The Week in Chess 239

THE WEEK IN CHESS 239 - 7th June 1999 by Mark Crowther

TWIC Home | The London Chess Center | | Shop

1) Introduction

My thanks to TASC, Eric Van der Schilden, Vladimir Talla, Romanov Oleg Gennadievich, Laszlo Nagy, Scott Pendergrast, Anatoly Lisenko and Konstantin Maliszewski, Suat Atalik, Michal Krasenkow and all those who helped with this issue.

The major announcement of the week was that of a match between Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan for a match for the "Ultimate World Chess Championships". It ends months of speculation after Luis Rentero failed to find financing for the WCC World Championships last year. After Kasparov's convincing performances in Wijk aan Zee, Linares and Sarajevo Anand's main job between now and the match (probably October) will be to in some measure catch up in terms of opening preparation. Kasparov has set new standards there.

Elsewhere its been a quietish week on the international chess front but there are a number of events starting next week.

Finally the TWIC CD is out now!!

Hope you enjoy this issue

Mark

2) Kasparov vs Anand Match

After week's of speculation and negotiation Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand signed an agreement to play a match for the "Ultimate World Chess Championships". The agreement was reached early last week with firstly Anand signing with the organisers and then Kasparov followed suit. The organiser is Serge Grimaux who is a well known organiser in Canada of events involving celebreties such as The Rolling Stones and Luciano Pavarotti. Behind him is an organising committee of Bessel Kok, GM Fridrik Olafsson and Dr. William Wirth.

Sixteen games will be played. In the case of a draw GM Kasparov will retain his title. The Prize Fund will be of US$3,000,000. In addition the signatories to the agreement have agreed to format where there will be a new Challengers Cycle in 2000 the winner of which will be nominated the Challenger for the next Wold Championship title scheduled for 2001. There will be no re-match in the case of Garry Kasparov losing the match.

Further details, almost certainly including the venue (either the US, Czech Republic or London are regarded as the most likely choices) and the sponsor will be announced in July 10, 1999, in Prague in the Czech Republic. This is alongside the EuroTel Trophy 1999 match, featuring GM Alexei Shirov against GM Judith Polgar.

Shirov's presence in Prague is interesting. He was certainly angry at the possibility of Anand taking his place in a match against Kasparov in an interview with Ian Rogers in May. [See http://www.ozemail.com.au/~chesswd/ianr1605.html ] It may be that guarantee's over his position in the next cycle and the match against Polgar are a measure of compensation.

Anand's form over the last year ought to make him the best challenger, he had his first weak tournament in some time in Linares but he has otherwise been consistantly the closest challenger to Kasparov. Nevertheless the new level of preparation from Kasparov shown in his victories in Wijk aan Zee, Linares and Sarajevo must make him a strong favourite for victory.

Anand plays Karpov in an Advanced Chess Match later this week. Kasparov and Anand play in the Frankfurt Giants event later this month (Anand won the event last year) and then Anand will play in the Dortmund event that follows it. These I believe will be their only appearances before the match takes place, probably in October.

3) Third Broekhuis Tournament

For the third consecutive time Rotterdam is hosting the event. The event takes place May 29 until June 10. Predrag Nikolic leads with 6.5/8 a point clear of Dimitri Reinderman and Jeroen Piket on 5.5.

Internet coverage:http://www.nkschaken.nl

Round 4 (June 1, 1999)

Piket, Jeroen              -  Nikolic, Predrag           1/2   11  A13  English; 1.c4
Van Wely, Loek             -  Sokolov, Ivan              1-0   24  A34  English; 1.c4 c5
Van der Sterren, Paul      -  Van der Wiel, John         1/2   58  A21  English; 1.c4 e5
Van den Doel, Erik         -  Janssen, Ruud              1-0   30  B52  Sicilian
Cifuentes Parada, Roberto  -  Peng Zhaoqin               1/2   25  D26  QGA;
Nijboer, Friso             -  Reinderman, Dimitri        1/2   67  B39  Sicilian

Round 5 (June 3, 1999)

Nikolic, Predrag           -  Van den Doel, Erik         1/2   40  D79  1.d4 d5 2.c4 g6
Reinderman, Dimitri        -  Van der Sterren, Paul      1-0   33  E54  Nimzo indian
Van der Wiel, John         -  Cifuentes Parada, Roberto  1/2   50  B37  Sicilian
Sokolov, Ivan              -  Piket, Jeroen              1/2   41  D46  Semi-Slav
Peng Zhaoqin               -  Van Wely, Loek             0-1   51  D93  Gruenfeld indian
Janssen, Ruud              -  Nijboer, Friso             1/2   57  E97  Kings indian; Main line

Round 6 (June 4, 1999)

Piket, Jeroen              -  Peng Zhaoqin               1-0   30  D45  Semi-Slav
Van Wely, Loek             -  Van der Wiel, John         1/2   64  D46  Semi-Slav
Van den Doel, Erik         -  Sokolov, Ivan              1/2   34  C65  Ruy Lopez
Cifuentes Parada, Roberto  -  Reinderman, Dimitri        0-1   31  A48  Queen's pawn
Nijboer, Friso             -  Van der Sterren, Paul      1/2   38  C43  Petroff defence
Janssen, Ruud              -  Nikolic, Predrag           0-1   79  D25  QGA;

Round 7 (June 5, 1999)

Nikolic, Predrag           -  Nijboer, Friso             1-0   47  E63  Kings indian
Reinderman, Dimitri        -  Van Wely, Loek             1-0   33  B93  Sicilian; Najdorf
Van der Wiel, John         -  Piket, Jeroen              1/2   19  C99  Ruy Lopez
Van der Sterren, Paul      -  Cifuentes Parada, Roberto  1-0   66  A13  English; 1.c4
Sokolov, Ivan              -  Janssen, Ruud              1-0   55  E12  Nimzo indian
Peng Zhaoqin               -  Van den Doel, Erik         1-0   60  E32  Nimzo indian

Round 8 (June 6, 1999)

Nikolic, Predrag           -  Sokolov, Ivan              1/2   15  D71  1.d4 d5 2.c4 g6
Piket, Jeroen              -  Reinderman, Dimitri        1/2   18  A52  Benoni
Van Wely, Loek             -  Van der Sterren, Paul      1/2   75  D37  Queen's gambit
Van den Doel, Erik         -  Van der Wiel, John         0-1   36  D15  Slav defence
Nijboer, Friso             -  Cifuentes Parada, Roberto  0-1   50  B60  Sicilian
Janssen, Ruud              -  Peng Zhaoqin               1-0   42  A09  Reti (1.Nf3)


Rotterdam NED (NED), v-vi 1999                              cat. XII (2549)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Nikolic, Predrag           g BIH 2633 * . = 1 . 1 = = 1 . 1 1  6.5  2805
 2 Reinderman, Dimitri        g NED 2541 . * = 1 = 1 1 . 1 0 = .  5.5  2695
 3 Piket, Jeroen              g NED 2619 = = * . = . = = . 1 1 1  5.5  2674
 4 Van Wely, Loek             g NED 2632 0 0 . * = = 1 1 . 1 . 1  5.0  2631
 5 Van der Wiel, John         g NED 2526 . = = = * = . 1 = 1 0 .  4.5  2587
 6 Van der Sterren, Paul      g NED 2535 0 0 . = = * = . 1 1 = .  4.0  2556
 7 Sokolov, Ivan              g BIH 2624 = 0 = 0 . = * = = . . 1  3.5  2515
 8 Van den Doel, Erik         g NED 2535 = . = 0 0 . = * . 0 1 1  3.5  2512
 9 Cifuentes Parada, Roberto  g NED 2529 0 0 . . = 0 = . * = 1 1  3.5  2490
10 Peng Zhaoqin               m NED 2452 . 1 0 0 0 0 . 1 = * . 0  2.5  2404
11 Nijboer, Friso             g NED 2515 0 = 0 . 1 = . 0 0 . * =  2.5  2404
12 Janssen, Ruud                NED 2445 0 . 0 0 . . 0 0 0 1 = *  1.5  2316
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

4) St. Petersburg vs Beer Sheva

After a 36-36 draw between the two teams in Israel in 1988 there is an informal 10 round Scheveningen system match between Beer-Sheva and the Petersburg Kings taking place in St. Petersburg 5-15th June 1999. There have been two rounds so far and after wins of 3.0-2.0 and 3.5-1.5 in the first two rounds the Russian team looks in control.

Daily internet coverage at: http://www.gmchess.spb.ru

Round 1 (June 5, 1999)

Greenfeld, Alon       -  Aseev, Konstantin N   1/2   34  C67  Ruy Lopez
Huzman, Alexander     -  Khalifman, Alexander  1/2   13  D38  Queen's gambit
Avrukh, Boris         -  Lugovoi, Aleksei      1-0   67  D36  Queen's gambit
Tseitlin, Mark D      -  Yemelin, Vasily       0-1   54  A13  English; 1.c4
Mikhalevski, Victor   -  Ivanov, Sergey        0-1   34  D44  QGD; Botwinnik

Round 2 (June 6, 1999)

Yemelin, Vasily       -  Greenfeld, Alon       1-0   37  B66  Sicilian
Ivanov, Sergey        -  Huzman, Alexander     1/2   35  D85  Gruenfeld indian
Khalifman, Alexander  -  Avrukh, Boris         1/2   67  B63  Sicilian
Lugovoi, Aleksei      -  Tseitlin, Mark D      1-0   46  D97  Gruenfeld indian
Aseev, Konstantin N   -  Mikhalevski, Victor   1/2   55  C82  Ruy Lopez

5) Rebel vs Rohde

American GM Michael Rohde played a one off game live on ICC against the computer program REBEL (programmer Ed Schröder ). The event took place on May 22nd 1999 and was won by Rohde. According to Schröder 17. e3 was the start of the problems for the computer and 26. f4 (instead of 26. Bg2) should have been played. Rohde brought home the full point slowly but extremely surely.

6) Women's Zonal Tournaments

Ostrava women's Zonal

Vladimir Talla sends details of Zonal tournament 1.4. (POL, CZE, SVK, HUN, BUL, ROM) that ran 22nd-30th May 1999 in Ostrava (CZE). As reported last week Corina Peptan won with 6.5/9 and here was a playoff between four players on 6 points for three further places. Nikoletta Lakos won the playoff with Marta Zielinska and Joanna Dworakowska also qualifying, Margarita Voiska missed out.

Details at: http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/1672/w14zone99/index.htm

Ostrava CZE (CZE), v 1999
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Peptan, Corina          m ROM 2427  = 7 + 5 + 8 = 2 + 4 +13 =10 = 9 = 6  6.5  2512
 2 Dworakowska, Joanna    wg POL 2323  +23 =17 +12 = 1 = 7 - 4 +13 = 5 +10  6.0  2459
 3 Voiska, Margarita      wg BUL 2364  +24 =11 = 7 -13 = 9 +22 = 6 +14 + 4  6.0  2451
 4 Zielinska, Marta       wm POL 2327  +26 +14 + 9 =17 - 1 + 2 = 7 + 8 - 3  6.0  2448
 5 Lakos, Nikoletta       wm HUN 2350  =21 - 1 +23 =14 +15 =10 +17 = 2 + 9  6.0  2441
 6 Madl, Ildiko            m HUN 2409  - 8 +16 =19 +11 =17 = 9 = 3 + 7 = 1  5.5  2393
 7 Hagarova, Zuzana       wg SVK 2297  = 1 +20 = 3 +15 = 2 =17 = 4 - 6 +13  5.5  2441
 8 Velcheva, Maria        wm BUL 2283  + 6 +10 - 1 = 9 -13 +12 +24 - 4 +17  5.5  2438
 9 Vajda, Szidonia        wg ROM 2340  +25 +15 - 4 = 8 = 3 = 6 +11 = 1 - 5  5.0  2375
10 Krupkova, Petra        wm CZE 2349  +16 - 8 =13 +22 =12 = 5 = 1 +17 - 2  5.0  2374
11 Grabics, Monika        wm HUN 2310  +13 = 3 -17 - 6 +21 +18 - 9 =12 +22  5.0  2369
12 Cosma, Elena Luminita  wg ROM 2365  =20 +21 - 2 +19 =10 - 8 =14 =11 +18  5.0  2321
13 Bobrowska, Monika       m POL 2440  -11 +24 =10 + 3 + 8 - 1 - 2 +20 - 7  4.5  2307
14 Brustman, Agnieszka    wg POL 2379  +19 - 4 -15 = 5 =18 +21 =12 - 3 +23  4.5  2280
15 Radziewicz, Iweta      wg POL 2384  +22 - 9 +14 - 7 - 5 -24 =23 +25 +20  4.5  2248
16 Goczo, Melinda            HUN 2191  -10 - 6 =26 =23 =20 -19 +25 +21 +24  4.5  2217
17 Foisor, Cristina Adela  m ROM 2370  +18 = 2 +11 = 4 = 6 = 7 - 5 -10 - 8  4.0  2275
18 Sikorova, Olga         wm CZE 2216  -17 =23 =21 =20 =14 -11 +26 +19 -12  4.0  2210
19 Jicman, Ligia          wm ROM 2236  -14 +26 = 6 -12 -22 +16 =20 -18 +25  4.0  2210
20 Saljova, Silvie        wm CZE 2212  =12 - 7 =22 =18 =16 +25 =19 -13 -15  3.5  2198
21 Pokorna, Regina        wm SVK 2196  = 5 -12 =18 +24 -11 -14 +22 -16 =26  3.5  2184
22 Genova, Ruzka          wm BUL 2238  -15 +25 =20 -10 +19 - 3 -21 +26 -11  3.5  2177
23 Cedikova, Katerina        CZE 2082  - 2 =18 - 5 =16 -25 =26 =15 +24 -14  3.0  2132
24 Jackova, Jana          wm CZE 2202  - 3 -13 +25 -21 +26 +15 - 8 -23 -16  3.0  2120
25 Ciganikova, Andrea        SVK 2139  - 9 -22 -24 +26 +23 -20 -16 -15 -19  2.0  2004
26 Dojkova, Galina           BUL 2131  - 4 -19 =16 -25 -24 =23 -18 -22 =21  1.5  1930
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Women's Zonal Tournament, Minsk

Romanov Oleg Gennadievich of the Belarus Chess Federation reports the results of the Women's World Championship Zonal tournament (zone 1.8) which was held in Minsk (Belarus) from May 17th-30th. The Chief arbiter was Tamara Golovey.

1.  Lagvilava Genrietta  (BLR) 2264 WIM 9,5/ 13
2.  Eidelson Rakhil      (BLR) 2267 WGM 9,0
3.  Susterman Anja       (MDA) 2241 WGM 8,0
4.  Popova Natalija      (BLR) 2170		   8,0
5.  Babaeva Fanara       (AZE) 2060		   8,0
6.  Agababean Naira      (MDA) 2352 WGM	7,5
7.  Petrenko Svetlana    (MDA) 2227 WIM	7,5
8.  Mamedjarova Zeinab   (AZE) 2000		   7,5
9.  Alieva Elmira 	      (AZE) 2148 WFM	6,0
10. Tetenkina Irina      (BLR) 2085 		  5,5
11. Stotskaja Elena      (BLR) 2025 		  5,5
12. Partac Elena         (MDA) 2088 		  4,5
13. Mamedova Nargis      (AZE) 2000 		  2,5
14.Basrasiant Marianna   (MDA) 2057		   2,0

7) 13th Open in Pula

The 13th Open in Pula is taking place May 29th - June 8th 1999. Palac, Kozul, Tukmakov, Romanishin and Sax are amongst the players. After eight of the nine rounds Vladimir Malaniuk, Dusko Pavasovic, Vladimir Tukmakov and Vladimir Burmakin all have 6.5 points.

Daily information at: http://www.gradpula.com/sport/chess

Round 8 standings:

Pula Open (CRO), v-vi 1999
---------------------------------------------------
 1 Malaniuk, Vladimir P  g UKR 2552   6.5 /8  2626
 2 Pavasovic, Dusko      m SLO 2502   6.5 /8  2640
 3 Tukmakov, Vladimir B  g UKR 2581   6.5 /8  2710
 4 Burmakin, Vladimir    g RUS 2534   6.5 /8  2642
 5 Stevic, Hrvoje        m CRO 2465   6.0 /8  2635
 6 Sermek, Drazen        g SLO 2540   6.0 /8  2557
 7 Sax, Gyula            g HUN 2524   6.0 /8  2570
 8 Zelcic, Robert        g CRO 2554   5.5 /8  2568
 9 Romanishin, Oleg M    g UKR 2572   5.5 /8  2543
10 Hulak, Krunoslav      g CRO 2493   5.5 /8  2533
11 Fercec, Nenad         m CRO 2495   5.5 /8  2465
12 Dizdar, Goran         g CRO 2563   5.5 /8  2521
13 Cebalo, Miso          g CRO 2511   5.5 /8  2489
....90 players

--------------------------------------------------

8) Krush vs Shaked Challenge Match

US Women's Chess Champion Irina Krush and GM Tal Shaked (1997 World Junior Champion) drew a challenge match match 2-2 that took place May 28th-31st. 15-year old Krush (the highest rated player U-18 in the USA), had White in the odd-numbered games.

The match event held in the Holiday Inn Palo Verde in Tucson, Arizona. It was sponsored by the WWW Chess Superstore (http://www.smartchess.com) and the Southern Arizona Chess Association (SACA) (http://www.sazchess.org).

Krush, Irina  -  Shaked, Tal   0-1   64  E34  Nimzo indian
Shaked, Tal   -  Krush, Irina  1/2   21  B22  Sicilian; Alapin (2.c3)
Krush, Irina  -  Shaked, Tal   1-0   71  E94  Kings indian; Classical
Shaked, Tal   -  Krush, Irina  1/2   30  A29  English; 1.c4 e5


Tuscon, Arizona (USA), v 1999
-----------------------------------------------------
                           1   2   3   4 
-----------------------------------------------------
Krush, Irina    USA 2375    0   =   1   =   2.0  2477
Shaked, Tal   g USA 2477    1   =   0   =   2.0  2375
-----------------------------------------------------

9) Kiev Cup (Junior Tournament)

Anatoly Lisenko and Konstantin Maliszewski report: The 7th Kiev Cup, a Junior team tournament took place in Kiev May 25-31. Around 120 young chess-players represented teams from the Ukraine and Belarus. Initial information in TWIC234. The final standings of this 9 round event were:

 1 "DARNITSA" (Kiev, coach Nicolaev Leonid)    - 23.5;
    (Nikolaeva Maria, Lepekha Ivan, Soloshenko Vladimir, Mikhailyk Ruslan)
 2 Centre of juniors (Kiev, Shystariov Sergei) - 23.0;
    (Sheremet Sergei, Steklov Alexey, Bogma Evgeny, Petrov Evgeny)
 3 National Centre of Chess and Checkers (Minsk, Stepanov Vladimir) -
 22.0;
    (Khromenkov Yury, Pecherskikh Yury, Ldov Konstantin, Tselinina Olga)
 4 ENERGODAR (Zaporizhzhya region, Krivolapov Konstantin) - 21.0;
 5 "AVANGARD" (Kiev, Yeshchenko Vadim) - 21.0;
 6 "DZHERELO"  (Kiev, Lisenko Anatoly) - 20.5;
 7 "TETEREV"  (Korostyshev, Zhytomir region, Dobrynetsky Pavel) - 20.0; 8
 "DNEPROVETS" (Kiev, Levchenko Irina) - 19.5; 9 "OBOLON" (Kiev, Shystariov
 Sergei)   - 19.0; 10 "PECHERSK"  (Kiev, Nekrasova Elena) - 19.0;

... 21 teams.

The individual event "Chess Hopes" (for players born in 1989 or later) finished as follows:

   Grom Oksana (1988, Gorodok, Lviv region)   - 8,0 (outside of contest);
 1 Rudovska Regina (1989, Kiev, "Dneprovets") - 7,0;
 2 Bozhyk Vasyl(1989, Gorodok, Lviv region)   - 6,5;
 3 Kmit Igor (1990, Gorodok, Lviv region)     - 6,0;
 4 Volkov Nikita (1989, Kiev, "Pechersk")     - 6,0;
 5 Korniuk Maria (1992, Kiev, "Dneprovets")   - 6,0;
 6 Golichenko Ilya (1991, Kiev, "Dzherelo")   - 6,0;
... 33 players.

Further information: http://chess-sector.odessa.ua/

10) First Saturday, June

Laszlo Nagy reports: The June First Saturday events started June 5th in Budapest. The main event is an 11 player Category IX GM tournament. There is also a Category I IM event. Two rounds have been played in each event.

You can contact Laszlo Nagy about his First Saturday events. E-mail: firstsat@elender.hu webpages: http://www.elender.hu/~firstsat and http://www.illawarra.net.au/chesscentral/ Tel-fax: (361)-263-28-59

FSGM June 
Round 1 (June 5, 1999)

Nguyen Anh Dung     -  Hoffmann, Michael   1-0   43  A34  English; 1.c4 c5
Maiwald, Jens-Uwe   -  Seres, Lajos        1/2   32  A08  Reti (1.Nf3)
Hoang Thanh Trang   -  Varga, Zoltan       1/2   15  D26  QGA;
Lorscheid, Gerhard  -  Czebe, Attila       0-1   15  B00  1.e4
Llanos, Guillermo   -  Anastasian, Ashot   0-1   60  E38  Nimzo indian

Round 2 (June 6, 1999)

Anastasian, Ashot   -  Lorscheid, Gerhard  1/2   58  A45  Queen's pawn
Varga, Zoltan       -  Llanos, Guillermo   1-0   49  B03  Alekhine defence
Zontakh, Andrey     -  Hoang Thanh Trang   1-0   72  C12  French; Macutcheon
Czebe, Attila       -  Nguyen Anh Dung     0-1   33  B30  Sicilian
Hoffmann, Michael   -  Maiwald, Jens-Uwe   1/2   80  A05  Reti (1.Nf3)


Budapest HUN (HUN), vi 1999                             cat. IX (2454)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Nguyen Anh Dung     m VIE 2485 * . . . 1 . . . . 1 .  2.0 / 2      
 2 Anastasian, Ashot   g ARM 2529 . * . . . . . . = . 1  1.5 / 2  2573
 3 Varga, Zoltan       g HUN 2518 . . * . . . . = . . 1  1.5 / 2  2636
 4 Zontakh, Andrey     g UKR 2530 . . . * . . . 1 . . .  1.0 / 1      
 5 Czebe, Attila       m HUN 2420 0 . . . * . . . 1 . .  1.0 / 2  2404
 6 Maiwald, Jens-Uwe   m GER 2467 . . . . . * = . . = .  1.0 / 2  2417
 7 Seres, Lajos        m HUN 2428 . . . . . = * . . . .  0.5 / 1  2467
 8 Hoang Thanh Trang  wg VIE 2450 . . = 0 . . . * . . .  0.5 / 2  2331
 9 Lorscheid, Gerhard  f GER 2323 . = . . 0 . . . * . .  0.5 / 2  2281
10 Hoffmann, Michael   m GER 2407 0 . . . . = . . . * .  0.5 / 2  2283
11 Llanos, Guillermo   m ARG 2437 . 0 0 . . . . . . . *  0.0 / 2      
----------------------------------------------------------------------

FSIM June

Round 1 (June 5, 1999)

Eperjesi, Laszlo   -  Peterson, Emery    1-0   32  A48  Queen's pawn
Vadasz, Laszlo     -  Dembo, Yelena      1-0   44  D78  1.d4 d5 2.c4 g6
Belotelov, Denis   -  Khechumyan, Gagik  1-0   37  A41  Queen's pawn
Magyar, Otto       -  Berces, Csaba      1-0   47  E60  Kings indian
Szirmai, Eduard    -  Lengyel, Bela      1/2   13  A09  Reti (1.Nf3)

Round 2 (June 6, 1999)

Vadasz, Laszlo     -  Eperjesi, Laszlo   1/2   16  E54  Nimzo indian
Lengyel, Bela      -  Belotelov, Denis   1/2   51  A43  Queen's pawn
Khechumyan, Gagik  -  Magyar, Otto       1/2   94  E11  Bogo indian
Peterson, Emery    -  Szirmai, Eduard    1/2   58  B07  Pirc
Dembo, Yelena      -  Berces, Csaba      1/2   36  B86  Sicilian


Budapest HUN (HUN), vi 1999                       cat. I (2261)
---------------------------------------------------------------
                                 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
---------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Eperjesi, Laszlo   m HUN 2329 * = . . . . . 1 . .  1.5  2422
 2 Vadasz, Laszlo     g HUN 2287 = * . . . . . . . 1  1.5  2447
 3 Belotelov, Denis   f RUS 2262 . . * . = . 1 . . .  1.5  2554
 4 Magyar, Otto       f HUN 2300 . . . * . . = . 1 .  1.5  2452
 5 Lengyel, Bela      m HUN 2350 . . = . * = . . . .  1.0  2235
 6 Szirmai, Eduard      HUN 2208 . . . . = * . = . .  1.0  2261
 7 Khechumyan, Gagik    ARM 2372 . . 0 = . . * . . .  0.5  2088
 8 Peterson, Emery      GER 2172 0 . . . . = . * . .  0.5  2075
 9 Berces, Csaba        HUN 2146 . . . 0 . . . . * =  0.5  2047
10 Dembo, Yelena        ISR 2180 . 0 . . . . . . = *  0.5  2023
---------------------------------------------------------------

11) Two Open Letter's from GMs

Two open letters raising issues that concern them follow.

GM Suat Atalik

Would Capablanca Take Part In His own Memorial?

Last month I played in La Habana in a tournament. It was a category 12 event, but the players were not provided with appearance fees. The fact that even in closed tournaments appearance fees are settled in accordance with bargaining even though I am not the only player against this cheap bargaining business. But this was not the least of the problems for the players there. The prize fund came out after the 4th round, and it was not sufficient. These two factors might lead you to expect that the conditions would be better as a compensation. No way! We stayed in an hotel under serious reconstruction. We were woken up by a terrrible noise at around 8.00am and unable to sleep until around 3.00am These problems broke everybody's nerves. The demands of construction attained such a level that sometimes I had electricity on in one half of my room and sometimes on in the other, they had even destroyed the reception and closed the main entrance to the hotel so finding a way to or from your room became really difficult. Coming to the food in the hotel, it was even more depressing. Almost all of the players got seriously poisoned, and some of them still haven't fully recovered. If one thinks about Cuba as a very touristic place it is not the case. Dirt, poverty, disturbance by the local people on the street almost forcing you to buy Cigars, rum or even women are not easy to handle. That is why I recommend to any serious chess players to NEVER GO to CUBA! Now one may sympathise with Cubans and like the Cubans who love chess but they simply don't have enough financial support. This is not an excuse for the pros, my opinion is simply that if they do not have enough money they should not organize. Instead they went for 4 tournaments at the same time. These type of problems have started to occur more and more frequently. It is true that people forget these things easily, look at Kusadasi 1990. The so called organizer did not pay the prizes of such a high caliber open in my country and not only ran away with the money he has even managed to keep himself in Turkey's chess circles. Recently two of my friends GM Anthony Miles and GM Alexander Baburin did not get paid with the starting fees promised by the organizers in India. Instead they received a ridiculous answer like 'Don't you trust me I am FIDE's vice-president. ' Well my resolution is not to play in notorious places after experiencing such incidents. However something should be done. As FIDE obviously cannot protect professional players rights in the way it is supposed to be done a Union of Professional Chessplayers or Grandmasters is necessary. LET'S FIGHT THOSE PEOPLE! GM Suat Atalik, Istanbul

GM Michal Krasenkow

Strange things

Some strange things are happening with the FIDE World Championships. Although all the entitled players did get the text of undertaking and the list of participants, it seems that most of them will not be able to take part in the Championship (and therefore it will not take place). The reason is simple: the players (as well as their seconds and other accompanying persons) will not get entry visas to the US. According to the regulations of the Championship and the circular letter FIDE sent to the national federations, the USCF (the host of the event) shall issue the invitations required for getting the visas. Meanwhile, all our attempts to contact them have been met with dead silence so far. What's the matter? Does USCF support the alternative (Kasparov's) world championship and therefore wants to upset the official one? Has USCF withdrawn from FIDE already?

[Note since this was passed on to the USCF Krasenkow, Krassenkova, Tsechkovski, and Macieja should have received their invitations today according to the USCF. An incorrect fax number in the letterhead of the Polish Chess Federation was the reason given by Barbara A. DeMaro, Executive Assistant, USCF. I received notes to this effect after twic came out tonight. ]

12) Forthcoming Events and Links

Karpov vs Anand Advanced Chess Match

The Anatoly Karpov vs Viswanathan Anand Advanced Chess Match takes place June 11-14th in Leon, Spain. The players use computer programs and databases to aid their play.

Official coverage: http://www.ajedrezdelfuturo.com (Spanish) http://www.advancedchess.com (English).

Petersburg Kings vs Beer Scheva

The is an international Club match between the Petersburg Kings of Russia and Beer Scheva of Israel. is underway in St. Petersburg, Russia. The match takes place June 5-16 1999. Players include: A. Khalifman, V. Emelin, S. Ivanov, K. Aseev and A. Lugovoy (Petersburg Kings) and B. Avrukh, A. Khuzman, V. Mikhalevski, A. Greenfeld and M. Tseitlin (Beer Sheva). Internet coverage at: http://www.gmchess.spb.ru

3rd Mind Sports Olympiad

The prize fund for this year's Mind Sports Olympiad has been set at 100,000 pounds. There may also be some additional prizes to be announced later. In addition to the cash prizes the leading players will also receive the traditional MSO gold, silver and bronze medals. There will be additional medals for the leading juniors in each tournament. The prize funds for some of the games are listed below. All figures are in pounds sterling.

Chess £20,000; Bridge £10,000; Go £8,500; 10x10 Draughts £8,000; Othello £7,000; Chinese Chess £6,000; Scrabble £6,000; Shogi £5,000; Stratego £5,000; 8x8 Draughts £4,000; Memory Skills £3,000; Cribbage £2,000; Dominoes £2,000; Intelligence £2,000

Prize funds for other games will be announced in due course. The detailed tournament schedule will be announced on their web site http://www.mindsports.co.uk/ in early June and printed entry forms will be available shortly thereafter.

World Computer Chess Championships

Heiner Matthias reports: The next World Computer Chess Championships are to be held in Paderborn, Germany, 14-20. June 1999. Participants are all top commercial progams including Fritz, Hiarcs, Rebel etc. and in addition a few programs like Cilkchess or ZUGZWANG running on multi-processor-systems. On the last day (20.06.99) there will be a man-machine contest, where the top 4 programs of the World Championship will be matched against 4 invited GM's (Christopher Lutz, Loek van Wely, Raphael Waganian and Ivan Sokolov). All the games are relayed live on the net. For further information, the address of our web site is: http://www.uni-paderborn.de/~wccc99/

International Youth Team Tournament

July 13th-15th see's an international youth team event with teams from Israel, Germany and the Netherlands takes place in Apeldoorn (Netherlands).

Further information http://www.connection1.nl

European Youth Chess Championships

The Greek Chess Federation are organising the 1999 European Youth Chess Championships (categories U10-18 for boys & girls). They will be held in Litohoro of the Olympus Riviera (Sept. 3-11). For further information information: http://euro99.chess.gr

World Cities and Asian Team Championships 1999

INTCHESS Asia (Ignatius Leong) are organising the World Cities Team Championship and Asian Team Championship 1999. The two events will be held in Shenyang (China). The World Cities October 3rd-10th and Asian Teams 11th-20th.

Contact info: Ignatius Leong (INTCHESS ASIA) Block 160, Yishun Street 11 #04-208 Singapore 760160. Tel : (65) 96337946, 97310498, 97980596. Fax : (65) 7535346, 3529691. Email : intchess@pacific.net.sg or ignatiusleong@pacific.net.sg