THE WEEK IN CHESS 529 27th December 2004 by Mark Crowther

TWIC Home | The London Chess Center | | Shop

Sponsored by the London Chess Center

Contact The Week in Chess
Mark Crowther
E-Mail mdcrowth@netcomuk.co.uk

Tel or fax 01274 882143 [Bradford England]
Mobile 07971 920016
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html

Contents

1) Introduction
2) Pamplona Navarra Tournament
3) Drammen Chess Festival
4) Tigran Petrosian Memorial Internet Tournament
5) Bois-Colombes Masters
6) Harmonie Chess Tournament
7) NAO Chess Club GM
8) December 1989 Revolution
9) XVII Memorial Carlos Torre Open
10) Zone 3.1 Beirut
11) Asian Women's Championship
12) Asian Juniors
13) Barcelona Open
14) Lindsborg FIDE Norm tournament
15) The 31st Annual Eastern Open
16) Russian Cup
17) Rilton Cup 2004-5
18) XIII Erandio Open
19) 25th Bethune Chess Open
20) XX Nice International Chess Open
21) Czech Chess Christmas
22) Hyeres Women's Tournament
23) Sao Paolo Christmas Open
24) 4th AMPLICO AIG LIFE Tournament
25) Greek Championship Correction
26) Forthcoming Events and Links


TWIC CD

Contact the London Chess Center

Contact the London Chess Center email: info@chess.co.uk Call 1-561-714-0828 in the USA or Canada Call +44 (0) 207 388 2404 or Fax +44 (0) 207 388 2407 in the UK and ROW

Great New Software: Order from: http://www.chess.co.uk/newsoftware.html

Join Chess Express and receive all the latest chess news straight into your inbox. Simply click here to start receiving chess express

Have you seen our Special of the Week? Check this link regularly for great discounts on books and software. Savings of 50-75%! http://www.chess.co.uk/specialweek.html

Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors Volume 4 Out now . http://www.chess.co.uk/kasparovgreats.html

Kasparov visits the London Chess Centre on January 8th 2005: http://www.chess.co.uk/gkvisitjan2005.html

ChessBase 9 - : http://www.chess.co.uk/chessbase9.html

New books and DVDs http://www.chess.co.uk/newbooks.html

Games section

Pamplona Navarra Tournament                    74 games
Tigran Petrosian Memorial Internet Tournament  24 games
Bois-Colombes Masters                          30 games
Harmonie Chess Tournament                      25 games
NAO Chess Club GM                              20 games
December 1989 Revolution                       77 games
XVII Memorial Carlos Torre Open                58 games
Zone 3.1 Beirut                               108 games
Asian Women's Championship                     81 games
Asian Juniors                                  80 games
Lindsborg FIDE Norm tournament                 59 games
4th AMPLICO AIG LIFE Tournament                14 games
Greek Championship Correction                   1 game
651 games

1) Introduction

My thanks to Frank Berry, Jesus Mena, Feodor Skripchenko, Jakub Fuksik, Michael Atkins, Thierry Foissez, Rod McShane, Andy McFarland, S.L. Harsh, Giorgio Gozzi, Chris Fitzgerald, Sylvain Delisle, Albert Silver, Argiris Kotsis, Haroon, Luiz Roberto Da Costa Jr, Einar S. Einarsson, Michael J. Yeo, Toni Ayza and everyone else who helped with the issue.

This is the final issue of 2004. I wish everyone a prosperous and successful new year. As usual in this holiday season there is plenty of chess throughout the world with the Pamplona tournament well under way and the Drammen Chess Festival starting today. There will be the traditional Hastings and Reggio Emilia events later in the week. China snatched the Tigran Petrosian Memorial tournament with a win in the final game to finish in the event.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) Pamplona Navarra Tournament

The Pamplona, Navarra tournament takes place 20th - 29th December 2004. There is a Category 16 main GM event and a Swiss.

Official site: http://personal.telefonica.terra.es/web/iosumena/ with further info at: http://www.jaque.tv/pamplona04.htm

--------------------------------------------------------------------
XIV It Pamplona ESP (ESP), 22-29 xii 2004            cat. XVI (2630)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Gelfand, Boris             g ISR 2693  * . = . 1 1 1 .  3.5  2972 
2. De la Riva Aguado, Oscar   m AND 2528  . * = . = 1 . 1  3.0  2824 
3. Karjakin, Sergey           g UKR 2576  = = * . . . = 1  2.5  2725 
4. Bruzon, Lazaro             g CUB 2637  . . . * = = 1 =  2.5  2747 
5. Sutovsky, Emil             g ISR 2697  0 = . = * . . 1  2.0  2624 
6. Naiditsch, Arkadij         g GER 2611  0 0 . = . * = .  1.0  2436 
7. Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar     g AZE 2660  0 . = 0 . = * .  1.0  2436 
8. Vaganian, Rafael A         g ARM 2640  . 0 0 = 0 . . *  0.5  2287 
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Round 1 (December 22, 2004)

Gelfand, Boris            -  Sutovsky, Emil            1-0   39  E94  King's Indian Classical
De la Riva Aguado, Oscar  -  Vaganian, Rafael A        1-0   37  C18  French Winawer
Naiditsch, Arkadij        -  Bruzon, Lazaro            1/2   53  C10  French Rubinstein
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar    -  Karjakin, Sergey          1/2   23  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation

Round 2 (December 23, 2004)

Karjakin, Sergey          -  Gelfand, Boris            1/2   26  C42  Petroff's Defence
Bruzon, Lazaro            -  Vaganian, Rafael A        1/2   34  E05  Catalan
Sutovsky, Emil            -  De la Riva Aguado, Oscar  1/2   54  C10  French Rubinstein
Naiditsch, Arkadij        -  Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar    1/2   28  C80  Ruy Lopez Open

Round 3 (December 24, 2004)

Gelfand, Boris            -  Naiditsch, Arkadij        1-0   34  E12  Queens Indian Petrosian
De la Riva Aguado, Oscar  -  Karjakin, Sergey          1/2   22  B52  Sicilian Rossolimo
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar    -  Bruzon, Lazaro            0-1   34  C43  Petroff's Defence
Vaganian, Rafael A        -  Sutovsky, Emil            0-1   50  D72  Gruenfeld 3.g3

Round 4 (December 26, 2004)

Karjakin, Sergey          -  Vaganian, Rafael A        1-0   37  B04  Alekhine's Defence
Bruzon, Lazaro            -  Sutovsky, Emil            1/2   15  D90  Gruenfeld Flohr
Naiditsch, Arkadij        -  De la Riva Aguado, Oscar  0-1   62  C03  French Tarrasch
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar    -  Gelfand, Boris            0-1   68  B22  Sicilian Alapin

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Open Pamplona ESP (ESP), 21-29 xii 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Cheparinov, Ivan                m  BUL 2576  2576   5½   21½
 2. Conquest, Stuart                g  ENG 2488  2488   5½   21½
 3. Magem Badals, Jordi             g  ESP 2500  2500   5    23
 4. Bruned, Yvalin                     ESP 2284  2284   5    21
 5. Garbisu de Goni, Unai           m  ESP 2460  2460   5    20
 6. Llaneza Vega, Marcos            f  ESP 2298  2298   5    19
 7. Jerez Perez, Alfonso            m  ESP 2434  2434   5    17
 8. Teran Alvarez, Ismael           m  ESP 2431  2431   4½   22½
 9. Barrenechea Bahamonde, Gustavo     ESP 2134  2134   4½   20½
10. Garcia, Raul                    f  AND 2259  2259   4½   19½
11. Bruned, Boris                      ESP 2173  2173   4½   19½
12. Vinal Gutierrez,Pedro              ESP ----  2193   4½   18
13. Balado Saez, Sergio                ESP 2263  2263   4½   18
14. De Pablos Fernandez, Mariano       ESP 2025  2025   4½   17½
15  Unanua Garcia, Pedro               ESP ----  1940   4½   15½
16. Argaya Urdaniz, Miguel             ESP 2052  2052   4    21
17. Arjol Etxeberria, David            ESP 1993  1993   4    20½
18. Llaneza Vega, Patricia          wm ESP 2181  2181   4    20
19. Huerga Leache, Mikel               ESP 2139  2139   4    19
20. Perez, Rodney                   m  CUB 2422  2422   4    19
21. Cortes Bueno, Jesus Javier      f  ESP 2264  2264   4    18½
22. Ruiz Escobar, Rafael               ESP 2040  2040   4    18
23. Ros Octavio de Toledo, Eduardo     ESP 2172  2172   4    18
24. Zaratiegui Cardesa, Jose           ESP ----  1833   4    17½
25. Perez Perez, Manuel                ESP 2026  2026   4    17
26. Ivanov, Jordan                  m  BUL 2395  2395   4    16½
27. Argandona Salinas, Gorka           ESP ----  1963   4    16½
28. Mamedjarova, Zeinab             wg AZE 2349  2349   4    16½
29. Rada Equiza, Miguel                ESP 2243  2243   4    16
30. Zamarbide Inarrea, Daniel          ESP 1990  1990   4    15½
31. Lakunza Velasco, Ibai              ESP ----  1888   4    15½
116 players

3) Drammen Chess Festival

The Drammen Chess Festival takes place 27th December 2004 - 5th January 2005.

The main event is the Smartfish Chess Masters with participants: Alexei Shirov 2726 Alexander Khalifman 2669 Peter Heine Nielsen 2663 Luke McShane 2629 Bartlomiej Macieja 2613 Viktor Kortchnoi 2601 Kjetil A Lie 2474 (replacing Simen Agdestein who is ill) Magnus Carlsen 2581 Antoaneta Stefanova 2523 Leif Erlend Johannessen 2519. There is also a master tournament alongside.

The organisers experienced problems transmitting the games in round 1. Below are the results so far. Games will follow on the front page of the twic site and next week.

Official site: http://www.buskerudsjakk.org

Round 1 27th December 2004
Bartlomiej Macieja   1-0  Antoaneta Stefanova
Alexander Khalifman  1/2  Alexei Shirov
Peter Heine Nielsen   -   Magnus Carlsen
Kjetil A Lie         1/2  Leif Erlend Johannessen
Viktor Korchnoi       -   Luke McShane

4) Tigran Petrosian Memorial Internet Tournament

The Tigran Petrosian Memorial Internet Tournament took place December 18th-23rd with games starting at 12:00 noon in Paris, 14:00 in St. Petersburg. 15:00 in Yerevan and 19:00 in Beijing. Each country faced each of the other three countries two times for a total of six rounds. Fischer time control will be used (1 hour 30 minutes plus 15 minutes added at move 40; 30 second increments are added after every move). The event took place on ICC.

China won the event by a point from France and Russia. China's final round match against Russia came down to the wire. The Russians led 2-1 but Wang Yue beat Vadim Zvjaginsev in the final game to finish to tie the match and win the event for the Chinese. Final Scores: China 14.0 - France 13.0 - Russia 13.0 - Armenia 8.0. One key moment in the event was in round 5 when due to a slip of the mouse an intended 18. ...Rb6 by Khalfiman as black against Bauer ended up as 18. ...Rb7?? which was refuted by 19. d6 and Khalifman had no option but to resign.

Official site: http://www.petrosian2004.com/chess2004/index.jsp?id=1

------------------------------------------------------
Petrosian Mem Internet ICC INT (INT), 18-23 xii 2004 
------------------------------------------------------
China 14
 1. Ni Hua                  g CHN 2611  4.5  2850 
 2. Wang Yue                f CHN 2536  4.0  2724 
 3. Zhang Zhong             g CHN 2596  2.5  2577 
 4. Bu Xiangzhi             g CHN 2615  3.0  2697 
France 13
 1. Bauer, Christian        g FRA 2622  4.0  2750 
 2. Nataf, Igor-Alexandre   g FRA 2565  3.0  2590 
 3. Lautier, Joel           g FRA 2682  3.0  2675 
 4. Fressinet, Laurent      g FRA 2640  3.0  2647 
Russia 13
 1. Dreev, Alexey           g RUS 2698  4.0  2753 
 2. Svidler, Peter          g RUS 2735  3.5  2714 
 3. Zvjaginsev, Vadim       g RUS 2650  3.0  2561 
 4. Khalifman, Alexander    g RUS 2669  2.5  2552 
Armenia	8
 1. Sargissian, Gabriel     g ARM 2611  3.0  2629 
 2. Aronian, Levon          g ARM 2675  2.5  2620 
 3. Minasian, Artashes      g ARM 2584  2.0  2458 
 4. Lputian, Smbat G        g ARM 2634  0.5  2248 
-------------------------------------------------

Round 4 (December 21, 2004)

France-China 2.0-2.0
Bauer, Christian       -  Zhang Zhong            1/2  118  D38  QGD Ragozin
Wang Yue               -  Nataf, Igor-Alexandre  1/2   33  E81  King's Indian Saemisch
Lautier, Joel          -  Bu Xiangzhi            1/2   30  D10  Slav Defence
Ni Hua                 -  Fressinet, Laurent     1/2   14  C45  Scotch Game

Russia-Armenia 2.5-1.5 
Svidler, Peter         -  Aronian, Levon         1/2   34  C88  Ruy Lopez Closed
Minasian, Artashes     -  Zvjaginsev, Vadim      1/2   23  A00  Irregular Openings
Khalifman, Alexander   -  Sargissian, Gabriel    1/2   49  C91  Ruy Lopez
Lputian, Smbat G       -  Dreev, Alexey          0-1   42  D47  Queens Gambit Meran

Round 5 (December 22, 2004)

France-Russia  2.5-1.5
Bauer, Christian       -  Khalifman, Alexander   1-0   19  B33  Sicilian Sveshnikov
Dreev, Alexey          -  Fressinet, Laurent     1-0   23  D11  Slav Defence
Lautier, Joel          -  Svidler, Peter         1-0   49  E84  King's Indian Saemisch
Zvjaginsev, Vadim      -  Nataf, Igor-Alexandre  1/2   29  B30  Sicilian Rossolimo

China-Armenia 2.5-1.5
Minasian, Artashes     -  Wang Yue               0-1   50  B30  Sicilian Rossolimo
Bu Xiangzhi            -  Aronian, Levon         1/2   87  E35  Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Lputian, Smbat G       -  Ni Hua                 0-1   60  D10  Slav Defence
Zhang Zhong            -  Sargissian, Gabriel    0-1   53  C69  Ruy Lopez Exchange

Round 6 (December 23, 2004)

Russia-China 2.0-2.0
Svidler, Peter         -  Bu Xiangzhi            1-0   27  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Ni Hua                 -  Dreev, Alexey          1/2   14  B19  Caro Kann
Khalifman, Alexander   -  Zhang Zhong            1/2   20  E12  Queens Indian Petrosian
Wang Yue               -  Zvjaginsev, Vadim      1-0   50  E81  King's Indian Saemisch

France-Armenia 2.5-1.5
Aronian, Levon         -  Lautier, Joel          1/2   46  D38  QGD Ragozin
Fressinet, Laurent     -  Lputian, Smbat G       1-0   23  C17  French Winawer
Sargissian, Gabriel    -  Bauer, Christian       0-1   77  D20  QGA
Nataf, Igor-Alexandre  -  Minasian, Artashes     0-1   41  B06  Modern Defence

5) Bois-Colombes Masters

The Bois-Colombes Masters takes place 19th-29th December 2004.

Official site: http://www.bois-colombes-echecs.com/evenements/bc_chessmasters_2004/calendrier.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------
BC Masters Bois Colombes FRA (FRA), 19-29 xii 2004      cat. VIII (2448)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Apicella, Manuel          g FRA 2543  * 1 . . . = 1 0 1 1  4.5  2616 
 2. Todorov, Todor            m BUL 2509  0 * . . = . 1 1 1 1  4.5  2622 
 3. Shchekachev, Andrei       g RUS 2546  . . * = 1 = = = . 1  4.0  2534 
 4. Roussel-Roozmon, Thomas   m CAN 2425  . . = * = = . 1 = =  3.5  2477 
 5. Abergel, Thal             m FRA 2428  . = 0 = * = = 1 . .  3.0  2473 
 6. Okhotnik, Vladimir        m UKR 2426  = . = = = * . . 0 1  3.0  2435 
 7. Sulypa, Alexandre         g UKR 2484  0 0 = . = . * . 1 1  3.0  2449 
 8. Marcelin, Cyril           g FRA 2453  1 0 = 0 0 . . * = .  2.0  2354 
 9. Sebag, Marie              m FRA 2428  0 0 . = . 1 0 = * .  2.0  2348 
10. Pietrasanta, Jeremy         FRA 2242  0 0 0 = . 0 0 . . *  0.5  2087 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

6) Harmonie Chess Tournament

The Harmonie Chess tournament 2004 takes place December 21st-30th 2004 in Groningen.

Live coverage of the games: http://www.so-on.org/kerst2004/

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Harmonie Groningen NED (NED), 21-30 xii 2004           cat. X (2495)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Van der Wiel, John    g NED 2493  * = . 1 . . 1 1 1 .  4.5  2857 
 2. Nijboer, Friso        g NED 2567  = * 1 . 0 . . 1 1 .  3.5  2623 
 3. Gagunashvili, Merab   g GEO 2567  . 0 * = . 1 1 . . 1  3.5  2664 
 4. L'Ami, Erwin          m NED 2516  0 . = * 1 . . 1 . 1  3.5  2608 
 5. Visser, Yge           m NED 2451  . 1 . 0 * . = . 1 1  3.5  2662 
 6. Kuzubov, Yuriy        m UKR 2530  . . 0 . . * 1 1 = 1  3.5  2627 
 7. Zhigalko, Andrey      m BLR 2515  0 . 0 . = 0 * . . 1  1.5  2348 
 8. Brandenburg, Daan       NED 2340  0 0 . 0 . 0 . * 1 .  1.0  2285 
 9. Ernst, Sipke          m NED 2521  0 0 . . 0 = . 0 * .  0.5  2110 
10. Jones, Gawain C       f ENG 2447  . . 0 0 0 0 0 . . *  0.0       
--------------------------------------------------------------------

7) NAO Chess Club GM

The 4th NAO Chess Club GM event took place 15th-23rd December 2004. FM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and David Alberto finished on 6/9. Vachier-Lagrave made a GM norm he is just 14 years old.

Official site: http://www.nao-cc.com/naocc/index.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------
4th NAO GM Paris FRA (FRA), 15-23 xii 2004                 cat. X (2482)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime   f FRA 2493  * 1 = = 0 = 1 = 1 1  6.0  2605 
 2. David, Alberto            g LUX 2573  0 * = = = 1 1 = 1 1  6.0  2596 
 3. Dunis, Aurelien           m FRA 2461  = = * = = 1 = 1 = =  5.5  2564 
 4. Kazhgaleyev, Murtas       g KAZ 2607  = = = * = = = 1 = 1  5.5  2547 
 5. Libiszewski, Fabien       m FRA 2419  1 = = = * = = = 0 1  5.0  2531 
 6. Gouliev, Namig            m AZE 2509  = 0 0 = = * 1 = 1 1  5.0  2521 
 7. Maze, Sebastien           m FRA 2464  0 0 = = = 0 * 0 1 1  3.5  2403 
 8. Inkiov, Ventzislav        g BUL 2496  = = 0 0 = = 1 * 0 0  3.0  2355 
 9. Marzolo, Cyril            m FRA 2437  0 0 = = 1 0 0 1 * 0  3.0  2361 
10. Goldsztejn, Gildas          FRA 2359  0 0 = 0 0 0 0 1 1 *  2.5  2329 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

8) December 1989 Revolution

The December 1989 Revolution tournament took place December 15th-22nd 2004. Vasile Sanduleac took clear first with 7.5/9. Games from the first 6 rounds available.

http://www.christiansen.ro/fun.htm

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Revolution Mem Bucharest ROM (ROM), 15-22 xii 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  1   Sanduleac, Vasile           2486 7.5    53.5 43.75   40.5   19236
2-3   Itkis, Boris                2462 7      56.5 43.00   41.0   19206
      Lupulescu, Constantin       2560 7      49.5 38.75   34.0   18782
4-8   Nanu, Ciprian-Costica       2459 6.5    53.0 34.75   36.5
      Breahna, Radu               2309 6.5    51.0 30.00   33.0
      Raceanu, Valentin           2370 6.5    48.0 32.75   33.5
      Murariu, Andrei             2381 6.5    47.0 31.00   33.0
      Bogza, Adina-Maria          2294 6.5    46.5 31.25   32.5
9-19  Ionescu, Constantin         2468 6      52.0 32.75   33.0
      Vajda, Albert               2423 6      52.0 26.00   35.0
      Grigore, Nicolae Petre      2354 6      51.0 31.00   33.0
      Jianu, Vlad-Cristian        2444 6      49.5 31.00   32.0
      Cioara, Andrei Nestor       2387 6      49.5 29.25   33.5
      Dinu, Dumitru-Daniel        2315 6      48.5 30.50   32.5
      Glodeanu, Ion               2288 6      48.0 27.75   31.5
      Doncea, Vladimir            2352 6      47.0 30.50   33.0
      Nemeth, Francisc            2403 6      46.0 29.00   30.5
      Ardelean, George Catalin    2461 6      42.0 27.50   28.0
      Bondoc, Dan Vladimir        2275 6      42.0 26.25   30.0
20-31 Cosma, Elena Luminita       2358 5.5    49.5 28.50   30.5
      Niculescu, Cristian         2143 5.5    48.5 24.50   30.0
      Szabo, Gergely-Andras-Gyula 2433 5.5    47.5 20.25   28.0
      Valeanu, Eduard-Andrei      2274 5.5    47.0 25.25   30.5
      Stanculescu, Claudiu        2216 5.5    46.5 25.25   28.5
      Ionescu, Cristian-Dan       2269 5.5    45.5 21.50   30.5
      Carlan, Ionut               2123 5.5    43.5 24.75   27.5
      Velea, Constantin           2228 5.5    43.0 18.75   26.0
      Solcanean, Serghei          2345 5.5    42.0 23.50   28.5
      Osman, Mihai                2147 5.5    42.0 23.25   27.0
      Partac, Elena               2259 5.5    39.0 20.00   28.5
      Ionesi, Cristian            2158 5.5    36.0 19.50   24.5
99 players

9) XVII Memorial Carlos Torre Open

The XVII Memorial Carlos Torre Repetto took place 13th-21st Decemeber 2004. There was an open phase which qualified players for a knockout phase where they were joined by Vassily Ivanchuk. Vassily Ivanchuk defeated Alexander Graf 2-0 in the final.

Official site: http://www.carlostorre.org.mx/

1/8th Final
 
No. Number         1   2   3 4   5 pts.   1/4 Final December 18th 2004
1   VASSILY        1   1           2
    IVANCHUK
    G.M. 2705 UKR                         No. Number        1   2   3  4  pts.
16  JESUS          0   0           0        1 VASSILY       0.5 0.5 1  1  3
    NOGUEIRAS                                 IVANCHUK
    G.M. 2546 CUB                             G.M. 2705 UKR                      Semifinal December 19th 2004
8   SERGEI         1   0.5         1.5      8 SERGEI        0.5 0.5 0  0  1
    TIVIAKOV                                  TIVIAKOV
    G.M. 2617 NLD                             G.M. 2617 NLD                      No. Number        1   2  pts.
9   GILBERTO       0   0.5         0.5                                           1   VASSILY       1   1  2
    HERNANDEZ                                                                        IVANCHUK
    G.M. 2509 MEX                                                                    G.M. 2705 UKR
4   YUNIESKY       0.5 1           1.5                                           4   YUNIESKY      0   0  0
    QUEZADA                                                                          QUEZADA
    I.M. 2513 CUB                         No. Number        1   2   3  4  pts.       I.M. 2513 CUB
13  ARYAN ABREU    0.5 0           0.5      4 YUNIESKY      0.5 0.5 1  1  3
                                              QUEZADA
    I.M. 2436 CUB                             I.M. 2513 CUB                                                      Final December 20th 2004
5   HOLDEN         1   0.5         1.5      5 HOLDEN        0.5 0.5 0  0  1
    HERNANDEZ                                 HERNANDEZ
    CAMENATE                                  CAMENATE
    I.M. 2473 CUB                             I.M. 2473 CUB                                                      No. Number         1  2   pts.
12  WALTER         0   0.5         0.5                                                                           1   VASSILY        1  1   2
    ARENCIBA                                                                                                         IVANCHUK
    G.M. 2516 CUB                                                                                                    G.M.  2705 UKR
2   VADIM MILOV    1   0   1 1     3                                                                             3   ALEXANDER      0  0   0
                                                                                                                     GRAF
    G.M. 2683 SUI                         No. Number        1   2   3  4  pts.                                       G.M.  2646 GER
15  JUAN CARLOS    0   1   0 0     1      2   VADIM MILOV   0   0.5       0.5
    GONZALEZ
    G.M. 2554 CUB                             G.M. 2683 SUI
7   NEURIS         0.5 1           1.5    7   NEURIS        1   0.5       1.5
    DELGADO                                   DELGADO
    G.M. 2554 CUB                             G.M. 2554 CUB                      No. Number        1   2  pts.
10  JESPER         0.5 0           0.5                                           7   NEURIS        0.5 0  0.5
    NORGAARD                                                                         DELGADO
    F.M. 2435 DEN                                                                    G.M. 2554 CUB
3   ALEXANDER      1   0.5         1.5                                           3   ALEXANDER     0.5 1  1.5
    GRAF                                                                             GRAF
    G.M. 2646 GER                         No. Number        1   2   3  4  pts.       G.M. 2646 GER
14  ROBERTO        0   0.5         0.5    3   ALEXANDER     0.5 1         1.5
    MARTIN DEL                                GRAF
    CAMPO
    I.M. 2404 MEX                             G.M. 2646 GER
6   SARUNAS        0.5 0.5 1 0.5   2.5    6   SARUNAS       0.5 0         0.5
    SULSKIS                                   SULSKIS
    G.M. 2555 LIT                             G.M. 2555 LIT
11  REYNALDO       0.5 0.5 0 0.5   1.5
    VERA
    G.M. 2461 CUBA

10) Zone 3.1 Beirut

Zone 3.1 Individual Championship for Men & Women 2004 took place in Beirut - Lebanon, December 13th- 22nd 2004. Ehsan Ghaem Maghami won the men's event with 7.5/9.

Official site: http://www.lebchess.org/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
zt 3.1 Beirut LIB (LIB), 14-21 xii 2004
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan  g  IRI 2558  7.5  45.0  35.25  36.5  2655 +0.93
 2. Al Sayed, Mohamad N   m  QAT 2454  7.0  45.0  31.75  34.5  2622 +1.87
 3. Al-Modiahki, Mohamad  g  QAT 2577  7.0  46.5  33.50  32.5  2621 +0.43
 4. Hakki, Imad           m  SYR 2449  6.5  45.5  28.50  31.5  2570 +1.46
 5. Ermenkov, Evgenij     g  PLE 2454  5.5  47.5  24.00  28.0  2490 +0.36
 6. Khader, Sami          f  JOR 2362  5.0  44.5  17.75  26.5  2427 +0.77
 7. Jasim, A.R. Saleh     f  UAE 2312  4.0  40.0   9.00  22.0  2315 +0.04
 8. Najjar, Ahmad         f  LIB 2337  4.0  37.5  11.00  22.0  2284 -0.59
 9. Roghani, Arash           IRI 2346  4.0  36.5   9.00  17.0  2291 -0.68
10. Khairallah, Faisal    f  LIB 2323  3.5  38.0   8.75  20.5  2258 -0.76
11. Hussein, N.A          f  IRQ 2349  3.5  36.5   8.25  18.5  2240 -1.36
12. Maasarani, Mahmoud       LIB 2172  2.5  34.5   7.25  12.5  2157 -0.20
13. Kassis, Antoine          LIB 2221  2.0  36.0   5.00   7.0  2096 -1.33
14. Abdulaziz, Mahmoud       LIB 2101  1.0  34.0   2.50   6.0  1969 -0.98
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------
zt 3.1 w Beirut LIB (LIB), 14-21 xii 2004
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Pourkashiyan, Atousa  wm IRI 2217  * 1 1 1 1 = 1 1 1 1  8.5  2457 
 2. Mouradian, Knarik     wm LIB 2119  0 * 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1  8.0  2375 
 3. Paridar, Shadi        wm IRI 2242  0 0 * 1 1 1 1 1 1 1  7.0  2230 
 4. Makhlouf, Youmna         LIB ----  0 0 0 * = 1 1 = 1 1  5.0  2080 
 5. Algildah, Nibal       wm SYR 1825  0 0 0 = * 1 0 1 1 =  4.0  2014 
 6. Mouradian, Suzan         LIB ----  = 0 0 0 0 * = 1 1 1  4.0  1994 
 7. Jalloul,Maya                 ----  0 0 0 0 1 = * = = 1  3.5  1957 
 8. Shamiyeh,Sarah               ----  0 0 0 = 0 0 = * = 1  2.5  1871 
 9. Al-Hammadi, Fatma     wf UAE 1935  0 0 0 0 0 0 = = * 1  2.0  1824 
10. Al Harmoudi,Mona             ----  0 0 0 0 = 0 0 0 0 *  0.5  1593 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

11) Asian Women's Championship

The Asian Women's Championship took place in Beirut 4th-11th December 2004. Wang Yu of China won the event with 6.5/9. 2nd on tie-break was Subbaraman Meenakshi, ahead of Ju Wenjun in 3rd and Subbaraman Vijayalakashmi in 4th all finishing with 6/9.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Women Beirut LIB (LIB), 4-11 xii 2004
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Wang Yu                    wg CHN 2392  +15 = 2 = 6 = 5 +11 +10 = 3 + 8 = 4  6.5  2449 
 2. Ju Wenjun                     CHN 2300  +13 = 1 - 7 + 8 = 5 =11 =10 + 3 +14  6.0  2376 
 3. Meenakshi, S               wg IND 2307  +12 + 5 +11 =10 + 7 - 6 = 1 - 2 +15  6.0  2382 
 4. Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman  m  IND 2411  - 5 +13 +12 -11 = 8 +15 + 7 + 6 = 1  6.0  2358 
 5. Sachdev, Tania             wm IND 2256  + 4 - 3 +14 = 1 = 2 + 9 - 6 +10 = 7  5.5  2384 
 6. Shen Yang                     CHN 2260  +18 + 8 = 1 = 7 =10 + 3 + 5 - 4 - 9  5.5  2371 
 7. Zhang Jilin                   CHN 2287  +17 =10 + 2 = 6 - 3 +12 - 4 +11 = 5  5.5  2318 
 8. Karavade, Eesha            wm IND 2307  +14 - 6 +15 - 2 = 4 +13 +11 - 1 +12  5.5  2310 
 9. Zigangirova, Sofya         wm KAZ 2330  -11 +14 -10 +16 =13 - 5 +18 +17 + 6  5.5  2235 
10. Gu Xiaobing                wg CHN 2336  +16 = 7 + 9 = 3 = 6 - 1 = 2 - 5 +17  5.0  2298 
11. Hou, Yifan                 wf CHN 2153  + 9 +16 - 3 + 4 - 1 = 2 - 8 - 7 +18  4.5  2278 
12. Mouradian, Knarik          wm LIB 2119  - 3 +17 - 4 +15 +16 - 7 =13 +18 - 8  4.5  2200 
13. Navabi, Shirin             wf IRI 2107  - 2 - 4 +18 +17 = 9 - 8 =12 -14 +16  4.0  2152 
14. Malikgulyewa, Aykamar      wf TKM 2119  - 8 - 9 - 5 +18 -15 +17 =16 +13 - 2  3.5  2107 
15. Pourkashiyan, Atousa       wm IRI 2217  - 1 +18 - 8 -12 +14 - 4 =17 =16 - 3  3.0  2077 
16. Ovezova, Maisa             wf TKM 2170  -10 -11 +17 - 9 -12 =18 =14 =15 -13  2.5  1987 
17. Jalloul,Maya                      ----  - 7 -12 -16 -13 +18 -14 =15 - 9 -10  1.5  1914 
18. Omrani,Hiba                       ----  - 6 -15 -13 -14 -17 =16 - 9 -12 -11  0.5  1719 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12) Asian Juniors

The 27th Asian Junior Chess Championship for Boys and Girls takes place 22nd-30th December 2004 in Bikaner. S Arun Prasad leads the event with 6.5/8 a point clear of Chakkravarthy Deepan who he beat in round 8.

Official site: http://www.chessindia.org/asianjunior/

Round 8 (of 11) Standings:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Juniors Bikaner IND (IND), 22-30 xii 2004
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Arun Prasad, S           f  IND 2367  6.5   29.0  38.5   29.0
 2. Deepan, Chakkravarthy J  m  IND 2396  5.5   29.0  39.0   27.5
 3. Gopal, G.N                  IND 2278  5.5   26.5  34.0   23.0
 4. Gupta, Abhijeet          f  IND 2412  5     30.0  40.5   26.0
 5. Poobesh Anand, S         m  IND 2367  5     29.0  39.0   27.0
 6. Das, Arghyadip              IND 2353  5     28.5  38.5   25.0
 7. Rohit, G                    IND 2281  5     24.5  32.5   21.0
 8. Navin, Kanna T.U            IND 2058  5     21.5  29.5   15.5
 9. Samakov, Nurdin             KGZ 2179  5     20.5  27.5   18.5
10. Filippov, Anton          m  UZB 2475  4.5   28.0  38.0   20.0
11. Venkatesh, M.R           m  IND 2450  4.5   27.0  37.0   22.0
12. Akshayraj, Kore             IND 2400  4.5   22.5  30.0   17.5
13. Soumitra, Majumdar          IND 2148  4.5   21.0  27.5   18.0
14. Amanov, Mesgen              TKM 2250  4     29.0  39.5   21.0
15. Nguyen Van Huy              VIE 2325  4     27.5  35.5   26.0
16. Holmirzaev, Bahodir         UZB 2161  4     26.0  34.0   18.0
17. Hasan, Mehdi                BAN 2251  4     25.0  31.5   21.5
18. Sriram, Sarja               IND 2260  3.5   25.5  32.0   19.0
19. Nikhilesh, Kumar K       f  IND 2240  3.5   25.0  31.0   16.0
20. Foudzi, Kamal Firdaus       MAS 2024  3.5   22.5  28.5   12.0
21. Foudzi, Johan Iskandar   f  MAS 2078  3.5   21.0  27.5   13.5
22. Abhyudaya, Rajpurohit       IND 2017  3.5   20.0  26.0   13.0
23. Thrimavitharana,Ravin       SLK ----  3     24.0  31.0   14.5
24. Lakshmi, Narayanan M.V      IND 1897  3     21.0  27.0   11.5
25. Roshan,Jaiswal              IND ----  2.5   21.0  27.0   10.5
26. Ahmad,Wahab                 PAK ----  2.5   18.0  24.0    8.5
27. Batra, Kartikeya            IND 1821  2     18.0  25.0    8.0
28. Niyazov,Niyazklich          TKM ----  1     19.5  25.5    6.0
-------------------------------------------------------------------

13) Barcelona Open

The Ciutat de Barcelona tournament took place recently and saw Ivan Cheparinov win the event which finished around December 20th 2004. No games available.

Table: http://www.ajedreznd.com/2004/ciutatgran.html

  1   Cheparinov, Ivan               gm BUL 2576   9     69.0
  2   Muñoz Pantoja, Miguel Angel    im PER 2404   8.5   68.5
  3   Gonzalez Garcia, Jose          im MEX 2447   8.5   67.5
  4   Felgaer, Ruben                 gm ARG 2569   8.5   66.5
  5   Fluvia Poyatos, Joan           im ESP 2467   8     67.5
  6   Gonzalez Rodriguez, Jorge      im COL 2354   8     66.5
  7   Barrientos Chavarria, Sergio   fm COL 2435   8     64.0
  8   Barria Zuñiga, Daniel          im CHI 2347   8     62.0
  9   Peralta, Fernando              gm ARG 2531   7.5   66.0
 10   Moskalenko, Viktor             gm UKR 2551   7.5   66.0
 11   Narciso Dublan, Marc           gm ESP 2487   7.5   62.5
 12   Vehi Bach, Victor              im ESP 2409   7.5   60.5
 13   Rios Parra, Alejandro          im COL 2283   7.5   59.0
 14   Oratovsky, Mihail              gm ISR 2536   7     70.0
 15   Hernando Rodrigo, Julio           ESP 2353   7     69.0
 16   Beltran Rueda, Santiago        fm ESP 2397   7     68.5
 17   Cifuentes Parada, Roberto      gm ESP 2540   7     67.5
 18   Mela, Benjamin                 fm ARG 2340   7     67.0
 19   Iglesias, Jorge                   ARG 2352   7     65.5
 20   Escandell Marin, Juan Carlos   fm ARG 2319   7     64.0
 21   Aloma Vidal, Robert               ESP 2297   7     63.0
 22   Gil Alba, Hector Luis          fm CUB 2295   7     62.5
 23   Ramiro Ovejero, Juan Luis         ESP 2278   7     62.0
 24   Gomez Jurado, Alberto             ESP 2282   7     61.0
 25   Ruiz Mata, Oscar                  ESP 2247   7     60.0
 26   Ferron Garcia, Carlos          fm ESP 2305   7     59.0
 27   Chalmeta Ugas, Ramon              ESP 2186   7     58.0
 28   Vila Gazquez, Xavier              ESP 2219   7     58.0
 29   Yepes Martinez, Eduard            ESP 2283   7     57.0
      Castelltort Fernandez, Antoni     ESP 2245   7     57.0
 31   Gual Pascual, Antonio             ESP 2421   7     55.5
 32   Perez Campos, Adria               ESP 2030   7     53.0
249 players

14) Lindsborg FIDE Norm tournament

GMs Ildar Ibragimov of Conneticutt and Alex Moiseenko of the Ukraine tied for 1-2 in the 9Rd-SS Lindsborg (Kansas-USA) Open at 7-2. GMs Miton of Poland and Becerra of NY tied for 3-4 with 6.5 (they played a g/15 rapid match for a place in the knockout, Miton won 2-0). IM Renier Gonzalez of Florida made his second GM norm and finished alone in 5th place at 6-3. 10 GMs from 6 countries and 42 total players from 20 states participated in the annual event which was reported by the New York Times in an article published December 25th. An extremely strong knock-out rapid event held shortly afterward was won by GM Onischuk. The final saw Alexander Onischuk defeat Ildar Ibragimov 3-2. There were two Rapid Games (one win each) followed by two blitz games (5 minutes both won by black) followed by a final sudden death blitz game which saw Onischuk win with black. White had 7 minutes to Black's 5 but black had draw odds. Both events were organized by Dr Mikhail Korenman and directed by Alex Relyea with Nita Patel as chief scorekeeper. Wes Fisk was coordinator. My thanks to Frank Berry for submitting this report and entering some of the games.

The Pan American Games take place in Wichita. December 27th-30th 2004. Coverage: http://www.ruschess.com/cbp/1.html

-------------------------------------------------
Open Lindsborg USA (USA), 17-22 xii 2004
-------------------------------------------------
 1 Moiseenko, Alexander        g   UKR  2653  7
 2 Ibragimov, Ildar            g   USA  2585  7
 3 Miton, Kamil                g   POL  2600  6½
 4 Becerra Rivero, Julio       g   USA  2537  6½
 5 Gonzalez, Renier            m   USA  2428  6
 6 Georgiev, Vladimir          g   MKD  2512  5½
 7 Kreiman, Boris              m   USA  2481  5½
 8 Khachiyan, Melikset         m   USA  2468  5½
 9 Burnett, Ronald             m   USA  2444  5½
10 Langer, Michael                 USA  2280  5½
11 Shulman, Yuri               g   USA  2549  5
12 Wojtkiewicz, Aleksander     g   USA  2539  5
13 Zatonskih, Anna             wg  USA  2440  5
14 Kraai, Jesse                m   USA  2425  5
15 Ippolito, Dean              m   USA  2392  5
16 Fernandez, Daniel           f   USA  2391  5
17 Shivaji, Shivkuma               USA  2257  5
42 players

Knockout

1/4 Final 23rd December 2004
 
Moiseenko, Alexander 1.5 – 0.5 Goldin, Alexander
Ehlvest, Jaan        1.5 – 0.5 Wojtkiewicz, Aleksander
Onischuk, Alexander  1.5 - 0.5 Miton, Kamil
Ibragimov, Ildar     2.0 - 0.0 Gonzalez, Renier

1/2 Final 24th December 2004

Ibragimov, Ildar     1.5 – 0.5 Moiseenko, Alexander
Onischuk, Alexander  1.5 – 0.5 Ehlvest, Jaan

Final 24th December 2004

Onischuk, Alexander  3.0 – 2.0 Ibragimov, Ildar

15) 31st Annual Eastern Open

The 31st Annual Eastern Open takes place December 26th-29th 2004 in the Wyndham DC Hotel, Washington, DC. Players include: Alexander Ivanov, Stas Kriventsov, Daniel Fernandez and Rodion Rubenchik.

Official site: http://www.chessctr.org/eastern/eastern04.htm

Leading Round 2 Standings: 
 1 GM Alexander Ivanov  2640  2
 2 IM Stanis Smetankin  2543  2
 3 FM Daniel Fernandez  2398  2
 4 FM Shelby D Getz     2348  2
 5 FM Ilye Figler       2326  2
 6 IM Lawrence Kaufman  2324  2
 7    Salvador Rosario  2186  2
 8 FM Igor Schneider    2305  1½
 9    Ralph P Zimmer    2286  1½
10 FM Matthew Bengtson  2274  1½
11    Juan Oscar Sena   2215  1½
12 FM Boris Reichstein  2206  1½
13    Andrew Samuelson  2184  1½
14    Peter Minear      2144  1½
15    Gary C De Fotis   2140  1½
50 players

16) Russian Cup

The Russian Cup takes place 19th-30th December 2004. The event is a knockout and has reached the semi-finals where Artem Iljin plays Mihail Kobalia and Farrukh Amonatov against Ernesto Inarkiev. Sadly there don't appear to be any games made available.

http://www.russiachess.ru/mods.php?name=section&oid=831&bid=31&

17) Rilton Cup 2004-5

The Rilton Cup takes place 27th December 2004 – 5th January 2005. Players include: Khenkin Igor GM GER 2587 Ulibin Mikhail GM RUS 2556 Ivanov Sergej GM RUS 2553 Nybäck Tomi GM FIN 2554 De Firmian Nick GM USA 2550 Gleizerov Evgenij GM RUS 2539 Berg Emanuel GM SWE 2529 Cramling Pia GM SWE 2477 Bellon Juan GM ESP 2425 Peng Z.Q GM NED 2420 Åkesson Ralf GM SWE 2472

Official site: http://www.stockholmschack.nu/

18) XIII Erandio Open

The XIII Erandio Open took place 17th-23rd December 2004. The 8 rounds Swiss was won by Azer Mirzoev on tie-break from Aimen Rizouk. No games available.

Further details: http://personal.telefonica.terra.es/web/sperandio/ajedrez/open04/

Leading Final Round 8 Standings:
 1  Mirzoev, Azer            g 2513 AZE 6,5 31,0 43,0
 2  Rizouk, Aimen            m 2465 ALG 6,5 31,0 42,0
 3  Bojkov, Dejan            m 2475 BUL 6   29,5 42,5
 4  Vasilev, Milen           m 2425 BUL 5,5 28,5 42,0
 5  Kovacevic, Slobodan      m 2367 SCG 5,5 28,0 40,5
 6  Veingold, Aleksander     m 2473 EST 5,5 28,0 43,0
 7  Garrido Legarreta,José J   2073 ESP 5,5 26,0 36,5
 8  Salinero De Prado,Jm       2192 ESP 5,5 25,0 40,0
 9  Galzagorri Uli, Yerai      2205 ESP 5,5 25,0 36,0
10  Uria Ramírez, Aitor        ---- ESP 5,5 24,5 34,5
46 players

19) 25th Bethune Chess Open

The Bethune chess club is celebrating its 25th International Open, venue Olof Palme, Commercial centre La Rotonde, Bethune, France (Pas-de-Calais) 26th-30th December 2004. 7 rounds.

Further info: http://www.bethunechess.com

Leading Participants:
1  g  Sokolov Andrei         FRA 2591 
2  g  Korneev Oleg           RUS 2583 
3  g  Mirzoev Azev           AZE 2513 
4  m  Gouliev Namig          AZE 2509 
5  m  Bojkov Dejan           BUL 2475 
6  m  Solleveld Maarten      NED 2468 
7  m  Bratanov Zisvko        BUL 2448 
8  m  Van Der Stricht Geert  BEL 2413 
116 players

20) XX Nice International Chess Open

The XX Nice International Chess Open on the French Riviera takes place December 26th-30th 2004 in the prestigious Grand Hôtel Aston (4 stars), near of the famous Place Massena.

Players include: Epishin, V g 2599, RUS; Hamdouchi, H, g 2588 MAR; Lazic, M. g 2512 SCG along with younger players such as Mazé, S m 2464 FRA; Libiszewski, F m 2419 FRA; Bujisho, B m 2385 etc

Official site: http://www.echiquier-nicois.org with results, pairings, news, pictures, and the best games to replay and download.

21) Czech Chess Christmas

Czech Chess Christmas 2004 tournament takes place 26th December 2004 - 2nd January 2005 in Litomysl (Czech Republic).

Daily results and games: http://www.proclient.cz/a64/tournaments/litomysl2004/

Leading Entries:
 1   GM Kovalev Andrei     BLR 2575
 2   GM Stocek Jiri        CZE 2569
 3   IM Manik Mikulas      SVK 2510
 4   GM Votava Jan         CZE 2505
 5   IM Laznicka Viktor    CZE 2478
 6   GM Blatny Pavel       CZE 2454
 7   GM Plachetka Jan      SVK 2435
 8   IM Neuman Petr        CZE 2433
 9   IM Velicka Petr       CZE 2427
10   IM Zawadzki Stanislaw POL 2398
88 players

22) Hyeres Women's Tournament

International Chess Tournament for Women of the City Of Hyeres (South of France) 26th-30th December 2004. Only a tiny amount of info and no games available.

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

Round 2 Pairings
 1  [1]  LEBEL-ARIAS Julia      1986   FOISOR Cristina Adela    2436  [1]
 2  [1]  SAFRANSKA Anda         2305   TISSOT Alice             2000  [1]
 3  [1]  NEDELCHEVA Vania       1860   FOISOR Sabina-Francesca  2228  [1]
 4  [1]  MALLET Celine          2034   FOISOR Mihaela-Veronica  1929  [1]
 5  [1]  GARRO Marie-France     1070   LAURENS Julia            2024  [1]
 6  [1]  LEVACIC Melissa        2019   MACARRY Elodie           1660  [1]
 7  [0]  FAJOLLE Iris           1590   POPARD Magali            1340  [0]
 8  [0]  RAMAZZOTTI Anne-Laure  1370   KOSTENKO Gwendoline      1580  [0]
 9  [0]  LAMBERTI Nadine        1499   FRIGENI Maryse           1310  [0]
10  [0]  KARSENTY Madeleine     1460   LAMBERTI Carla           1270  [0]
11  [0]  RAMAZZOTTI Claire      1340   BAUDSON Marie            1380  [0]
12  [0]  DOMENECH Audrey        1260   BYE

23) Sao Paolo Christmas Open

The Sao Paolo Christmas Open took place 18th-23rd December 2004. Giovanni Vescovi won the event with 6.5/7. No games available.

Official site: http://www.cxsp.com.br/emparceiraitaunatal2004.htm

Place Name                                 Rtg  Title Score Progr. M-Buch. Buch.

  1   Vescovi, Giovanni Portilho           2645 gm    6.5     26.5    30.0  33.5
  2   Matsuura, Everaldo                   2474 im    6       25.5    30.5  34.0
  3   Rodríguez, Andrés                    2533 gm    6       23.0    25.5  28.5
  4   Leitão, Rafael Duailibe              2580 gm    5.5     25.0    30.0  34.0
  5   Pelikian, Jefferson                  2405 im    5.5     24.5    28.0  31.0
  6   D'Israel, Davy Maurice               2267       5.5     23.5    27.0  30.5
  7   Tsuboi, Edson Kenji                  2387 fm    5.5     23.0    27.5  31.0
  8   Marra, Eduardo da Costa              2237       5.5     23.0    27.5  30.5
  9   Maia, Luciano Malta                  2287       5.5     22.5    25.0  28.0
 10   Milos Jr, Gilberto                   2593 gm    5       24.0    31.5  34.0
 11   Nogueira, Ivan Kuhlmann              2293       5       24.0    29.5  32.5
 12   Segal, Alexandru Sorin               2317 im    5       23.0    29.5  32.5
 13   Martínez, Carlos Alejandro           2393 im    5       22.0    27.0  30.0
      de Souza Haro, Paulo Cézar           2263 fm    5       22.0    27.0  30.0
 15   Miguel, Gabriel                      2184       5       21.0    25.5  28.5
 16   Pedroso Jr, Arquimedes Gomes         2164       5       20.5    24.5  27.0
 17   Carvalho Jr, Celestino               2044       5       20.0    24.5  27.5
 18   Cajal, Andre                         2135       5       20.0    22.5  24.5
 19   da Costa, Fernando Viana                        5       19.5    26.0  29.0
 20   Marques de Oliveira, Eduardo         2119       5       19.5    22.5  25.0
 21   Brocco, André Luiz Patêz                        5       18.0    23.0  25.0
 22   van Riemsdijk, Herman Claudius       2423 im    5       17.0    23.0  26.0
 23   Fabbri, Olau José                    2113       5       16.0    21.5  24.5
 24   Moysés Fo, João                      2138       4.5     22.0    29.5  33.0
 25   Chiaramitara Jr, Pedro               2085       4.5     20.5    27.0  29.0
 26   Limberg, Estácio Vermelho            1996       4.5     19.0    26.5  30.0
 27   Gallo Ponce, Elbert                             4.5     18.0    27.5  30.0
 28   Bleck, Harold                        1993       4.5     18.0    23.0  25.5
 29   Farah, Daniel Landshoff              1958       4.5     17.0    24.5  26.5
 30   Figueiredo, Marco Antonio                       4.5     16.0    22.5  24.0
 31   D'Auria, Caio Maniero                           4.5     15.5    23.0  26.0
 32   Moreira, Altair Carlos Faria                    4.5     14.0    22.5  24.5
140 players

24) 4th AMPLICO AIG LIFE Tournament

As reported last week the 4th AMPLICO AIG LIFE Rapid Tournament took place in Warsaw (Poland) played during the 23rd Memorial of Stanislaw Gawlikowski. The tournament was a part of the ACP Tour and took place on Saturday, December 18th, 2003 and Sunday, December 19th, 2004 in the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. The prize fund was 15.000 USD. There were 8 rounds of a swiss on day 1 from which the leading players qualified for day 2 whilst the rest of the players continued on. On the second day there were group stages from which the top player went through to the semi-finals and the remaining players were assigned groups to establish their finishing positions. Sergei Movsesian defeated Bartosz Socko in the final.

Although there was extensive live coverage of the event it has been their practice not to make these games available after the event. Hopefully this will change this year. There are a few additional games in PGN section.

Official site: http://www.amplicolife.pl/chess

25) Greek Championship Correction

The Greek Championships took place 4th-12th December 2004, in Athens - Greece. There was a three way tie between Ioannis Nikolaidis, Hristos Banikas and Stelios Halkias in the men's event and a two way tie between Anna-Maria Botsari and Marina Makropoulou in the women's. In the men's event the final round game Moutousis - Tsanas did not finish in a draw but in a win for Moutousis. Corrected table below.

Web coverage: http://www.blackqueen.net or http://www.chessfed.gr (both in Greek) Live Games in: http://www.chessworld.info/live/grchamps04.html @17:00 local time

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ch-GRE Athens GRE (GRE), 4-12 xii 2004                       cat. X (2485)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Nikolaidis, Ioannis         g GRE 2527  * = 1 1 = = = = = 1  6.0  2605 
 2. Banikas, Hristos            g GRE 2538  = * = = 1 1 = = 1 =  6.0  2604 
 3. Halkias, Stelios            g GRE 2526  0 = * 0 1 1 1 1 = 1  6.0  2605 
 4. Kotronias, Vasilios         g GRE 2599  0 = 1 * = 1 0 = 1 1  5.5  2552 
 5. Moutousis, Konstantinos     m GRE 2422  = 0 0 = * = 1 = = 1  4.5  2492 
 6. Skembris, Spyridon          g GRE 2446  = 0 0 0 = * 1 1 1 =  4.5  2489 
 7. Mastrovasilis, Dimitrios    g GRE 2574  = = 0 1 0 0 * = = 1  4.0  2432 
 8. Kapnisis, Spyridon          m GRE 2435  = = 0 = = 0 = * 1 0  3.5  2410 
 9. Mastrovasilis, Athanasios   m GRE 2502  = 0 = 0 = 0 = 0 * 1  3.0  2358 
10. Tsanas, Athanasios            GRE 2283  0 = 0 0 0 = 0 1 0 *  2.0  2287 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

26) Forthcoming Events and Links

European Individual Women's Chess Championship

The European Individual Women's Chess Championship takes place in Chisinau, Moldova 10th-25th June 2005. Organisers Chess Federation of Moldova Sciusev Street, 111 2004, Chisinau Tel.: 00373-22-565451 Fax.: 00373-22-565451 or 210707 E-Mail: fskrip@company.md

Details on http://www.eurochess.org. Official site for the event http://www.eiwcc2005.chisinau.md

Games Festival Chalkidiki Greece

The Games Festival is is organised for the first time in Greece and takes place from 21st-29th of April 2005 at the Porto - Carras Grand Resort, in Chalkidiki in Greece.

Tennis, chess, golf, biliards, bridge, famous athletes, world champions will be present in Porto Carras. The festival includes a series of tournaments, competitions, seminars and exhibitions in sports and the most popular entertaining games.

The chess events are the 2nd International Open Chess Tournament "Porto Carras 2005" and the 1st World School Chess Championship. More specifically, the Open Tournament will be held 22nd-28th April 2005 at the Porto Carras Grand Rresort with open participation, 9 rounds swiss system and time control 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment per move, according to the official announcement of the Greek Chess Club "A.M.O. Galaxias". Total prizes: 6.500 EURO. For more information visit http://www.gamesfestival.com or contact info@gamesfestival.com & GrivasEfs@netonline.gr

The 1st World School Championship for school chess champions in categories Under 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16, will be held 21st-29th April 2005 at the Porto Carras Grand Resort. Organizers of this great event are the World Chess Federation (FIDE), the International School Chess Union, the Greek Chess Federation, the Chess Club "Galaxias" of Thessaloniki and the Hotel Complex of "Porto Carras Grand Resort".

2nd Riva del Garda International Open

2nd Riva del Garda International Open Chess Tournament takes place 26th-30th December 2004.

Further details; http://www.relaxhotels.com/Scacchi/

4th Casino Open

The "Swiss Chess Tour 2004" will finish in Interlaken, one of the most attractive tourist towns in Switzerland. The 4th "Casino Open" December 26th-30th 2004.

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

Hastings Chess Congress

Entries so far include: Barsov, Cherniaev, Efimenko, C Flear, Kiriakov, Hebden, Kotronias, Lalic, McNab, Mirzoeva, Pavlovic, N Pert, B Socko, M Socko, S Williams, The Hastings Chess Congress takes place 28th December 2004 to 9 January 2005 and has a new format. The Hastings Premier and Challengers are combined into one knockout tournament. Let us imagine 120 players enter for the event which finishes 6 January. Then 60 players go forward from the first round, with 4 lucky losers. These 64 players play a second round of knockout. The 56 losers play in the Challengers Swiss. The 64 players continue in one game knockouts until there are 8 players left. These 8 play in the Premier of 2 game knockouts. All players knocked out will be contracted to play in the Swiss Challengers, except for the losing finalist. Players when knocked out will carry forward their score in the standard play games. Of course White would have been a big advantage. There was an error earlier. The games will be played with White having 70 minutes and Black 90 in which to make the first 40 moves. Then each player will receive an extra 20 minutes for all the moves. There will be an addition of one minute per move cumulatively from the first. Where games are drawn, ties will be resolved first by blitz games, failing that an Armageddon play-off. Players will be able to gain title results from either event. The event will be part of the Association of Chess Professionals GP and the BCF GP. The weekend tournament takes place 7-9 January. Full details from Con Power _conpowr@aol.com_ (mailto:conpowr@aol.com) Players seeking conditions should contact _Stewartreuben@aol.com_ (mailto:Stewartreuben@aol.com) website

Official site: http://www.hastingschess.org.uk

47th Reggio Emilia Tournament

The 47th Reggio Emilia Tournament takes place December 29th 2004 - January 6th 2005 at the Mercure-Astoria Hotel. The participants are: GM Miladinovic Igor (GRE) 2611 GM Delchev Aleksander (BUL) 2601 GM Komarov Dimitri (UKR) 2555 GM Chatalbashev Boris (BUL) 2554 GM Cebalo Miso (CRO) 2520 GM Naumkin Igor (RUS) 2479 MF Tirabassi Maurizio (ITA) 2330 MF Di Caro Calogero (ITA) 2317 M Sciortino Massimo (ITA) 2222 CM Rombaldoni Denis (ITA) 2251

Official site: http://www.ippogrifoscacchi.it

Blitz Russian Federation Open Internet Cup

The Blitz Russian Federation Open Internet Cup Superfinal starts on December 28, 2004 at the Chess Assistant Club playing zone http://www.ChessAssistantClub.com. Many top chess players all over the world will participate. All the games of the tournament will be presented with online commentary

Australian Open

The Australian Open Chess Championships take place December 28th, 2004 to January 9th, 2005. It will be played at Mount Buller, a tourist destination just a few hours from Melbourne, Australia. There are $18,500AU in prizes with a top prize of $4500. Players include Edvins Kengis and Darryl Johansen.

Website: http://www.mtbullerchess.com

7th United Insurance GM Rescheduled

The 7th United Insurance & United Leasing Grandmasters Chess Tournament has been rescheduled and now takes place 28th January to 7th February 2005 (before it was 2nd-13th February 2005) in the Conference-Room of the National Sports Council 62/3 Purana Paltan Dhaka-1000. Organised by the Bangladesh Chess Federation. 11 round Swiss System with around 40. Total Prize Money US $5000.00 Accommodation & Food : Free for all GM’s & IM’s, only accommodation 2350+ Appearance Money : GM 2500+ US $ 500.00, Some pocket money will given to IM’s Last Date of Entries on or before 5th January to Contact: Syed Shujauddin Ahmed, General Secretary Bangladesh Chess Federation, 2nd Floor, 62/3 Purana Paltan, Dhaka-1000, Fax + Phone: 88 (02) 7169336 , E-mail: bcf@bdonline.com

Linares 2005

Confirmed players are Gary Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, Peter Leko, Michael Adams, they will be joined by either Alexei Shirov or Francisco Vallejo Pons as Spanish representatives and Vladimir Kramnik if he accepts his inviation. The event takes place 24th February - 13th March 2005. [story Marca 27.10.2004 - http://www.marca.com/edicion/noticia/0,2458,552742,00.html] If anyone has more up to date listing than less please let me know.

Last year Marca had the official website: http://www.marca.com/linares/

Bermuda Tournament

The Bermuda Invitational will be held 30th January - 9th February 2005 with the traditional Open following - 10th Feb: Opening Party and Blitz; 11th to 13th, 5 round Open followed by Closing Party. The Invitational will be the strongest yet - Dominguez, Gelfand, Harikrishna, Macieja, Vescovi & Volokitin (exp. 2656 Elo) and several of the invitees have confirmed that they will play in the Open.

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

38th Biel International Chess Festival

38th Biel International Chess Festival Dates: 16th-29th July 2005 with, in particular: - the Grandmaster tournament (17th-27th July 2005) - the Accentus Ladies Tournament 17th-27th July 2005) - the active chess tournament (16th and 17th July 2005) - the Master Open (18th-29th July 2005, last round in the morning) - the General Open (20th-29th July 2005, last round in the morning) - the Blitz tournament (23th July 2005)

Further details: http://www.bielchessfestival.ch

3rd Nancy International Festival

The 3rd Nancy (France) International Festival sees several round-robins tournaments (9 rounds / fischer 2 hours per players + 30 sec) by elo which take place 14th-20th February 2005.

Group A will be category 10 with : Bauer 2622 Istratescu 2611 Nijboer 2567 Tirard 2461 Marzolo 2437 Rocha 2431 Wirig 2408 Nezar 2375 Philippe 2371. (one im more than 2520 elo non-FRA-code can contact philippe.chr@free.fr).

Details in french/english/german on http://echiquier.nanceien.free.fr/festival.html

Events in India in 2005

5th Asian Individual Championship

The 5th Asian Individual Chess Championship 2005 takes place in Cochin, Total Prize Fund : US$33000 Arrival : 13/01/2005 Closing : 23/01/2005 Organiser : P.T. Ummer Koya , koya@chessindia.org ; aicf@chessindia.org Website: http://www.chessindia.org

Commonwealth Championships

The Commonwealth Chess Championships for Men, Women, Boys & Girls incorporating An International Open Chess Tournament TOtal Prize Fund: US$12000 ARRIVAL : 27/02/2005 CLOSING : 09/03/2005 Organiser : Rajastan State Chess Association Contact : aicf@chessindia.org ; slharsh2000@yahoo.co.uk Website: http://www.chessindia.org

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister's International Open

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister's International Open Chess Tournament, Raipur Total Prize Fund : Us$12000 Arrival : 10/03/2005 Closing : 20/03/2005 Organiser : Hotel Babylon, Vip Road, Raipur, India. Contact : aicf@chessindia.org ; vkrathi_aicf@rediffmail.com Website : Website: http://www.chessindia.org

Hamarat Challenge Match

The ICCF World Champion Tunc Hamarat (AUT) who has never lost a single game with White, has challenged the "Rest of the World" to a friendly 2-game match. He will have White in both games. The games (one will start with 1.e4 and one with 1.d4) will be played on the ICCF Webserver and started on 10th February 2005 with the rule "10 moves/70 days".

The players on the "Rest of the World" team will vote on each move. The move receiving the most votes will be selected. Should 2 or more moves receive the same number of votes, the "Rest of the World" will be given 2 more voting days to decide between the tied moves. Participation in this event is open to all players who pay an entry fee of 5 EUR or $7.00 US dollars via their National CC Federation or the ICCF Direct Entry (DE) option. All fees collected will be transferred to the ICCF Development Fund. The money will be used primarily for development and system support of the ICCF WebChess Server. It will be possible to join the "Rest of the World" team at any stage of the game.

The games may be seen "live" by all players and other observers at http://www.iccf-webchess.com

Each player who voted for the selected move will receive 1 point per move. The player(s) with the most points at the end of the games will receive an ICCF Gold Book. The list of all entrants will be published on the ICCF webpage.

21st Cappelle la Grande Open

21st INTERNATIONAL CHESS OPEN - CAPPELLE LA GRANDE - FRANCE 12th-19th February 2005. 9 Round Accelerated Swiss System Tournament, registered with FIDE Rate of play : 2 hours for 40 moves followed by a one hour quickplay finish. Playing hall : COMPLEXE SPORTIF ROGER GOUVART IGM's INVITATIONS - Possibility of norms. Prizes (minimum 600 players) :The 1st prize is :3000 euros The 2nd prize is 1500 euros and 3 to 10: 1000 euros. Registration by templeurjcs@club-internet.fr

Further details: http://www.cappelle-chess.com

Gibtele.com Masters International

The Gibtele.com Masters International takes place 25th January - 3rd February 2005. Many sections for different strengths of player.

Full details: http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com

Hungarian chess tournaments December 2004 - August 2005

1. 7th-15th of January 2005, "TAPOLCA" Open, 9 rounds Swiss, Budapest, organizer: Paréj József, home, calling from abroad: +(36)-87-321-950, E-mail for info: firstsat@hu.inter.net

2. 5th-18th of February 2005, FS GM-IM-FM closed, Budapest, Org.NL.

3. 5th-18th of March 2005, FS GM-IM-FM closed, Budapest, Org. : NL,

4. 18th- 26th of March, "SPRING FESTIVAL" 9 rounds Swiss Open, Budapest, Org.: NL

5. 2nd-15th of April , FS GM-IM-FM closed, Budapest, Org: NL:

6. 7th-19th of May, FS GM-IM-FM closed, Budapest, org.: NL

7. 20th-28th of May, ZALAKAROS Open, 9 rounds Swiss, (250 km West from Budapest), org: IM Horvath, Tamas, phone: +(36)-20-9777003

8. 21st-31st of May, ELEKES Memorial, GM-IM closed, Budapest, org.IM Zsinka, phone: +(36)-20-921-91-97

9. 4th-16th of June, FS GM-IM-FM, Budapest, Org: NL

10. 18th-26th of June, BALATONLELLE Open + GM-IM closed, 120 km West from Budapest, organizer: IM Rigo, e-mail: me-ri@axelero.hu

11. 2nd-14th of July, FS GM-IM-FM Budapest, org. NL.

12. 23rd- 31st of July, Agria Open /EGER, 100 km North-East from Budapest/, organizer: Rauch Ferenc, e-mail: rauch@freemail.hu

13. 6th-18th of August, FS GM-IM-FM Budapest org.:NL

Dutch Open Blitzchess Championship

The Dutch Open Blitzchess Championship takes place on February 5th 2005 in the Mercure Hotel Dordrecht, The Netherlands. 17 double rounds with 5 minutes per player per game, Swiss system in one group. Prizefund Euro 8.500. First Euro 1.750, Second Euro 1.250, third Euro 1.000. Also several grading prizes. Contact: info@blitzchess.nl

Further details: http://www.blitzchess.nl

8th Afro-Asian Correspondence Championship

All players from Africa and Asia (including Japan , Hong-Kong, Singapore, New Zealand , Australia, Turkey, ...) may apply for the 8th Afro-Asian Correspondence championship (Zonal Championship) . The preliminary stage will start on 15.01.2005 and will be played by ICCF webserver .There is no entry fees required .The number of sections will depend upon the entries number . The application should be sent to : msamraoui@iccf.com not late than 31.12.2004. (supplied by the ICCF zonal director Med Samraoui)

ICCF website is http://www.iccf.com and for ICCFwebchess http://www.iccf-webchess.com

Czech Tour 2004-2005

4th International Chess Festivals Series

14th-21st January 2005 4th OPEN PRAHA (2 FIDE opens, one of them with IM norm)

22nd-30th January 2005 4th OPEN MARIANSKE LAZNE (FIDE open and 1-2 closed IM tournaments)

More details e-mail: j.mazuch@avekont.cz and http:/www.czechtour.net

Frank Quisinsky Chess Calendar

Frank Quisinsky has updated his computer chess calendar. Recent events include: Dutch-Open 2004, Diep won France-ch 2004, ChessTiger won Polish-ch 2004, Rzeznik won Australasian NCC-ch 2004, Warp won

Address: http://www.playwitharena.com the CC-Calendar is a selection of Arena Chess GUI webpage

CC-Calendar: http://www.playwitharena.com/directory/calendar.htm

Kings Head Rapidplay

The 29th Kings Head Rapidplay will take place on Saturday 12th March 2005, 6-round Swiss rapidplay (30 minutes), prize fund £650, entry fee £17 > The Porchester Hall Porchester Road Bayswater London W2

Contact: Colin Mackenzie 9 Allan Way Acton London W3 0PW 020 8992 1949 colin.mackenzie@atosorigin.com

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

1st ICCF Webchess Open Tournament

The ICCF have announced the 1st WebChess Open Tournament and invites every player worldwide to participate in the event. The event is to be played on the ICCF dedicated Webserver http://www.iccf-webchess.com. This tournament is open to all correspondence chess players worldwide, also for those without any previous ICCF experience. Multiple entries are allowed. The tournament will be played in three stages - preliminaries, semifinal and final.

Details: http://www.iccf-webchess.com/Message.aspx?message=19

HB Global Chess Challenge

The HB Foundation has posted $500,000 prize fund for the HB Global Chess Challenge, a Maurice Ashley-led event expects to bring more than 4,000 participants to Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The event takes place May 18th-22nd 2005 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. First place in the Open section has a cash prize of $50,000, and that overall more than 50 others will receive cash prizes. Many other side events.

Official sites: http://www.hbfoundation.org and http://www.generationchess.com

Swiss Chess Tour 2005

The Swiss Chess Tour starts in Basle in the New Year (1st-8th January 2005.). New event is European ITAG Masters & Rapid Championship will be 1-2.1.2005. 11 Round, 30 minutes each, guarantee prizes. Prizes: 2500/2000/1500/1000/800/700/600/500/ 2x400/2x300/4x250/4x200 CHF; Special prizes: 400/300/200 CHF for Ladys, seniors (1945), juniors (1985 and younger), amateur under 2200 (FIDE or national), under 1800. Enter fee 30.00 CHF Hilton Open (2-8.1.2005.) 7 Rounds, 6 hours (2 hours for 40 moves + 60 minutes for complete the game. Prizes: 2000/1500/1200/800/600/500/2x400/2x300/5x200 CHF. Special prizes 200 CHF for best Lady, Senior (1945), junior (1985-88), schoolboy (1989). Enter fee: 130 CHF (FM and juniors 60 CHF) GM & IM free. At the door 10 CHF. Basle amateur (2-8.1.2005.) 7 Rounds, 4 hours (90 minutes 30 moves + 30 minutes to complete the game). Players under 1900 rating (FIDE or national). Enter fee: 10 CHF (juniors 50 CHF). At the door 10 CHF. Prizes: 500/400/2x300/2x200/4x150 CHF. Basle juniors (2.1.2005.) 7 Rounds, 15 minutes for the game. Juniors 1985 and younger. Enter fee 5 CHF. Natural prizes for all players. NSV Senior Open (1-4.1.2005.) 7 Rounds, 4 hours (90 minutes for 30 moves + 30 minutes for complete the game) Seniors 1945. Prizes: 400/300/200 CHF + natural prizes. Enter fee: 60 CHF. At the door 10 CHF. ITAG - Tele-Rapid (3-5.1.2005.) European Rapid Champion, Andrei Sokolov, last year winner and two others. 15 minutes for the game. All games will be on TV Tele-Basel in live. BaZ Lighting Chess (8.1.2005. from 19.00 to 22.00) 9 Rounds, 5 minutes. Enter fee: 20 CHF (juniors 5 CHF). Prizes 300/200/150/2x100/2x50 CHF natural prizes for everybody 50% and more points. ITAG Simultan (9.1.2005.) with European Rapid Champion 2005

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

3rd Parsvnath International Open

The 3rd Parsvnath International Open Chess Tournament takes place in New Delhi, 2nd-11th January 2005. Prizes : Total Cash Prizes: Rs.600,000/-

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

Jersey International Chess Festival 2005

The Jersey International Chess Festival takes place 13th-19th February 2005 inclusive. 7 rounds, three sections; OPEN (FIDE rated), MAJOR Under 160 / 1880 ELO and MINOR Under 130 / 1640 ELO. There is a total of £7,000 in prizes and is part of the British Chess Federation Grand Prix.

Details: http://www.geocities.com/adamraoof/jersey.htm

Russia vs ROW Correspondence

The Russian Chess Federation is celebrating its 10th anniversary and is using this occasion to challenge the rest of the world to a match over 64 boards with 2 games for each and the start is 15.02 2004. Players include Joop van Oosterom

http://www.mychessweb.com/Tables/Internationale/Play/russia-world.htm

2005 European Union Championship

The 2005 European Union Championship whic his part of the programme of events celebrating Cork City's status as European Capital of Culture for 2005. The event takes place 21st March - 3rd April 2005 in the Ballroom Suite Gresham Metropole Hotel MacCurtain Street Cork Ireland. Prize Fund - 7,750 Euros. A FIDE rated ten round Swiss Open for players registered with FIDE as a player in the European Union or a citizen of a European Union member state 1st prize 2,000 Euros plus numerous place prizes and other awards including a British Championship Qualifying Place.

In addition the 13th Annual Cork Congress takes place 1st-3rd April 2005 with a Prize Fund 5,000 Euros an ICU rated six round Swiss with three rated sections. 1st prize 750 Euros plus numerous place prizes and other awards

Full details, special offers to a limited number of IMs and GMs and entry forms are available from Michael Burniston Tournament Director Ladybird House Glengarriff County Cork Ireland. phone 00 353 27 63113 e mail jemcreations@eircom.net

Website: http://www.corkchess.com

TWIC Messageboard

With the Linares tournament about to start it seems a good time to launch a new discussion forum. Vote on your prediction of the winner of Linares. The TWIC message board. You need to register to post and vote. Address: http://www.chesscenter.com/messageboard

New York Masters

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

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