"M-Tel Masters" 2006 Gathers World Chess Elite in Sofia

"M-Tel Masters" 2006 gathered in Sofia the chess elite for a second successive year. Three world chess champions entered the competition.Bulgarian fans of the ancient game will be able to see the present World Champion Vesselin Topalov and the two former champions of the planet Viswanathan Anand and Ruslan Ponomariov. The other three participants will be Gata Kamsky, Etienne Bacrot and Peter Svidler. The tournament kicks off May 10 to May 21, 2006, and is under the aegis of Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov. The rules of the tournament are for two rounds with 7-hour control. Each participant will play two games against the rest in exchanged colours. In case of a draw at the top a tie-break will be played to decide the winner. Like last year the new rule about the draws that was introduced in Sofia will be valid. According to it the players cannot agree a draw. ...

http://www.novinite.com

World's Chess Head Arrives for Bulgarian Challenge

The President of the world chess federation (FIDE) will be a guest to Bulgaria's top tournament next month.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov arrives for the Mtel Masters, which starts on May 10, media revealed Tuesday.Bulgaria's President Georgi Parvanov, who is the patron of the match series, will officially open the contest, participated by the country's world champion - Vesselin Topalov.
The young grandmaster will have strong rivals including Vishwanathan Anand, Peter Svidler, and Etienne Bacrot, but is considered to have a fair chance of defending his world title.
Mtel Masters will continue until May 21.

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Iraqi men play chess in a Baghdad cafe February 1, 2006. Since the February 22 bombing of an important shrine in Samarra that unleashed a wave of sectarian killings, Iraqi authorities have extended a curfew from 11:00 pm to 6:00 am. (Ceerwan Aziz/Reuters)

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Cuban Dominguez Chess Champion

Santa Clara, Cuba, Apr 14 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Grand Master Lenier Dominguez recovered the national chess title defeating counterpart Lazaro Bruzon.
Dominguez displaced Bruzon Friday with a tie in two matches planned for 25 minutes that ended with a tie after 27 moves of a Ruy Lopez started by Dominguez.
The tie came with 26 moves in a Dame's Gambit by Bruzon with the whites so the match for the title ended with a three-point tie followed by several other short matches.

http://www.plenglish.com

World Chess King Topalov Faces Rival Kramnik in Sept

The much-awaited match between FIDE World champion Bulgarian Vaselin Topalov and former champion Vladimir Kramnik will take place in September.
FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Elista, the capital of Kalmykia will host the 12-game match which is considered a unification match. The prize money guaranteed for the match is USD 1 M.
According to the latest Fide ratings, the 36-year-old Topalov is the highest rated player at 2804 with Kramnik, also 36, is at rated ninth with at 2729.
Topalov became the world champion by winning the FIDE title last October in Argentina where Kramnik did not participate.

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BULGARIA’S TOPALOV FACES EUROPEAN CHESS CHAMPION

World chess champion Vesselin Topalov will face the European title holder, Romanian Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu, in a demonstration game in Bucharest.
According to the rules to be used in the tournament, the game can end in a draw only with a decision of the arbitrator. The aim of such tournaments is for the game to be attractive for the audience.
The tournament in Romania is considered one of the most important chess events in Bulgarias neighbouring country, Focus sport agency reported. Topalov and Nisipeanu will face each other to commemorate the two countries upcoming EU accession.
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http://www.sofiaecho.com

Chess King Topalov Tops FIDE Ranking

World Champion Vesselin Topalov of Bulgaria leads Top Players in the April FIDE Rating List effective from April 1 to June 30.
Under the FIDE regulations, Garry Kasparov, who has been inactive in the last 12 months, has dropped from the Top Player List.
Vesselin Topalov, who holds the magical 2801 ELO mark, occupies FIDE leadership with 2804 points, one more than runner-up Viswanathan Anand of India.
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Anand in 2800 club

New Delhi: Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand joined the ELO 2800 club in the latest FIDE ratings.
Anand, who was knocking on the 2800 door for quite sometime, finally saw it happen at the Corus super Grandmasters tournament, which he won for a record fifth time in January.
The Indian ace began the event with 2792 points and gained 11 points to breach the landmark, but missed the top rank by just one point.
The top spot was vacant after the removal of world's top rated and now-retired Garry Kasparov's name from the active players' list.
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http://www.hindu.com

World chess queen meets the press

China's Xu Yuhua smiles during a press conference in Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2006. Xu Yuhua arrived in Beijing on Wednesday after winning the title of 2006 World Women Championships of Chess in Russia.
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http://english.people.com.cn

Champion is out to move girls into chess

BY MIKE THOMAS Staff Reporter

The game of chess is more than just a game, they say. It's life, and life-improving. It's critical thinking, socialization, focus, sportsmanship, discipline and grace under pressure.
It's also mostly male -- which is why millionaire chess superstar Garry Kasparov, the Michael Jordan of his realm, was in town last week to promote chess for girls. If they're hooked young, goes the reasoning, at least some of them will be hooked for good.
"I think there will be more and more women playing competitively," the retired world champion (who stopped playing competitively in 2005) says at the third annual All-Girls Open National Championships, a chess event co-sponsored by his two-year-old Kasparov Chess Foundation. "But there's still a gap. And this gap will not disappear overnight."
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http://www.suntimes.com

Nigeria To Host World Chess In August

Nigeria is to host the 9th edition of the World University International Chess Championship slated for August 27- September 3 at the Eko Hotel, Lagos.
Leaders of the Federation of International University Sports who visited Lagos during the week gave the assurance after a fact finding mission to the country.
Leader of the group, Professor Walter Decleir, said he was impressed that for the first time, an African country had accepted to host the championship at a very short notice.
He hoped more African countries would emulate Nigeria adding that the country was conducive to host it in spite of the wrong notion they gave them about the country in the international community.
"We were made to believe that the political situation was not conducive to host the championship, but this was not so," he explained.
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http://www.independentng.com

Chess booms on Web, but who's the king?

By Brad Spurgeon International Herald Tribune

PARIS When the world No. 1, Garry Kasparov, announced last spring that he was retiring from professional chess at age 41, it marked a turning point from which the game has yet to recover.
The chess world is grappling with a paradox. Never has chess been so popular a pastime, and yet its supreme champions are almost unknown. There is sharp disagreement about who, exactly, is world champion, and the World Chess Federation, known by its French acronym, FIDE, cannot decide how best to run the sport or raise money for it.
Anatoly Karpov, a former world champion and Kasparov's long-time nemesis, was blunt last month, telling the Russian chess magazine 64: "Everybody connected with chess understands that if we allow chess to continue for another four years in its present terrible state, it will simply disappear from the face of the earth."years in its present terrible state, it will simply disappear from the face of the earth."
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http://www.iht.com

Chess City moves from Dubai

The proposed International Chess City project has been taken from Dubai to another emirate, as yet unnamed, because of the crush of other projects going on in Dubai, developers told 7Days. Originally to cost $2.6bn and consisting of 32 towers each representing a chess piece, the project will now be bigger in size and budget, said Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, principle of Sulaiman Al Fahim Group.

http://www.ameinfo.com

Negi begins with win on his birthday eve at Aeroflot chess

Double Grandmaster norm holder Parimarjan Negi gave himself the best birthday present by scoring a fluent win over former Women's World Champion Zhu Chen of China in the first round of Group 'A2' in the Aeroflot International Open Chess tournament at Hotel Delta-Gamma.
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http://www.outlookindia.com

Chess musical recreates Cold War

On the heels of the Brickenden nominated Into the Woods, the Faculty of Education is bringing Tim Rice's musical, CHESS, to the stage from February 21 to 25.
Rice's lyrics and the music of Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (of ABBA fame) create an unforgettable match that is played on the board and in life.
CHESS takes place at the World Chess Championship during the Cold War, and centres around an American chess master, Freddie, and a Russian chess master, Anatoly. Tensions rise when Freddie's coach and lover, Florence, falls in love with Anatoly, who eventually defects to America.
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http://communications.uwo.ca

Russia's chess legend Boris Spassky blows out candles on a cake during celebrations of his 69th birthday in the Carlsbad Plaza Hotel, Karlovy Vary, the Czech Republic, on Monday, Jan. 30, 2006. (AP Photo/CTK, Ivan Babej)

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Corus chess: Anand takes sole lead

Wijk Aan Zee (The Netherlands), Jan 20: Viswanathan Anand assumed sole lead by outplaying Peter Leko in the fifth round and settled an account dating back to the previous edition of Corus Super Grandmasters chess tournament here.
The revenge also earned Anand four points and placed him in a good position to win a record fifth title at Corus, his favourite hunting ground. Last year, Leko beat Anand to gain a decisive advantage in the race for the title.
Meanwhile, his arch rival, Veselin Topalov was unable to overcome the tenacious defence of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in an interesting fight and split the point.
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http://www.chennaionline.com

Computer chess game unbeatable in 10 years

BRIAN CHURCH IN SOFIA

CHESS computers will be almost unbeatable in ten years' time and may bring about radical new rules for the ancient game, the world champion, Veselin Topalov, predicts.
"At the present moment I don't fear humans. Computers I think are very strong," the Bulgarian grandmaster said in an interview.
"Probably they will be better than 99.9 per cent of human beings" in a decade from now, he said.
Mr Topalov, 30, also raised the possibility that today's version of chess could give way to "Fischer Random Chess" - invented by the eccentric former champion Bobby Fischer - which sets back-row pieces randomly to narrow the importance of rehearsed openings.
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http://news.scotsman.com