BARCELONA’S CHESS TOURNAMENT

This event was held in the Casino of Barcelona (Spain) from October 18-16, 2007.

Our American Grandmaster finished with a full point ahead of the rest of the field of players.  The format of this tournament was a 9 rounds (round robin).

FINAL STANDINGS:

• #1 GM Hikaru Nakamura- 7/9
• #2 GM Leiner Perez Dominguez- 6/9
• #3-4 GM Vugar Gashimov and GM Alexander Beliavsky- 5.5/9
• #5-6 GM Rafael Vaganian and Michal Krasenkow- 4.5/9
• #7 GM Josep Pallise Oms-4/9
• #8 GM Miguel Cordoba Illescas- 3.5/9
• #9 GM Marc Dublan Narciso- 3/9
• #10 IM Jordi Fluvia, 1.5/9

Congratulations to GM Hikaru Nakamura for this impressive win and for being an excellent embassador of American Chess!

THE ONLINE COLLEGE CHESS LEAGUE

Information provided by – Gregory Alexander (USCF College Committee Associate Chair)

The goal of the Online College Chess League is to allow all of the colleges to play together in order to strengthen the bonds of the entire college chess community.

The League has significant interest, and our tournaments are attracting new colleges year after year.

In the last several years, the synthesis between the major college chess programs, and the small chess programs has created mutual benefit. Year after year, we are making consistent improvements, and the word is getting out and we are having improved attendance and communication between all of the schools.

It is also our goal to draw the colleges into participating in a National Collegiate Chess Community so that the College Chess Committee can reach a majority of the clubs.

Allowing all of the clubs to compete against each other in a national scene helps to build better competition and fosters competitive camaraderie.

Most of the ‘average’ clubs do not have the funding to go to the Pan-Am games, and unless we gain a critical mass of colleges coming to our site, most of the colleges would not know about the Pan-Ams in the first place.

It takes club years to build a successful program, and it will take a consistent leadership to eventually gain university funding. With the credibility gained by the colleges participating in online collegiate games, the club has a much better chance to go to the administrators and prove that they deserve some extra funding to attend the Pan-Ams as they can prove that they can compete. It is our goal to allow the clubs to send the CCL results to their student papers, and eventually gain enough credibility and generate exposure so they can make a better case to gain critical funding.

2007 INDIVIDUAL ONLINE COLLEGE CHESS LEAGUE TOURNAMENT (DUNCAN OXLEY MEMORIAL)

October 14th -  November 11th 2007 Schedule :

Games are played online on Sunday afternoons at 3 pm EST ( = 2 pm CST = 1 MST pm = 12 PST).

• Round 1 — October 14
• Round 2 — October 21
• Round 3 — October 28
• Round 4 — November 4
• Round 5 — November 11

Where: All the games are played online at the Internet Chess Club “ICC” www.ChessClub.com.

Note: The ICC is offering free accounts for the event, and will also graciously offer a 33% discount on ICC accounts for all student participants after the tournament!

This tournament is open to all student chess players in the Americas and we will announce several category winners.

Awards:

While there are no cash awards or trophies, the following categories will be recognized and advertised:

• Top 10 overall
• Top Individual U2000
• Top Individual U1800
• Top Individual U1600
• Top Individual U1400
• Top Individual Unrated
• Best Individual from a Community College
• Top 10 Overall- Females

A quick note from our Tournament Directors: Jon Haskel, Sara Walsh and Gregory Alexander.

• 1. Players will be allowed to take up two 1/2 point byes. Byes for round 5 must be reported prior to the start of the round 4 games.
• 2. If a player has ever had a USCF rating and it is not properly listed for that player, it must be reported to the CCL administrators ASAP so the correction can be made. Remember that once rated always rated, so if you have a USCF rating and your last rating was from 10 years ago, you must use that rating. Do not list an ICC rating for yourself. If you do not have a USCF rating, but have some other established rating, you may request that the other rating be used rather than being listed as unrated. If it is determined that you are a class winner at the end of the tournament and it is reported to us that an incorrect rating was used, you may lose that title. Any corrections reported by others must be reported within 10 days of the conclusion of the tournament.
• 3. Players not showing up within 30 minutes of the start of a round will be forfeited. The players will also be removed from the remainder of the tournament unless they subsequently contact the administrators and the administrators allow them back in. For the 1st round only, players may be repaired if their opponent is a no-show.

If you would like to follow this event on-line, you can log on for free at ICC and root for your players, and watch the games.

For more information check www.collegechessleague.com.

BLINDFOLD CHESS WORLD CUP

Chinese grandmaster (GM) Bu Xianghzi wins Blindfold World Cup.

GM Bu Xiangzhi, 22, was for some time the youngest chess player in world to obtain the Grand Master Chess title when he was just 13 years old.

He led the event from start to finish, losing only one game in the last round against GM Judith Polgar.

His FIDE rating performance was a remarkable 3000 ELO !

THE FINAL STANDING WAS:

In this event players earn three points for every game they win, one point for every draw and zero points for every loss.

In this 10-round Blindfold Chess World Cup all six players played two games per day and each player has 25 minutes plus 10 second incremental time per move.

Throughout the five days of the Blind Chess World Cup, a fully equipped stage was set up in the Sheraton Hotel to allow the public to follow the matches on giant screens,while they watched and listened to the analysis, commentary and interviews offered by the Chess Grandmasters Boris Spassky, Ubilava, Lubojevic, Txelu and Fernandez.

The key game for Bu Xianghzi was against Norway’s GM Magnus Carlsen for the leadership at the Blindfold Chess World Cup.

This was a very interesting event, that included many special features besides the fact that the games were played blindfolded.

One more rule that distinguished this Championship for other events, is that players were not allowed to agree to draws, but the Tournament Director can decide if a game is drawn by applying one of the following rules:

• The position repeats itself three times, perpetual check, and any other theoretically drawn positions.

These types of events are experimental, aiming to make chess more attractive to the media.

Although, in Spain , chess is very popular, and a chess market exists that allows professional players to make a living from chess.

In the USA, we are facing a different reality and many prominent players are more actively engaged in teaching rather than playing because scholastic and youth chess offer better opportunities for them than participating in tournaments in the USA.

As always, your opinions/comments are welcome!