English Chess Forum

International Round-up 31/12/11

Hastings International Chess Congress 28 Dec 2011 - 5 Jan 2012
http://www.hastingschess.com/2012/SMWSite/index.html
http://www.hastingschess.com/?page_id=11

David Howell is joint leader on 3/3 whilst Simon Williams and Sam Franklin (who beat Glenn Flear with black in round 3) are amongst those on 2.5.

North American Open 26-29 December 2011
http://chesstournamentservices.com/cca/ ... n-section/
http://adamhuntchess.blogspot.com/

Adam Hunt scored 5/7 losing only to GMs Francisco Vallejo Pons (2705) & Varuzhan Akobian (2612) and winning his other five games including a win against IM Jake Kleiman rated 2382. Simon Ansell withdrew on 2/4.

London Christmas Congress & Junior Chess Championship 17-18 & 28-30 Dec 2011
http://www.ljcc.co.uk/2011.htm

Fourteen-year-old Joseph McPhillips and Michael White shared first with Nasir Rizvi of Wales on 5/6 in the FIDE Open whilst William Foo, Saravanan Sathyanandha and Jasper Tambini scored 4.5 to share fourth with Mateusz Dydak of Canada. Radha Jain and Maria Wang both scored 3 to share the girls under 18 and 21 titles whilst Maria’s younger sister Anna scored 2.5. Three players qualified for the British Championship: Michael White, Nasir Rizvi and Jasper Tambini (London under 21 champion).

Peter Batchelor and Henry Broadley shared the Under 16 with 5/6 ahead of Jasdeep Gahir and Marcus Harvey who scored 4.5. Katherine Shepherd scored 3 and Louise Head 2.5.

Patrick Smith won the Under 14 Major with 5.5/6 whilst William Claridge-Hansen & Matthew Wadsworth were the leading under 13s and shared second equal on 4.5 with Robert Fitzgerald and Adam C Taylor. Anna Wang scored 4 and Katherine Shepherd 3.5.

Sam Herring won the Under 14 Minor with 5/6 whilst Zoe Varney & Elizabeth Ivanov were the leading girls on 4/6.

Matthew Wadsworth won the Under 12 Major with 8.5/9 ahead of Arul Gupta who scored 8 whilst Eva Ressel scored 6.

Jamie Ward won the Under 12 Minor with 7.5/9 ahead of Stephen Darby and Anbukumar Hajane who scored 7 and Lauren Weaver scored 6.5.

Gautam Jain won the Under 10 Major with 6.5/7 whilst Adam Averbukh was the leading under nine and finished second with 6/7. Stephanie Du Toit was the leading girl scoring 4.

Chloe D'Souza-Eva, Emily Green, Karthik Saravanan & Harrison Willmoth shared first in the Under 10 Minor with 6/7.

Leo Sanitt won the Under 8 with 6.5/7 ahead of Joshua Altman and Kiran Shiatis who scored 6. Raphael Balouka-Myers, Robert Dybowski and Haolin Zha were the leading under sevens on 5 whilst Arushi Ramaiya & Eva Wang were the highest placed girls on 4.

My thanks to Marc Shaw and Laurie Winston for e-mailing me the results.

FIDE 142 du club 608 France 17-23 December 2011
http://club608echecs.com/index.php/tour ... /fide-142/

Deborah Pass scored 5/9 including a win against an FM rated 2356, 420 points higher than her own rating!

Schaakfestival Groningen 2011 Group A & C December 21-30 2011
http://www.schaakstadgroningen.nl/festi ... index.html
http://www.schaakstadgroningen.nl/festi ... index.html

Mark Lyell finished on 3.5/9 in Group A whilst Gerald Parfett scored 4/9 in Group C.

Zurich Christmas Open 26-30 December 2011
http://www.kradolfer-informatik.ch/schach/wop/

Chris Ross finished on 4/7.

8th Singapore Open 26-31 December 2011
http://www.singaporechess.org.sg/new/?p=12524
http://chess-results.com/tnr60414.aspx? ... ES&flag=30

Nigel Dennis scored 2.5/9.

Future events:

Northern California International Jan 2-8 2012
http://dotq.org/chess/
http://adamhuntchess.blogspot.com/

Adam Hunt, Richard Lobo and Sabrina Chevannes are all due to play.

CCF New Year LP Congress (inc. FIDE Open) 7-8 Jan 2012
http://www.ccfworld.com/Chess/Adult%20C ... 20Year.htm

74th Tata Steel Chess Tournament: 13 - 29 January 2012
http://www.tatasteelchess.com/tournamen ... 12/group/3

Matthew Sadler will play in Group C. Sadly Luke McShane was unable to take his place in Group A because of work commitments.

Golden State Open California 13-16 Jan 2012
http://www.goldenstateopen.net/
http://www.chesstour.com/gso12.htm
http://adamhuntchess.blogspot.com/

Adam Hunt will play.

4NCL Hinckley Island & Wychwood Park 14-15 Jan 2012
http://www.4ncl.co.uk/index.htm

2012 Queenstown Chess Classic, Queenstown, New Zealand 15th-23rd January 2012
http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/queenstownchess/
http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/queens ... tries.html

Gawain Jones, Ingrid Lauterbach and Malcolm Armstrong are all playing.

Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 24 Jan - 2 Feb 2012
http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com
http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/w ... asters.htm

Michael Adams, Nigel Short and David Howell are playing along with Adam Hunt, Craig Hanley and Jovanka Houska.

In addition to the individual websites the latest international chess news can be found at
the following link: http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic894.html

I encourage players to send me details of events they or others are playing in abroad and I will do my best to include them in my round-up. There is a list of international tournaments at home and abroad listed here: http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=3795

Lawrence Cooper,
Director of International Chess 31/12/11

I don't think there are any UK participants, but the Donostia Chess Festival in San Sebastian sounds intriguing. A knockout where players have two simultaneous games (one white, one black) at classical limits followed by further rapid and blitz bouts and an armageddon decider. The website has some good English reports and feedback from participants on the format (as does Chessbase) which is attributed to David Bronstein.

A double-header blitz or armageddon combined with video coverage of the quality being produced in some recent Russian tournaments could make this format a very attractive internet TV product. Tough on the participants perhaps, but great fun for the audience. At club level, it could make a fun event for a summer schedule.