THE WEEK IN CHESS 734 1st December 2008 by Mark Crowther

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Mark Crowther
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Contents

1) Introduction
2) Robert Graham Wade 1921-2008
3) Dresden Olympiad
4) Remco Heite
5) 15th Tuzla International
6) National Chess Congress
7) 12th Zenica Tournament
8) 9th Liberec Open International
9) US Chess League
10) Young stars of the world
11) Brasilia Scheveningen
12) Copa PDV Sur
13) 21st Belgrade Trophy
14) Kaikoura International
15) Czech Coal Chess Match
16) British Rapidplay
17) Sisak International
18) Sub Zonal 2.3.4
19) Kazino Cuban
20) Open "Mediterranean 2017" Rijeka
21) VII Benidorm International Chess Festival
22) Harry Nelson Pillsbury Memorial
23) 17th North American FIDE Invitational
24) 77th Ukrainian Championships
25) Grand Slam Masters Final
26) FIDE News
27) Championship of Israel
28) Forthcoming Events and Links

Games Section
Dresden Olympiad712 games
Remco Heite15 games
15th Tuzla International45 games
National Chess Congress63 games
9th Liberec Open International93 games
Young stars of the world18 games
Brasilia Scheveningen15 games
21st Belgrade Trophy341 games
Kaikoura International195 games
Czech Coal Chess Match12 games
British Rapidplay87 games
Sub Zonal 2.3.467 games
17th North American FIDE Invitational45 games
1508 games

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Kasparov at the London Chess Centre 4th December 2008

Deep Fritz 11

UK/World - US/CAN

My 60 Memorable Games

ChessBase Now Out

1) Introduction

My thanks to Jonathan Berry, Gary Suffield, Dennis Monokroussos, Axel Fritz, Brent Kitson, Georgios Souleidis, Gorka Bravo, Justin Davis, Luis Blasco de la Cruz, Luiz Roberto Da Costa Jr, George Mirijanian, David Navara, Peter Boel, Sergey Bystrov, Sevan Muradian and everyone else who helped with the issue.

Its been a sad week. The death of Bob Wade is a great loss to the game, his contribution to the literature of the game, especially through his editorship at Batsford, is immeasurable, his contribution to FIDE, the help and time he gave to players and writers world wide is a huge gap to fill. He helped my magazine in the early days and we were in touch over the years, I will miss him.

Armenia retained their Olympiad title, they were only 9th seeds and should have felt the loss of Karen Asrian earlier this year but they were impressive. Second were Israel and Third the USA. Top seeds Russia and Ukraine were 4th and 3rd respectively. Apparently Vassily Ivanchuk refused a drug test after the final round which could have severe repercussions for him.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) Robert Graham Wade 1921-2008

It is with extreme sadness that I have to report that Bob Wade, International Master, arbiter, journalist, coach, organiser, writer, editor, chess archivist, friend to chess and friend to me, died 29th November 2008 at 3am from pneumonia, he had been in the Elisabeth Hospital in Woolwich for three days for complications from a common cold.

Robert Graham Wade was born April 10th 1921 in Dunedin, New Zealand and died in London, England Saturday 29th November 2008.

Bob's influence on the game covered every area imaginable, and made him a true giant of the game. His kindness and generosity will stay with all those who knew him.

Playing career

His playing career was that of a solid middle ranking professional. He was three time New Zealand Champion, twice British Champion, played in seven Olympiads and one Interzonal (see his Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wade_(chess_player)) he also played in a lot of tournaments against the world's best, especially in Eastern Europe and Cuba (playing in a number of Capablanca Memorial tournaments). He regarded himself lucky to do so and bemoaned the fact that the top players of today don't play against a wider range of opponents. His last major event was the Staunton Memorial in London in July where he was really set up to lose, even a single draw would have left him with a higher rating, he fought gamely it has to be said. A far better result was achieved in 2006 in the Queenstown Chess Classic where he scored 6/10 including a draw against the winner Murray Chandler. He played a final game for the Athenaeum Chess Club in recent weeks.

It is not really in his playing results however that his influence lies. He used to have the reputation of playing maverick openings. He lived to see a number of these "Wade Variations" make it to use and respectability at the very highest level.

FIDE

He represented New Zealand and Australia at the FIDE Congress at Paris 1949 and soon became an influential figure within the organisation serving under every FIDE President until Kirsan Iljumzhinov (although his overlap with Alexandre Rueb would have been very short). At the young age of 29 (for an administrator) he was a member of the FIDE committee that first awarded official titles in 1950. 27 players were awarded the title of Grandmaster at that time including all the elite and retired great players such as Akiba Rubinstein and Oldrich Duras. Bob was one of 94 players awarded an IM title at that time (awarded by the FIDE Congress, he didn't sit in arbitration on his own title), a title he refused to trade up to an honorary GM title in later years, the old IM title was worth far more! He chaired the Title and Ratings Committee Meeting in Curitiba, Brazil in 1993. He was disappointed not to be appointed Chairman of the Rules Committee in 1994 and this more or less ended his involvement in FIDE. He was involved in the World Championship cycle as arbiter and administrator from 1950. He was also arbiter for many important FIDE events including Olympiads, many of the strong opens in England, USSR vs the Rest of the World 1984 (the first major event I ever attended) and the 1993 Kasparov vs Short world championship match which was a breakaway match from FIDE. [My thanks to Stewart Reuben for information about his important work for FIDE]

Bob Wade was also a member of the committee that drew up the first official FIDE laws of the game (Bob Wade British Chess Magazine Interview PDF file).

Coach, archivist, writer and godfather to TWIC

Bob was a hugely influential chess coach in the UK. He taught many of our Grandmaster's in their formative years, or helped them with study materials, but he also just taught chess to anyone who was interested and without regard for their potential (Steve Davis the snooker player knew him well having been taught the game as a teenager by him). Without him I don't believe England would have produced so many strong players as it did in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

A fax from Bob to Bob
Bob was Fischer's go to guy. Photo © Mark Crowther

I first met Bob Wade in 1992 before I'd even heard of the internet. Bob was lecturing on the return of Bobby Fischer for the return match against Boris Spassky in Sveti Stefan. Afterwards I showed him my large collection of articles from the Yugoslav press on Fischer. He invited me to visit him and even photocopied a fax from Fischer (which I found when researching this) to him asking him to compile a dossier of Spassky's games. This was a job he'd also done for the match in 1972. At that time he lived in a lovely house in the leafy suburbs of London which he rented. Sadly he lost his place in this house upon the owner moving and lived in a much more humble flat in later years.

At that time not only did Bob have what seemed to be almost every important book ever published, and a huge collection of tournament bulletins but he also received the raw gamescores from many important tournaments which he compiled into bulletins himself and self published. I think the care he took over these often less important tournaments puts to shame the carelessness we have with gamescores and historical records of tournaments in these days of electronic boards even though fixing them would be easy.

Read any book, certainly from the UK, from the 1960s up until the 1990s and it will contain a word of thanks to Bob who would either look things up for the author or invite him round for extensive research. His collection was I think bought and financed in part by Batsford, who he had a close association with, most of it now resides with in the ECF chess library in Hastings.

Bob Wade also wrote numerous books which were high on content. My all time favourite was "Wade and O'Connell" for short, "The Games of Bobby Fischer". Virtually all Fischer's games, some great articles and annotations and fabulous photos. Other books included "Soviet Chess" (just a forgotten masterpiece), "The World Chess Championship" (with Gligoric), "World championship interzonals: Leningrad and Petropolis, 1973", "Playing Chess", "World Chess Championship 1951 by W. Winter, R. G. Wade" and a number of long forgotten opening books and tournament bulletins. He was chess editor for Batsford at the start of its great years.

Over the next few years as I started TWIC Bob helped me get gamescores from all over the world and his phone calls were a regular thing to my house as was the whirring of the fax machine, I never really did wean him off it and onto email. My parents were sad too, as they got to know him well so often did he call my house. He also asked for news for his regular journalism and writing. The fact that he never got a daily column in a major newspaper is a real shame as he was the source of much of the material to other journalists at that time. People have said that his politics (he was a communist) probably cost him in this area. His help and inspiration make him a real godfather to TWIC. I will miss him.

There is a recent book Bob Wade: Tribute to a Chess Master - compiled and edited by Ray Cannon about him. There is an obituary at: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5043, tributes at: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5045 and also http://www.bcmchess.co.uk/ with a very interesting interview.

Press: Malcolm Pein in the Daily Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3537210/Robert-Wade.html and Leonard Barden in the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/dec/01/bob-wade-obituary

The details of the funeral are yet to be announced.

3) Dresden Olympiad

The Olympiad took place in Dresden 12th-25th November 2008. Armenia retained their title gained two years ago. I'm sure that the tragically early passing of Karen Asrian in June who helped them to that title two years ago will be remembered at the moment of this triumph. Israel took 2nd and the USA 3rd. The top three were seeds 9, 8 and 10. The top seeds 1-5 took places 4-8.Georgia edged out Ukraine in the women's event where the lead changed place a lot. Leaders going into the final round were Poland, they lost narrowly 2.5-1.5 and didn't even win a medal.

England's sponsorship by Liverpool Victoria also known as LV= has ensured the participation of their best players Adams and Short. Topalov, Morozevich, Carlsen, Ivanchuk, Kramnik, Aronian, Radjabov, Leko, Jakovenko, Wang Yue were amongst the leading players.

David Navara sent corrections to the end of four of his games. Not a great sign for the rest I'm afraid.

The new rule that players have to arrive before the starting of the clocks saw 17 (Open) and 11 (Women's) for a total of 28 Zero Forfeits from the new rule. FIDE hope to introduce it generally but 15 minutes was a more popular limit amongst the players.

Official site: http://dresden2008.de - Europe-Echecs Videos - ICC Weblog https://webcast.chessclub.com/blog/ - ChessVibes videos and reports: http://www.chessvibes.com - Olympiad Chess Results.com

38th Olympiad Dresden (GER), 13-25 xi 2008
Leading Final Round 11 Standings
Rg.SnrTeamTeamAnz+ = - Wtg1 Wtg2 Wtg3 Wtg4
19ArmeniaARM1191119400.515231
28IsraelISR1182118377.514928
310United States of AmericaUSA118121736214629
42UkraineUKR1173117348.516325.5
51RussiaRUS117221637515627
64AzerbaijanAZE1172216359.514729
73ChinaCHN1172216357.515027
85HungaryHUN1172216341.514027.5
937VietnamVIE117221634013729
1012SpainESP1172216337.514227.5
1117GeorgiaGEO118031632113828
1220NetherlandsNED117131534314627.5
1311Germany 1GER1116321533915126.5
146BulgariaBUL1171315327.513229.5
1515EnglandENG116321532014726
1613IndiaIND117131531014226
1728SloveniaSLO117131528813426
1823BelarusBLR115421430713726.5
1914RomaniaROU1170414306.513825.5
2022SerbiaSRB117041430214425
2119NorwayNOR115421430013924
227FranceFRA116231429514725
2316CubaCUB1162314294.514225.5
2427GreeceGRE1154214292.513725.5
2530SwedenSWE116231428613325.5
2642MontenegroMNE116231427912925.5
2724CroatiaCRO1162314275.513024.5
2848CanadaCAN1162314272.510930
2921PolandPOL116141330113427
3029Bosnia & HerzegovinaBIH116141329412625.5
3125SlovakiaSVK116141329013427
3252FinlandFIN1153313287.512627.5
3351EstoniaEST115331328211528
3435LithuaniaLTU115331327813424.5
3547Germany 3GER31153313276.512227
3650TurkeyTUR1153313276.512127.5
3734KazakhstanKAZ1161413272.513225.5
3818Czech RepublicCZE1161413270.513026
3932DenmarkDEN1161413268.513125
4040IranIRI116141326512326.5
4144ItalyITA116141326113425.5
4241Germany 2GER2115331325913023
4326MoldovaMDA1145213258.513323.5
4443LatviaLAT1153313257.512625.5
4554AustriaAUT1153313252.512824.5
4638PhilippinesPHI116141325012823.5
4755BangladeshBAN116141324912125.5
4864ParaguayPAR1161413220.511624
154 teams

38th Olympiad Dresden Women (GER), 13-25 xi 2008
Leading Final Round 11 Standings
Rg.SnrTeamTeamAnz+ = - Wtg1 Wtg2 Wtg3 Wtg4
14GeorgiaGEO1182118411.514831
22UkraineUKR1174018406.514630
37United States of AmericaUSA1181217390.514530.5
41RussiaRUS117311736714429.5
59PolandPOL1181217364.515727.5
66ArmeniaARM118031635314528
710SerbiaSRB1172216318.514626.5
83ChinaCHN1163215392.515927.5
921IsraelISR116321532513727.5
1026BelarusBLR1163215317.511929.5
1116RomaniaROU1171315306.514626.5
1233ItalyITA116321528013026.5
135FranceFRA1162314336.513729.5
148HungaryHUN116231432114826.5
1511IndiaIND1162314320.514525
1615SlovakiaSVK1170414299.513426
1747MongoliaMGL116231428914023.5
1817NetherlandsNED117041428614324
1913BulgariaBUL116231428212726.5
2030CroatiaCRO1170414281.512327.5
2112Germany 1GER1115421427913224.5
2243UzbekistanUZB116231426713724
2322SpainESP1170414266.513524.5
2419GreeceGRE1161413307.512429.5
2525CubaCUB116141328812528
2624VietnamVIE1161413272.513325
2736AustriaAUT1161413269.513524.5
2827LatviaLAT1153313266.512426
2929ArgentinaARG116141326212527
3042TurkeyTUR1161413249.512125.5
3128AzerbaijanAZE1153313246.514121.5
3246EstoniaEST1161413245.511826
3332MoldovaMDA116141323813223
3448Germany 2GER2116141323613123
3534MontenegroMNE1161413227.511924.5
114 teams

38th Olympiad Dresden (GER), 13-25 xi 2008
Top Board Performances
Board 1
Rg.NameEloTeamRpAnzPkt.
1GMLeko Peter2747Hungary2834107.5
2GMGelfand Boris2719Israel2833107.5
3GMTopalov Veselin2791Bulgaria282186.5
4GMMovsesian Sergei2732Slovakia279497
5GMMeier Georg2558Germany 2277997
6GMWang Yue2736China2773106.5
7GMKamsky Gata2729United States of America2768106.5
8GMBacrot Etienne2705France2766106.5
9GMJobava Baadur2664Georgia2758106.5
10GMCarlsen Magnus2786Norway2757117.5
11GMShirov Alexei2726Spain2755107
12GMBeliavsky Alexander G2619Slovenia2744106.5
13GMAronian Levon2757Armenia2743105.5
14GMKramnik Vladimir2772Russia273595
15GMIvanchuk Vassily2786Ukraine2722116
16GMKasimdzhanov Rustam2672Uzbekistan272196.5
17GMRadjabov Teimour2752Azerbaijan271395
18GMSasikiran Krishnan2694India2712106
19GMNaiditsch Arkadij2678Germany 12706105.5
20GMNyback Tomi2639Finland270185.5
Board 2
Rg.NameEloTeamRpAnzPkt.
1GMAkopian Vladimir2679Armenia2813118
2GMVallejo Pons Francisco2664Spain2807119
3GMKotronias Vasilios2587Greece2781118.5
4GMPredojevic Borki2615Bosnia & Herzegovina2745118.5
5GMShort Nigel D2642England2741107
Board 3
Rg.NameEloTeamRpAnzPkt.
1GMSargissian Gabriel2642Armenia2869119
2GMGashimov Vugar2703Azerbaijan276596.5
3GMHillarp Persson Tiger2543Sweden2762108
4GMAleksandrov Aleksej2617Belarus273897
5GMAlmasi Zoltan2663Hungary2734107
Board 4
Rg.NameEloTeamRpAnzPkt.
1GMBlagojevic Dragisa2522Montenegro279298
2GMDelchev Aleksander2632Bulgaria278898
3GMFridman Daniel2630Germany 12741107
4GMHuseynov Gadir2650Azerbaijan273986
5GMEfimenko Zahar2680Ukraine272696
6GMMorozevich Alexander2787Russia272096
Board 5
Rg.NameEloTeamRpAnzPkt.
1GMJakovenko Dmitry2737Russia279497
2GMRodshtein Maxim2609Israel277697
3GMBerkes Ferenc2645Hungary269696.5
4GMVuckovic Bojan2561Serbia269597
5GMLi Chao B2622China268085.5

4) Remco Heite

The Remco Heite tournament took place Friday 28th - Sunday 30th November 2008 in the Dutch city of Wolvega. Loek van Wely and Bartlomiej Macieja finished on 3.5/5. Erwin L'Ami won the Open A tournament but I couldn't find a full game file.

On Saturday and Sunday an Open also took place in Wolvega, featuring grandmasters Erwin L'Ami, Sipke Ernst, Friso Nijboer, John van der Wiel and Zhaoqin Peng. In this 9-round open the players will have 45 minutes each for the entire game.

Games, reports (in Dutch) and photos: http://www.heiteschaaktoernooi.nl

Remco Heite Wolvega (NED), 28-30 xi 2008 cat. XV (2605)
1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2618 * 0 1 1 ½ 1 2751
2. Macieja, Bartlomiej g POL 2600 1 * 0 ½ 1 1 2755
3. Tiviakov, Sergei g NED 2686 0 1 * ½ ½ 1 3 2661
4. Jussupow, Artur g GER 2570 0 ½ ½ * 1 1 3 2684
5. Agdestein, Simen g NOR 2588 ½ 0 ½ 0 * 0 1 2368
6. Van den Doel, Erik g NED 2570 0 0 0 0 1 * 1 2372

5) 15th Tuzla International

The 15th Tuzla International Tournament took place 21st-27th November 2008.

Official site: http://www.bihchess.com/ and results: http://chess-results.com/tnr17442.aspx?lan=2

15th It Tuzla (BIH), 21-27 xi 2008 cat. II (2300)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Budimir, Boris f BIH 2328 * 0 ½ 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 2463
2. Mrkonjic, Nenad m CRO 2364 1 * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 6 2418
3. Nurkic, Sahbaz m BIH 2408 ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 6 2413
4. Goric, Esad m CRO 2385 0 ½ ½ * 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 2370
5. Sprecic, Mustafa f BIH 2276 1 0 1 0 * ½ 0 ½ 1 1 5 2346
6. Karahmetovic, Adnan BIH 2300 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 4 2257
7. Bajramovic, Halid BIH 2206 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ * ½ ½ 0 2230
8. Majeric, Zoran m CRO 2296 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 2220
9. Mujic, Hamza f BIH 2309 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * 1 2219
10. Nezirovic, Ozren CAN 2131 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 0 * 2046

6) National Chess Congress

The National Chess Congress took place in Philadelphia, 28th-30th November 2008. Bryan G Smith won with 5.5/6

Official site: http://chesstournamentservices.com/cca/national-chess-congress/

National Chess Congress Philadelphia (USA), 28-30 xi 2008
#Name TiRtng Tot
1Bryan G Smith IM2469
2Giorgi Kacheishvili GM26445
3Zhe Quan FM24655
4Daniel Ludwig 24555
5Alexander Fishbein GM2604
6Mackenzie Molner 2425
7Thomas Bartell 2386
8Alexander Shabalov GM26324
9Alex Lenderman IM25284
10Dean J Ippolito IM24944
11Kirill Kuderinov IM24604
12Marc R Esserman 24244
13Oleg N Zaikov FM23754
14Daniel A Yeager FM23434
15Mikhail Zlotnikov IM23384
16Leonid Kritz GM2647
17Sergey Erenburg GM2637
18Jay Bonin IM2409
19Mark A Heimann 2407
20Rodion Rubenchik FM2343
21Igor A Nikolayev FM2326
22Alexander C Heimann 2312
23Darmen Sadvakasov GM26383
24Justin Sarkar IM24873
25Raymond Kaufman FM23273
26Alisa Melekhina WFM23103
27Michael Dougherty FM22823
28Darwin Yang FM22793
29Yefim Treger 22693
30Alexander Barnett 22583
69 players

7) 12th Zenica Tournament

The 12th Zenica tournament takes place 29th November - 6th December 2008. Emir Dizdarevic leads with 3.5/4.

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

8) 9th Liberec Open International

The 9th Liberec Open International Chess Festival took place 15th-22nd November 2008 in Liberec in the (the Czech Republic). Pavel Vavra won on tie-break from Sebastian Plischki after both scored 8/9. Games from rounds 6-9 now available.

Official site: http://www.czechtour.net/liberec-open/results-and-games/ and games at http://www.czechtour.net/liberec-open/games/

9th Open Liberec (CZE), 15-23 xi 2008
Final Round 9 Standings:
Rk.NameFEDRtgIPts.TB1
1Vavra PavelIMCZE2299854.5
2Plischki SebastianIMGER2409853
3Golcman EvgenyRUS22526.549
4Navratil sen. JiriCZE21286.548
5Snorek MilanCZE21576.546
6Kucera Petr 88CZE21436.542
7Benes PetrCZE2156654.5
8Meszaros Ludek Ing.CZE2223652.5
9Bartos JanFMCZE2203651.5
10Kaderabek JiriCZE2201648.5
11Kopasov EvgenyRUS2046647.5
12Broucek TomasCZE1990643.5
13Sisak RichardCZE2051643
14Jakovlev JuriEST05.550
15Kucera JaroslavCZE20125.548.5
16Cakl ZdenekCZE21105.548.5
17Mojzis Jan Ing.CZE21575.547.5
18Tesar Jan JUDr.CZE21235.547
19Braun MarekCZE20535.546.5
20Sielicki TomaszPOL20635.546
21Paldus PetrCZE20425.544.5
22Jina LubosCZE19535.543
23Hollmann ZdenekCZE20315.543
24Blahacek Evzen Ing.CZE20145.542
25Navratil jun. JiriCZE18445.538
92 players

9) US Chess League

The 2008 season of the US Chess League started 25th August 2008. Semi finals took place on 19th November 2008. Finals are on December 6th.

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

US Chess League ICCINT, 27 viii-29 xi 2008
Semifinals:
19th November 2008
BostonvsCarolina
1GMEugene PerelshteynBOSvsIMLev MilmanCAR1/2
2FMOleg ZaikovCARvsSMJorge Sammour-HasbunBOS1/2
3SMMarc EssermanBOSvsFMRon SimpsonCAR1/2
4NMCraig JonesCARvsNMIlya KrasikBOS0-1
MiamivsDallas
1GMJulio BecerraMIAvsIMMarko ZivanicDAL1/2
2IMDavorin KuljasevicDALvsFMBruci LopezMIA1-0
3FMOsmany PereaMIAvsFMIgor SchneiderDAL1/2
4WFMBayaraa ZorigtDALvsMatan PrilleltenskyMIA1-0

10) Young stars of the world

The Young Stars of the World Somov Memorial took place 15th-28th November 2008 in Kirishi city (Leningrad region) in their Culture Palace. Aleksandr Shimanov edged out Yaroslav Zherebukh on tie-break after both finished on 9/11.

Official site: http://www.somovs-memorial.ru/ Further information: http://www.bs-chess.com/russian.html (RUS) and http://www.bs-chess.com/latin/english.html

Young Stars of the World Kirishi (RUS), 16-28 xi 2008 cat. V (2359)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
1. Shimanov, Aleksandr m RUS 2476 * ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 2657
2. Zherebukh, Yaroslav m UKR 2473 ½ * ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 2658
3. Giri, Anish f RUS 2466 ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 7 2451
4. Swiercz, Dariusz m POL 2478 0 0 ½ * ½ 1 ½ 1 1 0 1 1 2413
5. Fedoseev, Vladimir3 f RUS 2312 0 0 0 ½ * 1 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 2428
6. Lintchevski, Daniil m RUS 2502 0 ½ ½ 0 0 * 1 0 1 1 1 1 6 2382
7. Kovalev, Vladislav f BLR 2318 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 5 2327
8. Firat, Burak TUR 2237 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ * ½ 1 1 0 2305
9. Bukavshin, Ivan f RUS 2376 0 0 1 0 0 0 ½ ½ * 1 ½ 1 2292
10. Aghasaryan, Robert f ARM 2235 0 0 0 1 ½ 0 0 0 0 * ½ ½ 2159
11. Paikidze, Nazi wf GEO 2292 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ 2154
12. Ganichev, Alexander RUS 2148 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ * 2 2116

11) Brasilia Scheveningen

A Scheveningen system tournament organised by the Axbra Chess Club took place in Brasilia (Brazil) 24th-29th November, 2008 with 2GMs and 1 IM against 3 local players. I don't have official results or the final round games.

Official site: http://www.axbra.com.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=65&Itemid=53 and games: http://www.clubedexadrez.com.br/download/2poupex_08/2poupex_08.htm

II Poupex Int Brasilia (BRA), 24-29 xi 2008
Foreign Players
1 Milos,G 2593 5.0/5
2 Matsuura,E 2469 4.0/5
3 Andersson,U 2562 3.5/5
Local Players
1 Shumyatsky,V 2063 1.5/5
2 Lucena,L 2239 1.0/5
3 Soares,J 2149 0.0/5

12) Copa PDV Sur

The Torneo Internacional Copa PDV Sur takes place in Buenos Aires - Club Argentino de Ajedrez - 30th November - 11th December 2008.

Dates: 1st Round: 30.11.2008 2nd Round: 01.12.2008 3rd Round: 02.12.2008 4th Round: 03.12.2008 5th Round: 04.12.2008 6th Round: 07.12.2008 7th Round: 08.12.2008 8tn Round: 10.12.2008 9th Round: 11.12.2008

Official site: http://www.argentinodeajedrez.com.ar/index.htm

13) 21st Belgrade Trophy

The 21st Belgrade Trophy 2008 takes place in Obrenovac (near Belgrade). The Belgrade Open, Belgrade Trophy, or International Belgrade Open Chess Championship takes place November 27th - December 5th, 2008. Organizers: Belgrade Chess Federation and Obrenovac City.

Official site: http://www.beochess.org.yu/2008/trofej_beograda2008/english_bgopen2008.html

21st Belgrade Trophy Obrenovac (SRB), 27 xi-5 xii 2008
Leading Round 4 (of 9) Standings:
Rank Name IRtg FED Pts BH. BH. SB.
1 GM Velimirovic Dragoljub 2415 SRB 4 10 10.00
2 GM Abramovic Bosko 2484 SRB 4 9.50
3 IM Cvetkovic Srdjan 2378 SRB 4 4 9 9.00
4 Panic Nenad 2360 SRB 4 8 8.00
5 Maksimovic Miroslav 2245 SRB 6 7.75
6 GM Simic Radoslav 2373 SRB 10½ 8.75
7 GM Kasparov Sergey 2492 BLR 10 8.25
8 GM Todorovic Goran M 2478 SRB 5 10½ 8.75
IM Gunnarsson Jon Viktor 2430 ISL 5 10½ 8.75
10 FM Ilic Zoran 2290 MKD 5 10 8.25
11 Kahrovic Mersid 2259 SRB 5 7.75
12 FM Jovanovic Zoran Z 2336 SRB 9 8.00
13 IM Andrijevic Milan 2367 SRB 7.00
14 GM Pogorelov Ruslan 2441 UKR 8 6.50
15 GM Bogdanovski Vlatko 2393 MKD 4 7.75
16 GM Cabrilo Goran 2500 SRB 4 6.75
231 players

14) Kaikoura International

The 2008 South Island Championship was played in Kaikoura, South Island of New Zealand 8th-11th November 2008. Murray Chandler, Darryl Johansen and Stephen Solomon finished with 7/9. There is a Chao Qi in the rating list but they are given as unrated in the official standings, I do find it a bit unlikely its not the same person.

Crosstable and results :- http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/results.html photos at http://www.nzchessevents.myphotoalbum.com

Open Kaikoura NZL 8-11 xi 2008
Leading Round 9 Standings:
1. Chandler, Murray G g NZL 2515 7.0
2. Johansen, Darryl K g AUS 2446 7.0
3. Solomon, Stephen J m AUS 2470 7.0
4. Toth, Andras1 m HUN 2401 6.5
5. Nokes, Roger I f NZL 2293 6.5
6. Davis, Justin NZL 1895 6.0
7. Smith, Robert W f NZL 2316 5.5
8. Chao Qi CHN 2029 5.5
10. Bennett, Hilton NZL 2022 5.5
11. Forster, William NZL 1956 5.5
12. Van Dijk,Peter NZL ---- 5.5
13. Jackson, L Ross NZL ---- 5.5
14. Thornton, Giovanni Antonio NZL 2140 5.0
44 players

15) Czech Coal Chess Match

The Czech Coal Chess Match takes place in Marianske Lazne and features a Snowdrops vs Old-hands Scheveningen tournament with Anatoly Karpov. The women's Snowdrop team leads 7-5.

Official site: http://www.praguechess.cz/index.php

Snowdrops vs Old-hands Marianske Lazne (CZE), 29 xi-6 xii 2008
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 Cmilyte, Viktorija m LTU 2512 +7 -4 +2 . . . . . 2 2640
2 Hort, Vlastimil g GER 2478 +5 +6 -1 . . . . . 2 2584
3 Jackova, Jana m CZE 2360 +4 -7 +8 . . . . . 2 2627
4 Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2651 -3 +1 =6 . . . . . 2456
5 Nemcova, Katerina wg CZE 2369 -2 =8 +7 . . . . . 2445
6 Ushenina, Anna m UKR 2496 +8 -2 =4 . . . . . 2523
7 Uhlmann, Wolfgang g GER 2417 -1 +3 -5 . . . . . 1 2288
8 Olafsson, Fridrik g ISL 2440 -6 =5 -3 . . . . . ½ 2135

16) British Rapidplay

British Rapidplay Chess Championships took place Saturday 29th - Sunday 30th November 2008 With nearly four hundred entries 1st David Howell 10.5/11 and joint 2nd Mark Hebden and Jonathan Hawkins 8.5/11. There are games but with no detailed results section I'm unsure that all the names are correct and I don't have Poobalasingham's round 9 opponent.

Further information at http://www.british-rapidplay.org.uk

17) Sisak International

International chess tournament SISAK 2008 (CRO) takes place in Sisak (CRO) 29th November - 6 December 2008.

Official site: http://www.sahdrustvosisak.info/Sisak2008/

18) Sub Zonal 2.3.4

The Sub Zonal 2.3.4 Absoluto (presumably Columbia) took place in San Andres 26th-30th November 2008. Orlando Ossa won.

Official site: http://www.torneosajedrez.com and results: http://chess-results.com/tnr17392.aspx?datatyp=&lan=1

sub-zt 2.3.4 Absoluto San Andres (COL), 26-30 xi 2008
Rk.NameRtgFEDPts.TB1 TB2 TB3
1Ossa Orlando2314VAL734.5378.534.5
2Sanchez Victor Hugo2170VAL630.538524.25
3Echavarria Johann2376FMANT630.537530.5
4Pena Alfredo2309FMATL62536322.75
5Becerra Juan David2142BOG5.52636717.25
6Saladen Dulce Rafael2187FMCAQ5.523365.517.5
7Gallego Andres Felipe2365ANT53237526
8Vittorino Carlo2343FMANT528376.523.75
9Ramirez Carlos2284FMBOG524.535716.25
10Zuluaga Cesar2320FMCAL4.524.5380.517.5
11Rojas Barrero Andres H2255BOG4.522.5365.518.75
12Remicio Duque John H2216CAQ4.521.536512.25
13Prieto Ernesto2181RIS2.515.5357.55.25
14Corpus Eugenio Miguel1630SAI2.57.53407.25
15Manotas Franklin2029ATL2103383
16Demarothy Maroth2015SAI0.54.53431.25

19) Kazino Cuban

The Kazino Cuban tournament (this is my transliteration and may be wrong) took place 28th-30th November 2008. Nanko Dobrev took first place with 6/7, no games available.

Results: http://www.chessbg.com/news.php?i=view&id=599

Kazino Cuban (BUL), 28-30 xi 2008
Leading Final Round 7 Standings:
Rank Name Rtg Pts BH. BH. vict Fide SB.
1 IM Dobrev Nanko 2408 6,0 22,5 31,5 6 23,0 26,00
2 Georgiev Biser 2260 5,5 22,0 30,5 5 24,5 21,00
3 GM Georgiev Krum 2453 5,5 21,5 28,5 4 22,5 22,25
4 IM Rusev Krasimir 2541 5,0 23,5 33,0 4 23,0 22,25
5 FM Filev Georgi 2375 5,0 22,0 30,5 4 21,0 20,75
6 FM Arnaudov G Petar 2344 5,0 21,0 28,5 3 22,0 19,00
7 GM Janev Evgeni 2491 5,0 18,0 24,0 5 18,0 16,50
8 Stoinev Metodi 2309 5,0 17,5 24,5 5 20,0 15,50
9 GM Spassov Liuben 2417 4,5 24,0 33,0 4 22,0 19,50
10 Andreev Sasho 2066 4,5 21,0 28,5 4 19,5 16,50
11 IM Todorov Ognjan 2318 4,5 20,0 28,0 4 18,5 15,75
12 Shishkov Minko 2271 4,5 19,5 28,0 4 18,5 15,75
13 Ivanov Bogidar 2165 4,5 19,0 26,5 4 19,5 14,25
14 WFM Videnova Iva 2182 4,0 22,0 30,5 3 18,5 16,25
15 Ivelinov Hristo 2168 4,0 21,5 29,0 3 18,0 14,50
16 Janev Pavel 1970 4,0 20,5 28,5 4 16,0 13,00
17 Georgiev Steljan 2142 4,0 18,5 26,0 3 18,0 12,75
18 Dobrev Nayden 2112 4,0 16,0 24,5 4 16,0 9,50
19 Tomovska-Polendakova Iliana 2052 4,0 15,5 22,5 4 12,0 10,00
20 Angelov Angel 2216 4,0 15,5 22,5 3 15,0 12,00
21 Sotirov Nikolaj 2109 4,0 15,5 21,5 4 15,0 9,00
47 players

20) Open "Mediterranean 2017" Rijeka

The Open "Mediterranean 2017" Rijeka (CRO) takes place 29th November - 6th December 2008. Boris Grachev, Borki Predojevic, Vladislav Nevednichy, Marin Bosiocic, Sinisa Drazic, Ivan Saric, Alin Berescu and Ognjen Jovanic started with 3/3 and although there is some live coverage I couldn't find an archive of games.

Details: http://www.mediteran2013.com/en/default.asp

21) VII Benidorm International Chess Festival

The VII Festival Internacional de Ajedrez takes place in Benidorm, Spain 28th November - 8th December 2008. I couldn't find any results or games so far so I guess the main stuff starts later.

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

22) Harry Nelson Pillsbury Memorial

George Mirijanian reports: The Harry Nelson Pillsbury Memorial tournament took place November 30th 2008 at the Leominster Veterans Center in Leominster, Massachusetts, USA. National master Illya Krasik, 28, of Acton, Mass. captured first place with a score of 3.5-0.5, including a draw in the second round with top-ranked IM James Rizzitano of Southborough, Mass. Tying for second place with 3-1 tallies were FM John Curdo, 77, of Auburn, Mass., and U.S. Chess Federation-rated Class A players Alex Fikiet of Storrs, Connecticut and Shrirangnath Havale of Dedham, Mass. The three-section, Massachusetts Chess Association-sponsored tournament drew 42 players and was directed by Ken Ballou of Framinghan, Mass., assisted by George Mirijanian of Fitchburg, Mass. Crosstables are available at http://masschess.org

23) 17th North American FIDE Invitational

The 17th North American FIDE Invitational took place 15th-20th November 2008. Rogelio Antonio jr won with 8/9.

Official site: http:/www.nachess.org/fide

17th North American FIDE Inv Skokie (USA), 15-20 xi 2008 cat. II (2276)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Antonio, Rogelio jr g PHI 2515 * ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 2600
2. Tsyganov, Igor M f USA 2248 ½ * 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1 1 2445
3. Young, Angelo m PHI 2358 ½ 0 * 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 2347
4. Morales Garcia, Sergio Joshafatt f MEX 2279 0 ½ 0 * 1 1 1 0 1 1 2356
5. Monokroussos, Dennis f USA 2290 0 0 ½ 0 * 1 1 1 1 1 2354
6. Betaneli, Alexander f USA 2318 0 ½ ½ 0 0 * ½ 1 ½ 1 4 2228
7. Tate, Emory m USA 2339 0 1 0 0 0 ½ * 0 1 1 2189
8. Inumerable, Florentino V USA 2187 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 1 * 0 ½ 3 2161
9. Stamnov, Aleksander f MKD 2230 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 1 * ½ 2115
10. Muradian, Sevan USA ---- 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ * 1 1956

24) 77th Ukrainian Championships

The 77th Ukrainian Championships take place 1st-10th December 2008.

Official site: http://www.ukrchess.org.ua/turnir/ukr08mf_Poltava/index.html

25) Grand Slam Masters Final

The 2nd edition of the Grand Slam Masters Final will be played in Bilbao, September 2-15th 2009. The winners of Corus-Wijk aan Zee, Ciudad de Linares and Mtel Masters-Sofia tournaments will qualify directly for the Masters Final in Bilbao, where the first edition (played at a central square, inside a glass cube) was a very big success last September.

More details on the 2009 tournament (number of players, system of play, etc) will be announced at the end of the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee. The Grand Slam is in negotiations to include one more high level tournament in the 2009 circuit.

Grand Slam Chess Association (GSCA)

Dresden, 23 November 2008

26) FIDE News

The Grand Prix Tournament takes place in Elista, Russia from 13th December (Arrival) to 29th of December (Departure) 2008. This follows the cancelation of the event Doha, Qatar.

The FIDE Congress also took place, read the FIDE report. One of the main decisions was a change to the world championship cycle again. I like Candidates tournaments but this chopping and changing is both unfair and doesn't inspire much confidence in FIDE, mind you I have no confidence in the leadership anyway. You can read the FIDE President's interview here: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5039. Its pointless complaining, the leadership of FIDE's grip is so complete that they can do as they like.

27) Championship of Israel

34th Israel Chess Championship takes place November 30th - December 12th, 2008 at the MadaTech chess club in Haifa, Israel. PlayE4 a new online site sponsors and is contributing the 1st prize 10,000 ILS (about $2,570). PlayE4 is also providing a broadcast platform for the most highlights of the chess championship, allowing chess fans to watch the games live, online, and for free. Website: http://www.playe4.com/

28) Forthcoming Events and Links

Torino, Italy

The Torino tournament in (Italy) takes place 30th November 2008 - 8th December 2008. 9 Round swiss top group (B Group 7 rounds).

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

Austrian Team Championship

The Austrian team championship started in St Veit 7th-9th November 2008, the 11 round competition has further rounds 22nd-25th January and 19th-22nd March 2009. Players in the first three rounds included: Sergei Movsesian, Hikaru Nakamura, Emil Sutovsky, Jan Gustafsson and Alexander Beliavsky.

Official site: http://www.chess.at/ and results: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr12353.aspx?art=2&lan=1&m=-1

Brazilian Championship

75th Brazilian Championship takes place in Porto Alegre, capital of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul 7th-16th December, 2008. 12 players (round robin tournament) with top seed GMs Giovanni Vescovi, Rafael Leitao, Gilberto Milos and Alexandr Fier.

http://www.fgx.org.br/

Mecking vs Flores Match

There is a match between Henrique Mecking and Diego Flores in Brasilia, Brazil (4th-6th, December 2008) 4th Dec - 4 blitz games with 5 minutes per player 5th Dec - 1st classic game - 90 minutes + 30 seconds/moves 6th Dec - 2nd classic game - 90 minutes + 30 seconds/moves

Nanjing Super GM

There is a Super GM Tournament in Nanjing, China taking place place 10th - 22nd December 2008. Six-player double round robin event.

Players: Veselin Topalov g BUL 2791; Vassily Ivanchuk g UKR 2786; Levon Aronian g ARM 2757; Movsesian Sergei g 2732 SVK; Peter Svidler g 2727; Bu Xiangzhi g CHN 2714.

It will be the strongest tournament ever held in China (at least by Elo average, 2751.6, making it a category 21 tournament)

The Nanjing tournament will become super one like Wijk aan Zee, Sofia, and Linares.

Further info: http://www.64ge.net/ and Gujuan Tzu's Chessnews Blog: http://blog.sina.com.cn/chessnews

Hastings Chess Congress

The Hastings Chess Congress takes place 28th December 2008 - 5th January 2009. Contact: Con Power at: conpowr@ol.com

Currently leading entries for the HASTINGS MASTERS BERG Emanuel, SWE, gm 2623, HOWELL David, ENG, gm 2593, NEVEROV Valeriy, UKR, gm (current Hastings Masters Champion) 2571, JONES Gawain, ENG, gm 2548, CONQUEST Stuart, ENG, gm (current British Champion) 2526, PAVLOVIC Milos, UKR, gm 2524, GORDON Stephen, ENG, im 2521, HEBDEN Mark, ENG, gm 2515, GORMALLY Daniel, ENG, gm 2514, HASLINGER Stewart, ENG, gm 2506, WILLIAMS Simon, ENG, 2494, BERNAL MORO Luis Javier, ESP, im 2451, GREET Andrew, ENG, im 2440, HUNT Adam, ENG, im 2431, HOUSKA Jovanka, ENG, wgm 2399, BATES Richard, ENG, im 2387

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

Chess Study

Dr Robert Howard is making a study of rated chess players.

The full article: http://education.arts.unsw.edu.au/fidestudy/results

If you would like to participate, please go to this website: http://education.arts.unsw.edu.au/fidestudy/

For any queries, please contact Dr Robert Howard, University of New South Wales, on rwh@unsw.edu.au

Corus A-Group 2009

The 71st Corus Chess tournament takes place Friday, January 16th to Sunday, February 1st, 2009 in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. Alexander Morozevich, Vassily Ivanchuk, Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian and Teimour Radjabov are the favourites for the event in the absence of world champion Viswanathan Anand, challenger Vladimir Kramnik and World Number one Veselin Topalov. This shake up of the field with these three regular missing has really freshened things up and should make for exciting chess, in the usual way they do things they'll probably be all back next year.

Five players will make their debut in the A-group: the young Dutch grandmasters Jan Smeets and Daniel Stellwagen, the sensational Wang Yue from China, who climbed up to the 11th place on the latest world ranking list, the winner of Grandmastergroup B in 2008, Sergei Movsesian, and Leinier Dominguez from Cuba (ranked 21st on the FIDE October rating list).

The official participants lists of Grandmaster groups B and C will be published later this year. Together with all amateur players and participants in the special groups, approximately 2,000 chess players are expected to come to Wijk aan Zee for the traditional chess festival in the small beach village at the west coast of The Netherlands, approximately 25 kilometers from Amsterdam.

As from January 2009, the rate of play in Grandmaster groups A, B and C will change. The rate of play will be: 40 moves in 2 hours, then 20 moves in 1 hour, followed by 15 minutes with 30 seconds per move increment to finish the game.

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

71st Corus Wijk aan Zee A-Group
(NED), 16 i - 1 ii 2009
Alexander MorozevichRUS227871977
Vassily IvanchukUKR327861969
Magnus CarlsenNOR427861990
Levon AronianARM727571982
Teimour RadjabovAZE827511987
Wang YueCHN1127361987
Michael AdamsENG1227341971
Sergei MovsesianSLW1327321978
Sergei KarjakinUKR1527301990
Gata KamskyUSA1627291974
Leinier DominguezCUB2127191983
Loek van WelyNED26181972
Daniel StellwagenNED26051987
Jan SmeetsNED26041985

18th Pamplona International

18th Pamplona International consists of a invitational Grandmaster tournament, and an open 9 round tournament. Both tournaments take place from 22nd December - 29th December 2008.

The invitational Grandmaster tournament is an eight-player round robin. Players are: GM Sasikiran, Krishnan (2694, IND), GM Roiz, Michael (2677,ISR), GM Malakhov, Vladimir (2675, RUS), GM Vallejo, Pons Francisco (2664,ESP), GM Caruana, Fabiano (2640,ITA), GM Delchev, Aleksander (2632,BUL), GM Nepomniachtchi, Ian (2616,RUS), and GM Salgado Lopez, Ivan (2556,ESP).

Official website: http://www.chesspamplona.com/

Jose Marca Memorial

The III Open Internacional ITT Jose Marca Memorial takes place in 10th-18th Lima January 2009. Grandmasters Sergey Tiviakov, Julio Granda, Bartolomiej Macieja and Emilo Cordova compete.

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

Bundesliga

The second Bundesliga weekend took place 25th-26th October 2008.

The Schachbundesliga season 2008/09 runs 3rd-5th October and runs until March 2009. 16 Teams compete with team rosters of 16-18 players but only eight play each weekend. There will be live coverage of all the games.

Dates: 4th-5th October 2008 25th-26th October 2008 29th-30th November 2008 12th-14th December 2008 (Here the official seventh round will be played. Although some will be played at other times) 31st January 2008 - 1st February 2009. 28th February - 1st March 2009. 28th-29th March 2009.

Official site of the Schachbundesliga (http://www.schachbundesliga.de/index.aspx) Further information (in German) and the entrance site for the live coverage: http://www.schachbundesliga.de/index.aspx

European Youth U-16 winners Texas Scholarships

The University of Texas at Dallas (USA) has offered scholarships to the winners of the U-16 European Youth Chess Championships since 2007. The agreement with the European Chess Union has been extended for another three years. The total value of the scholarships during this five-year period will be approximately 1 million USD, said James A. Stallings, Director of the UTD chess program.

Interview on the ECU website: http://www.europechess.org/home518.aspx?art=ft

Gjovik International Festival 2008-9

The Gjovik International Chess Festival 2008-9 takes place 29th December - 7th January 2009.

Magnus Carlsen, Peter Svidler, Hikaru Nakamura (USA) and Simen Agdestein play in a Super rapid tournament January 2nd-5th 2009.

The tournament has a similar format to the Mainz Classic, with a double round tournament followed by final and bronze final games. The Norwegian audience will be eager to see Magnus Carlsen on home-gound again, as he hasn't played in Norway during 2008.

The rapid contest is part of a chess festival with a big and varied program, held on occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Gjovik chess club. The festival starts on December 29th, and the main tournament is a 9 round GM-Swiss open to players with a rating abov 2100. Reigning European champion Sergei Tiviakov (NL) 2686 is the highest rated player of the preliminary list of participants. There is also a parallell group open for all players rated below 2100.

Official site: http://www.gjovikfestival.sjakkweb.no

4NCL

The 4NCL takes place 4th October 2008 - 4th May 2009.

Fixtures 2008-9

Rounds 1 and 2: 4th/5th October 2008 De Vere Venues, Sunningdale Divisions 1-2

Rounds 3-4: 6th/7th December 2008 Barcelo Hotel, Hinckley Island Divisions 1-3

Rounds 5-6: 17th/18th January 2009 De Vere Venues, Sunningdale Divisions 1-2

Rounds 7-8: 21st/22nd March 2009 Barcelo Hotel, Hinckley Island Divisions 1-3

Rounds 9-11: 2nd-4th May 2009 De Vere Venues, Staverton Park Divisions 1-2

68th Italian Championship

The 68th Italian Championship takes place 3rd December - 14th December 2008. The tournament will consist of 12 players in a round robin at the 4 star Park Hotel San Michele in Martina Franca. Games will be played on DGT boards, and viewable live at the Italian Chess Federation´s web site. The players are: GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Michele Godena, GM Carlos Garcia Palermo, IM Luca Shytaj, IM Sabino Brunello, IM Fabio Bruno, IM Denis Rombaldoni, IM Pierluigi Piscopo, IM Daniel Contin, FM Daniyyl Dvirnyy, FM Daniele Genocchio, and Alessio Valsecchi.

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

27th Elba Island Festival

The 27th International Chess Festival of Elba Island "Luigi Amalfi", takes place at the Hotel Lacona 10th-17th May 2009.

Details: http://www.tuscanhotels.it/en/cmsx.asp?IDPg=23

Milan

Milano, Italy, organized by Società Scacchistica Milanese (founded in 1881) Master group: December 6th-13th 2008, 9 rounds, global prizes 3.000 euro - with GMs and IMs Good conventions with hotels Address - via S.Uguzzone 8 = closed to the underground (MM1 - Villa SG). The Mediterranean Championship will start in Courmayeur (Aosta valley) The dates are December 13th-21st 2008. It is possible to travel and play both.

Web site: http://www.scacchisticamilanese.it

25th Bermuda Open

The 25th Bermuda Open takes place 30th January - 1st February 2008 at the luxurious Fairmont Southampton Resort on the South Shore with private tennis courts, golf course, beach, walking trails,  ferry into Hamilton for duty-free shopping 5 round Swiss. Register & pay on site.  For info contact Nigel Freeman at cadilly@northrock.bm or Carol Jarecki at carolj10280@yahoo.com  

Icelandic Team Championship

Icelandic Team Champ 1st div first half took place 3rd-5th October 2008. The 2nd set of games are March 21st-22nd March 2009 if I understand the website correctly. A small number of games are available.

Official site: http://www.skaksamband.is/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=5982&Itemid=499# and results: http://chess-results.com/tnr16443.aspx?tnr=16443&art=16&lan=2&flag=30&m=-1

Doeberl Cup and Sydney International 2009

The 2009 Doeberl Cup is in Canberra 9th-13th April 2009. See http://www.doeberlcup.com.au/

The 2009 Sydney International Open takes place 15th-19th April 2009. See http://www.chessaustralia.com.au/index.cfm?site=open

Free entry to GMs, IMs, WGMs and WIMs.

Free accommodation for selected GMs and WGMs.

For further information, please contact Brian Jones info@chessaustralia.com.au

Czech Litomysl Chess Christmas

Czech Chess Christmas 2008 Litomysl (CZE) 26.12.2008-2.1.2009

10th christmas chess FIDE tournament, swiss system of 9 round, rate of game 2 x 1,5h + 30s/move, prize fund 64.000 CZK (1st prize 20.000 CZK = 750 EUR), 10 financial prizes redeemable by drawings, special conditions for IM, WGM and GM, New Year’s Eve programme.

Contact: Proclient s.r.o., Jaroslav Fuksik, Svedska 3, 772 00 Olomouc, mobile: +420 608 364 664, e-mail: a64@proclient.cz, web: http://www.a64.cz/tournaments/litomysl2008/

Leon Open

The city of Leon open takes place 26th-28th December 2008.

Details: http://www.openmundialdeleon.com

So - Torre Match 2009

14-year-old Wesley So and 56-year-old Eugene Torre play a 12 game match starting February 10, 2009 at the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City. Two games each will be played in Quezon City, Davao and Iloilo, and if the match remains undecided, the protagonists will return to Quezon City and finish the match. A knockout game will be played if the duel ends up 6-6. The winner will take home P600,000 while the loser will earn P400,000.Another P100,000 goes to the winner of each provincial leg while the loser will get P50,000.

VI Transcarpathian Rapidtournament Chess Decyk

VI Transcarpathian Rapidtournament "Chess Decyk" Ukraine, Uzhgorod, 28-29.08.2008

Organizers of tournament: Chess Federation of Uzhgorod Organizational committee: B. Borshosh, A. Samoylenko, V. Prokopishin Place: Ukraine, Uzhgorod, Pub-museum "Deca u notaria", Gagarin street, 98 Also Traditional Beer blitz-tournament will take place in Pub-museum "Deca u notaria"! Phone: +380503723900, +380503179153, (+3803122) 2-25-87 E-mail: chessfeduzh@rambler.ru Details: http://www.chessfeduzh.narod.ru

2nd Berkeley Masters

The 2008 Berkeley Masters takes place December 14th-23rd 2008 in Berkeley, California, finishing two days before the start of the North American Open in Las Vegas. It is a 10 round swiss, open to players rated fide 2200+. Space in the tournament and conditions for some Grandmasters are available on a first-come first-serve basis. Prize fund $5000 US. Info at http://dotq.org/chess

Hungarian Chess Tournaments July 2008 - March 2009

1. 19th-28th of July 2008 KECSKEMET, IM-FM Berger tmt, org: Dr.Erdelyi, Tamas, e-mail: postmaster@caissa.t-online.hu Website: http://www.caissachessbooks.hu Usually also in the second half of the month IM tmt-s in Kecskemet. 100 km South-East from Budapest.

2. 2nd-14th of August, 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 Phone-fax: +(361)-2632859, cellphone: +(36)-30-230-1914. From 12:00 a.m. until midnight - Central European Time = GMT+1.

3.16th-25th of August, IM-FM tmt, Kecskemet, org: Erdelyi

4.6th-18th of September GM-IM-FM First Saturday Budapest, org Nagy L,

5.20th -29th September IM-FM tmt Kecskemet, org Erdelyi

6.4th-16th of October, GM-IM-FM tmt, First Saturday Budapest, org.Nagy L.

7.18th-30th of October, SAKKAKADEMIA, GM-IM closed, org: WGM Csonkics, Tunde, info: firstsat@hu.inter.net

8.18th-27th of October IM-FM tmt Kecskemet, org Erdelyi.

9.1st-13th of November GM-IM-FM First Saturday Budapest, org Nagy L.

10. 15th-23rd of November, Kecskemet, IM dr.Erdelyi.

11.14th-22nd of November Tenkes Kupa Open, Harkany, 300 km South-West from Budapest, 9 round Swiss, org: Ambrus Lajos, mobile: 36-30-851-4224 e-mail: info@baranyasakk.hu www.baranyasakk.hu

12.6th-18th of December GM-IM-FM tmt, First Saturday Budapest, org Nagy L.

13.27th of Dec - 5th of January IM-FM tmt Kecskemet, org: Erdelyi.

14.9th-17th of January, EVADNYITO Open 9 rounds Swiss, Budapest, org: IA FAZEKAS, info: firstsat@hu.inter.net

15.23rd of January - 2nd of February, BALASSAGYARMAT WINTER, GM-IM closed, 100 km North from Budapest, Org: Nagy Laszlo, info: firstsat@hu.inter.net

16.7th-19th of February, FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM Budapest - org: Nagy Laszlo, www.firstsaturday.hu - info: firstsat@hu.inter.net

17.7th-19th of March, First Saturday, Budapest, GM-IM-FM, org Nagy L.

18.20th-28th of March, 25th BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL 9 rounds Swiss Open, org: Nagy L. - e-mail: firstsat@hu.inter.net

Corus, Wijk aan Zee 2009

The organizers of the 71st Corus Chess Tournament have invited the young Dutch Grandmasters Daniel Stellwagen (1987) and reigning Dutch Champion Jan Smeets (1985) for the Grandmaster group A in 2009. For both players it means a debut on the highest level. Together with Loek van Wely, they will represent the Netherlands in the traditional chess festival, that will be held from Friday January 16th to Sunday 1st of February 2009.

Besides the participation of the above mentioned three Dutch players, the following World Class players have confirmed their participation: Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Alexander Morozevich (Russia), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Gata Kamsky (United States) and Teymour Radjabov (Azerbaijan). Carlsen, Ivanchuk and Morozevich will be in the Top-6 of the new World Ranking list, that will be published on July 1st 2008.

The young Ukrainian Grandmaster Sergei Karjakin, as well as the winner of last year’s Grandmaster group B, Sergei Movsesian (Slovakia), have also confirmed their participation. The complete field with 14 participants will be presented in October 2008, as well as the names of the participants in the Grandmaster groups B and C.

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

2nd Queenstown Chess Classic 2009

Queenstown Chess Classic takes place in Queenstown, South Island of New Zealand 15th-24th January 2009.

This will be the second such event, the first was held in Jan 2006.

The Tournament promoter is GM Murray Chandler. Over $50,000 (NZ) is being offered in prizes with additional prizes in the Rapid and Blitz events being held on January 25th-26th 2009.

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

GM Boris Alterman's Chess Lessons

GM Boris Alterman has a blog with free chess lessons on it.

Website: http://chesslessons.wordpress.com/

FIDE Grand Prix Events

The line ups for the FIDE Grand Prix events have been announced. The top four players in the world, along with players such as Morozevich and Shirov are missing. It seems that in the case of Kramnik and Topalov that they believe that the event doesn't have big enough prize money (according to quotes in Chess Today). All this was more or less known beforehand. However the players who have signed up make this a very attractive and interesting series of events. The grand prix is organised by Global Chess which is headed by Bessel Kok.

Details: http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=1607


FIDE Grand Prix 2008-9
Surname First Name NAT Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ck 08 Criteria WRk
Svidler Peter RUS 2763 2763 2763
2763
2763 4 2 Pres Nom 5
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2760 2760
2760 2760
2760 4 2 Rating 6
Leko Peter HUN 2753

2753 2753 2753 2753 4 1 Rating 8
Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2751
2751
2751 2751 2751 4 1 Rating 9
Aronian Levon ARM 2739
2739
2739 2739 2739 4 1 Rating 10
Gelfand Boris ISR 2737
2737
2737 2737 2737 4 1 Rating 11
Radjabov Teimour AZE 2735 2735 2735 2735 2735

4 3 Rating 12
Carlsen Magnus NOR 2733 2733
2733 2733
2733 4 2 Wcup 13
Karjakin Sergey UKR 2732 2732 2732
2732 2732
4 2 Wcup 14
Adams Michael ENG 2726 2726
2726
2726 2726 4 2 Reserve 16
Kamsky Gata USA 2726 2726 2726
2726 2726
4 2 Matches 15
Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2720
2720 2720
2720 2720 4 2 Hcity 17
Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2713 2713 2713 2713

2713 4 3 Pres Nom 19
Grischuk Alexander RUS 2711 2711 2711 2711 2711

4 3 Reserve 21
Bacrot Etienne FRA 2700 2700
2700 2700 2700
4 2 Pres Nom 22
Wang Yue CHN 2698 2698 2698 2698
2698
4 3 Pres Nom 25
Inarkiev Ernesto RUS 2681 2681
2681
2681 2681 4 2 Hcity 34
Navara David CZE 2680 2680 2680

2680 2680 4 2 Hcity 37
Gashimov Vugar AZE 2665 2665 2665 2665
2665
4 3 Hcity 48
Pelletier Yannick SWZ 2600

2600 2600 2600 2600 4 1 Hcity 165
Al Modiahki Mohamad QTR 2569
2569 2569 2569
2569 4 2 Hcity 274
AVERAGE RATING


2715.9 2709.9 2697.4 2714.9 2707.7 2708.9



Player Count 21
2709.1 14 14 14 14 14 14 84 42

Event 1 April 20th - May 6th 2008, Baku, Azerbaijan
Event 2 July 30th - August 15th 2008, Sochi, Russia
Event 3 December 13th - 29th, 2008, Doha, Qatar
Event 4 April 14th - 28th, 2009, Montreux, Switzerland
Event 5 August 8th - 24th, 2009, Elista, Russia
Event 6 December 7th - 23rd, 2009, Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

Grand Prix 2008-9 Prizes Each Event
Place EUR Points
1 30,000 140 + 40 bonus
2 22,500 130 + 20
3 20,000 120 + 10
4 15,000 110
5 12,500 100
6 11,000 90
7 10,000 80
8 8,500 70
9 7,500 60
10 6,000 50
11 5,500 40
12 5,000 30
13 4,500 20
14 4,000 10


Grand Prix 2008-9
Prizes for Final Standings
(Best three events)
Pl Prize (Euros)
1st 75,000
2nd 50,000
3rd 40,000
4th 30,000
5th 25,000
6th 20,000
7th 18,000
8th 16,000
9th 14,000
10th 12,000

Etienne Bacrot's Website

Etienne Bacrot has a website at: http://www.chess22.fr/ with his analysis and news. Very worth while, especially when he's playing.

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