THE WEEK IN CHESS 588 13th February 2006 by Mark Crowther

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Contents

1) Introduction
2) Aeroflot Open
3) Cuernavaca Young Masters
4) German Championship
5) Moscow Open
6) First Saturday February
7) Championship of the Czech Republic
8) 3rd Mediterranean Championship
9) French Chess League
10) Belgian Interteams 2005-2006
11) Gibtelecom Masters
12) ACP Tour News and Interviews
13) Robert Huntington replies to Yasser Seirawan
14) Forthcoming Events and Links

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Games section

Aeroflot Open                           173 games
Cuernavaca Young Masters                 25 games
German Championship                     207 games
Moscow Open                              50 games
First Saturday February                 100 games
Championship of the Czech Republic       42 games
3rd Mediterranean Championship           99 games
French Chess League                     108 games
Belgian Interteams 2005-2006             48 games
Gibtelecom Masters                        1 game
853 games

1) Introduction

My thanks to Andy McFarland, Gérard Demuydt, Misha Savinov, Lanka Ravi, Valery Maes, Franz Jittenmeier, Rob Huntington, Søren Søgaard, John Saunders and everyone else who helped with the issue.

The Aeroflot Open is one, if not the strongest opens of the year. It also has as a special prize qualification to the Dortmund tournament later in the year. Leading the race is Pavel Eljanov with 5 points after 6 rounds but with pre-event ELO favourites Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Vladimir Akopian just half a point behind. By next week we will see the start of the Morelia leg of the Linares tournament with Veselin Topalov, Peter Leko, Vassily Ivanchuk, Peter Svidler, Etienne Bacrot, Levon Aronian, Francisco Vallejo and Teimour Radjabov. Should be an enjoyable week.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) Aeroflot Open

The Aeroflot Open takes place in Moscow 8th-17 February 2006. The winner of A1 tournament will be invited to play in Dortmund from 23rd July to 5th August 2006. Pavel Eljanov leads alone with 5/6 with three rounds to go.

92 players are registered for the main A1 Open. Leading players include: Vladimir Akopian Aleksej Aleksandrov, Karen Asrian, Alexander Areshchenko, Viktor Bologan, Bu Xiangxi, Alexey Dreev, Zahar Efimenko, Pavel Eljanov, Kiril Georgiev, Zvaid Izoria, Dmitry Jakovenko, Alexander Khalifman, Vladimir Malakhov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Alexander Moiseenko, Arkadij Naiditsch, Evgeniy Najer, Konstantin Sakaev and Krishnan Sasikiran.

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

Round 6 Standings:
-----------------------------------------------
Aeroflot Open Moscow RUS (RUS), 8-16 ii 2006
-----------------------------------------------
 1. Eljanov, Pavel           g  UKR 2655   5.0
    
 2. Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar   g  AZE 2709   4.5 
 3. Akopian, Vladimir        g  ARM 2704   4.5 
 4. Sasikiran, Krishnan      g  IND 2670   4.5 
 5. Georgiev, Kiril          g  BUL 2645   4.5 
 6. Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime  g  FRA 2542   4.5
 
 7. Malakhov, Vladimir       g  RUS 2694   4.0 
 8. Jakovenko, Dmitry        g  RUS 2662   4.0 
 9. Naiditsch, Arkadij       g  GER 2657   4.0 
10. Asrian, Karen            g  ARM 2646   4.0 
11. Motylev, Alexander       g  RUS 2638   4.0 
12. Alekseev, Evgeny         g  RUS 2634   4.0 
13. Fressinet, Laurent       g  FRA 2625   4.0 
14. Galkin, Alexander        g  RUS 2616   4.0 
15. Jobava, Baadur           g  GEO 2614   4.0 
16. Sargissian, Gabriel      g  ARM 2603   4.0 
17. Popov, Valerij           g  RUS 2592   4.0 
18. Petrosian, Tigran L      g  ARM 2558   4.0

19. Dreev, Alexey            g  RUS 2697   3.5 
20. Bologan, Viktor          g  MDA 2661   3.5 
21. Moiseenko, Alexander     g  UKR 2657   3.5 
22. Timofeev, Artyom         g  RUS 2653   3.5 
23. Izoria, Zviad            g  GEO 2652   3.5 
24. Najer, Evgeniy           g  RUS 2652   3.5 
25. Sakaev, Konstantin       g  RUS 2649   3.5 
26. Bu Xiangzhi              g  CHN 2645   3.5 
27. Volkov, Sergey           g  RUS 2629   3.5 
28. Kempinski, Robert        g  POL 2619   3.5 
29. Smirnov, Pavel           g  RUS 2614   3.5 
30. Korotylev, Alexey        g  RUS 2609   3.5 
31. Fedorov, Alexei          g  BLR 2608   3.5 
32. Kazhgaleyev, Murtas      g  KAZ 2607   3.5 
33. Wang Yue                 g  CHN 2599   3.5 
34. Guliyev, Namig           g  AZE 2588   3.5 
35. Tomashevsky, Evgeny      g  RUS 2586   3.5 
36. Huzman, Alexander        g  ISR 2573   3.5 
37. Balogh, Csaba            g  HUN 2561   3.5 
38. Dyachkov, Sergej         g  RUS 2554   3.5 
39. Yakovich, Yuri           g  RUS 2551   3.5 
40. Kuzubov, Yuriy           g  UKR 2544   3.5 
41. Sedlak, Nikola           g  SCG 2518   3.5 
42. Kosteniuk, Alexandra     g  RUS 2514   3.5 

43. Efimenko, Zahar          g  UKR 2666   3.0 
44. Khalifman, Alexander     g  RUS 2660   3.0 
45. Akobian, Varuzhan        g  USA 2600   3.0 
46. Roiz, Michael            g  ISR 2599   3.0 
47. Landa, Konstantin        g  RUS 2597   3.0 
48. Shabalov, Alexander      g  USA 2595   3.0 
49. Riazantsev, Alexander    g  RUS 2594   3.0 
50. Wang Hao                 g  CHN 2593   3.0 
51. Shchekachev, Andrei      g  RUS 2570   3.0 
52. Yevseev, Denis           g  RUS 2557   3.0 
53. Predojevic, Borki        g  BIH 2553   3.0 
54. Grigoriants, Sergey      g  RUS 2550   3.0 
55. Khairullin, Ildar        m  RUS 2533   3.0 
56. Sandipan, Chanda         g  IND 2522   3.0 
57. Kosintseva, Tatiana      m  RUS 2479   3.0 

58. Areshchenko, Alexander   g  UKR 2670   2.5
59. Aleksandrov, Aleksej     g  BLR 2653   2.5 
60. Sadvakasov, Darmen       g  KAZ 2629   2.5 
61. Bocharov, Dmitry         g  RUS 2590   2.5
62. Shariyazdanov, Andrey    g  RUS 2583   2.5 
63. Azarov, Sergei           g  BLR 2581   2.5 
64. Al-Modiahki, Mohamad     g  QAT 2579   2.5 
65. Khismatullin, Denis      g  RUS 2576   2.5 
66. Rustemov, Alexander      g  RUS 2573   2.5 
67. Savchenko, Boris         m  RUS 2569   2.5 
68. Filippov, Valerij        g  RUS 2568   2.5
69. Sorokin, Maxim           g  RUS 2560   2.5 
70. Kharlov, Andrei          g  RUS 2558   2.5 
71. Tregubov, Pavel V        g  RUS 2556   2.5 
72. Shaposhnikov, Evgeny     g  RUS 2553   2.5 
73. Dvoirys, Semen I         g  RUS 2551   2.5 
74. Berg, Emanuel            g  SWE 2540   2.5 
75. Zhao Jun                 g  CHN 2520   2.5 
76. Kosintseva, Nadezhda     m  RUS 2480   2.5

77. Zhang Pengxiang          g  CHN 2638   2.0 
78. Movsesian, Sergei        g  SVK 2632   2.0 
79. Miroshnichenko, Evgenij  g  UKR 2619   2.0
80. Ni Hua                   g  CHN 2614   2.0 
81. Ganguly, Surya Shekhar   g  IND 2579   2.0 
82. Postny, Evgeny           g  ISR 2578   2.0 
83. Erenburg, Sergey         g  ISR 2573   2.0
84. Vitiugov, Nikita            RUS 2573   2.0
85. Kulaots, Kaido           g  EST 2558   2.0

86. Ivanov, Alexander        g  USA 2606   1.5
87. Anastasian, Ashot        g  ARM 2602   1.5
88. Markus, Robert           g  SCG 2595   1.5
89. David, Alberto           g  LUX 2591   1.5 
90. Stefansson, Hannes       g  ISL 2585   1.5
91. Minasian, Artashes       g  ARM 2574   1.5 
92. Svetushkin, Dmitry       g  MDA 2557   1.5
93. Karlsson, Lars           g  SWE 2509   1.5
-----------------------------------------------

3) Cuernavaca Young Masters

The Cuernavaca Young Masters took place in Mexico 1st-11th February 2006. Ruslan Ponomariov and Francisco Vallejo Pons finished on 6.5/9.

Official site: http://www.uaem.mx/ajedrez2006/index.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Young Masters Cuernavaca MEX (MEX), 3-11 ii 2006         cat. XVI (2629)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Ponomariov, Ruslan        g UKR 2723  * = = = 1 1 = = 1 1  6.5  2784 
 2. Vallejo Pons, Francisco   g ESP 2650  = * = = = = 1 1 1 1  6.5  2792 
 3. Nakamura, Hikaru          g USA 2644  = = * 0 = 1 1 = 1 1  6.0  2752 
 4. Dominguez, Lenier         g CUB 2638  = = 1 * = = = = 1 =  5.5  2708 
 5. Bruzon, Lazaro            g CUB 2650  0 = = = * 1 0 1 1 =  5.0  2669 
 6. Volokitin, Andrei         g UKR 2665  0 = 0 = 0 * = 1 1 1  4.5  2625 
 7. Cheparinov, Ivan          g BUL 2625  = 0 0 = 1 = * = 0 1  4.0  2586 
 8. Karjakin, Sergey          g UKR 2660  = 0 = = 0 0 = * = 1  3.5  2545 
 9. Leon Hoyos, Manuel        m MEX 2428  0 0 0 0 0 0 1 = * =  2.0  2431 
10. Felgaer, Ruben            g ARG 2607  0 0 0 = = 0 0 0 = *  1.5  2358 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Round 5 (February 7, 2006)

Dominguez, Lenier        -  Nakamura, Hikaru         1-0   66  C11  French Defence
Bruzon, Lazaro           -  Cheparinov, Ivan         0-1   29  A36  English Botvinnik
Volokitin, Andrei        -  Karjakin, Sergey         1-0   38  C67  Ruy Lopez Berlin
Leon Hoyos, Manuel       -  Ponomariov, Ruslan       0-1   61  A30  English Symmetrical
Felgaer, Ruben           -  Vallejo Pons, Francisco  0-1   87  B18  Caro Kann

Round 6 (February 8, 2006)

Ponomariov, Ruslan       -  Bruzon, Lazaro           1-0   27  B43  Sicilian Paulsen
Nakamura, Hikaru         -  Felgaer, Ruben           1-0   44  B30  Sicilian Rossolimo
Volokitin, Andrei        -  Leon Hoyos, Manuel       1-0   52  B38  Sicilian Maroczy Bind
Cheparinov, Ivan         -  Dominguez, Lenier        1/2   54  C42  Petroff's Defence
Karjakin, Sergey         -  Vallejo Pons, Francisco  0-1   34  C83  Ruy Lopez Open

Round 7 (February 9, 2006)

Vallejo Pons, Francisco  -  Nakamura, Hikaru         1/2   40  B20  Sicilian Wing Gambit
Dominguez, Lenier        -  Ponomariov, Ruslan       1/2   82  C88  Ruy Lopez Closed
Bruzon, Lazaro           -  Volokitin, Andrei        1-0   61  E90  King's Indian Classical
Leon Hoyos, Manuel       -  Karjakin, Sergey         1/2   62  D00  Queen's Pawn Game
Felgaer, Ruben           -  Cheparinov, Ivan         0-1   56  C01  French Exchange

Round 8 (February 10, 2006)

Ponomariov, Ruslan       -  Felgaer, Ruben           1-0   45  B07  Pirc Defence
Volokitin, Andrei        -  Dominguez, Lenier        1/2   26  C42  Petroff's Defence
Cheparinov, Ivan         -  Vallejo Pons, Francisco  0-1   60  D44  Anti-Meran Gambit
Karjakin, Sergey         -  Nakamura, Hikaru         1/2   40  C11  French Defence
Leon Hoyos, Manuel       -  Bruzon, Lazaro           0-1   34  A29  English Four Knights

Round 9 (February 11, 2006)

Vallejo Pons, Francisco  -  Ponomariov, Ruslan       1/2   56  E32  Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Nakamura, Hikaru         -  Cheparinov, Ivan         1-0   44  D44  Anti-Meran Gambit
Dominguez, Lenier        -  Leon Hoyos, Manuel       1-0   33  B01  Centre Counter
Bruzon, Lazaro           -  Karjakin, Sergey         1-0   35  E14  Queens Indian
Felgaer, Ruben           -  Volokitin, Andrei        0-1   71  B80  Sicilian Scheveningen

4) German Championship

The German Championship took place in Osterburg 2nd-12th February 2006. Thomas Luther won on tie break from Vitaly Kunin and Artur Jussupow, all scored 6.5/9.

Official site: http://www.chess-international.de/ticker/dem2006/index.html

--------------------------------------------------
ch-GER Osterburg GER (GER), 3-11 ii 2006
--------------------------------------------------
 1. Luther, Thomas         g  GER 2569   6.5  2653 
 2. Kunin, Vitaly          m  GER 2462   6.5  2649 
 3. Jussupow, Artur        g  GER 2605   6.5  2621 
 4. Khenkin, Igor          g  GER 2595   6.0  2631 
 5. Kritz, Leonid          g  GER 2561   6.0  2617 
 6. Meister, Yakov         m  GER 2502   6.0  2527 
 7. Henrichs, Thomas       m  GER 2434   5.5  2567 
 8. Prusikin, Michael      g  GER 2563   5.5  2550 
 9. Tischbierek, Raj       g  GER 2466   5.5  2544 
10. Baramidze, David       g  GER 2554   5.5  2521 
11. Muranyi, Karl-Jasmin   f  GER 2359   5.5  2502 
12. Naumann, Alexander     g  GER 2532   5.5  2499 
13. Gustafsson, Jan        g  GER 2614   5.0  2523 
14. Koepke, Christian         GER 2274   5.0  2505 
15. Graf, Alexander        g  GER 2604   5.0  2480 
16. Reipsch, Jens             GER 2293   5.0  2449 
17. Markgraf, Alexander    f  GER 2412   5.0  2441 
18. Sprenger, Jan Michael  m  GER 2505   5.0  2437 
19. Meins, Gerlef          m  GER 2446   5.0  2407 
20. Bastian, Herbert       m  GER 2413   5.0  2372 
21. Becker, Michael1       f  GER 2320   4.5  2430 
22. Rother, Christoph      f  GER 2293   4.5  2383 
23. Degtiarev, Evgeny         GER 2388   4.5  2380 
24. Heinemann, Thies       m  GER 2443   4.5  2359 
25. Reuss, Andreas         f  GER 2354   4.5  2352 
26. Schoene, Ralf          m  GER 2339   4.5  2347 
27. Kaeser, Udo            f  GER 2343   4.5  2344 
28. Knuth, Hannes             GER 2283   4.5  2311 
29. Schunk, Thomas         f  GER 2315   4.0  2354 
30. Hoepfl, Thomas         f  GER 2313   4.0  2351 
31. Schunk, Eduard            GER 2349   4.0  2302 
32. Espig, Lutz            g  GER 2402   4.0  2233 
33. Heinig, Wolfram        f  GER 2338   3.5  2345 
34. Huschenbeth, Niclas       GER 2287   3.5  2325 
35. Brener, Ilja           f  GER 2323   3.5  2318 
36. Meier, Georg              GER 2424   3.5  2284 
37. Michalczak, Thomas     f  GER 2361   3.5  2263 
38. Schuster, Martin          GER 2222   3.5  2262 
39. Stolz, Mike            f  GER 2385   3.5  2257 
40. Schuetze, Norman          GER 2161   3.5  2215 
41. Namyslo, Holger           GER 2279   3.5  2190 
42. Holzschuh, Stephan        GER 2257   3.0  2192 
43. Zuse, Klaus-Peter      f  GER 2333   3.0  2141 
44. Bischoff, Dieter          GER 2147   2.5  2152 
45. Gikas, Basilius           GER 2231   2.5  2128 
46. Rathje, Christian         GER 2130   2.0  2053 
--------------------------------------------------

5) Moscow Open

The Moscow 0pen took place 29 January - 6 February 2006. 9 round swiss with the US system allowing for flexible schedules with the possibility of playing two games a day for two days to make a 7 day schedule. Alexander Lastin took first place on tie-break from Boris Grachev, both finished on 7.5/9.

Official site: http://www.chessmoscow.ru/index.php?topicID=219

Final Round 9 Standings:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Open Moscow RUS (RUS), 29 i-6 ii 2006
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1. Lastin, Alexander         g  RUS 2594  7.5  52.0  42.25  40.0  2750 +1.56
  2. Grachev, Boris            m  RUS 2510  7.5  48.5  38.75  36.5  2700 +2.01
  3. Rychagov, Andrey          m  RUS 2509  7.0  45.5  34.50  34.0  2674 +1.78
  4. Maslak, Konstantin        m  RUS 2529  6.5  50.0  34.75  36.0  2631 +1.19
  5. Nikolenko, Oleg           m  RUS 2527  6.5  47.5  32.50  35.5  2609 +0.92
  6. Najer, Evgeniy            g  RUS 2652  6.5  50.5  33.50  35.0  2680 +0.29
  7. Smikovski, Ivan           m  RUS 2538  6.5  52.0  35.00  35.0  2628 +1.10
  8. Czarnota, Pawel           m  POL 2497  6.5  51.5  36.25  34.5  2598 +1.19
  9. Kosyrev, Vladimir         g  RUS 2527  6.5  51.0  34.50  34.5  2657 +1.34
 10. Iskusnyh, Sergei          g  RUS 2510  6.5  44.0  31.00  33.5  2573 +0.74
 11. Amonatov, Farrukh         g  TJK 2564  6.5  47.5  32.25  33.0  2601 +0.47
 12. Khismatullin, Denis       g  RUS 2576  6.5  45.0  31.00  33.0  2600 +0.29
 13. Yandemirov, Valeri        g  RUS 2503  6.5  46.0  33.75  33.0  2573 +0.83
 14. Novikov, Stanislav        g  RUS 2520  6.5  45.0  32.25  32.5  2571 +0.56
 15. Chebotarev, Oleg             RUS 2494  6.5  48.0  34.00  32.5  2604 +1.28
 16. Aleksandrov, Aleksej      g  BLR 2653  6.5  49.0  32.25  31.5  2566 -0.82
 17. Belov, Vladimir           g  RUS 2608  6.5  43.5  31.50  29.5  2545 -0.58
 18. Zontakh, Andrey           g  UKR 2545  6.0  46.0  29.50  31.5  2527 -0.21
 19. Nechepurenko, Roman V     f  RUS 2430  6.0  48.0  30.00  31.5  2585 +1.86
 20. Riazantsev, Alexander     g  RUS 2594  6.0  49.5  29.50  31.0  2522 -0.76
 21. Grigoriants, Sergey       g  RUS 2550  6.0  45.0  28.75  31.0  2551 -0.03
 22. Zabotin, Alexander        f  RUS 2418  6.0  40.5  25.75  30.5  2487 +0.78
 23. Sveshnikov, Evgeny        g  LAT 2503  6.0  47.5  31.00  30.0  2563 +0.69
 24. Poobesh Anand, S          m  IND 2413  6.0  45.5  30.00  30.0  2493 +0.96
 25. Tarlev, Konstantin           UKR 2413  6.0  42.5  26.00  30.0  2496 +0.96
 26. Prathamesh, Sunil Mokal   m  IND 2346  6.0  46.5  29.00  30.0  2537 +2.31
 27. Lysyj, Igor               m  RUS 2523  6.0  44.0  28.00  30.0  2515 -0.12
 28. Khruschiov, Alexey        m  MDA 2386  6.0  45.5  28.00  30.0  2555 +2.04
 29. Romanov, Evgeny           m  RUS 2489  6.0  44.0  27.50  29.5  2501 +0.15
 30. Petrosian, Davit G        m  ARM 2352  6.0  44.5  28.25  29.5  2547 +2.40
 31. Slugin, Sergey            f  RUS 2407  6.0  41.0  27.25  29.0  2486 +0.96
 32. Geller, Jakov             m  RUS 2505  6.0  41.0  27.50  28.5  2462 -0.48
 33. Deviatkin, Andrei         m  RUS 2528  6.0  42.0  28.25  28.5  2494 -0.39
 34. Gorbatov, Alexej          m  RUS 2381  6.0  44.0  27.75  28.0  2489 +1.32
 35. Kuzin, Anton                 RUS 2368  6.0  39.0  22.75  25.5  2535 +1.82
225 players

6) First Saturday February

The First Saturday tournaments for 2006 start with one GM and two IM groups along with lesser events starting February 4th.

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

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
FSGM February Budapest HUN (HUN), 4-16 ii 2006              cat. VII (2423)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Radziewicz, Iweta     m POL 2421  * . 1 1 . 0 = 1 . 1 . 1 .  5.5  2653 
 2. Vajda, Levente        g ROM 2526  . * . . . 1 1 1 = . . = 1  5.0  2706 
 3. Muir, Andrew J        m SCO 2325  0 . * = 1 . = . . 1 1 . .  4.0  2557 
 4. Prohaszka, Peter      f HUN 2344  0 . = * = . . . = 1 1 . .  3.5  2460 
 5. Jakab, Attila         m HUN 2412  . . 0 = * 1 1 = . 0 = . .  3.5  2410 
 6. Caruana, Fabiano      f ITA 2409  1 0 . . 0 * . . 0 . = 1 1  3.5  2427 
 7. Ilincic, Zlatko       g SCG 2545  = 0 = . 0 . * . 1 . = . 1  3.5  2408 
 8. Nemeth, Miklos1       f HUN 2378  0 0 . . = . . * 1 . . = =  2.5  2380 
 9. Bellia, Fabrizio      m ITA 2390  . = . = . 1 0 0 * = . 0 .  2.5  2350 
10. Antic, Dejan          g SCG 2505  0 . 0 0 1 . . . = * = . =  2.5  2280 
11. Paschall, William M   m USA 2368  . . 0 0 = = = . . = * . .  2.0  2298 
12. Murariu, Andrei       m ROM 2461  0 = . . . 0 . = 1 . . * 0  2.0  2298 
13. Muzychuk, Anna       wg SLO 2417  . 0 . . . 0 0 = . = . 1 *  2.0  2345 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
FSIMA February Budapest HUN (HUN), 4-16 ii 2006              cat. I (2257)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Nguyen Huynh Minh H         f VIE 2217  * 0 1 . . 1 1 1 0 1  5.0  2422 
 2. Hardarson, Robert           f ISL 2369  1 * = = = . = . = 1  4.5  2331 
 3. Moussard, Jules             f FRA 2117  0 = * . 1 = 1 = . 1  4.5  2395 
 4. Adams, Nick A                 USA 2212  . = . * 0 1 0 = 1 1  4.0  2339 
 5. Lengyel, Bela               m HUN 2291  . = 0 1 * = = 0 1 .  3.5  2261 
 6. Kaposztas, Miklos           m HUN 2294  0 . = 0 = * = 1 1 .  3.5  2239 
 7. Boguszlavszkij, Jevgenyij   m HUN 2348  0 = 0 1 = = * . . =  3.0  2197 
 8. Sanchez, Louis              f FRA 2301  0 . = = 1 0 . * 0 1  3.0  2171 
 9. Pavel, Miklos                 HUN 2190  1 = . 0 0 0 . 1 * 0  2.5  2171 
10. Bednay, Bence                 HUN 2231  0 0 0 0 . . = 0 1 *  1.5  2020 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------
FSIMB February Budapest HUN (HUN), 4-16 ii 2006       cat. II (2283)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Galyas, Miklos       m HUN 2374  * = 1 1 . = . = 1 1  5.5  2510 
 2. Fodor, Tamas jr      f HUN 2302  = * . 0 . 1 1 1 1 1  5.5  2505 
 3. Duong The Anh        f VIE 2287  0 . * 1 1 0 1 1 1 .  5.0  2438 
 4. Toth, Lili          wm HUN 2215  0 1 0 * = . . 1 = 1  4.0  2364 
 5. Toth, Ervin            HUN 2317  . . 0 = * 0 = 1 1 1  4.0  2312 
 6. Brustkern, Juergen   f GER 2240  = 0 1 . 1 * 0 . 0 =  3.0  2236 
 7. To Nhat Minh           HUN 2175  . 0 0 . = 1 * 0 1 =  3.0  2245 
 8. Werner, Dimo         m GER 2372  = 0 0 0 0 . 1 * . =  2.0  2120 
 9. Voiteanu, Gabriel      ROM 2268  0 0 0 = 0 1 0 . * .  1.5  2042 
10. Farago, Sandor       m HUN 2282  0 0 . 0 0 = = = . *  1.5  2055 
--------------------------------------------------------------------

7) Championship of the Czech Republic

The Championship of the Czech Republic takes place 7th-17th February 2006 in Brno-hotel Bobycentrum.

Live games: http://muzi2006.chess.cz/partie.php (1st-10th round at 3 pm, 11th round at 11 am). In a viewer only.

The main page of the championship is http://muzi2006.chess.cz/index.php

---------------------------------------------------------------------
ch-CZE Brno CZE (CZE), 7-17 ii 2006                     cat. X (2496)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Laznicka, Viktor   m CZE 2525  * = = . 1 = . . 1 = . 1  5.0  2640 
 2. Cvek, Robert       m CZE 2498  = * = . = . 1 1 . . = =  4.5  2591 
 3. Voloshin, Leonid   g CZE 2466  = = * 1 = = . . = . . =  4.0  2555 
 4. Stocek, Jiri       g CZE 2580  . . 0 * . . 1 = = 1 = =  4.0  2534 
 5. Jirovsky, Milos    g CZE 2476  0 = = . * . 1 . = = . =  3.5  2492 
 6. Blatny, Pavel      g CZE 2483  = . = . . * 0 . = = = 1  3.5  2495 
 7. Kalod, Radek       g CZE 2502  . 0 . 0 0 1 * = . 1 1 .  3.5  2497 
 8. Bernasek, Jan      m CZE 2446  . 0 . = . . = * = = = 1  3.5  2507 
 9. Polak, Tomas       g CZE 2485  0 . = = = = . = * . = .  3.0  2449 
10. Simacek, Pavel     m CZE 2480  = . . 0 = = 0 = . * 1 .  3.0  2454 
11. Jansa, Vlastimil   g CZE 2521  . = . = . = 0 = = 0 * .  2.5  2394 
12. Konopka, Michal    m CZE 2489  0 = = = = 0 . 0 . . . *  2.0  2338 
---------------------------------------------------------------------

8) 3rd Mediterranean Championship

The 3rd Mediterranean Championship for men and women took place in Antalya, Turkey 31st January - 8th February 2006. Suat Atalik took the honours with 7.5/9 a full point clear of his wife Ekaterina who took clear second.

Official sites: http://www.medchess.com and http://www.tsf.org.tr. Probably the games are available on the official site somewhere but I only found them at: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2915 which is a report with photos on the event.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3rd ch-Mediterranean Antalya TUR (TUR), 1-7 ii 2006
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Atalik, Suat              g  TUR 2618  +10 +13 = 2 +15 +12 + 8 = 3 + 4 = 6  7.5  2640 
 2. Atalik, Ekaterina         wg RUS 2399  +19 +14 = 1 + 9 = 6 =13 =10 + 8 = 3  6.5  2513 
 3. Sulypa, Alexandre         g  UKR 2479  +16 =11 - 9 =10 +14 + 6 = 1 +13 = 2  6.0  2463 
 4. Lamoureux, Charles        m  FRA 2379  - 9 + 5 =10 =11 +16 =15 +12 - 1 +13  5.5  2375 
 5. Yagiz, Yasin Emrah           TUR 2209  = 7 - 4 +19 - 6 =10 +20 +14 =12 +15  5.5  2369 
 6. Djuric, Stefan            g  SCG 2460  -12 = 7 +17 + 5 = 2 - 3 +15 =10 = 1  5.0  2379 
 7. Atakisi, Umut             m  TUR 2441  = 5 = 6 +14 - 8 +11 =12 =13 = 9 =10  5.0  2331 
 8. Bosiocic, Marin           f  CRO 2371  +17 =12 -15 + 7 + 9 - 1 +16 - 2 =11  5.0  2343 
 9. Topel, Zehra              wf TUR 2103  + 4 =15 + 3 - 2 - 8 -14 +21 = 7 +16  5.0  2375 
10. Simeonidis, Ioannis          GRE 2261  - 1 +22 = 4 = 3 = 5 +17 = 2 = 6 = 7  5.0  2381 
11. Makropoulou, Marina       wg GRE 2284  +20 = 3 -12 = 4 - 7 =18 +19 +17 = 8  5.0  2276 
12. Citak, Selim              f  TUR 2221  + 6 = 8 +11 =13 - 1 = 7 - 4 = 5 =20  4.5  2347 
13. Erturan, Yakup            f  TUR 2365  +18 - 1 +16 =12 +15 = 2 = 7 - 3 - 4  4.5  2351 
14. Mohammad, Samir           f  SYR 2320  +21 - 2 - 7 +19 - 3 + 9 - 5 +18 =17  4.5  2204 
15. Sorensen, Torben             DEN 2368  +22 = 9 + 8 - 1 -13 = 4 - 6 +21 - 5  4.0  2238 
16. Sargac, Rajna             wm CRO 2233  - 3 +18 -13 +20 - 4 +21 - 8 +22 - 9  4.0  2151 
17. Lamoureux, Izabelle          FRA 2033  - 8 =20 - 6 +18 +19 -10 =22 -11 =14  3.5  2131 
18. Mir Mahmoud, Afamia          SYR 2024  -13 -16 +21 -17 =22 =11 +20 -14 =19  3.5  2077 
19. Borg, Andrew                 MLT 2151  - 2 +21 - 5 -14 -17 +22 -11 +20 =18  3.5  2064 
20. Tulay,Seray                  TUR ----  -11 =17 =22 -16 +21 - 5 -18 -19 =12  2.5  1965 
21. Yilmaz,Gizem                 TUR ----  -14 -19 -18 +22 -20 -16 - 9 -15 +22  2.0  1919 
22. Al Jaabari, Omar Oussama     PLE 2030  -15 -10 =20 -21 =18 -19 =17 -16 -21  1.5  1845 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9) French Chess League

The first rounds of the French League top 16 took place 3rd-5th February 2006 in Paris and Clichy (Group A) and Monaco and Nancy (Group B). I have Group A virtually complete apart from the games from Paris round 2 Adams-Wojtaszek and Edouard,R-Giffard,N (marked in the file). Group B I don't even have a complete match so I will hold those over in the hope that more complete files emerge.

Further details: http://www.echecs.asso.fr including incredibly useful calendars for group A at: http://www.echecs.asso.fr/(snqfcam4slyuwm55szuzyr2q)/EquipesCalendrier.aspx?Ref=2&Saison=FFE and Group B at: http://www.echecs.asso.fr/(snqfcam4slyuwm55szuzyr2q)/EquipesCalendrier.aspx?Ref=3&Saison=FFE. Additional coverage at: http://www.europe-echecs.com/ and http://nao-cc.com/naocc/index.html (one corrected and two other games came from their files)

Group A Top 16 

Round 1
Drancy              1   -   1   Mulhouse
Montpellier         0   -   7   Nao Chess Club
Avignon             0   -   6   Clichy
Evry Grand Roque    8   -   0   Créteil
Round 2
Mulhouse            1   -   3   Nao Chess Club
Drancy              0   -   6   Montpellier
Clichy              7   -   0   Créteil
Avignon             1   -   6   Evry Grand Roque
Round 3
Montpellier         0   -   2   Mulhouse
Nao Chess Club      9   -   0   Drancy
Evry Grand Roque    2   -   2   Clichy
Créteil             3   -   3   Avignon
    
Pl. Team             Pts   j.   d.   p.  c.
1   Nao Chess Club     9   3   18   19   1
2   Evry Grand Roque   8   3   13   16   3
3   Clichy             8   3   13   15   2
4   Mulhouse           6   3   0    4    4
5   Montpellier        5   3  -3    6    9
6   Avignon            4   3  -11   4   15
7   Créteil            4   3  -15   3   18
8   Drancy             4   3  -15   1   16

Group B Top 16

Round 1
Gonfreville   4   -   2   Antibes
Monaco        5   -   1   Cannes
Nancy         2   -   1   Nice
Bischwiller   4   -   1   Strasbourg
Round 2
Antibes       3   -   5   Cannes
Gonfreville   2   -   4   Monaco
Nice          3   -   2   Strasbourg
Nancy         3   -   3   Bischwiller
Round 3
Monaco        5   -   1   Antibes
Cannes        2   -   2   Gonfreville
Bischwiller   2   -   1   Nice
Strasbourg    1   -   2   Nancy
    
Pl. Team        Pts   j.   d.   p.  c.
1   Monaco        9   3   10   14    4
2   Bischwiller   8   3    4    9    5
3   Nancy         8   3    2    7    5
4   Gonfreville   6   3    0    8    8
5   Cannes        6   3   -2    8   10
6   Nice          5   3   -1    5    6
7   Strasbourg    3   3   -5    4    9
8   Antibes       3   3   -8    6   14

10) Belgian Interteams 2005-2006

The 8th round of the Belgian Interteams 2005-2006 took place on 5th February 2006. Against Eynatten 1 a weakened CREC put up no resistance and lost second place to SK Rochade. Also remarkably Eynatten 2 managed to move into fifth place. News: Valery Maes.

Official site: http://users.pandora.be/vmaes/interclub/

Results round 8: 5th February 2006
 1. Borgerhout - Boey Temse    5 - 3
 2. KGSRL - Eynatten 2         3 - 5
 3. CREC - Eynatten 1         1½ - 6½
 4. CE Namur - Jean Jaurès     4 - 4
 5. SK Rochade - SK Deurne     7 - 1
 6. CRELEL - KBSK             2½ - 5½

 Standings after 8 rounds :
 1. Eynatten 1         46½
 2. SK Rochade         40
 3. CREC               38
 4. KBSK               36
 5. Eynatten 2         31½ 
 6. KGSRL              30
 7. CE Namur           29½ 
 8. Borgerhout         29½  
 9. Boey Temse         29
10. CRELEL             28½
11. Jean Jaurès        27
12. SK Deurne          18½

11) Gibtelecom Masters

The Gibraltar Congress took place 24th January - 2nd February 2006. Kiril Georgiev won with an impressive 8.5/10 a point clear of Nigel Short and Emil Sutovsky. My thanks to John Saunders for one further corrected game

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

12) ACP Tour News and Interviews

ACP Tour Report for December. This report covers eight events, in which exactly 100 players received 8428 ACP Tour points. Unfortunately, the most successful player of December, Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov is not a member of the Association, thus he is not included in our list. For the same reason you will not find in the current Tour standings such names as Ivan Cheparinov, Zoltan Gyimesi, Vladimir Malaniuk, Sergey Tiviakov, and other 48 players (mostly from the lower part of the list). Public attention in December gravitated to two major tournaments that took place on Russian soil: the World Cup and the Superfinal. Kazan representative Sergey Rublevsky, being moderately successful in Khanty Mansiysk, where he quelified for the candidates matches, swept a superstrong field of the Superfinal, finishing first with a round to spare. These results brought Rublevsky to the first spot of the December list. The World Cup winner Levon Aronian asquired 660 points for that achievement, which not only gave him the second place in December, but also allowed the Armenian to become, using a football term, the "winter champion" of the ACP Tour 05/06. Harikrishna, who led the race earlier, got 233 points for finishing second equal in Pamplona and advancing to the third round of the World Cup. Two players, Alexander Morozevich and Dmitry Jakovenko, both occupy the third place in our list for finishing second equal in Moscow. These guys seem to appear together at every piece of the news, after Morozevich failed to show up in time for their individual encounter in the Superfinal, and Jakovenko was very close to returning the point, being late to the 1st round game of the Moscow Chesspro Blitz. 264 points to both. These four are closely followed by aforementioned Harikrishna (233), Bareev (220), Bacrot and Grischuk (both 210). Young Russian Denis Khismatillin, who won the Russian Cup knock-out final and earned 200 Tour points is probably the first name is not widely known. With regard to the Cup - the tournament had taken place in November, but it was not computed yet by the time I wrote the November report. Khismatullin surpassed former Russian champions Lastin, Volkov, and Sakaev, as well as such strong GMs as Amonatov, Belov, Galkin, Khenkin, Smirnov and other respected professionals. Full report at: http://www.chess-players.org/eng/news/viewarticle.html?id=499

The ACP website also has interviews with Pavel Tregubov, Bartlomiej Macieja, Yannick Pelletier and Viorel Bologan all members of the new ACP board.

DECEMBER SUMMARY
 N Name                  Events Points Diff.
			 Played
 1 Aronian, Levon         3     1236   +660
 2 Harikrishna, Pentala   6     1024   +233
 3 Naiditsch, Arkadij     4     854 
 4 Rublevsky, Sergei      3     765    +685
 5 Volokitin, Andrei      3     704    
 6 Svidler, Peter         3     703    + 85
 7 Anand, Viswanathan     3     639    
 8 Bareev, Evgeny         3     620    +220
 9 Bacrot, Etienne        4     561    +210
10 Nakamura, Hikaru       3     510    +180
11 Van Wely, Loek         4     462    + 98
12 Gelfand, Boris         2     455    +135
13 Sokolov, Ivan          5     414    + 60
14 Eljanov, Pavel         1     400    
   Khalifman, Alexander   1     400    
16 Radjabov, Teimour      2     360    + 60
17 Jakovenko, Dmitry      2     344    +264
18 McShane, Luke          1     340    
   Morozevich, Alexander  2     340    +264
20 Grischuk, Alexander    2     286    +210
   Shabalov, Alexander    2     286    + 46
22 Motylev, Alexander     2     278    
23 Bruzon, Lazaro         3     272    +140
24 Timofeev, Artyom       2     225    
25 Kovalev, Andrei        1     220    
26 Najer, Evgeniy         3     213    + 60
27 Lautier, Joel          2     208    + 98
28 Khismatullin, Denis    1     200    +200
29 Sasikiran, Krishanan   2     189    
30 Kobalia, Mikhail       2     182    

Further details: http://www.chess-players.org/eng/index.html

13) Robert Huntington replies to Yasser Seirawan

A continuation of the FIDE discussion published last week.

Dear Yasser,

I read your open letter on FIDE with great interest and agree with virtually everything you wrote. I do, however, feel compelled to correct you on what you wrote concerning my separation from AP.

You wrote, "Our friend Robert Huntington, the Associated Press chess reporter, resigned his post in disgust in 2002." While it is certainly true that I was disgusted, it was AP's decision [in September 2003], not mine. At that time, AP had twice lost money twice by buying airline tickets for me to travel to events that were rescheduled (the postponed Moscow Grand Prix and the Kasparov-Deep Junior match that was moved from Jerusalem to New York). Rather than risk having this happen again, they chose to find a local stringer for the Kasparov-Ponomariov match in Yalta only to see that match also cancelled. That was the last straw and they informed me that they no longer considered chess worth covering.

In other words, this was more than a single disgruntled and disgusted journalist, it was the world's largest and most important news organization rendering its opinion, not merely on FIDE, but on chess in general. Not only have they ceased covering FIDE events but they have ceased covering all chess events. For example, they have not bothered with Corus or Linares and sent no one to the Kramnik-Leko match last year. I wish I could say that they were mistaken or misguided in their decision but I have no doubt that it made perfect business sense. Your hypothetical example of a potential corporate sponsor considering a chess event illustrates why.

Nor is it only AP that has abandoned chess. A google search of Corus coverage shows the Indian press covered it extensively (thanks to Anand) but the rest of the world ignored it. While removing Ilyumzhinov from the head of FIDE is a necessary first step, it will take years of effort (and good fortune) to undo the damage he and his cronies have inflicted. We are lucky enough to have a crop of young players in the West (I'm thinking particularly of Nakamura and Carlsen) on which the media might latch, so the task is not hopeless, just extremely difficult. At least, we recognize where we have to begin.

Sincerely, Rob Huntington

Saturday 11th February 2006

14) Forthcoming Events and Links

Cappelle la Grande 2006

The Cappelle la Grande tournament takes place 18th-25th February 2006. 96 GMs, 9 WGMs included in a total of 559 players.

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

Leading listed players:
Sasikiran, Krishnan     2670 IND 
Delchev, Aleksander     2661 BUL 
Moiseenko, Alexander    2657 UKR 
Korneev, Oleg           2649 RUS 
Gashimov, Vugar         2625 AZE 
Miroshnichenko, Evgenij 2619 UKR 
Guseinov, Gadir         2607 AZE 
Baklan, Vladimir        2601 UKR 
Roiz, Michael           2599 ISR 
Riazantsev, Alexander   2594 RUS 
Popov, Valerij          2592 RUS 
Rozentalis, Eduardas    2582 LTU 
Spraggett, Kevin        2581 CAN 
Brodsky, Michail        2581 UKR 
Azarov, Sergei          2581 BLR 
Golod, Vitali           2577 ISR 
Erenburg, Sergey        2573 ISR 
Nijboer, Friso          2571 NED 
Kornev, Alexei          2570 RUS 
Luther, Thomas          2569 GER 

Aarhus GM

There is a GM-tournament cat. X-XI in Aarhus, Denmark, August 5th-13th 2006 with a special event on August 4. The players will consist of 5 women vs. 5 men and women with ELO > 2460 are welcome to contact Soren Sogaard (soren@seagaard.dk) for further information. There will also be an IM-tournament, cat. V (5 women vs. 5 men).

Hyderabad International Chess Tournament

Hyderabad International Grand Masters Open Chess Tournament which was postponed in December has been confirmed as taking place 25th February - 5th March 2006. Organiser Lanka Ravi ( cpaiap@gmail.com) needs two WGMs or WIMs from different countries to participate in the event. For all the players he will give Accommodation and Food. As compensation for the airticket WGMs will be given US$350 and Wims US250/-

Further details: http://www.ongccuphyd.in/ or at the Chess Players of India site: http://www.cpai.in/

Morelia and Linares 2006

Morelia in Mexico hosts the first half of the traditional Linares super tournament their half should place February 18th-26th, 2006. The Linares half will probably finish around 12th March 2006.

Players: Veselin Topalov, Peter Leko , Vassily Ivanchuk , Peter Svidler , Etienne Bacrot , Levon Aronian , Francisco Vallejo and Teimour Radjabov.

Further details: http://www.moreliachess.com/eng/

The open that was supposed to take place around the same time has been cancelled.

Bundesliga

The 10th and 11th rounds of the Bundesliga take place 18th-19th February 2006.

Official site: http://www.schachbundesliga.de/

XIX edition of the Ciudad de León

The XIX edition of the Ciudad de León chess tournament takes place 8th-12th June 2006 at the Junta de Castilla y León building in León, Spain.

Players: Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, Paco Vallejo and Lázaro Bruzón.

There will be 2 semi finals (June 9th and June 10th) and a final (June 11th)

Official sites: http://www.advancedchessleon.com and/or http://www.elajedrezdelfuturo.com

Spanish Championship

The Spanish closed and open Championships will be held in León November 22nd-30th 2006. The Hotel Conde Luna from León will be the venue and the official hotel of the organization.

2nd San Marino Open

The 2nd San Marino International Chess Open takes place in the Republic of San Marino June 5th-11th 2006, at the end of the Turin World Chess Olympiad. Prize fund € 40.000, 1st prize € 10.000. For any related information visit the internet website http://www.sanmarinoscacchi.sm

For further info: info@sanmarinoscacchi.sm

Las Vegas Masters

Las Vegas Masters Chess Tournament June 10th-14th, 2006

School House Chess Center, Las Vegas, USA FIDE rated, 9 round Swiss, open to players rated FIDE 2200 and higher. $3,800 prize fund, free entry to GMs and non-US IMs.

Website: http://www.clarkcountychessclub.com/masters/. Info: Chris Bird, (702)575-0635, chris@clarkcountychessclub.com.

National Open

National Open Chess Tournament June 16th-18th, 2006

Riviera Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, USA 6 round Swiss, 8 sections: Open, U2200, U2000, U1800, U1600, U1400, U1200 and Unrated. Estimated $100,000 total prize fund! Free entry to GMs. Side events include Susan Polgar World Championship for Girls and National Open Blitz Championship.

Website: http://www.lvchessfestival.com

Alushta Tournaments

01.02.06 Tournaments in Alushta:

GM Norm: 29.04-9.05, 11.05-21.05, 23.05-1.06, 2.06-12.06, 16.06-26.06, 2.09-12.09, 14.09-24.09, 26.09–6.10,

IM Norm: 29.04-9.05, 11.05-21.05, 23.05-1.06, 2.06-12.06, 16.06-26.06, 2.09-12.09, 14.09-24.09, 26.09–6.10,

Rating tournament: 5.06-13.06, 23.06–27.06

Open tournament (under 16 years) First prize - 200$ 14.06-22.06, Swiss 9 rounds.

Open tournament First prize - 1000$ First prize (woman)- 500$: 28.06-6.07, Swiss 9 rounds. Open tournament (rapid chess) 7.07–8.07, Swiss 9 rounds. Blitz tournament 9.07. Session of school of Gennadi Kuzmin 23.06–27.06. Individual and group studying.

Further information: http://www.kaissa.com.ua phone +38 (06560)5-05-32, +380505828911 (for Russian speaking) + 38 050 669-26-04 (for English speaking) e-mail: info@kaissa.com.ua

Battle of Senta 1697 Chess Festival

The 10th Anniversary Chess Festival "The Battle of Senta 1697" takes place 21st30th July 2006. Events: A Main tournament, B tournament, rapid-transit ( ,, Blitz ,, ) tournament, rapid-transit tournament, children’s rapid-transit tournament, women’s rapid-transit tournament

Information, registration for tournaments and private accommodation bookings at Seles Ambrus, 27 Fruskogorska street, 24400 Senta Serbia-Montenegro . Telephone number : +381-24-813-251 or mob. +381-63-8-754-713, E-mail : kajari@sksyu.net , szelescs@sabotronic.co.yu, novaklaslo@ptt.yu, brindzai@stcable.co.yu .

MTel Cup Sofia

The field for the Mtel Cup in Sofia 9th (opening ceremony) - 21st (closing) May 2006 has almost been finalised. Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, Peter Svidler, Etienne Bacrot, Gata Kamsky are confirmed and Levon Aronian is a possible for the final place. Website to be announced later.

European Blitz Championship

The 20th International Games Festival includes the EUROPEAN BLITZ Championship 18th-19th February 2006. At the Palais des Festivals - Salon Méditerranée. Time Control : 5 minutes per player. 36 round Swiss System. Open to all players that are members in an ECU country or playing under the code of an ECU member (license is not necessary) Entry fee : 15 Euros (including IMs and GMs)

20,000 Euros in prizes with 1st Pool A 4500 Euros and 1st Pool B 300 Euros.

Further Information: info@cannes-echecs.org - ( 04.93.39.41.39 http://www.cannes-echecs.org)

XXII Reykjavik Open

XXII Reykjavik Open takes place 6th-14th March 2006.

Further details: http://www.skaksamband.com/reykjavikopen2006/

Lenk International Chess Festival

The "Swiss Chess Tour 2006" will continue in Lenk with the 18th "Kreuz-Open" April 13th-17th 2006.

The venue is 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 (1945), junior(1986-89), schoolboy (1990) and best local player. Entry fee 130 SF, FMs and juniors 60 SF, at the door 10 SF more, GMs and IMs free. New: teams competition, with 4 members; 3 prizes: 4x100/4x75/4x50 SF; entry fee 10 SF. Venue: Hotel "Kreuz". Time table: Round 1st 18.00-23.00 April 13,; Rounds 2/3 09.30-14.30 and 15.30-20.30 April 14,; Round 4 13.30-18.30 April 15,; Rounds 5/6 09.30-14.30 and 15.30-20.30 April 16,; Round 7 9.30-14.30 April 17. Closing ceremony April 17 at 16.00.

Info: Beochess +41+62+965-46-50 (Robert Spoerri) or info@beochess.ch or site http://www.beochess.ch for more details.

VIII Rector Cup

The VIII Rector Cup takes place 27th March - 7th April 2006. There are GM events for men and women. The events take place in the National law academy of Ukraine & Chess club in Kharkov 12 participants in each tournament, round robin, 11 rounds, 90 minutes for each player to finish the game with extra 30 seconds for each move from the start (Fischer system)

Further info:
+38(057) 704-38-12 Chess club - Law academy
+38(067) 562-00-07 mobile Karlovich Anastasiya
+38(050) 353-37-22 mobile Kovchan Alexander
e-mail: nlau@mail.ru

Bermuda International Open 2006

The Bermuda International Open takes place February 10th-12th 2006. Sadly the invitational has had to be cancelled due to venue problems.

Further details: http://www.bermuda.bm/chess/

20th Pula Open 2006

The 20th Pula Open (Croatia) takes place 18th-25th June 2006.

Further details and entry: http://www.skpula.hr/

4th Nancy Chess Festival

4th international chess festival in Nancy (east of France - 300 kms from Paris) from 20th-26th February 2006.

No open, but 10 different Round-Robin closed tournaments for 10 players each (9 rounds in 7 days : 2 hours + 30seconds per player). One master group for IM norms (completed : No more invitation for titled players), and several others groups arranged by Elo between 1000 and 2300, to obtain or to improve your FIDE Elo. Prizes : 200?-120?-80? in each group. + a simul against a master just before the prizegiving ceremony on sunday + a big blitz tournament on friday evening + one kids rapid tournament on wednesday afternoon ... Entry fee : 50? / under 20 : 25? / minus 10% for 4 players from the same club or just coming together. Please contact me before february 10th. Final payment possible for non-french players on the first day BEFORE 1pm. Please be on time, no entry at round 2 ! Contact by e-mail : philippe.chr@free.fr

All details in english here : http://philippechess.free.fr/4festivalEngGer.html All results from last year with photos here : http://philippechess.free.fr/3eFestival2005.htm

GM against the World - Olympiads of Chess, Turin 2006

The second GM against the World game on the Olympiad site will be GM Misho Cebalo (Croatia) and he it start on Monday, January 9th. Just Register on the Olympiad website and wait to receive your password by email. Then Enter the game in PlayArea/play on line

Further details: http://www.chessolympiad-torino2006.org

Lodi International Chess Festival

The 2nd Festival Scacchistico Internazionale "Città di Lodi" takes place in Lodi, Italy, 5th-11th June 2006. Prize fund Euros20.000,00.

Further details: http://www.lenuvole.org/ or scacchi@lenuvole.org

US Championship Dates Change

The U.S. Chess Championship returns to San Diego from March 2nd-12th, 2006 and will be held at its new permanent home at NTC Promenade. The event has been pushed back a day so that players can compete in the Morelia Chess Festival. Further details: http://www.moreliachess.com/eng/

The tournament will feature a 64-player field, composed of 19 seeded players (as determined by the October 2005 U.S.C.F Rating List), 43 tournament qualifiers (two of which being online) and 2 wild cards selected by the AF4C. The top seeded players are: 1 Gregory Kaidanov; 2 Gata Kamsky; 3 Alexander Onischuk; 4 Boris Gulko 5 Ildar Ibraigimov; 6 Alexander Shabalov; 7 Varuzhan Akobian; and 8 Igor Novikov. In the women's: 1 Susan Polgar; 2 Anna Zatonskih; 3 Irina Krush; 4 Camilla Baginskaite; 5 Tatev Abrahamyan; and 6 Jennifer Shahade.

Full details:http://www.uschesschampionship.com

14th Donau Open

The 14th Donau Open took place 26th-31st December 2005. I couldn't get the official site: http://www.aschach.info/schach/english.htm to work correctly.

Asian Youth Championships

The Asian Youth Championships took place in New Delhi December 7th-14th 2005.

Games, Results, photos are available at http://www.delhichess.com.

Free ICCF Server Offer

ICCF has announced an end-of-year gift to everyone around the World: a free 2-game match on their dedicated ICCF WebChess server.

The offer is open to anyone Just fill a form with your personal information (name and surname, nationality, e-mail address), and they will pair you in a free 2-game match with someone else from around the World.

You can find the form on the ICCF WebChess server. Just go to http://www.iccf-webchess.com/ . In the main page, you click on "New Events". Then click on "Enter" in the line with the offer to participate in a Friendly 2-game match. Fill with your personal information and click "OK" when you're done.

The time rate will be 10 moves in 40 days, and the games will be unrated, so your ELO (if you have one) will not change with the result.

The deadline for entries is December 31, 2005. We will be starting matches throughout December and the last batch will be online in early January.

Davos Festival 2006

Swiss Chess Tour Davos Festival 2006 with Viktor Korchnoi playing the first time in individual senior championship

The "Swiss Chess Tour 2006" will continue in Davos with Chess Summer Festival from August 5-13, 2006. Main event will be the 6th European Individual Senior Championship. The second tournament will be 5. Davos Open. The first time Davos host an official event. Just to remind, Davos is one of the most popular tourist places in Europe (summer and winter), with specific micro clime, unique in the world.

6th European Individual Senior Championship, August 7th to 13th 2006. "Sunstar Park Hotel" (4 stars) will be host festival in the new, comfortable Congress Center. Swiss system, 9 rounds and the games will last a maximum of 6 hours (40 moves for 2 hours and 60 minutes till the end). Valid for FIDE titles and rating: FIDE, Swiss (SSB) and German (DWZ). Seniors: men born 1945 and earlier; women born 1955 and earlier. Prize (men): 2.500/1.700/1.000/700/600/500/2x400/2x300 SF. 3 group rating prize (200/150/100 SF). Women: 400/300/3x200 SF; Entry fee 70 SF; at the door 10 SF more. Time table: Rounds 1 15.00-21.00 August 5th; Round 2/8 9.30-15.30 August 6th-12th; Round 9 9.30-15.30 August 13th.

5th Davos Open, 7 rounds and the games will last a maximum of 6 hours (40 moves for 2 hours and 60 minutes till the end). Prize are: 1.500 SF, 1.200, 900, 700, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200 and 150 SF. Natural prizes for 4 and more points. Special prizes for best Lady, best local player. Entry fee 140 SF, FMs and juniors 70 SF, GMs and IMs free; juniors lodging at Sunstar Park Hotel free; at the door 10 SF more. Time table: Rounds 1 15.00-21.00 August 6th; Round 2/7 16.00-22.00 August 7th-12th. Venue: "Sunstar Park Hotel" Congress Center. Closing ceremony August 13th, 4 p.m. Unbelievable chess-rates. Info Beochess: +41+62+9654-650 (Robert Spoerri) beochess@bluewin.ch or http://www.beochess.ch or http://yubc.net/~yuchess

Wellington College International

FIDE rated, qualifying event for British Champs and part of the BCF Grand Prix. The event takes place over 2 weekends

Friday 27th January to Sunday 29th January 2006 and Saturday 11th to Sunday 12th February 2006

£1,000+ prize fund including a paid place in 2006 British Championships

Venue: Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire RG45 7PU (35 miles south west of London)

Tournament Director: IM Andrew Martin. Chief Controller: Neville Belinfante (BCF Arbiter)

Entries, requests for accommodation lists, travel details, detailed map and other enquiries should be addressed to :

Ray Clark High Cedars, 17 Oak End Way, Gerrards Cross, Bucks, SL9 8DA England

Tel. (44) (0)7802 306210 (Mon.-Fri. daytime) or Tel. (44) (0)1753 883300 (other times)

E-mail rayclark.mc@tiscali.co.uk or rclark@thehackettgroup.com

Hungarian Events November 2005 - August 2006

1. 5th-18th of November 2005 FIRST SATURDAY /FS/ GM-IM-FM round robins, 9-13 games, norm possibilities, in Budapest, Hungarian Chess Federation, Falk Miksa Str.10. 2nd floor. Organisation: Nagy Laszlo, FIDE International Chess Organizer /NL/, E-mail: firstsat@hu.inter.net

Website: http://www.firstsaturday.hu Other website: http://home.hu.inter.net/~firstsat Phone-fax: (361)-2632859, cellphone: (36)-30-230-1914 From 12:00 a.m. until midnight - Central European Time - GMT+1 hour/

2. 17th-25th of November, Harkány Tenkes cup Open, 250 km South West from Budapest, org:Fulop Csaba, mobile: +(36)-30-9276900

3. 19th-29th of November, IM-FM, KECSKEMET,

4. 3rd-16th of December, FS GM-IM-FM, Budapest, (Two GM groups - a cat.VI.-VII and a cat.IX - X.!!!) Org: NL.

5. 27th of December 2005 - 4th of January 2006 IM-FM, Kecskemet,

6. 6th-14th of January 2006, Budapest, TAPOLCA Open, Org. Paréj József, info: Nagy László, firstsat@hu.inter.net

7 4th-17th of February, FIRST SATURDAY GM (cat.VII and cat.IX/) -IM-FM Budapest

8. 4th-17th of March FS GM-IM-FM, Org.NL.

9. 23rd- 31st of March SPRING FESTIVAL 9 rounds Swiss Open Budapest, org.: NL.

10. 1st-14rth of April, FS cat.VII, IX, XII GM events, IM and FM closed tournaments, Budapest, org.NL.

11. 14th-22nd of April, BUDAPEST Open, 9 rounds Swiss, organizer: IM Rigo, e-mail: me-ri@t-online.hu

12. 6th-18th of May, Budapest, FS GM-IM-FM, org.NL.

13. 20th-30th of May, Budapest, ELEKES memorial GM-IM closed tmt, org.IM Zsinka, e-mail: zsinkala@axelero.hu

14. 3rd-16th of June, FIRST SATURDAY GM /cat.VII and cat IX together/ - IM-FM closed tournaments, Budapest, Org.NL.

15. 17th-25th of June, BALATONLELLE Open, GM-IM closed, org. IM RIGO, e-mail: me-ri@t-online-hu

16. 1st-13th of July, FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM closed, Bp. Org.NL,

17. 15th-23rd of July, AGRIA Open 9 rounds Swiss, Eger, 100 km North from Budapest, Org. RAUCH Ferenc, e-mail: rauch@freemail.hu

18. 24th-30th of July, SZOMBATHELY SUMMER Open 9 rounds Swiss, 300 km West from Budapest, Org: FM KORPICS, Zsolt, e-mail: korpicschess@axelero.hu

19. 5th-17th of August, FIRST SATURDAY, Bp, GM /cat.XII-IX-VII/ - IM-FM closed, Org: NL.

Iranian Super League

The second Season of the Iranian Super League starts from 3rd October 2005. News: Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh.

Further details: http://schach.wienerzeitung.at/asp/turniere.asp?tnr=2350&lan=1 and http://www.iranchess.com/indexen.htm

Czech Chess Christmas 2005

Czech Chess Christmas 2005 Litomysl (CZE) 26.12.2005-1.1.2006 7th christmas chess FIDE tournament, swiss system of 9 round, rate of game 2 x 1,5h + 30s/move, prize fund 75.000 CZK (1st prize 20.000 CZK = 680 EUR), special conditions for IM, WGM and GM, New Year’s Eve programme. Contact: Agentura 64, Jaroslav Fuksik, 783 73 Grygov 337, mobil: 608 364 664, e-mail: a64@proclient.cz, web: http://www.a64.cz

Seagaard ChessReviews

Soren Sogaard has announced that his site Seagaard ChessReviews will be updated after receiving a lot of positive e-mails, "I decided to try to keep running the site. I also got two new reviewers, and the well known danish IM Steffen Pedersen reviews his first book." He'll see if he can keep it going another 6 months.

Website: http://seagaard.dk/review

World Amateur Open Championship Cancelled

Due to the Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita that recently hit the Gulf Coast area, the World Amateur Open Chess Tournament that was to be held Oct. 7-9, 2005, in Kissimmee, Florida, has been cancelled.

Cajun Chess Web Site will be back soon: http://www.cajunchess.com/

Mezezers International Open 2006

The Mezezers International Open 2006 (110 km from Riga Latvia) takes place 1st-6th July 2005.

Details; http://www.mezezers.viss.lv

Jovan Petronic Website

Jovan Petronic has a new website with some news on it.

http://www.jovanpetronic.com/chessnews.htm

World Inter-Varsity Chess Championship

The Rakan Muda Gacc World Inter-Varsity Chess Championship takes place at the Second Residential College University Of Malaya 50603 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. i. All teams are expected to arrive in Malaysia not later than 6 Dec 2005 and expected to depart earliest on 14 Dec 2005.Participation in GACC World Inter-Varsity Chess Championship is open to all BONA FIDE representatives from universities and colleges. GACC will be conducted as an individual Swiss event. The accumulated results of the best 4(four) individuals from the same university (which is inclusive of at least one female player) will be accumulated for the team results. This format is to encourage more female players to participate. Each University or Institute can send two teams if they wish to.

Contact details: TEL: 03-7957 1706 . FAX: 03-7957 1608 E-MAIL: gacc_10@yahoo.com

Official site: http://tcn.sourceforge.net

New RSS Chess Website

Chess Samizdat is a new portal which offers free syndicated chess content to the world via JS and RSS feed.

http://www.correspondencechess.com/samizdat/

Moscow Open 2006

The International Chess Festival "Moscow Open 2006" takes place in Moscow, Russia, 29.01 (31.01, 01.02) - 06.02. 2006. A stage of the Moscow Grand Prix 2006 (http://www.chessmoscow.ru), Russia Cup 2006 (http://www.russiachess.ru) and the ACP Tour 2005-2006 (http://www.chess-players.org)

Contacts: e-mail: mcf06@bk.ru Mr. Igor Glek (IGM, ACP Board Member): igorglek@hotmail.com, phone/fax: +49-2013162843, +7-0953883328. Mr. Alexander Zlochevsky (IGM, Coach of the Moscow Chess Team): zloch@rambler.ru, phone/fax: +7-095-3650757

Further details: http://www.chessmoscow.ru

European Team Championship

In addition to Olympiad history there is now European Team Championship history (1957-2005) available at: http://www.olimpbase.org

Winton Capital British Chess Solving Championship

Winton Capital British Chess Solving Championship, 2005-2006 The starter round of this competition has now finished and the solution to the starter problem, and other details, is available at the website: http://www.bstephen.freeuk.com/0506/bcsc.html

Peter Leko Official Site

Peter Leko now has a web site. http://www.lekochess.com/

CC-Calendar

CC-Calendar. Now 8.092 official computer chess tournaments since 1990. 726 games from older official computer chess tournaments up to 1990. Arena Chess GUI http://www.playwitharena.com Selection: CC-Calendar New are two computer chess tournaments. CIPS (Italy), chess program Delfi won 5th International CSVN tournament (Netherland), chess program Shredder won. AnMon won the 7th French programmers tourney in Massy.

FIDE Trainers Committee

IM Jovan Petronic. Chairman, FIDE Computer & Internet Chess Committee has written about the FIDE Trainers Committee. Link to his article below. In 1998 FIDE formed a powerful Committee comprising of leading chess trainers around the chess globe. Accordingly, it was named the FIDE Trainers Committee, and below, I will try to summarize the immense useful information for the readers, current major chess training activities and appeals of the Committee, etc. The number of certified FIDE Trainers has grown and they are now (in alphabetical order) - none other than: Alburt Lev (USA), Asanov Bolat (Kazahstan), Azmaiparashvili Zurab (Georgia), Boensch Uwe (Germany), Beliavsky Alexandr (Slovenia), Chernin Alexandr (Hungary), Dorfman Iossif (France), Dvoretsky Mark (Russia), Gelfer Israel (Israel), Georgadze Tamaz (Georgia), Gulko Boris (USA), Illescas Miguel (Spain), Kuzmin Alexey (Katar), Khodarkovsky Michael (USA), Leong Ignatius (Singapore), Mikhalcishin Adrian (Slovenia), Marjanovic Slavoljub (Serbia & Montenegro), Mohr Georg (Slovenia), Nikitin Alexandr (Russia), Petrosjan Arshak (Armenia), Polgar Zsuzsa (USA), Postovsky Boris (USA), Psakhis Lev (Israel), Razuvaev Yuri (Russia), Seirawan Yasser (USA), Sosonko Genna (Netherlands), Schmidt Wlodzimerz (Poland), Tukmakov Vladimir (Ukraine), Ubilava Elizbar (Georgia), Vladimirov Evgeny (Kazahstan), Zapata Alonso (Columbia) and Xie Yun (China).

Read the article: http://www.jovanpetronic.com/fidetrainerscommittee.htm and an update: http://www.jovanpetronic.com/fidetrainerscommittee2.htm

Instructional Tactics

There is an instructional tactical site at: http://www.chesstactics.org compiled by Ward Farnsworth.

Kasparov on his retirement

Kasparov's website: http://www.chesschamps.com gives a diary entry on the reasons for his retirement: http://www.chesschamps.com/diary07.html

Correspondence Chess - Romanian Chess Federation - 80 Years

Therer will be a CC tournament "Romanian Chess Federation - 80 Years"? which will be one of the strongest CC events of the year 2005 with 4 ICCF-GMs and 4 ICCF-SIMs among the 13 participants.

Every 2-3 months there will be reports on the tournament wrote by GM Dorian Rogozenko, IM Mihai Ghinda, IM Mircea Pavlov, IM Constantin Lupulescu and FM Marius Ceteras including comments around the games in progress (this is something new in CC).

A promo pdf booklet of the event is available in Romanian chess pages www.romanianchess.org , in the section dedicated to this event http://www.romanianchess.org/rcf80 The booklet contains the introduction of the players, their best games and a short history of the Romanian correspondence chess. Short link for download the promo booklet (archived pdf file) http://www.romanianchess.org/rcf80/rcf80.zip

The tournament will be played at ICCF webserver ( http://www.iccf-webchess.com/EventCrossTable.aspx?id=278 ) .

Computer Chess News

There have been recent computer events. See the Computer Chess Calendar at: http://www.playwitharena.com

Ratings Article

Jean-Claude Templeur on ratings manipulation: http://www.chessmile.com/articles.php?id=30

Harald Malmgren 100 years Correspondence

31st Dec 2004 saw the start of the first Grandmaster tournament on the ICCF Webserver. The tournament is the "Harald Malmgren 100 years". The occasion is to commemorate the 100:d birthday of Harald Malmgren, Tierp in Sweden. Malmgren was runner up after Cecil Purdy in ICCF's first World Championship and earned his GM title in the event. Malmgren passed away in 1957. In his career he was also second in IFSB Championship 1939 and won the Swedish CC Championship in 1942. Malmgren was a true chess enthusiast and issued a book in 1953 "Mina bästa partier" (My best games) with only CC games he had played.

There are 13 participants and you will be able to follow the results on http://www.schack.se/SSKK/palview/res/malmgren.htm and as soon as about 10 moves are made in every game, SSKK will open a page for "live" games. That is games according to the ICCF CoC regulations for live games. The Category of the event is 10 which means that all norms are available.The tournament has two sponsors, Schackakademin and Svenska Schackbutiken AB.

The players are: IM Jan Bennborn, Sweden, IM Sture Olsson, Sweden, IM Rune Bergquist, Norway, IM Ervin Liebert, Estonia, IM Taisto Koskela, Finland, IM Leif Åhman, Sweden, SIM Jón A Pálsson, Iceland, SIM Josef Mrkvicka, Czech Rep, GM Matthias Rüfenacht; Switzerland, IM Gary S Benson, Australia, SIM John Pugh, England, Phillippe Chopin, France and Mads Smith Hansen, Denmark. The withdrawing ICCF President keeps playing CC and starts this event on his very last day in office.

Tomas Carnstam, Jonas Dahlgren, Robert Ericsson, Sebastian Nilsson and Per Söderberg wedish Correspondence Chess Federation (SSKK) Board members.

Hamarat Challenge Match

The ICCF World Champion Tunc Hamarat (AUT) who has never lost a single game with White, has challenged the "Rest of the World" to a friendly 2-game match. He will have White in both games. The games (one will start with 1.e4 and one with 1.d4) will be played on the ICCF Webserver and started on 10th February 2005 with the rule "10 moves/70 days".

The players on the "Rest of the World" team will vote on each move. The move receiving the most votes will be selected. Should 2 or more moves receive the same number of votes, the "Rest of the World" will be given 2 more voting days to decide between the tied moves. Participation in this event is open to all players who pay an entry fee of 5 EUR or $7.00 US dollars via their National CC Federation or the ICCF Direct Entry (DE) option. All fees collected will be transferred to the ICCF Development Fund. The money will be used primarily for development and system support of the ICCF WebChess Server. It will be possible to join the "Rest of the World" team at any stage of the game.

The games may be seen "live" by all players and other observers at http://www.iccf-webchess.com

Each player who voted for the selected move will receive 1 point per move. The player(s) with the most points at the end of the games will receive an ICCF Gold Book. The list of all entrants will be published on the ICCF webpage.

1st ICCF Webchess Open Tournament

The ICCF have announced the 1st WebChess Open Tournament and invites every player worldwide to participate in the event. The event is to be played on the ICCF dedicated Webserver http://www.iccf-webchess.com. This tournament is open to all correspondence chess players worldwide, also for those without any previous ICCF experience. Multiple entries are allowed. The tournament will be played in three stages - preliminaries, semifinal and final.

Details: http://www.iccf-webchess.com/Message.aspx?message=19

Russia vs ROW Correspondence

The Russian Chess Federation is celebrating its 10th anniversary and is using this occasion to challenge the rest of the world to a match over 64 boards with 2 games for each and the start is 15.02 2004. Players include Joop van Oosterom

http://www.mychessweb.com/Tables/Internationale/Play/russia-world.htm

TWIC Messageboard

You need to register to post and vote. Address: http://www.chesscenter.com/messageboard