Tuesday 31 January 2012
Today the 17 year-old Chinese Women’s World Champion
Hou Yifan played against the highest rated woman
player of all time, Judit Polgar, from Hungary. They
had never played against each other before, indeed
not even taken part in the same section of a
tournament. [continued
here]
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Hou Yifan (CHN) meets Judit Polgar (HUN)
in an historic clash |
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Monday 30 January 2012
Today there were several games
which were really exciting. They aren’t necessarily
going to win the Best Game Prize as usually there
were many errors on both sides. Personally I like
chess which is full of action in which nobody knows
what is going on until months or years later.
[report
continues here]
30.01.12 - Monday's
masterclass was presented by Zoltan Almasi and Alberto David. If you missed it, watch
it all here.
28.01.12 - There were two
fascinating Masterclasses with Michael Adams and Emil Sutovsky
at 21.00hrs in the commentary room. If you haven't yet seen
them, watch both here Runtimes: 28
mins & 30 mins |
Wednesday 25 January 2012
The life-blood of publicity
for chess tournaments is the games of the players. The better the games, the
more they will be circulated. Since there were so many clashes at the top,
there were a very large number of entertaining games considering it is only
the second round. Some of the games will be anthologised and played over for
many years to come in many different countries.
However the game between
Artur Jussupov GER 2569 and Peter Svidler RUS 2749 was not one of them. The
game was a very fair draw after 30 moves, but there should be a Chessbase
symbol for such games. Virtually all the other games were in complete
contrast and provide a very enjoyable experience when played through.
[report continues here]
Tuesday 24 January 2012
Monday evening there was the usual very pleasant ceremony to start the
congress fully. The Minister for Sports, Leisure, Culture
and Heritage
Steven Linares was introduced by Stuart Conquest and then made a short
speech. Miss Gibraltar, Michelle Pedersen, then did the Drawing of Lots for
the first round in the Masters. This is a somewhat more elaborate affair
than in most other countries. There then followed a buffet laid on by the Caleta Hotel with their customary hospitality. The highlight of the
subsequent evening in the bar was Maria Jose Rescaglio Yarur, who plays in
the Amateur, singing, accompanying herself on a stringed instrument.
[continue reading here]
Monday 24 January 2012
CHESS FESTIVAL
IS 'A MARQUEE EVENT' SAYS REIGNING WORLD CHAMPION
At the opening reception on Monday night
Gibraltar Culture and Sports Minister Steven Linares
weclomed all the players and thanked them for coming
to the Rock to play in the tournament. Mr Linares
wished all well in their game and hoped all would
enjoy the festival. Tournament director, Stuart
Conquest, addressed the familiar faces in the
gathering in the main hall by opening with well
wishes for a successful tournament from the current
World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand.
[more
press releases]
Monday 23 January, 2012
WOMEN IN CHESS IN A MIXED EVENT
Stuart Conquest Director of the
2012 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival, scheduled to begin this week,
believes the tournament
in its 10th edition will see the largest
concentration of women chess players ever in a mixed event. He writes:
'The greatest ever gathering of female chess players in a mixed event takes
place on the Rock in a week’s time. Never before have so many of the world’s
top women joined leading male players to compete in the same tournament'.
Led by the brilliant Judit Polgar, the youngest of the three Hungarian
sisters who between them broke every chess record in the
books, this year’s
female contingent includes champion players from China, India, Russia, the
Ukraine, and the USA.
[more
press releases]
Monday 23 January, 2012
Chess players from all over the world continue to
arrive at the Caleta Hotel for what will be the best
and greatest chess open
tournament
ever held in
Gibraltar and the world – the 2012 Tradewise
International Chess Festival. There is no denying
that the tournament celebrating its tenth
anniversary has attracted some of the world's
leading Grandmasters and the largest concentration
of women players.
[release
continues here]
Wednesday 4 January, 2012
10 days of Chess 24th January to
2nd February, 2012
It is now official! Every chess
player in the world wants to play in Gibraltar this
year to celebrate 10 years of chess.
The popularity
and over subscription of the 2012 Tradewise
Gibraltar Chess Festival Masters tournament has
meant that organisers have had to close the Masters
tournament to any further entries.
The record number of entries
and its overall success is a reaffirmation that the
tournament in its tenth edition will be the most
important open tournament in the world. It boasts
the participation of 57 Grand Masters, 11 of which
are rated 2700 or over, attracting some of major
names in both the men's and the women's game with a
total of 240 players competing in the 2012 Gibraltar
Masters. This is a record on both counts for
Gibraltar.
The Amateur and Challenger tournaments played
simultaneously remain as popular as ever and entries
are still being taken for these.
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Tournament Organiser
Brian Callaghan OBE |
Organiser Brian Callaghan, who received an OBE in
the New Year's honours list appointed by Her Majesty
The Queen for his services to tourism and chess (see
below), is delighted with the growth and success of
the festival. "I am ready to welcome all the top
chess players in the world to our tournament at the
end of this month, and looking forward to the best
10 days of chess yet. It is indeed an honour to be
hosting the 10th edition of the festival in
Gibraltar, important too because it falls in the
Diamond Jubilee year," he said.
The 2012 tournament promises to be stronger than
ever before and will be enjoyed by a huge internet
audience, thanks to Gibtelecom's innovative
technology and the unique, built-for-purpose
webcasting suite installed at the Caleta Hotel.
Hosting the broadcasts this year is Macauley
Peterson, a freelance mediamaker. He was voted 2008
"Chess Journalist of the Year" by the Chess
Journalists of America, and has written in Chess
Life, Chess Life Online (U.S.A.), New in Chess
(Netherlands), "64" (Russia), Chess (U.K.), and
elsewhere.
Her Majesty The Queen appointed Brian Callaghan
to be Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the
British Empire ("OBE") for services to tourism and
chess. Brian Callaghan is the driving force behind
the Gibraltar Chess Festival, which will shortly
celebrate its 10th anniversary and now attracts 300
players from over 40 countries, including some 50
grand masters. He is also a former Deputy Chairman
of the Gibraltar Heritage Trust.
Make a note in your diary ...
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Masters (Open to all): |
Tues 24 January - Thurs 2
February |
(10-round Swiss, FIDE rated) |
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Challengers A (Under
2250): |
Mon 23 January - Fri 27 January |
(5-round, Swiss, FIDE rated) |
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Challengers B (Under
2250): |
Sat 28 January - Wed 1 February |
(5-round, Swiss, FIDE rated) |
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Amateurs A (Under 1800): |
Mon 23 January - Fri 27 January |
(5-round, Swiss, FIDE rated) |
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Amateurs B (Under 1800): |
Sat 28 January - Wed 1 February |
(5-round, Swiss, FIDE rated) |
Play starts every morning at 10am. The Masters
start every afternoon at 3pm.
Alice Mascarenhas, Chess
Press Officer
Steve Connor, Webmaster
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Download this press release |
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PDF |
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Links to all press releases are
here.
28.10.11
- Women's World
Championship finalist and the World's second strongest female
player GM Humpy Koneru rated 2600, will be playing at the 2012
Gibraltar Masters. Her
World
title match is soon to be played against another of our
Masters 2012 competitors and current Women's World Champion
Hou Yifan, 13-30 November in Tirana, Albania.
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FIDE World Women's Championship 2011 |
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25.11.11 -
Two of our top 2012 Masters
competitors recently locked horns for the World
Championship in Tirana,
Albania.
Hou Yifan retained her title
comfortably 5½-2½ after only
8
of the 10 games. Humpy admitted that she was out of form during
what must have been a difficult experience for her.
The match took place 14th - 24th
November.
• Games
in PGN
•
Official website
26.10.11 -
Another update for all sections
has been posted. New entries are being received so regular
updates will be made, usually once per week, but more often as
they arrive. In the Masters we have 29 GM's, 9 IM's, 6 FM's and
others in a total of 80.
Masters |
Challengers Wk1
| Challengers
Wk2 | Amateurs
Wk1 |
Amateurs Wk2
14.10.11 -
Le Quang Liem, the top Vietnamese GM has
confirmed his participation in the Masters. Liem is currently ranked
25th in the world with an elo of 2717. See details
here.
19.09.11 -
We are delighted to add FIDE World Cup 2011 Champion, Russian
Champion 2011 and former winner of the Gibraltar Masters, Peter Svidler, to our list of
Masters entries. Also
included in the field are four other former Masters winners;
Mickey Adams, Nigel Short (twice), Emil Sutovsky and Alexei
Shirov.
04.09.11 -
The new entry form is now
available.
Click for further details.
02.08.11 -
Prize money as
been increased to an amazing £155,000.
See full prize lists.
August saw the
inaugural Gibraltar
Junior International Chess Festival for players aged under 16
and under 12, held at the Caleta Hotel from 18-23 August 2011.
For full details, click here.
En Agosto
tenemos el primer Festival
Internacional de Ajedrez Junior de Gibraltar
(llegada el 18 de agosto 2011 y salida el 23)
The event is run under the auspices of the English Chess Federation.
