THE WEEK IN CHESS 733 24th November 2008 by Mark Crowther

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1) Introduction

My thanks to Luiz Roberto Da Costa Jr, Jan Mazuch, Frank Berry, Harald Grafenhofer, Harold Corke, Ian Rogers, Juergen Wempe, Miklos Orso, Gabor Pali, Ulrich Dirr and everyone else who helped with the issue.

Just one round of the Olympiad to go and the battle is between Armenia, Ukraine, Israel and China for the main medals, Russia have a chance to medal but the gold has already gone for the favourites. The new match point scoring system is in place for this Olympiad rather than just adding the number of board points achieved. I like it as a system (I never liked the real weight an easy draw and a 4-0 result in the final round could really make a huge difference and also this system rewards real teamwork and team fighting spirit more) but clearly it also has its problems, especially when combined with a shorter Olympiad and a pairing system that could be changed. In addition there is a new rule that players not there at the start of the round will be defaulted, there was a variation in the way this was enforced (see Ian Rogers excellent report: http://main.uschess.org/content/view/8922/497/). This rule may become general athough as Ian Rogers reports there isn't much enthusiasm for a strict starting time, 15 minutes seemed to have more support, Nigel Short suffered badly from an opponent being very late in an event last year and he certainly called for a more professional time limit for arrival, and I would agree with that. It was also nice to see all the players there at the start so perhaps a system that players should be there for the start with warnings and fines if there is not an excuse and an absolute default after 15 minutes would be the best compromise.

Whilst there have been some problems with the games, in general I've been very happy with the live coverage of the Olympiad and results (chessresults.com certainly deserves praise) considering the size of the event and I've certainly found it easier than in years past (although my computing skills are a little better too) I think if I have a complaint its that the problems they have had should have been solvable given that they'd solved most of the difficult technical problems. I still think there needs to be a bulletin editor to remove extranious moves at the end of games and generally to check things and there should have also been a way to automatically check the live results and compare them with chessresults.com.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) Dresden Olympiad

The Olympiad takes place in Dresden 12th-25th November 2008. England's sponsorship by Liverpool Victoria also known as LV= has ensured the participation of their best players Adams and Short. Topalov, Morozevich, Carlsen, Ivanchuk, Kramnik, Aronian, Radjabov, Leko, Jakovenko, Wang Yue are amongst the leading players. Full coverage here.

Official site: http://dresden2008.de - Europe-Echecs Videos - ICC Weblog https://webcast.chessclub.com/blog/ - ChessVibes videos and reports: http://www.chessvibes.com - Olympiad Chess Results.com

3) 9th Liberec Open International

The 9th Liberec Open International Chess Festival took place 15th-22nd November 2008 in Liberec in the (the Czech Republic). Pavel Vavra won on tie-break from Sebastian Plischki after both scored 8/9. Games from rounds 6-9 are not yet available.

Official site: http://www.czechtour.net/liberec-open/results-and-games/ and games at http://www.czechtour.net/liberec-open/games/

4) XXXII Tenkes Cup Harkany

The XXXII Tenkes Cup took place in Harkany 14th-22nd November 2008. Fidel Corrales Jimenez won the event with 7.5/9. In addition this was the Open Hungarian Championship. The final standings were: 1. Erdos, Viktor 7,0 points 2. Rapport, Richard 6,5 (he is 12 years old and won the last two rounds against GM Czebe, Attila and IM Gonda, Laszlo) 3. Banusz, Tamas 6,0 4. Cao, Sang 6,0 5. Horvath, Adam 6,0 6. Pap, Gyula 6,0

5) US Chess League

The 2008 season of the US Chess League started 25th August 2008. Semi finals took place on 19th November 2008.

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

6) Young stars of the world

The Young Stars of the World Somov Memorial takes place 15th-28th November 2008 in Kirishi city (Leningrad region) in their Culture Palace. Among participants there are twelve strongest chessplayers of the world and Russia.

Official site: http://www.somovs-memorial.ru/ Further information: http://www.bs-chess.com/russian.html (RUS) and http://www.bs-chess.com/latin/english.html

7) 63rd Oklahoma Open State Championship

The 63rd Oklahoma Open State Championship took place 8th-9th November 2008. Sergey Kudrin won with 4.5/5.

8) III Open Internacional Caceres

The III Open Internacional Caceres took place 22nd-23rd November 2008. Julio Granda Zuniga won the two day rapid with 7.5/9. Zuniga is down as being from Chile which he certainly wasn't in the last rating list, I don't know if he has moved.

9) Austrian Team Championship

The Austrian team championship started in St Veit 7th-9th November 2008, the 11 round competition has further rounds 22nd-25th January and 19th-22nd March 2009. Players in the first three rounds included: Sergei Movsesian, Hikaru Nakamura, Emil Sutovsky, Jan Gustafsson and Alexander Beliavsky.

Official site: http://www.chess.at/ and results: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr12353.aspx?art=2&lan=1&m=-1

10) OIBM Bad Wiessee

The 12th Offene Internationale bayerische Meisterschaft 2008 took place in Bad Wiessee 1st-9th November 2008. Eduard Romain took clear first with 7.5/9. Games now available.

Official site: http://www.ti-bad-wiessee.de/Schach_cms/

11) World Seniors

The 18th World Seniors takes place in Bad Zwischenahn 28th October - 9th November 2008. Mihai Suba was the top seed but was edged out on tie-break by Karry Kaufman after both scored 9/11. One corrected result.

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

12) Forthcoming Events and Links

Brazilian Championship

75th Brazilian Championship takes place in Porto Alegre, capital of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul 7th-16th December, 2008. 12 players (round robin tournament) with top seed GMs Giovanni Vescovi, Rafael Leitão, Gilberto Milos and Alexandr Fier.

http://www.fgx.org.br/

Championship of Israel

34th Israel Chess Championship takes place November 30th - December 12th, 2008 at the MadaTech chess club in Haifa, Israel. PlayE4 a new online site sponsors and is contributing the 1st prize 10,000 ILS (about $2,570). PlayE4 is also providing a broadcast platform for the most highlights of the chess championship, allowing chess fans to watch the games live, online, and for free. Website: http://www.playe4.com/

Mecking vs Flores Match

There is a match between Henrique Mecking and Diego Flores in Brasilia, Brazil (4th-6th, December 2008) 4th Dec - 4 blitz games with 5 minutes per player 5th Dec - 1st classic game - 90 minutes + 30 seconds/moves 6th Dec - 2nd classic game - 90 minutes + 30 seconds/moves

Nanjing Super GM

There is a Super GM Tournament in Nanjing, China taking place place 10th - 22nd December 2008. Six-player double round robin event.

Players: Veselin Topalov g BUL 2791; Vassily Ivanchuk g UKR 2786; Levon Aronian g ARM 2757; Movsesian Sergei g 2732 SVK; Peter Svidler g 2727; Bu Xiangzhi g CHN 2714.

It will be the strongest tournament ever held in China (at least by Elo average, 2751.6, making it a category 21 tournament)

The Nanjing tournament will become super one like Wijk aan Zee, Sofia, and Linares.

Further info: http://www.64ge.net/ and Gujuan Tzu's Chessnews Blog: http://blog.sina.com.cn/chessnews

Hastings Chess Congress

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

Currently leading entries for the HASTINGS MASTERS BERG Emanuel, SWE, gm 2623, HOWELL David, ENG, gm 2593, NEVEROV Valeriy, UKR, gm (current Hastings Masters Champion) 2571, JONES Gawain, ENG, gm 2548, CONQUEST Stuart, ENG, gm (current British Champion) 2526, PAVLOVIC Milos, UKR, gm 2524, GORDON Stephen, ENG, im 2521, HEBDEN Mark, ENG, gm 2515, GORMALLY Daniel, ENG, gm 2514, HASLINGER Stewart, ENG, gm 2506, WILLIAMS Simon, ENG, 2494, BERNAL MORO Luis Javier, ESP, im 2451, GREET Andrew, ENG, im 2440, HUNT Adam, ENG, im 2431, HOUSKA Jovanka, ENG, wgm 2399, BATES Richard, ENG, im 2387

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

Chess Study

Dr Robert Howard is making a study of rated chess players.

The full article: http://education.arts.unsw.edu.au/fidestudy/results

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

Corus A-Group 2009

The 71st Corus Chess tournament takes place Friday, January 16th to Sunday, February 1st, 2009 in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. Alexander Morozevich, Vassily Ivanchuk, Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian and Teimour Radjabov are the favourites for the event in the absence of world champion Viswanathan Anand, challenger Vladimir Kramnik and World Number one Veselin Topalov. This shake up of the field with these three regular missing has really freshened things up and should make for exciting chess, in the usual way they do things they'll probably be all back next year.

Five players will make their debut in the A-group: the young Dutch grandmasters Jan Smeets and Daniel Stellwagen, the sensational Wang Yue from China, who climbed up to the 11th place on the latest world ranking list, the winner of Grandmastergroup B in 2008, Sergei Movsesian, and Leinier Dominguez from Cuba (ranked 21st on the FIDE October rating list).

The official participants lists of Grandmaster groups B and C will be published later this year. Together with all amateur players and participants in the special groups, approximately 2,000 chess players are expected to come to Wijk aan Zee for the traditional chess festival in the small beach village at the west coast of The Netherlands, approximately 25 kilometers from Amsterdam.

As from January 2009, the rate of play in Grandmaster groups A, B and C will change. The rate of play will be: 40 moves in 2 hours, then 20 moves in 1 hour, followed by 15 minutes with 30 seconds per move increment to finish the game.

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

British Rapidplay

British Rapidplay Chess Championships 2008 Venue: North Bridge Leisure Centre, Halifax HX3 6TE Dates: Saturday 29th / Sunday 30th November 2008 All entries postmarked on or after Monday 24th November are subject to a £6 surcharge. Entries on the day are subject to a £12 surcharge. Late entries close at 10.30 am.

Further information at http://www.british-rapidplay.org.uk

Benidorm Stars

The VII Benidorm International Chess Festival takes place 28th November - 8th December 2008. The stars section sees Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexei Shirov, Sergey Tiviakov, Katherine Lahno, Xavi Vila, Sabrina Vega etc compete.

Official site: http://www.ajedrezbali.com and http://www.eventosdeajedrez.com

18th Pamplona International

18th Pamplona International consists of a invitational Grandmaster tournament, and an open 9 round tournament. Both tournaments take place from 22nd December - 29th December 2008.

The invitational Grandmaster tournament is an eight-player round robin. Players are: GM Sasikiran, Krishnan (2694, IND), GM Roiz, Michael (2677,ISR), GM Malakhov, Vladimir (2675, RUS), GM Vallejo, Pons Francisco (2664,ESP), GM Caruana, Fabiano (2640,ITA), GM Delchev, Aleksander (2632,BUL), GM Nepomniachtchi, Ian (2616,RUS), and GM Salgado Lopez, Ivan (2556,ESP).

Official website: http://www.chesspamplona.com/

21st Belgrade Trophy 2008

The 21st Belgrade Trophy 2008 takes place in Obrenovac (near Belgrade). The Belgrade Open, Belgrade Trophy, or International Belgrade Open Chess Championship takes place November 27th - December 5th, 2008. Prize fund is 6000 EUR (1st Place - 1200 EUR) consists of 15 best place and 8 special prizes. The Championship will be played in 9 rounds according to the FIDE Swiss System (computer pairing). The rate of play is 2 hours for 40 moves plus 30 minutes till the end of the game. The organizer has provided participation of minimum 20 foreign players, to make possible achievemnet of international norms for FIDE titles. Tournament protector is Parliament of Belgrade City. Organizers: Belgrade Chess Federation and Obrenovac City.

All informations you can get on the phone +381 11 2656 846 or E-mail: beochess@EUnet.yu (Belgrade Chess Federation)

Official site: http://www.beochess.org.yu/2008/trofej_beograda2008/english_bgopen2008.html

Jose Marca Memorial

The III Open Internacional ITT Jose Marca Memorial takes place in 10th-18th Lima January 2009. Grandmasters Sergey Tiviakov, Julio Granda, Bartolomiej Macieja and Emilo Cordova compete.

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

Bundesliga

The second Bundesliga weekend took place 25th-26th October 2008.

The Schachbundesliga season 2008/09 runs 3rd-5th October and runs until March 2009. 16 Teams compete with team rosters of 16-18 players but only eight play each weekend. There will be live coverage of all the games.

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

European Youth U-16 winners Texas Scholarships

The University of Texas at Dallas (USA) has offered scholarships to the winners of the U-16 European Youth Chess Championships since 2007. The agreement with the European Chess Union has been extended for another three years. The total value of the scholarships during this five-year period will be approximately 1 million USD, said James A. Stallings, Director of the UTD chess program.

Interview on the ECU website: http://www.europechess.org/home518.aspx?art=ft

Gjovik International Festival 2008-9

The Gjovik International Chess Festival 2008-9 takes place 29th December - 7th January 2009.

Magnus Carlsen, Peter Svidler, Hikaru Nakamura (USA) and Simen Agdestein play in a Super rapid tournament January 2nd-5th 2009.

The tournament has a similar format to the Mainz Classic, with a double round tournament followed by final and bronze final games. The Norwegian audience will be eager to see Magnus Carlsen on home-gound again, as he hasn't played in Norway during 2008.

The rapid contest is part of a chess festival with a big and varied program, held on occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Gjovik chess club. The festival starts on December 29th, and the main tournament is a 9 round GM-Swiss open to players with a rating abov 2100. Reigning European champion Sergei Tiviakov (NL) 2686 is the highest rated player of the preliminary list of participants. There is also a parallell group open for all players rated below 2100.

Official site: http://www.gjovikfestival.sjakkweb.no

4NCL

The 4NCL takes place 4th October 2008 - 4th May 2009.

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

68th Italian Championship

The 68th Italian Championship takes place 3rd December - 14th December 2008. The tournament will consist of 12 players in a round robin at the 4 star Park Hotel San Michele in Martina Franca. Games will be played on DGT boards, and viewable live at the Italian Chess Federation´s web site. The players are: GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Michele Godena, GM Carlos Garcia Palermo, IM Luca Shytaj, IM Sabino Brunello, IM Fabio Bruno, IM Denis Rombaldoni, IM Pierluigi Piscopo, IM Daniel Contin, FM Daniyyl Dvirnyy, FM Daniele Genocchio, and Alessio Valsecchi.

Official federation site:  http://www.federscacchi.it/

27th Elba Island Festival

The 27th International Chess Festival of Elba Island "Luigi Amalfi", takes place at the Hotel Lacona 10th-17th May 2009.

Details: http://www.tuscanhotels.it/en/cmsx.asp?IDPg=23

Milan

Milano, Italy, organized by Società Scacchistica Milanese (founded in 1881) Master group: December 6th-13th 2008, 9 rounds, global prizes 3.000 euro - with GMs and IMs Good conventions with hotels Address - via S.Uguzzone 8 = closed to the underground (MM1 - Villa SG). The Mediterranean Championship will start in Courmayeur (Aosta valley) The dates are December 13th-21st 2008. It is possible to travel and play both.

Web site: http://www.scacchisticamilanese.it

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  

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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