December 2006 - ACP World Cup

November 2004 - Interrogation - a New Experiment for Channel 4
July 2004 - Chess Classic Mainz 2004
January 2004 - IX Open International Chess Tournament in Cesenatico (Italy)
January 2004 - 5th Wellington College International

December 2003 - 2004 US Chess Championship - Co-Sponsor
October 2003 - Top junior takes on the world
August 2003 - Roger W. Putnam Charity Chess Tournament
August 2003 - Nice International
June 2003 - House of Commons vs Scotland Juniors
June 2003 - Chessworld.net Chess Olympics
June 2003 - Faking It
May 2003 - Genoa Open - August 2003
April 2003 - V International Open of Sants Hostafrancs i La Bordeta - August 2003
February 2003 - Edda Rapid Tournament - March 2003
February 2003 - Knudsen vs ROW - February 2003
January 2003 - US Chess Championship - January 2003

December 2002 - CCF Open Rapidplay - December 2002
September 2002 - Najdorf Memorial, Buenos Aires, Argentina - September 2002
September 2002 - European Club Cup, Greece - September 2002
September 2002 - Curacao 1962- 2002 Chess Tournament - November 2002
August 2002 - Wolff vs The World - August 2002
July 2002 - 6th Mind Sports Olympiad - August 2002
July 2002 - www.letsplaychess.com World Championship knockout
June 2002 - 6th Open International Bavarian Masters - October 2002
June 2002 - Luebeck Quickplay Open - June 2002
May 2002 - Genova Open
May 2002 - BritWeb Web Based Email Chess League
May 2002 - Barcelona Open
March 2002 - 72nd Argentinean Championship
March 2002 - GM Plaskett vs The World
February 2002 - Hamburg ELO Tournament

October 2001 - Online World Chess 2002
September 2001 - 5th Open International Bavarian Masters - October 2001
September 2001 - European Club Cup
August 2001 - IV. Pyramiden Franken Cup
August 2001 - FIDE Rapidplay Rating List - Top 50
August 2001 - WDR Challenge Game - Anand vs Leko
August 2001 - Man vs Machine - Shirov vs x-treme
August 2001 - 4th Malbork Castle Cup
February 2001 - Yateley Manor International 2001 Results and Games

December 2000 - Yateley Manor International 2001
December 2000 - Politiken Chess Challenge 2000
November 2000 - British Rapidplay, Leeds 2000
November 2000 - 6th South Wales Masters on 8-12 January 2001
November 2000 - South Wales FIDE Rated Event on 8-12 January 2001
November 2000 - Ano Liosia, Greece on 27 December 2000 - 6 January 2001

December 2006 - ACP World Cup

Mikhail Golubev reports:

Bank Pivdennyi and the ACP announce the players list of the ACP World Cup

Joint press release of Bank Pivdennyi and the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) on the organisation of the First ACP World Rapid Cup in Odessa, Ukraine

A new move in the history of professional chess!

On December 13th 2006, a press conference was held at Bank Pivdennyi (Odessa, Ukraine) by Mr. Vadim Morokhovsky, Chairman of the Board of Bank Pivdennyi, Vice-President of the Ukrainian Chess Federation, and President of the Odessa Region Chess Federation, and Grandmaster Pavel Tregubov, President of the Association of Chess Professionals. They announced the list of participants of the 1st ACP World Rapid Cup, which will take place in the Hotel Londonskaya, Odessa, from January 4th to 8th 2007.

The event organized by Bank Pivdennyi is the final stage of the ACP Tour, which is the most important project of the ACP since its foundation in 2003. The prize fund of the tournament amounts to 136,000 USD. The Cup is a rare example of highest level tournament based on a strict qualification system. Those who gained the right to participate in the 1st ACP World Rapid Cup are the 14 players who performed best in the ACP Tours held in 2004/2005 and 2005/2006. Three Grandmasters of the main list withdrew and were substituted by the players who occupied the first places in the reserve list.

The 14 players who will therefore take part in the first ACP WRC are: Alexander Morozevich (Russia), Peter Leko (Hungary), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Alexei Shirov (Spain), Etienne Bacrot (France), Sergey Rublevsky (Russia), Evgeny Bareev (Russia), Arkadij Naiditsch (Germany), Pentala Harikrishna (India), Ivan Sokolov (Netherlands), Victor Bologan (Moldova), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Farrukh Amonatov (Tajikistan).

In addition, on the proposal of Bank Pivdennyi, two Wild Cards are given to Vassily Ivanchuk (highest rated Ukrainian Grandmaster) and Ilia Smirin (Israel). Sixteen world level grandmasters will thus take part in this competition, which will be a knock-out tournament. The World Cup regulations and schedule are published on the ACP official website (www.chess-players.org).

ACP Board Press Department of the Pivdennyi Bank

For additional information, please contact us by phone or via email: Pivdennyi Bank (website www.bank.com.ua) ken@pivdenny.ua (Mrs. Elena Korobkoba, Press Officer), tel. +38-048 7871221 Association of Chess Professionals (website www.chess-players.org) gmi@europe.com (GM Mikhail Golubev, member of the ACP Board), tel. +38-050 4957046

November 2004 - Interrogation - a New Experiment for Channel 4

Tom Coveney reports:

Are you tough enough to stand up to interrogation?

How good would you be at keeping crucial information to yourself?

I'm writing in connection with a new programme we're working on - Twenty Twenty Television - one of the UK's leading independent production companies - is producing a major new programme for Channel 4 that will examine how modern interrogation techniques work. We are looking for strong-willed members of the public who would be up for the challenge of going through a recreation of an interrogation situation. This would no doubt be a physically challenging and mentally demanding experience, and one that would be tackled differently by every individual.

So far, lots of those applying to take part in the project have a background in either power sports or endurance sports, and so now we are keen to find people who might take a more cerebral/psychological approach to the challenge - and naturally I thought of chess players.

For those that are interested all they need to do is call or e-mail either myself or my colleague Tessa (both on 020 7284 2020), so that we can have an initial chat about the project - in which we can outline what it will involve, and discuss why they might be interested in taking part. At that stage it would then be up to them whether they wanted to take their application any further. (The only restriction on potential applicants is that they must be male and over 18).

We are due to film for the project in December, so our time frame is rather tight - if anyone is potentially interested in the project then they should get in touch as soon as possible.

Best wishes, Tom Coveney

If you'd like to find out more about a new Channel 4 programme exploring the psychology of interrogation e-mail Tom Coveney or call 020-7284-2020.

July 2004 - Chess Classic Mainz 2004

Harmut Metz reports (translation by Eric van Reem):

Mainz on fire - Alexei Shirov challenges titleholder Vishy Anand Chess Classic Mainz 2004 (August 4th to 8th)

Once again the Chess Classic Mainz (CCM) offers a high-class program from August 4th to 8th. Titleholder Viswanathan Anand meets Alexei Shirov in the Rheingoldhalle. The Indian Anand and the Riga born Shirov, who holds a Spanish passport, sit board to board at the German Bundesliga runner-up SC Baden-Oos, however, at the CCM the number two of the world and his challenger, who is currently placed on the fourtheenth spot, will not spare themselves in their match. Shirov is on his way back to the top ten again after his magnificent tournament victory in Sarajevo. Shirov is the wish candidate of the Mayor of Mainz, Jens Beutel: the former second division player admires the daredevil game strategy of the 31-year-old. There are only a few grandmasters these days, who dare to play such risky sacrifices. His english autobiography with the ambiguous title, which reminds of a burning ship, "Fire on board", has already become a classic chess book! Meanwhile, Shirov works on a second book with new fantastic duels.

However, Shirov is not the favourite in the eight rapid chess games match. Anand did not only clearly win the world championship match against Shirov back in 2001, the Indian is unstoppable in the Chess Classic. The "Tiger of Madras" won the last four CCM editions! In 2000 in front of the number one of the world rating list, Garry Kasparov, in 2001 in the "Duel of the World Champions" against Vladimir Kramnik. In 2002 Anand managed to beat FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov, who happened to be his successor as the world champion and last year the 34-year-old kept the upper hand against Judit Polgar, the worlds best female chess player. With all these successes the Indian confirmed his reputation as the best rapid chess player in the world. World champion Vladimir Kramnik even regards him as the strongest Grandmaster at the moment. Although Anand still lies behind Kasparov in the rating list, the Indian often shows his strength in world class tournaments. Kasparov seldom plays and ended on third place in the Spanish Linares chess tournament, behind Kramnik and the Hungarian Peter Leko. The multiple Indian athlete of the year had celebrated another triumph a month before at the top tournament in Wijk aan Zee (Netherlands). CCM organizer Hans-Walter Schmitt therefore believes, that his German-speaking friend will celebrate his fifth consecutive CCM victory against Shirov. "There will be terrific and thrilling games", Schmitt believes. Shirov can throw in, that he was the only Chess Classic winner besides the six-time winner Anand (1997, 1998 as well as 2000 to 2003) and Kasparov (1999) within the last eight years. The Spaniard won the 1996 Chess Classic ahead of Kramnik, Leko and Robert Hübner.

Once again, Schmitt has built a first-class program with attractive supporting events around the top match, although the organiser does not really like the word "supporting". "We do organize the Chess960 World Championship here!" the 52-year-old emphasizes and refers to the Chess960 match, in which the starting position of the figures is drawn before the game begins. Since there are 960 different starting positions in Chess960, learning opening theory has become superfluous. Schmitt does not like chess, that is learned by heart and long prepared opening lines and therefore pushes this exciting chess variant. Last year Peter Svidler won the first official rapid Chess 960 world championship against Peter Leko, who will challenge Kramnik in September in a classical chess match. This year Svidler must try to defend his title against Levon Aronian, who won the Chess960-Open in the Rheingoldhalle last year and therefore qualified for the match. The former Junior World Champion from Armenia is extremely interesting for the local fans in Germany: The top player lives in Berlin and played under German flag for a short time. With an Elo of 2645 the 21-year-old finds himself in position 51 in the world rankings. Aronian likes the fact, that opening theory is dropped in Chess960, because he regards himself as "too lazy" to work hard on his opening repertoire. Even if this advantage is lost for "hard-working" Svidler, the 27-year-old is regarded as the favourite to defend the WNCA title. The Russian is the number six of the world in "classical" chess. However, at the European championship recently held in Turkey, it became clear, that Aronian is going to be a dangerous opponent for Svidler: Aronian won the third place. The "sloppy" talent showed enormous strength and proved to be a class of his own in decisive rapid chess matches. Therefore, the fast time-control in Mainz seems to be perfect for the young star.

About 500 players will once again make a pilgrimage to Mainz to move the pieces on the chessboard. The professionals will risk everything to qualify as the next challenger of the Chess960 World Champion. On Thursday 5th and Friday 6th the two-day Chess 960 FiNet Open will be played and on Saturday and Sunday (7th and 8th August) the famous Ordix Open will take place. The price fund in the most famous Rapid Chess Open of the world, in which over 100 titleholders will take part, has been increased. All together 35.000 Euros can be won in the two open tournaments. The distribution of single prizes for both tournaments is based on the relative number of participants of the two tournaments. The relation of the prizes for both tournaments is calculated on the number of participants following the formula: participants Chess960 Open/expected number of participants Ordix Open. It is important to register early to secure a place in the strong and popular Open tournaments.

Simuls of Shirov (40 boards) and Svidler (Chess960 on 20 boards) as well as two exhibition fights of Anand and Aronian will open the five-day chess festival on August 4th. It has become a tradition, that already the Chess Classic opening day is a spectacular happening, but organizer Hans-Walter Schmitt is not willing to reveal this well kept secret.

Up to date information will be available at the website www.chesstigers.de.

January 2004 - IX Open International Chess Tournament in Cesenatico (Italy)

Jean Christophe Pirini reports:

Date from 4th September to 12 September 2004

At Palazzo Veronese Viale Carducci, 7 - Cesenatico (Forli' - Italy).

Fax +39-547-681217

Mobile phone +39-3356-615956

Open A 9 rounds
Open B 8 rounds

Website http://www.antiquascom.it/scacchi.htm

E-mail info@antiquascom.it

Organiser Jean Christophe Pirini

January 2004 - 5th Wellington College International

Ray Clark reports:

This is a 9 round Open event (tournament director Andrew Martin IM) which will be taking place on the last weekend in January and the first weekend in February. Details are below. We hope that you will consider entering this tournament.

This is a qualifying event for the British Championships, part of the BCF Grand Prix and games will be rated by FIDE and BCF. Players will include titled players, strong juniors and club players with more IMs and FMs expected this year. The prize fund is £1,000 (depends on entry) and includes a paid place in 2004 British Championships (highest placed player not already qualified).

The impressive venue is: Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire. RG45 7PU The college (named after Duke of Wellington and opened 1859) is set in 400 acres 35 miles south west of London, about 1hour by train. To see venue www.wellington-college.berks.sch.uk For map enter post code RG45 7PU on internet site www.multimap.com.

Ray Clark.
Tel: 01753 883300 (evening) / 07802 306210 (daytime)

Webmaster - Please contact Ray Clark for a form which gives further details and can be used to enter the event.

December 2003 - 2004 US Chess Championship - Co-Sponsor

John Henderson reports:

AMERICA'S FOUNDATION FOR CHESS FINDS CO-SPONSOR FOR 2004 US CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS

San Diego's NTC Foundation's Promenade Centre Is New Home for the 2004 U.S. Chess Championship

SEATTLE, Wash. - (December 22, 2003) - America's Foundation for Chess (AF4C) announces the NTC Foundation as its new partner for the annual U.S. Chess Championships scheduled for the first two weeks in December 2004. The NTC Foundation in San Diego, Calif., will host this historic national tournament at their new arts and cultural venue, Promenade Centre. The winner will represent the United States at the World Chess Championships.

This will be the fourth year that AF4C has hosted the annual tournament - one of the oldest and most prestigious national titles in the world - and its first year doing so with a co-sponsor. Expected to maintain its record-breaking $250,000 prize fund, the 2004 U.S. Chess Championships will be held over 11 days and will attract widespread media attention from around the world. Chessmaster® will also return as a 2004 corporate sponsor.

Event Offers Something for Chess Fan and Non-Chess Players Alike

The 2004 tournament will highlight not only the elite chess competition, but also offer valuable educational activities sure to make chess more accessible to the general public. Promoting chess as a learning tool that is fun, engaging and available to people young and old, novice or master, is another reason AF4C is seeking the large public venue offered by NTC's Promenade Center.

"We are proud to welcome this high-profile, national tournament as one of the Promenade Centre's inaugural events," said Murray Galinson, chairman of the NTC Foundation Board of Directors. "AF4C and the Foundation both understand the importance of bringing innovative learning and education to the public."

"AF4C has been looking for a partner whose mission is aligned with ours: NTC supports creative education and believes in the value the U.S. Chess Championships can bring to the national expansion of the AF4C classroom chess curriculum," said Erik J Anderson, president and co-founder of AF4C.

A community that embraces education and culture, San Diego is enthusiastic about AF4C's relocation of the US Chess Championships.

President and CEO of the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau Reint Reinders explains, "Relocating this national event to San Diego's Promenade Centre will give more chess enthusiasts access to players and commentary. Those unfamiliar with the game will receive an introduction to the value of chess in America. We are excited that AF4C recognizes the potential that a co-sponsor such as the NTC Foundation can have in drawing more attention to this elite event. San Diego is thrilled to carry on the chess torch."

About NTC Foundation

The NTC Foundation, a private 501(C)3 nonprofit corporation, is charged with the preservation and renovation of 26 historical buildings that are part of the historic core of the former Naval Training Center in San Diego, California. The Foundation is also responsible for the creation of a civic, arts and cultural center known as the Promenade Centre to occupy the renovated buildings. For information, visit www.promenadecentre.org.

About America's Foundation for Chess

Founded on the hope of making chess a subject taught in every school in the United States, AF4C, www.af4c.org a nonprofit organization, is committed to making chess a larger part of America's cultural fabric - accessible in schools and in popular culture. By organizing events such as the U.S. Championships, AF4C hopes to elevate the profile of chess in America so that it will soon become a regular part of every child's classroom experience.

October 2003 - Top junior takes on the world

Trfy Gavriel reports:

Top ranking junior UK Under-19 chess player Lorin D'Costa has started a “Rest of World match” at Chessworld.net. The most famous “Rest of World” match was a truly historic Chess event. It was when Garry Kasparov teamed up with Bill Gates at Microsoft to issue the ultimate chess challenge of the 20th Century. Never before had a chess game engendered so much camaraderie with an intensity usually reserved for Football matches. Despite the World losing, this game was recorded in history as one of the most heavily analysed chess games every played!

Lorin D’Costa who currently holds a British Chess Federation grade of BCF 228 has achieved a great deal in chess. His latest achievement was winning the Under-18 British Land UK Chess Challenge this year and remarkably, it is now the third consecutive time in this largest of large chess tournaments that he has won it. This event initially attracted over 56,000 players from 1,660 schools all over the UK. It started off in the spring when players from over 1500 schools played in internal competitions to find school champions. Eight thousand champions then played in Megafinals at 27 events held in May throughout Britain. Over 1500 winners of the Megafinals then progressed to the Gigafinals at Sheffield Octagon in July. Held in 20 sections for age ranges from 6 to 18 years. There were 40 section winners who each got a trophy and a prize of £100. Each winner could then compete in the Terafinal held in late August at Blenheim High School, Epsom. Thirty four players competed and Lorin won first place taking home the £1,000 first prize and Rotary Cup.

To join the rest of world game against Lorin simply register and login at www.chessworld.net and follow the Play Menu to go to World team games. The match will be played at the rate of 5 days per move. Players will vote their moves by clicking on the chess board while discussing and formulating strategies and tactics in the Rest of World team forum. This match is open to all who visit www.ChessWorld.net

This tournament will be ideal for beginning and experienced players.

Tryfon Gavriel
Webmaster: www.chessworld.net

August 2003 - Roger W. Putnam Charity Chess Tournament

Chris Cook reports:

Entry Fee £10

There will be no formal distinction between age groups when pairing. Since this is a charity event, nominal prizes will be awarded (chess books). Prizes will be awarded as follows:-

Beginner - Winner
150 and under - Winner
Over 150 - Winner

Other prizes as available. Light refreshments will be available to purchase.

Games will not be graded in the Beginner's section. The BCF have kindly agreed to waive their grading fee for this competition.

The sets will be supplied by Tournament Chess Supplies (01707 659080) and shipped to Iraq following the tournaments. Donations of any complete sets and other equipment or books would be welcomed on the day.

This tournament is organised by Bill Putnam, Chris Cook, and Tom Meek.

The goal of the tournament is to raise money to buy chess supplies for Iraqi children throughout Iraq. All proceeds from the competition (except those that cover the room cost) will go towards bringing joy back to the children of Iraq.

The theme of the tournament is for everyone to have great fun while making a difference. Even if you cannot attend, we still encourage you to either make a financial donation or to donate any chess sets you believe would be appropriate. Beginners / casual players are especially welcome.

The tournament will be held at the London School of Economics on 9 August at St. Clements House (rooms S221 and S421). The nearest tube stations are Holborn and Temple. For a map of the area and school, please see the following website link:

www.lse.ac.uk/resources/mapsAndDirections/

This tournament will be ideal for beginning and experienced players.

Enquiries and Entries to:
Mr C R D Cook,
35 Billy Lows Lane
Potters Bar
Herts EN6 1UX
Telephone 01707 642027
iraqtournament@crdcook.co.uk

August 2003 - Nice International

Thierry Foissez reports:

On Monday August 4th we'll organise our 10th International Chess Summer Open of Nice (French Riviera), in the marvelous Grand Hôtel Aston, 4 stars, in the touristic center of Nice, in front of the typical old city, 5 minutes to the sea...

This Open in 7 rounds will be strong, and already here are some official players:

• Miladinovic Igor g 2609 GRE
• Georgiev Vladimir g 2566 MKD
• Mitkov Nikola g 2552 MKD
• Paragua Mark m 2500 PHI
• Badea Bela g 2499 ROM
• Sulava Nenad g 2479 CRO
• Popchev Milko g 2451 BUL
• Solomunovic Igor f 2435 BIH
• Leski Marc m 2414 FRA
• Sanchez Joseph f 2410 PHI
• Bujisho Benjamin m 2402 FRA
• Mrdja Milan m 2384 CRO
• Bucher Denis f 2351 SUI
• Todorov Ognian m 2339 BUL

We cover the event on our official site: www.echiquier-nicois.org all the week, with news, comments, pairings and results, and probably the games of the 10 first boards, from August 4th 5.pm (1st round) till August 9th 9.am (7th and last round).

Faithfully yours,
le directeur, Thierry Foissez

June 2003 - House of Commons vs Scotland Juniors

Scott Freeman reports:

Order was called at the House of Commons on Wednesady evening and debate was commenced, yet for the majority of the next hour barely a word was uttered. The fact that the debate was between 6 Members of Parliament and 6 Teenagers may make that sound even more unbelievable and even more so when I tell you that the rules of the debate included no talking!

The House of Commons Chess team were playing a team of the strongest junior players from Chess Scotland, who had already whitewashed a team of Scottish MP's over 5 boards a few weeks ago. What made this match particularly unusual was that it took place outside, on a section of the terraced area alongside the River Thames. At most venues, the Arbiter can work to prevent noise in the playing area, but this was something different. The odd boat blasting its horn as it past the Houses of Parliament or else the odd ripple of laughter from groups of MP's and officialls sitting further down the terrace could be heard, but the open air helped dissipate the background noise for the most part, making it a surprisingly perfect venue. The only threat was the possibility of rain stopping play, which would probably have been a first in a chess match, but the dull clouds were kind and the weather held.

As Debate inside the chamber had overrun a little, in the absence of the MP's captain, the Chess Scotland captain was offered the traditional pawn of each colour and guessed correctly, giving himself and his board 3 and 5 colleagues the white pieces for the battle that was to follow. A late substitution was made for the MP's and all was set for battle a few minutes later than scheduled.

Short introductions were made by George Clark and then a welcome from Dr Evan Harris MP, who welcomed the players from both sides and showed his immense political class in playing down the chances of his side winning. The floor was then passed to the arbiter who gave a brief run down of the rules and we were underway.

One of the final instructions Dr Harris had given was that if his players were going to lose, they should at least use all of their time up. David Kidney MP showed his loyalty to the cause by doing just that and lost on time to Colin Hall on Board 4. The position, it should be said, was lost anyway, but the Member for Stafford will have flagged his loyalty to causes he supports by following his instructions to the letter. One player who didn't use his time up was Sir Teddy Taylor MP who was beaten quite brutally by a good young player in Christopher McDonald. Christopher then went on to beat Sir Teddy again in a firendly and still had time to beat Howard Curtis, the President of the Coulsdon Chess Club in several friendlies, one of them before the second match result came in, which was the result on board 4.

The match was 30 minutes each on the clock and we moved into the final 10 minutes of play with the score at 2-0 to Chess Scotland. Any thought of defeat for Chess Scotland was dispelled when Louise McNab converted the advantage she had been building against Richard Younger-Ross MP. Then, as he reported in the after match speeches, Dr Evan Harris had to concede against Steven Tweedie following a "clever 17th move" which had slowly started to dismantle the MP's captain's position.

So Chess Scotland had won the match, but 2 boards were still in play. The second board finished next with Dr Julian Farrand (A Senior Civil Servant for Pensions) agreeing a draw with Daniel McGowan and likewise, Alan Reid MP managed to claim a draw against Joe Redpath to leave a final match score of 5-1 to Chess Scotland.

The main feeling in the MP's team afterwards was relief. Relief that they had not been whitewashed as their Scottish counterparts had been; the appropriate thank-you's to his team mates made by Dr Evan Harris in his closing speech. Everyone was in agreement that not only were there 6 superb young chess players standing present, but that chess is a very special game that has a lot to offer people of all ages, especially young people in the development of their education. And that was the final stunning part of the evening. There we stood at the Houses of Parliament.........and everyone was in agreement!

The match result (with Chess Scotland white on odd numbers boards) :

Scott Freeman
Arbiter

June 2003 - Chessworld.net Chess Olympics

Tryf Gavriel reports:

Chessworld.net is pleased to announce an open to all, free to enter, Olympic style correspondence chess tournament. It has already attracted nearly 1000 competitors from over 50 countries.

You can represent your country in the upcoming Chessworld.net Olympics by simply :-

1) Going to www.chessworld.net
2) Registering a nickname and password
3) Logging on
4) Hovering on the Play! Menu and choosing Chessworld Olympics
5) Request to join your Countries team

Please mention this opportunity to play chess against players from other countries in the Chessworld.net Olympics to your readers, friends, and other potentially interested parties.

Best wishes
The Chessworld.net team

June 2003 - Faking It

Jessica Versluys reports:

I am writing from RDF Media, London. We are an independent television production company responsible for programmes such as Faking it, Perfect Match, Wife Swap, Century of the self, Scrap Heap challenge, Shipwrecked, Eden and many more exciting programmes. I am currently working on Faking It which is a hugely successful format, having won various awards, including a BAFTA, and is one of Channel 4's flagship shows regularly attracting audiences in the millions.

The concept behind the series, as you might know, is based around the idea that we take somebody from one particular background and way of life and place them in a completely alien world. They then have one month to immerse themselves into this new lifestyle and learn the necessary skills involved to then see if they can ~fake it' in front of a panel of judges at the end of this month. You may have witnessed the success encountered in turning an Oxford Undergrad into a hard-knock bouncer, a burger-flipper from Newcastle into a top London Head Chef and more recently, an insurance salesman into a movie stuntman. The profile of Faking It is now extremely high and it has already established itself as one of Channel 4's defining programmes. The series has been not only a great advertisement for all those people and industries concerned but also a very positive experience for everybody involved.

I am contacting people involved in the chess world in order to put the word around. We are currently looking for our Faker, we would like to find a male chess player, 25-35 years of age who might be interested in taking part in this hugely popular life changing experience. I am contacting you to ask if there would be any possibility of putting some information about the programme anywhere on your website, email groups or newsletter that is emailed/ sent out to regular visitors of the site that we could get a mention on. If this isn't possible then I understand and thank you for your time.

Jessica.

E-mail : Jessica Versluys or call 020-7751-7383.

Genoa Open - August 2003

Stefano Iacono reports:

Dear chess friend, We organize the 7th international chess tournament OPEN GENOVA at Hotel Novotel Genova Ovest, Italy: - August 2nd to 9th 2002, - open A for ELO >= 1800 (FIDE rated), open B for ELO<1800, - 9 rounds Swiss System, 2 hours for 40 moves + 1 hour QPF, - entry fee 70 € (A), 60 € (B), 20 € (U16), GM and IM free, - 32 prices, total prizes 6055, - bulletin for each round, - clock's starting at 5 pm, free day for holiday and tourism, - playing hall with air conditioning, underground parking free, Novotel's special conditions, other hotels and inns in agreement. GM and IM already invited. For any further information: - genovascacchi@tiscali.it - http://digilander.libero.it/genovascacchi Best regards, $ Stefano Iacono C.D.S. Genova Scacchi genovascacchi@tiscali.it http://digilander.libero.it/genovascacchi

Players (latest) 376
Countrys (latest) 24

Best wishes
Toni Ayza

V International Open of Sants Hostafrancs i La Bordeta - August 2003

Toni Ayza reports:

Dear friends

we send you the information for the V International Open of Sants Hostafrancs i La Bordeta Dates

30th August - 7th September
Venue: Cotxeres de Sants C/ Sants 79 Barcelona Spain
Prizes 9,425 Euros

Official web site www.secretariat.org/open (in catalan spanish and english version)

Players (latest) 376
Countrys (latest) 24

Best wishes
Toni Ayza

Edda Rapid Tournament - March 2003

Ingvar Johannesson reports:

Dear chessfriends!

Our website is http://www.icechess.com/Edda2003

Tournament info:

The tournament is called the Edda Rapid Tournament and will be played March 3rd-5th. The timecontrol is 25 minutes for the game and 9 rounds will be played according to the Swiss system. The tournament is open for entry to anyone, from amateur to world class player. However only 160 players can play in the tournament.

The prize fund is a generous, 30.000 USD with 10.000 going as a jackpot 1st prize. Also there are prizes for best U-2400, U-2200, unrated FIDE, best woman, best junior (born 1985 or later). Some players already registered are Topalov, Shirov, Adams, Sokolov, Sutovsky, Bologan, Bacrot, Lautier, Krasenkow, Ehlvest, Tregubov, Nataf, Van Wely, Maceija etc.

In addition to this tournament we will have a Cat XV tournament starting on the 18th of February. In the XV tournament players are: Adams, Shirov, Sokolov, Bacrot, Korchnoi, Macieja, McShane, Stefansson, Gretarsson, Kristjansson.

Best wishes,

Ingvar Johannesson
Hrokurinn Chess Club

Knudsen vs ROW - February 2003

Tryfon Gavriel reports:

Senior International Master-Elect John Knudsen is playing a "Rest of World" match on the internet at www.chessworld.net and everyone is invited! Any chess player wanting to improve their game will benefit from the detailed move discussions and analysis this game will generate.

"Rest of world matches" are a combination of the ancient game of chess with the powerful interactive and social features of the Internet. The global excitement raised in such events and the potentially very high level of play by the World Teams continue to provide proof that the game of chess thrives and grows in the brave, new technology world of the 21st century.

John Knudsen is consistently ranked in the top 50 US correspondence player list. He is one of the worlds leading promoters of correspondence chess, setting up the domain www.correspondencechess.com in 1996 which now hosts many of the major cc sites. There is a spectator URL set up for this game at the following link:-

http://www.correspondencechess.com/knudsen/replay/row.htm

This is a rare opportunity to play against a top player and such a keen promoter of correspondence chess. The match will be played at the rate of 5 days per move. Players will vote their moves by clicking on the chess board while discussing and formulating strategies and tactics in the Rest of World team forum. This match is open to all who visit www.ChessWorld.net. Those wanting to play Knudsen will need to login and follow the Opponents menu to 'Play SIM Knudsen'.

The most famous Rest of world match to date was Kasparov vs. rest of world. Garry Kasparov teamed up with Bill Gates at Microsoft to issue the ultimate chess challenge of the 20th Century. The match ended in controversy when it was claimed that Microsoft lost a move suggestion by WGM Irena Krush who was on the move guidance panel for the rest of the world. However never before had a chess game engendered so much camaraderie with an intensity usually reserved for Football matches. Despite the World losing, this game was recorded in history as one of the most social and heavily analysed chess games every played!

Tryfon Gavriel
webmaster@chessworld.net
www.chessworld.net

January 2003 - US Chess Championship - January 2003

John Henderson reports:

SEATTLE -- For the third year running, hip Seattle plays host to the cerebral challenge of the prestigious US Chess Championships, as 58 of the country's top chess masters battle it out over nine rounds (9-18 January) for the biggest prize in chess history for a national title.

Since taking over the ailing historic championships in 2000, the America's Foundation for Chess (AF4C) has now boosted the prize fund to make the event the biggest annual prize in chess anywhere in the world. With an increase this year of a further $50,000, the prize fund increases to an unprecedented $250,000, with $25,000 slotted for the winner - all a far cry from 1966 when Bobby Fischer, after winning his record-breaking eighth US title, took home only $2,500.

Twenty top-rated players (12 men, 8 women) - including the 2002 U.S. Champions Larry Christiansen and Jennifer Shahade, and the 2001 and 2002 U.S. Junior Champions, Hikaru Nakamura and Aaron Pixton - were automatically seeded into the event. Also competing will be 36 players (32 men, 4 women) who survived the qualifying events held at the U.S. Masters, the National Open, Foxwoods Open, the Chicago Open, the World Open and the U.S. Open.

In our search to find the new Bobby Fischer, this new open-competition format has allowed many young, non-titled players to compete for the first time for a cherished spot in the national championship. And in addition to the above field, the AF4C board, in furthering their mission of promoting chess among young people, has allocated their two wildcard entries to 16-year-old Laura Ross, as well as the winner of the prestigious 2002 Samford Fellowship, 18-year-old Varuzhan Akobian.

The full playing field (including pictures and biographies) for the championship and details of the AF4C can be found on our website at www.af4c.org. The nine-round event, starting daily at 1.30 pm to close of play at 7.30pm, will run from January 9-18 (rest day Tuesday, 14th January) at the Seattle Center, home to Seattle's famous landmark, the Space Needle.

CCF Open Rapidplay - December 2002

Scott Freeman reports:

As many as 17 out of the 40 players competiting managed to win a prize in the latest Coulsdon Chess Fellowship Open Rapidplay event. Although the numbers were slightly down on the last event, the competition was still fierce. One title player had booked in but didn't show, but this left the event wide open as any one from 8 to 10 players were in with a chance of the top prize of £100. This was a rather surprising situation with the Terence Chapman Grand Prix at such a late stage and players fighting for points..

At the end of 6 rounds, 3 players tied for first place - all of them graded Under 200, which then pushed grading prizes down to the next score group.

The cash winners today were:

1= Robin Haldane (Streatham) 5 £50
John Hodgson (Ilford) 5 £50
Martin Taylor (Rainham) 5 £50

u200 Donny Muter (Richmond Jun) 4.5 £25
Ian Snape (Beckenham) 4.5 £25

u170 Alan Punnett (Guildford) 4.5 £50

u140 Ljubica Lazarevic (Grays) 3.5 £50

u110 Howard Curtis (Coulsdon) 3 £17
Bob Davidson (Brighton) 3 £17
Peter Williams (Basingstoke) 3 £17

u080 Herbie Alley (Newham) 2 £7-20
Antonio De Donatis (Woking) 2 £7-20
Simon Dickson (Horley area) 2 £7-20
James Foster (Coulsdon) 2 £7-20
James Guiney (Ashtead) 2 £7-20
Chris Harris (Coulsdon) 2 £7-20
Arthur Meaton (Coulsdon / Dorking) 2 £7-20

Once again, CCF would like to thank all of you who played. We hope to see a number of you at next weekend's Long Play Congress. Future dates are as follows:

DECEMBER

9 Suer League - Match Night 4
14-15 Long Play Christmas Congress

JANUARY

13 Super League - Match Night 5
18 12 Round Open Blitz Event

FEBRUARY

03 Super League - Match Night 6
08 Graded Sections Rapidplay
24 Super League - Match Night 7

MARCH

01 English Chess Challenge Qualifier - CCF Junior GP 2
17 Super League - Match Night 8
29 Saturday Schools' League - Event 14

APRIL

05 Open Rapidplay
07 Super league - Match Night 9
18-19 Easter Congress - 6 Rounds (Fri-Sat)

Najdorf Memorial, Buenos Aires, Argentina - September 2002

Gustavo Albarrán reports:

Najdorf Memorial 2002 will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina from September 23rd to October 8th. The tournament has 2 stages, a Great Swiss Open to 8 rounds, and a Playoff Final, played by 10 top players from the Open plus 6 invited masters. Total prize fund will be U$S 5000.

The official website of the tournament will be http://www.miguelnajdorf.com.ar/Najdorf2002/English/ in English and http://www.miguelnajdorf.com.ar/ in Spanish. There chess fans will be able to watch live games and pictures and commentaries of the event.

With my best regards,

Gustavo Albarrán
Webmaster

European Club Cup, Greece - September 2002

Argiris Kotsis reports:

The 50 strongest teams of Europe will participate in one of the most important sport events ever organized in Greece. The greatest names of World Chess consist all these teams.

Among them Vladimir Kramnik, who will play for the French Team of NAO CHESS CLUB. For the same team the famous chess players Gritchouk, Svidler, Lautier, Bacrot etc. will play as well.

The team of BOSNA Sarajevo will have a very strong presence with the participation of the challengers of the World Champion title M. Adams, A. Shirov, and also of I. Sokolov, T. Radjabov, S. Movensian etc.

This year's finalist of the World Champion title V. Ivanchuk from Ukrania and the most famous female chess player Judit Polgar, who will play for the Polish Team of POLONIA GSM PLUS will be also present. The Russian Teams consisted of all top Russian chess players will have a very strong presence as well.

The games will take place in the luxurious hotels of G Hotels Complex, Athos Palace and Pallini Beach, in Kallithea, Chalkidiki, from 21st until 29th of September 2002. Four hundred top chess players are expected, along with their coaches, to travel to Greece in order to participate in the European Club Cup.

Chess, according to world official records, is the third most popular sport worldwide. Thanks to this event millions of people around the world will learn about Greece as they will have the chance to follow the steps of their idols mostly through the Internet. We'd like to note that there will be live broacasts of the games for which responsible will be Hellas Chess Club (http://www.chess.gr), the 1st Chess Portal in Greece.

Details about the games are available in the official webpage of the Cup http://www.sportmeeting.gr

Information Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou (tel. 0310-865778 & mobile 0932-215971).

Argiris Kotsis
webmaster@chess.gr
http://www.chess.gr

Curacao 1962- 2002 Chess Tournament - November 2002

Ger Jan Meije reports:

Dear Chess Friends,

We are happy to announce the Curacao (*) 1962- 2002 chess tournament. This is an open tournament that will be held from November 16 to November 28, 2002.

The tournament is dedicated to the fact that it is 40 years ago that the Worldchampion Candidate Tournament was taken place here. Viktor Kortsnoj, Pal Benko and Yuri Averbach already confirmed that they will return after 40 years to celebrate this anniversary.

The tournament will have 9 rounds and a maximum of 120 players including about 15 titled players. We already have confirmations from Jan Timman (NL), Bartek Macieja (Pol), Joerg Hickl (Germany), Sofia Polgar (Israel/Hungary), Yona Kosashvili (Israel), Anjelina Belakovskaia (USA), Alonso Zapata (Colombia), Johan Alvarez (Venezuela) and Carlos Gallegos (Venezuela).

We will announce the other names of titled players on short term. Our concept is that the tournament should also be very interesting for not professional club players who would like having the experience of a very international tournament with the opportunity to play against opponents from all our wind directions (Europe, USA, Caribbean and South America). In 2001 We already had participants of 17 countries and we are expecting more flags this year.

More information (including a 1962 and a 2001 picture gallery and general information about Curacao) you can find on our website www.curacao.com/chess.

Yours sincerely,

Ger Jan Meijer
Curacao 1962- 2002 Chess Federation

(*) Curacao is an island in the Caribbean and part of the Netherlands Antilles

Wollf vs The World - August 2002

Tryf Gavriel reports:

United States GM Patrick Wolff is going to play a rest of the World match and everyone is invited!

GM Patrick Wolff will play the Rest of the World starting 31st August on the Internet at www.letsplaychess.com

Wolff is a two times United States Champion, and author of the best selling chess book "The Complete Idiot's guide to Chess". He was coach and trainer for Viswanathan Anand, who challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Championship title in 1995. He has recently started his own teaching website wolffchess.com and is arguably one of the key modern authors who is bringing chess into wider public awareness.

This is a rare opportunity to play against a top United States Grandmaster. The match will be played at the rate of 5 days per move. Players will vote their moves by clicking on the chess board while discussing and formulating strategies and tactics in the Rest of World team forum. This match is open to all who visit www.letsplaychess.com. Those wanting to play Wolff will need to login and follow the Play menu to 'Play the Expert'.

This will be a really great Chess event. The most well known Rest of World Match was Kasparov vs. Rest of the World attracting thousands of people to cast their move votes from around the world. This erupted in controversy when Garry Kasparov teamed up with Bill Gates at Microsoft to issue the ultimate chess challenge of the 20th Century. The match ended in disaster when it was claimed that Microsoft lost a move suggestion by WGM Irena Krush who was on the move guidance panel for the rest of the world. Fraud was charged. However never before had a chess game engendered so much camaraderie with an intensity usually reserved for Football matches. Despite the World losing, this game was recorded in history as one of the most heavily analysed chess games every played!

Kasparov vs. Rest of World, 1999

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.c4 Nc6 6.Nc3 Nf6 7.0-0 g6 8.d4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bg7 10.Nde2 Qe6 11.Nd5 Qxe4 12.Nc7+ Kd7 13.Nxa8 Qxc4 14.Nb6+ axb6 15.Nc3 Ra8 16.a4 Ne4 17.Nxe4 Qxe4 18.Qb3 f5 19.Bg5 Qb4 20.Qf7 Be5 21.h3 Rxa4 22.Rxa4 Qxa4 23.Qxh7 Bxb2 24.Qxg6 Qe4 25.Qf7 Bd4 26.Qb3 f4 27.Qf7 Be5 28.h4 b5 29.h5 Qc4 30.Qf5+ Qe6 31.Qxe6+ Kxe6 32.g3 fxg3 33.fxg3 b4 34.Bf4 Bd4+ 35.Kh1 b3 36.g4 Kd5 37.g5 e6 38.h6 Ne7 39.Rd1 e5 40.Be3 Kc4 41.Bxd4 exd4 42.Kg2 b2 43.Kf3 Kc3 44.h7 Ng6 45.Ke4 Kc2 46.Rh1 d3 47.Kf5 b1Q 48.Rxb1 Kxb1 49.Kxg6 d2 50.h8Q d1Q 51.Qh7 b5 52.Kf6+ Kb2 53.Qh2+ Ka1 54.Qf4 b4 55.Qxb4 Qf3+ 56.Kg7 d5 57.Qd4+ Kb1 58.g6 Qe4 59.Qg1+ Kb2 60.Qf2+ Kc1 61.Kf6 d4 62.g7 1-0

Kasparov,G (2750) - Wolff,P (2530) [A20] New York simul, 1988

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c6 4.d4 exd4 5.Qxd4 d5 6.cxd5 cxd5 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.Qa4 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Be3 Ng4 11.Bd4 Nxd4 12.Nxd4 Qb6 13.Nc3 Qh6 14.h4 g5 15.Nxd5 Bd8 16.Rac1 gxh4 17.Rxc8 hxg3 18.Nf3 Nh2 19.Rfc1 Rxc8 20.Rxc8 Nxf3+ 21.exf3 gxf2+ 22.Kf1 Qd2 23.Nf6+ Kg7 24.Ne8+ Kh8 25.Qe4 Bh4 0-1

Tryfon Gavriel

www.letsplaychess.com

6th Mind Sports Olympiad- August 2002

Suzanne Martin reports:

Mind Sports Olympiad moves to Loughborough

The 6th Mind Sports Olympiad will take place at Loughborough University from August 14th-18th 2002. This is the first year that the event, which started in London in 1997, has moved outside the capital.

The Mind Sports Olympiad is an annual games festival in which all the contests are thinking games. The competitors play each other at a variety of well known strategy games such as Chess, Bridge, Backgammon, Scrabble, Othello and Go, and compete for Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. There are junior medals for those aged under 16.

Most participants will enter only one competition, though it is possible to take advantage of the scheduling and compete in several tournaments. Also, there will be a "Pentamind" competition for those who are adept at five or more different games and a "Decamentathlon" where players can test their wits on situations from ten different games and skills.

Amongst the highlights of this year¹s event will be the World Amateur Poker Championship, played without money. There is also the World Intelligence Championship, with questions set by the high IQ society Mensa, and a Creative Thinking tournament in which the contestants must answer questions such as "How many similarities can you think of between Victoria Beckham and an orange?"

Speed Reading competitors will be tested on an unpublished text to determine their average number of words read per minute and their percentage comprehension. Mental Calculation will find the best at mental arithmetic. Memory Skills will include the ability to remember whole packs of playing cards, as many digits as possible of a long number, passages of text, etc.

Gold, Silver and Bronze medallions will be awarded to the top adults and top juniors in each competition. In addition there will be sponsored prizes in some tournaments.

This year¹s Mind Sports Olympiad is taking place alongside Britcon 2002, the annual convention of the British Historical Games Society.

For media information contact: David Levy, founder of the Mind Sports Olympiad
Telephone: 0208 883 5180 e-mail: dlevy@msoworld.com

For entry information contact: Tony Corfe, Event Manger
Telephone: 01707 659080 e-mail: mso@tcs-chess.demon.co.uk

Or visit our web site at www.msoworld.com

David Levy
Chief Executive Officer,
Mind Sports Organisation Worldwide.

www.letsplaychess.com World Championship knockout

Tryf Gavriel reports:

www.letsplaychess.com is proud to announce its first ever World championship knockout event.

This is an open to all event, which has the time limit of two days per move. The ambitious target to meet is one thousand and twenty four players. They will go through a series of knockout elimination rounds:-

1st round: 1024 players
2nd round: 512 players
3rd round: 256 players
4th round 128 players
5th round 64 players
6th round 32 players
7th round 16 players
8th round 8 players
9th round 4 players
10th round 2 players

The format of this event will make it very easy for players to find the time to compete, as you can play a move every 2 days and there is no software download required. Simply point your browser to www.letsplaychess.com , and there is a link from the Play menu. You can play your moves from your browser, and you can even play your moves at work because it works behind a firewall.

Letsplaychess.com is a friendly online chess club where you can play chess with players from all over the World! It is rapidly becoming the best place to play, compete in tournaments, join teams, learn, keep in touch with old friends and make new friends worldwide.

As of May 2002 it had the following stats: 14013 members * 72054 games * 1694 Tournaments * 54 Leagues * 294 Teams * 182 Countries * 346 Forums * 142 Annotated games * 269 Tips * 132 Puzzles * 4963 Messages * 205 Pictures

Best wishes

Tryfon Gavriel
webmaster@chessworld.net
www.letsplaychess.com

6th Open International Bavarian Masters - October 2002

Thomas Leckner reports:

Dear chessfriend,

also in 2002 the chess-club of Tegernsee will organize a great open international chess tournament:

-----------------------------------------
6th Open International Bavarian Masters
Bad Wiessee, 2002-10-26 to 2002-11-03

prize-funds: EUR 21.000,--
-----------------------------------------

Again we expect a lot of grandmasters. Former champions of Bad Wiessee are A. Khalifman (1997,1998), A. Shabalov (1999), A. Graf (2000) and V. Akopian (2001).

Details and online-entry under URL: http://www.schach-am-tegernsee.de/oib2002

Best regards
Thomas Leckner

Luebeck Quickplay Open - June 2002

Team Chess-Online reports:

Dear Chess Friends,

Today we would like to draw your attention to the Luebeck Quickplay Open.

On the website www.lsv1873.de you will find a link to the tournament, as well as an announcement which can be downloaded. Perhaps there are other friends or club members who would be interested.

Luebeck Chess Club invite you to the Moenkhagen Community Centre (details at www.lsv1873.de) on the 23rd June 2002 to take part in the tournament. Entries can be accepted until 9.30am on the day with a maximum of 120 players taking part.

Entry fee is 10 Euros until the 7th June and then 13 Euros thereafter (see www.lsv1873.de for more details). It will be:

• 9 Round Swiss System
• 20 Minutes per player per game
• 1st prize 250 Euro with 4 other prizes - the prize fund is guaranteed after 50 entries and will be increased depending on the number of entries
• Ratings prizes
• 10am - 6pm, with lunch after Round 4
• catering provided in the playing hall

List of entries and further information at www.lsv1873.de

We hope there isa big turnout

Team Chess-Online

May 2002 - Genova Open

Stefano Iacono reports:

Dear chess friend,

We organize the 6th international chess tournament OPEN GENOVA at Hotel Novotel Genova Ovest, Italy:

• August 3th to 10th 2002
• Open A for ELO >= 1800 (FIDE rated), Open B for ELO<1800
• 9 rounds Swiss System
• 2 hours for 40 moves + 1 hour QPF
• entry fee 70 € (A), 60 € (B), 20 € (U16), GM and IM free
• 32 prizes, total prizes 6055
• bulletin for each round
• clock's starting at 5 pm, free day for holiday and tourism
• playing hall with air conditioning, underground parking free, Novotel's special conditions, other hotels and inns in agreement. GM and IM already invited

For any further information:

Stefano Iacono
http://digilander.iol.it/genovascacchi

Best regards

Stefano Iacono
C.D.S. Genova Scacchi

May 2002 - BritWeb Web Based Email Chess League

Tryf Gavriel reports:

I would like to invite you to play on my relatively new interactive chess website for the purposes of playing in the BritWeb web based Email chess league.

The cost of entry is free and there are no downloads. And if there are any other obstacles, tell me about them and I will do my best to remove them!

If you would like your chess club to play in the "Britweb web-based Email chess league", please use the following special link:- http://www.letsplaychess.com/chessclubs/asplogin.asp?from=1053

This link will after you register, customise the Play menu giving a shortcut to the BritWeb league. ("League Quick Link" menu option) It was also enable me to easily message you more information about the league. I will be acting as official League Manager.

In the League home page you can easily set up your club's team, and soon be playing against other clubs in BritWeb I think it would be good fun!

Best wishes

Tryfon Gavriel
Webmaster Britweb,
ChessWorld.net

May 2002 - Barcelona Open

Toni Ayza reports:

The IV Open International of Sants Hostafrancs i la Bordeta runs from 30th August to 8th September, it is a 10 round swiss system. The official website is updated with all information www.secretariat.org/open. Last year the Open had 356 players from 20 countries.

March 2002 - 72nd Argentinean Championship

Gustavo Albarran reports:

From March 11 to 26 there is the National Chess Festival in Pinamar, Argentina, including the 72nd Argentinean Championship and the II Pinamar Masters tournament.

Argentinean Championship, a 14-player-category-IX-round-robin, will be held from March 11 to 20 and Pinamar Masters, a 10-player-category-XI-round-robin will extend from March 21 to 26. As you can notice in both tournaments there will be days of 2 rounds, and we will publish the schedule with dates and times of play on Sunday 10th.

The official website of the Festival is http://www.utopiasdepinamar.com.ar/chess in english and http://www.utopiasdepinamar.com.ar/ajedrez in spanish. There chess fans will be able to watch games live, photographs and comments on the event.

March 2002 - GM Plaskett vs The World

Tryfon Gavriel reports:

PRESS RELEASE

GM James Plaskett will play the Rest of the World starting 1st March on the internet at www.chessworld.net.

Plaskett is one of the UK's most exciting and dynamic grandmasters both on and off the board! He won the British Championship in fine style in 1990 and the Redbus knockout in 1999. He achieved 3204 on the ICC drawing an unofficial match with Shirov 10:10. Off the board has written books and has led an expedition to find a giant octopus off the coast of Bermuda.

This is a rare opportunity to play against a top British Grandmaster. The match will be played at the rate of 5 days per move. Players will vote their moves by clicking on the chess board while discussing and formulating strategies and tactics in the Rest of World team forum. This match is open to all who visit www.ChessWorld.net. Those wanting to play Plaskett will need to login and follow the Opponents menu to 'Play the Expert'.

This will be a historic Chess event. The last time a game like this was played, it erupted in controversy when Garry Kasparov teamed up with Bill Gates at Microsoft to issue the ultimate chess challenge of the 20th Century. The match ended in disaster when it was claimed that Microsoft lost a move suggestion by WGM Irena Krush who was on the move guidance panel for the rest of the world. Fraud was charged. However never before had a chess game engendered so much camaraderie with an intensity usually reserved for Football matches. Despite the World losing, this game was recorded in history as one of the most heavily analysed chess games every played!.

February 2002 - 3rd Hamburg ELO Tournament

Christian Zickelbein reports:

Hamburger Schachklub von 1830 e.V.

3rd HSK ELO Tournament

Thursday 9th May 2002 - Sunday 12th May 2002

ELO and DWZ rated

Daily Results and Pairings on the Internet

Format: 7 Round Swiss - 40 moves in 2 hours then 30 minutes to a finish

Location: HSK-Schachzentrum, Schellingstraße 41, 22089 Hamburg

Prizes: Total prize fund Euro 2.500,-
Plätze 1-8 700,- / 500,- / 400,- / 300,- / 200,- / 150,- / 100,- / 50,-
Best Junior: 100,- Euro

The prize fund is guaranteed with at least 50 entries

Timetable:
Thursday 9th May from 8.30am Entry/Registration
Round 1 -10 am - 3 pm
Round 2 - 4 pm - 9 pm
Friday 10th May
Round 3 - 10 am - 3 pm
Round 4 - 4 pm - 9 pm
Saturday 11th May
Round 5 - 10 am - 3 pm
Round 6 - 4 pm - 9 pm
Sunday 12th May
Round 7 - 10 am - 3pm
Prize Giving

Entry: Christian Zickelbein, Buchwaldstr. 36, 22143 Hamburg
Tel. 040/677 22 80 Mobil 0171/4567172 Fax 040 / 677 33 82
ChZickelbeinHSK@aol.com

Christopher Kyeck, Klaus-Groth-Str., 76 20535 Hamburg
Tel. 2549 5172
Kycken@hsk1830.de (Christopher Kyeck)

Information: Hamburger SK Tel. 040 / 2098 1411
Homepage www.hsk1830.de

Entry Fees: ELO Rated und Juniors: 55,- Euro (after 26th April: 70,- Euro)
Non-ELO Rated: 65,- Euro (after 26th April: 80,- Euro)
GM und IM Free Entry

Entry Fee: transfer with Name/Club to the bank account of:
Hamburger SK
Postbank Hamburg
BLZ 200 100 20
Account Number: 397 122 - 207
Entry will be confirmed after receipt of fee.

Entry numbers are restricted!

Participants must be ELO rated apart from exceptional cases (15% maximum). The tournament organisers will decide on the participants taking into account the order of entries.

October 2001 - Online World Chess 2002

Melinda van Kessel reports:

World's Best 32 Internet Chess Players will play 32 World Top Grandmasters, including Anand, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Polgar.

Biggest online & off-line chess event announced: Online World Chess 2002.

Amsterdam, October 24th, 2001 - Today Online World Chess announces the start of the biggest combined online and off-line chess event ever: the Online World Chess Event 2002. During the presentation today, Grandmasters such as Judit Polgar, Loek van Wely, Genna Sosonko and Yasser Seirawan were present to give their support to this event, with Garry Kasparov calling in as well.

Thousands of players from all over the world are expected to participate in the event, that starts on January 15th 2002. The 32 winners of the Online Event qualify for the Live Finals that start on April 20th 2002. These finalists will be invited to the Netherlands, all expenses paid, to play 32 of the world's leading grandmasters for the grand prize of $500,000. The participating grandmasters include Viswanathan Anand, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Judit Polgar and many others. The total prize fund exceeds US$ 1.4 million. Registration starts today at www.OnlineWorldChess.com.

The Grandmasters confirmed their participation in the Live event. It's the first time in over fifteen years that the Top 10 Grandmasters of all major international rankings play in one and the same event together. Additionally, the Online World Chess Event will be the only chess event in 2002 where the Top 3 players of the world compete.

Floris Italianer, CEO of Online World Chess B.V.: "This is huge! It took many months of preparations and now it's really happening. We set up the technology with our partner KPN, got the international grandmasters involved with the help of international law firm Allen & Overy, and prepared the launch of our website with promotional partner IMG. This is the first time ever that the international chess community en masse grants its support to an Internet chess Event."

Judit Polgar, Grandmaster, said: "Unlike most other sports, chess can be played on the Internet, and I believe the Online World Chess Event can play an important role in the promotion of chess in general."

People who register (via the site, for US$ 32.95) are enrolled in the Online World Chess Event and also get premium content on the site as well as special online features. All participants will receive a special Certificate of Participation. In addition to the Grand Prize of $500,000, more than half of the participants will receive prizes, ranging from signed chess boards to cash prizes.

Chess and the Internet
It is estimated that 600 million people worldwide know how to play chess. Of these 600 million approximately 7 million are registered chess players, covering 159 countries worldwide, making chess one of the most popular sports around the world. Being this widespread, chess players were among the first to discover the boundless possibilities of computers and the Internet. Today, more than 283 million people play chess with others from all over the globe via the Internet. The Online World Chess Foundation has the objective of bringing this truly international community of chess players together in the biggest online chess event ever: the Online World Chess Event 2002.

For more information about the Event, please visit www.OnlineWorldChess.com

Online World Chess Press Office
Jeroen Hellenberg, Jeroen van Seeters
Tel: +31-20-646 63 84
Fax: +31-20-644 97 36
E-mail: press@onlineworldchess.com

5th Open International Bavarian Masters - October 2001

Thomas Leckner reports:

The 5th Open International Bavarian Masters will be held from October 27 to November 4. More than 350 players have already confirmed their participation - and more than 30 grandmasters. So for sure the 5th OIBM will become a very special event in chess, once more.

Please to not hesitate to contact me, if you need further information: e-mail: thomas@leckner.de, tel. +49-(0)8025-998022.

Detailed information you can also find on our homepage http://www.schach-am-tegernsee.de/oib2001.

September 2001 - European Club Cup

Chris Dunworth reports:

EUROPEAN CLUB CUP IN CRETE 22th-30th SEPTEMBER

So far 42 teams from 28 countries will contest the title of the 17th European Club Cup, that will be held in Crete organised by KYDON SC at the new luxury hotel group of the G-HOTELS series, CRETA MARINE and CRETA PANORAMA.

Live broadcast: http://www.venizelia.gr

Monmouth Minnows Squad List - Welsh National Team Chess Champions 2000 & 2001

Nigel Beveridge ENG 409448 2028 22 October 1958
David Buckley ENG 407437 2172 25 October 1979
Melanie Buckley ENG 406430 2118 31 July 1982
Simon T Buckley ENG 407410 2268 30 March 1985
Christopher Dunworth ENG 402800 fm 2289 12 October 1967
Walter NR Saunders WLS 1800442 2104 5 June 1947
James T Sherwin USA 2000997 im 2359 25 October 1933
John Trevelyan WLS 1800922 2145 13 March 1948

(List in Alphabetical Order - the final players' list will be handed in just prior to the captain's meeting)

Team Coach: GM Peter Wells
Manager: Christopher Dunworth

John Sharp writes:

The top teams are:

August 2001 - IV. Pyramiden Franken Cup

GM Michael Bezold reports:

From 18.-26. August I am organizing a strong open tournament in a real pyramid.

The open is called IV. Pyramiden Franken Cup. It takes place in the south of Germany in Fuerth near Nuernberg. About 20 titled players are participating.

I want to draw your attention to our website: http://www.steffanklaus.de/pyramide/index1.htm we have an english edition as well.

From round 2 we offer live coverage from the top boards, you can find this on our homepage. For any further information I am ready to answer by email: bezold@gmx.de .

August 2001 - FIDE Rapidplay Rating List - Top 50

Willy Iclicki FIDE reports:

I'm releasing now the 5th rapid rating list which includes some interesting tournaments like Cannes, Mainz, Monaco, Zurich, Tallinn, European tie-breaks and some interesting national championships and private tournaments or matches.

Despite a loss of four points, M. Adams managed to keep his first place thanks to an impressive comeback in Mainz. V. Anand lost his second place to G. Kasparov due to an inadequate result in Monaco (I'm sorry for him but I never got the final cross table of Marabal tournament (Spain) which he won. Did this result cost him the first place?). G. Kasparov kept his rating. He played well in Cannes but his defeat to V. Kramnik in Zurich cost him probably the first position. B. Gelfand and V. Kramnik are moving North and let's welcome the young French star and world best junior E. Bacrot who is now in 12th position.

Finally, let me thank those federations and organizers who help me to maintain the list. Next year FIDE is also planing a series of Rapid tournaments, which I hope will help to promote this very exciting game.

August 2001 - WDR Challenge Game - Anand vs Leko

John Sharp reports:

Anand (IND) and Leko (HUN) played a live challenge match (60 minutes per player) on German TV (WDR) on 13th August which resulted in a draw giving Anand the title since as black he only required a draw . This is an annual match where Kramnik (RUS) which was due to defend his title but pulled out due to other commitments and was replaced by Leko who agreed to play even though he was on holiday at the time.

It was a Najdorf Sicilian where white played the Be2/Be3/a4 setup. Anand countered by swapping off most of the pieces and despite a temporary pawn sacrifice by Leko it never looked more than a draw.

Play through the game : Anand - Leko

PGN Format : Anand - Leko

August 2001 - Man vs Machine - Shirov vs x-treme

Torben Denker reports:

31st August 2001, 6.00 p.m. at IFA: Vice Chess Champion Alexei Shirov fighting the Set Top Box "x-treme"

Man vs. Machine: First chess competition via Set Top Box

• Vice champion Alexei Shirov will play versus the galaxis Set Top Box "x-treme"
• Isle of Wight Telephone Company is one of the major customers of galaxis technology ag
• It will be the first time that on the occasion of IFA this PC based Set Top Box will be presented to the public

Luebeck: The Luebeck high-tech company galaxis technology ag will be organising a spectacular chess event in order to launch the new galaxis Set Top Box "x-treme" on Friday, 31st August 2001, 6.00 p.m. at galaxis lounge (Hall 4.2b stand 03) at the International Funkausstellung. Under the headline "Man vs. Machine", galaxis will send its Set Top Box "x-treme" to match the Vice champion Alexei Shirov and will present this classical fight in a new form. galaxis technology ag from Luebeck (Germany) is one the leading suppliers of digital Set Top Boxes technology for cable, satellite and terrestrial reception. One of galaxis major customers is the Isle of Wight Telephone Company, which are equipping about 40.000 households with Set Top Boxes including cable modem from galaxis.

On the occasion of the International Funkaustellung in Berlin galaxis will present its new Set Top Box "x-treme" for the first time to the public. Based on a PC, "x-treme" was conceived for interactive services. With in the areas of Web-TV, Internet, Shopping portals, DVD as well as Java applications. At the IFA, the "x-treme" will fight for the first time a chess professional. The software company ChessBase from Hamburg (Germany) appears as a partner to this event. ChessBase distributes the chess programme Shredder 5.32 and is still programming Fritz 7, which will be presented in a special version at the galaxis lounge.

The invited galaxis guests and journalists are welcome to follow the matches inside the galaxis lounge. All other IFA visitors can follow the matches on large video screen terminal in front of the stand. Additionally to this, Alexei Shirov will play some blitz games in the internet against a human player in a foreign country by using the galaxis Set Top Box "x-treme".

Pressekontakt:

August 2001 - 4th Malbork Castle Cup

Jerzy Skonieczny reports:

Dear chess friends,

I would like to invite You to The 4th Malbork Castle Cup (Poland) 08-09 September 2001. The Castle Malbork was honoured with an entry into UNESCO's List of the World's Cultural Heritage. The city populated by forty-thousand inhabitants is visited each year by half a milion tourists.

1st prize 1200 PLN (600DM) - for detailed information (English, Germany and Polish) look at http://skoraf.republika.pl/index.htm

Best regards
Jerzy Skonieczny
jotes@go2.pl

February 2001 - Yateley Manor International 2001 Results and Games

Yateley Manor International 19-21 January and 3-4 February 2001 - Ray Clark reports:

This was an open event and part of the Terence Chapman Group Grand Prix. The format provides the opportunity for 9 FIDE rated games over 2 weekends - rather than the usual 9 day format. The venue was Yateley Manor School, near Camberley on the borders of N.Hampshire, Berkshire and Surrey.

This is the second year the tournament has been held and once again the event w as highly thought of by both players and spectators with many of last year's players returning.

The results were :

1 Paul Littlewood IM £220 7/9; 2 Colin Crouch IM £120 6.5/9; 3 Kevin Bailey £60 6/9; 4= Matthew Broomfield, Andrew Bigg 5.5/9; 6= Thomas Rendle, Anna Partington 5/9.
30 played (included Cathy Forbes WIM and Jessie Gilbert WFM). 28 played.

Here are some short games :

Yateley Manor International 2001
Round 4 Board 4
White: Koichi Nicholas (2108)
Black: Kevin Bailey (BCF 166)

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Be3 Qb6 5. Qc1 Ng4 6. Bc4 Nxe3 7. fxe3 Bg4 8. Nge2 Bxe2 9. Kxe2 e6 10. d5 exd5 11. exd5 Nd7 12. Qd2 Ne5 13. Bb3 Be7 14. Qd4 Qa6+ 15. Kd2 O-O 16. Raf1 Rab8 17. dxc6 bxc6 18. Qf4 Qa5 19. a3 Kh8 20. Kc1 f6 21. e4 RxBb3! 0-1

Yateley Manor International 2001
Round 5 Board 1
White: Paul Littlewood (2394 IM)
Black: Colin Crouch (2434 IM)

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. e3 Bb7 5. Bd3 d5 6. O-O Bd6 7. b3 Nbd7 8. Bb2 Ne4 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Qe2 f5 11. cxd5 NxNc3 12. BxNc3 Bxd5 13. Bb2 Qf6 14. Bc4 Bb7 15. a4 a5 16. Ba3 BxBa3 17. RxBa3 Kh8 18. Ra2 e5 19. Nxe5 Nxe5 20. dxe5 Qxe5 21. Rd1 f4 22. exf4 Qxf4 23. Rad2 Rae8 24. Qd3 Re5 25. Qg3 Qf6 26. Rd8 Re1 27. Rxe1 Qxd8 28. h3 Qf6 29. Re2 c6 30. Qe5 b5 31. QxQf6 gxQf6 32. axb5 cxb5 33. Bxb5 Bd5 34. Ba4 Rg8 35. f4 Rg3 36. Kh2 Draw Agreed.

Yateley Manor International 2001
Round 5 Board 2
White: Kevin Bailey (BCF 166)
Black: Daniel Bisby (2290)

1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. b3 d4 7. e3 c5 8. exd4 cxd4 9. d3 Nc6 10. Re1 Bd6 11. Na3 e5 12. Nc2 a5 13. a3 Bf5 14. Rb1 Bc7 15. b4 e4 16. Nh4 Bg4 17. f3 exf3 18. Bxf3 Be6 19. b5 Ne5 20. Bxb7 Bg4 21. Bf3 NxBf3 22. NxNf3 Qb8 23. Kg2 Nh5 24. Ncxd4 Bxg3 25. Qc2 Bxh2 26. NxBh2 Qg3+ 27. Kf1 Bh3 28. Ke2 Rfe8+ 0-1

Yateley Manor International 2001
Round 6 Board 2
White: Andrew Bigg (2157)
Black: Paul Littlewood (2394 IM)

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 c5 3. d5 e5 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 Be7 6. h4 a6 7. a4 O-O 8. g3 Ne8 9. Bh3 Bxh3 10. Nxh3 Nd7 11. a5 Nc7 12. Qg4 Kh8 13. O-O Nb5 14. Nd1 h6 15. Qh5 Nd4 16. c3 Nb3 17. Ra3 c4 18. Ne3 BxBg5 19. hxBg5 Nd2 20. Nf5 NxRf1 21. Nxg7 Kxg7 22. Qxh6+ Kg8 23. g6 Draw agreed.

Yateley Manor International 2001
Round 7 Board 1
White: Matthew Broomfield (2206)
Black: Colin Crouch (2434 IM)

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b6 3. Bg5 Ne4 4. Bh4 g6 5. Nbd2 Bb7 6. Ne4 Be4 7. Nd2 Bb7 8. e4 Bg7 9. c3 O-O 10. Bd3 c5 11. d5 d6 12. O-O Qd7 13. Qe2 e6 14. de6 fe6 15. Rad1 Nc6 16. Nf3 Ne5 17. Ne5 Be5 18. Bg5 Bf4 19. Bf4 Rf4 20. g3 Rf7 21. f4 d5 22. f5 ef5 23. ef5 Re8 24. fg6 Rf1 25. Qf1 hg6 26. Bb5 Bc6 27. Rd5 Qe6 28. Bc6 Qc6 29. Rd2 Qe6 30. Rf2 Qa2 31. Qd3 Draw agreed.

Yateley Manor International 2001
Round 7 Board 3
White: Cathy Forbes (2073)
Black: Andrew Bigg (2157)

1. c4 b6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 Bb7 4. g3 BxNf3 5. exBf3 c5 6. f4 Nc6 7. Bg2 Nd4 8. Bxa8 Qxa8 9. f3 Nxf3+ 10. Kf2 Nd4 11. d3 g6 12. Nb5 NxNb5 13. cxNb5 Bg7 14. Qf3 d5 15. Rb1 Ne7 16. b4 Nf5 17. bxc5 Bd4+ 18. Kg2 (draw offered) bc 19. h4 Qd8 20. Bd2 O-O 21. h5 e5 22. Rbe1 ef 23. Qxf4 Qd7 24. a4 Bg7. Draw agreed.

Yateley Manor International 2001
Round 8 Board 1
White: Colin Crouch (2434 IM)
Black: Lawrence Trent (2218)

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. b6 e6 6. Nc3 Nxd5 7. NxNd5 exNd5 8. Qxd5 Nc6 9. Nf3 Rb8 10. Ne5 Qf6 11. NxNc6 dxc6 12. Qf3 Be7 13. Bd2 QxQf3 14. exQf3 Bf6 15. Bc3 BxBc3 16. bxBc3 O-O 17. Bc4 Re8+ 18. Kd2 Bf5 19. Rae1 Red8+ 20. Ke3 g5 21. f4 g4 22. f3 h5 23. Kf2 Rd2+ 24. Kg3 gxf3 25. gxf3 Kg7 (black declined draw offer) 26. Re7 h4+ 27. Kh4 Rh8+ 28. Kg5 Bg6 29. Re2 RxRe2 White resigns. 0 - 1

Yateley Manor International 2001
Round 8 Board 3
White: Andrew Bigg (2157)
Black: Kevin Bailey (BCF 166)

1. d4 d6 2. e4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. f4 Qa5 5. Bd2 e5 6. fxe5 dxe5 7. dxe5 Ng4 8. h3 Nxe5 9. Nf3 Nbd7 10. Bde Bc5 11. Qe2 O-O 12. O-O-O b5 13. Nxb5 Nxd3+ and white resigned 0 - 1

Yateley Manor International 2001
Round 8 Board 4
White: Chetan Deva (2098)
Black: Matthew Broomfield (2206)

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. Nd2 h6 4. BxNf6 QxBf6 5. c3 d6 6. g3 Nd7 7. Bg2 c5 8. Ngf3 cxd4 9. cxd4 d5 10. O-O Bd6 11. e4 dxe4 12. Nxe4 Qe7 13. d5 e5 14. Nfd2 O-O 15. Nd4 Bb8 16. d6 Qe6 17. Rc1 Rd8 18. Qbe g5 19. Nce e4 20. Rfd1 Nb6 21. Bf1 Kh7 22. Nb5 Kg6 23. Qa3 Nd5 24. Qc5 Nf6 25. Ne5+ Kh7 26. Bc4 Qe8 27. Bxf7 Qf8 28. Bg6+ black resigned 1 - 0

Yateley Manor International 2001
Round 9 Board 1
White: Paul Littlewood (2394 IM)
Black: Kevin Bailey (BCF 166)

1. d4 d6 2. e4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. h3 Bh5 6. Bd3 e6 7. g4 Bg6 8. Bg5 Be7 9. Qd2 d5 10. exd5 BxBd3 11. QxBd3 Nxd5 12. BxBe7 QxBe7 13. O-O-O NxNc3 14. QxNc3 Nd7 15. Rhe1 O-O 16. h4 Qf6 17. g5 draw agreed

Yateley Manor International 2001
Round 9 Board 3
White: Lawrence Trent (2218)
Black: Thomas Rendle (2133)

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bd3 cxd4 6. O-O Nge7 7. Bf4 Ng6 8. Bg3 Qb6 9. Nbd2 Qxb2 10. Nb3 Bd7 11. h4 Rc8 12. h5 Nge7 13. Nc5 Nb4 14. NxBd7 KxNd7 15. Rb1 Qc3 16. Ng5 NxBd3 (draw declined) 17. cxNd3 Rb8 18. Nxf7 Rg8 19. Qa4+ Nc6 20. Rfc1 black resigned 1 - 0

December 2000 - Yateley Manor International 2001

A Terence Chapman Group Grand Prix Event over 2 weekends
Friday 19th to Sunday 21st January 2001 and Saturday 3rd to Sunday 4th February 2001
Venue: Yateley Manor School, Reading Road, Yateley, near Camberley, Hampshire
Tournament Director: IM Andrew Martin. Chief Controller: Ewart Smith

Background
This tournament has an unusual format of 2 weekends so that players can avoid the need to take a week off from work/studies as other tournaments require. If there is a sufficiently large non-English entry with high enough grades then IM norms may be possible as several IM's are expected to play. If you are from outside England and need to obtain a visa please contact the Tournament Secretary for a letter to support your visa application.

Format
A 9 round Open tournament consisting of both multiple All Play Alls and Swiss sections. Entries to the All Play Alls will broadly matched on playing strength, the aim being that all 9 rounds should count for international rating on the FIDE World Rating List (in a Swiss only games against rated players count). The organisers reserve the right to transfer players between sections. Rate of play is 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by all remaining moves in 1 hour. There will be no adjournments.

Timetable (round starting times)
Friday 19th Jan. 18.00;
Saturday 20th Jan. 9.00 and 16.00;
Sunday 21st Jan. 9.00 and 16.00
Saturday 3rd Feb. 9.00 and 16.00;
Sunday 4th Feb. 9.00 and 16.00

Prizes
£1,000+ prizes. Prize fund and allocation, including grading & junior prizes will be awarded depending on entry. The organisers reserve the right to reduce prizes and amalgamate section

Entry fees:
GM, IM, WGM, WIM free; players rated 2300 & above or FM, WFM £20; players rated under 2300 £35; unrated players £60. Deductions: players under 21 yrs on 1st January 2001 £10; players over 60 yrs on 1st January 2001 £10; disabled players (apply in confidence) £10. In addition, BCF Direct Members can claim a £2 refund on showing their membership card to the organisers at the tournament.

Venue
Yateley Manor School is situated on the Reading Road (B3272) less than 5 miles north of junction 4A of the M3. The nearest station is Sandhurst (1.5 miles). The playing area is in the library and adjoining rooms. Spectators are welcome without charge. Smoking is not permitted at any time in any playing area or elsewhere at the venue except in designated areas. A variety of refreshments will be provided.

Tournament conditions
Byes can be requested, however note that players requesting byes will be put into the Swiss section as no byes will be allowed in the all play all sections. The Tournament Director reserves the right to refuse any entry without assigning a reason. Except in such cases, a deduction of 20% will normally be made from any refund of entry fee. Grades used will be those recorded in the most recent FIDE or national list. Results will be sent for grading to both FIDE and BCF.

Cheques should be made payable to 'Southern Chess' (send stamped addressed envelope for confirmation). Entries at the venue are at the discretion of the organisers, a late entry fee of £5 will be charged, telephone first to check availability of places. Refunds will only be made if notification of withdrawal is made to the Tournament Secretary at least 24 hours before the start of the tournament.

Enquiries
Requests for an accommodation list, travel details, detailed map and other enquiries should be addressed to either:
Ray Clark High Cedars, Oak End Way, Gerrards Cross, Bucks, SL9 8DA Tel. 01753 883300 E-mail ray.clark@kpmg.co.uk or
Andrew Martin 41 New Road, Sandhurst, Camberley, Surrey. GU17 8EF Tel. (44) (0)1252 870235 E-mail amartin@wizard2.demon.co.uk

YATELEY MANOR INTERNATIONAL - Entry Form

Send entries to:
Ray Clark High Cedars, Oak End Way, Gerrards Cross, Bucks, SL9 8DA Tel. 01753 883300 or e-mail ray.clark@kpmg.co.uk

I wish to play in a Swiss / All Play All section (delete one)
Swiss only, half point bye in rounds: ............

Name:................................................................................... Date of birth: ..............………….
Address:.................................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................
Email:.....................................................
Tel.No.:............................................. Fax:...................................
Chess club: ........................................................................ School/University: ..........................................................
BCF Direct Membership No. (if applicable) ............................

If you have no grade, please indicate your estimated playing strength and your previous highest grade (if any):
FIDE ............................................... Country of FIDE affiliation .....................................
ELO (National) ............................. BCF ...........................
BCF grading code (if known) ................................................

Entry fee .............
Late fee ..............
Donations (towards costs) .............
£10 deduction if under 21 years ..............
£10 deduction if over 60 years .............
£10 deduction if disabled ..............
(details .................................................................)
Total (payable to 'Southern Chess') .............

This information may be held on computer for grading and providing information on other chess events

December 2000 - Politiken Chess Challenge 2000

There is a chess challenge planned between the Danish GM Nielsen and the rest of the world with GM S B Hansen suggesting moves. There are prizes available for people taking part.

Press Release from GM Sune Berg Hansen:

PLAY GRANDMASTER CHESS AT WWW.POLITIKEN.DK

PETER HEINE NIELSEN VS. THE WORLD

Danish chess grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen challenges the chess players of the world at Politiken's web site.

The game opens with the grandmasters first move Monday September 25th and is played on the internet - and you have the opportunity to participate at www.politiken.dk/skak.

After each of Peter Heine Nielsen's moves, Politiken's chess expert Sune Berg Hansen will suggest some relevant counter moves. You may vote on the moves via e-mail before the game continues. There will be 24 hours between each move.

You may follow the game around the clock at www.politiken.dk/skak, and the course of the game will be commented on regularly in Politiken. You may also comment on and discuss the game in an online debate forum on the net, where both Peter Heine Nielsen and Sune Berg Hansen - a grandmaster himself - will participate in the discussion.

Everybody who votes via e-mail will automatically be participating in a weekly draw with great prizes.

November 2000 - British Rapidplay, Leeds 2000

Rupert Jones, Member of Organising Committee:

The results of the Open;

1st - A Ghasi, A Summerscales 8.5/11
3rd - J Hodgson, A Webster 8/11
5th - M Hebden, D Gormally, S Haslinger 7.5/11
8th - K Arkell 7/11

November 2000 - 6th South Wales Masters on 8-12 January 2001

Chris Dunworth reports:

Monday, 8th Jan      1pm   Draw for pairings
                     2pm   Round 1

Tuesday, 9th Jan     9am   Round 2
                     4pm   Round 3

Wednesday, 10th Jan  9am   Round 4
                     4pm   Round 5

Thursday, 11th Jan   9am   Round 6
                     4pm   Round 7

Friday, 12th Jan     9am   Round 8
                     4pm   Round 9

Entry Fee:£150 (Cheques payable to ‘South Wales Chess Congress’)

Prizes:1st £150, 2nd: £75

Rate of play: 40 moves in 2 hours, then all moves in 1 hour

Applications ASAP to:
Chris Dunworth, 4 Hyam Court,
Glendower Street, Monmouth NP25 3DG
01600-772538
dunworth@ecospirit.freeserve.co.uk

Name:
Address:
Tel No:
Email:

July 2000 Fide Rating:
Current Rating i.e. gain/loss since July list:

November 2000 - South Wales FIDE Rated Event on 8-12 January 2001

Chris Dunworth reports:

Monday, 8th Jan       1pm   Draw for pairings
                      2pm   Round 1

Tuesday, 9th Jan      9am   Round 2
                      4pm   Round 3

Wednesday, 10th Jan   9am   Round 4
                      4pm   Round 5

Thursday, 11th Jan    9am   Round 6
                      4pm   Round 7

Friday, 12th Jan      9am   Round 8
                      4pm   Round 9

Entry Fee:£50 (Cheques payable to ‘South Wales Chess Congress’)

Prizes: 1st: £120, 2nd: £80, 3rd: £70, 4th: £60

Rate of play: 40 moves in 2 hours, then all moves in 1 hour.

Applications ASAP to:
Chris Dunworth, 4 Hyam Court,
Glendower Street, Monmouth NP25 3DG
01600-772538
dunworth@ecospirit.freeserve.co.uk

Name:
Address:
Tel No:
Email:

July 2000 Fide Rating:
Current Rating i.e. gain/loss since July list:

November 2000 - Ano Liosia, Greece on 27 December 2000 - 6 January 2001

Argiris Kotsis, Hellas Chess Club, Greece reports:

11th INTERNATIONAL OPEN CHESS TOURNAMENT - «ANO LIOSIA 2001»
27 DECEMBER 2000 - 6 JANUARY 2001, ANO LIOSIA, ATHENS

ORGANIZERS

Town Corporation Development Municipality of Ano Liosia - Ministry of Cultural. in co-operation with : Greek Chess Federation and Municipality Cultural Center of Ano Liosia (Chess Club).

SCHEDULE

1st round 27 December 2001, at 16:00 hrs,
2nd round 28 December 2001, at 17:00 hrs,
3rd round 29 December 2001, at 17:00 hrs,
4th round 30 December 2001, at 17:00 hrs,
5th round 2 January 2001, at 17:00 hrs,
6th round 3 January 2001, at 17:00 hrs,
7th round 4 January 2001, at 17:00 hrs,
8th round 5 January 2001, at 17:00 hrs,
9th (last) round 6 January 2001, at 12:30 hrs.
Closing ceremony / awards Saturday 6 January 2001, at 19:00 hrs.

PLAYING HALL

Town Hall of Ano Liosia, «Melina Merkouri».

PRIZES

1st : 600.000 drs (1.500$), 2nd : 450.000 drs (1.125$),
3rd : 300.000 drs (750$), 4th : 250.000 drs (625$),
5th : 200.000 drs (500$), 6th : 150.000 drs (375$),
7th : 100.000 drs (250$), 8th : 90.000 drs (225$),
9th : 80.000 drs (200$), 10th : 70.000 drs (175$),
11th : 60.000 drs (150$), 12th : 50.000 drs (125$),
13th : 40.000 drs (100$), 14th : 35.000 drs (87.5$),
15th : 30.000 drs (75$), 16th : 25.000 drs (62.5$).
TOTAL :
2.530.000 Drs. (6.325$)

SPECIAL PRIZES

1st Woman: 100.000 drs (250$), 2nd Woman: 60.000 drs (150$), 3rd Woman: 30.000 drs (75$),
1st Without International ELO : 40.000 drs (125$), 2nd Without International ELO : 25.000 drs (62.5$),
1st Junior: 100.000 drs (250$), 2nd Junior: 60.000 drs (150$), 3rd Junior: 30.000 drs (75$),
1st Veteran : 35.000 drs (87.5$), 2nd Veteran : 20.000 drs (50$),
1st Girl Junior: 50.000 drs (125$), 2nd Girl Junior: 25.000 drs (62.5$),
1st U-16 boy: 40.000 drs (100$),
1st U-16 girl: 30.000 drs (75$).
TOTAL :
545.000 Drs. (1.362.5$)

1 US ($) dollar : 400 drachmas. In case of tie prizes will be divided equal.
If a player qualifies for more than one prizes he/she has the right to choose one of them.

Entry fee : 15.000 drs (38$) & 10.000 drs (25$) for under 20 years old. It's free, for men with more than 2451 FIDE ELO and for women with more than 2301 FIDE ELO.

For invited :

a.. GM (2441 - 2535) free accommodation and full board are provided, in double room.
b.. GM (2536 - 2585) free accommodation, full board and 75$ are provided, in double room.
c.. GM (2586 - 2625) free accommodation, full board and 175$ are provided, in single room.
d.. GM (2626 - 2695) free accommodation, full board, 75$ and air-ticket are provided, in single room.
e.. For invited : IM (2380 - 2435) free accommodation are provided, in double room.
f.. IM (2436 - 2490) free accommodation and full board are provided, in double room.

Ano Liosia is located in a distance of about 12 km Northern to Omonia Square. The organizers provide for all participants free transport by buses, from Omonia square to the playing hall and back for each round.

During the games refreshments and coffees are free for all players.

Special offer for the first participants : 205 $ in double rooms ( full board and accommodation, 10 nights ) 225 $ in double rooms ( full board and accommodation, 11 nights )

MEETING POINT - DEPARTURE OF BUSES

Omonia square ( in the centre of Athens ) / «HONDOS CENTER», one hour before the start of each round.

CHAIRMAN OF THE ORGANIZING COMMITEE - SIRMAS Alexandros

CHIEF ARBITERS - BARDIS Evaggelos.

FURTHER INFORMATION, ENTRIES TO :

BARDIS EVAGGELOS : + 30 / 1 / 2470591 - 097.2.929568
Fax : + 30 / 1 / 2471989

Internet Address : http://www.chess.gr/anoliosia
E - mail Address : anoliosia@chess.gr

THE ORGANIZING COMMITEE