THE WEEK IN CHESS 734 1st December 2008 by Mark Crowther

1) Introduction

My thanks to Jonathan Berry, Gary Suffield, Dennis Monokroussos, Axel Fritz, Brent Kitson, Georgios Souleidis, Gorka Bravo, Justin Davis, Luis Blasco de la Cruz, Luiz Roberto Da Costa Jr, George Mirijanian, David Navara, Peter Boel, Sergey Bystrov, Sevan Muradian and everyone else who helped with the issue.

Its been a sad week. The death of Bob Wade is a great loss to the game, his contribution to the literature of the game, especially through his editorship at Batsford, is immeasurable, his contribution to FIDE, the help and time he gave to players and writers world wide is a huge gap to fill. He helped my magazine in the early days and we were in touch over the years, I will miss him.

Armenia retained their Olympiad title, they were only 9th seeds and should have felt the loss of Karen Asrian earlier this year but they were impressive. Second were Israel and Third the USA. Top seeds Russia and Ukraine were 4th and 3rd respectively. Apparently Vassily Ivanchuk refused a drug test after the final round which could have severe repercussions for him.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) Robert Graham Wade 1921-2008

It is with extreme sadness that I have to report that Bob Wade, International Master, arbiter, journalist, coach, organiser, writer, editor, chess archivist, friend to chess and friend to me, died 29th November 2008 at 3am from pneumonia, he had been in the Elisabeth Hospital in Woolwich for three days for complications from a common cold.

Robert Graham Wade was born April 10th 1921 in Dunedin, New Zealand and died in London, England Saturday 29th November 2008.

Bob's influence on the game covered every area imaginable, and made him a true giant of the game. His kindness and generosity will stay with all those who knew him.

Playing career

His playing career was that of a solid middle ranking professional. He was three time New Zealand Champion, twice British Champion, played in seven Olympiads and one Interzonal (see his Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wade_(chess_player)) he also played in a lot of tournaments against the world's best, especially in Eastern Europe and Cuba (playing in a number of Capablanca Memorial tournaments). He regarded himself lucky to do so and bemoaned the fact that the top players of today don't play against a wider range of opponents. His last major event was the Staunton Memorial in London in July where he was really set up to lose, even a single draw would have left him with a higher rating, he fought gamely it has to be said. A far better result was achieved in 2006 in the Queenstown Chess Classic where he scored 6/10 including a draw against the winner Murray Chandler. He played a final game for the Athenaeum Chess Club in recent weeks.

It is not really in his playing results however that his influence lies. He used to have the reputation of playing maverick openings. He lived to see a number of these "Wade Variations" make it to use and respectability at the very highest level.

FIDE

He represented New Zealand and Australia at the FIDE Congress at Paris 1949 and soon became an influential figure within the organisation serving under every FIDE President until Kirsan Iljumzhinov (although his overlap with Alexandre Rueb would have been very short). At the young age of 29 (for an administrator) he was a member of the FIDE committee that first awarded official titles in 1950. 27 players were awarded the title of Grandmaster at that time including all the elite and retired great players such as Akiba Rubinstein and Oldrich Duras. Bob was one of 94 players awarded an IM title at that time (awarded by the FIDE Congress, he didn't sit in arbitration on his own title), a title he refused to trade up to an honorary GM title in later years, the old IM title was worth far more! He chaired the Title and Ratings Committee Meeting in Curitiba, Brazil in 1993. He was disappointed not to be appointed Chairman of the Rules Committee in 1994 and this more or less ended his involvement in FIDE. He was involved in the World Championship cycle as arbiter and administrator from 1950. He was also arbiter for many important FIDE events including Olympiads, many of the strong opens in England, USSR vs the Rest of the World 1984 (the first major event I ever attended) and the 1993 Kasparov vs Short world championship match which was a breakaway match from FIDE. [My thanks to Stewart Reuben for information about his important work for FIDE]

Bob Wade was also a member of the committee that drew up the first official FIDE laws of the game (Bob Wade British Chess Magazine Interview PDF file).

Coach, archivist, writer and godfather to TWIC

Bob was a hugely influential chess coach in the UK. He taught many of our Grandmaster's in their formative years, or helped them with study materials, but he also just taught chess to anyone who was interested and without regard for their potential (Steve Davis the snooker player knew him well having been taught the game as a teenager by him). Without him I don't believe England would have produced so many strong players as it did in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

A fax from Bob to Bob
Bob was Fischer's go to guy. Photo © Mark Crowther

I first met Bob Wade in 1992 before I'd even heard of the internet. Bob was lecturing on the return of Bobby Fischer for the return match against Boris Spassky in Sveti Stefan. Afterwards I showed him my large collection of articles from the Yugoslav press on Fischer. He invited me to visit him and even photocopied a fax from Fischer (which I found when researching this) to him asking him to compile a dossier of Spassky's games. This was a job he'd also done for the match in 1972. At that time he lived in a lovely house in the leafy suburbs of London which he rented. Sadly he lost his place in this house upon the owner moving and lived in a much more humble flat in later years.

At that time not only did Bob have what seemed to be almost every important book ever published, and a huge collection of tournament bulletins but he also received the raw gamescores from many important tournaments which he compiled into bulletins himself and self published. I think the care he took over these often less important tournaments puts to shame the carelessness we have with gamescores and historical records of tournaments in these days of electronic boards even though fixing them would be easy.

Read any book, certainly from the UK, from the 1960s up until the 1990s and it will contain a word of thanks to Bob who would either look things up for the author or invite him round for extensive research. His collection was I think bought and financed in part by Batsford, who he had a close association with, most of it now resides with in the ECF chess library in Hastings.

Bob Wade also wrote numerous books which were high on content. My all time favourite was "Wade and O'Connell" for short, "The Games of Bobby Fischer". Virtually all Fischer's games, some great articles and annotations and fabulous photos. Other books included "Soviet Chess" (just a forgotten masterpiece), "The World Chess Championship" (with Gligoric), "World championship interzonals: Leningrad and Petropolis, 1973", "Playing Chess", "World Chess Championship 1951 by W. Winter, R. G. Wade" and a number of long forgotten opening books and tournament bulletins. He was chess editor for Batsford at the start of its great years.

Over the next few years as I started TWIC Bob helped me get gamescores from all over the world and his phone calls were a regular thing to my house as was the whirring of the fax machine, I never really did wean him off it and onto email. My parents were sad too, as they got to know him well so often did he call my house. He also asked for news for his regular journalism and writing. The fact that he never got a daily column in a major newspaper is a real shame as he was the source of much of the material to other journalists at that time. People have said that his politics (he was a communist) probably cost him in this area. His help and inspiration make him a real godfather to TWIC. I will miss him.

There is a recent book Bob Wade: Tribute to a Chess Master - compiled and edited by Ray Cannon about him. There is an obituary at: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5043, tributes at: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5045 and also http://www.bcmchess.co.uk/ with a very interesting interview.

Press: Malcolm Pein in the Daily Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3537210/Robert-Wade.html and Leonard Barden in the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/dec/01/bob-wade-obituary

The details of the funeral are yet to be announced.

3) Dresden Olympiad

The Olympiad took place in Dresden 12th-25th November 2008. Armenia retained their title gained two years ago. I'm sure that the tragically early passing of Karen Asrian in June who helped them to that title two years ago will be remembered at the moment of this triumph. Israel took 2nd and the USA 3rd. The top three were seeds 9, 8 and 10. The top seeds 1-5 took places 4-8.Georgia edged out Ukraine in the women's event where the lead changed place a lot. Leaders going into the final round were Poland, they lost narrowly 2.5-1.5 and didn't even win a medal.

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 were amongst the leading players.

David Navara sent corrections to the end of four of his games. Not a great sign for the rest I'm afraid.

The new rule that players have to arrive before the starting of the clocks saw 17 (Open) and 11 (Women's) for a total of 28 Zero Forfeits from the new rule. FIDE hope to introduce it generally but 15 minutes was a more popular limit amongst the players.

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

38th Olympiad Dresden (GER), 13-25 xi 2008 Leading Final Round 11 Standings
Rg.	Snr	Team	Team	Anz	+	=	-	Wtg1	Wtg2	Wtg3	Wtg4
1	9	Armenia	ARM	11	9	1	1	19	400.5	152	31
2	8	Israel	ISR	11	8	2	1	18	377.5	149	28
3	10	United States of America	USA	11	8	1	2	17	362	146	29
4	2	Ukraine	UKR	11	7	3	1	17	348.5	163	25.5
5	1	Russia	RUS	11	7	2	2	16	375	156	27
6	4	Azerbaijan	AZE	11	7	2	2	16	359.5	147	29
7	3	China	CHN	11	7	2	2	16	357.5	150	27
8	5	Hungary	HUN	11	7	2	2	16	341.5	140	27.5
9	37	Vietnam	VIE	11	7	2	2	16	340	137	29
10	12	Spain	ESP	11	7	2	2	16	337.5	142	27.5
11	17	Georgia	GEO	11	8	0	3	16	321	138	28
12	20	Netherlands	NED	11	7	1	3	15	343	146	27.5
13	11	Germany 1	GER1	11	6	3	2	15	339	151	26.5
14	6	Bulgaria	BUL	11	7	1	3	15	327.5	132	29.5
15	15	England	ENG	11	6	3	2	15	320	147	26
16	13	India	IND	11	7	1	3	15	310	142	26
17	28	Slovenia	SLO	11	7	1	3	15	288	134	26
18	23	Belarus	BLR	11	5	4	2	14	307	137	26.5
19	14	Romania	ROU	11	7	0	4	14	306.5	138	25.5
20	22	Serbia	SRB	11	7	0	4	14	302	144	25
21	19	Norway	NOR	11	5	4	2	14	300	139	24
22	7	France	FRA	11	6	2	3	14	295	147	25
23	16	Cuba	CUB	11	6	2	3	14	294.5	142	25.5
24	27	Greece	GRE	11	5	4	2	14	292.5	137	25.5
25	30	Sweden	SWE	11	6	2	3	14	286	133	25.5
26	42	Montenegro	MNE	11	6	2	3	14	279	129	25.5
27	24	Croatia	CRO	11	6	2	3	14	275.5	130	24.5
28	48	Canada	CAN	11	6	2	3	14	272.5	109	30
29	21	Poland	POL	11	6	1	4	13	301	134	27
30	29	Bosnia & Herzegovina	BIH	11	6	1	4	13	294	126	25.5
31	25	Slovakia	SVK	11	6	1	4	13	290	134	27
32	52	Finland	FIN	11	5	3	3	13	287.5	126	27.5
33	51	Estonia	EST	11	5	3	3	13	282	115	28
34	35	Lithuania	LTU	11	5	3	3	13	278	134	24.5
35	47	Germany 3	GER3	11	5	3	3	13	276.5	122	27
36	50	Turkey	TUR	11	5	3	3	13	276.5	121	27.5
37	34	Kazakhstan	KAZ	11	6	1	4	13	272.5	132	25.5
38	18	Czech Republic	CZE	11	6	1	4	13	270.5	130	26
39	32	Denmark	DEN	11	6	1	4	13	268.5	131	25
40	40	Iran	IRI	11	6	1	4	13	265	123	26.5
41	44	Italy	ITA	11	6	1	4	13	261	134	25.5
42	41	Germany 2	GER2	11	5	3	3	13	259	130	23
43	26	Moldova	MDA	11	4	5	2	13	258.5	133	23.5
44	43	Latvia	LAT	11	5	3	3	13	257.5	126	25.5
45	54	Austria	AUT	11	5	3	3	13	252.5	128	24.5
46	38	Philippines	PHI	11	6	1	4	13	250	128	23.5
47	55	Bangladesh	BAN	11	6	1	4	13	249	121	25.5
48	64	Paraguay	PAR	11	6	1	4	13	220.5	116	24
154 teams

38th Olympiad Dresden Women (GER), 13-25 xi 2008 Leading Final Round 11 Standings
Rg.	Snr	Team	Team	Anz	+	=	-	Wtg1	Wtg2	Wtg3	Wtg4
1	4	Georgia	GEO	11	8	2	1	18	411.5	148	31
2	2	Ukraine	UKR	11	7	4	0	18	406.5	146	30
3	7	United States of America	USA	11	8	1	2	17	390.5	145	30.5
4	1	Russia	RUS	11	7	3	1	17	367	144	29.5
5	9	Poland	POL	11	8	1	2	17	364.5	157	27.5
6	6	Armenia	ARM	11	8	0	3	16	353	145	28
7	10	Serbia	SRB	11	7	2	2	16	318.5	146	26.5
8	3	China	CHN	11	6	3	2	15	392.5	159	27.5
9	21	Israel	ISR	11	6	3	2	15	325	137	27.5
10	26	Belarus	BLR	11	6	3	2	15	317.5	119	29.5
11	16	Romania	ROU	11	7	1	3	15	306.5	146	26.5
12	33	Italy	ITA	11	6	3	2	15	280	130	26.5
13	5	France	FRA	11	6	2	3	14	336.5	137	29.5
14	8	Hungary	HUN	11	6	2	3	14	321	148	26.5
15	11	India	IND	11	6	2	3	14	320.5	145	25
16	15	Slovakia	SVK	11	7	0	4	14	299.5	134	26
17	47	Mongolia	MGL	11	6	2	3	14	289	140	23.5
18	17	Netherlands	NED	11	7	0	4	14	286	143	24
19	13	Bulgaria	BUL	11	6	2	3	14	282	127	26.5
20	30	Croatia	CRO	11	7	0	4	14	281.5	123	27.5
21	12	Germany 1	GER1	11	5	4	2	14	279	132	24.5
22	43	Uzbekistan	UZB	11	6	2	3	14	267	137	24
23	22	Spain	ESP	11	7	0	4	14	266.5	135	24.5
24	19	Greece	GRE	11	6	1	4	13	307.5	124	29.5
25	25	Cuba	CUB	11	6	1	4	13	288	125	28
26	24	Vietnam	VIE	11	6	1	4	13	272.5	133	25
27	36	Austria	AUT	11	6	1	4	13	269.5	135	24.5
28	27	Latvia	LAT	11	5	3	3	13	266.5	124	26
29	29	Argentina	ARG	11	6	1	4	13	262	125	27
30	42	Turkey	TUR	11	6	1	4	13	249.5	121	25.5
31	28	Azerbaijan	AZE	11	5	3	3	13	246.5	141	21.5
32	46	Estonia	EST	11	6	1	4	13	245.5	118	26
33	32	Moldova	MDA	11	6	1	4	13	238	132	23
34	48	Germany 2	GER2	11	6	1	4	13	236	131	23
35	34	Montenegro	MNE	11	6	1	4	13	227.5	119	24.5
114 teams

38th Olympiad Dresden (GER), 13-25 xi 2008 Top Board Performances
Board 1
Rg.		Name	Elo	Team	Rp	Anz	Pkt.
1	GM	Leko Peter	2747	Hungary	2834	10	7.5
2	GM	Gelfand Boris	2719	Israel	2833	10	7.5
3	GM	Topalov Veselin	2791	Bulgaria	2821	8	6.5
4	GM	Movsesian Sergei	2732	Slovakia	2794	9	7
5	GM	Meier Georg	2558	Germany 2	2779	9	7
6	GM	Wang Yue	2736	China	2773	10	6.5
7	GM	Kamsky Gata	2729	United States of America	2768	10	6.5
8	GM	Bacrot Etienne	2705	France	2766	10	6.5
9	GM	Jobava Baadur	2664	Georgia	2758	10	6.5
10	GM	Carlsen Magnus	2786	Norway	2757	11	7.5
11	GM	Shirov Alexei	2726	Spain	2755	10	7
12	GM	Beliavsky Alexander G	2619	Slovenia	2744	10	6.5
13	GM	Aronian Levon	2757	Armenia	2743	10	5.5
14	GM	Kramnik Vladimir	2772	Russia	2735	9	5
15	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2786	Ukraine	2722	11	6
16	GM	Kasimdzhanov Rustam	2672	Uzbekistan	2721	9	6.5
17	GM	Radjabov Teimour	2752	Azerbaijan	2713	9	5
18	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2694	India	2712	10	6
19	GM	Naiditsch Arkadij	2678	Germany 1	2706	10	5.5
20	GM	Nyback Tomi	2639	Finland	2701	8	5.5
Board 2
Rg.		Name	Elo	Team	Rp	Anz	Pkt.
1	GM	Akopian Vladimir	2679	Armenia	2813	11	8
2	GM	Vallejo Pons Francisco	2664	Spain	2807	11	9
3	GM	Kotronias Vasilios	2587	Greece	2781	11	8.5
4	GM	Predojevic Borki	2615	Bosnia & Herzegovina	2745	11	8.5
5	GM	Short Nigel D	2642	England	2741	10	7
Board 3
Rg.		Name	Elo	Team	Rp	Anz	Pkt.
1	GM	Sargissian Gabriel	2642	Armenia	2869	11	9
2	GM	Gashimov Vugar	2703	Azerbaijan	2765	9	6.5
3	GM	Hillarp Persson Tiger	2543	Sweden	2762	10	8
4	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej	2617	Belarus	2738	9	7
5	GM	Almasi Zoltan	2663	Hungary	2734	10	7
Board 4
Rg.		Name	Elo	Team	Rp	Anz	Pkt.
1	GM	Blagojevic Dragisa	2522	Montenegro	2792	9	8
2	GM	Delchev Aleksander	2632	Bulgaria	2788	9	8
3	GM	Fridman Daniel	2630	Germany 1	2741	10	7
4	GM	Huseynov Gadir	2650	Azerbaijan	2739	8	6
5	GM	Efimenko Zahar	2680	Ukraine	2726	9	6
6	GM	Morozevich Alexander	2787	Russia	2720	9	6
Board 5
Rg.		Name	Elo	Team	Rp	Anz	Pkt.
1	GM	Jakovenko Dmitry	2737	Russia	2794	9	7
2	GM	Rodshtein Maxim	2609	Israel	2776	9	7
3	GM	Berkes Ferenc	2645	Hungary	2696	9	6.5
4	GM	Vuckovic Bojan	2561	Serbia	2695	9	7
5	GM	Li Chao B	2622	China	2680	8	5.5

4) Remco Heite

The Remco Heite tournament took place Friday 28th - Sunday 30th November 2008 in the Dutch city of Wolvega. Loek van Wely and Bartlomiej Macieja finished on 3.5/5. Erwin L'Ami won the Open A tournament but I couldn't find a full game file.

On Saturday and Sunday an Open also took place in Wolvega, featuring grandmasters Erwin L'Ami, Sipke Ernst, Friso Nijboer, John van der Wiel and Zhaoqin Peng. In this 9-round open the players will have 45 minutes each for the entire game.

Games, reports (in Dutch) and photos: http://www.heiteschaaktoernooi.nl

Remco Heite Wolvega (NED), 28-30 xi 2008										cat. XV (2605)
					1	2	3	4	5	6
1.	Van Wely, Loek	g	NED	2618	*	0	1	1	½	1	3½	2751
2.	Macieja, Bartlomiej	g	POL	2600	1	*	0	½	1	1	3½	2755
3.	Tiviakov, Sergei	g	NED	2686	0	1	*	½	½	1	3	2661
4.	Jussupow, Artur	g	GER	2570	0	½	½	*	1	1	3	2684
5.	Agdestein, Simen	g	NOR	2588	½	0	½	0	*	0	1	2368
6.	Van den Doel, Erik	g	NED	2570	0	0	0	0	1	*	1	2372

5) 15th Tuzla International

The 15th Tuzla International Tournament took place 21st-27th November 2008.

Official site: http://www.bihchess.com/ and results: http://chess-results.com/tnr17442.aspx?lan=2

15th It Tuzla (BIH), 21-27 xi 2008												cat. II (2300)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Budimir, Boris	f	BIH	2328	*	0	½	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	6½	2463
2.	Mrkonjic, Nenad	m	CRO	2364	1	*	½	½	1	½	½	½	½	1	6	2418
3.	Nurkic, Sahbaz	m	BIH	2408	½	½	*	½	0	½	1	1	1	1	6	2413
4.	Goric, Esad	m	CRO	2385	0	½	½	*	1	1	½	½	½	1	5½	2370
5.	Sprecic, Mustafa	f	BIH	2276	1	0	1	0	*	½	0	½	1	1	5	2346
6.	Karahmetovic, Adnan		BIH	2300	0	½	½	0	½	*	½	½	½	1	4	2257
7.	Bajramovic, Halid		BIH	2206	0	½	0	½	1	½	*	½	½	0	3½	2230
8.	Majeric, Zoran	m	CRO	2296	0	½	0	½	½	½	½	*	½	½	3½	2220
9.	Mujic, Hamza	f	BIH	2309	0	½	0	½	0	½	½	½	*	1	3½	2219
10.	Nezirovic, Ozren		CAN	2131	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	½	0	*	1½	2046

6) National Chess Congress

The National Chess Congress took place in Philadelphia, 28th-30th November 2008. Bryan G Smith won with 5.5/6

Official site: http://chesstournamentservices.com/cca/national-chess-congress/

National Chess Congress Philadelphia (USA), 28-30 xi 2008
#	Name	Ti	Rtng	Tot
1	Bryan G Smith	IM	2469	5½
2	Giorgi Kacheishvili	GM	2644	5
3	Zhe Quan	FM	2465	5
4	Daniel Ludwig		2455	5
5	Alexander Fishbein	GM	2604	4½
6	Mackenzie Molner		2425	4½
7	Thomas Bartell		2386	4½
8	Alexander Shabalov	GM	2632	4
9	Alex Lenderman	IM	2528	4
10	Dean J Ippolito	IM	2494	4
11	Kirill Kuderinov	IM	2460	4
12	Marc R Esserman		2424	4
13	Oleg N Zaikov	FM	2375	4
14	Daniel A Yeager	FM	2343	4
15	Mikhail Zlotnikov	IM	2338	4
16	Leonid Kritz	GM	2647	3½
17	Sergey Erenburg	GM	2637	3½
18	Jay Bonin	IM	2409	3½
19	Mark A Heimann		2407	3½
20	Rodion Rubenchik	FM	2343	3½
21	Igor A Nikolayev	FM	2326	3½
22	Alexander C Heimann		2312	3½
23	Darmen Sadvakasov	GM	2638	3
24	Justin Sarkar	IM	2487	3
25	Raymond Kaufman	FM	2327	3
26	Alisa Melekhina	WFM	2310	3
27	Michael Dougherty	FM	2282	3
28	Darwin Yang	FM	2279	3
29	Yefim Treger		2269	3
30	Alexander Barnett		2258	3
69 players

7) 12th Zenica Tournament

The 12th Zenica tournament takes place 29th November - 6th December 2008. Emir Dizdarevic leads with 3.5/4.

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

8) 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 now available.

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

9th Open Liberec (CZE), 15-23 xi 2008 Final Round 9 Standings:
Rk.	Name		FED	RtgI	Pts.	TB1
1	Vavra Pavel	IM	CZE	2299	8	54.5
2	Plischki Sebastian	IM	GER	2409	8	53
3	Golcman Evgeny		RUS	2252	6.5	49
4	Navratil sen. Jiri		CZE	2128	6.5	48
5	Snorek Milan		CZE	2157	6.5	46
6	Kucera Petr 88		CZE	2143	6.5	42
7	Benes Petr		CZE	2156	6	54.5
8	Meszaros Ludek Ing.		CZE	2223	6	52.5
9	Bartos Jan	FM	CZE	2203	6	51.5
10	Kaderabek Jiri		CZE	2201	6	48.5
11	Kopasov Evgeny		RUS	2046	6	47.5
12	Broucek Tomas		CZE	1990	6	43.5
13	Sisak Richard		CZE	2051	6	43
14	Jakovlev Juri		EST	0	5.5	50
15	Kucera Jaroslav		CZE	2012	5.5	48.5
16	Cakl Zdenek		CZE	2110	5.5	48.5
17	Mojzis Jan Ing.		CZE	2157	5.5	47.5
18	Tesar Jan JUDr.		CZE	2123	5.5	47
19	Braun Marek		CZE	2053	5.5	46.5
20	Sielicki Tomasz		POL	2063	5.5	46
21	Paldus Petr		CZE	2042	5.5	44.5
22	Jina Lubos		CZE	1953	5.5	43
23	Hollmann Zdenek		CZE	2031	5.5	43
24	Blahacek Evzen Ing.		CZE	2014	5.5	42
25	Navratil jun. Jiri		CZE	1844	5.5	38
92 players

9) US Chess League

The 2008 season of the US Chess League started 25th August 2008. Semi finals took place on 19th November 2008. Finals are on December 6th.

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

US Chess League ICCINT, 27 viii-29 xi 2008 Semifinals:
19th November 2008
	Boston			vs	Carolina
1	GM	Eugene Perelshteyn	BOS	vs	IM	Lev Milman	CAR	1/2
2	FM	Oleg Zaikov	CAR	vs	SM	Jorge Sammour-Hasbun	BOS	1/2
3	SM	Marc Esserman	BOS	vs	FM	Ron Simpson	CAR	1/2
4	NM	Craig Jones	CAR	vs	NM	Ilya Krasik	BOS	0-1
	Miami			vs	Dallas
1	GM	Julio Becerra	MIA	vs	IM	Marko Zivanic	DAL	1/2
2	IM	Davorin Kuljasevic	DAL	vs	FM	Bruci Lopez	MIA	1-0
3	FM	Osmany Perea	MIA	vs	FM	Igor Schneider	DAL	1/2
4	WFM	Bayaraa Zorigt	DAL	vs		Matan Prilleltensky	MIA	1-0

10) Young stars of the world

The Young Stars of the World Somov Memorial took place 15th-28th November 2008 in Kirishi city (Leningrad region) in their Culture Palace. Aleksandr Shimanov edged out Yaroslav Zherebukh on tie-break after both finished on 9/11.

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

Young Stars of the World Kirishi (RUS), 16-28 xi 2008													cat. V (2359)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2
1.	Shimanov, Aleksandr	m	RUS	2476	*	½	½	1	1	1	½	1	1	1	1	1	9½	2657
2.	Zherebukh, Yaroslav	m	UKR	2473	½	*	½	1	1	½	1	1	1	1	1	1	9½	2658
3.	Giri, Anish	f	RUS	2466	½	½	*	½	1	½	½	½	0	1	1	1	7	2451
4.	Swiercz, Dariusz	m	POL	2478	0	0	½	*	½	1	½	1	1	0	1	1	6½	2413
5.	Fedoseev, Vladimir3	f	RUS	2312	0	0	0	½	*	1	1	1	1	½	½	1	6½	2428
6.	Lintchevski, Daniil	m	RUS	2502	0	½	½	0	0	*	1	0	1	1	1	1	6	2382
7.	Kovalev, Vladislav	f	BLR	2318	½	0	½	½	0	0	*	½	½	1	½	1	5	2327
8.	Firat, Burak		TUR	2237	0	0	½	0	0	1	½	*	½	1	1	0	4½	2305
9.	Bukavshin, Ivan	f	RUS	2376	0	0	1	0	0	0	½	½	*	1	½	1	4½	2292
10.	Aghasaryan, Robert	f	ARM	2235	0	0	0	1	½	0	0	0	0	*	½	½	2½	2159
11.	Paikidze, Nazi	wf	GEO	2292	0	0	0	0	½	0	½	0	½	½	*	½	2½	2154
12.	Ganichev, Alexander		RUS	2148	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	½	½	*	2	2116

11) Brasilia Scheveningen

A Scheveningen system tournament organised by the Axbra Chess Club took place in Brasilia (Brazil) 24th-29th November, 2008 with 2GMs and 1 IM against 3 local players. I don't have official results or the final round games.

Official site: http://www.axbra.com.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=65&Itemid=53 and games: http://www.clubedexadrez.com.br/download/2poupex_08/2poupex_08.htm

II Poupex Int Brasilia (BRA), 24-29 xi 2008
Foreign Players
1	Milos,G	2593	5.0/5
2	Matsuura,E	2469	4.0/5
3	Andersson,U	2562	3.5/5
Local Players
1	Shumyatsky,V	2063	1.5/5
2	Lucena,L	2239	1.0/5
3	Soares,J	2149	0.0/5

12) Copa PDV Sur

The Torneo Internacional Copa PDV Sur takes place in Buenos Aires - Club Argentino de Ajedrez - 30th November - 11th December 2008.

Dates: 1st Round: 30.11.2008 2nd Round: 01.12.2008 3rd Round: 02.12.2008 4th Round: 03.12.2008 5th Round: 04.12.2008 6th Round: 07.12.2008 7th Round: 08.12.2008 8tn Round: 10.12.2008 9th Round: 11.12.2008

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

13) 21st Belgrade Trophy

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. Organizers: Belgrade Chess Federation and Obrenovac City.

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

21st Belgrade Trophy Obrenovac (SRB), 27 xi-5 xii 2008 Leading Round 4 (of 9) Standings:
Rank		Name	IRtg	FED	Pts	BH.	BH.	SB.
1	GM	Velimirovic Dragoljub	2415	SRB	4	5½	10	10.00
2	GM	Abramovic Bosko	2484	SRB	4	4½	9½	9.50
3	IM	Cvetkovic Srdjan	2378	SRB	4	4	9	9.00
4		Panic Nenad	2360	SRB	4	3½	8	8.00
5		Maksimovic Miroslav	2245	SRB	3½	6	9½	7.75
6	GM	Simic Radoslav	2373	SRB	3½	5½	10½	8.75
7	GM	Kasparov Sergey	2492	BLR	3½	5½	10	8.25
8	GM	Todorovic Goran M	2478	SRB	3½	5	10½	8.75
	IM	Gunnarsson Jon Viktor	2430	ISL	3½	5	10½	8.75
10	FM	Ilic Zoran	2290	MKD	3½	5	10	8.25
11		Kahrovic Mersid	2259	SRB	3½	5	9½	7.75
12	FM	Jovanovic Zoran Z	2336	SRB	3½	4½	9	8.00
13	IM	Andrijevic Milan	2367	SRB	3½	4½	8½	7.00
14	GM	Pogorelov Ruslan	2441	UKR	3½	4½	8	6.50
15	GM	Bogdanovski Vlatko	2393	MKD	3½	4	9½	7.75
16	GM	Cabrilo Goran	2500	SRB	3½	4	7½	6.75
231 players

14) Kaikoura International

The 2008 South Island Championship was played in Kaikoura, South Island of New Zealand 8th-11th November 2008. Murray Chandler, Darryl Johansen and Stephen Solomon finished with 7/9. There is a Chao Qi in the rating list but they are given as unrated in the official standings, I do find it a bit unlikely its not the same person.

Crosstable and results :- http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/results.html photos at http://www.nzchessevents.myphotoalbum.com

Open Kaikoura NZL 8-11 xi 2008 Leading Round 9 Standings:
1.	Chandler, Murray G	g	NZL	2515	7.0
2.	Johansen, Darryl K	g	AUS	2446	7.0
3.	Solomon, Stephen J	m	AUS	2470	7.0
4.	Toth, Andras1	m	HUN	2401	6.5
5.	Nokes, Roger I	f	NZL	2293	6.5
6.	Davis, Justin		NZL	1895	6.0
7.	Smith, Robert W	f	NZL	2316	5.5
8.	Chao Qi		CHN	2029	5.5
10.	Bennett, Hilton		NZL	2022	5.5
11.	Forster, William		NZL	1956	5.5
12.	Van Dijk,Peter		NZL	----	5.5
13.	Jackson, L Ross		NZL	----	5.5
14.	Thornton, Giovanni Antonio		NZL	2140	5.0
44 players

15) Czech Coal Chess Match

The Czech Coal Chess Match takes place in Marianske Lazne and features a Snowdrops vs Old-hands Scheveningen tournament with Anatoly Karpov. The women's Snowdrop team leads 7-5.

Official site: http://www.praguechess.cz/index.php

Snowdrops vs Old-hands Marianske Lazne (CZE), 29 xi-6 xii 2008
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1	Cmilyte, Viktorija	m	LTU	2512	+7	-4	+2	.	.	.	.	.	2	2640
2	Hort, Vlastimil	g	GER	2478	+5	+6	-1	.	.	.	.	.	2	2584
3	Jackova, Jana	m	CZE	2360	+4	-7	+8	.	.	.	.	.	2	2627
4	Karpov, Anatoly	g	RUS	2651	-3	+1	=6	.	.	.	.	.	1½	2456
5	Nemcova, Katerina	wg	CZE	2369	-2	=8	+7	.	.	.	.	.	1½	2445
6	Ushenina, Anna	m	UKR	2496	+8	-2	=4	.	.	.	.	.	1½	2523
7	Uhlmann, Wolfgang	g	GER	2417	-1	+3	-5	.	.	.	.	.	1	2288
8	Olafsson, Fridrik	g	ISL	2440	-6	=5	-3	.	.	.	.	.	½	2135

16) British Rapidplay

British Rapidplay Chess Championships took place Saturday 29th - Sunday 30th November 2008 With nearly four hundred entries 1st David Howell 10.5/11 and joint 2nd Mark Hebden and Jonathan Hawkins 8.5/11. There are games but with no detailed results section I'm unsure that all the names are correct and I don't have Poobalasingham's round 9 opponent.

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

17) Sisak International

International chess tournament SISAK 2008 (CRO) takes place in Sisak (CRO) 29th November - 6 December 2008.

Official site: http://www.sahdrustvosisak.info/Sisak2008/

18) Sub Zonal 2.3.4

The Sub Zonal 2.3.4 Absoluto (presumably Columbia) took place in San Andres 26th-30th November 2008. Orlando Ossa won.

Official site: http://www.torneosajedrez.com and results: http://chess-results.com/tnr17392.aspx?datatyp=&lan=1

sub-zt 2.3.4 Absoluto San Andres (COL), 26-30 xi 2008
Rk.	Name	Rtg		FED	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	Ossa Orlando	2314		VAL	7	34.5	378.5	34.5
2	Sanchez Victor Hugo	2170		VAL	6	30.5	385	24.25
3	Echavarria Johann	2376	FM	ANT	6	30.5	375	30.5
4	Pena Alfredo	2309	FM	ATL	6	25	363	22.75
5	Becerra Juan David	2142		BOG	5.5	26	367	17.25
6	Saladen Dulce Rafael	2187	FM	CAQ	5.5	23	365.5	17.5
7	Gallego Andres Felipe	2365		ANT	5	32	375	26
8	Vittorino Carlo	2343	FM	ANT	5	28	376.5	23.75
9	Ramirez Carlos	2284	FM	BOG	5	24.5	357	16.25
10	Zuluaga Cesar	2320	FM	CAL	4.5	24.5	380.5	17.5
11	Rojas Barrero Andres H	2255		BOG	4.5	22.5	365.5	18.75
12	Remicio Duque John H	2216		CAQ	4.5	21.5	365	12.25
13	Prieto Ernesto	2181		RIS	2.5	15.5	357.5	5.25
14	Corpus Eugenio Miguel	1630		SAI	2.5	7.5	340	7.25
15	Manotas Franklin	2029		ATL	2	10	338	3
16	Demarothy Maroth	2015		SAI	0.5	4.5	343	1.25

19) Kazino Cuban

The Kazino Cuban tournament (this is my transliteration and may be wrong) took place 28th-30th November 2008. Nanko Dobrev took first place with 6/7, no games available.

Results: http://www.chessbg.com/news.php?i=view&id=599

Kazino Cuban (BUL), 28-30 xi 2008 Leading Final Round 7 Standings:
Rank		Name	Rtg	Pts	BH.	BH.	vict	Fide	SB.
1	IM	Dobrev Nanko	2408	6,0	22,5	31,5	6	23,0	26,00
2		Georgiev Biser	2260	5,5	22,0	30,5	5	24,5	21,00
3	GM	Georgiev Krum	2453	5,5	21,5	28,5	4	22,5	22,25
4	IM	Rusev Krasimir	2541	5,0	23,5	33,0	4	23,0	22,25
5	FM	Filev Georgi	2375	5,0	22,0	30,5	4	21,0	20,75
6	FM	Arnaudov G Petar	2344	5,0	21,0	28,5	3	22,0	19,00
7	GM	Janev Evgeni	2491	5,0	18,0	24,0	5	18,0	16,50
8		Stoinev Metodi	2309	5,0	17,5	24,5	5	20,0	15,50
9	GM	Spassov Liuben	2417	4,5	24,0	33,0	4	22,0	19,50
10		Andreev Sasho	2066	4,5	21,0	28,5	4	19,5	16,50
11	IM	Todorov Ognjan	2318	4,5	20,0	28,0	4	18,5	15,75
12		Shishkov Minko	2271	4,5	19,5	28,0	4	18,5	15,75
13		Ivanov Bogidar	2165	4,5	19,0	26,5	4	19,5	14,25
14	WFM	Videnova Iva	2182	4,0	22,0	30,5	3	18,5	16,25
15		Ivelinov Hristo	2168	4,0	21,5	29,0	3	18,0	14,50
16		Janev Pavel	1970	4,0	20,5	28,5	4	16,0	13,00
17		Georgiev Steljan	2142	4,0	18,5	26,0	3	18,0	12,75
18		Dobrev Nayden	2112	4,0	16,0	24,5	4	16,0	9,50
19		Tomovska-Polendakova Iliana	2052	4,0	15,5	22,5	4	12,0	10,00
20		Angelov Angel	2216	4,0	15,5	22,5	3	15,0	12,00
21		Sotirov Nikolaj	2109	4,0	15,5	21,5	4	15,0	9,00
47 players

20) Open "Mediterranean 2017" Rijeka

The Open "Mediterranean 2017" Rijeka (CRO) takes place 29th November - 6th December 2008. Boris Grachev, Borki Predojevic, Vladislav Nevednichy, Marin Bosiocic, Sinisa Drazic, Ivan Saric, Alin Berescu and Ognjen Jovanic started with 3/3 and although there is some live coverage I couldn't find an archive of games.

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

21) VII Benidorm International Chess Festival

The VII Festival Internacional de Ajedrez takes place in Benidorm, Spain 28th November - 8th December 2008. I couldn't find any results or games so far so I guess the main stuff starts later.

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

22) Harry Nelson Pillsbury Memorial

George Mirijanian reports: The Harry Nelson Pillsbury Memorial tournament took place November 30th 2008 at the Leominster Veterans Center in Leominster, Massachusetts, USA. National master Illya Krasik, 28, of Acton, Mass. captured first place with a score of 3.5-0.5, including a draw in the second round with top-ranked IM James Rizzitano of Southborough, Mass. Tying for second place with 3-1 tallies were FM John Curdo, 77, of Auburn, Mass., and U.S. Chess Federation-rated Class A players Alex Fikiet of Storrs, Connecticut and Shrirangnath Havale of Dedham, Mass. The three-section, Massachusetts Chess Association-sponsored tournament drew 42 players and was directed by Ken Ballou of Framinghan, Mass., assisted by George Mirijanian of Fitchburg, Mass. Crosstables are available at http://masschess.org

23) 17th North American FIDE Invitational

The 17th North American FIDE Invitational took place 15th-20th November 2008. Rogelio Antonio jr won with 8/9.

Official site: http:/www.nachess.org/fide

17th North American FIDE Inv Skokie (USA), 15-20 xi 2008												cat. II (2276)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Antonio, Rogelio jr	g	PHI	2515	*	½	½	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	8	2600
2.	Tsyganov, Igor M	f	USA	2248	½	*	1	½	1	½	0	1	1	1	6½	2445
3.	Young, Angelo	m	PHI	2358	½	0	*	1	½	½	1	½	½	1	5½	2347
4.	Morales Garcia, Sergio Joshafatt	f	MEX	2279	0	½	0	*	1	1	1	0	1	1	5½	2356
5.	Monokroussos, Dennis	f	USA	2290	0	0	½	0	*	1	1	1	1	1	5½	2354
6.	Betaneli, Alexander	f	USA	2318	0	½	½	0	0	*	½	1	½	1	4	2228
7.	Tate, Emory	m	USA	2339	0	1	0	0	0	½	*	0	1	1	3½	2189
8.	Inumerable, Florentino V		USA	2187	0	0	½	1	0	0	1	*	0	½	3	2161
9.	Stamnov, Aleksander	f	MKD	2230	0	0	½	0	0	½	0	1	*	½	2½	2115
10.	Muradian, Sevan		USA	----	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	½	*	1	1956

24) 77th Ukrainian Championships

The 77th Ukrainian Championships take place 1st-10th December 2008.

Official site: http://www.ukrchess.org.ua/turnir/ukr08mf_Poltava/index.html

25) Grand Slam Masters Final

The 2nd edition of the Grand Slam Masters Final will be played in Bilbao, September 2-15th 2009. The winners of Corus-Wijk aan Zee, Ciudad de Linares and Mtel Masters-Sofia tournaments will qualify directly for the Masters Final in Bilbao, where the first edition (played at a central square, inside a glass cube) was a very big success last September.

More details on the 2009 tournament (number of players, system of play, etc) will be announced at the end of the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee. The Grand Slam is in negotiations to include one more high level tournament in the 2009 circuit.

Grand Slam Chess Association (GSCA)

Dresden, 23 November 2008

26) FIDE News

The Grand Prix Tournament takes place in Elista, Russia from 13th December (Arrival) to 29th of December (Departure) 2008. This follows the cancelation of the event Doha, Qatar.

The FIDE Congress also took place, read the FIDE report. One of the main decisions was a change to the world championship cycle again. I like Candidates tournaments but this chopping and changing is both unfair and doesn't inspire much confidence in FIDE, mind you I have no confidence in the leadership anyway. You can read the FIDE President's interview here: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5039. Its pointless complaining, the leadership of FIDE's grip is so complete that they can do as they like.

27) 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/

28) Forthcoming Events and Links

Torino, Italy

The Torino tournament in (Italy) takes place 30th November 2008 - 8th December 2008. 9 Round swiss top group (B Group 7 rounds).

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

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

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 Leitao, Gilberto Milos and Alexandr Fier.

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

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/

71st Corus Wijk aan Zee A-Group (NED), 16 i - 1 ii 2009
Alexander Morozevich	RUS	2	2787	1977
Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	3	2786	1969
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	4	2786	1990
Levon Aronian	ARM	7	2757	1982
Teimour Radjabov	AZE	8	2751	1987
Wang Yue	CHN	11	2736	1987
Michael Adams	ENG	12	2734	1971
Sergei Movsesian	SLW	13	2732	1978
Sergei Karjakin	UKR	15	2730	1990
Gata Kamsky	USA	16	2729	1974
Leinier Dominguez	CUB	21	2719	1983
Loek van Wely	NED		2618	1972
Daniel Stellwagen	NED		2605	1987
Jan Smeets	NED		2604	1985

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/

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

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.

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

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/

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

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