GM Emanuel Berg is top seeded

The Hastings Chess Festival 2008-2009 will take place 28.12.2008 to 05.01.2009. It will include the traditional events – a Masters tournament, a Chess Congress, a Weekend event, chess courses, etc.
GM Emanuel Berg will be top seeded in the main tournament. He will have strong local opposition from GM David Howell, GM Gawain Jones, and GM Sturt Conquest. Among other of the strong international participants are GM Valerij Neverov (current Hastings Masters Champion and winner of Hastings Chess 2008), GM Igor Kurnosov, GM Daniel Gormally, and GM Milos Pavlovic. Top woman player of the event will be IM Jovanka Houska.
Here is the full list of players and first round pairings of Hastings chess 2008-2009.
Official website: www.hastingschess.org.uk
Hastings Chess Festival round 1 pairings
1 BERG,Emanuel 2623 – EAMES,Robert 2329
2 PROSVIRIAKOV,Vla 2327 – KURNOSOV,Igor 2606
3 HOWELL,David 2593 – KAUFMAN,Raymond 2320
4 MARUSENKO,Peter 2320 – NEVEROV,Valerij 2571
5 JONES,Gawain 2548 – GROVER,Sahaj 2314
6 LEROY,Didier 2286 – CONQUEST,Stuart 2526
7 PAVLOVIC,Milos 2524 – KJARTANSSON,Gudm 2284
8 ZHOU,Yang-Fan 2276 – GORDON,Stephen 2521
9 HEBDEN,Mark 2515 – MOHAMMED ABDUL,M 2264
10 NIKOLAIDIS,Konst 2264 – GORMALLY,Daniel 2514
11 WILLIAMS,Simon 2494 – AIKHOJE,Odion 2260
12 BERNARD,Jacques 2257 – BERNAL MORO,Luis 2451
13 HENDRIKS,Willy 2447 – LEDGER,David 2254
14 BRISCOE,Christop 2253 – GREET,Andrew 2440
15 CHERNIAEV,Alexan 2438 – LOCK,Gavin 2252
16 WHITE,Michael 2242 – HUNT,Adam 2431
17 ANSELL,Simon 2410 – POOBALASINGAM,Pe 2235
18 ANDERTON,Matthew 2232 – HOUSKA,Jovanka 2399
19 BATES,Richard 2387 – MCPHILLIPS,Karl 2222
20 KWIATKOWSKI,Feli 2219 – RENDLE,Thomas 2385
21 EGGLESTON,David 2368 – SNAPE,Ian 2219
22 SPENCE,David 2214 – BERGEZ,Luc 2356
23 KNOTT,Simon 2348 – ANDERSON,John 2213
24 CHKHAIDZE,Nikolo 2203 – RUDD,Jack 2344
25 VIDAL,Uriel Capo 2340 – NEBEL,Jens 2199
26 ALARCON,Julian R – HUTCHINSON,Norma 2075
27 ADAIR,James 2072 – ROLVAG,Mikael 2199
28 GRANT,Alan 2192 – YOUNG,Craig 2072
29 FERNANDEZ FERNAN 2062 – JACKSON,Oliver 2182
30 HAGESAETHER,Arne 2181 – O’TOOLE,George 2054
31 CALVERT,D. Ian 2051 – CAFFERTY,Bernard 2179
32 HOPPER,Paul 2173 – FOORD,Dominic 2043
33 PICKERSGILL,Adri 2043 – SUGDEN,John 2173
34 SALEM,Ihab 2171 – CANNON,Raymond 2041
35 MCDONNELL,James 2041 – MITCHELL,Martin 2169
36 CHOWDHURY,Sohel 2168 – WILSON,Alexandra 2026
37 AUCKLAND,Elliott 2017 – GOODGER,Martyn 2164
38 RAYNER,Francis 2151 – KAKKANAS,Evaggel 2009
39 NORINKEVICIUTE,R 2005 – KNIGHT,Simon 2148
40 ALMOND,Richard 2138 – NEBEL,Uwe 2001
41 SPANTON,Timothy 1982 – DICKSON,George 2135
42 BARTON,R Alan 2131 – WEBSTER,Richard 1975
43 LUNN,Matthew 1888 – ROCKS,Daniel 2129
44 CILIA VINCENTI,D 2108 – ROLVAG,Birk 1880
45 QUINN,Joseph 1846 – GRIFFITHS,Ryan-R 2107
