Asian-Jr Chess: Srinath Retains Title

International Master Narayanan Srinath has won the Asian Junior Chess title for the second time. The event was held in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. Srinath had won last year in Tashkent in June 2012 along with a GM norm. He is also a former World Under-12 champion having won it at Belfort in France in 2005. Sahaj Grover was second and top seed GM Salem Saleh of UAE was third. Vo Thi Kim Phung of Vietnam won the girls' section. India's WFM J Saranya was second. Defending champion Ivana Furtado of Goa ended the tournament in sixth place.

In the Asian Junior blitz chess, Anurag Mhamal and Sahaj Grover tied for first. Mhamal was declared champion on better tie-break score. Vo Thi Kim Phung (Vie) won the Asian Junior girls blitz championship also.

Final placings:
Boys: 1 N Srinath (Ind) 8/9; 2 Sahaj Grover (Ind) 7; 3-6. Salem A.R. Saleh (UAE), Anurag Mhamal (Ind), Mehdi Hosseinpour (Iri), Tran Tuan Minh (Vie) 6 each; 7 Debashis Das (Ind) 5.5…34 players.
Girls: 1 Vo Thi Kim Phung (Vie) 7/9; 2-4. J Saranya (Ind), Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (Vie), Diana Assaubayeva (Kaz) 6.5 each; 5-6. Sarvinoz Kurbonboeva (Uzb), Ivana Furtado (Ind) 6 each; 7-10. Rucha Pujari, Riya Savant (both Ind), Dorsa Derakhshani (Iri), Farida Khursanova (Uzb) 5.5 each….36 players.

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RIP: Chess Legend Robert Byrne

RIP: American chess legend Robert Byrne. We have this sad news. World Chess Championship Candidate-1974 and US Chess Champion-1972 Robert Byrne is no more. His wife Ursula (Maria) Byrne announced late Friday that Robert Byrne passed away after a long illness, eight days short of his 85th birthday. The memorial service will be on Saturday, April 20, at 1 PM at Dorsey Funeral Home, 15 M Wilton Place, Ossining, NY 10562. Attendees are welcome. RSVP to ursula1732@aol.com. ( Also welcome are verbal messages that can be read out.)

Byrne's dear friend Anthony Saidy says, "Robert Byrne was a pillar of American chess. I would add that uniquely, in mid-career, Robert Byrne switched from the Queen Pawn to the King Pawn, tantamount to a Ford driver taking on a race car, or an internist learning brain surgery. It took him close to the summit of world chess. R.I.P. a great American player and a friend whose example taught me much."

Byrne represented the United States nine times in Chess Olympiads from 1952 to 1976 and won seven medals. He was the chess columnist from 1972 to 2006 for the New York Times, which ran his final column (a recounting of his 1952 victory over David Bronstein) on November 12, 2006. Byrne worked as a university professor for many years, before becoming a chess professional in the early 1970s. Read the complete Wikipedia entry on this great American chess player here. (Report via US #1 www.chessblog.com)

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Bangkok Chess Open Begins April 14

The 13th Bangkok Chess Club Open Tournament will be played from April 14th to 21st in Pattaya, Thailand. The tournament is organized by the Bangkok Chess Club and the playing venue is 5-star Dusit Thani Pattaya Resort. (Left: Koneru Humpy leads India challenge). Top rated Grandmasters are Nigel Short ENG 2690 (last year winner), Levente Vajda ROM 2632, Jan Gustafsson GER 2621 (winner in 2011), Humpy Koneru IND 2597, Sune Berg Hansen DEN 2566, Jozsef Horvath HUN 2538, Zong-Yuan Zhao AUS 2537, Adam Horvath HUN 2509, M.R. Venkatesh IND 2501 and Attila Czebe HUN 2488. There are two groups of play: Open category for all players, and Challenger category for players rated below 2100 or unrated (ratings based on FIDE or Thai ELO ratings – other national ratings will be validated by the organizer). When registering, players must indicate in which group they wish to play. Both groups will be played using the Swiss System, with 9 rounds for Open, and 7 rounds for Challenger. For the pairings, a Swiss Manager program will be used.

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Renova Group Grand Prix from April 17

FIDE and Renova Group of Companies have announced the third leg of the Chess Grand Prix series to be held from April 17th-May 1st, 2013 in Zug, Switzerland. The organisation of the event, at such a late stage, has been realizable thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Renova Group of Companies, states a press release. Arrangements have been made in Swissever Hotel in Zug. The schedule has been maintained as originally announced: 

17th April 2013 Arrivals & Opening Ceremony

18th April 2013 Round 1
19th April 2013 Round 2
20th April 2013 Round 3
21st April 2013 Round 4
22nd April 2013 Free Day
23rd April 2013 Round 5
24th April 2013 Round 6
25th April 2013 Round 7
26th April 2013 Round 8
27th April 2013 Free Day
28th April 2013 Round 9
29th April 2013 Round 10
30th April 2013 Round 11 & Closing Ceremony
1st May 2013 Departure

FIDE is currently also working on a replacement organiser for the fourth leg and more information will be available shortly. The dates of the fourth leg will also remain the same as scheduled in the calendar.

Players in Zug

Radjabov, Teimour AZE 2793
Karjakin, Sergey RUS 2786
Caruana, Fabiano ITA 2772
Topalov, Veselin BUL 2771
Nakamura, Hikaru USA 2767
Mamedyarov, Shakriyar AZE 2766
Morozevich, Alexander RUS 2758
Leko, Peter HUN 2744
Kamsky, Gata USA 2741
Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR 2733
Giri, Anish NLD 2727
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam UZB 2709

GM Gata Kamsky has replaced GM Gashimov for the rest of the series.

Venue

The SwissEver Hotel Zug is a brand new business & leisure hotel offering 84 double rooms and 46 long-stay apartments of various sizes, along with a typical Swiss restaurant Swiss Chalet with authentic Swiss specialties. A bar & lounge where you can enjoy different cold and hot drinks is a further feature of the SwissEver Hotel. The hotel provides a traditional yet modern Swiss atmosphere, where guests enjoy a tranquil and pleasant stay. Modern conference rooms for successful meetings and its very central location in Switzerland make it ideal for leisure and business travelers alike. The rooms and suites come with a flat-screen satellite TV featuring pay TV channels, coffee and tea making facilities, a minibar, and a bathroom with a shower and/or bathtub and a hairdryer. Some units have a sofa and the studios and apartments feature a kitchen or a kitchenette. Laundry and ironing services are available as well, and there is also a gym on site. Private underground parking is available. The Lindencham Bus Stop is 50 metres away, and Cham Train Station is 2 km away.

Sponsor

Renova Group of companies is Russia's leading private business group that consists of asset management companies and direct and portfolio investment funds owning and managing assets in metals mining, machine building, mining, construction development, energy, telecommunications, nanotechnologies, utilities and financial sector in Russia and abroad.

Renova Group is a stakeholder and strategic investor in the leading Russian and international companies, including such world class companies as UC Rusal, Integrated Energy Systems, Oerlikon and Sulzer. Renova Group integrated direct investment funds and management companies operating in the energy sector (IES, Avelar Energy), real estate development (KORTROS), portfolio investments (Columbus Nova), telecommunications (Akado Group), chemical industry (Renova Orgsintez) and precious metals (Zoloto Kamchatki).

Renova Group invests in Russia, Switzerland, Italy, South Africa, Ukraine, Latvia, Kirghizia, USA and other countries. The strategy of Renova Group is targeted at the acquisition of assets in industries with a significant growth and consolidation potential.
The Group invests in large projects that extend an opportunity to control and engage in active management to create value and uses partnerships and alliances as an efficient tool to maximize the effect of joint investments. Renova Group is a participant in the UN Global Compact Initiative, a World Economic Forum (WEF) Industry Partner. In 2007 Renova Group became a signatory of the Partnering Against Corruption Initiative of the WEF (PACI).

Social investments charity
The corporate charity fund Renova was founded in 2007 for the purpose of implementing the policy of corporate charity and social investments of the Renova Group in the priority areas of the national development agenda in science, education, culture and arts, development of civil society and local self-governance institutions, environmental protection and sustainable development.
CEO – Olga V. Bashkirova

High Performance Sports
Elite sports as well as physical culture form an important part of the general culture of the mankind. Aspiring to sport achievements and overcoming one’s weaknesses people refine their ethical and moral values. Entertainment sport events are the most powerful factor for people’s solidarity and nurturing the aspiration to healthy and sporty lifestyle in the young generation.

The charity projects in the sphere of elite sports and popularization of healthy lifestyle supported by the Renova Charity Foundation include:
• Support of the Olympic national team of Russia in the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2008;
• Assistance in the organization of the 5th Military and Sports Forum, NPO Military and Sports Fund;
• Support of the project dedicated to the preparation of sportsmen of the Russian ski jumping and biathlon national team;
• Support of the project dedicated to the preparation of sportsmen of the Russian ice-skating national team;
• Support of the Krylya Sovetov team of the Russian Amateur Hockey League.

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Neutral Venue Please, Carlsen to NRK

by Zainab Raza Undulusi

"In principle, I think it (World Chess Championship 2013) should be held on neutral ground. It has been the tradition in the past, and that is what seems most fair to me," says World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. He was speaking to Norwegian website NRK. The Indian media has announced that the match will be held in Chennai this November. However, no formal confirmation has come in from the World Chess Federation (Fide). There is usually an open bidding for the match. 

Magnus Carlsen's manager Espen Agdestein, said, "It is strange that this time they should skip the bidding process. There is great interest in this game and now they have the opportunity to really get very exciting organizer cities. I find a deal under the table strange and silly."

He also told NRK, "This is not a neutral ground, and in addition it will be abnormal for Magnus to play in India, including different climate and food." 

Carlsen is still unsure of how much the choice of location will influence the outcome of the match. "I can not say anything until I have seen the playing conditions," he said.

Joran Aulin-Jansson, chess president of the Norwegian Chess Federation is also not thrilled by the news. He said the association stood by Carlsen's decision to play at a neutral venue. But, he said, if Fide approves Chennai, there is not much that can be done.

India is getting the opportunity to hold the match because they lost out on the bid last year (Ref: Anand vs Gelfand World Championship in Moscow, 2012)

Next week a representative from Fide will visit Chennai to assess the venue and speak with the Indian government and the Indian Chess Federation. Fide member Nigel Freeman says, there is no problem if the match is held in one of the finalists' home countries. "There have been games that have been held at non-neutral sites before... when Anand played against Veselin Topalov in Bulgaria." (Photo: Norwegian chess president, Joran Aulin-Jansson, believes such a big event like the World Cup match in chess should be put out to tender.Photo: Junge, Heiko / NTB Scanpix)

Meanwhile, we are yet to hear from Agon which is contracted to hold the complete World Chess Championship cycle.

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WCCh: Carlsen yet to Confirm Chennai

by Zainab Raza Undulusi in New Delhi

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen is yet to confirm what the Indian media and chess association have already announced! World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand will get to defend his world title in his home city of Chennai this year from November 6-26. The Tamil Nadu government has agreed to sponsor the event.

The world chess body (FIDE) will finalise the venue after Carlsen agrees to it. If Carlsen wants to avoid playing Anand in Chennai, he will have to find a sponsor and a place who would out-bid the one put up by Chennai. Anand will be playing in India for the first time in more than a decade. He instantly welcomed the decision. All the Indian chess fans are jubilant about the decision. The announcement was made in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly on Monday morning. Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa declared that her government would sponsor the match which is estimated to cost around Rs 29 crore.

“I welcome the Chief Minister’s initiative and interest in promoting chess in the country. It’s a high for Indian chess. I’m looking forward to playing at home. The dynamics of the match will surely be different for me playing at home. It will be a new experience but I’m ready for the challenge. Pressure will be there anyways. This, after all, is a World Championship match," Anand told the media.

India lost the World Chess Championship bid last year to Moscow for Anand's match versus Israel's Boris Gelfand. The AICF had time up to April 10 to submit its bid failing which FIDE would have opened up the bidding process. DV Sundar, a vice-president with FIDE, earlier secretary of the AICF, said the proposal had been submitted in time.

Anand, a five-time world champion, last played in India in 2000 when the World Championship was organised in Delhi and Tehran in a knockout format. Anand went on to win the title beating Alexei Shirov in the final in Iran. The Indian super Grandmaster has been the world champion since 2007.

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