THE WEEK IN CHESS 486 1st March 2004 by Mark Crowther

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Contents

1) Introduction
2) Linares 2004
3) 3rd Aeroflot Chess Festival
4) Cappelle-le-Grande open
5) Jakarta GM
6) 2nd Fraenkische Grossmeistertage
7) VII Malaga Open
8) Brazilian Chess Championships
9) 11th Metalis Open
10) Dutch Championships Semi-Finals
11) 53rd Bulgarian Women's Championships
12) 26th Bulgarian Open Championship
13) FIDE Championships in Libya
14) New York Masters
15) 5th Montenegro International Open
16) Osman Palos 1949-2004
17) Professional World Chess Ranking
18) Forthcoming Events and Links


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Games section

Linares 2004                            15 games
3rd Aeroflot Chess Festival             64 games
Cappelle-le-Grande open                 10 games
Jakarta GM                               9 games
2nd Fraenkische Grossmeistertage        35 games
VII Malaga Open                         90 games
Brazilian Chess Championships           73 games
11th Metalis Open                      136 games
Dutch Championships Semi-Finals         53 games
53rd Bulgarian Women's Championships    18 games
26th Bulgarian Open Championship       200 games
New York Masters                        12 games
5th Montenegro International Open      356 games
1071 games

1) Introduction

My thanks to Koos Stolk, Mirjana Medic, Rumen Angelov, Laszlo Nagy, Vladimir Dvorkovich, David Avron, David Llada, Lupco Steriev, Tomas Dvorak, Vladica Andrejic, Ching Kim Lye, John Fernandez, Jonathan Berry, Marius van Riemsdijk and everyone else who helped with the issue.

The Linares tournament is entering its last four rounds with at least half a field in contention for first place still. Wins have been few and far between with only 6 decisive games, three of them in round 7! Leko looks to be in the best form and has just been installed as favourite going into these final rounds but Kasparov and Kramnik have yet to hit their best form and definitely can't be ruled out. I'm looking forward to it.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) Linares 2004

The 21st Linares tournament takes place February 19th - March 5th 2004. The event is again a 7 player double round robin category 20 event (ave 2731).

The 5th round did indeed prove to be the turning point in the Linares tournament with the rounds becoming increasingly competitive. Alexei Shirov joined Peter Leko in the lead after beating Teimour Radjabov in round 6. Round 7 saw three decisive games with Leko beating Shirov, Kasparov beating Vallejo and Kramnik defeating Topalov. Shirov almost bounced back straight away by defeating Kasparov for the first time but had in the end to settle for a draw. Kasparov outplayed Radjabov in round 9 before inexplicably missing a trivial win and only drawing. Topalov got back to 50% by defeating Shirov in round 10.

Dates are as follows: February 18th (draw of lots) Rd1 Feb. 19th Round 14 (Final) March 5th - Rest days Feb. 24th and March 1st.

Official coverage by the Spanish paper Diario Marca: http://www.marca.com/ - http://www.marca.com/indices/ajedrez.html

Round 6 (February 25, 2004)

Topalov, Veselin         -  Kasparov, Garry          1/2   36  D15  Slav Defence
Shirov, Alexei           -  Radjabov, Teimour        1-0   66  E97  King's Indian Classical
Vallejo Pons, Francisco  -  Leko, Peter              1/2   25  C45  Scotch Game

Round 7 (February 26, 2004)

Leko, Peter              -  Shirov, Alexei           1-0   54  C42  Petroff's Defence
Kasparov, Garry          -  Vallejo Pons, Francisco  1-0   37  D45  Anti-Meran Variations
Kramnik, Vladimir        -  Topalov, Veselin         1-0   37  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation

Round 8 (February 27, 2004)

Leko, Peter              -  Radjabov, Teimour        1/2   27  B33  Sicilian Sveshnikov
Kasparov, Garry          -  Shirov, Alexei           1/2   50  C88  Ruy Lopez Closed
Kramnik, Vladimir        -  Vallejo Pons, Francisco  1/2   20  B92  Sicilian Najdorf with 6.Be2

Round 9 (February 28, 2004)

Shirov, Alexei           -  Kramnik, Vladimir        1/2   32  B33  Sicilian Sveshnikov
Vallejo Pons, Francisco  -  Topalov, Veselin         1/2   33  B33  Sicilian Sveshnikov
Radjabov, Teimour        -  Kasparov, Garry          1/2   58  C45  Scotch Game

Round 10 (February 29, 2004)

Kasparov, Garry          -  Leko, Peter              1/2   19  B30  Sicilian Rossolimo
Kramnik, Vladimir        -  Radjabov, Teimour        1/2   35  C54  Giuoco Piano
Topalov, Veselin         -  Shirov, Alexei           1-0   45  C97  Ruy Lopez

XXI SuperGM Linares ESP (ESP), 19 ii-5 iii 2004            cat. XX (2731)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Leko, Peter              g HUN 2722 ** == =. =. 1. =. 1=  5.0 / 8  2830
2 Kasparov, Garry          g RUS 2831 == ** =. =. == 1. ==  5.0 / 9  2754
3 Kramnik, Vladimir        g RUS 2777 =. =. ** 1. == == ==  5.0 / 9  2753
4 Topalov, Veselin         g BUL 2735 =. =. 0. ** =1 == =.  4.0 / 8  2723
5 Shirov, Alexei           g ESP 2736 0. == == =0 ** =. 1.  4.0 / 9  2704
6 Vallejo Pons, Francisco  g ESP 2663 =. 0. == == =. ** =.  3.5 / 8  2703
7 Radjabov, Teimour        g AZE 2656 0= == == =. 0. =. **  3.5 / 9  2674
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

3) 3rd Aeroflot Chess Festival

The 3rd Aeroflot Festival took place in Hotel Rossija in Moscow, 17th-26th February 2004. Sergei Rublevsky won the event on tie-break from Rafael Vaganian and Valerij Filippov. The tie-break was first of all number of blacks compared to whites (Rublevsky played 4 games with white and 5 with black as did Vaganian) followed by average rating of opponents. Sergey Karjakin performed to around or over 2700.

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

Leading Final Round 9 Standings:
--------------------------------------------------------
Aeroflot Open Moscow RUS (RUS), 17-25 ii 2004
--------------------------------------------------------
  1. Rublevsky, Sergei       g  RUS 2655  7.0 2582.3  -1
  2. Vaganian, Rafael A      g  ARM 2623  7.0 2539.4  -1
  3. Filippov, Valerij       g  RUS 2609  7.0 2603.0   1
  4. Van Wely, Loek          g  NED 2617  6.5 2600.3  -1
  5. Dreev, Alexey           g  RUS 2682  6.5 2582.1  -1
  6. Tregubov, Pavel V       g  RUS 2628  6.5 2567.6  -1
  7. Sadvakasov, Darmen      g  KAZ 2611  6.5 2563.7  -1
  8. Markowski, Tomasz       g  POL 2603  6.5 2558.9  -1
  9. Mamedyarov, Shakhriyaz  g  AZE 2646  6.5 2579.1   1
 10. Berkes, Ferenc          g  HUN 2602  6.5 2578.6   1
 11. Sasikiran, Krishnan     g  IND 2654  6.5 2575.7   1
 12. Graf, Alexander         g  GER 2629  6.5 2575.6   1
 13. Sakaev, Konstantin      g  RUS 2656  6.5 2570.9   1
 14. Motylev, Alexander      g  RUS 2640  6.5 2559.0   1
 15. Fedorov, Alexei         g  BLR 2601  6.5 2550.1   1
 16. Kotsur, Pavel           g  KAZ 2569  6.5 2545.3   1
 17. Dvoirys, Semen I        g  RUS 2594  6.0 2609.7  -1
 18. Bacrot, Etienne         g  FRA 2664  6.0 2588.3  -1
 19. Karjakin, Sergey        g  UKR 2566  6.0 2607.4   1
 20. Wu Wenjin               g  CHN 2548  6.0 2606.3   1
 21. Petrosian, Tigran L     m  ARM 2477  6.0 2589.7   1
 22. Lautier, Joel           g  FRA 2676  6.0 2588.7   1
 23. Korobov, Anton          g  UKR 2552  6.0 2588.1   1
 24. Kharitonov, Andrei V    g  RUS 2561  6.0 2585.1   1
 25. Olafsson, Helgi         g  ISL 2504  6.0 2577.4   1
 26. Timofeev, Artyom        g  RUS 2578  6.0 2566.1   1
 27. Smirin, Ilia            g  ISR 2670  6.0 2559.3   1
 28. Sorokin, Maxim          g  RUS 2574  6.0 2535.3   1
 29. Khenkin, Igor           g  GER 2611  6.0 2533.1   1
 30. Minasian, Ara           m  ARM 2499  5.5 2606.4  -1
 31. Korotylev, Alexey       g  RUS 2547  5.5 2585.9  -1
 32. Spraggett, Kevin        g  CAN 2536  5.5 2585.3  -1
 33. Aronian, Levon          g  GER 2648  5.5 2548.4  -1
 34. Volkov, Sergey1         g  RUS 2630  5.5 2540.7  -1
 35. Khalifman, Alexander    g  RUS 2674  5.5 2539.7  -1
 36. Najer, Evgeniy          g  RUS 2602  5.5 2515.1  -1
 37. Potkin, Vladimir        g  RUS 2533  5.5 2504.9  -1
 38. Efimenko, Zahar         g  UKR 2537  5.5 2593.6   1
 39. Rustemov, Alexander     g  RUS 2585  5.5 2584.0   1
 40. Carlsen, Magnus         m  NOR 2484  5.5 2584.0   1
 41. Malakhov, Vladimir      g  RUS 2700  5.5 2575.7   1
 42. Asrian, Karen           g  ARM 2599  5.5 2573.9   1
 43. Felgaer, Ruben          g  ARG 2554  5.5 2562.9   1
 44. Volokitin, Andrei       g  UKR 2594  5.5 2557.3   1
 45. Ivanov, Sergey          g  RUS 2544  5.5 2549.3   1
 46. Socko, Bartosz          g  POL 2556  5.5 2533.4   1
 47. Alekseev, Evgeny        g  RUS 2609  5.5 2527.7   1
 48. Timoshenko, Georgy      g  UKR 2564  5.5 2522.4   1
 49. Sargissian, Gabriel     g  ARM 2618  5.5 2510.7   1
 50. Kurnosov, Igor          g  RUS 2524  5.5 2506.6   1
 51. Areshchenko, Alexander  g  UKR 2564  5.5 2500.4   1
 52. Kulaots, Kaido          g  EST 2530  5.0 2607.4  -1
 53. Kotronias, Vasilios     g  CYP 2598  5.0 2592.4  -1
 54. Kostenko, Petr          m  KAZ 2486  5.0 2559.6  -1
 55. Zhang Zhong             g  CHN 2639  5.0 2544.1  -1
 56. Jakovenko, Dmitry       g  RUS 2581  5.0 2541.6  -1
 57. Kosyrev, Vladimir       g  RUS 2522  5.0 2532.4  -1
 58. Ramirez, Alejandro      m  CRC 2499  5.0 2529.4  -1
 59. Ulibin, Mikhail         g  RUS 2586  5.0 2512.0  -1
 60. Kempinski, Robert       g  POL 2577  5.0 2506.9  -1
 61. Inarkiev, Ernesto       g  RUS 2606  5.0 2504.3  -1
 62. Bu Xiangzhi             g  CHN 2606  5.0 2504.3  -1
 63. Huzman, Alexander       g  ISR 2597  5.0 2490.9  -1
 64. Popov, Valerij          g  RUS 2580  5.0 2485.9  -1
 65. Meister, Yakov          m  RUS 2488  5.0 2599.0   1
 66. Mamedov, Rauf           m  AZE 2468  5.0 2580.4   1
 67. Li Shilong              g  CHN 2522  5.0 2573.9   1
 68. Miton, Kamil            g  POL 2543  5.0 2570.7   1
 69. Kabanov, Nikolai        m  RUS 2488  5.0 2570.3   1
 70. Romanishin, Oleg M      g  UKR 2537  5.0 2568.4   1
 71. Zhao Jun                   CHN 2434  5.0 2566.9   1
 72. Neverov, Valeriy        g  UKR 2527  5.0 2566.0   1
 73. Vlassov, Nikolai        m  RUS 2476  5.0 2564.9   1
 74. Tkachiev, Vladislav     g  FRA 2642  5.0 2547.4   1
 75. Vescovi, Giovanni       g  BRA 2633  5.0 2533.3   1
 76. Bocharov, Dmitry        g  RUS 2565  5.0 2531.0   1
 77. Kaidanov, Gregory S     g  USA 2623  5.0 2520.6   1
 78. Ehlvest, Jaan           g  EST 2602  5.0 2518.1   1
 79. Minasian, Artashes      g  ARM 2582  5.0 2515.4   1
 80. Khismatullin, Denis        RUS 2534  5.0 2509.3   1
 81. Iljushin, Alexei        g  RUS 2526  5.0 2508.4   1
 82. Gulko, Boris            g  USA 2597  5.0 2504.1   1
 83. Sulskis, Sarunas        g  LTU 2582  5.0 2502.9   1
 84. Yemelin, Vasily         g  RUS 2578  5.0 2499.1   1
 85. Yakovich, Yuri          g  RUS 2591  5.0 2494.3   1
 86. Goloshchapov, Alexander g  UKR 2572  5.0 2487.4   1
 87. Belozerov, Andrei       g  RUS 2558  5.0 2474.7   1
203 players

4) Cappelle-le-Grande open

The Cappelle-le-Grande open takes place 28th February - 6th March 2004. Leading invited players: Kiril Georgiev, Eduardas Rozentalis, Aleksander Delchev, Andrei Kharlov, Vladimir Baklan, Ernesto Inarkiev, Lazaro Bruzon etc. My thanks to David Avron.

Official site: http://www.cappelle-chess.com. Live coverage: http://www.echecs21.com. Further information http://www.notzai.info

Leading Round 3 Pairings.
 1 CYBOROWSKI Lukasz      GM 2562 2   DELCHEV     Aleksander GM 2624 2  
 2 SULSKIS    Sarunas     GM 2582 2   POSTNY      Evgeny     GM 2537 2  
 3 SPRAGGETT  Kevin       GM 2536 2   SOROKIN     Maxim      GM 2574 2  
 4 PHAM       Minh hoang  IM 2436 1.5 GEORGIEV    Kiril      GM 2637 1.5
 5 ROZENTALIS Eduardas    GM 2625 1.5 TSEITLIN    Mark       GM 2426 1.5
 6 LAGOWSKI   Patryk      IM 2404 1.5 KHARLOV     Andrei     GM 2607 1.5
 7 FRIDMAN    Daniel      GM 2588 1.5 COLOVIC     Aleksandar IM 2409 1.5
 8 VYSOCHIN   Spartak     GM 2584 1.5 BERKOVICH   Mark       IM 2397 2  
 9 POPOV      Valerij     GM 2580 1.5 MCNAB       Colin      GM 2388 2  
10 CHETVERIK  Maxim       IM 2397 2   YEVSEEV     Denis      GM 2580 1.5
11 CZARNOTA   Pawel          2386 2   ARESHCHENKO Alexander  GM 2564 1.5
12 CHERNYSHOV Konstantin  GM 2557 1.5 SEEL        Christian  FM 2380 2  
13 VANDEVOORT Pascal      FM 2379 2   SOCKO       Bartosz    GM 2556 1.5
14 KENGIS     Edvins      GM 2555 1.5 SAIBOULATOV Danial     FM 2366 2  
15 GYIMESI    Zoltan      GM 2553 1.5 BRUSTMAN    Agnieszka  GM 2360 2  
16 SVETUSHKIN Dmitry      GM 2553 1.5 BELOUADAH   Saad       IM 2346 2  
17 LAURENT    Bruno       FM 2363 2   KOROBOV     Anton      GM 2552 1.5
18 PERUNOVIC  Milos       IM 2550 1.5 GHARAMIAN   Tigran        2332 2  
19 KOVALEV    Andrei      GM 2545 1.5 MIDOUX      Sebastien     2315 2  
20 PHILIPPE   Christophe  FM 2358 2   JARACZ      Pawel      GM 2540 1.5
575 players

5) Jakarta GM

The Jakarta tournament in Indonesia took place February 16th-25th 2004. Prize money $12,500 sponsored by Santoso Wirya boss of Makita and Lakoni products. Antoaneta Stefanova and Denny Juswanto finished on 6.5/10. Please note that I used IND instead of INA for the country code which needs correcting in last week's game file.

Official site: http://www.sekolahcatur.com/makita and additional coverage: http://www.ruddylantangchess.com

Makita-Lakoni GM Jakarta INA (INA), 16-25 ii 2004 cat. X (2496)
---------------------------------------------------------------
                                    1  2  3  4  5  6 
---------------------------------------------------------------
1 Stefanova, Antoaneta  g BUL 2478 ** 1= 01 == == 11  6.5  2609
2 Juswanto, Denny       m INA 2505 0= ** =0 11 11 =1  6.5  2603
3 Adianto, Utut         g INA 2591 10 =1 ** 0= == 11  6.0  2548
4 Zhu Chen              g CHN 2495 == 00 1= ** == 1=  5.0  2495
5 Hoang Thanh Trang     m VIE 2447 == 00 == == ** 01  4.0  2433
6 Megaranto, Susanto    m INA 2458 00 =0 00 0= 10 **  2.0  2263
---------------------------------------------------------------

6) 2nd Fraenkische Grossmeistertage

The 2nd Fraenkische Grossmeistertage tournament took place in the Hotel Pulvermuehle near Bayreuth.GM Jan Gustafsson took first place on tie-break from Michael Bezold both finishing on 7/10.

Official site: http://www.pulvermuehle2004.steffans-schachseiten.de/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
II GM-Tage Pulvermuehle GER (GER), 19-28 ii 2004         cat. XI (2516)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Gustafsson, Jan       g GER 2572  * 1 = = = = 1 1 1 = =  7.0  2659 
 2. Bezold, Michael       g GER 2456  0 * = = 1 1 = 1 1 = 1  7.0  2671 
 3. Doettling, Fabian     g GER 2532  = = * 0 0 1 1 = = 1 =  5.5  2550 
 4. Hector, Jonny         g SWE 2518  = = 1 * = 0 = = 1 0 =  5.0  2516 
 5. Conquest, Stuart      g ENG 2543  = 0 1 = * = 0 = = = =  4.5  2477 
 6. Bischoff, Klaus       g GER 2561  = 0 0 1 = * 1 = 0 = =  4.5  2475 
 7. Naiditsch, Arkadij    g GER 2576  0 = 0 = 1 0 * 0 = 1 1  4.5  2474 
 8. Prusikin, Michael     m GER 2519  0 0 = = = = 1 * = 0 1  4.5  2479 
 9. Baramidze, David      m GER 2456  0 0 = 0 = 1 = = * 1 =  4.5  2486 
10. Stellwagen, Daniel    m NED 2489  = = 0 1 = = 0 1 0 * 0  4.0  2446 
11. Skripchenko, Almira  wg FRA 2456  = 0 = = = = 0 0 = 1 *  4.0  2450 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

7) VII Malaga Open

The VII Malaga Open took place 21st-28th February 2004. Ibragim Khamrakulov took clear first on 7/9 half a point clear of Roberto Cifuentes Parada, Oleg Korneev, Enrique Rodriguez Guerrero and Salvador Del Rio Angelis. The time limit was 90 minutes + 30 seconds per move.

Internet coverage: http://www.malagajedrez.org/open/04open/04open.htm

---------------------------------------------------------------
VII Malaga Open Campillos ESP (ESP), 21-28 ii 2004
---------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Khamrakulov, Ibragim S          m  UZB 2452 7     45.0 35.5
 2. Cifuentes Parada, Roberto       g  ESP 2505 6.5   48.5 35.5
 3. Korneev, Oleg                   g  RUS 2566 6.5   48.5 34.5
 4. Rodriguez Guerrero, Enrique     m  ESP 2391 6.5   48.5 34.0
 5. Del Rio Angelis, Salvador G     g  ESP 2504 6.5   46.5 35.5
 6. Collas, Didier                  m  FRA 2436 6     45.5 34.0
 7. Suba, Mihai                     g  ROM 2522 6     44.0 29.5
 8. Perez Candelario, Manuel        m  ESP 2504 6     43.0 29.0
 9. Paunovic, Dragan                m  SCG 2517 6     42.5 30.5
10. Cheparinov, Ivan                m  BUL 2550 5.5   48.0 32.0
11. Saldano, Horacio                m  ARG 2424 5.5   45.5 32.0
12. Alonso, Rene                    m  CUB 2371 5.5   45.5 31.0
13. Matamoros Franco, Carlos S      g  ECU 2490 5.5   45.0 32.0
14. Ivanov, Jordan                  m  BUL 2406 5.5   44.0 30.0
15. Fernandez Romero, Ernesto       m  ESP 2425 5.5   43.0 30.5
16. Bellon Lopez, Juan Manuel       g  ESP 2429 5.5   42.5 28.5
17. Parfjonov, Pavel                   RUS 2250 5.5   42.0 27.0
18. Gonzalez Rodriguez, Jorge A     m  COL 2349 5.5   41.5 30.0
19. Tissir, Mohamed                 m  MAR 2436 5.5   41.5 28.5
20. Teran Alvarez, Ismael           m  ESP 2382 5.5   40.5 28.0
21. Cramling, Pia                   g  SWE 2488 5.5   40.5 26.5
22. Nava Baro, Enrique                 ESP 2207 5.5   38.5 26.0
63 players

8) Brazilian Chess Championships

Brazilian Chess Championships take place in the city of Miguel Pereira (Rio de Janeiro State) 26th February - 3rd March 2004. The event is a 38 player 9 round Swiss.

Twice champion (1992 and 2003), GM Darcy Lima (2537), is the favorite for the title. Tournament also includes IMs Everaldo Matsuura (2460, champion in 1991), Herman van Riemsdijk (2409 - winner of the 1970, 1973 and 1988 editions), Eduardo Limp (runner-up in 2000) and Christian Toth. Wellington Carlos Rocha (2440) and FMs Ricardo Teixera (2368 and current runner-up), Antonio Carlos de Resende (2368), Rodrigo Disconzi da Silva (2367, having achieved IM norms in the last two editions) and Sadi Glasser Dumont complete the first 10 players.

Official site: http://www.fexerj.com.br/brasileiro2003/ and coverage by HiperChess - http://200.246.90.112/HiperChess/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ch-BRA Rio de Janeiro BRA (BRA), 26 ii-3 iii 2004
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Rocha, Wellington Carlos          BRA 2440  +36 =23 + 8 +11  .   .   .   .   .   3.5  2639 
 2. Lima, Darcy                    g  BRA 2537  +29 +25 +18 = 3  .   .   .   .   .   3.5  2630 
 3. Resende, Antonio Carlos        f  BRA 2368  +16 +15 = 6 = 2  .   .   .   .   .   3.0  2550 
 4. Matsuura, Everaldo             m  BRA 2460  =22 + 5 +21 = 6  .   .   .   .   .   3.0  2451 
 5. Souza Neves, Andrey M             BRA 2175  + 9 - 4 +25 +17  .   .   .   .   .   3.0  2577 
 6. Teixeira, Ricardo da Silva     f  BRA 2368  +32 +12 = 3 = 4  .   .   .   .   .   3.0  2511 
 7. Limp, Eduardo                  m  BRA 2401  +20 -18 +32 +13  .   .   .   .   .   3.0  2444 
 8. Toth, Christian Endre          m  BRA 2344  +33 +14 - 1 +18  .   .   .   .   .   3.0  2424 
 9. Disconzi da Silva, Rodrigo     f  BRA 2367  - 5 +31 +19 +15  .   .   .   .   .   3.0  2403 
10. Reis, Paulo F.J                   BRA 2301  -14 +33 +20 +23  .   .   .   .   .   3.0  2376 
11. Bittencourt, Jorge                BRA 2341  =24 +28 +23 - 1  .   .   .   .   .   2.5  2391 
12. Campello, Leandro                 BRA 2270  +30 - 6 =27 +22  .   .   .   .   .   2.5  2265 
13. Dumont, Sadi Glasser           f  BRA 2341  +35 =21 +22 - 7  .   .   .   .   .   2.5  2356 
14. Paiva, Pedro Henrique             BRA 2064  +10 - 8 -15 +31  .   .   .   .   .   2.0  2296 
15. Di Berardino, Diego Rafael        BRA 2312  +26 - 3 +14 - 9  .   .   .   .   .   2.0  2218 
16. Miranda, Roberto Calheiros de     BRA 2213  - 3 =26 +28 =21  .   .   .   .   .   2.0  2253 
17. Van Riemsdijk, Herman C        m  BRA 2409  =31 =19 +29 - 5  .   .   .   .   .   2.0  2192 
18. Asfora, Marco                  f  BRA 2271  +37 + 7 - 2 - 8  .   .   .   .   .   2.0  2320 
19. Marra, Eduardo da Costa           BRA 2129  =28 =17 - 9 +32  .   .   .   .   .   2.0  2316 
20. Pinto, Carlos Henrique Lopes      BRA 2219  - 7 +34 -10 +27  .   .   .   .   .   2.0  2194 
21. Rocha Jorge, Wilson M             BRA 2255  +38 =13 - 4 =16  .   .   .   .   .   2.0  2253 
22. Guimaraes, Wagner P               BRA 2237  = 4 +24 -13 -12  .   .   .   .   .   1.5  2214 
23. Benares, Ricardo               f  BRA 2298  +34 = 1 -11 -10  .   .   .   .   .   1.5  2183 
24. Borges, Guilherme Deola           BRA 2134  =11 -22 =31 =25  .   .   .   .   .   1.5  2189 
25. Cavalcanti, Francisco             BRA 2301  +27 - 2 - 5 =24  .   .   .   .   .   1.5  2143 
26. Bil, Angelo                       BRA 2075  -15 =16 =35 =29  .   .   .   .   .   1.5  2141 
27. Chang, Suzana                     BRA 2075  -25 +36 =12 -20  .   .   .   .   .   1.5  2167 
28. Ueti, Silvio                      BRA 2315  =19 -11 -16 +35  .   .   .   .   .   1.5  2121 
29. Rios Filho, Hilton Carlos      f  BRA 2238  - 2 +35 -17 =26  .   .   .   .   .   1.5  2206 
30. Gattass,Allan                     BRA ----  -12 -32 =33 +36  .   .   .   .   .   1.5  2119 
31. Molina, Roberto Junio Brito       BRA 2227  =17 - 9 =24 -14  .   .   .   .   .   1.0  2050 
32. Navarro, Tiago Cunha              BRA 2176  - 6 +30 - 7 -19  .   .   .   .   .   1.0  2031 
33. Fucs, Paulo                       BRA 2152  - 8 -10 =30 =34  .   .   .   .   .   1.0  1968 
34. Lapertosa,Julio                   BRA ----  -23 -20 =36 =33  .   .   .   .   .   1.0  2031 
35. Toth, Peter BRA                   BRA 2152  -13 -29 =26 -28  .   .   .   .   .   0.5  1920 
36. Silveira, Neri                    BRA 2229  - 1 -27 =34 -30  .   .   .   .   .   0.5  1806 
37. BYE1                                  ----  -18  .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   0.0       
38. BYE                                   ----  -21  .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   0.0       
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9) 11th Metalis Open

The 11th Metalis Open took place 26th-29th February 2004 in Bizovac, Croatia. News WGM Mirjana Medic.

Further details: http://www.crochess.com/turniri/bizovac/04/index.htm

---------------------------------------------------
11th Metalis Open Bizovac CRO (CRO), 26-29 ii 2004
---------------------------------------------------
 1. Cebalo, Miso          g  CRO 2475 6,0 25,0
 2. Palac, Mladen         g  CRO 2566 5,5 23,5
 3. Kovacevic, Blazimir   m  CRO 2429 5,5 23,5
 4. Vukic, Milan          g  SCG 2481 5,5 23,0
 5. Zelcic, Robert        g  CRO 2524 5,5 22,0
 6. Jovanovic, Zoran CRO  m  CRO 2456 5,5 22,0
 7. Dizdarevic, Emir      g  BIH 2520 5,5 22,0
 8. Kosic, Dragan         g  SCG 2501 5,5 20,5
 9. Saric, Ante           m  CRO 2379 5,5 20,0
10. Brkic, Ante           m  CRO 2420 5,5 20,0
11. Fercec, Nenad         m  CRO 2467 5,5 19,5
12. Jurkovic, Ante           CRO 2319 5,0 24,0
13. Jurkovic, Hrvoje      m  CRO 2433 5,0 22,5
14. Rogulj, Branko        m  CRO 2393 5,0 21,5
15. Pap, Misa             m  SCG 2411 5,0 21,0
16. Ascic, Pero           f  CRO 2317 5,0 20,5
17. Mrkonjic, Nenad       m  CRO 2347 5,0 20,0
18. Bender, Ivan             CRO 2289 5,0 19,0
19. Rosic, Slavko         f  SCG 2303 5,0 18,5
20. Vargic, Drago         f  CRO 2284 5,0 17,5
21. Feletar, Darko        m  CRO 2393 4,5 25,0
22. Leventic, Ivan        m  CRO 2480 4,5 24,0
23. Goric, Esad           f  BIH 2385 4,5 23,0
24. Kuljasevic, Davorin   m  CRO 2413 4,5 22,0
25. Kristovic, Marijan    f  CRO 2374 4,5 22,0
26. Krstic, Uros          m  CRO 2382 4,5 20,5
135 players

10) Dutch Championships Semi-Finals

The first round of the Semi Finals of the Dutch Championships were held in Leeuwarden 28th-29th February 2004. There were events for both men and women.The second and third round are scheduled from 13-16 March 2004. News: Koos Stolk.

Further details: http://www.schaakbond.nl/

Round 1 28th-29th February 2004
Erik van den Doel       *  -    Fred Jonker                 1-0 1-0
Frank van Tellingen        - *  Jan Smeets                  0-1 0-1
Ruud Janssen            *  -    Dirk Floor                  1-0 1-0
Jochem Snuverink           - *  Maarten Solleveld           ½-½ 0-1
Erwin l'Ami             *  -    Wim Luberti                 1-0 0-1 2-0
Patrick Driessens          - *  Sipke Ernst                 ½-½ 0-1 
Jop Delemarre           *  -    Jan-Willem de Jong          1-0 ½-½
Mark Thiele             *  -    Joost Berkvens              1-0 ½-½
Dennis de Vreugt        *  -    Marc de Waal                1-0 0-1 1.5-0.5
Paul Span                  - *  Jeroen Bosch                0-1 0-1
Yge Visser              *  -    Bonno Pel                   1-0 ½-½
Babak Tondivar          *  -    Karel van der Weide         1-0 ½-½
Harmen Jonkman             - *  Arthur van de Oudeweetering 0-1 1-0 0.5-1.5
Willy Hendriks             - *  Manuel Bosboom              0-1 ½-½
Mark van der Werf          - *  Marcel Peek                 0-1 ½-½
Stefan van Blitterswijk    -    Martijn Dambacher           0-1 1-0 1.5-0.5

Round 2 14th March 2004
Erik van den Doel       - Jeroen Bosch  
Yge Visser              - Jan Smeets  
Ruud Janssen            - Manuel Bosboom  
Stefan van Blitterswijk - Maarten Solleveld  
Erwin l'Ami             - Marcel Peek  
A van de Oudeweetering  - Sipke Ernst  
Jop Delemarre           - Babak Tondivar  
Mark Thiele             - Dennis de Vreugt  

Women's Round 1 28th-29th February 2004

Bianca Muhren          * -    Jorie Versmissen         ½-½ 1-0
Biaina Geragousian       -  * Arlette van Weersel      0-1 ½-½
Marlies Bensdorp       * -    Monique van de Griendt   1-0 1-0
Marjoke Groot            -  * Colleen Otten            0-1 0-1
Maartje de Jonge       * -    Carla Bruinenberg        1-0 ½-½
Laura Boszhard         * -    Marisca Kouwenhoven      1-0 1-0 R
Yvette Nagel-Seirawan  * -    Xanthine Gerritse        0-1 1-0 2-0
Pauline van Nies       * -    Rieke van Run            1-0 ½-½

11) 53rd Bulgarian Women's Championships

Rumen Angelo of the Bulgarian Chess Federation sends news of the 53rd Bulgarian Women's Championships which took place 17th-27th February 2004. Margarita Voiska won the event. Games to round 8 now available.

Bulgarian Chess Federation: http://chessbg.com/

Final Round 11 Standings:
----------------------------------------------
53rd ch-BUL w Sofia BUL (BUL), 17-27 ii 2004
----------------------------------------------
 1. Voiska, Margarita          wg BUL 2358 8.5
 2. Djingarova, Emilia         wg BUL 2344 7.5
 3. Chilingirova, Pavlina      wm BUL 2201 6.5
 4. Raeva, Eiitsa                 BUL 2141 6.5
 5. Jordanova-Besheva, Svetla     BUL 2165 6.0
 6. Savova, Stefka             wm BUL 2163 5.5
 7. Velcheva, Maria            wg BUL 2317 5.0
 8. Georgieva, Liubka          wm BUL 2245 5.0
 9. Zlatanova, Emilia          wm BUL 2126 4.5
10. Gocheva, Rumiana B         wm BUL 2219 4.5
11. Shtereva, Slaveja             BUL 2095 4.0
12. Doncheva, Marinela            BUL 2065 2.5
----------------------------------------------

12) 26th Bulgarian Open Championship

Rumen Angelo of the Bulgarian Chess Federation sends news of the 26th Bulgarian Open Championship "Georgi Tringov" which took place in Plovdiv, Novotel Plovdiv, 16th-22nd February 2004. Zsivko Bratanov won the event with 7.5/9. A selection of games is now available.

-------------------------------------------------
Tringov mem Open Plovdiv BUL (BUL), 16-22 ii 2004
-------------------------------------------------
 1. Bratanov, Zsivko     m  BUL 2398  7.5 40.0
 2. Petkov, Vladimir        BUL 2345  7   36.5
 3. Nikolov, Sasho       m  BUL 2407  6.5 40.0
 4. Nikolov, Momchil        BUL 2359  6.5 39.5
 5. Ermenkov, Evgenij    g  PLE 2449  6.5 38.5
 6. Janev, Evgeni        g  BUL 2403  6.5 35.0
 7. Genov, Petar         g  BUL 2499  6   41.0
 8. Iotov, Valentin         BUL 2321  6   41.0
 9. Dimitrov, Vladimir   g  BUL 2456  6   40.5
10. Drenchev, Petar         BUL 2415  6   36.0
11. Bonev, Todor            BUL 2135  5.5 41.0
12. Rusev, Krasimir         BUL 2412  5.5 37.5
13. Evstatiev,Georgi        BUL ----  5.5 36.5
14. Petrov, Marijan      m  BUL 2441  5.5 36.0
15. Kozhuharov, Spas        BUL 2373  5.5 36.0
16. Cheparinov,Nedelcho     BUL ----  5.5 36.0
17. Tadic, Branko        m  SCG 2473  5.5 35.0
18. Lilov, Valeri           BUL 2098  5.5 34.5
19. Ljangov, Petar          BUL 2161  5.5 34.0
20. Dochev, Dimitar      m  BUL 2369  5.5 33.5
21. Angelov, Angel          BUL 2229  5.5 31.0
22. Petkov, Hristo          BUL 2134  5.5 27.5
64 players

13) FIDE Championships in Libya

In an interview with the Interfax News agency http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=9175602 Kirsan Ilyumzhinov says the the problems have almost been resolved. ""The question of holding a world championship in Libya this year has been 99% resolved. We still have some technical issues to coordinate." He added "Libyan entry visas for three chess players, who are citizens of Israel, are some of the unresolved technical problems."

Ilyumzhinov faced calls for his resignation as President of Kalmykia by protesters in the capital Elista on February 21st 2004. Tass Article 1 and Tass Article 2

14) New York Masters

Leonid Yudasin won the 90th and New York Masters on 3rd and 10th February 2004 with 3.5/4. Alex Stripunsky won the 92nd New York Masters on 17th February on 3.5/4. News John Fernandez.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
90th New York Masters Action USA (USA), 3 ii 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         1   2   3   4   Total
--------------------------------------------------------------------
   1. Yudasin, Leonid        g ISR 2568 +11 + 9 + 8 = 3   3.5  ($320)
   2. Wojtkiewicz, Aleks     g USA 2564 +14 - 8 +10 + 5   3.0  ($ 67)
   3. Ehlvest, Jaan          g EST 2599 + 7 + 4 = 5 = 1   3.0  ($ 67)
   4. Becerra, Julio         g USA 2569 +15 - 3 +14 + 8   3.0  ($ 67)
   5. Izoria, Zviad          g GEO 2553 +12 + 6 = 3 - 2   2.5
   6. Vovsha, Eli            m ISR 2441 +16 - 5 = 7 + 9   2.5
   7. Eisen, Lewis           f USA 2240 - 3 +16 = 6 +14   2.5  ($110)
   8. Blatny, Pavel          g CZE 2452 +13 + 2 - 1 - 4   2.0
   9. Bonin, Jay             m USA 2330 +17 - 1 +12 - 6   2.0
  10. Fierro, Martha        wg ECU 2310 +18 -14 - 2 +17   2.0
  11. Privman, Boris         f USA 2241 - 1 -13 +15 +18   2.0
  12. Furdzik, Rafal           USA 2251 - 5 +18 - 9 =     1.5
  13. Caruana, Fabiano       f USA 2122 - 8 +11 --- =     1.5
  14. Shevelev, Danny        f ISR 2310 - 2 +10 - 4 - 7   1.0
  15. Lenhert, Steven          GER 2211 - 4 =17 -11 =16   1.0
  16. Franklin, David          USA ---- - 6 - 7 =17 =15   1.0
  17. Katsuhara, Osamu         USA 2085 - 9 =15 =16 -10   1.0
  18. Pressman, Leif           USA ---- -10 -12 +19 -11   1.0
  19. Brazell, Deneil          USA ---- --- --- -18 ---   0.0

PRIZES

1ST   - $320
2ND   - $150
3RD   - $ 51
U2400 - $110


--------------------------------------------------------------------
91st New York Masters Action USA (USA), 10 ii 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         1   2   3   4   Total
--------------------------------------------------------------------
   1. Yudasin, Leonid        g ISR 2568 +17 + 8 + 5 = 3   3.5  ($360)
   2. Wojtkiewicz, Aleks     g USA 2564 + 9 + 6 = 3 = 5   3.0  ($ 70)
   3. Nakamura, Hikaru       g USA 2571 +11 + 7 = 2 = 1   3.0  ($ 70)
   4. Stripunsky, Alex       g USA 2553 +12 - 5 +10 + 8   3.0  ($ 70)
   5. Ehlvest, Jaan          g EST 2599 +15 + 4 - 1 = 2   2.5
   6. Vovsha, Eli            m ISR 2441 +13 - 2 = 7 +11   2.5
   7. Bonin, Jay             m USA 2330 +14 - 3 = 6 +10   2.5
   8. Braylovsky, Greg         USA 2327 +16 - 1 +13 - 4   2.0  ($ 50)
   9. Privman, Boris         f USA 2241 - 2 -10 +14 +15   2.0  ($ 50)
  10. Krasnov, Andrey        f USA 2296 =   + 9 - 4 - 7   1.5
  11. Molner, Mackenzie        USA ---- - 3 =14 +16 - 6   1.5
  12. Caruana, Fabiano       f USA 2122 - 4 +15 --- =     1.5
  13. Hess, Robert             USA 2140 - 6 +17 - 8 =     1.5
  14. Zenyuk, Irina            USA 2168 - 7 =11 - 9 +16   1.5
  15. Chernin, Oliver          USA 2194 - 5 -12 +17 - 9   1.0
  16. Magarshak, Gregory       USA ---- - 8 +   -11 -14   1.0
  17. Furdzik, Rafal           USA 2251 - 1 -13 -15 =     0.5

PRIZES

1ST   - $360
2ND   - $150
3RD   - $ 60
U2400 - $100

--------------------------------------------------------------------
92nd New York Masters Action USA (USA), 17 ii 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         1   2   3   4   Total
--------------------------------------------------------------------
   1. Stripunsky, Alex       g USA 2553 +16 = 7 + 8 + 6   3.5  ($300)
   2. Yudasin, Leonid        g ISR 2568 +11 + 4 = 6 = 3   3.0  ($ 85)
   3. Kacheishvili, Giorgi   g GEO 2598 +10 = 6 + 7 = 2   3.0  ($ 85)
   4. Milman, Lev            f USA 2370 +14 - 2 + 5 = 7   2.5
   5. Bonin, Jay             m USA 2330 =15 +13 - 4 +11   2.5
   6. Wojtkiewicz, Aleks     g USA 2564 + 9 = 3 = 2 - 1   2.0
   7. Izoria, Zviad          g GEO 2553 +12 = 1 - 3 = 4   2.0
   8. Becerra, Julio         g USA 2569 =13 +15 - 1 = 9   2.0
   9. Fierro, Martha        wg ECU 2310 - 6 +10 =11 = 8   2.0  ($ 50)
  10. Pelekhaty, Alex          USA ---- - 3 - 9 +15 +13   2.0  ($ 50)
  11. Privman, Boris         f USA 2241 - 2 +14 = 9 - 5   1.5
  12. Furdzik, Rafal           USA 2251 - 7 +16 -13 =     1.5
  13. Lenderman, Alex        f USA 2320 = 8 - 5 +12 -10   1.5
  14. Bendich, Ilya            USA 2172 - 4 -11 +   =15   1.5
  15. Zenyuk, Irina            USA 2168 = 5 - 8 -10 =14   1.0
  16. Caruana, Fabiano       f USA 2122 - 1 -12 --- =     0.5

PRIZES

1ST   - $300
2ND   - $120
3RD   - $ 50
U2400 - $100

15) 5th Montenegro International Open

The 5th Open International Chess Championship of Montenegro "Sozina 2004" took place in the Hotel "Topolica" Bar, February 18-26th, 2004. Bozidar Ivanovic took first on tie-break from Branko Damljanovic and Vadim Malakhatko, all scored 7/9. My thanks to Vladica Andrejic.

Further details: http://www.sozina2004.com/

-------------------------------------------------------
5th Montenegro Open Sozina SCG (SCG), 18-26 ii 2004
-------------------------------------------------------
  1. Ivanovic, Bozidar            g  SCG 2405 7    55.0
  2. Damljanovic, Branko          g  SCG 2575 7    54.5
  3. Malakhatko, Vadim            g  UKR 2543 7    53.5
  4. Perunovic, Milos             m  SCG 2550 6.5  51.5
  5. Sedlak, Nikola               g  SCG 2539 6.5  51.0
  6. Ivanisevic, Ivan             g  SCG 2542 6.5  51.0
  7. Vuckovic, Bojan              g  SCG 2511 6.5  50.0
  8. Savic, Miodrag R             g  SCG 2522 6.5  48.0
  9. Sofronie, Iulian             m  ROM 2416 6.5  47.0
 10. Solomunovic, Igor            f  GER 2424 6.5  46.0
 11. Nikac, Predrag                  SCG 2321 6.5  38.5
 12. Blagojevic, Dragisa          m  SCG 2513 6    50.5
 13. Ardelean, George Catalin     m  ROM 2447 6    50.0
 14. Lupulescu, Constantin        m  ROM 2543 6    50.0
 15. Pikula, Dejan                g  SCG 2532 6    49.0
 16. Vajda, Albert                m  ROM 2427 6    48.5
 17. Manolache, Marius            m  ROM 2456 6    48.5
 18. Kalinin, Alexander           g  RUS 2466 6    48.5
 19. Parligras, Mircea            g  ROM 2539 6    47.5
 20. Markovic, Miroslav           g  SCG 2554 6    46.0
 21. Kovacevic, Aleksandar        g  SCG 2541 6    45.5
 22. Barnaure, Vlad-Victor        f  ROM 2378 6    44.0
 23. Cabrilo, Goran               g  SCG 2484 6    43.5
 24. Tratar, Marko                m  SLO 2464 6    42.0
 25. Kalezic, Blazo               m  SCG 2442 5.5  50.0
 26. Kharitonov, Alexandr         m  RUS 2461 5.5  49.0
 27. Pavlovic, Milos              f  SCG 2445 5.5  48.0
 28. Brenjo, Slavisa              m  SCG 2457 5.5  47.5
 29. Markus, Robert               m  SCG 2527 5.5  47.5
 30. Nanu, Ciprian-Costica        m  ROM 2486 5.5  47.5
 31. Lanka, Zigurds               g  LAT 2467 5.5  47.0
 32. Milanovic, Danilo               SCG 2443 5.5  46.5
 33. Szabo, Gergely-Andras-Gyula  m  ROM 2404 5.5  45.0
 34. Bojkovic, Natasa             wg SCG 2391 5.5  44.5
 35. Moldovan, Daniel             m  ROM 2435 5.5  44.5
 36. Abramovic, Bosko             g  SCG 2484 5.5  36.0
128 players

16) Osman Palos 1949-2004

IM Osman Palos born in Gracanica, Yugoslavia 29th October 1949 - died in Chicago 7th February 2004. He became an IM in 1985. He moved to the States 1996/7 and legally changed his name to Osmand after becoming a US citizen in 2002.

He played a number of tournaments in Tuzla finishing on 8.5/13 in 1991. His best ever result was winning the Pula Open in 1986 with a GM norm and a score of 10/11. He was a frequent participant in Midwest tournaments the past few years and won the Illinois Championships on a few occasions. He trained children at the Tuley Chess Club in Chicago.

Info Lupco Steriev and John Donaldson.

Read John Donaldson's obituary: http://www.chessclub.org/OldNews04.html

17) Professional World Chess Ranking

The Professional World Chess Ranking for players rated 2500 and higher for March 1st 2004 has been released. Produced by Ken Thomson, San Jose and calculated by Vladimir Dvorkovich, Moscow.

 1 Kasparov,Garry         13.04.1963  RUS  2786 147
 2 Anand,Viswanathan      11.12.1969  IND  2728 157
 3 Kramnik,Vladimir       25.06.1975  RUS  2701 141
 4 Topalov,Veselin        15.03.1975  BUL  2698 171
 5 Polgar,Judit           23.07.1976  HUN  2689 162
 6 Leko,Peter             08.09.1979  HUN  2685 151
 7 Svidler,Peter          17.06.1976  RUS  2680 135
 8 Adams,Michael          17.11.1971  ENG  2677 137
 9 Morozevich,Alexander   18.07.1977  RUS  2677 179
10 Short,Nigel D          01.06.1965  ENG  2671 149
11 Shirov,Alexei          04.07.1972  ESP  2669 163
12 Ponomariov,Ruslan      11.10.1983  UKR  2669 171
13 Grischuk,Alexander     31.10.1983  RUS  2665 152
14 Gelfand,Boris          24.06.1968  ISR  2660 146
15 Ivanchuk,Vassily       18.03.1969  UKR  2655 146
16 Azmaiparashvili,Zurab  16.03.1960  GEO  2655 151
17 Bareev,Evgeny          21.11.1966  RUS  2648 193
18 Malakhov,Vladimir      27.11.1980  RUS  2641 172
19 Nisipeanu,Liviu-Dieter 01.08.1976  ROM  2637 143
20 Bologan,Viorel         14.12.1971  MDA  2633 191
21 McShane,Luke James     07.01.1984  ENG  2629 186
22 Ye Jiangchuan          20.11.1960  CHN  2627 162
23 Akopian,Vladimir       07.12.1971  ARM  2626 170
24 Gurevich,Mikhail       22.02.1959  BEL  2623 160
25 Vallejo Pons,Francisco 21.08.1982  ESP  2620 156
26 Sutovsky,Emil          19.09.1977  ISR  2620 192
27 Karpov,Anatoli         23.05.1951  RUS  2619 136
28 Lautier,Joel           12.04.1973  FRA  2619 156
29 Graf,Alexander         25.08.1962  GER  2618 157
30 Radjabov,Teimour       12.03.1987  AZE  2616 161
31 Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar  12.04.1985  AZE  2614 150
32 Dreev,Alexey           30.01.1969  RUS  2614 160
33 Beliavsky,Alexander G  17.12.1953  SLO  2614 163
34 Sokolov,Ivan           13.06.1968  NED  2612 142
35 Bacrot,Etienne         22.01.1983  FRA  2610 154
36 Rublevsky,Sergei       15.10.1974  RUS  2609 177
37 Sakaev,Konstantin      13.04.1974  RUS  2603 143
38 Aronian,Levon          06.10.1982  ARM  2601 170
39 Aleksandrov,Aleksej    11.05.1973  BLR  2600 140
40 Khalifman,Alexander    18.01.1966  RUS  2598 129
41 Nielsen,Peter-Heine    24.05.1973  DEN  2597 168
42 Georgiev,Kiril         28.11.1965  BUL  2596 160
43 Van Wely,Loek          07.10.1972  NED  2595 166
44 Hansen,Curt            18.09.1964  DEN  2589 161
45 Vescovi,Giovanni       14.06.1978  BRA  2589 186
46 Filippov,Valerij       28.11.1975  RUS  2588 180
47 Zvjaginsev,Vadim       18.08.1976  RUS  2587 142
48 Fressinet,Laurent      01.11.1981  FRA  2587 188
49 Onischuk,Alexander     03.09.1975  USA  2585 195
50 Sasikiran,Krishnan     07.01.1981  IND  2584 180

18) Forthcoming Events and Links

Pula Open 2004

The Pula Open 2004 takes place 19th-26th June 2004 in Pula, Croatia.

Further details: http://skpula.hr

Pobeskydi Tournament

The Pobeskydi tournament takes place 8th-12th April 2004. It has two parts, firstly closed IM, WGM and WIM tournaments, secondly a FIDE open.

Further details: http://www.chessfm.cz

First Saturday March

The First Saturday events take place 6th-18th of March 2004. The list of participants can be change even at the last minute if you wish to play contact Laszlo Nagy e-mail: firstsat@hu.inter.net or http://www.firstsaturday.hu

FSGM 10-14 participants

IGM VAJDA, Levente (ROM), IGM SERES, Lajos (HUN), IGM FOGARASI, Tibor (HUN), IM GRAFL, Florian (GER), IM MAHESH, Chandran (IND), IM PASCHALL, William (USA), IM SZEBERÉNYI, Ádám (HUN), IM DRABKE, Lorenz (GER), KRIVOBORODOV, Egor (RUS), FM NGUYEN, Ngoc Truongson (VIE), WGM HOANG Th.Thang (VIE), IM FLUMBORT, András (HUN), PATAKI, Gyõzõ (HUN), Reserves: IM BOKROS, Albert (HUN), IGM CZEBE, Attila (HUN), IGM CSOM, Istvan (HUN),

FSIM 10-14 participants

IM WERNER, Dimo (GER), IM KAHN, Evarth (HUN), IM EPERJESI, László (HUN), WGM GARA,Anita (HUN), FM VARGA, Csaba (HUN), BABOS, Csaba (ROM), FM ISSA, Rafat (SYR), FM BÉRCZES, Dávid (HUN), FM FODOR, Tamás (HUN), FM CERNOUSEK, Lukas (CZE), WIM ZIGANGIROVA, Sofya (KAZ), KHECHUMYAN, Gagik (ARM), Reserves: IM PETRIENKO, Vladimir (RUS), WIM MESHCHERIAKOVA, Evgenia (RUS), KJETZAE, Johnny, (GER),

There are also FSFM events with 10-14 participants.

Calcutta International Open

The Alekhine Chess Club will be holding the CALCUTTA INTERNATIONAL OPEN CHESS TOURNAMENT, 2004, from now takes place 20th-27th March, 2004. Previously the event was known as the GOODRICKE INTERNATIONAL OPEN CHESS TOURNAMENT, CALCUTTA.

The total prize fund will be $12000. Boarding & lodging will be provided to all GMs, WGMs, IMs, WIMs. For details contact: Mr. Soumen Majumder, Gorky Sadan, 3, Gorky Terrace, Calcutta - 700 017, Telephone: 091 033 2280 3858, Fax: 091 033 2247 9559 / 2283 2746 E-mail: gnca@vsnl.com

Further details: http://www.chessindia.org

14th Asian Cities

The 14th Asian Cities Chess Team championship will be held March 20-28, at the International Convention Center in Tagaytay City, Philippines where over 35 countries are expected to vie for the prestigious Dubai Cup. No official website available yet. Latest News: http://www.cdsea.org

1st Riviera del Corallo Open

1st 'Riviera del Corallo' International open tournament in Alghero (Sardegna- Italy) takes place 8th-12th April 7 round Swiss.

Further details: http://www.algherovacanze.com

Brno Events

The Duras Chess Club in Brno is organising Closed GM and IM events and the Duras international open 3rd-11th July 2004.

Details: http://www.volny.cz/skduras/indexe.htm

TWIC Messageboard

With the Linares tournament about to start it seems a good time to launch a new discussion forum. Vote on your prediction of the winner of Linares. The TWIC message board. You need to register to post and vote. Address: http://www.chesscenter.com/messageboard

Reykjavik Rapid 2004

Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Nigel Short, Alexei Dreev, Emil Sutovsky and Peter Heine Nielsen will play in the Reykjavik Rapid 2004 which takes place 17th-21st March 2004. The 16 player knocokout event takes place at NASA by Austurvöllur, a popular spot in Reykjavik very close to the parliament building.

The first three spots at the Reykjavik open 2004 (Reykjavikopen.com) which takes place in the Reykjavik city hall 7th-16th March 2004 will earn a place in Reykjavik rapid 2004.

The format of the tournament is rather unusual the the 16 players will engage in a blitz tournament, 5 3 on the 17th of March. The result will determine the seeding. An idea taken from Formula 1. The first round will start on the 18th, The 1st seeded player will play nr. 16, nr. 2 avs. 15 etc. Time allotted is 25 5. In case of a tie there will be a sudden death game.

The main sponsor of the Reyjavik rapid 2004 is Atlantsal.

Internet coverage: http://www.ruv.is/skak

Dos Hermanas

The IV Dos Hermanas international open tournament takes place 25th March - 2nd April 2004.

Players: 
 1  Vladimir Epishin         GM  2633  RUS
 2  Vadim Milov              GM  2632  SUI
 3  Miguel Illescas Córdoba  GM  2616  ESP
 4  Oleg Korneev             GM  2566  RUS
 5  Sergey Karjakin          GM  2566  UKR
 6  Mladen Palac             GM  2566  CRO
 7  Izer Mirzoev             GM  2551  AZE
 8  Ivan Cheparinov          GM  2550  BUL
 9  Kevin Spraggett          GM  2536  CAN
10  Daniel Cámpora           GM  2530  ARG
11  Javier Moreno            GM  2525  ESP
12  Alekxa Strikovic         GM  2524  SCG
13  Zenón Franco             GM  2524  PAR
14  Mihai Suba               GM  2522  ROM
15  Bogdan Lalic             GM  2518  ENG
16  Dragan Paunovic          IM  2517  SCG
17  Roberto Cifuentes        GM  2505  ESP
18  Gabriel del Río          GM  2504  ESP
19  Karen Movsziszian        GM  2497  ARM
20  Carlos Matamoros         GM  2490  ECU
21  José Luis Fernández      GM  2478  ESP
22  Alexander Veingold       IM  2460  EST
23  Rodney Pérez             IM  2458  CUB
24  Ibrahim Khamrakulov      IM  2452  UZB
25  Ruslan Pogorelov         GM  2451  UKR
26  Davor Komljenovic        GM  2441  CRO
27  Mohamed Tissir           IM  2436  MAR
28  José Candela             IM  2435  ESP
29  Ernesto Fernández        IM  2425  ESP
30  Jordan Ivanov            IM  2406  BUL
31  Enrique Rodríguez        IM  2391  ESP
32  Ismael Terán             IM  2382  ESP
33  Javier Sanz              IM  2379  ESP
34  Carlos Barrero           FM  2339  ESP
35  Alexander Razmyslov      FM  2337  UKR
36  Adalberto Villavicencio  FM  2331  ESP
37  Joaquín Durao            IM  2200  POR

V Dos Hermanas Internet

V Internet Chess Tournament "Ciudad de Dos Hermanas" IM Michael Rahal (EDAMI) reports that the Dos Hermanas City Council and the Municipal Foundation for Sport of Dos Hermanas in conjunction with ICC (http://www.chessclub.com) and EDAMI (http://www.edami.com) are holding their fifth Internet Chess tournament between the 6th and the 14th of March 2004. The event will take place on ICC and has cash prizes totalling 6.100 Euros (1st: 1.800 euros, 16th 150 euros) as well as other special prizes (25% more than last year). There will be 12 Swiss System qualifiers (two per day) with the winner of each event progressing to the final. Last years field included 67 GM and 103 IM over 1.117 participants from 75 countries (GM Vladimir Potkin took first place, other top ten players included GM Dreev, GM Grischuk, GM McShane, GM Sakaev).

If you wish to take part there are further details, rules and entry forms available at: http://www.doshermanas.net/

Oslo Easter Chess Festival 2004

The Oslo Easter Chess Festival 2004 takes place 3rd-11th April 2004.

The main events are The Open Norwegian Championships 3rd-11th April (Swiss tournament with chances for IM norms) and Oslo Young Masters 3rd-9th April (international junior tournament).

Side events are rapid tournament 8th-9th April, blitz tournament 10th April and team blitz tournament 4th April.

Further details: http://home.online.no/~vichan/paske04/eng/indexa.html

Or contact: Victor Hansen email victorh@online.no, phone 0047 957 99 891.

Czech Tour 2004-2005

4th International Chess Festivals Series

15.-23.5. 2004 4th OPEN ZNOJMO (FIDE open, Open Women Championship of the Czech Republic in active chess ?Znojemska kralovna ? The Znojmo Queen?, tournament for girls up to 14 years of age, active chess tournament)

15.7.-1.8. 2004 15th CZECH OPEN ? Pardubice (5 FIDE opens, one of them with GM and IM norm, Open European Amateurs Championship, Open Championship of the Czech Republic of 4-member team tournament, in active chess, blitz tournament, bughouse and Fischerandom chess, 14 tournaments altogether)

4.-12.8. 2004 7th OLOMOUC CHESS SUMMER (FIDE open, closed GM and IM tournaments, Open Seniors Championship of the Czech Republic, open tournament of youngsters)

18.-26.9. 2004 1st OPEN HIGHLANDS ? Havlickuv Brod (Men Championship of the Czech Republic - semifinals, FIDE open)

23.-30.10. 2004 5th OPEN LIBEREC (FIDE open)

14.-21.1. 2005 4th OPEN PRAHA (2 FIDE opens, one of them with IM norm)

22.-30.1. 2005 4th OPEN MARIANSKE LAZNE (FIDE open and 1-2 closed IM tournaments)

More details e-mail: j.mazuch@avekont.cz and http:/www.czechtour.net

20th Budapest Spring Festival

The 20th Budapest Spring Festival is a 9 rounds Swiss Open Chess Tournament 18th-27th March 2004. Organizer: Laszlo Nagy e-mail:firstsat@hu.inter.net

Further details: http://www.firstsaturday.hu

Brussels 12 Hours

Brussels 12 Hours a 5 minute blitz tournament takes place on 27 March 2004. 1st prize 300 Euros and prizes for all categories.

Entry fees: 10 Euros. GMs/IMs Free, Under 16 years old 5 Euros.

Venue: CREB, Palais du Midi Rue Roger Vander Weyden,3 1000 Brussels

Entry: 09.30 - 10.30 - Tournament start 11h00 Prize ceremony 23h30 Information: Benny Åsman 02/512.48.43 e-mail: bennyasman@skynet.be Joachim Demoulin 0475/33.22.87 jo.demoulin@wanadoo.be

Organised by Caïssa Woluwé, Chess Club Anderlecht, Fous du Roy et CREB

3rd Saturday Tournament

A 3rd Saturday Tournament will take place in Novi Sad, 20th-27th March 2004. Improved Elo ratings, IM and maybe GM norms (depending on interest), Semi Open. More info in few days on www.drazic.co.yu. Venue NSK, the oldest club in all of the former Yugoslavia, center of Novi Sad, Serbia, no visa needed now for European and USA citizens.

Cogas Energy Timman vs Van Wely Match

The Cogas Energy Match will take place 8th-10th April 2004. The 4 game match will be between Jan Timman and Loek Van Wely. Alongside the match will be a 6 round Swiss Grandmaster tournament with a prizefund of several 1000 Euro.

More information Albert Vasse +31 (0)6 53871200 or e-mail schaken@cogas.nl

The event will be broadcast live at http://www.cogas.nl

CFC Cup

Correspondence Chess server of Chessfriend.com has a new free competition. The CFC Cup 2004 allows interested players to test the server without entry fees by playing a real tournament where ELO and titles are available.

More details: http://www.chessfriend.com

IM Silman vs The Rest of the World

IM Silman vs The Rest of the World ChessWorld.net hosting a "Rest of the World" match against IM Jeremy Silman. This is a voting game where the "Rest of the World" (ROW) votes for the moves against Silman, and the highest voted move played after five days. Kasparov played a ROW game a few years back. IM Jeremy Silman is the author of the one chess book that everyone raves about, How to ReAssess Your Chess.

The match has inspired the largest ROW team ever at ChessWorld, well over 300 players at last count. IM Silman opened the game with 1. d4 and the voting is underway. You can get in on the game at http://www.chessworld.net - head for Play!..World team games after logging in.

The up to date position is also available on the TWIC front page.

17th Ciudad de Leon 2004

The 17th Ciudad de Leon 2004 will again be a knockout event taking place June 3rd-7th 2004 in Leon, Spain.

Players: Alexei Shirov (Spain), Peter Svidler (Russia), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbajan) and Francisco Vallejo (Spain).

Official site: http://www.advancedchessleon.com and http://www.elajedrezdelfuturo.com

Lenk Chess Festival

Lenk International Chess Festival is a Swiss Chess Tour event 2004. The 16th "Kreuz-Open" takes place April 8th-12th 2004.

The Hosts will be the Hotel "Kreuz", "Grande" Open, Swiss system, 7 rounds and the games will last a maximum of 5 hours (40 moves for 2 hours and 30 minutes till the end).

Prize are: 1.500 SF, 1.200, 900, 700, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200 and 150 SF. From 11.- 20. places natural prizes. Special prizes for best Lady, senior (1944), junior(1984-87), schoolboy (1988) and best local player. Entry fee 130 SF, FMs and juniors 60 SF, at the door 10 SF more, GMs and IMs free.

Time table: Round 1st 18.30-22.30 April 8,; Rounds 2/3 09.30-14.30 and 15.30-20.30 April 9,; Round 4 13.30-18.30 April 10,; Rounds 5/6 09.30-14.30 and 15.30-20.30 April 11,; Round 7 10.00-15.00 April 12. Closing ceremony April 12 at 16.00.

Info: Beochess +41+34+424-01-06 (Robert Spoerri) or info@beochess.ch or site http://www.beochess.ch for more details.

5th Annual MILLENNIUM CHESS FESTIVAL

APRIL 2 - 4, 2004 (the weekend before Foxwoods!) is the date for the next Millennium Chess Festival. Come play chess on the beach!...

PRIZES: $18,000 in 5 sections. Open Section prizes are guaranteed -- $2500-1200-800-600-400-300-200 U2400/Unr: $500-200 U2200: $500-200 Upset Prize: $150. Class Sections have large prize funds based on 55 per section.

HOTEL: Ramada Plaza Beach Oceanfront Hotel, Virginia Beach, USA. COMPS: GM, WGM, and IM Comps are available.

Our popular GM "Dinner/Exhbition" Match again scheduled for Saturday Night. (Details soon.)

WEBSITE: http://www.geocities.com/millenniumchessfestival/
QUESTIONS: eschlich@aol.com

Shirov's New Website

Alexei Shirov has a new webpage which includes an online school project (together with GM Alfonso Romero and IM Javier Sanz both from Spain) and a personal page within. The address is http://www.shirovonline.com, at the moment everything is in Spanish although the English version should follow soon.

IX Cesenatico International Open

The IX Cesenatico International Chess Open takes place in Cesenatico (Italy) 4th-12th September 2004.Open A 9 rounds. Open B 8 rounds.

Organiser Jean Christophe Pirini email info@antiquascom.it Fax +39547681217 # mobile phone +39335.6615956.

Further details: http://www.antiquascom.it/scacchi.htm

IV Savaria Summer Open

IV Savaria Summer International Chess Open takes place in Szombathely, Hungary 19th-26th July 2004. 9 round Swiss 90 minutes + 30 seconds/move.

Further Information:

KORPICS Zsolt H-9700 Szombathely, Rohonci 13. +(36)-30/951-0063 korpicschess@axelero.hu

PERGEL László H-9700 Szombathely, Tátra 2. +(36)-30/530-4904 a_mester@freemail.hu

Hungarian chess tournaments March-August 2004

1.FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM, 6th-18th of March, org. NL. , Organizer: Nagy Laszlo, e-mail: firstsat@hu.inter.net Webpage: http://www.firstsaturday.hu Internet Chess Club nickname: MrFirstSaturday ICQ#: 44805877 Cell phone: +(36)-30-2301914 Tel-fax: +(36-1)-2632859

2. SAVARIA-IM-1 closed tournament, Szombathely /250 km West from Budapest/, 22nd March-1st of April, organizer: FM Korpics,Zsolt, e-mail: korpicschess@axelero.hu

3. 20th BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL, 9 rounds Swiss Open, 18th-27th of March, Org.Nagy Laszlo

4. FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM, 3rd-16th of April, org.NL.

5. SAVARIA-IM-2 closed, Szombathely, 19th-29th of April, org: Korpics Zsolt;

6. FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM, 1st-13th of May,

7. ELEKES memorial, Budapest GM-IM round robin, 15th-25th of May, organizer: IM Zsinka, Laszlo, +(36)-20-9219197 e-mail: zsinkala@axelero.hu or: zsinka@budapest.hu

8. FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM, 5th-17th of June, Budapest, org.Nagy L.

9. BALATON OPEN and GM-IM closed about 20th-30th of June, org: IM Rigo, e-mail: me-ri@axelero.hu /150 km West from Budapest/,

10. FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM, 3rd-16th of July, Org: Nagy Laszlo,

11. Open EGER 9 rounds Swiss, 17th-25th of July /100 km North-East from Budapest/ and GM-IM closed tmt, organizer: Rauch Ferenc, cell phone: +(36)-30-326-3692, e-mail: rauch@freemail.hu, other organizer: Vajda, Albert Sr. e-mail: avajda@udv.topnet.ro More info: Nagy Laszlo, e-mail: firstsat@hu.inter.net

12. FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM, 7th-19th of August 2004, org: NL.

13. Cat.XI. GM-closed, 10 participants, Budapest, 18th-27th of Aug. Org: PALI, Gabor, e-mail: gaborpali@freemail.hu Mobile: +/36/-20-470-50-37

14. TALENTUM CUP Open 19th-27th of Aug. BALATONZAMARDI /200 km West from Budapest/, organizer: MR VALIS, Janos e-mail: husi-sc@hu.inter.net

15. FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM, 4th-16th of September, Org: NL.

2nd Annual Western Pacific Open

2nd Annual Western Pacific Open. Burbank, CA, April 2-4, 2004. 5-SS. $10,000 based on 200 players, $6000 guaranteed. Top section FIDE rated.

Further details: http://www.westernchess.com

Lina Grumette Memorial Day Classic

The Lina Grumette Memorial Day Classic 2004. Glendale, CA, May 29-31, 2004. 6-SS. $20,000 based on 300 players, $10,000 guaranteed. Top section FIDE rated.

Further details: http://www.westernchess.com

65th Square Website

There is a new Turkish website: http://www.65thsquare.org (note the change of address). I have given an interview to the webmaster Alper Efe Ataman.

Swiss Chess Tour 2004

The Swiss Chess Tour starts in Basle in the New Year (1.-4.1.2004.). The 6th Hilton Open features with Vlastimil Hort, Yannick Pelletier, Andrei Sokolov and Florian Jenni. They will play each other, one game on classic time control and the other in rapid. Timetable of the 6th Hilton Open: 1.1.2004. registration 10.00-12.00; 1.01.2004. Blitz open 21.00-23.00; 9 rounds, 5 minutes. 1.-4.1.2004. Fujitcu Siemens – Junior’s Open; 7 rounds, 4 hours. 1.-4.1.2004. Hilton Open; 7 rounds, 5 hours (40 moves-120 minutes, 30 minutes till the end.) 1.-4.1.2004. Baloise Open; 7 rounds, 4 hours (30 moves-90 minutes, 30 minutes till the and.) 1.-4.1.2004. Senior Open; same as Baloise Open. 1.-2.1.2004. ITAG Tele-Rapid; with Hort, Pelletier, Sokolov, Jenni; 15 minutes per game. 1.-4.1.2004. ITAG Masters (Hort, Pelletier, Sokolov, Jenni); classic time control, 6 hours. 2.1.2004. Fujitsu Siemens PC-Challenge (men&computer) 20.00-22.00. 4.1.2004. Closing ceremony 16.30-17.00.

Prizes: Hilton Open: 2000/1500/1200/800/600/500/2x400/2x300/2x200 Fr. Special prizes (200 Fr. each): Best Lady, Senior (1944), Basler, Junior (1984-87), Pupil (1988). Entry fee: 130 Fr. (FM & Juniors) GM & IM free. At the door 10 Fr. Baloise Open: 500/400/2x300/2x200/4x150 Fr. Entry fee: 110 Fr. (Juniors 50 Fr.) At the door 10. Senior Open: 400/300/200 Fr. + natural prizes Entry fee: 60 Fr. At the door 10 Fr. Fujitsu Siemens-Junior Open: 400/300/200 + natural prizes for all participants. Entry fee: 50 Fr. At the door 10 Fr. Blitz Open: 300/200/150/2x100/2x50 Fr. Entry fee: 20 Fr. (Junior 5 Fr.) Venue Hotel Hilton Basle. More information and registration: Robert Spoerri tel. +41+34+424-01-06, fax +41+34+424-01-07 E-mail info@beochess.ch

Further information: http://www.beochess.ch

33rd International Rapid Chess Tournament Herford

Herford, 19th-20th June 2004 33rd International Rapid Chess Tournament 2004. Grand-Prix of Sparkasse Herford. Qualification tournament for the German Rapid Championships. 11 Rounds. Guaranteed Prize fund: € 1.500. 1st Prize € 500.-, Info: http://www.schach.com/herford/turnier/2004/herford2004ausschreibung.htm Homepage: http://www.schach.com/herford/

Western Canadian Open

The Western Canadian Open takes place July 9th-18th, 2004. The FIDE rated event is organised by the British Columbia Chess Federation.

Further details: http://www.chessbc.com

Narender Nath Memorial Chess Tournament

The 3rd Annual Narender Nath Memorial Chess Tournament commemorating a man who died in the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001 is underway. The event raises money for charity.

Details: http://www.nathchesstournament.com/

28th Kings Head Rapidplay

The 28th Kings Head Rapidplay will take place on Saturday 13 March 2004,

6-round Swiss rapidplay (30 minutes), prize fund £650, entry fee £17

Further info: http://www.khcc.org.uk

Chess Exhibition in Cleveland Ohio

The Worlds of Chess Champions exhibition contains items including Egyptian chess pieces, commemorative stamps, autographed material, rare books and original manuscripts.

The event is in Cleveland OH. The Cleveland Public Library’s John G. White Chess and Checkers Collection is currently exhibiting an installation titled, Worlds of Chess Champions. This temporary exhibition is located in the third floor exhibition hall of the Main Building, 325 Superior Ave., N.E. The Library exhibition is free and open to the public. Paid parking is available on Rockwell, one block north of Superior Ave.

Worlds of Chess Champions puts chess into context through the lives of chess experts, authors, and champions. This exhibition sets the historical stage of chess champions from the 19th Century to the present. To illustrate the context of chess in the world, the earliest items displayed feature chess pieces from Egypt dating back to 1300 B.C. Other early items on display from the John G. White Chess and Checkers Collection include original manuscripts from the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Other rare and interesting items include a death mask photograph of an early 19th-century player, commemorative chess stamps, hand-written letters by and about world-famous chess champions, autographed material, and published books by chess champions.

Some of the materials in Worlds of Chess Champions have never before been exhibited. The John G. White Chess and Checkers Collection is the world’s largest and most comprehensive chess collection. The collection contains chess sets and pieces as well as material related to chess. Many stamps commemorating chess champions are in the exhibition. Newspaper and magazine clippings, chess championship programs, score sheets from games, and other rare items will be on display through June 12, 2004.

New York Masters

Regular competition for players in New York Rated 2200 and above.

Further details: http://www.newyorkmasters.com/