Σκακιστικά νέα

With two round remaining the 2nd edition of Gurgaon International Grandmasters Chess Tournament heading for a close finish as at the end of eighth round matches seven players including top seed Kravtsiv Martyn of Ukraine and Indian hope Sahaj Grover leading the point table with six and half points.

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament starts on Saturday, so the preparations in the playing venue are in full swing. In just 8 days’ time, the Moriaan sports centre is transformed into one of the leading chess temples in the world.

Last Friday, Lennart Ootes of newsaboutchess.com had an exclusive look behind the scenes of the preparations.

The 25th International Open Roquetas de Mar took place on 2-6th January at the Hotel Bahia Serena in Roquetas de Mar, Almeria, Spain.

The event consisted of the 9-round General Open with 126 participants and the 7-round U2150 Open with 93 participants.

On Wednesday, 29 of January 2014, the Zurich Chess Challenge 2014 will commence at the Hotel Savoy. With six participants it is the first tournament in the history of chess to reach category 23 with an amazing average rating of 2801!

Venue: Hilton Garden Inn, 1001 South Peters Street, New Orleans, LA 70130.
6 Round Swiss G/45 d5 USCF Rated
Up to 8 sections: grades K- 2, 3-5, 6-8 & 9-12, separate for Girls & Boys (T.D. may combine any sec.w/ < 10players)

Side events: 3 hour chess camp (max.30)
GM Susan Polgar Simul (limited to first 20 entries)
Blitz Championship,G/5 d0, K-6 and 7-12
Bughouse
Puzzle Solving Championship
“Breakfast with Susan”

Schedule:

The 27th Open du Mans was held on 27-30th December 2013 at the Palais des Congres et de la Culture, rue d’Arcole, 72000 le Mans, France.

The 9-round Swiss event attracted 217 participants. The total prize fund was 3200 EUR.

The tournament was organized by Comité départemental du jeu d’échecs de la Sarthe. FFE President Diego Salazar attended the awarding ceremony.

Final standings:

The 2nd Annual Boston Chess Congress will be held from January 10-12, 2014, at the Hyatt Harborside at Logan Airport, 101 Harborside Dr, Boston, Massachusetts.

The event has 6 sections: Premier, Under 2100, Under 1900, Under 1700, Under 1500 and Under 1300. All sections have either 3-day (January 10-12) or 2-day (January 11-12) schedules to play in.

Last year winner of the Premier section was GM Li Chao.

The 36th Bulgarian International Open Chess Championship – Georgi Tringov Memorial – will take place from 2nd to 9th February at the Moscow Hall of Hotel Novotel in Plovdiv.

The tournament will be played over nine rounds of Swiss system and for the prize fund of 10.000 EUR. The winner will earn 2000 EUR.

This year the entry fees are slightly increased to 55 BGN for the Bulgarian citizens and 40 EUR for the foreign players.

The 89th Hastings International Chess Congress took place from 28th December 2013 to 5th January 2014 at Horntye Park Sports Complex, Bohemia Road, Hastings, United Kingdom.

The main event was the Masters Tournament with 94 participants from 24 federations. The event was completed over nine rounds of Swiss system with accelerated pairings.

Polish Grandmaster Radoslaw Wojtaszek continued his fantastic run in the Switzerland chess tour by convincingly winning the Hilton Basel Chess Festival with 6,5/7 points.

Last week Wojtaszek won another very strong tournament – the Zurich Christmas Open.