The Week in Chess 279

THE WEEK IN CHESS 279 13th March 2000 by Mark Crowther

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1) Introduction

My thanks to John Henderson, Michael Rahal, Ignatius Leong and Wang Lei, Sinisa Joksic, Goran Dinic, GMSchach, Zoltán Schepp, Laszlo Nagy, Visweswaran Kameswaran, Pascal Villalba, Harriet Hunt, John Fernandez and all those who helped with this issue.

Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik shared first place at the Linares tournament. The result leaves the question unclear as to whether Anand or Kramnik is the closest rival to the perpetual number one Kasparov (Kasparov is either very good as he was at Linares, or unplayable, which he was most of last year). It was a very tough and enjoyable event. My thanks to John Henderson for his excellent coverage on TWIC's main pages. Every year about a week after Linares is the more fun event of the Amber tournament in Monaco. This year is no exception and that will be our top class event for the next two twics.

FIDE continue to press for their "commercialisation" proposals. These also include some very autocratic proposals which will affect all professional players. The jam tomorrow promise from FIDE is that they will globally promote chess and this will "incidently" bail out the organisation financially. It also has adopted the Soviet style slogan "Strong National Federations - strong FIDE". There are many more fitting words than "strong" that you can put in this phrase. The fact is FIDE an organisation run for the benefit of those in power and to the shame of the international chess community there is now almost no opposition to this most malign regime.

Hope you enjoy this issue

Mark

2) Linares 2000

The Linares 2000 ran February 28th-March 10th 2000. Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik finished tied for first on 6/10 (+2) undefeated, inseparable even by the various tie-breaks laid down in the rules of the competition (Kasparov and Kramnik won the same number of games and had the same number of black wins. The next tie-break was for the worst score against the lower group and if still equal, the worst result against the second lowest group. But all the other players were tied on 4.5 points making the players level on every criterion.). There was supposed to be a toss of the coin but Kasparov did not like the idea and the players also ruled out a blitz playoff. Kasparov wanted the official results to record 1st= although he allowed Kramnik to take the main trophy.

Leko, Khalifman, Anand and Shirov all finished on 4.5/10 (-1, ie one more defeat than wins).

Only two players enhanced their ratings in the event: Vladimir Kramnik rated 2758 and who performed to 2822 and FIDE World Chess Champion Alexander Khalifman rated 2656 who performed to 2734. Kasparov is rated 2851 but performed to only (?!) 2803 statistically the second biggest loser of rating points in the event. Peter Leko virtually held his rating (2725 performing to 2721) but was the only player not to win a game. Viswanathan Anand was the biggest loser rated 2769 but performing to 2712 he wrecked his tournament by losing in rounds 3 and 4 and picked up his only win in round 9 by beating Khalifman. Alexei Shirov was the second biggest loser of rating points being rated 2751 but performing to 2715, rust probably cost him a loss in the first round against Kasparov when he had a fairly trivial draw.

There were seven Petroff Defences and it scored a level result (+1 =5 -1 the loss being the aforementioned blunder in a level position by Shirov) for a 2799 performance. Its old reputation as a drawing weapon is back with a vengence. All 1. e4 e5 games were Petroff Defences.

The seven decisive games were:

Kasparov 1-0 Shirov Round 1 Petroff Defence.
Khalifman 0-1 Kramnik Round 1 Nimzo Indian.
Anand 0-1 Shirov Round 3 Petroff Defence.
Anand 0-1 Kasparov Round 4 Sicilian; Najdorf.
Kramnik 1-0 Shirov Round 5 Slav Defence.
Khalifman 1-0 Leko Gruenfeld Indian.
Anand 1-0 Khalifman Round 9 French; Winawer.

Kramnik-Kasparov from round eight was generally regarded as the game of the tournament and it duly picked up the official best game prize. The award for hardest fighter was given to Kasparov which was probably just about right but Khalifman deserves an honarable mention in toughing out the event as clearly the bottom rated player.

There was a lot of high quality interesting chess, such a low number of decisive games is not to everyone's taste but I enjoyed it. Like the Candidates tournaments of old it could have benefitted from being a quadruple round event, I felt the players were just starting to warm up when the event came to a conclusion (they probably don't agree with me here!) the extended test in chess seems just about dead unfortunately.

Live internet coverage was at: http://www.ajedrez21.com.

Round 7 (March 7, 2000)

Kasparov, Gary        -  Khalifman, Alexander  1/2   55  C17  French; Winawer
Leko, Peter           -  Shirov, Alexei        1/2   56  A25  English; 1.c4 e5
Anand, Viswanathan    -  Kramnik, Vladimir     1/2   25  C42  Petroff defence

Round 8 (March 8, 2000)

Kramnik, Vladimir     -  Kasparov, Gary        1/2   41  A30  English; 1.c4 c5
Khalifman, Alexander  -  Leko, Peter           1-0   47  D85  Gruenfeld indian
Shirov, Alexei        -  Anand, Viswanathan    1/2   23  C42  Petroff defence

Round 9 (March 9, 2000)

Leko, Peter           -  Kasparov, Gary        1/2   37  B90  Sicilian; Najdorf
Anand, Viswanathan    -  Khalifman, Alexander  1-0   42  C17  French; Winawer
Shirov, Alexei        -  Kramnik, Vladimir     1/2   33  B33  Sicilian; Sveshnikov

Round 10 (March 10, 2000)

Kramnik, Vladimir     -  Leko, Peter           1/2   26  A43  Queen's pawn
Kasparov, Gary        -  Anand, Viswanathan    1/2   30  C42  Petroff defence
Khalifman, Alexander  -  Shirov, Alexei        1/2   17  D19  Slav defence


SuperGM Linares ESP (ESP), 28 ii-10 iii 2000    cat. XXI (2752)
---------------------------------------------------------------
                                    1  2  3  4  5  6 
---------------------------------------------------------------
1 Kramnik, Vladimir     g RUS 2758 ** == == 1= == 1=  6.0  2822
2 Kasparov, Gary        g RUS 2851 == ** == == 1= 1=  6.0  2803
3 Leko, Peter           g HUN 2725 == == ** =0 == ==  4.5  2721
4 Khalifman, Alexander  g RUS 2656 0= == =1 ** =0 ==  4.5  2734
5 Anand, Viswanathan    g IND 2769 == 0= == =1 ** 0=  4.5  2712
6 Shirov, Alexei        g ESP 2751 0= 0= == == 1= **  4.5  2715
---------------------------------------------------------------

3) 9th Amber Tournament

Starting on Thursday March 16th 2000 is the 9th Amber Tournament. A blindfold and rapidplay tournament it includes three players from Linares: Kramnik, Anand and Shirov. Players: Jeroen Piket, Ljubomir Ljubojevic, Predrag Nikolic, Joel Lautier, Viswanathan Anand, Anatoly Karpov, Vassily Ivanchuk, Loek Van Wely, Veselin Topalov, Vladimir Kramnik, Boris Gelfand and Alexei Shirov. TWIC will cover the event daily.

Official site: http://chess.lostcity.nl/amber/

4) Dos Hermanas Internet qualifier

Michael Rahal reports: After the first four qualifiers of the 1st "Ciudad de Dos Hermanas" Chess Tournament on the Internet, the finalists are already being decided.There were more than 1150 entries, consisting of more than 600 players from all over the world, including many GM and IM's. Entries for the rest of the 8 qualifying tournaments are still being accepted (see http://www.doshermanas.net for further details).

The winner of each tournament, and the best 20 scorers over the 12 tournaments, qualify for the grand final on Saturday and Sunday: a knockout with 32 players. First prize is 1.000 Euros, plus an expenses paid to participate in the II "Ciudad de Dos Hermanas" Chess Tournament, from the 7th to the 15th of April. Before going on to the results, I would like to thank John Fernandez and his team at ICC-Internet Chess Club. Without them, and their hard work, this tournament would not have been possible.

The first tournament (106 entries: 66 participants) was dominated by the Israel GM, Victor Mikhalevski ("Visam", Fide Rating 2499), who goes straight to the final. Runners up were Chile's IM Rodrigo Vasquez ("Kastor" 2445) and Argentina's IM Alfredo Giaccio ("Independiente" 2508), who will probably qualify on points. Strong players who didn't qualify included GM Pablo Zarniki, and Spanish IM Javier Moreno.

The second tournament (74 entries: 36 participants) was dominated by Hungarian MI Istvan Almasi ("Specialist" 2420) tied with Argentina's IM Pablo Glavina ("GlavinaIM"-2400), who will probably enter the final on points. "Vassili", Chile IM Jorge Egger (2420) was one of the many Masters who didn't qualify.

The third tournament had a fantastic field: 136 entries: 97 participants . Greek GM Dimitri Agnos ("BuffaloJim", Elo Fide 2459) won all seven games including a last round win against Israel's GM Lev Psakhis ("Psakhis"-2599) in a memorable game. Tied in second place and probable qualifiers on points were GM Aleksa Strikovic ("lestri"-2515) from Yugoslavia, and Polish GM Bartolomiej Macieja ("aleks" -2538). Other very strong players who didn't qualify included GM Lev Psakhis, GM Milos Pavlovic, GM Pablo Zarnicki, and Spanish IM's Marc Narciso and Javier Moreno.

In the fourth tournament, (83 entries: 43 participants) saw the first real surprise: the strong Spanish player Carlos Ferron ("Karlitos" -2199) won the event ahead of Argentina's IM Diego Adla (Adla-2492), who will probably qualify on points. Although Ferron has no Fide Title, he is recognized in Spain as one of the quickest players on the circuit. His ICC Blitz rating is 2646, which indicates his strength at quick chess.

Qualified for the final directly:

GM Victor Mikhalevski ("Visam",-2499)
IM Istvan Almasi ("Specialist"-2420)
GMDimitri Agnos ("BuffaloJim"-2459)
Carlos Ferron ("Karlitos" -2199)

Well placed to qualify by points, 
(although they must wait for the rest of
the tournaments to finish)

IM Rodrigo Vasquez ("Kastor"-2445) 
IM Alfredo Giaccio ("Independiente"-2508)
IM Pablo Glavina ("GlavinaIM"-2400
GM Aleksa Strikovic ("lestri"-2515) 
GM Bartolomiej Macieja ("aleks" -2538)
IM Diego Adla (Adla-2492)

The fifth tournament is played today at 20.000 spanish time.

Further details: http://www.doshermanas.net

5) Sufe Cup

The Sufe Cup takes place in Shanghai, China, 2nd-16th March 2000. The event is Category 13 with an average rating of 2569 (GM norm 7.5, IM norm 5.0). Perhaps unfairly given that the event has an interesting mix of players attention will probably focus on the performance of the Burmese players who are generally regarded as grossly over-rated. My thanks to Ignatius Leong and Wang Lei for the results and games (I give the games only to round 8 which are confirmed).

There is a website (in Chinese) http://www.linta.com/

Round 11 standings:

Sufe Cup Shanghai CHN (CHN), 3-15 iii 2000             cat. XIII (2569)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Krasenkow, Michal  g POL 2661 * . 1 = 1 = = 1 1 . = 1 1 1  9.0  2826
 2 Ye Jiangchuan      g CHN 2616 . * = = = 1 1 = . 1 1 1 1 1  9.0  2824
 3 Peng Xiaomin       g CHN 2624 0 = * 0 1 = . = 1 1 1 1 . 1  7.5  2690
 4 Bologan, Viktor    g MDA 2589 = = 1 * 0 1 = = . = = . 1 1  7.0  2684
 5 Zhang Zhong        g CHN 2611 0 = 0 1 * 1 . 1 = 0 . 1 = 1  6.5  2632
 6 Filippov, Valerij  g RUS 2584 = 0 = 0 0 * = 1 1 . 1 = 1 .  6.0  2609
 7 Pigusov, Evgeny    g RUS 2610 = 0 . = . = * = = = 1 0 1 1  6.0  2592
 8 Xie Jun            g CHN 2542 0 = = = 0 0 = * = = . . 1 1  5.0  2550
 9 Yin Hao            m CHN 2496 0 . 0 . = 0 = = * 1 = = = 1  5.0  2533
10 Qin Kanying       wg CHN 2475 . 0 0 = 1 . = = 0 * = = = 0  4.0  2465
11 Wang Lei          wg CHN 2495 = 0 0 = . 0 0 . = = * = 1 =  4.0  2472
12 Wang Pin          wg CHN 2469 0 0 0 . 0 = 1 . = = = * 0 1  4.0  2476
13 Aung Aung          m MYA 2595 0 0 . 0 = 0 0 0 = = 0 1 * .  2.5  2347
14 Nay Oo Kyaw Tun    m MYA 2595 0 0 0 0 0 . 0 0 0 1 = 0 . *  1.5  2253
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

6) "8th March" Ladies Tournament

Sinisa Joksic reports: Belgrade hosts the 33rd "8th March" Lady's Tournament from March 3-14, 2000. This years tournament is category 15 women's event and a category 8 men's event (2411) There are 12 players, all with women's grandmaster titles. At one time it was the strongest Lady's Tournament. There are 6 prizes: 30.000 dinar (about 1.500 DM), 22.000, 18.000, 14.000, 10.000 and 6.000 and from 7-12 place 2.000 each player.

Russian Ekatarina Kovalevskaya leads by a full point from Svetlana Matveeva who overtook Maria Manakova in second place after nine rounds of the event. Matveeva won nicely with an extra pawn, on the queenside although Natalia Zhukova missed some chances for an attack in the middle of the game. Manakova lost against Tatiana Stepovaia when, in the time trouble, she sacrificed a pawn incorrectly and lost. Risky play from Irina Chelushkina against Bulgara Maria Velcheva (24) brought her the full point. My thanks too to Goran Dinic for corrections.

33rd "8th March" Women's Tournament Belgrade YUG (YUG), 3-14 iii 2000cat. VII (2412)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina       wg RUS 2451 * = . . = 1 1 = 1 1 = 1  7.0  2633
 2 Matveeva, Svetlana            wg RUS 2414 = * = . = 0 . 1 = 1 1 1  6.0  2542
 3 Stepovaia-Dianchenko, Tatiana wg RUS 2420 . = * 1 1 1 0 = . = = =  5.5  2488
 4 Manakova, Maria               wg YUG 2348 . . 0 * 0 = 1 = 1 = 1 1  5.5  2494
 5 Prudnikova, Svetlana          wg YUG 2421 = = 0 1 * = = . 1 = = .  5.0  2456
 6 Maric, Alisa                   m YUG 2463 0 1 0 = = * = = 1 . . =  4.5  2407
 7 Bojkovic, Natasa              wg YUG 2423 0 . 1 0 = = * . = = 1 =  4.5  2403
 8 Zhukova, Natalia              wg UKR 2471 = 0 = = . = . * 0 0 1 =  3.5  2322
 9 Chelushkina, Irina            wg YUG 2398 0 = . 0 0 0 = 1 * 1 . =  3.5  2328
10 Velcheva, Maria               wg BUL 2364 0 0 = = = . = 1 0 * 0 .  3.0  2296
11 Skripchenko-Lautier, Almira    m MDA 2444 = 0 = 0 = . 0 0 . 1 * =  3.0  2279
12 Maric, Mirjana                wg YUG 2324 0 0 = 0 . = = = = . = *  3.0  2300
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7) FIDE Presidential Board

The FIDE Presidential Board took place February 26th-27th 2000. The document on commercialisation was discussed. In fact the Presidential Board said that FIDE was in an "emergency situation" financially and special powers were given to the board to push through the proposals in the absense of a sponsor for the World Championships amongst other crisis. The finalisation of the document will take place in May in London. FIDE have adopted the slogan "Strong National Federations - strong FIDE". The proposals include compulsory participation of the top players' in their National Championships, "in order to enjoy whatever rights have been provided for their participation in the World Championship." You can read the memorandum in full. http://www.worldfide.com/fide/html/press/press12.html

8) Bundesliga

The 7th Bundesliga weekend took place over March 11th and 12th. These were rounds 12 and 13. The leaders SG Köln Porz stayed one win clear of Solinger SG as they both won their matches this weekend. Alexei Shirov was the only Linares player who made it to the event and he drew his Saturday and then lost on Sunday to Raj Tischbierek.

The official Bundesliga site is: http://www.gmschach.de/ they will be publishing the games throughout the week.

Venue: Dresden

Round 12 Saturday 11th March 2000

Dresden       Hamburg         4.0:4.0
Plauen        Lübeck          4.0:4.0

Round 13 Sunday 12th March 2000

Hamburg       Plauen          6.0:2.0
Lübeck        Dresden         4.5:3.5

Venue: Magdeburg

Round 12 Saturday 11th March 2000

Magdeburg     Porz            3.5:4.5
Neukölln      Duisburg        7.0:1.0

Round 13 Sunday 12th March 2000

Porz          Neukölln        5.5:2.5
Duisburg      Magdeburg       3.0:5.0

Venue: Godesberg

Round 12 Saturday 11th March 2000

Godesberg      Passau         2.5:5.5
Castrop-Rauxel Tegernsee      5.5:2.5

Round 13 Sunday 12th March 2000

Passau         Castrop-Rauxel 3.0:5.0
Tegernsee      Godesberg      3.5:4.5

Venue: Wattenscheid

Round 12 Saturday 11th March 2000

Wattenscheid  Delmenhorst     3.5:4.5
Solingen      Bremen          4.5:3.5

Round 13 Sunday 12th March 2000

Delmenhorst   Solingen        3.0:5.0
Bremen        Wattenscheid    5.5:2.5

Round 13 standings:

 1. SG Köln Porz      13 70½:33½  25- 1
 2. Solinger SG       13 66 :38   23- 3
 3. SK Delmenhorst    13 55 :49   17- 9
 4. Godesberger SK    13 53½:50½  16-10
 5. Castrop Rauxel    13 53½:50½  16-10
 6. SK Passau         13 55 :49   14-12
 7. Hamburger SK      13 54 :50   13-13
 8. Lübecker SV       13 53½:50½  13-13
 9. SV Werder Bremen  13 50 :54   13-13
10. SFR Neukölln      13 51½:52½  12-14
11. USC Magdeburg     13 50½:53½  10-16
12. Dresdner SC       13 48½:55½  10-16
13. SK König Plauen   13 45 :59    9-17
14. SV Wattenscheid   13 41 :63    8-18
15. SV Tegernsee      13 46½:57½   6-20
16. PSV Duisburg      13 38 :66    3-23

9) Harkány IM Closed

There was an IM closed event in Harkány, Hungary 17th-26th February reports Zoltán Schepp. The event was won by Andras Flumbort with 6/9.

It Harkany HUN (HUN), 17-26 ii 2000            cat. III (2303)
--------------------------------------------------------------
                                1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
--------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Flumbort, Andras    HUN 2260 * = = = = 1 = 1 = 1  6.0  2432
 2 Csonka, Attila      HUN 2274 = * = = = = 1 = = 1  5.5  2385
 3 Nanu, Ciprian     m ROM 2380 = = * 0 = = = 1 1 1  5.5  2374
 4 Molnar, Bela        HUN 2318 = = 1 * = = = 1 0 =  5.0  2344
 5 Krutti, Valer     m HUN 2382 = = = = * = = = 1 =  5.0  2336
 6 Papp, Gabor         HUN 2217 0 = = = = * 0 1 1 1  5.0  2355
 7 Bogdan, Dan       m ROM 2353 = 0 = = = 1 * 0 1 =  4.5  2297
 8 Cooke, Eric         USA 2266 0 = 0 0 = 0 1 * = 1  3.5  2226
 9 Belotelov, Denis  f RUS 2280 = = 0 1 0 0 0 = * =  3.0  2180
10 Amrein, Roland      HUN 2297 0 0 0 = = 0 = 0 = *  2.0  2083
--------------------------------------------------------------

10) First Saturday March

In March there are three IM events. Laszlo Nagy sends the games and results.

Info: Nagy, Laszlo, e-mail: firstsat@elender.hu http://www.elender.hu/~firstsat Tel-fax: (361)-263-28-59 Mobile: (36)-30-230-1914 ICQ # 44805877.

Round 8 standings:

FSIMA March Budapest HUN (HUN), 5-17 iii 2000   cat. IV (2327)
--------------------------------------------------------------
                                1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
--------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Weglarz, Leszek   f POL 2387 * 1 = = = 1 . 1 = 1  6.0  2500
 2 Eperjesi, Laszlo  m HUN 2365 0 * = . = 1 = 1 = 1  5.0  2408
 3 Lakos, Nikoletta wm HUN 2316 = = * = = = 1 = . =  4.5  2367
 4 Zimmerman, Yuri   m RUS 2397 = . = * 0 = 1 1 1 0  4.5  2356
 5 Reiss, Tibor        HUN 2255 = = = 1 * . 0 = = =  4.0  2329
 6 Nemeth, Zoltan    m HUN 2379 0 0 = = . * 1 0 1 1  4.0  2329
 7 Yu Mingyuan         CHN 2419 . = 0 0 1 0 * = 1 =  3.5  2264
 8 Struk, Jerzy        POL 2268 0 0 = 0 = 1 = * = .  3.0  2272
 9 Jakab, Attila     f HUN 2354 = = . 0 = 0 0 = * 1  3.0  2237
10 Bozinovic, Boban    YUG 2127 0 0 = 1 = 0 = . 0 *  2.5  2218
--------------------------------------------------------------

FSIMB March Budapest HUN (HUN), 5-17 iii 2000          cat. II (2292)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Farago, Sandor     m HUN 2271 * = 1 . . 1 = . = 1 1  5.5 / 7  2518
 2 Orso, Miklos       m HUN 2341 = * 0 . . 1 . 1 = 1 1  5.0 / 7  2439
 3 Parkanyi, Attila   f HUN 2362 0 1 * 0 1 . = = = 1 .  4.5 / 8  2339
 4 Gara, Ticia          HUN 2299 . . 1 * = 0 1 0 . = 1  4.0 / 7  2347
 5 Gara, Anita       wm HUN 2257 . . 0 = * 1 0 1 1 . =  4.0 / 7  2347
 6 Rajlich, Vasik G     USA 2309 0 0 . 1 0 * 1 . 1 = .  3.5 / 7  2286
 7 Gladyszev, Oleg    m RUS 2349 = . = 0 1 0 * = . 0 1  3.5 / 8  2244
 8 Rat, Dan Ovidiu    f ROM 2366 . 0 = 1 0 . = * = . =  3.0 / 7  2236
 9 Sulskis, Giedrius    LTU 2223 = = = . 0 0 . = * 1 0  3.0 / 8  2206
10 Cooke, Eric          USA 2266 0 0 0 = . = 1 . 0 * .  2.0 / 7  2149
11 Muehlbach, Peter     GER 2172 0 0 . 0 = . 0 = 1 . *  2.0 / 7  2142
---------------------------------------------------------------------

FSIMC March Budapest HUN (HUN), 5-17 iii 2000             cat. II (2295)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Froehlich, Peter            f GER 2375 * = . = 1 = 1 1 1 1  6.5  2528
 2 Appleberry, Martin            FRA 2262 = * 1 = 1 = = . = =  5.0  2389
 3 Balogh, Csaba                 HUN 2356 . 0 * = = = = 1 1 1  5.0  2372
 4 Naes, Flovin Tor              FAI 2257 = = = * . = 0 = = 1  4.0  2298
 5 Kahn, Evarth                m HUN 2301 0 0 = . * 1 1 = = =  4.0  2298
 6 Ackermann, Hans-Werner        GER 2314 = = = = 0 * . 0 = 1  3.5  2259
 7 Kragelj, Igor               f SLO 2214 0 = = 1 0 . * = = =  3.5  2259
 8 Sinkovics, Peter            m HUN 2331 0 . 0 = = 1 = * = =  3.5  2251
 9 Kaposztas, Miklos           m HUN 2302 0 = 0 = = = = = * .  3.0  2214
10 Thiruchelvam, Thirumurugan    ENG 2235 0 = 0 0 = 0 = = . *  2.0  2108
------------------------------------------------------------------------

11) Asian Individual Chess Championship

Asian Individual Chess Championship Tim Reilly reported in TWIC273 on the Asian Individual Chess Championships that took place in Udaipur, India January 10th-21st 2000. Visweswaran Kameswaran has sent some of the games from the event.

Complete final standings follow, in tiebreak order: 8.5/11 GM Xu Jun (PRC) 8 GM Zhang Zhong (PRC), GM Peng Xiaomin (PRC) 7.5 GM Dao Thien Hai (VIE) 7 IM Sasikiran (IND) 6.5 IM Ramesh (IND) 6 GM Wang Zili (PRC), IM Kunte (IND), IM Tair (UZB), GM Thipsay (IND), FM Harikrishna (IND), FM Ehasan (IRA) 5.5 Ganguly (IND), GM Yuldashev (UZB), GM Barua (IND), IM Wu Wenjin (PRC), IM Kayumov (UZB), Ahamed (YEM), Kidambi (IND) 5 IM Reefat bin Satter (BAN), IM Prakash (IND), IM Prasad (IND), IM Isaev (TJK) 4.5 IM Ziaur Rahman (BAN), IM Babu (IND) 3.5 FM Reilly (AUS) 1.5 Reza (IRA)

Website: http://www.hrhindia.com/asianchesschampionship.html

12) More Cannes Games

Games from rounds 7 and 8 of the Cannes Open (with Kamil Miton, Angus Dunnington, Philippe Brochet, Sinisa Drazic, Christophe Claveriem Andrew Kinsman and Yvan Masserey all scoring 7/9) are now available, only round 9 missing. My thanks to Pascal Villalba for his help.

Links: http://www.cannes-echecs.org/, http://www.echecs.asso.fr/default.htm, http://www.notzai.com/notzai/CannesFij2000.pgn

13) Varsity Match 2000 postscript

As reported last week the annual Oxford-Cambridge Varsity match took place on Saturday 4th March 2000. The final score was Cambridge 4.5 - Oxford 3.5 in a closely contested struggle. Harriet Hunt points out that although she may have missed a number of chances the suggested 73.h7 was not one of them. Black replies 73...Ra1 and after 74. h8=N+ Kf8 75. Rb4 (75. Ng6+ Kg7) 75...Kg7 76. Kg5 Rg1 she believes White has no way to make progress.

Internet coverage: http://www.msoworld.com

14) Forthcoming Events and Links

British Problem Solving Championships

Brian Stephenson reports: The 1999-2000 British Chess Solving Championship is now complete. Full details can be found at: http://www.bstephen.freeuk.com/9900/bcsc.html and supporting pages. If you are a journalist and wish to quote some or any of the problems you may only quote those not classified as 'original'. It would be respectful to the composers of the problems and the publications that first published their compositions (the sources) if you were to quote composer and source along with the diagram.

German Cup

The German Cup for teams and players takes place March 17th-19th 2000 in Forchheim (Bavaria). Three teams from the Bundesliga, SF Neukoelln, Godesberger SK, SG Porz and the host SC Forchheim from the 2nd Bundesliga play. More information at the Forchheim Chess Club site with all participants, results and games. http://www.schachclub-forchheim.de

New York Open

Michael Atkins reports: The New York Open is back!! Long, the strongest Open tournament in the U.S., the NY Open is scheduled over the period of May 6-14, 2000. The Two Weekend schedule will start May 6-7, and the main Open section will play May 8-14. The class sections will play May 10-14. Playing at the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan, the same site as the last two NYO's, the Open section will feature $50,000 in prizes which is about $10,000 more than in the open section in 1998. All other details will be announced in late January. For more details contact tournament organizer Mr. Jose Cuchi later in the month Stay tuned for upcoming announcements and full details in late January on the New York Open website http://w-w-w.com/nyopen/

World Seniors

The 10th World Senior Championships will be held September 10th-24th, 2000 in the small village of Rowy in Poland. The event is open to men born in 1939 or earlier and women in 1949 or earlier).

Further information: Polish and Russian language: Mr. Alfred Obszanski - Postomino, Poland, tel/fax: + 48 (59) 810-85-77 or German language: Mr. Jerzy Konikowski - Dortmund (Germany), tel/fax: +49 (231) 17-15-67 e-mail: konikowski@vobis.net

APPLICATIONS, REGISTRATION AND ENTRANCE FEE UNTIL AUGUST 20, 2000 All participants are obliged and kindly requested to send or fax the Application Forms (enclosed) to address: TS 'Jantar', 76-113 Postomino, tel/fax +48 (59) 810-85-77 as soon as possible but not later than August 20, 2000. The amount 170 CHF- Swiss Francs (includes also the FIDE entrance fee) or the equivalent in DM or USD should be paid to the account of 931510562-09878-11 in the Bank BS Ustka (owner TS 'Jantar' Slupsk) before August 20, 2000. Remark:

PRIZES Money prizes and trophies. Prize fund for Gentlemen at least 20.000 DM and for Ladies at least 8.000 DM.

RECEPTION The reception will be arranged in the Sport Hall near to the "Kormoran" boarding house. Open from 8.00 to 22.00 in the arrival day. All participants should register his participation and take part in the Technical Meeting on September 10 at 20.00 o'clock.

Rowy (near the city of Slupsk - the distance about 25 km from Gdansk) is a beautiful tourist village and a health resort with a legendary tradition. The village is situated at the Baltic seaside, lies on the Lupawa river near by the Gardno Lake and the Rowokol Mountain that was the venue of a pagan cult. Participants can arrive to Rowy before the Championship, but should announce the date of arrival to the Organizers. Accompanying persons are also kindly requested. The Organizers will prepare for them a tourist programme

Official site: http://www.powiat.Slupsk.pl or http://www.powiat.Slupsk.pl/chess

Veszprem Summer Tournament

VI.Veszprem Summer - HEMO Coup, International Chess Tournament from 22nd-30th July.2000. Venue: HEMO Building (Presidial Culture House) Zalka Mate square 1, Veszprem city, Hungary Organizer: HEMO Chess Society, Veszprém.

Events: "A" group - IM tournament , 10 players "B" group - Swiss type open tournament in 9 rounds according to the FIDE rules.

Entry fees: "A" group: 10.000 HUF (about 70 DM) "B" group: below FIDE 2200 3.500 HUF (25 DM) 2200 - 2299 3.000 HUF (20 DM) 2300 - 2399 2.000 HUF (13 DM) 2400 - ------ HUF Prizes: "B" group: 60.000 HUF; 40.000 HUF; 20.000 HUF; 15.000 HUF; 10.000 HUF; 5.000 HUF.

Information: Norbert Szelényi Phone number: 88-401-400 Place of work: 88-426-233 /358 (am. 8.00 - pm. 16.00) Fax number: 88-426-233 /364 (am. 8.00 - pm. 16.00) For more information E-mail to: vpinfo@veszpremtej.hu

Web pages: http://www.infornax.hu/hotelves and http://testver.sednet.hu/veszpm/e_alap.html

GM Ariel Sorin vs World

GM Ariel Sorin will play against the World from January 31st 2000. The game will start at 17:00 (-03:00GMT). To play it is free. IM Guillermo Llanos will suggest some moves, and the people will choose one of them. GM Ariel Sorin will play: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. World will play: Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Sunday will be a rest day. However, there will be an analysis of the position and the moves of the week.

Website: http://chessok.virtualave.net

Malahide Millennium Tournament

The Malahide Chess Club in Dublin, Ireland are holding a weekend tournament in in association with the National Millennium Council present the Malahide Millennium Tournament on the weekend of April 8th & 9th, 2000. The venue is St. Sylvester's GAA Club, Church Road, Malahide, Co. Dublin and there are three events - an Open, an Under 1600 ELO and a Top Team event. To enter contact Vincent Bissett on 353 1 8453609 and further detailed information is available on our website at http://members.tripod.co.uk/MalahideCC.

Chess@Iceland

Chess@Iceland is a World Class rapid tournament (25 min player/game) which takes place April 1st-2nd 2000, in Kopavogur, Iceland. There will be twelve players. These include: Kasparov, Anand, Korchnoi, Timman, Ivan Sokolov and winner of a qualifying tournament on ICC on March 5th (Svidler and Shirov are amongst the players in this strong field). The event will consist of two parts. Day one will see two 6 player round-robins. Day two sees the top two from each group play in final. Website: http://www.chess.is

Lugano Open

The 15 years ago Lugano was one of the most popular open in the world. Last year the "Swiss Chess Tour" successfully restored the tradition and the winnering trio were GMs Joe Gallagher (SUI), Vladimir Tukmakov (UKR) and Ian Rogers (AUS). This year the venue is the four star Hotel "La Perla", in the part of Lugano called Agno, not so far from Lugano Airport. Tournament is open to all and is a 7 round event in one section. Time control 40 moves for 2 hours and 30 minutes till the end. After Round 5, the first four players will play a knock-out for the winner and the others continue in a Swiss system tournament.

Schedule: April 8th 16.00 - 17.15 Last registration 17.15 - 17.30 Open ceremony 17.30 - 22.30 Round 1 April 9th 10.00 - 15.00 Round 2 16.00 - 21.00 Round 3 April 10th 17.30 - 22.30 Round 4 April 11th 10.00 - 15.00 Round 5 16.00 - 21.00 Round 6 April 12th 10.00 - 15.00 Round 7 15.30 Closing ceremony Enter fee 130 SF, juniors and FIDE masters 60 SF, at the door 10 SF more, GMs and IMs free.

Prizes in SF: 2.000/1.500/1.000/800/600/500/400/300/250/200, 10 natural prizes, Special prizes for the best Lady, Senior (1940), Junior (1980-83), Schoolboy (1984), Ticino's players etc.

More information: http://www.beochess.ch
R. Spoerri, Breite 85, Ch-3306 Etzelkofen, tel: 0041-31-768-01-60; fax 0041-31-768-01-61
E-mail: info@beochess.ch

Foxwoods Chess Open

The 2nd annual FOXWOODS CHESS OPEN April 20-23 or 21-23 7-round Swiss at the world's largest casino $100,000 prize fund. For details about entry fees etc see the website below.

Website: http://www.foxwoods.com/frm_chess.htm

Miguel Najdorf Blitz

The Club Argentino de Ajedrez in Buenos Aires is holding a blitz event on Saturday April 8th. $5.600 in prizes, starts at 18-00. 150 jugadores. Entry: $ 20 Club Members $10. 7 minutes per game. Further info: (011) 4811-9412. Arbiter, Adrián Roldán with Blas Pingas and Leandro Plotinsky. Contact: Adrian@Roldan.com. Website: http://Adrian.Roldan.com

Garry Koshnitsky Memorial

The Garry Koshnitsky Memorial Australian Chess Festival is being held this year from 7 June to 13 August in memory of arguably the most important figure in Australian chess history who died last year at the age of 91. The festival commences with the Surfers Paradise Parkroyal International which is being held at a five star venue on Queensland's Gold Coast in order to give Australian players the opportunity to play top class overseas opposition. The nine round Swiss event features GMs Nikolic, Ftacnik, Rogers and Johansen and runs from 7-17 June. Whilst the Prize Fund is a modest $5,000 the playing conditions are superb and the hotel is situated in one of the world's great holiday destinations. Entry fees are IMs and GMs FOC, players rated 2300+ $150, 2200+ $250, 2100+ $350, 2000+ $450. Overseas players are half price and there are discounts for payment by 15/3/00 ($50) and 15/4/00 ($25). There are very special room rates at the Parkroyal only available to competitors ($75 single, $37.50 twin share).

The Garry Koshnitsky Festival features the following events: 7 to 17 June Parkroyal Surfers Paradise International 18 June Parkroyal Surfers Paradise Corporate challenge 19 to 23 June GM coaching in local schools 24 to 25 June Gold Coast Open 26 to 30 June GM coaching of elite Australian juniors 1 to 2 July Noosa Open 8 to 9 July Queen Victoria Building event, Sydney 15 to 16 July Australian National University Open, Canberra 24 July to 4 August Australian Masters, Reserve Bank Building, Melbourne 12 to 13 August Adelaide Weekender (Festival Finale)

Contact details: Graeme Gardiner, President Australian Chess Federation, C/O Somerset College, Somerset Drive, Mudgeeraba, Gold Coast, Queensland 4213 Phone: (+61 7 international) or (07) 5530 3777 (w); (07) 5530 5794 (h); (07) 5525 2676 (fax) Email: ggardiner@somerset.qld.edu.au

Bergen NOR

Tournament name : Bergen Chess International Site: Bergen, Norway. Date: 21-29th July 2000 Prize Fund : NOK 10000/6000/4000/2000/1000 + rating prizes The prize fund is garanteed. Entry fee : No entry fee for foreigners with FIDE-ELO Conditions : May be offered to a limited number of IMs/GMs. Number of rounds : 9 System : Modifed Swiss Rate of play : 2 hours/40 moves, 1 hour/20 moves, 0.5 hour/rest Side events : Rapid tournaments, GM-simuls, blitz etc

Home page : http://home.sol.no/~eirikgu/bi2000.htm

40-50 participants are expected of which there will be 5-6 GMs and 6-8 IMs. Only 6 unrated players will take part. Confirmed titled players: GM Yakovich (2580), GM Volzhin (2548), GM Gausel (2492), GM Djurhuus (2484), IM L. Johannessen (2431), IM Fyllingen (2408), IM Bern (2379) and IM Gullaksen (2353).

Oakham GM

The Oakham GM takes place 11th-19th April 2000, Oakham School, Rutland, Leicestershire. Chris Ward, Danny Gormally, Neil McDonald, Colin McNab, Irina Krush, Jacob Aagaard, Nick Pert, Yochanan Afek, Patrick Hummel and Alan Norris play.

Further details: http://www.circuit.demon.co.uk/oakham.htm

Politiken Cup 2000

The Politiken Cup in Copenhagen, Denmark takes place 17th-28th July 2000. There is a new venue at the Nørrebrohallen with room for 500-700 players.

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

13th Ciudad de León Tournament

The 13th Ciudad de León Tournament will again use the "advanced chess" format (players will be allowed to use a computer for databases and a playing program). The competitors will be Anand, Shirov, Judith Polgar and Illescas. The event will run June 1st-5th 2000 (playing days: June 2nd Shirov-Illescas 2 game match, June 3rd Anand-Polgar 2 game match, June 3rd, final. The venue is the Junta de León” building, with the opening ceremony in the Conde Luna Hotel and the closing ceremony and Judit Polgar simul at the University.

19th Reykjavik International Open

The 19th Reykjavik International Chess Tournament takes place in the Reykjavík City Hall 5th-13th April 2000.

Minimum Prize fund: USD 15.000 1. prize USD 5.000 2. prize USD 3.000 3. prize USD 2.000 4. prize USD 1.500 5. prize USD 1.000 Under 2450 .USD 1.500 Under 2300 .USD 1.000.

9 rounds, Swiss System, Time Limit: 40 moves in 2 hours, 20 moves in 1 hour, and 30 minutes for the rest of the game.

Registration: Please contact the ICELANDIC CHESS FEDERATION, P.O. Box 8354, 128 Reykjavík, Iceland, entry still open. Tel.: 354 568 9141 Fax: 354 568 9116 Email: siks@itn.is Eligible: All players rated 2000 or more (FIDE rating list). No entrance fee for foreign players.

Coverage at:http://www.simnet.is/hellir/Reykopen00.htm

Budapest Spring Festival

The 16th Budapest Spring Festival is a 9 round Swiss Open chess tournament, the event runs 17th-25th of March 2000, Budapest. The planned maximum is 100 participants, 1-3 GM-s, 6-8 IM-s, more, than 50 % ELO-rated, min. 20 % foreigners. Info: Nagy, Laszlo, e-mail: firstsat@elender.hu www.elender.hu/~firstsat Tel-fax: (361)-263-28-59 Mobile: (36)-30-230-1914 ICQ # 44805877.