THE WEEK IN CHESS 325 29th January 2001 by Mark Crowther

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Contents

1) Introduction
2) Corus Wijk aan Zee 2001
3) FIDE Rapid Ratings January 2001
4) World Cup of Rapid Chess
5) Germans object to new time controls
6) FIDE - Octagon agreement
7) Korchnoi-Ponomariov Match
8) Bermuda 2001
9) Bundesliga
10) VI Ubeda Open
11) 26th Aubervilliers Speed Tournament
12) The World vs. Yin Hao
13) Mesa Tournament
14) Forthcoming Events and Links


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Games section

Corus Wijk aan Zee                   36 games
Corus Wijk aan Zee B                 30 games
Corus Wijk aan Zee Reserve          189 games
Korchnoi-Ponomariov Match             1 game
Bermuda A 2001                       48 games
Bermuda B 2001                       21 games
Bundesliga                           56 games
VI Ubeda Open                       154 games
26th Aubervilliers Speed Tournament  36 games
The World vs. Yin Hao                 1 game
572 games

1) Introduction

My thanks to Leontxo Garcia, Tom Hendricks, Laszlo Nagy, Mikhail Golubov, Myron Lieberman, Eric Birmingham, Linares Chess Club, Nigel Freeman, Egon Ditt, Willy Iclicki, John Henderson and Lost Boys and all those who helped with this issue.

Kasparov made it a hat-trick of wins in Wijk aan Zee. He already starts strong favourite to win the Linares tournament which starts February 22nd. Elsewhere there have been objections to the new FIDE time rates. I hate to be the first to break the news but that particular battle has been lost, its gone, apparantly no-one turned up when FIDE went to war (and I'm not having a go at the German Federation in particular here, they have at least objected even if it is far, far too late). In place of an editorial here I placed it under an account of the FIDE - Octagon deal.

Hope you enjoy this issue

Mark

2) Corus Wijk aan Zee 2001

14 players competed in the Corus 2001 chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands January 13th-28th 2001. The top nine players in the January 2001 rating list are took part. Round 1 was on January 13th. Rest days Monday (15th), Friday (19th) and Wednesday (24th). The B Tournament started on Tuesday 16th January 2001.

Garry Kasparov won the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee. This was the 63rd edition of the event currently sponsored by the metals group Corus and in this was the first time in its history that someone had won the event three times in a row.

The seeds for Kasparov's victory were sown by his win against Alexei Shirov. Shirov walked right into a line Kasparov had prepared and was definitely lost after only 15 moves. Prior to the game there was no handshake between the players just a hard look in each other's eyes. Kasparov had said for some time that he would not shake hands unless he received an apology for part of a letter by Shirov published in New in Chess Nr. 6 2000. Probably the key sentences he wanted retracted were "In my interview I already said clearly that there are things you can't prove but can still suspect. I don't trust Kramnik and Kasparov and I have my point of view. I'll be surprised if Kramnik wins their match." Although moves were made to settle it they weren't enough for Kasparov. This brought Kasparov level with Shirov and as a bonus Vladimir Kramnik was beaten by Alexander Morozevich.

The following two rounds were crucial. In round 10 Shirov built up a completely winning position against Viswanathan Anand winning the exchange. Instead of consolidating he went for a direct win and allowed the position out of his control and the game was drawn. Kasparov meanwhile was held to a draw by Piket. In round 11 Kasparov was in trouble for a time against Timman but gradually took the position from him and won. Shirov meanwhile grabbed a very hot pawn in a game that stemmed from Kasparov-Polgar last year and was in trouble from then on, eventually going down to a loss. Round 12 saw Kasparov held by Van Wely but he maintained a full point lead as Kramnik beat Shirov.

In the final round Kasparov drew against Adams to secure first place. Viswanathan Anand had not been at any time in the race for first place. He won in round two against Tiviakov and after that had drawn all his games. He also had his share of luck surviving bad positions against Kasparov (although to be sure later he was winning) and Shirov and a few other dodgy ones too. However he had the Dutch trio of Piket, Timman and Van Wely in the final rounds. They had been struggling and Anand motivated himself to his best chess with crushing wins in all three games taking him to a surprise unshared second place. Anand's committments away from the board since winning the FIDE World Chess Championship crown meant he didn't prepare at all for the event so all in all it was a good result and its to be hoped he will find time for chess at some time in the future. Kramnik and Ivanchuk shared fourth place. Kramnik performed around his rating and on reflection can probably be reasonably pleased with his performance. Ivanchuk played some entertaining chess throughout and who knows what would have happened if he'd won against Kramnik when he had the opportunity to do so. Shirov finished in 5th= place with Adams and Morozevich. His 1/5 against most of the strongest players in the event cost him dearly. A mixture of opening choice and tiredness probably accounted for this collapse at the end.

The B tournament was won by Mikhail Gurevich but the talking points were set by some young rising stars. 13-year-old Teymur Radjabov took second place alone and with it his second GM norm. 14 year old Pentyala Harikrishna also scored a GM norm. Viktorija Cmilyte won the reserve group to qualify for the A group.

TWIC had special coverage in association with the organisers which includes John Henderson's picture reports from the venue.

Official coverage at: http://www.corusgroup.com/coruschess/home.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Corus Wijk aan Zee (NED), 13-28 i 2001                         cat. XIX (2710)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Kasparov, Gary          g RUS 2849  * = = = = = 1 = 1 1 = = 1 1  9.0  2839 
 2. Anand, Viswanathan      g IND 2790  = * = = = = = = = = 1 1 1 1  8.5  2813 
 3. Kramnik, Vladimir       g RUS 2772  = = * 1 = 0 1 = = = 1 = 1 =  8.0  2791 
 4. Ivanchuk, Vassily       g UKR 2717  = = 0 * = 1 1 = = 1 = = = 1  8.0  2795 
 5. Adams, Michael          g ENG 2746  = = = = * 1 = = = 0 1 = 1 =  7.5  2763 
 6. Morozevich, Alexander   g RUS 2745  = = 1 0 0 * = 0 = 1 1 1 1 =  7.5  2763 
 7. Shirov, Alexei          g ESP 2718  0 = 0 0 = = * = 1 = 1 1 1 1  7.5  2765 
 8. Leko, Peter             g HUN 2745  = = = = = 1 = * = = 0 = = =  6.5  2706 
 9. Topalov, Veselin        g BUL 2718  0 = = = = = 0 = * = = 1 = 0  5.5  2651 
10. Fedorov, Alexei         g BLR 2575  0 = = 0 1 0 = = = * = 0 0 1  5.0  2632 
11. Van Wely, Loek          g NED 2700  = 0 0 = 0 0 0 1 = = * 1 = =  5.0  2623 
12. Piket, Jeroen           g NED 2632  = 0 = = = 0 0 = 0 1 0 * = =  4.5  2605 
13. Tiviakov, Sergei        g NED 2597  0 0 0 = 0 0 0 = = 1 = = * 1  4.5  2608 
14. Timman, Jan             g NED 2629  0 0 = 0 = = 0 = 1 0 = = 0 *  4.0  2574 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Round 9 (January 23, 2001)

Kasparov, Gary         -  Shirov, Alexei         1-0   45  C42  Petroff's Defence
Anand, Viswanathan     -  Leko, Peter            1/2   34  B33  Sicilian Defence (Lasker/Pelikan/Sveshnikov Variation)
Kramnik, Vladimir      -  Morozevich, Alexander  0-1   61  D17  Slav Defence
Ivanchuk, Vassily      -  Topalov, Veselin       1/2   36  E31  Nimzo Indian Defence (Leningrad Variation)
Adams, Michael         -  Timman, Jan            1/2   44  C42  Petroff's Defence
Van Wely, Loek         -  Fedorov, Alexei        1/2   65  E63  King's Indian Defence (6...Nc6)
Tiviakov, Sergei       -  Piket, Jeroen          1/2   19  C74  Ruy Lopez (Modern Steinitz Defence)

Round 10 (January 25, 2001)

Shirov, Alexei         -  Anand, Viswanathan     1/2   49  C10  French Rubinstein Variation
Leko, Peter            -  Ivanchuk, Vassily      1/2   17  B17  Caro Kann
Topalov, Veselin       -  Kramnik, Vladimir      1/2   26  D37  Queen's Gambit: 5.Bf4
Fedorov, Alexei        -  Morozevich, Alexander  0-1   32  B70  Sicilian Dragon
Van Wely, Loek         -  Adams, Michael         0-1   49  E15  Queen's Indian Defence (Main Line - Deviations)
Piket, Jeroen          -  Kasparov, Gary         1/2   55  D58  Queen's Gambit: Tartakover's Defence
Timman, Jan            -  Tiviakov, Sergei       0-1   41  B74  Sicilian Dragon

Round 11 (January 26, 2001)

Kasparov, Gary         -  Timman, Jan            1-0   47  A29  English Opening (Four Knights' Variation)
Anand, Viswanathan     -  Piket, Jeroen          1-0   23  C42  Petroff's Defence
Kramnik, Vladimir      -  Leko, Peter            1/2   15  D85  Gruenfeld Defence (Main Line)
Ivanchuk, Vassily      -  Shirov, Alexei         1-0   41  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation, Deviations
Adams, Michael         -  Fedorov, Alexei        0-1   31  B76  Sicilian Modern Dragon
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Topalov, Veselin       1/2   26  B36  Sicilian Defence (Maroczy Bind)
Tiviakov, Sergei       -  Van Wely, Loek         1/2   15  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation, Deviations

Round 12 (January 27, 2001)

Adams, Michael         -  Tiviakov, Sergei       1-0   33  B51  Sicilian Defence (Rossolimo Variation)
Shirov, Alexei         -  Kramnik, Vladimir      0-1   53  B12  Caro Kann (Advance Variation)
Leko, Peter            -  Morozevich, Alexander  1-0   42  B98  Sicilian Najdorf
Fedorov, Alexei        -  Topalov, Veselin       1/2   75  B72  Sicilian Dragon
Van Wely, Loek         -  Kasparov, Gary         1/2   43  D37  Queen's Gambit: 5.Bf4
Piket, Jeroen          -  Ivanchuk, Vassily      1/2   22  A28  English Opening (Four Knights' Variation)
Timman, Jan            -  Anand, Viswanathan     0-1   30  E15  Queen's Indian Defence (Main Line - Deviations)

Round 13 (January 28, 2001)

Kasparov, Gary         -  Adams, Michael         1/2   27  E04  Catalan System
Anand, Viswanathan     -  Van Wely, Loek         1-0   34  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation, Deviations
Kramnik, Vladimir      -  Piket, Jeroen          1/2   50  B22  Sicilian Defence (Alapin Variation)
Ivanchuk, Vassily      -  Timman, Jan            1-0   42  E18  Queen's Indian Defence (Main Line)
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Shirov, Alexei         1/2   41  B23  Sicilian Defence (Closed System)
Topalov, Veselin       -  Leko, Peter            1/2   26  D97  Gruenfeld Defence (Russian System)
Tiviakov, Sergei       -  Fedorov, Alexei        1-0   36  B30  Sicilian Defence (Rossolimo Variation)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Corus B Wijk aan Zee (NED), 13-28 i 2001                    cat. X (2496)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Gurevich, Mikhail      g BEL 2694  * 1 = 1 = = = = 1 = 1 1  8.0  2652 
 2. Radjabov, Teimour      m AZE 2483  0 * = 1 = = 0 1 1 1 1 1  7.5  2629 
 3. Luther, Thomas         g GER 2544  = = * = = = 1 = 0 1 1 1  7.0  2593 
 4. Nijboer, Friso         g NED 2578  0 0 = * 1 1 = = 1 = 1 1  7.0  2590 
 5. Harikrishna, P         m IND 2514  = = = 0 * = = = = 1 1 1  6.5  2559 
 6. Van der Weide, Karel   m NED 2463  = = = 0 = * = = = = 1 1  6.0  2534 
 7. Gulko, Boris F         g USA 2622  = 1 0 = = = * 1 0 = 0 1  5.5  2484 
 8. De Vreugt, Dennis      g NED 2452  = 0 = = = = 0 * 1 1 0 1  5.5  2499 
 9. Bosboom, Manuel        m NED 2439  0 0 1 0 = = 1 0 * 0 1 1  5.0  2464 
10. Visser, Yge            f NED 2442  = 0 0 = 0 = = 0 1 * = =  4.0  2398 
11. Vink, Nico               NED 2335  0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 = * 0  2.5  2299 
12. Hoeksema, Erik         m NED 2382  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 1 *  1.5  2197 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------
Corus Reserve Group Wijk aan Zee NED (NED), 13-28 i 2001
---------------------------------------------------------

 1. Cmilyte, Viktorija     wg LTU 2433  7.0  2616 
 2. Yu Shaoteng            m  CHN 2493  6.5  2574 
 3. Dgebuadze, Alexandre   g  BEL 2550  6.5  2576 
 4. Maksimenko, Andrei     g  UKR 2498  6.5  2597 
 5. Brodsky, Michail       g  UKR 2527  6.0  2550 
 6. Stellwagen, Daniel        NED 2276  6.0  2490 
 7. Krnic, Zdenko          m  YUG 2390  5.5  2446 
 8. Bosboom-Lanchava, Tea  wm NED 2322  5.5  2403 
 9. Ivkov, Borislav        g  YUG 2432  5.0  2437 
10. Wirschell, Taco        f  NED 2318  5.0  2440 
11. Li Shilong             m  CHN 2474  5.0  2490 
12. Liang Chong            m  CHN 2581  5.0  2394 
13. Bellin, Robert         m  ENG 2356  5.0  2334 
14. Friedman, Aviv         f  ISR 2339  5.0  2373 
15. De Roda, Juan             NED 2327  5.0  2341 
16. Doggers, Peter            NED 2161  5.0  2351 
17. Klinova, Masha         wg ISR 2328  5.0  2340 
18. Ludden, Gert-Jan          NED 2263  5.0  2283 
19. Afek, Yochanan         m  ISR 2360  5.0  2295 
42 players

3) FIDE Rapid Ratings January 2001

The FIDE January 2001 Rapid Ratings including events such as the Frankfurt festivals, World Championships and World Cup tie-breaks, Bastia, the European rapid championship and many others was released by Will Iclicki on January 25th. 1200 players are listed. This 4th FIDE rapid list. The list is topped for the first time by GM Michael Adams who achieved two impressive results in Frankfurt and Delhi. Vishwanathan Anand of India has also increased his rating after Frankfurt and Bastia is in second place. Kasparov is in third place after losing a couple of points after playing only Frankfurt. The rapid World Championships in March where Adams and Kasparov participate could turn things around. The list will need correcting with a couple of ratings for Khenkin. My thanks to Willy Iclicki.

  1  ENG  Adams  Michael          287  25-Jan-01
  2  IND  Anand  Vishwanathan     283  25-Jan-01
  3  RUS  Kasparov  Gary          282  25-Jan-01
  4  UKR  Ivanchuk  Vassily       277  25-Jan-01
  5  ESP  Shirov  Alexis          275  25-Jan-01
  6  RUS  Svidler  Peter          273  25-Jan-01
  7  RUS  Kramnik  Vladimir       273  25-Jan-01
  8  ISR  Gelfand  Boris          272  25-Jan-01
  9  RUS  Bareev  Evgeny          272  25-Jan-01
 10  USA  Kamsky  Gata            270  25-Dec-99
 11  BIH  Sokolov  Ivan           270  25-Jan-01
 12  ARM  Akopian  Vladimir       269  01-Jul-00
 13  RUS  Karpov  Anatoly         269  25-Jan-01
 14  RUS  Khalifman  Alexander    268  25-Jan-01
 15  RUS  Dreev  Alexey           268  25-Jan-01
 16  BUL  Topalov  Veselin        268  25-Jan-01
 17  UZB  Kasimdzahnov  Rustam    268  25-Jan-01
 18  RUS  Grischuk  Alexander     267  25-Jan-01
 19  EST  Ehlvest  Jan            267  25-Jan-01
 20  RUS  Shipov  Sergei          267  25-Dec-99
 21  RUS  Rublevsky  Sergei       267  25-Jan-01
 22  CHN  Ye  Jiangchun           266  25-Jan-01
 23  CZE  Movsesian  Sergei       266  25-Jan-01
 24  BEL  Gurevich  Mikhail       266  25-Jan-01
 25  HUN  Leko  Peter             266  25-Jan-01
 26  RUS  Salov  Valery           265  01-Nov-99
 27  RUS  Zvjaginsev  Vadim       265  25-Jan-01
 28  BLR  Fedorov  Alexei         265  25-Dec-99
 29  POL  Wojtkiewicz  Alex       265  25-Jan-01
 30  SUI  Milov  Vadim            265  25-Dec-99
 31  BUL  Georgiev  Kiril         265  25-Jan-01
 32  NED  Piket  Jeroen           264  25-Jan-01
 33  NED  Timman  Jan             264  01-Jul-00
 34  RUS  Ibragimov  Ildar        264  01-Jul-00
 35  FRA  Bacrot  Etienne         264  25-Jan-01
 36  INA  Adianto  Utut           264  25-Jan-01
 37  HUN  Almasi  Zoltan          264  25-Jan-01
 38  GEO  Giorgadze  Giorgi       264  25-Dec-99
 39  USA  Gulko  Boris            264  25-Jan-01
 40  GEO  Azmaiparashvili  Zurab  264  25-Jan-01
 41  ENG  Speelman  Jonathan      263  25-Jan-01
 42  NED  Van Wely  Loek          263  25-Jan-01
 43  FRA  Tkachiev  Vladislav     263  25-Jan-01
 44  SUI  Korchnoi  Viktor        263  01-Jul-00
 45  POL  Krasenkow  Michael      262  25-Jan-01
 46  ENG  Short  Nigel            262  25-Jan-01
 47  SWE  Andersson  Ulf          262  25-Dec-99
 48  USA  Seirawan  Yasser        262  01-Jun-99
 49  HUN  Chernin  Alexander      262  25-Jan-01
 50  ISL  Hjartarsson  Johann     262  01-Jul-00
 51  RUS  Pigusov  Evgeny         262  25-Jan-01
 52  RUS  Tiviakov  Sergei        262  25-Dec-99
 53  SLO  Beliavsky  Alexander    262  25-Jan-01
 54  GER  Seul  Georg             262  25-Dec-99
 55  ISR  Khengin  Igor           261  01-Jun-99
 56  ARM  Minasian  Artashes      261  01-Jul-00
 57  UKR  Baklan  Vladimir        261  25-Jan-01
 58  BRA  Leitao  Rafael          261  25-Jan-01
 59  KAZ  Vladimirov  Evgeny      261  25-Jan-01
 60  GER  Jussupov  Artur         261  25-Jan-01
 61  RUS  Epishin  Vladimir       261  25-Dec-99
 62  RUS  Sakaev  Konstantin      261  25-Jan-01
 63  RUS  Volkov  Sergei          261  25-Jan-01
 64  ISR  Psakhis  Lev            261  25-Jan-01
 65  ROM  Nisipeanu  Liviu-Dieter 260  25-Jan-01
 66  MAR  Hamdouchi  Hichem       260  25-Jan-01
 67  RUS  Dolmatov  Sergey        260  25-Dec-99
 68  YUG  Ljubojevic  Ljubomir    260  01-Jul-00
 69  AUS  Rogers  Ian             260  01-Jun-99
 70  BIH  Nikolic  Pedrag         260  25-Jan-01
 71  SVK  Ftacnik  Lubomir        260  01-Jun-99
 72  ISR  Smirin  Ilya            260  25-Jan-01
 73  UKR  Savchenko  Stanislav    260  25-Jan-01
 74  GER  Khenkin  Igor           260  25-Dec-99
 75  USA  Serper  Grigory         260  25-Jan-01
 76  GER  Lutz  Christopher       259  25-Jan-01
 77  ENG  Lalic  Bogdan           259  25-Jan-01
 78  FRA  Lautier  Joel           259  01-Jul-00
 79  ENG  Miles  Antony, J.       259  25-Dec-99
 80  USA  Benjamin  Joel          259  25-Jan-01
 81  UKR  Timoshenko  Georgy      259  25-Jan-01
 82  BLR  Aleksandrov  Aleksej    259  25-Jan-01
 83  ARM  Aronian  Levon          259  01-Jul-00
 84  FRA  Dorfman  Iossif         259  25-Jan-01
 85  RUS  Filippov  Valeri        259  19-Jan-01
 86  RUS  Morozevich  Alexander   259  25-Jan-01
 87  UKR  Ponomariov  Ruslan      259  25-Jan-01
 88  HUN  Ribli  Zoltan           259  25-Dec-99
 89  ISR  Greenfeld  Alon         259  25-Jan-01
 90  UKR  Brodsky  Michail        259  25-Jan-01
 91  USA  Gurevich  Ilya          259  01-Jun-99
 92  CRO  Cviltan  Ognjen         259  25-Jan-01
 93  ISR  Huzman  Alexander       259  25-Jan-01
 94  RUS  Ulibin  Mikhail         258  01-Jul-00
 95  RUS  Malakhov  Vladimir      258  25-Jan-01
 96  RUS  Kobalija  Mikhail       258  25-Dec-99
 97  DEN  Nielsen  Peter Heine    258  25-Dec-99
 98  ARM  Anastasian  Ashot       258  01-Jul-00
 99  ARM  Asrian  Levon           258  25-Dec-99
100  POL  Macieja  Bartlomiej     258  25-Jan-01
101  SUI  Gallagher  Joseph G.    258  01-Jul-00
102  RUS  Tregubov  Pavel V.      258  25-Jan-01

4) World Cup of Rapid Chess

Garry Kasparov is to compete in his first FIDE event since the Yeravan Olympiad of 1996. Kasparov stresses his contract is with the French Chess Federation however. The World Cup of Rapid Chess will be held in Cannes, France 21st-25th March 2001. The event is to be organised by the French Chess Federation in conjunction with FIDE (the FIDE Presidential Board will be present during the event). There will be two groups:

Group A

1. Garry Kasparov RUS 2849
2. Evgney Bareev RUS 2704
3. Peter Svidler RUS 2696
4. Alexander Grischuk RUS 2676
5. Judit Polgar HUN 2675
6. Joel Lautier FRA 2653
7. Yasser Seirawan USA 2640
8. Christian Bauer FRA 2618

Group B

1. Michael Adams ENG 2745
2. Alexander Morozevich RUS 2742
3. Mikhail Gurevich BEL 2693
4. Rustam Kasimdzhanov UZB 2692
5. Ye Jiangchuan CHN 2672
6. Vladislav Tkachiev FRA 2671
7. Etienne Bacrot FRA 2618
8. Hichem Hamdouchi MAR 2541

Much as in the Cap D'Agde the top four finishers in each group will go on to a second group all-play-all phase. Then there will be a semi-final phase and the top two will play in the final. Time rate 50 moves in 25 minutes followed by 10 seconds a move after that.

5) Germans object to new time controls

German Chess Federation enters protest against new time control

Press release of the German Chess Federation

The Board of FIDE in it's meeting 26.12.2000 in Teheran has, without consulting the commissions or the federations, decided on a new time control that will be applied for all FIDE events starting 1.1.2001:

40 moves in 75 minutes, rest of the moves in 15 minutes, each move additional 30 seconds. The new time control needs an electronic chessclock. According to this decision the time for a player will be: · for a game of 40 moves 1 hour 35 minutes · for a game of 50 moves 1 hour 55 minutes · for a game of 60 moves 2 hours · for a game of 80 moves 2 hour 10 minutes · for a game of 100 moves 2 hour 20 minutes As the Chess Federation of the Netherlands in a letter dated 8.1.2001 states, rapid chess would become the official form of chess.

We assume the FIDE-Board is expecting more interest from the media and easier organization of tournaments (less hours and perhaps two rounds a day).

In the letter already mentioned from 8.1.2001 the Chess Federation of the Netherlands has entered a protest against the decision. The federation states, that the time control has not been discussed in the FIDE-Congress at Istanbul (a proposal of GM Shirov supported by GM Torre was in the documents). Der Executive Council had proposed to ask the players in the Olympiad for their opinion, but that was not done, instead the participants in the Worldchampionship in New Dehli have been asked regarding shorter time, but without any concrete proposal.

The Chess Federation of the Netherlands refers to contradictions to several valid regulations of FIDE, so it would not be possible to have title norms with the new time control. But the decisive argument against the decision is, that according to the statutes the FIDE Board is not authorized to take such a decision. Because of this the Chess Federation of the Netherlands states, that only General Assembly of FIDE, that will meet in autumn 2002 in Bled / Slovenia, after a thorough discussion concerning the future of chess can take a decision reaching that far and touching the core and the level of chess. The federation asks the President of FIDE to cancel the decision and to put the issue on the agenda of General Assembly in Bled 2002.

With a letter dated 21.1.2001 the German Chess Federation has fully supported the protest of the Chess Federation of the Netherlands. The federation points out that federations have been informed only by a press release distributed in Internet and that no German top player has supported the new time control for serious chess in a meeting of the German national team in Düsseldorf 17.1.2001.

It is the position of the German Chess Federation that the decision of the FIDE Board is not valid, because the Statutes of FIDE do not cover it. So the time control as defined in the FIDE handbook still has to be applied.

German Chess Federation also objected to the intention of the FIDE Board to have the qualification for the World Championship in continental tournaments. This decision will destroy the zonal tournaments and by this the function of the FIDE Zones. In this case neither national federations nor - as to our knowledge - the Zone Presidents have been consulted. Since there has been no emergency as demanded by the statutes, the FIDE Board is not authorized to decide in this case, too.

"We shall not tolerate the violation of the statutes", so Egon Ditt, "We have to remind the FIDE Board that only General Assembly, the body composed of delegates of the national federations, has unlimited authority to decide, and the Board has to stay within the framework of the decisions of General Assembly".

Bremen, 24.1.2001 Egon Ditt, President of the German Chess Federation

6) FIDE - Octagon agreement

FIDE Commerce International Ltd (FCI) and Octagon Sponsorship Consulting Ltd Corporation (Octagon) signed an agreement on Wednesday, 24 January 2001, at the Central House of Chess player in Moscow. The agreement was signed by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, FCI President Artem Tarasov and Octagon Deputy President Aidan Day. In November 2000, FCI signed an agreement with FIDE in respect of the transfer of all commercial rights as well as the right for the international marketing of world chess for the period till 2017, with a further prolongation till 2027. The agreement was ratified by the decision of the General Assembly of the 71st FIDE Congress in Istanbul. FCI expect the agreement to harness the experience of Octagon in the sports World to raise significant amounts of money ($27 million US dollars was a figure mentioned).

Read more: http://www.fide.com/release/

I think we can safely say that this marks a new tough approach from FIDE. Kasparovchess.com reported on the press conference. In response to questions about the shorter time controls (and their effect on the quality of chess) FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov replied according to their report "the time for discussions had finished long ago and that they heard no objections from any national federation at the time whatsoever..."

I feel he may be right. Since Yerevan 1996 and the quite shameful behaviour of the "backers" of Jaime Sunye-Neto (they melted away in the night) there has been no opposition within FIDE worthy of the name. There is absolutely no prospect of any recent decision being reversed within FIDE, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's political control is total. Already FIDE have moved on.

FCI President Artem Tarasov visited the CORUS tournament attempting to persuade them to join the FIDE Grand Prix. This will be the first of many such visits to tournaments during the year. To make their strategy work all the top events will have to be under the FIDE banner because once they have all been subsumed the top players will have to follow (but just to make sure they'll be pushing a FIDE Ranking list as opposed to a rating list). I don't suppose FIDE care too much whether next years event is the last Wijk aan Zee tournament or not. The point will be a new motto "with FIDE or not at all".

I understand Ray Keene was in Moscow attempting to come to an agreement on behalf of Braingames. If FIDE tie up this loose end the future is pretty much mapped out.

Returning to the subject of the time controls. The shorter the time control the better chance chess playing computers have. The computing industry is one of the richest in the World. Does anyone really think these facts are unconnected?

Perhaps significantly they also published in their press release section Salov's open letter that appeared in TWIC last week. They've already talked about bringing the chess press to heal, I expect more.

None of the Federations have really objected even whilst they were busy signing away the most important FIDE functions to FIDE Commerce, no-one said anything, the battle is almost completely over and some people didn't even realise it had started. For skilled operators such as Ilyumzhinov and Campomanes (still very much around) the naive political pygmies the Federations send as representatives have been all too easy to deal with.

7) Korchnoi-Ponomariov Match

An intriguing eight game match between veteran Viktor Korchnoi and the young Ukrainian star Ruslan Ponomariov took place 16th-23rd January 2001. Viktor Korchnoi won game two but victories in games three and six for Ponomariov meant that Korchnoi needed to win in the final game to tie the match. The veteran obliged. My thanks to Mikhail Golubev.

Internet coverage: http://chess-sector.odessa.ua/match01p.htm including photos of the match.

Ponomariov, Ruslan  -  Korchnoi, Viktor    1/2   91  C83  Ruy Lopez (Open Defence/Main Line)
Korchnoi, Viktor    -  Ponomariov, Ruslan  1-0  117  A33  English Opening (Symmetrical Variation)
Ponomariov, Ruslan  -  Korchnoi, Viktor    1-0   45  C80  Ruy Lopez (Open Defence)
Korchnoi, Viktor    -  Ponomariov, Ruslan  1/2   12  D20  Queen's Gambit Accepted
Ponomariov, Ruslan  -  Korchnoi, Viktor    1/2   63  B45  Sicilian Defence (Classical System)
Korchnoi, Viktor    -  Ponomariov, Ruslan  0-1   36  A07  Barcza System (with Transitions into other Systems)
Ponomariov, Ruslan  -  Korchnoi, Viktor    1/2   74  C10  French Rubinstein Variation
Korchnoi, Viktor    -  Ponomariov, Ruslan  1-0   66  A33  English Opening (Symmetrical Variation)


Match Donetsk UKR (UKR), 16-23 i 2001
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ponomariov, Ruslan g  UKR 2677    =   0   1   =   =   1   =   0   4.0  2639
Korchnoi, Viktor   g  SUI 2639    =   1   0   =   =   0   =   1   4.0  2677
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

8) Bermuda 2001

There are two Invitational GM Tournaments in the Elbow Beach Club Bermuda, with the emphasis on youth they will followed by an Open. The GM 'A' event is a six player double-round event which started 20th January, the twelve player GM 'B' event started the day before. My thanks to Nigel Freeman.

Internet coverage: http://www.bermuda.bm/chess

Elbow Beach Club GMA Paget Parish BER (BER), 20-29 i 2001cat. XIII (2566)
--------------------------------------------------------------
                                   1  2  3  4  5  6 
--------------------------------------------------------------
1 Macieja, Bartlomiej  g POL 2578 ** =. 1. 1= 1. =1  5.5  2797
2 Vescovi, Giovanni    g BRA 2519 =. ** 0. 1= 11 =.  4.5  2671
3 Shabalov, Alexander  g USA 2609 0. 1. ** 0. 10 =1  3.5  2558
4 Stefansson, Hannes   g ISL 2570 0= 0= 1. ** =. =.  3.0  2510
5 Gershon, Alik        g ISR 2540 0. 00 01 =. ** 1.  2.5  2467
6 Lesiege, Alexandre   g CAN 2582 =0 =. =0 =. 0. **  2.0  2413
--------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elbow Beach Club GMB Paget Parish BER (BER), 19-29 i 2001       cat. IX (2454)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Shahade, Gregory           f USA 2456  * = 1 = = = . 1 = 1 . .  5.5  2625 
 2. Vuckovic, Bojan            m YUG 2458  = * . . = = . = = 1 1 1  5.5  2577 
 3. Blehm, Pawel               m POL 2512  0 . * = = . = 1 1 . 1 1  5.5  2588 
 4. Becerra Rivero, Julio      g CUB 2538  = . = * . . = 1 = = 1 =  5.0  2526 
 5. Doettling, Fabian          m GER 2509  = = = . * = = . . = 1 =  4.5  2473 
 6. Kalod, Radek               m CZE 2490  = = . . = * 1 . = 0 0 1  4.0  2430 
 7. Teplitsky, Yan             m CAN 2446  . . = = = 0 * = = . = 1  4.0  2459 
 8. Thorhallsson, Throstur     g ISL 2462  0 = 0 0 . . = * . = 1 1  3.5  2393 
 9. Tyomkin, Dimitri           m ISR 2496  = = 0 = . = = . * = . 0  3.0  2362 
10. Charbonneau, Pascal          CAN 2410  0 0 . = = 1 . = = * 0 .  3.0  2387 
11. Alvarez, Johan               VEN 2383  . 0 0 0 0 1 = 0 . 1 * .  2.5  2337 
12. Fierro Baquero, Martha L  wg ECU 2287  . 0 0 = = 0 0 0 1 . . *  2.0  2295 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9) Bundesliga

The 6th and 7th rounds of the Bundesliga were played over the weekend of January 27th-28th January 2001. The big surprise was the defeat of Solingen 4.5-3.5 by SV Wattenscheid, however Solingen were missing Morozevich and Piket who were playing in Wijk aan Zee. There was plenty of coverage over the weekend with some games live. There are games available from the matches in Luebeck and Bad Godesberg.

Bundesliga sites: http://www.schach.com/bundesliga/, http://www.chess-online.de/, http://teleschach.de/ and http://www.chessgate.de/

Round 6 January 27th 2001

Godesberger SK     5 - 3  USC Magdeburg 

  1  Dautov        ½ : ½  Onischuk       2 
  3  Kengis        1 : 0  Rogozenko      3 
  5  Kveinys       ½ : ½  Slobodjan      4 
  6  Langheinrich  ½ : ½  Baklan         5 
  7  Jackelen      1 : 0  Thesing        6 
  9  Schmidt       0 : 1  Georgiev       7 
 12  Heinbuch      ½ : ½  Proehl         8 
 13  Breder        1 : 0  Stolz         10 

SG Köln Porz       6 - 2  SV Werder Bremen 

  1  Lutz          ½ : ½  Hracek         1 
  2  Khalifman     ½ : ½  Babula         2 
  6  Vaganian      ½ : ½  Schandorff     3 
  7  Andersson     1 : 0  Knaak          5 
  8  Hansen        ½ : ½  Pelletier      6 
  9  Bacrot        1 : 0  Joachim        7 
 10  Nenasev       1 : 0  Meins          8 
 14  Van der Doel  1 : 0  Heissler       9 

Castrop Rauxel     2 - 6  Solinger SG 

  1  Van der Ster  0 : 1  Kasimdzhanov   2 
  3  Rogers        ½ : ½  Jussupow       4 
  5  Gallagher     0 : 1  Nikolic        5 
  8  Appel         ½ : ½  Huebner        6 
  9  Hoffmann      0 : 1  Sadler         7 
 11  Dinstuhl      ½ : ½  Lobron        10 
 13  Brendel       0 : 1  Rowson        12 
 14  Lemmers       ½ : ½  Naumann       13 
 
SV Wattenscheid    6 - 2  Gelsenkirchen 

  1  Aronian       ½ : ½  Feigin         1 
  2  Nielsen       1 : 0  Kishnev        2 
  3  Rustemov      1 : 0  Kalka          3 
  4  Hall          1 : 0  Kotter         4 
  6  Holzke        ½ : ½  Meessen        5 
  8  Ellers        1 : 0  Baumhus        6 
 10  Straeter      0 : 1  Ahn            7 
 11  Franke        1 : 0  Hille         10 

Lübecker SV        5 - 3  Baiertal Schatt 

  3  Bareev        1 : 0  Schlindwein    1 
  4  Speelman      0 : 1  Berg           3 
  6  Hodgson       0 : 1  Buhmann        4 
  8  DeFirmian     1 : 0  Koch           8 
  9  Nunn          ½ : ½  Balzar         9 
 11  Hector        1 : 0  Schulzke      10 
 12  Mortensen     ½ : ½  Gamer         12 
 13  Cladouras     1 : 0  Gubler        14 

Hamburger SK       6 - 2  Schott Mainz 

  1  Ftacnik       1 : 0  Balcerak       1 
  3  Kempinski     1 : 0  Cicak          3 
  4  Hansen        0 : 1  Lisanti        4 
  5  Wahls         1 : 0  Bewersdorff    6 
  6  Mueller       ½ : ½  Kienast        9 
  7  Gustafsson    1 : 0  Grafl         10 
  8  Heinemann     ½ : ½  Ottstadt      12 
 10  Reeh          1 : 0  Ramlow        13 

König Tegel        1½-6½  SK König Plauen 

  1  Rabiega       0 : 1  Beliavsky      1 
  2  Muse          ½ : ½  Bischoff       2 
  3  Paulsen       0 : 1  Gdanski        3 
  4  Lipinsky      ½ : ½  Boensch        4 
  5  Von Herman    ½ : ½  Kindermann     5 
  7  Pachow        0 : 1  Espig          6 
 10  Lorenz        0 : 1  Schaller       8 
 11  Zierke        0 : 1  Kuraszkiewic  11 
 
SFR Neukölln       4 - 4  TV Tegernsee 

  2  Stohl         0 : 1  Khenkin        1 
  4  Bunzmann      ½ : ½  Bauer          3 
  5  Berndt        ½ : ½  Hertneck       4 
  6  Brynell       1 : 0  Beim           5 
  7  Borriss       1 : 0  Stangl         6 
  8  Polzin        ½ : ½  Teske          7 
  9  Hellsten      ½ : ½  Gross          8 
 11  Rudolf        0 : 1  Kachiani-Ger   9 

  
Round 7 28th January 2001

USC Magdeburg      3 - 5  SG Köln Porz 

  2  Onischuk      ½ : ½  Lutz           1 
  3  Rogozenko     ½ : ½  Khalifman      2 
  4  Slobodjan     ½ : ½  Vaganian       6 
  5  Baklan        ½ : ½  Andersson      7 
  6  Thesing       ½ : ½  Hansen         8 
  7  Georgiev      ½ : ½  Bacrot         9 
  8  Proehl        0 : 1  Nenasev       10 
 10  Stolz         0 : 1  Van der Doel  14 

SV Werder Bremen   4½-3½  Godesberger SK 

  1  Hracek        1 : 0  Dautov         1 
  2  Babula        ½ : ½  Kengis         3 
  3  Schandorff    0 : 1  Kveinys        5 
  5  Knaak         0 : 1  Langheinrich   6 
  6  Pelletier     1 : 0  Jackelen       7 
  7  Joachim       1 : 0  Schmidt        9 
  8  Meins         ½ : ½  Breder        13 
  9  Heissler      ½ : ½  Philipowski   14 

Solinger SG        3½-4½  SV Wattenscheid 

  2  Kasimdzhanov  0 : 1  Aronian        1 
  4  Jussupow      0 : 1  Nielsen        2 
  5  Nikolic       ½ : ½  Rustemov       3 
  6  Huebner       1 : 0  Hall           4 
  7  Sadler        1 : 0  Holzke         6 
 10  Lobron        0 : 1  Ellers         8 
 12  Rowson        0 : 1  Straeter      10 
 13  Naumann       1 : 0  Franke        11 

Gelsenkirchen      4 - 4  Castrop Rauxel 

  1  Feigin        0 : 1  Van der Ster   1 
  2  Kishnev       1 : 0  Rogers         3 
  3  Kalka         1 : 0  Gallagher      5 
  4  Kotter        ½ : ½  Appel          8 
  5  Meessen       1 : 0  Hoffmann       9 
  7  Ahn           ½ : ½  Dinstuhl      11 
 10  Hille         0 : 1  Brendel       13 
 13  Van der Veen  0 : 1  Lemmers       14 

Baiertal Schatt    4 - 4  Hamburger SK 

  1  Schlindwein   0 : 1  Ftacnik        1 
  3  Berg          1 : 0  Kempinski      3 
  4  Buhmann       ½ : ½  Hansen         4 
  8  Koch          ½ : ½  Wahls          5 
  9  Balzar        1 : 0  Mueller        6 
 10  Schulzke      0 : 1  Gustafsson     7 
 12  Gamer         ½ : ½  Heinemann      8 
 14  Gubler        ½ : ½  Reeh          10 

Schott Mainz       1 - 7  Lübecker SV 

  1  Balcerak      0 : 1  Bareev         3 
  3  Cicak         0 : 1  Speelman       4 
  4  Lisanti       0 : 1  Hodgson        6 
  8  Bewersdorff   0 : 1  DeFirmian      8 
  9  Kienast       0 : 1  Nunn           9 
 10  Grafl         0 : 1  Hector        11 
 12  Ottstadt      ½ : ½  Mortensen     12 
 13  Ramlow        ½ : ½  Cladouras     13 

SK König Plauen    5½-2½  SFR Neukölln 

  1  Beliavsky     1 : 0  Stohl          2 
  2  Bischoff      1 : 0  Bunzmann       4 
  3  Gdanski       0 : 1  Berndt         5 
  4  Boensch       1 : 0  Brynell        6 
  5  Kindermann    1 : 0  Borriss        7 
  6  Espig         1 : 0  Polzin         8 
  8  Schaller      0 : 1  Hellsten       9 
 11  Kuraszkiewic  ½ : ½  Rudolf        11 

TV Tegernsee       4 - 4  König Tegel 

  1  Khenkin       ½ : ½  Rabiega        1 
  3  Bauer         0 : 1  Muse           2 
  4  Hertneck      1 : 0  Paulsen        3 
  5  Beim          ½ : ½  Lipinsky       4 
  6  Stangl        1 : 0  Von Herman     5 
  7  Teske         0 : 1  Pachow         7 
  8  Gross         0 : 1  Lorenz        10 
  9  Kachiani-Ger  1 : 0  Zierke        11 

Table
 

 1. Lübecker SV        7 38 :18   14- 0
 2. SG Köln Porz       7 39½:16½  13- 1
 3. Solinger SG        7 39 :17   11- 3
 4. SV Wattenscheid    7 33 :23   11- 3
 5. Godesberger SK     7 30 :26    8- 6
 6. Castrop Rauxel     7 30 :26    8- 6
 7. USC Magdeburg      7 29 :27    8- 6
 8. TV Tegernsee       7 28½:27½   8- 6
 9. SV Werder Bremen   7 27½:28½   8- 6
10. Hamburger SK       7 30 :26    7- 7
11. SK König Plauen    7 28½:27½   6- 8
12. SFR Neukölln       7 27 :29    5- 9
13. Schott Mainz       7 16 :40    2-12
14. Baiertal Schatt    7 20½:35½   1-13
15. König Tegel        7 17 :39    1-13
16. Gelsenkirchen      7 14½:41½   1-13

10) VI Ubeda Open

The followup event to the VIII "Anibal" Open is the VI "Ciudad de Ubeda" Open which takes place in Ubeda, January 21st-30th 2001 has already started with many of the same players. This is a 10 Round Swiss System event. My thanks to the Linares Chess Club for the news.

There is daily coverage at: http://ciudadfutura.com/superajedrez/ubeda/index.htm

------------------------------------------------------
Ubeda Open Ubeda ESP (ESP), 21-30 i 2001
------------------------------------------------------
  1   Eljanov, Pavel                    UKR   2556 6.5
  2   Akopian, Vladimir                 ARM   2656 6.5
  3   Zhang, Zhong                      CHN   2607 6.5
  4   Kobalija, Mihail                  RUS   2581 6.0
  5   Motylev, Alexandre                RUS   2570 6.0
  6   Najer, Evgeniy                    RUS   2616 6.0
  7   Jobava, Baadur                    GEO   2518 5.5
  8   Fominyh, Alexander                RUS   2582 5.5
  9   Anastasian, Ashot                 ARM   2548 5.5
 10   Bruzon, Lazaro                    CUB   2584 5.5
 11   Sakaev, Konstantin                RUS   2639 5.5
 12   Burmakin, Vladimir                RUS   2493 5.5
 13   Ibragimov, Ildar                  RUS   2571 5.5
 14   Minasian, Artashes                ARM   2567 5.5
 15   Kacheishvili, Giorgi              GEO   2556 5.5
 16   Golod, Vitali                     ISR   2591 5.5
 17   Sulskis, Sarunas                  LTU   2501 5.5
 18   Riazantsev, Alexander             RUS   2485 5.5
 19   Sanchez, Joseph                   PHI   2193 5.5
 20   Arencibia, Walter                 CUB   2534 5.0
 21   Janev, Evgeni                     BUL   2445 5.0
 22   Comas Fabrego, Lluis              ESP   2508 5.0
 23   Psakhis, Lev                      ISR   2598 5.0
 24   Tseitlin, Mark D                  ISR   2494 5.0
 25   Paragua, Mark                     PHI   2427 5.0
 26   Del Rio Angelis, Salvador G.      ESP   2472 5.0
 27   Nakamura, Hikaru                  USA   2364 5.0
 28   Valdes, Leonardo                  CRC   2338 5.0
 29   Potkin, Vladimir                  RUS   2470 5.0
 30   Maherramzade, Javad               AZE   2459 5.0
 31   Sargissian, Gabriel               ARM   2520 5.0
 32   Flores, Diego                     ARG   2359 5.0
 33   Mirzoev, Azer                     AZE   2463 5.0
 34   Turov, Maxim                      RUS   2546 5.0
 35   Avrukh, Boris                     ISR   2630 5.0
 36   Zilberman, Yaacov                 ISR   2481 5.0
 37   Dominguez, Lenier                 CUB   2565 5.0
 38   Estremera Panos, Sergio           ESP   2394 5.0
 39   Sharma, Dinesh K.                 IND   2353 5.0
129 players 

11) 26th Aubervilliers Speed Tournament

The 26th speed tournament took place in Aubervilliers (5 minutes travel from Paris) Saturday and Sunday 27th-28th January 2001 with £9000 in cash prizes. There were 687 players competing with Evgeny Agrest won with 9.5/10 ahead of ten players on 9 points. My thanks to Eric Birmingham.

Entry and further details: http://organisechecs.multimania.com/

26th Grand Open d'Aubervilliers 2001
 1  GM  Agrest  Evgenij      SWE   2531  9½  9  2811   
 2  GM  Murey  Yaacov        Meat  2509  9   9  2628   
 3  GM  Kazhgaleyev  Murtas  KAZ   2531  9   9  2588   
 4  GM  Lupu  Mircea-Serg.   CHAN  2500  9   9  2571   
 5  GM  Sulava  Nenad        CRO   2549  9   9  2559   
 6  GM  Mitkov  Nikola       AECE  2509  9   9  2553   
 7  GM  Dorfman  Josif       NIEN  2758  9   8  2774   
 8  GM  Milov  Vadim         MUKH  2626  9   8  2725   
 9  GM  Tkachiev  Vladislav  CANN  2648  9   8  2677   
10  GM  Nataf  Igor-Alex.    CLIC  2552  9   8  2670   
11  GM  Gofshtein  Leonid    NOYO  2507  9   8  2618   
12  GM  Georgiev  Kiril       BUL  2676  8½  8  2660   
13  GM  Miezis  Normunds     GONF  2524  8½  8  2557   
14  GM  Shchekachev  Andrei  VILL  2590  8½  8  2540   
15  IM  Chabanon  Jean-Luc   CANN  2480  8½  8  2529   
16  GM  Hauchard  Arnaud     MONA  2527  8½  8  2523   
17  GM  Pavlovic  Milos            2496  8½  8  2519   
18  IM  Okhotnik  Vladimir   CHAL  2510  8½  8  2513   
19      Claverie  Christophe DIJO  2381  8½  8  2491   
20  FM  Elbilia  Jacques     CLIC  2370  8½  8  2477   
687 players

12) The World vs. Yin Hao

Tom Hendricks reports: An internet game between Chinese IM Yin Hao (2576) and a World Team has recently concluded in a draw (Petrov Defense C43). Yin Hao (who played the black pieces) was assisted during the game by U.S. correspondence player Richard Fleming. The World Team included chess players from Brazil, Canada, England, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, and the United States. The first move was posted July 5, 2000. The last move, with draw offer, was posted January 15, 2001.

They conducted their strategy discussions at http://boards.gamers.com/messages/overview.asp?name=WTChess&page=1 . Each side had 72 hours to respond to the opponent's posted move. The game lasted just over 6 months and involved 44 moves. It can be replayed at http://planttel.net/~tbhendri/ChessGames/YH-Lines.htm . The Team is always open to new members and welcomes new GM or IM opponents. Please address any questions to mochwaz@hotmail.com or tahiv@hotmail.com.

13) Mesa Tournament

Myron Lieberman writes: The American Chess Events International Title Tournament 1 will take place in Mesa, AZ, USA, on February 9 to 17, 2001.

It will be a 10 player Category 9 single Round Robin. Particpants are expected to include: GM Ildar Ibragimov (RUS), GM Dashzeveg Sharavdorj (MGL), GM Babakuli Annakov (TKM), IM Nikoli Andrianov (RUS), IM Rogelio Barcenilla, Jr. (PHI), IM Enrico Sevillano (PHI), IM Angelo Young (PHI), FM Tegshsuren Enhbat (MGL), Eduardo Ortiz (PHI), and Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (LIB).

A second similar event which features the same players, American Chess Events Intenational Title Tournament 2, will be played from February 20 through February 28, 2001.

There is currently a significant contradiction between FIDE's new time controls and other unchanged FIDE regulations. The FIDE release of December 26, 2000, states that the new time controls were to be effective January 1 of 2001 and were to be used for ALL FIDE events AND international title tournaments (emphasis mine). The basic problem with this as far as I am concerned is that the new time controls are in violation of a different FIDE regulation (B.02.1.3) which requires at least a six hour playing session for games to count for title applications (seven hours if a candidate for a norm already has a norm based on a six hour result).

Based solely on this release all international title tournaments held between now and the General Assembly meeting in 2002 are at risk for norm acceptance. If the old time controls are used they are in violation of the January 1, 2001, implementation of the new time controls. If the new time controls are used they are in violation of the length of the playing session.

There are those that claim that the new time controls are only to be used for the FIDE World Championship cycle and the new time control does not apply to international title tournaments. That does not explain the specific reference to international title tournaments in the FIDE release.

FIDE issued a release on January 4, 2001, which stated "...what the Board has done is merely to lower the barrier for the time controls." Unlike the original release, this implies that the new time controls are the fastest (but not the only) acceptable time controls. The American Chess Events International Title Tournaments 1 and 2 will be using the old time controls based on that interpretation.

I have requested FIDE approval to use the old time controls for these two events so that any norms or titles earned as a result of these events aren't at risk due to either the contradiction of the new time controls with other FIDE regulations or the validity of the new time controls themselves, which has been brought into question and has become a major point of controversy. As of January 27 I have received no response from FIDE.

If there are any questions regarding these events please email me at drchip@goodnet.com

14) Forthcoming Events and Links

Kasparov's Pepsi Advert

Garry Kasparov got some of the greatest exposure of his chess career. He features in a Pepsi Advery shown during the Superbowl.

You can see it too at: http://www.pepsi.com/current/joy_of_pepsi/tv_spots/index.cfm. The advert is called Man vs. Machine.

Linares 2001

The Linares 2001 tournament will take place 22nd February until March 7th 2001. The event will see Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Alexei Shirov, Judit Polgar, Peter Leko and the rising star Alexander Grischuk compete in the double round robin event. The event is very strong but does lack Vladimir Kramnik who could not agree conditions with the organisers and Viswanathan Anand who has committments to his sponsor in India. Information reported in El Pais by their journalist Leontxo Garcia on January 18th.

soLett Chess Open 2001

The soLett Chess Open takes place in Skellefteå, Sweden 10th-16th April 2001. Group A: 10-16 April, 9 rounds FIDE schweizer, Open for players with FIDE-Elo. Group B: 12-16 April, 7 rounds FIDE schweizer, Open for players with national rating <2000. There will also be a 6-game match between GM Ulf Andersson and GM Curt Hansen.

Official site: http://www.tns.nu/solettchessopen.html

First Saturday February

There will be GM and IM First Saturday events 3rd-16th February. There are placees one or two non-Hungarian foreign player in the IM-group, with about 2300 ELO and if possible with FM-title. Contact Laszlo Nagy at: firstsat@elender.hu

Registered players so far GM event: IGM Sherzer, Alex (USA), IGM Lukács, Péter (HUN), IGM Csom, Istvan (HUN), IM Márkus, Róbert (YUG), FM Szieberth, Ádám (HUN), Berkes, Ferenc (HUN), IM Szeberényi, Ádám (HUN), IM Estrada, Julian (MEX), IM Horvath, Adam (HUN), IM Medvegy, Zoltan (HUN), IM Vajda, Albert (ROM), IM Kallio, Heikki (FIN), Rajlich, Vasik (USA), WGM Hoang, Thanh Trang (VIE). Reserves: IM Markus,Robert (YUG), IM Anka, Emil (HUN), Resika, Nathan (USA), WGM Vajda, Szidónia (HUN), IM Marzolo, Cyril (FRA), IM Antal, Gergely (HUN), IM Soós, Béla (GER).

Registered players so far IM events: IM Anka, Emil (HUN), IM Németh, Zoltán (HUN), IM Eperjesi, László (HUN), IM Faragó, Sándor (HUN), IM Seres, Lajos (HUN), IGM Vadász, László (HUN), IM Boguszlavszkij, Evgenij (HUN), Thorfinson, Bragi (ISL), Galindo, Ricardo (ARG), Erdélyi, Zombor (HUN), Fm Bognár, Csaba (HUN), Wgm Vajda, Szidónia (HUN), Bordás, Gyula (HUN), Xu, Hanbing (CHN), Tian, Tian (CHN), FM Magyar, Ottó (HUN), Marxen, Péter (GER), FM RESIKA, Nathan (USA), Mészáros, Tamás (HUN), FM Jakab, Attila (HUN), Balogh, Csaba (HUN). WIM Dembo, Yelena (HUN), Jurkovic, Ante (CRO), FM Sendur, Adnan (TRK). Reserves: IM Petrán, Pál (HUN), IM Káposztás, Miklós, (HUN), IM Kahn, Evarth (HUN).

"Third Saturday" Belgrade

"Third Saturday" Belgrade chess tournaments from April 2001 in Yugoslavia. Nagy Laszlo and the Belgrade Chess Federation came to an agreement to organise events starting 21st April 2001, every second month April, June, August, October, December this year. There will be: 1. GM-closed tournaments category VII-VIII., 10-14 participants, 2. IM-closed tournaments cat. I-II-III, 10-14 players. Accommodation in a 3 star hotel close to the venue, bed and breakfast 25,-DM per day. Venue: Belgrade Chess Federation, Deligradska 27, 3rd floor Entry fees for the 21st April-3rd of May events are half those of the First Saturday events in Budapest http://www.elender.hu/~firstsat More info for Yugoslavs: Dragan Kotevski, mobile: /381/-63-307-736 for non-Yugoslavs /English, Russian and German/: Nagy Laszlo, phone: /361/-263-28-59 mobile: /36/-30-230-19-14 e-mail: firstsat@elender.hu

Aberto do Brasil BCX 2001

The "Aberto do Brasil BCX 2001" takes place January 25th - 28th 2001, in a 7 rounds swiss tournament. Top Players: Lima, g Darcy 2544, g Hoffman,Alejandro 2473, g Zapata,Alonso 2485, etc ... Venue: Torre Palace Hotel (http://www.torrepalace.com.br/) in Brasilia, DF, Brazil.

Internet coverage at http://www.persocom.com.br/bcx

"Governador Mário Covas Júnior" Tournament

The Federação Paulista de Xadrez is to hold a tournament called the "Governador Mário Covas Júnior" January 29th - February 8th 2001. The event is category VIII.

Players: 1 Izeta M ,Felix 2448 g, 2 Milos,Gilberto 2608 g, 3 Sega,Carlos Alberto 2286, 4 Limp,Eduardo 2462 m, 5 Benares Cruz,Ricardo 2276, 6 Rodriguez,Andres 2493 g, 7 De Toledo,James Mann 2384 m, 8 Lima,Darcy 2544 g, 9 Hoffman,Alejandro 2473 g, 10 Pelikian,Jefferson 2387 m, 11 Zapata,Alonso 2485 g, 12 Matsuura,Everaldo 2452 m.

Internet coverage: http://www.fpx.com.br/tmcj2001/tmcj2001.htm

Eger Hungary IM

There is an International Round Robin Tournament in Eger, Hungary for acquiring rating and IM norms. It takes place 16th-24th of February 2001. Category: II to IV. Number of participants: 10 to 12 Time limit: closed tournament with 10-12 rounds, 2 h/40 moves + 1 h /20 moves + 30 min for all remaining moves

Entry fee: depending on rating, to be stipulated by the organizer. Information: Europe Chess, IM Ali Habibi * Postfach 1148 D-35436 Linden * email: EuropeChess@web.de

The Europe Chess Round Robin Tournaments will be held in different European Countries. Combine quality chess with your vacation! If you register at least 5 participants ahead of time, we can organize a tournament at a date you pick. Soon more information in different chess magazines and on the internet.

WPC Site

Valery Salov heads the WPC (World Players Council) and they have their own website. The site is at: http://w.p.c.tripod.com with a mixture of material in Spanish and English. Includes a new interview with the Vice President of Iran Mr.Hashemi Taba.

Czech Open

The XII. International Chess Festival CZECH OPEN 2001 which will be held from 12 July to 29 July 2001 in Pardubice. Contact Jan Mazuch for more info j.mazuch@avekont.cz

Budapest Spring Festival

17th Budapest Spring Festival 9 round Swiss system open chess tournament 16th-24th of March 2001 Organizer: Nagy, László Postal address: H-1101 Budapest, Hungária krt. 5-7. XI. ép. I. em. 7. Phone/fax: (061)-263-2859, mobile: 06-30-230-1914 E-mail: firstsat@elender.hu

Venue: Hungarian Chess Federation, Budapest, 5th district.Falk Miksa Str.10.2nd floor, close to the red metro station KOSSUTH square. Rate of play: 40 moves in 2 hours, then 1 hour till the end, guillotine rules. Schedule: registration until 16th March 9 p.m. by phone at the organizer, then personally in the tournament hall until 14:30 on the 16th of March /here already 500,-Ft extra registration fee must be paid/. Besides of the entry fees 1200,-Ft annual ELO-registration fee must be paid to the Hungarian Chess Federation. Opening ceremony at 15:00. 1st-8th rounds : 15:30-21:30, last round 10:00-16:00 on the 24th of March. In case of equal points prizes will be decided by Buchholz, Berger-Sonneborn, then by progressive scores. Prizegiving ceremony at 16:00 on the 24th of March. Prizes: net 40-25-15-10-5-4-2x3-2x2.5-2x2 thousand Ft. Special prizes: 3 thousand Ft for the best U-20, U-14, above 60, woman and non-FIDE rated., if there are minimally 5 players in each group. The prizes are valid if there are minimum 70 players. If there are less players, prizes will be reduced proportionally . One player can get only one prize.

Entry fee system: from FIDE rating To FIDE-rating Entry fee /Ft/ Unrated 6000,- 2001 2100 5000,- 2101 2200 4000,- 2201 2250 3500,- 2251 2300 3000,- 2301 2350 2500,- 2351 2400 2000,- IGM, WGM , IM , WIM and above 2401 no entry fee.

Info about accommodation and the event: http://www.elender.hu/~firstsat

Khalifman Transcript

A transcript of Khalifman's ICC question and answer session is available. He talks at length on how he believes the FIDE Championships are the only one but isn't a craven FIDE loyalist. For instance he is not a supporter of the new FIDE time rate. He talks of the current big three (Kasparov, Kramnik and Anand) and how he feels he probably belongs in the next grouping of around 10 players (I agree). His objection to FIDE ratings. Why he isn't disappointed at being ignored by Corus (Why doesn't Khalifman get more invites? It puzzles me even in broken English he's a better ambassador for the game than many and he's playing well.) and how he believes Anand will not have sufficient recovery time to put in his best performance in Wijk aan Zee.

Internet coverage: http://www.chessclub.com/event/khalifman.html

Bermuda Tournaments

There will be two Invitational GM Tournaments in Bermuda, with the emphasis on youth they will followed by an Open.

The GM 'A' event will be a six player double-round event starting 20th January with GMs Gershon, Lesiege, Macieja, Shabalov, Stefansson and Vescovi (average rating, expected to be about 2575).

The GM 'B' event will be a twelve player event starting 19th January and confirmed participants so far are GMs Becerra & Thorhallsson, IMs Blehm, Doettling, Teplitsky & Bojan Vuckovic, WIM Fierro and Johann Alvarez, Charbonneau & Marcel Martinez, with a GM and another still to confirm.

The usual five round Open will start 1st February and will include most of those in the invitationals and GMs Van Wely, Rogers, Benjamin, Ilya Gurevich, Soltis & Bisguier have indicated attendance - not to forget Rupert Jones defending his Under 1800 prize!

Internet coverage: http://www.bermuda.bm/chess

Korchnoi-Ponomariov Match

There will be an 8 game Korchnoi-Ponomariov match will start on 16th January 2001 in Donetsk. The main sponsor is joint-stock company DANKO.

Details: http://chess-sector.odessa.ua/match01p.htm

Helsinki IM and ELO

Helsinki Chess Circuit IM / ELO February 12th-22nd, 2001

Events: 12 player all-play-all IM-group (estimated FIDE category IV) 12 player all-play-all ELO-group (estimated rating average 2100)

Schedule Confirmation of participation Feb 12th at 10.00-11.00 (all times are local) Drawing of lots Feb 12th at 11.00 1st round Feb 12th at 14.00 2nd round Feb 13th at 14.00 3rd round Feb 14th at 11.00 4th round Feb 15th at 11.00 5th round Feb 16th at 14.00 6th round Feb 17th at 14.00 7th round Feb 18th at 14.00 8th round Feb 19th at 14.00 9th round Feb 20th at 14.00 10th round Feb 21st at 11.00 11th round Feb 22nd at 11.00 Prize giving ceremony immediately after 11th round Time rate 2 h / 40 moves + 1 h / 20 moves + 30 min to finish

Entry Fees IM group: FIM 600 (IMs and GMs conditions negotiable) ELO group: FIM 300 Prizes IM group: FIM 2000, 1500, 1000, 500 ELO group: FIM 1000, 750, 500, 250

Registration: Players interested to participate in IM- or ELO-group, please contact Mr. Sami Hämäläinen, tel. +358-9-5419091, email Sami.Hamalainen@icon.fi

6th Stuttgart Open

The 6th International Stuttgart Open takes place in Ditzingen (Germany) from 24th-27th May 2001, 7ch.

Further information: http://www.tsv-zuffenhausen.de/schach/

2nd Yateley Manor International

The 2nd Yateley Manor International Open takes place 19th-21st January and 3rd-4th February 2001 (ie play is over 2 weekends). It takes place in Yateley Manor School, Reading Road, Yateley, nr Camberley, Hampshire.

For further details contact: Ray Clark High Cedars, Oak End Way, Gerrards Cross, Bucks. SL9 8DA e-mail ray.clark@kpmg.co.uk tel: 01753 883300

Deep Fritz vs. Germany

There is a Deep Fritz vs. Germany match taking place. Internet coverage: http://www.computerschach.de/dfritz/ with an English introduction at: http://www.computerschach.de/dfritz/dfritz1e.htm

VI FIDE World Amateur Chess Championships

The VI FIDE World Amateur Chess Championships take place in Pamplona (Spain). 27th December 2001 - 6 January 2002. Swiss 10 rounds Conditions: Players without Elo FIDE Entry: 50$ Information: Federación Española de Ajedrez Tfn: 34 (Spain)-91-3556009 Fax: 34-917256963 email: jaque@lite.eunet.es

Andorra Open 2001

The website for the Andorra open June 24th - July 2nd 2001. You can also win a digital camera or entry to the event by visiting their website.

Internet site: http://www.internet.ad/feva

Australian Junior Championships

2001 Australian Junior Championships 11-23 January Hellenic Club, Matilda St, Phillip, ACT The early-entry date is fast approaching and is next Wednesday 20 DECEMBER 2000. Late entries will be taken by the organisers up to 08 January and a late fee of $25 will apply, so get your entries in now. Print out the entry form from: http://www.auschess.org.au/centenary/junentryform.html and return to: 2001 Australian Junior Chess Championships PO Box 1403 Belconnen ACT 2616

New Chess Site

Emil Sutovsky has started contributing to the Chessy site. http://www.chesslove.h1.ru/eng/index.html

Sinisa Joksic www site

Yugoslav journalist Sinisa Joksic has a new internet site. He will cover Yugoslav chess in Serbo-Croatian and English and also the swiss chess tour.

Internet addresses: http://yubc.net/~yuchess or http://www.yuchess.bizland.com.

Two tournaments in Prague

There are two closed tournaments in Prague at the end of the year, the Wilhelm Steinitz Memorial and one open tournament - Karel Prucha Memorial.

Contact: FM Martin Pribyl Prague, Czech Republic E-mail: orbis64@login.cz

December 26, 2000 - January 5, 2001 Prague - Wihelm Steinitz Memorial - closed GM tournament, 12 participants, category 8 - 10. Entry fee for players with ELO > 2400 300 DEM. Closed IM tournament, 10-12 players, cat. 3. Info: Ruzena Pribylova, Kukelska 904/113, Praha 9, CZ-198 00, Czech Republic. E-mail: orbis64@login.cz

December 26, 2000 - December 30, 2000 Prague - Memorial Karel Prucha - international open tournament, 7 rounds. Info: Ruzena Pribylova, Kukelska 904/113, Praha 9, CZ-198 00, Czech Republic. E-mail: orbis64@login.cz

Two Swiss Chess Tour events 2000-1

The "Swiss Chess Tour 2000" will finish in Bern with the 7th "Ambassador Open" December 26th-30th 2000. Swiss system, 7 rounds and the games will last a maximum of 5 hours (40 moves for 2 hours and 30 minutes till the end). Prize are: 2.000 SF, 1.500, 1.000, 800, 600, 500, 400, 300, 250 and 200 SF. From 11.- 20. places natural prizes. Special prizes for best Lady, senior (1940), junior(1980-83), schoolboy (1984) and best local player. Entty fee 130 SF, FMs and juniors 60 SF, at the door 10 SF more, GMs and IMs free. Venue: Hotel "Ambassador"

New event - Blitz tournament, Swiss system, 9 double rounds.

Time table for "Ambassador Open": December 26.: The last registration 11.00-12.15 Open ceremony 12.15-12.30 Round 1st 12.30-17.30 December 27.: Round 2nd 9.30-14.30 Round 3rd 15.30-20.30 December 28.: Round 4th 12.30 Blitz 18.30-22.30 December 29.: Round 5th 9.30-14.30 The first four play knock-out and the other continue tournament. Round 6th 15.30-20.30 + semi-final December 30.: Round 7th 9.30-14.30 + final Closing ceremony 16.00

Registered: GM Sturua (GEO), WGM Gurieli(GEO), GM Suetin (RUS), GM C.Horvath (HUN), GM J.Horvath (RUS), IM Berzinsh (LAT), IM Velicka (CZE), IM Joksic(YUG), IM Seres (HUN), IM A.Meszaros (HUN), IM Pal (HUN).

Anniversary of Viktor Korchnoi Swiss Chess Tour 2001 The 3rd Hilton Open in Basle

Next year Viktor Korchnoi celebrates his 70th birthday. The Swiss Chess Federation, his club "Zurich", organizers from Switzerland and other countries want to take part and organize some chess event in honor of great champion. Swiss Chess Tour 2001 starts the first and address gala Hilton Open in honor of Viktor.

The "Swiss Chess Tour 2001" start in Basle with the 3rd Hilton Open January 1st 7th 2000. Swiss system 7 rounds and Swiss system, 7 rounds and the games will last a maximum of 6 hours (40 moves for 2 hours and 60 minutes till the end). After 5 rounds a first three + Korchnoi play knock-out system, the others continue with Swiss system. Prizes: 1. 2000 SF (Swiss Francs), 2. 1.500, 3. 1.200, 4. 1.000, 5. 800, 6. 600, 7. 500, 8. 400, 9.-10.2x300 i 11.-12. 2x200 SF (min 100 players). Special prizes 200 SF each: best Lady, senior (1941), junior (1981-84), schoolboy (1985), Basle player, player till 2000 rating points and a best player till 1800 points. Entry fee: 130 SF (FMs + juniors 60; GMs + IMs free). At the doors +10 SF. Venue Hotel "Hilton"

The others celebration events: January, 2nd "Juniors Chess King" four category U-20, U-17, U-14, U-12. January, 3rd Viktor Korchnoi, Simul & show-blitz with juniors and VIP persons January, 6th Blitz Open (5', Swiss system, 9 double round)

Time table for "Hilton Open": January 1.: The last registration 14.00-16.45 Open ceremony 16.45-17.00 Round 1st 17.00-23.00 January 2.: Juniors Tournament 10.00-17.00 Round 2nd 17.00-23.00 January 3.: Round 3rd 17.00-23.00 Korchnoi, Simul & show-blitz 14.00-17.00 January 4.: Round 4th 17.00-23.00 January 5.: Round 5th 17.00-23.00 The first four play knock-out and the other continue Tournament. January 6. : Round 6th 11.00-17.00 (The semi-final 10.00-16.00) Blitz Tournament 18.00-22.00 January 7. : Round 7th 11.00-17.00 (The final 10.00-16.00) The closing ceremony 18.00

Registered: GM Korchnoi (SUI), GM A. Sokolov (RUS), GM Tukmakov (UKR), GM Sturua (GEO), WGM Gurieli (GEO), GM Cvitan (CRO), GM Suetin (RUS), GM C.Horvath (HUN), GM J.Horvath (RUS), IM Joksic (YUG), IM Pikula (YUG), IM Seres (HUN), IM A.Meszaros (HUN), IM Pal (HUN).

More information and registration: Robert Spoerri tel. +41+34+424-01-06 faf +41+34+424-01-07 E-mail info@beochess.ch

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

10th Aurec Rapidplay

The 10th Aurec (France) Rapidplay takes place 10th-11th February 2001.

Two rapid tournaments 7 rounds/20mn. 2 sections : - section A for every player (total prizes FF 35,000) - section B for under 1700 (total prizes FF 5,000 + prizes in kind) Board and lodging from Friday to Sunday for all titled players. No appearance fees. Contact : Olivier Deville - Coteviere - 43110 Aurec, France, tel. : (+33) 4 77 35 41 21 - Fax : (+33) 4 77 35 23 76 - E-mail : odeville@netcourrier.com

Gausdal Troll Masters

The Gausdal Troll Masters are played at the Gausdal Høifjellshotel in Norway 5-12th January 2001. Open 9-round GM-tournament with good norm chances. 14-18 titled players expected out of 60-70 participants. Maximum 10-12 unrated players. Confirmed GMs: Rozentalis (2593), Rausis (2551), Krakops (2522), Gausel (2492), Djurhuus (2484) and Westerinen (2370). Last date of entry: 1st Januay 2001 Start fee: NOK 300-900, depending on rating. Prizes: NOK 6000 - 4000 - 2500 - 1500 - 1000

More information on the home page: http://home.online.no/~bjarke-k/TrollMasters/Troll2001/Engelsk/index.htm

Participation in the tournament may be combined with the Open Norwegian Rapid Chess Championships, played in Fredrikstad (south-east of Oslo) 12-13th January 2001. Home page: http://www.sjakk.net/nm_2001.html

Cappelle la Grande

The XVII Cappelle la Grande open takes place 24th February-3rd March 2001.

Internet site: http://cappelle.free.fr

GM Alexander Baburin chess sites

GM Alexander Baburin has been a familiar presence on the internet with his Coffee Break magazine. He is now involved in two new websites. http://www.gmsquare.com The idea is to provide a place on the Web to those GMs who would like to have some presence on the Internet and currently there are sites of three GMs there - Alexander Baburin himself, Alexander Morozevich and Lev Psakhis. Secondly at: http://www.chesstoday.net there will be a commercial chess service, providing daily news, interviews and instruction to a wide range of players. Each issue will feature one annotated game and news from around the world, while weekend issues will have some instructional materials, particularly useful for club players. Chess Today costs about $15 for 4 months.

Tel Aviv Open 2001

Open Swiss International Tournament in Tel-Aviv Dates: 9th-17th April 2001. 9 rounds. Possibilities for GM and IM norms. Prizes: 4000 3000 2000 1200 800....20 prizes in total (10 last are 250$); special U-2400, U-2000, U-18 y.o: 500 300 200 + women prizes; Special Conditions for GMs and IMs (apply to Dima Tyomkin dimatyomkin@hotmail.com).

Info: The Israeli Chess Federation through Mr. Igal Lotan 03-6437627, 03-6437630;

Bobby Fischer contribution to the Ambassador Report

Bobby Fischer was associated with Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God for some time. The Ambassador report was compiled by opponents of the organisation. You can read it at: http://homepage.altavista.com/AmbassadorReport/files/Fischer.html

4NCL Fantasy Chess

Fantasy Chess is now running a competition based on the 4NCL. People have to predict the results of the matches rather than the individual games. One for the Bundesliga will follow.

http://play.at/fantasychess

Three Hungarian Tournaments

Szekszard HUN IM closed tournament 04-10 12 2000 9 rounds, 2 double rounds, cat. 3-4, entry fee: 200 DEM information: Videki Sandor Tel/fax: 00-36-75421225 email: videkisn@matavnet.hu

Szekszard HUN 9 rounds open, children, blitz tournaments 05-10 12 2000 prizefound: 400000 HUF Information: Papp Csaba, Decs Oreg str.53 Hungary email: rlaszlo@freemail.hu

There will be the TAPOLCA Open chess tournament in Budapest January 5th-13th 2001. Prizes: 40-25-15-10-6-4-2x3-2x2.5-2x2 thousand HUF /1 USD = 300 HUF now/. About 4-6 IM-s, 50-70 % FIDE rated usually. The organizer: PAREJ, Jozsef, phone: 00-36-87-321-950, home 19:00-21:00 hours Central European Time More info and accommodation in Budapest: Nagy, Laszlo International Chess Organizer E-mail: firstsat@elender.hu

IECG Cup

The IECG Cup VI preliminary stage. IECG Cup is an open tournament: players of any rating are merged together. So this is a nice opportunity to play a wide range of opponents. Subscriptions are open until September 15. Entries received after this date are used for a replacement list, which will be closed on October 1st. The tournament will be launched on October 1st, for a duration of 11 months. All the unfinished games will be adjudicated. During the preliminary phase, all participants take part in a 7 men, single round tournament (so 6 games to play). The 2 winners of each section will be entitled to play in the next stage, starting in October 2001. All games count for IECG rating, of course.

The entry form for Cup VI is at: http://www.iecg.org/cupentry.htm The web entry form is the best method to be enlisted in the Cup, as the process behind is easier for us.

New Russian Website

There is a new Russian Website (English content to follow) at: http://kvkchess.euro.ru/. Material includes chess history and statistics and a collection of the chess links.

New Greek Site

The OAA Heraklio Chess Club a new website: http://www.oaachess.bizland.com the site has chess news from Greece, chess features, etc. Includes a Greek chess calendar.

16th Maccabiah Chess Tournaments

As part of the 16th Maccabiah there will be a number of chess tournaments (GM/IM and open tournaments) The 16th Maccabiah (Jewish Olympiad) takes place in Tel-Aviv 16th-26th June 2001. http://www.slavchess.co.il/academy/maccabi.html