CASINO DE BARCELONA 2008

CHESS TOURNAMENT MAGISTRAL CIUTAT DE BARCELONA – CASINO DE BARCELONA 2008

On Thursday, October 30th at 15.45 the Chess Tournament Magistral Casino de Barcelona 2008 will take start. This year the Tournament is organised by the Catalonian Chess Federation and sponsored by the Casino of Barcelona (Group Peralada), Barcelona City Hall, Catalonian Sports Council and Hotel Icaria of Barcelona.The Venue of the Tournament is the Casino of Barcelona (Marina Avenue, 19-21 ), the dates are from October 30th to November 7th, 2008, and the games will start at 16.00.

The following ten internationally recognized Grandmasters will participate in this Round Robin Tournament:

GM Alexey Dreev (2670)
GM Baadur Jobava (2664)
GM Kiril Georgiev (2644)
GM Holden Hernández (2580)
GM Artur Kogan (2561)
GM Boris Gulko (2552)
IM Fidel Corrales (2551)
GM Antoaneta Stefanova (2550)
GM JM. López (2547)
GM Marc Narciso (2511)

Alexey Dreev of Russia is the highest ranked player of the Tournament which makes him one of the top favorites. The great Russian earned his well – deserved place among the Super-GMs by breaking the 2700 ELO barrier back in 2003. In 2004 he was the 3rd at the Russian Championships which was won by Kasparov. Dreev has been representing Russia at Chess Olympiads regularly. However, his best International Tournament achievement was in 1995, at Biel, where he obtained +5=8-0.

Baadur Jobava of Georgia has already won plenty of strong tournaments, among them – the prestigious Dubai Open in 2003. His playing style is sharp and pacey, and he also owns the record of major number of victories through beautiful material sacrifices.

Kiril Georgiev of Bulgaria won the World Junior Championship in 1983, which was followed by his convincing victories in the Bulgarian Championships in 84, 86 and 89. At that time he also qualified for the previous phases of the World Championship in 1990.

Holden Hernández is nowadays one of the best players of Cuba. He plays regularly in Championships in Catalonia and does it very successfully

Arthur Kogan of Israel, a strong GM who lives in Catalonia where he dedicates his life to professional chess as player and coach.

Boris Gulko is one of the few players in the history of the game who keeps a favorable score against Gari Kasparov, whom he defeated in three occasions. Apart from that, he is the only chessplayer who succeeded in winning both the Championships of USSR and USA.

Fidel Corrales of Cuba has qualified by winning the 5th Catalan Circuit, which is composed of more than 30 strong Open International Tournaments and offers a huge variety of opportunities to players from different countries.

For the first time in the history of the tournament, a woman – former World Women´s Champion 2004, Bulgaria´s Antoaneta Stefanova, will participate. She is well known to chess fans worldwide.

Grandmasters Marc Narciso – two times winner of the Catalan Circuit, and José Manuel López are the two strongest professional chess players of Catalonia, with great perspectives in the future.

The Tournament reaches category 14 which makes it the strongest tournament in Catalonia, and one of the strongest in Spain. Also it is included in the ACP Tour, as one of the most important events in the Chess World.

There will be live broadcasting of the tournament offered by the Catalonian Chess Federation website: http://www.directefcde.org/ and by the Internet Chess Club (ICC).

For more information please visit the FCE website: http://escacs.cat/ciutat08/jugadors.html

There will be more activities besides the Tournament. Grandmasters Alexey Dreev and Antoaneta Stefanova will offer a Simultaneous Exhibition on Saturdays, November, 1st and 8th, at 10.30 a.m., respectively. Georgia´s Grandmaster Baadur Jobava will give a lecture “About The Usefulness of Research in Chess”, on Sunday, 2nd of November, in the Aténeu Colón Chess Club of Barcelona. The lecture will start at 11.00 a.m. Free entry for everyone. (Address: Pujades Str. 107 08005 Barcelona, Spain)

TECHNICAL REGULATIONS

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
The Catalonia Chess Federation is organizing the tournament, which is being sponsored by the Casino de Barcelona and SB Hotels (Hotel Icaria Barcelona), the Barcelona City Hall and the Government of Catalonia.

PLAYING SYSTEM:
Round Robin

PARTICIPANTS:
10 Players

CATEGORY:
XIV

TOURNAMENT VENUE:
Gran Casino of Barcelona (Carrer Marina, 19-21). Capacity around 125 persons. Free entry.

SCHEDULE:
Round every day at 16:00 h, from the 30th of October to the 7th of November of 2008.

TIME CONTROL:
90 minutes + 30 sec increment per move from move one for 40 moves, then 30 minutes + 30 sec increment per move finish (90’/40 + 30’) + 30’’ increment. Draw offers not allowed until the first time control is finished.

TOURNAMENT DIRECTION:
Director Mr. Jordi Parayre i Soguero
Co-Director Mr. Josep Garcia i Riera.

CHIEF ARBITER:
Mr. Manel Navarro

APPEALS COMMITTEE:
Is composed by Mr. Josep Garcia i Riera, Ms. Anna Matnadze and Mr. Antoni López.

PRIZE FUND:
1st: 1.500 euros + trophy
2nd: 1.200 euros + trophy
3rd: 900 euros + trophy
4th: 600 euros.
5th: 300 euros.

Each participant will have to annotate one of his/her games played in this tournament, which will be published in the next edition of the FCE magazine “El Butlletí d’Escacs”.

TIE-BREAKERS:
The prizes are not divisible. When individual scores are equal, the following order of tie-break systems will be used to designate individual awards:
a) Sonnenborn-berger
b) Most Blacks
c) The greater number of victories
d) Game result between tied players

OTHER:
The tournament hall will be equipped by screens and it will be possible to view the games.

There will be live broadcasting offered by the Catalonian Chess Federation website where it will be possible to follow the games : http://www.directefcde.org/

Anything that is not foreseen and specified in these Regulations, will be covered by FIDE Regulations.

Special thanks to Anna Matnadze for sending us the information. Anna’s blog is http://lasaventurasdesarakhatkhan.blogspot.com/