The Week in Chess 330

THE WEEK IN CHESS 330 5th March 2001 by Mark Crowther

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1) Introduction

My thanks to Michael Atkins, Jon Tisdall, Michael Rahal, Argiris Kotsis, John Henderson, Dima Tyomkin, Radu-Catalin Chirila, Kaspars Migla, Andrzej Filipowicz, John Donaldson, John Saunders, Luis Rodi, David Avron, Laszlo Nagy and all those who helped with this issue.

The Linares tournament dominates this week's events. Kasparov has secured first place and is two points ahead with a round to go. Judit Polgar is the only player to avoid defeat against him. The event might have seen the 137th and final game between Kasparov and Karpov in tournament play, Karpov was white and it ended in a draw. Its been a busy week so a number of minor stories have had to be held over.

Hope you enjoy this issue

Mark

2) Linares 2001

The Linares 2001 tournament takes place 22nd February until March 7th 2001. The event is a double round robin. There is full daily coverage of the event on TWIC's pages. With one round to go of the Linares tournament Kasparov has already tied up victory. I will round up the tournament next week because almost any result for the other players is possible with the last round still to go.

Live Internet coverage: http://www.ajedrez21.com

SuperGM Linares ESP (ESP), 23 ii-6 iii 2001    cat. XIX (2722)
--------------------------------------------------------------
                                   1  2  3  4  5  6 
--------------------------------------------------------------
1 Kasparov, Gary       g RUS 2849 ** == 1. 1= =1 =1  6.5  2865
2 Polgar, Judit        g HUN 2676 == ** == =0 == 1.  4.5  2732
3 Grischuk, Alexander  g RUS 2663 0. == ** =1 == 01  4.5  2720
4 Karpov, Anatoly      g RUS 2679 0= =1 =0 ** =. ==  4.0  2685
5 Leko, Peter          g HUN 2745 =0 == == =. ** ==  4.0  2678
6 Shirov, Alexei       g ESP 2718 =0 0. 10 == == **  3.5  2647
--------------------------------------------------------------

Round 1 (February 23, 2001)

Grischuk, Alexander  -  Polgar, Judit        1/2   44  B47  Sicilian Defence (Paulsen Variation)
Leko, Peter          -  Kasparov, Gary       1/2   55  B97  Sicilian Najdorf
Shirov, Alexei       -  Karpov, Anatoly      1/2   94  B17  Caro Kann

Round 2 (February 24, 2001)

Kasparov, Gary       -  Polgar, Judit        1/2   27  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation, Deviations
Karpov, Anatoly      -  Grischuk, Alexander  1/2   20  D30  Queen's Gambit (without Nc3)
Leko, Peter          -  Shirov, Alexei       1/2   29  C11  French Defence

Round 3 (February 25, 2001)

Polgar, Judit        -  Karpov, Anatoly      1/2   30  B17  Caro Kann
Grischuk, Alexander  -  Leko, Peter          1/2   23  B12  Caro Kann (Advance Variation)
Shirov, Alexei       -  Kasparov, Gary       1/2   48  B84  Sicilian Scheveningen Variation

Round 4 (February 27, 2001)

Polgar, Judit        -  Shirov, Alexei       1-0   47  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation, Deviations
Grischuk, Alexander  -  Kasparov, Gary       0-1   37  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation, Deviations
Karpov, Anatoly      -  Leko, Peter          1/2   57  E15  Queen's Indian Defence (Main Line - Deviations)

Round 5 (February 28, 2001)

Kasparov, Gary       -  Karpov, Anatoly      1-0   31  B12  Caro Kann (Advance Variation)
Leko, Peter          -  Polgar, Judit        1/2   27  B97  Sicilian Najdorf
Shirov, Alexei       -  Grischuk, Alexander  1-0   32  B45  Sicilian Defence (Classical System)

Round 6 (March 1, 2001)

Kasparov, Gary       -  Leko, Peter          1-0   31  C88  Ruy Lopez (Closed System)
Polgar, Judit        -  Grischuk, Alexander  1/2   54  C96  Ruy Lopez (Deviations from Tchigorin Defence)
Karpov, Anatoly      -  Shirov, Alexei       1/2   44  D27  Queen's Gambit Accepted

Round 7 (March 3, 2001)

Polgar, Judit        -  Kasparov, Gary       1/2   35  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation, Deviations
Grischuk, Alexander  -  Karpov, Anatoly      1-0   50  B12  Caro Kann (Advance Variation)
Shirov, Alexei       -  Leko, Peter          1/2   43  C88  Ruy Lopez (Closed System)

Round 8 (March 4, 2001)

Kasparov, Gary       -  Shirov, Alexei       1-0   38  C80  Ruy Lopez (Open Defence)
Karpov, Anatoly      -  Polgar, Judit        1-0   80  E12  Queen's Indian Defence (Petrosian System and 4. or 5. Bg5)
Leko, Peter          -  Grischuk, Alexander  1/2   48  B33  Sicilian Defence (Lasker/Pelikan/Sveshnikov Variation)

Round 9 (March 5, 2001)

Polgar, Judit        -  Leko, Peter          1/2   27  C65  Ruy Lopez (Berlin Defence)
Grischuk, Alexander  -  Shirov, Alexei       1-0   51  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation, Deviations
Karpov, Anatoly      -  Kasparov, Gary       1/2   36  D77  Gruenfeld Defence (3.g3)

3) Blind Chess Tournament

Alongside the Linares tournament was a blind chess event with eight former World Blind Chess Champions competing. The event took place 23rd February-4th March 2001. The event was won by IM Sergey Krylov who was undefeated on 7.5/9 and a point clear of Sergei Smirnow and Vladimir Berlinsky. On the rest day on March 2nd Manuel Palacios Perez played Alexei Shirov in an exhibition game where Shirov was playing blindfold.

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

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
It Blind Linares ESP (ESP), 23 ii-4 iii 2001              cat. I (2264)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Krylov, Sergey           m RUS 2341  * = = 1 1 1 1 1 = 1  7.5  2528 
 2. Smirnov, Sergei            RUS 2253  = * 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1  6.5  2430 
 3. Berlinsky, Vladimir      m RUS 2377  = 1 * = = 0 1 1 1 1  6.5  2417 
 4. Devos, Piet                BEL 2218  0 0 = * = 1 1 1 1 1  6.0  2393 
 5. Dukaczewski, Piotr       m POL 2337  0 0 = = * 1 = 1 1 1  5.5  2335 
 6. Zoltek, Tadeusz          f POL 2304  0 0 1 0 0 * = 1 = 1  4.0  2216 
 7. Bjerring, Kai            m DEN 2311  0 0 0 0 = = * 1 1 0  3.0  2133 
 8. Cabarkapa, Milenko       m YUG 2188  0 1 0 0 0 0 0 * 1 1  3.0  2147 
 9. Palacios Perez, Manuel     ESP 2179  = 0 0 0 0 = 0 0 * 1  2.0  2053 
10. Draghici, Gavril           ROM 2128  0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 *  1.0  1927 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

4) Tel Aviv International Chess Tournament

The Tel Aviv Internationl Chess Tournament with closed men's and women's events takes place in the Sol&Sissy Center in Ramat Aviv (Tel Aviv) 20th February-3rd March 2001. My thanks to Dima Tyomkin.

Internet coverage at: http://www.slavchess.co.il/academy/taint.html

Round 7 Standings:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tel Aviv Chess Festival ISR (ISR), 20 ii-3 iii 2001      cat. IX (2473)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Gyimesi, Zoltan          g HUN 2564  * . = = 1 1 = = . =  4.5  2558 
 2. Kovalev, Andrei          g BLR 2544  . * = = . 0 1 1 1 =  4.5  2558 
 3. Greenfeld, Alon          g ISR 2570  = = * = 0 . = . 1 1  4.0  2510 
 4. Doettling, Fabian        m GER 2509  = = = * = . . = = =  3.5  2500 
 5. Postny, Evgeny           m ISR 2432  0 . 1 = * 1 0 . = =  3.5  2462 
 6. Van Mil, Johan           m NED 2421  0 1 . . 0 * 1 = 0 1  3.5  2462 
 7. Haimovich, Tal             ISR 2302  = 0 = . 1 0 * = = .  3.0  2447 
 8. Gruenfeld, Yehuda        g ISR 2520  = 0 . = . = = * = =  3.0  2408 
 9. Botvinnik, Ilia          m ISR 2434  . 0 0 = = 1 = = * .  3.0  2421 
10. Mikhalevski, Alexander   m ISR 2438  = = 0 = = 0 . = . *  2.5  2406 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tel Aviv Chess Festival Women ISR (ISR), 20 ii-3 iii 2001
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Madl, Ildiko             m HUN 2394  * . = 1 = 1 1 . 1 1  6.0  2498 
 2. Lakos, Nikoletta        wg HUN 2347  . * = = . 1 1 = 1 1  5.5  2403 
 3. Borsuk, Angela          wg ISR 2281  = = * . = = 1 = . 1  4.5  2333 
 4. Pitam, Ela              wg ISR 2258  0 = . * 1 1 . 0 1 =  4.0  2281 
 5. Lagvilava, Genrieta     wg BLR 2321  = . = 0 * = . 1 0 1  3.5  2213 
 6. Botvinnik, Irina        wf ISR 2180  0 0 = 0 = * 1 . 1 .  3.0  2212 
 7. Igla, Bella                RUS 2117  0 0 0 . . 0 * 1 1 =  2.5  2124 
 8. Tsifanskaya, Ludmila A  wm ISR 2214  . = = 1 0 . 0 * 0 0  2.0  2055 
 9. Len, Irina                 ISR 2118  0 0 . 0 1 0 0 1 * .  2.0  2103 
10. Shapira, Lilia             ISR 2049  0 0 0 = 0 . = 1 . *  2.0  2118 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

5) 5th United Insurance GM Chess Tournament

The 5th United Insurance GM Chess Tournament (Category 9) took place in Dhaka, Bangladesh 19 February to 4th March. The winner was Jaan Ehlvest who took first place above Alexander Volzhin on tie-break (although which is unclear to me the normal sonnen-berger tiebreak would have given the event to Volzhin).

The games Prakash-Ehlvest, Rahman-Sandipan and Miezis-Davies from round 8 are probably incomplete.

Internet coverage (including live games): http://www.bdcf.org/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
5th United Insurance Dhaka BAN (BAN), 19 ii-4 iii 2001       cat. IX (2472)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Volzhin, Alexander   g RUS 2539  * = 1 = = 1 1 = = = = = 1 =  8.5  2576 
 2. Ehlvest, Jaan        g EST 2638  = * = 0 1 = 0 1 = = 1 1 1 1  8.5  2569 
 3. Miezis, Normunds     g LAT 2532  0 = * 0 = = 1 1 = = = 1 1 1  8.0  2554 
 4. Murshed, Niaz        g BAN 2457  = 1 1 * 0 = = = 1 = 1 = = 0  7.5  2530 
 5. Barsov, Alexei       g UZB 2500  = 0 = 1 * = = = = = = 0 1 1  7.0  2498 
 6. Davies, Nigel R      g ENG 2464  0 = = = = * = = = 1 = = = 1  7.0  2501 
 7. Reefat, Bin-Sattar   m BAN 2458  0 1 0 = = = * 0 = 1 = 1 = 1  7.0  2502 
 8. Vakhidov, Tahir      m UZB 2482  = 0 0 = = = 1 * = = 1 = = 1  7.0  2500 
 9. Abdulla, Al-Rakib    m BAN 2359  = = = 0 = = = = * = = = = =  6.0  2451 
10. Rausis, Igors        g LAT 2525  = = = = = 0 0 = = * = 1 = =  6.0  2438 
11. Prakash, G B         m IND 2453  = 0 = 0 = = = 0 = = * 0 1 1  5.5  2416 
12. Hossain, Enamul      f BAN 2323  = 0 0 = 1 = 0 = = 0 1 * 0 =  5.0  2396 
13. Rahman, Ziaur        m BAN 2447  0 0 0 = 0 = = = = = 0 1 * 1  5.0  2386 
14. Sandipan, Chanda     m IND 2431  = 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 = = 0 = 0 *  3.0  2264 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

6) Cappelle la Grande

The 17th Cappelle la Grande Open took place 24th February-3rd March 2001. There were 712 players including 93 GMs and 72 IMs. Vladimir Chuchelov (gm BEL 2539) and Einar Gausel (g NOR 2481) shared first place. There were GM norms for Slim Belkhodja And Karel Van Der Weide. IM norms for Maia Lomineishvili, Marcin Dziuba, Milan Novkovic Milan, Matthias Mueller, Sergey Mirovshchikov, Jan Michael Sprenger And Daniele Vismara. WIM norms for Anne Mulh Muller And Elena Kuznetsova.

Full standings are not available.

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

7) Millennium Chess Festival

The Millennium Chess Festival took place in Virginia Beach, Virginia March 2nd-4th 2001.

Michael Atkins reports: The Millennium Chess Festival II was a definite success this year. Doubling in participation from 99 to 200 players, the new Virginia Beach location proved to be a definite winner. The Ramada Resort Hotel, Virginia Beach Events, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and Papa Johns Pizza provided the sponsorship and Tom Braunlich/Rodney Flores the organization. Michael Atkins and Ernie Schlich directed.

GM Igor Novikov was clear winner of the Open section with 4.5. Following closely behind were GMs Alex Shabalov, Leonid Yudasin, Pavel Blatny and Alex Stripunsky and IM Adrian Negulescu at 4-1. Kameswaran Visweswaran, Boris Privman and Macon Shibut took top U2400 and top U2200 was shared by Douglas Taffinder, Richard Francisco, Walid Elgouhary, and Daniel Pomerleano.

Under 2200 section was won by Judah Brownstein and Mark Lisle. Under 1600 section was won by Alex Relyea, Robert Fritz, and Dave Brogan. And Under 1300 was won by Dennis Okola.

GM Leonid Yudasin went 9-1 to take clear first in the 41 player WBCA Blitz event on Saturday night. He was the clear class of the field, drawing quickly in both final round games with IM Oladapo Adu who finished, along with GM Pavel Blatney and GM Alex Stripunsky with 8-2 and in second place. U1900 was won by Brian Salomon.

GM Michael Rodhe put on a great chess camp for kids on Friday afternoon and on Saturday night gave a 15 board simul in which 3 players managed draws.

The playing site was really great, top class all the way. The hotel was situated on the Virginia beach waterfront which made for nice sleeping to the pounding surf each night. Raffles for a Palm Pilot, Pente Games, and special cups were held during the final two rounds. One GM called it the nicest tournament in the US, which is high praise!

Results are available at: http://www.geocities.com/millenniumchessfestival/results.htm

Internet coverage at: http://www.geocities.com/millenniumchessfestival/

----------------------------------------------------------
Millennium II Open Virginia Beach USA (USA), 2-4 iii 2001
----------------------------------------------------------

 1. Novikov, Igor A        g  UKR 2596  4.5 
 2. Shabalov, Alexander    g  USA 2609  4.0 
 3. Yudasin, Leonid        g  ISR 2568  4.0 
 4. Blatny, Pavel          g  CZE 2541  4.0 
 5. Stripunsky, Alexander  g  USA 2495  4.0 
 6. Negulescu, Adrian      g  ROM 2510  4.0 
 7. Visweswaran, K            IND 2289  3.5 
 8. Privman, Boris         f  USA 2244  3.5 
 9. Shibut, Macon             USA 2277  3.5 
10. Rohde, Michael A       g  USA 2526  3.0 
11. Perelshteyn, Eugene    m  USA 2436  3.0 
12. Koo,Oliver T                  ----  3.0 
13. Smith, Bryan G         f  USA 2307  3.0 
14. Figler, Ilye           f  USA 2378  3.0 
15. Reichstein, Boris      f  USA 2223  3.0 
16. Potter, John Russell          ----  3.0 
17. Strenzwilk, Denis         USA 2172  3.0 
18. Boudreaux, Floyd          USA 2260  3.0 
49 players

8) Varsity Match 2001

The 119th Varsity (Oxford vs. Cambridge) Chess Match took place on 3rd March 2001 at the RAC Club, Pall Mall, sponsored by Tony Buzan, the Buzan Group and Henry Mutkin. Cambridge lead the series by four after winning by 5.5-2.5 although they looked like drawing the match until late on in proceedings. My thanks to John Saunders for the information.

Further coverage: http://www.bcmchess.co.uk/news/varsity2001.htm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Varsity Match London ENG (ENG), 3-3 iii 2001
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oxford 2.5                                  Cambridge 5.5     
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 b Kieran Smallbone  (New)        2147 0-1 Karl Mah       (Pembroke)       2404 
2 w Joel Eklund       (University) 2130 1-0 Jack Rudd      (Girton)         2178 
3 b Melanie Buckley   (St Hilda's) 2114 0-1 James Vigus    (Clare)          2281 
4 w Shashi Jayakumar  (Balliol)    ---- 1/2 Eddie Dearing  (Peterhouse)     2274 
5 b Tim Chesters      (Balliol)    ---- 0-1 David Moskovic (Queens')        2252 
6 w Oliver Rosten     (Somerville) 2218 1/2 Joe Conlon     (Christ's)       2170 
7 b Heather Lang      (St. Anne's) 2058 0-1 Nathan Alfred  (King's)         2208 
8 w James Clifford    (New)        ---- 1/2 Iva Anguelov   (St Catherine's) 2062 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9) First Saturday March

Laszlo Nagy reports that the First Saturday IM and FM tournaments have started. They take place 3rd-16th March 2001.

Websites: http://www.elender.hu/~firstsat and http://w3.enternet.hu/vlagyus/firstsat.html

IMA group, 2301, IM-norm 8.5 points, WGM norm 8 points

No  Name             Feder Rtg  Title

1.  KAHN, Evarth     HUN   2288 im   
2.  JAMRICH, Gyorgy  HUN   2283      
3.  TIAN, Tian       CHN   2224      
4.  EPERJESI, Laszlo HUN   2313 im   
5.  RAJLICH, Vasik   USA   2364 fm   
6.  SENDUR, Adnan    TUR   2303 fm   
7.  HAJNAL, Zoltan   HUN   2349 fm   
8.  JURKOVIC, Ante   CRO   2359      
9.  DEMBO, Yelena    HUN   2342 wim  
10. NEMETH, Zoltan   HUN   2319 im   
11. GONDA, Laszlo    HUN   2265      
12. FARAG , S ndor   HUN   2285 im   

IM-B, average 2303IM-norm 8 points WGM: 7-point, wim 5

No  Name                 Feder Rtg  Title

1.  PHILIPPE, Christophe FRA   2356 fm   
2.  GOCZO, Melinda       HUN   2185      
3.  BERCZES, Csaba       HUN   2209      
4.  SERES, Lajos         HUN   2445 im   
5.  ZIMMERMAN, Yuri      HUN   2386 im   
6.  JAKAB, Attila        HUN   2308 fm   
7.  GLADYSZEV, Oleg      RUS   2349 im   
8.  BALOGH, Csaba        HUN   2340 fm   
9.  RESIKA, Nathan A.    USA   2288 fm   
10. XU, Hanbing          CHN   2218      
11. KAPOSZTOS, Miklos    HUN   2265 im   
12. NEZAR, Mustapha      FRA   2292      

FM-tournament, 9 rated, 5 nonrated

No  Name                   Feder Rtg 

1.  SEBREK, Janos          HUN   2110
2.  BUSTAMANTE, Oscar      ARG   2008
3.  CSOLIG, Robert         HUN   2121
4.  MAGALOTTI, Andrea      ITA   2168
5.  P R, Attila            HUN   2000
6.  BAUM, Kurt             GER   2000
7.  TONG, Li Da            CHN   2000
8.  GARCIA, B., Leonardo   ARG   2000
9.  BALOGH, Viktor         HUN   2182
10. BAR Z, Andr s          HUN   2043
11. VASS, Viktor           HUN   2158
12. BERCZES, David         HUN   2115
13. SZABO, Kriszti n       HUN   2096
14. GARNIER-SALVI, Vincent FRA   2000

10) Victor Ciocaltea Memorial

The Victor Ciocaltea Memorial tournament takes place in Bucharest, Romania 4th-14th March 2001. My thanks to Radu Chirila for the information. Round one saw all the games drawn.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Victor Ciocaltea Mem Bucharest ROM (ROM), 4-14 iii 2001      cat. XII (2533)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Badea, Bela               g ROM 2460  * . = . . . . . . . . .  0.5  2581 
 2. Brodsky, Michail          g UKR 2527  . * . . . . = . . . . .  0.5  2604 
 3. Fressinet, Laurent        g FRA 2581  = . * . . . . . . . . .  0.5  2460 
 4. Ionescu, Constantin       g ROM 2504  . . . * . . . . = . . .  0.5  2451 
 5. Iordachescu, Viorel       g MDA 2578  . . . . * . . . . = . .  0.5  2563 
 6. Solak, Dragan             g YUG 2511  . . . . . * . = . . . .  0.5  2570 
 7. Marin, Mihail             g ROM 2604  . = . . . . * . . . . .  0.5  2527 
 8. Motylev, Alexander        g RUS 2570  . . . . . = . * . . . .  0.5  2511 
 9. Navrotescu, Catalin       m ROM 2451  . . . = . . . . * . . .  0.5  2504 
10. Nevednichy, Vladislav     g ROM 2563  . . . . = . . . . * . .  0.5  2578 
11. Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter   g ROM 2596  . . . . . . . . . . * =  0.5  2454 
12. Vajda, Levente            m ROM 2454  . . . . . . . . . . = *  0.5  2596 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

11) Anna-Maria Botsari breaks Record

WGM Anna-Maria Botsari has broken the simultaneous record held by the Chinese player Ye, in Kalavrita, in an event that was part of a chess festival that took place 27th-28th February 2001. Ye had managed 1004 chessboards but Botsari took this to 1102 boards. The chess festival included a book fair, film screenings and documetaries, various meetings between writers and talks, poetry readings, music events and receptions. All these activities were organized by SEPOKE, with the support of many cultural and other clubs.

Internet coverage: http://www.chess.gr

12) Mechanics' Institute Cat VIII

The Mechanics' Institute is hosting a Category 8 (2426 average) GM norm event (the Charles Linklater Memorial) from February 26-March 8. The top rated players are GMs Alexander Baburin, Alex Wojtkiewicz and Yury Shulman. This event is the first tournament in the Americas to feature the new FIDE time control (40/75; G/15 with thirty second increment) in the Americas. My thanks to John Donaldson for the news.

Website: http://www.chessclub.org

Round 6 Standings:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Linklater Mem San Francisco USA (USA), 26 ii-8 iii 2001    cat. VIII (2426)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Shulman, Yuri             g BLR 2543  * = . . = . = . 1 1 1  4.5  2600 
 2. Shahade, Gregory          f USA 2456  = * = = . 1 . = . . 1  4.0  2540 
 3. Vucic, Mladen             m USA 2364  . = * = . . . = . 1 1  3.5  2498 
 4. Altounian, Levon          f USA 2441  . = = * . . = . 0 1 1  3.5  2429 
 5. Wojtkiewicz, Aleksander   g POL 2572  = . . . * = = . = 1 .  3.0  2534 
 6. Baburin, Alexander        g IRL 2598  . 0 . . = * 1 . 1 = .  3.0  2511 
 7. Lakdawala, Cyrus          f USA 2436  = . . = = 0 * 1 = . .  3.0  2480 
 8. Krechetov, Aleksandr      f RUS 2300  . = = . . . 0 * . = 1  2.5  2361 
 9. Mulyar, Michael A         f USA 2428  0 . . 1 = 0 = . * . .  2.0  2446 
10. Baginskaite, Camilla     wm USA 2306  0 . 0 0 0 = . = . * .  1.0  2196 
11. Stearns, Aaron              USA 2246  0 0 0 0 . . . 0 . . *  0.0       
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

13) More on Time controls

Norwegian Chess Federation write to FIDE

Protest against new time control

Dear Sir,

The Norwegian Chess Federation (NCF) disagrees with the decision taken by FIDE's Presidential Board (PB) concerning the time limit in the FIDE World Cup event. In our opinion, the decision has negative impact on the game of chess, both among chess players and on how chess is regarded in the society in general.

The NCF would like to raise an official protest against the decision of the Presidential Board to extend the time limit decision to count for other tournaments than the FIDE World Championships alone. The Presidential Board has used the mandate given to them during the General Assembly (GA) in Istanbul far beyond what the GA intended.

The decision has great political impact because it concerns a considerable number of players and organizers worldwide not to mention the fact that in making this decision, the PB has not been acting within the laws of FIDE.

The NCF found the press release made by FIDE' s General Secretary Mr. Omuko on January 31, 2001 unsatisfactory, given that it continued to support the illegal decision made by the PB on December 26th 2000. Notably, the press release was made despite strong protests which documented that the procedure was illegal.

This is a disquieting attitude toward the democratic laws and structure that are supposed to reign in our organization.

The NCF shares the viewpoints given in the official protest of the German Chess Federation, to which we lend our full support.

Best regards President Per Ofstad (sign.) The Norwegian Chess Federation

Ilyumzhinov responds to protests

A press release dated Moscow February 27th 2001 from FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov appears on the FIDE site at: http://www.fide.com/release/. Whilst not backing down he says "I can see that some Federations are not yet prepared to accept the inevitable changes that our sport must undergo, if it is to move with the other sports of the modern era."

14) Forthcoming Events and Links

XI Dos Hermanas GM tournament

Michael Rahal reports: the XI Dos Hermanas GM tournament takes place 19th-27th April 2001.The Category XVI event has the following players:

Mikhail Gurevich BEL 2694, Ilya Smirin ISR 2686, Alexei Dreev RUS 2685, Zurab Azmaiparasvili GEO 2670, Ivan Sokolov BIH 2659, Mikhail Krasenkov POL 2658, Zoltan Almasi HUN 2640, Miguel Illescas ESP 2562, Francisco Vallejo ESP 2545 and Teimour Radjabov AZE 2483.

Internet coverage: http://www.doshermanas.net/ and http://www.edami.com/

Pinamar Masters

1º Magistral Internacional de Pinamar The County of Pinamar, Buenos Aires, Argentina is to hold a category VIII event. The "1st Pinamar Masters" will take place 8th-18th March 2001 and it will take place in the Old Hotel Ostende, The participants are: GM Bent Larsen (Denmark), GM Ulf Andersson (Sweden), GM Pablo Ricardi (Argentina), GM Oscar Panno (Argentina), GM Carlos García Palermo (Argentina), GM Alejandro Hoffman (Argentina), MI Herman Van Riemsdijk (Brazil), MI Bernardo Roselli (Uruguay), MI Jorge Szmetan (Argentina), MI Sergio Giardelli (Argentina), Pablo Hobaica (Argentina) and Luis Rodi (Argentina). Internet site: http://www.utopiasdepinamar.com.ar/magistral

Hawaii International Chess Festival

Hawaii International Chess Festival returns in 2002 with the first World Families Chess Championships. Pro (2000+), Mixed, and Amateur (all players under 2000). Prizes for all sorts of combinations of family members. Information: hawaii@chessworks.com. Website (coming soon) www.familychess.com.

Bucharest Spring Festival

The Lasker S.R.L. chess club is organising a Spring Festival in Bucharest, Romania 6th-20th April 2001. There will be an IGM event Category 7-9 with 12-16 players.

Entry fees: - <= 2300 -400 DM - 2301 2350 -350 DM -2351 2400 -300 DM -2401 2450 -250 DM -2451 2500 -200 DM - >= 2501 -150 DM

An IGM women's norm event category 7-8 with 12-14 players. Entry fees 250 DM.

IM norm event category 2-4 with 12-16 players.

Entry fees: - <= 2150 -400 DM - 2151 – 2200 -300 DM -2201 – 2250 -250 DM -2251 – 2300 -200 DM -2301 – 2400 -150 DM - >= 2401 -100 DM

Accommodation 100-150 DM in private rooms or apartments for all the tournament.

Prizes: declared before the 3rd round.

Addresses in Bucharest: Romanian Chess Federation, Ion Campineanu Street, no. 20, phone: 312.55.25 or 312.70.56, fax: 312.19.44 Central Chess Club: Otetari Street, no. 2, phone 314.68.13.

Organizer: FIDE Master Emil Pessi: O.P. 38 C.P. 80, 72250 Bucharest-Romania, phone 0040-1-240.07.00; fax: 0040-1-312.19.44 (if contacted he assures the reception of the players). E-mail: rchirila@hotmail.com or ggg@dnt.ro

Malahide Millennium Tournament

Malahide Chess Club present the Malahide Millennium Tournament on the weekend of May 5th, 6th & 7th 2001. 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. The first prize for the Open is £750 and the first prize for U1600 is £350. Total prize fund of over £2,000. To enter contact Vincent Bissett on (00353) 1 8453609 and further detailed information is available at: http://members.tripod.co.uk/MalahideCC.

THE 2nd EUROPEAN OPEN WOMEN'S CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

The Championship will be held from April 21 (day of arrival) till May 5 (day of departure), 2001 in the “Marriott” Hotel, Warsaw, Poland. Full accomodation in the Warsaw's Marriott Hotel only US$ 50 per person per day in the double room and US$60 per day in the single room (the number of sigle rooms is limited).

Tournament is open for all ladies, rated and unrated from Zones 1.1 to 1.9. Entrance fee US$ 30 or US$ 60. The number of players of the federation is not limited, but the nominations must be made by the national chess federations only. Registration until March 15, 2001.

The Swiss system - 11 rounds (one free day on April 28, tie-breaks on May 4). The new time control shall be 40 moves in 75 minutes followed by all moves in 15 minutes. Each player shall receive an extra 30 seconds thinking time prior to the move.

29 players best players will qualify to the 2001 FIDE Women’s World Championship!! Prize fund will be approximately 50.000 DEM. The first prize about 10.000 DEM, 20 money prizes and a lot of trophies. All details and ECU Regulations you can find on

Internet page: http://www.szachista.com.pl

Please contact the Polish Chess Federation

pzszach@atomnet.pl and pzszach@ikp.atm.com.pl

CHESS FESTIVAL "EASTER IN RETHYMNO 2001"

The Union of Cretan Chess Associations announces the Chess Festival under the name "Easter in Rethymno 2001" which will be held at the hotel "LEFKONIKO" in Rethymno, from the 17th to the 21st of April, as well as the participation of the former World Champion Anatoly Karpov and the World Girl Champion Maria Kouvatsou. This chess festival is held under the auspices of the Ministry of Athletics, the District of Crete, the Prefecture Administration of Rethymno, the Local Union of Municipalities and Communities and the Municipality of Rethymno. The Chess Festival is going to include:

DEMONSTRATION CONTESTS BY THE "LEGENDARY" AN. KARPOV 1st GREEK INTERSCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP (for primary schools) 1st OPEN INTERNATIONAL RAPID TOURNAMENT IN RETHYMNO

On the 20th of April Anatoly Karpov is having a simultané demonstration contest (he is going to compete against more than 20 players at the same time). In the afternoon of both that and the following day he is going to have a match against the World Girl Champion Maria Kouvatsou. The ones interested in taking part in the simultané may get in touch with us either by calling +30977673981 (Maria Vigliraki), or through Fax (+30831-20810) and e-mail (thebest@ret.forthnet.gr).

MARY VIGLIRAKI TEL: +30 831 20810 MOB: +30977 673981

Internet coverage: http://www.chess.gr/essk/enter.html

Odyssey 2001 computer chess tournament

There is a computer chess tournament running as a 15 round Swiss system event. The first round has just been completed. 26 leading chess programs compete. The website has games and commentary.

Website:http://www.rebel.nl/odyssey.htm

3rd Dubai open

The 3rd Dubai Open Chess Championship organised by the Dubai Chess & Culture Club will take place 15th to 26th of April 2001 in Dubai. Players will compete for the Sheikh Rashed Bin Hamdan Al Maktum Cup.

Prizes: US$: 1)5000, 2)4500, 3)4000, 4)3000, 5)2500, 6)2000, 7)1500, 8)900, 9)850, 10)750

Invited GM's with ELO rating 2600 and above will be provided with free accomodation in the single room and full board and invited GM's with ELO rating 2550-2599 will be provided with free accomodation in the double room and full board.

Entry is still open. For more information contact:

Dubai Chess & Culture Club
P.O. Box 11354
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tel.: +971 (4) 296 66 64
Fax : +971 (4) 296 88 80

Or via E-Mail to: Mr..Mohamed El Husseiny: mhusseiny@dubaichess.com

"Liepajas rokade" GM Rapidplay

Kaspars Migla reports: Liepaja, Latvia organised a GM rapid chess tournament "Liepajas rokade". (Andra Cimina's report on that event appeared in TWIC 301 14th August 2000). This years tournament will be much stronger. It takes place 2nd-5th August. Players: 1. Alexei Shirov (ESP, 2718) 2. Aleksandr Khalifman (RUS, 2690) 3. Ulf Andersson (SWE, 2640) 4. Jaan Ehlvest (EST, 2638) 5. Aleksandr Shabalov (USA, 2609) 6. Edvins Kengis (LAT, 2589) 7. Utut Adianto (INO, 2583) 8. Aleksander Wojtkiewicz (POL, 2572) 9. Aloyzas Kveinys (LTU, 2530) 10. Maxim Dlugy (USA, 2531) 11. Darmen Sadvakasov (KAZ, 2509) 12. Viktoria Chmilite (LTU, 2433) There will be live coverage: The Internet site for "Liepajas rokade" will be available soon.

There is also an open: GsM and IMs are invited to the "Open" tournament. Entry is still open. Prizes 1) 1000 USD, 2) 500 USD, 3) 300 USD, 4) 200 USD, 5) 100 USD, 6) 50 USD Blitz chess tournament (5 August) prizes total 1000 USD. For more information contact: Aris Ozolins +371-9207601 (mobile) +371-3484128 Cieceres 28-4 Liepaja, Latvia LV-3416 e-mail: ozolins@apollo.lv kurvar@apollo.lv

Olympic Capital Young Masters 2001

The Olympic Capital Young Masters 2001 tournament will be played at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. There are various events:

20-27 may The Olympic YOUNG MASTERS, for this KO system tournament, we are inviting the worlds 8 best junior GM's.(Fide rating of 31/12/2000)

22-27 may The MASTERS OPEN, 9 round swiss system Open, for players with Elo above 2000 points. The tournament meets regulations for GM and IM norms.

24-27 may The GENERAL OPEN, 7 round swiss system Open, for players of all levels with maximum rating of Elo 2150.

For more detailed information and registration, visit our Home-page : http://www.lausanneyoungmasters.com

Zone 3.1a

Zone 3.1a will held in Tehran 5th-13th April 2001. The event will be a 9 round swiss system tournament. 100 min for 40 moves 20 min for the rest and 30 second bonus per move. There will be men's and women's events.

The participents are: 1. Bahrein (1 woman and 1 man) 2.Iran (3 women and 4 men) 3.Iraq (2 women and 2 men) 4. Jordan (1 woman and 1 man) 5. Kuwait (1 woman and 1 man) 6. Lebanon (2 women and 2 men) 7. Palestine (1 woman and 1 man) 8. Qatar (2 women and 3 men) 9. Syria (1 woman and 2 man) 10. UAE (1 woman and 1 man) 11. Yeman (1 woman and 1 man) total 16 women and 18 men.

News from Pahlevanzadeh.

Internet coverage: http://www.iranchess.com/zone31a

5th Voronezh International Chess Festival

The 5th Voronezh International Chess Festival takes place June 10th - 21st, 2001.

1.Rapid tournament, 10-11.06, 9 rounds swiss, 25 minutes. Entry fee - 120 RR. Prizes in RR 2000/1500/1000. Special prizes.

2.Blitz tournament, 17.06, 11 rounds swiss. Entry fee - 60 RR. Prizes 1000/800/600. Special prizes.

3.Open "A". 12-21.06; 9 rounds swiss; 5 hours. Entry fee in RR: 1500 - without Elo; 1200 - 2001-2100; 1000 -2101-2200; 800 -2201-2250; 600-2251-2300;500 -2301-2350; 400 -2351-2400; 300 -2400-2450. Juniors (1983+), ladies, seniors (1940-) have to pay 50%. Free for GM, IM, 2450+. Prizes in RR : 20000/15000/12000/10000/8000/6000/5000/4000/3000/2000x2/1000x2. Special prizes for juniors, ladies, seniors, players without Elo. A participant may get not more than one prize. Opportunity to qualify for FIDE ratings and norms.

4.Open "B"(Elo<2251). 12-20.06; 9 rounds; 4 hours. Entry fee - 500 RR for rated players, 800 RR for unrated players. Prizes:5000/4000/3000/2000/1500x2/1000x2.Special prizes. 5.Open "C"(for unrated players). 13-20.06; 7 rounds swiss; 3,5 hours. Entry fee 400 RR. Prizes : 3000/2000/1500x2/1000x2/500x3. Special prizes.

Accommodation - from 50 RR per night. (1 USD appr. 30 RR)

Place of the festival: Voronezh Chess Club, Engels str.34, ph.007-0732-551777

Information: Alexander Raetsky, Ostuzheva 22 - 46, 394042 Voronezh, Russia. Fax 007-0732-522951(for A.Raetsky) ph.007-0732-136076(20.00-22.00) e-mail: alex.raetsky@usa.net

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

Anand Interview

Viswanathan Anand has made it clear that any possible title match with Vladimir Kramnik will only be with the permission of FIDE. See the new interview in the Times of India.

Internet site: http://www.timesofindia.com/today/22spor3.htm

Salou Tournaments

The "Torrevella Chess Club" in Salou, Spain is planning to organise 4 events during this year.

Each event will have a minimum of 3 tournaments with chances to make GM and IM norms as well as getting an Elo rating. Salou is a city 100km south of Barcelona. The first of these events will take place 7th-18th May 2001. Further details: prizes, accomodation, entry fees, etc. about these tournaments can be found on the web page: http://home2.worldonline.es/ortumsal

Dortmund 2001

The Dortmunder Sparkassen Chess Meeting 2001 will have Anand and Kramnik as the stars of the event. The event which is also the 29th International Dortmund Chess Days will be held July 12th-22nd in Dortmund Opera House (1200 seats for spectators). 6 players from the top ten will be invited for the double round robin event they will include Kramnik and Anand the event will be Category 20 or 21. An announcement will be made in May of the full field. Alongside the super-tournament will be a computer match with a top player, other matches and an Open with 300 participants. Internet coverage will be by http://www.chessgate.de

Further details: http://teleschach.de/dortmund-2001/

Colombian Chess Magazine

There is a new magazine for Colombian chess players. The pages are those of Fide Master Juan Minaya whose the address is: http://www.gimnasio-moderno.edu.co/ajedrezgm/indexaj.htm. Subjects include: Chess as an educational help Activities of the Colombian Chess Federation and its leagues. Information, tournaments, achievements, Elo, etc. Up date information both local and international. Local and international anecdotes. Chess problems for all levels, tests, etc. Preferred links.

Hungarian Events

Chess tournaments in the near future in Hungary and in Yugoslavia: March-April-June 2001...

1. 3rd-16th of March, FIRST SATURDAY IM-FM tournaments, Budapest (HUN), org.Nagy Laszlo, e-mail: firstsat@elender.hu

2. 16th-24th of March Budapest Spring Festival 9 rounds Swiss Open, org.NL

3. 7th-19th of April FS GM-IM-FM tournaments, Budapest, org: NL

4. 21st of April - 3rd of May THIRD SATURDAY GM-IM tournaments, Belgrade, (YUG) /only 7 hours by train from Budapest, org: NL.

5. 5th-17th of May FS IM-FM tournaments, Budapest, org.NL,

6. 21st of May - 2nd of June ELEKES memorial GM-IM-event, organizer IM Zsinka,mobile phone: (36)-20-921-9197

7. 2nd-14th of June FS GM-IM-FM events, Budapest, org: NL.

8. 16th-28th of June THIRD SATURDAY GM-IM events in Belgrade.Org.NL.

Cuban Conference on sport including chess

In April 2001 Cuba are going to hold an International Conference about Physical Education and High Level Sports and Chess will be included.

Full details: http://www.galeon.com/capablanca/

North Sea Cup

The Esbjerg Chess Union stages a 16 edition of its North Sea Cup at Esbjerg Denmark July 6-14 2001. The tournament will again be a 10 player round-robin, at least category 12 is expected. Website address to follow.

Pakistan Chess Player

There is a new website in Pakistan called "Pakistan Chess Player" to promote chess in that region.

Website: http://pakchess.cjb.net

Interesting Links

I came across an interesting interview Kramnik gave in May 1999. It is called "Where have all the chess fans gone?" There seem to be elections in Kalmykia here is an article about that "Liberals accuse authorities" both come from the site: http://www.russiajournal.com/

You can see the results of the deliberations of the FIDE Problem Commission meeting last year which looked at the years 1995, 1996 and 1997. You can find them at: http://www.sci.fi/~stniekat/pccc/studies.htm

Gambito Magazine

The Spanish Chess Magazine "Gambito" has a new website, editor Alfonso Romero. Info David Llada.

Internet site: http://www.revistagambito.com/

Rebel Century 3 vs The Web

A match between Rebel Century 3 against the Web is underway.

Internet coverage: http://www.chesslines.com/rebelvsnet/rebel.html

Chess Oscar

Journalists, publishers, organisers, arbiters and GMs who write on chess have voted for the last 30 years for the Chess Oscar. "64 - Chess Review" (published and edited by A.Roshal) revived the award after a seven year break.

Further information at: http://www.64.ru

Pula Open May 2001

The Croatian Chess Federation and Pula Chess Club are holding an open 18th-26th May 2001. 9 round swiss system.

Full details including contact details at: http://sahklubpula.virtualave.net

E-Mail denis.vretenar@pu.tel.hr ( tel. 385/52/534840) or edvard.glavas@pu.tel.hr

Karpov in Greece and simul record attempt

The former World Champion Anatoly Karpov will visit Greece in a chess festival that will take place in Rethymno of Crete. Karpov will play in exhibition match against the 1999 Woman World Champion U-20, Maria Kouvatsou. He will also give a simultaneous match against 20 distinguished opponents. This will take place 17th-21st April 2001.

Chess Festival in Kalavryta

WGM Anna-Maria Botsari will attempt to break the record (in simultaneous play) held by the Chinese player Ye, in Kalavrita, as part of a chess festival that will take place 27th-28th February 2001. Ye's record stands at 1004 chessboards! All these activities are organized by SEPOKE, with the support of many cultural and other clubs. Participation is free for all.

Both events covered at: http://www.chess.gr

Tenth Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament

The "Tenth Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament" will be held at the Metropole Palace Hotel in Monaco, 17th-29th March 2001. The event is sponsored by J.J. van Oosterom and the total prize fund is US $ 193,250. Play will take place 13h30 until approximately 20h00 local time. Games will last up to one hour each.

The Playing Schedule: Rounds 1-4 17-20 March, Rounds 5-8 22nd-25th March, Rounds 9-11 27th-29th March. Rest days March 21st and 26th.

The participants are: Zoltan Almasi (Hungary), Viswanathan Anand (India), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Anatoly Karpov (Russia), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Peter Leko (Hungary), Ljubomir Ljubojevic (Yugoslavia), Jeroen Piket (The Netherlands), Alexei Shirov (Spain), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Loek van Wely (The Netherlands).

Internet coverage: http://chess.lostcity.nl/amber

There is free entry to all the games contact: Association Max Euwe 1 Avenue des Citronniers, MC 98000 Monaco Telephone : +377 - 92 05 60 01 Fax : +377 - 92 05 72 61 e-mail : amber10chess@hotmail.com

Advanced Chess Leon 2001

The Advanced Chess tournament will be held in Leon (Spain) June 8th-11th 2001. This is the 3rd time the event has been held and is also the 14th Leon tournament. This was originally the idea of Garry Kasparov. Players compete the help of a computer and a Database. The players will be Viswanathan Anand (India), Alexei Shirov (Spain), Peter Leko (Hungary) and Vesselin Topalov (Bulgaria). The main sponsors are: Telefonica, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Caja Duero, Chess Base, Excmo. Ayuntamiento de León, Excma. Diputación de León, Junta de Castila y León and the University of Leon. There will be 4 games per day and the event is a knockout. Timerate: 20 minutes per player, with 10 or 15 seconds increment after every move. The official websites will be at: http://www.elajedrezdelfuturo.com and http://www.advancedchessleon.com On 1st February 2001 there will be a preliminary presentation for this tournament alongside the European Team Championships, which will also be held in Leon (5th to 16th November 2001) at FITUR.

US-China Chess Summit Match

The Seattle Chess Foundation is organising the US-China Chess Summit Match March 14-18 in Seattle at the Norton Building's Harbor Club in downtown Seattle (second and Columbia). The four round match will have the top six players of each country facing each other in one game a day for four days. In addition, two leading women players and two junior players (under 18) from each country will compete each day.

Schedule: Tuesday, March 13 Children's Simultaneous Chess Exhibition. The Opening Ceremony for the match will be held at 8pm at the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park. Wednesday, March 14 Round 1; Thursday, March 15 Round 2; Friday, March 16 Day off with a 12-round quick (5 minute games) tournament with all the match competitors. Saturday, March 17 Round 3; Sunday, March 18 Round 4; Closing Ceremony

The event which is sanctioned by the Chinese and US Chess Federations will be the first of four such events held annually alternately in the US and China.

US Team US Overall team Mr. Alexander Shabalov Mr. Boris Gulko Mr. Larry Christiansen Mr. Gregory Kaidanov Mr. Alexander Ivanov Mr. Yasser Seirawan Mr. Joel Benjamin (Reserve) Mr. Nick deFirmian (Captain) US Junior team Mr. Vinay Bhat Mr. Dmitry Schneider Mr. Hikaru Nakamura (Reserve) US Women's team Ms. Camilla Baginskaite Ms. Irina Krush Ms. Elina Groberman (Reserve)

Chinese Team Chinese Overall Team: Mr. Ye Jiangchuan Mr. Xu Jun Mr. Peng Xiaomin Mr. Zhang Zhong Ms. Xie Jun Ms. Zhu Chen Mr. Yin Hao (Reserve Player) Chinese Women's Team: Ms. Xu Yuhua Ms. Wang Lei Ms. Qin Kanying (Reserve Player) Chinese Junior Team Mr. Ni Hua Mr. Bu Xiangzhi Mr. Wang Yue (Reserve Player)

Internet site: http://www.seattlechessfoundation.com/

Category XVII Enghien-les-Bains

There will be a Category XVII in Enghien-les-Bains, France April 10th-20th 2001. This ten player event has these players: Xie Jun, Evgeny Bareev, Vladimir Akopian, Grischuk Alexander, Vladislav Tkachiev, Joel Lautier, Viktor Bologan, Etienne Bacrot and Christian Bauer.

Further details: http://enghien.free.fr

Politiken Cup 2001

The 23rd Copenhagen Open (Politiken Cup) takes place 16th-27th July 2001.

11 round event. One game per day (rest day Monday July 23rd 2001). Timerate: 40 moves in 2 hours / 20 move in 1 hour / 30 min. finish. Totally 7 hours. GM and IM-norms are possible.

Main Prizes 1.15.000 ,- 2. 10.000 ,- 3. 8.000 ,- 4. 6.000 , 5. 4.000,- 6. 3.000 ,- 7. 2.000 ,- 8. 2.000 ,- 9. 2.000 ,- 10.-12. 1.000 ,- Special prizes: Best Women Player 1. 2.000,- 2. 1.000,- Best player born after 1.1. 1987: 1. 2.000,- 2. 1.000,- Ratingprizes : for players with less than 2350, in groups off at least 30 players, placest after highest rating (national or elo.) you can only win one prize ! 1. 3.000 kr. 2. 2.000 kr. 3. 1.000 kr.

Entry: GM + IM free FM + WGM + WIM 600 kr. Juniorer (born 1981 or later) 500 kr. Seniorer (67 years) 500 kr. Players with elo 750 kr. Players without elo 850 kr.

Venue: Nørrebrohallen, Bragesgade 5, 2200 København N.

Contact: Lars Bech Hansen. Address: Hjertebjærgparken 20 Kvarmløse DK-4340 Tølløse Danmark. Email: formand@kbhsu.dk

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

GM sites, Tiviakov and Ehlvest

There are a couple of sites where GMs comment on recent events they have competed in.

Sergey Tiviakov has a personal homepage in English and Russian languages with games, articles and more on the site. The latest report is about the Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee 2001 where he competed. Site at: http://www.tiviakov.demon.nl/

Jaan Ehlvest reviews the Keres Memorial Rapid Tournament in Estonia on his own site at: http://www.ehlvest.com.

Kasparov's Pepsi Advert

Garry Kasparov got some of the greatest exposure of his chess career. He featured 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.

Also at: http://superbowl.adcritic.com/qt/content/pepsi-kasparov-man-vs-machine.htm with better quality and it also gets stored as a temporary file so you can keep it.

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.

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.

Internet coverage: http://www.ajedrez21.com

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

"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

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

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

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

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.

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

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