New Year Mix

As usual, chess organizers are very busy around the Holidays. A number of tournaments have been played between December 26th and 30th, here are brief reports.


27th Bethune International Open was played with 9 rounds and prize fund of 6000 euros. There were 114 participants, young FM Sebastien Feller has earned GM norm.

Final standings:
1-2. GM Vladimir Burmakin (RUS 2559) and GM Erwin L'Ami (NED 2593) 7.0
3-9. FM Sebastien Feller (FRA 2424), IM Oleg Gladyszev (RUS 2464), GM Andrei Shchekachev (RUS 2561), IM Dimitar Marholev (BUL 2391), GM Stanislav Savchenko (UKR 2532), GM Jean-Marc Degraeve (FRA 2551) and IM Tigran Gharamian (FRA 2467) 6.5 etc


16th Radisson SAS Weihnachts-Open was held in Erfurt, Germany. There were 8 rounds, prize fund 4000 euros.

Final standings:
1. GM Henrik Teske (GER 2514) 7.0
2. GM Peter Enders (GER 2434) 6.5
3. Oliver Mihok (HUN 2248) 6.0
4-10. Johannes Raps (GER 2162), Werner Wilke (AUT 2245), IM Josef Pribyl (CZE 2400), FM Joachim Bruggemann (GER 2353), FM Claus Pitschka (GER 2279), Jurgen Stiller (GER 2204) and Marcel Jugel (GER 2251) 5.5 etc (70 participants)


9th Internacional feria de Cali Grand Prix was held in Cali Valle, Columbia. 75 players have competed through 9 rounds.

Final standings:
1. IM Nelson Gamboa (COL 2368) 8.0
2-3. IM Oscar Castro (COL 2383) and IM Alberto Rivera (CUB 2381) 7.0
4-6. IM Miguel Mosquera (COL 2425), IM Alder Escobar Forero (COL 2457) and FM Henry Contreras (COL 2293) 6.5
7-12. IM Sergio Barrientos (COL 2421), Mauricio Uribe (COL 2340), David Arenas (COL 2007), Andres Gallego (COL 2193), Jorge Cuartas (COL 2201) and Carlos Beltran (COL 2281) 6.0 etc (75 players)


Open International d'echecs de Nantes was played with 9 rounds. There were 90 participants, first prize 1000 euros.

Final standings:
1. IM Anthony Wirig (FRA 2439) 8.5
2. IM Kamran Shirazi (FRA 2406) 7.5
3. IM Jean-Pierre Le Roux (FRA 2494) 7.0
4-7. Maxime Lagarde (FRA 2154), Axel Delorme (FRA 2274), Alban Delorme (FRA 2243) and Jean-Phillipe Martinez (FRA 2072) etc


Some of the tournaments are still in progress, here is the list:
15th International Donau Open in Aschach an der Donau
Czech Chess Christmas 2006 in Litomysl
17th International Festival "Cracovia 2006" in Cracow, Poland
36th Rilton Cup in Stockholm, Sweden
Hastings Chess Congress, England
49th Reggio Emilia, Italy


Happy New Year!