THE WEEK IN CHESS 644 12th March 2007 by Mark Crowther

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Contents

1) Introduction
2) Morelia - Linares
3) Cappelle la Grande
4) Dutch League
5) Finnish League
6) Austrian Team Championship
7) US Amateur Teams East
8) Turkish Championship
9) X Malaga Open
10) Mediterranean Flower WGM
11) Bulgarian Championships
12) First Saturday March
13) 125th Varsity Match
14) Georgian Women's Championship
15) La Laguna Open
16) La Roche-sur-Yon
17) 80th St Petersburg championship Semifinal
18) Millennium Festival
19) Zima Rating Tournament
20) Russian Championship under 20
21) 16th annual Eastern Class Championships
22) 23rd Bad Wörishofen Open
23) Grand Slam Chess Association
24) Forthcoming Events and Links

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Games section

Morelia - Linares                    16 games
Cappelle la Grande                  152 games
Dutch League                         42 games
Finnish League                      360 games
Austrian Team Championship          288 games
US Amateur Teams East               257 games
Turkish Championship                 77 games
X Malaga Open                       182 games
Mediterranean Flower WGM             45 games
Bulgarian Championships              27 games
First Saturday March                 50 games
125th Varsity Match                   8 games
Georgian Women's Championship        42 games
La Laguna Open                      363 games
La Roche-sur-Yon                     10 games
80th ch-St Petersburg Semifinal     195 games
Millennium Festival                  25 games
Zima Rating Tournament              196 games
Russian Championship under 20        24 games
16th Eastern Class Championships     25 games
2384 games

1) Introduction

My thanks to Bill Townsend, Varlam Vepkhvishvili, George Mirijanian, Bronislav Chmelicek, Pascal Villalba, Thomas Henrich, Harald Grafenhofer, Henri Koskinen, Miklos Orso, Ian Rogers, Laszlo Nagy, Sergey Klimov, John Saunders, Michael Atkins, Peter Doggers, Macauley Peterson, Gert Ligterink and everyone else who helped with the issue.

Viswanathan Anand scored his first victory at Linares since 1998 when draws were enough in the final four rounds to take the event by a point. Whilst Anand will play better events three of his four wins were against the next two in the standings and he lost just one game. Anand will undoubtably become the top player in the world due to this result taking over from Veselin Topalov who finished joint last with Peter Leko. The real storys of the event occurred behind Anand. Magnus Carlsen was a controversial invitation in some eyes in spite of being predicted for great things by many people including Garry Kasparov. Carlsen showed great strides between Wijk aan Zee and this event. His play was more confident and sounder. He enjoyed some slices of luck but a +1 score was a huge result. He's not quite there yet but this shows the potential to go all the way, a couple of years of living with this company and he might be ready for a period of extended domination. Almost as remarkable was Alexander Morozevich's recovery from -3 at the half way stage to a plus score in the end. Morozevich is a mercurial player but he really had the wind in his sails in the final four rounds where he scored 3.5/4. The rest of the players will I think be more or less disappointed. Svidler lost the chance of 2nd place by losing with white against Morozevich in the final round, Ivanchuk fell away in spite of playing some of the best stuff. Aronian won one and lost one. Leko drew a lot and then lost three before defeating Carlsen in the final round preventing the youngster catching Anand. Next stop the Amber blindfold and rapidplay tournament.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) Morelia - Linares

The Morelia / Linares tournament took place 16th Feb - 11th March 2007. The Morelia half took place 17th-25th February 2007 and Linares 2nd-10th March 2007. Viswanathan Anand took clear first place for the first time since 1998. He was a point clear of Magnus Carlsen and Alexander Morozevich.

Official sites: http://www.marca.com/edicion/marca/ajedrez/es/index.html and http://www.soloajedrez.com/. Other info: http://www.ajedrezmorelialinares.org.mx/ - Sergey Shipov commentary http://www.crestbook.com/

Open Standings: http://www.okantomi.com.mx/live/seccI/index.html. Vadim Milov edged out Ivan Cheparinov on tie-break both scored 6/7. Sadly the bulletin for the final two rounds isn't available, only the four live games for each round.

Round 11 (March 6, 2007)

Carlsen, Magnus        -  Ivanchuk, Vassily      1-0   35  D87  Gruenfeld Botvinnik
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Anand, Viswanathan     1/2   29  E15  Queens Indian
Aronian, Levon         -  Leko, Peter            1/2   41  E00  Catalan
Svidler, Peter         -  Topalov, Veselin       1/2   38  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation

Round 12 (March 7, 2007)

Anand, Viswanathan     -  Aronian, Levon         1/2   23  C88  Ruy Lopez Closed
Ivanchuk, Vassily      -  Morozevich, Alexander  0-1   39  C45  Scotch Game
Topalov, Veselin       -  Carlsen, Magnus        1/2   25  A30  English Symmetrical
Leko, Peter            -  Svidler, Peter         0-1   36  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation

Round 13 (March 9, 2007)

Anand, Viswanathan     -  Leko, Peter            1/2   26  C88  Ruy Lopez Closed
Carlsen, Magnus        -  Svidler, Peter         1/2   29  E60  King's Indian without Nc3
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Topalov, Veselin       1-0   80  B50  Sicilian Defence
Aronian, Levon         -  Ivanchuk, Vassily      1/2   39  E17  Queens Indian

Round 14 (March 10, 2007)

Svidler, Peter         -  Morozevich, Alexander  0-1   28  C11  French Defence
Ivanchuk, Vassily      -  Anand, Viswanathan     1/2   31  E15  Queens Indian
Topalov, Veselin       -  Aronian, Levon         1/2   20  E15  Queens Indian
Leko, Peter            -  Carlsen, Magnus        1-0   53  E15  Queens Indian

XXIV SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (MEX/ESP), 17 ii-10 iii 2007cat. XX (2746)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Anand, Viswanathan     g IND 2779 ** 11 1= 0= == == == 1=  8.5  2820
2 Carlsen, Magnus        g NOR 2690 00 ** 1= == == 11 1= =0  7.5  2782
3 Morozevich, Alexander  g RUS 2741 0= 0= ** == =1 =1 01 =1  7.5  2775
4 Aronian, Levon         g ARM 2744 1= == == ** == 0= == ==  7.0  2745
5 Svidler, Peter         g RUS 2728 == == =0 == ** == == =1  7.0  2748
6 Ivanchuk, Vassily      g UKR 2750 == 00 =0 1= == ** 1= ==  6.5  2715
7 Topalov, Veselin       g BUL 2783 == 0= 10 == == 0= ** ==  6.0  2690
8 Leko, Peter            g HUN 2749 0= =1 =0 == =0 == == **  6.0  2695
----------------------------------------------------------------------

3) Cappelle la Grande

The Cappelle la Grande open took place 3rd-10th March 2007 with more than 600 players - 93 GMs, 80 IMs and 470 classified players FIDE coming from 57 countriesin the same open. Wang Yue from China won the event with 7/9 on tie-break from Evgenij Miroshnichenko, Vugar Gashimov, David Arutinian, Yuri Drozdovskij and Vasily Yemelin. Norms GM : Hammer Jon ludvig Orlov Andrey Pruess David Rodshtein Maxim Maletin Pavel Wirig Anthony Vovk Andrey Petrosian Suren Moranda Wojciech WGM : Chulivska Vita IM : Cossin Sebastien Van dooren Dirk Strzemiecki Zbigniew Warakomski Tomasz Hammer Jon ludvig Repkova Eva WIM : Van Weersel Arlette Sandu Mihaela

Live games at : http://www.cappelle-chess.com/live/tfd.htm Website : http://www.cappelle-chess.com/

----------------------------------------------------------
23rd Open Cappelle la Grande FRA (FRA), 3-10 iii 2007
----------------------------------------------------------
 1. Wang Yue                    g  CHN 2644   7.0     2784
 2. Miroshnichenko, Evgenij     g  UKR 2632   7.0     2753
 3. Gashimov, Vugar             g  AZE 2658   7.0     2736
 4. Arutinian, David            g  GEO 2552   7.0     2688
 5. Drozdovskij, Yuri           g  UKR 2562   7.0     2681
 6. Yemelin, Vasily             g  RUS 2539   7.0     2616
 7. Bocharov, Dmitry            g  RUS 2602   6.5     2700
 8. Grigoriants, Sergey         g  RUS 2592   6.5     2669
 9. Petrosian, Suren            m  ARM 2391   6.5     2666
10. Landa, Konstantin           g  RUS 2596   6.5     2664
11. Wirig, Anthony              m  FRA 2433   6.5     2654
12. Postny, Evgeny              g  ISR 2616   6.5     2651
13. Ni Hua                      g  CHN 2632   6.5     2648
14. Dvoirys, Semen I            g  RUS 2534   6.5     2638
15. Brodsky, Michail            g  UKR 2597   6.5     2632
16. Moranda, Wojciech           m  POL 2468   6.5     2624
17. Chernyshov, Konstantin      g  RUS 2556   6.5     2611
18. Kryvoruchko, Yuriy          g  UKR 2592   6.5     2611
19. Ionov, Sergey               g  RUS 2522   6.5     2610
20. Oleksienko, Mikhailo        g  UKR 2541   6.5     2605
21. Rodshtein, Maxim            m  ISR 2520   6.5     2604
22. Maletin, Pavel              m  RUS 2527   6.5     2602
23. Rozentalis, Eduardas        g  LTU 2582   6.5     2601
24. Gareev, Timur               g  UZB 2551   6.5     2594
25. Orlov, Andrey               m  RUS 2447   6.5     2589
26. Gasanov, Eldar              m  UKR 2477   6.5     2588
27. Shneider, Aleksandr         g  UKR 2532   6.5     2570
28. Kovalev, Andrei             g  BLR 2533   6.5     2559
29. Kravtsiv, Martyn               UKR 2464   6.5     2545
30. Dumitrache, Dragos-Nicolae  m  ROM 2455   6.5     2539
31. Warakomski, Tomasz          f  POL 2486   6.5     2516
32. Danielian, Elina            m  ARM 2426   6.5     2418
33. Fedorchuk, Sergey A         g  UKR 2601   6.5     2642
34. Bobras, Piotr               g  POL 2542   6.0     2635
35. Golod, Vitali               g  ISR 2597   6.0     2629
36. Vovk, Andrey                m  UKR 2487   6.0     2627
37. Spraggett, Kevin            g  CAN 2633   6.0     2598
38. Georgiev, Vladimir          g  MKD 2525   6.0     2586
39. Hammer, Jon Ludvig          f  NOR 2360   6.0     2575
40. Radulski, Julian            g  BUL 2475   6.0     2574
41. Burmakin, Vladimir          g  RUS 2568   6.0     2567
42. Gharamian, Tigran           m  FRA 2477   6.0     2565
43. Gagunashvili, Merab         g  GEO 2611   6.0     2562
44. Vovk, Yuri                  m  UKR 2497   6.0     2560
45. Sumets, Andrey              g  UKR 2533   6.0     2535
46. Gutman, Gennadi             g  UKR 2490   6.0     2529
47. Abergel, Thal               m  FRA 2475   6.0     2520
48. Timoshenko, Georgy          g  UKR 2563   6.0     2516
49. Akesson, Ralf               g  SWE 2475   6.0     2514
50. Wang Hao                    g  CHN 2619   6.0     2513
51. Marzolo, Cyril              m  FRA 2472   6.0     2509
52. Ninov, Nikolai              m  BUL 2506   6.0     2509
53. Andriasian, Zaven           g  ARM 2508   6.0     2507
54. Landenbergue, Claude        m  SUI 2450   6.0     2506
55. Kharitonov, Alexandr        g  RUS 2503   6.0     2491
56. Krivonosov, Oleg            m  LAT 2434   6.0     2491
57. Le Roux, Jean-Pierre        m  FRA 2486   6.0     2484
58. Gladyszev, Oleg             m  RUS 2455   6.0     2483
59. Okhotnik, Vladimir          m  FRA 2486   6.0     2483
60. Firman, Nazar               m  UKR 2481   6.0     2474
61. Grabarczyk, Miroslaw        g  POL 2461   6.0     2461
62. Mannion, Stephen R          m  SCO 2337   6.0     2453
63. Van Dooren, Dirk            f  NED 2303   6.0     2443
64. Petkevich, Jusefs           g  LAT 2434   6.0     2424
65. Klovans, Janis              g  LAT 2448   6.0     2414
66. Zawadzki, Stanislaw         m  POL 2417   6.0     2398
67. Tomczak, Jacek              f  POL 2457   6.0     2390
68. Shaw, John                  g  SCO 2447   6.0     2389
69. Feller, Sebastien           f  FRA 2431   6.0     2380
70. Sanchez, Joseph             m  PHI 2482   6.0     2367
71. Khenkin, Igor               g  GER 2611   6.0     2533
72. Rothuis, Vincent               NED 2413   6.0     2401
73. Gurevich, Vladimir          g  UKR 2445   6.0     2529
608 players

4) Dutch League

The Dutch Team Championship Meesterklasse takes place 23rd October 2006 - 13th May 2007. The sixth round took place on 3rd March 2007 and the games from the match Share Dimension Groningen - HSG are available, the Groningen side had Vladimir Kramnik on top board and he was held by Jan Smeets but his side won 6.5-3.5. There are corrections to the games Nikolic - Baramidze and Spoelman - Rogers I gave last week plus the remaining games are now available.

Links: Dutch Chess Federation: http://www.schaakbond.nl/ - Meesterklasse Games side bar at: http://www.schakers.info/ - Photo reports at: http://www.chessvista.com and http://www.chessvibes.com/

Round 6 Standings: 
    Meesterklasse             Mp Bp  1   2   3   4  5  6   7   8  9   10
1.  Share Dimension Groningen 11 38½ x   6½  .   7½ .  7   5½  .  5   7
2.  HSG                       10 37½ 3½  x   .   .  7  7   6½  .  5½  8
3.  SO Rotterdam              8  34½ .   .   x   .  4  5½  5   5  8   7
4.  ESGOO                     7  29  2½  .   .   x  5½ 3½  5½  5  7   .
5.  Homburg Apeldoorn         6  34  .   3   6   4½ x  .   3½  8  .   9
6.  HMC Calder                6  29½ 3   3   4½  6½ .  x   .   .  6   6½
7.  Utrecht                   5  30½ 4½  3½  5   4½ 6½ .   x   6½ .   .
8.  SMB                       4  24  .   .   5   5  2  .   3½  x  3   5½
9.  LSG                       3  25½ 5   4½  2   3  .  4   .   7  x   .
10. Zukertort Amstelveen      0  17  3   2   3   .  1  3½  .   4½ .   x

Round 6
Utrecht                        - ESGOO                            4½ - 5½
Zukertort Amstelveen           - Homburg Apeldoorn                1  - 9
LSG                            - SMB                              7  - 3
HMC Calder                     - SO Rotterdam                     4½ - 5½
Share Dimension Groningen      - HSG                              6½ - 3½

5) Finnish League

The final two rounds of the Finnish Team Championship took place 10th-11th March 2007. OpusCapita from Tampere took its first gold. Matinkylä was second for the fourth time in a row and also qualified for European Club Cup. News: Henri Koskinen.

Games, individual results etc. can be found on the website: http://www.shakki.net/pelaaminen/turnaukset/liiga.html

Final results
 1. OpusCapita, Tampere  17  +28
 2. MatSK, Espoo         15  +21
 3. Velhot, Helsinki     12  +6
 4. TuTS, Turku           9  +8
 5. JyS, Jyväskylä        9  -11
 6. HSK, Helsinki         7  -6
 7. Aatos, Helsinki       7  -8
 8. EtVaS, Vantaa         6  -2
 9. JoeSK, Joensuu        5  -12
--------------------------------
10. Garde, Helsinki       3  -24

6) Austrian Team Championship

The Austrian Team Championship concluded in place in Mattersburg 8th-11th March 2007. Union Ansfelden took the title.

Schedule: R 01-03: 03.11.-05.11.2006, Graz (Hotel Novapark) R 04-07: 18.01.-21.01.2007, Leoben (Gösserbräu) R 08-11: 08.03.-11.03.2007, Mattersburg

Official site: http://www.chess.at/staatsligen/stl_a.htm - Results: http://chess-results.com/Tnr4008.aspx?ix=1&lan=1

Rk. Team                      1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10 11 12 TB1  TB2 TB3
1   Union Ansfelden           *  2½ 3  3½ 4  2  4  4  3½ 4  5½ 6  42,0 25  0  
2   ASVÖ Wulkaprodersdorf     3½ *  3½ 3  2½ 3  4  3½ 3  5  5  5  41,0 24  0  
3   SK Kl.Ztg. MPÖ Maria Saal 3  2½ *  2½ 4  3½ 4½ 4  4  2  4½ 5  39,5 22  0  
4   Styria Graz - Kl.Zeitung  2½ 3  3½ *  4  3  3  2½ 4  3  4½ 6  39,0 19  0  
5   SpG Holz Dohr - Semriach  2  3½ 2  2  *  3½ 2  4½ 4½ 3½ 5  5½ 38,0 21  0  
6   SC Die Klagenfurter       4  3  2½ 3  2½ *  4  3  3  3½ 3½ 4½ 36,5 19  0  
7   SK Hohenems               2  2  1½ 3  4  2  *  4  4  4  4  4  34,5 19  0  
8   SK Advisory Invest Baden  2  2½ 2  3½ 1½ 3  2  *  4  2½ 4  6  33,0 13  0  
9   SpG Absam / ISK           2½ 3  2  2  1½ 3  2  2  *  3½ 4  4½ 30,0 11  0  
10  SK Sparkasse Jenbach      2  1  4  3  2½ 2½ 2  3½ 2½ *  2½ 4  29,5 10  0  
11  SK Leoben                 ½  1  1½ 1½ 1  2½ 2  2  2  3½ *  1  18,5 3   0  
12  SV Tschaturanga Neubau    0  1  1  0  ½  1½ 2  0  1½ 2  5  *  14,5 3   0  

7) US Amateur Teams East

Over President's Day Weekend (Feb. 17-19) the U.S. Amateur Team Championships were held in four locations around the U.S.A. Traditionally Team East, held in Parsippany, New Jersey, is the biggest of the three, and that was the case this year with 1178 players competing on 279 teams. This was not quite a record, but it was close. This year's Team East was also called the #World Amateur Team" tournament in recognition of the fact that it frequently has more teams than the Olympiad, even adding the Open and Women's sections together.

The other three U.S. Amateur Team tournaments were held in: Kissimmee, Florida (Team South), San Pedro, California (Team West) and Lombard, Illinois (Team North).

Team East has a complicated tiebreak system, but it wasn't necessary to use it this year: the team "Beavis and Butt-Vinnik" was the only group to finish with a perfect 6-0 score. Team members were: James Critelli, Evan Turtel, Evan Rabin, Nick Panico and Alan Kantor. This year's theme at the tournament was "Remember the 90s" which explains the name of the winning team, which might not exactly bring back fond memories of that decade.

Incidentally, the term "Amateur Team" refers to the fact that the average team rating must be below 2200 USCF, but beyond that constraint almost anything goes. There were 10 grandmasters in attendance, as well as dozens of titled players, including former U.S. Champions Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen and Arthur Bisguier. One team even had two grandmasters: "Roman's Forum" had GMs Eugene Perelshteyn and Roman Dzindzichashvili playing on boards one and two.

The tournament was organized by Steve Doyle and his team of directors for the New Jersey State Chess Federation, and I'd like to thank Jack Adamo for sharing his games with me. Report: Bill Townsend.

8) Turkish Championship

The Turkish Championship takes place 1st-14th March 2007. Suat Atalik leads the event with 9/11 with two rounds to go.

Official site: http://www.tsf.org.tr/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ch-TUR Ankara TUR (TUR), 1-13 iii 2007                           cat. III (2306)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Atalik, Suat             g TUR 2586  * . = = 1 1 = = 1 1 1 1 1 .  9.0  2559 
 2. Erdogdu, Mert            m TUR 2409  . * = 1 0 = 1 = = 1 . 1 1 1  8.0  2461 
 3. Esen, Baris              m TUR 2447  = = * . 0 = 1 = . 1 1 1 1 1  8.0  2464 
 4. Erturan, Yakup           f TUR 2360  = 0 . * = . = = 1 = 1 1 1 1  7.5  2413 
 5. Can, Emre                f TUR 2409  0 1 1 = * = . = 0 1 0 . 1 1  6.5  2365 
 6. Atakisi, Umut            m TUR 2384  0 = = . = * = = 1 0 1 1 . 1  6.5  2367 
 7. Kilicaslan, Hasan        m TUR 2260  = 0 0 = . = * . = = 1 = = 1  5.5  2302 
 8. Secer, Ata                 TUR 2287  = = = = = = . * = 1 = 0 0 .  5.0  2301 
 9. Bayram, Yakup            f TUR 2285  0 = . 0 1 0 = = * . 0 0 1 1  4.5  2239 
10. Yildiz, Betul Cemre     wm TUR 2194  0 0 0 = 0 1 = 0 . * . = 1 1  4.5  2268 
11. Tanrikulu, Secim Erhan     TUR 2131  0 . 0 0 1 0 0 = 1 . * 1 0 1  4.5  2257 
12. Erdogan, Hakan           f TUR 2307  0 0 0 0 . 0 = 1 1 = 0 * . 1  4.0  2203 
13. Demirel, Tolga           f TUR 2203  0 0 0 0 0 . = 1 0 0 1 . * 1  3.5  2174 
14. Demir, Zeki                TUR 2016  . 0 0 0 0 0 0 . 0 0 0 0 0 *  0.0       
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9) X Malaga Open

The X Malaga Open took place 24th February - 3rd March 2007. Aleksa Strikovic won the event on tie-break from Carlos Matamoros Franco and Stefan Djuric after all finished on 7/9.

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

--------------------------------------------------------------
X Malaga Open Campillos ESP (ESP), 24 ii-3 iii 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Strikovic, Aleksa                  g  SER 2557    7    50 
 2. Matamoros Franco, Carlos S         g  ECU 2540    7    49 
 3. Djuric, Stefan                     g  SER 2464    7    48 
 4. Suba, Mihai                        g  ROM 2529   6½    47½
 5. Zambrana, Oswaldo                  m  BOL 2495   6½    46 
 6. Colovic, Aleksandar                m  MKD 2463   6½    45 
 7. Kovacevic, Slobodan                m  SER 2328    6    50 
 8. Fernandez Romero, Ernesto          m  ESP 2434    6    48½
 9. Sakelsek, Tadej                    m  SLO 2454    6    48 
10. Bellon Lopez, Juan Manuel          g  ESP 2442    6    47½
11. Tratar, Marko                      g  SLO 2478    6    47 
12. Cruz Ravina, Francisco Javier      f  ESP 2285    6    45½
13. Pilaj, Herwig                      m  AUT 2373    6    44½
14. Dias, Paulo                        f  POR 2425    6    43 
15. Lopez, Jorge                          FRA 2271    6    40½
16. Moussard, Jules                    f  FRA 2190    6    40½
17. Leite, Catarina                    wm POR 2218    6    39½
18. Ivanov, Jordan                     m  BUL 2377   5½    46½
19. Recuero Guerra, David              f  ESP 2357   5½    45½
20. Diogo, Vasco                          POR 2208   5½    44½
21. Fenollar Jorda, Manuel             f  ESP 2307   5½    41½
22. Rodriguez Lopez, Rafael            m  ESP 2283   5½    41 
23. Gutierrez Lopez, Carlos               ESP 2126   5½    38 
24. Anaya Lopez, Victor                   ESP 1941   5½    37 
84 players

10) Mediterranean Flower WGM

The Mediterranean Flower WGM tournament took place in Rijeka 3rd-10th March 2007. Irina Sudakova won the event with 7/9.

Official site: http://sah.posluh.hr/skdraga/cvmed7.htm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mediterranean Flower WGM Rijeka CRO (CRO), 3-10 iii 2007     cat. I (2259)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Sudakova, Irina           wg RUS 2381  * 1 = = 1 = 1 1 = 1  7.0  2465 
 2. Titova-Boric, Elena       wm BIH 2281  0 * 1 1 = 1 = 1 = 1  6.5  2422 
 3. Fierro Baquero, Martha L   m ECU 2339  = 0 * 0 1 1 1 = 1 1  6.0  2374 
 4. Voicu, Carmen             wg ROM 2359  = 0 1 * 0 = = 1 = 1  5.0  2290 
 5. Franciskovic, Borka       wf CRO 2189  0 = 0 1 * = = = 1 1  5.0  2309 
 6. Golubenko, Valentina      wm EST 2261  = 0 0 = = * 1 0 1 1  4.5  2258 
 7. Ionica, Iulia-Ionela      wm ROM 2243  0 = 0 = = 0 * 1 = 1  4.0  2217 
 8. Medic, Mirjana            wg CRO 2260  0 0 = 0 = 1 0 * 1 =  3.5  2178 
 9. Berke, Ana                   CRO 2096  = = 0 = 0 0 = 0 * =  2.5  2110 
10. Kopinits, Anna-Christina  wf AUT 2177  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = = *  1.0  1916 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

11) Bulgarian Championships

The 71st Men's and 56th Women's Bulgarian Championships take place in Pernik, Bulgaria March 10th-20th 2007.

Official website: http://www.chessmix.com/bulchamp07/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
71st ch-BUL Pernik BUL (BUL), 10-20 iii 2007                  cat. VI (2400)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Chatalbashev, Boris   g BUL 2541  * . 1 . . = 1 . . . . . . .  2.5  2691 
 2. Nikolov, Sasho        m BUL 2380  . * . = . . . 1 . . = . . .  2.0  2483 
 3. Bojchev, Marian         BUL 2366  0 . * . 1 . . . . . . . . 1  2.0  2588 
 4. Nikolov, Momchil        BUL 2425  . = . * . . . . . = . 1 . .  2.0  2558 
 5. Rusev, Krasimir         BUL 2453  . . 0 . * . . . 1 . . . 1 .  2.0  2442 
 6. Dimitrov, Vladimir    g BUL 2462  = . . . . * = . . . . . . =  1.5  2454 
 7. Kozhuharov, Spas        BUL 2426  0 . . . . = * . . 1 . . . .  1.5  2477 
 8. Pantev, Veselin         BUL 2325  . 0 . . . . . * = . . . 1 .  1.5  2321 
 9. Milchev, Nikolay        BUL 2348  . . . . 0 . . = * . . . . 1  1.5  2391 
10. Drenchev, Petar         BUL 2430  . . . = . . 0 . . * . = . .  1.0  2321 
11. Tsvetkov, Ilia          BUL 2324  . = . . . . . . . . * = 0 .  1.0  2243 
12. Genov, Petar          g BUL 2489  . . . 0 . . . . . = = * . .  1.0  2268 
13. Yordanov, Nikolay       BUL 2237  . . . . 0 . . 0 . . 1 . * .  1.0  2242 
14. Serafimov, Tervel       BUL 2396  . . 0 . . = . . 0 . . . . *  0.5  2119 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
56th ch-BUL w Pernik BUL (BUL), 11-20 iii 2007
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Jordanova, Svetla         BUL 2245  * . . . . . . . 1 . . .  1.0       
 2. Nikolova, Adriana         BUL 2204  . * . . . . . . . 1 . .  1.0       
 3. Raeva, Elitsa             BUL 2207  . . * . . . . . . . . 1  1.0       
 4. Videnova, Iva             BUL 2175  . . . * . . . . . . 1 .  1.0       
 5. Andreeva, Plamena         BUL 2090  . . . . * . = . . . . .  0.5  2189 
 6. Genova, Lybka          wm BUL 2214  . . . . . * . = . . . .  0.5  2319 
 7. Savova, Stefka         wm BUL 2189  . . . . = . * . . . . .  0.5  2090 
 8. Voiska, Margarita      wg BUL 2319  . . . . . = . * . . . .  0.5  2214 
 9. Bednikova, Stefi          BUL 2068  0 . . . . . . . * . . .  0.0       
10. Chilingirova, Pavlina  wm BUL 2184  . 0 . . . . . . . * . .  0.0       
11. Genova, Ruzka          wm BUL 2243  . . . 0 . . . . . . * .  0.0       
12. Stefanova, Milena         BUL 2034  . . 0 . . . . . . . . *  0.0       
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

12) First Saturday March

The First Saturday March GM-IM-FM closed tournaments in Budapest Take place 3rd-13th March 2007.

Official site: http://www.firstsaturday.hu

----------------------------------------------------------------------
FSGM March Budapest HUN (HUN), 3-13 iii 2007          cat. VIII (2442)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Hoang Thanh Trang     m HUN 2470  * 1 1 0 . = . . 1 . 1  4.5  2642 
 2. Caruana, Fabiano      m ITA 2492  0 * . . 1 . = 1 . 1 1  4.5  2611 
 3. Potapov, Pavel        m RUS 2380  0 . * . = 1 = = . 1 1  4.5  2532 
 4. Bosiocic, Marin       f CRO 2474  1 . . * 0 = = = = . 1  4.0  2487 
 5. Berczes, David        m HUN 2433  . 0 = 1 * . = 1 . = .  3.5  2492 
 6. Kosic, Dragan         g MNE 2504  = . 0 = . * = . 1 . 1  3.5  2506 
 7. Farago, Ivan          g HUN 2531  . = = = = = * . = = .  3.5  2462 
 8. Toth, Ervin           f HUN 2283  . 0 = = 0 . . * = 1 .  2.5  2398 
 9. Boros, Denes          m HUN 2502  0 . . = . 0 = = * . =  2.0  2309 
10. Ilincic, Zlatko       g SER 2451  . 0 0 . = . = 0 . * 1  2.0  2285 
11. Varga, Csaba Zoltan   f HUN 2342  0 0 0 0 . 0 . . = 0 *  0.5  2045 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

FSIM March Budapest HUN (HUN), 3-13 iii 2007cat. III (2323)
-----------------------------------------------------------
                                1  2  3  4  5  6 
-----------------------------------------------------------
1 Okara, Andrey     f RUS 2358 ** =. 1. 1. 1. 1.  4.5  2681
2 Werner, Dimo      m GER 2353 =. ** =. =. =. =.  2.5  2316
3 Kahn, Evarth      m HUN 2293 0. =. ** 1. =. =.  2.5  2328
4 Vitoux, Colomban  f FRA 2317 0. =. 0. ** 1. 1.  2.5  2323
5 Lengyel, Bela     m HUN 2323 0. =. =. 0. ** 1.  2.0  2250
6 Bednay, Bence       HUN 2291 0. =. =. 0. 0. **  1.0  2088
-----------------------------------------------------------

13) 125th Varsity Match

The 125th annual Varsity Match, the world's oldest regular chess fixture, sponsored by Vantis and Henry Mutkin, took place at the RAC Club, Pall Mall, London, on 10th March 2007. Oxford University, led by super-GM Luke McShane and Ukrainian WIM Olena Boytsun were widely expected to beat Cambridge, who has only one player with a 2200+ rating, but it was the Light Blues who pulled off a surprise win, thereby making the all-time score Cambridge 56 wins, Oxford 51 wins, with 18 matches drawn.

Further details: http://www.bcmchess.co.uk/

Oxford (White on odd boards)          3-5 Cambridge (White on even boards)
1 Luke McShane          g   2615      1-0 David Hodge           2183
2 Olena Boytsun         wm  2281 UKR  0-1 Duane Rowe            2203 JAM
3 Alvar Kangur              2231 EST  0-1 Thomas Nixon          2195
4 Tom Eckersley-Waites      2159      1-0 Richard Mycroft       2141
5 Robert Heaton             2095      0-1 Adam Eckersley-Waites 2167
6 Steffen Schaper *         2159 GER  0-1 Gustav Holzegel       2180 GER
7 Christopher Rawlinson     2053      ½-½ Andreas Werner        2074 GER
8 Edward Stembridge         2002      ½-½ Elizabeth Roberts     ----

* seems to be named Bjoern Schaper in the FIDE rating list

14) Georgian Women's Championship

The 64th Georgian Women's Championship takes place in Tbilisi 2nd-13th March 2007. The event is a category 14 women's (V or maybe VI men's). With one round to go Sopiko Khukhashvili, Sopio Gvetadze and Lela Javakhishvili share first on 6.5/10. Info: Varlam Vepkhvishvili. Thanks to the newly elected President of the Georgian Chess Federation (elected on 23.12.2006), IM Roman Sichinava for his help.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
64th ch-GEO w Tbilisi GEO (GEO), 2-13 iii 2007                cat. V (2366)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Khukhashvili, Sopiko   wg GEO 2320  * = = 0 1 1 0 = . 1 1 1  6.5  2485 
 2. Gvetadze, Sopio        wg GEO 2416  = * = = = = . 1 0 1 1 1  6.5  2461 
 3. Javakhishvili, Lela     m GEO 2421  = = * 1 0 . = = = 1 1 1  6.5  2460 
 4. Lomineishvili, Maia     m GEO 2399  1 = 0 * = 1 = = 1 . = =  6.0  2437 
 5. Charkhalashvili, Inga  wg GEO 2316  0 = 1 = * = = = 1 0 1 .  5.5  2403 
 6. Dzagnidze, Nana         m GEO 2463  0 = . 0 = * 1 1 1 1 0 =  5.5  2386 
 7. Khurtsidze, Nino        m GEO 2451  1 . = = = 0 * = = 0 = 1  5.0  2351 
 8. Mikadze, Miranda       wf GEO 2248  = 0 = = = 0 = * 1 = . =  4.5  2347 
 9. Batsiashvili, Nino     wm GEO 2310  . 1 = 0 0 0 = 0 * 1 1 =  4.5  2339 
10. Tsereteli, Tamar       wg GEO 2334  0 0 0 . 1 0 1 = 0 * = =  3.5  2255 
11. Purtseladze, Maka       m GEO 2308  0 0 0 = 0 1 = . 0 = * =  3.0  2234 
12. Melia, Salome          wg GEO 2400  0 0 0 = . = 0 = = = = *  3.0  2218 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

15) La Laguna Open

The La Laguna Open took place 5th-12th March 2007. Atanas Kolas won the event on tie-break from Bojan Kurajica, Mikheil Mchedlishvili and Gawain C Jones after all scored 7/9. More games from the final two rounds may become available.

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

-------------------------------------------------------------
I Open La Laguna ESP (ESP), 5-12 iii 2007
-------------------------------------------------------------
  1. Kolev, Atanas                    g  BUL 2502    7    54 
  2. Kurajica, Bojan                  g  CRO 2549    7    51½
  3. Mchedlishvili, Mikheil           g  GEO 2583    7    51½
  4. Jones, Gawain C                  m  ENG 2509    7    50 
  5. Movsziszian, Karen               g  ARM 2445   6½    54½
  6. Zambrana, Oswaldo                m  BOL 2495   6½    54 
  7. Granda Zuniga, Julio E           g  PER 2612   6½    53½
  8. Epishin, Vladimir                g  RUS 2554   6½    53½
  9. Meijers, Viesturs                g  LAT 2453   6½    49½
 10. Mikhalevski, Victor              g  ISR 2590   6½    49 
 11. Vera, Reynaldo                   g  CUB 2494   6½    48½
 12. Barsov, Alexei                   g  UZB 2521    6    52½
 13. Barlov, Dragan                   g  SER 2439    6    51 
 14. Krivoshey, Sergei                g  UKR 2496    6    50½
 15. Spasov, Vasil                    g  BUL 2588    6    50 
 16. Gaponenko, Inna                  m  UKR 2450    6    49 
 17. Solana Suarez, Ernesto           f  ESP 2316    6    48½
 18. Sanz Alonso, Francisco J         m  ESP 2415    6    48½
 19. Slaby, Jerzy                     m  POL 2453    6    47 
 20. Camino Carrio, Nicanor              ESP 2136    6    45½
 21. Rodriguez Vera, Gregorio            ESP 2169    6    45 
 22. Radovanovic, Jovica              f  SER 2327    6    44 
 23. Hernandez Leon, Alberto             ESP 2227    6    44 
 24. Villavicencio Martinez, Carlos      ESP 2161    6    39 
122 players

16) La Roche-sur-Yon

The 2nd Trophee Universitaire took place in La Roche sur Yon 26th February - 6th March 2007. Andrei Istratescu won the event with 6.5/9.

Official site: http://www.univ-vendee.com/e-accueil.htm

---------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd Trophee Universitaire La Roche sur Yon FRA (FRA), 26 ii-6 iii 2007cat. XI (2505)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Istratescu, Andrei     g ROM 2619  * 1 = = 1 = = 1 1 =  6.5  2658 
 2. David, Alberto         g LUX 2528  0 * = 1 1 = = = = 1  5.5  2582 
 3. Hamdouchi, Hichem      g MAR 2602  = = * = 0 1 = 1 = 1  5.5  2574 
 4. Pelletier, Yannick     g SUI 2589  = 0 = * = = 1 1 = 1  5.5  2575 
 5. Edouard, Romain        f FRA 2446  0 0 1 = * 0 1 1 1 1  5.5  2591 
 6. Stefanova, Antoaneta   g BUL 2483  = = 0 = 1 * 0 = = =  4.0  2464 
 7. Cornette, Matthieu     m FRA 2482  = = = 0 0 1 * 0 = =  3.5  2427 
 8. Houska, Jovanka        m ENG 2384  0 = 0 0 0 = 1 * 1 =  3.5  2438 
 9. Krush, Irina           m USA 2449  0 = = = 0 = = 0 * =  3.0  2386 
10. Libiszewski, Fabien    m FRA 2469  = 0 0 0 0 = = = = *  2.5  2343 
---------------------------------------------------------------------

17) 80th St Petersburg championship Semifinal

The 80th St Petersburg championship Semifinal took place 10th-18th February 2007. Andrey Davydov won the event with 7.5/9.

Official site: http://www.totalchess.spb.ru/kalend/2007/80champ_2.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
ch-St Petersburg sf St Petersburg RUS (RUS), 10-18 ii 2007
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Davydov, Andrey          RUS 2317  7.5  48.5  39.25  37.5  2610 +3.27
 2. Biriukov, Oleg V      m  RUS 2374  6.5  45.0  30.50  35.0  2519 +1.73
 3. Zacurdajev, Mikhail   f  RUS 2374  6.5  39.0  26.75  26.0  2442 +0.83
 4. Eliseev, Alexei       m  RUS 2424  6.0  53.0  33.75  36.5  2470 +0.51
 5. Karalkin, Maksim      f  RUS 2287  6.0  46.5  28.00  32.0  2498 +2.58
 6. Solovjov, Sergey I    m  RUS 2412  6.0  43.5  28.00  31.0  2426 +0.15
 7. Lovkov, Roman         f  RUS 2429  6.0  42.5  27.50  27.0  2412 -0.21
 8. Smirnov, Artem        m  RUS 2385  6.0  39.5  26.00  27.5  2389 +0.06
 9. Lanin, Alexsej        f  RUS 2465  5.5  48.5  27.00  32.0  2417 -0.53
10. Matlakov, Maxim          RUS 2452  5.5  47.0  25.00  28.5  2378 -0.89
11. Shimanov, Aleksandr   f  RUS 2419  5.5  42.5  22.75  26.5  2404 -0.17
12. Barhudarian, Rafael   f  RUS 2306  5.5  41.0  23.00  26.0  2400 +1.18
13. Goganov, Aleksey         RUS 2214  5.0  49.0  25.50  27.5  2399 +2.21
14. Kurilov, Viktor          RUS 2316  5.0  48.0  24.75  28.0  2362 +0.50
15. Pankov, German        f  RUS 2321  5.0  46.5  24.75  27.5  2396 +0.86
16. Shchukin, Dmitry      m  RUS 2336  5.0  45.5  22.00  28.5  2354 +0.23
17. Yankovsky, Roman         RUS 2164  5.0  45.0  23.50  25.5  2409 +2.84
18. Gorovykh, Eduard      f  RUS 2381  5.0  44.0  23.25  26.5  2304 -0.94
19. Frolochkin, Vladimir     RUS 2232  4.5  44.5  20.50  24.5  2370 +1.71
20. Andreev, Konstantin      RUS 2257  4.5  43.5  17.75  22.5  2314 +0.72
21. Lintchevski, Daniil   m  RUS 2449  4.5  43.0  20.25  24.0  2285 -1.98
22. Kryschilovskij,Andrej m  RUS 2339  4.5  42.0  18.50  22.5  2261 -0.99
23. Vunder, Andrey           RUS 2255  4.5  41.5  17.50  22.5  2318 +0.81
24. Bazeev, German           RUS 2153  4.5  38.0  18.50  20.5  2301 +1.80
25. Urjubdshzirov, Erdni     RUS 2163  4.5  37.0  15.25  20.5  2270 +1.35
26. Nikitinyh, Boris         RUS 2266  4.5  35.0  15.00  18.0  2229 -0.45
27. Ivanov, Alexey3       f  RUS 2458  4.0  43.5  16.75  22.5  2249 -2.48
28. Golovankov, Vladimir     RUS 2289  4.0  40.5  16.25  22.5  2249 -0.50
29. Savinov, Leonid          RUS 2159  4.0  40.5  15.75  18.5  2256 +1.21
30. Melnikov, Dmitry      f  RUS 2353  4.0  37.5  15.75  21.5  2216 -1.67
31. Timofeev, Andrei         RUS 2335  4.0  36.5  14.50  19.5  2160 -2.12
32. Serov, Maksim            RUS 2275  4.0  36.5  13.50  18.0  2230 -0.50
33. Merzliakov, Evgeny       RUS 2211  4.0  31.0  10.75  16.0  2194 -0.14
34. Vunder, Yakov            RUS 2242  3.5  44.0  12.00  18.5  2241 -0.01
35. Ivanov, Mikhail I        RUS 2281  3.5  37.5  12.25  18.0  2176 -1.27
36. Fedoseev, Vladimir3      RUS 2166  3.5  34.5  13.00  16.5  2199 +0.35
37. Kazakevich, Grigoriy     RUS 2115  3.5  34.5   8.75  14.5  2139 +0.26
38. Yerastov, Alexey         RUS 2253  3.5  33.5   9.00  15.0  2172 -1.00
39. Kulikov, Evgeny          RUS 2260  3.0  37.0   9.50  16.5  2130 -1.59
40. Rodkin, Felix            RUS 2171  3.0  31.5   8.00  12.0  2092 -0.96
41. Sokolov, Anatoly V       RUS 2124  2.5  29.0   5.25  10.0  1967 -1.46
42. Nikolaev, Vadim S        RUS 2246  2.0  34.0   4.75   9.5  2005 -2.77
43. Ubykin, Vladimir         RUS 2126  2.0  30.0   4.50   7.5  2002 -1.33
44. Smirnov, Artyom          RUS 2107  1.5  31.5   7.25   9.5  1974 -1.09

18) Millennium Festival

Michael Atkins reports; On a beautiful March 2nd-4th 2007 Virginia Beach weekend, 130 players came to the 7th edition of the Millennium Chess Festival. Down in attendance after missing 2006 and the tournament being left out of Chess Life, the spirit was high. It has been held at The Ramada Plaza Resort Oceanfront since 2001. For the first time, a decisive result was delivered in the GM Dinner Exhibition match. GM Nick De Firmian defeated GM John Fedorowicz in a sharp Soltis Variation of the Dragon. In the main event, GMs Ehlvest, Shabalov and Stripunsky scored 4-1 to take first. Ehlvest and Stripunsky took 1-2 in the blitz event Saturday evening. Larry Larkins won U2200 Section. Jonathan Hundley scored 5-0 to win the U1900 section. Ryan Santos and Brian Roark shared the U1600 title and Dwighd Delgado took the U1300 section. The tournament was organized by the Virginia Chess Federation and directed by Ernie Schlich, Michael Atkins and Mike Hoffpauir.

Website is http://www.vachess.org/MCF/

Final Standings: 
 1   GM Jaan Ehlvest           2675  4.0  
 2   GM Alexander Shabalov     2659  4.0  
 3   GM Alexander Stripunsky   2626  4.0  
 4   GM John Fedorowicz        2513  3.5  
 5   IM Bryan G Smith          2440  3.5  
 6   IM Lawrence Kaufman       2400  3.5  
 7      John Rouleau           2295  3.5  
 8   GM Nick De Firmian        2581  3.0  
 9   FM Macon A Shibut         2329  3.0  
10      Chris J Mabe           2163  3.0  
11  WGM Katerine Rohonyan      2346  2.5  
12   FM Raymond S Kaufman      2297  2.5  
13      Floyd Boudreaux Jr     2204  2.5  
14      A Balasubramanian      2140  2.5  
15      Daniel J Clancy        2113  2.5  
16      Alexander Barnett      2289  2.0  
17      Denis Strenzwilk       2200  2.0  
18      Abby Marshall          2039  2.0  
19      Ettie Nikolova         2032  2.0  
20      Gill Y Guo             1844  2.0  
21      Todd J Trower          2061  1.5  
22      Jeffrey W Johnson      2033  1.5  
23      Douglas E Stanley      2003  1.5  
24      Stanley W Fink Jr      2200  1.0  
25      Thomas J Belke         1841  1.0  
26      Seth Nkansah           1732  1.0  

19) Zima Rating Tournament

The Zima Rating Tournament took place in St Petersburg 29th January - 8th February 2007. Artem Smirnov won the event.

Official site: http://www.totalchess.spb.ru/kalend/2007/zima_petr_res.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zima Rating Tournament St Petersburg RUS (RUS), 29 i-8 ii 2007
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Smirnov, Artem         m  RUS 2385  7.5  50.5  40.50  42.0  2385 2472 +0.74
 2. Karalkin, Maksim       f  RUS 2287  7.0  47.0  36.25  32.0  2287 2404 +1.06
 3. Fedoseev, Sergey       f  RUS 2243  6.5  53.0  35.75  36.0  2243 2353 +1.18
 4. Znamensky, Vladimir       RUS 2364  6.5  49.5  34.00  32.0  2364 2393 +0.24
 5. Nikitin, Aleksey          RUS 2225  6.5  49.5  32.75  35.5  2225 2320 +1.02
 6. Gnidenko, Andrey          RUS 2103  6.0  49.5  29.00  31.0  2103 2322 +2.06
 7. Vunder, Andrey            RUS 2255  6.0  49.0  31.00  31.0  2255 2301 +0.46
 8. Yankovsky, Roman          RUS 2164  6.0  47.0  27.00  31.5  2164 2185 +0.22
 9. Krylov, Konstantin        RUS 2215  6.0  43.0  26.50  30.0  2215 2242 +0.24
10. Vunder, Yakov             RUS 2242  5.5  47.5  27.00  29.0  2242 2189 -0.54
11. Malofeev, Alex         f  RUS 2277  5.5  45.0  24.75  28.5  2277 2166 -1.18
12. Kuzmin, Yuriy             RUS 2125  5.5  44.0  20.25  28.0  2125 2179 +0.56
13. Skrjabin, Igor            RUS 2083  5.5  42.0  23.00  24.5  2083 2123 +0.30
14. Gorjunov, Sergey          RUS 2102  5.5  42.0  19.25  28.0  2102 2090 -0.14
15. Dushin,Nikolai            RUS ----  5.0  52.5  25.75  31.5  0000 2259 +0.50
16. Frolov, Albert            RUS 2035  5.0  44.0  22.50  26.5  2035 2221 +2.21
17. Hort, Artur               RUS 2125  5.0  43.5  21.25  25.0  2125 2101 -0.22
18. Bragina, Anastasia        RUS 2052  5.0  42.5  16.75  29.0  2052 2182 +1.08
19. Korchagina, Viktoria      RUS 2123  5.0  41.5  16.25  22.0  2123 2090 -0.40
20. Shapiro, Viktor           RUS 2249  4.5  47.5  30.25  27.5  2249 2263 +0.10
21. Kopasov, Alexander        RUS 2043  4.5  45.0  17.50  24.5  2043 2095 +0.38
22. Androsov,Sergei           RUS ----  4.5  43.0  19.00  22.5  0000 2061  2061
23. Gaprindashvili, Nona      RUS 2043  4.5  41.0  16.00  23.0  2043 2101 +0.46
24. Soloviev,Viktor           RUS ----  4.5  39.5  15.50  22.0  0000 2059  2059
25. Egorova, Ekaterina     wf RUS 2132  4.5  38.0  16.00  23.0  2132 2033 -0.86
26. Smirnov,Roman             RUS ----  4.5  37.5  15.50  20.5  0000 2052  2052
27. Plotnikov, Vitaly         RUS 2139  4.5  32.5  13.50  20.5  2139 1972 -1.54
28. Sokolova, Vera         wf RUS 1994  4.0  41.5  16.50  18.5  1994 2028 +0.26
29. Shlakich, Anna            RUS 2225  4.0  40.5  12.75  23.0  2225 1988 -2.60
30. Fedorov,Efim              RUS ----  4.0  40.0  15.50  19.5  0000 2044  2044
31. Zakharov, Yuri            RUS 2068  4.0  38.0  16.00  21.5  2068 2044 -0.18
32. Gantsevich, Aleksei       RUS 1990  4.0  36.5  13.25  19.5  1990 2017 +0.18
33. Shpartko, Grigory         RUS 2019  4.0  35.5  12.75  15.0  2019 2070 +0.44
34. Egorova, Natalie          RUS 1992  4.0  35.0  12.00  20.5  1992 1948 -0.44
35. Fokin, Anatoly            RUS 1986  4.0  33.5  10.00  17.0  1986 1919 -0.66
36. Goldobin, Mikhail         RUS 2062  4.0  32.0   9.75  17.0  2062 1789 -1.22
37. Molchanov, Mikhail        RUS 1994  3.5  38.0  10.50  19.5  1994 2098 +0.76
38. Ananyeva, Taisia          RUS 1913  3.5  34.0  10.75  15.0  1913 1902 -0.06
39. Borzova, Asya             RUS 1780  3.5  29.5   7.00  13.0  1780 1742 -0.14
40. Fateev, Michail           RUS 2135  3.0  34.5  10.25  16.5  2135 1949 -1.20
41. Belenkaya,Dina            RUS ----  3.0  34.5   7.75  14.0  0000 1877  1877
42. Esipovich,Stanislav       RUS ----  3.0  31.5   4.50  11.0  0000 1718  1718
43. Yusupova, Lilia           RUS 1751  3.0  30.5   4.25  13.0  1751 1409 -0.60
44. Ershov,Mikhail            RUS ----  2.0  45.0  24.00  16.0  0000 2255     0
45. Bobrov, Valentin          RUS 2289  2.0  33.0  11.50  11.0  2289 1375 -2.40
46. Shumikhin,Konstantin      RUS ----  2.0  30.0   2.25  10.0  0000 1340  1340
47. Lvov,Dmitry               RUS ----  1.0  24.0   2.25   6.0  0000 1246  1246

20) Russian Championship under 20

The Russian Championship under 20 (boys and girls) takes place 10th-21st March 2007 in St Petersburg. Among participants are GM's N.Vitiugov (2604), former youth World Champion I.Khairullin, I.Lysyi. Most of male players are rated above 2500.

Online coverage of the games http://www.totalchess.spb.ru/online/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
ch-RUS U20 Saint Petersburg RUS (RUS), 10-21 iii 2007      cat. XI (2517)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Popov, Ivan RUS        m RUS 2531  * . . . . . . . 1 1 . .  2.0       
 2. Lysyj, Igor            m RUS 2576  . * . = . . . 1 . . . .  1.5  2685 
 3. Lanin, Alexsej         f RUS 2465  . . * . . . . . = . . 1  1.5  2692 
 4. Chadaev, Nikolai       m RUS 2484  . = . * . . . . . . . =  1.0  2522 
 5. Khairullin, Ildar      m RUS 2586  . . . . * = = . . . . .  1.0  2538 
 6. Rakhmanov, Aleksandr   m RUS 2473  . . . . = * . . . = . .  1.0  2547 
 7. Vitiugov, Nikita       m RUS 2604  . . . . = . * . . . = .  1.0  2532 
 8. Romanov, Evgeny        m RUS 2501  . 0 . . . . . * . . 1 .  1.0  2527 
 9. Iljin, Artem           m RUS 2529  0 . = . . . . . * . . .  0.5  2305 
10. Andreikin, Dmitry      m RUS 2509  0 . . . . = . . . * . .  0.5  2309 
11. Krapivin, Alexander    m RUS 2478  . . . . . . = 0 . . * .  0.5  2359 
12. Ponkratov, Pavel       m RUS 2469  . . 0 = . . . . . . . *  0.5  2281 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
ch-RUS U20 Girls Saint Petersburg RUS (RUS), 10-21 iii 2007cat. II (2287)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Airapetian, Tatevik  wf RUS 2245  * . . . . . . 1 . . 1 .  2.0       
 2. Gunina, Valentina    wf RUS 2347  . * . . . . . . 1 . . 1  2.0       
 3. Dolgova, Olga        wf RUS 2245  . . * . . 1 . . = . . .  1.5  2420 
 4. Burtasova, Anna      wm RUS 2314  . . . * = . . . . . 1 .  1.5  2518 
 5. Kovanova, Baira      wm RUS 2334  . . . = * . . . . 1 . .  1.5  2489 
 6. Shlakich, Anna          RUS 2225  . . 0 . . * 1 . . . . .  1.0  2272 
 7. Lomako, Anna         wf RUS 2300  . . . . . 0 * . . 1 . .  1.0  2251 
 8. Nebolsina, Vera      wm RUS 2324  0 . . . . . . * . . . 1  1.0  2262 
 9. Tarasova, Viktoriya  wm RUS 2230  . 0 = . . . . . * . . .  0.5  2103 
10. Bodnaruk, Anastasia  wf RUS 2278  . . . . 0 . 0 . . * . .  0.0       
11. Fominykh, Maria      wf RUS 2316  0 . . 0 . . . . . . * .  0.0       
12. Karpova, Lyudmila    wf RUS 2280  . 0 . . . . . 0 . . . *  0.0       
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

21) 16th annual Eastern Class Championships

George Mirijanian reports: The 16th annual Eastern Class Championships took place on March 9th-11th, 2007, at the Host Hotel at Cedar Lake in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, USA. Tying for first place with scores of 4-1 were GM Alexander Ivanov, 50, of Newton, Massachusetts; GM Sergey Kudrin, 47, of Stamford, Connecticut; and USCF-rated senior master Jorge Sammour-Hasbun, 28, of Providence, Rhode Island. Sammour-Hasbun, who plays under the Palestinian flag, drew with Kudrin in the fourth round and with Ivanov in the fifth and final round. Runners-up with 3.5-1.5 tallies were IM Justin Sarkar, 25, of New York, and FM Braden Bournival, 22, of Manchester, New Hampshire. The tournament, sponsored by the Continental Chess Association, drew 188 players in seven sections and was directed by Steve Immitt of New York, assisted by Robert Messenger of Nashua, New Hampshire. Complete crosstables are available at: http://masschess.org. Some games at: http://www.monroi.com

22) 23rd Bad Wörishofen Open

The 23rd Bad Wörishofen International Open 2007 takes place 8th-16th March 2007.

Official site: http://chessorg.de/bad_woerishofen.htm

Standings Round 4 of 9
1.    Bu Xiangzhi          GM  4.0  10.50 38.00 
2.    Savchenko Stanislav  GM  4.0  10.00 39.00 
3.    Ris Robert               3.5  10.50 36.00 
4.    Pitl Gregory         FM  3.5  10.50 35.50 
5.    Levin Felix          GM  3.5  10.00 42.00 
6.    Bromberger Stefan    IM  3.5  10.00 38.00 
7.    Fischer Johann       FM  3.5  10.00 37.50 
8.    Lupor Andre              3.5  9.50  36.50 
9.    Dittmar Peter        FM  3.5  9.50  34.50 
10.   Mainka Romuald       GM  3.5  9.50  33.50 
11.   van der Weide Karel  GM  3.5  9.00  38.00 
12.   Romanishin Oleg      GM  3.5  9.00  33.50 
13.   Pirrot Dieter        IM  3.5  7.00  37.00 
14.   Langheinrich Ferenc      3.0  10.50 33.50 
15.   Bischoff Dieter          3.0  10.00 34.00 
16.   Sorm Daniel          FM  3.0  10.00 33.50 
17.   Fischer Thomas           3.0  9.50  38.00 
18.   Stabolewski Andreas      3.0  9.50  35.00 
19.   Anistratov Dimitrij  FM  3.0  9.50  35.00 
20.   Meier Volker         FM  3.0  9.50  34.50 
21.   Bronznik Valeri      IM  3.0  9.50  33.50 
22.   Jaenig Reinhard          3.0  9.00  38.50 
23.   Galdunts Sergey      GM  3.0  9.00  37.00 
24.   Heika Martin             3.0  9.00  37.00 
25.   Trescher Manfred         3.0  9.00  34.50 
26.   Friedrich Norbert    FM  3.0  9.00  33.50 
27.   Schmitzer Peter          3.0  9.00  33.00 
28.   Erenska-Barlo Hanna  FGM 3.0  8.50  36.50 
29.   Espig Lutz           GM  3.0  8.50  33.00 
30.   Schulz Michael           3.0  8.00  35.50 
31.   Pluemer Detlef           3.0  8.00  35.00 
32.   Karpatchev Alexander GM  3.0  8.00  34.00 
33.   Braun Peter              3.0  7.50  36.50 
34.   Tochtrop Matthias        3.0  7.50  34.50 
35.   Schaefer Michael         3.0  7.50  34.00 
36.   Otterstätter Stefan      3.0  7.50  31.50 
37.   Lupor Stefan             3.0  7.00  38.00 
38.   Unger Michael            3.0  6.50  38.00 
188 players

23) Grand Slam Chess Association

There was a press conference for the Grand Slam Chess Association at Linares. Edited press conference clips, courtesy ChessVibes.com: http://www.chessvibes.com/?p=680 . Shareable player code at Blip.tv: Presentation & selected Q&A: http://blip.tv/file/166138 Reaction from Jeroen van den Berg: http://blip.tv/file/166160. Source: Macauley Peterson.

24) Forthcoming Events and Links

Amber 2007

The 16th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament will be held at the Fairmont Monte Carlo Hotel in Monaco from March 17 to 29. The tournament is organized by the Association Max Euwe and the total prize-fund is € 216,000. The participants are Vishy Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Vasily Ivanchuk, Peter Leko, Levon Aronian, Alexander Morozevich, Boris Gelfand, Teimour Radjabov, Peter Svidler, Magnus Carlsen, Loek van Wely and Francisco Vallejo. Every day there is one round consisting of four sessions; two blindfold sessions (three encounters each) and next two rapid sessions. The first session starts at 15.00 hrs local time. The first round is on March 17, the last on March 29. There are two rest days: March 21 and March 26. The games can be followed live on the official website which will be announced in the coming days.

Chess festival BRNO 2007

Chess festival BRNO 2007 takes place 29th June - 8th July 2007. GM, IM and Open events.

Details: http://www.skduras.wz.cz/indexe.htm

Kramnik - Aronian Rapid Match

World Champion Vladimir Kramnik plays World Cup Holder Levon Aronian in a rapid match May 4th-6th, 2007 in Yerevan, Armenia. Two games will be played each day. The time control will be 25 minutes for the whole game with an increment of 10 seconds per move. The match is organized by the Armenian Chess Federation.

Details http://www.armchess.am

VIII Internet Chess Tournament "Ciudad de Dos Hermanas"

For the eighth year running the VIII Internet Chess Tournament "Ciudad de Dos Hermanas" is being held on the ICC Internet Chess Club playing zone (http://www.chessclub.com). This event is had become the most important Internet chess tournament in the world, featuring the biggest number of participants. In the 2006 edition, more than 2000 players from all over the world took part. 23 GM's, 11 of them with more than 2600, made it to the final, with the special participation of world class players such as Gata Kamsky, or young elite players such as Nakamura or Magnus Carlsen. German GM Fabian Doettling won the 1.800 euros first prize, while Baadur Jobava, another young Georgian GM, who previously had won the Aeroflot Open, finished second. This year the prize fund has been increased, with 32 cash prizes. The total prize fund is 7.700 euros, with a first prize of 1.800 euros. In addition, there are many class prizes. As in previous editions, the playing system is as follows: twelve 12-round Swiss qualifiers using the Fischer System playing rate: 4 minutes + 1 seconds. Qualifiers are held twice a day from March 16th to 21st. March 22nd is a rest day and the finals are held on March 23rd and 24th. The 12 qualifier winners plus the 20 best scores qualify to the 32 KO final.

Full rules and registrations can be found on the Dos Hermanas website http://www.doshermanas.net/aje_8torneo.asp

ICC and FICS client for mobile phones

Mats Luthman has written a program that connects to ICC and FICS, compatable with many modern mobile phones. I've been looking for something like this for a while for watching live tournaments if I'm out and about. Its a nice free solution, you can also play but I haven't tried that.

Website: http://www.luthman.nu/Mobi/Mobi.html

Lenk International Chess Festival

Lenk International Chess Festival The "Swiss Chess Tour 2007" will continue in Lenk with the 19th "Kreuz-Open" April 5th-9th 2007. The venue is 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 (1946), junior(1987-90), schoolboy (1991) and best local player. Entry fee 130 SF, FMs and juniors 60 SF, at the door 20 SF more, GMs and IMs free. The teams competition, with 4 members; 3 prizes: 4x100/4x75/4x50 SF; entry fee 10 SF. Venue: Hotel "Kreuz". Time table: Round 1st 18.00-23.00 April 5,; Rounds 2/3 09.30-14.30 and 15.30-20.30 April 6,; Round 4 13.30-18.30 April 7,; Rounds 5/6 09.30-14.30 and 15.30-20.30 April 8,; Round 7 9.30-14.30 April 9. Closing ceremony April 9 at 16.00. Info: Beochess +41+62+965-46-50 (Robert Spoerri) or info@beochess.ch or site http://www.beochess.ch for more details.

5th Brussels International Chess Festival

5th Brussels International Chess Festival (11 rounds - 25 minutes) Open to all rated and unrated players-no club membership requested Saturday 5 May - Sunday 6 May 2007

Details: http://www.creb.be/

1st Ruy López International Festival

1st Ruy López International Festival will be held in Zafra, birthplace of Ruy López, 16th-25th March 2007.

Further details: http://ruylopez.juntaextremadura.net/modules/news/

Bunratty Chess Festival

The Bunratty Chess Festival took place 23rd-25th. February 2007. Joel Benjamin, Gawain Jones and Nicholas Pert finished on 5/6. No games currently available but promised on March 12th 2007.

Official site: http://members.aol.com/bunrattychess/

5th PAL/CSS Freestyle Chess Tournament

$16,000 Freestyle tournament starts on March 2nd 23.02.2007 The Fifth PAL/CSS Freestyle Chess Tournament begins on March 2nd on the Playchess server. The main tournament is an eight-round Swiss, with time controls of 60 min + 15 sec per game. You probably know that in Freestyle any kind of assistance is allowed: computers, friends, books, anything. The starting fee is 10 Euro. GMs and IMs are free

Details and entry: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3693

RYBKA - Ehlvest

The computer program RYBKA will play a match against Jaan Ehlvest at pawn odds on March 6th-8th 2007.

Details: http://www.rybkachess.com/docs/RYBKA_EHLVEST_2007/Rybka_versus_GM_Ehlvest.htm and here: http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=420

First Saturday March

First Saturday GM-IM-FM closed tournaments in Budapest for the norms, 3rd-16th of March 2007

The organizers have some vacancies for the above mentioned tournaments. Who wish to try a shot for the norms and the FIDE Elo ratings now from this Saturday? First comes - first served.

Laszlo Nagy E-mail: firstsat@hu.inter.net http://www.firstsaturday.hu http://home.hu.inter.net/~firstsat Phone-fax: (+36)-1-263-28-59 Mobile: (+36)-30-230-1914

XX Benidorm Open

The XX Open Internacional de Ajedrez Villa de Benidorm 2007 Benidorm organised an international tournament 1977 till 1995 now it has returned. The event takes place 22nd April - 1st May 2007 (10 rounds). 29.000 Euros in prizes.

Information: Mr. Emilio Pellicer Tel: +34 96 585 16 50. Alfonso Vilches Tel: +34 695 91 56 78. E-mail: open@chessbenidorm.com

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

11th Voronezh Festival

The 11th International Chess Festival Voronezh 2007 takes place 10th-21th June 2007.

Details: http://www.relex.ru/~xuser/voronezh_open

XXV Andorra International Open

The XXV International Chess Open of Andorra takes place 30th June - 8th July 2007. Tournament Hall: Hotel Sant Gothard - Erts (La Massana) ANDORRA Prizes: 10.000 Euros / 1st. Prize: 2.100 Euros All the prizes are tax-free Valid for the Catalan Chess circuit Entries: 35Euros /sub16 20 Euros - Elo +2350 free

For entries and information contact: openandorra@andorra.ad FEVA - Tel/Fax: 00.376.867846 Oscar de la Riva: 00.376.839899 (21:00 a 23:30)

Details: http://www.feva.ad

Dortmunder Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 2007

The Sparkassen Chess Meeting takes place 23rd June - 1st July 2007 in the Dortmund Civic Theatre.

Eight players will compete in a single round robin: Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen, Boris Gelfand, Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Leko, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Arkadij Naiditsch and the winner of the Aeroflot Open 2007 in Moscow (Evgeny Alekseev).

There will be open A and B events alongside.

Cappelle la Grande Open

The Cappelle la Grande mega-open (France) is a 9 round swiss which takes place 3rd-10th March 2007. 1h40/40 moves + 30sec/move + 30min/40 move + 30sec/move (+ 10sec/move since 81th) First price : 3000 Euros Total: 23000 Euros

As in previous years many GMs and IMs compete, this year 15 GMs of over 2600 ELO take part and altogether more than 50 GMs and 50 IMs.

Top Players; GASHIMOV, Vugar 2658, WANG, Yue 2644, ZHANG, Pengxiang 2643, SPRAGGETT, Kevin 2633, MIROSHNICHENKO, Evgenij 2632, NI, Hua 2632, WANG, Hao 2619, BALOGH, Csaba 2616, POSTNY, Evgeny 2616, BRUZON, Lazaro 2614, GAGUNASHVILI, Merab 2611, KHENKIN, Igor 2611, MALAKHATKO, Vadim 2604, BOCHAROV, Dmitry 2602, FEDORCHUK, Sergey 2601.

Official website: http://www.cappelle-chess.com/

Pula Open 2007

The "Pula Open 2007" takes place in Pula, Croatia, 23rd-30th June 2007, in the hotel Histria.

All further information at: http://www.skpula.hr , or contact the tournament director at : pulaopen@globalnet.hr

39th WGM Tournament

The 39th International Women GM tournament takes place 4th-13th March 2007. This is the 3rd longest running event after Hastings and Wijk aan Zee.

Official site: http://www.beochess.org.yu

Mediterranean Championship

The Mediterranean Championship takes place in Cannes 18th-25th February 2007.

Official site: http://www.echecs.asso.fr/(w2srhk55owb1fd55q4cdvni2)/FicheTournoi.aspx?Ref=8660

Georgi Tringov Memorial

The 39th Open Championship - Georgi Tringov Memorial, took place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria 5th-11th February 2007. Krasimir Rusev won the event with 7.5/9. Games from the first two rounds only are available.

The official website of the Open is :http://www.chessmix.com/openplovdiv07/

25th International Chess Championship of the Elba Island

25th International Chess Championship of the Elba Island , a wonderful place for a holiday two groups; first prize Open A (elo from 1800 up) 1.000 euro. official venue Lacona, May 6th-13th 2007 - good opportunities for room and apartments in Lacona Hotel and Residence. There will be somo GM to get norms.

Further details: http://www.tuscanhotels.it/cms.asp?IDPg=10

Hungarian tournaments March - August 2007

The list of the chess tournaments from March - August 2007 in Hungary:

1 3rd-15th of March 2007 FIRST SATURDAY Budapest GM-IM-FM, GM-IM-FM round robins (BERGER), 9 –13 games, GM-IM norm possibilities in Budapest, venue: Hungarian Chess Federation, Falk Miksa Str.10. 2nd floor. Organisation: Nagy Laszlo, FIDE International Chess Organizer /NL/, E-mail: firstsat@hu.inter.net Website: http://www.firstsaturday.hu Other website: http://home.hu.inter.net/~firstsat Phone-fax: +(361)-2632859, cellphone: +(36)-30-230-1914 /From 12:00 a.m. until midnight - Central European Time - GMT+1 hour/..

2. 19th-27th of March, Kecskemet, IM Berger tmt, org: Dr.Erdelyi, Tamas, e-mail: postmaster@caissa.t-online.hu Website: www.caissachessbooks.hu Usually also in the second half of the month IM tmt-s in Kecskemet. 100 km South from Budapest.

3. 16th-24th of March Budapest Spring Festival 9 round Swiss Open, org: Nagy L. www.firstsaturday.hu

4. 7th-20th of April, FS GM-IM-FM, Budapest, org: NL

5. 21st of April – 1st of May GM tmt minimal cat.9. Planned /2451-2475 Elo range/, Org: NL,

6. 5th-18th of May, GM-IM-FM Budapest, org NL,

7. 19th-29th of May, ELEKES MEMORIAL, GM-IM closed, Org: IM Zsinka, e-mail: zsinkala@t-online.hu

8. 2nd -14th of June, FIRST SATURDAY Budapest GM-IM-FM closed. Org : NL

9. 16th-24th of June, Balatonlelle Open, GM-IM closed. Org: IM Rigo, e-mail: me-ri@t-online.hu

10. 7th-19th of July FIRST SATURDAY Budapest, GM-IM-FM closed, Org: NL

11. 4th-16th of August FS Bp, GM-IM-FM, org. Nagy L.

12. 18th-26th of August, TALENTUM CUP Open 9 rounds Swiss, near to the Balaton lake, org: VALIS, Janos, e-mail: husi-sc@hu.inter.net

VI Benidorm Festival

The VI Benidorm Festival takes place 30th November - 9th December 2007.

Further details: http://www.ajedrezalicante.com/menu.htm

Gausdal Classics

Gausdal Classics is played 18-26 April 2007 at the famous high mountain hotel in Gausdal, Norway. There will be a strong GM round-robin with several 2600+ players, a GM Swiss and an ELO Swiss. All tournaments are 9 rounds. Rate of play: 2 hours / 40 moves,1 hour / 20 moves and 0.5 hour / rest. Home page: http://www.bergensjakk.no/gausdal/classics2007/ Contact: hanso.lahlum@c2i.net

Baltic Sea Cup

The Baltic Sea Cup (Bornholm, Denmark) takes place July 30th - August 5th 2007.

Details: http://www.bornholms-skakklub.dk/balticseacup07/

8th Individual European Chess Championships (Men/Open + Women)

The 8th Individual European Chess Championships take place 2-16 April, 2007, in the International Congress Center, Dresden (Germany). 11 rounds Swiss system will be played, 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. The European Championships are open to all players representing the Chess Federations which comprise the European Chess Union (FIDE zones 1.1 to 1.9) regardless of their title or rating. There is no limit of participants per federation; however applications have to be sent by the national federations only, preferable by internet registration form. The Individual European Championships 2007 and the Individual Women`s Championship 2007 are qualification events for the next Chess World Cup or the next World Chess Championships for Women respectively. According to FIDE’s tournament regulations and the decision of the ECU Board, 33 players from the men’s section and 13 players from the women’s section will qualify. The organizer offers a prize fund of 200,000 Euros. In addition FIDE will contribute to the prize fund with an amount of 80,000 US Dollars (60,000 for the open section and 20,000 for the women’s section). FIDE/ECU will deduct 20 % from the total prize fund. The national federations were requested to fill in and return the Application Form not later than 31th January 2007. The organizer will accept late registrations after this date subject to an extra charge. All details regarding schedule, prizes and entry fee are published at the official site: http://www.dresden2008.de (in German and English language).

Currently, over 580 registrations have been made by the national federations at the end of the first application phase - 424 participants in the Open and 162 in the women´s event.

43 of the 54 ECU federations have registered at least one starter. The largest group will come from Germany with 148 chess players followed by the Russian Federation with 88.

The field of participants will be headed by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (ELO 2754) from Azerbaijan, number 5 of the world ranking and the European Champion of 2004 Ivanchuk Vassily (ELO 2750) from the Ukraine. Eight ladies out of the world's TOP 20 will be present in Dresden including Nadezhda Kosintseva (ELO 2496) from Russia and World Champion of 2004 Antoaneta Stefanova (ELO 2483) from Bulgaria.

You can see all registrated players at the official site: change language into English, then the links http://www.dresden2008.de/front_content.php?idcat=183 or http://www.dresden2008.org/anmeldung/registrations.php

Alushta Diary 2007

GM Norm events: 23.05 - 1.06, 2.06 - 12.06, 15.06 - 25.06, 2.09 - 12.09, 14.09 - 24.09, 26.09 - 6.10, IM Norm: 23.05 - 1.06, 2.06 - 12.06, 15.06 - 25.06, 2.09 - 12.09, 14.09 - 24.09, 26.09 - 6.10, Rating tournament: 4.06 - 12.06, 22.06 - 27.06, Open tournament (under 16 years) First prize - 200$ 3.06 - 11.06, 13.06 - 21.06, Alushta Swiss 9 rounds Open tournament First prize - 1000$ First prize (woman) - 500$ 28.06 - 6.07, Alushta Swiss 9 rounds Blitz tournament 7.07, Alushta Swiss 9 rounds Open tournament (rapid chess) 8.07 - 9.07, Alushta Session of school of Gennadi Kuzmin 21.06 - 27.06

Individual and group studying Further information: http://www.kaissa.com.ua phone +38 (06560)5-05-32, +380505828911 (for Russian speaking) + 44 7717890632 (for English speaking, call after 18.00) e-mail: info@kaissa.com.ua

Marienbad Chess Festival

The Marienbad Chess Festival took place 19th-29th January 2007. Final results available but only about half the games so far. Emil Hermansson edged out Mathias Womacka on tie-break after both finished on 7/11. Games from the second half of the event still missing.

Official site: http://www.avekont.cz/marianky/eng/

San Cristobal de La Laguna Open

The San Cristobal de La Laguna open tournament takes place 5th- 11th March 2007 in the Canary Islands - Spain. 9 rounds, 90 minutes + 30 seconds

Details: http://www.lalagunainternacionalajedrez.com/

New England Masters

New England Masters, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, August 13-17, 2007. 9 Round FIDE Swiss with great norm opportunities. Low entry fees and hotel rate, open to players rated FIDE 2200 or higher. Website: http://www.newenglandmasters.com. Email: chris@chesstournamentservices.com.

Pobeskydi Chess Festival

The chess festival "Pobeskydi" takes place 5th-9th April 2007. There will be 2 round robin tournaments with possibility of GM and IM norm and one 9-round Swiss tournament. Prize found will be about 1500euros. For further information visit http://www.chessfm.cz

Kolkata Open Grandmaster Chess tournament

The Alekhine Chess Club is organising Kolkata Open Grandmaster Chess tournament 25th February - 6th March 2007 at the Gorky Sadan, Kolkata. 80 players, 20-24 GMs, 24 IMs, expected. Highly rated and a few unrated from about 20 countries. The details of our evet is also available at the web site of All India Chess Federation at : http://www.indianchessfed.org/prospectus/2007/Internationalgrandmasters004-2007.asp

5th Nancy Festival

Players for 5th international chess festival in Nancy (France) 19th-26th February 2007   Category 10 Average : 2490 GM-norm : 6/9   gmi Moradiabadi, Elshan 2569 Iran gmi Sandipan, Chanda 2561 Inde gmi Guliyev, Namig 2545 Azerbaidjan mi Sikula, Vaszilij 2515 Ukraine mi Okhotnik, Vladimir 2486 France mi Abergel, Thal 2475 France mi Marzolo, Cyril 2472 France mi Wirig, Anthony 2433 France mf Brunner, Nicolas 2426 France mf Nezar, Mustapha 2423 France

Further details: http://philippechess.free.fr/Festival2007/F07english.html

3rd European Union Individual Chess Championship

The 3rd European  Union Individual Chess Championship takes place in Arvier (Aosta Valley Italy)   June 15th - 24th 2007  

Details: http://www.scacchivda.com/

7th European Individual Senior Championship

The 7th European Individual Senior Championship takes place 2 - 10 June, 2007, in the Business-Lounge of the Hockenheim circuit (Germany). The championship is open for all European seniors and senior women. Ladies shall be born before 1st Jan 1957, gentlemen before 1st Jan 1947. 9 rounds Swiss system, ELO rated. Time control: 40 moves in 2 hours + 1 hour quick-play finish. All details regarding schedule, prizes and entry fee are published on the website of the festival: http://www.euro-seniorchamp.de.vu Host:Karpov Chess Academy Hockenheim (Karpow-Schachakademie Hockenheim e.V.) - President Dieter Auer email: karpow@schachakademie-hockenheim.de

Offene Internationale Stuttgarter Stadtmeisterschaft 2007

The Offene Internationale Stuttgarter Stadtmeisterschaft 2007, takes place 17.5. - 20.5.2007, in Gerlingen, South-Germany. 7 Rounds, Swiss System, A/B-tournament, over 7000 € prizes.

Details: http://www.stuttgarter-stadtmeisterschaft.de

30th San Sebastian Open

The 30th San Sebastian International Chess Open takes place 1st to 8th of April 2007. Rate of Play: 90 minutes + 30 sec/move

Contact Phone: +34 943474604 +34 943396149 Email: xake@fgajedrez.org

Further details: http://www.fgajedrez.org

Banyoles Chess Festival 2007

The Banyoles Chess Festival includes two tournaments: The Rapid-Chess Tournament is on 15th of August. And from the 16th until 24th of August is held the International Chess Tournament. Here, you will find more information about them: 3rd. "Lluís Muratet" Rapid-Chess Tournament This will be played the 15th of August of 2007. Rapid-Chess (20 minutes or 15min+5"). 9 Rounds. Prizes: 1st. 800 €; Prize fund: 2.000 €. (Valid for Catalan Chess Circuit) 10th Banyoles International Chess Tournament From 16th until 24th of August of 2007. Swiss System. 9 Rounds. 105 minutes + 30 seconds/movement. Prizes: 1st. 2.000 € (4.000 € if the winner achieves 9 points); Prize fund: 8.000 €. (Valid for the Catalan Chess Circuit). Nigel Short has announced his participation.

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

Battle of Senta tournament

The 11th International Chess Festival "The Battle of Senta 1697" takes place 20th-30th July 2007 in Senta (the Vojvodina / Serbia).

Details: http://www.chess-senta.org.yu

Monroi Grand Prix for Women

Women in chess are being recognized by a Grand-Prix series of international chess events. The events will be broadcast live using the MonRoi system. “The world’s best women chess players have the opportunity to qualify in some of the top tournaments in the world. We invite you to follow live games, pictorial and video reports! Join us in Gibraltar, Cannes, Zagreb, Dresden, Liechtenstein, St. Petersburg and Philadelphia and Montreal!” said Brana Giancristofaro, Founder & CEO of MonRoi Inc. The Grand-Prix Finale will be held in Montreal, Canada July 21-28, 2007. Qualifiers will be selected on the basis of top performance and will compete for Finale prizes! The Grand-Prix starts on January 23rd, 2007, in Gibraltar! Qualifying events are the following:

GibTelecom, Gibraltar, January 23 - February 1
Cannes Open, FRA, February 18-25
Zagreb Open, CRO, March 17-25
ECU Individual, Dresden GER, April 2-15
Liechtenstein Open, May 11-19
White Nights, St. Petersburg RUS, June 16-24
World Open, Philadelphia USA, June 28 - July 4
Montreal Chess Festival Finale, July 21-28

Further details: http://www.monroi.com/GP

Sydney International Open

SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL OPEN (10/04/2007-14/04/2007) - Australia's strongest Open tournament ever held.

More information at http://www.chessaustralia.com.au/open or contact info@chessaustralia.com.au

Novi Sad Chess

Novi Sad will host the 2009 Europian National Team Championship. In the run up to that the Championship of Novi Sad takes place 18th-25th March 2007.

Further detail: http://www.drazic.co.yu

Dutch Team Championship

The Dutch Team Championship Meesterklasse takes place 23rd October 2006 - 12th May 2006. The fourth round took place on December 16th 2006.

Dutch Chess Federation: http://www.schaakbond.nl/ - Meesterklasse Games side bar at: http://www.schakers.info/ - Photo reports at: http://www.chessvista.com

Politiken Cup

The 29th Copenhagen Open Politiken Cup takes place 21st-29th July 2007.

Official site: http://www.politikencup.dk/

Coulsdon Christmas International

The Coulsdon Christmas International takes place 11th-15th December 2006. The organisers need 2 titled and 1 non-titled players for the 10 player all-play-all event for IM norms. In addition, we there are 3 spaces in their Challengers' event. If interested contact Scott Freeman chess@ccfworld.com

Details: http://www.ccfworld.com/Chess/Results/2006-12-15_International.htm

Prague Open 2007

PRAGUE OPEN 2007 (11.-18.1. 2007 - 2 FIDE opens, one of them with a possibility to fulfill IM norm, active chess and blitz tournament, more information at the address http://www.czechtour.net/praha/index.php

Marienbad Open 2007

MARIENBAD OPEN 2007 Marienbad is the second largest spa town in the Czech Republic, 19.-27.1. 2007 - closed GM tournament, closed IM tournament, FIDE open, active chess and blitz tournament, http://www.czechtour.net/marlazne/index.php

Swiss Chess Tour 2007

The Swiss Chess Tour 2007 starts in Basle in the New Year (1.-7.1.2007.). Venue of Chess Festival for 9th time is Hotel Hilton in Basle.

Hilton Open (1-7.1.2007.) 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 (1947), junior (1987-90), schoolboy (1991). Enter fee: 140 CHF (FM and juniors 70 CHF) GM & IM free. At the door 20 CHF.

Players so far for Basle: GM Ulf Andersson (SWE), GM Borislav Ivkov (SCG), GM Andrei Sokolov (FRA), GM Miso Cebalo (CRO), GM Igor Rausis (BAN), GM Nenad Sulava (CRO), GM Stefan Djuric (SCG), IM Martin Senff (GER), IM Simon Kuemin (SUI) etc.

Basle amateur (1-7.1.2007.) 7 Rounds, 4 hours (90 minutes 30 moves + 30 minutes to complete the game). Players under 1900 rating (FIDE or national). Enter fee: 120 CHF (juniors 60 CHF). At the door 20 CHF. Prizes: 500/400/2x300/2x200/4x150 CHF.

Basle juniors (2.1.2007.) 7 Rounds, 15 minutes for the game. Juniors 1987 and younger. Enter fee 5 CHF. Natural prizes for all players.

Basel Lighting Chess (6.1.2007. from 14.00 to 16.00) 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.

More information and registration: Robert Spoerri tel. +41+62+9654-650, fax +41+62+9654-651 E-mail info@beochess.ch Further information: http://www.beochess.ch or http://yubc.net/~yuchess

Slovenian Chess Centre

The Slovenian Chess Federation opened a centre on the 21st October 2006.

Official site: http://www.sah-zveza.si/news/0610/sahdom/

Pierre Barthélémy Chess Blog

Pierre Barthélémy Chess Blog in French: http://echecs-info.blogspot.com

66th Italian Championship

The 66th Italian Championship takes place 21st November - 4th December 2006. The tournament will consist of 11 players in a round robin at Hotel Impero in Cremona. Games will be played on DGT boards, and viewable live at the Italian Chess Federation web site.

Official tournament information: http://federscacchi.it/doc/notcom/d20060902032222_bando_66.pdf

Official federation site: http://www.federscacchi.it/

Sydney International Open 2007

The 2007 Sydney International Open will be held as a 9-round FIDE-rated Swiss event from 10th-14th April 2007. The venue is Parramatta Town Hall, an historic centre and business hub just 30 minutes by train from Central Sydney and International Airport. Some conditions are offered to titled players. It is also possible to play in Australia's largest weekender, the Doeberl Cup, a 7-round FIDE-rated event held in Canberra 6-9 April 2007. An information sheet, registration form and other details are available at http://www.chessaustralia.com.au/open. The organisers are Australian Chess Enterprises. Contact is Brian Jones at info@chessaustralia.com.au

Czech Tour 2006-7

There is new information about the Czech Tour 2006/2007 including:

6th PRAGUE OPEN (TOP HOTEL Praha) 11th-18th January 2007.

6th MARIENBAD OPEN (the Evropa hotel) 19th-27th January 2007.

Further details: http://www.czechtour.net or Dr. Jan Mazuch, Director of CZECH OPEN & CZECH TOUR - j.mazuch@avekont.cz

In addition there is the 27th Tournament of Chess Hopes and 17th Pobeskydi Tournament organised by the town of Frydek-Mistek 13th-17th April 2006.

Further details: http://www.chessfm.cz

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