THE WEEK IN CHESS 483 9th February 2004 by Mark Crowther

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Contents

1) Introduction
2) GibTelecom Chess Festival
3) 75th German Championships
4) Chennai International
5) 12th Valle d'Aosta Open
6) Belgian Teams
7) 9th HIT Open
8) Zimski Open
9) France-China Match
10) Masters Côte d'Azur
11) AS04 Centenary 2004
12) First Saturday February
13) OSS January International
14) French National 1 Top 16
15) ACP News
16) Forthcoming Events and Links


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Games section

GibTelecom Chess Festival       415 games
75th German Championships       206 games
Chennai International           804 games
12th Valle d'Aosta Open          29 games
Belgian Teams                    48 games
9th HIT Open                    252 games
Zimski Open                     233 games
France-China Match                8 games
Masters Côte d'Azur              30 games
First Saturday February           7 games
OSS January Correction            1 game
French National 1 Top 16          9 games
2042 games

1) Introduction

My thanks to Zenon Franco, Lanfranco Bombelli, Dusan Rusjan, Steve Laios, Eric van Reem, Miklos Orso, Laszlo Nagy, Vladica Andrejic, Thierry Foissez, Eirik T. Gullaksen, Nanda Kumar, Stephane Mouchel, Richard James, Alexander Baburin and everyone else who helped with the issue.

No elite events this week, the next one will be in Linares starting on February 18th. Instead a selection of reasonably strong opens headed by the Gibraltar Chess Festival which was won by Nigel Short.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) GibTelecom Chess Festival

The GibTelecom Chess Festival took place January 26th to February 5th, 2004 at the 4 star Caleta Hotel in Gibraltar. Nigel Short won the event with 8/10. A final round win against Ernesto Inarkiev took Nigel Short to clear first. I give all the games again as I have some corrections to the names of players and results.

Official site: http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com

---------------------------------------------------------
Gibraltar Masters Catalan Bay ENG (ENG), 27 i-4 ii 2004
---------------------------------------------------------
  1. Short, Nigel D               g  ENG 2702  8.0  2775 
  2. Ganguly, Surya Shekhar       g  IND 2541  7.5  2723 
  3. Dreev, Alexey                g  RUS 2682  7.0  2678 
  4. Harikrishna, P               g  IND 2582  7.0  2619 
  5. Wells, Peter K               g  ENG 2493  7.0  2633 
  6. Bakre, Tejas                 m  IND 2446  6.5  2610 
  7. Chandler, Murray G           g  ENG 2508  6.5  2578 
  8. Del Rio Angelis, Salvador G  g  ESP 2504  6.5  2504 
  9. Emms, John M                 g  ENG 2501  6.5  2548 
 10. Epishin, Vladimir            g  RUS 2633  6.5  2553 
 11. Kunte, Abhijit               g  IND 2512  6.5  2586 
 12. Kuzmin, Alexey               g  RUS 2570  6.5  2549 
 13. Motwani, Paul                g  SCO 2537  6.5  2546 
 14. Sandipan, Chanda             g  IND 2522  6.5  2652 
 15. Vuckovic, Bojan              g  SCG 2511  6.5  2601 
 16. Cramling, Pia                g  SWE 2488  6.0  2454 
 17. Davies, Nigel R              g  ENG 2502  6.0  2489 
 18. Gallagher, Joseph G          g  SUI 2524  6.0  2553 
 19. Inarkiev, Ernesto            g  RUS 2606  6.0  2583 
 20. Lalic, Bogdan                g  ENG 2518  6.0  2546 
 21. McNab, Colin A               g  SCO 2388  6.0  2498 
 22. Speelman, Jonathan S         g  ENG 2578  6.0  2492 
 23. Sulskis, Sarunas             g  LTU 2582  6.0  2520 
 24. Al Sayed, Mohamad N          m  QAT 2446  5.5  2423 
 25. Barua, Dibyendu              g  IND 2549  5.5  2439 
 26. Bellon Lopez, Juan Manuel    g  ESP 2429  5.5  2421 
 27. Contin, Daniel               m  ITA 2394  5.5  2272 
 28. Hebden, Mark                 g  ENG 2549  5.5  2496 
 29. Houska, Jovanka              wg ENG 2370  5.5  2401 
 30. Muir, Andrew J               m  SCO 2303  5.5  2440 
 31. Poluljahov, Aleksandr        g  RUS 2526  5.5  2297 
 32. Rowson, Jonathan             g  SCO 2547  5.5  2447 
 33. Stefanova, Antoaneta         g  BUL 2478  5.5  2531 
 34. Tissir, Mohamed              m  MAR 2436  5.5  2379 
 35. Ward, Christopher            g  ENG 2522  5.5  2334 
 36. Wippermann, Till             f  GER 2353  5.5  2429 
 37. Womacka, Mathias             m  GER 2447  5.5  2368 
 38. Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan     m  GEO 2435  5.0  2321 
 39. Beshukov, Sergei             g  RUS 2499  5.0  2260 
 40. Howell, David WL             f  ENG 2304  5.0  2475 
 41. Mannion, Stephen R           m  SCO 2352  5.0  2262 
 42. Meenakshi, S                 wm IND 2328  5.0  2274 
 43. Rrhioua,Tarik                       ----  5.0  2286 
 44. Seel, Christian              f  GER 2380  5.0  2412 
 45. Shaw, John                   m  SCO 2465  5.0  2262 
 46. Swathi, Ghate                wm IND 2297  5.0  2373 
 47. Upton, Timothy J             f  SCO 2285  5.0  2160 
 48. Vasilevich, Tatjana          m  UKR 2393  5.0  2306 
 49. Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman    m  IND 2444  5.0  2387 
94 players

3) 75th German Championships

The 75th German Championships took place in Höckendorf 29th January - 7th February 2004. 46 players competed in this 9 round Swiss. Alexander Graf won with event with a score of 7.5/9 a point clear of Jan Gustafsson. There were a couple of errors in the results of the games from the early rounds so I give all the games again.

Internet coverage: http://www.dem2004.schach.com/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
75th ch-GER Hoeckendorf GER (GER), 30 i-7 ii 2004
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 1. Graf, Alexander          g  GER 2629  +32 +25 =14 +15 + 9 = 3 + 5 + 7 = 2  7.5  2761 
 2. Gustafsson, Jan          g  GER 2572  =24 +20 +21 =14 +18 = 5 = 3 +10 = 1  6.5  2627 
 3. Kalinitschew, Sergey     g  GER 2519  +39 =22 +27 = 5 +10 = 1 = 2 =20 = 8  6.0  2595 
 4. Bischoff, Klaus          g  GER 2561  =17 +24 = 5 +25 =14 = 9 +15 = 8 = 6  6.0  2592 
 5. Heinemann, Thies         m  GER 2426  +40 +19 = 4 = 3 +12 = 2 - 1 +25 = 9  6.0  2615 
 6. Rabiega, Robert          g  GER 2527  =21 +17 +28 - 9 =16 =25 +12 +18 = 4  6.0  2564 
 7. Naiditsch, Arkadij       g  GER 2576  =33 -27 +26 +21 +22 =15 +11 - 1 +20  6.0  2558 
 8. Luther, Thomas           g  GER 2572  =27 =33 +39 =22 +29 =14 + 9 = 4 = 3  6.0  2559 
 9. Espig, Lutz              g  GER 2429  +43 +23 =15 + 6 - 1 = 4 - 8 +14 = 5  5.5  2580 
10. Braun, Arik              m  GER 2429  +37 -15 +30 +19 - 3 +22 +14 - 2 =11  5.5  2532 
11. Mainka, Romuald          g  GER 2456  =28 =36 +31 -12 +26 +19 - 7 +17 =10  5.5  2475 
12. Kritz, Leonid            g  GER 2534  +42 -14 +33 +11 - 5 +16 - 6 =15 +24  5.5  2531 
13. Gutman, Lev              g  GER 2497  =36 -21 =17 -31 =38 +26 +29 +28 +25  5.5  2412 
14. Meister, Yakov           m  RUS 2488  +31 +12 = 1 = 2 = 4 = 8 -10 - 9 +32  5.0  2536 
15. Mueller, Karsten         g  GER 2517  +29 +10 = 9 - 1 +27 = 7 - 4 =12 =18  5.0  2525 
16. Muse, Mladen             g  GER 2452  =35 =30 +34 =23 = 6 -12 =21 +31 =19  5.0  2446 
17. Bastian, Herbert         f  GER 2384  = 4 - 6 =13 +30 =41 +29 =19 -11 +34  5.0  2458 
18. Schebler, Gerhard        m  GER 2480  =30 +35 =22 +41 - 2 =20 +24 - 6 =15  5.0  2462 
19. Stern, Rene              m  GER 2489  +34 - 5 +38 -10 +42 -11 =17 +23 =16  5.0  2449 
20. Breutigam, Martin        m  GER 2409  +46 - 2 -41 +36 +37 =18 +23 = 3 - 7  5.0  2452 
21. Schurade, Matthias       f  GER 2370  = 6 +13 - 2 - 7 =35 +37 =16 =27 =22  4.5  2446 
22. Enders, Peter            g  GER 2478  +45 = 3 =18 = 8 - 7 -10 =30 +40 =21  4.5  2418 
23. Tischbierek, Raj         g  GER 2507  +38 - 9 =29 =16 =31 +27 -20 -19 +30  4.5  2378 
24. Wegener, Olaf            f  GER 2404  = 2 - 4 +35 -29 +28 +41 -18 +32 -12  4.5  2413 
25. Meins, Gerlef            m  GER 2460  +41 - 1 +36 - 4 +34 = 6 +31 - 5 -13  4.5  2428 
26. Schulz, Michael1            GER 2246   .  +44 - 7 +39 -11 -13 =36 =38 +45  4.0  2386 
27. Thinius, Marco           f  GER 2387  = 8 + 7 - 3 +28 -15 -23 =41 =21 =29  4.0  2395 
28. Scherer, Max                GER 2285  =11 +42 - 6 -27 -24 +33 +39 -13 =31  4.0  2368 
29. Ott, Frank                  GER 2313  -15 +37 =23 +24 - 8 -17 -13 +42 =27  4.0  2389 
30. Preiss, Martin              GER 2304  =18 =16 -10 -17 =40 +43 =22 +37 -23  4.0  2342 
31. Heck, Norbert            f  GER 2308  -14 +46 -11 +13 =23 +42 -25 -16 =28  4.0  2369 
32. Wisnewski, Christoph     f  GER 2409  - 1 -41 -37 +44 +36 +35 +34 -24 -14  4.0  2319 
33. Reich, Thomas            m  GER 2408  = 7 = 8 -12 -34 -45 -28 +46 +43 +41  4.0  2325 
34. Bindrich, Falko          f  GER 2308  -19 +40 -16 +33 -25 +45 -32 +41 -17  4.0  2334 
35. Degtiarev, Evgeny           GER 2281  =16 -18 -24 +40 =21 -32 =42 =39 =38  3.5  2293 
36. Dresen, Ulrich           f  GER 2312  =13 =11 -25 -20 -32 +44 =26 =46 =37  3.5  2277 
37. Latzke, Boris Alexander     GER 2246  -10 -29 +32 +38 -20 -21 +43 -30 =36  3.5  2268 
38. Stanke, Juergen             GER 2313  -23 +43 -19 -37 =13 -39 +44 =26 =35  3.5  2273 
39. Dausch, Rene             f  GER 2331  - 3 +45 - 8 -26 =43 +38 -28 =35 =40  3.5  2253 
40. Pohl, Walter                GER 2217  - 5 -34 =44 -35 =30 +46 +45 -22 =39  3.5  2243 
41. Giessmann, Stephan          GER 2287  -25 +32 +20 -18 =17 -24 =27 -34 -33  3.0  2280 
42. Voigt, Roland            f  GER 2381  -12 -28 +43 +45 -19 -31 =35 -29 =46  3.0  2204 
43. Bauer, Eckart               GER 2276  - 9 -38 -42 +46 =39 -30 -37 -33 +44  2.5  2156 
44. Budde, Vladimir          f  GER 2309   .  -26 =40 -32 =46 -36 -38 +45 -43  2.0  2088 
45. Roeschlau, Bernd         f  GER 2295  -22 -39 +46 -42 +33 -34 -40 -44 -26  2.0  2097 
46. Bischoff, Dieter            GER 2182  -20 -31 -45 -43 =44 -40 -33 =36 =42  1.5  2050 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4) Chennai International

The 1st International Open Chess Tournament organised by the Saranya Chess Centre and WIN TV, took place in Chennai (Madras), India, January 21st to February 1st, 2004. Tahir Vakhidov and Humpy Koneru finished with 10/13. My thanks to Nanda Kumar for the games.

Official site: http://www.tamilchess.com

--------------------------------------------------------------
1st WinTV Open Chennai IND (IND), 21 i-1 ii 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------
  1. Vakhidov, Tahir             m  UZB 2515 10.0   69   
  2. Koneru, Humpy               g  IND 2498 10.0   68.5   
  3. Fominyh, Alexander          g  RUS 2559  9.5   77   
  4. Iskusnyh, Sergei            g  RUS 2482  9.5   72.5   
  5. Smirnov, Pavel              g  RUS 2609  9.5   71   
  6. Rahman, Ziaur               g  BAN 2492  9.5   70.5   
  7. Safin, Shukhrat             g  UZB 2528  9.5   65.5   
  8. Iuldachev, Saidali          g  UZB 2559  9.0   70   
  9. Lodhi, Mahmood              m  PAK 2395  9.0   67.5   
 10. Timoshenko, Georgy          g  UKR 2564  9.0   65.5   
 11. Sareen, Vishal                 IND 2371  9.0   65   
 12. Koshy, Varugeese            m  IND 2374  9.0   64.5   56
 13. Neelotpal, Das              m  IND 2461  9.0   64.5   55.5
 14. Venkatesh, M.R                 IND 2392  8.5   68.5   
 15. Dzhumaev, Marat             g  UZB 2498  8.5   68   
 16. Ramesh, R.B                 g  IND 2506  8.5   67   
 17. Konguvel, Ponnuswamy        m  IND 2366  8.5   65     60
 18. Girinath, P.D.S                IND 2368  8.5   65     59.5
 19. Sundararajan, Kidambi       m  IND 2437  8.5   64   
 20. Prasad, Devaki V            m  IND 2395  8.5   63.5   
 21. Sharma, R. Preetham            IND 2279  8.5   62.5   
 22. Lahiri, Atanu               m  IND 2325  8.5   62   
 23. Gokhale, Jayant Suresh         IND 2308  8.5   61.5   
 24. Babu, N Sudhakar            m  IND 2339  8.5   61   
 25. Mari Arul, S                   IND 2322  8.5   60.5   
 26. Laxman, R.R                    IND 2335  8.5   59.5   
 27. Ravi, Thandalam Shanmugam   m  IND 2353  8.5   59   
 28. Sengupta, Deep                 IND 2349  8.0   62.5   57
 29. Harika, Dronavalli          wm IND 2329  8.0   62.5   56.5
 30. Sharma, Dinesh K            m  IND 2373  8.0   62   
 31. Murali Krishnan, B.T           IND 2319  8.0   61.5   
 32. Arun Prasad, S                 IND 2292  8.0   61     55.5
 33. Prakash, G B                m  IND 2434  8.0   61     55
 34. Poobesh Anand, S            m  IND 2360  8.0   60.5   
 35. Shashikant, Kutwal             IND 2283  8.0   59.5   
 36. Das, Arghyadip                 IND 2334  8.0   59     58.5
 37. Roktim, Bandyopadhyay       m  IND 2352  8.0   59     57
 38. Deshmukh, Anup              m  IND 2340  8.0   59     56.5
 39. Joshi, Pankaj                  IND 2296  8.0   57.5   
 40. Sivanandan, B.S                IND 2340  8.0   57   
 41. Ramu, K                        IND 2156  8.0   56.5   
 42. Hariharan, Venkatachalam       IND 2245  8.0   55.5   
 43. Gopal, G.N                     IND 2233  8.0   55   
 44. Vinoth, Kumar                  IND 2155  8.0   53.5   
 45. Krishna, Ch. Kesavananda       IND 2196  8.0   52.5   
 46. Bhat R, Ganesh                 IND 2109  8.0   48.5   
 211 players

5) 12th Valle d'Aosta Open

The 12th Valle d'Aosta Open takes place in St-Vincent, Italy 8th-15th February 2004. News Lanfranco Bombelli and games from Zenon Franco.

Official coverage: http://www.scacchivda.com/

Leading players (all won in round 1)
 1. Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter  g  ROM 2678
 2. Gurevich, Mikhail        g  BEL 2656
 3. Iordachescu, Viorel      g  MDA 2634
 4. Delchev, Aleksander      g  BUL 2624
 5. Bruzon, Lazaro           g  CUB 2603
 6  Tiviakov, Sergei         g  NED 2600
 7. Burmakin, Vladimir       g  RUS 2596
 8. Gagunashvili, Merab      g  GEO 2583
 9. Mchedlishvili, Mikheil   g  GEO 2557
10. Nevednichy, Vladislav    g  ROM 2548
11. Gershon, Alik            g  ISR 2546
12. Golod, Vitali            g  ISR 2544
13. Roiz, Michael            g  ISR 2544
14. Romanishin, Oleg M       g  UKR 2537
15. Zelcic, Robert           g  CRO 2524
16. Godena, Michele          g  ITA 2515
17. Kveinys, Aloyzas         g  LTU 2511
18. Charbonneau, Pascal      m  CAN 2485
19. Sulava, Nenad            g  CRO 2477
20. Cebalo, Miso             g  CRO 2475

6) Belgian Teams

Steve Laios sends news and games from round 8 of the Belgian Teams.

Round 8 1st February 2004
 1.Charleroi       - Boitsfort  : 5.0-5.3
 2.Brugge          - Borgerhout : 2.0-6.0
 3.SK47.Eynatten 2 - Liège      : 6.0-2.0
 4.Sk47.Eynatten 1 - Leuven     : 5.0-3.0
 5.Rochade         - Gent       : 4.0-4.0
 6.Hoboken         - Temse      : 3.5-4.5
(round complete : 48 games)

Standings after Round 8.
                       Pts   M/P  Pl
 1.KSK47-Eynatten 1    44.0  8.0  8
 2.Temse 1             42.0  6.0  8
 3.SK Rochade 1        38.5  5.5  8
 4.Borgerhout 1        33.5  4.5  8
 5.Charleroi 1         32.5  4.5  8
 6.KSK47-Eynatten 2    31.5  3.5  8
 7.K Brugge SK 1       30.0  4.0  8
 8.K Gent SRL 1        29.5  3.0  8
 9.CRE Liège 1         28.5  3.5  8
10.Hoboken 1           27.0  3.5  8
11.LV Leuven Fortis 1  25.5  1.5  8
12.Boitsfort 1         21.5  0,5  8

7) 9th HIT Open

The 9th HIT Open took place 30th January - 5th February 2004. Zdenko Kozul and Aleksandar Kovacevic finished on 7/9. My thanks to Dušan Rusjan.

Internet coverage: http://www.sah-zveza.si/rez/0401/ng04a/

---------------------------------------------------
9th HIT Open Nova Gorica SLO (SLO), 30 i-5 ii 2004
---------------------------------------------------
 1. Kozul, Zdenko          g  CRO 2605   7.0  2723 
 2. Kovacevic, Aleksandar  g  SCG 2541   7.0  2711 
 3. Cvitan, Ognjen         g  CRO 2520   6.5  2653 
 4. Kveinys, Aloyzas       g  LTU 2511   6.0  2658 
 5. Bartel, Mateusz        m  POL 2482   6.0  2635 
 6. Gyimesi, Zoltan        g  HUN 2553   6.0  2625 
 7. Delchev, Aleksander    g  BUL 2624   6.0  2580 
 8. Borisek, Jure          m  SLO 2442   6.0  2624 
 9. Korneev, Oleg          g  RUS 2566   6.0  2563 
10. Jaracz, Pawel          g  POL 2540   6.0  2579 
11. Solak, Dragan          g  SCG 2546   6.0  2534 
12. Cebalo, Miso           g  CRO 2475   5.5  2525 
13. Stocek, Jiri           g  CZE 2552   5.5  2474 
14. Djuric, Stefan         g  SCG 2487   5.5  2498 
15. Balogh, Csaba          m  HUN 2456   5.5  2484 
16. Kengis, Edvins         g  LAT 2572   5.0  2531 
17. Sveshnikov, Evgeny     g  LAT 2557   5.0  2452 
18. Parligras, Mircea      g  ROM 2539   5.0  2475 
19. Zelcic, Robert         g  CRO 2524   5.0  2474 
20. Brkic, Ante            m  CRO 2420   5.0  2481 
21. Barle, Janez           m  SLO 2394   5.0  2316 
22. Jaracz, Barbara        wm POL 2287   5.0  2376 
23. Bogza, Adina-Maria     wg ROM 2309   5.0  2344 
24. Nevednichy, Vladislav  g  ROM 2548   4.5  2464 
25. Saric, Ante            m  CRO 2379   4.5  2363 
26. Jeric, Simon           m  SLO 2291   4.5  2399 
27. Gagarin, Vasilij       m  RUS 2439   4.5  2399 
28. Stamenkov, Vanco       f  MKD 2400   4.5  2398 
29. Srebrnic, Ana          wf SLO 2206   4.5  2415 
30. Zakharchenko, Arnold   m  UKR 2356   4.5  2407 
31. Skoberne, Jure            SLO 2231   4.5  2412 
32. Dobrov, Vladimir       m  RUS 2481   4.5  2345 
33. Mikac, Matjaz          m  SLO 2358   4.5  2348 
34. Mestrovic, Zvonimir    m  SLO 2402   4.5  2350 
35. Szeberenyi, Adam       m  HUN 2450   4.5  2334 
36. Zorko, Jure            f  SLO 2310   4.0  2353 
37. Nikolov, Sasho         m  BUL 2407   4.0  2285 
38. Jelen, Igor            m  SLO 2369   4.0  2283 
39. Crepan, Marjan         f  SLO 2292   4.0  2237 
40. Rozic, Vesna           wf SLO 2158   4.0  2223 
41. Srebrnic, Marko           SLO 2225   4.0  2211 
42. Jurkovic, Ante            CRO 2319   3.5  2321 
43. Olarasu, Gabriela      wg ROM 2311   3.5  2306 
44. Srebrnic, Vojko           SLO 2254   3.5  2230 
45. Beletic, Daniel           SLO 2144   3.5  2230 
46. Guid, Matej               SLO 2239   3.5  2188 
47. Stubljar, Andrej          SLO 2077   3.5  2171 
48. Tonon, Alessandro         ITA 2196   3.5  2205 
49. Krivec, Jana           wm SLO 2301   3.5  2139 
50. Djingarova, Emilia     wg BUL 2344   3.0  2188 
51. Grobelsek, Ana         wf SLO 2122   3.0  2157 
52. De Val, Daniele           ITA 2151   3.0  2159 
53. Gombac, Jan            f  SLO 2269   3.0  2146 
54. Laco, Giuseppe            ITA 2133   2.0  2004 
55. Padjen, Zdenko            CRO 2122   1.5  1940 
---------------------------------------------------

8) Zimski Open

The "Zimski Open 2004" (Winter Open) Rating Tournament took place in Belgrade 21st-29th January 2004. The event was organized by Belgrade Chess Federation. News Vladica Andrejic.

Rating Tournament "Zimski Open 2004"
  1   Jovanovic, Zoran      SCG   2338 7.5  48.5
 2-3  Nestorovic, Dejan     SCG   2401 7    51.5
      Andrijevic, Milan     SCG   2402 7    50.0
 4-8  Damjanovic, Dragan    SCG   2316 6.5  50.0
      Certic, Branimir      SCG   2416 6.5  47.0
      Skare, Goran          SCG   2311 6.5  47.0
      Djerfi, Karolj        SCG   2330 6.5  45.5
      Lundin, Jan           SWE   2224 6.5  41.5
9-10  Zlatkovic, Mile       SCG        6    44.0
      Kocic, Sasa           SCG   2267 6    41.5
11-19 Zivkovic, Velibor     SCG   2091 5.5  46.5
      Klasan, Vladimir      SCG   2134 5.5  46.0
      Gasic, Bozidar        SCG   2187 5.5  44.0
      Cetkovic, Bozidar     SCG   2238 5.5  43.5
      Ivanovic, Nikola      SCG   2263 5.5  43.0
      Paulic, Branko        SCG   2230 5.5  43.0
      Pavlovic, Dragoljub   SCG   2245 5.5  42.5
      Stankovic, Milos      SCG   2079 5.5  40.0
      Jokic, Miodrag        SCG   2195 5.5  39.5
70 players

9) France-China Match

There is a France-China Match taking place in Cannes, 7th-15th February 2004. After two of the eight rounds China already lead 6.5-1.5 with only Marie Sebag having so far scored for France.

Official Site: http://www.cannes-echecs.org

----------------------------------------------------------------
FRA-CHN Match Cannes FRA (FRA), 7-15 ii 2004       cat. X (2478)
----------------------------------------------------------------
France 1.5
1. Sebag, Marie          m FRA 2404  1.5 
2. Abergel, Thal         m FRA 2441  0.0 
3. Fontaine, Robert      g FRA 2532  0.0 
4. Guidarelli, Laurent   m FRA 2449  0.0 
China 6.5
1. Bu Xiangzhi           g CHN 2606  2.0 
2. Ni Hua                f CHN 2560  2.0 
3. Zhao Xue             wg CHN 2449  1.5 
4. Xu Yuanyuan          wg CHN 2381  1.0 
-----------------------------------------

10) Masters Côte d'Azur

Thierry Foissez sends news of a Scheveningen tournament in Monaco (French Riviera). The "Masters Côte d'Azur" took place February 2nd-8th 2004. The tournament takes place in the Hotel Hermitage in Monaco (4 stars), with as partners the french chess federation, the Chess League of Côte d'Azur, the Alpes-Maritimes and Var Territorial Chess Leagues, and the Club of Monaco.

The two teams had an experienced team A against an Under-20 Team B. Josif Dorfman made 7.5/10. Games from the first 6 rounds available.

Internet coverage: http://www.echiquier-nicois.org/

---------------------------------------------------------------
Scheveningen Monte Carlo MNC (MNC), 2-8 ii 2004  cat. VI (2393)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Team A
 1. Dorfman, Josif D            g FRA 2608 7,5 10,0  -2,21 
 2. Rotstein, Arkadij           g GER 2519 7,0 11,5  +8,62 
 3. Efimov, Igor                g ITA 2505 6,5 11,25 +4,83 
 4. Van Hoolandt, Patrick       f MNC 2262 3,5  4,0  +6,61 
 5. Gentilleau, Jean-Philippe     MNC 2267 2,5  3,0  +1,16 
Team B
 1. Maze, Sebastien             m FRA 2462 6,5 10,25 -6,4 
 2. Bellaiche, Anthony          m FRA 2474 6,5  9,25 -7,49 
 3. Libiszewski, Fabien         m FRA 2451 4,5  6,75 -10,45 
 4. Bordi, Kevin                  FRA 2181 3,0  5,5  +7,15 
 5. Perez, Flavio                 FRA 2205 2,5  3,5  -4,32 
-------------------------------------------------------------

11) AS04 Centenary 2004

The AS04 Centenary 2004 9 round Open International Swiss Tournament takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark February 7th-15th 2004. The event celebrates the centenary of the Chess Club "Arbejdernes Skakforening af 1904".

Further information: http://www.as04.dk

Players on 2/2
  1   Rozentalis, Eduardas        LTU   2625 2.0
      Pogorelov, Ruslan           UKR   2451 2.0
      Hermansson, Emil            SWE   2429 2.0
      Bromann, Thorbjørn          DEN   2371 2.0
      Jaksland, Tim               DEN   2298 2.0
      Jørgensen, Per Dorff        DEN   2265 2.0
      Olsen, Heini                FAI   2255 2.0
      Røyset, Pål Nikolai         NOR   2254 2.0
      Romsdal, Trond              NOR   2198 2.0
      Paaske, Asger               DEN   2165 2.0
 11   Hector, Jonny               SWE   2518 2.5
      Kongsted, Halfdan           DEN   2258 2.5
      Kaaber, Jacob               DEN   2049 2.5
 14   Næs, Flóvin Tor             FAI   2270 2.0
      Damm, Kasper                DEN   2169 2.0
      Danielsen, Heini            FAI   2165 2.0
114 players

12) First Saturday February

The First Saturday February GM-IM-FM closed tournament for norms takes place in Budapest, 7th-20th of February 2004.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FSGM February Budapest HUN (HUN), 7-19 ii 2004                 cat. VII (2419)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Livshits, Gaby          m ISR 2400  * . . . . . . . . . . . . 1  1.0       
 2. Almasi, Istvan          m HUN 2425  . * . . . = . . . . . . . .  0.5  2477 
 3. Antal, Gergely          m HUN 2498  . . * . . . . . . . = . . .  0.5  2450 
 4. Banusz, Tamas           f HUN 2372  . . . * . . . . = . . . . .  0.5  2386 
 5. Belezky, Sasha          m UKR 2405  . . . . * . . . . . . = . .  0.5  2482 
 6. Fogarasi, Tibor         g HUN 2477  . = . . . * . . . . . . . .  0.5  2425 
 7. Nguyen Ngoc Truongson   f VIE 2436  . . . . . . * = . . . . . .  0.5  2292 
 8. Kahn, Evarth            m HUN 2292  . . . . . . = * . . . . . .  0.5  2436 
 9. Porat, Shi              f ISR 2386  . . . = . . . . * . . . . .  0.5  2372 
10. Seres, Lajos            g HUN 2496  . . . . . . . . . * . . = .  0.5  2326 
11. Szeberenyi, Adam        m HUN 2450  . . = . . . . . . . * . . .  0.5  2498 
12. Vajda, Levente          g ROM 2482  . . . . = . . . . . . * . .  0.5  2405 
13. Wittmann, Walter        m AUT 2326  . . . . . . . . . = . . * .  0.5  2496 
14. Papp, Gabor               HUN 2420  0 . . . . . . . . . . . . *  0.0       
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

13) OSS January International

The OSS January International took place in Oslo 26th January - 1st February 2004. FM Heini Olsen won the event and made an IM-norm. News: Eirik T. Gullaksen.

Internet coverage: http://home.no.net/selskap/

Please note the table below has been corrected from when it was first published on last Monday night. The game Martinovic,S-Hole,O [9] has the wrong result in the games file. It should be 1-0 not 0-1 as given. Correct version in the PGN section.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
OSS January It Oslo NOR (NOR), 26 i-1 ii 2004          cat. III (2302)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Olsen, Heini            f FAI 2255  * = = = = 1 1 1 1 =  6.5  2473 
 2. Kuljasevic, Davorin     m CRO 2413  = * = 1 = 1 0 1 = 1  6.0  2414 
 3. Hole, Oystein             NOR 2290  = = * = 1 = 0 0 1 1  5.0  2346 
 4. Dannevig, Oystein         NOR 2369  = 0 = * 1 1 1 0 0 1  5.0  2337 
 5. Johannessen, Svein      m NOR 2317  = = 0 0 * 0 1 1 1 =  4.5  2300 
 6. Christenson, Flemming     NOR 2303  0 0 = 0 1 * 1 1 = =  4.5  2302 
 7. Bosiocic, Marin           CRO 2232  0 1 1 0 0 0 * = = =  3.5  2229 
 8. Martinovic, Sasa          CRO 2156  0 0 1 1 0 0 = * 1 0  3.5  2238 
 9. Bukal, Vladimir         m CRO 2424  0 = 0 1 0 = = 0 * 1  3.5  2208 
10. Gabrielsen, Trond         NOR 2262  = 0 0 0 = = = 1 0 *  3.0  2181 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

14) French National 1 Top 16

There were four venues for the start of the French National 1 Top 16 stage of their team championships. There are two groups. Group A saw matches in Evry and Nancy (no games available from there) and Group B matches in Clichy and Cannes. There were three rounds January 30th - February 1st 2004.

Group A. All games from Evry seem to be available. (3 rounds, 2 matches per round, 9 games per match). Games from Nancy still appear to be missing.

Group B. All games from Cannes and all games from Clichy except the match Games from Drancy-Lille from round 3 now available. My thanks to Stephane Mouchel.

Details: http://www.europe-echecs.com, http://www.notzai.info and http://www.echecs.asso.fr/

Venues: Evry : http://www.evry-grandroque.com/ Nancy : http://echiquier.nanceien.free.fr/ Clichy : http://www.clichy-echecs.org/ Cannes : http://www.cannes-echecs.org/

15) ACP News

Alexander Baburin, ACP Secretary reports: The Association of Chess Professionals (ACP, http://www.chess-players.org) has reached over 150 members and continues to grow rapidly. Recently joined members include GMs Boris Gelfand, Viorel Iordachescu, Valery Popov, Eric Lobron and Lev Psakhis, IM Yochanan Afek, chess organisers Nick Faulks (Bermuda) and V. Bazhenov (Russia), chess journalist J. Berry (Canada) and many other distinguished chess professionals. Any WIM, WGM, IM and GM can become ACP members upon a request and subject to payment of the annual fee (30 Euros). Other people working in chess could join the organisation too. If you are interested to improve the situation in chess, consider joining the ACP - together we can achieve more!

16) Forthcoming Events and Links

Daniel Stellwagen vs David Baramidze Match

There will be a "Complete Chess" Match between the young talents Daniel Stellwagen (16, The Netherlands) and David Baramidze (15, Germany). The players will play four games in the Centre Ceramique in Maastricht, The Netherlands 10th-13th February 2004. The players are allowed to use computers like in advanced chess and get the time limits from classic chess. Both players are free to use ChessBase software during the game. The available time is 40 moves in 2 hours and 20 moves in 1 hour. Thereafter, 15 minutes and 30 seconds per move. We call the result 'complete chess'. Further information: http://www.chessevents.nl

Reykjavik Rapid 2004

Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Nigel Short, Alexei Dreev, Emil Sutovsky and Peter Heine Nielsen will play in the Reykjavik Rapid 2004 which takes place 17th-21st March 2004. The 16 player knocokout event takes place at NASA by Austurvöllur, a popular spot in Reykjavik very close to the parliament building.

The first three spots at the Reykjavik open 2004 (Reykjavikopen.com) which takes place in the Reykjavik city hall 7th-16th March 2004 will earn a place in Reykjavik rapid 2004.

The format of the tournament is rather unusual the the 16 players will engage in a blitz tournament, 5 3 on the 17th of March. The result will determine the seeding. An idea taken from Formula 1. The first round will start on the 18th, The 1st seeded player will play nr. 16, nr. 2 avs. 15 etc. Time allotted is 25 5. In case of a tie there will be a sudden death game.

The main sponsor of the Reyjavik rapid 2004 is Atlantsal.

Brussels 12 Hours

Brussels 12 Hours a 5 minute blitz tournament takes place on 27 March 2004. 1st prize 300 Euros and prizes for all categories.

Entry fees: 10 Euros. GMs/IMs Free, Under 16 years old 5 Euros.

Venue: CREB, Palais du Midi Rue Roger Vander Weyden,3 1000 Brussels

Entry: 09.30 - 10.30 - Tournament start 11h00 Prize ceremony 23h30 Information: Benny Åsman 02/512.48.43 e-mail: bennyasman@skynet.be Joachim Demoulin 0475/33.22.87 jo.demoulin@wanadoo.be

Organised by Caïssa Woluwé, Chess Club Anderlecht, Fous du Roy et CREB

3rd Saturday Tournament

A 3rd Saturday Tournament will take place in Novi Sad, 20th-27th March 2004. Improved Elo ratings, IM and maybe GM norms (depending on interest), Semi Open. More info in few days on www.drazic.co.yu. Venue NSK, the oldest club in all of the former Yugoslavia, center of Novi Sad, Serbia, no visa needed now for European and USA citizens.

3rd Aeroflot Chess Festival

The 3rd Aeroflot Festival takes place in Hotel Rossija in Moscow, 16th-26th February 2004.

There are 3 tournaments: Tournament A for players rated 2450 and more Tournament B for players rated 2200 and more but lower than 2450 Tournament C for players rated under 2200 and unrated players. The tournaments are 9 rounds Swiss tournaments. The total prize fund is $ 150.000.

The organising committee offers packages for Aeroflot tickets, hotel and entry fee. It is also possible to fly with Air France to Moscow from airports, that are destinations of Air France (Latin America, South America, Far East, Australia), but not Aeroflot. The Aeroflot packages prices are mentioned on the website of the tournament.

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

For the Air France packages contact the Association of Chess Federations in Moscow: Tel/fax: +7095-2918578 or +7095-4186584 or E-mail: chess@sovintel.ru.

Cogas Energy Timman vs Van Wely Match

The Cogas Energy Match will take place 8th-10th April 2004. The 4 game match will be between Jan Timman and Loek Van Wely. Alongside the match will be a 6 round Swiss Grandmaster tournament with a prizefund of several 1000 Euro.

More information Albert Vasse +31 (0)6 53871200 or e-mail schaken@cogas.nl

The event will be broadcast live at http://www.cogas.nl

CFC Cup

Correspondence Chess server of Chessfriend.com has a new free competition. The CFC Cup 2004 allows interested players to test the server without entry fees by playing a real tournament where ELO and titles are available.

More details: http://www.chessfriend.com

Jón Þorsteinsson Memorial Tournament

The Jón Þorsteinsson Memorial Chess Tournament takes place in Reykjavík, Iceland 28th-29th February 2004, in honour of his 80th birthday. Jón Þorsteinsson was a Member of Parliament, a lawyer and a widely respected chess player in Iceland. The weekend tournament features prizes totalling ISK600,000 (US $8,600).

The Memorial Tournament is organized by The Reykjavík Chess Club (Taflfélag Reykjavíkur) and Hellir Chess Club (Taflfélagið Hellir), together with Jón Þorsteinsson's family. The tournament, which will be staged one week prior to the bi-annual 2004 Reykjavík Open is expected to attract Iceland's strongest players as well as several international players.

The format of the tournament is highly innovative. The participants will begin each game from a position selected by a special tournament committee and disclosed at the beginning of each round.

There will be nine (9) rounds, Swiss System, in the tournament, each comprising of two 15-minute games where participants play each consisting of position with both white and black.

The positions will be selected to test the versatility and positional skills of the players rather than their knowledge of opening theory.

Leading players Helgi Ólafsson 2530 Þröstur Þórhallsson 2470 Jón Viktor Gunnarsson 2425 Stefán Kristjánsson 2410 Bragi Þorfinnsson 2410 Arnar Gunnarsson 2355 Sigurður Daði Sigfússon 2335

Website: http://www.chess.is/memorial/index_e.html

IM Silman vs The Rest of the World

IM Silman vs The Rest of the World ChessWorld.net hosting a "Rest of the World" match against IM Jeremy Silman. This is a voting game where the "Rest of the World" (ROW) votes for the moves against Silman, and the highest voted move played after five days. Kasparov played a ROW game a few years back. IM Jeremy Silman is the author of the one chess book that everyone raves about, How to ReAssess Your Chess.

The match has inspired the largest ROW team ever at ChessWorld, well over 300 players at last count. IM Silman opened the game with 1. d4 and the voting is underway. You can get in on the game at http://www.chessworld.net - head for Play!..World team games after logging in.

The up to date position is also available on the TWIC front page.

17th Ciudad de Leon 2004

The 17th Ciudad de Leon 2004 will again be a knockout event taking place June 3rd-7th 2004 in Leon, Spain.

Players: Alexei Shirov (Spain), Peter Svidler (Russia), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbajan) and Francisco Vallejo (Spain).

Official site: http://www.advancedchessleon.com and http://www.elajedrezdelfuturo.com

Lenk Chess Festival

Lenk International Chess Festival is a Swiss Chess Tour event 2004. The 16th "Kreuz-Open" takes place April 8th-12th 2004.

The Hosts will be the Hotel "Kreuz", "Grande" Open, 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 (1944), junior(1984-87), schoolboy (1988) and best local player. Entry fee 130 SF, FMs and juniors 60 SF, at the door 10 SF more, GMs and IMs free.

Time table: Round 1st 18.30-22.30 April 8,; Rounds 2/3 09.30-14.30 and 15.30-20.30 April 9,; Round 4 13.30-18.30 April 10,; Rounds 5/6 09.30-14.30 and 15.30-20.30 April 11,; Round 7 10.00-15.00 April 12. Closing ceremony April 12 at 16.00.

Info: Beochess +41+34+424-01-06 (Robert Spoerri) or info@beochess.ch or site http://www.beochess.ch for more details.

5th Montenegro International Open

5th Open International Chess Championship of Montenegro "Sozina 2004" Hotel "Topolica" Bar, February 18-26th, 2004

Further details: http://www.sozina2004.com/

13th Aurec Open

The 13th Aurec Open takes place 13th-14th February 2004.

Further details: http://loirechecs.chez.tiscali.fr/20032004/Tournois/Aurec/Aurec.htm

5th Annual MILLENNIUM CHESS FESTIVAL

APRIL 2 - 4, 2004 (the weekend before Foxwoods!) is the date for the next Millennium Chess Festival. Come play chess on the beach!...

PRIZES: $18,000 in 5 sections. Open Section prizes are guaranteed -- $2500-1200-800-600-400-300-200 U2400/Unr: $500-200 U2200: $500-200 Upset Prize: $150. Class Sections have large prize funds based on 55 per section.

HOTEL: Ramada Plaza Beach Oceanfront Hotel, Virginia Beach, USA. COMPS: GM, WGM, and IM Comps are available.

Our popular GM "Dinner/Exhbition" Match again scheduled for Saturday Night. (Details soon.)

WEBSITE: http://www.geocities.com/millenniumchessfestival/
QUESTIONS: eschlich@aol.com

Shirov's New Website

Alexei Shirov has a new webpage which includes an online school project (together with GM Alfonso Romero and IM Javier Sanz both from Spain) and a personal page within. The address is http://www.shirovonline.com, at the moment everything is in Spanish although the English version should follow soon.

IX Cesenatico International Open

The IX Cesenatico International Chess Open takes place in Cesenatico (Italy) 4th-12th September 2004.Open A 9 rounds. Open B 8 rounds.

Organiser Jean Christophe Pirini email info@antiquascom.it Fax +39547681217 # mobile phone +39335.6615956.

Further details: http://www.antiquascom.it/scacchi.htm

IV Savaria Summer Open

IV Savaria Summer International Chess Open takes place in Szombathely, Hungary 19th-26th July 2004. 9 round Swiss 90 minutes + 30 seconds/move.

Further Information:

KORPICS Zsolt H-9700 Szombathely, Rohonci 13. +(36)-30/951-0063 korpicschess@axelero.hu

PERGEL László H-9700 Szombathely, Tátra 2. +(36)-30/530-4904 a_mester@freemail.hu

Hungarian chess tournaments March-August 2004

1.FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM, 6th-18th of March, org. NL. , Organizer: Nagy Laszlo, e-mail: firstsat@hu.inter.net Webpage: http://www.firstsaturday.hu Internet Chess Club nickname: MrFirstSaturday ICQ#: 44805877 Cell phone: +(36)-30-2301914 Tel-fax: +(36-1)-2632859

2. SAVARIA-IM-1 closed tournament, Szombathely /250 km West from Budapest/, 22nd March-1st of April, organizer: FM Korpics,Zsolt, e-mail: korpicschess@axelero.hu

3. 20th BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL, 9 rounds Swiss Open, 18th-27th of March, Org.Nagy Laszlo

4. FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM, 3rd-16th of April, org.NL.

5. SAVARIA-IM-2 closed, Szombathely, 19th-29th of April, org: Korpics Zsolt;

6. FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM, 1st-13th of May,

7. ELEKES memorial, Budapest GM-IM round robin, 15th-25th of May, organizer: IM Zsinka, Laszlo, +(36)-20-9219197 e-mail: zsinkala@axelero.hu or: zsinka@budapest.hu

8. FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM, 5th-17th of June, Budapest, org.Nagy L.

9. BALATON OPEN and GM-IM closed about 20th-30th of June, org: IM Rigo, e-mail: me-ri@axelero.hu /150 km West from Budapest/,

10. FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM, 3rd-16th of July, Org: Nagy Laszlo,

11. Open EGER 9 rounds Swiss, 17th-25th of July /100 km North-East from Budapest/ and GM-IM closed tmt, organizer: Rauch Ferenc, cell phone: +(36)-30-326-3692, e-mail: rauch@freemail.hu, other organizer: Vajda, Albert Sr. e-mail: avajda@udv.topnet.ro More info: Nagy Laszlo, e-mail: firstsat@hu.inter.net

12. FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM, 7th-19th of August 2004, org: NL.

13. Cat.XI. GM-closed, 10 participants, Budapest, 18th-27th of Aug. Org: PALI, Gabor, e-mail: gaborpali@freemail.hu Mobile: +/36/-20-470-50-37

14. TALENTUM CUP Open 19th-27th of Aug. BALATONZAMARDI /200 km West from Budapest/, organizer: MR VALIS, Janos e-mail: husi-sc@hu.inter.net

15. FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM, 4th-16th of September, Org: NL.

2nd Annual Western Pacific Open

2nd Annual Western Pacific Open. Burbank, CA, April 2-4, 2004. 5-SS. $10,000 based on 200 players, $6000 guaranteed. Top section FIDE rated.

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

Lina Grumette Memorial Day Classic

The Lina Grumette Memorial Day Classic 2004. Glendale, CA, May 29-31, 2004. 6-SS. $20,000 based on 300 players, $10,000 guaranteed. Top section FIDE rated.

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

Calcutta International Open

The Alekhine Chess Club will be holding the CALCUTTA INTERNATIONAL OPEN CHESS TOURNAMENT, 2004, from 27th Feb to 7th March, 2004. Previously the event was known as the GOODRICKE INTERNATIONAL OPEN CHESS TOURNAMENT, CALCUTTA.

The total prize fund will be $12000. Boarding & lodging will be provided to all GMs, WGMs, IMs, WIMs. For details contact: Mr. Soumen Majumder, Gorky Sadan, 3, Gorky Terrace, Calcutta - 700 017, Telephone: 091 033 2280 3858, Fax: 091 033 2247 9559 / 2283 2746 E-mail: gnca@vsnl.com

65th Square Website

There is a new Turkish website: http://www.65thsquare.org (note the change of address). I have given an interview to the webmaster Alper Efe Ataman.

2nd Nancy International

16-22 February 2004 in Nancy (France) 2nd international Chess Festival, 9 rounds closed tournaments 10 players. For any player between 1000 and 2300, to obtain or to improve FIDE and National Elo + an IM-tournament (completed). Prices : At least 200ˆ-120ˆ-80ˆ in each group. Info: philippechr@wanadoo.fr and http://echiquier.nanceien.free.fr

Swiss Chess Tour 2004

The Swiss Chess Tour starts in Basle in the New Year (1.-4.1.2004.). The 6th Hilton Open features with Vlastimil Hort, Yannick Pelletier, Andrei Sokolov and Florian Jenni. They will play each other, one game on classic time control and the other in rapid. Timetable of the 6th Hilton Open: 1.1.2004. registration 10.00-12.00; 1.01.2004. Blitz open 21.00-23.00; 9 rounds, 5 minutes. 1.-4.1.2004. Fujitcu Siemens – Junior’s Open; 7 rounds, 4 hours. 1.-4.1.2004. Hilton Open; 7 rounds, 5 hours (40 moves-120 minutes, 30 minutes till the end.) 1.-4.1.2004. Baloise Open; 7 rounds, 4 hours (30 moves-90 minutes, 30 minutes till the and.) 1.-4.1.2004. Senior Open; same as Baloise Open. 1.-2.1.2004. ITAG Tele-Rapid; with Hort, Pelletier, Sokolov, Jenni; 15 minutes per game. 1.-4.1.2004. ITAG Masters (Hort, Pelletier, Sokolov, Jenni); classic time control, 6 hours. 2.1.2004. Fujitsu Siemens PC-Challenge (men&computer) 20.00-22.00. 4.1.2004. Closing ceremony 16.30-17.00.

Prizes: Hilton Open: 2000/1500/1200/800/600/500/2x400/2x300/2x200 Fr. Special prizes (200 Fr. each): Best Lady, Senior (1944), Basler, Junior (1984-87), Pupil (1988). Entry fee: 130 Fr. (FM & Juniors) GM & IM free. At the door 10 Fr. Baloise Open: 500/400/2x300/2x200/4x150 Fr. Entry fee: 110 Fr. (Juniors 50 Fr.) At the door 10. Senior Open: 400/300/200 Fr. + natural prizes Entry fee: 60 Fr. At the door 10 Fr. Fujitsu Siemens-Junior Open: 400/300/200 + natural prizes for all participants. Entry fee: 50 Fr. At the door 10 Fr. Blitz Open: 300/200/150/2x100/2x50 Fr. Entry fee: 20 Fr. (Junior 5 Fr.) Venue Hotel Hilton Basle. 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

33rd International Rapid Chess Tournament Herford

Herford, 19th-20th June 2004 33rd International Rapid Chess Tournament 2004. Grand-Prix of Sparkasse Herford. Qualification tournament for the German Rapid Championships. 11 Rounds. Guaranteed Prize fund: € 1.500. 1st Prize € 500.-, Info: http://www.schach.com/herford/turnier/2004/herford2004ausschreibung.htm Homepage: http://www.schach.com/herford/

British Simul Record Attempt for Charity

Andrew Martin writes: We are planning to break Ulf Andersson's World Record for the most opponents played simultaneously at one sitting (currently 310). We have set up a website which will enable players to enter online and gives details of the event which will take place at Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire on Saturday 21st Feb 2004. The event forms an integral part of the BCF Centenary Celebrations.

Entry is free although players will be asked to try and raise money for charity and sponsorship forms will be issued. All sponsorship proceeds will go to youth charities and activities involving young people.

Website: http://www.chessworldrecord.co.uk

Linares 2004

The lineup for Linares 2004 looks like being Gary Kasparov 2830 Vladimir Kramnik 2770 Veselin Topalov Peter Leko 2722 Alexei Shirov 2737 Paco Vallejo 2662 Teimour Radjabov 2650.

Dates are as follows: February 18th (draw of lots) Rd1 Feb. 19th Round 14 (Final) March 5th - Rest days Feb. 24th and March 1st.

Western Canadian Open

The Western Canadian Open takes place July 9th-18th, 2004. The FIDE rated event is organised by the British Columbia Chess Federation.

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

Narender Nath Memorial Chess Tournament

The 3rd Annual Narender Nath Memorial Chess Tournament commemorating a man who died in the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001 is underway. The event raises money for charity.

Details: http://www.nathchesstournament.com/

28th Kings Head Rapidplay

The 28th Kings Head Rapidplay will take place on Saturday 13 March 2004,

6-round Swiss rapidplay (30 minutes), prize fund £650, entry fee £17

Further info: http://www.khcc.org.uk

Chess Exhibition in Cleveland Ohio

The Worlds of Chess Champions exhibition contains items including Egyptian chess pieces, commemorative stamps, autographed material, rare books and original manuscripts.

The event is in Cleveland OH. The Cleveland Public Library’s John G. White Chess and Checkers Collection is currently exhibiting an installation titled, Worlds of Chess Champions. This temporary exhibition is located in the third floor exhibition hall of the Main Building, 325 Superior Ave., N.E. The Library exhibition is free and open to the public. Paid parking is available on Rockwell, one block north of Superior Ave.

Worlds of Chess Champions puts chess into context through the lives of chess experts, authors, and champions. This exhibition sets the historical stage of chess champions from the 19th Century to the present. To illustrate the context of chess in the world, the earliest items displayed feature chess pieces from Egypt dating back to 1300 B.C. Other early items on display from the John G. White Chess and Checkers Collection include original manuscripts from the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Other rare and interesting items include a death mask photograph of an early 19th-century player, commemorative chess stamps, hand-written letters by and about world-famous chess champions, autographed material, and published books by chess champions.

Some of the materials in Worlds of Chess Champions have never before been exhibited. The John G. White Chess and Checkers Collection is the world’s largest and most comprehensive chess collection. The collection contains chess sets and pieces as well as material related to chess. Many stamps commemorating chess champions are in the exhibition. Newspaper and magazine clippings, chess championship programs, score sheets from games, and other rare items will be on display through June 12, 2004.

New York Masters

Regular competition for players in New York Rated 2200 and above.

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