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Chess Plays In Nashville - Music City!

2005 U.S. Blind Chess Championship To Be Held At The Hampton Inn in Buckhannon, West Virginia

Thirty-One Grandmasters Already Registered for HB Global Chess Challenge

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Kasparov: A Look Back (Part I)

14th Amber Tournament Set To Begin

Chess In the Media: Chess Stories Across the USA and Around the World

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National News

Chess Plays In Nashville - Music City!

More than 12,000 chess enthusiasts from all across the United States are expected at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, 2802 Opryland Drive, Nashville, TN on April 8 to attend the SuperNationals III Chess Championship that concludes April 10, 2005. This event is the second time the event has been held in the state of Tennessee, the first was in Knoxville in 1997.

The SuperNationals Chess Championship is a result of holding our three spring nationals at one venue every four years: National Elementary School, National Junior High School and National High School.

Chess celebrities attending are the former World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov, Grandmaster Maurice Ashley, Grandmaster Susan Polgar, Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan, Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, and Women’s International Master Jennifer Shahade will attend.

Thank you to University of Texas at Dallas! In the tradition of SuperNationals, UTD has generously offered a full, four year scholarship to the winner of the Elementary (K-6), Junior High (K-9) and the High School (K-12) Championship sections. The scholarship is four years full tuition and fees plus a $1,000 per year stipend towards housing at the Waterview Apartments on campus! UTD has an enrollment of approximately 14,000 students.

Thank you to Grand Master Susan Polgar! The Polgar Committee has announced the following three automatic qualifying spots for the GM Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls. These will be awarded to the top finishing girls of the Championship sections. The GM Polgar National Invitational for Girls runs concurrently with the US Open Chess Championship, this year in Phoenix, AZ.

Additional scholarship opportunity for a scholarship from MyChessPhotos! A $500 scholarship will be given out to the player with the greatest upset.

The U.S. Chess Federation will also be announcing the 58 members of the All America Team. This year’s sponsor is Trophies Plus, owned and operated by Doyle Engelen. Trophies Plus will be presenting all 58 members with their official team jacket! Being on this team is one of the highest national honors attainable by a young chess player.

Details for the main event and the autograph sessions, lectures, simuls and more can be found at http://www.uschess.org/tournaments/2005/supernationalsIII/.

2005 U.S. Blind Chess Championship To Be Held At The Hampton Inn in Buckhannon, West Virginia

The four round event will be held at the Hampton Inn in Buckhannon, West Virginia on June 24 and June 25, 2005. The chess rate at the Hampton Inn is $62 per night until June 1 after which rates may increase. You can contact Jerry Smith, Hampton Inn Manager at (304) 473-0900.

Rounds 1 and 2 will be played on June 24 and Rounds 3 and 4 will be played on June 25. The time control is 40 moves in 120 minutes with sudden death in 60. Entry fee for the championship is $25.00 and your check/payment should be made out to Elkins Lions Club. The $1,000.00 prize fund will be distributed as follows: 1st: $300.00; 2nd place: $200.00; 3rd place: $100.00. Class prizes: Under 1800 - $100.00; Under 1600 - $100.00; Under 1400 - $100.00; Unrated - $100.00. Opening ceremony (picnic) will be on Thursday, June 23 at 6pm. Players, companions, helpers and families, Lions Club members are invited to attend! A demonstration of just how those who have sight challenges play chess will be given.

Richard Varchetto, a member of the United States Chess Federation and also a member of the Elkins Lions Club are organizing the event. You can contact Richard Varchetto for additional information at email: rickv@meer.net or call Richard at: (304) 636-4034.

Lions Clubs throughout West Virginia are assisting with financial support. Those who wish to make a donation can make out their check to: Elkins Lions Club, PO Box 1002, Elkins, WV 26241. We ask that you make a note that the donation is for the 2005 US Blind Championship.

All participants in the event must be current members of the U.S. Chess Federation and also must be legally blind. Players are expected to bring their own chess equipment. Assistance will be provided for those who need it and for players flying into the Greater Pittsburgh Airport a shuttle service will be provided to transport players to the Hampton Inn. We suggest you make your arrival date June 23 and your departure date June 26.

Spectators are welcome. Some of the differences in a tournament chess game between unsighted players is that each player has his/her own chess board. Many use the Braille chess set and board which enables them to feel the raised and lowered squares on the board. For knowing which piece is which…on top of the pieces for black there is a metal knob which enables the players to know white from black. Players also must announce their move which allows players to tape record the moves being made and/or allows their helper to write down the moves of the game.

Thirty-One Grandmasters Already Registered for HB Global Chess Challenge

Maurice Ashley's HB Global Chess Challenge is shaping up to be one of the largest open tournaments ever held. Scheduled to run from May 18-22, the tournament features a guaranteed prize fund of at least $500,000, with $50,000 going to the winner of the Open section.

With that kind of prize money, it's not surprising to see that most of the top names in American chess - as well as stars from around the world - have already signed up to play. The following 31 grandmasters will all be in attendence:

GM Varuzhan Akobian
GM Alexander Beliavsky
GM Joel Benjamin
GM Pavel Blatny
GM Larry Christiansen
GM John Fedorowicz
GM Valerij Filippov
GM Alex Goldin
GM Dmitry Gurevich
GM Alexander Ivanov
GM Artur Jussupow
GM Gregory Kaidanov
GM Petr Kiriakov
GM Boris Kreiman
GM Sergey Kudrin
GM Joel Lautier
GM Anatoly Lein
GM Victor Mikhalevski
GM Vadim Milov
GM Alex Moiseenko
GM Alexander Motylev
GM Evgeniy Najer
GM Hikaru Nakamura
GM Igor Novikov
GM Alexander Onischuk
GM Milos Pavlovic
GM Gregory Serper
GM Miron Sher
GM Alex Stripunsky
GM Alex Wojtkiewicz
GM Leonid Yudasin

While all those names might be intimidating, there are also seperate sections with multiple class prizes. In most sections, first place pays $20,000! For more information, visit www.hbfoundation.org.