THE WEEK IN CHESS 604 5th June 2006 by Mark Crowther

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Mark Crowther
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Contents

1) Introduction
2) Chess Olympiad
3) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov re-elected FIDE President
4) 14th World Computer-Chess Championship
5) Hockenheim Willingen GM
6) First Saturday June
7) Geller Memorial
8) OCF 25th NAO FIDE Open
9) 75th Massachusetts Open
10) Forthcoming Events and Links

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Games section

Chess Olympiad                      2694 games
14th World Computer Chess Champs      49 games
Hockenheim Willingen GM               20 games
Geller Memorial                       78 games
OCF 25th NAO FIDE Open               202 games
3043 games

1) Introduction

My thanks to Miklos Orso, Frank Berry, Denis Vretenar, Axel Fritz, Shay Bushinsky, Frits Agterdenbos, Frank Quisinsky, Doug Bake, George Mirijanian, Holger Lieske and everyone else who helped with the issue. A special word of thanks to the anonymous people who provided the results and games on the official Olympiad site. Its always a tough event to cover and I think one can take these things for granted. A far cry from the first Olympiad I covered for TWIC in 1994 where I had to beg for a selection of games.

An exciting Olympiad saw new men's champions. Armenia were convincing winners. Bronze medal winners in the past two Olympiads they stepped up to gold this time. A genuine star in Levon Aronian on top board probably allowed them to take that extra step to gold. There were many exciting performances, the return of Vladimir Kramnik saw him achieve the top rating performance in the event. In addition 15 year old Magnus Carlsen and 16 year old Sergey Karjakin with the 4th and 5th best simply confirmed what we already know, they'll be fighting it out at the top for many years to come.

The FIDE elections were a disappointment for those of us who think that the organisation is in desperate need of reform. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was re-elected by 96 votes to 54 (at least there was a genuine vote this time revealing in theory that a switch of 22 votes could oust the leadership, which is why in the past we had all this "we are one family" 100% votes once it became clear the challenger couldn't be elected). Its now 24 years since Florencio Campomanes took power and 11 since his annointed successor. Problems in the organisation can't be blamed on anyone else but them. We are due a World Championship cycle which will culminate in 2007 and a further one to finish in 2010. FIDE will have a united world championship by the end of the year. There are no excuses. If two fully funded cycles don't take place, they have to resign or be removed. Surely even their supporters must agree that it is the absolute minimum they have to achieve.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) Chess Olympiad

The 37th Chess Olympiad took place 20th May - 4th June 2006. In one of the most open events in years Armenia became deserved champions after a quick 2-2 draw against Hungary in the final round. Israel beat favourites Russia 3-1 putting them out of the medals. China beat the Netherlands 2.5-1.5 to secure Silver. The USA beat Norway 3.5-0.5 which secured them bronze on second tie-break from Israel. In the women's event the Ukraine took gold from Russia and China.

After winning as the Soviet Union and Russia all the Olympiads between 1952 and 2002 apart from 1976 (which they boycotted) and 1978 (which they lost out to Hungary) the Russian team have now failed to capture two Olympiads in a row. They were clearly strongest team but lost an unprecedented four matches including a disastrous 3-1 route in the final round against the Ukraine that put them out of the medals for the first time since the war. Mind you it could be said that India had an even worse time of it. Second seeds they finished in 30th place. The completely deserved winners were Armenia. They were third seeds but with two heavy hitters in Levon Aronian and Vladimir Akopian (who had an especially good Olympiad) in addition to the over achieving Gabriel Sargissian they were always going to be formidable. They'd been bronze medal winners in the last two events (from 9th seeds in 2002 and 4th in 2004) and proved themselves to be keen competitors. This time they had a rising star in Levon Aronian on top board who is currently three in the world and still improving.

In second place were 12th seeds China. They were clearly the benificiaries of other teams failings. They lack the stars but were a fighting side whose consistant results left them with the silver in the end by a point which is actually quite a lot.

The USA were defeated in the penultimate round by Israel but their reward was Norway who they defeated 3.5-0.5 (the half came from one of the stars of the whole Olympiad Magnus Carlsen) to get their revenge on Israel by pipping them for Bronze on tie-break. Israel themselves couldn't have had much hope at the start of the round as they faced Russia, but they won clearly 3-1 and must be bitterly disappointed to have been caught.

4th seeds Ukraine (without Ruslan Ponomariov but still strong) and 5th Seeds France finished 8th and 7th respectively which considering the travails of the top seeds may be seen as an opportunity missed.

The Olympiad is such a big and sprawling event that individual performances can be lost. There were however four very significant performances over 2800. Vladimir Kramnik returned to chess for the first time in 2006 after treatment for his illness (some sort of crippling arthritic complaint). He did so with the top rating performance in the Olympiad 6.5/9 at 2847. This is good news for chess as the treatment seems to have reversed at least 18 month of decline for him just in time for Dortmund and his title match against Topalov. Wang Yue scored 10/12 (2837) and over 1/3rd of the points China accumulated on their way to their silver medal. Etienne Bacrot has struggled recently but his 6/8 for France at 2833 will be welcome for him. Finally all eyes were on Magnus Carlsen in his second Olympiad on top board for Norway (just checked this couldn't believe he was top board last time also!). His 6/8 as a fifteen year old at 2820 simply confirms his quality. Ironically Sergey Karjakin who is only a few months older than Carlsen and there is a strong suspicion that they'll be rivals at the top of the game for years had the fifth best performance at 2798.

Note, I re-edited the game file a few times during the event then when through it once more at the end. The first seven rounds in last week's TWIC had a number of errors, I've corrected them so please re-download TWIC 603. There are errors in the games still no doubt but the documentation (which was excellent) and handling of such a large quantity of games was very good. Not sure who the credit should go (I had a quick look on the website) to but they certainly get a pat on the back from me.

Official site: http://www.chessolympiad-torino2006.org

Live games: http://www1.chessolympiad-torino2006.org:8080/sungam/start.do

Official results page: http://schach.wienerzeitung.at/tnr3410.aspx?art=0&lan=1&flag=30

Chess Photographer Frits Agterdenbos has launched a website of his photos at: http://www.chessvista.com/. He will be at the Turin Olympiad and his photo reports will be available there. Rob Huntington is in Turin and has a new Blog. http://www.allthingshuman.com/ Read about previous Olympiads at: http://www.olimpbase.org/

Men's Final Standings
Rk. SNo  Team                   Team  Games +  = -  TB1  TB2   TB3
1   3    Armenia                ARM   13    10 3 0  36.0 397.0 23
2   12   China                  CHN   13    8  1 4  34.0 393.0 17
3   7    USA                    USA   13    9  3 1  33.0 392.5 21
4   6    Israel                 ISR   13    9  3 1  33.0 380.5 21
5   16   Hungary                HUN   13    7  4 2  32.5 386.5 18
6   1    Russia                 RUS   13    7  2 4  32.0 410.5 16
7   5    France                 FRA   13    7  5 1  32.0 396.0 19
8   4    Ukraine                UKR   13    8  2 3  32.0 390.5 18
9   10   Bulgaria               BUL   13    7  2 4  32.0 385.0 16
10  11   Spain                  ESP   13    7  4 2  32.0 377.5 18
11  20   Czech Republic         CZE   13    7  4 2  31.0 399.0 18
12  8    Netherlands            NED   13    8  1 4  31.0 396.0 17
13  30   Uzbekistan             UZB   13    6  4 3  31.0 389.5 16
14  17   Georgia                GEO   13    9  2 2  31.0 388.0 20
15  14   Germany                GER   13    7  0 6  31.0 381.0 14
16  18   Cuba                   CUB   13    7  3 3  30.5 386.0 17
17  31   Sweden                 SWE   13    6  4 3  30.5 381.0 16
18  23   Moldova                MDA   13    7  1 5  30.5 376.5 15
19  13   England                ENG   13    8  2 3  30.5 366.0 18
20  25   Denmark                DEN   13    8  2 3  30.0 396.0 18
21  21   Poland                 POL   13    7  1 5  30.0 381.0 15
22  22   Greece                 GRE   13    7  2 4  30.0 379.0 16
23  32   Slovenia               SLO   13    8  2 3  30.0 378.5 18
24  9    Azerbaijan             AZE   13    7  2 4  30.0 377.5 16
25  28   Croatia                CRO   13    6  3 4  30.0 373.5 15
26  15   Romania                ROM   13    5  4 4  30.0 372.0 14
27  29   Switzerland            SUI   13    5  5 3  30.0 367.5 15
28  42   Latvia                 LAT   13    6  2 5  30.0 357.5 14
29  50   Australia              AUS   13    7  0 6  30.0 351.0 14
30  2    India                  IND   13    6  3 4  29.5 391.5 15
31  24   Norway                 NOR   13    9  1 3  29.5 376.0 19
32  26   Brazil                 BRA   13    8  2 3  29.5 371.5 18
33  41   FYROM                  MKD   13    7  4 2  29.5 366.0 18
34  47   Canada                 CAN   13    7  0 6  29.5 357.0 14
35  43   Italy A                ITA-A 13    5  3 5  29.5 354.5 13
36  19   Belarus                BLR   13    7  2 4  29.0 381.0 16
37  33   Serbia & Montenegro    SCG   13    6  1 6  29.0 376.0 13
38  34   Turkey                 TUR   13    6  2 5  29.0 372.5 14
39  37   Vietnam                VIE   13    6  4 3  29.0 372.0 16
40  45   Indonesia              INA   13    6  3 4  29.0 369.5 15
41  40   Bosnia Herzegovina     BIH   13    6  4 3  29.0 367.5 16
42  39   Lithuania              LTU   13    6  3 4  29.0 360.5 15
43  36   Slovakia               SVK   13    7  0 6  28.5 373.5 14
44  35   Philippines            PHI   13    4  5 4  28.5 369.5 13
45  27   Iceland                ISL   13    7  1 5  28.5 368.0 15
46  46   Estonia                EST   13    6  1 6  28.5 355.0 13
47  55   Mexico                 MEX   13    5  2 6  28.5 354.0 12
48  70   Italy B                ITA-B 13    6  2 5  28.5 353.5 14
49  51   Iran                   IRI   13    5  1 7  28.0 375.5 11
50  48   Portugal               POR   13    7  0 6  28.0 362.5 14
51  38   Argentina              ARG   13    7  1 5  28.0 361.5 15
52  49   Scotland               SCO   13    7  2 4  28.0 358.0 16
53  73   Kazakhstan             KAZ   13    7  0 6  28.0 345.5 14
54  106  Tajikistan             TJK   13    6  2 5  28.0 331.0 14
55  52   Qatar                  QAT   13    5  2 6  27.5 354.0 12
56  54   Ireland                IRL   13    7  1 5  27.5 352.0 15
57  62   Colombia               COL   13    5  1 7  27.0 362.5 11
58  56   Egypt                  EGY   13    7  3 3  27.0 360.0 17
59  81   Mongolia               MGL   13    8  1 4  27.0 358.5 17
60  44   Bangladesh             BAN   13    6  2 5  27.0 352.0 14
61  58   Albania                ALB   13    6  2 5  27.0 351.5 14
62  53   Finland                FIN   13    4  4 5  27.0 351.5 12
63  88   Dominican Republic     DOM   13    6  1 6  27.0 351.0 13
64  75   Venezuela              VEN   13    7  0 6  27.0 349.0 14
65  60   Chile                  CHI   13    6  1 6  27.0 340.5 13
66  85   UAE                    UAE   13    6  1 6  27.0 324.0 13
67  64   Paraguay               PAR   13    4  3 6  26.5 354.5 11
68  74   Morocco                MAR   13    5  3 5  26.5 353.5 13
69  91   Algeria                ALG   13    4  4 5  26.5 347.0 12
70  61   Belgium                BEL   13    4  3 6  26.5 342.0 11
71  77   Bolivia                BOL   13    4  4 5  26.5 327.5 12
72  72   Costa Rica             CRC   13    5  3 5  26.5 324.0 13
73  66   Peru                   PER   13    5  4 4  26.0 362.5 14
74  59   Ecuador                ECU   13    6  1 6  26.0 349.5 13
75  57   Turkmenistan           TKM   13    4  4 5  26.0 348.0 12
76  90   ICSC                   ICSC  13    5  3 5  26.0 333.5 13
77  65   Austria                AUT   13    5  2 6  26.0 332.5 12
78  68   Singapore              SIN   13    3  5 5  26.0 330.5 11
79  103  Puerto Rico            PUR   13    4  2 7  26.0 320.5 10
80  83   Malaysia               MAS   13    7  0 6  25.5 364.5 14
81  63   Luxembourg             LUX   13    4  2 7  25.5 350.5 10
82  80   Faroe Islands          FAI   13    5  2 6  25.5 345.0 12
83  86   South Africa           RSA   13    5  2 6  25.5 334.5 12
84  87   Nicaragua              NCA   13    6  1 6  25.5 329.0 13
85  89   Iraq                   IRQ   13    6  3 4  25.5 326.0 15
86  67   Andorra                AND   13    5  2 6  25.5 316.5 12
87  121  Japan                  JPN   13    6  0 7  25.5 314.5 12
88  82   Kyrgystan              KGZ   13    8  0 5  25.0 347.0 16
89  69   Tunisia                TUN   13    4  5 4  25.0 341.0 13
90  92   Wales                  WLS   13    4  2 7  25.0 333.5 10
91  79   New Zealand            NZL   13    3  1 9  24.5 342.5 7
92  95   Nigeria                NGR   13    4  3 6  24.5 341.5 11
93  84   Syria                  SYR   13    6  2 5  24.5 338.5 14
94  93   El Salvador            ESA   13    4  2 7  24.5 334.0 10
95  99   Lebanon                LIB   13    5  2 6  24.5 325.0 12
96  100  Uruguay                URU   13    7  0 6  24.5 320.5 14
97  97   Barbados               BAR   13    5  2 6  24.5 319.0 12
98  123  Pakistan               PAK   10    6  1 3  24.5 206.5 13
99  96   Thailand               THA   13    5  2 6  24.0 333.0 12
100 105  Trinidad & Tobago      TRI   13    6  2 5  24.0 314.5 14
101 110  Nepal                  NEP   13    6  1 6  24.0 312.0 13
102 107  Botswana               BOT   13    5  1 7  24.0 305.0 11
103 122  Cyprus                 CYP   13    6  0 7  24.0 297.0 12
104 104  Jamaica                JAM   13    3  4 6  23.5 329.0 10
105 98   Angola                 ANG   13    6  1 6  23.5 328.0 13
106 78   IPCA                   IPCA  13    5  2 6  23.5 325.0 12
107 112  Malta                  MLT   13    4  4 5  23.5 314.0 12
108 132  Sudan                  SUD   13    5  1 7  23.5 299.5 11
109 129  Zambia                 ZAM   10    6  1 3  23.5 222.5 13
110 76   IBCA                   IBCA  13    5  0 8  23.0 322.0 10
111 128  Libya                  LBA   13    5  1 7  23.0 304.0 11
112 116  Uganda                 UGA   13    4  4 5  23.0 303.5 12
113 108  Panama                 PAN   13    6  0 7  23.0 303.0 12
114 131  Netherlands Antilles   AHO   13    4  2 7  23.0 273.5 10
115 94   Yemen                  YEM   13    5  1 7  22.5 325.0 11
116 101  Guatemala              GUA   13    5  2 6  22.5 320.5 12
117 114  Sri Lanka              SRI   13    4  0 9  22.5 303.5 8
118 102  Brunei Darussalam      BRU   13    4  4 5  22.5 291.0 12
119 126  Bahrain                BRN   13    4  4 5  22.0 307.5 12
120 118  Liechtenstein          LIE   13    5  2 6  22.0 301.5 12
121 115  Hong Kong              HKG   13    4  2 7  22.0 300.5 10
122 127  Kenya                  KEN   13    3  5 5  22.0 279.0 11
123 124  Jersey                 JCI   13    5  1 7  22.0 274.5 11
124 111  Palestine              PLE   13    4  2 7  21.5 297.0 10
125 147  Haiti                  HAI   13    3  4 6  21.5 295.5 10
126 117  Monaco                 MNC   13    4  1 8  21.5 291.5 9
127 144  Ethiopia               ETH   13    5  2 6  21.5 289.5 12
128 130  San Marino             SMR   13    5  0 8  21.5 288.5 10
129 113  Surinam                SUR   13    3  1 9  21.5 270.0 7
130 139  Mozambique             MOZ   13    4  2 7  21.0 296.5 10
131 119  Namibia                NAM   13    5  0 8  21.0 292.5 10
132 120  Honduras               HON   13    4  2 7  21.0 289.0 10
133 138  Seychelles             SEY   13    3  2 8  21.0 286.0 8
134 125  Macau                  MAC   13    2  3 8  21.0 281.0 7
135 145  Chinese Taipei         TPE   13    4  1 8  21.0 259.5 9
136 142  Afghanistan            AFG   13    4  3 6  20.5 297.0 11
137 109  Mauritius              MRI   13    5  1 7  20.5 290.5 11
138 134  Guernsey               GCI   13    3  2 8  20.0 280.0 8
139 141  Fiji                   FIJ   13    5  0 8  20.0 259.0 10
140 148  Malawi                 MAL   13    3  4 6  19.5 277.5 10
141 140  Papua New Guinea       PNG   13    3  2 8  19.5 263.0 8
142 137  South Korea            KOR   13    3  3 7  19.0 288.0 9
143 136  Bermuda                BER   13    4  2 7  19.0 268.5 10
144 133  Aruba                  ARU   13    2  1 10 18.0 259.0 5
145 135  British Virgin Islands IVB   13    2  1 10 15.5 262.5 5
146 146  Rwanda                 RWA   13    1  2 10 12.0 263.0 4
147 143  Us Virgin Islands      ISV   13    0  1 12 10.5 263.5 1
148 149  Sierra Leone           SIL   0     0  0 0  0.0  0.0   0
149 150  Somalia                SOM   0     0  0 0  0.0  0.0   0
150 71   Italy C                ITA-C 13    5  3 5  25.5 337.5 13

Women's Final Standings
Rk. SNo  Team                   Team  Games +  = -  TB1  TB2   TB3
1   2    Ukraine                UKR   13    12 1 0  29.5 299.0 25
2   1    Russia                 RUS   13    9  3 1  28.0 306.0 21
3   6    China                  CHN   13    8  3 2  27.5 307.5 19
4   5    USA                    USA   13    7  5 1  24.5 307.0 19
5   4    Hungary                HUN   13    8  1 4  24.5 306.0 17
6   3    Georgia                GEO   13    7  3 3  24.5 305.5 17
7   18   Netherlands            NED   13    7  3 3  24.5 276.5 17
8   7    Armenia                ARM   13    7  4 2  24.0 299.0 18
9   17   Slovenia               SLO   13    7  2 4  24.0 286.0 16
10  22   Czech Republic         CZE   13    8  0 5  24.0 270.5 16
11  8    Germany                GER   13    6  5 2  23.5 287.5 17
12  9    India                  IND   13    7  2 4  23.0 305.0 16
13  10   Bulgaria               BUL   13    7  3 3  23.0 302.0 17
14  11   Romania                ROM   13    7  2 4  23.0 294.0 16
15  23   Vietnam                VIE   13    5  3 5  23.0 283.5 13
16  26   Cuba                   CUB   13    7  3 3  23.0 279.0 17
17  25   Latvia                 LAT   13    7  2 4  23.0 263.0 16
18  15   France                 FRA   13    5  4 4  22.5 299.5 14
19  14   Greece                 GRE   13    8  2 3  22.5 297.0 18
20  12   Poland                 POL   13    8  1 4  22.5 293.0 17
21  32   Belarus                BLR   13    6  3 4  22.5 293.0 15
22  16   Slovakia               SVK   13    8  1 4  22.5 292.0 17
23  13   Lithuania              LTU   13    7  1 5  22.0 286.5 15
24  41   Turkey                 TUR   13    6  4 3  22.0 273.0 16
25  19   Serbia & Montenegro    SCG   13    5  3 5  22.0 272.5 13
26  60   Philippines            PHI   13    6  3 4  22.0 271.5 15
27  37   Iran                   IRI   13    5  3 5  22.0 271.0 13
28  24   Spain                  ESP   13    5  4 4  21.5 286.0 14
29  20   Israel                 ISR   13    7  2 4  21.5 281.5 16
30  36   Croatia                CRO   13    5  4 4  21.5 281.0 14
31  40   Sweden                 SWE   13    6  3 4  21.5 260.0 15
32  39   Uzbekistan             UZB   13    7  1 5  21.5 257.0 15
33  34   Estonia                EST   13    5  3 5  21.0 285.5 13
34  29   Mongolia               MGL   13    7  1 5  21.0 282.5 15
35  28   Argentina              ARG   13    6  2 5  21.0 273.5 14
36  43   Turkmenistan           TKM   13    5  1 7  21.0 266.5 11
37  21   Italy A                ITA-A 13    6  3 4  21.0 266.0 15
38  33   Switzerland            SUI   13    5  3 5  21.0 265.5 13
39  30   Moldova                MDA   13    4  4 5  21.0 262.5 12
40  68   Indonesia              INA   13    5  4 4  21.0 257.5 14
41  51   Canada                 CAN   13    6  1 6  21.0 252.5 13
42  35   England                ENG   13    5  2 6  20.5 271.5 12
43  71   Venezuela              VEN   13    6  2 5  20.5 264.5 14
44  58   Malaysia               MAS   13    6  2 5  20.5 259.5 14
45  31   Kazakhstan             KAZ   13    6  1 6  20.0 283.5 13
46  27   Ecuador                ECU   13    6  2 5  20.0 280.0 14
47  53   Portugal               POR   13    5  3 5  20.0 258.0 13
48  46   Colombia               COL   13    7  1 5  20.0 256.0 15
49  63   El Salvador            ESA   13    7  2 4  20.0 254.0 16
50  55   Iceland                ISL   13    7  3 3  20.0 249.0 17
51  52   Azerbaijan             AZE   13    5  2 6  20.0 244.0 12
52  61   Brazil                 BRA   13    6  3 4  20.0 238.0 15
53  47   Mexico                 MEX   13    6  1 6  19.5 259.0 13
54  38   Australia              AUS   13    7  0 6  19.5 256.0 14
55  59   Denmark                DEN   13    6  1 6  19.5 254.5 13
56  50   Finland                FIN   13    4  4 5  19.5 247.5 12
57  44   Bosnia and Herzegovina BIH   13    5  3 5  19.0 260.0 13
58  56   Austria                AUT   13    5  1 7  19.0 259.0 11
59  42   Norway                 NOR   13    4  4 5  19.0 258.5 12
60  49   Peru                   PER   13    5  2 6  19.0 255.0 12
61  45   Kyrgyzstan             KGZ   13    6  0 7  19.0 254.0 12
62  75   Luxembourg             LUX   13    6  1 6  19.0 241.5 13
63  78   Bolivia                BOL   13    7  0 6  19.0 223.0 14
64  48   FYROM                  MKD   13    4  3 6  18.5 252.5 11
65  70   Italy B                ITA-B 13    5  1 7  18.5 242.0 11
66  73   South Africa           RSA   13    7  0 6  18.5 236.5 14
67  64   IPCA                   IPCA  13    5  1 7  18.5 229.5 11
68  57   Bangladesh             BAN   13    4  5 4  18.0 260.5 13
69  65   Albania                ALB   13    5  2 6  18.0 248.5 12
70  62   Dominican Republic     DOM   13    4  6 3  18.0 239.5 14
71  66   Guatemala              GUA   13    4  2 7  18.0 236.0 10
72  54   IBCA                   IBCA  13    4  3 6  17.5 248.0 11
73  72   Scotland               SCO   13    3  4 6  17.5 240.0 10
74  83   Tajikistan             TJK   13    6  0 7  17.5 236.0 12
75  69   Wales                  WLS   13    4  5 4  17.5 234.5 13
76  80   Jamaica                JAM   13    4  2 7  17.5 232.0 10
77  79   Sri Lanka              SRI   13    4  2 7  17.5 232.0 10
78  82   Ireland                IRL   13    4  3 6  17.5 231.5 11
79  87   Algeria                ALG   13    5  1 7  17.5 227.5 11
80  84   New Zealand            NZL   13    6  0 7  17.5 226.0 12
81  77   Iraq                   IRQ   13    5  1 7  17.0 247.0 11
82  86   Nigeria                NGR   13    4  2 7  17.0 233.0 10
83  85   Costa Rica             CRC   13    4  1 8  17.0 209.0 9
84  88   Botswana               BOT   13    5  2 6  16.5 231.5 12
85  89   Japan                  JPN   13    4  2 7  16.5 211.5 10
86  98   Malta                  MLT   13    4  4 5  16.5 198.0 12
87  67   ICSC                   ICSC  13    4  1 8  16.0 234.0 9
88  74   Puerto Rico            PUR   13    3  3 7  16.0 233.5 9
89  81   UAE                    UAE   13    5  1 7  16.0 211.0 11
90  101  Panama                 PAN   13    5  0 8  15.5 218.5 10
91  97   Chinese Taipei         TPE   13    4  2 7  15.0 193.5 10
92  102  Qatar                  QAT   13    5  1 7  15.0 182.5 11
93  106  Surinam                SUR   13    5  1 7  14.5 184.5 11
94  90   Kenya                  KEN   13    4  1 8  14.5 182.0 9
95  92   Fiji                   FIJ   13    4  2 7  14.0 205.5 10
96  96   Angola                 ANG   12    3  1 8  14.0 192.0 7
97  108  Yemen                  YEM   13    5  1 7  14.0 179.5 11
98  94   Trinidad & Tobago      TRI   13    4  2 7  13.5 176.0 10
99  91   Libya                  LBA   13    1  5 7  13.5 174.5 7
100 99   Namibia                NAM   13    4  0 9  13.0 176.5 8
101 100  Netherlands Antilles   AHO   13    4  3 6  12.5 175.0 11
102 95   Us Virgin Islands      ISV   13    2  2 9  12.0 171.0 6
103 93   Honduras               HON   12    2  0 10 9.0  175.0 4
104 76   Afghanistan            AFG   1     0  0 1  0.0  23.0  0
105 107  Uganda                 UGA   1     0  0 1  0.0  20.0  0
106 103  Rwanda                 RWA   1     0  0 1  0.0  19.5  0
107 104  Somalia                SOM   0     0  0 0  0.0  0.0   0
108 105  Sudan                  SUD   0     0  0 0  0.0  0.0   0

Tie Break1: points (game-points)
Tie Break2: Buchholz Tie-Breaks (variabel with parameter)
Tie Break3: Matchpoints (2 for wins, 1 for Draws, 0 for Losses)

Board Performances Men
Board 1
Rk.        Name                            Rtg  Team                %     Games RtgAvg Pts. Rp
1          Gillani Tanveer Mohyuddin       2279 Pakistan            87.5  8     1980   7.0  2316
2       GM Ermenkov Evgenij                2462 Palestine           85.0  10    2049   8.5  2345
3       GM Hamdouchi Hichem                2559 Morocco             75.0  10    2474   7.5  2667
4       GM Bacrot Etienne                  2708 France              75.0  8     2640   6.0  2833
5       GM Carlsen Magnus                  2646 Norway              75.0  8     2627   6.0  2820
6       GM Adams Michael                   2720 England             72.7  11    2560   8.0  2735
7          Baules Jorge                    2264 Panama              72.7  11    2117   8.0  2292
8       GM Kramnik Vladimir                2729 Russia              72.2  9     2681   6.5  2847
9       GM Nisipeanu Liviu Dieter          2695 Romania             72.2  9     2579   6.5  2745
10      IM Williams Leighton               2348 Wales               72.2  9     2407   6.5  2573
11      GM Navara David                    2658 Czech Republic      70.8  12    2628   8.5  2786
12      FM Batchuluun Cegmed               2303 Mongolia            68.2  11    2515   7.5  2648
13      GM Nyback Tomi                     2563 Finland             68.2  11    2487   7.5  2620
14         Sorensen Torben                 2345 Malta               68.2  11    2238   7.5  2371
15      GM Bu Xiangzhi                     2640 China               66.7  12    2665   8.0  2790
16      GM Baburin Alexander               2519 Ireland             66.7  12    2420   8.0  2545
17      GM Radjabov Teimour                2717 Azerbaijan          66.7  9     2625   6.0  2750
18      GM Agrest Evgenij                  2570 Sweden              65.0  10    2611   6.5  2721
19      GM Beliavsky Alexander             2622 Slovenia            65.0  10    2588   6.5  2698
20      GM Aronian Levon                   2756 Armenia             63.6  11    2666   7.0  2768
21      GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro           2652 Cuba                63.6  11    2647   7.0  2749
22      GM Georgiev Kiril                  2677 Bulgaria            63.6  11    2624   7.0  2726
23      IM Neubauer Martin                 2454 Austria             63.6  11    2375   7.0  2477
24      IM Gonzalez Bernal                 2418 Costa Rica          63.6  11    2315   7.0  2417
25         Phillips Roy                    2252 Mauritius           62.5  12    2216   7.5  2311
Board 2
Rk.        Name                            Rtg  Team                %     Games RtgAvg Pts. Rp
1       IM Oms Pallise Josep               2496 Andorra             81.8  11    2337   9.0  2599
2          Dew Brian                       2147 Hong Kong           77.8  9     2049   7.0  2269
3       IM Iturrizaga Eduardo              2232 Venezuela           77.3  11    2397   8.5  2608
4       GM Akopian Vladimir                2706 Armenia             75.0  12    2585   9.0  2778
5       IM Mahmood Ahmad Lodhi             2355 Pakistan            75.0  8     2198   6.0  2391
6       GM Lautier Joel                    2682 France              72.7  11    2584   8.0  2759
7       GM Short Nigel                     2677 England             72.7  11    2475   8.0  2650
8       IM Al Sayed Mohammed               2479 Qatar               70.8  12    2360   8.5  2518
9       GM Onischuk Alexander              2650 USA                 70.0  10    2594   7.0  2743
10      GM Gashimov Vugar                  2659 Azerbaijan          70.0  10    2519   7.0  2668
11      GM Miezis Normunds                 2496 Latvia              70.0  10    2429   7.0  2578
12      FM Jones Richard                   2308 Wales               70.0  10    2318   7.0  2467
13      GM Bluvshtein Mark                 2531 Canada              68.2  11    2443   7.5  2576
14         Alice Mateus Felizardo Viageiro 0    Mozambique          68.2  11    2067   7.5  2200
15      GM Dominguez Perez Leinier         2647 Cuba                66.7  12    2588   8.0  2713
16      GM Gyimesi Zoltan                  2614 Hungary             66.7  12    2552   8.0  2677
17      IM Mahjoob Zardast Morteza         2419 Iran                66.7  12    2517   8.0  2642
18      GM Kveinys Aloyzas                 2532 Lithuania           66.7  12    2463   8.0  2588
19      IM Rojas Luis                      2449 Chile               66.7  12    2332   8.0  2457
20      GM Pelletier Yannick               2570 Switzerland         65.0  10    2519   6.5  2629
21      IM El Taher Fouad                  2468 Egypt               65.0  10    2450   6.5  2560
22      GM Tiviakov Sergey                 2669 Netherlands         63.6  11    2594   7.0  2696
23      IM Gonzalez Garcia Jose            2494 Mexico              63.6  11    2465   7.0  2567
24      IM Valdes Leonardo                 2374 Costa Rica          63.6  11    2288   7.0  2390
25      GM Vallejo Pons Francisco          2666 Spain               62.5  12    2573   7.5  2668
Board 3
Rk.        Name                            Rtg  Team                %     Games RtgAvg Pts. Rp
1          Larrea Manuel                   2278 Uruguay             87.5  8     2105   7.0  2441
2       GM Leitao Rafael                   2575 Brazil              80.0  10    2471   8.0  2711
3       GM Illescas Cordoba Miguel         2608 Spain               77.8  9     2534   7.0  2754
4       GM Karjakin Sergey                 2661 Ukraine             77.3  11    2587   8.5  2798
5       GM Gareyev Timur                   2522 Uzbekistan          72.7  11    2541   8.0  2716
6       IM Irwanto Sadikin                 2452 Indonesia           72.2  9     2416   6.5  2582
7       IM Shaw John Kerr                  2439 Scotland            70.0  10    2336   7.0  2485
8       IM Danner Georg                    2402 Austria             70.0  10    2318   7.0  2467
9       GM Van Wely Loek                   2655 Netherlands         68.2  11    2565   7.5  2698
10      GM Berkes Ferenc                   2593 Hungary             68.2  11    2523   7.5  2656
11      GM Svetushkin Dmitry               2552 Moldova             68.2  11    2507   7.5  2640
12      GM Malisauskas Vidmantas           2503 Lithuania           68.2  11    2421   7.5  2554
13      GM Delchev Aleksander              2640 Bulgaria            66.7  12    2505   8.0  2630
14      GM Harikrishna P                   2680 India               66.7  12    2470   8.0  2595
15      IM Bachmann Axel                   2414 Paraguay            66.7  12    2365   8.0  2490
16         Khusenkhodzhaev Mukhammad       2274 Tajikistan          66.7  12    2288   8.0  2413
17      IM Yarmonov Igor                   2277 IPCA                66.7  12    2201   8.0  2326
18      FM Belachew Yimam Abera            2146 Ethiopia            66.7  12    2161   8.0  2286
19         Cave Christo                    2254 Trinidad & Tobago   66.7  9     2173   6.0  2298
20         Hawes Jonathan Richard          2166 Jersey              66.7  9     1987   6.0  2112
21         Bazil Joslin                    0    Haiti               65.4  13    1973   8.5  2083
22      GM Gustafsson Jan                  2603 Germany             65.0  10    2508   6.5  2618
23      FM Brunello Sabino                 2339 Italy B             65.0  10    2439   6.5  2549
24      GM Gallagher Joseph                2530 Switzerland         65.0  10    2430   6.5  2540
25      GM Grischuk Alexander              2719 Russia              63.6  11    2596   7.0  2698
Board 4
Rk.        Name                            Rtg  Team                %     Games RtgAvg Pts. Rp
1       GM Wang Yue                        2598 China               83.3  12    2564   10.0 2837
2       GM Zelcic Robert                   2525 Croatia             75.0  12    2427   9.0  2620
3       GM Avrukh Boris                    2633 Israel              75.0  10    2519   7.5  2712
4       GM Laznicka Viktor                 2551 Czech Republic      75.0  10    2518   7.5  2711
5       GM Gagunashvili Merab              2560 Georgia             75.0  10    2508   7.5  2701
6       IM Liiva Riho                      2411 Estonia             75.0  10    2394   7.5  2587
7       IM Le Quang Liem                   2473 Vietnam             73.1  13    2427   9.5  2602
8       FM Lacayo Rene                     2271 Nicaragua           72.7  11    2104   8.0  2279
9       GM Luther Thomas                   2593 Germany             72.2  9     2453   6.5  2619
10         Hamperl Fred                    2010 Guernsey            72.2  9     1873   6.5  2039
11      IM Saric Ibro                      2476 Bosnia Herzegovina  70.8  12    2438   8.5  2596
12         Kimende Ralph                   2179 Seychelles          70.8  12    1868   8.5  2026
13      GM Balogh Csaba                    2576 Hungary             70.0  10    2507   7.0  2656
14      GM Palo Davor                      2546 Denmark             70.0  10    2478   7.0  2627
15      FM Saeheng Boonsueb                2287 Thailand            68.2  11    2117   7.5  2250
16      GM Lie Kjetil A.                   2493 Norway              66.7  12    2479   8.0  2604
17      IM Reefat Bin-Sattar               2481 Bangladesh          66.7  12    2342   8.0  2467
18      GM Morozevich Alexander            2730 Russia              66.7  9     2570   6.0  2695
19      GM Spasov Vasil                    2578 Bulgaria            66.7  9     2472   6.0  2597
20         Song Jinwoo                     1962 South Korea         66.7  9     1863   6.0  1988
21      IM Flores Diego                    2494 Argentina           63.6  11    2418   7.0  2520
22      GM Jenni Florian                   2510 Switzerland         63.6  11    2410   7.0  2512
23      GM Guseinov Gadir                  2617 Azerbaijan          63.6  11    2400   7.0  2502
24      GM Dydyshko Viacheslav             2550 Belarus             62.5  8     2504   5.0  2599
25      IM Markos Jan                      2492 Slovakia            62.5  8     2402   5.0  2497
Board 5
Rk.        Name                            Rtg  Team                %     Games RtgAvg Pts. Rp
1       FM Al-Qudaimi Basheer              2396 Yemen               100.0 7     2183   7.0  2627
2          Karim Amer                      2260 Pakistan            93.8  8     2042   7.5  2486
3          Laith Ali                       2179 Iraq                92.9  7     2082   6.5  2504
4          Yee Soon Wei                    2288 Brunei Darussalam   92.9  7     1856   6.5  2278
5       IM Wohl Aleksandar                 2432 Australia           87.5  8     2313   7.0  2649
6       GM Stanojoski Zvonko               2456 FYROM               85.7  7     2316   6.0  2625
7       GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw              2597 Poland              81.8  11    2432   9.0  2694
8       GM Iuldachev Saidali               2480 Uzbekistan          81.3  8     2487   6.5  2738
9       IM Arlandi Ennio                   2453 Italy A             77.8  9     2270   7.0  2490
10         Ayyad Maher Abduljalil Saleh Ma 2102 Bahrain             77.3  11    2008   8.5  2219
11      GM Sargissian Gabriel              2612 Armenia             76.9  13    2525   10.0 2736
12      IM Roussel-Roozmon Thomas          2419 Canada              75.0  10    2266   7.5  2459
13      GM Cicak Slavko                    2506 Sweden              75.0  8     2376   6.0  2569
14      IM Burgos Figueroa Carlos E        2217 El Salvador         75.0  8     2176   6.0  2369
15      IM Popovic Dusan                   2496 Serbia & Montenegro 73.1  13    2420   9.5  2595
16         Wang Puchen                     2259 New Zealand         72.2  9     2232   6.5  2398
17      GM Kaidanov Gregory                2603 USA                 71.4  7     2491   5.0  2649
18      GM Huzman Alexander                2576 Israel              71.4  7     2464   5.0  2622
19      FM Chikhaoui Walid                 2322 Tunisia             71.4  7     2291   5.0  2449
20      GM Zhigalko Andrey                 2511 Belarus             70.0  10    2466   7.0  2615
21      GM Gelashvili Tamaz                2576 Georgia             68.8  8     2491   5.5  2632
22      FM Saleh Jasem                     2325 UAE                 68.8  8     2161   5.5  2302
23      FM Dimakiling Oliver               2452 Philippines         66.7  9     2416   6.0  2541
24      GM Zarnicki Pablo                  2507 Argentina           66.7  9     2382   6.0  2507
25      FM Asabri Hussien                  2215 Libya               66.7  9     1905   6.0  2030
Board 6
Rk.        Name                            Rtg  Team                %     Games RtgAvg Pts. Rp
1          Phiri Richmond                  0    Zambia              92.9  7     1916   6.5  2338
2          Pg Mohd Omar Ak Hirawan         2335 Brunei Darussalam   92.9  7     1788   6.5  2210
3          Haidary Hameedullah             0    Afghanistan         83.3  9     1914   7.5  2187
4          Ho Cheng Fai                    2023 Macau               80.0  10    1880   8.0  2120
5          Kawuma Moses                    2205 Uganda              75.0  10    1778   7.5  1971
6          Nakagori Keiki                  2136 Japan               72.2  9     2185   6.5  2351
7       GM Mikhalevski Victor              2566 Israel              71.4  7     2391   5.0  2549
8       GM Thorhallsson Throstur           2448 Iceland             71.4  7     2331   5.0  2489
9          Klerides Paris                  2172 Cyprus              70.0  10    1891   7.0  2040
10      GM Graf Alexander                  2592 Germany             68.8  8     2474   5.5  2615
11      IM Lenic Luka                      2466 Slovenia            68.8  8     2352   5.5  2493
12         Bouhaddad Abdelkrim             2099 Algeria             68.8  8     2249   5.5  2390
13      GM Quezada Perez Yuniesky          2512 Cuba                66.7  9     2396   6.0  2521
14      GM Hatanbaatar Bazar               2433 Mongolia            66.7  9     2257   6.0  2382
15         Berrios Gabriel                 0    Puerto Rico         66.7  9     2172   6.0  2297
16         Ayyad Husain Abduljalil Saleh M 0    Bahrain             66.7  9     1987   6.0  2112
17      IM Cvek Robert                     2503 Czech Republic      64.3  7     2516   4.5  2618
18      GM Akobian Varuzhan                2575 USA                 64.3  7     2434   4.5  2536
19      FM Capo Vidal Uriel                2357 Mexico              64.3  7     2217   4.5  2319
20      IM Cekro Ekrem                     2416 Belgium             64.3  7     2103   4.5  2205
21         Al Badani Abdu                  2197 Yemen               64.3  7     1972   4.5  2074
22         Chalemba Joseph                 0    Malawi              64.3  7     1824   4.5  1926
23      FM Dias Paulo                      2371 Portugal            62.5  8     2274   5.0  2369
24      FM Othman A Moussa                 2360 UAE                 62.5  8     2112   5.0  2207
25         Rajapakse Mudiyanselage Chathur 0    Sri Lanka           62.5  8     1923   5.0  2018

Board Performances Men Percentage
No.     Name                    Rtg  Team                Rp   Pts. Games %    Bo.
1    GM Kramnik Vladimir        2729 Russia              2847 6.5  9     72.2 1
2    GM Wang Yue                2598 China               2837 10.0 12    83.3 4
3    GM Bacrot Etienne          2708 France              2833 6.0  8     75.0 1
4    GM Carlsen Magnus          2646 Norway              2820 6.0  8     75.0 1
5    GM Karjakin Sergey         2661 Ukraine             2798 8.5  11    77.3 3
6    GM Bu Xiangzhi             2640 China               2790 8.0  12    66.7 1
7    GM Navara David            2658 Czech Republic      2786 8.5  12    70.8 1
8    GM Akopian Vladimir        2706 Armenia             2778 9.0  12    75.0 2
9    GM Aronian Levon           2756 Armenia             2768 7.0  11    63.6 1
10   GM Lautier Joel            2682 France              2759 8.0  11    72.7 2
11   GM Illescas Cordoba Miguel 2608 Spain               2754 7.0  9     77.8 3
12   GM Radjabov Teimour        2717 Azerbaijan          2750 6.0  9     66.7 1
13   GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro   2652 Cuba                2749 7.0  11    63.6 1
14   GM Nisipeanu Liviu Dieter  2695 Romania             2745 6.5  9     72.2 1
15   GM Onischuk Alexander      2650 USA                 2743 7.0  10    70.0 2
16   GM Iuldachev Saidali       2480 Uzbekistan          2738 6.5  8     81.3 5
17   GM Sargissian Gabriel      2612 Armenia             2736 10.0 13    76.9 5
18   GM Adams Michael           2720 England             2735 8.0  11    72.7 1
19   GM Georgiev Kiril          2677 Bulgaria            2726 7.0  11    63.6 1
20   GM Agrest Evgenij          2570 Sweden              2721 6.5  10    65.0 1
21   GM Gelfand Boris           2727 Israel              2717 5.0  9     55.6 1
22   GM Gareyev Timur           2522 Uzbekistan          2716 8.0  11    72.7 3
23   GM Ivanchuk Vasyl          2731 Ukraine             2716 8.0  13    61.5 1
24   GM Dominguez Perez Leinier 2647 Cuba                2713 8.0  12    66.7 2
25   GM Avrukh Boris            2633 Israel              2712 7.5  10    75.0 4
26   GM Leitao Rafael           2575 Brazil              2711 8.0  10    80.0 3
27   GM Laznicka Viktor         2551 Czech Republic      2711 7.5  10    75.0 4
28   GM Naiditsch Arkadij       2664 Germany             2706 6.0  10    60.0 1
29   GM Svidler Peter           2743 Russia              2706 5.0  9     55.6 2
30   GM Gagunashvili Merab      2560 Georgia             2701 7.5  10    75.0 4
31   GM Van Wely Loek           2655 Netherlands         2698 7.5  11    68.2 3
32   GM Grischuk Alexander      2719 Russia              2698 7.0  11    63.6 3
33   GM Beliavsky Alexander     2622 Slovenia            2698 6.5  10    65.0 1
34   GM Kamsky Gata             2671 USA                 2698 5.5  10    55.0 1
35   GM Tiviakov Sergey         2669 Netherlands         2696 7.0  11    63.6 2
36   GM Morozevich Alexander    2730 Russia              2695 6.0  9     66.7 4
37   GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam     2673 Uzbekistan          2695 5.5  10    55.0 1
38   GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw      2597 Poland              2694 9.0  11    81.8 5
39   GM Almasi Zoltan           2657 Hungary             2692 6.5  11    59.1 1
40   GM Nakamura Hikaru         2664 USA                 2689 7.0  11    63.6 3
41   GM Bologan Viktor          2666 Moldova             2683 5.5  9     61.1 1
42   GM Gyimesi Zoltan          2614 Hungary             2677 8.0  12    66.7 2
43   GM Vallejo Pons Francisco  2666 Spain               2668 7.5  12    62.5 2
44   GM Gashimov Vugar          2659 Azerbaijan          2668 7.0  10    70.0 2
45   GM Hamdouchi Hichem        2559 Morocco             2667 7.5  10    75.0 1
46   GM Jobava Baadur           2646 Georgia             2667 5.5  10    55.0 1
47   GM Smirin Ilia             2662 Israel              2657 5.5  9     61.1 2
48   GM Berkes Ferenc           2593 Hungary             2656 7.5  11    68.2 3
49   GM Balogh Csaba            2576 Hungary             2656 7.0  10    70.0 4
50   GM Short Nigel             2677 England             2650 8.0  11    72.7 2
51   IM Wohl Aleksandar         2432 Australia           2649 7.0  8     87.5 5
52   FM Batchuluun Cegmed       2303 Mongolia            2648 7.5  11    68.2 1
53   GM Bareev Evgeny           2701 Russia              2643 5.5  9     61.1 5
54   IM Mahjoob Zardast Morteza 2419 Iran                2642 8.0  12    66.7 2
55   GM Svetushkin Dmitry       2552 Moldova             2640 7.5  11    68.2 3
56   GM Gelashvili Tamaz        2576 Georgia             2632 5.5  8     68.8 5
57   GM Delchev Aleksander      2640 Bulgaria            2630 8.0  12    66.7 3
58   GM Pelletier Yannick       2570 Switzerland         2629 6.5  10    65.0 2
59   GM Zhang Zhong             2640 China               2628 4.0  8     50.0 2
60   GM Sasikiran Krishnan      2692 India               2627 7.5  12    62.5 2
61   GM Palo Davor              2546 Denmark             2627 7.0  10    70.0 4
62   GM Nijboer Friso           2584 Netherlands         2623 5.5  9     61.1 4
63   GM Nielsen Peter Heine     2646 Denmark             2621 5.0  11    45.5 1
64   GM Zelcic Robert           2525 Croatia             2620 9.0  12    75.0 4
65   GM Nyback Tomi             2563 Finland             2620 7.5  11    68.2 1
66   GM Luther Thomas           2593 Germany             2619 6.5  9     72.2 4
67   GM Fressinet Laurent       2633 France              2619 6.0  10    60.0 4
68   GM Hracek Zbynek           2593 Czech Republic      2619 5.5  10    55.0 2
69   GM Rogers Ian              2564 Australia           2619 5.0  8     62.5 1
70   GM Sokolov Ivan            2676 Netherlands         2619 5.0  11    45.5 1
71   GM Gustafsson Jan          2603 Germany             2618 6.5  10    65.0 3
72   GM Anand Viswanathan       2803 India               2618 4.5  9     50.0 1
73   GM Gurevich Mikhail        2643 Turkey              2617 7.0  12    58.3 1
74   GM Ftacnik Lubomir         2597 Slovakia            2616 6.5  12    54.2 1
75   GM Elyanov Pavel           2665 Ukraine             2616 5.5  9     61.1 4
76   GM Zhigalko Andrey         2511 Belarus             2615 7.0  10    70.0 5
77   GM Graf Alexander          2592 Germany             2615 5.5  8     68.8 6
78   GM Mitkov Nikola           2561 FYROM               2609 5.5  10    55.0 1
79   GM Socko Bartosz           2606 Poland              2609 5.5  10    55.0 1
80   IM Iturrizaga Eduardo      2232 Venezuela           2608 8.5  11    77.3 2
81   GM Antonio Rogelio         2539 Philippines         2608 7.0  11    63.6 3
82   GM Hansen Sune Berg        2555 Denmark             2607 6.0  11    54.5 2
83   GM Cheparinov Ivan         2635 Bulgaria            2605 6.0  11    54.5 2
84   GM Lie Kjetil A.           2493 Norway              2604 8.0  12    66.7 4
85   GM Ghaemmaghami Ehsan      2584 Iran                2603 7.5  13    57.7 1
86   GM Shirov Alexei           2699 Spain               2603 5.5  11    50.0 1
87   IM Le Quang Liem           2473 Vietnam             2602 9.5  13    73.1 4
88   GM Hansen Lars Bo          2560 Denmark             2601 6.5  11    59.1 3
89   GM Palac Mladen            2561 Croatia             2601 6.0  10    60.0 2
90   GM Hellsten Johan          2564 Sweden              2601 5.5  9     61.1 2
91   GM Zhang Pengxiang         2623 China               2601 4.5  8     56.3 3
92   IM Oms Pallise Josep       2496 Andorra             2599 9.0  11    81.8 2
93   GM Dydyshko Viacheslav     2550 Belarus             2599 5.0  8     62.5 4
94   GM Granda Julio            2631 Peru                2598 8.0  13    61.5 1
95   GM Korchnoi Viktor         2611 Switzerland         2598 6.0  10    60.0 1
96   GM Spasov Vasil            2578 Bulgaria            2597 6.0  9     66.7 4
97   GM Ni Hua                  2607 China               2597 5.5  9     61.1 5
98   IM Saric Ibro              2476 Bosnia Herzegovina  2596 8.5  12    70.8 4
99   IM Popovic Dusan           2496 Serbia & Montenegro 2595 9.5  13    73.1 5
100  GM Harikrishna P           2680 India               2595 8.0  12    66.7 3

Olympiad Women by Board
Board 1
Rk.         Name                             Rtg  Team                %    Games RtgAvg Pts. Rp
1       WIM Zsiltzova-Lisenko Lubov          2263 IBCA                90.0 10    2006   9.0  2372
2       WIM H. Mohammed Eman                 2118 Iraq                87.5 8     1902   7.0  2238
3       WIM Sanchez Sarai                    2176 Venezuela           81.8 11    2217   9.0  2479
4       IM  Cmilyte Viktorija                2470 Lithuania           79.2 12    2300   9.5  2530
5       WGM Zhao Xue                         2423 China               76.9 13    2406   10.0 2617
6       GM  Stefanova Antoaneta              2502 Bulgaria            75.0 12    2370   9.0  2563
7       WGM Zhukova Natalia                  2425 Ukraine             75.0 10    2344   7.5  2537
8       IM  Hoang Thanh Trang                2487 Hungary             73.1 13    2364   9.5  2539
9       WGM Muzychuk Anna                    2418 Slovenia            72.7 11    2319   8.0  2494
10      GM  Peng Zhao Qin                    2395 Netherlands         72.7 11    2245   8.0  2420
11      WIM Sammalvuo Niina                  2249 Finland             72.7 11    2203   8.0  2378
12      IM  Jackova Jana                     2389 Czech Republic      70.0 10    2276   7.0  2425
13      WIM Zepeda Cortez Lorena Marisela    2122 El Salvador         69.2 13    2180   9.0  2321
14      IM  Peptan Corina Isabela            2408 Romania             68.2 11    2366   7.5  2499
15      WGM Ptacnikova Lenka                 2183 Iceland             68.2 11    2159   7.5  2292
16      GM  Koneru Humpy                     2548 India               66.7 12    2370   8.0  2495
17      IM  Paehtz Elisabeth                 2438 Germany             66.7 12    2325   8.0  2450
18      WFM Kharisma Sukandar Irine          2213 Indonesia           65.4 13    2187   8.5  2297
19      WGM Mongontuul Bathuyag              2378 Mongolia            65.0 10    2253   6.5  2363
20      IM  Skripchenko Almira               2423 France              63.6 11    2363   7.0  2465
21          Richards Deborah                 1922 Jamaica             63.6 11    1965   7.0  2067
22          Chen I -Chen                     0    Chinese Taipei      63.6 11    1817   7.0  1919
23      IM  Mkrtchian Lilit                  2453 Armenia             62.5 12    2386   7.5  2481
24      WGM Lujan Carolina                   2378 Argentina           62.5 12    2270   7.5  2365
25      IM  Houska Jovanka                   2378 England             62.5 12    2242   7.5  2337
Board 2
Rk.         Name                             Rtg  Team                %    Games RtgAvg Pts. Rp
1           Steil-Antoni Fiona               1968 Luxembourg          83.3 12    1953   10.0 2226
2       IM  Lahno Katerina                   2468 Ukraine             80.0 10    2258   8.0  2498
3       IM  Kosintseva Tatiana               2489 Russia              79.2 12    2368   9.5  2598
4       WIM Bashkite Viktoria                2205 Estonia             77.3 11    2157   8.5  2368
5       IM  Krush Irina                      2437 USA                 72.7 11    2337   8.0  2512
6       IM  Danielian Elina                  2422 Armenia             70.8 12    2327   8.5  2485
7       IM  Kachiani-Gersinska Ketino        2421 Germany             70.8 12    2280   8.5  2438
8       IM  Dzagnidze Nana                   2454 Georgia             70.0 10    2295   7.0  2444
9       WGM Zimina Olga                      2404 Italy A             69.2 13    2170   9.0  2311
10      WGM Paridar Shadi                    2210 Iran                68.2 11    2155   7.5  2288
11          Umudova Nargiz                   2176 Azerbaijan          68.2 11    2088   7.5  2221
12          De Blecourt Dalsberg Sandra      2077 Denmark             68.2 11    1925   7.5  2058
13      IM  Foisor Cristina Adela            2392 Romania             66.7 12    2303   8.0  2428
14      WFM Topel Zehra                      2132 Turkey              66.7 12    2196   8.0  2321
15      IM  Ciuksyte Dagne                   2423 Lithuania           66.7 12    2174   8.0  2299
16      WFM De La Cruz Mercedes              2101 Dominican Republic  66.7 12    1906   8.0  2031
17      WGM Voiska Margarita                 2314 Bulgaria            65.0 10    2307   6.5  2417
18      WGM Rogule Laura                     2309 Latvia              63.6 11    2320   7.0  2422
19      WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram               2349 Vietnam             63.6 11    2258   7.0  2360
20      WFM Thorsteinsdottir Gudlaug         2138 Iceland             63.6 11    2017   7.0  2119
21      WFM Stock Lara                       2200 Croatia             62.5 12    2200   7.5  2295
22      WFM Hamrakulova Yulduz               2187 Uzbekistan          62.5 12    2102   7.5  2197
23          Toubal Hayet                     0    Algeria             62.5 12    1751   7.5  1846
24      WIM Morales Luciana                  2154 Peru                61.5 13    2056   8.0  2143
25      WGM Botsari Anna-Maria               2341 Greece              61.1 9     2318   5.5  2398
Board 3
Rk.         Name                             Rtg  Team                %    Games RtgAvg Pts. Rp
1       WFM Saleh Nora Mohd                  1925 UAE                 87.5 8     1635   7.0  1971
2       IM  Yanovska-Gaponenko Inna          2430 Ukraine             77.8 9     2311   7.0  2531
3       IM  Javakhishvili Lela               2410 Georgia             77.3 11    2283   8.5  2494
4       WIM Sharevich Anna                   2281 Belarus             75.0 12    2239   9.0  2432
5       IM  Kosintseva Nadezhda              2469 Russia              75.0 10    2328   7.5  2521
6       WGM Goletiani Rusudan                2371 USA                 70.8 12    2282   8.5  2440
7       WGM Milliet Sophie                   2330 France              70.8 12    2233   8.5  2391
8       WGM Pokorna Regina                   2338 Slovakia            70.0 10    2220   7.0  2369
9           Chierici Marianna                1922 Italy B             70.0 10    1873   7.0  2022
10          Officer Amy                      0    Scotland            66.7 9     1830   6.0  1955
11      WFM Przezdziecka Marta               2265 Poland              65.0 10    2230   6.5  2340
12      WIM Ghaderpour Taleghani Shayesteh   2144 Iran                65.0 10    2065   6.5  2175
13          Blackburn Suzy                   1779 Wales               65.0 10    1819   6.5  1929
14      WIM Macek Vlasta                     2243 Croatia             63.6 11    2150   7.0  2252
15          Handayani Tri                    0    Indonesia           63.6 11    2085   7.0  2187
16      WGM Swathi Ghate                     2262 India               62.5 12    2255   7.5  2350
17      IM  Vajda Szidonia                   2403 Hungary             61.1 9     2302   5.5  2382
18          Safar Alshaymaa                  0    Qatar               61.1 9     1712   5.5  1792
19      WIM Sikorova Olga                    2276 Czech Republic      60.0 10    2219   6.0  2291
20          Carreras Mendiolea Paulina Adria 1935 Mexico              60.0 10    2056   6.0  2128
21      WGM Igla Bella                       2288 Israel              59.1 11    2173   6.5  2238
22          Cua Sherily                      1954 Philippines         59.1 11    2079   6.5  2144
23      WIM Palao Maricela                   2152 Colombia            59.1 11    2074   6.5  2139
24      WFM Le Thanh Tu                      2239 Vietnam             58.3 12    2189   7.0  2246
25          Antonova Nadezhda                0    Tajikistan          57.7 13    1912   7.5  1969
Board 4
Rk.         Name                             Rtg  Team                %    Games RtgAvg Pts. Rp
1       WIM Berlin Tatiana                   2207 Belarus             87.5 8     2141   7.0  2477
2       WFM Hou Yifan                        2298 China               84.6 13    2300   11.0 2596
3           Mawadda Rahal                    1601 Libya               81.3 8     1600   6.5  1851
4           Abdulsalam Nadhmia               0    Yemen               78.6 7     1601   5.5  1831
5       WGM Benderac Ana                     2293 Serbia & Montenegro 77.3 11    2108   8.5  2319
6       WGM Arribas Robaina Maritza          2235 Cuba                75.0 10    2208   7.5  2401
7       IM  Kovalevskaya Ekaterina           2460 Russia              71.4 7     2284   5.0  2442
8       WIM Fakhiridou Ekaterini             2292 Greece              71.4 7     2234   5.0  2392
9       WGM Ushenina Anna                    2397 Ukraine             70.0 10    2316   7.0  2465
10      WIM Phan-Koshnitsky Ngan             2181 Australia           70.0 10    1936   7.0  2085
11          Segarra Tammy                    0    Puerto Rico         68.8 8     1727   5.5  1868
12      WIM Hernandez Estevez Yudania        2262 Spain               68.2 11    2146   7.5  2279
13      WIM Majdan Joanna                    2297 Poland              66.7 9     2226   6.0  2351
14      WIM Mendoza Beverly                  2132 Philippines         66.7 9     2071   6.0  2196
15      WIM Muhren Bianca                    2253 Netherlands         66.7 9     2068   6.0  2193
16      WIM Ostry Irina                      2182 Kyrgyzstan          66.7 9     1954   6.0  2079
17      WFM Horvath Maria                    2057 Austria             66.7 9     1856   6.0  1981
18          Senanayaka Pramodya Ruchirani    1846 Sri Lanka           66.7 9     1777   6.0  1902
19      WIM Blazkova Petra                   2242 Czech Republic      65.0 10    2096   6.5  2206
20      WGM Gara Anita                       2367 Hungary             64.3 7     2251   4.5  2353
21      WIM Sarquis Maria Belen              2153 Argentina           64.3 7     2005   4.5  2107
22      WFM Parveen Tanima                   2005 Bangladesh          63.6 11    1925   7.0  2027
23          Andersson Christin               2170 Sweden              62.5 8     2079   5.0  2174
24      WIM Andriasian Siranush              2237 Armenia             61.1 9     2268   5.5  2348
25      WIM Berzina Ilze                     2278 Latvia              61.1 9     2208   5.5  2288

Women by Rating
o.      Name                          Rtg  Team                   Rp   Pts. Games %    Bo.
1    WGM Zhao Xue                      2423 China                  2617 10.0 13    76.9 1
2    IM  Kosintseva Tatiana            2489 Russia                 2598 9.5  12    79.2 2
3    WFM Hou Yifan                     2298 China                  2596 11.0 13    84.6 4
4    GM  Stefanova Antoaneta           2502 Bulgaria               2563 9.0  12    75.0 1
5    IM  Hoang Thanh Trang             2487 Hungary                2539 9.5  13    73.1 1
6    WGM Zhukova Natalia               2425 Ukraine                2537 7.5  10    75.0 1
7    IM  Yanovska-Gaponenko Inna       2430 Ukraine                2531 7.0  9     77.8 3
8    IM  Cmilyte Viktorija             2470 Lithuania              2530 9.5  12    79.2 1
9    IM  Kosintseva Nadezhda           2469 Russia                 2521 7.5  10    75.0 3
10   IM  Krush Irina                   2437 USA                    2512 8.0  11    72.7 2
11   IM  Peptan Corina Isabela         2408 Romania                2499 7.5  11    68.2 1
12   IM  Lahno Katerina                2468 Ukraine                2498 8.0  10    80.0 2
13   GM  Koneru Humpy                  2548 India                  2495 8.0  12    66.7 1
14   IM  Javakhishvili Lela            2410 Georgia                2494 8.5  11    77.3 3
15   WGM Muzychuk Anna                 2418 Slovenia               2494 8.0  11    72.7 1
16   GM  Kosteniuk Alexandra           2540 Russia                 2486 6.0  10    60.0 1
17   IM  Danielian Elina               2422 Armenia                2485 8.5  12    70.8 2
18   IM  Mkrtchian Lilit               2453 Armenia                2481 7.5  12    62.5 1
19   WIM Sanchez Sarai                 2176 Venezuela              2479 9.0  11    81.8 1
20   WIM Berlin Tatiana                2207 Belarus                2477 7.0  8     87.5 4
21   WGM Ushenina Anna                 2397 Ukraine                2465 7.0  10    70.0 4
22   IM  Skripchenko Almira            2423 France                 2465 7.0  11    63.6 1
23   IM  Paehtz Elisabeth              2438 Germany                2450 8.0  12    66.7 1
24   IM  Dzagnidze Nana                2454 Georgia                2444 7.0  10    70.0 2
25   WGM Goletiani Rusudan             2371 USA                    2440 8.5  12    70.8 3
26   IM  Kachiani-Gersinska Ketino     2421 Germany                2438 8.5  12    70.8 2
27   WIM Sharevich Anna                2281 Belarus                2432 9.0  12    75.0 3
28   IM  Foisor Cristina Adela         2392 Romania                2428 8.0  12    66.7 2
29   WGM Reizniece Dana                2287 Latvia                 2427 6.0  10    60.0 1
30   IM  Jackova Jana                  2389 Czech Republic         2425 7.0  10    70.0 1
31   WGM Rogule Laura                  2309 Latvia                 2422 7.0  11    63.6 2
32   GM  Peng Zhao Qin                 2395 Netherlands            2420 8.0  11    72.7 1
33   WGM Voiska Margarita              2314 Bulgaria               2417 6.5  10    65.0 2
34   IM  Dembo Yelena                  2464 Greece                 2404 7.5  13    57.7 1
35   IM  Khurtsidze Nino               2426 Georgia                2402 5.5  11    50.0 1
36   WGM Arribas Robaina Maritza       2235 Cuba                   2401 7.5  10    75.0 4
37   WGM Botsari Anna-Maria            2341 Greece                 2398 5.5  9     61.1 2
38   WGM Milliet Sophie                2330 France                 2391 8.5  12    70.8 3
39   IM  Vajda Szidonia                2403 Hungary                2382 5.5  9     61.1 3
40   WIM Sammalvuo Niina               2249 Finland                2378 8.0  11    72.7 1
41   WIM Zsiltzova-Lisenko Lubov       2263 IBCA                   2372 9.0  10    90.0 1
42   WGM Pokorna Regina                2338 Slovakia               2369 7.0  10    70.0 3
43   WIM Bashkite Viktoria             2205 Estonia                2368 8.5  11    77.3 2
44   WGM Srebrnic Ana                  2302 Slovenia               2366 6.5  11    59.1 2
45   WGM Zatonskih Anna                2433 USA                    2366 5.0  11    45.5 1
46   WGM Lujan Carolina                2378 Argentina              2365 7.5  12    62.5 1
47   WGM Mongontuul Bathuyag           2378 Mongolia               2363 6.5  10    65.0 1
48   WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram            2349 Vietnam                2360 7.0  11    63.6 2
49   WGM Repkova Eva                   2346 Slovakia               2357 5.5  10    55.0 1
50   IM  Radziewicz Iweta              2439 Poland                 2352 5.5  11    50.0 1
51   WIM Majdan Joanna                 2297 Poland                 2351 6.0  9     66.7 4
52   WGM Swathi Ghate                  2262 India                  2350 7.5  12    62.5 3
53   IM  Fierro Baguero Martha         2294 Ecuador                2349 8.0  13    61.5 1
54   WIM Andriasian Siranush           2237 Armenia                2348 5.5  9     61.1 4
55   WGM Nguyen Thi Thanh An           2317 Vietnam                2341 4.5  10    45.0 1
56   WFM Przezdziecka Marta            2265 Poland                 2340 6.5  10    65.0 3
57   WGM Harika Dronavalli             2358 India                  2338 6.5  12    54.2 2
58   IM  Houska Jovanka                2378 England                2337 7.5  12    62.5 1
59   IM  Hagarova Zuzana               2377 Slovakia               2337 5.5  10    55.0 2
60   IM  Klinova Masha                 2357 Israel                 2336 6.5  12    54.2 1
61   WGM Atalik-Polovnikova Ekaterina  2393 Turkey                 2335 7.5  12    62.5 1
62       Shen Yang                     2411 China                  2326 5.0  9     55.6 3
63   WIM Zepeda Cortez Lorena Marisela 2122 El Salvador            2321 9.0  13    69.2 1
64   WFM Topel Zehra                   2132 Turkey                 2321 8.0  12    66.7 2
65   WGM Pina Vega Sulennis            2334 Cuba                   2320 5.5  10    55.0 1
66   WGM Benderac Ana                  2293 Serbia & Montenegro    2319 8.5  11    77.3 4
67   WGM Borsuk Angela                 2341 Israel                 2319 6.5  11    59.1 2
68   IM  Madl Ildiko                   2387 Hungary                2314 5.0  10    50.0 2
69   WGM Zimina Olga                   2404 Italy A                2311 9.0  13    69.2 2
70   IM  Ciuksyte Dagne                2423 Lithuania              2299 8.0  12    66.7 2
71   WGM Calzetta Ruiz Monica          2317 Spain                  2299 5.0  10    50.0 1
72   WFM Kharisma Sukandar Irine       2213 Indonesia              2297 8.5  13    65.4 1
73   WIM Krivec Jana                   2323 Slovenia               2297 5.5  10    55.0 3
74   WFM Stock Lara                    2200 Croatia                2295 7.5  12    62.5 2
75   WGM Ptacnikova Lenka              2183 Iceland                2292 7.5  11    68.2 1
76   WIM Sikorova Olga                 2276 Czech Republic         2291 6.0  10    60.0 3
77   WGM Paridar Shadi                 2210 Iran                   2288 7.5  11    68.2 2
78   WIM Berzina Ilze                  2278 Latvia                 2288 5.5  9     61.1 4
79   WIM Johansson Viktoria            2222 Sweden                 2282 4.5  10    45.0 1
80   WIM Hernandez Estevez Yudania     2262 Spain                  2279 7.5  11    68.2 4
81   WGM Zawadzka Jolanta              2389 Poland                 2273 4.5  9     50.0 2
82   WGM Leconte Maria                 2345 France                 2268 4.0  9     44.4 2
83       Perena Catherine              0    Philippines            2267 6.0  11    54.5 2
84   WGM Geldieva Mahri                2274 Turkmenistan           2265 6.5  12    54.2 1
85   WIM Aketayeva Dana                2328 Kazakhstan             2265 6.0  13    46.2 1
86   IM  Bosboom-Lanchava Tea          2380 Netherlands            2260 6.0  10    60.0 2
87   WGM Juergens Vera                 2330 Germany                2260 6.0  10    60.0 4
88   WGM Velcheva Maria                2279 Bulgaria               2259 4.5  9     50.0 4
89   WGM Chelushkina Irina             2320 Serbia & Montenegro    2256 7.5  13    57.7 2
90   WGM Medic Mirjana                 2239 Croatia                2255 4.5  12    37.5 1
91   WIM Macek Vlasta                  2243 Croatia                2252 7.0  11    63.6 3
92   WIM Popova Natalija               2223 Belarus                2250 4.5  10    45.0 2
93   WFM Le Thanh Tu                   2239 Vietnam                2246 7.0  12    58.3 3
94   WIM Titova-Boric Elena            2284 Bosnia and Herzegovina 2245 6.0  11    54.5 1
95   WIM Marrero Lopez Yaniet          2269 Cuba                   2244 5.5  10    55.0 2
96   WGM Bogza Adina Maria             2297 Romania                2242 4.5  9     50.0 3
97   WFM Yanjindulam Dulamsuren        2162 Mongolia               2240 6.0  11    54.5 2
98   WIM H. Mohammed Eman              2118 Iraq                   2238 7.0  8     87.5 1
99   WGM Igla Bella                    2288 Israel                 2238 6.5  11    59.1 3
100  WFM Lomibao Sheerie Joy           2163 Philippines            2234 3.5  8     43.8 1

3) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov re-elected FIDE President

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was re-elected FIDE President. He scored 96 votes as against 54 - for Bessel Kok. Two abstained, one spoilt ballot. The question posed by this election is, will it ever be possible to unseat him? The power of patronage of the sitting FIDE council seems to mean that making progress is hard. That said this is the first election in a long time that went to a vote. If someone can build on the opposition this time then 20 odd votes are required to change side to unseat him. Perhaps something that may be possible. On the other hand at only 44 years of age its possible we may have another 30 years of his rule. Originally he was only supposed to rule for two terms in Kalmykia, it now seems there is no end in sight there either. My overwhelming feeling is that FIDE has been bought and paid for by a maverick who has no place being in charge of anything.

FIDE Presidents: Alexander Rueb 1924-1949 Folke Rogard 1949-1970 Max Euwe 1970-1978 Fridrik Olafsson 1978-1982 Florencio Campomanes 1982-1995 Kirsan Ilyumzhinov 1995-

The FIDE elections are decided by only 150 votes by the delegates of the chess federations. This is not a normal electorate, its a quite specific one, and one that Campomanes learned to manipulate very well and judging by the elections he was in there working his magic for Kirsan Ilyumzhinov again. Judging from the articles by well known Russian chess journalist Yuriy Vasiliev there are still some people who really don't get that there is anything wrong. This is quite bizarre because some of the biggest losers are the strong (rather than elite) grandmasters from Russia and the former soviet states.

Starting from the top is the President himself. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was a person with money found by Florencio Campomanes to inject cash into FIDE to stop it going bankrupt that his own incompetence and profligate spending had created. Since then FIDE have relied on this largesse every now and again to find last gap sponsors that the organisation has been unable to find. I was shocked and appalled right from the moment Ilyumzhinov's name was mentioned as the candidate for FIDE president. I knew of his name and reputation right from the start. He is the leader of a small Russian Republic called Kalmykia in 1993. One of the key parts of his campaign was mobile phones for every shepherd, its been more or less the same kind of rubbish from him since. I'm starting in some way to think that he does it on purpose, almost every interview he gives contains a looney tunes comment a recent one being that he's been in touch with aliens, which is normally regarded as a sign of mental illness. Perhaps he does it on purpose to convince people to underestimate him. One thing that is absolutely clear, he likes meeting people, the Pope, Saddam Hussein, Boney M, he just loves it. And he likes titles such as "His Excellency" and President of FIDE. Somehow he's clung on to power in Kalmykia, and you can bet its going to take an awful lot to get him out of FIDE too. One of the problems is that by osmosis being FIDE President is an endorsement of Ilyumzhinov. Its a two way thing, chess is in many ways diminished by its association with him. Whilst Ilyumzhinov is rich Kalmkia is not, his governance there has kept the peace but has done nothing to address poverty and the human rights record is bad. In interviews he says dictatorship is good because he knows best. He doesn't and that's a real problem for chess.

I've heard it said that many of the countries taking part in the elections should not have full votes as they don't really have a chess scene or international players. I'm not one of those. For a start the strongest chess nation (this Olympiad apart perhaps) is Russia, and Ilyumzhinov is their man. In general european nations voted against Ilyumzhinov this time but they've supported him before, one of my points has been that he's never been an acceptable candidate, but they've traded influence for this stance (or perhaps even more shockingly they didn't look into his background). The opposition need to keep finding candidates as good as Bessel Kok (I'm certain he would have done a fantastic job and hope he'll try again) and they need to keep voting against Ilyumzhinov. As to other countries well the next campaign needs to be directed at them. They've had relatively little out of FIDE and their loyalty seems odd and I would imagine also their support for Ilyumzhinov is relatively soft in the long term. Perhaps it wasn't made sufficiently clear that a strong world championship raises money for FIDE which in turn can support the chess family. I don't know anyone in the west who isn't in favour of that and they would be far more likely to do something than give lip service to it as FIDE do. Its not in my view an east-west thing, its a FIDE Congress thing, too many delegates are not acting for the good of the game but for short term gains and personal motives, that applies worldwide, east and west.

FIDE seem to continue to be reliant on Ilyumzhinov's money. This reliance passes control to him and makes removing him much harder. Ilyumzhinov is not afraid to use this muscle. The Vladimir Kramnik against Veselin Topalov reunification match had commercial sponsors in place in January. FIDE halted negotiations, and then later came back to the table with an Ilyumzhinov sponsored match in Kalmykia. I really rather doubt that match would have gone ahead if he had lost and would have left the new president trying to find money. Nothing was or needed to be said, it was just a problem left hanging in the air. External sponsors don't just bring money they also bring their own marketing and publicity, something chess desperately needs. This was a decision entirely about Ilyumzhinov being re-elected.

In spite of the upcoming reunification match, which was a deal that anyone could have done, there still remain huge problems. There is still not a stable world championship cycle which will be the basis for chess to move forward. The Candidates matches of next year don't have sponsors. Ilyumzhinov's knockout championship which concentrated on producing chess by the yard rather than an event of sporting significance damaged chess badly. Media that used to carry chess world championships as a matter of course will have to be won over from scratch. That will only happen after a completely stable cycle is established. Its the central failure of Ilyumzhinov's Presidency.

FIDE no doubt will crawl along with its subsidies and limited ambition. By the time of the next election it will be 28 years since Campomanes took power, Ilyumzhinov's regime is an effective continuation of that presidency. The stagnation of FIDE is obvious, the lack of new blood and ideas clear. If I say there should be term limits, then of course people would say well of course because you can't win democratically. But it would probably have saved Campomanes reputation. In 1990 after eight years in power FIDE were never so wealthy and the Kasparov match controversy was a number of years behind him. Campomanes simply couldn't live with the new economic realities of the early 1990s. Perhaps someone new could have then. I think 8 years is plenty to be FIDE President and I think everyone knows that this tends to be true in all forms of politics. Right now I'm even thinking Ilyumzhinov might have another 30 assuming he hasn't completely killed the game by then.

Malcolm Pein on the FIDE Elections in Turin 2006 Part 1 [Commentary]
Malcolm Pein on the FIDE Elections in Turin 2006 Part 2 [On the spot report]

4) 14th World Computer-Chess Championship

The 14th World Computer-Chess Championship took place May 24th - June 1st 2006 in Turin, Italy. Israeli program Deep Junior written by Amir Ban and Shay Bushinsky took the event by half a point from Shredder and Rajlich. The program Lion++ was disqualified after it emerged that it was based on another program. There was no suggestion of cheating it was simply a misunderstanding of the rules. Half point byes were given to the remaining opponents.

Official site: http://www.cs.unimaas.nl/wccc2006/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
14th WCCC Turin ITA (ITA), 25 v-1 vi 2006
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  11 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. DEEP JUNIOR         +10 + 9 + 5 = 2 = 7 = 3 = 4 + 6 + 8 +14 +11  9.0  2262 
 2. SHREDDER            +11 + 8 + 3 = 1 = 4 = 6 + 7 = 5 +12 =13 +16  8.5  2211 
 3. RAJLICH             +13 + 7 - 2 = 4 + 8 = 1 = 6 +10 +18 +17 + 9  8.5  2211 
 4. ZAPPA               = 6 +15 +12 = 3 = 2 = 7 = 1 + 9 + 5 =11 = 8  7.5  2133 
 5. SPIKE               =12 + 6 - 1 = 8 +15 = 9 +14 = 2 - 4 =10 +17  6.5  2065 
 6. JONNY               = 4 - 5 +14 +12 +13 = 2 = 3 - 1 +16 - 8 +18  6.5  2065 
 7. DIEP                +17 - 3 +11 +15 = 1 = 4 - 2 - 8 +10 +18 =12  6.5  2065 
 8. CRAFTY              +14 - 2 + 9 = 5 - 3 +12 -11 + 7 - 1 + 6 = 4  6.0  2036 
 9. IKARUS              +18 - 1 - 8 =10 +11 = 5 +13 - 4 +17 +16 - 3  6.0  2036 
10. DELFI               - 1 +17 -15 = 9 =12 +11 +16 - 3 - 7 = 5 +14  5.5  2000 
11. ISICHESS MMX        - 2 +16 - 7 +14 - 9 -10 + 8 +18 +13 = 4 - 1  5.5  2000 
12. CHIRON              = 5 +13 - 4 - 6 =10 - 8 +18 +17 - 2 =   = 7  4.5  1964 
13. PARSOS              - 3 -12 +18 +16 - 6 +17 - 9 +14 -11 = 2  =   4.5  1964 
14. URAGANO             - 8 +18 - 6 -11 +17 +16 - 5 -13  .  - 1 -10  3.5  1851 
15. LION++              +16 - 4 +10 - 7 - 5  .   .   .   .   .   .   2.0  1928 
16. CHATURANGA          -15 -11 +17 -13 +18 -14 -10  =  - 6 - 9 - 2  2.5  1760 
17. FIBCHESS            - 7 -10 -16 +18 -14 -13  =  -12 - 9 - 3 - 5  1.5  1634 
18. ETABETA             - 9 -14 -13 -17 -16  =  -12 -11 - 3 - 7 - 6  0.5       
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5) Hockenheim Willingen GM

The Hockenheim Willingen GM tournament takes place 1st-10th June 2006. Timerate: 40 moves in 90 min, after this 30 min for the rest; additional 30 sec a move starting from the beginning.

Official site: http://www.schach.com/hockenheim/

----------------------------------------------------------------------
GM Hockenheim/Willingen GER (GER), 1-10 v 2006           cat. X (2498)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Ikonnikov, Vyacheslav   g RUS 2593  * = . . = . . 1 1 .  3.0  2684 
 2. Tomashevsky, Evgeny     g RUS 2595  = * . = . . . 1 . 1  3.0  2697 
 3. Doettling, Fabian       g GER 2550  . . * 1 = = . . = .  2.5  2583 
 4. Buhmann, Rainer         m GER 2552  . = 0 * . 1 . . . 1  2.5  2607 
 5. Romanishin, Oleg M      g UKR 2552  = . = . * . = = . .  2.0  2484 
 6. Meier, Georg              GER 2407  . . = 0 . * 1 . . 0  1.5  2416 
 7. Gasthofer, Alexander    m GER 2415  . . . . = 0 * 0 1 .  1.5  2357 
 8. Meinhardt, Maximilian   f GER 2378  0 0 . . = . 1 * . .  1.5  2451 
 9. Spoelman, Wouter        m NED 2442  0 . = . . . 0 . * 1  1.5  2426 
10. Braun, Arik             m GER 2496  . 0 . 0 . 1 . . 0 *  1.0  2306 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

6) First Saturday June

The First Saturday tournaments for June take place 4th-12th June 2006. GM, IM and FM events.

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

FIRST Saturday  GM Budapest 4-12th June 2006

KOVACS  Gabor     IM    HUN   1.   2456 
TURZO  Attila     IM    HUN   2.   2352 
FODOR Tamas Jr    FM    HUN   3.   2383 
SERES Lajos       GM    HUN   4.   2400 
GONDA Laszlo      IM    HUN   5.   2465 
ILINCIC  Zlatko   GM    SCG   6.   2536 
PASCHALL W.M.     IM    USA   7.   2352 
JAKAB  Attila     IM    HUN   8.   2414 
Cornette Matthieu IM    FRA   9.   2448 
KOSIC  Dragan     GM    SCG  10.   2482 
Average:                           2429 
GM: 7.0 IM: 5.0 
Round 1 Sun 4th June 
KOVACS  Gabor   postp    KOSIC  Dragan
TURZO  Attila   0.5      Cornette Matthieu
FODOR Tamas Jr  1-0      JAKAB  Attila    
SERES Lajos     0.5      PASCHALL W.M.    
GONDA Laszlo    1-0      ILINCIC  Zlatko  

7) Geller Memorial

The Geller Memorial took place in Moscow 4th-12th May 2006. Farrukh Amonatov won with 8.5/12. Games now available.

Official site: http://www.chessmoscow.ru/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Geller Mem Moscow RUS (RUS), 4-12 v 2006                       cat. X (2494)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. Amonatov, Farrukh       g TJK 2569  * = = 1 1 = 1 = = = = 1 1  8.5  2645 
 2. Afromeev, Vladimir      f RUS 2558  = * = = = = 1 = = = 1 1 1  8.0  2613 
 3. Vorobiov, Evgeny E      g RUS 2540  = = * = = = = = 1 1 = = 1  7.5  2585 
 4. Khruschiov, Alexey      m MDA 2408  0 = = * = = = = = 1 1 1 1  7.5  2596 
 5. Gabrielian, Artur       m RUS 2520  0 = = = * = = = 1 1 = 0 1  6.5  2521 
 6. Castaneda, Georgui      m PER 2451  = = = = = * 0 = = 1 = = =  6.0  2497 
 7. Dvalishvili, Pavel S    f RUS 2455  0 0 = = = 1 * = = = 1 = =  6.0  2497 
 8. Rychagov, Andrey        m RUS 2542  = = = = = = = * = = 0 = =  5.5  2461 
 9. Glek, Igor V            g GER 2560  = = 0 = 0 = = = * = 1 = =  5.5  2459 
10. Sambuev, Bator          m RUS 2489  = = 0 0 0 0 = = = * 1 1 =  5.0  2437 
11. Novikov, Maxim          g RUS 2489  = 0 = 0 = = 0 1 0 0 * 1 1  5.0  2437 
12. Saulin, Dmitri          m RUS 2471  0 0 = 0 1 = = = = 0 0 * =  4.0  2371 
13. Granovski, Aleksandar   m KAZ 2372  0 0 0 0 0 = = = = = 0 = *  3.0  2311 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

8) OCF 25th NAO FIDE Open

The OCF 25th NAO FIDE Open was held 27th-29th, May 2006 in the Holiday Inn at Stillwater, Oklahoma USA. Organizer, Sponsor and Chief Arbiter was Frank Berry. Supervising IA was Mike Goodall. Assisting TDs were Jim Berry, Alex Relyea, Nita Patel and Steve Wharry. The event attracted 90 players from 16 states. Many players achieved FIDE rating norms: Courtney Jamison, Bond, Schuller, Hall, Graham, Thoma, Glascock, Madison, Coleman, Wharry, Wallace, Winters, Lee, Strain and Huff. Hopefully now Glascock, Thoma, Coleman and Courtney will be FIDE rated. IM Boskovic, IM Vavrak, GM Kudrin and FM Smith tied for 1st with 5.5 pts from 7. Two players actually drove 800 miles down from Chicago in spite of the Chicago Open being held at the same time as the NAO. A car load of Iowa players (550 miles away) also made it for the 2nd year in a row. My thanks to Frank Berry for this report.

Official site: http://www.okchess.org

 1. Drasko Boskovic     m     SCG   2432        5.5 from 7.0
 2. Peter Vavrak        m     SVK   2408        5.5
 3. Sergey Kudrin       g     USA   2553        5.5
 4. Bryan G. Smith      f     USA   2384        5.5
 5. Danny Fernandez     m     USA   2432        5.0
 6. Movses Movsisyan    f     USA   2294        5.0
 7. Atakan Sirin              TUR   2070        5.0
 8. Ron Luther                USA   2150        5.0
 9. Thomas Gossell            USA   2237        5.0
10. Tim Mc Entee              USA   2177        5.0
11. Pete Karagianis           USA   2226        5.0
12. Michael Langer      f     USA   2308        4.5
13. Sergey Galant             USA   2212        4.5
14. Alex Chua                 USA   2208        4.5
15. Tom Braunlich             USA   2178        4.5
16. Tim Bond                                    4.5
17. John Schuller                               4.5
18. Odell Hall                                  4.5
19. Shaun Graham                                4.5
20. Mike Crockett                               4.5
21. Phil Thoma                                  4.5
22. Ramon Colorado                              4.5
23. John Cope                                   4.5
24. Jim Berry                 USA   2123        4.5
90  players

9) 75th Massachusetts Open

George Mirijanian reports: The 75th Massachusetts Open took place on May 27-29, 2006, at The Hotel Marlborough in Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA. GM Alexander Ivanov of Newton, Mass. chalked up his fifth straight state championship title by winning this year's tournament with a score of 5.5-0.5. FM Christopher Chase of Somerville, Mass. took clear second with a 4.5-1.5 tally. Tied for 3rd place with 4-2 results were IM Igor Foygel of Brookline, Mass., FM Paul MacIntyre of Malden, Mass., FM Braden Bournival of Manchester, New Hampshire, and national master Avraam Pismennyy of Lynn, Mass. The tournament was held in 11 sections and drew 181 players. Senior TD Kenneth Ballou of Framingham, Mass., directed for the sponsoring Massachusetts Chess Association. He was assisted by fellow senior TD Robert Messenger of Nashua, New Hampshire. Complete crosstables are available at http://masschess.org

10) Forthcoming Events and Links

Canadian Open

The Canadian Open takes place July 15th-23rd 2006 in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Evgeny Bareev Alexander Moiseenko Mark Paragua Surya Ganguly Alexander Huzman are registered entrants in the Open.

Further details: http://www.chessfest.ca/can_open.htm

20th Pula Open 2006

The 20th Pula Open (Croatia) takes place 18th-25th June 2006 in the hotel Histria. Prize fund 8 400 EUR. First prize 1 300 EUR, second prize 900 EUR, third prize 700 EUR. On 1st June, we had 170 registered players from 22 federations. There are 6 GMs, 19 IMs, 12 FMs.

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

Computer chess tournament calendar

The Computer chess tournament calendar by Frank Quisinsky has been updated. Frank's Chess Page: http://www.amateurschach.de Frank's Chess Page, CC-Calendar: http://www.amateurschach.de/atl4/_calendar.htm

Two new tournaments: 1. 14th WCCC in Torino 2006-05-25 - 2006-06-01 Junior by Amir Ban (Israel) won 2. 6th International CSVN Tournament, Leiden 2006-05-05 - 2006-05-07 Rybka by Vasik Rajlich (USA) won Now the *.pgn have 8.829 games.

Official computer chess events: 1990 up to 2006

Lugano tournaments

International Week-end Chess Open Lugano 2006 "ONE WEEKEND IN THE SOUTH PART OF SWITZERLAND" When: Friday, 17 November ' Sunday November Where: Hotel Flora, Via Geretta 16, 6900 Lugano- Paradiso Phone +41 91 994 16 71 Fax: +41 91 994 27 38 E-mail: hotelflora@bluewin.ch Modality: International Tournament. 5 Rounds Swiss System Rate of Play: 36 Moves in 90 Minutes + 30 Minutes K.O. Rating: CH- & FIDE

International Amateurs Chess Open Ascona 2006 Only for Amateurs, Max. 2299 ELO. , 26th December ' Saturday, 30th December 2006 Where: Hotel Ascona, via Collina, 6612 Ascona (Switzerland) Modality: International Chess Tournament. 7 Rounds Swiss System Rate of Play: 40 Moves in 120 Minutes + 60 Minutes K.O. ELO: Not valid for ELO Points (holiday mood!)

Lugano Rapid Chess Marathon Ticino Cureglia 2006 Sunday, 18.06.2006 Where? Parco Rusca (Park & town hall), CH-6944 Cureglia Modality? International Rapid Chess Tournament 24 rounds Swiss System Rate of play? 5 minutes to finish the game Prizes? CHF 600 (€ 400) / 400 (€ 268) / 300 (€ 200) / 200 (€ 133) / 100 (€ 67) CHF 100 (€ 67) Best Ticino player + 9 Special prizes (Full prize amount with 50 players, otherwise % to the number of participants ) Inscriptions? CHF 40 (€ 27) under 20 CHF 20 (€ 14), Sunday: 08.00 - 09.00 Timetable? Sunday 09.15 - 13.00 (15 rounds) 14.30 - 16.30 (9 rounds)

Further details: http://www.luganoscacchi.ch/

European Youth Championship 2006

European Youth Championship 2006 Herceg Novi (Montenegro), September 9 - 20th 2006.

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

Rob Huntington Blog

Well known chess journalist Rob Huntington is in Turin and has a new Blog. http://www.allthingshuman.com/

2nd Assiut Tournament

The 2nd Assiut tournament takes place in Assiut City about 500 km from Cairo in Upper Egypt 16th-25th July 2006. Swiss System 9 Round 90 minutes for every player plus 30 sec. for each move. Further details to follow.

Frits Agterdenbos Photos

Chess Photographer Frits Agterdenbos has launched a website of his photos at: http://www.chessvista.com/. He is at the Turin Olympiad and his photo reports is available there.

FIDE Presidential Election Websites

Both Presidential tickets for the upcoming FIDE Elections in Turin now have websites.

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov: http://www.chessfidelity.com

Bessel Kok: http://www.rightmove06.org

Olympus Riviera Open Greece

The 1st International Open Chess Tournament "Summer Cup 2006" takes place in Olympus Riviera (90 km south of Thessaloniki in Northern Greece) 22nd-30th July 2006. 9 rounds, Prize fund: EUR 3500, 1st prize EUR 1000 Email: cup2006@greekchess.com

Website: http://www.greekchess.com/cup2006

Ikaros Chess Festival

The Ikaros Chess Festival takes place 8th-22nd July 2006. The Ikaros Chess Festival has been held for the last 28 years on Ikaria island, one of the most picturesque and peaceful aegean islands of Greece.

Main event: "Open Aegean Championship" (12th till 20th of July) as well as plenty of other side events such as Junior, Ladies, Veteran, blitz, rapid and simultaneous exhibition events, blindfold chess, chess lectures and many others.

Details: http://www.chess.gr/ikaros/

Karpov - Spassky Match

There will be a match between Karpov and Spassky on May 26th 2006 in Porto-Vecchio.

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

French Team Championship

The final four rounds of the French Team Top 16 Championship took place 4th-7th May 2006 in Asnières-sur-Seine. NAO Chess Club again won the title three points clear of Monaco who they defeated in the final round. Games from the final two rounds are not yet available (apart from the Monaco - NAO match) if anyone has them I'd be grateful.

Further details: http://www.echecs.asso.fr, http://www.europe-echecs.com/ and http://www.nao-cc.com

Midnight Sun Chess Challenge

The Midnight Sun Chess Challenge takes place in Tromsø, Norway June 24th - July 2nd 2006.

Details: http://www.midnightsunchess.org/english/index.htm

XXIV Andorra Open

The XXIV International Chess Open of Andorra takes place 8th-16th July 2006.

Official site: http://www.feva.ad

12th Annual Bray Rapidplay

The 12th Annual Bray Rapidplay takes place Sunday June 18 2006 Esplanade Hotel Strand Rd Bray 6-round Swiss, rounds 1-2 accelerated Registration 9-10am Rd1 10.15 sharp Time control 25 0 all moves

FIDE Rapidplay rules apply Entry Euros30: Euros25 if prepaid by June 9 Prizes Euros 700 400 250 150 1-2-3-4; grading prizes ?100 each; biggest upset Euros 50 Enquiries Colin Byford - 353-1-2351620h cbyford@esatclear.ie Entries Frank Holohan 12 Rathdown Pk Greystones 353-1-2875368h 353-86-1612506m email frankholohan@eircom.net

Event website: http://www.brayrapidplay.com

6th Open du Parc

The 6th Open du Parc Chess Tournament takes place in the Jeen Chess Club in Paris, France FIDE rated 3rd-5th June 2006 . 1st prize : Euro 760 . 2e prize : Euro 460 . 3e prize : Euro 270 . 4e prize : Euro 150 . 5e prize : Euro 100 and more than 20 other prizes. . Tariff : Euro 32 / Euro 16 (Euro 38 / Euro 19 after 2006-05-24). Phone : 33 (0) 1 46 51 04 34 E-mail : jeen@free.fr

More information and registration form available at http://jeen.online.fr/

39th Biel International Festival

The 39th Biel International Festival takes place 22nd July - 4th August 2006. There are two closed tournaments, one for men, one for ladies.

Players include: Alexander Morozevich who will try to win the event for the 3rd time out of 3 appearances.. Co-winner in 2005, Alexander Volokitin is back. In addition Teimour Radjabov Magnus Carlsen, Yannick Pelletier and Lazaro Bruzon compete. The women's event sees Almira Skripchenko, Ekaterina Atalik, Monika Socko, Yelena Dembo, Anna Muzychuk and Pia Cramling compete.

Official site: http://www.bielchessfestival.ch

2nd Alajuela Open

The 2nd Alajuela international open (Costa Rica) takes place 11th-16th July 2006.

Further details: http://www.alajuela2006.com/

IbeatGarry.com: The Six Degrees of Kasparov

If you've won a game that's appeared in Chessbase Megabase 2005 then find out a series of results which by separation means you beat Garry Kasparov! Fun stuff from Karlheinz Zoechling. I'm not in Megabase but have beaten someone who has a separation of two, giving me a separation of three!

Site: http://ibeatgarry.com/

15th Open International D’Echecs de Martigny

The 15th Open International D’Echecs de Martigny takes place 4th-7th August 2006.

Further detail: http://www.uve-wsb.ch/openmartigny/

IRT Buenos Aires

An IRT (International Rated Tournament) takes place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, organized by FAOGBA (Federación de Ajedrez del Oeste del Gran Buenos Aires) Federation of Chess of the West of Great Buenos Aires. Apr, 19th-May, 20th 2006. 11 players, average ELO 2118 (eight rated players) It takes place in the halls of the Italian Society of the city of Merlo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Official site: http://www.ajedrezfaogba.com.ar

15th Kavala Open

The 15th Kavala Open takes place 4th-11th August 2006. There is one (traditional) Open Tournament, which is at the same time the Greek Championships. This year they decided to form two groups with very low elo players competing separately, so as not to create great elo differences and discourage high-ranked players from participating (and being paired with a 1400 player, when a game loss, or draw might mean an "elo catastrophy") on a swiss tournament such as this one. This separation of low elos and the bigger ones is done for the first time in Greece, previously all competed in one tournament. The 1st group players will be eligible for Greek Open titles in men's and women's competitions.

Entries must be sent by fax to + 30.2510.226871 or by e-mail : vliog@tee.gr, not later than July 24th and should include full name, ELO Rating, telephone and dates of arrival and departure. Telephone communication : Vassilis Liogkas : +30.2510.622370 and 6977474684

Further info: http://www.chesskavala.gr or http://www.chesskavala.com

5th Knokke Open

The 5th Knokke Open International Chess Tournament  takes place 12th-15th August 2006  The Belgium Chess Club 'Cnoc Is Ier' located at the coast city Knokke Belgium, the tournament accredited by the Flemish Chess Federation exists of 7 rounds 'Swiss system 2 hours K.O'.  

Prize money provided for a total amount of 2275 Euro 1st prize: 750 euro -  2e prize: 375 euro - 3e prize: 200 euro 4e prize: 125 euro -  6e until 13e prize: 25 euro. The best youth player (born after 15 Aug. 1990): 50 euro - Best senior (born before 12 Aug. 1946): 50 euro

The participants who win no money prize will rewarded with a gift prize.  

Tournament participation Before 31 July 2006 one pays 20 euro, afterwards 25 euro. Participation is for nobody free. Maximum 120 players are allowed. Registrations happen in order of recieved payment. Participants must present themselves on the 12 of Augusts between 10 and 12 O'clock.

Register by e-mail sk_knokke@hotmail.com

Further details: http://users.telenet.be/schaakknokke/SchaakClubKnokkeTornooiMain.htm

Dortmunder Sparkassen Chess Meeting

The Dortmunder Sparkassen Chess Meeting takes place 29th July - 6th August 2006. Players: Arkadij Naiditsch, Vladimir Kramnik, Levon Aronian, Peter Svidler, Peter Leko, Boris Gelfand, Michael Adams and Baadur Jobava.

Official site was http://www.chessgate.de/ last year.

10th Anniversary of correspondencechess.com

correspondencechess.com is celebrating its 10th Anniversary. It has a 10th Anniversary Commemorative Coin: http://www.correspondencechess.com/coin.htm

Home of: Grandmaster V.V. Palciauskas' The World of Correspondence Chess Senior International Master Knudsen's The Correspondence Chess Place The Campbell Report Ralph Marconi's Chess Pages The Canadian Correspondence Chess Association (CCCA) American Postal Chess Tournaments (APCT) The Correspondence Chess Message Board (TCCMB)   and much, much more!

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

15th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International

15th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International Dates: 23 September - 1 October 2006 Venue: Ocean Castle Hotel, Port Erin, Isle of Man Total Prize Fund: £17,500

Three sections: (1) Masters (9-round FIDE Rated swiss, ACP registered, GM/IM norms achievable, first prize £3,000) (2) Under 2000 / ECF grade 175 (7 round swiss, starts 25 Sept) (3) Under 1640 / ECF grade 130 (7 round swiss, starts 25 Sept)

Confirmed entries so far include nine 2600+ rated players (Korneev, Efimenko, Kobalia, Krasenkow, Volkov, Socko, Shabalov, Khenkin, Iordachescu, Landa) plus US women's champion Anna Zatonskih, etc.

For entry details, consult the tournament website ( http://www.bcmchess.co.uk/monarch2006/index.html) or contact tournament director Dennis Hemsley, 3 Links Avenue, Port St Mary, Isle of Man IM9 5EY, tel. 44(0)1624 833742, fax 44(0)1624 833583, email chess@manx.net

Dutch Championship

The Dutch Championship takes place in Hilversum 16th June - 2nd July 2006.

Official site: http://www.schaakbond.nl/nieuws/nk2006/

Men's Event
 1.  Ivan Sokolov       Lelystad    2676  GM 
 2.  Sergei Tiviakov    Groningen   2669  GM
 3.  Loek van Wely      Tilburg     2655  GM
 4.  Jan Timman         Amsterdam   2616  GM
 5.  Friso Nijboer      Amsterdam   2584  GM
 6.  Erwin l' Ami       Woerden     2565  GM
 7.  Daniel Stellwagen  Soest       2543  GM
 8.  Jan Smeets         Oegstgeest  2535  GM
 9.  Jan Werle          Groningen   2529  GM - elect
10.  John van der Wiel  Voorschoten 2511  GM
11.  Yge Visser         Groningen   2480  IM
12.  Jeroen Bosch       Nijmegen    2465  IM


Women's Championship
 1.  Zhao Qin Peng        Rotterdam  2395  GM 
 2.  Tea Lanchava         Winschoten 2380  IM
 3.  Petra Schuurman      Eindhoven  2258  FM
 4.  Bianca Muhren        Rosmalen   2253  WIM
 5.  Marlies Bensdorp     Maarssen   2251  WIM
 6.  Linda Jap Tjoen San  Den Haag   2191  WIM  
 7.  Mariska Bertholee-de Mie Haarlem2153  
 8.  Arlette van Weersel  Etten Leur 2148  
 9.  Maartje de Jonge     Utrecht    2136  
10.  Pauline van Nies     Zoetermeer 2107  

Open Internet Chess Blitz Cup 2006

Central Chess Club, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and the Chess Assistant Club invites chess players and chess clubs from your country to take part in the Open Internet chess blitz Cup dedicated to 50 year jubilee of the Central Chess Club (Moscow) for the prizes of FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

The prize-winning fund of the Cup makes 10 000 USD that will be played off in 10 qualifying tournaments (April 1 - May 3) and 2 final tournaments (May 6 and 10). The closing ceremony and winners rewarding will be made by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in May during the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin (Italy).

The Cup tournaments will be held at Chess Assistant playing zone (www.ChessAssistant.com).

E-mail for contacts: info@chessassistantclub.com

Regulations: http://www.chessassistantclub.com/botv_50.html

Christophe Bouton Chess Blog

Christophe Bouton has started a chess blog in French at: http://echecs64.blog.20minutes.fr/

4th Solingen chess weeks

The 4th Solingen chess weeks will be held in Solingen (Germany) June 10th- June 18th. Festival consists of Blitz tournament (June 10th, 22 games (11 rounds with 2 games));

Rapid Tournament (9 rounds, 20 min/game) will take place June 11th.

Main tournaments are two Open from June 15th to 18th; 7 rounds Swiss system 2h/40+ 1h/ Rest; A-tournament is open for all players and Elo-rated. Top prizes 800/500/400 euros

B-tournament is open for all players with a rating below 2000; top prizes 300/200/150 euros

Further information: Andreas Peschel: 0175-5912407; peschel@schachgesellschaft.de

Tournament site: http://www.schachwochen.de

Czech Tour 2006/2007

There is new information about the Czech Tour 2006/2007 including:

CZECH OPEN 2006 17th International Festival of Chess, Bridge and Games European Amateurs Championship in Chess Pardubice 13th-30th July 2006, Czech Republic

2nd WORLD SCHOOL CHESS TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIP Tournaments for school chess teams in categories U12, U14, U16 Pardubice, July 12th-20th, 2006

6th ZNOJMO OPEN (the Dukla hotel and Monastery of Louka) 13th-21st May 2006 .

9th OLOMOUC CHESS SUMMER (the Sigma hotel) 2nd-10th August 2006.

3rd HIGHLANDS OPEN (Havlickuv Brod, the Slunce hotel) 23rd September - 1st October 2006.

7th LIBEREC OPEN (the Liberec hotel) 11th-18th November 2006.

6th PRAGUE OPEN (TOP HOTEL Praha) 11th-18th January 2007.

6th MARIENBAD OPEN (the Evropa hotel) 19th-27th January 2007.

Further details: http://www.czechtour.net or Dr. Jan Mazuch, Director of CZECH OPEN & CZECH TOUR - j.mazuch@avekont.cz

In addition there is the 27th Tournament of Chess Hopes and 17th Pobeskydi Tournament organised by the town of Frydek-Mistek 13th-17th April 2006.

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

Computer chess calendar

New updates to the Computer chess calendar with the latest official computer chess tournaments and an updated PGN database. The latest events added:

01. CCT-8 2006, Rybka won
02. IPCCC 2005, Rybka won
03. Dutch-open 2005, Zappa won
04. WCCC, Zappa won
05. Australasian NCC-ch 2005, Bodo won
06. Polish-ch, Gosu won

Next events are: 06th International CSVN Tournament Leiden, 2006-05-05 up to 2006-05-07 14th WCCC Torino, 2006-05-25 up to 2006-06-01 Please note: The information are now again available under the older domain: http://www.amateurschach.de (selection: CC-Calendar).

The *.pgn database with official computer chess tournaments have now 8.673 games and 726 games from older tournaments (time before 1990).

21st North Sea Cup

The Esbjerg Chess Union organises the 21st North Sea Cup July 8th-15th 2006.

Further information and registration: Jens Nielsen, Storegade 66, 6700 Esbjerg, (+45)75123975, e-mail: Jerneif@get2net.dk. Registration not later than Sunday July 2nd.

Further details: http://www.northseacup.dk/nsc2006/2index.htm

30th Blackpool Chess Conference

The 30th Blackpool Chess Conference took place 10th-12th March 2006. Open results Results from the 30th Blackpool Chess Conference, 10-12 March 2006, held at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, England 1st= on 4.5/5 GM Mark Hebden & John Merriman £550 each 3rd Lawrence Trent 4/5 £200

Official site: http://www.blackpoolchess.org.uk/

Hungarian tournaments April-December 2006

1. 23rd- 31st of March 22nd Budapest SPRING FESTIVAL 9 rounds Swiss Open org.: NL.

2. 1st-14th of April, 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/..

3. 15th-23rd of April Kecskemet, IM tmt, org: Dr.Erdelyi, Tamas, e-mail: postmaster@caissa.t-online.hu Website: www.caissachessbooks.hu Usually also in the second half of the month IM tmt-s in Kecskemet. 100 km South from Budapest.

4. 6th - 18th of May, Budapest, FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM, org.NL.

5.. 20th-30th of May, Budapest, ELEKES memorial GM-IM closed tmt, org.IM Zsinka, e-mail: zsinkala@axelero.hu

6. 19th-27th of May, ZALAKAROS Open, 9 rounds Swiss, Info: IM Horvath, Tamas, e-mail: mssz@zalaszam.hu website: www.csutisk.hu

7. 3rd-16th of June, FIRST SATURDAY GM /cat.VII and cat IX together/ - IM-FM closed tournaments, Budapest, Org.NL.

8.. 17th-25th of June, BALATONLELLE Open, GM-IM closed, 130 km West from Budapest, org. IM RIGO, e-mail: me-ri@t-online.hu Website: www.lellechess.tar.hu

9.. 1st-13th of July, FIRST SATURDAY GM-IM-FM closed, Bp. Org.NL,

10. 15th-23rd of July, AGRIA Open 9 rounds Swiss, Eger, 100 km North from Budapest, Org. RAUCH Ferenc, e-mail: rauch@freemail.hu

11.. 24th-30th of July, SZOMBATHELY SUMMER Open 9 rounds Swiss, 300 km West from Budapest, Org: FM KORPICS, Zsolt, e-mail: korpicschess@axelero.hu

13. 5th-17th of August, FIRST SATURDAY, Bp, GM /cat.XII-IX-VII/ - IM-FM closed, Org: NL.

14. 21st -29th of August, TALENTUM Kupa, Open, Zamárdi , org. Valis János. E-mail: husi_sc@hu.inter.net

15. 2nd-14th of September FS GM-IM Budapest, org.Nagy László

16. 7th-19th of October, FS GM-IM, Bp. Org.Nagy László.

17. 4th-16th of November FS GM-IM-FM closed tmt, info NL.

18. Second half of November, TENKES KUPA, Harkány, 250 km South West from Budapest, Organizer: Mr FULOP, Csaba E-mail: fulopcsa@invitel.hu

19. 2nd-15th of December, FS GM-IM-FM, info NL.

6th Znojmo Open

The 6th International Chess Festival Znojmo Open 2006 takes place 13th-21st May 2006 in Znojmo (the Czech Republic). Among others European Women Rapid Chess Championship (the prize fund 5 000 EUR), FIDE open, The Znojmo Little Queen and Open Championship of the Southmoravian chess federation in active chess will be a part of the festival.

Contact: Dr. Jan Mazuch, Director of CZECH OPEN & CZECH TOUR - j.mazuch@avekont.cz

Website for the Czech Tour: http://www.czechopen.net

Free "How good is your chess" articles in German

For German Readers The excellent series "How good is your chess", written by the english Grandmaster Daniel King, appears also in the german language as "Test & Training". You can download a free sample in the section "Training" at http://www.schach-magazin.de

Vladimir Kramnik vs. Deep Fritz Match Announced

Vladimir Kramnik will play the ChessBase computer program Deep Fritz in a 6 game match 25th November - 5th December 2006 in the German’s Art and Exhibition Hall in Bonne. Kramnik stands to win a prize of $1 Million US for a win in the match doubling his starting fee.

Asked how he estimates his chances, Kramnik reacted cautiously: "Fritz examines millions of moves per second. It is extraordinarily difficult to play against such a calculating monster. Right from the start you are walking on a very narrow ridge, and you know that any inattentiveness will be your downfall. It is a scientific experiment and I will have to fight very hard for my chance." The WCC is being organized by Universal Event Promotion (UEP), in cooperation with the Art and Exhibition Hall.

Schedule: Game 1: Saturday 25.11.2006 16h Game 2: Monday 27.11.2006 16h Game 3: Wednesday 29.11.2006 16h Game 4: Friday 01.12.2006 16h Game 5: Sunday 03.12.2006 16h Game 6: Tuesday 05.12.2006 16h During the entire period of the match the Art and Exhibition Hall will offer a varied program.

Information: http://www.bundeskunsthalle.de

Battle of Senta 1697 Chess Festival

The 10th Anniversary Chess Festival "The Battle of Senta 1697" takes place 21st-30th 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.

Further details: http://www.chess-senta.org.yu/

Politiken Cup

The Copenhagen Chess Festival, including the Politiken Cup will take place 22nd-30th July 2006. Nigel Short has already agreed to participate.

Further details: http://www.politikencup.dk/

3rd South Wales International

The 3rd South Wales International Chess Tournament takes place 8-13 July 2006.

Official site: http://www.southwaleschess.co.uk/SWI/

Brno Chess Festival

The Brno Chess Festival takes place in the Czech Republic, 30th June - 9th July 2006.

Events: A. Grandmasters close tournament 30.6.-9.7.2006 SKANSKA BRNO 2006 B. 2 masters close tournament 30.6.-9.7.2006 DS BRNO 2006 and ZS BRNO 2006 C. Open tournament FIDE 1.7.-9.7.2006 OPEN DURAS BVK FIDE D. Open tournament national 1.7.-9.7.2006 OPEN DURAS BVK national E. Open blitz tournament 8.7.2006 Memorial Vaclav Felix F. Simultaneous games 5.7.2006

Further details: http://www.skduras.wz.cz/indexe.htm

World Youth Under 16 Chess Olympiad

The World Youth Under 16 Chess Olympiad takes place in 5th-13th August 2006 in Dogubeyazit, Agri Turkey.

Official site: http://www.tsf.org.tr

Andrew Martin Chess Academy

The Official web site for the Andrew Martin Chess Academy goes live on Wednesday, March 1st featuring A Game Annotation Service A personal on-line tuition and coaching service A regular newsletter A Series of (real OTB) tournaments for Children under 14 years.

Official site: http://www.andrewmartinchessacademy.com/ (http://www.andrewmartinchessacademy.com/main.php)

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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/

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/

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

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