THE WEEK IN CHESS 744 9th February 2009 by Mark Crowther

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Mark Crowther
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Contents

1) Introduction
2) Gibraltar's Gibtelecom Chess Festival
3) Moscow International Open
4) 80th German Championship
5) Mate of the King in Tehran
6) Polish Championship
7) 14th HIT Open
8) 25th Bermuda Open
9) 2nd Queenstown Chess Classic
10) Arcapita International Bahrain
11) 11th Hotel Hilton Basel
12) Romanian Championships
13) First Saturday February
14) I Felix Alexander Sonnenfeld Memorial
15) Dutch Teams
16) So - Torre Match
17) Franklin K. Young Memorial
18) X CXG International
19) Cuban Championship
20) Seville International Open
21) Raaphy Persitz 1934 - 2009
22) XXVI Linares Tournament 2009
23) Forthcoming Events and Links

Games Section
Gibraltar's Gibtelecom Chess Festival277 games
Moscow International Open270 games
80th German Championship88 games
Mate of the King in Tehran12 games
Polish Championship68 games
14th HIT Open117 games
25th Bermuda Open6 games
2nd Queenstown Chess Classic612 games
Arcapita International Bahrain39 games
11th Hotel Hilton Basel57 games
First Saturday February4 games
I Felix Alexander Sonnenfeld Memorial35 games
Dutch Teams198 games
1783 games

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1) Introduction

My thanks to Axel Fritz, Mikhail Golubev, Luiz Roberto Da Costa Jr, Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh, Lazlo Nagy, Sean Hewitt, John Saunders, Miklos Orso, Adolivio Capece, Claudio Pantaleoni, Doug Bake, Dusan Rusjan, Dinu-Ioan Nicula, Helen Milligan, Justin Davis, George Mirijanian, Nigel Freeman, Sinisa Joksic, Yochanan Afek and everyone else who helped with the issue.

Peter Svidler took first place in the Gibraltar Gibtelecom Chess Festival and Alexander Onischuk the Moscow International Open in the two main events of the week. We have to wait until next week for the real excitement to begin. Veselin Topalov against Gata Kamsky takes place 16th-28th February 2009 and also the Aeroflot Open also takes place at the same time.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) Gibraltar's Gibtelecom Chess Festival

The 7th edition of Gibraltar's Gibtelecom Chess Festival took place Tuesday 27th January - Thursday 5th February 2009 at the Caleta Hotel. Peter Svidler won the event after beating Vadim Milov in a two game rapid playoff match. Both finished on 8/10 half a point clear of Vugar Gashimov, Hikaru Nakamura, Emanuel Berg and Varuzhan Akobian. Corrections to Geoffrey Bishop's games, I misidentified him as a rated player last week and Claudio Pantaleoni corrects his round 1 game against Viktoria Cmilyte from round one. My thanks to John Saunders, and Sean Hewitt.

Official site: http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/gib2009/index.html

7th Gibtelecom Masters Caleta (ENG), 27 i-5 ii 2009
Leading Final Round 10 Standings:
Rank Name TiFed. Rating Score TPR W-We
1Svidler, Peter GMRUS 2723828291.28
2Milov, Vadim GMSUI 2669827691.26
3Gashimov, Vugar GMAZE 27237.527640.68
4Nakamura, Hikaru GMUSA 26997.527000.18
5Berg, Emanuel GMSWE 26067.526480.6
6Akobian, Varuzhan GMUSA 26197.526400.4
7Harikrishna, Pentala GMIND 2673726940.38
8Dzagnidze, Nana GMGEO 2518726752.21
9Sokolov, Ivan GMNED 265772626-0.27
10Stefanova, Antoaneta GMBUL 2557726120.79
11Cramling, Pia GMSWE 254872511-0.23
12Socko, Bartosz GMPOL 26316.526710.61
13Ganguly, Surya Shekhar GMIND 26146.526600.7
14Golod, Vitali GMISR 25756.526531.2
15Avrukh, Boris GMISR 26456.526520.16
16Beliavsky, Alexander G GMSLO 26466.526510.15
17Roiz, Michael GMISR 26476.52610-0.37
18Gurevich, Mikhail GMTUR 26246.52603-0.19
19Berkes, Ferenc GMHUN 26516.52588-0.74
20Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime GMFRA 26966.52587-1.19
21Lopez Martinez, Josep Manu GMESP 25406.525830.71
22Papp, Gabor IMHUN 25176.525580.71
23Gordon, Stephen J IMENG 25246.525510.5
24Al Sayed, Mohamad N. IMQAT 24886.525360.75
25Berczes, David GMHUN 25136.525210.27
26Szabo, Krisztian IMHUN 25086.525130.25
27Krush, Irina IMUSA 24576.524960.69
28Speelman, Jon S GMENG 25366.52487-0.43
29Kozlov, Oleg IMRUS 21876.524813.65
30Pavlovic, Milos GMSRB 25206.52467-0.49
31Zatonskih, Anna IMUSA 24626.524630.2
32Cmilyte, Viktorija IMLTU 24976.52458-0.24
33Bellon Lopez, Juan Manuel GMESP 24406.524530.4
34Maryasin, Boris IMISR 23406.524451.37
35D`Costa, Lorin A R IMENG 24456.524380.15
36Nezad, Husein Aziz IMQAT 24036.524050.34
37Kotronias, Vasilios GMGRE 2603626130.32
38Hauchard, Arnaud GMFRA 2497625861.15
39Nithander, Victor FMSWE 2369625182.06
40Hammer, Jon Ludvig IMNOR 253262517-0.1
41Del Rio De Angelis, Salvad GMESP 253262509-0.08
42Sandipan, Chanda GMIND 256862477-0.98
43Nemeth, Miklos IMHUN 247262463-0.02
44Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan IMSCO 250062449-0.47
45Hommeles, Theo FMNED 2410624350.41
46Kiik, Kalle IMEST 246662430-0.3
47Karim, Ismael IMMarch2407624040.11
48Capo Vidal, Uriel IMMEX 2336623810.66
49Perez Ponsa, Federico FMARG 239062378-0.07
50Socko, Monika GMPOL 244962362-0.91
51Sachdev, Tania IMIND 243562343-1.03
52Bruno, Fabio IMITA 246062326-1.51
53Carlhammar, Magnus SWE 235162312-0.33
54Leniart, Arkadiusz FMPOL 236062308-0.58
55De Groote, Ewoud NED 2203622751
56Bravetti, Antonio ITA 2205622370.47
57Csonka, Attila Istvan FMHUN 22895.524351.95
58Houska, Jovanka IMENG 23925.524300.53
59Quillan, Gary ENG 23575.524290.98
60Bok, Benjamin NED 22775.523901.39
61Carlsson, Pontus GMSWE 25095.52373-1.65
62Lovik, Lasse Ostebo NOR 21845.523672.02
63Calzetta, Monica WGMESP 23715.52350-0.16
64Spence, David J ENG 22235.523471.51
65Van Eijk, Sander FMNED 23555.52336-0.19
66Devereaux, Maxim L IMENG 24375.52333-1.19
67Forsaa, Espen FMNOR 23225.523140.04
68Gandrud, Vegar Koi NOR 20465.522772.55
69Ashton, Adam G FMENG 23215.52276-0.5
70Hartvig, Ove Weiss FMDEN 22375.522740.44
71Welling, Gerard IMNED 23715.52265-1.27
72Armbrust, Florian FMGER 23215.52253-0.76
73Kharous, Ernest IMRUS 24005.52249-1.77
74Demac, Elias NOR 19935.522302.59
75White, Michael J R FMENG 22515.52214-0.43
76Thomassen, Joachim FMNOR 22905.52207-1
77Dunn, Andrew CMENG 22165.52166-0.63
78Van Den Bersselaar, Jeroen NED 21915.52156-0.38
79Vernay, Clovis IMFRA 2338523980.74
194 players

3) Moscow International Open

The Moscow Open took place January 31st - 8th February 2009 in the Russian State Social University, Moscow, Russia. Alexander Onischuk won the event with 7.5/9 half a point clear of Sergei Tiviakov, Ernesto Inarkiev, Ian Nepomniachtchi (who looks in reasonable shape to try and defend his Aeroflot title next week), Alexey Korotylev and Viorel Iordachescu all of whom finished on 7/9.

Official site: http://www.moscowchessopen.ru

Open A Moscow (RUS), 31 i-8 ii 2009
Final Round 9 Standings:
Rank Name TiFED Rtg Pts Nratvict BH.
1Onischuk Alexander GM USA 26597.52581653
2Tiviakov Sergei GM NED 268572579555
3Inarkiev Ernesto GM RUS 265672558552.5
4Nepomniachtchi Ian GM RUS 262872550556
5Korotylev Alexey GM RUS 258772537549
6Iordachescu Viorel GM MDA 258472504647.5
7Lastin Alexander GM RUS 26436.52537447
8Ponkratov Pavel IM RUS 25576.52532545.5
9Yudin Sergei IM RUS 25626.52526549
10Savchenko Boris GM RUS 26546.52524546.5
11Riazantsev Alexander GM RUS 26346.52523552
12Amonatov Farrukh GM TJK 26476.52522547
13Popov Ivan GM RUS 25416.52519545
14Dreev Alexey GM RUS 26886.52497448
15Lysyj Igor GM RUS 26206.52493448.5
16Andreikin Dmitry GM RUS 26146.52492447
17Zubov Alexander IM UKR 25746.52489448.5
18Kurnosov Igor GM RUS 26026.52485548.5
19Belov Vladimir GM RUS 26276.52485448
20Vorobiov Evgeny E GM RUS 25916.52477444.5
21Zhumabayev Rinat IM KAZ 25226.52469643
22Safarli Eltaj GM AZE 25646.52447543.5
23Sakaev Konstantin GM RUS 26196.52392549
24Kotsur Pavel GM KAZ 256362540451
25Nikolenko Oleg GM RUS 251162538450.5
26Timofeev Artyom GM RUS 267162526451
27Yakovich Yuri GM RUS 255662526449
28Areshchenko Alexander GM UKR 267362506550.5
29Deviatkin Andrei GM RUS 256662503446.5
30Kabanov Nikolai IM RUS 250262502347
31Ehlvest Jaan GM USA 259562500351
32Vaganian Rafael A GM ARM 259662494446.5
33Kazhgaleyev Murtas GM KAZ 263062481446
34Kim Alexey GM KOR 247062478547.5
35Khairullin Ildar GM RUS 257462473345
36Kobalia Mikhail GM RUS 263462466347
37Pridorozhni Aleksei IM RUS 251562464548.5
38Sveshnikov Evgeny GM LAT 253562463546.5
39Kharlov Andrei GM RUS 251162445446
40Yemelin Vasily GM RUS 257862443345
41Balashov Yuri S GM RUS 237862441443
42Grishchenko Sergey FM RUS 242362436639
43Fedorov Alexei GM BLR 261962406540.5
44Lushenkov Mikhail IM RUS 246262382541.5
45Chernyshov Konstantin GM RUS 254462374538.5
46Ivanov Victor L IM RUS 249962352541
47Tseshkovsky Vitaly GM RUS 25425.52549453
48Ajrapetjan Yuriy GM UKR 24905.52532350.5
49Zvjaginsev Vadim GM RUS 26365.52526351
50Danin Alexandre IM RUS 24655.52521346.5
318 players

Open C Women Moscow (RUS), 31 i-8 ii 2009
Final Round 9 Standings:
Rank Name TiNATRtgPts Nrat vict BH.
1Pogonina Natalija WGM RUS 246782302751
2Molchanova Tatjana WIM RUS 231972313552.5
3Matveeva Svetlana WGM RUS 242272278552
4Gunina Valentina WFM RUS 240072231645.5
5Gu Xiaobing WGM CHN 228372180645.5
6Mongontuul Bathuyag WGM MGL 242572135649.5
7Muzychuk Anna WGM SLO 25406.52323552
8Paehtz Elisabeth IM GER 24556.52262555
9Demina Julia WGM RUS 23616.52245449
10Romanko Marina WGM RUS 24516.52242653
11Akatova Ekaterina WIM RUS 22616.52183646
12Muzychuk Mariya WGM UKR 24276.52170549.5
13Manakova. Maria WGM SRB 22996.52167546.5
14Grabuzova Tatiana WGM RUS 23326.52141543
15Tomilova Elena WFM RUS 23006.52099541.5
16Girya Olga WFM RUS 231562316552
17Petrukhina Irina RUS 190562267448.5
18Kovalevskaya Ekaterina WGM RUS 244262259553
19Ushenina Anna WGM UKR 249962250450
20Zhukova Natalia WGM UKR 249062239447.5
21Shadrina Tatiana WGM RUS 241662231645.5
22Iljushina Olga WIM RUS 226962194451.5
23Savina Anastasia RUS 229762179646
24Shen Yang WGM CHN 244862139447.5
25Bulmaga Irina WIM MDA 230062123546.5
26Lelekova Olga RUS 222262104644.5
27Severiukhina Zoja WFM RUS 232762078642
28Strutinskaya Galina N WIM RUS 229162047546
158 players

4) 80th German Championship

The 80th German Championship takes place in Saarbruecken 5th-15th February 2009.

Official site: http://www.dem-2009.de/

80th ch-GER Saarbruecken (GER), 6-14 ii 2009
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1. Braun, Arik g GER 2558 +23 +14 +9 =5 . . . . . 2840
2. Meier, Georg g GER 2608 +15 +21 =3 +12 . . . . . 2773
3. Zude, Arno m GER 2465 +35 +39 =2 +10 . . . . . 2750
4. Hausrath, Daniel m GER 2493 +26 +17 =5 =7 . . . . . 3 2627
5. Khenkin, Igor g GER 2644 +36 +18 =4 =1 . . . . . 3 2652
6. Beikert, Guenther m GER 2470 =28 +29 =11 +27 . . . . . 3 2546
7. Buhmann, Rainer g GER 2565 =37 +38 +16 =4 . . . . . 3 2529
8. Siebrecht, Sebastian g GER 2440 -17 +26 +39 +24 . . . . . 3 2470
9. Fridman, Daniel2 g GER 2650 +30 +40 -1 +21 . . . . . 3 2639
10. Bischoff, Klaus g GER 2545 +27 =16 +20 -3 . . . . . 2483
11. Baramidze, David g GER 2548 =33 +34 =6 =14 . . . . . 2487
12. Prusikin, Michael g GER 2529 +25 =20 +33 -2 . . . . . 2498
13. Markgraf, Alexander f GER 2463 =29 =28 =15 +33 . . . . . 2393
14. Zude, Erik m GER 2397 +32 -1 +38 =11 . . . . . 2456
15. Heinig, Wolfram f GER 2328 -2 +41 =13 +40 . . . . . 2531
16. Wichmann, Cliff f GER 2389 +44 =10 -7 +31 . . . . . 2472
17. Mueller, Reinhold GER 2229 +8 -4 =18 =20 . . . . . 2 2441
18. Wippermann, Till m GER 2456 +31 -5 =17 =23 . . . . . 2 2360
19. Boidman, Yuri m GER 2415 -39 +35 =31 =22 . . . . . 2 2244
20. Von Herman, Ulf m GER 2378 +42 =12 -10 =17 . . . . . 2 2361
21. Hirneise, Tobias f GER 2426 +41 -2 +25 -9 . . . . . 2 2447
22. Hort, Alex GER 2232 -40 =30 +37 =19 . . . . . 2 2385
23. Deglmann, Ludwig f GER 2325 -1 =32 +43 =18 . . . . . 2 2341
24. Bastian, Herbert m GER 2361 -38 +43 +28 -8 . . . . . 2 2256
25. Malek, Daniel GER 2306 -12 +42 -21 +39 . . . . . 2 2328
26. Zierke, Oliver f GER 2300 -4 -8 +41 +38 . . . . . 2 2324
27. Vatter, Hans-Joachim f GER 2322 -10 +44 +40 -6 . . . . . 2 2406
28. Zelbel, Patrick GER 2294 =6 =13 -24 =34 . . . . . 2331
29. M("u)ller, Hans Georg f GER 2250 =13 -6 =34 =30 . . . . . 2329
30. Gross, Georg f GER 2351 -9 =22 =32 =29 . . . . . 2246
31. Westphal, Wolfgang GER 2242 -18 +36 =19 -16 . . . . . 2310
32. Oberhofer, Andre GER 2202 -14 =23 =30 =37 . . . . . 2262
33. Tabatt, Hendrik GER 2322 =11 +37 -12 -13 . . . . . 2379
34. Jorczik, Julian f GER 2381 =43 -11 =29 =28 . . . . . 2223
35. Strunski, Andreas GER 2287 -3 -19 +42 =36 . . . . . 2251
36. Mayer, Frank1 GER 2331 -5 -31 +44 =35 . . . . . 2245
37. Hirneise, Jens f GER 2325 =7 -33 -22 =32 . . . . . 1 2137
38. Hundack, Rolf GER 2139 +24 -7 -14 -26 . . . . . 1 2212
39. Strache, Michael GER 2218 +19 -3 -8 -25 . . . . . 1 2213
40. Strohhaeker, Raoul f GER 2451 +22 -9 -27 -15 . . . . . 1 2190
41. Sternheimer, Erhard GER 2224 -21 -15 -26 +43 . . . . . 1 2108
42. Bischoff, Dieter GER 2142 -20 -25 -35 +44 . . . . . 1 2089
43. Mehlhorn, Uwe GER 2151 =34 -24 -23 -41 . . . . . ½ 2000
44. Stahr, Ralf-Peter GER 2158 -16 -27 -36 -42 . . . . . 0

5) Mate of the King in Tehran

To mark the 30th Anniversary of the Islamic revolution there was a match between Anatoly Karpov and Ehsan Ghaem Maghami in Tehran 26th January - 3rd February 2009. 4 Classical Games, 4 rapid games and 12 blitz games took place with many appearing on national tv. Organiser Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh. The main thing was that every game was played to a total finish, mate, stalemate etc, no resignation or agreed draws.

The Classical and Blitz matches were both drawn 2-2 Ehsan Ghaem Maghami won the blitz match 6.5-5.5 for a 10.5-9.5 over all win.

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

Karpov, Anatoly - Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan 1-0 42 E32 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan - Karpov, Anatoly 1-0 91 B14 Caro Kann Panov
Karpov, Anatoly - Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan ½-½ 44 E36 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan - Karpov, Anatoly ½-½ 32 B14 Caro Kann Panov
Mate of the King Classical Tehran (IRI), 27-31 i 2009
1234
Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan g IRI 2604 0 1 ½ ½ 2 2644
Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2644 1 0 ½ ½ 2 2604

Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan - Karpov, Anatoly 0-1 29 B14 Caro Kann Panov
Karpov, Anatoly - Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan 0-1 48 E36 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan - Karpov, Anatoly 1-0 38 B14 Caro Kann Panov
Karpov, Anatoly - Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan 1-0 43 E36 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2

Mate of the King Rapid Tehran (IRI), 1 ii 2009
1234
Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan g IRI 2604 0 1 1 0 2 2644
Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2644 1 0 0 1 2 2604
Karpov, Anatoly - Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan 0-1 75 E32 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan - Karpov, Anatoly 0-1 34 B14 Caro Kann Panov
Karpov, Anatoly - Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan 0-1 56 E32 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan - Karpov, Anatoly 1-0 40 B10 Caro Kann
Karpov, Anatoly - Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan ½-½ 46 E32 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan - Karpov, Anatoly 0-1 68 B14 Caro Kann Panov
Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan - Karpov, Anatoly ½-½ 64 E34 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan - Karpov, Anatoly ½-½ 51 A28 English Four Knights
Karpov, Anatoly - Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan 0-1 37 E32 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan - Karpov, Anatoly 0-1 36 E06 Catalan
Karpov, Anatoly - Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan 0-1 37 E32 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan - Karpov, Anatoly 0-1 70 E05 Catalan
Mate of the King Blitz Tehran (IRI), 2 ii 2009
123456789101112
Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan g IRI 2604 1 0 1 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 0 1 0 2673
Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2644 0 1 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 0 1 2575

6) Polish Championship

The 66th Polish Championship took place in Chotowa 26th January - 6th February 2009. Bartlomiej Macieja defeated Radoslaw Wojtaszek in a rapid playoff after both tied on 7½/11.

Official site: http://www.pzszach.org.pl

66th ch-POL Chotowa (POL), 26 i-6 ii 2009 cat. XII (2539)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
1. Wojtaszek, Radoslaw g POL 2608 * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 1 2666
2. Macieja, Bartlomiej g POL 2607 ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 1 2666
3. Mista, Aleksander g POL 2559 0 ½ * 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 7 2639
4. Bartel, Mateusz g POL 2594 ½ 0 0 * ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 7 2636
5. Miton, Kamil g POL 2595 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 2599
6. Gajewski, Grzegorz g POL 2581 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 6 2571
7. Olszewski, Michal m POL 2517 1 ½ ½ 0 0 0 * 1 1 1 ½ 0 2541
8. Piorun, Kacper m POL 2464 0 1 1 0 ½ 1 0 * 0 0 1 ½ 5 2510
9. Swiercz, Dariusz m POL 2472 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 * 1 1 1 5 2509
10. Dziuba, Marcin g POL 2556 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 0 * 0 1 4 2435
11. Kanarek, Marcel f POL 2453 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 1 * 0 2336
12. Tomczak, Jacek m POL 2465 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 0 0 1 * 2335

Macieja, Bartlomiej - Wojtaszek, Radoslaw 1-0 39 B80 Sicilian Scheveningen
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw - Macieja, Bartlomiej ½-½ 49 E08 Catalan

66th ch-POL Playoff Chotowa (POL), 6 ii 2009
12
Macieja, Bartlomiej g POL 2607 1 ½ 2801
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw g POL 2608 0 ½ ½ 2414

7) 14th HIT Open

The 14th HIT Open took place in Nova Gorica and saw Dusko Pavasovic edge out Luka Lenic on tie-break after both scored 6.5/9.

Official site: http://www.sah-zveza.si/rez/0901/hitopen/

14th HIT Open A Nova Gorica (SLO), 31 i-7 ii 2009
Final Round 9 Standings:
1. Pavasovic,Dusko GM SLO 2598 6.5 37.5 48.5
2. Lenic,Luka GM SLO 2548 6.5 37.5 48.0
3. Palac,Mladen GM CRO 2553 6.0 36.0 45.0
4. Sedlak,Nikola GM SRB 2592 6.0 35.0 42.5
5. Jovanic,Ognjen GM CRO 2527 5.5 36.5 45.5
6. Mazi,Leon IM SLO 2377 5.5 35.0 44.5
7. Simutowe,Amon IM ZAM 2485 5.5 34.5 44.0
8. Martinovic,Sasa IM CRO 2427 5.0 38.5 48.5
9. Saric,Ante GM CRO 2514 5.0 37.0 47.5
10. Kokol,Peter FM SLO 2332 5.0 33.0 40.0
11. Jeran,Bostjan MK SLO 2229 5.0 31.0 39.5
12. Rukavina,Josip IM CRO 2417 5.0 28.5 36.5
13. Zorko,Jure FM SLO 2396 4.5 36.5 44.0
14. Stajner,Samo MK SLO 2278 4.5 34.5 43.5
15. Cebalo,Miso GM CRO 2509 4.5 34.0 44.0
16. Gjuran,Denis FM SLO 2344 4.5 32.0 39.5
17. Gombac,Jan FM SLO 2293 4.5 29.5 37.0
18. De Val,Daniele MK ITA 2237 4.5 28.0 36.0
19. Buzeti,Jernej MK SLO 2199 4.5 27.0 35.0
20. Srebrnic,Marko FM SLO 2323 4.0 29.0 37.5
21. Srebrnic,Vojko MK SLO 2229 4.0 28.5 34.5
22. Arsenault,Nicolas MK CAN 2229 3.5 31.0 39.0
23. Laco,Giuseppe M ITA 2138 3.0 28.5 35.5
24. Rozic,Vesna WIM SLO 2280 3.0 26.5 33.0
25. Tomazini,Aljosa I SLO 2206 1.5 28.5 37.0

8) 25th Bermuda Open

The 25th Bermuda Open took place 30th January - 1st February 2009 at the luxurious Fairmont Southampton Resort on the South Shore. 5 round Swiss. Pascal Charbonneau and David Cummings of Canada finished on 4.5/5.

Nigel Freeman reports: "The 25th Bermudian Open had an increase to 50 players and was a Canadian success with both the tie-breaks blitz (to win the return trip and hotel for 2010 being all Canadian affairs). Charbonneau beating Cummings and Moffat beating Ho. Regret I cannot find many top games (they tend to forget to hand them in). It least it gives me a chance to show you that once in a while I can play something resembling chess! Denis Strenzwilk received special prizes for participating in all 25! Thanks especially to Donna Reis for sponsorship."

Reports: Pascal Charbonneau - http://main.uschess.org/content/view/9112/517/ - Polly Wright - http://castlingqueenside.blogspot.com/ and Final Standings.

Bermuda Open Southampton (BER), 30 i-1 ii 2009
Final Round 5 Standings:
1 Pascal Charbonneau 4.5
2 David Cummings 4.5
3 Alexander Ivanov 4.0
4 Nick E De Firmian 4.0
5 Dean J Ippolito 4.0
6 Esther Epstein 4.0
7 Conrad Ho 4.0
8 Andrei Moffat 4.0
9 Paul Mac Intyre 3.5
10 Alex Cherniack 3.0
11 Denis F Strenzwilk 3.0
12 Patrick R Sciacca 3.0
13 Moses Mufundaedza 3.0
14 Ben Gershenov 3.0
15 Nick W Faulks 3.0
16 Ralph Italie 3.0
17 Max Steinberg 3.0
18 Gary Cooper 3.0
19 Kumi Bradshaw 3.0
20 Ruben Reyes 3.0
50 players

9) 2nd Queenstown Chess Classic

Queenstown Chess Classic took place in Queenstown, South Island of New Zealand 15th-24th January 2009. David Smerdon took clear first with 8/10 in spite of losing in the final round to Gawain Jones. There is a new, complete file of games, I have also made some corrections to the naming I used in the file in TWIC 742. My thanks to Helen Milligan and Justin Davis.

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

Queenstown Chess Classic (NZL), 15-24 i 2009
Final Round 10 Standings:
1 Smerdon, David C im AUS 2463 8
2 Rozentalis, Eduardas gm LTU 2590 7.5
3 Mikhalevski, Victor gm ISR 2608 7.5
4 Bischoff, Klaus gm GER 2545 7.5
5 Jones, Gawain gm ENG 2540 7.5
6 Mastrovasilis, Dimitrios gm GRE 2580 7.5
7 Johannessen, Leif Erlend gm NOR 2539 7.5
8 Wohl, Aleksander H im AUS 2342 7
9 Dragicevic, Domagoj AUS 2205 7
10 Chow, Samuel AUS 2267 7
11 Johansen, Darryl K gm AUS 2455 7
12 Goldenberg, Igor fm AUS 2398 6.5
13 Wells, Peter gm ENG 2513 6.5
14 Hecht, Hans-Joachim gm GER 2394 6.5
15 Ker, Anthony im NZL 2321 6.5
16 Solomon, Stephen J im AUS 2460 6.5
17 Brown, Andrew AUS 1987 6.5
18 Saw, Geoffrey fm AUS 2257 6.5
19 Reilly, Tim fm AUS 2256 6.5
20 Lyell, Mark fm ENG 2287 6.5
21 Drummond, Matthew AUS 2236 6.5
22 Ikeda, Junta AUS 2247 6.5
23 Stojic, Dusan AUS 2219 6.5
24 Illingworth, Max AUS 2250 6.5
25 West, Guy im AUS 2346 6
26 Motoc, Alina wgm ROU 2358 6
27 Shen, Daniel NZL 2098 6
28 Smith, Robert W fm NZL 2281 6
29 Garbett, Paul im NZL 2329 6
30 Bakker, Sven NED 2233 6
31 Steadman, Michael NZL 2273 6
32 Van Riemsdijk, Herman im BRA 2392 6
33 Zawadzka, Jolanta wgm POL 2385 6
34 van der Elburg, Freddie NED 2277 6
35 Levi, Eddy L fm AUS 2219 6
36 Hohler, Peter fm SUI 2214 6
37 Goldsmith, Alan D AUS 2226 6
38 Krivec, Jana wgm SLO 2343 5.5
120 players

10) Arcapita International Bahrain

The Arcapita International Chess Championship took place 23rd January - 3rd February 2009 in Manama, Bahrain. Vadim Malakhatko finished in clear first place with 7½/9 and a first prize of £4,000 My thanks to Mikhail Golubev for the news and especially the games of which there are now additional games from last week.

Official site: http://www.bahrainchessclub.com/ and daily results at: http://chess-results.com/tnr19072.aspx

Arcapita International Chess Championship Manama (BRN), 23 i - 3 ii 2009
Final Round 9 Standings:
RankSNo.NameTFEDRtgPtsRtgSum
12Malakhatko, VadimGMBEL261019875
28Iotov, ValentinGMBUL2556720005
311Moradiabadi, ElshanGMIRI2505719517
45Amin, BasemGMEGY256219818
516Roy Chowdhury, SaptarshiIMIND244419588
67Filippov, AntonGMUZB255619482
74Ibrahimov, RasulGMAZE256819396
815Jojua, DavitIMGEO248419352
99El Gindy, EssamGMEGY252719098
103Adly AhmedGMEGY256819040
1110Kveinys, AloyzasGMLTU2522619279
1212Kasparov, SergeyGMBLR2488619137
131Tregubov, Pavel VGMRUS2647619136
146Pelletier, YannickGMSUI2560619102
1526Adnani, MoklisFMMAR2326616730
1619Ezat MohamedIMEGY2421616485
1714Bagheri, AmirGMIRI2486616197
1818Sriram, JhaIMIND2441616043
1922Sharma Dinesh, KIMIND2394615883
2025Zozulia, AnnaIMBEL2376615841
2128Hassan, AbdullahIMUAE2320611769
2213Golubev, MikhailGMUKR248719196
2321Shoker, SamyIMFRA239918689
2417Sulashvili, MalkhazIMGEO244418397
2520Frhat, AliIMEGY240816847
2623Kiss, PalIMHUN238916255
2727Othman A, MoussaFMUAE232415969
2824Sarwat, WalaaIMEGY238815709
2996Roshan, DsouzaIND012056
3029Shetty, RahulIMIND231011905
3131Alhuwar, JasemFMUAE22709931
104 players

11) 11th Hotel Hilton Basel

The 11th Hotel Hilton Open took place in Basel, January 1st-4th 2009. Andrei Sokolov (not Ivan as I wrongly said in TWIC740) won on tie-break from Attila Czebe, Namig Guliyev, Andreas Heimann and Imre Hera Jr after all finished on 5/7. This is Sokolov's 4th win. The event was also the Ivan Nemet Memorial. Best junior was Andreas Heimann (GER), best Lady WIM Marina Martsynovskaya (FRA) and best Basle player IM Branko Filipovic. Amateur section (51 players); tree players finished with 5.5/7 Jean-Pier Lenders, Franz Meier and Velimir Remetic all SUI. Tie-break won Lenders. Senior tournament won Ulrich Gass (GER) 4.5/5; Alessandro Valli (SUI) 4.0 and Wolfgang Ledermann (SUI) 3.5/5. Games now available my thanks to Sinisa Joksic.

Official site: http://www.beochess.ch

11th Hilton Open 2009 Basle (SUI), 1-4 i 2009
Leading Final Round 7 Standings:
Rang PlayerTiRatingNATPtsBuchh BuSumm
1Sokolov,Andrei GM 2585FRA 527154
2Czebe,Attila GM 2468HUN 526.5154
3Guliyev,Namig GM 2523AZE 525.5157
4Heimann,Andreas 2428GER 525154
5Hera,Imre Jr. GM 2530HUN 523.5156
6Filipovic,Branko IM 2426CRO 4.526.5147
7Loetscher,Roland FM 2366SUI 4.526147.5
8Prohaszka,Peter IM 2502HUN 4.525.5152.5
9Varga,Zoltan GM 2494HUN 4.525153
10Rukavina,Josip IM 2429CRO 4.524.5144.5
11Hug,Marcel 2307SUI 4.522.5147
12Vrhovnik,Damir 1966CRO 4.521141.5
13Bukal,Vladimir Jr IM 2380CRO 429151
14Lutz,Bernhard 2239GER 424.5147.5
15Jäggi,Dorian 2220422146.5
16Martsynovskaya,Ma WIM 2223FRA 420.5132
17Milosevic,Goran IM 2405SUI 3.527140.5
18Vulevic,Vjekoslav FM 2387SUI 3.526.5148.5
19Haener,Philip 2182SUI 3.522.5130.5
20Aumann,Welf 2347GER 3.522134
21Zenkic,Mensur 2056SUI 3.518.5127
22Melkumjanc,Nikola FM 2288GER 324137.5
38 players

12) Romanian Championships

The Romanian Championships took place 31st January - 8th February 2009 in Eforie Nord on the Black Sea Coast. Prize fund: 7000 Euro. A 9th women's title for Corina-Isabela Peptan and first men's for Eduard-Andrei Valeanu. The games files from both events are very incomplete and only from the first three rounds, hopefully a better file will turn up. My thanks to Dinu-Ioan Nicula for the news.

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

ch-ROM Eforie Nord (ROM), 31 i - 8 ii 2009
Leading Final Round 9 Standings:
RankNameFEDRtgPtsBH.
1Valeanu Eduard-AndreiROU243242½
2Nanu Ciprian-CosticaIMROU250642
3Lupulescu ConstantinGMROU2608744½
4Badea BelaGMROU2485744½
5Chirila Ioan-CristianIMROU2485740½
6Petrisor Adrian-MarianROU2242736½
7Anton TeodorROU2350733½
8Spulber CicironeFMROU232639
9Georgescu TiberiuFMROU240037½
10Filip LucianIMROU245836
11Jianu Vlad-CristianGMROU2544644
12Ardelean George-CatalinIMROU2502640½
13Schmidt RaulROU2382640½
14Manea AlexandruIMROU2409640
15Sofronie IulianIMROU2471640
16Baratosi DanielFMROU2421639
17Manolache MariusGMROU2487638½
18Taras Iulian-IoanFMROU2282638½
19Danilov VladimirIMROU2415638½
20Ungureanu VladFMROU2304636½
21Dragomirescu Robin-AlexandruROU2302636
22Mosnegutu KlaussROU2256635½
23Duca Alexandru-GabrielFMROU2230635
24Pepene GheorgheROU2129631
144 players
ch-ROM w Eforie Nord (ROM), 31 i - 8 ii 2009
Leading Final Round 9 Standings:
RankNameFEDRtgPtsBH.
1Peptan Corina-IsabelaWGMROU240139½
2Baciu Anca-OtiliaWFMROU2165738
3Paulet IozefinaWIMROU2315737½
4Padurariu Ioana-SmarandaWIMROU219940½
5Vasile TeodoraROU196336
6Gheorghe CorinaWIMROU2228636
7Sandu MihaelaWGMROU228538
8Foisor Mihaela-VeronicaWFMROU209937½
9Marin Irina-LuizaWIMROU216337
10Anusca Madalina-MariaROU199634½
11Chirita Andra-MarinaWFMROU203132½
12Dragomirescu AngelaWIMROU2220539½
13Adoamnei RoxanaROU1992535½
14Ilie Maria-RuxandraROU1884533½
15Berintan TeodoraROU1886531½
16Visanescu Daria-IoanaWFMROU1870531½
17Gelip IoanaROU1760530½
18Morea Georgiana-StelutaROU1774530
39 players

13) First Saturday February

The First Saturday tournaments take place 7th-20th February in Budapest.

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

FSGM February Budapest (HUN), 7-19 ii 2009 cat. VII (2425)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Ilincic, Zlatko g SRB 2555 * . . . . . . . . 1 1
2. Banusz, Tamas m HUN 2501 . * ½ . . . . . . . ½ 2418
3. Duong The Anh m VIE 2418 . ½ * . . . . . . . ½ 2501
4. Kosic, Dragan g MNE 2521 . . . * ½ . . . . . ½ 2465
5. Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy m VIE 2465 . . . ½ * . . . . . ½ 2521
6. Paschall, William M m USA 2354 . . . . . * ½ . . . ½ 2269
7. Wittmann, Walter m AUT 2269 . . . . . ½ * . . . ½ 2354
8. Ludwig, Daniel USA 2421 . . . . . . . * ? . 0
9. Szalanczy, Emil m HUN 2336 . . . . . . . ? * . 0
10. Konnyu, Janos HUN 2405 0 . . . . . . . . * 0

FSIM February Budapest (HUN), 7-19 ii 2009
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Farago, Sandor m HUN 2263 * . . . . . . . 1 . 1
2. Lyell, Mark f ENG 2287 . * . . . . . . . 1 1
3. Cox, Tristan A ENG 2131 . . * . . . ? . . . 0
4. Csirik, Andras f HUN 2271 . . . * . . . ? . . 0
5. Kislik, Erik Andrew USA 2310 . . . . * ? . . . . 0
6. Parkanyi, Attila m HUN 2334 . . . . ? * . . . . 0
7. Simonyi, Zoltan f SRB 2226 . . ? . . . * . . . 0
8. Vybiral, Zdenek CZE 2232 . . . ? . . . * . . 0
9. Bacso, Gabor f HUN 2123 0 . . . . . . . * . 0
10. Toth, Lili wm HUN 2190 . 0 . . . . . . . * 0

14) I Felix Alexander Sonnenfeld Memorial

The I Felix Alexander Sonnenfeld Memorial Festival took place in Praca Seca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1st-8th February 2009. Results and games from the first seven rounds only currently available. Eduardo Arruda da Gama A Cunha led with 6/7 with a couple of rounds to go.

Official site: http://sonnenfeld.webnode.com/

I Sonnenfeld Mem Praca Seca (BRA), 1-8 ii 2009 cat. II (2292)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Cunha, Eduardo Arruda da Gama A f BRA 2206 * . . 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 6 2585
2. Limp, Eduardo Thelio m BRA 2389 . * ½ ½ 1 . 1 1 ½ 1 2526
3. Perdomo, Leandro m ARG 2387 . ½ * . ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 2498
4. Saldano Dayer, Horacio m ESP 2449 0 ½ . * ½ 1 . 1 1 1 5 2430
5. Santos, Marcus Vinicius Moreira m BRA 2394 ½ 0 ½ ½ * 1 ½ . 1 . 4 2344
6. Guimaraes, Wagner Peixoto f BRA 2253 0 . ½ 0 0 * 1 1 . ½ 3 2247
7. Guerrero, Alvaro URU 2178 ½ 0 0 . ½ 0 * . 1 1 3 2252
8. Chauca, Jose PER 2173 0 0 0 0 . 0 . * ½ 1 2080
9. Silva, Celso Renato Rodrigues Da BRA 2196 0 ½ 0 0 0 . 0 ½ * . 1 2001
10. Medeiros, Jorge Luiz Cabral BRA 2295 0 0 0 0 . ½ 0 0 . * ½ 1868

15) Dutch Teams

The Dutch Team Championship takes place 27th September 2008 - 10th May 2009. I think there may be playoffs after that. Games from the first four rounds now available.

Great coverage at: http://www.schakers.info/ and also the http://www.schaakbond.nl/wedstrijdschaak/knsb-competitie/

TCh-NED 2008-9 (NED), 3 x 2008 - 30 ii 2009
Round 5 of 9 Standings:
Meesterklasse Mp Bp 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1. HSG 10 36 x . . . . 8
2. Hotels.nl 8 33½ . x 6 . . . 8
3. HMC Calder 6 27½ . 4 x 4 . . .
4. Schrijvers Rotterdam 6 25½ . 6 x . 6 . .
5. Utrecht 6 23½ . x . . .
6. Homburg Apeldoorn 4 25½ . . x . .
7. Voerendaal 4 24½ . . 4 . x . 7
8. LSG 3 24½ . . . . x 5 8
9. ESGOO 3 19 . . . 5 x .
10. BSG 0 10½ 2 2 . . . 3 2 . x

Round 5 - 7th February 2009
BSG - Voerendaal 3- 7
ESGOO - HSG -
Utrecht - LSG -
HMC Calder - Homburg Apeldoorn -
Hotels.nl - Schrijvers Rotterdam -
Round 4 - 13th December 2008
Hotels.nl - BSG 8- 2
Schrijvers Rotterdam - HMC Calder 6- 4
Homburg Apeldoorn - Utrecht -
LSG - ESGOO 5- 5
HSG - Voerendaal -
Round 3 - 22nd November 2008
BSG - HSG 2- 8
Voerendaal - LSG -
ESGOO - Homburg Apeldoorn -
Utrecht - Schrijvers Rotterdam -
HMC Calder - Hotels.nl 4- 6
Round 2 - 1st November 2008
HMC Calder - BSG -
Hotels.nl - Utrecht -
Schrijvers Rotterdam - ESGOO -
Homburg Apeldoorn - Voerendaal -
LSG - HSG -
Round 1 - 27th September 2008
BSG - LSG 2- 8
HSG - Homburg Apeldoorn -
Voerendaal - Schrijvers Rotterdam 4- 6
ESGOO - Hotels.nl -
Utrecht - HMC Calder -

16) So - Torre Match

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.

17) Franklin K. Young Memorial

George Mirijanian reports: The Franklin K. Young Memorial tournament took place on 31st January 2009 at the Boylston Chess Club in Somerville, Massachusetts, USA. IM Rico Zenklusen, 27, of Switzerland, now a resident of Massachusetts, and IM David Vigorito, 38, of Somerville tied for first place with scores of 3.5-0.5. Runners-up with 3-1 results were national masters Lawyer Times, 44, of Hyde Park, Mass., and Carey Theil, 30, of Arlington, Mass. The tournament drew 30 players in two sections and was directed by Bernardo Iglesias of Stoughton, Mass. for the sponsoring Boylston Chess Foundation. The tournament honored the memory of Boston-born Franklin Knowles Young (1857-1931), who wrote a series of largely esoteric chess books, using elaborate terminology, that applied battlefield principles to chess.

18) X CXG International

The X Internacional do CXG takes place in Rio de Janeiro, 9th-18th February, 2009.

http://www.cxg.org.br/

19) Cuban Championship

Cuban Championship - Final took place 20th - 28th January in Las Tunas, Cuba Lazaro Bruzon Batista won the event with the best tie-break after four players tied on 5,5/9. Sadly just the one game published in a newspaper is available. I'm hoping someone will come up with a game file.

Official site: http://www.capablanca.co.cu

20) Seville International Open

The XXXIV Open Internacional "Ciudad de Sevilla" took place 23rd-31st January 2009. Manuel Rivas Pastor won the event with 7.5/9.

Games from the final round missing.

Official site: http://www.fsajedrez.com/ (http://www.fsajedrez.com/torneos/2009/open/open.htm )

21) Raaphy Persitz 1934 - 2009

Yochanan Afek reports from Tel Aviv

Raaphy Persitz passed away in his sleep at the age of 74. He was a chess master but was mainly known as one of the brightest financial analysts , writing to the last day his highly instructive articles in the respectable daily Haaretz which belonged to his family. He was born in Tel-Aviv on 26 July 1934.

His grandmother Shoshana Persitz was a member of the first Kmesset (the Israeli parliament). In 1951 he was Israel's first junior champion. He was sent to England for his academic studies where he became an Oxford university graduate and was active in British chess, playing major tournaments such as Hastings premier 1955-56 (6th-7th place) and 1968-69 (7th-8th place) and representing England in 3 student olympiads:Oslo 1954 2nd board(+6 -0 =3) winning the gold medal! ; Uppsala 1956 1st board (+3 -1 =6); Reykjavik 1957 first board (+3 -6 =4).

He played 3 times the traditional Oxford- Cambridge match. He told me (and wickipedia confirms it) that In 1954 he won his individual game in the Oxford-Cambridge match in the morning, playing very quickly in order to be able to travel by train to Swindon (some 75 miles away) in time to play top board for his county (Oxfordshire) against Gloucestershire in the afternoon. He was paired against a former British champion, the famous Alexander and managed to win this game as well ! He was also a prolific and entertaining chess writer, contributing articles to a long-running column in British Chess Magazine entitled The Student's Corner.

Back in Israel he was one of the country's best players in the late 50th and 60th, representing Israel in Leipzig Olympiad 1960 on the fourth board (6+ 4- 2=). He was Israel's first champion for lightning chess and took part in the country's first International tournaments . Later for some 15 years he worked with his father in the banking business in Geneve, Switzerland. His command of the English language was amazing but he was indeed a super grandmaster of the Hebrew language creating various novelties especially economical terms, in his capacity as a member of the national Hebrew language academy.

He wrote a couple of Hebrew chess books and later translated several others to English. Raaphy was Chess (monthly), British Chess Magazine, The Problemist and EG regular reader to his last day.He was a passionate lover of the endgame study and a close friend of mine. A great man of culture, music and literature yet at the same time a modest and gentle person who was always willing to help and whom I will strongly miss. (Yochanan Afek)

Wikipedia entry on Raaphi Persitz

22) XXVI Linares Tournament 2009

The XXVI Linares 2009 tournament will take place only in Spain this year (their co-operation with Morelia in Mexico was ended last year). The tournament takes place 18th February - 8th March 2009 and has 314,000 Euros in prizes. There are no appearance fees for the players. The winner takes 100,000 Euros and the trophy 2nd and 3rd take 75,000 and 50,000 Euros.

World Champion Viswanathan Anand defends the Linares title after winning the event last year. Other players are Vassily Ivanchuk, Magnus Carlsen, Teimour Radjabov, Levon Aronian, Wang Yue, Alexander Grischuk and the Leinier Dominguez Perez.

Information: http://www.marca.com/2009/02/03/mas_deportes/ajedrez/1233689626.html

23) Forthcoming Events and Links

Chess in School Conference

There will be a Chess in Schools conference 25th-27th February 2209 in Turin (Torino-Italy).

The opening ceremony will be attended by the President of FIDE, Mr Ilyumzhinov. Among the speakers in the 3 days there will be many GMs, representatives of Fide and of many chess Federations, and obviously Italian teachers and experts.

Official web site and the complete program: http://www.turinchessinschools.com

Bunratty Chess Festival

The Bunratty Chess Festival takes place 20th-22nd February 2009. Peter Svidler will be returning to defend his title.

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

Aivars Gipslis Memorial

The Aivars Gipslis Memorial takes place 12th-18th February 2009. Organised by the Riga Chess Federation. They are looking for 1 foreign GM and one player with high motivation to get GM norm. Contact: Vadik Daskevics vadik.dashkevich@gmail.com

Aivars Gipslis Memorial Riga (LAT), 12 - 18 ii 2009
Players so far:
Ilmars StarostitsIMLAT2500
Juzefs PetkevichGMLAT2435
Samolins VitalijsLAT2430
Janis KlovansGMLAT2418
Mihailovs JurijsLAT2398
Abasov Nijat Azad olgu AZE2397
Vladimir SveshnikovFMLAT2397
Valdis SaulespurensFMUSA2384

21st Lenk International Chess Festival

After a great jubilee with the 20th Lenk Chess Festival, last year has come the shock news that the, 21st Lenk International Tournament, April 9th-13th 2009 will be the last chess event in the Simmental region, a very attractive tourist area. "Beochess" with "Swiss Chess Tour" this year close all their chess activity. During 21 years Lenk became very popular in chess world and it will be pity if nobody keeps on the tremendous tradition.

So, last time, Hotel Kreuz will be venue, Lenk Open. Swiss system, 7 rounds and the games will last a maximum of 5 hours (40 moves for 2 hours and 30 minutes till the end). The prizes: 1.500 SF, 1.200, 800, 600, 400, 2x300 and 3x200 SF. Special prizes: Ladies, senior (1948), junior(1989-92), schoolboy (1993) and amateur (under 2000) for all: 200 CHF. Entry fee 130 SF, FMs and juniors 60 SF, at the door 20 SF more, GMs and IMs free. Venue: Hotel "Kreuz". Time table: Round 1st 18.00-23.00 April 9,; Rounds 2/3 10.00-15.00 and 16.00-21.00 April 10,; Round 4 14.00-19.00 April 11,; Rounds 5/6 10.00-15.00 and 16.00-21.00 April 12,; Round 7 10.00-15.00 April 13. Closing ceremony April 13 at 16.00.

Info: Beochess +41+62+965-46-50 (Robert Spoerri) or info@beochess.ch or site http://www.beochess.ch for more details.

Zuerich Chess Club 200th Anniversary

Dr. Christian Rohrer reports: The world's oldest chess club celebrates its 200th year with spectacular jubilee events, including World Champions Spassky, Kasparov and Anand.

The Schachgesellschaft Zuerich celebrates 200th anniversary with spectacular jubilee events

The Schachgesellschaft Zuerich, the world's oldest chess club, celebrates its 200th year in 2009 with spectacular jubilee events. To mark the anniversary, some of the greatest masters of the last five decades, including World Champions Spassky, Kasparov and Anand, will play at the event. Highlights will be a simultaneous exhibition and a rapid chess tournament on the 22nd and 23rd of August, held in Zurich Main Railway Station. With generous sponsor support from Credit Suisse the Schachgesellschaft Zuerich continues its long standing tradition of world class chess tournaments.

On Saturday the 22nd of August, in simultaneous games 200 amateurs will be honoured to face eight word-class chess players, who have made historical contributions to world chess over the last 50 years: Viswanathan Anand, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Viktor Korchnoi, Vladimir Kramnik, Boris Spassky, Ruslan Ponomariov and Veselin Topalov. On Sunday the 23rd of August, these champions will compete against each other in an exciting rapid chess format. Judit Polgar, the strongest female chess player ever, and Werner Hug of Schachgesellschaft Zuerich, former world junior chess champion, will replace Kasparov and Spassky, who have retired from competitive chess.

A huge number of spectators, from enthusiasts to the generally curious, is expected for the events at Zurich Railway Main Station. And no one need miss it: All commemorative events will be streamed live via Internet.

The jubilee commences with an open tournament; certain to be one of the most exciting open chess tournaments of 2009. Players of every skill level, from beginners to the elite world class, are expected and will be welcomed at the Zurich Kongresshaus from August 9th to the 15th, 2009. They will compete in two tournaments, 9 rounds each, for CHF 100.000 guaranteed prize money and many attractive prizes.

To further honour the occasion, Richard Forster, reputable chess historian, will release his comprehensive book, researched in great detail, on the unique history of the Schachgesellschaft Zuerich. Entitled "Schachgesellschaft Zuerich: 1809 bis 2009", Forster's work will analyze the development of the Schachgesellschaft Zuerich from the times of Napoleon to the present day.

Details: http://www.sgzurich2009.ch

5th Thessaloniki Games Festival

The 5th Thessaloniki Games Festival takes place 26th April - 4th May 2009.

Official site: http://www.gamesfestival.com/ (wasn't working when I checked) and a full listing of the event.

32nd Ikaros Chess Festival 2009

The traditional 32nd Ikaros Chess Festival 2009 takes place on Ikaria island.

The main event of the festival, the International Aegean Open Championship takes place 11th-19th July 2009. It is a 9 round swiss event with prize fund 3600 Euros in total (1st prize 1000 Euros, special money prizes for ladies and veterans). Special conditions for GMs/IMs and WGMs/WIMs are provided, special discounts for families and club teams are also offered (more information will be available in the official announcement of the festival that will be out soon on the official webpage.

Contact info: ikaros@chess.gr while to contact us on the phone one can try: +30 6932 478386 or +30 210 5010871 (Mr. Savas Kyriakou). For general information about the island of Ikaria one can also check at: http://www.island-ikaria.com

Official site: http://www.chess.gr/ikaros

32nd San Sebastian Open

32nd San Sebastian International Open, takes place 5th-12th April 2009 in the Spanish northern city of San Sebastian (near french border).

Info: http://www.fgajedrez.org/open/open.htm

Tancats de la Societat Coral

The Tancats de la Societat Coral Colon Grup GM takes place 23rd January - 20th March 2009.

Official site: http://chess-results.com/tnr18677.aspx

Pula Open 2009

The 23rd International Chess Tournament "Pula Open 2009" takes place 27th June - 4th July 2009 in Pula, Croatia. Official site: http://www.skpula.hr and contact e-mail: pulaopen@globalnet.hr.

Aeroflot Open 2009

The mega Aeroflot Open takes place in Moscow 16th February (the day of arrival) to 27th February 2009 (the day of departure). There are five tournaments the main ones being: A1 higher than 2549 70000 Euros, A2 higher than 2399, but lower than 2550 36000 Euros, B higher than 2199, but lower than 2400 19500 Euros and C lower than 2200 and unrated 12000 Euros. Time control: Tournament A 1 and A 2: 40 moves in 2 hours, then 20 moves in 1 hour, finally 15 minutes for the remaining moves with an increment of 30 seconds per move in the last period. Tournament B and C: 90 minutes for the whole game with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move 1.

Blitz Tournament 26 Feb. 2009 a double nine-round Swiss Blitz Tournament will be held in the same venue. It is a Qualification Tournament for the World Blitz Championship 2009 (Final). The final tournament will take place in Moscow from 15 to 17 Nov.2009.

Information e-mail: aeroflotchess@gmail.com tel/fax: +7 (495) 691-8578 tel.: +7 (495) 690-6084

Details at the official site: http://www.aeroflotchess.com/

Hungarian Chess Tournaments March-October 2009

1. 7th-19th of February, FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM Budapest FIRST SATURDAY Budapest, 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/

2.20th-28th of February IM-Rating Caissa, Kecskemet, org: Dr.Erdelyi, Tamás, cellphone: +36-30-271-33-38, Landline phone-fax: +36-76-481-685 e-mail: postmaster@caissa.t-online.hu Website: http://www.caissachessbooks.hu Usually also in the second half of the month IM and rating tournaments in Kecskemet, a city 80 km South-East from Budapest.

3.7th-19th of March, First Saturday, Budapest, GM-IM-FM, org Nagy L.

4.20th-28th of March, 25th BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL 9 rounds Swiss Open, org: Nagy L. - e-mail: firstsat@hu.inter.net

5.4th-16th of April First Saturday Budapest, org.Nagy L.

6.18th-26th of April Caissa, IM + rating Kecskemet, Org.Erdelyi,

7.2nd-14th of May, First Saturday GM-IM-FM Budapest, org Nagy L.

Kecskemet Caissa IM + rating tournaments more: 16th-25th of May, 20th-28th of June, 18th-27th of July, 15th-24th of August, 19th-28th of September. FIRST SATURDAY Budapest GM-IM-FM tournaments more: 6th-18th of June, 4th-16th of July, 1st-13th of August, 5th-17th of September.

4NCL

The 4NCL takes place 4th October 2008 - 4th May 2009. Rounds 3-4 took place 6th-7th December 2008 in the Barcelo Hotel, Hinckley Island.

Official site: http://www.4ncl.co.uk

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

Novi Sad Open

1) Open turnir , 10-11 jan. 2009 , Srpska Nova g. u N. Sadu , 5 kola , rejtinguje se !!, fide tempo http://www.drazic.co.rs

2) IM , berger, 10-18.jan.2009. , 10 rounds, fide tempo, Novi SAd, for elo and norms fide, http://www.drazic.co.rs

3) Open turnir , 16-18 jan.2009, Novi Sad "Zima u Novom Sadu", 5 kola , rejtinguje se !!, fide tempo http://www.drazic.co.rs

4) cuger turnir , Olimpik, 12. jan.2009, Novi Sad, start 20 h , http://www.drazic.co.rs

5) program of chess edukation, every day from 12-15 jan. 2009 chess lessons with varius GM and Im (available in 3 languages),,,, some of teachers GM Kosanovic G. , GM SEdlak Nikola, GM Kovacevic A , GM DRazic Sinisa etc...

6) Open t. , "Dunav-Drava -Sava" , Banja Junakovic(87km from N.Sad), 9 rounds, fide tempo, possible norms fide and elo, date - 21-25.01.2009., special package , only 130 eur, 4 days full board with available swiming pool, and include also entry fee !! more http://www.drazic.co.rs Special discount for people who take part in more than one events.

Luis Scalise

Luis Scalise's chess pages have moved to: http://scalise.fortunecity.com/

7th Nancy Chess Festival

The 7th International Chess Festival takes place in Nancy (France) 16th-22nd February 2009. It will be a category 13 with average elo over 2550 (with january-elo). With the indian number 3 Pentala Harikrishna, the french number 5 Christian Bauer, the young hope of Germany Georg Meier, and the numbers 2 and 3 under-20 in France : Edouard and Feller (born in 1990 and 1991)...

Players: GM Harikrishna, P 2659 India GM Tregubov, Pavel 2646 Russia GM Krasenkow, Michal 2624 Poland GM Bauer, Christian 2592 France GM Meier, Georg 2558 Germany IM Edouard, Romain 2531 France GM Feller, Sebastien 2526 France IM Gozzoli, Yannick 2503 France IM Brunner, Nicolas 2415 France IM Nezar, Mustapha 2399 France

The all Festival includes 14 closed tournaments (10 players each) for all levels of players. Web (in french and english) : http://echecs54.free.fr/

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

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

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

Bundesliga

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

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

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

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

GM Boris Alterman's Chess Lessons

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

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

Etienne Bacrot's Website

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

ICC and FICS client for mobile phones

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

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