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Monday, October 14, 2013
ACP President Emil Sutovsky Proposes Special Fund for Veteran Chess Players
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
The ACP president Emil Sutovsky published an open letter in which he addresses FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov with a proposal to establish a special three-year program. Here is the letter:
"Dear Mr. President,
Let me address you on behalf of the ACP Board at a time when the cooperation between FIDE and the ACP is bearing important fruits in the World Championship cycle stability, Anti-Cheating effort and other important fields.
I'd like to address you on a topic which is at the very heart of the long life of a chess player.
Many living chess players, in the course of their career, have had a substantial impact on the chess and cultural life of their countries, and continue to be a powerful source of inspiration for the younger generations worldwide long time after they passed their prime.
True chess legends, who maintained the chess glory and tradition throughout the years, often without a significant financial reward. We all grew up on their games, read the books written by these noble veterans, and - more in general - the chess world owes a lot to these masters who preserved and enriched our unique chess culture.
The rewarding status of chess legend, however, often clashes with the resulting economic position, especially once age takes its toll and the time for retirement comes. Unfortunately, in most cases, the later years are very difficult years for these noble veterans, who often become forgotten by the contemporary world and usually have little or no access to pension funds or other sustenance. In these circumstances even a small help can sometimes make a big change.
Gibraltar Chess Festival 2013: Final Tiebreak + Closing Ceremony Video
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The recently-concluded Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2013 was won by Russian Grandmaster Nikita Vitiugov. Here is the final video of the 2013 Festival (via the official website) with the play-off between Chanda Sandipan (India), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Nigel Short (England) and the eventual winner Nikita Vitiugov (Russia) who is also interviewed. Also included: images of the closing ceremony, hosted by Stuart Conquest and Emil Sutovsky and Elisabeth Pähtz at the piano.
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
GM Vassily Ivanchuk
GM Vassily Ivanchuk has won the ACP Golden Classic that introduced - rather brought back - the rule of adjournments in chess! Ivanchuk scored a near-perfect 5.0/6. The tournament was not rated so Ivanchuk would not have the excellent result reflect in his Fide rating. The second spot went to Gata Kamsky who finished half a point behind the champion.
ACP president Emil Sutovsky was third with 3.5. Anna Muzychuk had a fine result as well with a win over Krishnan Sasikiran. She was fourth. Fifth was Le Quang Liem, followed by Sasikiran and Baadur Jobava.
Here is also a nice video interview with GM Anna Muzychuk.
Association of Chess Professional Plans Return of Adjournments with Anna Muzychuk and 6 GMs
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) is going to try and interesting new idea at a chess tournament in Amsterdam next month. The games will be adjourned after move 40 and resumed the next day! The time control will also be like in the old days: 2.5 hours for the first 40 moves.
The chess tournament named "Golden Classic" will be held July 14-22 July in Amsterdam on the sidelines of the Dutch National Chess Championship and the SPA Chess Open.
The tournament will be a single round robin with seven players: Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR, 2764), Gata Kamsky (USA, 2741), Baadur Jobava (GEO, 2721), Krishnan Sasikiran (IND, 2720), Le Quang Liem (VIE, 2703), Emil Sutovsky (ISR, 2687) and Anna Muzychuk (SLO, 2598).
Tournament director will be Jeroen van den Berg who also runs the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee and the Univé Tournament in Hoogeveen each year. The tournament won't be rated. The players will be fighting for an overall prize-fund of US $35,000. The sponsor is private and doesn't want to be mentioned.
Do you know how adjournments work in chess?It's almost two decades since the adjournment rule went out of style and the rulebook. All games at top tournaments were adjourned after the after the time control (after either move 40 or 60). The player whose turn it was to move wrote the move on a piece of paper and the arbiter sealed it in an envelope. The players could then spend the day or a rest day as well analysing the position with their team. The game resumed with the arbiter opening the envelope and playing the move when the chess tournament resumed.
Rapid, Blitz World Chess Regulations Approved: GM Sutovsky
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The latest chess news update about the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship to be held in Kazakhstan is that the regulations are in place and the prize fund is now $400,000.
This was announced by Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) president GM Emil Sutovsky during an interview with Chess-News. GM Sutovsky also spoke about several important decisions made during the FIDE Presidential Board meeting in Elista. "At last, the regulations were approved about the Rapid and Blitz World Championships to be held in Kazakhstan between 24 June and 1 July. I think it's great that it was possible to attract a serious prize fund of $400,000. As a person who is involved in writing the regulations for these championships (there were discussions about how many people should be invited according to their rating and how many selected), I always have the view that in these kind of tournaments there should be as many places as possible available for a selection, since it's not quite right to invite everyone according to their rating and provide 1-2 places for the selection. That's because, first of all, the official rating is for classical chess, while it's not quite clear why there must be invitations for the rapid and blitz tournaments according to the rating. At the end, a compromise decision was reached: there will be selection to the rapid and blitz tournaments. There will be six places selected for the rapid and five for the blitz. That's because one place in blitz is reserved for the previous World Championship winner, while there hasn't been a championship like that in the rapid before. Therefore, there will be sixteen participants [in each type of tournament] who will include five in the blitz and six in the rapid selected."
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
On Thursday January 19th, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov met with the newly elected ACP President GM Emil Sutovsky. The meeting took place after preliminary talks between GM E. Sutovsky, FIDE Deputy President Mr. G. Makropoulos and FIDE Vice President Mr. I. Gelfer (all members of the FIDE Commission for the Olympiads and World Championships), in which several issues concerning the relationships between FIDE and the ACP were discussed.
Both parties are striving for a constant dialogue and cooperation regarding all issues, which concern the professional chess.
In this regard, the following points were agreed upon:
1. The ACP will be actively involved in the decision-making process within FIDE – The ACP President or his representative will be invited to all FIDE Presidential Board meetings. Additionally, the ACP will be represented in the following commissions of FIDE: World Championships and Olympiads, Modernization, Qualification, Ethics and Rules.
2. The ACP, having a comprehensive information about all major events in the chess world, will build a Calendar for all official events. This Calendar shall be approved by FIDE.
3. The ACP will participate in the process of choosing arbiters for the Olympiads.The shortlist of International Arbiters – members of the ACP will be submitted, and FIDE will appoint 10 arbiters from this list.
4. The ACP gets the right to organize 2012 ACP World Rapid Cup, 2012 Women’s World Rapid Championship and 2012 World Internet Championships/Cup. In case the ACP intends to organize such events in the future, they will have to get an approval from FIDE for using the “World” title.
5. One of the FIDE President nominees for the 2013 World Cup will be the highest ranked player of the ACP Tour 2012, who is not qualified by other way (Elo, Continentals, etc…)
6. For the next World Championship cycle (2013-2014), the winner of the ACP Tour, in the year, preceding the Candidates’ Competition will be included as one of the eight participants of the Candidates’ Competition.
In addition, the question of introducing new Grandmaster title was discussed, and the ACP will conduct a survey in this regard.
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12th Women's World Chess Champion
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The ACP president Emil Sutovsky published an open letter in which he addresses FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov with a proposal to establish a special three-year program. Here is the letter: 
