Kosteniuk Telethon Geneva Chess Goodwill Simul December 8

If you happen to be in Geneva, Switzerland on December 8 at 2 PM, come and meet me or even play with me in a 30-player simul at the yearly Geneva Telethon, which collects money to support research to cure people from genetic diseases. You can read the announcement on the 12th Women's World Chess Champion personal blog at www.chessqueen.com. 

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Join Free Online Blitz Nov 23

Read the details about the tournament and sign up here.

* The tournament will start on November 23

* This is a blitz chess tournament in honour of the Anand - Carlsen World Chess Championship Match. 

* It's FREE to join

RCA-Open 2013

3,500 USD in prizes 30 prizes & 18 “lucky winners” FREE entry

The basis for success in chess is to keep the right balance between learning, practice and fun. During the World Chess Championship Match, which started on November 9, you have the opportunity to learn much. 

But you need not just be a viewer!

RCA Chess Open2013This will be a 13-round Swiss tournament, played with 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment per move. It is open to anyone – no serial number for playchess is required (free entry).

All you have to do is download the client on to your machine, create an account and play in the event. For details, see http://www.playchess.com. Here you will find instructions on how to download the software and create an account.

The event is a human-only tournament. It is forbidden to use a computer, especially an engine, as help for finding your moves. All games will be controlled and strictly monitored for engine use.

In order to improve your competitive mood, we are offering some attractive prizes, worth approximately 3,500 USD.

Winner: ChessBase12 Mega-PackagePlace 2: USD 300 Voucher for products of RCA
Place 3: USD 250 Voucher for products of RCA
Place 4: ChessBase 12 Starter-Package
Place 5: USD 200 Voucher forproducts of RCA
Place 6: USD 150 Voucher for products ofRCA
Places 7 & 8: ChessBase Mega-Database 2014
Places 9 &10: USD 100 Voucher for products of RCA
Places 11 & 12: DeepFritz 14
Places 13 & 14: USD 75 Voucher for products ofRCA
Places 15 to 20: 6-month premium membership toplaychess.com
Places 21 to 30: 6-month standard membership toplaychess.com

Luckywins for places 35, 45, 55, 65, 75, 85, 95, 105, 115, 125, 135, 145,155, 165, 175, 185, 195 and 205: 3-month classic membership.

You can observe the above-mentioned ChessBase products (prizes) here: LINK

RCA = Remote Chess Academy, and you can check its products here: LINK

Voucher is equivalent to the money that you can spend on a purchase of RCA products

The sign-up link again: sign up here.

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India, France have Highest Number of Rated Chess Players in the World

India has just moved up to join France as the No. One ranked chess nation in terms of FIDE rated players. India rose to 35,200, and this number will be moving back and forth in the next few days until November when India is expected to be No. One.

Strangely, 35,200 is the same as France, the leader for over ten years. But India is growing steeply and France moderately. This had to happen. This week, one can expect India to surge ahead of the French number and never look back! Asia set to rule world chess.

About four decades back, India had just Manuel Aaron on the rating list. People still remember him since his name was the first entry in the rating list for many decades. For many years he was the only Indian and later among the few Indians.

Since, Anand won the World Junior in 1987 and then went on to became World Champion in Tehran 2000, the numbers tended to grow sharply. More players took to the game in the summer of 2001 and the progress kept growing.

Anand might be the primary cause for all this but the organisers, particularly, the All India Chess Federation did plenty of ground work. Rated events were organised all over the country and particularly more in the state of Tamil Nadu, Anand's home state.

In Europe, when Veselin Topalov emerged, Bulgaria's mobile networks supported elite events. In India it was even more basic. NIIT together with many state Governments supported school chess. On its part, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu went several steps ahead and cleared the way for chess in schools programme. Children in the age group 7-17 play chess in Tamil Nadu. Many states have chess in schools programme, but Tamil Nadu is one step ahead. They also practically implement it.

Two years back, India had overtaken the Germans and the Russians in the rating list. Earlier this year, the Indians went past Spain. Now, when experts were expecting India to get the better of France around March 2014, this sudden surge in the chess activity related to the world championship has helped India go past or equal France in October.

India's growth style is pyramid. The base is broad. A recent study related article in The Economist said more Indians play chess than any other nation. This number comes as no surprise. But that it came a few months ago needs to be analysed, since we might be observing a 2013 wave on the back of this Anand v Carlsen match, which could be several times bigger than the 2001 Anand wave after he won the world title in 2000.

The AICF and its administrators have laid a perfect platform for chess to grow in the land which invented the game. Our style will soon be copied by leading lights and European nations. Anand is in his final phase of preparation and not available to react to this good news. "It is all team effort," said V. Hariharan, Honorary Secretary of the All India Chess Federation while reacting to this news. "This is great news," said Bharat Singh, CEO of the AICF. D.V. Sundar, Vice President of FIDE was delighted about the timing of this achievement as India is making the final touches to the organising of the Anand v Carlsen match from Nov 7-28. (AICF Press Release – 28.10.2013)

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