26th Andorra Open 19-27 July 179 players. 1st David Howell 8/9. Other English people who played included Callum Kilpatrick, Keith Richardson, Julian Farrand, Ray Edwards, Philip Taylor-Bowd, Daniel Hunt. But I have been unable to find out their results.

31st Taminoc Open Ghent 19-23 July 315 players.
6.5/9 11-29=. Chris Ward (2431) TPR 2393. Peter Sowray (2317) 2380. Graham Lee (226() 2334. Tom Farrand (2266) 2164. 6/9 30-54=. A Stone (2226) 2158. A> Perar (1879) 1876. Tom Wiley (2299) 2259. 4.5/9. 132-181 H Jones (1552) 1922. 4/9 182-222= R Balatoni (1528) 1712. R Halala (1480) 1669. Brian Smith (1803) 1705.
3/9 P. Grant-Ross (1536) 1609. 2/9 257-283= R Blackman (-) 1194. The lower ratings given are clearly not FIDE ones. [5/8/08]

Czech Open, Pardubice, 18-26 July:
A section: 339 players
Adam Ashton 2303 5/9 TPR 2434 a strong showing from Adam who just missed out on an IM norm.
Lorin D'Costa 2414 5.5/9 TPR 2507
David Spence 2221 3.5/9 TPR 2184
Alan Walton 2220 2.5/9 TPR 2071
B section: 385 players
Donny Muter 2200 5.5/9 TPR 2142
Ben Purton 2092 5/9 TPR 2055
Sarah Hegarty 1966 5/9 TPR 2166 A great result for Sarah who performed 200 elo above her rating.
Sebastian Pozzo 1980 4/9 TPR 1996
C section: 262 players
Richard Almond 2146 6/9 TPR 2080
Dominic Pozzo 1550 3/9 TPR 1670
Lorin D'Costa [28/7/08]

Details of the Commonwealth Chess Championship, Nagpur India 27 September to 6 October 2008 can be found on
www.fide.com/component/content/article/4-tournaments/3002-commonwealth-chess-championship-2008-in-india
Free accommodation and food are offered for representatives in several catgeories, from Under 8 to Senior male and female.
Anybody interested in competing should contact [25/7/08]

The athletes taking part in the World Mind Sports Games in Beiijing in October are: Women's Individual Jovanka Houska; Mixed pairs team Jovanka + Andrew Greet; Men's Team Andrew, Lawrence Cooper, Rafe Martyn, Mark Lyell, Stewart Reuben. Women's team Jovanka, Meri Grigoryan-Lyell, Kanwal Bhatia, Hannah Dale. Each team event is four players plus one optional reserve.
The four events are all first of all blitz and then rapidplay. Athletes? Yes, that is the description. There will presumably be dope testing.
Stewart Reuben [19/7/08]

Irish Championhip Dublin 5-13 July. As last year, several foreigners played hors concours for the actual title. The same happened with the Scottish Championship. Mark Hebden (2520) 6.5/9 3rd. TPR 2471. Stuart Conquest (2536) 4.5/9 TPR 2245.
15th Jean-Claude Loubatiere Festival Montpellir France 5-13 July. Tony Kosten (now registered for France) (2507) 6.5/9 3-10=. TPR 2514. Glenn Flear (still England, but resident in France) (2493) 6/9 11-17= TPR 2472.
Dortmund A Tournament 28 June-6 July. Laurence Webb 7/9 1-4=. An excellent result, the players with whom he ties are all IMs. [15/7/08]

5th South Wales International, Glamorgan University, 5-10 July. 46 played.
1-2= Stewart Haslinger 7.5/9 Rating gain 1.46, with Normund Miezis.
3-4= James Cobb (WLS), David Eggleston 6.5/9 + 1.17. Both gained IM norms.
6-14= Andrew Dunn +0.29, Stephen Gregory (qualifying for the British Championship ) + 0.39, Jack Rudd 0.04, Charles Story -0.25, Michael White -0.68 all scoring 5.5/9.
15-18= Jeremy Menadue 5/9 -0.30
19-24= David Collier -0.31, John Hickman 1.19, Ernest White 0.44 all 4.5/9.
25-33= John Wakefield -1.15 4/9.
34-37 Brian Gosling -0.59, 3.5/9
40-44= Guy Wagner 2.5, but only 0.5/4 against rated and thus did not get a rating performance.
The Welsh are to be congratulated on this valuable International Swiss.
The Rating gain deserves explanation. It is the number of points gained (or lost) on a player's FIDE Rating before multiplying by his k factor. For Stewart and James k=10 as they are both 2400 or over. Thus Stewart gained 14.6 points, quite a substantial leap forward. All the other English players have a k=15, apart from somebody who has played less than 30 games. In that case it is 25. This is complex by comparison with the English System, but one becomes used to it. You can readily see that Stewart clearly outperformed his Rating better than any other English player. His Tournament Performance Rating was 2651, which is the other way I often quote these results.
Stewart's field was 2378. Had it been 2651, then he would have had to have scored only 4.5/9 for the same rating result. Would it be truly comparable? That is very hard to say. It is very difficult for an English player to get into a tournament where he plays such a strong field, Yet that is one of the best ways to improve. That is why we need such events in England and the only one that comes close is currently the Staunton Memorial in August.
Stewart Reuben [11/7/08]

It may amuse some to view the following debate. http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4734. When Nigel Short raises this for the third time, or his crtics respond, I understand he or they will be entitled to claim a draw by repetition.
Stewart Reuben [11/7/08]

The 1 July FIDE Rating List came out on 30 June. Admirable promptness, but should it not have awaited the following day in case of late reports?
England have 36 GMs; this is 7th on that method of ranking behind Russia, Ukraine, USA, Hungary, Germany and Serbia. Of course a large number of our GMs have been inactive for many years. The current leading English players who have had some activity in the past 3 months are:
Michael Adams 2735, Nigel Short 2655, Luke McShane 2596, David Howell 2561, Gawain Jones 2549, Nicholas Pert 2547, Jonathan Parker 2538, Stuart Conquest 2536, Peter Wells 2526, Jon Speelman 2524, Mark Hebden 2520, Daniel King 2518, Stewart Haslinger 2511, Keith Arkell 2506, Daniel Gormally 2504, Simon Williams 2496, Glenn Flear 2493, Matthew Turner 2493, John Emms 2489, Jim Plaskett 2488, Nigel Davies 2478, Lawrence Trent 2470, Richard Pert 2468, Aaron Summerscale 2467, Harriet Hunt 2462...Jovanka Houska 2405, Dagne Ciuksyte 2363, Susan Lalic 2344.

FIDE Rating - 600 divided by 8 equates to ECF Grade. A difference of 36 points signifies expected score 55-45. 72 points 60-40. 110 65-35. 149 70-30. 193 75-25. 240 80-20. 296 85-15. 366 90-10. The biggest difference in the two systems is that FIDE is non-linear. The ECF System based on 50 points difference is linear. It has the advantage of simplicity. It has been said that a linear relationship is statistically more accurate, which Elo could not have known when he devised his system. Thus Sir Richard Clarke had it right all those years ago. Once the corrections to the ECF system have been brought in, our system should be better. Unfortunately the four figure numbers have swept all aside except England. Thus there is an argument that come July 2009 the rest of the world will be out of step with us. But the FIDE System has the advantage of the list coming out every three months. In my opinion, if we did the same there would be a rise in competitive chess activity of about 10% compared with our experience elsewhere.
Stewart Reuben [5/7/08]

Svein Johanssen Memorial International Open 27 June-1 July. Mark Hebden 6.5/9 3-4=.
Brno Festival 27 June - 6 July. Graham Bolt (2118) 1.5/11 in this round robin 1988 TPR.
Kiev Rapidplay Match 3-7 July. Nigel Short 2.5-7.5. When I wished Nigel luck before the event he told me it was originally intended to be a standard play event. This means I'll get crushed, but at least I'm being be well-paid! [11/7/08]

Kaupthing Open, Differdange, Luxembourg 9-17 May Lorin D'Costa (2410) 5.5/9 18th place from 85 players. TPR 2427 gaining 1.9 Rating Points.
This was the first of Lorin's series of events where he is being supported by the Friends of Chess. [10/7/08]

European Amateur Championships 16-27 July Pardubice , Czech Republic. Three rating sections, FIDE under 2200, under 2000 and under 1800, if without a FIDE Rating the last would be restricted to ECF Grade under 150. Contact .

9-15 June Karen Asrian Memorial Rapidplay, Armenia. Michael Adams 6/14 7th in this 8 player very strong rapidplay. Sadly Karen died during the event so that the name was changed from Yerevan Chess Kings to commemorate the fine young player.
1st Saturday Budapest is still in progress this month. Terence Chapman has 5 and Mark Lyell 4.5 each out of 9. there are four rounds to go.

First Saturday, Budapest 7-19 June: IM tournament Mark Lyell (2237) 7/13 6-7= TPR 2319 Terry Chapman (2263) 6/13 9-10= TPR 2259. 14 played.
FMB Diana Mihjalova 1/10 -1.36 6 player double round [25/6/08]

ENCI Limburg (Nethrerlands) Open 9-12 May: 1-4= Gawain Jones (2522) for a 2598 Tournament Rating Performance in this strong, presumably rapidplay event.
It would help if people playing abroad could alert stewartreuben@aol.com to their results. [11/7/08]

Barbados Heroes Day Cup 25 April to 2 May: Category 5,average rating 2354
1 GM Julio Beccera USA 8.5/9
2 GM K.Arkell ENG 7.5/9
3 IM Moran ECU 6/9 [26/6/08]

There is an opportunity for English players to play and promote chess in South Africa and enjoy a holiday which includes a safari, wine tour and other activities! The tour is planned from 6th-21st Dec 2008 (departure from Heathrow with KLM via Amsterdam to Cape Town). Accommodation will be provided by the South African chess friends, however the cost of the flight will be paid by the players themselves. Please contact Meri at for more details [4/6/08]

Cao d'Orso Open Porto Mannu Palau Italy. 17-24 May, 164 played. Stewart Haslinger 6.5/9 2-10=. It is good to see this young GM so active. Alan Byron 5.5/9 22-41=.
King's Tournament Bozna 24 May to 4 June. Nigel Short 7/10 without loss first with a TPR of 2713. There is still one round to go for the other 10 players. No matter, Nigel is two points ahead of the field anyway. This was an event featuring mainly people of mature years who had done well in the World Championship cycle in earlier years.
French Team Championship 29 May to 1 June. Glenn Flear, playing for Montpellier scored 1/4 playing between boards 4 to 7. [3/6/08]

Each year a number of people decide to take a gap year after A Levels at least partly to advance their chess. Currently there is a larger group of like-minded players also doing a congress circuit. they include Stewart Haslinger, Gawain Jones, David Howell, Jovanka Houska, Stephen Gordon, Thomas Rendle, Lawrence Trent, Lorin D'Costa, Mark Lyell, Meri Grigoryan Lyell.
Anybody interested in joining such a group should contact . He made be able to help in recommending events, helping with invitations and there is even the possibility this year of acting as a coach/captain at the Chess Olympiads in Dresden in November. [28/5/08]

26th Festival Lacona Isola d'Elba 10-18 May. Andrew Horton-Kitchlew 5/9 10-15=
President's Cup Baku 11-21 May 179 played. Nigel Short 7/9 2-9=.
Bednidorm Stewart Haslinger 8/10 1-4=
Sardinia Stewart Haslinger 6.5/9 2-10= [28/5/08]

1st World Mind Sports Games which will be held in Beijing, China from October 3rd to 18th 2008 - click here for more details ... [28/5/08]

10-18 May 26th Festival Lacona Isola d'Elba. Andrew Horton-Kitchlew 5/9.
President's Cup Baku 11-21 May 179 players. After 7y rounds Nigel Short 5/7 14-28=. [20/5/08]

World Youth Chess Championships 2012: Ever since the Olympic Games have been announced for London there has been the idea of organising a major chess event in London in 2012 ... [12/5/08]

FIDE Grand Prix 21 April to 5 May Michael Adams (2729) 6.5/13 TPR 2716.
European Championship 20 April to 1 May: Gawain Jones 6/13 gaining 8.3 Rating Points; Peter Wells 5.5/13 breaking level on rating. Women's Jovanka Houska 7/13 +15.5; Dagne Ciskyte 6 -6.5; Daiana Mihajlova 1/13 -54.5.
Stewart Reuben [6/5/08]

Baku FIDE Grand Prix - 6 May Michael Adams 5/9 4-7=
European Championship Plovdiv 331 players Peter Wells 5/8 45-84=, Gawain Jones 4 85-148=. Women's Championship 159 players Jovanka Houska 5.5/8 8-21=, Dagne Ciuksyte 4.5 45-69=, Diana Mihajlova 1/8 157th.
21st Benidorm Open Stewart Haslinger 4.5/6 3-26=
The only event to have finished featuring English players is La Laguna, Tenerife 142 players Stuart Conquest 6.5/9 2-15=, Mark Lyell 5.5 25-41=.
Stewart Reuben [1/5/08]

International Tournament in Hungary: An opportunity has arisen to take part in a junior team international tournament in Hungary. The tournament takes place in the Balatom Lake area and is for 5 children, to minimally include at least one girl. The age restrictions are:
Player 1 Born after 01-01-1989
Player 2 Born after 01-01-1992
Player 3 Born after 01-01-1994
Player 4 Born after 01-01-1997
Player 5 Born after 01-01-1989 (female player)
Competitors arrive afternoon of 22nd May and depart 26th May.
Accommodation is offered on:
a free exchange basis (like a school exchange trip)
or hotel accom basis – 16 euros per night, plus 12 euros for food.
Please contact the ECF office by 3RD MAY if you are interested in competing. [29/4/08]

8-16 April Gausdal, Norway GMB 58 players. John Cox (2380) 5.5/9 8-19= with a Rating Performance of 2448.
The Grand Prix in Azerbaijan started 20 April and continues to 6 May. Michael Adams drew his first game with Black against Radjabov. http://baku2008.fide.com.
The European Championships started 21 April in Plovdiv There are 322 players in the Championship and 159 in the Women's Championship. http://www.eicc2008.com.
Stewart Reuben [21/4/08]

9th European Individual Chess Championships & 9th European Individual Women's Chess Championships: 20 April - 4 May, Plovidiv, Bulgaria. Play commences 12:30 with 40 games live on the internet [21/4/08]

4-11 April Merida, Spain. 2nd Ruy Lopez International Michael Adams (2726) 5.5/7 without loss. 1st with a TPR of 2826. Open 12-13 April he scored 7 points and finished 2-4=.
French League for rounds were players 10-13 April. Glenn Flear won 2 and drew 2 for Montpellier and Stuart Conquest won 2, drew 1 and lost 1 for the same team. Tony Kosten, who has been registered for France for a very long time, played for Marseille Duchamps. He drdew 3 and lost 1.
Stewart Reuben [15/4/08]

Adams to a Passage of Victory [11/4/08]

FIDE has set aside 4000 Euro in 2008 to help organizers develop new, possibly radical, ventures. This might be put towards a new event or experimental tournament activity. For further details, or to make a bid for this money, please contact Chairman of the FIDE Organizer`s Committee, Stewart Reuben by 15 April 2008. A decision about which event(s) will be awarded this seeding money will be made by 30 April. [4/4/08]

News from the FIDE Computer & Internet Chess Committee [4/4/08]

20-24 March Doeberl Cup Australia. Gawain Jones 6.5/9 2-8= 82 played.
25-29 March Sydney Open Gawain Jones 7/9 1-4= gain ing 4.6 Rating points. Murray Chandler 6/9 13-18= losing 7.3 points. These two events were exceptionally strong.
21-24 March Jack Spiegel Memorial Southend. David Howell took tiome off from his A Level studies to win this 8 player round robin where 7 of the 8 players were English GMs. He scored 6/7 for a tournament Performance Rating of 2784.
21-24 March Welsh Closed Michael White (England) 4/9 6-12=
French League 21-24 March, neither Glenn flear nor Tony Kosten got off to a good start, each scored 0.5/3.
21-29 March 24th Budapest Spring Festival Mark Lyell (2221) scored 5.5/9 for a 2204 TPR.
The 1 April FIDE Rating List has Michael Adams at number 14 at 2729. Nigel Short is 57-58= on 2660. Other leading English players who had rating performances in this period are Nicholas Pert 2545; David Howell 2533; Jonathan Parker 2533; Stuart Conquest 2530; Jon Speelman 2523; Gawain Jones 2522; Peter Wells 2521; Daniel King 2518; Glenn Flear, Stephen Gordon, Danny Gormally all 2508; John Emms 2503; Stewart Haslinger 2500; Keith Arkell 2495; Jim Plaskett 2493; Simon Williams 2492; Matthew Turner 2486.
Stewart Reuben [4/4/08]

There are one or two places available for GM / IM norm seekers at the April First Saturday tournaments in Budapest. The tournaments are all-play-alls and take place from 5th to 17th April.
Anyone interested should contact the event organiser, Laszlo Nagy, via the web site www.firstsaturday.hu or at [26/3/08]

Foxwood Open (USA) 19-22 March Keith Arkell 6/9 9-17=
Stockholm Ladies Open 20-25 March, an enormously strong event in which there were 126 players. Harriet Hunt 6.5/9 4-9=. Dagne Ciuksyte 5/9 37-48=.
Stewart Reuben [26/3/08]

40th Belgrade Women's International 3-11 March. Jovanka Houska (2393) scored 5.5/9 to finish 2-4= in this prestigious event with a Tournament Performance Rating of 2412.
I met up with Lyndon Bouah Tuesday 18 March. He is a previous President of CHESSA (the South African Chess Association). We first came into contact 20 years ago when he was 15. He, and 3 other teenagers wrote to me asking for help with their chess. This was because, at the time, I used to write a column for BCM called 'Viewpoint' and South Africa was totally isolated in chess at that time. The other 3 eventually gave up playing, but Lyndon has persisted. We first met face to face in Manila in 1992. By then apartheid had been dismantled and South Africa played in the Chess Olympiads once again. Lyndon was second reserve. Meeting him in the hotel was a little like, 'Dr Livingstone, I presume?'
Since then, in a manner similar to many chess friends, we have met up in Moscow, Armenia, Bled and Cape Town.
Last night he and I had dinner with Brian Smith (Secretary of the London Chess League and Team Manager of Wood Green). We had far-ranging discussions, often about wine or why we didn't particular enjoy the Henry Moore sculptures being displayed at Kew.
The most interesting initiative to come out of the discussions was concerning the idea of a team of players from Britain touring South Africa, possibly next December. The biggest cost we would have is the travel. If you should be interested, please contact me . I will let you know in due course whether this was anything more than just a conversation after an enjoyable meal.
Stewart Reuben [19/3/08]

The FIDE Grand Prix Circuit is a fine series of elitist events taking place over the next two years. Michael Adams was originally first reserve for this event. A number of players have failed to sign up so that he is now in the list.
Stewart Reuben [14/3/08]

The Heroes Day Cup will take place in Barbados 26 April to 1 May 2008. It will consist of two nine round events: the first for title norms will probably be a 10 player round robin. The second a 30 player Swiss. This is an opportunity to play chess and visit a delightful part of the Caribbean. Further details: Allan Herbert
Stewart Reuben [12/3/08]

22 February to 1 March Breiz Masters. Glenn Flear 2-2= 5.5/9 gaining 2.69 rating points.
8-9 March German Bundeliga. Luke McShane as usual played board 1 for hi club Werder Bremen. He lost to Eljanov and drew with Stellwagen. His team won both matches and still lie third in the league.
6 March I gave what is being to be my regular simul against 12 local players in Barbados. I won 10, drew won and lost 1. I also spent a week in St Lucia, but their chess is still only just starting off.
Stewart Reuben [11/3/08]

23 February to 1 March 11th Malaga Open 161 played. Gary Quillan 5.5/9 28-48=
Stewart Reuben [4/3/08]

English players were extremely active in this period.
16-23 February Capelle Le Grand. Oddly there are 9 rounds in 8 days for this traditional event in which there were 612 players.
79-151 5.5/9: Terence Chapman 2219, TPR 2420!; Mark Hebden 2530, 2426; Mark Devereaux 2348, 2385
152-259 5/9: Mark Lyell 2221, 2340; Callum Kilpatrick 2201, 2266; George O'Toole 1985, 2229; Jos Woolley 2098, 2067
260-353 4.5: Samuel Franklin 2001, 2213; Daniel Hunt 1872, 2033; Meri Lyell 2036, 1955
456-519 3.5: Joseph Quinn 1750, 1861; Anton Muller 1875, 1786
520-574 3: Gerald Parfett 1648, 1513
Bunratty 22-24 February 48 played in this 5 round Swiss
3-6 Nick Pert 4.5; 7-10 Gawain Jones, Gavin Wall 4; 11-17 Lawrence Cooper 3.5; 18-29 Simon Williams 3; 30-39 Alexandra Wilson 2.5; 40-44 Malcolm armstrong 2; 45-47 Martin Crichton 1.5.
Stewart Reuben [29/2/08]

10^th European Senior Team Championship [27/2/08]

First Saturday Tournament Budapest 2-12 February. Diana Mihajlova , England played in the double round 6 player event. She scored 2.5/9 for a new Rating in April of 1623. The tournament was a b itg messy due to withdrawals.
Bundesliga 8-10 February. Luke McShane played for his team Weder Bremen against Ivanchuk and Kasimdzhanov. He lost the first game against Ivanchuk, but won the second against Kasimdzhanov.
Bermuda Open 8-10 February. 4-7= Lawrence Cooper 3.5/5.
Stewart Reuben [21/2/08]

England came second behind Sweden in the Four Nations Chess Challenge, which took place over the weekend.
Following defeat to the eventual winners on day 1, England recovered with victories against Latvia and Norway to take clear second place. Congratulations to Kanwal Bhatia, who made the best score on board 8 on her England debut, and also to David Howell, Simon Williams, Stewart Haslinger and Harriet Hunt, who all made plus scores.Full details of the event can be found on the official web site:- http://www.bergensjakk.no/four_nations_2008/ [19/2/08]

Four Nations Chess Challenge - click for larger images. Photographs by Brian Smith.

 

3rd Calcutta Open, GM Swiss playing dates 24 March to 2 April 10 rounds. This is similar to other events run at the Alekhine Chess Club in the past. For further details please click here.
Stewart Reuben

Four Nations Chess Challenge, between Norway, Sweden, England and Latvia, Oslo - Norway, 15 - 17 February 2008 [6/2/08]

The big English event just passed was the Gibtelecom Chess Festival in Gibraltar 22-31 January. English, well yes, in a certain sense. It is run, like the Monarch Assurance Isle of Man Congress under the umbrella of the ECF. Neither area is part of the UK, nor can they be separately affiliated to FIDE. Full details can be found on www.gibraltarchesscongress.com.
Leading English scores in the 205 player Masters were, all on 6.5/10 21-36=, Maxim Devereaux (2348) with a TPR of 2491; Gary Quillan (2362) TPR 2354; Jon Speelman (2491) TPR 2690!
CONGRATULATIONS to Maxim on achieving his final International Master Norm. He previously exceeded 2400 and thus should receive the title in a few months. Jon Speelman made a most welcome return to form.
6/10 37-55= Robert Bellin (2385) TPR 2570; Mark Hebden (2530) TPR 2530; Gawain Jones (2562) TPR 2398; Mark Lyell (2221) TPR 22296.
CONGRATULATIONS to Robert on achieving his first-ever Grandmaster norm after 9 rounds and, like Jon winning a £2000 Rating Prize. Although Robert won the British Championship in 1979, this is his first-ever GM norm.
Challengers 1 (players rated under 2250) 65 players Mark Lyell 4.5/5 winning £750.
Challengers 2 71 players. There were no outstanding English results but Caspar Bates and Adeoye Dasaolu shared the unrated players prize with 3.5 and 3 points in each section. This netted them each £500.
Amateur 1 50 players 4/5 4-5= Robert France, Peter Horlock £100 each.
Amateur 2 39 players Geoffrey Bishop 5/5 £1000, Chris Booth 4.5 £600.
The first Masters in 2003 had just 60 players. The prize money available to players under certain ratings is the highest in the world, this is the only event where a player rated under 2600 can win a rating prize. A player under 2250 could pick up £6000, but he would have to play 20 games in 10 days - as some do.
Some of you have read my saga of getting a young Azerbaijani to Hastings. History repeated itself in Gibraltar, but this time it only took 3 hours. On the third day, a Serbian Milan Kandic attempted to cross the border without a visa. Gibraltar is very small and it helps to be on speaking terms with the officials. Eventually they confiscated his passport and allowed me to escort him into Gibraltar. Of course he wanted to play his third round game, his first in the event, and, of course, I obliged. This time I drew and managed to gain a couple of rating points.
Stewart Reuben [6/2/08]

GM Tournament in Rijeka, 14-21 December 2008 [6/2/08]

Corus, Wijk an Zee in the Netherlands, 12-27 January.
A section Michael Adams (2726) 6.5/13 7-8=. TPR 2743.
B section Nigel Short (2645) 8.5/13 2-3=. TPR 2726. An excellent result for Nigel. You may have read about the controversy concerning his opponent not shaking hands with Nigel. Having seen the video on youtube of the incident, there is no doubt in my mind that Nigel was absolutely in the right. The Appeal Committee ruled that the game must be played, provided the Bulgarian apologised. That, too was a good decision. Nigel reluctantly played the game and won. His comment. "This proves there is a God and he isn't Bulgarian."
New Zealand championship 15-25 January. Auckland. Murray Chandler (2540) 9/11. TPR 2544. You can see Murray had to make that score in order not to lose rating points. He has transferred his allegiance back to New Zealand after being registered for England for many years.
Stewart Reuben [28/1/08]

Press Release - England Accepts the Nordic Challenge!: Ten of England’s top chess players will represent the country against teams from Norway, Sweden and Latvia in a competition to take place in Oslo from 15th to 17th February [22/1/08]

Former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer has died aged 64: Various reports can be found at: BBC News, Independent, Guardian. [21/1/08]

The new FIDE Rating List came out 1 January. There was not much change among the leading English players. Listing those who had some activity in the 3 months up to 30 November:
Michael Adams 2726 15-16=, Nigel Short 2645 70-72=, Luke McShane 2592, Gawain Jones 2562, Stuart Conquest 2539, Jonathan Parker 2535, Mark Hebden 2530, David Howell 2528, Peter Wells 2520, Daniel King 2510, John Emms 2502, Stephen Gordon 2501, Danny Gormally and Stewart Haslinger 2495, Glenn Flear 2493, Jon Speelman 2491, Jim Plaskett 2490, Keith Arkell 2489.
Both Michael and Nigel are playing in the great Corus Chess Festival in the Netherlands. This overlaps with the GibTelecom Festival in Gibraltar 22-31 January. it is the 6th edition of this event and the numbers for the Masters are currently 199, by comparison with the first year in 2003 of 60. The event comes under the umbrella of the ECF as Gibraltar is not a separate federation in FIDE. Anyway, the prize money is in pound sterling and the total is £80,000. The event is possibly the richest in the world at which some players receive hospitality and where the play is just one round per day. Look at www.gibraltarchesscongress.com, if only to admire the work of John Saunders as webmaster. Most players are listed with a photo and also a short biography.
Stewart Reuben [17/1/08]

Jeff Horner has finally been awarded his International Master title. FIDE do well when ratifying titles when the circumstances are simple. The red tape they introduced concerning Jeff was tangled by the fact that the saga of his gaining the title stretched over three decades. Anyway, CONGRATULATIONS, Jeff!
You might have expected all internationally-minded English players to have been active in Hastings. Far from it.
26-30 December 28th Bethune (France) Open. Tom Wiley (2332) 5.5./9 for a TPR of 2274. There were 106 players.
2-6 January 19th Villa de Roquetas (Apian) 93 players. James Simpson, Colin Walton 5.5/9. 93 players.
Stewart Reuben [11/1/08]

Scandinavian Ladies Open, 20-25 March 2008: The tournament is ELO registered and IM categorized with 9 rounds monrad, full program with details can be found at SCT homepage. General conditions: (W)GM,(W)IM players enjoy free entry fee, (W)FM reduced fee 250 SEK and untitled players 500 SEK. Special conditions: GM+WGM – free stay with breakfast and 3000 SEK in travel allowance. IM+WIM – free stay with breakfast and 2000 SEK in travel allowance. Accommodation will be booked at Täby Park Hotel, single, double and triple rooms, depending of the amount of players and availability of rooms. (Email: ) [08/1/08]

1st World Mind Sports Games which will be held in Beijing, China from October 3rd to 18th 2008 - click here for more details ... [08/1/08]

European Individual Chess Championships 2008: The official website of the 9th EICC is now online - www.eicc2008.com. Please click here to view the invitation document. [03/1/08]