The First International Chess Festival in El Haouaria, Tunisia, will be held from 17th March to 4th April, 2012.
About two weeks before the start of this new international Chess Festival there are expected more than 400 players to compete in an Open, Blitz and closed GM, IM and WGM tournaments as well as an International Youth Championship for various age categories.
The playing hall will be The Regional Falconers’ Club of El Haouaria. The tournament is supported by the Chess Federation of Tunisia. Organizers: IM Njili Kamel (TUN) and Diana Mihajlova (ENG).
The 1st Chess Festival in El Haouaria is initiated by the ‘local boy’, IM Njili Kamel who is the main organiser and is already planning a further chess event to take place in June. Official website.
IM Njili Kamel with a falcon
GM Nigel Short, winner of the Gibraltar Masters, will be a guest for the first part of the festival and will give a simultaneous exhibition on 30 boards, on 16th March.
The Mediterranean fishing village El Haouaria is situated on the most northeastern tip of Tunisia, Cap Bon. It is the land of sea, cliffs, oranges, geraniums, history and falcons.
Because of its many aspects of natural beauty it is one of the most attractive areas of the country and it is called ‘garden of Tunisia’. It is a resting place for migrating birds and it is popular for the breeding of falcons and the ancient sport of falconry.
Cultural and educational activities, excursions, film and theater performances and an art exhibition on the theme of falconry have been programmed to take place throughout the festival.
The invited players include:
1. GM Hamdouchi Hichem 2611 FRA
2. GM Adly Ahmed 2596 EGY
3. GM Ulibin Mikhail 2587 RUS
4. GM Korneev Oleg 2584 RUS
5. GM Georgy Timoshenko 2569 UKR
6. GM Gleizerov Evgeny 2566 RUS
7. GM Merab Gagunashvili 2560 GEO
8. GM Igor Miladinovic 2556 SRB
9. GM Kirill Stupak 2531 BLR
10. GM Petrov Marijan 2527 BUL
11. GM Azer Mirzoev 2523 AZE
12. GM Pikula Dejan 2522 SRB
13. GM Alfonso Romero Holmes 2501 ESP
14. GM Miroljub Lazic 2470 SRB
15. IM Ezat Mohamed 2441 EGY
16. IM Bruno Fabio 2435 ITA
17. IM Arab Adlane 2428 ALG
18. IM Mohamed Tissir 2411 MAR
19. IM Mohamed Haddouche 2410
20. GM Sriram Jha 2406 IND
21. IM Plamen Dimitrov Mladenov 2389 BUL
22. IM Boricsev Oleg 2378 HUN
23. IM Hassan Sayed Barakat 2373 EGY
24. IM Al-Ali Hussein Ali Hussein 2372 IRQ
25. IM Njili Kamel 2357 TUN
26. IM Strebkovs Andrejs 2344 LAT
27. FM Goutali Tarek 2329 ALG
28. IM Sarwat Walaa 2326 EGY
29. IM Saad Belouadah 2301 ALG
and the WGMs Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman 2376 IND, L’ami Alina 2360 ROU, Maisuradze Nino 2313 FRA, Hamdouchi Adina 2253 FRA and Daulyte Deimante 2223 LTU.
The four star hotel Africa Jad and villas on the beach provide accommodation for a very reasonable price of 35 euro pp full board included.
