The Best come out to participate in the Amber tournament

18th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament
March 14-26, 2009 Nice, France

The 18th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament, organized by the Association Max Euwe in Monaco, takes place from March 14 (first round) to March 26 (last round) at the Palais de la Mediterranée, splendidly located on the famous Promenade des Anglais in Nice. The total prize-fund is € 216,000 ($273,700).

This year’s field is stronger than ever with all the world’s best players taking part.

The twelve participants are (in alphabetical order): World Champion Viswanathan Anand (India), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Gata Kamsky (United States), Sergey Karjakin (Ukraine), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Peter Leko (Hungary), Alexander Morozevich (Russia), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) and Wang Yue (China).

Every day four sessions will be played, two blindfold sessions and two rapid sessions. The first session starts at 2:30 pm. The fourth session finishes around 8:00 pm. (Note: the final round on March 26 starts at 12:30 pm. March 18 and 23 are rest days.)

Official tournament website

Anand/Topalov match postponed until 2010

A FIDE Presidential Board meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, had decided to postpone the World Championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov until latest April 20th, 2010, and opened the bidding process. Originally the match was scheduled for September this year. [ChessBase]

The PB approved the new structure for FIDE Commissions and Committees the details of which will be announced on the FIDE website. The PB agreed on a commission to be set up to consider the zonal structure of FIDE. The PB approved changes in the Laws of Chess including that the default time would be zero unless otherwise specified in the regulations of the tournament. The PB finalized Title and Rating regulations and dealt with other matters left from the Dresden meetings. It agreed to postpone the World Championship Match between World Champion GM Anand and Challenger GM Topalov until the latest April 20th, 2010 and asked for bids for the match. The PB corrected the mistake done by the organizer of the World Senior Championship and announced GM Kaufmann and GM Suba as co-winners. The PB decided upon a commemoration schedule of the former world champions starting with W. Steinitz in 2009. [FIDE]

GM Anand is the current World Champion. He won the title in 2007 in Mexico City by placing first in an 8-player, double round-robin tournament. He defended his title against GM Kramnik in 2008 (Bonn, Germany) winning the 12-game match with a score of 6.5 in 11 games.

GM Topalov won the challengers match against GM Kamsky last month in Bulgaria with a score of 4.5 in 7 games. GM Topalov is currently the #1 rated player in the world.

Khalsa "Double-Fives" tournament wrap-up

Josh Leonard reports that the Khalsa "Double-Fives" (Bughouse) tournament was a success. Fourteen teams participated in the event last Friday evening at Khalsa Montessori School.

Final Standings:

1. Noam/Ricky: 7 pts.

2. Daniel/Zak: 6 pts. (21 TB = TieBreaker points)
3. Aiya/Stephanie: 6 pts. (19 TB)

4. Hayden/Anderson: 5 pts. (18 TB)
5. Cepheus/Carlos: 5 pts.(16 TB)
6. Pablo/Matthew: 5 points (15 TB)

7. Joshua/Patrick K.: 4 pts. (20 TB)
8. Liam/Patrick F.: 4 pts. (14 TB)
9. Weston/Eli: 4 pts. (11 TB)

10. Lukas/Conrad: 3 pts

11. Spike/Santino: 2 pts.(16 TB)
12. Marirosa/Chloe: 2 pts. (14 TB)
13. Bernardo/Joseph: 2 pts. (10 TB)

14. Keenan/Preston: 0 pts.

Double-fives (more commonly called bughouse) is a popular chess variant played on two chessboards by four players in teams of two. Normal chess rules apply, except that captured pieces on one board are passed on to the players of the other board, who then have the option of putting these pieces on their board.

Khalsa plans on hosting another tournament in either April or May, so keep an eye out!

Touch move!

He's really not that good, I won 5 out of 7 games against him.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

First Women Chess Grand Prix begins this weekend

Chessbase.com and Chessdom.com report on the first Womens Chess Grand Prix tournament that starts this weekend in Turkey.

The Turkish Chess Federation in collaboration with FIDE and Global Chess is organising the first event for the new Women Grand Prix series 2009/2010. The tournament will be held in Istanbul, Turkey beginning on the 6th of March 2009. It will also be the second in a series organised by the Turkish Chess Federation commemorating the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

The FIDE Women Grand Prix is a new series of elite tournaments which will be organised by FIDE and Global Chess. There will be 6 legs over two years in various countries around the world with three tournaments every year. The next tournament is planned in Nanjing, China at the end of September.

The winner of each tournament will win 6,500 euros ($8,151) out of a prize fund of 40,000 euros ($50,199) and the overall winner of the series will win a further 15,000 euros ($15,825) at the end of the series.

This will be one of the strongest women tournaments of all times and it is important to point out that there are three ex-world Champions taking part as well as the highest ranked women players in the world.

The final participant list is:
GM Humpy Koneru 2621
GM Yifan Hou 2571
GM Antoaneta Stefanova 2557
GM Pia Cramling 2548
GM Marie Sebag 2529
GM Maia Chiburdanidze 2516
GM Zhao Xue 2508
IM Elina Danielian 2496
WGM Shen Yang 2448
IM Martha Fierro 2403
WGM Zeinab Mamedjarova 2362
WIM Betül Cemre Yıldız 2214

IM Martha Fierro was a last minute replacement for GM Zhu Chen. The tournament average rating is 2481.3 and will include the #2-#5 rated females (Judit Polgar is #1) in the world. Round 1 is Saturday, March 7 at 6:00 am (Tucson time).

Official Tournament Website

ESCC Championship wrap-up

The East Side Chess Club has completed its annual club championship tournament. FIDE Master Ken Larsen takes top honors with a score of 4.5 - .5. Steven Pennock, also went undefeated (2 draws), to take clear 2nd Place.

1st Place - Kenneth Larsen - $100
2nd Place - Steven Pennock - $60
Best Class B - Fred Duren - $40
Best Class C/below - Carlos Boteo - $40
Best K-8 - Justin Arnold
Best K-6 - Derek Chen
Best K-3 - Ethan Li

John Wright and Satheesh Aradhyula organized and ran the event. 18 players participated in the 5-week tournament, playing 1 round each week. The next event will be a Blitz tournament on March 25.

The Eastside Chess Club meets Wednesday nights from 6:00pm to 10:00pm at the Tucson Jewish Community Center (JCC) located on River Rd. and Dodge Blvd. For more information, please contact John Wright.

First payment deadline for SuperNationals is TODAY!

After today, the Entry Fee for SuperNationalsIV will rise from $40 to $60. Be sure to register soon!

SuperNationals are just a few weeks away! The excitement is building as the list of special guest continues to grow. Former World Champion Garry Kasparov is appearing. The current Women’s World Champion, the current US Men’s and Women’s champions, and four other GM’s are all offering simuls at the event. And that’s not counting the other titled players and coaches you will see in team rooms and roaming the halls. You may never have this kind of opportunity to meet this many top names in the chess world!

USCF is also looking for volunteers (score keepers and runners) to help with the event. If you have free time and are interested in helping, please contact Tom Nelson (USCF Volunteer Coordinator). USCF will compensate you with food vouchers and, depending on how much you work, provide you 1/2 a hotel room. Contact Tom for more details.

Bobby Fischer movie in the works

U.S. producer-director Damian Chapa is set to begin shooting his new Bobby Fischer bio-picture next month, Amadeus Pictures announced.

"Bobby Fischer Live," a movie featuring Chapa as the U.S. chess champion, is to be filmed in Los Angeles, New York, Russia and Iceland.

"Bobby Fischer is considered to be the greatest chess player of all time," the production company said in a news release Thursday.

The company said Fischer's victory over Soviet champion Boris Spassky in 1972 "was historical in bringing relations between the (United States) and (the Soviet Union) to a more calm and cordial state, as well as elevating chess to a much more mainstream and 'cooler' status."

Fischer won a rematch with Spassky in 1992, in a match played in what was then Yugoslavia, which was under a strict U.N. sanction. After the match, Fischer never returned to the United States.

Source: United Press International

Robby Adamson on the cover Chess Life

The March issue of Chess Life has a cover story on local master, Robby Adamson.

Paul Gold, a master in his own right, has written a piece that covers the coach, the players, and a brief history of Southern Arizona chess that has help make Catalina Foothills HS one of the dominate chess programs in the country that is a perennial national title contender and winner, year after year.

The year was 1978, my last of high school, thank God. I attended chess club back then to play blitz. One night I battled this little kid, an eight-year old boy wonder—bright-eyed, hair combed back, fidgeting all over the place; boy, was he obnoxious! After every move he hit my clock harder and harder, while I pleaded with him to go easy on the timepiece. Finally the plastic clock face fell off and the thing was broken, and that was my first contact with Robby Adamson. It was the end of my clock but the beginning of a long and wonderful relationship.

The March issue of Chess Life will be arriving in the mail this week (if it isn't in your mailbox already). Those of you that can't wait can read the article online at the USCF website. USCF members are also able to download the PDF version of Chess Life.

Scholastic League Championship wrap-up

The team-vs.-team season for the 2008-09 SACA Scholastic League has come to an end. The annual League Championship was held at Lineweaver Elementary on Saturday, February 21. Unlike the previous League Match #4, the League Championship is formatted differently.

• Instead of 3 rounds, the tournament is 4 rounds
• Each school may only bring 1 team (their "best") per division - Junior High, Elementary, Primary
• All teams compete in 1 section per division for the title of League Champion

Over 125 players from 23 different schools in the region participated in the event. Trophies were handed out to top schools in each division, with individual players also earning trophies and medallions for their efforts.

2008-09 League Champions:
Primary: 1st Place - St. Joseph's, 2nd Place - Castlehill CDS
Elementary: 1st Place - Lineweaver, 2nd Place - Greenfields CDS
Junior High: 1st Place - BASIS, 2nd Place - Doolen

A complete list of trophy winners (school and individuals) is available at the SACA website.

Next on the schedule is the Regional Championship (RQ1) on Saturday, March 14 at Sierra MS. See you all there!