endgame a draw looked most probable. But young Neelotpal chose a wrong plan and got his knight into a difficulty, giving Thipsay some winning chances. But in the second time control, Thipsay blunder an exchange and lost. Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua's poor form continued, as he failed to convert a stupendous edge in a simplified Queen & Pawn ending by allowing an one-move threat of stalemate. National champion Abhijit Kunte was rather unfortunate to have lost to Jan Ehlvest. In a double-edged position which offered more scope for the Indian youngster than his adversary, Abhijit blundered a piece and lost.

Round 3

Short, Nigel D.  (g  ENG  2660)         1/2 Komliakov, Viktor (g  MDA  2510)  
Speelman, Jonathan S.  (g  ENG  2605)   1/2 Levitt, Jonathan (g  ENG  2425)
Schlosser, Philipp (g  GER  2515)       1-0 Ranola, Yves (PHI  2340) 
Sashikiran, Krishnan (f  IND  2470)     1/2 Nenashev, Alexander (g  UZB  2625)
Kunte, Abhijit (m  IND  2460)           0-1 Ehlvest, Jaan (g  EST  2610)
Lastin, Alexander  (g  RUS  2535)       1/2 Saravanan, V.  (IND  2375) 
Bancod, Ronald (m  PHI  2400)           0-1 Dao, Thien Hai (g  VIE  2530)  
Suvrajit, Saha (IND  2375)              0-1 Yurtaev, Leonid  (g KGZ 2520) 	
Neelotpal, Das (IND 2370)               1-0 Thipsay, Praveen M (g  IND  2515)
Nguyen, Anh Dung (m  VIE  2500)         1-0 Mithrakanth, Poorna Sharma (m IND 2370)
Stefanova, Antoaneta (IM)(wg BUL 2480)  0-1 Neelakantan, Narayanan (IND 2240)
Berelovich, Aleksandar (g  UKR  2515)   1-0 Reefat, Bin-Sattar (m  BAN  2350)
Girinath, P.D.S.  (IND  2340)           1-0 Rahman, Ziaur (m BAN 2485)
Babu, N Sudhakar  (m  IND  2335)        0-1 Konguvel, Ponnuswamy  (m  IND  2430)
Subbaraman, Vijayalakshmi (wm IND 2325) 0-1 Prakash, G B (IND  2425)
Sareen, Vishal  (IND  2320)             1-0 Shankar, Roy  (IND  2400)
Gokhale, C.S. (IND  2380)               1/2 Tilak, Sharad S (m  IND  2315) 
Shetty, Rahul  (IND  2315)              1-0 Sriram, Jha  (IND  2360)  
Joshi, G B (IND  2355)                  1-0 Sanjay, N. (IND  2310)
Gokhale, Jayant Suresh (IND  2305)      0-1 Ramesh, R.B.  (m  IND  2345)
Ravi, Thandalam Shanmugam (f IND 2345)  1/2 Mamedova, Rena (wf  UZB  2185)
Barua, Dibyendu (g  IND  2520)          1/2 Harikrishna, P.  (f  IND  2195)
Horvath, Csaba  (g  HUN  2535)          1/2 Dhar-Barua Saheli (wf IND 2240)
Yogesh, Gore  (IND  2300)               0-1 Safira, Shahnaz  (f  IND  2135)

Round 4 9/2/98

Three Grandmasters, Phillip Schlosser, Jonathan Speelman and Leonid Yurtaev share lead after an uneventful fourth round of the Goodricke International Open Chess tournament. The leaders have 3.5/4 apiece, followed by eight players, including the top three seeds Nigel Short, Alexander Nenashev and Jan Ehlvest with 3/4.

While overnight leader Phillip Schlosser settled for a 19-move draw against Ehlvest, Speelman beat untitled N. Neelakantan, and Yurtaev overcame Dung Anh Nguyen to join the leading the pack. None of these games were interesting, however.

The day's most exciting game was between top seed Nigel Short and the lowest rated GM in the fray, Jonathan Levitt, which ended in a draw after five hours' battle. It looks obvious that Short is going to drop some rating in this tournament; so he seems not very concerned about it. Rather, he appears to be trying to experiment some new openings and ideas instead.

He tried the irregular 'double fianchetto' against Levitt's 1.d4 today, and was clearly in trouble right from the beginning. While analysing the game, Levitt remarked about the position arising from the opening, "I'll play this position again on any day, but you won't, will you ?" Short clearly admitted that his position was "messy", and pointed out a number of ways Levitt could have gone way ahead of him in the game, but Levitt missed all of them, yet was visibly satisfied with the result.

Dark horse Neelakantan who has done very well for his standard till now lost to Speelman today. The latter playing the French Defence with black, got a slightly inferior position in the middlegame but Neelakantan could not find a way to improve. His indifferent play resulted in Speelman clawing his way back into the game. The most probable result still was a draw, but Neelakantan blundered a series of pawns in time trouble and lost.

Young Neelotpal Das enhanced his chances of an IM-norm with a comfortable draw against GM Dao Thien Hai which took his tally to 3/4. Dao, who happens to be one of the strongest Grandmasters in Asia, is in an indifferent form here. None of his games in this tournament has been convincing and in today's game he seemed reluctant to play with minor advantage in spite of the fact that his adversary was 160 points weaker by rating. He offered draw in a position that looked marginally favourable for him at stage where he even led by ten minutes on the clock, Neelotpal having 15 minutes to make as many moves. With this draw Neelotpal has scored 2/3 (1 win and 2 draws) against Grandmasters in just four rounds, which is exceptionally good for norm chances.

Round 4

Ehlvest, Jaan (g  EST  2610)            1/2 Schlosser, Philipp (g  GER  2515)
Levitt, Jonathan (g  ENG  2425)         1/2 Short, Nigel D.  (g  ENG  2660)
Neelakantan, Narayanan (IND 2240)       0-1 Speelman, Jonathan S.  (g  ENG  2605)
Dao, Thien Hai (g  VIE  2530)           1/2 Neelotpal, Das (IND 2370)
Yurtaev, Leonid  (g KGZ 2520)           1-0 Nguyen, Anh Dung (m  VIE  2500)
Komliakov, Viktor (g  MDA  2510)        1/2 Lastin, Alexander  (g  RUS  2535) 
Nenashev, Alexander (g  UZB  2625)      1-0 Joshi, G B (IND  2355) 
Saravanan, V.  (IND  2375)              1/2 Berelovich, Aleksandar (g  UKR  2515) 
Ramesh, R.B.  (m  IND  2345)            0-1 Sashikiran, Krishnan (f  IND  2470)
Konguvel, Ponnuswamy  (m  IND  2430)    1/2 Sareen, Vishal  (IND  2320) 
Prakash, G B (IND  2425)                1/2 Shetty, Rahul  (IND  2315)
Ranola, Yves (PHI  2340)                1/2 Stefanova, Antoaneta (IM)(wg BUL 2480) 
Thipsay, Praveen M (g  IND  2515)       1-0 Ravi, Thandalam Shanmugam (f IND 2345) 

1. Speelman, Jonathan S.  (g  ENG  2605)   3.5
   Yurtaev, Leonid  (g KGZ 2520)           3.5
   Schlosser, Philipp (g  GER  2515)       3.5
4. Short, Nigel D.  (g  ENG  2660)         3.0
   Ehlvest, Jaan (g  EST  2610)            3.0
   Levitt, Jonathan (g  ENG  2425)         3.0
   Komliakov, Viktor (g  MDA  2510)        3.0
   Dao, Thien Hai (g  VIE  2530)           3.0
   Neelotpal, Das (IND 2370)               3.0
   Nenashev, Alexander (g  UZB  2625)      3.0
   Sashikiran, Krishnan (f  IND  2470)     3.0

5) Croatian Championships

The 6th Croatian Championships took place in Pula, January 9th - 22nd 1998. There was a closed 14 player Category 9 event for the men and a 10 player women's Championships. The Men's Championships were won by Robert Zelcic by half a point from Goran Dizdar who was the only player to defeat him. Zorica Puljek-Salai won the women's event.

Information from the Chess in Croatia pages: http://pubwww.srce.hr/cro_chess

Pula CRO (CRO), I 1998                                    cat. IX (2474)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Zelcic, Robert     g CRO 2540  * 0 = = = 1 = = = 1 1 1 1 1  9.0  2609
 2 Dizdar, Goran      g CRO 2530  1 * = = = = = = = = = 1 1 1  8.5  2579
 3 Cvitan, Ognjen     g CRO 2560  = = * = = = = = 1 1 = = 1 =  8.0  2554
 4 Rogulj, Branko     m CRO 2430  = = = * 1 0 = = = 1 1 = = 1  8.0  2564
 5 Rogic, Davor       m CRO 2445  = = = 0 * = 1 = = = 1 1 1 0  7.5  2533
 6 Zaja, Ivan         m CRO 2450  0 = = 1 = * = = = 0 1 1 = 1  7.5  2532
 7 Kovacevic, Vlatko  g CRO 2520  = = = = 0 = * 1 1 0 1 0 1 =  7.0  2499
 8 Palac, Mladen      g CRO 2545  = = = = = = 0 * 1 0 0 1 = 1  6.5  2468
 9 Fercec, Nenad      m CRO 2455  = = 0 = = = 0 0 * 1 = = = 1  6.0  2446
10 Cebalo, Miso       g CRO 2515  0 = 0 0 = 1 1 1 0 * 0 0 = 1  5.5  2413
11 Nikolac, Juraj     g CRO 2435  0 = = 0 0 0 0 1 = 1 * 1 0 1  5.5  2419
12 Sale, Srdjan       m CRO 2415  0 0 = = 0 0 1 0 = 1 0 * 1 =  5.0  2391
13 Franic, Milan      m CRO 2430  0 0 0 = 0 = 0 = = = 1 0 * 1  4.5  2367
14 Levacic, Patrick   f CRO 2365  0 0 = 0 1 0 = 0 0 0 0 = 0 *  2.5  2231
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Women's Championships
Pula CRO (CRO), I 1998
---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Puljek-Salai, Zorica   wm CRO 2195  * 0 1 1 = 1 1 1 1 1  7.5  2449
 2 Medic, Mirjana         wm CRO 2275  1 * 1 1 = 1 = 1 0 1  7.0  2387
 3 Djeno, Mara            wm CRO 2180  0 0 * 0 1 = 1 1 1 1  5.5  2258
 4 Macek, Vlasta          wm CRO 2255  0 0 1 * = 1 1 0 = 1  5.0  2213
 5 Bazaj-Bockai, Snjezana wf CRO 2180  = = 0 = * 0 = = 1 1  4.5  2178
 6 Paraminski, Albina        CRO 2175  0 0 = 0 1 * = 1 0 =  3.5  2098
 7 Dokmanovic, Nina          CRO 2100  0 = 0 0 = = * = 1 =  3.5  2107
 8 Trtanj, Tina              CRO 2105  0 0 0 1 = 0 = * 1 =  3.5  2106
 9 Belamaric, Tanja       wm CRO 2220  0 1 0 = 0 1 0 0 * =  3.0  2048
10 Stadler, Brigita          CRO 2100  0 0 0 0 0 = = = = *  2.0  1967
---------------------------------------------------------------------

6) First Saturday Kluger Memorial

Laszlo Nagy reports on the First Saturday tournaments of February. These events are organised as the 1st Kluger Memorial events. There are 58 players from 10 countries playing including the Scheveningen ELO groups. There are 14 players in the GM group making it a Category 8 event. Igor Glek is playing as is his pupil, Arkadij Naiditsch who is also the youngest player in the event.

GM Event
Round 1 (1998.02.07)

Acs, Peter            -  Borocz, Istvan        1-0   40  B67  Sicilian
Blauert, Joerg        -  Vegh, Endre           1-0   27  B22  Sicilian; Alapin (2.c3)
Glek, Igor V          -  Czebe, Attila         1-0   23  C46  Unknown
Mikhaletz, Lubomir    -  Hoang Thang Trang     1-0   33  C02  French; Advance
Varga, Zoltan         -  Fogarasi, Tibor       1-0   37  B40  Sicilian
Atalik, Suat          -  Hodjko, Vjaceslav     1/2   20  D85  Gruenfeld indian
Naiditsch, Arkadjis   -  Keitlinghaus, Ludger  1/2   25  C67  Ruy Lopez


Budapest HUN (HUN), II 1998                                cat. VIII (2438)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Acs, Peter            f HUN 2450  * . . . . . . . . 1 . . . .  1.0      
 2 Blauert, Joerg        m GER 2395  . * . . . . . . . . . . . 1  1.0      
 3 Glek, Igor V          g RUS 2550  . . * . . . . . . . 1 . . .  1.0      
 4 Mikhaletz, Lubomir    m UKR 2435  . . . * . . . . . . . . 1 .  1.0      
 5 Varga, Zoltan         g HUN 2520  . . . . * . . . . . . 1 . .  1.0      
 6 Atalik, Suat          g TUR 2595  . . . . . * = . . . . . . .  0.5  2380
 7 Hodjko, Vjaceslav     m RUS 2380  . . . . . = * . . . . . . .  0.5  2595
 8 Keitlinghaus, Ludger  m GER 2500  . . . . . . . * = . . . . .  0.5  2255
 9 Naiditsch, Arkadjis   f GER 2255  . . . . . . . = * . . . . .  0.5  2500
10 Borocz, Istvan        m HUN 2430  0 . . . . . . . . * . . . .  0.0      
11 Czebe, Attila         m HUN 2475  . . 0 . . . . . . . * . . .  0.0      
12 Fogarasi, Tibor       m HUN 2440  . . . . 0 . . . . . . * . .  0.0      
13 Hoang Thang Trang     m VIE 2350  . . . 0 . . . . . . . . * .  0.0      
14 Vegh, Endre           m HUN 2350  . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . *  0.0      
---------------------------------------------------------------------------


IM Event

Round 1 (1998.02.07)

Antal, Gergely        -  Kalousek, Vladimir    1-0   38  B53  Sicilian
Eperjesi, Laszlo      -  Gara, Ticia           1-0   37  A48  Queen's pawn
Karatorossian, David  -  Toth, Andras          1-0   27  E90  Kings indian; Classical
Gara, Anita           -  Dudas, Janos          1/2   40  B84  Sicilian
Kerek, Csaba          -  Franchini, Gabriele   1/2   24  A57  Benko gambit
Antal, Sebestyen jr   -  Brustkern, Juergen    0-1    0  A00  Irregular
Dolgener, Tobias      -  Farago, Sandor        0-1   48  B50  Sicilian


Budapest HUN (HUN), II 1998                                  cat. II (2284)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Antal, Gergely          HUN 2220  * . . . . . . . . . . . 1 .  1.0      
 2 Brustkern, Juergen      GER 2230  . * . . . . . . . 1 . . . .  1.0      
 3 Eperjesi, Laszlo      m HUN 2365  . . * . . . . . . . . 1 . .  1.0      
 4 Farago, Sandor        m HUN 2285  . . . * . . . . . . 1 . . .  1.0      
 5 Karatorossian, David    ARM 2375  . . . . * . . . . . . . . 1  1.0      
 6 Dudas, Janos          m HUN 2405  . . . . . * . = . . . . . .  0.5  2285
 7 Franchini, Gabriele     ITA 2155  . . . . . . * . = . . . . .  0.5  2380
 8 Gara, Anita          wm HUN 2285  . . . . . = . * . . . . . .  0.5  2405
 9 Kerek, Csaba            HUN 2380  . . . . . . = . * . . . . .  0.5  2155
10 Antal, Sebestyen jr     HUN 2330  . 0 . . . . . . . * . . . .  0.0      
11 Dolgener, Tobias        GER 2270  . . . 0 . . . . . . * . . .  0.0      
12 Gara, Ticia             HUN 2235  . . 0 . . . . . . . . * . .  0.0      
13 Kalousek, Vladimir      CZE 2120  0 . . . . . . . . . . . * .  0.0      
14 Toth, Andras            HUN 2325  . . . . 0 . . . . . . . . *  0.0      
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

7) Linklater International

James Eade reports on a ten player single round-robin Category V tournament (6 points needed to earn an IM norm) in San Francisco. The event is sponsored by the Mechanics' Institute Library of San Francisco and it is named in memory of a long time Mechanics' member. After five rounds Thomas Wolski leads although Guillermo Rey and Ronald Cusi have their round 2 game still to play.

http://www.milibrary.org/chess/Chess.html

San Francisco USA (USA), II 1998                        cat. V (2359)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Wolski, Thomas       f GER 2315  * . . 1 0 = 1 1 . .  3.5 /5  2525
 2 Rey, Guillermo       m USA 2335  . * . . . = = . 1 1  3.0 /4  2544
 3 Cartagena, Omar        PHI 2430  . . * = = 1 . = = .  3.0 /5  2425
 4 Cusi, Ronald           PHI 2375  0 . = * . . . . 1 1  2.5 /4  2438
 5 Mar, Craig           f USA 2420  1 . = . * = = 0 . .  2.5 /5  2366
 6 Shipman, Walter      m USA 2350  = = 0 . = * . . . 1  2.5 /5  2364
 7 Grefe, John A        m USA 2425  0 = . . = . * 1 = .  2.5 /5  2338
 8 Lobo, Richard          ENG 2310  0 . = . 1 . 0 * . 0  1.5 /5  2233
 9 Zilberstein, Dmitry    USA 2310  . 0 = 0 . . = . * =  1.5 /5  2228
10 Stein, Alex            USA 2320  . 0 . 0 . 0 . 1 = *  1.5 /5  2187
---------------------------------------------------------------------

8) Aarhus Skakklub Masters

Villy Fink Isaksen sends news of the masters tournament run by the Aarhus Skakklub. A seven round swiss with 18 players it is covered on the internet at: http://www.cybernet.dk/users/tgvisaksen/klub/ . The event runs 5th - 15th February 1998. There are a couple of adjourned games whose result is yet to be decided. Standings after 4 rounds

Aarhus DEN (DEN), II 1998
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         1   2   3   4   5   6   7 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Fries-Nielsen, Jens Ove  m DEN 2395  +17 =13 = 3 + 2  .   .   .   3.0 /4  2488
 2 Nielsen, Poul Erik         DEN 2230  +16 +14 + 8 - 1  .   .   .   3.0 /4  2446
 3 Jensen, Vagn               DEN 2240  -13 +10 = 1 +11  .   .   .   2.5 /4  2550
 4 Matthiesen, Arne           DEN 2280  = 5 = 7 = 9 +13  .   .   .   2.5 /4  2250
 5 Rasmussen, Casper          DEN 2245  = 4 = 9 +15 = 6  .   .   .   2.5 /4  2310
 6 Skytte, Rasmus             DEN 2205  +18 - 8 +14 = 5  .   .   .   2.5 /4  2285
 7 Rewitz, Poul               DEN 2335  =10 = 4  .  + 8  .   .   .   2.0 /3  2446
 8 Holst, Allan               DEN 2365  +11 + 6 - 2 - 7  .   .   .   2.0 /4  2131
 9 Alkaersig, Ole             DEN 2170  =15 = 5 = 4 =10  .   .   .   2.0 /4  2262
10 Rendboe, John            f DEN 2320  = 7 - 3 +12 = 9  .   .   .   2.0 /4  2252
11 Lindfeldt,Magnus               ----  - 8 +17 +16 - 3  .   .   .   2.0 /4  2246
12 Matthiesen, Martin         DEN 2265  -14 +18 -10 +17  .   .   .   2.0 /4  2371
13 Ostersen, Kjeld            DEN ----  + 3 = 1  .  - 4  .   .   .   1.5 /3  2305
14 Poulsen,Michael                ----  +12 - 2 - 6  .   .   .   .   1.0 /3  2108
15 Windelboe, Werner          DEN 2205  = 9 =16 - 5  .   .   .   .   1.0 /3  2081
16 Pedersen, Bjarne           DEN 2205  - 2 =15 -11 =18  .   .   .   1.0 /4  2101
17 Jensen, Jacob Bjerre       DEN 2175  - 1 -11 +18 -12  .   .   .   1.0 /4  2176
18 Hansen, Bjarne             DEN 2245  - 6 -12 -17 =16  .   .   .   0.5 /4  1890
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9) Brazilian Championships

Albert Silver reports on the start of the Brazilian Championships in Rio de Janeiro. In what was announced to be a dream line-up (if one was to believe the flier being sent out) with top Brazilian players GM Gilberto Milos, GM Darcy Lima, and junior stars Rafael Leitao and Giovanni Vescovi, the 64th edition of the Brazilian Championship started on unsteady feet as the prize fund was suddenly cut in half almost at the last minute. In fact until the very day of the opening ceremony exactly what that line-up would be was unclear. The organisers were left biting their nails whilst hoping that it wouldn't have too drastic an effect on the turnout. Luckily, apart from Milos' no show, the rest of the field appeared as promised. After 3 rounds, the leaders are last year's champion, 18-year-old IM Rafael Leitao, and veteran IM Herman Claudius van Riemsdijk with 2.5/3 followed by GM Darcy Lima and IM Giovanni Vescovi on 2/3. The event ends on February 16th.

Round 1 (1998.02.06)

Van Riemsdijk, Herman C     -  Martins, Carlos             1-0   60  C63  Ruy Lopez
Vescovi, Giovanni           -  Leitao, Rafael              1/2   10  E05  Nimzo indian
Matsuura, Everaldo          -  Lima, Darcy                 0-1   37  B33  Sicilian; Sveshnikov
Guimaraes, Wagner P         -  Rocha, Wellington Carlos    1/2   32  B30  Sicilian
De Souza Haro, Paulo Cezar  -  Limp, Eduardo               1/2   45  E02  Nimzo indian
Dos Santos, Francisco Jose  -  Tsuboi, Edson Kenji         0-1   55  A15  English; 1.c4

Round 2 (1998.02.07)

Leitao, Rafael              -  De Souza Haro, Paulo Cezar  1-0   52  D32  Queen's gambit
Lima, Darcy                 -  Dos Santos, Francisco Jose  1-0   54  A03  Bird (1.f4)
Guimaraes, Wagner P         -  Matsuura, Everaldo          1/2   29  D44  QGD; Botwinnik
Tsuboi, Edson Kenji         -  Van Riemsdijk, Herman C     1/2   19  B08  Pirc; Classical
Rocha, Wellington Carlos    -  Limp, Eduardo               1-0   38  E04  Nimzo indian
Martins, Carlos             -  Vescovi, Giovanni           1/2   43  C41  Philidor defence

Round 3 (1998.02.08)

Van Riemsdijk, Herman C     -  Lima, Darcy                 1-0   74  B00  1.e4
Vescovi, Giovanni           -  Tsuboi, Edson Kenji         1-0   56  D12  Slav defence
Matsuura, Everaldo          -  Rocha, Wellington Carlos    1-0   40  B66  Sicilian
De Souza Haro, Paulo Cezar  -  Martins, Carlos             1/2   57  A80  Dutch defence
Dos Santos, Francisco Jose  -  Guimaraes, Wagner P         1/2   46  A45  Queen's pawn
Limp, Eduardo               -  Leitao, Rafael              0-1   33  A46  Queen's pawn


Rio de Janeiro BRA (BRA), II 1998                               cat. V (2366)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Van Riemsdijk, Herman C     m BRA 2375  * . . 1 . . = . 1 . . .  2.5  2644
 2 Leitao, Rafael              m BRA 2515  . * = . . . . . . 1 . 1  2.5  2676
 3 Vescovi, Giovanni           m BRA 2480  . = * . . . 1 . = . . .  2.0  2510
 4 Lima, Darcy                 m BRA 2475  0 . . * 1 . . . . . 1 .  2.0  2446
 5 Matsuura, Everaldo          m BRA 2405  . . . 0 * = . 1 . . . .  1.5  2353
 6 Guimaraes, Wagner P           BRA 2260  . . . . = * . = . . = .  1.5  2305
 7 Tsuboi, Edson Kenji         f BRA 2345  = . 0 . . . * . . . 1 .  1.5  2346
 8 Rocha, Wellington Carlos      BRA 2325  . . . . 0 = . * . . . 1  1.5  2360
 9 Martins, Carlos               BRA 2295  0 . = . . . . . * = . .  1.0  2265
10 De Souza Haro, Paulo Cezar    BRA 2315  . 0 . . . . . . = * . =  1.0  2283
11 Dos Santos, Francisco Jose    BRA 2185  . . . 0 . = 0 . . . * .  0.5  2087
12 Limp, Eduardo                 BRA 2415  . 0 . . . . . 0 . = . *  0.5  2112
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

10) Belgrade - Moscow match

Sinisa Joksic reports on the Moscow - Belgrade match held January 28th - 29th 1998. In friendly match to celebrate 40 years of The Belgrade Chess Federation Belgrade beat Moscow with 14:10 Belgrade won both rounds, the first 6,5:5,5 and the second 7,5:4,5.

Of course Moscow's captain Boris Postovski didn't bring the best team. The games weren't of the highest level but a few hundred spectators enjoyed, and had chance to see ex-world champion Vassily Smyslov (77) and the organisation was very good.

Round 1 - January 28th

Men:     Sergei Shipov (g. 2620)        1/2  Dragoljub Velimirovic (g.2535)
         Sergey Smagin (g. 2575)        1/2  Zlatko Ilincic (g. 2565)
         Yury Piskov (g. 2455)          1/2  Branko Damljanovic (g. 2540)
         Anatoly Machulsky (g. 2505)    1/2  Milos Pavlovic (g. 2535)

Seniors: Vassily Smyslov (g. 2515)      1/2 Svetozar Gligoric (g. 2480)
         Nikolai Krogius (g. 2485)      1/2 Borislav Ivkov (g. 2440)
         Genadij Movsovic               1/2 Milan Matulovic (g. 2420)
         Liudmila Belavenets (m.2175w)  1/2 Milunka Lazarevic (g.2160w)

Boys:    Lev Kuznetsov (2240)           1:0 Milos Perunovic (f. 2210)
         Mikhail Berezovics             1:0 Nikola Sedlak (2230)

Girls:   Eugenia Chasovnikova (f.2275w) 1/2 Slobodanka Masovic
         Marina Viktorova (2090w)       1:0 Jelena Popovic

Round 2  January 29th

Men:     Dragoljub Velimirovic (g.2535) 1/2  Sergei Shipov (g. 2620)
         Zlatko Ilincic (g. 2565)       1:0  Sergey Smagin (g. 2575)
         Branko Damljanovic (g. 2540)   1/2  Yury Piskov (g. 2455)
         Milos Pavlovic (g. 2535)       0:1  Anatoly Machulsky (g. 2505)

Seniors: Svetozar Gligoric (g. 2480)    1/2 Vassily Smyslov (g. 2515)
         Borislav Ivkov (g. 2440)       1/2 Nikolai Krogius (g. 2485)
         Milan Matulovic (g. 2420)      1:0 Genadij Movsovic
         Milunka Lazarevic (g.2160w)    1:0 Liudmila Belavenets (m.2175w)

Boys:    Dusan Prelevic (2310)          0:1  Lev Kuznetsov (2240)
         Aleksandar Danilovic (2310)    1:0  Mikhail Berezovics

Girls:   Marija Stojanovic              1/2  Eugenia Chasovnikova (f. 2275w)
         Aleksandra Dimitrijevic        1/2  Marina Viktorova (2090w)

11) Ubeda Open

The Ubeda took place 20th - 29th January 1998. The event was won by Geory Timoshenko on tie break from Walter Arencibia, Dibyendu Barua and Karen Movsziszian. 145 players competed. Games now available.

Full results and coverage on the internet at: http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Loge/2708/index.html

My thanks to Guillermo Baches Garcia for the games and info.

Final results Ubeda 1998
   1. TIMOSHENKO           GEORGY      7.5   59.0   63.5   44.0 
   2. ARENCIBIA            WALTER      7.5   59.0   63.0   45.0 
   3. BARUA                DIBYENDU    7.5   58.5   63.0   45.0 
   4. MOVSZISZIAN          KAREN       7.5   55.5   59.5   41.0 
   5. PELLETIER            YANNICK     7.0   60.0   65.0   44.5 
   6. KRUPPA               YURI        7.0   57.5   61.5   42.0 
   7. VERA                 REYNALDO    7.0   57.0   61.0   42.5 
   8. ASRIAN               KAREN       7.0   56.5   60.5   41.0 
   9. KUNTE                ABHIJIT     7.0   56.0   60.5   38.5 
  10. ROEDER               MATHIAS     7.0   56.0   60.0   39.5 
  11. GIORGADZE            GIORGI      7.0   54.5   58.5   39.5 
  12. TIVIAKOV             SERGEI      7.0   54.0   58.5   38.0 
  13. ARONIAN              LEVON       7.0   53.5   57.0   37.5 
  14. MINASIAN             ARA         7.0   53.0   56.5   40.0 
  15. FILIPPOV             VALERIJ     7.0   52.0   57.0   36.5 
  16. LALIC                BOGDAN      6.5   58.0   58.0   42.5 
  17. XU JUN                           6.5   56.0   61.0   40.5 
  18. DGEBUADZE            ALEXANDRE   6.5   55.5   59.5   38.5 
  19. NOGUEIRAS            JESUS       6.5   55.0   59.0   38.5 
  20. ZHU CHEN                         6.5   54.5   58.5   39.0 
  21. LUTHER               THOMAS      6.5   53.5   57.5   37.5 
  22. YEGIAZARIAN          ARSEN       6.5   53.0   57.0   36.0 
  23. GONZALEZ GARCIA      JOSE        6.5   50.0   50.0   37.0 
  24. MIRUMIAN             VIGEN       6.5   48.5   52.5   33.5 
  25. DE LA RIVA           OSCAR       6.0   60.0   65.5   40.5 
  26. KUZMIN               GENNADY     6.0   54.5   59.0   37.0 
  27. ILJUSHIN             ALEXEI      6.0   54.0   58.0   36.5 
  28. LOBZHANIDZE          DAVIT       6.0   54.0   54.0   37.0 
  29. PRASAD               DEVAKI      6.0   53.5   56.0   34.0 
  30. BECERRA              JULIO       6.0   53.0   58.0   35.0 
  31. RODRIGUEZ            AMADOR      6.0   53.0   57.0   37.0 
  32. IZETA                FELIX       6.0   53.0   57.0   37.0 
  33. YAGUPOV              IGOR        6.0   52.5   56.5   37.5 
  34. STOCEK               JIRI        6.0   52.5   56.5   35.5 
  35. DE LA VILLA          JESUS       6.0   51.5   55.5   36.0 
  36. EPISHIN              VLADIMIR    6.0   51.5   54.0   33.0 
  37. SKOMOROKHIN          ROMAN       6.0   50.5   54.5   32.0 
  38. PERALTA              FERNANDO    6.0   50.5   53.0   34.0 
  39. KREIMAN              BORIS       6.0   50.5   52.5   34.5 
  40. AGNOS                DIMITRI     6.0   49.0   53.0   33.5 
  41. KHURTSIDZE           NINO        6.0   49.0   52.0   31.0 
  42. AL-MODIAHKI          MOHAMAD     6.0   49.0   51.5   33.5 
  43. DEGRAEVE             JEAN-MARC   6.0   48.0   52.0   32.0 
  44. MARTINOVSKY          EUGENE      6.0   47.0   49.0   29.0 
  45. BORGE                NIKOLAJ     6.0   47.0   48.5   31.5 
  46. DANIELIAN            ELINA       6.0   46.0   49.5   28.0 
  47. GARCIA               GILDARDO    6.0   44.5   48.5   29.5
145 players 

12) 14th Tournoi Open international de Genève

Alessandro Miotto sends the results of the 14th internation open in Geneva 24th January - 1st February. Leading final standings:

 1 KHENKIN Igor                GM  RUS  2565   7   41½   9    7  2472     
 2 GOLDIN Alexander            GM  RUS  2590   7    40   9    7  2452   
 3 SULSKIS Sarunas             GM  LTU  2485   7   39½   9    7  2448   
 4 MALANIUK Vladimir P         GM  UKR  2600  6½   39½   9   6½  2428   
 5 WOJTKIEWICZ Aleksander      GM  POL  2535  6½   35½   8   5½  2379   
 6 BUCHER Denis                    SUI  2115  6½   33    9   6½  2335   
 7 MIEZIS Normunds             GM  LAT  2505  6    40    9    6  2452   
 8 GULKO Boris F               GM  USA  2585  6    40   9    6  2409  
 9 SOKOLOV Andrei              GM  RUS  2580  6    38   9    6  2404   
10 NATAF Igor                  MI  FRA  2485  6    38   9    6  2387   
11 TUKMAKOV Vladimir B         GM  UKR  2610  6    37   9    6  2440  
12 BERGEZ Luc                      FRA  2380  6   34½   9    6  2288   
13 GODENA Michele              GM  ITA  2500  5½    39   9   5½  2456   
14 ARLANDI Ennio               MI  ITA  2425  5½    38   9   5½  2414  
15 BORGO Giulio                MI  ITA  2430  5½   36½   8   4½  2419  
16 ROEMER Ulrich               MF  GER  2285  5½    35   9   5½  2369  
17 GERBER Richard              MF  SUI  2330  5½    35   9   5½  2351 
18 LESKI Marc                  MI  FRA  2425  5½    34   8   4½  2369   
19 FIORAMONTI Hung             MI  SUI  2365  5½   33½   8   4½  2370 
20 MASSEREY Yvan               MF  SUI  2320  5½   30½   8   4½  2354 
21 DWORAKOWSKA Joanna          MI  POL  2355  5    37   8    4  2443   
67 players

13) 14th Portuguese Masters

Luis Santos is covering the 14th Portuguese Masters Tournament (organised by the Portuguese Chess Federation: it is not the Portuguese Championship but it is the strongest national tournament that also counts for qualifying the national team for the Olympiad):Venue: Caldas de Felgueira (PORTUGAL) from 7 - 15 February with 10 players (category 4, FIDE).

http://www.ip.pt/~ip001018/

14) Upcoming Events

XLIV National Open Championship, Mexico

The Mexican Chess federation will hold the XLIV National Open Championship April 7-12. total prize fund are 111,000 pesos, about 13,000 usd, First prize 21000 pesos, about 2,500 usd. inscription fee 45 usd. further information will be sent. General information is available via fax 525-5383304 or e-mail address, fenamac@netservice.com.mx