46th Biel International Chess Festival 2013 from June 20-August 2

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

The 46th Biel International Chess Festival will be held from 20th June to 2nd August in Biel, Switzerland. The main Grandmaster Tournament will be dedicated to the memory of Olivier Breisacher. Six players will play in a category 19 double round robin event:

Etienne Bacrot, FRA, Elo 2725

Ian Nepomniachtchi, RUS, Elo 2717

Alexander Moiseenko, UKR, Elo 2711

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, FRA Elo 2706

Ding Liren, CHN, Elo 2702

Richard Rapport, HUN, Elo 2674 (Juniors U18 #1)

Player biographies are available on the official website. GM Wang Hao of China is the defending champion.
Master Tournament
July 22nd – August 2nd 2013; 2-8 p.m. (August 2nd: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.). Rest day on July 28th. 11 round Swiss system.
Prizes: CHF 7’000, 5’000, 4’000, 3’000, 2’500, 2’000, 1’500, 1’200, 2×1’000, 3×700, 3×500, 4×300, 5×200, best ladies: CHF 600, 400, 300, best senior (1953-), best junior (1995+), best child (1997+), best player without title: each CHF 500, best players with Elo < 2200 Total prize fund: CHF 43'000.
Admission: Players with FIDE-rating (list May, June or July 2013) or national rating (e.g. Swiss ELO list 2/2013 or 3/2013) ELO 2000 and more.

Main Tournament
July 24th – August 2nd 2013; 2-8 p.m. (August 2nd: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.). Rest day on July 28th. 9 round Swiss system.
Prizes: CHF 1’200, 1’000, 800, 600, 500, 2×400, 3×300, 5×200, 5×100, best ladies, best seniors (1953-), best juniors (1995+): each CHF 200, 100, best children (1997+): CHF 150, 50, best players with Elo <1800 nbsp="">
Total prize fund: CHF 10'600.
Admission: players with FIDE rating ELO 2050 and below (list May, June or July 2013) or players with national rating ELO 2050 and below (e.g. Swiss ELO list 2/2012 or 3/2012), independent of their FIDE rating.

Swiss Rapid Chess Championship
July 21st 2013, 9.30 a.m. 9 round Swiss system.
Cadence: 7′ + 7” per move and per player.
Prizes: CHF 1’200, 800, 600, 500, 400, 300, 200, 150, 2×100, natural prizes for players with 5½ points and more, best lady, best senior (1953-), best junior (1995+): each CHF 200, best child (1997+), best player without title: each CHF 100, best Swiss (with Swiss-passport): CHF 400, 300, 200, 2×100, best players with Elo <2000 nbsp="">
Total prize fund: CHF 7'650 + natural prizes.

Swiss Blitz Chess Championship
July 28th 2013, 2 p.m. 13 round Swiss system.
Cadence: 3′ + 2” per move and per player.
Prizes: CHF 1’000, 750, 600, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, 2×50, best lady, best senior (1953-), best junior (1995+): each CHF 100, best child (1997+): CHF 50, best Swiss (with Swiss passport): CHF 300, 200, 150, 100, 50.
Total prize fund: CHF 5’500 + natural prizes.

Swiss Chess960 Championship
Mode of playing: Chess960, onJuly 20th 2013, 1.00 p.m. 7 round Swiss system.
Time control: 15′ + 5″ per move and per player.
Prizes: CHF 500, 400, 300, 200, 100, natural prizes for all players.
Total prize fund: CHF 1’500 + natural prizes.
Youth Tournament
The Foundation Vinetum offers free entry fee, free lunch and prizes for all participants at the Youth tournament. Sunday, July 28th 2013, 10 a.m. 7 round Swiss System, 15 minutes per player.
Three categories:
U18 (born 1995-1999)
U13 (born 2000-2002)
U10 (born 2003 or later)

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European Chess Championship 2013: Alexander Moiseenko First on Tiebreaks

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone,

The European Individual Chess Championship 2013 was held in Legnica, Poland from May 4 (day of arrival) until May 17 (day of departure) 2013. It took place at the Qubus Hotel 4*. No less than 286 players registered to participate, even though some left early as they had no chance to get one of the coveted 23 spots for the upcoming World Cup in Norway. 143 GMs and 63 IMs were among these players.

Ukrainian GM Alexander Moiseenko stood out from the very strong field from the “early middlegame” of the event. Already after 6 rounds, he was the sole leader with 5.5 points. It seemed unlikely that he would be able to keep this level throughout the event, but he almost did. He arrived as the sole leader to the last round, where he lost to Ian Nepomniachtchi. This allowed other nine players to join the leader on 8/11, however, Moiseenko took first place on tiebreaks, according to a Chessdom report.

Alexander Moiseenko and David Navara

Francisco Vallejo Pons and Aleksey Dreev both finished among the 23rd first qualified, but already had tickets for the World Cup, so the list of players that got a spot in the prestigious event goes down to the 25th place, thus including Russian GM Vadim Zvjaginsev and French GM Andrei Istratescu.

It is worth noting that none of the three highest rated players finished among the 23: Dmitry Jakovenko, Evgeny Tomashevsky and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

The special prize given to the player that achieved the biggest difference between his Rating Performance and his Elo rating was won by Polish Jakub Szostko, who performed 364 points above his rating.

Read more »

Ukraine Chess Championship Begins with Ruslan Ponomariov as Top Seed

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

 

Ruslan Ponomariov

The 81st edition of the Ukrainian National Chess Championship has begun today and would run till August 7 at the President Hotel in Kiev. Twelve players are competing in the event with Ruslan Ponomariov being top seed. He is also the defending champion. Vassily Ivanchuk is not taking part in the event. With the average elo of 2666 this is the strongest Championship ever in the history of independent Ukraine.

Players:
Ruslan Ponomariov 2726
Alexander Moiseenko 2706
Andrei Volokitin 2704
Zahar Efimenko 2694
Pavel Eljanov 2693
Alexander Areshchenko 2691
Anton Korobov 2683
Evgeny Miroshnichenko 2632
Sergey Fedorchuk 2630
Yuriy Kuzubov 2629
Alexander Zubov 2621
Yuri Vovk 2584

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com