THE WEEK IN CHESS 243 - 5th July 1999 by Mark Crowther

TWIC Home | The London Chess Center | | Shop

Sponsored by the London Chess Center

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

Tel or fax 01274 882143 [Bradford England]
Mobile 07957381719
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html

Contents

1) Introduction
2) Frankfurt Chess Classic 1999
3) World Open
4) Dortmund Chess Days
5) Karpov not yet committed to playing Las Vegas
6) Garry Kasparov vs the World
7) Ljubljana Open-99
8) First Saturday, June
9) FIDE July Rating list
10) Forthcoming Events and Links


TWIC CD is out NOW.

Contact the London Chess Center

Order form at http://www.chesscenter.com or email chesscentre@easynet.co.uk
Call toll free 1-888-chess06 in the USA or Canada
Call +44 (0) 171 388 2404 or Fax +44 (0) 171 388 2407 in the UK and ROW

Special TWIC Readers Offers

1. The Week In Chess CD The number 1 news service, all the editions from 1995 to end 1998 on this CD. Includes the best 130,000 games from the last 4 years, all the MIG articles and ChessBase light (a cut down version of ChessBase). List price £19.95 $29.95 Offer Post Free Worldwide

2. Easy Guide to the Bb5 Sicilian by Steffen Pedersen The young Danish International Master looks at this potent weapon against the Sicilian. The Bb5 lines are completely logical and have real practical sting. All you need is a good understanding of the ideas and a moderate amount of specific knowledge. The Easy Guide supplies just that. Covers Rossolimo and Moscow (3.Bb5+) Variations. £12.99 $18.95

3. Easy Guide to Ruy Lopez by John Emms In this easy to follow guide, you are taken through the main concepts that underlie the Ruy Lopez. Although Grandmaster Emms has written with a repertoire slant towards white he has remained as objective as possible. The content is up-to-date and contains enough information to enable you to play the Ruy Lopez with confidence without being flooded with detail. £12.99 $18.95

4. Simple Winning Chess by Chris Baker An entertaining and instructive book from an experienced International master and coach. A complete self-improvement course with tips and guidance on preparation and study and all phases of practical play. £12.99 $18.95

5. Hiarcs 7.32 analysis module on CD. The strongest analysis module yet for ChessBase and Fritz. Extraordinarily strong 32Bit chess engine by Mark Uniacke. Original openings book by Eric Hallsworth. Accesses five piece endgame tablebases in the search KPP vs KP, KRP vs KR, KBP vs KB, KRB vs KR and all four piece endgames included. Persistent hash tables and positional learning for learning analysis 300,000 games database

List price £44.95 $60.00 Offer price £39.95 $52.00

6. ChessBase Opening Encyclopaedia (new edition) With contributions of many well-known opening experts featuring: - more than 470.000 games - 40.000 of them with annotations - 3000 opening surveys contains at least one survey for each of the 500 opening codes - access to the games with the big opening key "BigKey" - big tree of all games for quick overview and statistical access All data in both old and new ChessBase format List Price £89.95 $130 Offer Price £79.95 $115

For new book offers visit http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html

Games section

Siemens Giants              24 games
Frankfurt-West Masters      66 games
Ordix Open                  43 games
Anand-Fritz                  4 games
World Open                 130 games
Ljubljana Open             226 games
First Saturday July         12 games

1) Introduction

My thanks to My thanks to Ales Drinovec, Lost Boys, Scott Pendergast, Daði Örn Jónsson, Malcolm Pein, Laszlo Nagy, Martin Bennedik and all those who helped with this issue.

Plenty of interest this week. The four Kasparov-Karpov clashes might conceivably be the last between these two rivals. All were hard fought games with Kasparov winning their fourth and possible final game. Kasparov took first place in Frankfurt. At a press conference afterwards Karpov further distanced himself from FIDE by saying that he believed their World Championships should not be called that but the World Cup or something... At the event he also said he hadn't yet come to agreement with FIDE over his participation in their championships and certainly hadn't signed a letter that appeared on the FIDE website.

Next weekend sees the start of the Polgar-Shirov Eurotel match and the Dortmund Chess days events.

The new FIDE rating list again looks to have errors in it, although FIDE seem to have made it clear it is only a first version and that there will be subsequent versions. The first version of the top 100 is below.

More Women's World Championship news. According to one source the Xie Jun - Galliamova match has been delayed at least until July 27 and Galliamova is looking for a Russian host for the first half of the match (deja vu) and if she fails the whole match will begin in China in early August.

Hope you enjoy this issue

Mark

2) Frankfurt Chess Classic 1999

The Frankfurt Chess Classic 1999 ran June 29- July 4th. Garry Kasparov won the main Siemens Giants event ahead of Anand, Kramnik and Karpov. The Frankfurt-West Masters was won by the computer program Fritz 6. The program won the Ordix Open to qualify in the first place. The players were very slow to adapt to the style of the computer, only on the last day did they start to master it somewhat. In the last round Topalov had a half point lead over the computer but he lost to Leko whilst the computer beat Judit Polgar. The Ordix Open was won by Dutchman Loek Van Wely. Anand played Fritz in a challenge match last year, he played it again and he drew games 1,2 and 4 and won game 3.

The event is the brainchild of Hans-Walter Schmitt one of the most formidable chess organisers in the World today. Every year he has improved the tournament with stronger fields and a larger scope. This year the Siemens Giants had four Karpov-Kasparov games as well as the top three players in the World, in addition the Frankfurt-West Masters. I'm sure that next year, with Fritz 6 in the Giants he will come up with more innovation, although he can hardly increase the strength of the event he has staged the last two years. I gather six players in the Giants may be an idea.

Siemens Giants

Day 1: There were draws in the first two rounds before Kasparov beat Anand and Kramnik beat Karpov in round 3.

Day 2: Kasparov drew with Karpov and Kramnik with Anand at the start of day 2. Kramnik and Kasparov drew their game whilst Karpov defeated Anand with black in round 5. Round 6 saw an exciting draw between Kasparov and Anand whilst Karpov and Kramnik drew briefly.

Day 3: There was one decisive game per round on day three. Anand beat Kramnik in round 7, Kasparov beat Kramnik in round 8 and Kramnik beat Karpov in round 9. Kasparov led by a point from Kramnik with three rounds to go.

Day 4: Kasparov beat Karpov in their final game, after three hard fought draws he finally broke through in their fourth game together and made almost certain of first place. He drew out the rest of the event, Anand beat Karpov in the final round.

Kasparov-Karpov (11). Malcolm Pein saw the fourth and only decisive game between these two old rivals. Once again Karpov's clock handling was poor. he thought and thought and thought over what appeared to be a very typical position in the 4. Qc2 Nimzo Indian. Kasparov's 12. Be2 seemed to come as a surprise to Karpov.

Later Kasparov characteristically shook his head and stared upwards after 19. ...Nxd5 (times remaining Kasparov 19-20, Karpov 11-27). It wasn't clear whether he was berating himself for missing a variation or berating Kramnik on the neighbouring board who by then had spoiled a great position. In any event I suspect that it was better for White to keep both pairs of knights on the board somehow Karpov blundered after allowing 24. Qxa5 (12-11 left for to Kasparov, 5-32 to Karpov) 24...Bb5 was better but by now Kasparov was clearly better. Perhaps Karpov overlooked that after 24.Qxa5 24. ...Be2 followed by 25...Bxd1 26.Rexd1 doubles rook onto the d-pawn.

With 28. e4 Kasparov blew open the position, and even if this was not objectively the best move it was fiendishly difficult to meet in practice with only 3-40 on the clock and so must have been right. Kasparov was clearly enjoying the final moments of the game. He thought for over 3 minutes before playing the obvious and completely crushing Bg4 ( All I could of was Zonk!! Kapow!! as Batman used to say in my childhood comics as he beat the living daylights out of someone).

Even in a disgusting position with no time left Karpov showed his class by spotting a number of cheapos that prolonged the game. Most normal people would lost a piece immediately suchwas the domination of Kasparov's rooks and bishops but the champ cleverly forced a trivially won endgame with two connected passed pawns and the A pawn was a runner. It was a great win for Kasparov it must have meant a lot to him, I felt I was watching possibly the last game ever between the two and that a chapter of chess history was closing even if it was just a 25 minute game.

Kasparov took first place by a point and a half, clear of Anand and Kramnik who have both regularly outperformed him in rapid chess events in the past. Karpov took last place, mostly due to some very strange clock handling, he was in time pressure in almost every game (although good in that phase, for instance see his win against Anand earlier in the event).

Frankfurt-West Masters

The Frankfurt-West Masters was a double round robin event with 7 players and a computer program (Fritz6) competing. Fritz6 won the event by half a point from Veselin Topalov and qualifies for next years Giants event. The players were starting to get to grips with Fritz 6 towards the end and on the final day it looked at one stage that the computer would not win the event. In the final round Polgar blundered in the opening against the computer but gradually outplayed the machine only to fall into a clever tactic towards the end. The organiser has guaranteed that the computer will play in the Giants next year (last year it won the Ordix open qualifying for this event) in spite of the difficulties it might make in the willingness of the best players to take part in the event.

Press Conference

The final press conference was late and chaotic. However there were some interesting comments.

Karpov said that the FIDE Championships shouldn't be called the World Championships but the World Cup or something... Kasparov's face was a picture when he heard this comment.

Kasparov said that he had bumped into a chess player on the streets of Frankfurt and after asking a couple of questions he said "What are you doing in Frankfurt?", he bemoaned the lack of publicity for chess.

About next years participation of Fritz 6 in the Giants next year Kasparov said that he didn't have a problem with the participation of the computer but computer-human games shouldn't be played on the same day as human-human games.

Further information at: http://www.schach-daniel.com/Turniere/Frankfurt/frankfurt.html

Frankfurt Giants


Round 1 (June 29, 1999)

Anand, Viswanathan  -  Kramnik, Vladimir   1/2   19  C42  Petroff defence
Karpov, Anatoly     -  Kasparov, Gary      1/2   38  D77  1.d4 d5 2.c4 g6

Round 2 (June 29, 1999)

Kasparov, Gary      -  Kramnik, Vladimir   1/2   24  B66  Sicilian
Karpov, Anatoly     -  Anand, Viswanathan  1/2   41  E15  Nimzo indian

Round 3 (June 29, 1999)

Anand, Viswanathan  -  Kasparov, Gary      0-1   26  D97  Gruenfeld indian
Kramnik, Vladimir   -  Karpov, Anatoly     1-0   32  D26  QGA;

Round 4 (June 30, 1999)

Kasparov, Gary      -  Karpov, Anatoly     1/2   49  E32  Nimzo indian
Kramnik, Vladimir   -  Anand, Viswanathan  1/2   49  E34  Nimzo indian

Round 5 (June 30, 1999)

Anand, Viswanathan  -  Karpov, Anatoly     0-1   30  C42  Petroff defence
Kramnik, Vladimir   -  Kasparov, Gary      1/2   36  D85  Gruenfeld indian

Round 6 (June 30, 1999)

Kasparov, Gary      -  Anand, Viswanathan  1/2   28  C45  Scottish
Karpov, Anatoly     -  Kramnik, Vladimir   1/2   18  D46  Semi-Slav

Round 7 (July 1, 1999)

Anand, Viswanathan  -  Kramnik, Vladimir   1-0   27  C42  Petroff defence
Karpov, Anatoly     -  Kasparov, Gary      1/2   48  D12  Slav defence

Round 8 (July 1, 1999)

Kasparov, Gary      -  Kramnik, Vladimir   1-0   36  B66  Sicilian
Karpov, Anatoly     -  Anand, Viswanathan  1/2   26  E15  Nimzo indian

Round 9 (July 1, 1999)

Anand, Viswanathan  -  Kasparov, Gary      1/2   16  D97  Gruenfeld indian
Kramnik, Vladimir   -  Karpov, Anatoly     1-0   52  D27  QGA;

Round 10 (July 2, 1999)

Kasparov, Gary      -  Karpov, Anatoly     1-0   43  E32  Nimzo indian
Kramnik, Vladimir   -  Anand, Viswanathan  1/2   34  E16  Nimzo indian

Round 11 (July 2, 1999)

Anand, Viswanathan  -  Karpov, Anatoly     1-0   45  C42  Petroff defence
Kramnik, Vladimir   -  Kasparov, Gary      1/2   25  D36  Queen's gambit

Round 12 (July 2, 1999)

Kasparov, Gary      -  Anand, Viswanathan  1/2   22  E34  Nimzo indian
Karpov, Anatoly     -  Kramnik, Vladimir   1/2   42  D46  Semi-Slav


Frankfurt Chess Classic, Siemens Giants (GER), vi-vii 1999cat. XXI (2764)
---------------------------------------------------------------
                                   1    2    3    4  
---------------------------------------------------------------
1 Kasparov, Gary      g RUS 2812 **** 1=== ==1= ===1  7.5  2842
2 Anand, Viswanathan  g IND 2781 0=== **** ==1= =0=1  6.0  2757
3 Kramnik, Vladimir   g RUS 2751 ==0= ==0= **** 1=1=  6.0  2767
4 Karpov, Anatoly     g RUS 2710 ===0 =1=0 0=0= ****  4.5  2694
---------------------------------------------------------------

Frankfurt-West Masters


Round 1 (June 29, 1999)

Fritz 6                -  Leko, Peter            1/2   40  B45  Sicilian
Topalov, Veselin       -  Adams, Michael         1/2   51  E32  Nimzo indian
Lutz, Christopher      -  Svidler, Peter         0-1   36  B93  Sicilian; Najdorf
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Polgar, Judit          0-1   48  C42  Petroff defence

Round 2 (June 29, 1999)

Leko, Peter            -  Morozevich, Alexander  1-0   45  C11  French; Classical
Svidler, Peter         -  Polgar, Judit          0-1   66  B43  Sicilian
Lutz, Christopher      -  Topalov, Veselin       0-1   81  B08  Pirc; Classical
Adams, Michael         -  Fritz 6                1/2   51  B01  Scandinavian

Round 3 (June 29, 1999)

Fritz 6                -  Lutz, Christopher      1-0   74  B84  Sicilian
Topalov, Veselin       -  Svidler, Peter         0-1   34  C88  Ruy Lopez
Polgar, Judit          -  Leko, Peter            1/2   37  B33  Sicilian; Sveshnikov
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Adams, Michael         1/2   68  C51  Evans gambit

Round 4 (June 30, 1999)

Topalov, Veselin       -  Fritz 6                0-1   49  D37  Queen's gambit
Svidler, Peter         -  Leko, Peter            1-0   78  B18  Caro-Kann
Lutz, Christopher      -  Morozevich, Alexander  1-0   40  C11  French; Classical
Adams, Michael         -  Polgar, Judit          0-1   71  B46  Sicilian

Round 5 (June 30, 1999)

Fritz 6                -  Svidler, Peter         1-0   55  D92  Gruenfeld indian
Leko, Peter            -  Adams, Michael         1/2   53  B01  Scandinavian
Polgar, Judit          -  Lutz, Christopher      0-1   75  B88  Sicilian
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Topalov, Veselin       0-1   75  B80  Sicilian

Round 6 (June 30, 1999)

Fritz 6                -  Morozevich, Alexander  0-1   68  C01  French; Exchange
Topalov, Veselin       -  Polgar, Judit          1-0   25  E97  Kings indian; Main line
Svidler, Peter         -  Adams, Michael         1/2   41  B01  Scandinavian
Lutz, Christopher      -  Leko, Peter            0-1   50  C65  Ruy Lopez

Round 7 (June 30, 1999)

Leko, Peter            -  Topalov, Veselin       1-0   40  B07  Pirc
Polgar, Judit          -  Fritz 6                0-1   47  A22  English; 1.c4 e5

Morozevich, Alexander  -  Svidler, Peter         1/2   46  B80  Sicilian
Adams, Michael         -  Lutz, Christopher      0-1   43  B50  Sicilian

Round 8 (July 1, 1999)

Leko, Peter            -  Fritz 6                0-1   49  C96  Ruy Lopez
Svidler, Peter         -  Lutz, Christopher      1-0   49  B35  Sicilian
Polgar, Judit          -  Morozevich, Alexander  0-1   34  B05  Alekhine defence
Adams, Michael         -  Topalov, Veselin       0-1   48  B90  Sicilian; Najdorf

Round 9 (July 1, 1999)

Fritz 6                -  Adams, Michael         1-0   30  B17  Caro-Kann
Topalov, Veselin       -  Lutz, Christopher      1-0   38  B81  Sicilian
Polgar, Judit          -  Svidler, Peter         1-0   28  C65  Ruy Lopez
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Leko, Peter            1/2   51  B12  Caro-Kann

Round 10 (July 1, 1999)

Leko, Peter            -  Polgar, Judit          1-0   40  B80  Sicilian
Svidler, Peter         -  Topalov, Veselin       0-1   36  B90  Sicilian; Najdorf
Lutz, Christopher      -  Fritz 6                1/2   48  C84  Ruy Lopez
Adams, Michael         -  Morozevich, Alexander  0-1   27  C03  French; Tarrasch

Round 11 (July 2, 1999)

Fritz 6                -  Topalov, Veselin       1/2   69  B22  Sicilian; Alapin (2.c3)
Leko, Peter            -  Svidler, Peter         1/2   45  C92  Ruy Lopez
Polgar, Judit          -  Adams, Michael         1/2   44  C88  Ruy Lopez
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Lutz, Christopher      0-1   64  B80  Sicilian

Round 12 (July 2, 1999)

Topalov, Veselin       -  Morozevich, Alexander  1-0   54  D07  Chigorin
Svidler, Peter         -  Fritz 6                1-0   57  A00  Irregular
Lutz, Christopher      -  Polgar, Judit          0-1   69  B82  Sicilian
Adams, Michael         -  Leko, Peter            0-1  104  B13  Caro-Kann

Round 13 (July 2, 1999)

Leko, Peter            -  Lutz, Christopher      1/2   36  B90  Sicilian; Najdorf
Polgar, Judit          -  Topalov, Veselin       0-1   50  B90  Sicilian; Najdorf
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Fritz 6                1/2   62  A00  Irregular
Adams, Michael         -  Svidler, Peter         1/2   39  C78  Ruy Lopez

Round 14 (July 2, 1999)

Fritz 6                -  Polgar, Judit          1-0   44  B12  Caro-Kann
Topalov, Veselin       -  Leko, Peter            0-1   38  C65  Ruy Lopez
Svidler, Peter         -  Morozevich, Alexander  1/2   51  C12  French; Macutcheon
Lutz, Christopher      -  Adams, Michael         1-0   63  B01  Scandinavian


Frankfurt Chess Classic, Masters (GER), vi-vii 1999     cat. XV (2604)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Fritz 6                      ---- ** =1 1= 10 11 1= 0= =1  9.5  2823
2 Leko, Peter            g HUN 2694 =0 ** 11 0= =1 1= 1= =1  9.0  2693
3 Topalov, Veselin       g BUL 2700 0= 00 ** 01 11 11 11 =1  9.0  2692
4 Svidler, Peter         g RUS 2713 01 1= 10 ** 00 11 == ==  7.5  2617
5 Polgar, Judit          g HUN 2677 00 =0 00 11 ** 01 10 1=  6.0  2543
6 Lutz, Christopher      g GER 2610 0= 0= 00 00 10 ** 11 11  6.0  2553
7 Morozevich, Alexander  g RUS 2723 1= 0= 00 == 01 00 ** =1  5.5  2507
8 Adams, Michael         g ENG 2716 =0 =0 =0 == 0= 00 =0 **  3.5  2395
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ordix Open

Frankfurt Chess Classic, Masters (GER), vii 1999
-------------------------------------------------
 1 Van Wely, Loek          g NED 2632 9.5
 2 Milov, Vadim            g SUI 2633 9.0
 3 Ulibin, Mikhail         g RUS 2552 9.0
 4 Movsesian, Sergei       g CZE 2650 9.0
 5 Adams, Michael          g ENG 2716 9.0
 6 Giorgadze, Giorgi       g GEO 2609 8.5
 7 Volkov, Sergey          g RUS 2587 8.5
 8 Boidman, Yuri           f GER 2418 8.5
 9 Jussupow, Artur         g GER 2641 8.5
10 Epishin, Vladimir       g RUS 2578 8.5
11 Vaganian, Rafael A      g ARM 2605 8.5
12 Bareev, Evgeny          g RUS 2679 8.5
13 Schmidt, Peter          m GER 2412 8.5
14 Bischoff, Klaus         g GER 2521 8.5
15 Svidler, Peter          g RUS 2713 8.0
16 Gofshtein, Leonid D     g ISR 2517 8.0
17 Teske, Henrik           g GER 2500 8.0
18 Schmaltz, Roland        m GER 2502 8.0
19 Lobron, Eric            g GER 2553 8.0
20 Tischbierek, Raj        g GER 2531 8.0
21 Lutz, Christopher       g GER 2610 8.0
22 Gleizerov, Evgeny       g RUS 2518 8.0
23 Agrest, Evgenij         g SWE 2533 8.0
24 Azmaiparashvili, Zurab  g GEO 2681 8.0
25 Seul, Georg             m GER 2443 8.0
26 Krasenkov, Mikhail        POL 2570 8.0
27 Kindermann, Stefan      g GER 2541 8.0
28 Meduna, Eduard          g CZE 2493 8.0
29 Ragozin, Evgeni         m RUS 2486 8.0
30 Kekelidze, Mikheil      m GEO 2439 8.0
31 Miezis, Normunds        g LAT 2525 8.0

There were 26 players on 7.5 including Jan Smejkal,
Thomas Luther, Mihail Kobalija, Igor Glek, Vlastimil
Hort and Semen Dvoirys. In 58th and 59th place
Igor Khenkin and Yuri Yakovich finished on 7.0.

...445 players

Siemens Man-Machine rematch

Fritz 6             -  Anand, Viswanathan  1/2   65  C54  Italian game
Anand, Viswanathan  -  Fritz 6             1/2   33  D34  Queen's gambit
Fritz 6             -  Anand, Viswanathan  0-1   45  C54  Italian game
Anand, Viswanathan  -  Fritz 6             1/2   22  D34  Queen's gambit


Frankfurt Chess Classic, Siemens Man-Machine Re-match (GER), 3-4 vii 1999
-----------------------------------------------------------
                                  1   2   3   4 
-----------------------------------------------------------
Anand, Viswanathan  g IND 2781    =   =   1   =   2.5  2095
Fritz 6                   ----    =   =   0   =   1.5  2694
-----------------------------------------------------------

3) World Open

The 27th Annual World Open, with $200,000 worth of prizes is underway in Philadelphia. This sprawling event has a number of time schedules within the main open so it is very difficult to tell who is leading until they merge at the end of the event. In addition there have been a number of side events including on June 26th-27th 1999 the "Warm up" event (won by Igor Novikov with 3.5/4) and the "Tournament of Champions" (completed with Vladimir Akopian and Jaan Ehlvest scoring 4/5). The World Open itself kicked off with players starting the two weekend option of playing, alongside this was the World Open Major, where there was a four way tie for first between Novikov, Timoshenko, Blatny and Bisguier all on 4.5/6, the event ran June 28th-30th 1999.

With two round to go in the main section Jaan Ehlvest, Joel Benjamin and Alexander Ivanov all have 6/7. To simplify the task of sorting the games from the event, the games section has combined all the games from the different schedules and assumed they have been played over nine consecutive days. The event finishes today.

Leading round 7 standings:
1  Jan Ehlvest             2721 6.0
2  Joel Benjamin           2658 6.0
3  Alexander Ivanov        2572 6.0
4  Boris Gulko             2706 5.5
5  Artashes Minasian       2705 5.5
6  Igor Novikov            2692 5.5
7  Alex Yermolinsky        2684 5.5
8  Anthony J Miles         2669 5.5
9  Victor Bologan          2655 5.5
10 Suat Atalik             2644 5.5
11 George Timoshenko       2625 5.5
12 Alexander Shabalov      2624 5.5
13 Gregory Serper          2615 5.5
14 Benjamin Finegold       2604 5.5
15 Pavel Blatny            2599 5.5
16 Vladimir Akopian        2724 5.0
17 Giorgi Kacheishvili     2637 5.0
18 Alberto David           2633 5.0
19 A Hauchard              2624 5.0
20 John P Fedorowicz       2617 5.0
21 Alexande Fishbein       2589 5.0
22 Alex I Sherzer          2580 5.0
23 Enrico Sevillano        2556 5.0
24 Gennady Sagalchik       2545 5.0
25 Jorge Sammour-Hasbun    2536 5.0
26 A Payen                 2515 5.0
27 Julio Ostos             2430 5.0
28 William Paschall        2414 5.0
29 Stephen Muhammad        2385 5.0
30 Alexander Goldin        2711 4.5
31 Alek Wojtkiewicz        2683 4.5
32 Larr Christiansen       2663 4.5
33 Dmitry Gurevich         2601 4.5
34 Gildardo Garcia         2591 4.5
35 Alexander Stripunsky    2580 4.5
36 Boris Kreiman           2577 4.5
37 Aaron Summerscale       2540 4.5
38 Rashid Ziatdinov        2520 4.5
39 Jorge Szmetan           2503 4.5
40 Michael A Mulyar        2495 4.5
41 Norik Kalantarian       2481 4.5
42 Kamuil Miton            2481 4.5
43 Jay Bonin               2476 4.5
44 Angelo Young            2469 4.5
45 Ronald W Burnett        2466 4.5
46 Anatoly Y Lein          2465 4.5
47 Edward W Formanek       2401 4.5
48 Andrew Karklins         2385 4.5
49 John A Curdo            2367 4.5
50 Khaled Sharafuddin      2362 4.5
51 Guillermo Ruiz Gonzalez 2359 4.5
52 Yegeniy Gershov         2350 4.5
53 Sean Nagle              2327 4.5
54 Jose A Torres           2315 4.5
55 Ilye Figler             2295 4.5
56 Alexander Betaneli      2284 4.5
57 Zakhar Fayvinov         2281 4.5
58 Cristobal Blanco        2272 4.5
59 Renard W Anderson       2201 4.5
60 Rafael Furdzik          2200 4.5
...228 players

Results:
Warm Up Event June 26th-27th
------------------------------
1  Novikov, Igor      2692  3½  
2  Miton, Kamil       2480  3  
3  Privman, Boris     2295  2½  
4  Ilfeld, Etan J     2257  2½  
5  Ying, Victor       2121  2½  
6  Hathaway, John F   1970  2½  
7  Steigman, A J      2214  2  
8  Mazock, Michael J  2193  2  
9  Mays, Shelly       2049  2  
10 Rust, Lary F       1821  1½  
11 Lunenfeld, Richard 2214  1  
12 Denson, Nolan J    1960  1  
13 Merickel, James G  1315  ½  

Tournament of Champions June 26th-27th
----------------------------------------
  1 Akopian, Vladimir...........2724 4.0
  2 Ehlvest, Jan................2721 4.0
  3 Minasian, Artashes..........2705 3.5
  4 Wojtkiewicz, Alek...........2683 3.5
  5 Timoshenko, George..........2625 3.5
  6 Burnett, Ronald W...........2466 3.5
  7 Kacheishvili, Gior..........2637 3.0
  8 Shabalov, Alexande..........2624 3.0
  9 Blatny, Pavel...............2599 3.0
 10 Ardaman, Miles F............2450 3.0
 11 Ziatdinov, Rashid...........2520 2.5
 12 Winer, Steven...............2352 2.5
 13 Rubenchik, Rodion...........2298 2.5
 14 Hummel, Patrick A...........2408 2.0
 15 Formanek, Edward W..........2401 2.0
 16 Voelker, James..............2269 2.0
 17 Mc Clelland, Shearwood......2264 2.0
 18 Barash, Dmitriy F...........2228 2.0
 19 Rosario, Salvador...........2097 2.0
 20 Appelman, Harris B..........2005 2.0
 21 Fink, Stanley Will..........2222 1.5
 22 Hoekstra, Matthew...........2219 1.5
 23 Chapman, Nancy Lyn..........1209 1.0
 24 Flores, Efren R.............2062 0.5

World Open Major, June 28-30 - 40 point Grand Prix
--------------------------------------------------
1  Novikov, Igor        2692  4½  $335 
2  Timoshenko, George   2625  4½  $335 
3  Blatny, Pavel        2599  4½  $335 
4  Bisguier, Arthur B   2401  4½  $335 
5  Koroljow, Walter     2159  4  $150 
6  Ying, Victor         2121  4  $150 
7  Wojtkiewicz, Alek    2683  3½  
8  Ziatdinov, Rashid    2520  3½  
9  Kalantarian, Norik   2481  3½  
10 Ardaman, Miles F     2450  3  
11 Mays, Shelly         2049  3  
12 Pugh, Lawrence B     2028  3  
13 Hagerling, Isaac     1736  3  $66.67 
14 Mc Gary, R Shane     1630  3  $66.67 
15 Kier, Leon           1602  3  $66.67 
16 Ilfeld, Etan J       2257  2½  
17 Thompson, Donald A   2048  2  
18 Lowery, Thomas A     1645  2  
19 Merickel, James G    1315  2  
20 Randolph, Donald E   1269  2  
21 Coraretti, Ron       1840  1  
22 Maxwell, Jason       1223  1  
23 Briggs, David W      1294  0  

4) Dortmund Chess Days

This week sees the start of the Category 19 27th Dortmund Chess Days event. Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Anatoly Karpov, Michael Adams, Veselin Topalov, Peter Leko, Jan Timman and Ivan Sokolov play in the 8 player single round robin event. The Super Tournament will run 10th to 17th July (round robin) the other events include a Master Tournament (cat. 9/10) and an Open from 9th to 18th July. Venue the Main Opera House in Dortmund City Center. Karpov will also play World Computer Champion Shredder in Dortmund.

Those interested in playing in the Open can contact (0049-231-2009265) for registration information, there is a www site at: http://www.dortmund.de/chess

Additional coverage of the GM-tournament, Master, Open A and Open B at http://teleschach.com/berichte/dortmd99.htm by Gerhard Hund.

5) Karpov not yet committed to playing Las Vegas

A strange story this week was the appearance of a letter, supposedly signed by Anatoly Karpov on the FIDE Website. (as off this evening it is still there at:http://www.data.ru/fide/news/karpov.htm). There is now no link to the letter but it was discovered by, amongst others, Daði Örn Jónsson's who put a link to the letter on his "Chess in Iceland" (http://www.vks.is/skak/indexe.html) page. He saw a link to the letter (an announcement from FIDE Champion Anatoly Karpov) and although the link was broken, it was pretty obvious which URL is referred to.

The letter says: "In the past months, I had made certain statements regarding the 1999 World Chess Championship and the role of FIDE and its officials in respect of this event and other matters. I have since found out that my comments have caused a lot of hurt to FIDE and some of the individuals members of FIDE, who are genuinely working with me in every sense, to promote the game of Chess in the World. In order to clear all misconceptions and enable us move forward with our work for the greater good orf [sic] Chess, FIDE and the Olympic Movement, I have today decided to end all diputes with FIDE and to participate in the 1999 World Chess Championship at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. "

I wasn't especially surprised, an agreement between Karpov and FIDE was necesary for his participation. However when presented with the letter in Frankfurt he said he hadn't signed it and that an agreement with FIDE wouldn't happen until closer to Dortmund. Its unclear whether they will come to an agreement but it is clear that Karpov won't sign a letter of the type above.

6) Garry Kasparov vs the World

The Garry Kasparov vs. the World chess tournament. The event continues, you can follow the game at: http://zone.msn.com/. It allows players to consult in choosing which move is played against Kasparov. Players can vote for one of the suggested moves or for their own recommended move. The move with the most votes will be chosen as the world team's move. There is a team of coaches Etienne Bacrot, 16, Florin Felecan, 19, Irina Krush, 15, and Elisabeth Pähtz, 14 who will aid the choice of moves and GM Danny King will act as moderator during the match. Moves so far 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 Nc6 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. 0-0 g6.

7) Ljubljana Open-99

The 10th Ljubljana Open took place in the Grand hotel Union and included 125 players including 11 GMs and 8 IMs among them. The event ran June 25th-July 3rd 1999 . Marjan Semrl scored an IM norm.

Official site: http://www.sah-zveza.si/lj/lj99

10th Ljubljana Open (SLO), vi 1999
-----------------------------------------------------------
 1 Kozul, Zdenko            g CRO 2585 7   44.5  55.5  0.48
 2 Sveshnikov, Evgeny       g RUS 2563 7   43.0  55.5  0.48
 3 Kogan, Artur             g ISR 2507 7   42.0  53.0  0.72
 4 Kurajica, Bojan          g BIH 2536 7   41.5  52.5  0.40
 5 Volzhin, Alexander       g RUS 2548 7   41.0  52.0  0.88
 6 Zelcic, Robert           g CRO 2554 7   40.0  51.0  0.08
 7 Nevednichy, Vladislav    g ROM 2505 6.5 42.5  54.5  0.44
 8 Sax, Gyula               g HUN 2524 6.5 42.0  53.5  0.22
 9 Podlesnik, Bogdan        m SLO 2409 6.5 41.0  51.5  1.64
10 Vojko, Zorman            f SLO 2318 6.5 38.5  50.0  0.94
11 Farago, Ivan             g HUN 2533 6.5 38.5  49.0 -0.42
12 Sermek, Drazen           g SLO 2540 6.5 37.0  47.0 -1.38
13 Filipovic, Branko        m YUG 2434 6   40.5  51.5 -0.04
14 Mohr, Georg              g SLO 2476 6   40.0  51.5 -0.20
15 Sibarevic, Milenko       f YUG 2363 6   40.0  50.5  0.92
16 Semrl, Marjan              SLO 2206 6   39.5  49.0  2.92 
17 Roskar, Robert             SLO 2242 6   39.0  49.0  1.27
18 Basagic, Zlatko          m SLO 2316 6   38.0  48.5  1.49
19 Fercec, Nenad            m CRO 2495 6   37.5  47.5 -0.20
20 Gazarek, Danko           f CRO 2335 6   35.5  46.0 -0.12
21 Tratar, Marko            m SLO 2450 6   34.5  44.5 -1.56
22 Ceko, Jovan              f YUG 2215 6   33.5  44.0  1.10
23 Barle, Janez             m SLO 2384 6   32.5  42.0 -1.40
24 Novkovic, Stojan           SLO 2120 6   30.5  39.0  0.74
125 players

8) First Saturday, June

Laszlo Nagy reports: The July First Saturday event started June 3rd in Budapest. The Category II IM event has just started.

You can contact Laszlo Nagy about his First Saturday events. E-mail: firstsat@elender.hu webpages: http://www.elender.hu/~firstsat and http://www.illawarra.net.au/chesscentral/ Tel-fax: (361)-263-28-59

FSGM July 

Round 1 (July 3, 1999)

Pham Minh Hoang    -  Kiss, Gedeon       1-0   37  E98  Kings indian; Main line
Friedrichs, Klaus  -  Husari, Sate       1-0   32  A97  Dutch defence
Toth, Andras       -  Farago, Sandor     1/2    0
Szeberenyi, Adam   -  Krutti, Valer      0-1   56  A70  Modern Benoni
Balogh, Csaba      -  Serrer, Christoph  1/2   38  B19  Caro-Kann
Vadasz, Laszlo     -  Aumann, Welf       0-1   28  A05  Reti (1.Nf3)
Fordan, Tibor      -  Schebler, Gerhard  0-1   42  E97  Kings indian; Main line

Round 2 (July 4, 1999)

Krutti, Valer      -  Friedrichs, Klaus  1-0   46  E13  Nimzo indian
Schebler, Gerhard  -  Balogh, Csaba      1-0   33  A46  Queen's pawn
Aumann, Welf       -  Szeberenyi, Adam   1/2   40  A28  English; 1.c4 e5
Serrer, Christoph  -  Pham Minh Hoang    1/2   32  A30  English; 1.c4 c5
Toth, Andras       -  Vadasz, Laszlo     1/2    0
Husari, Sate       -  Fordan, Tibor      1-0   48  D34  Queen's gambit
Farago, Sandor     -  Kiss, Gedeon       0-1   21  E63  Kings indian


Budapest HUN (HUN), 5-15 vii 1999                        cat. II (2287)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Krutti, Valer      m HUN 2354 * . . . 1 . . . . 1 . . . .  2.0      
 2 Schebler, Gerhard  m GER 2439 . * . . . . . . . . 1 . . 1  2.0      
 3 Pham Minh Hoang      VIE 2357 . . * . . = 1 . . . . . . .  1.5  2465
 4 Aumann, Welf         GER 2299 . . . * . . . . . = . . 1 .  1.5  2480
 5 Friedrichs, Klaus    GER 2144 0 . . . * . . . 1 . . . . .  1.0  2329
 6 Serrer, Christoph  f GER 2285 . . = . . * . . . . = . . .  1.0  2246
 7 Kiss, Gedeon         HUN 2259 . . 0 . . . * . . . . 1 . .  1.0  2335
 8 Toth, Andras         HUN 2301 . . . . . . . * . . . = = .  1.0  2300
 9 Husari, Sate         SYR 2305 . . . . 0 . . . * . . . . 1  1.0  2194
10 Szeberenyi, Adam     HUN 2287 0 . . = . . . . . * . . . .  0.5  2133
11 Balogh, Csaba        HUN 2135 . 0 . . . = . . . . * . . .  0.5  2169
12 Farago, Sandor     m HUN 2314 . . . . . . 0 = . . . * . .  0.5  2087
13 Vadasz, Laszlo     g HUN 2287 . . . 0 . . . = . . . . * .  0.5  2107
14 Fordan, Tibor        HUN 2245 . 0 . . . . . . 0 . . . . *  0.0      
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

9) FIDE July Rating list

The FIDE rating list for July 1999 is now out. Kasparov extends his lead as World number one. The January 1999 rating is given first followed by the new July rating.There are no major changes in the positions of the top players with only two players entering the top 10, Gelfand at 6 and Leko at 10. Kasparov's rating has risen to 2841 whilst World numbers 2 and 3, Anand and Kramnik, have fallen. Morozevich is now World number 4. There looks to be a few events missing and these lists may be due a correction. At first sight Sarajevo and the Karpov-Piket match are amongst the events that should have been included.

Source http://www.data.ru/fide/ratings/index.html and a full rating list is available from there, although the name (alph9907.txt) suggests that the list is not going to be the final version.

No   Name                          Title NAT ja99 ju99   gms dob
  1 Kasparov, Gary..................  g  RUS 2812 2841   27  13.04.63     
  2 Anand, Viswanathan..............  g  IND 2781 2771   36  11.12.69     
  3 Kramnik, Vladimir...............  g  RUS 2751 2760   36  25.06.75     
  4 Morozevich, Alexander...........  g  RUS 2723 2751   17  18.07.77     
  5 Shirov, Alexei..................  g  ESP 2726 2722   13  04.07.72     
  6 Gelfand, Boris..................  g  ISR 2691 2713   24  24.06.68     
  7 Karpov, Anatoly.................  g  RUS 2710 2709    9  23.05.51     
  8 Adams, Michael..................  g  ENG 2716 2705   48  17.11.71     
  9 Ivanchuk, Vassily...............  g  UKR 2714 2702   27  18.03.69     
 10 Leko, Peter.....................  g  HUN 2694 2699   14  08.09.79     
 11 Topalov, Veselin................  g  BUL 2700 2695   36  15.03.75     
 12 Short, Nigel D..................  g  ENG 2697 2689   16  01.06.65     
 13 Svidler, Peter..................  g  RUS 2713 2684   36  17.06.76     
 14 Azmaiparashvili, Zurab..........  g  GEO 2681 2681    0  16.03.60     
 15 Dreev, Alexey...................  g  RUS 2639 2679   38  30.01.69     
 16 Bareev, Evgeny..................  g  RUS 2679 2679    0  21.11.66     
 17 Korchnoi, Viktor................  g  SUI 2673 2676   16  23.03.31     
 18 Timman, Jan H...................  g  NED 2670 2675   28  14.12.51     
 19 Smirin, Ilia....................  g  ISR 2652 2671   31  21.01.68     
 20 Polgar, Judit (GM)..............  g  HUN 2677 2671    9  23.07.76  w  
 21 Sokolov, Ivan...................  g  BIH 2624 2666   31  13.06.68     
 22 Almasi, Zoltan..................  g  HUN 2665 2663   33  29.08.76     
 23 Rublevsky, Sergei...............  g  RUS 2684 2660    8  15.10.74     
 24 Movsesian, Sergei...............  g  CZE 2650 2659   37  03.11.78     
 25 Fedorov, Alexei.................  g  BLR 2648 2659   20  27.09.72     
 26 Shipov, Sergei..................  g  RUS 2662 2658    9  17.04.66     
 27 Epishin, Vladimir...............  g  RUS 2578 2657   80  11.07.65     
 28 Onischuk, Alexander.............  g  UKR 2646 2657   18  03.09.75     
 29 Salov, Valery...................  g  RUS 2670 2656    9  26.05.64     
 30 Seirawan, Yasser................  g  USA 2643 2653   10  24.03.60     
 31 Zvjaginsev, Vadim...............  g  RUS 2658 2652   17  18.08.76     
 32 Georgiev, Kiril.................  g  BUL 2659 2650   19  28.11.65     
 33 Tkachiev, Vladislav.............  g  FRA 2634 2648   24    .  .       
 34 Sakaev, Konstantin..............  g  RUS 2649 2648   17  13.04.74     
 35 Krasenkow, Michal...............  g  POL 2643 2647   35  14.11.63     
 36 Akopian, Vladimir...............  g  ARM 2640 2646   37  07.12.71     
 37 Gurevich, Mikhail...............  g  BEL 2627 2643   38  22.02.59     
 38 Nikolic, Predrag................  g  BIH 2633 2641    9  11.09.60     
 39 Lautier, Joel...................  g  FRA 2596 2638   33  12.04.73     
 40 Jussupow, Artur.................  g  GER 2641 2636   15  13.02.60     
 41 Khenkin, Igor...................  g  GER 2641 2633   46  21.03.68     
 42 Van Wely, Loek..................  g  NED 2632 2629   52  07.10.72     
 43 Hracek, Zbynek..................  g  CZE 2615 2629   24  09.09.70     
 44 Khalifman, Alexander............  g  RUS 2616 2628   20  18.01.66     
 45 Sadler, Matthew.................  g  ENG 2667 2626   42  15.05.74     
 46 Milov, Vadim....................  g  SUI 2633 2626   29  01.08.72     
 47 Piket, Jeroen...................  g  NED 2619 2625   44  27.01.69     
 48 Lputian, Smbat G................  g  ARM 2614 2625   20  14.02.58     
 49 Andersson, Ulf..................  g  SWE 2623 2623   12  27.06.51     
 50 Bologan, Viktor.................  g  MDA 2608 2620   41  14.12.71     
 51 Chernin, Alexander..............  g  HUN 2604 2619   32  06.03.60     
 52 Aleksandrov, Aleksej............  g  BLR 2609 2619   14  11.05.73     
 53 Beliavsky, Alexander G..........  g  SLO 2650 2618   35  17.12.53     
 54 Gulko, Boris F..................  g  USA 2620 2618    4  09.02.47     
 55 Vaganian, Rafael A..............  g  ARM 2605 2617   21  15.10.51     
 56 Ponomariov, Ruslan..............  g  UKR 2609 2616   18  11.10.83     
 57 Kharlov, Andrei.................  g  RUS 2600 2615   80  20.11.68     
 58 Korneev, Oleg...................  g  RUS 2583 2615   54  25.07.69     
 59 Novikov, Igor A.................  g  UKR 2601 2614   29  23.05.62     
 60 Kozul, Zdenko...................  g  CRO 2585 2612   23  21.05.66     
 61 Tiviakov, Sergei................  g  RUS 2627 2611   39  14.02.73     
 62 Kaidanov, Gregory S.............  g  USA 2606 2611   12  11.10.59     
 63 Palac, Mladen...................  g  CRO 2589 2610   42  18.02.71     
 64 Christiansen, Larry M...........  g  USA 2581 2610   24  27.06.56     
 65 Tregubov, Pavel V...............  g  RUS 2570 2609   37  21.12.71     
 66 Pigusov, Evgeny.................  g  RUS 2602 2609   17  31.03.61     
 67 Morovic Fernandez, Ivan.........  g  CHI 2613 2608   17  24.03.63     
 68 Hansen, Curt....................  g  DEN 2608 2607   24  18.09.64     
 69 Adianto, Utut...................  g  INA 2607 2607    0  16.03.65     
 70 Filippov, Valerij...............  g  RUS 2574 2605   53  28.11.75     
 71 Hodgson, Julian M...............  g  ENG 2565 2605   37  25.07.63     
 72 Granda Zuniga, Julio E..........  g  PER 2605 2605    0  25.02.67     
 73 Kruppa, Yuri....................  g  UKR 2561 2603   35  21.06.64     
 74 Kasimdzhanov, Rustam............  g  UZB 2606 2603   31  05.12.79     
 75 Goldin, Alexander...............  g  ISR 2585 2602   49  27.02.65     
 76 Giorgadze, Giorgi...............  g  GEO 2609 2602   29  10.10.64     
 77 Sturua, Zurab...................  g  GEO 2605 2602   11  08.06.59     
 78 Stohl, Igor.....................  g  SVK 2573 2600   35  27.09.64     
 79 Minasian, Artashes..............  g  ARM 2594 2600   29  21.01.67     
 80 Dolmatov, Sergey................  g  RUS 2589 2600   21  20.02.59     
 81 Illescas Cordoba, Miguel........  g  ESP 2585 2600   18  03.12.65     
 82 Huebner, Robert Dr..............  g  GER 2585 2599   15  06.11.48     
 83 Atalik, Suat....................  g  TUR 2593 2598   77  10.10.64     
 84 DeFirmian, Nick E...............  g  USA 2610 2598   33  26.07.57     
 85 Nunn, John D.M..................  g  ENG 2600 2598   18  25.04.55     
 86 Speelman, Jonathan S............  g  ENG 2601 2597   51  02.10.56     
 87 Dautov, Rustem..................  g  GER 2598 2597   17  28.11.65     
 88 Bunzmann, Dimitrij..............     GER 2555 2596   24  21.02.82     
 89 Dorfman, Josif D................  g  FRA 2596 2596    0  01.05.53     
 90 Baburin, Alexander..............  g  IRL 2586 2593   26  19.02.67     
 91 Ye, Jiangchuan..................  g  CHN 2564 2593   25  20.11.60     
 92 Yakovich, Yuri..................  g  RUS 2565 2592   69  30.11.62     
 93 Ehlvest, Jaan...................  g  EST 2593 2592   45  14.10.62     
 94 Bacrot, Etienne.................  g  FRA 2561 2592   27  22.01.83     
 95 Landa, Konstantin...............  g  RUS 2542 2591   62  22.05.72     
 96 Baklan, Vladimir................  g  UKR 2552 2591   51  25.02.78     
 97 Lutz, Christopher...............  g  GER 2610 2591   32  24.02.71     
 98 Dvoirys, Semen I................  g  RUS 2562 2590   46  02.11.58     
 99 Ftacnik, Lubomir................  g  SVK 2585 2589   52  30.10.57     
100 Eingorn, Vereslav S.............  g  UKR 2592 2589   19  23.11.56     

10) Forthcoming Events and Links

EuroTel Trophy

The EuroTel Trophy will take place in Prague, the Czech Republic, from 10th to 18th July 1999. The EuroTel Trophy ´99 is presented by the world champion Garry Kasparov - the winner of EuroTel Trophy ´98. The match will be between Judit Polgar and Alexei Shirov. The first game will start on Sunday 11th July 1999 at 2: 30 p.m. CET, and will be played with the time control of 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by 20 moves in 1 hour, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game. World and Czech Chess Grandmasters will provide the match commentary. Internet coverage at: http://www.iol.cz. The six games will take place on July 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18 1999. EuroTel Praha Ltd is a joint venture of SPT TELECOM Inc. (51%) and Atlantic West B.V. (49%). Atlantic West B.V. is equally owned by Bell Atlantic (NYSE:BEL) and MediaOne International, which is a part of MediaOne Group (NYSE:UMG).

3rd Mind Sports Olympiad

The prize fund for this year's Mind Sports Olympiad has been set at 100,000 pounds. There may also be some additional prizes to be announced later. In addition to the cash prizes the leading players will also receive the traditional MSO gold, silver and bronze medals. There will be additional medals for the leading juniors in each tournament. The prize funds for some of the games are listed below. All figures are in pounds sterling.

Chess £20,000; Bridge £10,000; Go £8,500; 10x10 Draughts £8,000; Othello £7,000; Chinese Chess £6,000; Scrabble £6,000; Shogi £5,000; Stratego £5,000; 8x8 Draughts £4,000; Memory Skills £3,000; Cribbage £2,000; Dominoes £2,000; Intelligence £2,000

Prize funds for other games will be announced in due course. The detailed tournament schedule will be announced on their web site http://www.mindsports.co.uk/ in early June and printed entry forms will be available shortly thereafter.

Politiken Cup

The Politiken Cup started in Copenhagen on July 3rd, the event runs through until July 11th. Official coverage at: http://inet.uni-c.dk/~kbhsu/index.htm Nick DeFirmian, Alexander Baburin, Sune Berg Hansen, Lars Schandorff, Henrik Danielsen, Tiger Hillarp Persson, Chris Ward and Luke McShane are amongst the 163 players competing.

European Club Cup 1999 for women

Nova Gorica is the venue for the European Club Cup 1999 for Women which is currently underway. Results and games at: http://www.sah-zveza.si/rez/eu99cupw.htm

Ikaria island, Greece

Eight GMs and other strong players will participate in the Ikaros Chess Festival, 10-23 of July, Ikaria island, Greece. Among them are: Igor Novikov (GM, 2601, Ukr.), Normunds Miezis (GM Lat), Eygeni Ermenkov (GM Bulg.), Milko Popchev (GM Bulg.), Krum Georgiev (GM Bulg.), Milos Pavlovic (GM Yugosl.), Stanimr Nikolic (GM Yugosl.), Silvia Aleksieva (WGM, Bulg.), Karsten Rasmussen (IM Denmark), Bojan Vuckovic (IM Yugosl.), Pavlos Gesos (IM Greece), Ruzka Genova (WIM, Bulg.)

Seven tournaments will be held in Ikaria in this period. The main event is the Aegian Championship, a 9 rounds swiss system international tournament. For more details in English, French or Greek you can visit the site: http://www.chess.gr/tourn/1999/ikaros99.html