Σκακιστικά νέα

The awarding ceremony for the winners of the children’s tournament of Moscow Open 2014, the RSSU School Champions Cup, was held on Saturday in the assembly hall of the Russian State Social University.

More than 700 children of 5 to 15 years old were competing on the course of nine days in the hospitable social university for the prizes that included participation in the European School Championship that will be held this summer in Greece.

The Presidents Weekend Championship is scheduled to take place on 14-16th February at La Quinta Inn & Suites in Coral Springs, Florida, USA.

The tournament is organized by Boca Raton Chess Club. The playing format is 5-round Swiss with five sections (Open, U2100, U1800, U1500, U1000).

The prize fund is $6,700 based on 200 paid entries, with 60% min guaranteed. Tournament director is Jon Haskel.

TCEC Stage 1a, the first act of the world’s top computer chess championship TCEC, was given the official start on February 7th at 20:00 CET.

The 2014 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival took place from Monday 27th January to Thursday 6th February at Caleta Hotel in Gibraltar.

The Festival consisted of five events: Masters, Challengers Wk1 (U2250), Challengers Wk2 (U2250), Amateurs Wk1 (U1900) and Amateurs Wk2 (U1900).

The Masters section attracted 256 players from 48 countries, including 76 Grandmasters and 10 players rated above 2700 FIDE.

The 1st International Chess Festival Iasi Open is set to take place on 10-18th May at the Palas Mall in Iasi, Romania.

The Festival is organized by the AJ Sah Iasi and consists of Open A (9 round Swiss), Open B (U12 juniors, 9 round Swiss) and Open C (blitz).

The total prize fund is 25,000 EUR with 21,000 EUR allocated for Open A. The top prize is 5000 EUR.

The new season of the computer chess championship TCEC is starting February 7th at 20:00 CET.

The 5th International Villach Open will take place on 8-15th February, 2014, at the Volkshaus Völkendorf, Neubaugasse 9, A-9500 Villach, Austria.

The event is organized by the ESV ASKÖ Admira Villach Sektion Schach and is valid as the 32nd open championship of the city of Villach.

The tournament format is 9-round Swiss and the top prize is 1000 EUR.

Moscow chess players Alina Kashlinskaya and Daria Charochkina have maintained perfect scores after winning their games in round 5 of the the Moscow Open 2014 Russian Women’s Premier Cup.

Former world chess champion Gary Kasparov has placed a request to get Croatian citizenship.

The Russian chess Grandmaster now expects a reply from Croatian authorities, daily newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija reveals.

Gary Kasparov is often spending his holidays in sea resort Makarska, where he owns a house and where he had training session with Magnus Carlsen.

Last night saw the fourth and final Master Class of the Tradewise Chess Festival.

It was a presentation by former World Junior Champion, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FIDE 2745). He showed a remarkable game he played versus Chinese Grand Master Ding Liren last year.