Archive for juni 2010
GM Loek van Wely (NED)
With the 37-year-old Dutch tactician on the starting line in this year’s ACC, the tournament is ensured interesting, complex and exciting duels on the absolute top tables, to the end of the tournament! As a player Loek is uncompromising and fearless, with an arsenal of sharp opening systems. If you want to learn attacking chess, tactical play and combinations, the Dutchman’s games are a good place to start. Loek van Wely became a grandmaster in 1993. Of his achievements can be mentioned that in the years 2000 to 2004, he was Dutch champion five times in a row, and in the same period he achieved a rating of above 2700, placing him among the world’s top ten chess players. In 2005, Wely was part of the Dutch team that won gold at the European Championships in Gothenburg. As recently as May this year, Loek van Wely won the Chicago Open, showing play that bodes well before this year’s ACC! We look forward to getting one of Holland’s absolute best players of all time on a visit here in Tromsø!
Emanuel Berg at the Dresden Olympiad, 2008
For the second year in a row Sweden’s No. 1 will be found among the participants and the favorites in the Arctic Chess Challenge. The 28-year-old sympathetic Swedish grandmaster has an aggressive and dynamic playing style, which makes him a crowd favorite. His games are always characterized by his uncompromising style which makes the fight for the top prize tough and interesting. As organizers, this is something we absolutely love!
Of the achievements can be noted that Emanuel Berg is the reigning Swedish Champion. He won Rilton Cup in Stockholm in 2004/2005 along with Sergei Volkov, won in Soller, Spain in 2006, and took fourth place the same year in the Keres Memorial, behind Ivanchuk, Karpov and Kasimdzhanov. In the Arctic Chess Challenge in Tromsø in 2009 he got 7 out of 9 and fourth place at the end. We are really happy to have GM Emanuel Berg among the participants in the ACC again and look forward to seeing him play in Tromsø again.
GM Sergei Azarov (BLR), Bethune Open 2009 (from Chessbase.com)
GM Sergei Azarov of Belarus is currently his country’s third strongest chess player with a rating of 2609. He is thus far the strongest representative for his country in the Arctic Chess Challenge. Sergei was born 19.05.1983, and his rating so far is 2630. The 27-year-old made his mark as early as 2001, when he won his first Belarusian championship, a feat he repeated the following year.
In the youth world cup in 2003 in Halkidiki, he showed proof of his strength with 2nd place behind Shakriyar Mamedyarov. Azarov is known to have an aggressive style of play, and has beaten good players like Jobava and Volokitin.
“Go play in the Arctic Chess Challenge in Tromsø!” That is an order given by Chessbase.com in a new article published today. The article is written by none other than Tromsø’s own Sven Wisløff Nilsen, a.k.a. ““, the man behind the well written from last year’s tournament. Richly illustrated, it gives a summary of the city and its surroundings, last year’s tournament and a preview of the coming event. The full article can be found here.
Europe Echecs has made an interesting interview in two parts with Morten Sand, the advisor for Sjakk Tromsø 2014, where he talks about the process of getting the chess Olympics to Tromsø in 2014. The interviews can be seen on Europe-echecs.com or on Tromsø 2014’s newly overhauled web pages.
GM Zoltan Gyimesi (HUN)
Hungarian GM Guymesi is 33 years old and ranked No.7 in Hungary. With a rating of 2600, he is currently ranked 13th of the 28 grandmasters in this year’s tournament. He completed his grandmaster title in 1996 and has since participated with success in four chess Olympiads. In the 30 Olympic games, he has scored over 60% and contributed greatly to the Hungarian silver medal in the Olympics in Bled, Slovenia in 2002. He has won the Hungarian championship once, in 2005. His best international achievements are shared first place in Capelle La Grande in 2003 and shared victory in the European Individual Open with this year’s ACC-participating GM Mateusz Bartel of Poland. He beat Super Grandmaster Wang Hao (2722) from China with black in a tournament in Beijing 2008.
Mihajlo Stojanovic from Serbia unfortunately had to cancel, but luckily he asked his teammate Ivan Ivansevic if he could replace him. This resulted in an even higher average rating in the tournament, since Ivan is ranked ahead of Mihalo, and is number two in Serbia with a rating of 2630. 13 players now have a rating of above 2600. 149 participants are registered. (JSB)
Tromsø 2014