THE WEEK IN CHESS 758 18th May 2009 by Mark Crowther

1) Introduction

My thanks to Adolivio Capece, Luis Blasco de la Cruz, Luiz Roberto Da Costa Jr, Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh, Patricia Claros Aguillar, Pavel Matocha, Jonathan Grant, Olivier Breisacher, Bela Lengyel, Miklos Orso and everyone else who helped with the issue.

Another very busy week of chess. The MTel Masters has reached the half way stage with little settled. Magnus Carlsen, Alexei Shirov and Veselin Topalov all have 3/5 with all to play for. Last year's winner Vassily Ivanchuk is out of sorts and only has 1/5. The US Championship was won by Hikaru Nakamura who won clearly with 7/9. Pavel Eljanov won the Bosna tournament in Sarajevo. I had a birthday and a major computer crash this week. I lost a lot of e-mails and contact addresses so if something hasn't appeared in this issue or I don't get in touch for a while that could be the reason. Fingers crossed it's all fixed now. I will be backing up from now on! Finally there is exciting news about the London Chess Classic in December with the field filling out very nicely with Carlsen, Kramnik, Ni Hua, Adams, Short and McShane with a couple of names to come which should make it category 19 .

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) 5th M-Tel Masters

The 5th M-Tel Masters takes place in Sofia 12th-23rd May 2009 (rest day 18th May).

The Category XXI event sees Veselin Topalov, Magnus Carlsen, Vassily Ivanchuk, Wang Yue, Leinier Dominguez Perez and Alexei Shirov play in a double round robin format. The games will be played in a glass pavilion on the square in front of the National Theatre Ivan Vazov.

The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves per player and 60 minutes per player till the end of the game. The maximum period for a single game is 5 hours. "Sofia rules" will again be used. They are that: Opponents cannot communicate during the games and cannot offer a draw. Proposals for a draw can be made only through the Chief Arbiter in three cases: triple repetition, eternal chess and theoretical draw position. When making the decisions the Chief Arbiter will be consulted by Zurab Azmaiparashvili, Vice President of FIDE.

Official site: http://www.mtelmasters.com - including live coverage.

Preview: http://previews.chessdom.com/mtel-masters-2009

5th Mtel Masters Sofia (BUL), 13-23 v 2009											cat. XXI (2755)
					1		2		3		4		5		6
1.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2770	*	*	½	.	1	.	½	.	½	.	½	.	3	2823
2.	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2745	½	.	*	*	½	.	½	.	½	.	1	.	3	2828
3.	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2812	0	.	½	.	*	*	½	.	1	.	1	.	3	2815
4.	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	g	CUB	2717	½	.	½	.	½	.	*	*	½	.	½	.	2½	2762
5.	Wang Yue	g	CHN	2738	½	.	½	.	0	.	½	.	*	*	1	.	2½	2758
6.	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2746	½	.	0	.	0	.	½	.	0	.	*	*	1	2516

Round 1 (May 13, 2009)
Carlsen, Magnus	- Topalov, Veselin	1-0	36	D43	Anti-Meran Gambit
Wang Yue	- Dominguez Perez, Leinier	½-½	65	D82	Gruenfeld 4.Bf4
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Shirov, Alexei	0-1	24	B52	Sicilian Rossolimo
Round 2 (May 14, 2009)
Shirov, Alexei	- Topalov, Veselin	½-½	57	C64	Ruy Lopez Classical
Dominguez Perez, Leinier	- Carlsen, Magnus	½-½	30	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Wang Yue	0-1	51	C42	Petroff's Defence
Round 3 (May 15, 2009)
Carlsen, Magnus	- Ivanchuk, Vassily	½-½	54	D11	Slav Defence
Topalov, Veselin	- Dominguez Perez, Leinier	½-½	51	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Wang Yue	- Shirov, Alexei	½-½	39	D86	Gruenfeld Simagin
Round 4 (May 16, 2009)
Carlsen, Magnus	- Shirov, Alexei	½-½	39	D44	Anti-Meran Gambit
Topalov, Veselin	- Wang Yue	1-0	33	D17	Slav Defence
Dominguez Perez, Leinier	- Ivanchuk, Vassily	½-½	49	B41	Sicilian Paulsen
Round 5 (May 17, 2009)
Shirov, Alexei	- Dominguez Perez, Leinier	½-½	43	B99	Sicilian Najdorf
Wang Yue	- Carlsen, Magnus	½-½	25	D82	Gruenfeld 4.Bf4
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Topalov, Veselin	0-1	54	B99	Sicilian Najdorf

3) US Championships

The 2009 US Chess Championship took place in Saint Louis, United States, May 7th-17th 2009. 24 players competed. Hikaru Nakamura won the US Championship beating Josh Friedel in the final round. Robert Hess couldn't overcome a drawish bishops of opposite colour ending against Akobian and had to settle for a draw. Alexander Onischuk tied with Hess on 6.5/9. Gata Kamsky was a further half point back. I've corrected the games to the versions give in the official bulletin.

The women's championship takes place 2nd-12th October 2009 at the same venue.

Note Anna Zatonskih was been taken ill (minor ailment) and withdrew after three rounds.

Live coverage at the St Louis Chess Club website, TWIC, ICC and ChessBase.

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

Round 4 (May 11, 2009)
Shulman, Yuri	- Nakamura, Hikaru	½-½	84	D27	QGA
Brooks, Michael A	- Benjamin, Joel	½-½	25	C41	Philidor's Defence
Hughes, Tyler B	- Lawton,Charles	1-0	33	A41	Modern Defence
Christiansen, Larry M	- Shabalov, Alexander	½-½	49	E76	King's Indian Four Pawns
Akobian, Varuzhan	- Becerra Rivero, Julio	1-0	46	D45	Anti-Meran Variations
Onischuk, Alexander	- Hess, Robert L	½-½	47	E56	Nimzo Indian
Kamsky, Gata	- Friedel, Joshua E	½-½	69	C78	Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence
Robson, Ray	- Ibragimov, Ildar	1-0	36	B12	Caro Kann Advanced
Sevillano, Enrico	- Shankland, Samuel L	0-1	68	C78	Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence
Kaidanov, Gregory S	- Ehlvest, Jaan	½-½	53	E98	King's Indian Classical
Gulko, Boris F	- Eckert, Doug D	1-0	21	D82	Gruenfeld 4.Bf4
Khachiyan, Melikset	- Krush, Irina	1-0	58	B57	Sicilian Sozin Attack
Round 5 (May 12, 2009)
Ehlvest, Jaan	- Akobian, Varuzhan	0-1	40	C05	French Tarrasch
Friedel, Joshua E	- Shulman, Yuri	0-1	35	C19	French Winawer
Krush, Irina	- Christiansen, Larry M	½-½	45	A40	Unusual Replies to 1.d4
Benjamin, Joel	- Hughes, Tyler B	1-0	26	B40	Sicilian Classical
Shankland, Samuel L	- Onischuk, Alexander	0-1	22	C45	Scotch Game
Becerra Rivero, Julio	- Brooks, Michael A	0-1	84	B05	Alekhine's Defence
Eckert, Doug D	- Lawton,Charles	1-0	46	E93	King's Indian Classical
Robson, Ray	- Kaidanov, Gregory S	½-½	37	C80	Ruy Lopez Open
Shabalov, Alexander	- Sevillano, Enrico	0-1	39	D43	Anti-Meran Gambit
Ibragimov, Ildar	- Gulko, Boris F	½-½	32	E48	Nimzo Indian
Hess, Robert L	- Khachiyan, Melikset	1-0	44	B81	Sicilian Keres Attack
Nakamura, Hikaru	- Kamsky, Gata	½-½	35	A10	Dutch, QI and KID Systems
Round 6 (May 13, 2009)
Lawton,Charles	- Gulko, Boris F	0-1	36	B43	Sicilian Paulsen
Shabalov, Alexander	- Eckert, Doug D	1-0	25	B80	Sicilian Scheveningen
Hughes, Tyler B	- Ibragimov, Ildar	0-1	34	E20	Nimzo Indian
Krush, Irina	- Becerra Rivero, Julio	1-0	40	D44	Anti-Meran Gambit
Christiansen, Larry M	- Robson, Ray	0-1	36	D31	Semi-Slav Defence
Sevillano, Enrico	- Ehlvest, Jaan	½-½	69	C64	Ruy Lopez Classical
Kaidanov, Gregory S	- Shankland, Samuel L	1-0	49	D45	Anti-Meran Variations
Khachiyan, Melikset	- Benjamin, Joel	0-1	49	C50	Giuoco Piano
Brooks, Michael A	- Friedel, Joshua E	0-1	40	C69	Ruy Lopez Exchange
Onischuk, Alexander	- Nakamura, Hikaru	½-½	43	E43	Nimzo Indian Rubinstein
Kamsky, Gata	- Hess, Robert L	½-½	35	B72	Sicilian Dragon
Akobian, Varuzhan	- Shulman, Yuri	½-½	33	D45	Anti-Meran Variations
Round 7 (May 14, 2009)
Gulko, Boris F	- Shabalov, Alexander	½-½	46	D30	Queen's Gambit (without Nc3)
Shankland, Samuel L	- Hughes, Tyler B	0-1	67	B43	Sicilian Paulsen
Becerra Rivero, Julio	- Lawton,Charles	1-0	39	B07	Pirc Defence
Ibragimov, Ildar	- Khachiyan, Melikset	1-0	38	D81	Gruenfeld Botvinnik
Robson, Ray	- Brooks, Michael A	0-1	76	B96	Sicilian Najdorf
Ehlvest, Jaan	- Krush, Irina	1-0	93	A07	Barcza System
Eckert, Doug D	- Christiansen, Larry M	0-1	46	A40	Unusual Replies to 1.d4
Sevillano, Enrico	- Kaidanov, Gregory S	1-0	60	C02	French Advance
Friedel, Joshua E	- Hess, Robert L	0-1	29	C72	Ruy Lopez Modern Steinitz
Benjamin, Joel	- Kamsky, Gata	0-1	50	B13	Caro Kann Exchange
Nakamura, Hikaru	- Akobian, Varuzhan	1-0	40	C11	French Defence
Shulman, Yuri	- Onischuk, Alexander	0-1	58	E94	King's Indian Classical
Round 8 (May 16, 2009)
Lawton,Charles	- Shankland, Samuel L	½-½	78	B99	Sicilian Najdorf
Khachiyan, Melikset	- Eckert, Doug D	0-1	47	B23	Sicilian Closed
Shabalov, Alexander	- Krush, Irina	1-0	24	B97	Sicilian Najdorf
Gulko, Boris F	- Becerra Rivero, Julio	½-½	36	E73	King's Indian Averbakh
Christiansen, Larry M	- Hughes, Tyler B	1-0	50	B40	Sicilian Classical
Kaidanov, Gregory S	- Ibragimov, Ildar	½-½	33	E00	Catalan
Robson, Ray	- Sevillano, Enrico	1-0	62	C17	French Winawer
Friedel, Joshua E	- Ehlvest, Jaan	1-0	38	B93	Sicilian Najdorf with 6.f4
Akobian, Varuzhan	- Benjamin, Joel	1-0	47	E15	Queens Indian
Brooks, Michael A	- Nakamura, Hikaru	0-1	34	B33	Sicilian Sveshnikov
Hess, Robert L	- Shulman, Yuri	1-0	67	C01	French Exchange
Kamsky, Gata	- Onischuk, Alexander	½-½	30	C67	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Round 9 (May 17, 2009)
Hess, Robert L	- Akobian, Varuzhan	½-½	43	C11	French Defence
Shulman, Yuri	- Kaidanov, Gregory S	½-½	37	D43	Anti-Meran Gambit
Ibragimov, Ildar	- Brooks, Michael A	1-0	42	E10	Blumenfeld Counter Gambit
Sevillano, Enrico	- Christiansen, Larry M	0-1	38	C41	Philidor's Defence
Benjamin, Joel	- Shabalov, Alexander	½-½	56	B51	Sicilian Rossolimo
Shankland, Samuel L	- Gulko, Boris F	0-1	35	B64	Sicilian Rauzer
Becerra Rivero, Julio	- Khachiyan, Melikset	½-½	20	C43	Petroff's Defence
Nakamura, Hikaru	- Friedel, Joshua E	1-0	22	C58	Two Knights Defence
Krush, Irina	- Lawton,Charles	½-½	31	B08	Pirc Defence
Hughes, Tyler B	- Eckert, Doug D	1-0	27	D85	Gruenfeld Defence
Onischuk, Alexander	- Robson, Ray	1-0	67	D45	Anti-Meran Variations
Ehlvest, Jaan	- Kamsky, Gata	½-½	57	C48	Four Knights Rubinstein

ch-USA Saint Louis (USA), 8-17 v 2009
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1.	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2701	+14	=10	+2	=7	=4	=3	+5	+16	+6	7	2807
2.	Hess, Robert L	m	USA	2485	+9	+18	-1	=3	+22	=4	+6	+7	=5	6½	2789
3.	Onischuk, Alexander	g	USA	2684	=6	+19	=10	=2	+21	=1	+7	=4	+11	6½	2699
4.	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	2720	+8	+5	=7	=6	=1	=2	+12	=3	=10	6	2725
5.	Akobian, Varuzhan	g	USA	2612	+25	-4	+11	+18	+10	=7	-1	+12	=2	6	2709
6.	Friedel, Joshua E	g	USA	2516	=3	+13	+12	=4	-7	+16	-2	+10	-1	5	2650
7.	Shulman, Yuri	g	USA	2632	+17	+22	=4	=1	+6	=5	-3	-2	=13	5	2640
8.	Ibragimov, Ildar	g	USA	2586	-4	=25	=9	-11	=15	+19	+22	=13	+16	5	2557
9.	Christiansen, Larry M	g	USA	2588	-2	=21	=8	=14	=20	-11	+23	+19	+17	5	2490
10.	Ehlvest, Jaan	g	USA	2606	+16	=1	=3	=13	-5	=17	+20	-6	=4	4½	2584
11.	Robson, Ray	m	USA	2465	-18	+15	-5	+8	=13	+9	-16	+17	-3	4½	2579
12.	Benjamin, Joel	g	USA	2583	=21	+20	-6	=16	+19	+22	-4	-5	=14	4½	2506
13.	Kaidanov, Gregory S	g	USA	2595	=20	-6	+25	=10	=11	+21	-17	=8	=7	4½	2520
14.	Shabalov, Alexander	g	USA	2569	-1	-16	+24	=9	-17	+23	=15	+20	=12	4½	2460
15.	Gulko, Boris F	g	USA	2561	-19	-11	-20	+23	=8	+24	=14	=18	+21	4½	2403
16.	Brooks, Michael A	m	USA	2463	-10	+14	=17	=12	+18	-6	+11	-1	-8	4	2529
17.	Sevillano, Enrico	m	USA	2520	-7	+24	=16	-21	+14	=10	+13	-11	-9	4	2441
18.	Becerra Rivero, Julio	g	USA	2609	+11	-2	+19	-5	-16	-20	+24	=15	=22	4	2380
19.	Hughes, Tyler B		USA	2230	+15	-3	-18	+24	-12	-8	+21	-9	+23	4	2438
20.	Krush, Irina	m	USA	2452	=13	-12	+15	-22	=9	+18	-10	-14	=24	3½	2437
21.	Shankland, Samuel L	m	USA	2446	=12	=9	=22	+17	-3	-13	-19	=24	-15	3	2353
22.	Khachiyan, Melikset	g	USA	2546	+24	-7	=21	+20	-2	-12	-8	-23	=18	3	2327
23.	Eckert, Doug D	f	USA	2275	.	.	.	-15	+24	-14	-9	+22	-19	2	2290
24.	Lawton,Charles		USA	----	-22	-17	-14	-19	-23	-15	-18	=21	=20	1	2116
25.	Zatonskih, Anna	m	USA	2461	-5	=8	-13	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	2324

ch-USA Saint Louis (USA), 8-17 v 2009 Official final standings:
No.	Ti	Name		St	Rate	Rd1	Rd2	Rd3	Rd4	Rd5	Rd6	Rd7	Rd8	Rd9	Score	TB1	TB2	Prize
1.	GM	Nakamura, Hikaru	(2)	NY	2757	W14	D10	W2	D6	D4	D3	W5	W16	W7	7.0	39.5	48.0	$40,000.00
2.	IM	Hess, Robert	(17)	NY	2545	W9	W19	L1	D3	W22	D4	W7	W6	D5	6.5	40.5	47.5	$12,500.00
3.	GM	Onischuk, Alexander	(3)	VA	2736	D7	W17	D10	D2	W21	D1	W6	D4	W11	6.5	38.5	45.5	$12,500.00
4.	GM	Kamsky, Gata	(1)	NY	2798	W8	W5	D6	D7	D1	D2	W13	D3	D10	6.0	41.0	50.0	$ 7,500.00
5.	GM	Akobian, Varuzhan	(7)	CA	2664	W25	L4	W11	W19	W10	D6	L1	W13	D2	6.0	38.0	46.0	$ 7,500.00
6.	GM	Shulman, Yury	(4)	IL	2697	W18	W22	D4	D1	W7	D5	L3	L2	D12	5.0	41.0	48.0	$ 4,650.00
7.	GM	Friedel, Joshua	(15)	NH	2568	D3	W12	W13	D4	L6	W16	L2	W10	L1	5.0	40.0	48.0	$ 4,650.00
8.	GM	Ibragimov, Ildar	(13)	CT	2628	L4	D25	D9	L11	D15	W17	W22	D12	W16	5.0	32.0	39.0	$ 4,650.00
9.	GM	Christiansen, Larry	(5)	MA	2681	L2	D21	D8	D14	D20	L11	W23	W17	W18	5.0	32.0	38.5	$ 4,650.00
10.	GM	Ehlvest, Jaan	(10)	NY	2649	W16	D1	D3	D12	L5	D18	W20	L7	D4	4.5	25.0	46.0	$ 2,833.33
11.	IM	Robson, Ray	(18)	FL	2542	L19	W15	L5	W8	D12	W9	L16	W18	L3	4.5	22.5	43.0	$ 2,833.33
12.	GM	Kaidanov, Gregory	(8)	KY	2662	D20	L7	-X-	D10	D11	W21	L18	D8	D6	4.5	21.5	34.5	$ 2,833.33
13.	GM	Benjamin, Joel	(9)	NJ	2650	D21	W20	L7	D16	W17	W22	L4	L5	D14	4.5	21.0	39.0	$ 2,833.33
14.	GM	Shabalov, Alexander	(14)	PA	2620	L1	L16	W24	D9	L18	W23	D15	W20	D13	4.5	20.5	37.0	$ 2,833.33
15.	GM	Gulko, Boris	(12)	NJ	2631	L17	L11	L20	W23	D8	W24	D14	D19	W21	4.5	19.5	33.0	$ 2,833.33
16.	IM	Brooks, Michael	(22)	MO	2419	L10	W14	D18	D13	W19	L7	W11	L1	L8	4.0	31.0	43.0	$ 2,375.00
17.		Hughes, Tyler	(24)	CO	2293	W15	L3	L19	W24	L13	L8	W21	L9	W23	4.0	25.5	37.0	$ 2,375.00
18.	IM	Sevillano, Enrico	(16)	CA	2549	L6	W24	D16	L21	W14	D10	W12	L11	L9	4.0	25.5	35.5	$ 2,375.00
19.	GM	Becerra, Julio	(6)	FL	2672	W11	L2	W17	L5	L16	L20	W24	D15	D22	4.0	24.5	37.0	$ 2,375.00
20.	IM	Krush, Irina	(20)	NY	2496	D12	L13	W15	L22	D9	W19	L10	L14	D24	3.5	25.5	35.0	$ 2,000.00
21.	IM	Shankland, Samuel	(21)	CA	2464	D13	D9	D22	W18	L3	L12	L17	D24	L15	3.0	24.5	36.0	$ 2,000.00
22.	GM	Khachiyan, Melikset	(11)	CA	2632	W24	L6	D21	W20	L2	L13	L8	L23	D19	3.0	24.5	36.0	$ 2,000.00
23.	FM	Eckert, Doug D	(25)	IL	2278	-U-	-U-	-U-	L15	W24	L14	L9	W22	L17	2.0	12.5	22.0	$ 2,000.00
24.		Lawton, Charles	(23)	MO	2350	L22	L18	L14	L17	L23	L15	L19	D21	D20	1.0	25.0	34.0	$ 2,000.00
25.	IM	Zatonskih, Anna	(19)	NY	2503	L5	D8	-F-	-U-	-U-	-U-	-U-	-U-	-U-	0.5	0.0	11.0	$ 2,000.00

4) 39th Bosna tournament

The 39th Bosna tournament in Sarajevo took place May 8th-18th 2009. The 6 player double round robin was won by Pavel Eljanov with 7/10 who dominated throughout and finished a point and a half clear of the field. Nikola Sedlak edged out Bojan Vuckovic and Milan Drasko on tie-break after all finished on 7/9 in the open. I will wait and see if a better PGN file for the open becomes available.

Official site: http://www.skbosna.ba/?jezik=bos&x=47

39th Bosna Sarajevo (BIH), 8-18 v 2009											cat. XVIII (2691)
					1		2		3		4		5		6
1.	Eljanov, Pavel	g	UKR	2693	*	*	½	½	1	½	½	½	1	½	1	1	7	2839
2.	Predojevic, Borki	g	BIH	2652	½	½	*	*	½	½	1	0	½	1	½	½	5½	2734
3.	Wang Hao	g	CHN	2696	0	½	½	½	*	*	0	1	½	1	½	1	5½	2725
4.	Movsesian, Sergei	g	SVK	2747	½	½	0	1	1	0	*	*	½	½	½	½	5	2679
5.	Harikrishna, P	g	IND	2686	0	½	½	0	½	0	½	½	*	*	½	1	4	2619
6.	Sokolov, Ivan NED	g	NED	2669	0	0	½	½	½	0	½	½	½	0	*	*	3	2545

Round 5 (May 13, 2009)
Predojevic, Borki	- Eljanov, Pavel	½-½	14	C65	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Wang Hao	- Sokolov, Ivan NED	½-½	46	D17	Slav Defence
Harikrishna, P	- Movsesian, Sergei	½-½	64	D15	Slav Defence
Round 6 (May 14, 2009)
Eljanov, Pavel	- Wang Hao	½-½	32	D12	Slav Defence
Predojevic, Borki	- Harikrishna, P	1-0	37	B12	Caro Kann Advanced
Movsesian, Sergei	- Sokolov, Ivan NED	½-½	29	D34	Tarrasch Defence, Main Line
Round 7 (May 15, 2009)
Wang Hao	- Harikrishna, P	1-0	41	D43	Anti-Meran Gambit
Movsesian, Sergei	- Predojevic, Borki	1-0	29	C90	Ruy Lopez
Sokolov, Ivan NED	- Eljanov, Pavel	0-1	24	E12	Queens Indian Petrosian
Round 8 (May 16, 2009)
Eljanov, Pavel	- Movsesian, Sergei	½-½	16	D15	Slav Defence
Predojevic, Borki	- Wang Hao	½-½	9	B96	Sicilian Najdorf
Harikrishna, P	- Sokolov, Ivan NED	1-0	51	D32	Tarrasch Defence
Round 9 (May 17, 2009)
Eljanov, Pavel	- Predojevic, Borki	½-½	67	D47	Queens Gambit Meran
Movsesian, Sergei	- Harikrishna, P	½-½	55	C42	Petroff's Defence
Sokolov, Ivan NED	- Wang Hao	0-1	40	D45	Anti-Meran Variations
Round 10 (May 18, 2009)
Predojevic, Borki	- Sokolov, Ivan NED	½-½	13	C55	Two Knights Defence
Wang Hao	- Movsesian, Sergei	1-0	45	B80	Sicilian Scheveningen
Harikrishna, P	- Eljanov, Pavel	½-½	54	C46	Four Knights

39th Bosna Open Sarajevo (BIH), 12-18 v 2009
Pl	SBr.		Name	Rtg	FED	Pts	BK.
1	2	GM	Sedlak Nikola	2572	SRB	7	42½
2	3	GM	Vuckovic Bojan	2572	SRB	7	39
3	7	GM	Drasko Milan	2527	MNE	7	37
4	11	IM	Szabo Gergely-Andras-Gyula	2510	ROU	6½	43
5	1	GM	Iotov Valentin	2581	BUL	6½	41½
6	10	GM	Pavlovic Milos	2511	SRB	6½	39
7	5	GM	Blagojevic Dragisa	2548	MNE	6½	34½
8	13	GM	Cabrilo Goran	2504	SRB	6½	34
9	18	IM	Miron Lucian-Costin	2444	ROU	6	41
10	9	GM	Antic Dejan	2513	SRB	6	40½
11	19	IM	Runic Zoran	2443	BIH	6	39
12	16	IM	Bogut Zeljko	2467	BIH	6	39
13	15	IM	Sebenik Matej	2482	SLO	6	37
14	8	GM	Dizdarevic Emir	2519	BIH	6	34
15	32		Dautovic Smail	2265	BIH	6	33
16	21	IM	Dimitrov Pavel	2396	BUL	6	32½
17	6	GM	Savic Miodrag R	2539	SRB	5½	38½
18	17	IM	Stojanovic Dalibor	2464	BIH	5½	38
19	4	GM	Chatalbashev Boris	2571	BUL	5½	38
20	30		Batricevic Sasa	2275	MNE	5½	36½
21	36		Konjicanin Muris	2245	BIH	5½	36
22	22	IM	Dimitrov Radoslav	2388	BUL	5½	35½
23	26		Muratovic Efim	2328	BIH	5½	34
24	27	FM	Rasidovic Sead	2324	BIH	5½	34
25	20	IM	Jakovljevic Vlado	2416	BIH	5½	33
26	29	FM	Mujic Hamza	2292	BIH	5½	33
27	40	FM	Kamberovic Senad	2216	BIH	5½	32½
28	23	IM	Lekic Dusan	2386	MNE	5½	32
29	28	FM	Trkulja Goran	2312	BIH	5½	31½
30	31	FM	Terzic Ilijas	2270	BIH	5½	31
31	33	FM	Stavnjak Lazar	2263	BIH	5½	29½
96 players

5) First Saturday May

The First Saturday tournaments took place 2nd-15th May in Budapest. No GM group this month, just an IM and two FM sections. Miklos Galyas won the IM Group with 6/9.

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

FSIM May Budapest (HUN), 2-11 v 2009												cat. II (2283)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Galyas, Miklos	m	HUN	2458	*	1	1	0	½	1	½	1	1	0	6	2388
2.	Kislik, Erik Andrew		USA	2314	0	*	0	1	½	0	1	1	1	½	5	2322
3.	Lengyel, Bela	m	HUN	2268	0	1	*	½	½	1	½	½	½	0	4½	2284
4.	Farago, Sandor	m	HUN	2255	1	0	½	*	0	0	1	0	1	1	4½	2285
5.	Wittmann, Walter	m	AUT	2272	½	½	½	1	*	½	0	½	0	1	4½	2283
6.	Hedke, Fred	f	GER	2310	0	1	0	1	½	*	1	0	0	1	4½	2279
7.	Szabo, Bence		HUN	2220	½	0	½	0	1	0	*	1	½	1	4½	2289
8.	Koczo, Kristof		HUN	2244	0	0	½	1	½	1	0	*	1	0	4	2243
9.	Szalanczy, Emil	m	HUN	2295	0	0	½	0	1	1	½	0	*	1	4	2238
10.	Denisov, Ivan		RUS	2189	1	½	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	*	3½	2212

FSFMA May Budapest (HUN), 2-11 v 2009
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Mayer, Istvan	f	HUN	2124	*	½	½	1	½	1	1	½	½	1	6½	2229
2.	Sipos, Gabor		HUN	2126	½	*	½	1	0	1	1	1	1	½	6½	2229
3.	Kapferer, Romed		AUT	2044	½	½	*	½	1	½	1	½	1	1	6½	2238
4.	Probst, Albert		GER	2104	0	0	½	*	1	½	1	1	1	1	6	2191
5.	Letay, Gyula	f	HUN	2067	½	1	0	0	*	1	½	1	1	½	5½	2150
6.	Schenkerik, Csaba		HUN	2215	0	0	½	½	0	*	1	½	1	1	4½	2053
7.	Katona, Jozsef3		HUN	1951	0	0	0	0	½	0	*	1	½	1	3	1958
8.	Heyl, Thomas		GER	2051	½	0	½	0	0	½	0	*	½	½	2½	1906
9.	Nagy, Laszlo1		HUN	2046	½	0	0	0	0	0	½	½	*	1	2½	1906
10.	Henrichsen, Jens		DEN	1971	0	½	0	0	½	0	0	½	0	*	1½	1807

FSFMB May Budapest (HUN), 2-11 v 2009
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Mendege, Andras	HUN	1818	*	½	1	½	½	1	1	1	1	1	7½	1963
2.	Farkas, Richard	HUN	1709	½	*	1	½	½	1	½	1	1	1	7	1922
3.	Szoukup, Istvan	HUN	1839	0	0	*	1	1	1	1	½	0	1	5½	1768
4.	Szecsi, Peter	HUN	----	½	½	0	*	½	½	½	1	1	1	5½	1750
5.	Juhasz, Armin	HUN	1828	½	½	0	½	*	½	½	½	1	1	5	1732
6.	Lajtos, Levente	HUN	1632	0	0	0	½	½	*	1	1	1	1	5	1754
7.	Pollak, Andras	HUN	1711	0	½	0	½	½	0	*	1	1	1	4½	1702
8.	Horvath, Zoltan3	HUN	1424	0	0	½	0	½	0	0	*	1	1	3	1609
9.	Klein, Rafael	ISR	1617	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	*	0	1	1361
10.	Szabo, Miklos	HUN	1453	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	*	1	1379

6) Young Stars of the World

The Young Stars of the World, Vanya Somov Memorial takes place 8th-21st May 2009 in Kirishi city (Leningrad region) in the Culture Palace. Twelve of the strongest young chess players in the world and Russia.

Official site: http://www.somovs-memorial.ru/

Further information: http://www.bs-chess.com/russian.html (RUS) and http://www.bs-chess.com/latin/english.html

Young Stars of the World Kirishi (RUS), 9-20 v 2009													cat. V (2368)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2
1.	Dubov, Daniil	f	RUS	2372	*	0	.	½	1	1	1	1	.	½	.	1	6	2531
2.	Narayanan, Srinath	m	IND	2381	1	*	.	1	0	0	.	.	1	½	½	1	5	2440
3.	Shimanov, Aleksandr	m	RUS	2519	.	.	*	½	1	0	1	0	½	.	1	1	5	2448
4.	Bukavshin, Ivan	f	RUS	2365	½	0	½	*	1	.	½	1	.	½	½	.	4½	2436
5.	Fedoseev, Vladimir3	f	RUS	2318	0	1	0	0	*	1	.	.	1	1	½	.	4½	2442
6.	Belous, Vladimir		RUS	2414	0	1	1	.	0	*	.	½	0	½	1	.	4	2388
7.	Chan Yi-Ren, Daniel	f	SIN	2375	0	.	0	½	.	.	*	1	½	½	1	½	4	2366
8.	Stukopin, Andrey	f	RUS	2380	0	.	1	0	.	½	0	*	1	.	½	1	4	2377
9.	Naroditsky, Daniel	f	USA	2335	.	0	½	.	0	1	½	0	*	1	.	1	4	2357
10.	Kovalev, Vladislav	f	BLR	2320	½	½	.	½	0	½	½	.	0	*	.	1	3½	2296
11.	Ipatov, Alexander ESP	m	ESP	2486	.	½	0	½	½	0	0	½	.	.	*	1	3	2276
12.	Ganichev, Alexander		RUS	2154	0	0	0	.	.	.	½	0	0	0	0	*	½	1952

7) XI Vila de Salou Open

XI Open Internacional d'escacs "Vila de Salou" (Tarragona) took place 5th-13th May 2009. Vladimir Burmakin won the event with 7½/9.

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

Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr21706.aspx?lan=2

XI Vila de Salou Open (ESP), 5-13 v 2009
Pl	Name		FED	Elo	Pts	BUC
1	Burmakin Vladimir	GM	RUS	2605	7½	50
2	Moskalenko Viktor	GM	UKR	2528	6½	52½
3	Nataf Igor-Alexandre	GM	FRA	2533	6½	51½
4	Iturrizaga Eduardo	GM	VEN	2522	6½	51½
5	Berg Emanuel	GM	SWE	2610	6	53½
6	Lemos Damian	GM	ARG	2512	6	53
7	Khamrakulov Ibragim S	GM	ESP	2552	6	50½
8	Libiszewski Fabien	GM	FRA	2505	6	50
9	Pogorelov Ruslan	GM	UKR	2420	6	49½
10	Lopez Martinez Josep Manuel	GM	ESP	2557	6	49
11	Kalegin Evgenij	IM	RUS	2490	6	47
12	Narciso Dublan Marc	GM	ESP	2534	6	46½
13	Cuartas Jaime Alexander	GM	COL	2518	5½	50
14	Cornette Matthieu	GM	FRA	2573	5½	50
15	Spassov Liuben	GM	BUL	2433	5½	48½
16	Lapicki Raul		ARG	2254	5½	46
17	Karlsson Lars	GM	SWE	2446	5½	45
18	Draghici Flutur Gravril		ESP	2141	5½	41½
19	Trepat Herranz Joan	CM	ESP	2251	5½	41
20	Fenollar Jorda Manuel	FM	ESP	2373	5	48
21	Ibarra Chami Luis Fernando	IM	MEX	2393	5	45
22	Westerinen Heikki M J	GM	FIN	2344	5	44½
23	Marholev Dimitar	IM	BUL	2396	5	44½
24	Collas Silvia	IM	FRA	2316	5	43½
25	Montell Lorenzo Joan Carlos	CM	ESP	2276	5	42
26	Hutchinson Paul A		ENG	2222	5	42
27	Videnova Iva	WFM	BUL	2160	5	41½
28	Pham Guerrero Sergi		ESP	2212	5	41
29	Aranzana Areste Alberto		ESP	2022	5	39
30	Adel Lahchaichi Oussama	FM	ESP	2298	5	39
31	Tscharotschkin Michael		GER	2209	4½	47½
67 players

8) Mitropa Cup

The Mitropa Cup took place May 9th-17th 2009 in Rogaska Slatina (Slovenia). Mitropa is short for MITtel euROPA. Croatia won the men's event ahead of Italy (Caruana) and Hungary. Germany took 4th place due to a better result against Slovenia (after these two teams tied other tie-breakers).

Men's tournament: 10 national teams from Italy, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic and France.

Women's tournament 7+1 national teams from Italy, Germany, Hugary, Austria, France, Croatia and Slovenia 1 and 2.

Official site: http://www.sah-zveza.si/mitropa/

Mitropa Cup Rogaska Slatina (SLO), 9-17 v 2009
N	Team	Rating	Nat. Rat.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Score	MP
1	Croatia	2516.5		B 4 3.5	W 6 2.5	B 3 1	W 2 3	B 5 2.5	W 7 2	B 10 2.5	W 8 2	B 9 3.5	22.5	14
1.1	Bosiocic, Marin	2571	2571	= 4. 1	+ 6. 1	- 3. 1	+ 2. 1	= 5. 1	= 7. 1	=10. 1	- 8. 1	+ 9. 1	5.0/9
1.2	Jovanovic, Zoran	2525	2525	+ 4. 2	= 6. 2	= 3. 2	= 2. 2	+ 5. 2	= 7. 2	=10. 2	+ 8. 2	= 9. 2	6.0/9
1.3	Saric, Ante	2502	2502	+ 4. 3	= 6. 3	- 3. 3		- 5. 3	= 7. 3			+ 9. 3	3.0/6
1.4	Doric, Darko	2468	2468	+ 4. 4	= 6. 4		= 2. 3	+ 5. 4		=10. 4	- 8. 3		3.5/6
1.5	Martinovic, Sasa	2483	2483			= 3. 4	+ 2. 5		= 7. 4	+10. 5	+ 8. 5	+ 9. 4	5.0/6
2	Italy	2526.5		B 10 3.5	W 9 2	B 6 2	B 1 1	W 7 3	B 8 3.5	W 4 1.5	B 3 2.5	W 5 3.5	22.5	12
2.1	Caruana, Fabiano	2649	2649	=10. 1	+ 9. 1	+ 6. 1	- 1. 1	+ 7. 1	+ 8. 1	= 4. 1		+ 5. 1	6.0/8
2.2	Godena, Michele	2538	2538		= 9. 2	+ 6. 2	= 1. 2	+ 7. 2	= 8. 2	- 4. 2	= 3. 1	= 5. 2	4.5/8
2.3	Brunello, Sabino	2477	2477	+10. 3	= 9. 3	- 6. 3	= 1. 4	= 7. 3	+ 8. 3	+ 4. 3	+ 3. 2	+ 5. 3	6.5/9
2.4	Rombaldoni, Denis	2442	2442	+10. 4		- 6. 4		= 7. 4	+ 8. 4	- 4. 4	+ 3. 3	+ 5. 4	4.5/7
2.5	Mogranzini, Roberto	2422	2422	+10. 5	- 9. 4		- 1. 5				- 3. 4		1.0/4
3	Hungary	2532.3		W 8 2.5	B 4 1.5	W 1 3	W 5 3	B 10 3.5	W 9 2	B 6 2.5	W 2 1.5	B 7 1.5	21	11
3.1	Erdos, Viktor	2581	2581	= 8. 1	- 4. 1	+ 1. 1	= 5. 1	=10. 1	= 9. 1	= 6. 2	= 2. 2	+ 7. 1	5.0/9
3.2	Papp, Gabor	2524	2524	= 8. 3	= 4. 2	= 1. 2	+ 5. 2	+10. 2	= 9. 2	+ 6. 3	- 2. 3	- 7. 2	5.0/9
3.3	Berczes, David	2513	2513		= 4. 3	+ 1. 3	+ 5. 3	+10. 3	= 9. 3	= 6. 4	- 2. 4	- 7. 3	4.5/8
3.4	Prohaszka, Peter	2511	2511	+ 8. 4	= 4. 4	= 1. 5	= 5. 4		= 9. 4		+ 2. 5	= 7. 4	4.5/7
3.5	Rapport, Richard	2371	2371	= 8. 5				+10. 4		= 6. 5			2.0/3
4.-5.	Slovenia	2558.3		W 1 0.5	W 3 2.5	B 5 1.5	W 10 3	B 9 3.5	W 6 2	B 2 2.5	W 7 3.5	B 8 1.5	20.5	11
4.1	Pavasovic, Dusko	2607	2607	= 1. 1	+ 3. 1	= 5. 1	=10. 1	= 9. 1	= 6. 2	= 2. 1	+ 7. 2	= 8. 1	5.5/9
4.2	Borisek, Jure	2581	2581	- 1. 2	= 3. 2	+ 5. 2	=10. 2	+ 9. 2	= 6. 3	+ 2. 2	= 7. 3	- 8. 2	5.0/9
4.3	Lenic, Luka	2574	2574	- 1. 3	= 3. 3	- 5. 3	+10. 4	+ 9. 3	= 6. 4	- 2. 3	+ 7. 4	- 8. 3	4.0/9
4.4	Skoberne, Jure	2471	2471	- 1. 4	= 3. 4	- 5. 4	+10. 5	+ 9. 4	= 6. 5	+ 2. 4	+ 7. 5	+ 8. 4	6.0/9
4.5	Mohr, Georg	2496	2496										0.0/0
4.-5.	Germany	2572.8		W 7 2	B 8 3.5	W 4 2.5	B 3 1	W 1 1.5	W 10 3	B 9 3.5	W 6 3	B 2 0.5	20.5	11
5.1	Gustafsson, Jan	2631	2631	= 7. 1	= 8. 1	= 4. 1	= 3. 1	= 1. 1	+10. 1	= 9. 1	= 6. 1	- 2. 1	4.5/9
5.2	Braun, Arik	2564	2564	= 7. 2	+ 8. 3	- 4. 2	- 3. 2	- 1. 2	=10. 2	+ 9. 2	+ 6. 2	= 2. 2	4.5/9
5.3	Prusikin, Michael	2549	2549			+ 4. 3	- 3. 3	+ 1. 3	+10. 3	+ 9. 3	+ 6. 3	- 2. 3	5.0/7
5.4	Baramidze, David	2547	2547	+ 7. 3	+ 8. 4	+ 4. 4	= 3. 4	- 1. 4	=10. 5	+ 9. 4	= 6. 4	- 2. 4	5.5/9
5.5	Boensch, Uwe	2523	2523	- 7. 4	+ 8. 5								1.0/2
6	Czech Republic	2450.5		B 9 2.5	B 1 1.5	W 2 2	B 7 3	W 8 2	B 4 2	W 3 1.5	B 5 1	W 10 2.5	18	9
6.1	Petr, Martin	2460	2460	- 9. 1	- 1. 1	- 2. 1	= 7. 1	= 8. 1			= 5. 1	+10. 1	2.5/7
6.2	Kanovsky, David	2473	2473	= 9. 2	= 1. 2	- 2. 2	+ 7. 2	= 8. 2	= 4. 1	= 3. 1	- 5. 2	-10. 2	3.5/9
6.3	Cernousek, Lukas	2439	2439	+ 9. 3	= 1. 3	+ 2. 3	= 7. 3	- 8. 3	= 4. 2	- 3. 2	- 5. 3		3.5/8
6.4	Krejci, Jan	2430	2430	+ 9. 4	= 1. 4	+ 2. 4	+ 7. 4	+ 8. 5	= 4. 3	= 3. 3	= 5. 4	=10. 4	6.5/9
6.5	Konopka, Michal	2450	2450						= 4. 4	= 3. 5		+10. 5	2.0/3
7	Slovakia	2464.5		B 5 2	W 10 3.5	B 9 1.5	W 6 1	B 2 1	B 1 2	W 8 3.5	B 4 0.5	W 3 2.5	17.5	8
7.1	Vavrak, Peter	2487	2487	= 5. 1	=10. 1	- 9. 1	= 6. 1	- 2. 1	= 1. 1	= 8. 1		- 3. 1	2.5/8
7.2	Macak, Stefan	2494	2494	= 5. 2	+10. 3	+ 9. 2	- 6. 2	- 2. 2	= 1. 2	+ 8. 2	- 4. 1	+ 3. 2	5.0/9
7.3	Jurcik, Marian	2468	2468	- 5. 4	+10. 4	- 9. 3	= 6. 3	= 2. 3	= 1. 3	+ 8. 3	= 4. 2	+ 3. 3	5.0/9
7.4	Michalik, Peter	2409	2409	+ 5. 5	+10. 5	= 9. 4	- 6. 4	= 2. 4	= 1. 5	+ 8. 4	- 4. 3	= 3. 4	5.0/9
7.5	Plachetka, Jan	2389	2389								- 4. 4		0.0/1
8	Austria	2430		B 3 1.5	W 5 0.5	B 10 3	W 9 3.5	B 6 2	W 2 0.5	B 7 0.5	B 1 2	W 4 2.5	16	8
8.1	Ragger, Markus	2544	2544	= 3. 1	= 5. 1	=10. 1	+ 9. 1	= 6. 1	- 2. 1	= 7. 1	+ 1. 1	= 4. 1	5.0/9
8.2	Neubauer, Martin	2414	2414			+10. 3	= 9. 2	= 6. 2	= 2. 2	- 7. 2	- 1. 2	+ 4. 2	3.5/7
8.3	Kreisl, Robert	2389	2389	= 3. 2	- 5. 2	=10. 4	+ 9. 3	+ 6. 3	- 2. 3	- 7. 3	+ 1. 4	+ 4. 3	5.0/9
8.4	Pilaj, Herwig	2373	2373	- 3. 4	- 5. 4		+ 9. 4		- 2. 4	- 7. 4		- 4. 4	1.0/6
8.5	Schachinger, Mario	2350	2350	= 3. 5	- 5. 5	+10. 5		- 6. 4			- 1. 5		1.5/5
9	France	2450.3		W 6 1.5	B 2 2	W 7 2.5	B 8 0.5	W 4 0.5	B 3 2	W 5 0.5	B 10 2.5	W 1 0.5	12.5	6
9.1	Cossin, Sebastien	2471	2471	+ 6. 1	- 2. 1	+ 7. 1	- 8. 1	= 4. 1	= 3. 1	= 5. 1	-10. 1	- 1. 1	3.5/9
9.2	Terrieux, Kevin	2449	2449	= 6. 2	= 2. 2	- 7. 2	= 8. 2	- 4. 2	= 3. 2	- 5. 2	+10. 2	= 1. 2	3.5/9
9.3	Philippe, Christophe	2435	2435	- 6. 3	= 2. 3	+ 7. 3	- 8. 3	- 4. 3	= 3. 3	- 5. 3	+10. 3	- 1. 3	3.0/9
9.4	Vitoux, Colomban	2446	2446	- 6. 4	+ 2. 5	= 7. 4	- 8. 4	- 4. 4	= 3. 4	- 5. 4	=10. 4	- 1. 5	2.5/9
10	Switzerland	2402.8		W 2 0.5	B 7 0.5	W 8 1	B 4 1	W 3 0.5	B 5 1	W 1 1.5	W 9 1.5	B 6 1.5	9	0
10.1	Jenni, Florian	2516	2516	= 2. 1	= 7. 1	= 8. 1	= 4. 1	= 3. 1	- 5. 1	= 1. 1	+ 9. 1	- 6. 1	4.0/9
10.2	Ekstroem, Roland	2481	2481				= 4. 2	- 3. 2	= 5. 2	= 1. 2	- 9. 2	+ 6. 2	2.5/6
10.3	Huss, Andreas	2340	2340	- 2. 3	- 7. 2	- 8. 2		- 3. 3	- 5. 3		- 9. 3		0.0/6
10.4	Schiendorfer, Emanuel	2274	2274	- 2. 4	- 7. 3	= 8. 3	- 4. 3	- 3. 5		= 1. 4	= 9. 4	= 6. 4	2.0/8
10.5	Gaehwiler, Gabriel	2226	2226	- 2. 5	- 7. 4	- 8. 5	- 4. 4		= 5. 4	- 1. 5		- 6. 5	0.5/7

Mitropa Cup Women Rogaska Slatina (SLO), 9-16 v 2009
N	Team	Rating	Nat. Rat.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Score	MP
1.	Slovenia 1	2302.5		B 2 1	W 8 1.5	B 5 1.5	W 6 1.5	B 4 1.5	W 3 1.5	B 7 1	9.5	12
1.1	Krivec, Jana	2322	2322	= 2. 1	+ 8. 1	= 5. 1	+ 6. 1	= 4. 1	= 3. 1	= 7. 1	4.5/7
1.2	Srebrnic, Ana	2283	2283	= 2. 2	= 8. 2	+ 5. 2	= 6. 2	+ 4. 3	+ 3. 2	= 7. 2	5.0/7
2.	Slovenia 2	2211.5		W 1 1	W 5 1	B 4 1.5	W 7 1.5	B 8 1.5	W 6 1.5	B 3 1	9	11
2.1	Rozic, Vesna	2249	2249	= 1. 1	= 5. 1	= 4. 2	= 7. 1	= 8. 1	+ 6. 1	= 3. 2	4.0/7
2.2	Novak, Ksenija	2174	2174	= 1. 2	= 5. 2	+ 4. 3	+ 7. 2	+ 8. 2	= 6. 2	= 3. 3	5.0/7
3.	Italy	2340.5		B 5 1	W 4 1	B 7 1.5	W 8 0.5	B 6 2	B 1 0.5	W 2 1	7.5	7
3.1	Sedina, Elena	2351	2351	= 5. 1	= 4. 1		- 8. 2	+ 6. 1	= 1. 1		2.5/5
3.2	Zimina, Olga	2330	2330	= 5. 2		+ 7. 1		+ 6. 2	- 1. 2	= 2. 1	3.0/5
3.3	Brunello, Marina	2166	2166		= 4. 2	= 7. 2	= 8. 3			= 2. 2	2.0/4
4.	Hungary	2140.5		W 6 2	B 3 1	W 2 0.5	B 5 0.5	W 1 0.5	W 7 2	B 8 1	7.5	6
4.1	Papp, Petra	2141	2141	+ 6. 1	= 3. 1		- 5. 1	= 1. 1	+ 7. 1	+ 8. 1	4.0/6
4.2	Dudas, Eszter	2140	2140	+ 6. 2	= 3. 3	= 2. 1	= 5. 2		+ 7. 2	- 8. 3	3.5/6
4.3	Erdos, Boglarka	2129	2129			- 2. 2		- 1. 2			0.0/2
5.	Germany	2240.0		W 3 1	B 2 1	W 1 0.5	W 4 1.5	B 7 1	W 8 1.5	B 6 0.5	7	7
5.1	Ohme, Melanie	2242	2242	= 3. 1	= 2. 1	= 1. 1	+ 4. 1	= 7. 1	+ 8. 1	= 6. 1	4.5/7
5.2	Fuchs, Judith	2238	2238	= 3. 2	= 2. 2	- 1. 2	= 4. 2	= 7. 2	= 8. 2	- 6. 2	2.5/7
6.	France	2169.5		B 4 0	W 7 2	B 8 2	B 1 0.5	W 3 0	B 2 0.5	W 5 1.5	6.5	6
6.1	Flear, Christine	2172	2172	- 4. 1	+ 7. 1	+ 8. 1	- 1. 1	- 3. 1	- 2. 1	= 5. 1	2.5/7
6.2	Nicoara, Malina	2167	2167	- 4. 2	+ 7. 2	+ 8. 3	= 1. 2	- 3. 2	= 2. 2	+ 5. 2	4.0/7
7.	Croatia	2247.5		W 8 2	B 6 0	W 3 0.5	B 2 0.5	W 5 1	B 4 0	W 1 1	5	4
7.1	Franciskovic, Borka	2262	2262	+ 8. 1	- 6. 1	- 3. 2	= 2. 1	= 5. 1	- 4. 1	= 1. 1	2.5/7
7.2	Solic, Kristina	2233	2233	+ 8. 2	- 6. 2	= 3. 3	- 2. 2	= 5. 2	- 4. 2	= 1. 2	2.5/7
7.3	Macek, Vlasta	2234	2234								0.0/0
8.	Austria	2086.0		B 7 0	B 1 0.5	W 6 0	B 3 1.5	W 2 0.5	B 5 0.5	W 4 1	4	3
8.1	Novkovic, Julia	2143	2143	- 7. 1	- 1. 1	- 6. 1		= 2. 1	- 5. 1	- 4. 1	0.5/6
8.2	Schink, Barbara	2029	2029	- 7. 2	= 1. 2		+ 3. 1	- 2. 2	= 5. 2		2.0/5
8.3	Bauer, Marie-Christine	1871	1871			- 6. 2	= 3. 3			+ 4. 2	1.5/3

9) Spanish Universities Championship

The Spanish Universities Championship took place in La Pineda de Vila-Seca (Tarragona) 12th-14th May 2009. Jose Carlos Ibarra Jerez won with 8/9.

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

Spanish Universities La Pineda de Vila-Seca (Tarragona) (ESP), 12-14 v 2009
Rk.	Name	Ti	FIDE	Pts.	Des 1	Des 2	Des 3
1	Ibarra Jerez Jose Carlos	IM	2514	8	46.5	39.5	51
2	Antoli Royo Joaquin Miguel	FM	2416	7.5	49	42	53.5
3	Aloma Vidal Robert	IM	2378	7	52	44.5	56.5
4	Cuenca Jimenez Jose Fernando	IM	2426	7	49.5	41.5	53.5
5	Martinez Martin David	IM	2390	7	49	42	53.5
6	Rodriguez Guerrero Enrique	GM	2468	7	49	42	52.5
7	Vila Gazquez Xavier	IM	2449	7	46.5	39.5	49.5
8	Almagro Llamas Pablo	FM	2479	7	46	39	50
9	Valmana Canto Jaime	FM	2341	7	44.5	37.5	48
10	Gutierrez Olivares Daniel		2156	7	43.5	36.5	46.5
11	Fidalgo Fernandez Javier		2285	6.5	53.5	45.5	58
12	Camacho Collados Jose	FM	2379	6.5	51	43.5	55
13	Alonso Alvarez Aitor		2247	6.5	43.5	36.5	46.5
14	Hernandez Leon Alberto		2254	6.5	40	34	43.5
15	Torrado Quintela Julio		2246	6	47.5	40.5	52
16	Eyo Castro-Rial Alberto		2193	6	47.5	40	50.5
17	Andres Gonzalez Ivan	FM	2364	6	47.5	39.5	50
18	Garcia Brion Eduardo		2164	6	46.5	39.5	50.5
19	Mayans Calvo Mariano		2206	6	45.5	38.5	50
20	Jimenez Martinez Jose Vicente		2219	6	45.5	38.5	49
21	Perez Campos Adria		2201	6	45	38	49
22	Ibarra Jerez Juan Miguel		2237	6	42.5	35.5	45.5
23	Perez Felipe Marcos Adrian		2266	6	42	34.5	46.5
24	Alcazar Jimenez Jesus A	FM	2277	6	41	35	45
25	Lopez Rodriguez Walter		2216	6	40.5	33.5	44.5
26	Rodriguez Perez Angel Mariano		2027	6	40.5	33	43.5
27	San Martin Ramos Lluis		2173	6	38.5	30.5	41
28	Pena Gomez Manuel	FM	2456	6	38	32	41
29	Perez Mauricio Xoel		2241	6	37	31	39.5
30	Fernandez Barrera Victor	FM	2318	5.5	47.5	39.5	52
150 players

10) Uruguayan Championship

The Uruguayan Championship took place 8th-17th May 2009. Bernardo Roselli Mailhe won the event with 8½/11.

Official site: http://www.fuajedrez.com/finalesuru/final_desarrollo.html

ch-URU Montevideo (URU), 8-17 v 2009
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2
1.	Roselli Mailhe, Bernardo	m	URU	2379	*	½	1	½	1	0	½	1	1	1	1	1	8½	2384
2.	Donatti, Alvaro		URU	2179	½	*	0	1	1	½	0	1	1	1	1	1	8	2366
3.	Izquierdo, Daniel	f	URU	2288	0	1	*	½	0	1	1	0	1	1	½	1	7	2283
4.	Carvalho, Guillermo		URU	2239	½	0	½	*	½	½	½	1	1	½	1	1	7	2287
5.	Larrea, Manuel	f	URU	2276	0	0	1	½	*	1	½	0	1	1	1	1	7	2284
6.	Lopez Azambuja, Nicolas		URU	----	1	½	0	½	0	*	½	1	0	1	1	½	6	2243
7.	Saralegui, Mario		URU	2148	½	1	0	½	½	½	*	1	½	0	0	½	5	2158
8.	Guerrero, Alvaro		URU	2197	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	*	½	1	½	1	5	2153
9.	Oddone, Cristhian		URU	2231	0	0	0	0	0	1	½	½	*	0	1	1	4	2084
10.	Lopez Falcon, Jorge		URU	2190	0	0	0	½	0	0	1	0	1	*	½	½	3½	2057
11.	Coppola, Claudio		URU	2092	0	0	½	0	0	0	1	½	0	½	*	½	3	2024
12.	Bustelo, Tabare		URU	2065	0	0	0	0	0	½	½	0	0	½	½	*	2	1939

11) 31st Banicky kahanec

The 31st Banicky kahanec took place in Prievidza, Slovakia 2nd-12th May 2009. Mateusz Bartel won the event with 8/10. I give the games again as there were some problems last week.

Official site: http://www.sachprievidza.sk/?lang=en&id=21&type=2

31st Banicky kahanec Prievidza (SVK), 2-12 v 2009										cat. XIII (2570)
					1		2		3		4		5		6
1.	Bartel, Mateusz	g	POL	2601	*	*	1	1	1	½	0	1	1	1	½	1	8	2803
2.	Babula, Vlastimil	g	CZE	2584	0	0	*	*	½	½	½	½	1	½	1	1	5½	2603
3.	Miton, Kamil	g	POL	2596	0	½	½	½	*	*	½	½	1	½	½	½	5	2564
4.	Polak, Tomas	g	CZE	2508	1	0	½	½	½	½	*	*	0	0	½	1	4½	2546
5.	Ftácnik, Lubomir	g	SVK	2559	0	0	0	½	0	½	1	1	*	*	½	½	4	2500
6.	Markos, Jan	g	SVK	2571	½	0	0	0	½	½	½	0	½	½	*	*	3	2420

12) 84th Argentine Championships

The 84th Championships of Argentina 2009 take place in April and May. Semifinals: 30th April - 6th May, 2009 in La Plata. The Final: 11th-22nd May 2009. Place: Club Espanol in La Plata.

12 players: current champion + 3 top rating in Argentina + 5 from Semifinal + 2 invited players + 1 local player After the draw of lots (pairings from round 1)

Official site: http://www.ajedrez.com.ar/

84th ch-ARG La Plata (ARG), 11-12 v 2009													cat. IX (2467)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2
1.	Flores, Diego	g	ARG	2579	*	.	.	1	.	.	½	½	.	1	½	1	4½	2610
2.	Felgaer, Ruben	g	ARG	2561	.	*	.	0	½	.	.	1	.	1	1	½	4	2546
3.	Lafuente, Pablo	g	ARG	2524	.	.	*	½	½	½	.	.	½	½	1	.	3½	2501
4.	Mareco, Sandro	m	ARG	2503	0	1	½	*	½	½	.	.	½	.	.	.	3	2517
5.	Peralta, Fernando	g	ARG	2545	.	½	½	½	*	½	.	.	½	.	½	.	3	2475
6.	Slipak, Sergio	g	ARG	2452	.	.	½	½	½	*	.	½	.	½	½	.	3	2448
7.	Valerga, Diego	m	ARG	2523	½	.	.	.	.	.	*	½	1	0	½	½	3	2416
8.	Perez Ponsa, Federico	f	ARG	2390	½	0	.	.	.	½	½	*	½	.	.	1	3	2486
9.	Alonso, Salvador	m	ARG	2441	.	.	½	½	½	.	0	½	*	.	.	1	3	2474
10.	Orsini, Antonio		ARG	2352	0	0	½	.	.	½	1	.	.	*	.	½	2½	2443
11.	Claverie, Raul		ARG	2374	½	0	0	.	½	½	½	.	.	.	*	.	2	2405
12.	Lujan, Carolina	m	ARG	2364	0	½	.	.	.	.	½	0	0	½	.	*	1½	2281

Round 1 (May 11, 2009)
Flores, Diego	- Mareco, Sandro	1-0	33	A14	Reti Opening
Felgaer, Ruben	- Peralta, Fernando	½-½	22	B09	Pirc Defence
Slipak, Sergio	- Lafuente, Pablo	½-½	35	E15	Queens Indian
Perez Ponsa, Federico	- Alonso, Salvador	½-½	34	B48	Sicilian Paulsen
Valerga, Diego	- Claverie, Raul	½-½	27	A90	Dutch Classical
Lujan, Carolina	- Orsini, Antonio	½-½	31	C12	French MacCutcheon
Round 2 (May 12, 2009)
Mareco, Sandro	- Felgaer, Ruben	1-0	50	D17	Slav Defence
Peralta, Fernando	- Slipak, Sergio	½-½	45	E45	Nimzo Indian Rubinstein
Perez Ponsa, Federico	- Lujan, Carolina	1-0	56	B85	Sicilian Scheveningen
Alonso, Salvador	- Lafuente, Pablo	½-½	64	C95	Ruy Lopez Breyer
Orsini, Antonio	- Valerga, Diego	1-0	40	B56	Sicilian Defence
Claverie, Raul	- Flores, Diego	½-½	18	A04	Dutch System
Round 3 (May 13, 2009)
Flores, Diego	- Orsini, Antonio	1-0	32	E94	King's Indian Classical
Felgaer, Ruben	- Claverie, Raul	1-0	39	A21	English Opening
Lafuente, Pablo	- Peralta, Fernando	½-½	26	A11	Reti Opening
Slipak, Sergio	- Mareco, Sandro	½-½	36	A17	English Opening
Valerga, Diego	- Perez Ponsa, Federico	½-½	21	E97	King's Indian Classical
Lujan, Carolina	- Alonso, Salvador	0-1	36	A04	Dutch System
Round 4 (May 14, 2009)
Mareco, Sandro	- Lafuente, Pablo	½-½	36	E49	Nimzo Indian
Perez Ponsa, Federico	- Flores, Diego	½-½	24	B84	Sicilian Scheveningen
Alonso, Salvador	- Peralta, Fernando	½-½	31	B08	Pirc Defence
Orsini, Antonio	- Felgaer, Ruben	0-1	29	B46	Sicilian Paulsen
Claverie, Raul	- Slipak, Sergio	½-½	10	B01	Centre Counter
Lujan, Carolina	- Valerga, Diego	½-½	21	B80	Sicilian Scheveningen
Round 5 (May 16, 2009)
Flores, Diego	- Lujan, Carolina	1-0	68	E61	King's Indian Defence
Felgaer, Ruben	- Perez Ponsa, Federico	1-0	41	B81	Sicilian Keres Attack
Lafuente, Pablo	- Claverie, Raul	1-0	73	A93	Dutch Stonewall
Peralta, Fernando	- Mareco, Sandro	½-½	29	E55	Nimzo Indian
Slipak, Sergio	- Orsini, Antonio	½-½	56	A45	Trompowsky
Valerga, Diego	- Alonso, Salvador	1-0	39	D17	Slav Defence
Round 6 (May 17, 2009)
Valerga, Diego	- Flores, Diego	½-½	20	E92	King's Indian Classical
Perez Ponsa, Federico	- Slipak, Sergio	½-½	49	C67	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Alonso, Salvador	- Mareco, Sandro	½-½	47	C78	Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence
Orsini, Antonio	- Lafuente, Pablo	½-½	69	C68	Ruy Lopez Exchange
Claverie, Raul	- Peralta, Fernando	½-½	51	A05	Various
Lujan, Carolina	- Felgaer, Ruben	½-½	31	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation

13) 17th World Computer Chess Championship

17th World Computer Chess Championship took place in Pamplona 11th-18th May 2009. Rest day 15th. Rybka won with an undefeated 8/9. The top three all used a Intel Xeon W5580 @ 3.2GHz x 8 processor.

Official site: http://www.respuestadigital.es/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=17&Itemid=21 and some other daily coverage at: http://software.chessdom.com/world-computer-chess-championship and live on ChessBase's playchess.com

17th WCCC Pamplona (ESP), 11-17 v 2009
			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	Pts
1.	RYBKA	USA	*	1	½	1	½	1	1	1	1	1	8
2.	JUNIOR	ISR	0	*	½	½	1	1	1	½	1	1	6½
3.	SHREDDER	GER	½	½	*	½	½	½	1	1	1	1	6½
4.	DEEP SJENG	BEL	0	½	½	*	1	1	½	1	1	1	6½
5.	HIARCS	GBR	½	0	½	0	*	1	1	1	1	1	6
6.	JONNY	GER	0	0	½	0	0	*	1	1	1	1	4½
7.	THE BARON	NED	0	0	0	½	0	0	*	1	½	1	3
8.	EQUINOX	ITA	0	½	0	0	0	0	0	*	½	1	2
9.	PANDIX 2009	HUN	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	½	*	½	1½
10.	JOKER	NED	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	*	½

Round 1 (May 11, 2009)
RYBKA	- DEEP SJENG	1-0	49	D15	Slav Defence
HIARCS	- EQUINOX	1-0	44	B17	Caro Kann
JONNY	- THE BARON	1-0	30	C43	Petroff's Defence
PANDIX 2009	- SHREDDER	0-1	54	E60	King's Indian without Nc3
JOKER	- JUNIOR	0-1	60	B40	Sicilian Classical
Round 2 (May 11, 2009)
JUNIOR	- PANDIX 2009	1-0	28	B40	Sicilian Classical
SHREDDER	- JONNY	½-½	78	D11	Slav Defence
DEEP SJENG	- EQUINOX	1-0	40	B81	Sicilian Keres Attack
THE BARON	- HIARCS	0-1	35	D43	Anti-Meran Gambit
JOKER	- RYBKA	0-1	47	B51	Sicilian Rossolimo
Round 3 (May 12, 2009)
RYBKA	- EQUINOX	1-0	55	C77	Ruy Lopez Anderssen
HIARCS	- SHREDDER	½-½	47	C67	Ruy Lopez Berlin
JONNY	- JUNIOR	0-1	51	D20	QGA
THE BARON	- DEEP SJENG	½-½	20	C02	French Advance
PANDIX 2009	- JOKER	½-½	90	C42	Petroff's Defence
Round 4 (May 12, 2009)
JUNIOR	- HIARCS	1-0	32	B81	Sicilian Keres Attack
SHREDDER	- DEEP SJENG	½-½	85	E16	Queens Indian
EQUINOX	- THE BARON	0-1	52	C50	Giuoco Piano
PANDIX 2009	- RYBKA	0-1	41	B23	Sicilian Closed
JOKER	- JONNY	0-1	68	B57	Sicilian Sozin Attack
Round 5 (May 14, 2009)
RYBKA	- THE BARON	1-0	45	D24	QGA
DEEP SJENG	- JUNIOR	½-½	78	B20	Sicilian Wing Gambit
HIARCS	- JOKER	1-0	46	C42	Petroff's Defence
JONNY	- PANDIX 2009	1-0	40	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
EQUINOX	- SHREDDER	0-1	59	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Round 6 (May 16, 2009)
JUNIOR	- EQUINOX	½-½	71	C76	Ruy Lopez Modern Steinitz
JONNY	- RYBKA	0-1	61	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
THE BARON	- SHREDDER	0-1	53	D58	Queens Gambit Tartakover
PANDIX 2009	- HIARCS	0-1	90	D46	Semi-Slav Defence
JOKER	- DEEP SJENG	0-1	50	B01	Centre Counter
Round 7 (May 16, 2009)
RYBKA	- SHREDDER	½-½	57	D38	QGD Ragozin
JUNIOR	- THE BARON	1-0	29	C43	Petroff's Defence
DEEP SJENG	- PANDIX 2009	1-0	46	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
HIARCS	- JONNY	1-0	49	B80	Sicilian Scheveningen
EQUINOX	- JOKER	1-0	56	C42	Petroff's Defence
Round 8 (May 17, 2009)
SHREDDER	- JUNIOR	½-½	65	D28	QGA
HIARCS	- RYBKA	½-½	38	B18	Caro Kann
JONNY	- DEEP SJENG	0-1	72	C10	French Rubinstein
PANDIX 2009	- EQUINOX	½-½	77	D27	QGA
JOKER	- THE BARON	0-1	79	C42	Petroff's Defence
Round 9 (May 17, 2009)
RYBKA	- JUNIOR	1-0	56	B33	Sicilian Sveshnikov
SHREDDER	- JOKER	1-0	58	C41	Philidor's Defence
DEEP SJENG	- HIARCS	1-0	57	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
THE BARON	- PANDIX 2009	½-½	64	E14	Queens Indian
EQUINOX	- JONNY	0-1	38	B97	Sicilian Najdorf

14) IV Campeonato de Espana de Selecciones Autonomicas

The IV Campeonato de Espana de Selecciones Autonomicas took place 30th April - 3rd May 2009 in Villava, Navarra. Cataluna (Illescas, Lopez Martinez, Narciso Dublan, Oms Pallisse etc) took first place from Aragon (Llorente Zaro). Games from rounds 5 and 6 now available.

Official site: http://www.fnajedrez.com/index.php/competiciones-oficiales/cto-espana.html

Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr21519.aspx

15) 8th Asian Continental

The 8th Asian Continental / Individual Open and Women's Championships take place in Subic, Philippines 12th - 24th May 2009.

The Asian Open and Women's Championships starts 12th May in Subic Freeport, Philippines. Same as in the previous cycle, to the World Cup scheduled 20th Nov. to 15 Dec. 2009 in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia and to the Women's World Championship next year.

86 Players from 15 Coutries include 40 GM's , 15 IM's and 8 FM's compete in Open Section and 45 Players from 11 countries include 1GM, 13 WGM's, 1 IM, 8 WIM and 10 WFM compete in Women Section .

Games, Pairings and photo's publish on http://www.asia-chess.com

Official site; http://asia-chess.com/main/ - preview: http://previews.chessdom.com/asia-continental-chess-championship

8th Asian Continental Open Subic Bay (PHI), 13-23 v 2009 Round 5 of 11 Standings:
Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	GM	Sandipan Chanda	IND	2558	4,0	2562	2581
2	GM	Le Quang Liem	VIE	2591	4,0	2533	2548
3	GM	Rahman Ziaur	BAN	2523	4,0	2527	2552
4	GM	Moradiabadi Elshan	IRI	2526	4,0	2511	2527
5	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	IND	2625	4,0	2508	2522
6	GM	Yu Shaoteng	CHN	2504	3,5	2638	2662
7	GM	Dao Thien Hai	VIE	2546	3,5	2610	2654
8	IM	Bitoon Richard	PHI	2479	3,5	2581	2608
9	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	IND	2682	3,5	2537	2552
10	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	IND	2570	3,5	2534	2548
11		Gao Rui	CHN	2500	3,5	2525	2574
12	GM	Tu Hoang Thong	VIE	2506	3,5	2513	2581
13	IM	Toufighi Homayoon	IRI	2478	3,5	2500	2554
14	GM	Filippov Anton	UZB	2584	3,5	2470	2499
15	GM	Hou Yifan	CHN	2590	3,5	2467	2481
16	GM	Zhou Weiqi	CHN	2563	3,5	2455	2470
17	GM	Antonio Rogelio Jr	PHI	2518	3,5	2432	2444
18		Ding Liren	CHN	2458	3,0	2607	2614
19	IM	Sadorra Julio Catalino	PHI	2451	3,0	2592	2610
20		Yu Yangyi	CHN	2433	3,0	2581	2591
21	IM	Dimakiling Oliver	PHI	2426	3,0	2567	2574
22	GM	Iuldachev Saidali	UZB	2497	3,0	2562	2583
23	GM	Laylo Darwin	PHI	2509	3,0	2555	2637
24	GM	Murshed Niaz	BAN	2407	3,0	2537	2546
25	GM	Gomez John Paul	PHI	2538	3,0	2529	2581
26	IM	Khamrakulov Dzhurabek	UZB	2524	3,0	2511	2541
27	GM	So Wesley	PHI	2641	3,0	2505	2509
28	IM	Al Sayed Moh Mad N	QAT	2496	3,0	2499	2544
29	GM	Negi Parimarjan	IND	2592	3,0	2491	2508
30	GM	Mahjoob Morteza	IRI	2498	3,0	2479	2529
31	GM	Kunte Abhijit	IND	2513	3,0	2473	2521
32	GM	Bui Vinh	VIE	2522	3,0	2457	2474
33	GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	2588	3,0	2446	2453
34	IM	Nolte Rolando	PHI	2479	3,0	2424	2475
35	GM	Hossain Enamul	BAN	2531	3,0	2412	2416
36	GM	Gonzales Jayson	PHI	2465	2,5	2627	2659
86 players

8th Asian Continental Women Subic Bay (PHI), 13-23 v 2009 Round 5 of 11 Standings:
Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	WIM	Zhang Xiaowen	CHN	2340	4,5	2403	2466
2		Ju Wenjun	CHN	2454	4,5	2368	2388
3	WFM	Ding Yixin	CHN	2281	4,0	2404	2426
4	WGM	Swathi Ghate	IND	2330	4,0	2401	2439
5	WGM	Hoang Thi Bao Tram	VIE	2239	4,0	2395	2425
6	WGM	Sukandar Irine Kharisma	INA	2300	3,5	2362	2466
7	WGM	Mohota Nisha	IND	2304	3,5	2349	2391
8	IM	Tania Sachdev	IND	2423	3,5	2312	2317
9	WGM	Gu Xiaobing	CHN	2336	3,5	2284	2344
10	WGM	Le Thanh Tu	VIE	2326	3,0	2386	2414
11	WGM	Munguntuul Batkhuyag	MGL	2440	3,0	2365	2397
12	WFM	Cua Sherily	PHI	2143	3,0	2339	2370
13	WGM	Zhang Jilin	CHN	2335	3,0	2331	2364
14	WFM	Nguyen Thi Mai Hung	VIE	2295	3,0	2310	2392
15	WGM	Nguyen Thi Thanh An	VIE	2324	3,0	2299	2343
16	WGM	Meenakshi Subbaraman	IND	2303	3,0	2282	2331
17	WGM	Karavade Eesha	IND	2359	3,0	2266	2293
18		Wang Xiaohui	CHN	2265	3,0	2226	2320
19	WGM	Huang Qian	CHN	2410	3,0	2212	2235
45 players

16) Zone 2.3 Guayaquil Ecuador

Zone 2.3 takes place in Guayaquil Ecuador 10th-21st May 2009. Although I couldn't find anything about it on the website below when I last looked.

Details: http://www.ajedrezenecuador.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=443

17) 116th Scottish Chess Championships (International Open) and other Edinburgh events

Jonathan Grant sends news of events in Scotland including the Scottish Championships which will be strong as outside entries will play in the tournament as an international open.

The strongest ever Scottish Championship is International Open 116th Scottish Chess Championships ( International Open) - 11th to 19th July 2009 Prestigious central venue, Edinburgh City Chambers, hosts the strongest ever Scottish Chess Championships 2009 from 11th to 19th July. One of the oldest continually running chess events in the world, this international open event will welcome strong players from countries as diverse as India and Slovakia. In the Year of Homecoming Scotland, Belgium-based GM Paul Motwani and London-based GM Jonathan Rowson will be among the favourites. Play takes place from 14:00 to 20:00 BST every day and games will be transmitted live to the web. With over £5000 in prizes, excellent IM and GM norm opportunities, and a sparkling new venue, the 2009 Scottish Chess Championship is set to become the strongest open in the UK this year.

116th Scottish Chess Championships (International Open) Edinburgh (SCO), 11-19 vii 2009. Top ten entrants so far are:
1	GM	Jonathan Rowson	Scotland	2589
2	GM	Jan Markos	Slovakia	2571
3	GM	S. Arun Prasad	India	2552
4	GM	Jacob Aagaard	Scotland	2535
5	GM	Mark Hebden	England	2510
6	GM	Paul Motwani	Scotland	2501
7	GM	Keti Arakhamia-Grant	Scotland	2492
8	GM	Colin McNab	Scotland	2472
9	GM	John Shaw	Scotland	2469
10	GM	Magesh Chandran Panchanathan	India	2462

The Scottish Championship is the highpoint of the year as Chess Scotland continues to strengthen its international level chess activity.

Already the Edinburgh Congress took place 3rd-5th April 2009 This popular annual FIDE rated weekend event run by Chess Edinburgh had 3 GMs, 1 IM and 2 FMs amongst the 36 players competing in the Premier section. 1st= IM Vlad-Victor Barnaure; GM Keti Arakhamia-Grant; GM Colin A McNab and Charles H Storey - all on 4/5. Games available.

Tiger Hillarp Persson training seminar - 7 to 10 May 2009 The latest in Chess Scotland’s series of training events, which has included top trainers IM Mark Dvoretsky, GM Artur Yusupov, GM Mihai Marin, GM Jacob Aagaard, GM Csaba Horvath and IM Tibor Karolyi, saw about 25 players take part in a a series of four lectures in the Edinburgh Chess Club by Sweden’s highest rated player, Grandmaster Tiger Hillarp Persson on the subject of creativity.

1st Chess Scotland International Open Chess Challenge - 23/24 May and 6/7 June 2009 IM Andrew Greet heads the field for an 8 round FIDE rated Swiss, supported by the Scottish Junior Chess Association Educational Trust (SJCAET), in the Edinburgh Chess Club.

http://www.chessscotland.com/international/CS_FIDE_ECC.htm

Simul by GM Keti Arakhamia-Grant - 13 June 2009

A 12 board rolling simultaneous display by GM Keti Arakhamia-Grant from 11 am to 4 pm on Saturday 13 June in the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh (home of the Lewis chessmen in Scotland).

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

18) Calgary International

Calgary, Alberta (Canada) stages a small 9 round international norm event May 14th-18th, 2009. 9 round swiss.

Official site:http://www.albertachess.org/Calgary_International.html

19) 27th Liechtenstein International Chess Open

The 27th Liechtenstein International Chess Open takes place 15th-23rd May 2009 in the Gemeindesaal in Triesen. I couldn't find any games.

Official site: http://www.schach.li/

27th Liechtenstein International Chess Open Triesen LIE 15-23 v 2009 Round 3 of 9 Standings:
Rg.	Name		FED	Elo	Pkt.
1	Farago Ivan	GM	HUN	2491	3
2	Hera Imre Jr	GM	HUN	2533	3
	Hommeles Theo	FM	NED	2415	3
4	Siebrecht Sebastian	GM	GER	2433	3
5	Bogner Sebastian	IM	GER	2511	3
6	Dgebuadze Alexandre	GM	BEL	2539	2.5
	Van Der Weide Karel	GM	NED	2497	2.5
	Kohlweyer Bernd	IM	GER	2435	2.5
	Foisor Cristina-Adela	IM	ROU	2423	2.5
	Bezler Rainer		AUT	2281	2.5
11	Klings Peter		GER	2152	2.5
12	Hirneise Tobias	FM	GER	2407	2.5
13	Foisor Ovidiu-Doru	IM	ROU	2408	2.5
	Peredy Ferenc	IM	HUN	2234	2.5
15	Brestian Egon	IM	AUT	2392	2.5
	Raykhman Alexander		GER	2297	2.5
17	Neuberger Guido		GER	2165	2.5
18	Popa Claudio	CM	ITA	2218	2.5
19	Poettinger Harald		AUT	2207	2.5
20	Pribyl Josef	IM	CZE	2346	2
	Hug Marcel		SUI	2300	2
	Habibi Ali	IM	GER	2290	2
107 players

20) China's 2009 World Cup Qualification

China's 2010 World Cup Qualification events for Men and Women took place 17th - 28th April 2009 in Beijing. 12 men competed for 2 places and Zhou Jianchao and Wang Hao finished level on 7/11. 12 women played for 4 places Ruan Lufei and Shen Yang made 7.5/11, Huang Qian and Ju Wenjun made 7. Wang Yue, Ni Hua, Bu Xiangzhi, Hou Yifan, Zhao Xue and Xu Yuhua are already qualified by rating. (Info: China Chess Association). I'm hoping a game file turns up. I gather the World Cup is in fact at the end of 2009 not 2010 as I stated last week.

News: http://blog.sina.com.cn/chessnews

Official site: http://chess.sport.org.cn/

Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr21467.aspx - http://chess-results.com/tnr21468.aspx

FIDE results http://ratings.fide.com/tournament_report.phtml?event16=43340 but still no games.

21) De Caguas Categoria Internacional

The Casa del Ajedrez en Caguas took place in Puerto Rico 14th-17th May 2009. Carlso Matamoros Franco won on tie-break from Jacek Stopa and Alonso Zapata Ramirez after all scored 6/8. No games available.

Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr21847.aspx?lan=2

Casa del Ajedrez en Caguas PUR 14-17 v 2009
Rk.	Name	Ti	FED	FIDE	Pts.	Des 1
1	Matamoros Franco Carlos S.	GM	ECU	2535	6	1.5
2	Stopa Jacek	IM	POL	2471	6	1
3	Zapata Ramirez Alonso	GM	COL	2514	6	0.5
4	Montalvo Rosario Alejandro	IM	PUR	2251	5	0
5	Almedina Ortiz Edgardo J		PUR	2087	4.5	0
6	Santana Alvarado Miguel		PUR	2168	4.5	0
7	Montañez Nazario Roberto		PUR	2055	4.5	0
8	Santa Torres Juan	IM	PUR	2245	4	0
9	Fierro Baquero Martha L.	IM	ECU	2411	4	0
10	Campiz Jimenez Leonardo		PUR	2082	4	0
11	Diaz Montes Edwin		PUR	0	4	0
12	Freyre Forest Jorge		PUR	2100	4	0
13	Segarra Choe Tammy		PUR	1825	3.5	0.5
14	Sosa Trani Luis	FM	PUR	2133	3.5	0.5
15	Rabin Evan Z.		USA	2033	3	0
16	Camacho Fabre Rafael		PUR	0	3	0
17	Perez Borrero George		PUR	0	3	0
18	Pressman Leif		USA	2057	2.5	0
19	Molina Millan Alberto		PUR	0	2.5	0
20	Yagiz Bora		USA	1910	2.5	0
21	Ortiz Vives Carlos R.		PUR	0	2	0
22	Aldama Degurnay Dionisio	IM	MEX	2458	0	0

22) 27th Elba Island Festival

The 27th International Chess Festival of Elba Island "Luigi Amalfi", took place at the Hotel Lacona 10th-17th May 2009. I don't have news or results.

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

23) III La Laguna Open

The III La Laguna Open took place 4th-10th May 2009. Julio Granda Zuniga won the event with 8/11. The game file was somewhat corrupted and I'm still waiting for a definitive one to appear with all the rounds.

Official site; http://www.lalagunainternacionalajedrez.com and Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr21480.aspx

24) 22nd Damiano de Odemira Open

The 22nd Damiano de Odemira Open took place 16th-17th May 2009. Eduardo Iturrizaga won with 8.5/9. No games available.

Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr21897.aspx

25) III Cerrado Manises

The III Cerrado Manises took place in Manises - Valencia (Spain) 20th April - 10th May 2009. Jhoel Garcia won with 7/9. Final round games are still missing.

Official site: http://www.escuelavalencianadeajedrez.com/ - Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr21095.aspx

26) The London Chess Classic in December

The dates for the London Chess Classic at the end of the year are now confirmed with the tournament taking place 7th-16th December 2009. The field is being finalised but it can be announced that Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Nigel Short, Ni Hua and Luke McShane will be competing.There will be 8 players in a 7 round all-play-all.

1st London Chess Classic (ENG), 8-16 xii 2009. Cat IXX (2704) Players list
No	Name	Ti	NAT	April Elo	DoB
1	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2770	1990
2	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2759	1975
3	Ni, Hua	g	CHN	2724	1983
4	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2703	1971
5	Short, Nigel D	g	ENG	2674	1965
6	McShane, Luke J	g	ENG	2596	1984
7	To be announced
8	To be announced

Dates of the London Chess Classic. 7th-16th December 2009
Monday	7th December 2009	Press Conference and drawing of lots
Tuesday	8th December 2009	Round 1
Wednesday	9th December 2009	Round 2
Thursday	10th December 2009	Round 3
Friday	11th December 2009	Rest day
Saturday	12th December 2009	Round 4
Sunday	13th December 2009	Round 5
Monday	14th December 2009	Round 6
Tuesday	15th December 2009	Round 7 + Closing ceremony, charity simultaneous

Cream of world chess to play in new London tournament. [Press release 9th March 2009]

London Chess Centre is proud to announce a world-class chess tournament to be held in London in December, 2009. The event will be an elite eight-player all-play-all in the most prestigious tournament in the capital since former world champion Anatoly Karpov won the Phillips and Drew Masters in 1984.

Since then, despite London hosting three world title contests, there has not been a tournament in which England's leading players could lock horns with the world's best on home soil. The December 09 tournament will be the first in a series of events designed to reinvigorate UK chess and promote the game and its undoubted educational benefits in schools and communities.

The tournament will be FIDE Category 19 with an average FIDE rating of 2700 and a minimum prize fund of €100,000. The eight players will comprise of three English and five world-class Grandmasters from abroad. Included in the prize fund will be a €10,000 Brilliant Game award along with separate prizes for each victory with the White and Black pieces. Matches will be covered live online where fans will be able to vote for Game of the Day.

The tournament has applied for membership of the prestigious annual Grand Slam of Chess which culminates in Bilbao and boasts a €400,000 prize fund.

The games will be under Classical Chess time control; 40 moves in two hours, 20 in the subsequent hour then an additional 15 minutes plus an increment of 30 seconds a move until the end of the game. The tournament will further benefit from the use of Sofia Rules which disallow early draws. Players will receive three points for a win and one for a draw.

Malcolm Pein (IM) Director London Chess Centre

Notes for editors: All communications to Malcolm Pein IM at London Chess Centre: 020 7388 2404. E-Mail: info@chess.co.uk. Website: www.chess.co.uk

27) Navara vs Ivanchuk Rapid

GM David Navara and GM Vassily Ivanchuk play a rapid match of 8 games in Prague 27th-31st May 2009.

Details: http://www.praguechess.cz/en/poradane_akce.php?nazev_akce=15&akce=uvod

28) 42nd Biel International Chess Festival

The 42nd Biel International Chess Festival takes place 18th-31st July 2009. There will be around 10 different Tournaments (Open, Rapid, Blitz, Youth and for the first time Chess 960). The main Category IXX tournament sees Morozevich, Ivanchuk, Gelfand, Alekseev, Vachier-Lagrave and Caruana compete.

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

Biel Grandmaster Tournament (SUI), 18-31 vii 2009 cat. IXX (2713)
Name	NAT	Elo points	W Rank	Age	Past results
Alexander Morozevich	RUS	2751	No 8	32	Winner in Biel in 2003, 2004, 2006
Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2746	No 12	40	Winner in Biel in 1989
Boris Gelfand	ISR	2733	No 15	41	Winner in Biel in 1993 (Interzonal Tournament), 2005
Evgeny Alekseev	RUS	2716	No 25	23	Winner in Biel in 2008
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	FRA	2684	No 47	18	1st time in Biel
Fabiano Caruana	ITA	2649	No 78	16	1st time in Biel

29) 3rd ACP World Rapid Cup

Press release Mikhail Golubev

The 3rd ACP World Rapid Cup will be organised by the Pivdenny Bank in Odessa, Ukraine 22nd-24th May 2009. The venue will be the Odessa National Academy of Law. As usual, it will be a KO tournament with 16 participants. There will be two-game matches at all stages, prior to the final. In the final, four games will be played. The time control will be 20 minutes per game with an increment of 5 seconds per move.

In accordance with the rules of the Association of Chess Professionals (http://www.chess-players.org), 13 of 16 spots are given to the players who qualified from the ACP Tour 2007/08.

The field of 16 players is now announced:

3rd ACP World Rapid Cup (UKR), 22-24 v 2009. Cat XVIII (2693) Players list
GM	Dmitry Jakovenko	RUS	2753
GM	Alexander Grischuk	RUS	2748
GM	Sergei Movsesian	SVK	2747
GM	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2733
GM	Vugar Gashimov	AZE	2730
GM	Etienne Bacrot	FRA	2728
GM	Peter Svidler	RUS	2726
GM	Arkadij Naiditsch	GER	2700
GM	Pavel Eljanov	UKR	2693
GM	Alexander Moiseenko	UKR	2690
GM	Zahar Efimenko	UKR	2682
GM	Evgeniy Najer	RUS	2669
GM	Anatoly Karpov	RUS	2644
GM	Pavel Tregubov	RUS	2628
GM	Mikhail Gurevich	TUR	2613
GM	Yuri Drozdovskij	UKR	2603

GM Viktor Korchnoi has been invited as a commentator for the spectators.

3rd ACP World Rapid Cup (UKR), 22-24 v 2009. Cat XVIII (2693)
Schedule of rounds:
Date	Round	Time
22 May	1/8 final matches	from 12:00; 14:30; 17:00; 19:30
23 May	1/4 final matches	from 12:00; 14:30
23 May	1/2 final matches	from 18:00
24 May	Final	from 12:00
The local time is GMT +3.

The prize fund is USD $57,000. The winner receives USD $10,000. There will be a special prize, named after the Odessa IM Mikhail Podgaets who passed away on 14 May 2009.

A transmission of games will be organised at the official tournament website, http://worldcup.pivdenny.com

Media contact: Mikhail Golubev, gmi@europe.com +38-050.4957046

30) Forthcoming Events and Links

VIII Benidorm International Chess Festival

VIII Benidorm International Chess Festival 2009 takes place 27th November - 8th December 2009.

Website: http://www.ajedrezbali.com

Poikovsky Tournament

Chess Today reports that the Karpov tournament tkes place in Poikovsky Russia 3rd-12th June 2009. There is a free day on 8th June.

Players: Bologan, Efimenko, Gashimov, Inarkiev, Motylev, Naiditsch, Onischuk, Shirov, Sutovsky and Rublevsky.

7th Howard Staunton Memorial 2009 fields announced

The 7th Howard Staunton Memorial takes place 7th (opening ceremony) - 17th August 2009. This year there will be a UK vs The Netherlands double round Scheveningen match and an interesting Category IX all-play-all. The UK has a small Elo rating advantage in the Scheveningen match but the teams are well matched. The tournament is taking place in its usual venue - Simpson's In The Strand. The opening ceremony will take place on the evening of Friday 7th August. The final rounds and the closing ceremony will take place on Monday 17th August.

The organisers are hoping that the tournament will be a big media event with the Chinese and the Dutch Ambassadors hoping to attend the opening ceremony and surprise guest visits from other chess loving celebrities throughout. They thank their generous benefactor.

There will be live coverage of the games this year.

Official site: http://howardstaunton.com/index.shtm.

7th Staunton Memorial Scheveningen London (ENG), 8-17 viii 2009
UK			NETHERLANDS
GM	Michael Adams	2703	GM	Ivan Sokolov	2669
GM	Nigel Short	2674	GM	Jan Smeets	2626
GM	David Howell	2613	GM	Loek Van Wely	2622
GM	Jonathan Rowson	2589	GM	Erwin L'ami	2598
GM	Gawain Jones	2550	GM	Jan Werle	2583
UK	Elo Ave.	2626	NED	Elo Ave.	2620

7th Staunton Memorial International Challenge London (ENG), 8-17 viii 2009 - cat. IX (2453)
GM	Jonathan Speelman	ENG	2534
GM	Jan Timman	NED	2566
GM	Peter Wells	ENG	2489
GM	Victor Korchnoi	SUI	2552
GM	Nigel Davies	ENG	2487
IM	Willy Hendriks	NED	2447
	Terence Chapman	ENG	2232
IM	Eelke Wiersma	NED	2406
IM	Malcolm Pein	ENG	2391
GM	Alex Cherniaev	RUS	2423

Torch Real Estate Cup

The Chinese team competition the Torch Real Estate Cup started in Chengdu China on 4th May 2009. I'm hoping for a full game file.

Live games: http://live.chinaqiyuan.com/chess/tfd.htm

Official site: http://chess.sport.org.cn/

Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr21650.aspx

3rd ACP World Rapid Cup

The 3rd ACP World Rapid Cup will be organised by the Pivdenny Bank in Odessa, Ukraine 22nd-24th May 2009. As usual, it will be a KO tournament with 16 participants. In accordance with the ACP rules, 13 of 16 spots are given to the players who qualified from the ACP Tour 2007/08. The total prize fund will be USD $57,000. The winner receives USD $10,000. Viktor Korchnoi has been invited as a commentator for the spectators. According to the tournament director, WGM Masha Klinova, as of 27th April the following 13 Grandmasters have confirmed their participation: Jakovenko (2753), Grischuk (2748), Movsesian (2747), Gashimov (2730), Bacrot (2728), Svidler (2726), Naiditsch (2700), Eljanov (2693), Efimenko (2682), Najer (2669), Karpov (2644), Tregubov (2628) and Drozdovskij (2603).

The official tournament website (in Russian) is the chess site of the Pivdenny Bank, http://worldcup.pivdenny.com.

Zonal 2.5 Asuncion

Zonal 2.5 with 2 qualification places for the Word Cup takes place in Asuncion, Paraguay, June 10th-18th 2009. Zone 2.5 includes Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay.

Official web is http://www.winner.com.py/feparaj - Details

Acropolis Open

The Acropolis Open takes place 10th-18th August 2009 in Chalkida, Greece. Organizers: Greek Chess Federation (GCF), Ministry of Tourism in Attiki, Chalkida Chess Academy.

Regulations: Swiss System 9 rounds, invitational FIDE rated tournament, 70-80 players, minimum required FIDE rating 2200 (women 2000), GM & IM title norms possible, FIDE time-control (90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes until the end of the game plus increment of 30 seconds per move from move 1).

Contact info: Sotiris Logothetis (Tournament Coordinator) Tel: (+30) 6947324933, Email: middlewave74@gmail.com Greek Chess Federation (GCF) Tel.: (+30) 2109221465, Fax: (+30) 2109221620, Email: info@chessfed.gr

Official site: http://www.chessfed.gr/acropolis2009

III Ruy Lopez International Chess Festival

The main event of the Festival is the master Tournament (from 13th to 19th June 2009) with the participation of Adams, Cheparinov, Pía Cramling, Koneru, Granda, Lariño, Caruana and Candelario. The games will be transmitted on Internet with commentaries by Leontxo García who will be present in the analysis room (open to all fans).

To complete the Children´s Tournament (13th and 14th June) and the III Open "Ruy López Opening" (20th and 21st June 2009) where all the games will start in the following order:- 1. e4 e5 2.Cf3 Cc6 3.Ab5 with more than 11,000 Euros as prizes.

Official site: http://ruylopez.juntaextremadura.net/modules/news/

Leiden Chess Tournament

The Leiden Chess Tournament takes place 9th-19th August 2009.

Official site: http://www.leidenchess.nl/

Brescia International

The Brescia International Tournament takes place June 6th-14th 2009.

Details: http://www.puntoesclamativo.org/

French League Top 16

The French Team Championship (TOP 16) took place in Mulhouse (group A) and Chalons-en-Champagne (group B) 30th April - 3rd May 2009. The Poule Haute and Basse take place 28th-31st May 2009. The top 4 teams in each group take forward the three results against each other and play off against the teams from the other group to produce a final winner.

Official site: http://www.echecs.asso.fr/Equipes.aspx

French Team Championship Group A (FRA), 20 iii-3 v 2009
Pl.	Equipe	Pts	j.	d.	p.	c.
1	Evry Grand Roque	21	7	33	36	3
2	Clichy	19	7	20	29	9
3	Mulhouse Philidor	16	7	5	18	13
4	Noyon	15	7	-1	17	18
5	Marseille Echecs	14	7	1	14	13
6	Drancy	11	7	-10	14	24
7	Lutece Echecs	9	7	-23	11	34
8	Bois-Colombes	7	7	-25	5	30

French Team Championship Group B (FRA), 20 iii-3 v 2009
Pl.	Equipe	Pts	j.	d.	p.	c.
1	Montpellier	19	7	15	23	8
2	Cannes	18	7	14	22	8
3	Vandoeuvre	16	7	10	23	13
4	Chalons en Champagne	16	7	12	27	15
5	Metz Fischer	15	7	1	18	17
6	Strasbourg	11	7	-8	11	19
7	Antibes	10	7	-13	9	22
8	Grasse	7	7	-31	6	37

Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament

The Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2009 takes place 3rd - 7th June 2009.

For 17 years in a row the tournament has been played in Malmo, Sweden and this time will be no different. The tournament will be played at the classical Hipp Theater in central Malmo, for the twelfth time. This year, the tournament has a new format, with only six players playing five rounds.

Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament Malmo (SWE), 3-7 vi 2009
1.	GM	Nigel Short	ENG	2674
2.	GM	Ivan Sokolov	BIH	2669
3.	GM	Tomi Nyback	FIN	2655
4.	GM	Tiger Hillarp Persson	SWE	2618
5.	GM	Emanuel Berg	SWE	2610
6.	IM	Nils Grandelius	SWE	2491

Tournament Schedule Round 1 3 June 14.00-21.00 CET Round 2 4 June 14.00-21.00 CET Round 3 5 June 14.00-21.00 CET Round 4 6 June 14.00-21.00 CET Round 5 7 June 12.00-19.00 CET

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

Historical Elo Ratings

http://www.shakki.net/history/elotop.htm has a list of historical top ten FIDE lists. The text is in Finnish but is understandable anyhow.

Chess Classic Mainz

The Chess Classic Mainz takes place 27th July - 2nd August 2009 in the Rheingoldhalle in Mainz.

The world championships in rapid chess and Chess960 will be staged in a tried and trusted double round robin format with four players, after which the players battle it out in mini-matches to determine the top spot. The players for the main events have already been contracted.

The GRENKELEASING Rapid World Championship sees the World Chess Champion and Chess Classic serial winner Vishy Anand will try to defend his title for the 11th time in a row. He faces Levon Aronian, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Arkadij Naiditsch.

Other events include the gigantic ORDIX rapid chess Open, the FiNet Ches960 Open, the open tournaments for U14 talents, the 40 board simultaneous exhibition with Levon Aronian, the Livingston Chess960 Computer World Championship, etc., etc.

Full details: http://www.chesstigers.de

XXXV Sitges Open

The XXXV Open Internacional d'Escacs "Vila de Sitges" takes place 22nd-30th July 2009.

Official site: http://www.casinoprado.cat/open.html

Details: http://chess-results.com/tnr20620.aspx?lan=2

"King's Gambit" in Lipetsk

There will be an international chess festival called "King's Gambit" in Lipetsk, Russia, between June 22nd (arrival day) and July 3rd, 2009. The festival consists of two round-robin tournaments (one with GM norm and one with IM norm) and an open for FIDE rating. Opening ceremony: 2.30 p.m. on July 23, 1st round at 3 p.m. Festival director: Zimmerman, Yuri . Tel.: +7-4742-720064, or +7-919-255-9764. E-mail: zimmerman@lipetsk.ru."

Reno Far West Open

The Far West Open Chess Tournament took place April 10th-12th 2009 in Reno Nevada. Sergey Kudrin edged out Enrico Sevillano and Gergerly Antal who finished on 5/6. Games should follow.

Official site: http://www.renochess.org/fwo/index.html

32nd Taminco Gent Open

The 32nd Taminco Open International Chess Tournament Gent (Belgium) takes place 18th-22nd July 2009, 9 rounds Swiss, two hours KO chess, prize money 8400 euro for 400 participants. This traditional open tournament takes place near the center of the medieval town of Gent in the week of the famous annual Gent festivities. Email: open2009@kgsrl.be

Information and registration: http://www.kgsrl.be

Info Gent annual festivities: http://www.gentsefeesten.be/

Voronezh-2009

The 13th "Voronezh-2009" traditional chess festival takes place 10th-21st June 2009.

Details: http://www.relex.ru/~xuser/voronezh_open

13th Hogeschool Zeeland Tournament 2009

The 13th Hogeschool Zeeland Tournament takes place August 1st-8th 2009 in Vlissingen, Netherlands.

Official site: http://www.hztoernooi.nl and contact e-mail: hgroffen@zeelandnet.nl.

Canadian Open

The Canadian Open takes place in Edmonton, Alberta Canada July 11th-19th 2009. Alexei Shirov adn Michael Adams are among the early entrants.

Details: http://monroi.com/2009-canadian-open-chess-championship-home.html

San Sebastian GM

There is a tournament in San Sebastian July 6th-16th 2009.

GMA San Sebastian (ESP), 6-16 vii 2009 cat. XVIII (average elo: 2687)
Sergei Movsesian	2747	SVK
Peter Svidler	2726	RUS
Rustam Ponomariov	2726	UKR
Hikaru Nakamura	2701	USA
Rustam Kasimzhanov	2695	UZB
Francisco Vallejo	2688	SPA
Maxime Vachier-Lagraeve	2684	FRA
Anatoly Karpov	2644	RUS
Julio Granda	2610	PER
Pablo San Segundo	2560	SPA

Prizes in Euros: 1.- 9.000 2.- 6.000 3.- 4.000 4.- 3.500 5.- 3.000 6.- 2.500 7.- 2.000 8.- 1.500 9.- 1.000 10.- 500

There will be also a B tournament (cat. XI), C tournament (cat. VIII), and D tournament (female players). The games will be played in the same hall that held the historic tournament in 1911 won by Capablanca and the organisers are hoping for a special event to commemorate the centenary. News David Llada. Website to be announced.

Dortmund

The Dortmund Chess Meeting takes place 2nd-12th July 2009. Players: Kramnik, Leko, Carlsen, Jakovenko, Bacrot, and Naiditsch play.

Details: http://www.chess-international.de/?p=429

Brno Chess Festival

The Duras Chess Club organises the Brno Chess Festival in the Czech Republic. The GM Brno, IM Tespo Engineering and IM Dopravni stavby tournaments take place 26th June - 5th July 2009. Open tournaments start on the 27th June 2009.

Applications and details contact Rudolf Moulis: e-mail: moulis@kroknet.cz , phone +420 548 522 186, mobile phone: +420 607 900 656

Further info at: http://www.skduras.cz/cz/propozice.html and http://www.skduras.cz/cz/brnensky-sachovy-festival-2009.html

World Open

The World Open Chess Tournament takes place June 29th - July 5th 2009 in Philadelphia.

Details: http://www.chesstour.com/wo09.htm and http://monroi.com/2009-world-open-chess-tournament-home.html

British Championships

The 96th British Chess Championships take place 26th July - 8th August 2009 in Torquay.

Official site: http://www.britishchess09.com/

14th Pannonia - Nitrokemia Cup

The 14th Pannonia - Nitrokemia Cup takes place in Balatonalmadi, 29th July - 2nd August, 2009.

Group A: International Open Tournament for FIDE ratings. Group B: International Open Tournament for FIDE ratings, for players under 2000 ELO System used: 7 Rounds Swiss without age limit for both Groups Venue: The air-conditioned Conference Hall of Pannonia Cultural Centre & Library Address: Balatonalmadi, Városház Square 6. Organiser: Recreation Association of Vorosbereny Time Limit: Group A: 90-90 minutes + 30sec after each move Group B: 120-120 minutes for all moves

Details: http://fancsyimi.fw.hu. Entries and further information IM Fancsy Imre E-mail: almadikupa@freemail.hu

14th International Stuttgart Championship

The 14th "International Stuttgart Championship" in Germany takes place 21th-24th May 2009. Contact Michael Meier e-mail: info@stuttgarter-stadtmeisterschaft.de

For further information on the event: http://www.stuttgarter-stadtmeisterschaft.de

20th International Chess and Games Festival Czech Open

The 20th International Chess and Games Festival Czech Open 2009 takes place 16th July - 2 August 2009 in Pardubice (the Czech Republic). There are more than 100 tournaments in chess and other games, eg. European Youth Chess Teams Championship, ISCU Children Clubs Chess Championship and European Amateurs Championship in Chess.

More detailed information: http://www.czechopen.net/news/index.php. the festival website will be ready at the end of April.

6th Summer Catalan Chess Circuit

The 6th Summer Catalan Chess Circuit takes place May - September every year as part of the Catalan Chess Circuit, which is composed of 28 International Tournaments, and held in Spain, extended beyond Catalonia.

In 2009 there will be 14 Opens with traditional time control to be played over 9-10 days, as well as 14 Opens in Rapid Chess, played over 1-2 days (see Tournament Calendar).

During 120 days of tournaments, around 22.000 chess games will be played with selected ones broadcast.

Approximately 3,000 players from more than 30 different countries. The prize fund will reach 175.000 euros.

Apart from the traditional tournament prizes, the Catalan Chess Federation establishes a special classification composed of player´s results in each Circuit tournament, based on which players will be able to claim such special Circuit Prizes as General Final Standings, Prizes by Categories, Specific Prizes for best Catalan Players.

Prizegiving Ceremony will be held at Fiesta Catalana (Catalan Chess Party), on September, 27th, 2009

For more information please contact the Catalonia Chess Federation on federacio@escacs.cat or visit the official website: http://escacs.cat/circuit2009/torneigs.html

6th Summer Catalan Chess Circuit (ESP), 5 v - 20 ix 2009
5-13 May	VILA DE SALOU	SALOU	9 Rd Swiss	B	C	Francesc Linan 616094289
17 May	VILA DE CANOVELLES	CANOVELLES	9 Rd Swiss	b	b	Daniel Flores 938493564
24 May	VILA DE L'AMPOLLA	L'AMPOLLA	9 Rd Swiss	a	b	Enric Gallimo 666187061
31 May	VILA DE STA COLOMA DE QUERALT	SANTA COLOMA DE QUERALT	8 Rd Swiss	a	a sup	Salvador Barrot 654095338
20 June	CIUTAT DE REUS	REUS	9 Rd Swiss	a	a sup	Joan Pinol 649341056
21 June	MOLLET DEL VALLES	MOLLET DEL VALLES	9 Rd Swiss	b	a	Francesc Fernandez 647625832
24 June-2 July	VILA DE SORT	SORT	9 Rd Swiss	B	C	Joan A. Conesa 609825066
25 June-3 July	VILA DE MONTCADA	MONTCADA	9 Rd Swiss	A	A	Reyes Cantero 938152902
4-12 July	BARBERÀ DEL VALLES	BARBERA DEL VALLES	9 Rd Swiss	A	A sup	Víctor Pont 629386528
4-12 July	TORREDEMBARRA	TORREDEMBARRA	9 Rd Swiss	C	B	Jordi Salvat 649061984
13-22 July	CIUTAT DE BALAGUER	BALAGUER	10 Rd Swiss	A sup	A	Antoni Montoliu 679082837
18-26 July	ANDORRA	LES ESCALDES	9 Rd Swiss	A sup	A sup	Oscar la Riva 00376-347085
22-30 July	VILA DE SITGES	SITGES	9 Rd Swiss	A	A	Francesc González 600923277
25 July	CERVELLO	CERVELLO	8 Rd Swiss	b	b	Juan Mª Santiago 936840402
26 July	OLOT	OLOT	8 Rd Swiss	b	b	Josep Ma Mir 606119678
1-8 August	FIGUERES "MIQUEL MAS"	FIGUERES	9 Rd Swiss	C	A	Jordi Serra 699848479
1-9 August	CIUTAT DE BADALONA	BADALONA	9 Rd Swiss	A	A sup	Manel Triquell 609683157
2-10 August	LA POBLA DE LILLET	LA POBLA DE LILLET	9 Rd Swiss	C	C	Josep Salvador 630625152
15-16 August	VILA DE POBLENOU	BARCELONA	10 Rd Swiss	a sup	a	Joan Lorda 659529581
21-30 August	SANTS	BARCELONA	10 Rd Swiss	A sup	A sup	Cotxeres 932918701
22-23 August	AJEDREZND	BARCELONA	9 Rd Swiss	a sup	a	Jordi Morcillo 620341266
1-10 September	FESTIVAL DE SABADELL	SABADELL	9 Rd Swiss	B	B	Ivan Aguilar 666346958
6 September	VILA DE SANTPEDOR	SANTPEDOR	9 Rd Swiss	b	b	Josep Mascaro 616477533
11 September	DIADA DE L'11 DE SETEMBRE	SABADELL	9 Rd Swiss	a	a sup	Ivan Aguilar 666346958
12 September	RIBERA D'EBRE	MORA D'EBRE	8 Rd Swiss	a	a	Josep Terrones 696204203
13 September	CIUTAT DE TORTOSA	TORTOSA	8 Rd Swiss	b	b	Abraham Pla 680532570
19-20 September	VALLFOGONA DE BALAGUER	VALLFOGONA DE BALAGUER	Suís 11 rondes	a sup	a	Jaume Parramon 649960831
Potential
13-21 July	SANT MARTI	BARCELONA	9 Rd Swiss			Ricard Llerins 933082425

XXVII Andorra International Chess Open

The XXVII Andorra International Chess Open takes place 18th-26th July 2009. Contact: open@escacsandorra.com

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

Masterskill Commonwealth Chess Championships

The Masterskill Commonwealth Chess Championships takes place 14th-21st July 2009 in Ipoh, Malaysia.

Details: http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/4-tournaments/3827-commonwealth-chess-championship-2009-in-malaysia

Maia Chiburdanidze Cup

The "Maia Chiburdanidze Cup" (International Open Women's Chess Tournament) takes place in the Chess Palace, Tbilisi (Georgia) 4th-13th June 2009. The Tournament is open to all women players. Each player must herself (or her federation) cover all her expenses: entry fee, transportation, accommodation and board. 9 round Swiss. Rate of play: 90 min for all moves, increment 30 seconds per move. Details available from the addresses below.

Contact IA, FM Varlam Vepkhvishvili E-mail: chessgeorgia@hotmail.com or chessvarlam@hotmail.com.

Phone:
(995)32-997736 - Federation
(995)32-960199 - Home
(995)99-771974 - Mobile

Official site: http://www.gcf.org.ge

1st International Open Tbilisi

The 1st International Open Tbilisi Chess Tournament takes place 14th-24th June 2009.

Official site: http://www.chess.tbilisi.ge (not yet up and running)

9 round Swiss. Rate of play: 90 min for all moves, increment 30 seconds per move. Details available from the addresses below.

e-mail: chessvarlam@hotmail.com - Varlam Vepkhvishvili
e-mail: ggrs92@hotmail.com - Giorgi Khomeriki

Varna Chess Festival

The 1st International Chess Festival Varna, takes place at the Grand Hotel Varna 11th-20th June 2009. Contact: seahorse@abv.bg for more details.

Website: http://euroschoolchess.org/ (although I couldn't find the event myself)

European Youth Championships

The European Youth Championships (U10 - U18) takes place in Fermo/Italy 30th August - 10th September 2009.

Details: http://www.euroyouth2009.com

European Senior Championships

The European Individual Senior Championship takes place in Rogaska Slatina/Slovenia 22nd - 31st July 2009. For the first time just before the event a European Senior Rapid Championship will be organised. The dates are 19th - 21st July.

Further details are published under http://www.sahohlacnik.com/eu-sen/

European Union Website

The European Chess Union Website ECU website has changed address to http://www.europechess.org

Alushta Diary 2009

Alushta Diary 2009:

GM Norm events: 23.05 - 1.06, 2.06 - 12.06, 15.06 - 25.06, 2.09 - 12.09, 14.09 - 24.09, 26.09 - 6.10, IM Norm: 23.05 - 1.06, 2.06 - 12.06, 15.06 - 25.06, 2.09 - 12.09, 14.09 - 24.09, 26.09 - 6.10, Rating tournament: 4.06 - 12.06, 22.06 - 27.06, 5.09 - 13.09, Open tournament (under 16 years) 3.06 - 11.06, 13.06 - 21.06, Alushta Swiss 9 rounds Open tournament First prize - 1000$ First prize (woman) - 500$ 28.06 - 6.07, 10.07 - 18.07, 20.07 - 28.07, 22.08 - 30.08, Alushta Swiss 9 rounds Blitz tournament 7.07, 19.07, 29.07, Alushta Swiss 9 rounds Open tournament (rapid chess) 8.07 - 9.07, 30.07 - 31.07, Alushta Session of school of Gennadi Kuzmin 21.06 - 27.06, 15.07 - 24.07. Individual and group studying Further information: http://www.kaissa.com.ua phone +38 (06560)5-05-32, +380505828911 (for Russian speaking), + 380506692604 (for English speaking) e-mail: info@kaissa.com.ua

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

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

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.

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, Tamas, 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.

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

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