THE WEEK IN CHESS 374 7th January 2002 by Mark Crowther

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Contents

1) Introduction
2) 77th Hastings Congress
3) Pamplona
4) Kasparov out of Corus 2002
5) US Championships in Seattle
6) Man-Machine Postponed again
7) FIDE January 2002 Rating List
8) Reggio Emilia
9) I GEMA Festival
10) XXXI Rilton Cup
11) Bosnjaci Open
12) Groningen SO-ON Tournament
13) North American Open
14) Casino and Hilton Opens
15) Raiffeisen Donau Open in Aschach
16) 3rd Friendship chess tournament
17) Gausdal Troll Masters 2002
18) Paul Keres Memorial Rapid
19) Third Saturday GM
20) 34th Belgrade Women's Tournament
21) Australian Championships
22) Forthcoming Events and Links


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Games section

77th Hastings Congress         35 games
Pamplona                       25 games
US Championships in Seattle    56 games
Reggio Emilia                  41 games
I GEMA Festival                 4 games
XXXI Rilton Cup               110 games
Bosnjaci Open                  98 games
Groningen SO-ON                45 games
North American Open            10 games
Casino and Hilton Opens        33 games
Raiffeisen Donau Open         140 games
Prerove Tournaments            72 games
Gausdal Troll Masters          72 games
Third Saturday GM              66 games
34th Belgrade Women            45 games
Australian Championships       98 games
950 games

1) Introduction

My thanks to Anjo Anjewierden, John Fernandez, Jeroen van den Berg, Ray Keene, Douglas Bryson, Carlo Mazzoni, John Donaldson, Harald Grafenhofer, Jakub Fuksik, Jovan Petronic, Robert Sporri, Eirik Gullaksen, Javier Rubio, Amiel Rosario, Aard Daanen, Thomas Henrich, Andy McFarland and all those who helped with this issue.

Plenty of news as we enter 2002. The new FIDE rating list sees the entry of Ruslan Ponomariov into the top ten for the first time. After the last list I asked how long would it be before he overtook Ivanchuk, I didn't dream it would be just three months. Of course they play each other in the FIDE final and that will probably settle the question. However whatever happens in that match we've seen the arrival of a major star. Perhaps too another star is on his way up. 14 year old Teimour Radjabov's shared second in Pamplona along with his entry into the top 100 is another potential milestone. The CORUS tournament in Wijk aan Zee starts later this week. Its a great tournament but they've been incredibly unlucky this year with Kramnik missing because of a match he's no longer playing, Ivanchuk and Ponomariov missing because they're playing for the World Title and now at the last minute an illness to Kasparov means that he is missing too. Nevertheless its a great event and I still look forward to it very much. TWIC also has daily reports from the US Championships which started on Saturday. For the most part chess is in great shape at the start of the year.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) 77th Hastings Congress

The 77th Hastings International chess Congress took place 28th December 2001 - 6th January 2002. The event was dominated by the Indians Pentala Harikrishna and Krishnan Sasikiran until the final round when they were caught by Alexei Barsov. Glenn Flear, Vitaly Tseshkovsky, Zvonko Stanojoski, Keith Arkell and Sergei Azarov finished on 7.5/10 in the Challengers. Sadly there are only a few games available, I will wait to see if more are made available by next week.

Internet coverage: http://www.hastingschess.org.uk

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Premier Hastings ENG (ENG), 29 xii 2001 - 7 i 2002   cat. XII (2526)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Harikrishna, P        g IND 2502  * = = = = 1 1 = 1 1  6.5  2694 
 2. Barsov, Alexei        g UZB 2525  = * = = = 1 1 = 1 1  6.5  2691 
 3. Sasikiran, Krishnan   g IND 2569  = = * = = = 1 1 1 1  6.5  2686 
 4. Hebden, Mark          g ENG 2567  = = = * 1 = = 1 0 =  5.0  2564 
 5. Kiriakov, Petr        g RUS 2547  = = = 0 * = = = = 1  4.5  2523 
 6. Zhang Zhong           g CHN 2657  0 0 = = = * = = 1 1  4.5  2511 
 7. Gallagher, Joseph G   g SUI 2511  0 0 0 = = = * = 1 1  4.0  2484 
 8. Pert, Nicholas        m ENG 2451  = = 0 0 = = = * 0 1  3.5  2454 
 9. Wells, Peter K        g ENG 2517  0 0 0 1 = 0 0 1 * =  3.0  2401 
10. Krush, Irina          m USA 2411  0 0 0 = 0 0 0 0 = *  1.0  2187 
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Round 3 (December 31, 2002)

Barsov, Alexei       -  Harikrishna, P       1/2   17  D12  Slav Defence
Hebden, Mark         -  Krush, Irina         1/2   36  D27  Queen's Gambit Accepted
Kiriakov, Petr       -  Sasikiran, Krishnan  1/2   49  D91  Gruenfeld Defence 5.Bg5
Pert, Nicholas       -  Zhang Zhong          1/2   32  E12  Queens Indian Petrosian
Wells, Peter K       -  Gallagher, Joseph G  0-1   37  A45  Trompowsky Variation

Round 4 (January 1, 2002)

Harikrishna, P       -  Gallagher, Joseph G  1-0   39  B23  Sicilian Closed System
Barsov, Alexei       -  Kiriakov, Petr       1/2   18  E05  Catalan System
Sasikiran, Krishnan  -  Pert, Nicholas       1-0   41  A96  Dutch Defence
Zhang Zhong          -  Hebden, Mark         1/2   53  C88  Ruy Lopez Closed
Krush, Irina         -  Wells, Peter K       1/2   22  E54  Nimzo Indian

Round 5 (January 2, 2002)

Hebden, Mark         -  Sasikiran, Krishnan  1/2   19  D27  Queen's Gambit Accepted
Kiriakov, Petr       -  Harikrishna, P       1/2   32  D36  QGD Exchange Variation
Gallagher, Joseph G  -  Krush, Irina         1-0   71  B33  Sicilian Sveshnikov
Pert, Nicholas       -  Barsov, Alexei       1/2   65  A40  Unusual Replies to 1.d4
Wells, Peter K       -  Zhang Zhong          0-1   32  E94  King's Indian Classical

Round 6 (January 3, 2002)

Harikrishna, P       -  Krush, Irina         1-0   29  D26  Queen's Gambit Accepted
Barsov, Alexei       -  Hebden, Mark         1/2   16  E67  King's Indian Fianchetto
Sasikiran, Krishnan  -  Wells, Peter K       1-0   59  D27  Queen's Gambit Accepted
Kiriakov, Petr       -  Pert, Nicholas       1/2   40  D10  Slav Defence
Zhang Zhong          -  Gallagher, Joseph G  1/2   91  B51  Sicilian Rossolimo

Round 7 (January 4, 2002)

Hebden, Mark         -  Kiriakov, Petr       1-0   67  A46  Queen's Pawn Opening
Gallagher, Joseph G  -  Sasikiran, Krishnan  0-1   39  C77  Ruy Lopez Anderssen
Pert, Nicholas       -  Harikrishna, P       1/2   21  D44  Anti-Meran Gambit
Wells, Peter K       -  Barsov, Alexei       0-1   27  A13  Reti Opening
Krush, Irina         -  Zhang Zhong          0-1   69  E44  Nimzo Indian Rubinstein

Round 8 (January 5, 2002)

Harikrishna, P       -  Zhang Zhong          1-0   41  C00  French Defence
Barsov, Alexei       -  Gallagher, Joseph G  1-0   44  E67  King's Indian Fianchetto
Sasikiran, Krishnan  -  Krush, Irina         1-0   51  D27  Queen's Gambit Accepted
Kiriakov, Petr       -  Wells, Peter K       1/2   44  E32  Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Pert, Nicholas       -  Hebden, Mark         0-1   40  E61  King's Indian Defence

Round 9 (January 6, 2002)

Hebden, Mark         -  Harikrishna, P       1/2   42  D27  Queen's Gambit Accepted
Zhang Zhong          -  Sasikiran, Krishnan  1/2   65  B92  Sicilian Najdorf with 6.Be2
Gallagher, Joseph G  -  Kiriakov, Petr       1/2    8  C11  French Defence
Wells, Peter K       -  Pert, Nicholas       1-0   70  C07  French Tarrasch
Krush, Irina         -  Barsov, Alexei       0-1   69  E54  Nimzo Indian

3) Pamplona

The Pamplona tournament took place 27th December 2001 - 6th January 2002. Viktor Bologan won the event with an impressive 7/9. 14 year old Teimour Radjabov was amongst the players tied for second place.

Internet coverage: http://www.institucionoberena.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
It Pamplona ESP (ESP), 27 xii 2001 - 5 i 2002             cat. XIV (2576)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Bologan, Viktor            g MDA 2668  * = = = 1 1 1 1 = 1  7.0  2786 
 2. Radjabov, Teimour          g AZE 2567  = * = = 1 1 0 1 = =  5.5  2657 
 3. Almasi, Zoltan             g HUN 2630  = = * 1 = = 1 0 = 1  5.5  2650 
 4. Andersson, Ulf             g SWE 2601  = = 0 * = = 1 1 = 1  5.5  2653 
 5. Fressinet, Laurent         g FRA 2588  0 0 = = * = = 1 1 1  5.0  2617 
 6. Leitao, Rafael             g BRA 2581  0 0 = = = * 1 = 1 =  4.5  2575 
 7. De la Riva Aguado, Oscar   m AND 2495  0 1 0 0 = 0 * 1 = =  3.5  2505 
 8. Conquest, Stuart           g ENG 2601  0 0 1 0 0 = 0 * 1 1  3.5  2493 
 9. Moreno Carnero, Javier     m ESP 2514  = = = = 0 0 = 0 * =  3.0  2458 
10. Narciso Dublan, Marc       m ESP 2517  0 = 0 0 0 = = 0 = *  2.0  2362 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Round 5 (January 1, 2002)

Radjabov, Teimour         -  Narciso Dublan, Marc      1/2   52  D40  Semi-Tarrasch Defence
Almasi, Zoltan            -  De la Riva Aguado, Oscar  1-0   32  B85  Sicilian Scheveningen 
Andersson, Ulf            -  Bologan, Viktor           1/2   12  A49  King's Indian Defence
Leitao, Rafael            -  Fressinet, Laurent        1/2   22  B52  Sicilian Rossolimo
Conquest, Stuart          -  Moreno Carnero, Javier    1-0   41  E71  King's Indian 5.h3

Round 6 (January 2, 2002)

Bologan, Viktor           -  Fressinet, Laurent        1-0   40  B90  Sicilian Najdorf
Andersson, Ulf            -  Conquest, Stuart          1-0   38  D11  Slav Defence
De la Riva Aguado, Oscar  -  Radjabov, Teimour         1-0   64  C11  French Defence
Moreno Carnero, Javier    -  Almasi, Zoltan            1/2   58  C88  Ruy Lopez Closed
Narciso Dublan, Marc      -  Leitao, Rafael            1/2   73  B22  Sicilian Alapin

Round 7 (January 3, 2002)

Radjabov, Teimour         -  Moreno Carnero, Javier    1/2   24  E97  King's Indian Classical
Almasi, Zoltan            -  Andersson, Ulf            1-0   39  B49  Sicilian Paulsen
Fressinet, Laurent        -  Narciso Dublan, Marc      1-0   53  A41  Modern Defence
Leitao, Rafael            -  De la Riva Aguado, Oscar  1-0   52  A87  Dutch Leningrad System
Conquest, Stuart          -  Bologan, Viktor           0-1   43  A29  English Four Knights

Round 8 (January 4, 2002)

Bologan, Viktor           -  Narciso Dublan, Marc      1-0   80  B07  Pirc Defence
Andersson, Ulf            -  Radjabov, Teimour         1/2   11  A26  English Sicilian Attack
De la Riva Aguado, Oscar  -  Fressinet, Laurent        1/2   15  B22  Sicilian Alapin 
Conquest, Stuart          -  Almasi, Zoltan            1-0   41  E12  Queens Indian Petrosian
Moreno Carnero, Javier    -  Leitao, Rafael            0-1   42  B80  Sicilian Scheveningen

Round 9 (January 5, 2002)

Radjabov, Teimour         -  Conquest, Stuart          1-0   55  D98  Gruenfeld Smyslov
Almasi, Zoltan            -  Bologan, Viktor           1/2   15  C95  Ruy Lopez Breyer
Fressinet, Laurent        -  Moreno Carnero, Javier    1-0   37  C91  Ruy Lopez
Leitao, Rafael            -  Andersson, Ulf            1/2   16  B85  Sicilian Scheveningen
Narciso Dublan, Marc      -  De la Riva Aguado, Oscar  1/2   37  B49  Sicilian Paulsen

4) Kasparov out of Corus 2002

Kasparov is out of the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee to be replaced by Alexander Morozevich. Kasparov became ill late last week with a virus that will mean he can't fly for 7-10 days ruling out his participation. Even with the withdrawals the event is still very strong and interesting. The field now is: Group A: Alexander Morozevich (Rus), Michael Adams (Eng), Peter Leko (Hun), Evgeny Bareev (Rus), Loek Van Wely (Ned), Alexander Khalifman (Rus), Boris Gelfand (Isr), Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb), Dreev (Rus), Alexander Grischuk (Rus), Joel Lautier (Fra), Mikhail Gurevich (Bel), Jeroen Piket (Ned) and Jan Timman (Ned). The GM B Group is: Ivan Sokolov (BIH), Pavel Tregubov (Rus), Mikhail Krasenkow (Pol), Friso Nijboer (Ned), Yu (Chn), John Van der Wiel (Ned), Almira Skrypchenko-Lautier (Mol), Stefanova (Bul), Peng (Ned), Harmen Jonkman (Ned), Cuijpers (Ned) and Werle (Ned). The event takes place Jan 11th-27th 2001.

5) US Championships in Seattle

The US Championships take place 5th-13th January 2002 in Seattle. There are 56 players in the event including for the first time 12 women (the highest placed woman takes their title). Leading contenders in the event include: Yasser Seirawan, Boris Gulko, Gregory Kaidanov, Joel Benjamin, Alexander Shabalov, Larry Christiansen, Alexander Ivanov and Nick de Firmian. TWIC has Daily reports and photos from John Fernandez. The first two rounds have already taken place.

Official site: http://www.seattlechessfoundation.org/events.asp

Round 2 Overall Standings:
GM  Alexander Shabalov     2606    2
GM  Larry Christiansen     2571    2
GM  Alex Stripunsky        2542    2
GM  Alexander Fishbein     2497    2
IM  Boris Kreiman          2493    2
IM  Igor Khmelnitsky       2479    2
GM  Boris Gulko            2601  1.5
GM  Joel Benjamin          2593  1.5
GM  Alex Yermolinsky       2574  1.5
GM  Nick de Firmian        2536  1.5
GM  Sergei Kudrin          2524  1.5
GM  John Fedorowicz        2517  1.5
IM  Igor Ivanov            2470  1.5
FM  Levon Altounian        2442  1.5
FM  Vladimir Strugatsky    2431  1.5
IM  Michael Mulyar         2427  1.5
FM  Dmitry Schneider       2412  1.5
IM  Larry Kaufman          2400  1.5
WIM Jennifer Shahade       2302  1.5
GM  Yasser Seirawan        2644    1     
GM  Gregory Kaidanov       2596    1
GM  Alexander Ivanov       2578    1
GM  Gregory Serper         2558    1
GM  Gennady Sagalchik      2531    1 
FM  Igor Foygel            2474    1
IM  Eugene Perelshteyn     2451    1
GM  Walter Browne          2450    1
IM  John Donaldson         2450    1
FM  Slava Mikhailuk        2447    1
    Aaron Pixton           2432    1 
IM  William Paschall       2422    1
    Armen Ambarcumjan      2388    1
FM  Yury Lapshun           2384    1
FM  Alex Kaliksteyn        2378    1
    Cindy Tsai             2197    1
WIM Esther Epstein         2194    1    
    Anna Levina            2103    1
GM  Dmitry Gurevich        2544  0.5 
IM  Jesse Kraai            2442  0.5
FM  Stanislav Kriventsov   2415  0.5
IM  Mladen Vucic           2396  0.5
WGM Elena Donaldson        2393  0.5
WIM Camilla Baginskaite    2357  0.5
IM  Guillermo Rey          2346  0.5
WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg     2261  0.5 
WIM Anna Hahn              2231  0.5
    Matthew Hoekstra       2211  0.5
FM  Josef Friedman         2154  0.5
WFM Olga Sagalchik         2130  0.5
    Vladimir Lipman        ----  0.5
IM  Anthony Saidy          2373    0
FM  Donny Ariel            2367    0
IM  Mikhail Zlotnikov      2358    0 
    Elina Groberman        2102    0
    Chouchanik Airapetian  2068    0
    Hana Itkis             ----    0

Round 2 Women Standings:
WIM Jennifer Shahade       2302  1.5
    Cindy Tsai             2197    1
WIM Esther Epstein         2194    1
    Anna Levina            2103    1
WGM Elena Donaldson        2393  0.5
WIM Camilla Baginskaite    2357  0.5
WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg     2261  0.5 
WIM Anna Hahn              2231  0.5
WFM Olga Sagalchik         2130  0.5
    Elina Groberman        2102    0
    Chouchanik Airapetian  2068    0
    Hana Itkis             ----    0

6) Man-Machine Postponed again

According to an E-mail from Ray Keene Yousuf Shirawi organiser of the BGN Man-Machine Match in Bahrain has contacted Vladimir Kramnik asking for a postponement of the contest. Mr Shirawi has proposed firm new dates between March 20th - June 30th 2002. The note goes on the "Bahrain government has also firmly committed itself to hosting the match and providing the 1 million dollar prize fund. Bahrain proposes that world champion Kramnik should choose the new dates himself .the reasons cited are the ongoing difficulties experienced in the period after September 11th, the need to maximise tv opportunities and time available to practise with the chosen hardware." In a later message October 2002 is given as the new date.

7) FIDE January 2002 Rating List

Kasparov and Kramnik remain as one and two having no rated games in this period (they did play four games in Moscow against each other that could have been rated). Anand's rating continues to fall towards the rest of the field. Michael Adams returns to World number four above Alexander Morozevich at five. Veselin Topalov is at six. The FIDE World Championships finalists are at seven and eight. Ponomariov reaches the top 10 for the first time and is now the top Ukrainian player rated 2727 up from 2684. He is 10 points clear of Vassily Ivanchuk whose rating has fallen to 2717. Shirov is back in the top ten at 2715 halting a slide over the last few rating lists. Peter Leko falls from World number 5 to 10. Other players of interest: Kiril Georgiev falls from 18 to 33, back in at 55 is Michal Krasenkow after a terrible fall in rating in April, Macieja returns to the top 100 at 72, Baklan gets back into the top 100 at 74, Zdenko Kozul in at 77 NS Shabalov in at 79. There are first time entries into the top 100 for Hannes Stefansson and Ioannis Papaioannou. Glek is in the top 100 at 86, Epishin gets back into the top 100 after his huge loss of 100 points between the January and July 2000 rating list. The wonderkind Teimour Radjabov finally arrives in the top 100. He started the year at 2483 and is now rated 2599, he can only continue to rise. Lajos Portisch has returned to the top 100 after a few years absense. Yuri Shulman in at 100. Magaram Magomedov back in the list after playing for the first time in over a year. Aleksander Delchev falls from 2634 to 2591 and out of the top 100. Also out of the top 100 are Ehlvest (down from 2626 to 2589), Gilberto Milos, Zbynek Hracek, Boris Avrukh, Thomas Luther, Vadim Milov, Alexei Federov, Lenier Dominguez and John Nunn.

The full list gives Alexandru Crisan at 2588 and a GM. This clearly means that the decision of the FIDE Congress has been ignored. I understand Crisan may be taking legal action against FIDE and a number of Romanians. Whilst he may be correct in believing that the level of evidence he supplied to gain his ratings and titles was no worse than many other players. It seems to me the evidence for his titles is pathetically weak. Crisan won two very strange tournaments in 2001 whose results looked dubious and unverified. At least we have games from those events, for a decade none of his games have been available including for the period when he jumped into the top 50. The one event with well known players he competed in was the Milan Vidmar Memorial. From the evidence of the games there it seems clear that he is now a very weak player of no better than FM standard. Its hard to believe he could have ever been a top 50 player. For instance in one game he lost a trivial ending that many amateurs would have been ashamed to lose. Crisan had a full and to me fair hearing at the FIDE Congress. However it seems that as in so many sports these days that FIDE are not free to impose sanctions even in the most severe cases without worrying about court action.

In cricket self confessed match fixer Hanse Cronje felt he should be allowed near the sport again and took legal action, fortunately his ban was upheld but if people feel they can go to court with chances of success in cases as clear as this then anything is possible when things are less clear.

Possibly this is why FIDE has fought shy of almost ever investigating match and game fixing. It goes on in chess sometimes even within the rules. It is the right of a player and even a team to mutually pre-agree a draw (how many people feel cheated in Olympiads when it becomes clear that a match has been agreed drawn beforehand? Well thats simply allowed in chess [Actually strictly speaking it isn't allowed and the match should be scored 0-0 for both sides but this never happens]. Its a good job there isn't much betting isn't it?) Far more serious is the throwing of results either to secure the best possible combined finish for the paired players in the final round of a Swiss or of offers to throw games to allow a player to get a norm for money. In the past GMs used to fight tooth and nail to prevent a player getting his final norm as a matter of honour. Then there are the ficticious events. Just pay an arbiter and a few players to say an event took place and you have a norm or a rating with no effort at all. There needs to be better evidence all round in my opinion. Perhaps this is the reason for the FIDE knockout format? Have they concluded that collusion cannot be policed?

I'm not saying that fixing is wide spread but does happen a number of times a year yet it appears hardly ever to be investigated. Nor am I saying its necessily the current FIDE administrations fault either, I can't recall any action being taken ever. But if FIDE are saying that they can't enforce their rulings on matters that are almost always circumstancial because of fear of legal action then I wonder where that leaves chess. In the case of cricket I know that match fixing has had a poisonous effect on people's view of the integrity of the game. Many athletes have avoided drugs bans through the courts. Its perhaps sports biggest issue. Perhaps its time chess addressed this problem rather than doping. I can't be alone however in thinking that these are the issues that should be addressed.

Source: http://www.fide.com. The full list is available for download there.

No. Name                              t  NAT  ja00 ju00 oc00 ja01 ap01 ju01 oc01 ja02 Gms
  1 Kasparov, Gary..................  g  RUS  2851 2849 2849 2849 2835 2838 2838 2838 0  
  2 Kramnik, Vladimir...............  g  RUS  2758 2770 2772 2772 2797 2802 2809 2809 0  
  3 Anand, Viswanathan..............  g  IND  2769 2762 2774 2790 2794 2794 2770 2757 14 
  4 Adams, Michael..................  g  ENG  2715 2755 2754 2746 2750 2744 2731 2742 25 
  5 Morozevich, Alexander...........  g  RUS  2748 2756 2734 2745 2749 2749 2742 2742 6  
  6 Topalov, Veselin................  g  BUL  2702 2707 2707 2718 2707 2711 2733 2739 8  
  7 Ponomariov, Ruslan..............  g  UKR  2627 2630 2624 2677 2673 2684 2684 2727 38 
  8 Ivanchuk, Vassily...............  g  UKR  2709 2719 2716 2717 2731 2731 2731 2717 39 
  9 Shirov, Alexei..................  g  ESP  2751 2746 2746 2718 2722 2706 2706 2715 26 
 10 Leko, Peter.....................  g  HUN  2725 2743 2748 2745 2730 2730 2739 2713 11 
 11 Bareev, Evgeny..................  g  RUS  2709 2702 2694 2709 2709 2719 2719 2707 19 
 12 Gelfand, Boris..................  g  ISR  2692 2681 2683 2712 2712 2704 2701 2703 18 
 13 Smirin, Ilia....................  g  ISR  2666 2677 2674 2686 2691 2702 2698 2702 33 
 14 Van Wely, Loek..................  g  NED  2646 2643 2643 2700 2670 2695 2714 2697 20 
 15 Kasimdzhanov, Rustam............  g  UZB  2614 2690 2690 2693 2693 2704 2706 2695 13 
 16 Karpov, Anatoly.................  g  RUS  2696 2699 2699 2679 2692 2692 2692 2693 14 
 17 Svidler, Peter..................  g  RUS  2672 2689 2695 2695 2695 2695 2686 2688 29 
 18 Khalifman, Alexander............  g  RUS  2656 2667 2658 2690 2690 2700 2702 2688 10 
 19 Lautier, Joel...................  g  FRA  2632 2648 2648 2658 2658 2675 2653 2687 21 
 20 Dreev, Alexey...................  g  RUS  2680 2676 2681 2685 2685 2690 2676 2683 21 
 21 Akopian, Vladimir...............  g  ARM  2660 2660 2671 2656 2654 2660 2660 2680 16 
 22 Polgar, Judit (GM) w ...........  g  HUN  2658 2656 2656 2676 2678 2686 2686 2677 19 
 23 Azmaiparashvili, Zurab..........  g  GEO  2673 2673 2678 2670 2670 2674 2674 2676 15 
 24 Ye, Jiangchuan..................  g  CHN  2616 2670 2682 2671 2671 2677 2681 2676 8  
 25 Grischuk, Alexander.............  g  RUS  2581 2606 2601 2663 2667 2669 2666 2671 16 
 26 Short, Nigel D..................  g  ENG  2683 2677 2687 2676 2676 2664 2675 2663 20 
 27 Vaganian, Rafael A..............  g  ARM  2618 2623 2627 2641 2641 2650 2650 2662 10 
 28 Sokolov, Ivan...................  g  BIH  2637 2611 2611 2659 2659 2659 2658 2659 17 
 29 Piket, Jeroen...................  g  NED  2633 2649 2640 2632 2628 2630 2649 2659 9  
 30 Sutovsky, Emil..................  g  ISR  2597 2609 2609 2605 2604 2651 2664 2656 20 
 31 Zhang, Zhong....................  g  CHN  2611 2636 2607 2607 2632 2667 2657 2656 18 
 32 Zvjaginsev, Vadim...............  g  RUS  2641 2634 2635 2631 2627 2638 2640 2656 13 
 33 Georgiev, Kiril.................  g  BUL  2677 2661 2674 2676 2676 2695 2686 2655 25 
 34 Onischuk, Alexander.............  g  UKR  2637 2627 2647 2658 2658 2667 2660 2655 20 
 35 Rublevsky, Sergei...............  g  RUS  2662 2670 2653 2657 2657 2639 2634 2655 14 
 36 Xu, Jun.........................  g  CHN  2578 2668 2665 2655 2655 2646 2654 2654 16 
 37 Nikolic, Predrag................  g  BIH  2659 2657 2657 2652 2652 2652 2652 2653 15 
 38 Bologan, Viktor.................  g  MDA  2589 2641 2651 2684 2676 2655 2668 2651 9  
 39 Beliavsky, Alexander G..........  g  SLO  2640 2654 2629 2638 2638 2659 2668 2649 29 
 40 Sakaev, Konstantin..............  g  RUS  2629 2627 2620 2639 2637 2630 2639 2649 25 
 41 Bacrot, Etienne.................  g  FRA  2594 2613 2613 2618 2627 2653 2653 2649 13 
 42 Malakhov, Vladimir..............  g  RUS  2593 2605 2605 2613 2623 2637 2637 2647 6  
 43 Aleksandrov, Aleksej............  g  BLR  2606 2591 2597 2610 2610 2646 2645 2645 10 
 44 Lutz, Christopher...............  g  GER  2587 2595 2595 2609 2614 2643 2643 2644 25 
 45 Almasi, Zoltan..................  g  HUN  2676 2668 2668 2640 2640 2630 2630 2644 9  
 46 Seirawan, Yasser................  g  USA  2647 2647 2647 2640 2640 2644 2644 2644 0  
 47 Nielsen, Peter Heine............  g  DEN  2564 2578 ---- 2585 2585 2593 2620 2642 20 
 48 Gurevich, Mikhail...............  g  BEL  2694 2667 2673 2694 2688 2633 2605 2641 24 
 49 Motylev, Alexander..............  g  RUS  2552 2574 2583 2570 2601 2627 2641 2639 18 
 50 Kharlov, Andrei.................  g  RUS  2616 2627 2627 2639 2639 2656 2656 2638 11 
 51 Dautov, Rustem..................  g  GER  2602 2606 2603 2631 2631 2630 2630 2636 10 
 52 Lputian, Smbat G................  g  ARM  2605 2598 2610 2607 2607 2608 2618 2634 27 
 53 Tkachiev, Vladislav.............  g  FRA  2670 2657 2659 2672 2672 2642 2632 2634 6  
 54 Korchnoi, Viktor................  g  SUI  2659 2620 2632 2639 2643 2617 2639 2633 33 
 55 Krasenkow, Michal...............  g  POL  2661 2702 2702 2658 2655 2573 2592 2632 48 
 56 Sadler, Matthew.................  g  ENG  2630 2628 2628 2633 2633 2631 2631 2631 0  
 57 Goldin, Alexander...............  g  USA  2566 2575 2588 2595 2599 2594 2612 2630 24 
 58 Lastin, Alexander...............  g  RUS  2510 2560 2633 2631 2627 2628 2628 2630 11 
 59 Shipov, Sergei..................  g  RUS  2640 2640 2640 2640 2640 2625 2625 2630 4  
 60 Vallejo Pons, Francisco.........  g  ESP  2528 2554 ---- 2545 2559 2630 2630 2629 13 
 61 Huebner, Robert Dr..............  g  GER  2620 2615 2606 2616 2616 2612 2612 2628 24 
 62 Tregubov, Pavel V...............  g  RUS  2615 2620 2610 2628 2628 2617 2611 2626 12 
 63 Filippov, Valerij...............  g  RUS  2584 2593 2601 2619 2632 2617 2617 2625 18 
 64 Movsesian, Sergei...............  g  CZE  2668 2666 2666 2661 2661 2627 2631 2624 16 
 65 Pigusov, Evgeny.................  g  RUS  2610 2578 ---- 2572 2584 2613 2613 2623 13 
 66 Kobalija, Mihail................  g  RUS  2593 2594 ---- 2581 2590 2595 2603 2620 13 
 67 Landa, Konstantin...............  g  RUS  2598 2610 2610 2610 2610 2619 2619 2619 0  
 68 Jussupow, Artur.................  g  GER  2628 2610 2610 2645 2645 2633 2633 2618 23 
 69 Tiviakov, Sergei................  g  NED  2567 2608 2606 2597 2603 2618 2599 2614 22 
 70 Sokolov, Andrei.................  g  FRA  2565 2564 ---- 2566 2568 2604 2602 2614 9  
 71 Hansen, Curt....................  g  DEN  2618 2613 2620 2619 2619 2626 2613 2613 0  
 72 Macieja, Bartlomiej.............  g  POL  2538 2536 2565 2578 2608 2588 2582 2612 16 
 73 Peng, Xiaomin...................  g  CHN  2624 2657 2655 2648 2648 2629 2607 2611 8  
 74 Baklan, Vladimir................  g  UKR  2571 2599 2611 2613 2613 2599 2590 2609 53 
 75 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter.........  g  ROM  2611 2592 2592 2596 2596 2609 2609 2608 4  
 76 Rustemov, Alexander.............  g  RUS  2553 2534 2553 2620 2625 2607 2611 2607 6  
 77 Kozul, Zdenko...................  g  CRO  2597 2611 2616 2594 2595 2556 2569 2606 34 
 78 Gyimesi, Zoltan.................  g  HUN  2518 2539 ---- 2564 2571 2602 2605 2606 20 
 79 Shabalov, Alexander.............  g  USA  2592 2601 2599 2609 2595 2574 2585 2606 20 
 80 Istratescu, Andrei..............  g  ROM  2556 2578 ---- 2582 2561 2598 2603 2605 45 
 81 Graf, Alexander.................  g  GER  2600 2642 2645 2649 2649 2610 2610 2605 27 
 82 Timman, Jan H...................  g  NED  2655 2639 2639 2629 2620 2597 2600 2605 10 
 83 Stefansson, Hannes..............  g  ISL  2566 2557 ---- 2570 2570 2586 2575 2604 26 
 84 Dorfman, Josif D................  g  FRA  2593 2600 2600 2602 2602 2602 2599 2602 9  
 85 Papaioannou, Ioannis............  g  GRE  2575 2578 ---- 2591 2591 2591 2591 2601 17 
 86 Glek, Igor V....................  g  GER  2554 2553 ---- 2551 2566 2574 2590 2601 14 
 87 Gulko, Boris F..................  g  USA  2644 2643 2642 2622 2606 2602 2608 2601 8  
 88 Hickl, Joerg....................  g  GER  2556 2573 ---- 2582 2582 2600 2600 2601 6  
 89 Chuchelov, Vladimir.............  g  BEL  2518 2535 ---- 2539 2550 2607 2607 2600 9  
 90 Najdoski, Toni..................  g  MKD  2548 2492 2559 2601 2600 2600 2600 2600 0  
 91 Epishin, Vladimir...............  g  RUS  2667 2567 ---- 2578 2579 2583 2583 2599 40 
 92 Najer, Evgeniy..................  g  RUS  2572 2597 2590 2616 2600 2599 2599 2599 24 
 93 Radjabov, Teimour...............  g  AZE  2459 2476 ---- 2483 2533 2558 2567 2599 20 
 94 Asrian, Karen...................  g  ARM  2572 2566 ---- 2582 2582 2604 2604 2599 15 
 95 Eingorn, Vereslav S.............  g  UKR  2597 2586 ---- 2589 2589 2598 2601 2598 25 
 96 Rozentalis, Eduardas............  g  LTU  2553 2570 2593 2630 2597 2588 2601 2598 24 
 97 Andersson, Ulf..................  g  SWE  2625 2641 2641 2640 2640 2601 2601 2598 12 
 98 Hodgson, Julian M...............  g  ENG  2625 2640 2633 2596 2595 2581 2589 2598 6  
 99 Portisch, Lajos.................  g  HUN  2564 2573 ---- 2585 2585 2591 2591 2596 16 
100 Shulman, Yuri...................  g  BLR  2552 2548 ---- 2543 2551 2568 2587 2596 15 
101 Magomedov, Magaram..............  g  RUS  2594 2608 2608 2608 2608 2608 2596 2596 9  
102 Kaidanov, Gregory S.............  g  USA  2599 2624 2619 2607 2601 2605 2605 2596 8  
103 Speelman, Jonathan S............  g  ENG  2604 2623 2612 2604 2594 2603 2596 2596 8  
104 Conquest, Stuart................  g  ENG  2563 2529 ---- 2546 2563 2565 2601 2596 7  

8) Reggio Emilia

The Reggio Emilia tournament takes place 30th December 2001 to 7th January 2002. Vladimir Georgiev took first place on tie-break from Delchev, Chatalbashev and Cebalo. Georgiev beat the leader Cebalo in the final round. My thanks to Carlo Mazzoni.

Internet coverage: http://re.xall.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
It Reggio Emilia ITA (ITA), 27 xii 2001 - 5 i 2002       cat. VIII (2437)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Georgiev, Vladimir        g BUL 2564  * = = 1 = 1 1 0 = 1  6.0  2547 
 2. Delchev, Aleksander       g BUL 2634  = * = = = 1 = 1 1 =  6.0  2540 
 3. Chatalbashev, Boris       g BUL 2526  = = * = = 1 0 1 1 1  6.0  2552 
 4. Cebalo, Miso              g CRO 2492  0 = = * = = 1 1 1 1  6.0  2555 
 5. Naumkin, Igor             g RUS 2414  = = = = * = = = = 1  5.0  2482 
 6. Zaja, Ivan                g CRO 2476  0 0 0 = = * 1 1 1 1  5.0  2475 
 7. Vezzosi, Paolo            m ITA 2401  0 = 1 0 = 0 * = 1 =  4.0  2397 
 8. Costantini, Roberto         ITA 2314  1 0 0 0 = 0 = * 0 1  3.0  2325 
 9. Scalcione, Michelangelo     ITA 2292  = 0 0 0 = 0 0 1 * =  2.5  2287 
10. Djingarova, Emilia       wm BUL 2256  0 = 0 0 0 0 = 0 = *  1.5  2184 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

9) I GEMA Festival

The 1st Festival Internacional De Ajedrez GEMA took place in Mondariz Balneario, Pontevedra, 26th December 2001 to 6th January 2002. Francisco Vallejo Pons drew against Ivan Sokolov in an 8 game match. There was also an open won by Oleg Korneev ahead on tie-break from Mark Paragua both on 7.5/9. No games from the open are available.

Internet coverage: http://ajedrezactual.com/gema_mondariz01.html

Vallejo Pons, Francisco  -  Sokolov, Ivan            1/2   42  C67  Ruy Lopez
Sokolov, Ivan            -  Vallejo Pons, Francisco  1-0   40  D47  Queens Gambit Meran
Vallejo Pons, Francisco  -  Sokolov, Ivan            1/2   25  C67  Ruy Lopez
Sokolov, Ivan            -  Vallejo Pons, Francisco  1/2   71  E39  Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Vallejo Pons, Francisco  -  Sokolov, Ivan            1-0   51  C24  Bishop's Opening
Sokolov, Ivan            -  Vallejo Pons, Francisco  1/2   25  E39  Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Vallejo Pons, Francisco  -  Sokolov, Ivan            1/2   43  D51  QGD: Cambridge Springs
Sokolov, Ivan            -  Vallejo Pons, Francisco  1/2   29  D21  QGA

GEMA Match Mondariz Belneario ESP (ESP), 26 xii 2001 - 6 i 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sokolov, Ivan           g  BIH 2658    =   1   =   =   0   =   =   =   4.0  2630
Vallejo Pons, Francisco g  ESP 2630    =   0   =   =   1   =   =   =   4.0  2658
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Final (Round 9 Standings) Open
 1. Korneev, Oleg               RUS   2554 2579  7.5   55.5  39.0  43.0  
    Paragua, Mark               PHI   2447       7.5   52.5  38.5  40.0  
 3. Hellsten, Johan             SWE   2471       7.0   50.0  36.0  38.5  
 4. Pogorelov, Ruslan           UKR   2430 2412  6.5   52.5  35.5  40.5  
    Movsziszian, Karen          ARM   2511 2523  6.5   52.0  34.0  40.5  
    Valles Moreno, Ivan         ESP   2225 2253  6.5   45.0  31.0  36.5  
 7. Franco Ocampo, Zenon        ESP   2522 2517  6.0   54.5  36.0  42.5  
    Oratovsky, Michael          ISR   2526       6.0   51.5  33.5  40.0  
    Strikovic, Aleksa           YUG   2506 2545  6.0   50.5  34.5  39.0  
    Rodriguez Guerrero, Enrique ESP   2324 2288  6.0   50.5  33.0  39.5  
    Martinez Rodriguez, Pablo   ESP   2265 2276  6.0   49.5  32.0  39.0  
    Guerra Bastida, Diego       ESP   2341 2304  6.0   48.5  32.0  37.5  
    Santos Santos, Pablo        ESP   2256 2279  6.0   47.5  32.0  38.0  
    Zlotnik, Boris              RUS   2423 2467  6.0   47.5  31.0  37.0  
    Garcia Carbo, Marcial       ESP   2354 2341  6.0   47.5  30.0  37.0  
    Rivera Kuzawka, Daniel      URU   2357 2354  6.0   45.5  29.0  35.5  
    De la Cruz, Carlos Gustavo  ESP   2284 2133  6.0   41.0  31.0  33.0  
93 players

10) XXXI Rilton Cup

The XXXI Rilton Cup took place 27th December 2001 to 5th January 2002. Evgeny Agrest took first on tie-break from Bogdan Lalic, Tom Wedberg and Valerij Popov all finished on 7/9. There were IM norms for Anton Aeberg and Bengt Lindberg.

Information: http://home1.swipnet.se/~w-21958/XXXIRilton_cup0102.htm

Leading Final (Round 9) Standings
  1   Agrest, Evgenij          SWE   2563 7.0  39.0 
  2   Lalic, Bogdan            ENG   2522 7.0  36.0 
  3   Wedberg, Tom             SWE   2529 7.0  35.0 
  4   Popov, Valerij           RUS   2578 7.0  33.5 
  5   Nataf, Igor              FRA   2535 6.5  36.5 
  6   Rowson, Jonathan         SCO   2512 6.5  35.0 
  7   Volzhin, Alexander       RUS   2521 6.5  34.5 
  8   Khenkin, Igor            GER   2572 6.5  34.0 
  9   Mc Shane, Luke           ENG   2531 6.5  34.0 
 10   Hector, Jonny            SWE   2528 6.5  34.0 
 11   Ernst, Thomas            SWE   2436 6.5  32.5 
 12   Ulibin, Michail          RUS   2580 6.5  31.5 
 13   Åberg, Anton             SWE   2388 6.5  31.0 
 14   Gleizerov, Evgenij       RUS   2575 6.0  34.0 
 15   Åkesson, Ralf            SWE   2437 6.0  34.0 
 16   Ivanov, Sergey           RUS   2556 6.0  32.0 
 17   Eriksson, Johan          SWE   2415 6.0  31.5 
 18   Bellon, Juan             ESP   2442 6.0  31.0 
 19   Nybäck, Tomi             FIN   2430 6.0  30.0 
 20   Lindberg, Bengt          SWE   2341 6.0  30.0 
 21   Hunt, Adam               ENG   2356 6.0  29.0 
 22   Guseinov, Gadir          AZE   2489 6.0  28.0 
 23   Ahlander, Björn          SWE   2426 6.0  27.0 
131 players

11) Bosnjaci Open

The Bosnjaci Open took place 3rd-6th January 2002. Uros Krstic won the event with 6.5/7.

Internet coverage: http://www.crochess.com/turniri/bosnjaci/bosnjaci.htm

--------------------------------------------------------
8th Open Bosnjaci CRO (CRO), 3-13 i 2002
--------------------------------------------------------
 1. Krstic, Uros               CRO 2356  6.5  22.0  27.5 
 2. Zivkovic, Vjekoslav        CRO 2350  5.5  23.0  22.0 
 3. Drazic, Sinisa          g  YUG 2471  5.5  23.0  22.0 
 4. Fercec, Nenad           m  CRO 2438  5.5  22.0  24.0 
 5. Runic, Zoran            f  BIH 2448  5.5  22.0  23.5 
 6. Nurkic, Sahbaz          m  BIH 2413  5.5  20.5  22.0 
 7. Leventic, Ivan          m  CRO 2439  5.0  23.5  21.5 
 8. Rogic, Davor            m  CRO 2478  5.0  23.0  23.0 
 9. Jakic, Ivan                CRO 2255  5.0  23.0  22.5 
10. Martic, Zlatko          f  CRO 2246  5.0  23.0  21.0 
11. Kutuzovic, Branko       m  CRO 2403  5.0  22.5  22.0 
12. Petrina,Tomislav           CRO ----  5.0  22.0  18.5 
13. Pap, Misa               m  YUG 2415  5.0  21.5  21.0 
14. Kuljasevic, Davorin        CRO 2286  5.0  21.5  21.0 
15. Teofilovic, Vjeran         CRO 2219  5.0  21.0  19.5 
16. Hodak, Stevo               CRO 2270  5.0  20.0  20.0 
17. Brkic, Ante             f  CRO 2312  5.0  19.5  21.0 
18. Rosandic, Denis         f  CRO 2248  5.0  19.5  19.5 
19. Ljubic, Juro               CRO 2272  5.0  17.5  19.5 
20. Nol, Andrija               CRO 2223  5.0  17.5  16.5 
117 players

12) Groningen SO-ON Tournament

Although the main Festival did not run this year there were a number of small events in Groningen including the SO-ON tournament. Sipke Ernst won the 9 round event which took place 22nd-31st December 2001.

Internet coverage: http://www.so-on.org/toernooi.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------
SO-ON Groningen NED (NED), 22-31 xii 2001               cat. V (2355)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Ernst, Sipke           m NED 2459  * 0 = = 1 1 1 = 1 1  6.5  2509 
 2. L'Ami, Erwin             NED 2344  1 * = 1 0 = 1 0 1 1  6.0  2481 
 3. Middelburg, Tom        f NED 2364  = = * 0 1 = = 1 1 1  6.0  2478 
 4. Van der Weide, Karel   m NED 2457  = 0 1 * 0 = = 1 0 =  4.0  2300 
 5. Werle, Jan             m NED 2459  0 1 0 1 * = = 0 = =  4.0  2300 
 6. Baramidze, David         GER 2335  0 = = = = * 0 1 0 1  4.0  2314 
 7. Jens, Jelmer             NED 2318  0 0 = = = 1 * 1 = 0  4.0  2316 
 8. Koster, Ramon            NED 2285  = 1 0 0 1 0 0 * = =  3.5  2282 
 9. Michiels, Bart           BEL 2159  0 0 0 1 = 1 = = * 0  3.5  2296 
10. Afek, Yochanan         m ISR 2369  0 0 0 = = 0 1 = 1 *  3.5  2273 
---------------------------------------------------------------------

13) North American Open

John Donaldson reports: The North American Open was held December 26th-29th 2001 in Las Vegas. The top finishers were 1-2. Onischuk and Kaidanov 5-1; 3-8. Yermolinsky, Kudrin, Novikov, Goldin, Serper and Ibragimov 4.5. A few games are available.

14) Casino and Hilton Opens

The Casino Open in Interlaken took place 26th-30th December 2001. The event was won by Ivan Ivanisevic. The 4th Hilton Open Basel took place January 1st-6th 2002 and this event was won by Viktor Korchnoi. Both events were part of the Swiss Tour. They both were seven round Swiss events which split after five rounds. The top four players after fifth round played a knockout to establish the main prizes, the rest of the players completed the Swiss.

Games from Robert Spörri. Further information: http://www.beochess.ch/

---------------------------------------------------
Casino Open Interlaken SUI (SUI), 26-30 xii 2001
---------------------------------------------------

 1. Ivanisevic, Ivan            g  YUG 2547
 2. Solak, Dragan               g  YUG 2504
 3. Varga, Zoltan               g  HUN 2506
 4. Vajda, Levente              g  ROM 2489
 
 5. Kachiani-Gersinska, Ketino  m  GER 2455   5.0
 6. Kovacevic, Aleksandar       g  YUG 2553   5.0
 7. Izsak, Gyula                m  HUN 2436   4.5
 8. Velicka, Petr               m  CZE 2448   4.5
 9. Horvath, Tamas1             m  HUN 2368   4.5
10. Sedina, Elena              wg  ITA 2398   4.5
11. Berzinsh, Roland            m  LAT 2464   4.5
12. Curien, Nicolas                SUI 2205   4.5
13. Rausis, Igors               g  LAT 2466   4.0
38 players

--------------------------------------------
4th Hilton Open Basel SUI (SUI), 1-6 i 2002
--------------------------------------------

 1. Korchnoi, Viktor            g  SUI 2633
 2. Solak, Dragan               g  YUG 2501
 3. Varga, Zoltan               g  HUN 2510
 4. Pelletier, Yannick          g  SUI 2549
 
 5. Tukmakov, Vladimir B        g  UKR 2572   5.5
 6. Sokolov, Andrei             g  FRA 2614   5.5
 7. Roschina, Tatjana          wg  RUS 2267   5.0
 8. Burmakin, Vladimir          g  RUS 2564   5.0
 9. Pikula. Dejan               m  YUG 2466   5.0
10. Shchekachev, Andrei         g  RUS 2573   5.0
11. Ivanisevic, Ivan            g  YUG 2540   5.0
12. Czebe, Attila               m  HUN 2489   5.0
13. Berzinsh, Roland            m  LAT 2455   5.0
14. Izsak, Gyula                m  HUN 2436   5.0
15. Vajda, Levente              g  ROM 2513   5.0
85 players

15) Raiffeisen Donau Open in Aschach

The 10th Raiffeisen Donau Open in Aschach took place December 26th-31st 2001. There was a five way tie on 5.5/7 between Henrik Teske, Raj Tischbierek, Valery Beim, Sergei Krivoshey, and Nenad Fercec.

My thanks to Harald Grafenhofer for the games. I found additional information at: http://schach.wienerzeitung.at/kol02/2002_01.HTM

Top 10 players
------------------------------------------------------------
10th Raiffeisen Donau Open Aschach AUT (AUT), 26-31 xii 2001
------------------------------------------------------------

 1. Teske, Henrik             g  GER 2504  5.5  2577 
 2. Tischbierek, Raj          g  GER 2493  5.5  2590 
 3. Beim, Valery              g  AUT 2527  5.5  2613 
 4. Krivoshey, Sergei         m  UKR 2461  5.5  2551 
 5. Fercec, Nenad             m  CRO 2458  5.5  2529 
 6. Hertneck, Gerald          g  GER 2570  5.0  2509 
 7. Rogulj, Branko            m  CRO 2456  5.0  2453 
 8. Berkes, Ferenc            m  HUN 2541  5.0  2483 
 9. Stanec, Nikolaus          m  AUT 2512  5.0  2464 
10. Jurek, Josef              m  CZE 2362  5.0  2469 
65 players

16) 3rd Friendship chess tournament

The 3rd Friendship chess tournament took place 4th-14th December 2001 in Prerov (Czech Republic). There were two main events a GM and IM event. The missing games from last week are available now.

Internet site: http://www.proclient.cz/a64

Final Results 11 Rounds
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friendship GM Prerove CZE (CZE), 4-14 xii 2001            cat. IX (2458)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Stocek, Jiri          g CZE 2518  * 1 = 1 1 = = = = 1 1 1  8.5  2663 
 2. Neverov, Valeriy      g UKR 2569  0 * 1 = = = = 1 1 1 1 =  7.5  2580 
 3. Berzinsh, Roland      m LAT 2464  = 0 * = 0 1 1 = = 1 1 1  7.0  2559 
 4. Vokac, Marek          g CZE 2529  0 = = * = 1 1 = = = 1 =  6.5  2516 
 5. Cvek, Robert          m CZE 2418  0 = 1 = * = = = = 1 = =  6.0  2497 
 6. Antoniewski, Rafal    m POL 2446  = = 0 0 = * 1 = 1 = = =  5.5  2459 
 7. Simacek, Pavel        f CZE 2402  = = 0 0 = 0 * = = 1 1 1  5.5  2463 
 8. Gross, David CZE      m CZE 2469  = 0 = = = = = * = = = =  5.0  2420 
 9. Kalod, Radek          m CZE 2479  = 0 = = = 0 = = * 0 = 1  4.5  2391 
10. Jirka, Jiri             CZE 2330  0 0 0 = 0 = 0 = 1 * = 1  4.0  2367 
11. Heberla, Bartlomiej     POL 2390  0 0 0 0 = = 0 = = = * 1  3.5  2331 
12. Nalivajko, Evgeny     m UKR 2481  0 = 0 = = = 0 = 0 0 0 *  2.5  2244 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friendship IM Prerove CZE (CZE), 4-14 xii 2001                cat. III (2321)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Wojtaszek, Radoslaw         POL 2285  * = 0 1 = 1 = = 1 1 1 1  8.0  2498 
 2. Hasangatin, Ramil         m RUS 2479  = * 1 = = = = = 1 1 = 1  7.5  2439 
 3. Ruckschloss, Karol        f SVK 2264  1 0 * 0 = 1 1 = 1 = 1 1  7.5  2458 
 4. Szymanski, Marcin         f POL 2385  0 = 1 * = = = 1 1 1 = =  7.0  2416 
 5. Jurek, Josef              m CZE 2362  = = = = * = = 1 = 1 = 1  7.0  2418 
 6. Kantorik, Marian            SVK 2321  0 = 0 = = * 1 = 1 0 = 1  5.5  2320 
 7. Pataki, Gyozo               HUN 2344  = = 0 = = 0 * = = 0 1 1  5.0  2282 
 8. Molnar, Bela                HUN 2363  = = = 0 0 = = * = = 0 1  4.5  2251 
 9. Sikora-Lerch, Jan         m CZE 2324  0 0 0 0 = 0 = = * 1 1 1  4.5  2255 
10. Hitzgerova, Gabriela     wm CZE 2160  0 0 = 0 0 1 1 = 0 * 1 0  4.0  2233 
11. Novosak, Jiri               CZE 2296  0 = 0 = = = 0 1 0 0 * 1  4.0  2220 
12. Van de Berkmortel, Theo     NED 2264  0 0 0 = 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 *  1.5  2016 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

17) Gausdal Troll Masters 2002

The Gausdal Troll Masters Open International takes place January 6th-13th 2002 at Gausdal Høifjellshotel. Three players have 3/3 Mikael Agopov, Mathias Womacka and Enamul Hossain. My thanks to Eirik Gullaksen.

Details: http://home.online.no/~bjarke-k/TrollMasters/

Current standings after round 3 (of 9): 
-----------------------------------------------------
Troll Masters Gausdal NOR (NOR), 6-11 i 2002
-----------------------------------------------------
 1. Agopov, Mikael          m  FIN 2400  3.0       
 2. Womacka, Mathias        m  GER 2499  3.0       
 3. Hossain, Enamul         f  BAN 2426  3.0       
 4. Friedman, Aviv          f  ISR 2345  2.5  2581 
 5. Leer-Salvesen, Bjarte      NOR 2293  2.5  2456 
 6. Westerinen, Heikki M.J  g  FIN 2412  2.5  2450 
 7. Burgess, Graham         f  ENG 2298  2.5  2470 
 8. Royset, Paal               NOR 2280  2.5  2562 
 9. Djurhuus, Rune          g  NOR 2469  2.0  2349 
10. Moen, Andreas              NOR 2265  2.0  2339 
11. Rausis, Igors           g  LAT 2466  2.0  2354 
12. Lie, Espen                 NOR 2168  2.0  2231 
13. Rause, Olita            wg LAT 2234  2.0  2348 
14. Reefat, Bin-Sattar      m  BAN 2450  2.0  2377 
15. Carlsen, Magnus            NOR 2127  2.0  2305 
16. Hoi, Carsten            g  DEN 2407  2.0  2336 
17. Johansen,Paul              NOR ----  2.0  2258 
18. Lie, Kjetil A              NOR 2388  2.0  2383 
19. Lahlum, Ida                NOR ----  2.0  2302 
20. Bae, Torstein           f  NOR 2318  2.0  2450 
21. Bekker-Jensen, David       DEN 2308  2.0  2231 
22. Johansen, Kai-Roger        NOR 2090  2.0  2267 
48 players

18) Paul Keres Memorial Rapid

The 12th International Rapid Chess Tournament Paul Keres Memorial took place January 4th-6th 2001 in Tallinn. The winner was Gavrikov. Hopefully more details will follow.

Internet site: http://www.maleliit.ee/12th.htm

19) Third Saturday GM

Jovan Petronic reports: The Third Saturday GM event in Belgrade took place 15th-25th December 2001. The event was won by IM Slavisa Marinkovic with 8/11 undefeated.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
TSGM December Belgrade YUG (YUG), 15-25 xii 2001          cat. VII (2422)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Marinkovic, Slavisa    m YUG 2452  * = = = = 1 1 = 1 1 = 1  8.0  2593 
 2. Popchev, Milko         g BUL 2452  = * = = = = 1 = = = 1 =  6.5  2483 
 3. Nikcevic, Nebojsa      g YUG 2462  = = * = = 0 = 1 = 1 1 =  6.5  2482 
 4. Zivanic, Marko         m YUG 2411  = = = * = 0 = = 1 = 1 1  6.5  2487 
 5. Antic, Dejan           g YUG 2464  = = = = * 0 0 = 1 1 1 1  6.5  2482 
 6. Kostic, Vladimir       m YUG 2352  0 = 1 1 1 * = 0 0 1 = =  6.0  2463 
 7. Paschall, William M    m USA 2393  0 0 = = 1 = * 1 0 = = 1  5.5  2424 
 8. Maksimovic, Branimir   m YUG 2432  = = 0 = = 1 0 * = = 0 1  5.0  2384 
 9. Bakre, Tejas           m IND 2446  0 = = 0 0 1 1 = * 0 1 =  5.0  2383 
10. Orlov, Pavle           m YUG 2378  0 = 0 = 0 0 = = 1 * 0 1  4.0  2323 
11. Weinzettl, Ernst       m AUT 2415  = 0 0 0 0 = = 1 0 1 * 0  3.5  2289 
12. Payen, Arnaud          m FRA 2401  0 = = 0 0 = 0 0 = 0 1 *  3.0  2248 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

20) 34th Belgrade Women's Tournament

Jovan Petronic reports: The 34th Belgrade Women's Tournament took place 21st-29th December 2001. The event was played at 40 moves for 2 hrs. + 1 hour for the rest and was a Category IX Women's event (2259) Women's Norms: WGM=6.5, WIM=4.5. The clear winner was Irina Chelushkina with 6/9.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
34th Women GM Belgrade YUG (YUG), 21-13 xii 2001             cat. I (2259)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Chelushkina, Irina        wg YUG 2394  * 0 = = 0 1 1 1 1 1  6.0  2368 
 2. Calotescu, Cristina       wf ROM 2296  1 * 0 1 = 0 = 1 = 1  5.5  2334 
 3. Dimitrijevic, Aleksandra  wf YUG 2219  = 1 * = = = = 0 1 1  5.5  2343 
 4. Kalevic, Sanja            wg YUG 2219  = 0 = * 1 = = 1 = 1  5.5  2343 
 5. Stankovic, Marija            YUG 2252  1 = = 0 * = = = 1 1  5.5  2339 
 6. Velcheva, Maria           wg BUL 2331  0 1 = = = * = = = =  4.5  2250 
 7. Olarasu, Gabriela         wg ROM 2285  0 = = = = = * 0 1 1  4.5  2256 
 8. Savic, Marijana           wf YUG 2178  0 0 1 0 = = 1 * 0 1  4.0  2224 
 9. Dragomirescu, Angela      wm ROM 2283  0 = 0 = 0 = 0 1 * 1  3.5  2176 
10. Drljevic, Ljilja          wf YUG 2132  0 0 0 0 0 = 0 0 0 *  0.5  1829 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

21) Australian Championships

The Melbourne Festival of Chess takes place December 28th 2001 - January 19th 2002. The event includes the 11 round Australian National Championships which take place in Melbourne Town Hall, 28th December 2001 to 9th January 2002.

Further details: http://www.chessvictoria.com/austch.htm

Round 9 (of 11) Standings:
-------------------------------------------------------------
ch-AUS Melbourne AUS (AUS), 1 xii 2001 - 9 i 2002
-------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Johansen, Darryl K   g  AUS 2524  7.0   44.5  55.5   42.0 
 2. Gluzman, Mikhail     m  AUS 2400  7.0   43.5  54.5   45.5 
 3. Speck, Nick             AUS 2324  7.0   43.5  54.5   40.5 
 4. Lane, Gary W         m  AUS 2448  6.5   42.5  53.0   40.0 
 5. Zhao Zong-Yuan       m  AUS 2387  5.5   45.0  54.5   38.0 
 6. Solomon, Stephen J   m  AUS 2385  5.5   42.5  53.5   34.5 
 7. Wallace, John Paul   m  AUS 2370  5.5   41.5  52.0   32.5 
 8. Canfell, Gregory        AUS 2284  5.5   36.0  45.0   30.5 
 9. Lloyd, Adrian           AUS 2205  5.0   39.0  49.5   29.5 
10. Jordan, William      f  AUS 2330  5.0   39.0  48.0   31.5 
11. Reilly, Tim          f  AUS 2250  5.0   38.0  46.5   27.5 
12. Smerdon, David       m  AUS 2326  5.0   36.0  45.0   27.5 
13. Bjelobrk, Igor          NZL 2197  4.5   41.0  50.0   30.5 
14. West, Guy            m  AUS 2363  4.5   38.5  49.0   30.5 
15. Wilkins,Michael         AUS ----  4.5   36.5  47.0   25.5 
16. Sandler, Leonid      m  AUS 2404  4.5   35.5  44.5   27.0 
17. Tan, Justin             AUS 2244  4.5   35.0  44.0   24.0 
18. Berezina, Irina      m  AUS 2274  4.5   32.0  40.5   23.5 
19. Hamilton, Douglas G  f  AUS 2245  4.5   32.0  39.0   22.0 
20. Feldman, Vladimir    m  AUS 2346  4.5   30.5  37.0   24.5 
21. Tindall, Brett       f  AUS 2259  4.0   38.0  47.0   27.5 
22. Wright, Ian             AUS 2131  4.0   38.0  46.5   24.0 
23. Hacche, David           AUS 2218  4.0   36.0  44.5   26.0 
24. Levi, Eddy           f  AUS 2247  4.0   34.5  43.0   24.5 
25. Booth, Stewart          AUS 2181  4.0   34.5  42.0   23.0 
26. Chow, Sam               AUS 2120  3.5   31.0  39.0   22.0 
27. Saw, Geoffrey        f  AUS 2236  3.5   30.5  38.0   20.0 
28. Rujevic, Mirko       f  AUS 2355  3.5   30.0  36.5   23.0 
29. Stirling, Nathan        AUS 2141  2.5   28.5  35.5   15.5 
30. Bonham,Kevin            AUS ----  2.0   29.0  35.5   12.0 
31. Rigo,Bernard            AUS ----  2.0   28.0  34.0   12.5 
32. Stojic, Svetozar        AUS ----  1.5   29.0  36.0    7.0 
-------------------------------------------------------------

22) Forthcoming Events and Links

Short-Stefansson Match

Hannes Stefansson will play Nigel Short in a 6 game match in Reykjavik, January 8th-13th 2002. The match is organised by Hellir Chess Club to celebrate its 10th anniversary. The main sponsors of the match are Kogun hf., VKS hf. and Guðmundur Arason.

Internet coverage: http://linux.vks.is/skak/hellir-e.shtml

Aubervilliers Open

The 27th Aubervilliers International Open takes place Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th of January 2002. The venue is Espace Rencontres 10, rue Crèvecœur 93300 Aubervilliers France.

Further information: http://www.organisechecs.com

Petrosian Memorial Open

The 16th Tigran Petrosian Memorial takes place in his chess club in Moscow 4th-12th January 2002. 60 under-16 players with good ratings for their age are playing. Info Eugeny Atarov: http://www.joeblack.ru and http://www.chessmoscow.ru

V Málaga International Open

The V Málaga International Open takes place 22nd February - 2nd March 2002.

Further details on the event at: http://usuarios.tripod.es/frubiod/open/02open/02open.htm

XVIII Cappelle la Grande

The XVIII Cappelle la Grande International Chess Open takes place 9th-16th February 2002.

Further details: http://cappelle.free.fr

2nd Eger International

2nd International Round Robin Tmt. Eger (HUN) For acquiring rating and IM norms date: from the 20 th to 28th february 2002 category: Tournament A = category II to IV Tournament B = Rating tournament Tournament C = GM tournament, category VII to IX number of participants: 12 to 14 (3 unrated players in the rating tournament) time limit: closed tournament with 10 - 12 rounds, 2 h/40 moves + 1 h /20 moves + 30 min for all remaining moves entry fee: depending on rating, to be stipulated with the organizer additional program: active chess tournament, thermal bath, sight seeing of the historic city of Eger and its pituresque surroundings place: Apartmenthouse Atrium, Eger accomodation: lodging at good price, right next to the tournament place: apartments with bath/shower and WC, telephone, TV, balcony, garage information: Europe Chess, IM Ali Habibi * Postfach 1148 * D-35436 Linden * email: EuropeChess@web.de The Europe Chess Round Robin Tournaments will be held in different European Countries. Combine quality chess with your vacation! If you register at least 5 participants ahead of time, we can organize a tournament at a date you pick. Soon more information in different chess magazines and on the internet.

Bermuda Tournament

The Bermuda tournament has changed venue. It was to be held in last year's venue, the Elbow Beach hotel but they reneged on the deal, the tournaments will instead take place at the Fairmont Southampton Princess Hotel. Owing to the extra costs the format is likely to be changed. They will definitely hold two ten player GM tournaments, followed by an Open. Invitees are: GM 'A' - Emanuel Berg, Sipke Ernst, Alexandre Le Siege, Bartek Macieja, Hikaru Nakamura, Greg Shahade, Bartosz Socko, Yan Teplitsky, Giovanni Vescovi and Bojan Vuckovic; b.. GM 'B' - Johann Alvarez, Pawel Blehm, Pascal Charbonneau, Dennis de Vreugt, Erald Dervishi, Leif-Erlend Johannessen, Heikki Kallio, Irina Krush, Elisabeth Paehtz and Eugene Perelsteyn.

Further details: http://www.bermuda.bm/chess

Hungarian Events

1. 4th-12th of January "TAPOLCA-Open" in Budapest, HUN organizer: Parej, Jozsef, phone: /36/-87-321-950, more info and accommodation in Budapest: Nagy, Laszlo e-mail: firstsat@elender.hu 2. 19th-27th of January, THIRD SATURDAY GM-IM and FM-tournament in Novi Sad /YUG/, org: IGM Drazic, e-mail: sdrazic@eunet.yu 3. 2nd-15th of February FIRST SATURDAY GM /cat.IX-X. and cat.VII-VIII/ - IM and FM events Budapest, HUN, org: Nagy Laszlo....

Prague - Abner Cup

The Prague - Abner Cup takes place 26th December 2001 - 1st January 2002.

Further information: http://www.sach.cz/ or e-mail: orbis64@login.cz.

2nd ASEAN group Championships

2nd ASEAN age group chess championships took place in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) December 22nd-29th 2001.

Internet coverage: http://www.aseanchess.com/

US Championship

The US Championships takes place 5th-13th January 2002 in Seattle. There are 56 players in the event including for the first time 12 women (the highest placed woman takes their title). Leading contenders in the event include: Yasser Seirawan, Boris Gulko, Gregory Kaidanov, Joel Benjamin, Alexander Shabalov, Larry Christiansen, Alexander Ivanovand Nick de Firmian.

Internet site: http://www.seattlechessfoundation.org/events.asp

4NCL Extra

There is a plan to hold an additional 4NCL event on 1-3 June 2002, the Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend. The weekend will feature a qualifying event for the 2002/03 season and will be open to the three lowest placed teams in Division 3 this season, together with any new teams who want to enter the league next season. The three most successful teams in the event will be eligible to play in Division 3 in 2002/03. The 4NCL are interested in assessing the likely support for this event. Prospective new teams are invited to contact Mike Truran or Paul Littlewood for further details.

Internet site: http://www.4ncl.co.uk/

3rd Yateley Manor International

Date 25-27 Jan 2002 and 2-3 Feb 2002 (ie play is over 2 weekends) Type Open Event & Venue 3rd Yateley Manor International Yateley Manor School, Reading Road, Yateley, nr Camberley, Hampshire. Contact Ray Clark High Cedars, Oak End Way, Gerrards Cross, Bucks. SL9 8DA e-mail ray.clark@kpmg.co.uk tel: 01753 883300

17th North Sea Cup

Esbjerg will stage a 17th North Sea Cup July 5th-13th 2002, probably category 13-14. A 10 player round-robin hoping to carry on the reputation with previous tournament winners like Short, Jusupov, Adorjan, Larsen, Vaganian, C.Hansen, Svidler etc. Info: Brian Isaksen at brisak@esenet.dk

Ljubljana Chess Club 90th Anniversary

Ljubljana Chess Club Metalka Trgovina - 90th anniversary The Chess Club of Ljubljana (Slovenia) was established on 31.1.1912 by grandmaster and scientist dr. Milan Vidmar and by the Ljubljana City. In this honour we organize Grandmaster tournament (11. Category) from 19th-31st of January 2002 in Hotel SLON Best Western. The event by the sponsorship of Metalka Trgovina is the uverture for the Chess Olympiade at Bled 2002. The participants are : GM Beliavsky (SLO), GM Kharlov (RUS), Ukrainian young GM Volokytin, GM Sveshnikov (RUS), GM Pavasovic (SLO), GM Farago (HUN) and Slovenian IMs Tratar, Soln, Jelen, Podlesnik and young FM Sebenik.

In Slovenia, after this tournament starts the Open tournament in Nova Gorica (31.1.-8.2.2002). Links and information (sites under construction) : http://www.metalka.com, http://www.sah-zveza.si and http://www.hotelslon.com.

Swiss Chess Tour

The "Swiss Chess Tour 2001" will finish in Interlaken, one of the most attractive towns in Switzerland for tourists. The 1st Casino Open ("Ambassador Open" cancelled) December 26th-30th 2001. Swiss system, 7 rounds and the games will last a maximum of 5 hours (40 moves for 2 hours and 30 minutes till the end). Prize are: 1.500 SF, 1.200, 900, 700, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200 and 150 SF. From 11.- 20. places natural prizes. Special prizes for best Lady, senior (1941), junior (1981-84), schoolboy (1985) and best local player. Entry fee 130 SF, FMs and juniors 60 SF, at the door 10 SF more, GMs and IMs free. 1st "Chalet Oberland" Open. Players under 2000. Swiss system, 5 rounds and the games will last a maximum of 5 hours. Prizes: natural. Entry fee: 100 SF (juniors 50 SF). At the doors +10 SF. Venue: "Casino"

New event - Blitz tournament, Swiss system, 9 double rounds.

Time table for "Casino Open": December 26.: The last registration 11.00-12.15. Open ceremony 12.15-12.30. Round 1st 12.30-17.30. December 27. Round 2nd 9.30-14.30 Round 3rd 15.30-20.30 December 28.: Round 4th 12.30-17.30. December 29. Round 5th 9.30-14.30. The first four players knockout and the other continue tournament. Round 6th 15.30-20.30 + semi-final December 30. Round 7th 9.30-14.30 + final Closing ceremony 16.00.

Registered: GM Rausis (LAT), GM Solak (YUG), GM Kovacevic (YUG), WGM Kachiani (GER), IM Berzinsh (LAT), IM Velicka (CZE), IM Joksic(YUG), IM Czebe (HUN), IM Peredy (HUN), IM Izsak (HUN), IM Erdelyi (HUN).

More information and registration: Robert Spoerri tel. +41+34+424-01-06, fax +41+34+424-01-07 E-mail info@beochess.ch Or Ervin Tellenbach tel. +41+79+311-23-53

Further information: http://www.beochess.ch

Viktor Korchnoi again on Swiss Chess Tour 2001 The 4th Hilton Open in Basle

Last year Viktor Korchnoi celebrated his 70th birthday at HILTON-BASLE. It was very nice and Viktor comes again this year. Swiss Chess Tour 2002 starts the first and address gala Hilton Open again in honor of Viktor.

The "Swiss Chess Tour 2002" starts in Basle with the 4th Hilton Open January 1st 6th 2002. Swiss system 7 rounds and the games will last a maximum of 6 hours (40 moves for 2 hours and 60 minutes till the end). After 5 rounds a first three + Korchnoi play knockout system, the others continue with Swiss system. Prizes: 1. 2000 SF (Swiss Francs), 2. 1.500, 3. 1.200, 4. 1.000, 5. 800, 6. 600, 7. 500, 8. 400, 9.-10. 2x300, 11.-12. 5x200 SF (min 100 players). Special prizes 200 SF each: best Lady, senior (1942), junior (1982-85), schoolboy (1986), and Basle player. Entry fee: 130 SF (FMs + juniors 60; GMs + IMs free). At the doors +10 SF. Amateur Open January 1st 6th. Players under 1900. Swiss system 7 rounds and the games will last a maximum of 4 hours (30 moves for 90 minutes and 30 minutes till the end). Prizes: 1. 500, 2. 400, 3. 300, 4. 250, 5.-6, 2x200, 7.-10. 150 SF (min 50 players). Entry fee: 110 SF (juniors 50). At the doors +10 SF. Blitz Open January 1st Swiss system 9 double round, 5 minutes. First four play Tele-Rapid. Prizes: 1. 300 SF, 2. 200, 3. 150, 4. 100, 5.-8. 50 SF. Over 50% natural prize. Entry fee: 20 SF (juniors 5 SF). Basle's Junior January 2nd. Open for 1982 and younger. Natural prizes for all participants. Entry fee: 5 SF. Tele-Rapid January 2nd 4th. 8 players, 15 minutes, knockout system (four from blitz). Prizes: 1. 700 SF, 2. 600, 3. 500, 4. 400, 5.-8. 4x200 SF. Venue Hotel "Hilton"

The others celebration events: January 2nd Basle's juniors four category U-20, U-17, U-14, U-12 (7 rounds 15 minutes). January, 4th Viktor Korchnoi, Simul & show with juniors and VIP persons

Time table for "Hilton Open": January 1.: The last registration 13.00-16.45. Blitz tournament 14.00-16.00. Open ceremony 16.45-17.00. Round 1st Hilton Open 17.00-23.00. Amateur Open Round 1st 18.00-22.00. January 2.: Juniors Tournament 13.30-17.00. Tele-Rapid 11.00-13.00 ¼ Final. Round 2nd Hilton Open 17.00-23.00. Amateur Open Round 2nd 18.00-22.00. January 3.: Tele-Rapid 11.00-13.00 ½ Final. Round 3rd Hilton Open 17.00-23.00. Amateur Open Round 3rd 18.00-22.00. January 4.: Tele-Rapid 11.00-13.00 Final. Korchnoi Simul & show 14.00-18.00. Round 4th Hilton Open 17.00-23.00. Amateur Open Round 4th 18.00-22.00 . January 5.: Round 5th Hilton Open 9.30-15.30. The first four-play knockout and the other continue Tournament. Semi-final and Round 6th Hilton Open 16.30-22.30. Amateur Open Round 5th 11.00-15.00, Round 6th 16.30-20.30. January 7. : Final 9.30-15.30. Round 7th Hilton Open 10.00-16.00. Amateur Open Round 7th 11.30-15.30. The closing ceremony 18.00

Registered: GM Korchnoi (SUI), GM Tukmakov (UKR), GM Kovacevic (YUG), GM A. Sokolov (FRA), GM Solak (YUG), GM Pelletier (SUI), GM Varga (HUN), GM Nemet (SUI), WGM Kachiani (GER), IM Velichka (CZE), IM Joksic (YUG), IM Berzinsh (LAT), IM Csebe (HUN), IM Peredy (HUN), IM Izsak (HUN).

More information and registration: Robert Spoerri tel. +41+34+424-01-06, fax +41+34+424-01-07 E-mail info@beochess.ch

Further information: http://www.beochess.ch

GM Loek van Wely vs REBEL

Loek Van Wely will play the program REBEL February 19th- 22nd 2002. It will be a four game match with a time control of 40 moves in 2 hours and thereafter 60 minutes for the rest of the game.

Location: Centre Céramique, Avenue Céramique 50, Maastricht, The Netherlands. Games start at 13:00 local time. Entry is free.

Internet coverage: http://www.rebel.nl/reb-wely.htm

On-line Tournament

The 1st Hellenic Chess Server "Apollo" a real time chess game application will host the 1st On-Line Chess Championship in Greece. The games will start at the end of February 2002.

In order to participate (free of charge) visit http://andyhot.di.uoa.gr/chess/tourn/part_form.asp open to players Worldwide.

Further details: webmaster@chess.gr

Aeroflot Open 2002

The Aeroflot Open 2002 will take place in Moscow 4-11 February 2002. According to the website below there will be $150,000 US in prizes.

Further details: http://www.aeroflotchess.com/

October FIDE List Study and FIDE Championships

Chess Siberia http://www.chessib.com/ has two new articles. An article "Study of the October 2001 FIDE Rating List" (By Boris Schipkov, 12.11.2001) and one predicting the results of the FIDE Championships in Moscow.

New FIDE Sites

There are two new FIDE sites. Chess Daily http://www.chessdaily.com has individual FIDE rating calculations. Also the FIDE site for the World Championships in Moscow has been launched at: http://wcc2001.fide.com

Leko Interview

Peter Leko has a new interview on his www site: http://www.chessgate.de/leko/homepage.html Main content: - Expectations FIDE WC in Moscow - Statement: New time control - Review 2001. There will be an English version today or soon after.

Linares 2002

Most of the line-up for Linares 2002 has been announced. The players will be Kasparov, Anand, Shirov, Adams, Ivanchuk, Francisco Vallejo and one other player who will be confirmed soon (likely to be either Topalov or Kramnik).

Greekbase

Greek games at: http://www.geocities.com/greekbase1

ChessMetrics Site

Jeff Sonas has updated his site: http://www.chessmetrics.com/. It now has lots of colorful graphs. It includes ratings based on ChessBase games from 1851 to 1998, and then weekly rating lists based on TWIC issues from January 1999 to September 10th 2001.

Praha Open

The 1st Praha Open takes place 2nd-9th February 2002 in Prague (the Czech Republic). As part of the Czech Tour 2001-2 and links up well with participation in the Open Marianske Lazne.

Further details: http://www.proclient.cz/czechtour

Claude Bloodgood Article

Marc Davis has written a lengthy article for the Virginian-Pilot on Claude Bloodgood. It will be available for the next few weeks.

Internet: http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw1029blo.html

Marianske Lazne Open

The I. International Chess Tournament OPEN MARIANSKE LAZNE 2002 takes place 25.1.-1.2. 2002 in the spa Marianske Lazne (the Czech Republic). This tournament is a part of series CZECH TOUR 2001 / 2002.

Further details: http://www.proclient.cz/czechtour

2 Websites

Mastermove with chess quizzes and endgame studies. http://www.so-on.org/mastermove.html

200 words by Lev Khariton. http://pkchess.bizland.com/chesspress/200words/200words.html

5th Email Afro-Asian Championship

All chessplayers from Africa and Asia are invited to take part to the 5th email Afro-Asian Championship 2002-2003 , organised by the ICCF. The start date for the preliminaries is : 15-01-2002. Like the previous editions there are 2 stages (preliminaries and Final) and no entry fees are required . The entries should be sent not later than 31.12.2001 to M. Samraoui , email address : samraoui@aol.com .

2002 US Chess Championships

The 2002 US Chess Championships are held under the auspices of the United States Chess Federation (USCF) and sponsored by the Seattle Chess Foundation.

They take place in Seattle, Washington, January 5th-13th 2002 at the Seattle Center, home of the Space Needle, Pacific Science Center and Experience Music Project. 56 players will compete in a nine-round Swiss tournament for a $200,000 prize fund, with $15,000 slotted for the winner. Included in the line-up are Grandmasters, top women and junior players, as well as an emerging young stars who qualified in the US Open such as the second strongest woman player, 12 year old Hana Itkis.

Further information http://www.seattlechessfoundation.org

ONCE Chess Lectures

Next month there will be some lectures by famous people in chess: Leontxo Garcia, GM Valery Salov, IM Boris Zlotnik, IM Ricardo Calvo. The organisers will publish the names of the winners of the literary contest about chess at the same time. ONCE is the organizer (spanish organization for blind people) of all these events.

Further details: http://www.hechiceros.net/site/news/articulos/espana/nesp00138.shtml

Free Online ajedrez.uruwow.com event

ajedrez.uruwow.com launches an International on-line Tournament 3 levels : Beginners, Advanced and Profesional, in series of 5 players. Registration is free.

Address: http://ajedrez.uruwow.com

Linares Chess Open 2002

The IX ANIBAL CHESS OPEN in Linares, Spain takes place 1st-10th March, 2002. The dates are parallel to the XX CIUDAD DE LINARES International Chess Tournament. The event will be Swiss system, 10 rounds using the new FIDE time control. The venue will be the Hotel Anibal, Linares.

Prizes in Euros (-25% taxes) 1º D.Luis Rentero Suarez prize 10.000 2º 5.000 3º 2.500 4º 1.500 5º 1.000 6º-25º 300 26º-50º 160

Conditions: GM and IM with inscription confirmed by the Organization: free accommodation in a double room Hotel Anibal GM 2600 ELO check special conditions.

Special prices at Hotel Anibal for those players whose inscription had been confirmed by the Organization:

Double room: 24,50 euros per person Single room: 45,00 euros Continental Breakfast: 1,90 euros Buffet Breakfast: 3,80 euros Lunch: 4,90 euros Dinner:4,90 euros

IMPORTANT: Only those players whose inscription had been confirmed by the Organization are guaranteed these prices

Inscription: Every player: 50 euros e-mail: linares@teleline.es linareschess@wanadoo.es Fax: 34 953 652204

DEADLINE: Monday, 18th February

New Dolmen International

Title of Tournament: New Dolmen International Tournament Country: Malta Tournament dates: 13th January to 19 January 2002 Venue: New Dolmen Hotel, Qawra, St. Paul's Bay Prize Fund: US$ 5000 Format: Open 7 round Swiss FIDE Rated Organisers: International Chess Organising Committee (Malta) C/O New Dolmen Hotel, Qawra, St. Paul's Bay, Malta Fax No. +356 438730 Email: jjgrech@mail.global.net.mt

Details: http://www.global.net.mt/jjgrech

Extensions to the pgn standard

Alan Cowderoy (Palamede), Ben Bulsink (DGT Projects), Andrew Templeton (Palamede/Palview), Eric Bentzen (Enpassant.dk, Palamede), Mathias Feist (Chessbase) and Victor Zakharov (Chess Assistant) have started discussions on possible extensions to the PGN standard. The original standard was compiled by Steven J. Edwards but it hasn't been possible to contact him (if you read this they'd like to talk to you!).

The new proposals can be read at: ftp://palamede.com/pub/chess/final.txt

109th New Zealand Chess Championships 2001/2002

The 109th New Zealand Chess Championships 2001/2002 take place 28th December 2001 - 11th January 2002 in Christchurch. The venue will be at The Millennium Hotel, 14 Cathedral square, Christchurch, New Zealand. The Chief Arbiter will be IA Leon Muys (Netherlands).

Chris Wright reports they have had numerous enquiries from overseas regarding the tournament, from Russia, Belarus, England, Netherlands, Hungary, Ireland, and Australia. They hope to have a number of strong international players competing. The tournament will involve many of New Zealand's top players, as it is a selection event for next year's 35th World Chess Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia 2002.

Internet coverage: http://nzchesscongress109.tripod.com/

Two New Books in German

There are two new books in German are out. Both are written by famous chess players.

Svetozar Gligoric and Sinisa Joksic have produced a book in German about the King's Indian Defence. The title is "Gligoric-variante" and it is in German. It is the story of the Mar del Plata variantion which Gligoric played first in 1953 and afterwards played and analysed a lot. The last games included in the book from May and June 2001.

More info: http://avala.yubc.net/~yuchess/engleski/index.htm

The Exzelsior Verlag Berlin has just just published (in German) the only story by Emanuel Lasker: "Wie Wanja Meister wurde". A Hardcover book of 184 pages is costs DM 29.90. Further information Redaktion_Schach@compuserve.com.

44th World Congress of Chess Composition

The 44th World Congress of Chess Composition was held at Wageningen, Netherlands from 28th July to 4th August. The highlight of the week's program was the 25th World Chess Solving Championship, which took place on 31st July and 1st August.

Internet coverage: http://www.bstephen.freeuk.com/pccc/2001pccc.html

Hawaii International Chess Festival Postponed

The Hawaii International Chess Festival has been postponed until 2003. It will have the first World Families Chess Championships. Pro (2000+), Mixed, and Amateur (all players under 2000). Prizes for all sorts of combinations of family members. Information: hawaii@chessworks.com.

Tiviakov reports

Sergey Tiviakov's site http://www.tiviakov.demon.nl/ has his reports on the European Championship in Ohrid (Macedonia) and the Dutch Championships in Leeuwarden.

Yin Hao+ vs. World Team (The Rematch)

Tom Hendricks reports: On July 5, 2001, Chinese IM Yin Hao (2576) will begin play against the World Team in an Internet correspondence chess game. This will be a rematch of the game they played last year. That game, which began July 5th, 2000 and ended January 18, 2001, was a 44-move struggle ending in a draw. This time colors will be reversed with Yin Hao now being white and the World Team black. As he was in the first game, Yin Hao will be assisted by U.S. correspondence player Richard Fleming (2404). The first game attracted World Team players from Brazil, Canada, England, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland and the United States. Most of these players first came together during the Kasparov vs. The World game held in 1999. The upcoming game is open to anyone who wishes to play and is willing to follow the basic guidelines of the World Team. Players of all skill levels are welcome. General game topics and specific strategy are discussed at a moderated board found at:

http://boards.gamers.com/messages/overview.asp?name=WTChess&page=1

Visit the site and review the Game Rules and Move Selection Rules. To participate you must both register with gamers.com AND click on 'Request Password' at the top of the strategy board page. Registration with gamers.com is the process of selecting your UserName and Password. When you click on 'Request Password' you will be e-mailed another password that is specific to the strategy board. You will need to enter it only the first time that you post to the board. Those of you who participated in the first game with Yin Hao need not request the board password - it remains the same.

Book prizes and ICC (Internet Chess Club) memberships will be awarded throughout the game to lucky members of the World Team. So come and join the fun. Additional information can be obtained by writing to tahiv@hotmail.com

Weihnachts-Open 2001

The Weihnachts-Open 2001 takes place in Strausberg (Berlin) Germany from 27.12.2001 to 30.12.2001. The tournament will be ELO and DWZ rated. First prize : 500 DM entry fee : 30 DM

Further information: http://www.weihnachtsopen.de