THE WEEK IN CHESS 329 26th February 2001 by Mark Crowther

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Contents

1) Introduction
2) Linares 2001
3) Blind Chess Tournament
4) Tel Aviv International Chess Tournament
5) 5th United Insurance GM Chess Tournament
6) Bunratty Chess Festival
7) Helsinki Chess Circuit
8) Romanian Championships
9) Montecatini Terme
10) Cappelle la Grande
11) VII Open Villa de Coria del Rio
12) 8th Bizovac Open
13) Dutch Open Blitzchess 2001
14) England-Germany Women's Match
15) First Saturday February
16) Uruguayan Championship Qualifiers 2001
17) Yateley Manor International
18) Plovdiv Results
19) Professional World Chess Ranking
20) More FIDE Letters
21) Letters
22) Forthcoming Events and Links


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Games section

Linares 2001                       9 games
Blind Chess Tournament            20 games
Tel Aviv International            15 games
Tel Aviv International Women      15 games
5th United Insurance GM           49 games
Bunratty Chess Festival          128 games
Helsinki Chess Circuit            24 games
Romanian Championships            14 games
Romanian Women's Championships    14 games
Montecatini Terme                 18 games
VII Open Villa de Coria del Rio  109 games
8th Bizovac Open                  71 games
Dutch Open Blitzchess 2001        29 games
England-Germany Women's Match     50 games
FS February correction             1 game
Yateley Manor International       11 games
577 games

1) Introduction

My thanks to John Henderson, David Llada, Dima Tyomkin, Sami Hamalainen, Biro Sandor, Lanfranco Bombelli, WGM Mirjana Medic, Jan Versloot, Grete White, Laszlo Nagy, Horacio Arevalo, Ray Clark, Richard Forster, Andrzej Filipowicz, Evgeniy Solozhenkin, Larry Kaufman and all those who helped with this issue.

The Linares tournament dominates this week's events. Although the event hasn't quite caught fire just yet I expect it to do so after the first rest day. There is plenty of news this week in a packed issue.

Hope you enjoy this issue

Mark

2) Linares 2001

The Linares 2001 tournament takes place 22nd February until March 7th 2001. The event is a double round robin. There is full daily coverage of the event on TWIC's pages. The first three rounds saw nine draws. Round 1 was very interesting but the second and third less so. Round 2 saw Judit Polgar finally get a draw against Kasparov having lost all her previous games to Kasparov, who seemed in the past to make a very special effort against her. In the third round Kasparov and Shirov again didn't shake hands in a continuation of their dispute that came to a head in Wijk aan Zee.

Live Internet coverage: http://www.ajedrez21.com

SuperGM Linares ESP (ESP), 23 ii-6 iii 2001    cat. XIX (2722)
--------------------------------------------------------------
                                   1  2  3  4  5  6 
--------------------------------------------------------------
1 Grischuk, Alexander  g RUS 2663 ** =. =. =. .. ..  1.5  2700
2 Polgar, Judit        g HUN 2676 =. ** =. .. =. ..  1.5  2730
3 Karpov, Anatoly      g RUS 2679 =. =. ** .. .. =.  1.5  2685
4 Leko, Peter          g HUN 2745 =. .. .. ** =. =.  1.5  2743
5 Kasparov, Gary       g RUS 2849 .. =. .. =. ** =.  1.5  2713
6 Shirov, Alexei       g ESP 2718 .. .. =. =. =. **  1.5  2757
--------------------------------------------------------------

Round 1 (February 23, 2001)

Grischuk, Alexander  -  Polgar, Judit        1/2   44  B47  Sicilian Paulsen Variation
Leko, Peter          -  Kasparov, Gary       1/2   55  B97  Sicilian Najdorf
Shirov, Alexei       -  Karpov, Anatoly      1/2   94  B17  Caro Kann

Round 2 (February 24, 2001)

Karpov, Anatoly      -  Grischuk, Alexander  1/2   20  D30  Queen's Gambit
Leko, Peter          -  Shirov, Alexei       1/2   29  C11  French Defence
Kasparov, Gary       -  Polgar, Judit        1/2   27  B90  Sicilian Najdorf

Round 3 (February 25, 2001)

Grischuk, Alexander  -  Leko, Peter          1/2   23  B12  Caro Advance Variation
Polgar, Judit        -  Karpov, Anatoly      1/2   30  B17  Caro Kann
Shirov, Alexei       -  Kasparov, Gary       1/2   48  B84  Sicilian Scheveningen

3) Blind Chess Tournament

Alongside the Linares tournament is a blind chess event with eight former World Blind Chess Champions competing. The event takes place 23rd February-4th March 2001.

Internet coverage: http://www.granajedrez.com/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
It Blind Linares ESP (ESP), 23 ii-4 iii 2001              cat. I (2264)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Krylov, Sergey           m RUS 2341  * = . . 1 1 1 . . .  3.5  2607 
 2. Smirnov, Sergei            RUS 2253  = * . . 1 . . 1 . 1  3.5  2552 
 3. Dukaczewski, Piotr       m POL 2337  . . * = . . 1 . 1 1  3.5  2585 
 4. Berlinsky, Vladimir      m RUS 2377  . . = * . . . 1 1 1  3.5  2544 
 5. Devos, Piet                BEL 2218  0 0 . . * 1 . . . 1  2.0  2258 
 6. Bjerring, Kai            m DEN 2311  0 . . . 0 * . 1 1 .  2.0  2231 
 7. Zoltek, Tadeusz          f POL 2304  0 . 0 . . . * = 1 .  1.5  2174 
 8. Palacios Perez, Manuel     ESP 2179  . 0 . 0 . 0 = * . .  0.5  1989 
 9. Cabarkapa, Milenko       m YUG 2188  . . 0 0 . 0 0 . * .  0.0       
10. Draghici, Gavril           ROM 2128  . 0 0 0 0 . . . . *  0.0       
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

4) Tel Aviv International Chess Tournament

The Tel Aviv Internationl Chess Tournament with closed men's and women's events takes place in the Sol&Sissy Center in Ramat Aviv (Tel Aviv) 20th February-3rd March 2001. My thanks to Dima Tyomkin.

Internet coverage at: http://www.slavchess.co.il/academy/taint.html

Round 3 Standings:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tel Aviv Chess Festival ISR (ISR), 20 ii-3 iii 2001      cat. IX (2473)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Kovalev, Andrei          g BLR 2544  * . . . . 1 = 1 . .  2.5  2708 
 2. Gyimesi, Zoltan          g HUN 2564  . * . . = . . = . 1  2.0  2539 
 3. Postny, Evgeny           m ISR 2432  . . * = . . 1 . = .  2.0  2630 
 4. Doettling, Fabian        m GER 2509  . . = * = . = . . .  1.5  2507 
 5. Gruenfeld, Yehuda        g ISR 2520  . = . = * . . . = .  1.5  2503 
 6. Botvinnik, Ilia          m ISR 2434  0 . . . . * . = . 1  1.5  2422 
 7. Greenfeld, Alon          g ISR 2570  = . 0 = . . * . . .  1.0  2370 
 8. Haimovich, Tal             ISR 2302  0 = . . . = . * . .  1.0  2389 
 9. Mikhalevski, Alexander   m ISR 2438  . . = . = . . . * 0  1.0  2332 
10. Van Mil, Johan           m NED 2421  . 0 . . . 0 . . 1 *  1.0  2353 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tel Aviv Chess Festival Women ISR (ISR), 20 ii-3 iii 2001
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Lakos, Nikoletta        wg HUN 2347  * . . . . = . 1 1 .  2.5  2443 
 2. Madl, Ildiko             m HUN 2394  . * . = . . . . 1 1  2.5  2422 
 3. Pitam, Ela              wg ISR 2258  . . * . . . 1 1 . =  2.5  2388 
 4. Borsuk, Angela          wg ISR 2281  . = . * = = . . . .  1.5  2309 
 5. Lagvilava, Genrieta     wg BLR 2321  . . . = * . 0 . . 1  1.5  2149 
 6. Tsifanskaya, Ludmila A  wm ISR 2214  = . . = . * . . 0 .  1.0  2123 
 7. Len, Irina                 ISR 2118  . . 0 . 1 . * 0 . .  1.0  2128 
 8. Botvinnik, Irina        wf ISR 2180  0 . 0 . . . 1 * . .  1.0  2116 
 9. Igla, Bella                RUS 2117  0 0 . . . 1 . . * .  1.0  2193 
10. Shapira, Lilia             ISR 2049  . 0 = . 0 . . . . *  0.5  2051 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

5) 5th United Insurance GM Chess Tournament

The 5th United Insurance GM Chess Tournament (Category 9) takes place in Dhaka, Bangladesh 19 February to 4th March. After seven rounds Alexander Volzhin leads with 5.5/7.

Internet coverage (including live games): http://www.bdcf.org/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
5th United Insurance Dhaka BAN (BAN), 19 ii-4 iii 2001       cat. IX (2472)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Volzhin, Alexander   g RUS 2539  * . 1 1 1 = = . . . = . 1 .  5.5  2677 
 2. Barsov, Alexei       g UZB 2500  . * = = . 0 = = . . 1 . 1 .  4.0  2482 
 3. Miezis, Normunds     g LAT 2532  0 = * . . . = . = 1 . = . 1  4.0  2559 
 4. Reefat, Bin-Sattar   m BAN 2458  0 = . * . . = = 1 . . . = 1  4.0  2531 
 5. Davies, Nigel R      g ENG 2464  0 . . . * . . = = = = 1 . 1  4.0  2540 
 6. Hossain, Enamul      f BAN 2323  = 1 . . . * 1 . 0 = . . 0 =  3.5  2498 
 7. Prakash, G B         m IND 2453  = = = = . 0 * = . . . . 1 .  3.5  2451 
 8. Abdulla, Al-Rakib    m BAN 2359  . = . = = . = * . = . = = .  3.5  2475 
 9. Ehlvest, Jaan        g EST 2638  . . = 0 = 1 . . * . 0 = 1 .  3.5  2458 
10. Vakhidov, Tahir      m UZB 2482  . . 0 . = = . = . * = = . 1  3.5  2441 
11. Murshed, Niaz        g BAN 2457  = 0 . . = . . . 1 = * = . 0  3.0  2461 
12. Rausis, Igors        g LAT 2525  . . = . 0 . . = = = = * . =  3.0  2430 
13. Rahman, Ziaur        m BAN 2447  0 0 . = . 1 0 = 0 . . . * .  2.0  2309 
14. Sandipan, Chanda     m IND 2431  . . 0 0 0 = . . . 0 1 = . *  2.0  2305 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

6) Bunratty Chess Festival

The Bunratty Chess Festival took place February 16-18. 280 players competed. Joint winners were Mark Hebden, Bogdan Lalic and Matthew Turner all on 4.5/6.

Internet coverage: http://members.aol.com/bunrattychess/ and http://ireland.iol.ie/~jghurley/

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Masters Bunratty IRL (IRL), 19 ii-4 iii 2001
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 1. Hebden, Mark          g  ENG 2522  4.5      15.5  23.5   18.0 
 2. Lalic, Bogdan         g  ENG 2531  4.5      15.0  21.5   16.0 
 3. Turner, Matthew       m  ENG 2498  4.5      12.0  18.0   15.5 
 4. Baburin, Alexander    g  IRL 2598  4        15.5  21.5   17.0 
 5. Kelly, Brian          m  IRL 2464  4        15.0  22.0   16.0 
 6. Parker, Jonathan      g  ENG 2545  4        14.0  21.5   14.5 
 7. Ferguson, Mark        m  ENG 2374  4        13.5  19.5   15.0 
 8. Ryan, Joseph             IRL 2293  4        12.5  19.0   14.0 
 9. Short, Philip M       f  IRL 2302  4        12.0  17.0   12.5 
10. Heidenfeld, Mark      m  IRL 2369  3.5      14.0  20.5   14.5 
11. Collinson, Adam       f  ENG 2404  3.5      14.0  20.5   14.0 
12. Levitt, Jonathan      g  ENG 2438  3.5      14.0  19.5   14.0 
13. Bellin, Robert        m  ENG 2356  3.5      13.0  19.5   13.0 
14. Neil, David              ENG 2244  3.5      13.0  18.0   12.0 
15. Dishman, Stephen         ENG 2364  3.5      12.5  19.0   12.0 
16. Lappage, Jonathan        ENG 2162  3.5      12.0  18.5   11.5 
17. Llorens,Ivan                 ----  3.5      12.0  18.0   11.5 
18. Stevenson, James         SCO 2136  3.5      12.0  18.0   10.0 
19. McMahon, Daire           IRL 2240  3.5      10.0  16.5   12.0 
20. Orr, Mark J L         m  IRL 2315  3.5       9.0  15.0   10.5 
44 players

7) Helsinki Chess Circuit

The Helsinki Chess Circuit held a Category II IM tournament running February 12-22, 2001. Kalle Kiik and Joose Norri both finished on 8.5/11 a point and a half clear of Tomi Nyback. My thanks to Sami Hamalainen for the news.

Internet coverage: http://www.shakki.net/turnaukset/hki0201.htm

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Helsinki Chess Circuit IM FIN (FIN), 12-22 ii 2001           cat. II (2296)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Kiik, Kalle              m EST 2450  * 1 0 1 1 = 1 1 = 1 1 =  8.5  2492 
 2. Norri, Joose             m FIN 2398  0 * 1 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 0 1  8.5  2497 
 3. Nyback, Tomi               FIN 2211  1 0 * = = 0 0 1 1 1 1 1  7.0  2405 
 4. Molander, Riku             FIN 2314  0 0 = * 1 = 1 = 1 = 1 0  6.0  2330 
 5. Nyysti, Sampsa           f FIN 2284  0 = = 0 * 0 1 0 = 1 1 1  5.5  2296 
 6. Keskinen, Sauli            FIN 2252  = 0 1 = 1 * 1 1 0 0 0 0  5.0  2263 
 7. Luukkonen, Tommi           FIN 2158  0 0 1 0 0 0 * 1 1 1 0 1  5.0  2272 
 8. Sarakauskas, Gediminas   m LTU 2408  0 0 0 = 1 0 0 * 1 = 1 1  5.0  2249 
 9. Bergstrom, Rolf          f SWE 2308  = 0 0 0 = 1 0 0 * = 1 1  4.5  2229 
10. Kekki, Petri             f FIN 2297  0 0 0 = 0 1 0 = = * 1 1  4.5  2230 
11. Pirttimaki, Timo         f FIN 2257  0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 * =  3.5  2166 
12. Van Hoolandt, Patrick      BEL 2211  = 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 = *  3.0  2128 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

8) Romanian Championships

IM Biro Sandor is the organiser of the Romanian Championships (men and women) which took place in Baile Tusnad, Romania 5th-20th February 2001 and he sends of the championships. Iulian Sofronie took the men's title with 9.5/14 finishing half a point clear of Ioan Cosma. Vladimir Danilov scored an IM norm. Bela Badea withdrew after a few rounds of the event. Corina Peptan won the women's with 10.5/14 half a point clear of Cristina Foisor. Adina Bogza scored a GM norm, Ana-Cristina Calotescu and Camelia Ciobanu scored an IM norm. A final thing to note that although these have taken place this year the championships are officially for the year 2000.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ch-ROM Baile Tusnad ROM (ROM), 5-20 ii 2001                        cat. VII (2402)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Sofronie, Iulian          m ROM 2399  * 1 = = = = = = 1 = 1 = = 1 1  9.5  2535 
 2. Cosma, Ioan               m ROM 2468  0 * 0 = 0 1 1 = = 1 = 1 1 1 1  9.0  2499 
 3. Ionescu, Constantin       g ROM 2504  = 1 * = 1 = = = = = = = = = 1  8.5  2474 
 4. Navrotescu, Catalin       m ROM 2451  = = = * = 1 = 0 = = 1 = 1 = 1  8.5  2478 
 5. Moldovan, Daniel          m ROM 2432  = 1 0 = * = = = 1 = 0 1 1 = =  8.0  2449 
 6. Danilov, Vladimir         f ROM 2343  = 0 = 0 = * = 1 1 = = = 1 1 =  8.0  2456 
 7. Foisor, Ovidiu            m ROM 2409  = 0 = = = = * = = 1 = = 1 = 1  8.0  2451 
 8. Florean, Andrei           m ROM 2436  = = = 1 = 0 = * 0 = 1 0 1 1 1  8.0  2449 
 9. Vajda, Levente            m ROM 2454  0 = = = 0 0 = 1 * 1 = 1 1 1 =  8.0  2448 
10. Lupulescu, Constantin       ROM 2348  = 0 = = = = 0 = 0 * 1 1 1 0 1  7.0  2405 
11. Nanu, Ciprian             m ROM 2418  0 = = 0 1 = = 0 = 0 * = 0 1 1  6.0  2350 
12. Ionescu, Doru Alexandru   f ROM 2390  = 0 = = 0 = = 1 0 0 = * = 1 0  5.5  2322 
13. Moraru, Marius            m ROM 2297  = 0 = 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 = * = 1  4.0  2251 
14. Spulber, Cicerone         f ROM 2380  0 0 = = = 0 = 0 0 1 0 0 = * 0  3.5  2210 
15. Manea, Alexandru            ROM 2301  0 0 0 0 = = 0 0 = 0 0 1 0 1 *  3.5  2216 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ch-ROM Women Baile Tusnad ROM (ROM), 5-20 ii 2001
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Peptan, Corina           m ROM 2461  * = = 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 1 = 1 =  10.5  2469 
 2. Foisor, Cristina Adela   m ROM 2418  = * = 0 1 1 = 1 = 1 1 1 1 1  10.0  2433 
 3. Cosma, Elena Luminita   wg ROM 2343  = = * = = 1 1 1 1 1 1 = 0 1  9.5  2402 
 4. Bogza, Adina            wm ROM 2274  0 1 = * 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1  9.5  2408 
 5. Ionescu-Brandis, Irina  wm ROM 2330  = 0 = 0 * 1 = = 1 0 1 1 = 1  7.5  2285 
 6. Ciobanu, Camelia        wf ROM 2209  0 0 0 1 0 * 1 = = 1 1 = 1 1  7.5  2295 
 7. Jicman, Ligia           wm ROM 2231  0 = 0 0 = 0 * 1 = 1 1 1 1 1  7.5  2293 
 8. Calotescu, Cristina     wf ROM 2206  0 0 0 0 = = 0 * 1 1 1 1 1 1  7.0  2267 
 9. Apostoaie, Liliana      wf ROM 2180  0 = 0 0 0 = = 0 * 0 = 1 1 =  4.5  2130 
10. Voicu, Carmen           wf ROM 2162  0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 * = 0 1 1  4.5  2131 
11. Trofim, Georgiana          ROM 2102  0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 = = * = 1 =  4.0  2105 
12. Marin, Luiza            wm ROM 2196  = 0 = 0 0 = 0 0 0 1 = * 0 =  3.5  2064 
13. Gheorhe, Corina            ROM 2121  0 0 1 0 = 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 * 1  3.5  2070 
14. Duminica, Mariana       wf ROM 2073  = 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 0 = = 0 *  2.0  1952 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9) Montecatini Terme

The Category III tournament in Montecatini Terme took place 12th-20th February 2001. 12 players competed and the event was won by Vlad Tomescu who scored 8.5/11. My thanks to Lanfranco Bombelli for the news.

Internet coverage at: http://www.infcom.it/fsi

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
It Montecatini Terme ITA (ITA), 12-20 ii 2001             cat. III (2314)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Tomescu, Vlad         m ROM 2417  * 0 = = 1 1 1 1 1 1 = 1  8.5  2516 
 2. Chatalbashev, Boris   g BUL 2499  1 * = 1 1 = 0 = 1 0 1 1  7.5  2430 
 3. Mukic, Josko          f YUG 2263  = = * = 1 = = 1 1 1 0 =  7.0  2421 
 4. Naumkin, Igor         g RUS 2446  = 0 = * 1 1 = = 1 = = 1  7.0  2404 
 5. Drei, Andrea          f ITA 2305  0 0 0 0 * = 1 1 1 1 1 1  6.5  2380 
 6. Mrdja, Milan          m CRO 2435  0 = = 0 = * 1 = = = 1 1  6.0  2339 
 7. Lovric, Branko        f CRO 2357  0 1 = = 0 0 * 0 = = 1 1  5.0  2274 
 8. Sciortino, Massimo      ITA 2150  0 = 0 = 0 = 1 * 0 = 1 1  5.0  2293 
 9. Genocchio, Daniele      ITA 2263  0 0 0 0 0 = = 1 * 1 1 1  5.0  2283 
10. Voiska, Margarita    wg BUL 2305  0 1 0 = 0 = = = 0 * = 1  4.5  2250 
11. Acher, Mathieu          FRA 2264  = 0 1 = 0 0 0 0 0 = * =  3.0  2143 
12. Marino, Olivier         FRA 2068  0 0 = 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = *  1.0  1953 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

10) Cappelle la Grande

The 17th Cappelle la Grande Open takes place 24th February-3rd March 2001. There are 712 players including 93 GMs and 72 IMs. There is live coverage on the official site. More coverage next week.

Internet site: http://cappelle.free.fr

11) VII Open Villa de Coria del Rio

The VII Open Villa de Coria del Rio took place 14th-22nd February 2001. Oleg Korneev won with 7.5/9 half a point clear of Davor Komljenovic, Reynaldo Vera and Daniel Campora.

Internet coverage: http://usuarios.tripod.es/fsajedrez/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Open Villa de Coria del Rio ESP (ESP), 14-22 ii 2001
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Korneev, Oleg                     g  RUS 2600  7.5     41.0  55.0    43.5 
 2. Komljenovic, Davor                g  CRO 2512  7       39.0  54.0    44.0 
 3. Vera, Reynaldo                    g  CUB 2562  7       37.5  51.5    43.0 
 4. Campora, Daniel H                 g  ARG 2513  7       36.5  54.0    42.5 
 5. Teran Alvarez, Ismael             m  ESP 2356  6.5     36.5  50.5    40.0 
 6. Nuevo Perez, Antonio                 ESP 2255  6.5     35.0  51.0    39.5 
 7. Garcia Martinez, Silvino          g  CUB 2371  6.5     33.0  46.5    36.0 
 8. Barrero Garcia, Carlos               ESP 2319  6.5     32.5  46.0    35.5 
 9. Matamoros Franco, Carlos S        m  ECU 2467  6       35.0  50.5    42.0 
10. Simonenko, Sergei                 m  TKM 2463  6       34.5  52.5    41.5 
11. Valdes Romero, Leonardo              MEX 2285  6       33.0  50.0    38.0 
12. Ortega Valle,J                       ESP ----  6       32.0  51.0    41.0 
13. Landero Luna, Vicente                ESP 2192  6       32.0  48.0    37.5 
14. Martin Vazquez, Jose M               ESP 2193  6       32.0  46.0    35.5 
15. Vela Ignacio, Jose Manuel            ESP 2063  6       29.5  47.0    37.0 
16. Calvo, Jesus Maria                   ESP 2272  6       29.5  47.0    36.5 
17. Molina, Jorge                        BOL 2195  6       26.5  41.5    32.5 
83 players

12) 8th Bizovac Open

WGM Mirjana Medic sends news of the 8th Metalis Open which took place in Bizovac (Croatia) 22nd-25th Februrary 2001. This seven round Swiss system event was won by Robert Zelcic who scored 6.5/7 half a point clear of Stevic, Rasic and Leventic on 6 points.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8th Metalis Open Bizovac CRO (CRO), 22-25 ii 2001
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Zelcic, Robert          g  CRO 2500  6.5      24.5  34.5   27.0    6 31.50
 2. Stevic, Hrvoje          m  CRO 2464  6        23.5  32.5   24.5    5 27.00
 3. Rasic, Damir               BIH 2280  6        21.0  29.5   23.0    5 26.00
 4. Leventic, Ivan          m  CRO 2400  6        20.5  28.0   24.0    5 22.75
 5. Kozul, Zdenko           g  CRO 2594  5.5      23.5  33.5   24.0    5 24.50
 6. Bubalovic, Davorin      f  CRO 2328  5.5      21.0  29.5   21.0    5 22.00
 7. Cvitan, Ognjen          g  CRO 2542  5.5      18.5  27.5   21.0    5 20.00
 8. Njirjak, Josip          f  CRO 2332  5        22.5  32.0   24.0    4 21.00
 9. Tomerlin, Sinisa           CRO 2196  5        22.5  31.0   22.0    4 20.25
10. Topalovic, Zlatko          CRO 2202  5        21.5  30.0   20.0    5 18.50
11. Dabo-Peranic, Robert       CRO 2307  5        21.0  30.0   22.0    4 20.00
12. Jukic, Zdenko              CRO 2244  5        21.0  30.0   21.0    4 20.00
13. Kovacevic, Blazimir     m  CRO 2457  5        21.0  29.5   21.5    4 18.50
14. Ascic, Pero             f  CRO 2337  5        20.0  29.5   22.0    5 18.00
15. Begic, Senad               BIH 2304  5        19.5  29.0   20.0    5 16.50
16. Biti, Ozren             f  CRO 2290  5        19.5  26.5   18.5    4 18.00
17. Mrkonjic, Nenad            CRO 2306  5        19.0  27.0   20.0    3 19.50
18. Jovanovic, Zoran CRO       CRO 2368  5        19.0  27.0   18.5    4 18.50
19. Cebalo, Miso            g  CRO 2473  4.5      24.5  33.0   22.0    3 19.25
20. Rogulj, Branko          m  CRO 2437  4.5      23.5  33.5   21.5    4 19.50
21. Kutuzovic, Branko       m  CRO 2441  4.5      23.0  32.0   22.0    4 19.00
22. Jankovic, Alojzije      f  CRO 2273  4.5      21.5  30.0   19.5    4 16.50
23. Markovic, D                CRO ----  4.5      21.0  29.0   19.0    3 18.25
24. Kristovic, Marijan      f  CRO 2300  4.5      20.5  29.0   20.5    4 17.25
25. Maras, Mile                CRO 2263  4.5      20.0  29.0   20.5    4 16.25
26. Aleksic, Robert            CRO 2209  4.5      19.0  26.5   18.0    4 15.00
27. Buric, Danijel             CRO 2241  4.5      19.0  25.5   18.5    4 15.25
28. Gnjezdur, Vladimir         CRO 2178  4.5      17.5  25.5   16.5    4 14.25
29. Vargic, Drago           f  CRO 2290  4.5      17.5  24.0   17.0    4 14.00
30. Hodak, Stevo               CRO 2250  4.5      17.0  24.5   19.0    4 14.00
132 players

13) Dutch Open Blitzchess 2001

Jan Versloot reports: French GM Joel Lautier won the Open Dutch Blitzchess (AKD Prinsen Van Wijmen Sneslchaakmarathon) on Saturday the 24th February 2001 in Dordrecht. In second place was Dutch GM Jeroen Piket and in third was Andrei Sheckhachev from Russia. There were 200 participants playing 17 double rounds (5 mins per game 34 games in total) in one group according to the Swiss system. There are some games from the top board each round.

Website: http://www.blitzchess.nl

Final Standings AKD Prinsen Van Wijmen Sneslchaakmarathon
---------------------------------------------------------
   1  Lautier, J.              NED  2658   26.5 
   2  Piket, J.                NED  2632   24.5 
   3  Shchekachev, A.          RUS  2537   24.0 
   4  Wely, L. van             NED  2700   23.5 
   5  Vaganian, R.             ARM  2641   23.0 
   6  Korchnoi, V.             SUI  2639   22.5 
   7  Speelman, J.             ENG  2604   22.5 
   8  Epishin, V.              RUS  2578   22.5 
   9  Timman, J.H.             NED  2629   22.0 
  10  Bosboom, M.              NED  2439   22.0 
  11  Mestrovic, Z.            SLO  2417   22.0 
  12  Gurevich, M.             BEL  2694   21.5 
  13  Baklan, V.               UKR  2613   21.5 
  14  Jirovsky, M.             CZE  2452   21.5 
  15  Bosman, M.               NED  2325   21.5 
  16  Jong, J.W.de             NED  2258   21.5 
  17  Sokolov, I.              BIH  2659   21.0 
  18  Nicolic, P.              BIH  2652   21.0 
  19  McShane, L.              ENG  2460   21.0 
  20  Solleveld, M.S.          NED  2414   21.0 
  21  Peelen, P.               NED  2353   21.0 
  22  Piket, M.                NED  2345   21.0 
  23  Peek, M.B.M.             NED  2337   21.0 
  24  Lanchava, T. Mw.         NED  2271   21.0 
  25  Skripchenko-Lautier, A   MDA  2450   20.5 
  26  Böhm, H.                 NED  2324   20.5 
  27  Quist, J.W.              NED  2310   20.5 
  28  Leenhouts, K.P.          NED  2168   20.5 
  29  Gregoir, C.              NED  2034   20.5 
200 players

14) England-Germany Women's Match

There was a match between women's teams from England and Germany at Battle Abbey 17th-24th February 2001. Teams of five players from each country met each other twice in a Scheveningen style event which saw England win 27.5-22.5. This is a return match for an event which took place in Dresden in August 1998 which incidently was won by exactly the same score by England (TWIC197). There was some trouble raising an English team of the right strength for norms to be available and so Christine Flear (now French in the ELO list) played for England to preserve norm chances. In the end only Heather Richards scored a WIM norm. My thanks to Grete White for the information.

ENGLAND 27.5

1. Lalic, Susan m ENG 2318  8.0;
2. Richards, Heather wf ENG 2133  7.5;
3. Buckley, Melanie  ENG 2114  4.5;
4. Flear, Christine wm ENG 2184  4.0;
5. Lauterbach, Ingrid wm ENG 2179  3.5;

GERMANY 22.5

1. Nill, Jessica wm GER 2239  7.0;
2. Koglin, Anke wm GER 2279  6.0;
3. Umpfenbach, Caroline  GER 2044  3.5;
4. Heymann, Ulrike wm GER 2216  3.5;
5. Schlander, Sabine  GER 2074  2.5;

15) First Saturday February

Laszlo Nagy reports: A correction to the final standings of the IMA event. The game Anka-Khechumyan was a win for white not a draw as given.

The FS event next month take place 3rd-16th March 2001. Below are some of the players registered to take part in the IM-tournaments. IM Zimmerman, Yuri (HUN), Chahrani, Ibrahim (LYB), IM Kaposztas, Miklos (HUN), Martinidesz, Dines (GER), Jamrich, Gyorgy (HUN), FM Hajnal, Zoltan (HUN), IM Gladyszev, Oleg (RUS), IM Eperjesi, Laszlo (HUN), IM Nemeth, Zoltan (HUN), IM Farag , Sandor (HUN), FM Sendur, Adnan (TUR), Gonda, Laszlo (HUN), Goczo, Melinda (HUN), WIM Dembo, Yelena (HUN), FM Rajlich, Vasik (USA), FM Resika, Nathan (USA), FM Philippe, Christophe (FRA), Nezar Moustapha (FRA), Paci, Cedric (FRA), FM Jakab, Attila (HUN), FM Balogh, Csaba (HUN), Xu, Hanbing (CHN), Tian, Tian (CHN), IM Seres, Lajos (HUN), IM Kahn, Evarth (HUN), Tournier, Pascal (FRA), Berczes, Csaba (HUN) and Jurkovic, Ante (CRO).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
FSIMA February Budapest HUN (HUN), 3-16 ii 2001           cat. III (2307)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Seres, Lajos        m HUN 2445  * = 1 1 = 1 1 = = = = 1 1  9.0  2488 
 2. Petran, Pal         m HUN 2392  = * = = = = = 1 1 1 = 1 1  8.5  2457 
 3. Xu Hanbing            CHN 2218  0 = * = 1 = 0 1 1 1 1 1 =  8.0  2439 
 4. Vajda, Szidonia    wg HUN 2316  0 = = * = 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0  7.5  2401 
 5. Tian Tian             CHN 2224  = = 0 = * = = 1 1 = = 1 1  7.5  2408 
 6. Dembo, Yelena      wm HUN 2342  0 = = 0 = * 1 1 1 0 1 = 1  7.0  2361 
 7. Sendur, Adnan       f TUR 2303  0 = 1 0 = 0 * 0 1 1 = = 1  6.0  2307 
 8. Anka, Emil          m HUN 2425  = 0 0 0 0 0 1 * 0 1 1 1 1  5.5  2268 
 9. Jurkovic, Ante        CRO 2349  = 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 * = = 1 0  4.5  2216 
10. Khechumyan, Gagik     ARM 2227  = 0 0 0 = 1 0 0 = * 1 0 1  4.5  2226 
11. Magyar, Otto        f HUN 2343  = = 0 0 = 0 = 0 = 0 * = 1  4.0  2179 
12. Erdelyi, Zombor       HUN 2244  0 0 0 0 0 = = 0 0 1 = * 1  3.5  2154 
13. Suranyi, Pal          HUN 2163  0 0 = 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 *  2.5  2089 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

16) Uruguayan Championship Qualifiers 2001

The Uruguayan Championships are in their qualification phase. The entire championships have three phases:

1) preliminary Players that live in Montevideo, divided in two series of similar force (Blue and Red). 12 players qualify from of each series. Players that live in the rest of the country play from 24th-27th February. 12 players qualify.

2) Play Offs. Three stages of Play Offs, FIIDE system, 8 finalists qualify.

3) Closed Final. The 8 qualified from the Play Offs plus the Champion and second placed player from last year, will play final all-play-all 21st-29th April 2001.

My thanks to Horacio Arevalo and others for explaining it to me.

Further information: http://ajedrez.uruwow.com

17) Yateley Manor International

The Yateley Manor International took place 19-21 January and 3-4 February 2001 reports Ray Clark. 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 was 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.

18) Plovdiv Results

Rumen Angelov sends new of two recent events in Plovdiv Bulgaria. The First Georgi Tringov Memorial was a seven round rapidplay held on February 25th won by Kiril Georgiev with a 100% score. The Bulgarian Open took place 16th-22nd February 2001. 80 player competed in an event won by Marijan Petrov. No games available at the moment from either event.

First Georgi Tringov Memorial
Plovdiv, Bulgaria, February 25, 2001
Rapid chess, 1-hour per player, 
7-round, Swiss system., 12 players

Final standing:
 1. GM  Georgiev, Kiril     BUL  - 7
 2. GM  Popchev, Milko      BUL  - 4.5
 3. GM  Georgiev, Krum      BUL  - 4.5
 4. GM  Ivanovic, Bozidar   YUG  - 3.5
 5. GM  Matulovic, Milan    YUG  - 3.5
 6. IM  Peev, Pejcho        BUL  - 3.5
 7. GM  Padevski, Nikola    BUL  - 3
 8. GM  Kirov, Nino         BUL  - 3
 9.     Skoko, Milan        YUG  - 3
10. GM  Radulov, Ivan       BUL  - 3
11. FM  Kochovski, Ivan     MKD - 2.5
12.     Milonjic, Mihajlo   YUG - 1

23rd Bulgarian Open Championship
Plovdiv 16-22.02.2001
Final Standings
  1   Petrov, Marijan        BUL   2409 im    7.5     38.0  
  2   Delchev, Aleksander    BUL   2592 gm    7       39.0  
  3   Dimitrov, Vladimir     BUL   2499 gm    7       36.0  
  4   Drenchev, Petar        BUL   2342       6.5     36.0  
  5   Radulski, Julian       BUL   2432       6.5     35.5  
  6   Cheparinov, Ivan       BUL   2411       6.5     31.0  
  7   Genov, Petar           BUL   2458 im    6.5     30.5  
  8   Dragiev, Veselin       BUL   2396       6       34.5  
  9   Marholev, Dimitar      BUL   2302       6       33.5  
 10   Dobrev, Nanko          BUL   2337 im    6       33.5  
 11   Nikolov, Sasho         BUL   2337 im    6       33.0  
 12   Bratanov, Zsivko       BUL   2444 im    6       31.5  
 13   Mladenov, Svetlin      BUL   2251       6       31.0  
 14   Arnaudov, Petar        BUL   2255       6       30.5  
 15   Tsvetkov, Ilia         BUL   2327       6       30.0  
 16   Panbukchian, Valentin  BUL   2328 im    6       30.0  
 17   Tzolov, Emil           BUL              6       27.5  
 18   Genova, Ruzka          BUL   2206 wim   6       27.0  
 19   Kozhuharov, Spas       BUL   2320       5.5     30.5  
 20   Badev, Kiril           BUL   2234       5.5     30.0  
 21   Pelitov, Dimitar       BUL   2216       5.5     25.5  
 22   Slavov, Janko          BUL              5.5     23.5  
80 players

19) Professional World Chess Ranking

The Professional World Chess Ranking for players rated 2500 and higher produced by Ken Thomson , New Jersey Calculated by Vladimir Dvorkovich, Moscow. Results up to March 1, 2001. Kasparov is number one again.

Results up to March 1, 2001              

NN Name                      Birthday    Fed Rating Variance 
------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Kasparov,Garry            13.04.1963  RUS  2791 112 
 2 Kramnik,Vladimir          25.06.1975  RUS  2785 126 
 3 Anand,Viswanathan         11.12.1969  IND  2764 120 
 4 Morozevich,Alexander      18.07.1977  RUS  2713 188 
 5 Leko,Peter                08.09.1979  HUN  2702 119 
 6 Ivanchuk,Vassily          18.03.1969  UKR  2694 151 
 7 Shirov,Alexei             04.07.1972  ESP  2684 181 
 8 Gelfand,Boris             24.06.1968  ISR  2675 146 
 9 Topalov,Veselin           15.03.1975  BUL  2673 168 
10 Adams,Michael             17.11.1971  ENG  2673 171 
11 Khalifman,Alexander       18.01.1966  RUS  2670 143 
12 Bareev,Evgeny             21.11.1966  RUS  2670 159 
13 Svidler,Peter             17.06.1976  RUS  2647 162 
14 Dreev,Alexey              30.01.1969  RUS  2646 159 
15 Georgiev,Kiril            28.11.1965  BUL  2639 174 
16 Tkachev,Vladislav         09.11.1973  FRA  2636 143 
17 Ponomariov,Ruslan         11.10.1983  UKR  2631 161 
18 Van Wely,Loek             07.10.1972  NED  2631 179 
19 Karpov,Anatoli            23.05.1951  RUS  2629 134 
20 Smirin,Ilia               21.01.1968  ISR  2629 168 
21 Gurevich,Mikhail          22.02.1959  BEL  2628 149 
22 Azmaiparashvili,Zurab     16.03.1960  GEO  2625 169 
23 Short,Nigel               01.06.1965  ENG  2623 152 
24 Grischuk,Alexander        31.10.1983  RUS  2622 147 
25 Bologan,Viorel            14.12.1971  MDA  2622 161 
26 Ye Jiangchuan             20.11.1960  CHN  2621 160 
27 Lautier,Joel              12.04.1973  FRA  2620 154 
28 Akopian,Vladimir          07.12.1971  ARM  2617 167 
29 Kharlov,Andrei            20.11.1968  RUS  2616 166 
30 Kasimdzhanov,Rustam       05.12.1979  UZB  2614 165 
31 Zhang Zhong               05.09.1978  CHN  2613 183 
32 Polgar,Judit              23.07.1976  HUN  2608 173 
33 Onischuk,Alexander        03.09.1975  UKR  2604 139 
34 Movsesian,Sergei          03.11.1978  CZE  2604 169 
35 Hjartarson,Johann         08.02.1963  ISD  2604 176 
36 Nikolic,Predrag           11.09.1960  BIH  2603 156 
37 Sakaev,Konstantin         13.04.1974  RUS  2603 158 
38 Sadler,Matthew            15.05.1974  ENG  2603 185 
39 Korchnoi,Viktor           23.03.1931  SUI  2602 173 
40 Yusupov,Artur             13.02.1960  GER  2601 147 
41 Beliavsky,Alexander       17.12.1953  SLO  2597 167 
42 Vaganian,Rafael           15.10.1951  ARM  2595 172 
43 Krasenkov,Mikhail         14.11.1963  POL  2593 167 
44 Nenashev,Alexander        25.08.1962  UZB  2593 187 
45 Almasi,Zoltan             29.08.1976  HUN  2592 159 
46 Dautov,Rustem             28.11.1965  GER  2592 178 
47 Rublevsky,Sergei          15.10.1974  RUS  2591 169 
48 Bacrot,Etienne            22.01.1983  FRA  2589 168 
49 Tregubov,Pavel            27.12.1971  RUS  2588 156 
50 Rohde,Michael A           26.08.1959  USA  2588 188 

20) More FIDE Letters

This week has seen further protests against the new time control. The Dutch and German Chess Federations are talking about taking the decisions to the Court of Arbitration in Lausanne. The Swiss Chess Federation added their voice against the decision in a letter.

Press Release of the Chess Federation of the Netherlands and the German Chess Federation

Dutch and German Chess Federation fight new time control in Court of Arbitration

The Board of the Chess Federation of the Netherlands on 6.2.2001 and the Board of the German Chess Federation on 10.2.2001 both decided not to accept the decision of the FIDE Board on a new time control.

A letter from FIDE Executive Director Omuku on request of the President of FIDE tried to explain the decision but in no way could convince that the FIDE Board has been authorized to make a general decision on this important issue.

In a joint letter to FIDE President the Dutch and the German Chess Federation again state the reasons against this decision:

a.. The new time control the Board decided would radically change the quality of our game. In principle we are willing to discuss a different time control, but we do not want to change serious chess to rapid chess.

b.. An issue so important has to be discussed thoroughly with the players, the federations and the committees, and it would be wise to have an experimental phase before decision. The way it was handled is not the way an international organization of sports should act.

c.. The Board has not been authorized to decide this issue in general, neither by the Statutes nor by General Assembly. The authorization given is limited to the World Championship Cycle (where we do not support the decision, but have to accept it at the moment and will discuss it in next General Assembly).

Both federations decided to join and ask the Court of Arbitration for Sports according to Chapter 17 of the FIDE Statutes to settle the conflict, if the FIDE Board does not limit it's decision to the World Championship Cycle in the next meeting.

Haarlem / Berlin, 20.2.2001

(signed) Herman Hamers, President of the Chess Federation of the Netherlands

(signed) Egon Ditt, President of the German Chess Federation

Swiss Chess Federation letter to FIDE

Dear Mr. President, dear members of the Presidential Board,

The Swiss Chess Federation was quite surprised by the press release about the FIDE Presidential Board's decision to reduce the playing time for all FIDE events.

Before discussing this matter at our board meeting, we have asked our top players about their opinion and they all but one were very much opposed to the reduction of the time control as decided. The Swiss Chess Federation shares their fear for the quality of our sport.

Our board charged Mr. Rolf Liniger, delegate of the Swiss Chess Federation at the FIDE Congress and legal consultant of our Federation, to carefully examine the legality of this decision.

The FIDE statutes in Article 4.1 and 7.1 clearly state that decisions concerning the matters of the Rules and Qualification Commissions must be taken by the General Assembly. Both the Executive and the Presidential Board are explicitly forbidden to take decisions in this fields.

4.1. FIDE Statutes

The General Assembly, being the highest authority of FIDE, exercises the legislative and - unless otherwise defined below - also the executive power. It supervises the activities of the Executive Board, the Presidential Board, the President and also the other FIDE officials and organizations. It approves the FIDE budget, elects the Presidential Board, Ethics Committee, Verification and Constitutional Committees and determines the schedule of FIDE activities. When the General Assembly is not in session its powers are transferred to the Executive Board. However, the Executive Board cannot take decisions on the following:

All decisions taken by the Executive Board shall be reviewed by the following General Assembly.

7.1. FIDE Statutes

In cases of emergency the Presidential Board exercises the rights of the General Assembly and the Executive Board between meetings of the General Assembly and the Executive Board respectively. Such powers include taking decisions which require a 3/4 majority vote pursuant to Standing Order to 1.2. Any rights so exercised under this Article 7.1 have no continuing effect beyond the following General Assembly unless so authorized by the requisite majority vote. An emergency for these purposes is defined as a situation which calls for a decision to be made before the next relevant meeting in the interest of good governance.

However, the Presidential Board cannot take decisions on the following:

Mr. Emmanuel Omuku in his letter to all National Federations of January 31, 2001 says that "it was the true intention of the General Assembly that the final decision regarding the matter of the new time control and the World Championship be dealt with at the Presidential Board.".

This opinion is very questionable: The General Assembly has never voted about a delegation of power to the Presidential Board. Such a shift of power can under no circumstances be based on vague interpretations about the true intentions of the General Assembly.

However the General Assembly - even by voting - had in this case absolutely no legal possibility to mandate the Presidential Board with these matters without changing article 7.1 of the statutes, which forbids to the Presidential Board to take any decisions in this matters - even in an emergency case.

The statutes indisputably have not been changed, the Presidential Board remains excluded from any decisions in these matters.

Mr. Omuku quotes that in some similar precedent cases the General Assembly has - in very complex situations - made the same kind of delegation of power to the Presidential Board before. We are not examining this question, because in any way it is irrelevant: Earlier violations of FIDE statutes do in no way permit the actual one.

Furthermore we would draw your attention to the fact, that all the games played at the reduced time control can under the actually FIDE Rating Regulations not serve for title applications any more. They can not even be rated in the FIDE rating list - a more than absurd situation for official FIDE events!

The FIDE Rating Regulations (Qualification Commission) remained unchanged by the General Assembly in Istanbul. Changes of this regulations can only be made by the General Assembly, not by the Executive Board or the Presidential Board (see statutes 4.1 and 7.1 quoted above).

The FIDE Rating Regulations are as follows - published (still today) on the FIDE homepage:

1.0. Rate of Play

1.1 For a game to be rated each player must have a minimum of two hours in which to complete all the moves, assuming the game lasts 60 moves. Examples of various ways in which this can be achieved follow: (GA '95)

2 Games played with all the moves at a rate faster than the above are excluded from the list.

1.3For games to count for title applications a six hour session is required at least. Where the session is less than seven hours, only one such result can be used in support of a title application.

Where a certain number of moves is specified in the first time control, it is recommended this be 40 moves. Players benefit from uniformity here.

In summary:

The Swiss Chess Federation - like many other National Federations - protests against the decision of FIDE Presidential Board.

We asks you, dear Mr. President, dear members of the Presidential Board, to reconsider it.

Sincerely Yours

Ruedi Staechelin

President Swiss Chess Federation

21) Letters

TWIC always welcomes letters. No publication is guaranteed but the magazine can act as a forum for chess issues of the moment. The views expressed in these letters are those of the authors not of TWIC or Chess & Bridge Ltd.

Letter from Andrzej Filipowicz Warsaw, February 21, 2001

Letter from Andrzej Filipowicz in reply to a letter from Jonathan Berry in TWIC 326.

To: Mr. Mark Crowther Re: the time control

Dear Mark, Mr. Jonathan Berry was kind to mention my name, regarding the new time control. So I wish to clarify some matters:

1. I never had the negative opinion regarding the control introduced at the Kasparov-Kramnik match i.e: 40 moves in 120 minutes, followed by 20 moves in 60 minutes, followed by all moves in 30 minutes and then only in this last period plus 10 seconds per move, non-accumulating, added prior to the move.

Unfortunately there is no one electronic clock with such a rate of play. So from the practical point of view I had serious doubts regarding the exchange of a clock during the game. The problem was solved easy during the match. I exchanged the clock twice. It took me about a half of minute.

Also the DGT clock was missing so called the Bronstein’s time control in the case of 30 minutes (it was prepared for the 20 minutes game only). So unfortunately the increment of 10 seconds was accumulated during the first ten minutes of the last period and non-accumulating in the last 20 minutes of the last period. The players were informed by arbiters and accepted it.

2. I think the rate of play proposed by both players and Organizers of the BGN World Championship was one of the best I have seen. It combines the current idea of avoiding the adjourned games and the historical time pressure exciting for public (twice in the game - in the first control at 40th move and in the second at 60th move).

The increment of 10 seconds (non-accumulating) in the last period (30 minutes for a player) is sufficient to give a simple mate however it requires the discipline of players (you cannot play “stupid” moves to win a few minutes) and does not allow arbiters to interfere in the game (see the sudden death finish).

With kind regards

Andrzej Filipowicz

FIDE International Arbiter & International Master Chief Arbiter of the 2000 K-K Match in London

Letter from Evgeniy Solozhenkin

I've edited the letter with the permission and consultation of the author (which was orginally in Russian but which Evgeniy translated into English) so the points are clearer.

Would they Swindle Us?

I would like to share my reflections about the delayed silence from the part of the officials concerning the organisation of the World Championship 2001 cycle. Probably, it will be not without interest to fans of chess, but it is my colleagues, the professional players, that it affects directly.

Some facts.

Firstly, on January 26th 2001 there was the curious report, which has stayed unnoticed, that appeared on the website of the French federation (http://www.echecs.asso.fr/ Actualitees section). I will quote it completely:

" FIDE has decided to change the format of the World Championships in order to please FIDE Commerce. The total amount of the prizes will be preserved, but they will be distributed to various competitions. The Zonal tournaments have been abolished and the first phase will be Continental Tournaments, organised at the end of July.

- Europe - 46 players will qualify for the next stage; - America - 19 players - Asia - 19 players - Africa - 6 players -

Ten players will qualify via their Elo rating or performance in the last Championships. As announced the future promises an unclear, complicated situation. Perhaps including a Grand Prix, World Cup (like Shenyang)."

It is difficult for me to say, where the French Federation has obtained this information. I attentively follow the FIDE website, nothing similar was published there. The FFE is not a dubious source and would hardly publish unreliable information. The concreteness of digits and terms (till the end of July) leads me to believe that the given information is official. Indirectly this is also confirmed by the silence of FIDE. The silence of FIDE on this subject caught my attention. There is a reason to add up the quantity of qualifying places, to compare the phrase about ten players with the phrase about the absence of privileges for everyone written into the historical Teheran declaration from 26.12.2000 and then, after analysis, some vague suspicions can creep in.

FIDE’s brilliant intention to make everyone starting qualification from the very first stage should automatically lead to the reinforcement of national championships. Is that really bad? Outstanding Soviet champions have started in the National Championships and gone on to play candidate matches. That is they became great in the eyes of all by passing through all of the qualification process. The Tehran declaration from 26.12.2000 gives a new historic chance to those elite players to become really great due to annual selection to the World Championship from the championship of the continent and national championship (or zone). Is it really that such a prospect does not please them?

Second fact.

In the press release from January, 31 FIDE Executive Director Mr. Omuku gave the following explanation:

"The Continental Championships for commercial reasons will now be used for purposes of qualification to the World Championships. At the same time Continental Championships are now going to be administered (as I understand, should be organized with responsibility – author) by the Continents (it’s a tricky moment, below about it) and they are expected to select the winners for qualification for the World Championship from this event, along Zonal lines".

Further Mr. Omuku cites the sums of money which FIDE has alloted to the Continents for the organisation of the Continental Championships. Thus FIDE no longer has responsibility for the Continental Championships and our attention should switch over to the organisers of these championships.

So what do we know today on that score? About what are the Continental Unions thinking? Do they want to wait for a couple of months, while the debate on the FIDE website: "Do we need the Zones or not" is completed? Why not instead pose a simple question. "How it is possible in Europe (for example) to organise a qualification tournament for the World Championship open to everybody?" The significance of the event will push plenty of players to take part in it. The problem is not that there will be many. The problem is that it is not known beforehand, how many. What happens if a major european city can't be found to carry out the tournament (e.g. tourist season)? Will the Continental Championship will be conducted in a small city? Will the players have to live in tents? To play in the open-air?

For me it is obvious that the Zones as the stage for qualification to the Continental Championship have to be preserved but quotas from the Zones should be revised and increased. To discuss new quotas? Certainly. Where are these discussions? They have not taken place. Why? You see, national federations need as early as possible to know the terms of championships of continents and the quantity of qualifying places from the Zones. But time does not wait. Why are the national federations, some of which are only concerned about the new time controls, passive?

Journalists too are only preoccupied with the same problem, collecting signatures against the new time control on websites, though by virtue of professional principles and professional skill they must before others separate the most important from simply important. Why don't they hurry up and ask for clarification of the many questions over the organization of the various stages leading to the World Championships of 2001?

I have the only explanation of what is going on, it is a deliberate delay of time. A third fact made me think so.

According to my information FIDE President offered to Russian chess federation to organize the championship of Russia this year in Elista in August. The leadership of the Federation disagreed, but because of financial reasons, not because of the terms.

With a World Championship in November and players having to be selected for the World Championship cycle by the end of July, where do the national championships in August fit in. Will there will be a Championship of Russia this year, the qualificational stage to the championship of Europe – World Championship? Or it will it be as in the last championships in Samara a qualification for exclusion. Last year the winner was promised a place in the Russian Olympiad Team. Sergey Volkov (clear winner in Samara) in spite of wanting to play was excluded.

And now we shall use our imagination. Closer to summer, when some national federations will have already carried out their national championships, and others will timetable them for autumn, the European Union, for instance, will publish an application. According to FIDE documents, the Union will say, we realise the qualification to the World Championships should be from National events, but as the situation is confused we wish to take the 46 players from the rating list.

You understand yourselves, it is an important transitional moment now such as the formation of Champion’s League this year. Political opponents of FIDE will be happy and speak of it as FIDE's discredit but they will be mistaken, because FIDE will say: "What has this to do with us?" We gave to Continental Unions the terms and money, it is their responsibility. And if an amateur chessplayer, the lawyer by profession tries bring a case before the court ( e.g., simply to earn some money) against a Continental Union (the right of him, the amateur, to take part in the cycle of the World Championship was not ensured), it will turn out that in the FIDE document from 31.01 Mr. Omuku has assigned relations with continents, instead of Continental Unions. The elite in this moment will gently soar above the scramble, and all others will be dirtily swearing in the smoking room, as Soviet engineers received the patron’s order to go and help collective-farmers to gather potatoes. With high feeling of doom and injustice.

With hope that FIDE will realise enunciated principles of sportive selection and absence of the privileges.

GM Evgeniy Solozhenkin, St.-Petersburg, Russia 21.02.2001

Solution to draws by IM Larry Kaufman

While I am not a supporter of the new accelerated FIDE time control, it does present a marvelous opportunity for the elimination of draws in chess. As I write, we have had 9 out of 9 draws in Linares and 87% draws in the recent Kramnik-Kasparov match, so this is a very timely issue.

In Japanese chess (shogi), a drawn game in professional play (a rare event) is replayed with colors reversed until someone wins, but with the clocks remaining as is (or with some small increment or minimum). This solution was not very practical in the chess world with 40/2 time limits, because without a sudden death period it would take too long and with it the games might degenerate to clock-banging. A hundred years ago, many tournaments did replay draws, but time constraints made this impractical.

However, with the new FIDE time control, which incorporates a 30" per move increment, neither of these problems exist. The 75' initial period and the 15' extra at move 40 would be added only once, not with each game. Under these rules, 180 moves, which normally would cover four games, can take no more than the six hours currently allotted to a single game at 40/2. So except for rare cases, replaying until someone wins will take no more time than the current time for a single game, and on average should take a bit less. Furthermore, no single move will ever have to be made in less than 30", so there is no question of the games degenerating to blitz and no problem with keeping score. To allow for the occasional long match, organizers could schedule a meal break after two games have been played.

The advantages of having a winner in every "game" are obvious. It should add greatly to both spectator interest and to sponsorship. Who wants to sponsor a string of draws? Furthermore, the games themselves will be more exciting, because players who take no risks are rewarded with more rest time under current rules but would get less rest time under these rules. Also, players who get favorable but not winning positions would at least be rewarded by the likelihood of a time advantage for the replay. Finally, colors would be much less important in tournaments. It should be noted that if this idea were to be adopted, then logically draws should not be rated as they are deemed to be merely uncompleted games. This would necessitate restarting the ratings because the top ratings would be much higher without draws.

Sincerely, I.M. Larry Kaufman (inventor of the increment).

22) Forthcoming Events and Links

3rd Dubai open

The 3rd Dubai Open Chess Championship organised by the Dubai Chess & Culture Club will take place 15th to 26th of April 2001 in Dubai. Players will compete for the Sheikh Rashed Bin Hamdan Al Maktum Cup.

Prizes: US$: 1)5000, 2)4500, 3)4000, 4)3000, 5)2500, 6)2000, 7)1500, 8)900, 9)850, 10)750

Invited GM's with ELO rating 2600 and above will be provided with free accomodation in the single room and full board and invited GM's with ELO rating 2550-2599 will be provided with free accomodation in the double room and full board.

Entry is still open. For more information contact:

Dubai Chess & Culture Club
P.O. Box 11354
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tel.: +971 (4) 296 66 64
Fax : +971 (4) 296 88 80

Or via E-Mail to: Mr..Mohamed El Husseiny: mhusseiny@dubaichess.com

"Liepajas rokade" GM Rapidplay

Kaspars Migla reports: Liepaja, Latvia organised a GM rapid chess tournament "Liepajas rokade". (Andra Cimina's report on that event appeared in TWIC 301 14th August 2000). This years tournament will be much stronger. It takes place 2nd-5th August. Already signed up to play are: Alexei Shirov (ESP), Aleksander Khalifman (RUS), Jaan Ehlvest (EST), Edvins Kengis (LAT), Ulf Andersson (SWE), Maxim Dlugy (USA), Darmen Sadvakasov (KAZ), Normunds Miezis (LAT), Utut Adianto (INO), Aloyzas Kveinys (LTU) and Aleksander Wojtkiewicz (POL). There will be live coverage: The Internet site for "Liepajas rokade" will be available soon.

Mechanics' Institute Cat VIII

The Mechanics' Institute is hosting a Category 8 (2426 average) GM norm event from February 26-March 8. The top rated players are GMs Alexander Baburin, Alex Wojtkiewicz and Yury Shulman. This event will be the first tournament in the Americas to feature the new FIDE time control (40/75; G/15 with thirty second increment) in the Americas.

Website: http://www.chessclub.org

Olympic Capital Young Masters 2001

The Olympic Capital Young Masters 2001 tournament will be played at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. There are various events:

20-27 may The Olympic YOUNG MASTERS, for this KO system tournament, we are inviting the worlds 8 best junior GM's.(Fide rating of 31/12/2000)

22-27 may The MASTERS OPEN, 9 round swiss system Open, for players with Elo above 2000 points. The tournament meets regulations for GM and IM norms.

24-27 may The GENERAL OPEN, 7 round swiss system Open, for players of all levels with maximum rating of Elo 2150.

For more detailed information and registration, visit our Home-page : http://www.lausanneyoungmasters.com

Zone 3.1a

Zone 3.1a will held in Tehran 5th-13th April 2001. The event will be a 9 round swiss system tournament. 100 min for 40 moves 20 min for the rest and 30 second bonus per move. There will be men's and women's events.

The participents are: 1. Bahrein (1 woman and 1 man) 2.Iran (3 women and 4 men) 3.Iraq (2 women and 2 men) 4. Jordan (1 woman and 1 man) 5. Kuwait (1 woman and 1 man) 6. Lebanon (2 women and 2 men) 7. Palestine (1 woman and 1 man) 8. Qatar (2 women and 3 men) 9. Syria (1 woman and 2 man) 10. UAE (1 woman and 1 man) 11. Yeman (1 woman and 1 man) total 16 women and 18 men.

News from Pahlevanzadeh.

Internet coverage: http://www.iranchess.com/zone31a

5th Voronezh International Chess Festival

The 5th Voronezh International Chess Festival takes place June 10th - 21st, 2001.

1.Rapid tournament, 10-11.06, 9 rounds swiss, 25 minutes. Entry fee - 120 RR. Prizes in RR 2000/1500/1000. Special prizes.

2.Blitz tournament, 17.06, 11 rounds swiss. Entry fee - 60 RR. Prizes 1000/800/600. Special prizes.

3.Open "A". 12-21.06; 9 rounds swiss; 5 hours. Entry fee in RR: 1500 - without Elo; 1200 - 2001-2100; 1000 -2101-2200; 800 -2201-2250; 600-2251-2300;500 -2301-2350; 400 -2351-2400; 300 -2400-2450. Juniors (1983+), ladies, seniors (1940-) have to pay 50%. Free for GM, IM, 2450+. Prizes in RR : 20000/15000/12000/10000/8000/6000/5000/4000/3000/2000x2/1000x2. Special prizes for juniors, ladies, seniors, players without Elo. A participant may get not more than one prize. Opportunity to qualify for FIDE ratings and norms.

4.Open "B"(Elo<2251). 12-20.06; 9 rounds; 4 hours. Entry fee - 500 RR for rated players, 800 RR for unrated players. Prizes:5000/4000/3000/2000/1500x2/1000x2.Special prizes. 5.Open "C"(for unrated players). 13-20.06; 7 rounds swiss; 3,5 hours. Entry fee 400 RR. Prizes : 3000/2000/1500x2/1000x2/500x3. Special prizes.

Accommodation - from 50 RR per night. (1 USD appr. 30 RR)

Place of the festival: Voronezh Chess Club, Engels str.34, ph.007-0732-551777

Information: Alexander Raetsky, Ostuzheva 22 - 46, 394042 Voronezh, Russia. Fax 007-0732-522951(for A.Raetsky) ph.007-0732-136076(20.00-22.00) e-mail: alex.raetsky@usa.net

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

Anand Interview

Viswanathan Anand has made it clear that any possible title match with Vladimir Kramnik will only be with the permission of FIDE. See the new interview in the Times of India.

Internet site: http://www.timesofindia.com/today/22spor3.htm

Salou Tournaments

The "Torrevella Chess Club" in Salou, Spain is planning to organise 4 events during this year.

Each event will have a minimum of 3 tournaments with chances to make GM and IM norms as well as getting an Elo rating. Salou is a city 100km south of Barcelona. The first of these events will take place 7th-18th May 2001. Further details: prizes, accomodation, entry fees, etc. about these tournaments can be found on the web page: http://home2.worldonline.es/ortumsal

Dortmund 2001

The Dortmunder Sparkassen Chess Meeting 2001 will have Anand and Kramnik as the stars of the event. The event which is also the 29th International Dortmund Chess Days will be held July 12th-22nd in Dortmund Opera House (1200 seats for spectators). 6 players from the top ten will be invited for the double round robin event they will include Kramnik and Anand the event will be Category 20 or 21. An announcement will be made in May of the full field. Alongside the super-tournament will be a computer match with a top player, other matches and an Open with 300 participants. Internet coverage will be by http://www.chessgate.de

Further details: http://teleschach.de/dortmund-2001/

Colombian Chess Magazine

There is a new magazine for Colombian chess players. The pages are those of Fide Master Juan Minaya whose the address is: http://www.gimnasio-moderno.edu.co/ajedrezgm/indexaj.htm. Subjects include: Chess as an educational help Activities of the Colombian Chess Federation and its leagues. Information, tournaments, achievements, Elo, etc. Up date information both local and international. Local and international anecdotes. Chess problems for all levels, tests, etc. Preferred links.

Millennium Chess Festival

The Millennium Chess Festival is in Virginia Beach, Virginia and has 7 GMs confirmed already. March 2nd-4th 2001.

Open: $2500 1200-800-400-200 U2400/Unr: $400-200 Subsection of the open U2200: $400 Subsection of the open U2000/Unr: $2000 750-400-200 U1600 $2000 750-400-200 U1300 $1000 500-300-200 Plus: Consolation merchandise prizes in each Reserve Section Plus: Raffle Prizes (open to all, random drawing!) Plus: Special prizes for Juniors (see camps)

Further entry details: http://www.geocities.com/millenniumchessfestival/

Results will be available at: http://www.geocities.com/millenniumchessfestival/results.htm

Hungarian Events

Chess tournaments in the near future in Hungary and in Yugoslavia: March-April-June 2001...

1. 3rd-16th of March, FIRST SATURDAY IM-FM tournaments, Budapest (HUN), org.Nagy Laszlo, e-mail: firstsat@elender.hu

2. 16th-24th of March Budapest Spring Festival 9 rounds Swiss Open, org.NL

3. 7th-19th of April FS GM-IM-FM tournaments, Budapest, org: NL

4. 21st of April - 3rd of May THIRD SATURDAY GM-IM tournaments, Belgrade, (YUG) /only 7 hours by train from Budapest, org: NL.

5. 5th-17th of May FS IM-FM tournaments, Budapest, org.NL,

6. 21st of May - 2nd of June ELEKES memorial GM-IM-event, organizer IM Zsinka,mobile phone: (36)-20-921-9197

7. 2nd-14th of June FS GM-IM-FM events, Budapest, org: NL.

8. 16th-28th of June THIRD SATURDAY GM-IM events in Belgrade.Org.NL.

Cuban Conference on sport including chess

In April 2001 Cuba are going to hold an International Conference about Physical Education and High Level Sports and Chess will be included.

Full details: http://www.galeon.com/capablanca/

North Sea Cup

The Esbjerg Chess Union stages a 16 edition of its North Sea Cup at Esbjerg Denmark July 6-14 2001. The tournament will again be a 10 player round-robin, at least category 12 is expected. Website address to follow.

Pakistan Chess Player

There is a new website in Pakistan called "Pakistan Chess Player" to promote chess in that region.

Website: http://pakchess.cjb.net

Interesting Links

I came across an interesting interview Kramnik gave in May 1999. It is called "Where have all the chess fans gone?" There seem to be elections in Kalmykia here is an article about that "Liberals accuse authorities" both come from the site: http://www.russiajournal.com/

You can see the results of the deliberations of the FIDE Problem Commission meeting last year which looked at the years 1995, 1996 and 1997. You can find them at: http://www.sci.fi/~stniekat/pccc/studies.htm

Gambito Magazine

The Spanish Chess Magazine "Gambito" has a new website, editor Alfonso Romero. Info David Llada.

Internet site: http://www.revistagambito.com/

Rebel Century 3 vs The Web

A match between Rebel Century 3 against the Web is underway.

Internet coverage: http://www.chesslines.com/rebelvsnet/rebel.html

Chess Oscar

Journalists, publishers, organisers, arbiters and GMs who write on chess have voted for the last 30 years for the Chess Oscar. "64 - Chess Review" (published and edited by A.Roshal) revived the award after a seven year break.

Further information at: http://www.64.ru

Pula Open May 2001

The Croatian Chess Federation and Pula Chess Club are holding an open 18th-26th May 2001. 9 round swiss system.

Full details including contact details at: http://sahklubpula.virtualave.net

E-Mail denis.vretenar@pu.tel.hr ( tel. 385/52/534840) or edvard.glavas@pu.tel.hr

Karpov in Greece and simul record attempt

The former World Champion Anatoly Karpov will visit Greece in a chess festival that will take place in Rethymno of Crete. Karpov will play in exhibition match against the 1999 Woman World Champion U-20, Maria Kouvatsou. He will also give a simultaneous match against 20 distinguished opponents. This will take place 17th-21st April 2001.

Chess Festival in Kalavryta

WGM Anna-Maria Botsari will attempt to break the record (in simultaneous play) held by the Chinese player Ye, in Kalavrita, as part of a chess festival that will take place 27th-28th February 2001. Ye's record stands at 1004 chessboards! All these activities are organized by SEPOKE, with the support of many cultural and other clubs. Participation is free for all.

Both events covered at: http://www.chess.gr

Tenth Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament

The "Tenth Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament" will be held at the Metropole Palace Hotel in Monaco, 17th-29th March 2001. The event is sponsored by J.J. van Oosterom and the total prize fund is US $ 193,250. Play will take place 13h30 until approximately 20h00 local time. Games will last up to one hour each.

The Playing Schedule: Rounds 1-4 17-20 March, Rounds 5-8 22nd-25th March, Rounds 9-11 27th-29th March. Rest days March 21st and 26th.

The participants are: Zoltan Almasi (Hungary), Viswanathan Anand (India), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Anatoly Karpov (Russia), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Peter Leko (Hungary), Ljubomir Ljubojevic (Yugoslavia), Jeroen Piket (The Netherlands), Alexei Shirov (Spain), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Loek van Wely (The Netherlands).

Internet coverage: http://chess.lostcity.nl/amber

There is free entry to all the games contact: Association Max Euwe 1 Avenue des Citronniers, MC 98000 Monaco Telephone : +377 - 92 05 60 01 Fax : +377 - 92 05 72 61 e-mail : amber10chess@hotmail.com

Advanced Chess Leon 2001

The Advanced Chess tournament will be held in Leon (Spain) June 8th-11th 2001. This is the 3rd time the event has been held and is also the 14th Leon tournament. This was originally the idea of Garry Kasparov. Players compete the help of a computer and a Database. The players will be Viswanathan Anand (India), Alexei Shirov (Spain), Peter Leko (Hungary) and Vesselin Topalov (Bulgaria). The main sponsors are: Telefonica, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Caja Duero, Chess Base, Excmo. Ayuntamiento de León, Excma. Diputación de León, Junta de Castila y León and the University of Leon. There will be 4 games per day and the event is a knockout. Timerate: 20 minutes per player, with 10 or 15 seconds increment after every move. The official websites will be at: http://www.elajedrezdelfuturo.com and http://www.advancedchessleon.com On 1st February 2001 there will be a preliminary presentation for this tournament alongside the European Team Championships, which will also be held in Leon (5th to 16th November 2001) at FITUR.

US-China Chess Summit Match

The Seattle Chess Foundation is organising the US-China Chess Summit Match March 14-18 in Seattle at the Norton Building's Harbor Club in downtown Seattle (second and Columbia). The four round match will have the top six players of each country facing each other in one game a day for four days. In addition, two leading women players and two junior players (under 18) from each country will compete each day.

Schedule: Tuesday, March 13 Children's Simultaneous Chess Exhibition. The Opening Ceremony for the match will be held at 8pm at the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park. Wednesday, March 14 Round 1; Thursday, March 15 Round 2; Friday, March 16 Day off with a 12-round quick (5 minute games) tournament with all the match competitors. Saturday, March 17 Round 3; Sunday, March 18 Round 4; Closing Ceremony

The event which is sanctioned by the Chinese and US Chess Federations will be the first of four such events held annually alternately in the US and China.

US Team US Overall team Mr. Alexander Shabalov Mr. Boris Gulko Mr. Larry Christiansen Mr. Gregory Kaidanov Mr. Alexander Ivanov Mr. Yasser Seirawan Mr. Joel Benjamin (Reserve) Mr. Nick deFirmian (Captain) US Junior team Mr. Vinay Bhat Mr. Dmitry Schneider Mr. Hikaru Nakamura (Reserve) US Women's team Ms. Camilla Baginskaite Ms. Irina Krush Ms. Elina Groberman (Reserve)

Chinese Team Chinese Overall Team: Mr. Ye Jiangchuan Mr. Xu Jun Mr. Peng Xiaomin Mr. Zhang Zhong Ms. Xie Jun Ms. Zhu Chen Mr. Yin Hao (Reserve Player) Chinese Women's Team: Ms. Xu Yuhua Ms. Wang Lei Ms. Qin Kanying (Reserve Player) Chinese Junior Team Mr. Ni Hua Mr. Bu Xiangzhi Mr. Wang Yue (Reserve Player)

Internet site: http://www.seattlechessfoundation.com/

Category XVII Enghien-les-Bains

There will be a Category XVII in Enghien-les-Bains, France April 10th-20th 2001. This ten player event has these players: Xie Jun, Evgeny Bareev, Vladimir Akopian, Grischuk Alexander, Vladislav Tkachiev, Joel Lautier, Viktor Bologan, Etienne Bacrot and Christian Bauer.

Further details: http://enghien.free.fr

Politiken Cup 2001

The 23rd Copenhagen Open (Politiken Cup) takes place 16th-27th July 2001.

11 round event. One game per day (rest day Monday July 23rd 2001). Timerate: 40 moves in 2 hours / 20 move in 1 hour / 30 min. finish. Totally 7 hours. GM and IM-norms are possible.

Main Prizes 1.15.000 ,- 2. 10.000 ,- 3. 8.000 ,- 4. 6.000 , 5. 4.000,- 6. 3.000 ,- 7. 2.000 ,- 8. 2.000 ,- 9. 2.000 ,- 10.-12. 1.000 ,- Special prizes: Best Women Player 1. 2.000,- 2. 1.000,- Best player born after 1.1. 1987: 1. 2.000,- 2. 1.000,- Ratingprizes : for players with less than 2350, in groups off at least 30 players, placest after highest rating (national or elo.) you can only win one prize ! 1. 3.000 kr. 2. 2.000 kr. 3. 1.000 kr.

Entry: GM + IM free FM + WGM + WIM 600 kr. Juniorer (born 1981 or later) 500 kr. Seniorer (67 years) 500 kr. Players with elo 750 kr. Players without elo 850 kr.

Venue: Nørrebrohallen, Bragesgade 5, 2200 København N.

Contact: Lars Bech Hansen. Address: Hjertebjærgparken 20 Kvarmløse DK-4340 Tølløse Danmark. Email: formand@kbhsu.dk

Further information: http://www.kbhsu.dk

GM sites, Tiviakov and Ehlvest

There are a couple of sites where GMs comment on recent events they have competed in.

Sergey Tiviakov has a personal homepage in English and Russian languages with games, articles and more on the site. The latest report is about the Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee 2001 where he competed. Site at: http://www.tiviakov.demon.nl/

Jaan Ehlvest reviews the Keres Memorial Rapid Tournament in Estonia on his own site at: http://www.ehlvest.com.

Kasparov's Pepsi Advert

Garry Kasparov got some of the greatest exposure of his chess career. He featured in a Pepsi Advery shown during the Superbowl.

You can see it too at: http://www.pepsi.com/current/joy_of_pepsi/tv_spots/index.cfm. The advert is called Man vs. Machine.

Also at: http://superbowl.adcritic.com/qt/content/pepsi-kasparov-man-vs-machine.htm with better quality and it also gets stored as a temporary file so you can keep it.

World Cup of Rapid Chess

Garry Kasparov is to compete in his first FIDE event since the Yeravan Olympiad of 1996. Kasparov stresses his contract is with the French Chess Federation however. The World Cup of Rapid Chess will be held in Cannes, France 21st-25th March 2001. The event is to be organised by the French Chess Federation in conjunction with FIDE (the FIDE Presidential Board will be present during the event). There will be two groups:

Group A
1. Garry Kasparov RUS 2849
2. Evgney Bareev RUS 2704
3. Peter Svidler RUS 2696
4. Alexander Grischuk RUS 2676
5. Judit Polgar HUN 2675
6. Joel Lautier FRA 2653
7. Yasser Seirawan USA 2640
8. Christian Bauer FRA 2618

Group B
1. Michael Adams ENG 2745
2. Alexander Morozevich RUS 2742
3. Mikhail Gurevich BEL 2693
4. Rustam Kasimdzhanov UZB 2692
5. Ye Jiangchuan CHN 2672
6. Vladislav Tkachiev FRA 2671
7. Etienne Bacrot FRA 2618
8. Hichem Hamdouchi MAR 2541

Much as in the Cap D'Agde the top four finishers in each group will go on to a second group all-play-all phase. Then there will be a semi-final phase and the top two will play in the final. Time rate 50 moves in 25 minutes followed by 10 seconds a move after that.

Linares 2001

The Linares 2001 tournament will take place 22nd February until March 7th 2001. The event will see Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Alexei Shirov, Judit Polgar, Peter Leko and the rising star Alexander Grischuk compete in the double round robin event.

Internet coverage: http://www.ajedrez21.com

soLett Chess Open 2001

The soLett Chess Open takes place in Skellefteå, Sweden 10th-16th April 2001. Group A: 10-16 April, 9 rounds FIDE schweizer, Open for players with FIDE-Elo. Group B: 12-16 April, 7 rounds FIDE schweizer, Open for players with national rating <2000. There will also be a 6-game match between GM Ulf Andersson and GM Curt Hansen.

Official site: http://www.tns.nu/solettchessopen.html

"Third Saturday" Belgrade

"Third Saturday" Belgrade chess tournaments from April 2001 in Yugoslavia. Nagy Laszlo and the Belgrade Chess Federation came to an agreement to organise events starting 21st April 2001, every second month April, June, August, October, December this year. There will be: 1. GM-closed tournaments category VII-VIII., 10-14 participants, 2. IM-closed tournaments cat. I-II-III, 10-14 players. Accommodation in a 3 star hotel close to the venue, bed and breakfast 25,-DM per day. Venue: Belgrade Chess Federation, Deligradska 27, 3rd floor Entry fees for the 21st April-3rd of May events are half those of the First Saturday events in Budapest http://www.elender.hu/~firstsat More info for Yugoslavs: Dragan Kotevski, mobile: /381/-63-307-736 for non-Yugoslavs /English, Russian and German/: Nagy Laszlo, phone: /361/-263-28-59 mobile: /36/-30-230-19-14 e-mail: firstsat@elender.hu

Eger Hungary IM

There is an International Round Robin Tournament in Eger, Hungary for acquiring rating and IM norms. It takes place 16th-24th of February 2001. Category: II to IV. Number of participants: 10 to 12 Time limit: closed tournament with 10-12 rounds, 2 h/40 moves + 1 h /20 moves + 30 min for all remaining moves

Entry fee: depending on rating, to be stipulated by the organizer. Information: Europe Chess, IM Ali Habibi * Postfach 1148 D-35436 Linden * email: EuropeChess@web.de

The Europe Chess Round Robin Tournaments will be held in different European Countries. Combine quality chess with your vacation! If you register at least 5 participants ahead of time, we can organize a tournament at a date you pick. Soon more information in different chess magazines and on the internet.

WPC Site

Valery Salov heads the WPC (World Players Council) and they have their own website. The site is at: http://w.p.c.tripod.com with a mixture of material in Spanish and English. Includes a new interview with the Vice President of Iran Mr.Hashemi Taba.

Czech Open

The XII. International Chess Festival CZECH OPEN 2001 which will be held from 12 July to 29 July 2001 in Pardubice. Contact Jan Mazuch for more info j.mazuch@avekont.cz

Budapest Spring Festival

17th Budapest Spring Festival 9 round Swiss system open chess tournament 16th-24th of March 2001 Organizer: Nagy, László Postal address: H-1101 Budapest, Hungária krt. 5-7. XI. ép. I. em. 7. Phone/fax: (061)-263-2859, mobile: 06-30-230-1914 E-mail: firstsat@elender.hu

Venue: Hungarian Chess Federation, Budapest, 5th district.Falk Miksa Str.10.2nd floor, close to the red metro station KOSSUTH square. Rate of play: 40 moves in 2 hours, then 1 hour till the end, guillotine rules. Schedule: registration until 16th March 9 p.m. by phone at the organizer, then personally in the tournament hall until 14:30 on the 16th of March /here already 500,-Ft extra registration fee must be paid/. Besides of the entry fees 1200,-Ft annual ELO-registration fee must be paid to the Hungarian Chess Federation. Opening ceremony at 15:00. 1st-8th rounds : 15:30-21:30, last round 10:00-16:00 on the 24th of March. In case of equal points prizes will be decided by Buchholz, Berger-Sonneborn, then by progressive scores. Prizegiving ceremony at 16:00 on the 24th of March. Prizes: net 40-25-15-10-5-4-2x3-2x2.5-2x2 thousand Ft. Special prizes: 3 thousand Ft for the best U-20, U-14, above 60, woman and non-FIDE rated., if there are minimally 5 players in each group. The prizes are valid if there are minimum 70 players. If there are less players, prizes will be reduced proportionally . One player can get only one prize.

Entry fee system: from FIDE rating To FIDE-rating Entry fee /Ft/ Unrated 6000,- 2001 2100 5000,- 2101 2200 4000,- 2201 2250 3500,- 2251 2300 3000,- 2301 2350 2500,- 2351 2400 2000,- IGM, WGM , IM , WIM and above 2401 no entry fee.

Info about accommodation and the event: http://www.elender.hu/~firstsat

Khalifman Transcript

A transcript of Khalifman's ICC question and answer session is available. He talks at length on how he believes the FIDE Championships are the only one but isn't a craven FIDE loyalist. For instance he is not a supporter of the new FIDE time rate. He talks of the current big three (Kasparov, Kramnik and Anand) and how he feels he probably belongs in the next grouping of around 10 players (I agree). His objection to FIDE ratings. Why he isn't disappointed at being ignored by Corus (Why doesn't Khalifman get more invites? It puzzles me even in broken English he's a better ambassador for the game than many and he's playing well.) and how he believes Anand will not have sufficient recovery time to put in his best performance in Wijk aan Zee.

Internet coverage: http://www.chessclub.com/event/khalifman.html

Helsinki IM and ELO

Helsinki Chess Circuit IM / ELO February 12th-22nd, 2001

Events: 12 player all-play-all IM-group (estimated FIDE category IV) 12 player all-play-all ELO-group (estimated rating average 2100)

Schedule Confirmation of participation Feb 12th at 10.00-11.00 (all times are local) Drawing of lots Feb 12th at 11.00 1st round Feb 12th at 14.00 2nd round Feb 13th at 14.00 3rd round Feb 14th at 11.00 4th round Feb 15th at 11.00 5th round Feb 16th at 14.00 6th round Feb 17th at 14.00 7th round Feb 18th at 14.00 8th round Feb 19th at 14.00 9th round Feb 20th at 14.00 10th round Feb 21st at 11.00 11th round Feb 22nd at 11.00 Prize giving ceremony immediately after 11th round Time rate 2 h / 40 moves + 1 h / 20 moves + 30 min to finish

Entry Fees IM group: FIM 600 (IMs and GMs conditions negotiable) ELO group: FIM 300 Prizes IM group: FIM 2000, 1500, 1000, 500 ELO group: FIM 1000, 750, 500, 250

Registration: Players interested to participate in IM- or ELO-group, please contact Mr. Sami Hämäläinen, tel. +358-9-5419091, email Sami.Hamalainen@icon.fi

6th Stuttgart Open

The 6th International Stuttgart Open takes place in Ditzingen (Germany) from 24th-27th May 2001, 7ch.

Further information: http://www.tsv-zuffenhausen.de/schach/

2nd Yateley Manor International

The 2nd Yateley Manor International Open takes place 19th-21st January and 3rd-4th February 2001 (ie play is over 2 weekends). It takes place in Yateley Manor School, Reading Road, Yateley, nr Camberley, Hampshire.

For further details contact: Ray Clark High Cedars, Oak End Way, Gerrards Cross, Bucks. SL9 8DA e-mail ray.clark@kpmg.co.uk tel: 01753 883300

Deep Fritz vs. Germany

There is a Deep Fritz vs. Germany match taking place. Internet coverage: http://www.computerschach.de/dfritz/ with an English introduction at: http://www.computerschach.de/dfritz/dfritz1e.htm

Andorra Open 2001

The website for the Andorra open June 24th - July 2nd 2001. You can also win a digital camera or entry to the event by visiting their website.

Internet site: http://www.internet.ad/feva

New Chess Site

Emil Sutovsky has started contributing to the Chessy site. http://www.chesslove.h1.ru/eng/index.html

Sinisa Joksic www site

Yugoslav journalist Sinisa Joksic has a new internet site. He will cover Yugoslav chess in Serbo-Croatian and English and also the swiss chess tour.

Internet addresses: http://yubc.net/~yuchess or http://www.yuchess.bizland.com.

Gausdal Troll Masters

The Gausdal Troll Masters are played at the Gausdal Høifjellshotel in Norway 5-12th January 2001. Open 9-round GM-tournament with good norm chances. 14-18 titled players expected out of 60-70 participants. Maximum 10-12 unrated players. Confirmed GMs: Rozentalis (2593), Rausis (2551), Krakops (2522), Gausel (2492), Djurhuus (2484) and Westerinen (2370). Last date of entry: 1st Januay 2001 Start fee: NOK 300-900, depending on rating. Prizes: NOK 6000 - 4000 - 2500 - 1500 - 1000

More information on the home page: http://home.online.no/~bjarke-k/TrollMasters/Troll2001/Engelsk/index.htm

Participation in the tournament may be combined with the Open Norwegian Rapid Chess Championships, played in Fredrikstad (south-east of Oslo) 12-13th January 2001. Home page: http://www.sjakk.net/nm_2001.html

Cappelle la Grande

The XVII Cappelle la Grande open takes place 24th February-3rd March 2001.

Internet site: http://cappelle.free.fr

GM Alexander Baburin chess sites

GM Alexander Baburin has been a familiar presence on the internet with his Coffee Break magazine. He is now involved in two new websites. http://www.gmsquare.com The idea is to provide a place on the Web to those GMs who would like to have some presence on the Internet and currently there are sites of three GMs there - Alexander Baburin himself, Alexander Morozevich and Lev Psakhis. Secondly at: http://www.chesstoday.net there will be a commercial chess service, providing daily news, interviews and instruction to a wide range of players. Each issue will feature one annotated game and news from around the world, while weekend issues will have some instructional materials, particularly useful for club players. Chess Today costs about $15 for 4 months.

Tel Aviv Open 2001

Open Swiss International Tournament in Tel-Aviv Dates: 9th-17th April 2001. 9 rounds. Possibilities for GM and IM norms. Prizes: 4000 3000 2000 1200 800....20 prizes in total (10 last are 250$); special U-2400, U-2000, U-18 y.o: 500 300 200 + women prizes; Special Conditions for GMs and IMs (apply to Dima Tyomkin dimatyomkin@hotmail.com).

Info: The Israeli Chess Federation through Mr. Igal Lotan 03-6437627, 03-6437630;

Bobby Fischer contribution to the Ambassador Report

Bobby Fischer was associated with Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God for some time. The Ambassador report was compiled by opponents of the organisation. You can read it at: http://homepage.altavista.com/AmbassadorReport/files/Fischer.html

4NCL Fantasy Chess

Fantasy Chess is now running a competition based on the 4NCL. People have to predict the results of the matches rather than the individual games. One for the Bundesliga will follow.

http://play.at/fantasychess

New Russian Website

There is a new Russian Website (English content to follow) at: http://kvkchess.euro.ru/. Material includes chess history and statistics and a collection of the chess links.

New Greek Site

The OAA Heraklio Chess Club a new website: http://www.oaachess.bizland.com the site has chess news from Greece, chess features, etc. Includes a Greek chess calendar.

16th Maccabiah Chess Tournaments

As part of the 16th Maccabiah there will be a number of chess tournaments (GM/IM and open tournaments) The 16th Maccabiah (Jewish Olympiad) takes place in Tel-Aviv 16th-26th June 2001. http://www.slavchess.co.il/academy/maccabi.html