THE WEEK IN CHESS 723 15th September 2008 by Mark Crowther

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Contents

1) Introduction
2) Grand Slam in Bilbao
3) Women's World Championship
4) Russian Championship Higher League
5) European Union Championships, Liverpool
6) Serbian Team Championship
7) US Chess League
8) 10th Trieste International Festival
9) AFOCS 12th Open chess tournament
10) Herzliya International Open
11) 3rd XtraCon EMT
12) Edami-CosmoCaixa Barcelona
13) First Saturday September
14) 23rd Parla International Open
15) Epetium Open
16) 130th New York State Championship
17) Bundesliga 2008-9
18) II ROMGAZ Open
19) I Tancats Magistrals Vila de Canovelles
20) Leicester
21) 15th Graz International Open
22) MCF GM Tournament
23) Abkhasian Open
24) Romanian Team Championship
25) Hungarian Championship
26) 7th Georgiev - Kesarovski Memorial
27) X D'escacs Sant Marti International Open
28) XXV Torneo Abierto de Collado Villalba
29) 1st Dragon Capital Vietnam Chess Open
30) European Youth Chess Championship
31) XVI Albacete International Open
32) 3rd PGMA Cup
33) XV Feria del Orinoco
34) The 4th Annual Okie Chess Festival
35) FAOGBA semifinals
36) National Chess League Argentina
37) Problem Solving
38) 23rd Teteven Open
39) II Torneo Cerrado Diputacion De Ciudad Real
40) Forthcoming Events and Links

Games Section
Grand Slam in Bilbao12 games
Women's World Championship10 games
Russian Championship Higher League140 games
European Union Championships499 games
Serbian Team Championship270 games
US Chess League28 games
10th Trieste International Festival35 games
Herzliya International Open234 games
3rd XtraCon EMT125 games
Edami-CosmoCaixa Barcelona45 games
First Saturday September91 games
23rd Parla International Open457 games
Epetium Open112 games
130th New York State Championship42 games
II ROMGAZ Open175 games
I Tancats Magistrals Vila de Canovelles27 games
Leicester90 games
15th Graz International Open261 games
MCF GM Tournament30 games
Abkhasian Open266 games
Romanian Team Championship215 games
Hungarian Championship26 games
7th Georgiev - Kesarovski Memorial361 games
X D'escacs Sant Marti International Open80 games
XXV Torneo Abierto de Collado Villalba53 games
1st Dragon Capital Vietnam Chess Open21 games
XVI Albacete International Open40 games
The 4th Annual Okie Chess Festival93 games
FAOGBA semifinals112 games
3950 games

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1) Introduction

My thanks to Bill Townsend, Brian Stephenson, Christian Sanchez, Evgeny Klavir, Frank Berry, Georgios Souleidis, Guillermo Gomez, Ivo Knezovic, John Saunders, Kallai Gabor, Bela Lengyel, Luiz Roberto Da Costa Jr, Marcelo Pagano, Miklos Orso, Sean Hewitt, Peter Svidler, Sebastian Gattenloehner, Thomas Henrich and everyone else who helped with the issue.

The Bilbao Grand Slam final was won by Veselin Topalov who was a convincing winner of the event in the end. There was a system of 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw which I'm not a fan of, its an ugly system which had only the small effect of promoting Carlsen up a couple of places and I think none on the wat the players competed. The win for Topalov should promote him to world number one in the October rating list (according to http://chess.liverating.org/). I'm really enjoying the chess at the moment and I think the fact that its not really possible to say who is the number one is part of that. Only 7 Elo points separate the top 5 players in the world in the next list, Topalov, Morozevich, Carlsen, Ivanchuk and Anand an insignificant gap and the order was significantly affected even by the final round at Bilbao, its going to be interesting to see how the fight continues. Anand's decision to play Bilbao so close to his match against Kramnik next month may come back to haunt him. I think he was right to play an event and I think he believes in the concept but he probably should have chosen a slightly less difficult event. I do believe it helps to play at least some chess close to a match however getting a beating as he did here may not. Players chose openings against Anand in several rounds where he couldn't play his best understanding of the position as he will be saving those for Kramnik. Its another big week of chess elsewhere (not least the final match of the women's world championship) too and there are nearly 4000 games in the issue. I'm probably going to cut out a number of the weakest events if the number of games each week remain at these ridiculously high levels. I simply can't check all the games from events properly and there may be more errors in identifying players than I would like.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) Grand Slam in Bilbao

The Chess Grand Slam Final took place in Bilbao 1st-13th September 2008. Three points for a win and one for a draw rules are in effect. Veselin Topalov confirmed clear first place when he beat Vassily Ivanchuk in the final round. Topalov won the most games and lost the least, for a dominant performance. Carlsen and Aronian tied for second place after Aronian blew a great position and lost against Radjabov. If I understand the regulations Carlsen took second by virtue of beating Aronian twice in the competetion. This win for Radjabov also had the effect of relegating world champion Viswanathan Anand to dead last.

Time control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and another 60 minutes to finish the game.

Players were not allowed to agree draw without arbiter's permission. In case both players request it to him, the arbiter will make his decision after consulting with a technical assistant.

Official site for the event: http://www.bilbaofinalmasters.com. On the spot reports from http://www.chessvibes.com. Videos also from http://www.europe-echecs.com and http://www.chessclub.com/. Some commentary at: http://www.chessok.com/, Playchess.com and http://www.chessdom.com/ and a gallery of photos by Fred Lucas

There is an unusual scoring system of three points for a win and one for a draw. Rightly or wrongly I'm going to stick with 1, ½ and 0 in the actual results part of the table.

Round 1 (September 2, 2008)
Aronian, Levon - Carlsen, Magnus 0-1 51 A32 English Symmetrical
Radjabov, Teimour - Topalov, Veselin ½-½ 49 C45 Scotch Game
Anand, Viswanathan - Ivanchuk, Vassily ½-½ 58 C89 Ruy Lopez Marshall
Round 2 (September 3, 2008)
Topalov, Veselin - Aronian, Levon ½-½ 37 D11 Slav Defence
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Carlsen, Magnus ½-½ 29 B78 Sicilian Modern Dragon
Anand, Viswanathan - Radjabov, Teimour ½-½ 34 B33 Sicilian Sveshnikov
Round 3 (September 4, 2008)
Aronian, Levon - Anand, Viswanathan ½-½ 42 D16 Slav Lasker/Smyslov
Carlsen, Magnus - Topalov, Veselin 0-1 56 D58 Queens Gambit Tartakover
Radjabov, Teimour - Ivanchuk, Vassily ½-½ 35 D20 QGA
Round 4 (September 5, 2008)
Topalov, Veselin - Anand, Viswanathan 1-0 25 E15 Queens Indian
Aronian, Levon - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1-0 70 D27 QGA
Carlsen, Magnus - Radjabov, Teimour 1-0 37 B78 Sicilian Modern Dragon
Round 5 (September 6, 2008)
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Topalov, Veselin ½-½ 44 E34 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Radjabov, Teimour - Aronian, Levon ½-½ 34 C45 Scotch Game
Anand, Viswanathan - Carlsen, Magnus ½-½ 36 C63 Ruy Lopez Schliemann
Round 6 (September 8, 2008)
Topalov, Veselin - Radjabov, Teimour ½-½ 73 E74 King's Indian Averbakh
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Anand, Viswanathan ½-½ 32 D19 Slav Defence
Carlsen, Magnus - Aronian, Levon 1-0 36 D47 Queens Gambit Meran
Round 7 (September 9, 2008)
Aronian, Levon - Topalov, Veselin 1-0 58 E36 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Carlsen, Magnus - Ivanchuk, Vassily 0-1 32 D37 QGD 5.Bf4
Radjabov, Teimour - Anand, Viswanathan ½-½ 29 B46 Sicilian Paulsen
Round 8 (September 10, 2008)
Topalov, Veselin - Carlsen, Magnus 1-0 48 B78 Sicilian Modern Dragon
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Radjabov, Teimour 1-0 49 B45 Sicilian Classical
Anand, Viswanathan - Aronian, Levon 0-1 75 C45 Scotch Game
Round 9 (September 12, 2008)
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Aronian, Levon ½-½ 69 C69 Ruy Lopez Exchange
Radjabov, Teimour - Carlsen, Magnus ½-½ 53 B12 Caro Kann Advanced
Anand, Viswanathan - Topalov, Veselin ½-½ 41 B18 Caro Kann
Round 10 (September 13, 2008)
Topalov, Veselin - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1-0 43 D47 Queens Gambit Meran
Aronian, Levon - Radjabov, Teimour 0-1 49 A15 English counter King's Fianchetto
Carlsen, Magnus - Anand, Viswanathan ½-½ 29 D13 Slav Exchange

Both the official and a normal table are given below. The used the unusual scoring system of three points for a win and one for a draw. Rightly or wrongly I'm going to stick with 1, ½ and 0 in the actual results part of the table. I think Carlsen took second from Aronian due to head to head results. [Regulations in English say: In case of tie for third to sixth places, the following tie-breaks will be applied: 1. Traditional scoring. Players get one point for each game won and 0.5 points for each game in draw. (tied) 2. Particular result (based on traditional scoring). (I'm presuming this means head to head scores) 3. Koya system (based on traditional scoring). 4. Sonneborn-Berger (based on traditional scoring) ] I'm open to correction. The only effect three points for a win had was of being a tie-break amongst those tied for second on 5 points under the normal system.

Grand Slam Final Bilbao (ESP), 2-13 ix 2008 cat. XXI (2769)
1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2777 * * 1 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 17 2877
2. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2775 0 0 * * 1 1 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 13 2767
3. Aronian, Levon g ARM 2737 ½ 1 0 0 * * 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 13 2775
4. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2781 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 ½ * * ½ 1 ½ ½ 12 2766
5. Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2744 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 * * ½ ½ 10 2737
6. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2798 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * * 8 2690

Grand Slam Final Bilbao (ESP), 2-13 ix 2008 cat. XXI (2769)
1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2777 * * ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 6½ 2877
2. Aronian, Levon g ARM 2737 ½ 1 * * 1 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 5 2775
3. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2781 ½ 0 0 ½ * * ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 5 2766
4. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2775 0 0 1 1 ½ 0 * * 1 ½ ½ ½ 5 2767
5. Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2744 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 0 ½ * * ½ ½ 4½ 2737
6. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2798 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * * 4 2690

3) Women's World Championship

The World Women's Championship 2008 takes place in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria (Russian Federation), 28th August - 18th September 2008 with a prize fund of 450,000 USD. FIDE and the organisers have stressed that events in Ossetia shouldn't have any impact on the event but a number of players have chosen not to participate. These include all the Georgian players (Maia Chiburdanidze, Lela Javakhishvili, Sopio Gvetadze, Maia Lomineishvili, Sopiko Khukhashvili and Nino Khurtsidze), Tea Bosboom Lanchava, Karen Zapata, Marie Sebag, and Irina Krush all of whom lost by default in the first round and also it looks like Ekaterina Korbut didn't make it either. Two pairings seem to have no players in attendance so there will be byes in round 2.

Sudden Death Playoff regulations: White shall receive 6 minutes, Black shall receive 5 minutes, without any addition. The winner qualifies for the next round. In case of a draw the player with the black pieces qualifies for the next round.

Official site: http://nalchik2008.fide.com

http://www.chessdom.com/ has live blog coverage.

World Championship Women - Results
Hou Yifan - Kosteniuk, Alexandra 0-1 48 C90 Ruy Lopez
Kosteniuk, Alexandra - Hou Yifan ½-½ 57 C07 French Tarrasch
WCh-Women Nalchik (RUS), 28 viii - 18 ix 2008
Final 14th-18th September 2008
Name Ti NAT Rtng G1 G2 G3 G4 Rp1 Rp2 Bz1 Bz2 SD Total Perf
Kosteniuk, Alexandra g RUS 2510 1 ½ . . . . . . . 1½ 2750
Hou Yifan wg CHN 2557 0 ½ . . . . . . . ½ 2317

WCh-Women Nalchik (RUS), 28 viii - 18 ix 2008
Round 5 Results 10th-12th September 2008.
NAT Name Rtng G1 G2 Rp1 Rp2 Bz1 Bz2 SD Total
Round 5 Match 01
RUS Kosteniuk, Aleksandra 25101½ 1½
SWE Cramling, Pia 25440½ ½
Round 5 Match 02
CHN Hou, Yifan 2557101011 4
IND Koneru, Humpy 2622010100 2

4) Russian Championship Higher League

The 61st Russian Championship Higher League took place in Novokuznetsk 3rd-14th September 2008. There were 6 qualifiers from this event who go forward to the Superfinal - the top 3 obviously, and from the big tie on 7/11 (according to reduced Buchholz) - Maslak, Lastin, and Riazantsev. The Superfinal will also include Morozovich, Grischuk, Tomashevsky (top 3 in '07), and Svidler along with Jakovenko and Alekseev as top 3 by rating who did not qualify otherwise. Opening ceremony 2nd October 1st round on the 3rd. I didn't have chance to check the table below (created from the games) against the official table to see if there were any incorrect results in the games section.

Official site: http://www.rcc2008.org/eng/index.htm


61st ch-RUS HL Novokuznetsk (RUS), 3-14 ix 2008
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
1. Timofeev, Artyom g RUS 2650 =26 +13 =22 =9 +40 +23 =2 +3 =4 +21 =5 8 2769
2. Vitiugov, Nikita g RUS 2616 +47 +38 =4 =7 +24 =25 =1 =8 =15 +9 =3 7½ 2729
3. Inarkiev, Ernesto g RUS 2675 =19 =51 +35 =17 +41 =4 +25 -1 +31 +7 =2 7½ 2727
4. Lastin, Alexander g RUS 2639 +53 +21 =2 =23 =12 =3 =6 +24 =1 -5 +17 7 2718
5. Sakaev, Konstantin g RUS 2635 -22 +46 =26 +13 =9 =20 =23 +38 =6 +4 =1 7 2676
6. Kobalia, Mikhail g RUS 2618 +9 =35 =28 =41 =16 +14 =4 =31 =5 +37 =8 7 2697
7. Riazantsev, Alexander g RUS 2617 +46 =22 +39 =2 =23 =11 +12 =9 =21 -3 +15 7 2712
8. Galkin, Alexander g RUS 2615 -38 =47 =18 +42 +22 +39 +11 =2 -9 +12 =6 7 2678
9. Maslak, Konstantin g RUS 2521 -6 +56 +30 =1 =5 +16 +15 =7 +8 -2 =10 7 2715
10. Najer, Evgeniy g RUS 2670 =51 +19 -23 +35 =14 -24 =36 +28 +20 +25 =9 7 2667
11. Grachev, Boris g RUS 2640 =50 =14 +29 +28 =25 =7 -8 =17 =37 +31 +21 7 2685
12. Motylev, Alexander g RUS 2674 +31 +34 =25 =24 =4 =15 -7 =20 +14 -8 +29 6½ 2660
13. Smikovski, Ivan m RUS 2554 =16 -1 +49 -5 =30 =46 =29 +41 +36 =14 +25 6½ 2635
14. Maletin, Pavel g RUS 2545 =15 =11 =27 +33 =10 -6 +40 +23 -12 =13 =16 6 2668
15. Volkov, Sergey1 g RUS 2636 =14 +50 +20 -25 +38 =12 -9 +22 =2 =17 -7 6 2613
16. Tregubov, Pavel V g RUS 2658 =13 =26 +51 =22 =6 -9 =19 =18 =23 +27 =14 6 2602
17. Kokarev, Dmitry g RUS 2582 =48 =45 +44 =3 =39 =37 =20 =11 +34 =15 -4 6 2619
18. Kornev, Alexei g RUS 2523 =30 -24 =8 =32 +35 =41 =28 =16 +52 =29 =20 6 2622
19. Yakovich, Yuri g RUS 2566 =3 -10 =50 =43 +49 =36 =16 +33 -27 =30 +37 6 2632
20. Lysyj, Igor g RUS 2596 +55 =33 -15 =36 +52 =5 =17 =12 -10 +38 =18 6 2614
21. Bocharov, Dmitry g RUS 2582 +54 -4 =36 -39 +53 +26 +27 +25 =7 -1 -11 6 2626
22. Sjugirov, Sanan m RUS 2545 +5 =7 =1 =16 -8 =28 +30 -15 =32 =34 =27 5½ 2619
23. Landa, Konstantin g RUS 2615 +43 =39 +10 =4 =7 -1 =5 -14 =16 =24 =31 5½ 2614
24. Smirnov, Pavel g RUS 2592 =44 +18 +33 =12 -2 +10 =37 -4 -25 =23 =26 5½ 2604
25. Nepomniachtchi, Ian g RUS 2602 +49 +37 =12 +15 =11 =2 -3 -21 +24 -10 -13 5½ 2614
26. Vorobiov, Evgeny E g RUS 2550 =1 =16 =5 =30 =28 -21 +49 =36 -29 +47 =24 5½ 2572
27. Khalifman, Alexander g RUS 2634 =29 =36 =14 =52 +46 =31 -21 =32 +19 -16 =22 5½ 2555
28. Deviatkin, Andrei g RUS 2567 =45 +48 =6 -11 =26 =22 =18 -10 =39 +40 =33 5½ 2574
29. Chadaev, Nikolai m RUS 2535 =27 =40 -11 +45 -37 =33 =13 +51 +26 =18 -12 5½ 2587
30. Potkin, Vladimir g RUS 2629 =18 =44 -9 =26 =13 +54 -22 +42 =38 =19 =34 5½ 2523
31. Kryakvin, Dmitry m RUS 2565 -12 =42 +47 =37 +44 =27 +39 =6 -3 -11 =23 5½ 2605
32. Shaposhnikov, Evgeny g RUS 2558 -37 =49 =42 =18 =54 =38 +44 =27 =22 =33 =39 5½ 2548
33. Amonatov, Farrukh g TJK 2650 +52 =20 -24 -14 =36 =29 +46 -19 +43 =32 =28 5½ 2546
34. Khismatullin, Denis g RUS 2613 +42 -12 -38 -46 +48 +55 +51 =37 -17 =22 =30 5½ 2549
35. Chuprov, Dmitry g RUS 2577 +56 =6 -3 -10 -18 -42 +55 +49 =41 =36 +46 5½ 2532
36. Matlakov, Maxim m RUS 2484 =40 =27 =21 =20 =33 =19 =10 =26 -13 =35 =38 5 2554
37. Zvjaginsev, Vadim g RUS 2663 +32 -25 =52 =31 +29 =17 =24 =34 =11 -6 -19 5 2548
38. Lintchevski, Daniil m RUS 2506 +8 -2 +34 =40 -15 =32 +41 -5 =30 -20 =36 5 2560
39. Malakhov, Vladimir g RUS 2689 +41 =23 -7 +21 =17 -8 -31 =52 =28 =46 =32 5 2540
40. Korotylev, Alexey g RUS 2609 =36 =29 +54 =38 -1 =51 -14 =43 =46 -28 +49 5 2487
41. Shomoev, Anton g RUS 2566 -39 +43 +45 =6 -3 =18 -38 -13 =35 =42 =48 4½ 2477
42. Kalegin, Evgenij m RUS 2495 -34 =31 =32 -8 =47 +35 =52 -30 =44 =41 =50 4½ 2496
43. Iskusnyh, Sergei g RUS 2499 -23 -41 +48 =19 -51 =50 +45 =40 -33 =44 =47 4½ 2470
44. Pokazanjev, Nikolai m RUS 2442 =24 =30 -17 +50 -31 =52 -32 =47 =42 =43 =45 4½ 2474
45. Kravtsov, Sergey m RUS 2404 =28 =17 -41 -29 -56 +48 -43 =55 +50 =53 =44 4½ 2440
46. Kabanov, Nikolai m RUS 2521 -7 -5 +56 +34 -27 =13 -33 +54 =40 =39 -35 4½ 2518
47. Skorchenko, Dmitriy g RUS 2511 -2 =8 -31 -53 =42 +56 =54 =44 +51 -26 =43 4½ 2456
48. Klimov, Anton f RUS 2423 =17 -28 -43 =55 -34 -45 =50 +56 =53 +51 =41 4½ 2456
49. Smirnov, Artem m RUS 2452 -25 =32 -13 +56 -19 +53 -26 -35 +55 +52 -40 4½ 2477
50. Rychagov, Andrey g RUS 2549 =11 -15 =19 -44 -55 =43 =48 =53 -45 +54 =42 4 2401
51. Ovetchkin, Roman g RUS 2558 =10 =3 -16 =54 +43 =40 -34 -29 -47 -48 +56 4 2446
52. Kiriakov, Petr g RUS 2553 -33 +55 =37 =27 -20 =44 =42 =39 -18 -49 =53 4 2456
53. Rustemov, Alexander g RUS 2547 -4 -54 =55 +47 -21 -49 =56 =50 =48 =45 =52 4 2389
54. Garakov, Mikhael m RUS 2439 -21 +53 -40 =51 =32 -30 =47 -46 =56 -50 +55 4 2436
55. Chuprikov, Dmitry RUS 2450 -20 -52 =53 =48 +50 -34 -35 =45 -49 +56 -54 3½ 2372
56. Kosov, Ivan f RUS 2405 -35 -9 -46 -49 +45 -47 =53 -48 =54 -55 -51 2 2229

5) European Union Championships, Liverpool

This years European Union Championships takes place in Liverpool, England 9th - 18th September 2008. The prize fund is 30,000 pounds with 6000 pounds first prize.

Official site:  http://www.liverpoolchessinternational.co.uk            

European Union Championships Liverpool
(ENG), 9-18 ix 2008
Leading Round 7 Standings:
Pos Player NAT t Elo Pt
1 ADAMS, Michael ENG g 2735 6
2 LAZNICKA, Viktor CZE g 2601 6
3 WERLE, Jan NED g 2591 6
4 L'AMI, Erwin NED g 2610 5½
5 ABERGEL, Thal FRA m 2499 5
6 BACROT, Etienne FRA g 2691 5
7 BERG, Emanuel SWE g 2592 5
8 CONQUEST, Stuart C ENG g 2536 5
9 DAVID, Alberto LUX g 2568 5
10 FRIDMAN, Daniel GER g 2637 5
11 GODENA, Michele ITA g 2519 5
12 HASLINGER, Stewart G ENG g 2511 5
13 HOWELL, David W L ENG g 2561 5
14 JONES, Gawain C B ENG g 2549 5
15 LUTHER, Thomas GER g 2570 5
16 MEIER, Georg GER g 2556 5
17 SHORT, Nigel D ENG g 2655 5
18 SMEETS, Jan NED g 2593 5
19 TIVIAKOV, Sergei NED g 2645 5
20 TRENT, Lawrence ENG m 2470 5
21 VACHIER-LAGRAVE, Maxime FRA g 2681 5
22 WELLS, Peter K ENG g 2526 5
23 ANDERSSON, Ulf SWE g 2562 4½
24 ARAKHAMIA-GRANT, Ketevan SCO m 2448 4½
25 BELIAVSKY, Alexander G SLO g 2606 4½
26 CARLSSON, Pontus SWE g 2514 4½
27 D`COSTA, Lorin A R ENG f 2414 4½
28 DAVIES, Nigel R ENG g 2478 4½
29 DGEBUADZE, Alexandre BEL g 2562 4½
30 EDOUARD, Romain FRA m 2508 4½
31 ESTREMERA PANOS, Sergio ESP m 2394 4½
32 GORDON, Stephen J ENG m 2508 4½
33 HEBDEN, Mark L ENG g 2520 4½
34 HILLARP PERSSON, Tiger SWE g 2526 4½
35 LANGROCK, Hannes GER f 2398 4½
36 MCNAB, Colin A SCO g 2450 4½
37 MIEZIS, Normunds LAT g 2540 4½
38 SEBENIK, Matej SLO m 2485 4½
39 SPOELMAN, Wouter NED m 2448 4½
40 SULSKIS, Sarunas LTU g 2562 4½
138 players

6) Serbian Team Championship

The 1st Serbian League for men and women took place in Subotica 1st-13th September 2008. NSK Ddor Novi Sad (Emil Sutovsky was top board) won the men's event.

Official site: http://www.serbiachess.net/

TCh-SRB 1st League Subotica (SRB), 1-12 ix 2008
Final Round 11 Standings:
RankTeamGam.+=-MPPts.
1NSK DDOR NOVI SAD109101940½
2SK BEOGRAD BEOPUBLIKUM108021637
3VSK SVETI NIKOLAJ107121534½
4SK SPARTAK106221433
5SK SLOGA AMIGA10415932
6SK RADNICKI10415929
7SK NIS10064626½
8SK BEOGRADSKI VODOVOD10226626
9SK LASTA10226625
 SK STARA PAZOVA10226624
11SK MLADENOVAC10127422½
12SK PARTIZAN000000
TCh-SRB 1st League Subotica w (SRB), 3-13 ix 2008
Final Round 11 Standings:
RankTeamGam.+=-MPPts.
1SK RADNICKI RUDOVCI109011832
2SK BAS108021629
3SK JUGOVIC ENERGY NET108021629
4SK RAD107031429
5SK ZTP107031428
6SK SREM SIKOM GROUP105141118
7SK ZLATAR10415919½
8SK SPARTAK10217513½
9SK BORA KOSTIC1012749
10SK RIPANJ1011838½
11SK IN10001004½

7) US Chess League

The 2008 season of the US Chess League started 25th August 2008. The third round took place on 8th and 10th September 2008.

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

US Chess League ICC (INT), 27 viii-31 x 2008
Round 3 (of 10) Results:
8th September 2008
BostonvsDallas
1SMJorge Sammour-HasbunBOSvsIMDavorin KuljasevicDAL1/2
2IMJohn BartholomewDALvsIMDavid VigoritoBOS 1/2
3SMDenys ShmelovBOSvsFMIgor SchneiderDAL 1/2
4WFMBayaraa ZorigtDALvsNMIlya KrasikBOS1-0
San FranciscovsMiami
1IMJohn DonaldsonSFvsGMJulio BecerraMIA0-1
2FMOsmany PereaMIAvsIMJosh FriedelSF 1/2
3FMSam ShanklandSFvsFMCharles GalofreMIA1-0
4NMEric RodriguezMIAvsFMDaniel NaroditskySF0-1
10th September 2008
New YorkvsPhiladelphia
1GMPascal CharbonneauNYvsGMSergey KudrinPHI1-0
2IMBryan SmithPHIvsGMJohn FedorowiczNY0-1
3IMJay BoninNYvsNMDaniel YeagerPHI 1/2
4WGMJennifer ShahadeNYvsNMMatthew HermanNY 1/2
CarolinavsBaltimore
1IMLev MilmanCARvsGMSergey ErenburgBAL0-1
2FMTegshsuren EnkhbatBALvsIMJonathan SchroerCAR 1/2
3FMOleg ZaikovCARvsFMRalph ZimmerBAL0-1
4NMAaron KahnBALvsUdayan BapatCAR1/2
ChicagovsTennessee
1GMNikola MitkovCHCvsIMRon BurnettTEN1-0
2FMTodd AndrewsTENvsIMJan van de MortelCHC0-1
3IMAngelo YoungCHCvsFMPeter BereolosTEN1-0
4FMJohn BickTENvsAdam StrunkCHC0-1
QueensvsArizona
1GMAlex StripunskyQNSvsIMRogelio BarcenillaARZ 1/2
2IMMark GinsburgARZvsIMAlex LendermanQNS0-1
3NMParker ZhaoQNSvsFMDanny RenschARZ1-0
4NMLeo MartinezARZvsBenjamin KatzQNS 1/2
SeattlevsNew Jersey
1GMHikaru NakamuraSEAvsGMJoel BenjaminNJ1-0
2GMBoris GulkoNJvsIMEric TangbornSEA1-0
3FMJohn ReadeySEAvsNMMackenzie MolnerNJ 1/2
4Jayson LianNJvsNMJoshua SinananSEA 1/2

US Chess League ICC (INT), 27 viii-31 x 2008
Round 3 (of 10) Standings :
EASTERN DIVISION WLGame PointsOpp Avg RatingOpps Record
Queens 308.5/12 (71%)23973.0-3.0 (50%)
Boston 217.5/12 (63%)24033.0-3.0 (50%)
New Jersey 1.51.56.0/12 (50%)24203.5-2.5 (58%)
Baltimore  125.5/12 (46%)2407                 1.5-4.5 (25%)
Philadelphia 125.0/12 (42%)2423          3.0-3.0 (50%)
Carolina 125.0/12 (42%)23901.5-4.5 (25%)
New York 124.5/12 (38%)24153.0-3.0 (50%)
WESTERN DIVISION WLGame PointsOpp Avg RatingOpps Record
San Francisco2.50.57.0/12 (58%) 24105.0-1.0 (83%)
Miami218.5/12 (71%)2417                    3.5-2.5 (58%)
Dallas 217.0/12 (58%)24324.5-1.5 (25%)
Chicago 1.51.57.5/12 (63%)23962.5-3.5 (42%)
Arizona124.5/12 (38%)23594.5-1.5 (75%)
Seattle124.5/12 (38%)23752.0-4.0 (33%)
Tennessee0.52.53.0/12 (25%) 23931.0-5.0 (17%)

8) 10th Trieste International Festival

The 10th Trieste International Festival took place 31st August - 7th September 2008. Sergei Tiviakov edged out Marin Bosiocic on tie-break after both finished on 7/9. Additional games from the final two rounds now available.

Official site: http://www.sst1904.com/pagine/index.html - Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr15025.aspx?lan=2

Masters Trieste (ITA), 31 viii-7 ix 2008
Final Round 9 Standings:
Rk.NameFEDRtgPts. TB1 TB2 TB3
1Tiviakov SergeiGMNED26457,039,551,02483
2Bosiocic MarinIMCRO25407,038,049,02436
3Lenic LukaGMSLO25846,039,550,52387
4Erdos ViktorGMHUN25766,038,549,52420
5Palac MladenGMCRO25876,035,547,02385
6Fercec NenadGMCRO24866,033,543,52296
7Narayanan SrinathFMIND22205,539,050,52456
8Drazic SinisaGMSRB25055,538,549,52439
9Lalic BogdanGMCRO25335,538,049,02394
10Banusz TamasIMHUN24815,536,546,02391
11Simutowe AmonIMZAM24595,535,546,52372
12Rukavina JosipIMCRO24145,533,043,52287
13Degtiarev EvgenyFMGER23675,532,039,52292
14Srebrnic MarkoFMSLO23135,035,546,02353
15Scalcione MichelangeloFMITA23985,034,043,52336
16Basagic ZlatkoIMSLO23375,034,043,02301
17Mogranzini RobertoIMITA24235,033,543,52333
18Cherin DiegoFMITA22875,030,539,52214
42 players

9) AFOCS 12th Open chess tournament

The AFOCS 12th Open chess tournament 2008 (Men) took place in Abu Dhabi 6th-11th September 2008. Zurab Sturua edged out Bassem Amin, Alexander Chernin and Eltaj Safarli all of whom finished on 7.5/9. Game file isn't complete and I'll return to it when it is.

Official site: http://www.abudhabichess.com/ and Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr15697.aspx?lan=2

12th AFOCS Open Abu Dhabi (UAE), 6-16 ix 2008
Final Round 9 Standings:
Rk.NameTiFEDRtgPts. TB1  TB2  TB3 
1Sturua,ZurabGMGEO25147,555,043,7538,5
2Amin,Bassem U20GMEGY25617,552,542,2539,5
3Chernin,AlexanderGMHUN25937,552,041,5039,0
4Safarli,Eltaj U20GMAZE25277,545,037,2538,5
5Raetsky,AlexanderGMRUS24217,053,038,5037,0
6Gaqunashvili,MerabGMGEO25667,051,037,2537,0
7Kenges,EdvinsGMLAT25437,050,036,2536,5
8Sale,SrdjanIMCRO23807,049,034,5037,0
9Adly,AhmedGMEGY25937,044,531,0036,5
10Gaprindashvili, ValerianeGMGEO24526,555,537,7536,5
11Kotsur,PavelGMKAZ25666,555,537,2540,0
12Ibrahimov,RasulGMAZE25376,554,536,7539,0
13Bajarani,Ulvi U20FMAZE22016,549,030,5035,0
14Zayed,Ali Al-HamedUAE17506,546,530,2531,0
15Faisal,AbdullaUAE21516,545,027,2532,5
16Khouri,Ibrahim MohamedFMUAE20836,542,530,7531,5
17Al-Sharif,Hany MSYR21096,051,030,0034,0
18Dargan,Paul.GENG22076,047,026,0035,0
19Saad,KelaniEGY06,045,526,5033,0
20Hassan,AbteniSYR06,045,025,0029,0
21Al-Marzouqi,Abdulla M U20UAE19506,042,023,0030,0
22Mansour,Abbas U20UAE19686,041,524,0028,0
23Al-Kaabi,Abdulla U20UAE17906,041,521,0032,0
24Ali,MahmoudUAE21806,041,024,0028,0
25Khalid,Ahmed Mohd U20UAE18886,041,023,0030,0
26Axel,John U20PHI18516,039,519,5031,0
27Ahmed,Zuhair HamoudaPAL06,036,019,0028,0
28Khouri,Ahmed Abbas U20FMUAE19656,035,522,5030,0
29Gorgi EstibianPHI06,034,519,0025,0
30Robert,ArellanoPHI05,552,529,7532,0
31Rael,GiananPHI05,551,028,2531,0
32Kayumov,SergeyIMUZB24795,547,023,7532,0
131 players

10) Herzliya International Open

The Herzliya (Israel) International Open Chess Tournament took place 2th-12th September 2008. Konstantin Lerner took clear first place.

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

Open Herzliya (ISR), 2-12 ix 2008
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1. Lerner, Konstantin Z g UKR 2521 +23 +39 +12 =2 +21 =4 +16 =5 +10 7½ 2648
2. Zoler, Dan m ISR 2461 +43 +8 +10 =1 +16 +19 =4 =3 =5 7 2607
3. Bitansky, Igor m ISR 2431 +25 +19 =17 -16 +9 +11 =10 =2 =6 6 2493
4. Zilberman, Yaacov g ISR 2453 =26 +15 +18 =21 +39 =1 =2 =10 =9 6 2448
5. Kantsler, Boris g ISR 2487 +28 =18 +27 =17 =10 =21 +19 =1 =2 6 2460
6. Zaslavsky, Michael ISR 2333 +41 =16 +11 =9 =17 -10 +22 +21 =3 6 2474
7. Klenburg, Mikhail m UKR 2445 +37 -21 =26 +22 =12 +27 =18 =11 +19 6 2388
8. Neimer, Vitaly ISR 2316 +36 -2 +25 +26 -11 =12 =15 +28 +16 6 2373
9. Khmelniker, Ilya m ISR 2448 +31 -40 +30 =6 -3 +33 +20 +18 =4 6 2382
10. Kudischewitsch, David m RUS 2341 +46 +32 -2 +27 =5 +6 =3 =4 -1 5½ 2433
11. Livshits, Gaby m ISR 2441 +30 =35 -6 +42 +8 -3 +29 =7 =13 5½ 2345
12. Gershkowich, David f ISR 2342 +29 +33 -1 =40 =7 =8 =17 =24 +30 5½ 2343
13. Porat, Ido f ISR 2379 +44 -27 +28 +32 -19 +26 =21 =16 =11 5½ 2339
14. Nakar, Eylon ISR 2087 -39 =22 +15 -28 -31 +47 +32 +43 +27 5½ 2240
15. Givon, Asaf ISR 2030 =20 -4 -14 +49 +46 +40 =8 +26 =18 5½ 2296
16. Zifroni, Dov g ISR 2489 +34 =6 +35 +3 -2 +17 -1 =13 -8 5 2404
17. Haimovich, Tal m ISR 2425 +45 +24 =3 =5 =6 -16 =12 -19 +37 5 2352
18. Shutzman, Joseph USA 2318 +42 =5 -4 =20 +40 +24 =7 -9 =15 5 2337
19. Axelrod, Arie ISR 2274 +48 -3 +29 +33 +13 -2 -5 +17 -7 5 2347
20. Cohen, Or f ISR 2278 =15 -26 +37 =18 +28 +39 -9 =27 =23 5 2263
21. Shevelev, Arkady m ISR 2293 +52 +7 +40 =4 -1 =5 =13 -6 =24 5 2386
22. Segal, Naum LAT 2210 -33 =14 +38 -7 +42 =29 -6 +36 +34 5 2167
23. Hasidovski, Arnold ISR 2180 -1 =42 +48 =35 =33 =31 =25 +29 =20 5 2201
24. Golberg, Igor ISR 2207 +47 -17 +41 -39 +36 -18 +37 =12 =21 5 2256
25. Ben Artzi, Ido ISR 2103 -3 +50 -8 +38 -27 +34 =23 +41 =28 5 2199
26. Yaacov, Avi ISR 2159 =4 +20 =7 -8 +35 -13 =39 -15 +41 4½ 2279
27. Goikhman, Valentin ISR 2207 +50 +13 -5 -10 +25 -7 +31 =20 -14 4½ 2248
28. Volman, Horacio ISR 2175 -5 +52 -13 +14 -20 +38 +36 -8 =25 4½ 2176
29. Aharon, Ofir ISR 2091 -12 +47 -19 +51 +32 =22 -11 -23 +39 4½ 2218
30. Kinberg, Ofer ISR 2118 -11 +49 -9 -36 +41 =32 +42 +39 -12 4½ 2216
31. Porat, Maya ISR 2137 -9 +36 -39 =45 +14 =23 -27 -37 +43 4 2145
32. Amit, Yaron ISR 2198 +38 -10 +34 -13 -29 =30 -14 +40 =33 4 2102
33. Ettinger, Amir ISR 2012 +22 -12 +51 -19 =23 -9 =44 =46 =32 4 2161
34. Ben Porat, Or ISR 2179 -16 +46 -32 =41 =37 -25 +35 +44 -22 4 2133
35. Zak, Uri2 ISR 2208 +51 =11 -16 =23 -26 -37 -34 +49 +42 4 2141
36. Blass, Uri ISR 2035 -8 -31 +50 +30 -24 +43 -28 -22 +44 4 2114
37. Eden, Tomer ISR 2129 -7 =48 -20 +52 =34 +35 -24 +31 -17 4 2170
38. Haitovich, Avital ISR 1871 -32 +44 -22 -25 +49 -28 -43 +51 +46 4 2075
39. Lurie, Michael ISR 2337 +14 -1 +31 +24 -4 -20 =26 -30 -29 3½ 2147
40. Porat, Daniel ISR 2233 +49 +9 -21 =12 -18 -15 -41 -32 +50 3½ 2107
41. Lotsov Har-Zahav, Avraham ISR 2067 -6 +43 -24 =34 -30 +45 +40 -25 -26 3½ 2098
42. Volkov, Yuri ISR 2066 -18 =23 +44 -11 -22 +46 -30 +45 -35 3½ 2115
43. Bitran, Daniel ISR 2174 -2 -41 -49 +47 +51 -36 +38 -14 -31 3 1948
44. Gunsherovich, Itay ISR 2095 -13 -38 -42 =50 +48 +49 =33 -34 -36 3 1936
45. Kneler, Boris ISR 2097 -17 -51 =47 =31 =52 -41 +50 -42 =49 3 1953
46. Shimonovich, Yoav ISR 2088 -10 -34 =52 +48 -15 -42 +51 =33 -38 3 1936
47. Liasko, Ekaterina RUS 1978 -24 -29 =45 -43 +50 -14 -49 =48 +52 3 1952
48. Ilan, Liad ISR 2013 -19 =37 -23 -46 -44 -50 +52 =47 +51 3 1960
49. Hertz, Yaniv ISR 2013 -40 -30 +43 -15 -38 -44 +47 -35 =45 2½ 1923
50. Filosof, Asi ISR 1981 -27 -25 -36 =44 -47 +48 -45 +52 -40 2½ 1922
51. Ben Porat, Zeev ISR 2008 -35 +45 -33 -29 -43 +52 -46 -38 -48 2 1845
52. Magen, Paz ISR 2033 -21 -28 =46 -37 =45 -51 -48 -50 -47 1 1733

11) 3rd XtraCon EMT

The 3rd XtraCon EMT took place in the Skovbo Chess Club in Borup 5th-16th September 2008 over two weekends. Kaido Kulaots and Jon Ludvig Hammer finished on 7/9.

Official site: http://www.skovboskakklub.dk/

3rd XtraCon EMT Borup (DEN), 5-16 ix 2008
Final Round 9 Standings:
RkPlayerELOPtsBuchhSoBerg
1Kulaots, Kaido253175139
2Hammer, Jon Ludvi249475038
3Tikkanen, Hans24176.549.532.75
4Grabarczyk, Miros2510651.532.5
5Schandorff, Lars25375.549.529.75
6Lund, Esben24315.549.528
7Bekker-Jensen, Si23965.54926.25
8Humphrey, Jonatha22895.547.527.25
9Haznedaroglu, Kiv24445.54624.75
10Ivanov, Mikhail24895.545.526.25
11Erdogdu, Mert24405.54525.75
12Gajic, Mladen21355.544.524.25
13Semcesen, Daniel23875.542.525.25
14Pitl, Gregory24105.54124.5
15Struch, Thomas21495.536.520.25
16Jakobsen, Ole235854724.5
17De Verdier, Micha2222542.522.75
18Eriksson, Christi212754120.75
19Christensen, Casp1795537.517.5
20Pedersen, Hans Da2213536.516.75
131 players

12) Edami-CosmoCaixa Barcelona

The category XII Edami-CosmoCaixa tournament took place in Barcelona 8th-14th September, 2008. Jose Carlos Ibarra Jerez won with 6/9 half a point clear of the field.

Official site: http://www.edami.com/home03.aspx?ID=157

I EDAMI-Cosmocaixa Barcelona ESP (ESP), 8-14 ix 2008 cat. XII (2532)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Ibarra Jerez, Jose Carlos m ESP 2496 * 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 6 2661
2. Gonzalez Garcia, Jose g MEX 2506 1 * 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 5½ 2614
3. Llaneza Vega, Marcos m ESP 2468 ½ 0 * 1 1 ½ ½ 1 0 1 5½ 2619
4. Illescas C('o)rdoba,M g ESP 2603 ½ ½ 0 * 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 5½ 2604
5. Peralta, Fernando g ARG 2558 ½ ½ 0 0 * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 4½ 2529
6. Fluvia Poyatos, Jordi m ESP 2500 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ * 0 ½ ½ ½ 4 2492
7. Alsina Leal, Daniel m ESP 2517 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 * ½ 0 ½ 4 2490
8. Granda Zuniga, Julio E g PER 2599 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * 1 ½ 4 2481
9. Moskalenko, Viktor g UKR 2569 0 0 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 * 0 3 2402
10. Reinaldo Castineira, Roi m ESP 2504 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 * 3 2410

13) First Saturday September

The First Saturday tournaments take place 6th-18th of September 2008. GM-IM-FM events.

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

FSGM September Budapest (HUN), 6-14 ix 2008 cat. VII (2415)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Berczes, David m HUN 2458 * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 6½ 2576
2. Kosic, Dragan g MNE 2516 ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 6½ 2569
3. Farag('o), Ivan g HUN 2482 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 5½ 2487
4. Ilincic, Zlatko g SRB 2519 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 5½ 2483
5. Paschall, William M m USA 2330 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 5 2467
6. Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy f VIE 2477 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ 0 4 2364
7. Grafl, Florian m GER 2404 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ * 0 1 ½ 3½ 2336
8. Wittmann, Walter m AUT 2272 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 * 0 1 3 2305
9. Szalanczy, Emil m HUN 2388 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 * 1 3 2292
10. Kislik, Erik Andrew USA 2302 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 0 * 2½ 2261

FSIMA September Budapest (HUN), 6-16 ix 2008 cat. I (2264)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
1. Konnyu, Janos HUN 2314 * 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ . 1 1 ½ 6½ 2423
2. To, Nhat Minh HUN 2322 1 * 0 1 ½ . 1 ½ . 1 1 6 2452
3. Parkanyi, Attila m HUN 2393 ½ 1 * . . ½ ½ 1 0 1 1 5½ 2384
4. Lyell, Mark f ENG 2232 0 0 . * ½ . 1 1 1 1 1 5½ 2388
5. Werner, Dimo m GER 2329 0 ½ . ½ * ½ ½ 0 1 . ½ 3½ 2198
6. Vegh, Endre m HUN 2298 0 . ½ . ½ * . . 1 . 1 3 2321
7. Lengyel, Bela m HUN 2286 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ . * 1 . ½ . 3 2251
8. Csirik, Andras HUN 2272 . ½ 0 0 1 . 0 * ½ ½ . 2½ 2186
9. Perez Aleman, Pedro Tomas ESP 2210 0 . 1 0 0 0 . ½ * ½ ½ 2½ 2119
10. Simonyi, Zoltan f SRB 2247 0 0 0 0 . . ½ ½ ½ * 1 2½ 2112
11. Kang Kai CHN ---- ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 . . ½ 0 * 1½ 2042

FSIMB September Budapest (HUN), 6-15 ix 2008 cat. II (2290)
1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Galyas, Miklos m HUN 2463 * * ½ . ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 6 2375
2. Moskovic, David M ENG 2293 ½ . * * ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½ 5½ 2349
3. Petran, Pal m HUN 2361 ½ ½ ½ 0 * * 1 . ½ ½ 1 1 5½ 2358
4. Ruecker, Benjamin GER 2246 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 . * * 1 ½ ½ 1 4½ 2291
5. Farago, Sandor m HUN 2271 ½ 0 0 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ * * 1 . 4 2271
6. Li Panru CHN 2104 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 . * * 1½ 2060

14) 23rd Parla International Open

The 23rd Parla (Spain) International Open took place 6th-14th September 2008. Isam Ortiz Suarez took first place on tie-break from Renier Vazquez Igarza on tie-break after both finished on 7.5/9. Games from the final round not yet available.

Official site: http://www.clubdeajedrezparla.com/ - Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr15755.aspx

23rd Parla International Open
(ESP), 6-14 ix 2008
Final Round 9 Standings:
Rk.NameFEDRtgPts. TB1 TB2 TB3
1IMOrtiz Suarez IsamCUB23927,540,547,542,5
2GMVazquez Igarza RenierESP25407,540,047,036,0
3IMDiamant AndreBRA23937,042,550,037,0
4GMEpishin VladimirRUS25747,042,550,036,0
5FMAlmagro Llanas PabloESP24927,038,545,035,0
6IMMekhitarian Krikor SevagBRA25046,545,052,537,5
7IMDi Berardino Diego RafaelBRA24716,542,049,535,0
8IMHerraiz Hidalgo HerminioESP25076,542,049,035,5
9IMStarostits IlmarsLAT24976,541,548,536,5
10GMFier AlexandrBRA25586,541,048,535,0
11FMArribas Lopez AngelESP23326,538,545,033,5
12IMRoa Alonso SantiagoESP24656,042,550,034,5
13FMSerrano Salvador EduardoESP23416,039,547,032,5
14Lopez-Andujar Ocana AntonioESP21386,039,045,531,5
15FMCabrera Trujillo JorgeESP24236,038,045,533,0
16Gago Padreny IgnacioESP21696,038,044,532,0
17Sanchez Gonzalez SergioESP22286,037,545,033,0
18Adan Bermudez SergioESP22056,037,544,031,5
19Ruiz Saiz AgustinESP22746,037,044,032,0
20IMElissalt Cardenas HectorCUB23176,035,041,029,5
21Vazquez Gonzalez JesusESP20806,035,041,028,5
22Baigorri Navarro Francisco JavieESP21786,032,539,531,5
23GMVera Gonzalez-Quevedo ReynaldoCUB24935,540,047,532,0
24Ivanovitch Balsinde NicolasESP21495,538,044,529,5
25FMSolaesa Navalpotro Luis JulioESP22165,536,544,031,0
26Penalosa Pinilla JesusESP22245,536,543,530,0
27FMPerez Gonzalez Jose ManuelESP22555,536,543,028,5
28IMMartinez Martin DavidESP24155,536,041,530,5
29FMBallesteros Gonzalez DavidESP22855,535,042,030,0
30Rodriguez Yuste MarceloESP22435,535,041,530,0
31Anton Guijarro DavidESP20555,535,041,528,0
32Lozano Cortijo MarianoESP21565,534,541,527,5
33Perez Cameselle FranciscoESP20175,534,041,024,0
34Sanchez-Alarcos Galian VictorESP20265,534,040,025,5
35Ferreiro Calvo ManuelESP20345,533,040,526,5
36Estrada Martinez CesarESP22255,531,538,029,0
37Sanchez-Guijaldo Vela DemetrioESP21415,531,537,026,5
38Coleto Calderon Jose AntonioESP21225,531,036,526,0
39Martin Rodriguez EmilioESP21235,531,036,524,0
40Argente Rodriguez Juan JoseESP21295,529,536,024,5
41Burlacu LaurentiuROU20095,526,533,020,0
42Tejedor Ariza FranciscoESP20105,036,543,025,5
138 players

15) Epetium Open

"Epetium Open 2008" tournament took place in Stobrec, Croatia 26th July - 2nd August 2008. Urso Krstic edged out Drazen Curic on tie-break after both finished on 6/7. News: Ivo Knezovic.

Official site: http://www.crochess.com/turniri/split/stobrec_08.htm

Epetium Open Stobrec (CRO), 25 vii - 2 viii 2008
Final Round 7 Standings:
PlNameTi FED IRtg Bod BH. pobj RtgSum BH.
1Krstic Uros IM CRO 23676,0 22,5 51303532,0
2Curic Drazen CRO 21956,0 21,0 51272430,0
3Krnic Ivan CRO 21925,0 23,0 41274331,0
4Plenkovic Zdenko FM CRO 23465,0 22,5 31268932,0
5Katavic Borivoj CRO 21755,0 20,5 41240629,5
6Bajkusa Marijan CRO 20705,0 17,0 41149524,5
7Matas Zdravko CRO 20284,5 21,0 41245128,0
8Pejcinovic Vitomir CRO 20214,5 20,0 41230628,0
9Paradjina Dusko CRO 19724,5 17,0 41183024,0
10Milosavljevic Jovan CRO 20824,0 20,0 41240327,0
11Zelic Ivan CRO 04,0 19,0 21191527,5
12Klem Davor CRO 21264,0 17,0 41096724,0
13Buzancic Tihomir CRO 17514,0 15,0 31085022,0
14Saric Branko CRO 19023,5 20,0 2840227,0
15Zaper Mirko CRO 20453,5 19,5 31242228,5
16Marinic-Kragic Miroslav CRO 19663,5 19,0 31199426,0
17Juric-Cvitanovic Alen CRO 18423,5 19,0 31156726,5
18Simovic Mladen CRO 18623,5 18,5 31165427,0
19Vrankovic Marko CRO 16263,5 17,0 31156823,0
20Klaric Ante CRO 18403,5 16,5 31187022,5
21Fernandez Quintero Jose Antoni ESP 19583,0 17,0 21189825,0
22Jurisin Petar CRO 14053,0 16,5 2937022,0
23Milicic Djuro CRO 14503,0 16,0 21114922,0
24Mestrovic Josip CRO 18103,0 16,0 2927023,0
25Simunic Neno CRO 17063,0 15,0 31144921,0
26Zelenika Ivan BIH 16703,0 15,0 31124320,5
27Amizic Ivan CRO 15533,0 15,0 31070321,0
28Huljus Reinhard Dr GER 02,5 16,0 1930522,5
29Vrankovic Ivan CRO 17762,5 14,5 1947320,5
30Marcic Ivica CRO 20602,0 17,5 2776126,5
31Cokaric Andjelko CRO 17812,0 15,5 2941023,0
32Ivic Miroslav CRO 14461,5 13,5 0902019,0
33Zelic Toma CRO 01,5 13,5 0884318,5
34Saric Luka CRO 01,5 12,0 1604916,5
35Ivic Lovre CRO 00,5 12,0 0661716,5

16) 130th New York State Championship

The 130th New York State Championship took place in Colonie, near the New York State capital Albany, August 29th to September 1st 2008. Bill Townsend reports:

The Open section contained few surprises as the two top rated players tied for first. IM Alex Lenderman and IM Justin Sarkar both scored 5.5-0.5, drawing each other in round four and winning all their other games. Although both players were New Yorkers, the New York State Chess Association tries to avoid co-champions so Lenderman was declared New York State Champion on tie-breaks because his opponents performed better than Sarkar’s.

Tied for third with 4.5-1.5 were masters Yefim Treger and Michael Thaler. Tied for fifth with 4-2 were: FM Igor Nikolayev, Evan Rabin, FM Alec Getz, Steven Taylor, Yevgeni Nahutin and Ben Dean-Kawamura. It’s interesting to note that, as opposed to previous years, of all players named were New Yorkers, with the exception of Nahutin who is from Ontario.

The thing that caused the most comment at the event was not who was there, but rather who wasn’t. This is the first New York State Championship that I can remember where there were no grandmasters playing. Nobody was quite sure of the reason for this - one of the organizers thought that it might be because there was no "two day" option for the Open section. Perhaps the GMs who usually play had other commitments: for example that weekend defending champion GM Hikaru Nakamura was coming in second at an invitational tournament in Montreal. In spite of this the tournament had a good turnout: 194 players competed in the four sections, up slightly from last year’s total.

The New York State championship is the longest running annual tournament in the U.S., and possibly the world, having started in 1878 and been held almost every year since then. There are many famous players on the list of New York State Champions, such as world champion Jose Capablanca (1910) and 5th World Correspondence Champion Hans Berliner (1953). More recently GMs Gata Kamsky (2005), Hikaru Nakamura (2004, 2007) and Joel Benjamin (nine(!) times between 1985 and 2002) have been state champions.

The event was directed by Steve Immitt and Bill and Brenda Goichberg. Full crosstables for the event are posted at the Continental Chess website, the address is: http://www.chesstour.com/nysc08r.htm

17) Bundesliga 2008-9

The Bundesliga in Germany will be broadcasting all the games of this strong event next season. The dates for next season are as follows: 4th-5th October 2008 25th-26th October 2008 29th-30th November 2008 12th-14th December 2008 (Here the official seventh round will be played. Although some will be played at other times) 31st January 2008 - 1st February 2009. 28th February - 1st March 2009. 28th-29th March 2009.

Official site: http://www.schachbundesliga.de

18) II ROMGAZ Open

The II ROMGAZ Open takes place in Bucharest 11th-19th September. Evgenij Miroshnichenko and Dmitry Kononenko both have started with 5/5 in this 9 round swiss.

Official site: http://www.turneulregilor.com and the results at: http://chess-results.com/tnr15672.aspx?lan=2  

19) I Tancats Magistrals Vila de Canovelles

The I Tancats Magistrals Vila de Canovelles tournament takes place 8th-14th September 2008. GM and IM groups.

Official site: http://www.flancderei.com/index.php/archives/tag/i-tancat and results and games at: http://chess-results.com/tnr15849.aspx?tnr=15849&art=2&lan=2&flag=30&m=-1  

I Tancats A Canovelles (ESP), 13-21 ix 2008 cat. VIII (2443)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Almeida Quintana, Omar g CUB 2524 * . . . . 1 . 1 . 1 3
2. Cruz, Filemon f PER 2416 . * ½ 1 . . 1 . . . 2½ 2717
3. Cruz, Cristhian f PER 2508 . ½ * ½ . ½ . . . . 1½ 2403
4. Lorenzo de la Riva, Lazaro f ESP 2367 . 0 ½ * 1 . . . . . 1½ 2433
5. Hernando Rodrigo, Jose Maria m ESP 2377 . . . 0 * . ½ . 1 . 1½ 2413
6. Larino Nieto, David m ESP 2426 0 . ½ . . * . 1 . . 1½ 2521
7. Pogorelov, Ruslan g UKR 2459 . 0 . . ½ . * . . 1 1½ 2401
8. Rodriguez Vila, Andres g URU 2531 0 . . . . 0 . * 1 . 1 2329
9. Rojas, Luis m CHI 2414 . . . . 0 . . 0 * 1 1 2314
10. Jerez Perez, Alfonso m ESP 2410 0 . . . . . 0 . 0 * 0

I Tancats B Canovelles (ESP), 13-21 ix 2008 cat. IV (2327)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Rios, Alejandro m COL 2340 * 1 . . . 1 . . ½ . 2½ 2575
2. Fernandez Aguado, Enrique f ESP 2337 0 * . . . . 1 . . 1 2 2475
3. Avila Jimenez, Javier ESP 2286 . . * . ½ . . . 1 . 1½ 2474
4. Munoz Pantoja, Miguel m PER 2499 . . . * ½ . . . 1 . 1½ 2474
5. Almeida Toledano, Daniel ESP 2303 . . ½ ½ * . . ½ . . 1½ 2336
6. Gonzalez, Raul f ARG 2310 0 . . . . * 1 . . . 1 2318
7. Garcia Jimenez, Francisco Javier f ESP 2297 . 0 . . . 0 * . . 1 1 2228
8. Randazzo, Adrian ITA 2224 . . . . ½ . . * . . ½ 2303
9. Llaneza Vega, Patricia wm ESP 2260 ½ . 0 0 . . . . * . ½ 2102
10. Panelo, Marcelo m ARG 2414 . 0 . . . . 0 . . * 0
 

20) Leicester

There were two all-play-all event in Leicester, England 23rd August - 7th September 2008. 12 year old Brandon Clarke won the A tournament.

Official site: http://www.leicesterchess.co.uk

Leicester Group A Littlethorpe (ENG), 23 viii-7 ix 2008
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Clarke, Brandon G ENG 1911 * 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 7 2249
2. Jackson,James P ENG ---- 0 * 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 6½ 2186
3. Edwards, L Alan ENG 2093 ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 5½ 2089
4. Kingston,Ian ENG ---- 0 ½ ½ * 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 5½ 2100
5. Coates, David H ENG 2037 0 ½ ½ 1 * 0 1 1 0 1 5 2058
6. Compton, Alistair NZL 2136 ½ ½ 0 0 1 * 0 1 1 1 5 2047
7. Doran,Michael J ENG ---- 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 * 1 1 1 5 2063
8. Gibson, Christopher A ENG 2003 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 * 1 1 2½ 1853
9. Van der Westhuizen,Charles RSA ---- ½ 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 * ½ 2 1800
10. Harrison,Peter K ENG ---- ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ * 1 1669

Leicester Group B Littlethorpe (ENG), 23 viii-7 ix 2008
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Jones, Christopher M ENG 1909 * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 6½ 2136
2. Mahmood, Nasrul Humaimi MAS 1981 ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 5½ 2042
3. Lim,Mark ENG ---- 0 0 * 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 5½ 2040
4. Tobisch,John GER ---- ½ ½ 1 * 0 0 0 1 1 1 5 2003
5. Newell, David F ENG ---- ½ ½ ½ 1 * ½ 0 ½ 0 1 4½ 1960
6. Venmore Rowland,Edward ENG ---- ½ ½ 0 1 ½ * 0 ½ ½ ½ 4 1917
7. Larter, Nick J IRL 1811 0 ½ 0 1 1 1 * 0 ½ 0 4 1938
8. Manuchehri,Alireza IRI ---- ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 * ½ 0 3½ 1880
9. Potter, Karl ENG 1942 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 3½ 1886
10. Sharma,Nilesh IND ---- 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 1 ½ * 3 1835
 

21) 15th Graz International Open

 

The 15th Graz International Open took place 30th August - 7th September 2008. Zdenko Kozul took  clear first place with 7.5/9 a point clear of the field.

http://chess-results.com/tnr15053.aspx?tnr=15053&art=1&lan=2&turdet=YES&flag=30&m=-1

Open A Graz (AUT), 30 viii-7 ix 2008
Final Round 9 Standings:
RkNameTiFEDFIDEPts Des 1
1Kozul ZdenkoGMCRO25797,551,0
2Stanec NikolausGMAUT25386,552,5
3Mohr GeorgGMSLO24946,550,5
4Rabiega RobertGMGER25526,550,0
5Diermair AndreasIMAUT23886,050,0
6Krumpacnik DomenIMSLO23766,048,0
7Pilaj Herwig MagIMAUT23896,047,5
8Kreisl RobertFMAUT23375,549,0
9Schnider GertFMAUT22865,547,5
10Poetz FlorianAUT21915,546,0
11Kokol PeterSLO22535,546,0
12Zupe MiranIMSLO23465,543,5
13Frosch RonaldMKAUT22205,541,5
14Loebler Heimo MagNMAUT22335,540,5
15Aschenbrenner RobertFMAUT22785,536,5
16Pachta PaulFMAUT23125,532,0
17Zakharchenko ArnoldIMUKR22715,044,5
18Fahrner KurtFMAUT22855,044,5
19Syska AlbertFMGER22525,044,5
20Meglitsch KonstantinAUT19645,043,5
21Mihevc NarcisaWFMSLO21345,042,0
22Buzeti JernejSLO21755,041,0
23Hess ChristianFMGER22355,039,0
24Nickl Klaus ProfMKAUT21625,038,5
25Schrey Stefan MagMKAUT21655,035,0
62 players

22) MCF GM Tournament

The MCF GM Tournament took place in Kuala Lumpur 26th August - 4th September 2008.

Official site final report said "Crotian GM Drazen Sermek emerged as the sole winner of the 2008 Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) GM Tournament which end yesterday at the Cititel XPress Hotel, Kuala Lumpur . He was unbeaten and finish with 7 points. The second place goes to GM Ziaur Rahman the top seed ( FIDE 2560) from Bangladesh with 6.5 points followed by Uzbek GM - Saidali Yuldachev ( 2520) with 6 points. Malaysian - IM Mashafizul Helmi ( FIDE 2386) finish on 4th place with 5.5 points. He missed the GM norm by a single point. Chinese 19 years old girls WIM Zhang Xiaowen have something to cheer when she finish with 4 points and get a WGM norm. Mynamar - FM Myo Zaw Min (FIDE 2486) finish last with 1 points. According to the Arbiter - Maung Maung Lwin - Myo is not so active playing chess anymore and his now more involve as an arbiter in chess tournaments in Myanmar."

Official site: http://hairulovchessmaniacs.blogspot.com/search/label/MCF%20GM%20Tournament

MCF GM Kuala Lumpur (MAS), 26 viii-4 ix 2008 cat. IX (2475)
1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Sermek, Drazen g CRO 2509 * * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 7 2616
2. Rahman, Ziaur g BAN 2564 ½ ½ * * ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 6½ 2566
3. Iuldachev, Saidali g UZB 2520 ½ ½ ½ 0 * * 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 6 2537
4. Mas, Hafizulhelmi m MAS 2386 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ * * ½ 1 1 1 5½ 2528
5. Zhang Xiaowen wm CHN 2382 0 0 1 0 0 ½ ½ 0 * * 1 1 4 2421
6. Myo Zaw Min f MYA 2486 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 * * 1 2106

23) Abkhasian Open

The Abkhazia Open took place in Sukhumi 3rd-11th August 2008. Vitaly Kiselev and Sergey Strelnikov finished with 7/9. I couldn't find a final table so the one below is generated from the games but is obviously not complete.

Official site: http://www.abkhaziachess.org

Abkhasian Open Sukhumi (GEO), 3-11 viii 2008
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1. Kiselev, Vitaliy2 g RUS 2518 +27 =49 +22 =3 =21 +16 +10 +4 =2 7 2478
2. Strelnikov, Sergey UKR 2334 +41 +45 +10 +34 =13 +29 -5 +3 =1 7 2536
3. Pushkov, Nikolai g RUS 2514 +12 =18 +53 =1 =5 +9 +13 -2 +14 6½ 2478
4. Looshnikov, Nikolai RUS 2462 +40 +29 -13 +30 +7 =5 +14 -1 +16 6½ 2490
5. Ovetchkin, Roman g RUS 2558 +56 +60 =30 +19 =3 =4 +2 =6 =8 6½ 2518
6. Eraschenkov, Denis m RUS 2402 -9 +42 +31 +18 -29 +38 +20 =5 +17 6½ 2371
7. Kruchev, Boris f RUS 2278 =35 +58 =9 +22 -4 +37 =27 +13 +23 6½ 2357
8. Shutukov, S RUS 2360 =39 +52 =18 =37 +53 =19 +15 +10 =5 6½ 2387
9. Taysayev, Timur RUS 2164 +6 =19 =7 +23 =14 -3 =21 +20 +18 6 2455
10. Kharlamov, Igor1 ISR 2090 +16 +48 -2 +20 +34 +13 -1 -8 +26 6 2403
11. Arhangelsky, Vladislav RUS 2343 =36 +46 +49 -13 -17 +24 +26 +29 =28 6 2306
12. Kondratenko, Anatoly RUS 2182 -3 +47 -21 +62 -20 +57 +38 +32 +19 6 2356
13. Chashchev, Sergey f RUS 2294 +54 +24 +4 +11 =2 -10 -3 -7 +29 5½ 2339
14. Permiakov, Vladimir m RUS 2339 =46 =36 +26 +38 =9 +17 -4 +15 -3 5½ 2330
15. Valov, Ilya RUS 2269 +33 -22 +27 =36 +24 +21 -8 -14 +41 5½ 2249
16. Bekker, Maxim RUS 2180 -10 =54 +59 +31 +46 -1 +52 +27 -4 5½ 2241
17. Khudjakov, Sergey V RUS 2123 . +62 -19 +52 +11 -14 +36 +34 -6 5 2331
18. Zakharov, Andrey RUS 2211 +47 =3 =8 -6 +22 -20 +37 +21 -9 5 2303
19. Demianjuk, Alexander RUS 2317 +57 =9 +17 -5 +36 =8 =29 =28 -12 5 2279
20. Gutkis, Vladimir f RUS 2260 +44 =31 =39 -10 +12 +18 -6 -9 +46 5 2167
21. Lebedev, Sergey RUS 2325 -43 +57 +12 +45 =1 -15 =9 -18 +36 5 2252
22. Gedgafov,Chamal RUS ---- +28 +15 -1 -7 -18 +39 +48 -23 +40 5 2285
23. Malinin, Vasily B g RUS 2331 +42 -37 +56 -9 +40 -26 +33 +22 -7 5 2193
24. Karapetayn,Albert RUS ---- +38 -13 +32 =40 -15 -11 +53 =46 +49 5 2278
25. Churchumal,Otar RUS ---- =52 -39 +54 =51 -27 +40 -35 +37 +38 5 2209
26. Gavrilov, Andrei f RUS 2201 +59 -34 -14 +57 +41 +23 -11 +30 -10 5 2268
27. Arzamastsev, Artur RUS 2184 -1 +61 -15 +59 +25 +53 =7 -16 =30 5 2242
28. Tabaryan, Artem RUS 2238 -22 =33 -36 +42 +47 . +30 =19 =11 4½ 2217
29. Karmov, Mazhmudin RUS 2235 +50 -4 +41 +39 +6 -2 =19 -11 -13 4½ 2269
30. Elizarov, Dmitry f RUS 2334 +61 +43 =5 -4 =37 +32 -28 -26 =27 4½ 2239
31. Minosians, Artem RUS 1971 +32 =20 -6 -16 +51 -36 -46 +54 +43 4½ 2217
32. Bronnikov, Konstantin RUS 2210 -31 +50 -24 +43 +39 -30 =41 -12 +51 4½ 2142
33. Eramian, Gamlet RUS 2023 -15 =28 +64 =56 =49 +45 -23 -38 +59 4½ 2183
34. Karpov, Alexander m UZB 2341 +63 +26 +37 -2 -10 . +43 -17 . 4 2221
35. Lakerbaya, Timur RUS 2086 =7 -53 -52 =58 =44 +50 +25 =36 . 4 2057
36. Svinarenko, Pavel RUS 2153 =11 =14 +28 =15 -19 +31 -17 =35 -21 4 2180
37. Nikolaeva, Alexandra1 wf RUS 2199 +62 +23 -34 =8 =30 -7 -18 -25 +44 4 2142
38. Zhukov, Viktor RUS 2220 -24 +44 +43 -14 +45 -6 -12 +33 -25 4 2071
39. Ezhikov, Vitaly RUS 2136 =8 +25 =20 -29 -32 -22 -47 +62 +58 4 2088
40. Romanov, Mikhail RUS 2182 -4 +64 =60 =24 -23 -25 +59 +47 -22 4 2087
41. Barsamian, Eduard RUS 2137 -2 +51 -29 +48 -26 +47 =32 . -15 3½ 2182
42. Ivaschenko, Vadim RUS 2111 -23 -6 +61 -28 +59 -48 +56 =51 . 3½ 2157
43. Kopeikin, Yuri RUS 2107 +21 -30 -38 -32 +64 +49 -34 =48 -31 3½ 2104
44. Kirsanova, July RUS 1813 -20 -38 -47 =50 =35 +62 =51 +56 -37 3½ 2085
45. Mumdgan, Suren RUS 2161 +51 -2 +48 -21 -38 -33 +57 . . 3 2158
46. Korchmar, Arkady RUS 2150 =14 -11 +58 . -16 -52 +31 =24 -20 3 2049
47. Zukhba, Daur GEO 2118 -18 -12 +44 +54 -28 -41 +39 -40 . 3 2035
48. Khachatourian, Yerazik NOR 2022 . -10 -45 -41 +58 +42 -22 =43 =50 3 1988
49. Zukhba, Temur RUS 2238 +64 =1 -11 -53 =33 -43 +58 . -24 3 2063
50. Buyuklyan,Artur RUS ---- -29 -32 -51 =44 +61 -35 +55 . =48 3 2010
51. Akbaev, Kazbek RUS 2416 -45 -41 +50 =25 -31 =56 =44 =42 -32 3 1941
52. Khubulava,Vepkhiya RUS ---- =25 -8 +35 -17 . +46 -16 . . 2½ 2092
53. Kvitsihiya, Ushangi RUS 2213 =58 +35 -3 +49 -8 -27 -24 . . 2½ 2095
54. Korchmar, Vasiliy RUS 2078 -13 =16 -25 -47 -55 +61 +64 -31 . 2½ 1929
55. Bagapsh,Astamur RUS ---- -60 -56 -57 =61 +54 -58 -50 -59 +62 2½ 1906
56. Kirpichnikov, Vladimir V RUS 2194 -5 +55 -23 =33 . =51 -42 -44 . 2 2020
57. Li, Sergey RUS 2117 -19 -21 +55 -26 +62 -12 -45 . . 2 2011
58. Kesjan,Vardan RUS ---- =53 -7 -46 =35 -48 +55 -49 . -39 2 1947
59. Otyrba,Daut RUS ---- -26 . -16 -27 -42 +64 -40 +55 -33 2 1917
60. Sanakoev, Grigory RUS 2259 +55 -5 =40 . . . . . . 1½ 2246
61. Govorova,Anastasiya RUS ---- -30 -27 -42 =55 -50 -54 -62 +64 . 1½ 1837
62. Ravdin,Evgeny RUS ---- -37 -17 . -12 -57 -44 +61 -39 -55 1 1749
63. Shirshikov, Nikolai RUS 2148 -34 . . . . . . . . 0
64. Dzyapsha,Ruslan RUS ---- -49 -40 -33 . -43 -59 -54 -61 . 0

24) Romanian Team Championship

The Romanian Team championship took place in Eforie Nord 1st-9th September 2008. Studentesc Medicina Timisoara took first place. Details at the official site.

Official site: http://www.clubulregilor.ro/

25) Hungarian Championship

The 58th Hungarian Championship takes place in Nyiregyhaza (220 km east from Budapest) 12th-23rd September 2008.

The championship is an 16 participant, KO-system event with Zoltan Almasi (6 times Hungarian Champion) and Gyula Sax (Gold medalist of the Buenos Aires Olympiad, 1978).

Official site: http://www.hotelpagony.hu/ or more directly http://dodicsek.unsoft.hu/2008/0912ferfiko/menkoch2008.htm.

58th ch-HUN KO Nyiregyhaza (HUN), 12-23 ix 2008
Round 1Round 2Semi-FinalFinalWinner
SeedNameTiNATEloScoreNameScoreNameScoreNameScoreName
1Almasi, Zoltan gHUN26681½
Almasi, Zoltan ½
16Papp, Gabor mHUN2509½
8Medvegy, Zoltan gHUN2556½
Cao, Sang ½
9Cao, Sang gHUN24911½
5Erdos, Viktor gHUN25760
Gonda, Laszlo ½
12Gonda, Laszlo mHUN25012
4Ruck, Robert gHUN25743½
Ruck, Robert ½
13Szabo, Krisztian mHUN25103½
3Balogh, Csaba gHUN26243
Balogh, Csaba ½
14Czebe, Attila gHUN24801
6Groszpeter, AttilagHUN25542½
Sax, Gyula ½
11Sax, Gyula gHUN25063½
7Horvath, Csaba gHUN2537½
Horvath, Adam 0
10Horvath, Adam gHUN25131½
2Kovacs, Gabor mHUN25051½
Kovacs, Gabor 1
15Gyimesi, Zoltan gHUN2586½

26) 7th Georgiev - Kesarovski Memorial

The 7th Georgiev - Kesarovski Memorial took place in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria 8th-14th September 2008. Krasimir Rusev won the event with 8/9. Final two rounds aren't available.

Official site: http://www.sunnybeach-chess.com/

7th Georgiev - Kesarovski Memorial Sunny Beach (BUL), 8-14 ix 2008
Final Round 9 Standings:
Rank Name IRtgFEDPtsBH. BH. victFide
1 IM Rusev Krasimir 2508BUL8,044,555,5 8 42,0
2 IM Nikolov Sasho 2398BUL7,542,053,0 6 38,0
3 IM Bratanov Zsivko 2446BUL7,541,053,0 7 41,0
4 FM Lilov Valeri 2382BUL7,042,054,5 6 37,0
5 GM Petkov Vladimir 2423BUL7,041,554,5 7 38,0
6 IM Kozhuharov Spas 2412BUL7,040,052,0 6 36,5
7 IM Vasilev Milen 2479BUL7,038,549,0 7 34,0
8 GM Janev Evgeni 2502BUL6,542,053,5 6 36,5
9 IM Dimitrov Radoslav 2400BUL6,539,049,5 6 33,0
10 GM Ermenkov Evgenij 2463PLE6,539,048,5 5 35,0
11 GM Stanojoski Zvonko 2514MKD6,538,551,0 5 33,5
12 FM Dinev Dejan 2312MKD6,538,050,0 6 33,0
13 GM Georgiev Krum 2446BUL6,538,048,5 5 35,5
14 IM Dimitrov Pavel 2415BUL6,536,047,0 6 32,5
15 IM Drenchev Petar 2450BUL6,536,046,0 5 32,0
16 WFM Raeva Elitsa 2307BUL6,040,552,0 6 33,0
17 FM Pantev Veselin 2380BUL6,040,050,5 5 34,0
18 IM Manolov Ivan 2246BUL6,038,049,5 4 31,5
19 FM Filev Georgi 2395BUL6,036,548,0 5 30,5
20 FM Vyskocil Neklan 2340CZE6,036,547,5 5 30,5
21 IM Todorov Ognjan 2318BUL6,036,547,0 5 33,0
22 Angelov Zvetomir 2121BUL6,036,046,0 6 28,0
23 IM Pisk Petr 2354CZE6,035,046,0 4 29,5
24 Ljangov Petar 2164BUL6,033,542,5 5 28,0
25 WFM Jordanova Svetla 2168BUL5,542,053,0 4 35,0

27) X D'escacs Sant Marti International Open

The X D'escacs Sant Marti International Open took place 1st-10th September 2008. Victor Vehi Bach egded out Miguel Munoz Pantoja on tie-break after both finished on 7/9. Final round games not yet available.

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

X San Marti Open (ESP), 1-10 ix 2008
Final Round 9 Standings:
Rk.NumberTiFEDFIDEPts. Des 1 Des 2
1VEHI BACH Victor ManuelIMESP24117,0737,0
2MUNOZ PANTOJA MiguelIMPER24997,0535,5
3BELTRAN RUEDA SantiagoFMESP24366,5534,0
4CAPELLADES SUBIRANA Marc mcESP22656,0531,0
5COLON GARCIA EnriqueESP21185,5430,0
6PRATS RODRIGUEZ Juan BoscoESP20995,5427,5
7RIDAMEYA TATCHE Jose Miguel MNESP21335,5425,5
8BURGOS FIGUEROA Carlos EIMESA22725,0529,0
9RODRIGUEZ REBULL GermanESP20685,0425,0
10SCALZI EVANS FedericoESP20185,0418,5
11TARRAGO DOMINGO MiguelESP20505,0327,5
12PENALVER GUARDIA JosepESP19164,5419,0
13SALVO GARCIA RogerESP21314,5328,0
14SANCHEZ IBERN EricESP20384,5326,0
15GARCIA RIERA JosepESP20224,5224,0
16NADAL GARCIA LluisESP20484,0417,0
17RIERA DANES ManelESP20894,0323,5
18MORENO PEREZ NorbertoESP19054,0317,0
19ROCHE PERIS EduardESP20314,0215,5
20LORENTE MUNOZ RaulESP19564,0214,5
21PUJAL MONCHO JoaquimESP04,0214,5
22GARCIA MARIN GuillemESP21043,5322,0
99 players

28) XXV Torneo Abierto de Collado Villalba

The XXV Torneo Abierto de Collado Villalba took place 20th-30th August 2008. Isam Ortiz Suarez won with 7.5/9. Final round games now available.

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

29) 1st Dragon Capital Vietnam Chess Open

The 1st Dragon Capital Vietnam Chess Open took place 26th August - 2nd September 2008 in Vung Tau. Le Quang Liem won with 7/9 half a point clear of Zurab Azmaiparashvili and Wesley So. Games from the final round games now available.

Official site: http://www.vietnamchess.com/Tournament/Inter/2008/dragon1.htm

Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr15291.aspx

30) European Youth Chess Championship

European Youth Chess Championship 2008 takes place in Herceg Novi (Montenegro) 14th-25th September 2008.

http://www.euroyouth2008.com/

31) XVI Albacete International Open

The XVI Albacete (Spain) International Open took place 1st-6th September 2008. Julian Radulski took first place on tie-break from Yuri Solodovnichenko after both scored 7.5/9. Games from rounds 7 and 8 now available but no round 9.

Official site: http://www.faclm.org/ - Results http://chess-results.com/tnr15393.aspx - http://www.tabladeflandes.com/cmancha/albacete_2008/albacete_2008.php

32) 3rd PGMA Cup

The 3rd President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (PGMA) Cup took place in Manila, Philippines 6th-13th September 2008. Among the top seeds and favourites were GM Murtas Kazgaleyev (KAZ), GM Zhang Zong (SIN) GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili (GEO), GM Li Chao (CHN), GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan (IRI), and GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (VIE). Local player Wesley So also competes. Eugene Torre, Li Chao (China), Zhao. Zhong (Singapore) took first with 7/9. No games available.Official site: http://chessasia.net/ - Results: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr15726.aspx?lan=1 - FIDE report

33) XV Feria del Orinoco

The XV Feria del Orinoco 9 round Swiss Open took place in Ciudad Bolivar (Venezuela) 25th-31st August 2008. 281 players. GM Julio Granda Zuniga took clear first with 8.5/9. No PGN file available. The bulletin is made up of images. Hopefully someone will get the games from somewhere.

Official site: http://www.ajedrezferiadelorinoco.com/ and additional information at http://www.ajedrezguayana.blogspot.com/

34) The 4th Annual Okie Chess Festival

The 4th Annual Okie Chess Festival. There was an open alongside the all-play-alls reported last week.

All eleven FIDE rated players were members of the USA Federation in this 7-SS which was run concurrently by the OCF with the Masters and Challengers event. A 4-way tie for 1st place had James Long from Arkansas, Tim Steiner from Kansas City, George Trammell from Oklahoma City and Chuck Johnson from Okemah each taking home $300. Organized by Tom Braunlich and sponsored and directed by IA Frank K. Berry this tourney with 52 players from many states finished up the FIDE rating norms for Lin, Montero, Mark Anderson, Hughes, Bulleigh and Kline. My thanks to Frank K. Berry for this report.  http://www.okchess.org

35) FAOGBA semifinals

The FAOGBA semifinals were played in Ciudadela, Buenos Aires from 17th-31st August 2008. Marcelo De Picciotto won the event.

Official site: http://www.ajedrezfaogba.com.ar/Torneos/2008/semifinal_cam3.php

FIDE report: http://ratings.fide.com/treport.phtml?event16=15811  

36) National Chess League Argentina

The National Chess League started in Villa Martelli on the 9th August. Coverage below. I will round up the games at the conclusion of the event.

Official site: http://www.lna.org.ar/liga08/lna2008.htm

National Chess League Argentina (ARG), 9 viii - ? 2008
Leading Round 5 Standings:
Rk Equipo Part. + = - Pts. BUC
1 MUNICIPALIDAD DE MORENO 5 4 0 1 11 44½
2 MARTELLI - VICENTE LOPEZ 5 3 1 1 11 43
3 GIMNASIA Y ESGRIMA BS AS 5 4 1 0 10 39
4 CALICE - LIGURIA 5 2 3 0 9½ 41
5 ASOCIADOS CREDICOOP 5 3 0 2 9 39½
6 TORRE BLANCA - CHESSHOP 5 2 2 1 8½ 42
7 VENTAJEDREZ - PLASTIGAL 5 2 0 3 8½ 39
8 ART/CHESS 5 4 0 1 8½ 25
9 CAM 3 -. TRES DE FEBRERO 5 3 1 1 8 43½
10 T & E - SAN MARTÍN 5 1 2 2 8 41
11 MIGUEL TAL - MALVINAS 5 3 0 2 8 36½
12 M. PARRINELLO 5 2 2 1 7½ 36½
13 CIRCULO PATAGONICO 5 1 2 2 7 40½
14 SAN ISIDRO PERFIL JAQUE 5 2 0 3 7 37½
15 FERRO 5 1 2 2 6½ 39½
16 RONDI - MUPAS 5 2 0 3 6½ 28½
17 NAJDORF - POLVORINES 5 1 0 4 5½ 36
18 PERGAMINO 5 2 0 3 5½ 28½
19 LOS RANQUELES 5 2 0 3 4½ 27
20 EDIFIKO - AAAC 5 1 0 4 4 24½
21 MAR DEL PLATA - LOS LOBOS 5 2 0 3 3½ 28

37) Problem Solving

The World Chess Solving Championship took place 2nd - 3rd September in Jurmala, Latvia. Detailed results: http://www.saunalahti.fi/~stniekat/pccc/wcsc08.htm

38) 23rd Teteven Open

The 23rd Teteven Open took place August 16th-22nd 2008.Kalin Karakehajov won with 8/9. The game file is incomplete and I will wait for a more complete one before trying to publish the games. All the games are available in the viewer but the PGN file is only to round 4 and incomplete at that. I won't both unless the corrected final file turns up. Thus far I haven't heard anything from the organisers.

Official site: http://www.geocities.com/mitko74/teteven23/teteven23.htm

39) II Torneo Cerrado Diputacion De Ciudad Real

II Torneo Cerrado Diputacion De Ciudad Real took place 9th-13th September 2008. Jose Miguel Ortega Ruiz won the event with 6.5/9. I couldn't find games on the official site.

Official site: http://faclm.org/delegaciones/ciudad%20real/index.htm - Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr15830.aspx?lan=1 - http://faclm.org/delegaciones/ciudad%20real/index.htm

II Torneo Cerrado Diputacion De Ciudad Real (ESP), 9-13 ix 2008
Rk.NameFEDRtgClub/CityPts. TB1 TB3
1Ortega Ruiz Jose MiguelFMESP2300AND6,526,754
2Mirzoev AzerGMAZE2565CAT6,024,003
3Fernandez Barrera VictorFMESP2319CTM5,022,252
4Vega Gutierrez SabrinaWGMESP2281CAN5,021,754
5Espinosa Aranda AngelFMESP2313CTM5,020,252
6Dolezal CristianIMARG24354,519,252
7Kovacevic SlobodanIMSRB2417VAL4,016,001
8Palencia WilsonIMCOL2291VAL3,514,002
9Chasovnikova EugeniaWIMRUS2284CAT3,011,752
10Serna Lara SergioESP2247CTM2,512,001

40) Forthcoming Events and Links

5th China vs Russia Chess Match

The 5th China vs Russia Chess Match takes place 18th-27th September 2008, in Ningpo, China. 18th-23rd September standard (90+30), 24th-26th September rapid (25+10), 27th September blitz (3+2), no official site yet. Evgeny Klavir reports news from Sergey Shipov's forum that Tomashevsky will replace Timofeev and Kosteniuk (obviously because she's playing for the world title) will not play at all but I don't have full details of this.

5th China vs Russia Chess Match Ningpo
(CHN), 18-23 ix 2008
Provisional team members:
Russian men's team:
Svidler, Peterg2738
Jakovenko, Dmitryg2709
Alekseev, Evgenyg2708
Inarkiev, Ernestog2675
Timofeev, Artyomg2650
Chinese men's team:
Bu Xiangzhig2710
Ni Huag2705
Wang Yueg2704
Wang Haog2691
Li Chao bg2590
Zhou Jianchaog2604
Russian women's team:
Kosteniuk, Aleksandrag2510
Kosintseva, Tatjanam2511
Kosintseva, Nadezhdam2460
Tairova, Elenam2417
Pogonina, Natalijawg2469
Korbut, Ekaterina2459
Chinese women's team:
Xu Yuhuag2483
Hou Yifanwg2557
Zhao Xuem2522
Ruan Lufeig2498
Shen Yangg2445
Huang Qiang2430
Tan Zhongyi2387

8th Winterthur Chess Week

The 8th Winterthur (SUI) Chess Week takes place 3rd-12th October 2008. The tournament comprises two opens (Masters Open (Elo > 1899) / General Open (Elo < 2001)), the ACCENTUS Young Masters, a Youth Open and two blitz (individual and team) events.

The tournament homepage is located at http://www.schachwoche.org where the top four boards of the masters open will be broadcasted live during the tournament.

Leon Open

The city of Leon open takes place 26th-28th December 2008.

Details: http://www.openmundialdeleon.com

North American FIDE Invitationals

North American FIDE Invitationals. Are you on the hunt for your GM or IM norms? Visit http:/www.nachess.org/fide for the tournament schedule or contact Sevan A. Muradian at info@nachess.org for more information.

II Magistral do Circulo Militar

The II Magistral do Circulo Militar takes place Sao Paulo, 1st-9th October 2008.

Official site: http://www.comunic.com.br/xadrez/

Miami Chess Open

The Miami Chess Open takes place September 10th-14th 2008 at the Hyatt Regency - Miami Convention Center.

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

Villa Martelli

There is a new Villa Martelli chess festival 9th-28th October 2008.

a href="http://www.ajedrezmartelli.org.ar/">http://www.ajedrezmartelli.org.ar/

So - Torre Match 2009

14-year-old Wesley So and 56-year-old Eugene Torre play a 12 game match starting February 10, 2009 at the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City. Two games each will be played in Quezon City, Davao and Iloilo, and if the match remains undecided, the protagonists will return to Quezon City and finish the match. A knockout game will be played if the duel ends up 6-6. The winner will take home P600,000 while the loser will earn P400,000.Another P100,000 goes to the winner of each provincial leg while the loser will get P50,000.

3rd Riviera dei Cedri International

3rd Riviera dei Cedri International Chess Festival takes place in Belvedere 8th-14th September 2008. Rainer Buhmann (2561) is the top seed.

http://scacchi.rivieradeicedri.it/

Torre Normanna Hotel Village

Torre Normanna Hotel Village international chess festival takes place 8th-14th September 2008. Evgeny Sveshnikov plays.

Official site: http://www.centroscacchi.it/torrenormanna/

VII Benidorm International Festival

The VII Benidorm International Festival of Chess takes place 29th November - 8th December 2008.

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

For information contact: E-Mail: eventosdeajedrez@yahoo.es festivaldebenidorm@gmail.com News: Patricia Claros Aguilar.

Commonwealth Chess Championship

The Commonwealth Chess Championship takes place 28th September - 6th October 2008 in Nagpur, India. Good conditions for GM/WGMs. Contact: Praful Zaveri (prafulzaveri@hotmail.com) for further information.

Further details: http://www.indianchessfed.org/tournamentreports08/ccwealth-at-Nagpur.asp

12th Essent Chess Tournament

The 12th edition of the Essent Chess Tournament takes place October 17th-25th 2008. The location is the city of Hoogeveen. Just like last year there are several competitions: a Crown Group, a strong Essent Open, an Amateur Tournament and an event for youth.

Official site: http://www.essentchess.nl/index2008.htm

Mindsports

The World Mindsports games takes place in Beijing, China after the Olympics 3rd -18th October 2008.

Official site: http://www.2008wmsg.org/

Further details: http://players.chessdom.com/world-mind-sports-games-participants and http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/3069-entries-for-1st-world-mind-sports-games

Dresden Olympiad

The Olympiad takes place in Dresden 12th-25th November 2008.

Official site: http://dresden2008.de

VI Transcarpathian Rapidtournament Chess Decyk

VI Transcarpathian Rapidtournament "Chess Decyk" Ukraine, Uzhgorod, 28-29.08.2008

Organizers of tournament: Chess Federation of Uzhgorod Organizational committee: B. Borshosh, A. Samoylenko, V. Prokopishin Place: Ukraine, Uzhgorod, Pub-museum "Deca u notaria", Gagarin street, 98 Also Traditional Beer blitz-tournament will take place in Pub-museum "Deca u notaria"! Phone: +380503723900, +380503179153, (+3803122) 2-25-87 E-mail: chessfeduzh@rambler.ru Details: http://www.chessfeduzh.narod.ru

Bradford Chess Congress

The Bradford Chess Congress takes place 12th-14th September 2008.

Entry form: http://www.anno-domini.net/CHESS/BDCACHESS.htm

Ared Open (Romania)

The Ared International Chess Open (Romania) took place in Arad 25th-31st July 2008. Zlatko Ilincic edged out Vlad-Victor Barnaure on tie-break after both finished on 7.5/9. Games may still follow. News: Alin Campeanu.

Official site: http://www.vados.ro/

2nd Berkeley Masters

The 2008 Berkeley Masters takes place December 14th-23rd 2008 in Berkeley, California, finishing two days before the start of the North American Open in Las Vegas. It is a 10 round swiss, open to players rated fide 2200+. Space in the tournament and conditions for some Grandmasters are available on a first-come first-serve basis. Prize fund $5000 US. Info at http://dotq.org/chess

British Rapidplay

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

Details: http://www.british-rapidplay.org.uk/

Hungarian Chess Tournaments July 2008 - March 2009

1. 19th-28th of July 2008 KECSKEMET, IM-FM 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.

2. 2nd-14th of August, 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 Phone-fax: +(361)-2632859, cellphone: +(36)-30-230-1914. From 12:00 a.m. until midnight - Central European Time = GMT+1.

3.16th-25th of August, IM-FM tmt, Kecskemet, org: Erdelyi

4.6th-18th of September GM-IM-FM First Saturday Budapest, org Nagy L,

5.20th -29th September IM-FM tmt Kecskemet, org Erdelyi

6.4th-16th of October, GM-IM-FM tmt, First Saturday Budapest, org.Nagy L.

7.18th-30th of October, SAKKAKADEMIA, GM-IM closed, org: WGM Csonkics, Tunde, info: firstsat@hu.inter.net

8.18th-27th of October IM-FM tmt Kecskemet, org Erdelyi.

9.1st-13th of November GM-IM-FM First Saturday Budapest, org Nagy L.

10. 15th-23rd of November, Kecskemet, IM dr.Erdelyi.

11.14th-22nd of November Tenkes Kupa Open, Harkany, 300 km South-West from Budapest, 9 round Swiss, org: Ambrus Lajos, mobile: 36-30-851-4224 e-mail: info@baranyasakk.hu www.baranyasakk.hu

12.6th-18th of December GM-IM-FM tmt, First Saturday Budapest, org Nagy L.

13.27th of Dec - 5th of January IM-FM tmt Kecskemet, org: Erdelyi.

14.9th-17th of January, EVADNYITO Open 9 rounds Swiss, Budapest, org: IA FAZEKAS, info: firstsat@hu.inter.net

15.23rd of January - 2nd of February, BALASSAGYARMAT WINTER, GM-IM closed, 100 km North from Budapest, Org: Nagy Laszlo, info: firstsat@hu.inter.net

16.7th-19th of February, FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM Budapest - org: Nagy Laszlo, www.firstsaturday.hu - info: firstsat@hu.inter.net

17.7th-19th of March, First Saturday, Budapest, GM-IM-FM, org Nagy L.

18.20th-28th of March, 25th BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL 9 rounds Swiss Open, org: Nagy L. - e-mail: firstsat@hu.inter.net

IV Alajuela International

The IV Alajuela International Chess Tournament (Costa Rica) took place 8th-13th July 2008. Rodolfo Arias reports that 17 year old Peruvian talent Emilio Cordova, (considered to be Julio Granda´s succesor) scored 8 wins (including a last round brilliant defensive game against g.m. Victor Mikhalevski) and one loss, to Nº 1 seeded, european champion Sergei Tiviakov of Holland.

Games from the first three rounds only currently available but more should become available.

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

Norwegian Championship

The Norwegian Championship took place 5th-13th July 2008. Jon Ludvig Hammer and Frode Elsness both finished on 6.5/9 and will play off for the title at a date to be announced.

Official site: http://nm2008.sjakkweb.no/

SPICE Cup

The SPICE Cup takes place September 19th-28th 2008 at the Texas Tech Student Union Building. Eugene Perelshteyn is the defending champion.

Official website: http://www.SPICE.ttu.edu

SPICE Cup (RUS), 19-28 ix 2008. Category 15 (2605)
NameNATUSCFFIDE
Alexander OnischukUSA27342670
Harikrishna PentalaIND27242668
Leonid KritzGER26672610
Varuzhan AkobianUSA26602610
Gregory KaidanovUSA26642605
Julio Becerra RiveroUSA26402598
Victor MikhalevskiISR26792592
Kamil MitonPOL27032580
Hannes StefanssonISL25972566
Eugene PerelshteynUSA26192555

Romgaz Open

The 2nd edition of the "Open Romgaz" takes place 11th-19th September 2008 at the Polytechnical Institute of Bucharest, with a prize fund of 20000 Euro (a record for Romania!). Organizers: Romgaz & ACS "Elisabeta Polihroniade". - Free accomodation for all GM &WGM and full board for GM over 2500 & for WGM. The tournament will be preceded by "Open Romgaz Junior", 5th-11th September 2008 at the same venue, with a prize fund of 3000 Euro.

Official site: http://www.frsah.ro

Corus, Wijk aan Zee 2009

The organizers of the 71st Corus Chess Tournament have invited the young Dutch Grandmasters Daniel Stellwagen (1987) and reigning Dutch Champion Jan Smeets (1985) for the Grandmaster group A in 2009. For both players it means a debut on the highest level. Together with Loek van Wely, they will represent the Netherlands in the traditional chess festival, that will be held from Friday January 16th to Sunday 1st of February 2009.

Besides the participation of the above mentioned three Dutch players, the following World Class players have confirmed their participation: Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Alexander Morozevich (Russia), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Gata Kamsky (United States) and Teymour Radjabov (Azerbaijan). Carlsen, Ivanchuk and Morozevich will be in the Top-6 of the new World Ranking list, that will be published on July 1st 2008.

The young Ukrainian Grandmaster Sergei Karjakin, as well as the winner of last year’s Grandmaster group B, Sergei Movsesian (Slovakia), have also confirmed their participation. The complete field with 14 participants will be presented in October 2008, as well as the names of the participants in the Grandmaster groups B and C.

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

Torino, Italy

The Torino tournament in (Italy) takes place 30th November 2008 - 8th December 2008. 9 Round swiss top group (B Group 7 rounds). Contact for entries and info tornei@scacchisticatorinese.it

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

Hastings Chess Congress

The Hastings Chess Congress takes place 28th December 2008 - 5th January 2009. Contact: Con Power at: conpowr@ol.com

Further details: http://www.hastingschess.org.uk

European Club Cup

The European Club Cup 2008 (24th European Club Cup for Men, 13th European Club Cup for Women) takes place in Kallithea, Greece 16th-24th October 2008.

Official site: http://ecc2008.chessdom.com/

Chess Study

Do you have an FIDE rating?

Dr. Robert Howard of the University of New South Wales in Australia is carrying out a study of chess skill in internationally rated players. The study looks at effects of amount of practice, coaching and age of starting chess on chess skill and at chess players' views about chess skill. The study involves a short online survey. The survey is for anyone who has, or who ever has had, an FIDE rating.

The survey takes only about 5-10 minutes to complete. All responses are completely confidential. The survey is available in English, Spanish, Russian, and German.

To take part, you must know your exact FIDE ID number, which will be something like "14200887". ID numbers are posted on the FIDE website at http://www.fide.com

A summary and analysis of the study findings will be posted here when it is complete and will be emailed to any participant who requests it.

If you would like to participate, please go to this website: http://education.arts.unsw.edu.au/fidestudy/

For any queries, please contact Dr Robert Howard, University of New South Wales, on rwh@unsw.edu.au

5th Highlands Open

The 5th International Chess Festival Highlands Open 2008, takes place in the town of Zdar nad Sazavou 20th-28th September 2008.

Details: http://www.czechtour.net/highlands-open/regulations/

World Championship Match Anand vs Kramnik in Bonn

The World Championship match where Viswanathan Anand will defends his World title against Vladimir Kramnik in Bonn, Germany will now take place October 14th-2nd November, 2008. The main reason for the slight change in dates is to fit in with the sponsors and politicians ability to attend the opening. The main sponsor is Evonik Industries AG and the prizemoney 1,5 Million Euro. The contract was signed by both players 18th December 2007.

Dates for the match: Gm1: Oct 14th, Gm2: Oct 15th, Gm3: Oct 17th, Gm4: Oct 18th, Gm5: Oct 20th, Gm6: Oct 21st, Gm7: Oct 23rd, Gm8: Oct 24th, Gm9: Oct 26th, Gm10: Oct 27th, Gm11: Oct 29th, Gm12: Oct 31st, Tiebreak Nov 2nd.

Advanced booking for the World Chess Championship 2008 between Viswanathan Anand (India) and Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) has started. The tickets are available at the price of 35 Euro per day. The following benefits are included: - entrance to the playing hall - entrance to the commentary room with analysis by prominent grandmasters. The tickets are available at all ticket agencies in Germany. You can also buy tickets for the match in advance via BONNTICKET: http://www.bonnticket.de tickets@bonnticket.de. Tel. +49-(0)-180/5001812. Tickets for a possible tiebreak on November 02, 2008, will be available after the 12th game. Exclusive VIP tickets are also available. Details at the website below along with features on the leadup to the championships.

Website: http://www.uep-worldchess.com/

Open "Mediterranean 2017" Rijeka

The Open "Mediterranean 2017" Rijeka (CRO) takes place 29th November - 6th December 2008.

Details: http://www.mediteran2013.com/en/default.asp

2nd Queenstown Chess Classic 2009

Queenstown Chess Classic takes place in Queenstown, South Island of New Zealand 15th-24th January 2009.

This will be the second such event, the first was held in Jan 2006.

The Tournament promoter is GM Murray Chandler. Over $50,000 (NZ) is being offered in prizes with additional prizes in the Rapid and Blitz events being held on January 25th-26th 2009.

Full details: http://www.queenstownchess.com

GM Boris Alterman's Chess Lessons

GM Boris Alterman has a blog with free chess lessons on it.

Website: http://chesslessons.wordpress.com/

FIDE Grand Prix Events

The line ups for the FIDE Grand Prix events have been announced. The top four players in the world, along with players such as Morozevich and Shirov are missing. It seems that in the case of Kramnik and Topalov that they believe that the event doesn't have big enough prize money (according to quotes in Chess Today). All this was more or less known beforehand. However the players who have signed up make this a very attractive and interesting series of events. The grand prix is organised by Global Chess which is headed by Bessel Kok.

Details: http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=1607


FIDE Grand Prix 2008-9
Surname First Name NAT Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ck 08 Criteria WRk
Svidler Peter RUS 2763 2763 2763
2763
2763 4 2 Pres Nom 5
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2760 2760
2760 2760
2760 4 2 Rating 6
Leko Peter HUN 2753

2753 2753 2753 2753 4 1 Rating 8
Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2751
2751
2751 2751 2751 4 1 Rating 9
Aronian Levon ARM 2739
2739
2739 2739 2739 4 1 Rating 10
Gelfand Boris ISR 2737
2737
2737 2737 2737 4 1 Rating 11
Radjabov Teimour AZE 2735 2735 2735 2735 2735

4 3 Rating 12
Carlsen Magnus NOR 2733 2733
2733 2733
2733 4 2 Wcup 13
Karjakin Sergey UKR 2732 2732 2732
2732 2732
4 2 Wcup 14
Adams Michael ENG 2726 2726
2726
2726 2726 4 2 Reserve 16
Kamsky Gata USA 2726 2726 2726
2726 2726
4 2 Matches 15
Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2720
2720 2720
2720 2720 4 2 Hcity 17
Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2713 2713 2713 2713

2713 4 3 Pres Nom 19
Grischuk Alexander RUS 2711 2711 2711 2711 2711

4 3 Reserve 21
Bacrot Etienne FRA 2700 2700
2700 2700 2700
4 2 Pres Nom 22
Wang Yue CHN 2698 2698 2698 2698
2698
4 3 Pres Nom 25
Inarkiev Ernesto RUS 2681 2681
2681
2681 2681 4 2 Hcity 34
Navara David CZE 2680 2680 2680

2680 2680 4 2 Hcity 37
Gashimov Vugar AZE 2665 2665 2665 2665
2665
4 3 Hcity 48
Pelletier Yannick SWZ 2600

2600 2600 2600 2600 4 1 Hcity 165
Al Modiahki Mohamad QTR 2569
2569 2569 2569
2569 4 2 Hcity 274
AVERAGE RATING


2715.9 2709.9 2697.4 2714.9 2707.7 2708.9



Player Count 21
2709.1 14 14 14 14 14 14 84 42

Event 1 April 20th - May 6th 2008, Baku, Azerbaijan
Event 2 July 30th - August 15th 2008, Sochi, Russia
Event 3 December 13th - 29th, 2008, Doha, Qatar
Event 4 April 14th - 28th, 2009, Montreux, Switzerland
Event 5 August 8th - 24th, 2009, Elista, Russia
Event 6 December 7th - 23rd, 2009, Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

Grand Prix 2008-9 Prizes Each Event
Place EUR Points
1 30,000 140 + 40 bonus
2 22,500 130 + 20
3 20,000 120 + 10
4 15,000 110
5 12,500 100
6 11,000 90
7 10,000 80
8 8,500 70
9 7,500 60
10 6,000 50
11 5,500 40
12 5,000 30
13 4,500 20
14 4,000 10


Grand Prix 2008-9
Prizes for Final Standings
(Best three events)
Pl Prize (Euros)
1st 75,000
2nd 50,000
3rd 40,000
4th 30,000
5th 25,000
6th 20,000
7th 18,000
8th 16,000
9th 14,000
10th 12,000

Alushta Diary 2008

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. phone +38 (06560)5-05-32,

Further information: http://www.kaissa.com.ua

Anand - Kramnik World Championship Match

A Press release from UEP Promotions announces that Viswanathan Anand will defend his World title against Vladimir Kramnik in Bonn, Germany October 11th-30th October, 2008. Main sponsor Evonik Industries AG and prizemoney 1,5 Million Euro. The match will be 12 games followed by playoffs if required. The contract was signed by both players 18th December 2007.

Website: http://www.uep-worldchess.com/

Etienne Bacrot's Website

Etienne Bacrot has a website at: http://www.chess22.fr/ with his analysis and news. Very worth while, especially when he's playing.

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