FIDE Bringing Order in Players' Transfers

1.3 A player qualifies to be registered under a Federation:

(a) if he or she is qualified by citizenship or naturalization in the country of that Federation; or
(b) if he or she has resided for a continuous period of two years in a country of which he or she is not a citizen and, after thorough examination and clearance by the FIDE General Secretary, is approved for registration under the new Federation of his or her country of residence. This two- year period of residence shall be reduced to one year if the player has not participated in any FIDE competition (including continental individual and team events) for at least 5 consecutive years prior to the date of registration.
(c) if FIDE has approved his or her transfer.

Excerpt from the document attached on the FIDE website

Fat fees shall be charged if the federation or player rushes to transfer before fulfilling the condition of continuous two-years residence in the country.

Humpy Koneru disappointed with AICF

Grandmaster Koneru Humpy seems to have declared war on All India Chess Federation secretary DV Sundar. The World No. 2 also released documents to support her allegations. Earlier, Humpy had withdrawn from the Asian indoor championship after Sundar allegedly refused permission for her to be accompanied by her father/coach.

Sundar had termed Humpy's allegations "baseless" and a "combination of half-truths and lies". Humpy released letters that were exchanged between the two with regard to the incidents mentioned in her allegations.

Humpy revealed she was never comfortable with any other coach than her father. "Once I tried without his guidance in the Chess Olympiad, 2006, at Turin, Italy, and I utterly collapsed," says Humpy in her open letter to Sundar. In the four tournaments during the 2009-10 period for which Humpy confirmed participation, her father agreed to pay the airfare and for stay and food but all that he required was his inclusion in the delegation and visa/accreditation clearance, reveals the letter. The request was not granted by Sundar.

Full article on The Times of India

Russians to defend titles in Novi Sad

The European Team Chess Championship is scheduled to take place from 21st until 31st October in Novi Sad. Russian teams are having problems at the Global Chess Olympiads, but in 2007 they convincingly won both Men and Women European Championship.

In Novi Sad they will be defending titles as top seeded teams. Men roster: GM Morozevich Alexander 2750, GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2742, GM Svidler Peter 2741, GM Grischuk Alexander 2733, GM Alekseev Evgeny 2725, GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2688 and GM Vitiugov Nikita 2681

Women roster: GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2516, IM Kosintseva Tatiana 2536, IM Kosintseva Nadezhda 2493, WFM Gunina Valentina 2437, IM Romanko Marina 2453, WGM Bodnaruk Anastasia 2384 and IM Ovod Evgenija 2447

Championship website (stuck in time machine)

Zatonskih Beats Krush

The long anticipated battle between the top US female players finally took place last night in the third round of the 2009 U.S. Women's Championship. The defending champion Anna Zatonskih beat IM Irina Krush with black pieces.

Why is this so important - read here and follow their links.

Almira Skrpchenko ruling the poker tables

On the surface, it appears there are very few similarities between chess and poker.

However, international chess champion turned poker pro Almira Skripchenko says appearances can be deceiving.

And after she made a final table appearance in the 2009 World Series of Poker's $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em event this past summer, it's hard to disagree with her.

"I just think that chess players are naturally skilled to become poker players because chess involves a lot of strategic thinking," she said.

"Yes, of course, there is a lot of math in poker, but this is more important than math. Math can be mastered by everyone and all the strategic and analytical skills, you have to develop."

Full article on PokerListings