Rochefort Open 2011

The 10th Rochefort Open tournament was held from 19th to 25th February at the Salle Colbert at Congress Palais, in Rochefort, France. 44 players took part in the A tournament, and among them 6 Grandmasters, 9 International Masters, one Woman IM and 3 FIDE Masters.

GM Yuri Solodovnichenko dominated the tournament ever since he singled out on the top after the fourth round. Eventually he took the first place with 7.5 points from nine games, leaving the rest of the field full point behind.

WIM Iva Videnova is having a double reason to celebrate, as she earned the third and final WGM norm and also her first IM norm. Congratulations!

Iva Videnova

EIWCC in Tbilisi, Georgia

The ECU Office received three offers for the organization of the European Individual Women’s Championship 2011 by the application deadline. The offer from Italy was not approved by the Italian Chess federation, so it was not taken into account.

The remaining two offers were from the Georgian Chess Federation (Tbilisi) and the Turkish Chess Federation (Gaziantep).

The President of the European Chess Union, Mr Silvio Danailov, decided that the Championship would be held in Tbilisi. The competition will take place in "Sheraton Metechi Palace 5*" Hotel, May 6-19. The prize money will be in the amount of 110,000 EUR (88,000 EUR for the players and 22,000 EUR for the ECU).

Magnificent Novak!

Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer for the second time in a month, a 6-3, 6-3 victory Saturday for his third consecutive Dubai Championships title.

Djokovic extended his unbeaten streak in 2011 to 12 matches with his 20th title. The third-ranked Serb beat Federer in the semifinals on his way to winning the Australian Open.

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Chess - Accelerated Dragon (Part 1)

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GM Henrik Danielsen, the author of The Insight chess show, has prepared over 25 lectures on the Accelerated Dragon. The complicated system begins with 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6. The series starts with Part 1 video about 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 and various variations showing the complexity of the Sicilian Dragon, including options for black and white, as well as nice queen trap.

Chess - The Polar Bear system 1. f4, Part 2.3

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Chess - The Polar Bear system 1. f4, Part 2.3, presented by GM Henrik Danielsen in his chess show The Insight on the Chessdom.com website.

Chess - The Polar Bear system 1. f4, Part 2.2

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Chess lecture by GM Henrik Danielsen, part of The Insight chess show.

Chess - The Polar Bear system 1. f4, Part 2.1

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Chess by GM Henrik Danielsen, a chess Grandmaster playing for Iceland. The Polar Bear system 1. f4 is main topic in this chess video.

Chess - The Polar Bear 1.f4 (Part 1.2)

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Chess strategy with the Bird Opening, a system developed by GM Henrik Danielsen and named The Polar bear. Part of "The Insight" chess show.

Chess - The Polar Bear 1.f4 (Part 1.1)

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"Introduction to the Polar Bear System". This is a system developed by GM Henrik Danielsen himself, a deep analysis of the Bird 1. f4 . Great chess show for a solid chess system to win your regular and blitz games (Part 1)

Final FIDE Women Grand Prix

The FIDE Women Grand Prix series has its sixth and final tournament set to take place from 20th February to 6th March in Doha, Qatar. 12 players will compete in the round robin event.

The winner of the Grand Prix series will qualify for the 2011 World Championship match against the reigning queen Hou Yifan.

Participants: GM Humpy Koneru IND 2607, GM Antoaneta Stefanova BUL 2546, GM Pia Cramling SWE 2516, GM Nana Dzagnidze GEO 2550, GM Marie Sebag FRA 2489, GM Maia Chiburdanidze GEO 2502, GM Zhu Chen QTR 2495, GM Elina Danielan ARM 2454, GM Xu Yuhua CHN 2484, IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul 2410, IM Martha Fierro ECU 2353 and IM Lilit Mrktchian ARM 2475.

Official website

Doeberl Cup 2011

The 2011 Doeberl Cup will be held at the Hellenic Club, Canberra, on 21st-25th April. The prize fund of $17,850 will be distributed in three tournaments - Premier, Major and Minor. $4,000 is reserved for the winner of the Premier section, which will feature titled and players rated over 1900 FIDE (1800 ACF). Registration is now possible on the official website.

The Doeberl Cup is held in Canberra over Easter each year attracting a field of over 200 players. There are five separate tournaments each year. The Premier tournament runs for 9 FIDE rated rounds and has had titled players from Australia, Russia, India, Ukraine, Israel, Spain, Hungary, Serbia, Ecuador and the Philippines.

Official website

New EIWCC offer from Turkey

The President of Turkish Chess Federation, Mr.Ali Nihat Yazici, has published an open letter on 17 February 2011 and declared that TSF renews the bid for the 2011 European Individual Women Chess Championship in Gaziantep, with 10.000€ increasement in the prize fund. The event was supposed to be organised from 19 March till 1st April. The prize fund of the event would be a record in women chess. Also European Women Rapid and European Women Blitz would be organised just before individual event.

Open letter