THE WEEK IN CHESS 726 6th October 2008 by Mark Crowther

1) Introduction

My thanks to Andrej Znidarcic, Arvind Aaron, Axel Fritz, Dave Clayton, Dennis Monokroussos, Harun Taner, Jan Mazuch, Evgeny Klavir, Georgios Souleidis, Holger Lieske, Jeroen Noomen, Luiz Roberto Da Costa Jr, Nigel Freeman, Miklos Orso, Robert Fontaine, Thomas Henrich and everyone else who helped with the issue.

The Russian Chess Championship superfinal is under way. Sadly one of its stars Alexander Grischuk had to withdraw due to illness before the event started but its still a respectable category 17. Peter Svidler is off to an express 3.5/4 start that included a win against Alexander Morozevich. Also the Bundesliga and 4NCL got under way this weekend. Part of what I do is sorting out messy game files but I do get frustrated sometimes, three events proved particularly taxing and to a certain extent other events suffered because of the excessive time I had to spend on these and some of them have been held over until next week.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) Russian Championship

The 61st Russian Championship SuperFinal includes Morozovich, Tomashevsky (top 3 in '07), and Svidler along with Jakovenko and Alekseev as top 3 by rating who did not qualify otherwise along with Maslak, Lastin, and Riazantsev who qualified from the higher league competition. Opening ceremony 2nd October, 1st round on the 3rd.

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

ch-RUS Moscow (RUS), 3-15 x 2008													cat. XVII (2673)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2
1.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2727	*	½	.	.	.	1	1	.	.	.	.	1	3½	3026
2.	Lastin, Alexander	g	RUS	2651	½	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	1	1	.	3	2832
3.	Jakovenko, Dmitry	g	RUS	2737	.	.	*	.	1	.	.	½	.	½	.	½	2½	2770
4.	Vitiugov, Nikita	g	RUS	2638	.	.	.	*	½	½	½	.	.	.	.	1	2½	2801
5.	Alekseev, Evgeny	g	RUS	2715	.	.	0	½	*	.	.	1	.	½	.	.	2	2672
6.	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2787	0	.	.	½	.	*	.	½	1	.	.	.	2	2668
7.	Riazantsev, Alexander	g	RUS	2656	0	.	.	½	.	.	*	.	½	.	1	.	2	2637
8.	Timofeev, Artyom	g	RUS	2670	.	.	½	.	0	½	.	*	.	.	.	1	2	2727
9.	Sakaev, Konstantin	g	RUS	2640	.	½	.	.	.	0	½	.	*	.	½	.	1½	2572
10.	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	g	RUS	2646	.	0	½	.	½	.	.	.	.	*	½	.	1½	2574
11.	Maslak, Konstantin	g	RUS	2544	.	0	.	.	.	.	0	.	½	½	*	.	1	2455
12.	Inarkiev, Ernesto	g	RUS	2669	0	.	½	0	.	.	.	0	.	.	.	*	½	2371

Round 1 (October 3, 2008)
Svidler, Peter	- Inarkiev, Ernesto	1-0	42	D47	Queens Gambit Meran
Lastin, Alexander	- Tomashevsky, Evgeny	1-0	40	C78	Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence
Vitiugov, Nikita	- Alekseev, Evgeny	½-½	84	E00	Catalan
Timofeev, Artyom	- Jakovenko, Dmitry	½-½	53	C88	Ruy Lopez Closed
Sakaev, Konstantin	- Morozevich, Alexander	0-1	42	D85	Gruenfeld Defence
Maslak, Konstantin	- Riazantsev, Alexander	0-1	47	E06	Catalan
Round 2 (October 4, 2008)
Lastin, Alexander	- Maslak, Konstantin	1-0	47	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Alekseev, Evgeny	- Timofeev, Artyom	1-0	54	B51	Sicilian Rossolimo
Morozevich, Alexander	- Svidler, Peter	0-1	87	A20	English Opening
Riazantsev, Alexander	- Sakaev, Konstantin	½-½	61	D45	Anti-Meran Variations
Tomashevsky, Evgeny	- Jakovenko, Dmitry	½-½	31	D11	Slav Defence
Inarkiev, Ernesto	- Vitiugov, Nikita	0-1	45	C19	French Winawer
Round 3 (October 5, 2008)
Svidler, Peter	- Riazantsev, Alexander	1-0	38	C11	French Defence
Jakovenko, Dmitry	- Alekseev, Evgeny	1-0	65	C67	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Vitiugov, Nikita	- Morozevich, Alexander	½-½	56	D85	Gruenfeld Defence
Timofeev, Artyom	- Inarkiev, Ernesto	1-0	41	C88	Ruy Lopez Closed
Sakaev, Konstantin	- Lastin, Alexander	½-½	64	D12	Slav Defence
Maslak, Konstantin	- Tomashevsky, Evgeny	½-½	91	E15	Queens Indian
Round 4 (October 6, 2008)
Lastin, Alexander	- Svidler, Peter	½-½	14	C92	Ruy Lopez Chigorin
Morozevich, Alexander	- Timofeev, Artyom	½-½	25	D80	Gruenfeld 4.Bg5
Riazantsev, Alexander	- Vitiugov, Nikita	½-½	128	D43	Anti-Meran Gambit
Tomashevsky, Evgeny	- Alekseev, Evgeny	½-½	30	A30	English Symmetrical
Maslak, Konstantin	- Sakaev, Konstantin	½-½	25	D39	QGD Ragozin
Inarkiev, Ernesto	- Jakovenko, Dmitry	½-½	14	C67	Ruy Lopez Berlin

3) Bundesliga

The new Schachbundesliga season 2008/09 started this weekend 3rd-5th October and runs until March 2009. 16 Teams compete with team rosters of 16-18 players but only eight play each weekend,

OSG Baden-Baden is the big favourite with 16 Grandmasters in its squad headed by Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen. The strongest challengers are Werder Bremen with Shakhryar Mamedyarov and some strong ukrainian players such as Eljanov, Efimenko or Areshchenko and SV Mülheim-Nord with Dmitry Jakovenko, former world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov and the strong French player Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

For the first time all the games of the Schachbundesliga will be covered live in the internet. This service is for all chess fans for free.

The Website of the Schachbundesliga (http://www.schachbundesliga.de/index.aspx) serves as entrance site and from there you can go to the four playing venues and follow the games. In the first part of the season there is an additional match on Friday (the floating round 7), There will be 128 games at least.

Further information (in German) and the entrance site for the live coverage: http://www.schachbundesliga.de/index.aspx

Bundesliga 2008-9 (GER), 3 x 2008 - iii 2009
Hamburg
Round 7 Friday 3rd October 2008 4 pm
Hamburger SK	5.5 - 2.5	SF Berlin
Round 1 Saturday, 4th October, 2 pm
Hamburger SK	3-5	TV Tegernsee
SF Berlin	4.5 - 3.5	FC Bayern Muenchen
Round 2 Sunday, 5th October, 10 am
TV Tegernsee	6-2	SF Berlin
FC Bayern Muenchen	2.5-5.5	Hamburger SK
Trier
Round 7 Friday, 3rd October, 4 pm
SG Trier	3.5 - 4.5	SC Remagen
Round 1 Saturday, 4th October, 2 pm
SG Trier	1-7	OSG Baden Baden
SC Remagen	3.5 - 4.5	SC Eppingen
Round 2 Sunday, 5th October, 10 am
OSG Baden Baden	5-3	SC 1950 Remagen
SC Eppingen	4.5-3.5	SG Trier
Bremen
Round 1 Saturday, 4th October, 2 pm
SK Turm Emsdetten	3.5 - 4.5	SC Kreuzberg
Werder Bremen	6-2	USV TU Dresden
Round 2 Sunday, 5th October, 10 am
SC Kreuzberg	4-4	Werder Bremen
USV TU Dresden	1-7	SK Turm Emsdetten
Solingen
Round 7 Friday, 3rd October, 4 pm
SG Aljechin Solingen	5 - 3	SV Wattenscheid
Round 1 Saturday, 4th October, 2 pm
SG Aljechin Solingen	2-6	SV Muelheim Nord
SV Wattenscheid	5-3	SF Katernberg
Round 2 Sunday, 5th October, 10 am
SV Muelheim Nord	6-2	SV Wattenscheid
SF Katernberg	4-4	SG Aljechin Solingen

Bundesliga 2008-9 (GER), 3 x 2008 - iii 2009 Round 2 Standings:
1.	Hamburger SK	3	4	14,0
2.	SV Mülheim-Nord	2	4	12,0
3.	OSG Baden-Baden	2	4	12,0
4.	TV Tegernsee	2	4	11,0
5.	SC Eppingen	2	4	9,0
6.	SG Aljechin Solingen	3	3	11,0
7.	Werder Bremen	2	3	10,0
8.	SC Kreuzberg	2	3	8,5
9.	SC Remagen	3	2	11,0
10.	SK Turm Emsdetten	2	2	10,5
11.	SV Wattenscheid	3	2	10,0
12.	SF Berlin	3	2	9,0
13.	SF Katernberg	2	1	7,0
14.	SG Trier	3	0	8,0
15.	FC Bayern München	2	0	6,0
16.	USV TU Dresden	2	0	3,0

Bundesliga 2008-9 (GER), 3 x 2008 - iii 2009
Round 7
Hamburger SK		5½-2½	Schachfreunde Be
1	Gustafsson,Ja	½-½	Nataf,Igor-Al	1
2	Baramidze,Dav	1-0	Miezis,Normun	3
3	Kempinski,Rob	1-0	Polzin,Rainer	4
6	Ftacnik,Lubom	½-½	Lauber,Arnd	6
8	Mueller,Karst	½-½	Schneider,Ilj	7
10	Heinemann,Thi	1-0	Degtiarev,Evg	10
11	Beikert,Guent	½-½	Abel,Dennes	12
14	Huschenbeth,N	½-½	Thinius,Marco	14
SC Trier		3½-4½	SC Remagen
1	Parligras,Mir	½-½	Fedorchuk,Ser	3
2	Bobras,Piotr	½-½	Goloshchapov,	4
3	Cyborowski,Lu	½-½	Gharamian,Tig	5
4	Lupulescu,Con	½-½	Feller,Sebast	6
5	Svetushkin,Dm	0-1	Dgebuadze,Ale	8
6	Jaracz,Pawel	½-½	Degraeve,Jean	9
8	Flumbort,Andr	½-½	Mainka,Romual	10
12	Kolbus,Dietma	½-½	Swinkels,Robi	12
SG Aljechin Soli		5-3	SV Wattenscheid
1	Stellwagen,Da	½-½	Najer,Evgeniy	1
3	Werle,Jan	½-½	Macieja,Bartl	3
4	Smeets,Jan	½-½	Rustemov,Alex	5
5	Jussupow,Artu	½-½	Czarnota,Pawe	6
7	Buhmann,Raine	1-0	Appel,Ralf	8
8	Naumann,Alexa	½-½	Handke,Floria	10
9	Ragger,Markus	½-½	Dinstuhl,Volk	11
10	Ernst,Sipke	1-0	Tereick,Benja	12
Round 1
Hamburger SK		3-5	TV Tegernsee
1	Gustafsson,Ja	½-½	Volokitin,And	1
2	Baramidze,Dav	½-½	Khenkin,Igor	4
3	Kempinski,Rob	0-1	Sokolov,Andre	5
6	Ftacnik,Lubom	½-½	Rozentalis,Ed	6
10	Heinemann,Thi	0-1	Bischoff,Klau	8
11	Beikert,Guent	½-½	Boensch,Uwe	9
14	Huschenbeth,N	½-½	Hertneck,Gera	13
15	Sebastian,Dir	½-½	Stangl,Markus	15
Schachfreunde Be		4½-3½	FC Bayern Münche
1	Nataf,Igor-Al	½-½	Bezold,Michae	2
3	Miezis,Normun	1-0	Belezky,Alexa	3
4	Polzin,Rainer	½-½	Jorczik,Julia	4
6	Lauber,Arnd	1-0	Reiss,Tibor	5
7	Schneider,Ilj	1-0	Renner,Christ	6
10	Degtiarev,Evg	0-1	Heinzel,Olaf	8
12	Abel,Dennes	½-½	Deglmann,Ludw	13
14	Thinius,Marco	0-1	Unzicker,Ferd	14
SC Trier		1-7	OSG Baden Baden
3	Cyborowski,Lu	0-1	Shirov,Alexei	3
5	Svetushkin,Dm	½-½	Movsesian,Ser	6
8	Flumbort,Andr	0-1	Nisipeanu,Liv	7
11	Seger,Ruedige	0-1	Naiditsch,Ark	10
12	Kolbus,Dietma	½-½	Caruana,Fabia	13
15	Jeitz,Christi	0-1	Dautov,Rustem	14
16	Weissert,Guid	0-1	Schlosser,Phi	15
17	Korman,Maxim	0-1	Doettling,Fab	16
SC Remagen		3½-4½	SC Eppingen
3	Fedorchuk,Ser	½-½	Tiviakov,Serg	1
4	Goloshchapov,	½-½	Braun,Arik	2
5	Gharamian,Tig	0-1	Berkes,Ferenc	3
6	Feller,Sebast	0-1	Bindrich,Falk	6
8	Dgebuadze,Ale	0-1	Acs,Peter	8
9	Degraeve,Jean	½-½	Medvegy,Zolta	9
10	Mainka,Romual	1-0	Guliyev,Namig	10
12	Swinkels,Robi	1-0	Vogt,Lothar	12
SK Turm Emsdette		3½-4½	SC Kreuzberg
2	Hector,Jonny	½-½	Sargissian,Ga	1
3	Feygin,Michae	½-½	Maksimenko,An	3
5	Janssen,Ruud	½-½	Luther,Thomas	4
6	Spoelman,Wout	½-½	Shengelia,Dav	5
7	Pruijssers,Ro	0-1	Figura,Atila	6
8	Brandenburg,D	½-½	Richter,Micha	8
9	Giri,Anish	½-½	Kalinitschew,	10
13	Kabatianski,A	½-½	Tischbierek,R	11
Werder Bremen		6-2	USV TU Dresden
2	McShane,Luke	½-½	Maiwald,Jens-	1
3	Eljanov,Pavel	1-0	Roos,Michael	3
4	Efimenko,Zaha	½-½	Gauglitz,Gern	4
5	Areshchenko,A	½-½	Seifert,Volke	5
7	Meier,Georg	1-0	Hoffmann,Paul	6
12	Babula,Vlasti	1-0	Eichner,Sebas	7
13	Fish,Gennadij	½-½	Graf,Felix	10
15	Knaak,Rainer	1-0	Baier,Silvio	13
SG Aljechin Soli		2-6	SV Mülheim Nord
1	Stellwagen,Da	½-½	Kasimdzhanov,	2
3	Werle,Jan	0-1	Vachier-Lagra	3
4	Smeets,Jan	½-½	Tregubov,Pave	4
5	Jussupow,Artu	0-1	Landa,Konstan	5
7	Buhmann,Raine	0-1	Fridman,Danie	6
8	Naumann,Alexa	½-½	Potkin,Vladim	7
9	Ragger,Markus	0-1	Golod,Vitali	8
10	Ernst,Sipke	½-½	Malakhatko,Va	9
SV Wattenscheid		5-3	SF Katernberg
1	Najer,Evgeniy	½-½	Motylev,Alexa	1
3	Macieja,Bartl	1-0	Laznicka,Vikt	3
5	Rustemov,Alex	0-1	L'Ami,Erwin	4
6	Czarnota,Pawe	½-½	Glek,Igor V	9
8	Appel,Ralf	1-0	Seel,Christia	10
9	Holzke,Frank	½-½	Siebrecht,Seb	12
10	Handke,Floria	1-0	Ris,Robert	13
11	Dinstuhl,Volk	½-½	Scholz,Christ	16
Round 2
TV Tegernsee		6-2	Schachfreunde Be
1	Volokitin,And	1-0	Nataf,Igor-Al	1
4	Khenkin,Igor	1-0	Miezis,Normun	3
5	Sokolov,Andre	1-0	Polzin,Rainer	4
6	Rozentalis,Ed	½-½	Lauber,Arnd	6
8	Bischoff,Klau	½-½	Schneider,Ilj	7
9	Boensch,Uwe	½-½	Abel,Dennes	12
13	Hertneck,Gera	1-0	Rudolf,Henrik	13
15	Stangl,Markus	½-½	Thinius,Marco	14
FC Bayern Münche		2½-5½	Hamburger SK
2	Bezold,Michae	0-1	Gustafsson,Ja	1
3	Belezky,Alexa	½-½	Baramidze,Dav	2
4	Jorczik,Julia	½-½	Kempinski,Rob	3
5	Reiss,Tibor	½-½	Ftacnik,Lubom	6
6	Renner,Christ	0-1	Heinemann,Thi	10
8	Heinzel,Olaf	1-0	Beikert,Guent	11
13	Deglmann,Ludw	0-1	Reeh,Oliver	13
14	Unzicker,Ferd	0-1	Sebastian,Dir	15
OSG Baden Baden		5-3	SC Remagen
3	Shirov,Alexei	0-1	Fedorchuk,Ser	3
6	Movsesian,Ser	1-0	Goloshchapov,	4
7	Nisipeanu,Liv	½-½	Gharamian,Tig	5
10	Naiditsch,Ark	1-0	Feller,Sebast	6
13	Caruana,Fabia	½-½	Dgebuadze,Ale	8
14	Dautov,Rustem	½-½	Degraeve,Jean	9
15	Schlosser,Phi	½-½	Mainka,Romual	10
16	Doettling,Fab	1-0	Swinkels,Robi	12
SC Eppingen		4½-3½	SC Trier
1	Tiviakov,Serg	1-0	Parligras,Mir	1
2	Braun,Arik	0-1	Bobras,Piotr	2
3	Berkes,Ferenc	½-½	Cyborowski,Lu	3
6	Bindrich,Falk	½-½	Lupulescu,Con	4
8	Acs,Peter	1-0	Svetushkin,Dm	5
9	Medvegy,Zolta	½-½	Jaracz,Pawel	6
10	Guliyev,Namig	½-½	Flumbort,Andr	8
12	Vogt,Lothar	½-½	Seger,Ruedige	11
SC Kreuzberg		4-4	Werder Bremen
1	Sargissian,Ga	½-½	McShane,Luke	2
3	Maksimenko,An	1-0	Eljanov,Pavel	3
4	Luther,Thomas	½-½	Efimenko,Zaha	4
5	Shengelia,Dav	½-½	Areshchenko,A	5
6	Figura,Atila	0-1	Meier,Georg	7
8	Richter,Micha	1-0	Babula,Vlasti	12
10	Kalinitschew,	½-½	Fish,Gennadij	13
11	Tischbierek,R	0-1	Knaak,Rainer	15
USV TU Dresden		1-7	SK Turm Emsdette
1	Maiwald,Jens-	0-1	Hector,Jonny	2
3	Roos,Michael	0-1	Feygin,Michae	3
4	Gauglitz,Gern	0-1	Janssen,Ruud	5
5	Seifert,Volke	0-1	Spoelman,Wout	6
6	Hoffmann,Paul	0-1	Pruijssers,Ro	7
7	Eichner,Sebas	0-1	Brandenburg,D	8
10	Graf,Felix	½-½	Giri,Anish	9
13	Baier,Silvio	½-½	Kabatianski,A	13
SV Mülheim Nord		6-2	SV Wattenscheid
2	Kasimdzhanov,	½-½	Najer,Evgeniy	1
3	Vachier-Lagra	1-0	Macieja,Bartl	3
4	Tregubov,Pave	½-½	Rustemov,Alex	5
5	Landa,Konstan	1-0	Czarnota,Pawe	6
6	Fridman,Danie	1-0	Appel,Ralf	8
7	Potkin,Vladim	½-½	Holzke,Frank	9
8	Golod,Vitali	½-½	Handke,Floria	10
9	Malakhatko,Va	1-0	Dinstuhl,Volk	11
SF Katernberg		4-4	SG Aljechin Soli
1	Motylev,Alexa	½-½	Stellwagen,Da	1
3	Laznicka,Vikt	1-0	Werle,Jan	3
4	L'Ami,Erwin	½-½	Smeets,Jan	4
9	Glek,Igor V	½-½	Jussupow,Artu	5
10	Seel,Christia	½-½	Buhmann,Raine	7
12	Siebrecht,Seb	½-½	Naumann,Alexa	8
13	Ris,Robert	0-1	Ernst,Sipke	10
16	Scholz,Christ	½-½	Hoffmann,Mich	11

4) FIDE Rating List

Source: http://www.fide.com. The full list is available for download there.

There were huge changes in the order of the players at the top of the list which was not a big surprise because of the closeness in ratings. Veselin Topalov moved from 5th to 1st and World Champion Viswanathan Anand made the reverse journey. Alexander Morozevich held on to 2nd place, Vassily Ivanchuk and Magnus Carlsen are at 3rd and 4th, Vladimir Kramnik drops to 6th. These top 6 clearly stand out from the rest and the recent drops of Anand and Kramnik probably reflect the nature of the build up to their world title match, they needed some practice but couldn't play their best opening ideas, rather than any objective fall in strength. We will of course see later in the month. Just outside the top 6 are Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov and Peter Leko who are just behind the top 6 and capable of getting back in there, these 9 clearly form the current elite. Then there are a huge group of players around the same strength. The fall of Peter Svidler and Alexei Shirov from 11th and 9th to 17th and 18th reflects the size of this pack which also includes such players as Adams, Kamsky, Gelfand and Grischuk. The rating of the 100th player has risen yet again, from 2631 to 2633.

October 2008 FIDE rating list top 100
Rank	Ju08	Name	Ti	NAT	YroB	ja07	ap07	ju07	oc07	ja08	ap08	ju08	Oc08	Gms
1	5	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	1975	2783	2772	2769	2769	2780	2767	2777	2791	10
2	2	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	1977	2741	2762	2758	2755	2765	2774	2788	2787	9
3	4	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	1969	2750	2729	2762	2787	2751	2740	2781	2786	50
4	6	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	1990	2690	2693	2710	2714	2733	2765	2775	2786	31
5	1	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	1969	2779	2786	2792	2801	2799	2803	2798	2783	10
6	3	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	1975	2766	2772	2769	2785	2799	2788	2788	2772	16
7	12	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	1982	2744	2759	2750	2741	2739	2763	2737	2757	23
8	7	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	1987	2729	2747	2746	2742	2735	2751	2744	2751	23
9	10	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	1979	2749	2738	2751	2755	2753	2741	2741	2747	16
10	24	Jakovenko, Dmitry	g	RUS	1983	2691	2708	2735	2710	2720	2711	2709	2737	39
11	29	Wang, Yue	g	CHN	1987	2644	2656	2696	2703	2698	2689	2704	2736	23
12	13	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	1971	2735	2734	2724	2729	2726	2729	2735	2734	16
13	16	Movsesian, Sergei	g	SVK	1978	2637	2642	2667	2670	2677	2695	2723	2732	12
14	8	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	1985	2754	2757	2757	2752	2760	2752	2742	2731	16
15	15	Karjakin, Sergey	g	UKR	1990	2678	2686	2678	2694	2732	2732	2727	2730	24
16	17	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	1974	2705	2705	2718	2714	2726	2726	2723	2729	22
17	11	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	1976	2728	2736	2735	2732	2763	2746	2738	2727	24
18	9	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	1972	2715	2699	2735	2739	2755	2740	2741	2726	34
19	21	Eljanov, Pavel	g	UKR	1983	2675	2686	2701	2691	2692	2687	2716	2720	26
20	18	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	1968	2733	2733	2733	2736	2737	2723	2720	2719	27
21	25	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	g	CUB	1983	2677	2678	2680	2683	2691	2695	2708	2719	15
22	19	Ponomariov, Ruslan	g	UKR	1983	2723	2717	2706	2705	2719	2719	2718	2719	14
23	14	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	1983	2717	2717	2726	2715	2711	2716	2728	2719	13
24	39	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	1990	2573	2593	2595	2634	2637	2632	2681	2716	30
25	26	Alekseev, Evgeny	g	RUS	1985	2661	2679	2689	2716	2711	2711	2708	2715	30
26	23	Bu, Xiangzhi	g	CHN	1985	2644	2656	2685	2692	2691	2708	2710	2714	9
27	22	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	1976	2727	2727	2707	2708	2707	2709	2711	2711	0
28	27	Ni, Hua	g	CHN	1983	2632	2654	2681	2641	2680	2703	2705	2710	5
29	33	Bacrot, Etienne	g	FRA	1983	2705	2709	2695	2695	2700	2705	2691	2705	23
30	31	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	1987	2651	2658	2647	2648	2670	2686	2697	2704	6
31	20	Gashimov, Vugar	g	AZE	1986	2658	2644	2655	2663	2665	2679	2717	2703	27
32	30	Rublevsky, Sergei	g	RUS	1974	2677	2680	2679	2676	2695	2695	2699	2702	14
33	36	Cheparinov, Ivan	g	BUL	1986	2640	2646	2657	2670	2713	2695	2687	2696	28
34	34	Wang, Hao	g	CHN	1989	2619	2638	2624	2643	2665	2684	2691	2696	9
35	38	Sasikiran, Krishnan	g	IND	1981	2700	2690	2676	2661	2677	2679	2684	2694	9
36	79	Tiviakov, Sergei	g	NED	1973	2667	2663	2648	2643	2649	2634	2645	2686	56
37	32	Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	g	ROU	1976	2689	2693	2683	2668	2684	2684	2692	2684	19
38	49	Najer, Evgeniy	g	RUS	1977	2605	2624	2623	2635	2634	2627	2670	2682	20
39	37	Bologan, Viktor	g	MDA	1971	2658	2636	2650	2657	2663	2665	2686	2682	9
40	28	Milov, Vadim	g	SUI	1972	2665	2676	2675	2676	2690	2690	2705	2681	9
41	48	Efimenko, Zahar	g	UKR	1985	2616	2620	2624	2624	2638	2660	2670	2680	10
42	45	Akopian, Vladimir	g	ARM	1971	2700	2698	2708	2713	2700	2673	2673	2679	5
43	97	Moiseenko, Alexander	g	UKR	1980	2627	2630	2641	2646	2643	2650	2632	2678	40
44	54	Naiditsch, Arkadij	g	GER	1985	2663	2654	2644	2639	2638	2623	2665	2678	17
45	40	Roiz, Michael	g	ISR	1983	2605	2605	2630	2644	2659	2659	2680	2677	32
46	44	Fressinet, Laurent	g	FRA	1981	2646	2644	2646	2654	2656	2656	2673	2676	12
47	35	Malakhov, Vladimir	g	RUS	1980	2663	2679	2676	2690	2689	2689	2689	2675	21
48	60	Postny, Evgeny	g	ISR	1981	2616	2622	2598	2599	2627	2649	2661	2674	40
49	43	Motylev, Alexander	g	RUS	1979	2647	2642	2648	2645	2644	2666	2674	2672	11
50	41	Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	g	UZB	1979	2682	2677	2683	2690	2681	2681	2679	2672	5
51	73	Timofeev, Artyom	g	RUS	1985	2663	2658	2650	2637	2664	2664	2650	2670	20
52	64	Dreev, Alexey	g	RUS	1969	2658	2633	2606	2607	2633	2657	2657	2670	5
53	42	Inarkiev, Ernesto	g	RUS	1985	2669	2669	2663	2674	2681	2684	2675	2669	22
54	51	Nikolic, Predrag	g	BIH	1960	2626	2631	2646	2657	2665	2674	2669	2669	0
55	75	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	g	ESP	1982	2679	2676	2666	2660	2675	2684	2650	2664	22
56	55	Jobava, Baadur	g	GEO	1983	2650	2658	2644	2644	2643	2658	2665	2664	12
57	56	Areshchenko, Alexander	g	UKR	1986	2644	2647	2645	2638	2645	2650	2664	2664	0
58	58	Tkachiev, Vladislav	g	FRA	1973	2649	2652	2655	2661	2657	2657	2664	2664	0
59	52	Almasi, Zoltan	g	HUN	1976	2669	2675	2682	2691	2667	2674	2668	2663	5
60	71	Nielsen, Peter Heine	g	DEN	1973	2640	2651	2649	2638	2626	2629	2652	2662	10
61	46	Volokitin, Andrei	g	UKR	1986	2645	2654	2681	2678	2674	2684	2672	2659	29
62	53	Harikrishna, P.	g	IND	1986	2673	2650	2664	2668	2664	2679	2668	2659	12
63	57	Ivanisevic, Ivan	g	SRB	1977	2602	2614	2595	2607	2649	2649	2664	2658	42
64	66	Avrukh, Boris	g	ISR	1978	2644	2644	2645	2641	2628	2632	2656	2657	16
65	--	Riazantsev, Alexander	g	RUS	1985	2629	2621	2615	2623	2628	2638	2617	2656	32
66	85	Grachev, Boris	g	RUS	1986	2563	2578	2601	2602	2601	2610	2640	2653	22
67	87	Lastin, Alexander	g	RUS	1976	2583	2590	2583	2597	2604	2622	2639	2651	20
68	70	Sutovsky, Emil	g	ISR	1977	2629	2637	2656	2655	2642	2630	2654	2651	19
69	72	Karpov, Anatoly	g	RUS	1951	2668	2668	2668	2670	2655	2655	2651	2651	0
70	82	Guseinov, Gadir	g	AZE	1986	2585	2586	2612	2614	2617	2625	2643	2650	20
71	63	Sokolov, Ivan	g	NED	1968	2652	2655	2666	2673	2686	2690	2658	2650	11
72	90	Smirin, Ilia	g	ISR	1968	2654	2650	2649	2639	2616	2630	2637	2649	27
73	98	Zhang, Zhong	g	SIN	1978	2618	2621	2634	2634	2617	2613	2632	2649	20
74	--	Savchenko, Boris	g	RUS	1986	2562	2583	2577	2583	2589	2569	2578	2648	43
75	67	Khenkin, Igor	g	GER	1968	2611	2629	2602	2600	2602	2609	2655	2647	20
76	69	Bareev, Evgeny	g	RUS	1966	2643	2643	2653	2653	2677	2677	2655	2647	15
77	62	Tregubov, Pavel V.	g	RUS	1971	2613	2615	2599	2609	2636	2629	2658	2646	12
78	59	Zvjaginsev, Vadim	g	RUS	1976	2658	2659	2658	2674	2677	2674	2663	2646	11
79	77	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	g	RUS	1987	2624	2641	2654	2646	2646	2658	2646	2646	0
80	80	Berkes, Ferenc	g	HUN	1985	2591	2600	2597	2606	2618	2618	2645	2645	27
81	47	Georgiev, Kiril	g	BUL	1965	2661	2660	2663	2649	2662	2665	2671	2645	23
82	50	Onischuk, Alexander	g	USA	1975	2663	2663	2650	2674	2664	2664	2670	2644	30
83	99	Sadvakasov, Darmen	g	KAZ	1979	2596	2615	2618	2635	2619	2629	2632	2643	16
84	61	Sargissian, Gabriel	g	ARM	1983	2658	2651	2667	2673	2676	2643	2660	2642	12
85	68	Short, Nigel D	g	ENG	1965	2691	2691	2683	2649	2645	2660	2655	2642	11
86	95	Sakaev, Konstantin	g	RUS	1974	2641	2633	2634	2634	2646	2649	2634	2640	11
87	--	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	1992	2492	2513	2549	2594	2598	2620	2630	2640	10
88	84	Kazhgaleyev, Murtas	g	KAZ	1973	2579	2603	2599	2588	2594	2617	2641	2640	9
89	--	Vitiugov, Nikita	g	RUS	1987	2604	2592	2608	2594	2609	2617	2616	2638	21
90	--	Graf, Alexander	g	GER	1962	2610	2620	2595	2576	2586	2611	2621	2636	32
91	83	Zhang, Pengxiang	g	CHN	1980	2643	2657	2649	2644	2640	2640	2643	2636	4
92	103	Vescovi, Giovanni	g	BRA	1978	2604	2609	2609	2617	2617	2617	2631	2635	9
93	74	Amonatov, Farrukh	g	TJK	1978	2559	2574	2598	2637	2649	????	2650	2634	29
94	102	Gurevich, Mikhail	g	TUR	1959	2635	2639	2633	2627	2607	2611	2631	2634	19
95	86	Nyback, Tomi	g	FIN	1985	2604	2585	2567	2565	2579	2587	2639	2634	18
96	--	Gustafsson, Jan	g	GER	1979	2584	2588	2606	2606	2607	2603	2620	2634	12
97	96	Seirawan, Yasser	g	USA	1960	2638	2642	2634	2634	2628	2630	2634	2634	0
98	--	Malakhatko, Vadim	g	BEL	1977	2604	2598	2596	2596	2600	2621	2612	2633	69
99	76	Navara, David	g	CZE	1985	2719	2720	2656	2656	2680	2672	2646	2633	22
100	91	Istratescu, Andrei	g	ROU	1975	2619	2625	2629	2631	2617	2628	2636	2633	9
Dropping out of the top 100 in October 2008
No	Ju08	Name	Ti	NAT	YroB	ja07	ap07	ju07	oc07	ja08	ap08	ju08	Oc08	Gms
--	78	Afromeev, Vladimir	f	RUS	1954	2628	2628	2642	2646	2646	2646	2646	2646	0
--	101	Baklan, Vladimir	g	UKR	1978	2618	2618	2648	2639	2647	2647	2631	2625	44
--	89	Fridman, Daniel	g	GER	1976	2626	2635	2628	2621	2627	2640	2637	2630	9
--	104	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar	g	IND	1983	2571	2578	2586	2585	2579	2614	2631	2603	40
--	94	Khalifman, Alexander	g	RUS	1966	2619	2624	2632	2643	2638	2628	2634	2622	11
--	100	Korneev, Oleg	g	RUS	1969	2606	2565	2565	2587	2645	2651	2631	2623	39
--	88	Krasenkow, Michal	g	POL	1963	2651	2661	2660	2668	2636	2624	2639	2624	30
--	65	Lautier, Joel	g	FRA	1973	2656	2661	2654	2657	2657	2657	2657	2657	0
--	93	Predojevic, Borki	g	BIH	1987	2587	2609	2628	2645	2641	2651	2634	2615	19
--	81	Van Wely, Loek	g	NED	1972	2683	2674	2679	2679	2681	2676	2644	2618	34
--	92	Volkov, Sergey	g	RUS	1974	2636	2640	2659	2648	2623	2633	2636	2632	11

5) Banja Luka

The 9th Grandmaster's Tournament takes place in Banja Luka 29th September - 8th October 2008.

Official site: http://www.skbanjaluka.com/ - Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr16277.aspx?lan=2

IX GM Banja Luka (BIH), 29 ix-8 x 2008												cat. XI (2512)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Heberla, Bartlomiej	g	POL	2510	*	½	.	1	1	½	1	½	½	.	5	2672
2.	Korchnoi, Viktor	g	SUI	2602	½	*	½	½	1	½	.	1	.	1	5	2666
3.	Gopal, Geetha Narayanan	g	IND	2572	.	½	*	½	0	½	1	.	1	1	4½	2619
4.	Volkov, Sergey1	g	RUS	2636	0	½	½	*	.	.	1	½	½	1	4	2551
5.	Ilincic, Zlatko	g	SRB	2519	0	0	1	.	*	½	.	½	1	1	4	2551
6.	Javakhishvili, Lela	m	GEO	2461	½	½	½	.	½	*	0	½	1	.	3½	2512
7.	Vukic, Milan	g	BIH	2457	0	.	0	0	.	1	*	1	½	½	3	2456
8.	Savanovic, Aleksandar	m	BIH	2417	½	0	.	½	½	½	0	*	.	½	2½	2416
9.	Drasko, Milan	g	MNE	2508	½	.	0	½	0	0	½	.	*	½	2	2355
10.	Jakovljevic, Vlado	m	BIH	2442	.	0	0	0	0	.	½	½	½	*	1½	2300

Round 2 (September 30, 2008)
Heberla, Bartlomiej	- Vukic, Milan	1-0	51	B22	Sicilian Alapin
Korchnoi, Viktor	- Javakhishvili, Lela	½-½	80	A13	Reti Opening
Gopal, Geetha Narayanan	- Drasko, Milan	1-0	34	C03	French Tarrasch
Savanovic, Aleksandar	- Volkov, Sergey1	½-½	75	A12	Reti Opening
Jakovljevic, Vlado	- Ilincic, Zlatko	0-1	39	E62	King's Indian 6...Nc6
Round 3 (September 1, 2008)
Volkov, Sergey1	- Heberla, Bartlomiej	0-1	62	E20	Nimzo Indian
Ilincic, Zlatko	- Korchnoi, Viktor	0-1	90	D12	Slav Defence
Javakhishvili, Lela	- Savanovic, Aleksandar	½-½	39	A13	Reti Opening
Vukic, Milan	- Gopal, Geetha Narayanan	0-1	30	E60	King's Indian without Nc3
Drasko, Milan	- Jakovljevic, Vlado	½-½	33	D77	Gruenfeld 3.g3
Round 4 (September 2, 2008)
Heberla, Bartlomiej	- Javakhishvili, Lela	½-½	20	B22	Sicilian Alapin
Gopal, Geetha Narayanan	- Volkov, Sergey1	½-½	39	C06	French Tarrasch
Savanovic, Aleksandar	- Ilincic, Zlatko	½-½	40	A01	Larsen Opening
Drasko, Milan	- Vukic, Milan	½-½	11	E62	King's Indian 6...Nc6
Jakovljevic, Vlado	- Korchnoi, Viktor	0-1	41	E36	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Round 5 (September 3, 2008)
Korchnoi, Viktor	- Savanovic, Aleksandar	1-0	40	D58	Queens Gambit Tartakover
Volkov, Sergey1	- Drasko, Milan	½-½	63	A40	Unusual Replies to 1.d4
Ilincic, Zlatko	- Heberla, Bartlomiej	0-1	36	E04	Catalan
Javakhishvili, Lela	- Gopal, Geetha Narayanan	½-½	51	D03	Queen's Pawn Game
Vukic, Milan	- Jakovljevic, Vlado	½-½	56	A09	Reti Opening
Round 6 (September 5, 2008)
Heberla, Bartlomiej	- Korchnoi, Viktor	½-½	17	C02	French Advance
Gopal, Geetha Narayanan	- Ilincic, Zlatko	0-1	83	C01	French Exchange
Vukic, Milan	- Volkov, Sergey1	0-1	27	A09	Reti Opening
Drasko, Milan	- Javakhishvili, Lela	0-1	36	E32	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Jakovljevic, Vlado	- Savanovic, Aleksandar	½-½	21	D59	Queens Gambit Tartakover
Round 7 (September 6, 2008)
Korchnoi, Viktor	- Gopal, Geetha Narayanan	½-½	52	A32	English Symmetrical
Volkov, Sergey1	- Jakovljevic, Vlado	1-0	60	D45	Anti-Meran Variations
Ilincic, Zlatko	- Drasko, Milan	1-0	67	E11	Bogo Indian Defence
Javakhishvili, Lela	- Vukic, Milan	0-1	60	A55	Old Indian Defence
Savanovic, Aleksandar	- Heberla, Bartlomiej	½-½	9	B72	Sicilian Dragon

6) Spanish Championship

The Campeonato de Espana Individual Absoluto took place in Ceuta, 27th September - 4th October 2008. 19 year old David Larino Nieto won the event after two standard time rate games then two rapid (20mins + 10secs) and then blitz (3mins+2secs). Reports in Spanish newspapers suggest he won 2.5-1.5 in the playoffs (1.5-0.5 in the blitz). I'm not 100% on this as the final position of the game given as game 6 was crushing for white so either Arizmendi lost on time or won as far as I can see (the first 17 moves and then the final position is available). The official website gives a 2-1 score in the playoffs which is impossible. My thanks to Holger Lieske for the games that were broadcast as the official website only has an imcomplete games selection. All round a bit unsatisfactory. Also in round one it turns out that Manuel Rivas Pastor was disqualified as he refused to take a drugs test (all players were tested). Whether this was a heroic stance against a stupid rule (the view of Hans Ree) or in the knowledge he was taking something is open to question.

Official site: http://www.feda.org/ Marca reports: http://www.marca.com/edicion/marca/ajedrez/es/desarrollo/1172232.html and Spanish AOL http://www.aol.es/noticias/story/David-Lari%C3%B1o-se-proclama-campe%C3%B3n-de-Espa%C3%B1a-de-ajedrez-tras-dos-desempates/6390644/index.html

Spanish Championship Ceuta (ESP), 27 ix - 4 x 2008
Round 1 27-28 ix 2008
GM	Miguel Illescas	CAN	2603	2-0			Jose L. Blazquez	RIO	2255
GM	Ibrahim Khamrakulov	EXT	2597	1-1	(2-0)	MF	Jorge Cabrera	CAN	2423
GM	Jose M. Lopez	CAT	2531	0,5-1,5		MI	Ismael Teran	AND	2442
GM	Pablo San Segundo	CAN	2560	1,5-0,5		MI	Juan M. Carrasco	EXT	2425
MI	Manuel Perez	EXT	2537	1-1	(1-3)	MI	David Larino	NAV	2426
GM	Marc Narciso	CAT	2525	2-0		MI	Horacio Saldano	CAT	2442
GM	Julen Arizmendi	VAL	2524	1,5-0,5		MI	Alejandro Franco	EUS	2472
GM	Manuel Rivas	AND	2508	1/2		MI	Jose C. Ibarra	AND	2496
Round 2 29-30 ix 2008
GM	Miguel Illescas	CAN	2603	1-1	(1-3)	MI	Jose C. Ibarra	AND	2496
GM	Ibragim Khamrakulov	EXT	2597	1-1	(2-3)	GM	Julen Arizmendi	VAL	2524
GM	Marc Narciso	CAT	2525	1-1	(0.5-1.5)	MI	Ismael Teran	AND	2442
GM	Pablo San Segundo	CAN	2560	1-1	(1.5-2.5)	MI	David Larino	NAV	2426
Round 3 1-2 x 2008
MI	José C. Ibarra	AND	2496	1-1	2-4	MI	David Lariño	NAV	2426
GM	Julen Arizmendi	VAL	2524	1-1	3-1	MI	Ismael Terán	AND	2442
3rd-4th 3-4 x 2008
MI	José C. Ibarra	AND	2496	1-1	1,5-0,5	MI	Ismael Teran Alvarez	AND	2442
Final 3-4 x 2008
MI	David Larino	NAV	2426	1-1	2.5-1.5	GM	Julen Arizmendi	VAL	2524

7) Commonwealth Chess Championship

The Commonwealth Chess Championship took place 28th September - 6th October 2008 in Nagpur, India. Nigel Short took clear first place with 9.5/11 half a point clear of Surya Shekhar Ganguly.

The games file from this event, as with many Indian events was a nightmare to process. Indian names have the following convention - people in the south India are known by first names like in Iceland and north India by surnames like in Europe.

This is hard enough for a westerner to get right but the bulletin for this event had names both ways round, this seemed especially true of the Monroi broadcast games. I've also recently seen names such as Tania Sachdev volley between orders in consecutive Elo lists. This inconsistancy is especially calculated to drive anyone trying to use the games nuts. I can reverse names if I want to but a mixture? I would ask the Indian chess federation to make sure the names that appear in the FIDE rating list are of the form people are expected to use and then stick to it. India is a coming nation in chess I think its important to get these things right but events like this are not making this at all easy.

Official site: http://www.commonwealth-chess.com and games broadcast live at: http://www.monroi.com/watch/?tnm_id=1120

ch-Commonwealth Nagpur (IND), 28 ix-6 x 2008 Final Leading Round 11 Standings:
Rk.	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	Short Nigel D	GM	ENG	2655	9,5	60,0	74,0
2	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	GM	IND	2631	9,0	64,5	78,0
3	Hossain Enamul	GM	BAN	2489	8,5	61,0	76,0
4	Arun Prasad S	IM	IND	2492	8,0	66,0	81,5
5	Venkatesh M R	IM	IND	2462	8,0	63,5	76,5
6	Rohit Gogineni	IM	IND	2457	8,0	62,0	75,5
7	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	FM	IND	2356	8,0	62,0	75,0
8	Negi Parimarjan	GM	IND	2529	8,0	61,0	74,5
9	Laxman R R	IM	IND	2498	8,0	60,5	74,0
10	Sengupta Deep	IM	IND	2454	8,0	60,0	74,0
11	Deepan Chakkravarthy J	GM	IND	2464	8,0	60,0	73,5
12	Girinath P D S	IM	IND	2423	8,0	60,0	73,0
13	Panchanathan Magesh Chandran	GM	IND	2486	8,0	59,5	71,5
14	Rahman Ziaur	GM	BAN	2564	8,0	58,5	71,0
15	Neelotpal Das	GM	IND	2462	8,0	57,5	70,5
16	Murali Krishnan B T		IND	2412	7,5	66,0	80,5
17	Priyadharshan K	FM	IND	2297	7,5	62,5	75,0
18	Kunte Abhijit	GM	IND	2554	7,5	61,5	76,0
19	Barua Dibyendu	GM	IND	2497	7,5	61,0	73,5
20	Ashwin Jayaram	IM	IND	2436	7,5	60,5	73,5
21	Gupta Abhijeet	GM	IND	2551	7,5	59,0	72,5
	Saptarshi Roy	IM	IND	2404	7,5	59,0	72,5
23	Singh D P	IM	IND	2299	7,5	59,0	71,0
24	Thejkumar M S		IND	2441	7,5	57,0	70,5
25	Ravi Lanka	IM	IND	2371	7,5	56,0	68,5
26	Tejas Ravichandran		IND	2123	7,5	55,5	64,5
27	Himanshu Sharma	IM	IND	2423	7,5	55,0	67,5
28	Suvrajit Saha	IM	IND	2367	7,0	67,0	81,0
29	Karthikeyan P	IM	IND	2402	7,0	64,5	78,0
30	Das Arghyadip		IND	2404	7,0	62,5	75,5
31	Akshat Khamparia	FM	IND	2305	7,0	62,5	75,0
32	Konguvel Ponnuswamy	IM	IND	2415	7,0	61,5	74,5
33	Sundararajan Kidambi	IM	IND	2446	7,0	61,0	73,5
34	Sethuraman S P	IM	IND	2425	7,0	60,5	75,0
35	Nitin S	FM	IND	2303	7,0	60,0	73,0
36	Meenakshi Subbaraman	WGM	IND	2336	7,0	60,0	72,5
	Joshi G B		IND	2302	7,0	60,0	72,5
38	Premnath R		IND	2257	7,0	60,0	71,5
39	Vaibhav Suri		IND	2081	7,0	59,5	72,0
40	Lalith Babu M R		IND	2328	7,0	59,0	70,5
41	Praveen Kumar C		IND	2302	7,0	58,5	71,0
42	Phadke Sohan		IND	2283	7,0	58,5	70,0
	Joshi Pankaj		IND	2281	7,0	58,5	70,0
44	Satyapragyan Swayangsu	IM	IND	2414	7,0	58,0	72,5
45	Wohl Aleksandar H	IM	AUS	2384	7,0	58,0	71,5
46	Murshed Niaz	GM	BAN	2437	7,0	58,0	70,5
	Kiran Manisha Mohanty	WIM	IND	2246	7,0	58,0	70,5
48	West Guy	IM	AUS	2342	7,0	57,5	70,0
49	Debashis Das		IND	2294	7,0	57,0	69,5
50	Fenil Shah		IND	2129	7,0	56,5	68,5
51	Pranav Shetty		IND	2138	7,0	56,5	66,5
52	Swapnil S Dhopade		IND	2389	7,0	56,0	68,5
53	Narayanan Srinath	FM	IND	2220	7,0	56,0	68,0
54	Prasanna Rao	FM	IND	2233	7,0	56,0	67,0
55	Girish A Koushik	FM	IND	2108	7,0	56,0	66,5
56	Shashikant Kutwal		IND	2340	7,0	55,5	69,0
57	Adhiban B	IM	IND	2422	7,0	55,5	68,0
58	Akshayraj Kore	IM	IND	2392	7,0	55,0	67,5
59	Jabbar Abdul		IND	2211	7,0	54,5	64,5
60	Karavade Eesha	WGM	IND	2297	7,0	53,5	66,0
61	Mas Hafizulhelmi	IM	MAS	2385	7,0	53,5	65,0
	Anwesh Upadhyaya		IND	2189	7,0	53,5	65,0
63	Grover Sahaj	FM	IND	2306	7,0	53,0	65,5
64	Ghosh Diptayan		IND	2028	7,0	50,5	62,5
65	Majumdar Chandrasish		IND	2050	7,0	50,0	61,5
66	Sangma Rahul		IND	2339	6,5	63,5	77,5
272 players

8) US Chess League

The 2008 season of the US Chess League started 25th August 2008.

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

US Chess League ICCINT, 27 viii-31 x 2008 Round 6 of 10 Results:
29th September 2008
	New York			vs	Seattle
1	GM	John Fedorowicz	NY	vs	GM	Hikaru Nakamura	SEA	0-1
2	GM	Gregory Serper	SEA	vs	IM	Irina Krush	NY	0-1
3	IM	Jay Bonin	NY	vs	FM	Marcel Milat	SEA	1/2
4		Andy May	SEA	vs	NM	Evan Rosenberg	NY	1-0
	Arizona			vs	San Francisco
1	IM	Rogelio Barcenilla	ARZ	vs	IM	Vinay Bhat	SF	1/2
2	IM	David Pruess	SF	vs	IM	Mark Ginsburg	ARZ	1-0
3	FM	Daniel Rensch	ARZ	vs	FM	Sam Shankland	SF	0-1
4	FM	Daniel Naroditsky	SF	vs	NM	Leo Martinez	ARZ	1/2
1st October 2008
	Carolina			vs	Queens
1	IM	Lev Milman	CAR	vs	IM	Dmitry Schneider	QNS	1/2
2	IM	Alex Lenderman	QNS	vs	FM	Oleg Zaikov	CAR	1-0
3	FM	Ron Simpson	CAR	vs	NM	Michael Thaler	QNS	1-0
4		Benjamin Katz	QNS	vs		Udayan Bapat	CAR	0-1
	New Jersey			vs	Baltimore
1	GM	Joel Benjamin	NJ	vs	GM	Sergey Erenburg	BAL	0-1
2	FM	Tegshsuren Enkhbat	BAL	vs	IM	Dean Ippolito	NJ	0-1
3	SM	Mackenzie Molner	NJ	vs	FM	Ray Kaufman	BAL	1-0
4	NM	Aaron Kahn	BAL	vs	NM	Victor Shen	NJ	1-0
	Boston			vs	Philadelphia
1	SM	Jorge Sammour-Hasbun	BOS	vs	GM	Sergey Kudrin	PHI	0-1
2	FM	Tom Bartell	PHI	vs	IM	David Vigorito	BOS	1-0
3	SM	Denys Shmelov	BOS	vs	IM	Richard Costigan	PHI	1/2
4	FM	Matthew Bengtson	PHI	vs	NM	Ilya Krasik	BOS	1-0
	Chicago			vs	Miami
1	GM	Nikola Mitkov	CHC	vs	GM	Julio Becerra	MIA	0-1
2	IM	Blas Lugo	MIA	vs	IM	Emory Tate	CHC	0-1
3	IM	Angelo Young	CHC	vs	FM	Charles Galofre	MIA	1-0
4	NM	Eric Rodriguez	MIA	vs	NM	Jon Burgess	CHC	1-0
	Tennessee			vs	Dallas
1	GM	Jaan Ehlvest	TEN	vs	IM	Marko Zivanic	DAL	1/2
2	IM	John Bartholomew	DAL	vs	FM	Todd Andrews	TEN	0-1
3	FM	Peter Bereolos	TEN	vs	FM	Igor Schneider	DAL	1/2
4	WFM	Bayaraa Zorigt	DAL	vs	NM	Brian McCarthy	TEN	1/2

US Chess League ICC INT, 27 viii-31 x 2008 Round 6of 10 Standings :
EASTERN DIVISION	W	L	Game Points		Opp Avg Rating
Queens	5	1	16.0/24 (67%)	2386	13.5-16.5 (45%)
New Jersey	4	2	14.0/24 (58%)	2418	14.0-14.0 (50%)
Carolina	3.5	2.5	13.5/24 (56%)	2393	12.5-17.5 (42%)
Boston	3	3	12.0/24 (50%)	2403	15.5-14.5 (52%)
Philadelphia	2	4	10.0/24 (42%)	2438	15.0-15.0 (50%)
Baltimore	1.5	4.5	10.0/24 (42%)	2407	15.5-12.5 (55%)
New York	1	5	7.0/24 (29%)	2418	15.0-15.0 (50%)
WESTERN DIVISION	W	L	Game Points		Opp Avg Rating
San Francisco	4.5	1.5	14.5/24 (60%)	2408	15.5-14.5 (52%)
Dallas	3.5	2.5	13.0/24 (54%)	2418	16.0-14.0 (53%)
Seattle	3.5	2.5	11.5/24 (48%)	2391	14.0-16.0 (47%)
Miami	3	3	14.0/24 (58%)	2407	14.5-15.5 (52%)
Chicago	3	3	13.5/24 (56%)	2402	16.0-14.0 (53%)
Arizona	2.5	3.5	10.0/24 (42%)	2382	18.0-12.0 (60%)
Tennessee	2	4	9.0/24 (38%)	2396	15.0-15.0 (50%)

9) 17th Croatian Team Championship

The 17th Croatian Team Championship took place in Sibenik 27th September - 5th October 2008. SK Zagreb (Sasikiran, Ki Georgiev, etc) won the main men's event.

Official site: http://www.crochess.com/turniri/sibenik/liga_08/index.shtm

and results at: http://chess-results.com/tnr16247.aspx

17th TCh-CRO 1a Sibenik (CRO), 27 ix-5 x 2008
Pl	Ekipa	Gam.	+	=	-	Bod.	MB	SB.	SB
1	SK ZAGREB, Zagreb	9	6	1	2	34,0	13	163,25	876,00
2	GSK MRAVINCE DC, Mravince	9	6	1	2	31,5	13	165,50	812,25
3	SK LIBURNIJA, Rijeka	9	4	3	2	30,5	11	134,25	772,75
4	SK RIJEKA, Rijeka	9	6	1	2	28,5	13	169,25	751,75
5	SK OSIJEK, Osijek	9	3	4	2	28,5	10	131,50	753,75
6	SK GRGIN DOL, Pozega	9	4	2	3	27,5	10	124,00	716,50
7	SK ÐURO ÐAKOVIC-HOLDING,Sl. Brod	9	3	2	4	27,0	8	100,00	716,75
8	HASK MLADOST, Zagreb	9	1	3	5	24,0	5	63,25	638,50
9	SK ÐAKOVO-HOTEL BLAZA, Ðakovo	9	1	2	6	20,0	4	50,50	535,25
10	SD VARAZDIN, Varazdin	9	1	1	7	18,5	3	34,00	500,00
17th TCh-CRO 1b Sibenik (CRO), 27 ix-5 x 2008
Pl	Ekipa	Gam.	+	=	-	Bod.	MB	SB.	SB
1	SK A1 SPLIT, Split	9	8	0	1	35,0	16	205,50	903,75
2	SK PULA, Pula	9	7	1	1	35,0	15	186,50	873,00
3	SK JUNIOR, Rijeka	9	5	1	3	34,5	11	126,25	863,50
4	SK VUKOVAR '91, Vukovar	9	3	3	3	29,5	9	115,00	754,00
5	SK SIBENIK, Sibenik	9	4	3	2	27,0	11	128,75	650,25
6	SK SLAVEN-SEDES, Vukovar	9	3	2	4	25,0	8	85,00	616,50
7	SK DUBROVNIK, Dubrovnik	9	2	2	5	25,0	6	66,25	631,00
8	SK GORANKA-ALLIANZ, Ravna Gora	9	2	2	5	24,5	6	73,75	641,00
9	SK GORAN, Bibinje	9	4	0	5	22,5	8	91,00	564,50
10	SK ERICSSON-NIKOLA TESLA, Zagreb	9	0	0	9	12,0	0	0,00	342,50
17th TCh-CRO 1w Sibenik (CRO), 27 ix-5 x 2008
Pl	Ekipa	Gam.	+	=	-	Bod.	MB	SB.	SB
1	SK LUCIJA-BKS BANK, Rijeka	9	9	0	0	25,0	18	110,00	301,50
2	SK POLET, Busevec	9	8	0	1	20,5	16	89,50	232,25
3	HASK MLADOST, Zagreb	9	4	2	3	14,0	10	55,25	168,50
4	SK SAH. SKOLA DELNICE, Delnice	9	3	3	3	13,5	9	44,75	150,00
5	SK STRIDON, Strigova	9	3	3	3	12,5	9	48,75	147,75
6	SK GORAN, Vrbovsko	9	3	2	4	12,0	8	39,25	131,00
7	SK A1SPLIT, Split	9	2	1	6	10,0	5	30,25	127,75
8	SK DRAGA, Rijeka	9	1	3	5	10,0	5	25,50	109,00
9	SK GORANKA-ALLIANZ, Ravna Gora	9	2	1	6	9,5	5	27,50	105,00
10	SK JELSA, Jelsa	9	2	1	6	8,0	5	26,50	94,25

10) Club Argentino-Ruibal

The Club Argentino-Ruibal takes place 29th September - 9th October 2008. Former candidate Bent Larsen is playing, unfortunately he's playing junk openings, possibly to avoid theory, but its left him on 0/5 which is a sad sight indeed.

Official site: http://www.argentinodeajedrez.com.ar/caarui08/caarui08.htm

Club Argentino-Ruibal Buenos Aires (ARG), 29 ix-9 x 2008												cat. IX (2452)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Rodriguez Vila, Andres	g	URU	2531	*	.	1	.	½	.	½	1	1	.	4	2663
2.	Valerga, Diego	m	ARG	2502	.	*	½	½	1	½	.	.	1	.	3½	2606
3.	Lemos, Damian	m	ARG	2479	0	½	*	.	.	1	1	.	.	1	3½	2630
4.	Dos Santos, Ramiro	f	ARG	2435	.	½	.	*	½	½	.	.	1	1	3½	2616
5.	Garcia Palermo, Carlos	g	ITA	2456	½	0	.	½	*	.	1	1	.	.	3	2513
6.	Mareco, Sandro	m	ARG	2477	.	½	0	½	.	*	.	1	1	.	3	2504
7.	Liascovich, Lucas	m	ARG	2435	½	.	0	.	0	.	*	1	.	1	2½	2446
8.	Contin, Daniel	m	ITA	2304	0	.	.	.	0	0	0	*	.	1	1	2232
9.	Mahia, Gustavo	f	ARG	2441	0	0	.	0	.	0	.	.	*	1	1	2241
10.	Larsen, Bent	g	DEN	2461	.	.	0	0	.	.	0	0	0	*	0

11) 4NCL

Rounds 1-2 of the 4NCL took place 4th-5th October 2008. There are two halves of the first division, after 7 rounds the top teams meets in the final stages. I will round up the results and games next week.

Fixtures 2008-9

Rounds 1 and 2: 4th/5th October 2008 De Vere Venues, Sunningdale Divisions 1-2

Rounds 3-4: 6th/7th December 2008 Barcelo Hotel, Hinckley Island Divisions 1-3

Rounds 5-6: 17th/18th January 2009 De Vere Venues, Sunningdale Divisions 1-2

Rounds 7-8: 21st/22nd March 2009 Barcelo Hotel, Hinckley Island Divisions 1-3

Rounds 9-11: 2nd-4th May 2009 De Vere Venues, Staverton Park Divisions 1-2

Official website: http://www.4ncl.co.uk/ and live coverage: http://www.bcfservices.org.uk/livechess/4ncl/0809/index.htm

4NCL 2008-9 Sunningdale (ENG), 4 x 2008 - 4 v 2009
Division 1A results - Round 1
RD 1		GUILDFORD-A&DC 2	2418	2½-5½	WHITE ROSE 1	2320
1	w	Hebden, Mark L	2515	0-1	Wells, Peter K	2516
2	b	King, Daniel J	2518	0-1	Jones, Gawain C B	2548
3	w	Kosten, Anthony C	2510	½-½	McNab, Colin	2455
4	b	Buckley, Graeme	2399	½-½	Palliser, Richard	2407
5	w	Tissir, Mohamed	2463	1-0	Barrett, Steve J	2226
6	b	Muir, Andrew J	2359	½-½	Gayson, Peter M	2254
7	w	Cooksey, Paul S	2304	0-1	Adams, David M	2177
8	b	Sandu, Mihaela (F)	2273	0-1	Parmar, Amisha (F)	1974
RD 1		SAMBUCA SHARKS	2196	3-5	RICHMOND	2180
1	w	Rendle, Thomas E	2385	½-½	Bates, Richard A	2387
2	b	Krensing, Jan	2287	1-0	Wall, Gavin	2307
3	w	Roberson, Peter T	2236	0-1	Bisby, Daniel L	2287
4	b	Van Weersel, Arlette (F)	2209	0-1	Muter, Donny	2190
5	w	Williams, Samuel G	2218	0-1	Osborne, Marcus E	2199
6	b	Ruston, Mark R	2085	1-0	Meyer, Gordon	2161
7	w	Varnam, Liam D	2118	0-1	Mitchem, Nicholas D	1971
8	b	Makepeace, Philip J	2027	½-½	Sirisena, Chantal N (F) *	1935
RD 1		WOOD GREEN HILSMARK KINGFISHER 1	2444	6½-1½	CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY 1	2243
1	w	Gordon, Stephen J	2521	1-0	Dearing, Eddie	2393
2	b	Trent, Lawrence	2470	½-½	Mah, Karl C C	2408
3	w	Greet, Andrew N	2440	½-½	Pinter, Gabor	2355
4	b	Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan (F)	2448	1-0	Alfred, Nathan	2323
5	w	Hanley, Craig A	2431	1-0	Moskovic, David M	2307
6	b	Martin, Andrew D	2425	½-½	Quist, Sven Roy	2137
7	w	Rechel, Bernd	2422	1-0	Churm, Rohan M	2207
8	b	McDonald, Neil	2398	1-0	Kourtseva, Julie (F)	1815
RD 1		SOUTH WALES DRAGONS 1	2232	4-4	BARBICAN 4NCL 1	2388
1	w	Cobb, James E	2451	½-½	Parker, Jonathan	2538
2	b	Cooper, John G	2362	0-1	Turner, Matthew J	2505
3	w	Rees, Ioan	2297	½-½	D'Costa, Lorin A R	2411
4	b	Kett, Timothy	2272	0-1	Ferguson, Mark	2398
5	w	Blackburn, Jonathan L B	2175	1-0	Cox, John J	2381
6	b	Zeidler, Sven P	2224	1-0	Knott, Simon	2348
7	w	Morris, Charles F	2195	1-0	Rogers, Jonathan W	2347
8	b	Blackburn, Suzie (F)	1883	0-1	Lauterbach, Ingrid (F)	2178
Division 1B results - Round 1
RD 1		BETSSON.COM	2293	3-5	PRIDE AND PREJUDICE	2303
1	w	Hunt, Adam C	2431	1-0	Ward, Chris G	2431
2	b	Ledger, Andrew J	2429	0-1	Emms, John M	2489
3	w	Ansell, Simon	2410	½-½	Summerscale, Aaron	2467
4	b	Eames, Robert G	2329	0-1	Hunt, Harriet (F)	2462
5	w	Duncan, Christopher R	2294	1-0	Zhou, Yang-Fan	2276
6	b	Ledger, David J	2254	0-1	Kilpatrick, Callum	2184
7	w	Ledger, Stephen C	2151	½-½	Winkelmann, Elena (F)	2096
8	b	Yurenok, Maria S (F)	2048	0-1	Auckland, Elliott *	2017
RD 1		BARBICAN 4NCL 2	2289	5-3	THE GAMBIT ADS	2340
1	w	Collinson, Adam	2389	½-½	Speelman, Jonathan S	2530
2	b	Devereaux, Maxim	2415	1-0	Davies, Nigel R	2490
3	w	Berry, Neil	2323	0-1	Jirka, Jiri	2448
4	b	Taylor, Martin R	2342	0-1	Cernousek, Lukas	2435
5	w	Dorrington, Christopher	2259	1-0	Snape, Ian	2219
6	b	Twyble, Michael S	2261	1-0	Anderton, David	2239
7	w	Taylor, Peter	2254	1-0	Cafferty, Bernard	2179
8	b	Bhatia, Kanwal K (F)	2065	½-½	Bellin, Jana (F)	2183
RD 1		WOOD GREEN HILSMARK KINGFISHER 2	2242	5½-2½	NORTH WEST EAGLES	2176
1	w	Pein, Malcolm	2394	½-½	Morrison, Graham	2328
2	b	Sowray, Peter J	2316	1-0	Hague, Ben (def)	2281
3	w	Fowler, Simon	2214	0-1	Lyell, Mark	2248
4	b	Therrien, Alex	2253	1-0	Hulmes, David I (def)	2203
5	w	Briscoe, Christopher	2253	½-½	Redmond, John	2199
6	b	Hagasaether, Ellen (F)	2239	1-0	Jaunooby, Ali (def) *	2145
7	w	Hagesaether, Arne	2181	1-0	Grigoryan-Lyell, Meri (F)	2076
8	b	Hegarty, Sarah (F)	2088	½-½	Morrison, Lynne (F)	1926
RD 1		BRISTOL 1	2215	1½-6½	GUILDFORD-A&DC 1	2492
1	w	Rudd, Jack	2344	1-0	Rowson, Jonathan	2596
2	b	Cobb, Charles	2407	0-1	Pert, Nicholas	2532
3	w	Beaumont, Chris	2317	0-1	Conquest, Stuart C	2526
4	b	Poobalasingam, Peter	2235	0-1	Cornette, Matthieu	2548
5	w	Buckley, David E	2244	0-1	Flear, Glenn C	2473
6	b	Curtis, John	2122	0-1	Shaw, John K	2469
7	w	Collier, David O	2089	0-1	Pert, Richard G	2453
8	b	Smith, Olivia (F)	1961	½-½	Lalic, Susan (F)	2341
Division 1A results - Round 2
RD 2		RICHMOND	2212	3½-4½	GUILDFORD-A&DC 2	2406
1	w	Bates, Richard A	2387	½-½	Kosten, Anthony C	2510
2	b	Wall, Gavin	2307	½-½	Flear, Glenn C	2473
3	w	Bisby, Daniel L	2287	½-½	Shaw, John K	2469
4	b	Muter, Donny	2190	½-½	Buckley, Graeme	2399
5	w	Osborne, Marcus E	2199	0-1	Tissir, Mohamed	2463
6	b	Meyer, Gordon	2161	1-0	Muir, Andrew J	2359
7	w	Franklin, Michael J	2232	½-½	Cooksey, Paul S	2304
8	b	Sirisena, Chantal N (F) *	1935	0-1	Sandu, Mihaela (F)	2273
RD 2		BARBICAN 4NCL 1	2397	3½-4½	WOOD GREEN HILSMARK KINGFISHER 1	2444
1	w	Parker, Jonathan	2538	1-0	Gordon, Stephen J	2521
2	b	Turner, Matthew J	2505	½-½	Trent, Lawrence	2470
3	w	D'Costa, Lorin A R	2411	½-½	Greet, Andrew N	2440
4	b	Ferguson, Mark	2398	0-1	Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan (F)	2448
5	w	Cox, John J	2381	0-1	Hanley, Craig A	2431
6	b	Knott, Simon	2348	½-½	Martin, Andrew D	2425
7	w	Devereaux, Maxim	2415	1-0	Rechel, Bernd	2422
8	b	Lauterbach, Ingrid (F)	2178	0-1	McDonald, Neil	2398
RD 2		WHITE ROSE 1	2320	5-3	SAMBUCA SHARKS	2196
1	w	Wells, Peter K	2516	½-½	Rendle, Thomas E	2385
2	b	Jones, Gawain C B	2548	1-0	Krensing, Jan	2287
3	w	McNab, Colin	2455	1-0	Roberson, Peter T	2236
4	b	Palliser, Richard	2407	½-½	Van Weersel, Arlette (F)	2209
5	w	Barrett, Steve J	2226	1-0	Williams, Samuel G	2218
6	b	Gayson, Peter M	2254	½-½	Ruston, Mark R	2085
7	w	Adams, David M	2177	½-½	Varnam, Liam D	2118
8	b	Parmar, Amisha (F)	1974	0-1	Makepeace, Philip J	2027
RD 2		CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY 1	2243	4-4	SOUTH WALES DRAGONS 1	2232
1	w	Dearing, Eddie	2393	1-0	Cobb, James E	2451
2	b	Pinter, Gabor	2355	½-½	Cooper, John G	2362
3	w	Mah, Karl C C	2408	1-0	Rees, Ioan	2297
4	b	Alfred, Nathan	2323	0-1	Kett, Timothy	2272
5	w	Moskovic, David M	2307	1-0	Morris, Charles F	2195
6	b	Churm, Rohan M	2207	½-½	Blackburn, Jonathan L B	2175
7	w	Quist, Sven Roy	2137	0-1	Zeidler, Sven P	2224
8	b	Kourtseva, Julie (F)	1815	0-1	Blackburn, Suzie (F)	1883
Division 1B results - Round 2
RD 2		THE GAMBIT ADS	2340	5½-2½	BETSSON.COM	2293
1	w	Speelman, Jonathan S	2530	1-0	Hunt, Adam C	2431
2	b	Davies, Nigel R	2490	½-½	Ledger, Andrew J	2429
3	w	Jirka, Jiri	2448	1-0	Ansell, Simon	2410
4	b	Cernousek, Lukas	2435	1-0	Eames, Robert G	2329
5	w	Snape, Ian	2219	½-½	Duncan, Christopher R	2294
6	b	Anderton, David	2239	0-1	Ledger, David J	2254
7	w	Cafferty, Bernard	2179	½-½	Ledger, Stephen C	2151
8	b	Bellin, Jana (F)	2183	1-0	Yurenok, Maria S (F)	2048
RD 2		GUILDFORD-A&DC 1	2504	8-0	WOOD GREEN HILSMARK KINGFISHER 2	2242
1	w	Rowson, Jonathan	2596	1-0	Pein, Malcolm	2394
2	b	Pert, Nicholas	2532	1-0	Sowray, Peter J	2316
3	w	Conquest, Stuart C	2526	1-0	Fowler, Simon	2214
4	b	Cornette, Matthieu	2548	1-0	Therrien, Alex	2253
5	w	King, Daniel J	2518	1-0	Briscoe, Christopher	2253
6	b	Hebden, Mark L	2515	1-0	Hagasaether, Ellen (F)	2239
7	w	Pert, Richard G	2453	1-0	Hagesaether, Arne	2181
8	b	Lalic, Susan (F)	2341	1-0	Hegarty, Sarah (F)	2088
RD 2		PRIDE AND PREJUDICE	2303	6-2	BARBICAN 4NCL 2	2274
1	w	Ward, Chris G	2431	½-½	Berry, Neil	2323
2	b	Emms, John M	2489	½-½	Taylor, Martin R	2342
3	w	Hunt, Harriet (F)	2462	1-0	Rogers, Jonathan W	2347
4	b	Summerscale, Aaron	2467	1-0	Twyble, Michael S	2261
5	w	Zhou, Yang-Fan	2276	½-½	Dorrington, Christopher	2259
6	b	Kilpatrick, Callum	2184	1-0	Coleman, David	2209
7	w	Winkelmann, Elena (F)	2096	½-½	Taylor, Peter	2254
8	b	Auckland, Elliott *	2017	1-0	Regan, Natasha (F)	2197
RD 2		NORTH WEST EAGLES	2176	5-3	BRISTOL 1	2215
1	w	Morrison, Graham	2328	1-0	Rudd, Jack	2344
2	b	Lyell, Mark	2248	½-½	Cobb, Charles	2407
3	w	Hague, Ben	2281	½-½	Beaumont, Chris	2317
4	b	Hulmes, David I	2203	1-0	Poobalasingam, Peter	2235
5	w	Redmond, John	2199	½-½	Buckley, David E	2244
6	b	Grigoryan-Lyell, Meri (F)	2076	½-½	Collier, David O	2089
7	w	Jaunooby, Ali *	2145	1-0	Curtis, John	2122
8	b	Morrison, Lynne (F)	1926	0-1	Smith, Olivia (F)	1961

4NCL 2008-9 Sunningdale (ENG), 4 x 2008 - 4 v 2009
	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
WOOD GREEN HILSMARK KINGFISHER 1	2	0	0	4
WHITE ROSE 1	2	0	0	4
RICHMOND	1	0	1	2
SOUTH WALES DRAGONS 1	0	2	0	2
GUILDFORD-A&DC 2	1	0	1	2
BARBICAN 4NCL 1	0	1	1	1
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY 1	0	1	1	1
SAMBUCA SHARKS	0	0	2	0
Team	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
GUILDFORD-A&DC 1	2	0	0	4
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE	2	0	0	4
THE GAMBIT ADS	1	0	1	2
NORTH WEST EAGLES	1	0	1	2
BARBICAN 4NCL 2	1	0	1	2
WOOD GREEN HILSMARK KINGFISHER 2	1	0	1	2
BETSSON.COM	0	0	2	0
BRISTOL 1	0	0	2	0

12) 1st Womens International Tashkent

The 1st Women's International took place in Tashkent (UZB) 5th-16th September 2008.

Official site: http://www.uzchess.uz/

1st Women It Tashkent UZB (UZB), 5-15 ix 2008
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2
1.	Sergeeva, Maria	wg	KAZ	2325	*	½	1	1	1	1	½	1	1	1	1	1	10.0	2596
2.	Zozulia, Anna	m	BEL	2346	½	*	½	½	½	1	½	½	0	1	1	1	7.0	2313
3.	Levushkina, Elena	wg	GER	2251	0	½	*	1	1	½	0	1	1	0	1	1	7.0	2322
4.	Dauletova, Gulmira	wm	KAZ	2267	0	½	0	*	½	½	1	1	½	½	1	1	6.5	2283
5.	Doluhanova, Evgeniya	wg	UKR	2255	0	½	0	½	*	1	½	½	½	0	1	1	5.5	2219
6.	Tokhirjanova, Hulkar		UZB	2106	0	0	½	½	0	*	1	0	½	1	1	1	5.5	2233
7.	Hamrakulova, Yulduz	wm	UZB	2145	½	½	1	0	½	0	*	½	0	1	½	½	5.0	2193
8.	Andriasian, Siranush	wm	ARM	2280	0	½	0	0	½	1	½	*	1	½	0	½	4.5	2152
9.	Muminova, Nafisa		UZB	2242	0	1	0	½	½	½	1	0	*	0	½	0	4.0	2119
10.	Sabirova, O	wm	UZB	2185	0	0	1	½	1	0	0	½	1	*	0	0	4.0	2124
11.	Nodirjanova, Nodira		UZB	2118	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	1	½	1	*	½	3.5	2099
12.	Gevorgyan, Irina	wf	UZB	2154	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	½	1	1	½	*	3.5	2096

13) Yuzhny Chess Festival

The Yuzhny Chess Festival took place 20th-25th September 2008. Denis Kovalev took clear first with 7/9.

Official site: http://ukrchess.org.ua/turnir/t166.html

Open Yuzhny (UKR), 20-25 ix 2008
1.	Kovalev, Denis	f	UKR	2436	7.0	50.5	38.25	37.0	2523
2.	Solodovnichenko, Yuri	g	UKR	2541	6.5	54.5	38.25	37.5	2506
	Andreev, Eduard UKR	g	UKR	2455	6.5	52.5	36.50	36.5	2494
	Shkuro, Iuri	m	UKR	2428	6.5	51.5	35.50	35.0	2443
	Golovlev, Nikolay		UKR	2332	6.5	49.0	32.75	32.5	2437
	Sharapov, Evgeny	m	UKR	2431	6.5	48.5	33.75	34.0	2451
	Polishchuk, Oleg		UKR	2228	6.5	44.0	28.75	31.5	2347
	Bogdanovich, Stanislav		UKR	2299	6.5	42.0	30.00	29.0	2261
9.	Kurayan, Ruslan		UKR	2155	6.0	48.0	29.00	32.5	2400
	Chudinovskikh, Alexander M	m	RUS	2372	6.0	44.0	28.25	29.0	2346
11.	Fingerov, Dmitry	m	UKR	2365	5.5	53.0	30.25	33.5	2383
	Dmitriev, Igor	m	RUS	2364	5.5	47.0	25.75	28.5	2288
	Miljutin, Oleg		UKR	2167	5.5	45.5	25.25	28.0	2166
	Kamenets, Anatolij	m	UKR	2265	5.5	44.0	22.75	28.0	2165
	Shmat, Sergey		UKR	2093	5.5	41.5	22.75	26.5	2104
191 players

14) Podillya GM

The Podillya GM-norm tournament took place in Khmelnitsky 27th September - 5th October 2008. Nazar Firman won with 10.5/14.

Official site: http://ukrchess.org.ua/turnir/t167.html

Podillya It Khmelnitsky UKR (UKR), 27 ix-5 x 2008														cat. VII (2418)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5
1.	Firman, Nazar	m	UKR	2525	*	½	1	1	½	½	1	½	½	1	0	1	1	1	1	10.5	2603
2.	Nyzhnyk, Illya	f	UKR	2428	½	*	½	0	½	1	½	1	1	1	1	½	0	1	1	9.5	2550
3.	Zherebukh, Yaroslav	m	UKR	2432	0	½	*	1	½	½	0	1	1	1	½	½	1	1	1	9.5	2550
4.	Zakhartsov, Viacheslav V	g	RUS	2556	0	1	0	*	½	½	½	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	9.5	2541
5.	Onischuk, Vladimir	m	UKR	2506	½	½	½	½	*	½	½	1	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	9.0	2514
6.	Pavlov, Sergey2		UKR	2433	½	0	½	½	½	*	1	1	½	0	0	1	1	½	1	8.0	2467
7.	Harutjunyan, Gevorg		ARM	2441	0	½	1	½	½	0	*	½	0	1	1	1	1	0	1	8.0	2466
8.	Simonian, Hrair	m	ARM	2452	½	0	0	1	0	0	½	*	1	1	½	½	1	1	1	8.0	2465
9.	Chudinovskikh, Alexander M	m	RUS	2371	½	0	0	0	1	½	1	0	*	0	1	½	1	1	1	7.5	2450
10.	Mikhaletz, Lubomir	g	UKR	2480	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	*	½	½	1	1	1	7.0	2413
11.	Lutsko, Igor	g	BLR	2399	1	0	½	0	0	1	0	½	0	½	*	0	0	1	1	5.5	2339
12.	Soltanici, Ruslan	m	MDA	2421	0	½	½	0	0	0	0	½	½	½	1	*	0	1	1	5.5	2338
13.	Nechaev, Andrei		UKR	2394	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	*	½	1	4.5	2287
14.	Razin, Vadim		UKR	2288	0	0	0	0	0	½	1	0	0	0	0	0	½	*	½	2.5	2165
15.	Ivanov, Vladimir A UKR		UKR	2148	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	*	0.5	1936

15) 10th Anniversary of Chess City

The Chess-City 10th Anniversary tournament took place in Elista, 16th-23rd September 2008. Sergey Strelnikov and Gennadi P Kuzmin finished on 7/9.

Official site: http://ratings.fide.com/view_source.phtml?code=16332

16) 17th VS Korensky Memorial

The 17th VS Korensky Memorial took place in Tambow, 23rd-30th August 2008. Felix Alikhanov and Viktor D Kupreichik finished on 7.5/9.

Results: http://ratings.fide.com/view_source.phtml?code=15553

17) Alushta Tournaments

Alushta Tournaments, Autumn-1 and Autumn-3 started 2nd and 14th September 2008 I will round up the games next week.

Results: http://ratings.fide.com/view_source.phtml?code=16398

Results: http://ratings.fide.com/view_source.phtml?code=16400

18) Zvenigoroskaya Osen

There was a very strong open in Zvenigorodsk near Moscow,24.9.-30.9. "Zvenigoroskaya Osen 2008" 1.Belov, 2. Naer, 3. Amonatov. I couldn't find any games.

Official site: http://www.obninskchess.ru/alltur/alltur08/zvos08/

19) Chelyabinsk GM

A GM tournament YUURGU-65 is underway in Chelyabinsk, 1st-11th October 2008. I will round up the games next week.

Official site: http://www.surchess.ru/YUURGU65.htm

20) Circuit Espoir Europe-Echecs

Europe Echecs organised the "Circuit Espoir Europe-Echecs" and the 3rd event was be held under the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The 4 players are Anna Rudolf, Dana Reizniece, Sophie Milliet and Pauline Guichard and took place on the 5th October 2008. Many ministers and sportsmen were present (Bernard Laporte, Rachida Dati, Roselyne Bachelot, David Douillet, Teddy Riner, Marie-José Perec, Richard Virenque, Raymond Domenech, Alain Bernard, Laure Manaudou, Michel Noir, Laura Flessel, Etienne Bacrot, Laurent Fressinet...). Nice videos and photos below. I will round up the games next week.

Official site: http://www.europe-echecs.com/actualites/actualites-les-echecs-sous-la-tour-eiffel-1619.html

21) Bulgarian Team Championship

Bulgarian Team Championship takes place in Borovets, Bulgaria 1st-7th October 2008. I will round up the games next week.

The official website of the Championship is: http://www.chessmix.com/bulteam08/

22) Tatry Open

The Tatry Open took place in Tatranske Zruby 27th September - 4th October 2008. Wojciech Moranda and Rafal Antoniewski finished with 7.5/9.

Official site: http://www.slovan-bratislava.com/

Tatry Open Tatranske Zruby (SVK), 27 ix-4 x 2008 Leading Final Round 9 Standings:
Pl.	Name	Ti	FED	FIDE Pts	BH.
1	Moranda Wojciech	IM	POL	2533 7½	49½
2	Antoniewski Rafal	IM	POL	2503 7½	48
3	Mozny Milos	IM	CZE	2361 7	50½
4	Michenka Jozef	IM	CZE	2396 7	50
5	Petran Peter	IM	SVK	2331 7	45
6	Rachela Milan	FM	SVK	2338 7	44
7	Vesselovsky Serguei	IM	CZE	2377 7	43½
8	Piankov Evgenij	IM	UKR	2337 6½	49
9	Kantorik Marian	IM	SVK	2341 6½	45
10	Motuz Karol	FM	SVK	2339 6½	44
11	Vojtek Vladimir	FM	SVK	2301 6½	43½
12	Sikora Jan		CZE	2241 6½	39½
13	Valenta Vit		CZE	2211 6	48½
14	Vojta Tomas	FM	CZE	2411 6	48
15	Csiba Dominik		SVK	2157 6	47½
16	Skliba Martin		CZE	2303 6	47
17	Blecha Miroslav		CZE	2211 6	45
18	Klima Lukas	IM	CZE	2439 6	45
19	Vul Arkadi Eremeevich	GM	RUS	2332 6	45
20	Weglarz Leszek	IM	POL	2303 6	45
21	Jablonicky Frantisek		SVK	2219 6	44½
22	Pesout Jan		CZE	2251 6	44½
23	Burdik Lubomir		CZE	2262 6	44
24	Karlik Vladimir	FM	CZE	2301 6	44
25	Splichal Stanislav		CZE	2216 6	43½
26	Sejkora Vlastimil	FM	CZE	2206 6	43½
27	Hujo Jozef		SVK	2090 6	43
28	Klemanic Emil	FM	SVK	2230 6	43
29	Ramik Zdenek	FM	CZE	2306 6	43
30	Ptacnik Stanislav		CZE	2148 6	40½
31	Koval Anton		SVK	2178 6	39½
32	Mikulas Dusan	FM	SVK	2185 6	38
33	Gardner Lee		USA	2166 6	37½
191 players

23) Muensterland Open

The Muensterland Open took place 27th September - 3rd October 2008. Jaroslav Ulko won on tie-break from Dimitrij Saulin, Vladislav Saulin and Thomas Henrichs who finished on 7/9. No games available.

Official site: http://www.sk32.de/turniere/muensterland_open

Muensterland Open (GER), 27 ix-3 x 2008 Leading Final Round 9 Standings:
Pl	Name	Ti	NAT	ELO	Pts	GegWrt
1	Ulko,Jaroslav	IM	RUS	2470	7	2323
2	Saulin,Dimitrij	IM	RUS	2409	7	2287
3	Borovikov,Vladislav	GM	UKR	2580	7	2284
4	Henrichs,Thomas	IM	GER	2491	7	2149
5	Donchenko,Anatoly	IM	GER	2399	6.5	2269
6	Stets,Dmitry	IM	UKR	2420	6.5	2269
7	Solodovnichenko,Yuri	GM	UKR	2541	6.5	2239
8	Michalczak,Thomas	FM	GER	2297	6.5	2166
9	Sazanov,Nikolay		RUS	2204	6	2174
10	Torres-Kuckel,Rafael	FM	GER	2270	6	2165
11	Korth,Daniel		GER	2213	6	2091
12	Virnyi,Julius		GER		6	2073
13	Haenisch,Uwe		GER	2165	6	2067
14	Stöckmann,Helmut		GER	2121	6	2056
15	Rüberg,Jobst	FM	GER	2229	6	2016
16	Iseringhausen,Martin		GER	1919	6	2014
100 players

24) Icelandic Team Championship

Icelandic Team Champ 1st div first half took place 3rd-5th October 2008. The 2nd set of games are March 21st-22nd March 2009 if I understand the website correctly. A small number of games are available.

Official site: http://www.skaksamband.is/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=5982&Itemid=499# and results: http://chess-results.com/tnr16443.aspx?tnr=16443&art=16&lan=2&flag=30&m=-1

25) IV Trofeo Ciudad de Zaragoza

The IV Trofeo Ciudad de Zaragoza takes place 4th-13th October 2008.

Official site: http://www.zaragoza.es/ciudad/fiestaspilar/detalle_Agenda?id=46000 and results: http://chess-results.com/tnr16442.aspx?lan=2

26) 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.

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

27) 16th World Computer Chess Championship

The 16th World Computer Chess Championship took place in Beijing 28th September - 4th October 2008. RYBKA took first place for the second year in a row with 8/9 in an all-play-all.

Official site: http://www.grappa.univ-lille3.fr/icga/tournament.php?id=178

16th WCCC Beijing (CHN), 28 ix-4 x 2008
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	RYBKA	USA	Cluster, 40 cores	*	1	½	½	1	1	1	1	1	1	8
2.	HIARCS	GBR	Intel Skulltrail, 8 x 4Ghz	0	*	1	½	1	1	1	1	½	1	7
3.	JUNIOR	ISR	Intel Dunnington, 12 x 2.67Ghz	½	0	*	1	½	½	1	½	1	1	6
4.	CLUSTER TOGA	GER	Cluster, 24 cores	½	½	0	*	½	0	1	1	1	1	5½
5.	SHREDDER	GER	Intel Core 2, 8 x 3.16Ghz	0	0	½	½	*	1	½	½	½	1	4½
6.	FALCON	ISR	Intel Core 2, 2 x 2.1Ghz	0	0	½	1	0	*	½	0	1	1	4
7.	JONNY	GER	Cluster, 16 cores	0	0	0	0	½	½	*	1	1	1	4
8.	SJENG	BEL	Intel Core 2, 4 x 2.8Ghz	0	0	½	0	½	1	0	*	½	1	3½
9.	THE BARON	NED	AMD Opteron 270, 4 x 2Ghz	0	½	0	0	½	0	0	½	*	1	2½
10.	MOBILE CHESS	CHN	Nokia 6120c	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	*	0

Previous winners: source Wikipedia on the World Computer Chess Championship

World Computer Chess Championship Winners
Event #	Year	Location	Winner
1	1974	Stockholm	Kaissa
2	1977	Toronto	Chess 4.6
3	1980	Linz	Belle
4	1983	New York, NY	Cray Blitz
5	1986	Cologne	Cray Blitz
6	1989	Edmonton, Canada	Deep Thought
7	1992	Madrid, Spain	ChessMachine (Gideon)
8	1995	Hong Kong	Fritz
9	1999	Paderborn, Germany	Shredder
10	2002	Maastricht, Netherlands	Deep Junior
11	2003	Graz, Austria	Shredder
12	2004	Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel	Deep Junior
13	2005	Reykjavík, Iceland	Zappa
14	2006	Torino, Italy	Junior
15	2007	Amsterdam, The Netherlands	Rybka
16	2008	Beijing, China	Rybka

28) 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

29) 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/

30) First Saturday October

The First Saturday tournaments takes place 4th-16th of October 2008.

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

31) Belgrade Premier League

The Belgrade Premier League takes place 5th-14th October 2008.

Official site: http://www.beochess.org.yu/. Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr16388.aspx?lan=2

32) National Chess League Argentina

The National Chess League took place in Villa Martelli 9th August - 4th October 2008. Martelli - Vte. Lopez won the event with 5 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. Games section not yet complete, I will wait until it is.

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

National Chess League Argentina (ARG), 9 viii - ? 2008 Leading Final Round 9 Standings:
Rank	Equipo	Part.	+	=	-	Pts.	BUC
1	Martelli - Vte. Lopez	9	5	3	1	20	136
2	Municipalidad de Moreno	9	7	0	2	18½	138½
3	Asociados Credicoop	9	6	1	2	18	136½
4	TorreBlanca - ChesShop	9	5	2	2	16	140
5	Calice - Liguria	9	3	4	2	15½	140
6	CAM 3 - Tres de Febrero	9	5	1	3	15½	137
7	T & E - San Martin	9	3	3	3	15½	129
8	Ventajedrez - Plastigal	9	4	0	5	15	119
9	Najdorf - Polvorines	9	5	0	4	14	109½
10	Ferro	9	4	2	3	13½	92½
11	San Isidro Perfil Jaque	9	4	1	4	13	123
12	Circulo Patagonico	9	2	3	4	12½	130
13	Miguel Tal - Malvinas	9	4	1	4	12½	108
14	M. Parrinello	9	4	2	3	12½	104½
15	Art/Chess	9	5	1	3	12½	102
16	Rondi - Mupas	9	4	0	5	12½	92
17	GEBA	9	4	2	3	12	144
18	Mar del Plata Los lobos	9	4	0	5	11½	93
19	Pergamino	9	5	0	4	11½	87½
20	Los Ranqueles	9	2	0	7	6½	96
21	Edifiko - AAAC	9	1	0	8	5	95½

33) Forthcoming Events and Links

25th Bermuda Open

The 25th Bermuda Open takes place 30th January - 1st February 2008 at the luxurious Fairmont Southampton Resort on the South Shore with private tennis courts, golf course, beach, walking trails, ferry into Hamilton for duty-free shopping 5 round Swiss. Register & pay on site. For info contact Nigel Freeman at cadilly@northrock.bm or Carol Jarecki at carolj10280@yahoo.com

9th Liberec Open

The 9th Liberec Open takes place 15th-22nd November 2008. Open FIDE, active chess and blitz tournament are part of the festival. More detailed information can be found in English, German, Russian and Polish at http://www.czechtour.net/liberec-open/

2nd Aquaprofit-Polgar Chess Day

Press release: 2nd Aquaprofit-Polgar Chess Day - within the frameworks of the renaissance year

The Polgár sisters are playing on 100 boards again

Budapest, 29th September. 2008

By favour of the Aquaprofit Co. there will be a chess festival with the Polgár sisters this year as well. This event will take place in an extraordinary beautiful place: in the Blue and the Glass Hall of the Palace of Arts on the 11th of October. Zsuzsa and Zsófi, who live abroad will travel home only for the sake of the chess day, so that they together with Judit, who lives in Hungary can play against their opponents. In the event, being held within the frameworks of the “Renaissance year” actors, journalists, media people, professional and amateur chess players and young talents will sit to the tables. In addition the organizers are planning to make a great announcement as well.

The Aquaprofit Co. is a relevant sponsor of the Hungarian chess life for years; it is the name giving sponsor of the chess team of Nagykanizsa, which is one of the strongest chess teams in Hungary. Last year the management hired Judit Polgár to bring her back to the circulation of the domestic chess life. Besides it organized the successful Aquaprofit-Polgár chess day, this way, after ten years the world famous sisters played together again in Hungary The Aquaprofit Co. would like to continue this tradition this year as well: the 2nd Aquaprofit-Polgár Chess day will be held in the Palace of Arts at 3 pm on the 11th of October 2008.

Judit, who lives in Hungary, Zsuzsa, who will come from New York and Zsófi, who lives in Canada will play against the opponents altogether on 45 boards at the same time (on 15 boards each) and new players will come after each game. This way, according to the plans more than a hundred players will have the chance to play in the simultaneous games.

There is an enormous interest for the event, there are already more than two hundred entrants. One thing is sure: young talents, professional chess players, actors and journalists will sit to the tables.

The organizers are planning to make a great announcement as well at the opening of the event.

Details in Hungarian: http://www.aquaprofit.com/sakknap/

Doeberl Cup and Sydney International 2009

The 2009 Doeberl Cup is in Canberra 9th-13th April 2009. See http://www.doeberlcup.com.au/

The 2009 Sydney International Open takes place 15th-19th April 2009. See http://www.chessaustralia.com.au/index.cfm?site=open

Free entry to GMs, IMs, WGMs and WIMs.

Free accommodation for selected GMs and WGMs.

For further information, please contact Brian Jones info@chessaustralia.com.au

Dresden Olympiad

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

Official site: http://dresden2008.de

Czech Litomysl Chess Christmas

Czech Chess Christmas 2008 Litomysl (CZE) 26.12.2008-2.1.2009

10th 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 = 750 EUR), 10 financial prizes redeemable by drawings, 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, web: http://www.a64.cz/tournaments/litomysl2008/

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.

Villa Martelli

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

Official site: 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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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