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OLD FRONT PAGE STORIES 2004 |
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| Pamplona
Tournament The Pamplona, Navarra tournament took place 20th - 29th December 2004. The Category 16 main GM event was won by Boris Gelfand. Games in PGN (correction to Naiditsch - Sutovsky rd6 50. ...Qc3+ instead of the give Qe3+) Final Round 7 Standings: 1. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2693 5.5; 2. Karjakin, Sergey g UKR 2576 4.5; 3. Bruzon, Lazaro g CUB 2637 4.0; 4. De la Riva Aguado, Oscar m AND 2528 3.5; 5. Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2660 3.0; 6. Naiditsch, Arkadij g GER 2611 3.0; 7. Sutovsky, Emil g ISR 2697 3.0; 8. Vaganian, Rafael A g ARM 2640 1.5; Official site: http://personal.telefonica.terra.es/web/iosumena/ with further info at: http://www.jaque.tv/pamplona04.htm |
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| Drammen
Tournament The Drammen Chess Festival took place 27th December 2004 - 5th January 2005. The main event was the Smartfish Chess Masters Alexei Shirov and Peter Heine Nielsen finished on 6/9. Kjetil Lie made a GM norm. Games in PGN Round 9 (January 5, 2005) Shirov, Alexei - Macieja, Bartlomiej 1-0 33 B45 Sicilian Classical McShane, Luke J - Lie, Kjetil A 1/2 45 A45 Trompowsky Korchnoi, Viktor - Stefanova, Antoaneta 1-0 63 A29 English Four Knights Johannessen, Leif Erlend - Nielsen, Peter Heine 1/2 16 D12 Slav Defence Carlsen, Magnus - Khalifman, Alexander 1/2 27 B31 Sicilian Rossolimo Final Round 9 Standings: 1. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2726 6.0; 2. Nielsen, Peter Heine g DEN 2663 6.0; 3. McShane, Luke J g ENG 2629 5.5; 4. Lie, Kjetil A m NOR 2474 4.5; 5. Korchnoi, Viktor g SUI 2601 4.5; 6. Macieja, Bartlomiej g POL 2613 4.5; 7. Khalifman, Alexander g RUS 2669 4.0; 8. Johannessen, Leif Erlend g NOR 2519 4.0; 9. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2581 3.0; 10. Stefanova, Antoaneta g BUL 2523 3.0; Official site: http://www.buskerudsjakk.org |
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| 47th Reggio Emilia
Tournament The 47th Reggio Emilia Tournament took place December 29th 2004 - January 6th 2005 at the Mercure-Astoria Hotel. Aleksander Delchev won the event with 6.5/9 and indeed couldn't be caught going into the final round. Games in PGN (Correction to Komarov-Sciortino (Rd4) 13.Bxc4 not Qxc4) Final Round 9 Standings: 1. Delchev, Aleksander g BUL 2601 6.5; 2. Miladinovic, Igor g GRE 2611 5.0; 3. Komarov, Dimitri g UKR 2555 5.0; 4. Cebalo, Miso g CRO 2520 5.0; 5. Rombaldoni, Denis ITA 2251 5.0; 6. Sciortino, Massimo ITA 2222 4.5; 7. Naumkin, Igor g RUS 2479 4.0; 8. Di Caro, Calogero f ITA 2317 3.5; 9. Chatalbashev, Boris g BUL 2554 3.5; 10. Tirabassi, Maurizio f ITA 2330 3.0; Official site: http://www.ippogrifoscacchi.it (or directly) |
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| Hastings Chess
Congress The Hastings Chess Congress took place 28th December 2004 - 9th January 2005 and has a new format. The Hastings Premier and Challengers were combined into one knockout tournament. The games will be played with White having 70 minutes and Black 90 in which to make the first 40 moves. Then each player received an extra 20 minutes for all the moves. There will be an addition of one minute per move cumulatively from the first. Where games were drawn, ties will be resolved first by blitz games. Vladimir Belov beat Bartosz Socko 1.5-0.5 to win the Premier. A few Round 1-10 Games in PGN Official site: http://www.hastingschess.org.uk |
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| Harmonie Chess tournament
2004 The Harmonie Chess tournament 2004 took place December 21st-30th 2004 in Groningen. There was a four way tie on 6/9. 14 year old Yuriy Kuzubov took first place on tie-break, a combination of the results of games played amongst the leaders and Sonnenborn-Berger points. Games in PGN Final Standings: 1. Kuzubov, Yuriy m UKR 2530 6.0; 2. Nijboer, Friso g NED 2567 6.0; 3. Van der Wiel, John g NED 2493 6.0; 4. Visser, Yge m NED 2451 6.0; 5. L'Ami, Erwin m NED 2516 5.5; 6. Gagunashvili, Merab g GEO 2567 5.0; 7. Zhigalko, Andrey m BLR 2515 3.5; 8. Jones, Gawain C f ENG 2447 2.5; 9. Ernst, Sipke m NED 2521 2.5; 10. Brandenburg, Daan NED 2340 2.0; http://www.so-on.org/kerst2004/ |
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| Rilton Cup The Rilton Cup took place 27th December 2004 – 5th January 2005. 22,000 in Euros worth of prizes. Official site: http://www.stockholmschack.nu/rilton/index.html or more generally: http://www.stockholmschack.nu/ |
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Tigran Petrosian Memorial
Internet Tournament Tigran Petrosian Memorial Internet Tournament - the Russian team is sitting in a hall of the Hotel “St. Petersburg” in St.Petersburg. Photo of the match Russia – Armenia. Photo © Sergei Soloviov The Tigran Petrosian Memorial Internet Tournament took place December 18th-23rd 2004 with games starting at 12:00 noon in Paris, 14:00 in St. Petersburg. 15:00 in Yerevan and 19:00 in Beijing. Each country faced each of the other three countries two times for a total of six rounds. Fischer time control will be used (1 hour 30 minutes plus 15 minutes added at move 40; 30 second increments are added after every move). The event took place on ICC. China won the Tigran Petrosian Memorial Internet Tournament. Their final round match against Russia came down to the wire. The Russians led 2-1 but Wang Yue beat Vadim Zvjaginsev to tie the match and win the event for the Chinese. Final Scores: China 14.0 - France 13.0 - Russia 13.0 - Armenia 8.0 Official site: http://www.petrosian2004.com/ Games in PGN Round 1 18th December 2004 Armenia-Russia 2-2; China-France 2-2 Round 2 19th December 2004 France-Armenia 3-1; China-Russia 2-2 Round 3 20th December 2004 Russia-France 3-1; China-Armenia 3.5-0.5 Round 4 21st December 2004 Russia-Armenia 2.5-1.5; France-China 2.0-2.0. Round 5 22nd December 2004 France-Russia 2.5-1.5; China-Armenia 2.5-1.5. Round 6 23rd December 2004 Russia-China 2.0-2.0; France-Armenia 2.5-1.5. Players: Armenia (average rating: 2626) GM Aronian 2675 GM Lputian 2634 GM Sargissian 2611 GM Art. Minasian 2581 Russia (average rating: 2688) GM Svidler 2735 GM Dreev 2698 GM Khalifman 2669 GM Zvjaginsev 2650 France (average rating:2627) GM Lautier 2682 GM Fressinet 2640 GM Bauer 2622 GM Nataf 2565 China (average rating: 2590) GM Bu Xiangzhi 2615 GM Ni Hua 2611 GM Zhang Zhong 2596 GM Wang Yue 2536 |
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| 4th AMPLICO AIG LIFE Rapid
Tournament The 4th AMPLICO AIG LIFE Rapid Tournament took place in Warsaw (Poland) played during the 23rd Memorial of Stanislaw Gawlikowski. The tournament was a part of the ACP Tour and took place on Saturday, December 18th, 2003 and Sunday, December 19th, 2004 in the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. The prize fund was 15.000 USD. There were 8 rounds of a swiss on day 1 from which the leading players qualified for day 2 whilst the rest of the players continued on. On the second day there were group stages from which the top player went through to the semi-finals and the remaining players were assigned groups to establish their finishing positions. Sergei Movsesian defeated Bartosz Socko in the final. Small number of games in PGN (now 34)- hopefully the official site will make available all the games it broadcast during the event. Internet coverage: http://www.pzszach.org.pl/amplico/lista.html |
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| Carlos Torre
Memorial The XVII Memorial Carlos Torre Repetto took place 13th-21st Decemeber 2004. There was an open phase which qualified players for a knockout phase where they were joined by Vassily Ivanchuk. Vassily Ivanchuk defeated Alexander Graf 2-0 in the final. Games in PGN - Games from the first 6 rounds of the open and the complete KO phase are now available. Official site: http://www.carlostorre.org.mx/ |
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| 2nd Ashdod Chess Festival The 2nd Ashdod Chess Festival took place 9th-15th December 2004. The main event was a Category 16 tournament with Israelis Boris Gelfand, Emil Sutovsky, Ilya Smirin and Boris Avrukh. They were joined by Gregory Kaidanov of the USA and Eduardas Rozentalis from Lithuania. Four players finished on 3/5. Smirin took first place on Berger tie-break having been the only player to defeat someone over 50% (Gelfand who thus finished in 4th). Avrukh and Rozentalis finished in joint 2nd. Games in PGN Final Round 5 Standings: 1. Smirin, Ilia g ISR 2673 3.0; 2. Avrukh, Boris g ISR 2614 3.0; 3. Rozentalis, Eduardas g LTU 2595 3.0; 4. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2693 3.0; 5. Kaidanov, Gregory S g USA 2611 1.5; 6. Sutovsky, Emil g ISR 2697 1.5; Official site: http://www.chess.org.il/Ashdod2004/En/Main.htm |
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Grand Prix d'Echecs d'Aix en
Provence Karpov beats Istratescu in the final. Photo © Mathieu Samakh CHATURANGA SAS The Grand Prix d'Echecs in d'Aix en Provence tournament took place 8th-11th December. Anatoly Karpov won the event by defeating Andrei Istratescu in the final. Murtas Kazhgaleyev took 3rd place after beating Joel Lautier in a playoff. Games in PGN (Karpov 1/2 Flear may not be fully correct and Istratescu 1/2 Karpov now complete) Round 1 Day 1: Kosteniuk 0-2 Kazhgaleyev, Lautier 2-0 Gouliev. Round 1 Day 2 Karpov 1.5-0.5 Flear and Istratescu 2-0 Stefanova Round 2: Istratescu 1.5-0.5 Lautier and Karpov 1.5-0.5 Kazgaleyev 3rd-4th Place Kazhgaleyev 3-2 Lautier Final Karpov 1.5-0.5 Istratescu Official Coverage: http://www.grandprixdaix.com (English and French versions) |
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| Nakamura vs Karjakin
Match US Champion Hikaru Nakamura beat Ukrainian Sergey Karjakin 4.5-1.5 in a six-game match against in Mexico 9th-14th December 2004. Gm1 Nakamura, Hikaru - Karjakin, Sergey 1-0 41 C45 Scotch Game Gm2 Karjakin, Sergey - Nakamura, Hikaru 0-1 60 B01 Centre Counter Gm3 Nakamura, Hikaru - Karjakin, Sergey 0-1 39 B53 Sicilian Hungarian Gm4 Karjakin, Sergey - Nakamura, Hikaru 1/2 59 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation Gm5 Nakamura, Hikaru - Karjakin, Sergey 1-0 55 B23 Sicilian Closed Gm6 Karjakin, Sergey - Nakamura, Hikaru 0-1 57 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation Games in PGN Official site: http://www.uaem.mx |
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2005 Chessmaster US
Championships  16-year-old Hikaru Nakamura defeated Alex Stripunsky to take the US Championships on a playoff. Photo © http://www.uschesschampionship.com The 2005 Chessmaster US Championships took place November 23rd - December 5th 2004 in San Diego, California. Hikaru Nakamura defeated Alex Stripunsky 2-0 in playoffs consisting of two games at G/25 plus 10 seconds per move. Rusudan Goletiani defeated Tatev Abrahamyan to take the women's title. Gata Kamsky returned to rated chess for the first time in a number of years and was undefeated but struggled to win games. Games in PGN Leading Final Round 9 Standings: 1st after Playoff Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2620 7.0; 2nd after playoff Playoff Stripunsky, Alexander g USA 2533 7.0; 3. Kaidanov, Gregory S g USA 2611 6.0; 4. Kudrin, Sergey g USA 2528 6.0; 5. Shulman, Yuri g USA 2549 6.0; 6. Benjamin, Joel g USA 2554 6.0; 7. Onischuk, Alexander g USA 2653 6.0; 8. Serper, Grigory g USA 2542 6.0; 9. Gulko, Boris F g USA 2600 5.5; 10. Becerra Rivero, Julio g USA 2537 5.5; 11. Kamsky, Gata g USA 2717 5.5; 12. Goldin, Alexander g USA 2620 5.5; 13. Akobian, Varuzhan g USA 2571 5.5; 14. Wojtkiewicz, Aleksander g USA 2539 5.5; 15. Ibragimov, Ildar g USA 2585 5.5; 16. Fishbein, Alexander g USA 2505 5.5; 17. Yermolinsky, Alex g USA 2568 5.5; Round 9 Saturday 4th December 1 GM Hikaru Nakamura 1-0 GM Ildar Ibragimov 2 GM Alexander Goldin 0-1 GM Alex Stripunsky 3 GM Sergey Kudrin ½ GM Gregory Serper 4 GM Yury Shulman ½ GM Gata Kamsky 5 GM Gregory Kaidanov 1-0 IM Renier Gonzalez 6 GM Boris Gulko ½ GM Julio Becerra 7 GM Alexander Onischuk 1-0 GM Dmitry Gurevich 8 GM Varuzhan Akobian ½ GM Aleks Wojtkiewicz 9 IM Eugene Perelshteyn 0-1 GM Joel Benjamin 10 GM Alex Yermolinsky 1-0 Salvijus Bercys 11 GM Larry Christiansen ½ IM Yury Lapshun 12 GM Alexander Fishbein 1-0 IM Dmitry Schneider 13 IM Levon Altounian ½ FM Lev Milman 14 IM Blas Lugo 0-1 GM Igor Novikov 15 GM Alexander Shabalov 1-0 IM Irina Krush (w) 16 FM Marcel Martinez 0-1 GM Alexander Ivanov 17 GM Nick DeFirmian 1-0 FM Joshua Friedel 18 FM Stephen Muhammad 0-1 IM Ben Finegold 19 FM Dmitry Zilberstein 0-1 IM Cyrus Lakdawala 20 IM Stanislav Kriventsov ½ IM Ron Burnett 21 GM Walter Browne 1-0 FM Matt Hoekstra 22 WGM Rusudan Goletiani (w) 1-0 WGM Anna Zatonskih (w) 23 FM Bruci Lopez 0-1 FM Michael Casella 24 FM Robby Adamson 0-1 WFM Tatev Abrahamyan (w) 25 IM Jesse Kraai ½ WIM Tsagaan Battsetseg (w) 26 FM Tegshuren Enkhbat 1-0 FM Fabio La Rota 27 GM Anatoly Lein 1-0 WIM Jennifer Shahade (w) 28 Jake Kleiman 0-1 Chouchanik Airapetian (w) 29 Tatiana Vayserberg (w) ½ WFM Laura Ross (w) 30 Iryna Zenyuk (w) 1-0 WIM Esther Epstein (w) 31 Vanessa West (w) 0-1 WFM Anna Levina (w) 32 WIM Anna Hahn (w) 1-0 WFM Olga Sagalchik (w) Official site: http://www.uschesschampionship.com/ |
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| Keres
Memorial The Keres Memorial rapid took place in Tallinn 26th-27th November 2004. Viswanathan Anand won with a perfect 5/5 score. Games in PGN (two round three games missing) Final Round 5 Standings: 1. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2781 5.0; 2. Khalifman, Alexander g RUS 2669 3.0; 3. Lobron, Eric g GER 2509 2.5; 4. Nyback, Tomi g FIN 2554 1.5; 5. Kulaots, Kaido g EST 2597 1.5; 6. Kanep, Meelis m EST 2475 1.5; Official site: http://www.maleliit.ee/arhiiv/2004/keres/ |
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Russian
Championship Garry Kasparov: The winner by 1.5 points. Photo © Eugeny Atarov http://www.chesspro.ru The Russian Championship took place November 14th - 27th 2004 in the hotel Russia. The prize fund was $125,000 with $50,000 to the winner (paid in rouble equivalent). The all-play-all event saw Garry Kasparov, Alexander Morozevich, Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Evgeny Bareev, Alexey Dreev, Vitaly Tseshkovsky, Alexander Motylev, Vladimir Epishin, Artem Timofeev and Alexey Korotylev compete. The event is the strongest championship since 1988. Vladimir Kramnik withdrew at the last moment and the regulations stated that the event would go down to 12 players with Khalifman missing out (a bit harsh). Russian Championship 2004 - Kramnik Press Release his withdrawal was followed by Karpov at the last moment. After a slow start Garry Kasparov dominated the event winning 5 and drawing 5 which will increase his rating. This is his first tournament victory for a couple of years and it was a fine one leaving him 1.5 point clear of Alexander Grischuk. Games in PGN: View the Games Round 11 pictures and closing ceremony by Eugeny Atarov Round 10 pictures by Eugeny Atarov Round 9 pictures by Eugeny Atarov Round 7 pictures and very light notes Round 6 pictures by Eugeny Atarov Round 5 pictures by Eugeny Atarov Round 4 Pictures and very light notes Round 3 pictures and very light notes Round 2 pictures and very light notes Round 1 pictures and very light notes Round 11 (November 27, 2004) Grischuk, Alexander - Kasparov, Garry 1/2 39 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation Svidler, Peter - Dreev, Alexey 1-0 37 B61 Sicilian Rauzer Timofeev, Artyom - Epishin, Vladimir 1/2 29 B10 Caro Kann Morozevich, Alexander - Motylev, Alexander 1-0 42 E62 King's Indian 6...Nc6 Bareev, Evgeny - Korotylev, Alexey 1-0 58 E39 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2 Final Standings: 1. Kasparov, Garry g RUS 2813 7.5; 2. Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2704 6.0; 3. Dreev, Alexey g RUS 2698 5.5; 4. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2758 5.0; 5. Motylev, Alexander g RUS 2651 5.0; 6. Svidler, Peter g RUS 2735 5.0; 7. Bareev, Evgeny g RUS 2715 5.0; 8. Korotylev, Alexey g RUS 2596 4.5; 9. Epishin, Vladimir g RUS 2599 4.5; 10. Timofeev, Artyom g RUS 2611 4.5; 11. Tseshkovsky, Vitaly g RUS 2577 2.5; Official site Russian Chess Federation: http://www.russiachess.ru and official live coveragehttp://www.russiachess.ru/57russia/ alternatives: http://www.aeroflotchess.com/online/index.htm and http://www.chesspro.ru/online2/index.htm Further coverage: http://www.chesspro.ru/events/rus-ch04.shtml - (Daily annotations and live commentary by GM Shipov) |
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| Corsica
Masters The Corsica Masters in Bastia, France took place 29th October - 4th November 2004. After a 9 round Swiss which took place 29th-31st October with three points for a win the top 16 players played off for places in the knockout part of the event. Anand won the final after dropping just a single draw in the 8 games he played to win the event. He beat Nenad Sulava 1.5-0.5 and then Mikhail Gurevich, Etienne Bacrot and finall Sergei Rublevsky 2-0 to take the KO event. Games in PGN (4 of the 8 matches in the 1/8th finals missing) Final 4th November 2004 Anand, Viswanathan 2-0 Rublevsky, Sergei 1/2 Finals 3rd November 2004 Bacrot, Etienne 0-2 Anand, Viswanathan Rublevsky, Sergei 1.5-0.5 Motylev, Alexander 1/4 Finals 2nd November 2004 Gurevich, Mikhail - Anand, Viswanathan 0-2 Greenfeld, Alon - Bacrot, Etienne 0.5.1.5 Motylev, Alexander - Shirov, Alexei 2.5-1.5 Rublevsky, Sergei - Topalov, Veselin 2-0 1/8th Finals 2nd November 2004 Anand, Viswanathan - Sulava, Nenad 1.5-0.5 Bauer, Christian - Gurevich, Mikhail 0-2 Milov, Vadim - Greenfeld, Alon 0.5-1.5 Balogh, Csaba - Bacrot, Etienne 0-2 Shirov, Alexei - Zhang Pengxiang 2.5-1.5 Jussupow, Artur - Motylev, Alexander 0.5-1.5 Rublevsky, Sergei - Naiditsch, Arkadij 2-0 Bagheri, Amir - Topalov, Vesselin 0-2 Internet coverage: http://www.echecs.asso.fr/ and http://www.opencorsica.com/ |
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| Prague Exhibition
Matches There were exhibition matches between Alexei Shirov vs. David Navara and Jan Timman vs Kaido Kulaots in Prague 3rd-4th December 2004. Last year Victor Korchnoi played David Navara. Games in PGN Shirov 1.5-0.5 Navara and Timman 1-1 Kulaots Official site: http://www.promopro.cz/ |
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| World Junior
Championship The World Junior Championships took place in the Hotel Casino, Cochin, India 18th November - 1st December 2004. The 13 Round Swiss was won by Pentala Harikrishna, he drew his final round game. Tigran Petrosian finished 2nd whilst Zhao Jun who started the round level on points was defeated by Radoslaw Wojtaszek and finished 3rd. The girls event was won by Ekaterina Korbut of Russia. World Junior Games in PGN and Girls Games in PGN - new file 10th December 2004 with more games. Official site: http://www.worldjunior.chessindia.org/index.asp |
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| Olympiad 2004 The 36th Chess Olympiad took place in Calvià (Majorca), 14th-31st October 2004. The Ukraine took the gold medal ahead of Russia and Armenia. China won the women's event. Garry Kasparov has written a letter to the FIDE Congress expressing concern about the lack of guarantees and details about his match against Rustam Kasimdzhanov supposedly in the UAE at the start of 2005. He thinks things may be developing as they did for the abortive match against Ruslan Ponomariov. FIDE Olympiad Kasparov Letter to the FIDE Congress In Russian: http://www.dachess.ru/material_list.php?news_id=1099044154 or English Translation.  Vassily Ivanchuk, top board for the new Olympiad Champions Ukraine. Photo © Allan Beardsworth. Men's Games in PGN and Women's Games in PGN. FIDE Olympiad Round 14 Results and Final Standings along with board performances FIDE Olympiad Round 13 Results and Standings ACP General Assembly Report by Jonathan Berry FIDE Olympiad Round 12 Results and Standings FIDE Olympiad Round 11 Results and Standings FIDE Olympiad Round 10 Results and Standings FIDE Olympiad Round 9 Results and Standings FIDE Olympiad Round 8 Results and Standings FIDE Olympiad Round 7 Results and Standings FIDE Olympiad Round 6 Results and Standings FIDE Olympiad Round 5 Results and Standings FIDE Olympiad Round 4 Results and Standings FIDE Olympiad Round 3 Results and Standings FIDE Olympiad Round 2 Results and Standings FIDE Olympiad Round 1 Results and Standings Round 14 Leading Men's Standings: 1 2 Ukraine +10 =4 -0 39.5 459.0 2 1 Russia +11 =0 -3 36.5 460.0 3 4 Armenia +8 =4 -2 36.5 459.0 4 10 United States +7 =4 -3 35.0 454.0 5 3 Israel +7 =5 -2 34.5 465.0 6 5 India +10 =0 -4 34.0 461.5 7 18 Cuba +8 =2 -4 33.5 456.0 8 8 Netherlands +9 =1 -4 33.0 428.5 9 20 Bulgaria +9 =1 -4 32.5 453.0 10 7 Spain A +8 =3 -3 32.5 439.5 11 24 Greece +7 =1 -6 32.5 427.5 12 9 Poland +6 =4 -4 32.0 445.5 13 29 Switzerland +5 =6 -3 32.0 442.5 14 30 Uzbekistan +8 =2 -4 32.0 440.5 15 26 Serbia Montenegro +6 =2 -6 32.0 435.0 16 13 Germany +6 =4 -4 32.0 430.0 17 23 Slovenia +10 =1 -3 32.0 427.5 18 17 Belarus +7 =3 -4 32.0 424.0 19 40 Philippines +8 =1 -5 32.0 422.5 20 19 Romania +6 =5 -3 32.0 419.5 21 11 Georgia +8 =3 -3 31.5 462.0 22 14 Azerbaijan +7 =2 -5 31.5 450.5 23 12 France +8 =3 -3 31.5 449.0 24 16 China +8 =3 -3 31.5 438.5 25 37 Bosnia Herzegovina +6 =4 -4 31.5 428.0 26 48 Kazakhstan +9 =0 -5 31.5 425.0 27 35 Lithuania +6 =4 -4 31.5 420.0 28 27 Denmark +7 =1 -6 31.5 419.5 29 21 Czech Republic +6 =6 -2 31.0 445.0 30 6 England +7 =3 -4 31.0 427.0 31 15 Hungary +7 =4 -3 31.0 425.5 32 33 Estonia +8 =1 -5 31.0 423.5 33 36 Latvia +5 =5 -4 31.0 423.5 34 34 Argentina +7 =4 -3 31.0 419.5 35 45 Australia +8 =2 -4 31.0 418.5 36 22 Moldova +7 =2 -5 30.5 432.5 37 32 Slovakia +4 =4 -6 30.5 431.0 38 43 Canada +7 =1 -6 30.5 426.0 39 31 Norway +7 =1 -6 30.5 419.5 40 46 Chile +6 =4 -4 30.5 407.5 Official site: http://www.36chessolympiad.com. Live: http://www.ajedrez21.com (spanish) and http://www.chess21.com (english) |
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Kramnik - Leko World
Championship Match The Classical World Chess Championship took place at the Centro Dannemann in Brissago, Switzerland September 25th - October 18th, 2004. A total of 14 games were played under classical time controls. Vladimir Kramnik, the defending Champion retained his title by virtue of a 7-7 draw against Hungarian GM Peter Leko. Kramnik pressed for the final games breaking through in the 14th and last game.  Kramnik punches the air after Leko's resignation after the 14th and decisive game. Photo © Eugeny Aratov chesspro.ru Gm1 Leko, Peter - Kramnik, Vladimir 0-1 65 C42 Petroff's Defence Gm2 Kramnik, Vladimir - Leko, Peter 1/2 18 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed Gm3 Leko, Peter - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 23 C42 Petroff's Defence Gm4 Kramnik, Vladimir - Leko, Peter 1/2 43 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed Gm5 Leko, Peter - Kramnik, Vladimir 1-0 69 D37 QGD 5.Bf4 Gm6 Kramnik, Vladimir - Leko, Peter 1/2 20 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed Gm7 Leko, Peter - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 21 D16 Slav Lasker/Smyslov Gm8 Kramnik, Vladimir - Leko, Peter 0-1 32 C89 Ruy Lopez Marshall Gm 9 Leko, Peter - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 16 E15 Queens Indian Gm 10 Kramnik, Vladimir - Leko, Peter 1/2 35 C78 Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence Gm 11 Leko, Peter - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 17 E15 Queens Indian Gm12 Kramnik, Vladimir - Leko, Peter 1/2 34 B19 Caro Kann Gm13 Leko, Peter - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 65 A73 Benoni Gm 14 Kramnik, Vladimir - Leko, Peter 1-0 41 B12 Caro Kann Advanced Vladimir Kramnik vs Peter Leko TWIC Mini-Site. Kramnik vs Leko Mark Crowther Round 14 Report - including Leko interview and comments Games in PGN Unannotated all games Commented Games in PGN all games Official website for the event: http://www.worldchesschampionship.com Albert Vasse picture gallery of the match |
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| Azpaiparashvili Released The closing ceremony of the Olympiad saw amazing scenes when Zurab Azmaiparashvili got into a scuffle with Spanish Police and was arrested. Azmaiparashvili tried to get to the stage and was wrestled to the ground by five or six security personnel and taken off to jail where he was released on Monday. FIDE have a press release: http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=584 and another after his release: http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=585 and the there is also a Press Release by organisers on the Azmaiparashvilli arrest  Zurab Azmaiparashvili after his release. Photo © Albert Vasse http://www.sboschaak.net/.  The arrest. Photo © Monaco player Patrick Van Hoolandt who witnessed the whole thing from near the front and who says he is willing to testify as to what happened. Thanks also to Pascal Villalba http://www.notzai.info where you can see more pictures. More photos: http://www.ajedreznd.com/2004/serie.htm |
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Essent Tournament in
Hoogeveen Daniel Stellwagen Photo © Fred Lucas The Essent tournament in Hoogeveen took place 17th-23rd October 2004. The included an open tournament and a double Round Robin. Games in PGN Final Round 6 Standings: 1. Sokolov, Ivan g NED 2663 4.5; 2. Short, Nigel D g ENG 2687 3.0; 3. Stellwagen, Daniel m NED 2512 2.5; 4. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2581 2.0; Judit Polgar is missing having played every year since 1997 after the birth of a son in August. The event takes place at the same time as the Olympiad so for the first time the World Junior Champion is also missing. This year the two juniors are Magnus Carlsen (13) and Daniel Stellwagen (17) facing the experienced Ivan Sokolov and Nigel Short (the latter two will go on to play the final rounds of the Olympiad after the event concludes). Daniel Stellwagen made his final GM-norm in August in Vlissingen (Holland), after previous norms in Corus 2004 (Wijk aan Zee) and the Dutch Championship 2004. Official site: http://www.essentchess.nl/ |
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| Kasparov - Kasimdzhanov in Dubai? FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has announced in Moscow that there will be a match between Garry Kasparov and FIDE Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov in the UAE in January 2005 according to a report by the Russian Interfax News Agency. The match will produce a FIDE Champion to meet the winner of the Kramnik - Leko match in Dortmund. The money is coming from Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum and the prize fund is estimated at $1.2 million. It should be noted that not all of Ilyumzhinov's announcements have come to pass and there has yet to be confirmation from UAE sources. However this match is extremely important for FIDE who risk losing any influence over the future of the World Championship to the ACP if they don't get a match together. Chess city for Dubai? |
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| European Club Cup The European Club Cup took place in Izmir 2nd-9th October 2004. Garry Kasparov, Michael Adams, Alexei Shirov, Vassily Ivanchuk, Etienne Bacrot, Boris Gelfand, Alexander Grischuk and Nigel Short were amongst the players. Sadly Alexander Morozevich although named to play in the event did not compete. The event was the 20th European Club Cup for Men and 9th European Club Cup for Women. Top seeds were NAO Chess Club (Adams, Grischuk, Bacrot etc) and with 5 wins and two draws took clear first place. The next three teams were all tied with 5 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss with Bosna Sarajevo (Shirov, Short, Ivan Sokolov etc) taking second on board points ahead of Ladya Kazan (Top board Rublevsky) and Max Ven Ekaterinburg (Top board Kasparov). Men's Games in PGN - Women's Games in PGN - Errors: Grischuk-Smirnov rd4 is clearly not right as is Bocharov-Radjabov - from move 39. Coverage: http://www.tsf.org.tr/ecup2004/ecupmain.htm |
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| October FIDE Rating List In the top 10. Kasparov loses 4 point from his 6 games played, Anand a point from 16 and Kramnik loses 10 ponits from 10 games, Morozevich closes to within a couple of points after gaining 15 points, Topalov gains 20 points, Leko and Adams 2 and Svidler 8. Polgar isn't playing after the birth of her child, Shirov gains a point. FIDE October 2004 Rating List: Top 100 Source: http://www.fide.com. The full list is available for download there. |
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| Israeli
Championship The Israeli Championship took place in the Sissy and Sol Mark Chess Center in Ramat Aviv 19th-29th September 2004. 36 player 9 round Swiss. Sergey Erenburg and Vitali Golod tied for first. Games in PGN Final Round 9 Standings: 1. Erenburg, Sergey g ISR 2533 6.5; 2. Golod, Vitali g ISR 2538 6.5; 3. Lerner, Konstantin Z g UKR 2494 6.0; 4. Avrukh, Boris g ISR 2600 6.0; 5. Roiz, Michael g ISR 2574 5.5; 6. Klenburg, Mikhail m UKR 2399 5.5; 7. Postny, Evgeny g ISR 2563 5.5; 8. Khmelniker, Ilya ISR 2444 5.5; 9. Gershon, Alik g ISR 2518 5.5; 10. Huzman, Alexander g ISR 2588 5.5; 11. Livshits, Gaby m ISR 2415 5.5; 12. Gofshtein, Zvulon g ISR 2540 5.5; 13. Sidorenko, Ilya ISR 2283 5.0; 14. Shevelev, Arkady m ISR 2340 5.0; 15. Gerzhoy, Leonid m ISR 2376 5.0; 16. Mikhalevski, Victor g ISR 2551 5.0; 17. Rinberg, Alexander ISR 2336 5.0; 18. Shachar, Ehud f ISR 2394 4.5; 19. Kantsler, Boris g ISR 2474 4.5; 20. Bykhovsky, Anatoly f ISR 2209 4.5; 21. Kataev, Simcho RUS 2286 4.5; 22. Kantarji, Pinchas f ISR 2414 4.0; 23. Kaplan, Sasha f ISR 2326 4.0; 24. Porat, Shi f ISR 2431 4.0; 25. Zoler, Dan m ISR 2518 4.0; 26. Deutsch, Eyal f ISR 2350 4.0; 27. Zilberman, Yaacov g ISR 2430 3.5; 28. Gruenfeld, Yehuda g ISR 2471 3.5; 29. Karasik, Evgeni ISR 2174 3.5; 30. Kudischewitsch, David m RUS 2405 3.5; 31. Zaltz, Dov ISR 2315 3.5; 32. Bitansky, Igor m ISR 2377 3.0; 33. Rodshtein, Maxim ISR 2372 3.0; 34. Birnboim, Nathan m ISR 2349 3.0; 35. Krayz, Alexander m ISR 2424 2.5; 36. Belenky,David ISR 0 1.0; Official site (Hebrew): http://www.chess.org.il/ISR2004/news.htm - Live coverage at 14:00 (GMT) on September 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 26th, 27th, 28th and at 7:30 (GMT) on September 29th: http://www.chess.org.il/ISR2004/Live/Live.htm |
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| Lausanne Young
Masters The Lausanne Young Masters took place September 15th - 20th 2004 - The event was a Knockout (although all players continue playing for minor places after elimination throughout the event to produce a 1-8 ranking). Luke McShane won the event beating the favourite Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the final. Players (ages): Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (19), Luke McShane (20), David Navara (19), Evgeny Alekseev (19), Magnus Carlsen (13), Alexandra Kosteniuk (20), Kateryna Lahno (15), Séverin Papa (19) Games in PGN Final Standings: 1. McShane, Luke J g ENG 2643 2. Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2662 3. Navara, David g CZE 2616 4. Alekseev, Evgeny g RUS 2606 5. Carlsen, Magnus m NOR 2567 6. Lahno, Kateryna m UKR 2472 7. Papa, Severin f SUI 2397 8. Kosteniuk, Alexandra m RUS 2511 Round 3 (September 19-20, 2004) 1st-2nd Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar - McShane, Luke J 1/2 0-1 3rd-4th Navara, David - Alekseev, Evgeny 1/2 1/2 Playoff 2.5-1.5 5th-6th Carlsen, Magnus - Lahno, Kateryna 0-1 1-0 Playoff 3-1 7th-8th Kosteniuk, Alexandra - Papa, Severin 1/2 0-1 Round 2 (September 17-18, 2004) Places 1-4 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar - Alekseev, Evgeny 1-0 1/2 McShane, Luke J - Navara, David 0-1 1-0 Playoff 1/2 1-0 Places 5-8 Kosteniuk, Alexandra - Lahno, Kateryna 0-1 0-1 Carlsen, Magnus - Papa, Severin 1-0 1/2 Round 1 (September 15-16, 2004) Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar - Papa, Severin 1-0 1-0 McShane, Luke J - Lahno, Kateryna 1-0 1/2 Navara, David - Kosteniuk, Alexandra 1-0 1-0 Alekseev, Evgeny - Carlsen, Magnus 1/2 1/2 1-0 1/2 Official site: http://www.lausanneyoungmasters.com/ |
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Pune GM Tournament
India Round 5. Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu with black defeats Chanda Sandipan to take the sole lead. Photo © http://www.chessindia.org India’s first ever Super GM tournament with an average rating of 2630 Category 16 took place in Pune 2nd-12th September 2004. Dieter Nisipeanu led for much of the event but was finally caught in the final round by FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimzhanov both finishing on 6/9. Games in PGN Round 9 (September 12, 2004) Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter - Kunte, Abhijit 1/2 9 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin Kasimdzhanov, Rustam - Sutovsky, Emil 1-0 35 B50 Sicilian Defence Azmaiparashvili, Zurab - Beliavsky, Alexander G 1/2 11 C45 Scotch Game Sandipan, Chanda - Sasikiran, Krishnan 0-1 45 C91 Ruy Lopez Ganguly, Surya Shekhar - Harikrishna, P 1/2 37 C51 Evans Gambit Final Standings: 1. Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter g ROM 2686 6.0; 2. Kasimdzhanov, Rustam g UZB 2640 6.0; 3. Harikrishna, P g IND 2609 5.0; 4. Beliavsky, Alexander G g SLO 2679 4.5; 5. Azmaiparashvili, Zurab g GEO 2679 4.5; 6. Sandipan, Chanda g IND 2555 4.0; 7. Sasikiran, Krishnan g IND 2666 4.0; 8. Ganguly, Surya Shekhar g IND 2574 4.0; 9. Kunte, Abhijit g IND 2532 3.5; 10. Sutovsky, Emil g ISR 2679 3.5; Internet coverage: http://www.chessindia.org |
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| Sao Paulo
Rapid Sao Paulo Rapid took place 20th-24th August, 2004. Anand won the event conceding just three draws on the way to 8.5/10 three points clear of the field. Games in PGN Round 1 (August 20, 2004) Milos, Gilberto - Leitao, Rafael 1-0 41 D94 Gruenfeld Closed Morovic Fernandez, Ivan - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 24 A21 English Opening Vescovi, Giovanni - Karpov, Anatoly 1-0 22 C10 French Rubinstein Round 2 (August 20, 2004) Anand, Viswanathan - Vescovi, Giovanni 1-0 48 C66 Ruy Lopez Berlin Milos, Gilberto - Morovic Fernandez, Ivan 1/2 20 A11 Reti Opening Leitao, Rafael - Karpov, Anatoly 1-0 45 C42 Petroff's Defence Round 3 (August 21, 2004) Morovic Fernandez, Ivan - Leitao, Rafael 1-0 73 A28 English Four Knights Vescovi, Giovanni - Milos, Gilberto 1/2 49 C66 Ruy Lopez Berlin Karpov, Anatoly - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 23 E34 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2 Round 4 (August 21, 2004) Anand, Viswanathan - Milos, Gilberto 1-0 23 C66 Ruy Lopez Berlin Vescovi, Giovanni - Leitao, Rafael 1/2 68 B19 Caro Kann Karpov, Anatoly - Morovic Fernandez, Ivan 1/2 17 B52 Sicilian Rossolimo Round 5 (August 22, 2004) Morovic Fernandez, Ivan - Vescovi, Giovanni 1/2 26 A18 English Opening Leitao, Rafael - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 29 E15 Queens Indian Milos, Gilberto - Karpov, Anatoly 0-1 42 E15 Queens Indian Round 6 (August 22, 2004) Anand, Viswanathan - Morovic Fernandez, Ivan 1-0 25 B46 Sicilian Paulsen Leitao, Rafael - Milos, Gilberto 1-0 30 D37 QGD 5.Bf4 Karpov, Anatoly - Vescovi, Giovanni 1/2 42 E34 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2 Round 7 (August 23, 2004) Morovic Fernandez, Ivan - Milos, Gilberto 1-0 61 E90 King's Indian Classical Karpov, Anatoly - Leitao, Rafael 1/2 60 D43 Anti-Meran Gambit Vescovi, Giovanni - Anand, Viswanathan 0-1 38 D17 Slav Defence Round 8 (August 23, 2004) Anand, Viswanathan - Karpov, Anatoly 1-0 39 B85 Sicilian Scheveningen Leitao, Rafael - Morovic Fernandez, Ivan 1/2 23 C96 Ruy Lopez Milos, Gilberto - Vescovi, Giovanni 1-0 44 B78 Sicilian Modern Dragon Round 9 (August 24, 2004) Anand, Viswanathan - Leitao, Rafael 1-0 59 B19 Caro Kann Karpov, Anatoly - Milos, Gilberto 1/2 47 A30 English Symmetrical Vescovi, Giovanni - Morovic Fernandez, Ivan 1/2 22 C00 French Defence Round 10 (August 24, 2004) Morovic Fernandez, Ivan - Karpov, Anatoly 1/2 18 A28 English Four Knights Leitao, Rafael - Vescovi, Giovanni 1/2 13 E15 Queens Indian Milos, Gilberto - Anand, Viswanathan 0-1 51 A29 English Four Knights Final Round 10 Standings: 1. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2782 8.5; 2. Morovic Fernandez, Ivan g CHI 2573 5.5; 3. Leitao, Rafael g BRA 2573 4.5; 4. Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2682 4.0; 5. Vescovi, Giovanni g BRA 2648 4.0; 6. Milos, Gilberto g BRA 2601 3.5; Official site: http://www.fpx.com.br/. English: http://www.fpx.com.br/2004/desafio/english.htm |
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| Bobby Fischer detained in Japan The 11th World Chess Champion Robert James Fischer has been detained in Japan where he has lived for a number of years. 61 year old Fischer was stopped at Tokyo's Narita International Airport on Tuesday 13th July, he was trying to leave Japan for the Philippines. Officials were reported to be preparing to deport Fischer to the United States. 09.09.2004 - The Guardian - Bobby Fischer Wins Deportation Injunction 08.09.2004 - CBS News Reprieve For Bobby Fischer 25/08/2004 - Mainchi Daily News - Fischer comments from detention 25/08/2004 - abc.net.au - Fischer unlikely to be deported in the near future 24/08/2004 - Washington Times - Fischer won't be deported tonight 24/08/2004 - NY Times "Japan Orders Bobby Fischer Deported, His Supporters Say" 20/08/2004 - More Fischer News, he makes another broadcast and moves to deport him continue 16/08/2004 - Bobby Fischer plans to marry marry Miyoko Watai 06/08/2004 - Bobby Fischer has submitted to the U.S. embassy in Tokyo a letter of intent to renounce his U.S. citizenship Links: Fischer radio broadcasts and other documents (strong stomach required): http://home.att.ne.jp/moon/fischer/ (closest thing there comes to an official Bobby site) Bobby Fischer's pathetic endgame: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/12/chun.htm a good article from 2002 about his recent years. Fischer Watch Search Google News for further stories |
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| Yuriy Kuzubov final GM norm 14 years 7 months, 12
days Yuriy Kuzubov (born 26.01.1990) has made a final GM norm at the age of 14 years 7 months, 12 days the 8th youngest in history. Kuzubov played in the Ukrainian Championship and defeated the record holder Sergey Karjakin. He went on to the first Autumn Alushta Tournament where he finished 2nd= to earn his final norm. Bobby Fischer held the record for youngest Grandmaster at 15 years, 6 months, 1 day for 34 years until his record was broken by Judit Polgar. Fischer's record is still perhaps the most impressive as his GM title came when he became a World Championship Candidate and entered the elite of World Chess, the standards for the GM title have been watered down so much that it is now probably equivalent to the old IM title (not least because of rating inflation). Nevertheless almost every one of the young players to get the title has gone on to be successful at the top of the game. However it should also be observed that the top three for many years earned their GM titles later. Garry Kasparov was aged 17, Viswanathan Anand aged 18 and Vladimir Kramnik aged 17. The old Soviet system that Kasparov and to a certain extent Kramnik were trained under didn't make the early title a priority. In fact they made a policy of holding their best players back from top competition until they were really ready (Karpov was 19 before becoming a GM and then almost immediately a top player, the same with Boris Spassky who was 18). Records (Name, Date of Birth, Age of final norm, Year of Norm): Bobby Fischer (1943.03.09) 15 years, 6 months, 1 day - 1958 Judit Polgar (1976.07.23) 15 years, 4 months, 28 days - 1992 Koneru Humpy (1987.03.31) 15 years, 4 months, 27 days - 2002 Hikaru Nakamura (1987.12.09) 15 years, 1 month 27 days - 2003 Nguyen Ngoc Truongson (23rd January 1990) 14 years 10 months 21 days - 2004 Yuriy Kuzubov (1990.01.26) 14 years, 7 months, 12 days - 2004 Peter Leko (1979.09.08) 14 years, 4 months, 22 days - 1994 Etienne Bacrot (1983.01.22) 14 years, 2 months, 0 days - 1997 Ruslan Ponomariov (1983.10.11) 14 years, 0 months, 17 days - 1998 Teimour Radjabov (1987.03.12) 14 years, 0 months, 14 days - 2001 Bu Xiangzhi (1985.12.10) 13 years, 10 months, 13 days - 2000 Magnus Carlsen (1990.11.30) 13 years, 3 months, 27 days - 2004 Sergey Karjakin (1990.01.12) 12 years, 7 months, 0 days - 2003 Games in PGN Final Standings 1st Autumn Alushta: 1. Paragua, Mark m PHI 2529 11.5; 2. Ovetchkin, Roman m RUS 2475 10.5; 3. Kuzubov, Yuriy m UKR 2467 10.5; 4. Obukhov, Alexander m RUS 2475 9.0; 5. Neelotpal, Das m IND 2448 8.5; 6. Malaniuk, Vladimir P g UKR 2555 7.5; 7. Alexikov, Alexander m UKR 2386 7.5; 8. Vokarev, Sergey m RUS 2529 7.0; 9. Annageldyev, Orazly m TKM 2458 7.0; 10. Kalygin, Sergey V g RUS 2440 6.5; 11. Kobylkin, Evgeni f UKR 2444 6.5; 12. Danielian, Elina m ARM 2430 6.0; 13. Hasangatin, Ramil g RUS 2485 6.0; 14. Khurtsidze, Nino m GEO 2391 5.5; 15. Tishin, D m UKR 2372 5.5; 16. Paramonov, Dimitriy BLR 2362 5.0; Official site: http://sep04.kaissa.com.ua/tables.html |
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| Kamsky gets US Championship Wild Card The America's Foundation for Chess (AF4C) has announced the 2005 US championship wild card selections. The event takes place November 25th - December 5th 2004 (see Mig's Daily Dirt from April to see the unbelievable reason why the event in 2004 is being called the 2005 championship). As last year to promote US chess juniors one wild card spot has been offered to 14 year old Salvijus Bercys who is the #1 US rated player under the age of 16. With so many other top juniors having earned qualifying places the AF4C was in a position to recognise the return of Gata Kamsky to active tournament chess, and offer him the second wild card spot. Gata Kamsky is America's highest rated USCF chess player, and one of the top rated players in the world. With the completion of his formal education, Kamsky has returned to chess, is a regular player at the New York Masters and is anxious to participate in the US Championship. As the only American to become the official challenger for the World Championship since Bobby Fischer, Gata is a most deserving contender for the US Championship. His omission at a time that he is actively playing chess would have been a serious oversight. The chairman of the selection committee was AF4C co-founder and board member, Dr. Jim Roberts, and committee members were GM Yasser Seirawan, AF4C president Erik Anderson and chess journalist John Henderson. This will be the fourth year that AF4C has hosted the annual tournament and its first year doing so in conjunction with the NTC Foundation. The title sponsors will be Chessmaster. Further details: http://www.af4c.org/events.asp |
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| Ukrainian Championship 73rd Ukrainian Chess Championship took place 23rd August - 2nd September 2004. 32 participants KO Ivanchuk, Moiseenko etc. 14 year old Yuriy Kuzubov beat Sergey Karjakin in round 1. Romanishin eliminated Ivanchuk in round 2. 18 year old Andrei Volokitin (2638) beat 19 year old Anton Korobov (2565) in the final 1.5-0.5 .24 year old Alexander Moiseenko (2640) won the 3rd-4th playoffs against 26 year old Alexander Goloshchapov (2577) . Games:All Games in PGN Official site: http://users.iptelecom.net.ua/~chessfed/turnir/t027e.html - Chess Federation: http://www.ukrchess.org.ua |
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British Championship
2004 All Scottish Clash in round 9 - Rowson - Motwani The 91st Smith & Williamson British Championships took place 1st - 14th August in the Spa Complex, Scarborough,Yorkshire. Jonathan Rowson became the first Scots Champion probaby since just after the 2nd World War. Details: http://www.bcf.org.uk/events/bcf2004/index.html Games in PGN 1-11 Leading Final Round 11 Standings: 1 ROWSON,Jonathan W SCO g 2558 8½ 2 WELLS,Peter ENG g 2494 8 3 WILLIAMS,Simon K ENG m 2427 8 4 EMMS,John M ENG g 2508 7½ 5 GREET,Andrew N ENG f 2310 7½ 6 GWAZE,Robert m 2385 7½ 7 MOTWANI,Paul SCO g 2552 7½ 8 HEBDEN,Mark ENG g 2559 7 9 KNOTT,Simon J B ENG m 2359 7 10 ARAKHAMIA-GRANT,Ketevan GEO m 2446 6½ 11 HASLINGER,Stewart G ENG m 2408 6½ 12 JONES,Gawain C ENG f 2453 6½ 13 LEDGER,Andrew ENG m 2452 6½ 14 MANNION,Steve R SCO m 2333 6½ 15 PALLISER,Richard JD ENG m 2411 6½ 16 QUINN,Mark IRL m 2406 6½ 17 RADOVANOVIC,Jovica YUG 2205 6½ 18 SUMMERSCALE,Aaron ENG g 2493 6½ 19 WARD,Chris G ENG g 2490 6½ 62 players Round 11 Results 1 GREET,Andrew N ½ - ½ ROWSON,Jonathan W ; 2 MOTWANI,Paul ½ - ½ WELLS,Peter ; 3 WILLIAMS,Simon K ½ - ½ HEBDEN,Mark ; 4 EMMS,John M 1 - 0 ARAKHAMIA-GRANT,Ketev ; 5 GWAZE,Robert 1 - 0 LEDGER,Andrew ; 6 SUMMERSCALE,Aaron ½ - ½ JONES,Gawain C ; 7 HASLINGER,Stewart G ½ - ½ WARD,Chris G ; 8 PALLISER,Richard JD ½ - ½ MANNION,Steve R ; 9 HANLEY,Craig 0 - 1 KNOTT,Simon J B ; 10 SHERWIN,James ½ - ½ QUINN,Mark ; 11 RENDLE,Thomas ½ - ½ GORMALLY,Daniel ; 12 RADOVANOVIC,Jovica 1 - 0 HOUSKA,Jovanka ; 13 DEARING,Edward 1 - 0 SNAPE,Ian L ; 14 SOWRAY,Peter J 1 - 0 LEE,Graham ; 15 ASHTON,Adam ½ - ½ GORDON,Stephen ; 16 GREGORY,Stephen J 0 - 1 TAN,Desmond ; 17 HOWELL,David W 1 - 0 ADAMS,David M ; 18 TAYLOR,Martin R ½ - ½ SISASK,Jesper ; 19 LEDGER,Dave J ½ - ½ HUTCHINSON,Norman ; 20 BIGG,Andrew J ½ - ½ LYELL,Mark ; 21 RUDD,Jack 1 - 0 MUIR,Andrew J ; 22 STOREY,Charles 0 - 1 MYCROFT,Richard ; 23 SPENCE,David ½ - ½ NIXON,Thomas C M ; 24 HUTCHINSON,Paul A ½ - ½ BURROWS,Martin ; 25 CLARKE,Tom 0 - 1 BRISCOE,Christopher ; 26 MARTYN,Rafe ½ - ½ SURTEES,Mike ; 27 WESTWOOD,Richard 0 - 1 PYM,Thomas W ; 28 KAFKA,Graeme ½ - ½ WALTON,Alan J ; 29 LEDGER,Stephen ½ - ½ RAYNER,Francis ; 30 HEMPSON,Peter 1 - 0 SMITH,Graham ; 31 BRYANT,Richard 0 - 1 ALMOND,Philip |
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Mainz Anand receives a traditional jacket from Hans-Walter Schmitt for winning in Mainz in a US Masters style ceremony. Photo © Eric van Reem - Press Team Chess Classic Mainz Chess Classic Mainz took in the Rheingoldhalle in Mainz 4th-8th August 2004. The main match this year was an eight game rapid clash between Vishy Anand and Alexei Shirov. Anand won the match 5-3. At the same time, Peter Svidler defended his WNCA Chess 960 world title in an eight games match against Levon Aronian, winner of the Chess960 Open last year. In an exciting match with only one draw Svidler took the match by winning the final game. The 3rd FiNet-Chess960 Open (Alexander Morozevich, Ruslan Ponomariov and Alexander Grischuk competde) took place 5th-6th August 2004. Zoltan Almasi took clear first undefeated on 9.5/11. (the Chess960 Games don't work in PGN) Anand - Shirov Games in PGN and Ordix Games in PGN Gm1 Shirov, Alexei - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 41 C10 French Rubinstein Gm2 Anand, Viswanathan - Shirov, Alexei 1-0 59 C89 Ruy Lopez Marshall Gm3 Anand, Viswanathan - Shirov, Alexei 1/2 45 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed Gm4 Shirov, Alexei - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 42 C80 Ruy Lopez Open Gm5 Shirov, Alexei - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 43 C80 Ruy Lopez Open Gm6 Anand, Viswanathan - Shirov, Alexei 1-0 30 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed Gm7 Anand, Viswanathan - Shirov, Alexei 1/2 27 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed Gm8 Shirov, Alexei - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 63 C25 Vienna Game Official site: http://www.chesstigers.de  The 11th Ordix Open took place August 7th-8th. Alexander Grischuk won with 9,5 points out of 11 games and repeated last year´s victory. He remains unbeaten in two Ordix Open tournaments: 16 wins, 6 draws. Now he is a hot candidate to play against Vishy Anand next year in a match in Mainz. Photo © Eric van Reem - Press Team Chess Classic Mainz |
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| Norwegian Championship Playoff Berge Østenstad became 2004 Norwegian Champion after drawing both games in his playoff with Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen needed to win the match to take the title as he had the inferior tie-break. Games in PGN Links: Match homepage: http://www.sjakk.no/stikkamp Games: http://home.no.net/bbcanary/1.htm |
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Dortmund Sparkassen
Chess-Meeting 2004 Prizegiving at Dortmund. Photo © http://www.chessgate.de The Dortmund Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 2004 took place in the Dortmund Theatre 22nd July - 1st August 2004. This year the event was a mini all-play-all followed by a knockout to establish the places. Final standings: 1) Anand 2) Kramnik 3) Svidler 4) Leko 5) Naiditsch 6) Rublevsky 7) Bologan 8) Karjakin. Final Games in PGN Semi-Final Games in PGN [one game incomplete] Rapid playoffs games 15 mins + 5 seconds and blitz games 5 minutes + 3. Games in PGN (Playoff games complete and correct my thanks to the organisers - they were 10 minute games) James Coleman demonstrates a missed win from Kramnik against Karjakin Final 2 Game Match 31st July - 1st August 2004 Anand, Viswanathan - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 1/2 Rapid Playoff 1/2 1-0 Places Leko, Peter - Svidler, Peter 1/2 1/2 Rapid Playoff 1/2 0-1 Naiditsch, Arkadij - Rublevsky, Sergei 1-0 1/2 Bologan, Viktor - Karjakin, Sergey 1/2 1-0 Semi-Final (July 29-30, 2004) Anand, Viswanathan - Leko, Peter 1/2 1/2 Rapid Playoff 1/2 1/2 Blitz Playoff 1-0 1-0 Kramnik, Vladimir - Svidler, Peter 1/2 1/2 Rapid Playoff 1/2 1/2 Blitz Playoff 0-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 Playoffs 5th-8th Naiditsch, Arkadij - Karjakin, Sergey 1-0 1-0 Bologan, Viktor - Rublevsky, Sergei 1/2 1/2 0-1 0-1 GpA Round 6 (July 27, 2004) Svidler, Peter - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 19 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed Rublevsky, Sergei - Naiditsch, Arkadij 0-1 39 C45 Scotch Game Final GpA Round 6 Standings: 1. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2782 4.0; 2. Svidler, Peter g RUS 2727 3.5; 3. Naiditsch, Arkadij g GER 2574 2.5; 4. Rublevsky, Sergei g RUS 2686 2.0; Gp B Round 6 (July 27, 2004) Leko, Peter - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 20 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin Bologan, Viktor - Karjakin, Sergey 1/2 25 D46 Semi-Slav Defence Final GpB Round 6 Standings (Playoff to follow): 1. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2770 3.0; 2. Leko, Peter g HUN 2741 3.0; 3. Karjakin, Sergey g UKR 2591 3.0; 4. Bologan, Viktor g MDA 2663 3.0; Playoffs: 1. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2770 4.0; 2. Leko, Peter g HUN 2741 3.5; 3. Bologan, Viktor g MDA 2663 2.5; 4. Karjakin, Sergey g UKR 2591 2.0; Official site: http://www.chessgate.de or more specifically http://www.chessgate.de/do2004/. The official site will be pay per view with commentary and moves included. Due to the massive interest in betting on Dortmund, Betsson have decided to run all the semi-final games LIVE in-running. This means you can actually bet on the semi-final games as they unfold. At the start of the semi-finals the odds for the overall winners market are:- Anand 2.25, Kramnik 4, Leko 5 and Svidler 6. To win the semi-final: Kramnik 1.66 v Svidler 2.25 To win the semi-final: Anand 1.4 v Leko 3 For the latest odds, please visit the betsson site. |
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| ACP Press
Conference Joel Lautier, President of the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) gave a press conference on Saturday July 31st on the future activities of the ACP, for example the ACP World Tour 2005. They have published the regulations for their proposed tour: Joel Lautier Statement and ACP Tour 2004-5 Regulations (http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/acp310704.html)  Further details: http://www.chess-players.org/eng/index.html |
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| Gata Kamsky
Returns Gata Kamsky played his first chess in public since 1999 when he turned up to play in the New York Masters at the famous Marshall Chess Club in New York on 15th and 22nd June 2004. 30 year old Kamsky basically retired from chess in 1996 with a brief return for the FIDE Championships Knockout in Las Vegas in 1999. Since then there has been virtually no news although its reported he is now married and has graduated as a lawyer. At the time he was extremely bitter about his treatment by FIDE and the PCA so its nice to see he still has the wish to play. If this prefaces even a limited return to over the board chess Kamsky will certainly come straight in as US number one. His inactive FIDE rating is 2717 far above the current top US player on the list Alexander Onischuk who is rated 2649. Available 106th,107th, 110th 112th NY Masters Games in PGN [1 additional game from Sam Sloan] The regular rapid event (mostly weekly) organised by IM Greg Shahade and John Fernandez provides regular chances for keen players of 2200 and above to compete against GMs and IMs in New York. See: http://www.newyorkmasters.com/ On the 15th June even though Kamsky was obviously extremely rusty he still tied for first place with five others in the four round swiss rapid event, all the players won $160. On 22nd of June things went less well as he lost to Daniel Fridman one of the eventual winners and only took home $50 even though his score was the same as the first week. The winners, Daniel Fridman, Irina Krush and Salvijus Bercys all took home $315. He came back again on July 20th and finished joint second after losing one game. On July 3rd Kamsky tied for first with Nakamura. Final Standings: --------------------------------------------------- 106th New York Masters Action USA (USA), 15 vi 2004 --------------------------------------------------- 1. Kamsky, Gata g USA 2717 3.0 2. Yudasin, Leonid g ISR 2553 3.0 3. Scekic, Milos m SCG 2405 3.0 4. Bercys, Salvijus USA 2279 3.0 5. Maltese, Adam USA ---- 3.0 6. Blatny, Pavel g CZE 2451 2.5 7. Privman, Boris f USA 2268 2.5 22 players --------------------------------------------------- 107th New York Masters Action USA (USA),22 vi 2004 --------------------------------------------------- 1. Fridman, Daniel g LAT 2594 3.5 2. Krush, Irina m USA 2465 3.5 3. Bercys, Salvijus LTU 2279 3.5 4. Kamsky, Gata g USA 2717 3.0 5. Molner, Mackenzie USA ---- 3.0 6. Golod, Vitali g ISR 2552 2.5 7. De Firmian, Nick g USA 2542 2.5 8. Stripunsky, Alex g USA 2553 2.5 9. Scekic, Milos m SCG 2405 2.5 10. Ippolito, Dean m USA 2381 2.5 11. Sarkar, Justin m USA 2375 2.5 12. Hess, Robert USA 2169 2.5 13. Norowitz, Yaacov USA ---- 2.5 14. Barnett, Alex USA 2149 2.5 31 players --------------------------------------------------- 110th New York Masters Action USA (USA),20 vii 2004 --------------------------------------------------- 1. Wojtkiewicz, Aleks g USA 2551 3.5 2. Kamsky, Gata g USA 2717 3.0 3. Vovsha, Eli m ISR 2436 3.0 4. Yudasin, Leonid g ISR 2556 2.5 15 players ----------------------------------------------------- 112th New York Masters Action USA (USA), 3 viii 2004 ----------------------------------------------------- 1. Kamsky, Gata g USA 2717 3.5 ($310) 2. Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2601 3.5 ($310) 3. Hoffmann, Asa f USA 2272 3.0 ($ 70) 4. Bercys, Salvijus LTU 2279 3.0 ($ 70) 5. Bonin, Jay m USA 2342 3.0 ($ 70) 6. Yudasin, Leonid g ISR 2556 2.5 7. Wojtkiewicz, Aleks g USA 2551 2.5 8. Miton, Kamil g POL 2597 2.5 9. Vovsha, Eli m ISR 2436 2.5 10. Ippolito, Dean m USA 2387 2.5 27 players |
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| Tai Yuan GM The Tai Yuan GM tournament took place in China 17th-26th July 2004.Prizes $20,000. Time control 90 minutes for 40 moves, plus 15 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds increment from move 1. Play started 2pm local time (GMT+8) except the last round which is at 10am. Nigel Short won the event by a clear point from Ni Hua. Games in PGN [Lputian, Smbat G - Ni Hua (6) probably still incomplete] Round 9 (July 26, 2004) Ni Hua - Xu Jun 1/2 23 B92 Sicilian Najdorf with 6.Be2 Lautier, Joel - Bu Xiangzhi 1-0 40 A29 English Four Knights Xie Jun - Short, Nigel D 1/2 17 C08 French Tarrasch Ye Jiangchuan - Lputian, Smbat G 1/2 27 C09 French Tarrasch Zhang Zhong - Dreev, Alexey 1/2 64 A07 Barcza System Final Round 9 Standings: 1. Short, Nigel D g ENG 2684 6.5; 2. Ni Hua g CHN 2583 5.5; 3. Lautier, Joel g FRA 2666 5.0; 4. Dreev, Alexey g RUS 2690 5.0; 5. Bu Xiangzhi g CHN 2620 4.5; 6. Xie Jun g CHN 2564 4.0; 7. Lputian, Smbat G g ARM 2634 4.0; 8. Ye Jiangchuan g CHN 2681 4.0; 9. Zhang Zhong g CHN 2603 3.5; 10. Xu Jun g CHN 2617 3.0; Official site (Chinese): http://sports.sina.com.cn/z/chess_2004/index.shtml |
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Biel Grandmaster Tournament Alexander Morozevich took first place alone with a fine 7.5/10 performance. Photo © http://www.bielchessfestival.ch The Biel Grandmaster Tournament took place July 19th-29th 2004. The field was extremely impressive with last year's stunning winner Alexander Morozevich being joined by FIDE Champion Ruslan Ponomariov. Alexander Morozevich took first place for the second year running he was 1.5 points clear of Krishnan Sasikrian. Former FIDE Champion Ruslan Ponomariov finished on 4.5/10 in joint 3rd. This was the 37th Biel / Bienne Festival and it has already been confirmed there will be a 38th. Final interview with the winner Alexander Morozevich: http://www.bielchessfestival.ch/interview.htm Games in PGN (correction to McShane-Morozevich (6)) Round 10 (July 29, 2004) Morozevich, Alexander - Ponomariov, Ruslan 1/2 41 C80 Ruy Lopez Open Bacrot, Etienne - Pelletier, Yannick 1/2 20 C10 French Rubinstein McShane, Luke J - Sasikiran, Krishnan 1/2 87 C96 Ruy Lopez Final Round 10 Standings: 1. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2743 7.5; 2. Sasikiran, Krishnan g IND 2666 6.0; 3. Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2722 4.5; 4. Pelletier, Yannick g SUI 2597 4.5; 5. Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2712 4.5; 6. McShane, Luke J g ENG 2643 3.0; Official site: http://www.bielchessfestival.ch |
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FIDE Championships in
Tripoli FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov defeated the top 4 seeds; Topalov, Adams, Grischuk and Ivanchuk; to take the title in Tripoli. Photo © Official site The FIDE Championships take place in Tripoli 18th June - 13th July 2004. The time control for the first 40 moves is 90 minutes followed by 15 minutes until the end of the game with a time increment of 30 seconds per move from move one. If playoffs are required then firstly there are a pair of rapid games (25 minutes + 10 secs a move), then if needed a pair of blitz games (5 minutes + 10 seconds per move) followed finally by a sudden death game (White has 6 minutes black Black 5 minutes, black has draw odds.). All games in PGN Final Games in PGN Rd7 Games in PGN Rd5-6 Games in PGN Rd3-4 Games in PGN Rd1-2 Finals 6th-13th July 2004 6 games + playoffs 1 Adams, Michael (ENG 2731) - Kasimdzhanov, Rustam (UZB 2652) 1/2 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1/2 Playoff 0-1 1/2 Semi-Finals 1st-5th July 2004 4 games + playoffs 1 Kasimdzhanov, Rustam (UZB 2652) - Topalov, Veselin (BUL 2737) 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 Playoff 1-0 1-0 2 Radjabov, Teimour (AZE 2670) - Adams, Michael (ENG 2731) 0-1 1/2 1/2 1/2 Round 5 28th-29th June 2004 Top Half 1 Topalov, Veselin (BUL 2737) - Kharlov, Andrei (RUS 2593) 1-0 1-0 4 Kasimdzhanov, Rustam (UZB 2652) - Grischuk, Alexander (RUS 2719) 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-0 Bottom Half 2 Dominguez, Lenier (CUB 2612) - Radjabov, Teimour (AZE 2670) 1-0 0-1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 (Radjabov as black goes through) 3 Adams, Michael (ENG 2731) - Akopian, Vladimir (ARM 2689) 1-0 1/2 FIDE World Championship in Tripoli Results Rounds 1-5 Official site: http://wcclibya2004.com/main.asp The event is severely weakened with many of the top players refusing to play for various reasons including unhappyness with the contract and the treatment of the Israeli players. The Israeli players are all missing from the event. At first they were supposed to compete seperately in Malta then there were assurances that they would be allowed to compete in Tripoli. However in May, Mohammed Gadhafi, son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, described Israelis as "the Zionist enemy" and said they would not be invited to the championships. The Israel Chess Federation may sue FIDE (The Jerusalem Post - Friday, June 18, 2004) In addition there has been strong criticism of the event by Mrs Nahed Ojjeh President of the NAO Chess Club: http://www.chess-players.org/eng/news/viewarticle.html?id=162 There are no Israeli players competing in the championship. It was thought that Vadim Milov who now represents Switzerland would play but he makes it clear that he believes that as an Israeli passport holder FIDE made sure he could not compete. Read letter: http://www.chess-players.org/eng/news/viewarticle.html?id=169. FIDE put the blame firmly back in Milov's court with their reply: FIDE reply to the statement of Mr. Milov dated June 25, 2004 |
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| Amsterdam
Tournament The Amsterdam Chess Tournament ACT took place 17th-25th July 2004. Main event is a 9 round swiss with Ivan Sokolov, Van Wely, Jan Timman etc. Official coverage: http://home.hccnet.nl/w.haggenburg/act04/ or more directly http://194.109.162.96/act/ |
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| Viktor Korchnoi vs Francisco
Vallejo Match Francisco Vallejo Pons beat Víktor Korchnoi 3.5-2.5 in a six game match in Vera Spain. Initially Radjabov and Mamedyrov were supposed also to play. In the end it turned out to be a 6 game match between Vallejo and Korchnoi 9th-11th July 2004. Time rate 1 hour (+20 seconds per move) to finish. Games in PGN Official site: http://www.ajedrezenmadrid.com/torneos/torneo.asp?torneo=04070903 Further details: http://www.jaque.tv/noticia9204.htm |
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| FIDE July Rating
List FIDE July rating list now out sournce: http://www.fide.com the full list is available for download there. Only small movements in the top three players but with the Armenia vs the Rest of the World being too late to be rated the list is already out of date. Alexander Morozevich grabs the unstable 4th spot, no-one seems to have been able to consolodate this with Peter Svidler, Peter Leko and Michael Adams all being recent occupiers, Michael Adams gains 7 points to be 6 in the World, Peter Svidler lost another handful of rating points and is down to 9. Alexei Shirov gains 12 points to return to the top 10. FIDE July 2004 Rating List: Top 100 |
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| Dutch
Championship The Dutch Championships took place June 28th - July 10th 2004. Loek Van Wely retained his championship. Games in PGN Final Round 9 Standings: 1. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2651 7.5; 2. Sokolov, Ivan g NED 2690 7.0; 3. Tiviakov, Sergei g NED 2593 6.0; 4. L'Ami, Erwin m NED 2478 5.0; 5. Stellwagen, Daniel m NED 2503 4.5; 6. Van den Doel, Erik g NED 2599 4.0; 7. Bosboom, Manuel m NED 2422 4.0; 8. Van der Wiel, John g NED 2526 3.5; 9. Nijboer, Friso g NED 2578 2.0; 10. Visser, Yge m NED 2445 1.5; 4Official site: http://www.schaakbond.nl/nieuws/nk2004/ |
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| Hungary - Poland Women's
Match The International Women's Match Hungary - Poland took place July 5th-July 13th in Szeged. Official website: http://members.chello.hu/chesscup/ |
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| Jeff Sonas on FIDE Double
Elimination Jeff Sonas describes his proposals for a double elimination tournament for the FIDE Championships. - Jeff Sonas on the Double Elimination Format |
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| Garry Kasparov at the London
Chess Centre Garry Kasparov made a hugely successful return visit to the London Chess Centre on Saturday 3rd July 2004 10:30am-4:30pm. There was a Book signing - a chance to meet Garry Kasparov and take away your own bit of chess history with a signed copy of his latest books or DVD! Play Chess all day. Q & A - Put your burning chess questions to Garry Kasparov. Enter our Blitz tournament - Fantastic prizes to be won. Watch a lecture from Kasparov with material taken from his new book. Photos and now videos: http://www.chesscenter.com/gkvisit2004/. [High quality images will be available for purchase: 7 x 5 photo will cost £5 including postage 8 x 6 photo will cost £7.50 including postage 12 x 18 photo will cost £12 including postage] |
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| Armenia vs
ROW The 75th anniversary of the birth of the late Armenian world champion Tigran Petrosian was celebrated with an Armenia v Rest of the World match which took place in Moscow 10th-16th June 2004. Malcolm Pein on Background to match The Rest of the World just hung on to their lead to beat an Armenian representative team. They won 18.5-17.5 in the six round Scheveningen event. Boris Gelfand tried hard to win against Etienne Bacrot and square the match, in the final game to finish. The Rook and Bishop vs Rook ending finally was drawn. Games in PGN Official site: http://www.cigarclan.com/english_main.php with live coverage at: http://www.russiachess.ru/petrosian/online/ Round 6 (June 15, 2004) ROW 2.5 - ARM 3.5 Anand, Viswanathan ROW - ARM Kasparov, Garry 1/2 26 B33 Sicilian Sveshnikov Vaganian, Rafael A ARM - ROW Adams, Michael 1-0 38 D05 Colle System Vallejo Pons, Francisco ROW - ARM Leko, Peter 1/2 18 E15 Queens Indian Akopian, Vladimir ARM - ROW Svidler, Peter 1/2 16 B42 Sicilian Paulsen Van Wely, Loek ROW - ARM Lputian, Smbat G 1/2 31 D58 Queens Gambit Tartakover Gelfand, Boris ARM - ROW Bacrot, Etienne 1/2 70 D13 Slav Exchange Round 5 (June 14, 2004) ROW 2.0 - ARM 4.0 Svidler, Peter ROW - ARM Kasparov, Garry 1/2 58 B31 Sicilian Rossolimo Leko, Peter ARM - ROW Anand, Viswanathan 1-0 68 B48 Sicilian Paulsen Bacrot, Etienne ROW - ARM Akopian, Vladimir 1/2 20 E21 Nimzo Indian 4.Nf3 Lputian, Smbat G ARM - ROW Vallejo Pons, Francisco 1-0 76 E14 Queens Indian Adams, Michael ROW - ARM Gelfand, Boris 1/2 20 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation Vaganian, Rafael A ARM - ROW Van Wely, Loek 1/2 44 E10 Blumenfeld Counter Gambit Round 4 (June 13, 2004) ROW 3.0 - ARM 3.0 Kasparov, Garry ARM - ROW Adams, Michael 1/2 45 A30 English Symmetrical Anand, Viswanathan ROW - ARM Gelfand, Boris 1/2 30 C42 Petroff's Defence Leko, Peter ARM - ROW Svidler, Peter 1/2 20 B80 Sicilian Scheveningen Vallejo Pons, Francisco ROW - ARM Vaganian, Rafael A 1/2 48 C17 French Winawer Lputian, Smbat G ARM - ROW Bacrot, Etienne 0-1 54 D15 Slav Defence Van Wely, Loek ROW - ARM Akopian, Vladimir 0-1 65 E15 Queens Indian Round 3 (June 12, 2004) ROW 3.5- ARM 2.5 Kasparov, Garry ARM - ROW Bacrot, Etienne 1/2 66 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed Svidler, Peter ROW - ARM Vaganian, Rafael A 1/2 19 C17 French Winawer Akopian, Vladimir ARM - ROW Anand, Viswanathan 0-1 45 B48 Sicilian Paulsen Adams, Michael ROW - ARM Lputian, Smbat G 1/2 33 C09 French Tarrasch Gelfand, Boris ARM - ROW Vallejo Pons, Francisco 0-1 24 E13 Queens Indian 5.Bg5 Van Wely, Loek ROW - ARM Leko, Peter 0-1 22 E15 Queens Indian Round 2 (June 11, 2004) ROW 4-ARM 2 Vallejo Pons, Francisco ROW - ARM Kasparov, Garry 1/2 34 B97 Sicilian Najdorf Vaganian, Rafael A ARM - ROW Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 19 A32 English Symmetrical Adams, Michael ROW - ARM Akopian, Vladimir 1-0 25 C10 French Rubinstein Gelfand, Boris ARM - ROW Van Wely, Loek 1/2 26 A34 English Symmetrical Bacrot, Etienne ROW - ARM Leko, Peter 1/2 27 E20 Nimzo Indian Lputian, Smbat G ARM - ROW Svidler, Peter 0-1 41 D91 Gruenfeld 5.Bg5 Round 1 (June 10, 2004) ROW 3.5- ARM 2.5 Kasparov, Garry ARM - ROW Van Wely, Loek 1-0 33 A33 English Symmetrical Anand, Viswanathan ROW - ARM Lputian, Smbat G 1-0 61 C18 French Winawer Leko, Peter ARM - ROW Adams, Michael 1/2 24 C87 Ruy Lopez Svidler, Peter ROW - ARM Gelfand, Boris 1-0 52 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation Akopian, Vladimir ARM - ROW Vallejo Pons, Francisco 1/2 32 C65 Ruy Lopez Berlin Bacrot, Etienne ROW - ARM Vaganian, Rafael A 1/2 34 C17 French Winawer Teams - Armenia: Vladimir Akopian, Smbat Lputian and Rafael Vaganian plus Garry Kasparov whose mother is Armenian, Peter Leko whose wife is Armenian and Boris Gelfand who is most famous pupil to study under Tigran Petrosian. Rest of the World: Viswanathan Anand, Michael Adams, Peter Svidler, Loek Van Wely, Etienne Bacrot and Francisco Vallejo Pons. |
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| II György Marx Chess
Memorial The II György Marx Chess Memorial took place 5th-15th June 2004 in Paks Hungary. 73 year old Victor Korchnoi won the Category 14 event with 7.5/10 and a 2780 performance. Games in PGN Final Round 10 Standings: 1. Korchnoi, Viktor g SUI 2579 7.5; 2. Berkes, Ferenc g HUN 2613 6.5; 3. Beliavsky, Alexander G g SLO 2667 6.0; 4. Nevednichy, Vladislav g ROM 2544 4.0; 5. Portisch, Lajos g HUN 2573 3.0; 6. Acs, Peter g HUN 2548 3.0; Official site: http://marxgyorgychessmem.freeweb.hu/indexa.html |
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| FIDE Women's
Championship The FIDE Women's Championships took place in Elista Kalmykia, 21 May - 8 June 2004. Antoaneta Stefanova wins the title beating Ekaterina Kovalevskaya in the four game final 2.5-0.5. Games in PGN Games from Final in PGN Malcolm Pein Chess for Monday 31st May 2004 Open Letter from Ana Matnadze and Lela Javakhishvili Stefanova Antoaneta and Ekaterina Kovalevskaya reply Official site: http://wwcc2004.fide.com Final 3rd-7th June 2004 Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina - Stefanova, Antoaneta 0-1 0-1 1/2 Round 5 31st May - 1st June 2004 Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina - Koneru, Humpy 1-0 0-1 Playoff 1-0 1/2 Stefanova, Antoaneta - Chiburdanidze, Maia 1/2 1-0 Round 4 29th-30th May 2004 Koneru, Humpy - Xu, Yuhua 1-0 1-0 Stefanova, Antoaneta - Dzagnidze, Nana 1-0 0-1 Playoff 1/2 1-0 Chiburdanidze, Maia - Cmilyte, Viktorija 1-0 0-1 Playoff 0-1 1-0 1-0 1/2 Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina - Kachiani-G., Ketino 0-1 1-0 Playoff 1-0 1/2 Round 3 26th-27th May 2004 Kosintseva, Tatiana - Koneru, Humpy 0-1 1-0 Playoff 0-1 0-1 Lomineishvili, Maia - Dzagnidze, Nana 0-1 0-1 Jackova, Jana - Chiburdanidze, Maia 0-1 1/2 Bojkovic, Natasa - Kachiani-G., Ketino 0-1 1/2 Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina - Lahno, Kateryna 1-0 0-1 Playoff 1/2 1-0 Cramling, Pia - Cmilyte, Viktorija 1/2 1/2 Playoff 1/2 1/2 0-1 0-1 Zhukova, Natalia - Stefanova, Antoaneta 1/2 1/2 Playoff 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 Paehtz, Elisabeth - Xu, Yuhua 1/2 0-1 Round 2 24th-25th May 2004 Koneru, Humpy - Peng, Zhaoqin 1-0 1/2 Lomineishvili, Maia - Galliamova, Alisa 1-0 1-0 Chiburdanidze, Maia - Sebag, Marie 1-0 1-0 Bojkovic, Natasa - Matveeva, Svetlana 1/2 1/2 Playoff 1/2 1-0 Lahno, Kateryna - Polovnikova, Ekaterina 1-0 0-1 Playoff 1/2 1/2 1-0 Mkrtchian, Lilit - Cramling, Pia 1/2 0-1 Stefanova, Antoaneta - Vasilevich, Tatjana 1/2 1/2 Playoff 1/2 1/2 1/2 1-0 Paehtz, Elisabeth - Zhao, Xue 1/2 1/2 Playoff 1/2 1-0 Xu, Yuhua - Danielian, Elina 1-0 1/2 Kosintseva, Nadezhda - Zhukova, Natalia 0-1 1-0 Playoff 1/2 1/2 1/2 0-1 Kosteniuk, Alexandra - Cmilyte, Viktorija 0-1 1/2 Alexandrova, Olga - Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 1/2 0-1 Krush, Irina - Kachiani-G., Ketino 1/2 0-1 Peptan, Corina-Isabela - Jackova, Jana 0-1 1/2 Dzagnidze, Nana - Radziewicz, Iweta 1-0 1/2 Hoang, Thanh Trang - Kosintseva, Tatiana 1/2 0-1 Round 1 22nd-23rd May 2004 Van Der Merwe, Cecile H . - Koneru, Humpy 0-1 0-1 Galliamova, Alisa - Khaziyeva, Dinara 1-0 1-0 Arouche, Farida - Chiburdanidze, Maia 0-1 1/2 Matveeva, Svetlana - Houli, Asma 1-0 1-0 Morales, Mendoza Luciana - Lahno, Kateryna 0-1 1/2 Cramling, Pia - Hahn, Anna 1-0 1/2 Tan, Zhongyi - Stefanova, Antoaneta 0-1 0-1 Zhao, Xue - Paridar, Shadi 1-0 1-0 Tkeshelashvili, Sopio - Xu, Yuhua 1/2 1/2 Playoff 0-1 0-1 Zhukova, Natalia - Petrenko, Svetlana 1/2 1/2 Playoff 1/2 1-0 Sergeeva, Maria - Kosteniuk, Alexandra 0-1 0-1 Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina - Lujan, Carolina 1-0 1-0 Arribas, Maritza - Krush, Irina 0-1 1/2 Skripchenko, Almira - Jackova, Jana 1/2 0-1 Shahade, Jennifer - Dzagnidze, Nana 0-1 1/2 Kosintseva, Tatiana - Huang, Qian 1-0 0-1 Playoff 1/2 1-0 Le, Kieu Thien Kim - Hoang Thanh, Trang 1/2 0-1 Radziewicz, Iweta - Meenakshi, S. 1/2 1-0 Goletiani, Rusudan - Peptan, Corina-Isabela 0-1 1/2 Kachiani-G., Ketino - Nguyen, Thi Thanh An 1/2 1/2 Playoff 1-0 0-1 0-1 1-0 1/2 (Kachiani Black with draw odds) Matnadze, Ana - Alexandrova, Olga 1/2 0-1 Cmilyte, Viktorija - Harika, Dronavalli 1-0 1-0 Javakhishvili, Lela - Kosintseva, Nadezhda 1-0 0-1 Playoff 0-1 0-1 Danielian, Elina - Sedina, Elena 1/2 1/2 Playoff 1/2 1-0 Paehtz, Elisabeth - Wang, Pin 1-0 1-0 Xu, Yuanyuan - Vasilevich, Tatjana 1-0 0-1 Playoff 1-0 0-1 1-0 0-1 0-1 Mkrtchian, Lilit - Socko, Monika 0-1 1-0 Playoff 1-0 0-1 1/2 1/2 1-0 Polovnikova, Ekaterina - Khurtsidze, Nino 1-0 1/2 Wang, Yu - Bojkovic, Natasa 1/2 0-1 Sebag, Marie - Pogonina, Natalija 1/2 1-0 Slavina, Irina - Lomineishvili, Maia 1/2 0-1 Peng, Zhaoqin - Dworakowska, Joanna 1-0 0-1 Playoff 0-1 1-0 1/2 1/2 1-0 |
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| Ponomariov
Letter FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos gave a long interview with Yuri Vasiliev of the "Sport Express" newspaper. You can read it in full in English at: http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=494 (excerpts appeared at http;//wwwchessbase.com). Or the original at: http://www.sport-express.ru/art.shtml?87457 Ruslan Ponomariov answered the points in detail in a new open letter: Open Letter from Ruslan Ponomariov 16th June 2004 |
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17th Ciudad de
Leon Svidler - Shirov final and the pawn promoting the Calvia Olympiad. Photo © Official website The 17th Ciudad de Leon 2004 was again a knockout event taking place June 3rd-7th 2004 in Leon, Spain. On Friday Peter Svidler beat Paco Vallejo 3.5-0.5. In the other semi-final on Saturday Shirov squeezed past Radjabov after three blitz games. Alexei Shirov continued his good run of form by beating Peter Svidler 3.5-0.5 in the final. Games in PGN Official site: http://www.advancedchessleon.com and http://www.elajedrezdelfuturo.com |
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Sarajevo
Tournament Alexei Shirov played impressively throughout to win the event with 7.5/9. Photo © Official website The XXXIV “Bosna 2004” tournament took place in Sarajevo 18th-27th May 2004. Shirov scored 7.5/9 to win the Sarajevo tournament by a point and a half from Sergei Movsesian. Games in PGN Round 9 (May 27, 2004) Movsesian, Sergei - Atalik, Suat 1/2 16 B80 Sicilian Scheveningen Kozul, Zdenko - Sokolov, Ivan 1/2 40 D10 Slav Defence Short, Nigel D - Shirov, Alexei 1/2 35 B33 Sicilian Sveshnikov Predojevic, Borki - Bologan, Viktor 1/2 34 B46 Sicilian Paulsen Kurajica, Bojan - Dizdarevic, Emir 1/2 13 C10 French Rubinstein Final Standings: 1. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2713 7.5; 2. Movsesian, Sergei g SVK 2647 6.0; 3. Sokolov, Ivan g NED 2690 5.5; 4. Bologan, Viktor g MDA 2665 5.5; 5. Kozul, Zdenko g CRO 2627 5.0; 6. Dizdarevic, Emir g BIH 2520 4.0; 7. Short, Nigel D g ENG 2712 3.5; 8. Predojevic, Borki m BIH 2490 3.0; 9. Atalik, Suat g BIH 2554 2.5; 10. Kurajica, Bojan g BIH 2540 2.5; Internet coverage: http://www.skbosna.ba/bosna2004/en/stranice/info.htm |
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European Individual
Championships Top seed Vassily Ivanchuk won the title after a playoff against Nikolic. Photo © Ali Nihat Yazici The European Individual Championships took place in Antalya/Turkey 14 May (arrival) to 31 May 2004 (departure). Vassily Ivanchuk took first place after beating Predrag Nikolic in a playoff. Levon Aronian took the bronze. Games in PGN Rd1-13 Playoff Games Leading Final Round 13 standings: 1 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 9 8.000 2 GM Nikolic Predrag 9 5.000 3 GM Aronian Levon 8½ 4.000 4 GM Istratescu Andrei 8½ 3.000 5 GM Miroshnichenko Evgenij 2599 8½ 2.700 6 GM Navara David 8½ 2.500 7 GM Gurevich Mikhail 8½ 2.200 8 GM Kempinski Robert 8 1.111 9 GM Krasenkow Michal 8 1.111 10 GM Agrest Evgenij 8 1.111 11 GM Milov Vadim 8 1.111 12 GM Asrian Karen 8 1.111 13 GM Sargissian Gabriel 8 1.111 14 GM Macieja Bartlomiej 8 1.111 15 GM Gashimov Vugar 8 1.111 16 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 8 1.111 17 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 7½ 325 18 GM Radjabov Teimour 7½ 325 19 GM Guseinov Gadir 7½ 225 100 € deducted for ECU 20 GM Andersson Ulf 7½ 325 21 GM Parligras Mircea 7½ 325 22 GM Stefansson Hannes 7½ 325 23 GM Iljushin Alexei 7½ 325 24 GM Stocek Jiri 7½ 325 72 players Official site: http://www.eurochess.org/eurochamp2004/index.html |
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57th Russian Chess Championship
 Round 5. Photo © Sergei Soloviov There are qualifiers for the 57th Russian Chess Championship taking place 20th-31st May in St-Petersburg and Tomsk. Prize fund - $50,000. The top three in each event with play in a super final possibly in Moscow in September with Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Anatoly Karpov, Peter Svidler, Evgeny Bareev, Alexander Grischuk and Alexander Morozevich with a prize fund $300,000. The organizer of the tournament is the Chess Federation of St. Petersburg and it’s new president Alexey Ustaev, who is at the same time President of Viking Bank. Viking Bank is the main sponsor. Games from St Petersburg in PGN St-Petersburg Final Rd9 Standings: 1. Dreev, Alexey g RUS 2689 6.5; 2. Epishin, Vladimir g RUS 2610 6.0; 3. Tseshkovsky, Vitaly g RUS 2564 6.0; 4. Khalifman, Alexander g RUS 2668 5.5; 5. Ivanov, Sergey g RUS 2546 5.5; 6. Zvjaginsev, Vadim g RUS 2654 5.5; 7. Najer, Evgeniy g RUS 2606 5.5; 8. Sakaev, Konstantin g RUS 2665 5.5; 9. Popov, Valerij g RUS 2547 5.5; 10. Riazantsev, Alexander g RUS 2556 5.5; 11. Landa, Konstantin g RUS 2550 5.0; 12. Romanov, Evgeny f RUS 2392 5.0; 13. Tregubov, Pavel V g RUS 2636 5.0; 14. Andreikin, Dmitry m RUS 2418 5.0; 15. Yakovich, Yuri g RUS 2596 5.0; 16. Volkov, Sergey1 g RUS 2629 4.5; 17. Alekseev, Evgeny g RUS 2616 4.5; 18. Belov, Vladimir g RUS 2543 4.5; 19. Ionov, Sergey g RUS 2538 4.5; 20. Shaposhnikov, Evgeny g RUS 2559 4.5; 21. Yevseev, Denis g RUS 2580 4.5; 22. Nikolenko, Oleg m RUS 2520 4.5; 23. Dolmatov, Sergey g RUS 2573 4.0; 24. Burmakin, Vladimir g RUS 2571 4.0; 25. Kuzmin, Alexey g RUS 2567 4.0; 26. Nepomniachtchi, Ian f RUS 2445 4.0; 27. Loginov, Valery A g RUS 2516 4.0; 28. Danin, Alexandre f RUS 2332 4.0; 29. Kurnosov, Igor g RUS 2543 4.0; 30. Dobrov, Vladimir m RUS 2477 3.5; 31. Solovjov, Sergey I m RUS 2458 3.5; 32. Gleizerov, Evgeny g RUS 2592 2.5; 33. Shapovalenko,Maksim RUS 0 1.0; 34. Silivanov, Sergej f RUS 2291 1.0; Internet coverage: http://www.ruschess.com/ Tomsk Games from Tomsk in PGN 1-9 Tomsk Final Rd9 Standings: 1. Motylev, Alexander g RUS 2649 6.5; 2. Timofeev, Artyom g RUS 2591 6.0; 3. Inarkiev, Ernesto g RUS 2595 6.0; 4. Korotylev, Alexey g RUS 2565 6.0; 5. Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2582 6.0; 6. Smirnov, Pavel g RUS 2601 6.0; 7. Rustemov, Alexander g RUS 2593 5.5; 8. Bocharov, Dmitry g RUS 2567 5.5; 9. Khismatullin, Denis RUS 2537 5.0; 10. Filippov, Valerij g RUS 2639 5.0; 11. Kosyrev, Vladimir g RUS 2529 5.0; 12. Sorokin, Maxim g RUS 2583 5.0; 13. Rublevsky, Sergei g RUS 2671 5.0; 14. Kharlov, Andrei g RUS 2593 5.0; 15. Belozerov, Andrei g RUS 2552 5.0; 16. Dvoirys, Semen I g RUS 2612 5.0; 17. Kobalia, Mikhail g RUS 2630 5.0; 18. Galkin, Alexander g RUS 2602 4.5; 19. Gajsin, Evgenij RUS 2404 4.5; 20. Shariyazdanov, Andrey g RUS 2575 4.5; 21. Lastin, Alexander g RUS 2622 4.5; 22. Maletin, Pavel f RUS 2423 4.5; 23. Ulibin, Mikhail g RUS 2579 4.0; 24. Kornev, Alexei RUS 2582 4.0; 25. Kiriakov, Petr g RUS 2568 4.0; 26. Sherbakov, Ruslan g RUS 2564 4.0; 27. Khairullin, Ildar f RUS 2481 4.0; 28. Yagupov, Igor g RUS 2441 4.0; 29. Yudin, Sergei f RUS 2425 4.0; 30. Vorobiov, Evgeny E g RUS 2552 3.5; 31. Yandemirov, Valeri g RUS 2494 3.5; 32. Iskusnyh, Sergei g RUS 2507 3.5; 33. Novikov, Maxim m RUS 2426 3.0; 34. Frolov, Denis m RUS 2401 2.5; 35. Loskutov, Oleg m RUS 2433 2.5; 36. Nazarov, Nikolay RUS 2256 0.5; Coverage in Russia at: http://www.tomskchess.net.ru games available in a viewer. |
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| ACP Letter The ACP http://www.chess-players.org have released an open letter addresses to FIDE about the arrangments for the World Championships in Libya. OPEN LETTER FROM THE ACP TO THE FIDE PRESIDENT, MR KIRSAN ILYUMZHINOV 26th May 2004 |
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| Capablanca
Memorial The Capablanca Memorial took place 5th-19th May in Havana. There were four main events including a Category 13 elite tournament which was won by Leni |
