June 28-July 4, 2011, Philadelphia, PA

About the 39th Annual World Open 2011

The 39th Annual World Open will take place at the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel, 17th & Race Streets, Philadelphia, PA.

The projected prize fund of the tournament is $300,000 (based on 1300 entries) with $225,000 minimum guaranteed!

For more information from the World Open 2011 visit: http://worldopen.com/

Going on Now! View and Comment on the Games

World Open 2011 Side & Other Events

As part of the World Open festival, various other events take place from June 24-July 4, 2011.

Please select from one of the following options for more information:

World Open Senior Amateur (June 24-26, 2011)
World Open Girls Championship (June 25-26, 2011)
World Open Under 13 Championship (June 25-26, 2011)
World Open Daily 2pm Blitz Events (June 25-July 4, 2011)
World Open G/7 Warmup (June 25, 2011) | Final Standings
World Open G/7 Championship (July 1, 2011)
World Open G/10 Championship (July 3, 2011)
World Open Blitz Championship (July 4, 2011)

Written by WIM Beatriz Marinello

The U.S. Chess Trust Co-Sponsors FIDE International Youth Event

Very rarely in the United States do we host World Chess Federation (FIDE) events.

With the recording breaking attendance of the 2011 North American Youth Chess Championship, it is evident that young chess players across our nation are hungry for international competition.

Previously hosted in Boca Raton, Florida (2004), it was a great pleasure and honor to organize this event once again.

The tournament had staff that spoke English, Portuguese, Spanish and French, the main languages of the Americas.

The Winners in Each Category are:

1st Place Winners

U8 Open

• Taran Idnani (USA) 1340 Rating, Tot 6.0

U8 Girls

• Alara Balasaygun (USA) 1549 Rating, Tot 6.5

U10 Open

• Aravind Kumar (USA) 1927 Rating, Tot 6.0

U10 Girls

• Emily Q Nguyen (USA) 1617 Rating, Tot 5.5

U12 Open

• Michael Lim (USA) 1924

U12 Girls

• Kimberly Ding (USA) 1960 Rating, Tot 6.5

U14 Open

• Arthur Shen (USA) 2146 Rating, Tot 6.5

U14 Girls

• Jasmine Chen (USA) 1909 Rating, Tot 5.5

U16 Open

• John Hughes (USA) 2048 Rating, Tot 5.5

U18 Open

• Andrew Ng (USA) 2138 Rating, Tot 5.5

2nd Place Winners

U8 Open

• Ethan S Joo (USA) 1458 Rating, Tot 6.0

U8 Girls

• Naomi Bashkansky (USA) 1183 Rating, Tot 6.0

U10 Open

• Leyton Ho (USA) 1717 Rating, Tot 5.5

U10 Girls

• Akshita (USA) 1617 Rating, Tot 5.5

U12 Open

• Hong Rui Zhu (CAN) 1806 Rating, Tot 5.5

U12 Girls

• Catherine Ye (USA) 1431 Rating, Tot 6.0

U14 Open

• Christopher Gu (USA) 2227 Rating, Tot 5.5

U14 Girls

• Joie Wang (USA) 1732 Rating, Tot 5.0

U16 Open

• Nikita Gusev (CAN) 2066 Rating, Tot 5.5

U18 Open

• Michael Vilenchuk (USA) 2186 Rating, Tot 5.5

3rd Place Winners

U8 Open

• Thomas Elberling (USA), 1620 Rating, Tot 6.0

U8 Girls

• Estella Wong (USA) 1042 Rating, Tot 5.0

U10 Open

• Daniel Zotkin (CAN) 1604 Rating, Tot 5.0

U10 Girls

• Sophia Zhang (USA) 1321 Rating, Tot 4.5

U12 Open

• Kadhir Pillai (USA) 2015 Rating, Tot 5.0

U12 Girls

• Florizelle Songco (USA) 1590 Rating, Tot 5.0

U14 Open

• Kapil Chandran (USA) 2048 Rating, Tot 5.0

U14 Girls

• Rina Weinman (USA) Unr., Tot 5.0

U16 Open

• Ziyi Qin (CAN) 2159 Rating, Tot 5.0

U18 Open

• Jesse B Wang (CAN) 2007 Rating, Tot 5.0

4th Place Winners

U8 Open

• Maanav Ganthapodi (USA) 1436 Rating, Tot 5.0

U8 Girls

• Abigail Lee Zhou (USA) 881 Rating, Tot 5.0

U10 Open

• Thomas Knoff (USA) 1819 Rating, Tot 5.0

U10 Girls

• Devina Devagharan (USA) 1764 Rating, Tot 4.5

U12 Open

• Jason Shi (USA) 1918 Rating, Tot 5.0

U12 Girls

• Shannan Chen (USA) 1285 Rating, Tot 5.0

U14 Open

• Michael H Bodek (USA) 2180 Rating, Tot 5.0

U14 Girls

• Kristen S Sarna (USA) 1632 Rating, Tot 4.5

U16 Open

• Alexander R Katz (USA) 2158 Rating, Tot 5.0

U18 Open

• Alena Kats (USA) 2092 Rating, Tot 5.0

5th Place Winners

U8 Open

• Maxim Yaskolko (USA) 1480 Rating, Tot 5.0

U8 Girls

• Chenyi Zhao (USA) 1207 Rating, Tot 4.5

U10 Open

• Trung Nguyen (USA) 1630 Rating, Tot 5.0

U10 Girls

• Ramitha Ravishankar (USA) 1342 Rating, Tot 4.0

U12 Open

• Vignesh Panchanatham (USA) 1885 Rating, Tot 5.0

U12 Girls

• Jane Zhang (USA) 1572 Rating, Tot 4.5

U14 Open

• Andrew Liu (USA) 2029 Rating, Tot 5.0

U14 Girls

• Rachael Eng (USA) 1634 Rating, Tot 4.5

U16 Open

• Dipro Chakraborty (USA) 2150 Rating, Tot 4.5

U18 Open

• Alex M Fikiet (USA) 2233 Rating, Tot 4.5

Congratulations to all of the players!

FIDE Candidate Master Title

The top player in each section will receive the FIDE Candidate Master Title, which will be officially approved at the FIDE Congress in October 2011. FIDE does award this title to up to 3 players in the section in the event of a tie.

The Players who will receive the FIDE Candidate Master Title: Taran Idnani (USA); Alara Balasaygun (USA), Aravind Kumar (USA), Emily Q Nguyen (USA), Michael Lim (USA), Kimberly Ding (USA), Arthur Shen (USA), Jasmine Chen (USA), John Hughes (USA), Andrew Ng (USA), Ethan S Joo (USA), Thomas Elberling (USA), Akshita Gorti (USA), Hong Rui Zhu (USA), Nikita Gusev (CAN), Michael Vilenchuk (USA

2012 Pan American Youth Championship

The TOP player in each section qualifies for the 2012 Pan American Youth Championship, these players are: Taran Idnani (USA), Alara Balasaygun (USA), Aravind Kumar (USA), Emily Q Nguyen (USA), Michael Lim (USA), Kimberly Ding (USA), Arthur Shen (USA), Jasmine Chen (USA), John Hughes (USA), Andrew Ng (USA)

Record Breaking Attendance

With 272 players participating in the event, this was a record-breaking number for any North American Youth Championship!

The impressive list of participants which included official and extra players from each participating country, are among the top rated in their nations. This was definitely a challenging FIDE event for all of the players. For this event, FIDE rules applied, which exposed many of these young, talented players to the international rules of tournament play.

Get Serious About Your Game – this phrase adequately conveys how these young players feel about chess and the strength of this competition.

To get an idea of how strong this year’s tournament was, no player scored a perfect 7 points. Many of the players repeatedly confirmed that this was a very challenging and tough tournament. These young minds kicked off their summer with an international competition that really challenged their abilities. We enjoyed making this happen for these young talented players.

Thank you to all of the players for participating in this event!

Sponsored by Chess Educators and the U.S. Chess Trust

It is with great gratitude that we acknowledge the contribution of the U.S. Chess Trust, an independent 501(c)(3), non-profit organization created in 1967 to promote, stimulate and encourage the study and play of the game of chess as a means of intellectual development.

A Note to the Trust

I have cultivated many friendships in the 30 + years I have spent promoting chess across the United States and other countries, but, my friends and colleagues at the U.S. Chess Trust hold a special place in my heart. These are truly and honestly, a great group of people who are dignified in their quest to bring chess to the young people of the United States. I am very lucky to have them in my life, and the USA is lucky to have them. It is an honor to work with them.

Last, but not least, I would like to thank the Staff of the 2011 North American Youth Championship for all of their efforts and contribution. I look forward to organizing another great event!

Yours for chess,

WIM Beatriz Marinello

Official Tournament Website:  www.chesseducators.com/northamericanyouth

The 2nd Annual Rentschler Foundation High School Chess Championship to be held at the Holiday Inn in Cherry Hill, NJ on June 25 – 26 offers more than $21,000 in prizes. Repeat, $21,000!

This is a FREE (no entry fee) tournament in which students from any state who finished the school year in grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 are eligible to compete for college scholarships: 1st $2,500, 2nd $1,500, 3rd $1,200 and 4th $1,000. In addition to the place prizes, scholarships for $3,000, $2,000, $1,500 and $1,000 will be awarded to the top four players that reside in Southern New Jersey. As an added incentive to compete, a $100 participation prize will be awarded to each of the first 75 players who register for the event, complete all their games, and do not win one of the above prizes.

This event, with one of the largest prize funds in scholastic tournament chess, is being organized by All the King’s Men Chess & Games Center of Pitman, NJ.

All the King’s Men owner, Stephen Arnold Dick said, “Last year top players from the East Coast took home over $12,000 in prizes. This year our goal was to increase the prize pool and spread the wealth, hence, the $100 participation award. By doing so we feel that the spirit of what Mr. Rentschler started years ago is being better served”.

Interested players are urged to register now since seating is limited to the first 100 entrants. For details, or to register for this event, please visit www.ATKMchessSets.com/freechess.

GM Ray Robson will fill in for the legendary GM Viktor Korchnoi in a match against GM Ben Finegold next week.

SAINT LOUIS, May 12 — GM Viktor Korchnoi, who was originally scheduled to take on GM Ben Finegold in a 10-game match, has been forced to withdraw due to health concerns. Organizers said the ailment was not serious in nature, but that it impaired Korchnoi’s ability to travel internationally. GM Ray Robson will fill Korchnoi’s legendary shoes.

The CCSCSL will also host a 10-game match (six classical, four rapid) between Saint Louis Grandmaster (GM) Hikaru Nakamura, ranked No. 7 in the world, and GM Ruslan Ponomariov, ranked No. 11 in the world, May 16-25. Nakamura moved up to No. 7 on the live list after GM Veselin Topalov’s rating tumbled following his Candidates Match loss to GM Gata Kamsky.

The players will take part in a live, virtual press conference at 10 a.m. CDT on May 16. Journalists and fans from all over the world can log onto livestream.com/uschess to submit questions to the players and watch their answers streamed live online.

Robson, 16, became the youngest grandmaster in U.S. history in 2009 when he was just 14. He had a solid performance at this year’s U.S. Championship finishing third in his round-robin field of eight, just a half point shy of qualifying for the finals.

“My opponent just got 65 years younger!” joked Finegold.

Round one of the 10-game matches will take place at 1 p.m. CDT on May 17. Commentary for the live games will be provided by IM John Donaldson and WGM Jennifer Shahade. Spectators can watch the action live at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, located in the heart of the Central West End, or see all the action online at saintlouischessclub.org/live.

The schedule of events is as follows:

• May 16: Press Conference and Drawing of Colors at 10:00am
• May 17-22: Classical Rounds Daily at 1:00pm
• May 23: Rest Day
• May 24-25: Rapid Rounds Daily at 1:00pm and 5:00pm
• May 25: Awards Ceremony at 7:00pm

Visit saintlouischessclub.org for more details.

Photo Courtesy of CCSCSL

Eight Strong GMs Compete to Qualify as Challenger for the 2012 World Champion match. U.S. Chess Champion, Gata Kamsky is one of them!

From May 3-27, 2011 the FIDE Candidates matches are being held in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, with eight strong GMs competing to qualify as Challenger for the 2012 World Champion match.

Time controls in the four regular games are 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61. In case of a tie there will be four rapid chess games, and if the tie is still not broken then up to five two-game blitz matches 5′+3″. Finally there may be a sudden-death final decider.

The prize fund of the candidates is 500,000 Euros.

Players

1. Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria, runner up of the previous World Championship)
2. Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, qualified by rating)
3. Levon Aronian (Armenia, winner of the FIDE Grand-Prix 2008-2009)
4. Boris Gelfand (Israel, winner of the FIDE World Cup 2009)
5. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan, wild card)
6. Alexander Grischuk (Russia, qualification from the FIDE Grand-Prix)
7. Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan, qualification from the FIDE Grand-Prix)
8. Gata Kamsky (USA, runner up of the Challengers Match 2009).

Only One Win – To Kamsky

Friday, 06 May 2011 – FIDE.com

American citizen Gata Kamsky, born in Tatarstan, runner up of the world championship match with Karpov in Elista, is the first participant, who won the game in FIDE Candidates Matches in Kazan. Playing Black with the ex world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in Round 2, he punished opponent’s bad day and won after two hours, only when white position totally collapsed. Topalov prepared some novelty in the opening, but very quick lost kompas and the game. At the press conference, he was very short and clear, characterising his game: “I played very badly”.

Topalov,Veselin (2775) – Kamsky,Gata (2732)

Candidates Matches Round 1.2 (Kazan RUS) 06.05.2011

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Qb3 Nb6 6.d4 Bg7 7.Bf4 Be6 8.Qa3 Nc6 9.0-0-0 Nd5 10.Bg3 Bh6+ 11.e3 a5 12.h4 Ncb4 13.h5 c6 14.hxg6 hxg6 15.Rd2 f6 16.Ne4 b6 17.Be2 Qc8 18.Rh4 Kf7 19.Rd1 g5 20.Rh2 g4 21.Nfd2 c5 22.dxc5 f5 23.Rxh6 Rxh6 24.Ng5+ Kf8 25.Nxe6+ Qxe6 26.Bc4 Rc8 27.Bf4 Rf6 28.e4 Rxc5 29.exd5 Qxd5 30.b3 Qd4 31.Be3 Qc3+ 0-1.

CLICK HERE TO REPLAY THIS GAME OR OTHER GAMES FROM THIS ROUND >>

Aronjan, who yesterday lost his chance to start the event with win at least several times, was with Black pieces and satisfied with the draw. In a not very much dramatic game, in completely equal position, Grischuk proposed to share the point, immediately excepted by Armenian GM.

In the first game Gelfand was in quite big troubles, and playing White was completely different. Mamedyarov should defend himself very carefully. In the most critical moment, Azeri GM was close to jump into a well-prepared trap. He already started to believe, how he would get a piece, but in realty he would loose a pawn. When he escaped out of this dangerous situation, he found the way to draw.After a quick draw in Round 1 Kramnik and Radjabov finished last. In typically Catalan structure ex world champion had small initiative, though it was absolutely not enough to do something concrete.

Round 2. Results: Topalov : Kamsky 0:1 (31), Topalov : Kamsky 0,5:1,5, Grischuck : Aronian draw (22), Grischuck : Aronian 1:1, Gelfand : Mamedyarov draw (40). Gelfand: Mamedyarov 1:1, Kramnik : Radjabov draw (61). Kramnik : Radjabov 1:1.

Round 3 of the Candidates Matches will be played tomorrow, on 7 May, 2011. The games are scheduled to start at 03.00p.m. local time.

About the City of Kazan