THE WEEK IN CHESS 777 28th September 2009 by Mark Crowther

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1) Introduction

My thanks to Igor Glek, Holger Lieske, Robert Fontaine, Luiz Roberto Da Costa Jr, Emmanuel Variniac, Adolivio Capece, Jakub Fuksik, Gujuan Tzu, Luis Blasco de la Cruz, Laszlo Nagy, Jan Lagrain, Susan Polgar, Valery Maes, Sandor Videki, Peter Doggers and everyone else who helped with the issue.

The match between Kasparov and Karpov lived up to the billing with huge pubicity away from the board. Sadly events over the board were a little less inspiring. Kasparov expressed disappointment with some of his decisions but he still outclassed Anatoly Karpov completely, not least because the latter got into terrible time trouble throughout. Kasparov has reiterated that this isn't going to mark an end to his retirement and I believe him. The fact he has found something else to do could alone keep himself away from the board, but also I think he felt his powers somewhat waining and especially he got out just before chess preparation took a huge leap forward, maybe to catch up to where he was, but certainly it isn't possible to compete with general preparation anymore.

This week has seen a huge amount of chess elsewhere too. The 2nd Pearl Spring tournament got underway with a win for Magnus Carlsen being the only decisive result. The performance of world number 1 Veselin Topalov will be of great interest and a slow start isn't really that unusual for him.

Nigel Short beat Zahar Efimenko 3.5-2.5 in a match, the Marx Gyorgy Memorial is well undery, the Spice Cup is coming towards a finish, the FIDE Women's Grand Prix is also taking place in Nanjing, Emil Sutovsky dominated in Antwerp to win with 7/9, the Baku Open sees Gata Kamsky and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov compete, the Spanish teams saw Gelfand amongst others compete. So plenty to get your teeth into.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

2) Kasparov vs Karpov Match

Kasparov and Karpov played a 12 game (4 Rapid and 8 blitz) match in Valencia 21st-24th September 2009. The match was on the 25th Anniversary of the start of their infamous first aborted match in Moscow in 1984-5, this was followed by an epic series of close World title matches which ended in Lyon 1990.

Kasparov outclassed Karpov throughout the match. The match confirmed the recent impression that Karpov has ceased to work on the game and is no longer competitive. Kasparov seemed pretty sharp although it is hard to say with complete assurance how good he still is as the opposition was so poor. In particular Karpov was mishandling the clock very badly (lost game 4 of the blitz on time in a favourable position) and collapsing at the end of games when he had little or no time, even in level positions. It is to be hoped that Karpov can at least show some pride and do some work for the second match in France in December. Kasparov won the rapid 3-1 and the blitz 6-2 for a resounding 9-3 win.

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

http://www.europe-echecs.com/ have video reports and an interview with Kasparov.

Other coverage: Daily Dirt - http://www.chessvibes.com/ - http://www.chessdom.com/kasparov-karpov-valencia-2009

3) 2nd Nanjing Pearl Spring

The 2nd Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament takes place 27th Sept - 9th October 2009 in Nanjing, China.

The event is a 6-player in a double round robin. The total prize fund is 250,000 Euros.

News Gujuan Tzu blog http://blog.sina.com.cn/chessnews

Official site (In English): http://www.chess-pearlspring.com/www/chess_pk/2009/en/

4) Short - Efimenko Match

Chess Match 20 - 26 September 2009 Mukachevo (Ukraine) organised by UEP. 44-year-old Nigel Short beat 24-year-old Zahar Efimenko 3.5-2.5.

Live coverage: http://live.uep-chess.com/live.htm

Website Universal Event Promotion: http://www.uep-chess.com/cms_english/

Club Mukachevo

Media Contact: Mikhail Golubev, gmi@europe.com

5) VII Marx Gyorgy Memorial

The VII Marx Gyorgy Memorial takes place 24th September-5th October 2009 Paks, Hungary.

Participants: GM Almasi Zoltan 2684 HUN, GM Meier Georg 2658 GER, GM Berkes Ferenc 2647 HUN, GM Ganguly Surya 2637 IND, GM Safarli Eltaj 2597 AZE, GM Acs Peter 2550 HUN Average rating: 2629 Category: 16

I Teller Ede Memorial Participants: WGM Majdan Joanna 2382 POL, IM Vajda Szidónia 2375 HUN, WGM Gara Tícia 2354 HUN, WGM Doluhanova Evgeniya 2327 UKR, WGM Kochetkova Julia 2310 RUS, WIM Toth Lili 2172 HUN Average rating: 2320 Category: 3

Blitz-tournament 2nd October, 2009

Rapid-tournament 29th September, 2009

Children-tournament 27th September, 2009,

XIII Paks open 30th September- 4th October, 2009 7 rounds, A and B group

Official site: http://www.ase.hu/marxgy/2009

6) FIDE Women's Grand Prix Nanjing China

The FIDE Women's Grand Prix has a tournament in Nanjing, China, alongside the main 2nd Pearl Spring tournament 27th Sept - 9th October 2009.

Official site (In English): http://www.chess-pearlspring.com/www/chess_pk/2009/en/ and also http://nanjing2009.fide.com/schedule.html

7) Inventi Chess Tournament 2009

The Inventi Chess tournament took place in Antwerp. 9 round round-robin with Bacrot, Sargissian, Sasikiran, Sutovsky, Howell, Timman and some other 2600+-players.

Emil Sutovsky took clear first place with 7/9.

Official site: http://inventi.info/

Live: http://www.schaakfabriek.be

8) Baku Open

The Baku Open takes place September 20th-30th 2009 in Baku in conjunction with the Independence Day of the Azerbaijan Republic, Prize fund $60,000 and a first prize of $10,000 dollars. Total - 30 prizes. My thanks to Holger Lieske for the games. There were a few more broadcast but I couldn't find any on the official site.

Official site: http://www.azerichess.az/ - http://www.chess.az/DefaultEn.html and live games: http://livegames.chess.az/tfd.htm and also results at: http://chess-results.com/tnr25499.aspx

9) SPICE Cup

The SPICE Cup takes place 19th-29th September 2009 at Texas Tech University, Lubbock USA.

Susan Polgar site: http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com

LIVE Coverage: http://www.depts.ttu.edu/spice/SPICE_CUP_2009_LIVE_COVERAGE.php - Official website: http://www.chessdailynews.com/

10) Spanish Championship

The 74th Spanish Championship takes place in Cala Major - Palma de Mallorca, 26th September - 4th October 2009. 9 Round Swiss.

Official site: http://www.escacs.org/ce2009/index.php - Results: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr25795.aspx - Details

11) Maotai Prince Cup China

The Maotai Prince Cup with the National Chess King and Queen Championships saw the top 8 Chinese men and 8 women players participating. Wang Yue won the King's event with 5/7 and Hou Yifan the Queen's with 5.5/7.

Blog information: http://blog.sina.com.cn/rss/chessnews.xml

Results: King's Tournament Results - Queen's Tournament Results

12) 18th Croatian Team Championship

The 18th Croatian Team Championship take place 21st-29th September 2009.

Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr25640.aspx - Official site: http://www.crochess.com/

13) ZheJiang LiShui XingQiu chess International Open

The XingQiu chess International Open took place in LiShui in the ZheJiang Province, 17th-25th September 2009. Le Quang Liem won with 7.5/9. Final round results not yet entered at chess-results,com.

Blog information: http://blog.sina.com.cn/rss/chessnews.xml

http://chess-results.com/tnr25487.aspx

14) Serbian Women's League

The Serbian Women's League took place in Pozarevac, 14th-22nd September 2009. SK Radnicki won the event.

Official site: http://serbiachess.net/2009/prvaligazene2009/prvaligazene2009.htm

15) CECLUB Spanish Teams

The Spanish Teams CECLUB Division de Honor - Grupo I took place 20th-24th September 2009 in Lugo. Escuela Internacional Kasparov Marcote (Gashimov, Vallejo) took first place ahead of Kutxa-Gros (Gelfand, Kasimdzhanov etc)

Grupo 2 took place in Montcada 16th-20th September 2009 and saw Linex Magic, Ponomariov, Shirov, Adams etc win. Games were in TWIC last week.

I couldn't find details of the final, dates and venue.

Officials site: http://www.feda.org/ - Results: http://chess-results.com/Tnr25154.aspx

Group 2 results: http://chess-results.com/tnr24532.aspx?lan=1 - http://chess-results.com/tnr25154.aspx?lan=2

16) XIX Open de Gros

The XIX Open de Gros Memorial Javier Luengo Vazquez takes place in Donostia, San Sebastian 25th September - 2nd October 2009. Games from round 3 not yet available.

Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr25366.aspx

17) Mecking - Fier Match

The Match between Henrique Mecking and Alexandr Fier took place in Sao Paulo 23rd-27th September 2009 in the amphitheater of Santa Cruz High School in Sao Paulo. The match was drawn 2-2.

Match of 4 classical games with time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds/move.

Details: http://www.matonet.com.br/ctx/index_arquivos/Page1356.htm

18) 1st Francophone Chess Festival

The International Championship of French-speaking countries takes place in Arvier (Aosta Valley). 28 players from 14 countries.

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

19) Semifinal of the Italian Championship

The Semifinal of the Italian Championship. 30 players. Among the players GM Lexy Ortega, IM Luca Shitaj, (IM) Daniele Genocchio, IM Danil Dvirny, IM Denis and IM Axel Rombaldoni, IM Pierluigi Piscopo, IM Daniel Contin, IM Paolo Vezzosi, IM Spartaco Sarno. The top 5 play in the final of the Italian Championship starting on November 20th again in Aosta Valley, in the town of Sarre. GM Fabiano Caruana (winner of the last 2 editions) this year will not play the Italian Championship, because he got a "wild card" by Fide to play World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk: the two events are running in the same days.

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

20) Galicia Jubilee Chess Festival 2009

To celebrate 2010 Galicia’s Jubilee Year, there was a chess festival 25th-27th September in Orense (Galicia, Spain) Four spectacular tournaments: the "Fernando Marcote Memorial" International Rapid Chess Open, the European Women’s Rapid Chess Championship, the European Open Blitz Chess Championship and the European Women’s Blitz Chess Championship, with a prize fund of 50.000€

I couldn't find games, Vugar Gashimov won the blitz tournament.

Details: http://www.galiciachessfestival.com/

21) 6th Highlands Open International Chess Festival

6th Highlands Open International Chess Festival 2009, takes place in the town of Zdar nad Sazavou 26th September - 4th October 2009. IM tournament, FIDE open, active chess and blitz tournament are part of the festival.

Official site: http://www.czechtour.net/highlands-open/

22) World Chess Tour’s News

By International Chess Grandmaster Igor Glek the founder of the project.

Many young stars will take part in the next round-robin GM/IM tournaments of the "World Chess Tour" Series will be held in Moscow from 4th to 14th October 2009! http://www.chess-events.ru - here You can find the results and final points of the summer’s tournaments (July, August 2009), having been counted for classification of the "World Chess Tour". Also the information about the next Autumn events of the "World Chess Tour 2009/10" to be held in Moscow, Moscow Region, Macedonia, Spain can be found there. We are glad to invite the organizers of the tournaments, the players and the fans to join us! (In addition to different age/rating’s categories the classification includes the "World VIP Chess Tour" and the World Chess Fans Tour") For more details go to: http://www.chess-events.org/ru_RU/rgm-wct.html - Rules for the first "World Chess Tour 2009/10" http://www.chess-events.org/ru_RU/events.html - the events of the "Tour" (with the final points) http://www.crestbook.com/?q=node/1064I - Interview with the President of the company "World Chess Tour", International Grandmaster Igor Glek for the one of the most popular Russian chess site www.crestbook.com - about the idea of holding "World Chess Tour", about the chess’ slogan "Intellect, Culture and Tolerance" and not only about that (translated by Tatiana Kuzmina).

The next round-robin tournaments (GM, IM, rating) of the "World Chess Tour" Series will be held in Moscow from 4th to 14th October 2009. Among the participants of the Grandmaster’s Tour there are two most perspective young chess players of the World – both 13 years young International Master Illya Nyzhnyk from Ukraine (his website is www.dril-chess.com) and the Muscovite Daniil Dubov. In spite of the young age Illya is the well known among the chess fans in Moscow. This child prodigy had already won "Moscow Open B" in 2007 scoring 8.5 points in 9 games. He had become the World Vice-champion in his age category for two times and had won the European Youth-16 Championship. Also Daniil’s last time results are growing fast – it’s enough to remind of his win in the traditionally strong (informally called "junior’s Linares") Memorial of Vanya Somov. Also Daniil has chared first places in the Russian Capital’s Blitz Ch semifinals for two times, although there were experienced Grandmasters among his rivals. So, who knows, may be some weeks later we will become the witnesses of youngest in the World Grandmaster’s appearing!?

Among participants of the October’s "WCT" events you will see Anastasiya Savina, who had done even two norms in August: IM norms among men and GM norm among women, Pavel Dvalishvily and Ivan Aldokhin, who had done IM norm in July, the youngest Woman Grandmaster in Europe 15-years-old Alina Kashlinskaya and others (the players list see on the site www.chess-events.org/ru_RU/participants.html ) It can be noted that the "World Chess Tour" round-robin tournaments are going to become the finest training for it’s participants: - Olga Girya had won European Championship among girls J18 (Italy, August-September); - Marina Romanko had become the World Vice-champion as a member of the Russian women team (China, September); - Michael Krylov had convincingly won the «Vladimir Open (August).

Games from the first two events now available.

Next events will be held in Moscow 4th-14th October 2009. Contact: Igor Glek wlct06@gmail.com

23) US Chess League

The US Chess League got under way on August 31st 2009. Week four took place on the 21st and 23rd of September 2009.

http://www.uschessleague.com/

24) Forthcoming Events and Links

The London Chess Classic in December

The London Chess Classic takes place in the Olympia Conference Centre 7th-15th December 2009

A star studded field comprising England's four leading Grandmasters; Nigel Short, Michael Adams, Luke McShane and David Howell, former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, 18 year old Magnus Carlsen widely seen as a future champion, one of China's finest players; Ni Hua and the US Champion Hikaru Nakamura completes the field.

The London Chess Classic 2009 will offer free admission to children for the duration of the event which runs from December 8th to 15th.

Adult tickets are just £10 per day or just £50 for all seven rounds. Adult and junior ticket holders receive admission to the tournament, which is being staged at London's prestigious Olympia Conference Centre, plus a guaranteed seat in the auditorium and access to the Commentary Room where some of the UK's leading Grandmasters will give insights into the play and answer questions.

Full details at: http://www.londonchessclassic.com or call the London Chess Center on 0207 388 2404.

Press Release Malcolm Pein 26th September 2009

A week long chess festival including a FIDE Rated Open with a guaranteed £8000 prize fund will run alongside the London Chess Classic 2009 which takes place at the Olympia Conference Centre from December 8-15 2009. The tournament has been scheduled to allow players to watch the opening moves of the Classic before their games in the Open begin. A minimum of six Grandmasters will be invited to the Open Classic and title norm opportunities will be available.

There will also be a weekend tournament, a one day Rapidplay and every evening, Blitz in the foyer. Anyone entering the Open, Rapidplay or Weekend Classic will receive free entry to the auditorium to watch the main event and they will also be able to access the Grandmaster Commentary Room. In addition the games will be relayed on screens throughout the Olympia Conference Centre.

Details on how to enter and the tournament regulations are at www.Londonchessclassic.com I am delighted to announce that there will be no entry fees to any Classic tournament for children under the age of 16.

For those who would rather just watch, tickets are now on sale and again, admission for children under 16 will be free throughout the event.

Adult tickets are just £10 per day or just £50 for all seven rounds. Adult and junior ticket holders receive admission to the tournament plus a guaranteed seat in the auditorium and access to the Commentary Room where some of the UK's leading Grandmasters will give insights into the play and answer questions. Tickets can be purchased from the London Chess Centre on 0207 388 2404 or online at www.Londonchessclassic.com

The London Chess Classic is the strongest all play all tournament to be held in Britain for 25 years with four of the world's finest players and England's leading quartet of Grandmasters. Heading the field is the fourteenth world champion Vladimir Kramnik and 18 year old Norwegian Magnus Carlsen already hailed as a future champion by Garry Kasparov who has recently agreed to train the chess genius.

Malcolm Pein (IM)

London Chess Centre

Official website: http://www.londonchessclassic.com

Cappelle-la-Grande 2010

The 26th International Open of Cappelle-la-Grande will take place 13th-20th February 2010.

For every players wishing to be invited, please contact Mr GOUVART at the following address: stephanegouvart@gmail.com phone: +33671624629

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

European Club Cup

The European Club Cup takes place 3rd-10th October 2009 in Ohrid MKD.

Official site: http://www.ecc2009.com/

IV Open Internacional Ciutat de Palma

The IV International Open Chess City of Palma, Iberostar Trophy takes place 21st-28th November 2009.

Official site: http://www.chesspalma.com/index.php?le=en

Czech Chess Christmas 2009-10

Czech Chess Christmas 2009 Litomysl (CZE) 26th December - 2nd January 2010

11th christmas chess FIDE tournament, swiss system of 9 round, rate of game 2 x 1,5h + 30s/move, prize fund 64.000 CZK (1st prize 20.000 CZK = 800 EUR), special conditions for IM, WGM and GM, New Year’s Eve programme.

Contact: Proclient s.r.o., Jaroslav Fuksik, Svedska 3, 772 00 Olomouc, mobile: +420 608 364 664, e-mail: a64@proclient.cz, web: http://www.a64.cz/tournaments/litomysl2009/

Hungarian Tournaments October 2009 - April 2010

First Saturday chess tournaments, GM-IM-FM sections, 50-60-70 players usually out of 10-15 countries, for 9...14 days here.

Upcoming tournaments:

1. 3rd-15th of October, GM-IM-FM First Saturday Budapest, org: Nagy Laszlo, firstsat@hu.inter.net,

2. 23rd-31st of October, GM tmt, Pecs, 250 km West from Budapest,

3. 7th-19th of November, GM-IM-FM, First Saturday, Budapest, 4. 26th of Nov-3rd of Dec, Harkany Open, 250 km South-West from Budapest, org: Mr.Fulop, e-mail to: fulopcsa@invitel.hu

5. 5th-17th of December, GM-IM-FM, First Saturday, Budapest,

6. 8th-16th of January 2010 Perenyi memorial Open, 9 rounds Swiss, Budapest, info: Nagy Laszlo,

7. 6th-18th of February 2010 FS GM-IM-FM, Budapest,

8. 6th-18th of March 2010, FS GM-IM-FM Budapest,

9. 19th-28th of March 2010 26th Budapest Spring Festival, 9 rounds Swiss Open, org: Nagy Laszlo

10.3rd-16th of April 2010 FS GM-IM-FM Budapest

Contact: Nagy, Laszlo International chess organizer, member of the FIDE organizers' committee, "GENS UNA SUMUS" ET "PACTA SUND SERVANDA" http://www.firstsaturday.hu

Possible in the website online chat also... Mobile: +36-30-230-19-14 Phone-fax: +36-1-263-28-59 E-mail: firstsat@hu.inter.net ICC, SKYPE, YAHOO, MSN, www.chess.com nickname: mrfirstsaturday

Tal Memorial 2009

The Tal Memorial takes place something like 4th-19th November 2009. Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian, Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Leko, Boris Gelfand, Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler and Ruslan Ponomariov seem to be in the field. The main event will be followed by a blitz tournament.

2nd Haye Kramer Invitation tournament

The 2nd Haye Kramer Invitation tournament and 27th Waling Dijkstra tournament Friday 13th - Sunday 15th November 2009 in Provincial Library ‘Tresoar’, Leeuwarden, Holland.

Haye Kramer Invitation tournament This 5-round tournament features GMs Yge Visser, Sipke Ernst, Jan Werle, IMs Daan Brandenburg and Mark van der Werf, and FM Migchiel de Jong.

Waling Dijkstra Open tournament. This 6-round Open has 2 level groups. Starting fees for International (Woman) Grandmasters and free entry for (Woman) International Masters as well as youth players under 18. For the latter, cheap boarding can also be arranged (10 euros for 2 nights). Students pay an entry fee of 20 euros. Participants in the Waling Dijkstra Open will include grandmasters Malakhatko, Zherebukh, Y. Vovk, Swinkels, Peng, Kravtsiv, Zozulia, Kunin, Rusev, V. Georgiev and M. Ivanov.

For more information: mail info@philidor1847.nl, or see website http://www.philidor162.nl.

Kasparov and Karpov in Paris 2009

In addition to their match in Valencia, Kasparov and Karpov will play again in December 11th-13th 2009 as part of fund raising for medical research and UNICEF. There will be a whole host of activities. Full details in French and now a nice video in English.

Czech Coal Match 2009

Jan Timman, Viktor Korchnoi, Robert Huebner and Vlastimil Hort play against a team of ladies in the Czech Coal Match event which takes place 28th November - 5th December 2009 in the hotel Crystal Palace in Marianske Lazne. The final lineup is waiting for the women players and a potential clash with the FIDE Women's Grand Prix.

Details - Likely official site: http://www.praguechess.cz/

Milano

Milano (Italy), December 5th-13th 2009 - International tournament "Memorial Crespi" - edition number 30 details: http://www.scacchisticamilanese.it

48th World Junior Championships

The 48th World Junior Championships (27th for Girls) take place in Mar del Plata, Argentina 21st October - November 4th 2009. No website yet.

There are many junior titles but this is the only one of historic importance. Borislav Ivkov was the first champion, Oscar Panno, Boris Spassky, William Lombardy, Anatoly Karpov, Alexander Beliavsky, Tony Miles, Artur Jussupow, Yasser Seirawan, Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand and Levon Aronian are by no means the only well known players to have taken the title over the years. The event is for players under-20. (List: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Junior_Chess_Championship)

These are not to be confused with the World Youth Championships which take place in Kemer-Antalya, Turkey, November 11th 2009 (arrival) - November 23rd 2009 (departure). These are of less historic interest although the under-18 group is always pretty well fought, there are way too many sections (I'd cut off at under-16 or under-14 and have a more fun based festival for the younger players) the idea of a World under-8 Championship of anything is just not right.

Official site: http://wycc2009.tsf.org.tr/

17th European Team Championship

The 17th European Team Championship takes place in Novi Sad (Serbia) October 21st-31st 2009.

Adolivio Capece sends news of the Italian team: Men - GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Michele Godena, IM Carlo D'Amore, IM Luca Shitaj, IM Denis Rombaldoni. Women - WGM Elena Sedina, WGM Olga Zimina, wfm Marina Brunello, wfm Eleonora Ambrosi, wfm Marianna Chierici. GM Daniele Vocaturo and IM Sabino Brunello play in the World Juniors.

Official site: http://www.eurons2009.com/

Mundial Chess Internet Tournament

The organising Committee Mundial Chess invites all the players (from the amateurs to Grandmasters) to take part in the 1st Internet tournament with the prize fund of more than 130.000 EUR in cash and many special prizes. The 1st prize in the main tournament will be not less than 10.000 EUR.

Registration (and information in English) in the tournament is possible following the link - http://www.mundialchess.com/chess-online/en/zvfdxt6 Registration and information in Spanish - http://www.mundialchess.com/chess-online/es/zvfdxt6 Registration and information in Russian - http://www.mundialchess.com/chess-online/ru/zvfdxt6

Commonwealth Chess Championships

The Masterskill Commonwealth Chess Championships take place 9th-15th December 2009 in conjunction with the 6th Singapore International Chess Festival.

Details of the change: http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/4-tournaments/3991-commonwealth-chess-championship-2009

2nd Fide Women Grand Prix

The 2nd Fide Women Grand Prix is also take place in Nanjing in 27th Sept - 9th October 2009 with the top 12 players in the world.

Gujuan Tzu blog http://blog.sina.com.cn/chessnews

Unive Tournament Hoogeveen

The Unive Tournament in Hoogeveen takes place 16th-24th October 2009 with a new sponsor.

The main four player tournament has: Vassily Ivanchuk, Judit Polgar, Sergei Tiviakov and Anish Giri. There is an open alongside.

Details: http://www.univechess.nl/

Ajedrez 21 English site

Ajedrez 21 now has an English site: http://www.ajedrez21.com/en/

World Youth Championship

The World Youth Chess Championship 2009 (under 8, under 10, under 12, under 14, under 16 and under 18 years old - open and girls) which will take place in Kemer-Antalya, Turkey, between November the 11th, 2009 (arrival) and November the 23th, 2009 (departure).

Official site: http://wycc2009.tsf.org.tr/

FIDE World Cup Nov-Dec 2009

FIDE have announced some of the qualifiers for the FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, 20 November to 15 December 2009. In a few days the list with qualifiers from the Continental and Zonal Championships 2008-09 will also be published.

FIDE announcement: http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/4037-list-of-qualifiers-for-world-cup

Kingpin Magazine

The humourous and satirical chess magazine Kingpin has a new website.

New website address: http://www.kingpinchess.net

VIII Benidorm International Chess Festival

VIII Benidorm International Chess Festival 2009 takes place 27th November - 8th December 2009.

Website: http://www.ajedrezbali.com

Torch Real Estate Cup

The Chinese team competition the Torch Real Estate Cup started in Chengdu China on 4th May 2009. I'm hoping for a full game file.

Live games: http://live.chinaqiyuan.com/chess/tfd.htm

Official site: http://chess.sport.org.cn/

Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr21650.aspx

Historical Elo Ratings

http://www.shakki.net/history/elotop.htm has a list of historical top ten FIDE lists. The text is in Finnish but is understandable anyhow.

Reno Far West Open

The Far West Open Chess Tournament took place April 10th-12th 2009 in Reno Nevada. Sergey Kudrin edged out Enrico Sevillano and Gergerly Antal who finished on 5/6. Games should follow.

Official site: http://www.renochess.org/fwo/index.html

6th Summer Catalan Chess Circuit

The 6th Summer Catalan Chess Circuit takes place May - September every year as part of the Catalan Chess Circuit, which is composed of 28 International Tournaments, and held in Spain, extended beyond Catalonia.

In 2009 there will be 14 Opens with traditional time control to be played over 9-10 days, as well as 14 Opens in Rapid Chess, played over 1-2 days (see Tournament Calendar).

During 120 days of tournaments, around 22.000 chess games will be played with selected ones broadcast.

Approximately 3,000 players from more than 30 different countries. The prize fund will reach 175.000 euros.

Apart from the traditional tournament prizes, the Catalan Chess Federation establishes a special classification composed of player´s results in each Circuit tournament, based on which players will be able to claim such special Circuit Prizes as General Final Standings, Prizes by Categories, Specific Prizes for best Catalan Players.

Prizegiving Ceremony will be held at Fiesta Catalana (Catalan Chess Party), on September, 27th, 2009

For more information please contact the Catalonia Chess Federation on federacio@escacs.cat or visit the official website: http://escacs.cat/circuit2009/torneigs.html

European Union Website

The European Chess Union Website ECU website has changed address to http://www.europechess.org

Alushta Diary 2009

Alushta Diary 2009:

GM Norm events: 23.05 - 1.06, 2.06 - 12.06, 15.06 - 25.06, 2.09 - 12.09, 14.09 - 24.09, 26.09 - 6.10, IM Norm: 23.05 - 1.06, 2.06 - 12.06, 15.06 - 25.06, 2.09 - 12.09, 14.09 - 24.09, 26.09 - 6.10, Rating tournament: 4.06 - 12.06, 22.06 - 27.06, 5.09 - 13.09, Open tournament (under 16 years) 3.06 - 11.06, 13.06 - 21.06, Alushta Swiss 9 rounds Open tournament First prize - 1000$ First prize (woman) - 500$ 28.06 - 6.07, 10.07 - 18.07, 20.07 - 28.07, 22.08 - 30.08, Alushta Swiss 9 rounds Blitz tournament 7.07, 19.07, 29.07, Alushta Swiss 9 rounds Open tournament (rapid chess) 8.07 - 9.07, 30.07 - 31.07, Alushta Session of school of Gennadi Kuzmin 21.06 - 27.06, 15.07 - 24.07. Individual and group studying Further information: http://www.kaissa.com.ua phone +38 (06560)5-05-32, +380505828911 (for Russian speaking), + 380506692604 (for English speaking) e-mail: info@kaissa.com.ua

Chess Study

Dr Robert Howard is making a study of rated chess players.

The full article: http://education.arts.unsw.edu.au/fidestudy/results

If you would like to participate, please go to this website: http://education.arts.unsw.edu.au/fidestudy/

For any queries, please contact Dr Robert Howard, University of New South Wales, on rwh@unsw.edu.au