The Week in Chess 367

THE WEEK IN CHESS 367 19th November 2001 by Mark Crowther

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1) Introduction

My thanks to Miklos Orso and Laszlo Nagy, Aard Daanen, Eugeny Atarov, Koos Stolk, Istvan Brindza, Luís Santos, Jan Mazuch, John Hillery, Malcolm Hunt, Jacques Robrecht, Steve Laios, Graham Stuart and all those who helped with this issue.

Some news stories knock you sideways. A few minutes after I completed the last issue of TWIC I was called and told the terrible news that Tony Miles had died. One point that has emerged again and again this week is that Miles is credited with giving English chess a new aggressive attitude and showing the way for its climb from also rans to challengers for the highest team titles. Miles was held in great affection by normal club players for his anti-authoritarian no-nonesense attitude and also probably because a good many saw him as he played in many weekend tournaments the world over. His relations with some of his England team-mates (who were also of course rivals) and administrators were less good however. Recently his sharp humour in commentary and writing brought him new fans via the Internet on ICC and the ChessCafe site. Miles had mental difficulties for the last 15 years of his life but these were episodic and frequently under control. It seems his difficulties in coping with his diabetes was the immediate cause of death. My abiding memory of him was his victory over Vladimir Kramnik in London PCA Rapid Chess Grand Prix of 1995. He played quickly and confidently and fed off the support of the audience. When he emerged victorious he punched the air and acknowledged the cheers of a thrilled crowd. He will be greatly missed.

Miles' death overshadowed the Dutch victory in the European Team Championships, their first major title. Elsewhere things have been pretty quiet, not surprising really, next weekend we see the start of the FIDE World Chess Championships, something very much to look forward to. There will be full coverage on the TWIC site.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) Tony Miles 1955-2001

Anthony John Miles 23rd April 1955 - 12th November 2001

The death of Tony Miles at the age of 46 has come as a great shock to British chess. Anthony John Miles was born on the 23rd April 1955 in Birmingham, England. He made rapid progress as a junior winning the British Under-14 title in 1968 and the Under-21 title in 1971. On his debut in the British Championships in 1972 he scored 50%. 1973 saw Miles advance even further finishing 4th= behind Bisguier, Browne and Szabo at the Lone Pine tournament in the US. At home he won the Birmingham international ahead of Adorjan and Bisguier. He then finished second in the World Junior Championships in Teeside behind Alexander Beliavsky who he beat.

By this time he was nominally a student at Sheffield University studying maths, however he used his time more productively to further his chess career. Miles won the World Junior Championships of 1974 in Manila by a margin of 1.5 points (and with it earned the IM title) securing the title with a smashing win against Alexander Kochyev in the penultimate round.

Kochyev,A - Miles,A [B76]
Wch U20 Manila, 1974

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.g4 e6 10.Ndb5 d5 11.Bc5 a6 12.Bxf8 Kxf8 13.exd5 exd5 14.Na3 b5 15.Nd1 b4 16.Nb1 Bxg4 17.Bg2 Qe7+ 18.Qe3 Ne4 19.fxe4 Bxd1 20.Nd2 Bxc2 21.Rc1 d4 22.Qh3 d3 23.0-0 Kg8 24.e5 Rd8 25.e6 fxe6 26.Rce1 Nd4 27.Kh1 Nf5 28.Re4 Qg5 29.Nf3 Qh6 30.Rh4 Qe3 31.Rxb4 d2 32.Nxd2 Qxh3 33.Bxh3 Rxd2 34.Re1 Bf8 35.Rb8 Kf7 36.Rb7+ Be7 37.Bf1 Ba4 38.Rb6 Bd6 39.Re2 Rd1 40.Kg2 Bb5 41.Rf2 Bc5 42.Rb7+ Kf6 43.Bxb5 axb5 44.Re2 Rg1+ 45.Kh3 g5 46.Rg2 Rd1 0-1

At this stage he set his sights on the £5000 prize offered by Jim Slater in 1971 to the first over-the-board GM in the UK. It had been assumed that either Ray Keene or Bill Hartston would claim this prize (indeed Hartston turned down a draw against Uhlmann in the penultimate round of Hastings 1972-3 and lost a game that would have secured the GM title) but it turned out to be Miles.

Miles produced his first GM norm by winning the Category VIII London tournament in October 1975 ahead of Timman, Adorjan and Sax. He scored his second and final norm in February 1976 in Dubna in the USSR scoring 9/15 in an event with amongst others Gipslis, Tseshkovsky, Suetin, Savon and Kholmov. Miles' achievement seemed to aid others in British chess as in the next five years Keene, Stean, Nunn, Mestel and Speelman were to follow him to the GM title.

Miles himself wasn't prepared to rest on his achievement. In the next couple of years he scored his first major tournament wins 1st= Amsterdam 1976 (with Korchnoi ahead of Sax, Farago, Velimirovic and Szabo amongst others) and Amsterdam (+7=7-1 ahead of Hulak, Liberzon and Kavalek) and Biel (+8=6-1 ahead of Panno, Ulf Andersson) in 1977.

Miles had established himself as a steady top 40 player. In the next 10 years he remained there with peak performances inside the top 20. Although never a consistant achiever at the highest level he had a number of great individual tournament results.

Miles was never a World Championship Candidate but he played four times in Interzonals in Riga 1979 scoring 9/17, Tunis 1985 around 50%, Zagreb 1987 6.5/16 and Manilla 1990 6.5/13 and he played once in the new format FIDE knockout event in 1999 when he was eliminated by Krasenkow in the second round after a speed playoff.

1980 saw Miles play tournaments in Las Palmas (+6=5 1st equal with Geller and Petrosian) and Vrbas (+4=6-1 ahead of Petrosian). It was also in this year that he became the first British player since Blackburn to defeat a reigning World Chess Champion when he beat Karpov in the first round of the European Team Championships with black using an incredibly provocative opening (1.e4 a6?! 2. d4 b5) which he dubbed the Birmingham Defence after his home town. Its choice was probably more to do with a loss of faith in his opening repertoire against Karpov who administered many fearful drubbings to Miles.

Karpov,A (2725) - Miles,A (2545) [B00]
EU-chT Skara Skara (1), 1980

1.e4 a6 2.d4 b5 3.Nf3 Bb7 4.Bd3 Nf6 5.Qe2 e6 6.a4 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Nbd2 b4 9.e5 Nd5 10.Ne4 Be7 11.0-0 Nc6 12.Bd2 Qc7 13.c4 bxc3 14.Nxc3 Nxc3 15.Bxc3 Nb4 16.Bxb4 Bxb4 17.Rac1 Qb6 18.Be4 0-0 19.Ng5 h6 20.Bh7+ Kh8 21.Bb1 Be7 22.Ne4 Rac8 23.Qd3 Rxc1 24.Rxc1 Qxb2 25.Re1 Qxe5 26.Qxd7 Bb4 27.Re3 Qd5 28.Qxd5 Bxd5 29.Nc3 Rc8 30.Ne2 g5 31.h4 Kg7 32.hxg5 hxg5 33.Bd3 a5 34.Rg3 Kf6 35.Rg4 Bd6 36.Kf1 Be5 37.Ke1 Rh8 38.f4 gxf4 39.Nxf4 Bc6 40.Ne2 Rh1+ 41.Kd2 Rh2 42.g3 Bf3 43.Rg8 Rg2 44.Ke1 Bxe2 45.Bxe2 Rxg3 46.Ra8 Bc7 0-1

In 1981 Miles finished first equal in the Baden-Baden tournament with +6=7 with Ribli and ahead of Korchnoi. In the same year he took 2nd place in the Porz tournament behind Tal.

1982 saw him win his only British Chess Championship. He won the event which took place in Torquay with a score of 9/11 a point clear of Jon Speelman. For a player who was England's top player for a decade it seems strange that he only won the title once.

Miles,A (2630) - Spassky,B (2565) [E12]
Montilla/Moriles Montilla (2), 1978

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 b6 3.c4 e6 4.Bf4 Bb7 5.e3 Be7 6.h3 0-0 7.Nc3 d5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Bd3 c5 10.0-0 Nc6 11.Ne5 c4 12.Bc2 a6 13.g4 b5 14.g5 Ne8 15.Qg4 g6 16.Rad1 Ng7 17.h4 Bb4 18.Nd7 Bc8 19.Nxd5 Kh8 20.N5f6 Ra7 21.d5 Ne7 22.Be5 Rxd7 23.h5 Rxd5 24.Qf4 Rxd1 25.Rxd1 Qa5 26.Ne8 f6 27.gxf6 Kg8 28.Nxg7 1-0

In 1983 he finished 1st= with John Nunn in the Biel Category 10 event.

1984 saw him finish 2nd= behind Karpov in a Category 13 event in Oslo, he had a small plus score for the Rest of the World against the Soviets (three draws against Jussupow and one win against Romanishin). At the Category 14 Tilburg event (where he had already enjoy success finishing 2nd in 1977 and 3rd= the following year) he took clear first ahead of Huebner, Tukmakov, Ribli and Beliavsky to score what was probably the best result of his career.

When he returned to Tilburg in 1985 he finished first equal with Huebner and Korchnoi with 8.5/14 in the Category 15 event. He injured his back during the event and the organisers allowed him to play stretched out on his stomach on a hospital massage table. This annoyed some of his opponents a great deal who protested. He did the double over Korchnoi (who he had never beaten before) and Ljubojevic during the event.

1986 saw him finish 2nd= behind Ribli in the Dortmund tournament, he was half a point clear of the fast improving Nigel Short. He also played a strange match against Garry Kasparov in Basel who needed the practice between title matches against Karpov. Kasparov won 5.5-0.5 but Miles certainly missed opportunities. 1986 and 1987 were also the years that Nigel Short definitely took over as England's number one player.

There was also something else hanging over Tony Miles, the so-called Miles-Keene affair (an article was published in the Sunday Times Colour supplement in 13th January 1991 outlined it in full). Miles made accusations to the British Chess Federation about Raymond Keene over payments made by the BCF to Keene for acting as Miles's second at the Turin Internzonal in 1985 (Miles said that Keene had not assisted him). An enquiry took a long time to set up and Miles became increasingly obsessive about it to the extent he was becoming seriously ill. Things came to a head when after midnight on September 28th 1987 he decided that the only solution was to talk to the British Prime-Minister about the affair and in a very agitated state was arrested in Downing Street and eventually hospitalised in Birmingham for two months. The drug treatment that followed meant that for over a year his chess was pretty much unrecognisable.

In this period he left Britain and decided to move to America, he finished last in the 1988 US Championships.

He started to get back on track in 1989 picking up rating points with a 50% score in the Category 13 Wijk aan Zee tournament and scoring 8.5/15 in the US Championships. He was 3rd= behind Karpov and Andersson in the Biel 1990 tournament with 7.5/14. In 1991 he was now to be found competing in the Australian Championships in Melbourne but this proved to be a short lived adventure. He was soon to make himself available to play for England again. Miles scored a steady result in the Biel 1992 tournament with 7/14 which was enough for clear third in this 8 player Category 16 event. He played his first games for England in the European Team Championships however he only scored 50%. He finished the year with a 4th= position in the Category 14 Groningen tournament. He was 2nd= behind Speelman in the strong Lloyds Bank tournament of 1993.

In 1994 he was 1st= with Van Wely and Zapata in the Category 10 Capablanca Memorial, the following year at the same event he did even better taking clear first in 1995 with 10.5/13 in the Category 11 event. Miles won the Category 13 Benasque event in 1995 with 6.5/9 a point ahead of Ulf Andersson and David Garcia Illundain. Miles pulled off one of the great moments in his chess career during the PCA Intel Rapid Chess Grand Prix. He was drawn against Vladimir Kramnik and in front of a very partisan audience he knocked him out in the first round after a playoff game. Miles progressed all the way to the semi-final only to lose out to Adams.

Miles,A - Kramnik,V [D00]
Rapid London ENG (1.1), 1995

1.d4 d5 2.Bg5 h6 3.Bh4 c6 4.e3 Qb6 5.Qc1 e5 6.c3 exd4 7.cxd4 Be7 8.Bxe7 Nxe7 9.Nc3 Bf5 10.Nf3 Nd7 11.Be2 0-0 12.0-0 Bg4 13.Qc2 Rfe8 14.Rac1 Nf5 15.Bd3 Nd6 16.Nd2 Nf8 17.Na4 Qd8 18.Nc5 Qg5 19.Kh1 Rad8 20.Rce1 Bc8 21.b4 Qf6 22.a3 Ng6 23.Nf3 Bg4 24.Bxg6 Bxf3 25.Bh7+ Kh8 26.Bd3 Re7 27.Be2 Bxe2 28.Qxe2 Rde8 29.Qd3 Nf5 30.Rb1 Nh4 31.Qd1 a6 32.Qg4 Nf5 33.Kg1 Kg8 34.Rfc1 Nd6 35.a4 g6 36.Nd7 Qg7 37.Ne5 h5 38.Qf4 Re6 39.h3 Rf6 40.Qh2 Re7 41.Rc2 g5 42.Rbc1 Rh6 43.Qg3 Ne4 44.Qf3 f6 45.Nxc6 bxc6 46.Rxc6 Qf7 47.Qf5 Kg7 48.Rxa6 Rh8 49.b5 Rd8 50.Rcc6 Red7 51.Re6 Rc7 52.Rac6 Rxc6 53.Rxc6 Nd6 54.Qc2 Rd7 55.b6 Nc4 56.Qb1 Qe7 57.Qb5 g4 58.hxg4 hxg4 59.g3 Nd2 60.Rc8 Qf7 61.Qxd7 1-0

Miles almost qualified from the Linares Zonal in 1995. He had led clearly after nine of eleven rounds. In the last two rounds he lost to Van Wely and Apicella and unfortunately was eliminated in a seven player playoff for four places.

1996 saw Miles win the Category IX Sakthi tournament with 9/11 ahead of Adianto. He completed a hat-trick of Capablanca Memorial (cat 12) wins with a score of 9.5/13, he was second in Malmo (Cat 12) a point behind Korchnoi. However this year he also was last in Biel and Beijing.

1997 saw some steady results in opens and a second place in his favourite Capablanca Memorial tournament. The Category 12 event was won by Peter Leko with 8/11 but Miles' 7/11 was a big result too. In 1997 he also got into a four-way playoff for the British Championships but Adams and Sadler shared first in the end.

In 1998 he was joint 4th, half a point behind the joint winners in the Category 12 Capablanca Memorial. He was 3rd in the British Championships with 8/11 behind Sadler and Short. He played for England in the Elista Olympiad scoring +3=4 in seven games. He also qualified for the FIDE Championships by getting through a playoff after tieing for first in the Escaldes Zonal. There were six World Championship places for eight players and Miles managed to avoid dangerous losses.

In 1999 Miles again played his favourite tournament and won, taking first in the Category 12 Capablanca Memorial with 8.5/13 half a point clear of Bruzon, Becerra and Atalik.

2000 saw his usual round of open events. The Capablanca Memorial was not quite so good to him and he finished in a tie for 5th. Miles played in the Mondariz Zonal tournament and although he got into a playoff for a qualification place the odds were not with him. Miles was chosen for England in the 2000 Olympiad but could only play in four games before having to return home after receiving news of his father's death.

Miles didn't play that much in 2001. In May he finished joint 6th at the Capablanca Memorial. He then finished on 50% in the strong European Individual Championships in Ohrid. At the British Championships he started well enough with two wins (Andrew Ledger will go down as his last tournament win) but he started to look ill and after a string of draws he suffered a bad loss to Gary Lane in round nine and didn't play the final round. Two short draws in the 4NCL were his final games.

Tony Miles represented England on 12 occasions between 1973 and 2000. He was top board for many of his appearances and his determination and willingness to take on the best proved a tremendous inspiration. His first event was the European Team Championships in Bath in 1973. At the Haifa Olympiad of 1974 he scored 6/8 undefeated. In 1976 in the Buenos Aires Olympiad against tougher opposition he scored 6/12 including a win against Boris Spassky. He played in the European Team Championships in Skara 1980 scoring 4.5/7 including a win against Karpov. At the Malta Olympiad also in 1980 he scored 5/10. At the Lucerne Olympiad of 1982 he scored 7/14. In 1984 he scored 6/14 at the Thessaloniki Olympiad. At the World Team Championships in Lucerne 1985 he scored 5/8. He made further appearances at the European Team Championships in 1992, Moscow Olympiad 1994, Elista Olympiad 1998 and the Istanbul Olympiad of 2000.

In addition to his international tournament appearances (the events mentioned above are but a tiny sample of his better results he had many good results not mentioned and throughout his career he mixed in more than the occasional poor result) Miles played hundreds of weekend tournaments in Britain and abroad. He was an anti-establishment figure who always had trouble with chess authorities. He was very popular amongst the rank and file players in the UK who knew him from his appearances in weekend swisses. Miles was also a strong force behind the successful Slough team in the 4NCL in recent years.

Tony Miles was above all a tough competitor. At his best he was fearless, prepared to take on anyone. His best wins were usually long and technical only rarely were they spectacular. He had his own repertoire of opening specialities and made contributions to the theory of the Dragon and in later years the Berlin Defence. His aggressive style allowed for obscure tactics but also he had great belief in his endgame abilities to squeeze out points. In his early years he was very strong which allowed him to sit and play for hours. Possibly, his very variable results throughout his career were dependent on how high his energy levels were. Later in life he was diagnosed as being diabetic, this seems to have been responsible for much of his decline.

Bill Hartston credits Miles for changing the attitude of English Chess culture from a rather intellectual persuit of chess truth to one of playing winning chess.

Tony Miles was found dead on Monday 12th November 2001. The post-mortem revealed he died of natural causes - heart failure caused by diabetes. He will be sorely missed.

There was a minute silence at the start of the seventh round of the European Team Championships in Leon.

Links to Obituaries: British Chess Federation , Daily Telegraph, Leonard Barden in The Guardian, Bill Hartston in The Independent, The Times, John Henderson in the Scotsman, Midlands Chess

Funeral Arrangements

Malcolm Hunt writes that "Tony Miles body will be cremated at Lodge Hill Crematorium, Selly Oak, Birmingham (4/5 miles west of city centre - allow 20/30 minutes by cab from New St Station) at 10.30a.m. on Friday 23rd November 2001. It was the only time available on the Friday and apologies for the early hour but this was felt to be the best day for those attending 4NCL. All friends of Tony are invited to attend the service which will be followed by a buffet at a location to be advised later. For catering purposes will those intending to come let me know at MalcolmAHunt@aol.com. I am also looking for pallbearers on the day and volunteers are invited to contact me. Whilst flowers are welcome on Friday - any donations are to be to either: The Heart Foundation or The Alzheimers Society".

A buffet is to be held following the service at: Harborne Golf Club Tennal Road Harborne Birmingham (2 miles from Crematorium).

Directions: A38 out of Birmingham (Bristol Road) towards Selly Oak. At Selly Oak there are a double set of traffic lights, continue on and take the second road on your right (Weoley Park Road). The crematorium is at the end of this road.

3) European Team Championships

The 18th European Team Championships are taking place in Leon, Spain 6th-15th November 2001. Sadly teams from Russia, Armenia, Bosnia and Bosnia Herzegovina didn't enter. However there were some excellent players in the teams including Michael Adams, Vassily Ivanchuk, Boris Gelfand, Alexei Shirov, Loek Van Wely, Sergei Tiviakov, Emil Sutovsky, Jon Speelman, Pablo San Segundo, Nigel Short, Jeroen Piket, Joel Lautier and Alexander Beliasky. After a tense final round The Netherlands took Gold ahead of France and Germany.

Internet site: http://www.euroleon2001.com (coverage by http://www.terra.es)

Men Round 7 13th November 2001

Sweden          1 - 3  France   
Netherlands     3 - 1  Belarus   
England         2 - 2  Germany   
Azerbaijan      ½ - 3½ Israel   
Czech Republic 2½ - 1½ Switzerland   
Bulgaria       1½ - 2½ Slovenia   
Greece          3 - 1  Poland   
Ukraine        2½ - 1½ Georgia   
Slovakia       2½ - 1½ Croatia   
Latvia          1 - 3  Spain A   
Scotland        ½ - 3½ Spain B   
Finland         2 - 2  Iceland   
Yugoslavia     1½ - 2½ Macedonia   
Albania        3½ - ½  Austria   
Luxemburg      1½ - 2½ Italy   
Portugal        1 - 3  Cyprus   
Wales           3 - 1  Turkey   

Men Round 8 14th November 2001

France          2 - 2  Israel   
Netherlands    2½ - 1½ Sweden   
Greece         1½ - 2½ England   
Germany         3 - 1  Czech Republic   
Slovenia        3 - 1  Spain B   
Belarus         2 - 2  Spain A   
Switzerland    2½ - 1½ Slovakia   
Bulgaria        2 - 2  Ukraine   
Croatia        2½ - 1½ Azerbaijan   
Georgia         1 - 3  Poland   
Macedonia      1½ - 2½ Finland   
Albania         1 - 3  Iceland   
Latvia         3½ - ½  Italy   
Cyprus          1 - 3  Yugoslavia   
Luxemburg       2 - 2  Scotland   
Austria         3 - 1  Turkey   
Wales           1 - 3  Ireland   

Men Round 9 15th November 2001

Israel          1 - 3  Netherlands   
France         1½ - 2½ Germany   
England        1½ - 2½ Slovenia   
Spain A        2½ - 1½ Sweden   
Switzerland    1½ - 2½ Greece   
Czech Republic  2 - 2  Belarus   
Poland          2 - 2  Ukraine   
Croatia         1 - 3  Bulgaria   
Spain B        2½ - 1½ Latvia   
Iceland         2 - 2  Slovakia   
Azerbaijan     1½ - 2½ Finland   
Yugoslavia     3½ - ½  Luxemburg   
Georgia         4 - 0  Macedonia   
Scotland        2 - 2  Albania   
Ireland        3½ - ½  Cyprus   
Italy          3½ - ½  Turkey   
Portugal        4 - 0  Wales   

Final Standings: 

 1 Netherlands       8 1 0 24½ 17 164.75 
 2 France            5 1 3 23  11 105.75 
 3 Germany           5 2 2 22  12 116.75 
 4 England           6 1 2 21½ 13 128.5 
 5 Slovenia          6 1 2 21½ 13 126.5 
 6 Israel            4 2 3 20½ 10  92.75 
 7 Spain A           5 1 3 20  11 101.75 
 8 Greece            5 0 4 20  10  92.5 
 9 Bulgaria          4 2 3 19½ 10  84.5 
10 Belarus           3 3 3 19½  9  81.5 
11 Spain B           6 0 3 19  12 101.5 
12 Ukraine           4 3 2 19  11  98.5 
13 Czech Republic    4 2 3 19  10  96.5 
14 Poland            4 2 3 19  10  91.25 
15 Sweden            4 1 4 19   9  83.75 
16 Switzerland       4 1 4 19   9  81.5 
17 Georgia           4 1 4 19   9  80.75 
18 Yugoslavia        4 1 4 19   9  69.5 
19 Finland           5 2 2 18½ 12  97 
20 Slovakia          3 3 3 18½  9  83 
21 Iceland           3 3 3 18   9  75.5 
22 Latvia            4 0 5 18   8  65 
23 Azerbaijan        3 1 5 17½  7  68 
24 Croatia           3 1 5 17½  7  55 
25 Albania           3 2 4 16½  8  40.25 
26 Ireland           4 1 4 16   9  46.25 
27 Portugal          4 0 5 16   8  38 
28 Italy             4 0 5 15½  8  38 
29 Macedonia         4 0 5 15   8  65 
30 Austria           4 0 5 15   8  38 
31 Scotland          1 3 5 15   5  35.25 
32 Luxemburg         2 3 4 13½  7  32.5 
33 Cyprus            2 2 5 13   6  27.25 
34 Turkey            1 3 5 11½  5  21.25 
35 Wales             2 1 6 11   5  18 

Women Round 7 13th November 2001

France          1 - 1 Moldova   
Ukraine         2 - 0 Netherlands   
Yugoslavia     1½ - ½ Poland   
Georgia         ½ - 1½ Germany   
Romania         0 - 2 England   
Greece          ½ - 1½ Azerbaijan   
Spain          1½ - ½ Hungary   
Bulgaria        1 - 1 Slovakia   
Slovenia       1½ - ½ Macedonia   
Croatia        1½ - ½ Switzerland   
Sweden          1 - 1 Finland   
Czech Republic  1 - 1 Italy   
Belarus         1 - 1 Scotland   
Latvia         1½ - ½ Turkey   
Albania         0 - 2 Austria   
Ireland         ½ - 1½ Iceland   

Women Round 8 14th November 2001

England         2 - 0 Ukraine   
France          1 - 1 Yugoslavia   
Moldova         1 - 1 Germany   
Poland         1½ - ½ Netherlands   
Azerbaijan      2 - 0 Georgia   
Romania         1 - 1 Spain   
Greece          1 - 1 Slovenia   
Slovakia        1 - 1 Croatia   
Sweden          ½ - 1½ Bulgaria   
Hungary        1½ - ½ Finland   
Macedonia       ½ - 1½ Latvia   
Austria         0 - 2 Belarus   
Scotland        ½ - 1½ Switzerland   
Italy          1½ - ½ Iceland   
Czech Republic  2 - 0 Ireland   
Turkey          1 - 1 Albania   

Women Round 9 15th November 2001

Moldova        1½ - ½  England   
Azerbaijan      ½ - 1½ France   
Germany        1½ - ½  Yugoslavia   
Ukraine         0 - 2  Poland   
Netherlands     1 - 1  Spain   
Bulgaria        1 - 1  Greece   
Latvia          0 - 2  Romania   
Slovenia       1½ - ½  Italy   
Hungary         1 - 1  Czech Republic   
Georgia        1½ - ½  Slovakia   
Croatia         1 - 1  Belarus   
Switzerland     2 - 0  Macedonia   
Austria         1 - 1  Sweden   
Finland         2 - 0  Ireland   
Scotland        1 - 1  Turkey   
Iceland        1½ - ½  Albania   

Final Standings

 1 France          5 3 1 12½ 13  59.25 
 2 Moldova         4 5 0 12  13  67 
 3 England         5 2 2 12  12  60.5 
 4 Germany         5 3 1 11½ 13  62 
 5 Poland          5 2 2 11½ 12  58 
 6 Yugoslavia      4 4 1 10½ 12  62.25 
 7 Romania         3 5 1 10½ 11  48.5 
 8 Azerbaijan      5 0 4 10½ 10  46.5 
 9 Netherlands     4 3 2 10  11  57 
10 Ukraine         5 1 3 10  11  51.25 
11 Slovenia        4 3 2 10  11  48.25 
12 Bulgaria        2 6 1 9½  10  44.5 
13 Switzerland     4 2 3 9½  10  35 
14 Spain           3 3 3 9½   9  38 
15 Georgia         4 1 4 9½   9  37.25 
16 Greece          3 3 3 9½   9  37.25 
17 Hungary         3 3 3 9    9  41.75 
18 Croatia         2 5 2 9    9  39.5 
19 Belarus         3 3 3 9    9  35.5 
20 Finland         3 3 3 9    9  29.5 
21 Czech Republic  3 2 4 9    8  26.5 
22 Slovakia        2 3 4 8½   7  29.5 
23 Latvia          2 4 3 8    8  31.25 
24 Italy           2 4 3 8    8  25.25 
25 Sweden          1 5 3 8    7  27.75 
26 Iceland         3 2 4 7½   8  22 
27 Scotland        2 3 4 7½   7  18.25 
28 Austria         2 3 4 7    7  17.25 
29 Macedonia       2 2 5 7    6  23.5 
30 Turkey          1 4 4 6½   6  15.75 
31 Albania         1 2 6 5    4   8.75 
32 Ireland         0 0 9 1½   0   0 

Leading scores:
 1  GM LAUTIER Joel            FRA 2653 7½ 9 2598  23.2 2871 
 2  GM TIVIAKOV Sergei         NED 2599 7  9 2536  17.8 2756 
 3  IM NAVARA David            CZE 2499 7  9 2555  31.9 2775 
 4  GM ADAMS Michael           ENG 2731 6½ 9 2634   8.4 2800 
 5  GM PIKET Jeroen            NED 2649 6½ 9 2566  10.7 2732 
 6  GM VALLEJO PONS Francisco  ESP 2630 6½ 9 2552  10.7 2718 
 7  GM SHORT Nigel D.          ENG 2675 6  9 2574   2.7 2699 
 8  GM HUEBNER Robert          GER 2612 6  9 2564   9.1 2689 
 9  GM JOBAVA Baadur           GEO 2556 6  8 2518  15.9 2711 
10  IM MCHEDLISHVILI Mikheil   GEO 2518 6  9 2467   8.8 2592 
11  GM IVANISEVIC Ivan         YUG 2547 6  9 2426   2.1 2551 
12  GM STEFANSSON Hannes       ISL 2575 6  9 2548  11.7 2673 
13  GM BISCHOFF Klaus          GER 2541 6  8 2535  19.4 2728 
14  IM AZAROV Sergei           BLR 2490 5½ 8 2507  17.2 2648 
15  GM SOCKO Bartosz           POL 2564 5½ 9 2539   7.1 2619 
16  GM SPASOV Vasil            BUL 2569 5½ 9 2529   5.2 2609 
17  GM KOVACEVIC Aleksandar    YUG 2553 5½ 9 2429  -4.2 2466 
18  GM FTACNIK Lubomir         SVK 2566 5½ 9 2572  10.7 2652 
19  GM KRAKOPS Maris           LAT 2518 5½ 8 2488  11.8 2629 
20  GM KOTRONIAS Vasilios      CYP 2548 5½ 8 2450   4.8 2591 
21  GM GELFAND Boris           ISR 2701 5  8 2605  -0.1 2700 
22  GM SMIRIN Ilia             ISR 2698 5  7 2548   1.8 2706 
23  GM IVANCHUK Vassily        UKR 2731 5  9 2565 -14.4 2608 
24  GM FRESSINET Laurent       FRA 2588 5  7 2517   8.2 2675 
25  GM SHIROV Alexei           ESP 2706 5  8 2588  -2.2 2683 
26  GM ILLESCAS CORDOBA Miguel ESP 2577 5  8 2507   2.7 2602 
27  GM SERMEK Drazen           SLO 2577 5  8 2526   4.5 2621 
28  GM PAPAIOANNOU Ioannis     GRE 2591 5  9 2607   7.2 2650 
29  GM BANIKAS Hristos         GRE 2526 5  8 2496   6.8 2591 
30  IM JENNI Florian           SUI 2487 5  8 2507  12.4 2602 
Significant other scores:
33  GM RADJABOV Teimour        AZE 2567 5  9 2612  10.5 2655 
37  GM KENGIS Edvins           LAT 2561 5  9 2549   3.4 2592 
40  GM SPEELMAN Jonathan S.    ENG 2596 4½ 8 2555   0.2 2598 
44  GM KOVALEV Andrei          BLR 2539 4½ 7 2533  10.3 2635 
45  GM AGREST Evgenij          SWE 2563 4½ 8 2601   9   2644 
47  GM GALLAGHER Joseph        SUI 2511 4½ 7 2491   8.2 2593 
48  GM KOZUL Zdenko            CRO 2569 4½ 8 2593   7.4 2636 
51  IM MARKOS Jan              SVK 2435 4½ 7 2510  17.1 2612 
59  GM NIJBOER Friso           NED 2565 4  5 2476  10   2716 
60  GM DEGRAEVE Jean-Marc      FRA 2588 4  6 2544   6.4 2669 
62  GM BELIAVSKY Alexander     SLO 2668 4  7 2601  -1.3 2651 
65  GM KRASENKOW Michal        POL 2592 4  7 2618   7.6 2668 
66  GM DELCHEV Aleksander      BUL 2634 4  7 2599   1.9 2649 
70  GM NIKOLAIDIS Ioannis      GRE 2524 4  6 2518   9.5 2643 
88  GM MOHR Georg              SLO 2498 3½ 5 2469   7.9 2618 
104 GM BACROT Etienne          FRA 2653 3  7 2647  -5.5 2597 

Leading Women's Scores

 1 WIM SEBAG Marie                FRA 2312 7  8 2381 44.3 2717 
 2 WGM SKRIPCHENKO-LAUTIER Almira MDA 2497 6½ 9 2356  3.8 2522 
 3 WGM PENG Zhaoqin               NED 2443 6½ 9 2354  9.9 2520 
 4 WGM KACHIANI Ketino            GER 2455 6½ 9 2389 12.1 2555 
 5 WIM MAMEDJAROVA Zeinab         AZE 2231 5½ 9 2367 35.4 2447 
 6 WGM PETRENKO Svetlana          MDA 2336 5½ 9 2298  6.7 2378 
 7 WGM REPKOVA Eva                SVK 2330 5½ 7 2272 17.1 2463 
 8 WFM KAPS Darja                 SLO 2204 5½ 7 2226 31.3 2456 
 9 WIM SHUKUROVA Meihriban        AZE 2264 5  9 2287 10.2 2330 
10 WGM PAEHTZ Elisabeth           GER 2392 5  8 2327  3   2422 
11 WFM RAMSEIER Jana              SUI 2181 5  9 2182  7.4 2195 
12 WGM ARAKHAMIA-GRANT Ketevan    GEO 2437 5  9 2339 -6.1 2382 
13 WGM SEDINA Elena               ITA 2398 5  7 2285  5.7 2420 
14 WIM RANTANEN Tanja             FIN 2129 5  8 2259 36.5 2354 
15 WGM LALIC Susan                ENG 2351 5  5 2281 22.3 2958 
16 WGM DWORAKOWSKA Joanna         POL 2358 4½ 7 2374 12.9 2476 
17 WGM FOISOR Cristina Adela      ROM 2444 4½ 7 2335  0.2 2437 
18 WGM STEFANOVA Antoaneta        BUL 2473 4½ 8 2340 -8.9 2383 
19 WGM HUND Barbara               SUI 2279 4½ 9 2236 -6.2 2236 
20 WGM ZHUKOVA Natalia            UKR 2441 4½ 7 2335  0.3 2437

4) 2nd Governor's Cup

Mikhail Golubev reports that the 2nd Governor's Cup in Kramatorsk, Ukraine takes place 16th-24th November 2001.

Internet coverage: http://chess-sector.odessa.ua/krm01nov.htm

-------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd Governor's Cup Kramatorsk UKR (UKR), 16-24 xi 2001cat. X (2483)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Efimenko, Zahar           m UKR 2523  * = . . . . 1 1  2.5  2748 
2. Miroshnichenko, Evgenij   m UKR 2545  = * . . = 1 . .  2.0  2610 
3. Vorobiov, Evgeny E        g RUS 2516  . . * = 1 . = .  2.0  2605 
4. Korobov, Anton            m UKR 2467  . . = * . = . 1  2.0  2577 
5. Areshchenko, Alexander      UKR 2479  . = 0 . * . 1 .  1.5  2518 
6. Kupreichik, Viktor D      g BLR 2453  . 0 . = . * . =  1.0  2341 
7. Komliakov, Viktor         g MDA 2494  0 . = . 0 . * .  0.5  2233 
8. Karjakin, Sergey          f UKR 2388  0 . . 0 . = . *  0.5  2208 
-------------------------------------------------------------------

5) Spanish Chess Championships

The Spanish Chess Championships take place 17th-25th November in Cala Mendia, Mallorca. The closed event with GM Miguel Illescas, GM Pablo San Segundo, GM Zenón Franco, MI Javier Moreno Carnero, GM Marc Narciso, MI Lluis Comas, MI Mario Gómez, MI Julen Arizmendi, MI Gabriel del Río, GM David García Ilundaín, MI Sergio Cacho and José Manuel López play in two groups of six before a final knockout phase.

Internet coverage: http://www.ajedrez21.com and http://www.fbescacs.org/ctoespa%F1aabsol/absoluto.htm

-------------------------------------------------------------------
ch-ESP Gp A Cala Mendia, Mallorca ESP (ESP), 17-21 xi 2001cat. XI (2510)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             1 2 3 4 5 6 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Moreno Carnero, Javier        m ESP 2514  * . = 1 . .  1.5  2674 
2. Illescas Cordoba, Miguel      g ESP 2577  . * . . = 1  1.5  2696 
3. Gomez Esteban, Juan Mario     m ESP 2499  = . * . . =  1.0  2515 
4. Cacho Reigadas, Sergio        m ESP 2463  0 . . * 1 .  1.0  2501 
5. Del Rio Angelis, Salvador G   m ESP 2489  . = . 0 * .  0.5  2327 
6. Narciso Dublan, Marc          m ESP 2517  . 0 = . . *  0.5  2345 
-------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------
ch-ESP Gp B Cala Mendia, Mallorca ESP (ESP), 17-21 xi 2001cat. XI (2501)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
                                              1 2 3 4 5 6 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Comas Fabrego, Lluis           g ESP 2510  * . 1 . = .  1.5  2691 
2. Arizmendi Martinez, Julen L    m ESP 2503  . * . . 1 =  1.5  2687 
3. Lopez Martinez, Josep Manuel   m ESP 2474  0 . * 1 . .  1.0  2519 
4. San Segundo Carrillo, Pablo    g ESP 2528  . . 0 * . 1  1.0  2470 
5. Franco Ocampos, Zenon          g ESP 2522  = 0 . . * .  0.5  2313 
6. Garcia Ilundain, David         g ESP 2467  . = . 0 . *  0.5  2322 
--------------------------------------------------------------------

6) First Saturday November

The main First Saturday event in November was an IM tournament. Adam Szeberenyi won the event with 9.5/12. Tian Tian scored a 10 game WGM norm. My thanks to Miklos Orso and Laszlo Nagy for the news.

There are three main FS events taking place 1st-14th December 2001. There are still some vacancies to play in the events.

Cat.IX-X. GM-tournament: IGM Zlatko Ilincic (YUG), IGM Zoltán Varga (HUN), IGM József Horvath (HUN), IM William Paschall (USA), IM Albert Bokros (HUN), IM Attila Czebe (HUN), WGM Humpy Koneru (IND), IM Andreas Schenk (GER), IM Gergely Antal (HUN), IM Ferenc Berkes (HUN), IM Adam Horvath (HUN), IM Tejas Bakre (IND), IM Cao Sang (HUN).

Reserves: IGM Konstantin Chernishov (RUS), IM Róbert Márkus (YUG), IM Tomi Nyback (FIN), IM Adam Szeberenyi.

Cat.VII-VIII GM-tournament:

IGM Efstratios Grivas (GRC), IGM Levente Vajda (ROM), IGM Goran Kosanovic (YUG), WGM Szidónia Vajda (HUN), IM Albert Vajda (ROM), IM Sandor Biro (ROM), IM Kim Pilgaard (DEN), IM Peter Horvath (HUN), FM Csaba Balogh (HUN), IM Tomi Nyback (FIN), IM Aleksandar Colovic (MAK), Adam Szeberenyi (HUN), FM Miguel Munoz Pantoja (PER), IM Gábor Pinter (HUN).

Reserves: IM Gergely Antal (HUN), Gyozo Pataki(HUN), IM Robert Markus (YUG), IM Attila Jakab (HUN).

There is also an IM event:

IM Sándor Faragó (HUN), IM Miklós Galyas (HUN), IM Jevgenyij Boguszlavszkij (HUN), IM László Eperjesi (HUN), IM Pál Petrán (HUN), IM Miklós Káposztás (HUN), FM Vasik Rajlich (USA), FM Nathan Resika (USA), Eric Cooke (USA), WIM Tian Tian (CHN), FM Etienne Mensch (FRA), Ashok Koneru (IND), FM Diego Mussanti (ARG), Tamás Mészáros (HUN), FM László Gonda (HUN).

Contact Laszlo Nagy E-mail: firstsat@elender.hu or http://www.elender.hu/~firstsat

Internet coverage: http://w3.enternet.hu/vlagyus/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FSIM November Budapest HUN (HUN), 3-15 xi 2001           cat. II (2293)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Szeberenyi, Adam   m HUN 2365  * = 1 = 1 = 1 1 = 1 = 1 1  9.5  2516 
 2. Nemeth, Zoltan     m HUN 2372  = * 1 1 0 = = = = 1 = 1 1  8.0  2411 
 3. Mensch, Etienne    f FRA 2299  0 0 * 1 1 1 0 = = 1 1 1 1  8.0  2417 
 4. Kahn, Evarth       m HUN 2284  = 0 0 * 1 1 = = = 0 1 1 1  7.0  2350 
 5. Rajlich, Vasik G   f USA 2257  0 1 0 0 * 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1  7.0  2352 
 6. Tian Tian            CHN 2355  = = 0 0 0 * 1 0 1 1 1 1 1  7.0  2344 
 7. Farago, Sandor     m HUN 2323  0 = 1 = 1 0 * 0 1 0 1 1 =  6.5  2319 
 8. Hajnal, Zoltan     f HUN 2436  0 = = = 0 1 1 * = 1 0 0 1  6.0  2280 
 9. Blasko, Istvan     f HUN 2310  = = = = 1 0 0 = * = 0 1 =  5.5  2262 
10. Cooke, Eric          USA 2212  0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 = * 1 0 1  4.5  2212 
11. Resika, Nathan A   f USA 2182  = = 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 * 1 0  4.0  2176 
12. Vass, Viktor         HUN 2166  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 * =  2.5  2073 
13. Biro, David          HUN 2243  0 0 0 0 0 0 = 0 = 0 1 = *  2.5  2066 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

7) VII Mirko Sreiber Memorial

The VII Mirko Sreiber Memorial took place in Subotica Yugoslavia 5th-18th November 2001. IM Petar Benkovic won the Category VIII event with 9/13. My thanks to Istvan Brindza.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
VII Sreiber Mem Subotica YUG (YUG), 5-18 xi 2001          cat. VIII (2437)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Benkovic, Petar     m YUG 2413  * = = 1 = = 0 = 1 = 1 1 1 1  9.0  2579 
 2. Sanduleac, Vasile   m MDA 2461  = * = 1 0 = = = 1 = = 1 = 1  8.0  2521 
 3. Popchev, Milko      g BUL 2452  = = * = = = = = 1 = = = 1 =  7.5  2492 
 4. Savic, Miodrag R    m YUG 2464  0 0 = * = 0 = = 1 1 1 1 1 =  7.5  2491 
 5. Fontaine, Robert    m FRA 2482  = 1 = = * = = = 1 = = = = 0  7.0  2462 
 6. Markus, Robert      m YUG 2450  = = = 1 = * = = 0 0 1 = = 1  7.0  2464 
 7. Sedlak, Nikola      m YUG 2443  1 = = = = = * = 0 1 = 0 1 0  6.5  2436 
 8. Badea, Bela         g ROM 2530  = = = = = = = * = = = = = =  6.5  2429 
 9. Jakab, Attila       m HUN 2369  0 0 0 0 0 1 1 = * 1 0 1 1 1  6.5  2442 
10. Pap, Misa           m YUG 2422  = = = 0 = 1 0 = 0 * = = = 1  6.0  2408 
11. Drazic, Sinisa      g YUG 2471  0 = = 0 = 0 = = 1 = * 0 = =  5.0  2347 
12. Andonov, Bogomil    m BUL 2412  0 0 = 0 = = 1 = 0 = 1 * 0 =  5.0  2351 
13. Popovic, Dusan        YUG 2372  0 = 0 0 = = 0 = 0 = = 1 * 1  5.0  2354 
14. Buljovcic, Ivan     m YUG 2374  0 0 = = 1 0 1 = 0 0 = = 0 *  4.5  2331 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

8) Durres tournament

The Durres tournament (Albania) took place October 11th-20th 2001. The event was the first Albanian international tournament. Erald Dervishi won the event with 6.5/9.

Internet coverage: http://www.eurochess.org

-------------------------------------------------------------------
It Durres ALB (ALB), 11-20 x 2001                  cat. VIII (2442)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Dervishi, Erald      g ALB 2501  * = 1 = 1 = = 1 = 1  6.5  2601 
 2. Cabrilo, Goran       g YUG 2496  = * = = 1 = = 1 = 1  6.0  2560 
 3. Georgiev, Vladimir   g BUL 2564  0 = * 0 1 1 = 1 1 1  6.0  2553 
 4. Rajkovic, Dusan      g YUG 2518  = = 1 * = = = 0 1 =  5.0  2476 
 5. Rama, Lorenc         f ALB 2311  0 0 0 = * 1 1 = 1 1  5.0  2499 
 6. Seitaj, Ilir         m ALB 2386  = = 0 = 0 * 0 = 1 1  4.0  2405 
 7. Ermenkov, Evgenij    g BUL 2496  = = = = 0 1 * = 0 0  3.5  2355 
 8. Karkanaque, Ilir     f ALB 2382  0 0 0 1 = = = * = =  3.5  2368 
 9. Rossi, Carlo         m ITA 2352  = = 0 0 0 0 1 = * 1  3.5  2371 
10. Mitkov, Marjan       m MKD 2413  0 0 0 = 0 0 1 = 0 *  2.0  2225 
-------------------------------------------------------------------

9) 2nd Odivelas International

Luís Santos reports: The 2nd Odivelas International took place 6th-16th November 2001. Evgeni Janev won the event with 9/11 ahead on SB tie-break of Mathias Roeder on the same score. Following this event 27th November - 7th December 2001 there will be the 9th International Mestre-Jovem of Loures (cat 2). Anand will be in Lisbon November 17th-18th 2001 for a couple of days during their chess festival which takes place November 17th-25th 2001.

Internet coverage: http://planeta.ip.pt/~ip001018/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd It Odivelas POR (POR), 6-16 xi 2001                   cat. I (2274)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Janev, Evgeni       m BUL 2487  * 1 = = = 1 1 = 1 1 1 1  9.0  2516 
 2. Roeder, Mathias     m GER 2469  0 * = 1 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 1  9.0  2518 
 3. Strikovic, Aleksa   g YUG 2506  = = * 1 = 0 1 1 1 = 1 1  8.0  2427 
 4. Dias, Paulo         f POR 2285  = 0 0 * 1 1 1 1 0 = 1 1  7.0  2374 
 5. Fernando, Diogo     f POR 2367  = 0 = 0 * 1 = 1 = 1 1 1  7.0  2367 
 6. Luyks, Marinus        POR 2153  0 = 1 0 0 * = = 1 = 1 =  5.5  2284 
 7. Blalock, Rex          USA 2234  0 0 0 0 = = * = = 1 1 1  5.0  2241 
 8. Pina, Vladimiro     m POR 2195  = 0 0 0 0 = = * = 1 = =  4.0  2178 
 9. Pinho, Paulo          POR 2170  0 0 0 1 = 0 = = * = = 0  3.5  2150 
10. Leite, Catarina    wm POR 2146  0 0 = = 0 = 0 0 = * = 1  3.5  2152 
11. Prata, Jose           POR 2063  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = = = * 1  2.5  2081 
12. Francisco, Joae       ANG 2210  0 0 0 0 0 = 0 = 1 0 0 *  2.0  2017 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

10) Czech Tour Krkonose Open

The Krkonose Open took place 1st-8th November 2001. Vlastimil Sejkora won the event with 7.5/9. No games available. My thanks to Jan Mazuch.

Further information http://www.proclient.cz/czechtour

 1 FM  Sejkora Vlastimil      2325 CZE 7,5 37   49  
 2     Mojzis Jan             2191 CZE 6   31,5 50,5 
 3     Jandourek Lukas        2187 CZE 6   31,5 42,5 
 4     Purnoch Josef          2111 CZE 6   31   47  
 5     Bartos Jan             2189 CZE 6   30   44,5 
 6     Dobrotka Martin        2188 SVK 6   30   44  
 7     Sobeck Guenter         ---- GER 6   27   40,5 
 8     Vaindl Jaroslav        2027 CZE 6   26,5 45,5 
 9     Bente Bjoern           2200 GER 5,5 33   47,5 
10 WFM Schmitz Manuela        2062 GER 5,5 32,5 47,5 
11     Vecerka Pavel          2095 CZE 5,5 29   47,5 
12     Malec Jan              2038 CZE 5,5 29   46,5 
13     Gurack Daniel          2190 GER 5,5 28   45,5 
14     Bargel Martin          2133 CZE 5,5 27,5 40,5 
15     Gutdeutsch Otto        2043 AUT 5,5 26   39  
16     Rogos jun. Jan         ---- SVK 5,5 18,5 34,5 
48 players

11) Dutch Championship Semi-Finals

Koos Stolk reports that the first round of the Semifinals of the Duch Chess Championship 2002 (Knockout), for men and for women took place November 17th-18th 2001. The second round is on 8th-9th December 2001 and the third and final round is on 9th-10th March 2002. 4 men and 2 women will qualify for the finals in June 2002.

Details: http://www.schaakbond.nl/nieuws/nk2002/hfronde1.htm

Results
Round 1 November 17th-18th 2001

Men 

 1  Nijboer, Friso              * -   Sturm, Pieter        1-0 1-0
 2  Zult, Daan                    - * Van Der Wiel, John   0-1 0-1
 3  Jonkman, Harmen             * -   Cako, Laszlo         1-0 1-0
 4  Snuverink, Jochem             - * Janssen, Ruud        ½-½ 0-1
 5  Werle, Jan                  * -   Muis, Gerrit-Meine   1-0 1-0
 6  Span, Paul                    - * Van Der Weide, Karel ½-½ ½-½ 1.5-2.5
 7  Bosch, Jeroen               * -   Dambacher, Martijn   1-0 ½-½ 
 8  Bezemer, Arno                 - * Visser, Yge          0-1 0-1 
 9  De Vreugt, Dennis           * -   Blokhuis, Jeroen     1-0 0-1 1.5-0.5
10  Tondivar, Babak               - * Van Der Werf, Mark   ½-½ ½-½ 1.5-2.5
11  Berkvens, Joost             * -   Blees, Albert        1-0 1-0 
12  Hendriks, Willy             * -   Delemarre, Jop       1-0 ½-½ 
13  Van Haastert, Edwin           - * Stellwagen, Daniël   ½-½ 0-1 
14  Carlier, Bruno                - * Van Mil, Johannes    0-1 0-1  
15  Van De Oudeweetering, Arthur  - * Hoogendoorn, Joost   0-1 ½-½ 
16  Hommeles, Theo                - * Solleveld, Maarten   0-1 0-1 

Women

 1  Désiree Hamelink           * -   Free
 2  Iwona Bos                  * -   Free
 3  Colleen Otten              * -   Free
 4  Birgitta van Weersel       * -   Adinda Serdijn-Koster 0-1 0-1
 5  Helène Wuts                * -   Marijn Visschedijk    1-0 1-0
 6  Petra Veenstra             * -   Marisca Kouwenhoven   1-0 ½-½
 7  Marlies Bensdorp           * -   Laura Bensdorp        ½-½ 1-0
 8  Arlette van Weersel          - * Meike Wortel          0-1 0-1

* denotes qualifier and the tie-break scores are given.

12) 10th King's Island Open

John Hillery reports: GM Igor Novikov won the King's Island Open, held November 9-11 in King's Island, Ohio, with a score of 4.5-.5. NNext in the 47-player Open section were Ildar Ibragimov, Alek Wojtkiewicz and Alex Fishbein with 4. A total of 354 players competed.

13) Leuven Open

The 13th Leuven Open (Belgium) took place 8th-11th November 2001. The 7-round Swiss tournament was organised by Chess Club Desperado Leuven. A record of 156 players participated including 1 IGM, 5 IMs and 8 FMs. The favorite IGM Bagaturov Giorgi (GEO) took first place with 6.5/7. He was half a point ahead of IM Bagheri Amir (IRI) and IM Dutreeuw Marc (BEL) who won his last round game against second-ranked IM Cioara Andrei Nestor (ROM). No games available. Information Jacques Robrecht.

Internet coverage: http://users.chello.be/rc20070/open2001.html and CC Desperado Leuven: http://turn.to/desperado

Final Standings: 
Leuven Open (BEL)                        Pts  MB    Buch
  1 Bagaturov Giorgi       2473 IGM GEO  6.5
  2 Bagheri Amir           2390 IM  IRI  6.0  24.5
  3 Dutreeuw Marc          2375 IM  BEL  6.0  22.0
  4 Cioara Andrei Nestor   2441 IM  ROM  5.5  24.0  34.0
  5 Ionescu Doru Alexandru 2339 FM  ROM  5.5  24.0  33.5
  6 Mohandesi Shahin       2324 FM  IRI  5.5  22.5
  7 Van Houtte Thierry     2225 **  BEL  5.5  22.0
  8 Rayner Francis         2220 **  ENG  5.5  19.5
  9 Janssen Ger            2156 **  NED  5.5  18.5
(156 players)

14) Belgian Teams

The Belgian Interteams Championships 2001-02 have started. The first two rounds took place on October 14th and 28th 2001 reports Steve Laios. This year there are 12 teams and 11 rounds.

Round 1 14 October 2001        

1. KGSRL 2       - KGSRL 1       4.5-3.5
2. KAOSK 1       - Rochade 1     1.5-6.5
3. Borgerhout1   - Jean Jaurès1  4.0-4.0
4. Liège 1       - KBSK 1        6.0-2.0
5. Eupen 1       - Temse 1       2.5-5.5
6. Charleroi 1   - LVL Fortis1   2.5-5.5

Round 2 28 October 2001

1. LVL Fortis1   - Temse1        3.0-5.0
2. KBSK 1        - Eupen 1       4.5-3.5
3. KGSRL 1       - Liège 1       2.0-6.0
4. Jean Jaurès 1 - KGSRL 2       4.0-4.0
5. Rochade 1     - Borgerhout 1  5.5-2.5
6. Charleroi 1   - KAOSK 1       4.0-4.0

Standings after round 2

                      Pts     m.p.
 1. Rochade Eupen 1    12     2
 1. Liège 1            12     2
 3. Temse Boey 1       10.5   2
 4. K Gent SRL 2        8.5   1.5
...
12. K Gent SRL 1        5.5   0

15) Hampshire Championships

The Hampshire Individual Chess Championship was held last weekend (9th to 11th November) and was won by Thomas Rendle from Hastings with 5/6. The Hampshire County Championionship was won for the third time by Dominic Tunks with 4.5 /6 (Thomas Rendle was not eligible). Although the Open was a small tournament with 24 entries, it was closely contested with many hard fought games. Two games by Thomas Rendle were crucial, his draw an exchange down against Dominic Tunks from the third round and his win against Mike Yeo in the 4th round, where Mike had a forced win at one stage. This is not to take anything away from Thomas Rendle, who played strongly throughout the tournament and was a justified winner. Report Graham Stuart.

16) Forthcoming Events and Links

K-K Botvinnik Memorial

There was a press conference in Moscow to announce the Kasparov vs. Kramnik match in honour of Botvinnik in December. The event will consist of three matches: classical, fast chess and blitz. Four classical games 2 hours for 40 moves, 1 hour for 20 and 30 minutes to the end of the games (in this last control the players will receive 10 more seconds per move). These four games will take place 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th December 2001 starting at 16.00 Moscow time. Six rapid games (30 minutes for the entire game) will take place 7th-8th December. Play will start at 17.00, 18.30 and 20.00 each day local time. The Ten blitz-games will be on December 9th starting at 16.00 local time. 5 minutes per game, + 2 seconds per move (without accumulation) when at one of the players has less than 20 seconds (as in their blitz match in 1998). The winner of the Botvinnik memorial will be the one with the most points at whatever timerate. The prize fund is fund - $500 000 ($250,000 - classic games, $200,000 rapid and $50,000 blitz). The Money is shared in a ratio of 3:2 to the winner. Website: http://www.chessmoscow.ru and further info at: http://www.joeblack.h1.ru

Balkan Individual Championships

The Balkan Individual Championships take place 18th-26th November 2001 in Istanbul, Turkey. I don't have a website for results.

Details: http://www.eurochess.org/news/balkan_ch.htm

Aeroflot Open 2002

The Aeroflot Open 2002 will take place in Moscow January 31st (arrival day) - 7th February (departure day) 2002. According to the website below there will be $150,000 US in prizes.

Further details: http://www.aeroflotchess.com/

London Championships

The London Championships take place 14th-16th December 2001 at the South Bank University, Wandsworth Road. 6 round Swiss open to all, £400 first, total £1250. Details Andrew Webster scorchaw@hotmail.com. Telephone 01438 213 969.

October FIDE List Study and FIDE Championships

Chess Siberia http://www.chessib.com/ has two new articles. An article "Study of the October 2001 FIDE Rating List" (By Boris Schipkov, 12.11.2001) and one predicting the results of the FIDE Championships in Moscow.

New FIDE Sites

There are two new FIDE sites. Chess Daily http://www.chessdaily.com has individual FIDE rating calculations. Also the FIDE site for the World Championships in Moscow has been launched at: http://wcc2001.fide.com

Leko Interview

Peter Leko has a new interview on his www site: http://www.chessgate.de/leko/homepage.html Main content: - Expectations FIDE WC in Moscow - Statement: New time control - Review 2001. There will be an English version today or soon after.

Linares 2002

Most of the line-up for Linares 2002 has been announced. The players will be Kasparov, Anand, Shirov, Adams, Ivanchuk, Francisco Vallejo and on other player who will be confirmed soon (likely to be either Topalov or Kramnik).

Greekbase

Greek games at: http://www.geocities.com/greekbase1

ChessMetrics Site

Jeff Sonas has updated his site: http://www.chessmetrics.com/. It now has lots of colorful graphs. It includes ratings based on ChessBase games from 1851 to 1998, and then weekly rating lists based on TWIC issues from January 1999 to September 10th 2001.

Halkida Open

The 5th international open chess tournament of Halkida will be organized November 16-23, 2001 in Greece.

Halkida is the largest city of Evia, an island 80 km north of Athens. The total prize fund of the tournament is 4400 euro (1st prize: 1500 euro). The event is organized by Evoiki Chess Club and the Greek Chess Federation.

Previous winners of the Halkida open:

1) GM Suat Atalik (1996) 2) GM Igor Miladinovic (1997) 3) IM Altin Cela (1998) 4) GM Arkadi Rotstein (2000)

More information for this year's event is provided at http://www.greekchess.com/halkida

Praha Open

The 1st Praha Open takes place 2nd-9th February 2002 in Prague (the Czech Republic). As part of the Czech Tour 2001-2 and links up well with participation in the Open Marianske Lazne.

Further details: http://www.proclient.cz/czechtour

Claude Bloodgood Article

Marc Davis has written a lengthy article for the Virginian-Pilot on Claude Bloodgood. It will be available for the next few weeks.

Internet: http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw1029blo.html

20th Stanislaw Gawlikowski Memorial

GM Bartlomiej Macieja reports: The 20th Stanislaw Gawlikowski Memorial includes two tournaments: 1) Amplico AIG Life Chess Tournament 15-16 December 2001. 2) Warsaw Blitz Chess Championship 15 December from 18:00.

Both tournaments will be played in the sport hall, located in the main building of Polonia Warsaw Sport Club 6, Konwiktorska Street Warsaw Poland

Full details (Polish and English): http://www.amplicolife.pl

Winter Cup, Bucharest

Lasker Chess Club in Bucharest is organising a Winter cup with a GM and IM event. 11th-23rd December 2001.

Further details: http://www.web.rol.ro/rchirila

Lohmar Rapid Chess Open

The traditional Lohmar Rapid Chess Open takes place on October 28th for the 8th time. Further info (german and english) at: http://www.sflohmar.de/announce/index.htm The tournament is limited to a maximum of 120 participants.

77th Hastings Congress

The 77th Hastings International chess Congress takes place 28th December 2001 - 6th January 2002. There are events for all strengths of players, lasting from 3 to the full 10 days. There is play either in the morning or afternoon.

Players so far: Premier. Accepted: Pentala Harikrishna (Commonwealth Champion), Krishnan Sasikiran (both India), Petr Kiriakov (Russia), Irina Krush (US), Joe Gallagher (Smith & Williamson British Champion) (Switzerland), Zhang Zhong (China), Mark Hebden, Nicholas Pert (both England), two places remain to be filled, with Teimour Radjabov having been invited. Challengers. Accepted: Dibyendu Barua, Abhijit Kunte, Ravi Lanka, Ponnuswamy Konguvel, Neeraj-Kumar Mishra (all India), Alexander Cherniaev, Vitally Tseshkovsky (Russia), Vladimir Poley, Irina Tetenkina (ByeloRussia), Alexei Barsov (Uzbekistan), Petr Marusenko (Ukraine), Keith Arkell, Glenn Flear (England), Colin McNab, Steve Mannion (Scotland).

Further details: Con Power: power@hicc.demon.co.uk

Internet coverage: http://www.hastingschess.org.uk

Marianske Lazne Open

The I. International Chess Tournament OPEN MARIANSKE LAZNE 2002 takes place 25.1.-1.2. 2002 in the spa Marianske Lazne (the Czech Republic). This tournament is a part of series CZECH TOUR 2001 / 2002.

Further details: http://www.proclient.cz/czechtour

2 Websites

Mastermove with chess quizzes and endgame studies. http://www.so-on.org/mastermove.html

200 words by Lev Khariton. http://pkchess.bizland.com/chesspress/200words/200words.html

FIDE Championships Fantasy Chess

As soon as all the players are known the annual Fantasy Chess Tournament to be based on the FIDE World Championships will start.

Details: http://play.at/fantasychess

Gausdal Troll Masters 2002

The Gausdal Troll Masters Open International takes place January 6th-13th 2002 at Gausdal Høifjellshotel. Includes: * GM- and IM norms available * 9 rounds * FIDE rules. * 2h/40 moves, 1h/20 moves and ½hour rest. * 1st round Sunday January 6th at 19:30. * 9th and last round Sunday 13th at 9:00. * Double rounds on Thursday. * Open to all with FIDE-rating and a limited number of non-FIDE-rated players. * Several strong GMs and IMs are invited.

Details: http://home.online.no/~bjarke-k/TrollMasters/

5th Email Afro-Asian Championship

All chessplayers from Africa and Asia are invited to take part to the 5th email Afro-Asian Championship 2002-2003 , organised by the ICCF. The start date for the preliminaries is : 15-01-2002. Like the previous editions there are 2 stages (preliminaries and Final) and no entry fees are required . The entries should be sent not later than 31.12.2001 to M. Samraoui , email address : samraoui@aol.com .

2002 US Chess Championships

The 2002 US Chess Championships are held under the auspices of the United States Chess Federation (USCF) and sponsored by the Seattle Chess Foundation.

They take place in Seattle, Washington, January 5th-13th 2002 at the Seattle Center, home of the Space Needle, Pacific Science Center and Experience Music Project. 56 players will compete in a nine-round Swiss tournament for a $200,000 prize fund, with $15,000 slotted for the winner. Included in the line-up are Grandmasters, top women and junior players, as well as an emerging young stars who qualified in the US Open such as the second strongest woman player, 12 year old Hana Itkis.

Further information http://www.seattlechessfoundation.org

3rd Friendship chess tournament

The 3rd Friendship chess tournament takes place 4th-14th December 2001 in Prerov (Czech Republic). There will be organized several tournaments including round-robin IM and GM tournament and 3 open tournaments. For more information contact the director of this tournament Mr. Richard Biolek (richard.biolek@atlas.cz).

Internet site: http://www.proclient.cz/a64

ONCE Chess Lectures

Next month there will be some lectures by famous people in chess: Leontxo Garcia, GM Valery Salov, IM Boris Zlotnik, IM Ricardo Calvo. The organisers will publish the names of the winners of the literary contest about chess at the same time. ONCE is the organizer (spanish organization for blind people) of all these events.

Further details: http://www.hechiceros.net/site/news/articulos/espana/nesp00138.shtml

Free Online ajedrez.uruwow.com event

ajedrez.uruwow.com launches an International on-line Tournament 3 levels : Beginners, Advanced and Profesional, in series of 5 players. Registration is free.

Address: http://ajedrez.uruwow.com

Linares Chess Open 2002

The IX ANIBAL CHESS OPEN in Linares, Spain takes place 1st-10th March, 2002. The dates are parallel to the XX CIUDAD DE LINARES International Chess Tournament. The event will be Swiss system, 10 rounds using the new FIDE time control. The venue will be the Hotel Anibal, Linares.

Prizes in Euros (-25% taxes) 1º D.Luis Rentero Suarez prize 10.000 2º 5.000 3º 2.500 4º 1.500 5º 1.000 6º-25º 300 26º-50º 160

Conditions: GM and IM with inscription confirmed by the Organization: free accommodation in a double room Hotel Anibal GM 2600 ELO check special conditions.

Special prices at Hotel Anibal for those players whose inscription had been confirmed by the Organization:

Double room: 24,50 euros per person Single room: 45,00 euros Continental Breakfast: 1,90 euros Buffet Breakfast: 3,80 euros Lunch: 4,90 euros Dinner:4,90 euros

IMPORTANT: Only those players whose inscription had been confirmed by the Organization are guaranteed these prices

Inscription: Every player: 50 euros e-mail: linares@teleline.es linareschess@wanadoo.es Fax: 34 953 652204

DEADLINE: Monday, 18th February

New Dolmen International

Title of Tournament: New Dolmen International Tournament Country: Malta Tournament dates: 13th January to 19 January 2002 Venue: New Dolmen Hotel, Qawra, St. Paul's Bay Prize Fund: US$ 5000 Format: Open 7 round Swiss FIDE Rated Organisers: International Chess Organising Committee (Malta) C/O New Dolmen Hotel, Qawra, St. Paul's Bay, Malta Fax No. +356 438730 Email: jjgrech@mail.global.net.mt

Details: http://www.global.net.mt/jjgrech

Extensions to the pgn standard

Alan Cowderoy (Palamede), Ben Bulsink (DGT Projects), Andrew Templeton (Palamede/Palview), Eric Bentzen (Enpassant.dk, Palamede), Mathias Feist (Chessbase) and Victor Zakharov (Chess Assistant) have started discussions on possible extensions to the PGN standard. The original standard was compiled by Steven J. Edwards but it hasn't been possible to contact him (if you read this they'd like to talk to you!).

The new proposals can be read at: ftp://palamede.com/pub/chess/final.txt

40th Groningen International Open

The 40th Groningen International Open is also the 3rd European Chess Championships, there are also invitational and open events. The festival takes place 19th December 2001 - 5th January 2002 Groningen, the Netherlands and is organised by Stichting Schaak Groningen.

Internet coverage: http://www.groningenchess.nl/

XXXI Rilton Cup

The XXXI Rilton Cup takes place 27 December 2001 to 5th January 2002.

Information: http://home1.swipnet.se/~w-21958/XXXIRilton_cup0102.htm

109th New Zealand Chess Championships 2001/2002

The 109th New Zealand Chess Championships 2001/2002 take place 28th December 2001 - 11th January 2002 in Christchurch. The venue will be at The Millennium Hotel, 14 Cathedral square, Christchurch, New Zealand. The Chief Arbiter will be IA Leon Muys (Netherlands).

Chris Wright reports they have had numerous enquiries from overseas regarding the tournament, from Russia, Belarus, England, Netherlands, Hungary, Ireland, and Australia. They hope to have a number of strong international players competing. The tournament will involve many of New Zealand's top players, as it is a selection event for next year's 35th World Chess Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia 2002.

Internet coverage: http://nzchesscongress109.tripod.com/

Two New Books in German

There are two new books in German are out. Both are written by famous chess players.

Svetozar Gligoric and Sinisa Joksic have produced a book in German about the King's Indian Defence. The title is "Gligoric-variante" and it is in German. It is the story of the Mar del Plata variantion which Gligoric played first in 1953 and afterwards played and analysed a lot. The last games included in the book from May and June 2001.

More info: http://avala.yubc.net/~yuchess/engleski/index.htm

The Exzelsior Verlag Berlin has just just published (in German) the only story by Emanuel Lasker: "Wie Wanja Meister wurde". A Hardcover book of 184 pages is costs DM 29.90. Further information Redaktion_Schach@compuserve.com.

Bethune Tournament

The 22nd International chess Tournament takes place in Bethune (North of France) 26th-30th December 2001 7 rounds, 40 moves in 2 hours plus one hour K.O, first prize 10000 Francs (about 1500 $)

For more information: http://bethunechess.free.fr

E-mail :bethunechess@aol.com

44th World Congress of Chess Composition

The 44th World Congress of Chess Composition was held at Wageningen, Netherlands from 28th July to 4th August. The highlight of the week's program was the 25th World Chess Solving Championship, which took place on 31st July and 1st August.

Internet coverage: http://www.bstephen.freeuk.com/pccc/2001pccc.html

Panormo Open, Greece

OAA Heraklio Chess Club, Epimenidis Cultural Company and the Greek Chess Federation are announcing the 2001 Panormo open tournament, part of the 2001 European Grand-Prix.

The tournament will be held in sunny Crete, Greece from October 20th-27th 2001 with a total prize fund of more than 3000 Euros (1st prize: 1000 Euros).

More information is available through the official website of the event: http://www.greekchess.com/panormo

Hawaii International Chess Festival Postponed

The Hawaii International Chess Festival has been postponed until 2003. It will have 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.

Tiviakov reports

Sergey Tiviakov's site http://www.tiviakov.demon.nl/ has his reports on the European Championship in Ohrid (Macedonia) and the Dutch Championships in Leeuwarden.

Yin Hao+ vs. World Team (The Rematch)

Tom Hendricks reports: On July 5, 2001, Chinese IM Yin Hao (2576) will begin play against the World Team in an Internet correspondence chess game. This will be a rematch of the game they played last year. That game, which began July 5th, 2000 and ended January 18, 2001, was a 44-move struggle ending in a draw. This time colors will be reversed with Yin Hao now being white and the World Team black. As he was in the first game, Yin Hao will be assisted by U.S. correspondence player Richard Fleming (2404). The first game attracted World Team players from Brazil, Canada, England, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland and the United States. Most of these players first came together during the Kasparov vs. The World game held in 1999. The upcoming game is open to anyone who wishes to play and is willing to follow the basic guidelines of the World Team. Players of all skill levels are welcome. General game topics and specific strategy are discussed at a moderated board found at:

http://boards.gamers.com/messages/overview.asp?name=WTChess&page=1

Visit the site and review the Game Rules and Move Selection Rules. To participate you must both register with gamers.com AND click on 'Request Password' at the top of the strategy board page. Registration with gamers.com is the process of selecting your UserName and Password. When you click on 'Request Password' you will be e-mailed another password that is specific to the strategy board. You will need to enter it only the first time that you post to the board. Those of you who participated in the first game with Yin Hao need not request the board password - it remains the same.

Book prizes and ICC (Internet Chess Club) memberships will be awarded throughout the game to lucky members of the World Team. So come and join the fun. Additional information can be obtained by writing to tahiv@hotmail.com

Elbow Beach Bermuda

There will be several invitational GM and IM Tournaments in the Five star Elbow Beach Hotel in Bermuda prior to their traditional 5 round Open, 17th January to 4th February 2002. There will also be a nine round GM Open.

Contact Nigel Freeman at cadilly@ibl.bm or see the site http://www.bermuda.bm/chess

Weihnachts-Open 2001

The Weihnachts-Open 2001 takes place in Strausberg (Berlin) Germany from 27.12.2001 to 30.12.2001. The tournament will be ELO and DWZ rated. First prize : 500 DM entry fee : 30 DM

Further information: http://www.weihnachtsopen.de