THE WEEK IN CHESS 230 - 5th April 1999 by Mark Crowther

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Contents

1) Introduction
2) Dos Hermanas 1999
3) 4th Stage of Cup Russia, Novgorod
4) XXX Mar del Plata International Open
5) First Saturday, April
6) Danish Chess Championships
7) Korchnoi-Spassky Match
8) Indian National Championships
9) 5th Werther Schloß Open
10) Adjournment debate
11) Open Letter from GM Dorian Rogozenko
12) Foxwoods Open
13) The "Redbus Chess Knock-out"
14) Forthcoming Events


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Games section

4th Stage of Cup Russia, Novgorod      76 games
XXX Mar del Plata International Open  206 games
First Saturday, April                  17 games
Danish Chess Championships             30 games
Korchnoi-Spassky Match                  4 games
Indian National Championships          44 games
5th Werther Schloß Open               148 games

1) Introduction

My thanks to Jan Mußgnug, Laszlo Nagy, John Saunders, GM School, Michael Atkins, Arne Moll, Venkatachalam Saravanan and all those who helped with this issue.

A quieter week (a number of events have had to be held over too whilst I get final information) will cheer up with the start of potentially the most exciting tournament of the year. The mixture of the Linares crew (Anand, Kramnik, Svidler, Adams and Topalov) with an exciting mix of adventurers and experience (Karpov, Morozevich, Judit Polgar, Illescas and Korchnoi) could prove explosive, lets hope so!

Hope you enjoy this issue

Mark

2) Dos Hermanas 1999

After a year off the Dos Hermanas tournament returns as a Category 19 event. Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik will start as favourites for the event, but the field as a whole is interesting seeing Alexander Morozevich return to top class chess and also Judit Polgar's first important tournament for a long time, they should guarantee plenty of decisive games. Anatoly Karpov too plays his first really important event for six months. Adams, Svidler, Topalov, Korchnoi and Illescas make up the rest of the field. The official site is:

http://www.teleline.es/ajedrez/doshermanas99/index.html

3) 4th Stage of Cup Russia, Novgorod

The 4th stage of the Russia Cup is in Novgorod took place March 19-27th. Pavel Kotsur won with 8/10. Mihail Kobalija and Alexander Volzhin finished in second on 7. The final two rounds of games are now available. There was coverage at: http://www.ruschess.com and at http://chess.novgorod.ru

Novgorod RUS (RUS), iii 1999
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Kotsur, Pavel               g KAZ 2511  +56 +19 +33 =15 = 2 +24 +12 = 5 +14 = 3  8.0 /10  2758
 2 Kobalija, Mihail            g RUS 2537  +52 =50 +58 + 9 = 1 = 5 = 3 +22 + 6 =11  7.5 /10  2707
 3 Volzhin, Alexander          g RUS 2548  +59 +75 =16 =17 +20 =15 = 2 +19 + 5 = 1  7.5 /10  2671
 4 Volkov, Sergey              g RUS 2587  +45 +12 -15 =36 =10 -35 +38 +18 +20 +22  7.0 /10  2642
 5 Kharlov, Andrei             g RUS 2600  +53 + 6 =17 +22 =15 = 2 + 7 = 1 - 3 =10  6.5 /10  2634
 6 Burmakin, Vladimir          g RUS 2534  +31 - 5 =40 +47 +29 +16 +15 =14 - 2 = 9  6.5 /10  2623
 7 Zakharevich, Igor           m RUS 2532  =61 +72 =29 =14 +18 +17 - 5 =27 +24 = 8  6.5 /10  2580
 8 Malaniuk, Vladimir P        g UKR 2552  +49 =39 +54 =24 =16 =34 =11 =25 +33 = 7  6.5 /10  2640
 9 Kharitonov, Andrei Y        g RUS 2562  =38 +61 +39 - 2 =13 +45 =10 =12 +35 = 6  6.5 /10  2575
10 Galkin, Alexander           g RUS 2507  +70 -33 =49 +40 = 4 +58 = 9 =11 +17 = 5  6.5 /10  2605
11 Akopian, Vladimir           g ARM 2640  =47 -18 +69 =58 +54 +39 = 8 =10 +15 = 2  6.5 /10  2546
12 Loginov, Valery A           g RUS 2532  +66 - 4 +37 +44 =14 +33 - 1 = 9 =19 +28  6.5 /10  2615
13 Yevseev, Denis              m RUS 2503  +67 =25 -24 +49 = 9 -14 +44 +42 +41 =16  6.5 /10  2558
14 Dreev, Alexey               g RUS 2639  =60 +37 =23 = 7 =12 +13 +20 = 6 - 1 =19  6.0 /10  2578
15 Sorokin, Maxim              g ARG 2551  +73 +30 + 4 = 1 = 5 = 3 - 6 =33 -11 +43  6.0 /10  2592
16 Dolmatov, Sergey            g RUS 2589  =58 +46 = 3 +23 = 8 - 6 +41 =17 =28 =13  6.0 /10  2568
17 Lastin, Alexander           g RUS 2558  +42 +41 = 5 = 3 =34 - 7 +29 =16 -10 +35  6.0 /10  2578
18 Goloshchapov, Alexander     m UKR 2446  =34 +11 =28 =19 - 7 =27 +59 - 4 +44 +33  6.0 /10  2610
19 Voitsekhovsky, Stanislav    m RUS 2558  +40 - 1 +45 =18 =35 +63 +34 - 3 =12 =14  6.0 /10  2555
20 Galliamova-Ivanchuk, Alisa  m RUS 2558  -37 +57 +35 +41 - 3 +26 -14 +60 - 4 +39  6.0 /10  2513
21 Sargissian, Gabriel         f ARM 2390  -25 =67 +61 =27 =41 +50 =28 =36 =26 +34  6.0 /10  2523
22 Vaulin, Alexander           g RUS 2547  =64 +62 +50 - 5 =26 +60 +24 - 2 +25 - 4  6.0 /10  2546
23 Beshukov, Sergei            g RUS 2511  +63 =24 =14 -16 -38 +48 -45 +64 +54 +37  6.0 /10  2479
24 Dvoirys, Semen I            g RUS 2562  +43 =23 +13 = 8 +28 - 1 -22 +39 - 7 =26  5.5 /10  2544
25 Sherbakov, Ruslan           g RUS 2559  +21 =13 -26 +60 -39 +43 +37 = 8 -22 =30  5.5 /10  2502
26 Iskusnyh, Sergei            m RUS 2486  =72 +38 +25 -34 =22 -20 =51 +40 =21 =24  5.5 /10  2476
27 Ibragimov, Ildar            g RUS 2602  =46 =60 -44 =21 =37 =18 +58 = 7 =43 +36  5.5 /10  2472
28 Yemelin, Vasily             g RUS 2550  +48 =29 =18 +63 -24 =38 =21 +45 =16 -12  5.5 /10  2474
29 Yandemirov, Valeri          g RUS 2475  +65 =28 = 7 =33 - 6 +40 -17 -37 +49 +45  5.5 /10  2460
30 Karpatchev, Aleksandr       g RUS 2477  +71 -15 -63 -59 +67 +31 -42 +48 +38 =25  5.5 /10  2355
31 Loginov, Anton                RUS 2320  - 6 -45 +70 -46 +56 -30 =65 +71 +50 +60  5.5 /10  2353
32 Popov, Valerij              m RUS 2582  =44 -58 -64 -48 +75 =66 +67 +73 =45 +42  5.5 /10  2317
33 Poluljahov, Aleksandr       g RUS 2566  +54 +10 - 1 =29 +36 -12 +35 =15 - 8 -18  5.0 /10  2497
34 Nenashev, Alexander         g UZB 2616  =18 +47 =36 +26 =17 = 8 -19 -35 +46 -21  5.0 /10  2489
35 Iljushin, Alexei            m RUS 2484  =57 +55 -20 +65 =19 + 4 -33 +34 - 9 -17  5.0 /10  2425
36 Lugovoi, Aleksei            g RUS 2510  =55 +64 =34 = 4 -33 +44 =39 =21 =37 -27  5.0 /10  2439
37 Filipenko, Alexander V      m RUS 2360  +20 -14 -12 +72 =27 +47 -25 +29 =36 -23  5.0 /10  2485
38 Ivanov, Timur               m RUS 2390  = 9 -26 =68 +52 +23 =28 - 4 =46 -30 +58  5.0 /10  2460
39 Prokopchuk, Evgeny          m RUS 2489  +68 = 8 - 9 +64 +25 -11 =36 -24 +59 -20  5.0 /10  2464
40 Feoktistov, Alexey A        m RUS 2390  -19 +70 = 6 -10 +66 -29 +50 -26 +47 =41  5.0 /10  2444
41 Kalugin, Sergei               RUS 2355  +74 -17 +52 -20 =21 +62 -16 +51 -13 =40  5.0 /10  2410
42 Akobian, Varuzhan             ARM 2359  -17 =56 -57 +71 =65 +55 +30 -13 +60 -32  5.0 /10  2292
43 Chuprov, Dmitry             m RUS 2400  -24 -63 +71 =66 +64 -25 +70 +47 =27 -15  5.0 /10  2372
44 Sambuev, Bator                RUS 2409  =32 +76 +27 -12 +57 -36 -13 +66 -18 =53  5.0 /10  2445
45 Nadanian, Ashot             m ARM 2413  - 4 +31 -19 +68 +55 - 9 +23 -28 =32 -29  4.5 /10  2428
46 Dokutchaev, A                 RUS 2443  =27 -16 =59 +31 -63 =70 +62 =38 -34 =52  4.5 /10  2370
47 Akhmadeev, Vadim            m RUS 2467  =11 -34 +56 - 6 +49 -37 +57 -43 -40 +65  4.5 /10  2301
48 Shvedov, Sergey             f RUS 2331  -28 =68 -65 +32 =53 -23 +55 -30 =57 +71  4.5 /10  2267
49 Bratchenko, Alexander       m RUS 2342  - 8 +74 =10 -13 -47 +61 =54 +53 -29 =51  4.5 /10  2367
50 Polovodin, Igor A           m RUS 2468  +69 = 2 -22 =57 =62 -21 -40 +63 -31 +64  4.5 /10  2256
51 Hovhanisian, Mher           m ARM 2395  -75 -69 -66 +61 +72 +65 =26 -41 =52 =49  4.5 /10  2172
52 Malinin, Yuri                 RUS 2324  - 2 +53 -41 -38 +69 =54 -73 +70 =51 =46  4.5 /10  2321
53 Chepukaitis, Genrikh          RUS 2415  - 5 -52 +74 =55 =48 -57 +56 -49 +66 =44  4.5 /10  2233
54 Iliushkin, Evgen              RUS 2405  -33 +66 - 8 +67 -11 =52 =49 +57 -23 =56  4.5 /10  2307
55 Tuturin, S                    RUS 2248  =36 -35 +76 =53 -45 -42 -48 +72 =62 +59  4.5 /10  2338
56 Tetradze, N                   RUS 2090  - 1 =42 -47 +76 -31 =64 -53 +75 +73 =54  4.5 /10  2314
57 Levada,I                          ----  =35 -20 +42 =50 -44 +53 -47 -54 =48 =62  4.0 /10  2352
58 Yarovik, Yu                   RUS 2415  =16 +32 - 2 =11 +73 -10 -27 -59 +63 -38  4.0 /10  2404
59 Strukov, Robert               RUS 2325  - 3 =65 =46 +30 -60 +73 -18 +58 -39 -55  4.0 /10  2314
60 Vokarev, Sergey             m RUS 2462  =14 =27 +75 -25 +59 -22 +63 -20 -42 -31  4.0 /10  2344
61 Driamin, D                    RUS 2267  = 7 - 9 -21 -51 +71 -49 -74 +68 +70 =66  4.0 /10  2239
62 Danielian, Elina           wg ARM 2353  =76 -22 =67 +69 =50 -41 -46 =65 =55 =57  4.0 /10  2200
63 Kondenko, Alexey              RUS 2254  -23 +43 +30 -28 +46 -19 -60 -50 -58 =75  3.5 /10  2318
64 Krasilnikov, Evgeny           RUS 2130  =22 -36 +32 -39 -43 =56 +68 -23 =65 -50  3.5 /10  2274
65 Nalesny,I                         ----  -29 =59 +48 -35 =42 -51 =31 =62 =64 -47  3.5 /10  2253
66 Pavlov, Aleksandr             RUS 2308  -12 -54 +51 =43 -40 =32 +75 -44 -53 =61  3.5 /10  2269
67 Shomoev, Anton                RUS 2105  -13 =21 =62 -54 -30 +72 -32 +74 -71 =69  3.5 /10  2165
68 Gavrilov, Andrei              RUS 2251  -39 =48 =38 -45 -70 +69 -64 -61 +77 =72  3.5 /10  2121
69 Osoblivy,G                        ----  -50 +51 -11 -62 -52 -68 -71 +77 +74 =67  3.5 /10  2148
70 Ovod, Evgenija             wm RUS 2290  -10 -40 -31 +74 +68 =46 -43 -52 -61 +77  3.5 /10  2184
71 Makovetsky,B                      ----  -30 =73 -43 -42 -61 +77 +69 -31 +67 -48  3.5 /10  2149
72 Kofanov,S                         ----  =26 - 7 =73 -37 -51 -67 +77 -55 +75 =68  3.5 /10  2161
73 Iljinsky, Yaroslav            RUS 2340  -15 =71 =72 +75 -58 -59 +52 -32 -56 -74  3.0 /10  2084
74 Kazakov, Vladimir             RUS 2046  -41 -49 -53 -70 +77 -75 +61 -67 -69 +73  3.0 /10  2062
75 Sazhin,M                          ----  +51 - 3 -60 -73 -32 +74 -66 -56 -72 =63  2.5 /10  2109
76 Grechihin, Valery           g RUS 2556  =62 -44 -55 -56  .   .   .   .   .   .   0.5 / 4  1953
77 BYE                               ----   .   .   .   .  -74 -71 -72 -69 -68 -70  0.0 / 6      
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4) XXX Mar del Plata International Open

The XXX Mar del Plata International Open took place March 27th - 4th April. There was a five way tie on seven points and the event was won by Sergio Slipak on tie-break from Gilberto Milos, Gilberto Hernandez, Oscar Panno and Andres Rodriguez. There were US$ 13.500 worth of prizes. Web site: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Cockpit/9356/open.htm

Leading final standings:
  1. SLIPAK SERGIO  m         ARGENTINA               7.0         51.0    44.00
  2. MILOS GILBERTO   g       BRASIL                  7.0         49.5    42.50
  3. HERNANDEZ GILBERTO g     MEXICO                  7.0         46.5    39.50
  4. PANNO OSCAR  g           ARGENTINA               7.0         45.0    39.00
  5. RODRIGUEZ ANDRES  g      URUGUAY                 7.0         44.5    38.00
  6. SPANGENBERG HUGO  g      ARGENTINA               6.5         49.5    43.00
  7. GIACCIO ALFREDO  m       ARGENTINA               6.5         49.5    42.50
  8. ALONSO SALVADOR          C.F.                    6.5         48.5    41.50
  9. PISCICELLI DANIEL  f     MDP                     6.5         48.5    41.50
 10. PIERROT FACUNDO  m       ARGENTINA               6.5         48.0    41.50
 11. CRISTOBAL RUBEN          MDP                     6.5         47.5    41.00
 12. FIORITO FABIAN  m        ARGENTINA               6.5         47.5    40.50
 13. KANEFSCK GUSTAVO   m     MDP ARG                 6.5         46.5    39.50
 14. RUBINETTI JORGE  m       ARGENTINA               6.5         45.0    39.00
 15. SOPPE GUILLERMO  m       ARGENTINA               6.5         44.5    37.50
 16. HOFFMAN ALEJANDRO  g     ARGENTINA               6.5         42.0    36.50
 17. SZMETAN JORGE    m       ARGENTINA               6.5         40.0    35.50
 18. GIARDELLI SERGIO  m      ARGENTINA               6.0         47.0    40.50
 19. FELGAER RUBEN   f        CAP. FED. ARG           6.0         46.5    40.00
 20. BRAGA FERNANDO  m        ARG-ITA / MDP           6.0         46.0    40.00
 21. LESKOVAR MARIO  m        ARGENTINA               6.0         43.5    36.50
 22. PERALTA FERNANDO  m      BS. AS. ARG             6.0         43.0    37.00
 23. AMURA CLAUDIA   g        S.LUIS  FEM             6.0         41.5    35.00
 24. JIMENEZ JOAQUIN          ARG S/2200              6.0         40.5    34.00
 25. MOREDA LUCAS   f         ZAR S/20 S/2200         6.0         38.0    30.00
 26. CLAVERIE RAUL            PINAMAR S/20 S/220      6.0         37.5    32.00
148 players

5) First Saturday, April

Laszlo Nagy reports: There are four events taking place in Budapest in April as part of the First Saturday events. There is one GM event, two IM events and an ELO event.

FSGM After two rounds
Round 1 (April 3, 1999)

Balinov, Ilija         -  Salmensuu, Olli        1-0   56  B50  Sicilian
Nguyen Anh Dung        -  Hoffmann, Michael      1/2   29  D93  Gruenfeld indian
Zontakh, Andrey        -  Schebler, Gerhard      1-0   23  B15  Caro-Kann
Horvath, Csaba         -  Csom, Istvan           1/2   15  D36  Queen's gambit
Bu Xiangzhi            -  Seres, Lajos           1-0   26  A43  Queen's pawn
Riazantsev, Alexander  -  Hausrath, Daniel       1/2   35  E81  Kings indian; Saemisch
Roeder, Mathias        -  Hoang Thanh Trang      1/2   56  A87  Dutch defence

Round 2 (April 4, 1999)

Hausrath, Daniel       -  Bu Xiangzhi            1-0   33  A11  English; 1.c4
Hoffmann, Michael      -  Roeder, Mathias        1-0   50  B92  Sicilian; Najdorf
Csom, Istvan           -  Riazantsev, Alexander  1-0   39  A42  Queen's pawn
Zontakh, Andrey        -  Horvath, Csaba         1/2   70  B33  Sicilian; Sveshnikov
Hoang Thanh Trang      -  Balinov, Ilija         1/2   33  D85  Gruenfeld indian
Seres, Lajos           -  Nguyen Anh Dung        0-1   35  E19  Nimzo indian
Schebler, Gerhard      -  Salmensuu, Olli        0-1   55  A30  English; 1.c4 c5


Budapest HUN (HUN), iv 1999                                cat. VIII (2443)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Balinov, Ilija           BUL 2434 * . . . . . . = . 1 . . . .  1.5  2642
 2 Hausrath, Daniel       m GER 2400 . * . . . . . . 1 . = . . .  1.5  2569
 3 Hoffmann, Michael      m GER 2407 . . * . = . . . . . . 1 . .  1.5  2659
 4 Csom, Istvan           g HUN 2455 . . . * . . = . . . 1 . . .  1.5  2648
 5 Nguyen Anh Dung        m VIE 2485 . . = . * . . . . . . . 1 .  1.5  2610
 6 Zontakh, Andrey        g UKR 2530 . . . . . * = . . . . . . 1  1.5  2674
 7 Horvath, Csaba         g HUN 2524 . . . = . = * . . . . . . .  1.0  2492
 8 Hoang Thanh Trang     wg VIE 2450 = . . . . . . * . . . = . .  1.0  2441
 9 Bu Xiangzhi              CHI 2365 . 0 . . . . . . * . . . 1 .  1.0  2414
10 Salmensuu, Olli        m FIN 2449 0 . . . . . . . . * . . . 1  1.0  2436
11 Riazantsev, Alexander  f RUS 2387 . = . 0 . . . . . . * . . .  0.5  2234
12 Roeder, Mathias        m GER 2448 . . 0 . . . . = . . . * . .  0.5  2235
13 Seres, Lajos           m HUN 2428 . . . . 0 . . . 0 . . . * .  0.0      
14 Schebler, Gerhard      m GER 2439 . . . . . 0 . . . 0 . . . *  0.0      
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

FSIMA After two rounds


Round 1 (April 3, 1999)

Neumeier, Klaus   -  Ganaus, Hannes    1/2   11  B33  Sicilian; Sveshnikov
Zimmerman, Yuri   -  Farago, Sandor    0-1   60  E76  Kings indian
Klicnar, Martin   -  Lengyel, Bela     1-0   53  C98  Ruy Lopez
Mossong, Hubert   -  Bawart, Markus    0-1   57  B26  Sicilian; Closed
Wallner, Joachim  -  Wagener, Claude   0-1   31  C00  French

Round 2 (April 4, 1999)

Farago, Sandor    -  Mossong, Hubert   1-0   29  B32  Sicilian
Ganaus, Hannes    -  Wallner, Joachim  1-0   21  D61  QGD;
Klicnar, Martin   -  Neumeier, Klaus   0-1   45  B70  Sicilian; Dragon
Wagener, Claude   -  Zimmerman, Yuri   0-1   76  B07  Pirc
Lengyel, Bela     -  Bawart, Markus    0-1   54  B32  Sicilian


Budapest HUN (HUN), iv 1999                     cat. II (2292)
--------------------------------------------------------------
                                1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
--------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Farago, Sandor    m HUN 2314 * . . . 1 . . . 1 .  2.0      
 2 Bawart, Markus    f AUT 2333 . * . . . . . 1 1 .  2.0      
 3 Neumeier, Klaus   f AUT 2248 . . * = . 1 . . . .  1.5  2457
 4 Ganaus, Hannes      AUT 2279 . . = * . . . . . 1  1.5  2462
 5 Zimmerman, Yuri   m RUS 2374 0 . . . * . 1 . . .  1.0  2265
 6 Klicnar, Martin     CZE 2250 . . 0 . . * . 1 . .  1.0  2299
 7 Wagener, Claude     LUX 2216 . . . . 0 . * . . 1  1.0  2332
 8 Lengyel, Bela     m HUN 2350 . 0 . . . 0 . * . .  0.0      
 9 Mossong, Hubert   f LUX 2270 0 0 . . . . . . * .  0.0      
10 Wallner, Joachim    AUT 2290 . . . 0 . . 0 . . *  0.0      
--------------------------------------------------------------

FSIMB After two rounds

Round 1 (April 3, 1999)

Cooke, Eric              -  Jamrich, Gyorgy          1-0   44  D07  Chigorin
Schneider, Attila        -  Serrer, Christoph        1-0   23  D11  Slav defence
Leskiewicz, Maksymilian  -  Pham Minh Hoang          1/2   49  A65  Modern Benoni
Eperjesi, Laszlo         -  Kahn, Evarth             1/2   12  A07  Reti (1.Nf3)
Khechumyan, Gagik        -  Dolgener, Tobias         1/2   45  D85  Gruenfeld indian

Round 2 (April 4, 1999)

Kahn, Evarth             -  Khechumyan, Gagik        1-0   43  D80  Gruenfeld indian
Pham Minh Hoang          -  Cooke, Eric              0-1   29  E66  Kings indian
Jamrich, Gyorgy          -  Eperjesi, Laszlo         1/2   57  B12  Caro-Kann
Dolgener, Tobias         -  Schneider, Attila        0-1   45  B50  Sicilian
Bodrogi, Mihaly          -  Leskiewicz, Maksymilian  0-1   43  B24  Sicilian; Closed


Budapest HUN (HUN), iv 1999                                  cat. II (2285)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Cooke, Eric                USA 2169 * . . . . 1 1 . . . .  2.0 / 2      
 2 Schneider, Attila        m HUN 2374 . * . . . . . 1 . . 1  2.0 / 2      
 3 Kahn, Evarth             m HUN 2296 . . * . = . . . 1 . .  1.5 / 2  2543
 4 Leskiewicz, Maksymilian    AUS 2223 . . . * . = . . . 1 .  1.5 / 2  2460
 5 Eperjesi, Laszlo         m HUN 2329 . . = . * . = . . . .  1.0 / 2  2284
 6 Pham Minh Hoang            VIE 2357 0 . . = . * . . . . .  0.5 / 2  2003
 7 Jamrich, Gyorgy            HUN 2273 0 . . . = . * . . . .  0.5 / 2  2056
 8 Dolgener, Tobias           GER 2275 . 0 . . . . . * = . .  0.5 / 2  2180
 9 Khechumyan, Gagik          ARM 2372 . . 0 . . . . = * . .  0.5 / 2  2092
10 Bodrogi, Mihaly            HUN 2177 . . . 0 . . . . . * .  0.0 / 1      
11 Serrer, Christoph        f GER 2285 . 0 . . . . . . . . *  0.0 / 1      
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can contact Laszlo Nagy about his First Saturday events. E-mail: firstsat@elender.hu webpages: http://www.elender.hu/~firstsat and http://www.illawarra.net.au/chesscentral/ Tel-fax: (361)-263-28-59

6) Danish Chess Championships

The Danish Chess Championships are taking place in Aarhus. There are ten players in this nine round all-play-all event starting 27th March and was won Peter Heine Nielsen on tie break from Sune-Berg Hansen, both scored 6.5/9

There is live coverage on the internet at: http://mmm.uni-c.dk/~dm99/english.htm

Danish Championships (DEN), iii-iv 1999                 cat. X (2492)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Nielsen, Peter Heine     g DEN 2515 * = = = 1 = = 1 1 1  6.5  2655
 2 Hansen, Sune Berg        g DEN 2499 = * = = = = 1 1 1 1  6.5  2657
 3 Hansen, Curt             g DEN 2608 = = * = 1 1 = 0 1 1  6.0  2604
 4 Hansen, Lars Bo          g DEN 2565 = = = * = = = 1 1 1  6.0  2609
 5 Mortensen, Erling        m DEN 2424 0 = 0 = * = 1 = 1 1  5.0  2542
 6 Schandorff, Lars         g DEN 2527 = = 0 = = * 0 = 1 1  4.5  2488
 7 Larsen, Bent             g DEN 2532 = 0 = = 0 1 * 1 0 =  4.0  2444
 8 Fries-Nielsen, Jens Ove  m DEN 2447 0 0 1 0 = = 0 * = 0  2.5  2331
 9 El-Kher, Henrik            DEN 2338 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 = * =  2.0  2289
10 Borge, Nikolaj           m DEN 2466 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 1 = *  2.0  2275
---------------------------------------------------------------------

7) Korchnoi-Spassky Match

The Casino Conte in St Petersburg was the venue for a 10 game rapidplay match (60 minutes for all moves) between Victor Korchnoi and Boris Spassky. The match was organised by the St. Petersburg Chess Federation as a part of a celebration of the 275 year jubilee of St. Petersburg University. The match ran 27th March - 1st April. March 30th was a rest day.

Grandmaster Chess School covered the event live at: http://www.gmchess.spb.ru/classic.htm. You can see some game annotations there too.

Korchnoi eventually managed to assert his opening superiority and win the match 6-4. In the early part of the match he ruined a couple of games in time trouble. However the play was spirited from both all the way through.

Spassky, Boris V  -  Korchnoi, Viktor  1-0   40  C02  French; Advance
Korchnoi, Viktor  -  Spassky, Boris V  1-0   38  D85  Gruenfeld indian
Spassky, Boris V  -  Korchnoi, Viktor  0-1   40  C02  French; Advance
Korchnoi, Viktor  -  Spassky, Boris V  0-1   45  D85  Gruenfeld indian
Spassky, Boris V  -  Korchnoi, Viktor  1/2   40  C66  Ruy Lopez
Korchnoi, Viktor  -  Spassky, Boris V  1-0   28  D70  1.d4 d5 2.c4 g6
Spassky, Boris V  -  Korchnoi, Viktor  1/2   34  C33  Kings gambit
Korchnoi, Viktor  -  Spassky, Boris V  1-0   41  A59  Benko gambit
Spassky, Boris V  -  Korchnoi, Viktor  1/2   42  C48  Four knights
Korchnoi, Viktor  -  Spassky, Boris V  1/2   24  A87  Dutch defence


St Petersburg RUS (RUS), iii-iv 1999
-------------------------------------------------------------
                              1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
-------------------------------------------------------------
Korchnoi, Viktor  g SUI 2673   0 1 1 0 = 1 = 1 = =  6.0  2621
Spassky, Boris V  g FRA 2549   1 0 0 1 = 0 = 0 = =  4.0  2601
-------------------------------------------------------------

8) Indian National Championships

Venkatachalam Saravanan reports: The National A Championships are being held March 22-Aprill 11, in Nagpur, central India. The participants include all of India's top players except Anand and Barua. Participants include Thipsay, Sashikiran and Kunte etc. There is an official website at:

http://www.bpclnationalchess.findhere.com

Sashikiran leads with 9/11 in this massive 18 player all-play-all.

Indian Championships (IND), iii-iv 1999                                 cat. VII (2404)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Sashikiran, Krishnan       m IND 2525 * 0 = 1 . 1 1 . . . 1 1 . = 1 1 . 1  9.0  2648
 2 Kunte, Abhijit             m IND 2455 1 * . 0 = . . = 1 . . 1 = = . 1 1 1  8.0  2589
 3 Ramesh, R.B                m IND 2391 = . * 1 = 0 . 1 . . . = 1 1 . 1 = 1  8.0  2580
 4 Thipsay, Praveen M         g IND 2467 0 1 0 * . 1 0 = 1 = 1 . 1 1 . . . .  7.0  2514
 5 Prakash, G B                 IND 2403 . = = . * = = = = 1 = . = . 1 . 1 .  7.0  2502
 6 Suvrajit, Saha               IND 2335 0 . 1 0 = * = . . . 1 0 . = = = . 1  5.5  2398
 7 Ravi, Thandalam Shanmugam  f IND 2336 0 . . 1 = = * . . . 1 = . 1 0 = = 0  5.5  2399
 8 Prasad, Devaki V           m IND 2435 . = 0 = = . . * = = = . 0 . 1 . 1 =  5.5  2415
 9 Konguvel, Ponnuswamy       m IND 2436 . 0 . 0 = . . = * = . = = . = 1 = 1  5.5  2403
10 Saravanan, V                 IND 2393 . . . = 0 . . = = * . 0 0 = 1 = 1 1  5.5  2399
11 Neelotpal, Das               IND 2436 0 . . 0 = 0 0 = . . * 1 . = . 1 = 1  5.0  2360
12 Bakre, Tejas               m IND 2333 0 0 = . . 1 = . = 1 0 * . = = 0 . .  4.5  2335
13 Deshmukh, Anup               IND 2430 . = 0 0 = . . 1 = 1 . . * . 0 0 = 0  4.0  2307
14 Koshy, Varugeese           m IND 2368 = = 0 0 . = 0 . . = = = . * = = . .  4.0  2298
15 Mishra, Neeraj-Kumar       m IND 2363 0 . . . 0 = 1 0 = 0 . = 1 = * . 0 .  4.0  2297
16 Rathore, S.K                 IND 2372 0 0 0 . . = = . 0 = 0 1 1 = . * . .  4.0  2301
17 Hegde, Ravi Gopal          m IND 2397 . 0 = . 0 . = 0 = 0 = . = . 1 . * 0  3.5  2273
18 Shankar, Roy                 IND 2394 0 0 0 . . 0 1 = 0 0 0 . 1 . . . 1 *  3.5  2282
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9) 5th Werther Schloß Open

Jan Mußgnug reports on the 5th Werther Schloß Open. 142 chess players took part in the 5th Werther Schloß Open which ran from March 26th - 28th. 60 participants played in the A-group (Rating >1800 ), 82 in the B- group. Games now available.

The tournament was won by IM Alexandre Sulypa due to the better tie-breaker. He shared places 1-3 with R.Seger and D.Bunzmann (all on 4,5/5). The B group was dominated by S.Raicich who took 1st place alone with 5/5. The event was sponsored by the Sparkasse Halle/Westf.

Further information: http://www.wadewitz.de/skwerther/

10) Adjournment debate

There is a Campaign in the UK to have chess recognised as a sport. This cause now has a number of supporters in Parliament including Charlotte Atkins MP (Labour) and Dr Evan Harris (Liberal Democrat). Dr Harris succeeded in arranging an adjournment debate in the Commons on ' Government Support for UK Chess ' and the Minister for Sport, Tony Banks, a particularly charismatic politician, answered for the government. Mr Banks had already gone on the record as saying he thought chess should be recognised as a sport and a very well informed and sometimes entertaining, debate ensued. You can see the full transcript in Hansard, which is on the net at:

Full debate at:http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/cgi-bin/htmhl?WORDS
=chess&STYLE=s&COLOR=Red&STEMMER=stem&URL=/pa/cm199899/cmhansrd/
cm990315/debtext/90315-41.htm#90315-41_spnew0

11) Open Letter from GM Dorian Rogozenko

Dorian Rogozenko (rated number 2 in the Romanian ELO list) writes about the problems of the ELO list, which although he refers to problems in Romania has an impact on all chess players.

Open letter to FIDE

Dear Sirs,

In this open letter I want to give publicity to some facts concerning three tournaments in Romania, which after the Presidential Board meeting in Ankara, Turkey (13-14 March 1999), are to be investigated. After these tournaments the Romanian Alexandru Crisan jumped from Elo rating 2530 to 2635. The whole subject makes an extremely bad image for all Romanian players and given the fact that I recently moved to Bucharest and changed the Federation, I'm directly affected by the situation.

Now let me tell you some facts which are recorded documentary: from November 1996 till February 1997, A.Crisan had an ELO of 2530 (this rating certainly needs an explanation, but that's another story) "played" several matches in a competition created by himself based on knockout system. The semi-finals of that competition took place in different cities at the same time and had the same arbiter(!), which, by the way, later officially denied that he ever refereed those events. One of the semi-final matches was won by Crisan with an incredible score 10,5:1,5 against an International Master. There were 12 games planned in the match, so why it didn't stop after 7 games when the score was already 6,5:0,5 remains a mystery. The final match Crisan won even more convincingly - 14,5:1,5 (16 games were planned, after 9 games the score was 8,5:0,5) against another IM with Elo 2405. That tournament was not counted yet for the July 1997 Elo list, so Crisan could do "the big jump" at once for January 1998. From 28.06.97 till 13.07.97 there was another event, where Crisan proved his clear superiority and increasing power. It was a double round robin tournament ( FIDE cat. 9) in which A.Crisan made a result in Morozevich´s style - 13 out of 14! Not bad, but let us see those spectacular games! The few people who saw some scoresheets said that the games were spectacular indeed...

After these "competitions" Crisan appeared on the 1.01.1998 Elo list with a new rating 2635 and was placed on 33rd position in the world top 100. Of course this fact was immediately observed by the international chess media. The Romanian Chess Federation (RCF) had to do something and sent to FIDE a demand to exclude the above mentioned tournaments from the Elo calculation and FIDE did it. After that RCF suspended A.Crisan for 2 years from chess activity. Everything looked relatively normal at that time, but important things happened since then and the situation is completely different these days.. I'll be brief and will mention here the main points:

1.A.Crisan started a fight against RCF and even sued some officials from RCF. 2.The President and General Secretary of RCF changed after multiple pressures from Sport Ministry (!) 3.RCF has now a different position regarding the whole story and tries to re-establish Crisan´s rating.

One should say that A. Crisan has got considerable support from different Romanian officials. All these dirty games played by some Romanian office workers create, I repeat, a very bad image for us, players. I want to point out that all leading Romanian players dislike the situation and disagree with RCF about the case. The players in Romania know the real strength of Crisan and now its hard to understand why such an obvious case has to be investigated. I mean the problem is that its almost impossible to prove that someone bought points (although in this particular case the rules are obviously broken several times). And if you can't prove it, what happens? Give the guy back everything he bought? Imagine I arrange (not play!) a match with an IM and win it 20:0 (why not?) - I gain a lot of rating points. You'll never prove I didn't play that match. The only way to appreciate my real strength is to see me playing other tournaments. But if I never do it (like Crisan), then what? I'm sure that in the whole system of calculating rating points some changes should be done. Maybe one should lose his rating after one or two years of inactivity, maybe there should be a limit of gaining rating points per tournament. Perhaps there must be stricter ways of controlling tournaments and in case of arranged tournaments, if discovered, there should be punishment for arbiters too, and, why not, for the National Federations!? A. Crisan´s case is very clear to everybody who knows the facts and it is a reflection of an aged system of rating points calculation which needs improvement. The new rule of gaining at most 100 rating points in one time period is a beginning, but certainly not enough to stop the problem of arranged results. A.Crisan, who doesn't have a single game during the last 10 years in chess databases and who hasn't played any official Romanian and international tournaments in that period, pretends to be the best Romanian chess player. There is definitely something wrong in the state of Romania, but if FIDE is going to accept it and to restore Crisan´s rating, there are big problems with FIDE too.

Dorian Rogozenko International Grandmaster Bucharest, Romania 1.04.1999

12) Foxwoods Open

Michael Atkins has covered the Foxwoods open taking place from April 1-5. The Continental Chess Association's Foxwoods Open will take place at Foxwoods Resort Casino & Hotel (World's largest casino). The $50,000 tournament will had 8 sections.

There will be a full report next week however Michael Atkins reports that the Foxwoods Open ended in a 6 way tie for first at 5.5/7 among GMs Alexander Goldin, Gregory Kaidanov, Igor Novikov, Alexander Yermolinsky, Alek Wojtkiewicz, and IM (official in July I understand) Angelo Young. The 77 player Open section joined 7 other section to bring 460 chessplayers to the worlds largest casino on the grounds of the Mashantucket Pequot Indian Reservation. Foxwoods Resort and Casino had the finest playing conditions for any tournament that this reporter has seen in 25 years in chess and that was the general opinion. The luxory was all over in the soon to be rated 5-star resort.

Coverage at: http://www.wizard.net/~matkins/fox/foxwoods.htm

13) The "Redbus Chess Knock-out"

The "Redbus Chess Knock-out" took place alongside the Southend Chess Congress. Cliff Stanford, founder of Demon Internet and now Redbus Investments, put up £7,400 worth of prize money with the aim of promoting British Chess. [Redbus have recently launched an independent facility located in London's Docklands specialising in the secure management and siting of internet servers]

The main event was a four round knockout event with 16 leading British players. They played two games a day at 100 minutes + 30 seconds per move followed by various rapidplay games to resolve ties over the Easter Weekend 2-5th April.

Full coverage next week, but the results in the first three rounds were:

Round 1 (April 2nd) Speelman 1.5-0.5 Ward; Levitt 0.5-1.5 Davies; Lalic (won the playoff 2-0) 1-1 Pert; Sheldon 1-1 Rowson (won the playoff 2-0) ; Plaskett 1-1 Miles (won after a second series of playoffs); Chandler 1-1 McNab (won after a second series of playoffs); King 0-2 Pein; Ledger 0.5-1.5 Emms

Round 2 (April 3rd) Speelman 1.5-0.5 Davies; Lalic 1.5-0.5 Rowson; Plaskett (won after a second series of playoffs) 1-1 McNab; Pein 1.5-0.5 Emms;

Round 3 (April 4th) Lalic beat Speelman; Plaskett beat Pein.

14) Forthcoming Events

Dortmund

As reported last week he 27th Dortmund Chess Days will be held from July 9th to July 18th in the Grand Opera House (City Center of Dortmund). The Chess Days event will have a Super-Tournament from July 10th to July 17th (eight Grandmasters - category 19). Another Master-Tournament and a Big Open will be held at the same time. The main sponsor will be "Stadtsparkasse".

The soLett Chess Open 1999

The soLett Chess Open 1999 will take place 1-5 April in SKELLEFTEÅ, SWEDEN. Coverage at: http://www.surf.to/schackinorr

Participants include: Ildar Ibragimov, Andrei Kharlov, Tiger Hillarp-Persson and Vaidas Sakalauskas.

German "Damen-Bundesliga"

The German "Bundesliga" for women has finished reports Gerhard Hund. oThe team of Elberfeld won the championships.

Further information at: http://TeleSchach.com/berichte/bundes-d.html