Hosts Singapore made an incredible comeback in the last round of the 4th World Schools Championships 2008 to emerge as overall winners with a total tally of 9 gold, 8 silver and 9 bronze medals to make their parents, country and trainers proud.

Dominguez, who is currently rated 2708 and ranked 25th on the FIDE list, will be accompanied by the national champion GM Yuniesky Quesada (2573), GM Lazaro Bruzon (2592), GM Holden Hernandez (2582) and GM Jesus Nogueiras (2574). This lineup has an average rating of 2606.

The National Chess Federation of the Philippines concluded its National Championship Finals for Men and Women, 18 player all play all and 12 player all play all respectively, following 3 months of eliminations involving thousands of players.

The president of Georgian Chess Federation, Gia Giorgadze, has announced the composition of the Georgian national team for the 2008 Chess Olympiad. There are no surprises as Mr.Giorgadze called the top rated players in men’s and women’s rankings. Nevertheless, the players’ individual results in the months before the Olympiad will be under observation.

Texas Tech University’s Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence
announced Thursday it has assembled the strongest field of chess
grandmasters in U.S. round-robin history for its 2008 SPICE Cup
International Invitational Tournament.

FIDE is already building a smaller Chess Academy in Yekaterinburg (to be completed in 2009), which is projected only for instruction and schooling. The Nizhny building will be capable of hosting chess tournaments, which is currently not possible in the city without facilities for more than 100 players.

Besides the heavyweight Moscow event, another Mikhail Tal Memorial will be held this fall in his hometown Riga. President of the Tal Foundation and daughter of the great Magician, Zana Tal, shared with Latvian Telegraph that Boris Spassky and Victor Korchnoi have already agreed to take participation.