It was a very exciting final night, and only after 3 1/2 hours of blitz play the outcome was clear. Between the last two 16 games was necessary before the winner was announced. The last games were played with one minute each!

GM Dmitry Andreikin, Russia

Unfortunately the strong Russian can’t come to ACC as part of the first prize, because it clashes with the Junior World Championships.
It is now being investigated which of the trailing contestants will accept travel and accommodation, as well as 400 Euros. It’ll be clear in the next few days – and it may even be the talented 13-year-old Alexandr Bortnik from Ukraine, who shared 3rd-4th place.

Because we collect countries, we might hope for GM Alexandr Fier (pictured) from Brazil, who now is first or second in line. The rumors have it that the Indian GM Laxman in second place cannot take part either because of participation in another tournament.

Alexandr Bortnik, Alexandr Fier, Dmitry Andreikin, Internet Chess Club, Laxman, qualifier Hide

During this weekend, the Internet Chess Club (ICC) is holding a qualifier for the Arctic Chess Challenge, where the winner will get a free spot in our tournament with all expenses paid. More info about the qualifier here.

We have now reached the final play-off, resulting in this very interesting line-up (shown according to their ICC rating):

The finals are to be played at 3pm ICC time Sunday, May 30th (9pm Central European Time). You can follow the games live at ICC.

Internet Chess Club, qualifier Hide

At last the midnight sun is back! This means that the sun won’t set for two months, and we will have daylight 24/7 until well after the Arctic Chess Challenge is finished. If you still haven’t decided to attend, maybe a look at the beautiful pictures and the scenery  at arcticgateway.com will convince you.

And if even that isn’t enough, look at the awesome lineup at the Participants page.

Midnight sun Hide

On May 28th-30th, Internet Chess Club is holding a qualifier tournament for the Arctic Chess Challenge! The Artic Chess Challenge 2010 ICC Qualifier has a first prize consisting of an invite to the tournament with air fare, hotel w/ breakfast and a cash prize included. The qualifier also has several runner-up prizes. See all details at the ICC announcement.

Internet Chess Club, qualifier Hide

The organizing committee of the Chess Olympiad 2014 in Tromsø on April 30th delivered their bid for hosting the Olympics. The only other competitor seems to be the city of Albena, Bulgaria, even though there does not seem to be an official statement from FIDE about this yet.

You can read a press release about the Tromsø bid , or read the actual bid . In addition, Chessbase has issued a news article about the bidders.

At the same time, Tromsø is bidding to host the 2013  World Cup as a precursor to the Olympics.

Olympics, Tromsø 2014, World Cup Hide

FIDE’s 2nd quarter presidential board has approved the GM titles to Marijan Petrov (BUL) and Anatoly Bykhovsky (ISR), bringing the number of GMs to 26. Also, Fiona Stell-Antoni (LUX) has been approved WIM. On the latest rating list some of the top GMs have increased their rating, which means that we now have 12 GMs above 2600.

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