Each National Federation can enter one (1) player born on or after 1st January 1993 in each of the boys (open) and girl categories, totaling a maximum of two (2) invited players.

Players with a personal right, according to FIDE rules, will also be accepted as invited players.
Subject to age, entitled to participate are: the top 3 players of the previous edition, the Continental Junior Champions of the year preceding this edition, the top 6 (4 for Girls) Junior U20 players from the FIDE Rating List as of January 1st of the current year, World Youth U18 and U16 champions of the year preceding this edition.

Additional (extra) players can also be registered. In order to ensure proper tournament standards, all invited players and all additional (extra) players must submit their registrations through their national federations until 12th July 2013 (registration deadline).

Full board accommodation will be offered in the 4* stars hotels in Hatay booked by the organizing committee. In the hotels there will be free wireless connection to all participants.

Free accommodation and full board will be provided to the invited players from the 12th of September (lunch) to the 27th of September (breakfast). Invited participants will be accommodated in double and/or triple rooms in the official hotels.

Every participant accepted as additional (extra) player and all accompanying persons have to make their registration and bookings through the official registration form provided by the Organising Committee.

The tournament will be played according to the Swiss System in 13 rounds. Only FIDE ratings will be used for the pairings.

The FIDE time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from the the 1st move.

No draw offers are allowed before move 30. All other regulations apply as per FIDE Handbook, including zero default time (article 6.6.a of the Laws of Chess).

Tie-breaks: after eliminating the lowest rated opponent, the sum of the player’s opponent ratings. The highest total wins. If still tied, elimination of the rating of the next lowest rated opponent(s) until a decision is possible.

The winner of the 2013 World Junior Championship U20 (open/boys) receives the GM title. He also qualifies to the World Cup 2015, part of the World Championship Cycle 2014-2016.

The winner of the 2013 World Girl Junior Championship u20 receives the WGM title. She also qualifies to the World Women’s Championship 2014.

The silver and bronze medalists of both categories (open/boys U20 and girls U20) receive the IM and WIM titles respectively.

GM and IM norms are also possible for the other players based on their performance and their opponent’s titles/ratings as per FIDE Handbook requirements.

The Chief Arbiter will be IA Mr.Tugan Unal (Turkey).

Contact Information
2013 World Junior Chess Championship Organising Committee
Tournament Director : IO Mr. Yasin Emrah Yagiz
E-mail : wjcc2013@tsf.org.tr
Fax : +903123109620
Website : http://wjcc2013.tsf.org.tr

The pairings are: Grischuk Alexander 2779 – Nakamura Hikaru 2775, Bacrot Etienne 2725 – Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2699, Morozevich Alexander 2760 – Svidler Peter 2769, Caruana Fabiano 2774 – Ivanchuk Vassily 2755, Dominguez Perez Leinier 2723 – Ponomariov Ruslan 2742, Topalov Veselin 2793 – Kamsky Gata 2741.

Follow live games with computer analysis. Photo gallery is bellow, visit also the official website.

Ni Hua is leading the field as the only player that maintained a perfect score after three rounds. Two of these victories were achieved with the black pieces.

The first victim of the fourth seeded player was Xiu Deshun. A very long and hard-fought battle finished with Ni Hua getting the faster passed pawns on the queenside.

Wei Yi – Ni Hua

In the second round the leader had to face the Dutch put up by Lu Shanglei. After a series of simplifications the players went into a queens and rooks endgame where white’s initiative was enough to get ahead. Shanglei resigned on move 41 when he is about to lose his rook.

Young GM Wei Yi was the last one to fall. He played white and agreed to get in a sharp Ruy Lopez. A tactical sequence around move 22 left him a piece down and he decided to resign instead of suffering any longer.

Rating favorites Bu Xiangzhi and Ding Liren are sharing second place with 2.5/3.

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Standings after 3 rounds:

Makedonia Palace

The first round of the fourth stage of FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Thessaloniki got under way on 22nd May, with the Greek-Russian businessman Ivan Savvidis, main sponsor of the event, making the first symbolic move in the game Kamsky – Dominguez.

After playing 1.e2-e4, Savvidis told Kamsky “now you have no right to lose this game”. The American champion lived up to the expectations and went on to defeat Leinier Dominguez.

Live games with analysis / Preview

Ponomariov – Caruana 1/2-1/2

The first game to finish was the match between Ruslan Ponomariov and Fabiano Caruana. The players opened with Ruy Lopez and Caruana pointed that 9…Na5 was an important move to hold the setup. Ponomariov noted that none of the pieces or pawns were exchanged before move 16.

Caruana then released the tension in center and moved his Knight to f4 because there was no other way to defend the e5-pawn. Within the next dozen of moves a large number of pieces were exchanged. After the Queens also went off, a draw was signed according to Sofia rules.

Ponomariov was happy with the result as “it is important to properly adjust to the new setting, and the new tournament.” He also added that he is playing similar setups with black, that he is familiar with many opening ideas, and that is why he took some time to find the most appropriate plan. He played all the logical moves, but black also played well and the draw is a fair result.

Caruana reminded that most of the players competing in Thessaloniki also played last month in Zug Grand Prix and that he has the feeling “of playing the same tournament again”.

Ponomariov finally said that he is happy that the tournament is receiving a lot of attention from media and local chess fans.

Ponomariov – Caruana

Svidler – Bacrot 1-0

Peter Svidler was the first to score a victory in Thessaloniki. His game with Etienne Bacrot started as Semi-Tarrasch and for awhile it looked like black is doing fine. But later he started to err and Svidler used the opportunity to invade the seventh rank with the rooks.

Bacrot admitted that he “lost control some time around 19…h6.”. Svidler pointed that 21…Ba3 was unnecessary and that 21…Rc8 was to be preferred. He also criticized the retreat on 22nd move and suggested 22…Qa5 as possible improvement. White quickly mopped up and finished the game in 27 moves.

Svidler also mentioned that he looked at 13. Ba3, but eventually black is on time to equalise since white doesn’t have the winning move because of his own backrank weakness.

Svidler feels greater pressure in Thessaloniki than he had in Norway Chess tournament because this event is a part of the World Championship cycle. He’s been playing continuously in many tournament but after the Thessaloniki Grand Prix he will probably take a break until the World Cup in Tromso. He added that he might do live commentary for the Tal Memorial.

Bacrot said he had some time to work on the openings, but he still didn’t get into the proper competitive shape. He hopes to play better as the tournament progresses.

Kamsky – Dominguez

Kamsky – Dominguez 1-0

Gata Kamsky and Leinier Dominguez engaged in the Sicilian Naidorf defence. As usual, Kamsky went for the positional line and included his favourite a2-a4. He said that 15…Kh8 was interesting and that he got nothing out of the opening. That is why he decided to exchange the Queens and regroup the pieces.

In the ensuing middlegame white retained some pressure after 31. e5. Dominguez criticized 32…f5 and felt that he should have played something else.

Kamsky pointed that 36…Be5 was a mistake which handed advantage to white, and suggested 36…g5 as possible improvement. Dominguez tried to hold on but on move 44 he made a blunder in an already difficult position.

Vassily Ivanchuk

Ivanchuk – Morozevich 1/2-1/2

Vassily Ivanchuk and Alexander Morozevich played the King’s Indian defence where white revived the old main line with 9. Nd2. He proceeded in the straightforward manner with a3, Rb1 and b4.

Black tried to contain white’s action on the queenside with 14…Ba4. Morozevich pointed that he waited for the opponent to take on a4, rather than himself exchanging on b3. His reasoning was that Nc3 is more useful for white than Nb3.

Morozevich noted that 17…Qa8 was a blank shot and that 17…Kh8 with idea Ng8-Bh6 would have been a better try. He conceded that white obtained significant advantage after pushing a3-a4-a5.

Ivanchuk agreed with this estimation and said that the rest of the game was simply a matter of good technique.

However, black put up a strong resistance, and Ivanchuk couldn’t find the right plan to improve on his advantage, so he decided to trade all the pieces and make a draw. He said he will analyse the game in depth after the tournament in order to improve his technique.

Kasimdzhanov – Nakamura

Kasimdzhanov – Nakamura 1-0

Rustam Kasimdzhanov started the event with a victory over Hikaru Nakamura. The American used a slightly altered King’s Indian Defense with black. where he chose to exchange the always important dark-squared bishop.

When the queens were exchanged on move 29, white was able to grab a pawn. The path to victory looked quite long, however. The ensuing knight vs. bishop endgame was not easy to convert.

Kasimdzhanov found the right plan to get the full point when he decided to give up his passed d-pawn in order to win the pawn on the h-file. Nakamura did not wait for his rival to execute the plan and resigned on move 69.

Official website

The field includes three former winners of the Sigeman Chess Tournament, former world championship challenger Nigel Short from England, the winner from 1995, Ivan Sokolov from Holland, and the shared winner from 2011, Hans Tikkanen from Sweden. Add to that no. 2 on the Dutch rating list, Loek van Wely, and Hungary’s youngest grandmaster ever, Richard Rapport. The home team also comprises Swedish grandmasters Nils Grandelius, Emanuel Berg and Jonny Hector.

As all players are known for their fighting skills, we would like to congratulate all chess fans on the opportunity to once again see world-class chess live. Do not miss the opportunity to visit Hipp and follow the games live, guided by our commentators, grandmasters Ulf Andersson and Stellan Brynell. Official website: www.sigeman-chess.com , live games with analysis here.

Tournament Schedule
Round 1 22 May 14.00-21.00
Round 2 23 May 14.00-21.00
Round 3 24 May 14.00-21.00
Round 4 25 May 14.00-21.00
Round 5 26 May 14.00-21.00
Round 6 27 May 14.00-21.00
Round 7 28 May 12.00-19.00

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The ceremonial first move was made by tournament sponsor Ivan Savvidis in the game Kamsky – Dominguez. Savvidis played 1.e4 and told Kamsky in Russian – “Now you cannot lose the game”. Kamsky went on to win.

Follow live games with computer analysis. Photo gallery is bellow, visit also the official website.

The municipal chess club of the city, the country’s largest one, is celebrating four decades of highly successful local and international activity.

The highlight of these festivities will be a strong rapid round-robin tournament starting next Sunday with the participation of eight local Grandmasters and four European guests to compete for a prize-fund of 20,000 US $.

Evgeny Alekseev, top rated player in the tournament

Participants:
1. Evgeny Alekseev 2700 (Russia)
2. Viktor Laznicka 2679 (Czech Republic)
3. Sergey Fedorchuk 2660 (Ukraine)
4. Daniel Fridman 2648 (Germany)
5. Maxim Rodshtein 2663
6. Evgeny Postny 2637
7. Michael Roiz 2617
8. Tamir Nabaty 2579
9. Boris Avrukh 2576
10. Alexander Huzman 2572
11. Alon Greenfeld 2538
12. Ilya Khmelniker 2494

Tournament director is IA Eliahu Levant

Games will be played from Sunday 26/05 through 29/05 starting daily at 16.00 (15.00 European time), 3 rounds a day and 2 rounds on the closing day. Time control: 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment per move.

The organizers will transmit the games live on the Israeli federation website: www.chess.org.il

The Beer Sheba chess club was founded by Eliahu Levant, a reputed trainer and arbiter, right after his immigration from Leningrad to Israel in 1973. Within just a couple of years the club and its chess school turned under Levant’s most energetic leadership to be the most dominant factor in the Israeli chess scene and by now it can boast more than 20 national team championships, numerous youth and adults national titles and an impressive list of International events hosted by the city over the years with the participation of world-class players highlighted by the finals of the world team championship in 2005.

The city arguably holds a world record of number of Grandmasters per capita (1:20,000).

Information by Yochanan Afek

Opening ceremony and pairings here

Participants:
Bacrot Etienne FRA 2725
Caruana Fabiano ITA 2774
Dominguez Perez Leinier CUB 2723
Grischuk Alexander RUS 2779
Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2755
Kamsky Gata USA 2741
Kasimdzhanov Rustam UZB 2699
Morozevich Alexander RUS 2760
Nakamura Hikaru USA 2775
Ponomariov Ruslan UKR 2742
Svidler Peter RUS 2769
Topalov Veselin BUL 2793

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Wang Hao, Wang Yue and Li Chao b are not present, but Ding Liren, the 2011 winner Yu Yangyi, the 2010 and 2012 winner Bu Xiangzhi are fighting for the top prize of 80,000.

Participants:
GM Ding Liren CHN 2707
GM Yu Yangyi CHN 2675
GM Bu Xiangzhi CHN 2662
GM Ni Hua CHN 2646
GM Wen Yang CHN 2618
GM Zhou Jianchao CHN 2607
GM Zhou Weiqi CHN 2590
GM Lu Shanglei CHN 2551
GM Xiu Deshun CHN 2534
GM Wei Yi CHN 2530

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Bu Xiangzhi with the Danzhou winner’s trophy

The players and guests were greeted by the Tournament Director Theodoros Tsorbatsoglou, President of the Greek Chess Federation Georgios Makropoulos, General Secretary of Sports Kiriaki Gianakidou, Minister of Macedonia & Thrace Theodoros G. Karaoglou, Governor of the Region of Central Macedonia Apostolos Tzitzikostas, and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

Chief Arbiter Takis Nikolopoulos then proceeded with drawing of lots. He called up the players to come to the table and pick up the rooks in the shape of White Tower, the famous landmark of Thessaloniki.

Veselin Topalov, the top rated player in this event with 2793 elo, approached first and picked the number 1. Next was Alexander Grischuk (2779) who chose number 12 and immediately the first match-up was known. Full round 1 pairings are bellow.

Hikaru Nakamura was the only participant who missed the opening because his plane was about to land around 23:00. Robert P. Sanders, USA Consul General in Thessaloniki, was asked to choose number for Nakamura. He gladly accepted and picked up the rook with number 7.

Vassily Ivanchuk caused a small confusion when he returned the rook to the table instead of taking it away or handing to arbiter. Then he couldn’t remember which was his piece, but the tournament secretary Sophia helped in locating the Tower number 4.

Also attending the opening ceremony were MP of the Greek Parliament and former Minister of Health Andreas Loverdos, FIDE Vice-President Ali Nihat Yazici, Head of the Appeals Committee Zurab Azmaiparashvili, AGON Chief Andrew Paulson, FIDE CEO Geoffrey Borg, Consuls of USA and Bulgaria, and other distinguished guests.

After drawing of lots, the players and guests moved to the Veranda for cocktail.

The technical meeting for players, arbiters and organizers took place at 20:30 in Alexandros Hall. The players were briefed about the playing room and facilities and about the most important regulations – time control with increment only after move 60, no draw offers, zero tolerance rule, dress code.

Regulations for the 2012 – 2013 FIDE World Chess Grand-Prix Series

Round 1 pairings:
GM Topalov Veselin 2793 – GM Grischuk Alexander 2779
GM Kamsky Gata 2741 – GM Dominguez Perez Leinier 2723
GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2742 – GM Caruana Fabiano 2774
GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2755 – GM Morozevich Alexander 2760
GM Svidler Peter 2769 – GM Bacrot Etienne 2725
GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2699 – GM Nakamura Hikaru 2775