THE WEEK IN CHESS 683 10th December 2007 by Mark Crowther

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Contents

1) Introduction
2) World Chess Cup
3) Bundesliga
4) 67th Italian Championship
5) Chigorin Memorial
6) VI Bali International Chess Festival
7) Parsvnath Commonwealth Championship
8) First Saturday December
9) Eupen IM Norm Tournament
10) Austrian League
11) Fecerj International
12) Rijeka Open
13) Festival Internacional de Xadrez Americana
14) World Youth Championships Story
15) Forthcoming Events and Links

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Games Section
World Chess Cup 28 games
Bundesliga 160 games
67th Italian Championship 12 games
Chigorin Memorial 143 games
VI Bali International Festival 24 games
Parsvnath Commonwealth Championship 975 games
First Saturday December 69 games
Eupen IM Norm Tournament 15 games
Austrian League 108 games
Rijeka Open 55 games
Americana 35 games
Total 1624 games

1) Introduction

My thanks to Praful Zaveri, Miklos Orso, Luiz Roberto Da Costa Jr, Georgios Souleidis, Doug Bake, Misha Savinov, Peter Doggers, Franz Jittenmeier, Mauro Petrolo, Eugenio Davolio, Jeroen van den Berg, Vojko Mencinger, Stewart Reuben and everyone else who helped with the issue.

The World Chess Cup is approaching its very final stages. Already Gata Kamsky has reached the final eliminating Magnus Carlsen in the first semi-final. Sergey Karjakin has already achieved something that no-one else has in this event, take Alexei Shirov to a playoff.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) World Chess Cup

The World Chess Cup takes place in Khanty-Mansiysk. Arrival 22nd, Opening Ceremony 23rd and Round 1 24th November, departure after 7 knockout rounds on 18th December 2007.

Time control. Standard 90m+30s/move to move 40 then 30m+30s/move to the end of the game. Rapids 25m+10s/move, Blitz 5m+10s/move. Final sudden death game White 6 mins, Black 5 mins, without any addition. In case of a draw the player with the black pieces is declared as winner. [FIDE regulations]

Official site: http://www.ugra-chess.ru/eng/main_e.htm [and link to the handy pairings tree is at: http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=1520] Further coverage: http://www.chessdom.com/world-chess-cup-2007/ and http://www.chessvibes.com/

World Chess Cup Round 6 9th-11th December 2007
Semi-Finals
Karjakin, Sergey UKR 2694 1-1 Shirov, Alexei ESP 2739
Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2714 0.5-1.5 Kamsky, Gata USA 2714


World Chess Cup Round 5 6th-8th December 2007
Top Half
Karjakin, Sergey UKR 2694 2,5-1,5 Alekseev, Evgeny RUS 2716
Shirov, Alexei ESP 2739 2-0 Jakovenko, Dmitry RUS 2710
Bottom Half
Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR 2705 0.5-1.5 Kamsky, Gata USA 2714
Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2714 1.5-0.5 Cheparinov, Ivan BUL 2670


World Chess Cup Round 4 3rd-5th December 2007
Top Half - Top Quarter
Karjakin, Sergey UKR 2694 1.5-0.5 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter ROU 2668
Alekseev, Evgeny RUS 2716 3-1 Bareev, Evgeny RUS 2653
Top Half - Bottom Quarter
Aronian, Levon ARM 2741 1.5-2.5 Jakovenko, Dmitry RUS 2710
Akopian, Vladimir ARM 2713 0.5-1.5 Shirov, Alexei ESP 2739
Bottom Half - Top Quarter
Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR 2705 1.5-0-.5 Sasikiran, Krishnan IND 2661
Kamsky, Gata USA 2714 2.5-1.5 Svidler, Peter RUS 2732
Bottom Half - Bottom Quarter
Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2714 1.5-0.5 Adams, Michael ENG 2729
Cheparinov, Ivan BUL 2670 1.5-0.5 Wang, Yue CHN 2703

3) Bundesliga

The German Bundesliga for 2007-8 takes place 19th October 2007 - 20th April 2008. The first games were on Friday 19th October as part of the special round 7 - fixtures from this round are played before various weekend programs. Most of Rounds 3 and 4 took place 24th-25th November 2007 but the fixtures at Baden Baden take place on 15th-16th December. Rounds 5 and 6 took place 8th-9th December 2007 but there was also an extensive round 7 program on the Friday.

Official site: http://www.schachbundesliga.de/ further coverage: http://www.schach.com and also at the national Federation site at: http://www.schachbund.de/SchachBL/index.php and statistics also at: http://www.godesbergersk.de/bundesliga-statistik/

Bundesliga third weekend 7th-9th December 2007
Round 7 7th December 2007
SC Kreuzberg 4 - 4 SK Zehlendorf
2 Sargissian,Ga ½ : ½ Predojevic,Bo 1
3 Socko,Bartosz 1 : 0 Maksimenko,An 3
4 Gagunashvili, 0 : 1 Novikov,Stani 4
5 Luther,Thomas 1 : 0 Savchenko,Bor 5
6 Tischbierek,R 0 : 1 Berczes,David 6
7 Kalinitschew, 0 : 1 Prohaszka,Pet 8
8 Volke,Karsten 1 : 0 Meister,Jakov 9
12 Schilow,Vladi ½ : ½ Berger,Steve 10
TSV Bindlach-Aktionär 4 - 4 Erfurter SK
1 Navara,David ½ : ½ Kraemer,Marti 1
2 Baklan,Vladim ½ : ½ Votava,Jan 2
4 Baramidze,Dav ½ : ½ Haba,Petr 3
5 Bindrich,Falk 0 : 1 Kuczynski,Rob 4
7 Slobodjan,Rom 1 : 0 Machelett,Hei 5
9 Markos,Jan ½ : ½ Enders,Peter 7
10 Stohl,Igor Dr ½ : ½ Casper,Thomas 8
12 Schneider,Ilj ½ : ½ Voekler,Bernd 10
SC Eppingen 3½-4½ TV Tegernsee
3 Braun,Arik 1 : 0 Volokitin,And 1
4 Gyimesi,Zolta ½ : ½ Khenkin,Igor 4
5 Balogh,Csaba ½ : ½ Sokolov,Andre 5
6 Acs,Peter ½ : ½ Ribli,Zoltan 6
7 Guliyev,Namig 0 : 1 Rozentalis,Ed 7
8 Medvegy,Zolta ½ : ½ Teske,Henrik 8
9 Vogt,Lothar ½ : ½ Bromberger,St 9
10 Meinhardt,Max 0 : 1 Boensch,Uwe 10
Werder Bremen 3½-4½ Hamburger SK
2 Efimenko,Zaha ½ : ½ Wojtaszek,Rad 1
3 Areshchenko,A ½ : ½ Gustafsson,Ja 2
4 Fressinet,Lau ½ : ½ Ftacnik,Lubom 3
7 Hracek,Zbynek ½ : ½ Kempinski,Rob 4
8 Nyback,Tomi 0 : 1 Hansen,Sune B 5
9 Babula,Vlasti 1 : 0 Heinemann,Thi 8
11 Fish,Gennadij ½ : ½ Sebastian,Dir 11
12 Skripchenko,A 0 : 1 Huschenbeth,N 15
Round 5 8th December 2007
SC Kreuzberg 4½-3½ SC Remagen
2 Sargissian,Ga 0 : 1 Avrukh,Boris 4
3 Socko,Bartosz ½ : ½ Goloshchapov, 6
4 Gagunashvili, ½ : ½ Degraeve,Jean 7
5 Luther,Thomas 1 : 0 Popovic,Petar 8
6 Tischbierek,R 0 : 1 Mainka,Romual 9
8 Volke,Karsten ½ : ½ Belkhodja,Sli 10
9 Paehtz,Elisab 1 : 0 Boidman,Yuri 11
12 Schilow,Vladi 1 : 0 Swinkels,Robi 12
SK Zehlendorf 5½-2½ Godesberger SK
1 Predojevic,Bo 0 : 1 Kasimdzhanov, 1
3 Maksimenko,An 1 : 0 Lutz,Christop 2
4 Novikov,Stani ½ : ½ Kveinys,Aloyz 5
5 Savchenko,Bor ½ : ½ Likavsky,Toma 7
6 Berczes,David ½ : ½ Jackelen,Thom 9
8 Prohaszka,Pet 1 : 0 Dranov,Alexan 11
9 Meister,Jakov 1 : 0 Schmidt,Bodo 12
10 Berger,Steve 1 : 0 Armbruster,Al 13
Werder Bremen 3½-4½ OSC Baden Baden
1 McShane,Luke ½ : ½ Anand,Viswana 1
2 Efimenko,Zaha ½ : ½ Bacrot,Etienn 5
3 Areshchenko,A 1 : 0 Vallejo Pons, 8
4 Fressinet,Lau ½ : ½ Naiditsch,Ark 10
7 Hracek,Zbynek ½ : ½ Nielsen,Peter 11
8 Nyback,Tomi 0 : 1 Dautov,Rustem 12
9 Babula,Vlasti 0 : 1 Schlosser,Phi 13
11 Fish,Gennadij ½ : ½ Doettling,Fab 14
Hamburger SK 5½-2½ SC Trier
1 Wojtaszek,Rad ½ : ½ Flumbort,Andr 4
2 Gustafsson,Ja ½ : ½ Seger,Ruedige 9
3 Ftacnik,Lubom 0 : 1 Kolbus,Dietma 10
4 Kempinski,Rob 1 : 0 Cioara,Andrei 11
5 Hansen,Sune B 1 : 0 Ionescu,Doru 12
8 Heinemann,Thi 1 : 0 Rat,Dan Ovidi 13
10 Reeh,Oliver ½ : ½ Jeitz,Christi 14
11 Sebastian,Dir 1 : 0 Korman,Maxim 15
TSV Bindlach-Aktionär 3½-4½ SG Aljechin Solingen
1 Navara,David ½ : ½ Stellwagen,Da 1
2 Baklan,Vladim 0 : 1 Nikolic,Predr 2
4 Baramidze,Dav 0 : 1 Jussupow,Artu 3
5 Bindrich,Falk 1 : 0 Naumann,Alexa 5
7 Slobodjan,Rom ½ : ½ Hoffmann,Mich 7
9 Markos,Jan ½ : ½ Ragger,Markus 8
10 Stohl,Igor Dr ½ : ½ Ernst,Sipke 10
12 Schneider,Ilj ½ : ½ Gabriel,Chris 11
Erfurter SK 4 - 4 SV Wattenscheid
1 Kraemer,Marti 0 : 1 Najer,Evgeniy 2
2 Votava,Jan ½ : ½ Rustemov,Alex 4
3 Haba,Petr ½ : ½ Appel,Ralf 8
4 Kuczynski,Rob 1 : 0 Holzke,Frank 9
6 Mueller,Matth 0 : 1 Handke,Floria 10
7 Enders,Peter ½ : ½ Dinstuhl,Volk 11
8 Casper,Thomas ½ : ½ Straeter,Timo 13
10 Voekler,Bernd 1 : 0 Thiel,Thomas 14
SC Eppingen 2 - 6 SV Mülheim Nord
3 Braun,Arik 0 : 1 Landa,Konstan 2
5 Balogh,Csaba ½ : ½ Fridman,Danie 3
7 Guliyev,Namig 0 : 1 Potkin,Vladim 6
8 Medvegy,Zolta ½ : ½ Golod,Vitali 7
9 Vogt,Lothar 0 : 1 Levin,Felix 10
10 Meinhardt,Max 0 : 1 Saltaev,Mihai 11
11 Miltner,Arndt ½ : ½ Hausrath,Dani 12
12 Schulze,Ulric ½ : ½ Schebler,Gerh 13
TV Tegernsee 3½-4½ SF Katernberg
1 Volokitin,And 1 : 0 L'Ami,Erwin 2
4 Khenkin,Igor ½ : ½ Glek,Igor V 3
5 Sokolov,Andre 0 : 1 Postny,Evgeny 4
6 Ribli,Zoltan ½ : ½ Halkias,Steli 5
7 Rozentalis,Ed 0 : 1 Chuchelov,Vla 6
8 Teske,Henrik ½ : ½ Firman,Nazar 7
9 Bromberger,St ½ : ½ Senff,Martin 9
12 Hertneck,Gera ½ : ½ Ris,Robert 11
Round 6 9th December 2007
SC Remagen 4 - 4 SK Zehlendorf
4 Avrukh,Boris ½ : ½ Predojevic,Bo 1
6 Goloshchapov, ½ : ½ Maksimenko,An 3
7 Degraeve,Jean 0 : 1 Novikov,Stani 4
8 Popovic,Petar ½ : ½ Savchenko,Bor 5
9 Mainka,Romual 1 : 0 Berczes,David 6
10 Belkhodja,Sli ½ : ½ Prohaszka,Pet 8
11 Boidman,Yuri 0 : 1 Meister,Jakov 9
12 Swinkels,Robi 1 : 0 Berger,Steve 10
Godesberger SK 2½-5½ SC Kreuzberg
1 Kasimdzhanov, ½ : ½ Sargissian,Ga 2
2 Lutz,Christop 0 : 1 Socko,Bartosz 3
5 Kveinys,Aloyz ½ : ½ Gagunashvili, 4
7 Likavsky,Toma ½ : ½ Luther,Thomas 5
9 Jackelen,Thom ½ : ½ Tischbierek,R 6
11 Dranov,Alexan 0 : 1 Kalinitschew, 7
12 Schmidt,Bodo ½ : ½ Volke,Karsten 8
13 Armbruster,Al 0 : 1 Paehtz,Elisab 9
OS Baden Baden 4½-3½ Hamburger SK
1 Anand,Viswana ½ : ½ Wojtaszek,Rad 1
5 Bacrot,Etienn ½ : ½ Gustafsson,Ja 2
8 Vallejo Pons, 0 : 1 Ftacnik,Lubom 3
10 Naiditsch,Ark 1 : 0 Kempinski,Rob 4
11 Nielsen,Peter ½ : ½ Hansen,Sune B 5
12 Dautov,Rustem ½ : ½ Heinemann,Thi 8
13 Schlosser,Phi ½ : ½ Reeh,Oliver 10
14 Doettling,Fab 1 : 0 Huschenbeth,N 15
SC Trier 2½-5½ Werder Bremen
4 Flumbort,Andr 0 : 1 Efimenko,Zaha 2
9 Seger,Ruedige 0 : 1 Areshchenko,A 3
10 Kolbus,Dietma ½ : ½ Fressinet,Lau 4
11 Cioara,Andrei ½ : ½ Hracek,Zbynek 7
12 Ionescu,Doru 0 : 1 Nyback,Tomi 8
13 Rat,Dan Ovidi ½ : ½ Babula,Vlasti 9
14 Jeitz,Christi 0 : 1 Fish,Gennadij 11
15 Korman,Maxim 1 : 0 Skripchenko,A 12
SG Aljechin Solingen 6 - 2 Erfurter SK
1 Stellwagen,Da 0 : 1 Kraemer,Marti 1
2 Nikolic,Predr 1 : 0 Votava,Jan 2
3 Jussupow,Artu 1 : 0 Haba,Petr 3
5 Naumann,Alexa ½ : ½ Kuczynski,Rob 4
7 Hoffmann,Mich ½ : ½ Machelett,Hei 5
8 Ragger,Markus 1 : 0 Mueller,Matth 6
10 Ernst,Sipke 1 : 0 Enders,Peter 7
11 Gabriel,Chris 1 : 0 Voekler,Bernd 10
SV Wattenscheid 4 - 4 TSV Bindlach-Aktionär
2 Najer,Evgeniy 1 : 0 Navara,David 1
4 Rustemov,Alex ½ : ½ Baklan,Vladim 2
8 Appel,Ralf ½ : ½ Baramidze,Dav 4
9 Holzke,Frank 1 : 0 Bindrich,Falk 5
10 Handke,Floria 0 : 1 Slobodjan,Rom 7
11 Dinstuhl,Volk ½ : ½ Markos,Jan 9
13 Straeter,Timo 0 : 1 Stohl,Igor Dr 10
14 Thiel,Thomas ½ : ½ Schneider,Ilj 12
SV Mülheim Nord 3 - 5 TV Tegernsee
2 Landa,Konstan ½ : ½ Volokitin,And 1
3 Fridman,Danie ½ : ½ Khenkin,Igor 4
6 Potkin,Vladim ½ : ½ Sokolov,Andre 5
7 Golod,Vitali ½ : ½ Ribli,Zoltan 6
10 Levin,Felix ½ : ½ Rozentalis,Ed 7
11 Saltaev,Mihai 0 : 1 Bromberger,St 9
12 Hausrath,Dani 0 : 1 Boensch,Uwe 10
13 Schebler,Gerh ½ : ½ Hertneck,Gera 12
SF Katernberg 4 - 4 SC Eppingen
2 L'Ami,Erwin ½ : ½ Braun,Arik 3
3 Glek,Igor V 0 : 1 Balogh,Csaba 5
4 Postny,Evgeny ½ : ½ Guliyev,Namig 7
5 Halkias,Steli ½ : ½ Medvegy,Zolta 8
6 Chuchelov,Vla 0 : 1 Vogt,Lothar 9
7 Firman,Nazar ½ : ½ Meinhardt,Max 10
9 Senff,Martin 1 : 0 Miltner,Arndt 11
11 Ris,Robert 1 : 0 Schulze,Ulric 12
Round 6 Standings:
1. SV Mülheim-Nord 7 11 33,5
2. Werder Bremen 7 10 33,5
3. TV Tegernsee 7 9 29,5
4. SG Aljechin Solingen 7 8 31,5
5. SV Wattenscheid 7 8 28,5
6. OSC Baden-Baden 4 8 21,5
7. Hamburger SK 7 7 28,5
8. TSV Bindlach-Aktionär 7 7 28,0
9. SF Katernberg 7 7 26,5
10. SC Kreuzberg 7 5 26,5
11. Erfurter SK 7 5 24,5
12. SK Zehlendorf 7 5 23,0
13. SC Eppingen 7 4 24,5
14. SG Turm Trier 4 3 13,5
15. SC Remagen 4 2 15,0
16. Godesberger SK 4 1 12,0

4) 67th Italian Championship

The 67th Italian Championship took place 23rd November - 4th December 2007. The tournament was a 12 players in a round robin at the 4 star Park Hotel San Michele in Martina Franca. Fabiano Caruana won by a massive 3 point margin on the way to taking the title with 9.5/11.

Official site: http://www.torneionline.com/cia2007/

67th ch-ITA Martina Franca ITA (ITA), 23 xi-4 xii 2007 cat. VIII (2435)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
1. Caruana, Fabiano g ITA 2594 * 0 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 2729
2. Brunello, Sabino m ITA 2489 1 * 1 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 0 1 2494
3. Garcia Palermo, Carlos g ITA 2459 0 0 * 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 2497
4. Borgo, Giulio m ITA 2440 0 0 1 * 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 6 2470
5. Mogranzini, Roberto m ITA 2415 0 ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 0 1 1 1 6 2472
6. Manca, Federico m ITA 2405 0 1 0 ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 2437
7. Godena, Michele g ITA 2535 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 2425
8. Bruno, Fabio m ITA 2445 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 5 2397
9. Rombaldoni, Denis f ITA 2402 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ * 0 1 ½ 5 2401
10. Bonafede, Alessandro ITA 2279 0 1 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 * ½ 1 2383
11. Genocchio, Daniele f ITA 2433 0 1 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * 0 2301
12. Contin, Daniel m ITA 2318 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 * 2234

5) Chigorin Memorial

The Chigorin Memorial took place in St Petersburg 29th November - 9th December 2007. Sergei Movsesian edged out Alexei Gubajdullin on tie-break after both finished on 6.5/9.

Official site: http://www.totalchess.spb.ru/kalend/2007/chigorin.html

Chigorin Mem A St Petersburg RUS (RUS), 1-9 xii 2007
1 Movsesian, Sergei g SVK 2670 6.5 50.0 35.00 34.0 2675 +0.11 2517.5
2 Gubajdullin, Alexei f RUS 2475 6.5 41.5 31.25 30.5 2637 +1.91 2498.0
3 Mamedov, Rauf g AZE 2582 6.0 48.0 30.25 35.0 2659 +0.87 2545.3
4 Andreikin, Dmitry g RUS 2555 6.0 49.0 31.50 33.5 2627 +0.87 2514.3
5 Safarli, Eltaj m AZE 2487 6.0 45.0 28.75 31.5 2598 +1.32 2507.6
6 Yemelin, Vasily g RUS 2564 6.0 45.5 29.50 28.5 2603 +0.42 2487.0
7 Yevseev, Denis g RUS 2499 6.0 42.0 27.50 30.0 2586 +1.05 2473.9
8 Levin, Evgeny A f RUS 2428 5.5 45.0 24.75 24.0 2596 +2.08 2545.3
9 Zhigalko, Andrey g BLR 2554 5.5 46.0 24.25 29.0 2585 +0.37 2517.9
10 Alavkin, Arseny m RUS 2442 5.5 44.5 25.75 26.0 2558 +1.45 2503.3
11 Maslak, Konstantin m RUS 2510 5.5 46.5 26.50 28.5 2535 +0.28 2463.1
12 Kokarev, Dmitry g RUS 2550 5.5 44.5 24.00 26.5 2511 -0.44 2459.6
13 Mihajlovskij, Sergei BLR 2480 5.0 46.0 24.00 27.0 2549 +0.86 2534.3
14 Matlakov, Maxim RUS 2441 5.0 42.0 20.75 27.0 2536 +1.13 2528.0
15 Utkin, Aleksey f RUS 2389 5.0 40.0 21.50 25.0 2545 +1.85 2516.5
16 Popov, Valerij g RUS 2580 5.0 48.0 25.50 29.0 2529 -0.67 2498.5
17 Khairullin, Ildar g RUS 2567 5.0 44.5 23.75 26.5 2524 -0.58 2492.9
18 Romanov, Evgeny m RUS 2515 5.0 42.0 22.50 24.5 2480 -0.49 2450.4
19 Bodnaruk, Anastasia wf RUS 2331 5.0 35.5 14.25 17.5 2364 +0.40 2364.0
20 Aleksandrov, Aleksej g BLR 2614 4.5 39.0 17.50 22.5 2440 -2.07
21 Tihonov, Jurij g BLR 2522 4.5 37.5 17.25 22.5 2382 -1.71
22 Gasanov, Eldar g UKR 2504 4.5 38.0 15.00 24.5 2418 -1.08
23 Shimanov, Aleksandr m RUS 2447 4.5 43.0 18.00 25.0 2426 -0.27
24 Smirnov, Artem m RUS 2419 4.5 40.0 15.25 23.0 2455 +0.38
25 Ponfilenok, Vladimir RUS 2412 4.5 37.5 17.75 19.5 2437 +0.27
26 Slugin, Sergey f RUS 2403 4.5 41.5 18.25 24.5 2518 +1.44
27 Ovod, Evgenija m RUS 2386 4.5 37.5 18.25 20.5 2497 +1.35
28 Solovjov, Sergey I m RUS 2461 4.0 39.5 15.25 20.5 2374 -1.04
29 Konovalov, Nikolay m RUS 2453 4.0 39.0 14.00 20.0 2382 -0.86
30 Kuderinov, Kirill m KAZ 2416 4.0 35.0 11.25 18.5 2315 -1.16
31 Rozum, Ivan RUS 2411 4.0 33.0 11.00 18.0 2391 -0.23
32 Gorovykh, Eduard m RUS 2402 4.0 42.5 16.50 21.0 2429 +0.40
33 Tarasova, Viktoriya wm RUS 2277 4.0 37.5 14.50 18.5 2369 +1.12
34 Utegaliyev, Azamat KAZ 2200 4.0 41.0 15.25 21.5 2342 +1.32
35 Evdokimov, Alexander A g RUS 2562 3.5 41.0 15.50 19.0 2344 -2.71
36 Lovkov, Roman f RUS 2457 3.5 36.5 14.00 17.5 2354 -1.14
37 Demianjuk, Alexander RUS 2334 3.5 39.0 11.75 18.0 2353 +0.26
38 Ivanov, Rostislav f RUS 2355 3.0 33.0 6.00 12.0 2209 -1.44
39 Kashlinskaya, Alina wm RUS 2263 2.5 36.5 9.75 15.0 2163 -0.90
40 Bratus, Pater P RUS 2211 2.5 32.5 5.25 12.5 2171 -0.34
41 Pogosian, Vladimir ARM 2255 2.0 31.0 6.25 13.0 1773 -1.00
42 Kharlov, Andrei g RUS 2549 1.0 31.0 10.00 8.5 2025 -2.54
43 Pankov, German f RUS 2367 0.5 34.0 9.50 3.5 2106 -1.18

6) VI Bali International Chess Festival

The VI Bali International Chess Festival took place 30th November 9th December 2007. The main tournament of stars rapid was won by Vladimir Malaniuk. The final days games are missing from their pgn file but are available in a viewer. Viswanathan Anand gave a simul.

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

Bali Torneo de las Estrellas Benidorm ESP (ESP), 7-9 xii 2007
cat. XIII (2566)
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Malakhov, Vladimir RUS 2690 g ## 01 1= 11 11 11 8.5 31.8
2 Jobava, Baadur GEO 2644 g 10 ## == 11 11 11 8.0 29.0
3 Tkachiev, Vladislav FRA 2661 g 0= == ## 1= =1 11 6.5 23.5
4 Fedorchuk, Sergey A UKR 2645 g 00 00 0= ## 10 11 3.5 8.3
5 Recuero Guerra, David ESP 2407 f 00 00 =0 01 ## =0 2.0 7.5
6 Nebolsina, Vera RUS 2349 wm 00 00 00 00 =1 ## 1.5 3.0

7) Parsvnath Commonwealth Championship

The Parsvnath Commonwealth Chess Championship took place 2nd-10th December 2007 in the Sirifort Sports Complex, Khel, New Delhi, India. RB Ramesh edged out SS Ganguly on tie-break after both finished on 8.5/10. My thanks to Praful Zaveri for the games, the organisers put nearly 1000 games in the file.

Grandmaster Ramesh is the Commonwealth Chess Champion report by Praful Zaveri

In a thrilling 10th and final round of Parsvnath Commonwealth Chess Championship 2007, which concluded here at Sirifort Sports Auditorium, Grandmaster R.B. Ramesh of India was crowned as the new Commonwealth Chess Champion with a score of 8½.

The former British Open Champion who was in the lead at the half-way stage but lost his way after that, recovered the last ground with a fantastic rear-guard charge to score 3-consecutive wins in the last 3-rounds to become richer by Rs.1,37,500/- In the final round he defeated the overnight joint leader Vikramaditya Kamble with a flawless display of high quality chess.

Top-seeded GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly, also from India, scored a fine win against the joint overnight leader IM Rathnakaran to finish with an identical score of 8½ but had to content with the 2nd place due to an inferior tie-break. He however; had the consolation of getting the same prize money of Rs. 1,37,500/-

Abhijeet Gupta, who finished his Grandmaster title requirement to become India’s 17th Grandmaster, clinched the Bronze Medal with a fantastic performance of 8 points. He bagged the cash prize of Rs.75000/- Abhijeet also won Gold in the Under-20 category.

IM Harika Dronavalli retained her women’s title, which she had won at the last edition of this event at Mumbai. She finished 07th overall in this very strong combined event, which had 13 Men’s Grandmasters. By virtue of this performance she got the cash prize of Rs.40000/-. WGM of Tania Sachdev finished behind Harika while WGM Nisha Mohota had to be content with the 3rd place.

The Indians also dominated the various age-groups categories as their players won 44 of the 45 medals available. GM Gawain Jones of England prevented the clean sweep by winning a Bronze in the Under-20 category.

The Indian players who won the Gold in various categories are; Meghna C.H. (Under-8), Vaibhav Suri (Boys U-10), Sahaj Grover (Boys U-12), Pratyusha Bodda (Girls U-12), Priyadarshan K (Boys U-14), Padmini Rout (Girls U-14), GM Parimarjan Negi (Boys U-16), Pon N Krithika (Girls U-16), P. Karthikeyan (Boys U-18), WIM Kiran Mohanty (Girls U-18), GM Abhijeet Gupta (Boys U-20) and IM S.C. Sahu (Seniors).

Two more Indian players, Pon Krithika and Preethi also earned their 1st Women’s International Master norm.

The prize distribution ceremony was presided over by Shri Pradeep Jain, Chairman of Parsvnath Developers Ltd., - the Sponsors of this event. Shri Jain said that "Parsvnath is always very supportive of Chess which is pegged as a 'Thinkers Game'. Our association with Chess championship is to promote the game and take it to the masses. In last six years of our contribution in the game, we have experienced the growing interest of amateurs and eminent players in chess championships. The Parsvnath Commonwealth Championship has emerged as a platform to represent India as the key participant on the global arena." Mr Pradeep Jain, Chairman, Parsvnath Developers Ltd said on the occasion.

The special guest for this event was Mr.Ignatius Leong, General Secretary of FIDE (World Chess Federation).

Official site: http://www.delhichess.com/

Parsvnath ch-Commonwealth New Delhi IND (IND), 3-10 xii 2007
Final Round 10 Standings:
1 13 GM Ramesh R B 2473 47
2 1 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2585 46
3 15 IM Gupta Abhijeet 2470 8 43
4 32 IM Himanshu Sharma 2408 47½
5 23 IM Rathnakaran K 2433 46½
6 40 IM Kamble Vikramaditya 2374 45½
7 11 IM Harika Dronavalli 2480 43½
8 18 IM Sriram Jha 2459 43
9 5 GM Abdulla Al-Rakib 2506 43
10 3 GM Kunte Abhijit 2547 41
11 24 GM Murshed Niaz 2428 40½
12 34 IM Laxman R R 2395 39
13 25 IM Arun Prasad S 2423 7 43½
14 22 IM Sundararajan Kidambi 2442 7 43
15 49 Thejkumar M S 2355 7 42½
16 2 GM Jones Gawain C B 2567 7 41
17 28 IM Wohl Aleksandar H 2415 7 41
18 53 Karthikeyan P 2340 7 40
19 17 GM Bakre Tejas 2459 7 40
20 29 WGM Tania Sachdev 2413 7 40
21 58 Shashikant Kutwal 2321 7 39½
22 12 Ashwin Jayaram 2478 7 38½
23 7 GM Barua Dibyendu 2491 7 38
24 21 IM Sengupta Deep 2447 7 37½
25 16 IM Smerdon David 2466 7 37
26 9 GM Neelotpal Das 2489 7 36½
27 76 Wajih Nassir 2285 7 35½
28 27 WGM Mohota Nisha 2416 42
29 10 GM Reefat Bin-Sattar 2482 42
30 4 GM Negi Parimarjan 2514 41
31 35 IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy 2394 40½
32 33 IM Lodhi Mahmood 2396 40½
33 14 GM Thipsay Praveen M 2473 39½
34 19 IM Venkatesh M R 2451 39
35 8 IM Rohit Gogineni 2491 38
36 20 IM Girinath P D S 2448 38
37 88 Premnath R 2254 37½
38 68 FM Ramakrishna J 2297 37½
39 42 Ashwath R 2374 37½
40 44 IM Mas Hafizulhelmi 2372 37
41 86 Swapnil S Dhopade 2261 36½
42 67 FM Priyadharshan K 2298 36
43 85 Saravana Krishnan P 2261 35½
44 52 IM Prakash G B 2343 35
45 83 WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty 2263 35
46 45 IM Prathamesh Sunil Mokal 2371 34½
47 128 Preethi R 2125 32½
48 31 IM Prasad Devaki V 2409 6 39
49 41 IM Saravanan V 2374 6 39
50 6 GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J 2492 6 38
51 43 IM Roktim Bandyopadhyay 2373 6 38
52 74 Prakash Ram 2286 6 37½
53 30 IM Saptarshi Roy 2412 6 37
54 48 Akshat Khamparia 2355 6 37
55 38 Abhishek Das 2383 6 36½
56 60 Sangma Rahul 2318 6 36½
57 54 IM Gokhale Chandrashekhar 2333 6 36½
58 69 Prasenjit Datta 2296 6 36½
59 98 FM Grover Sahaj 2239 6 36
60 84 WIM Gomes Mary Ann 2262 6 36
61 93 Mehar Chinna Reddy C H 2246 6 36
62 94 WIM Soumya Swaminathan 2244 6 35½
63 47 Das Arghyadip 2367 6 35½
64 92 Joshi G B 2246 6 35½
65 50 Udeshi Aditya 2355 6 35½
66 51 Lalith Babu M R 2350 6 35½
67 62 WGM Swathi Ghate 2316 6 35½
68 55 IM Babu N Sudhakar 2332 6 35
69 26 IM Roy Chowdhury Saptarshi 2418 6 34½
70 91 FM Singh Rishpal S 2246 6 34½
71 89 IM Sahu Sekhar Chandra 2250 6 34½
72 59 IM Shetty Rahul 2320 6 34
73 57 FM Nitin S 2321 6 34
74 107 WIM Nadig Kruttika 2208 6 34
75 101 Padmini Rout 2226 6 34
76 123 WFM Pon N Krithika 2140 6 33
77 90 Phoobalan P 2250 6 33
78 82 IM Balasubramaniun Ramnathan 2266 6 32½
79 118 Oliver Gareth 2164 6 31½
80 127 Surendran N 2126 6 31
81 96 IM Shyam Sundar M 2241 6 30½
82 109 Mehta Praful 2207 6 29½
83 97 Tiwari Arjun 2240 6 29½
84 78 Praveen Kumar C 2279 6 29½
85 139 Bhatt V R 2095 6 29
86 187 Tejaswini Reddy S 1967 6 28
87 104 WIM Khegay Anjela 2218 6 27
88 37 IM Ravi Lanka 2388 39½
89 186 Vaibhav Suri 1969 36
90 66 Gillani Tunveer M D 2300 35½
91 73 Debashis Das 2286 35½
92 122 Bitan Banerjee 2149 35
93 136 Dilip Das 2102 34½
94 131 Ramnath Bhuvanesh R 2115 34½
95 36 FM Islam Kh Aminul 2390 34
96 77 Matta Vinay Kumar 2281 34
97 63 FM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2315 34
98 56 WGM Karavade Eesha 2331 34
99 61 WGM Ramaswamy Aarthie 2317 34
100 64 Sharma R Preetham 2314 34
101 70 Shyam Nikil P 2295 33½
102 138 Stany G A 2097 33½
103 65 FM Sai Srinivas 2302 33
104 80 Imocha Laisram 2272 32½
105 113 FM Rajesh V A V 2189 32½
106 71 Singh Gurpreet Pal 2292 32½
107 116 FM Sai Krishna G V 2167 32
108 95 Thakur Akash 2243 32
109 147 Dahale Atul 2065 31½
110 39 IM Sharma Dinesh K 2382 31
111 126 Priya P 2129 31
112 124 Ankit R Rajpara 2135 31
113 130 Abhishek Kelkar 2123 30½
114 133 Kunal M 2111 30½
115 99 Abhay T 2237 30½
116 115 Swayams Mishra 2187 30
117 110 FM Narayanan Srinath 2201 30
118 132 WFM Bhakti Kulkarni 2112 30
119 87 Phadke Sohan 2259 30
120 129 Fenil Shah 2124 30
121 142 FM Girish A Koushik 2086 29½
122 105 Sagar Shah 2216 29½
123 171 Rawat R S 2004 29
124 106 Praveen Prasad P 2214 29
125 152 Divyasri Ch 2050 28½
126 202 Shristi J Shetty 1916 28
127 81 IM Deshmukh Anup 2271 27½
128 150 Negi D S 2056 27
129 199 Niji A 1925 24
130 196 WFM Oliver Shannon 1940 23½
131 75 Mari Arul S 2285 5 32
132 72 Saurabh Kherdekar 2291 5 32
133 176 Antonio Viani D'cunha 1988 5 31½
134 119 Amrutha Mokal 2159 5 31½
135 112 Hemant Sharma 2193 5 31½
136 168 Gahan M G 2005 5 31
137 102 Singh Pritam 2226 5 30½
138 120 Gowtham T 2159 5 30
139 79 IM Hegde Ravi Gopal 2277 5 29½
140 137 Kathmale Sameer 2099 5 29½
141 198 Mohineesh C H 1925 5 29
142 103 Gopal K N 2225 5 29
143 177 Gagare Shalmali 1988 5 28
144 140 Anurag Mhamal 2092 5 27½
145 141 Ganesh Babu S 2089 5 27
146 162 Harris Benjamin 2015 5 27
147 144 Gusain Himal 2085 5 26½
148 174 Nihal Manjunath 1996 5 26
149 155 Anand Reddy K S 2035 5 26
150 236 Eshwanth Dev Kumar J 1801 5 25½
151 151 Uthra P 2055 5 25½
152 179 Megh Patel 1985 5 25½
153 167 Deepthamsh Reddy M 2005 5 25½
154 191 Bavankumar 1949 5 25½
155 188 Eswar R 1963 5 25
156 165 Nlv Anusha 2010 5 25
157 182 Nishendra Herath 1980 5 24½
158 149 WFM Pujari Rucha 2061 5 24½
159 185 Shiva Murugan R K 1970 5 24
160 156 WIM Greef Melissa 2025 5 23½
161 201 Santhosbaala R S 1919 5 22½
162 222 Karma Pandya 1852 5 22
163 100 FM Prasanna Rao 2228 30½
164 121 Lakshmi Narayanan M V 2157 30
165 46 IM Singh D P 2371 29½
166 111 Nimmy A G 2196 29
167 125 Negi V S 2130 28½
168 181 Das Sayantan 1982 27
169 117 Anuruddha G C 2167 27
170 153 Tay Li-Jin Jeslin 2050 26½
171 180 Prince Bajaj 1983 26½
172 135 Srivastava K B L 2105 26½
173 134 K Vijaya Kanth 2110 26
174 164 Navalgund Niranjan 2012 25½
175 146 Abhilash Reddy M L 2069 25½
176 158 Wells Daniel J 2024 25½
177 159 Adith Jagadish 2023 25
178 154 Dissanayake Rs 2038 24½
179 161 Bharathi R 2017 24½
180 184 Jain Singhai Niklesh N 1977 24½
181 189 Sumant Subramaniam 1956 24½
182 204 Auckland Elliott 1910 24
183 170 Lee Cecil 2004 23½
184 172 Madanasri Gundala 1999 23½
185 157 Santhosh Kumar G 2024 23
186 193 Patil Pratik 1947 23
187 213 J V Sai Kiran 1886 22½
188 178 Mohana Priya J 1988 22½
189 221 Dhara Gupta 1858 22½
190 148 Lim Kian Hwa 2062 22
191 215 Mitali Madhukar Patil 1878 22
192 192 Rishi Thariani 1949 21½
193 175 Arvind Uniyal 1995 21½
194 173 Sankaranarayanan K 1998 21
195 210 Vaibhav Khanna 1893 21
196 249 Sumit Kumar 1692 20½
197 244 Pratyusha Bodda 1736 20½
198 206 Priyanka Kumari 1899 20½
199 143 Vivek Bharti 2086 19
200 270 Kashyap Rahul B 0 16
201 257 Munish Gupta 1527 15
202 145 Gagare Shardul 2080 4 27
203 108 Anilkumar O T 2207 4 27
204 163 Madhukiran G 2013 4 24½
205 190 Khalid Amin 1950 4 23½
206 282 Yaroslav Voropayev 0 4 23½
207 205 Jaydeep Sharma 1901 4 23
208 195 Rajesh Kumar Nath 1943 4 22½
209 114 WIM Hamid Rani 2189 4 22½
210 183 WFM Kotepalli Sai Nirupama 1977 4 22
211 203 Manush Shah 1911 4 21
212 217 Padsalgikar Bhausaheb 1876 4 20½
213 232 Preetika Tayal 1819 4 20½
214 197 Sahajasri 1928 4 20
215 209 Hussain S R 1893 4 20
216 235 Anjana Krishna S 1802 4 19½
217 243 Soni Sharan 1744 4 19
218 263 Ayoob Ali 0 4 19
219 228 Ajit Singh 1829 4 19
220 208 WIM Jule Alexandra 1896 4 19
221 234 Gupta Ram 1809 4 18½
222 225 Amish Kushal G 1845 4 18½
223 212 Sathya Priya S V 1888 4 18
224 237 Ravindra Dange 1797 4 16½
225 230 WFM Harris Rebecca 1819 4 16
226 238 Neetakshya Singh 1784 4 15½
227 247 Meghna C H 1716 4 15½
228 245 Harikrishnan Mohanan 1730 4 14
229 211 Agnihotri Ghosh 1888 4 14
230 248 Harshal Shahi 1708 4 14
231 200 Hapuarachchi H L M 1922 22
232 207 WCM Wijesuriya G V 1897 22
233 219 Akash Pc Iyer 1873 22
234 223 Akshat Aggarwal 1847 21
235 264 Daggitt Matthew 0 20
236 166 Ghosh Diptayan 2006 20
237 220 Karunakaran V 1870 19½
238 250 Meherjot S Kals 1674 19½
239 218 Sandhya G 1874 18½
240 214 Umesha B G D 1886 18½
241 242 Aparna R 1745 18½
242 275 Ravi Haria 0 18
243 280 Sravya M 0 18
244 224 Maheshika D M P 1847 17½
245 226 Pallavi Dutta 1836 17½
246 229 Rajapaksha A 1827 16
247 241 Quinn Joseph R 1758 16
248 254 Thilakawardana Supeshala 1623 15½
249 239 Krishna Teja N 1777 15½
250 231 Lenier Jude 1819 14½
251 269 Kanika Saxena 0 14
252 233 Lumbini Ambanwela 1810 14
253 256 Kalra Arunima 1535 13½
254 246 Anandajeyarajah Thilagini 1720 11
255 281 Walker Samuel 0 3 22½
256 160 Lolla Sembhu 2023 3 20½
257 194 Chandana Priya Reddy 1944 3 18½
258 169 Meet Agrawal 2005 3 18½
259 265 David Lawrence 0 3 18
260 277 Selvaratnam Navodya 0 3 17
261 240 Jhujhar Singh 1759 3 16
262 216 Jitender Rawat 1876 3 15½
263 258 Priya V S S 1492 3 15
264 276 Sardhara Preet 0 3 14
265 272 Krishnan Anand J 0 3 14
266 252 Vini Mary Thomas 1634 3 13½
267 268 Johnson Roland E S 0 3 13½
268 278 Seneviratne Shehan 0 3 12½
269 262 Assad Ahmed 0 3 9
270 227 Gupta Nishtha 1830 15
271 253 G V Revanth Reddy 1625 13
272 251 Radha Krishna D 1644 11½
273 266 Harry Hughes 0 10½
274 273 P Sai Dugra Rahul 0 10
275 279 Soondaringh Aditi 0
276 255 Rajesh Handa 1611 2 11
277 267 Jain Shrishti 0 2 9
278 259 Pavit Singh 1433 2 7
279 261 Ali Shanmah Ayoob 0 2 7
280 274 Priyam Chaliha 0 7
281 260 Akash Langer 0 1 3
282 271 Kenmure Jamie 0 0 0

8) First Saturday December

The First Saturday tournaments for December takes place 1st-11th December 2007.

Official site: http://www.firstsaturday.hu/

FSGM December Budapest (HUN), 1-9 xii 2007 cat. VIII (2432)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Ilincic, Zlatko g SRB 2545 * . 0 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 2662
2. Kosic, Dragan g MNE 2482 . * 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 6 2604
3. Zhao Zong-Yuan m AUS 2491 1 0 * . ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 6 2613
4. Bui Vinh m VIE 2461 0 ½ . * 0 0 1 1 1 1 2463
5. Rajlich, Iweta m POL 2411 0 ½ ½ 1 * . 1 ½ . ½ 4 2494
6. Kosanovic, Goran A g SRB 2400 ½ ½ 0 1 . * 0 . ½ ½ 3 2394
7. Paschall, William M m USA 2352 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 * ½ ½ . 2306
8. Payen, Arnaud m FRA 2398 0 ½ 0 0 ½ . ½ * ½ ½ 2298
9. Kaufman, Raymond f USA 2393 0 0 0 0 . ½ ½ ½ * 1 2298
10. Pesotsky, Vitaly m UKR 2384 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ . ½ 0 * 2196


FSIM December Budapest (HUN), 1-11 xii 2007 cat. I (2264)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
1. Kahn, Evarth m HUN 2314 * ½ ½ 1 . . ½ 1 1 . 1 2494
2. Boguszlavszkij, Jevgenyij m HUN 2304 ½ * ½ 1 ½ 1 . . 0 1 1 2407
3. Vegh, Endre m HUN 2303 ½ ½ * 1 . . ½ ½ . 1 ½ 2369
4. Cooke, Eric USA 2253 0 0 0 * . 1 1 1 1 . ½ 2302
5. Werner, Dimo m GER 2346 . ½ . . * 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 2240
6. Szabo, Bence HUN 2160 . 0 . 0 1 * ½ . ½ 1 . 3 2268
7. Lengyel, Bela m HUN 2263 ½ . ½ 0 ½ ½ * . ½ ½ . 3 2210
8. Rapport, Richard HUN 2197 0 . ½ 0 1 . . * . ½ ½ 2235
9. Adams, Nick A USA 2220 0 1 . 0 0 ½ ½ . * ½ . 2164
10. Lenz, Alarich AUT 2227 . 0 0 . ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 2122
11. Horvath, Andras f HUN 2312 0 0 ½ ½ 0 . . ½ . ½ * 2 2119

9) Eupen IM Norm Tournament

The Eupen IM Norm Tournament taks place 7th-15th December 2007 and is organised by the Chess Federation of German-speaking Belgium, with the support of Belgian Federal chess. The time rate is 40 move in 100 minutes plus 30 seconds per move. For the rest of the game 50 minutes plus 30 seconds per move.

Official site: http://www.chess-international.de/ticker/0belgien_normenturnier/index.html

SVDB IM Norm Eupen BEL (BEL), 7-15 xii 2007 cat. VI (2376)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Meessen, Rudolf f BEL 2303 * . ½ . . . . 1 . 1 2597
2. Braun, Christian2 GER 2296 . * . ½ . ½ 1 . . . 2 2573
3. Ahn, Martin f BEL 2309 ½ . * . ½ . . . . 1 2 2495
4. Berelovich, Aleksandar g UKR 2595 . ½ . * ½ . . . . 1 2 2492
5. Petkov, Vladimir g BUL 2508 . . ½ ½ * . ½ . . . 2400
6. Roeder, Mathias m GER 2452 . ½ . . . * . ½ ½ . 2331
7. Litwak, Aleksej f GER 2298 . 0 . . ½ . * . 1 . 2379
8. Gulbas, Cemil f BEL 2365 0 . . . . ½ . * ½ . 1 2237
9. Hautot, Stephane f BEL 2333 . . . . . ½ 0 ½ * . 1 2246
10. Philipowski, Robert f GER 2299 0 . 0 0 . . . . . * 0

10) Austrian League

The Austrian Bundesliga got underway 30th November 1st-2nd December 2007 in Baden with the first three rounds. News: Marko Siil.

Details: http://www.chess.at/staatsligen/stl_a.htm and http://www.chess-results.com/tnr6376.aspx?lan=0

Austrian Bundesliga Round 3 Standings
Rg. Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Wtg1 Wtg2 Wtg3
1 SK Hohenems * 3                 12,0 7 0
2 Holz Dohr 3 * 4                 11,5 7 0
3 Mayrhofen/Zillertal   2 *       4       5   11,0 6 0
4 SK Advisory Invest Baden       *           10,5 9 0
5 ASVÖ Wulkaprodersdorf       *     4     3   9,5 4 1
6 SK Kl.Ztg.MPÖ Maria Saal           *   3     4 9,5 4 1
7 Union Ansfelden     2       *       9,0 6 0
8 SK Absam       2   *         8,0 3 0
9 Styria Graz         3     * 3     7,5 2 0
10 SC Die Klagenfurter             3 *     7,0 1 0
11 RbEJ Gleisdorf     1   3         *   6,5 1 0
12 ASVÖ Pamhagen       2           * 6,0 0 0

11) Fecerj International

The Fecerj International took place in Rio de Janeiro 25th November - 3rd December 2007. Ruben Felgaer won the event with a 2700 performance. However the last three rounds are missing and I couldn't find a final table.

Official site: http://www.fexerj.com.br/index2.htm

I FEXERJ Rio de Janeiro BRA (BRA), 25 xi-3 xii 2007 cat. VIII (2439)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Felgaer, Ruben g ARG 2539 * 0 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 2700
2. Cubas, Jose Fernando m PAR 2448 1 * 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 2603
3. Rodriguez Vila, Andres g URU 2541 0 1 * 0 ½ 0 1 1 1 1 2507
4. Fier, Alexandr g BRA 2516 0 0 1 * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 2510
5. Bittencourt, Jorge f BRA 2448 0 ½ ½ ½ * 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 5 2480
6. Stamenkovic, Dragan m SRB 2417 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 1 5 2484
7. Di Berardino, Diego Rafael m BRA 2430 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * 0 1 1 2439
8. Limp, Eduardo Thelio m BRA 2405 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 1 * 0 1 3 2317
9. Teixeira, Ricardo da Silva f BRA 2397 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 * ½ 2170
10. Santa Cruz, Arthur BRA 2247 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ * 1 2109

12) Rijeka Open

The "Mediterranean 2013" Open chess tournament took place in Rijeka Croatia, 25th November - 2nd December 2007. Zoran Jovanovic won the event on tie-break with 7/9 ahead of Aleksandar Kovacevic and Boris Chatalbashev. Round 8 games now available.

Official site: http://www.mediteran2013.com/en/default.asp

Mediterranean 2013" Open Rijeka Croatia Final Round 9 Standings:
Rk. Name Typ   FED RtgI Pts. TB1 TB2 Rp
1 CRO Jovanovic Zoran   GM CRO 2549 7,0 43,0 55,0 2617
2 SRB Kovacevic Aleksandar   GM SRB 2554 7,0 41,0 52,0 2666
3 BUL Chatalbashev Boris   GM BUL 2581 7,0 40,5 52,0 2622
4 SRB Sedlak Nikola   GM SRB 2605 6,5 43,5 54,5 2616
5 CRO Jovanic Ognjen   GM CRO 2492 6,5 41,5 52,5 2616
6 CRO Palac Mladen   GM CRO 2567 6,5 41,5 52,0 2577
7 CRO Cebalo Miso S60 GM CRO 2550 6,5 40,0 51,5 2532
8 SLO Sebenik Matej   IM SLO 2484 6,5 38,5 49,5 2495
9 CRO Sulava Nenad   GM CRO 2521 6,5 38,5 49,5 2499
10 BIH Saric Ibro   GM BIH 2541 6,5 38,0 49,5 2548
11 SRB Drazic Sinisa   GM SRB 2493 6,5 35,5 45,5 2484
12 SRB Miladinovic Igor   GM SRB 2603 6,0 43,0 54,5 2577
13 CRO Saric Ante   GM CRO 2441 6,0 42,5 53,5 2532
14 CRO Fercec Nenad   GM CRO 2487 6,0 38,0 49,0 2465
15 CRO Bosiocic Marin   IM CRO 2491 6,0 37,5 48,5 2491
16 CRO Zufic Miroslav   IM CRO 2452 6,0 37,5 48,0 2441
17 CRO Rukavina Josip S60 IM CRO 2393 6,0 35,0 45,0 2367
18 CRO Fucak Emilijo   FM CRO 2296 6,0 33,5 42,5 2295
19 CRO Cvitan Ognjen   GM CRO 2543 5,5 39,5 50,5 2416
20 CRO Ljubicic Filip   IM CRO 2480 5,5 39,0 49,5 2398
21 RUS Sudakova Irina   WGM RUS 2326 5,5 38,5 48,5 2419
22 NED Grooten Herman   IM NED 2350 5,5 38,0 47,5 2358
23 CRO Brumen Dinko   IM CRO 2402 5,5 36,5 47,0 2279
  CRO Muslija Idris     CRO 2251 5,5 36,5 47,0 2355
25 CRO Ramesa Davor   FM CRO 2308 5,5 36,5 46,5 2328
26 SLO Skoberne Jure   IM SLO 2484 5,5 36,0 47,0 2386
27 ITA Bellia Fabrizio   IM ITA 2392 5,5 36,0 46,5 2267
28 NED Schuurman Petra   FM NED 2281 5,5 35,0 44,5 2350
29 CRO Muhvic Damir     CRO 2249 5,5 34,5 43,5 2352
30 GER Hirneise Tobias U18   GER 2287 5,5 33,5 43,5 2325
31 CRO Ribicic Mate     CRO 2225 5,5 33,0 41,5 2267
32 CRO Tomljanovic Goran     CRO 2127 5,5 31,5 40,5 2219
33 BIH Sutkovic Damir     BIH 2318 5,5 29,5 38,0 2193
34 ITA Valenti Giuseppe   FM ITA 2207 5,5 28,0 37,5 2202
111 players

13) Festival Internacional de Xadrez Americana

The Festival Internacional de Xadrez Americana (Brasil) takes place 4th-11th December, 2007

Official site: http://www.fpx.com.br/

Festival Internacional de Xadrez Americana BRA (BRA), 4-9 xii 2007 cat. VII (2413)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Leitao, Rafael g BRA 2601 * ½ ½ 1 1 . 1 1 . 1 6 2674
2. Rodriguez Vila, Andres g URU 2541 ½ * 0 ½ . 1 1 . 1 1 5 2566
3. Stamenkovic, Dragan m SRB 2417 ½ 1 * . ½ 0 . ½ 1 1 2529
4. Mekhitarian, Krikor Sevag m BRA 2428 0 ½ . * . 1 ½ ½ 1 1 2514
5. Perdomo, Leandro m ARG 2391 0 . ½ . * ½ 1 ½ 1 0 2395
6. Fier, Alexandr g BRA 2516 . 0 1 0 ½ * . 1 0 1 2389
7. Oliveira, Silvio Eduardo BRA 2286 0 0 . ½ 0 . * 1 ½ 1 3 2365
8. Tsuboi, Edson Kenji f BRA 2334 0 . ½ ½ ½ 0 0 * ½ . 2 2283
9. Cubas, Jose Fernando m PAR 2448 . 0 0 0 0 1 ½ ½ * . 2 2258
10. Da Silva, Alessandro Rodrigues BRA 2164 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 . . * 1 2145

14) World Youth Championships Story

http://www.chessvibes.com/ have a story of monumental misjudgement by the appeals committee of Zurab Azmaiparashvili, Florencio Campomanes and Georgios Makropoulos from the World Youth Championships getting a 14 year old boy out of bed at 23:00 to continue a game, something that should NEVER have crossed anyone's mind to do. To be fair the trainers of both the players involved should have flat out refused to contemplate such nonesense either. Breakfast was the time to deal with any appeals. People would simply have had to wait for the corrected pairings.

Story: http://www.chessvibes.com/?p=1434 - http://schaakfabriek.be

15) Forthcoming Events and Links

83rd Hastings International Congress

The Celebration 83rd Hastings International Congress takes place 28 December 2007 to 6 January 2008. This includes a 10 round Master Swiss, and an open FIDE Rated tournament 5-6 January. Celebrating what? The lives of the many people who have died within the past four years, who have so enriched the chess scene with their work.

Full details http://www.hastingschess.org.uk/ Contact: Con Power conpowr@aol.com

83rd Hastings International Congress 28 xii 2007 - 6 i 2008
MALAKHATKO Vadim BEL gm 2603
CHATALBASHEV Boris BUL gm 2581
GEORGIEV Vladimir MKD gm 2576
MAMEDOV Nidjat AZE gm 2575
JONES Gawain ENG gm 2567
NEVEROV Valeriy UKR gm 2558
HEBDEN Mark ENG gm 2542
CONQUEST Stuart ENG gm 2540
TAHIROV Farhad AZE gm 2540
PERT Nicholas ENG gm 2539
PAVLOVIC Milos SRB gm 2536
HOWELL David ENG gm 2527
HASLINGER Stewart ENG gm 2502
LALIC Bogdan CRO gm 2500
FLEAR Glenn ENG gm 2493
ELTAJ Safarli AZE im 2487
GORMALLY Daniel ENG gm 2484
WILLIAMS Simon ENG im 2475
SENGUPTA Deep IND im 2447
SIMUTOWE Amon ZAM gmc 2446
GREET Andrew ENG im 2441
ROY CHOWDHURY Saptarshi IND im 2418
CIUKSYTE Dagne ENG im/wgm 2411
HOUSKA Jovanka ENG im/wgm 2404
SATYAPRAGYAN Swayangsu IND im 2404
COLLINS SAM IRL im 2401

Gibtelecom Chess Festival 2008

The 6th edition of Gibraltar's Gibtelecom Chess Festival will be held from 22nd-31st January 2008 at the Caleta Hotel, one of Gibraltar's best hotels. In previous years players of the quality of Alexei Shirov, Michael Adams and Nigel Short have played in the Masters section. Usually the Masters field includes at least 30 grandmasters. In 2008 the first prize in the Masters has gone up to £12,000 and the tournament is so strong at the top that it even offers a £2,000 prize for the best score by a player rated under 2600 (we think that might be unique worldwide) as well as the same amount for other rating categories down to sub-2200. There is also big money to be won in the Under 2250 (£1,500 first prize) and Under 1850 (£1,000 first prize) events. Even the relatively light-hearted evening events (which cost nothing to enter) have a combined prize fund of £1,200.

Full details and entry form: http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/

6th Gibraltar Gibtelecom Chess Festival 22-31 i 2008
Grischuk Alexander RUS GM 2715
Wang Yue CHN GM 2703
Bu Xiang CHN GM 2692
Bologan Viktor MDA GM 2657
Georgiev Kiril BUL GM 2649
Nakamura Hikaru USA GM 2648
Beliavsky Alexander SLO GM 2646
Socko Bartosz POL GM 2646
Pengxiang Zhang CHN GM 2644
Hao Wang CHN GM 2643
Ni Hua CHN GM 2641
Areshchenko Alexander UKR GM 2638
Efimenko Zahar UKR GM 2624
Fridman Daniel GER GM 2621
Pelletier Yannick SUI GM 2609
Petrosian Tigran ARM GM 2604
Mikhalevski Victor ISR GM 2598
Malakhatko Vadim BEL GM 2596
Berg Emanuel SWE GM 2593
Sandipan Chanda IND GM 2593
Agdestein Simen SWE GM 2589
Akobian Varuzhan USA GM 2585
Ganguly SS IND GM 2585
Modiahki Mohamed QAT GM 2572
Jones Gawain ENG GM 2567
Persson Tiger SWE GM 2567
Felgaer Ruben ARG GM 2539
Chen Zhu QAT GM 2531
Cramling Pia SWE GM 2531
Zhao Xue CHN IMe 2530
Sulskis Sarunas LTU GM 2527
Gopal GN IND GMe 2520
Cabrera Alexis COL GM 2499
Speelman Jon ENG GM 2492
Dronavalli Harika IND IM 2480
Socko Monika POL IM 2473
Mohamed Al Sayed QTR IM 2469
Muzychuk Anna SLO WGM 2469
Cmylite Victoria LTU IM 2464
Stefanova Antoaneta BUL GM 2463
Zatonskih Anna USA IM 2458
Paehtz Elisabeth GER IM 2452
Zhukova Natalia UKR WGM 2452
Shen Ying CHN WGM 2450
Greet Andrew ENG IM 2441
Bellon Juan ESP GM 2434
Dzagnidze Nana GEO IM 2416
Van Haastert Edwin NED IM 2414
Butnorius Algimentas LTU GM 2413
Sachdev Tania IND WGM 2413
Houska Jovanka ENG IM 2404
Hammer Jon Ludvig NOR FM 2402
Bellin Robert ENG IM 2400
Nisha Mohota IND WGM 2398
Rendle Thomas ENG IM 2397
Foisor Ovidiu ROU IM 2397
Milliet Sophie FRA IM 2395
Foisor Cristina ROU IM 2388

Corus Wijk aan Zee 2008

The field for the 2008 Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee has been announced at http://www.coruschess.com Five of the top 6 in the world are playing including the new World Champion Anand and new World number 2 Ivanchuk. Also Kramnik and Gelfand who finished 2nd in Mexico City. The full field for all tournaments is now available.

The Corus Chess Tournament 2008 will be held from 11-27 January 2008 in Wijk aan Zee. The tournament venue is the De Moriaan Community Centre

Corus Wijk aan Zee 2008 A-Group 11th-27th January 2008
Name Year of birth Rating W rnk
GM Viswanathan Anand 1969 2801 1
GM Vassily Ivanchuk 1969 2787 2
GM Vladimir Kramnik 1975 2785 3
GM Veselin Topalov 1975 2769 4
GM Peter Leko 1979 2755 5
GM Shakhryar Mamedyarov 1985 2752 7
GM Teymour Radjabov 1987 2742 8
GM Levon Aronian 1982 2741 9
GM Boris Gelfand 1968 2736 11
GM Michael Adams 1971 2729 13
GM Magnus Carlsen 1990 2714 17
GM Judit Polgar 1976 2708 20
GM Pavel Eljanov 1983 2681 30
GM Loek van Wely 1972 2680 32
Average rating: 2741 (based on October figures) Category: 20

Corus Wijk aan Zee 2008 B-Group 11th-27th January 2008
  Name Country Rating
GM Etienne Bacrot FRA 2695
GM Gabriel Sargissian ARM 2673
GM Ivan Cheparinov BUL 2670
GM Sergey Movsesian SLK 2670
GM Pentala Harikrishna IND 2668
GM Michal Krasenkow POL 2668
GM Nigel Short ENG 2649
GM Daniel Stellwagen NED 2639
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS 2611
GM Koneru Humpy IND 2606
GM Erwin l'Ami NED 2577
GM Jan Smeets NED 2558
WGM Hou Yifan CHI 2502
IM Wouter Spoelman NED 2445
Average rating: 2617 (based on October figures) Category: 15

Corus Wijk aan Zee 2008 C-Group 11th-27th January 2008
Name (Country) Birth year Rating
GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko (Ukraine) 1978 2651
GM Fabiano Caruana (Italy) 1992 2594
GM Friso Nijboer (Netherlands) 1965 2559
IM Arik Braun (Germany) 1988 2541
GM Parimarjan Negi (India) 1993 2514
GM Dimitri Reinderman (Netherlands) 1972 2510
GM Efstratios Grivas (Greece) 1966 2509
GM John van der Wiel (Netherlands) 1959 2496
WGM Anna Ushenina (Ukraine) 1985 2486
GM Pontus Carlsson (Sweden) 1982 2481
WGM Irina Krush (USA) 1983 2475
GM Zhaoqin Peng (Netherlands) 1968 2419
IM Mark van der Werf (Netherlands) 1968 2389
Dennis Ruijgrok (Netherlands) 1985 2330
Average rating: 2497 (based on October figures) Category: 10

Corus Wijk aan Zee 2008 Honorary group 18th-27th January 2008 January 2008
  Name Country Rating
GM Viktor Kortchnoi SUI 2611
GM Jan Timman NED 2559
GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic SRB 2550
GM Lajos Portisch HUN 2530
Average rating: 2563 (based on October figures) Category: 13

25th Bled Chess Festival

The 25th Chess Festival BLED takes place 23rd February - 2nd March 2008 (the main event finishes 1st March which allows participation in other events around that time).

Details: http://www.sah-zveza.si/bled/2008/

2nd ACP World Rapid Cup

The PIVDENNY Bank carries out the 2nd ACP World Rapid Cup in Odessa, Ukraine in January 4-7, 2008. The prize fund of the tournament is 136,000$. 16 players are participating. Dmitry Jakovenko, Vassily Ivanchuk, Peter Leko, Teimour Radjabov, Evgeny Najer, Sergey Karjakin, Peter Svidler, Alexander Shabalov, Pavel Eljanov, Ernesto Inarkiev, Boris Savchenko, Alexei Shirov, and Boris Gelfand have qualified via the ACP Tour, while Anatoly Karpov, Judit Polgar, and Yuri Drozdovskij received wild cards from the organizers. The standings for the ACP Tour 2006/07 are available at http://chess-players.org/eng/tour/tour_2006/standings.html. The official site of the event: http://worldcup.pivdenny.com/ru/

74th Brazilian Championship

The 74th Brazilian Championship takes place in Rio de Janeiro 14th-22nd December, 2007. 12 players Prize Fund US$ 6.000,00.

Players: GM Giovanni Vescovi, GM Rafael Leitão, GM Gilberto Milos, IM Herman Claudius, IM Krikor Mekhitarian, IM André Diamant, IM Everaldo Matsuura, IM Diego Di Berardino, FM Roberto Molina, FM Jorge Bittencourt (new IM), Roberto Calheiros and Yago Santiago

Official site: http://www.fexerj.com.br/index2.htm

Coulsdon Christmas International

The Coulsdon Christmas International takes place 21st-22nd December 2007. They have taken the ambitious step of deciding to run a 2nd IM norm International plus a 2nd Challengers event alongside the first ones. They are still looking for FMs who want to play. In addition the organiser may also be short of an IM.

Scott Freeman at chess@ccfworld.com would like to hear from anyone who may be interested in taking part in these events.

Details: http://www.ccfworld.com/Chess/Results/2007-12-21_International.htm

Slovenian Women's Tour

The Slovenian Women's Tour took place 29th November - 8th December 2007.

Official site: http://www.sah-zveza.si/rez/0711/si07lgdw/

Russian Championship Superfinals

The Russian Championship Superfinals take place 17th-30th December 2007.

According to Chess Today the players are: Men: Alekseev, Amonatov, Vitjugov, Grischuk, Dreev, Inarkiev, Morozevich, Rychagov, Svidler, Timofeev, Tomashevsky, Jakovenko. Women: Galliamova, Gunina, Matveeva, Kovalevskaya, Korbut, N.Kosintseva, T.Kosintseva, Kosteniuk, Ovod, Stepovaya, Tairova, Shadrina.

50th Reggio Emilia

The 50th "Torneo di Capodanno" in Reggio Emilia takes place December 29th 2007 - January 6th 2008. The tournament was created by Enrico Paoli, who organized it for many many years. The tournament will be played, as usual, in Hotel Astoria Mercure, with rounds starting at 2.30 pm (last round at 10.30 am). XVI FIDE cathegory, elo 2635 chief director Mrs Franca Dapiran. Main sponsors UNIPOL spa, STUDIO ALFA spa, VANETON srl, and ORLANDINI srl. Official commentator GM Croato Miso Cebalo.

Official site: http://www.ippogrifoscacchi.it

50th "Torneo di Capodanno" Reggio Emilia
December 29th 2007 - January 6th 2008
1 GM ALMASI ZOLTAN 2691 HUN
2 GM LANDA KONSTANTIN 2678 RUS
3 GM HARIKRISHNA PENTALA 2668 IND
4 GM GASHIMOV VUGAR 2663 AZE
5 GM NAVARA DAVID 2656 CZE
6 GM TIVJAKOV SERGEJ 2643 NED
7 GM NI HUA 2641 CHI
8 GM KORCHNOI VIKTOR 2611 SWI
9 GM MARIN MIHAIL 2551 ROM
10 GM GODENA MICHELE 2535 ITA

British Rapidplay

The British Rapidplay Chess Championships took place 17th-18th November 2007 at the North Bridge Leisure Centre, Halifax. 1st - G.M.Peter Wells 9.5 /11 2nd- G.M.Mark Hebden 9 /11 3rd- G.M.Stewart Haslinger 8.5/11. I will try and round the games and fuller results up next week.

The event British Rapidplay Chess 2008 takes place November 29th-30th 2008.

Official site: http://www.british-rapidplay.org.uk/

John Watson's Book Show

Regular TWIC contributer John Watson has a book radio show on chess.fm on Tuesdays. This week Larry Christiansen appears. You can catch the show by signing up for ICC trial membership. Link: http://www.chessclub.com/chessfm/

XX Carlos Torre Memorial

The XX Carlos Torre Memorial takes place in Mérida, Yucatán, México 15th-23rd December 2007.

Details: http://www.idey.gob.mx/ct2008.htm

13th Euro Chessweek in Leutersdorf

The 13th Euro Chessweek in Leutersdorf (Germany) takes place 3rd-7th February 2008.

http://www.scoberland.de/

Dutch Team Championship

The Dutch Team Championships take place 15th September 2007 - 17th May 2008.

Links: Dutch Chess Federation: http://www.schaakbond.nl/ - Meesterklasse Games side bar at: http://www.schakers.info/

Corus Wijk aan Zee 2008

The field for the 2008 Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee has been announced at http://www.coruschess.com Five of the top 6 in the world are playing including the new World Champion Anand and new World number 2 Ivanchuk. Also Kramnik and Gelfand who finished 2nd in Mexico City.

The Corus Chess Tournament 2008 will be held from 11-27 January 2008 in Wijk aan Zee. The tournament venue is the De Moriaan Community Centre

Corus Wijk aan Zee 2008 A-Group 11th-27th January 2008
Name Year of birth Rating W rnk
GM Viswanathan Anand 1969 2801 1
GM Vassily Ivanchuk 1969 2787 2
GM Vladimir Kramnik 1975 2785 3
GM Veselin Topalov 1975 2769 4
GM Peter Leko 1979 2755 5
GM Shakhryar Mamedyarov 1985 2752 7
GM Teymour Radjabov 1987 2742 8
GM Levon Aronian 1982 2741 9
GM Boris Gelfand 1968 2736 11
GM Michael Adams 1971 2729 13
GM Magnus Carlsen 1990 2714 17
GM Judit Polgar 1976 2708 20
GM Pavel Eljanov 1983 2681 30
GM Loek van Wely 1972 2680 32
Average rating: 2741 (based on October figures) Category: 20

Corus Wijk aan Zee 2008 B-Group 11th-27th January 2008
GM Etienne Bacrot FRA 2695
GM Gabriel Sargissian ARM 2673
GM Ivan Cheparinov BUL 2670
GM. Sergey Movsesian SLO 2670
GM Pentala Harikrishna IND 2668
GM Michal Krasenkow POL 2668
GM Nigel Short ENG 2649
GM Daniel Stellwagen NED 2639
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS 2611
GM Koneru Humpy IND 2606
GM Erwin l'Ami NED 2577
GM Jan Smeets NED 2558
WGM Hou Yifan CHI 2502
IM Wouter Spoelman NED 2445
Average rating : 2617 Category : 15

Corus Wijk aan Zee Participants honorary four-event match 2008
Name Year of birth Rating CCT victories
GM Viktor Kortchnoi 1931 2611 4
GM Lajos Portisch 1937 2530 4
GM Jan Timman 1951 2559 2
GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic 1950 2550 1

Anand Interview at Internet Chess Club

There is an interview with Viswanathan Anand at the Internet Chess Club on the occasion of the Indian festival "Diwali". Internet Chess Club's Chess.fm India presents an exclusive Interview with World Champion Viswanathan Anand. As special tribute, ICC http://www.chessclub.com has made an exclusive coverage of Anand's world championship triumph in Mexico followed by a historic reception in his hometown of Chennai. The Diwali special treat is available at http://webcast.chessclub.com/India/Macauley/Anand_interview.html & http://www.chessclub.com/chessfm/India.asx

XXI Benidorm Open

The XXI Open Internacional de Ajedrez Villa de Benidorm 2008 Benidorm organised an international tournament 1977 till 1995 now it has returned second year. The event takes place 25nd April - 4st May 2008 (10 rounds). 35.000 Euros in prizes. Information: Mr. Alfonso Vilches Tel: +34 695 91 56 78. E-mail: open@chessbenidorm.com

Official site: http://www.chessbenidorm.com

Chess Classic Mainz 2008

The schedule for Chess Classic Mainz 2008 is now available. The event takes place 21st-28th July 2008 in Mainz/Germany.

In addition there is a Chess Classic Calendar for the next year, which will be available in the first week of December. It is a big format (420 x 594 mm) and shows the stars and the biggest moments of the 14 years tournament history. The copies are limited to 200 (39,- Euro plus delivery) plus 64 with an autograph of World Champion Vishy Anand (48,- Euro plus delivery). Contact for order: juergen.wienecke@chesstigers.de

Further details: http://www.chesstigers.de

16th Donau Open

The 16th Donau Open takes place 26th-31st December 2007

Further details: http://www.aschach.at/schach/

Icelandic Rapid Championships

The Icelandic Rapid Championships took place 18th-20th October 2007. Bragi and Björn Þorfinnsson will meet in the final in December which be on TV in Iceland.

Official site: http://www.skaksamband.is/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=5661&Itemid=387

Games Festival Halkidiki 2008

Games Festival is a mass event organized for the third year in Halkidiki, Greece 28th April - 6th May 2008. The festival includes series of tournaments & exhibitions in prestigious sports like, chess, billiards, bridge, darts, streetbasketball and popular table games like scrabble, strategic games, pc games etc.

Official site: http://www.gamesfestival.com/

28th Bethune Open

The Bethune chess club is preparing his 28th International Open, Hall Olof Palme, Commercial centre La Rotonde, Bethune, France (Pas-de-Calais) from December 26 to 30. 9 rounds The tournament is divided in 2 tournaments: - Tournament A for players whose Elo rating is above or equal to 1600, 1st price : 1500 euros - Tournament B for players strictly below 1900, 1st price : 400 euros, Fischer pace 1h30+30s KO for each game in both tournaments. At least 6000 euros of prices, prices for Elo categories in both tournaments. Inscription fee : 40 euros (adults), 20 euros (youngsters under 20), free for IM, GM and FIDE Masters. Conditions for IM and GM and special conditions for GM>2600, contact us at open@bethunechess.com

For more information visit: http://www.bethunechess.com

Harmonie Chess Tournament

The Harmonie Chess Tournament takes place 21st-30th December 2007.

Official site: http://www.so-on.org/kerst2007/2007eng.html

XVII Pampona International

The XVII Pampona International takes place 21st-29th December 2007.

Details: http://www.chesspamplona.com/

Pamplona Masters 21-29 xii 2007. Category XVII
1 GM WANG Yue 2703 CHN
2 GM SARGISSIAN Gabriel 2673 ARM
3 GM MOVSESIAN Sergei 2670 SVK
4 GM VALLEJO PONS Francisco 2660 ESP
5 GM BELIAVSKY Alexander G 2646 SLO
6 GM JOBAVA Baadur 2644 GEO
7 GM RODSHTEIN Maxim 2615 ISR
8 GM KHAMRAKULOV Ibragim S 2604 ESP

Czech Chess Christmas 2007

The Czech Chess Christmas 2007 tournament takes place in Litomysl (CZE) 26th December 2007 - 1st January 2008

9th christmas chess FIDE tournament, swiss system of 9 round, rate of game 2 x 1,5h + 30s/move, prize fund 64.000 CZK (1st prize 20.000 CZK = 700 EUR), special conditions for IM, WGM and GM, New Year’s Eve programme. Contact: Proclient s.r.o., Jaroslav Fuksik, Svedska 3, 772 00 Olomouc, mobile: +420 608 364 664, e-mail: a64@proclient.cz,

Further details: http://www.a64.cz/tournaments/litomysl2007/

Hungarian Chess Tournaments October 2007 - March 2008

1. 6th-19th of October 2007 FIRST SATURDAY Budapest GM-IM-FM, GM-IM-FM round robins (BERGER), 9 -13 games, GM-IM norm possibilities in Budapest, venue: Hungarian Chess Federation, Falk Miksa Str.10. 2nd floor. Organisation: Nagy Laszlo, FIDE International Chess Organizer /NL/, E-mail: firstsat@hu.inter.net Website: http://www.firstsaturday.hu Other website: http://home.hu.inter.net/~firstsat Phone-fax: +(361)-2632859, cellphone: +(36)-30-230-1914 /From 12:00 a.m. until midnight - Central European Time = GMT+1/

2. 24th-31st of October, HÉVÍZ Open - 200 km West from Budapest, 9 rounds Swiss, org: IM Rigo, http://www.lellechess.tar.hu

3. 22nd-30th of October KECSKEMET, IM Berger tmt, org: Dr.Erdelyi, Tamas, e-mail: postmaster@caissa.t-online.hu

Website: http://www.caissachessbooks.hu Usually also in the second half of the month IM tmt-s in Kecskemet. 100 km South-East from Budapest.

4. 3rd-15th of November, FS GM-IM-FM Budapest, org.:NL

5. 15th-23rd of November, XXXI. TENKES CUP, 9 round Swiss Open, Harkany, 300 km South-West from Budapest, org: Mr.FULOP, Csaba, e-mail: fulopcsa@invitel.hu

Website:http://www.baranyasakk.hu/index.php?cat=naptar&id=3&age=0&vid=15⟨=hu&det=12

6. 1st-13th of December, FS GM-IM-FM, Budapest, org.NL

7. 15th-21st of Dec, Kecskemet, IM tmt

8. 27th Dec- 5th Jan Kecskemet IM tmt,

9. 11th-19th of January 2008 Open in Budapest, Season opening, org: IA FAZEKAS, György, e-mail: srcolonel@freemail.hu

10. 19th-28th of January - IM tmt, Kecskemet

11. 2nd-15th of February - First Saturday Budapest,

12. 16th-25th of February - IM tmt Kecskemet,

13. 1st-13rd of March - First Saturday Budapest,

14. 21st-29th of March - Budapest Spring Festival Open, org.: Nagy Laszlo

Halkidiki Chess Festival 2008

The Halkidiki Chess Festival takes place in Kallithea, 28th April - 5 May 2008.

The Organizing Committee of the Halkdiki Chess Festival 2008. Tel/fax: +30 2310 865778 - e-mail: teotsorb@otenet.gr V.Olgas 285, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Official site: http://www.gamesfestival.com/

4th Singapore International Chess Convention

4th Singapore International Chess Convention, 16 - 22 December 2007: - Singapore Masters 2007 - Seminar for Coaches - Seminar for Arbiters The offical website of the organiser is the website of the Singapore Chess Federation:

Official site: http://www.singaporechess.org.sg

Computer Chess Events

On Saturday 29th September will take place the 1st AICA Man-Machine Match, Accademia Due Torri, Bologna, Italy. Delfi, current italian computer champion, will play FM Nicolò Ronchetti, who has just scored his third IM norm. Time control: Ronchetti 2 hours, Delfi 10 seconds per move. The game will be relayed on PlayChess, from 10:00 (CET). Site: http://e4e6.com/g6. On the same place, on 29 and 30 September will take place the 2nd Chess Computer Cup, also valid as 7th italian computer chess championship (CIPS 2007). 7 rounds, around 20 players. First two boards will be relayed on PlayChess, from 13:00 (CET).

Moscow Open 2008

The 4th International Chess Festival Moscow Open 2008 takes place 2nd-10th February 2008. Venue - the Russian State Social University. Minimal gartanted prize fund of full festival is RUR 5 000 000 (nearly EUR 150 000 or USD 200 000, two times more than in 2007!) There are Open “A” (for all, 1st prize RUR 500 000 - also possible to play 6- or 7 days like last two years), Open “B” (<2300, 1st RUR 150 000), Women Open (new! 1st prize RUR 150 000), open tournaments for school chidrens (qualify for World School Ch). Conditions for GMs 2600+ and best rated women GMs will be given probably, for GMs 2550+ it’s still unclear. More details in the middle of September. Some days later (13-22.2) “Aeroflot Open 2008” will start. As preparation to the World Mind Games in China – 2008 there are probably "Moscow Open Mind Games 2008" - Chess 960, Bridge, Go, Shogi, Damen tournaments etc. Some days later (13-22.2) “Aeroflot Open 2008” will start.

Contact: wlct06@gmail.com

Further details: http://www.chess-events.org

Etienne Bacrot's Website

Etienne Bacrot has a website at: http://www.chess22.fr/ giving news about himself, some comments on recent events including the World Championships in Mexico City etc. Worth check out.

1st South Bohemia Open

1st SOUTH BOHEMIA OPEN 2007 International Chess Festival which takes place in one of the most beautiful Czech towns – Cesky Krumlov on 13.-20.10. 2007. Open FIDE, active chess and blitz tournament are part of the festival.

Details: http://www.czechtour.net/south-bohemia-open/

32nd Kings Head Rapidplay

The 32nd Kings Head Rapidplay takes place Saturday 5 April 2008 start time 11:00, details below: 6-round Swiss rapidplay (30 minutes), prize fund £700

The Porchester Hall Porchester Road Bayswater London W2 5HS

Contact: Colin Mackenzie 9 Allan Way Acton London W3 0PW 020 8992 1849 colin.mackenzie@atosorigin.com

Further details; http://www.khcc.org.uk

Baltic Sea Cup

The Baltic Sea Cup (Bornholm, Denmark) took place July 30th - August 5th 2007. Reynaldo Vera and Allan Stig Rasmussen finished on 7.5/9. A games file is on its way from the organisers.

Details: http://www.bornholms-skakklub.dk/balticseacup07/

 
Baltic Sea Cup July 30th - August 5th 2007
Standing
--------

No        Name                              Fed ELO  Nat  # Points
  1 - 2   GM Reynaldo Vera Gonzalez-Quevedo     2479          7.5
  1 - 2   FM Allan Stig Rasmussen               2450 2451     7.5
  3 - 5   GM Igor Khenkin                       2602          7
  3 - 5   GM Eduardas Rozentalis                2551          7
  3 - 5   GM Jonny Hector                       2550 2550     7
  6 - 9   GM Vadim Malakhatko                   2596          6.5
  6 - 9   GM Sune Berg Hansen                   2574 2580     6.5
  6 - 9   GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson              2568 2568     6.5
  6 - 9   IM Thorbjørn Bromann                  2413 2414     6.5
 10 - 20  GM Boris Savchenko                    2577          6
 10 - 20  GM Sergey Kasparov                    2500          6
 10 - 20  IM Kim Pilgaard                       2448 2453     6
 10 - 20  IM Jens Kristiansen                   2436 2439     6
 10 - 20  IM Jacob Vang Glud                    2435 2434     6
 10 - 20  GM Carsten Høi                        2422 2427     6
 10 - 20  Esben Lund                            2396 2408     6
 10 - 20  Ashwin Jayaram                        2399          6
 10 - 20  FM Jorge Cabrera Trujillo             2324          6
 10 - 20  FM Jake Kleiman                       2312          6
 10 - 20  Andreas Skytte Hagen                  2256 2278     6
 21 - 32  GM Alexander Stripunsky               2589          5.5
 21 - 32  Martin Matthiesen                     2363 2353     5.5
 21 - 32  WGM Anna Zozulia                      2332          5.5
 21 - 32  IM Bjørn Brinck-Claussen              2324 2300     5.5
 21 - 32  FM Jacob Carstensen                   2304 2293     5.5
 21 - 32  FM Tobias Hirneise                    2293          5.5
 21 - 32  FM Teddy Coleman                      2239          5.5
 21 - 32  FM Ove Weiss Hartvig                  2232 2210     5.5
 21 - 32  Andreas Wiwe                          2187 2152     5.5  
 21 - 32  Parker Zhao                           2180          5.5  
 21 - 32  Morten Kock Møller                    2178 2141     5.5  
 21 - 32  CM Andreas Arnold Schmitz             2081          5.5  
118 players

10th European Senior Team-Championship

10th European Senior Team-Championship take place 11th-19th February 2008 in RAMADA-Hotel in Dresden.

Further info contact: ZMD Schachfestival Dresden e.V., Oskar-Mai-Straße 6, D-01159 Dresden, Fon +49 (0)351 416 16 29, Fax: +49 (0)351 416 16 39 Dr. Gerhard Schmidt, Hepkestraße 131, D-01277 Dresden, Fon +49 (0)351 251 34 20, E-Mail: gerhard.schmidt@schachfestival.de

XXXVII Rilton Cup

XXXVII Rilton Cup takes place 27th December 2007 – 5th January 2008 in Mälarsalen. Münchenbryggeriet, Torkel Knutssonsgatan 2, Stockholm, SWEDEN Stockholm Chess Federation welcomes all chess players to the 37th Rilton Cup. This year’s tournament, with a prize fund of more than SEK 200 000 (about 22 000 euro) will be played in three groups: Rilton Cup, Rilton Elo and Rilton Open (Rilton Open is only open for Nordic players with a rating lower than national 1800). Rilton Cup and Rilton ELO is Elo registrated Rilton Cup and Rilton Elo plays 9 rounds Fide Swiss. The first round starts at 13:00 on the 27th of December and the following rounds start at 11:00 every day until the 5th of January. The 1st of January (New Year’s Day) is free. Send your entry by mail, fax or e-mail, not later than the 17th of December to Stockholm Chess Federation, attention “Rilton Cup”. Mobile telephones or computers are not allowed in the playing hall. Rilton Cup Open for players with an Elo rating or national rating >= 2200. Reflection time: 40 moves in two hours, 20 moves in one hour and 30 minutes for the rest of the game.

Entry fees: 800 SEK, 400 for FM, 300 for players born 1987 or later. IGM and IM free. Prizes (SEK): 1st 20 000 2nd 16 000 3rd 12 000 4th 10 000 5th 8 000 6th 6 000 7:th 5 000 8th 4 000 9th 3 000 10th 3 000 10th 3 000 Rating prizes: 3 000, 2 000 and 1000 (not for GMs and IMs). Prizemoney is not divided. Rilton Elo Open for all players with a n Elo rating or national rating up to 2199. Reflection time: 40 moves in two hours, then one hour for the rest of the game. Entry fees: 600 SEK, 400 for FM, 300 for players born 1987 or later. Prizes (SEK): 1st 8 000 2nd 5000 3rd 3 000 4th 2 000 5th 1 000 6th 500 Rating prizes: 3 000, 2 000 and 1000 Prizemoney is not divided.

Stockholms Schackförbund Hornsgatan 82 118 21 Stockholm Tel: 08-669 36 54 Mobil: 073-613 19 73 Fax: 08-669 64 44 Spellokal: 08-668 21 35 (under turneringen) E-mail:stockholms.schackfrbund@telia.com

Further details: http://www.stockholmschack.nu

Alex Brunetti's TotoScacco Site

Alex Brunetti's TotoScacco Site allows predictions for current chess tournaments. http://e4e6.com/toto

olimpbase

Its always worth mentioning Wojciech Bartelski's excellent http://www.olimpbase.org which covers not only Olympiads but all team chess.

New events: European U18 Team Championship has recently finished in Subotica, Serbia. http://www.olimpbase.org/2007eb/2007in.html (boys' results) and http://www.olimpbase.org/2007eg/2007in.html (girls' results)

The 9th All-Africa Games took place in Algiers, Algeria 11th-23rd July There were 13 men's team in a four board round robin (rate of play was Active Chess 25+10). No games available. See details: http://www.olimpbase.org/2007f/2007in.html

Sydney International Open 2008

The 2008 Sydney International Open takes place at Parramatta Town Hall 25th-29th March 2008. Free accommodation and modest conditions are offered to GMs. All enquiries to the Tournament Organiser, FM Brian Jones, at info@chessaustralia.com.au

Details: http://www.chessaustralia.com.au/

GM Amir Bagheri's Website and Match

GM Amir Bagheri's Website: http://amirbagheri.freehostia.com/

Amir Bagheri (Iran, rating 2481) will play a 2-game match vs. members of the ICCF Forum. The games (one with White and one with Black pieces) will be played on the ICCF Webserver and are intended to start on June 20th 2007, with the reflection time rule "10 moves/100 days". http://www.iccf-webchess.com

Maxim Dlugy

Former World Junior Champion GM Maxim Dlugy now has a website. http://www.dlugy.com/

MyChess correspondence Chess Server

There is a correspondence chess server designed by Matthias Karkowski at: http://www.mychess.de/

Details: http://www.ajedrezbali.com/

British Chess Problem Society

Brian Stephenson of the British Chess Problem Society has a new website: http://www.bstephen.me.uk/. The site has much info on the Winton Capital British Chess Solving Championship.

Endgame Studies

Alexander Rueb Vereniging voor SchaakEindspelStudie. Endgame studies: http://www.arves.org/

ICC and FICS client for mobile phones

Mats Luthman has written a program that connects to ICC and FICS, compatable with many modern mobile phones. I've been looking for something like this for a while for watching live tournaments if I'm out and about. Its a nice free solution, you can also play but I haven't tried that.

Website: http://www.luthman.nu/Mobi/Mobi.html

Alushta Diary 2007

GM Norm events: 23.05 - 1.06, 2.06 - 12.06, 15.06 - 25.06, 2.09 - 12.09, 14.09 - 24.09, 26.09 - 6.10, IM Norm: 23.05 - 1.06, 2.06 - 12.06, 15.06 - 25.06, 2.09 - 12.09, 14.09 - 24.09, 26.09 - 6.10, Rating tournament: 4.06 - 12.06, 22.06 - 27.06, Open tournament (under 16 years) First prize - 200$ 3.06 - 11.06, 13.06 - 21.06, Alushta Swiss 9 rounds Open tournament First prize - 1000$ First prize (woman) - 500$ 28.06 - 6.07, Alushta Swiss 9 rounds Blitz tournament 7.07, Alushta Swiss 9 rounds Open tournament (rapid chess) 8.07 - 9.07, Alushta Session of school of Gennadi Kuzmin 21.06 - 27.06

Individual and group studying Further information: http://www.kaissa.com.ua phone +38 (06560)5-05-32, +380505828911 (for Russian speaking) + 44 7717890632 (for English speaking, call after 18.00) e-mail: info@kaissa.com.ua

Pierre Barthélémy Chess Blog

Pierre Barthélémy Chess Blog in French: http://echecs-info.blogspot.com

Russia vs ROW Correspondence

The Russian Chess Federation is celebrating its 10th anniversary and is using this occasion to challenge the rest of the world to a match over 64 boards with 2 games for each and the start is 15.02 2004. Players include Joop van Oosterom

http://www.mychessweb.com/Tables/Internationale/Play/russia-world.htm