The recently concluded match between world champions Anatoly Karpov and Susan Polgar resulted in a draw. An organizer said that the world audience was 10,000,000 people, and USCF gained 200 new memberships.

See our illustrated report with game scores and more.

1. Luke McShane (ENG)
2. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)
3. David Navara (CZE)
4. Evgeny Alekseev (RUS)
5. Magnus Carlsen (NOR)
6. Kateryna Lahno (UKR)
7. Severin Papa (SUI)
8. Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS)

Official site     Chessville coverage

World Chess Championship Match Kramnik vs. Leko takes place September 25 - October 18 in Brissago, Switzerland.  14 games with classical time control will be played.

Official Site

Chessville coverage:

• results
• match details
• interviews

Kramnik, playing the Black side of as Petroff Defense, wins Game One.

GM Maurice Ashley announces” With a guaranteed prize fund of $500,000, Generation Chess is pleased to announce the richest open chess tournament in history.  This event will be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota from May 18-22, 2005.  Official sites:-  www.hbfoundation.org;  www.generationchess.com.  Find out more about the HB Global Chess Challenge.

National Public Radio’s Robert Siegel talks with Mikhail Korenman, director of the Lindsborg chess school, about the town's connection to world-caliber chess champions. This weekend, two world champions of chess, Anatoly Karpov and Susan Polgar, will meet in the town to play in a tournament billed as the "Clash of the Titans."  To listen go to here, then click on the audio button.

The Parrot has also learned that there may be television coverage, watch Chessville’s StopPress Announcements.

Kramnik vs Leko. The Classical World Chess Championship at Centro Dannemann between titleholder Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) and his challenger Peter Leko (Hungary) starts in two weeks. Information courtesy: Rolf Behovits, Press Officer.  Official site.  Chessville Coverage.  Read Interviews with Kramnik & Leko.

Nikita Vitiugov and Olga Stjagkina are the winners of recently completed Saint-Petersburg Rapid Chess Cup broadcast live to the internet.  Game replay at Official site.

Budapest Cup: Hungary vs. Germany takes place 16-21 September in Budapest. This is apparently the first meeting of national teams for 65 years! There is a live-game viewer available at the site.  Official site.

Meanwhile, CalChess is in a complicated dispute with its treasurer, who has offered to return $26,000 to CalChess members.

USCF VP Don Shultz and President Beatriz Marinello have circulated a letter to 28 countries which reads in part; “Friends, we do not intend to stand idly by and watch FIDE disintegrate. Our Executive Board has unanimously placed a no-confidence motion in FIDE’s leadership that will be on the agenda in Calvia”

With great sorrow we inform you that the legendary Saint-Petersburg Chess Master Genrikh Mikhailovich Chepukaitis has died 5th September in Palanga, Lithuania.

Moro wins in Moscow Blitz Championship took place 5th September.  Final standings: 1. Morozevich 15.5, 2. Grischuk 14.5, 3-5. Riazantsev, Zvjaginsev, Deviatkin 13.0, 6. Malakhov 12.0, 7. Popov 11.5, 8-10. Amonatov, Dreev, Alexandrov 10.5, 11. Najer 10.0, 12-13. Dvalishvili, Sakaev 9.0, 14. Vorobiov 8.5, 15. Saulin 8.0, 16. Rychagov 7.0, 17. Motylev 6.0, 18. Shorokhov 4.0, 19. Nachev 3.0, 20. Glotov 1.5.
          Chessbase article;     Chesscafe article

GM Arnold Denker appears with GM Susan Polgar and GM Anatoly Karpov, plus participating young players photographed together at the recently concluded Denker Tournament of High School Champions.

Botvinnik Memorial takes place 27 August - 4 September in Satka, Russia.  Participants: Evgeny Vasiukov 2514 RUS, Janis Klovans 2456 LAT, Vladimir Savon 2451 UKR, Aleksej Shestoperov 2448 RUS, Yuri Shabanov 2429 RUS, Vladimir Karasev 2427 RUS, Vladimir Doroshkievich RUS 2420, Igor Zaitsev 2413 RUS, Oleg Chernikov 2412 RUS and Nona Gaprindashvili 2309 GEO.

View games     Official Site

Canadian Closed & Zonal Chess Championships took place 20-29 August.

Pune GM Tournament takes place 2-12 September Pune, India.  Participants: Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu 2686 ROM, Zurab Azmaiparashvili 2679 GEO, Alexander Beliavsky 2679 SLO, Emil Sutovsky 2679 ISR, Rustam Kasimdzhanov 2640 UZB, Krishnan Sasikiran 2666 IND, Penthala Harikrishna 2609 IND, Surya Shekhar Ganguly 2574 IND, Chanda Sandipan 2555 IND, Abhijit Kunte 2532 IND.
The Official site seems to work intermittently.  Games are played from 2 to 6 pm. every day. While the Category 16 event is a nine round all play all tournament, the international open will be played in 10 rounds under the Swiss League.  Chessville coverage

US Open: Our special correspondent reports some away from the board excitement: - “The tournament drew 420, including 66 players over 2200 (12 GMs).  Despite penalties, cell phones went off every round.  Lightning hit the hotel and started a fire during the 2nd rd.  Everybody had to stop clocks and evacuate for about an hour”.  In addition to the U.S. Open, the Denker Tournament of H.S. Champions and the Polgar Invitational for Girls also took place at the hotel, with 46 and 36 participants respectively.

Hubble-Bubble…

USCF’s merger with AF4C has become complicated by a call from former USCF President Dr. John McCrary for current USCF President Beatriz Marinello to resign.

USCF will also table a delegate motion on reorganizing Fide proposed by Don Schultz.

Meanwhile the City of Crossville TN may sue the USCF over its failure to move there.

A strong critique of scholastics chess (Scholastics and the Soul of Chess) has been published, a document that neither AF4C nor USCF officials seem to have read or wish to discuss. But Parrot readers do!

US Open: Onichuk and Ibragimov are currently leading the ‘Traditional’ with 6.5 points, with six players hot on their heels with 6.0 points, including GM Hikaru Nakamura.  Only two rounds left.

Judit Polgar is a proud mom! A son born 9^th August in Budapest.

The 91st Smith & Williamson British Championships take place 1-14 August in Scarborough,Yorkshire.  Round 10 leading standings:

     1 Rowson 8.0
     2 Wells 7.5
     3 Williams 7.5
     4 Greet 7.0
     5 Motwani 7.5

Replay games at: Ruschess.  Official site: www.bcf.org.uk

A very strange report mentions $2.6 Billion for a chess playground in Dubai, the most recent project of Fide’s president Kirsan Iljumzhinov. By creating a 64,000 square meter International Chess City, featuring 32 buildings designed to mirror the image of a traditional black and white game board …

A Match Russia vs. China takes place
10-16 August in Moscow.

Official site: www.russiachess.ru

Game replays at: Ruschess

Chessgate Sparkassen Open Nettetal takes place 7-16 August

Official site:- www.chessgate.de

Hogeschool Zeeland Schaaktoernooi takes place 7-14 August in Vlissingen, The Netherlands

USCF delegates may hear details about a proposed merger with AF4C (America's Foundation for Chess), a wealthy scholastics group, proposed by Dr. J. McCrary. However, the fur is flying between USCF President Beatriz Marinello, Vice President Don Shultz and Dr. John.

USCF will also table a delegate motion on reorganizing Fide proposed by Don Schultz.

Meanwhile a strong critique (Scholastics and the Soul of Chess) of scholastics chess has been published, a document that neither AF4C nor USCF officials seem to have read.

Chess Grandmaster Leonid Yudasin (CXR rating 2812) proved that he is still the "Man of Steel" by breaking his own record at the New York Masters tournament Tuesday night.  Yudasin set a new record of 34 straight games without a loss.

PODGORICA (AP) - The president of Montenegro said yesterday the small republic would not be able to grant asylum to chess legend Bobby Fischer because of US objections.  Washington wants Fischer deported from Japan, where he has spent three weeks in detention after being arrested on charges of traveling with a revoked US passport.  Officials in Montenegro, where Fischer played a match in 1992 in violation of a UN embargo against what was then Yugoslavia, suggested on Monday they would welcome the chess player if the United States and Japan hammer out a deal to send him there.

The 91st Smith & Williamson British Championships take place 1-14 August in Scarborough,Yorkshire.  Williams currently leads with 4 points.  Game replay engine available at RusChess.

Forthcoming events:

Chessgate Sparkassen Open Nettetal takes place 7-16 August

Hogeschool Zeeland Schaaktoernooi takes place 7-14 August in Vlissingen, The Netherlands

Mark Pinto International Chess in San Francisco; Foreign players are DeGusman (Philippines), Ganbold (either Philippines
or Mongolia), Lobo (England), and Batchimeg (Mongolia).  12-player round-robin at the Mechanics Institute Chess Club in SF. The TDs are John Donaldson (IM) and Alex Yermolinsky (GM).

Women in Chess, US Women’s Champion IRINA KRUSH in a recent appearances at the New York Masters Tournament, gained a first round win with white against Rafal Furdzik and a win with black against Robert Hess in round 2, Irina came up against GM Alex Stripunsky.  Despite a rating advantage of some hundreds of points, Stripunsky, with black, was felled by Ms.Krush.  With a perfect 3-0, Irina was paired against
GM Daniel Fridman for round 4.  Tantalizingly close to a perfect score, Irina was held to a draw.  See international section for where Irina is playing now!

As part of the 22nd Annual Reno-Western States Open (Oct15-17).  GM Larry Evans gives a free lecture on Boris Spassky who will play a (25 board) Simul ($100, includes a commemorative pen) spectator fee: $5 *.

Cramer Awards for Chess writing 2004 announced:  Best Book: My Life, Games and Composition by Pal Benko, Jeremy Silman and John Watson.  Best State Publication: Georgia Chess; editor Dan Lucas.  Best Chess Column: Jack Peters, LA Times

Group A: Anand, Svidler advance to semi-finals, Group B Kramnik, Leko advance on rapid-play tiebreak.  Semifinals: Kramnik-Svidler, Leko-Anand, both drawn.  / Chessville coverage.  View games at www.ruschess.com.  Official site: www.chessgate.de.  The official site will be pay per view live broadcast of games and audio-stream commentary by German GMs Dr.Helmut Pfleger and Klaus Bischoff.

View games
Games in PGN
Official site: www.bielchessfestival.ch

The Greek Chess Federation is happy to announce the 2004 World Youth Chess Championships for age categories U10 to U18, 3 to 14 November in Heraklio, Crete, Greece. The official announcement, containing full information regarding the event, has already been emailed to all national federations.

In an exchange with Don Shultz, VP of USCF this week, he said in relation to Fide “I'm in favor of USCF leading the charge for major reform beginning with a caucus of supporting nations and while I cannot speak for my fellow Board members, I believe they will support a very aggressive approach.”

The USCF informs that Anatoly Karpov will attend the 2004 US Open, during which he will be deservedly inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame.

The Executive board of the Russian Chess Federation select participants for the 2004 Chess Olympiad.  In the Open section the team will consist of: Peter Svidler, Alexander Morozevich, Alexander Grischuk, and Alexey Dreev. Missing from the men’s team are both Kramnik and Kasparov.  Will they fill the remaining two spots in the roster? Other likely candidates to complete the team are Khalifman, Malakhov, Rublevsky, Sakaev, Zvjaginsev, and Motylev. The picture is much clearer in the Women’s section, where Russia will be represented by: Tatiana Kosintseva, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Ekaterina Kovalevskaya.

A 13-year-old Eurasian girl, Anya Corke, has won the National Chess Championship of Hong Kong, scoring 9.5 points from 11 games. A case of precedence is WGM Victoria Cmilyte, who won the (somewhat stronger) Lithuanian Championship at age 16 (OK she was a bit older as well).

The 12th World Computer Championship took place in Ramat-Gan in Israel 4th-12th July 2004.

New World Champion was the local pride Junior, who outscored Shredder by a half point.

View games
Games in PGN
Official site: www.cs.biu.ac.il

The Tai Yuan GM tournament takes place in China 15th-26th July 2004. Participants: Dreev, Alexey g RUS 2690, Short, Nigel g ENG 2684, Ye Jiangchuan g CHN 2681, Lautier, Joel g FRA 2666, Lputian, Smbat g ARM 2634, Bu, Xiangzhi g CHN 2620, Xu, Jun g CHN 2617, Zhang Zhong g CHN 2603, Ni Hua g CHN 2583, and Xie Jun g CHN 2564. Prizes $20,000, 9 rounds, 90 min+ 30 secs. Leaders after four rounds are: 1. Short 3.0; 2. Bu Xiangzhi g CHN 2620 2.5; Nigel Short played a novel French against Lputian including racing wing pawns and a Q for 2 Rooks exchange, replay the game at Ruschess.

The World Open won by Akobian, Varuzhan USA 2526 $14500.00

US Champ. qualifiers:
25. Kraai, Jesse  m  USA 2439  6.0 39.5 48.5   $100.00
31. Zilberstein, Dmitry f  USA 2392  6.0 37.5 45     $500.00
32. Muhammad, Stephen A f  USA 2378  6.0 37.5 44.5 $500.00
35. Enhbat, Tegshsuren f  USA 2406  6.0 36.0 45     $100.00

July 17:  An announcement for a Drug-Testing Swiss, 3-SS, G/40 in Allentown, PA has vanished from the Allentown CC website. Unknown is if The Parrot’s announcement to 75,000 chess players has had an effect.

Last 2 in Libya. Blunderful Game 6 ends as a draw, and now both players have 3 points. Perhaps when the time control is set even faster we will see even more ‘exciting’ games, where both gladiators are reduced to a coffee-house brawl after having successfully beaten 126 others players by more respectable means.

The 54th Russian Women's Championship was won by Tatiana Kosintseva becoming the Champion of Russia

1-2   N.Kosintseva, T.Kosintseva 4.5
3-4   Zaiatz, Shadrina 4

Internet site: Replay the games at RusChess.

World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad took place in Calicut, India 1st-8th July 2004. China took first place and all the major board prizes.  The real question is...how can this be a "World" Olympiad when only 20 teams representing just 11 countries took part??

Pono’s back! Moro too! The Biel Super Grandmaster Tournament takes place July 19th-29th 2004. The field is extremely impressive with last year's stunning winner Alexander
Morozevich being joined by FIDE Champion Ruslan Ponomariov. Along with Bacrot, Sasikiran, McShane and Pelletier the event should be at least Category 17. Ten different competitions will be held during 2004 Festival. 
 
Ti Name                   NAT  Age  Ap Rat  Ap Rank
GM Alexander Morozevich   RUS   27 yo 2732  nr 7
GM Ruslan Ponomariov      UKR   20 yo 2722, nr 10
GM Etienne Bacrot         FRA   21 yo 2675, nr 27
GM Krishnan Sasikiran     IND   23 yo 2659, nr 39
GM Luke McShane           ENG   20 yo 2656, nr 42
GM Yannick Pelletier      SUI   27 yo 2581

Official site: http://www.bielchessfestival.ch

The 54th Russian Women's Championship is taking place in Kazan with an impressive field. The leaders are [round 6 standings]:

1-2 N.Kosintseva, T.Kosintseva 4.5
3-4 Zaiatz, Shadrina 4

Internet site: www.russiachess.ru

The strongest ever US Woman’s Championship was played at St. John’s University in New York, in association with the St. John’s International tournament. The only non-Russian speaker among the players, Jennifer Shahade, became the New US Women’s Champion in convincing style. Bad news is she will have to defend her title in San Diego towards the end of this year already. Good news is she will be sipping Sangria in the cool autumn breeze at one of the 585 bars of Calvia.