Σκακιστικά νέα

Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov has been granted Croatian citizenship, The Guardian reported today.

Chessdom reported about Kasparov’s request at the beginning of February and cited Slobodna Dalmacija claim that the petition will be accepted.

The 14th International Chess Festival Mediterranean Flower will take place from 2nd to 8th March at the Chess Club Rijeka in Rijeka, Croatia.

The 10-players round robin event is organized by the Chess Club Draga.

The 30th International Cappelle La Grande is going to take place 1st-8th March, 2014. With more than 150(!) titled players, it will be one of the most significant opens of the year. Top seeded is the 2700 club member GM Ding Liren. His main opponents for the first position will be GMs Viktor Erdos, Eduardo Iturrizaga, Parimarjan Negi, Andrey Sumets, Abhijeet Gupta, Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Martyn Kravtsiv, Chanda Sandipan, Alexandr Fier, etc.

The 46th Belgrade WGM chess tournament, dedicated to 8th of March, will take place 01-08 March, 2014. A total of ten players will play a single round robin. Participants are IM Sabrina Vega Gutierrez, WIM Marija Rakic, WGM Andjelija Stojanovic, WIM Belinda Vega Gutierrez, WGM Karina Szczepkowska-Horowska, WGM Irina Chelushkina, WFM Mila Zarkovic, Adela Velikic, WIM Jovana Eric, and IM Svetlana Petrenko.

The traditional Reykjavik Open is back with the 2014 edition, that will take place 4th-12th of March. Top seeded is GM Arkadij Naiditsch, and his main competitors are GM Li Chao B, GM Ferenc Berkes, GM Richard Rapport, GM Amin Bassem, GM Erwin L’Ami, GM Gawain Jones, GM Mikhail Kobalia, GM Grzegorz Gajewski, GM Eduardas Rozentalis, GM Robin Van Kampen, GM Nils Grandelius, GM Alejandro Ramirez, GM Eric Hansen, GM Hannes Stefansson, etc.

Magnus Carlsen is first on the March FIDE rating list.

The next edition of the Reykjavik Open will take place on 4-12th March, 2014. Once again the tournament will be held in the beautiful Harpa concert hall by the Reykjavik harbour.

Stockfish and Naum share the lead at TCEC Stage 1b after six rounds. Both engines have 5,0/6, having drawn each other in round 2, and each drawing Spike.

Chile National Chess Championship 2014 is taking place 17-26 February in Punta Arenas.

After 10 rounds GM Rodrigo Vazquez is sole leader with 8,5/10, followed by IM Cristobal Henriquez with 8,0/10. The rest of the field has 5,5 points or less.

Follow the last round live on Chessdom.com with triple engine analysis

The FIDE Arbiters’ Commission introduces the 2014 Arbiters’ Awards.

The Awards are referring to the long service of Arbiters as officials in FIDE major events (Long Service Meritorious Awards).